“Continuo auditæ voces, vagitus et ingens,Infantumque animæ flentes in limine primo.”In the year 1821, Southey thus wrote of one of the playmates of his own childhood:—“The eldest son was taken from the Charter House because he was, literally, almost killed there by the devilish cruelty of the boys. They used to lay him before the fire till he was scorched, and shut him up in a trunk with sawdust till he had nearly expired with suffocation. The Charter House, at that time, was a sort of hell upon earth for the under boys. He was of weak understanding and feeble frame.”[46]I own the value and the force of the traditions of a school. I know that they cling to places, and are not easy to transplant; but, were I aCharter House boy, after reading such a passage as this, I should feel that I drew a freer, as well as a purer, air on the open downs above Godalming, than in the old buildings near Smithfield.In the instruction that was given there had been but little general improvement. The old classical education was, no doubt, in many ways admirably well suited for boys who were quick at languages. But it made the dull ten times as dull as they came from nature, and marked down many a lad as a hopeless blockhead whose good parts were merely overwhelmed by the gross ignorance of his teachers. Pedantry, scarcely less than penury, can freeze the genial current of the soul. If the fools and blockheads could only once gather their poor wits together, and only once give their thoughts utterance, what a tale of wrong would they pour forth against the brutal and ignorant pedants who had, in their childhood, puffed out the far too feeble light which had been given to light them through the world.Bad, indeed, was the general state of education when Rowland Hill set up for its reformer—so bad that it almost excuses the audacity of the young enthusiast. His audacity, certainly, was almost boundless. “We must honestly confess,” his eldest brother and he say, in the volume which they published on education, “that we retain hardly a single opinion relating to any part of our profession which we held in early life. One by one we have surrendered them all to the force of experience.” He was but twenty-five at most when he wrote this, and all the wisdom of our forefathers he had already scattered to the winds. With some reason did one of his pupils say, “There was a great want ofreverence for authority in his school. There was no respect for the opinion of the great and good men of all ages—thatconsensusof opinion.” In his old age, Rowland Hill described his career as a schoolmaster as a series of experiments. In the years when he was making his greatest changes, and striking out into the newest of paths, he had, as he himself said, no misgivings as to his fitness for his post; and yet it was not till after this time that he so painfully found out how little he knew, and how much he had still to learn. He had, however, this ground for his confidence, that all his plans did work. In the midst of his boldness he was still cautious. He had a horror of failure, and a strong but wholesome dread of that ridicule which awaits the mere dreamer. Many might well have thought that such a school as he described could scarcely have existed even in Utopia, and yet it flourished in Birmingham.It was in the year 1822 that the two brothers brought out their work on Public Education.[47]Part of it had been written, at all events, as early as 1818. The plans, so far as the government of boys is concerned, are almost all Rowland’s; the composition of the work is mostly Matthew’s. Fanciful though it often is, dogmatic, and even arrogant in places, yet it can still be read with pleasure and with advantage by those who take an interest in education. The young schemer was, indeed, fortunate in finding in his eldest brother a writer who could throw over his plans the charm of a lively and asingularly clear style. In this work is set forth a complete scheme for the government of a large school. From the best method of cultivating the heart and the head, down to the pettiest details of every-day life, all is considered, and for all provision is made. Here it is shown how out of almost any boy, however unpromising he may at first sight seem, can be made a good man and a good citizen. Here, too, is laid down a plan for drying school-boys’ wet shoes. The brothers, one and all alike, had the fullest trust in their system. “Even if they had never made a penny by it,” said one who knew them well, “they would still have tried to carry it out. They were like ministers of religion who were, indeed, paid for their ministry, but who, nevertheless, taught their dogmas as a matter of conscience.” The founder was for many years confident that his system could be worked by others, if only they took it up with understanding and zeal. He looked forward to the time when he should see great colleges on the same system spring up in all parts of the country, to the almost boundless advantage of his fellow-men. He has since been heard to confess that having, after long years, looked into his code of laws, he thought it far too complex. He added, with a smile, that he greatly doubted whether he should send his own son to a school conducted on such a complicated system.[48]In truth, even before he had given up school-keeping, he had found out the need of greater simplicity, and had cleared away much of the machinery which he had so laboriously constructed.In the preface to the first edition, the brothers state:—“Having satisfied our minds that our general theory was correct, by a long course of experiments, and by the acquiescence of those who are so much interested in a careful, and even rigorous, examination of our plans, we have latterly proceeded without the trepidation which at first attended us at every step, and rendered the task of reducing the convictions of our minds to practice, a tedious and painful operation. We now feel our system to be sufficiently matured for public inspection—not that it is incapable of infinite improvement. We are far from pretending to a state of perfection; that we should belie daily by the changes which we still find it expedient to introduce. But there is a wide difference between alterations which proceed from the adoption of new principles, and those which are in furtherance of old ones. The latter will become gradually more and more minute, until they cease altogether to effect any of the important features.”We may once more be tempted to smile, as we read of the long course of experiments carried out by a young man who was but five-and-twenty. It is not, however, by years but by labour that life is rightly measured. Rowland Hill at a very early age had come into the only inheritance which he was ever to receive—man’s inheritance of labour and sorrow. He had seen, it is true, but five-and-twenty summers. Yet far distant must have seemed to him the time of childhood’s careless years. He had begun to labour early, and into every hour, into every day, into every year, he had got the work of two. How much he had already done is shown by one of his father’s letters to his brother Matthew, dated April 24th, 1823. Well-nigh broken down by work, the young man had gone up to London to seek rest by a change of scene:—“I hope change of place and your good company will be of service to our beloved Rowland. You are aware that his indisposition originates in his intense application to the business of the school,and I think it particularly excited by anything which draws hard upon his inventions; I therefore suggest that the discussion of new plans is not a desirable subject of conversation.... I most ardently wish that the dear lad could reflect more on the much that is effected than on the little that may remain in the state of a desideratum. If we can maintain our present position—and surely it is far easier to preserve than to gain—if we can do this, we have enough to make us very proud and very happy. I do hope that improvements will for awhile be entrusted to that quiet operation of time and experience which will slightly tax the mental powers of one who has done a life’s work in less than half the years he may fairly hope to pass in usefulness, and who must not be suffered to be worn out prematurely.”This letter was found a few years ago, and was shown to the aged man who, after his long life of usefulness, had at last entered upon that period of rest from which he was never to be roused again. It so chanced that I called on him soon after he had seen it. I have this note of my visit:—“He spoke with great emotion of the hard work and anxieties of his youth, and said that he had broken down several times before he gave up the school. He and his brother Matthew used constantly to talk over school matters—too much so by a great deal. He had been lately shown a letter written by his father, saying that he was going to London for a holiday, and that not a word must be said to him about business, for he greatly needed rest, and had already done the work of a life-time. ‘And so I had,’ my uncle said to me, with a voice broken with emotion.”[49]If any still smile at the young man’s “long course of experiments,” surely it will be with a smile of kindly pity and not of contempt. The trepidation which we are told attended the youthful reformer at every stepis, I fancy, a rhetorical flourish of Matthew’s. There was but little trepidation in Rowland Hill at any period of his life. In his early years his daring would have seemed in almost any other man the most overweening rashness. But, as I have already said, he knew what he could do, and always kept well within his powers.The first mention of his new system in his Journal is as follows:—“Soon after Midsummer (1816), I established a Court of Justice in the school. The judge is chosen monthly by the boys. The sheriff and the keeper of the records are chosen in the same manner. The attorney and solicitor-general are appointed by me. The judge appoints the inferior officers, as the clerk and crier of the Court, the constables, etc. The jury consists of six boys, chosen by ballot, from amongst those who have not for the last month disgraced themselves by appearing on certain bad lists, or by being convicted of any disgraceful offence. All evidence is taken, even that of the parties themselves. No oaths are administered, as we wish to impress the boys with the conviction that it is criminal to tell falsehoods at any time and in any place. The assizes are appointed to be held once per week; but it sometimes happens that there are no offenders. The sheriff keeps a book in which he enters all the sentences, which are generally the forfeiture of premial marks, a certain number of which entitle a boy to a holiday. If a boy cannot pay the marks, he is imprisoned in a large wooden cage, at the rate of one hour for five marks. The greatest number of offences are leaving school without permission and before the tasks are completed.... If a boy pleads guilty (as most of them do), his punishment is always lessened one-sixth; but the prisoners are never asked whether they are guilty or not, that they may not be induced to tell lies. The sheriff always presents his book to me for my signature to each sentence, and I have the power of mitigating and pardoning. I never yet have had cause to find fault with a single verdict of a jury or sentence of a judge; and I have found that these trials, besides saving my father and myself a deal of trouble in deciding disputes and investigating offences (for the Court tries civil as well as criminal causes), have very considerably lessened the number of offences. I believe (and I have good opportunities of becomingacquainted with other schools) that our boys are by far the most moral set I ever was acquainted with. This circumstance may, I think, in a great measure be attributed to these and some later regulations.”Whether the cage was at any time in public view I do not know. Before long, however, he and his brothers came to see how much harm is done by exposing a boy to public shame, as is shown by the following passage in the second edition of Public Education:—“Confinement, and disability to fill certain offices, are our severest punishments;—public disgrace, which is painful in exact proportion to the good feeling of the offender, is not employed, and every measure is avoided which would destroy self-respect. Expulsion has been resorted to, rather than a boy should be submitted to treatment which might lead himself and his schoolfellows to forget that he was a gentleman.”A few months later on he gave his pupils—what many a ruler has since given his people—a Constitution:—“I have long thought that the system of representation might be introduced with advantage into the government of a school; and soon after Christmas (1816), with my father’s approbation, I drew up a set of resolutions, which were unanimously passed at a general meeting of the school, appointing a mode of electing a committee for the management of the school. They have the direction of everything except the school hours and the quantity of work to be done. We were afraid then of entrusting them with the regulation of these things, but the committees have acted so very properly, and have showed so decidedly that they are fit to be entrusted with power, that I think no inconvenience would arise from their having the power to appoint the school hours and the work to be done in the school; however, they show no wish to be entrusted with such power. The committee is chosen monthly in the following manner:—We have a list of all the boys, which is arranged once per month according to general superiority.... The boy who stands at the top of this list names a committee-man; the two next boys name another; the three next a third, and so on. If there is not the exactnumber of boys at the end of the list to form a division, they are reckoned with that above. The election is by ballot. By a resolution passed at the first general meeting, all the teachers, with the exception of my father, are to be members of the committeeex officio; but I am the only teacher who ever attends the meetings of the committee, as we do not wish to mix too much aristocracy in the government of our little community. After a bill has passed the committee, it is presented to Mr. Hill for his approbation, without which it is not considered as a law. It is then read aloud in the school-room by the president of the committee, between certain hours of the day, and posted up against the wall for at least three days. My father has never yet found it necessary to refuse his approbation to a single law. The committee is obliged by the laws to meet at least once per week; sometimes it assembles oftener than that. They appoint the officers of the Court of Justice, who were before appointed by the whole school. We derive many advantages from this form of government in the school. One advantage, and that not an inconsiderable one, is that it teaches the boys the manner in which public meetings ought to be conducted; a species of knowledge in which, if we may judge from some late specimens, the present generation is particularly ignorant. But the effect of most importance attending this mode of governing is that it has the best effect upon the morals of the scholars. Of course the committee will consist of boys whose age or superior acquirements give them a lead in all the affairs of the school; and it is of the utmost importance that these boys should lead the others the right road, and not astray, as is too frequently the case. Now they feel themselves under some obligation not to break those laws which they themselves have assisted in enacting, and the scholars cannot complain that the laws are too severe, because, either in their own proper persons or in those of their representatives, they must have assisted in passing them. The consequence has been that, since things have been so constructed, we have gone on much more pleasantly to all parties than before.”About the same time that the Constitution was granted, a Benevolent Society was formed amongst the boys:—“In February last (1817) my father advised the boys to raise a subscription among themselves to be applied to benevolent purposes; and, that they might not become too soon tired, he recommendedthat they should subscribe small sums. They immediately entered into his views with great spirit; the names of subscribers were set down, and a general meeting was called for the next day. At this meeting resolutions were entered into for the regulation of the Society, and a committee, consisting of seven boys, was elected to dispose of the funds. The committee meets once per week. A general meeting is held once in every month to receive the report of the committee, to elect a new one, pass the accounts, &c. I was elected treasurer, and still keep the office. The weekly subscriptions amount to rather more than five shillings; donations and forfeits generally make it up to about six shillings. The boys have been able to relieve many poor families with bacon and potatoes, or bread. I consider everything of this kind as doubly advantageous, because at the same time that the distressed are relieved, the attention of the boys is directed in a good channel. It finds them something to do and to think about. Boys will be acting, and if they cannot do good, they will do mischief.”