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SECOND PART
CHAPTER I. ETON
STATEMENT
THE COLLEGE
Eton School is a School attached to a Collegiate Foundation, the legal title of which is "The College of the Blessed Mary of Eton, near Windsor". All inquiry into the School would logically therefore be subordinate to an Inquiry into the College; but it will be more convenient, for the purposes of this Report, and more agreeable to the importance which the School has actually acquired in relation to the College, to treat the two as distinct heads, assigning to each head such parts of the whole subject as most naturally range themselves under it. The distinction however is only roughly practicable, the two branches of the subject being necessarily entwined with each other. Some only of the Masters of the School are officers of the College, and some only of the scholars are members of it. Some of the members of the College are, and some are not, connected with the School; and the site, finances, and government of the one are inseparably mixed up with those of the other.
We shall proceed, in the first place to consider -
1. The General Constitution of the College.
2. The Statutes of the College, and the Visitorial Authority to which it is subject.
3. Its Endowments, Revenues, and Expenditure.
4. The Governing Body.
5. The Conducts, or Chaplains, and Choristers.
6. The King's Scholars.
The Head and Lower Master will be more suitably considered in connexion with the School.
1. General Constitution of the College
Eton College was founded in 1441.* As originally constituted, it was designed to consist of a Provost, 70 Scholars, 10 Fellows, 10 Chaplains, 10 Clerks, 16 Choristers, one Head Master, one Lower Master or Usher, and 13 Bedesmen. In the reign of Edward IV, when it was deprived of some of its estates, the number of Fellows was reduced to seven. The College now consists of a Provost, seven Fellows, 70 Scholars, a Head and a Lower Master, three Conducts or hired Chaplains, 10 Lay Clerks, and 12 Choristers, besides 10 servants. The place of the Bedesmen is occupied by 10 almswomen.
2. Statutes of the College, and Visitorial Authority to which it is subject
The existing Statutes of Eton College were probably modelled upon those of Winchester, to which they bear a close resemblance. They contain, as might be expected, a great number of provisions which have long fallen into desuetude; and whilst they supply the historical basis for the actual government of the College, there appear to be but few portions of them which at the present day are, or indeed could be, really observed at all. The Provost and Fellows are aware of this; but they rely in part upon a clause appended to the Founder's Statutes,† which they interpret as conferring a general
*The first stone of the College was laid in July 1441, and the two earliest Charters are dated in September and October of the same year. By the second of these Charters provision is made for 25 scholars only and for 25 Bedesmen. The number of Scholars was afterwards increased, and that of Bedesmen diminished. The Statutes were finally completed and accepted in 1446. See Carlisle's Endowed Grammar Schools, i. 48.
†The clause occurs among the "Declarationes, correctiones, et reformatiornes statutorum", and is as follows: - "Item, quoniam diversa statuta et ordinationes per dictum fundatorem edita, cum propter decassum et ablationem possessionum et reddituum dicti collegii, tum propter varia pericula et damna quæ possunt dicto collegio er personis ejusdem verisimiliter evenire, non possunt ab eisdem commode observari, declaramus et volumus, quod jurati observationem statutorum et ordinationum dicti collegii, et in eisdem, aut eorum aliquo, delinquentes, non reatum ant pœnam perjurii incurrant quoquo modo, sed pœna perjurii ubicumque ex dictis statutis incurrenda, si de perjurio alienjus socii, magistri informatoris, vel capellani agatur, pœnam per dicti collegii præpositum et majorem partem sociorum arbitrandum, si vero de perjurio agatur dicti præpositi, in pœnam domini episcopi Lincolniensi qui pro tempore fuerit infligendam arbitrio, convertutur: aliquo statuto seu ordinatione per dictum fundatorem in contrarium edito non obstante." Heywood and Wright's Edition, p. 625.
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power to dispense with any of them - a view of its effect and power in which we find it impossible to concur - in part also upon the general principle of desuetude, to which we have adverted in the First Part.
A MS. copy of the Statutes, with many cancellations and interlineations, exists in the British Museum, and an exact transcript of this was in 1818 published in the Appendix to the Report of the Select Committee (Lord Brougham's) on the Education of the Lower Orders. This is called Huggett's copy; it was formerly in the possession of Roger Huggett, who was a Conduct of Eton about a century ago, and is supposed to have obtained it by illicit means. Huggett suspected, and has recorded his suspicion, that the interlineations and erasures were made for the purpose of assisting the Provost and Fellows to evade their statutory obligations with a quiet conscience, and he asserts that they existed in the copy generally used in college business. We are informed, however, that no such interlined copy is now used at Eton, or known to have ever existed there. Another copy of the Statutes, together with the Statuta Primitiva and the Charters, was in 1850 published by Messrs. Heywood and Wright, and a careful comparison of this with a collated copy of the Liber Originalis, which has been furnished to us by the Provost, has satisfied us that Heywood's edition is, with sundry unimportant verbal and literal variations, such as are usually found in copies of ancient documents made at different periods, substantially accurate.
By the Statutes, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Lincoln, within whose diocesan jurisdiction Eton was locally situate, are made joint Visitors of the College. The Bishop of Lincoln's place as Visitor is now claimed by the Bishop of Oxford, the present diocesan of Eton, who has addressed to us a letter raising this claim, and requesting a decision upon it. We shall refrain, however, for obvious reasons, from pronouncing an opinion upon a disputed question of legal right, which turns upon the construction of the Statutes, and can only be determined by a Court of Law. We must, however, express a clear opinion that it is desirable that the question should be definitively settled. The Provost and Fellows have always, it appears, regarded the Bishop of Lincoln as their Visitor, and desire that he should continue to be so, as he holds the same office in relation to King's College, Cambridge, with which Eton is closely associated.
The Visitors are required to make periodical visitations at short intervals, but this practice has long fallen into disuse. There has been no visitation within the memory of the present Provost.
3. Endowments, Revenues, and Expenditure
Eton College is possessed of large landed property, producing, on an average of the seven years which ended with 1860, an annual income of £20,569; or, deducting expenses of management and local charities and donations, about £16,000. Part of this property is let at rack-rent [full market value], the residue at old reserved rents of small amount, fines being periodically taken on the renewal of the leases. The sources of income, and the amount derived from them respectively, are shown in the following Table:
The total expenditure for the above seven years, inclusive of expenses of management, subscriptions, and donations, and of the customary payments to the Provost and Fellows, which form, however, but a small part of their actual income, was £96,417 5s 11¼d; the average, £13,773 17s 11¾d.
The different heads of expenditure, and the amount of each, during a period of 20 years, are stated in the Answers of the College; and there is a detailed account of all the particulars of expenditure for the year 1860.
*Fortuiti Proventus include compensation for land taken by railways, loans borrowed for building, &c. (no money was so borrowed during the above seven years), sums paid by the Provost and Fellows towards the repayment of loans, produce of stock sold, income tax returned, money received for timber, and sundry small items.
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The gross income of the College, therefore, thus estimated, exceeded the expenditure, during the above-mentioned period of seven years, by a total sum of £47,568 14s 9d, the average yearly surplus being £6,795 10s 8d.
It has not, however, been the practice of the Provost and Fellows to bring the renewal fines into account, or to consider them as part of the revenues of the College. These fines have been divided, in certain shares, among the Provost and Fellows themselves; whilst the rents, with other annual profits of a like nature, have been received and accounted for by the Bursars, and considered as constituting the whole corporate revenue, and the sale fund available for the payment of stipends, the maintenance of scholars, the support of the establishment, and the repair or enlargement of the College buildings. Extraordinary expenses have, therefore, been chiefly met by loans; and these loans have been repaid, partly out of the rents, partly by the Provost and Fellows out of the income derived by them from the fines; but this has been regarded by them as voluntary liberality on their part, and as a gift to the College out of a private source of income, on which the College had no claim. They consider "that by their management of the funds the College property has been improved, and the proceeds strictly devoted to the purposes intended by the Founder, without any personal benefit." For "building and other works" during the twenty years ending in 1860, the College borrowed £19,400 stock, of which £11,351 7s 9d had at Christmas 1861 been replaced by the Provost and Fellows, at a cost in money of £8,422 15s 6d. The whole sum spent in building was much more than the money borrowed, and was in part raised by contributions from old Etonians, in part supplied by the College. One of the Fellows, the Rev. J. Wilder, besides other benefactions to the College, has munificently given £5,000 towards the restoration of the Chapel, on condition that a sum equal to the interest on £4,000 should be paid to him yearly during his life.
According to this mode of computation, the total income for the seven years would be stated at £97,889 4s 4¼d, and the average at £13,984 3s 5¾d, and the average surplus would be only £210 5s 6d. Subtracting sums contributed by the Provost and Fellows to repayment of loans, there would be no surplus, but a small deficiency.
The practice of taking fines and that of dividing them among the Provost and Fellows is believed by them, and by the Registrar, to have existed very soon after the foundation cf the College. This is an inference drawn partly from the general practice of monasteries and collegiate bodies, partly from the disproportion which they think they can discover between the quantities of land comprised in some of the early leases, and the rents reserved upon them. The real value and solidity of the first of these grounds depend upon nice questions of time and degree in relation to the economical usages of past times, such as would require much antiquarian research for their solution. The second is confessedly based upon general impressions which have not yet been tested by investigation. No trace, we believe, is to be found of the fines having ever been brought into the accounts of the College, and we entertain no doubt that the present Provost and Fellows have followed, in this respect, a custom bequeathed to them by their predecessors.
These facts obviously raise two distinct questions, to which we shall advert hereafter. The expediency of continuing to grant beneficial leases is one question; the propriety of subtracting fines from revenue and dividing them among the members of the governing body is another.
The Provost and Fellows themselves appear in some instances to have been sensible that the mode of letting hitherto pursued is not good husbandry, and several leases have within the last 50 years been suffered to expire; others the lessees have themselves declined to renew. Opportunities have thus been taken in some cages of obtaining the command of valuable building land, and of effecting exchanges advantageous to the College. Such an exchange has transferred into the hands of the College property at Eton which formerly belonged to the Crown, and on which houses for Assistant Masters have been built, which are let at rack-rent. The rents have thus risen for some time past in a greater proportion than the fines.
The additions thus made to the corporate revenues have been employed in meeting the increased expenses of the establishment (which have arisen in great measure from improvements in the condition of the King's Scholars), in repaying loans raised for buildings, and in forwarding other corporate purposes.
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The property of the College is scattered over the southern half of England, and is managed by the Bursars (principally by the senior Bursar), with the assistance of the Registrar and of local agents. The Statutes direct that the estates should be annually visited by the Provost and Vice-Provost or one of the Fellows; and frequent visitations appear to have been the ancient practice. This practice has of late years fallen into disuse, except for a short time during the provostship of Dr. Hodgson; and an opinion has been expressed to us, in which we concur, that it might usefully be revived.
The revenues of the College are likely to rise steadily, though slowly. This rise may be anticipated chiefly from three sources - from the conversion of fines into rack-rents, and of arable and pasture land into house-property, and from the falling in of subsisting building leases. The College has valuable estates in the neighbourhood of London, parts of which will, if the present leases are suffered to expire, become available for building, whilst other parts are already let on building leases which have nearly 80 years to run. The probable accession of income which might be gained by running out leases has been computed roughly at about one half of the present gross annual income, or £10,000; we are unable to judge how nearly this estimate approximates to the truth, but we entertain no doubt that the income of the College will at no very distant period have considerably increased, and we believe that this increase may be accelerated by judicious management, and the extinction of beneficial leases.
Funded stock, amounting in the aggregate to £27,632 12s 2d is held by the College on special trusts, chiefly for Exhibitions. An account of these funds, and of the annual receipts and expenditure under each head, is furnished in the Answers of the College. Eight thousand pounds stock, part of this sum, represents a sum of £4,000 sterling bequeathed by Provost Godolphin for the increase of the Scholars' Commons. The interest of this legacy appears to have been unaccountably accumulated by the College, instead of being applied to the objects of the Testator's will. The whole £8,000 has recently been sold out and the proceeds spent in buildings or repairs, the Provost and Fellows regarding it as a loan, and applying a sum equal to the dividends to the purposes directed by the Testator. This transaction, which is in substance a loan of a trust fund without security and to the trustee himself, is evidently irregular.
4. The Governing Body
The Provost and Fellows form the Governing Body of Eton College. We proceed to consider the constitution of this body; the mode in which its members are respectively elected, and the qualifications for election; their powers, duties and emoluments; and the relation in which they stand to the School.
The following are the statutory qualifications of a Provost of Eton. He must be, or must have been, a Fellow of Eton or of King's, must have been born in England, must be a Bachelor of Divinity or Doctor in Canon Law and Master of Arts, in Holy Orders,* and not less than 30 years of age.
The field of choice for this distinguished office is thus a narrow one. It has been stated to us that, at the death of Provost Goodall, there were not more than eight persons legally eligible, and we believe that the number has sometimes been still smaller.
How far these limitations are at the present day necessary or valuable, is a question the consideration of which will properly follow that of the Provost's duties. The present Provost and Fellows think it desirable that they should be retained, except that which requires the degree of Bachelor of Divinity. The Provost should be a clergyman, they think, because the Statutes impose on him some clerical duties. Other witnesses, among the Assistant Masters, see no reason why he should not be a layman. Mr. Johnson would prefer "a statesman or a man of letters". He thinks that a Provost of distinguished position and high attainments, whose mind had not been devoted during the greatest part of his life to critical scholarship and the work of teaching, and who might be expected to exercise an ample and varied hospitality, would be most useful and welcome to the school, and not the less so should he happen to be a layman. The requirement of Holy Orders was, it is well known, disregarded in some early cases. Sir B. Wotton and Sir H. Savile, the most distinguished perhaps in the whole list of Provosts, were laymen, though the former, from conscientious motives, received Deacon's Orders after his appointment. Sir Thomas Smith, elected 1547, and Thomas Murray (1621), were also not in Holy Orders.
*In the Answers of the College, II. 2, it is stated that the Provost must have been educated on the Foundation of Eton, and be in Priest's Orders. The former condition docs not appear in the Statutes, and the judgment of Lord Cottenham in re University College, Oxford, i. Phill. Rep. 521, has settled that the words "in sacerdotio constitutus", are satisfied by Deacon's Orders.
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The right of electing the Provost is by the Statutes vested in the Fellows, and, if not exercised by them within a certain time, lapses to the Visitor. In practice, however, the Fellows usually elect a person previously nominated by the Crown. We have been unable to ascertain when or how this practice arose. It is believed, however, that Henry VI, as Founder, claimed and exercised in his lifetime a power of nomination; there is evidence or its having been exerted, sometimes in favour of persons not duly qualified, by the Tudor and Stuart Sovereigns; and a series of Royal Letters of recommendation, from the reign of Charles II to the present time, is stated to be in the possession of the College. By the College it is asserted to be a usurpation; and on two occasions during the last 20 years the Fellows have elected without waiting for a nomination. On the death of Provost Goodall the Crown recommended Dr. Hodgson, who had not then taken the degree of Bachelor of Divinity, and who was therefore not qualified; and the Fellows, disregarding the Letter, chose the present Bishop of Lichfield. Dr. Lonsdale, however, declined to accept the office, and Dr. Hodgson, having in the meanwhile acquired the necessary qualification, was ultimately elected in his place. The election of Dr. Hawtrey was completed before the Royal Letter in his favour reached Eton. These cases, from their special circumstances, are inconclusive as precedents, since in both of them the person who actually became Provost was the Crown's nominee. They prove that the Fellows hare asserted their statutory claim to a free election; they do not prove that the Crown has acquiesced in that claim or abandoned its own. Sir J. Coleridge states in his evidence that, if the College chose to disregard a nomination, the Crown would have no legal power of enforcing it, and that disobedience would entail no statutory or other penalty.
It should be added that, in the case of King's College, Cambridge, where the Election Statute and the original practice were the same as at Eton, the claim of the Crown (which had nominated Sir isaac Newton) was in 1689 resisted by the College, and after long dispute and much argument was abandoned.*
It is evidently desirable that this question should be set at rest. "I venture", says Mr. Johnson, "to suggest that no more really important measure can be recommended by the Commissioners than a legislative settlement of all doubts as to the right of the Crown to appoint freely to the Provostship."
The qualifications for election to a Fellowship are thus described in the Statutes: "De sociis Collegii nostri Regalis Cantabrigiæ, vel de hiis qui prius fuerant in eodem et ex causis licitis et honestis recesserunt ab ipso, vel de presbyteris conductitiis ejusdem Collegii de Etona, vel de hiis qui prius fueraut in codem et ex causis licitis et honestis recesserunt ab ipso, habilem et sufficientem, aut alias de collegiis vel locis aliis, juxta ipsorum discretionem, nominent et elegant." The candidate must also be in Priest's Orders, and must be a Bachelor of Divinity, Doctor in Canon Law, or Master of Arts. Some of the words which we have quoted may admit of more than one construction. The interpretation put upon them by the College appears to be that the persons eligible in the first place are Fellows of King's, Conducts of Eton, and persons who have been Fellows of King's or Conducts or Scholars of Eton, and that the power to elect "de collegiis vel locis aliis" does not arise if there be a qualified candidate from any one of these classes. The practice, we are told, has been for many years to elect from the Assistant Masters. The possession of an income of £10 a year is a statutory disqualification, but this is construed to mean an income derived from land. Substantially, therefore, and in practice, the conditions of eligibility are that a candidate should be or have been an Assistant Master, educated at Eton, in Holy Orders, and not possessed of landed property. The Electors are the Provost and Fellows for the time being.
Under the Statutes, more than six weeks' absence from College without some plea of necessity allowed by the Provost and Fellows, or some employment abroad, or College business, vacates a fellowship. A similar consequence under the same Statutes follows the acquisition of land or any perpetual income of the value of ten pounds. In practice, the pecuniary disqualification has been construed to apply only to landed property, and the provision with respect to residence has not been enforced.
The emoluments assigned by the Statutes to the Provost were a yearly stipend of £75 (of which £25 was to be in lieu of the tithes, fruits, and oblations of the Collegiate Church of Eton) with twelve yards of cloth at 3s 4d a yard, and 3s a week for commons, to be augmented in years of scarcity. He was also to keep three servants, "quorum unus generosus vel domicellus, alii vero duo valecti", who were to receive livery and wages from the College. To each of the Fellows was assigned a stipend of £10 a year, with six yards of cloth of the same quality as the Provost's, and 1s 6d a week for commons.
*See an account of this transaction in the Preface to the King's College and Eton Statutes, collected by Messrs. Heywood and Wright, xxii-xxviii.
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From the earliest accounts which are preserved of the College expenditure, it appears that the Provost and Fellows until 1641 received their "Dicta" in kind, together with their statutory stipends. For some time after 1647 they received allowances in lieu of provisions under the head "Dicta in pecuniis", varying, in the case of the Provost, from £434 to £204, and in that of the Fellows from £92 to £37, the statutory stipends of £50 and £10 respectively being paid as before. From 1675 to the present day the stipend and allowances have been paid in one sum (£279 yearly to the Provost and £52 to each Fellow), under the head "Stipendia cum allocat. pro dieta et liberatura". They also receive an allowance for candles and fuel; and payments, ranging from £48 to £10, attached to the different College offices which they hold. The fixed sums thus allotted to the Provost and Fellows form, however, as has been already observed, but a small part of their actual emoluments. These chiefly consist of their respective shares of the renewal fines, which are divided among them in the proportion of two-ninths to the Provost and one-ninth to each Fellow. A ninth share of the renewal fines on an average of the 20 years ending with 1860 is reckoned at £662 13s. There is also a sum of £686 19s annually divided amongst them under the name of redeemed land tax.
Taking all these sources of income into account the Provost and Fellows have furnished us with an estimate of their own incomes, according to which the Provostship is worth about £1,876 a year, and a Fellowship from £801 to £851.
By the Statutes a single chamber is assigned to each Fellow for his habitation ("singuli in singulis cameris collocentur"); and the rooms on the western side of the quadrangle, "cum parlura ibidem atque omnibus aisiamentis in cisdem", to the Provost. The Provost, as well as each Fellow, has now a separate house, rent-free, for which rates and taxes are paid by the College. It does not appear when this change took place. They have likewise some trifling allowances in fuel, candles, &c.) and they enjoy the privilege of holding each one living; a privilege expressly denied to them by the Statutes, but obtained in the reign of Queen Elizabeth by a Royal Dispensation, the validity of which has been questioned (since the Fellows are likewise prohibited by the Statutes from accepting dispensations), but was upheld, after a lengthened argument, by a judgment of the Visitor, Sir W. Grant and Sir W. Scott sitting as his assessors.
A list of the benefices in the gift of the College has been furnished to us, from which it appears that the whole number, including alternate presentations, is 40, of which -
Of these, one living of £247 and one of £244 are alternate, and to the single living which exceeds £1,000 the College presents once in three turns. There are two others, the value of which is not stated; and there are also two small incumbencies in the sole gift of the Provost.
It is the practice of the Provost and Fellows, when a living falls vacant, to offer it to the members of their own body in rotation: if not accepted by any of them, it becomes private patronage; the Provost and Fellows presenting in turn, and the Provost having two turns to each Fellow's one. They inform us that their patronage is usually exercised in favour of a personal friend or relation. A Conduct is, however, after eight years' service, allowed the option of taking any living which may become vacant, provided it be not one of a certain number, which includes those of the greatest value. In December 1861 a College living worth £878 was held by the Provost, and three others, worth respectively £708, £663, and £505 by three of the Fellows. The present Provost has a small family living of his own, and does not hold any College benefice.
A living is never offered to an Assistant Master unless he has first obtained a Fellowship. Mr. Balston thinks that it would be useless, and, as we understand him, inexpedient on the whole, to offer the livings to the Assistants, as the temptation would be too small to prevail with a successful Master, and might be too great to be resisted by one who had not yet achieved success, But he admits that the prospect of preferment might be an inducement to accept a mastership, and that it would afford occasional opportunities of
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releasing men not thoroughly competent for the work. Two Assistant Masters - one a layman, the other a clergyman - have given evidence which agrees with the latter part of Mr. Balston's opinion, but not with the former. Mr. Johnson thinks the livings would furnish the best retiring pensions for Masters in Holy Orders:
4170. (Lord Clarendon) Do you conceive that many of these livings would be accepted by Assistant Masters?- Not many perhaps, but some would.
4171. Do you think that some of those livings would often be accepted by a tolerably prosperous Assistant Master? - No, but the advantage gained by the School would be if they were accepted by an Assistant Master who was not very prosperous.
4172. Do you think that if such a system as that was established there would be always a certain number of those livings held by men who had been Assistant Masters in the School? - Yes.
4173. (Mr. Thompson) How many livings would you open in that way to the Assistant Masters, and under what conditions would you give them? - The inferior livings should be offered to young or unsuccessful Masters, the best livings given instead of Fellowships to men who have earned them fairly.
4174. But you would not allow an Assistant Master to take a living until he had been some time in the School, would you. He must serve a certain time as Assistant Master, because you could not allow an Assistant Mastership to be a mere stepping-stone to a living? - If a man found that he was not doing well, or that his health was failing, I would allow him to take a living, and probably he would take a moderate one. As the case stands at present there is no kind of promotion for the Mathematical Masters, and they go away because they see no chance of it. Some of them have taken very moderate livings from other patrons, and I have no doubt that they would often take these livings from the College.
Mr. James thinks that parochial work is what a man in Holy Orders looks forward to for the closing part of his life, and that if the livings were offered to the Masters they would often be accepted in middle age.
The duties of the Provost are those ordinarily assigned to the head of a Collegiate Foundation. He has to exercise a general superintendence, to take care that each member of the College fulfils his statutable obligations, to see that the College property is well administered, and the revenues duly applied. He is entrusted with the College Seal, must be present (unless inevitably prevented by sickness or otherwise) at all College meetings on important business, has a vote in elections to vacant Fellowships and to the offices of Head and Lower Master, and has the sole appointment of subordinate officers of the College. He exercises, as will appear hereafter, over the management of the School, a control which is very extensive and minute. He is ex officio Rector of Eton, but is not instituted to the cure of souls within the parish, nor does he receive the emoluments of the living, which are paid into the general funds of the College; neither can we ascertain that he practically undertakes the spiritual charge of the parish, the duties of which are performed by the Conducts as (nominally at least) his curates. This arrangement, according to the evidence of Mr. Paul, a late Conduct, does not work satisfactorily; the consequences which he represents as having arisen from it within his own experience, are disputed by the Provost and Fellows, but they are, to say the least, not improbable. The Provost also preaches in Chapel eight times in the year. This duty, and the superintendence, whether real or nominal, of the parish of Eton, constitute the whole of his clerical functions.
The fellows have a deliberative voice in all matters of importance affecting the College property. They audit the College accounts, and the concurrence of a majority of a College meeting (four, with the Provost or Vice-Provost, being a quorum) is required for leases and sales of the College property. Out of their number are chosen annually the Vice-Provost, the Senior and Junior Bursar, Precentor, Sacrist, and Librarian. The duties of the Bursars are to receive the rents and superintend the expenditure; of the Precentor "to be responsible for the College choir, their regularity of attendance, and general behaviour"; and of the Sacrist to take "charge of the Chapel, the books, and plate for the altar". The Fellows have no regular share in the government of the School, and no duties in connexion with it, except as joint guardians (with the Provost) of the College property, and as electors (with the Provost) of the Head and Lower Master, and except in the very rare case of a King's Scholar committing a grave moral offence, calling for expulsion or for some punishment little less severe. Mr. Dupuis, the Senior Bursar, in the course of his long experience, does not recollect more than six or seven such cases; Mr. Coleridge, since he has been a Fellow, not more than one. It appears, however, (as we might naturally expect to be the case; that the Provost frequently takes the advice of the Fellows on questions respecting the educational business of the School, instead of acting (as he is entitled to do) upon his own unassisted opinion, and that he would not, without conferring with them, sanction any alteration of importance;
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and his judgment would doubtless in any case be considerably influenced by knowing what view persons with whom he is so closely associated, and who stand in such a relation to the College, would be likely to take of a suggested change.
5. The Conducts or Chaplains, and Choristers
The daily duty of reading prayers in Chapel is divided among three Conducts or Chaplains (capellani conductitii), who likewise act as curates of the parish of Eton. They are appointed by the Provost, and each receives £120 a year. A late Conduct, Mr. Paul, was also Assistant Master in College, receiving, as such, an additional stipend.
The sixteen choristers contemplated by the Statutes were placed, as regards board and lodging, and the supply of clothing and other necessaries, on the same footing as the scholars, sleeping in the same rooms with them, and sitting with them at meals; they were to be taught music by "an honest and virtuous clerk or priest" appointed for that purpose by the Provost, and they might likewise attend the grammar school, where they were to be taught gratuitously by the statutory masters. They had also a cæteris paribus [other things being equal] preference in elections to scholarships.
There are at present no choristers exclusively attached to Eton College. It maintains, jointly with St. George's Chapel, Windsor, a choir of twelve, each of which receives from Eton a gown and an allowance of bread, meat, and beer for commons; they are taught reading, writing, and music by a schoolmaster at Windsor, who is paid £20 by Eton, and a further salary by the Windsor Chapter. There is an arrangement, we are told, that the Conducts shall teach them Latin, if required, but it does not appear that this has ever been required. They receive from Eton £15 on leaving, which is made up to £25 by Windsor. The services, like the support, of the boys are divided between the two establishments, a consequence of which is that there is no choral service at Eton on Sunday or any other mornings, St. George's being deemed to have a prior claim. This arrangement, which appears to be recommended by nothing but its economy, has subsisted for a long time - it is thought, since the Restoration. That it is bad for the College, which is obliged in the mornings to replace its choir by a dozen charity children, and for the choristers themselves, who are "obliged to go immediately from one place to another to perform the same service", is admitted; but a distinct choir would involve, it is said, "such a large additional annual expenditure that it seems almost impossible to entertain the idea immediately".
6. The King's Scholars
The 70 King's Scholars or "Collegers " are elected by the Provost, Vice- Provost, and Head Master of Eton, and the Provost and two Fellows (appointed annually for the purpose) of King's. The statutory qualifications are poverty, aptitude for study, good character, and a competent proficiency in reading, plain-song, and grammar. No one is to be elected who has not completed his eighth or who has exceeded his twelfth year, unless, being under seventeen, he has made such progress in grammar that, in the judgment of the electors, he can be made a sufficiently good grammarian ("nisi, judicio eligentium, in grammatica poterit sufficienter expediri") before completing his eighteenth. The possession of lands, tenements, or other possessions worth above five marks a year, incurable disease, or mutilation or any defect arising from the candidate's own act or fault, and incapacitating for Holy Orders, and illegitimate birth, or birth out of England, are disqualifications. Birth in serfdom was a disqualification likewise. A preference is assigned, in the first place, to candidates from places where the College has property, and then to natives of the counties of Buckingham and Cambridge, and, cæteris paribus, to choristers of Eton and King's, on account of their work and service to the two Colleges. Public notice is to be given nearly seven weeks before for the benefit of poor scholars, who may be wining to assemble ("confluere volentes") from any part of England.*
Tenpence a week was by the Statutes allowed for the commons of each Scholar. Cloth of a prescribed price and quantity was to be delivered to each Scholar at Christmas to provide him a gown for holiday wear during the ensuing year, and for daily use in the twelve months which were to follow. It appears also from the Eton Statutes, as
*In the Vetus Consuetudinarium Scholæ Etonensis, appended to Heywood's edition of the Statutes, the election is mentioned in terms which clearly show the view anciently taken of the mode and spirit in which it was to be conducted:
"Hic septum hebdomadibus ante electionem in Regale Collegium Cantabrigiæ inchoatui exhortutio literaria Ætonæ, et affiguntur portis chartæ denunciantes liberum esse omnibus liberalis ingenii et egregiæ indolis pueris, ad bonasque disciplinas percipiendas aptis et idoneis, ad Collegium Ætonæ accedendi, corum judicium subcundi, qui id agent ut aptissimi quique ex oumi Britannia in Collegium Ætonæ subrogentur."
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illustrated by those of Winchester, that the Scholars were also entitled to such a supply of clothing, bedding, and other personal necessaries, as should not exceed in value the yearly sum of 15s.
The Provost, however, states that no charge for clothing, as distinct from the gowns and the bedding, appears in any of the audit books, though these have been examined from the year 1506.
"On the accustomed days" they were to have "breakfast of the aforesaid commons" ("jentacula de communibus prædictis"). They were to sleep in the lower chambers under the Head and Lower Master, Fellows, and Chaplains, each boy of 14 and upwards having a separate bed. They were exclusively eligible to Fellowships at King's.
It is certain that until within a very recent period the King's Scholars derived little, if any, benefit from the vastly increased wealth of the Foundation, the advantages of which were enjoyed, and in reality monopolised, by the Provost and Fellows. Until about 20 years ago, they were lodged in one large chamber and three smaller ones, with one man-servant and a bed-maker employed for about half the day to attend on them and keep the rooms clean. In this "Long Chamber" they were locked up at eight o'clock at night (in winter they were assembled in it at five), and "saw nobody again until half-past seven next morning". There was no provision for their moral superintendence. Great tyranny, exercised by the older boys over the younger, was among the consequences of this state of things. No breakfast was found for them, and their dinners, says Mr. Dupuis, speaking from his own recollection, "were really no dinners at all". The dinner consisted of mutton only, and there were no servants in attendance. "The meal of tea was considered unnecessary"; and the supper provided in Hall at eight o'clock was "very insufficient"; so much so that all the boys above the Remove were in the habit of sending out for another supper for themselves. It was customary for the boys to hire rooms in the town, where they had their breakfast and tea and lodged during the day, at a considerable expense to their parents. Until within the last five or six years, every boy paid a certain sum to a dame, who undertook to give him a room when he was ill, to provide for his washing, and do other little necessary services. The expenses of a Colleger were thus not very much less than those of an Oppidan. It is evident that this state of things was not in accordance with the intentions of the Founder, which were to provide, as far as the revenues of his foundation and its other objects would admit, board, lodging, clothing, and education free of charge, and suitable to the habits of his time, for boys requiring such assistance, but of the same class as the Fellows; and there can be no doubt that if the letter of the Statutes was adhered to, their substance was systematically violated. The Vice Provost and Fellows are certainly right in thinking that the want of due care and attention to the comforts and moral superintendence of the boys prevented many parents from sending their sons to the College who would otherwise have been glad to avail themselves of it. "It has frequently happened", they say, "that the actual number of Foundation Scholars has fallen below the statutory number. About 30 years ago the number did not amount to 50, and at previous times the deficiency has been great." This deficiency, indeed, as we gather from the evidence of the Provost, did not disappear until a later date, which coincides with the change in the mode of election and the commencement of the other improvements which we are about to describe. Probably, also, it had a further effect, which has not yet wholly died out. Their condition was, says Mr. Carter, speaking from his own experience, "degrading in many respects to the character of gentlemen"; and this can hardly have failed to depress, in the estimation of the Oppidans, the traditional status and social position of the Collegers.
Within the last 20 years there has been a great and progressive improvement; and it is due to those by whom that improvement was introduced (it began under Provost Hodgson), and to the present Provost and Fellows, to say that they are relieved from the reproach which unquestionably attaches to their predecessors. Forty-nine of the 70 Collegers have now single rooms; the remaining 21 were lodged, until 1861, in a large room under the superintendence of a Conduct and three upper boys; and each has now a small dormitory partitioned off from the rest. The accommodation in College seems at present to be as good as could be desired, except that fire-places, where they can be had, might be advantageously substituted for the hot water with which 44 out of the 48 rooms are warmed, and that the rooms appropriated to the sick are confined and inconvenient. There is an Assistant Master in College, whose rooms communicate with those of the boys, who has the domestic superintendence of them, and is responsible, in great measure, for their moral training. For these duties he receives from the College £230 a year, with rooms, coals, and candles. The bullying and other evils, which made the Long Chamber a bye-word with old Etonians, have been entirely removed by these simple
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means, and are now only matters of history and tradition. There is a matron and housekeeper, and a sufficient number of servants for every purpose, except, as it would appear, for attendance at dinner in Hall, where the fags have to wait on their masters, and cannot, therefore, get their own dinners till their masters have done. Bread, butter, and milk are supplied for breakfast and tea (for tea and sugar the boys are charged a fixed low price), and a supper, at nine o'clock, of cold meat, which, as at the dinner, is generally mutton. Any additional nourishment or extra attendance which they may require in sickness is paid for by the College; and they have the gratuitous use of the Sanatorium, the College paying such expenses as their removal to it may occasion.
Their dinner consists of roast mutton five days in the week, and of roast beef on the other two, with vegetables, and beer, and with suet pudding and plum pudding on alternate Sundays, and fruit tarts in summer. They find cheese for themselves. The introduction of the beef and pudding appears to be due to the posthumous liberality of a deceased Provost (Godolphin), who bequeathed, in 1786, £4,000 for the increase of the Scholars' commons; but the interest of the legacy was, until a comparatively recent period, accumulated, instead of being applied to the purpose for which it was left. The practice of feeding the scholars on mutton probably originated in convenience, at a time when the supplies of Windsor market and the ordinary diet of all classes were coarser and less varied than at present, when to simplify the accounts was a matter of primary importance, and the rents of the College were partly paid in sheep as well as in grain. The food supplied is ample in quantity, but the monotony of it palls, we are told, upon the taste of the boys, especially of the younger ones (who invariably get the inferior joints), and those of less robust health or appetite, a class likely to be numerous among boys who have been elected by competition at an early age, and are under a constant stimulus to work. No sufficient reason has been suggested for adhering to a monotony which must be often distasteful, and sometimes prejudicial, to health.
The average annual amount of a King's Scholar's bills, taking the bills actually sent in during many years, is computed by Mr. Paul at £49 17s, whilst an Oppidan's annual bills range from £150 to £210. The maintenance and instruction, however, of a King's Scholar, though the charges have been greatly diminished, are not wholly gratuitous. He pays £10 10s for tuition, £5 5s towards the wages of the matron and servants in College, £5 for washing, and £3 for "school fees" - a little less than £25 in all. He also pays, as has been already stated, for his tea and sugar. About £25, therefore, covers his whole expenses, exclusive of clothes, travelling, and pocket money. A part of his washing was formerly paid for by the College (a washerwoman for cloths and linen garments, "lotrix mapparum aut vestium linearum", was among the statutory servants of the establishment), and this, for the sake of convenience, was commuted for the bread, butter, and milk now furnished for tea. At what time the Scholars first began to pay for tuition is not known; but Mr. Dupuis states that the charge was eight guineas when he went to school, and was increased to ten before he left it. A King's Scholar receives from his Tutor the same instruction, and makes as great demands on his time, as an Oppidan, who usually pays £21; and the opinion has been expressed to us by several witnesses, that as the Statutes contemplate an education free of charge, a tuition fee of either 10 or 20 guineas should be paid to the Tutor by the College in respect of each King's Scholar. Mr. E. Coleridge and other witnesses also think that the maintenance of the Scholars should be altogether gratuitous, which would involve the abolition of the charges for tea and sugar, washing and attendance; and no special reason has been suggested for retaining these charges, in respect of what, according to the habits of the present day, are necessaries.
From the mode in which the accounts are kept, it is not easy to ascertain precisely the whole cost of the King's Scholars to the College. It appears to range from £2,500 a year to £3,000, inclusive of food, attendance, fuel, gowns, and the payment of the Assistant Master in College. With reference to this latter item, it may be observed that the Scholars were by the Statutes to be lodged in the same building as the Master and Usher and Fellows, and in rooms immediately below them. The Assistant in College, therefore, merely supplies the absence of that supervision and care of which the boys were improperly and culpably deprived when the Fellows and the two statutory Masters removed to separate residences. The alterations and additional buildings which have given proper lodgings and accommodation to the Scholars were paid for by the subscriptions of old Etonians, the Provost and Fellows contributing, however collectively £2,000, and the Provost, Fellows, and Head Master individually, £2,100.
Had alterations and additions been made in former years, from time to time as the necessity for them arose, the whole of the proper accommodation might have been
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provided out of the revenues of the College, which were undoubtedly the fund on which it ought to have been charged.
The payments to the Head and Lower Masters, including £150 for Mathematics, amount together to £453 16s, the present Head Master having also (like the Provost and Fellows) a house rent-free. If therefore the Scholars now receive (as they undoubtedly do) a better education than was or could have been contemplated by the Founder, it is an education which costs the College little more than £450, while they themselves pay £735 in fees to tutors; and even this payment would not suffice, were not the tutors required to take them at a rate below that charged to the Oppidans, so that the education of the scholars is in part paid for by the Oppidans.
Until about twenty years ago, though the forms of an election were observed, the Scholars were, in fact, nominated by one or another of the six electors, and the examination consisted in construing a passage which the boy had got up beforehand. The effect was what might be expected. "Very stupid boys got in who had no business to get in." This system has been completely abandoned, and for the last twenty years the examination has been strictly competitive, and open to an boys not excluded by the Statutes, the successful candidate being chosen by a majority of votes. By an Ordinance of the Cambridge University Commissioners, made at the request of the College, the condition of birth within the realm of England has been relaxed so as to include boys born in any part of the British empire. The other statutory restrictions and preferences still exist; but the condition of poverty seems in practice to have been construed as excluding only boys entitled to independent property in their own right, and as giving a preference in consideration of narrow circumstances where they come to the knowledge of the electors. It is not the practice, however, to make inquiries into the circumstances of the candidates or their parents.
The change from nomination to competition has had its natural effect. It has brought to Eton a great number of able and industrious boys who would not otherwise have come at all; and the King's Scholars have become, as the Provost expresses it, intellectually the élite of the School. In a letter written by him to the Head Master of Westminster, 4th February 1861; and quoted by the latter in his printed "Letter to Sir D. Dundas, on the position and prospects of Westminster School", Dr. Goodford thus expresses himself:
The first and most marked effect of opening our foundation to competition has been that it has raised intellectually the standard of the boys in College, and through that, morally, their position in the School. The elections to College here, and hence to King's, have no doubt acted upon each other; and the mere admission here by competition would not, of itself, have produced all that we saw last year done by our youths in the Classical Tripos at Cambridge, and what we hope to see this year. ... The class of boys which the open competition has drawn here, has been mainly the sons of Clergymen, or younger sons of laymen, whose elder brothers would inherit a sufficiency without the aid of a Fellowship; sometimes a tradesman's son, but not often. Looking down the list of my own division now, which contains 17 King's Scholars, I find 12 clergymen's sons, two younger sons, whose elder brothers are provided for; two sons of naval officers, and one who is a solicitor's son. I take these to be, as near as may be, the class of persons whom our Founder meant to benefit; and the leaven of steadiness and diligence, which they impart to the rest of the School, is most valuable to us.
The only doubt which has been suggested by the Provost as to the results of the competitive system is of a different kind. He doubts whether it has not tended to dishearten and discourage industry in the Oppidans by creating within the School a separate class of boys whose early proficiency gives them an advantage over the rest, which they are afterwards stimulated to maintain. That the King's Scholars carry off by far the larger proportion of the classical prizes and distinctions of the School is admitted by the Oppidans themselves. We shall have occasion to refer to this point hereafter, and shall only observe in passing that the explanation, were we asked to consider it as such, of the comparative failure of the Oppidans, would do little honour to their spirit and energy. If the Collegers were selected for superior talent or industry out of the Oppidans - boys already at the school - they would be superior to the Oppidans, not only as a body, but individually, and might, therefore, be expected to win all the prizes. But this is not the case. It appears from a return with which we have been furnished that not more than 25 per cent are elected from among the Oppidans. The Collegers are a small though picked body; the Oppidans are a much larger body, though taken without selection; and although the average of ability among the former is probably higher, as the average of industry certainly is, than among the latter, we see no reason to doubt that there are among the five or six hundred Oppidans of the Upper School a great number of boys quite capable of running an equal race with their contemporaries among the seventy Collegers for prizes offered to individual talent and persever-
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ance. If, indeed, perseverance is encouraged among the Collegers, and is not encouraged among the Oppidans, it would be but natural that the latter should fall behind. Whether this is so, is a question which we shall have to consider under a different head. Here it is enough to say that the inferior success of the Oppidans in school contests seems to afford no argument against the practice of electing the Collegers by competition; nor do we understand that it is, in fact, so regarded by the Provost. He considers, indeed, that there is all emulation between the two bodies, which is advantageous to the School, and would be lost if they ceased to be distinct from each other.
The Collegers are, however, severed from their schoolfellows not only by the mode in which they are admitted, by receiving an almost gratuitous board and education, and enjoying some small privileges in the way of precedence, but by being lodged in a separate building and wearing a distinctive dress. On the important question whether this separation works a social estrangement, and prevents them from associating freely and on equal terms with the Oppidans, a result which would be clearly disadvantageous to both, we have found some difference of opinion. We have been told, on the one hand, that "they are excluded from the chief good of an Eton education, social intercourse with the great body of their schoolfellows"; that they do not associate much with them; that, whilst the old feelings of animosity and jealousy have nearly died out, there is little community of interest between the two bodies, and that instances of close friendship between Collegers and Oppidans are rare. "I have never", says Mr. Browning, who was himself on the Foundation, "known a Colleger to have any great or wide influence over the school at large. ... A Colleger enjoys the privilege of being in the society of clever boys, among whom work is general and fashionable, and where he has every inducement to exertion; on the other hand, he breathes a somewhat confined atmosphere; he does not drink to the full of the spirit of Eton; he lies in a quiet backwater, instead of being borne along in the full stream of Eton life. ... If these two bodies were to act more upon one another, it would be for the mutual benefit of both." The Oppidans admit, says Mr. Johnson, that the Collegers are their schoolfellows, but do not feel them to be playfellows.
These statements, however, appear to require considerable qualification. All the witnesses who have left the School within the last three or four years agree in saying that, whilst among the younger boys there is considerable estrangement, this disappears almost entirely in the highest part of the School. "It. was almost a natural thing for a small Oppidan to dislike a small Colleger" - a dislike returned by the other, who puts on the Colleger's esprit de corps with his Colleger's gown. There is a class antipathy at starting - a feeling, as Mr. Wayte expresses it, of "social superiority on the one side, and defensive pride on the other", which wears out as boys grow older. They do not, however, play together, except at fives, in some of the cricket clubs, and in the first football club; and established usage excludes Collegers from the eight-oar boats. The existing state of things is, says one witness, "a sort of custom", not founded consciously upon any real difference of birth or rank - which indeed hardly exists at all - but for the obstinate vitality of which it is not difficult to account, considering what the Collegers formerly were, and how they were treated, the importance now assigned among the Oppidans to success in games, and the more studious habits of the Collegers, and above all the strong and lingering power which tradition and habit exert over the minds of boys. It has greatly diminished with the improved position of the Collegers; and that it should continue on the whole to diminish seems to be inevitable, though the younger witnesses whom we have examined do not agree in recalling within the time of their own remembrance any material change in this respect; and we observe with satisfaction that the Masters are fully sensible of the importance of effacing the separation as far as possible, by every means in their power.
The difference of dress, which strikes a boy's eye when he first enters the school, has doubtless some influence, as a visible badge of a distinction of class. The gown, which was worn originally, as it appears, by Collegers and Oppidans alike,* is now confined to the former. Some of the Masters lay considerable stress on the expediency of discontinuing it, whilst they admit that this "would be unpopular with the Scholars themselves, who have a strong class feeling and regard the gown as an honourable distinction." Other witnesses think the gown has no sensible effect.
It should be added that t.here is another side to the question. The Collegers, though not divided from the mass of the Oppidans by any broad distinction of birth or station, are commonly either younger sons, or the sons of parents of moderate fortune, and it is possible that their separate position may in some degree protect them from expensive
*See the Retrospective Review, Second Series, ii., 149.
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habits. Their exclusion from "the boats" may be deemed a positive advantage to them from this point of view. There is perhaps a more effectual protection in the fact that they have less pocket money.
The King's Scholars, as has been already stated, are exclusively eligible to Scholarships at King's College, Cambridge. The successful candidates are chosen annually by competitive examination. The number of vacancies at King's was necessarily uncertain until, by the reforms introduced there by the Cambridge University Commission, scholarships for a limited period were substituted for fellowships tenable for life. It will in future be four annually. In elections both to Eton and to King's each College contributes under the Statutes an equal number of electors.
THE SCHOOL
7. Number and Composition of the School
Eton School contains at present from eight to nine hundred boys. The numbers in the list published at Election 1861 were as follows:
| Upper school | 730 |
| Lower school | 99 |
| Total | 829 |
Deducting the seventy King's scholars, the number of "oppidans", or boys not on the foundation, was 749.
In 1862 there were 840 boys, and therefore 770 Oppidans.
We have no account of the rise of the school. That the Founder of Eton, like the Founders of Winchester and Westminster, desired and intended that the benefits of his Grammar school should not be confined to a single class, is sufficiently clear from the statutes. The statutes of Eton College contemplate distinctly three classes, all of whom were to be taught gratuitously:
1. Foundation boys, lodged, fed, and in part at least clothed by the Founder's bounty.
2. Boys lodged and fed by the College with the foundationers, but at a charge sufficient to cover the expense of their maintenance.
3. Boys resorting to the school for instruction, but not boarded within the College.
That boys of the second class or "commensales", sons of noblemen and gentlemen, answering exactly to the pensionarii at Westminster, and to the commoners and pensioners at the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge, did formerly exist at Eton, there is no doubt. The first Cavendish Earl of Devonshire, then a boy of nine, with his elder brother and a servant, was admitted on these terms in the year 1550. Between1564 and 1648 the old audit books of the College contain the names of "commensales" who dined in hall during that period, varying in number from 37 downwards; they have entirely disappeared since the Restoration. It has been suggested to us by Mr. Wilder, that by reviving the "commensales" and admitting to the benefit of a gratuitous education a certain number of boys who should be required to pay the actual expense of their board, the usefulness of Eton might be considerably extended, and that this advantage might be offered to candidates who had failed in the competition for scholarships. It would clearly be in accordance with the Founder's intentions that the College should assist the education of boys not being members of the foundation, if not in this way, in some way analogous to this. We hear, however, that the establishment of a distinct class in the School might be found to enhance rather than mitigate the difficulties which have arisen from the distinction between Collegers and Oppidans. The establishment of Oppidan Exhibitions, tenable at any boarding-house, and equivalent, or nearly so, to the amount expended by the College on the education of each Colleger, would probably confer a less questionable benefit upon the School.
The Oppidans - or, as they are called at Westminster, town boys - have for centuries constituted the great bulk of the school. The young Cavendishes seem to have been Oppidans for a month before their admission into College, and in the Paston Letters there is a characteristic letter from a young Oppidan of 1467.
The total number, King's Scholars included, is now greater than at any time within the last 50 years. The fluctuations during that period are shown by the subjoined figures.
| 1812 | 540 |
| 1817 | 477 |
| 1833 | 627 |
| 1836 | 444 |
| 1846 | 777 |
| 1852 | 597 |
| 1862 | 840 |
The rapid increase of the School of late years raises the question whether it is desirable that any limitation should be placed on its numbers. Both the Provost and the Head
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Master think that it may well receive as many boys as can possibly be accommodated at Eton. They see no objection to a thousand, if room could be found for a thousand. They admit, however, that some disadvantages exist already, which are due to the magnitude of the School, though they do not think them serious. A very large staff of Masters are more difficult to govern, and can have less of personal intercourse with their head. We have been told by Mr. Coleridge that "the teaching force is already multiplied to such an extent that the Head Master cannot manage it", and that "his mind, which ought to be like the mainspring of a watch, the moving power of the whole machine, is scarcely felt throughout the School", and that even this teaching force is overtasked with work. A great number of the boys must, of course, be personally unknown to the Head Master. The majority leave without having entered his division or had the benefit of his personal teaching and influence. Again, either the number of Forms or the number of boys in each Form must be very great. In the former case the rise of a boy to the top of the School must be proportionately slow, in the latter the Forms must be unmanageable, or they must be sub-divided into what are virtually parallel classes, a system adopted at Rugby and Cheltenham and at the great schools in Germany, but which is not unattended with inconveniences. The parallel system is not in use at Eton; in place of it there is a highly complicated arrangement of Forms, sub-divisions of Forms (called removes), and "Divisions", which will be explained hereafter. The practical effect is, that a boy who passes from the lower Fourth, which is the lowest remove in the Upper School, has to be promoted nine times before he reaches the upper Fifth, and to pass through or over sixteen "Divisions", obtaining about half of his promotions by seniority and the other half after a test examination. Whether this arrangement works well, we shall have to consider hereafter.
8. Arrangement of the School - 1. Forms and Removes. 2. Divisions. 3. Admission. 4. Promotion by Removes
The old series of six ascending Forms, consecrated by usage in most of the great schools of this country and in Germany, still subsists at Eton; but not for the purpose for which it was originally established - that of instruction in School. For that purpose a "form" must, of course, be of manageable size and composed of boys nearly equal in proficiency. The lowest three Forms at Eton belong to the Lower School, which we, shall consider separately hereafter, as it is for most practical purposes distinct from the Upper. The other three, after undergoing a gradual process of division and subdivision, now stand as follows:
There are thus, in fact, eleven Forms or subdivisions of Forms in the Upper School, and a boy who advances regularly from the bottom makes ten steps to reach the top, each step marking, in theory at least. a grade of proficiency. The Form and remove in which a boy is denote his stage of advancement and his rank in the school; but the Forms first, and then the removes, have gradually grown too large to be handled by a single Master; and it has been thought better, for the purpose of teaching in school, to distribute the whole mass afresh, without disturbing the organization already described, into groups of manageable size called "Divisions", each of which has a Master of its own. The number of Divisions may be multiplied or diminished from time to time without affecting the number or arrangement of the removes, of which it is wholly independent; thus boys in different Divisions may be in the same remove, and vice versa, and a boy may possibly be promoted into a higher remove without quitting his Division, or changing his Class-Master. The Division, therefore, in which a boy is marks the Master by whom he is taught, and the group of boys with whom he goes into school, for the time being. Sometimes, too, a boy passes over a whole Division without entering it. In 1861 there were 17 Divisions in the Upper School.
Before admission to the Upper School a boy has to pass an examination, consisting of some easy translations from English into Latin, prose and verse, and from Greek and
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Latin into English. The standard is low; and nobody would believe, says Mr. Balston, how poor are the results obtained. If the candidate cannot come up even to this low standard, as is often the case, he is permitted to enter the Lower School, which admits any boy who is able to read. There is no inferior limit of age; no boy is admitted after 14, except on special grounds, and no boy can be placed, on entrance, higher than in the lower part of the Remove, or seven steps from the top of the School. The average age of entrance is from 12 to 14, and the average time of remaining at school four or five years.
The system of promotion is likewise peculiar. "Removes", as they are called,* take place twice a year, in June and December. At each remove each subdivision of every Form in the school, except the sixth and the upper division of the Fifth, is promoted in a body, and takes rank as the subdivision next above it. Thus the boys in the upper remove of the Fourth Form pass in a body into the lower remove of the Remove, the boys in the lower remove of the Remove pass in a body into the upper remove of the Remove, and the boys in the upper remove of the Remove pass also in a body into the lower remove of the lower division of the Fifth Form. The same process goes on throughout the lower and middle divisions of the Fifth Form; the boys in the upper remove of the middle division passing in a body into the upper division; but at this point the system of removes ceases to operate, the numbers of the Sixth Form being limited, and vacancies in it being supplied by the promotion of individual boys from the upper division of the Fifth Form in order of seniority. The effect of this system is, that as a general rule, a boy remains during the whole of his stay at Eton in the remove* in which he is placed when he first goes there. He consequently regards it with somewhat of the same feeling as that with which a soldier regards his regiment, and his friendships are to a great extent formed and his spirit of emulation called forth, by the influences of his own remove. As the remove rises it receives accessions, new boys being placed in it from time to time until it has reached the Fifth Form, after which no new boys can be placed in it, and it begins gradually to diminish, as the boys composing it leave the school, until it is merged in the upper division, by which time a considerable reduction has probably taken place in its numbers.
The regular progress of a boy by the system of removes may, however, either be interrupted by his failing to pass the examinations which are required at certain stages, or accelerated by his taking a double remove. The removes within each Form take place without any examination; but, before the removes from Form to Form, "trials" are held, by which the fitness of each boy to pass into the Form above is tested, and the places of the boys within the Form are also determined. A boy who fails to pass the trials is not allowed to proceed with his remove, but remains in the Form in which he is, and thus sinks into the remove below his own. On the other hand, a clever boy is sometimes allowed to offer himself for a double remove. Thus, when the Upper Fourth are going into trials for the Remove, a boy in the Middle Fourth may obtain permission to offer himself for the same trials, and, if he succeeds in beating two-thirds of the boys in the Upper Fourth, he is at once promoted from the Middle Fourth into the Remove, and rises into the remove above his own.
One more point must be explained. The number of masters, as has already been mentioned, is now (like that of Divisions) greater than the number of removes. There are, for instance, four masters in the Fourth Form, though there are only three removes. Mr. A.'s division, therefore, will probably contain only a certain proportion of the Upper Fourth, Mr. B. will take the rest of the Upper and some of the Middle, Mr. C. perhaps the rest of the Middle Fourth, and Mr. D. the Lower Fourth. A boy in Mr. B.'s division, therefore, may pass from the Fourth Form into the Remove without ever going into Mr. A's division; or it may sometimes happen that a boy may pass from the middle to the upper remove without passing from one master to the other, at least for some time. As a general rule, however, the advance from remove to remove implies a corresponding advance from the division of one master to that of the master next above him.
*The apparent complexity of this system is much aggravated by the number of senses in which the word "remove" is used. It signifies:
(1) the Form which is interposed between the Fourth and the Fifth.
(2) the subdivisions of the Forms; thus there are three "removes" or subdivisions in the 4th Form, two in the Remove, and so on.
(3) the process of advancing from one remove to another, thus a boy is said to "take his remove", to "lose his remove", or to "take a double remove".
(4) the set of boys who are in the same remove; thus if A, B, C, &c. are in the upper fourth, while X, Y, Z, &c. are in the middle fourth, A will speak of B and C as being "in my remove", and of X and Y as being "in the remove below me"; and this relation between the two removes will hold equally good up to the middle fifth, when A's remove will constitute the upper remove, middle division, and X's the lower remove, middle division.
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The average age for reaching the highest Division at Eton appears to be 16 years 4 months; the average time spent in reaching it, 4 years 3 months; the average number of Divisions gone through in reaching it, 9.
Before quitting this subject we may observe that the June promotion takes place in the middle of a school-time, and has an inconvenient tendency to crowd the upper parts of the school for the rest of it. The greatest number of boys leave Eton at the end of the summer half; and it would in many respects be convenient if the removes took place at its close instead of in June. To put off trials till the close of the half would to some extent counteract the temptations to idleness for which the summer is remarkable, and would be a desirable step if it could be so managed as not to interfere with the College elections.
9. Government of the School - The Head Master, his Duties and Emoluments, and his relation to the Provost, and to his Assistants
The general government of the whole School, Upper and Lower, is vested in the Head Master, subject to the control of the Provost. The government of the Lower School, subject to the control of the Provost, belongs to the Lower Master. The discipline and classical instruction of the Upper School were, in 1861, shared by the Head Master with seventeen Assistants; the Lower Master, with four Assistants, having the like charge of the Lower School.
The Head Master is by the Statutes to be a Master of Arts, "if such can be procured conveniently", sufficiently instructed in grammar, and experienced in teaching, unmarried, and not holding ecclesiastical preferment within seven miles of Eton. He is not required to be a clergyman, nor to have been educated at Eton, but practically, he is always both the one and the other. In his case, as in that of the Fellows, the condition of celibacy has become obsolete. He is elected, and may be deprived, by the Provost and Fellows.
The statutory emoluments of the Head Master consisted of a yearly stipend of 24 marks, or £16, (each Fellow receiving £10) with the same commons, livery, and lodging as a Fellow. He actually receives from the College £219 a year, and has a house within the College precincts, which the late Head Master held, and the present holds, rent-free; but this appears to be an indulgence not yet confirmed by usage. Besides this, he receives an annual payment of £6 6s from every boy (King's Scholars excepted), an entrance fee of £5 5s from every boy in the Upper School, and a leaving-present from every boy in the Fifth or Sixth Form, except King's Scholars. His income is liable, however, to certain deductions. He pays a stipend of £50 to the senior Assistant Classical Master, and £44 2s to each of the others; and some other sums for classical and mathematical teaching; about £15 for examinations; and about £350 for prize books. Altogether his gross receipts during the five years ending with 1861 averaged £5,744, his net receipts £4,491. His net receipts for the year 1861 were £4,572 6s.
By the Statutes the Head Master is strictly and absolutely forbidden to exact, ask, or claim anything "quicquam exigere, petere aut vendicare", in any manner from any boy attending the School, or his parents or friends, and is obliged to take an oath to that effect. When the late Head Master was admitted, this oath was not required of him by the then Provost; and Dr. Goodford has taken the same course on admitting his successor. This omission has been justified by the large and questionable interpretation given, as we have already mentioned, to the dispensing clause in the Statutes. The prohibition, however, had for a very long time been practically disregarded; nor could it practically have been maintained otherwise than by limiting the number of the School to so many as could be taught without assistance by the two Statutory Masters.
Besides the general superintendence of the Upper, and to a more limited extent, of the Lower School, and some minor duties, such as "calling absence" and reading prayers to the King's Scholars, the Head Master takes the whole work of the First Division, consisting of from 30 to 34 boys. It is his duty also, at the three annual examinations, called "trials", which together cover the whole Upper School up to the Upper Fifth, to set all the papers, except those in arithmetic and mathematics, and to look over a large portion of the work done. He also assists in the "intermediate examination" of the King's Scholars, and again at the election trials of the King's Scholars. Neither the late nor the present Head Master has complained to us that the labour thus imposed is, on the whole, excessive; but there is no doubt that, whilst the examinations last, it is extremely and inconveniently heavy, and leaves him but little time for superintendence, correspondence, and conferences with his Assistants. There appears to be no reason why, in some of the more important examinations, he should not be relieved by the assistance of competent persons invited for the purpose from the two Universities,
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whilst in others a larger share of the work might be assigned to Assistant Masters, particularly to some of the juniors, whose scholarship is fresh and their time not wholly occupied.
Although the Head Master governs the School, he governs it under the control of the Provost. This control is not, like the power of the Governors in most other great Schools, an almost nominal check, it is active, extensive, and minute. No Assistant Master can be appointed, no holiday or half-holiday given, no alteration of the school-hours made, no new school-book, or new edition of a school-book, introduced by the Head Master without the Provost's sanction. This control applies not only to matters of real importance; "it has always been exercised, even in the smallest matters". Such is the account given of it by the Provost and Fellows themselves.
This relation between the Provost and Head Master springs historically from the old position of the latter as a subordinate Officer of the College - "conduetitius et remotivus" - and subject to the control of its head. His statutory position is still the same as it was when the School contained only the 70 Foundation boys, with such few "commensales" and day scholars as could be taught with them by a master and usher. And whilst the number of the Oppidans has gradually increased, the Provost has been constantly resident on the spot, and both Provost and Fellows have been men who, having spent much of their own lives as Masters in the School, were naturally disposed to claim and exert a control over the working of it, and to receive, perhaps, with more or less of reluctance, alterations suggested by their successors which had not been deemed necessary by themselves. Different opinions have been expressed to us on the question whether this control is or is not beneficial to the School. The opinion of the Fellows collectively is strongly in its favour.
We believe this check upon the Head Master to be invaluable, if not necessary to the permanent interests of the school. Though at times it may be thought to impede rather than to facilitate progress; it is calculated on the other hand to prevent ill-digested and inexpedient alterations, and thus to save the school from the danger of being dependent for the time being upon the Head Master alone. Practically, it has been found to maintain a steady course of development and gradual improvement according to the circumstances and requirements of each succeeding age.
Mr. Edward Coleridge, who has been Assistant Master and Lower Master, and is now a Fellow, thinks it "has been for the most part extremely beneficial. With reference to anything that may have been written or said as to the interference of the Provost being a hindrance to reforms of the establishment, I must emphatically deny it from my experience of the school during the many years I worked in it." The present Provost abstains from expressing a decided opinion. He thinks it "useful to a Head Master to have the advice of one who has filled the same office before him"; the question whether interference is advantageous depends, he allows, on the manner in which it is exercised. During his own Head Mastership he "cannot say" that he wished to be free from it. But he "does not see any harm that could result" from setting the Head Master at liberty in all merely school questions, as to the selection of books and the like. The present Head Master, who was an Assistant for 20 years, and afterwards Fellow, thinks it "beneficial on the whole". "I think I may say that in all cases in which suggestions were considered advisable for the school the Provost has consented to those suggestions." He regards it, however, rather as giving to the Head Master a "right to confer" with an experienced person, whose time is not taken up by the details of management. He does not remember any instance in which anything really good was stopped by the Provost. The present Lower Master, Mr. Carter, and most of the Assistant Masters, speak in a different sense. "It may be a question", says Mr. Carter, speaking of his own subordination to the Provost in respect to the Lower School, "whether any such check is necessary, and whether practically it might not be prejudicial to the interests of the school by preventing the application of changes which otherwise might have been imported with advantage." He thinks a modified check would be useful. Mr. Johnson says, "I believe that the Head Master is held by the world, and in particular by the parents of pupils, answerable for the maintenance of customs which he would, if he had full power, abolish, and for the refusal of improvements which he cannot get leave to adopt."
