27 JANUARY 1894, Page 11

Great Public Schools. By Various Authors. (Edward Arnold.) —The business

of illustrating the Public Schools is getting a bit overdone. What with the Quingentenary at Winchester, the Quinquagesimary or Jubilee of Cheltenham and Marlborough, and the aeries which have appeared in nearly every illustrated paper, one is becoming rather bored with the merits of them, Mr. Edward Arnold reckons ten Public Schools. But why, when Cheltenham and Haileybury are included, is Wellington excluded ? And why are three articles devoted to Rugby, which is distinctly not in the first rank at present, while Winchester is only represented by a single article, and that almost entirely con- fined to fifty years ago ? They are all alike, however. Each school is more charming, has lived under greater head-masters, has produced greater men, and more excellent athletes than any other school. The general impression on one's mind is that every school wins the Ashburton Shield every year ; invariably defeats its rivals at cricket whenever it has not the most atrocious luck against it; and every one (Eton not excepted !) produces more hard-working and eminent scholars than any other. To which we may humbly remark that, judged by the scholarship- test, and taking numbers into consideration, Winchester, the best of them all, is " longo proximus interval° " to St. Paul's and Manchester Grammar School, which do not appear at all. And one word as to Eton. Mr. Alfred Lyttelton claims that Eton " breeds captains " ; wherever you go " you will find Etonians con-

stantly in the front." It is largely true, especially in politics, the Civil Service, the Church, and the Army. But why? Simply

because Etonians start on a higher plane of social status than other boys. It is only in the last decade that men like Mr. John Morley and Mr. Asquith, who had to earn their living, have

been able to come to the front in politics. It is only in the last twenty years that purchase has ceased to open the way to high rank at an early age in the Army. The real wonder is not that so many Etonians are in high places, but why there are not more.