Dr. Samuel Parr, whose scholarship was the pride of Harrow School, was the son of a tradesman in the town, and was entered on the foundation in 1752. While a boy at the school he fought with Lord Mountstuart. He made such rapid progress with his learning that at the age of fourteen he was at the head of the school. Dr. Parr was a great scholar, but little more. The two dreams of his life were a four-in-hand, attained late in years, and a bishopric. In 1792 he published a "Letter from Irenopolis to the Inhabitants of Eleutheropolis" upon the Priestley controversy. As a schoolmaster, he belonged to the order of the " Flagellants," only his flogging was vicarious; he flogged others, not himself. As a critic, his want of acumen was shown by his signing a confession of faith as a guarantor of the Ireland Shakespeare forgeries. Dr. Parr died in 1825.

The gallant Admiral Lord Rodney, the hero of the 12th of April, 1782, was at school here before he went to sea.

In the present century Harrow can boast that four Prime Ministers of England, all living at the same time, had been its alumni-Lord Ripon, Lord Aberdeen, Sir R. Peel, and Lord Palmerston.

Richard Brinsley Sheri

with the publication of that witty Tory organ, John Bull.

Sir Robert Peel, Bart., the Conservative statesman, who conceded the Repeal of the Corn Laws, and was instrumental in bringing about the Catholic Emancipation, was a contemporary of Byron at Harrow. The story is told that one day when Peel was being severely thrashed, another little boy ran up to his tormentor, and coolly asked him how many blows he was going to give him. "What's that to you, you little rascal?" was the reply; "be off." "Because," answered the little fellow, "I would take half myself." That brave and generous little boy was Lord Byron. Peel was first elected to Parliament in 1809. In 1817 he was chosen representative of Oxford University, and in 1829 he was elected for Tamworth. Sir Robert Peel was successively Under Secretary for the Colonies, Chief Secretary for Ireland, Home Secretary, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and twice First Lord of the Treasury. He was accidentally killed by a fall from his horse in 1850. Lord Byron was entered at Harrow, under Dr. Drury, in 1801, and left in 1805. "During his stay there," as we learn from the 'Harrow Calendar,' "he showed

Theodore Hook, the eminent dramatist and novelist, whose feats of practical joking have often been mentioned in these pages, displayed his characteristic love for that particular species of wit in the early days of his schoolboy life. "The first night of his arrival here was signalised by a feat of throwing a stone at a window where an elderly lady was undressing. The window was broken, but the lady escaped unhurt. The act was perpetrated at the instigation of Byron." Hook's powers as an improvisatore gained for him a passport into "society." He was patronised by the Prince Regent, and in 1812 was appointed to a Government post in the Mauritius, but was recalled in 1818 in consequence of deficiencies and irregularities in his accounts. He afterwards devoted himself to journalism and literature, and his name will be long remembered in connection

* See "Old and New London," Vol. IV., p. 311.

unhappily distinguished him in after-life. He himself says that he was 'a most unpopular boy, but led lately.' He was particularly distinguished for the opposition he made to Dr. Butler's appointment after the retirement of Dr. Drury, to whom he had been singularly attached. A reconciliation, however, took place between him and the Doctor before his departure for Greece. He says in his Diary, 'I have retained many of my school friendships and all my dislikesexcept to Dr. Butler, whom I treated rebelliously, and have been sorry ever since.'" The poems in which Byron refers to Harrow are the following:"On a Change of Masters at a Great Public School," "To the Duke of Dorset," "On a Distant View of the Village and School of Harrow," "Lines to Edward Noel Long, Esq." (whom the poet elsewhere addresses as "Cleon"), "Lines written beneath an Elm in Harrow Churchyard," "Lines on Revisiting Harrow." Among his principal friends here were Curzon, Hunter, Long, and

Tattersall, whom he addresses as "Davus" in his "Hours of Idleness," and who is said to have saved the poet's life by arresting a blow made at him by a farmer, in a feud on the subject of the cricket-ground.

The Right Hon. Spencer Perceval, born in 1762, entered Parliament in 1801 as member for Northampton, and was successively Attorney-General, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and, subsequently, in 1809, First Lord of the Treasury. He was shot by Bellingham in the lobby of the House of Commons in 1812.

Lord Elgin, the ambassador, and the celebrated collector of the Elgin marbles; the third Earl Spencer, better known as the Lord Althorp of the Reform Bill era; Lord Cottenham, some time Lord

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Chancellor; Lord Moira, afterwards Marquis of Hastings and Governor-General of India; Lord Clare, Governor of Bombay in 1832, addressed as "Lycus" in Byron's "Hours of Idleness; " Earl de la Warr, some time Lord Chamberlain, addressed as "Euryalus" in the same poem; the Marquis Wellesley (before he was sent to Eton); Lords Dalhousie and Herbert; Sir Henry L. Bulwer; the Earl of Shaftesbury; Mr. A. Beresford-Hope; Sir John B. Karslake; the late Viscount Strangford; Bishop Charles Wordsworth; Mr. Herman Merivale; Cardinal Manning; Archbishop Trench; Mr. William Spottiswoode, F.R.S.; the first Lord Rendlesham, author of the famous Thellusson will, which gave so much business to the lawyers; Dr. Douglas, master of Benett (Corpus Christi) College, Cambridge; and the poet Sotheby.

