ARTICLE VI.-THE RECENT TROUBLES AT ETON
COLLEGE.

THE Controversy which has lately broken out at Eton, and which has ended in the dismissal, by Dr. Hornby, the head master, of Mr. Oscar Browning, an assistant master of fifteen years standing, has a more than local interest.

It brings into strong relief some peculiar features which characterize the school; it shows us the efforts which are being made for progress and improvement, and the obstacles to their success; and, by the correspondence and comments which it has called forth, it furnishes an interesting picture of English public feeling respecting the education of boys.

Our distance from the scene of controversy, so far from being a disadvantage, may aid us in detecting the causes of the difficulty, and in estimating its real significance. At the outset, however, it seems necessary to recall in a few words the characteristic features of Eton school.

Eton is the largest, the richest, and the most conservative of the great English public schools, It numbers from eight hundred to nine hundred scholars, of whom seventy, the "Founda tioners," who are required to be pauperes et indigentes, receive their support from the funds of the school; while the remainder, the "Oppidans" or filii nobilium, pay for instruction and board, dues which do not fall far short of £200 per annum.

Zeal for athletic sports, which have an important and recognized place, so that a valuable member of the " school eleven" or of the "eight-oar" may expect exemption from the consequences of neglected school work or even from the penalties of serious misdemeanor; the traditions of the school, which favor truthfulness and manliness; and the relation of the Tutor to the boys of his House, are the three most important formative influences of Eton life.

The classical masters, in number somewhat less than twenty, have the privilege of keeping, on their own account, Boarding Houses for the boys of the upper school. They receive these houses free of rent, and derive from them a large part of their

income. The number of pupils allotted to each house, has, until lately, not been definitely fixed, or rather the regulation prescribing the number has been systematically disregarded (as has been the case with other regulations at Eton), but in 1871 the rule was reaffirmed, that forty paying boarders and no more should be allowed, at one time, to each classical master.

Parents select for their sons, on their entrance to the school, that house which seems to them the preferable one; and the pupils ordinarily remain in the same house from the commencement to the close of their school-days. There will be, it is obvious, in every house, boys of all ages and of every class in the school.

The head of the house is Tutor to the boys who dwell there. He construes with them their lessons, corrects their classical exercises and verses, and bestows a considerable part of his time, in the form of what is called "private business," in directing and aiding the older boys in their private classical reading.

The head of each house is, however, also a master in the school, and has under his charge a Division of manageable size (a part of one of the great Forms,) which he instructs in most of its studies. In this division, the master meets, it will be seen, but few of his own boys, and such a system, which makes the school work very easy (the more so because the requirements of the course have hitherto been extremely light) might be satirically described as a plan under which one master prepares the lessons for examination by another master, the lessons to be recited however by a boy as a mouth-piece. Yet it is easy to see that, although the idle and aimless may take advantage of this system to work scarcely at all, the nobler natures, if they fall to the care of a wise Tutor, will find in his intimate acquaintance and friendship, in his culture and scholarship, the most potent stimulus and aid.

Mr. Browning's House has been, for many years, the most popular one at Eton. Applications for admittance there have been constantly in advance of his ability to fill them, and he has been allowed by the Governing Body of the school to have a larger number of boarders than the regulation permitted. Thus, early in the present year, he had forty-two boarders and six pupils out of his House (the last Foundationers, and as such nonpaying pupils.) The subject was taken into consideration by

the Governing Body of the school, last summer, and it was decided that, for that session, he should have forty boarders and three Foundationers; but that, in the future, he should strictly limit himself to the prescribed number, unless the permission to have more should be renewed.

In consequence of this regulation, Mr. Browning so ordered his House that, at the beginning of the last term, in September, his roll showed thirty-seven boarders and three Foundationers, and fulfilled the letter of the requirement.

The pressure of parents desirous for the admission of their sons, and his own wish to increase his income, led him to seek to secure the transfer of two of the three Foundationers to another House, and on his return to Eton, at the close of the holidays, he called upon Dr. Hornby, and made this request.

He received no encouragement that it would be granted, but, on the contrary, as he proceeded to explain how he had been able by transferring one of his boarders to another master, to make room for the son of a friend (Mr. Knatchbull-Hugesson), and to disclaim any intention, in having done so, to act independently of Dr. Hornby, the latter broke out upon him with violent language, of which the following is a sample.

