THE WORCESTER CATHEDRAL GRAMMAR SCHOOL CHRONICLE. " TO fjLfV SiSaxra fi.av66.vu>, TO. 8 f v p f r a (i]T<a, TO. 8'evKTa. Trapa Oetov
No. 19. VOL. II.
JULY, 1891.
Contents. PAGE
Editorial Wulstan of Worcester .. Function of Criticism .. Ballade of Modern Cricket Rowing Club Races Cricket Athletic Sports Entertainment Christmas Concert School Officers School News Chess
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(Ebitonal. iJFTEK reading in a recent number of a contemporary a classification of editors of school magazines into different divisions, with a dreadful anathema attached to each, we felt much as the Queen of Sheba is said to have done after viewing the glory of Solomon. There the conceited editor and the twaddling editor, the editor who talks about nothing but athletics, and the editor who discourses sweetly on the weather, were all alike overwhelmed with scorn by the writer. In spite of this, however, we are rash enough again to take up our parable, endeavouring at the same time to avoid falling
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into any of those classes which our contemporary has so ruthlessly attacked. Within the past few months we have found the " old order changing, giving place to new" with a vengeance. Whenever we see in the papers a paragraph beginning "The Queen has been pleased," a dread fear seizes us that Her Majesty's pleasure is to remove some member of our Cathedral body to a higher station. First, Canon Creighton was taken to be Bishop of Peterborough, and now we are to part with our Dean, who leaves us to take the Bishopric of Truro. While heartily congratulating him on his elevation, we cannot help feeling intense regret at losing one who, besides being a staunch friend to the School at large, has endeared himself to many of us individually by personal kindnesses. He has shown his interest in the School in many ways, and among them by giving valuable presents of books to the Library. He has always made a point of being present, if possible, at all our entertainments and concerts, and we do not recollect any Speech Day since he came to Worcester at which he has not presided and spoken words to be remembered by boys and parents alike. Mrs. Gott has also laid us under great obligations, not only by her readiness to distribute prizes won at the sports, but also by the kind manner
THE VIGORNIAN. in which she has often received the School at the Deanery. We sincerely wish them God-speed, and hope that Dr. Gott will be endued with strength io exercise for many a long year the high office to which he has been called. As Dr. Forrest is personally unknown to us, we cannot do more than offer him a hearty welcome. He comes to us with a great reputation, and we trust that we shall find in him as good a friend as we have had in his predecessor. We always think that more credit attaches to a fellow if he rows than if he plays football or cricket. The latter games he enters into more or less as a matter of course, but in the case of the first there is room for the exercise of his own will and judgment. He knows that more or less self-denial will be required from him. This causes the fortunes of the Rowing Club to be watched with more than ordinary interest. Last term there was no falling off in its numbers, but the members were often heard to wish for a considerable increase. Of course the embargo upon nonswimmers will always keep out some. But is a growth in numbers desirable, when we have so few boats, and those chiefly pair-oars, and our coaches are limited] Ought we not to be well satisfied if every year the younger members show no signs of falling away 1 But if the slight discontent alluded to be really the utterance of a fear that the Rowing Club is losing ground in the School, let the heads see whether they are in no way responsible. By the selection of the crews a line is drawn between the chosen and the rejected. But by our present way of going on the gulf between the two gets wider daily, for the former have more and the latter less attention bestowed on them. The early stereotyping of crews is a bad thing ; surely, by keeping each man's hopes lively till nearly the end of the season, more competition would produce better results. We have only spoken from the point of view of expediency, the fairness of it is quite as debatable, seeing all give equal support to the club. Many rehearsals to secure a regatta that looks well do not do justice to them as a whole. The best thanks of the club are due to the Rev. W. G. Melville and Messrs. W. H. Webb and L. Waugh for their active interest and regular coaching. We hope that Mr. Melville will renew his kindness next year, when it
will be yet more needed, owing to Mr. Franklin's departure. Our cricket still keeps its dead level of mediocrity. Wet weather has interfered greatly with net practice, hut the attendance has been uniformly good. So far we have only won two matches and tied with our opponents in another; we might plume ourselves on the first victory against Norton, had it been the Norton we knew in past years. Our batting performances have been miserable ; without Mr. Russell, who seems always safe for runs, they would have been yet worse. We have had occasion to point out before the shortsightedness of our hand-to-mouth policy with the eleven. This year we are glad to hear that there is net practice for the juniors, among whom are some promising bats just now.
(Uulstatt, $ishop of OEorcestn'. a former number of the "Vigornian," in an article entitled "The See of Worcester/'appeared a short account of the celebrated Wulstan, one of its most celebrated Bishops. To any one living within sight of the Cathedral of which he laid the first foundation, and in the diocese over which he so actively presided, his life cannot fail to be of peculiar interest, and we may therefore be pardoned for relating his history at greater length than has hitherto been done in these pages. During the period immediately preceding the Norman Conquest, the condition of the Saxons was degraded in the extreme. They had lost all the sturdy manliness that had once characterised them, and by yielding unreservedly to every conceivable sensual pleasure, had so lowered their physical standard, that they were no longer worthy to remain in possession of the land they had won from the Britons. Here and there pious souls, such as the Confessor, were to be found, but their gloomy denunciations of God's wrath against their impious countrymen only too clearly betray the terrible state of the land. In His anger, they said, He had sent the Danes to harass them, if haply they might yet be recalled from their wickedness. This scourge, however, had proved ineffectual, and without doubt another was awaiting them, more terrible than all that gone before. In the midst of such universal iniquity the only
THE VIGORNIAN. course open, to those who still remained unoorrupted was to take refuge in a religious house, a course which the parents of Wulstan found themselves eventually obliged to adopt. Athelstan and Wulfgeva had been servants in the household of Bishop Oswald, of Worcester, who, on his death, had left Athelstan enough land to make him a wealthy man and secure him the title of Thane. His son Wulstan, therefore, received the best education that the times could give, and was sent first to the Monastery of Evesham, and afterwards to that of Peterborough. The discipline preserved by the monks was exceedingly severe, their pupils being obliged not only to devote themselves assiduously to learning, but also to recite all the services of the Church with their masters, daily. Amongst other things they were instructed in the act of illuminating manuscripts, concerning which a little story is told of the young Wulstau. His master, Erwin, had completed two very beautiful manuscripts containing the office for the Eucharist and the Psalter respectively. Wulstan greatly admired them and was allowed to keep them until his master, finding King Cnut willing to buy them, sold them to him, much to the chagrin of his pupil, who seems to have considered that the monk's action savoured more of a desire for filthy lucre than of piety. Apparently during the time their son was at Peterborough, Athelstau and Wulfgeva sold their possessions and retired into the religious houses of Worcester. There Athelstan died, and it was then that Wulstan came to visit his widowed mother, and was persuaded by her to become a monk. He was duly ordained priest by Bishop Brihtege, and thereupon devoted himself to a most austere life. It is related of him that after celebrating mass, he did not, as other men, give way to jovial merriment for the rest of the day, but spent his time in prayer and incessant study. So greatly was he addicted to the latter that he would spend whole days and nights without sleep, and when finally overcome would lie down on the floor, using his manuscript as a pillow. Florence, of Worcester, informs us that his fellow monks feared that persistence in such a course of life would cause his brain to become " parched," and endeavoured, but without much success, to dissuade him from continuing in it. His merits were soon recognized, and he became successively Master of the Novices, Precentor, Treasurer and Dean ; finally in 1052 Bishop Aldred raised him to the dignity of Prior.
