. I believe I
must have learnt the whole of Virgil by heart, although I could not now
construe the introductory lines of the first book of the Aeneid; and as
for history I could then, nor now, no more tell you the names of the
Roman emperors, or the dates of accession of the various Kings of
England, than I could square the circle, or give you the cubical
contents of the pyramids of Egypt off-hand.

The personal rows, too, that I got into with Dr Hellyer were
innumerable; and I really think he wore out three flat rulers while I
was a member of the school, in inflicting his dearly-loved "pandies" on
my suffering palms.

The most important of these, what I may term "private differences,"
between my worthy preceptor and myself, after my first experience of his
"way" of making the boys obey him, without flogging them, arose from the
same cause--Master Slodgers, my enemy from the date of my entrance
within the select academy, although, if you recollect, he did not "get
the best of me" even then!

Some six months after that memorable occasion, having developed much
bone and sinew in the meantime, besides cultivating the noble art of
self-defence under the tuition of my chum Tom, I challenged the lanky
cur on the self-same ground where he had first assailed me; when I gave
him such a beating that he could not leave his bed in the dormitory for
nearly a week afterwards. For this--what I considered--just
retaliation, I received the encomiums of the majority of the fellows,
who detested Slodgers for his sneaking as well as bullying ways with the
youngsters; but Dr Hellyer, with whom he still continued a favourite,
took my triumph in such ill part, that he treated me to no less than six
dozen "pandies," incarcerating me besides in an empty coal cellar, on a
diet of bread and water, in solitary confinement below for the same
length of time that Slodgers was laid up ill in bed above stairs.

However, after that day I had it all my own way with the boys, for I was
strongly-built and thick-set for my age, looking two years older than I
really was. I could fight and lick all the rest of the fellows at the
time, not excepting even Tom my instructor, although he and I were much
too good friends to try conclusions on the point, and I was the
acknowledged leader of the school. Athletics, indeed, were my strong
point, for I may say, almost without egotism, that I had so cultivated
my muscles to the sad neglect of my proper studies,