nry Thompson--a gentleman well known and widely honoured
in his day. This Mr. Thompson had a son, who was sent to Wrentham to be
educated for awhile with myself. An uncle of his, one of the most
amiable of men, lived at Southwold, close by, and I presume it was by his
means that the settlement was effected. Be that as it may, the change
was a welcome one, as it gave me a pleasant companion for nearly five
years of boyish life. I confess my two sisters--one of whom has, alas!
long been in her grave--did all they could in the way of sports and
pastimes to meet my wants and wishes, and act like boys; but the fact is,
though it may be doubted in these days of Women's Rights, girls are not
boys, nor can they be expected to behave as such.

I confess the advent of this young Thompson from Framlingham was a great
event in our small family circle. In the first place he came from a
town, and that at once gave him a marked superiority. Then his father
kept a horse and gig, for it was thus young Thompson came to Wrentham,
and all the world over a gig has been a symbol of the respectability dear
to the British heart; and he had been for that time and as an only son
carefully and intelligently trained by one of the family who, in the
person of the late Edward Miall, founder of the _Nonconformist_, and M.P.
for Bradford, was supposed to be the incarnation of what was termed the
dissidence of Dissent. Young Thompson was also what would be called a
genteel youth, and gave me ideas as to wearing straps to my trousers,
oiling my hair, and generally adorning my person, which had never entered
into my unsophisticated head. He also had been to London, and as
Framlingham was some twenty miles nearer the Metropolis--the centre of
intelligence--than Wrentham, the intelligence of a Framlingham lad was of
course expected, _a fortiori_, to be of a stronger character than that of
one born twenty miles farther from the sun of London. There was also a
good deal of talent in the family on the mother's side. Mrs. Thompson
was a Miss Medley, and Mr. Medley was an artist of great merit, the son
of Mr. Medley, of Liverpool, a leading Baptist minister in his day, and a
writer of hymns still sung in Baptist churches. Mr. Medley was also
active as a Liberal, and was credited by us boys with a personal
acquaintance with no less illustrious an individual than the great
Brougham himself. Once or twice he came to lodge during the summer at
Southwold;