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His reputation for sanctity had now begun to spread, and among his admirers was Harold, afterwards King, who would go as much as thirty miles out of his way to obtain Wulstan's blessing and absolution after hearing his confession. Amongst his other virtues he was so conspicuous for fearlessness in the presence of danger, that his friends were accustomed to apply to him the words of King Solomon—" The righteous is bold as the lion." In the year 1062, Aldred, Bishop of Worcester, was promoted to the Archbishopric of York, and it became necessary to find some one to succeed him. King Edward sent down his conge d'elire, (in those days an actual permission to choose), and the choice of all fell upon Wulstau. It was Lent, and the Papal Legates, one of them being Ermenfrid, Bishop of Sion, or Sedunum, in Switzerland, were in Worcester, lodging with the Prior. Seeing the uprightness of his life, they heartily approved of his appointment to the Bishopric, but to their great surprise he obstinately refused to accept it, affirming that he was unfit for so great an office. Entreaty and persuasion proved to be in vain, Wulstan declaring that he- would rather lose his head than yield to their request. At this juncture, however, Wulfsi, said to be a son of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, who had gained a great reputation for sanctity, severely rebuked Wulstan for his refusal, and bade him yield at once. His reproaches took effect, and the Prior, no longer opposing the general wish, was duly consecrated Bishop. The ceremony was performed by Aldred, Archbishop of York, the other Archbishop, Stigand, being under an interdict for adhering to an Antipope ; as, however, Worcester was in his province he was allowed to receive the canonical oaths from Wulstan. Soon after the consecration of the latter he was present at the dedication of the great church of S. Peter, built at Westminster by the Confessor. It soon became^ evident that the new Bishop was not going to be less energetic than he had been when in a humbler station. Of work, indeed, there was enough for him to do; the Saxon clergy were illiterate and rapacious, often too very gluttonous and remiss in the discharge of their sacred office. Among other bad habits one had arisen among them of refusing to give baptism unless largely bribed; this Wulstan endeavoured to check by himself administering the sacrament without taking any fee, thousands flocking from all parts to avail themselves of the privilege. The rite of con-
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firmation he also administered to great numbers, often continuing to do so all day, without taking any rest or food, and thoroughly wearying six or seven chaplains without himself feeling fatigued. Should any priest come late to, or omit a celebration of the Mass, Wulstan would severely rebuke him, and compel him to repeat the whole service properly by himself afterwards. Soon after becoming Bishop he formed a league among the Abbots of many of the great Benedictine houses, Pershore being one, the objects of which were to serve God, S. Mary, and S. Benedict, to be loyal to the King, and faithful to one another, and to perform acts of charity. In January, 1066, Edward the Confessor died, and Harold commenced his brief reign, which was terminated in the October of the same year by the battle of Hastings. The Archbishop of York, with the Bishops of Worcester and Hereford, and several nobles and Londoners of the better sort, foreseeing that William would soon make himself master of England, met him at Berkhampstead, and swore fealty to him. After he had in some measure restored order in his kingdom, William turned Ms attention to reforming the Church, and in 1070 convoked at Winchester a council for that purpose. The Archbishopric of Canterbury was bestowed on Lanfranc, Stigand being deposed, as were also all the Saxon Prelates, except Wulstan, and many Abbots and lesser dignitaries. Of the many reasons given by historians for the retention of the Bishop of Worcester, the majority have been dictated more by the prejudices of the writer, than by a careful consideration of the facts of the case. Lingard, with unusual acerbity, ascribes it less to the renown of Wulstan's personal piety, than to the influence of his friend Ermenfrid, Bishop of Sion. A much more ridiculous view is that which asserts that he compounded for his office by paying a good round sum. In the first place he probably could not have obtained sufficient money to effect this, and even if he had been able to do so, Lanfranc, to whom William had entrusted the reform of the Church, was one of the last men to accept a bribe. The probability is that his great renown for holiness and the impossibility of convicting him of the crimes, to which many of his fellow prelates had been addicted, combined with the influence of Ermenfrid, and the fact that he had been one of the first to acknowledge the
King's sovereignty, secured him the possession of his office. At the same council Wulstan boldly demanded the restitution of twelve manors which had been wrongfully retained by Aldred on his elevation to the Archbishopric of York; the latter, it is said, had supported the nomination of Wulstan to the Bishopric of Worcester, because he thought to find in him a willing tool, but had afterwards discovered his mistake. As he had died, however, before the assembling of the council, the suit was ordered to stand over till the see of York was again filled. This was done by the appointment of Thomas, Canon of Bayeux, who resisted the claims of Wulstan, but without success. The manors were recovered for Worcester, together with many privileges granted to the see by the Saxon Kings from Offa, King of Mercia, downwards. The same Thomas afterwards attempted to assert jurisdiction over Wulstan, and appealed to the Pope for assistance. The latter, however, being probably afraid of William, referred it to the King and his nobles, who decided that the Bishop of Worcester was subject to the Archbishop'of Canterbury. About this time a determined effort to rob Wulstan was made by William Fitzosbern, Earl of Hereford. He and his son seized Hadzor, near Droitwich, and his sheriff, Ralph, appropriated Witley and other places. It is comforting to know that all three came to a bad end, the last mentioned, as an old writer puts it, "dying in jayl." More troublesome was Walter, Abbot of Evesham, who was a very clever lawyer, and had been made a judge by the King. About the year 1075 Wulstan commenced a suit against him, and was successful in regaining nineteen hides of land and some houses in Evesham. The defendant appealed to Kemigius, Bishop of Lincoln, but again lost his cause, and then yielded. This abbot died of gout, and the monks in after days had a tale that while Wulstau was praying for his soul he was seized with the same complaint, and was afterwards ordered in a vision to abstain from wasting his prayers on so worthless a wretch. In 1083 an interesting event occurred : Alwin and Guido, who had been living as hermits in Malvern Chase, camo to Wulstan and laid before him a plan which they had for going to the Holy Land. With a foresight. in after years regarded as prophetic, the Bishop bade them stay where they were, for he perceived that they had a mission to perform there. They yielded to his persuasion and returned, taking with
