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    That Heaven -would bless me with a small estate , "Where I might find a close obscure retreat ; There , free from noise and all ambitious ends , Enjoy a few choice books , and fewer friends , Lord of myself , accountable to none , Bat to my conscience and my God alone : There live unthought of , and unheard of die , And grudge mankind my very memory . But since the blessing is , I find , too great For me to wish for , or expect of fate ; Yet , maugre all the spite of destiny , My thoughts and actions are , and shall be , free .

    We cannot conclude without congratulating Mr . Bell on the manner in . which-lie has performed Iris editorial duties . In this volume—as indeed in all the previously-pxiblished volumes of his English Poets—he shows himself to be thoroughly equal to the necessities of his honourable and arduous undertaking . His notes are simple , straightforward , and comprehensible . They are never unnecessarily introduced , and never distorted from their ^ t purpose of serving purely and simply as explanations . Mr . Bell thoroughly understands , -what it is not given to every editor to understand , that it is his business to address himself to the public at large and not to a select audience of antiquaries . " With such qualifications for the performance of his task , the undertaking in -which he is now engaged deserves success , and , vre . believe , will certainly ohtain it .

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    SCHOOL EXPERIENCES . School Experiences of a Fag at a Private and a Public School . By George Melly . Smith , Elder , -and Co . A circumstance occurred , not long ago , at Harrow , -which carried the whole System of public school life under discussion . A monitor had " caned " one of the younger boys vrith such severity , for a very minor offence , tbat the case was brought before the head master , who very properly decided that the monitor should leave the school at the end of the half year . The facts were very clear . The monitor had exceeded the bounds of his authority , and he suffered the only punishment that the rules of the school allowed of . But did it follow froiii this that the system was bad ? Had this one circumstance proved that it was dangerous to entrust a certain number of

    boys m a school with supreme authority over the rest , —or , even if monitors were found , essential to the maintenance of order , was it right to give the monitors the power « f " fagging" the other boys ? With only one exception , so far as we recollect , the press was unanimous in its decision that the whole system was thoroughly bad . A good deal was said about the tyranny 1 ' which a score or two of boys were allowed to exercise , and the public were strongly urged to crush it for ever . If this is really true , how does it happen that the testimony of the most eminent schoolmasters , and of almost every boy who has been at a public school , is in favour of investing monitors with very extensive powers , and that the complaints are made not against " fagging , " but against the abuse of it ? The truth , is , that life at a public school can never be properly understood except by those who have passed through it , and we are inclined , therefore , to attach the greatest weight to the evidence of one so competent tpjgivegan opinion as Dr . Abnom > , and of those who , like Mr . Meixy , supply us with a simple recordot their

    , fycfiooC Experiences . Every one knows what Dr . Aknouj ' s opinion was on both these disputed points . As soon as he was established at Rugby , he resolved " to use , and to improve to the utmost , the existing machinery of tbe Sixth Form ,. and of fagging ; understanding by tie SixthForm the thirty boys who compose the highest class— -those who , having risen to the highest form in the school , will probably be at once . oldest , the strongest , and the cleverest ; and , if the school be -well ordered , the most respectable in application and in general character : and by fagging , the power given by the supreme authorities of the school to the Sixth Form , to he exercised by them the lower b fothe sake of

    over ojs , r securing a regular government among the boys themselves , and avoiding the evils of anarchy , or , in other words , of the lawless tyranny of physical strength . " The public opinion of the day was strongly against him ; the system was denounced as cruel and absurd ; but he stood forth as its champion , persevered , and was successful . In his hands , the Sixth Form were more like colleagues than pupils . " When I hare confidence in the Sixth , " was the end of one of his farewell addvesses , " there is no post in England which I would exchange for this ; but if they do not support me , I mu-st go . " Indeed , without some such machinery no

    bead mabter could maintain his own authority . The only alternative is the appointment of a staff of masters for tlio special office of " -watching" the boys ; and as for " fagging , ' we do not hesitate to say that more nonsense has been written on the subject than on any other that we know of . It is not thus that the youngeT boys , as a general rule , aro *« bullied out of their lives , " nor that they feel humiliated by being compelled to obey their " monitor . " The state of the case is simply this : the monitor is bound to protect his " fug , " and tlio " fag" repays his protection by services which h < s rarely feels to bo burdensome . Hero is Mr . Melly ' Experience on the point : « - The subject of fagging at public schools hns lately elicited so many remarks , and oooupiod so much of the puWic attention , that I cannot bo content with merely leaning tho reader to gAthor such incidental details as may bo found in the preceding naaoa of ray School Experience . l tt

