PREFACE.

THE cloak and the sword more often than less picturesque pedagogic trappings, have been found fit settings for comedy; and nowadays education grows so serious a concern that apologies seem proper in presenting some of its humorous aspects, drawn chiefly, indeed, from schools as they were under the consulship of Plancus. But schoolmasters who cherish the highest ideal of their work may not be the first to frown on its comic features, within the limit of becoming mirth, nor will they be the last to see more than meets a careless eye beneath the surface of these reminisWhether the author have succeeded in holding up the mirror to scholastic nature, it is not for himself to say; but at least he trusts that there is no offence in his jesting scenes, to make the judicious grieve over a pitiful ambition.

cences.