THE VIGORNIAN. them a few monks, who laid the foundations of what afterwards became Malvern Priory. Wulstan made Alwin first Prior, and before long as many as three hundred had joined him. In 1087 William I. died, and on his son William ascending the throne, some of the barons rose under pretence of making Duke Eobert king instead. Among the insurgents was Roger, Earl of Hereford, who gathered a force and endeavoured to join his fellow rebels at Eochester. Wulstan, however, inarched down the banks of the Severn, and not only prevented the Earl from crossing but defeated him and drove him back. Eoger resolved to take speedy vengeance, and in 1088 collected an army, probably largely consisting of " Welchmen," who never missed an opportunity of making a raid on Worcester, and set out against his enemy. Eavaging with fire and the sword as he advanced, soon the whole of the country between Worcester and the Malvern Hills was full of the smoke of burning villages and farms. At last the men of Hereford, coming it may be by way of Powick, approached the city itself, and then, in the words of the monk Florence, " Wulstan, a man of dove-like simplicity, beloved alike by God and man and the people he governed, faithful to the King, as his earthly lord, under all circumstances, prepared like another Moses to stand manfully by his people and city." The Norman garrison who loved the Bishop, Saxon though he was, came and asked and obtained leave to sally forth over the bridge and attack the foe; the Bishop meanwhile held a council of war, and prayed that God would put their enemies to nought. His petition, we are informed, was immediately answered, for the Earl's army was smitten with feebleness in the limbs and dimness of eyesight, and was defeated with ease. Of course the nineteenth century, with its sceptical wisdom, would never think of crediting such a story, still we would remark in passing, that the professors of omniscience may find it interesting to discover why a favour, so readily granted to one man of God of old time in Dothan, should be refused to another in Worcester in the year of grace 1088. While admitting that the majority of the monks' tales are inventions, we submit that this one, compatible as it is with reason, and warranted by precedent, can demand as much credit, at any rate, as the story of the cross seen in the sky by Constantine, or of the visions which appeared to Joan of Arc. " The
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age of miracles is ever here/' even though in these days because of the hardness of men's hearts they are visible only to the few and not to the many. Wulstan was now becoming an old man and had not many years of life before him. In the year 1092 ho convoked a synod at Worcester, and summoned before him the priests of S. Helen's and S. Alban's, who were at variance with one another about the rights of their respective parishes. Their quarrel having been adjusted, an enquiry was instituted as to the position which these Churches held towards the mother Church. It was ascertained that S. Helen's had been a vicarage of the of the latter from the days of Archbishop Theodore, in the seventh century, and that on Dunstan ejecting the Seculars, one Winsius, its vicar, had taken the monastic vows and so retained its benefice. At the present time it is customary to speak of S. Helen's as the mother Church of Worcester, but from this enquiry it would appear that such is not the case, that parish having originally been subject to the Monastic Church. Before his death the Bishop, who had already increased the number of his own monks from twelve to fifty, refounded and endowed Westbury, near Bristol, which had been originally founded by Bishop Oswald. In the year 1095 Wulstan's strength rapidly failed him, and he recognised that his days were numbered, for, as he lay ill, news came of the death of his sister, whereupon he said " now is the plough come to my furrow, and the brother shall follow the sister not many days hence." His words proved true, for soon after he himself died, or as the annals of Winchester put it, " migravit ad Dominum." In the hour of his death he is said to have appeared in a vision to his great friend Eobert, Bishop of Hereford, then at Cricklade, bidding him hasten to Worcester to bury him. In the annals of Margan (a monastery in Glamorgan) we find the following entry against the date 1095 : " Commotio fuit stellarum et obiit Wlstanus, Wigorn Episc." It is exceedingly probable that the writer, in accordance with ancient superstition, thought that the disturbance of the heavenly bodies was an omen foretelling the decease of such a great man as the Bishop. Thus, then, in the thirty-fourth year of his episcopate, died one who was perhaps the greatest of Worcester's early Bishops. The prevailing feature of his character seems to have been simplicity. Simple in manner, simple in speech, people often mistook him for a fool because he was not a knave. Lanfranc, who
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afterwards became his warm friend, was at first thus deceived, and also felt inclined to despise him because he lacked learning. That this latter accusation was not without grounds, may be proved from his eulogist, William of Malmesbury, who refers to him as " magis insito virtutum amore, quam litteratura fretus." Ignorant, however, as he may have been of the " fables of the ancients," he yet possessed a marvellous knowledge of Holy Writ, and would repeat the Psalter from beginning to end when performing a long journey on horseback. About his simplicity in dress there is a tale which throws rather a light on the reverence of his time. He was in the habit of wearing woollen garments, which some thought unfitted for a Bishop, and tried to persuade him to exchange them for clothes made of fur, as more becoming his position. " Often," replied he, " have I heard of the Agnus Dei, but never of the Cattus Dei," thus proving the greater sanctity of wool. Such a joke would now be considered, and rightly so, exceedingly profane, but does not seem to have at all shocked the minds of his biographers. Always accessible to the common folk, he was greatly beloved by them, and his sermons in the vulgar tongue, preached at the churchyard cross, were listened to by large crowds. One peculiar custom which he had deserves notice. On taking his seat in the County Court, he would ascertain the nature of the case then being heard; if any good was at stake he listened attentively, if not he composed himself to slumber, an example which has its followers To even in these days of even-handed justice. prevent any laxity in conversation he kept at his elbow a holy man by name Egelric who, if the Bishop did chance to forget himself, pulled him up with a petrifying look. Among his contemporaries Wulstan had the reputation of a prophet, and some of his forecasts seemed to have turned out unpleasantly true. Thus when Nicholas, a monk, began to lose his hair, Wulstan prophesied that no more would fall off till he himself should die. Accordingly Nicholas had no more trouble with his head till the week in which the Bishop died when, to his great dismay, the whole of his hair came off at once. Energetic till his last days, he protected the rights of his diocese and visited every part of it with unwearying zeal, allowing nothing to hinder him. During his episcopate he succeeded in suppressing the slave-trade at Bristol, nor was it revived for many years after his
death. To us, of course, one of the most interesting of Wulstan's acts is the part he took in the building of our Cathedral. Of his church only the crypt now remains, the Norman bays at the West end of the nave being of a later date. It is said that on the completion of the edifice, the older one of Oswald, which must consequently have had a different site, was immediately pulled down. Wulstan looked on at its demolition and presently was observed to be weeping; on those round asking the reason of his sorrow, he told them that while former generations had served God faithfully, they had been content to worship in mean and unadorned churches ; now however their descendants had become unfaithful and tried to cover their lack of piety by erecting more magnificent buildings. Critics may say what they will, but one who could retain his see without any undue subservience, through such a dangerous period as that of the Norman Conquest, must have been no common man. The unanimously favourable verdict of the writers of his own and the immediately succeeding ages seems to us quite sufficient to justify us in paying no heed whatever to such opinions as that of Britton who, though he prides himself on his impartialitj', can find nothing better to say of Wulstan than that he was an "intolerant and rigid prelate." Neither can we agree with a local historian, who appears to think that the Bishop's chief claim to our regard arises from the fact that his bones in pre-Eeformation times brought great profit to the Cathedral. Such ideas as these do but scant justice to the memory of this great Saxon, of whom it was recorded " God was always in his heart, and a psalm was ever on his lips."
