human
Jacob Faithful, how is this? thine head is good yet wilt thou refuse learning. Tell me now, what does _c-a-t_ spell?
gpt
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?
human
It spells mat only, silly boy; the chafing will be on my part directly. Now, Jacob, what does _d-o-g_ spell?
gpt
Dog-kennel.
human
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?
gpt
Fur cap,
human
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?
gpt
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?
human
Yes, sir,
gpt
Upon the same principle, what does _r-a-t_ spell?
human
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,
gpt
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,
human
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!