230 



MY LIFE 



[Chap. 



me a passage to translate, which, of couse, I was quite un- 

 able to do properly. Then he set me a simple equation, 

 which I worked easily. Then a quadratic, at which I stuck. 

 So he politely remarked that I required a few months' hard 

 work to be fitted for his school, and wished me good 

 morning. 



My next attempt was more hopeful, as drawing, survey- 

 ing, and mapping were required. Here, again, I met a 

 clergyman, but a younger man, and more easy and friendly 

 in his manner. I had taken with me a small coloured map 

 I had made at Neath to serve as a specimen, and also one or 

 two pencil sketches. These seemed to satisfy him, and as I 

 was only wanted to take the junior classes in English read- 

 ing, writing, and arithmetic, teach a very few boys survey- 

 ing, and beginners in drawing, he agreed to engage me. I 

 was to live in the house, preside over the evening preparation 

 of the boarders (about twenty in number), and to have, I 

 think, thirty or forty pounds a year, with which I was quite 

 satisfied. I was to begin work in about a fortnight. My 

 employer was the Rev. Abraham Hill, headmaster of the 

 Collegiate School at Leicester. 



I stayed at the school a little more than a year, and 

 should probably have remained some years longer, and 

 perhaps even have been a junior school assistant all my 

 life, but for a quite unexpected event — the death of my 

 brother William. I was very comfortable at the school, 

 owing to the kindness of Mr. and Mrs. Hill, and of the 

 opportunities afforded me for reading, study, and the observa- 

 tion of nature. In my duties I got on fairly well, as the 

 boys were mostly well-behaved, though, of course, my ignor- 

 ance and shyness led to some unpleasantness. The first 

 evening I sat with the boys at their work, one of the older 

 ones came to me to ask me to explain a difficult passage to 

 him in some classic — I forget which — evidently to test my 

 knowledge or ignorance. So I declined even to look at it, 

 and told him that I taught English only, and that for all 

 other information they were to go to Mr. Hill himself. On 

 another occasion the classical assistant master asked me to 



