"Jacob Faithful, how is this? thine head is good yet wilt thou refuse
learning. Tell me now, what does _c-a-t_ spell?"
It was the pitch-pipe to _cat-head_, and answered I accordingly.
"Nay, Jacob, it spells _cat_; take care of thy head on the next reply.
Understand me, head is not understood. Jacob, thy head is in jeopardy.
Now, Jacob, what does _m-a-t_ spell?"
"_Chafing-mat_," replied I.
"It spells mat only, silly boy; the chafing will be on my part directly.
Now, Jacob, what does _d-o-g_ spell?"
"Dog-kennel."
"Dog, Jacob, without the kennel. Thou art very contumelious, and
deservest to be rolled in the kennel. Now, Jacob, this is the last time
that thou triflest with me; what does _h-a-t_ spell?"
"Fur cap," replied I, after some hesitation.
"Jacob, I feel the wrath rising within me, yet would I fain spare thee;
if _h-a-t_ spell fur-cap, pray advise me, what doth _c-a-p_ spell,
then?"
"_Capstern_."
"Indeed, Jacob, thy stern as well as thy head are in danger; and I
suppose, then, _w-i-n-d_ spells windlass, does it not?"
"Yes, sir," replied I, pleased to find that he agreed with me.
"Upon the same principle, what does _r-a-t_ spell?"
"_Rat_, sir," replied I.
"Nay, Jacob, _r-a-t_ must spell _rattan_, and as thou hast missed thine
own mode of spelling, thou shalt not miss the cane." The Dominie then
applied it to my shoulders with considerable unction, much to the
delight of Mr Knapps, who thought the punishment was much too small for
the offence. But I soon extricated myself from these associations as my
ideas extended, and was considered by the Dominie as the cleverest boy
in the school. Whether it were from natural intellect, or from my brain
having lain fallow, as it were, for so many years, or probably from the
two causes combined, I certainly learned almost by instinct. I read my
lessons once over and laid my book aside, for I knew it all. I had not
been six months at the school before I discovered that, in a thousand
instances, the affection of a father appeared towards me under the rough
crust of the Dominie. I think it was on the third day of the seventh
month that I afforded him a day of triumph and warming of his heart,
when he took me for the first time into his little study, and put the
Latin Accidence into my hands. I learnt my first lesson in a quarter of
an hour; and I remember well how that unsmiling, grave man looked into
my smiling eyes, parting the chestnut curls, which the matron would not
cut off, from my brows, and saying, "_Bene fecisti, Jacobe_." Many
times afterwards, when the lesson was over, he would fix his eyes upon
me, fall back on his chair, and make me recount all I could remember of
my former life, which was really nothing but a record of perceptions and
feelings. He _could_ attend to _me_, and as I related some early and
singular impression, some conjecture of what I saw, yet could not
comprehend, on the shore which I had never touched, he would rub his
hands with enthusiasm, and exclaim, "I have found a new book--an album,
whereon I may write the deeds of heroes and the words of sages.
_Carissime Jacobe_! how happy shall we be when we get into Virgil!" I
hardly need say that I loved him--I did so from my heart, and learned
with avidity to please him. I felt that I was of consequence--my
confidence in myself was unbounded. I walked proudly, yet I was not
vain. My school-fellows hated me, but they feared me as much for my own
prowess as my interest with the master; but still many were the bitter
gibes and innuendoes which I was obliged to hear as I sat down with them
to our meals. At other times I held communion with the Dominie, the
worthy old matron, and my books. We walked out every day, at first
attended by Mr Knapps the usher. The boys would not walk with me
without they were ordered, and if ordered, most unwillingly. Yet I had
given no cause of offence. The matron found it out, told the Dominie,
and after that the Dominie attended the boys and led me by the hand.
