I cannot say I believe in inherited talent, but the fact that the elder Leech was said to be a remarkable draughtsman seems to strengthen the theory held by some people. I have never seen any specimens of the father's drawing, nor did I ever hear the son speak of it. Anyway, Leech _père_ had no faith in the practice of art as a means of livelihood for his son, for he informed the youth, after a nine years' attendance at the Charterhouse, that he was destined for the medical profession. There is no record of any objection on the part of Leech to his father's decision, at which I feel surprise; for the flame which burnt so brilliantly in after-life must have been always well alight, and very antagonistic to the kind of work required from the embryo surgeon. Leech's gentle yielding nature influenced him then as always; and he went to St. Bartholomew's, where under Mr. Stanley, the surgeon of the hospital, he worked hard and delighted his master by his excellent anatomical drawings. From these studies may be traced, I think, much of the knowledge of the human form, and above all of _proportion_, always displayed in his work; for in those wonderful drawings, whether a figure is tall or short, fat or thin, whether he deals with a child or a giant, with a dog or a horse, no disproportion can be found. It appears that the elder Leech's affairs were already in such an embarrassed condition, that an intention to place his son with Sir George Ballingall, an eminent Scottish doctor, was abandoned, and after a time he was placed with a Mr. Whittle, a very remarkable person, who figures under the name of Rawkins in a novel written by Albert Smith and illustrated by Leech. Smith's work, with the title of "The Adventures of Mr. Ledbury and his Friend Jack Johnson," was first published in _Bentley's Miscellany_.