C. T. D.
Jutitcttoit of (Erittdsm. criticism is here chiefly meant literary criticism, though that covers more ground than at first sight it seems to do, for the whole thought of a nation, if meant to live and not pass with the breath that utters it, finds expression in written books, and the literary critic busies himself no less with what is written than the way in which it is written. There are times in the histories of peoples when there is no such office. Plainly, when freedom of thought or discussion is forbidden, or at least so
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hedged in as to have all lively growth stopped, as in work too thoroughly. The critic will not wander Russia, the backwardest of European nations, there from his province if he sets himself to the overthrow can be little criticism, though of course the same of fallacies such as we are troubled with every day of restraints check the production of anything calling for our lives. Thus the critic has his work cut out for it. But these are not the only conditions under which him. However, it is subject to several disadvantages. it fails to thrive. There are also the rare occasions The very need that called it into existence will also when only good writers and thinkers live. Such a influence the character of its working. In the mixed description would fit the age when Pericles " wielded ages it will leave the very good to take care of themat will that fierce democraty"; such, again, when a selves and give itself up almost exclusively to hunting true aristocracy of talent thronged the council i down the worthless. As the constant use of the right chamber of Elizabeth. The great men recommend arm weakens the left, and makes us think the right the themselves by their own intrinsic worth. No one natural one to use, so the dealing entirely with people who professed to find grave flaws in Sophocles' who deserve censure can hardly fail to beget in the choruses or faultiness in Shakespeare's knowledge of critic a growing bias towards the bestowal of censure. human nature, would have a hearing. The utmost the In time he will tend to give it for its own sake, and critic can then do, is to point out what is the best in his warped judgment will lose its power of apprethe good men, since all their works do not merit equal ciating good. Bad enough for the critic, yet worse for praise, and a real danger threatens if this be not the reading public, because when the mere legal use of understood. For if the community yield the same the critical faculty leads to little but the award of honour to the worthy and unworthy performances of censure, they are apt to forget those that it spares and a good man, the day that sooner or later opens its eyes dwell entirely on those that it brands, as if these latter to the existence of some inferiority, will shut them to were the whole of their literary men, while all the that of the greater superiority. This latter will not be time they cling to a strong feeling that their writers strong enough to make it forgive the man who had, are not unmixedly inferior. Hence is bred a distrust however innocently, shaken for a short time the belief for the very vehicle without which the public cannot of the community in its own infallibility. To avoid do. Different critics have used different methods. this is then the only work of the critic. But such The crudest, perhaps, is that of sheer mimicry, such as ages rarely come more than once in the history of a Aristophanes employed : the weak points in Euripides folk. Euripides follows Sophocles, and the mixed are unmercifully burlesqued, while a similar handlinghorde rushes in. Now the critic is afoot early, no man is bestowed on the long compounds for which Jisehylus earlier. Mimicry is one of his favourite weapons. If had a weakness. Perhaps this way condemns itself the chorus of Euripides sighs for the strength of its most effectually by winning favour so quickly with youth to smite down the tyrant, and in doing so puts the mob. Other critics have been known to take the the infirmities of age in a ludicrous light, inconsistent short and easy course of libelling the character of the with the grave dignity of tragedy, the same body in man whose works are supposed to come before them for the comedies of Aristophanes utters a parody which judgment. A third plan is followed by those who lay at once suggests its original. In a mixed age, down a law of their own making and proceed to when impostors are ready to foist on the public their enforce it dogmatically. But the manifest superiority worthless shams, there is no way of getting on without enjoyed over them by the argumentative method lies the critic. Before his judgment seat there stand herein, that it tries to win the reader's conviction rogues and honest folk; thence they go, those that peaceably without taking it by storm. The critic who have stood the test to continue their work in the seeks to persuade by it will never give a conclusion world, those that have done evil to their own place. without the reasons that lead to it : rather, with these Their punishment ensures two benefits, one in the supplied, he will let the inference take care of itself. stopping once for all of the particular offender, the Sentiment or bias of bringing up will never turn aside other in the wholesome terror to other would-be evil- his judgment in these purely intellectual fields. He doers. Of course criticism, like ^Eschines and the will err rather towards humility than dogmatism, and sycophants, only lives on condition of not doing its never slay the slain. A critic is much tempted to
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linger on and return again and again to surface faults, especially if he seems to himself to be about to say For an instance of this shortsomething striking coming, see Macaulay's essay on K. Montgomery's poems. But the true critic, knowing how little help is needed, where everyone can see for himself, steadily shuns the temptation. So far we have been leading up to the qualifications of a good critic ; but as it is a law of human nature to catch at a single instance of the working of a truth more readily than at the truth barely enunciated, we will consider some who have lived with a claim to be called critics. Macaulay will at once occur, though really he will rank more as a picturesque annalist than a critic of high order. He wrote for the respectable Whiggism of England now deceased : ho saved them the trouble of expressing, or rather made up for their powerlessness to express, what they wanted to be put into shape ; they were grateful to him. But a now Pharoah has risen that knows not Joseph, and says what he likes about the essay on Montgomery. If the gradual decline of Macaulay be doubted, read Mr. Grant Allen's outspoken words in one of last month's reviews. You find in Macaulay much rhetoric : its effect—for while it lasts it simply stuns—everyone knows, he seems to have known it himself. We may ask whether the owning this powerful weapon did not carry with it an obligation to be more careful about the side that enlisted his services. But bearing down by sheer brute strength is not criticising. Listen to this (it is unfair to quote anything from the essay on Milton, as the author, in his riper years, repudiated its sentiments and condemned its style) :— " The literature of England during the last three hundred years is more valuable than all the literature existing in the world at the beginning of that period." Again— " Tims frivolous, thus useless is this philosophy (Utilitarianism) controversiarum ferax, operum cffceta, ad (jarriendwn prompta, ad generandum invalida. (This from the Novum Organum). The humble mechanic who discovers some slight improvement in the construction of safety-lamps or steam vessels does more for the happiness of mankind than the ' magnificent principle,' as Mr. Bentham calls it, will do in 10,000 years. The mechanic teaches us how we may in a small degree be better off than we were. The Utilitarian advises us with great pomp to be as well off as we can." " It will before long be found, we prophesy, that as the corruption of a dunce is the generation of an
