old stalls against the western walls, while contriving a method by
which portions of it could be temporarily removed in order to afford a
view of the frescoes. The high box-like pews might have been modified,
the old woodwork being utilised to the utmost extent, or at least
preserved for use in other parts of the College. If the position of
the stately old organ-loft opposite the second window of the west end
was found to be absolutely unsuited to modern requirements, together
with its wooden pilasters of admirable design, it might have been
re-erected at the junction of the choir with the Ante-Chapel, the
stalls being continued farther back. As for the magnificent organ-case,
there would have been no difficulty, as has been proved at Rugeley,
about furnishing it with a modern interior and new pipes. The roof
should have merely been freed from paint, etc., and not been adorned
with the meaningless cusping, which, never contemplated by its original
designer, is so obviously out of place.
The present organ-screen, erected in 1882 by Mr. G. E. Street in memory
of Etonians who fell in the Zulu, Afghan, and Boer wars of 1879, 1880,
and 1881, cannot be called a masterpiece of architectural design,
but in certain other respects the interior of the Chapel has been
somewhat improved within recent years. An elaborately designed floor
of black and white marble has been laid down at the east end. This,
together with a handsome if not altogether appropriate altar, forms
part of the memorial to the Etonians who fell in the South African War
(1899-1902). As stated before, the names of those who died for their
country in this deplorable contest are inscribed upon a roll of honour
in Lupton Chapel.
The fine tapestry behind the altar, executed by the firm of William
Morris from the designs of the late Sir Edward Burne-Jones, was
presented by an art-loving Eton Master, Mr. H. E. Luxmoore, in 1895,
whilst the picture of Sir Galahad, hanging on the western wall, was
presented by its painter, Watts.
The great stained-glass east window--a source of grumbling and
discontent to several generations of Etonians, who were obliged to
contribute what was known as “window-money”--was executed by Willement
between 1844 and 1849, being set up in bits as the contributions wrung
from the boys increased. Within recent years the crude and violent
tints of this costly example of the work of a bad period have been
softened. The irregular curve of the external arch-mould over this
window is said to be due to the circumstance that when the College
Chapel was built the stones of the Parish Church (which stood in the
present graveyard and was built in 1441) were used over again.
[SN: A TRANSPARENT FAILURE]
If the great east window is now somewhat less of a “transparent
failure” than of yore, the other windows on the north and south sides
of the Chapel remain specimens of bad design and colour. Those in
the Ante-Chapel, however, are less glaring. The two large windows by
Hardman on the north and south form the memorial to Etonians who fell
in the Crimea; those at the west end are personal memorials. Below
these windows are a number of tablets commemorating Etonians of note.
On the floor of the Ante-Chapel is a fine slab to the memory of the
late Bishop Abraham. There is also a marble statue of the Founder, by
Durham, and another of Provost Goodall, who in all probability would
have been appalled by the changes of 1847.
The Rev. John Wilder, whose munificence served to modernise the College
Chapel he had known all his life, is also here commemorated by a
tablet. Besides giving £5000 to the restoration fund, he presented
fourteen stained-glass windows in the choir, and decorated the reredos
and east end as well as the new organ and case. Though his benefactions
were animated by a generous and unselfish spirit, it is much to be
regretted that he did not devote his money to some better purpose.
[SN: THE LOST FONT]
In the Ante-Chapel, behind a railing, is a font, placed there at
the time of the renovations sixty years ago. It was presented by
some Collegers as a memorial to C. J. Abraham. The last baptism for
which it was used took place two or three years ago, when an Eton
boy of fourteen or fifteen was christened in the Chapel. About to be
confirmed, it was discovered that he had never been baptized. In all
probability he was a foreigner. There stood previously at the same
place an older font, of which there is mention as early as 1479.
Lipscomb describes the earlier one as “a beautiful ancient font of
white marble, of an octagon shape, elegantly carved in relief and
supported by a pedestal on a square plinth.” It would be interesting to
know what has become of this font. If not broken up, it has probably
been sent away to some village church.
