their talents--which in the different branches were various, but all
of mark and vivacity. To the younger part, Dampier was the tutor; who,
having a little disagreement with Frank North on the hundred steps
coming down from the terrace, at Windsor, they adjusted it, by Frank
North's rolling his tutor very quickly down the whole of them. The tutor
has since risen to some eminence in the church.
Lord Cholmondeley was early in life a boy of great parts, and they have
continued so ever since, though not lively ones. Earl of Buckingham
was a plain good scholar, but ~79~~ would have been better at any
other school, for he was no poet, and verse is here one of the first
requisites; besides, he had an impediment in his speech, which, in
the hurry of repeating a lesson before a number of boys, was always
increased. It was inculcated to him by his dame--that he must look upon
himself as the reverse of a woman in every thing, and not hold--that
whoever "_deliberates is lost_."
Lord Harrington was a boy of much natural spirit. In the great
rebellion, under _Forster_, when all the boys threw their books into the
Thames, and marched to Salt Hill, he was amongst the foremost. At that
place each took an oath, or rather swore, he would be d------d if ever
he returned to school again.
When, therefore, he came to London to the old Lord Harrington's, and
sent up his name, his father would only speak to him at the door,
insisting, at the same time, on his immediate return. "Sir," said the
son, "consider I shall be d--d if I do!" "And I" answered the father,
"will be d--d if you don't!"
"Yes, my lord," replied the son, "but you will be d--d together I do or
no!"
The Storers. Anthony and Tom, for West Indians, were better scholars
than usually fell to the share of those _children of the sun_, who were,
in general, too gay to be great. The name of the elder stands to this
day at the head of many good exercises; from which succeeding genius has
stolen, and been praised for it.
Tom had an odd capability of running round a room on the edge of the
wainscot, a strange power of holding by the foot: an art which, in lower
life, might have been serviceable to him in the showing it. And Anthony,
likewise, amongst better and more brilliant qualifications, had the
reputation of being amongst the best dancers of the age. In a political
line, perhaps, he did not _dance attendance_ to much purpose.
Harry Conway, brother to the present Marquis of ~80~~ Hertford,
though younger in point of learning, was older than his brother, Lord
Beauchamp; but he was not so forward as to show this preeminence: a
somewhat of modesty, a consciousness of being younger, always kept him
back from displaying it. In fact, they were perfectly unlike two Irish
boys--the Wades, who followed them, and who, because the younger was
taller, used to fight about which was the eldest.
Pepys. A name well known for Barnard's commendation of it, and for his
exercises in the _Musae Etonenses_. He was amongst the best poets that
Eton ever produced.
Kirkshaw, son to the late doctor, of Leeds, and since fellow of Trinity
College. When his father would have taken him away, he made a singular
request that he might stay a year longer, not wishing to be made a man
so early.
Many satiric Latin poems bear his name at Eton, and he continued that
turn afterwards at Cambridge. He was remarkable for a very large head;
but it should likewise be added, there was a good deal in it.
On this head, his father used to hold forth in the country. He was,
without a figure, the head of the school, and was afterwards in the
caput at the university.
Wyndham, under Barnard, distinguished himself very early as a scholar,
and for a logical acuteness, which does not often fall to the share of
a boy. He was distinguished too both by land and by water; for while
he was amongst the most informed of his time, in school hours, in the
playing fields, on the water, with the celebrated boatman, my guinea
piper at cricket, or in rowing, he was always the foremost. He used
to boast, that he should in time be as good a boxer as his father was,
though he used to add, that never could be exactly known, as he could
not decently have a _set-to_ with him.
~81~~ Fawkener, the major, was captain of the school; and in those days
was famed for the "_suaviter in modo_," and for a turn for gallantry
with the Windsor milliners, which he pursued up the hundred steps, and
over the terrace there. As this turn frequently made him overrun the
hours of absence, on his return he was found out, and flogged the next
morning; but this abated not his zeal in the cause of gallantry, as he
held it to be, like _Ovid_, whom he was always reading, suffering in a
fair cause.
