5t»^S ^orjiaT Softool . . : Southern Branch of the University of California Los Angeles Form L I I h i n book is 1)11*! on the lusl iliiu- Itftinped helm JUL 2 1 192ft MAY 7 1W APR 3 1957 IG 4 1962 5/ /o l ( PUBLIC SCHOOL EDUCATION: A LECTURE DELIVERED AT THE ATliKX.i:: M ; TIVERTON. BY THE UGHT HON. SIR J.* T. COLERIDGE, D.C.L. SECOND EDITION. LONDON: JOHN MUBBAY, ALBEMABLE STBEET. 1860. Tin right ol Ti-antkition u r-served. Loajxw: I'ui.Mt i) in w. CLOWES utn ohs, stampord s>tbeet, a.m> < BABIMa < i:<>^-. NOTICE. In preparing the following Lecture for publication I have made both additions and corrections, but I have Dot altered its original conception or character. T1ih must he remembered in reading it — it does not aspire to be considered a complete development or discussion of the important subject of which it treats Still I liope nothing 1ms been said, which is not true in substance ; and I am sure nothing has been intended to be said, but in a truthful and candid spirit. 1 am not so unwise as to expect that all - will agree in my opinions, or subscribe to my suggestions ; and I am afraid that there may be soni< especially among the authorities of Eton, to whom I may give pain by my remarks. I beg them to believe that this is matter of serious concern to j v NOTICE. myself. May I venture also to express the wish, that the pain I give may not he allowed to prevent their bestowing on my suggestions that candid consideration, without which they can have no avail. whatever there possibly may be in them of truth or value ? CONTENTS. PAGE Subject of the Lecture 9 Increased political activity of the Lower Orders .. .. 10 Influence of Education on all ranks 11- Education of the Middle and Higher Classes 12 Public Schools 12 Definition of a Public School 13 The Tiverton School 13 Influence of similar schools compared with that of the great Public Schools 14 Position of the Masters in the lesser Public Schools .. 14 Success of the Head Master at Tiverton 15 lolarsbips for future award 16 Eton 17 Merits of other great Public Schools 18 Influence of religious zeal 18 Foundation of Eton by Henry VI 19 Design of the Founder 21 William Paston at Eton 21 Ti i e Eton boy of the 15th century 22 Foundation of King's College 23 Vitality of the great Colleges 24 Discipline of Public Schools 25 Tendency of the Eton system 26 Influence of traditions and local circumstances .. .. 27 \i CONTENTS. TACK :i US The Chapel Playgrounds 29 with Eton 31 Henry VI. 'a Foundation 32 Present staff of the School 33 Number of Scholars 33 Collegers— Oppidans 33 Division into Upper and Lower Schools 34 Obj to large Dumber i ars .">."> Arrangements for Training and Instruction 36 Private pupils 37 Popular Tutors overworked 39 A>s!>tavi-.M \-i ; ks 40 Former faults in their mode of appointment now in some measure remedied 41 Drudgery entailed on them 45 Masters for Mathematics, Modern Languages, &c. .. ! i; " Professional" teaching sirable !7, Gl Alleged want of reality in Mathematical teaching at Eton Decline in Classical Scholarship Composition 54 [mproved religious training 57 Tin-: Head Mabteb 58 Dr. Arnold 58 [mportance of the post of Head Master at Eton .. .. 60 Necessary qualifications 63 Head Master's Class 62 Professional education 65 Flexibility of system desirable 67 CO Nil,. NTS. v ii I'Ai.l I'm tie conduct of Parents 68 Sumptuary restraints 69 f-education 71 ["he Newcastle Scholarship and Medal 73 Disproportion between Collegers and Oppidans who have gained them 73 rims of the Oppidans 75 The Pbovost 77 c Walton's account of Sir Henry Wotton .. .. 77 Influence of the Provost 80 The Fellows 82 •1 reduction of their number and modifications in their duties 83 Application of funds so gained 87 ^estions as to Assistants 88 The College Statutes 89 Impossibility of observing them in the letter .. .. 91 Alterations in the spirit of the Founder's wishes lawful and desirable 92 Conclusion — Influence of Public Schools on the cha- racter of the English Gentry 93 PUBLIC SCHOOLS. Ladies and Gentlemen — I do not feel that I need any apology for complying with a request very kindly made to me, that I should lecture in this place. The calls of a busy professional life, and those which since my retire- ment have grown out of it, have made me too much a stranger to my native place ; the tie of birth, however, never ceases to be felt. I left Tiverton very young, but the strong impressions of early childhood, and the happy traditions which I received from my parents respecting it, have always made my feelings towards this place those of strong affection. I come among you with the greatest pleasure, and I ask you to receive me as a fellow- townsman. In looking out for a subject for my Lecture, I thought I might hope as reasonably to afford you some little amusement, and perhaps information, by devoting the time to Public Schools and Universi- ties, as I could by the selection of any other topic. B 10 PUBLIC SCHOOLS. Education has for many years been the matter to which, after my profession, and after the reading which no man may neglect, my mind has most habi- tually turned. I feel the deepest anxiety for its sj tnad and improvement among all classes. Next to our religion, from which, indeed, in my opinion it can never be wisely separated, it is the interest of all others the most important in its bearing — the nearest to universal in its extent ; all classes, every individual, depend more or less upon it for develop- ment — strengthening, purifying, and adorning. And as the wants of the country in regard to education are very pressing generally, so, as it seems to me, the circumstances of the times make the call for extension and improvement more peculiarly urgent. I have said before, and I repeat it now, — because the observation is in place, and because I am convinced it is a truth which cannot be too frequently urged, — the irresistible tendency of the times is not so much to increase as to bring into activity the political power of what are commonly called the lower clae of society; this is so marked a tendency, so general and so regular in its advance, and proceeds on such manifest and such vigorous springs of action, that it would be presumptuous to pronounce it an evil. In itself it seems to me not dangerous. I have no fear NECESSITY FOR EDUCATION. 11 of the lower orders merely as such. The danger arises from our neglect of duties, which at all times and under all circumstances, but now especially, are incumbent on us in regard to them and to ourselves. If farmer and labourer, if master and mechanic, are imbruted in a common ignorance, there is danger. There is danger also if the farmer be more ignorant than his labourer, or the master unequal to the me- chanic who toils in his workshop. There is danger again if the higher orders relax into intellectual sloth, and throw away the manifold advantages of improve- ment which Providence has placed within then reach : the common ignorance, the disproportionate know- ledge, the criminal neglect, are, from different causes, equally the source of danger. With the blessing of God the preventive is obvious : first, in order that the growing power may be used wisely and justly, to the improvement of society, not to its uprooting, we must educate the agents, we must try to make them fit to exercise the privileges and functions which will be cast on them ; secondly, in order to preserve our own just place and proportions, we must be diligent in our own education. It will not do to rest on traditions, on ancient privileges ; if we will lead, we must make ourselves fit to be leaders ; if even we will float with the cm-rent, and not be over- ly 12 PUBLIC SCHOOLS. whelmed by it, we must, by discipline and training; Irani to throw cut otir intellectnal powers with the strongest and besl trained; we must l>e able to ke out with the most vigorous and skilful swim- mers in the race ; while all around OS, the underwood of the forest, is making vigorous shoots, our own growth must not stand still, lest haply we should be overgrown and stilled. And let us feel neither grudging nor dismay at this. The stream which we cannot stop, and which will certainly overwhelm us if we attempt to stop it. we may, if we qualify ourselves properly, still make the source of abundant blessing ; hut our ability to do so, depend on it, can- not come without diligent self-improvement. It is to one mode of performing this great duty — that is to the education of what are called, ami what, for convenience, 1 call, the middle and higher classes — that I wish to call your attention; but the most extended limits of a lectim — and I fear you will find I have extended them somewhat unreason- ably — forbid my attempting to enter on the whole Bubject. I must confine myself to remarks — and those necessarily of almost a superficial, certainly a very general character — on one gnat class of agents in the work — our Public Schools. We all know what is popularly understood by a DEFINITION OF A PUBLIC SCHOOL. L3 Public School, although it may not be easy to give a definition at once si net and complete. Mere gn Qess of buildings ami aumber of scholars, or the pur- euing the same course of instruction which is jammed at Eton or Winchester, will not make a school public. No one would call a school public unless it had a permanent foundation. lt< continued existence must not dep nd on the will of any individual, or number of persons associated together for the time being, nor on the popularity of any teacher or teachers ; it must be public in its character, it must have some- thing eleemosynary in its constitution. Children who satisfy certain conditions of parentage, or birth, or fortune, or other qualifications, must have an inchoate right to be admitted. It ought to have public buildings, and it usually, if not necessarily connected by endowments with one or both of our great Universities. You will observe, by way of illustration, in passing, that according to these tests the school which Peter Blundell (all honour be to his me- mory!) founded hi this town, is unquestionably a Public School — not, indeed, to be put side by side with those which are popularly called the great Public Schools ; not diffusing its benefits bo •widely, not so important to the Nation at large, yet in its 1 1 ruBLic school- sphere calculated to accomplish a great work; at thi^ moment serving the public with increased and increasing osefulni as, capable of becoming, if" its statutes, so to call them, are construed with proper liberality, a great local centre of improvement; and supplying to parents, who are unable or unwilling to send their children to greater distances, excellent teaching, excellent general preparation either for the Universities or for the professions to which they may be destined. I have said that such a school as this cannot be put side by side with the great Public Schools — and this is true, school being compared with school; but when we remember the superior number of these lesser Public Schools — how they are to be found in nearly all the ancient considerable towns df the kingdom, and what a very large number of scholars are educated by them — I do not know whether in the aggregate they do not constitute an interest fully as important as that which is represented l>y the greater schools. The position of the masters, especially the Head Mister, in one respect may seem less desirable than that of those who hold corresponding situations in the greater schools. They are less in the sunshine ; their labour attracts less public notice, and earns for them less distinction and less pecuniary reward ; it Tin; TIYKUTo.N s< iimol. | ;, maybe thai they have to expend their care on pupils less brilliant, and who less satisfy the hopes of as ambitions teacher. Bat on the other hand th.\ are more independent in their course, less bound by old traditions and precedents. The decline, too, or the eminence of their school depends more on theni- selves personally, and they have therefore a stronger Btimulus to exertion. I say nothing of higher mo- s; to i every one engaged in education, in what- ever department or degree, if lie rightly understands his mission, will feel himself under the influence of the highest which can actuate man in the discharge of any duty. And here I shall not satisfy my own feelings, nor should I do justice, bare justice, if I passed on without a word of congratulation to your Head Master on the success of his labours in the school — labours commenced under the greatest discourage- ments, and from which I cannot but think the appropriate rewards are still withheld. I congra- tulate him, however, on the much-improved pros- pects of the school. I trust there is now r no reason why Tiverton School should not be more extensively useful, and stand higher in character than it lias ever done. It is right to let it be generally known that every year it will henceforward have the great ad van- It; PUBLIC SCHOOLS. (age of a public examination here by two gentlemen Benl respectively from Oxford and Cambridge, with one nominated by the Feoffees, who will elect to two valuable scholarshipfl at Balliol and Sidney Susi Colleges. These will be the reward- of industry and ability impartially bestowed. They will make the attainment of a University education easy to lads whose parents are not wealthy, and mil open to them the honours and emoluments of the Universities. It is true that the Commissioners both for Oxford and Cambridge have taken away the right to succeed as of aourse to close fellowships; but I look on this as no loss to the school. The lads who win the scholarships will, if their conduct be good and their industry be continued, win for themselves open fellow- ships, as the Colleges in both Universities are now constituted ; and a fellowship won is a much higher bene tit than one succeeded to. My position here this evening, and the personal interest I take in Tiverton School, have led me to say thus much on Public Schools of the class to which it belongs; but the greater Public Schools of the country are my special subject, and to them I now proceed. "When 1 fust determined to make these schools the subject of my Lecture, I had hardly realised to ETON. 17 myself in lull measure how wide a field t 1 would open for remark, and how difficult it would be to bring within its compass what I should wish to say upon them, in such a manner as to be neither superficial nor tedious. I am, indeed, more anxious as to the former than the latter; but as I have indoned the idea of including the Universities within the compass of my Lecture, so 1 am