When ive Old Fogeys were Boys. 197 



the earlier half of this century, though in these days, since 

 railways and enlightenment in all parts of England, great 

 schools have risen up where the very best education, and 

 everything which is manly and noble, can be acquired in 

 small worlds of boyhood ; and the class lists at the Univer- 

 sities, and results of contests in the cricket-field, athletics, 

 and competitive examinations, show that all the virtues and 

 talent do not by any means lie amongst the old schools* 

 Now I am not going to write a history of Winchester, but 

 simply mean to put forward a few tableaux of boys as they 

 were in College some forty years ago. The full complement 

 of the school was seventy College boys — supposed to repre- 

 sent the seventy disciples, though I fear the representatives 

 hardly came up to the example — and 130 Commoners, who 

 were the same as Oppidans at Eton, except that they lived 

 in one large building, under the Head Master, and not 

 with dames or tutors. I may state at once that everything 

 is altered now, and the school, under the Public Schools 

 Act, is very like the Irishman's knife with four new blades 

 and a new handle. The College boys, I think, were not 

 poor scholars, as William of Wykeham intended, but were 

 elected by the wardens of New College and Winchester, 

 the head masters, and two examiners, who were called 

 " posers," and the result was the College to a great extent 

 became a family party, consisting of gentlemen's sons^ many 

 of whom had rich fathers, and the same names in many in 

 stances appeared for generations. College boys, contrary to 

 the status of Foundation boys generally, had rather the best 

 of things as a rule, as Commoners were dependent on them 

 for the schoolroom and the chapel, and, in public matches 

 in which all joined against an aggressive foe, for a cricket 

 ground also. Moreover, the head College boy was com 

 mander-in-chief and autocrat over the whole school when- 

 ever Commoners were inside our walls, or the school as a 



