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so that I was soon taught to drop these titles of distinction. Another advised me to get a more fashionable coat, and called me a Cawker, which appellation was then perfectly unintelligible; I have since heard that it means one who gapes and stares about him, a fault of which at that time I was very probably guilty. These questions at first I laughed at, and took in very good part, but at last they were so often repeated that I was almost provoked to give no answer. This conduct would probably have got me a beating; but my patience was entirely exhausted, when the school doors, to my great relief, flew open, and we sat down to the lesson. Eton dicipline differs so much from Mr. Plodwell's, that it would fill a whole letter to mark the distinctions, and I think this is a pretty long one for me at present. In the first place, we go into school about four times a day, but are never there more than three quarters of an hour together; then, instead of a little paled-in piece of ground, there are fine large playingfields, with very fine trees in them; the Thames runs on one side, and there is a wall on the other, against which they play at Foot-ball in the season; indeed they say it is capital weather for it now, but it is not the fashionable game; so nobody dares to propose it. After the next Holidays everybody begins Cricket, but never before. There are plenty of boats on the River, which the boys row about in the summer, but I will tell you more about them when the time comes.

The bounds are marked by a stone on a bridge, but we may go beyond them as far as we like, provided only we return in time, (for our names are called over,) and provided too that we run away from the Masters and some of the upper boys directly we see them: this they call shirking, and, if we hide well, they never take any notice. All the terrible stories which I heard about fagging turn out to be nothing at all. There is a certain young man in my Dame's house, to whom I am bound to come in the morning and evening; he is called my Master, but he is a very lenient one, for he scarcely ever makes me do any thing, and has helped me very much in several matters. Henry is equally well off in this respect; he has found out that he can buy excellent marbles here, and is I believe at this moment engaged in a game, as happy as possible.

You may guess from what I have told you that I am pleased with my new situation. I hardly fancy myself a school-boy. Papa's gout came very unluckily, for it made it rather awkward for me, having to introduce myself; however, that is all over now. Henry joins with me in wishes for his recovery, and in best love to you and my Sister. I remain,

Your very affectionate Son,

S. RASHLEIGH.

P.S. I hope Smirk will be turned out to grass before we come home; I miss my riding very much here, and shall be sadly disappointed if I have no pony in the Holidays.

II.

Lady C. Rashleigh to Mr. S. Rashleigh.

MY DEAREST SAMUEL, We were all delighted beyond measure with your letter, and with the picture you have drawn of your Eton life and the introduction, and the general opinion is that you have managed affairs uncommonly well. Your Father is quite re-established, and enjoyed the description of your adventures, and laughed at them as heartily as any of them; you know such things are quite new to him, in consequence of his private education. Next time you write pray do not say any thing in disparagement of Mr. Plodwell; he is a particular favourite with Mr. Rashleigh, who thinks himself bound to defend him; so reserve your sallies, in case they may offend. He was rather surprised at the liberty you have, and has an idea that it may be very much misused; but I think another interview with Mr. Bradshaw will set him right, and put this fancy quite out of his head. By-the-by, I shall show your letter to your Uncle as soon as possible; it cannot fail of interesting him : perhaps he may give you a few instructions. Peter, as you guessed, gave us a very full account of the expedition, and said that there were many young gentlemen at Eton, that he was sure you would find plenty of playmates; he added too that neither of you looked very sorrowful, or, as he called it," took it much to heart," when he went away. Talking of phrases, your Father does not at all approve of the Eton Vocabulary, and desires me to tell

SO

Stapylton Hall, Hants, April 2.

you that he thinks you will not improve your language or style by using it. You give a very pleasant account of your play-ground, but I am quite shocked at the thought of that dreadful River running close by it; I remember too reading some years ago of an unfortunate boy who was drowned at Eton; pray take particular care not to run heedlessly about the banks, or to use boats, at any rate before you can swim; I cannot help thinking that it must be very improper for boys to go by themselves upon the water, and I hope and trust that neither you nor Henry will. I do not know of any thing that has happened in the neighbourhood which you would wish to hear. You will most probably receive the County Paper together with this; we intend to send it you regularly every week, as perhaps it may amuse you. You may rely upon Smirk being treated with all possible care. Tell Heury that his pony too shall meet with the same attention. For goodness' sake, my dear boys, do nothing imprudent. I am afraid you will feel these cold winds very much; if you do find any thing the matter with you, send for a medical man immediately.

You must excuse this hasty letter, as we dine with the Westburys the first time since your Father's recovery, and you know how particular they are.

Yours very affectionately,

C. RASHLEIGH.

III.

The Masters Rashleigh to Lady Caroline Rashleigh.

MY DEAR MAMMA,

I have taken an early opportunity of writing to you, on purpose to confirm my first account, and to show you that Eton loses none of its charms by experience, though, to be sure, mine has not been a very long one. However, as far as I can say at present, it rather improves upon acquaintance.Many little difficulties vanish, and one gets quite accustomed to the routine, the customs, and the terms of the place. You are not to imagine, as perhaps you do, that we are sent here to learn Latin and Greek alone. I assure you we can hold a conversation in the Eton dialect, perfectly unintelligible to any stranger, and so, of course, it was to me, until I had been instructed by some very able masters in many of the principal words, and still there are not a few left totally above my comprehension. Pray do not mention any of this to my Father, if you think he will not like it. I wish often that he had been an Etonian himself.Well, to pursue a topic more suitable to his fancy.