    I am , awure that Englishmen aro indignant , and roost rightly so , at all illogal violence and arbitrary exorcise of power . Not only does a mother ' s heart throb at too rcotoml of a story of schoolboy tyranny ; b = ut every honest mnn'u spirit ie roused fc * k T ™ * "" E * * ° * tho Htro « K prevail over tho right of the weak . AH who « avo tuo roeUnRTj of Englishmen , aro equally ready to onlint tho cohrmns of tho morn-^ nf ^ papera in defence of the oppressed lug , na to ruah to arms to succour an oppressed But ae ono swallow does not mnko a summer , neither ohoiild ono -well authonticatcd Twli ntrooiou « « "« o of monitorial power suffice to brand tho system with infcuny . aTnni ft , 8 WOAn J"dgoof life by our individual oxpnrienco of it—by tho Irialu wo fl « r « « Ji i T * » BW"w » - « x > ondi man judges of fagging by bin recollections of hia Of h y 8 > and thc im P r 0 Sf « o * » f *» a own youthful troubles . i , dik various public ami privnto schoole , which aro th « prido of thin country , oaoli ninft I ? , ? ^ i eOVW ? " ' th 0 dtoe ¥ 8 n « ©* © no would bo considered tyrannical or faat ~ « u , anomor ; tho enmo torma do not express tho saino ideas in all . The favourite

    game of one would be voted infra dig . in the other ; and cricket , football rackets hockey , or even marbles , may be considered " the thing" at one , and Tended , with contempt by otheTs . ^ tt Some schools seem to be preserved from all vice and irregularities fcy a scote of masters ; others appear to be trampled under foot by the tyranny and severe lickings « t > _/ hundred monitors ; while a few-keep -themselves free from the attacks of laterfamilias , " and "A Briton , " ana escape unreviled and unlauded ; being neither beld up to public admiration for their merits , nor to public odium for their faulte . "Xet it is possible that high moral principle and manly self-reliance might not exist in tae nrst , while moral energy , gentlemanly spirit , good feeling , might prevail in the second , and deplorable laxity and irregularity might characterise the third .

    I with difficulty restrain myself from replying to the abuse that has lately been lavished on the monitorial system , which hardly one of tie writers upon it seems to understand . But this is intended as a narrative , and I -wish to avoid controversy . ^" ampMet after pamphlet has been hurled at the devoted heads of the masters who have countenanced a system under ^ vhich they were born and bred , and which they found worked well with them . Nervous mothers , who were happy in the firm belief that their sons were being educated in the best schools of the land , both as to intellectual attainments , discipline , and real moral worth , have been alarmed : by appeals to their maternal anxiety , forwarded to them by post ; and an isolated instance of the brutal exercise of monitorial power has induced a fierce attack on the-whole internal

    government of tune-honoured institutions , which have educated , and are educating annually , thousands of young men , the elite of the nation . My aim is not to defend fagging , for truly I believe it to need no defence ; 1 > ut to show , from my own experience as a fag in one of our great public schools , and not the least of them , the working of the system : what we suffered , and how we bore it j the protection it afforded to our bodies when young , and to our minds when older . I must premise , that if fagging is ever to be temperately discussed , or its trials fairly described , it must be by those who , like myself , have not their remembrance of being fagged dimmed by the recollection of the pleasure of fagging others—by those who have endured all the servitude , and have never enjoyed the rule . During the five years I spent at Harby I was a fag for three years and a half , and remained one year and a half in an intermediate state—neither fag nor captain , —leaving school just a 3 I was about to enter the anonitorial class .

    What constitutes the difference between a public and a private school ? It is not the numbers , for many of our private schools contain two or three hundred boys . It is self-government . We admit and cherish the principle in every other relation of life , -why refuse to admit it here ? The British constitution is founded on the principle of local self-government , and the great value of a public school is its close resemblance to the outer world around it . At Harby we had our monitors—a local couu oil of forty ; our public meetings— -the rest of the school being often summoned to deliberate together ; our laws , made by the . majority and obeyed by all ; our taxes—and very heavy we found them ; our periodical press , amd very amusing it was . The . Sixth . Form at Harby was composed of about forty of the most learned , and the oldest members of the school ; many of them were almost men—none of them were youngei-than seventeen , and they were made fully to understand , -when they entered into that

    class , the grave responsibility of the duties intrusted to them to perform . They were to be in the capacity of gentlemen-ushers , with power to punish certain offences with certain penalties ; and , in the majority of . cases , without referring to the masters at all . Of course , in a matter of any importance , it -would be their duty to place the whole affair immediately before tie head-master of the school . In many cases they had to break -with friends who were too free and easy in their observance of school rules , and who were in the habit of disregarding those which prohibited a quiet cigar by the river side , or a bottle of champagne in the bedroom feast . In All oases they were in honour bound to esclew all such practices themselves , and to lead lives of such regularity in their studies and respectability in their conduct , as to set a good J 2 xajmp _ le _ to tbe school and to tlieir houses ; that they should be able to punish all Offences against school discipline , without rendering themselves liable to tho " et to quoquc" retort , " Why you do just the same yourself . "

