Page:Robert Carter- his life and work. 1807-1889 (IA robertcarterhis00coch).pdf/26

10 finished the first volume, and you are welcome to it.’ This work introduced me to a field entirely new and extremely rich in its details, and when I finished it I was sorry that there was no more of it to read.

“About this period, my cousin Thomas Carter, who was a student in Edinburgh University preparatory to his theological course, had returned home to spend his summer vacation. He loved to visit us, and, though he was five years older than I, he became very much attached to me. He gave me his old Latin books, and came several times in the week to give me instructions in the elements of that language. I entered upon this study with all the zeal of which I was capable. Difficulty after difficulty gave way before me, and I soon became able to read Cordery’s Colloquies, Cornelius Nepos, Cæsar, Ovid, and Virgil. At a subsequent period, this cousin also taught me Greek.

“There were two fairs in our village, one in summer and one in autumn each year. At these fairs, which were looked forward to with great delight by all the village boys, there assembled dealers in cattle, hardware, toys, and books. The stalls for the sale of books early possessed a charm for me, and I expended with much care the few pence I could muster on the occasion. At the summer fair, when I was twelve years old, I was standing by a stall where were exhibited some of the Latin classics. I picked up a copy of Ovid, and was looking very intently at the narrative of Pyramus and Thisbe, when a group of the grammar school boys paused beside me. One of them jeeringly said, ‘What do you mean by pretending to read Latin?’ ‘This seems to be a pretty story,’ said I; ‘won't you read it to me?’ He began with the air of one who knew all about it, and with some difficulty made his way through a few lines.