compelled to make a farther limitation, and I shall accordingly confine my remarks in detail, and my illustrations, principally t<> one school — to Eton. I select Eton not merely because I know more about it than about any other, and what I shall say upon it will be there- tore probably more accurate; but because I conceive it to be from its size and its composition at once the most important of all the Public Schools, and also the most complete and accurate type of the class to which it belongs. Let me, too, at once admit that I may have been influenced by my filial fondness for Eton. I look back on my education there with a gratitude yearly increasing, and to increase, I feel sure, so long as my life and intellect shall be spared me. But I am not blind to her faults, and I intend to speak of her with affection and reverence un- doubtedly, but at the same time with impartiality and freedom. Freedom so qualified, I trust, will 18 rur.Lic schools. doI be takes amiss by those who may seem to be affected by it. Nothing I shall say. moreover, will, I trust, be taken as if I were depreciating the other great schools, or implying any unfavourable com- parison in regard to them. I well know what may be said for Winchester and West minster, for Harrow and Ruehy: the University Calendars, the elections at Colleges, luar testimony to their merits; their matured fruits are before the world : they may well be proud of the love and honour which they de- servedly receive from their most distinguished pupils. It is not my observation, but the true and just observation of one whose name, if I were to mention it, would deservedly carry greater weight than mine on this subject, with all denominations and parties in religion and politics — that the great engine of educa- tion in England is not the civil power, but religious zeal — zeal, indeed, which may in part be animated by the desire of propagating peculiar opinions. But when will religious zeal be found without this ele- ment? That which is true now, and which explains in great part the spread of education among our poorer classes, was true, in itself and with its quali- fication, in old times; as those who are familiar with the charters and statutes of our colleges and schools IIKM'Y VI. FOUNDEB. l'.l well know. It was true in regard of Eton. Henry, of Windsor, was always a sincere! y ami zealous) y reli- gious man ; ami probably in youth and early manhood la was of stronger intellect than from sickness he nne iii later life. Born on S. Nicholas' Day, 6th December, 1421, and succeeding to the throne in Sep- iber, 1 [-'2. he bail scarcely attained bis twentieth '■ when he commenced the foundation and building of his two celebrated Colleges— of King's, at Gam- bridge, ami the Royal Collegeofthe Blessed Mary of Eton nigh Windsor, at Eton — both of these parts of one well-considered scheme; for he had learned from the example of Wykeham that for the purposes of education, religious and general, it imported much for r.'inplrteness to carry on at the University the edifice of which he laid the foundation at school. In his charter to Eton, which issued in the nineteenth year of bis reign, he says that from the very commence- ment of his riper age it had been the sedulous and habitual thought of his mind how, and in what way, and by what royal munificence, he could do fitting honour to " the Church bis mother, and the spouse of the Son of God," and this appeared to him the fittest mode. Religious service was no doubt the thought first in order in his mind, but be was able to see that education was the necessary complement to this, and therefore to his Provost, his Pri 3ts, his Clerks, his 20 PUBLIC SCHOOLS. Choristers, his Aim-men, he added from the very be- ginning poor scholars, who were to learn grammar, and B Master and lower Ml ster who were to teach them gratuitously. Nor did he stop here. It is very remarkable, and I beg to call the attention of those who have been accustomed to think of him as little other than a royal monk to this fact, that his mind was enlarged enough at least t<> contemplate some- thing more even than the education of a few poor scholars : as he meant to carry these from the School to the University, so he seems to have desired that his school should, and also foreseen that it would, become a centre of education to the Nation at large, to which numbers might flow from all parts of Eng- land ; and therefore he expressly lays it on his masters to teach all others whomsoever and whence- soever from his kingdom of England, who should repair to his College, without exacting money or any other reward — "alios quoscuinque et unde- cumque do regno nostro Angliffl ad dictum Col- legium confluentes, in rudimentis grammaticae gr.v absque pecunias aut alterius rei exactions del informare." I need scarcely inform you that "grammaticae" in statutes of this period means much more than grammar in our modem popular use of the term. In the commencement of the Eton Sta- tutes Henry does hut amplify the expression of DESIGNS OF FOUNDERS. 21 dea when, describing his objecl to be the honour of he name of the Crucified and the mosi glorious Virgin Marj his Mother, the exaltation of the Chris- ian Faith and the advancement of Holy Church, the ncrease of Divine worship, he adds, "the liberal arts, nces, and fecultdes"— "liberaliumque artium, •itiiiriiin, et facultatum augmentum." People who ire prone to find nothing but bigotry and supersti- tion in the ages before the Reformation, and who think thai the present Bizeand grandeur of our Public Schools is but a happy accident, or the result of independent causes in modern times, and beyond the I conception of the Founders, may here learn their mistake. The Oppidans (as they are called) at d are but a literal fulfilment of the original design Eenry. It is curious and interesting to see how i this anticipation of the Founder was in course of being realised, llallam and Sir Edward Creasy have both noticed in the Paston Letters one from an Op- pidan at Eton, William Paston, to his elder brother John. The date is the 23rd February, 1478-9, the ! v th of Edward IV., little more than thirty years ii the foundation of the school. The Pastons, we know, were a respect a Me family in Norfolk. The letter is amusing in speets. Latin vcrse- making, it seems, was even then as now cultivated there — not in Blaster William's case very success- 22 PUBLIC SCHOOLS. fully, it must be owned. "As for my coming from Eton," says lie, " 1 lack nothing but versify! which I trust to have with a little continuan 1 thru he adds a miserable couplet, boasting "and these two verses aforesaid be of niiue own makii o The Eton 1 oy, too, in the fifteenth century, seems have been at Least as precocious in manly pursuits Eton boys in the nineteenth arc said to be. His hostess, whom now we should call his dame, had taken him to a wedding least. The bride's mother had brought a second daughter to the feast. Mistress Mar- garet, and thought probably that she might do as well with Master William as her sister had done with some other happy swain. She bid her " make him good cheer, and so in good faith she did," says he. The young folks w T ere soon agreed, and he, with com- mendable prudence, had learnt all her more sub- stantial recommendations. He enumerates them to bis brother, whom he wishes to visit her. and he finishes with a particular very characteristic. "As for her beauty, judge you that when you see her, if so be that ye take the labour; and specially behold her hands, for and if it be as it is told me, she is disposed to be thick." 1 I suppose he had an aristocratic fastidiousness as to a young lady's hand. * Taston Letters.' Knight's ed. 1840. Vol. ii., 405, p. 121, KING'S COLLEGE FOUNDED. :>.'{ I wish I knew more of the personal history of 3enry. Among the MS. Chronicles now in course jf publication under the authority of the Master of ;he Bolls, is a work by John Capgrave, ' De illus- trious Henricis.' He was himself contemporary with Henry V. and VI., and he inserts an account of them, miserably scanty in details. In that of the latter he cites some very indifferent verses of a versifier of the day, from which it should seem that Henry himself laid the foundation-stone of each of his Colleges. He is speaking of that of King's, and says : — " Luce tua, qui natus erat, Nicholae Sacer, Kex Heuricus Sextns hoc stabilivit opus. Unctum qui lapidem postquam ponebat in Eton Hunc fixit : clerum concelebrando suum. M Domini C quater quadraginta monos* patet annus Passio ciim Domini concelebrata fuit. Annus erat decimus nonus Regis, sed Aprilis Hie flectente c;enu IJeire secunda dies. Confessor Nicholae Dei, cum Virgine sumpta Ccelis, da Regi gaudia surama poli. * Some of my readers will excuse me for explaining monos, — it is mediaeval Latin, adopted from the Greek, for a iniiuk — because he was in a certain sense alone — and for one. — Ducange (Adelung) cites — " Mi lie Dei carnis monos centum minus annis Ista domus clari fundatur Geminiani." —Id est a.u. 1099. 24 PUBLIC SCHOOLS. llnny had contemplated a great school, bul he could scarcely have realised to himself the vast im- tance of the act which he did, when he laid the foundations of these great Col and this may be said probably of nearly all our Founders. That, however, which they conceived in wisdom and a princely spirit of munificence, God has wonderfully preserved, and Messed. They have had their ti. of tribulation and decay ; changes of dynasty and civil war have borne hard on them; oppressors have spo them; internal lethargy, the worst enemy, has be- numbed their energies, or fanaticism corrupted them. But there was a vitality in the wisdom of their original conception. They have always risen from depth ill which they Seellled to be « 'Yerwhehlled. to fulfil their great mission ; they are now fulfilling it with the vigour of youth. Let this expression of feeling be excused in one who has eaten the bread of Henry, of Richard Fox, and Walter Stapledon. Every institution of education has its idea. — that which, so long as it is consistently carried on, influ- ences, whether intentionally and consciously <»r not, and with more or less precision, all its practices and details. I conceive the idea of the Eton system to 1" the fostering in the hoy all thai independence of thought, and permitting all that liberty of action, DISCIPLINE OK ITP.LIC SOIInoI.S. o;, vhitli are consistent with the maintenance of disci- and subordination ; without these a school tannol even exist, much less the scholars make any idvance in the detail of school-learning. But the of the machine is in the former; the latter ire the checks, necessary indeed, but which it is ed t.) make as little felt and apparent as properly nay he. Just as the skilful driver would have his 11 under command, hut wishes them as little is possible to feel the bridle or bit. Some of our Public Schools proceed on the converse idea; with them the problem is how much of restraint and dis- ipline nsistent with the preservation, in a aable degree, of the vigour of the intellect and the generous emotions of the heart ? With them the lads are rather trained to walk regularly than to llv high or far; safety for all is desired rather than excellence even for many. I am stating propositions broadly, which admit, in fact, of many qualifications ; ind 1 am pronouncing no judgment — each system has its merits, each its dangers — but there is room mough in England for both, and the judicious parent will select his child's school as he will his profession, with reference to his disposition, intellect, and other .•ireumstances. There is for many children, it must Lmitted, great danger in the Eton system, i c PUBLIC SCI with men liberty trembles not unirequently od the edge of licence ; and it cannot be doubted that it requires great, very great firmness, discretion, and skill to govern a school so numerous, and retaining boys to such an age, on this principle, so as never to miss of regularity, obedience, and a willing applica- tion of the mind to the course of study prescribed for them. There are other dangers in the system, not to speak of morals : those of idleness and ignorance in the giddy or slothful, of self-sufficiency and super- ficiality even in the ambitious and active. It cannot be supposed that in the case of individual boys thflM dangers are always avoided ; but the opposite system cannot always escape its corresponding dangew. Under any system boyhood and youth are perilous periods, perilous in themselves and perilous for the future; in none are habits formed so easily, none in which when formed they bind so durably. "The child is father of the man." But I think it cannot be denied that the tendencj of the Eton system is to make a boy generous and firm- minded, to exercise his common sense early, to mak( him habitually feel a moral responsibility, to act not under the impulse of fear, but of generous shamt and generous emulation, to be willing and deter CHARACTER OF ETON. 27 mined to keep trust because he is trusted ; — in a word, to make liim a manly boy and a gentleman. In regard to morals, I believe it to be at least as safe as the stricter systems. I am aware I may seem to draw a favourable pictme ; but I describe what is i the natural tendency of the system. It may fail with many who are incapable of being influenced by it, i and it influences many perhaps incompletely ; but | still I think the general opinion warrants me in say- j ing that the Eton character bears this corresponding impress through life ; that where the system prospers this is its natural fruit. The traditions and the local circumstances of a school have great influence in the working out of its idea, and these are favourable at Eton to this result. We all love our schools after we have left them, but Eton boys love theirs while they are still under its ti-aining ; they are happy while at it, and will leave happy homes, which they dearly love, to return to it, with little or none of the usual schoolboy's regret. It is rare to find one of them who is not sensible that Eton has a character to maintain, and that he himself is concerned in maintaining ^it unsullied. He may be, too often he is, noisy and idle ; he is not always proof against the temptations which fall in his way. We may earnestly desire, we cannot c2 lis PUBLIC SCHOOLS. reasonably expect, to make our boys faultless ; hut there are also faults and vices, which other systems seem to favour, from which in the main the Etonian is free, in pari at least, because lie is an Etonian, The situation, the buildings, the