    Their duties were numerous—they had to be constantly on the watch to prevent bullying and illegal fagging ; to be in turn on duty in the schools and out of bounds ; to road prayers , and keep order iu their own houses ; and—hardest task of all—tp keep well with thoir school-fellows : to be neither too lax and undignified as masters , nor too severe and arrogant as friends . And , in most cases , they succeeded admirably • the greatest favourites of tho school generally became monitors , and liardly a change was apparent in tlieir deportment and manners . If they were treated with , a little more rospect by the little boys , they made up for it by increased protection , and greater kindness than , as big boys only , they had been able to bestow .

    To repay them for the hard duty they undertook , and to recompense thorn for these sacrifices they made , they wora allowed to fag tho younger boys : subject to certain fixed rules , and restrained by many well-known customs . Their breakfasts wore made and laid out ready for tlvem in the morning , thoir studies -were kept clean and neat j their fires wore not allowed to go out for want of fuel in winter ; their flowers and plants were not allowed to wither for want of water in summer 5 their books wore carried to and from school in lesson timo j their wickets were pitched and fielded for in play hours ; their tea was made , and their bread toasted or buttered , in the evening ; their fluppors weio taken to their studies at night ; and thoir warm water , candles , lexicons , or novels , carried up to their rooms at bed-time .

    School-fagging consisted in " fielding out , " during practice hours , and scoring , or standing umpire at matches . Tho former -was mado much U 90 of by amateurs in tho monitorial clnsa , in order to form good cricketers to replace any of tho school eleven " who might leave ; in order that tho groat public school matches to come should maintain the Hftrboau reputation for cricket , unshorn of its , laurels , and untarnished iu its fame . Many a boy -with a sure eyo , a strong wrist , and a manly form , would wiuoh have preferred passing his leisure in lying on tho grassy elopes during the summer , and onjoying bucIi intellectual recreation aa tho prose of Alexandra Dumas or the pootry of Byron afforded 5 but the hoad of tho school had determined that ho should becomo a groat cricketer , and lio was dedicated to tho game . J > ay after day ho is fugged for hours . At first he dotcets being compelled to » tnnd up before a wiokot nnU dcfoiid it ( as well as hit ) legs ) from the hw iftly-dolivered bails of the hoad o-f tho eleven , aim ! tho professional bowlors ; but a few months after , he tics a blue silk ribbon round M # straw hat , and walks the pluy-frround in the enviable position of » member of tho school cloven , and m devoted to his quondam enemy tho bat .

    Tho postfi of scoter and ump-lro in the groat mutchou woro muol » nought after ; for then you commanded a good view of tho exciting g « mo , mixed with tho loadorH of tho HChool for a few hours , and afterwards coimtltutud yourself h ffr «« t crifcio ot all tlMt was well or ill dono ; imposing by your sunwrlor knowledge on your 1 « hs fn ^ god frwnas . But , with thefio exceptions , wo found crleket-fngKlnjr hard , v «** M work * VoV two conxecutivo hours , day after day , did tho now boy tpinrd the wiuk < -A , in tho not munmor afternoons ; and if hi » friondu ( for no cnuwy would Jnnke ho cruol a remark ) naid to him , "Why , you wi » soon got rid of fa ^ iiitf , «»< l v in ho K | lwl t 0 llBV « ,, r ? C <* aU about cricket , and how to piny well" —he mitf M . well havo «« HWorcd , " A l > la « k dose may euro yon of an iiidigc » ti < m , and mnlic you bettor ofUirwardu , and tho tasto is Boon out of your mouth 1 but that doos not mnko it plcwwwtor to take . Iiowovor , if you in any way < U »« lingwi » U yourBolf , you tvoro inatunUy free , and couW not bo fugged ngnin tho saino dny 1 indwd , fow bays in thoir second or third huW

    Untitled Article

    October 7 , 1854 . ] THE LEADER . 951

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 7, 1854, page 951, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2059/page/15/