f life, by commencing my classical studies under one of my
guardians, a clergyman of the English Church, and (so far as regarded
Latin) a most accomplished scholar.

At the very commencement of my new studies, there happened an incident
which afflicted me much for a short time, and left behind a gloomy
impression, that suffering and wretchedness were diffused amongst all
creatures that breathe. A person had given me a kitten. There are three
animals which seem, beyond all others, to reflect the beauty of human
infancy in two of its elements--viz. joy, and guileless innocence, though
less in its third element of simplicity, because _that_ requires language
for its full expression: these three animals are the kitten, the lamb, and
the fawn. Other creatures may be as happy, but they do not show it so
much. Great was the love which poor silly I had for this little kitten;
but, as I left home at ten in the morning, and did not return till near
five in the afternoon, I was obliged, with some anxiety, to throw it for
those seven hours upon its own discretion, as infirm a basis for
reasonable hope as could be imagined. I did not wish the kitten, indeed,
at all less foolish than it was, except just when I was leaving home, and
then its exceeding folly gave me a pang. Just about that time, it happened
that we had received, as a present from Leicestershire, a fine young
Newfoundland dog, who was under a cloud of disgrace for crimes of his
youthful blood committed in that county. One day he had taken too great a
liberty with a pretty little cousin of mine, Emma H----, about four years
old. He had, in fact, bitten off her cheek, which, remaining attached by a
shred, was, through the energy of a governess, replaced, and subsequently
healed without a scar. His name being _Turk_, he was immediately
pronounced by the best Greek scholar of that neighbourhood, [Greek:
eponymos] (_i. e._ named significantly, or reporting his nature in his
name.) But as Miss Emma confessed to having been engaged in taking away a
bone from him, on which subject no dog can be taught to understand a joke,
it did not strike our own authorities that he was to be considered in a
state of reprobation; and as our gardens (near to a great town) were, on
account chiefly of melons, constantly robbed, it was held that a moderate
degree of fierceness was rather a favourable trait in his character. My
poor kitten, it was supposed, had been engaged in the same playful
tres