EXISTING CONDITION-THE FOUNDATION.*

I. Constitution. The foundation of Lawrence Sheriff originally comprised two Trustees, a Schoolmaster, and four Almsmen. There are now a Head Master, seven Assistant Classical "Masters, a Mathematical Master, a Writing Master, a Drawing Master, a Librarian, five Fellows, twenty Exhibitioners, a Chaplain, an Organist, a Chapel Clerk, a Verger, and twelve Almsmen.

II. Revenues.-The endowment of Rugby School consists of houses and lands in Middlesex and Warwickshire; together with Three per cent. Consols, and Three per cent. Reduced Stock, the incomings from which, on an average of a late seven years, amount to 5,653. 14s. 11d. Of this sum 255l. 3s. are annually expended on the twelve almsmen, who now represent the four almsmen for whom the Founder made provision.

III. Governing Body.—By inquisition under the Great seal, the two Trustees have been increased to twelve, who by Act of Parliament of 1777 are a selfelecting body, clothed with almost unlimited powers over the property, the appointment of Masters, and the instruction and discipline of the School. Practically, the management of the School is delegated to the Head Master, and the election to Exhibitions is surrendered to Examiners from Oxford and Cambridge, who test the proficiency of candidates.

IV. The Head Master.-The 'Schoolmaster' of Lawrence Sheriff was to be ‘a discreet and learned man, chosen to teach grammar; and, if it 'conveniently may be, to be a Master of Arts.' By the Act of 1777, it was made an indispensable requirement that the Head Master should be 'a Master of Arts of Oxford or Cambridge, a Protestant of the Church of England.' It was further enacted that in the choice of such Master a preference should be given to such as are duly qualified and have received their education at the School. Strange to say, though Rugby has supplied many eminent Head Masters to other Schools, not a single Rugbeian has been elected Head Master of Rugby since the passing of the Act mentioned.

The original stipend appointed by Lawrence Sheriff for the Master of his School was 121. per annum. This was increased in 1653 to 40%, and in 1780 to 1134. 68. 8d., where it now stands. But he was also allowed 31. for each Founda tion, but which was advanced in 1828 to six guineas, and a tuition fee of 67. 68. for each non-foundationer, and he is allowed to charge 731. per annum for about fifty boarders. The Head Master receives for salary 1131. 6s. 8d., 1,322 12s. from fees in School instruction, 1,2772 10s. from profits of board, and 2431. 12s. from fees for entrance into School; making a total of 2,9571. Os. 8d. in addition to a handsome residence, good garden, and four acres of pasture ground.

V. Assistant Masters.--The first provision for an Usher was made in 1653, and in 1780, there were five Assistant Classical Masters, which in 1819 had increased to nine, and in 1865 to eighteen (13 Classical, 3 Mathematical, 2 Modern Languages, exclusive of Writing Master and Dancing Master).

The Assistants derive their official income from five sources: First, the sti pend of 1204 from the Trustees. Second, the profits of boarding-houses. Third, School instruction fees paid on behalf of each boy in the School. Fourth, private tuition fees. Fifth, extra tuition fees.

Compiled from Report of Royal Commissioners appointed to inquire into the Revenues and management of certain Colleges and Schools-1865.

The total emoluments of Head Master and Assistants in 1865 were:

VI. Fellows.-By the Act of 1777, it was provided that in the case of the removal of any Usher on account of old age or infirmity, the Trustees might allow him any annual sum not exceeding 401. determinable at their will and pleasure. Fifty years afterward, the Trustees were empowered by the Act of 7 George IV. c. 28, to establish endowments in the nature of Fellowships for life, or any shorter period, and to any amount not less than 100%. or more than 300 per annum, for the benefit of Ushers who might have served ten years. There are at the present moment five such Fellows enjoying these endowments. These five Fellows receive, altogether, 700l. per annum from the School revenues.

VII. Pupils, Classes, and Number.—The School comprises two classes of pupils: Foundationers, or boys entitled to certain privileges in the way of gratuitous education; and Non-foundationers, or those who receive their board and education at fixed charges.

