that hardly anybody of the present fellows will read them, that they will be voted dull, anathematized, torn up for paper-chases, or any other purpose in the world, read by a few fellows in the ìst, a few masters for whom we do not presume to write though we are grateful for indulgence from them, and after that they will just die and give place to other, equally neglected and equally short-lived. All the same we have done our duty: at least we have given fellows an opportunity to read something intended to be instructive; at least, as we lock up the remnant of the issue, we may say, 'They've got their portion of neglectable matter: the neglect lies on their own heads (and it is'nt perhaps a very heavy weight) and for ourselvesliberavi animam meam.' : It may be asked us, 'but do the editors of the Marlburian or the Meteor feel this same heavy responsibility?' We cannot tell: but we know our own case: we know with whom we have to deal.' Let us put it plainly, trusting that we shall not be accused of want of loyalty to Cheltenham: we fear our own school is lamentably behind, not ideal perfection, but other schools in this matter of interest in public doings and public literature. We do not say the fellows are to blame: we shall try to show presently what we think is to blame; and we do not venture positively to assert this but it is our belief, and we must act on, our belief. We do not speak of the lower classes, we speak of the higher ones, where this ignorance and indifference is intolerable: we feel certain that if the first three classes had been asked last November what was the greatest public event of the previous four months, the majority would have answered 'The railway accident in North Wales.' They would not have thought three minutes of the Spanish Revolution, nor read three hours of the General Elections. A majority of the First Class even, we fancy, had not heard of Swinburne's name till they had to do some Elegiacs out of Atalanta the other day: anyway, several ingenious translators succeeded in spelling the name wrong. Perhaps they would write 'Tenison:' we heard a fellow in the 3rd the other day say the Ring and the Book was by Brown. It is well to know, too, that Adonais was in reality written by Cowper. We come even nearer home in supposing Granada to be in Greenland. We say we do not think the fellows wholly to blame for this: the question is-what is to blame? We do not believe devotion to games is the worker of mischief; we doubt if there is any more of this than elsewhere: we are confident love of Nature, as seen from the country around, is not the cause: we believe the cause to be the town with its attractions. Its attractions are manifold: unfortunately it has a Promenade, and to this Promenade go not the little fellows who could be spared, and who would be about as ornamental as the rest, but a good many of the biggest fellows, fellows who ought to be doing something better; anyhow, here is one attraction, whether for good or bad, which occupies time and what stands for thought. Then there are circuses, and panoramas, and the rest of that stamp, against which there is nothing to be said. Last of all there is just the pleasure everybody feels in walking about in the busy life of a place, among shops and fellow creatures, and against these things. in themselves we have not a word to say. We know, too, that this fact of our school being situated in a town has its advantages, and that these advantages are not to be despised. Putting minor considerations aside, it prevents that concentration of all thought and opinion on the matters of school life, which cannot but exist in schools which make up almost the whole existence of the place in which they are situated; it prevents a certain narrowness which would otherwise intervene, a disposition to create for oneself a world within the world,' very much to the disadvantage of the general world. But it has its bad side also; and we believe the circumstance of our being in a rather large town has a good deal to answer for in the matter of which we are writing. We have no means of telling whether we are degenerate in this point when compared to the Cheltenham of former times; perhaps we are not; but there is in the end no reason why we should be degenerate at all. We have a first-rate Library, a President of that Library, whose constant kindness and consideration of our wishes demand more praise and thanks than can be offered here, and in the Boarding-houses newspapers are uniformly taken in. More cannot well be done. Debating. Societies, Literary Clubs may be proposed: the reason why they are only proposed, not attempted, is that the indifference of the fellows to such subjects as would be debated on is too well known to allow us to hazard so hopeless a project. We trust these remarks will be taken in the spirit in which they are written, one of earnest desire for the well being of the College: so much as this seemed necessary to excuse what ought to need no excuse, the insertion of literary articles, and no more need be said. We come back to our subject: a school magazine, like the Cheltonian, ought, we have said, to be a school newspaper too: its duty is also to do its best to amuse, and further to instruct, and the latter duty is prominent in our own case. We are almost tired of saying that contributions and subscriptions are as needful as anything else (the lack of the former is not an insignificant fact), but almost our greatest duty, alas! is to exist. F The Public Schools Racquet Matches. 