diverted by my account of the proceedings. He was probably
testing me in various ways to see what I was made of, and whether
anything could be made of me. He encouraged my predilection for natural
history by getting me books on conchology and taking me to museums
to study the specimens and make pencil drawings of them. In these
avocations I was also companioned by Frank Channing, whose specialty
was ornithology, and who was making a series of colored portraits of the
birds in the museum, very cleverly done.

[IMAGE: WILLIAM HENRY CHANNING, 1855]

Frank was the son of the Rev. William Henry Channing, who was pastor of
a Unitarian church in Liverpool; he had brought his family to England
at about the same time that we came. He was a nephew, I believe, of
the William Ellery Channing who was one of the founders of American
Unitarianism, and the brother, therefore, of the Ellery Channing of
Concord. Frank inherited much of the talent of his family. He was
afterwards sent to Oxford, where he took the highest honors. All
intellectual operations came easy to him. He also showed a strong
proclivity to art, and he was wonderfully clever in all kinds of fine
handwork. He was at this time a tall and very handsome boy, about two
years my senior. He was, like myself, fanatically patriotic, an American
of Americans, and this brought us together in a foreign land; but, aside
from that, I have seldom met a more fascinating companion. I followed
him about with joy and admiration. He used to make for me tiny little
three-masted ships, about six inches long, with all the rigging
complete; they were named after the famous American clippers of the day,
and he painted microscopic American flags to hoist over the taff-rail.
He tried to teach me how to paint in water-colors, but I responded
better to his eloquence regarding the future of our country. He proved
to me by a mathematical demonstration, which I accepted without in the
least understanding it, that in fifty years New York would be larger and
more populous than London at the end of the same period. This brilliant
boy seemed fitted for the highest career in his native country; his
father did not contemplate a permanent stay in England, and in after
years I used to look for his name in our Senate, or among the occupants
of the Supreme Bench. But, as it turned out, he never revisited America,
except for short periods. His father was induced to remain abroad by
the success of his preachin