An Autobiography of an Ancient Athlete & Antiquarian

AUTOBIOGRAPHY On the 30th I lectured on St. Peter Hungate at the Straugers' Hall to a full gathering, with Prince Duleep Singh in the chair. On the 6th December, repeated my " Side Lights on Norwich History" lecture to the Teachers at the High School. Christmas (held at Lammas) was very slow, for though nearly all the family came to see their mother she was very far from well, and the "Fatted Swan" was a failure this year. This year I only had 54 long trike rides, and only published two books, the "Norwich Depositions,1549-1567," and the first •· Register of Lammas and Little Hautbois." In January (1906) I lent my MSS. volume of Civil War State Papers and letters to the N. & N. A. S., and ultimately edited, indexed and passed it through the press for them, as a supplementary volume for 1907, Mr. C. H. Firth having kindly written a preface for me. In the same month my daughter Bessy, attracted by the specious advertisements of a "lady gardener" went south on a wild goo~e chase to learn gardening, being under the impression tllat this wa~ a light, pleasant, and airy way of getting an independent living. I warned her it would be nothing of the sort, but she would have her own way, served a long apprenticeship, did much hard, and nn– womanlike work, stoking up fires at night protected by a bull pup, and ultimately failed to get anything of an adequate living out of the scheme. Undoubtedly "lady gardening-" is a paying idea for the promoters, who get their ground cultivated for nothing while their pupils are supposed to be learning. All this year (1906) I was worried with what was thought to be heart trouble, but was somewhat reassured by a London specialist (Dr. Bruce) being unable to find any– thing much the matter with me. I daresay I bad, and still have, an enlarged (" athlete's'') heart, but now nearly ten years have passed I have come to the conclusion that it was only indigestion. I still went on lecturing, e.J?-, on 30th January on '' St~ Andrew's" to a very large audience, though I had a bad 5ore throat, on 22nd February on "St. Etbeldred,'' and on the 1st March on "Ballads, &c.," with musical accompani– ment, before the Presbyterian Church in Theatre Street, and in February was busy in rearranging the " Norfolk and