fight his battles over again in dreams, or sob on his pillow till morning awakes him from unrefreshing rest to another day of misery. This, I believe, is no over-drawn picture, sad as it is. If the remedy be difficult, it is an easy matter to trace such a state of things to the cause. In the house I have in view as I write these lines, it was owing to no fault of the master who presided over the house: he was, undeniably, one of the best masters, and the kindest and most gentleman-like of men holding office in the school. It was solely a question of monitors. I have said there were three. One was a quiet, good-natured boy, who felt neither inclination nor power to stem the strong current of evil, which washed away all traces of good around him, but left him untouched. He abetted no tyranny, perhaps violated no rule; he even interposed when actually present, and made a faint remonstrance occasionally; but never brought down the strong arm of power, or the thin cane of retribution, on those who daily deserved the punishment. Either too indolent, or too weak, he suffered the house to remain in the state in which, perhaps, he had found it: he was no Hercules to turn a purifying stream through that Augean stable. He was the type of a mild, gentlemanly scholar; but, thank God! not of a Harby monitor: or where would Harby be now, and who could rise up to defend it? The second was a perfect demon upon earth, often madly intoxicated, and in that state he would shower down blows thickly on all around him. Gradually, but surely, he was destroying his health, and shortening his life, by his wild excesses. The third was himself a victim. Clever, but young; weaker in mind, perhaps, than in body, but powerless in both, he was bullied by all the upper boys, and was in no mood to defend others when he could not even defend himself. Unable in such a house to give dignity to the monitorial class, its authority had been debased indeed in his person; for the præpostor himself suffered insults, from which he was bound to protect others. Is it to this state of things-which, when I was at Harby, existed in but one house, and in that only for a few months-that the opponents of the monitorial system would degrade the whole of our great public schools? But even if this exception were more generally the rule than it is, that would only prove the want of better monitorial supervision. The vices at which I have hinted a few pages back, as being the most pernicious and baneful to all concerned, are those which no masters are able to eradicate, and which no quantity of ushers would be numerous enough to prevent. To arrest the spread of these evils, the personal and moral influence of the elder boys must be exerted. To increase this influence they must have power and position to make it effectual, yet not predominant enough to separate them from their schoolfellows. Under a really efficient monitorial system, no such house as the one I have described could exist; and for this sketch I have had to draw on the memory of some old Harbeans, as my own recollections can supply no such dark reminiscences. CHAPTER XV. CRIME AND ITS PUNISHMENT.. 66 'Diseases, desperate grown, By desperate appliance are relieved." SHAKSPEARE. "La protection des foibles est donc le seul usage légitime du crédit et de l'autorité."-MASSILLON. FOR some days there had been a great mystery in the house boys spoke to one another in whispers; our social atmosphere was heavy and oppressive, like that preceding a thunder-storm. The Sixth fellows had been closeted together day after day for hours; small unoffending little ones had been called in and examined, and. had come out looking very red; but their blushes were those of ingenuous innocence: we felt that among them there could be no guile. Big, disagreeable, disreputable boys had also been sent for and ques tioned, and came out looking sulky and angry: we hoped they had at length got caught in something. Out of the house the affair was not mentioned, of course: if there was one thing we were more touchy about than another, it was the "honour of the house" in which we lived; and the worst bullied fag, the most unpopular companion, would not have mentioned a word to its discredit “out on any account. of the house 99 But we canvassed "Conscience doth make cowards of us all,” and a dread suspicion crossed me, that perhaps these meetings and examinations might have reference to my humble fagship-to burnt toast and spoiled coffee. The wags amongst us went about relating wonderful stories which could not possibly be true, or giving minute details of conversations they could never have heard. At one time it was circulated as a real fact, that fagging was to be put an end to for ever; at which thoughtless boys threw up their straw hats and rejoiced, while the cogitations of those wise in their generation, turned towards their one or two great |