CHAPTER VIII.
THE JUNIOR IN SCHOOL.
Description of School—Scobs—Officers—Division of Classes—Prizes and Medals—Long and Short Half—Easter Time—Commoners’ Speaking—Cloisters—Latin Composition—Flogging—Scraping and Shirking Out—Latin Verses—Pealing.
On descending Hall stairs, and turning sharp to the right through Seventh Chamber passage, we enter School Court. The School is a spacious edifice, (built in 1687,) ninety feet long, and thirty-six broad; it may be a handsome building by itself, but, like the adjacent Commoners, is not favourably contrasted with the venerable Gothic buildings of the College, of which they form part. In the south-west corner of School is the Throne of the Head, and, in the south-east, that of the Second Master; opposite to each are seats for the Under-Masters.
At each end of School are three tiers of benches rising gradually one above the other,—that on the ground being called “Senior Row,” and the others “Middle” and “Junior Row” respectively. On these the classes sit when “up at books,”—i.e., when repeating lessons,—four parallel double ranges of solid oak benches, intersected, at intervals of about four feet, by others, and firmly fixed to the floor, run from end to end of the room, except where broken by Commoners’ tables, (two tables, at which there is room for about thirty Commoners; the rest get places where they can,) by the fireplace, and the passage from it to the door; between these rows of benches are three broad passages down School. On every angle of these intersecting forms is placed a large oak box, with a double lid. Every College boy, and some Commoner Præfects, had one of these; and some of the Senior Præfects have four, others three, and the rest two. One of the lids of these boxes was generally kept up during School-time to ensure a certain degree of privacy to the occupant, the lower lid doing duty as a table; inside were kept the books and other belongings of the proprietor. They were called “Scobs,”—i.e., box phonetically spelt backwards.
High up on the wall, at the west end of the School, is a large tablet, with a mitre, crosier, sword, inkstand, and rod painted on it, with the words—
“Aut disce, aut discede, manet sors tertia cædi;”
which has been freely rendered—
“Work, walk, or be whopped.”
At the opposite end of School is another large tablet, on which is painted the