THE HAMPSHIRE ANTIQUARY & NATURALIST. 



and the thermometer registered 66 on two days, and 

 was over 60 every day to the i3th inclusive. A severe 

 frost occurred on the night of the 26th, when it fell to 

 24. This was the lowest for the month. There were 

 frosts on three other nights. 



Fordingbridge. T. WESTLAKE. 



WINCHESTER COLLEGE. 



The English Illustrated Magazine for November 

 contains some reminiscences of life at Winchester 

 College by Frederick Gale, with an introduction by 

 the Earl of Selborne, both, by the way, old Winchester 

 boys. The former, in an article of deep interest and 

 highly entertaining to all acquainted with the place, 

 is somewhat disposed to regard with suspicion some 

 recent changes in the constitution of the school. Not 

 so Lord Selborne, who says 



" William of Wykeham was a very large-minded man, and 

 would certainly have been likely to look with favor, if he 

 could have foreseen them, upon changes which would 

 enlarge, rather than upon a stiffness about matters of 

 detail which might contract, the benefits ol his Foundation. 

 It is not likely that it would have displeased him to have 

 the seventy bo s on his Foundation chosen upon a system 

 which would ensure their coming in by merit rather than 

 patronage. And though the number of boys not on the 

 Foundation who are now admitted may exceed that of the 

 " Nobilium Filii" whom he contemplated, to an extent 

 which he never thought of, there can be no reason to sup- 

 pose that he would have been adverse to such a develop- 

 ment, if calculated, upon the whole, to be advantageous to 

 his scholars, and to promote the reputation and efficiency 

 of the school. Nothing can be more satisfactory than the 

 working of the changes in the school has, on the whole, 

 been." 



The article, which runs through many pages, is 

 liberally and admirably illustrated by W. Harold 

 Oakley. 



AN ISLE OF WIGHT ELECTION POEM. 



The following refers to the Newport election, 

 March, 1857. The references will be readily under- 

 stood by our Island readers : 



THE LONDON ROSE. 

 In England's garden flourishes 



That fair and fragrant flower, 

 The Rose of June 'tis often seen 



To deck the poor man's bower. 



A Rose, from London, has been brought, 



To try it it will grow 

 In Newport soil, when 'tis well known 



That here 'twill never blow ! 



- Tis not the Rose without a thorn, 



Nor yet the Rose of June 

 Neither of these it cannot be, 



It has appeared too soon ! 



'Tis an Exotic that was reared 



Amidst the London smoke ; 

 Striving to make it flourish here 



Surely must be a joke ! 



It is a Rose of spurious kind, 



And many know it well, 

 Because last month they found it did 



Strongly of brandy smell ! 



The " Alderman " it is surnamed ; 



Though fair it does appear, 

 Some Newport florists have declared 



It cannot flourish here ! 



This Rose, from its own soil removed 



And planted in the shade, 

 Will lose its scent ; ere many days 



Both bud and leaves will fade ! 



Electors all ! when Poll-day comes 



Reject this spurious Rose, 

 And Kcmtard too, for 'tis well known 



They will Reform oppose ! 



The "Rose" alluded to was Alderman W. A. 

 Rose (afterwards Lord Mayor of London) whose col- 

 league was Mr. R. W. Kennard, both posing as 

 "Liberal-Conservatives," in opposition to Captain 

 Mangles and Mr. Charles Buxton, the Liberal candi- 

 dates, who were both returned. Alderman Rose 

 afterwards had his revenge on Captain Mangles, 

 whom he defeated at Southampton in 1862 in the by- 

 election consequent upon the decease of Mr. B. M. 

 Wilcox. [Mr. John Dore wrote to The Hampshire 

 Independent, of November 15, that the above verses 

 were composed by himself.] 



" BY KINGSLEY'S HOME AND GRAVE." 



" A Little Walk in Hampshire " is the subject of 

 an interesting article by Mr. James Baker, F.R.G.S., 

 in Belgravia for September last. From Basingstoke 

 to Sherfield, Hartley Waspil or Wespall (one 

 of the most secluded villages in England), 

 and Hartley, into the structure of whose 

 church timber so largely enters, on to Stratfield 

 Turges and Stratfieldsaye, with much interesting and 

 picturesque gossip on the way, our author conducts 

 us to Eversley, the goal of his pilgrimage. Of the 

 home of the iron captain, who overthrew the 

 " scourge of Europe," Mr. Baker chats pleasantly ; 

 and he reminds us that it was at Bramshill, according 

 to local peasants, " that the terrible game of hide and 

 seek was played that ended in the sad tragedy faith- 

 fullv set out in the song of ' The Mistletoe Bough.'" 

 The tradition may or may not be true, but an 

 " historic homicide was enacted in the park, for here 

 Archbishop Abbot shot the keeper, who bled to death 

 in an hour, the Archbishop doing penance annually 

 for his fatal mishap." Lovingly and reverentially 

 Mr. Baker writes of Kingsley and of the scenes 

 amidst which he spent the last thirty years of his 