[50]In the autumn of the following year further reforms were carried out:—“October 10th, 1818.—A few weeks ago the following law was passed by the committee:—“‘Resolved—That on the same day as that on which the judge is appointed, a magistrate shall be elected in the same manner (that is by ballot). This officer shall have the appointment of the constables, who shall be under his direction. These officers shall constitute the police, and their duty shall be the detection, and, in some cases, the punishment of crime. The magistrate shall levy all penalties not exceeding ten premial marks, and decide disputes respecting extra work, games, &c., the parties having the right of appeal to a teacher, or to the Court of Justice; but, if the appellant should be unsuccessful, the punishment shall be doubled. In cases which, from their importance, do not come under the cognizance of the magistrate, he shall order the attorney-general to bring the offending party to trial at the next assizes.“‘The magistrate may hold his court in any part of the school premises, and if any one shall refuse to attend, either as culprit or witness, after having received a verbal or written order, from the magistrate in person, or from either of the constables, he shall subject himself to the fine of twenty premial marks. Any one thinking himself unjustly detained by the magistrate or his officers, shall have his action for damages, to be assessed by the jury. It shall be considered the duty of the magistrate to examine into every offence, and punish the aggressor as early as possible after the offence is committed. If the magistrate shall neglect his duty (that is to say if any offence shall come to the knowledge of a teacher which has not been punished within a proper time by the magistrate), it shall be considered the duty of the committee to remove him from his office. But if the magistrate shall go through his duty to the satisfaction of the committee, the master shall be requested to reward him with permission to give to any number of his schoolfellows, not exceeding six, an afternoon’s holiday, which he may enjoy with them. The magistrate may also reward his constables, by giving to each of them an afternoon’s holiday, and the privilege of choosing either one or two schoolfellows to enjoy it with them. When the magistrate shall be absent from school, he shall appoint a deputy, for whose acts he shall be responsible.“‘This appointment of a magistrate has saved me a deal of trouble in punishing slight offences and deciding disputes. It appears quite to have put a stop to a practice which before we never found it possible to check—namely, that of throwing stones. Indeed, it is a very great improvement in the management of the school, as from the nature of the magistrate’s reward, every one is interested in his performing his duty as much as possible to the satisfaction of the master. Another improvement in the discipline of the school is a regulation made a few months ago, which is that when a boy above the age of twelve leaves the school, a subcommittee is appointed to draw up his character, subject to the revisal of the general committee, after which it is entered in a book kept for the purpose, and read aloud before the whole school. This law has had an excellent effect upon all; but particularly upon the elder boys. It is generally the case at schools that, a short time before a boy is about to leave, he finds his character at school to be less and less important as the time for his leaving approaches, the consequence of which is that he becomes careless about it, and gives a deal of trouble to his teachers. But with us the case is exactly reversed: as the time for leaving approaches, the boy is aware thathis conduct will have a greater and greater effect upon the character he is to leave behind him, and his behaviour is accordingly better each day till the time of his removal arrives.’”The next entry on the subject of reforms in the school is dated July 11th, 1820:—“It is now more than six months since I made any entry in this Journal; during that time I have been engaged in business almost incessantly. I have introduced many improvements into our system lately, the most prominent of which is the adaptation of music to our evolutions. The boys form in classes, march to their places, to their meals, to bed, down in the morning, &c., to music; the consequence of which is that every movement is made in one-half of the time it formerly occupied, and with one-tenth part of the noise. Another advantage is the great practice it gives to the band, which now plays nineteen times a day, without the least injurious effect to the health of the performers, as they are engaged but for a minute or two each time.“I believe I have before mentioned that we have been enabled to abolish corporal punishment in the school; but as I then looked upon it as an experiment, I could not speak so confidently of the result as I now can. It is nearly two years and a-half since the experiment was first tried, so that I now think it decisive. The result has far surpassed my most sanguine expectations. Since its adoption the plan has at various times received many improvements. A detailed account of it may be seen in a work we are now preparing for the press, which contains a complete description of our system of government in the school. All that is here necessary for me to say is, that every punishment consists in the forfeiture of counters, which are the currency of the school, and which are obtained by excelling in the different classes, by filling various offices, but principally by work which is done out of the school hours. The system is so arranged that the boys are induced to perform these tasks before the fines are incurred, so that while they are thus engaged they have not the disagreeable feeling that they are working for punishment,—therefore the work is performed with pleasure. Our object in instituting this plan was to remove the disagreeable necessity of corporal punishment: this we have completely accomplished; but, in effecting that, we have derived advantages which were not anticipated, and which are still more important.“These counters can be obtained by work of almost everydescription, done at any time; and there is no one scarcely who is either so deficient in talent or so indolent, but that some occupation can be found in which he will engage with pleasure. [His father, ten years before this, had written, ‘Those who do anything may, in almost all cases, perhaps in all without exception, be brought to do useful things.’] Indeed, there have been repeated instances of boys who have entered the school with the worst of characters for idleness or for stupidity, who, having been induced by example to engage in some pursuit which they could follow with pleasure and with credit, have thus acquired a taste for excellence which has extended to other things, and have ultimately risen to a very respectable rank in the school. In short, this has become the most important part of our system. The school is now, as it were, a little world. The counters are our currency; trades and professions of various kinds, from the improvisiatore and banker to the musician, punch-keeper,[51]and serving-man are carried on among us. Here may be seen the boy of talent exercising his ingenuity to obtain opulence by the most speedy and effectual means, engaged, perhaps, in the construction of some curious and difficult model, or in rendering into English verse the poetry of his favourite author of antiquity; there the industrious boy may be seen who, already rich, from the love of wealth or the love of riches, is plodding on to increase his stores; and, alas! not unfrequently may be seen the little bankrupt, asking the charity of his friends, or parting with his last marble to save himself from the terrors of a gaol.“Indeed, the whole machine of the school (for such is the regularity of our proceedings that the appellation is not misapplied) is now become so very perfect that we are able to appropriate every minute of the day to its respective use; and the bells ring, the classes assemble, break up, take their meals, &c., with such clock-like regularity that it has the appearance almost of magic.“I believe I may say that by far the greater part of the system is my own, and I am not a little proud of its effects.... The school is certainly at this time in a very high state of improvement. Our annual exhibition, which took place about the middle of June, gave very great satisfaction to the audience, and considerably raised the character of the school. The performances consisted principally of the whole of the ‘Rudens’ of Plautus and Miss Edgeworth’s‘Eton Montem.’ For this exhibition I painted a new back-scene; it is a view on the sea-coast.”In November, 1821, he records:—“About two months ago I persuaded the teachers to agree to devote one evening in the week to the consideration of improvements to be introduced into the proceedings of the school. We meet every Saturday, from seven till ten in the evening, and great benefit has already been derived from the regulation. My principal object in effecting this was to have an opportunity of operating on the minds of the teachers themselves; and I find that this has been done to the advantage of us all.”“No chance visitor,” I have been informed by one who knew the school well, “had on that evening the slightest chance of seeing any of the family. The boys,” he added, “dreaded the conference of teachers, from the effect it had on them. It kept everything in such excessive rigidity.”“March 10th, 1823.—I find the conference a most powerful engine. It is true that I have given up to it much power which I previously possessed, but this, perhaps, is more a nominal than a real sacrifice, and I believe myself to be so true a friend to liberty, as to like to see others exercise power as well as myself; and this, I think, few liberty men can say.”The Journal affords, however, but an imperfect record of this active little commonwealth. It is in “Public Education” that the constitution and its working are described at length. Their chief aims are thus briefly summed-up in the following passage:—“The great features of the object we have in view will have been already appreciated, we hope, by the intelligent reader. We shall be disappointed if he have not already discovered that by the establishment of a system of legislation and jurisprudence, wherein the power of the master is bounded by general rules, and the duties of thescholar accurately defined, and where the boys themselves are called upon to examine and decide upon the conduct of their fellows, we have provided a course of instruction in the great code of morality which is likely to produce far more powerful and lasting effects than any quantity of mere precept.”Undoubtedly the part of the system that would at first sight most strike an outsider was the power that was placed in the hands of the boys. Arnold and his government through the sixth form were, as I have said, still unknown. His sixth-form boys, moreover, were not elected by their schoolfellows, as they would have been on Rowland Hill’s plan. He was, indeed, to no small extent, bound down by the traditions—thelex non scripta—of Rugby. But it was by an unwritten law—a law that was nowhere strictly defined—that his power was limited. The boys of Hill Top and Hazelwood had a constitution that had not grown, but had been deliberately made. A few years after it had been promulgated, a Code of Laws was published, which filled more than a hundred pages of a closely-printed volume. It opens thus:—“ORIGIN OF THE CONSTITUTION.“Convinced that numerous and important advantages would be derived from engaging their pupils in the consideration and in the practice of rules for their own government, from placing restrictions to the powers of the teachers, and from giving to the regulations of the school a permanent form, the proprietors, early in the year 1817, proposed to the school a certain division of powers, together with regulations for their exercise, which, having received the joint assent of teachers and pupils, became the constitutional laws of the school; and, in the confident expectation that the powers placed in the hands of the pupils would never be employed but for the welfare of the school, the proprietors pledged themselves not to alter these laws without the consent of a majority of the proprietors and regular teachers, meeting in conference, on one hand, and of a majority ofthe pupils on the other. With such joint consent, occasional alterations have been made in the constitutional laws, tending chiefly, if not entirely, to throw more and more power into the hands of the pupils.”Fanciful as this may seem, yet for many years the school was carried on strictly in accordance with the provisions of this Code, and carried on with great vigour and spirit. The boys, for the most part, entered with eagerness into the system, and went through their part in it with zeal. In an old letter I read that one day the Committee met before breakfast for the despatch of some important business. A motion was made, and carried almost unanimously, that they should proceed with the business without regard to school-time, play-hours, or meals. It was not till eleven that the work was finished and the Committee adjourned. A jury, trying a charge of theft, deliberated over its verdict from before noon till after eight at night. The “School Magazine” records: “The jury during this time suffered considerably, both from cold and hunger, having had nothing to eat from breakfast, at nine, till after the verdict was given.” In nine years nearly six hundred cases came before the Court; out of these there were but nine appeals to the Committee, which formed the Higher Court.The part of the system which in my judgment is most worthy of study is that to which its founder gave the name of “Voluntary Labour.” So highly did he himself think of it that he always reckoned it among the three inventions on which he might chiefly pride himself. The other two were his Printing Press and