"You are the greatest shuffler I have ever met; you shuffle in every thing you do; why don't you read (study) Madvig's Grammar? You lecture to ladies; you examine here and there; you give musical parties Saturday-evenings: why don't you stick to your work? No one ever treated me in a straight-forward manner who did not find me straight-forward."

Mr. Browning interrupted that he had always been straightforward, when the Head-Master continued: "Why, you told me a lie two years ago; I wish I had dismissed you then !"

On the following day, Dr. Hornby wrote to Mr. Browning, notifying him that his Mastership would terminate with the close of the current term.

Mr. Browning now appeals to the Governing Body, enclosing the correspondence which had passed between himself and Dr. Hornby, completely disproving the single charge of untruthfulness which the latter had made against him; denying (on legal advice) Dr. Hornby's right to dismiss him, on the ground that the statute under which the former acted was passed subsequently to his (Browning's) appointment, and closing with

two requests, namely: that the Governing Body sustain his position by reinstating him; or, if they are not prepared to deny to Dr. Hornby the legal right of dismissal, that they interfere, on the ground that, the ultimate power resting with them, they are morally bound to see that Dr. Hornby does not exercise his authority oppressively.

The Governing Body, in feeling apparently not unfriendly to Mr. Browning, reply to his appeal, that they have met and have decided that they are not competent to interfere in Dr. Hornby's act of dismissal, but have ordered him (Dr. H.) to appear before them at a subsequent meeting. The result of this meeting is not reported.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the expressions of public opinion which the affair has called forth, is the correspondence of Mr. Knatchbull-Hugesson, M. P., with Dr. Hornby. Mr. Hugesson is, if we may judge from the internal evidence furnished by his letters, an Etonian, and his attachment and affectionate concern for the school, and his regard for Dr. Hornby, are as apparent, throughout the correspondence, as his solicitude for his own son (the pupil, whose admission by transfer to Browning's house, seems to have provoked from Dr. Hornby the charge of shuffling), and his interest and confidence in Mr. Browning.

The drift of his long and earnest letters, written in the midst of pressing occupations, is to urge Dr. Hornby to put into definite form the vague charges of negligence and lack of morals which he makes against Browning. He suggests arbitration, cautions Dr. Hornby against the danger of seeing all Browning's acts through the medium of an unfriendly estimate of his character; reminds him of the injury to Eton which the thorough investigation of the school-which will be the certain result of the quarrel—will be likely to cause; proposes to come himself to Eton, go straight to Dr. Hornby, hear his version of the case, and seek by conversation to allay his excited feeling.

Dr. Hornby's answers are all to one purport. He declines to specify charges, and in a way which savors of the despotic pedant, stiffly refuses to listen to suggestions.

There follows this correspondence a request, through Mr. Ainger, one of the Assistant Masters, also addressed to Dr. Hornby, that he would so exonerate Mr. Browning from impu

tations against his moral character that, failing in other attempts to right himself, he might, at least, secure the pension to which service in the school and his success there Dr. Hornby's answer is as follows:

the length of his would entitle him.

"I am sorry for Browning, but I could not possibly say that I do not think ill of his character.

I have not charged him with immorality in the ordinary sense of that word.

His own admissions have proved evidence enough against him as regards want of truthfulness, and this though his statement omits and distorts things in his favor as far as possible. Public opinion is clearly dead against him already. What would it be if the whole truth were known?

A pension is utterly out of the question.

I do not want to press hard upon a man in trouble, but I cannot help Browning in the way you suggest.

The more I say, I am afraid, the worse his case would be. I have said as little as I could help saying, and nothing of any doubtful kind of which I had not full proof."

Mr. Browning, making the intimations at the close of this letter his occasion, writes to Dr. Hornby proposing to call that day with Mr. Ainger, to learn what these intimations mean. Dr. Hornby declines to receive him.

Mr. Browning then makes a last effort, and passionately appeals to Dr. Hornby to specify the charges against him. His appeal is denied.

Mr. Browning has published a collection of letters received since the notice of his dismissal, from colleagues at Eton, and from distinguished teachers in different parts of England. His object is to show what have been his aims, and his success, in teaching; and, to prove that the insinuations against his thoroughness and truthfulness can have no foundation. The testimony of his colleagues not only shows their esteem for him— forty-six out of forty-eight signed a petition to the Head Master against his removal,—but it establishes that, whether judged by their performance of school tasks, or, by the subsequent success of his pupils at the University, his House was the best at Eton.

At the close of this collection there are several letters from