extravagant joy--and he always intemperately
loved change--measles broke out in the school, the pupils were
dispersed, and Colonel Burton, tired of Richmond, resolved to make again
for the continent. As tutor for his boys he hired an ox-like man "with a
head the shape of a pear, smaller end uppermost"--the Rev. H. R. Du
Pre afterwards rector of Shellingford; and Maria was put in charge of a
peony-faced lady named Miss Ruxton. The boys hurrahed vociferously when
they left what they called wretched little England; but subsequently
Richard held that his having been educated abroad was an incalculable
loss to him. He said the more English boys are, "even to the cut of
their hair," the better their chances in life. Moreover, that it is a
real advantage to belong to some parish. "It is a great thing when you
have won a battle, or explored Central Africa, to be welcomed home
by some little corner of the great world, which takes a pride in your
exploits, because they reflect honour on itself." [41] An English
education might have brought Burton more wealth, but for the wild and
adventurous life before him no possible training could have been better
than the varied and desultory one he had. Nor could there have been a
more suitable preparation for the great linguist and anthropologist.
From babyhood he mixed with men of many nations.

5. The Continent Again.

At first the family settled at Blois, where Colonel and Mrs. Burton gave
themselves over to the excitement of dressing three or four times a day;
and, as there was nothing whatever the matter with them, passed many
hours in feeling each other's pulses, looking at each other's tongues,
and doctoring each other. Richard and Edward devoted themselves to
fending and swimming. If the three children were wild in England they
were double wild at Blois. Pear-headed Mr. Du Pre stuck tenaciously to
his work, but Miss Ruxton gave up in despair and returned to England.
At a dancing party the boys learnt what it was to fall in love. Richard
adored an extremely tall young woman named Miss Donovan, "whose face
was truly celestial--being so far up" but she was unkind, and did not
encourage him.

After a year at Blois, Colonel and Mrs. Burton, who had at last
succeeded in persuading themselves that they were really invalids,
resolved to go in search of a more genial climate. Out came the
cumbersome old yellow chariot again, and in this and a chaise drawn
by an ugly beast called