This was of the greatest advantage to me, as he answered all my
questions, which were not few, and each day I advanced in every variety
of knowledge. Before I had been eighteen months at school, the Dominie
was unhappy without my company, and I was equally anxious for his
presence. He was a father to me, and I loved him as a son should love a
father, and as it will hereafter prove, he was my guide through life.
But although the victory over Barnaby Bracegirdle, and the idea of my
prowess procured me an enforced respect, still the Dominie's goodwill
towards me was the occasion of a settled hostility. Affront me, or
attack me openly, they dare not; but supported as the boys were by Mr
Knapps the usher, who was equally jealous of my favour, and equally mean
in spirit, they caballed to ruin me, if possible, in the good opinion of
my master. Barnaby Bracegirdle had a talent for caricature, which was
well-known to all but the Dominie. His first attempt against me was a
caricature of my mother's death, in which she was represented as a lamp
supplied from a gin-bottle, and giving flame out of her mouth. This was
told to me, but I did not see it. It was given by Barnaby to Mr
Knapps, who highly commended it, and put it into his desk. After which,
Barnaby made an oft-repeated caricature of the Dominie, with a vast
nose, which he shewed to the usher as _my_ performance. The usher
understood what Barnaby was at, and put it into his desk without
comment. Several other ludicrous caricatures were made of the Dominie
and of the matron, all of which were consigned to Mr Knapps by the boys
as being the productions of my pencil; but this was not sufficient--it
was necessary I should be more clearly identified. It so happened that
one evening, when sitting with the Dominie at my Latin, the matron and
Mr Knapps being in the adjoining room, the light, which had burned
close down, fell in the socket and went out. The Dominie rose to get
another; the matron also got up to fetch away the candlestick with the
same intent. They met in the dark, and ran their heads together pretty
hard. As this event was only known to Mr Knapps and myself, he
communicated it to Barnaby, wondering whether I should not make it a
subject of one of my caricatures. Barnaby took the hint; in the course
of a few hours this caricature was added to the others. Mr Knapps, to
further his views, took an opportunity to mention with encomium my
talent for drawing, added that he had seen several of my performances.
"The boy hath talent," replied the Dominie; "he is a rich mine, from
which much precious metal is to be obtained."
"I hear that thou hast the talent for drawing, Jacob," said he to me, a
day or two afterwards.
"I never had in my life, sir," replied I.
"Nay, Jacob; I like modesty but modesty should never lead to a denial of
the truth. Remember, Jacob, that thou do not repeat the fault."
I made no answer, as I felt convinced that I was not in fault; but that
evening I requested the Dominie to lend me a pencil, as I wished to try
and draw. For some days, various scraps of my performances were
produced, and received commendation. "The boy draweth well," observed
the Dominie to Mr Knapps, as he examined my performance through his
spectacles.
"Why should he have denied his being able to draw?" observed the usher.
"It was a fault arising from modesty or want of confidence--even a
virtue, carried to excess, may lead us into error."
The next attempt of Barnaby was to obtain the Cornelius Nepos which I
then studied. This was effected by Mr Knapps, who took it out of the
Dominie's study, and put it into Barnaby's possession, who drew on the
fly-leaf, on which was my name, a caricature head of the Dominie; and
under my own name, which I had written on the leaf, added, in my hand,
_fecit_, so that it appeared, Jacob Faithful _fecit_. Having done this,
the leaf was torn out of the book, and consigned to the usher with the
rest. The plot was now ripe; and the explosion soon ensued. Mr Knapps
told the Dominie that I drew caricatures of my school-fellows. The
Dominie taxed me, and I denied it. "So you denied drawing," observed
the usher.
A few days passed away, when Mr Knapps informed the Dominie that I had
been caricaturing him and Mrs Bately, the matron, and that he had
proofs of it. I had then gone to bed; the Dominie was much surprised,
and thought it impossible that I could be so ungrateful. Mr Knapps
said that should make the charge openly, and prove it the next morning
in the school-room; and wound up the wrong by describing me in several
points, as a cunning, good-for-nothing, although clever boy.