his Penny Postage. In an extract that I have given from his Journal,[52]this device is partly explained. In“Public Education” it is described at length: there we read:—“The favourite subjects seem to be working the printing-press; penmanship of various kinds; drawing, etching, and painting; constructing maps, making surveys, and delineating mathematical diagrams; reading books on which they prepare themselves for answering questions; studying music; modelling animals and constructing machines; filling offices bearing salaries; learning orations, extracts from the poets, parts in plays, and dialogues; taking reports of lectures, trials, and debates; and composition, in prose and verse, in various languages. This department, which is now become so important a feature in our system, took its rise from the necessity of furnishing to boys who had no chance of obtaining marks by excelling their schoolfellows, opportunities of gaining them by working harder than those to whom nature had been more propitious. It appeared to us that, as in the common course of events this must be their lot in after-life, it would be well to accustom them to it in their early years; nor were we without hopes that their superior industry would enable them to press on the heels of their competitors, and to show them that talent alone would not be sufficient, at all times, to secure superiority. It seemed also of consequence to make imprisonment as rare as possible, both because it is attended with unavoidable disgrace—to which no mind can with safety be frequently exposed—and because, unlike labour, it is pain without any utility, except that of example, which appertains to all judicious penalty of whatever kind....... “One of the most valuable habits of life is that of completing every undertaking. The mental dissipation in which persons of talent often indulge, and to which they are, perhaps, more prone than others, is destructive beyond what can readily be imagined.... The habit of finishing ought to be formed in early youth. We take care to reward no boy for fragments, whatever may be their excellence. We know nothing of his exertions until they come before us in a state of completion.”A few years ago Sir Rowland Hill made the following record as regards this scheme of Voluntary Work:—“One sequel of this plan (it might be too much to call it a consequence), I mention with the permission of the gentleman concerned. Amongst those who adopted drawing as his chief occupation was a little boy who, up to that time, had shown no particular aptitude for any kind of study. Here, however, he succeeded so well as soon to attract no small attention. His power was fostered then and afterwards, and painting eventually became his profession. Of his eminence in the art I need not speak, the works of Thomas Creswick needing no eulogy.”The plan that he devised for putting a check on fights among the boys was as ingenious as it was successful. Fighting had hitherto been against the rule, but it had gone on much as in most other schools. He brought it almost to an end by withdrawing the prohibition. Boys might fight as much as they liked if the combat took place in strict accordance with the new regulations. If, however, they fought in defiance of them, not only the “mighty opposites” themselves, but also all the spectators of the fray, were severely punished. “It was the duty of the eldest boy present, under a heavy penalty, to convey immediate information to the Magistrate, that the parties might be separated.” Those, however, who wished to fight in the manner that the law directed, gave notice of their intention to the Magistrate. It was his duty to inquire into the cause of the quarrel, and to do his best to reconcile the parties. If, however, after six hours had passed by he had not been able to settle “the swelling difference of their settled hate,” then he and his two assistants took them to a retired spot in the playground, where they could fight it out. Meanwhile, all the rest of the boys were confined to the school-room. In later years one of the masters was made the Marshal of the Lists, and not a single boy was allowed to be present. In the first three months after the new rules had been laid down, four formal fights took place. In the next four years there were buttwo. Informal combats still went on to some extent, but “in every instance early information was conveyed to the Magistrate, who immediately separated the belligerents.” The result was that fighting soon became almost unknown.Another institution is thus described in “Public Education:”—“The Committee has the management of the School Fund. It amounts now to upwards of £100 per annum, and is partly furnished by the proprietors of the school, and partly by the parents of the boys. It is expended, for the most part, in the purchase of philosophical instruments, musical instruments, apparatus for printing, maps, school-coin, and books for the school library, the pupils being invited to recommend the purchase of books or other articles by entries in a register kept for the purpose. To those who have not witnessed the prudence and uprightness with which very young persons can be taught to use power, it may appear a dangerous arrangement to intrust boys with the disposal of such a fund; but we have never had the slightest reason to regret the experiment. At the end of each session—the interval from vacation to vacation—the Committee prepares a statement of the expenditure, which is printed at the school press, and each pupil takes home a copy for the perusal of his friends. Thus a powerful check is furnished, if any were required, to improper expenditure. The advantages derived to the boys from the management of this fund are very considerable. To discuss the various merits and defects of books and instruments, to ascertain where and how they can be best procured, to transact the business attendant on their purchase, and to keep the necessary accounts, must all be useful exercises. Neither can it be doubted that these preliminaries to the possession of a desired object, very much tend to heighten its value, and increase the wish for its preservation. Thus habits of care are induced which are of the highest importance. Our school-rooms are all hung with valuable prints and maps. The musical instruments are constantly accessible to all the boys. The library contains many costly books, and property of a great variety of kinds is constantly exposed to the use of our pupils with almost perfect safety.”[53]The punctuality that was established in the school was very striking. To use the words of “Public Education,” it was “an almost superstitious punctuality.”“Punctuality of attendance entitles a boy to a reward, which goes on increasing from week to week during all the half-year, until the progression is interrupted by a failure, after which it commences anew.”It went on not only from week to week, but from half-year to half-year. If a boy were a single second late at a single roll-call, his name was struck off the list, and he had to begin again. “Neither illness nor engagement of any kind was a valid plea for absence.” It was his duty not to get ill, and it was the duty of his friends not to call him away from school on any grounds whatever. If there was any marrying, christening, or dying to be gone through in his family, it should be gone through in holiday time. In this “almost superstitious punctuality” I was myself brought up till I went to the University. There, as I well remember, I received a kind of shock when I found my superstition treated with scorn. The first time that I went to the lecture-room, I entered it on the first stroke of the hour. My tutor received me with a look of mild wonder; but, happily, he spared me his reproof. Ten minutes later in came the rest of my companions. It was some days before I could break through the frost of custom, and summon up resolution to be unpunctual. When, however, I found out how worthless the lectures commonly were, I recognised that even the custom of punctuality may be more honoured in the breach than in the observance.The rank of the boys was fixed each week, and fixed on a different arrangement:—“For one week the rank of each boy depends upon his progress in Greek, as far down the school as that language is taught. Those who do not learn Greek follow according to their proficiency in some other study. Latin determines the order for another week, geometry for a third, and so forth. Most of the studies determine the arrangement for a single week each; but a few, which are very important, decide it for two distinct weeks in each half-year.”This peculiar arrangement is thus defended:—“It is of great importance that the pupil should, very early in life, have an opportunity of tasting the pleasure of success; and, in order to ensure so desirable an end, we have been careful to attach rank to excellence in each department, sometimes ranging our pupils in the order of classical attainments; then as mathematicians; then according to manual excellence; and, lastly, according to their general conduct and behaviour. Thus each boy in his turn attains rank and consideration in that branch of study wherein nature has fitted him to excel, and where comparatively moderate efforts will ensure success.”Twice each half-year the rank of the boys was determined by their conduct:—“In arranging the boys according to propriety of manners and general good conduct, which is done twice in the course of each half-year, the teachers determine the rank of every boy to the best of their discretion. In doing this, however, they are materially assisted by the various records which are preserved of the good and bad conduct of the scholars. On the day previous to an arrangement of this description, all such records are posted into a ledger, where each boy has a debtor and creditor account, which every one has an opportunity of inspecting, that he may satisfy himself as to its correctness.”The “Edinburgh Review” for January, 1825, contains a lively description of the school in “the reportof a very intelligent friend, who lately inspected the whole establishment in the most careful manner.” This friend was Captain Basil Hall.“After observing generally that he has no hesitation in saying that the scheme works admirably in practice, he proceeds:—“‘The most striking circumstance, perhaps, is the universal cheerfulness and the kindly terms which the boys are on with the masters. I had abundant opportunity of satisfying myself that this was sincere. There was also an air of hearty attention to their business, which I never saw in any other school—no languor, no yawning—but all activity, and abstraction from everything but the lesson. They all seemed to go about their work like persons who knew their business, and had no doubts about success; and the frequent changes from topic to topic kept this degree of animation always afloat. The various musterings, ringing of bells, music and marching, which certainly in the book appear a little like trifling and loss of time, are, in practice, excellently adapted to maintain good order, and are all performed so rapidly, that although I was quite familiar with the description, and was warned by the master from time to time what was going to be done, I could not, sometimes with the closest attention, follow these movements. In a written description it will sometimes happen that what in fact is the work of a moment, and must be performed in some manner at every school, occupies as much space and is as prominently put forward as the essential instruction which these mere forms are but the preparation for. And I think it right to state that, after seeing the whole proceedings of a day, I am not aware that any of those musterings and other arrangements, having punctuality as their object, could be dispensed with without harm. The music consists of a band of twelve boys. Their instruments are the same as those used by military bands, and they play extremely well. The study of music, of drawing, of fencing, and several other similar accomplishments, is quite voluntary. The play hours of the boys are occupied partly in mere play, but chiefly in objects having some useful end in view. They have a printing-press of their own, and publish a monthly magazine embellished with etchings on copper, and lithographic prints, all executed by the boys. Reports of their trials are given at length; the school discipline is canvassed; accounts of the expenditure of their funds are drawn up in a business-like manner; and, in short, the whole system is a curious epitome of real life. Itis extremely important to remark that all this, being quite general, the every-day business of their lives, produces no coxcombry amongst the boys. They are not converted, as I had apprehended they would be, into little men. They are still boys, but boys with heads and hands fully employed on topics they like.“‘They were all very neatly dressed, and remarkably clean and tidy—all rosy and healthy-looking, and merry as any children could be at home. The house is thoroughly ventilated. Their library is well arranged and catalogued. It is managed, like everything else, exclusively by the boys. Everybody is allowed to propose any book for purchase, and the name is submitted to a committee, who decide.’”The account that Mr. W. L. Sargant gives of the school is not so favourable.[54]
“Continuo auditæ voces, vagitus et ingens,Infantumque animæ flentes in limine primo.”
“Continuo auditæ voces, vagitus et ingens,Infantumque animæ flentes in limine primo.”
“Continuo auditæ voces, vagitus et ingens,Infantumque animæ flentes in limine primo.”
“Continuo auditæ voces, vagitus et ingens,
Infantumque animæ flentes in limine primo.”
In the year 1821, Southey thus wrote of one of the playmates of his own childhood:—
“The eldest son was taken from the Charter House because he was, literally, almost killed there by the devilish cruelty of the boys. They used to lay him before the fire till he was scorched, and shut him up in a trunk with sawdust till he had nearly expired with suffocation. The Charter House, at that time, was a sort of hell upon earth for the under boys. He was of weak understanding and feeble frame.”[46]
“The eldest son was taken from the Charter House because he was, literally, almost killed there by the devilish cruelty of the boys. They used to lay him before the fire till he was scorched, and shut him up in a trunk with sawdust till he had nearly expired with suffocation. The Charter House, at that time, was a sort of hell upon earth for the under boys. He was of weak understanding and feeble frame.”[46]
I own the value and the force of the traditions of a school. I know that they cling to places, and are not easy to transplant; but, were I aCharter House boy, after reading such a passage as this, I should feel that I drew a freer, as well as a purer, air on the open downs above Godalming, than in the old buildings near Smithfield.
In the instruction that was given there had been but little general improvement. The old classical education was, no doubt, in many ways admirably well suited for boys who were quick at languages. But it made the dull ten times as dull as they came from nature, and marked down many a lad as a hopeless blockhead whose good parts were merely overwhelmed by the gross ignorance of his teachers. Pedantry, scarcely less than penury, can freeze the genial current of the soul. If the fools and blockheads could only once gather their poor wits together, and only once give their thoughts utterance, what a tale of wrong would they pour forth against the brutal and ignorant pedants who had, in their childhood, puffed out the far too feeble light which had been given to light them through the world.
