School-life at Winchester College

by Robert Blachford Mansfield

Besides the toasting, there was cooking to be done; this was generally confined to frying and grilling, at which we used to be tolerable proficients; and I have often found this and other little accomplishments that I picked up in my Fagging experiences, useful in a somewhat varied after-life. We had a particular way of frying potatoes, which, to my taste, is superior to any other mode of dressing that invaluable vegetable.

I will give the receipt:—Take a dish of perfectly plain mashed potatoes, (we used always to use those that had been boiled the day previous,) put them on the fire in a frying-pan, with just sufficient butter to prevent them from sticking to its sides, and a little salt and pepper; keep stirring them about with a knife till they begin to darken in colour, then put them up with a knife into a cake, like a very thick omelette; fry till the lower side becomes a rich brown, then toss it over in the air; fry the other side in a similar manner, and serve up.

Mother Maskell, the worthy old nurse at Sick-House, used to preside over the tea department; and as the distance from Hall to Kitchen and back was at least a quarter of a mile, the breakfast fags had a lively time of it, and were not altogether sorry when middle school began at ten o’clock.

At one P.M. Hall was opened again, and a repast of boiled beef or pudding, with bread and cheese and beer, was served; the attendance on a fine day was generally limited to the grace singers, and the Præfect of Hall or Tub. The joints at the Præfects’ messes were generally kept for them, and the beef at the Ends given away. The puddings were usually preserved for Commoner friends; for, by a curious dispensation, they preferred the College puddings to their own, and we theirs to ours; so an exchange was generally effected: they decidedly had the best of the bargain, as we had pudding three times a week, and they only on Sundays. At grace time all the boys who were present at this meal, stood up on the dais on top of Hall, and the senior Præfect present used to go round with a cricket ball in his hand, and inspect their neckcloths to see whether or not they had their bands attached, the defaulters receiving three or four smart blows on the head (“conns”) with the ball, by way of reminder.

In summer time we were let out of afternoon school for a short time about four P.M., when there was a slight refection of bread and cheese laid out in Hall. It was called “Beever-time,” and the pieces of bread “Beevers.”

I now come to the crying evil of the times I write of, and of which I am happy to say I had but a slight experience, as during my time the whole system was entirely changed. The evil that I speak of, is the way in which the dinner was managed. All the other little discomforts that I may have undergone as a Junior, seem luxurious pleasures when I think of that infernal dinner hour. This meal took place at six o’clock P.M. in College, (in Commoners’ it was at one;) it was ample in quantity, and excellent in quality. That of the Præfects was nicely served up in joints, that of the Inferiors was divided into portions, (“Dispars;”) there were, if I remember rightly, six of these to a shoulder, and eight to a leg of mutton, the other joints being divided in like proportion. All these “Dispars” had different names; the thick slice out of the centre of the leg was called “a Middle Cut,” that out of the shoulder a “Fleshy,” the ribs “Racks,” the loin “Long Dispars;” these were the best, the more indifferent were the end of the shoulder, or “Cat’s head,” the breast, or “Fat Flab,” &c., &c.

On Sundays we had beef, except for six weeks at Easter, when we had veal. Potatoes were served up in pewter dishes, (“Gomers;”) they were not very good hot, and the Candlekeeper generally took possession of those served at his End, and had them kept till the next day for frying, as above described. Each End and Præfect’s mess had their beer served up in a large white jug, or “Bob.” The vessel used for the same purpose in Commoners was called a “Joram.” There was nothing to complain of in the dinner, though it would have been pleasanter if the meat had been served in joints instead of lumps, and if we had had plates instead of trenchers to eat it off; however, to the twenty Juniors at any rate, it was of very slight importance whether the dinner was comfortably served or not, as they seldom got any. The distribution was managed as follows: one of the cooks, escorted by the Præfect of Tub, brought up an immense tray, with a mountain of meat on it; this was taken first to the senior Candlekeeper’s end, and then to the others in succession. But only those boys who were at the End at the time it was brought were permitted to take their dinners, except the Candlekeepers, who were allowed to have theirs taken by proxy. As will be seen, it was simply impossible for the Juniors to be up to time, the consequence of which was that more than half the dinners were not taken; these were thrown into “Tub” at the end of Hall, whence they were ultimately taken away by some poor women, and I always understood, (though I am not certain that such was the case,) that the “Præfect of Tub” got a certain sum for each “Dispar” not taken, and so had a direct interest in managing that as many as possible should go without their dinner. I will now explain the absence of the Juniors; immediately the Præfects were seated, the whole Hall resounded with shouts of “Junior—Junior—Junior,” rising in savageness of tone, as the supply became exhausted; in five minutes all the Juniors were darting wildly about in all directions, executing orders received from their lords and masters; some to Colson’s hatch for salt, or down into cellar for beer, back to school for something forgotten, into chambers for a pint cup, down to kitchen for gravy, &c., &c. In the centre of Hall stood the senior Candlekeeper and Deputy, each armed with a long and supple ground ash, their business being to continue hitting every one who came within reach, so that it was absolutely necessary for every boy passing down Hall to run the gauntlet of one or the other; the only conceivable reason for this extraordinary arrangement being, I imagine, that in order to escape the sticks of the flagellators, the Fags dashed past them as fast as they could, and so got through what they had to do quicker. To escape this purgatory I have known boys lie underneath the beer butts in cellar during the whole of Hall time, and once a wretched fugitive was discovered hidden in the salt tub, into which he had managed to creep, and had let the lid down over himself afterwards. Happy the Junior who was “teejèed” by any Præfect, as he not unfrequently was presented by him with a plate of meat, or the remains of the joint, (called “a Mess,”) in which case he was exempt from Fagging as long as he was eating it, and it was extraordinary how difficult it became to pick a bone, and how long a small slice of meat could be made to last under such circumstances. Knives and forks being rare articles with the Juniors, we had some difficulty in getting rid of a dinner when given to us, unless the Præfect was good enough also to lend his implements. I remember seeing Skith with one end of a carcase of a hare in each hand, burrowing among the ribs with his nose and mouth in search of the tit-bits, which, to judge by the delight depicted on his countenance, were still remaining.

But let us escape from the din of Hall, and pay a visit to Kitchen. In the way we pass through “Ante-kitchen,” where is the familiar picture of the “Trusty Servant.”

THE TRUSTY SERVANT.