might, by a strained interpretation, be described as a newsboy. Whatever may have been the descent of his grandfather, Henry Walton Smith, the late Mr W. H. Smith was born of parents occupying the position of respectable and prosperous tradespeople.

A less eventful boyhood than William Henry's, the younger, it could hardly be the lot of a biographer to describe. Until eight or nine years of age he remained in the schoolroom with his four elder sisters, under the teaching of their governess. Then the services of a tutor, the Rev. William Beal, of Trinity College, Cambridge, were secured for him; and, when twelve years old, he went with his mother and sisters to Paris, where they remained for some weeks. Meanwhile, Mr Beal had become engaged to the eldest Miss Smith, and on his receiving from the Duke of Bedford in 1838 the appointment of head - master to the newly revived grammarschool at Tavistock, their marriage took place. This led to William's only and brief acquaintance with a public school, or, indeed, with school of any sort. He was placed there as a boarder early in 1839, being then fourteen years old, and in June his name appears as second in the second form, William Lethbridge (of whom more hereafter) being first. The following note ap

pears on the report of the midsummer examination for that year:

The medal for Mids" 1839 gained by, and awarded to, W. H. Smith of Kilburn, London.

W. BEAL.

But William Smith's name is not again found on the school - lists after that date. The boy returned home, and another private tutor, the Rev. Alfred Povah, of Wadham College, Oxford, took him in hand.

There remains in one of the boy's letters, written from Tavistock to his father, evidence of thoughtfulness unusual at the age of fourteen, and of attention directed to a class of subject which, in after-years, was to occupy a great deal of his energy and thoughts.

Last Wednesday being a half-holiday, Mr Beal took a walk with me in the afternoon to the Union Workhouse in the neighbourhood of the town, which was quite a new sight to me. To all appearance the people looked extremely comfortable; in fact, much more so than many poor people in their own houses. I was rather surprised at seeing them so comfortable, for from the noise made about the new Poor Law I expected to find it rather a wretched place.

The influence which had prevailed so long to keep William from school, and to remove him from it after such a short experience, is not difficult to trace, neither was it without important bearing upon his after-life. His mother's

EDUCATED AT HOME.

15

family, the Coopers, were Wesleyans of the early and strict kind; and her mother, a widow, used to pay long visits at her son-in-law's house in Duke Street. This lady was not only extremely devout, but also painfully apprehensive of the perils to which young people are exposed at public schools from bad companions and worldly influence. She it was who prevailed to persuade the Smiths to keep their only son so long at home, and probably to remove him from Tavistock after so short a trial, though he had made, as the prize-list shows, such a promising start there. Anxiety to withdraw the lad from sympathy with the Church of England, signs of which he showed even at this early age, and to keep him in touch with the Wesleyan body, had, no doubt, a good deal to do with the domestic policy.

There may be traced in the economy of this Methodist-Christian home something resembling the stern Lacedæmonian spirit, exacting from the son unquestioning submission to the father, but also putting him, while still very young, in authority over others. In the refusal of the Smiths to yield to their boy's intense desire to go to a university, there is some analogy to the edict forbidding the youth of Lacedæmon to visit Athens; in spite of the learning and

philosophy of that focus of culture, there was too much tittle-tattle and luxury to be reconciled with the strenuous home life. Whatever the effect of this early discipline may have been in forming the young man's character, it certainly was the cause of lasting disappointment to himself, and often, in later years, he used to deplore bitterly the circumstances which had debarred him from acquiring a wider culture.

After a couple of years at home, William was allowed to return to Tavistock school at the age of seventeen, not, apparently, as an ordinary pupil, for his name does not appear on the school-lists of those years, but rather as a private pupil of his brother-in-law, the headmaster. His time seems to have been divided between the pursuit of learning here, and attention to business in the Strand, until some time in 1844, after which date any learning he acquired was the fruit of voluntary application of his leisure.

As the lad grew in stature, his spirit struggled to emancipate itself from the narrow and rather sombre surroundings of his boyhood. At sixteen he had already expressed to his father his strong desire to go to a university and prepare for Holy Orders. Whether his mother-in-law's warning had given the elder Smith a genuine

HIS DESIRE FOR HOLY ORDERS.

17

dread of the profligacy of universities as well as of public schools, or whether he merely looked upon Oxford or Cambridge as an extravagance unsuited to his own station in life, he would not listen to his son's pleading to be sent there; and as for the Church-he gave an emphatic discouragement to that idea. In fact, he gave his son to understand that if he persisted in his purpose of entering Holy Orders, he need not expect a shilling from his father; whereas, if he came into the business, he might count on being made a partner as soon as he should come

of age.

The young man submitted his will to that of his father, and began work in the office; but he could not bring his spirit into sympathy with the Wesleyan community to which his parents were so closely attached.1 To a youth brought up so constantly at home, it must have been a matter of much difficulty, and have required the support of strong conviction, to attempt separation from the congregation in which he had been reared. To support himself in the effort, and to overcome his parents' objections to his

1 It is believed that the elder Smith never actually joined the Wesleyan Society, though he constantly attended their services, and subscribed liberally to their funds. He was, however, married in St George's, Hanover Square, and all his children were baptised in the Church of England.

VOL. I.

B