74 MY LIFE 



brother John, preparatory to going with my eldest brother 

 William to learn land-surveying. 



During the time I lived in Hertford I was subject to in- 

 fluences which did more for my real education than the mere 

 verbal training I received at school. My father belonged 

 to a book club, through which we had a constant stream of 

 interesting books, many of which he used to read aloud in 

 the evening. Among these I remember Mungo Park's travels 

 and those of Denham and Clapperton in West Africa. We 

 also had Hood's Comic Annual for successive years, and I 

 well remember my delight with " The Pugsley Papers " and 

 " A Tale of the Great Plague," while as we lived first at a 

 No. i, I associated Hood's " Number One " with our house, 

 and learnt the verses by heart when I was about seven years 

 old. Ever since those early experiences I have been an 

 admirer of Hood in all his various moods, from his inimitable 

 mixture of pun and pathos in his " Sea Spell," to the exquisite 

 poetry of " The Haunted House," " The Elm Tree," and 

 " The Bridge of Sighs." 



We also had some good old standard works in the house, 

 " Fairy Tales," " Gulliver's Travels," " Robinson Crusoe," and 

 the " Pilgrim's Progress," all of which I read over again and 

 again with constant pleasure. We also had " The Lady of 

 the Lake," " The Vicar of Wakefield," and some others ; and 

 among the books from the club I well remember my father 

 reading to us Defoe's wonderful " History of the Great 

 Plague." We also had a few highly educational toys, among 

 which were large dissected maps of England and of Europe, 

 which we only had out as a special treat now and then, and 

 which besides having the constant charm of a puzzle, gave us 

 a better knowledge of topographical geography than all our 

 school teaching, and also gave me that love of good maps which 

 has continued with me throughout life. Another valuable 

 toy was a model of a bridge in wood, the separate stones con- 

 stituting the arch of which could be built up on a light centre, 

 showing beautifully the principle of the arch, and how, when 

 the keystone was inserted the centre supports could be re- 