park-like play- grounds favour the system. On the banks of I Thames — where, at least to English eyes, the river is of ample magnitude, yet with waters pure as those of the moorland hrook, winding round the Home Park, and beneath the towers of Windsor, the Col- lege, and its Hall and Library, its Chapel and School, stand — a group of buildings imposing in size, vener- able for antiquity, and singularly appropriate in their character to the purposes for which they have been erected. I cannot hope to convey to those who have never seen them a perfect impression of them in this respect ; perhaps I may say that this fitness of character depends on their size, ample, yet not so great as to do away with a certain domestic feel- ing; on their great simplicity, which yet escapes any approach to meanness ; on their obvious antiquity, entirely free from decay: all suejge^ts a notion of • thing beyond a mere school ; of nil' and order not pedantically stiff; of liberty, yet within the i of whoL some restraint. I ought to make special mention of the Chi THE CHAPEL. -J'.l eminent, as it ought to be, above all the rest, and now enriched with stained glass and many touch- ing memorials of those who have prayed there ter days and in recent times. A man's heart must be cold indeed if it does not throb with emotion when he attends Divine service there, and beholds that great assemblage of lads in every period of boyhood- -too greal indeed ryen for that ample building — and considers (what parent or even what patriot ran tail to consider?) how many fears and hopes and loves, aspirations and prayers, are Btirring the bosoms and ascending from the hearts of thousands and tens of thousands in respect of their future destiny. I have i idled the playgrounds park-like. The] too skirt the river ; and, with ample space for cricket and foot-ball, they still have room for venerable trees, solemn avenues, and walks full of studious associations. No Btranger of ordinary feeling can see the outside of Eton without a feeling of admiration that has a character of tenderness mixed with it; and when he a the river thickly studded with skills and row- boats—the cricket-grounds with their players, fleet and active, quick-eyed and ready-handed, playing the game with the earnestness of youth and the conduct of manhood, hilarious with a winning score. :;n tublic schools. and not dejected with a losing one, — while am the intent spectators around he perceives here and there a Master, not amongst the lea>t intent, im- posing no check on the boys, but animating their exertions, — he may well confess that he is behoLl boyhood under its happiest aspect. Well then may the old Etonian feel his bosom glow within him. It was such a vision that caused the heart even of the fastidious Gray to glow with an unwonted ardour ; and made him burst into lines, in spite of Johnson, among the simplest, the sweetest, and the most spirited which he ever produced : " Ali, happy hills — ah, pleasing shade — Ah, fields beloved in vain, Where once my careless childhood stray'd, A stranger yet to pain. I feel the gales that from ye blow A momentary bliss bestow, As, waving fresh their gladsome wing, My weary soul they seem to soothe, And, redolent of joy and youth, To breathe a second spring." But it is high time for me to pass from the idea to the frame-work in which and the means by which it is carried into execution ; and here I feel that while I approach to the most useful I also advance to the most difficult and delicate part of the task which I have set myself. It would be scarcely AUTlloK's CONNECTION WITH ETON. .".1 satisfactory to yon if I limited myself to mere description, though even in thai I am sensible how liable 1 am to error; bul yon will naturally exped thai I ahould express an opinion on a subject-matter so importanl as thai on which I am engaged ; thai I should poinl oul not only bright points bul what I conceive to be blemishes, and how I would advise them to be corrected. 1 am aot afraid in this thai all err through waul of candour or consideration, and 1 hope I am ool presumptuous in thinking that in some general r< 1 may not be wholly with- out qualifications for the task. From my boyhood to the presenl day, my connection with Eton in particular has been unbroken and intimate. I have always lived much with Etonians. I boast an inti- macy with some, an acquaintance with more, of those who have carried, or are carrying on the system; and for four years, from 1854 to 1858, 1 was intently d on cognate subjects as one of the Oxford Parliamentary Commission ; in which capacity more- over I had to join in training measures for the reform and improvement of the sister foundation of Win- chester. Eton is now in the hands of a Commission similar to thai of which I was a member; bul the disagreement of the College to an ordinance proposed by it for King's College, but directly affecting her, ;;•_) PUBLIC SCHOOLS. has created a serious difficulty in its proceedn Without presuming to judge, on very imperfect in- formation,' of the grounds of her dissent, I may express my regret at the result. I earnestly hope that the difference may be accommodated. If left to herself, much undoubtedly is in her own power, but of course she would not be left to herself : mi over there are some things which, in my opinion, are very desirable, and which the Legislature alone has power to accomplish. Henry VI. had in view a directly religious esta- blishment on the one hand, and general education on the other. For the first he provided ten Pri (Fellows) long since reduced to seven, ten Chaplains, as many hired and removeable Clerks, and sixteen Chorister-boys; for the latter, a Master, Lower Mas- ter, and seventy Scholars, with the duty imposed on the Masters of teaching all who should come from any part of England. Over the whole, and with a view to both objects, he placed one Superior, the Propositus, or Provost, who was, by the statute-, to be elected by the Fellows, a priest, a doctor or at least a bachelor of divinity, or a doctor in canon law ; and that direct almsgiving might not seem to have been forgotten, he added to the establishment thirteen poor and infirm men to be provided for. PRESENT STAFF OF THE SCHOOL 33 This assemblage is now represented by the Provi •ii Fellows i priests), of whom one is Vice-Provost ; two hired and removeable ( Hergymen, from the former circumstance called Conductitu or Conducts, who Baj the prayers in the Chapel, and are substantially the curates of the Provosl for the parish of Eton ; a com- petent number of singing men and boyB, the Head . Lower Master, twenty Assistants, besides a ff of seven Mathematical Assistants and sis extra iity Scholars or Coll and, I believe, a certain number of Almswomen. As to the volunteers, •■ qui Bcumque et undecumque de regno An-Ua- confluentes," they have swollen now i number exceeding seven hundred, sons of the noble and rich, and, not seldom, sons of parents i Me nor rich, but who make sacrifices and y themselves reasonable indulgences that they lord their children the great benefits which education at Eton they believe will confer on them; and these are now obviously and immeasurably the most important part of the whole institution. The total number of the school, including hoth and Oppidans, was, by the printed list pub- ed in the month of July last, 821 : the Collegers Lodged and hoarded in the College itself: the Oppi- dans distributed in the houses of the Lower .Master .. I PUBLIC SCHOOLS. and Assistants, and in boarding-houses, which an kept by gentlemen and ladies with the permission and under the control of the school authorities ; hut all within a certain limit and in that part of Eton which is immediately appended to the College. A ninuher so small as hardly to he worth mention reside with their parents in Eton — parents sometimes who have hroken up their establishments elsewh and transferred their residences to Eton, that their children might be educated there at a small expei ThLs numerous body is divided into two parts — the Upper and Lower School ; the latter averaging about one hundred, and composed of very little boys ; fbl the Public Schools repudiate, rightly I think, the notion that their system is fitted or safe only lor boys at an advanced age. Eton at the same time conciliates the natural alarms of mothers by special provisions ; the Lower School has a separate school, distinct lodging-houses, masters, tutors, and playing- ground. But she consistently and properly deM to have the whole training of the boy, to fit him in the Lower School for profiting by the Upper; and inasmuch as in the very beginning more minute and individual attention may seem requisite, the Lower Master has a large proportion of the assist- ants, as many as four, out of the whole twenty — an MMl.l.l; OF SCHOLARS. 35 adequate Dumber, it musi I"' admitted, for the boyH • ! 1 contains, bui not more than snllicieiit ii in the after progress to scholarship de- pending so much on the foundation being thoroughly well laid. It mighl be onpopular, perhaps, but I think it mi^lit l>o useful, it' the Lower School retained its boys for half-a-year longer, and the lower divi- sion of the Fourth Form i'dl within its part of the whole. The large Dumber at Eton is often objected to; it dd that it Doi onl\ increases immeasurably the difficulties of maintaining discipline, but makes the unity of the whole impossible; that Eton is no longer one school, but a boy University, with many hoy Colleges in the several boarding-houses; that a boy no longer knows even by name all his nominal schoolfellows. I own this seems to me an objection more specious than real; with a good system and sufficient machinery, with an abundant supply of masters, numerous and spacious class-rooms, and a competent head over the whole; I see no reason why eight hundred may not be as well trained as live hundred; practically the school is one whole; and I think that the numbers add a sense of im- portance, which at once animates thelxwsand stimu- lates the masters to exertion. But I am also clear 36 PUBLIC SCHOOLS. that Eton has not at presenl sufficient accommoda- tion for its numbers, either in school or outof school, nor aiv its masters sufficiently numerous. In both respects an alteration is needed without delay, or the numbers should be lessened. How then is the education of this large nun carried on? Now. here it is to be observed that both as regards moral and intellectual training, and the actual teaching or instruction (the latter properly considered but as a means to the former), the Eton scheme seeks to introduce a remedy against that danger -which I have observed to be incident to its governing idea — the danger of too little individual at- tention and control. For this purpose it aims to unite a certain amount of personal superintendence and domestic care with the general independence which it leaves to the boys. Every Master, therefore, but the Head-master is also a Tutor, and every boy must have bis own Tutor. Each Master has bis separatee! in school, and in this there may be few or none of his own pupils — these last may be scattered among every class in the school ; but over his own pupils, as their Tutor, he is bound to exercise a peculiar care in ever) branch of their education ; every exercise the pupil does is first submitted to the Tutor for inspection and correction, and then carried into school; every lesson PRIVATE PUPILS. 37 which he La to in school, excepl tin- Baying by heart, is first gone through before the Tutor in his pupil-room. As the boy grows up and his desire of improvement develops itself, his Tutor is the per- to whom In- will apply for advice as to private reading ; and it' he tails to apply, a careful Tutor will himself inquire into it ; all this equally applies as kdvice and assistance on difficulties of conduct. With the Tutor mainly the parents have their inter- course, and with him the other Masters communicate if they observe anything needing correction or altera- tion in the general conduct or habits of the boy. If the hoy l>e what is called a private pupil, for which inconsiderable additional payment is made, the Tu: is with him something out of the usual routine *>[' the school; and the moral relation also 3 more intimate. It is obvious how important an element this is in the working of the Eton system. Look at mere - . ion. A hoy has to appear in >ol with a portion of the Iliad. If the system is faithfully can' he will firsi learn it in his own a ; he will next go with it to the pupil-room, where will he assembled ail his Tutor's pupils of the ■ part of the school, and the lesson will lie gone through, the Tutor making such observations and PUBLIC SClI"ut labour also is seriously in- creased, sometimes mischievously ; there have been instances where a popular Tutor has been induced to accept so large a number of pupils, that it has become irksome, overpowering drudgery ; and it is not too much to say that in such case his duties could not be perfectly performed. The intellectual energy must become languid and dull, whatever be the sense of duty, where wholesome exercise and recreation of body or mind become impossible ; and the consolidation of knowledge, or addition to it, will be given up in despair as impossible. It seems essential to this system, and a necessary protection to the Masters themselves, that each one's number of pupils should be limited. I am informed that the present Head Master has prospectively restricted each new Master to forty pupils, but abstains from imposing this rule on those who are already in the School, on the principle of respecting vested interests ; this seems to me a mistaken application of a just principle ; the Tutors are for the sake of the Pupils, but this is to consider Pupils as made for the sake of the Tutors. Must that which never ought to have been, be continued indefinitely, because individual Tutors have an interest in the abuse ? I can scarcely believe that any one of that respectable body would Ill PUBLIC SCHOOLS. desire that this exception should be made in hifl favour. Twenty Assistants may seem a large num- ber, but it may be doubted whether the system, as I describe it, can be perfectly and faithfully carried out by twenty, when the pupils exceed eight hundred? You will ask me, "Who are these Assistants on whom the school so mainly depends ? whence do they come — who appoints them ? "What is their previous preparation for their very important duties ? Until within a comparatively recent period one could not give a satisfactory answer to some of these questions ; even now there are particulars in which chai seems very desirable. It is no answer to this to point to individuals among them excellent in all respects: such there have always heen, and probably always will be ; but the system did not, and even now hardly does, secure general excellence. The course was this: 1 ovs were nominated to College in the first instance, by the Electors, in the exercise of simple patronage ; and when elected they main- tained their places and order of succession through the school, without any consideration of relative, even of absolute merit, ability, or application. They succeeded to King's College in the same way ; the Electors on both occasions going through the solemn farce of a free election, and having been sworn to ASSISTANT-MASTERS. 