Bad, indeed, was the general state of education when Rowland Hill set up for its reformer—so bad that it almost excuses the audacity of the young enthusiast. His audacity, certainly, was almost boundless. “We must honestly confess,” his eldest brother and he say, in the volume which they published on education, “that we retain hardly a single opinion relating to any part of our profession which we held in early life. One by one we have surrendered them all to the force of experience.” He was but twenty-five at most when he wrote this, and all the wisdom of our forefathers he had already scattered to the winds. With some reason did one of his pupils say, “There was a great want ofreverence for authority in his school. There was no respect for the opinion of the great and good men of all ages—thatconsensusof opinion.” In his old age, Rowland Hill described his career as a schoolmaster as a series of experiments. In the years when he was making his greatest changes, and striking out into the newest of paths, he had, as he himself said, no misgivings as to his fitness for his post; and yet it was not till after this time that he so painfully found out how little he knew, and how much he had still to learn. He had, however, this ground for his confidence, that all his plans did work. In the midst of his boldness he was still cautious. He had a horror of failure, and a strong but wholesome dread of that ridicule which awaits the mere dreamer. Many might well have thought that such a school as he described could scarcely have existed even in Utopia, and yet it flourished in Birmingham.
It was in the year 1822 that the two brothers brought out their work on Public Education.[47]Part of it had been written, at all events, as early as 1818. The plans, so far as the government of boys is concerned, are almost all Rowland’s; the composition of the work is mostly Matthew’s. Fanciful though it often is, dogmatic, and even arrogant in places, yet it can still be read with pleasure and with advantage by those who take an interest in education. The young schemer was, indeed, fortunate in finding in his eldest brother a writer who could throw over his plans the charm of a lively and asingularly clear style. In this work is set forth a complete scheme for the government of a large school. From the best method of cultivating the heart and the head, down to the pettiest details of every-day life, all is considered, and for all provision is made. Here it is shown how out of almost any boy, however unpromising he may at first sight seem, can be made a good man and a good citizen. Here, too, is laid down a plan for drying school-boys’ wet shoes. The brothers, one and all alike, had the fullest trust in their system. “Even if they had never made a penny by it,” said one who knew them well, “they would still have tried to carry it out. They were like ministers of religion who were, indeed, paid for their ministry, but who, nevertheless, taught their dogmas as a matter of conscience.” The founder was for many years confident that his system could be worked by others, if only they took it up with understanding and zeal. He looked forward to the time when he should see great colleges on the same system spring up in all parts of the country, to the almost boundless advantage of his fellow-men. He has since been heard to confess that having, after long years, looked into his code of laws, he thought it far too complex. He added, with a smile, that he greatly doubted whether he should send his own son to a school conducted on such a complicated system.[48]In truth, even before he had given up school-keeping, he had found out the need of greater simplicity, and had cleared away much of the machinery which he had so laboriously constructed.
In the preface to the first edition, the brothers state:—
“Having satisfied our minds that our general theory was correct, by a long course of experiments, and by the acquiescence of those who are so much interested in a careful, and even rigorous, examination of our plans, we have latterly proceeded without the trepidation which at first attended us at every step, and rendered the task of reducing the convictions of our minds to practice, a tedious and painful operation. We now feel our system to be sufficiently matured for public inspection—not that it is incapable of infinite improvement. We are far from pretending to a state of perfection; that we should belie daily by the changes which we still find it expedient to introduce. But there is a wide difference between alterations which proceed from the adoption of new principles, and those which are in furtherance of old ones. The latter will become gradually more and more minute, until they cease altogether to effect any of the important features.”
“Having satisfied our minds that our general theory was correct, by a long course of experiments, and by the acquiescence of those who are so much interested in a careful, and even rigorous, examination of our plans, we have latterly proceeded without the trepidation which at first attended us at every step, and rendered the task of reducing the convictions of our minds to practice, a tedious and painful operation. We now feel our system to be sufficiently matured for public inspection—not that it is incapable of infinite improvement. We are far from pretending to a state of perfection; that we should belie daily by the changes which we still find it expedient to introduce. But there is a wide difference between alterations which proceed from the adoption of new principles, and those which are in furtherance of old ones. The latter will become gradually more and more minute, until they cease altogether to effect any of the important features.”
We may once more be tempted to smile, as we read of the long course of experiments carried out by a young man who was but five-and-twenty. It is not, however, by years but by labour that life is rightly measured. Rowland Hill at a very early age had come into the only inheritance which he was ever to receive—man’s inheritance of labour and sorrow. He had seen, it is true, but five-and-twenty summers. Yet far distant must have seemed to him the time of childhood’s careless years. He had begun to labour early, and into every hour, into every day, into every year, he had got the work of two. How much he had already done is shown by one of his father’s letters to his brother Matthew, dated April 24th, 1823. Well-nigh broken down by work, the young man had gone up to London to seek rest by a change of scene:—
“I hope change of place and your good company will be of service to our beloved Rowland. You are aware that his indisposition originates in his intense application to the business of the school,and I think it particularly excited by anything which draws hard upon his inventions; I therefore suggest that the discussion of new plans is not a desirable subject of conversation.... I most ardently wish that the dear lad could reflect more on the much that is effected than on the little that may remain in the state of a desideratum. If we can maintain our present position—and surely it is far easier to preserve than to gain—if we can do this, we have enough to make us very proud and very happy. I do hope that improvements will for awhile be entrusted to that quiet operation of time and experience which will slightly tax the mental powers of one who has done a life’s work in less than half the years he may fairly hope to pass in usefulness, and who must not be suffered to be worn out prematurely.”
“I hope change of place and your good company will be of service to our beloved Rowland. You are aware that his indisposition originates in his intense application to the business of the school,and I think it particularly excited by anything which draws hard upon his inventions; I therefore suggest that the discussion of new plans is not a desirable subject of conversation.... I most ardently wish that the dear lad could reflect more on the much that is effected than on the little that may remain in the state of a desideratum. If we can maintain our present position—and surely it is far easier to preserve than to gain—if we can do this, we have enough to make us very proud and very happy. I do hope that improvements will for awhile be entrusted to that quiet operation of time and experience which will slightly tax the mental powers of one who has done a life’s work in less than half the years he may fairly hope to pass in usefulness, and who must not be suffered to be worn out prematurely.”
This letter was found a few years ago, and was shown to the aged man who, after his long life of usefulness, had at last entered upon that period of rest from which he was never to be roused again. It so chanced that I called on him soon after he had seen it. I have this note of my visit:—
“He spoke with great emotion of the hard work and anxieties of his youth, and said that he had broken down several times before he gave up the school. He and his brother Matthew used constantly to talk over school matters—too much so by a great deal. He had been lately shown a letter written by his father, saying that he was going to London for a holiday, and that not a word must be said to him about business, for he greatly needed rest, and had already done the work of a life-time. ‘And so I had,’ my uncle said to me, with a voice broken with emotion.”[49]
“He spoke with great emotion of the hard work and anxieties of his youth, and said that he had broken down several times before he gave up the school. He and his brother Matthew used constantly to talk over school matters—too much so by a great deal. He had been lately shown a letter written by his father, saying that he was going to London for a holiday, and that not a word must be said to him about business, for he greatly needed rest, and had already done the work of a life-time. ‘And so I had,’ my uncle said to me, with a voice broken with emotion.”[49]
If any still smile at the young man’s “long course of experiments,” surely it will be with a smile of kindly pity and not of contempt. The trepidation which we are told attended the youthful reformer at every stepis, I fancy, a rhetorical flourish of Matthew’s. There was but little trepidation in Rowland Hill at any period of his life. In his early years his daring would have seemed in almost any other man the most overweening rashness. But, as I have already said, he knew what he could do, and always kept well within his powers.
The first mention of his new system in his Journal is as follows:—
“Soon after Midsummer (1816), I established a Court of Justice in the school. The judge is chosen monthly by the boys. The sheriff and the keeper of the records are chosen in the same manner. The attorney and solicitor-general are appointed by me. The judge appoints the inferior officers, as the clerk and crier of the Court, the constables, etc. The jury consists of six boys, chosen by ballot, from amongst those who have not for the last month disgraced themselves by appearing on certain bad lists, or by being convicted of any disgraceful offence. All evidence is taken, even that of the parties themselves. No oaths are administered, as we wish to impress the boys with the conviction that it is criminal to tell falsehoods at any time and in any place. The assizes are appointed to be held once per week; but it sometimes happens that there are no offenders. The sheriff keeps a book in which he enters all the sentences, which are generally the forfeiture of premial marks, a certain number of which entitle a boy to a holiday. If a boy cannot pay the marks, he is imprisoned in a large wooden cage, at the rate of one hour for five marks. The greatest number of offences are leaving school without permission and before the tasks are completed.... If a boy pleads guilty (as most of them do), his punishment is always lessened one-sixth; but the prisoners are never asked whether they are guilty or not, that they may not be induced to tell lies. The sheriff always presents his book to me for my signature to each sentence, and I have the power of mitigating and pardoning. I never yet have had cause to find fault with a single verdict of a jury or sentence of a judge; and I have found that these trials, besides saving my father and myself a deal of trouble in deciding disputes and investigating offences (for the Court tries civil as well as criminal causes), have very considerably lessened the number of offences. I believe (and I have good opportunities of becomingacquainted with other schools) that our boys are by far the most moral set I ever was acquainted with. This circumstance may, I think, in a great measure be attributed to these and some later regulations.”
“Soon after Midsummer (1816), I established a Court of Justice in the school. The judge is chosen monthly by the boys. The sheriff and the keeper of the records are chosen in the same manner. The attorney and solicitor-general are appointed by me. The judge appoints the inferior officers, as the clerk and crier of the Court, the constables, etc. The jury consists of six boys, chosen by ballot, from amongst those who have not for the last month disgraced themselves by appearing on certain bad lists, or by being convicted of any disgraceful offence. All evidence is taken, even that of the parties themselves. No oaths are administered, as we wish to impress the boys with the conviction that it is criminal to tell falsehoods at any time and in any place. The assizes are appointed to be held once per week; but it sometimes happens that there are no offenders. The sheriff keeps a book in which he enters all the sentences, which are generally the forfeiture of premial marks, a certain number of which entitle a boy to a holiday. If a boy cannot pay the marks, he is imprisoned in a large wooden cage, at the rate of one hour for five marks. The greatest number of offences are leaving school without permission and before the tasks are completed.... If a boy pleads guilty (as most of them do), his punishment is always lessened one-sixth; but the prisoners are never asked whether they are guilty or not, that they may not be induced to tell lies. The sheriff always presents his book to me for my signature to each sentence, and I have the power of mitigating and pardoning. I never yet have had cause to find fault with a single verdict of a jury or sentence of a judge; and I have found that these trials, besides saving my father and myself a deal of trouble in deciding disputes and investigating offences (for the Court tries civil as well as criminal causes), have very considerably lessened the number of offences. I believe (and I have good opportunities of becomingacquainted with other schools) that our boys are by far the most moral set I ever was acquainted with. This circumstance may, I think, in a great measure be attributed to these and some later regulations.”
Whether the cage was at any time in public view I do not know. Before long, however, he and his brothers came to see how much harm is done by exposing a boy to public shame, as is shown by the following passage in the second edition of Public Education:—
“Confinement, and disability to fill certain offices, are our severest punishments;—public disgrace, which is painful in exact proportion to the good feeling of the offender, is not employed, and every measure is avoided which would destroy self-respect. Expulsion has been resorted to, rather than a boy should be submitted to treatment which might lead himself and his schoolfellows to forget that he was a gentleman.”
“Confinement, and disability to fill certain offices, are our severest punishments;—public disgrace, which is painful in exact proportion to the good feeling of the offender, is not employed, and every measure is avoided which would destroy self-respect. Expulsion has been resorted to, rather than a boy should be submitted to treatment which might lead himself and his schoolfellows to forget that he was a gentleman.”