He expresses the same opinion in his oral examination:
4206. (Lord Clarendon) What is your opinion with respect to the present relations between the Provost and the Head Master? - They vary very much according to the disposition of the Provost and his love of interference. The interference of Dr. Hawtrey, when Provost, with the Head Master, was constant.
4207. In what way? - He interfered in such a way that the Head Master was simply crippled in all directions. The late Head Master did not like to press his own opinion in regard to any matter against that of the Provost.
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4208. You have heard that there was that sort of interference? - Yes; it acted as a great check. At all events there were several things which he could not get done, because he did not like to ask for them.
4209. Which would have been done by him if he had not been controlled by the Provost? - Yes.
4210. (Sir S. Northcote) You are not speaking of applications which were made and refused? - In some cases they were.
4211. But principally they were cases in which he was unwilling to put himself in the way of making applications? - Yes.
4212. The consciousness that the Provost might refuse his consent had the effect of deterring the Head Master sometimes from asking? - Yes.
Mr. Johnson himself would transfer the control from the Provost to a body composed of the Provost, three or four Fellows, and six or eight of the senior Masters, including the Head Master. Such a body, he thinks, would both exercise it better, and exert it less constantly and minutely. Mr. Birch wishes the Head Master to be independent of the College. Mr. Wayte believes that if the Head Master were practically absolute, like those of Harrow and Rugby, he would be more open to receive suggestions from different quarters, and improvements would from time to time be more freely introduced. Mr. Browning and Mr. Cornish think with Mr. Wayte. All the other Assistant Masters who have given evidence on the subject, except Mr. Durnford, agree in disapproving the present system, though they are not all agreed about the best substitute for it. They appear to desire for the most part that the Head Master should have free scope in questions of detail and in the ordinary administration of the school, but not that he should be absolutely uncontrolled. There is also a pretty general wish that some voice or influence should be definitely assigned to the body of Assistants, or some of its chief members.
The practice, which has been introduced with excellent results at some other schools, of the Head Master assembling his Assistants at short intervals to discuss matters connected with the school, does not exist at Eton. He frequently, we are told, consults individual Assistants, and is always ready to receive suggestions from them; but there are no periodical or general meetings, except those which take place before each schooltime, which last for a few minutes only, and at which only the classical Masters are present. He very rarely confers with them as a body; and it does not appear that, as a body, they are ever requested to express their opinion on projected changes or afforded an opportunity of doing so. "They may and do", says Mr. Stone, "memorialize the Head Master, and their recommendations are considered, but It appears to me that much valuable information is lost to the Head Master from the disinclination of the individual masters to draw out their views on paper, more especially in the press of school time, and merely on the chance of their being adopted. The opportunity of communicating such views orally would be a great boon." It is clear, from many parts of the evidence, that the opinion expressed in this passage is largely shared by the Assistant Masters; and that the want of regular meetings for consultation, and of recognized opportunities for making suggestions and freely discussing them, has worked prejudicially on the relations of the Assistants towards their Head and towards each other, whilst it has probably retarded very much the progress of improvement in the school.
The explanation furnished by Mr. Balston is one which recurs very frequently in the evidence of the Head and Assistant Masters of Eton - the want of time. He thinks, "the secret is that the Head Master, from want of time, is really unable to have consultations."
It may be convenient to mention here a suggestion which has been made to us by Mr. Coleridge. He recommends that the whole Upper School should be parcelled out for general superintendence into a suitable number of great divisions - he suggests four - under a corresponding number of senior Assistants, one of whom might take charge of the Upper and Middle Fifth, another of the Lower Fifth, a third of the Remove, and a fourth of the Fourth Form, and who might together act as a small consultative council under the Head Master. This, he thinks, would give the Head Master a greater hold and a more pervading influence over the School than he has or can have now. It would also, in his opinion, serve another purpose. It would give to the younger Assistants, who are sometimes too young to be safely entrusted with the uncontrolled charge of a division, the aid and supervision of an experienced Master placed immediately over them.
10. System and Course of Study, how composed
The course of study at Eton was until 1851 exclusively classical; it now consists exclusively of Classics and Mathematics. There is a teacher of French attached to
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the school, who resides at Eton; there is also a teacher of German, and one of Italian, who do not reside there, and lectures on Natural Science are delivered occasionally to such boys as choose to attend. In these subjects and in Drawing some instruction may be obtained by boys who are willing to give up a part of their play-hours for the purpose, and whose parents are willing to pay for them as extras. But they do not enter into the course of study, and the great mass of boys leave Eton, as will appear hereafter, without having learnt there any one of them.
11. Classical Teaching: (a) How distributed - (b) Classical Work in School and Size of Divisions - (c) Work in Pupil-room, Preparation for School-work and Correction of Exercises - (d) Private Work in Classical Pupil-room - (e) Number of Pupils to each Tutor - (f) General Proportion of Masters to Boys - (g) Other Duties of Classical Assistant Masters - (h) Appointment, Qualification, and Emoluments of Classical Assistant Masters
11. (a) Classical Teaching, how distributed
The teaching of the Classics at Eton divides itself into two branches - teaching in school and teaching out of school or in pupil-room; and the large proportion which the latter bears to the former constitutes the chief peculiarity of the Eton system. The teaching out of school again consists, partly in the preparation of lessons which are to be construed in school, and the correction of exercises which are to be shown up in school; partly in private reading, the choice and direction of which rests wholly with the individual teacher, and which is quite independent of the school-work. Every Assistant Master has a share in this double teaching - in school, as a master in charge of a Division - out of school, as a tutor: and every boy stands in a double relation to his tutor and to the master of his Division, so that, except during the short time which he passes in the School Division of which his tutor has the charge, he has two minds applied to his education at almost every point in his school life. The Head Master takes a Division, but does not act as a tutor.
11. (b) Classical Work in School. Size of Divisions
The work in school consists in construing and in repeating passages learnt by heart from Latin and Greek poets. Including the time spent in showing up compositions previously corrected by the tutor, a boy is in school on an average about two hours and a half on a whole school day; a lesson usually takes from 35 to 50 minutes. The large amount of repetition and of Latin verse composition, and the sameness and narrow range of the reading in Form, are among the chief peculiarities of Eton school-work; we may add, also, the large use of extract-books instead of original authors.
Fifty years ago the boys at Eton were taught, or supposed to be taught, in large masses, and the curriculum through which they were conducted was much narrower than at present. The whole of the Sixth Form with the Upper Fifth - 198 in all - were, under Dr. Keate, heard together. "It was the commonest thing in the world", says Sir J. Coleridge, "for a boy to be a month or six weeks without being called up at all." Mr. Edward Coleridge remembers having been called up twice in a school term. Even in Mr. Walter's time, "boys seldom reckoned upon being called up more than once or twice in the half, and the consequence was that many of them came in without having looked at the lesson at all." Sir J. Coleridge was five years in the Fifth Form, "and during the whole of that time, week after week, the main teaching of the school was Homer, Virgil, and Horace; we never ceased doing Homer, Virgil, and Horace." The number of Masters in the Upper School was, in 1812, only six, and the average number in each Form 80. The average number in a Division does not at present exceed 40; the largest is 48; the smallest (the Head Master's) 32. There is a greater infusion of Attic authors than formerly in the higher Divisions; but Homer, Virgil, and Horace continue to be the staple of the teaching in school, and the cause to which this is chiefly due will be noticed hereafter.
In the year which ended at Midsummer Is61 the books construed in school by the several Divisions were as follows:
I. Greek Testament; the Odyssey (about six books); a play of Æschylus; part of a play of Euripides; seven Idylls of Theocritus; part of a book of Thucydides; two Orations of Demosthenes; two books of Virgil's Georgics; selections from Lucretius; part of Horace; part of a book of Tacitus; portions of Cicero's Letters. The number in this division was 32; the average age 17 years 6 months; the highest 18 years 5 months; the lowest 16 years 6 months.
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II. Different quantities of the same books (except Euripides). Number 32; average age 17 years 3 months; highest 18 years 9 months; lowest 15 years 3 months.
III-IX. (Fifth Form Divisions.) Four books of the Iliad; about 60 pages of Extracts from Herodotus and Thucydides; about 20 pages of Theocritus; two books of the Æneid; nearly all the Satires and Epistles of Horace, and some of the Odes; about 70 pages of Livy from an Extract-book. These divisions contained about 300 boys. In the highest of them the average age was 17 years 3 months, the highest 18 years 11 months, the lowest 14 years 8 months; in the lowest of them the average age was 15 years 4 months, the highest 16 years 11 months, and the lowest 13 years 9 months.
X-XIII. (Remove.) Greek Testament; about 1,280 lines of the Poetæ Græci; about 800 of the Scriptores Græci;; about 800 of Cornelius Nepos; about 1,100 of Virgil; about 512 stanzas of Horace. The number of boys was about 160; in the highest division the average age was 15 years 2 months, the highest 17 years 2 months, the lowest 13 years 6 months; in the lowest division the average age was 14 years 1 month, the highest 16 years 7 months, and the lowest 12 years 4 months.
XIV-XVII. (Fourth Form.) Greek Testament; about 432 lines of Farnaby's Epigrams; about 964 of Æsop; about 720 of Ovid's Epistles, and 650 of the Metamorphoses; about 660 of Cæsar. Number of boys about 160; in the highest Division the average age was 14 years 9 months, highest 17 years, lowest 12 years 7 months; in the lowest Division the average was 13 years 11 months, highest 16 years, lowest 11 years 10 months.
A boy read no Greek dramatic poetry in school till he reached the very top of the Fifth Form; he might, and probably did in all cases, read some in pupil-room, but this depended on the taste or judgment of his tutor. The Greek historians and Livy he read only in extract-books.
In the judgment of the present Provost and Head Master the Divisions are now reduced to a convenient size. And it appears to be the general, though not the universal, opinion of the Assistants, that 40 is a perfectly manageable number, and is indeed to be preferred to a smaller, as more easy to keep alive and better calculated to quicken the interest and cull out the powers of the teacher. That it requires some skill in handling appears to be admitted, and that there is some difficulty in making the process of "calling up", and the dread of being called up, a thoroughly effective stimulus, each lesson lasting only three-quarters of an hour; and this is a difficulty to which some of the younger Masters do not appear to be insensible. Mr. Carter, who has explained to us his mode of manipulating his Division, which is, however, in the Lower School, "calls up" 14 or 15 in the school-hour; Mr. James, 6 or 8.
In the Divisions of the Fourth Form and Remove places are taken during the lessons, but not higher, unless the Master of a particular Division should think fit to adopt this course. "Sometimes it is found useful to allow them to take places, sometimes to arrange a first class of the best, but these modes have been less used since the establishment of the system of collections (terminal examinations) in every last week."
11. (e) Work in Pupil-room. Preparation for School-work and Correction of Exercises
Every lesson construed in school before the Division Master is, as a general rule, construed beforehand with the Tutor. This general rule applies only partially to boys in the two highest Divisions, as to whom the Tutor has a discretion, which is variously exercised. The time taken in construing is stated to average from about 20 to 25 minutes a lesson. Some tutors compute it at one-half, others at one-third, of the time which the lesson itself takes in school.
We shall state hereafter the grounds on which this practice is defended, and the objections to which it appears to be open. It is evidently a relic of the previous state of things which has been already described, and which preceded the distribution of the School into Divisions; and it has perpetuated one part of that state of things, for all the Fifth Form Divisions, except the highest, are still but one Division as regards the books on which they are engaged, and the same remark applies to the Divisions of the Fourth Form, and to those of the Remove. It appears to have been preserved chiefly for the sake of protecting the connexion between tutor and pupil, and to be valued chiefly on that account by the tutors, few of whom are willing to abandon it, in spite of the calls it makes upon their time.
Another part of the tutor's duty is to correct his pupils' exercises before they go to the Master in school. To correct in detail is the business of the one, and it takes up
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about a fourth of his working hours; to estimate the value of the exercise, and see whether it is treated generally in the way intended, is that of the other. It is evident that both of these duties might be as well performed by one man as by two (provided he would take the necessary pains), and probably at a saving of time and trouble; for whilst some tutors, like Mr. Johnson, may find in the diversity of subjects an agreeable change, others may think, with Mr. E. Coleridge, that it greatly adds to the labour. But there are two advantages in the system of tutorial correction of exercises, one of which is closely connected with the distinguishing merits of the tutorial system. It enables the tutor to form a correct estimate of his pupil's powers and progress, and to compare him, not only with other boys of the same age, but with himself. The master in class, measuring the boy by the standard of his contemporaries, may easily think his exercises good in cases in which his tutor, measuring him by the standard of his own abilities and previous performances, may see reason to think that they are below his powers; while in other cases the converse may take place, and the master in class may unduly underrate efforts which the latter may know to be very creditable to the boy. This is the main advantage of the system; the second and subordinate one is that the double process of correction and revision keeps both the masters who are engaged alive to their work, and insures the irksome labour of correction being performed carefully and punctually. The correction of exercises cannot under this system fall into arrear, as we have reason to believe has sometimes been the case elsewhere. That its value in this respect is great is the opinion even of those who see no advantage in "construing".
11. (d) Private Work in Pupil-room
Beside preparing his pupils for their work in school and correcting their exercises, the tutor has also to do with them what is called "private business". This is simply, as we have said before, a certain quantity of reading, independent of the school-work, on any subject which the tutor may choose. This practice appears to have been introduced by degrees, in order to supplement the scanty and insufficient course of reading to which the boy was confined in school. The school taught him only Homeric Greek; his tutor only prepared him for his work in school; and neither his Master nor his tutor gave him any religious instruction: if his parents desired that he should have any, or that he should learn the language of the Athenian dramatists, orators, philosophers, and historians, or to write iambics and Greek prose, he had to obtain, and pay for, private tuition. As the supplement was evidently necessary, private tuition became a matter of course, and to afford it a regular part of the tutor's duty, the pupil, however, continuing to pay for it as an extra. Ten guineas a year was thus added to the school charges, and about two hours a week to the work. It is as a "private" pupil, strictly speaking, that he receives and pays for this share of his tutor's time; and his parents may decline to pay if they please, and can induce a tutor to take him upon the old terms; but the private business, whether paid for or not, is invariably done. The nature of it depends entirely - now that Attic Greek has to some extent found its way into the school-work - on the tutor's taste and discretion, and upon his judgment of what may be most useful to his pupils. Thus some read almost exclusively Greek plays, some read Modern History, some French.
A tutor divides his pupils for this purpose into classes, and hears them in classes, and a boy is as liable to punishment for neglecting his private business as for neglecting his school work. Thus, to a course of reading in School, which is narrow and incomplete, is superadded another course, which the tutor may make as clastic and discursive as he pleases, which is indeed committed wholly to his discretion, and which only affects the boy's rise in the School by rendering him a better scholar, except that books read in private business and not in School are now sometimes set in "trials". But here again, as in the correction of exercises, the system is calculated to insure the very great advantage of enabling the tutor to measure the pupil's progress throughout his school life, and to supply the amount and kind of instruction, stimulus, and advice as to private reading, which his character renders desirable. If the system of "construing" should be abandoned, the system of "private business" will become doubly important in this respect.
11. (e) Number of Pupils to each Tutor
A parent selects for his son what tutor he pleases, and the number of pupils whom a tutor might take was until lately unlimited. Tutors have been known to have 100 pupils. They used not unfrequently to have 80 or 90. Mr. Balston had at one time 72, and commonly from 50 to 60; and he does not see why a man who understands his work
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should not be able t.o manage 50 very well. The present Provost, during his Head Mastership, fixed the maximum at 40; but this limitation has never been applied to tutors who were already at Eton when it was established, from tenderness apparently towards what might possibly be regarded as a vested interest. In 1861 the average number of pupils for each tutor was 37.
11. (f) General Proportion of Classical Masters to Boys
If 40 boys are not too many for a Division, nor 40 pupils too many for a Tutor, the existing proportion of Masters to boys at Eton is sufficient; if the number is too large in either case, this proportion is not sufficient. To increase it would be to diminish the profits of the Classical Assistants, which are chiefly derived from their pupils; but those profits, as will be seen hereafter, are ample; and a man can hardly have a vested interest in taking more pupils than he can properly attend to or than consists with the interests of the school.
It is obvious that on this subject no rule can be laid down which will apply with equal force to schools of unequal size, or unlike in their organization or methods of teaching. The proportion of masters to boys may be less in a large school than it can safely be in a small one, because a large school may be so arranged that a large number of boys in the same stage of proficiency may be classed and taught together by the same master and at the same time, whilst at a small school the groups will necessarily be smaller. The only limit in the first case to the size of a form is the maximum number who can be effectively handled together by one master at the same time. But where a considerable part of the work is private tuition, and where each tutor may have pupils from all parts of the school, the organization, and the advantage derived from the size of the school, pro tanto [to a certain extent] disappear. An Eton Master may more easily take a form of 40 boys in school than a Master at Winchester could: because the 40 at Eton would be more nearly on a level than the 40 at Winchester. But an Eton Master, besides having the charge of his division of (on the average) 40 boys, has likewise the tuition of 40 boys more, unclassified, and of all ages and degrees of advancement. Half of his work is that of a class master in a great public school; the other half of it more nearly resembles that which would be done by the sole master of a small private school. It seems to follow that, with the present arrangement of work, the number of Masters at Eton ought to bear a high rather than a low proportion to that of boys. Compared, however, with other schools, the proportion is, in fact, rather low than high.
An addition to their number is not generally desired by the Classical Assistants, but many of them speak strongly of the heavy amount of their work and its exorbitant demands upon their time. An Eton Master fully employed is said to work 14 hours a day, from which, however, is to be deducted some time for exercise (Mr. Durnford allows himself an hour and a quarter), but very little for meals. Other witnesses compute it at from nine to ten. By common consent the work leaves little, if any, time for society or private reading. Mr. Balston seems to regard this as a positive advantage, as concentrating the Master's whole thoughts and attention on his duties, and he observes justly that these duties involve no severe mental labour, and that the holidays afford regular and ample relaxation. The true question, however, appears to be, not whether the work is unduly hard, but whether there is time to do it as it ought to be done. The general result of the evidence on this point certainly appears to be that a Master has less time at his disposal at Eton than at any other School. There seems to be more of pressure, more constant necessity for despatch. The art of working quickly - and especially that of hearing a lesson quickly - is not, however useful it may sometimes be, among the essential qualities of a good teacher; and, though it may doubtless be acquired by an able man and thorough scholar, there is some risk in requiring it to be learnt by practice.
11. (g) Other Duties of a Classical Assistant Master
Besides the share which, as Master of a Division and as Tutor, a Classical Assistant has to take in the teaching of the School, he has also, in his turn, to attend at chapel and to call the lower boys at absence, to assist in maintaining order and discipline out of school, and to take charge, if required, of a dame's house - a duty for the adequate discharge of which neither the time allotted for his visits nor the power with which he is invested appears quite sufficient.
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11. (h) Appointment, Qualifications, and Emoluments of Classical Assistant Masters
The Classical Assistant Masters are appointed by the Head Master, subject to the approval of the Provost, and it is understood that the Head Master has power to remove them, though he would he most unwilling to exercise it, save in a very extreme case. There is no record, we believe, of an Assistant having been actually removed. It has been an invariable, custom to appoint Eton men, and, until within a recent period, men who were Fellows of King's, or had at least been Foundation scholars at Eton. The appointment of oppidan Masters is an innovation which was resisted by a late Provost and introduced with difficulty; and it is still only an exception to the rule. Dr. Goodford states that, of seven Assistants whom he appointed when Head Master, four were King's men, one had been a Colleger but not a King's man, the other two had been oppidans. He would prefer Eton men, but does not think that the choice should be confined to them. He sees no disadvantage in appointing a man educated at Winchester or Harrow, and would appoint one if he could not find an Eton man of equal calibre. "I have said so in public before now. But I should first of all endeavour to find an Eton man to fill the vacancy, and if I could not find an Eton man whom in my conscience I thought fit for the appointment I would seek elsewhere, and would fearlessly appoint an individual to the exclusion of those, whether they were Etonians or not, who were inferior to him." Mr. Balston expresses himself somewhat differently. He thinks the balance of advantage is decidedly in favour of the present system. He is of opinion that Etonians who have been on the Foundation should be preferred to those who have not; and he would not, if we understand him rightly, appoint a non-Etonian. For the existing usage, with its preferences, two reasons are assigned. An Etonian knows the habits of Eton boys and the traditions of the school, which a stranger would have to learn; and the Eton system of discipline and school-government has peculiarities, it is suggested, which are not learnt easily. "It differs", says Mr. Carter, "from most, if not all others, in teaching a boy moral self-control, self-respect, and self-reliance, without self-consciousness, by combining strict discipline with the greatest possible amount of liberty and independence of action; but if other than Eton men were employed as Masters or tutors, men who, however excellent and desirable in other respects, were unacquainted with Eton ways and habits from not having been at the school themselves, it would be necessary to make such alterations of discipline as would greatly tend to change the character, and impair, perhaps, the benefits derived from the school." There is more liberty he thinks at Eton than at other schools, and more than could safely be allowed unless both Masters and boys were thoroughly familiar with those traditions and usages by which the licence it would seem to give is practically controlled. Again, in the case of a boy educated at Eton, the Head Master is able, it is said, to test his fitness for the office by personally watching the growth of his character, whilst of a stranger he can only judge by the University distinctions he has gained. This applies more strongly, it is urged, to the King's scholars, who stay at school longer, and are more likely to be ambitious of a Mastership than the oppidans. Sir J. Coleridge, on the other hand, has published his opinion that the choice should be entirely open, and that the limitation to Etonians is unwise and prejudicial to the school. Mr. Johnson thinks that "nothing can be more delusive than the system of taking old Collegers as such for Assistant Masters. Many of those who come on the ground of their being Etonians, actually know less about the school than other men who have lived there as men for a year or two." "They have lived so entirely among the Collegers that they know very little indeed of the school generally. Some of the young men who are now Masters at Eton were only in the school about four years, during which time they were entirely engaged in their studies, and took little or no part in the games of the school. Being Scholars of the College they knew very little of the social life of the school." It would be a positive advantage, in his opinion, to have among the Masters men who had had experience of the tone and habits of other great public schools; he sees no reason why the principle of free selection should not apply to the Head Master himself. The Mathematical Assistants, who are not, generally speaking, Eton men, do not appear to find any difficulty in acquainting themselves within a short time with the system and habits of the place, and do not feel that they are practically at any disadvantage on this account. A consequence of appointing Cambridge men almost exclusively is pointed out by Mr. Walford. He says:
I think it a disadvantage resulting from the overwhelming preponderance of Cambridge men among the Masters, that, while our best efforts are very properly directly towards imparting an accurate critical knowledge of the languages, we neglect to a very great extent what may be called the Oxford element in education, viz., the careful analysis of the argument and the digesting thoroughly the subject-matter of the books we read.
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Every Classical Assistant Master is paid, as such, 42 guineas a year by the Head Master, and this petty payment is supposed to remunerate his work in school. As Tutor, he receives £10 10s from each pupil, and £21 from each private pupil who does not board in his house, a distinction which, as has been already stated, is now almost obsolete. If he has a boarding house, he receives £120 from each boy in it, the payment for board being blended in one sum with that for tuition. The sum paid for tuition seems to have been formerly 8 and then 10 guineas. How private business was introduced we have already seen; and it is now assumed in practice - and very justly assumed - that without private business the teaching of the school would be incomplete while the present system and method of teaching in Form are retained. It would seem to follow, either that every boy should pay 10 guineas, or that every boy should pay 20; the former, if it would fairly remunerate the tutor, if not, the latter. The tutor, in fact, expects 20 guineas, and ordinarily receives it; but he is not entitled to demand more than 10, though he may, perhaps, protect himself by refusing to take a boy otherwise than as a "private" pupil. Some parents of boys in dames' houses do, in fact, decline to pay the larger sum, narrow circumstances being supposed or assumed to be the excuse - a practice which, although originating undoubtedly in the liberal feelings of the tutors, yet appears objectionable as establishing different rates of charge for the same education. The payment for a King's scholar is always 10 guineas, and to him the tutor cannot refuse to give private business, as he might to another boy who did not pay as a private pupil; the King's scholars are therefore distributed among the tutors by private arrangement.
In July 1862, the total number of oppidan pupils not paying for private tuition was 64.
The income of an Assistant Master depends, it will have been seen, until he gets a house, upon the number of pupils he can obtain; and when he is in possession of a house, on his success in filling it. For his first year or two therefore he may have little or nothing to live upon beside his private means. For his work in school as the master of a Division he gets a mere nominal sum; his pupils and his house, if he has one, constitute his whole means of support. In the opinion of some witnesses, this has a bad effect, by causing him to look upon his work in school as of secondary importance compared to his work in pupil-room. Mr. Johnson attributes in part to this cause the decline of learning among the oppidans. He recommends that the stipends should be increased. Mr. James, makes a similar suggestion, and proposes a plan by which it could be done without increasing on the whole either the receipts of the Assistant Masters, or the payments made for the boys. Mr. Carter, on the other hand, approves the present system, on the ground that, by making a man's income dependent on his work, it supplies a stimulus which would be wanting if each Master had a fixed income. His experience is, "that a tutor's success in filling his house from which his chief income is drawn, depends in many cases entirely, in all very much, on the character he gains from his school-work."
The expense of boarding at a Classical Assistant Master's is, it will be seen hereafter, considerably greater than that of boarding at a Dame's, or with a Mathematical Assistant, and the Master's profit proportionately greater. The additional charge is, in the opinion of the Provost, "an indirect payment, not for any service of any kind rendered to the School, but for the additional time and care which it enables the tutor to bestow upon the boy, for the advantage which the latter derives from coming more constantly in contact with his tutor in his room, at meal times, &c., and from the more domestic and friendly relation which naturally thus springs up between them."
The Lower Master, on the contrary, thinks the whole profit of a boarding house "unquestionably an indirect payment for other services rendered to the School, and that it is well that it should be so." "The School", says Mr. James, "secures the services of the Assistant Masters for a nominal sum, by allowing them to make a good income, if they can, by taking pupils and keeping a boarding house." "The whole mass of income is a remuneration for the whole mass of work." The Assistant Masters generally appear to take the same view; they hold that the payment for board is inseparable from the payment for tuition; and that both together form a principal part of their receipts as Assistant Masters.
The time within which a Classical Assistant may get a boarding house is, of course, uncertain, but it appears seldom to exceed two or three years. Five years is said to be about the time usually spent before a man is in receipt of the full profits of the appointment. The number of boarders for whom payment may be received is limited to 30 (or, including two pairs of brothers, 32), but this rule does not appear to be universally known or strictly enforced. Taking the actual cost of boarding to be £70 for each boy, the income of a Classical Assistant having 32 boarders and eight other pupils,
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four of them paying 20 guineas and the rest 10, is computed to amount (leaving-fees included) to £1,845, while his house is full. Taking the cost at £75 (the estimate formed as the present Head Master states, by the Income Tax Commissioners) it would be £1,685.
The Fellowships, as we have already stated, have for many years been virtually appropriated to the Classical Assistants, and it is computed that about one Assistant in four gets a Fellowship after a service generally of 20 or 25 years. Sometimes they have been obtained early in life. We are informed that a Fellowship, valuable as it is, has not been an object of much competition, and that able men have for the most part been unwilling to exchange for it the still more lucrative position of a successful Assistant Master. These statements, however, refer to a period during the greater part of which the number of Masters was considerably less than it is at present.
12. Mathematical Teaching: (a) Its Introduction into the School; past and present Status of Mathematical Masters, and their Emoluments - (b) Arrangement of the School for Mathematics, and Time given to them - (c) Private Tuition in Mathematics - (d) Condition of this Branch of Study
12. (a) Introduction of Mathematics into the School; Status and Emoluments of Mathematical Masters
Before the year 1836 there appears to have been no mathematical teaching of any kind at Eton, There was a titular teacher of writing, arithmetic, and mathematics, who had been originally styled teacher of writing and arithmetic only. "I have heard it reported", says Mr. S. Hawtrey, "that he went away for a little while and came back as mathematical master." He does not appear, however, after this accession of dignity, to have taught, or been competent to teach, anything but writing and arithmetic, and he was an old man when Mr. Hawtrey came to Eton. Mr. Hawtrey, who had lately graduated as eleventh wrangler [a third-year undergraduate gaining first-class honours] at Cambridge, received permission to give mathematical instruction as an extra to those boys whose parents wished them to learn; but, "in order not to trench on the interests of Mr. Hexter", the only boys permitted to learn of Mr. Hawtrey were those in the Head Master's division, which contained about 30, or any others who had obtained a certificate from Mr. Hexter that they had attended his class and were competent to attend Mr. Hawtrey. Mr. Girdlestone, an Etonian and a scholar of Trinity, Cambridge, had previously enjoyed the same privilege, on the same terms, but had relinquished it at the end of a year; and it had since been offered to another Etonian in vain. This arrangement did not prove satisfactory. "I think", Mr. Hawtrey says, "there was a great cry among parents who objected to their boys not being allowed to come to me at once without going to Mr. Hexter"; some of the tutors were of the same opinion; and after about three years Mr. Hawtrey was allowed by the authorities of the College to disembarrass himself and the school of Mr. Hexter, by undertaking to pay him a pension of £200 a year. A deed to this effect was executed, with the concurrence of the Provost and Fellows, by the two contracting parties, and Mr. Hexter resigned.
By virtue of this transaction, Mr. Hawtrey succeeded to the office of Mr. Hexter, and was at liberty to take mathematical pupils from any part of the school; he was not, however, an Assistant Master, but held a position analogous to that now occupied by the French master. Nor was he provided with any place to teach in, the room which his predecessor had used as a writing school being wanted and taken for one of the classical Divisions. Mr. Hawtrey therefore built, at considerable cost to himself, a mathematical school, which appeared to us admirably adapted for the purpose, on ground leased to him by the College for 40 years, with an understanding that the lease should be renewed without a fine for 14 more. Mr. Hawtrey states that he has applied for a renewal, but that his application has remained unnoticed for four years - an omission due, we presume, to accident or inadvertence. He also procured by degrees several assistants.
In 1851 mathematics were for the first time incorporated into the regular work of the school, and Mr. Hawtrey was made Mathematical Assistant Master, which placed him on the same level as the Classical Assistants. His own assistants, however, did not share his elevation; they became, or remained, only "Assistants in the Mathematical school", which position they still occupy. The distinction is by no means a merely nominal one; they had not a share, as every Assistant Muster has, in the right and duty of maintaining discipline out of school; they were not allowed to wear the academical dress, and could not send in complaints to the Head Master, unless previously signed by Mr. Hawtrey. The distinction itself still exists; the Assistants in the Mathematical school are not even now "Assistant Masters", though some petty but annoying external marks of difference have been swept away. They may wear gowns, a concession which Dr. Hawtrey, when Head Master, could not obtain for them from Provost Hodgson; they are even permitted, by a change made in the beginning of 1861, to wear them in chapel. But they
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have no authority out of school, and therefore "are not felt to be real Masters by the boys". They do not meet the Head Master at "chambers", and are not, like the Classical Assistants, summoned by him to rare but occasional conferences. They have to wait much longer for boarding houses, are excluded from all but the inferior ones, and are only allowed to charge at the same rate as the "dames"; they cannot of course be "tutors"; and as religious instruction belongs to the tutor, a Mathematical Assistant, who may be in Holy Orders, cannot undertake any part of the religious teaching of the boys in his house without invading the province of a Classical Master, who is perhaps a young layman fresh from College. Their income, as will hereafter appear, is slender, and chiefly derived from private pupils. "It is barely sufficient", says the Provost, "with pupils. Of itself it would not be sufficient."
A striking contrast between the prospects which Eton offers to a distinguished classic, and those which she holds out to one who has achieved equal or greater success in mathematics, is drawn by Mr. Johnson.
That this contrast is keenly felt by the Mathematical Assistants themselves, we have ample evidence; we have been told that drawbacks so sensible have caused many to resign the office, and there appears to be no doubt that they have deterred many from accepting it. That it should tend to lower not only the Mathematical Masters, but the study of mathematics, in the estimation of the boys, seems to us inevitable. Mr. Balston thinks otherwise, but that it actually has that effect is proved by much concurrent testimony. The younger Classical Masters are generally desirous that it should be removed. The present Provost himself thinks it disadvantageous; and we believe that under his Head Mastership it was considerably diminished; but we were unable to discover that Mr. Balston's influence was likely to be exerted in the same direction.
Mr. Balston urges that the Mathematical Master must necessarily stand less high in the estimation of the boys than the classical, because he does less work with them; a view which, if just, would afford no reason why this false estimate, which should rather be corrected, if possible, by every suitable means, should be strengthened by artificial distinctions. Dr. Goodford's argument that the Mathematical Assistants were not chosen with a view to their taking part in discipline, and are not perfectly qualified for it, appears, on further inquiring into his meaning, to resolve itself in a great measure into the objection that the large majority of them are not Etonians. That in character, education, and attainments, as well as birth and social rank, they are perfectly equal to the Classical Masters, is not disputed: thus, while, according to Mr. Johnson, Etonians will not accept a position which they know to be one of inferiority, according to the Provost the position must continue to be an inferior one, because it is not filled by Etonians. It is evident that the suggested difficulty, if it exists at all, is due entirely to one cause. It never would have arisen if this important study, instead of being suffered to work its way by a gradual series of concessions, had been at the first regularly incorporated into the school-work, and placed on what is now acknowledged to be its proper level.
The emoluments of the Mathematical Assistants are derived partly from the payment of four guineas made by every boy in the school, partly from private tuition, partly from the profits of boarding. When mathematics were introduced into the school-work, it was considered necessary to make an extra charge for them. Mr. Hawtrey suggested six guineas, but the Provost and Fellows preferred four, leaving the Assistants at liberty to eke out their incomes by taking private pupils. Of the mathematical fee fund, increased by a payment of £150 per annum made by the College for the instruction of the 70 King's. Scholars, the Mathematical Assistant Master, Mr. S. Hawtrey, who has certain charges to provide for, receives eleven-twentieths; the remaining nine-twentieths are divided in different proportions among six of the seven Assistants. A yearly sum of £123 is also paid by the Head Master and the Mathematical Assistant Master for the seventh.
The total sum available in 1860 for the seven Assistants was as follows:
*The profit on £120, the payment for board and tuition at a Classical Assistant's, being taken at £45, the profit on £84, the payment for board at a Mathematical Assistant's, would be £9. It would probably, however, be less than this, because tho cost per head is greater in a small house.
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We are informed that an Assistant Master with a family can hardly live at Eton under £800 a year. Whether this be so or not, it is evident that the Mathematical Assistants, with no prospects and no provision but such as we have described; are at an extraordinary disadvantage compared with the Classical Masters, and that they could not be supported at all unless a large number of boys were considered, or considered themselves, to require extra tuition. It will be observed that during the same year there were in boarding houses occupied by Classical Masters 426 boys, at an average profit (on board alone, exclusive of tuition) of not less than £24.
12. (b) Arrangement of the School for Mathematics, and Time given to them
The time given to mathematical teaching at Eton is three hours a week throughout the school, besides an exercise (called by the boys "extra work") between each lesson. These three additional school hours were added in 1851, by diminishing the number of weekly half-holidays, and doing away with whole holidays. In the "trials", or examinations for removes, the highest marks in mathematics are allowed one-fifth of the value assigned to the highest marks in classics. The Mathematical classes are not exactly coincident with the classical divisions, but are not independent of them. The boys go to the Mathematical school in groups; above the remove each pair of divisions in succession constitutes a distinct group; all the boys in the Remove form a group by themselves, and all the boys in the Fourth Form. In the Mathematical school the boys in each group are classified according to their mathematical proficiency, and in the highest four groups the average number in a class does not exceed 12; in the two others it is about 21. A consequence of this system is, that a boy's advance in the Mathematical school is regulated on the whole, though not exactly regulated, by his advance in the Classical school, and that a good mathematician may be kept, during most of his time at school, in Mathematical classes much inferior to him, unless he happens also to be a good classic. A boy in the fourth classical Division may be ranked in the Mathematical school above all the boys in the third; but he must remain behind all those in the second, though they may be worse mathematicians than he. He is tied to his group, and cannot advance beyond the length of his tether.
The mathematical reading of an average boy extends to the first part of Colenso's Algebra and four books of Euclid. A "fair number" read trigonometry; a few advance to conic sections, and fewer to analytical geometry, which is the highest point. Mr. Hawtrey has never taken a boy into the Differential Calculus. Euclid and algebra are begun in the Fifth Form, and the rule is, says Mr. Hawtrey, that a boy does not get into the Fifth until he has a "fair" knowledge of arithmetic, including the rule of three and its applications, fractions, and decimals. Mr. Hawtrey has minutely described to us his system of marks, which is very careful and elaborate.
12. (c) Private Tuition in Mathematics
Besides the regular work in the Mathematical school, the Mathematical Assistants are allowed to give private tuition to boys whose parents desire it, at an extra charge of 10 guineas a year. For this the pupil gets three additional hours a week, which are taken out of his play-time. Mr. Hawtrey states that he at first objected to this arrangement, but that he is now satisfied with the working of it. It is useful, he thinks, in cases of exceptional ability, and of exceptional backwardness, whether due to incapacity, want of preparation, delicate health, or accident. During the whole of the year 1860 there appear to have been upwards of a hundred boys receiving "extra mathematics" - Mr. O'Neill computes the number at 130. This is a large proportion of exceptional cases. From the fact that the Tomline prize, which is the chief distinction of the Mathematical school, has never yet been gained by a boy who had had private mathematical tuition, it may perhaps be inferred that its value, if it has any, does not lie in bringing forward special talent. Messrs. Brandreth and Rouse, Assistants in the Mathematical school, think that those who have it not are at no disadvantage with respect to their studies.
There are few cases in which the work done exceeds what the boys are able to do with the teaching given in school. The boys who do best are those who work hard for themselves in their own rooms; they value more, and make better use of their time, when it is taken from their own pursuits and amusements than when it is taken from the time which they must necessarily spend in pupil-room. Unless these extra mathematics are made entirely independent of the schoolwork, it amounts to forcing some boys to spend more time over their work than others, or to do with help exercises which can be done, and are done, by other boys without help. If one of two boys works hard in his own rooms to get his work over, even if he spends the time thus saved in playing football in the passages, he is being better educated than the extra mathematician who sits in pupil-room half trying and waiting to be helped to do what other boys, no way
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his superiors, manage to do by themselves. If two men are engaged to teach a boy the same thing at the same time, without concert, the work will no doubt be done; but they probably leave very little room for his own exertion.
12. (d) Condition of this Branch of Study
The Mathematical Teachers at Eton appear to be able and assiduous, and, on the whole, to be tolerably satisfied with the progress made by the boys; but they feel that their own branch of study is depreciated and injured by the position assigned to it and to themselves in the school. The boys are encouraged, they with truth believe, to consider it of secondary importance, by seeing that it is so regarded by the authorities. The authority which the Mathematical Assistant has in school suffers from his having none out of school; his arrangements with his pupils must be made subservient to those of the Classical Tutor, and the interruptions which arise from this cause are detrimental to steady progress.
They are aware that so long as every boy must have a Classical Tutor, so long as the number of each tutor's pupils is limited and a boarder is more profitable than an outdoor pupil, and so long as the dames are allowed to compete for boarders, it would be difficult for a Mathematical Assistant to fill a large house. But this would be obviated, Mr. Hale suggests, by allowing the Mathematical Assistant himself to hold the relation of tutor to any boys whose parents desired it, and to whom mathematics were more important than classics, a change which he advocates on other grounds.
13. History and Geography
History and geography, ancient and modern, are taught only in the Divisions below the Fifth Form. Each Master in the Fourth Form and Remove chooses for his Division what book and what portion of history he thinks fit, and afterwards reports what he has set to the Head Master. The elements of Modern History are regularly taught in the Lower School. In the lower part of the Upper School the subject is changed from Modern History to Ancient, and although lessons are set commonly in the Fourth Form and more rarely in the Remove, yet so soon as these Forms are past, all direct instruction ceases, and boys are left to the inducements supplied by examinations at collections, and the opportunities given by holiday tasks, to continue and extend their reading. In the two highest Divisions of the school essays are occasionally set on historical subjects. On the whole, therefore, the subject, though not neglected, is neither regularly taught nor strongly encouraged. Nor during the four years that a boy commonly spends in the Fifth is he taught or questioned in geography at all, "except where one or two names occur in the lesson which is being read". The consequence is, that the boys forget what they have learnt in the lower Forms. "I do not think", says Dr. Goodford, that "department is as efficient as it ought to be. I should very much like to put on an extra school-time for it." The Assistant Masters generally agree in thinking the system defective in this respect, and in desiring the introduction of some regular teaching of history and geography.
14. Modern Languages
Mr. Tarver, the single teacher of French at Eton, though himself born in England, is the son of a French gentleman who held the same office before him. He has had temporary assistants for short periods, chiefly in the summer, not because his pupils increase in the summer, but because they all come to him at once. Their French lessons are taken out of their hours of play, and in summer there is but a small part of the day which they are willing to surrender. Twice, however, he has had an assistant from a different reason; on the first occasion it was "enforced" by the then Head Master, Dr. Hawtrey, in order to provide for an Italian teacher who had no pupils, and appears to have been neither a successful nor a competent instructor in French; on the second, "it was represented to him by some of the authorities that he ought to be assisted, owing no doubt to the sort of appeal the public had made to Eton in various newspapers", and he called in a French Protestant gentleman, who "happened to be in the neighbourhood", but did not retain him long. Mr. Tarver himself has no recognized position in the school, other than that of "a person holding the privilege to teach French", and describes himself - not untruly, as it seems - as "a mere objet de luxe". He receives 10 guineas a year from each pupil, and gives each two or three hours a week. He reckons his average attendance, which is mostly from the Fifth Form, at 80, or about one-tenth of the school. In July 1862 he had 75, and he has had as many as 130. Whilst the number who learn is small, the teacher is embarrassed by obstacles which, from no fault
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of his, largely frustrate his efforts to teach. The study of French is comparatively useless, if not steadily kept up. Being optional at Eton, it is not pursued continuously, but by fits and starts; it is taken up and dropped irregularly; and as it involves an extra expense to the parents, and to the boy a sacrifice of some hours of play, we are not surprised to find that the attendance is often greatly reduced by the most trivial reasons. A boy frequently begins in one school-time, and does not return the next. Being excluded from the school-work, it wants almost entirely the indispensable stimulus of reward and punishment. The prize for modern languages given by the late Prince Consort attracts generally a fair number of competitors; but it is worthy of observation that many of these competitors, about half of those honourably distinguished, and some of those actually successful in the competition, had not attended the French Master. French is not required, nor under the present Head Master allowed, to assist a boy's rise in the school.
Dr. Goodford, acting, as he told me, upon the request of many persons to introduce it somehow into the work, allowed boys, on being examined in fifth form trials, to take up a French paper, if they liked. This used to get a few boys the benefit of some extra marks. The present Head Master has discontinued the practice.
If a boy neglects his work, or fails to attend, Mr. Tarver's only remedy is to complain either to the Head Master or to the tutor. But the present Head Master "does not appear to like to interfere". "Reports to him are unavailing". Mr. Tarver states that the second time he had occasion to complain to him, he was told that he had better find out whether the boy had any excuse for non-attendance - a thing impossible for him to do until it was too late to call the defaulter to account. If he appeals to the tutors, they either take no notice of it, or content themselves with pinning up his report on the pupil-room wall. That the boys should consider the study as of little importance in the eyes of the Head Master, and attention to it hardly a duty at all - that they should be "unscrupulous in shirking their lessons", and regard anything as a sufficient excuse for missing them, are natural consequences of such a state of things as Mr. Tarver describes; and he reasonably considers the general scale of proficiency in French at Eton, and the mode in which French can be taught there, "very unsatisfactory indeed". He sees no reason why it should not be compulsory, and thinks that three years would be enough, with proper discipline and regulations, to enable any boy to read a French book.
The opinion of the present Head Master on this subject was expressed very distinctly in his examination:
(Lord Clarendon) Would it not be considered necessary by the authorities of Eton to render obligatory a thing which they think ought to be part of an English gentleman's education? - I should not.
3527. You would not consider it necessary to devote any part of the school time to its acquisition? - No, not a day.
3528. You do not intend to do so? - No.
3529. Do you not think that it is a matter which a boy should be required to learn? - He ought to learn French before he came to Eton, and we could take measures to keep it up as we keep up English.
3530. What measures would you take to keep up French, and I may also add, what measures do you now take to keep up English at Eton? - There are none at present, except through the ancient languages.
3531. You can scarcely learn English reading and writing through Thucydides? - No.
3532. (Sir S. Northcote) You do not think it is satisfactory? - No, the English teaching is not satisfactory, and, as a question of precedence, I would have English taught before French.
3533. You do not consider that English is taught at present? - No.
To the inquiry what measures he would adopt for keeping up French in the case of a boy who had learnt it, Mr. Balston was "not prepared" to give an answer; but he subsequently explained that he had no objection to the language being taught and made compulsory in certain parts of the school - below the Remove and after reaching the upper division of the Fifth Form - though he would think it necessary to exclude it during the whole intermediate period. The interval between these two points comprises at present nine or ten school divisions and 370 boys, and appears to cover about three years out of the four and a half during which a boy commonly stays at school. Mr. Balston's objection appears to be, that the teaching of the classics at Eton is not so satisfactory that any time could safely be subtracted from it for other studies. Mr. Coleridge thinks it impossible to teach French in class. Of the Assistant Masters, the majority feel that the want of effective French teaching is a great defect, and that, if there are difficulties in the way of introducing it, they are difficulties which may be, and ought to be, removed. Several of them have expressed the opinion that it would be
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best to entrust the grammatical teaching of the language to the Division Masters themselves, with the assistance of one or two educated Frenchmen to instruct the more advanced scholars. It is admitted that this could not be done at present; but they believe that it would be practicable in a very short time. It has been suggested also that the study of French might conveniently be combined with that of modern history.
The number of boys who learnt German in 1860 was from 20 to 25. Three learnt Italian. The teacher of Italian, Signor Volpe, has addressed a letter to us representing the little encouragement given to the study of that language, and urging the appointment of a resident Italian Master.
15. Natural Science
"Physical science is not taught." Lectures are delivered, however, once a week during the two winter school-times by men of eminence on scientific subjects. The attendance is purely voluntary, and there is a small payment, which defrays the lecturer's charges and incidental expenses. We are told that about 100 attend. At the end of each lecture some questions are proposed, to which those who are disposed to do so prepare written answers, for the best of which a prize is given; and at the end of the course questions are again proposed, to be answered from recollection. A list of the subjects has been furnished to us; they appear not to have been arranged in systematic courses, but to have covered a pretty extensive range, and embraced such portions of natural and experimental philosophy as were thought likely to be interesting to boys. Mr. Hawtrey, judging from his own observation, expresses his opinion that these lectures have been useful in imparting information and awakening an interest in scientific subjects.
16. Music
Music is not taught in the school. Some of the boys take private lessons, chiefly in instrumental music; and two of the tutors have private musical classes. An attempt to form a class on a larger scale, under Mr. Hullah, broke down a few years ago. The boys "got tired of it". Mr. S. Hawtrey has been for a long time desirous of introducing a music lesson into the arithmetic and writing lessons of the lower school, asking only an extra quarter of an hour for the purpose, but has not been able to induce Mr. Carter's predecessors or himself to give the necessary permission.
17. Drawing
There is a good Drawing Master, and a room fitted up with models and examples, and open for four hours a day. The average number of learners has been about 35 - a small proportion, even when compared with the number learning at Harrow and some other schools. It was 47 during the last six months of 1860. The instruction given is in artistic, not elementary drawing. Practical geometry and military plan drawing are taught in the Mathematical school to anyone who wishes to learn, but Mr. Hawtrey states that the demand has fallen off since the latter ceased to be required in examinations for direct commissions.
18. Deviations from Regular Course of Classical Study, in what Cases, if any, allowable
Except in the case which we are about to mention, no deviation appears to have been permitted at Eton from the regular routine of work in school and pupil-room on the ground of differences of bent or capacity, or the special requirements of a future profession.
An "Army Class" was established in 1856. Boys whose parents desired it were permitted, with their tutor's consent, to attend a separate class under one of the Remove Masters for instruction in geography and history twice a week, and to substitute three additional mathematical lessons during the week for three classical lessons. This plan was at first intended to apply only to the Fifth Form, but lower boys were afterwards allowed to join the class. The working of it appears to have been unsatisfactory; boys who attended the class - most of them very young - were generally among the idlest in the school, and lost what interest they had previously taken in the regular work; and a remonstrance was ultimately presented to the Head Master by about two-thirds of the Assistants, which led to a regulation that no boy should join who was not in the Fifth and above 16, or who did not intend to remain at Eton until he went up for his examination; and that no boy attending it should be excused any of the regular school exercises, nor attend the Mathematical school at times when his division were doing classical lessons. This change appears to have effectually cured the evil
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complained of; but the class has ever since been very small, numbering three boys at most, and sometimes none. The universal opinion among the Masters is, that no such special preparation is necessary to enable a boy of moderate powers and moderate application to pass the examination for direct commissions, framed as that examination is with a view to the ordinary teaching of Public Schools. Some witnesses, however, think that there are cases in which a particular mental bias, or the necessity of preparing for some profession, might usefully be admitted, under proper regulations, to justify a certain amount of deviation. Mr. Birch is of opinion that less original composition might be required from boys whom a three years' trial had proved unable to succeed in it, and more French and history given in its place. Mr. Hale's experience has convinced him that there are good mathematicians who can only get through their verses and themes by means of the most heavy labour to them and their tutors, and he suggests that such boys might be excused themes and verses, and required to give the time so saved to English; additional mathematics, and modern languages; and he would allow in such cases a paper in the higher branches of mathematics to be set instead of composition in the examinations. This would meet, he thinks, the case of boys intending to try for the scientific branches of the army, or for the Indian Civil Service. Mr. Coleridge has suggested a wider scheme, of which an outline is given in his evidence. He sees no difficulty, with a little additional machinery, in establishing at Eton as many different lines of special preparation, starting at certain ages, as would train boys sufficiently for every department of the Army, for the Navy, the Diplomatic Service, and the Civil and Military Services of India. He would retain throughout some classical teaching, but no composition, except prose translations from and into Latin and Greek. He believes that this could be done without any injury to Eton as a school, and with great advantage to the public service.
19. General Arrangement and Employment of Time assigned to Study. School Books
The general difficulty which to the Head Master and some of his colleagues appears to forbid any extension of the school-work beyond Latin, Greek, arithmetic, and mathematics is want of time. This raises the question whether the time of masters and boys at Eton is now arranged and employed in the best way. For the Remove and nearly the whole of the Fifth Form in a regular week there are three whole-school-days, and on each whole-school-day four school-times, lasting about three-quarters of an hour each - in the whole about three hours. On Tuesday and Saturday there are two school-times, both in the morning - an hour and a half altogether. On Thursday there are three school-times, or about two hours and a quarter. The number of hours in a regular week during which the boys are in school is therefore between fourteen and fifteen. Besides this, they have their work in pupil-room, and so much as is necessary for the preparation of lessons and exercises. But the great number of occasional holidays make a regular week a very rare thing; we were told that in one particular school-term there was not one regular week. Every Saint's day is a holiday, and the eve of every Saint's day a half-holiday; and half-holidays are granted also on many other occasions, such as a birth in the family of a Fellow, the appointment of an Etonian to an office of distinction, and the like. But as a holiday does not excuse the boys from any part of their composition, the consequence is that the work of two days has very often to be crowded into one, and that it can seldom be exactly known beforehand what the distribution of the week will be. This irregularity, in a school where the temptations to idleness are so great as at Eton, can hardly be favourable to steady industry; and it must evidently aggravate very much (as in fact it does) the difficulty which the mathematical tutors find in making their arrangements with the classical tutors. There appears to be a general feeling that the time-table needs some revision, though Mr. Balston sees advantages in its irregularities, and Mr. Johnson is not able to assure us that the Assistant Masters agree with him in thinking that there should be fewer half-holidays or more school hours. Mr. Johnson's own words are:
I particularly desire and earnestly advise the complete reconstruction of our time-table, with a view to greater regularity, and to the increase of the number of school-hours, particularly in the summer months.
The question whether the time which is considered to be given to work is employed in the most profitable way, is one which could not be thoroughly answered without travelling through all the details of the work in school and pupil-room. We shall advert here only to some points prominently raised by the evidence. The preparatory construings, which belong to this part of the subject, have been mentioned already, and the great proportion which Homeric bears to Attic Greek.
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The quantity of Latin and Greek poetry learnt by heart is, as has been already stated, very large. Speaking generally, every such lesson, which is construed, is also learnt by heart. A boy has to say 80 lines of Homer and 60 lines of some other author, alternately, five days in the week. Mr. Balston sets a high value on this exercise of memory as an unfailing test of industry, and "a thing which they cannot get done for them at any rate." Granting this, as well as the great advantage both of "recitation" (properly so called) and of storing the memory from the classics, the question would still remain, whether the suggested purpose requires, or is best answered by, the repetition of 300 or 400 Latin and Greek verses, and those only, in every week. We have reason, however, to think that, even as a test of industry, it is sometimes deceptive, that the manner in which the repetition is heard by no means ensures its being learnt, and that the quantity exacted has very often the effect of making the exercise of memory mechanical and slovenly, and therefore worse than useless. When Mr. Walter was at school "a quick boy learned the half dozen lines or so that he thought he was likely to be called up to say, and got off in that way." He believes that there has been a great improvement in this respect, but his impression is hardly borne out by a witness whose experience is very recent:
7467. (Mr. Vaughan) Do you know how many lines a week the Latin and Greek repetition would amount to at the top of the School, say, high in the Fifth Form? - I should think between two and three hundred lines.
7468. Could that be easily shirked by a boy? - Boys have very seldom learnt it. They have got a way of guessing the piece they are likely to have.
7469. Are they called up in order? - Yes.
7470. So that they could get piping hot four or five lines, and be ready with it at the proper moment? - Yes.
7471. Do you think that the repetition set to the boys to learn told really and effectively upon the composition by giving taste and facility? - I do not think it did.
7472. (Mr. Twisleton) That could be frustrated if the Masters were in the habit of setting on boys out of order and dodging them? - Yes, if they did not go straight through the lessons.
"7473. (Mr. Thompson) A Master would be very unpopular who interfered with that routine, would he not? - He would, decidedly.
Many of the Assistant Masters are of opinion that the quantity of repetition might advantageously be diminished.
A Latin theme is done every week in the Fifth Form and Remove, translations into Latin prose very rarely. Besides the sameness of this work, wearisome to tutor and pupil, the objections which obviously exist to the weekly recurrence, year after year, of an exercise which tempts a boy to repeat continually the same phrases, and therefore the same ideas, instead of compelling him to grapple with the difficulty of throwing given ideas and turns of expression into Latin, seem to be felt by some of the Assistant Masters. The want of practice in translation is undoubtedly felt by Eton men at the universities; it should be added, however, that the same want appears, in different degrees, to be experienced by men educated at most of the other public schools.
There is little or no Greek prose, and no English writing, prose, or poetry, except two essays in a year for the Sixth Form.
It is the practice at Eton to use school books compiled and published specially for the school, and with the imprimatur of the College. When a new edition has been wanted, the revision of the book has been undertaken commonly by one or another of the Assistant Masters. No new book, and no new edition of a book, can be used in the school without the sanction of the Provost. It seems to be an unavoidable consequence of this system that the Provost should sometimes feel bound to regard two interests, not necessarily coincident - the interest of the school using the book on the one side, and that of those deriving pecuniary benefit from the sale of it on the other, and that the change of a book or edition should be often interfered with by considerations which would not arise if a different course were adopted. Such cases, it appears, are not wholly unknown. A fact mentioned by Mr. James shows that the market value at least of the Eton school books has deteriorated:
With reference to the present condition of the books used in the school, I consider this statement, which I had from the publisher a short time ago, very important; that whereas, some twenty years ago, the wholesale part of his business was by far the most valuable branch, it has been gradually declining since that time, and is now of very little value compared with the retail business; our school books, which were at one time the best that could be procured, no longer commanding much sale elsewhere.
The system itself and several of the books now in use are considered unsatisfactory by the Assistant Masters; and an attempt at amendment has been made, of which Mr. James gives the following account:
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Several, I believe almost the whole body, of the Assistant Masters joined about last Easter* in requesting the Head Master with the Provost to appoint a Committee of Masters to consider what alterations should be suggested in the school books used, to make arrangements for the publisher with literary persons to re-edit such books as from time to time might require reprinting, and to consider generally what improvements might with advantage be introduced. In answer to this application, the Head Master informed us the Provost declined to acknowledge any Committee of the Assistants whatever on the subject: but that, if we liked to appoint a Committee of our own body for this purpose, he (the Head Master) would undertake to give due weight to our recommendations, and, if he approved of them, to urge them as his own upon the Provost. This is the state in which the matter stands at present; a Committee has been nominated, and has held a few meetings, but has neither power nor responsibility.
Mr. Johnson, who was a member of the Committee, and took great interest in the matter, supplies its further history. The late Head Master, he says, gave the proceeding no support, and "limited the Committee to such an extent" that its members were not disposed to go on, and they have not been able to obtain any opinion from the present Head Master. Mr. Balston, in reply to a question on the subject, says that nothing is intended to be done through the Committee as such. He would wish it to be done otherwise.
20. Methods of promoting Industry - Promotion - Prizes
The system of promotion has already been briefly described. It will be remembered that a boy gets, as a rule, two steps or "removes" in every year. One he obtains as a matter of course and without examination; for the other he has to pass a test examination, called "trials", the standard of which is so moderate that it is a disgrace to fail at all, and that a boy must he "very stupid" who is kept down long. The "trials" are so far competitive that a boy who does well in them gets a higher place within his remove, though he does not advance the quicker in the school. On a recommendation from his tutor and the master of his Division, a boy may offer himself for a double remove; he is then examined, not with the boys of his own remove, but with those of the next above it; and, if he beats two-thirds of them, but not otherwise, he is transferred to it and rises with it, and thereby gains two steps in the school at once. This is not unfrequently attempted, and it generally succeeds. These examinations go on until the boy is landed in the Upper Fifth; after which he rises by seniority alone, if he be an oppidan. The King's scholars have about a year afterwards an examination of some severity, which determines their places in College. Besides the trials, there is an examination called collections, at the end of every term, in the school-work done during the term; the boys are classed in collections, but the class which each gains does not affect his place in the school, except that a certain number of marks are allowed for it, which are carried to his credit at the next ensuing trials. "It is a very easy thing to scrape through collections without any reproof or punishment." Places are not taken, as we have seen, nor marks given for the daily work in school, except below the Fifth Form. The effects of this system obviously are to prevent very idle or stupid boys from stagnating altogether at the bottom of the school; to apply a certain small stimulus to them - the fear of the discredit which is attached to "muffing a remove", and of being left behind whilst the corps in which they were originally enrolled moves on; to give them, however backward they may be, some change of work and some sense of progress. On the other hand, it renders it possible for a boy to rise in school rank, and in the difficulty of his work, without rising proportionately in knowledge. It enables a boy considerably above the average in talent or industry to rise fast; but steady and merely creditable diligence does not accelerate his rise in the school, though it gives him a good place in his remove. It keeps together each remove with its esprit de corps, and with the advantages and disadvantages which arise from accustoming each boy to feel that he is expected to move as fast as his schoolfellows about him, and no faster; but it undoubtedly operates to some extent as a protection to idleness, and fails to hold out that incentive to work which is supplied by the system of competitive promotion in use in some other schools.
Further, the absence of all examinations, except collections, after a boy has passed Upper Division trials, leaves him for some two years, more or less - years the most important, perhaps, of all to his intellectual growth - relieved from any regular stimulus to exertion. It has not been explained to us why yearly examinations, which are good for King's scholars in the highest part of the school, are inexpedient for Oppidans.
Except the Newcastle scholarship and medal, a prize of books worth £5 for Greek iambics, two prizes worth £10 each for Latin and English Essays, the Tomline prize for mathematics, and some other small prizes given by the Assistant Masters for proficiency
*Easter 1862.
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in the same subject and in arithmetic, and the late Prince Consort's prizes for modern languages, there are no scholarships or prizes given by competition and open to both Oppidans and Kings scholars. Of these the Newcastle scholarship is open to boys in the Sixth Form, and in the Upper Division of the Fifth, and to those in the Middle Division who will leave school before the next examination; the Greek iambic prize to the two first Divisions of the school; the English Essay prize to the Sixth and such boys in the Fifth as the Head Master thinks fit to allow to write for it. There are some other rewards for meritorious school-work given by the Head Master. Thus any classical or mathematical exercise of special merit is sent up to him "for good" by the Master before whom it has come and a book is given to each boy who earns this distinction three times, and to each boy who is first in the collections of his Division; the Head Master also gives prizes for the best compositions in Latin prose and verse done in his own Division during the half year. There are other prizes confined to King's scholars, and a considerable number of scholarships or exhibitions tenable by them at the university and given according to a general estimate of merit, but without examination, and subject to various restrictions. There are thus a good many minor distinctions, but very few of any importance, and the latter, for want of that publicity which makes rewards effective, and of that general competition which brings all the highest talent of the school at once into the field, do not appear to tell much upon the school. "They are decided", says Mr. Browning, speaking of those in the Head Master's Division, "solely by the Head Master, and nobody ever knows who gets them. They are got in a great measure by Collegers, but the exercise is not recited or printed, and no pains are taken to make the school generally acquainted with who are distinguished in that way." Mr. Johnson suggests the printing of the exercises, and that they should be awarded by judges to whom the competitors are personally unknown; "that more opportunities should be given to the Masters to show some interest in scholar-like boys who are not their own pupils, and that the attention of the school should be more regularly called to those who distinguish themselves in the school, or, having left it, at the universities; that, in addition to the one Newcastle scholarship, there should be scholarships created out of the college revenues for Oppidans tenable at either university, and that mathematics should be similarly encouraged." He thinks it also very desirable that, should the College increase the number of scholarships tenable at the school, or add to the exhibitioners, the new scholarships or exhibitions should be held by boys residing in the same boarding-houses as Oppidans. Sir J. Coleridge, who has gone more fully into this matter, would found as many as 40 of such Oppidan exhibitions, and would suppress some of the Fellowships for that purpose.