41 an honest, impartial, and strict performance of their duty as electors. When the lads were thus floated io King's, they came to a College locally in the Uni- -ity, but scarcely of it in any true sense ; it had no independent members; its undergraduates took no part in the exercises or examinations of the Uni- v> isity — very few of its honoms were open to them ; they mixed very little with the members of other colleges, and in their own they only found their old and, generally speaking, unimproved schoolfellows, living under the laxest discipline. From young men sometimes only in then third year, and thus un- promisingly trained, the Head and Lower Master of Eton, with whom the selection practically rests, each for his own school, exclusively appointed their Assist- ants. There was no previous training in the difficult art of teaching or dealing with boys ; very soon the duties of the pupil-room and the cares of a large house- hold made any self-education in this respect impos- sible. In many particulars wholesome changes have been made ; the monopoly of King's men is broken down to some extent, and King's men themselves are very much improved ; boys are admitted into college only alter a strict and impartial competitive examina- tion ; and the number of candidates is so large — made so in part by this very circumstance — that none 12 PUBLIC SCHOOLS. but boys of considerable ability ai ul acquirements can hope to succeed in it. When elected they maintain their rank only by industry and good conduct ; through their whole course they are again and again silted and tried by repeated examinations, and sub- jected to an admirable and liberal discipline; the re- sult of all this is shown by the honours they acquire in the school, and the almost uniform success of the colleger candidates in the examinations for the New- castle Scholars] up. Again, they can only succeed to King's College after a strict and competitive ex- amination, and when there they find themselves in a well-ordered College, which has abandoned its absurd and mischievous privileges ; they engage actively in all the studies of the University, compete for all its honours, and carry off a large proportion of them. Still it is not enough that a few Oxford or Cambridge Etonians break in on the old monopoly of King's ; I am clearly of opinion that the Head and Lower Masters should really and practically feel themselves at full liberty to select from every source without distinction the best men whom they can obtain for their assistants, and that they are morally bound to act on that principle. A late Provost, it is said, used to maintain that the Assistant-Masterships were the pecidium, as he ASSISTANT-MASTERS. 43 culled it, of the Fellows of King's ; did he consider for whose benefit the offices existed, and whose money made them profitable ? It seems obviously unwise, while Rugby and Harrow and other great schools select from the whole range of both Universities, that Eton should be confined to the very small number who can be drafted from King's, or even to Etonians in general. It is true that men who have been familiar with a system as boys, may run with greater facility in the accustomed groove ; they have not to learn matters of routine, and they know the tradi- tions of the school, and so, in some sense, the ma- chine may move more smoothly under their impul- sion ; but this is surely a small advantage compared with that of obtaining a wider range for selection, and the introduction from time to time of men with new experiences and fresh habits of thought. I speak in no hostile spirit towards King's men, and I entertain a very high opinion of their ability and scholarship as a class. Other schools would benefit much by an infusion from them among their as- sistants. I would have Eton as open to them as it is now, but I would open Eton as freely to the good men of all other Colleges and Universities; and I would entirely eradicate the notion, injurious to the school, and not honourable to them, that they have d2 44 rniLir s< inmi.s. an} thing like a properly, directly or indirectly, in it. But farther, the Assistants as a class should that the special character of the Eton system im- poses "ii them special duties in respect of the great pari which they are to take in carrying it out. To construe and parse, and correct exercises with accuracy, are necessary and important parts of their duties; but even for these, and still more for much higher and more important duties, a worthier view of their office, and continued self-cultivation, ait essential. There was a slang appellation of them in vogue when I was at school, which I should be glad to hear was now unknown, but which at the risk of a vulgarism I will venture to mention, because it so pointedly designates what I wish to decry: they were called Grinders. Now the Eton Assistants might, and should as a class, aim at the position and estimation, and should work in the spirit of the h tutors and most distinguished fellows of colleges; their numbers, their education, their ability, make this a proper ambition ; it never can lie but that among them there will be some pre-eminent in ins and learning, who will reflect a brilliancy over the body, while all will be ecpial to com- prehending the spirit of the lew; reunions should ASSISTANT-MASTERS. 45 be encouraged, in which the studies and the pro- -s of the school should be discussed, general litera- ture conversed upon, individual studies communicated ! assisted. There would be nothing chimerical in this, if their time were wisely economised, and they were not worn down by the drudgery of too many pupils and a pupil-room never empty ; while the effect of it on then teaching and influence with the boys would be admirable. I presume that such a movement on their part would be met in a congenial and co-operative spirit by the higher authorities : the College Library should be thrown open to them — there could be no better place for their meetings — and they should be admitted into free and friendly council in whatever of change or improvement was contemplated for School or College. I do not like to quit this part of my subject with merely a passing word on the drudgery of an Assist- ant's life, because I think it so mischievous to the individuals, and by direct consequence to the School, that it ought without delay to be remedied. In part it is a necessary result of the many subdivisions of the boys (a thing excellent in itself), which entails on the Assistant as Tutor, having, it may be, Pupils in a great many of them, the necessity of preparing his boys in so many different lessons, and revising \i\ rUBLIC SCHOOLS rcisee on bo many different subjects. Take a single example ; the questions in Divinity which the several Masters in each subdivision of the School propose weekly to the boys in it to be answered on paper. These will naturally l>e as various as I judgment, it may be sometimes the humour, of the Master suggests, and boys according to their industry or ability will answer them with more or less research, at Less • >r greater length ; but c< insider the time which a careful Tutor must inevitably expend in examining forty or fifty of these as one item of his work in every week. You cannot cut off this item — you cannot, I believe, cut off any item — but does not this show the absolute necessity for a limitation on the number of Pupils ? I venture to think that Dr. Goodford's proposed minimum of forty is too large. Would any Master of a Private School think of professing the care of forty without an Assistant ? and yet what Master of a Private School proposes to himself any- thing like the varied teaching of an Assistant Master at Eton ? Besides the Assistants specially so called, Eton has a numerous body of masters for mathematics, the modem languages, drawing, and music ; and tins suggests topics a good deal agitated, and of great importance. 1 mast deal only with some of the ADVANTAGE OF CLASSICAL STUDIES. 47 plained and most important. I apprehend it to be now generally conceded on the one hand, that no boy is properly educated — that is, has his intellectual ] lowers properly trained — unless he has acquired a sound elementary knowledge of the science of num- bers and mathematics ; and I suppose all would agree that a knowledge to the same extent at least of French and German — I hope we may soon add Italian — is all but a necessary part of an English gentleman's onuplete education ; and many would say that it was most desirable for every one to have been at least grounded in a knowledge of the arts of design and in music. Some of these, it is well known, can never be so well acquired as by the quick eye and ear, the flexible and imitative organs and muscles of boy- hood. In all this I for one agree ; on the other hand, I shall always maintain that for the training of the reasoning power, there is no discipline so good as the enlightened study of the great masters in the Greek and Iiornan literature ; and I should regret any alteration or introduction which interfered with this great principle in the Eton course. I should regret it even if it were made upon the sound principle of improving the intellectual and moral training ; of course, therefore, and a fortiori, I should deprecate it if done with a view to a direct preparation of boys |> PUBLIC S for their respective professions. Professional teach- ing may or may not be a good apprenticeship to a calling; it is not in itself education. So far, at least, it is clear thai the Eton authorities and myself are eed; for when they arm themselves with a stuff of masters in all these departments, they pronounce their oninion that these things are lit to be learned, and they pledge themselves to the public that they shall be well taught (it -would he an absurdity t<> say that they profess in respect of anything they teach at all. either that it is not worth teaching, or that it is not to be thoroughly well taught) ; nor ought it to be douhted that tiny are convinced that these thi, may be well taught without any sacrifice of that thorough training in the Classics, on which the repu- tation of Eton originally stood, and which they will never deny to he the higher, the indispensable branch of the education they pro eSS to give. Two questions then remain. Are the mathematics, the modern languages, drawing, music, well taught ? Is the teaching of them purchased by any sacril of the scholarship of the School? It is difficult, I suppose, tor any one hut an active, enlightened master in the school to answer these questions with confidence ; the knowledge of one standing without is imperfect ; he must judge by results, and then MATHEMATICAL TEACHING. 49 there is danger of being misled by particular in- stances ; yet there are some circumstances on which, J think, an opinion may be hazarded with some con- fidence. All the boys are properly required to learn arithmetic, algebra, and the commencement of ma- thematics. But if I am rightly informed, the scheme is so curried into practice as to invest it with the cha- racterof extra and private teaching. It is conducted in a private schoolroom, not in a public building — a Blight circumstance in itself, and for the present at least excused by necessity ; but it assumes more im- portance from what follows. The Master who is at the head of the department, and of whose teach- ing every one speaks well, not only appoints, but pays all his assistants ; and these are not placed on an equality as to rank with the other Assistant- masters ; nor did they, till lately, wear the dis- tinctive dress. All who know boy nature must anticipate the result. If they perceive that the teachers in one department are not placed on the same looting as those in another, they are quick to infer that the department itself is considered to be of less importance and lower rank, and the teachers at once placed on a disadvantageous footing. Men of remarkable qualities even so may acquire the proper amount of deference and attention from the 50 PUBLIC SCHOOLS. : their pupils, but it is not conceded at matter of course to their office, and to the importance of what they teach. Where this deference to the tracker is wanting, attention to the matter taught will commonly tail. I repeat only what I 1. heard more than once, when I say that Eton boyfl are reported as not bringing with them ordi- narily to the University, or to competitive exa- minations for public appointments, that proof of sound elementary teaching in arithmetic and ma- thematics which the apparatus presented to the public would seem to promise, and which Eton. professing to teach in these departments, ought to give. A suspicion creeps about that there is a want of reality in the mathematical teaching; it is said that, although within a few years a great appa- rent change lias been made, a numerous staff pro- vided, the learning mathematics generally enforced, — all this lias been without corresponding results, as tested either at tin* I Fniversities or elsewhen . This is much to be lamented if the statement be true. For if there he one principle in schools more sacred than another, it is surely this : to profl nothing more than is really performed, to teach care- fully whatever is taught at all, with as good instru- ments, in as perfect a way, as can he. conscientiously MATH KM \TICAL TEACHING. f,l and honestly. I speak from long knowledge of those who govern Eton, and I am sure I may say they will concur with me in this observation; they are liable to the imperfections of our common nature; their system may have its faults, but false professions would be revolting to their feelings. I am most anxious to have it understood that I am not myself asserting, still less insinuating, the un- reality of the mathematical teaching at Eton; it is in a friendly spirit that I inform the Masters that there are those who are dissatisfied; it is better that they should know it than proceed blindly, be- lieving the contrary. Let me caution them too against reliance on particular instances of eminent success — an occasional High Wrangler proves little ; it is general results that are the true tests. I myself am, unfortunately for myself, incompetent to pro- nounce a judgment either on the course professed, or the results obtained; for the " little mathematics" I brought to Eton I left there, and, owing to the mis- taken kindness of a too-indulgent tutor, I did not acquire a fresh stock at Oxford. But I have seen the rules by which the mathematical course is framed, and how much is required in each part of the school, as a condition of passing into a higher remove ; and I am competent to say that they are framed PUBLIC Bl EOO] with man re, and, I q judge, with ctical knowledge of details — certainly the scheme is entirely free from pretentiousness. The apparent i in every boy such an amount of knowledge as will suffice for an exami- nation for Matriculation at the Universities, or for a commission in the army, or a cadetship in the navy. But in addition to the obligatory part of the scheme is a voluntary part for those whose turn is mathematics; this is pitched indefinitely hig] In the principle of all this it is impossible not to the spirit of it is unpretending, and lias the character of honesty. Tliree hours in the v the portion to be devoted by every boy in the School to the study, and this, I suppose. as a general rule, ifficient for the object proposed. But how am I to answer the remaining question, Is what I may call the collateral teaching pur- chased with any sacrifice of the scholarship properly called of the School ? I believe not, and yet the scholarship of Eton seems to me to be Ik-Iow what it formerly was, and the composition neither reunite nor in as good taste. Perhaps I speak with the usual prejudice of old age, and I should distrust my own judgment : but I believe this to be the d] Inion, speaking generally, of old Etonians. DECLINE IN CLASSICAL SCHOLARSHIP. 