A few months later on he gave his pupils—what many a ruler has since given his people—a Constitution:—
“I have long thought that the system of representation might be introduced with advantage into the government of a school; and soon after Christmas (1816), with my father’s approbation, I drew up a set of resolutions, which were unanimously passed at a general meeting of the school, appointing a mode of electing a committee for the management of the school. They have the direction of everything except the school hours and the quantity of work to be done. We were afraid then of entrusting them with the regulation of these things, but the committees have acted so very properly, and have showed so decidedly that they are fit to be entrusted with power, that I think no inconvenience would arise from their having the power to appoint the school hours and the work to be done in the school; however, they show no wish to be entrusted with such power. The committee is chosen monthly in the following manner:—We have a list of all the boys, which is arranged once per month according to general superiority.... The boy who stands at the top of this list names a committee-man; the two next boys name another; the three next a third, and so on. If there is not the exactnumber of boys at the end of the list to form a division, they are reckoned with that above. The election is by ballot. By a resolution passed at the first general meeting, all the teachers, with the exception of my father, are to be members of the committeeex officio; but I am the only teacher who ever attends the meetings of the committee, as we do not wish to mix too much aristocracy in the government of our little community. After a bill has passed the committee, it is presented to Mr. Hill for his approbation, without which it is not considered as a law. It is then read aloud in the school-room by the president of the committee, between certain hours of the day, and posted up against the wall for at least three days. My father has never yet found it necessary to refuse his approbation to a single law. The committee is obliged by the laws to meet at least once per week; sometimes it assembles oftener than that. They appoint the officers of the Court of Justice, who were before appointed by the whole school. We derive many advantages from this form of government in the school. One advantage, and that not an inconsiderable one, is that it teaches the boys the manner in which public meetings ought to be conducted; a species of knowledge in which, if we may judge from some late specimens, the present generation is particularly ignorant. But the effect of most importance attending this mode of governing is that it has the best effect upon the morals of the scholars. Of course the committee will consist of boys whose age or superior acquirements give them a lead in all the affairs of the school; and it is of the utmost importance that these boys should lead the others the right road, and not astray, as is too frequently the case. Now they feel themselves under some obligation not to break those laws which they themselves have assisted in enacting, and the scholars cannot complain that the laws are too severe, because, either in their own proper persons or in those of their representatives, they must have assisted in passing them. The consequence has been that, since things have been so constructed, we have gone on much more pleasantly to all parties than before.”
“I have long thought that the system of representation might be introduced with advantage into the government of a school; and soon after Christmas (1816), with my father’s approbation, I drew up a set of resolutions, which were unanimously passed at a general meeting of the school, appointing a mode of electing a committee for the management of the school. They have the direction of everything except the school hours and the quantity of work to be done. We were afraid then of entrusting them with the regulation of these things, but the committees have acted so very properly, and have showed so decidedly that they are fit to be entrusted with power, that I think no inconvenience would arise from their having the power to appoint the school hours and the work to be done in the school; however, they show no wish to be entrusted with such power. The committee is chosen monthly in the following manner:—We have a list of all the boys, which is arranged once per month according to general superiority.... The boy who stands at the top of this list names a committee-man; the two next boys name another; the three next a third, and so on. If there is not the exactnumber of boys at the end of the list to form a division, they are reckoned with that above. The election is by ballot. By a resolution passed at the first general meeting, all the teachers, with the exception of my father, are to be members of the committeeex officio; but I am the only teacher who ever attends the meetings of the committee, as we do not wish to mix too much aristocracy in the government of our little community. After a bill has passed the committee, it is presented to Mr. Hill for his approbation, without which it is not considered as a law. It is then read aloud in the school-room by the president of the committee, between certain hours of the day, and posted up against the wall for at least three days. My father has never yet found it necessary to refuse his approbation to a single law. The committee is obliged by the laws to meet at least once per week; sometimes it assembles oftener than that. They appoint the officers of the Court of Justice, who were before appointed by the whole school. We derive many advantages from this form of government in the school. One advantage, and that not an inconsiderable one, is that it teaches the boys the manner in which public meetings ought to be conducted; a species of knowledge in which, if we may judge from some late specimens, the present generation is particularly ignorant. But the effect of most importance attending this mode of governing is that it has the best effect upon the morals of the scholars. Of course the committee will consist of boys whose age or superior acquirements give them a lead in all the affairs of the school; and it is of the utmost importance that these boys should lead the others the right road, and not astray, as is too frequently the case. Now they feel themselves under some obligation not to break those laws which they themselves have assisted in enacting, and the scholars cannot complain that the laws are too severe, because, either in their own proper persons or in those of their representatives, they must have assisted in passing them. The consequence has been that, since things have been so constructed, we have gone on much more pleasantly to all parties than before.”
About the same time that the Constitution was granted, a Benevolent Society was formed amongst the boys:—
“In February last (1817) my father advised the boys to raise a subscription among themselves to be applied to benevolent purposes; and, that they might not become too soon tired, he recommendedthat they should subscribe small sums. They immediately entered into his views with great spirit; the names of subscribers were set down, and a general meeting was called for the next day. At this meeting resolutions were entered into for the regulation of the Society, and a committee, consisting of seven boys, was elected to dispose of the funds. The committee meets once per week. A general meeting is held once in every month to receive the report of the committee, to elect a new one, pass the accounts, &c. I was elected treasurer, and still keep the office. The weekly subscriptions amount to rather more than five shillings; donations and forfeits generally make it up to about six shillings. The boys have been able to relieve many poor families with bacon and potatoes, or bread. I consider everything of this kind as doubly advantageous, because at the same time that the distressed are relieved, the attention of the boys is directed in a good channel. It finds them something to do and to think about. Boys will be acting, and if they cannot do good, they will do mischief.”[50]
“In February last (1817) my father advised the boys to raise a subscription among themselves to be applied to benevolent purposes; and, that they might not become too soon tired, he recommendedthat they should subscribe small sums. They immediately entered into his views with great spirit; the names of subscribers were set down, and a general meeting was called for the next day. At this meeting resolutions were entered into for the regulation of the Society, and a committee, consisting of seven boys, was elected to dispose of the funds. The committee meets once per week. A general meeting is held once in every month to receive the report of the committee, to elect a new one, pass the accounts, &c. I was elected treasurer, and still keep the office. The weekly subscriptions amount to rather more than five shillings; donations and forfeits generally make it up to about six shillings. The boys have been able to relieve many poor families with bacon and potatoes, or bread. I consider everything of this kind as doubly advantageous, because at the same time that the distressed are relieved, the attention of the boys is directed in a good channel. It finds them something to do and to think about. Boys will be acting, and if they cannot do good, they will do mischief.”[50]
In the autumn of the following year further reforms were carried out:—
“October 10th, 1818.—A few weeks ago the following law was passed by the committee:—“‘Resolved—That on the same day as that on which the judge is appointed, a magistrate shall be elected in the same manner (that is by ballot). This officer shall have the appointment of the constables, who shall be under his direction. These officers shall constitute the police, and their duty shall be the detection, and, in some cases, the punishment of crime. The magistrate shall levy all penalties not exceeding ten premial marks, and decide disputes respecting extra work, games, &c., the parties having the right of appeal to a teacher, or to the Court of Justice; but, if the appellant should be unsuccessful, the punishment shall be doubled. In cases which, from their importance, do not come under the cognizance of the magistrate, he shall order the attorney-general to bring the offending party to trial at the next assizes.“‘The magistrate may hold his court in any part of the school premises, and if any one shall refuse to attend, either as culprit or witness, after having received a verbal or written order, from the magistrate in person, or from either of the constables, he shall subject himself to the fine of twenty premial marks. Any one thinking himself unjustly detained by the magistrate or his officers, shall have his action for damages, to be assessed by the jury. It shall be considered the duty of the magistrate to examine into every offence, and punish the aggressor as early as possible after the offence is committed. If the magistrate shall neglect his duty (that is to say if any offence shall come to the knowledge of a teacher which has not been punished within a proper time by the magistrate), it shall be considered the duty of the committee to remove him from his office. But if the magistrate shall go through his duty to the satisfaction of the committee, the master shall be requested to reward him with permission to give to any number of his schoolfellows, not exceeding six, an afternoon’s holiday, which he may enjoy with them. The magistrate may also reward his constables, by giving to each of them an afternoon’s holiday, and the privilege of choosing either one or two schoolfellows to enjoy it with them. When the magistrate shall be absent from school, he shall appoint a deputy, for whose acts he shall be responsible.“‘This appointment of a magistrate has saved me a deal of trouble in punishing slight offences and deciding disputes. It appears quite to have put a stop to a practice which before we never found it possible to check—namely, that of throwing stones. Indeed, it is a very great improvement in the management of the school, as from the nature of the magistrate’s reward, every one is interested in his performing his duty as much as possible to the satisfaction of the master. Another improvement in the discipline of the school is a regulation made a few months ago, which is that when a boy above the age of twelve leaves the school, a subcommittee is appointed to draw up his character, subject to the revisal of the general committee, after which it is entered in a book kept for the purpose, and read aloud before the whole school. This law has had an excellent effect upon all; but particularly upon the elder boys. It is generally the case at schools that, a short time before a boy is about to leave, he finds his character at school to be less and less important as the time for his leaving approaches, the consequence of which is that he becomes careless about it, and gives a deal of trouble to his teachers. But with us the case is exactly reversed: as the time for leaving approaches, the boy is aware thathis conduct will have a greater and greater effect upon the character he is to leave behind him, and his behaviour is accordingly better each day till the time of his removal arrives.’”
“October 10th, 1818.—A few weeks ago the following law was passed by the committee:—
“‘Resolved—That on the same day as that on which the judge is appointed, a magistrate shall be elected in the same manner (that is by ballot). This officer shall have the appointment of the constables, who shall be under his direction. These officers shall constitute the police, and their duty shall be the detection, and, in some cases, the punishment of crime. The magistrate shall levy all penalties not exceeding ten premial marks, and decide disputes respecting extra work, games, &c., the parties having the right of appeal to a teacher, or to the Court of Justice; but, if the appellant should be unsuccessful, the punishment shall be doubled. In cases which, from their importance, do not come under the cognizance of the magistrate, he shall order the attorney-general to bring the offending party to trial at the next assizes.“‘The magistrate may hold his court in any part of the school premises, and if any one shall refuse to attend, either as culprit or witness, after having received a verbal or written order, from the magistrate in person, or from either of the constables, he shall subject himself to the fine of twenty premial marks. Any one thinking himself unjustly detained by the magistrate or his officers, shall have his action for damages, to be assessed by the jury. It shall be considered the duty of the magistrate to examine into every offence, and punish the aggressor as early as possible after the offence is committed. If the magistrate shall neglect his duty (that is to say if any offence shall come to the knowledge of a teacher which has not been punished within a proper time by the magistrate), it shall be considered the duty of the committee to remove him from his office. But if the magistrate shall go through his duty to the satisfaction of the committee, the master shall be requested to reward him with permission to give to any number of his schoolfellows, not exceeding six, an afternoon’s holiday, which he may enjoy with them. The magistrate may also reward his constables, by giving to each of them an afternoon’s holiday, and the privilege of choosing either one or two schoolfellows to enjoy it with them. When the magistrate shall be absent from school, he shall appoint a deputy, for whose acts he shall be responsible.“‘This appointment of a magistrate has saved me a deal of trouble in punishing slight offences and deciding disputes. It appears quite to have put a stop to a practice which before we never found it possible to check—namely, that of throwing stones. Indeed, it is a very great improvement in the management of the school, as from the nature of the magistrate’s reward, every one is interested in his performing his duty as much as possible to the satisfaction of the master. Another improvement in the discipline of the school is a regulation made a few months ago, which is that when a boy above the age of twelve leaves the school, a subcommittee is appointed to draw up his character, subject to the revisal of the general committee, after which it is entered in a book kept for the purpose, and read aloud before the whole school. This law has had an excellent effect upon all; but particularly upon the elder boys. It is generally the case at schools that, a short time before a boy is about to leave, he finds his character at school to be less and less important as the time for his leaving approaches, the consequence of which is that he becomes careless about it, and gives a deal of trouble to his teachers. But with us the case is exactly reversed: as the time for leaving approaches, the boy is aware thathis conduct will have a greater and greater effect upon the character he is to leave behind him, and his behaviour is accordingly better each day till the time of his removal arrives.’”