Of the former class, there are at present sixty-one; of the latter, about 425, or 430, who are distributed into three schools, called the Upper School, Middle School, and Lower School, in the following proportions:-187 in the Upper, 255 in the Middle, and 48 in the Lower School.

Foundationers.-No boy is eligible for admission on the Foundation 'whose parents have not resided at least two years in Rugby, or within ten miles of Rugby, if in the county of Warwickshire, or within five miles in any other county. The candidate must be under fifteen years of age, be able to read the English language, and fit to begin learning the elements of Latin, and he must produce a certificate of good conduct from his former Master. The privileges to which Foundationers are entitled have been increased considerably since the foundation of the School. By the Founder's 'Intent,' they have a right to instruction in German and Latin. Under the Act of 1777, they are entitled to tuition in Greek, Latin, writing, arithmetic, and the Catechism. By subsequent orders of the Trustees, passed with the sanction of the Court of Chancery, they have been gratuitously supplied with all the classical instruction given in the school classes, with the addition of class instruction in modern languages, mathematics, natural philosophy, and drawing. They are not entitled to private or extra tuition of any kind, and they stand in this respect on the same footing with other boys. The Trustees pay out of the funds of the estate 23s. yearly for each boy on account of fires and lights. Most of this class reside with their parents, and in social position are undistinguishable.

Non-Foundationers.-Although no provision is made in the original statutes for the admission of any pupils other than on this foundation, yet as the emoluments of the masters depend on outsiders, there is no limit to their admission except the capacity of the boarding-houses. The number of this class generally exceeds three hundred, and their payments for tuition and board constitute the main resource for the salaries of masters.

THE SCHOOL.

The School is divided into four parts: the Classical, Mathematical, Modern Languages, and Natural Philosophy Schools.

The Classical School.

The Classical School is divided into three Sub-Schools, called the Upper, Middle, and Lower Schools. Each of these again is divided into Forms, and they again are separated into divisions. In the whole School, comprising the three Schools mentioned, there is now a series of twelve such divisions. These divisions, however, do not form twelve classes, because, in some cases, the teaching of two or three divisions is undertaken by one Master, while in other cases, a single division is broken up into two clases, each of which has a Master. Two such classes are called 'Parallel Divisions.' The following table exhibits the arrangement of the School.

Upper School.
Sixth Form.

The Twenty.
The Fifth Form.

Lower Fifth. Lower Fifth.

As a general rule, boys in two parallel classes of the same division do the same work, as they hold the same rank in the School. The parallel systemthe object of which is to lessen the number of forms a boy has to pass in going through the School-was first tried by Dr. Tait. It was abandoned for some time, but was revived by his successor, Dr. Temple. 'I found,' says Dr. T., when we had so many Forms, one under another, two bad effects-the clever boys went up through the Forms with a system of promotion so rapidly, that no one master saw a boy of that sort for more than a quarter of a year; he never got hold of him at all, and the result was to encourage a great deal of superficial working. On the other hand, slower boys got disheartened by the sight of the terrific ladder which they had to climb—they had a sort of feeling that they would never get to the top.'

Five of the larger Forms are now subdivided, not into an Upper and Lower, but into two parallels, both doing the same work, both holding the same rank in the school, but each having its separate Master. For all purposes of promotion there are still one large Form, an equal number from each parallel being moved up at each remove into the Form next above.

All the boys learn Classics, and are taught by fourteen Masters, one of whom, however, gives a considerable portion of his time to the Mathematical School. The time spent by each boy in the class-rooms of the Classical School during the week is on the average, throughout the Upper School, somewhat more than fourteen hours; throughout the Middle School somewhat more than twelve hours; throughout the Lower School eighteen hours and a half, inclusive of the preparation which takes place in School.

The instruction comprises the Greek and Latin languages; History, including the history of the Jews, Greece, Rome, and England, and Divinity. About one hour in the week is devoted to the class-teaching in History and Geography; two hours to Divinity, except in the Sixth Form, when another hour is dedicated to this subject; and all the remaining hours to the construing, repetition, and occasional translations of the Classical languages. The rest of the Classical work, consisting of composition, is usually done out of school-hours with the assistance of the tutor.