'OR the second time Eton has won-for the second time Eton has beaten Cheltenham, and this time with far less trouble than before. To the intelligent enquirer who seeks the cause of this, there are three things to be answered :—that Eton has plenty of leisure to practice, plenty of boys to pick from, and H. Grey to teach the lightning service and inculcate the wily drop. If he ask further, he must be told that Chance is a goddess at Prince's, whom all acknowledge and fear. But let us leave the reasons which are always unsatisfactory, and turn to the facts. For a fortnight before our representatives went up to London they had the advantages of the tuition of G. W. Small, and profited a good deal thereby. The service lines and beds were altered so as to make the court if possible a little more like a fast court. The effect was greater than could easily have been imagined a priori. A cut service became possible, and brisk play a necessity. Who should be the second representative, who should be sent to London, was for long doubtful, and how he was to be chosen was under discussion. It was settled at last that he was to be nominated by the champion, a principle of representation which would find no favour in politics. There was great doubt whether G. E. Hare or G. N. Wyatt should go, and finally both were allowed to try their fate at Prince's. Wyatt had but just recovered from a sprained knee, so that it remained doubtful to the last whether he would be quite fit. Both improved much at Prince's, but when it had to be decided Wyatt's hard hitting and strong service carried the day against Hare's neatness and activity. Myers began by playing very well at Prince's, but fell off day by day, perhaps through having had rather a surfeit of racquets lately. Eton and Harrow were practising for a week before the matches, Haileybury played once or twice, Rugby never until they played their match with Haileybury. The first ties were Eton v. Harrow. On Tuesday, at 2, Eton and Harrow appeared. The conditions were the best of 7 games. For Eton C. J. Ottaway played with J. P. Rodger; for Harrow S. W. Gore and C. Walker. The same game had been played before in the Eton courts, and there Eton had won very easily, so that the Harrow pair went in to play a losing game-a frame of mind which does not tend to victory. At the beginning of the first game, and once or twice afterwards, Gore played really well, and Walker seemed inclined to back him up; but it was all no use, Eton won 4 games running in about 20 'minutes, the scores standing 15 to 7, 15 to 8, 15 to 1, and 15 to 3. Next came Rugby and Haileybury, and this proved by far the most interesting match of the whole set. Nobody had seen either of them play, nobody knew their names, and nobody felt certain which would win. For Rugby S. K. Gwyer and H. W. Gardner played, for Haileybury E. Hoskins and W. P. Brooke. Hoskins soon made himself conspicuous by his resolute activity, and to the gallery generally was known as the cheerful man. He was cheerful if he missed a ball himself, which was not so very often, and, what is much harder, he was cheerful when his partner missed one. Haileybury won the first game by 15 to 8, lost the second by 15 to 17, lost the third by 8 to 15, lost the fourth by 5 to 15, won the fifth by 15 to 6, won the sixth by 15 to 4, lost the seventh by 8 to 15; Haileybury thus made 81 points, Rugby 80. The most striking feature of the match was the serving off of 22 points by Hoskins, he got in the fifth game when the score was 6 all, and served off that game and the first 13 points of the next; they were all good length services, otherwise they were nowise striking. There was hearty cheering for both sides, perhaps a little the most for Haileybury, who had not been expected to come out so well. The ties for the next day were— Eton v. Cheltenham. The winners of the first tie were to play Rugby after a short rest, and two good matches were expected. The result, however, did not fulfil the expectation. Eton and Cheltenham were in the court by two, and set to work briskly. The red and black, after the first few strokes, took the lead and stood at 9 to 3; Eton then overhauled them and crept up to 15, leaving them at 9; neither Myers nor Wyatt were playing well, Myers hitting high as if nervous, and Wyatt missing a great many balls altogether. Both Rodger and Ottaway were in good form. There was occasionally a good serve from each of the four, but no one, except Rodger, kept up a very high average of goodness. After the first game Eton had it all their own way and won the three following games by 15 to 7, 15 to 8, and 15 to 3. Once or twice, for a few minutes, they encountered some obstinate resistance, but it was not sufficient to change the result of any one game. Flushed with victory the light blue only paused for ten minutes, and then went into the court again with the full intention of beating Rugby; as indeed they did. At times Rugby seemed to be picking up, and some brilliant rounds ensued, but they met with little better fate than Cheltenham in the first three games, making 11 to 15, 8 to 15, and 10 to 15; in the fourth game, however, they made a dying effort and reached 13. However they were not destined to win any one game. Eton was thus left victorious after winning three matches; there is little doubt they deserved the final victory, but they ought to have had more trouble in obtaining it. I The French Schoolboy. T is not my intention to attempt to give an exhaustive account of this phenonemon, nor do I imagine that there will be anything particularly new or original in what I have to say about it. My readers will be pleased to take these jottings-down for what they are worth, and if they tend to enlighten them as to the school-life of our neighbours, I shall be more than satisfied. There certainly does exist a good deal of ignorance amongst us on the subject—which unfortunately is only too well reciprocated in France, and if it is true that ignorance is the main-spring of international hatred, then it is most desirable that we should learn all that we can of each other. It is no longer an article in our creed that the French subsist upon frogs and snails, wholly abstain from soap and water, and stand to Englishmen in the ratio of 3 to 1. A long period of peace, and an extraordinary facility for mutual intercourse has dispelled much of mutual ignorance and prejudice, but there is still much to be learned on both sides. As a nation we have only begun to think it worth while to study the French and their institutions. In this respect they are somewhat in advance of us. Many of their greatest living writers have made England and the English a special study, and up to this moment the best comprehensive work on English Literature is from the pen of a Frenchman. It cannot indeed be said that our neighbours show any want of interest in the institutions and characteristics of our nation; Anglomania is rather the rule than the exception; but still they are not without their little prejudices. For instance they pretend to see a good deal of the |
