No doubt, also, he must have read some Italian poetry with his wife
during their engagement and early married days, for she had a fair
acquaintance with Italian, as well as equalling his knowledge of
German. When he was past sixty and ill-health, cutting short his old
activities, had sent him to seek rest and change in Italy, he took
up Italian again, and plunged into the authorities on the very
interesting prehistoric archæology of Italy.

To return to his early development. There is extant a fragmentary
little journal of his, begun when he was fifteen, and kept irregularly
for a couple of years. Here the early bent of his mind is clearly
revealed; it prefigures the leading characteristics of his mature
intellect. He jots down any striking thought or saying he comes across
in the course of his reading; he makes practical experiments to test
his theories; above all, his insatiable curiosity to find out the
"why" and "how" of things makes him speculate on their causes, and
discuss with his friends the right and wrong of existing institutions.

This curiosity to make out how things work is common to most healthy
boys; to probe deep into the reasoned "why" is rare. It makes the
practical mechanic into the man of science. Possessing both these
qualities as he did, it is easy to understand his own description of
his early ambitions:--

As I grew older, my great desire was to be a mechanical
engineer, but the fates were against this; and, while very
young, I commenced the study of medicine under a medical
brother-in-law. But, though the Institute of Mechanical
Engineers would certainly not own me, I am not sure that I
have not all along been a sort of mechanical engineer _in