Page:Two Sussex archaeologists, William Durrant Cooper and Mark Antony Lower.djvu/33

 he died at an advanced age as poor as when he commenced his useful existence.

"Under the guidance of this good father, I learned the rudiments of useful knowledge, and was soon an adept in most things that a young boy is capable of. Among the 'accomplishments,' I learnt music and drawing so early, that I cannot remember my first lessons in either science. I have not the slightest recollection of the hours when I learned my gamut, and a certain facility in sketching from nature. This I recollect, that I was a tolerable proficient on the flute, and a sketcher, before I was seven years old. The singing of sacred music was also one of our family amusements and recreations, and we frequently sang hymns set to music by my father himself. Those summer evenings that we spent in the garden, with our family, assisted by some musical neighbours and a few of the pupils, are a thing not easily 'disremembered.' A crowd of rustic neighbours behind the garden wall formed a well-pleased audience, and there we remained until the dews of nightfall warned us to retire to family prayers and to our peaceful couches—each and all as tranquil and happy, and as unmindful of to-morrow's trials as ever the household of the Vicar of Wakefield could be."

It has been said, over and over again, that the life of a student and man of letters seldom affords much to relate of a personal character, and the life of Mark Antony Lower can hardly be said to be an exception to this rule.

Taking up his story at the point at which he may be presumed to have laid down his pen, and, noticing in passing, that he was the youngest of six sons, four of whom died in infancy, it may be mentioned that his first essay in the vocation which he made the business of his life during the greater part of it, was as an assistant to his sister, who opened a school at Easthothly, in 1830. He remained with her but a short time, for we find him attempting to establish a school for himself in the same year at Cade Street, in the parish of Heathfield, where he lodged during the week, returning home to his father's on the Friday or Saturday, as circumstances dictated. After