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Christ’s Hospital Five And Thirty Years Ago
by
Nor shall thou, their compeer, be quickly forgotten, Allen, with the cordial smile, and still more cordial laugh, with which thou wert wont to make the old Cloisters shake, in thy cognition of some poignant jest of theirs; or the anticipation of some more material, and, peradventure, practical one, of thine own. Extinct are those smiles, with that beautiful countenance, with which (for thou wert the Nircus formosus of the school), in the days of thy maturer waggery, thou didst disarm the wrath of infuriated town-damsel, who, incensed by provoking pinch, turning tigress-like round, suddenly converted by thy angel-look, exchanged the half-formed terrible “bl—-,” for a gentler greeting–“bless thy handsome face!”
Next follow two, who ought to be now alive, and the friends of Elia–the junior Le G—- and F—-; who impelled, the former by a roving temper, the latter by too quick a sense of neglect–ill capable of enduring the slights poor Sizars are sometimes subject to in our seats of learning–exchanged their Alma Mater for the camp; perishing, one by climate, and one on the plains of Salamanca:–Le G—-, sanguine, volatile, sweet-natured; F—-, dogged, faithful, anticipative of insult, warm-hearted, with something of the old Roman height about him.
Fine, frank-hearted Fr—-, the present master of Hertford, with Marmaduke T—-, mildest of Missionaries–and both my good friends still–close the catalogue of Grecians in my time.
[Footnote 1: Recollections of Christ’s Hospital.]
[Footnote 2: One or two instances of lunacy, or attempted suicide, accordingly, at length convinced the governors of the impolicy of this part of the sentence, and the midnight torture to the spirits was dispensed with.–This fancy of dungeons for children was a sprout of Howard’s brain; for which (saving the reverence due to Holy Paul) methinks, I could willingly spit upon his statue.]
[Footnote 3: Cowley.]
[Footnote 4: In this and every thing B. was the antipodes of his co-adjutor. While the former was digging his brains for crude anthems, worth a pig-nut, F. would be recreating his gentlemanly fancy in the more flowery walks of the Muses. A little dramatic effusion of his, under the name of Vertumnus and Pomona, is not yet forgotten by the chroniclers of that sort of literature. It was accepted by Garrick, but the town did not give it their sanction.–B. used to say of it, in a way of half-compliment, half-irony, that it was too classical for representation.]