CHAPTER I.INTRODUCTION.
It is now nearly half a century since, full of hope and spirits, I made my appearance at Winchester College, when I entered the gates, proud of my position as the junior Wykehamist; and more than forty years have elapsed since I doffed my gown, and stepped forth into the outer world.
Times have changed since then, and perhaps in no place are the changes more marked than in the old school. I was there at a remarkable period, as, during my residence, important and much required improvements and alterations were commenced in the system of internal economy, discipline, and education, which have continuallyadvanced to the present day, till at last, in the opinion of some who are well fitted to form a judgment, the operation has been so roughly carried on, that, together with the customs that required extirpation, some institutions have been rooted up which might as well have been allowed to remain.
Among the more beneficial changes I may mention the amelioration of the fagging system, from which many of the asperities were removed while I was in the position most capable of appreciating the benefit, and which since my departure has been still further improved. I consider mitigated fagging a valuable institution, and I think on this subject I can speak with authority, as when I entered I was junior in College, and during the whole five years that I was there I was always a fag, never having sufficiently advanced in the school to taste the sweets of power. When I went to Winchester the life of a junior was not made very pleasant to him for the first year or two. I attribute this principally to thefollowing causes:—First and foremost, to the brutality of one or two boys; if any such now exist, as there were in my time, (which I doubt,) their opportunities and power of cruelty are so curtailed, and the feeling against such proceedings both abroad and in the school so much stronger, that their evil influence is reduced to a minimum. Secondly, to the monstrous system of fagging at dinner-time, and the atrocities therewith connected; the whole of which has been absolutely done away with. And, lastly, to the unlimited extent to which watching out at cricket, and kicking in at football, was carried; the former of which has now been reduced within reasonable limits, and the latter entirely abolished.
Some of my friends have expressed themselves amused with such of my school experiences as I have occasionally recited to them, and have from time to time urged me to publish them. I do not think I should ever have carried out the suggestion, had not circumstances occurred which induced me, in 1860, to take up my quarters atWinchester for some weeks, when I was naturally led to frequent my old haunts; and this brought many long-forgotten scenes, thoughts, faces, and words so vividly to my recollection, that I found a real pleasure and interest in noting them down. Whether any one will take either pleasure or interest in reading my notes when published, is perhaps doubtful; yet I know that, when I was a boy at College, we were eager for any information about the former manners and customs of the old place; and it is to the boys especially that I address myself; and I hope that if this little book falls into the hands of any of the juniors, they will derive some comfort from the thought that although they may consider their own lives rather hard, others have passed through far severer trials than theirs, unscathed, and can yet look back to the time of their juniorship with interest and regret. If I fail in interesting them it must be my own fault, as, whatever my deficiencies in style and expression, I cannot plead want of knowledge of my subject; I thinkalso that I am impartial; I respect my old school, and if I had boys, and could get them into it, I would send them there; but I am not the least inclined to cry it up at the expense of other similar establishments, of which I have had no experience. I am certain, however, that there is no school where, at the present day, the authorities take a more personal and careful interest in the moral and physical wellbeing of the boys; and this is rendered more practicable at Winchester than at most other public schools, owing to the number being limited to about two hundred, instead of being allowed to expand till it becomes rather a cluster of small schools than one solid establishment.[1]
If any of my own contemporaries ever glance over these pages, I hope they will experience a pleasure in having some scenes brought again before their minds’ eye with which they were once familiar, but of which the remembrance had becomefainter and fainter, as they have gradually been shadowed over by the duties and struggles of after-life; though I fear that any such satisfaction will be damped by the feeling of how much better they might have been described by an abler pen.[2]I cannot expect that my book will be noticed by anybody except Wykehamists, yet, in case it should ever attract the notice of any one who is altogether unacquainted with Winchester, I have given a description of the geography of the buildings (in chap, ii.) and the institutions of the school, lacking which the book would have been entirely without meaning to them;—all such dissertations the Wykehamist will, of course, skip. I have, however, omitted giving any account of the history, antiquities, and architecture of the College, all of which have been amply described in several workswith which Wykehamists are very well acquainted, and which others can easily procure if they desire any such information. I simply propose as my task some account of the inner life of the boys as it was, “Consule Planco,” illustrated by a picture of the trials and amusements of a junior.
As I remarked above, I think fagging on the whole a laudable institution. Some of the stories here related may not perhaps seem to put it in a very pleasant light; but it must be remembered always, that it is much mitigated at present, and also that, in a light and somewhat gossiping production like this, there is more movement and life in such anecdotes than in a relation of the ordinary kindnesses shown by the bigger to the lesser boys; certainly, I have a more lasting general recollection of benefits received than of cruelties suffered; and in after-life, in the rough struggles of the world, happy is he who has gone through such a training. Here there is no tuft-hunting—wealth and rank have little influence, if the heart is not open and hand skilful. A boy learns to help himself,not to be disheartened in difficulties, and to be prepared for any emergency; and withal a keen sense of honour, friendly rivalry, and patriotic feeling, is continually kept in action. Commend me in a row, moral or physical, to your public schoolman: in the former case, he will very probably be endowed with the judgment, decision, and self-reliance so necessary in such an emergency; and in the latter, he will be likely to stand firm, and know the use of his left hand as well as his right, and when, where, and how to bring both into play.
Plan of Winchester College 1835-40
Plan of Winchester College 1835-40
Plan of Winchester College 1835-40