SCHOOL LIFE AT RUGBY. 7 



John Walter Sherer, C.S.I., who has favoured me 

 with some pleasant reminiscences of his former 

 schoolfellow, which illustrates the subject of them 

 from another point of view : — 



"I was at Rugby with William, but did not at 

 first know him ; he was two or three years older 

 than myself, for one thing, . . . The prepositor in 

 my house (Powlett's, afterwards Cotton's) was F. 

 Gell (afterwards Bishop of Madras), and when he 

 went to Cambridge, Hodson was induced to migrate 

 to us. I being in a Form not above fagging, became 

 principal fag to Hodson, and had to clean his study, 

 make his coffee, and boil his eggs. Of course he 

 w^as in the Sixth, where it became an honour to 

 have studied under Arnold. Willie Hodson used 

 to refer to his pupilage with pride. But he was 

 never really an Arnold man — I mean as was Stanley 

 (Dean of Westminster), Tom Hughes, or Seton-Karr. 

 He was rather an isolated boy ; for though a great 

 athlete, he did not play much at cricket or foot- 

 ball, and was rather given to hare -and -hounds, 

 long runs in the country, jumps over hedges, and 

 so on. Occasionally he gave an exhibition in the 

 Close (our ' playing-field ' ) of picking up stones at 

 distances within a certain time. He went in for 

 dumb-bells and other contrivances for strengthening 

 the figure, and he was a very powerful well-shaped 

 youth. Tall rather than otherwise, with a fresh 

 though rather pale face and yellow hair, and large 

 dark -grey or dark -blue eyes, which were a little 

 stern and unforgiving in expression. 



"He was always rather bothered with heat, and 

 required water for his head ; and quite early would 

 be at the pump half stripped and sousing his yellow 