Fawkener, Everard, minor, with the same turn for pleasure as his
brother, but more open and ingenuous in his manner, more unreserved in
his behaviour, then manifested, what he has since been, the bon vivant
of every society, and was then as since, the admired companion in every
party.
Prideaux was remarkable for being the gravest boy of his time, and for
having the longest chin. Had he followed the ancient "_Sapientem pascere
Barbam_," there would in fact have been no end of it. With this turn,
however, his time was not quite thrown away, nor his gravity. In
conjunction with Dampier, Langley, and Serjeant, who were styled the
learned Cons, he composed a very long English poem, in the same metre as
the Bath Guide, and of which it was then held a favour to get a copy. He
had so much of advanced life about him, that the masters always looked
upon him as a man; and this serious manner followed him through his
pastimes. He was fond of billiards; but he was so long in making
his stroke, that no boy could bear to play with him: when the game,
therefore, went against him, like Fabius-_Cunctando restituit rem_; and
they gave it up rather than beat him.
Hulse. Amongst the best tennis-players that Eton ever sent up to
Windsor, where he always was. As a poet he distinguished himself
greatly, by winning one of the medals given by Sir John Dalrymple. His
~82~~ exercise on this occasion was the subject of much praise to Doctor
Forster, then master, and of much envy to his contemporaries in the
sixth form, who said it was given to him because he was head boy.
These were his arts; besides which he had as many tricks as any boy ever
had. He had nothing when praepositer, and of course ruling under boys, of
dignity about him, or of what might enforce his authority. When he ought
to have been angry, some monkey trick always came across him, and he
would make a serious complaint against a little boy, in a hop, step, and
a jump.
Montague. Having a great predecessor before him under the appellation of
"_Mad Montague_" had always a consolatory comparison in this way in his
favor. In truth, at times he wanted it, for he was what has been termed
a genius: but he was likewise so in talent. He was an admirable poet,
and had a neatness of expression seldom discoverable at such early
years. In proof, may be brought a line from a Latin poem on Cricket:
"_Clavigeri fallit verbera--virga cadit_."
And another on scraping a man down at the _Robin Hood_:
"_Radit arenosam pes inimicus humum_."
The scratching of the foot on the sandy floor is admirable.
During a vacation, Lord Sandwich took him to Holland; and he sported on
his return a Dutch-built coat for many weeks. The boys used to call him
_Mynheer Montague_; but his common habit of oddity soon got the better
of his coat.
He rose to be a young man of great promise, as to abilities; and died
too immaturely for his fame.
Tickell, the elder. _Manu magis quam capite_ should have been his motto.
By natural instinct he loved ~83~~ fighting, and knew not what fear
was. He went amongst his school-fellows by the name of Hannibal, and Old
Tough. A brother school-fellow of his, no less a man than the Marquis of
Buckingham, met, and recognised him again in Ireland, and with the most
marked solicitude of friendship, did every thing but assist him, in
obtaining a troop of dragoons, which he had much at heart.
Tickell, minor, should then have had the eulogy of how much elder art
thou than thy years! In those early days his exercises, read publicly
in school, gave the anticipation of what time and advancing years have
brought forth. He was an admirable scholar, and a poet from nature;
forcible, neat, and discriminating. The fame of his grandsire, the
Tickell of Addison, was not hurt by the descent to him.
His sister, who was the beauty of Windsor castle, and the admiration
of all, early excited a passion in a boy then at school, who afterwards
married her. Of this sister he was very fond; but he was not less so
of another female at Windsor, a regard since terminated in a better way
with his present wife.
His pamphlet of _Anticipation_, it is said, placed him where he since
was, under the auspices of Lord North; but his abilities were of better
quality, and deserved a better situation for their employment.
Lord Plymouth, then Lord Windsor, had to boast some distinctions, which
kept him aloof from the boys of his time. He was of that inordinate size
that, like Falstaff, four square yards on even ground were so many miles
to him; and the struggles which he underwent to raise himself when
down might have been matter of instruction to a minority member. In the
entrance to his Dame's gate much circumspection was necessary; for, like
some good men out of power, he found it difficult to get in.
When in school, or otherwise, he was not undeserving of praise, either
as to temper or ~84~~ scholarship; and whether out of the excellence
of his Christianity, or that of good humour, he was not very adverse to
good living; and he continued so ever after.
