Of all types of
humanity the one which he represents would be the most serviceable
to the world at the present day. He was generous, open-hearted, and
if he had a temper, a trifle explosive at times, nobody for whom he
cared ever really suffered from it, and occasionally it did him good
service. The chief obituary notice of him declared with truth that
he was the best public speaker Bedford ever had, and the committee
of the well-known public library resolved unanimously "That this
institution records with regret the death of Mr. W. White, formerly
and for many years an active and most valuable member of the
committee, whose special and extensive knowledge of books was always
at its service, and to whom the library is indebted for the
acquisition of its most rare and valuable books." The first event
in my own life is the attack by the mob upon our house, at the
general election in 1832, to which I have referred. My cradle--as I
have been told--had to be carried from the front bedroom into the
back, so that my head might not be broken by the stones which
smashed the windows.
The first thing I can really see is the coronation of Queen Victoria
and a town's dinner in St. Paul's Square. About this time, or soon
after, I was placed in a "young ladies'" school.
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