All the tutorial work of the School is confined to nine of the Assistant Masters, of whom five are boarding-house keepers. The parents of those who board with the Head Master and the non-classical Assistant Masters have the ostensible privilege of selecting the tutor for their sons, but this freedom is again limited by the law which forbids any tutor to take more than fifty paying pupils, and by the custom of assigning particular tutors to particular boardinghouses with which they are not otherwise connected.

Although the class instruction and the so-called private tuition constitute all the classical teaching at Rugby, a boy is required or encouraged to teach himself something beyond what he acquires for the hearing of the Master or Tutor. He is expected to bring up for examination in the Classical School, at least once in the year, a subject of History and one of Geography which he has mastered by his own unassisted reading in the holidays.

The stimulants by which the boys in the Classical School are urged to exertion are, Promotions in the School, Distinctions, Prizes, Scholarships, and Exhibitions.

Mathematical School.

The arrangement of this School is partly dependent upon the arrangement of the Classical School. The four main subdivisions of the one having the same names and containing the same boys as do the corresponding portions of the other. That is to say:

1. Sixth Form.

2. Upper School.

3. First and Second Middle Schools.

4. Third Upper Middle and Lower Middle Schools.

5. Lower School.

So far the places of the boys in the Mathematical depend upon their places in the Classical School. Each of these Schools, however, is subdivided into 'sets' which do not respectively correspond either as to the number or the order of the boys contained in them with the divisions or classes of the Classical School.

The Lower School is taught arithmetic by the Writing Master or his assistant. The four lower sets out of five in the Lower Middle School take two

hours' instruction from the Mathematical Master and two hours from the Writing Master; but on reaching the fifth and highest set of the Lower Middle School, boys pass into the hands of the Mathematical Masters exclusively. The principles of arithmetic, however, are taught by these Masters throughout the School directly in the lower sets, indirectly by means of examination papers in the higher.

Each boy in the School on the average passes three hours a week in the Mathematical Classes.

Boys desirous of cultivating Mathematics to a higher degree than their opportunities in class admit, usually take private instruction of a Tutor, who gives two hours in the week to his pupils.

Each boy's promotion in the Classical School depends upon Mathematical proficiency to the extent of twelve marks in the hundred. A separate list of the boys, according to their order in the Mathematical School, is published periodically, and has considerable effect in urging them to excel in this department; but a boy's promotion in the Mathematical is mainly dependent upon his promotion in the Classical School; for, however high in the Mathematical sets, he can not advance into a higher part of the Mathematical School, until his promotion into the corresponding part of the Classical School permits it.

Modern Language School.

The Modern Language School at Rugby is arranged upon the same principle as the Mathematical School, and consists in a series of divisions identical with those of the Classical School, each of which is again broken up into a series of sets in which boys are arranged according to proficiency. These sets, less numerous than the Mathematical, amount to nineteen, thus throwing the whole School into somewhat larger classes. The actual arrangement of the boys in the sets of this School more closely corresponds with their position in the Classical School than does their arrangement in the sets of the Mathematical School, although there is the same freedom of movement and promotion in both; a fact which indicates a greater degree of correspondence between the aptitude of boys to learn modern languages and that to learn classics, than between their aptitude for either of these studies and their aptitude for mathematics.

Natural Philosophy School.

This School was instituted in 1859 by providing a Physical Science Lectureroom and Laboratory. Boys in general are not admitted to Lectures in Natural Philosophy until they reach the Middle School. The present teacher has established this practice in the belief that boys, before the age at which they commonly reach that point in the School, are not well qualified for it. Nor are the boys in any part of the School compelled to learn it. It is, in fact, regarded as a substitute for Modern Languages, to which parents may have recourse if they think fit. This alternative, too, is encumbered with the condition that an extra fee of 61. 6s. per annum, not required for the teaching of Modern Languages, must be paid for instruction in Physical Science. It is formally permissible, however, to study both Modern Languages and Physical Science, but the prac tice is discouraged, probably as being supposed to distract the mind with too many pursuits.

In analogy with the organization of the Schools of Mathematics and Modern Languages, the main divisions of the School of Natural Philosophy correspond