53 ami of many of tliose who have from time to time examined the candidates for the New- eastle Scholarship; and theirs is a fair ground for an opinion — the comparison of the best of one age with l best of another. I do not say that tin' best lads of the present day are inferior in a knowledge of metres, or of the minuter niceties of the languages, but that they do not so grasp the spirit of the master writers, have not such a command of their styles, do not approach, with such a master- key oi familiarity in the genius and character of the languages, the difficulties of an author presented to them without note or comment, as good Eton scholars used to do ; and that in composition they have less of the manliness and simplicity of the great classic models; which last inestimable qualities are iificed to too much of Italian conceit and false brilliancy. Scholars only can estimate the degree of excellence which, within my recollection, was dis- played by Eton boys and boys fresh from Eton. I do not think I exaggerate when I say that Lucretius would not have been ashamed to own Dr. Keate's poem on the Immortality of the Soul, or Bennell's exercise on Diseases ; and that Virgil would have found beauties to admire in many of those of my old friend, the present admirable Bishop of Lichfield. ; 1 PUBLIC SCHOOLS. When vt'ii read these you Lose all thought of English writing; not the thoughts, but the modes of think- ing — the idiomatic character of the language — the flow of the verses — transport the mind at once to Rome. Some of you may smile, and think I attach fai too much importance to this ; depend on it, however, it is a surer test of scholarship, and indicates not only a more entire command of the language, but also more cultivation of the mind, than you may at first suppose. But, then, is this a consequence of too much time and attention directed to other studies ? I am fully alive to the folly of attempting too many things — to 7roXka Trpdrreiv, ov&ev ev iroieiv. But I do not think it is, in fact, and I feel pretty sure that it need not be. One or two circumstances I may point out, which seem to me likely to have contributed to it. Boys are incited to exertion in any particular line very much by the honours which it may give them ; the school-honours for composition are the being "sent up for good," which applies to all under the sixth or highest form, — or " sent up for play," which applies to the sixth form only. In the former the Assistant sends the exercise up to the Head Master, who, calling the boy to his side, reads it aloud to the assembled Division ; in the latter the Head Master COMPOSITION. 55 sends it up to the Provost ; and the sending up such an exercise used to be the condition on which, in a regular week, the half-holiday for the week de- pended, whence its name of " play-exercise." By the modern practice this honour, if I may judge from the frequency with which it is conferred, is made too cheap — too much a reward for good behaviour and industry, instead of good composition. But these ex- ercises form the standard of excellence ; boys rank in honour according to the number of times they have been sent up ; and they are content to reach the standard. In my clays the honour was sparingly bestowed ; the Bishop of Lichfield, whom we justly reckoned as first of his day, was, I think, sent up but four times during the whole of his stay in the fifth form, which could have been scarcely less than four or five years. Now the Eton lists show boys with more than twenty marks to their names. I think, too, the number of prizes is excessive, and tends to distract boys from application to the regular work of the School. Competitions of this kind are ex- cellent when used as tests of ordinary application, and they are most satisfactory when they are pre- ceded by no special training of the lads for a specific distinction. I am afraid too, speaking, I hope, with no disrespectful sincerity, that something must ne- 56 PUBLIC SCHOOLS. aarily be attributed to those who are the trainers: in order to good composition practice of course is ntial, because that leads to the • try facility of writing correctly at all ; but excellence needs more than practice. The great models must l»e taught in a masterly and discriminating spirit, and with a congenial feeling of their beauties. The boy's en- thusiasm for them must be evoked — his taste purified ; what the author wanted to how he has suc- ceeded, or how he has failed — carefully pointed out in a nice spirit of criticism. It is very well that minute peculiarities should not pass unobserved, but the particulars which I have mentioned are parts of a higher teaching, and by these it is that the study of the classics is made to do its proper work — that of raising, purifying, and invigorating the critical taste and the in* sllectual powers. Now if this be borne in mind, both in the training to scholarship and for iposition, and also in the correction of exercises — (and nothing affords a better opportunity for improv- ing the teste than the revision of an exercise) — I cannot but think that greater results might he pro- duced, with even less consumption of the boy's time than is at present bestowed on these parts of Iris studies. You will sometimes hear it objected that Eton BiritOVED RELIGIOUS TRAINING. 57 boys have too much holiday; this is said in- considerately or in ignorance. An Eton boy who goes properly through the prescribed work of the school has enough if not too much to do ; there have been instances, I fear too many, in which the bodily frame, not yet matured or hardened, in studi- ous and ambitious boys, has broken down under the labour and stimulus of school-work and extra exa- minations. I, for my part, watch the cricketing, the boating, the drilling, with intense interest, because I look on them as some measure of the general well- doing of the school. Depend on it, it is a bad time for the studies when the sports languish ; when you mote activity and energy of character generally, you sharpen instruments which you may apply to higher pin-poses than those of mere amusement. It would be unjust to pass away from this part of my subject, in which I may seem to have intimated disapproval, without adding on the other side that, be- yond any doubt, there is a very marked improvement in the religious training of the school, and that the knowledge now commonly attained by the boys in the Scriptures and Ecclesiastical History is very isfectory. In part this may be attributable to the annual training for the Newcastle Scholarship, that most admirable and munificent foundation of the E ;,s PUBLIC SCHOOLS. late Duke of Newcastle. A good examination in Divinity is an indispensable pre-condition to success in this contest, and, as might he < xpected, the in- iluence of this extends through the school to tfa who never can be expected to be in a condition to compete for the prize. I pass from the Assistants for the present to the Head Master; from those employed only in the actual working of the system, in the teaching and training of the different classes, to him who, in addition to the same duties as to one part of the school — his own class (of course the highest in the school) — superintends the movement of the whole machine, gives to it the proper inclination, influ- ences its tone ; who is expected to sustain its dis- cipline, purify its taste, guard over its morals. The head-mastership of any public school may fitly em- ploy the largest mind, the greatest learning and talents ; it demands the exercise of the most unre- mitting care, the nicest discrimination, and the most judicious firmness, with the union of a genial tem- perament that sympathises with the boyish nature. Being and requiring all this, it may well satisfy the ambition of a really great man ; and we know that it has done so. What- was the secret of Arnold's success while alive ? What is the cause, not merely DR. ARNOLD. 59 of the universal honour which attends his name, but of the awakened interest which has gathered round education generally since his death ? I think it lay peculiarly in his correct and worthy appreciation of the task which God had called on him to accomplish. He had his infirmities as other men ; he perhaps had hardly sufficient deference for old authorities, and he sometimes erred from rapidity in his judg- ments ; he lived too in times when party feelings, both in religion and politics, were bitter ; he felt keenly in both ; for principles were with him realities, and he followed them to what he con- sidered their legitimate results. Toryism was to him not merely an assemblage of opinions, but a living active energy, which produced, as he thought, mischievous results, and demanded active opposition in every part of his life. But allowing for all that this sometimes produced in manner and expression, he looked upon himself in his school as God's minister, specially charged with the training of immortal souls ; he was to send forth boys fitted to become good citizens, to fight as good soldiers in the warfare ever to be waged against the powers of evil. He took up his task, not as one which was to occupy a few years of the active part of his life, as a road to wealth, as a passport to promotion ; but as the work of all his e2 GO 1TIILIC SCHOOLS. working days, which brought with it in itself its «^\ n reward, and was such a work as it was honourable to be engaged in. T itullian Bomewhere calls Moses the "informator populi," bo Henry VI. calls his Head Master " in- formator puerorum;" and both lie and "William of Wykeham distinguish between him and his assistant the " instructor sub eo ;" and so I think they may shadow forth the distinction between education and instruction, the latter being only one instrument for working out the di signs of the former. This. I think. Arnold felt, and that he was in his work as much when in the pulpit, or even in the shortesl and most casual talk on the playground, as when in school with his class before him : and these were tin- feelings which ennobled — I may confidently say. winch have immortalized — his head-mastership, and made it an influence for good through the nation. So far as numbers bear on the question and the class of society from which the scholars come, the head-mastership of Eton is pre-eminent in import- ance. Above eight hundred boys are there assem- bled, in large proportion sons of the noblest and dthiest parents in the United Kingdom— boys who are to become our legislators in Parliament, and who throughout our counties and cities, in THE HEAD MASTER*. 61 the administration of Justice, and by the wise or mischievous expenditure of their wealth, are to ex- ercise a predominant influence over the happiness and well-being of our population. This, however, as it increases the importance of his post, so it sur- rounds it with peculiar temptations and difficulties. Scholarship in a high degree, taste refined, an intel- lect vigorous and enriched by general knowledge, essential though they be, are not alone sufficient for the task. Firnmess of mind, with a clear judgment, which respects precedents, but will not be fettered by their form against their spirit ; unweariable pa- tience and inflexible justice ; above all, if there be degrees in such qualities, the worthy and correct apprehension of the dignity and object of his labours, with a real love of boys and such a mixture of adher- ence to rule with a wise occasional flexibility as shall get the best out of ordinary natures and yet allow scope for extraordinary genius — all these are necessary to complete what is required in a good Head Master. I know I pitch the standard high, and few perhaps, if any, have ever risen to it ; but this I conceive is what the Head Master should have before his eyes, and always be striving to rise to. At Eton, the Head Master is wisely relieved from all the cares of a boarding-house or private tuition'; lij PUBLIC SCHOOLS. be has no interests which compete with those of his Assistants, lie has no temptation to favour or bestow peculiar attention on any particular boys : he lias none of the disturbing cares of a boarding-house; his office is rightly held to be — " Magna mentis opus nee de lodice paranda Attonitac." — About the first forty boys form his class in school, whose age and acquirements render them susceptible of a higher teaching than would be suitable for b lower down. Commonly, boys of industry and ability do receive incalculable advantage from the last year, or, it may be, nearly two, dming which they form part of this class. They are passing from boyhood into youth — the teaching of the school is rising into that of the university. The footing on which the lads stand is proportionately raised — they are themselves charged in some degree with maintaining order below them, and they are encouraged to a more manly and confidential intercourse with the Head Master. It is obvious what a call is here made on the individual on whom devolves the duty of teaching and governing such a class as this. Be sure that among them, even when diligent, reverent, and well-conducted, there will not be wanting sharp THE HEAD MASTER'S CLASS. 