a precociously
keen sense of humour, and not only read, but collected and preserved
every comic almanac and scrap of droll anecdote which I could get. Thus
there came into my possession half-a-dozen books of the broadest London
humour of the time, all of which entered into my soul; such things as:--

'"Ladies in furs and gemmen in spurs,
Who lollop and lounge all day;
The Bazaar in Soho is completely the go,
Walk into the shop of Grimaldi."

Reader mine, you can have no conception how deeply I, as a mere little
boy, entered into and knew London life and society from such songs,
sketches, anecdotes, books, and caricatures as I met with. Others read
and forget them, but I took such trifles deep into my soul and _dwelt_ on
them. It is only of late years, since I have lived in England, that I
have learned how extensively--I may say incredibly well--I was informed
for my age as to many phases of English life. Few of us know what may be
got out of reading the current light literature of the day, if we only
read it _earnestly_ and get it by heart. This I did to a great extent,
as my reminiscences continually awakened in England prove.

There was in Dedham a very old house of somewhat superior style, which
had been built, if not in 1630, at least within a very few years after.
It was inhabited by three sisters named Fairbanks, who were very peculiar
indeed, and their peculiarity consisted in a strange devotion to the
past, and above all to old _English_ memories of colonial times before
the Revolution. Even in England this resistance can hardly be understood
at the present day, and yet it may still be found alive in New England.
In the house itself was a well, dug to supply water when besieged by
Indians, and the old ladies used to exhibit an immense old gun once used
by Puritans, and an ox-saddle and other relics. They had also a very
ancient book of prayer of the Church of England, and an old Bible, and
thereby hangs a tale. They were all still living in 1849 or 1850, when I
visited them with my very pretty cousin Mary Elizabeth Fisher, and as I
professed the Episcopal faith, and had been in England, the precious
relics were shown to me as to one of the initiated. But they showed a
marked aversion to letting Miss Fisher see them, as she was a Unitarian.
So they went on, as many others did in my youth, still staunch adherents
to England, nice old Tories, believers in the King or Queen, for whom
th