Page:Lancashire Legends, Traditions, Pageants, Sports, Etc., with an Appendix Containing a Rare Tract.djvu/25

 the proprietors of the Hull Packet newspaper, and was apprenticed to them for seven years from January 1, 1821, to learn letterpress printing." The celebrated painter Etty was Mr Harland's predecessor as an apprentice; and when he removed from Hull to London he left a scrap-book, containing a series of early sketches, as a memento, in the hands of Mr George Walker, a journeyman printer in the same office. "From the beginning of his apprenticeship he gave all his energies to self-improvement; soon rose from compositor to reader; then was put into the office and, teaching himself short-hand, was advanced to reporting. With indomitable industry, he made for himself during 1825-6, a system of short-hand in which he embodied all the best points of several stenographic systems, and soon became the most expert short-hand writer in the kingdom." During his residence at Hull he was first the playmate and then the companion of Benjamin Boulter, Esq., surgeon; to whom he wrote a series of characteristic letters during his five years' stay at Glasgow as a medical student. Only two of these letters are now in existence; but the following extracts from them will show that he was making rapid progress in self-instruction., March 9th, 1827. —I received and read your letter with pleasure. ... You mistook my meaning respecting Hogmanay night. I did not mean to censure the jovialities of a single night, but to express a wish that these festivities should not be too often indulged in, as they are peculiarly unfitting for study. I am happy to find that I have no need to give you any such hints, since I hear you apply with a zeal which is worthy of its reward. I need not here say that it will afford me the most sincere gratification to hear of your complete success, and well merited diploma. Our theatrical