“‘Resolved—That on the same day as that on which the judge is appointed, a magistrate shall be elected in the same manner (that is by ballot). This officer shall have the appointment of the constables, who shall be under his direction. These officers shall constitute the police, and their duty shall be the detection, and, in some cases, the punishment of crime. The magistrate shall levy all penalties not exceeding ten premial marks, and decide disputes respecting extra work, games, &c., the parties having the right of appeal to a teacher, or to the Court of Justice; but, if the appellant should be unsuccessful, the punishment shall be doubled. In cases which, from their importance, do not come under the cognizance of the magistrate, he shall order the attorney-general to bring the offending party to trial at the next assizes.
“‘The magistrate may hold his court in any part of the school premises, and if any one shall refuse to attend, either as culprit or witness, after having received a verbal or written order, from the magistrate in person, or from either of the constables, he shall subject himself to the fine of twenty premial marks. Any one thinking himself unjustly detained by the magistrate or his officers, shall have his action for damages, to be assessed by the jury. It shall be considered the duty of the magistrate to examine into every offence, and punish the aggressor as early as possible after the offence is committed. If the magistrate shall neglect his duty (that is to say if any offence shall come to the knowledge of a teacher which has not been punished within a proper time by the magistrate), it shall be considered the duty of the committee to remove him from his office. But if the magistrate shall go through his duty to the satisfaction of the committee, the master shall be requested to reward him with permission to give to any number of his schoolfellows, not exceeding six, an afternoon’s holiday, which he may enjoy with them. The magistrate may also reward his constables, by giving to each of them an afternoon’s holiday, and the privilege of choosing either one or two schoolfellows to enjoy it with them. When the magistrate shall be absent from school, he shall appoint a deputy, for whose acts he shall be responsible.
“‘This appointment of a magistrate has saved me a deal of trouble in punishing slight offences and deciding disputes. It appears quite to have put a stop to a practice which before we never found it possible to check—namely, that of throwing stones. Indeed, it is a very great improvement in the management of the school, as from the nature of the magistrate’s reward, every one is interested in his performing his duty as much as possible to the satisfaction of the master. Another improvement in the discipline of the school is a regulation made a few months ago, which is that when a boy above the age of twelve leaves the school, a subcommittee is appointed to draw up his character, subject to the revisal of the general committee, after which it is entered in a book kept for the purpose, and read aloud before the whole school. This law has had an excellent effect upon all; but particularly upon the elder boys. It is generally the case at schools that, a short time before a boy is about to leave, he finds his character at school to be less and less important as the time for his leaving approaches, the consequence of which is that he becomes careless about it, and gives a deal of trouble to his teachers. But with us the case is exactly reversed: as the time for leaving approaches, the boy is aware thathis conduct will have a greater and greater effect upon the character he is to leave behind him, and his behaviour is accordingly better each day till the time of his removal arrives.’”
The next entry on the subject of reforms in the school is dated July 11th, 1820:—
“It is now more than six months since I made any entry in this Journal; during that time I have been engaged in business almost incessantly. I have introduced many improvements into our system lately, the most prominent of which is the adaptation of music to our evolutions. The boys form in classes, march to their places, to their meals, to bed, down in the morning, &c., to music; the consequence of which is that every movement is made in one-half of the time it formerly occupied, and with one-tenth part of the noise. Another advantage is the great practice it gives to the band, which now plays nineteen times a day, without the least injurious effect to the health of the performers, as they are engaged but for a minute or two each time.“I believe I have before mentioned that we have been enabled to abolish corporal punishment in the school; but as I then looked upon it as an experiment, I could not speak so confidently of the result as I now can. It is nearly two years and a-half since the experiment was first tried, so that I now think it decisive. The result has far surpassed my most sanguine expectations. Since its adoption the plan has at various times received many improvements. A detailed account of it may be seen in a work we are now preparing for the press, which contains a complete description of our system of government in the school. All that is here necessary for me to say is, that every punishment consists in the forfeiture of counters, which are the currency of the school, and which are obtained by excelling in the different classes, by filling various offices, but principally by work which is done out of the school hours. The system is so arranged that the boys are induced to perform these tasks before the fines are incurred, so that while they are thus engaged they have not the disagreeable feeling that they are working for punishment,—therefore the work is performed with pleasure. Our object in instituting this plan was to remove the disagreeable necessity of corporal punishment: this we have completely accomplished; but, in effecting that, we have derived advantages which were not anticipated, and which are still more important.“These counters can be obtained by work of almost everydescription, done at any time; and there is no one scarcely who is either so deficient in talent or so indolent, but that some occupation can be found in which he will engage with pleasure. [His father, ten years before this, had written, ‘Those who do anything may, in almost all cases, perhaps in all without exception, be brought to do useful things.’] Indeed, there have been repeated instances of boys who have entered the school with the worst of characters for idleness or for stupidity, who, having been induced by example to engage in some pursuit which they could follow with pleasure and with credit, have thus acquired a taste for excellence which has extended to other things, and have ultimately risen to a very respectable rank in the school. In short, this has become the most important part of our system. The school is now, as it were, a little world. The counters are our currency; trades and professions of various kinds, from the improvisiatore and banker to the musician, punch-keeper,[51]and serving-man are carried on among us. Here may be seen the boy of talent exercising his ingenuity to obtain opulence by the most speedy and effectual means, engaged, perhaps, in the construction of some curious and difficult model, or in rendering into English verse the poetry of his favourite author of antiquity; there the industrious boy may be seen who, already rich, from the love of wealth or the love of riches, is plodding on to increase his stores; and, alas! not unfrequently may be seen the little bankrupt, asking the charity of his friends, or parting with his last marble to save himself from the terrors of a gaol.“Indeed, the whole machine of the school (for such is the regularity of our proceedings that the appellation is not misapplied) is now become so very perfect that we are able to appropriate every minute of the day to its respective use; and the bells ring, the classes assemble, break up, take their meals, &c., with such clock-like regularity that it has the appearance almost of magic.“I believe I may say that by far the greater part of the system is my own, and I am not a little proud of its effects.... The school is certainly at this time in a very high state of improvement. Our annual exhibition, which took place about the middle of June, gave very great satisfaction to the audience, and considerably raised the character of the school. The performances consisted principally of the whole of the ‘Rudens’ of Plautus and Miss Edgeworth’s‘Eton Montem.’ For this exhibition I painted a new back-scene; it is a view on the sea-coast.”
“It is now more than six months since I made any entry in this Journal; during that time I have been engaged in business almost incessantly. I have introduced many improvements into our system lately, the most prominent of which is the adaptation of music to our evolutions. The boys form in classes, march to their places, to their meals, to bed, down in the morning, &c., to music; the consequence of which is that every movement is made in one-half of the time it formerly occupied, and with one-tenth part of the noise. Another advantage is the great practice it gives to the band, which now plays nineteen times a day, without the least injurious effect to the health of the performers, as they are engaged but for a minute or two each time.
“I believe I have before mentioned that we have been enabled to abolish corporal punishment in the school; but as I then looked upon it as an experiment, I could not speak so confidently of the result as I now can. It is nearly two years and a-half since the experiment was first tried, so that I now think it decisive. The result has far surpassed my most sanguine expectations. Since its adoption the plan has at various times received many improvements. A detailed account of it may be seen in a work we are now preparing for the press, which contains a complete description of our system of government in the school. All that is here necessary for me to say is, that every punishment consists in the forfeiture of counters, which are the currency of the school, and which are obtained by excelling in the different classes, by filling various offices, but principally by work which is done out of the school hours. The system is so arranged that the boys are induced to perform these tasks before the fines are incurred, so that while they are thus engaged they have not the disagreeable feeling that they are working for punishment,—therefore the work is performed with pleasure. Our object in instituting this plan was to remove the disagreeable necessity of corporal punishment: this we have completely accomplished; but, in effecting that, we have derived advantages which were not anticipated, and which are still more important.
“These counters can be obtained by work of almost everydescription, done at any time; and there is no one scarcely who is either so deficient in talent or so indolent, but that some occupation can be found in which he will engage with pleasure. [His father, ten years before this, had written, ‘Those who do anything may, in almost all cases, perhaps in all without exception, be brought to do useful things.’] Indeed, there have been repeated instances of boys who have entered the school with the worst of characters for idleness or for stupidity, who, having been induced by example to engage in some pursuit which they could follow with pleasure and with credit, have thus acquired a taste for excellence which has extended to other things, and have ultimately risen to a very respectable rank in the school. In short, this has become the most important part of our system. The school is now, as it were, a little world. The counters are our currency; trades and professions of various kinds, from the improvisiatore and banker to the musician, punch-keeper,[51]and serving-man are carried on among us. Here may be seen the boy of talent exercising his ingenuity to obtain opulence by the most speedy and effectual means, engaged, perhaps, in the construction of some curious and difficult model, or in rendering into English verse the poetry of his favourite author of antiquity; there the industrious boy may be seen who, already rich, from the love of wealth or the love of riches, is plodding on to increase his stores; and, alas! not unfrequently may be seen the little bankrupt, asking the charity of his friends, or parting with his last marble to save himself from the terrors of a gaol.
“Indeed, the whole machine of the school (for such is the regularity of our proceedings that the appellation is not misapplied) is now become so very perfect that we are able to appropriate every minute of the day to its respective use; and the bells ring, the classes assemble, break up, take their meals, &c., with such clock-like regularity that it has the appearance almost of magic.
“I believe I may say that by far the greater part of the system is my own, and I am not a little proud of its effects.... The school is certainly at this time in a very high state of improvement. Our annual exhibition, which took place about the middle of June, gave very great satisfaction to the audience, and considerably raised the character of the school. The performances consisted principally of the whole of the ‘Rudens’ of Plautus and Miss Edgeworth’s‘Eton Montem.’ For this exhibition I painted a new back-scene; it is a view on the sea-coast.”
In November, 1821, he records:—
“About two months ago I persuaded the teachers to agree to devote one evening in the week to the consideration of improvements to be introduced into the proceedings of the school. We meet every Saturday, from seven till ten in the evening, and great benefit has already been derived from the regulation. My principal object in effecting this was to have an opportunity of operating on the minds of the teachers themselves; and I find that this has been done to the advantage of us all.”
“About two months ago I persuaded the teachers to agree to devote one evening in the week to the consideration of improvements to be introduced into the proceedings of the school. We meet every Saturday, from seven till ten in the evening, and great benefit has already been derived from the regulation. My principal object in effecting this was to have an opportunity of operating on the minds of the teachers themselves; and I find that this has been done to the advantage of us all.”
“No chance visitor,” I have been informed by one who knew the school well, “had on that evening the slightest chance of seeing any of the family. The boys,” he added, “dreaded the conference of teachers, from the effect it had on them. It kept everything in such excessive rigidity.”
“March 10th, 1823.—I find the conference a most powerful engine. It is true that I have given up to it much power which I previously possessed, but this, perhaps, is more a nominal than a real sacrifice, and I believe myself to be so true a friend to liberty, as to like to see others exercise power as well as myself; and this, I think, few liberty men can say.”
