My birthplace.—My father and mother.—Circumstances of their marriage.—Their short married life.—Birth of their child.—Death of my mother.—Her character and habits.—My father as a widower.—Dulness of his life.—Its degradation.
CHAPTER III
1835-1841.
My childhood is passed at Barnley with my aunts.—My grandfather and grandmother.—Estrangement between Gilbert Hamerton and his brother of Hellifield Peel.—Death of Gilbert Hamerton.—His taste for the French language.—His travels in Portugal, and the conduct of a steward during his absence.—His three sons.—Aristocratic tendencies of his daughters.—Beginning of my education.—Visits to my father.
CHAPTER IV.
1842.
A tour in Wales in 1842.—Extracts from my Journal of this tour.—My inborn love for beautiful materials.—Stay at Rhyl.—Anglesea and Caernarvon.—Reasons for specially remembering this tour.
CHAPTER V.
1843-1844.
A painful chapter to write.—My father calls me home.—What kind of a house it was.—Paternal education and discipline.—My life at that time one of dulness varied by dread.