School-life at Winchester College

by Robert Blachford Mansfield

Evening Chapel took place at nine, immediately after which the Inferiors had to go to bed; the Præfects were allowed to sit up till ten. How sweet was sleep in those days, and so sound, that on one occasion, when called in the morning, I found myself unable to move; on struggling to rise, I got the point of a stick in my eye, and gradually became aware that all the faggots in chamber had been piled on the bed during my slumber, without disturbing me in the least. On another occasion, (in which I was an active instead of a passive agent,) we corded up a boy, mattress, bedclothes, and all, so tight that he could not stir, (during which operation he slept soundly,) and was finally cut out by the bedmaker after Chapel. Again; one night I was sitting up in bed reading, and was very much disturbed by the obdurate snoring of another boy at the end of the room. Being unable to make him desist, and wishing to go to sleep, I put out my candle by throwing it at him; it struck the wall above his head, upon which he gave a grunt and a start, ceased snoring, and we all went to sleep. The next morning when he woke, he found the wick of the candle lying like a worm on his pillow, the whole of the grease having soaked into his hair.

Almost all the Fag’s lessons were learnt in Chambers at Toy-time, or sitting up at night, as, during two-thirds of the time in school, they were repeating their lessons, and the Fagging during the rest of the day was continuous. There was a curious kind of understanding between the Masters and boys about sitting up at night. Two or three days a-week, one of the Masters used to make the round of the Chambers about eleven o’clock. As he passed each window, he could quite easily, and generally did, look in. In all probability he would see the Præfects at their washing-stools hard at work, and two-thirds of the other boys sitting up in bed reading, writing, or learning lines by heart,—the former with two, and the latter with one candle each. On opening the door with his Master-key, (which was not generally done with extreme rapidity,) what a different scene would present itself to his eyes,—a room dimly lighted by a rushlight, with eight or nine boys in bed, apparently fast asleep, and snoring particularly loud. At the first rattle of the key, the Præfects, having their beds previously turned down, extinguished the candles, shut up their books, and dashed into bed, boots, clothes, and all,—a proceeding that long practice had rendered quite easy. Those in bed, with a sweep of the arm, drew under the clothes candlestick, ink, paper, hooks, and all. Sometimes a Præfect was not quick enough, or a Junior had gone to sleep with his candle alight, in both of which cases the former got the punishment, the Inferior settling his part of the reckoning with the Præfect afterwards.

There was more sitting up at night in the summer half year than in the winter, as at that time Præfects were busy preparing for Election Chamber, and Inferiors for “Standing up,” (v.i.) At that time, we used not only to borrow from the night, but the morning also; and we had a method of calling ourselves which was rather ingenious. It was called “The Scheme,” and was arranged as follows:—The Functior was known to burn at a certain rate—say an inch an hour—if it was lighted at nine o’clock, and we wanted to rise at four, seven inches only were allowed to protrude above the socket, (the rest being cut off,) around which a quantity of paper was arranged, and a string tied, which was carried through a hole in the top of a Junior’s bed; to the end of this string a parcel of books, or a pint-cup of water, was fastened, (if the latter, it was called “a Water Scheme,” and another string connected the bottom of the cup with the canopy of the bed.) When the candle burnt down, it ignited the paper and burnt the string, causing the books (or water) to fall, which roused the subincumbent sleeper, who proceeded to wake the rest. One Scheme was sufficient to wake the whole school if required; for in every other Chamber that contained any boys who wished to rise early, a victim was selected whose toe was secured in a noose of string, the other end of which was tied to the window-bar; so that the original schemer, by walking round Quad and tugging at the different strings, could soon rouse them all. This led to a very amusing incident on a certain occasion. One of the Masters who had lately arrived (and who, not having been educated at Winchester, was not up to the ways of the place) was going round Chambers with a friend, an old Wykehamist, who had been dining with him. While Mr ⸺ went into Third, his friend remained outside. Suddenly catching sight of a string tied to a bar of the window, and knowing well what was at the other end, he took a steady pull at it just as the Master had got to the middle of Chamber; the consequence was, that the unfortunate fish at the other end, who, by the by, was a severe stammerer, dashed out of bed, and, with a shattered howl, plunged past the astonished Master with one foot in the air, till he brought his toe up to the window-sill.

This little scene brings to my mind the demoniacal diversion of “Toefitying.” Occasionally some wicked boy would arise in the night, and, gently removing the bedclothes from the feet of an unsuspecting sleeper, endeavour to noose one of his toes with string, when, if successful, the consequence would be similar to that above described.

TOEFITYING, AND THE SCHEME.

Before the end of my first half year, I became a difficult subject, though, as above mentioned, a hard sleeper; yet if anybody laid the gentlest finger on the bedclothes near my feet, to spring up, seize the nearest missile, and launch it at the intruder, was the work of an instant. An ingenuity, worthy of being devoted to better purposes, was displayed by Bolter in elaborating this foolish practical joke. He fixed a fishing-reel, with its line, to the leg of his washing-stool; and having passed the end of the line through a staple fastened to the post in the centre of the room, he then tied to it other lines equal in number to the boys in Chamber. Having secured each line to the toe of a boy, he then proceeded to wind up the reel briskly, the effect being that, in a twinkling, he had all the boys standing in a bouquet round the post with one leg extended. This little incident has been depicted by our artist in the plate entitled “Toefitying.”

On rare occasions, the boys used to get up at night and have supper. Once (this was before my time) a feast was going on, when, on an alarm being given that a Master was coming round, one of the boys seized a hot roasted duck and crammed it into the sleeve of his gown, just before the Master entered. There being a strong flavour of cooking, he inquired the cause; on which the boy suggested that the same perfume would probably be found in the adjoining Chamber, as the windows of both were near the Warden’s kitchen. “Come with me, and we will try,” said the Master. So they adjourned to the next Chamber, the boy taking good care to keep his sleeve, in which was the duck, in close proximity to his conductor, who, after sniffing about, found, to his surprise, that there really was a similar flavour there also, which clearly, in that case, could not have proceeded from any cooking in the room, as there was no fire; and so the original destiny of the duck was ultimately accomplished.

At the end of the half year, we used to have large entertainments, called “Spree Messes,” between Toy-time and Chapel, consisting of tea, coffee, muffins, cakes, &c., the funds for which were generally provided by fines inflicted during Toy-time for talking loud, slamming the door, coming in without whistling, (to show that it was not a Master entering,) improper language, &c. &c. Sometimes a Spree Mess was given by the boys about to leave at the end of that half. My muffin-consuming power, though still vigorous, has never been properly developed since the last of these entertainments at which I assisted, when Rasper, Sower, and myself, were the joint entertainers.

We brought one half year to a grand conclusion with theatricals in Seventh. Our preparations we had to make on the sly, as we thought it probable that, if the authorities were to hear of our proceedings, they would put a stop to them altogether; however, whether they knew of it or not, they never interfered, and it came off with great éclat. After considerable debate, the pieces selected were “The Children in the Wood,” and “Alfred.” We formed our stage by removing all the bedding from the beds on one side of Chamber, and laying the bed-boards[4] on them for a floor. A cord was fastened across the room a few feet from the wall, from which lengths of paper-hangings were suspended to give it some appearance of a room, and (the toys being removed) to give room for the actors to pass from one side to the other without being seen by the audience; in front of all a green drop, or rather draw-curtain, was suspended.