there it is possible for a Dean of Christ Church to give him."

The Westminster College Hall is a fine building of the reign of Edward III., which had been originally designed by its builder, Abbot Littlington, as a refectory for the monks of Westminster. The corbels of the roof bear the traditional arms of Edward the Confessor, and of several other abbots, including the builder. There are in this hall tables of wood said to have been taken from wreckage of the timber of the Spanish Armada, a marbled floor, and a gallery for musicians, which is said now to be used as a pantry.

The entrance to Great and Little Dean's Yards, which form the school court, is under a low, groined gateway of the latter end of the fourteenth century, and contiguous to the headmaster's house. Fronting is the porch of the school, ascribed to Inigo Jones. On the west side of the spacious and splendid college gardens used to stand the old fourteenth century dormitory (originally the monastic granary), flanked by a noble tower, and a long range of exquisite mediæval windows looking towards the outer Dean's Yard. Naturally, in the course of centuries, the dormitory grew ruinous and decayed, but, instead of judiciously restoring it, an inartistic building, entirely out of harmony with its surroundings, replaced it in 1708 at a cost of £1,000. Westminsters" of the eighteenth century appear to have been a ferocious lot, for one "T. A." relates a surprising adventure that, at their hands, befell the bookseller, Curll, who had pirated a mangled version of an oraison funèbre, spoken by the captain of the school at the burial of Dr. South, on July 13th, 1716. Says he, in a letter indited at King's College, Westminster, and dated August 8th, 1716 :—

"SIR,-You are desired to acquaint the publick that a certain bookseller near Temple Bar (not taking warning by the frequent drubs that he has undergone for his often pirating other men's copies) did lately. . . without . .

G.E.S.

L

consent publish the scraps of a funeral oration spoken by him (i.e., the captain referred to above) over the corpse of the Reverend Dr. South, . . . and being fortunately nabbed within the limits of Dean's Yard by the King's scholars, there he met with a college salutation: for he was first presented with the ceremony of the blanket, in which, when the skeleton had been well shook, he was carried to the school; and, after receiving a grammatical correction for his false concords, he was reconducted to Dean's Yard, and, on his knees, asking for pardon of the said captain for his offence, he was kicked out of the yard, and left to the huzzas of the rabble.-I am, sirs, yours, T. A.

On the roll of Westminster scholars are nine archbishops and sixty bishops, including Trelawney, one of the " seven bishops"; Francis Atterbury, the exiled Jacobite Bishop of Rochester, and friend of the so-called "Augustan authors and poets, Pope, Swift, Arbuthnot, and Gay; South, "the witty Churchman" and Restoration divine. Among the lawyers was Robert Henley, Earl Northington, twice Chancellor, noted for his three-bottle tendencies at St. John's College, Oxford, with the inevitable consequences that as he shuffled his gouty limbs between the bar and the woolsack of the House of Lords he was overheard muttering, "By G, if I had known that these legs were one day to carry a Lord Chancellor, I'd have taken better care of 'em when I was young!"

The younger Vane (of Milton's sonnet); Pulteney-who is said to have won a wager with Walpole over a disputed classical quotation, and so received the only honest money which the latter was ever known to have offered in the House-and Warren Hastings are among the statesmen educated at the school. Raglan, of the Crimea, is of the warriors educated at Westminster.

And of poets and men of letters are Ben Jonson, Cowley, George Herbert, John Dryden, Matthew Prior, who composed a felicitous epitaph * on himself, which, however, he had "Nobles and heralds, by your leave

Here lies-what once was Matthew Prior;
The son of Adam and of Eve:

Can Bourbon or Nassau claim higher ?'