Utilitarian, so is the corruption of an Utilitarian the generation of a jobber." Macaulay had good reason to differ from the Utilitarian here:— " It is one of the principal tenets of the Utilitarians that sentiment and eloquence serve only to impede the pursuit of truth. They therefore affect a quakerly plainness, or rather a cynical negligence and impurity of style. The strongest arguments, when clothed in brilliant language seem to them so much wordy nonsense. Mr. Mill is exactly the writer to please people of this description : his arguments are stated with the utmost affectation of precision : his divisions are awfully formal : and his style is generally as dry as that of Euclid's elements." For sheer dogmatism this has no equal. "Was there ever such scarcity of argument ? To see how controversy should be conducted, turn to the younger Mill on his defence of Utilitarianism. In his pages we have left behind us all the tawdry gossip about incidental peculiarities in the foe. For him his opponents are so many men who have attacked more or less clearly certain points in his system, and whom he answers not by bluster but argument. Beyond that he has no further interest in them, and one batch falls back to let another step forward and be dealt with: there is no f ussiness, all grim business-like despatch. Another foremost critic of our time was Matthew Arnold. We may make up for our distrust of him in religion by sitting at his feet when his subject is literature. He is rarely happier than when discussing varieties of style, which he divides into three kinds— Attic, Asiatic, and Corinthian. In Edmund Burke, whom nevertheless he looks upon as our greatest writer of prose, he finds the readiest instance of the Asiatic. The Corinthian is the " style for a good editorial," the highest effort of the human brain in the opinion of " Mr. James Gordon Bennett, of the New York Herald." " Mr. Kinglake has really reached perfection in it." The critic names no Englishman who has written in Attic because he could not name himself. At the same time J. S. Mill certainly realised it, too. But to Attic he yields the palm, and is it not clear why he does? How has the more common English style grown up ? Through the Bible, which has inspired our greatest writers. But it is written in. Oriental manner, full of luxuriant imagery and a rich poetic vein. This Asiatic growth they have grafted upon the English stock, and made the language most picturesque with metaphors, as everybody knows to
THE VIGORNIAN his cost •when he comes to try his hand at Latin prose. Now few metaphors will be understood by every people in every age and every place. An Italian, who rarely sees anything but a blue sky overhead, will not enter into our rich images drawn from clouds and storm. But the best style is that which is clearest to the most people over the widest space and through the greatest length of time. This end the Attic style, with its few metaphors, and those most world-wide, reaches better than any other : all it asks of those who would understand it is that human feeling and the play of human minds should in all places and at all times abide the same. It has a salt that always keeps it sweet. Yet it never becomes dull or plain because its matter never fails to interest. But the very apostle of sweetness and light does not always come off scot free. In his essay on the literary influence of academies from which I have just quoted, he mentions Addison, and allows him greatness of style, but sets him down as failing owing to poverty of ideas, and as usual contrasts him with the French. This is the passage whose style he commends :— " Those who delight in reading books of controversy do seldom arrive at a fixed and settled habit of faith. The doubt which was laid revives again and shews itself in new difficulties, and that generally for this reason, because the mind, which is perpetually tossed in controversies and disputes, is apt to forget the reasons which had once set it at rest and to be disquieted with any former perplexity when it appears in a new shape or is started by a different hand." Nor can I forbear to quote the reasons which led Herbert Spencer to form quite a different estimate of it:— "How shall we interpret into thought the words ' arrive at a habit'? A habit is produced, but arrival implies not production of a thing but coming up to a thing that pre-exists, as at the end of a journey. What, again, shall we say of the phrase ' a fixed and settled habit "I Habit is a course of action characterised by constancy as distinguished from courses of action that are inconstant. If the word 'settled' were unobjectionable, we might define ' habit' as a settled course of action ; obviously the word habit itself conveys the whole notion; and if there needs a word to indicate degree, it should be a word suggesting force, not suggesting rest. The readeris to be impressed with the strength of a tendency in something active, not with the firmness of something passive as by the words ' fixed' and ' settled.' . . . Passing to the next sentence, we are arrested by a conspicuous fault in its first clause, ' The doubt which was laid revives again.' To revive is to live again : so that the literal meaning of the clause is ' The doubt
325
which was laid lives again again.' In the following line there is nothing objectionable ; but at the end of it we come to another pleonasm. . . . One more fault remains. The mind is said ' to be disquieted with any former perplexity when it appears in any new shape or is started by a different hand.' This portion of the sentence is doubly defective. The two metaphors are incongruous. Appearing in a shape, as a ghost might be supposed to do, conveys one kind of idea, and started by a hand, as a horse or hound might be, conveys a conflicting kind of idea. This defect, however, is less serious than the other, namely, the unfitness of the second metaphor for giving a concrete form to the abstract idea. How is it possible to start a perplexity. Perplexity by derivation, and as commonly used, involves the thought of entanglement and arrest of motion, while to start a thing is to set it in motion. So that whereas the mind is to be represented as enmeshed and thus impeded in its movements, the metaphor used to describe its state is one suggesting the freedom and rapid motion of that which enmeshes it."—Study of Sociology, ch. ix. notes. H. M. C.
of 4Hobent (Ericket. |HE burden of Tall Scoring : — Who can say Whore it shall end ? For no man setteth store By " centuries," taught of long time to play The dread deliveries of Alfred Shaw. The game goes on, and no one cares a straw, Until at last the very batsmen tire, Till conies at length the inevitable "Draw" — This is the end of every man's desire ! The Burden of Slow Bowling : — Not a ray of hope On pitches like a polished floor, At wickets where the new-born babe may stay Till some kind umpire gives it " Leg Before " : When Spofforth e'en forgets his demon lore, When Emmett loses half his wonted fire ; When Mycroft, Grassland, Hill are tried no more — This is the end of every man's desire ! The Burden of Long Fielding :•— All the day To stand and watch the ever-mounting score, Disheartened, hopeless, striving still to pray To Zeus, that all the sultry heav'n may pour : Patiently waiting till the heart be sore Some symptom of the never-coming ' skyer ': Gazing upon the everlasting Four—This is the end of every man's desire !
THE VIGORNIAN.
326 ENVOY.
Princes and potentates of " Lord's " restore The days of old ! Grant that we may aspire To play the game our fathers played of yore— Be this the end of every man's desire ! C.D.L. [I ought to explain that this was written (about six years ago) before the publication of Andrew Lang's " Ehymes a la mode," which, by a curious coincidence, contains a poem on the same subject, in the same metre, and parodying the same original " Ballade of Burdens."]
School fusing Club $accs. SHE annual races were rowed on Saturday, April llth, on rather rough water and in a difficult cross wind, which made the coxswain's job by no means a sinecure in the longer course. The first and chief event was of course the race between the School IV. and the O.V.'s. The School IV. had been as carefully coached as a rather slack attendance at the river would allow, and in the race acquitted themselves very creditably against a fairly strong crew of O.V.'s stroked by W. H. Webb, stroke of the Hertford VIII. The O.V. crew was composed as follows:—Bow A. E. Davies, 2 G. Bennett, 3 C. E. Davies, str. "W. H. Webb, cox. W. A. Higgins; the School IV. being—Bow J. T. Chamberlain, 2 W. H. Hill, 3 E. Thomas, str. H. Button, cox. J. B. Purton. A hard and exciting race was won by about half a length, the School IV. coming up so fast and so well together that had the course been 100 yards longer they would undoubtedly have pulled the race off. Dutton is a capital stroke for his age, and rows long and hard. We should like to hear of him at the 'Varsity, where he would certainly be found in a College VIII. He was well backed up by his crew, and with a little more practice in a heavier tub they would have been a very fair junior crew. A second School IV. raced against a scratch O.V. IV., who gave them six lengths start, and had their kind concession returned to them on the post by a beating to the extent of the same amount of " daylight." A second (level) race resulted in a win for the youngsters by a quarter of a length. The following were the crews :— School IV.—Bow J. B. Purton, 2 F. C. Fuller, 3 G. Webb, str. J. Cook, cox. A. Dutton.
O.V. IV.—Bow G. Bennett, 2 H. A. Plum, 3 "W. A. Higgins, str. A. Davies, cox. L. Waugh.