We believe that we do no injustice to Eton in saying that it employs sparingly - more sparingly, perhaps, than any other great school - the spur of emulation. In the system of promotion, the hearing of lessons, even the awarding of prizes, there is comparatively little of direct competition, and the distinctions which are given are not conspicuous enough to make them objects of general ambition or respect. Instead of emulation, reliance appears to be placed on the sense of duty, the influence of association, of parents, and of tutors, and what may be called the mechanical movement of the school; there has been an aversion to positive pressure of any kind; a great reluctance to exclude on account of mere backwardness, whether caused by idleness or by incapacity; a strong and laudable anxiety to afford all the boys as much liberty as they could safely enjoy and ample scope for healthy amusements.
How far this system is likely to prove successful, and how far it has actually succeeded as regards intellectual training, are questions upon which we might have been able to form a clearer opinion had we had the opportunity, which we desired, of testing directly the proficiency of the upper part of the school. There are, however, portions of the evidence which throw some light on them.
All the Masters agree that boys who enter as Oppidans come to school for the most part very ill-prepared. Although the examination is easy, about 20 per cent fail, and take refuge in the lower school, most of these being boys of nearly 14. "Hardly any amount of ignorance", therefore, "prevents a boy's coming to Eton." This want of early education, we are assured, is an increasing evil.
The influence of parents, we are told, is by no means uniformly exerted to encourage industry. "My chief difficulty", says Mr. Birch, "in creating a love for classical literature and honourable emulation among the boys, arises not so much from idleness among themselves as from the light value generally set upon such proficiency at home." It is too often the case that boys are sent to school to form friendships and to be made gentlemen, rather than to acquire mental training and the habit and power of work. Yet Mr. Johnson has come to the conclusion, which we have no doubt is just, that the number
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of Oppidans who have any expectation of inheriting property is much smaller than is commonly supposed, and the number who ought to be working for success in after-life much larger. And Mr. Browning "has never known any parent of an oppidan who has not shown great anxiety about getting his son on. I think a better example at home would be very valuable, but as to the anxiety expressed by the parent, and the manner in which that is expressed to the boy, I should say that there is nothing to be wished for."
It appears also to be generally admitted that with many boys, the emulation and ambition which are not awakened by the work of the school find scope in play. Position and influence in the school, which are the things that a boy most desires, are gained chiefly, and almost exclusively, by excellence in the cricket-field or on the river. The character, indeed, of a boy is important to his position; but intellectual distinctions have little weight in this respect. "There is nothing that makes work fashionable among the oppidans. A boy has no chance of becoming one of the leading boys of the school by work." "If he can do anything else, if he can row, or play cricket, or any other athletic game, I do not think", says a good authority, Mr. Mitchell, "that he is thought the worse of for reading." The charms of idleness are, as another witness has said, very numerous and very seductive at Eton, and it is not surprising that whilst amusement, and not labour, opens the readiest way to social distinction, and whilst the system of the school admits it, a healthy and active boy, with no strong natural taste for reading, should give to cricket more time and much more energy than he gives to work.
It appears a reasonable conclusion that a school to which the majority of boys come ill-prepared, to which many are sent chiefly to form their manners and connexions, and many others from wealthy homes where they have had no opportunity of seeing an example of steady work, and in which the general tone of feeling is such as we have described, is one which cannot safely dispense with any of the ordinary methods by which industry is made honourable, emulation kept alive, and the system of teaching rendered as effective as possible.
Mr. Balston himself thinks, from his experience as an Assistant Master, that from one cause or another the success of the work has not been in proportion to the pains bestowed on it.
21. Eton Education as a Preparation for the Universities - For the Army
Of the under-graduates of the two Universities of Oxford and Cambridge in Michaelmas Term 1861, 249 had been educated wholly or in part at Eton. Assuming the time passed at the University before taking a degree to be from three to four years (at Oxford it is now nearly four), it would appear that the number of Eton boys who go annually to the Universities has lately averaged about 70. Taking the average number of the school during the four years ending with the summer of 1861 to have been 800, and the average time spent at school to be nearly five years, we may compute the number who left in each year to be about 170. According to this calculation, which of course is rough, rather more than 40 per cent of the boys who annually leave Eton go to the universities. The number of boys who actually left during the period between election and Christmas 1862 was 22, and the number of these who actually went to the Universities was 8, or 36 per cent. This information was furnished to us by Dr. Goodford, in reply to an inquiry addressed to him, in common with the Head Masters of the other schools. Mr. Balston, who succeeded Dr. Goodford as Head Master early in 1862, was unable to supply us with the numbers for the remainder of the year 1861-1862; and as the period embraced in Dr. Goodford's return was obviously too short to afford an adequate criterion, we applied to the Masters and others in charge of boarding houses, and to the Assistant Master in College, and received from them returns comprising the whole year 1862-1863. From these it appears that the total number who left the school in that year was 176,* of whom 18 were Collegers; that of the 18 Collegers 11 went to the Universities, whilst of the 158 Oppidans 68 either had gone or were intended to go thither. Allowance being made for some who might possibly fail to matriculate, this gives a proportion not differing very materially from the result arrived at by the first calculation, viz., somewhat more than 40 per cent. We may assume, therefore, that more than half of the boys who leave Eton do not go to either University.
The number of young men educated wholly or in part at Eton who entered the army or qualified for Woolwich within three years from September 1858 to October 1860, and from May 1862 to January 1863, was 50,† or about 17 a year. The total number who offered themselves for examination was 66, or 22 a year. The returns received from the
*The school contained 840 boys in the slimmer of 1863.
†To this number two or three should probably be added as having failed at their first examination for direct commissions, but passed after a second. (See Enclosure D. Appendix E.)
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boarding-houses and from the Assistant Master in College show that of those who left school in 1862-1863 about 33 either had entered the army or regarded it as their future destination; four of these were Collegers.
Of the results of an Eton education considered as a preparation for the Universities we can only form a very general opinion. The distinctions gained at the Universities by Eton men, when compared with the numbers of the school, do not certainly entitle it to rank among those which are most successful in this respect; but it sends out a fair number of good and well-instructed scholars. Within the ten years ending in 1861, during which probably 500 or 600 Eton men have gone to the Universities, it has had at Oxford 18 classical and two mathematical "Firsts", eight in law and modern history and one in natural science, and at Cambridge 17 Wranglers [third-year undergraduates gaining first-class honours] and 19* in the first class of the Classical Tripos; has twice gained at Oxford the Ireland and Hertford University Scholarships and the Craven Scholarship at Cambridge, besides other distinctions. The examination by moderators at Oxford occurring in a man's second year, and turning almost wholly on scholarship and mathematics, is the best test of school-work, and here the number of "Firsts" is 25. Etonians have gained also at Oxford the senior mathematical scholarship and the Johnson mathematical prize once, and the Latin verse prize and Gaisford prize twice; at Cambridge the Latin Ode and the Epigram prizes four times, the Camden medal twice, the Smith's prize, Chancellor's medal, Porson Scholarship and Greek Ode once, 12 Scholarships and seven Fellowships at Trinity, with other University and College distinctions. As to the mass of young men who enter at Oxford and Cambridge, and who do not try for honours, it has been already seen that the mental training which they bring from the schools where they have been educated cannot be rated high; and in this respect Eton can claim, at the least, no advantage over the rest. According to the evidence of the Dean of Christ Church and of Mr. Hedley, it is rather below the common level. The wealthiest, it is true, and therefore on the whole the idlest men, go to Christ Church; but Christ Church and University College contain one-half of all the undergraduate Etonians at Oxford, and one-third of the total number at Oxford and Cambridge.
Of 36 Etonians who entered the army by direct commissions within the three years above mentioned, 16 came direct from Eton, and 20 had been afterwards at other schools or under private tutors. Eight others failed to pass the necessary examination, of whom three came direct from Eton. Of those who succeeded, coming direct from Eton, all passed in mathematics, English, history, and Latin, and all but one in French, eleven in drawing, only six in Greek. Among the unsuccessful candidates the largest number of failures was in Latin and French. It is remarkable that of all the 42 Eton candidates, only 27 took up Greek, and of these 12 failed in it. In history, Latin, the natural and experimental sciences, and drawing, those who came direct from Eton appear to have succeeded better than those who did not. In French and German the balance is slightly the other way. The conclusion from these figures is, that this examination requires, in the case of boys of ordinary intelligence and moderate industry, no special teaching which may not be had, either in the school course or as an extra, at Eton.
The numbers of Etonians who tried during the same period for Sandhurst and Woolwich respectively were as follows:
The result of which is, that Eton has educated a very small number, but successfully, for Sandhurst, but has not yet succeeded in educating directly for Woolwich.
22. The Lower School
The lowest three Forms at Eton constitute what is called the Lower School. The number of boys in the Lower School has varied very much. Between 1812 and 1833, it ranged from 79 to 37; between 1834 and 1839, from 22 to 11; it has since risen considerably, and was 99 in 1861. These figures are taken however from the lists annually published at election, a period of the year when the Lower School is not at its fullest: the highest number in each year since 1857 inclusive has never fallen below 100, and was 139 in 1859, 121 in 1861, and 140 in 1862.
*Fourteen of these and the two Cravens had been King's scholars.
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The Lower School is arranged, for teaching, in five divisions, the largest of which, immediately before the Christmas holidays 1861, was 31, and the smallest 13; and is taught by the Lower Master and four Assistants (all Eton men), appointed by himself, with the approval of the Provost and Head Master. The proportion of masters to boys is much greater, it will be observed, than in the Upper School; little boys require, Mr. Carter thinks, more attention and individual teaching. Arithmetic, writing, and dictation are taught by Mr. S. Hawtrey with seven Assistants, who are not University men, but of whom four are certificated teachers.
The Lower Master - the ostiarius, or usher of the ancient grammar-school - has the general management of the Lower School, subject to the control of the Provost. He receives from the College £78 16s a year, with a trifling allowance of bread and beer, and from each oppidan in the Lower School an entrance fee of £4 4s, and an annual payment of £6 6s, which are doubled in the case of noblemen's sons and baronets; and pays to each of his classical assistants £30 a year. He has a boarding-house, and is tutor to his own boarders, who pay him £130 instead of £120, the usual charge for a boy at a tutor's house. In explanation of this difference. we are informed that by a customary rule he is precluded from increasing his income by taking, as pupils, boys who are not in his house. Two of the assistants are confined as tutors to Lower School pupils, the two others are not.
The studies of the Lower School are thus described by Mr. Carter:
The system of teaching in the Lower School does not necessarily comprise any modern language, the subjects being Bible history, classics, geography, English history, arithmetic, writing, dictation, so arranged that classics, writing, or dictation are the subjects of three days in each week, while history, or geography, and arithmetic are taught on tile other three; all of these form the subjects of examination twice a year, when the papers for each form (of which a specimen is enclosed) are set from the portions of work done by each form since the last examination, and looked over by the Lower Master with the single exception of arithmetic; the places are determined by him according to a boy's proficiency in each subject, arithmetic bearing a proportion of one-fifth to the rest of the work; these are the ordinary examinations according to which boys rise from one form to another twice a year. .A deserving boy may at any time be promoted on the joint recommendation of the Master of the division and of the Tutor, a case which repeatedly happens; as, for instance, six boys were sent from the Lower to the Upper School at various times during the interval between election and Christmas. Should there be any difference of opinion, which seldom exists, between the Master and the Tutor, the Lower Master would examine the boy himself, and fix his proper position. This system, which has been changed and enlarged during the last three years, works well, and does not seem to require further change as regards the present subjects.
The Lower School boys prepare all their lessons in pupil-room in the Tutor's presence. Their hours of work are longer than in any part of the Upper School, so long indeed that they appear to have little time for play. In summer, on whole-school-days, a boy is almost always at work from seven in the morning to six in the evening, and within these hours gets no exercise except in "running about the school-yard and going from one place to another". After six in summer and after four in winter, he is able to play. Neither Mr. Carter, however, nor Mr. S. Hawtrey think that this close occupation has been practically injurious, though the former allows that the boys "have quite as much as they can do".
Hardly any age is considered too early, nor any age (under 14) too late, for admission into the Lower School. Boys may enter as soon as they are able to read; and they in fact enter, not unfrequently, at seven years old. On the other hand, we observe that out of 28 boys who were in the highest division in 1861, and were doing very easy and elementary work, 19 were above 14 years of age, and only three were under 12. Mr. Carter attempted four years ago to limit the highest age of admission to 12, but found it impossible. "There was such a pressure. Perhaps a boy had just passed the age, and was not fit for the Upper School; the parent was disappointed, and pressed that he should be taken into the Lower School." The Lower School thus opens a door to great boys who are too ill taught, or too dull, for the Fourth Form; once admitted, they move up in the regular course among boys much younger than themselves, and thus find their way into the Upper. A consequence of this is, that a considerable proportion of the boys in the Upper School are in knowledge much behind their years. Some of these, no doubt, are steady well-conducted boys, who have been kept back by ill-health or accidental causes. But the evidence shows that the most mischievous element in the school is that of the "big lower boys" - of boys, that is, who are old enough, but not advanced enough for the Fifth Form. They are the greatest bullies, and set the worst examples.
Different opinions have been expressed to us respecting the Lower School. Mr. Carter is well satisfied with it, and would gladly see its numbers enlarged. Mr. Durnford would
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keep it as a receptacle for boys too backward to be admitted into the Fourth Form rather than as a place of training for boys of tender age, though the boys in it, he says, are very well instructed, much better than at most private schools. There has been it great improvement in it as a school, especially since the accession of Mr. Carter's predecessor, Mr. Coleridge, who had "a remarkable power of teaching". Special arrangements have of late years been effectually made to provide board and lodging under improved conditions for boys of the Lower School. These are fully described in the answers of the Rev. J. W. Hawtrey. Mr. Johnson would prefer either a new Third Form - a part, like the Fourth, of what is now the Upper School - or a lower school, with a separate staff of teachers, from which no boy should enter the Upper School when over 14 years of age, nor without a sufficiently strict examination.
23. Moral Training and General Discipline of School. Relation of Tutor to Pupil. Monitorial Power
The moral superintendence of every boy at Eton, as well as the care of his intellectual training, is entrusted wholly to his tutor. If he boards at a dame's or at a mathematical master's, the extent of the tutor's responsibility is still in theory the same, though what may be called the domestic superintendence of the boy necessarily falls in that case to the person in whose house he lives. This relation, which begins when a boy first enters Eton, and subsists during the whole time that he remains there, places him from first to last under the eye of one person, whose duty it is to watch over the growth of his mind and character, who is able to write regularly and fully to his parents, for whom he commonly acquires a strong personal regard, and whom he becomes accustomed to consider not only as a master and teacher, but as an adviser and friend. This institution has probably grown up by degrees, and is to be found, in various modified forms, in other great schools. At Eton the highest value is attached to it, and although the relation, as regarded by the boys, may not always be as confidential as it is considered to be by the tutors, we entertain no doubt that it is especially useful in so vast a school where a boy must pass quickly from one large class to another, and, until the very end of his career, must be personally almost a stranger to the Head Master.
The Sixth Form, and in some cases the upper boys in the Fifth, are empowered to punish breaches of discipline out of school by setting impositions, or by the more summary process of an immediate "licking". The captain of each house is also expected to assist the master of it in maintaining order. Among the King's Scholars the authority of the Sixth Form extends over all below the first six of the Fifth Form, and in certain exceptional cases over them also; it is frequently exercised, is considered to work well, and thought useful by the King's scholars themselves. Formerly, when tyrannical habits prevailed generally amongst the bigger boys in College, the power of the Sixth Form too appears to have furnished excuse for tyranny; but this has ceased since the appointment of an Assistant Master in College. Among the Oppidans it is confined to boys below the Fifth, and in practice is very rarely exercised at all. "It is not thought the thing"; "there is a sort of feeling against it"; and it has not the support of the public opinion of the school. There are offences, however, which a Sixth Form boy, whether King's scholar or Oppidan, would think himself bound to notice and put down, though what these are it would probably be difficult to ascertain, the question being one of feeling and opinion, rather than of law. And the Head Master considers that every Sixth Form boy holds his rank on the condition of discountenancing and putting down disorders and breaches of discipline, though it does not appear that a failure in this respect has ever actually been a cause of degradation. The Sixth Form does not, in fact, enjoy any social pre-eminence apart from that of age, and there seems practically to be no line of demarcation between them and the rest of the school. The monitorial system, therefore, with its formal delegation of powers and duties, which exists at some other schools, has virtually no existence at Eton; it has sensibly declined during the last 20 years, and has now dwindled to a shadow, and given place to the undefined prerogatives and half-recognized influence of age, popularity, and the social position won by success in the cricket-field or on the river. As these prerogatives are indefinite, so also is the sense of responsibility which ought to attend them; and as a "swell" - that is, a boy who has achieved social rank in the school - has it in his power to do much good, so he can also do no little harm. This absence of a clear sense of obligation, and this liability to abuse, are inseparable, of course, from an influence which is gained by position, and exercised by example. But they render it highly important that the influential class should be a class really worthy of influence, and that all available means should be used to make it so.
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It appears to be the unanimous opinion of Masters and boys at Eton that this state of things works well. Eton is as thoroughly convinced of its own superior happiness in not having the monitorial authority as those schools where it exists are of the advantage of having it. But within the school itself there is the same difference; the King's scholars form in some respects a school within a school, and as between them and the Oppidans there is the same difference of government and opinion. The King's scholars, among whom the system has in great measure survived, cherish it and prefer it to the absence of system among the Oppidans.
If the general tone of feeling and opinion at Eton is sound and honourable, if disorders are rare, and there is little bullying or oppression, and if this condition of the school may reasonably be expected to endure, there is no reason for desiring the revival of a system which has passed away. The evidence that we have received under these heads is generally satisfactory, and we have reason to believe that the moral tone and standard of Eton, like those of other great public schools, have not declined, but have, on the contrary, sensibly and progressively improved, during the last twenty years.
There are two points however connected with discipline which have been brought to our notice by several witnesses, and should be mentioned here. One is the singular custom known at Eton as "shirking"; the other the practice of resorting to certain public houses.
The nominal bounds at Eton are very narrow, and practically the boys are suffered to go where they please: a boy is expected however, if he sees a Master when out of bounds, to run away; the omission to perform this ceremony is considered disrespectful, and renders the offender liable to punishment. The tradition is thus kept alive, that the privilege of taking a walk is enjoyed only by connivance and upon sufferance. If there is any advantage in this, of which we are not aware, it is purchased by making the boys act as if they were doing wrong, whilst they know that they are not, and at the cost also of two not unsubstantial evils. Some Masters do, some do not, punish the omission to shirk; a boy is therefore liable to be reproved and punished by one for that which is no offence in the eyes of another. Further, it makes the detection of misconduct more difficult, by destroying one of the plainest indications of guilt. Suppose, says one witness, that you see a boy in what you suspect to be bad company. "You would wish to get nearer, to be certain about it; and the moment he gets sight of you, it is his duty to bolt and run away as hard as he can, or hide himself in a shop. I should like to be able to say 'The fact of your trying to avoid me is a proof of your being in mischief'." The prevalent opinion among the Assistant Masters appears to be that "shirking" is useless, and not entirely harmless, that it ought to be abolished, and that in lieu of it certain localities should be proscribed, and the boys strictly prohibited from visiting them.
Boys are strictly forbidden to go to public-houses. There are, nevertheless, two places of this kind, the "Tap", and the "Christopher", to which it is perfectly well known that they do go in numbers; and where they are never disturbed. "It is very much on the same footing as shirking; if a boy takes every pains not to be seen going to such places, nothing is said to him." It is punishable, but not wrong in the estimation of the boys; and, in the fact that they are not punished if they use certain slight customary precautions to avoid being found out, they have perhaps some ground for thinking that the opinion of the Masters is not widely different. It is only by going to public-houses that a boy can get a glass of beer after a hard pull on the river, and the beer given at meals in the boarding-houses is not uniformly good. We have no reason to believe that there is anything like drinking to excess. At the "Tap" the boys have a room appropriated to them, and have established. rules for the maintenance of order, which are strictly observed. The practice, however, of drinking at a public-house, even in moderation and under regulations, is obviously one which may lay the foundation of a bad habit. Resorting to public-houses on Sunday would of course be much more severely punished, and is discouraged by public opinion; it prevails to no great extent, but is not unknown.
24. Fagging
Fagging at Eton is now much milder than it formerly was, and it does not at present appear to tax heavily the time of the younger boys, nor to subject them to any serious annoyance or oppression. The power to fag generally is confined to the Sixth Form, and to the Fifth exclusive of the lower remove, lower division; the liability to be fagged, to boys below the Fifth Form. Every lower boy in each house is assigned as a special fag to some Sixth or Fifth Form boy in the house, and every lower boy in college to one of the first eleven in college. The duties of a fag consist in running on errands,
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when required by any boy entitled to fag, in attending on his master at breakfast and tea; and, in College, calling him in the morning. We have been told that this attendance is inconvenient to boys who do not know how to manage their time well, and interferes in some degree with the school work or the breakfast of the fag. Occasionally this may be so, but according to the prevailing tenor of the evidence the inconvenience is not general, and not oppressive. The portion of a fag's duties which is really troublesome, and which is described in the following answers, (relating it must be observed only to fagging in College), might obviously be much lightened by a trifling change:
9106. (Mr. Twisleton) Of an evening, in your room, is there any time that you are absolutely free from fagging? - No.
9107. You would never be certain of an hour or an hour and a half when you could not he called upon to fag? - No.
9108. (Mr. Vaughan) How many boys do you find answering to the call of the same prefect calling 'Come here'? - Very often all the lower boys go.
9109. How many would that be, 15? - Yes, 15 or 16.
9110. Only one would be wanted?- Yes.
9111. So there is a rush of 16 boys to wait upon one? - Yes.
9116. (Sir S. Northcote) What is the part of the fagging that is most unpopular? - I think 'Come here' is, or else fagging at dinner.
9117. (Lord Lyttelton) When there are very few it would be worse than it is now? - Yes, much worse.
9118. (Mr. Vaughan) At every call of 'Come here', every boy is expected to present himself? - Yes.
The fags in College have likewise, as has been already mentioned, to wait upon their masters at dinner before getting their own.
There is no doubt on the whole that fagging, as it now exists at Eton, is a popular institution, that it creates a connexion which is often an advantage and protection to a young boy, and sometimes leads to lasting friendships. And Mr. Lyttelton is probably right in thinking that it is not without its use in forming, on the one hand, habits of obedience and of respect for established authority, and, on the other, that of wielding power without abusing it.
From compulsory attendance at games a junior boy at Eton is more free than at some other great schools. There is no "cricket-fagging"; the power of fagging at fives is supposed to exist, but is seldom exercised or wanted, and if a little boy is called upon, in the absence of a valid excuse, to join with his house in a game of football, he does not feel it as a hardship.
25. Punishment
Corporal punishment is inflicted in the Upper School by the Head Master only, and in the Lower School by the Lower Master only. The Assistant Masters bring before their chief those offences with which they think that he alone can properly deal, and it is a rule, Dr. Goodford informs us, introduced within the last few years, that no complaint of this kind shall be made without previous reference to the boy's tutor. This regulation has been found very useful, and has materially assisted, with other causes, to diminish flogging, a punishment which is now administered much more sparingly than it was ten or twenty years ago. Dr. Goodford thinks that during his time there was a flogging five or six times a week, or perhaps not quite so often, and that it had a tendency to diminish. Offences were fewer, and there was less disposition to resort to it. This evidence does not entirely tally with that of a witness who left Eton about three years and a half ago:
8519. (Lord Clarendon) Has flogging diminished since the time when you first went to Eton? - No.
8520. (Mr. Vaughan) Is it any great dishonour to be flogged, or is it regarded as a natural incident of the day? - It is regarded quite as a natural incident of the day.
8523. (Lord Devon) Supposing a form master to send up a boy to the Head Master, does the Head Master consult with the tutor or communicate with him before he sets the punishment? - No, very seldom. He considers himself a machine, and seldom takes any excuse, observing that what has failed to satisfy the complainant cannot satisfy him.
8524. (Sir S. Northcote) Does the master who sends up the boy first consult with his tutor before he sends up his name to the Head Master? - By no means necessarily.
8525. Is not that always done. I thought it was? - No, I do not think so; the tutor generally hears of it eventually, I suppose.
8526. Is it not always considered the rule? - No, I am sure that is not the case.
If, however, the punishment is inflicted as often as five or six times a week, it is much more frequent at Eton, in proportion to its numbers, than at other great schools to which our inquiry has extended. At Eton, as at some of the other schools, "impositions" are the ordinary punishment, and are set by the Assistant Masters at their discretion.
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26. Games
The river, the playing-fields, and much open grass country, supply Eton with abundant facilities for health, exercise, and amusement, which are amply used. The attractions of the river rival, and rather more than rival, during the summer, those of the cricket-field: the captain of the boats is the greatest man in the school, and next to him ranks the captain of the Eleven. That too much time is given to play and too little to work, is admitted by those who set the highest value on athletic sports: cricket, if not more seductive, is more exacting in this respect than the boats, for the art of cricket-playing has now reached a pitch of perfection which demands for those who are ambitious of success in it professional instruction, and long and constant practice. Five hours a day, at least, on half-holidays (or thrice a week), and two hours at least on whole-school-days, are considered by the boys necessary in order to get into the Eleven. Five hours daily, one day with another, would probably be required of the captain, "for the sake of example", and are a common allowance for diligent, though less distinguished, players. No boy is allowed to go on the river who has not "passed" in swimming before a committee of masters; this rule, which Eton owes to the present Bishop of New Zealand, has entirely put an end to accidents, which were formerly not infrequent. The rifle corps serves, with other purposes, that of giving to boys who neither row nor play cricket, something to do; but to attempt to make it compulsory would, in Mr. Warre's opinion, destroy it altogether. Inevitably, perhaps, the shooting tends to get the better of the drill.
Mr. Warre, who has himself taken an active and lively interest in what may be called physical education at Eton, speaks of the beneficial effects, not only physical, but moral, of a keen and energetic participation in games: it diminishes the class of idlers and loiterers - a class by common consent most mischievous, to whom too many temptations are offered by the street and little shops of Eton, and is an antidote to luxurious and extravagant habits, to drinking, and to vice of all kinds; and it is quite compatible with very steady reading. It would be very desirable, however, he admits, "if we could get them to put the same energy into the work". We cannot but call to mind distinct evidence by which it is satisfactorily proved that the greatest skill in cricket as well as in other games can be combined with very high proficiency in the studies of the school. To some of his colleagues there seems to be some danger lest the participation of masters in these sports should assist to exalt their importance in the eyes of the boys, and to flatter the notion that laborious pastime, by virtue of being laborious, may rise in moral worth to the same level as work; and this may doubtless be a real danger at a school where great encouragement is given to games, and not enough to industry. The true remedy is to redress the balance by adding to the incentives to industry.
The expense attending the boats appears to be rather greater than it ought to be, and might probably be reduced by judicious management. More money than formerly, Mr. Warre allows, is spent on games; he estimates the total amount that passed through the hands of clubs or societies at £1,300 a year; but he is doubtless right in thinking that what is spent in this way is thoroughly well laid out, and if not so spent, would probably go in more foolish and less healthy pleasures. The great incentive to extravagance is the foolish indulgence of wealthy parents, who supply their sons with too much pocket-money.
27. Chapel Services, Prayers, Preaching
Besides the ordinary services on Sunday, the boys attend two services on every whole holiday, and one (at three o'clock in the afternoon) on every half-holiday. The afternoon services on Sundays and Saints' days are choral. Prayers are read in all the boarding-houses on Sunday mornings; and at all the tutors', and at some, but not all, of the dames', on week-days. Some of the tutors read a short sermon or address of their own composing to their pupils on Sunday night, which is attentively listened to, and seems to produce a good effect.
The evidence of several witnesses tends to show that the afternoon service on weekdays, especially when there is no music, is too commonly regarded by the boys as little more than a roll-call; that they look upon it as a substitute for the calling of "absence", and upon the time consumed in chapel as so much taken out of their play; that they are inattentive, and anxious to get out. Many think that a short daily service, at a convenient hour in the morning, might be advantageously substituted for the present week-day services in chapel, and the morning prayers in the boarding-houses. In the upper part, at least, of the School, there appears to be a preference for choral services.
There is one sermon in chapel on every Sunday, preached by the Provost or a Fellow in residence. If a Fellow is prevented from preaching, his place is taken by a Conduct. The Head Master delivers, during every Lent, a course of sermons or lectures on the Catechism, and is occasionally asked to preach at other times; but this is rare, and the
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same request is never made to an Assistant Master. From the evidence which we have received on this subject, we are satisfied that some change is very desirable; the nature of the change which we shall propose will be indicated hereafter.
The boys of the Lower School, for want of room in the Chapel, attend service at a church in the town of Eton, where they form part of the ordinary congregation, an arrangement which the present Provost would be glad to alter, if possible.
28. Boarding Houses
Half a century ago the oppidans lived chiefly in boarding-houses kept by ladies, who were called "dames". During that period the number of dames' houses has gradually diminished; it has become customary for the Classical Assistant Masters to keep boarding-houses, and this is now a regular and principal source of the income of an Assistant Master. Many large houses have been built which are so occupied. There are at present at Eton 30 boarding-houses in all, the largest of which contains 49 boys and the smallest 5. Of these 17 are kept by Classical Assistants, 3 by Mathematical Assistants, 1 by the Drawing Master, 5 by gentlemen otherwise unconnected with the School, and 4 by ladies. The last 9 are still called dames' houses. Of the 17 kept by Classical Assistants 2 are confined to boys in the Lower School.
As we said before, it is stated to be a rule that no Assistant Master may board (and receive payment for) more than 30 boys; or, including two pairs of brothers, 32; but this rule does not appear to be universally known, or strictly enforced. Mr. Hardisty says that "great and dangerous laxity prevails in this respect. The good old rule has recently been flagrantly broken, with great danger to the discipline and good government of the School." The number in a dame's house is not limited. Three masters' houses and two dames' houses have more than 32 boys.
A boy at a Classical Assistant's house pays £120 for board and tuition, the Master being likewise his tutor. At one house, the Lower Master's, the charge is £130, the ground of this exception being that he is not allowed to take as pupils boys who are not in the house. At a Mathematical Assistant's he pays £84 and at a dame's from £63 to £84 for board and domestic superintendence alone, paying also as a rule £20 to his tutor. Sixty guineas was the old charge at a dame's house, but it is now only retained at four or five of them. A boy, therefore, at a Mathematical Assistant's pays less by £16 a year for board than one at a Classical Assistant's, and a boy at a dame's from £37 to £16 less.
The cost of boarding a boy varies, of course, according to the number in a house, being partly made up of house rent and servants' wages, which are greater in proportion when the number of boys is small. In assessing the Assistant Masters, the Income Tax Commissioners have adopted at Eton, after careful consideration, taking one house with another, a general estimate of £75 a year; and this appears to be considered a fair calculation. Mr. Evans states, that with a charge of £84 his house is "not remunerative" at its present scale of comfort; he is only enabled to keep it by the large number he takes (47). A dame charging from 60 to 70 guineas cannot possibly, he thinks, conduct her house with advantage to herself.
From the facts which have been brought before us at Eton as well as other schools, we entertain no doubt that the real cost of a boy in a large house, managed liberally, but with ordinary prudence and attention to economy, must be less than £75 a year, whilst at a very small house it may be somewhat more.
Eight of the dames' houses, and all but six of those occupied by Assistant Masters, are the property of the College. Over the others the College has no legal control, but some control is practically exercised, and this has never been resisted, it being understood that no one can open a boarding-house without the leave of the Head Master. As a general rule, no house within the precincts and belonging to the College is let to any person not connected with the School either as a Master or as a dame, and no tenant can underlet without the permission of the Provost and Fellows.
It was evidently most important for the welfare of the school that the Provost and Fellows should retain in their own hands the entire control of this portion of the College property, and that no interests should be suffered to grow up in it which might prevent them from dealing with these houses from time to time, as the interests of the school might require. This is not, however, the course which has been pursued. Many of the houses have been let on leases for terms varying from 21 to 46 years, and several of these leases have been renewed very recently, so that a considerable time must elapse before the College can regain possession. Nine of the houses are sublet, the original lessee or his representatives commonly residing at a distance, and having nothing to do with the school. Sums, more or less considerable, have, in almost every instance, been laid out by the original lessee or the sub-tenant, and sometimes by both, in enlarging and improving the houses, and making them fit for the purpose for which they are used. The total
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amount which has been thus spent, appears to be between £30,000 and £40,000. Besides this - and partly, no doubt, in consequence of it - the tenants and occupiers have come to consider themselves as having an equitable claim to a renewal, and this interest has been treated as a subject of sale and purchase. It has become usual for a dame, on becoming tenant, to pay a substantial consideration, either in a round sum or in the form of an annuity, to the previous tenant. for this interest, and for goodwill. One lady has thus paid £2,000 and an annuity of £100 for sixteen years, besides the regular renewal-fine to the College, and an outlay of £1,300 on improvements. Mr. W. Evans, who holds a twenty-one years lease, has paid, beside his renewal-fines, £7,300 and upwards for goodwill and improvements. A multitude of complicated and uncertain claims have thus sprung up, many of which can be measured by no legal standard.
When an Assistant Master resigns his house it is usual for him to make a private arrangement with someone who wishes to succeed him; but if the Head Master thought the intending successor unfit for the charge of a boarding-house, he would represent it to the Provost, and the Provost and Fellows would support him and refuse to accept the new tenant. A Master who has laid out money on his house would expect, on quitting it, to have some part of the money repaid by his successor. The total expense, from this cause, from the purchase of furniture, and from necessary repairs, of coming into a large house has been stated to amount to from £1,500 to £2,000. Mr. James estimates it, from his own experience, at from £3,000 to £6,000, but he rebuilt half of his house, including all the boys' rooms.
The possession of a house, being so considerable a source of profit, though attended with some risk and a heavy outlay, is naturally a great object of desire to a young Assistant Master. Some rules appear to have been laid down to govern the succession to such as become vacant; but from the various claims and interests which have grown up, from the habit which has arisen of transferring houses by arrangement, and from the somewhat indefinite nature of the control exercised by the Provost and Fellows (or by the Bursars as representing them), whilst the Head Master call only interfere by the exercise of personal influence, some uncertainty appears to rest either upon the rules themselves or on the application of them. A house which has been once occupied by a Classical Assistant is never afterwards given or allowed to be transferred to a mathematical assistant or to a "dame". One exception has been lately made to this rule in favour of a gentleman who, having been obliged by ill health to resign his mastership, has been suffered to retain his boarding-house. But if a dame's house falls vacant, the rule is much less clear. It is said to have been settled in 1851, when mathematics were introduced into the school work, and the number of Mathematical Masters increased to eight, that they should succeed to dames' houses when vacant. This has been done in some cases, and the Provost and Fellows state that they would give the next they had at their disposal to a Mathematical Master, if he wanted one. The Provost, "as far as he is concerned personally", would never give a dame's house to a Classical Master if a Mathematical Master wanted it. "I should prefer giving it to the Mathematical Master, if I had the power; but the fact is, I have not the power to interfere with the lessee, except so far as to prevent improper persons from coming there." He thinks there would be no competition between a Classical and a Mathematical Master; but it appears from other evidence that there has been such a competition in more than one case. A strict attention to the system now laid down would lead to the extinction of dames' houses; but we are told that no opinion against the dames' houses has been formed by the Provost and Fellows, and they suggest that to extinguish them would make Eton a still more expensive school. The result of this uncertainty is said to be, that "there is a regular scramble for any house that falls vacant".
We have already alluded slightly to the disadvantage at which the Mathematical Masters are placed in this respect, as compared with the Classical Assistants. The latter get houses usually within two or three years after their arrival; the former have to wait six or seven; and they not only receive £16 less for the board of each boy, but are unable to obtain houses of the larger and better class, They may, says Mr. Johnson, by "special exertions and good luck succeed in getting an inferior house to accommodate a small number of boys at a lower rate of payment than a tutor's house". Mr. Balston admits that "it is difficult to say what may be the chance of a Mathematical Master in obtaining a boarding house". It is said, and is probably true, though the small houses they now occupy are filled without difficulty, that a Mathematical Assistant, being prohibited as he is from holding the relation of tutor towards the boys in his house, would not be able to fill a large one. This, however, raises the question, to which we shall revert, whether it is desirable that the prohibition should be maintained.
Every boy at a tutor's house sleeps in a single room, except in the case of brothers, who usually occupy a room together. This is also the case, generally speaking, at the
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dames', but in some of them, where the old charge of sixty guineas is nominally maintained, a single room costs £5 extra. They have breakfast, dinner, tea, and supper, and meat twice a day, and we have heard no complaint of the quantity or quality of the food, except that as above mentioned the beer at some houses is not good. In these respects the scale of comfort at a tutor's house does not, we believe, differ from that at a dame's. Every dame's house is deemed to be under the charge of one of the Classical Assistants, who goes thither daily for a few minutes to call absence, and reads prayers on Sundays, and receives any complaints of misconduct which the dame may have to make. This appears to be the limit of his duties. Mr. Evans, whose house enjoys a great and we believe, merited reputation for judicious and attentive management, urges that there is a positive benefit to the school in having houses kept by persons with no other occupation than the domestic care of the boys. Mr. Walter is of the same opinion; though, for other reasons, he would reduce the number of dames. The chief advantage, however, of a dame's house appears to be its greater cheapness. Besides paying less for board by £16 a year, a parent may also, if he thinks proper to do so, escape the charge of ten guineas for private tuition, though the number who avail themselves of this privilege is not large.
Of the young boys in the Lower School some, but not all, live in the two houses set apart for them, those of Mr. J. Hawtrey and Mr. Dupuis. Mr. Hawtrey's house has been built and fitted up by him specially for the reception of little boys, and has a separate and spacious play-ground, and it appeared to us to be excellently adapted to its purpose.
29. School charges and annual expenses of a boy at Eton
The expenses of a boy in a tutor's house are as follows:
A boy, therefore, who has extra mathematics and learns French, costs annually £165 3s exclusive of his clothes, journeys, pocket-money, and other petty expenses. If he also learns drawing, it would be £179 17s. The average amount of the annual bills sent in by a tutor are computed by Mr. Eliot at about £175; by Mr. James at £65 a school-time, or £195 a year; by Dr. Goodford, at from £150 to £210. The amount of the" leaving-presents" to Masters is not fixed precisely; some Assistant Masters, we believe, do not take them from all their pupils, and the ill defined character of these payments is felt to be unsatisfactory by the masters themselves.
30. Practice of giving Leaving-Books
When boys leave Eton it is the practice of their friends and acquaintances of the same standing to give them books as presents - a practice which in itself has been undoubtedly founded on kind and generous feelings, and which may be of advantage, not only great but well deserved, to boys of high and popular character, as laying for them the foundation of a good library. We believe also that it is not without effect in fostering among the boys good temper, honour, manliness, and other qualities which are the elements of popularity in its best sense in the Public Schools, and in discouraging their opposites. The popularity of boys in such Schools may not depend as much as it ought to do upon qualities even higher than these; but, so far as it goes, we believe that its constituents are mainly good and sound, and there is reason to think that the hope of obtaining a fair number of leaving-books, the fear of falling unusually short in this respect, and the general opinion of the School on these points, are, at Eton, influences of some force and some value. We should be unwilling, therefore, to condemn the system as a whole. Complaint, however, has been made to us that the practice, as it now exists, far exceeds in
*At a dame's £84 for board and £21 for tuition, or £105.
†This is double, in the case of noblemen's sons or baronets.
‡A boy in the Sixth pays £15 or £20.
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extent the feelings which gave rise to it; that the system of giving books has become formalized, and is a matter of course; and that the consequent expense to parents is occasionally very inconvenient. We deem it right to mention this complaint in order that it may receive such attention from the Masters of the School as it may deserve. We do not, however, propose to make any recommendation on the subject, as the practice is one which it is scarcely within the province, if indeed it be within the power, of even the Masters to interfere with directly; and its continuance or modification must mainly depend on the intelligence and good sense of the boys themselves.
OBSERVATIONS
Relation of the College to the School
In the first part of the foregoing statement we have briefly described the original and present constitution of the Governing Body of Eton College, its powers and emoluments; we have now to consider whether it is well adapted for the functions which it ought to discharge, having regard to the intentions of the Founder and to the changes wrought in his foundation by lapse of time.
The main objects of this great College were evidently those which were commonly coupled together by the founders of similar institutions in the middle ages - the promotion of learning and religion and the relief of poverty. To promote learning, a home and a sufficient though frugal maintenance were provided for a limited number of men devoted to study, and a school was established in direct connexion with a sister College in Cambridge, to which the scholars were to proceed: to advance religion, a noble chapel was erected, in which stated services were to be celebrated by an ample choir, and the Fellowships were confined to men of the clerical order: while the claims of poverty were represented by the bedesmen, and recognized by requiring indigence as a condition for gratuitous education.
The Eton of the 19th century is, as we know, very different from the Eton of the 15th. The College Grammar School of 70 poor boys is now only the heart of a vast school of more than 800, which has been frequented for many generations by the sons of the greatest and richest families in England, which has risen into national importance, and has rooted itself, more firmly even than the College itself, in the traditions that have gathered round it, and the multiplied and hereditary attachments it has created. Eton College has become, in fact, an accessory to Eton School: the Provost derives from the School most of his dignity, and finds in the direction of it a great part of his employment; the Head Master, though beneath him in rank, holds a position superior even to his in real importance; the Fellows are retired Masters, married and beneficed for the most part, non-resident during three-fourths of the year, and receiving a comfortable income, which they feel justified in regarding, as the world regards it, chiefly in the light of a pension; the boys of the School fill, and more than fill, the chapel. This great revolution, which could never have been contemplated by the Founder, renders it proper, and, indeed, necessary, to re-consider from our present point of view the whole relation between the College and the School - a relation framed not only for a state of society very remote from the present, but for a totally different institution.
The Oppidans and King's scholars have hitherto in theory, and, to some extent, in practice, been subject to two separate authorities, divided from each other by a somewhat indistinct line. We think it clear that this separation should disappear altogether. Intermingled as they are in classes throughout the School, and as it is at least desirable that they should be in their hours of play, their education and discipline must practically be under one control; and any arrangement which assigns two governments to these two portions of the School must be illusory, and may be inconvenient, as leaving it to chance to determine which government shall in effect gain possession of the whole, by ascendency over the rival governing body.
Governing Body. Parish of Eton. College Livings
The most important powers at present vested in the Provost and Fellows are those of electing and removing the Head Master, and of exerting a general superintendence over the School. The first of these belongs, as has been stated, to the Provost and Fellows jointly; the second, to the Provost alone, who exerts it, however, in practice, with the advice and assistance of the Fellows. The Provost and Fellows, as at present constituted, are not, in our opinion, a body altogether well adapted for the exercise of either of these powers. The electors of the Head Master of Eton should, by their numbers, the mode of their appointment, and the position they hold in the public view, be absolutely secured from the intrusion, and even the suspicion, of personal and local influences, which can never be the case with a few men, intimately connected with one
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another, all of one profession, and of whom all were educated, and the majority have spent most of their lives, within the walls of one school. Nor can it be beneficial to any school, as it has certainly not been beneficial to Eton, that its education and discipline should be exclusively controlled by a small number of retired masters, who cannot but have some bias, not the less real because they may be unconscious of it, against any serious change in the system under which their own lives have been passed, and with the practical working of which they have ceased to be familiar. These considerations point, in the first place, to an increase of the numbers of the Governing Body; in the second, to changes in the mode and conditions of election into it.
If the number of Fellowships is to be hugely increased, it is clear that some, at least, of them must be without emolument. This presents, however, no difficulty. The duties which will be attached to a Fellowship will demand, it is true, especially at first, some time and attention; but they will not be really onerous. They will not require residence on the spot: and men, we feel assured, will be easily found, to whom the distinction itself, and the interest and importance of the services they will be enabled to render to the School, will be an ample recompense.
The Fellowships, however, were designed not only to supply a Governing Body for the College, but to provide a maintenance for studious men; an object which, while in a national point of view it is of much importance, deserves special attention in reference to the constitution of such a body as that to which we propose to entrust the government of Eton. It is not possible, nor perhaps desirable, that literature and science should offer to men who dedicate their lives to them prizes equal to those which may be gained by the pursuit of an active profession; but it is a public advantage that some places of honour, competence, and leisure should exist, to which such men may look forward as the rewards of intellectual labour. Men of this stamp, interested by their own habits and pursuits in the advancement of education, acquainted with the progress of literature and science and of enlightened public opinion, and residing during part of the year at Eton, may be expected to form a valuable element in the Governing Body, and to exert a most useful influence on the direction of the studies of the School. We have only to add that, in order to render Fellowships really available for this purpose, it is necessary that the field of selection should be wide. We shall propose, therefore, that a moderate income shall be attached to a certain number of the Fellowships, the holders to be chosen indifferently from men who have distinguished themselves in any branch of literature or science, or have done long and eminent service in the educational work of the school. Such service is in effect a service rendered to literature.
That such a body should be wholly self-elected is not desirable. We believe that the dignity, as well as the interests of the College, would be best consulted by vesting the appointment of a portion of its members in the Crown, though it might be objectionable to give the Crown the right of nominating to the stipendiary Fellowships.
We shall recommend therefore an increase of the numbers of the Governing Body; that of its members some shall be without emolument, and a certain proportion of these nominated by the Crown; that a smaller number, elected by the whole body, shall be persons distinguished in literature or science, or for services done to the School; and that these shall have competent incomes assigned to them, and reside at Eton during a part at least of the year.
The Fellows nominated by the Crown would of course be men qualified by their position or attainments to render service to the School. It would, we think, be well to mark the character of the School, and to insure its connection with the older Universities, by providing that the gentlemen so nominated should be graduates of Oxford or Cambridge. The elected Fellows, whether honorary or stipendiary, might be elected freely, under the single condition that they should be members of the Church of England.
The same conditions should be required in the case of the Provost, but we see no advantage in requiring that he should be in Holy Orders. He fulfils, as Provost, no spiritual charge; and, though he has hitherto held the rectory of Eton, the duties have in fact been performed by the Conducts. Some of the Provosts who have shed the greatest lustre on the College, though their election was irregular, were, as we have already observed, laymen. The nomination being vested, as we think it ought to be, in the Crown, and the office being endowed with a fixed income sufficient to support its dignity, it would be an advantage both to the College and to the School that the area of choice should be very ample.
The parish of Eton should be constituted a separate vicarage, and endowed out of the revenues of the College. The population of the parish, excluding the boys in the School, is stated to be about 2,000. It is suggested that £600 a year should be set apart for this purpose, but this sum might be diminished should the vicar be provided with a house or adequate lodgings by the College.
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The ancient connexion of Eton with King's College, which the changes now proposed will not destroy, has given to each an interest in the prosperity of the other. We shall therefore recommend that the Provost of King's, for the time being, shall always form one of the Governing Body of Eton.
The livings in the gift of Eton College have hitherto been treated as private patronage. If the distribution of these preferments were vested in the entire Governing Body, to be exercised as a public trust, we believe that a larger share of them would fall to the lot of the Assistant Masters, and we think that length of service as an Assistant Master, coupled with fitness for the care of a parish, ought to constitute a strong, though not an absolute or paramount, claim to a College living. There seems to be a special reason for this recommendation in the cases of some of the Senior Assistant Masters, who have served the College for many years in the reasonable expectation of succeeding not only to a Fellowship but to a living. We think that a College living should not be tenable with the Provostship, nor with a paid Fellowship.
Having stated the views which we have formed respecting the constitution of the Governing Body, we may content ourselves with observing that the same reasons which have led us to these conclusions forbid us to adopt either the plan of reconstruction proposed by Mr. Johnson, which is framed on the principle of making selected Masters actually engaged in the work of the School the chief element of that Body, or the suggestion of Sir J. Coleridge, that the Fellows, reduced in number, should be required to conduct the half-yearly examinations, or to participate in education in some other manner suited to their position and dignity. It must not, therefore, be ascribed to any want of respect for the authors of these proposals, if we forbear to enter into the particular objections to which they appear to us to be respectively liable.
It has been seen that the Fellowships have hitherto been regarded, in a great measure, as retiring pensions for Masters. If the changes which we recommend are carried into effect, they will serve this purpose no longer, except to a very limited extent. This presents, in our opinion, no substantial objection to those changes. The present emoluments of a Classical Assistant at Eton, compared with the work he has to do, and with the income which a young man of good and even of distinguished ability may reasonably hope to realize in any other profession, are undoubtedly high; under the scheme which we-are about to propose they will be less, but still sufficient to attract thoroughly competent men, and to enable them, by the exercise of moderate prudence, to lay by some provision for their families. This does not, it is true, render it otherwise than desirable to offer, if there are the means of doing so, an inducement to men whose health or energy are declining to retire before their efficiency as teachers is seriously diminished. It is also desirable to meet cases in which a release from work which has become unsatisfactory would be gladly accepted, if that work had not to be exchanged, as it often must, for compulsory leisure, narrow circumstances, and the absence of a recognized position. But the Fellowships, as they now exist, are not a suitable provision for such cases. They are too large for mere retiring pensions, and too few for even the existing number of Classical Masters, which, moreover, we shall propose to increase; and there are, besides, the Mathematical Assistants, who ought to be taken into account. Further, a system of prizes, large, but few and uncertain, tends to impair the ordinary motives to prudence and economy, and, operating capriciously, tempts one man to abandon his work too early and another to cling to it too long. If our recommendations are adopted, a paid Fellowship will be, as we think it ought to be, a prize, open to the Assistant Masters but not confined to them, for eminent services in literature, science, or the educational work of the School; and a wise distribution of the church patronage of the College will be another and a new provision for many who may be willing to give up employment which has become tedious and unsatisfactory to them for parochial work.
Management of Property - Fines
The management of the College estates will, under this scheme, be vested in the new body which we propose to constitute; and those members of it who will receive any emolument will receive it in the shape of fixed stipends. Some time, however, may elapse before this scheme can come into full operation, and it is therefore necessary that we should advert to the questions raised by the practice which has hitherto existed of taking and dividing fines.
Without imputing any blame to the present Provost and Fellows for adhering to this practice - blame which would be clearly unjust - we must express our conviction that whilst the practice of taking fines is prejudicial to the College by rendering its estates less productive than they would be if let at rack-rent [full market value], that of withdrawing them from the corporate revenue is not conformable either to the letter or to the spirit and intention of the Statutes. Fines, whatever they may have been formerly, are now for all practical
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purposes a part of the ordinary profits of the lands in respect of which they are paid. A large proportion, therefore, of the actual income of the College is thus diverted from the purposes to which that income is by the Statutes directed to be applied. The whole present income of the Eton estates includes in fact their annual value at the time of the Founder, the nominal increase in that value which has arisen from the depreciation of money, and the real increase produced by improvement and other causes. A portion of the nominal increase is reserved for the benefit of the College by Sir Thomas Smith's Act, which provided that one-third of the old rents should be paid in kind; but the remaining two-thirds of it, and the whole of the real increase, are, by the system established at Eton, subtracted from the corporate revenue for the private and personal advantage of individual members of the Foundation. It is almost needless to add that, so long as the administrators of the estates derive the chief part of their income from fines, it must inevitably be their interest, and indeed necessary for their support, that the estates should be administered in a way which is not the best.
We are therefore of opinion that beneficial leases should be discontinued as quickly as the means at the disposal of the College will permit,* and in the meantime we think it desirable that all fines to be received hereafter should be brought into the accounts of the College. These changes should of course be effected with a due regard to the interests of the present Provost and Fellows. This might he done by allotting to them, should it be found practicable, fixed annual incomes equal to their average dividends for the last seven years.
College Offices - Conducts
The College offices of Vice-Provost, Bursar, Precentor, Sacrist, and Librarian have been hitherto held by Fellows. As regards the Vice-Provost, Bursar, and Librarian, we are not prepared to recommend any change, further than that we think it should be in the power of the Provost and Fellows to appoint for the discharge of the duties of Bursar a man of business not connected with their body, if they should think fit.
The office of Precentor and Sacrist might be held by one of the Conducts, who should be responsible as Precentor for the performance of the chapel services and the general efficiency of the choir. The addition of £80 a year to the £120 which is the present stipend of a Conduct, would probably make it a sufficient remuneration for the Precentor's duties. A second Conduct, appointed by the Vicar of Eton, with the approval of the Provost, might act as curate of the parish of Eton, and this would occupy the whole of his time. We see no occasion for retaining a third Conduct. Of the choristers we shall speak hereafter in connexion with the services in chapel.
*On this subject some suggestions have been furnished to us which it may be useful to insert here.
"An estate beneficially leased is, to all intents and purposes, an estate mortgaged, the lessee being mortgagee in possession; but the money advanced is advanced on very high terms, viz. 6½ or 7 per cent. Now, it is manifest that if money can be borrowed at, say, ½ per cent, it is disadvantageous to continue borrowing money at 7. Suppose when the time for a septennial fine comes round, instead of renewing, you borrow the amount of the fine at 4 per cent, and do the same at the end of 14 years, then at the end of 21 you have the estate in hand, subject to the debt incurred, which might he paid off by instalments.
It would be very easy to calculate the precise amount of gain by this process. Perhaps the following will be near enough:
I suppose the price to be £100.
| £100 in 14 years, at 4 per cent = | £173 |
| £100 in 7 years, at 4 per cent = | £132 |
| Incumbrances on estate = | £305 |
Or, if this be left as an incumbrance at 4 per cent, an incumbrance of about £12 per annum.
Now, an estate upon which the septennial fine would be £100 would be of, perhaps, £45 clear annual value; hence, when you get it in hand, it is worth to you £45 - £12 = £33. Previously you had been getting out of it only £100 in 7 years, or about £14 annually, or say, with reserved rent, as much as £16, or about half what you would get when the estate came in hand. It is manifest that you might, therefore, materially improve your income, and yet have a sinking fund for clearing the estate entirely from debt. The long and short of it is, that by the fining system the landlord gets about one-third of the real value of the estate, whereas, notwithstanding the mortgage upon it, he might by proper management get two thirds.
There is an objection to running out Ieases, viz., that there is frequently no covenant in a beneficial lease as to the condition in which the land is to be given up to the landlord, and consequently, if the lease is to be run out, the land may be given up in a very exhausted state, and a large outlay may be required to bring the estate round.
Also, it seems to me that there may be, in many instances, a moral injustice in running out a lease, the land having been treated as private property in consequence of the implied understanding concerning renewal, and being mixed up with freehold. &c. Hence, I think the plan of enfranchisement adopted by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners is not a bad one. You sell your interest in the mortgaged estate, and lay out the money in an estate at rack-rent. The best plan of all would be, I think, a mixture. In cases where running out the lease would be a hardship, I would enfranchise; in other cases I would buy out the lessee; and in cases in which neither could be done I would run out the lease. In fact, if money were got in hand by enfranchisement, you might borrow of yourself; i.e., you might take the income first by running out some leases from the money in hand by enfranchising other estates."
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King's Scholars
Although fewest in numbers yet not the least in point of importance to the School are the King's Scholars. In the days of the Founder they were the main objects of the education given in the School, and they have become in recent times the main support of its credit and reputation. Out of 19 Etonians who in 10 years gained places in the first class of the classical tripos at Cambridge, 14 had been Scholars. The condition of this body therefore is a matter of much interest and moment to Eton.
Its condition has been practically felt to depend mainly on two things, the method of election, and the position and treatment of the Scholars when elected; and great improvements, of which we have already given an account, have been effected in regard to both. In neither point, however, does such amendment appear as yet to have reached its height. The candidates for 15 vacancies down to the end of 1861 amounted to about 50, a number hardly proportionate in our opinion to the advantages which are now actually offered, still less to such as might be reasonably offered for competition. In the course of the same year was first commenced the practice of notifying to the public through the newspapers anything concerning the election; and hitherto, the public has been thus informed only of the time at which the examination would be held. But we think that a more explicit advertisement, comprehending the value of the Scholarships and the subjects of examination, would have had the effect of raising further both the number and qualifications of the candidates. As it would be desirable, moreover, that the advertisement should be able to announce an absolutely free and open competition, we recommend that the local preference to any places where the College has property, and to the counties of Buckingham and Cambridge, be abolished, and that neither illegitimacy nor bodily imperfection disqualify anyone for election as a Scholar.
Again both the method of examination and the principle of selection seem susceptible of some improvement. The great range of age allowed to candidates, from the maximum of 16 years to the minimum of 8, tends itself to introduce difficulties. Under such circumstances it is considered but fair to set no less than five different sets of papers, each set of which is in fact addressed to boys of some one period between 8 and 16; thus, while it is absolutely necessary that answers should be compared, it is quite impossible that one answer should be compared directly with another. This difficulty, meeting the Examiners five times over in reference to each vacancy to he filled up, must of itself occasion much trouble; and here another consideration intervenes to increase the complexity of the test. It is held in order to meet fully the requirements of the Statutes that a boy in order to succeed must not only know more positively, but must know more in proportion to age and show higher talent, than a boy of any age below his own; on this principle, therefore, a candidate of 16 must exhibit extraordinary comparative proficiency and singular talent to outweigh the good proficiency and talents of a boy of 11.
There are thus not only five different standards, but each of the five must be satisfied in a different manner from that required for any of the others. The difficulty of deciding is confessedly very great, and produces much discussion; and it need not be observed that in proportion to the increase in the difficulty of deciding rightly must increase also the probability of deciding erroneously.
It is not unreasonable to apprehend that another inconvenience, quite distinct in kind, may sometimes arise out of this method of adjudication. Such a system, if effectually carried out, strongly tends to give success in the competition to the younger ages, inasmuch as with each increase of age the difficulty of succeeding becomes greater. But if success attends the competition of the younger boys chiefly, the system tends also necessarily to bring boys of tender age chiefly into the field as competitors. The strain therefore of competition, falling commonly on the age between 11 and 14, throws the strain of preparation very much on boys between 9 and 13; and here it may be remembered, too, that competitive learning involves competitive teaching, and introduces the eagerness of rival teachers as an additional spur to the efforts of their pupils. Both these combined must often prove a considerable tax on strength at such a tender age; and although they may not exhaust either the will or the power to do good work at a later period of life, yet the health may suffer for some years, and such a foundation for habits exclusively sedentary and studious may be laid as will tend to divide the School too distinctly into two classes of studious and of active boys, having little of that influence on each other which might improve both. The Provost, indeed, has not observed any such deterioration of health as affects a boy's school-work at a later period. Mr. James, however, expresses a most decided opinion that the smaller Collegers are inferior to their Oppidan school-fellows in physique, and that such "have been worked up very often tremendously" at the preparatory Schools. Under such circumstances, we think that it must at least prove the safer course to discourage such struggles at the tenderest age, by deferring the pro-
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babilities of success to a time when the health has become confirmed, and both body and mind are more developed.
We shall therefore recommend that a single standard of excellence should be applied to all candidates: and in order that this standard may be such as will give to age its natural advantage over those who hare not long passed out of childhood we shall recommend that the Scholarships be awarded according to the same scale of merit by one examination, to which no boy shall be admitted under the age of 11, or above that of 14.
From the evidence of the Provost of King's it appears that a difference of opinion prevails between the two Colleges as to the principles on which the elections from Eton to King's should be made. The King's College electors consider that they ought to choose the best scholar presented to them; the Eton electors consider that they ought to give a preference to a boy of 18 over a boy of 17, though the latter may be the superior scholar. As each College contributes, under the Statutes, an equal number of electors, and as no provision is made for a casting vote, this difference of opinion has recently led, and may again lead, to great inconvenience and to the entire failure of an election. Differences between the electors might similarly arise in the case of elections to the foundation of Eton .
We shall recommend that in the elections to the Eton foundation a second or casting vote be given to the Provost of Eton, and in the elections to the King's foundation to the Provost of King's.
Nor is the method of election the only point of importance which presents itself to notice in considering all the possible means of making the Scholarships still more attractive than they now are. Under the original Statutes of the Founder, the annual cost of the seven Fellows to be charged on the funds of the College appears to have amounted to £104 6s, being at the rate of £14 18s for each Fellow, while that assigned to the Scholars, and provided from the same funds, was about £238, of which £33 16s consisted in the stipend and allowances of those appointed to instruct them. Thus was the expenditure on behalf of the body of Scholars designed upon a scale which gave them for maintenance and education considerably more than twice as much as was allowed to the Fellows. At the present moment, however, the sum drawn from the College property on behalf of the Fellows over and above the annual value of their houses is about £6,000, while that taken out of the same fund for the support and instruction of the Scholars may, as it appears, be estimated at about £3,400. But, if the cost of the Scholars bore the same ratio to the present cost of the Fellows as it did when the College was founded, they would now be drawing from the funds of the Institution not £3,400, but £14,000. Again, the sum allowed to the Head Master alone under the Statutes, for the instruction of the Collegers chiefly, was nearly by one-third larger than the total allowance of any Fellow, whereas at the present moment it is by one-half less.
Now we do not suggest the propriety, under present circumstances, of raising the cost of the Scholars to a sum approximating to such a proportion of the College funds. Credit must be given to the present Governing Body for having acted conscientiously and liberally by the Scholars. Yet since the intention of the Founder, thus declared by his apportionment of the funds, warrants a still larger expenditure on their account should it appear desirable, we are of opinion that the principle on which recent improvements have proceeded should be pursued further by granting them a full gratuitous course of education and a liberal gratuitous maintenance while at school. The assertion of this principle will involve the abolition of the small payments now made under the head of College charges for attendance, &c., and those for tea, sugar, and washing; it will also include not only an adequate payment for their tuition, now partly defrayed by themselves, but also an adequate payment in some form for all the services which they receive, indeed, from the Head Master in common with the rest of the School; but which are at present requited only on their behalf by a very inadequate stipend paid to him by the College. It appears hardly necessary to add that their diet should be more varied than at present.
Government of the School
In assigning to the Governing Body and to the Head Master their respective shares in the management of the School, we shall propose to follow the general principles laid down in the First Part of this Report.
The particular control which the Provost at present exercises over the Head Master in the management of the School will necessarily disappear under the new system. This control appears to have grown up as a substitute for a really effective Governing Body.
It is, however, an Inconvenient .and unsatisfactory substitute. It is inconvenient that a control over the actual Head Master of Eton should be intrusted; not to a per-
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manent body qualified to represent the permanent interests of the School, and in which individual peculiarities of temper or opinion are sure to be corrected and kept in check, but to a single person, who has himself formerly been a Head or Assistant Master, whose views of education are probably those which he formed whilst personally engaged in it, and who consults the Fellows, when he thinks proper to consult them at all, only as private and irresponsible advisers. The extensive and minute nature of this control is such as to confuse and impair the responsibility of the Head Master. The Assistants are discouraged from offering suggestions to a chief who is not himself in an independent position; and the necessity for constant reference to a superior authority tends to impede those minor improvements of detail without which a system degenerates into a routine. By the changes which we propose these inconveniences will be removed, whilst the right to confer with the Provost, and to obtain the benefit of his knowledge and advice, which Mr. Balston so highly, and, we doubt not, so justly values, will still remain, and will, we trust, be frequently and usefully exerted.
