the scenes of disorder and mutiny, which were common in the days of Keate and his predecessors. Much, no doubt, is due to the increasing mildness of manners and the improvement of private schools; but something also to the more sensible treatment of boys by masters, which was begun at Eton by Hawtrey. If boys rebel, it is the fault of their masters; and the masters have generally shown this in the clumsy conclusions of contests, in which with the parents, the public, and if necessary the constables and soldiers to back them, they are pretty sure to win. Such incidents as the rebellions against Foster, Heath, and Davies reflect little honour on the Head Masters in whose times they took place, and we have no pleasure in dwelling upon them.

Hawtrey's love for books was shown not only by his knowledge of them, but also by the library, which for some years was the ornament of the Head Master's residence. Like John Hales, he was always generous, and gave away and spent more than he received, and his library suffered the common fate. He sold many thousand pounds' worth of books himself, when his professional income was reduced on his promotion to the Provostship in 1853, and the rest were dispersed at his death. It is much to be regretted that they were not bought by the College, and added to the College Library. Such libraries as his, collected by scholars and reflecting their tastes, have a personal interest which enhances the value of the books which they contain. The principal ornaments of the College Library at Eton are the additions made by Provosts Savile, Wotton, and Godolphin, and the bequests of Bishop Waddington and Anthony Storer; and Hawtrey's collection of books would have been a worthy continuation of these traditions, and would have helped to bridge over the long gap between the eighteenth century and the present date.

The College Library was built in 1725, and, with the exception of the bequests mentioned above, the collection of books there has received but few additions since that date. Jacob Bryant's library went to King's, in consequence (says tradition) of the unwillingness of the then Provost and Fellows to pay for its transport from Cippenham to Eton.

No regular attention appears to have been paid to the Library at any time. At the time of the Foundation, books were bought by Waynflete; William Weye, one of the original Fellows, gave manuscripts; and notices appear here and there to show that some care was taken of the housing of the books, and to increase their number. Provosts Savile and Wotton did what could be done in their time to add to the Library, and considerable additions must

have been made at different times during the eighteenth century. But, as a rule, the Library has grown not by the continual careof the College, but by the gifts of private benefactors; and among the names of such benefactors may be here set down those of Provost Hawtrey, and Mr. Wilder, the present Vice-Provostwhose liberality has left its mark on the place in the restoration of the Hall and the decoration of the Chapel-and we must not pass over the magnificent copy of the folio Nibelungenlied,' one of two printed on vellum, which was presented to the College Library by Frederick William IV. of Prussia; and which, when it has ripened in the bin for a century or two, will be a treasure worthy to be compared with the already mellow Mazarine Bible, the Ovid and the Dante, the three Caxtons, and the numerous Aldines and Flemish incunabula numbered among the 23,000 volumes which sleep on their leisurely shelves in the Cloisters.

The Boys' Library, founded by W. M. Praed, was largely increased by Hawtrey's munificence; and the beautiful room destroyed a few years ago, in consequence of necessary additions to the buildings occupied by the Collegers, was a monument of his taste, and admirably adapted to its purpose. The number of students in a public school is never very large; but no money is better spent than that which gives the opportunity of selfeducation to those who can make use of it. The late Librarian of the University of Cambridge, Henry Bradshaw, who was in his own line as great a scholar as Porson or Gray in theirs, owed much of his early training to the bookshelves of the Boys' Library, which was in great measure the creation of Hawtrey's enthusiasm and liberality.

Dr.

As Provost, Hawtrey followed too much the precedent of Goodall. His successor, Dr. Goodford, found it difficult to carry out the reforms which Hawtrey himself would have welcomed if he had not outlived his own convictions. Goodford, though he did not encourage irregular genius, and though his manner rather convicted of ignorance than inspired zeal, was an excellent teacher and an admirable scholar. No one knew better how to appreciate industry; and those who chose to profit by his teaching found that everything he taught them was sound and practical. Dr. Goodford may be said to have introduced at Eton the accurate linguistic scholarship which grew up at Cambridge in the school of Munro, Thompson, and Shilleto. The tradition of Eton scholarship at the Universities was never better upheld than by the undergraduates who had their training from him. The rough but wholesome attack of Paterfamilias,' and the not less damaging because more friendly criticism of Sir John Taylor Coleridge, drew

the

the attention of the public to the shortcomings of Eton and other public schools. It was Dr. Goodford's misfortune that in consequence of the hostile attitude of the Press, and to some extent of the Royal Commission appointed in 1861, he was driven into the position, as Provost, of holding a brief for the College,' and maintaining abuses which, if he had had free action, he would gladly have reformed.

The Commission of 1861 undoubtedly did good work. We may be permitted to doubt, after an interval of a quarter of a century, whether the entire abolition of the ancient Collegiate system, both at Eton and Winchester, was an unmixed good. The best English reforms have always been carried out with reverence and tenderness for the past. The reform of 18641871 was conducted rather in the spirit of Edward VI. than of Elizabeth; and it may be regretted that Eton is no longer an abode of learned leisure as well as a place of education, and that such names as those of Hales, Savile, and Montague, will not in future years be associated with the place. Boys are not very susceptible to the presence among them of learned men ; but if Fellowships had continued to exist, and had been given by merit, we are inclined to think that the monks of Eton' might have contributed in later years more lustre to the place of their education; that Bishops and Professors would have continued to be chosen from King Henry's Foundation; and that the Cloisters would have borne their part in carrying out the intentions of the Founder.

