"Jew," said the Captain, "is this true? hast thou renounced thine unbelief?"

"Who is it you want?" he asked. "The commander in chief? He was killed by a cannon ballstruck in the breast before our regiment."

I cannot call to mind, now, how I came to hear about Yorkshire schools when I was a not very robust child, sitting in bye–places near Rochester Castle, with a head full of PARTRIDGE, STRAP, TOM PIPES, and SANCHO PANZA; but I know that my first impressions of them were picked up at that time, and that they were somehow or other connected with a suppurated abscess that some boy had come home with, in consequence of his Yorkshire guide, philosopher, and friend, having ripped it open with an inky pen–knife. The impression made upon me, however made, never left me. I was always curious about Yorkshire schools—fell, long afterwards and at sundry times, into the way of hearing more about them—at last, having an audience, resolved to write about them.