We have already adverted to the evils which appear to arise from the want of frequent consultation on the affairs of the School between the Head Master and his Assistants. At a very large school like Eton, where the Head Master's supervision must necessarily be imperfect, and leave him uninformed of much that it is desirable for him to know, and where the Assistant Masters, from their number as well as from their occupations, are able to see very little of one another, the institution of a School Council, according to the outline sketched out in the First Part, is of the highest importance, and will, we believe, be of the greatest service.
The various subjects of study taught in the School should of course be fairly represented in the Council. We shall recommend that it should consist of not more than 15 members, and should comprise a certain number of the Classical Masters engaged in each part of the School, including one at least who has not charge of a boarding-house, a certain number of the Mathematical Masters, and some of the Teachers of Modern Languages and Natural Science. In the absence of the Head Master, the Lower Master, if present, should preside.
The defects which Mr. Coleridge has pointed out, arising from a want of organization, and which he proposes to correct in a different way, will, we believe, be substantially cured by this measure.
Number of the School, System of Admission, &c.
The tutorial system, as it exists at Eton, seems to offer facilities for a large and indefinite expansion of the numbers of the School. The proper proportion of boys to tutors having been ascertained, it seems easy to increase the number of boys by increasing proportionately the number of tutors, and as each tutor is also the master of a class in school, the due proportion of boys to class masters may in like manner be preserved. But it is to be observed that, if this process is carried too far, the School is in danger of degenerating from a single well-organized public institution into an aggregation of less perfectly organized private ones, and that it may in fact be lost in the tutors' houses.
It will be remarked that the liberty of action which the several tutors enjoy, and which is undoubtedly one of the great advantages of the tutorial system, leads to considerable diversity in their modes of dealing with their pupils. Some think highly, and some think lightly, of particular branches of study; and, as their pupils are of course much under their influence, they encourage or discourage them to pursue those branches accordingly. Some of them, for instance, attach importance to the study of French, and make more or less successful efforts to teach it. Others, and among them the Head Master, consider that the study of French is incompatible with the due prosecution of the study of the classics in the middle part, or perhaps in any part, of the School. If the several tutors were really the masters of separate schools, each entirely and solely responsible for the education of his own pupils, such diversities of opinion as this would be of comparatively little importance; but this is not the case. The boys are in daily contact with at least two different masters, their own tutor and their master in class; and if they find that what the one values highly is of little account with the other they naturally become perplexed, and it is to be apprehended that in too many cases they solve their doubts between two contradictory views by taking that which gives them the smallest amount of trouble. Thus, in such a case as that above referred to, a boy, finding that his class master thinks nothing of French, and that the boys in his remove, who are the pupils of other tutors, are not learning it, and that the Head Master does not assign any value to it at trials, will arrive at the conclusion that his tutor is crotchety, and that he need not work heartily at a study which, perhaps, is irksome to him.
It is obvious that in order to give the boys the full advantage of the mixed system of
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class instruction and private tuition which prevails at Eton it is necessary to harmonize the work of the Masters and tutors, so that at least they may not perplex the boys by adopting inconsistent principles of teaching; and to accomplish this without unduly restraining the liberty of individual tutors must be a task of which the difficulty will be in proportion to the number of the persons engaged in the work of the School.
A somewhat different, but not less mischievous, kind of perplexity may be introduced into the School by the different views taken by the Masters upon points of discipline. This is a subject to which we shall have occasion to advert again; but we mention it here as an illustration of the difficulties which necessarily result from the administration of the School being confided to a large number of Masters having co-ordinate authority, and which must increase in magnitude with the increase of that number. If that which is a serious offence in the eyes of one Master is a slight one in the eyes of another, and none at all in the eyes of a third, the discipline of the School cannot be properly maintained.
These considerations lead us to the conclusion that some limit ought to be imposed upon the number of the Masters, and, as a consequence, upon the number of the boys in the School. Another ground for the same conclusion is to be found in the effect which an excessively large School has upon the boys themselves. The stimulus of emulation and the influence of public opinion may easily be weakened, and even destroyed, if the numbers of a School are allowed to rise to such a point as to render it difficult for the boys to know one another. When that point has been reached the tendency to split up the School into sets and smaller societies begins, and the influences of the boarding-house or of the pupil-room take the place of the influences of the School. It is stated in the evidence that in the opinion both of the Masters and the boys the present number of the School is not too large, and that the influences of the whole have not yet been lost in those of the parts; but the tendency to which we have referred is so obvious that we cannot contemplate the indefinite further expansion of the School without uneasiness as to its probable effects in this particular.
Lastly, it seems clear that the numbers of a Public School should not exceed what a single Head can himself exercise some actual personal influence upon.
These considerations are mainly of a general kind, and we have only to add that all such reasons appear on a magnified, or rather an exaggerated, scale at Eton.
From the unbounded spaciousness of the College grounds, the characteristic flexibility and absence of rigid system at the School, its popularity, and the constant increase in this country of the wealthy class, from which Eton is supplied, there seems hardly any positive limit to the extension of its numbers, which have been advancing steadily for many years.
We can understand the feelings of pride with which the authorities of the School and old Etonians must regard this increase, but we cannot think that its indefinite advance is desirable. In no long time the number of boys at Eton might be not far from that of the under-graduates at Oxford or Cambridge, whom we presume no one would think of subjecting to a single Head, and to an uniform system, such as is understood by that of the Public Schools.
The question what number is best for any individual Public School is one to be decided with reference to its past history, its general constitution and organization, its available funds, its local position, and many other circumstances which may properly be considered as giving it something of a distinctive character.
If the question were an open one, the number of 500 would appear to us, for a school like Eton, to be that which, under ordinary circumstances, might be expected to afford most effectually ample room for the beneficial influences of the system, and at the same time to be perfectly manageable by a single Head Master. The evidence to which we have referred above shows that under the present system the Head Master of Eton is unable to exercise that influence over the whole School which it is desirable that he should have. By relieving him of some portion of the labour of examinations, by organizing a School Council of Assistant Masters, and by some modifications of the course of study, means may be found for enabling him to accomplish more in this way than is at present possible; and, taking into consideration the excellence of the staff of Assistant Masters, and the length of the Head Master's personal experience as a tutor, we have little doubt that with these improvements in the organization of the School they will be well able to manage its present numbers, or about 800 boys. There are indeed actually more than that exact number; the schools and boarding-houses, since the ample additions just made to both of them, are fully adequate to it, and any material abatement of it would involve a great waste in those respects; and it is only just to leave to Eton the distinction as to this point which it has above the other schools, to which we propose that a similar rule should be applied. We should, however, be sorry to see this number
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exceeded, and we are decidedly of opinion that it is of high importance to the welfare of the School that some such limit should be placed to its extension. In framing our suggestions, therefore, we have assumed that the number of the whole School, including oppidans and collegers, and the Lower as well as the Upper School, is not to exceed 800 boys, of whom we think there should be 650 in the Upper, and 150 in the Lower School.
The precise mode in which this limitation should be effected, we leave to the consideration of the Provost and Fellows. It may be done either by limiting the number of the tutors and assigning a maximum number of pupils to each, or more simply and directly by fixing the numbers of the School, and admitting no more boys when the list is full.
In the event of the latter plan being adopted, it will be necessary to frame a scheme for the admission of boys upon a system, which may place all applicants on an equal footing. The scheme must be framed with reference to the proper age of admission, the qualifications to be required for entrance into the Upper and Lower Schools respectively, the mode of proceeding from the Lower School to the Upper, and, as an incidental matter, the regulation of the Lower School itself. We proceed, therefore, to offer some observations upon these points.
At present the parents of any boy can obtain his admission into the Upper School up to the age of 14, if they can find a tutor belonging to the Upper School who will take him as his pupil, and a boarding-house in which he can be lodged, and if he can pass a certain examination. We are of opinion that this limit of age should be maintained, and that the same conditions as to the acceptance of the candidate by a tutor and a boarding-house keeper should be required as at present. We also think that the examination should be retained, and should be made somewhat more stringent and extensive than it now is. Great complaints are made by many of the masters, not of Eton alone, but of all the public schools, as to the state of preparation in which boys come up from private schools. The consequences are that the work of the public schools is in arrear from its very commencement, that boys are carried on in subjects in which they have never been properly grounded, and that other subjects, especially the study of the modern languages, are neglected altogether, because they have not been taken up at a sufficiently early age. We consider that every boy should be required before his admission into the Upper School at Eton to pass an examination, and to show that he has been well grounded for his age in classics and arithmetic, and in the elements of at least one modern language, which would usually, we presume, be French, but might sometimes be German. Our attention has been called to the fact that a considerable number of boys, many of them nearly 14 years old, are now rejected by the Head Master upon examination as unfit for the Upper School, but subsequently present themselves as candidates for admission into the Lower School, where there is no limit as to the age of entrance, are placed there, and after a longer or shorter time rise into the Upper School after the age at which they could have been originally placed in it. The regulations as to admission into the Upper School are thus evaded, and the consequence is that a certain number of very backward boys are placed with other boys who are several years younger than themselves, make their way with difficulty through the lower forms of the school, and leave before reaching the higher part of it. This admixture of older and backward boys with younger and more forward ones is a fruitful source of evil; the big boys are ashamed of their position, and frequently take refuge from the sense of shame in determined idleness; they embarrass the masters of their classes, and keep back the boys with whom they are associated; it is among them, too, that the greatest tendency to bully is found to exist.
It seems to us very important that measures should be taken to correct this evil. The regulations as to the age of admission should be carried further than at present. Not only should boys be inadmissible into the lowest form of the Upper School after 14, but boys who fail to proceed from form to form with reasonable rapidity should be required to leave the School. We think that no boy should be admitted into the Remove after the age of 15, or into the Fifth Form after that of 16; and that no boy should be allowed to remain in the School after he has passed either of those ages without obtaining promotion into the Form for which it is prescribed as a maximum. No boy ought to be allowed to remain in the Lower School after the age of 14. We think, too, that boys passing from the Lower School to the Upper should be required to pass the same examination as boys coming from other Schools are to pass, and that if they cannot do so, they ought not to be allowed to remain at Eton; the Lower School, in short, should be kept perfectly distinct from the Upper; the boys in it should have no preference over the boys from private schools m the admissions to the Upper School, and the admission lists for the two Schools should be kept entirely separate. The plan which we recommend is, that the Head Master should keep an admission list, upon which the names of candidates
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for admission into the Upper School should be entered in the order in which applications are received; no boy's name, however, should be entered until he has completed his eighth year. As vacancies occur in the School, they should be offered in succession to the boys on the list, no distinction being made between boys who may happen to be in the Lower School and others. It should be optional with each boy whether he will present himself as a candidate for examination at once, or wait for another vacancy; but each boy who presents himself should be examined, and if found unfit to enter the part of the School for which his age qualifies him, he should be placed at the bottom of the list. No boy's name should be retained on the admission list after he has completed his 15th year. It will probably be found convenient to fix a minimum as well as a maximum of age for admission into the Upper School, and we suggest that the minimum be taken at 11 years.
The Lower School
We have already adverted (above, pp. 93, 94) to the differences of opinion which exist as to the advantages of the Lower School. If there were no such school it would be a doubtful question whether to recommend its establishment; but as it exists, and as several important measures have of late years been taken for its improvement, we are not disposed to recommend its abolition.
It seems to us that the School may be made practically useful as a model preparatory School if restricted to boys of tender age, and confined to the proper instruction of those boys with a view to their admission into the Upper School. For this purpose the studies of the Lower School should he carefully adapted to those of the Upper; the masters of the Lower School should devote their whole attention to that School: and they should neither attempt to combine the care of Upper School pupils with Lower School duties, nor be encouraged to look upon their posts in the Lower School as merely introductory to masterships in the Upper School. The care and instruction of little boys is as important and, in some sense, as difficult as the care and instruction of older boys. The arrangements for the Lower School boys, though much improved, are still very imperfect. Many of the boys board in the same houses as the Upper School boys, while the Lower Master takes Upper School pupils into his house, and is even allowed to take a larger number of boarders and to charge them a higher sum than the Assistant Masters may. It is true that he is forbidden to take out-door pupils, but it appears to us to be wrong that he should take any Upper School pupils at all. We shall propose that every boy in the Lower School be required, unless he lives at home, to board in the house of the Lower Master, or in one of the houses kept by the Assistant Lower Masters, and that neither the Lower Master nor the Assistant Lower Masters be allowed to receive any but Lower School boys, or to keep them after they have risen into the Upper School.
With regard to the admission of boys from the Lower School into the Upper, we have already said that it ought not to take place by way of promotion, but by a regular examination, in which a boy from the Lower School should stand on the same footing as a boy from any private school. It follows as a corollary that boys admitted from the Lower into the Upper School should not be obliged to enter the latter at the bottom, but should he allowed to take the highest place in it for which they are fit. A clever boy who, from standing low in the Head Master's list, had not obtained an admission into the Upper School till he was just 14 might be competent to take a place in the Remove, and ought to be allowed to try for it. The teaching of the Lower School would thus overlap the teaching of the Fourth Form, which would be of no disadvantage to either of them. The Lower School might be so arranged as to have an upper class in which the work done should be fully equal to that of the Fourth Form, and boys who had reached this class might be allowed, as an exception to the general rule we have laid down before, to remain in it up to the age of 15, supposing that to be the maximum age for admission into the Remove. Boys of that age would of course be inadmissible into the Fourth Form, and must understand that if they fail of the Remove they must leave Eton. These are details which the Provost and Fellows will have no difficulty in arranging. We merely desire to indicate the principles which we think should be kept in view.
While upon the subject of the Lower School we think it right to state that the work which is required of the boys seems to us to be in excess, and that the boys are not allowed a proper amount of relaxation and exercise. The Provost and Fellows should have their attention directed to the re-arrangement, in concert with the Lower Master, of the system of study, so as to obviate this inconvenience.
We shall speak of the studies of the Lower School in connexion with those of the Upper.
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Work in the different Divisions. The Tutor's construing
It appears from what has been stated already that the extremely large classes of the old Eton system have been gradually broken up into Divisions of moderate and manageable size. With this change has disappeared the first and most direct evil consequence of such an arrangement, that of distracting the attention of one man capable of instructing only 35 or 40 boys by a throng of 200. If this direct mischief had been the only one that must have attended that excessive magnitude of the forms, the whole inconvenience of the system would have been remedied by recent improvements on this point. In our opinion, however, the system had some other indirect consequences inseparable from it so long as it lasted, and these having been unnecessarily retained still affect the teaching of the School. A school which consists of enormous Forms is necessarily a school in which the same authors are read and the same books used by a vast number of boys. Two hundred heard in one class must read the same books; and the whole of such a school consisting of 600 boys might therefore present a list of authors showing no greater variety and number than the small part of another school in which the same number of boys were distributed into Classes of 30 or 40 scholars. That the Eton, therefore, of the days of Dr. Keate should have been remarkable for the narrowness of its curriculum in classical reading was almost a necessity imposed upon it by its organization at that time.
But the present condition of Eton shows that if such a change in the size of the classes be not followed into all its legitimate consequences, large masses of boys may still be reading the same works and the same quantities of them, although arranged in several classes and taught by different class-masters. If we turn, for instance, to the work of a single Division of the Fifth Form we find the number of Attic Greek authors read to be one, the number of Latin prose authors one, the number of Latin poets two, the number of Greek poets two, these indeed the best and freshest, although not containing one specimen of the Attic amongst them. Such work, if regarded as the work of one Division, is choice and various, but considered as the work of six or seven Divisions, and of two or three hundred boys, it involves two obvious inconveniences. The first of these is that boys of all ages between the extremes of thirteen years nine months and eighteen years eleven months are performing the same tasks. A second objection is to be found in the fact that one and the same boy is compelled to read the same books, encounter the same difficulties, harp on the same styles (competing all the while with the same rivals) for two or three years together. Mr. Johnson appears to see no great harm in this, because different passages of the same author, as his style undulates, so to speak, in higher and lower degrees of difficulty, will meet the level of every age and every degree of proficiency in matters of construction and criticism. Nor does he feel much objection to it as tending to make the work stale and wearisome, because the varying style even of a single classic author may so break monotony both in language and ideas as to support students through the lucubrations [studies] of many years in the same book.
Mr. Balston does not desire even so much latitude as this; he thinks the arrangement excellent, because even the same passage of the same author may, in the hands of skilful men, open questions so different that the teacher of the young may propound out of it elementary matters to the least advanced, while the teacher of the old may extract from it materials to exercise the wit and improve the knowledge of the most proficient. Perhaps, however, very able men are here attributing to a system merits not really belonging to it, but so contrary to its tendencies that if found and realized at all they have been artificially imported into it by the ingenuity and determination of a few teachers, while in the hands of many or even of themselves, as soon as their best efforts are relaxed, the more natural tendencies of the arrangement, which are prejudicial, become its effects. Mr. Balston himself, when asked whether as a matter of fact these differences of treatment are carried out, replies that they are so in the classes. But even in the different classes of the School, according to the concurrent opinion of many who have had recent experience as teachers or learners, this possible difference of treatment is not carried out nor likely to be carried out in practice. In the pupil-room this process must be still more difficult, for the lesson lasts but about 20 or 25 minutes, and as it does not appear practicable for a tutor to subdivide all his Fifth Form pupils into more than two sets, one class contains an assemblage of boys very unequal in age and attainments, Mr. Balston himself speaks of it here as that "which may easily be" and "is expected", rather than that which actually is and can be made apparent to common observers. In fact, the teaching everywhere is likely to be the same to all. Meanwhile the younger boys find the lessons in themselves so much too hard in kind and too long in quantity, that even what they may have learned by the quick and royal road of "cribs", they are not in a state to get through at all before a searching class-master within the appointed time; and the elder, too often mistaking familiarity for
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knowledge, slur through first-rate authors of which the professed study of years has failed to give them the real mastery. We are of opinion, therefore, that the books read in the several Divisions should be re-arranged so as to provide work more precisely appropriate to the students in the several different degrees of proficiency through which they pass in their ascent up the School. The progress of boys would be assisted by this, and the present distribution of the old unwieldy Forms into Divisions of more reasonable size permits the introduction of such a change. But here we are met by an obstacle, effectual as long as it exists, to prevent the application of any such remedy. Latin and Greek authors are, as we have seen, construed in school only after they have been construed in pupil-room; and every tutor may possibly have pupils in every Division who will look to him to superintend this preliminary lesson. If, therefore, there were different work for each Division of the Fifth Form, each tutor having pupils might be called upon to teach many different sets of pupils in Fifth Form work alone. Now the tutor cannot sub-divide his pupils into sets or classes equal in number to the several Divisions of the School. He has but the time and faculties of one man to bestow on pupils who in their class-work are taught by many. If, therefore, their class-work is different, as they cannot be taught in pupil-room together, they cannot be taught in pupil-room at all. Any thorough change, therefore, in the work of the several Divisions thus necessitates an abolition of that part of the tutorial system which consists in construing before the tutor.
Now it is contended on the part of some that, if this were the only plea for the continuance of the present curriculum of the classes, it would be sufficient. The construing to tutors is an institution so valuable in the estimate of such persons, that not only must it be preserved on its own account, but it should rescue from modification the School curriculum, whatever may be its peculiar inconveniences. It has, we are told, a good effect in the pupil-room; because, when the higher boys are set on, it puts them on their mettle, to be as smart and accurate as possible, in order to release both tutor and pupils from the pupil-room: and when the younger boys are called up in their turn, this recalls to the seniors elementary matters which they might otherwise disdain and forget. It has a good effect on class teaching, too, as enabling the master to insist on a general high standard of accuracy, and also to give some time to his own remarks and criticisms. It brings the boys into contact with two minds over the same work instead of one; it gives to the tutor fresh opportunities of insight into the character and progress of his pupil.
This view of its merits, however, is not universal amongst the Eton Masters. Hard facts stated by experienced witnesses here again speak otherwise. Boys do not generally know their lessons well in the class-room, although this is the chief object aimed at, and they notoriously have recourse to "cribs" although this is the chief evil guarded against by the practice. Those who seem to construe fluently have not learned carefully, as they appear often with the English written over the Greek and Latin. The lessons thus done a second time are often done in a hurry for the second time, because they must be twice done. There is constantly acting on the tutor's mind a temptation to call on the quicker and cleverer boy to construe in order to save time; and as it is the practice of some tutors to go through the lesson with one advanced set in the presence of another set, who listen to one construe before they have to construe themselves, a temptation is systematically offered to the pupils to neglect very careful preparation. According to the Provost of King's, who sees some reason to prefer the old practice to the new, it was the habit of the tutor in past times himself to construe to his whole pupil-room. We are inclined to consider its chief use to have been that of a supplement to a system which gave the same work to elder and younger boys. In such case the younger may generally require some artificial assistance to carry them through. A custom, therefore, which brought all before a tutor, where commonly some older boy watched or corrected by him first construed the task, supplied at once a rapid method of learning, and an easy correction of imperfect learning, to younger boys, who were thus enabled to make a fair appearance in the class-room. If, when the large classes were subdivided, the classwork of the subdivisions had also been changed and varied, the construing system, it seems to us, might have been dispensed with; and we now think it better that a change in class-work should supersede the tutor's construing, than that the tutor's construing should forbid the change in class-work. The acknowledged failure of this practice to give a real knowledge of the lessons, its occupation of valuable time, its susceptibility of abuse in various ways, its tendency to supersede the independent work of the boy, as well as its vital connexion with the faulty organization of the class-work in school, induce us to recommend its abolition. We, therefore, shall suggest both that the work in the several Divisions be recast so as to adapt the reading and composition of each boy to his pro-
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ficiency as he rises in the school, and also that boys cease to construe their lessons in the pupil-room before taking them up to the Class-Master.
Course of Instruction
We are of opinion that the course of instruction at Eton requires modification and re-arrangement. It appears to us that the attempts which have of late years been made to introduce a certain amount of what may for the sake of convenience be called modern studies into a course originally framed with a view to classical learning alone, have not been thoroughly successful; and we attribute this want of success partly to the imperfect recognition of the value of the new studies, and partly to the fact that no serious effort has been made to harmonize what is new with what is old. It is not sufficient to add new branches of study to the old course, it is necessary to make room for them by a revision of the old course itself.
We have already recommended, not only for the sake of economizing time but upon other grounds, that the practice of construing in pupil-room should be abolished. We shall further propose: 1. A revision of the time-table and a modification of the present system of holidays during the school-time: 2. Some reduction in the length or frequency of the repetition lessons.
1. The irregularity of the time-table is a matter of almost universal complaint. It must be unnecessary for us to point out that, if it is inconvenient now, when classics and mathematics alone have to be considered, it will become infinitely more inconvenient, and indeed, intolerable, if other studies have to be introduced into the school course.
Considering how large a part of the work done both by the boys and the masters is done out of School, and how necessary it is to give ample time to the former for the preparation of their lessons and the composition of their exercises, and to the latter for looking over exercises and conducting "private business" with their pupils, it is obviously desirable so to arrange the time-table as to leave certain days in the week comparatively free from School-work; and there can be no objection to giving the boys longer play hours on some days than on others; but we can see no advantage in making the number of holidays and half-holidays in each week variable and uncertain. As long, however, as the Saints' days are observed as School holidays, this irregularity is inevitable; and we are of opinion that the first step to a reform of the time-table must be the abolition of that mode of observance. We shall propose hereafter that the chapel services should be made daily instead of occasional, and should take place at the same hour on Saints' days as on other days. It would follow that the school hours on Saints' days should be also the same as on other days. Ascension day should of course be kept as an entire holiday. No other holidays should, we think, be granted beyond those included in the regular arrangement for the week, except in obedience to a Royal command, or on the occasion of some important national event. The distinctive School festival of the 4th of June would of course be kept as at present.
2. The repetition lessons appear to occupy too much time, especially in the upper part of the School. In a regular week the Head Master spends seven hours in hearing the repetition of his Division, consisting of 32 boys. In the next Division, consisting of an equal number of boys, about six hours and a half appear to be spent in the same way. In the lower Divisions the time so occupied is not more than four hours. It is an objectionable feature in the system, that, while the master often remains in School hearing lessons for as much as an hour and a half at a time, the boys need not spend much above five minutes apiece there, each coming in when he expects his turn and going out as soon as he has said his portion of the lesson. In some cases, it appears, the boys are able to escape the necessity of learning the whole lesson, and contrive to pass muster by guessing at and learning that part only in which they are likely to be set on. This piece of evasion may of course easily be defeated by a different system of hearing the lesson; but the waste of time to which we have above adverted requires correction. It seems to us that it would be a great improvement to divide the classes, at the time of the repetition lessons, into much smaller subdivisions, and to employ the masters of several Divisions in hearing the repetition of one Division at a time, so as to get through it rapidly. Their own Divisions may meanwhile be employed with the mathematical, French, or other masters, so that there need be no waste of time.
We are persuaded that by the adoption of such measures as these, and by a careful revision of the time-table on the part of the masters, room may be made for the introduction of the Modern Language and Natural Science classes without injury to the other work of the School. It is not for us to prescribe the details of the arrangements which should be made; but, in order to show that what we recommend is not an impossibility, one of our number has so applied to the circumstances of Eton the plan of studies
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and scale of time to be allotted to each which we have proposed for adoption in all public schools, as to afford a basis upon which a working arrangement might be made by those upon whom the practical responsibility for the School management will rest.*
*The following is the scheme referred to:
The following suggestions are offered with a view to show how it will be possible to introduce the study of modern languages, of natural science, and of music and drawing into the school course without unduly diminishing the time given to classics, or the hours of recreation.
I. The time now given to school work in class in a regular week is, in the Head Master's division, 22 hours, of which three are given to mathematics, seven to repetition, and 12 to construing. In the next division the time given is 21 hours, of which three are given to mathematics, six to repetition, and 12 to construing. In the remainder of the Upper School the number of house is 19, of which three are given to mathematics, four to repetition, nine or ten to construing, and three or two to history and geography.
In a very large proportion of weeks, however, the additional holidays and half-holidays reduce the amount of time thus allotted to school very materially. It is thought that a regular allowance of 12 hours a week for all classical work, including repetition lessons (which ought to be diminished in length or in frequency), and including also the history and geography lessons, will be sufficient. It is suggested that on three days in the week there should be three hours given to classical work in school-class, and that on the other three days one hour should be given. The time which the classical masters have to spend in school would thus be reduced from 16 or 19 hours in a regular week to 12 hours in every week. It is also proposed to relieve them of the "construing", which takes up some 10 hours a week, They will thus have more time left for "private business", for looking over exercises, and for preparing the class-work.
The total number of classical masters will be 22, viz. one Head Master, 16 assistants, who are tutors, and five assistants who are not tutors. They will he able to divide the 650 boys of the Upper School into classes averaging about 30. All these classes may be in school under their respective form-masters at the same hours.
II. It is proposed that every boy in the Upper School should receive three hours' instruction in mathematics in class every week. The number of mathematical masters being seven, and the number of boys to he taught 650, the classes may on the average contain 15 or 16 boys. The number of hours which the masters will spend in school in the week will be 18, a larger number than is required of the classical masters; but these have many other duties from which the mathematical masters are exempt. They may give four hours to class work on the days on which there is only one classical lesson, and two hours on the days on which there are three classical lessons. Each of them may thus give three hours apiece to six classes of 15 or 16 boys, or to 93 in all, so that the whole seven could teach 651 boys.
III. It is proposed that each boy in the Upper School should give two hours a week to class work in modern languages. It is proposed to have three teachers, to give each of them a class of about 30 boys, and to require them to attend in school 14 hours a week, namely, three hours a day on two days, and two hours a day on the other four. This would enable each master to give two hours apiece to seven classes of 31 boys each, that is to say, to 217 boys, so that the three masters could teach 651 boys in 14 hours.
IV. It is proposed that a certain number of boys in the Upper School, and possibly in the Lower School also, should give two hours a week to class work in natural science. It is proposed that there should be two lecturers, each of whom should attend school for 14 hours a week, namely, for three hours on two days, and two hours on the other four. Suppose that each took a class of 40 boys at a time; he could then give two hours apiece to seven times 40, or 280; and the two masters could between them teach 560, which is probably more than would learn, so that the classes might be made smaller.
V. It is proposed that each boy in the Upper School should have the opportunity of learning music or drawing for two hours a week, and that a certain number of them should be obliged to learn. It is proposed that there should be a drawing lesson of an hour every day in the week, and a music lesson of an hour twice a week, the days for the music lesson being those on which only two hours apiece were devoted to the modern language and natural science classes. One-third of the number of boys learning drawing, whatever that number might be, would attend at each drawing lesson, and a proper number of masters must be provided. All the boys learning music would have to attend each of the music lessons.
By this plan there would be 11 hours every day during which some class or other would be open, no class interfering with any other class. The following scheme will illustrate their working:
There will remain 13 hours in every day for chapel and meals, sleep, and recreation, without any interference with any of the classes.
It will of course be understood on the one hand that the boys will not all be in the school during the whole, or anything like the whole of the 11 hours for which the classes are open; and on the other hand, that they will not be without occupation during the time they are out of school.
The number of hours which a boy will pass in school will be 21 in the week, namely,
Thus, he will have somewhat more than seven hours a day school-work, the preparation connected with it, and composition; and if to this we add ten hours for meals and sleep, he will have six or seven hours left for recreation and private reading. The length of time required for preparation of lessons and for composition will of course vary with the abilities and industry of each boy, and his time for recreation will be increased or diminished accordingly. It must also be remembered that clever boys, and such as are likely to obtain distinction in competitions for prizes, the Newcastle scholarship, and so forth, as on the one hand they will he able to save part of the time which we have supposed to he allowed for preparation, so on the other hand will be sure to apply, not only the time so saved, but, some of the time of recreation, to the prosecution of their private studies independent of the school-work.
In the foregoing arrangements it may perhaps appear that sufficient allowance has not been made for the wasted time that must take place in going from one class to another. This will be not wholly inconsiderable, as the boys will often have to go from school to their boarding houses, and back to school again; but it is to be observed, that the scheme has been so drawn up as to exclude any overlapping of classes at all, and that in practice it will be found possible to allow a certain amount of overlapping without inconvenience. The classical repetition lessons, for instance, might be going on at the same time as some of the other lessons. Thus, if the repetition lesson were from eight to nine, and there were a mathematical class from half-past seven to half-past eight, and another from half-past eight to half-past nine, it would be easy to arrange that the boys [footnote continues on next page]
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It will be observed that in this scheme provision is made for the instruction of each boy in all the branches of study which we recommend. It may, however, appear to the School authorities to be desirable for boys to defer commencing some of those branches, such, for instance, as Natural Science or Drawing, until they have made a certain amount of progress in their other work; or, on the other hand, to discontinue these studies at a certain point in case of their showing no especial aptitude for them, or in case of their being anxious to devote a greater amount of time to other portions of their education. We are of opinion that the best arrangement would be, that boys should begin the study of elementary drawing on their first admission to the School, and should be required to continue it until they reach the Fifth Form, by which time their hands and eyes will have been partially educated, and they will have been able to show whether they have such natural aptitude for the pursuit as to render its further prosecution desirable. Boys whose parents preferred it should be allowed to take up Music instead of Drawing. The study of Natural Science should, we think, be made compulsory upon all boys for a certain portion of their school life. If it should be found that there is sufficient time for it, it might be commenced on a boy's first admission, and might be continued until he reaches the upper division of the Fifth Form. The evidence which we have taken on the subject convinces us that boys may profitably begin the study of some parts of Natural Science at a very early age. Such an opinion, however, must be necessarily limited in its application by a consideration of the time which a boy has at his disposal; and as it appears to us clear that at Eton the boys in the lower part of the School are much more severely worked than the boys in the upper part, and as we think it essential that they should add French, and desirable that they should add Drawing or Music to their other studies, we hesitate to offer a positive recommendation that they should be called upon to take up Natural Science also, and we therefore suggest as an alternative that this study should not be made compulsory upon any boy until he reaches the Fifth Form, the point at which we have proposed to make the further pursuit of Drawing or Music optional. It should then continue to be compulsory until the boy reaches the upper division of the Fifth.
While anxious not to overtask the younger boys, who, as we have said, are fully tasked already, we are convinced that we may safely recommend the addition of French, and Drawing or Music, to their present course, feeling sure that the imposition of a proper examination upon their admission to the School will lead to their being better prepared before they come there, and will enable the masters proportionately to diminish the amount of pressure which it is now necessary to put on them in order to make up for time previously lost.
When boys reach the upper division of the Fifth Form, an opportunity should, we think, be given to them of varying their course of study with reference to their destinations in life or to their individual tastes and faculties. The average age at which boys reach this part of the School is about 16; and this is in many cases a critical time, as respects both the development of the boy's own character, and the decision of his parents as to his future career. Many boys are taken away from Eton at this period of their lives, because the School fails to supply the kind of teaching which they then require. Others who have worked fairly and made some progress in the elementary parts of the classics up to this time, there begin to fall off, as the work becomes more advanced. They may have learnt to construe and to compose with tolerable correctness, but they fail to appreciate the higher beauties of the authors set before them, or to compose with anything like spirit or elegance. On the other hand, this is the time at which ambitious and clever boys begin to work for the Newcastle scholarship and other school prizes, to prepare themselves for the University competitions, and to feel an interest in private
[footnote continued from previous page] attending the later mathematical class should say their lessons in the first half hour of the repetition, and the boys attending the earlier one might say theirs in the second half hour. It would also be possible to make some similar arrangement with regard to the hours of breakfast, tea, and even supper, which some boys might take half an hour earlier or later than the usual time. The school hours might also overlap the play hours, provided that two hours at least in every day were left entirely clear of all lessons, whether with the tutor or in class, so as to give the whole school the power of joining in common amusements at that time. In summer, the time from six to eight or nine, and in winter, the time from twelve to two, might be strictly reserved, so as to insure to every boy the free and uninterrupted enjoyment of either an "after 12", or an "after 6", on every day in the year.
The number of hours assigned to classical school-work in the week is 12. This would allow of 12 lessons of an hour apiece; or of 12 lessons of three-quarters of an hour and three of one hour. The best arrangement would probably be to assign 12 lessons of three-quarters of an hour each to the work of construing, and such instruction in grammar, history, and geography as may be ancillary thereto; and three lessons of an hour each to repetition lessons. The hours of the repetition lessons might indeed be extended if necessary. If four minutes were allotted to each boy in a class of 30 boys, two hours would be required to hear the whole class. These two hours might easily be given by the masters on the three days in the week for which only one hour has been set down for classics. They might be given either together or separately. In four minutes a boy could recite 40 or 50 lines perfectly; and this would be a great improvement upon the present system of "saying".
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classical reading. It is therefore on all accounts desirable that some greater latitude than is at present allowed in the choice of studies, should be given to boys in this part of the School; and we recommend that arrangements should be made for allowing boys after reaching the upper division to drop either a certain portion of their classical, or a certain portion of their other work, in order to devote more time to the remainder. The parts of the classical work which might best be spared would probably be the Latin verse composition, the Greek composition, whether in verse or prose, and some portion of the repetition lessons. On the other hand, boys wishing to devote themselves more entirely to classics, might be allowed to give up either Natural Science or to a certain extent Modern Languages. Great care should be taken to prevent these privileges from being abused, and the exemption from particular studies claimed as a pretext for idleness. We think that the regulations under which it should be granted, should be carefully framed by the Provost and Fellows in communication with the Head Master and School Council; and that the permission to discontinue any portion of the school work should, in each individual case, rest with the Head Master, who should not grant it unless upon the concurrent recommendation of the boy's parents or guardians, and of his tutor, nor even then, unless himself satisfied of its propriety.
Subject to these restrictions and exceptions, we think that Classics, Mathematics, Modern Languages and Natural Science should continue to be studied to the top of the School, and that no boy should be allowed to take his removes without passing in each of them the examination proper to the part of the School in which he is.
The system of promotion by removes now goes no further than the upper division of the Fifth Form; and although there are examinations for the Collegers, there are none for the Oppidans after they have reached that division. We think this an error, and have little doubt that it is one of the causes of the acknowledged want of energy among the Oppidans in the upper part of the School. The remedies which we shall propose are these two: That the upper division be subdivided, like the middle and lower divisions, into two removes; and that promotions from the lower into the upper of these removes, and from the upper of them into the Sixth Form, be determined by competitive examinations. The number of the Sixth Form is, we think, too limited in proportion to the size of the School. We shall propose its extension.
The Mathematical Masters and the Teaching of Mathematics
In a former part of the report we have perhaps sufficiently indicated the measures required for placing mathematics on their due level at Eton. It is impossible to go into much detail on this point; and it seems enough to say that the Provost and Fellows should bear in mind the principle of entire equality between the Classical and Mathematical Masters, as to their share in the general discipline of the School, the behaviour of the boys towards them, and indeed in all points as far as practicable.
The ancient classical spirit of the place may indeed operate for an indefinite time in depressing mathematics; but we believe that what we have recommended will gradually more and more counteract this tendency.
School Prizes and Rewards
We shall venture to make a few recommendations under this head, but they do not appear to require many observations in support of them.
(a) Prizes confined to Oppidans
We have already adverted to the great superiority in scholarship shown for many years past by the Collegers above the Oppidans. Much will be found in the evidence on this subject. Considering the highly valuable character of the endowments of the Foundation, the unrestricted competition through which they are attained, and many circumstances bearing on the position of the Oppidans, we can hardly expect that this inequality should ever be wholly redressed, though we believe that some of the measures we have advised may have a tendency to do so. But we are disposed to recommend, in accordance with the opinion of many witnesses of authority, a more specific provision for the encouragement of the Oppidans in their studies, in the establishment of exhibitions for which they alone will be allowed to compete. Such a measure is perhaps to be justified by the existence of a special evil rather than on general grounds, though we may observe that it may be looked on as simply countervailing the separate prizes offered to the Collegers in their proper endowments.
Most of the details of these exhibitions should be left to the Provost and Fellows to settle, but we may state that in our opinion they should, if possible, be not less than 20 and probably not more than 40 in number; that they should be tenable while the holder
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remains at school; that those who stand for them should be under the age of 16; and that not less than half of the whole number he given for classical attainments, the rest for excellence in any of the compulsory branches of school-work.
(b) Prizes for composition and translation
We recommend that prizes be given for original composition in Latin prose and verse and in English verse; and also for translations both of prose and poetry, and both into and out of the classical languages. We have already referred to the evidence of several witnesses showing that the exercise of translation is not sufficiently attended to at Eton.
We also concur in the opinion expressed to us that too little is done at Eton in the way of public celebration in honour of those who attain such prizes, as is so frequent at many schools; and we advise that the prize compositions be publicly recited by their writers, and the prizes given, before the whole school and such visitors as may be collected for the occasion.
Lastly, we add a suggestion respecting the Newcastle Scholarship. After the examination for this, which is by far the greatest classical honour in the School, the Examiners announce the names of a certain number of boys, next below the scholar and medallist, who have done themselves credit. This list, popularly known among the boys as "the select", varies in number about from 8 to 12 or 14. It is a high distinction, but it does not appear in the School lists, though all other prizes and distinctions are there recorded.
We advise that the School list of every year should contain the names of "the select" for that year and for a certain number of previous years.
Chapel Services - Prayers - Preaching
We proceed to observe on the system of Chapel Services at Eton, which we have already partially described.
We are glad to be able to express our belief that there has been of late years a great improvement in the demeanour of the boys when in Chapel, in the number of communicants among them, in their joining in the responses, and in the singing. In these latter respects, however, they are still much inferior to what they might be. As above noticed, there is a marked difference between the conduct of the boys on Sundays and their conduct at the week-day services. There appears to be still prevalent among the boys much of the feeling that has often been commented on at Eton, that the week-day services are simply roll-calls. We think that it would tend in good measure to counteract this feeling, and that it would be on various grounds very beneficial, if, according to the recommendation of the witnesses to whom we have referred, an entire change were made in the Eton Chapel system, as relates to the week days.
Before proceeding, however, we must observe that on Ascension Day, which (except Sundays) is the only great Church festival that can occur during the Eton school-time, we suggest no change. We recommend that that day be a whole holiday still, and that the full morning and afternoon services be performed as they are at present.
We propose that, with this reservation, there be no distinction, in respect of the Chapel Services, between one week day and another; that on every week day there be a short morning service in Chapel, attended by all the boys, and, as far as possible, by the Masters, in lieu of morning prayers in the boarding-houses; and that this service be, as nearly as possible, of the same length on each day. On the Saints' days that which is peculiar to the service of the day should be included according to the Prayer Book. We say "as nearly as possible", because we do not desire that the services should be necessarily identical on all the days. They should, no doubt, consist wholly of selections from the Liturgy; but these might be somewhat varied from week to week, or in other ways. Different prayers might be used; a lesson might be read alternately with the Psalms or Canticles, and so forth. These details we desire to see left to the Governing Body to arrange, expressing only a decided opinion that the length of the service should not exceed a quarter of an hour. At present, as we have observed, the Lower School do not go to the College Chapel, but to the Chapel of Ease in the town. This arrangement, which even now is obviously unsatisfactory, would become still more so under the proposed alteration. The Governing Body should provide, as they may easily do, for the attendance, at least on week-days, of the whole School in the College Chapel. We recommend that in no case, except that of Ascension Day, the boys should be required to attend any other week-day service than this.
With the services on Sunday, apart from the question of preaching, we do not propose to interfere, with one important exception, relating to the musical part of the service, and on which we have to make suggestions which will regard the week days as well as the Sundays.
We are bound to say that we can discover no justification at all of the total neglect
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which we have described, on the part of Eton College, of the statutable provisions that require the College to maintain a proper choir and choral service in their own Chapel. We by no means intend any particular censure on the existing Provost and Fellows; for, though we have no certain evidence of the times at which the discontinuance of the ancient practice may have begun or been completed, we have no doubt that it has long been disused, and the present or recent members of the College may, to a certain extent, urge the usual plea of desuetude. But we cannot say more than "to a certain extent", because the plea of desuetude loses much of its force when the provisions of the written law, so far from being unsuitable and obsolete, are essentially the reverse, and the practical abrogation of them is manifestly inconvenient. Here the statutable enactment is most full and clear. The lay-clerks and the choristers were actual members of the College, and while the former were partly, the latter were wholly, maintained and educated by it, and enjoyed a right of preference in the election of Scholars.
The present practice is to borrow a fragment of the neighbouring choir of St. George's, Windsor, and to make certain allowances to the men and boys for their services. But this expedient does not even pretend to provide for the service with anything like completeness; for on far the most important occasion of all, the Sunday morning, there is no choral service, and its absence has recently been made even more perceptible by the meagre substitute of a few hymns, sung by a few boys from the parochial schools. The same remark applies to the mornings of holidays. We have pointed out the inadequacy of this system as relates to the Chapel services, and the bad effect, at least on the young choristers, of this hurried and compulsory attendance on the repetition of the same services on the same days has been dwelt on in the evidence of one of the Fellows of Eton themselves.
We do not propose, however, in this any more than in other matters, when dealing with the revision of the statutes, that they should be maintained, except in their spirit, and when an adherence to them seems well adapted to present times. According to this, it seems to us that the general model of existing cathedral establishments ought to be followed, and can with perfect ease be followed, at Eton. We think the College may fairly be allowed to engage singing-men on such terms as they think fit. Those persons are masters of their own time and free agents in the matter; but the case is quite different as to singing-boys. The College, we conceive, ought to take full charge of them. They should have a general school education, musical teaching, and moral superintendence provided for them according to the best examples of the cathedrals, together with a certain annual allowance in food and clothing or in money, and at the proper age they should be either apprenticed to some trade or receive some fair equivalent from the College funds. The full choral service should be had, both morning and afternoon, on Sundays and on Ascension Day. But we further believe that, as we have indicated before, in all chapel services the introduction of the musical element, and the use of the organ, tend to make them more acceptable to the great majority of boys, and we accordingly advise that music should always form a part of the daily morning service which we have recommended at Eton. We believe that this might easily be adapted to the proposed limits of the time of that service; and, further, we conceive that the choristers alone, without the singing-men, would suffice for the week days. Further details may be left to the Governing Body, and we have only to add on this point that the financial considerations which it involves will be treated in that part of our Report which deals with the College revenues.
We need hardly say that we propose in no way to interfere with the Chapel Services, except in so far as concerns the attendance of the boys at them.
Some alteration, as we have observed, appears to us to be required in the system of preaching in Chapel. At present, by usage, though apparently not by any positive law, the sermons are almost solely preached by Fellows of the College. We have already stated that we can see no sufficient ground for the restriction, which we think might advantageously be relaxed, so to speak, on both sides; the Provost or Fellows being at liberty, on the one hand, to invite suitable or distinguished preachers unconnected with the School, and on the other, occasionally to request the Masters and Assistant Masters of the School to deliver sermons, should they think fit to do so, The Fellows are, no doubt, often highly qualified for this function; but others may be no less so; and one advantage, which they justly conceive themselves to possess in their former acquaintance as Masters with the characters of the boys, belongs in our view still more to those who are actually engaged in tuition. We are quite aware, indeed, that the subject-matter of sermons in School Chapels needs to be handled with discretion, and that it may be easy to overdo the special and direct application of them to the boys. But it seems to us paradoxical to deny the advantage of such application when discreetly made; and we need hardly observe that there are many excellent and recent examples of such addresses,
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as those of Dr. Arnold, Dr. Moberly, Bishop Wordsworth, Bishop Cotton, Dr. Vaughan, and Mr. Sewell.
Boarding Houses
The question of Boarding-houses at Eton is connected with that of the numbers of the School and the limitation of them.
We propose, as stated above, that the Upper School should be limited to 650, the Lower to 150. Assuming this basis, the main points for consideration are, who should keep the boarding-houses; how many are wanted; and with regard to the tutors, how many boys each should be allowed to have in his house. The last question is only a part of the general one of the proper number of tutors for the School; and it will be necessary to deal here, to a great extent, with that general question.
We must, however, premise that, as indeed is the case in most of such questions, the view of what might be in itself the best arrangement must be very greatly modified by the conditions of existing circumstances. But we are inclined to think that it may be practically convenient, as at least illustrating the ultimate object to which some gradual approximation may be made, that we should in the first place consider the matter as if it were res integra [whole matter], unembarrassed by particular accidents.
We think that eventually the boys should board with none but those engaged in the tuition of the School. We say so, while allowing most fully the great merits of those, whether dames or gentlemen in Mr. Evans's position, who keep boarding-houses without being Masters. But with regard to the former, apart from the fitness of individuals, we cannot think that, speaking generally, a woman is as well able to take charge of the discipline of a large number of boys of the age and class that are to be found at Eton, as a man is. With regard indeed to the latter, the case is different. Nor do we deny that there is force in the consideration which Mr. Evans has suggested to us, that a man in his position has much more time to give to the general superintendence of his boys than a tutor has; that he may in fact give nearly the whole of his time.
This strongly confirms the propriety of a judicious limitation of the number in the tutors' houses; but unless this consideration supplied an overwhelming argument in favour of such a class of boarding-houses (which it must be observed are never likely to be as numerous as those kept by dames), it is clearly better for the sake of uniformity and simplicity that the boarding-house system should be one and the same.
But it seems to us, on the contrary, that the positive arguments in favour of confining it to tutors greatly preponderate. It is more convenient to parents to look to one man only than to two for reports respecting their sons. The tutor is necessarily brought far more than any other into intercourse with the boy, in respect of all those salient features of character which are concerned in the School work, and is so far the fittest person for his general superintendence. As the general rule, allowing fully for exceptions, the tutor will be an abler and more qualified person than the boarding-house keeper; and this applies quite as much to Mathematical Masters, if appointed on a right system, as to the Classical. It has been said that it does not follow, that because a man is a good mathematical teacher he is fitted to deal with boys; but this evidently proves nothing. It applies to the case of classical tutors also, for it unquestionably is a difficult point, in the selection of tutors in such a place as Eton, to secure those who are both intellectually and morally the best for the post. We suggest, therefore, that future vacancies in the Eton boarding-houses be supplied from among the Classical and Mathematical Masters only, the details of the arrangement on the principle of full equality between the two classes being left to the Provost and Fellows to settle.
It will be borne in mind that the Collegers and the boys in the Mathematical Masters' houses must each have a classical tutor, or what is properly called "my tutor" at Eton; but the mathematical tutor should be considered the tutor for general superintendence in the case of boys in his house, as the Assistant Master in College is of the Collegers; and the classical tutor should report only on the classical work, the case being simply the converse of that where the boy boards with the classical tutor. The boys in the mathematical houses require a classical private tutor, but not vice versa, according to the present system, which need not be disturbed. Each, then, of the classical tutors, besides the boys in his own house, must have the charge, as respects their studies, of a certain number of Collegers and a certain number of boys in the mathematical tutors' houses. These two sets of boys must be distributed among the classical tutors.
Before proceeding we must recur to what was said above, that we cannot practically hope for more than an approximation - for some time a distant approximation - to what might seem in itself the best arrangement. Beside the peculiar conditions above adverted
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to, under which so many of the houses at Eton are occupied, there would at all events be the interests of the existing tenants during their lives to be considered; and the very various sizes and capacities of the actual houses must be taken into account. We will, however, venture to present what might be a conceivable and complete plan, were the case that of a new School unfettered by any pre-existing conditions. It may illustrate our meaning and furnish some sort of standard for the guidance of the Provost and Fellows in their future regulation of this matter. Assume 800 boys, 730 oppidans. Suppose each of the seven Mathematical Masters to have 26 boys in his house, making 210. There would remain 520 of the 730 oppidans to be lodged with the classical tutors. Twenty such tutors, each with 26 boys in his house, would account for that number. But besides these, the 70 collegers and the 210 boys in the mathematical houses, 280 in all, have to be allotted among the classical tutors. This would give 14 to each, which added to the 26 would assign to each classical tutor 40 boys. But this would be quite a different thing from the present supposed maximum of 40 boys to a tutor, as that means either 40 boys in a class, of which we are not now speaking, or the sole tutorial charge of 40, which it will have been observed has not been proposed.
The School class work, however, has to be provided for. Twenty classical tutors for 800 boys make only the proportion of 1 to 40, which we conceive to be insufficient. To meet this, and to provide a further relief to the drudgery that falls on the classical tutors, we recommend the adoption of the suggestion in the able paper communicated to us by Mr. T. D. Acland, which coincides with one contained in the answers of Messrs, Brandreth and Rouse, two of the Mathematical Assistants at Eton,
"That the number of Masters should be increased by the addition of a staff of young men with advantages similar to those of a College Fellowship in the University, including chambers and a common room, such young masters to be at liberty to retain a College Fellowship, or to marry, but not to keep houses till after their powers of managing boys and their aptness for school life have been tested."
This in truth is but to systematize and to regulate the present unsatisfactory state of things at Eton, by which young tutors go there, live where they can, and get pupils as they can, till they can obtain a house. This plan will also much mitigate the inconvenience to which parents wishing to send boys to Eton are necessarily even now exposed in some measure, and which would be somewhat increased by the limitation of the numbers of the School, that of the restriction of their free selection of a tutor. If, as seems to us desirable, the ranks of the tutors keeping boarding-houses are always recruited from this new class of young Masters, they will always consist of men approved to some degree by experience, so that the parents will, at all events, not be driven to have recourse to men wholly untried.
On this part of the subject it only remains for us to recur to what we have noticed in the Statement, the complicated mass of private interests, rights of lessees, rights of sub-lessees, claims to a sort of perpetual and hereditary tenant right, and so forth, which have been allowed to grow up between the College and the occupiers of the Eton houses. We think it needless to add to the specification of these cases in detail, though we have been furnished with information which would enable us to do so very largely. We feel bound to state strongly our opinion, and we do so without imputing any special blame to the actual members of the College or to their predecessors in any given generation, that the course thus pursued is a most reprehensible one, most injurious to the interests of the School, and most embarrassing to any well-considered reform in its system. The difficulty is mainly a financial one, and will be treated more fully when we come to the question of the revenues of the College. At present we have only to remark that these interests, while uncertain in amount and wholly unprotected by law, have been suffered to grow up, and by long acquiescence have been to a great extent recognized; and that therefore in our judgment they cannot without substantial injustice be summarily disregarded. In dealing with these interests, however, when the time for doing so arrives, each case must be treated on its own merits, and it is difficult to lay down any general rule. The equitable claim of a tenant whose legal interest has expired is not necessarily to be measured by his original outlay, which may have been extravagant, or partly reimbursed; nor by his actual expectations, which may have been unreasonable; but the expectation that he would receive at the hands of the College fair and liberal treatment is one which ought not to be disappointed.
Scholarships and Exhibitions from Eton to the Universities
In addition to the Scholarships at King's College, Cambridge, which are yearly given by competitive examination, there are not less than sixteen endowments of a similar character, which the munificence of individuals has founded for the support of Etonians
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at one or other of the Universities. The total annual value of these amounts to upwards of £800 per annum, a sum which naturally attracts attention all the more inasmuch as all experience of such endowments evinces that the real good which they are capable of effecting depends less upon the magnitude of the sums which they dispense than upon the principles on which these are distributed.
At the present moment the whole of this sum is bestowed at the discretion of one or more individuals, and it would appear that a general estimate of merit often, if not always, determines the choice of those to whom the selection is confided; but we are not informed either that this principle of selection by merit is enforced by any statutory provision, or that any guarantee of any kind is given for constant adherence to it in future.
There are some theoretical and some occasional advantages attendant upon a selection made by responsible and competent persons, and resting upon an estimate of attainments, as shown by daily habits and performances. There is, of course, more room for the action of chance in the performances of candidates, and of peculiarities in the judgments of examiners, when a decision is reached by the single test of one examination than when it is based upon a long series of trials and exercises made in all moods and all seasons, and under all circumstances. On the other hand, along with these opportunities for forming a correct judgment there grow up occasions, if not temptations, to a wrong one; and one judicious and searching trial, conducted by those to whom the whole range of subjects is quite familiar and all the candidates are little known, has been found by experience the most satisfactory method of awarding such emoluments.
But in order to give to the general estimate principle, as opposed to that of the competitive examination principle, even those advantages which under favourable circumstances it may claim, several conditions are necessary. Certainly they are not realised in any cases where the responsibility of the decision is not connected with such knowledge as should direct it.
Now, although the Provost and two of the Fellows of Eton undoubtedly have some opportunity of making themselves acquainted with the merits of the boys who present themselves as candidates for election to King's, the Fellows as a body can know little or nothing personally of the merits of boys whom they neither teach nor examine; yet the Provost and Fellows of Eton award four out of the sixteen Scholarships. The Provost of Eton has no peculiar facilities for forming a general estimate of the pretensions of youths whom he never taught, whose performances he has rarely witnessed when he had the opportunity of doing so, and who have ceased to breathe even the atmosphere in the College over which he presides; yet six out of the sixteen Scholarships and Exhibitions in question are bestowed at the discretion of the Provost of Eton alone, and some are bestowed necessarily on youths residing at the University. Even the Head Master cannot appreciate the relative pretensions of young men who since they were subject to his close observation have made a fresh start in life at a distance under new influences, of which he cannot have watched the effects; but the Head Master of Eton alone disposes of three, all of which may (as we understand the return), and two of which must, be awarded to those who have quitted Eton. The Provost of King's College, though taking part in the annual elections, cannot have any long personal acquaintance by which to select from amongst boys still resident at Eton, nor any official interest in making a fit appointment to a Scholarship at Oxford; and yet the Provost of King's selects a King's scholar at Eton to fill a Postmastership of great value at Merton College. We are of opinion therefore that the method of selection to these Scholarships and Exhibitions should be different, that they should be awarded on the result of a competitive examination, and according to the judgment of the persons who conduct it.
Again, with the description of personal qualifications which limit the selection now and would confine the competition hereafter so long as the existing designations are preserved, it is impossible to be quite satisfied. To eleven Scholarships or Exhibitions out of the sixteen, and these amounting in value to more than five-eighths of the value of the whole, superannuated King's scholars alone are eligible. For such a limitation there was probably reasonable cause at the time when they were founded. Then the normal and usual benefit to which a King's scholar might look when he was enrolled a member of the College was one of long duration. In the ordinary course of things a Fellowship at King's would follow a Scholarship at Eton so soon as the Scholar arrived at an age to quit school for the University. But it might be in any case, it was always in some cases, otherwise. By the Statutes of the Founder the election to King's College must be made from amongst the Scholars at Eton. By the Statutes of the Founder no one could remain a scholar at Eton after the age of eighteen. The age of superannuation therefore at Eton might arrive before the opportunity for election at King's had occurred.
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If it did, it was the cause of a great personal loss, and it was also commonly the effect of an accident. A permanent provision at King's College was thus forfeited simply because the vacancies had occurred rather more slowly, or because a boy had been elected to Eton at an age rather later, than usual. A boy might have arrived at sufficient proficiency before the age of superannuation came; he might even be more fit and proficient than those elected before him while he was still under the appointed age, but his superiority would not entitle him to election over their heads. He might be, again, more fit and proficient than those elected below him after his superannuation had overtaken him, but this would not prevent their election over his head. Such cases were hard, and the system called for some supplementary provision which would meet them. In both the Colleges of Eton and Winchester the same evil produced the same remedy. Individuals, who had seen or felt the inconvenience, left funds in the form of Scholarships or Exhibitions such as might be given to boys on the foundation irrespectively of their age or even specifically on their superannuation. It would seem at first sight anomalous that pecuniary benefits should be thus amassed in one institution, and that a class enjoying so many advantages as the King's scholars should be chosen as the special object of further benefits; but as those who lose or seem to lose an advantage appear more unfortunate than those who never had it; so the position of scholars not gaining their expected emoluments in the University has been far better provided for than that of others, who neither at school nor at the University were entitled to any. And thus around the main Royal endowment of Scholarships at Eton and at Cambridge has gathered a subordinate cluster of endowments intended to regulate its action or supply its defects. But the changes which have recently been effected in both elections (that to Eton in the first instance and that to King's afterwards), having in themselves served to modify the character and working of this main system, now leave less need and even opportunity for the useful action of any lesser scheme of endowments in this respect than formerly existed. Boys are now elected by merit to the foundation at Eton; they are also elected by merit from the foundation at Eton to that of King's. As the election to Eton comes no longer by nomination and favour, but by the issue of a struggle for superiority, so the election to King's comes no longer in rotation, but by selection of the fittest by competitive examination. In this last struggle age gives a certain degree of advantage - the natural advantage of longer study and riper abilities. If in spite of these a boy fails until the age for superannuation overtakes him, he owes this misfortune to discomfiture, and not to accident, and to a discomfiture of the same kind as that which he gave to all his unsuccessful competitors when he was elected to Eton, and by means of which he must have gained the benefit of his gratuitous education so far; if he now therefore sustain the same, he may be fairly called upon to bear with the same consequences to himself, i.e., the loss of gratuitous education at King's. Indeed it is upon the whole wholesome, both for the school and for the individual Collegers, that each scholar should through his career at Eton look forward to such a possibility as one tending to make him feel that there is danger in remissness, and that his future fortunes are not altogether secured by past efforts and habits which he can safely discard. Not only therefore is it not, as before it may have been, expedient on general grounds that those who are superannuated should find compensation out of the general funds now applicable to this misfortune, but such a provision tends to defeat arrangements which are salutary, and which under present conditions may with much better effect be left to themselves to work out a cure for individual disappointments.
So far, therefore, as these emoluments are devoted to the use of those Collegers who have been superannuated without election to King's, we are of opinion that they may beneficially be freed from this restriction, and as the remainder are in effect given to those who have actually succeeded in obtaining King's, or who are still at Eton with their fortunes undetermined in this respect, we think that the advantages attendant upon both these positions are so ample, that any increase or improvement by distinct and additional emoluments should be won by new exertions, and this, if it be possible, in a wider sphere of competition. We except such cases as those of the Davies and Richards Exhibitions, which are specifically given to boys who have actually gained their election at King's.
Here the consideration recurs that there is a portion of the school so vast that it alone almost constitutes, in a numerical point of view, the whole school, which is now destitute of all encouragements of this nature. Nor is it surprising that during three and a half centuries of the existence of Eton no Etonian should have acted upon the thought that it was advisable to give the upper boys of the large Oppidan school a definite and immediate object for which the best scholars could honourably contend. During the same period the Collegers, in spite of the opportunity afforded by the nature of the endowment and the injunctions of the Statutes, were cramped into a
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system of rotation which deadened every impulse to enterprise and rivalry. if, therefore, the very heart of the College was deprived of that stimulus to action which seems to have been a part of its original constitution, it would have been little consistent that any such motive force should nave been studiously applied to other members of the school. But now that of late this vital power has been restored to the College with the best effect, and by its return has rendered superfluous endowments the chief use of which consisted in their connection with a mischievous system of election from Eton, there appear at the same moment both the season and the power of creating that for the Oppidans and the school which has been restored to the Scholars and the College. These Scholarships and emoluments, originally annexed to the College in order to remedy the disorders or irregularities of its system, and now clinging to it without a sufficient purpose, may be made a useful and additional source of energy to the Oppidan part of the upper school, and a bond of connection between Oppidans and Collegers. If they be so far detached from the College as to be open to the competition of both Collegers and Oppidans at the close of their career at school, this will not deprive the Colleger of anything which it is desirable that he should retain, and it will give to the Oppidan that of which the want is so much felt, and of which the possession in any other way is, for the present, almost to be despaired of - a set of Exhibitions, and of endowments in the nature of Exhibitions. The contest for these will help to rekindle a spirit of study in the last and most useful years of school-life amongst those who are at present foreigners as it were to the competitive system existing in the school; and, while it will give the more studious among them an opportunity of measuring their strength against those who, as a body, in a special manner represent the intellectual habits of the school, it may awaken in Oppidans of intellectual powers and tastes, to whom the struggle for College was not necessary, the sense and the exercise of powers not otherwise aroused, and may possibly even create a new point of honour hereafter and a new sense of responsibility in them to rescue from a tame and acknowledged inferiority in knowledge a body who would not now submit to be inferior in any other point.
We shall therefore recommend that all Scholarships, Exhibitions, and other emoluments in the nature of Exhibitions, now given professedly or virtually by nomination or appointment to King's Scholars at Eton, or superannuated King's Scholars, or to King's Scholars at either University (except as above-mentioned), be henceforth given by competitive examination, to which all Oppidans and all King's Scholars at Eton shall be admitted. For the purpose of ensuring such equality in point of age as is desirable, we recommend also that none be admitted to the competition who at the time of the examination have left the School.
