LONDON AND LEICESTER 231 



not see a great deal of them. In drawing, I had only begin- 

 ners ; but I soon found I had to improve myself, so I sketched 

 a good deal, but could never acquire the freedom of touch 

 of my brother William, and before I left, one of my scholars 

 drew very nearly, if not quite, as well as I did. 



I had a very comfortable bedroom, where a fire was lit 

 every afternoon in winter, so that with the exception of one 

 hour with the boys and half an hour at supper with Mr. and 

 Mrs. Hill, my time after four or five in the afternoon was my 

 own. After a few weeks, finding I knew a little Latin, I had 

 to take the very lowest class, and even that required some 

 preparation in the evening. Mr. Hill was a good mathe- 

 matician, having been a rather high Cambridge wrangler, 

 and finding I was desirous of learning a little more algebra, 

 offered to assist me. He lent me Hind's algebra, which I 

 worked all through successfully, and this was followed by the 

 same author's trigonometry, which I also went through, with 

 occasional struggles. Then I attacked the Differential 

 Calculus, and worked through that; but I could never fully 

 grasp the essential principle of it. Finally, I began the 

 Integral Calculus, and here I found myself at the end of my 

 tether. I learnt some of the simpler processes, but very soon 

 got baffled, and felt that I wanted some faculty necessary for 

 seeing my way through what seemed to me an almost track- 

 less labyrinth. Whether, under Mr. Hill's instruction, I 

 should ultimately have been able to overcome these difficul- 

 ties I cannot positively say, but I have good reason to believe 

 that I never should have done so. Briefly stated, just as no 

 amount of teaching or practice would ever have made me a 

 good musician, so, however much time and study I gave to 

 the subject, I could never have become a good mathemati- 

 cian. Whether all this work did me any good or not, I am 

 rather doubtful. My after-life being directed to altogther 

 different studies, I never had occasion to use my newly 

 acquired knowledge, and soon forgot most of the processes. 

 But it gave me an interest in mathematics which I have never 

 lost; and I rarely come across a mathematical investigation 

 without looking through it and trying to follow the reason- 



