Latin poetry he liked; he was asked to construe and say by heart the first two lines. He was then asked, “Can you sing?" to which the answer was, "All people that on earth do dwell." The whole thing took perhaps half an hour; then the electors. nominated. This was abolished in 1854.'

After the failure at Winchester, Mr. Durnford was advised, apparently by Dr. Pett, to send up his son for a King's Scholarship at Eton, where at election (1814) he was successful. There was no honour attaching to this, for King's Scholarships were in low repute and the competition was far from keen, the number of scholars falling frequently below the 70 prescribed by the statutes. This state of things was not remedied till the succession of Provost Hodgson, who at once applied himself to the improvement of the position of the collegers, and a correction of the various abuses which had existed under Dr. Goodall, his predecessor.

Durnford became the pupil of the Rev. Charles Yonge, of whom he always spoke with regard and attachment. His tutor was unquestionably a good scholar, and besides being an accurate teacher of Latin and Greek-at that time the principal staple of an Eton education-he appears to have had the power of creating in his pupils an interest in other subjects and extending their ambitions beyond the narrow limits recognised by the traditions of the school and the practice of the authorities. The house in which he lived is that now occupied by H. Broadbent, Esq., the upper

story, however, being an addition of recent years. Durnford was placed in the Remove. Among his contemporaries were Wood, afterwards the first Lord Halifax; Winthrop Mackworth Praed, poet and M.P.; Hon. S. Best, afterwards the rector of Abbotts Ann, Andover, one of the pioneers of elementary education and a life-long friend; W. J. Trower, afterwards Bishop of Gibraltar; W. G. Cookesley, for many years assistant master at Eton and editor of Pindar; W. H. Tucker, from 1845 to 1892 Rector of Dunton Waylett, Essex (a King's College living); Wellesley ma., afterwards the first Earl Cowley, ambassador at Paris; Richard Hurrell Froude, brother of the historian; Stanley, afterwards the first Lord Stanley of Alderley, and Wilson mi., afterwards John Wilson-Patten, M.P. for North Lancashire, created Lord Winmarleigh, between whom and the Bishop the friendship originating at Eton and continued at Magdalen remained unimpaired up to the death of the former in 1892.

7

Of these the Rev. W. H. Tucker alone survives. It is astonishing that in 1892 he should have produced a work on Eton full of interesting recollections, and containing probably the best analysis of Keate and his system that has ever appeared.

Not many particulars respecting Durnford's early life at Eton can be supplied. The description of the school experiences of the young Rashleighs in 'The Rashleigh Letter Bag' (No. 8 of the 'Etonian') may

"Eton of Old, or Eighty Years Since, 1892. By an Old Colleger.

N.B.-The incognito is believed to be no longer preserved.

be taken to be to some extent an autobiography. Being a strong and healthy boy, he probably suffered less than others from the hardships of College, the insufficient and badly served food provided for the juniors in hall, and the system of fagging, which in those days extended to cricket. He had a vivid recollection of keeping watch on cold winter evenings to signal the approach of Dr. Keate, when he paid his daily evening visit to college. Among the senior boys was Richard Okes, afterwards lower master of Eton and Provost of King's College, Cambridge, whose kindness was gratefully remembered. He gave the boy the benefit of his criticisms and of that taste in scholarship for which he was so conspicuous; and in this intercourse he appears to have been impressed by the promise of his junior. In a letter to the Bishop of quite recent date he recalled a line with which at the time he seems to have been particularly struck, contained in a copy of verses on the Garden of Eden:

Et fera legitimum quæque fatetur herum.

up

for

Often,' said he, has this line rung in my ears.' In due course Richard Durnford was sent good,' and the welcome intelligence was communicated to his parents in a letter sealed with the coin which at that time was part of the reward. The honour was frequently repeated; and he became distinguished for a facility in original Latin verse equal to anything achieved by his contemporaries. Many of these exercises still survive, and are the admiration of all. Two specimens are included in the 'Musæ

Etonenses,' edited by Dr. Okes (1869), the subjects being, οὔρεσιν οἰκήσαι, and

Semperque recentes

Convectare juvat prædas, et vivere rapto.

both in Latin Hexameters.

He was not particularly distinguished in athletic exercises, but seems to have devoted himself to football in the winter and boating and swimming in the summer, and also to have indulged to some extent in his favourite occupation of fishing. He remembered the sudden termination of a game of football caused by the news of the death of the Princess Charlotte on November 6, 1817. He never cared much for cricket, though he understood the points of the game and always enjoyed the spectacle of a good match. Possibly the apprenticeship of cricket fagging gave him a dislike for its scientific pursuit, and his taste for desultory and miscellaneous reading disinclined him for that vigorous application and constant practice which is the only road to excellence in the game. At that time it was quite possible for a boy of his temperament after reaching a certain position in the school to take his own line and to amuse himself as he thought best without interference from his contemporaries.

He seems at an early date to have secured the good opinion of Dr. Keate, and when he came under the personal notice of that distinguished scholar his ability and promise were at once recognised. This partiality is illustrated by the following anecdote

which appears in Tucker's 'Eton of Old' referred to above.

'Keate, like most persons in authority, had his favourites. To his credit, they were mostly-not to say always-clever fellows. A clever fellow under him always stood a good chance of blossoming into a favourite. Amongst them was Dornton (name fictitious).

'He was fairly up in the Fifth without ever having come under the rod. Why should he? It was of course known in College; and after a time began to be talked of at night in bedstead assemblies among certain of his contemporaries of the envious sort.

'At the head of these was a youthful orator, Bond, who had often been under the forks himself-generally known by the name of "Guinea Bond," whether from a lucus non I will not venture to intimate. I am not in knowledge of how many séances took place in the discussion of remedial plans; but one at length was matured. Nor do I know by what arts Dornton was inveigled by Bond to accompany him, between dinner and chapel if I remember aright, to Sheepsbridge on a quest for eels; lines prepared if not set before.

'Now, there was at that time, as there is at this, the bubbling, rippling drip of a waterfall, fed by Queen's Spring and Chalvey. Below it were some planks, and in the hollow below them a strong suspicion of eels.

'It is dangerous to look into motives; but it may safely be said that Dornton went in for eels and Bond for time, And the end proved it.

'Whether Bond's talk cheated the time, or whether