In the Ante-Chapel, before the Reformation, there existed four altars,
the chief of which, still marked by a row of niches, was in the
south-eastern corner behind where now stands the statue of Provost
Goodall. This was called the Altar of St. Catherine, or sometimes the
Altar of Thomas Jourdelay, after a certain inhabitant of Eton who lies
buried near it. Provost Bost (1477-1504) left a sum of money for an
extra chaplain who should say Mass at this altar at least three times a
week for him and his relations. The altar in the north-eastern corner
of the Ante-Chapel was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. The remaining
two were on either side of the entrance to the choir and were dedicated
to St. Nicholas and St. Peter.
One of the few relics which the spirit of change has left intact in
this old Chapel is the lectern, which within recent years has once
more been taken into use. It dates from the fifteenth century, and
escaped destruction by the Puritans in 1651, when the College paid
sixpence for its removal. A considerable number of Etonians are
fittingly commemorated in the Chapel, but the Marquis Wellesley, in
all probability the greatest lover of Eton who ever lived, has his
memorial in the North Porch, where may be seen the Latin elegiacs which
he wrote as his own epitaph. The tablet on which they are inscribed was
erected by his brother, the great Duke. A good rendering in English
verse was made by Lord Derby:--
Long tost on Fortune’s waves, I come to rest,
Eton, once more on thy maternal breast.
On loftiest deeds to fix the aspiring gaze,
To seek the purer lights of ancient days,
To love the simple paths of manly truth,--
These were the lessons of my opening youth.
If on my later life some glory shine,
Some honours grace my name, the meed is thine.
My boyhood’s nurse, my aged dust receive,
And one last tear of kind remembrance give!
Lord Wellesley was deeply attached to his old school, and some of
the last productions of his pen were dedicated to Eton. Consequently
it was only fitting that when he died, in testimony of the strong
affection which he entertained towards the place where he received his
first impressions of literary taste, and in accordance with his desire
expressed before his death, his body should be laid to rest beneath the
College Chapel of Eton--that spot of earth which, through a long and
arduous life in many lands, was ever the nearest and dearest to his
heart. The new Lower Chapel, built 1889-1891, also contains a memorial
to Lord Wellesley in a stained-glass window, the gift of the late Mr.
A. Montgomery, who was once his private secretary.
Two Eton Headmasters are commemorated by monuments on the right
towards the eastern end of the Chapel. These are Dr. Balston and Dr.
Hawtrey, the last person to be buried within the Chapel walls. On his
breast is a badge with the arms of Scotland and the motto _Nemo me
impune lacessit_ just showing. This badge recalls an old Eton usage[6]
now extinct. The most modern monument is a statue of Henry VI., put up
over the north door to the memory of the late Mr. J. P. Carter, for
many years one of the Assistant Masters.
[SN: PINNACLES--OLD AND NEW]
In 1876, owing to much of the Headington stone used by Waynflete
having become decayed, the whole of the exterior of the Ante-Chapel
was entirely refaced.[7] This, with other restorations, of necessity
impaired a good deal of its ancient charm. On the whole the renovation
was carried out with care, but it is to be regretted that the old
pinnacles were then entirely removed and new ones (designed in a highly
ornate style of Gothic for which there is no authority[8]) erected
under the direction of Mr. Woodyer. The old pinnacles had last been
repaired in 1698-1699. A curious circumstance connected with them is
that during their removal fragments of the ancient reredos--destroyed
in 1546-1548--were discovered to have been built into their fabric.
Whatever may have been the demerits of the old pinnacles, one or two
of them which had suffered least from the hands of time should have
been allowed to remain in place, so that future generations might
realise the original design which modern taste, or lack of taste, has
chosen to discard.
One of the most interesting architectural features of the College
Chapel is the ancient holy water stoup on the right-hand side of the
door of the south porch. As may be seen in old prints, the service
bell was formerly in a sort of dovecot (irreverently called by some a
larder) placed on the roof of the porch. Here also hung the knell bell,
which, as long as the College Chapel remained the Eton Parish Church,
was tolled for all funerals. The service bell still in use, hanging in
the turret at the south-western angle, bears the inscription “Prayes Ye
Lord, 1637.”