The rest of the races are hardly to be commented on at this length of time from the regatta. We therefore annex a programme for our readers to criticise as they like, as of course they have already done :— II. PAIBS*. Third Heat. H. Dutton and J. Masfeii 1 J. Chamberlain and J. B. Purton 0 AVon by three lengths. III. PAIUS. Semi-Final. G. Clarke and J. Cooke 1 W. H. Hill and C. Puller 0 Won easily. JUNIOR IV. v. SCRATCH CHEW. Start six lengths. Juniors.—Bow J. B. Purton, 2 P. C. Fuller, 3 G. Webb, str. J. Cook, cox. A. Dutton 1 Scratch.- Bow G. Bennett, 2 H. A. Plum, 3 W. A. Higgins, str. A. Davies, cox. L. Waugh 0 Won by six lengths. Afterwards level race won by School by quarter of a length. V. BUTTON'S IV. v. HILL'S IV. Dutton's.—Bow J. B. Purton, 2 G. Webb, 3 F. Thomas, str. H. Dutton, cox. N. Davies 1 Hill's.—Bow F. Fuller, 2 J. Cook, 3 J. Chamberlain, str. W. H. Hill. cox. A. Dutton 0 VI. SCRATCH IV."s. Bow F. Fuller, 2 A. Davies, 3 C. K. Davies, str. G. Bennett 1 Bow H. Conacher, 2 W. H. Webb, 3 F. Thomas, str. W. V. Quilter 0 Bow J. P. Purton, 2 J. Masfen, 3 H. Dutton, str. L. Waugh 1 Bow A. A. Maund, 2 G. Webb, 3 E. D. Jordan, str. H. A. Plum 0 Final. Bennett's crew 1 Waugh's crew 0 VII. SCRATCH PAIES. Final. Dutton and Masfen , 1 Clarke and Cook ,..' 0
In conclusion, may we be allowed to point out the advisability of more energy and life being infused into the Boat Club. With such facilities as are afforded us for boating, the School ought to be well represented in the " eights " at Oxford and Cambridge, and might well send a four to compete in the Public School races on the Thames.
this article had been written a week earlier quite a different note would have been struck, though of course there has been no change in the character of our cricket in that short time. Perhaps nothing is really shown but the inadvisability of putting your trust in matches. However, for several years we have
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327
BAKRACKS. felt like the editors of a party journal on the morrow Sergt. Downey, b W. E. Holland 2 of a "moral victory." At present, of all our matches, Fletcher, b W. E. Holland 12 we have won three, lost three, tied one, and drawn Carroll, c Webb b Hill 8 two, a record more cheering than we usually have to Pitt, b W. E. Holland 8 Lieutenant Dillon, b Russell 5 shew. Quite early in the season we beat Norton for Walford, b Russell 18 the first time, and in the return match we were Priest, b Russell 3 successful beyond our hopes, winning by 55 runs. F. Carroll, b W. E. Holland 3 At the same time it is impossible to blink the fact that Pritchard, c Hill b W. E. Holland .. 1 Kinnard, not out 1 our batting has been very feeble. 50 runs has been Rogers, c H. Holland b W. E. Holland 0 the average aggregate, while only five double-figure Extras 3 scores have been made by individuals; of course we 64 are speaking of boys. Mr. Eussell never fails to make W.C.G.S. v. OLD VIGOBNIANS. runs, and we are very thankful to him for his services. But the School should be ashamed to let everything bo Played on School Ground, June llth. The credit done for it by the masters. It is the older members of the victory is due to the batting of Skilbeck and who have in most cases failed to come off; those who Laurie. OLD VJGORNIANS. have only won their caps this year have hit out much W. G. Bennett, b Chamberlain 2 more pluckily. Our bowling, on the other hand, has W. T. Newman, run out 5 been fairly good, considering that we have lost two R. Webb, hit wkt, b Chamberlain 10 W. Telfer, b Hill 0 of last year's bowlers, the best and the luckiest. NOT F. M. Webb, b Chamberlain 0 could much fault, except on two occasions, be found E. D. Jordan, not out 6 with the fielding. But it is to the batting that people R. Littlebury, c Laurie b Chamberlain .... 0 G. Higgiiis, b Hill 0 chiefly look, while they fail to see loss superficial G. Newman, b Hill 2 excellences. Again, while everyone is not born a bowler, P. Webb, b Hill 2 it is in the power of most people by painstaking to Morris (sub), b Chamberlain 1 Extras 2 become tolerable bats. Our juniors have a very good record : out of five matches they have won four and 30 only lost one. Some of them, if they stay, should W.C.G.S. H. Holland, b Newman 4 contribute to the making of a good team in years to J. Chamberlain, run out 5 come.
Appended are the scores of some of the matches :—• "VV.C.G.S. v. NORTON BARRACKS. Played on Norton Barracks ground, June 2nd. First time the soldiers were ever beaten by the School. W.C.G.S. \V. Hill, b Walford H. Clarke, b Pitt Rev. T. Russell, b Pitt Mr. E. Jordan, b Fletcher J. Chamberlain, c Carroll b Fletcher Rev. W. E. Holland, c and b Carroll H. W. Holland, run out E. W. Holland, b Fletcher F. Fuller, not out A. P. Holland, b Fletcher G. Webb, b Fletcher Extras
1 4 7 7 6 12 0 0 4 8 6 12 67
W. Hill, b Newman Rev. T. Russell, b Newman F. Fuller, b Newman G. Webb, b Bennett W. Holland, run out A. Skilbeck, c Bennett b R. AVebb A. P. Holland, c and b Bennett D. Laurie, not out , J. Purton, c M. Webb b Newman Extras
1 5 1 2 1 10 0 7 1 9
46
W.C.G.S. v. CLERICAL XL Played on School Ground, June 30th, and resulted in a tie ; the pleasantest afternoon we remember spending on the field. CLERICAL XI.—First Innings. Rev. F. A. Bickmore, c Chamberlain b Hill 13 Rev. J. G. Owen, run out 1 Rev. W. G. Melville, b Hill 3
Second Innings. b Russell 10 not out 8 c Chamberlain b Clarke 18
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328
Rev. R. H. Cuthbert, c Russell b Chamberlain 1 not out Rev. H. Clifford, c H. Bolland b Clarke 14 Rev. R. Relton, b Hill 4 Rev. W. E. Bolland, c A. Bolland b Clarke 9 Rev. J. Hough, absent 0 Rev. D. Evans, b Clarke 4 Rev. J. Waugh, absent 0 b Clarke . Extras. Extras 2
2
1 0 8 4
52 W.C.G.S v. DEAN CLOSE. Played at Cheltenham, July 4th.
A memorable
match that broke the spell of disaster.