63 judgments and a proneness to judge, — a keen sense of humour, — perhaps, above all, a great contempt for anything little, or mean, or pretentious ; but at the suae time there will always be found great apprecia- tion of real learning and talent, and a perfect enthu- siasm for honesty, simplicity, fairness, and good temper. I have hinted at some of the matters which tax the Head Master's intellectual and moral powers '■rely. Two or three of these, which are very pressing, 1 will remark on more in detail. Public schools, of course, must have their settled scheme of teaching, both as to what is to be taught and in what order and manner. But all boys have Dot the same intellects, tastes, inclinations, or even wants ; they are not destined all for the same course in life, nor even for the same completion of their education. I may think that education is best com- pleted by the University, and the course at a public school has been commonly framed with reference to that completion. But circumstances often prevent this from talcing effect — the navy and army, com- merce, the colonies, the public service, all make their draughts from public schools, and intercept boys in their progress to Oxford and Cambridge; and most desirable it is for all these to be largely 64 PUBLIC SCHOOLS. filled from those who have, op to a certain age Least, formed their habits, ways of thinking, and youthful friendships in the stir and competition and broad intellectual training and trial of the public school. What is to be done in regard to these differenc Some have suggested that at a certain time, and when a certain part of the school has been reached, the school should be in some measure divided : and that the boys not destined for a learned profession should then enter on a course — not indeed entirely separate from the general course, nor directly and clusively professional, yet framed with a view to some special preparation for their separate destinies in life. There would be, of course, difficulties in arranging the details of such a plan, which, however, 1 suppose might be overcome; something indeed like this has been attempted in what is called the Army Class at Eton. I do not rest my objection to the scheme on its difficulties; but, plausible as the argument is for it, I confess to great doubts as to the wisdom of the conception. The general course of the school must be considered not as a preparation merely for the Universities or the learned professions, and ao in truth itself in spirit professional. Its real object is the general preparation of the mind and heart for PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION. 65 the duties of manhood— equally important therefore for the soldier or the colonist as for the clergyman or lawyer at home. It follows then that, if from gsity you shorten the period devoted to it, if the boy is to he removed to a profession earlier than his companions, the more earnest and unbroken should be his application to the ordinary school course — assuming undoubtedly that that course is itself wisely framed for its greal purpose. It may be said to the parent — ''You think your boy must remain for so many years at school in order to his reaping the advantages you expect from his going there at all. 1 1 , selecting for him this or that school, you pro- nounce yoiu- opinion that there, constituted as it is, you will, upon the whole, best procure for him what you desire to procure by school training. Is it not then unwise to distract his attention from that which you agree to be necessary for him in any profession or path of life to which you destine him, during the time of school education, which you have already contracted to the shortest limit of time consistent *~ with its object ?" Observe, I assume a wise scheme. I assume that not merely the classics form the sub-^K** jecl of teaching, but that the mathematics, some of a the modern languages, with perhaps linear and po%. spective drawing, are really and actually taught as 66 PUBLIC m HOOLS. pari •>{' tli*- genera] course for all. I do not ; that a lad so trained will be much behind ona specially instructed, even when he starts on professional life; and I am sure that by and by he will be much ahead of one who has not h so trained; his mind will have at once more strength and more pliancy ; he will have a more ready com- mand of his intellectual powers; for yon make I good deal more than merely a good scholar or a good mathematician when yon train well both in the classics and science. The idea which underlies this suggestion for introducing professional train at school confounds two systems, and tends to spoil the proper products of both. Schoolmasters prol to train boys for manhood generally; those who are to receive boys from their school at the threshold of their professions know best what are the special qualifications required for them. Let the latter demand from the former that they send their lads generally well trained, with good habits and good powers of attention and application, and well informed generally, — and then let them who know best what is wanted for the special purpose, apply the special teaching. Each will perform his own part, and so, jm l'ably, perform it best. But, besides this case, there is another more spe- PECULIARITIES IN SCHOLARS. 67 cial In every great school from time to time will be found boys who, from peculiarities in their bodily or 1 in nt al constitution, have a special turn to one class of study — an unconquerable aversion from or inapti- tude for another; who would be very great in one line — whom you can only compel into mediocrity in all if you force them to travel in all. Many will remember poor Sydney Walker. Greek, and Latin, and poetry were to him the staff of life, but he was half-blind literally, and wholly so mentally, to the beauties of pure or applied science. In regard to siu'h cases, the Head Master should exercise a large and yet careful discretion. To this I pointed when I spoke of the wisdom of occasional flexibility. Such indications are not to be lightly yielded to ; they are carefully to be distinguished from the mere crav- ing for change which idleness generates ; but when clearly ascertained, they should be given way to ; and the Head Master should feel strong enough to relax or entirely waive the general rule, in a case that demands it, equally in one direction as the other — neither spoiling a great scholar by trying to make an indifferent mathematician, nor arresting the progress of one who may be a remarkable philoso- pher by fruitless efforts in language: in both cases preserving the general energy and spirit, and making the best of the peculiar genius. 68 PUBLIC SCHOOLS. There is yet another class of boys who present ■ more unpleasant matter for consideration. Parental are often nol a little unreasonable in different wb There arc some who expect everything good and great from then boys through the instrumentality of the school, an I how impossible this is it' the agencies and examples <>l' home do not co-operate and bias in the same direction — they are vexed at their boy's extras se, or idleness, or love of pleasure, I yet supply him with a mischievous amount of pocket-money, sympathize hi his expensive amuse- ments, do nothing with him, and show him little home but what stimulates him to the very habits complained of. Again, there are others who deli- berately, almost avowedly, disregard the studies of the school, let their hoys see that they themsel hold these studies as of little worth, and show that what they really value is the making high acquaint- ance — the formation of what they call useful conn tions for after-life, and the acquisition of what they consider good manners. What right have such peo- ple to expect that their sons shall do well at a public school? How is it probable, considering the down- ward bent of human nature, that they should ? These are questions sadly but easily answered. The boys are the victims of bad homes rather than of bad schools. But to the schools there is a question oi foXDUCT OF PARENTS. 69 far more concern to be put. The sons of such parents ire commonly very mischievous to the school. What are the masters to do with them ? In the first place I think they should aim at imposing a check on expense and habits of luxurious self-indulgence ; this would be eminently beneficial to the whole school, and specially calculated to diminish the injury result- ing from the example of such boys as I have been describing. I know the difficulty of accomplishing this — perhaps it can never be entirely accomplished —but what reform is ever without difficulty, and where can sumptuary measures be enforced with so many means of success and so little likelihood of doing harm as at a school or college ? Has the attempt ever been made seriously, and systematically, and perseveringly ? Has the evil been presented with sufficient urgency to parents ? Do the masters, in their own homes, by precept, by frequent visita- tions in the rooms of their pupils, by example in their own rooms, at their own tables, in their own habits, sufficiently set before their pupils the duty and advantage of simplicity, the folly and mischief indulgent habits, and do they repress with a strong hand apparent and tangible instances of such indulg- ence? Would a clever boy, who acquitted himself passably well in his lessons and exercises, find any 70 PUBLIC SCHOOLS. difference in Lis reception with his tutor or master simply because he was notoriously expensive in his dress, luxurious in his room, or self-indulgent in his habits ; so that he might see these things t mi ted as reprehensible in themselves ? I should be glad to think that these questions could be answered satis- factorily. To be ambitious of having such boys as I have described simply because they swell numbers or in- crease profits, or because their parents are noble oc rich (and injustice it should be said it is more ofH the rich, and ignoble, and uneducated, than the noble, who are open to these remarks), would be very contemptible in the Master — something indeed wo than contemptible, because he cannot but know how injimous the introduction of such boys is to the really valuable part of the school. But, without desiring to have them, they are offered, and he can- not in justice presume a,u r ;dnst them without trial — he cannot refuse them — but what is he to do with them whin found out? Arnold's rule, discreetly applied, seems to me the true one. Let a boy of this sort have ample warning and the most patient trial. If these tail, he must not only be doing him- self no good, but he must be injuring others. He should be sent away as you would an infectious NOBLE AND RICH PUPILS. 71 ■atient — as quietly, as kindly as you please, with as little disgrace as you can ; so done, the removal may produce on him a good effect, and cannot injure him ; but the safety of others requires the removal of his example, and their safety is the main point for consi- deration. There is great wisdom and no hardship in the Wykehamist maxim — "Aut disce, aut discede." It would not require many examples to eradicate the evil and preserve the proper tone of the school. So far from the school itself suffering, I feel very certain that such a rule, regularly hut fairly acted on, would end in increasing its numbers and raising the cha- racter of its scholars. Observe, I raise no vulgar cry against the admission of the noble or rich — it is equally an advantage for the school and for them- selves to have a large infusion of them. For them, I think, public education has advantages peculiar and incalculable, but only on the condition that they are treated in the strictest spirit of equality by their masters and schoolfellows ; that no indulgence is shown to any misconduct traceable to a notion of exclusiveness or superiority, and that they enter as other boys heartily into the studies of the place. I have heard it said by the parent of a boy at Eton — " We pay a large sum for the opportunity afforded to our boys of educating themselves." I 72 PUBLIC SCHOOLS. hope and believe there is only a half-truth in the reproach which this remark undoubtedly conv< That there is much of self-education in a large public school, meaning thereby education of the 1 by the boys, Bensible masters must readily admit ; and if that self-education can be nowhere so well obtained as at a great public school, a wise parent will not grudge to purchase it at some expense ; hut if that he the only education which the boys acquire there, the masters are much to blame. It cannot be expected to he a wise one or free from great fault it be the only one. But I really cannot acquiesce in the justice of the '•emark, if it be intended to he understood at all literally, or applied at ail generally. At Eton cer- tainly, and I suppose at all public schools, some boys will be found in every generation, who contrive to escape the acquisition of scholarship or science, and who yet are not, on the whole, unimproved bj commmiication witli their schoolfellows. Such lads in after-life very corninonly awake to a hitter regret, that they foiled by their own misconduct, and the easiness of those who were over them, to reap much greater benefits, which they see were within their reach. No one, 1 believe, mixes much in society without meeting with examples of this SELF-EDUCATION. 