An Autobiography of an Ancient Athlete & Antiquarian

16 AUTOBIOGRAPHY Judge; Boileau, the engineer; Byron, the author; Sir C. W. Dilke, M.P., of Sloane Street notoriety; Ekin, after– wards scholar of Exeter, Oxford, who was head boy in my time ; Gaulter ; Goodban ; '' Billy Groves,'' aftE:rwards a Cambridge wrangler, and took the Clifford's Inn Prize (a friend of my brother Charles, and in consequence very kind to me) ; R. Howlett, F.S.A., afterwards of Cambridge and the Civil Service Commission (my oldest friend) 1 ; Quinet, and Veitch. My great friend then was E. F. Galaber, son of an Irish clergyman, and nephew of Mrs. Warner, whose husband was M.P. for Norwich. To his mother I was greatly indebted for many years for her kindness and hospitality, and indeed she may be said ~o have" mothered" me. During 1857 I was playing in a field near the house of a chum (E.F.G.) in Oakley Street, Chelsea, with other St. Peter's fellows, diggi11g a long and deep bole therein, roofing it with boards and stolen pailings, sitting in this grave-like recess for hours together, roasting potatoes till we were half-choked with the reek of the damp fuel, and were quite chilled with the damp of the earth; keeping white mice, playing cricket badly, always being turned at school for lessons omitted to be learnt, and perpetually being thrashed therefor, formed the routine of my life. We often used to ·ee Thomas · Carlyle and, boy-like, took an invincible dislike to him as he stalked about morosely in his long cloak, and I expect I am the only one who can say that he has thrown stones at the historian and been gibbered at by him in reply. The boys of the neighbour– hood had heard rumours of his surly and unkind treatment of his wife, but of course knew nothing of her nagging temper. Par parwthese.-I may say that anyone who checks the details of Carlyle's work will find him most slovenly I I introduced him later iu life to antiquarianism, and he developed into oue of the soundest aud most accurate men of bis day. He edited the ChrrJnicle of Thomas de Ecclestone, which I had found in the Isham MSS., for the Rolls Series, aud contributed many papers of great value to the Norfolk and Norwich Archreological Society and the Norfolk Antiquariau Miscellany, when bis wide reading and great accuracy conclusively settled the old difficulty of. the site of the Bishop's Palace at Elmham, which he showed began no doubt at the Norfolk North Elmham and not the Suffolk South Elmhaw. His papers on the early history of Lynn were most valuable, but un– fortunately an attack of paralysis has now stopped his acti,e career. For his portrait see opposite.