“March 10th, 1823.—I find the conference a most powerful engine. It is true that I have given up to it much power which I previously possessed, but this, perhaps, is more a nominal than a real sacrifice, and I believe myself to be so true a friend to liberty, as to like to see others exercise power as well as myself; and this, I think, few liberty men can say.”
The Journal affords, however, but an imperfect record of this active little commonwealth. It is in “Public Education” that the constitution and its working are described at length. Their chief aims are thus briefly summed-up in the following passage:—
“The great features of the object we have in view will have been already appreciated, we hope, by the intelligent reader. We shall be disappointed if he have not already discovered that by the establishment of a system of legislation and jurisprudence, wherein the power of the master is bounded by general rules, and the duties of thescholar accurately defined, and where the boys themselves are called upon to examine and decide upon the conduct of their fellows, we have provided a course of instruction in the great code of morality which is likely to produce far more powerful and lasting effects than any quantity of mere precept.”
“The great features of the object we have in view will have been already appreciated, we hope, by the intelligent reader. We shall be disappointed if he have not already discovered that by the establishment of a system of legislation and jurisprudence, wherein the power of the master is bounded by general rules, and the duties of thescholar accurately defined, and where the boys themselves are called upon to examine and decide upon the conduct of their fellows, we have provided a course of instruction in the great code of morality which is likely to produce far more powerful and lasting effects than any quantity of mere precept.”
Undoubtedly the part of the system that would at first sight most strike an outsider was the power that was placed in the hands of the boys. Arnold and his government through the sixth form were, as I have said, still unknown. His sixth-form boys, moreover, were not elected by their schoolfellows, as they would have been on Rowland Hill’s plan. He was, indeed, to no small extent, bound down by the traditions—thelex non scripta—of Rugby. But it was by an unwritten law—a law that was nowhere strictly defined—that his power was limited. The boys of Hill Top and Hazelwood had a constitution that had not grown, but had been deliberately made. A few years after it had been promulgated, a Code of Laws was published, which filled more than a hundred pages of a closely-printed volume. It opens thus:—
“ORIGIN OF THE CONSTITUTION.“Convinced that numerous and important advantages would be derived from engaging their pupils in the consideration and in the practice of rules for their own government, from placing restrictions to the powers of the teachers, and from giving to the regulations of the school a permanent form, the proprietors, early in the year 1817, proposed to the school a certain division of powers, together with regulations for their exercise, which, having received the joint assent of teachers and pupils, became the constitutional laws of the school; and, in the confident expectation that the powers placed in the hands of the pupils would never be employed but for the welfare of the school, the proprietors pledged themselves not to alter these laws without the consent of a majority of the proprietors and regular teachers, meeting in conference, on one hand, and of a majority ofthe pupils on the other. With such joint consent, occasional alterations have been made in the constitutional laws, tending chiefly, if not entirely, to throw more and more power into the hands of the pupils.”
“ORIGIN OF THE CONSTITUTION.
“Convinced that numerous and important advantages would be derived from engaging their pupils in the consideration and in the practice of rules for their own government, from placing restrictions to the powers of the teachers, and from giving to the regulations of the school a permanent form, the proprietors, early in the year 1817, proposed to the school a certain division of powers, together with regulations for their exercise, which, having received the joint assent of teachers and pupils, became the constitutional laws of the school; and, in the confident expectation that the powers placed in the hands of the pupils would never be employed but for the welfare of the school, the proprietors pledged themselves not to alter these laws without the consent of a majority of the proprietors and regular teachers, meeting in conference, on one hand, and of a majority ofthe pupils on the other. With such joint consent, occasional alterations have been made in the constitutional laws, tending chiefly, if not entirely, to throw more and more power into the hands of the pupils.”
Fanciful as this may seem, yet for many years the school was carried on strictly in accordance with the provisions of this Code, and carried on with great vigour and spirit. The boys, for the most part, entered with eagerness into the system, and went through their part in it with zeal. In an old letter I read that one day the Committee met before breakfast for the despatch of some important business. A motion was made, and carried almost unanimously, that they should proceed with the business without regard to school-time, play-hours, or meals. It was not till eleven that the work was finished and the Committee adjourned. A jury, trying a charge of theft, deliberated over its verdict from before noon till after eight at night. The “School Magazine” records: “The jury during this time suffered considerably, both from cold and hunger, having had nothing to eat from breakfast, at nine, till after the verdict was given.” In nine years nearly six hundred cases came before the Court; out of these there were but nine appeals to the Committee, which formed the Higher Court.
The part of the system which in my judgment is most worthy of study is that to which its founder gave the name of “Voluntary Labour.” So highly did he himself think of it that he always reckoned it among the three inventions on which he might chiefly pride himself. The other two were his Printing Press and his Penny Postage. In an extract that I have given from his Journal,[52]this device is partly explained. In“Public Education” it is described at length: there we read:—
“The favourite subjects seem to be working the printing-press; penmanship of various kinds; drawing, etching, and painting; constructing maps, making surveys, and delineating mathematical diagrams; reading books on which they prepare themselves for answering questions; studying music; modelling animals and constructing machines; filling offices bearing salaries; learning orations, extracts from the poets, parts in plays, and dialogues; taking reports of lectures, trials, and debates; and composition, in prose and verse, in various languages. This department, which is now become so important a feature in our system, took its rise from the necessity of furnishing to boys who had no chance of obtaining marks by excelling their schoolfellows, opportunities of gaining them by working harder than those to whom nature had been more propitious. It appeared to us that, as in the common course of events this must be their lot in after-life, it would be well to accustom them to it in their early years; nor were we without hopes that their superior industry would enable them to press on the heels of their competitors, and to show them that talent alone would not be sufficient, at all times, to secure superiority. It seemed also of consequence to make imprisonment as rare as possible, both because it is attended with unavoidable disgrace—to which no mind can with safety be frequently exposed—and because, unlike labour, it is pain without any utility, except that of example, which appertains to all judicious penalty of whatever kind....... “One of the most valuable habits of life is that of completing every undertaking. The mental dissipation in which persons of talent often indulge, and to which they are, perhaps, more prone than others, is destructive beyond what can readily be imagined.... The habit of finishing ought to be formed in early youth. We take care to reward no boy for fragments, whatever may be their excellence. We know nothing of his exertions until they come before us in a state of completion.”
“The favourite subjects seem to be working the printing-press; penmanship of various kinds; drawing, etching, and painting; constructing maps, making surveys, and delineating mathematical diagrams; reading books on which they prepare themselves for answering questions; studying music; modelling animals and constructing machines; filling offices bearing salaries; learning orations, extracts from the poets, parts in plays, and dialogues; taking reports of lectures, trials, and debates; and composition, in prose and verse, in various languages. This department, which is now become so important a feature in our system, took its rise from the necessity of furnishing to boys who had no chance of obtaining marks by excelling their schoolfellows, opportunities of gaining them by working harder than those to whom nature had been more propitious. It appeared to us that, as in the common course of events this must be their lot in after-life, it would be well to accustom them to it in their early years; nor were we without hopes that their superior industry would enable them to press on the heels of their competitors, and to show them that talent alone would not be sufficient, at all times, to secure superiority. It seemed also of consequence to make imprisonment as rare as possible, both because it is attended with unavoidable disgrace—to which no mind can with safety be frequently exposed—and because, unlike labour, it is pain without any utility, except that of example, which appertains to all judicious penalty of whatever kind....
... “One of the most valuable habits of life is that of completing every undertaking. The mental dissipation in which persons of talent often indulge, and to which they are, perhaps, more prone than others, is destructive beyond what can readily be imagined.... The habit of finishing ought to be formed in early youth. We take care to reward no boy for fragments, whatever may be their excellence. We know nothing of his exertions until they come before us in a state of completion.”
A few years ago Sir Rowland Hill made the following record as regards this scheme of Voluntary Work:—
“One sequel of this plan (it might be too much to call it a consequence), I mention with the permission of the gentleman concerned. Amongst those who adopted drawing as his chief occupation was a little boy who, up to that time, had shown no particular aptitude for any kind of study. Here, however, he succeeded so well as soon to attract no small attention. His power was fostered then and afterwards, and painting eventually became his profession. Of his eminence in the art I need not speak, the works of Thomas Creswick needing no eulogy.”
“One sequel of this plan (it might be too much to call it a consequence), I mention with the permission of the gentleman concerned. Amongst those who adopted drawing as his chief occupation was a little boy who, up to that time, had shown no particular aptitude for any kind of study. Here, however, he succeeded so well as soon to attract no small attention. His power was fostered then and afterwards, and painting eventually became his profession. Of his eminence in the art I need not speak, the works of Thomas Creswick needing no eulogy.”
The plan that he devised for putting a check on fights among the boys was as ingenious as it was successful. Fighting had hitherto been against the rule, but it had gone on much as in most other schools. He brought it almost to an end by withdrawing the prohibition. Boys might fight as much as they liked if the combat took place in strict accordance with the new regulations. If, however, they fought in defiance of them, not only the “mighty opposites” themselves, but also all the spectators of the fray, were severely punished. “It was the duty of the eldest boy present, under a heavy penalty, to convey immediate information to the Magistrate, that the parties might be separated.” Those, however, who wished to fight in the manner that the law directed, gave notice of their intention to the Magistrate. It was his duty to inquire into the cause of the quarrel, and to do his best to reconcile the parties. If, however, after six hours had passed by he had not been able to settle “the swelling difference of their settled hate,” then he and his two assistants took them to a retired spot in the playground, where they could fight it out. Meanwhile, all the rest of the boys were confined to the school-room. In later years one of the masters was made the Marshal of the Lists, and not a single boy was allowed to be present. In the first three months after the new rules had been laid down, four formal fights took place. In the next four years there were buttwo. Informal combats still went on to some extent, but “in every instance early information was conveyed to the Magistrate, who immediately separated the belligerents.” The result was that fighting soon became almost unknown.
Another institution is thus described in “Public Education:”—
“The Committee has the management of the School Fund. It amounts now to upwards of £100 per annum, and is partly furnished by the proprietors of the school, and partly by the parents of the boys. It is expended, for the most part, in the purchase of philosophical instruments, musical instruments, apparatus for printing, maps, school-coin, and books for the school library, the pupils being invited to recommend the purchase of books or other articles by entries in a register kept for the purpose. To those who have not witnessed the prudence and uprightness with which very young persons can be taught to use power, it may appear a dangerous arrangement to intrust boys with the disposal of such a fund; but we have never had the slightest reason to regret the experiment. At the end of each session—the interval from vacation to vacation—the Committee prepares a statement of the expenditure, which is printed at the school press, and each pupil takes home a copy for the perusal of his friends. Thus a powerful check is furnished, if any were required, to improper expenditure. The advantages derived to the boys from the management of this fund are very considerable. To discuss the various merits and defects of books and instruments, to ascertain where and how they can be best procured, to transact the business attendant on their purchase, and to keep the necessary accounts, must all be useful exercises. Neither can it be doubted that these preliminaries to the possession of a desired object, very much tend to heighten its value, and increase the wish for its preservation. Thus habits of care are induced which are of the highest importance. Our school-rooms are all hung with valuable prints and maps. The musical instruments are constantly accessible to all the boys. The library contains many costly books, and property of a great variety of kinds is constantly exposed to the use of our pupils with almost perfect safety.”[53]
“The Committee has the management of the School Fund. It amounts now to upwards of £100 per annum, and is partly furnished by the proprietors of the school, and partly by the parents of the boys. It is expended, for the most part, in the purchase of philosophical instruments, musical instruments, apparatus for printing, maps, school-coin, and books for the school library, the pupils being invited to recommend the purchase of books or other articles by entries in a register kept for the purpose. To those who have not witnessed the prudence and uprightness with which very young persons can be taught to use power, it may appear a dangerous arrangement to intrust boys with the disposal of such a fund; but we have never had the slightest reason to regret the experiment. At the end of each session—the interval from vacation to vacation—the Committee prepares a statement of the expenditure, which is printed at the school press, and each pupil takes home a copy for the perusal of his friends. Thus a powerful check is furnished, if any were required, to improper expenditure. The advantages derived to the boys from the management of this fund are very considerable. To discuss the various merits and defects of books and instruments, to ascertain where and how they can be best procured, to transact the business attendant on their purchase, and to keep the necessary accounts, must all be useful exercises. Neither can it be doubted that these preliminaries to the possession of a desired object, very much tend to heighten its value, and increase the wish for its preservation. Thus habits of care are induced which are of the highest importance. Our school-rooms are all hung with valuable prints and maps. The musical instruments are constantly accessible to all the boys. The library contains many costly books, and property of a great variety of kinds is constantly exposed to the use of our pupils with almost perfect safety.”[53]
The punctuality that was established in the school was very striking. To use the words of “Public Education,” it was “an almost superstitious punctuality.”
