Howard's mother, who had previously borne to his father a daughter, died while he was still in infancy, and being a delicate child he was sent, for the sake of his health, to Cardington, near Bedford, where his father owned some property; and thus in very early days began his connection with the place which was to be famous as his home in later years. As the boy grew, his father, being a strict Independent, sent him for his education to a dissenting school at Hertford, kept by a Mr. Worsley. Beyond the fact that he remained here for seven years we know little or nothing of his school days. But in after years he certainly felt that the choice of the school had not been a happy one, for he is reported to have said, with more indignation than he usually expressed, that he left it "not fully taught any one thing."1 On his removal from Hertford he was placed for a time under the care of a Mr. John Eames, a man of considerable reputation, and tutor in philosophy and languages at a dissenting Academy in London. But Howard cannot be said to have been fortunate in his education; and it is evident that in after years he felt his deficiencies somewhat acutely. Dr. Aikin's statement, that he "was never able to speak or write his native language with grammatical correctness," is fully borne out by his own letters, the spelling of which is distinctly original ; and in preparing his books for publication we know that he was glad to avail himself of the help of others whose literary attainments were greater than his own. "His acquaintance," Aikin adds, "with other languages (the French perhaps excepted) was slight and superficial."1 An exception must certainly be made as regards French, for Howard's own accounts of his travels not only supply ample proof of the facility with which he could converse in the language, but also show that he had no difficulty in actually passing himself off as a Frenchman, as occasion required. It is probable, however, that his knowledge of this and other languages was acquired later, and picked up by him in the course of his travels. Indeed, it would have been something quite unusual had he left school with anything more 1 Aikin's View, etc., p. 13.

than a "slight and superficial" acquaintance with any modern language besides his own mother tongue.

School days ended, Howard was apprenticed to a wholesale grocer in Watling Street; but on his father's death, a few years later, he was left practically his own master, and in possession of ample means, of which his guardians left him entire control on his coming of age, although, according to his father's will, he was not to come into his property until the age of twenty-four. Business was not to Howard's liking, and accordingly before his time was up he bought himself out, intending apparently to live a life of ease and comfort, with Clapton as his head-quarters. To this period belongs the earliest anecdote that has come down to us of him, and, slight as the incident is, it may be mentioned here as illustrative of the kind-heartedness and whimsical humour which were characteristic of the man throughout his life. Many years later an old gardener, who had been for long in the service of the Howards at Clapton, used to relate, that during some alterations which were being made in the house, his young master used to come every other day to superintend the work, and that he timed his visits so as to be there when the baker's cart was passing, when he would purchase a loaf, and, tossing it over the wall into the garden, exclaim to the gardener, "Harry, look among the cabbages, and you will find something for your family."

To the same period must be assigned the first of the numerous foreign tours which Howard was to make. The journey in this case, unlike so many of his later ones, was undertaken with no further object beyond his own interest and enjoyment, and possibly the benefit of his health. Of the details of the tour we know nothing, save the fact that he visited France and Italy; but it was perhaps at this time that some of the pictures and works of art were purchased which afterwards adorned the house at Cardington.

We now come to the curious story of Howard's first marriage. Like his illustrious contemporary, Dr. Johnson, he married a woman old enough to be his mother; and, like Richard Hooker, his marriage was to some extent due to the discomfort of life in lodgings. But whereas in Hooker's case the marriage was suggested by the landlady, who, after representing that he ought to have some one to look after him, presented him with her daughter Joan as a suitable wife, in Howard's case the suggestion was all his own, and it was the landlady herself, and not her daughter, to whose charms he succumbed. The facts are these. On his return from his travels, Howard, whose health was anything but good, was advised to move into the country, and settled down in lodg

ings at Stoke Newington. He suffered from want of proper attention in the rooms which he first selected, and presently moved into the house of a Mrs. Sarah Loidore, or Lardeau-the name is given in both forms. Here he was seized with a severe illness; and so grateful was he for the attention shown to him by his landlady, that, on his recovery, the first thing he did was to offer her his hand in marriage. Owing to the disparity of their ages, for Mrs. Lardeau was over fifty and Howard himself but twenty-four, the lady hesitated to accept. But her suitor was persistent, and in the end obtained her consent. The marriage, which took place in 1752, turned out better than might have been expected. Mrs. Howard is. represented as a "sensible worthy woman," and her husband was sincerely attached to her. He was, as we have seen, in easy circumstances himself, and showed his disinterestedness by settling his wife's small fortune upon her sister. The union, however, was not destined to be of long duration, for Mrs. Howard, who was in weak health at the time of the marriage, died towards the close of 1755, and Howard was left a widower before he was thirty.