Heath, to abolish this ancient custom, were dignified and just; they are stated to have been the frequent exemptions from the regular business of the school, which those who practised as future competitors for the prize, "claimed, as a privilege not to be infringed upon:" and also on account of the band of profligate and disorderly persons which this exhibition attracted to the village from London and its vicinity-and these circumstances had become at length so injurious to the discipline and morals of the school, that after some vain attempts to correct the evil, the total abolition of the custom was found necessary. Dr. Heath first attempted to curtail the number of rehearsals previous to the great day. The boys took offence and refused to shoot unless they could do so as formerly; when, taking advantage of this feeling, the Doctor abolished the custom altogether, and introduced the more intellectual exercise of public speaking.

The public speeches are holden in a long room, built for the purpose, adjoining the head master's house, on the first Wednesdays of June and July; and are usually well attended by old Harrovians, the gentry of the neighbourhood, and the friends of the boys. Towards the end of June the annual audit of the governors is held, when the captain of the school delivers a Latin oration, in which allusion is made to some of the public events of the past year or to such as more immediately affect the welfare of the school. The captain is presented by the governors with a book of the value of two guineas. On the first speech day the Peel prize essay is recited; and on the second day three other prize compositions. The first prize was founded by Sir Robert Peel, and consists of a gold medal for the best Latin prose essay; the other three prizes, founded by the governors of the school, are each a present of books of the value of five guineas for the best Latin Lyric Ode, for the best copy of Latin Hexameters, and for the best copy of Greek Iambics.

On the 6th July, 1820, the exhibition of speeches was more than usually brilliant, on account of the opening of a magnificent new school room, and the establishment of three prizes (two poems in Latin and one in Greek), originating with the head master, the Rev. Dr. Butler. The buildings connected with the school had been enlarged and partly rebuilt with much taste and skill by Mr. Cockerell. In September, 1839, a new chapel was consecrated by the Diocesan and Visitor, his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury. The school house, chapel, and other buildings were erected by subscriptions among the numerous persons educated at Harrow

The system of instruction at Harrow is similar to that of Eton Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays are whole school days. Tuesday is a whole holiday, Thursday and Saturday are half holidays. On Sundays the boys are in school from eight till nine, for religious instruction; but on the other days at half-past seven. The hours of school are devoted solely to saying the lessons which are prepared out of school, and rehearsed to the private tator in his pupil room. On holidays the boys are required to answer at the call of "the bill" every two hours. The bills are called over in the school, in alternate weeks by the head master or one of his assistants, and by the under master or his assistant. The head master has four assistants, and the under master has one. The discipline of the school is also partly supported by monitors, who are selected from among the senior boys of the sixth form; they are ten in number; and they have the power of setting punishments to all boys below the fifth form, for violating the rules of the school. The house of the head master continues according to the intention of the founder, to be merely a boarding-house. There are other boarding-houses kept by private individuals, but under the control and inspection of the masters. The boys are locked up in their houses at an hour varying with the duration of daylight, and gradually extending from a quarter past five in the depth of winter, to a quarter to nine about midsummer.

The

annual charges for each boy, in an assistant's house, for boarding, washing, and private tuition amount to one hundred and twenty guineas; for schooling and school charges eleven guineas; but in the head master's house the annual charge is one hundred guineas. The number of boys varies between two and three hundred, and of these not more than about twelve or fifteen are upon the foundation.

PROGRESS OF VEGETATION ON OLD BUILDINGS.