We shall recommend also in the case of Scholarships such as the Reynolds Scholarships and Rous Exhibition, and all others of the same character, which are absolutely or conditionally tenable at particular colleges in either University, and are not paid out of the funds of the colleges with which they are so connected, that the restriction be removed, and that they be tenable at any college at either University. Such limitations on tenure constitute a restraint on liberty which diminishes the value of the Scholarship in all cases, and therefore must virtually reduce the competition for it. They must also in many cases act to exclude positively from the competition the very best candidates, that is, such as would be likely to succeed, or even may have succeeded, in obtaining College Scholarships elsewhere. Now that most colleges too have Scholarships of their own, open to all counties and all schools, the constant infusion of a few men educated at Eton into the society of their undergraduate members must be a slight advantage to them which it is not advisable to secure by any disadvantage which can affect Eton itself.
Certain conditions or restrictions affecting these emoluments which we think it advisable to impose or to retain, as well as some other provisions concerning them not requiring explanation, will be found in the appended series of Recommendations.
The Remuneration of the Masters
The principles which we think should be borne in mind, in any fresh regulations respecting the remuneration of the Masters, are these: All extra payments for special instruction in those subjects which are to form part of the School course should be abolished. There will still, of course, remain some extra subjects, such as dancing, fencing, and swimming, for which extra charges will be made to the boys who choose to be taught; but the system of extra payments is incompatible with the due cultivation of those studies which it is desired to make general in the School. All leaving-fees and irregular or
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ill-defined payments should be put an end to. A uniform charge for board and tuition should be made to all Oppidans, whether boarding with Classical or Mathematical Assistants, or with dames, so long as dames' houses are retained; of this a sufficient proportion should be retained by the tutor or dame to leave a profit on the cost of boarding, and the remainder should be paid into a common fund, to be called the Instruction or Fee Fund, out of which payments should be made to the several Masters, and some other expenses should be met; the Provost and Fellows should pay into this Fund the same amount in respect of each Colleger, as is paid by the Oppidans. The distribution of the fund should be regulated by the Provost and Fellows.
As an illustration of the mode in which such a fund might be raised and applied, we subjoin a scheme drawn up by one of our number, which we think would be found to work well, though we do not bind ourselves to the precise figures contained in it.*
*The following is the scheme referred to:
The following scheme for the remuneration of the Head Master and of the other Masters of all classes rests upon the assumptions -
(1) That the numbers of the Upper School are to be limited to 650, and those of the Lower School to 150.
(2) That the number of Assistant Classical Masters in the Upper School (when it is full) is to be 21; of whom 16 are to be allowed to take private pupils and to keep boarding-houses, while five are to live in chambers and to have no pupils.
(3) That the Lower Master is to cease to receive Upper School pupils, but is to be allowed to receive Lower School boarders into his house, and to treat them as his private pupils.
(4) That the number of Assistant Classical Masters in the Lower School, when it is full, is to be four; all of whom are to be allowed to take Lower School boys as private pupils and to keep boarding-houses for the use of the Lower School only.
(5) That the number of the Mathematical Assistants is to be seven, of whom five are to be allowed to keep boarding-houses for boys in the Upper School, and one to keep a boarding-house for boys in the Lower School.
(6) That no boy either in the Upper or Lower School is to board anywhere but with a Classical or Mathematical Master, unless he lives with his parents, guardians, or near relatives in the neighbourhood of the School.
(7) That every boy, whether oppidan or colleger, is to be the private pupil of some Classical Assistant Master; and that no Assistant Master is to be allowed to take more than 40 pupils in all.
It is proposed that every oppidan, whether in the Upper or in the Lower School, and whether boarding with a Classical or with a Mathematical Master, and without any distinction of social rank, should pay £120 a year, of which £90 should be retained by the Master in whose house he boards, and £30 should be paid into a fund called the Fee Fund, to be administered by the Provost and Fellows. The £90 to be retained by the boarding-house master is intended to defray the cost of board and lodging, and those small "school charges" now separately made on account of watching and lighting, and other items, and for the the sanatorium, and to allow £10 to the master in respect of the moral care of the boy. It is estimated that in a house of 25 boys the actual cost of board and lodging will not exceed £70 a year for each boy; so that the master of such a house may reckon that he will make a profit of £10 a head on the charge for board, and will in addition receive £10 a head for superintendence.
It is proposed that every classical master shall receive out of the Fee Fund on account of tuition a further sum of £10 a year in respect of every pupil, whether boarding in his house or not, and whether he be oppidan or colleger.
It is proposed that the Provost and Fellows should pay £25 a year into the Fee Fund in respect of each colleger in the School.
The annual income of the Fee Fund would thus, when the School is full, amount to £23,650, namely:
| 730 oppidans, at £30 apiece | £21,900 |
| 70 collegers, at £25 apiece | £1,750 |
| £23,650 |
It is proposed to pay the Head Master by an annual salary amounting to £4,000 or at the rate of £6 3s per head on the numbers of the Upper School when full. He at present receives £6 6s per head, besides fees on entrance and leaving, and an annual payment from the College of £215, all of which it is proposed to abolish; but, on the other hand, he is subject to various charges on account of the stipends of the Assistant Masters and the school books and prizes, from which it is now proposed to relieve him.
It is proposed to pay the Lower Master an annual salary of £1,000.
The Lower Master, as well as all the Classical Assistants, will also receive out of the Fee Fund the annual payment of £10 for each of his private pupils, and when the School is full this will entail a charge of £8,000 upon the Fund.
It is proposed that a salary of £300 a year be given to each of the Assistant Masters, whether classical or mathematical, not having the charge of a boarding-house or being allowed to take private pupils. There will probably be six of these, and the charge on the Fee Fund in respect of them would therefore probably be £1,800 a year.
It is proposed that a salary of £300 a year be given to the principal Mathematical Master, and a salary of £100 a year to each of the other Mathematical Masters who have the charge of boarding-houses. As there will probably be five of these, besides the Principal Master, the charge on the Fee Fund may be taken at £800 a year.
It is proposed that two French Masters should be appointed with salaries of £600 and £400 a year respectively, and a German Master with a salary of £500, to include assistants if required. This would entail upon the Fund a charge of £1,600.
It is proposed that two Lecturers in Natural Science should be appointed with salaries of £600 apiece. This would entail a charge of £1,200.
It is proposed to provide out of the Fee Fund for the payment of Teachers of Music and Drawing. The amount which will be required for this purpose has not yet been ascertained. It Is stated conjecturally at £800, which will probably be more than enough.
It is proposed to establish 20 exhibitions of the value of £25 apiece, tenable by oppidans, and payable out of the Fee Fund. This will entail a charge of £500.
It is proposed to allow a sum of £500 for books, prizes, and for the expenses of examinations.
These several charges will amount to £20,100, viz.:
| Head Master | £4,000 |
| Lower Master | £1,000 |
| Tutors | £8,000 |
| Assistant Masters (not Tutors) | £1,800 |
| Mathematical Masters* | £800 |
| Modern Language do. | £1,500 |
| Natural Science do. | £1,200 |
| Music and Drawing do. | £800 |
| Oppidan Exhibitions | £500 |
| Prizes and Examinations | £500 |
Total | £20,100 |
| Income of Fee Fund | £23,550 |
Surplus | £3,550 a year. |
As long as the dames' houses are retained, the boys in them should pay £120 like the rest of the boys; but, as the charges in these houses now range from 60 to 80 guineas, the dames should pay the whole difference between their existing charges and the proposed £120 into the Fee Fund. This would add somewhat to the surplus.
The anticipated surplus of £3,550 a year will probably be found useful in smoothing the way to the introduction of the proposed new system. It is obviously to be wished that [footnote continues on next page]
*The scale of remuneration to the Mathematical masters has been fixed on tho assumption that they will keep boarding-houses, containing from 20 to 30 boys. These boys would yield them a profit of from £400 to £600 a year to which £100 a year would be added by way of salary. If they should not have this advantage, some higher payment should be made to them out of the Fee Fund.
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College Revenues and Expenditure as affected by the proposed Changes
The receipts and expenditure of the College which pass through the hands of the Provost and Fellows have always been kept in a distinct form, and will no doubt continue to be so kept, and it may be convenient that we should here deal with them by themselves and somewhat in detail, and on the assumption that effect will be given to our recommendations generally.
The total gross income of Eton College, including fines on renewals of leases, may now probably be taken at £21,000 a year. The average of the five years ending 1860 was £21,062, and the tendency of the income is rather to increase than to diminish. The estimate is therefore a safe one.
We will in the next place present a short abstract of the actual expenditure according to the 13 different heads under which it is classed in the College books. This expenditure falls far short of the income, because the receipts from fines are not brought into account. In estimating the future balance of revenue and expenditure, we shall include this item, according to the suggestion we have already made.
1. Dieta. This includes all charges for the board of the King's Scholars, Choristers, College servants, and others, with some trifling additions in respect of election dinners,
[footnote continued from previous page] the new system should as far as possible be introduced at once, and not suspended for an indefinite period until vested claims have been extinguished. Some of the musters, however, will be prejudicially affected by it, and it would be well to have the means of making up any loss they may sustain, by payments from the surplus of the Fee Fund. The income of the Head Master, after making all abatements, may now be taken at £4,500; it is proposed to reduce it to £4,000, but an additional £500 might be paid out of the surplus of the Fee Fund during the incumbency of the present Head Master.
The income of the Lower Master appears to be about £900, a year, together with the profits of a boarding-house containing 38 boys, all of whom are private pupils. If the cost of this boarding-house be taken at £70 a head, the profits of the Lower Master must be 38 times £60; as the charge to each boy is £130. This would amount to £2,280 year, making his total income £3,180. It is proposed to give him a salary of £1,000, and to allow him to keep a boarding-house, and to take private pupils at a reduced profit. If he were to take 40 pupils, and all those pupils were boarders, he would only make £30 profit on each (£10 for profit on board, £10 for superintendence, £10 for tuition), or £1,200 on the whole, making his total income £2,200 instead of £3,180. The difference of £980 a year might be made up to the present Lower Master out of the Fee Fund.
Some arrangement might also have to be made for the principal Mathematical Master. Mr S. T. Hawtrey now receives about £1,000 a year: it is proposed to give him £300 and to allow him to keep a boarding-house (or £600 if he has no boarding-house), but it is very probable that he would find a difficulty in availing himself of this permission, at all events for some time to come, and both he and the Mathematical Assistant Masters might require some aid, and, perhaps, a considerable amount of aid, out of the Fee Fund.
The same will probably be the case with the French Master, who now receives £10 10s a year for every boy who learns French. Dr. Goodford states the number who learn at about 100, which would give an income of £1,050 a year, out of which I presume the second French Master, when there is one, is paid. We now propose to assign £1,000 a year to two French Masters, and to give only £600 of it to the senior of them, calling upon them at the same time to teach a very much greater number of boys than they do at present. The adjustment therefore of Mr. Tarver's claims under the new system will probably involve a further call upon the surplus of the Fee Fund.
By this time it is probable that charges enough have been thrown upon that surplus to convert it into a deficit. Yet the largest item of difficulty has still to be dealt with.
According to the proposed scheme, a tutor having 40 pupils, of whom 25 were boarders, would receive £900 a year, namely -
| £10 a head from the Fee Fund = | £400 |
| £20 a head from the boarders = | £500 |
| £900 |
If 30 of the boys were boarders, he would receive £1,000 a year.
Now, Mr. James states the amount which an Assistant Master, taking 40 pupils, of whom 32 were boarders, would realize at £1,845 a year; and he intimates that some masters the number of whose pupils is unlimited, may be receiving more. It is true that Mr. James mentions £1,845 as a maximum, and says that on the average of seven years he has only received £1,145 per annum. But the difficulty will arise chiefly in the extreme cases of the senior Assistant Masters; and it may very probably turn out that some eight or ten of these will lose £500 or £600 a year apiece by the new arrangement. If this is to be made up, it clearly cannot be out of the Fee Fund, unless that fund is replenished by some further payment from the boys.
The charge of £120 a year which it is proposed in future to make general, is the same as the charge now made in tutors' houses for board and tuition. Over and above this amount, those boys now pay £6 6s a year to the Head Master, and £4 18s to the mathematical fund. They have, besides, to pay £5 5s as entrance money and leaving money to their tutor and to the Head Master, amounting in general to about £26 5s more. Taking the time of a boy's stay at Eton to be four years, and spreading the entrance and leaving fees over that period, we find that his regular annual payments, exclusive of the school charges and any payments to extra masters, amount to about£19 a year above the charge for board and tuition. If the tutors were for the present allowed to charge the boys in their houses £20 a year more than the boys in the other boarding-houses are charged, a sufficient fund would probably be provided to meet all claims for compensation; and there would probably be no objection to keep up for some time longer the distinction between the charges in the tutors' houses and those in the dames' houses, particularly as the latter must still continue for some years to be kept by persons who are not engaged in tuition. It is not proposed that the tutors should retain this extra payment themselves, but that they should hand it over to the Fee Fund, and that compensation out of the fund should be made to those tutors who were losers by the change. Whenever it should be found that the Fee Fund could dispense with the whole or any part of this extra payment, it should be discontinued or reduced.
The best mode of applying any further surplus in future Years, after all claims for compensation have been extinguished, should be left for the consideration of the Provost and Fellows. It might either be applied to the reduction of charges, the increase of salaries, the creation of exhibitions, or the introduction of new masters.
It is obvious that some margin must be left in order to prevent inconvenience in the case of fluctuations in the numbers of the School. In the event of any serious falling-off in either the Upper or the Lower School, a rateable reduction of salaries must take place; and as the number of boys in the Lower School is still much below 150, it is probable that full salaries could not be paid to its masters at present, except by way of compensation.
If it should turn out after all that the amount of compensations to be borne by the Fee Fund was greater than it could bear, the Provost and Fellows must increase the charge upon the boys. This might conveniently be done by imposing an entrance fee for some time to come.
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and a few perquisites. The charge for 1860 was £2,688, and we find that the average charge for the seven years ending 1860 was £2,684. We may estimate it at £2,700.
2. Liberatura. This charge, which is that for the gowns of the King's Scholars and the liveries of the servants, amounts on the seven years' average to £145.
3 Stipendia. This sum includes the statutory payments to the Provost, Fellows, Head Master, and Lower Master, and the payments to the Conducts, organist, lay clerks, caterer, and College servants. On the average it is £1,743, but the actual amount cannot be taken at less than £1,780.
4. Remunerationes Officiariorum. These, which are extra payments to the Provost, Fellows, and Head and Lower Masters for certain specific functions, together with payments to the Assistant Master in college and to some of the College officers, are on the average £599; but as of late years this item has considerably increased, it should be stated at £700.
5. Distributiones Ordinariæ. These are ancient payments and perquisites to the Head Master, chapel clerk, and other persons attached to the College, and also to the incumbents and curates of certain college livings. The average is £261, but this is below the actual amount, which may be taken at £350.
6. Focalia. This charge, for fuel, is on the average £351.
7. Stabulum. This item, which is that for the expense of a horse for the Provost, might be taken at £66, the amount in the year 1860. It had previously been about half that sum, but in that year the whole expense of the horse's keep appears to have been undertaken by the College.
8. Feod. Regard, et Tax.* Under this head, the amount of which varies greatly from year to year, are reckoned the rates and taxes on the College property, including the Provost's and the Fellows' houses, insurance, cost of management of all the landed property of the College, including new buildings and repairs, and an incidental charges of the usual character belonging to such property, grants towards chapels, schools, and parsonage-houses, and the interest on Mr. Wilder's post-obit gift, and on the money borrowed for the improvement of the College. The average is £4,204.
9. Quieti Redditus. The quit rents amount to £4 8s 9d per annum.
10. Reparationes. This signifies the repairs of the property at Eton. The average is £1,524.
11. Expensæ Necessariæ et Cameræ Scholarium. The main charges under this head are expenses connected with the chapel, subscriptions to charities, watching and lighting, water supply, servants, and tradesmen's bills, extra payments made by the Master in College, washing, and incidentals. This amount also varies considerably; the average is £1,670.
12. Remanentia. The average of this charge, which we presume to be that for bills remaining unpaid from the preceding year, is £84.
13. Income Tax. The average is £457: but as this average includes some years of high payments, it may be taken at £400.
The sum total of the expenditure thus calculated is as follows:
| £ |
| Dieta | 2,700 |
| Liberatura | 145 |
| Stipendia | 1,780 |
| Remunerationes | 700 |
| Distributiones | 350 |
| Focalia | 351 |
| Stabulum | 66 |
| Feod. Regard. et Tax. | 4,204 |
| Quieti Redditus | 4 |
| Reparationes | 1,524 |
| Expensæ necessariæ | 1,670 |
| Remanentia | 84 |
| Income Tax | 457 |
| £14,035 |
*Probably Feoda, Regarda, et Taxæ. Regardum appears to mean an annual render of payment in kind by a tenant, or under an agreement. - See Ducange's Glossary.
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The average amount of fines divided amongst the Fellows during the same seven years has been £6,584, which added to the above total brings the whole expenditure to £20,619, or within a small sum of the income as estimated.
Proceeding on the basis of these calculations, we have now to examine what specific items of reduction are to be made in the above expenditure, assuming that effect is given to our recommendations.
We shall advise that the stipendiary Fellows should be five in number: that the Provost should have £2,000 a year, and each Fellow £700, all money allowances, as the rule, being abolished.
The total is £2,000 + (£700 x 5) = £5,500.
We have not the means of discriminating the incomes of the Provost and Fellows according to the seven years' average; but if we take them as furnished us by the College they amount from all sources to £7,653.
Under this head therefore a saving may be estimated of £7,653 - £5,500 = £2,153.
It should be observed, however, that besides the sums given in Statement A4 there are a few small items of charge, either money paid to the Provost and Fellows, or paid for them out of the College funds for specified objects. Some of these, as rates and taxes, are in respect of the houses, which are free of those burdens as well as of rent; and we do not propose to disturb that system. Others, as "Bavins", "Billet", "Provost in lieu of ale", as well as some payments in kind which appear in Statement A2, and which are not valued in money, are often considered as not out of character with ancient collegiate foundations, and the saving from the abolition of them would be insignificant.
We suggest, therefore, no further reduction as respects the Provost and Fellows than the above, namely, £2,153.
Next we propose to abolish the present payments to the Head and Lower Masters, amounting to £375 + £78 = £453.
Thirdly, we propose to abolish all payments as at present made to the singing men.
We shall have to provide for these payments in a simpler form on the other side of the account; but they are now made in an inconvenient shape, and with the daily chapel service, which we have suggested, the question assumes a new aspect.
We believe, however, that the exact amount of these payments cannot be stated with confidence from the College accounts. It would lead to an inconvenient minuteness of detail were we to go fully into the accounts for this purpose, but we may state that we have examined them carefully, and consider that the annual charge to be deducted in respect of this item may be put at £440.
We may make the same remarks concerning the Choristers or singing boys, whose establishment we also propose to reconstitute; wherefore its present cost is similarly to be deducted, and the deduction allowed as a saving.
It may, we think, be taken at £120.
Fifthly, we propose that the number of Conducts should be reduced from three to two. This would produce a saving of £120; but, as we suggest that one of the two should be paid £200 instead of £120, the saying is £40 a year.
We have now gone through all the specific items of reduction which we have been able to advise. But there remains a mass of miscellaneous expenditure of a character more or less variable, and of the description incidental to an ancient collegiate foundation of this kind endowed with land.
We think we ought not to assume that no reduction can be made in respect of this expenditure. We believe that the general administration of the College, as of the other schools with which we have dealt, will be improved under the changes we advise: though we do not intend to cast blame on that administration as it has hitherto been. But, moreover we are disposed to think that this expenditure, if looked at in its two main divisions of payments at the College itself and payments in respect of its estates, is in both branches very liberal. No one indeed would wish to see it other than liberal; and we do not suggest the practicability of more than a slight reduction.
It will have been observed that we have not been able to state the items of charge with regard to which we have suggested specific reductions according to the seven years average which we have struck in stating the expenditure. The accounts do not furnish the means of doing so; but in the case now before us, which is that of certain branches of expenditure in the mass, we will take the statement as above made and according to that average.
The material expenses of a variable character unconnected with the management of the property, whether at the College or elsewhere, come under the heads Dicta, Expensæ necessariæ, and Cameræ Scholarium. As above stated they amount to £2,700 + £1,670 = £4,370.
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The corresponding items relating to the estates are under the heads Feod. Regard. et Tax. and Reporationes. The total under these heads is £4,204 + £1,524 = £5,728.
It would appear, however, from an examination of the accounts under the head Feod. Regard. et Tax. that some of the charges are of a fixed character. The remainder, which are more or less variable, may probably be put at £4,400.
But this sum, for expenses of management on a landed estate of the value of the one before us is perhaps rather high, for we apprehend that for this purpose we can hardly reckon the fines on renewals, nor, it is clear, should the whole of the items under the title Fortuiti proventus be counted. According to this the gross rental seems to be under £13,000 a year.
On the whole, with improved management we consider that some reduction might be effected in these two branches of expenditure.
The total saving then, under the six heads into which we have divided it is as follows:
| £ |
| Provost and Fellows | 2,153 |
| Head and Lower Master | 453 |
| Singing-men | 440 |
| Singing-boys | 120 |
| Conducts | 40 |
| £3,206 |
Adverting now to the new charges proposed to be thrown on the College funds, we have first to notice that the increase in the Provost's income above what it now is, whatever its exact amount may be, has been already provided for.
We have proposed that the contribution of the College to the instruction fund of the school shall be £1,750.
We have proposed to separate the Vicarage of Eton from the College, and to provide for it by a distinct charge of £600 a year on the College funds.
The singing-men, in our opinion, as above stated, would only be wanted on Sundays. It seems to us that eight such men would be enough, and including the salary of the organist, we suppose that the expense should not exceed £250 annually.
The choristers, we suggest, should be 12 in number; and perhaps their maintenance and instruction, with a moderate provision for them on leaving, may be put at £400 a year.
The total of these four items of charge is as follows:
| £ |
| Instruction-fund | 1,750 |
| Vicarage | 600 |
| Singing-men | 250 |
| Singing-boys | 400 |
| £3,000 |
There remains therefore according to this calculation a balance of only £206 saving (£3,206 - £3,000) to meet the increased charge in the College revenues for tea, sugar, and washing for the Collegers, which will probably not be less than £500 a year, and for interest on whatever part of the expense of present and future new buildings may fall upon the College.
It must moreover be remembered that the above statement of the actual revenue and expenditure depends on averages, and estimates founded on them, which may not always prove accurate. On the other hand we have not taken credit for the savings which we believe may be made in the expenditure connected with the management of the property; and it is possible that upon some other points our estimates of expenditure may be found too high rather than too low.
But, further, we have already indicated our opinion that a fair claim on the College funds for compensations will in many cases arise in respect of the tenure of the boarding houses, if what seems to us a very necessary reform in the system of those houses is to be effected. It is obvious that in the state of the funds that we have described, these claims cannot be adequately met at once, which would be the most satisfactory arrangement. Each case must be dealt with at the proper time and on its own merits. It may be hoped that as this will be a gradual process, more economical management, the gradual improvement of the property, and especially the important specific increase of it
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which is said to be certain though more or less remote, will enable the College to do so without serious inconvenience to itself. At all events that inconvenience, though it should last for some time, would be temporary and would ultimately disappear.
We must also point out that even if it should appear desirable that any or all of these lessees' interests should be bought up before it can be done out of income, it is not clear that it might not be done out of capital. A lease which is worth selling will usually be worth buying, and what the College bought up from the dames and lessees it might relet on fair terms to the Tutors.
SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS
All the General Recommendations (Part I, pp. 32-55) are in our opinion applicable to Eton.
We add the following Special Recommendations.
1. That the Governing Body of Eton College should consist of a Provost and 14 Fellows, of whom 5 should be stipendiary, and 9 honorary.
2. That the Provost should be nominated by the Crown, and be a graduate of Oxford or Cambridge, of the degree of M.A. or some higher degree, 35 years old at the least, and not necessarily in Holy Orders, and that he should have an annual stipend of £2,000, and the house which is now assigned to the Provost.
3. That the Provost of King's for the time being should be ex officio one of the 9 honorary Fellows of Eton.
4. That the other honorary Fellows should be persons qualified by position or attainments to fill that situation with advantage to the School; that they should be entitled to no emoluments, and not required to reside. Three of them should be nominated by the Crown, and should be Graduates of Oxford or Cambridge, and the other 5 should be elected by the whole Governing Body.
5. That the 5 stipendiary Fellows should be elected by the whole Governing Body; that every person so elected should either have obtained distinction in literature or science, or have done long and eminent service to the School as Head Master, Lower Master, or Assistant Master; that not less than three of them should be in Holy Orders; and that each of the stipendiary Fellows should have a fixed stipend of £700 per annum, and a house or lodgings within the College.
6. That, unless prevented by sickness or some other urgent cause allowed by the Governing Body, the Provost should reside at Eton during the whole of every school term, and each of the Stipendiary Fellows during three months in every year.
7. That the Provost and Fellows should be members of the Established Church, but bot necessarily men educated at Eton.
8. That the Provost and Fellows should be at liberty to elect from among the resident Fellows a Vice-Provost, Bursar, and Librarian, and to assign to the two latter small fixed allowances, or to provide otherwise, as they may think best, for the performance by members of their own body of the duties belonging to those offices respectively; that they should also be at liberty, should they deem it more expedient, to appoint, instead of the Bursar, for the performance of the duties of that office, a person not connected with the College, at a competent salary.
9. That the Provost should be relieved from the spiritual charge of the parish of Eton, and that the parish should be constituted a distinct vicarage in the gift of the Provost and Fellows, and endowed with an annual sum of £600, which should be a charge upon the revenues of the College. The amount of the endowment might be somewhat diminished, should the Vicar be provided with a house or adequate lodgings by the College.
10. That the number of Conducts should be reduced to two, one of whom, appointed by the Provost and Fellows, should have the title of Precentor, and be responsible for the proper performance of the Chapel Services and the general efficiency of the choir. That the Curate for the time being of the parish of Eton, appointed by the Vicar of Eton and approved by the Provost, should be the other Conduct. That each Conduct should receive, as such, a yearly stipend of £120 as at present; but that the Precentor Conduct should receive, as Precentor, a further yearly stipend of £80.
11. That the Provost and Fellows should procure, as they may think best, the services of singing-men for the College Chapel; but that provision should be made out of the
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College funds for the maintenance of an adequate number of choristers or singing-boys to belong solely to the Chapel.
12. That such boys should have a general School education, musical teaching, and moral superintendence provided for them according to the best examples of the Cathedrals, together with an annual allowance in food and clothing, or in money, and should at the proper age be apprenticed to some trade, or receive some fair equivalent out of the College funds.
13. That the right and the responsibility of presenting to benefices in the gifts of the College should rest in the Provost and Fellows as a body; and that length of service as an Assistant Master, coupled with fitness for the care of a parish, should be deemed to constitute a claim, though not an absolute or paramount claim, to a College living.
14. That no ecclesiastical preferment in the gift of the College should be tenable with the Provostship, nor with a stipendiary Fellowship.
15. That the practice of granting beneficial leases should be discontinued as speedily as the means at the disposal of the College will permit, and that all fines which may be received hereafter should be brought into the general accounts of the College. That in carrying these changes into effect due regard should be had to the interests of the present Provost and Fellows, and that for this purpose, should it be found practicable to do so, fixed annual sums equal to their average dividends for the last seven years should be allotted and paid to them respectively in lieu of their respective shares of fines.
16. That, whenever the whole number of the Governing Body is complete, 7 should be a quorum; and that, whenever it is not complete, a proportion not less than one-half of the existing body should constitute a quorum.
17. That in elections to College all local preferences should be abolished; that no boy should be deemed disqualified on account of illegitimate birth or of any bodily imperfection; that longer notice should be given before each election; that such notice should state the subjects of examination, and should give information as to the value of a scholarship; and that the scholarships should be awarded according to one scale of merit, by one examination, to which no boy should be admitted under the age of 11 nor over that of 14.
18. That in the election of boys to College, or from College to King's, in case of an equal division of votes, a second or casting vote should be given in the former case to the Provost of Eton, and in the latter to the Provost of King's.
19. That all payments by Collegers for instruction and tuition of every kind (except for voluntary extras) should be abolished; that the yearly payment of five guineas to the College for attendance, &c. should also be abolished; that tea, sugar, and washing should be supplied to them at the expense of the College; that their diet should be more varied; and that such services at dinner in Hall as are now performed by fags should be performed by servants.
20. That the School Council (General Recommendation VI) should consist of not more than 15 members, and should comprise a certain number of the Classical Masters engaged in each part of the School (including one at least not having charge of a boarding-house) a certain number of the Mathematical Masters, and some of the Teachers of Modern Languages and Natural Science; and that in the absence of the Head Master the Lower Master should preside, if present.
21. That the number of boys (including Collegers) in the Upper School should never exceed 650, and that the number in the Lower School should never exceed 150.
22. That the Head Master should keep an admission-list, upon which the names of candidates for admission as Oppidans into the Upper School should be entered in the order in which applications are received; no boy's name, however, being entered until he has completed his eighth year; that, as vacancies occur in the School, they should be offered in succession to the boys on the list, no distinction being made between boys who may happen to be in the Lower School and others. That it should be optional with each boy whether he will present himself as a candidate for examination at once, or wait for another vacancy; but that each boy who presents himself should be examined, and, if found unfit to enter the part of the School for which his age qualifies him, should be placed at the bottom of the list; and that no boy's name should be retained on the admission list after he has completed his 15th year.
23. That no boy should be admitted info the Upper School under the age of 11, nor (except in the case herein-after provided for by the 25th Special Recommendation) above that of 14.
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24. That a separate admission list should be kept by the Lower Master for the Lower School; that boys in the Lower School should have no preference, in respect of admission to the Upper, over boys from other places of education (except as to the age of admission in the case provided for by the 25th Special Recommendation); that they should be required, before entering the Upper School, to pass the same examination as boys from other schools, and should, like them, be placed in any part of the Upper School for which they may be found qualified.
25. That no boy should be allowed to remain in the Lower School after completing his 14th year, the maximum age of admission into the Fourth Form, unless he shall be in the highest class of the Lower School and there shall be a reasonable prospect of his being able to enter the Remove before completing his 15th.
26. That the maximum age for admission into the Remove should be 15, and, for admission into the Fifth Form, 16; and that no boy should be allowed to remain at the School after he has passed either of those ages without obtaining promotion into the Form for which it is the maximum, unless he shall fall within the exception mentioned in General Recommendation XXV.
27. That the number of boys in the Sixth Form should be fixed at not less than 30, and that the admission of boys into the Sixth Form should be determined by a competitive examination to be held once in every half-year, and by which as many boys shall be elected out of the upper division of the Fifth Form as are required to complete the Sixth.
28. That the upper division of the Fifth Form should be subdivided into two parts, the senior upper division, and the junior upper division; that the number of the senior upper division should be limited, and that promotion from the junior upper division to the senior upper division should take place by a system of competition once in every year, similar to that proposed for the promotions to the Sixth.
29. That the number of boys in a division should not, as a general rule, exceed 30.
30. That the system under which the School has provided books, specially designed for Eton, should be discontinued.
31. That the whole of the classical course and the books used in the School should be carefully revised.
32. That the work of all the Forms and Divisions should be arranged with the special view of providing that the boys' work may become more difficult in just proportion to their rise in the School, and that, amongst other provisions to be made for this purpose, the time of a boy should not be too long or too exclusively devoted to the same author.
33. That the amount of repetition should be diminished, and that the system of construing the School-work with the Tutor before doing it in School should be abolished.
34. That, subject to the foregoing provision for diminishing the quantity of repetition, there should be introduced occasional and careful recitation of choice passages of Latin and Greek prose, and of English poetry or English prose.
35. That a larger amount of translation from English into Latin and Greek verse and prose should be introduced; that the amount of original composition in these two languages should be diminished; and that some part of the original composition in them should be exchanged for translations into English, both oral translation (as distinct from construing) and written, and that in estimating the merit of such translations due regard should be paid to the correctness and purity of the English.
36. That the period during which each boy studies Natural Science as a regular part of his School-work should, at the least, not be less than the interval between admission to the Lower Fifth and admission to the Upper Fifth , and that the teaching of Drawing or Music should continue, at the least, until admission to the Lower Fifth. (See General Recommendation XII.)
37. That any boy who is studying French should be allowed, if he pleases, to take up German also as an additional subject at trials, and vice versa, and that the same liberty should be allowed with respect to Italian, and also with respect to Natural Science in parts of the School where it does not enter into the regular School-work; and that the marks obtained for any additional subject so taken up should be allowed to count in determining the boy's place in his Remove.
38. That the permission to discontinue some part of the School-work in order to devote more time to some other part of it (General Recommendation XIII) should not be given to any boy till he has reached the Upper Fifth Form.
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39. That the scheme of work in the Lower School should be so arranged as to allow rather more time than at present for exercise and relaxation in that part of the School.
40. That since the labour of the Head Master in School-work (including examinations as they are at present conducted) appears to be now greater than is desirable, means should' be taken to relieve him partially from it, in order that he may have more time for superintendence; that in conducting the examinations for Removes a larger share should be assigned to Assistant Masters, and especially Assistants not having charge of pupil-rooms.
41. That at least once a year some of the more important school examinations should be wholly or in part conducted by Examiners unconnected with the School; that such Examiners should not be necessarily Etonians, and should be paid a reasonable remuneration out of the School or College funds.
42. That prizes should be instituted for original composition on given subjects in Latin prose and verse, and in English verse; and that the prize compositions, together with the Richards prize compositions, should be publicly recited, and the prizes themselves actually given, before the whole School and such visitors as may be collected for the occasion.
43. That prizes should be instituted for translation of set passages of prose and poetry both into and out of the classical languages, and should be given in a similar manner.
44. That it is desirable that a certain number of exhibitions should be founded, to be competed for by boys under the age of 16, and tenable as long as the holder remains at school; and that, in consideration of the endowments already enjoyed by the Collegers, Oppidans alone should be allowed to stand for these exhibitions.
45. That these Exhibitions should be attainable by superior merit in any of the branches of instruction (other than music and drawing) forming part of the regular course of study, but that not less than half of the whole number of them should be reserved for classics; and that a detailed scheme concerning them should be framed by the Provost and Fellows.
46. That, if possible, the number of such exhibitions should be not less than 20, and that the Provost and Fellows should create, as they may find it practicable to do so, by means of the Instruction Fund, so many of them as shall not be established by private benefactions.
47. That all Scholarships, Exhibitions, Postmasterships, and other such pecuniary emoluments now given to Etonians by nomination for their maintenance at any College at either University, should be awarded by competitive examination, subject (as to the emoluments to which those restrictions or any of them apply) to the existing restrictions in favour of sons of clergymen or others not in affluent circumstances, and to sons of clergymen or of widows with large families; provided that in any case in which it shall be proved to the satisfaction of the Provost and Fellows that peculiar hardship results from the above regulation to any boy who but for its operation would have been eligible for one of the above Exhibitions, they should have a discretionary power to dispense with it.
48. That where more than one such Scholarship or other emolument above mentioned are supplied out of one endowment, the Provost and Fellows should have power to combine several emoluments into one, or divide one into two or more, as they may deem most conducive to the interests of the School.
40. That where any such Scholarships or emoluments are now awarded to Etonians who have already left school, they should be henceforth awarded to boys quitting the school.
50. That where any such emoluments are supplied from funds not held by or for any particular College, it should be in the power of the successful candidates to hold them at any College at either University.
51. That in consideration of the changes recently effected as to the method of awarding King's Scholarships at Eton and Scholarships at King's, whereby Collegers at Eton cease to owe their superannuation for King's to accident and ill fortune, all such Scholarships, Exhibitions, and other emoluments as are now awarded to Collegers who have not obtained King's should be henceforth open to the competition of all Eton boys, Oppidans as well as Collegers, not being scholars of King's; and that in all cases it shall be in the power of any Colleger at Eton to offer himself as a candidate for such emolument in lieu of offering himself for a Scholarship at King's, if he shall think fit.
52. That in the competitive examinations for King's Scholarships and Exhibitions at Eton, Scholarships at King's College Cambridge, and other Scholarships and emoluments
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at the Universities hereby opened for competition to Oppidans and Collegers, it is desirable that the several studies of the School should affect the success of the candidates in the same manner and degree in which in the School examinations they are allowed to affect the places of the boys in their removes.
53. That the time-table or arrangement of the hours of the classical work should be recast on the principle of equality and uniformity between the several weeks of each school-time; that to this end the due number of holidays and half-holidays should be fixed irrespective of Saints' days, which should only be observed by their proper religious service in chapel, except in the case of Ascension Day, which is the only one of the great Church festivals which can occur during the school-time.
54. That there should be a daily morning Service in the Chapel in lieu of prayers (in the boarding-houses, not exceeding in length a quarter of an hour, and fixed by the Provost and Fellows; that the choral or musical element should be introduced into this Service; that it should be as nearly as possible the same in length on all week-days, including holidays, except that on Saints' days it should comprise the proper Services of the day according to the Prayer Book, and that on Ascension Day there should be the full morning and evening Service of the Church.
55. That, except in the last-mentioned case, the boys should never be required to attend any afternoon Chapel Service on week-days.
56. That the Governing Body should frame a scheme for the preaching in the College Chapel; that in framing such scheme they should not be restricted in the choice of preachers, but that it should be provided that all the Masters and Assistant Masters of the School in Holy Orders, an well as the Fellows, have the opportunity of occasionally preaching, if they are willing to do so, in the College Chapel.
57. That permission to keep a boarding-house should in future, as vacancies occur, be granted only to Classical and Mathematical Masters; but that in carrying this recommendation into effect due regard should be paid to interests heretofore acquired, and that such equitable claims as may appear to be well founded should be met by reasonable compensation.
58. That boarding-houses kept by Masters in the Lower School should be confined to boys in the Lower School, and that boys in the Lower School should be admitted into such boarding-houses only.
59. That the Assistants in the Mathematical School should be entitled Mathematical Assistant Masters; and that, as regards the assignment of boarding-houses, the authority to enforce discipline out of School, the arrangements in Chapel, and, so far as may be practicable, in all other respects, they should be placed on a footing of equality with the Classical Assistant Masters.
60. That every Mathematical Master should be considered the Tutor for general superintendence of all the boys in his boarding-house.
61. That, in applying to Eton the General Recommendations XXVI-XXVIII, the payment to be made to or retained by the Tutor for the private tuition of each of his pupils should be distinct from the payment to be made to him as an Assistant Master in the School; and that the annual payment to be made by the College for the instruction of each Colleger should be £25; and that the general principles of the scheme suggested above (p. 124) should be pursued so far as it may be found conveniently practicable.
62. That chambers or lodgings should be provided for some of the younger Assistant Masters, and a Common Room open to the Assistant Masters generally; and that the junior Assistants should not be authorized to keep boarding-houses until their power of managing boys and their aptness for school life has been tested.
63. That no extension of the holidays should be ever allowed, except in obedience to Royal command or upon sanitary considerations.
64. That the system of "shirking" should be abolished.
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CHAPTER II. WINCHESTER
STATEMENT
THE COLLEGE
1. Constitution of the College
The College of St. Mary of Winchester near Winchester, commonly called Winchester College, was founded in 1387. It originally consisted of a Warden, 10 Fellows, 70 Scholars, one Head Master, one Usher or Second Master, 3 Chaplains, 3 Clerks, and 16 Choristers. By an Ordinance of the Oxford University Commissioners, which took effect in 1857, this constitution has been considerably modified: the ten Fellowships are to be reduced, as vacancies occur, to six; with the income thus set at liberty the number of Scholars is to be increased to 100, and 20 Exhibitions are to be founded not tenable with Scholarships. No Fellowship has become vacant since this Ordinance came into operation. There are still, therefore, 10 Fellows and not more than 70 Scholars, but the College has found the means to elect several Exhibitioners, the annual payments to whom amounted in 1861 to £225.
2. Statutes, Visitorial Authority
We have observed in our Report on Eton that the Statutes of that College were probably modelled upon those of Winchester, and bear a strong resemblance to them. An edition of the latter was published in 1855 by the Oxford University Commissioners. By an Ordinance framed by the Commissioners and approved by Her Majesty in Council, and which is placed, under the Act 17 & 18 Vict. c. 81. on the same level in point of authority as the original Statutes, many parts of these Statutes were abrogated, and many new provisions introduced. Measures have been taken to digest the new matter, and so much of the old as remains unrepealed, into one code, and we have been informed that the completion of this only awaits the publication of our Report. The Warden and Fellows are empowered, with the consent of the Visitor and of the Queen in Council, to alter and amend the Statutes from time to time.
The Bishop of Winchester is Visitor, and has held visitations occasionally, but rarely. Under the Ordinance of 1857 he is expressly authorized to visit whenever he may think proper, or, without holding a visitation, to require answers in writing touching any matter as to which he may deem it necessary to inquire. We shall have occasion to advert hereafter to a change, very important and beneficial to the College, wrought by the spontaneous interference of the present Bishop in 1854.
What is called a "Scrutiny" is held once a year by the Warden of New College and two Fellows of that society elected for the purpose, who come to Winchester to take part in the annual election. They are empowered by the Statutes to inquire generally respecting the government of the College and all its members, and to correct and reform whatever they may find amiss, having recourse to the Bishop of Winchester in any case which they cannot themselves dispose of without grave inconvenience. In practice this investigation seems to be confined to the seven senior and seven junior boys in College, who are questioned separately as to their comforts, and any matter of which they may have to complain; and the power actually to correct abuses is considered to be lodged in the Bishop.
3. Endowments, Revenues, and Expenditure
The Endowments of Winchester College consist of landed property and funded stock, which produced, on an average or the seven years ended in 1860, a gross annual income of £15,494 17s 6d. The income of 1860 amounted to £17,622 5s 5d. The specific items during the seven years were as follows:
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Donations, subscriptions, and expenses of management, which altogether are of considerable amount, are not deducted from the foregoing statement.
The total expenditure for 1860 (excluding nearly £1,200 spent in purchase of land and in obtaining the renewal of a lease) was £20,098 6s 7d, exceeding the receipts by £2,476 1s 2d. The excess was paid out of a balance which remained in hand from previous years.
The following table shows the general distribution of the revenue in 1860:
[click on the image for a larger version]
We are informed that the leases are being run out gradually, but. slowly. "It is the only way", says the Warden, "by which we can increase our income." According to the scale on which the fines are at present fixed, and which the Warden considers somewhat too favourable to the lessees, the latter get 7 per cent on their outlay.
The College estates lie chiefly in Hants and Wilts, but parts of them are scattered through other southern and western counties. They are managed by the Warden, with the assistance of a steward.
The College likewise holds, on special trusts for Exhibitioners and other purposes, the large sum of £60,132, with land which produces a net income of £204 14s 11d.
4. The Governing Body
The Warden and Fellows are the Governing Body of the College.
Under the original Statutes no person was eligible to the Wardenship unless he either was or had been a Fellow of Winchester, or of New College. This restriction was removed by the Ordinance of 1857; and the requisites now are that the candidate should be a Graduate in Theology or Law, or a Master of Arts, in Priest's Orders, and not less than thirty years of age. The right of election continues to be lodged in the Fellows of New College, lapsing, however, to the Bishop of Winchester, in any case in which the election does not take place within one month.
The election to a vacant Fellowship resides in the Warden and Fellows for the time being. Under the original Statutes a preference is given to Fellows, or former Fellows, of New College, and then to "Conducts" or Chaplains of Winchester College, or persons having filled that office. By the Ordinance it is provided that "the preference given to those who are or have been Fellows of New College, shall be extended alike to the Master, Usher, and Assistant Masters of the School at Winchester College, for the time being, and to those who shall have held any of the said offices, and to those who shall have been educated for two years at the said School." A local preference given by the old Statutes to natives of certain counties is abolished, but a candidate is still required to be in Priest's Orders.
The ancient statutory emoluments of the Warden, besides a suitable provision for his table not limited in amount, were a stipend of £20 a year, and 12 yards of cloth at 1s 8d a yard. Each Fellow had a stipend of £5, six yards of the same cloth, and twelve pence weekly for commons. It appears, however, that the Governing Body of Winchester, like that of Eton, have been in the habit of dividing amongst themselves the fines received on renewals of leases of the College estates, which were let at old reserved rents. In 1860, the "Warden's share of leasehold fines and allowances" is stated to have been £1,750, and the aggregate shares and allowances of the ten Fellows were £6,598: the fines were, however, above the average in that year, and we are informed by the Warden that his whole average emoluments are estimated at £1,700, and those of each Fellow at £550 per annum. The Ordinance authorizes them to divide surplus income, but this permission has not been used to the full extent. It is immaterial whether the money received from fines is divided as such, or as surplus revenue; but the question whether
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fines, as such, are divisible, may, of course, materially affect the question what is surplus revenue.
Under the Statutes the Fellows were to sleep three in a room, whilst two rooms were assigned to the Warden. The Warden has now a good house; another house and two or three rooms are set apart for the use of such Fellows as may be occasionally resident. A suite of rooms over the Scholars' chambers is now occupied by the Second Master.
Of the 13 livings in the gift of the College,
One is under £100 in value.
Two are over £100 and not exceeding £200.
Six are over £200 and not exceeding £300.
One is over £300 and not exceeding £400.
Two are over £400 and not exceeding £500.
One is over £500 and not exceeding £600.
Seven of these, which do not include the two of highest value, are held by Fellows; one by a gentleman who was formerly Assistant Master. It should, perhaps, be added, that of the Fellows holding livings one had been Second Master, and had been presented to a living before he obtained a Fellowship.
The Warden has, by the Statutes, the general government of the Foundation, his position being that ordinarily assigned to the Head of a College. He takes also, as it appears, a principal share in the management of the College estates, and he commonly resides within the College. By the old Statutes he is not permitted to be absent more than two months in the year. Under the Ordinance of 1857 he is required to reside eight months only in each year. The Statutory provisions respecting the residence of the Fellows were repealed, and the College was directed to frame new regulations on the subject. This has not been done, but the present Warden informs us that he has been engaged in preparing some regulations on the subject which he has not yet submitted to the other members of the Governing Body.
Of the Fellows one or two, the Warden states, have been resident in his time, one of these being the Bursar, in whose case residence is necessary. But practically, says the Head Master, they are non-resident, and such rooms as there are for them are seldom occupied. They come up at stated periods, four times a year, and the Warden calls a special meeting whenever he thinks it expedient. They elect, in conjunction with the Warden, the Head and Second Masters; and the consent of a majority of them is required by the Statutes for the transaction of all the more important business (majora negotia), and for the expulsion of a Scholar on the Foundation. They are not required to take any part in the Chapel service; their position, in short, is that of non-residents who have a voice in business of importance, and whom the Warden consults as often as he thinks proper.
The Warden is of opinion that any further reduction of their number would be prejudicial to the interests of the College. He regards them as a "valuable Board of Trustees", and the Fellowships as likely to afford in future a provision for Masters who have grown too old for their work; admitting, however, that they have not hitherto served this purpose. They have supplied a Governing Body, and have afforded to a certain number of the Fellows of New College the means of marrying on a comfortable income. The Ordinance, whilst it makes Masters of the School eligible for Fellowships, requires that the electors shall choose that person who shall appear to them to be of the greatest merit, and most fit to be a Fellow of the College as a place of religion, learning, and education. The Head Master, whilst he has no wish to disturb an ancient constitution, thinks it not very material, as regards the mere educational interests of the School, whether there are any Fellowships or not. "I really do not feel their presence at all."
5. The Choristers
The choristers at Winchester were placed by the Statutes on a somewhat lower level than those of Eton and Westminster. They were to be admitted out of regard for charity - "intuitu charitatis"; to make the beds of the Fellows, and help to wait in Hall, and to live upon the "fragments and relics" of the Fellows' and Scholars' tables, if these were sufficient for them; if not, they were to have suitable nourishment at the expense of the College. The choristers are now boarded, lodged, educated, and at the proper age apprenticed, at the cost of the College. The expense under this head in 1860, including the Schoolmaster's salary, board during the holidays, books, and medical attendance, bills for clothing and apprentice fees, was £336 3s 8d.
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6. The Scholars
The Scholars are elected, in conformity with the old Statutes, by the Warden, Sub-Warden, and Head Master of Winchester College, jointly with the Warden of New College and two Fellows of that Society chosen for the purpose. The old qualifications, preferences, and restrictions were substantially the same as at Eton, to which the Winchester regulations were transferred, except that boys born out of wedlock or in serfdom were not excluded, that a preferential claim was given to boys of the kindred of the Founder, and that, instead of the local preference given at Eton to two counties, a like preference was at Winchester given to the diocese of Winchester in the first place, and then to 11 counties concurrently. Choristers were eligible, but had no preference. By the Ordinance of 1857 the preference of Founder's kin and the local preferences are removed, and no candidate is to be ineligible on account of any bodily imperfection which might incapacitate him for Holy Orders, nor "by reason of any restriction in respect of property or pecuniary circumstances contained in the Statutes, but the electors may refuse to admit as a candidate anyone whom they may deem to be not in need of a Scholarship", and cæteris paribus [other things being equal] they are "to have regard to the pecuniary circumstances of the candidates". A boy who has attained the age of 14 is, under the Ordinance, no longer eligible. No boy has yet been excluded from the competition on the ground of comparative affluence, and it does not appear that any inquiries are made respecting the circumstances of the candidates. Dr. Moberly apprehends that it would rest with the electors to reject a candidate on this account; practically it seems to rest with the Warden and Head Master, who are on the spot and receive the papers. Neither does it appear that the cæteris paribus preference in favour of poverty has been acted upon. But it would be acted upon, we are told, should the case arise, and Dr. Moberly states that parents have within his knowledge declined to send their sons as candidates, from feeling that their own circumstances were such as to render the assistance of a Scholarship unnecessary to them.
Until 1854 the electors nominated the Scholars without a competitive examination; in that year the system was exchanged for open competition. Eton, which owes so large a debt to Winchester, set her in return the example of this great and beneficial change, which is clearly agreeable to the spirit, and not at variance with the letter, of the Statutes of both Colleges. The Bishop of Winchester, who was on intimate terms with Dr. Hawtrey, and had heard from him of its success, proposed of his own accord the introduction of it, and it was carried into effect against the expressed opinion of the Head Master. "I feared", writes Dr. Moberly -
that we should be liable to have boys brought in among us, of whose character and connexions we had no assurance, and who might prove to be very undesirable members of our community; and I wished that in our elections (a thing which I still think much to be desired in the competitions of older candidates for public positions) a scheme might be devised to combine the advantages of a very real competition with the responsibility of nomination. But I am bound to acknowledge that with us the change has been unmixedly beneficial. The candidates are very young, and we find that we have the best of securities for the character and connexions of such young boys, when we find them capable, from 10 to 14 years old, of winning such a race on such subjects. It is not in ill-conducted families that little fellows of that age learn their grammars so well, or know how to write Latin verses. Let me offer my testimony without reserve. The open elections have been excellently successful. In point of ability, good conduct, and general promise, we have lost nothing. and we have gained much. We do not know what it is to have a thoroughly stupid boy a scholar." - Letters to Sir W. Heathcote, pp. 5, 6.
The whole School has reaped great benefit from it. "Of old we had a small connexion and a considerable narrowness in the system altogether. We were comparatively poor in boys. This open competition brings boys of all abilities, of all families, from all parts of the country, and so spreads our connexion very widely."
In 1857 the system of open competition was rendered obligatory on the College by an Ordinance of the Oxford University Commission, which had been appointed by Act of Parliament in 1854.
It is the custom to give previous notice of every election in the "Times", and to send circulars conveying further information to every person who makes inquiries on the subject. It has not been usual to mention in the notice the limit of age, the subjects of examination, or the value of a Scholarship, facts which it would be convenient for parents to know, and the statement of which would probably diminish the necessity for subsequent correspondence. The average number of vacancies has hitherto been 10, and the average number of candidates about 100. In 1861, the candidates were 108, of whom 8 were admitted. In 1862, there were 137 competitors for 7 vacancies.
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Under the Statutes a Scholar had 8d a week for commons, those under their 16th year "having breakfast also of the aforesaid commons at the due and accustomed days and times"; each was to have also cloth enough for a long gown and hood, to be worn, during the first year, only on Sundays and holidays. The Warden, Fellows, Master, and Usher were permitted to give away their old gowns, after five years' wear, to the poor scholars and choristers, if they chose to do so. The Scholars were to sleep in the rooms on the ground floor, under the chambers occupied by the Fellows.
We have little information about the treatment of the Scholars until within the last quarter of a century, during which it has been much improved in various ways. Custom and tradition have always possessed great power at Winchester, and the progress of change has been slow. The "children"*, as they were formerly called, still eat their dinners on little trenchers of wood, which they would be unwilling to exchange for plates, and sleep in the six chambers originally allotted to them (to which, however, the ancient schoolroom has since been added as a seventh) on oaken bedsteads more than two centuries old. Until the 16th century, they slept on bundles of straw, and their chambers were unfloored; the bedsteads and flooring were the gifts of a famous Wykehamist, Dean Fleshmonger. In the early part of the 17th century, a Scholar paid on his entrance for his bedding, for his surplice, for the making of his gown, for candles, and for his "scob" (box) to hold his books in school. He paid also 1s to his predecessor for "glasse windowes", and 14s "for learning to write". There is a Visitor's letter extant, dated early in the 18th century, which orders that bed-makers should be appointed for the chambers, "and the children relieved from the servile and foul office of making their own beds, and keeping the chambers clean". We gather, however, from the Warden's evidence that no bedmakers were in fact provided till lately. The choristers were previously made to perform this office.
The chambers, the Warden informs us, have been much improved since he was a boy, and are much better kept. We agree with him in thinking that they are hardly spacious enough for the numbers they contain; the largest holds 13 or 14, the smallest 8. Their antiquity, however, makes them dear to Winchester Scholars; and they seem to realize in a considerable degree a boy's idea of comfort, especially when lighted up in the winter evenings with the "half-faggots", a somewhat scanty allowance of which is assigned by old custom to every room.
The Statutes of Winchester, like those of Eton, prohibit the Master and Usher in the most precise and stringent terms from "exacting, asking, or claiming" any payment for instruction from the scholars, their parents or friends; the Eton clause was in fact a copy of the Winchester clause, with the insertion of words extending the privilege of free instruction to non-foundationers. It was nevertheless the practice at Winchester for a charge of £10 to be put into the bills of each Scholar, for "Masters' gratuities", the words "if allowed" being parenthetically inserted, out of respect for the statutory prohibition. This charge was, in fact, necessary to eke out the scanty pittances allowed to the two statutory Masters by the College, and it was rarely, if ever, objected to, until, in the mastership of Dr. Goddard or of his predecessor, an appeal was made against it to the Visitor. The Visitor decided that it was saved by the parenthesis from being an actual charge, and was therefore not illegal. Dr. Goddard, who was Head Master for not more than seventeen years (from 1793 to 1810), received the money during his tenure of office; but he felt that, if not illegal, it was morally questionable, and after his retirement, but several years (Walcott says, ten) before his death, he made a voluntary gift to the College of £25,000 stock, in trust to pay the dividends to the Head and Second Masters for the time being. The Head Master now receives from this source £450, and the Second Master £300. From that time no charge has been made for the instruction of the Scholars, except in respect of Modern Languages. But we must observe that this is due not to the College, but to Dr. Goddard. The instruction of the Scholars has been paid for, and the Head and Second Masters have been saved from the necessity of continually violating the Statutes they are bound to observe; but this has been done, not by the Warden and Fellows, whose duty it certainly was to provide adequately for the teaching of these boys out of the College revenues, but by the generosity of a private person, who had a more tender conscience or ampler means than his predecessors.
The total payment out of the funds of the College for the teaching of the 70 Scholars, before the regular introduction of Mathematics into the School, was £250 per annum, of
*"If you are a commoner, you may say your prayers in your own chamber, but if you are a child or a chorister, then," &c. - Bishop Ken's Manual, quoted in Mackenzie Walcott's William of Wykeham and his Colleges, p. 196. So also Christopher Johnson (De Collegio) - "Nomine seu Pueri vociteris sive Choristæ."
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which the Head Master received £150, and the Second Master £100. The payments under this head in 1861 were as follows:
The situation of the Scholars of Winchester at the present day is undoubtedly a very advantageous one, and reflects credit on the Warden and Fellows, who appear to have been actuated by a just sense of their duty to the boys under their charge. A Scholar is well boarded, lodged, and educated without any expense to his parents, beyond a payment of £1 10s a year to the French Master (with an additional two guineas if he learns German) and, if he is not a prefect, a further payment of two guineas to his "boy-tutor", a phrase which will be explained hereafter. His position is equal, and in his own estimation superior, to that of a boy "in Commoners"; and if the two bodies have not hitherto associated quite as freely as it is to be wished they should, this is probably owing to the circumstance that they have been separately lodged, and until lately have used separate playgrounds.
THE SCHOOL
7. Number and Composition of the School
The greatest number of boys at Winchester in 1861 was -
| Scholars | 70 |
| Commoners | 131 |
| 201 |
In May 1862, when we visited the School, there were 216* boys, and therefore 146 Commoners. The number of Commoners was 31 in 1668. During the 18th century it fluctuated greatly, being 87 in 1730, and in 1750 only 10. In 1846 it had risen to 148, but it then began to fall rapidly, until in 1858 it did not exceed 68. "We suffered", says Dr. Moberly, "for some considerable time under the reputation of bad health, which had the effect of lowering our numbers considerably." From this depression the School has since been gradually recovering. The opening of the scholarships to competition, the opening of New College to Commoners - a change which will be mentioned hereafter - and the establishment of additional boarding houses, have already had very beneficial effects, and there seems to be good reason to hope that the School will continue, under judicious management, to advance in this respect.
The Statutes permit a limited number, not exceeding 10, of sons of nobles and great men, special friends of the College, "filii nobilium et valentium personarum dicti Collegii specialium amicorum", to be educated within the College walls, but without charge to the College. It appears, we are informed, by old College accounts that such boys were in fact received, and that they paid, not for their instruction, but for their commons or board. These are regarded as having been the forerunners of the present "Commoners" or non-foundation boys. At what time Commoners ceased to board within the College does not appear. In 1681, says Mr. Walcott, we find, according to the roll, two Commoners in College, three in the Warden's house, and the remainder out of College. The distinction, he says, did not disappear till 1747.
There is nothing in the Statutes to show that the Founder of Winchester contemplated, as the Founder of Eton certainly did, the resort of other boys to his School besides the Scholars and the small privileged class above mentioned. The Head Master has, however, long been in the habit of taking boarders, who are said in the dialect of Winchester to be "in Commoners", and are regarded as successors of the class from whom they seem to have inherited the name. The number was formerly limited by the Warden and Fellows to 130, but this limitation exists no longer. Two additional boarding houses had been lately opened when we visited Winchester in 1862. A third, to hold 25 boys, was then building, and it was in contemplation to establish a fourth. Dr. Moberly
*In 1863, we believe, 230.
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wishes to see the number of Commoners rise to 200, 25 in each of the four additional boarding houses added to 100 in his own. The School would then contain 300 boys, including the 100 Scholars. With its present site and machinery it could not, he thinks, well hold more; and, in order to supply six Scholars a year to New College, it ought not to have less.
Boys undergo no examination, the Scholars excepted, before admission to the School; but if a boy is sent to school whose attainments are not such as to enable him to join the lowest classes with good prospect of advantage, he is not received. This happens occasionally, but rarely. There are no limits of age, and there is no rule as to the highest Form in which a boy can be placed on admission. Boys seldom come at an earlier age than eleven, or so late as sixteen, and in practice are never placed higher than in the senior part of the Fifth, and very rarely so high. A Scholar stays on an average five years at school, a Commoner between three and four.
8. Government of the School. Head Master's relation to the Warden and Fellows, and to the Assistants
The general government of the School is vested in the Head Master, subject to such control as is exercised over him by the Warden, or by the Warden and Fellows.
The legal position of the Head Master of Winchester is the same as that of the Head Master of Eton. As Master of the Foundation Scholars, he is an officer of the College, "hired and removable" by the Governing Body, and subject to the superintendence of its head. The control appears, however, to be in practice less strict and minute than at Eton. "The Warden and Fellows do not interfere", says the Warden, "with the studies of the School unless some great cause is shown. If they saw such a cause they would." They have a right to be consulted if there are any great changes in the subjects of study, for instance. As to the books used by the Scholars, the Head Master does not think that the Warden has ever meddled with matters of that kind, but has no doubt that he might do so. "If the Warden were to tell me he approved or disapproved of a book, I should think it proper to attend to that." A Scholar sentenced to punishment by the Head Master can appeal to the Warden, who would commonly dispose of the case himself, but would bring it before a meeting of the Fellows, if that were insisted on. The Warden and Fellows only, or the Warden with the consent of the Fellows, can expel a Scholar. The Warden and Fellows appoint the Second Master and the College Tutor, and the Warden also appoints the Mathematical and Modern Language Masters, because it is part of their duty to teach the Scholars. Over the Commoners the Warden and Fellows have, in the Head Master's opinion, no statutory power whatever. "They are my own boys; still, being supreme over the Scholars, as it is but one school, it is obvious that he (the Warden) gets an indirect supremacy over the Commoners as well, so that even in Commoners I should never think of doing anything remarkable without consulting the Warden, and ascertaining his wishes about it." "If my boys are allowed to come and learn with the College boys, they must follow the College rules." He would not give leave to open a boarding house to anyone who had not been previously approved by the Warden.
The Warden himself appears to take rather a different view. He regards the Commoners as the successors of the filii nobilium, and has no doubt that the Governing Body would have a statutory right to interfere in matters of discipline with the Head Master's government of them, though such a right would be exerted in grave cases only, and he is not aware of any precedent for it. He thinks decidedly that they have a control over the number of the Commoners. The Head Master's view of this question is probably the more correct of the two. The filii nobilium at Winchester, like the corresponding class at Eton, were admitted to lodge within the College walls, paying the College for their board. The present non-foundationers live outside the College, and pay nothing to it. If, therefore, the Warden and Fellows have any control over the Head Master's management of them, it probably arises from their general hold over an officer whom they appoint and can remove.
We asked the Head Master's opinion on the working of this system. It has always, he says, within his experience, worked harmoniously, and he only knows by hearsay that there have been times when the Warden and Head Master did not act amicably together. It is a part of the ancient constitution of the place, though the present magnitude of the non-foundation element of the School was, he allows, never contemplated by the Founder; and, "so long as things can be kept together under it", he would not destroy it. But to establish it if it did not exist, would, he thinks, be "monstrous": he sees no practical use in it, and some positive disadvantage. The influence of New College over
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Winchester is exerted, of course, chiefly through the Warden and Fellows of Winchester, and this influence has not been beneficial to the quality of the teaching of the School.
