22 JANUARY 1876, Page 14

MR. BROWNING AND DR. IIORNBY.

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]

Sin,—All—and they are many—who have the pleasure of Mr. Oscar Browning's acquaintance must have been startled by a

paragraph which appeared in the Spectator of the 8th inst., to the

effect that Dr. Hornby, in a letter to one of his assistants, had made imputations upon Mr. Browning's character which, as they never have been and never can be substantiated, it is better for Dr. Hornby's credit not to repeat.

Mr. Browning is abroad; will you, therefore, allow me to state, lest the paragraph should do him an injury in the estimation of persons who are uninformed as to the circumstances of his dis- missal from Eton, that when he was pressed to publish a statement of facts at the close of the Eton half-year, he preferred to rest his vindication upon the testimonials he has printed in support of his candidature for a high educational post. These testimonials con- tain cordial letters from a majority of the Governing Body of Eton, from five late or present head masters, from numerous colleagues at Eton, and from a large body of eminent men, who, if there had been any truth in Dr. Hornby's insinuations, would not have given him the support of their names for the position he is seeking.

Perhaps I may be allowed to quote the following words from the testimonial of Mr. Fitzjames Stephen, who was his legal adviser in the late painful controversy :—

" It might have been better for you, though it Would have been worse for the school, if you had made a complaint to the Governing Body of his CDr. Hornby's) conduct towards you in 1874, instead of waiting to be dismissed by him in September, 187o It was impossible to study the questions which from time to time had arisen between you, without seeing that the real matter in difference was altogether dis- tinct from the trumpery disputes about points of school discipline, and the misunderstanding as to what was said or meant upon different occa- sions, which led to his notice of dismissal. It is obvious to me that he and you took opposite views of the nature of public-school education, and of the proper way of managing boys. You, took what I suppose may be called the more modern, and he the more old-fashioned aide." I should have appended my name to this letter, but as the profession to which I have the honour to belong is not as yet upon quite the same level of independence with other professions, you will excuse me for signing myself simply, AN ASSISTANT-MASTER.

[The drift of our paragraph was a severe reprobation of Dr. Hornby's course in making gross moral charges which he refused to substantiate, or allow Mr. Browning the means of refuting. It was founded on a printed addition to the correspondence sent to us by Mr. Browning himself, and which we have good reason to know that he desired to see noticed in the Press.—En. Spectator.]