We do not intend to follow Mr. Lyte into the details of the period which begins with Dr. Goodford's Head Mastership, and extends to his death. Dr. Balston, who accepted rather than sought the place of Head Master, which he held with much dignity and kindliness, introduced French into the school course, and put an end to the 'shirking' system, but was not enough in sympathy with the demand for modern subjects to be willing to take a prominent part in making the changes which he saw must come. Dr. Hornby's judicious reforms enlarged the scheme of education, and gave room for special studies. The door once opened, it was inevitable that the new should crowd in upon the old. However lovers of leisurely scholarship may regret the decay of the old classical training, which still survives for a portion of the school, the most faithful conservative would not wish to return to the purely classical system.

Mr. Lyte gives us, amongst other subjects of interest, the history of cricket and boating from the earliest times. Other games, besides those which flourish at the present day side by

side with these great summer institutions, come under observation: hockey, trap bat and ball, the rolling circle,' prisoners' base, even marbles. At Eton, as elsewhere, games have been reduced to rule and method, and form a more important part of a boy's life than they did before the tide of athleticism swept over the country and carried away 'learned and lewed' alike. It is difficult to exaggerate the good done by the athletic movement in giving the young men of the middle and lower classes healthy exercise for their bodies, and wholesome emulation and interest for their minds, to take the place of the degrading amusements of our ancestors. Volunteer drill, cricket, cycling, and football, have done much to strengthen the manhood of England at an important crisis.

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What a school would be without games, Englishmen have only to go across the Channel to see. No Frenchman loves his school, though he may respect his teachers and be grateful for what he learns. The English gentry (though Disraeli said of them, they live in the open air and never read') have always been fortunate in combining outdoor exercise with study; and the rise and development of athletics have brought with it much useful training. But success in cricket and boating does not always go with a well-trained mind or a well-balanced moral character; it is not even always found combined with practical knowledge of affairs or power of command. These intellectual and moral endowments have little to do with the glories of Henley and Lord's; and to set up the heroes of the Playing Fields as the leaders of their kind is to return to barbaric standards of excellence. The leaders in games are not necessarily or naturally the only leaders of school opinion. That they have become so, at other public schools as well as at Eton, is in great measure due to the publicity of the school matches and other athletic contests. When a boy knows that if he becomes a good bat or a good oar he will be decorated with colours' in ribbons or flannel, his 'form' will be discussed in the newspapers, and the possession of him will be contended for by rival colleges and universities, it would be strange if he did not accept the popular verdict, and believe himself to be a much greater man than those of his schoolfellows whose claims to distinction are merely those of intellect or character, and who have not the bodily strength or skill which leads to success in games. If we search athletic records for outdoor honours won by those Etonians whose names are best known in the world among the younger generation, both for character and intellect, we shall find but small mention of Mr. Arthur Balfour, Lord Rosebery, Lord Lansdowne, or Lord Randolph Churchill. There are

brilliant

brilliant instances on the other side, no doubt; but the leaders of games who were kings in their day at Eton have often passed into obscurity after their last appearance at Gentlemen and Players, or in the University Race.

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We must refer our readers to Mr. Maxwell Lyte's pages for an account of the various successors to the Etonian' and the 'Microcosm' which have appeared in the last quarter of a century; of the new buildings, bad, indifferent, or good, the best of which are the Queen's Schools and the new Chapel, built from the designs of Sir Arthur Blomfield, which were opened last year by Her Majesty; of the reforms in school work, and the steady improvement in discipline under the last four Head Masters; of the Eton Mission, set on foot with excellent promise under Mr. W. Carter, at Hackney Wick; and we can assure them that they will not be disappointed. Mr. Lyte deserves the thanks of all Etonians for the excellence of his work and the fresh interest with which he has invested an interesting subject. And we hope that a subject of national importance so ably treated will attract other readers besides those who are led to it by the natural piety which binds all Eton men to their ancient and glorious school.

Much is changed since old times, and must change at a place like Eton. Montem is gone, and Long Chamber, and Tasting Dinners, and Cloister Speech, and the pretty courtesies of Election Saturday, when the Provost of King's and the Posers with their quaint hoods used, year after year, to drive up in the yellow chariot and four from Salt Hill. Fellowships are no more, and recent times have seen the abolition of such harmless and interesting pieces of antiquity as the loving cup, 'Bever,' and the 'azure' livery of the College serving men. But the character of the place remains the same as in ancient times, and the more peaceful and orderly boys of this generation sing 'Carmen,' and shout for the best of schools,' with the same spirit of loyalty which animated their forefathers who wore scarlet coats and waved the flag pro more et monte

'They toil at games, and play with books:

They love the winner of the race,

If only he that prospers looks

On prizes with a simple grace'

and they still believe that there is no spell more powerful to draw comrades together, whether round the flowing bowl or in the battle-field, than Floreat Etona.'

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ART.