“Punctuality of attendance entitles a boy to a reward, which goes on increasing from week to week during all the half-year, until the progression is interrupted by a failure, after which it commences anew.”
“Punctuality of attendance entitles a boy to a reward, which goes on increasing from week to week during all the half-year, until the progression is interrupted by a failure, after which it commences anew.”
It went on not only from week to week, but from half-year to half-year. If a boy were a single second late at a single roll-call, his name was struck off the list, and he had to begin again. “Neither illness nor engagement of any kind was a valid plea for absence.” It was his duty not to get ill, and it was the duty of his friends not to call him away from school on any grounds whatever. If there was any marrying, christening, or dying to be gone through in his family, it should be gone through in holiday time. In this “almost superstitious punctuality” I was myself brought up till I went to the University. There, as I well remember, I received a kind of shock when I found my superstition treated with scorn. The first time that I went to the lecture-room, I entered it on the first stroke of the hour. My tutor received me with a look of mild wonder; but, happily, he spared me his reproof. Ten minutes later in came the rest of my companions. It was some days before I could break through the frost of custom, and summon up resolution to be unpunctual. When, however, I found out how worthless the lectures commonly were, I recognised that even the custom of punctuality may be more honoured in the breach than in the observance.
The rank of the boys was fixed each week, and fixed on a different arrangement:—
“For one week the rank of each boy depends upon his progress in Greek, as far down the school as that language is taught. Those who do not learn Greek follow according to their proficiency in some other study. Latin determines the order for another week, geometry for a third, and so forth. Most of the studies determine the arrangement for a single week each; but a few, which are very important, decide it for two distinct weeks in each half-year.”
“For one week the rank of each boy depends upon his progress in Greek, as far down the school as that language is taught. Those who do not learn Greek follow according to their proficiency in some other study. Latin determines the order for another week, geometry for a third, and so forth. Most of the studies determine the arrangement for a single week each; but a few, which are very important, decide it for two distinct weeks in each half-year.”
This peculiar arrangement is thus defended:—
“It is of great importance that the pupil should, very early in life, have an opportunity of tasting the pleasure of success; and, in order to ensure so desirable an end, we have been careful to attach rank to excellence in each department, sometimes ranging our pupils in the order of classical attainments; then as mathematicians; then according to manual excellence; and, lastly, according to their general conduct and behaviour. Thus each boy in his turn attains rank and consideration in that branch of study wherein nature has fitted him to excel, and where comparatively moderate efforts will ensure success.”
“It is of great importance that the pupil should, very early in life, have an opportunity of tasting the pleasure of success; and, in order to ensure so desirable an end, we have been careful to attach rank to excellence in each department, sometimes ranging our pupils in the order of classical attainments; then as mathematicians; then according to manual excellence; and, lastly, according to their general conduct and behaviour. Thus each boy in his turn attains rank and consideration in that branch of study wherein nature has fitted him to excel, and where comparatively moderate efforts will ensure success.”
Twice each half-year the rank of the boys was determined by their conduct:—
“In arranging the boys according to propriety of manners and general good conduct, which is done twice in the course of each half-year, the teachers determine the rank of every boy to the best of their discretion. In doing this, however, they are materially assisted by the various records which are preserved of the good and bad conduct of the scholars. On the day previous to an arrangement of this description, all such records are posted into a ledger, where each boy has a debtor and creditor account, which every one has an opportunity of inspecting, that he may satisfy himself as to its correctness.”
“In arranging the boys according to propriety of manners and general good conduct, which is done twice in the course of each half-year, the teachers determine the rank of every boy to the best of their discretion. In doing this, however, they are materially assisted by the various records which are preserved of the good and bad conduct of the scholars. On the day previous to an arrangement of this description, all such records are posted into a ledger, where each boy has a debtor and creditor account, which every one has an opportunity of inspecting, that he may satisfy himself as to its correctness.”
The “Edinburgh Review” for January, 1825, contains a lively description of the school in “the reportof a very intelligent friend, who lately inspected the whole establishment in the most careful manner.” This friend was Captain Basil Hall.
“After observing generally that he has no hesitation in saying that the scheme works admirably in practice, he proceeds:—“‘The most striking circumstance, perhaps, is the universal cheerfulness and the kindly terms which the boys are on with the masters. I had abundant opportunity of satisfying myself that this was sincere. There was also an air of hearty attention to their business, which I never saw in any other school—no languor, no yawning—but all activity, and abstraction from everything but the lesson. They all seemed to go about their work like persons who knew their business, and had no doubts about success; and the frequent changes from topic to topic kept this degree of animation always afloat. The various musterings, ringing of bells, music and marching, which certainly in the book appear a little like trifling and loss of time, are, in practice, excellently adapted to maintain good order, and are all performed so rapidly, that although I was quite familiar with the description, and was warned by the master from time to time what was going to be done, I could not, sometimes with the closest attention, follow these movements. In a written description it will sometimes happen that what in fact is the work of a moment, and must be performed in some manner at every school, occupies as much space and is as prominently put forward as the essential instruction which these mere forms are but the preparation for. And I think it right to state that, after seeing the whole proceedings of a day, I am not aware that any of those musterings and other arrangements, having punctuality as their object, could be dispensed with without harm. The music consists of a band of twelve boys. Their instruments are the same as those used by military bands, and they play extremely well. The study of music, of drawing, of fencing, and several other similar accomplishments, is quite voluntary. The play hours of the boys are occupied partly in mere play, but chiefly in objects having some useful end in view. They have a printing-press of their own, and publish a monthly magazine embellished with etchings on copper, and lithographic prints, all executed by the boys. Reports of their trials are given at length; the school discipline is canvassed; accounts of the expenditure of their funds are drawn up in a business-like manner; and, in short, the whole system is a curious epitome of real life. Itis extremely important to remark that all this, being quite general, the every-day business of their lives, produces no coxcombry amongst the boys. They are not converted, as I had apprehended they would be, into little men. They are still boys, but boys with heads and hands fully employed on topics they like.“‘They were all very neatly dressed, and remarkably clean and tidy—all rosy and healthy-looking, and merry as any children could be at home. The house is thoroughly ventilated. Their library is well arranged and catalogued. It is managed, like everything else, exclusively by the boys. Everybody is allowed to propose any book for purchase, and the name is submitted to a committee, who decide.’”
“After observing generally that he has no hesitation in saying that the scheme works admirably in practice, he proceeds:—
“‘The most striking circumstance, perhaps, is the universal cheerfulness and the kindly terms which the boys are on with the masters. I had abundant opportunity of satisfying myself that this was sincere. There was also an air of hearty attention to their business, which I never saw in any other school—no languor, no yawning—but all activity, and abstraction from everything but the lesson. They all seemed to go about their work like persons who knew their business, and had no doubts about success; and the frequent changes from topic to topic kept this degree of animation always afloat. The various musterings, ringing of bells, music and marching, which certainly in the book appear a little like trifling and loss of time, are, in practice, excellently adapted to maintain good order, and are all performed so rapidly, that although I was quite familiar with the description, and was warned by the master from time to time what was going to be done, I could not, sometimes with the closest attention, follow these movements. In a written description it will sometimes happen that what in fact is the work of a moment, and must be performed in some manner at every school, occupies as much space and is as prominently put forward as the essential instruction which these mere forms are but the preparation for. And I think it right to state that, after seeing the whole proceedings of a day, I am not aware that any of those musterings and other arrangements, having punctuality as their object, could be dispensed with without harm. The music consists of a band of twelve boys. Their instruments are the same as those used by military bands, and they play extremely well. The study of music, of drawing, of fencing, and several other similar accomplishments, is quite voluntary. The play hours of the boys are occupied partly in mere play, but chiefly in objects having some useful end in view. They have a printing-press of their own, and publish a monthly magazine embellished with etchings on copper, and lithographic prints, all executed by the boys. Reports of their trials are given at length; the school discipline is canvassed; accounts of the expenditure of their funds are drawn up in a business-like manner; and, in short, the whole system is a curious epitome of real life. Itis extremely important to remark that all this, being quite general, the every-day business of their lives, produces no coxcombry amongst the boys. They are not converted, as I had apprehended they would be, into little men. They are still boys, but boys with heads and hands fully employed on topics they like.“‘They were all very neatly dressed, and remarkably clean and tidy—all rosy and healthy-looking, and merry as any children could be at home. The house is thoroughly ventilated. Their library is well arranged and catalogued. It is managed, like everything else, exclusively by the boys. Everybody is allowed to propose any book for purchase, and the name is submitted to a committee, who decide.’”
“‘The most striking circumstance, perhaps, is the universal cheerfulness and the kindly terms which the boys are on with the masters. I had abundant opportunity of satisfying myself that this was sincere. There was also an air of hearty attention to their business, which I never saw in any other school—no languor, no yawning—but all activity, and abstraction from everything but the lesson. They all seemed to go about their work like persons who knew their business, and had no doubts about success; and the frequent changes from topic to topic kept this degree of animation always afloat. The various musterings, ringing of bells, music and marching, which certainly in the book appear a little like trifling and loss of time, are, in practice, excellently adapted to maintain good order, and are all performed so rapidly, that although I was quite familiar with the description, and was warned by the master from time to time what was going to be done, I could not, sometimes with the closest attention, follow these movements. In a written description it will sometimes happen that what in fact is the work of a moment, and must be performed in some manner at every school, occupies as much space and is as prominently put forward as the essential instruction which these mere forms are but the preparation for. And I think it right to state that, after seeing the whole proceedings of a day, I am not aware that any of those musterings and other arrangements, having punctuality as their object, could be dispensed with without harm. The music consists of a band of twelve boys. Their instruments are the same as those used by military bands, and they play extremely well. The study of music, of drawing, of fencing, and several other similar accomplishments, is quite voluntary. The play hours of the boys are occupied partly in mere play, but chiefly in objects having some useful end in view. They have a printing-press of their own, and publish a monthly magazine embellished with etchings on copper, and lithographic prints, all executed by the boys. Reports of their trials are given at length; the school discipline is canvassed; accounts of the expenditure of their funds are drawn up in a business-like manner; and, in short, the whole system is a curious epitome of real life. Itis extremely important to remark that all this, being quite general, the every-day business of their lives, produces no coxcombry amongst the boys. They are not converted, as I had apprehended they would be, into little men. They are still boys, but boys with heads and hands fully employed on topics they like.
“‘They were all very neatly dressed, and remarkably clean and tidy—all rosy and healthy-looking, and merry as any children could be at home. The house is thoroughly ventilated. Their library is well arranged and catalogued. It is managed, like everything else, exclusively by the boys. Everybody is allowed to propose any book for purchase, and the name is submitted to a committee, who decide.’”
The account that Mr. W. L. Sargant gives of the school is not so favourable.[54]