NOTWITHSTANDING the gradual extension of London, and the speed with which most of the outlying villages and hamlets are being connected one with another in all directions, there are still left a few fields and hedgerows to which the cockney holidaymakers can betake themselves. Here, in the neighbourhood of Harrow and Kingsbury, the fields are still green, the hedgerows fresh, the forest trees put on their summer garb as of yore, and even the smaller streams, which here and there expand into broad lakes and ponds, are not yet forced to burrow underground. It has been observed that the inhabitants of our mighty metropolis are marvellously neglectful of their privileges. With the exception, perhaps, of Vienna, there is no capital in Europe with scenery so beautiful, and so easily accessible. Yet we see innumerable Londoners, even of intelligence and refinement, going on flying trips across the Channel in the briefest holiday-time, or gathering into some overcrowded watering-place, where the charges are outrageous and the accommodation is indifferent. It is certain, however, that if they did otherwise we should have no such sequestered and peaceful scenery anywhere within the borders of

the metropolitan counties as is to be met with in the "green lanes" hereabout.

As we have shown in the preceding chapters, Harrow Hill rises abrupt and isolated. Seen from this the elevating country for miles around has the appearance of an almost level plain. This surrounding land is mostly under cultivation either for corn or grass; indeed, the land between Harrow and Heston, which lies away some six miles to the south, still bears an excellent reputation for its corn, as it did in the time of "good Queen Bess."

In the immediate neighbourhood of Harrow, nestling, as it were, under the sheltering wing of the hill, lie several suburban ecclesiastical districts, some of them at one time being reckoned as hamlets of the mother parish. Between the town and the railway-station, at the foot of the hill to the north, is Greenhill, a small cluster of villas and houses of modern growth. A church for the district, dedicated to St John the Baptist, was built in 1866. It is a cruciform, brick-built edifice, small and unpretending.

Sec ante P. 44

saries, of life; and, among other instances of penuriousness, it is recorded that after a faithful service of seventeen years he called in the aid of a German tailor for the purpose of attempting to turn his coat!

Daniel Dancer, who was born in 1716, was descended from a respectable ycoman's family in the county of Hertford, and his grandfather appears to have been settled at Bushey, near Watford, where he followed the occupations of mealman and maltster. His father, who resided at Stone Causeway, on Harrow Weald Common, possessed considerable property in land, which he farmed himself; he had four children, and on his death, in 1736, his eldest son, Daniel, succeeded to the estate.

It was in the paternal mansion at Astmiss, at Causeway-gate, that Daniel was doomed by the fates to spend the whole of his life, which seems to have been one uninterrupted dreary blank. His wretched habitation was surrounded by about eighty acres of his own rich meadow land, with some of the finest oak timber in the kingdom upon it; and he possessed an adjoining farm, called Waldos, the whole of the annual value of about £250 per annum, if properly cultivated. But cultivation was expensive, and so Daniel permitted grass only to grow there; indeed, in so neglected a state was the place for many years, that the house was entirely surrounded by trees, the fields were choked with underwood, and the hedges of such an amazing height as wholly to exclude the prospect of mankind, and create a dreary gloom all around. A tree had actually pushed its top through the roof of his house, which he entered by means of a ladder, dragged in after him; for he had fastened the rotten door on the inside, for fear of burglars, and determined never to enter the house again through that aperture. Dancer appears to have led the life of a hermit during more than half a century, and to have been as much unacquainted with, and unknown to, the world, although residing within ten or eleven miles of the capital, as if he had been the inhabitant of a desert. His only dealing with mankind arose from the sale of his hay; and he was seldom accosted by anybody, except when he wandered about the common to pick up a stray lock of wool, collect the dung of sheep under the hedges, or trudged along the road in search of paper, old iron, or cast horse-shoes.

His wealth thus brought him no happiness, but, on the contrary, it seemed to carry a curse along with it to its wretched possessor, for he is reported to have been robbed frequently to a large amount. In order the more effectually to secure his wealth and riches, he actually dug a hole, or what military men term a

trou de loup, before the entrance, which he covered over with loose straw, in such a manner as to secure the principal approach towards his castle, and entrap any incautious assailant who might have the temerity to invade his darling property. After exhibiting this specimen of his talents as an engineer, the modern Midas seems to have slept in safety amidst his gold.

His sister, who lived along with him for many years, at length died, and left a considerable sum of money behind her, which went towards the increase of his wealth, and served rather to stimulate than diminish his avarice. About this time he commenced an acquaintance with the Tempest family, which, while it soothed his pride, alleviated the sufferings and sorrows of his declining age. The following particulars concerning the death and burial of Miss Dancer are gleaned from a biographical sketch of the miser published shortly after his death :

"Lady Tempest, who happened to live in his neighbourhood, compassionating the situation of Miss Dancer, took her into her house during her last illness, and treated her with uncommon kindness. But the disease, which, dreadful to relate, is supposed to have proceeded originally from inanition, proved mortal, and rendered all the good old lady's care ineffectual.

Although Daniel never evinced any affection for his sister, he determined to bury her in such a manner as should not disgrace the family. He accordingly contracted with an undertaker, who agreed to take timber in return for a coffin, as Mr. Dancer had no idea of using the precious metals as a vehicle of exchange; he, however, could not be prevailed upon to purchase proper mourning for himself; yet, in consequence of the entreaty of his neighbours, he unbound the haybands with which his legs were usually covered, and drew on a second-hand pair of black worsted stockings. His coat was of a whitish-brown colour; his waistcoat had been black about the middle of the last century, and the immediate covering to his head, which seemed to have been taken from Mr. Elwes' wiggery, and to have descended to Daniel as an heirloom, gave a grotesque appearance to the person of a chief mourner but too well calculated to provoke mirth. This, indeed, was increased by the slipping of his horse's girth at the place of burial, in consequence of which the rider-to the great diversion of some of the Harrow boys who attended-was precipitated into the grave!"

The old miser at length died, in September, 1794, at the age of 78, and was buried in Harrow churchyard,