Lord Leicester had the reputation of good scholarship, and not
undeservedly. In regard to poetry, however, he was sometimes apt
to break the eighth commandment, and prove lie read more the Musee
Etonenses than his prayer-book. Inheriting it from Lord Townshend, the
father of caricaturists, he there pursued, with nearly equal ability,
that turn for satiric drawing. The master, the tutors, slender Prior,
and fat Roberts,--all felt in rotation the effects of his pencil.
There too, as well as since, he had a most venerable affection for
heraldry, and the same love of collecting together old titles, and
obsolete mottos. Once in the military, he had, it may be said, a turn
for arms. In a zeal of this kind he once got over the natural mildness
of his temper, and was heard to exclaim--"There are two griffins in my
family that have been missing these three centuries, and by G-, I'll
have iliem back again!"-This passion was afterwards improved into so
perfect a knowledge, that in the creation of peers he was applied to,
that every due ceremonial might be observed; and he never failed in his
recollection on these antiquated subjects.
Tom Plummer gave then a specimen of that quickness and vivacity of parts
for which he was afterwards famed. But not as a scholar, not as a poet,
was he quick alone; he was quick too in the wrong ends of things, as
well as the right, with a plausible account to follow it.
In fact, he was born for the law; clear, discriminating, judicious,
alive, and with a noble impartiality to all sides of questions, and
which none could defend better. This goes, however, only to the powers
of his head; in those of the heart no one, and in the best ~85~~ and
tenderest qualities of it, ever stood better. He was liked universally,
and should be so; for no man was ever more meritorious for being good,
as he who had all the abilities which sometimes make a man otherwise.
In the progress of life mind changes often, and body almost always. Both
these rules, however, he lived to contradict; for his talents and his
qualities retained their virtue; and when a boy he was as tall as when a
man, and apparently the same.
Capel Loft. In the language of Eton the word gig comprehended all that
was ridiculous, all that was to be laughed at, and plagued to death; and
of all gigs that was, or ever will be, this gentleman, while a boy, was
the greatest.
He was like nothing, "in the heavens above, or the waters under the
earth;" and therefore he was surrounded by a mob of boys whenever he
appeared. These days of popularity were not pleasant. Luckily, however,
for himself, he found some refuge from persecution in his scholarship.
This scholarship was much above the rate, and out of the manner of
common boys.
As a poet, he possessed fluency and facility, but not the strongest
imagination. As a classic, he was admirable; and his prose themes upon
different subjects displayed an acquaintance with the Latin idiom and
phraseology seldom acquired even by scholastic life, and the practice of
later years. Beyond this, he read much of everything that appeared, knew
every thing, and was acquainted with every better publication of the
times.
Even then he studied law, politics, divinity; and could have written
well upon those subjects.
These talents have served him since more effectually than they did then;
more as man than boy:
For at school he was a kind of Gray Beard: he neither ran, played,
jumped, swam, or fought, as ~86~~ other boys do. The descriptions of
puerile years, so beautifully given by _Gray_, in his ode:
"Who, foremost, now delight to cleave,
With pliant arm, thy glassy wave?
The captive linnet which enthrall?
What idle progeny succeed,
To chase the rolling circle's speed,
Or urge the flying ball?"
All these would have been, and were, as non-descriptive of him as they
would have been of the lord chancellor of England, with a dark brow
and commanding mien, determining a cause of the first interest to this
country. Added to this, in personal appearance he was most unfavored;
and exemplified the Irish definition of an open countenance--a mouth from
ear to ear.
Lord Hinchinbroke, from the earliest period of infancy, had all the
marks of the Montagu family. He had a good head, and a red head, and
a Roman nose, and a turn to the _ars amatoria_ of Ovid, and all the
writers who may have written on love. As it was in the beginning--may be
said now.
Though in point of scholarship he was not in the very first line, the
descendant of Lord Sandwich could not but have ability, and he had it;
but this was so mixed with the wanderings of the heart, the vivacity of
youthful imagination, and a turn to pleasure, that a steady pursuit of
any one object of a literary turn could not be expected.