In a niche on the west wall of the Ante-Chapel, facing the street, a
statue of William Waynflete was placed in 1893. This was subscribed for
by some old Etonians connected with Sussex. The task of designing it
was entrusted to Sir Arthur Blomfield, who produced one of the very few
bits of commendable modern work in Eton. Indeed, this little statue,
beneath an elaborate canopy, may be called the only real artistic
improvement carried out within the last seventy years, during which
time so much labour and money have been devoted to what in some cases
amounts to mere wanton destruction. Of the new quadrangle and Lower
Chapel, built by Sir Arthur Blomfield 1889-1891, little need here
be said. On the whole, the architect has done his work well, and no
doubt, under the mellowing influence of time, the Queen’s schools will
assume something of that picturesque aspect which in some slight degree
already pertains to the New Schools completed by Mr. Woodyer in 1863.
[SN: LOWER CHAPEL]
A full account of the new Lower Chapel, its memorials and stained-glass
windows, is to be found in the admirable _Illustrated Guide to Eton
College_ written by Mr. R. A. Austen Leigh, who in this and other
works has done much which should gain for him the thanks of all
Etonians. Since the construction of the New Schools, Upper School,
which tradition has connected with the name of Wren, is only used as a
schoolroom for one division for the purposes of examination. Speeches,
I believe, are now to take place in the new Memorial Hall, and the
busts of celebrated Etonians will no longer look down upon the visitors
who flock to Eton on the 4th of June. The old staircase, from the
colonnade to Upper School, is one of the most picturesque portions of
the College. Here it was that in old days boys promoted from Lower to
Upper School were subjected to the ordeal of “booking,” being hit on
the head with books as they passed up the staircase.
Within the last fifty years the town of Eton has suffered severely from
a picturesque point of view owing to the demolition and alteration
of many quaint old houses which formerly gave the place a charming
old-world appearance. The “Old Sun,” which was pulled down not very
long ago, contained some fine arched oaken beams, and the laths were
perpendicular and fastened with willow twigs. On the front wall used to
be a Sun Insurance plate of the eighteenth century, one of the earliest
issued by that Company.
In that part of Eton given up to houses for boys, alterations have of
necessity been made in order to afford accommodation for increased
numbers. Some of the older houses have had extra stories added, whilst
entirely new ones have also been built. Of these latter somewhat
“barracky” erections it is perhaps best not to speak.
With regard to the Eton Memorial, however, built for some unknown
reason in the Renaissance style, the writer can only say that in his
opinion a building less in keeping with the spirit of Eton it would
have been impossible to erect. Why the authorities should have selected
a design of this sort is difficult to understand. Surely some architect
might have been found to produce a building which would have harmonised
with the fine old brickwork which in the quadrangle and elsewhere
produces such a charming effect? To intrude a purely personal opinion,
those responsible for the maintenance of Eton School have within the
last seventy years committed three great artistic mistakes--the first,
the indiscriminating restoration of the College Chapel, entailing the
destruction of much admirable woodwork; the second, the renovation
of the College Hall, in which it is admitted a number of interesting
features were obliterated; the third, the erection of the huge
Memorial, the whole aspect and style of which is utterly out of keeping
with its surroundings.
Closely associated with Eton is the adjoining Royal Borough of Windsor,
in which past generations of Etonians played so many wild pranks.
The houses which formerly fringed the walls of the Castle have long
disappeared, and on the other side of the road few ancient buildings
remain. The queer old theatre and gabled buildings near “Damnation
Corner” have been demolished within comparatively recent years.
“Damnation Corner,” it is curious to recall, received its name from the
fact that in the old “shirking” days it was extremely difficult for an
Eton boy to avoid a master coming quickly round the corner.
