2 MEMOIR OF ALFRED SMEE. [Chap. I. 



my grandfather would have had a good government appoint- 

 ment given to him ; however, that was not to be, and so William 

 Smee entered the service of the Bank of England. He, like 

 his grandfather, bore a high character for integrity ; and that, 

 coupled with uncommon talents and an iron will, made him re- 

 spected and esteemed throughout the mercantile community of 

 the City of London. On his death a long resolution was passed 

 at the Court of Directors of the Bank of England, testifying to 

 the " high integrity of his character and his indefatigable exer- 

 tions " in the discharge of his duties, and to the high esteem in 

 which he was held by all who knew him. Some years previously 

 the directors wished him to become a member of their body, but 

 my grandfather declined this honour ; and when the time for 

 the election drew near, he disqualified himself from becoming a 

 director by withdrawing certain sums of money from the Bank 

 stock, and so remained in his old position. Whether he acted 

 in this case wisely may, I think, be considered an open question. 

 When William Smee was between thirty and forty years of age, 

 he married a young Suffolk lady of the name of Eay, and she 

 was ever to him a wise, frugal, and an intelligent companion. 

 For several years they resided in a house of their own at Cam- 

 berwell, and it was here, amidst fields and trees and orchards 

 (for Camberwell fifty-eight years ago was very different to the 

 Camberwell of the present day), that Alfred Smee was born, and 

 spent the first few years of his life. 



As a child, Alfred Smee was singularly precocious, and, like 

 many precocious children, gave, as my grandmother used to say, 

 a great deal of trouble to his nurse; indeed, that unfortunate 

 attendant must have had a very hard time of it, if the various 

 anecdotes that my grandmother was wont to tell about this 

 madcap boy are to be credited. Prom his earliest years 

 Alfred Smee had an inordinate love for fruit, to obtain which 

 he would but too frequently rise with the sun, and, eluding 

 the vigilance of the servants, stroll into the garden, climb the 

 trees, and satisfy himself to his heart's content. One day, as 

 my grandfather was walking in his garden, his attention was 

 attracted to a peach-tree full of fruit, which was just ripe. To 

 his dismay a small piece was bitten out of every peach, and all 

 the fruit bore unmistakable signs of a child's teeth. Little 

 Alfred, who was by his side at the time, and who was then 

 about four years old, could not forbear inquiring into the fact 

 whether snails have teeth. Besides an excessive love for fruit. 