But it was his praise that he went far in a short time; sometimes too
far; for Barnard had to exercise himself, and his red right arm, as the
vengeful poet expresses it, very frequently on the latter end of his
lordship's excursions.
In one of these excursions to Windsor, he had the good or ill fortune to
engage in a little amorous amement with a young lady, the consequence
of ~87~~ which was an application to Lucina for assistance. Of this
doctor Barnard was informed, and though the remedy did not seem tending
towards a cure, he was brought up immediately to be flogged.
He bore this better than his master, who cried out, after some few
lashes--"Psha! what signifies my flogging him for being like his father?
What's bred in the bone will never get out of the flesh."
Gibbs. Some men are overtaken by the law, and some few overtake it
themselves. In this small, but happy number, may be placed the name
in question; and a name of better promise, whether of man or boy, can
scarcely be found any where.
At school he was on the foundation; and though amongst the Collegers,
where the views of future life, and hope of better days, arising from
their own industry, make learning a necessity, yet to that he added the
better qualities of genius and talent.
As a classical scholar, he was admirable in both languages. As a poet,
he was natural, ready, and yet distinguished. Amongst the best exercises
of the time, his were to be reckoned, and are yet remembered with
praise. For the medals given by Sir John Dalrymple for the best Latin
poem, he was a candidate; but though his production was publicly read
by doctor Forster, and well spoken of, he was obliged to give way to the
superiority of another on that occasion.
Describing the winding of the Thames through its banks, it had this
beautiful line:
"_Rodit arundineas facili sinuamine ripas------_"
Perfect as to the picture, and beautiful as to the flowing of the
poetry.
He had the good fortune and the good temper to be liked by every body of
his own age; and he was not enough found out of bounds, or trespassing
against "sacred order," to be disliked by those of greater age who were
set over him.
~88~~ After passing through all the different forms at Eton, he was
removed to Cambridge; where he distinguished himself not less than at
school in trials for different literary honors.
There he became assistant tutor to Sir Peter Burrell, who then listened
to his instructions, and has not since forgotten them.
As a tutor, he was somewhat young; but the suavity of his manners took
away the comparison of equality; and his real knowledge rendered him
capable of instructing those who might be even older than himself.
[Illustration: page088]
APOLLO'S VISIT TO ETON.{1}
T'other night, as Apollo was quaffing a gill
With his pupils, the Muses, from Helicon's rill,
(For all circles of rank in Parnassus agree
In preferring cold water to coffee or tea)
The discourse turned as usual on critical matters,
And the last stirring news from the kingdom of letters.
But when poets, and critics, and wits, and what not,
From Jeffery and Byron, to Stoddart and Stott,{2}
Had received their due portion of consideration,
Cried Apollo, "Pray, ladies, how goes education?
For I own my poor brain's been so muddled of late,
In transacting the greater affairs of the state;
And so long every day in the courts I've been stewing,
I've had no time to think what the children were doing.
There's my favorite Byron my presence inviting,
And Milman, and Coleridge, and Moore, have been writing;
And my ears at this moment confoundedly tingle,
From the squabbling of Blackwood with Cleghorn and Pringle:
But as all their disputes seem at length at an end,
And the poets my levee have ceased to attend;
Since the weather's improving, and lengthen'd the days,
For a visit to Eton I'll order my chaise:
1 This poem, the reader will perceive, is an humble
imitation of Leigh Hunt's "Feast of the Poets;" and the
lines distinguished by asterisks are borrowed or altered
from the original.
2 A writer in "The Morning Post," mentioned by Lord Byron,
in his "English Bards and Scotch Reviewers."
~90~~
There's my sister Diana my day coach to drive,
And I'll send the new Canto to keep you alive.
So my business all settled, and absence supply'd,
For an earthly excursion to-morrow I'll ride."
Thus spoke king Apollo; the Muses assented;
And the god went to bed most bepraised and contented.
'Twas on Saturday morning, near half past eleven,
When a god, like a devil,4 came driving from heaven,
And with postboys, and footmen, and liveries blazing,
Soon set half the country a gaping and gazing.