364. (Lord Clarendon) Do you consider the institution of the Warden and Fellows has any appreciable effect in improving the quality of the masters you get here? - No, on the contrary, it rather dis-improves them, if I may coin such a word. We must consider the Warden and Fellows of this College, and the Warden and Fellows of New College as one joint body, and I have no hesitation in saying that the consequence of restricting the choice of masters to any single College, cannot be to improve the quality of the teaching in a School. When I was introduced here as Head Master, though bred here as a boy, I belonged to another College. I was an undergraduate, fellow, and tutor of Balliol; my life at Oxford was spent in my College; and you may easily suppose that this being a place, which more or less, was always looked upon as one of the privileges of New College, it has never been a very pleasant matter that a Balliol man should be here. Again, when I was elected, not only was I, a Balliol man, made Head Master, but the then Warden and Fellows elected Mr. Charles Wordsworth Second Master, who was not only not a New College man, but not a Wykehamist at all; he was bred at Harrow, and was a Christ Church man; and to have him brought here as Second Master was not altogether acceptable to the body of Wykehamists. We went on working together here for 10 years with great cordiality, and with great and growing kindness from all the Wykehamists. I have always felt it to be my duty to fill up the masterships that were in my patronage as far as I could from New College. If I could find a fit man at that College I felt I must appoint him. The only excuse that would be felt to be adequate if I brought in another man was, that I could not find one to suit me at New College. The question I was asked at first, then, must be answered in this way - so far as the quality of the teaching goes, I think it is not improved by the constitution we have now. If you put an adequate man as Master at the head of a School of this kind, he ought to be supreme. That of course is a Head Master's view.
"Many improvements", he says, "have been made by the Warden and Fellows relating to the comfort and well-being of the College boys, but they have not had any part in the changes which refer to the learning of the School." What he thinks abstractedly desirable is that the Head Master should be supreme over the teaching, and the appointment of assistants, but that there should be "a body of men (not a single individual) to meet occasionally to superintend, to lay down general rules for his guidance and to have the power to remove him if necessary." "At the same time", he adds, "we really get on very well as it is."
It is not the practice, as at Rugby and Harrow, for the Head Master and Assistants to meet for the discussion of matters affecting the studies of the School. "We are all very much together", Dr. Moberly says, "and often talk over things relating to the School." "No doubt", he observes in his written answers, "the Head Master would always be anxious that the opinion of the Under Masters in charge of classes should have great weight in these matters. Practically, indeed, the Under Masters, with the control and sanction of the Head Master, arrange these things for their classes." And he is not sure that it would not have been better if on his part there had been rather more systematic interference.
9. Emoluments of Masters
The old statutory emoluments of the Head Master were a stipend of £10 a year (each Fellow having £5) with the same commons, and the same allowance of cloth, as a Fellow, and he was to be lodged, with the Usher, in one of the upper rooms, a Fellow sharing it with them should that be necessary. The whole emolument which he actually received from the College until about three years ago was £150. It is now £300. He has a large house erected about 20 years ago in substitution for the "old Commoners'" building, and intended for 150 boys, but capable of holding comfortably, according to present estimates of necessary air and space, about 100 besides his own family. This house he occupies rent free, but subject to a yearly payment to the College of £350, being interest at 3½ per cent on a sum of £10,000 furnished by the College towards the cost of building it, after a large but inadequate sum had been raised by voluntary subscriptions. His profits from his boarders he estimates at from £20 to £25 per head. He also receives £10 10s for every Commoner out of his house, and £450 from the Goddard Fund, the origin of which has been already explained. Out of the entrance fee paid by each new boy in his house he has been accustomed to retain between £6 and £7, and for each new boy in the other houses he has received £3 3s from the boarding Master. When the School is prosperous, £3,000 would be a just estimate, he thinks, of his net income.
The statutory stipend of the Ostiarius or Usher, who is now called the Second Master, was five marks, with a shilling a week for commons and five yards of cloth for a gown; he was lodged, as we have already seen, in the chamber occupied by the Head Master. He receives at present, annually, £200 from the College, £300 from the Goddard Fund, and
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£6 8s from every Commoner in the school. He has also had £2 2s for each new boy. His whole emoluments would thus be from £1,400 to £1,500 a year when the number of Commoners was 140. He has also a set of rooms in College. He is appointed and removable by the Warden and Fellows. His statutory duties are to assist the Head Master, and to fill his place when he is absent. The Second Master is now considered responsible for the maintenance of discipline and order among the Scholars, a charge which probably devolved upon him when the Head Master was permitted to live out of the walls of the College and keep a boarding-house. He also takes a share of the teaching in School.
The College pays also £210 to the Mathematical Master for the mathematical teaching of the Scholars, and for more than 20 years it has paid £200 a year to a "College Tutor" whose duties will be described hereafter. It likewise pays a Lecturer on Natural Science, whose lectures the Scholars and Exhibitioners attend gratuitously. Such of the Commoners as desire to attend pay a fee of 10s a quarter.
The other Masters are remunerated out of the payments made by boarders not on the Foundation, the Modern Language Masters being paid also, as has been already stated, by the Scholars for the instruction which the latter receive in this branch of study. For the rest of the classical staff £10 a year has been paid by the Head Master for each boy in his house, and £4 4s has been paid for each boy in every other boarding-house; £2 12s 6d is also paid on the same account on the entrance of each new boy in the Head Master's house, and It. for each new boy in the other houses. Two of the Assistant Classical Masters, the Third and Fourth, have boarding-houses. For the Mathematical Masters £3 are paid on account of every Commoner in the School, and the Head Master likewise pays £50 a year to a Mathematical Assistant. To the French Masters £1 10s are paid for every boy in the School, and to the German Masters £2 2s extra by those who learn German.*
10. Course of Study. Arrangement of the School for Classical Teaching. Forms and Divisions. Distribution of Forms among the Masters
The course of study at Winchester is principally classical, but every boy in the School learns during the whole time that he remains there both arithmetic and mathematics, and one modern language, either French or German at the option of his parents. What has been done in the way of teaching natural science will be explained hereafter. There is a Drawing Master, who has usually about 20 pupils. The School affords no means of learning music, but "occasionally one or two boys take lessons from teachers of music in the town".
The classical staff comprises, beside the Head and Second Masters, a Third and a fourth Master respectively taking classes in School, an Assistant to the Head Master, who likewise takes a class, and three Composition Masters, who are employed in looking over and correcting the exercises and compositions of the whole School, except the Upper Sixth. One of these, called the "College Tutor", performs this office for the Scholars; the other two, called "Tutors in Commoners", for the Commoners. The two latter are also employed to preserve order and discipline in the Head Master's boarding-house.
In 1861, when our printed questions were issued and answered, the arrangement of Forms (or "Books", as they are called at Winchester) and sub-divisions of Forms was as follows:
There were no lower Forms. The whole School was thus distributed into eight ascending divisions.†
The distribution of Classes among the Masters was as follows: The first three divisions, numbering altogether 75 boys, were nominally under the Head Master; he,
*A new scheme of payment adapted to the increased numbers of the school is described in Dr. Moberly's Letters appended to his Answers, II. 10.
†In the sixteenth century there were four Forms - the sixth, fifth, fourth, and "second fourth" (quarta secunda). - Walcott, p. 227
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in fact, took the First and Third, numbering together 56 boys, an Assistant having almost exclusive charge of the Second. Dr. Moberly's account of the reasons which dictated this arrangement will be found in his oral evidence. The arrangement is not likely to be permanent. The Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Divisions, numbering 85 boys, were under the Second Master, the Seventh and Eighth (37 boys) were under the Third Master. There was at that time no Fourth Master.
In 1862, when we visited the School, the Junior Part of the Fifth Book had been broken into two divisions, containing together about 40 boys, and placed under the Third Master, the lowest part of the School being assigned to a Fourth Master, who had been lately added to the staff.
It will have appeared from the foregoing statements that the 200 boys whom the School contained in 1861 were divided for class-teaching among four Masters, of whom one took only 19 or 20 boys, and one about 85. The 216 boys in 1862 were divided among five Class Masters, one taking, as before, a small division, and the four others two divisions and from 40 to 50 boys a piece. The Head Master's two divisions, unless they had been reduced below what they were in 1861, contained nearly 60. The duty of looking over and correcting exercises (except those of the Upper Sixth) was and is, as we have already observed, entrusted wholly to distinct Masters or "Tutors", who do not take classes in school. They not only correct the exercises, but mark them, and have thus in fact the sole charge of the compositions, the Class Masters rarely, if ever, looking over an exercise at all. The Head Master alone acts as Composition Master to one of the divisions (the Upper Sixth), which he hears in school.
The inconveniences which arise from placing so many boys under the direct teaching of the Head Master are strongly dwelt upon in his Evidence.
11. Boy Tutors. Private Tutors
An institution may be mentioned here which is among the peculiar features of Winchester, though it has now lost much of its former importance - that of "Boy Tutors". To each of the 10 senior boys in College some of the juniors are assigned as pupils. It is his duty to overlook and correct a certain part of their exercises before they are shown up, and to help his pupils when they want help in their lessons. He is responsible also, in some measure, for their general conduct and diligence, and is the person of whom the Head Master would make inquiries if he had reason to think that any of them were going on amiss. For each pupil so placed under his charge the "Boy Tutor" receives two guineas a year from the pupil's parents. This practice has been traced to a provision in the Statutes, whereby the Founder directs that "to each Scholar of his own kindred there should always be assigned, by the Warden and Head Master, one of the discreeter and more advanced Scholars to superintend and instruct them in grammar under the Head Master all the time that they should remain in the College." Each of these instructors was to receive for each pupil 6s 8d a year out of the funds of the College. The functions of the Boy Tutor were much circumscribed about 26 years ago by the appointment of the College Tutor or Scholars' Composition Master - a change introduced by the then Warden on the advice of the Second Master, the present Bishop of St. Andrew's, who had been educated at Harrow, and against the opinion, though not against the positive dissent, of Dr. Moberly, who was then, as now, Head Master. Formerly the Boy Tutor took all the compositions of his pupils; now he takes only a small part of them. Dr. Moberly regrets the older system, and thinks that much has been lost by abandoning it. "The Boy Tutor would correct mistakes of the little boys; now he makes all the blunders himself. Again, he dealt with the pupil as a boy; whereas the College Tutor, who has these things to do, deals with him as a man. A boy dealing with a boy is more effective in that way than a man dealing with boys."
Private tuition, in the ordinary sense of the words, was, until lately, quite unknown at Winchester. At present three of the Masters - the Head Master's Assistant, the Fourth Master, and the Mathematical Master - take a few private pupils, Scholars and Commoners - perhaps 20 in all - each of whom pays £5 for the half-year, and works with his Tutor from two to three hours a week. This is not done, however, without an express request from the parent. Dr. Moberly himself is very desirous of introducing the system generally. He attaches great value to private tuition:
My own impression is this: I think the boys at the top of a public school want more help than can be given by the master who hears the form. It seems to me, the quantity of learning which can be obtained in class work, though as much as will save a boy from punishment or complaint, is not as much as he ought to learn and is capable of learning; therefore I think, besides any amount of class instruction, he wants something else; something to tell upon his own
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personal needs, to make known to himself his personal deficiencies, and to suggest the means of filling them up; in short, to give that which class instruction generally must fail to give.
"If I could have my own way", he adds, "I should have private tutors for the whole of the upper school", that is, for an the boys in the upper Sixth, all those below it having Boy Tutors. But the traditions of the School are against it. There was a time when it was altogether forbidden by a former Warden, and he still finds difficulties in the way. "It is very alien", he is sorry to say, "to the genius of the School."
12. Miscellaneous points respecting the Classical Teaching
We may mention here some traditional peculiarities in the Classical Teaching of Winchester. One is the system - called "pulpiteers" probably from the rostrum formerly used for the purpose - of assembling periodically all the boys of the first three divisions, for construing lessons in certain authors, when some of the seniors construe first in presence of all the rest. This had its inconveniences as well as its advantages, and we learn that it has been in great measure abolished since we visited Winchester in 1862. Another is the practice of writing a Latin epigram called a "vulgus" thrice a week, which is thought to bring out cleverness and cultivate neatness of expression. Another, again, is that of devoting a week, or a week and a half, in the summer to what is called "standing-up". The work of "standing-up week" consists chiefly in repeating portions of Greek and Latin grammar, and in repeating and construing considerable quantities of Latin and Greek verse or prose, which the boy has been able to store up in his memory. One lesson of English verse is allowed to be taken up, and one of Euclid. The late Second Master, Mr. F. Wickham, spoke warmly of the beneficial effects of this custom. Mr. H. Moberly, the Third Master, thinks it would be more useful still if it were "more of an examination", and conducted partly on paper. It is confined to the boys below the senior part of the Fifth. The comparatively small quantity of translation which is done, and the undue proportion of original composition in the classical languages, can hardly be counted among the peculiarities of Winchester. Little or no Greek prose is written, even in the highest form.
13. History
Neither ancient nor modern history is taught in set lessons, and ancient history does not enter as a separate subject into any of the School examinations. Questions in portions of English history, specified beforehand, are set in the general half-yearly examinations lately instituted, to which we shall refer hereafter, and in the examination for the Goddard Scholarship, and this leads in the latter case to a very careful reading of the history of a considerable period. There is a prize also of £5 for an English essay on a historical subject. "I wish", says Dr. Moberly, "we could teach more history." But as to teaching it in set lessons, "I should not know how to do it." He has occasionally, however, himself given some short lectures on parts of English history.
14. Recitation
Special mention is due to the practice described in the following extract from Dr. Moberly's evidence:
During "Easter time"* we have speaking; the greater part of the school is divided into six chambers, as we call them, and each chamber speaks upon its own Saturday morning. The masters come in and take their seats in the school, and from 20 to 25 boys speak speeches extracted from the works of the chief English poets.
818. In the presence of the whole school? - Yes .
819. Dialogues? - Sometimes. It is almost always Shakespeare or Milton. After that we have one day upon which there is a more considerable speaking. About 20 boys who speak best in the school speak separately, and then we invite the people in the town. There come about 20 or 30 gentlemen.
820. Is that on the occasion of the visit of the Examiner? - No; it does not go beyond the neighbourhood. A few gentlemen come down, and in the last year or two we have had some ladies. At the election recitations there are two speeches for which medals are given. I think it very useful; they get a clearer utterance and articulation from it, and learn a good deal of the art of elocution.
821. (Lord Lyttelton) And it takes away a good deal of their false shame? - Yes; which of itself is a great thing.
An annual prize, as we shall see hereafter, is also given for reading aloud well.
*"Easter time" is a part (about six weeks) of the "long" or spring and summer half year.
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15. Arithmetic and Mathematics
Both mathematics and arithmetic are taught in every division of the School, and the amount of time allotted to them, especially in the upper part of it, is unusually great. Seven or eight hours a week are devoted to these subjects by the first three divisions, the lowest of which is commonly reached at about 13 or 14; three or four hours by the rest of the School. The marks for mathematics are allowed to count for about one-fourth of the weekly total. The highest subjects read in the Upper Sixth were, in 1861, Conic Sections and Trigonometry.
16. French and German
It has been previously stated that every boy is obliged to learn either French or German during the whole time that he remains at school, but it is not deemed practicable to allow both languages to be taught at the same time. For learning German there is an additional payment of £2 2s a year beside the £1 10s charged for the French Masters. The number learning it in 1862 was about 40, and consisted chiefly of older boys, or of boys who had been in Germany or had some family connexion with it.
There are two French Masters, both Frenchmen; during ten years preceding 1862 there was only one, probably on account of the diminished numbers of the School. An hour and a half in every week is assigned to two French lessons, occupying three-quarters of an hour each. Every lesson, M. Angoville thinks, ought to take an hour to prepare. The French Master has the power to set impositions for inattention or misconduct during lessons, but no authority out of school. Dr. Moberly informs us that he makes it a rule to support the French Master, and to treat any complaint made by him as a serious matter. The latter divides his pupils into classes of from 22 to 24 each, but as they come to him in groups according to their places in the School, and their places in the School depend chiefly on their proficiency in classics, his classification can only represent very imperfectly their comparative attainments in French. The marks for modern languages count for about one-eighth in the weekly total, and French and German enter into the half-yearly examinations.
The senior French Master is not dissatisfied with the progress made by the boys under his charge. The upper boys attain, he thinks, a fair grammatical knowledge of the language, and can translate fairly a common French book, and most of them pronounce pretty well; the study has advanced during the last ten years, and he has not the same difficulty in keeping order which he had ten years ago. Dr. Moberly fears that not much is learnt in the French Classes, but believes that in German more is acquired than in French, chiefly because those who learn German do it from inclination or from some other special motive, whilst there is little anxiety amongst the boys or their parents about their progress in French. It appears, however, he tells us, by the "classicus paper", that those who work for distinction in classics also try to get the best marks they can for French. He would like all the senior boys, after becoming tolerably good French scholars, to learn German.
17. Natural Science
Before stating what is done in the way of teaching Natural Science at Winchester, we think it right to refer to the circumstances to which it is due that this branch of instruction receives there any attention at all.
In the original scheme of the Oxford University Commissioners for Winchester College, it was proposed that three of the Fellowships should in future be filled up with especial reference to the excellence of the candidates in one or more of the Natural Sciences, and that the Fellows elected to those Fellowships should be bound to give lectures to the boys in that department of knowledge. With reference to this part of the scheme the Commissioners, in a letter dated the 25th April 1856, and signed by Mr. Goldwin Smith, one of their secretaries, observed that they were aware that its success must depend on the willingness of the Governing Body to introduce the Natural Sciences among the subjects of instruction, and to facilitate the attendance of the boys at the lectures of the three Fellows appointed for the purpose. They proceeded -
The Commissioners therefore desire to learn whether the College are disposed to co-operate with them in this respect before they frame more specific regulations for carrying out this portion of their scheme. But to them it appears that good elementary instruction in physical science is most essential in the case of many boys, desirable in all cases, and perfectly compatible with a first rate classical education. The object might be effected without prejudice to other studies, by setting apart two or three hours every week for lectures in the physical sciences, by putting good elementary works on the subject into the hands of the boys, and by examining them on the lectures once at least in every half year.
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On the following 29th of April the scheme of the Commissioners was rejected, as a whole, by the Warden and Fellows, on grounds not specially connected with the proposed appropriation of three Fellowships to the promotion of natural science. In regard to this particular proposal, the only statement of the College was contained in the following passage of a letter from Dr. Barter, then Warden of the College, dated May 5th, 1856, and addressed to Mr. Goldwin Smith:
We would gladly see our fellowships applied to the promotion of learning in this place, especially by making them an attraction and a reward to talented and deserving masters. With respect to the proposal of devoting three of them to the promotion of physical science, we would only suggest the fear that first-rate men (and no others would, in the capacity of lecturers, be either for the honour or good of this College) would neither find sufficient employment nor emolument.
In consequence of the rejection of their first scheme, the Commissioners subsequently framed another scheme of Ordinances for Winchester College; and in communicating with the Warden on the subject, they wrote as follows on the subject of instruction in natural science, in a letter dated November 4th, 1856, and signed by the Rev. S. W. Wayte, one of the secretaries of the Commission:
In reference to the opinion expressed by the Warden and Fellows of Winchester College respecting that part of the former scheme of the Commissioners, by which it was proposed to devote three of the fellowships of Winchester College to the purpose of instruction in the physical sciences, the Commissioners direct me to inquire by what means the Warden and Fellows would propose to secure competent instruction in the physical sciences at the school, if the three fellowships are not so appropriated.
To the letter in which this passage occurred, the Warden replied, by a letter dated December 8th, 1856, in which there was the following passage:
With respect to the required instruction in physical science, on the means of providing which the Commissioners have been good enough to express a readiness to receive our views, we would engage from time to time the best lecturers of the day in the various branches of such science, who should come to Winchester and give our scholars successive courses of lectures. The instruction thus imparted would, we believe, be more interesting, of:1 higher kind, and more in unison with the yearly progress of science than could be obtained from Professors, who would accept our fellowships and confine themselves to the duties assigned to them."
To this passage in the Warden's letter the Commissioners gave a reply as follows, in a letter dated January 12th, 185i, and signed by Mr. Goldwin Smith, as secretary, which finally closed the correspondence on this subject:
The Commissioners receive with pleasure the proposal of the College to engage from time to time the best lecturers of the day in the various branches of physical science to come to Winchester and give the scholars successive courses of lectures and in reliance on the College acting on this system, or on a system equally efficient, they abstain from pressing their former propositions in reference to this subject.
The Ordinance finally framed by the Commissioners and accepted by the College, directs that "in addition to the branches of instruction specifically mentioned in the Statutes, the Scholars and Exhibitioners shall be instructed in the mathematical and physical sciences, and such other branches of instruction as are proper to complete a liberal and religious education." Dr. Moberly states that he himself suggested the answer which was given to the Commissioners' first proposal, and that he suggested also the plan which was subsequently pursued. This consisted simply in having a course of 10 or 12 lectures ("we have hardly", said Dr. Moberly in 1862, "more than 10 a year now") on some branch of natural science delivered once a year in summer, between the Easter and Midsummer holidays, by lecturers engaged for the purpose from time to time. The subjects of these courses in the five years were chemistry, geology, electricity, heat, and the constituents and properties of water and atmospheric air. All the boys were required to attend, but it appears that attendance was not enforced very strictly. There have been no examinations, and no prizes or rewards for attention to, or proficiency in the subject. We cannot refrain from observing that less could hardly have been done consistently with the narrowest and most literal construction of the Warden's letter quoted above. Dr. Moberly, indeed, appears himself to be sensible of this; the Warden's words, he says, "are stronger", but he thinks them compatible with the interpretation which has been put on them in practice; and he is sure that the College did not mean to promise anything more. We would observe, however, that Dr. Moberly did not see the Warden's letter before it was sent to the Commissioners, nor the reply of the Commissioners to that letter. We may add that we are not led to expect from him much encouragement for this branch of study, since he has entertained a strong opinion, and has expressed it to us very frankly, that for a school like Winchester, and taught in the only way which he thinks practicable at Winchester, it is "worthless". Several of the
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boys, he admits, derived much good from the lectures, and gained an interest in the subjects of them, which outlasted the lectures themselves. But, "except for those who have a taste for the physical sciences, and intend to pursue them as amateurs or professionally, such instruction", he repeats, "is worthless as education." On the part of the present Warden, who appears to have been unacquainted with the correspondence above referred to, we found no objection to a more effective teaching of the subject; and we cannot allow ourselves to doubt that Dr. Moberly himself, whatever may be his individual opinions on this point, will act in accordance with the existing statute and the deliberate engagement of the College.
The Warden has since addressed the following letter to our Secretary:
The College, Winchester,
December 5th, 1862.
Dear Sir
As the Public Schools Commissioners on the occasion of their visiting Winchester, expressed an opinion that the amount of instruction in Physical Science given at Winchester College, did not appear to satisfy the requirements of clause 24 page 67 of the Ordinances, I have to inform them that in future instruction in this branch of knowledge will be continued throughout the year, and that the boys will be examined after each course of lectures.
I am, &c.
GODFREY B. LEE
To Mountague Bernard, Esq.
We have been further informed, in answer to inquiries addressed to the Warden, that of the Commoners those only attend the lectures whose parents desire it, paying (as has been stated in a previous section) a fee of 10s per quarter. Not a very large number of them attend, we are told by the Warden, their parents not wishing it. The lecturer divides the school into two parts, and is thus enabled to give two lectures on the same day.
In connexion with this subject, it is right to mention an annual prize, which has for the last four or five years been given by Dr. Moberly for the best collection of wild flowers. This has been found very useful. Several boys, he says, have taken to botany. The late Second Master spoke more strongly:
I cannot tell you how thoroughly and universally this encouragement has laid hold on the boys. I seldom 'call names' on their return to college from 'hills' or elsewhere, without seeing a large number of them, each with a handful of wild flowers.
18. Deviations from the regular Course of Study, how far allowed
Our system of education, says Dr. Moberly, is uniform and single:
We have no separate departments. In special cases we should not disallow of a boy's paying particular attention to a particular subject, with such assistance as our own staff or the city of Winchester might furnish; and in very special cases we might commute some part of the classical work for mathematical or other work duly testified; but our school is not large enough to break up into subordinate schools, nor do we contemplate instituting any systematic departure from our uniform course of instruction.
"I have one or two boys", he adds, in his oral evidence, "in whose case such a commutation is made."
If a boy comes to me and says, 'My father wants to know whether, instead of doing Latin verses, I may not do mathematics?' I say, 'It is not a thing I generally allow; but is Mr. Walford or Mr. Hawkins reading with you in that subject?' 'Yes, I have Mr. Hawkins as a private tutor.' 'Then give my compliments to Mr. Hawkins, and say, if he will send me every week a return of such a quantity of extra work in mathematics as will be equivalent to the classical task, I will accept that instead.' I have done that in a few cases. I do not wish to institute it as a system, but to have it discretional, so as to be possible in cases where it is expedient.
Dr. Moberly's own opinion is, that a division of the School into departments would be very desirable, if it were as large as Eton, but is not practicable with its actual numbers.
19. System of Promotion - Examinations, Prizes, and Emoluments tenable at School
The system of promotion at Winchester is nearly the reverse of that at Eton. At Eton a boy rises in the School chiefly by seniority; at Winchester his rate of progress is determined by his success in an incessant competition, in which every lesson and every exercise counts for a certain numerical value, and which never pauses or terminates till he reaches the Sixth Form. Places are taken in every division below the Sixth Form, and each boy receives for each lesson a number of marks answering to the place he holds in the division at the end of the lesson. Thus, if he is twentieth from the bottom he receives twenty marks. Marks are likewise given in the Mathematical and Modern Language Classes, but the number of marks which can be given for a French or a Mathematical lesson is limited to a maximum, which is supposed to represent roughly the relative value of each of those studies compared with Classics. The highest marks
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which a good Mathematician can gain are one-fourth, the highest that a good French or German scholar can gain are one-eighth, of the grand total. At the end of every week the marks gained for all the lessons are added up, and the same thing is done at the end of every month. This record of each boy's progress is called the "classicus paper". The promotion of each boy at the end of a half-year depends on the number of marks he has obtained in the "classicus paper" during that half-year, with the addition of those which he has gained (if his place in school is below the senior part of the Fifth) for "standing up" at the end of the summer half.
A consequence of this system is that a clever and diligent boy rises quickly to the top of the School, and that the duller or more idle boys are left to stagnate at the bottom of it. There is the advantage of a sharp and unceasing stimulus applied to those who are capable of rising, and the disadvantage, such as it is, which a steady but slow and backward boy suffers from the disheartening effect of being constantly outstripped and left behind.
From this cause, and from the fact that boys are admitted at almost any age, the number of great boys in the lower classes doing very elementary work is singularly large. In the lowest class, doing Greek Delectus and a little Ovid, there were in 1861 two boys of 16, one very nearly 17, two others not far short of 16, and the average age of the whole division was very nearly 15, and higher than that of the division next above it, which was 14 years and 4 months. Mr. H. Moberly, the Master who was then in charge of these two divisions, observes, in making his return, that the boys in them are too old for their place in the School, and attributes it, apart from exceptional cases of extreme dullness or of ill-health, to want of early training and preparation. It is hard work, he says, to keep boys of such an age, in such a position, from being idle and mischievous. "It is hard to say where, up to a certain age, old neglected boys can go better than to a public school. At the same time the school does them more good than they do the school."
The absence, until very recently, of any general periodical examinations has been among the peculiarities of the Winchester system. There have been regular examinations for prizes, which will be mentioned hereafter, but the boys who compete for prizes form, of course, but a small proportion of the School. The peculiar stimulus which periodical examinations afford, and the particular mental discipline which they supply, have thus in a great measure been wanting, and the School has lost the assistance which they give in correcting the defects inseparable from the system of "taking places" as a method of promotion. Dr. Moberly has lately made an innovation in this respect by instituting a half-yearly examination, turning partly on the Classical work of the previous half-year, but comprising also papers in French and German, and in set portions of English History, of Geography, and of the Old Testament. Success in this examination, which is held in the first week of the half-year, does not contribute to promotion in the School, but is rewarded by prizes given to each division. He is pleased with the result of the first trial, and thinks it will work well.
The system of promotion above described, and the stimulus afforded by it, do not, however, reach to the top of the School, nor do the half-yearly examinations; they cease on entrance into the Sixth Form. Until about 12 years ago, promotion by taking places stopped on entrance into the Senior Part of the Fifth, that is, about half-way up the School, and at a point which a boy generally attained when about 13 or 14 years old. From that time till he stood for New College his place was never changed, and the examination which he eventually underwent for New College was formerly, we believe, little more than nominal. It used, Mr. Fearon says, to be "almost a farce", the election being really decided by seniority. Up to that point, therefore, a boy worked very hard. A great number of marks were formerly to be gained in the middle part of the Fifth, by "standing up", and the quantities of verse and prose learnt for this purpose in that part of the School were enormous. "I have known", says Dr. Moberly, "of a boy repeating a play of Sophocles without missing a word." The result was, that a Fellowship for life was the prize of a struggle which was over at 14, and success in which was won in great measure by a hard strain on a retentive memory. This system had its natural effect. It produced intellectual languor and idleness in a considerable portion of the Upper School.
New College is now thrown open to the Commoners, and the examination for it is real and competitive. The Sixth Form boys have now, therefore, a stimulus to exertion which the Upper School had not before, and Dr. Moberly trusts to this, to the examination for the Goddard Scholarship, and to the various School prizes, to combat the tendency to stagnation, which is likely to begin at the point where "taking places" ends. He admits that they serve this purpose imperfectly, at least in the lower part of the Sixth,
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where the boys are not advanced enough for these competitions and are at some distance from the struggle for New College, but he thinks he perceives a moral benefit in releasing a boy altogether at a certain stage of his course from the pressure of emulation.
The examination for the Goddard Scholarship is practically confined to about twenty boys, many of whom work very hard for it. It takes place once a year; it is conducted by examiners from one of the Universities, and turns on Classics, Divinity, and English history. The books, or subjects, are set beforehand, and are outside the range of the school-work of the year. This is a Scholarship of £25 a year, tenable for four years. As the endowment is not sufficient to maintain four of these Scholarships, it is supplemented every third year by a Scholarship of equal or somewhat greater value given by the Pitt Club.
There are also two Mathematical Scholarships, one for the Upper and one for the Lower part of the School, awarded annually by the same examiners as the Goddard.
The Crown gives two gold medals annually for compositions in Latin verse and English prose, or for English verse and Latin prose, and two silver medals for elocution in Latin and English. In each year the Warden and Fellows give prizes for the two sorts of composition which in that year are not rewarded by gold medals. They also give prizes for Greek iambics, and (to boys below the Sixth Form) for Latin verse. There is a prize for an English historical essay, and one for reading aloud; and there are prizes of books given by Lord Saye and Sele to the two boys in each class who obtain the greatest aggregate of marks in the half-year.
The Commissioners' Ordinance of 1857 provides, as we have already stated, for the establishment not only of additional Scholarships, but of 20 Exhibitions, to be of the value of £50 each, tenable as long as the Exhibitioner remains at school. An Exhibition is not tenable with a Scholarship. The Head Master is directed to make an annual report to the electors (who are the same as the electors to Scholarships) respecting the conduct and proficiency of the Exhibitioners; and the electors, or the majority of them, may deprive any Exhibitioner, upon an unfavourable report. Although the funds to which the Commissioners looked for the foundation of these Exhibitions, as well as of the 30 Scholarships, have not yet become available, no Fellowship having dropped since 1857, several Exhibitioners have been elected. In 1861, when it was intended to elect two, there were no candidates who, in the judgment of the electors, came up to the proper standard. The Exhibitions have been very serviceable to the School. Since the Scholars have been elected by open competition, some of the Commoners have always been amongst the candidates for Scholarships; and, although the number was not very large (12 perhaps at the utmost, of whom three or four have succeeded) the Commoners who have thus migrated into College have been above the average in cleverness and industry. The Exhibitions serve to keep up in some degree the standard of proficiency among the Commoners. "All the best blood", says Dr. Moberly, "would be drained into the College" without them.
20. Scholarships and Exhibitions not tenable at the School
The 70 Fellowships at New College, to which Scholars of Winchester were exclusively eligible, have been converted, by the Ordinance framed for the former College by the Oxford University Commissioners, into 30 Fellowships and 30 Scholarships, the latter tenable for five years. The Scholarships are open to "boys receiving education" at Winchester, whether Scholars or Commoners; and any Scholarship for which there is no candidate of sufficient merit in the judgment of the electors is to be thrown open for that turn to general competition. Two were thus thrown open last year. One half of the Fellowships are to be open, the other half confined to persons who have been educated for at least two years at Winchester, or have for 12 terms been members of New College.
The effect of these changes is -
1. To deprive Winchester, not wholly, but in a considerable degree, of the succession it formerly possessed to perpetual Fellowships - a succession which was of course irregular, depending on the avoidance of Fellowships by death or otherwise. Mr. Walcott (p. 192), writing in 1852, estimates the average number of vacancies at about nine in two years. Of these the first two in every year were appropriated to Founder's kin, who were not superannuated until 25 years of age.
2. To provide, instead, Scholarships tenable for five years, of which, when the scheme is in full operation, six will regularly fall vacant every year.
3. To throw open these New College Scholarships, and the 15 Fellowships also, to Commoners, as well as Scholars, of Winchester.
We believe that these changes were based on sound principles, and that a new era of usefulness and distinction for the School will be dated from the introduction of them, in
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accordance with the real paramount object of its illustrious Founder, "the promotion of the liberal arts, sciences, and faculties". The privileges of Founder's kin were a burden on the energies of the School, and the perpetual Fellowships, obtained at the early age of 18, combined with the certainty of College livings for such Fellows as might become clergymen, took away from young men a valuable stimulus to industry at a most important period in their mental growth. These disadvantages, for such in fact they were, should not be forgotten in founding any estimate of the instruction given at Winchester upon the honours obtained at Oxford by Wykehamists.
A Scholar is superannuated on completing his 18th year. The effect of this rule, if strictly adhered to, would be to send Winchester Scholars into the field of competition at the Universities younger by a year than most of the boys who enter the same field from other Schools, and therefore at a certain disadvantage, which can only be escaped by going for another year into "Commoners". It is, however, modified in practice. If, in the examination for New College which every Scholar undergoes before attaining 18, he acquits himself well, though not so well as to be elected, it has become usual to permit him, on the recommendation of the electors, to stay an additional year, and try again. The tabular returns furnished to us in 1861 showed that there were as many as four or five Scholars then taking advantage of this custom. It appears, therefore, that the exception has, in the case of boys who, though not obtaining their election to New College, have attained a certain standing and proficiency, superseded the rule. But it is still an irregularity; the privilege is dependent on the will and pleasure of the electors; the standard according to which it is conferred is not fixed; and there is some practical inconvenience in requiring boys to be examined, in order to get a recommendation, a year before the examination which will really determine whether they are, or are not, to proceed to New College.
There are also two funds, each of considerable amount, for supporting at the University Scholars who have been superannuated without being elected to New College; one of these, the "Bedminster Fund", consists of the accumulated profits of a copyhold estate held on two old lives which will shortly expire, and it now amounts to £15,600 Consols, and produces a yearly income of £468. The other, which goes by the name of the "Superannuates' Fund", has been accumulated by subscription, and is now above £16,000, partly in Consols and partly in 2½ per Cents [sic], and produces somewhat more than £400. Out of the income of these funds it has been the practice to give exhibitions of varying amounts (the highest is £50 per annum) tenable for four years at any College in Oxford or Cambridge. These Exhibitions are not gained by examination, but are given by the Warden, Head Master, and Second Master jointly, to Scholars selected for good conduct and poverty. The object of both of these foundations was to afford an encouragement and provision for Scholars of Winchester who might be disappointed of succeeding to New College, when vacancies were much fewer and more irregular than they now are. It is now found that a boy who fails of election to New College may possibly be better off than if he had succeeded, since he may get, in addition to a Bedminster Exhibition, a Scholarship or Exhibition at some other College. An apprehension has arisen lest this should possibly do harm to New College; and to prevent it, it has been determined that the Superannuates' Exhibitions should, whenever the electors might think fit, be diverted from their established purpose (which in the memorandum creating the trust is not very clearly expressed), and given to boys having actually gained Scholarships at New College. This, we were informed in 1862~, had already been done in one case.
It is clear that the interests of New College do not here coincide with those of the School. It is the interest of the School that the ablest boys in it should stand for open scholarships, and match themselves with those of other Schools in the open field of competition. The interest of the College demands that only the inferior ones should do this, and the interest of the College prevails. An extract from the evidence will throw some light on this point:
87. (Mr. Vaughan) New College now is not entirely open to public competition? - No; not to scholars of other schools.
88. Then suppose a young man obtains a Scholarship in a college where there is free competition, he has been successful in a larger sphere, has he not, that being open to the free competition of all schools. - Yes.
80. So that the free competition of all schools must be acting as an extra stimulus to exertion on any boy intending to compete in open colleges beyond what the more circumscribed competition of New College would afford? - Yes.
90. Was it not then for the good of Winchester School that the boys during their career at Winchester should have looked forward to this extra, competition? - Yes; but it operated to the prejudice of New College, because they got only the second best scholars. If they had failed they would have fallen back on New College. If they got their Scholarships at Oxford, and then
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got a Winchester exhibition, they would be in a better position than if they had gone to New College.
91. (Mr. Thompson) In fact, I presume, that if New College had been out of the question you would rather have encouraged that practice among your boys of going in and competing for entirely free scholarships? - Yes; they are at liberty to go in and compete for any scholarships they like.
92. Not only would they be at liberty, but you would think it for the credit of the School that they should do so? - Yes; but we are so connected with New College, we do not like to injure it.
93. (Mr. Vaughan) Have you made any practical regulation which puts a stop to it? - Yes; that we would not restrict the superannuates exhibitions to those who failed to get scholarships of New College.
The Warden is of opinion that these exhibitions are very useful, and wishes for no change in the mode in which they are given. The Head Master thinks it desirable that they should be thrown open to the whole School; that some of them should be awarded by examination, (taking, however, comparative scantiness of means into account); and that the Bedminster Exhibitions should be tenable with a Scholarship at New College, as the Superannuates' Exhibitions practically are at present.
Besides these exhibitions there are two others, the endowment of which consists of a portion of the tithes of the Parish of Mears Ashby, in Northamptonshire, and yields in the aggregate about £50 a year.
21. Hours of Work - Games, Bounds
The hours of work and play at Winchester, like most other parts of the system, are fixed by ancient usage. They will be found described in the Head Masters' written answers (III. 33) and in his oral evidence (785-815), and in the Returns headed D. The boys prepare, as well as say, their lessons in school, and the rule is to allow, for every lesson an hour long, an hour of preparation. Speaking roughly, on two days in the week a boy is in school between six and seven hours, on the other days between four and five hours, besides the time given to composition or private work in the evenings. Of the school-hours, he spends about half in preparing his lessons, and the other half in saying them. In the Sixth Form, says one witness, "a large portion of your time was taken up with reading for examinations, and it entirely depended on how far you chose to read for them as to the time you had at your disposal." A hard-working Sixth Form boy would generally work about seven hours a day, before an examination perhaps nine or ten hours. If he also made a study of cricket he would probably give, one day with another, three hours a day to the game, and it is worth observation not only that Winchester, with very inferior numbers, has played a great number of successful matches against Eton and Harrow, but that the hard-working Winchester boys are able to contend successfully with the idle boys.
1317. (Mr. Vaughan) Should you say that the very idle boys were on the whole the best cricket players? - I do not think they were on the whole; for instance, the last half year I was at Winchester, the first ten Prefects, with a bowler given, played the rest of the School at cricket, and beat them.
1318. They represented the intellect of the School, I suppose? - Yes, in that case they certainly did. In that case six of those who were at the top of the School were in the eleven at cricket. That was, perhaps, a stronger instance than was likely to be at all usual.
1321. When you were at Winchester, did you play any cricket match against Eton? - I never played myself.
1322. I mean the School? - Yes.
1323. Do you recollect with what results; which won? - It varied different years.
1324. Do you think it was as often on the side of Winchester as Eton? - For the last 12 years it certainly has been. The last two years I was at Winchester we beat both years. The three years before that we were beaten; and for five years before that I think we beat them.
1325. Do you recollect whether, when the boys who played cricket best were studious, Winchester was beaten more in those years? - Certainly the two years I was alluding to, when the boys at the top of the School were such good cricketers, we beat Eton both years.
There is, we believe, no want of emulation at Winchester, or of respect for work. A boy who gets on is looked up to, and the Scholarships and other competitions excite general interest in the School.
We may notice here one wholesome innovation which has been introduced within a few years past, the enlargement of the hounds. By old Winchester usage the Scholars were confined within the "meads" or playground attached to the School, which are of very limited extent, except when they went, on three afternoons in the week, to St. Catherine's Hill. The pilgrimage to "Hills", which was a part of this system, is still kept up, though not with the same strictness as formerly; but the boys are now allowed to range the country freely, whilst they are prohibited from going into the town. The play-grounds themselves have lately been improved by the erection of fives courts, the gift
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of the Rev. C. H. Ridding, one of the Fellows, and by the demolition of a wall, which, when we visited Winchester, divided the Scholars' ground from that of the Commoners.
Swimming is not systematically taught, but we have learnt from the Warden that of the 41 boys in the Sixth Book all but 5 could swim, and of the 216 in the School at least 149.
22. Monitorial System - Prefects
Winchester, the oldest of our great Schools, undoubtedly produced the earliest type of what is called the monitorial system, and appears to have preserved that type almost unaltered during several centuries. The beginning of the system may be traced to the Founders' Statutes.
In each of the lower chambers let there be at least three Scholars of good character, more advanced than the rest in age, discretion, and knowledge, who may superintend their chamber-fellows in their studies, and oversee them diligently, and may from time to time certify and inform the Warden, Sub- Warden, and Head Master respecting their behaviour and conversation and progress in study.
There were six chambers, and therefore 18 "Prefects", and the number was not increased when the original school-room was turned into a seventh chamber. The 18 chamber-prefects still exist; of these eight have power only in the inner quadrangle, practically only in the chambers; the remaining ten (pleâa potestate præfecti) have power everywhere; and five of the ten, called officers, are invested also with special authority, and have charge respectively of the hall, school-room, library, and chapel. The Prefect of hall is the chief of these five, and has large powers of general superintendence; he is "the governor of the school among the boys", and their organ of communication with the Head Master. All the Prefects, except the five and the ten respectively, obtain their positions by seniority; the five officers are chosen by the Warden, with the advice of the Head Master, with reference to their character and power of influencing their schoolfellows. All are invested with authority by the Warden in a traditional and appropriate form of words (præficio te sociis concameralibus - præficio te aulæ, &c.). They are empowered to punish corporally. It is not the practice for them to set impositions.
This system, as clearly appears from the Latin poem De Collegio before referred to, was in active operation in the 16th century. Dr. Moberly deems it of "vital importance", as substituting a responsible authority, bestowed according to character and progress in the School, for the irresponsible power of mere size and strength; as providing for the maintenance of discipline without espionage; as a safeguard against bullying; and as accustoming boys to exercise over others a control checked by usage and opinion. He admits, at the same time, that it requires careful watching; that it might become extremely mischievous were the Prefects themselves to be ill-conducted or disorderly; and that it is necessary, to prevent this, that the boys should be well trained, the Masters watchful, and the right of appeal to the Head Master (though seldom used) kept always open. Mr. Fearon's experience is, that it works well, and he does not remember any instance of its having been abused. Mr. Thresher, who was a Commoner, agrees in this opinion. It is submitted to cheerfully; and if it is not a perfect safeguard against bullying and some of the minor offences which it would be deemed the Prefect's duty to punish, we believe that it serves its intended purposes to a very considerable degree, that there is little bullying, and that the general tone of opinion and conduct is sound.
The "officers" have authority over the whole School, those Prefects who are not officers, only over the Scholars. There are, besides, 12 Commoner Prefects, who have power over all the other Commoners. Dr. Moberly has explained in his pamphlet the rules which he has laid down for regulating and limiting the powers of inflicting punishment possessed by the Commoner Prefects.
23. Fagging
The system of fagging among the Scholars is connected with that of government by Prefects. The 18 Prefects, and they only, have power to fag; all the Scholars who are not Prefects are, strictly speaking, liable to be fagged, but the burden falls chiefly on those most recently elected, whatever may be their position in the School. A junior Scholar whom we examined, and who had come in at the head of his election a few months before, was, at the time we saw him, in the senior part of the Fifth, which is considerably above the middle of the School. It would be a year and a half, he informed us, before he ceased to be liable to be fagged. The system is somewhat complicated. A boy may be "valet" to one Prefect, whom he waits on in his chamber; "breakfast fag" to another, whom he attends at tea - not at breakfast - in hall; and liable also to be sent on errands, and to be obliged to field at cricket, at the bidding of any Prefect who may happen to want those services. This would ordinarily be the case with a boy who was not one of the seven juniors, but was just above them. If he were one of the seven
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juniors, he would be general fag (instead of "valet") in his own chamber. Some of the services done by the fags are such as might, and as we think, should, be done by servants; but the only service which seems to be very troublesome, is that of fagging at games. It is a rule, we are told, that no junior may be fagged at cricket more than two hours in the day. But we doubt whether this rule is strictly kept or regarded as an effectual protection by the fags; and were it observed never so strictly, two hours a day subtracted from the playtime of a little boy can leave very little time during which he is his own master. It is further to be observed that, as the fagging in College is on a different principle from the fagging in Commoners, the one depending on length of standing in College, tho other on position in the School, a boy who, being a Commoner, is elected a Scholar, may have to go through a second period of servitude, after having already served his time, a prospect which might well deter a clever boy from standing for College.
24. Punishments
The chief punishments at Winchester, as elsewhere, are flogging and impositions. The practice of giving impositions to be written out is, however, adopted more sparingly, and the better alternative of setting them to be learnt by heart more frequently, than in some other schools. Flogging, which is administered publicly (as a general rule) and by the Head and Second Masters only, has greatly diminished in frequency. "When I was here", says Dr. Moberly, "in my boy time, there was a very large number of boys flogged, and nobody cared about it." "I have known 20 in a day, and all for slight offences. Sometimes boys did not answer to their names in time. Now we punish in this way very rarely. There are now", he adds, "from 10 to 20 floggings in a year, perhaps in some years a few more." The diminution has had a good effect. The instrument with which this punishment is inflicted is described in Dr. Moberly's evidence; he doubts whether it is as well adapted for its purpose as a birch rod, and would evidently have exchanged it for the latter (as, indeed, he occasionally has) if it had not been held sacred by the traditions of the School.*
25. Chapel Services. Sermons. Religious Instruction
The boys go to chapel every morning for a short service, which consists of a part of the Liturgy with chanting. It omits, however, both the Psalms and the lessons for the day, and in this respect Dr. Moberly desires some alteration. On Sundays there are two choral services in chapel, at 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., and the boys also go once to the cathedral, where they have the Litany, the Communion Service, and a sermon. The late Warden introduced the practice of having a sermon also at the chapel service on Sunday evenings, and the present Warden has continued it, and has arranged a cycle of preachers to share the duty with himself. The Head and Second Masters have preached constantly (we need hardly refer to Dr. Moberly's acknowledged eminence as a preacher) and the Warden thinks it very desirable that it should be considered the duty of every Master who is in Holy Orders to address the boys from time to time.
We think it right to advert here to the remarkable care with which the boys are prepared for confirmation; to Dr. Moberly's custom of reading Greek Testament for half-an-hour every morning (except Monday) with the boys of the highest three divisions, and giving catechetical teaching on Monday mornings to the boys who have not been confirmed; to the daily Bible reading in the Fourth Form; and to the practice described in the subjoined extract, which is in keeping with the old religious usages of Winchester School:
1152. (Lord Clarendon) So many being together, did it not interfere with private prayers? Did boys say their prayers? - Do you mean regular evening prayers?
1153. No; I mean the boys saying prayers to themselves before they went to bed? - That was always done. Prayers were always said at nine o'clock in the evening, and the Prefects took it in turn every week to be responsible. It was called being 'in course', and the Prefect in course made every boy kneel down and kept silence for five minutes or so. Every boy was required to kneel down; of course you could not make a boy kneel down longer than he liked.
1154. Of course you could not make him say his prayers when he knelt down, but he had an opportunity of doing it, and he was not laughed at for doing so? - No; everyone was expected to kneel down, and I think in every well-ordered chamber silence was kept; of course there were one or two Prefects in the room. The Prefects did not say their prayers then.
*The vimen quadrifidum is said to have been invented by a Warden in the middle of the 15th century. - The College of St. Mary Winton, p. 9.
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26. Commoners' Boarding-houses. Expenses of a Commoner at Winchester
The charge for each boy in the Head Master's, house is £84, in the other boarding-houses £105. This includes all the School charges. German and Drawing are the only extras, and are paid for as such by those who learn them. The £105 includes also medical attendance. Dr. Moberly states that, including travelling-money, pocket-money, and tradesmen's bills, the total expenses of a boy boarding in his house average about £115 a year. Every new boy in the Head' Master's house pays £11 18s 6d for entrance fees. Out of the £84 charged for each boy, the Head Master has paid about £21 10s to the support of the general staff of Assistant Masters, including the Second Master, the Classical, Mathematical, and French Masters; and a small customary payment to the senior Prefects in College. He calculated his housekeeping expenses some years ago at £29, but he states that this estimate was formed when prices were lower than at present, and on the assumption that his house would contain 120 boys. With 90 boys in his house, he calculated his profits in 1861, as has been already seen, at from £20 to £25 per head. His number had risen to 100 in 1862.
Out of the £105 charged for each of the other boarders, £26 9s 6d is paid to the staff, including £10 1Os to the Head Master, and leaving a balance of £78 10s 6d. The boarding master has likewise paid on the entrance of each new boy £6 11s, which has been divided in certain proportions among the Head, Second, and Third Masters. The numbers in the two boarding-houses which were open in 1861 were respectively 23 and 20. The estimated profits on each boy were nearly £23, after payment of house rent and repairs, servants' food and wages, and two guineas for medical attendance on the boy.*
Of the three boarding-houses now open in addition to the Head Master's, two are kept by Assistant Masters, the third by a gentleman who was formerly a "Tutor in Commoners", but now has no educational duties beyond superintending the work of the boys in his house. We visited, when we were at Winchester, the two houses which were then occupied, and were favourably impressed by them.
The boys sleep five or six in a room, and do not use their bedrooms during the daytime. The 20 seniors in the Head Master's house have little private studies; the others, when they are not in School, sit in a common hall, where each has his "toy" or cupboard. With the Scholars it is otherwise; they sit in their chambers after six in the evening. The want of privacy is probably less felt at Winchester, from the fact that the lessons are prepared as well as said in School.
Before quitting this part of the subject, we think it right to direct attention to the Warden's evidence respecting the want of effective drainage in the town of Winchester. Last autumn, says the Warden (speaking in 1862):
Mr. Rawlinson came down at the request of some of the most respectable of the inhabitants to give us some statistics touching the advantages and expenses of the drainage of large towns, and of this town in particular. A public meeting was called by the mayor, at which there was a large assemblage; Mr. Rawlinson was present, and although he had come down at the request of a large number of the ratepayers he was refused a hearing. Still it is a subject we have not lost sight of; it is one of primary importance, and one which makes me very anxious. Before Mr. Rawlinson's visit we consulted Mr. Haywood, an engineer of the Metropolitan Board of Works, and he came down and gave us an opinion.
We may be permitted to express a hope that the improvements which appear to be required in this particular will not be much longer delayed.
27. Results - The Universities - The Army
Of the Undergraduates at Oxford in Michaelmas Term 1861, 60 had been educated at Winchester; of those at Cambridge, 2. The average number of the boys leaving Winchester of late years who have gone to the Universities we compute to be about 17 a year, and the average proportion to be about 43 per cent. Of those who left Winchester in the year which ended at the summer holidays 1862, the proportion who went to the Universities was 41 per cent.
Within the ten years ending in 1861, Winchester obtained at Oxford in the final examinations, seven Classical "Firsts", one Mathematical and two in Law and Modern History; in Moderations, 13 Classical and two Mathematical "Firsts", one Craven Scholarship, one Latin verse and three Latin Essay prizes, and several prizes for English essays, with other distinctions. We have no return of honours gained at Cambridge, and the number of boys who go thither is probably too small to supply materials for a return .
*See the new scheme of payments in Dr. Moberly's Letters appended to Answers, II. 10.
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The number of the Winchester boys who enter the army is small, as is shown by the subjoined Table, in which the letter A indicates those who have not, and the letter B those who have, had intermediate tuition.
WINCHESTER CANDIDATES FOR DIRECT COMMISSIONS, SANDHURST AND WOOLWICH, IN THREE YEARS
The total number, therefore, who passed these examinations in three years was five, of whom two came direct from Winchester.
OBSERVATIONS
The changes introduced at Winchester by the Oxford University Commissioners have already proved beneficial to the College, and, when they take complete effect, will greatly extend its usefulness. It is to be observed, however, that the primary object of that Commission was University Reform; that it dealt with Winchester School only in connexion with the College, and as a part of the collegiate establishment; and that its powers were materially limited by the right of veto which the Act 17 & 18 Vict. c. 81 gave to the Warden and Fellows - a veto which, as appears from the foregoing Statement, was in fact exercised. We have felt it to be our duty, having regard to these circumstances as well as to the terms of our Commission, to institute with respect to Winchester College, as well as to Winchester School, the same thorough and comprehensive inquiry as we have applied to other colleges and schools; and, as the result of that inquiry, we think it right to propose further and more extensive changes, harmonizing, however, in principle, as we believe, with the reforms of 1857.
The observations which we have made on the constitution and government of Eton College are in substance applicable also to Winchester. Differences might be pointed out in the character of the Governing Bodies of the two Colleges, and in the relation which they respectively bear to the Schools; but, on the whole, the reasons which have induced us to recommend important changes in the one case have led us also to the conclusion that similar changes are advisable in the other. We shall recommend, therefore, the reconstitution of the Governing Body on a plan resembling that which we have suggested for Eton. According to this plan, there will be a resident Warden and 11 Fellows, some of them receiving a fixed income out of the revenues of the foundation, and required to reside during a part of the year, the others honorary, and under no other obligation than that of attending stated and special meetings and taking part in the transaction of business at those meetings.
These changes will undoubtedly affect, to some extent directly, and to a much greater indirectly, the relation between Winchester and New College, which has been already weakened by the Ordinance of 1857. This, however, presents, in our opinion, no substantial objection to them. The connexion which the Founder created between his two Colleges was doubtless in his time of the greatest value to both. Boys went up to Oxford at that time untaught, for want of grammar schools, in the simplest rudiments of learning, and lived, when there, in private hostels or lodging-houses amongst a vast throng of students like themselves, with little of discipline or restraint, exposed to many hardships and many temptations. The design of William of Wykeham was that his Grammar School at Winchester should educate for his College in Oxford, and his College afford a home and the means of maturer training for the more capable and industrious among the Scholars of his Grammar School. The old state of things is now entirely changed; and whilst no Founder of a College would now think it desirable that it should be fed exclusively from a single school, no Founder of a School would wish that its best Scholars should all be drained off into a single College. It would be beyond our province to recommend, had we come to the conclusion that it was expedient, that the ancient connexion between Winchester and New College should be destroyed altogether. But whilst that connexion is preserved, by the maintenance at New College of the thirty Winchester Scholarships, and with it the old traditional attachment between the two foundations, it is evidently very undesirable that the College in Oxford should retain a dominant influence over the School.
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We shall propose that the Warden of New College for the time being should always be ex officio a Fellow of Winchester College, but we shall not recommend that members of New College should enjoy any preference in nominations or elections to the Wardenship or Fellowships at Winchester.
We shall recommend that the Bedminster and Superannuates' Exhibitions should be thrown open to Commoners as well as Scholars; that they should be won by examination instead of being given as at present; and that they should be tenable at any College of either University.
The present staff of Classical Masters is clearly inadequate, and there should, in our opinion, be one Class Master for each division, assuming the average number of boys in each division to be about thirty.
It is proper to consider whether the changes which in this respect and in others we propose to introduce into the scheme of education, would involve of necessity any increased charge upon either the parents or the College. It appears to us that the present scale of payments, if the amount thus raised is properly adjusted and distributed, is sufficient to provide an adequate staff for the School, and that no permanent addition to it is required.* The first introduction of these changes at Winchester, as elsewhere, will doubtless be a matter of some nicety and difficulty, and there are personal rights and interests to be
*Supposing the total number of the School to be 220 (it was 216 in 1862 and is now, we believe about 230), and of these 70 to be in College, 100 in the Head Master's house (as in 1862), and 50 in other boarding houses, and supposing the scale of payments to be the same as in 1861, the annual payments for the teaching staff would appear to be as under:
To this sum is to be added entrance fees and the profits of boarding.
A Commoner stays at school, we are told, from three to four years. Supposing the number of entrances in the Head Master's house to be 30 a year, and those in the other houses to be 15, the amount from this source would be from £400 to £500.
The Head Master estimated his boarding profits in 1861, when he had 91 boys, at from £20 to £25 not taking into account (as we conceive) the £350 a year paid by him to the College, the two sums of £50 each paid by him to the Mathematical Assistant and a Tutor, or the keep of the Tutors in Commoners. Taking all these things into account, he may, as it seems, fairly be considered as making, when he has 100 boys, not less than £20 a head, and having a house rent free. His profits from this source may therefore be computed at £2,000 a year with a residence.
The boarding profits on 50 boys at other houses, after all outgoings paid (including payments to the staff), may be estimated altogether at not less than £1,150 of which however about £530 at present goes to a gentleman who is not a Master.
The aggregate sum available for the support of the staff at Winchester, including boarding profits and entrance fees, may be calculated therefore at somewhat more than £8,500 with two houses rent free for [footnote continues on next page]
*Probably now increased, as the Lectures go on throughout the year.
†A small portion of this (12s for each boy in the Head Master's house) goes to the prefects in College.
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taken into account which neither can nor ought to be disregarded. With this observation, and with the recommendation which we shall presently make on this subject (Recommendation 24), we must leave the matter in the hands of the Governing Body, who will be able in dealing with it to take all the circumstances into consideration, and whose duty it will be to pay due regard to all personal claims which are just and reasonable, as well as to the wants and interests of the School.
Of the special recommendations subjoined, some will need no explanation, whilst others will be sufficiently explained by the foregoing statement and observations.
SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS
All the General Recommendations (Part I., pp. 52-55) are, in our opinion, applicable to Winchester, with the single exception of XXIV.
We add the following special recommendations:
1. That the Governing Body of Winchester College should consist of a Warden and eleven Fellows, of whom four should be stipendiary and seven honorary.
2. That the Warden should be elected by the Governing Body, and be a Graduate of Oxford or Cambridge, of the degree of M.A. or some higher degree, 35 years old at the least, and not necessarily in Holy Orders; and that he should have an annual stipend of £1,700, and the house which is now assigned to the Warden.
3. That the Warden of New College for the time being should be ex officio one of the seven honorary Fellows of Winchester.
4. That the other honorary Fellows should be persons qualified by position or attainments to fill that situation with advantage to the School; that they should be entitled to no emoluments, and not required to reside. Three of them should be nominated by the Crown, and should be Graduates of Oxford or Cambridge, and the other three should be elected by the whole Governing Body.
5. That the four stipendiary Fellows should be elected by the whole Governing Body; that every person so elected should either have obtained distinction in literature or science, or have done long and eminent service to the School as Head Master, Second Master, or Assistant Master; that two at least of them should be in Holy Orders, and that each stipendiary Fellow should have a fixed stipend of £700 a year.
6. That, unless prevented by sickness or by some other urgent cause allowed by the Governing Body, the Warden should reside at Winchester during the whole of every School term, and each of the paid Fellows during three months in every year.
7. That the Warden and Fellows should be members of the Established Church, but not necessarily men educated at Winchester.
[footnote continued from previous page] the Head and Second Masters. This appears to be not insufficient for a school of 220 boys, supposing it to be distributed as under:
| £ |
| Head Master | 2,500 |
| Second Master | 1,200 |
| 5 Classical Assistants (at from £200 to £800) | 2,500 |
| Mathematics | 900 |
| Modern Languages | 600 |
| Natural Science | 400 |
| Music and Drawing | 400 |
| 8,500 |
When the boarding house now held by Mr. Wickham falls vacant, another £500 would become available for the Classical Assistants or for other purposes. An increase in the number of Commoners would proportionately increase the fund. The increase in the number of Scholars from 70 to 100 will not add to the fund, while it will add to the work of the staff. The substitution, however, of four Fellowships at £700 for six at £550 will save £500, and the College will therefore be able to pay more than it now does for the tuition of the Scholars.
The present incomes of the Head and Second Masters exceed those assigned to them in the above scheme, and an additional sum, which may be reckoned at about £800, would be required on this account if the scheme were to be brought into immediate operation.
The payments at present made by the College in respect of the teaching and discipline of the 70 Scholars, including the Lecturers on Science, amount, as has been seen, together with the payments from the Goddard Fund to nearly £1,800 (probably at present to more than this sum) or about £25 for each Scholar. It appears reasonable that the College should pay £20 at least for the instruction of each Scholar, which would amount to £2,000 when the whole number of Scholars is 100; and that until the number of Scholars exceeds 90 the College should pay, in addition to £20 for each, such additional sum as will make up its total payment to £1,800. The payments from the Goddard Fund are to be accounted for this purpose as payments by the College.
The scale of emoluments given above is suggested by way of illustration; the actual distribution we leave to the Warden and Fellows, with the observation that the net emoluments of future Head Masters should not we think, exceed £2,500 while the number of the school is below 300. Neither do we intend by the above estimate of receipts to suggest that the payments of the non-foundationers should always be the same in form or amount as at present. The estimate is intended only to show that the aggregate amount of these payments would be sufficient, without increase, to meet our recommendations.
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8. That no ecclesiastical preferment in the gift of the College should be tenable with the Wardenship, nor with a stipendiary Fellowship.
9. That whenever the whole number of the Governing Body is complete or is not less than ten, five should be a quorum; and when it is below ten, a proportion not less than one half of the existing body should constitute a quorum.
10. That the Governing Body should be authorized to fix the times and duration of the holidays, notwithstanding the provisions of the Founder's Statutes on that subject.
11. That advertisements respecting the elections to Scholarships and Exhibitions should afford information respecting the limits of age, the subjects of examination, the value of the Scholarships or Exhibitions, and, as far as possible, the number of vacancies; and that such advertisements should be inserted in the newspapers three months at least before the day of election.
12. That the Bedminster and Superannuates' Exhibitions should not be confined to boys who have been superannuated or have failed of election to New College; that they should be open to Scholars and Commoners indifferently, and should be tenable at any College at Oxford or Cambridge, but that a Bedminster and a Superannuates' Exhibition should not be tenable together; that they should be awarded by competitive examination, but that, cæteris paribus [other things being equal], the pecuniary circumstances of the candidates should be taken into account.
13. That the annual value of the Superannuates' Exhibitions should be fixed by the Governing Body; that it should not be less than £50; and that all of them should be of the same value.
14. That the two Exhibitions endowed out of the tithes of Mears Ashby should be consolidated into one; that the consolidated Exhibition should be awarded by competitive examination, open to both Scholars and Commoners, and should not be tenable with a Scholarship at New College, nor with a Bedminster or Superannuates' Exhibition.
