68 THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 7 



bench. ' Mr. Vorth,' said he, ' was veil enough ; indeed 

 he vished to hedicate me, and bought vigs for me, that I 

 might learn to cut hair, and did many kind things besides ; 

 but his walet and I couldn't agree at all. At last, however, 

 ve had a reg'lar blow up ; and finding that Mr. Vorth 

 backed the walet against me, I vopped him and the -walet, 

 and here I am, once more.' " 



"Well," observed Mr. Andrew Raby, "these are ex- 

 tremely amusing stories, and very characteristic of Eton ; 

 but let us return to our discussion on the question of 

 choice between the two schools, and also hear what our 

 friend Freemantle has to say on the subject." 



" Why, if you wish for my opinion," replied Mr. 

 Freemantle, " you shall have it ; but, mind ye, it will be 

 one, perhaps, that you Eton and Oxford men and you, in 

 particular, Andrew, who brought honours with you from 

 Oxford may not exactly admire. Scholarship, or, if you 

 will, learning, has been rung in my ears as the sumrnum 

 bonum the one thing necessary for man. In fact, to say 

 of a person that he is a scholar, seems to imply every kind 

 of superiority ; and to say that he is no scholar, the 

 reverse. Now, I confess that, after much reflection and 

 much inquiry, I am at a loss to comprehend the mighty 

 benefits of what is called fine scholarship. Some 

 advantages it certainly has ; but, perhaps, its disadvantages 

 are greater than we think, and for these reasons : It too 

 often prevents the excursions of a vigorous understanding, 

 by keeping it in a beaten track, the invariable practice 

 of all great schools ; it perpetuates error, by imposing 

 received opinions upon those who, if they had thought 

 for themselves, would have discovered truth ; it divides 

 the attention, and often fixes it on subjects which are not 

 suited to that particular genius and turn of mind, which 

 nature would have exerted upon some other, the object of 

 her own choice, and with much more advantage. Neither 

 is this all. By loading the memory, it restrains the 

 imagination ; and, by multiplying precepts, it anticipates 

 the judgment. Give me the man whose knowledge is 

 derived from the copious sources of his own reason ; whose 

 mind is filled with ideas that spring not from books, but 

 from thought ; whose principles are co-existent, because 

 deduced in a regular ratiocination, and not from scraps of 

 different systems gleaned from the works of others and 

 huddled together without examination. Where is the 



