THE "AUTOBIOGRAPHY" OF GEORGE COMBE. 115 



to hold out his hand to receive a shower of palmies, it was " Here, if you please, 

 my dear." Whack, whack, whack ; scream, scream, scream. " It is all for the 

 good of your soul and your body, my dear." In the third year all this discipline 

 appeared to him insufficient ; and, after announcing, " I must try a severer rod 

 of correction, my dears," he walked to a small closet in the school, opened it amid 

 portentous silence, and brought out a short riding-whip, such as game-keepers 

 are armed with, and with which in those days they lashed the hounds. It had 

 a lash of knotted cord, and a short, thick handle, with an ivory whistle at the 

 end ; and with this " rod of correction " he commenced operations. The lash 

 twisted around the hand, leaving red scores on the skin, and, where the knots 

 struck, in some instances drawing blood. 



All this torture was a substitute for teaching. There was not a map or illus- 

 trative object of any kind in the schoolroom ; and only on two occasions during 

 the four years did he ever, to my recollection, address a word to us beyond trans- 

 lation and grammar of the baldest description. The first of these exceptions 

 took place when we read the description of the bridge erected by Julius Caesar 

 over the Rhine, given in his " Commentaries." Our teacher had, according to 

 tradition, constructed a model of the bridge with his own hands, and was proud 

 of it. The fame of its great interest had been transmitted from class to class for 

 many years ; and we counted the days which should bring us to " the brig." 

 At last the closet was opened in profound silence, and the model brought out. 



It was placed on a chair in the middle of the floor, and we began to read 

 the description. As there were many technical terms, he helped us by explain- 

 ing them, and with conscious pride pointed out each stake and beam as we pro- 

 ceeded, and showed us its connections and uses. The reading and expounding 

 lasted for several days, during which all the lessons were better learned than 

 usual, complete silence reigned, and not a blow was struck. We thought our- 

 selves in paradise. But the model was removed, monotony recommenced, and 

 the arm and " the tawse " were again employed to do the work of the teacher's 

 brain. 



The noise and inattention which provoked the teacher and led to much of 

 this severity were the natural consequences of our condition. Fully half of the 

 seats stood apart from the wall, and had no backs. In summer we sat on them 

 from 7 to 9 a. m., from 10 to 12, noon, and from 1 to 3 p. m. ; and in winter, 

 from 9 to 11a. m., and 12 to 2 p. m., without any intellectual occupation, ex- 

 cept hearing the lessons repeated over and over again as they descended from the 

 top to the bottom of the class. There was suffering from an uneasy position 

 of the body, and nearly absolute vacuity of mind ; and this at an age when every 

 fiber of the brain and muscles was glowing with nervous activity. If physi- 

 ology and the laws of mental action had been known in those days, everything 

 might have been different. The silence, pleasing excitement, and general good 

 behavior which reigned when we had an intelligible object presented to us, 

 clearly indicated what was wanted to render us all happy ; but the hint was not 

 taken. In point of fact, there was no other rational knowledge adapted to the 

 young mind in our teacher's brain: ex nihilo nihil Jit* was exemplified in his 

 whole teaching; for the other instance of attention alluded to was due to the 

 occurrence of a thunderstorm, which frightened us by its darkness and prox- 

 imity. This led him to describe a previous storm of the same kind, which had 

 ended by a thunderbolt striking the front of the Royal Infirmary, quite near to 

 the High School of those days, and breaking the windows on that side. He gave 



* From nothing, nothing comes. 