73 kind. That they should be possible is to be re- gretted, and is a reflection upon the school: it shows, in £act, that a boy may be very idle and still remain at Eton — that the discipline, therefore, is not perfect. But when I admit this, I still affirm that such instances are the exception — not the rule ; — and when they do occur I incline to think the whole fault is neither in the school nor in the boys themselves. There is, however, a noticeable fact in respect of Eton which the parents of Oppidans cannot fail to < >1 >srrve with regret, which the Masters of the school are more especially bound to consider with a view of lining its cause and removing it. I mean the great disproportion which has existed for some years between the Oppidans and Collegers as to the New- ile Scholarship and Medal. This institution has existed thirty-two years. In the first twelve there were ten Oppidan Scholars to two Collegers, and six Medallists to six. In the next ten years there were four Oppidan Scholars to six, and seven Medallists to five. In the last ten there were three Oppidan Scholars to nine, and three Medallists to nine. Considering the immense superiority of numbers of idans to Collegers, and that the former have the advantage of being, if they please, private pupils, F 74 PUBLIC m HOO which is denied to the latter, this difference of numbers is remarkable; boi the gradual decrease of the successful Oppidans, in later years reaching almost to their extinction, is a still more significant fact. But to this, remarkable as it is. I attach much less importance than to what follows. Beside the names of the Scholar ami Medallist, the Examii are in the habit of publishing those of the boys who have been selected for remarkably good examina- tions. I have not the rneans of giving the com- parative results as to the Select with the same accuracy as in reaped of the Scholars and Me- dallists ; but 1 believe I am not far from correct when 1 say that for some y< ars the proportion of the Select has been ten to one in favour of the Collegers, and the number of Collegers who have contended has very largely exceeded that of the Oppidans. I think this indicates more industry, quite as much as more ability, in college than out of it ; and, what is worse, a positive want of industry and interest in the studies of the school among the Oppidans ; that is to say, that, out of two classes, the one at least ten times the most numerous is in the least satisfactory state. Let old Etonians rejoice at the high condition of the Collegers, to which, not onlv in this respect but CLAIMS OF THE OPPIDANS. 75 in all, I bear hearty testimony. Let the Provost and Fellows rejoice in the success of the various measures which they have planned and carried into execution to effect this desired result. Well they may ; and when their case comes under the con- sideration of the Commissioners, let this be remem- bered to their honour and profit. But the Collegers, though the nucleus of the school, are still its least important part. Superior age and some peculiar training may always account for their being fre- quently first in the race; but why are the Oppi- dans, with such superiority in numbers, and at least equal natural powers, not only not first, not second, but either distanced in the race, or not placed, or not running at all? These lads have a right, the country has a right, to ask these questions of their parents and their Masters. Why cannot that be done for them which is done for the Collegers ? It is not enough to admit and lament the fact ; the importance of it as significant of the condition of the Oppidans can scarcely be exaggerated. It is not a necessary state of things, for it was not always so ; nor is it to be believed that Oppidans as a class have degenerated, that they are less gifted in mind than they were, less capable of being excited to industry, or awakened to interest in intellectual f 2 76 PUBLIC SCHOOLS. pursuits, or to a healthful ambition of School Honours. But if there be temptations peculiar fco them which tend to this, these surely are but some of the diffi- culties which every one engaged in education must expect to have fco encounter; fco teach would ljea pleasant and easy task indeed if all scholars were willing and docile ; the Master must make his ac- count of having boys who can do well, but do not through indolence, through the effect of bad example, or through false conceits as fco the value of School- distinctions. It is bis busines fco infuse a principle into such boys, which will open their cms to the mi- dutifulness and folly of all such habits and notions — he ought to be dissatisfied with himself if he is unable, in ordinary cases, to do this — if he succeeds in doing it, he may indeed rejoice, for he has probably in- fluenced the character of his pupil for life — he has really educated him, and prepared one fco be a good citizen who was in danger of growing ap a burthen to himself, and useless, or worse than useless, fco oth( rs. If the difference between the Collegers and Oppi- dans be attributable fco any difference in the training, there can be ao excuse for not removing that differ- ence at once. 1 pass from the Masters and the School to the PROVOST AND FELLOWS. 77 Provost and Fellows of the College. These last, seven in number, are usually elected from the Mas- ters, and the election to a fellowship is considered the reward of long and faithful service in the school — as a retreat for those who have earned a retreat by long labour. But the Fellows are bound to reside in rotation, and on them, with the Provost, and occasionally the Head Master, devolves the duty of preaching in the College Chapel — an office which those who have read Arnold's sermons cannot but consider to be one, in the hands of a sensible and earnest preacher, of one who profits by his knowledge of the school, and addresses himself to the feelings and principles of the boys, of immense importance. In the College, too, resides the ultimate control as to the management and discipline of the Collegers ; this is mainly exercised by the Provost. Provosts, it has been said, should be as they were in the days of Sir Henry Wotton. Pardon me if, long as I have de- tained you, I still read to you the delightful account of him as Provost, given by Isaac Walton : — " Being thus settled according to the desires of his heart, Sir Henry's first study was the Statutes of the College, by which he conceived himself bound to enter into Holy Orders, which he did, being made Deacon with all convenient speed. Shortly after 78 PUBLIC SCHOOLS. which .time, as he came in his surplice from tic Church Service, an old friend, a person of quality, met him so attired, and joyed him of his new habit. To whom Sir Henry Wotton replied — 'I thank God and the King, by whose goodness I now am in this condition — a condition which that Emperor, Charles the Fifth, seemed to approve, who after so many remarkable victories, when his glory was great in the eyes of all men, freely gave up his crown, and the many cares that attended it, to Philip his son, making a holy retreat to a cloistered life, where he might, by devout meditations, consult with God, " which the rich or busy men seldom do,'" and have leisure both to examine the errors of his life past, and prepare for that great day wherein all flesh must make an account of their actions; and after a kind of tempestuous life, I now have the like advantage from Him that " maketh the outgoings of the morning to praise him," — even from my God, whom I daily magnify for this particular mercy of an exemption from business, a quiet mind, and a liberal maintenance, even in this part of my life, when my age and infirmities seem to sound me a retreat from the pleasures of this world, and invite me to contemplation, in which I have ever taken the greatest felicity.' SIR HENRY WOTTOX. 79 " And now to speak a little of the employment of his time in the College. After his customary public devotions, his use was to retire into his study, and there to spend some hours in reading the Bible and authors in divinity, closing up his meditations with private prayer. This was, for the most part, his employment in the forenoon. But when he was once sat to dinner, then nothing but cheerful thoughts possessed his mind, and those still increased by con- stant company at his table of such persons as brought thither additions both of ^earning and pleasure ; but some part of most days was usually spent in philoso- phical conclusions. Nor did he forget his innate pleasure of angling, which he would usually call ' his idle time not idly spent,' saying often he would rather live five May months than forty Decembers. " He was a great lover of his neighbours, and a bountiful entertainer of them very often at his table, where his meat was choice and his discourse better. He was a constant cherisher of all those youths in that School, in whom he found either a constant dili- gence or a genius that prompted them to learning ; for whose encouragement he was (beside many other things of necessity and beauty) at the charge of set- ting up in it two rows of pillars, on which he caused to be choicely drawn the pictures of divers of the 80 PUBLIC SCHOOLS, most famous Greek and Ltitin historians, poets, and orators ; persuading them not to neglect rhetoric, because Almighty God has Left mankind affections to be wrought upon ; and he would often say ' that none despised eloquence but such dull souls as were not capable of it.' He would also often make choice of some observations out of those historians and poets, and would never leave the School without dropping some choice Greek or Latin apophthegm or sentence that might be worthy of a room in the memory of a growing scholar. "He was pleased constantly to breed up one or more hopeful youths, which he picked out of the School, and took into his own domestic care, and to attend him at his meals, out of whose discourse and behaviour he gathered observations for the better completing of his intended work of education." Not quite in the letter, but quite in the spirit, I conceive a Provost might now discharge his duties in imitation of this good and able man, filling up the tramework of the picture with details adapted to our age, but which yet should harmonize with the gene- ral outlines sketched by Walton. The Provost's Lodge, the Cloisters, the Library, the Chapel should have in them to him something of the character of a retreat from the toils of his previous life — of a p] TUP: PROVOST'S DUTIES. gl of religions preparation for the summons to another. Without the prejudices or narrowness of mind which a life too recluse might bring with it, I still think he might withdraw from a large and indis- criminate mixing in general society. It is very desirable that he should be in some sort an object of reverence to the boys, and he should never lose sight of this consideration in regulating the habits of his life. He would, of course, pay a vigilant attention to the affairs of the College, exercise a hearty hos- pitality, especially towards all connected with the School, and, above all, watch ceaselessly over the in- terests of the School in the largest sense. He should maintain the kindest and most familiar intercourse with the Masters and Assistants ; his ear should ever 1 )c open to suggestions for improvements ; like Wotton, " he should be a constant cherisher of all those youths in whom he finds either a constant diligence or a genius that prompts them to learning." The reward of a kindly smile or gentle advice bestowed on them would be a stimulus to others — we little know how great. In a word, he should be a living power felt incessantly in the School no less than the College for good. Well might the old diplomatist and states- man long for a retreat which opened to him such duties and such pleasures ! and it is a happiness to 82 i '" .-: i' si ffooi a. me thai an old friend and schoolfellow now enjoys it. who, I am sure, will not unwillingly accept my poor sketch of them. I have shortly mentioned the F.-llows. their number, the mode of their election, and the principle on which it usually proceeds. In the mind of the Founder they were clearly destined to carry out the directly religious and liturgical part of his founda- tion, as distinct from the directly educational. It is the part, of course, which is least in accordance with the feelings and wants of modern times. The Ro- manist ritual demands the services of a large body of priests. What was necessary, or at all events seemly, for this, is not required in the English Church : and to maintain as many as seven fellowships merely as re- treats for so many deserving Assistants, seems hardly a satisfactory employment of the Founder's ample endowments, or one in the spirit of his statutes. For the Assistants earn for themselves incomes fully large as the Assistants in any other public school; and it would be better for them not to lean on this expectation, but to feel the necessity of saving for themselves a competency. Moreover the College is patron of many benetire< which might well be 1. -towed on them when they retire, and which, if so bestowed, would ordinarily l>e a suilicient THE FELLOWSHIPS. 83 inducement to retire, while yet their vigour of mind and body is unimpaired, and at the same time, per- haps, the freshness of their spirits in the work of tuition in some small degree slackened. The sug- gestions, however, which I am about to make would not interfere with the opportunity of be- stowing the honour and emoluments of the Fellow- ship on Assistants of distinguished merit. The prin- ciple of my proposed alterations would be to preserve the Fellows in all the functions and duties they now perform, and superadd others ; to diminish their number, and so to produce a fund very much wanted at Eton for the increasing demands of education. As vacancies occur I would reduce the number to five, and make the necessary residence of each four months in the year ; so that with the Provost, whose residence I would not interfere with, two of the body would always be on the spot for the service of the Chapel, and such other College duties as the Fellows now perform. Then for the sixth form and the upper division of the fifth, I would have the half-yearly " Collections " conducted by the four junior Fellows ; at the same time that for the rest of the school, those which are now conducted by the Assistant Masters, should be conducted by the Head Master, Lower Master, and two senior Assistants. Those by the >| PUBLIC B< 1 LS. Fellows should be of each boy separately ; his Ti and his Master in school should make b report to them at the same time of his conduct and applica- tion during the preceding half-year; and one or more prizes should be awarded according to the com- bined result of tlie examination and the report. I think that, it' the tour Fellows so employed were to divide themselves into two sets, and the Collections were properly arranged, they might easily be accom- plished in a week on each occasion ; and they would, therefore, at the outside, only tax the Fellows with an additional fortnight of residence during the year. Of course it may be said with truth that the Head Master and Assistants are as competent to conduct these examinations as the four junior Fellows ; but it seems to me of importance that the examiners on these occasions should be other than those who train for the examination ; it is better that fresh minds should be introduced, persons whom the boys con- sider of higher rank, and who are free from the possibility of being supposed to be influenced by favour or prejudice for or against individuals. I will not disguise that 1 am desirous of finding employment for the Fellows, and connecting them more really with the school : and I am glad also to give the Head and Lower Masters another oppor- THE FELLOWSHIPS. 