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efforts of human genius. I have reason to believe that the subject is daily gaining more importance in the eyes of the conductors of the school, and that, as the English language becomes more and more taught, its study will be entered into with greater earnestness by the pupils and masters. I was asked by Dr. Barry some little time ago to examine some of the upper boys for a certain theological prize, and more recently I was requested by the Principal to examine them on a little work of Chaucer's-and I am referring to boys in the Classical Department. The theological knowledge of the boys did credit both to their teacher and to themselves; and with regard to the examination in the book of Chaucer, notwithstanding that the boys had only studied the subject for about six weeks, he was most agreeably astonished at the result of the examination, some of the papers sent in to me being the best I had received at all. The general training of the Classical side of the school seemed to have reflected itself in the English; and though, as would be expected from those who had only studied the subject for a few weeks, no very detailed knowledge was displayed, still some of the papers were of a very high order of merit indeed. Having delivered myself of the greater part of what I have to say, I will remark that the general impression left upon my mind in regard to the work of the school is that it is steady and satisfactory, and that both masters and boys had their hearts in what they were doing, being determined to make education not a mere matter of outward show, but a great and substantial thing. When one looks round this room, and sees the names of old boys who year after year have done themselves and their school credit in the world, and regarding the faces of the boys present, feels that they also wish to have their names inscribed on the roll of honour, and thinks how many of those present, as the world goes on, will be called on to do their duty in one sphere of life or in another-to serve God and their country, and thus do credit to their school-'one augurs well for the future. There is a sense of duty—a simple determination to work-much wanted in the age in which we live, which I would advise the boys present to cherish as one of the best gifts God could give them. The duty which God would place upon their shoulders might be a burden and would be a crown. It will make them go through this life honoured and honouring, bringing them at last, if they performed their part aright, to look back on the life they had spent with thankfulness to him who had given it to them as a trust.

After this, speeches having been made by the Rev. A. F. Torry, and Col. Porter, Dr. Barry got up, and the terrific cheering which greeted him having subsided, proceeded to distribute the prizes, of which the more important were as follows: —

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(The order fixed by the combined results of Class Marks and Examination).

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HINDUSTANI EXAMINATION.-(1) Graham. (2) Barrow.

Midsummer, 1868.

SENIOR SCHOLARSHIP.--Richard L. Hippisley.

JUNIOR SCHOLARSHIP.-(1) Percy B. McMahon. (2) Henry B. Willock. SILVER MEDALLIST.-Alexander Cockburn.

WALKER THEOLOGICAL PRIZEMAN.-Henry B. Phipps.

HORNBY PRIZEMEN.-(1) Henry Vansittart. (2) Richard Mansfield.

COLONEL PORTER'S PRIZE. -Alexander Cockburn.

COMPOSITION PRIZES.-German Prose, H. J. Wheatley; English Verse, F. Fox; English Essay, J. D. Gael.

ENGLISH LITERATURE, &C., PRIZES.-I. A., Cockburn; I. B., Fox, F.; II. A., Rice, J.; II. B., Skipton.

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There was no great man this year to be yelled at as there was last, for Brice was just cut out of his prize, and the eleven, as a rule, will not get top of their classes: nevertheless there were many who got their full share of cheering. The Prizes being all given,

The Rev. Dr. BARRY said-I may, having fulfilled the other portion of my duty, be excused if I occupy your attention for a few minutes. It is always considered my duty at the close of the more regular proceedings to say a few words on the College generally, and on the position which it occupies in English education. There are, as is well known to some of those present, some reasons which make it especially incumbent, although especially difficult, for me to do so on the present occasion. It is six years since I first had the honour-for I consider it an honour-of being connected with this place, and during these six years it may be said that the College has been trying an experiment somewhat new. It has passed under a different phase of its existence-a phase marked, as I understand the matter, by these peculiarities :-In the first place, by a steady attachment to the Church of England, and an equally steady detachment from any special party therein; in the second place by an independence of government, conceded by the Council to the Masters, for the benefit of the school; and lastly, by the initiation of a system of increased freedom and responsibility to the boys of the school. These have been the three points which have characterised that phase in the existence of the College in which I have been called upon to take part. The experiment has now been tried for six years, and the result is

before you. I am thankful to believe-and I use the word thankful advisedly— that the College at present occupies a valuable and substantial place in the education of the country. It has never been our practice, and I hope it never will be, to institute comparisons between this particular institution and other great public schools. We as Englishmen are proud of them all, and the only rivalry between us is of an honourable and friendly character. I speak, therefore, positively and not comparatively when I venture to express my belief that our School has now really taken its place among the great institutions of the country I refer not merely to the number of boys in the School, or to that financial success to which the chairman has alluded- not merely to the distinctions which our boys have obtained-though I believe it is very rare that any undergraduate obtains such distinctions as those of Robert Reid, who, within the course of two months, has gained a first class Scholarship, the final Schools, the Ireland University, and has been proxime accessit for the Craven University Scholarship. It is not chiefly to distinctions such as these, nor to the high place our boys take at Woolwich and elsewhere. to which allusions have been made to-day, that the friends of the school are to look, nor yet merely to the proofs of confidence given in this place; although, when I consider that within these six years something like £40,000 have been expended in buildings connected with the College, that expenditure appears to show that those who made it consider the College to be established on a permanent basis. It is not simply on the grounds to which I have alluded that I trust and believe the College occupies the position we claim for it. It is is because it has definitely grasped that which is ordinarily understood to attach to a public school. By a public school we mean, in the first place, one which enjoys the inestimable advantage of independence - a school which is not merely a commercial speculation, but one in which distinguished men occupy a position of government in the Council, although by interest unconnected with the institution over which they preside. This is an inestimable benefit at all times, and especially now, as it enables those who govern, if they do their duty, to seek what is really best in education, and not that which suits the fashion or whim of the day. By it, again, a public school is kept from bondage to any single party or section of the community; it strikes its roots broadly as well as deeply; and, therefore, gradually establishes itself as a great and stately tree. In this place we must look carefully to those characteristics of a public school, if we intend really to hold our position. By a public school we mean again one which has traditions and a corporate life of its own—a lise handed down from generation to generation— not a mere abstraction, but a real living unity; and in that life and those traditions it is as free from the dominion of individual caprice on the one side as from excessive conservatism on the other. Among the boys of such a school there is a well-established freedom, and in this union of authority and freedom there is a representation of those principles which have made this country what it is. I remember saying some time ago to those distinguished French Commissioners who recently visited this country, that if they wished to establish schools in France which should be in the least degree English in their character, they must extend their great principles-the principles of freedom and mutual responsibility to society at large. In a continuity of life and tradition to which I have referred, there is one point which at this time is essential to mention. It is a most important characteristic of this school that its welfare does not depend upon any one single person, but upon that tone and spirit which, once established, I trust will continue here. We all do our part, and the schoolmaster who loves his work is one of the happiest of men; whilst he who does it

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