Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson

" Memorials," from which much interesting information about the author may be gleaned, although unfortunately the book is but imperfectly supplied with dates, even in relation to the principal events of his life. It appears that his mother, who died in his early childhood, had not only destined him for the ifiedical profession, and sketched out the road by which he was to attain to it, but that she had also succeeded in impressing upon him the value and the importance of the work which he would be called upon to perform. His father, who lived to a great age, was anxious to carry the maternal wishes into effect; and hence the whole training of the future physician was so directed as to have some bearing upon his intended profession. He was first sent to a dame school, presumably in his native village; and, after a short time at a preparatory school of a more advanced character, he went to another, at which he remained for some years, and of which we are only told that it was in Leicestershire, and that it was presided over by the Rev. W. Young Nutt. Of this school young Richardson seems to have retained none