[SN: A MONSTROUS ROOF]
During the last fifty years the whole appearance of Windsor Hill has
been transformed, the hand of the restorer having not even spared the
venerable curfew tower--now for some forty-eight years disfigured by a
roof so monstrous in its ugliness that it stands forth as a surpassing
and convincing proof of our national lack of artistic taste.
[SN: FUTILE PRATTLE]
The hideous top, totally inappropriate in style, was put up by Salvin
in 1863, when the ancient bell tower of picturesque and suitable
appearance was demolished. The operations carried out at that date
were, of course, dignified by the name of “restoration”; as a matter
of fact the unwieldy addition to the tower had not a vestige of
archæological authority. It is much to be hoped that some day the
ancient appearance of the tower will be restored, for the huge, ugly,
and inappropriate slated roof constitutes an eyesore from almost every
point of vantage from which the Castle can be viewed. Within quite
recent years there could be seen, looming through an embrasure, the
muzzle of an old cannon, which, according to a local legend, had been
placed there by Cromwell in order to guard against any hostile move
from the direction of Eton. During a recent visit to Windsor the writer
was quite unable to locate either cannon or embrasure; presumably both
have gone. This old curfew tower--the oldest part of the Castle, and
said to have been built in the days of the Conqueror himself--has been
peculiarly unfortunate. When Salvin constructed his abominable top he
had the decency to leave the rest of the external structure alone,
and in the writer’s Eton days, thirty years ago, almost all the old
stonework and quaint little windows, cunningly contrived for bowmen to
shoot through, remained as they had been built. Since then there have
been two or three reparations; no doubt the decay of the stone made
some renovations necessary. In the last of these, however, during
which the whole of the exterior was refaced with an entirely different
kind of stone, the original design of the tower, which, like all the
work of the Normans, was very simple, has been tampered with, the
result being that its ancient charm has been completely impaired. So is
it that in this country, in spite of much meaningless gush and prattle
of education and appreciation of art, almost every fine monument is
by degrees vulgarised and destroyed. The curfew tower, it should be
added, was one of the few parts of the Castle left untouched by George
IV. in the very comprehensive remodelling of the whole stately pile by
Wyattville.
FOOTNOTES:
[4] See page 204.
[5] Mr. Tucker in _Eton of Old_.
[6] See pages 38-40.
[7] See page 5.
[8] See _The Architectural History of the University of Cambridge and
of the Colleges of Cambridge and Eton_, by the late Robert Willis,
M.A., F.R.S., edited and brought up to date by the late John Willis
Clark, M.A., Cambridge, at the University Press, 1886.
VII COLLEGE
Till the carrying out of the reforms initiated by Provost Hodgson in
1844 the treatment of the King’s scholars constituted little short of
a public scandal, rendered the more iniquitous because College was
the original Eton, and the lack of consideration and comfort shown
to boys on the Foundation was directly contrary to the wishes of the
Founder. No wonder was it that the number of those in College often
fell far short of the appointed seventy, sometimes sinking as low as
thirty-eight. In one year there were but six candidates for forty
vacancies. The prospective advantages which a Colleger might reasonably
expect at King’s College, Cambridge, were not enough to counterbalance
the discomfort and degradation of existence in the great dormitory
known as “Long Chamber,” besides which the expenses of a King’s scholar
were little less than those of the well-fed and comfortably housed
Oppidan, the cost of education on the Eton Foundation often falling
not very far short of a hundred a year--a most extravagant outlay
considering that a Colleger was cared for no better than a charity boy.
[Illustration: A Colleger, 1816.]
[SN: “THESE POOR BOYS”]
Glancing over the records of the treatment meted out to those whom
Provost Hodgson rightly termed “these poor boys,” one wonders that the
masters, who were perfectly acquainted with the state of affairs in
College, made practically no protest. It must be remembered, however,
that at that time all of them without exception had been Collegers
themselves, and having come through the ordeal with comparative
immunity from harm, probably had some sort of idea that the hardships
and discomforts of life in College produced hardy and successful men.