SEEDS, to our eye invisible, will find

On the rude rock the bed that fits their kind; There, in the rugged soil, they safely dwell, Till showers and snows the subtile atoms swell, And spread th' enduring foliage;-then we trace The freckled flower upon the flinty base; These all increase, till in unnotic'd years The stony Tower as grey with age appears; With coats of vegetation, thinly spread, Coat above coat, the living on the dead : These then dissolve to dust and make a way For bolder foliage nursed by their decay: The long-enduring Ferns in time will all Die and depose their dust upon the wall; Where the winged seed may rest, till many a flower Show Flora's triumph o'er the falling tower.-CRABBE. SOLOMON, who is so much celebrated in Scripture for his wisdom and knowledge, hath purposely written a book, the main argument whereof is to inquire, wherein the chief happiness of man doth consist: and having in the former part of it shewed the insufficiency of all other things that pretend to it, he comes in the conclusion to fix it upon its true basis, asserting every man's greatest interest and happiness to consist in being religious: "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter; Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man:" that is, the serious practice of Religion is that which every considerate man, after all his other disquisitions, will find to be his chief interest, and that which doth deserve his utmost care and diligence.-BISHOP WILKINS.

VIRTUE must be formed and supported, not by unfrequent acts, but by daily and repeated exertions. In order to its becoming either vigorous or useful, it must be habitually active; not breaking forth occasionally with a transient lustre, like the blaze of a comet; but regular in its returns, like the light of day: not like the aromatic gale, which sometimes feasts the sense; but like the ordinary breeze, which purifies the air, and renders it healthful.--BLAIR.

WHEN Addison found the end of his life approaching, he directed his son-in-law, the Earl of Warwick, to be called; and when the young lord desired, with great tenderness, to hear his last injunctions, told him, "I have sent for you, that you may see how a Christian can die." In Tickell's beautiful Elegy on his friend, there are these lines in allusion to this moving interview :--

He taught us how to live; and oh! too high

The price of knowledge! taught us how to die.

WAR, even in the best state of an army, with all the alleviations of courtesy and honour, with all the correctives of morality and religion, is nevertheless so great an evil, that to engage in it without a clear necessity, is a crime of the blackest dye. When the necessity is clear, it then becomes a crime to shrink from it.-SOUTHEY.

GoD left not the world without information from the beginning; so that wherever we find ignorance, it must be charged to the account of man, as having rejected, and not to that of his Maker, as having denied, the necessary means of instruction.-BISHOP Horne.

RIVAL ORATORS.-Charles Fox used to say, "I never want a word, but Pitt never wants the word."

THE Christian conduct of the members of the Church reflects honour on the Church herself, and on her great Founder and Head.-BISHOP MANT.

In Britain's isle, no matter where,
An ancient pile of building stands
The Huntingdons and Hattons there
Employed the power of fairy hands,
To raise the ceiling's fretted height,
Each panel in achievements clothing,
Rich windows that exclude the light,
And passages that lead to nothing.
Full oft within the spacious walls,

When he had fifty winters o'er him,
My grave Lord Keeper led the brawls*,
The seals and maces danced before him,
His bushy beard, and shoe-strings green,
His high-crowned hat, and satin doublet,
Moved the stout heart of England's Queen,

Though Pope and Spaniard could not trouble it.-GRAY

THE above lines, although more particularly alluding to the old mansion of Stoke-Pogis, in Buckinghamshire, may be considered equally applicable to the subject of our present notice. Holdenby was erected by Sir Christopher Hatton, whose graceful "brawls" are said to have excited the attention of Queen Elizabeth at a masked ball; and finding that his talents were equal to his personal accomplishments, the queen admitted him into the privy council, where "his opinion became an oracle to his sovereign;" and he was afterwards entrusted with the great seal, with the title of Lord Chancellor.