"

not the sense to put over his tomb in the "Poet's Corner " of the Abbey; John Locke, the famous rationalistic philosopher and metaphysician; poor Cowper, who had a rough time at Westminster from the "fagging" and other abuses; Gibbon, the splendid artist-historian of the "Decline and Fall"; Rowe, the Shakespearean critic; and Robert Southey. Richard Hakluyt, commemorated by his encyclopædic literature of travel, "Navigations, Voyages, and Discoveries of the English Nation," was also a Westminster. Wren, the architect, and the two Colmans (the comic poets of the eighteenth century Haymarket and Covent Garden), conclude a distinguished list. Jasper Mayne long-forgotten "Westminster" dramatist of the seventeenth century, facetiously bequeathed to his servant an old trunk, which he described as "having something in it which would afford the beneficiary a relish to his liquor when the testator should be no more." Hardly had the breath left his master's body ere the servant hastened to the trunk, forced it open, and "Eureka! 'twas a red herring!"

"

The government of Westminster School is an absolute monarchy enjoyed by the headmaster, although the dean and chapter may exercise some control over the foundation scholars, who, by the way, are not poor scholars" in the ordinary sense of that term. By the power of visitation which Queen Elizabeth retained for herself and her successors, the reigning monarch was to be the visitor of the school. And even as late as 1846, on the father of one of the Queen's scholars complaining energetically to Victoria that his son had been cruelly treated by three other scholars, the Queen ordered an immediate investigation into the circumstances. The annual statutable allowance for the headmaster was for stipend £12; for livery 30s.; for commons £6 Is. 8d. That of the undermaster was, stipend £6 6s. 8d.; livery 23s. 4d.; commons £6 Is. 8d.; this is, of course, contemporary monetary value. To-day the headmaster's emoluments are stated

to be about £1,173; the undermaster's, £628. The Clarendon Commissioners recommended that the Chapter of Westminster, whose revenue exceeds £60,000 annually, should take upon themselves the whole cost of educating the "King's Scholars" (the original (the original "poor "), and that the annual expenses of the Oppidans, or independent boys, should be increased. Candidates for admission to the foundation are now limited to about sixty in number, of whom forty are boarders representing the original beneficiaries. They are by no means of the indigent class! Originally each foundation scholar had by statute 13s. 4d. for livery; £3 os. 10d. for commons; and extras were given to meet table expenses on festivals or holidays.

Until 1846 there was one large dormitory in which all the forty Queen's scholars lived by day and slept by night, without any provision whatever in the shape of private study rooms. They had to resort for their breakfasts, and for their board when sick, to outside boarding houses. Then there was an expense to parents of £80 to £100 for tuition and maintenance for each boy; but by the advice of Dean Buckland, gratuitous board was granted them. In 1865 the parents of a "poor Queen's scholar" had to pay an annual charge of £34 13s. each; but the Commissioners recommended that this should be reduced to £20 per boy.

It appears that from an early date other boys of the wealthy and aristocratic classes were educated at Westminster along with the indigent; but the former were not in receipt of charitable assistance, nor had they extruded the rightful poor. The number of such wealthy boys was limited by the statutes to eighty; but from 1600 the statutory limitation was set aside. Thirty-five years before the Commission of 1865, the total number of scholars was 300; in 1843 it dropped to 77; to-day it is about 250. In old times those who could afford the expense of maintenance (i.e., lodging and board) were designated Pensionarii; they were educated but were

not maintained by the college. The last class, the patrician Oppidans, or "strangers," were entirely at their own charge as regards maintenance and education. Here, as elsewhere, the admission and inclusion of this independent class of scholars was intended to span the social gulf between rich and poor, patrician and plebeian; and here, as elsewhere, has that intention been set at naught. It may be remarked, finally, that the Commissioners recommended that the Westminster governing body should throw the King's (or Queen's as they then were) scholarships open to general competition, without any restriction as to place of birth or the requirement of any previous education in Westminster School. It must not be forgotten, however, that no "poor man's" son could afford the annual charge of £20 at Westminster !

Among the valuable leaving scholarships at Westminster are three studentships at Christ Church, Oxford, of £100 each per annum, and tenable for seven years; three Trinity College, Cambridge, Exhibitions of £40 each per annum, and tenable until graduating; two "Triplett " Exhibitions of £50 each per annum for three years; two Samwaies Exhibitions of £23 4s. each per annum, and tenable at Trinity College, Cambridge, etc.