THE EIGHTH DUKE OF BEAUFORT 



moned home, the runaway proudly mounted to the 

 box, and in due time started. Alas, this pride was 

 the cause of his downfall. When his absence was 

 discovered and search made for him, the news 

 spread that a little boy had been seen on the coach 

 box that morning. Pursuit was instant, and though 

 the coachman was inclined to stand by his young 

 passenger, such cogent arguments were brought to 

 bear on him that his good nature was not proof 

 against them, and the culprit had to return to face 

 his punishments. When the news of the adventure, 

 and its cause, reached Lord Worcester, he " was 

 furious at the treatment " his son had received ; but 

 in spite of this. Lord Glamorgan remained at the 

 school till he went to Eton. 



No doubt the life at Eton was rougher then than 

 it is now, but it must have been a great improve- 

 ment on the Brighton experiences. The young 

 Lord Worcester — for he became known by the title 

 hitherto borne by his father, after the death of his 

 grandfather, the sixth Duke, on November 23, 

 1835 — joined in all the sports popular with his 

 schoolfellows, while he was receiving an education 

 not unsuited to the life he was to lead. It is, or 

 perhaps was, the fashion to underrate the training 

 given in our public schools ; but, after all, nothing has 

 been found to come up to it as a general preparation 

 for life. Worcester was no doubt a clever boy, and 

 he owed much of his easy, cultivated power of ex- 

 pression to his Eton training. When, later in life, 



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