122 



MY LIFE 



[Chap. 



Turvey Abbey, his father being one of the principal land- 

 owners in the parish ; and in making out the reference books 

 which give the owners of all the separate farms, etc., we found 

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

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

 schoolfellow'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 recalled 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, exceedingly 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 