What these hardships and discomforts were may be realised from the view
taken by an Insurance Company as to chances of life of any one who
had undergone them. In 1826 Dr. Okes, when applying for an insurance
policy, in reply to one of the questions put to him stated that “he had
slept in Long Chamber for eight years,” on hearing which the chairman
of the Board said, “We needn’t ask Mr. Okes any more questions.”
Existence in the ill-kept and insanitary dormitory in question was
calculated to promote only the survival of the fittest, and those who
grew up to be healthy men might well be accounted “good lives.”
Whilst, as has been said, little protest was ever raised at Eton itself
against the deliberate misinterpretation of the statutes with respect
to the scholars, public opinion gradually became aroused, and many
old Etonians, notwithstanding the intense _esprit de corps_ which
has always been a characteristic of the school, joined in the chorus
of unanimous reprobation which demanded reform. About 1834 the Eton
authorities were violating not only the spirit but the letter of the
ancient statutes.
[SN: BROKEN STATUTES]
The statutes required that the fines and land-tax should be applied to
the common use (“ad communem utilitatem”), instead of which they were
appropriated by the Provost and Fellows to their own use.
The statutes entitled the Fellows to £10 a year stipend, and 2s. a
week, or £5, 4s. a year, for commons, whereas they had increased their
stipend to £50 a year, and received in lieu of commons on an average
£550 a year each, or £10, 11s. 6d. per week instead of 2s.
The statutes entitled the Provost and seven Fellows to allowances
amounting in all to £200 per annum, but in practice they received
nearly £7000.
The statutes required that the scholars should be supplied with dress
and bedding; with all, in fact, “quae ad vestitum et lectisternia
eorundem aliaque iis necessaria pertinent.” Nevertheless, with the
exception of a coarse gown, the scholars received nothing appertaining
to dress from the funds of the College.
The statutes provided ample allowances for breakfast, dinner, and
supper, with the use of certain fisheries. In practice breakfast was
omitted altogether, and for dinner the only kind of meat provided for
the scholars throughout the year was mutton, which even if good in
quality was not sufficient in quantity.
According to the statutes thirteen servitors were to wait upon the
Provost, Fellows, and scholars in Hall, which arrangement had further
developed into the Lower boys waiting upon the Upper, who in their turn
performed the same menial offices for the Provost and his company on
the occasions of their dining in the College Hall.
The statutes required that each scholar should be instructed free under
the most strict oath to be taken by the Head and Lower Masters. In
direct defiance of this each scholar was charged £6, 6s., the amount
having been gradually increased to that sum.
The statutes allowed each Fellow a separate apartment, but such
accommodation had long ceased to be sufficient for them, and instead
they resided in spacious houses, free from taxes and the expense of
repair, with stables and coach-houses attached.
The statutes enjoined that one room should be provided for every three
boys, free from any expense. In 1834 upwards of forty boys slept in
Long Chamber, whilst those who were lodged in the two adjoining rooms
paid a sum of money annually to the second master.
The statute that any scholar during a short illness should be
maintained at the College expense (if longer than a month, to receive
a sum of money) was entirely ignored.
Finally, the statutes were required to be read to the scholars
assembled in a body three times a year. This was never done; the
scholars, moreover, were not allowed access to them.
It should also be added that the statute which forbade Fellows of the
College to hold benefices had long been treated with utter contempt,
they holding them to any amount.
If, however, the Eton authorities had contented themselves with merely
breaking the statutes in the way of malversation of funds and the
like, no particular outcry would in all probability have arisen. It
was Long Chamber, and the state of affairs within its walls, which
excited such indignation amongst those who, denouncing it as a sort of
Bastille, clamoured for reform. Originally all the seventy scholars
seem to have slept in the long dormitory above Lower School, but after
1716 the number became limited to about fifty-two. In that year the
Lower Master, Thomas Carter, having given up his two rooms at the east
end, eighteen Collegers were located in the rooms in question, being
henceforth known as Carter’s Chamber and Lower Chamber.
[SN: LONG CHAMBER]