15. That as regards that part of the scheme of studies which relates to instruction in natural science, no distinction should be made between the Scholars and the Commoners.
16. That the maximum age for admission into the Fourth Form should be 13; for the junior Part of the Fifth, 14; and for the senior Part of the Fifth, 16. (See General Recommendation XXV.)
17. That the permission to discontinue some part of the course of the study, in order to give more time to some other part (General Recommendation XIII), should not be granted to any boy who has not reached the senior division of the Fifth Form.
18. That the promotion of the boys from division to division should not depend wholly, as it has hitherto done, upon the marks gained for class-work and compositions during the half year, but should depend also in part upon their performances in a special competitive examination occurring once at least in the year.
19. That a larger amount of translation from English into Latin and Greek verse and prose should be introduced; that the amount of original composition in these two languages should be diminished; and that some part of the original composition in them should be exchanged for translations from Greek and Latin into English, both oral translation (as distinct from construing) and written, and that in estimating the merit of such translations due regard should be paid to the correctness and purity of the English.
20. That English composition should be cultivated in the junior division of the Sixth Form.
21. That the practice of learning by heart passages from Latin and English authors should be introduced in the Sixth Form.
22. That the number of Classical Masters should be increased as soon as may be, so as to provide one Master for each division of the School.
23. That in applying to Winchester the principles of General Recommendations XXVI, XXVII, XXVIII, the sum to be paid by the College for the instruction of each Scholar should be not less than £20, and that, until the number of Scholars exceeds 90, the College should pay, in addition to £20 at least for each Scholar, such further sum as will raise its total payment for the Scholars' instruction to £1,800, and that the annual payments from the Goddard Fund to the Head and Second Masters should be deemed pro tanto [to a certain extent] payments by the College for the instruction of the Scholars.
24. That arrangements should be made by which the Scholars under the Sixth Form, instead of being left almost wholly to themselves after six in the evening, should prepare their lessons for the next day in the presence of a Tutor, or Master, as is now the practice in Commoners.
25. That the application to Winchester College of General Recommendation XXX should receive the special attention of the Head and Second Masters and of the Governing Body.
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CHAPTER III. WESTMINSTER
STATEMENT AND OBSERVATIONS
1. Foundation of the School - Its relation to the Chapter - Its Composition and Numbers
WESTMINSTER SCHOOL is a Grammar School attached, as is the case in many Cathedral Establishments, to the Collegiate Church of St. Peter, Westminster, and founded by Queen Elizabeth for the free education of 40* scholars in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. The Statutes providing for the establishment and regulation of the collegiate body were passed in the second year of that sovereign, and, though apparently never confirmed, have been uniformly treated as of binding authority, and, in most of their important particulars, observed. The original copy is in the possession of the Dean and Chapter. The scholars were to have an allowance of a small annual sum for commons in Hall, and to receive gowns. It was further provided that there should be for their instruction a Head and Under Master, with certain annual allowances. In addition to the 40 scholars, the Masters were to be allowed to educate with them other boys, of whom some were to be admitted as pensioners;† provided, however, that the total number of the School should not exceed 120. The stipends of the Masters and the cost of maintenance, &c. of the Scholars constituted a charge on the general revenues of the collegiate body or Chapter, the School being not endowed with any property or estates of its own.
The government of the whole School, so far as relates to the discipline, instruction, and ordinary School regulations, rests with the Head Master, subject as respects the 40 Scholars on the Foundation to the authority of the Dean and Chapter.
The Queen is Visitor.
There appears to be no doubt that, in fact, from a very early period other boys than the 40 Foundation Scholars were taught at the School, under the name of Pensionarii, Oppidani, or Peregrini. The number of such boys, and consequently the number of the whole School, have varied from time to time very considerably, but it appears that, from a very early time, at least as early as the year 1600, the statutory limitation to 120 has been practically set aside. Thirty-five years ago the total number was about 300; in 1843 it was 77. Since 1849, however, there has been but little variation, the maximum being, in 1854, 141, the minimum in 1860, 123. In the school-list of 1861, the number is 136.
2. Queen's Scholars
Candidates for admission to the Foundation (the members of which are called Queen's Scholars) are under the Statutes, cap. 5, to be examined by the Electors, with whom also rests the selection of those boys among the seniors who are to receive at the Universities the Exhibitions hereafter referred to. These electors are the Dean of Westminster, the Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, and the Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, aided by two Examiners from their respective Colleges, called Posers, and the Head Master, and this is, in form, still the case, the boys being tested in some author before the Electors at their annual visit. The real test of qualification, however, is that which is afforded by a system of competition which is termed "the challenge", and which is thus described by Dr. Liddell, formerly Head Master. "It partakes somewhat of the nature of the old academical disputations. All the candidates for vacant places in College are presented to the Master in the order of their forms: there were commonly between 20 and 30 from the fourth form upwards." The number of vacancies is usually about 10. "The two lowest boys come up before the Head Master having prepared a certain portion of Greek epigram and Ovid's Metamorphoses, which has been set to them a certain number of hours before. In preparing these passages they have the assistance of certain senior boys, who are called their 'helps'. With these boys too, it should be remarked, they have been working for weeks or months beforehand in preparation for the struggle. The lower
*It is enacted, Stat., cap. 6, that preference should be given to Choristers and sons of the Chapter tenants, if possessed of the necessary qualifications. There is no reason to believe that this provision has ever been attended to.
†See answers of the Chapter, II, 1. "They were permitted to have commons in the Hall with the 40 scholars upon payment for the same being guaranteed to the College by a tutor, who, it appears, must have been formerly either the Dean or one of the Prebendaries, or the Masters." Stat., cap. 6. See further, infra, the section headed "Town Boys".
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of the two boys is the challenger. He calls on the boy whom he challenges to translate the passage set them, and, if he can correct any fault in translating, he takes his place. The upper boy now becomes the challenger and proceeds in the same way. When the translation is finished, the challenger (whichever of the two boys happens to be left in that position), has the right of putting questions in grammar, and if the challengee cannot answer them and the challenger answers them correctly, the former loses his place. They attack each other in this way until their stock of questions is exhausted." "The 'helps' stand by during the challenge, and act as counsel to their 'men', in case there be any doubt as to the correctness of a question or answer. The Head Master sits as moderator and decides the point at issue." The boy who at the end of the challenge (or contest between the two boys) is found to have finally retained his place, has subsequently the opportunity of challenging the boy next above him in the list of candidates for admission, and of thus fighting his way up through the list of competitors. The struggle ordinarily lasts from six to eight weeks; the ten who are highest at its close obtain admission to the Foundation, in the order in which they stand. This position, as far as the College is concerned, they formerly retained for the period of their stay, which is ordinarily four years, though their places in class in School are regulated by the same principles as those of the oppidans. Mr. Scott, however, has lately introduced a change by which a boy can obtain promotion in the list of his own year, so as to obtain a higher place in the annual review of the College by the Dean, and in the order in which the candidates for Studentships and Exhibitions present themselves to the Electors. We cannot doubt that this will be a great improvement. The system of competition thus described is peculiar to Westminster, and is much prized by old Westminsters generally. It should be added too, that, until lately, the foundation at Westminster was the single one among an the public schools to which admission was obtained by competition.
Among the results of this system are pointed out by Dr. Liddell its "introducing relations between the seniors and juniors of a praiseworthy character", and its making "the elder boys keep up their grammar". Mr. Scott, too, remarks that "it brings the Head Master into pleasant relations with the boys, and gives opportunities of knowing them which are hard to find otherwise"; and he adds that he considers that one of the most valuable characteristics of the system is that it tends to encourage presence of mind, self-reliance, and fluency of speech. It may also fairly be expected to stimulate the candidates to exertion and promote accurate grammatical knowledge. On the other hand, it is said that boys, on admission to College, upon the termination of this severe competition, sometimes become slack, and that this result may be observed to continue until the period arrives for the election to the Universities. For this, however (if it be so), another cause has been assigned, as at any rate contributing to bring about this result, so far as the junior year is concerned, viz., the work which the juniors are called upon to do as fags for their masters. There certainly appears to us reason to suppose that the time of the juniors is unduly subject to interruption from this cause, and their opportunities of continued study are very limited. This evil, however, it is obvious, admits of mitigation or removal by proper regulations.
We do not on the whole feel ourselves warranted in positively recommending that the system of admission which we have described should be abandoned. It is however desirable that the Governing Body should be empowered to throw open the foundation to the competition of all boys wheresoever educated, in case they should think, as we are disposed to do, that this would conduce to the general credit and efficiency of the school. The introduction of some greater variety than exists at present in the subjects in which the boys compete would, at all events, be desirable and practicable. The present Head Master has, we learn, taken a step in this direction by introducing, in addition to the challenge, papers to be done by the candidates in Latin prose and elementary mathematics.
The accommodation provided for the Queen's Scholars has been much improved within the last 20 years. Up to 1846, there was one large dormitory, in which all the 40 Queen's Scholars lived by day and slept at night, there being nothing whatever in the nature of private rooms for study. They dined, as at present, in the College Hall, but resorted for their breakfasts (and also for their lodging and the whole of their board, when sick), to the boarding houses to which they had respectively belonged when town boys. "No breakfasts were then provided by the Dean and Chapter."* The cost of main-
*See Mr. Scott's evidence, 381. It is stated however, by Lord John Thynne (now, and for many years a Canon and Sub-Dean of Westminster), that there was an allowance of bread and cheese and beer for breakfast, of which few ever availed themselves, and that thence arose the custom of half-boarding at one of the dames' houses.
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tenance, coupled with that for tuition, averaged, at that time, from £80 to £100 per annum. When the late Dr. Buckland was Dean, he appears to have been much struck with the undue amount of this charge, and with the inadequacy, in many respects, of the accommodation provided for the Queen's Scholars; and by his advice, and under his personal superintendence, various improvements were effected, as well in the arrangements of the dormitory as in other respects, in consequence of which the boys are better and more comfortably lodged and fed, and the expense is, at the same time, very materially reduced. The total cost of the new arrangements was between £4,000 and £5,000, of which the Dean and Chapter appear to have contributed £700, and the Queen the sums of £500 and £300*, the balance being met by the charge† of £5 per annum to the parents of each scholar, until the total debt should be paid off. At the same time the Chapter undertook that the total expense of each scholar should not exceed £45 per annum. The debt upon the new buildings having been paid off, and it having been found practicable to make certain reductions in other respects, the charge to the parents of a Queen's Scholar has been further diminished, and now is from £34 to £35 per head, of which £17 are paid for tuition. Under the new arrangements the dormitory is divided into 40 distinct sleeping-places, ranged on each side of a central passage, which runs the whole length of the building, and separated from each other by close permanent partitions of about 8 feet high, and from the passage by partitions in which curtains are substituted for the panels.
There have been also provided under the dormitory, by closing up what was in the original construction of the building an open cloister, two large rooms, intended for the junior elections (or divisions of the Queen's Scholars) to read in, with a certain number of small private studies partitioned off, and each holding two of the upper boys, with the exception of one which is occupied by the Captain alone. The number of these private studies might, we think, be usefully increased; and, with regard to the dormitory, we have some reason to doubt whether in winter it is sufficiently warmed. On the whole, however, the arrangements of the dormitory, &c., appear to afford adequate accommodation. The sanatorium connected with the dormitory, and intended for the use of the Queen's Scholars, was built at the time at which the alterations were made which are above adverted to, and is very well adapted for its purpose. It is under the charge of a resident matron. The Chapter have also recently formed a covered playground for the Queen's Scholars at a very considerable expense.
As regards board, the Queen's Scholars breakfast, dine, and sup in the College Hall. Of the quality of the food no complaint was made, but it was stated to us that the supper is furnished by what remains from the dinner, and that the quantity at the later meal is therefore occasionally insufficient. This evil, if it exists, would obviously be remedied by providing meat for supper distinct from that which is served up at dinner, and by the exercise of a strict control on the part of the Chapter over those who attend upon the boys at their meals.
The boys ordinarily have tea or coffee in College after their Hall supper. This is made by the juniors, but is paid for by the boys of the two upper divisions (seniors and third election), and the lower boys have what remains of it after the upper boys have finished.
The immediate charge of the College rests, under the general superintendence of the Head Master, with the Under Master, who occupies a house immediately adjoining the dormitory, and communicating with it by a passage. There appears, however, reason to doubt whether this arrangement tends to produce as constant and easy an intercourse between the Under Master and the senior boys as would result if it were practicable for him to occupy apartments in more immediate connexion with the dormitory, as is the case in some other schools; and it was pointed out to as that it would be very desirable that a new building should be erected at the south-eastern end of the dormitory which should contain rooms for this purpose, besides affording space for additional studies and, perhaps, for one or two other purposes connected with the College.
3. Monitors
The practice of recognizing in certain senior boys the power, and of imposing upon them the responsibility, of repressing or punishing breaches of discipline exists at West-
*The Queen's subscriptions seem to have been applied specially to the Sanatorium.
†It is right to add (Evid. 1769) that the present dormitory appears to have been originally built "by contributions from persons educated at Westminster, in addition to large grants from the Crown and from Parliament".
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minster as at various other public schools. Mr. Scott tens us that "the four head boys on the Foundation, called the Captain and Monitors, are formally entrusted with authority by the Head Master in the presence of the School"; a set form of words being used on the occasion. "They are specially charged with the maintenance of discipline generally, and in respect of Queen's Scholars particularly, having a recognized and limited power of punishing breaches of discipline or offences, such as falsehood or bullying." Over the town boys they have, says Mr. Scott, "a certain authority, but there is jealousy about this." "The town boys in the sixth form have all a certain authority and responsibility, especially in the boarding houses to which they may belong." The head town boy has, in respect of the town boys, a somewhat similar authority to that possessed by the Monitors, not, however, received in any public or formal way.
Mr. Scott further states that "the head boys are responsible for the lists of absentees when leave is given, and are charged with the duty of seeing that station is kept," i.e., that "in play hours the boys be in the play-ground, unless some reason has been allowed for absenting themselves."
Mr. Scott considers "some such powers, as are possessed by the Monitors highly conducive to discipline, as enlisting the elder boys in support of law and order", but he appears to think (and, as it seems to us, justly) that the system is one which requires watching.
4. Fagging
A system of fagging exists, and has long existed, here as in other public schools.
With the general question of its advantages and drawbacks we have dealt in another part of this Report; but there are one or two points connected with this subject, and specially referable to the foundation at Westminster, which we deem it our duty to notice. While the evidence clearly shows that in later years, and especially since 1845 (when, among other improvements, servants were appointed to render various menial services which had formerly devolved upon the junior boys), the duties of a fag have been lightened, it appears to us that some further alterations are urgently required. Junior boys are frequently obliged to get up (and more particularly in winter) at unreasonably early hours, sometimes 5 or even 4 o'clock, to call their masters, and to light and attend to the fires and gas in the morning, and to prepare hot water, &c. These duties we think should be performed, so far as they are really required, by a servant or servants to be appointed for tho purpose. Again, junior boys are liable at all times of the day to be called off from their own studies to do some service for their master, and their opportunity of preparing for school-work is thus seriously interfered with. We think that this ought to be effectually guarded against by proper regulations, such, for instance, as would provide that, during a portion of the evening, no fagging should be allowed.
In connexion with this part of our subject, we think it right to call attention to certain statements which were made to us by Mr. Meyrick (the parent of a boy who had been in College, and who had been recently taken away), and by his son, to the general effect that the duties which fags are called upon to perform are often of a very vexatious and oppressive character; that the power of inflicting punishments which seniors claim is often exercised capriciously, and with very undue severity, and that practically no adequate check exists to prevent tyranny and bullying on the part of the upper elections towards the Juniors. To allegations of so grave a character it was, of course, right that the Masters immediately connected with the College should have full opportunity of replying; and we thought it necessary also to examine upon them two boys who were in College at the time to which the statements referred. The evidence on both sides will, so far as is material to the subjects of our inquiry, be found in the oral evidence relating to Westminster; and ample opportunity for forming an opinion upon the statements made will thus be afforded.
We feel bound, however, to state that, in our judgment, there is reason to conclude from this evidence that abuses of power may and sometimes do take place, and that undeserved or excessive punishments may be inflicted without the knowledge of the Masters, and without their interference, and that they are too often unchecked by public opinion in the School. To prevent such evils as far as possible, proper regulations are required, and should be strictly and impartially enforced. The Head Master has, since Mr. Meyrick's complaint was brought under his notice, laid down rules, which we hope may be found sufficient, for the purpose of controlling the system of punishments in use among the boys, and preventing their infliction from individual caprice or in the excite-
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ment of passion, and for diminishing in several material respects the amount of fagging. Mr. Scott tells us that he has given orders -
1st, That no boy should ever be kicked by way of punishment, on any pretence.
2nd. That no senior should delegate the power of punishment to a second election, nor commission him to punish a junior.
3rd. That no boy should be punished again for any school offence which had been already dealt with by a master.
4th. That there should be only one boy "call" each morning, and that no boy should be required to get up before 6 a.m. more than once in the week.
5th. That there should he no fagging from 8 to 10 p.m., unless for the junior in attendance on the Monitor of Chamber.
6th. That juniors should not be sent on messages by the second election.
7th. That juniors should not any more carry or keep the supply of pens, paper, ink-bottles, &c. for the seniors.
8th. That there should no longer be general "station" in College, after breakfast and dinner, for the juniors, but that two or three boys by rotation should remain in College at those times. And that negligence in fagging or routine College duties should be punished by putting the offender "on station" during those intervals.
He has further stated to us that for giving full effect to these reforms additional servants ought to be provided, an opinion in which we entirely concur, and to which we invite the serious attention of the Dean and Chapter, out of whose funds the necessary additional expenditure must be provided.
The whole subject is one which should continue to be carefully watched by those who are charged with the government of the School.
5. Bishop Williams's Scholars
Tn addition to the Queen's Scholars there are four boys on the Foundation of Bishop Williams (Lord Keeper in the reign of James the First) to be elected, under a rule of the Court of Exchequer made in April 1836, "from boys born in Wales and in the Diocese of Lincoln alternately, and, in default of these, from Westminster. Vacancies are to be advertised", and the election made after an examination conducted by the Head Master. The income of the Foundation is about £72 per annum. The boys were to have blue gowns provided for them, and to receive the rest of their dividend in books. Dr. Liddell abolished the blue gown, and offered to parents to remit all tuition fees on condition that the money (about £17) payable to each boy yearly should be paid to the school funds; and this is the present usage. It appears to us that the amount of benefit thus received from this Foundation by each boy is so small as hardly to be a sufficient reward for success in an examination, and that it will be desirable to reduce the number of these Foundationers, and increase proportionately the amount payable to each. It appears !o us also that some material modifications should be made in the rules at present defining the areas from which alone candidates may present themselves.
6. Town Boys
The Statutes, as already observed, contemplate the admission of boys to a number not exceeding 80 (in addition to the Queen's Scholars and choristers), designated by the various names of Pensionarii, Oppidani, Peregrini et alii. The first-named (Pensionarii), answering, as we have pointed out in speaking of Eton, to the Commensales of that Foundation, were, it seems, to receive their education gratuitously, and to be lodged and boarded by the College with the Queen's Scholars at a certain fixed rate of charge. Each boy of this class was to provide himself, within 15 days, with a tutor who was to be responsible for him to the College or Body Corporate. There does not appear to be any conclusive evidence as to what number of boys were ever admitted on this footing, though they are mentioned in a Chapter Order of 1584. The "Oppidans, strangers, and others" were not required to have a tutor, but they were manifestly sharers, says Mr. Scott, "in the instruction and general advantages of the School; and from their ranks mainly the Foundation was to be recruited." It does not appear that they were to be taught gratuitously, and they were to defray the expense of their own board and lodging. The Town-boys in 1861 amounted to 96, and were, with the exception of those living at their own homes, boarded and lodged in two boarding houses, kept each by an Assistant Master. The general control of these is in the hands of the Head Master, and Mr. Scott states that some years since he laid down 35 as the limit of numbers in each. In
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these houses the sleeping rooms usually contain from two to five beds; occasionally, if there be room, one or two of the elder boys have small single rooms. As regards the diet we heard no complaint. The necessary expenses of a boarder are as under -
A home boarder (of which class there were, at the date of the replies to our inquiries, 37 in the School) pays for entrance £10, and annually for tuition £26 5s.
A half boarder, that is a boy sleeping at home, but having his breakfast and dinner at the School in one of the boarding houses (a class however which has never been large) pays the same tuition fees as the boarders, viz., £10 at entrance and 25 guineas per annum. The half boarder pays also 35 guineas, or £36 15s per annum, to the boarding house master for his board. Some years ago, when the numbers of the School were considerably larger (amounting, for example in 1823, to nearly 300), two other boarding houses existed in Great Dean's Yard, kept, as all the boarding houses then were, by dames, with an Assistant Master resident in, and having the charge of, each. When the numbers of the boarders became such as not to require these boarding houses, one was let by the Chapter for other purposes; on the site of the other a house has been recently erected, and is to be rented by the Head Master for the double purpose of giving accommodation to those Assistant Masters who have no boarding houses, and of providing a room in which home boarders can remain in the intervals between school times, both of which objects appear to us to be of much importance to the School.
Before quitting this part of the subject, we ought to add that it has been represented to us, that the difficulty of obtaining additional boarding house accommodation would necessarily present a serious impediment to the growth of the School, and, further, that it is very important that as far and so soon as possible all intermediate interests should cease to exist between the original lessors (the Chapter) and the Master occupying the house.
7. Arrangement of the School into Forms - Course of Study - System of Promotion, &c.
The School (both Queen's Scholars and Town Boys being comprised under this general term) is distributed into ten forms, which at present are arranged for teaching purposes in six divisions, the numbers now in the School readily admitting this.
The Forms are arranged as follows:
Of these the Head Master takes the Sixth Form, and the Under Master, besides having the partial charge of the Under Fourth, takes the Under School. The other Divisions are allotted to four Assistant Masters.
"The mathematical divisions of the School are generally coincident with the classical, subject only to an exception in the occasional case of a boy who is so far advanced beyond his class fellows as to make this a real injustice to him."
"In French, the two highest forms are thrown together and divided anew to form the French classes; the same is done with the youngest. The intermediate classes are at present coincident with the forms." Mr. Scott adds, however, that he hopes to alter this if he can obtain a class-room and an additional French Master. French and Mathematics form a part of the regular school work, without extra fees. No other modern language is taught, nor are there "any appliances for the study of natural science". Both music and drawing are voluntary studies. "A singing class is formed from time to time under the instruction of Mr. Turle, the organist of the Abbey."
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A drawing master (Mr. W. W. Fenn) attends for three periods of two months each in the course of the year, and sometimes more, if required. Each pupil is, ordinarily, with him for a period of an hour and a half in the week. "A class has comprised twelve or fourteen members."
In regard to the mode in which boys pass from one form or sub-division of form to a higher one, Mr. Scott thus explains the system:
"Removes are given mainly according to proficiency, estimated partly by the weekly marks for lessons and exercises, and partly by examination. Twice a year, at Christmas and at Whitsuntide, trials take place, in which the boys are required to translate on paper passages from Greek and Latin into English, and from English into Latin prose and verse, an new to them at the time. Marks are given for this, and likewise examinations, vivâ voce and on paper, are conducted by the Masters, by which all the work of the half year is tested; no Master examining his own form. There is also an examination in August, but no 'trials'. The marks for examination are then combined in certain proportions with those for form work, and the places" (or order in which the boys, if qualified, pass to a higher form) "are fixed by the result. In estimating the relative value of different subjects, I should say that classics reckon as fully two thirds of the whole, the remaining third being Greek Testament and Scriptural subjects, History, Geography, and English, so far as answers to historical and other questions on paper may be considered English composition."
"In cases of marked proficiency, Mathematics are admitted as giving a claim to promotion. French has never done so, but I think that it might with advantage."
A detailed statement of the work done in school during the year which ended with the summer holidays 1861, with an account of the methods of teaching, will be found in the returns for Westminster, headed C and D; the ages of the boys in the several forms will be found in return B.
The hours of study in school are on whole school days, viz., Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, from 8 to 9, from 10 to 12.30, and from 3.30 to 5.30; on half holidays, viz., Wednesday and Saturday: the work in school terminates at 12.30. Those boys who board at home are allowed to come (having breakfasted) at 9 instead of 8, and it is arranged that one of the Masters should remain with them in school during the school breakfast hour, viz., from 9 to 10.
There is no definite rule as to the proportion of Masters to boys. All the Assistant Masters are appointed by the Head Master. The Head Master himself and the Under Master are appointed by the Dean of Christ Church and the Master of Trinity alternately, with the consent of the Dean of Westminster. At present there are, in addition to the Head and Under Master, four Assistant Classical Masters, no one of whom seems to have more than 30 boys to teach, while one or two have a much smaller number.
8. Private Tuition
A system of private tuition in some respects similar to the Eton system formerly existed at Westminster. The Assistant Master attached to each boarding house was in the habit of correcting in his pupil-room the composition of each boy in his house. A certain special fee, we believe £10, was paid for this. "Dr. Liddell", says Mr. Scott, "altered this, and the practice of private tuition has been in great measure discontinued until this year, when I have in a few instances introduced it again, as an exception, however, and not as the rule." It appears, however, that Dr. Liddell also, whenever a backward boy required assistance, always allowed him a private tutor. "Private pupils come to the tutor ordinarily about three hours per week." It appears too, from the interesting evidence of one witness, Mr. Mure, that in his time, under Dr. Carey, there existed a system of private study for boys in the Shell and Sixth, independent of form-work, and that the supervision of these private studies, and the periodical examination of the boys in them rested with the Head Master alone. We regret to learn that this practice has been long discontinued, and we think that the practicability of restoring it, and of extending it to other forms than those above named, is a subject well worthy of the consideration of the authorities of the school.
We may mention here that the present Head Master has lately introduced the practice, which exists at some other schools, of sending regularly, at short intervals, to the parents of each boy a brief written report of his conduct and progress.
9. Exhibitions, Prizes, &c.
As regards prizes, books are given annually for Greek and Latin verse and for a Latin Essay, as well as prizes for the various forms at the half-yearly examinations. The
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present Dean (Dr. Trench) has also offered, since his appointment, ten guineas yearly in prizes to encourage the study of the Greek Testament. Mathematical prizes too are given periodically. There are two classes of exhibitions for boys proceeding to the Universities, viz. -
1st. Those confined to the Queen's Scholars.
2nd. Those open to the whole School.
Under the 1st Class are comprised:
(a) Three junior studentships of Christ Church, Oxford, tenable for seven years, the total annual value of each (with the aid of certain benefactions) being at present about £100 per annum, but to rise to £120 "when the new system" (at Christ Church) "is in operation".
(b) "An additional benefaction", Mr. Scott further states, "has just fallen in, from the gift of the late Dr. Carey, Bishop of St. Asaph, under which £600 per annum is to be distributed by the Dean and Canons of Christchurch at their annual audits in sums of not less than sot, and not more than £100, to such of the Westminster students as shall appear most to need such assistance by reason of poverty or to deserve it by reason of industry and diligence."
(c) Three exhibitions at Trinity College, Cambridge, of the annual value of £40 each, tenable until the holder be of standing for his B.A. degree, and capable of being held with a Foundation Scholarship of the College, if the holder of the exhibition succeed in the competition. In the first year an augmentation, termed the Samwaies benefaction, is divided amongst those elected to these exhibitions. These studentships and exhibitions are only open to the competition of the Queen's Scholars, boys in the senior election (or division) of which body are examined and selected once in the year by the electors to Queen's Scholarships.
Looking to the value of these studentships and exhibitions, to the very limited number of those who can at present compete for them, and to the great advantage which the School as a whole may be expected to derive from the introduction among the boys of any additional stimulus to exertion, we think that it will be proper to admit Town boys to the competition, under such conditions, (not being of course inconsistent with the principal object, viz., that of securing from among the Town boys a fair number of candidates) as the Governing Body may see fit to prescribe, and we propose to recommend accordingly.
2. There are annually open to the whole School (except such Queen's Scholars as are elected to the Christ Church studentships):
(a) Two exhibitions* from the bequest of Dr. Triplett, value £50 for three years tenable at any College of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and
(b) An exhibition provided from the interest of money given by the late Dr. Thomas, Bishop of Rochester, and of about £40 annual value for two years, tenable on the same conditions as the Triplett exhibitions.
These studentships and exhibitions are awarded according to the report of the two examiners before referred to, appointed severally by the Dean of Christ Church and the Master of Trinity College. The latter, however, are themselves present at the vivâ voce examination on the last day. Consequent upon the examination the selection of candidates takes place annually in the week before Ascension Day, the electors being the Dean of Westminster, the Dean of Christ Church, and the Master of Trinity. Neither the two examiners mentioned above, nor the Head Master, have any right of voting.
The examination is in the ordinary work of the School, with this addition only, that, at the request of the present Head Master, on the last occasion the results of the French examination were submitted to the Electors.
As regards the persons by whom this examination is conducted we see no reason to suggest any change, since we cannot doubt that the electors are as much impressed as we can be with the necessity of making the test a real and stringent one. We must point out, however, that if, as we shall be prepared to recommend, other branches of study are hereafter included in the School system than those which it at present comprises, the range of the examination should be similarly extended.
10. Results - The Universities - The Army
In Michaelmas Term 1861 there were 28 undergraduates from Westminster at Oxford and 22 at Cambridge. The number of boys leaving Westminster in the year 1861-2 was 27 of whom 10, or 37 per cent went to one or other of the Universities. This proportion is probably somewhat below the usual average. We collect from the list of
*"There is a surplus accumulating to form more exhibitions, and out of which gratuities may be awarded in cases of special merit." - Mr. Scott's Answers, III. 13.
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University distinctions appended to the Head Master's answers that by boys who left Westminster within 20 years, ending in 1857, there were gained in the Final Schools at Cambridge, three "Firsts" in mathematics; in the Final Schools at Oxford, one "First" in Classics, and one in Natural Science, and in the Moderation Schools at Oxford five Classical and two Mathematical "Firsts". Three Classical "Firsts" in Moderations have been gained subsequently. One Fellowships has been gained at Trinity, Cambridge; at Oxford a Mathematical Studentship at Christ Church, and a Hebrew Scholarship.
The number of Westminster boys who entered the army or offered themselves for the various military examinations within three years is shown by the subjoined Table, in which the letter A indicates those who have not, and the letter B those who have, had intermediate tuition.
11. Punishments
The punishments in use in the School are the rod, applied either to the back of the hand or in the ordinary mode of flogging, impositions to be learnt by heart or written out, confinement to Dean's Yard and refusal of leave out. Flogging, we understand from Mr. Scott, has very much diminished in frequency, there not being ordinarily more than one or two cases in a half-year. It takes place in a room in the back of the school, and is inflicted, so far as the Upper School is concerned, by the Head Master, in the presence of one boy besides the culprit. Boys in the Under School are punished by the Under Master.
12. Amusements
The principal amusements of the School are, according to the time of year, football, cricket, and rowing. The first takes place in all inclosed space, well adapted for the purpose, in Great Dean's Yard; cricket is played in a large and level inclosure, belonging to the Dean and Chapter, in Vincent Square, about half a mile from the School. As regards rowing, there is one person who lets boats, from whom alone it is permitted to hire them, a system which has been adopted with a view to obtain some adequate security that the boats should be safe and properly appointed.
Rowing is and has long been regarded with special interest by all Westminsters, and we trust that in any alterations which may take place in Abingdon Street, as has been recommended to Parliament by the Commission on the Embankment of the Thames, due provision may be made for a convenient and (as far as may be) private landing place for the boys.
13. Religious Services
The boys attend the Abbey services according to the Statutes, on Sundays twice (unless they are absent at home on leave) and on Saturday afternoons during school times. On Saints' Days they attend either at the ordinary 10 a.m. service or, under a system introduced by Dr. Liddell when Head Master, at a special (non-choral) service, held in the Abbey at 8 a.m., at which the Masters officiate, and the Head Master (or occasionally the Under Master) preaches. These special morning services, held at an early hour and of a character obviously not very attractive to boys, afford the only opportunities which the Head Master can have of addressing them in his character of their Pastor, and we accordingly can fully appreciate the feeling of regret entertained by many old Westminsters, that as there is no chapel specially appropriated, the boys do not fully and systematically enjoy the advantages in this respect which are possessed by Eton, Harrow, Rugby, Winchester, and perhaps some other schools. Still it is to be borne in mind, as stated by Mr. Scott, that the system of Saturday's leave out for the Sunday, which has long prevailed, and under which "ordinarily not more than from 12 to 18 or 20 in college, and from 20 to 30 in the two boarding houses taken together " (and those a varying body), remain behind in the winter time, and fewer in spring and summer," tends to diminish the force of the plea for a separate chapel by materially reducing the number of those who would attend service there. At any rate, however, it appears to us that it would be very desirable that the special services now attended by the boys in the Abbey should be of a choral character. We think that it would probably
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be sufficient for this purpose if the choristers only without the lay vicars were to attend, and that some of the boys themselves would be glad, if duly trained, to take part in the service.
As regards the attendance at the Holy Communion, we have reason to believe that, not indeed from any positive regulation, but from the long continuance and recognition of a usage which has thus almost acquired the force of an established rule, it is practically deemed by the Queen's Scholars, who have been confirmed while at school, obligatory upon them to attend four times a year. We do not doubt that the Dean and Chapter will agree with us in the opinion that, while the Masters should take all due pains in the preparation of those who desire to communicate, it should be distinctly understood that attendance is strictly voluntary.
14. Finances of the School
We proceed to consider the position of the School in reference to its finances. There are, as has been before observed, no separate estates, and it is dependent therefore for its maintenance upon the payments made by the Dean and Chapter in respect of the tuition of the Queen's Scholars, and upon the sums paid by the parents of the boys, as well those on the Foundation as the Town Boys. The Head Master and Under Master do not take boarders. The payments made by the Dean and Chapter in respect of the tuition of the Queen's Scholars are -
1st. The statutable stipends of
£39 6s 8d to the Head Master, and
£15 0s 0d to the Under Master
£54 6s 8d
2nd. The sum of £7 7s in respect of each Queen's Scholar.*
From these two sources the sum of £338 is annually paid to the credit of a School Fund, out of which, by an arrangement among the Masters, their salaries are paid. The payments made by the parents of the boys for tuition are as under, viz.:
| 1. For each of the 40 Queen's Scholars | £17 17s 0d |
| 2. For each Town boy | £26 5s 0d |
The total sum received under these two heads from the parents is likewise paid into the School Fund for tuition. Each Town boy, too, pays for entrance £10 to the same fund.
"The amount", says Mr. Scott, "receivable annually in school fees at present rates, supposing 120 boys and 25 entrances in the year, would be, without the new Chapter grant":
The general result as regards the salaries of the Masters and Assistants is thus stated by Mr. Scott:
*With regard to this payment it appears that in the year 1860 Mr. Scott applied to the Dean and Chapter for some payment from their funds in respect of the tuition of the Queen's scholars (in addition to the statutable stipend), representing that the fee of £17 17s paid by the parents of each Queen's scholar, while at the same time the parents of each Town boy paid to the school fund for tuition £26 5s, was an inadequate remuneration. To this application the Dean and Chapter, with the assent of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, acceded in July 1861 by granting £7 7s per annum for the tuition of each scholar. Mr. Scott had suggested a grant of eight guineas.
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"Taking the average of the last five years, during my own tenure of office, the salaries stand thus" -
In addition, it is to be recollected that as the First and Second Assistants keep boarding houses, the profits derivable from this source is to be taken into account.
| The First Assistant returns as his profit for 1861 | £260 |
| The Second Assistant returns as his profit for 1861 | £270 |
| The Third Assistant receives also for private tuition | £40 |
We learn that, in addition to the above-mentioned Masters, there is now a Fourth Assistant, who receives as his share of the Tuition Fees £225 per annum, and, for attending to composition, £25.
The total amount of the fund available for the general purposes of tuition arising from all the sources above mentioned, independently of the profits of boarding in the case of the first and second assistants, may be put as before stated at £3,336, a sum barely sufficient to provide salaries at the above very moderate rates of remuneration, and wholly inadequate to provide for instruction in the additional branches of study which it is desirable to include in the School course. It appears to us, therefore, absolutely necessary that a certain addition should be made to the amount at present paid for the tuition of each boy, and we accordingly recommend that in lieu of £26 5s, the present amount, £31 10s be paid annually for each Town boy. As regards the Queen's Scholars, for each of whom are paid, as above mentioned, at present to the School Fund the sums of £7 7s by the Chapter, and £17 17s by the parents, we recommend that in future the like sum of £31 10s should be paid for each by the Chapter, and the payment for tuition by the parents be discontinued. We recommend that, concurrently with this alteration, all leaving fees be abolished; and, further, that the statutory stipends to the Head and Under Master be no longer paid. Even supposing the School to consist of no more than 130 boys, the amount which may be expected to be available for tuition will be somewhat more than £4,000, a sum which, after providing for necessary School expenses will, it is hoped, besides rendering it practicable to make some moderate advance in certain of the present salaries, leave an adequate balance available for the additional branches of instruction which are to be introduced. We shall propose that in future £70 per annum be charged for boarding, in lieu of £68 5s, the present charge.
In thus recommending that the Chapter should take upon themselves the whole cost of the tuition of the Queen's Scholars, we do not feel called upon to pronounce any opinion as to whether a literal adherence to the Statutes would not have justified, or even required, the adoption by them of that course in past times; neither do we deem it necessary to decide whether the Statutes, which are alleged never to have been confirmed by the Sovereign, are nevertheless of binding authority. Upon both points difference of opinion has existed, and may fairly exist. As regards the future, however, and for the purposes of our inquiry, it will be sufficient to state that it appears to us consistent with at least the spirit of the Statutes, that instruction in the prescribed branches of education should be given gratuitously to the Queen's Scholars. We may add, too, that we have the more satisfaction in making this recommendation, because we are at the same time recommending the abolition of the exclusive claim of Queen's Scholars to the Studentships and Exhibitions. We shall further recommend that the sum of £20 per annum, and no more, be charged to the parents of each Queen's Scholar, such payment to cover the charges for matron, servants in sanatorium, medical attendance, servants in College, and washing. The charge for these items at present amounts to £16 16s, making, with the £17 7s charged for tuition, the sum of £34 13s at present paid by parents.
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It may be convenient to state here briefly the effect of the proposed changes as regards the Chapter funds.
At present the Chapter pays -
| For the tuition, independently of the expense of the maintenance, of the 40 scholars | 294 |
| Masters' stipends | 54 |
| £348 |
According to the proposed plan the payments will be as follows, viz.:
| 40 boys at £31 10s | 1,260 |
| Deduct payments at present made | 348 |
| Net additional payment to be made by the Chapter | £912 |
That the payments to be made on account of the School from the Chapter funds should be increased to this extent appears to us no unreasonable proposal, regard being had to the close connexion of the school with the ecclesiastical foundation, and to the fact of the very large recent increase in the capitular corporate income. We find that in 1860 it was £48,000, and in 1861 upwards of £60,000.
15. Government of the School
The government of the School, absolutely as regards the Town boys, and subject to the control of the Dean and Chapter as concerns the Queen's Scholars, rests, as has been stated, with the Head Master.
It is unnecessary for us here to repeat the reasons on which we ground the opinion expressed in a former part of this Report in favour, generally speaking, of the existence of a Governing Body of mixed character, who should deal with all matters not necessarily connected with instruction. Fully recognizing the interest taken by the Dean and Chapter in the School, and justly appreciating the weight due to the fact of the statutory connexion which has existed for centuries, we yet think that the general principles previously laid down on this subject should be, judiciously and with due qualifications, applied to Westminster. Here, as in many other instances, we think that benefit to the School will result if a lay element be introduced into the Governing Body; and we propose to make a recommendation to this effect. We must add, that the influence and means of useful action of that body will be largely increased if some part of the Chapter estates, adequate to the support of the School, can be permanently transferred to it, and placed under its exclusive management and control. We have reason to hope that the latter arrangement will not be disagreeable to the Chapter, and we are convinced that it will tend materially to the benefit of the School. We think, too, that all buildings necessarily connected with the School, as well as the play-grounds, should be legally vested in the newly constituted Governing Body, on the condition that, in the event of the removal of the school, such buildings should revert to the Dean and Chapter.
16. Site of the School - Question of Removal
Before concluding this part of our Report, we cannot omit to touch upon one subject which is of very considerable importance, as bearing upon the interests of the School, and which has accordingly attracted much public attention. We advert to the question of the removal of the School from London. The general observations which we have already made upon London schools are more or less applicable to Westminster. In regard to this, as to the other schools to which we have referred, various considerations are brought forward on each side of the question. It is, for instance, contended on the one hand in regard to Westminster, that parents who possess adequate means are now much more desirous than they formerly were of sending their sons to a school in a country situation; that a London school is considered necessarily less healthy; that it offers more temptations to vice; that the social standing of the boys who go to Westminster is in consequence less high than formerly; that it is therefore not to be expected that the number of boarders will keep up, and that the School will ultimately become one principally attended by home-boarders.
On the other hand, it is said that as respects soil and water the School is well situated, that it has less often than other schools been broken up on account of illness; that its
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play-grounds are adequate, and its buildings, if certain practicable improvements are made, well adapted to their purpose; that its neighbourhood to the Abbey and to the Houses of Parliament is calculated to exercise a useful influence on boys' minds; that the boys, if due regulations are enforced, are not more exposed to temptation than in several other large schools; that the power of going home on Saturdays is much prized by parents; and is morally advantageous to boys; that the removal of the School into the country would be, practically, an attempt to establish a new school, an experiment involving considerable risk of failure and very great expense, which there are no adequate funds to meet, and that though, like other schools, it has greatly fluctuated in numbers, there seems to be no reason why, if certain improvements are made, it should not again attain something of its former extent and prosperity.
We do not feel ourselves able to pronounce a decided opinion upon the question under discussion between the advocates and opponents of removal. We have indeed already indicated our impression that day schools are what London chiefly wants, and that it is not to be expected that any very large number of boarders will ever resort to schools in London. We may go still further and say that we are inclined to think that there are difficulties in the way of combining in one school large numbers of each of the two classes, viz., day-boys and boarders. It is very doubtful, for instance, whether the arrangements in respect to hours which are best suited to day-scholars are also those which are the best adapted to boarders. The fact certainly seems to be, from whatever cause, that while those schools which like Merchant Taylors', St. Paul's, and King's College arrange their hours of attendance with a view to the convenience of day-scholars find no difficulty whatever in keeping up their numbers, the schools in which a decline is reported are those which are intended principally for boarders and frame their table of hours accordingly. To those who, like ourselves, attach great importance to numbers as an element and condition of efficiency in a public school this fact will appear to be one of much weight. Did we feel ourselves obliged to regard the removal of the school as impossible, we should think it right to point out in detail the manner in which this noble foundation might be made available for a large body of day-scholars, and might thus be placed on a footing which, though somewhat different from that in which it has hitherto stood, would be in no degree inferior to it; but we prefer to leave it to the new Governing Body to consider whether the removal of the School is financially and otherwise possible; and we content ourselves with expressing our opinion that the true interests of the School demand that a decided step should be taken in one of two directions; either it should remain a boarding school and should be removed into the country, or it should be retained on its present site, and should be converted into a school in which the foundation scholars should be day-scholars, or day-boarders, sleeping at their own homes. We can only in concluding our remarks upon this point, direct attention to the evidence of Mr. Hunt, the Surveyor to the Dean and Chapter, as indicating generally the school property in the metropolis which might be made available by sale for the purpose of removing the School should other considerations seem to render it advisable.
SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS
Having regard to the preceding observations respecting the present site and suggested removal of the School, it seems necessary to state that the following Recommendations (as well as some of the remarks which have been already made and would obviously be inapplicable to an altered state of things) are based on the supposition that the School remains where it is, and that it retains its double character as both a boarding and a day school. It has been necessary to assume some particular state of circumstances as a basis for our observations, and none appeared to us so suitable as that which exists. Should any change take place with regard to either the local situation of the School or its continuance as a boarding school, it will be for the Governing Body to apply to it in its altered condition such of our recommendations as may appear to them applicable and expedient.
All the General Recommendations (Part I. pp. 52-55) appear to be applicable to Westminster School.
We add the following special recommendations:
1. That an Administrative Body should be constituted, to be called the Governors of St. Peter's College, Westminster, to be charged with the administration of the School Fund hereafter mentioned, and with such general powers as we have considered advisable
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for other Governing Bodies (General Recommendation III), and to be composed as follows, viz.:
Ex-Officio:
The Dean and Chapter of Westminster.
The Dean of Christ Church, Oxford.
The Master of Trinity College, Cambridge.
Nominated or Elected:
Six persons, five of whom at least should be laymen, and of whom four should be nominated by the Crown, and two elected by the Governing Body. The four Crown nominees should be graduates of Oxford or Cambridge, and should, as well as the elected Governors, be members of the Established Church, three at least of such nominees to be selected with especial reference to their attainments in literature or science.
2. That when the whole number of Governors is complete seven should be a quorum, and whenever it is not complete then a proportion of not less than one-half should constitute a quorum; the Dean of Westminster, and in his absence the person selected by the meeting, to be Chairman, and to have a second or casting vote.
3. That such a portion of the Chapter Estates as may be adequate to the support of the School on the scale recommended by this Report should be legally vested in the Governors, to be by them applied to the due maintenance and education of the Queen's Scholars and to defraying the expenses connected therewith, to repairs or new buildings necessary for or advantageous to the College and School, and, generally, to the promotion of all improvements which may benefit them.
4. That, further, such portions of the Chapter estates as are necessarily and exclusively connected with the College and School, and essential to their well-being, should be vested in the Governors, such portions to comprise the dormitory with its appurtenances, the hall, the school and class rooms, the covered play room, the houses of the Head and Under Master, the three boarding houses, and the play-grounds in Great Dean's Yard and Vincent Square, and such additional buildings as may be erected or adapted for the purposes of the College or School; provided, however, that they should revert to the Dean and Chapter or to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners (as the case may be), in the event of the removal of the College and School from its present position.
5. That provision should be made for payment to the Governors by the Dean and Chapter, or, in the event of the adoption of any arrangement under which these estates pass into the hands of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, then by the last-named body, of £31 10s for the tuition of each scholar, as above recommended.
6. That as an additional building appears necessary, to include, amongst other things, a large room for the teaching of natural science, music and drawing, with a sitting room for the junior elections, the Chapter or the Ecclesiastical Commissioners (as the case may be), be applied to with a view to obtaining a grant for that purpose. Such a building might also be readily adapted for the performance of the play, and the expense thrown upon the Chapter Funds at present for that purpose be thus obviated.
7. That whether the ownership of the boarding houses be in the Chapter, the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, or, as proposed above, the Governors, there should be no intermediate interest between the Lessors and the Master occupying the house; and further, such arrangements should be made, either as regards some other house (besides those which already exist as boarding houses), in Great Dean's Yard, or in respect to an adequate portion of some vacant space yet unoccupied by dwelling houses, as would admit, should circumstances require, of the adaptation or erection of another boarding house.
8. That the Governing Body should be empowered to throw the Queen's Scholarships open to general competition without any restriction as to place of birth or the requirement of any previous education in Westminster School.
9. That the town boys should be admitted to the competition for the Christ Church Studentships, the Exhibitions at Trinity College, Cambridge, and all Exhibitions at the Universities.
10. That the Scholarships on the Foundation of Bishop Williams should be reduced in number to two, of double their present value, and be awarded by competitive examination, and be open alternately to boys from the Principality of Wales alone, and to all British subjects: Provided that if in the judgment of the Examiners no candidate of sufficient merit shall appear to fill up a Scholarship limited to Wales, such Scholarship should be thrown open to general competition.
11. That so soon as the School Funds may admit of it, or funds given by private
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benefaction shall be forthcoming, a prize should be instituted for an English Essay in the highest form in the School.
12. That at least once a year some of the more important school examinations, other than those with regard to which this is already the case, should be wholly or in part conducted by Examiners unconnected with the School, and that they should be paid a reasonable remuneration out of the School or College Funds.
13. That encouragement should be given by separate prizes, to a system of private studies, independent of the School-work, whether with or without the aid of a private Tutor.
14. That in applying to Westminster the principles of General Recommendations XXVI-XXVIII the yearly payment to be made for instruction by the parents of each town boy should be fixed at £31 10s, and that the same amount should be paid by the Chapter on account of each Queen's Scholar. That if private tuition be required in any branch of study forming part of the regular course, a sum not exceeding £10 per annum should be paid by the parents of the boy requiring it to the private tutor. That the charge for boarding should be £70 for town boys. That £20 per annum, and no more, should be charged to the parents of each Queen's scholar,* such payment to cover the expense of matron and servants in sanatorium, medical attendance, servants in College, and washing.
15. That, as there is reason to believe that, in order to meet the requirements of boys belonging to the Senior Election, juniors are frequently obliged, and more particularly in winter, to get up at an unduly early hour, and are obliged to perform offices of a menial character, such as lighting the fire and gas in the morning - and further, that the time which they might usefully devote to their own preparation for school-work is often seriously interfered with by the summons of their seniors - an additional servant or servants in College should be provided, whose duty it should be to perform such offices as lighting and attending to the fires and gas, and who should also call those boys who wish it at such hour as shall be permitted by the regulations of the Head Master. That such additional servant should be also porter of the College, and be stationed between certain hours at or near the door, thus rendering it unnecessary for a second-election boy, as at present, to remain out of school for the purpose of acting as "Monitor ostii".
16. That for an hour and a half or two hours in the evening - say, from 8 to 10 - no fagging should be permitted, but that the juniors should prepare their lessons during that time in some fitting room in the presence of a Master.
17. That in order to prevent the tyrannical exercise of power on the part of seniors over juniors, the attention of the Masters should be directed to the importance of entirely reforming the present system of punishments in use among the boys, and especially of putting down the use of rackets, caps, and other such instruments or punishment, and the practice of kicking, unless already effectually suppressed by Mr. Scott's recent rule; and that they should be also recommended to take steps for confining the right of inflicting any punishment at all to the seniors, and for providing that any offences
*At present they pay £34 13s.
† [Note There appears to be no reference to this footnote in the text.] In the apportionment of the Fund, something like the following scale may, perhaps, be adopted, viz.:
| £ | |
| Head Master | 1,200 | |
| Under Master | 700 | |
| Senior Assistant | 300 | + from Boarding House 260 |
| Second Assistant | 250 | + from Boarding House 270 |
| Third Assistant | 260 | |
| Fourth Assistant | 250 | |
| First Mathematical Teacher | 230 | |
| Second ditto | 225 | |
| French ditto | 100 | |
| Church Ushership | 40 | |
| 3,565 | |
The total of the school fund
(assuming there to be 130 boys
and 20 entrances each year) will be |
4,295 | |
| Deduct for instruction as above | 3,565 | |
| Balance | 730 | |
remaining for additional French, Natural Science, German, Drawing, and Music Masters.
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requiring more than a very slight punishment should be dealt with by the seniors as a body, and not by individual boys.
18. That in order to ensure a thorough compliance with the Head Master's regulations respecting the treatment of juniors by seniors, as well as to encourage and maintain in the School generally a correct tone of feeling and opinion there should be frequent and cordial intercourse between the seniors and the Master specially appointed to take charge of the School; and that it should, therefore, be an object of immediate and primary consideration on the part of the Governors whether the present arrangement as regards the communication with the Under Master's house is adequate and satisfactory.
19. That the Governors should also inquire whether it may not be desirable to separate the Junior Elections more completely from the seniors, either by the erection of a separate dormitory for them, to be built in the corner of the College garden, or by partitions in the present dormitory, or otherwise.
20. That additional studies should be provided in the two election rooms, so as, if possible, to arrange that no more than two boys at the most should occupy any one study.
21. That means should be provided for giving additional warmth and more light at night to the two election rooms, and more warmth to the dormitory; and that, generally, an air of greater comfort should be given to the two election rooms by painting or whitewashing as may be required, providing the necessary number of chairs, and otherwise.
22. That whenever the house which now stands between the Head Master's and Dr. Cureton's is pulled down, there should be erected in its place only a wall of sufficient height to form a fence between Great and Little Dean's Yard, unless it be deemed desirable to carry it a few feet higher for the purpose of forming a fives' court on the eastern or inner side.
23. That upon the demolition of this house, the room in the tower adjoining the Head Master's house should be formed into a School Library, to be used by the boys under such regulations as may be deemed proper by the Head Master and the Governors.
24. That the wall and low buildings between the dormitory and School buildings should be taken down, and an iron fence (with a gate) of sufficient height, placed between the College Garden and Little Dean's Yard.
25. That on Sundays from one o'clock until four in winter, and until nine in summer, the boys, town boys as well as Queen's Scholars, should be allowed to use the College garden under proper regulations.
26. That the Under Master, or in his absence, an Assistant Master, should be always present in College Hall during the dinner of the Queen's Scholars.
27. That the daily allowance of meat for the Queen's Scholars at supper should be sufficient and constant, and should not depend on the quantity consumed at dinner; and that the existing practice under which an insufficient provision is made for the tea of the junior boys should be altered.
28. That, having regard to the spirit of the Statutes, the choristers at the proper age should be either apprenticed to some trade or receive some fair equivalent at the expense of the College Funds.
29. That the attendance at the Holy Communion in the Abbey on the part of the Queen's Scholars should be in future strictly voluntary.
30. That some arrangement should be made by which the special services attended by the boys in the Abbey may be of a choral character, it appearing to the Commissioners probable that the attendance of the choristers only would be sufficient, and that some of the boys themselves would be glad, if duly trained, to take part in the service.
31. That in case of Westminster School continuing to occupy its present site, the hours should be so fixed as, without prejudice to the interests of the scholars and boarders, to facilitate the attendance of boys residing in London and the immediate suburbs.
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CHAPTER IV. CHARTERHOUSE
STATEMENT AND OBSERVATIONS
1. Origin of the Foundation. Statutes. The Governors. The Master of the Hospital
The Hospital of the Charterhouse was founded by Thomas Sutton in the reign of James I. In 1609 he procured "An Act of Parliament for the foundation of a Hospital and Free Grammar School at Hallingbury in Essex, but having subsequently purchased from the Earl of Suffolk the lately dissolved Charterhouse beside Smithfield, in Middlesex, he sought and obtained in the 9th of James I certain Letters Patent, which empowered him to found such hospital and school in the Charterhouse." By these Letters Patent, among various other provisions, 16 persons therein named were appointed "Governors of the lands, possessions, revenues, and goods of the Hospital of King James founded in Charterhouse", and they then were incorporated by that name, with power to hold lands and chattels for certain defined objects. In pursuance of these Letters Patent the founder in 1611 conveyed to the Governors certain estates. "In 1627 the Governors published a set of statutes, to which their common seal and the seal of Charles the First were respectively attached." By these statutes, except so far as they have been altered by subsequent orders of the Governors and by the Acts of Parliament named in the margin, the Hospital is professedly governed, and from these instruments and Acts the objects contemplated in the foundation and the present constitution of the Hospital are to be collected.
There were two objects which, by the Letters Patent referred to, Thomas Sutton was authorized to carry out, and carried out accordingly, viz., firstly, the foundation of "one hospital, house, or place of abiding for the finding, sustentation, and relief or poor, aged, maimed, needy, or impotent people"; and, secondly, the foundation and establishment in the Charterhouse of "one free school for the instructing, teaching, maintenance, and education of poor children or scholars". Power was given to Sutton during his life, and after his death to the Governors, to place in the said hospital and school such Master or head of the said hospital, such number of poor people, such other members and officers of the said hospital, and such number of poor children or scholars as to him or them should seem convenient; and likewise one learned, able, and sufficient person to be the schoolmaster of the said school; and one other "learned, able, and sufficient person to be the usher thereof, and teach and instruct the said children in grammar; and also one learned and godly preacher to preach and teach the word of God to all the said persons, poor people and children, members, and officers at or in the said house." In the event of the Governors neglecting for the space of two months after a vacancy to nominate to any of the above-named offices or positions, the power of filling up the vacant place devolves on the Crown. In their own body the Governors themselves have the power of filling up vacancies, it being ordained, however, that the election should take place within two months.
The names of the present Governors are as follows, in the order of their election, viz. -
The Ven. W. H. Hale, Archdeacon of London, Master,
The Earl Howe,
Duke of Buccleuch and Queensbury
Earl Russell,
Earl of Dalhousie,
Earl of Derby,
Lord Cranworth,
Earl of Harrowby,
The Bishop of London,
Lord Justice Turner,
Earl of Romney,
Archbishop of Canterbury,
Viscount Palmerston,
Earl of Devon,
Archbishop of York,
Lord Chelmsford.
By the statutes of 1627 above referred to, it is provided, that there should be "two set and certain assemblies of the Governors, one in December to take the year's account, view the state of the hospital, and determine and order any business occurring; the other in June or July to dispose of scholars to the Universities or trades, to make election both of poor men and poor scholars into places vacant, as also to determine and order any other business." By an order, however, of the 29th March 1651, altering in this respect the above statute, the times of holding the assemblies are changed. Besides these set assemblies, other assemblies, termed in the statutes "accidentary", are to be held upon occasion of the death or resignation of a Governor, officer of the Foundation, or
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incumbent of any living belonging to the Governors, with a view to the necessary election or presentation.
Under 8th Geo. I. c. 29 (altering in this respect one of the statutes of 1627) any number of Governors, under nine and not less than five, assembled on four days' notice at the Hospital, may act as a corporate meeting, in which five are necessary to constitute a majority. It is further provided by the said statutes of 1627, that "a committee of five, at the least, shall be chosen for the whole year at the assembly in December, whereof any three, the Master being one, may proceed in any business left to the committee".
Of the two objects mentioned above as authorized by the Letters Patent, the first, viz., the establishment of a Hospital for poor and aged men, does not come within the scope of our inquiry, though it has been necessary thus far to allude to it, as well because the Hospital and School are under the same body of Governors, being in fact two parts of one foundation, as because they both derive support in different proportions from the same trust funds in the hands of the Governors. We shall, therefore, confine our attention to the School. The powers of the Governors in respect to it comprise the appointment of the Master, preacher, schoolmaster, and usher; the nomination of the scholars in such number, on such conditions, and under such regulations as they may think fit; the authorizing such houses as they may think proper to be used as boarding-houses, and the regulation as well of the number to be received in each such house as of the total number of pupils to be permitted to resort to the School; the visitation of the School,* including the power of reforming and redressing all abuses and disorders, and of punishing and displacing, if necessary, any officer or member of the Foundation; the election of foundation scholars to exhibitions at the universities, and the grant of outfits (now fixed at £100 each) to those scholars who produce from the schoolmaster certificates of good conduct, and who, not proceeding to the universities, enter the army or navy, or are articled or apprenticed to any trade or business. They have also authority to make under their common seal such rules, statutes, and ordinances, for the government of the Master and other officers of the Hospital (including the schoolmaster) and the scholars, as they may think meet and convenient. As regards the assistant masters not mentioned in the Letters Patent, their appointment rests with the schoolmaster, subject to the approval of the Governors, or of the Master, who it appears is held to represent his colleagues in this as in certain other respects. We may here observe that we have been unable to trace in the Letters Patent or in the statutes of 1627 any distinct authority for such individual action on the part of one member of the body. In the former, though the Master of the Hospital for the time being is constituted ex officio a Governor, no mention is made of any special duties to be discharged by him. In the latter, it is, indeed, specially provided that "he should have the economical government of the house and household during the Governors' pleasure", and in subordination to them, have the power of "putting in or out" certain of the inferior servants of the household at his discretion; but the power thus given is plainly of a defined and limited character, and does not, as it appears to us, comprehend the right to interfere in certain other ways, in which, however, we collect from the evidence that interference sometimes takes place. It may he said, indeed, and we believe with truth, that in the majority of such cases of individual action, the Master acts either as one or the Committee of Governors above referred to, or at any rate with their knowledge and under an express or implied delegation from them; but admitting this to be often the case, we yet think that it is essential to the interests of any school that the functions and powers of those connected with it should be distinctly defined, and the limits of their respective powers adhered to, and we shall, therefore, recommend provisions to this effect in the suggestions which it will be our duty hereafter to make.
2. Endowments, Income, and Expenditure
As regards the property of the hospital, no part of that which was originally granted to the Governors "is held in trust especially for the school, but the hospital for poor men and the school for poor scholars are one foundation, supported by a common fund. The kinds of property held in trust by the Governors consist of houses and buildings in London; 16 houses in Sutton Place, Hackney; farms in various counties, tithe rents, manorial profits, and quit rents, timber, interest of monies, principally in the hands of the Accountant-General, and of the Trustees for Charitable Funds and interest on funds held on special trusts for the benefit of the school. Every farm is surveyed and reported upon once in three or four years." They are ordinarily let on lease for
*It is stated, however, by the Master (Answer II. 8) that no visitation has ever taken place.
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periods of 12 years at rack-rents [full market value], and land is let on building leases at annual ground rents. No fines have ever been taken. Detailed particulars are given in the Answers of the Master of the Hospital. The total annual income from all the above sources, on all average of seven years ending 1861, was, as will be there seen, £22,747 5s 9d. Of this sum £140 is the aggregate amount of interest on funds held on special trusts for the benefit of the school. It does not appear that there is likely to be in future any very large addition to this annual income. Of the total expenditure for one year (1860-1861), a statement is also given in the Master's Answers, and from this, as elucidated by the "Analysis of Items of Payment in respect of the Establishment charged in the Receiver's Account for the years ending respectively 1860, 1861, and 1862", also printed in the Answers, a sufficiently accurate result is obtained to show, approximately, the amount expended on the school. It appears from these returns that the expenditure upon the school, combined with that portion of the divisible items of the general expenses which appears properly assignable to the school, amounted in -
| £ |
| 1860 to | 7,223 |
| 1861 to | 8,104 |
| 1862 to | 11,492 |
In the last-named year, no less a sum than £4,162 16s was laid out in the improvement and enlargement of the scholars' apartments, obviously not a charge annually recurring. Taking, then, the present annual expenditure for the school at £8,000 in round numbers, we see no reason to doubt that, even if the changes which we may feel it our duty to recommend as regards the school should involve a certain additional expenditure, sufficient means will be available to meet it, without interfering with the other objects of the Foundation. We should add, that by the Charter it is provided that surplus revenues arising in any one year are to be employed in the same way and for the same objects as the revenues specially appropriated, and the Governors have recently acted upon this provision, first, by augmenting the payment to each poor brother from £26 10s to £36; and secondly, by increasing the number of the scholars.
3. The Foundation Scholars
The School contains boys of the three following descriptions, viz.:
1st. Foundation scholars;
2nd. Boarders in the houses approved by the Governors for the purpose of receiving such boys; and
3rd. Day boys.