57 Por 3 wkts W.C.G.S. Rev. T. Russell 1 b w, b Relton H. W. Bolland, b Bickmore W. H. Hill, b Cuthbert Mr. Jordan, run out J. Chamberlain, b Bolland H. Clarke, b Relton P. Fuller, b Bolland E. W. Bolland, not out G. Webb, b Owen D. Laurie, b Owen A. P. Bolland, c Clifford b Bickmore Extras
G. Webb, b Parton A. P. Bolland, c Wintle b Parton D. Laurie, not out , Extras
41
27 2 0 2 4 4 0 5 4 0 0 9
57 In the Second Innings the Old Vigornians scored 29 for four wickets. W.C.G.S. v. KING'S NORTON. Played on the ground of the latter club, June 27th. We hoped to prove our superiority, but an unfortunate catch, which let off Parton early in his innings, lost
DEAN CLOSE. Mr. Easterfield, c Jordan b W. E. Bolland.. 28 T. B. Davies, b W. E. Bolland 2 Mr. Green, c Russell b W. E. Bolland .... 23 S. W. Jose, b W. E. Bolland 19 Mr. Harvey, not out 21 G. Moore, not out 14 W. H. Hubbard.. J. Moore H. G. Lloyd .... J. H. Simpson .. W. H. Wintle .. Extras 5
112 W.C.G.S. Rev. T. Russell, not out A. W. Bolland, b Jose Mr. Jordan, b Simpson J. Chamberlain, c Easterfield b Simpson W. H. Hill, not out H. Clarke E. W. Bolland .. G. Webb F. Puller A. P. Bolland .. Extras
21 0 3 6 6
3
the match. 39
KING'S NORTON. A. Coachafer, run out G. Hands, b Chamberlain D. Preedy, b Hill W. Parton, b Hill M. Knowles, c Russell b Hill H. Wintle, c Hill b Chamberlain G. A. Bagshaw, c H. Bolland b Hill P. Moore, b Chamberlain W. Coachafer, b Hill H. Wareing, 1 b w, b Chamberlain D. Taylor, not out
1 3 3 42 1 5 2 6 0 1 0
W.C.G.S. Rev. T. Russell, b Moore H. W. Bolland, b Parton ,T. Chamberlain, b Parton W. Hill, c & b Moore H. Clarke, b Parton Mr. Jordan, b Moore F. Fuller, b Parton E. W. Bolland, c Knowles b Moore
10 3 1 4 13 6 1 1
W.C.G.S. v. NORTON BARRACKS. A second victory, more thorough than the previous; Mr. Bollaud's bowling was very successful. W.C.G.S. First Innings. Second Innings. W. T. Newman, b Walford. 1 b Monro 0 W. H. Hill, b Walford .... 3 cTibbettsbMonro 18 0 Rev. T. Russell, not out.... 39 not out J. Chamberlain, c Crawshaw b Monro 1 b Monro 0 Rev. W. E. Bolland; b Walford 2 cBradleybCarroll 1 H. \V. Bolland, b Walford . 1 b Carroll 1 H. Clarke, c Carroll b Craw20 21 b Monro shaw 5 G. Webb, b Bradley 0 not out E. W. Bolland, b Bradley .. 2 cWalfordbCarroll 1 3 F. Fuller, b Bradley 2 b Monro 4 A. P. Bolland, not out 2 b Monro Extras 1 Extras 15 89
For 9 wickets 54
THE VIGORNIAN. BARRACKS. Corporal Pitt, b Holland Dr. Carroll, b Bolland Sergeant Walford, c and b Bolland Captain Monro, c Hill b Newman Corporal Carroll, c H. Bolland b Newman.. Corporal Bradley, b Bolland Sergeant Crawshaw, b Bolland Private Tibbetts, run out Private Menee, not out Private Turner, b Newman Extras
0 0 6 9 4 0 2 6 6 1 1 35
Hthktic Sports. |HESE Sports were held as usual at the end of the Easter Term. The Committee decided that places in the mile and quarter-mile should count one point more than equal ones in other events, a step that met the approval of all but an interested few. It also seemed desirable to have only one day at Boughton. This threw a great deal into the principal day, and was no small strain on those who had entered for all the chief events; hut if it kept back some from competing indiscriminately in every one and by causing them to devote their attention to fewer, produced better results, there need be no regret for the change. Accordingly, some of the heats and the long and high jumps were decided on Wednesday, on our own field. Everything else, including the mile, was run on the Thursday. We may say that we never saw a sports day when one event followed another so quickly. Usually, instead of treading on the heels of its predecessors, each race lags in a very tiresome way. Certainly the spectators must have appreciated the reform if the competitors did not. The mile was a very fine race. Up to the beginning of the last lap Duttou and Quilter kept close together. Then by a spurt the former placed a bare foot between himself and his rival. So they ran nearly till the end, when Quilter by a great effort recovered the lost ground and made it a tie at the tape. Masfen's pace in the shorter races was a great surprise to most people. We heartily congratulate Button on winning the medal; it was never better deserved. The following were the officials :— Bev. W. E. Bolland, H. Clarke, Esq. Starter: T. H. Davies. Stewards: Rev. W. E. Bolland, H. Clarke, Esq., T. H. Davies, Esq., E. D. Jordan, Esq., J. H. Hooper, Esq.
329
Timekeeper: E. D. Jordan, Esq. Committee : C. T. Dimont, W. Bolland, H. Dutton, H. M. Conacher and V. Quilter. Treasurer: Rev. W. E. Bolland. Hon. Sees. : J. T. Chamberlain and H. Dutton. Wednesday, April 15, 1891. 100 YARDS (UNDER 15.) First Heat—1 Laurie ii., 2 Richings ii. Second Heat— 1 Goldring, 2 Spark. 100 YARDS (OPEN). First Heat—1 Masfen, 2 Chamberlain and Conacher. Second Heat—1 West (penalised two yards), 2 Dutton. 100 YARDS (UNDER 13.) First Heat—1 Richings ii., 2 Liddell. Second Heat— 1 Laurie ii., 2 Smith. THROWING THE CRICKET BALL. Prize, bat. Chamberlain. HIGH JUMP (OPEN). Prize, cruet. 1 Clarke ii., 2 Clarke i. LONG JUMP (UNDER 15.) Prize, knife, Cook. LONG JUMP (OPEN). Prize, bat. 1 Clarke i., 2 Dutton. HURDLE RACE. Prize, opera glasses. 1 Quilter, 2 Masfen. Thursday, April 16, 1891. 120 YARDS HANDICAP (OPEN). First Heat—1 West, 2 Masfen. Second Heat—1 Dutton, 2 Conacher. 100 YARDS (UNDER 15). 1st prize, raquet; 2nd, knife. 1 Goldring, 2 Webb. 100 YARDS (OPEN). 1st prize, boxing gloves ; 2nd, chain. 1 West, 2 Masfen. 100 YARDS (UNDER 13). Prize, clock. Laurie. 120 YARDS (OPEN). 1st prize, cup ; 2nd, field glasses; 3rd, knife. 1 West, 2 Masfen, 3 Dutton. HIGH JUMP (CINDER 15). Prize, raquet. Goldring. QUARTEB-MILE (OPEN). 1st prize, given by Mr. Binns; 2nd, cup. 1 West, 2 Masfen, 3 Conacher. QUARTER-MILE (UNDER 15). 1st prize, given by Mrs. Bolland ; 2nd, clock ; 3rd, knife (given by Mr. Plum). 1 Webb, 2 Spark, 3 Cook. HALF-MILE (OPEN). 1st prize (given by Masters); 2nd, cricket gloves ; 3rd, flask. 1 Dutton, 2 Quilter, 3 West. HALF-MILE (UNDER 15). 1st prize, biscuit tin; 2nd, pencil. 1 Webb, 2 Cook, 3 Goldring. OLD BOYS' RACE (120 YARDS). 1st prize dressing-case (given by Mr. Cooper) ; 2nd, flask. 1 Weldin, 2 Webb.
