ceeded with his self-education, and with such small aids as he
could procure, he gathered together a good deal of knowledge. He
thought that he might be able to teach others. Everybody liked him, for
his diligence, his application, and his good sense. At the age of
seventeen he was employed to teach the sons of the neighbouring
farmers. He succeeded so well that in the following year he opened a
village school at Beilby. He went on educating himself, and learnt a
little of everything. He next removed his school to Kirpenbeck, near
Stamford Bridge; and it was there," proceeded Mrs. Cooke, "that I got
to know him, for I was one of his pupils."

"He first learned mathematics by buying an old volume at a bookstall,
with a spare shilling. That was before he began to teach. He also got
odd sheets, and read other books about geometry and mathematics, before
he could buy them; for he had very little to spare. He studied and
learnt as much as he could.

He was very anxious to get an insight into knowledge. He studied
optics before he had any teaching. Then he tried to turn his knowledge
to account. While at Kirpenbeck he made his first object-glass out of
a thick tumbler bottom. He ground the glass cleverly by hand; then he
got a piece of tin and soldered it together, and mounted the
object-glass in it so as to form a telescope.

"He next got a situation at the Rev. Mr. Shapkley's school in
Micklegate, York, where he taught mathematics. He also taught in
ladies' schools in the city, and did what he could to make a little
income. Our intimacy had increased, and we had arranged to get
married. He was twenty-four, and I was nineteen, when we were happily
united. I was then his pupil for life.

"Professor Phillips saw his first telescope, with the object-glass made
out of the thick tumbler bottom, and he was so much pleased with it
that my husband made it over to him. But he also got an order for
another, from Mr. Gray, solicitor, more by way of encouragement than
because Mr. Gray wanted it, for he was a most kind man. The
object-glass was of four-inch aperture, and when mounted the defining
power was found excellent. My husband was so successful with his
telescopes that he went on from smaller to greater, and at length he
began to think of devoting himself to optics altogether. His knowledge
of mathematics had led him on, and friends were always ready to
encourage him in his pursuits.

"During this time he