When the carriage drove into the Christopher yard,
How the waiters all bustled, and Garraway stared;
And the hostlers and boot-catchers wonder'd, and swore
"They'd ne'er seen such a start in their lifetime before!"
I could tell how, as soon as his chariot drew nigh,
Every cloud disappear'd from the face of the sky;
And the birds in the hedges more tunefully sung,
And the bells in St. George's spontaneously rung;
And the people, all seized with divine inspiration,
Couldn't talk without rhyming and versification.
But such matters, though vastly important, I ween,
Are too long for the limits of your magazine.
Now it soon got abroad that Apollo was come,
And intended to be, for that evening, "at home;"
And that cards would be issued, and tickets be given,
To all scholars and wits, for a dinner at seven.
So he'd scarcely sat clown, when a legion came pouring
Of would-be-thought scholars, his favor imploring.
First, Buller stept in, with a lengthy oration
About "scandalous usage," and "hard situation:"
And such treatment as never, since Eton was started,
~91~~
Had been shown to a genius, like him, "broken-hearted."
He'd " no doubt but his friends in Parnassus must know
How his fine declamation was laugh'd at below;
And how Keate, like a blockhead ungifted with brains,
Had neglected to grant him a prize for his pains.
He was sure, if such conduct continued much longer,
The school must grow weaker, and indolence stronger;
That the rights of sixth form would be laid in the dust,
And the school after that, he thought, tumble it must.
But he knew that Apollo was learned and wise,
And he hoped that his godship would give him a prize;
Or, at least, to make up for his mortification,
Would invite him to dinner without hesitation."
Now Apollo, it seems, had some little pretence
To a trifling proportion of wisdom and sense:
So without ever asking the spark to be seated,
He thus cut short his hopes, and his projects defeated.
"After all, Mr. Buller, you've deign'd to repeat,
I'm afraid that you'll think me as stupid as Keate:
But to wave all disputes on your talents and knowledge,
Pray what have you done as the captain of college?
Have you patronized learning, or sapping commended?
Have you e'er to your fags, or their studies, attended?
To the school have you given of merit a sample,
And directed by precept, or led by example?"
*****
What Apollo said more I'm forbidden to say,
But Buller dined not at his table that day.
Next, a smart little gentleman march'd with a stare up,
A smoothing his neckcloth, and patting his hair up;
And with bows and grimaces quadrillers might follow,
Said, " he own'd that his face was unknown to Apollo;
~92~~
But he held in hand what must be his apology,
A short treatise he'd written on _British Geology_;
And this journal, he hoped, of his studies last week,
In philosophy, chemistry, logic, and Greek,
Might appear on perusal: but not to go far
In proclaiming his merits--his name was Tom Carr:
And for proofs of his talents, deserts, and what not,
He appeal'd to Miss Baillie, Lord Byron, and Scott."
Here his speech was cut short by a hubbub below,
And in walk'd Messrs. Maturin, Cookesly, and Co.,
And begg'd leave to present to his majesty's finger--
If he'd please to accept--No. 5 of the Linger.{5}
Mr. Maturin "hoped he the columns would view
With unprejudiced judgment, and give them their due,
Nor believe all the lies, which perhaps he had seen,
In that vile publication, that base magazine,{6}
Which had dared to impeach his most chaste lucubrations,
Of obscenity, nonsense, and such accusations.
Nay, that impudent work had asserted downright,
That chalk differ'd from cheese, and that black wasn't white;
But he hoped he might meet with his majesty's favor;"
And thus, hemming and hawing, he closed his palaver.
Now the god condescended to look at the papers,
But the first word he found in them gave him the vapours:
For the eyes of Apollo, ye gods! 'twas a word
Quite unfit to be written, and more to be heard;
'Twas a word which a bargeman would tremble to utter,
And it put his poor majesty all in a flutter;
But collecting his courage, his laurels he shook,
And around on the company cast such a look,
That e'en Turin and Dumpling slank off to the door,
And the Lion was far too much frighten'd to roar;
5 An Eton periodical of the time.
6 The College Magazine.
~93~~
While poor Carr was attack'd with such qualms at the breast,
That he took up his journal, and fled with the rest.