ignorance of the numerous mistakes they contained.

The next year he wrote a story which appeared in the school magazine.
It was called "The Unknown One," so it was probably of the sensational
type in which small boys usually revel.

Though Richmond School, as it was in 1844, may not compare favourably
in every respect with a modern preparatory school, where supervision
has been so far "reduced to the absurd" that the unfortunate masters
hardly get a minute to themselves from sunrise till long after sunset,
yet no better or wiser men than those of the school of Mr. Tate are
now to be found. Nor, I venture to think, are the results of the
modern system more successful than those of the old one. Charles loved
his "kind old schoolmaster," as he affectionately calls him, and
surely to gain the love of the boys is the main battle in
school-management.

The impression he made upon his instructors may be gathered from the
following extracts from Mr. Tate's first report upon him:

Sufficient opportunities having been allowed me to draw from
actual observation an estimate of your son's character and
abilities, I do not hesitate to express my opinion that he
possesses, along with other and excellent natural
endowments, a very uncommon share of genius. Gentle and
cheerful in his intercourse with others, playful and ready
in conversation, he is capable of acquirements and knowledge
far beyond his years, while his reason is so clear and so
jealous of error, that he will not rest satisfied without a
most exact solution of whatever appears to him obscure. He
has passed an excellent examination just now in mathematics,
exhibiting at times an illustration of that love of precise
argument, which seems to him natural.

I must not omit to set off against these great advantages
one or two faults, of which the removal as soon as possible
is desirable, tho' I am prepared to find it a work of time.
As you are well aware, our young friend, while jealous of
error, as I said above, where important faith or principles
are concerned, is exceedingly lenient towards lesser
frailties--and, whether in reading aloud or metrical
composition, frequently sets at nought the notions of Virgil
or Ovid as to syllabic quantity. He is moreover marvellously
ingenious in replacing the ordinary inflexions of nouns and
verbs, as detailed in our grammars, by more e