The Foundation scholars are, with the exceptions hereafter stated, nominated, as has been said, by the Governors, who exercise this right in rotation. The maximum number fixed by the statutes of 1627 was 40; to this number, however, certain additions have been made from time to time, the result of which is, that there are now 44 on the Foundation as scholars. We understand that it is the intention of the Governors to increase the number to 60. Of the present number, 44, under orders made by the Governors in 1850 and 1860, eight places are appropriated as prizes for competition among boys in their 14th or 15th years who shall have previously spent not less than one year at the School. The present result of this is "that every year two scholars are selected by competition, and on their names being reported to the Assembly, they are appointed scholars, and become entitled to all the advantages" belonging to that position. Those boys who are nominated "must be between the ages of 10 and 14, and able to pass all examination proportioned to age in classics and arithmetic." This examination was first instituted, and its subjects and extent defined, by orders made by the Governors in 1844 and 1845. It appears, as stated by Mr. Elwyn, the Head Master of the School, to be "of the most elementary kind", and we cannot but think that the interests of the school and of the individual boys would be materially promoted by the adoption of an examination more extended in its range and more stringent in its character. It is true that Mr, Elwyn states that "it is more severe now than it used to be", but the fact, also stated by him, that, so far as he is aware, no boy has ever been rejected, would certainly seem, if the system of nomination is to continue, to show the necessity of some material change as regards the test of qualification.
We think, however, that an alteration of a more complete and organic character is necessary, as regards the admissions to the Foundation. The very beneficial results which have followed the introduction of the principle of competition at Eton and Win-
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chester, the success which, as appears from the list of honours appended to the printed answers, has attended its partial introduction by the Governors, and the opinion strongly expressed in favour of the modified plan at present in operation by the Head Master combine to recommend the adoption of it without restriction at the Charterhouse. Where a nomination has been actually given or promised, the reasonable expectation thus created ought not to be disappointed; but, subject to an exception in favour of such cases, we shall recommend that all the places on the Foundation should be thrown open to the unrestricted competition of boys between the ages of 11 and 14, wheresoever previously educated, according to a scheme to be framed by the Governors with the assistance of the Head Master of the School.
"The Foundation scholars board in a house appropriated to them", to which, as already stated, very considerable additions have recently been made by the Governors at a cost of more than £4,000, the result of which is a material improvement previously much required, as well in sleeping accommodation as in the arrangements for washing, &c.
In this house there are two common rooms, one for the upper, the other for the lower boys, breakfast and tea being taken by all in the latter. There is also a dining hall. "For a few of the upper boys there are small studies. The Head Master is responsible for the management and discipline of the house." There is also an Assistant Master resident in the house, who directly superintends it. In this house, as now enlarged and improved, we see no reason to doubt that adequate accommodation will be provided for the contemplated number of scholars, nor have we any occasion, except in one or two points to which we shall hereafter advert, to question the general sufficiency of the diet. We believe that in special cases, on the recommendation of the medical officer, extra diet is given. As regards the bedrooms, however, we desire to advert to one point, viz., the custom of locking the junior boys into their rooms. Mr. Irvine (the Assistant Master in charge) is strongly in favour of this practice as tending to the maintenance of discipline, and to the protection of the younger boys from disturbance at night; but, if it be necessary to lock the doors at all, we think it would be better to intrust the key to the head boy in each room, as in the Head Master's house.
The privileges and advantages of a Foundation scholar are as follows: "He receives gratuitously board, lodging, medical attendance, and education, including classics, mathematics, French, German (if in sixth form), history, geography, and divinity. He is also provided with clothes during the school terms, and with a gown, and, if in the upper school, with a cap or trencher. If he passes a satisfactory examination at the age of 18 he receives an exhibition of £80 a year for four years at any college in either of the Universities of Oxford or Cambridge." A gratuity of £100 is also granted in the case of any Foundation scholar who goes into the army or navy, or any profession or trade requiring an outfit. "In case of illness they are taken care of by the matron in the apartments provided for them in her house, and are nursed and dieted in any illness without any charge for medical attendance or medicine." "The only school charges to which a Foundation scholar is liable are for books and stationery, and a payment of four guineas per annum by lower boys, and five guineas by upper boys, to the matron for private washing and the care of private clothes." "Foundation scholars have also the preference, under the Charter, to the nine livings in the patronage of the Governors." "By an order of the Governors of 4th March 1856, scholars on the Foundation are considered superannuated on completing the 17th year of their age, unless they are reported by the Examiners as fit to remain as candidates for exhibitions. Such candidates leave the School on completing their 18th year, unless they are in the sixth form, in which case they remain until the completion of their 19th year."
For the exhibitions there is at present no competitive examination, for it appears that "every Foundation scholar who satisfies the examiners" (gentlemen nominated by the Archbishop of Canterbury) "so far as to render it most probable in their opinion that he will pass the first public examination in the University, is entitled to an exhibition."
At present all these exhibitions are of the same value, viz., as has been stated, £80 per annum for four years, with all additional sum of £20 in the last year. It appears to us that, with a view at once to raise the standard of qualification for these valuable exhibitions, to graduate the rewards to be obtained according to the merits of the competitors, and to render the Charterhouse a more desirable place of education for town boys, the following alterations in the present system are desirable, viz., to substitute a competitive for a mere test examination, to open these exhibitions to the competition
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of the town boys, and to divide them into two classes, one of £80, the other of £60, per annum, and we intend to recommend accordingly.
4. Boys not on the Foundation
The boys not on the foundation may be classed, as has been said, under two heads, boarders and day boys. The former are lodged in houses sanctioned by the Governors. In February 1862, when the last written return was made to us, they were 45 in number, viz., 30 in the Head Master's house, and 15 in that of the second Master. Occasionally, also, a few boys have lodged in the private house of the Reader. The charge in the houses of the two Masters above named are, for board and education, including washing and medical attendance, £80 per annum up to the fifth form, and in and above that form £90. "Education" includes classics, mathematics, writing, geography, history, and divinity.
There are extra charges for -
French, £2 2s 0d (Voluntary except for Foundation.)
German, ditto. (Voluntary except in 6th Form.)
Voluntary:
Chemistry, £2 2s 0d.
Singing, ditto.
Drawing, £5 5s 0d
Drilling, £1 1s 0d.
"In the few cases in which a boy has private tuition the charge made by the private tutor for each is from eight to twelve guineas per annum, varying with the place of each boy in the School, and his want of individual superintendence."
For day boys the annual charge is £18 18s per annum. "The average number is from 30 to 35." The Governors have recently provided for these boys two comfortable rooms, which they may occupy, if they wish, between school hours.
5. Number and Arrangement of the School
The total number of the School has varied very materially from time to time. A table showing the numbers and fluctuations since 1818 is given in Mr. Elwyn's Answers (II. 11). It appears from this that the numbers were -
| In 1825 | 480 |
| In 1835 | 99 |
| In 1845 | 187 |
| In 1855 | 133 |
The number is now limited by an order of the Governors to 200. At present it is 136.
The School is arranged in separate classical, mathematical, and French departments. Of these the classical department has six forms, one of which, the fifth, is divided into two parts; the mathematical has seven divisions, and the French three. In each of the departments (with the exception of the 5th and 6th classical forms) "a boy rises mainly by proficiency, though age is not disregarded". "The boys take places at, and are marked at the end of each lesson, and according to the marks gained are arranged at the end of the week in order of merit. The plan of adding marks for attention and progress in the mathematical divisions and those gained in the classical work has been lately adopted, and appears to work well. In the fifth and sixth classical forms marks are given for work done; in the former changes in place are made from time to time according to merit (more consideration being given to age than in the lower forms), in the latter, besides arranging the boys according to the marks gained, a prize is given each term for the highest marks.
6. Masters
"There are six resident masters, all of whom take some part in the classical instruction. All take part also in the mathematical teaching, though not in the same order" as in the former case.
"For the instruction in French, two masters attend twice in a week for two hours on each occasion. The study of French is, under a recent order of the Governors, obligatory upon all who do not learn German. A German master instructs the sixth form (all in that form being obliged to learn it) once a week for two hours," and those of
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other forms who choose it. A drawing master, a singing master, and a chemical lecturer attend respectively twice a week. These, as before stated, are voluntary subjects.
The following is the gross amount of remuneration stated by Mr. Elwyn to be received on an average of years from all sources by himself and those masters who are engaged in teaching those branches of education which are obligatory upon the whole or some portion of the school.*
| £ |
| Head Master | 1,100 |
| Second Master | 700 |
| First Assistant | 200 without rooms |
| Second Assistant (who superintends the Foundation boys, and has a few private pupils) | 200 with rooms |
| Third Assistant (also "Reader " with an independent salary) | 110 with rooms |
| Mathematical Assistant (including income from private pupils) | 200 with rooms |
The French Master receives £80 from the Governors, and two guineas from each of the non-foundation boys who learn (from 40 to 50 in number), in an about £170 per annum. The Assistant Mathematical Master about £110. per annum. The German Master about £42 per annum. In several of these cases it appears to us that the average rate of remuneration is not such as is likely to secure permanently the services of duly qualified men, and we shall therefore include some suggestions on this head in the recommendations appended to this portion of our Report.
The great importance of some increase in the pecuniary remuneration of the Masters becomes more obvious when it is considered that, on the construction of those words of the Charter which relate to benefices, they are held not to be eligible for appointment unless they have been Foundation Scholars. Some doubt, we are informed, has arisen as to the propriety of this construction from the circumstance that in the first Statutes framed by the Governors after the grant of the Charter (in 1627), there occur words which apparently were intended to alter the provisions of the Charter in this respect, and to render eligible for "spiritual livings of the patronage of the Hospital", before any other persons, "those who do or have done actual service to the House, or have been members thereof". This point, it appears, was brought under the consideration of the Governors in 1847, and they then held (rightly, as it appears to us) that the expressions of the Statute of 1627 could not over-ride the provision of the Charter, which makes scholars eligible before any other persons, provided "they be fully qualified and become meet". It is clear, however, that all ambiguity on the subject should be removed, and, in our opinion, no less clear that the interests of the School will be advanced by rendering all those who are doing or have done service to the School as Masters, whether they have been Foundation Scholars or not, and wherever they may have been educated, eligible for the benefices in the patronage of the Governors. We propose, therefore, to recommend accordingly,
As has been already stated, the appointment of the Head and Second Master rests with the Governors, the nomination of the Mathematical Usher with the Head Master, subject to the approval of the Governors; and the other Assistant Masters are appointed by the Head Master, with the approbation of the Master of the Hospital. As regards the power of removal of the Assistant Masters some doubt appears to exist, and we think, therefore, that it should be distinctly laid down that the Head Master should have the uncontrolled power of selecting and dismissing the Assistant Masters; that of appointing and removing the Head and Second Masters remaining with the Governors. In regard to the two latter, the Statutes of 1627 provide for a cæteris paribus [other things being equal] preference of persons educated at the School. As regards the Assistant Masters there is no such limitation; in fact, on several occasions, persons educated at other schools have been appointed. We think that for the future there should be no preference in favour of persons brought up at the Charterhouse as regards any of the Masterships.
As regards the number and ages of the boys in each Form (at the date of the Return, December 1861), the dates of the entrance of each into such Form and of his admission into the School respectively, a detailed statement, containing also certain other
*Since this statement was made, however, the Governors have increased the salary of the Head Master from £240 per annum to £400, and that of the second Master from £140 to £250. The boarding profits of the Head and second Masters respectively are returned by them as for 1860, the Head Master £600, Second Master £400; 1861, Head Master £700, Second Master £468.
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particulars, is given in Table B of the Appendix: Table C will be found to contain full and valuable information supplied by the several Masters in reference to the kind and amount of work done in each Form or Division, and Table D will show the employment of time in lessons and the amount of composition in each Form or Division during the year to which the Returns apply. In Table E will be found a Return by the only two Assistant Masters who at the date of the Return were taking private pupils, of the work done with them by such pupils out of school hours and distinct from the work of the school.
It will be seen from this last-mentioned Return that private tuition, as has been before stated, does not exist at the Charterhouse otherwise than exceptionally and under peculiar circumstances.
7. Promotion in School - Prizes
The ordinary and regular promotion from one form to another takes place once a year, and depends upon the annual examination, which applies to the whole School. "Every boy, then, unless he is very backward, moves up from the form in which he is." "A clever boy", however, "would get a remove oftener than that", his promotion depending upon his marks, and his general conduct.
In promotion in the classical forms no weight is attached to French, promotion in the French department being entirely distinct and independent. As regards mathematics, however, Mr. Elwyn has introduced a plan under which "every week a boy is marked according as he has done his mathematics, and these marks are added to his classical marks", so as to affect his place in the classical form, though his position in the mathematical classes is distinct from his classical position.
In the annual examination above referred to, the whole school is examined in divinity, classics, and mathematics, and papers are set for the higher forms. "This examination as well as those mentioned below in these subjects is conducted as above stated by examiners appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury." Those boys who learn French, German, drawing, or chemistry, are also examined in these subjects. "For the Foundation scholars there is an additional examination in the month of December in classics and arithmetic, and a report is also presented from the head French Master of "their progress and conduct".
At the annual examination prizes are awarded in all the Classical, Mathematical, French, and German divisions, and there are also medals given in the Fifth and Sixth Forms for Latin prose and Greek verse translation, and for original composition in English and Latin verse. Divinity prizes, too, are given by the Reader, and two prizes, one in each of the Fifth and Sixth Forms, by the Preacher for a Theological Essay. In Chemistry and Drawing prizes are given by the respective teachers of these subjects. These are all open to the competition of the whole school.* As regards exhibitions, besides those above referred to, limited to the Foundation scholars, and available at any College at Oxford or Cambridge, open to the whole school, there has also been recently established, in memory of Sir Henry Havelock, an exhibition called "the Havelock Exhibition" of the annual value of £20. "The subjects for this examination are Latin, French, History (Modern and Ancient), and Geography (definite portions), English Dictation and Mathematics", the latter forming a principal element in the examination. "This examination is conducted by special examiners, appointed by the Master and Schoolmaster. Cæteris paribus [other things being equal], a preference is given to a boy intending to enter the army or some Government office."
For those not on the Foundation there has recently been established, in memory of the late Hon. J. C. Talbot, a Scholarship tenable at any one of the four Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Dublin, or Durham, an annual Gold Medal, and a prize of books. For these latter rewards all boys who have been two years in the School may compete.
8. Results. The Universities. The Army
In Michaelmas term 1861 there were 23 undergraduates from the Charterhouse at Oxford and 10 at Cambridge. In the year ending at the summer holidays 1862 the number of boys who left the Charterhouse was 27, and of these five, or 18.5 per cent,
*Prizes are also given for private study done out of school.
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went to one or other of the Universities. This is a lower proportion than is furnished by any other school except Merchant Taylors'; but it seems by reference to the number of Carthusian undergraduates to be below the usual average of the School. A calculation founded on the number of undergraduates actually at the Universities in 1861 would give an average of eight or nine per annum.
In the nine years from 1853 to 1861 inclusive, three first classes in the final Schools at Oxford and two at Cambridge were gained by Carthusians, also seven first classes in moderations at Oxford, three University scholarships at Cambridge and two at Oxford, and five University prizes, besides several College prizes and a number of Fellowships and scholarships.
From the returns furnished to us by the Council of Military Education, we find that only two Carthusians offered themselves for direct commissions within the three years over which those returns extend. There were no candidates for Sandhurst, and only one for Woolwich. This last was not successful.
9. Discipline. Punishments
As regards punishments, Mr. Elwyn states as follows: "There is a book in which the name of a boy who has been guilty of any ordinary fault, such as inattention, being late, imperfect, &c., is entered. If the name of a boy appear three times in one week in this book he is flogged; impositions are also given, the mode of marking an offence in ordinary cases being left to the discretion of each Master." "Grave moral offences are visited with immediate punishment, as are also serious breaches of discipline. In the case of upper boys, flogging (which is the only corporal punishment employed in the School) is most rarely employed, and their punishment consists in imposition and in degradation from their rank and privileges."
On this we remark that the practice of flogging as a matter of course for three "ordinary faults" exists, so far as we are informed, in no other public school, and that it appears to us undiscriminating and unduly severe; and if this usage rests on any rule of the school, such rule ought in our opinion to be abrogated. We think further that the power of administering corporal punishment should be strictly confined to the Head or Under Master or both, and that no "upper boy" ought under any circumstances to be subjected to it. It has been for years the aim of most schoolmasters to minimize the amount of such punishments, and the Head Master of Charterhouse ought, we think, to be supported by the Governors in any efforts he may make to carry out this object.
10. Monitorial System. Fagging
The monitorial system is in operation at the Charterhouse, and Mr. Elwyn attaches much importance to it as a valuable aid in the maintenance of school discipline, as beneficial in creating a sense of responsibility, and as tending to prevent bullying. From the Foundation scholars four are selected by the Head Master, whose duty it is, in turn, to maintain order in School, and also in the house where the Foundation scholars board. In each of the boarding houses two, or sometimes three, are selected to perform similar duties in the house.
The power of fagging is assigned by the Head Master to the monitors and to others of the Sixth and Fifth Forms, and is exercised over boys below the fourth form, implying the right to exact certain personal services, such as making tea, fetching anything which the senior boy may want, fagging out at cricket (limited to one hour a day), and occasional attendance at football. "No menial services, such as cleaning shoes, &c.", says Mr. Elwyn, "are allowed". It appears, however, that two fags are obliged to look after the fires in the two rooms where the Foundation scholars sit, and to attend to the lavatory, duties both of a menial character, and the former of which, at any rate, entails, often upon small boys, the necessity of carrying heavy coal scuttles. We think that servants should be employed on these duties. As regards the time during which fags can be employed, we are glad to learn that, by a recent regulation made by Mr. Elwyn, no fagging is to be allowed between 8 and 10 in the evening; a certain period is thus secured to the junior boys for the preparation of their lessons, for reading or amusement. In other respects, we see no reason for adding any special observations in the case of the Charterhouse, in regard to fagging, to our general remarks on the subject, though here, as elsewhere, we think that it should engage the attention of the Governing Body. We shall annex, however, one or two recommendations.
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11. Religious Observances and Teaching
As respects religious observances and religious teaching, "all the boys attend the church service" in the chapel "on the mornings of Saints' days, and all boarders and Foundation scholars upon Saturday evenings and on the morning and evening of Sunday, the latter service being one especially for the boys" and partially choral.
"The Holy Communion is celebrated on the great festivals and on the first Sunday in every month; but, independently of the general celebrations, on the first and last Sunday in each school term (six times in the year), there is special Communion for the School, to which those who have been confirmed are specially invited. There is no compulsion on any boy to attend, but very few ever absent themselves from these celebrations, though there is caution from time to time given against any mere formal attendance."
"The boys are specially prepared for Confirmation by the Head Master, who has a Confirmation Class for some weeks previous to the Confirmation, which is annually administered in the chapel by the Bishop of London."
"The duty of preaching in the Chapel belongs to the preacher, who is one of the officers of the Foundation, appointed by the Governors."
"Opportunities also are given from time to time to the Head and other Masters of preaching in the Chapel." "Prayers selected from the Prayer Book are read every morning on the assembling of the school by one of the Foundation scholars, and at night before bed-time a portion of the Bible is read to the boys in each house by the master of the house, and then prayers are read either by the master himself or by one of the monitors in the presence of the master."
Boys are regularly instructed during a portion of the Sundays, Mondays, and Saints' Days respectively in the Bible, Church Catechism, and Greek Testament.
12. Amusements
"The acreage of the ground allotted to the boys for their out-door amusements and games is five acres. There are also cloisters in which games can be played when the weather is unfavourable." "Cricket, football, hockey, and fives played with bats are the principal games." We would suggest to the Governors the propriety of considering whether some arrangement cannot be made for teaching swimming.
13. Constitution of the Governing Body (Observations)
We have already alluded to the constitution and powers of the Governors. The latter we shall propose in this as in other cases to modify and define; we do not think it necessary to recommend any large alteration in the former. We have already stated our opinion that the Governing Body of a great public School should be permanent in itself, and independent "of personal or local interests, of personal or professional influences or prejudices, and that it is very desirable that it should include men conversant 'with the world, with the requirements of active life, and with the progress of literature and science'." The Governing Body of the Charterhouse is now and has long been composed of men eminent for their rank and character, and little liable to be influenced by local interests or by personal or professional prejudices. Many of them have distinguished themselves in different professions, and not a few occupy or have occupied high positions in public life, while several have achieved literary success or have shown themselves active promoters of the cause of education. They all possess an amount of experience and knowledge of the world which we believe to be of great value to the interests of a public school. We should think that we were doing an ill service to the Charterhouse if we were to propose any material alteration in the general constitution of this body. It appears to us that a slight modification only is needed to adapt it to the duties which we propose to throw upon it in common with the Governing Bodies of the other schools under our review.
The task which these bodies will have to undertake, if the recommendations of our Report are adopted, is one of considerable importance and much delicacy. It is that of blending a due proportion of modern studies with the old classical course without destroying the general character of the public schools. In order to the accomplishment
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of this task it is desirable that the Governing Bodies should include a certain number of members specially chosen on account of their familiarity with and proficiency in the new studies which it is desirable to introduce or to regulate. The presence of such men will at once give confidence to the public and enable the Governors themselves to conduct their discussions with the advantage of having always at hand the best information and the best advice upon points on which they are likely to require it. We recommend the introduction of this element into the Governing Body of the Charterhouse, as we have recommended it in the case of other schools. We propose that, before proceeding to re-arrange the studies of the School, the Governors should associate with themselves four new members chosen with especial reference to their attainments in science or literature, thus for a time raising their number to 20; we do not, however, propose that the number should permanently exceed 16; and we recommend that the first four vacancies which may occur should not be filled up. When the number falls below 16, it should be replenished by fresh elections; but one Governor in every four should, we think, continue to be chosen with special regard to the qualifications which we have described.
14. Proposed Removal of the School (Observations)
Before concluding this part of our Report, the subject of the removal of the School into the country, which is alluded to in many parts of the evidence, calls for some observations. Of those general disadvantages to which we have already adverted as belonging to London schools, the Charterhouse has its share, subject only to qualification upon two points, viz., that its playground is of considerable size, and (differing in this respect from Westminster) close to the School, and that the whole of the premises are surrounded by a wall and accessible only through one gate, so that it is easy to prevent injurious intercourse with the streets outside. We see no sufficient reason, however, to modify in their application to the Charterhouse, our general remarks upon London schools. We believe that, as a boarding school it would thrive much better if removed to some eligible site in the country, while, for those day boys who at present resort or would be likely to resort to it, St. Paul's or Merchant Taylors' Schools (with such modifications and improvements as we shall suggest) in conjunction with the other large London day schools to which we have adverted, would probably supply adequate means of education. We may add that we cannot doubt that the sale of that portion of the present area and buildings which would not be wanted for the fitting accommodation of such part of Sutton's Hospital as would be retained in London, would realise a considerable proportion of the amount of money necessary for the removal. We recommend the subject, therefore, to the serious consideration of the Governors.
SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS
All the General Recommendations (Part I. pp. 52-55) appear to be applicable to Charterhouse School.
We add the following special recommendations:
1. That the number of 16 Governors should be forthwith increased to 20 by the election, as new Governors, of four persons distinguished for literary or scientific attainments; that the next four vacancies should not be filled up, unless occasioned by the death or retirement of any of such four persons, or of persons elected in their room; and that in future one-fourth at least of the 16 Governors should always be chosen with special reference to attainments in literature or science.
2. That whenever the permanent body of 16 Governors is complete, seven should be a quorum; and that whenever it is not complete, or so long as the number of Governors provisionally exceeds 16, a proportion not less than half of the actual number should constitute a quorum.
3. That all the Scholarships on the Foundation should be thrown open to the unrestricted competition of boys between the ages of 11 and 14, according to a scheme to be framed by the Governors with the assistance of the Head Master. Cases in which a nomination has been actually given or promised should be excepted from the operation of this change.
4. That no declaration should be in future required from the parents of candidates for admission to the Foundation, either as to their intention of sending their sons to the University, or their inability to do so without the aid of an exhibition.
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5. That the exhibitions at the Universities should be divided into two classes, one of £80, the other of £60 per annum, and be apportioned to the candidates according to merit.
6. That the examination for these exhibitions should be conducted, as at present, by examiners unconnected with the School, and apply to the whole of the school work; the proficiency to be tested by marks on the same principles as those which regulate promotion from class to class.
7. That the town boys should be admitted to compete for these exhibitions.
8. That a distinct fund should be formed, to be called the "School fund", and a separate account be in future kept of an receipts and expenditure relating to the School, as distinct from those connected with the pensioners, the general management of the estates, or other matters under the superintendence and control of the Governors.
9. That all tuition fees should be paid into this fund.
10. That in future the sum of £26 5s should be paid by or for each boy as a tuition fee, such sum to cover instruction in every subject which will form part of the regular course of study; and that the Governors should pay this sum to the credit of the School fund for each Foundation scholar.*
11. That if, after the payment of the salaries from the School fund in such proportions as to the Governors may seem fit, any surplus exist, it should be applied either in the augmentation of salaries, or in some way which is conducive to the permanent benefit of the School.
12. That no extra payment be required for any of the branches of study for which provision has been made, except that if private tuition be required in any of them, the sum of £10 per annum, in addition to the £26 5s above mentioned, be paid to the private tutor.
13. That the sum of £70 should be charged for boarding,† to include washing and ordinary medical attendance.
14. That in future, as regards the Foundation scholars, the charges for private washing and for the matron should be borne by the Governors.‡
15. That no boy be admitted into the School after 15 years of age, or remain there after 19, and that the age of admission to the Foundation should be between 11 and 14.
16. That public speeches should be delivered and prize compositions recited in ancient or modern languages at stated times in the presence of such friends of the School as may wish to attend.
*The School fund would then be (assuming 120 boys) £3,150, and might, perhaps, be thus appropriated, viz.:
| School Fund
£ | Boarders
£ | Total Income
£ |
| Head Master | 600 | 600 | 1,200 |
| Usher | 400 | 400 | 800 |
| Four Assistants (at £300 each) | 1,200 | | |
| £2,200 |
Leaving for French, German, music, drawing, and natural science, £950.
†At present the total charge for boarding, including washing and education, but excluding modern languages, music, drawing, and physical science, is £80 per annum: including these, the total charge will be £96 5s.
‡The Governors now pay annually for tuition £1,081.
They will pay according to the proposed plan:
| £ |
| For 60 Foundation scholars (at £26 5s each) | 1,575 |
| For Master in College | 80 |
| Matron and washing for Foundation scholars (at, say, £5 for each Foundation scholar) | 300 |
| £1,955 |
Deduct, at present paid |
1,081 |
| Total additional annual charge |
874 |
Add also for the maintenance of six. Foundation scholars in addition to the present number of 54.
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17. That duties of a menial character, e.g., that of keeping up the fires of the three sitting rooms occupied by the Foundation scholars, should be performed by a servant instead of a fag.
18. That no fagging should be allowed between eight and ten in the evening.
19. That an improved arrangement should be made as to the supply of tea to the Foundation scholars.
20. That meat should be supplied twice a day to all the boys.
21. That as regards locking the bedrooms, if it be deemed necessary, the head boy of the room should, in every case, have a key.
22. That there should, as far as possible, be a gaslight burning all night in the passages of the boarding-houses, and of the building occupied by the Foundation scholars.
23. That the attention of the Governors should be directed to the desirableness of making an arrangement by which all the services attended by the boys in the chapel may partake of a choral character.
24. That in regard to the benefices which are in the gift of the Governors, all persons who have done service to the School as Master, Usher, or Assistant Master be henceforth deemed eligible, though they may not have been educated there as Foundation scholars or otherwise.
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CHAPTER V. ST. PAUL'S
STATEMENT AND OBSERVATIONS
1. History of the Foundation
THIS School owes its existence to the bounty of John Colet, D.D., who was Dean of St. Paul's from 1505 to 1519, and son of Sir Henry Colet, twice Lord Mayor of London, and a member of the Mercers' Company. The Dean was the eldest of a large family of sons and daughters, all of whom except himself seem to have died young. He was educated at Magdalene College, Oxford, where he subsequently became the intimate friend of Erasmus, and an ardent admirer of the new learning of which that extraordinary man was perhaps the most influential promoter. Being left by the death of his father (1510) in possession of an ample patrimony, he shortly after, in 1511, conveyed certain estates in Bucks to the Mercers' Company for the "continuation of a certain school in the Churchyard of the Church of St. Paul's". The school itself is stated in the Ordinances of Dean Colet to have been founded in 1512, but it seems to have been already in operation* in 1510, the year of Sir H. Colet's death, that being the date of a letter of Colet's to William Lily the Grammarian, who is recognized in it as "primus hujus novæ Pauli Scolæ Præceptor."†
In the school were to be taught children of all nations and countries indifferently, to the number of 153. These were to be instructed gratis, each child paying "at his first admission once for ever 4d for writing of his name". Previously to admission they were to be examined in the Catechism, and the Master was to see that they could "read and write Latin and English sufficiently so that" each child should "be able to read and write his own lessons."‡ The scholars were entitled to no advantages of board or lodging, the school, says Erasmus, being furnished neither with cænacula nor cubicula. They were even forbidden to bring with them any meat or drink - "if they need drink let them be provided in some other place."
That indigence was not a condition of admission follows both from its being nowhere mentioned as such in the Ordinances,§ and also from the curious direction that tallow candles were at no time of the year to be used in the school, "but all only wax candell at the costs of their friends". That this expense was more than nominal appears from the circumstance that the school assembled at seven and separated at five throughout the year. It should also be remembered that while the Dean provides that "the instruction should be free, the class of books and kind of instruction he prescribed evidently "contemplates children not of not the lowest class".
For the instruction of these 153 boys salaries of £34 13s 4d and £17 6s 8d were allotted to a High Master and a Sur-Master respectively, the latter being appointed by the High Master, whom he was to succeed "if in literature and honest life according". There was also to be a Chaplain, who in addition to his religious duties was empowered to teach in the school, if it should seem convenient to the High Master. From a statement of Erasmus it seems to follow that this chaplain or "priest" was from the first intrusted with the teaching of at least the lowest class;|| and indeed three masters do not seem to have been more than sufficient, even according to the notions of those times, for the instruction of so large a school, larger by 33 than that of Westminster as constituted by Elizabeth.
The High Master himself was to be chosen, with the advice of "well-literate and learned men", by the Wardens and Assistants of the Mercers' Company, to whom, as we shall see presently, the government and regulation of the School were entrusted by
*Possibly in the "old scole" which Colet seems to have purchased, and the site of which he bequeathed to the Mercers' Company.
†This inference is confirmed by a statement, of George Lily, William's son, who in his Latin Chronicle. quoted by Knight, p. 108, places the foundation of the school in 1509. The new building was nearly finished in 1516. - Appendix Epist. Erasm., Ep. lxxxv.
‡This was by no means a nominal test. Erasmus says: "Nec quosvis admittunt temere, sed delectus fit indolisiet ingeniorum." Epist. ccccxxxv, So Dean Colet, "Ellis let him not be admytted in noo-wise".
§ One "pore scholer" only is mentioned, who was to receive the admission fees of the others, on condition of certain menial services. - Ordinances. By the Amending Ordinances the services and the fees are transferred to a man, who is now called the porter.
|| Primus ingressus (sc. scholæ) habet ceu catechumenos. Nullus autem admittitur nisi qui jam nôrit et legere et scribere. Secunda pars habet eos quos hypodidascalus instituit. Tertia quos superior erudit. Epist. ubi-supra. The phrase "ceu catechumenos" is ridiculously misunderstood by Knight and Carlisle as referring to instruction in the Catechism.
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the Founder. He might be priest or layman, wedded or single, provided that if in orders he held no benefice with cure; a man, it is added, whole in body, honest, and virtuous. We have already mentioned Dean Colet's attachment to the new or classical culture of the Revival;* and we are therefore not surprised that as a further qualification he insists on a knowledge of good and clean, i.e., pure and unscholastic, Latin Literature, and also of Greek, on the part of the Master, "if such may be gotten". Such a master we have seen was "gotten" in the person of William Lily, the earliest teacher of Greek in London, whose appointment was an earnest of the services which St. Paul's School has since rendered to Classical scholarship.†
Among Lily's successors may be mentioned the learned Thomas Gale; among the earlier scholars of the School we find the names of Leland and Camden the antiquaries, Milton, Samuel Pepys, Robert Nelson, Roger Cotes the astronomer and editor of the Principia, John Duke of Marlborough, and others. It seems down to the present time to have had its fair share of men personally or officially eminent, and until recently, more than its share of academical distinctions.‡ That of late it has fallen off in the last particular is attested by the High Master, by Canon Blakesley, and by young Paulines now at the University; and their testimony is confirmed by the lists of honours furnished to us by the School. We believe that the causes of this decline are not far to seek, and we shall in the sequel endeavour to point out what appear to us to be the appropriate remedies.
2. Endowments
Mention has already been made of the deed of conveyance by which the Mercers' Company was put in possession of Colet's estates in Buckinghamshire. There is also extant a will, executed somewhat later, in which, describing himself as "Citizen and Mercer of London", he bequeaths to the same body numerous lands and tenements in the metropolis, together with the School and Chapel.§ "The income of the property" thus made over was, "at the time of the foundation of the School, £118 4s 7¼d. The "present income", including £1,254, interest on consols, is stated at £9,549 16s 5½d. According to their own view, the Mercers' Company are beneficially interested in the surplus revenues of this property, after maintaining the School according to Dean Colet's ordinances. The correctness of this view depends on a question of law, upon which we cannot pronounce an opinion; but it is evidently most desirable that steps should be taken without delay to obtain a judicial decision on the subject. It is fair to add, that the Company have not exercised the power, which they suppose themselves to possess, of appropriating the surplus revenues, but have managed the property for many years past with a view solely to what they have considered the interests of the School. The enormous increase in value is itself evidence of a pure and diligent administration; nor do we conceive that better care would have been taken of the property by any other body to which Dean Colet could have intrusted it. We entirely agree in the remark of Chief Baron Pollock, that "his selection of a London Company (as Trustees) was very wise and sagacious".
3. Government of the School
It is to the Governing Body of the Company of Mercers, "that is to say, the Master and all the Wardens, and all the Assistance of the Fellowship",|| that "the care and charge, rule and governance of the School" are intrusted by Colet in his Ordinances. They are annually to "choose of their Company two honest and substantial men, called
*Dr. Colet's literary character is favourably sketched by Erasmus in a well-known epistle. In his own letter to Erasmus (the 12th in the 2nd Book of Erasmus' Correspondence) we find him lamenting his ignorance of Greek, and resolved to learn it, "quanquam jam provectus ætate et prope senex, memor Catonem senem Græcas literas didicisse". His Latin, though not inelegant, is censured by Erasmus as by no means free from grammatical faults. On the other hand, Erasmus looked up to Colet in the matter of theology. The Dean's views, it would seem, were more advanced in the direction of reformation than his own. See Erasm. Epist. ccccxxxv. an. 1519., col. 458, ed, 1703. In fact, he owed to the favour of the King (Hen. VIII) his escape from a prosecution for heresy.
†St. Paul's is mentioned by Erasmus as the best school then existing; he boasts at the same time that a certain pupil of his own "plus scire Latinitatis quam fuerit in ullâ scholâ, no Lilianam quidem excipio, triennio consecuturus".
‡The school reached its palmy state in the time of Dr. Sleath, to whose skill as a teacher its then flourishing condition is attributed by Canon Blakesley, himself one of the most distinguished of the Doctor's pupils.
§It is not true, as Carlisle states, that Colet "consecrated the whole of his very ample estate" to the support of St. Paul's School. He had large estates in Northamptonshire, which by another and later will he leaves, after the death of his mother, to relatives by the father's and mother's side. Knight's Life, Misc., No. xx. The school buildings, according to Antony Wood, had cost him £4,500.
||In 1833 there were one Master, three Wardens, and 31 Assistants of the Mercers' Company. - Herbert's Companies of London, vol. I, p. 228.
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the Surveyors of the School, which, in the name of the whole Fellowship, shall take all the charge and business about the School for that one year."
The powers of the two officers (now called the Surveyor Accountant and Surveyor Assistant) are not defined by Dean Colet further than by the direction that they are to enter the School on fixed days four times in the year, and then and there to pay the Masters their quarterly stipends. Once in the year they are to give the Masters "their livery in cloth", (now represented by an annual present of an academic gown), and at the same time to render their account to the "Master, Wardens, and Assistance of the Fellowship". The School has, properly speaking, no Visitor, nor are any powers of interference given by the Ordinances to the Surveyors, as such.
On the other hand, the Governing Body have full powers granted them, not only of interpreting the Ordinances, but also, with the advice of the "well-literate and learned men" before mentioned, to "add to and diminish from them," and "to supply" in them "every default, as time and place and just occasion shall demand." These powers were exercised on a large scale in 1602, when, with the advice of the Solicitor-General and another Counsel, a body of Amending Ordinances was drawn up by the Court of Assistants, doubling the stipends of the Masters and otherwise modifying the original Ordinances in conformity with the alleged requirements of the time. In particular, the office of Chaplain was abolished, and an "Under-Usher" appointed in his stead; and an important change was made in the disposition of the surplus income, which, instead of being placed, according to the Dean's old-fashioned direction, in a "coffur of iren", is henceforth to be "employed either in exhibitions to poor Scholars proceeding from Paul's School to the Universities, or else lent out to poor young men of the said Company of Mercers upon good security." We are not aware whether the latter alternative was ever acted upon, but the former remains in full operation at the present day.
Besides these "Amending Ordinances", of which we have received a copy, we are informed that new ordinances and regulations have from time to time been made in the mode and system of education, and the general management of the School and property under the authority of the original Ordinances. While they have largely added to the stipends of the Masters, the Court of Assistants appear to have made no change since 1602 in the statutable allowance of Dean Colet to their officers the Surveyors, who in effect perform their services for a nominal remuneration of £4. On the other hand, the customary allowance to the Assistants for attending Courts and Committees on the business of the School has been increased eightfold, and the expenses under this head amounted in 1860 to the considerable sum of £229 19s.*
4. Masters
In place of the High Master, Sur-Master, and Chaplain, of the original Ordinances, there are at present seven Masters - four Classical, one for Mathematics, and two for French. The present stipends paid out of the School revenues are as follows:
| £ |
| High Master | 900 |
| Sur-Master | 400 |
| Third Master | 320 |
| Fourth Master | 300 |
| Mathematical Master | 200 |
| French Master | 150 |
| Assistant French Master | 100 |
"In addition to the above, the High Master has the rents of two houses at Stepney, a residence for himself" contiguous to the School, "with rates, taxes, and repairs found him, and a gown every year." The other three Classical Masters have likewise residences, the rates and taxes of which are paid for them, and "a gown every year".
As the original number of eight classes fixed by the Founder has been retained to the present day, it follows that each Classical Master, the High Master included, has
*This charge attracted the attention of the Commissioners for Inquiring into Municipal Corporations in 1835. It then amounted to £287 14s, and the account they give is that, "many members were said to come from the country, and others to quit their business, whose loss of time is not compensated by the pay they receive." On which the Commissioners remark, that the payment "certainly appears, at least with regard to the latter class of persons, to militate against the rule that a trustee is not entitled to charge for his time and labour; and it is obvious", they add, "that if it amounts to more than a mere indemnity, it must have a tendency to produce an unnecessary multiplication of Courts and Committees." - Herbert's "Companies of London", vol. i, p. 277.
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the entire charge of two classes of from 15 to 20 boys each. This arrangement, we think, throws too heavy a burden upon the Head Master, who ought, undoubtedly as he himself urges, to have ample time for the general superintendence and occasional examination of the School. We think, therefore, that at least one additional Classical Master should be appointed, even if the present number of scholars and classes were not increased. All the Masters are now appointed by the Court of Assistants, and are removable at the pleasure of that body, who, on the other hand, are empowered by the Coletine Ordinances to pension at their pleasure a discharged or superannuated Master. According to the Ordinances, the Sur-Master was to be appointed by the High Master, and we have not ascertained at what time or for what reasons this power was taken from him. The Court, it seems, still enforce the somewhat antiquated rule that the Masters shall every year go through the ceremony of re-election. Each Master is "called in and informed that his place is vacant, and then he is asked if he wishes to apply for the vacant appointment; he retires, and in a few minutes he is called in, and is told that he has been appointed to the vacant appointment." We think that the Court might advantageously omit this not very graceful mode of asserting an indisputable right, and we are strengthened in this opinion by the fact that, in the time of the last High Master, Dr. Sleath, an unhappy feeling between him and the Governors arose in consequence of the practice in question. The High Master has no power to alter or modify either the original Coletine Ordinances or the regulations defining the system and course of study which have been subsequently made by the Court of Assistants; but he is left free to select the authors and editions of authors read in the School. "The Sur-Master and Assistant Masters have no voice, consultative or other, in the direction of the general studies of the School." We shall propose that a School Council be constituted at St. Paul's analogous to that which we have recommended in the case of all the other Schools which have come under our review, and comprising the existing staff of Classical Masters, one Mathematical Master, and one Master in each modern language, together with a Lecturer in Natural Science, whom we desire to see appointed and furnished at the expense of the Foundation with the requisite apparatus.
We find that in this alone of all the schools we have had to do with, no provision whatever is made for instruction either in Music or in Drawing. The objection that St. Paul's is a classical school will hardly, we conceive, be urged as a sufficient apology for this omission, or rather, perhaps, oversight on the part of the Governing Body. A German Master is also a desideratum in a school of this eminence, and a plan for introducing German into the School routine is proposed by a former Sur-Master. These additional Masters should be chosen by the High Master, who should also have the power of dismissing them; and we shall propose that he should hereafter resume the power conveyed by the original Ordinances of appointing the Sur-Master. We think, indeed, that the Court might advantageously extend to him the power of appointing and dismissing all the Assistant Masters, and we shall be prepared with a recommendation to that effect.
5. Number and Mode of Appointment of the Scholars
There is at St. Paul's no distinction between Foundationers and Non-Foundationers. Every boy is a scholar on the Foundation from the moment of his admission, and as such receives, in accordance with the intentions of the Founder, a perfectly gratuitous education. The number of the scholars has been always restricted to 153, the number fixed by the pious Dean, in memory, doubtless, of the miraculous draught of fishes recorded in the last chapter of St. John's Gospel. This quaint but innocent direction deserves the respect it has received; but we are by no means sure that equal care has been taken to carry out the Founder's intentions in their spirit. It is not clear to us that he contemplated or would have approved the mode in which the scholars are now appointed. The nomination of a scholar, whatever it may have originally been, has now become an affair of simple patronage.* "The scholars are nominated by each Member of the
*The directions to Lily, which are given at length in Knight's Life of Colet, p. 124, ed. 1, begin thus: "The Master shall rehearse these articles to them that offer their children, on this wise here following: If your child can read and write Latin and English sufficiently so that he be able to read and write his own lesson, then he shall be admitted into the school for a scholar. If your child, after reasonable season proved, be found here unapt and unable to learning, then ye, warned thereof shall take him away, that he occupy not our room in vain." Not a word is said, either here or in the Ordinances, of the necessity of a nomination by an Assistant, which indeed is allowed to be a quite recent innovation. If the Founder's directions had been carried out, the examination would have remained virtually, though not in form, competitive, as the words of Erasmus imply that it was during the lifetime of the Dean. No meaning short of this is conveyed by the words, Nec quosvis admittuut temere, sed delectus fit indolis et ingeniorum. It is instructive to compare with this the letter of Dr. Kynaston to the Surveyor Accountant. Correspondence and Reports, Appendix K.
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Court of Assistants in rotation, and they are admitted to the School by the High Master under the direction of the Surveyor Accountant." The examination to which the nominees are subjected is of the most elementary description, and does not even reach the standard fixed, in the original Ordinances, to say nothing of that higher standard which the altered condition of the times evidently suggests; and though we are informed that one distinguished Member of the Court has introduced an important improvement in the case of his own nominees, it does not appear that this enlightened example has been followed by others. It is not too much to say, that so far as regards the personal and intellectual fitness of its recipients, the benefits of a gratuitous education are conferred at haphazard, and with these benefits the chance, at least, of a handsome provision at the University. The contrast which this mode of appointment presents to the excellent and most successful system now in force at Eton and Winchester* is too obvious to need illustration; and, without instituting comparisons which may seem invidious, it is clear that in this respect the practice of the School falls as far short of the ideas and requirements of the present age, as the directions of the Founder rose above those of his own day.
We may even go further, and say that the present system of admission is positively injurious to the cause of education, inasmuch as it offers a temptation to parents to neglect the early training of their children; and we have it on the authority of the High Master that this temptation is but too often yielded to. "Some", he says, "are occasionally brought to us even twelve years old, utterly ignorant of the first elements of the commonest knowledge." And the evil seems to be a growing one. "Formerly the best boys came at 11 or 12 years of age, having previously had some good training; but now the case is reversed, and they either come a little younger, knowing nothing at all, or at the same age knowing little more; so that they must be taught their accidence." These evils are indeed but the natural result of the vicious system of nomination, and can only be cured by introducing some form of competition among the candidates for admission. We should prefer that such competition should be unrestricted, as it is at Eton and Winchester; but even in a modified form, it would be of great value; and in recommending the following scheme we are confident that we act in accordance with the intentions of the liberal and far-sighted Founder. Let two examinations be held annually, to be conducted either by two of the Masters, or by two paid examiners appointed for the purpose. On the occasion of each examination, let any member of the Court who may desire it, have the privilege of nominating two or three candidates, so as to provide a body of 50 or 60 candidates for each 10 or 15 vacancies. After the examination, let a list be formed of the candidates in the order of merit, those standing first on the list to be first admitted, and those who fail to obtain admission in the course of the half year to have one other chance, if their patrons choose to nominate them at the next half-yearly examination. This scheme to remain in force so long as the school shall remain on its present site. We suggest 11 as the minimum and 14 as the maximum age of candidates for admission.
6. Number of Classes - Promotion
In fixing the number of classes into which his 153 scholars were to be divided at eight instead of six, the usual number in the old Grammar Schools, Dean Colet probably conceived that he was introducing an important improvement. Whether a further subdivision is under present circumstances necessary or expedient may be doubtful, but provided that eight be retained as a minimum, it is clear to us that a full power of subdivision should be vested in the High Master, who alone can judge of the exigences of the School in this respect.
The classes, like those of most public schools, are counted from the first or lowest upwards. At Christmas 1861, the age of the youngest boy in the school was nine years and nine months, that of the oldest, who was seventh in the eighth or highest class, was 18 years and five months; while the youngest boy in the same class was little more than 14 years old. We observe a similar inequality in the ages of the boys in the seventh class, in which the greatest age is 17 years 2 months, the lowest only 13 years 6 months. The average age of the seventh is rather small in proportion to that of the eighth class. But in the middle part of the school the disparities are so great as to suggest the expediency of some strict rule as to the maximum age at which a boy should be permitted to remain in any class but the highest. We propose, accordingly, that no boy should be admitted into the fifth class after the age of 15, nor into the sixth
*We earnestly invite attention to the evidence of Drs. Goodford and Moberly on this head, and in particular to an extract from a printed pamphlet by the latter gentleman, which will be found in our Report on Winchester School.
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after 16; and that no boy should be allowed to remain in the School after he has passed the maximum age prescribed for the admission of boys into the class above that in which he is.
Such a rule, we conceive, is more imperatively called for at St. Paul's than at schools where the number is unlimited, and where no gratuitous advantages are enjoyed. If accompanied by a mode of admission more in harmony with the Founder's wishes, it would go far towards removing the languor and stagnancy which, from the evidence before us, appear to prevail in some parts of the school. We may add that in our opinion the minimum age of admission ought to be raised to 11 years, and that no boy should be admitted into the School unless he be fit to enter a class in which the maximum of age allowed does not exceed his own, nor any boy admitted at all who has not passed an examination similar to that indicated in our General Recommendations.
Promotion to a superior class depends, according to Dr. Kynaston, on proficiency in classical scholarship alone, no account being taken of mere seniority. He explains classical scholarship as including to some extent History and Geography. We recommend, as in the case of the other schools, that the conditions of promotion in the School be enlarged so as to include Arithmetic and Mathematics, and one modern language; and that it be determined partly by a special examination, and partly, as at present, by reference to the class marks. The principle of separate classes, and separate promotion in each branch, side by side with the general school promotion, as recommended for the other schools, is, we believe, a sound one, and we think it should be introduced at St. Paul's so far as it may be found practicable. We also think that when Drawing and Music Masters are appointed, every boy should, during some assigned portion of his school career, be required to receive instruction in one of these branches. We would not conclude this part of our subject without expressing our satisfaction at the efficient manner in which, according to the evidence, Arithmetic and Mathematics are taught in the School.
7. Prizes and Exhibitions
In respect of prizes and exhibitions no school in proportion to its numbers is better provided than St. Paul's. Of exhibitions annually disposable, there are:
1. One of £120 a year, tenable at any College in either University.
2. One of £100 founded by Viscount Campden, and tenable only at Trinity College, Cambridge.
3. One of £80 founded by Viscount Campden, and tenable only at Trinity College, Cambridge.
4. One of £30, tenable for seven years at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.
5. One or more of £50, tenable at either University.
"These are awarded strictly in accordance with the results of the Apposition Examination, in which the mathematical marks count in the proportion of one-third to the classical."
Dr. Kynaston makes the somewhat unusual, but in the present state of the School not, we believe, unfounded complaint, that the exhibitions are too numerous and too easily obtained. Certainly the principle of giving a boy an exhibition on the mere certificate of the examiners that he is not absolutely unfit to hold it is to us a novel one; and it must in our opinion tend to deaden competition, and defeat the object of giving a stimulus to industry, of which the givers of such prizes ought never to lose sight. The improved system of admission and promotion which we recommend would to a certain extent remedy the evil complained of; but we are clearly of opinion that in order to an effective competition the number of exhibitions awarded ought always to fall considerably short of the number of candidates. Without going so far as to say with Mr. Blakesley that at least "90 per cent of those who leave the School ought to go to the Universities", we agree with him that the proportion who at present go thither is smaller than it might fairly be expected to be in a School where the education is and ought to remain thoroughly, we do not say exclusively, academical. A system of vigorous competition for admission would rapidly raise the low proportion complained of, and at the same time restore the proportion between the candidates for exhibitions and the exhibitions competed for.
Of the annual exhibitions founded by private benefactors we observe that one of £100 a year can only be held at Trinity, while the holder of another of £30 which is tenable for seven years, must reside at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. In the interest of the School we think that both these should be made tenable at any college in either University, and we would suggest that the smaller of the two should be raised in value and made tenable for only four years.
The smaller exhibitions of £10 and £13 a year, payable at the same colleges and at St. John's, might probably with advantage be consolidated; but this is rather a question
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for the Cambridge authorities who have the disposal of them. In the present condition of the School we conceive that four annual exhibitions are fully sufficient, and that a larger number can only pro tanto [to a certain extent] do harm.
Before we leave the subject of exhibitions we notice two regulations, one of which is found to work ill in practice, while the other seems likely to be attended with needless hardship in particular cases. It is directed, 1. That in order to be eligible for an exhibition a boy must have been admitted to the School under 12 years of age. 2. That a scholar who has been deemed worthy of all exhibition, remain at the School until it is time for him to go up to the University. This latter rule is strongly reprobated by Mr. Carver, Head Master of Dulwich School, who was recently Sur-Master of St. Paul's, "The evil is felt especially by the Masters of the Upper School (both in the classical and mathematical departments) in the consequent postponement of our annual removes, and the delay thus occasioned in the commencement of our work for the ensuing year with the new draughts into our classes; but in its effects upon the boys themselves it is, I think, even more prejudicial, for it can scarcely fail to induce or encourage, at a most important period of their lives, those habits of listlessness and indolence which they will find it far more easy to acquire than to shake off again when once indulged."
In our opinion the rule should be at once rescinded, and the eligibility to exhibitions extended to all boys who have been admitted under 15. On the other hand we approve of the rule which obliges every scholar to leave the School on attaining the age of 19.
The prizes not in the nature of exhibitions are enumerated by Dr. Kynaston in his Answers. We have only to make the obvious suggestion that in case of the introduction of Natural Science, of German, and of Music and Drawing into the School course, prizes should be given every half year for proficiency in each of these subjects.
Besides prizes and exhibitions there is another class of rewards which requires notice. It appears from the table of expenditure that during the year 1860 the sum of about £160 was expended in gifts to former scholars on the occasion of obtaining certain emoluments or distinctions at the University, and certain supposed distinctions in public competitive examinations. Priâ facie it does not appear to us that this sum has been altogether wisely laid out. To bestow a sum of money upon a young man as a reward for having obtained a considerable addition to his income, as in many of the cases alluded to, is a proceeding the reasons of which are not self-evident, nor are we able to say that a 17th or 24th place in the Indian competitive examination appears to us to constitute a claim for the special consideration of the Court of Assistants. We are glad, however, to be informed that the subject of these rewards has already engaged the attention of the Governing Body, and that a scheme has been drawn up by one of its members, which will limit the future expenditure under this head. Quite irrespectively of the financial question, we think harm is done by any custom tending to produce the impression that mediocre attainments are viewed by the authorities of the School as a subject of complacency or congratulation.
8. Hours of School. Recreations
The school hours were fixed in the original Ordinances at from 7 to 11 and from 1 to 5. These eight hours have wisely been reduced to six, and the hour of assembling put off until nine. Afternoon school lasts from 2 to 4, winter and summer, the interval of an hour only being allowed between morning and afternoon school. But the long morning school is broken by an interval of a quarter of an hour. These hours have been fixed with a view to the convenience of day-scholars, who form the great majority of the school. The time for play, as will be seen, is very short: indeed the absence of anything deserving the name of a playground would prevent advantage being taken of it longer interval, unless indeed for walks in the city, to which there are obvious objections. The hours are probably as well arranged as under the circumstances they could be. We are glad to find that on half holidays, which occur twice in the week, the boys have the use of a part of Kennington Oval during the cricket season. While regretting that they have not fuller opportunities of outdoor recreation, we do not see how the defect is to be supplied so long as the school remains on its present site. The interval of an hour between schools is partly employed in luncheon or dinner, for which, in pursuance of Dean Colet's directions, no provision is made by the Company, though the High Master furnishes dinner to a limited number in his own house. The rest are left to seek it where they can, the Court declining to take any responsibility in the matter.
It does not appear that this system, or rather this absence of system, is thought satisfactory by the chief officials of the School. The best arrangement would probably be that all the boys should be provided with a mid-day meal on the school premises at a fixed
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charge, but this the character and limited extent of the buildings forbid. There is notoriously in St. Paul's Churchyard or the neighbourhood a great number of eating-houses and taverns of various degrees of respectability; and we should imagine that arrangements might be made with the keepers of some of these establishments for providing a certain number of boys with a suitable meal at a reasonable cost, and in a separate apartment. Such an arrangement might probably be made by the Head Master in conjunction with the parents of the boys, and without directly involving the Court of Assistants in a responsibility from which they shrink.
Similar remarks are suggested by the unsystematic manner in which boys from a distance are boarded. The Masters, it seems, following the example of the High Master, decline to take boarders in their houses, though not prohibited from doing so by the School authorities. The number of boys answering to the description of boarders forms but a small proportion (an eighth, according to one witness*) of the whole; but after allowing due weight to the argument founded on Dean Colet's Ordinances in favour of keeping St. Paul's in the main a day-school, these exceptional cases are not, we think, without a claim on the attention of the Governing Body. As the Prime Warden, Mr. Lane, observes, a parent who had a son at St. Paul's, and who happened to remove from the neighbourhood of London to a distant county, would probably be unwilling to take his boy from the School; and in that case "would be glad if he could place him in some recognized boarding-house". In past times the Masters exercised this right of taking boarders, who accordingly formed a substantial proportion of the entire School. The privilege was voluntarily surrendered by the present High Master for reasons highly honourable to himself; but as these reasons do not necessarily apply to the case of the other Masters, it seems not impossible that one or more of them might be induced to reconsider their determination. We purposely speak with reserve on this subject, being unwilling to recommend any measure which might limit or impair the usefulness of the School as a place of education for London boys; but we think that some at least of the difficulties suggested by the High Master, in his evidence, would not be found insuperable. We do not think that the proportion of boarders to day-scholars is likely ever to be very large, as there seems to be a growing disinclination on the part of parents in the country to send their sons to London for education. This consideration relieves us from the necessity of discussing the weighty remarks of the Bishop of Manchester, who entertains a strong opinion of "the advantage of boarders, to a certain extent, in a public school". The experience of such schools as Westminster and the Charterhouse affords a striking proof of the difficulty, at least in London, of forming arrangements equally favourable to both classes of boys.
9. Means of maintaining Discipline
The relations of boys to each other and to the Masters are of a much simpler kind in a day-school than in one consisting chiefly of boarders. We have, consequently, not much to say on the subject of the discipline of St. Paul's. There is a monitorial system, adapted chiefly to the end of preserving order and quiet in the school-room (an object of primary importance amid the din of St. Paul's Churchyard), but probably capable of development in other directions. The whole of the eighth class are monitors; they "have no power of inflicting punishment, except by placing a boy in the middle of the room, and that is understood more as a mark to catch the master's eye than as a punishment".
The power of punishment with a cane over the hand to the extent of six blows is possessed and exercised by every Master; but the use of the rod is unknown. This comparative mildness is the more commendable, as the "Schola Liliana" appears, in the time of Erasmus,† to have been the scene of much unnecessary severity; and even in the late Master's time the cane is said to have been applied with undue rigour and frequency. The impositions given are said not to exceed 50 to 100 lines; the practice of the school standing in this respect in favourable contrast with that of some of the other schools that have come under our notice. It is true, as the High Master remarks, that in a day-school "the really great offences seldom come under the eyes of the Master";
*Dr. Kynaston, however, thinks that there are not more than a dozen boys out of the 153 who are not London boys. Evidence, 505.
†See a passage from Erasmus, De pueris instituendis, quoted by Knight (Life of Colet, p. 175). The occurrence related - discreditable to all who took part in it - is not expressly said to have happened at St. Paul's, but the terms of the description leave no doubt that Colet and his masters were the actors in it: "Novi theologum quondam et quidem domestice, cujus animo nulla crudelitas satisfaciebat in discipulos, quum magistros haberet strenue plagosos." Then follows the anecdote, at the end of which the humane narrator asks: "Quis unquam ad eum modum erudivit mancipium, imo quis asinum?" Opera, t, i, col. 505, ed. Lugd. 1703.
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but we apprehend that the excessive impositions we hear of elsewhere are frequently set for offences of a secondary order, amounting to little more than those "breaches of school discipline" which at St. Paul's are successfully combated by much milder measures. The power of expulsion rests between the High Master and the Surveyor Accountant, but "in any grievous case" Dr. Kynaston "would suspend the boy, refer the matter to the Surveyor Accountant, and take his opinion whether he should be allowed to come back again". In the time of the present Master there has been "only one single instance of expulsion".
10. Religious Observances and Instruction
We have already mentioned the early abolition of the statutable office of Chaplain, and the conversion of that functionary into an Assistant Master.* The chapel itself was not restored after the great fire of London, which consumed the original Coletine buildings, and this was the less important, as its dimensions were small, and it does not seem to have been occupied by any but the officiating priest. From the first the religious observances required of the scholars seem to have been neither numerous nor burdensome.† The only observances prescribed are, 1. that every child on entering the school shall salute the child Jesus, an image of whom, well sculptured, stood at the upper end of the room; 2. that at the time of "sacring", (i.e., the elevation of the Host) in the adjoining chapel every child should remain kneeling upon his seat; and 3. that "thrice in the day prostrate they shall say the prayers with due tract and pausing as they be contained in a table in the school, that is to say, in the morning, and at noon, and at evening."
At present, according to the High Master, at the beginning and end of each school-time "Latin prayers are read by the Captain, two of which were written by Erasmus for the school."‡
The High Master is better able than we to judge of the effects of this practice. If, in his opinion, the prayers as now read are not impressive, we think that he should have full power to modify the order of proceeding.
The present religious teaching is considered by the High Master "very satisfactory". It comprises "Scripture lessons and Greek Testament lessons according to the boy's position in the school". As there is no chapel, there are no sermons; but the boys are not present at the school on Sundays, and for their religious education they must, therefore, be held to depend in a great measure upon their parents. Preparation for confirmation is supposed to be the care of their parochial clergyman, but Dr. Kynaston has taken this duty occasionally "if asked to do it". Boys of all denominations are admissible to the school provided they can produce a certificate of baptism.§
The Christian authors, Lactantius, Sedulius, &c., prescribed by the Dean, are no longer read in the school. On the other hand, it is singularly in accordance with his predilections that the Greek Testament should be studied, under intelligent guidance, by the elder boys; and this we regard as the most effective kind of religious teaching which can be given at a school circumstanced like St. Paul's.
11. Results
The number of boys leaving St. Paul's for the Universities is not more than six or seven annually (in 1862 it was only 5); of these by far the larger portion go to Cambridge, where between 1838 and 1862 the following distinctions of the first class were obtained by Paulines: 4 wranglerships; 9 classical firsts; 1 Norrisian and 2 Burney English essay prizes; 1 Members' prize (Latin essay); 1 Bell's University Scholarship; 2 Trinity Fellowships; 1 Clare, and 1 Queen's Fellowship; 12 Trinity Scholarships and 1 Trinity Minor Scholarship, besides numerous College prizes; 1 Foundation Scholarship at St. John's. At Oxford, during the same years, we observe 2 first-class men in classics, and 1 in mathematics at the final examination; and 1 first-class in each at Moderations;
*See above, Sections 1, 4. The name of Chaplain seems, however, still to linger in the school, as the customary title of the Third Master. Evidence, 395.
†Of Colet himself Erasmus says - "Cum apud Anglos mos sit ut sacerdotes fere quotidie faciant rem divinam, ille tamen contentus erat diebus Dominicis ac festis sacrificare, aut certe pauculis diebus extra hos: sive quod sacris studiis ... distineretur, sive quod comperiret se majore cum affectu sacrificare si id ex intervallo faceret." - Epist. ccccxxxv.
‡These two are quoted in a note to Knight's Life, p. 146, and are such as the strictest Protestant might use.
§A statement occurring in the vivâ voce evidence (146) "they are examined by Dean Colet's rules according to the catechism that was in existence in his time", seems to have arisen from a misapprehension. The High Master informs us that no catechism of the kind is now in use.
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1 Installation Greek verse prize, and 1 mathematical University Scholarship. To these may be added 1 open Fellowship (at Queen's), and 21 open Scholarships of various relative importance. In the list also appear prizes and distinctions obtained at Durham, at London University and King's Colleges, at Haileybury and Calcutta Colleges; 5 prizes at Addiscombe; 2 at Woolwich; one successful candidate for Engineers; 2 Indian, and 2 China Civil Service appointments. This list is respectable, and seems to prove that the system and mode of classical and mathematical instruction are sound. But we agree with the High Master in thinking that much more ought to be done. The paucity of Fellowships obtained at Trinity as co
