BOARDING-SCHOOLS AND DAY-SCHOOLS.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR"] have been a strong upholder of the Boarding-School, and particularly of the present Public-School system. But recently I have been partially converted, and I should cordially agree with the article on Boarding-Schools and Day-Schools in the Spectator of the 6th inst., if I could see my way to a satis- factory combination of education,—home life and a sufficient allowance of games and discipline. However, I shall be glad if you will allow me a few lines in which to defend West- minster. Your article says :—" It is not so very long ago that Westminster was more fashionable than Eton and Winchester, for the very reason that it was in town. Now, the town has become poisonous. But the suburbs are open." I do not wish, in the narrow limits of a letter, to enter upon the vexed question of the relative merits of town and country
schools. Certainly Westminster is not so near to the country as it was. But, whether or not the fact is due to its situation on the gravel of Thorney Island, Westminster may boast that there has never been any epidemic or serious outbreak of illness in the school ; and that it has never broken up in consequence of illness among its members, as so many schools, even country schools, have been obliged to break up. With Vincent Square and the Dean's Yards, it has nearly ten acres of playground.
The school premises have been improved so much, and the convenience of day-boys has been studied so greatly of late years, that I hope that London parents will begin to find out how near at hand is one of the most honoured schools of Eng- land, and that the old foundation may rise soon to more than its former greatness.—I am, Sir, &c., AN OLD WESTMINSTER.
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