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330
1st prize (given by Head Master): 2nd, bag ; 3rd, pencil. 1 Button and Quilter, 3 Chamberlain. SACK RACE. Prize, magnifying glass. Powell. CONSOLATION RACE (220 YAEDS). 1st prize, collar-box ; 2nd, pencil ; 3rd, knife. 1 Liddell, 2 Smith, 3 CHAMPION GOLD MEDAL. Button.
Christmas Concert.
ONE MILE (OPEN).
ENTEETAINMEXT. In the evening an Entertainment was given in the College Hall, the proceeds to go towards buying a new Piano, of which the School stands in great need. The programme was as follows :— Song
" The Chesapeke and Shannon." John Farmer. School Singing Class.
Recit
" The Baron's last Banquet." Masfen.
Greene.
Song
" The Shades of evening close around." Mr. Fleet.
Clay.
Recit
"A Ballad of War." Quilter, Fuller i., Bolland ii.
Bute-Smedley.
Pianoforte Solo Dr. Wareing. Recit
" The Love Letter." Dimont.
, Dobson.
Song
" The Goodwin Sands." Mr. E. D. Jordan.
S. Adams.
Recit
" Selections from the Rivals." ...... Sheridan. Mr. H. TJrwick.
Song
" Gather ye Rosebuds." School Singing Class,
Wareing.
"OldTowler." School Singing Class.
Shield.
Recit
" Annie Prothero." Mr. W. H. Littlebury.
Gilbert.
Recit
" The Walrus and the Carpenter." Hill. "The Three Crows." Mr. L. Waugh.
Carroll.
Recit
( "Killed at the Ford." I "A bit of sly coortin'." Mr. H. TJrwick.
Longfellow. Barnes.
" Passing of Arthur." Conacher.
. Tennyson.
Reading Rev. Jerram Hunt. National Anthem.
" The Cuckoo." School Singing Class.
Pianoforte solo.." Allegro and Passacaille." H. M. Chaplin.
Sfacfarren. Handel.
Old Boys' part-song { « " wt^niAg't.wIlight'' } Hatton' Messrs. Price, Weaver, Stoyle, and Smith. Cavatina.." Adite! 0 rustic!" (from " L'Elisire d'amore.") Mr. J. J. W. Stoyle (O.V.) Donizetti. Chorus
" The Chesapeke and Shannon.".. John Farmer, School Singing Class.
Song
,. ...." My love's an arbutus." ,.C. V. Stanford. Mr. Albert Webb (O.V.)
Pianoforte solo.." L'luvitation pour la valse." Mr. H. J. Hargraves (O.V.)
Weber.
" Where Severn winds." . .A. J. Caldicott. School Singing Class.
Pianoforte solo ...." II moto continuo." Mr. II. Holloway.
Weber.
Part-song
,. " The Urchin's Dance." School Singing Class.
Hatton.
Violin solo
" Romance." Mr. W. H. Dyson (O.V.)
Svendoen.
Chorus
" The Fisher Boy's Song." School Singing Class.
M. Watson.
" The Fisher Boy's Song." ,...M. Watson.
Song
Song
Part-song
School song
DISTRIBUTION OF PHIZES BY MRS. GOTT. Song
Monday, December 22, 1890, the usual Christmas Concert was held in the College Hall. In spite of the severe weather there was a large attendance, including the Eev. Canon and Mrs. Creighton, and the Mayor and Mayoress of Worcester. The Concert, which was a very successful one, was conducted for the first time by Dr. W. H. Wareing, the Rev. E. V. Hall having left us to become Vicar of Bromsgrove. The part-songs by the School Singing Class were well rendered, and showed evidence of the careful training bestowed on them. The vocal soloists were Mr. Albert "Webb and the late Mr. J. J. W. Stoyle (whose lamented death we record elsewhere), both of them receiving encores. The pianoforte solos of Mr. H. J. Hargraves and Mr. H. Holloway were also encored. Appended is the programme :—
Song
" Like a well spring." Franz Abt. Mr. Albert Webb. Pianoforte duet " Valse." Moskowski. Messrs. H. Holloway and H. J. Hargraves (O.VV.) Cavatina.." Now your days of philand'ring are over." (from " Le Nozze di Figaro.")..., W. A. Mozart. Mr. J. J. W. Stoyle (O.V.) Old Boys' part-song .." The letter." Hatton. Messrs. Price, Weaver, Smith, and Stoyle. " God save the Queen,"
The duties of accompanists were ably carried out by Mrs. Albert Webb, Messrs. Wareing, Holloway, and West.
THE VIGORNIAN. School (Dfffccvs. Captain of the School Captain of Cricket ... Captain of the Boats... Librarian ... Sub-Librarian ,-,,., „ _., -,,. . Editors of The Vigorman
School
C. T. DIMONT. H. W. BOLLAND. H. BUTTON. C. T. DIMONT. H. M. CONACHER.
f ... j
C. T. DIMONT. H. M. CONACHER.
fUtos.
OXFORD O.V.'s. W. H. Webb (Hertford Coll.) and C. E. Davies, of the same College, have taken a Second and Third Class respectively in Classical Honour Mods. Webb has been rowing stroke in his College boat. W. S. H. Littlebury (S. Stephen's House) was placed in the Second Class in the Final Theology Schools. M. S. Baylis (Lincoln Coll.) has passed Classical Mods. CAMBRIDGE O.V.'s. W. H. Counsell (Cavendish Coll.) took a Third Class in the History Tripos. A. Higgins (Downing Coll.) was placed at the head of the Second Class in the Law Tripos, Part II. H. W. Knott (Downing Coll., also of the Middle Temple) was placed in the Third Class Law Tripos, Part II. He has also been awarded the First Equity Prize of 50 guineas. W. H. Hill has been elected to an Exhibition of £30 at Lincoln College, and C. T. Dimont to a Scholarship of £80 at Worcester College, Oxford. Mr. Franklin left us last term to take a post at Bucharest. His place has been taken by the Rev. T. Eussell, M.A., late Exhibitioner of Emmanuel College, Cambridge. On Monday, June 15, the Archdeacon of Zanzibar (Ven. P. L. Jones-Bateman) gave in the Schoolroom a most interesting account of the work of the Universities' Mission in Central Africa. In the course of his
address he told us that he was glad to be able to let us have a very favourable report of Petro Musa, the protege of the School, who is now at Zanzibar, and hopes eventually to take Holy Orders. The School lost an Old Boy and kind friend by the death of Mr. J. J. W. Stoyle, which took place on Sexagesima Sunday. The Head Master, Mr. Jordan, and several members of the School attended his funeral as a mark of respect for one who had always willingly given his assistance at our concerts and entertainments, and whose genial manner had made him liked by everyone. The Editors beg to tender their thanks for the following contemporaries : — Portcullis, Felstedian, Sheffield Grammar School Magazine, Leodiensian, Oldliallian, Raven, Cantuarian, Trinity College (Stratford-on-Avon) Magazine, Coventry School Magazine, Denstonian, Oswestrian, Tonbridgian.
OThcss. Solutions of Problems in last number:— Problem 24. 1 Q to Q 7. Problem 25. 1 Q to Q B 8. If Black plays Q takes Q, then P takes Q, becoming Knight (mate). There are also other variations. Problem 26. Composed for the " Vigornian " by W. E. B. BLACK.
WHITE. White to play and mate in 2 moves.
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