Holdenby or Holmby House, in the parish of Holdenby, is connected with a most memorable and exciting period in the history of our country. From the descriptions and remaining vestiges, it appears to have been a most magnificent structure. Indeed, Hatton esteemed it "the last and greatest monument of his youth." Camden says, "Holdenby-house, a faire patterne of stately and magnificent building, maketh a faire glorious shew;" and Norden, who wrote in 1610, describes it as

The brawls were a sort of figure dance, then much in vogue

A very beautiful building, erected with such uniformity and so answerably contrived as for the quantity and quality is not to be matched in this land. In the hall theare are raised three peramides, very high standing, insteade of a shryne, the midst whereof ascendeth unto the roofe of the hall, the other two equal with the syde walls of the same hall, and on them are depainted the armes of all the gentlemen of the same shire, and of all the noblemen of this land. The situation of the same house is very pleasantlie contrived, mounting on a hill environed with most ample and lardge fields and goodly pastures, manie young groves newly planted, both pleasant and profitable; fishe-ponds well replenished, a parke adjoyninge of fallow deare, with a large warren of conyes, not farr from the house, lyinge between East Haddon and Long Bugbye. Aboute the house are great store of hares, and above the rest is especially to be noated, with what industrye and toyle of man, the garden hath been raised, levelled, and formed out of a most craggye and unprofitable grounde, now framed a most pleasante, sweete, and princely place, with divers walks, manie delightful trees of fruit, artificially composed arbors, manie ascendings and descendings, replenished also with and a distilling house on the west end of the same garden, over which is a ponde of water brought by conduite pypes, out of the feyld adjoininge on the west, a quarter of a myle from the same house. To conclude, the state of the same house is such, and so beautiful, that it may well delight a prince.

In the year 1605 Sir Christopher Hatton obtained an act of parliament to enable him to dispose of certain lands, &c., notwithstanding a limitation or clause of perpetuity annexed to his estate. By articles of agreement with King James the First, dated 1st February, 1607-8, Sir Christopher covenanted to convey "the greate mansion-house of Holdenby," the manor with appurtenances, and messuages, and about 1768 acres of land, including the park, to the king's trustees, to the use of his majesty for life, with remainder to Charles, duke of

York, his second son, in tail male, with remainder to his majesty's heirs and sucessors. On the execution of the conveyance the king covenanted to pay to Sir Christopher certain sums of money, and to grant to him and his heirs certain privileges. He also agreed to grant to Sir Edward Coke and Lady Elizabeth his wife, (widow of Sir William Hatton,) during her life, the custody of the said great mansion-house and the park, gardens, &c., with a yearly fee of 40 marks; and to the said Lady Elizabeth"the edifices and buildings commonlie called the Dairy-house, belonging to the said great mansionhouse of Holdenby, for her lodginge" during her life. In 1625, Charles, duke of York, who succeeded his father in the throne, under the title of Charles the First, became possessed of Holdenby. In the political struggles which ensued, Holdenby was seized in common with the whole of the royal demesnes; and became memorable as the place of imprisonment of the royal sufferer.

The decisive battle of Naseby led to the total ruin of the royal cause, and the king, despairing of a reconciliation with his enemies, and finding his personal safety insecure, voluntarily surrendered to the Scotch army, then at Newark-on-Trent. Parliament immediately voted "that the person of the king shall be disposed of as both houses of the parliament of England should think fit." The Scotch, however, would not consent to deliver up the royal prisoner until the sum of 400,000l. had been secured to them for the alleged arrears of wages due to their army. After some debating among the Lords and Commons, it was resolved (31st December, 1646), That Holdenby-house be the place which the houses think fit for the king to come unto; there to remain with such attendants about him as both houses of parliament shall appoint, with respect had to the safety and preservation of his person, in the preservation and defence of the true religion and libertie of the kingdom, according to the covenants.

A committee for receiving the king's person was appointed, and they nominated a number of persons to be employed in his majesty's service; they also proposed that the communion-plate which was formerly set on the altar in his majesty's chapel of Whitehall should be melted down to make plate for the royal use at Holdenby, there being none remaining in the Jewel Office fit for service: they also made an estimate of the expenses of his majesty and his retinue. These proposals were confirmed by the Commons, but the national finances becoming daily more deranged, the whole charge of the establishment was shortly after reduced to 50%, a day, one-third only of the original estimate.

