NOTES ANTHEM FOR THE CHILDREN OF CHRIST'S HOSPITAL. First printed in Coleridge's "Poetical Works," 1834. In the days of Coleridge the Easter anthems were invariably written by the head-master, but it so happens that the custom of entrusting their composition to a Grecian was afterwards adopted -in about 1837. ON CHRIST'S HOSPITAL, AND THE CHARACTER OF THE CHRIST'S HOSPITAL BOYS (page 6). This paper first appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine (June 1813, and supplement to vol. lxxxiii. for January to June 1813, pp. 540 and 617). It was reprinted in the first collected edition of Lamb's "Prose and Verse" (C. and J. Ollier, 1818), under the title "Recollections of Christ's Hospital "-the opening paragraphs being omitted. The immediate occasion of Lamb's essay cannot now be determined, but there can be no doubt that it was indirectly inspired by the case of Mr. Dawson Warren, Vicar of Edmonton, whose son had been admitted to the school about six years previously. This act was considered contrary to the spirit of the regulations, and bitterly discussed in the public press. Young Warren, however, was allowed to continue his course at school, until voluntarily withdrawn by his father in 1809, and a new form of presentation, containing more precise information as to means, &c., was drawn up, which has remained substantially unaltered until very recent years. Coleridge's article in the Courier on the same subject is printed below. Mr. James Boyer (page 23). This worthy schoolmaster, so vividly described by our three essayists, held his post from 1776 to 1799, and "long enjoyed the pleasurable consciousness of having advanced the credit and reputation of the school to a point which it had never reached before. He was not, indeed, possessed of any classic taste, or of any great depth of scholarship; but he had that acuteness of common-sense which is a far more essential qualification in the preceptor of youth" (Trollope). William Wales (page 29). Mr. Wales was elected to the mastership of the Mathematical School in 1775, when the pupils were in a most riotous and disorderly condition, a serious annoyance to the whole establishment. Dr. Trollope narrates the good effect of his severity. On one occasion his military bearing was of signal service to the Hospital. The Gordon rioters attempted an invasion, but were restrained by his firm and courageous remonstrances. He was master till his death in 1798. Cots, or superior shoe-strings of the Monitors (page 34). These, which have long fallen into disuse, were broad and silky, the ordinary shoe-laces being of leather. Medals of the Markers (page 34). See illustration. The office has died out. CHRIST'S HOSPITAL FIVE-AND-THIRTY YEARS AGO (page 36). This paper first appeared in the London Magazine for November 1820 (vol. ii. p. 483), and was reprinted in Elia, first series (Taylor and Hessey), 1823. My own standing at Christ's (page 36). Lamb is here, and throughout most of the essay, writing in the character of Coleridge, who was his contemporary. In his preface, "The Character of Elia," to the "Last Essays," Lamb refers to this paper, where "under the first person (his favourite figure) he [i.e., Elia] shadows forth the forlorn state of a country boy placed at a London school, far away from his friends and connections-in direct opposition to his own early history." Pitched leathern jack (page 37). The jacks, or jugs, that have only lately gone out of use, were certainly, though pitched, made of wood. Probably Lamb's memory was here at fault. Good old relative (page 38). His Aunt Hetty. See the lines "Written on the Day of my Aunt's Funeral: ". "I have not forgot How thou didst love thy Charles, when he was yet A prating school-boy: I have not forgot The busy joy on that important day, When, childlike, the poor wanderer was content His childhood's play-place, and his early home, Sweet Calne in Wiltshire (page 40). Le., Ottery St. Mary in Devonshire, the home of Coleridge, See Frost at Midnight. |