85 tunity of thoroughly blowing the state of teaching and progress in those parts of the school with which their ordinary duties do not make them familiar. Beside this I should be glad to see accomplished, — what however to be effectually done must rather be spontaneous than directly imposed as a function of office, — that the Fellows should interfere in carrying on the education of the school somewhat in the nature of Professors ; not indeed under that denomina- tion, or by regular com*ses, which might interfere too much with the ordinary teaching of the school. But it seems to me that if from time to time Fellows in residence would deliver lectures on interesting and useful subjects — so chosen that a lecture or two on them might be at once entertaining, and contain a tolerably complete elementary view of the whole — this would be very useful to the boys, and, at the same time, maintain a valuable connexion of the Fellows with the school. I do not suppose that a reduction of the number of the Fellows will be popular with themselves or the Assistants ; but I trust the regulation I propose as to increased residence and additional duties will be agreeable even to the present Fellows, and that some of them will be disposed to undertake their portion of them at once. Sensible men must know that they 86 PUBLIC SCHOOLS. cannol hopel b, under the shelter of old us or traditions, the Bart of discredit which arw attaches to persons receiving sinecure incoi age may be too atilitariaii — I think it is, when it defines utility narrowly by that which produces | sent profit — but there is tie opposite extreme, when persons attach themselves to old practices because they are old, and object to novelties only I they are new or personally inconvenient. Nothing is or has been so mischievous to old and renerable institutions; nothing has so provoked intemperate and ill-considered reform, as this spirit. Thoughtful members of the College must sm reflect with some degree of . how little — per- haps I might say substantially nothing — has 1- contributed to the literature of the country, sacred or profane, by such a body of retired scholars and clergymen as the Fellows usually form. When one considers what eminently gifted men have been among the body, and how peculiarly fitted by their previous occupations, at least to have raised the reputation of our country in scholarship, one can only attribute this remarkable and much to be regretted circum- stance to their situations having been considered lather as the dormitory of effete old age, than as the place for studious leisure and useful retirement of THE FELLOWSHIPS. 87 divines and scholars, still in possession of their faculties, matured by experience rather than decaying by age. If it be said they are also incumbents of livings and have pastoral cares, I do not wish to stir the question as to this which the Statutes raise. I am content to see them so, but I must add that their first duties are to the College and School ; the Fel- lowship cannot properly be considered as mere ap- pendage to the benefice which it is the means of then- holding. As the holding of a living is cer- tainly not within the letter of the statutes, so it is certainly against the spirit, if it interferes with any duty to be performed to the College. The funds incoming by this reduction in the number of the Fellows, which I value at about 2000/. a-year, I would devote to the gradual liquidation of a loan, to be at once effected for the purpose of largely increasing the size and number of the class- rooms of the school, to the completion of the College Library, to the increase of the number of the scholars on the Foundation, and to the endowment of a gradually increasing number of exhibitions of the value of at least 50/. a-year, to be conferred as rewards of merit, after a competitive examination, on Oppidans while at school. This is now being done with excellent effect at Winchester. Manv are the 88 PUl H00L8. parents to whom an Eton education might be open for their boyB, if this Bnbetantia] assistance w;ere afforded, to whom it is now inaccessible. Farther, I would repeat my suggestion here, that the College should raise the position of the Assistants in respect to itself. The Library should be thrown open to them ; all of a certain standing, or a specified number of the seniors, should form part of a council with the Provost, Fellows, Head and Lower Masti to meet at stated periods for the purpose of discussing matters relating to the school course, the introduc- tion of new books into the school routine — (a mi tter which ought to be considered without delay) — and h other matters of detail. Such a meeting at the end of each half-year might be very useful, with a view to determining first, and then preparing for, any changes which should be thought desirable in the succeeding half-year. For although I am no advocate for change as such, yet I see no reason for reotyping the course pursued in the school with- out reference to changing circumstances. In t!, s. and such as these, education might come to be considered in a larger and more philosophical way than has hitherto been done; and I see no reason why a Literary Society might not in time grow up, ting great credit on the school, useful to the TIIE COLLEGE STATUTES. S !> public, and specially calculated to advance the in- terests of the school. I conceive, too, it might give a new interest to the lives of the Assistants, and attract to it talents and acquirements of the highest order. In the same spirit, and with the same view in part, I would throw open to the Assistants, under proper regulations, the pulpit in the chapel. It is difficult to understand why there is never any ser- mon in the afternoon service on Sundays : it was an omission not to he regretted in regard of the Blairian Essays, which I used to hear, or not to hear, in the morning when I was a boy ; but earnest and appro- priate sermons would be heard and appreciated, and from whom might such be more justly expected than from the members of such a body as the Assistants ? The exclusion of them from such an office seems to me offensive. It may be said, it probably will, that I suggest some things for which the Statutes of the College give no warrant : in terms I admit it, in spirit I do not admit the charge to be true. But the objection is one which, when put forward in a conscientious and fair spirit, ought to receive due consideration and a re- spectful answer. As an Oxford Commissioner I had to consider it for the satisfaction of my own con- G ill i I" BLIC SCHOOLS. science; and in the result I assented to ev< rye] i (and they were many) which were ordained by the m, with a perfect conviction that we \ justified in making them. The Statnti s of a Colli it is said, are the Founder's will, and the wills of all persons m jording to law are sacred-r-we may construe them, but we cannot make them ; and what IS true of them the year after they are made. is , qually so at any distance of time. There is always danger of error in an analogy, however close. The Statutes of a College are more properly the definition of the mode in which the Founder desires that the endow- ment he gives shall he employed for all time, and a specification of the class of persons who shall enjoy it j both which he must be taken in England to have submitted to the paramount power of the law for the time being. Such statutes creates perpetuity in the disposition of property, which has been contrary to the genius of our law for many centuries, and which is not allowed directly in regard to any disposition of it by will. To compare the functions of a Court construing a will with those of the Legislature determining on whether it will any longer suflfe] to be given to the Statutes of a College, is to compare things sen which there is hut a slight analogy. The Oxford and the Cambridge Commissioners were both MODIFICATIONS IN TIIE STATUTES. 9] substituted by the Legislature for itself, with a cer- tain delegation of its powers. Still, I admit that everything which is valid in law, it is not therefore conscientious to do. I admit, too, that we owe so much to the Founders of Colleges and Schools, that respect is presumptively due to their statutes merely as such ; and that in spirit they are generally so wise, that we are unlikely to improve on them by any change made in a different spirit. But Time, the great innovator, has so altered cir- cumstances, that ancient statutes commonly cannot be observed in the letter. I would desire no better argument in answer to one who should object to all change, than to desire him to keep his College Sta- tutes precisely. The Statutes of Eton are not kept now, and this not merely as to trifles or matters of form. I will specify but one instance among many — a breach in substance by functionaries no less important than the Head and Lower Masters. They are, by the Statutes, to teach those who should come to be taught from all parts of England, "gratis, absque pecuniae, aut alterius rei exactione;" and yet they are paid an annual sum by every Oppidan in the school. For this I impute no blame to the individuals ; what the Statutes enjoin has g2 92 rone schools. >me a moral impossibility, and utterly inconsistent. with the welfare, even the existence, of the school. To alter, therefore, not rashly or violently, bnt under lawful authority, reverently with due considera- tion, and in order to advance the main object of the Pounder, is not only lawful, but conscientious. It is consistent with the most loyal respect for his memo it Ls to advance his purpose by the substitution of means more adapted for its accomplishment. E alteration must he judged of by its own merits : I put my suggestion before the Eton authorities for con- sideration on these principles. And now, Ladies and Gentlemen, I may at lenj release you. I have endeavoured to - .re you the grand scheme of English Public Education as exemplified at Eton — faintly I know and imj fectly, but I trust not unfairly. I am its advo- cate, I own : but for the time its judge also. 1 have not intended to exag its merite ; and if I have not dwelt in detail upon its failures in fact, it has not been because I wished to conceal them, but because my business mainly was with the theory, as upon the whole it operates on th< national character, and nut with its effects here and there for remarkable good or n markable evil. I ha CONCLUSION. 93 not enteral on the comparison of school with school, or of the public with the private school, or of school training with training at home. I believe these to be idle questions in the abstract; no one of these systems is so bad as to be unfit for every kind of boy ; no one so comprehensively or faultlessly good as to be the best for every kind of boy. The wise parent will not determine how or where he will educate his children before he has well considered their qualities of head and heart, their gifts of constitution, tem- perament, and bodily strength ; he may with perfect consistency send one to Eton, another to a private school, and keep a third at home. Between public schools, too, there is always a difference, resulting from slight peculiarities introduced into the system, which may make one better for one boy, another for another. There may also be sometimes an occasional and temporary difference from the common system being better worked for the time at one school than at another. My business has not been with these questions or matters, however important. I have desired to draw your attention to the Public Schools of England as a great fact, well worthy of consideration to those who desire to understand the national character of the English gentiy. Then influence on that character 94 PUBLIC BCHOO cannot be doubted; it operates in manifold ways. To have been together at Eton or Barrow, Winchee or Rugby, is a spell, the influence of which is felt al any period of lii'e, in any climate, after however long an interval: to have been friends there, is a charm which makes fche oldest friendship more holy and tender ; even merely to have been at the same school, and under the influence of the same traditions, t<> have studied, though at different times, in the same class-room, and knelt in the same chapel, is a link which binds together old and young, great and hmnhlc ; which makes strangers at once familiar by common topics and the ssociations. The School is per- under reverenced, youth revives, distinctions melt away; and so "We-llesley, the stately and puissant governor of millions, and Metcalfe, the lad unknown, but just commencing his course from Eton, meet first on the banks of the Hooghley, and feel themselves sons of the same mother. A feeling such as this operates on fcl racter, and it is spread so widely and so deeply as to leaven the mass ; but this is not all, for the education itself is of a kind to favour the growth tain qualities. Of course a strong and uncongenial nature maj overpower it, but it tends in itself with a silent force CONCLUSION. 95 to make men ready to oblige, and aflable, self-reliant, and courageous ; it helps to the development of common sense and dexterity in the ordinary concerns of life ; it helps to make men cheerful in retirement, agreeable in society, no less than to bear their parts gallantly and cleverly in the tumult and conflicts of public life : in a word, it fosters that assemblage of qualities which, combined with integrity and good- ness, constitute the accomplished gentleman. My last words now will be, Esto Perpetua. Heath's Court, September 3, 1860. LONDON : PRINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, DDKE STREET, STAMFORD STREET, AND CHARING CROSS. /C. C. 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