The king reached "his princely manor of Holdenby on the 15th of February, having been something retarded by reason of white weather." Many hundreds of the gentry of the county met the royal cavalcade two miles on this side Harborough, and thousands of spectators thronged the road, and hailed his majesty with acclamations, "causing many a smile from his princely countenance." A guard of honour was drawn up to receive him at Holdenby; and he entered his palace and his prison through the great court gate with all the state and pomp of royalty. When his majesty's approach to his destination was announced at Northampton, there was great rejoicing; bells were rung, and cannon fired; "insomuch that a gallant echo made its appeal at Holmby."

The royal household was regulated by commissioners; they requested his majesty to discharge certain adherents who continued to wait upon him; the king consented, and in return requested permission of the parliament to have two or more of his chaplains and other good and learned men to attend upon him for the exercise of his conscience, and the assistance of his judgment in deciding the differences then existing respecting religion. But so little were his feelings and wishes regarded by either of the houses, that this reasonable request was at first taken no notice of, and in answer to a subsequent pathetic appeal from the king on the same subject, the

The commissioners and their chaplains endeavoured to prevail on the king to assent to the establishment of presbyterianism, and to conform to the new Directory; but though he was not unwilling to engage in social controversy with them, their reasoning made little or no impression; "he refused to join in Amen' to such praying as was against his conscience, and argued very stiffly for Episcopacy and the Book of Common Prayer." "The two chaplains preached in the chapel alternately every Sunday morning and afternoon, to the commissioners and the household; and the king did not object to any of his retinue being present, though he himself chose rather to pass the day secluded in private devotion than to sanction public religious services which he could not approve." During dinner and supper, the commissioners attended his majesty, but he declined their services, and always " said grace himself under the state." After dinner he usually played at chess. He devoted two or three hours every day to reading and religious exercises. His favourite recreation was bowling; and the green at Holdenby being out of order, he frequently rode to Althorp or Boughton to enjoy that amusement. At other times he was accustomed to walk on the long gravel walk in the garden, accompanied by some of the commissioners; one only at a time associated with him, the others keeping at a respectful distance.

While the king was at Holdenby, he was not allowed to hold any communication with his friends, except in the presence of the commissioners. Mr. Baker notices two unsuccessful attempts to convey secret intelligence to the king, one of which we give as an example of the mode of treatment to which the sovereign was subjected

On the afternoon of the 9th April, as the king was riding to Boughton to bowl, he alighted at a narrow bridge in the Major Bosville disguised in a countryman's habit, with an way (Brampton Bridge), at the further end of which stood angle in his hand, as if he had been fishing, who was detected in privately conveying into the king's hand letters from the queen and prince (Charles). On his examination before the commissioners, he deposed that he was with the king at Newcastle, who, on the morning he was delivered up by the Scotch, entrusted him with a letter for the queen, which he conveyed to her in France; and being charged with a packet three nights at a countryman's, who had furnished him in reply, he had lodged two nights in a furze bush, and with his disguise, watching a favourable opportunity for delivering it into the king's hands; and if he had not succeeded, he had resolved to give it to the king in the presence of the commissioners, though at the hazard of his life. The house of commons ordered him to be sent for from Northampton by the serjeant-at-arms, but it does not appear how he was disposed of.

While the king was at Holdenby, little was done by parliament towards redeeming the pledge they had given to open a negotiation with him. In April the Commons presented to the king "the propositions for a safe and well-grounded peace," but here the matter rested; for although the king made many concessions, and expressed the strongest desire for a personal conference; and although the Lords evinced a conciliatory disposition, and passed a vote to bring the king from Holdenby to Oatlands; the Commons replied evasively, and said they would send an answer by their own messenger. In the midst of this vacillation and delay, the person of his majesty was removed from the control of parliament, and placed at the disposal of the army.

This bold act was conceived and executed by Cornet George Joyce, who, with a party of seven hundred horse, surrounded the house at midnight of the 2nd June, and at break of day were seen by the commissioners, drawn up in front of the great gates, at the back yard where their own troops were stationed, who instead of opposing