BEDFORDSHIRE: TURVEY 121 



that he himself owned some property, and that his name was 

 H. H. Higgins. This interested me, because one of my school- 

 fellow's initials had been H. H. H., his name being Henry 

 Holman Hogsflesh, and I thought it curious that I should so 

 soon again come across another H. H. H., and this made me 

 remember the name of Mr. Higgins, which I might otherwise 

 have totally forgotten. 



More than half a century later (in November, 1889), I 

 was invited to Liverpool to give some lectures, and some 

 time before the date fixed upon I received a very kind letter 

 from the Rev. H. H. Higgins, inviting me to dine with him 

 on my arrival, and offering to assist me in every way he could. 

 I declined the invitation, but told him what hotel I was going 

 to, and said that I should be glad to see him. His letter re- 

 called to me my acquaintance at Turvey, but I did not see how 

 a Liverpool clergyman could have any close relationship to a 

 wealthy Bedfordshire landowner. I found Mr. Higgins at 

 the station with a carriage ready, and he told me that, as I 

 did not wish to go out to dinner, he and some friends had 

 taken the liberty of ordering a dinner at my hotel, and hoped 

 I would dine with them. He was as pleasant as an old friend, 

 and of course I accepted. He was a short, rubicund, exceed- 

 ingly good-humoured and benevolent-looking man, apparently 

 some years older than myself, and looking very like what 

 young Mr. Higgins of Turvey might have grown into. 

 He somehow reminded me of Chaucer's description of a 

 priest : 



"A little round, fat, oily man of God 

 Was one I chiefly marked among the fry, 

 He had a rogueish twinkle in his eye " — 



except that he could hardly be described as round, or fat, but 

 simply " jolly " in person as in manner. So when his friends 

 left about an hour after dinner, I asked him, if he had no 

 engagement, to stay a little longer, as I wished to find out the 

 mystery. He was an enthusiastic naturalist, and we talked 

 of many things, and the conversation turning on the land 

 question, he remarked that he was perhaps one of the poorest 



