redit for better
feelings, as the source of action; but I am not writing to conceal, and
the truth must be told.

I was sent to school to learn Latin and Greek, of which there are
various ways of teaching. Some tutors attempt the _suaviter in modo_,
my schoolmaster preferred the _fortiter in re_, and, as the boatswain
said, by the "instigation" of a large knotted stick, he drove knowledge
into our skulls as a caulker drives oakum into the seams of a ship.
Under such tuition, we made astonishing progress; and whatever my less
desirable acquirements may have been, my father had no cause to complain
of my deficiency in classic lore. Superior in capacity to most of my
schoolfellows, I seldom took the pains to learn my lesson previous to
going up with the class: "the master's blessing," as we called it, did
occasionally descend on my devoted head, but that was a bagatelle; I was
too proud not to keep pace with my equals, and too idle to do more.

Had my schoolmaster been a single man, my stay under his care might have
been prolonged to my advantage; but, unfortunately, both for him and for
me, he had a helpmate, and her peculiarly unfortunate disposition was
the means of corrupting those morals over which it was her duty to have
watched with the most assiduous care. _Her_ ruling passions were
suspicion and avarice, written in legible characters in her piercing
eyes and sharp-pointed nose. She never supposed us capable of telling
the truth, so we very naturally never gave ourselves the trouble to
cultivate a useless virtue, and seldom resorted to it unless it answered
our purpose better than a lie. This propensity of Mrs Higginbottom
converted our candour and honesty into deceit and fraud. Never
believed, we cared little about the accuracy of our assertions;
half-starved through her meanness and parsimony, we were little
scrupulous as to the ways and means provided we could satisfy our
hunger; and thus we soon became as great adepts in the elegant
accomplishments of lying and thieving, under her tuition, as we did in
Greek and Latin under that of her husband.

A large orchard, fields, garden, and poultry-yard, attached to the
establishment, were under the care and superintendence of the mistress,
who usually selected one of the boys as her prime minister and
confidential adviser. This boy, for whose education his parents were
paying some sixty or eighty pounds per annum, was permitted to pass his
time in gathering u