I at first found a good deal of trouble in finding out my different lessons, and the proper times for them; indeed, as you may imagine, that is rather a complex business. Now I begin to understand their order as well as any body. There is no hardship at all in the books, or the quantity, which we are obliged to learn: but I still am rather slow at my verses, for you may venture to tell my Father

Eton, April 3, 1821.

that Mr. Plodwell is rather deficient in that point of instruction. Pray quiet your fears and alarms with respect to the River. It is much too cold to think of boats; besides, they are not the fashion yet, and I have too much regard for myself to think of tumbling from a bank. I will not fail, however, to mind what you say, and tell Henry the same. I am, at present, what they call a lower boy; that is to say, liable to be fagged by all the fifth and sixth form; and I did not know till the other day that I myself shall be a fifth form some time next June, and then I shall have just the same authority over those below me, as I am subject to now; so you see the transition from servitude to power is pretty rapid. Henry will be about a year and a half arriving at this desirable situation. About a night or two ago I was roused from a pretty fast sleep by a most unaccountable sensation, as if I were standing on my head. At first I thought it a dream, but that idea did not continue very long; for I found myself safely shut up, clothes and all together, in my bedstead. In a very few minutes they let me down, half suffocated, and running away, left me quite in the dark, and totally ignorant who were my persecutors. Henry suffered the same fate, so I suppose it is a trick commonly played off on new comers; and I am sure, if this is all I am to undergo, I am very well content. I am rejoiced to

hear of my father's convalescence. There is plenty of room left for my brother to send a few lines in his own words; I know he is not particularly ready at writing, except in his own books, which he has disfigured terribly by divers heads and figures, after the patterns of an approved master, who sits near him in school, not to mention a fine English version, with which he has interlined his text for the assistance of his memory; I have desired him to exercise his ingenuity on spare paper another time, and to carry the sense in his head. Adieu. s. R.

MY

DEAR MAMMA.--Samuel has left me two whole sides, and declares I must fill them; so, after having made a hundred fruitless excuses, I have sat down positively to write you what I call a long letter. First of all, I have the happiness to inform you that we come home in six days' time, for, though I do not mind Eton much, yet, of course, I like home better. There are plenty of holidays here, for we have one whole, and one half, every week, besides others now and then, which I do not know the reason of, but that is the last thing for us to inquire about. I like my Tutor very well, and my Dame very much; she sent me some jelly to eat the other day after her dinner, and gave me several balls that had been thrown into the garden. Everybody talks about beginning cricket next school time, and I am to belong to a club in the playing-fields. Do you think I can venture to ask Papa for a bat? they make them so beautifully here, that they do not look at all like that one which I have got at home; my master keeps about a dozen hanging up in his room; to be sure what a great player

he must be! I think he might as well give me one, for it is quite impossible that he can use them all at once. Samuel and I have our breakfast and tea always together; there are little parcels of tea and sugar sent every week from the grocer's, and we have a tea-kettle, cups, saucers, &c., and I really think, without any offence to you, that my brother makes tea almost as well as you do; to be sure we have no cream, and the milk seems to be rather watery; and what do you think we have to eat? not Mr. Plodwell's stale bread, but really very nice rolls; it makes me quite hungry to talk about them: there are regular things for dinner every day, but I cannot tell you each of them now; it would look so like a bill of fare. Pray tell Robert to take care of my rabbits: I would not have them hurt for all the world; indeed I gave very particular orders about them before I left home.

I am quite sure

nobody can starve here very well, for there are enough pastry-cooks' shops to supply a hundred other places, and all of them look so nice, and so tempting, that it is hardly possible to resist; besides these, there are other people always standing about with baskets of fruit, cakes, and such-like things, just where we go into school, in case we should like to lay in provision for a dull lesson time: by-the-by, a boy was flogged the other day for cracking nuts in church, so I shall take care to avoid those noisy kind of eatables, and shall take barleysugar in preference. Do not forget the rabbits. Give my best love to Papa and Sister, and believe me,

Your most affectionate Son,

H. RASHLEIGH.

IV.

R. Rashleigh, Esq. Stapylton, to Mr. S. Rashleigh, Eton.

MY DEAR SAM, Your mother has told you how glad we were to hear of your doing so well at Eton, and being so much pleased with your new situation. The second letter has made us still more content, and has eased me from a good deal of anxiety which I felt at not being able to accompany you in person. Now I am quite fit for that or any other undertaking; and my gout, after having attacked my lower extremities one after another, has left me just as well as ever again. My intention in sending you for so short a time at first was, that you might get accustomed to the place before you were fixed to a long continuance there. I suppose that among the Eton coaches you will be able to find a place for yourself and your brother as far as London, where I will meet you in person. We none of us expected that you would have been able to make your way so quickly; indeed, upon second thoughts, I almost repented of having sent you to such a vast Establishment, particularly without a single friend there. It is much more creditable for you, as it is, to have made these for yourself, and I am perfectly pleased with almost the whole account. The tea and sugar which Henry mentions, I must confess that I think rather an unnecessary luxury. Bread and milk would do just as well, if not better; and when I was a boy I had nothing

Stapylton Hall, April 7.

else. But if it be the custom, I would by all means continue it, as I should not wish you to be singular in any thing. Your mother has given you some cautions respecting accidents. I must beg of you also never to get in debt at any of those pastry-cooks' shops which Henry confesses are so alluring. I have known boys reduced to the most miserable shifts and evasions in consequence of this very fault; it is an imprudence of all others that I would wish the most to warn you against, and I shall trust to your good sense in this respect. You may give the same instructions to Henry, who, perhaps, requires them more than you do. must remember that I am not an Etonian, and consequently must fortify yourself with an infinite quantity of patience to answer all the questions I shall put to you when I see you next week; for my curiosity will not be very easily satisfied. Do not accustom yourself to those phrases which I know are peculiar to public schools; in the first place, I shall not be able to comprehend them, and, secondly, I do not consider them at all ornamental. All the family join in best wishes and remembrances to you and Henry; with, my dear Samuel,

Your most loving father,

You

R. RASHLEIGH.

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