^\ 
 
 THE 
 
 NATURAf 
 
 rii'STOR\ 
 
 OF THL 
 
 CHILD 
 
 DUNN 
 
Hvitt (College of Agriculture 
 
 At (JJorneU IntoersitH 
 atljata, N. g. 
 
 Sithrarg 
 
Cornell University Library 
 
 HQ 781.D7 
 
 The natural history of the child; a book 
 
 3 1924 013 744 028 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013744028 
 
THE NATURAL HISTORY 
 OF THE CHILD 
 
THE 
 
 NATURAL HISTORY 
 OF THE CHILD 
 
 A BOOK FOR ALL SORTS AND CONDITIONS 
 OF MEN, WOMEN, AND CHILDREN 
 
 BY 
 Dr. COURTENAY DUNN 
 
 New York 
 JOHN LANE COMPANY 
 
 MCMXX 
 
Copyright, 1920 
 By John Lane Company 
 
 "Had Gulliver narrated of the Laputans that the men vied 
 with each other in learning how best to rear the offspring of other 
 creatures, and were careless of learning how best to rear their 
 own offspring he would have paralleled any of the other absurdi- 
 ties he ascribes to them." 
 
 Herbert Spencer. 
 
DEDICATED 
 
 TO 
 
 ADRIAN, ROLAND, NOEL, VENETIA 
 JANE, CICELY, 
 
 AND A LITTLE BOV CALLED 
 
 DAVID, 
 
 WITH THEm father's LOVE 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 After writing a book the next difficulty is (however 
 easy it may appear to the reader) to find a title for 
 the said book, and with so pretentious a volume as this 
 one a few words of introduction and explanation are 
 perhaps more than usually expedient. 
 
 As a preliminary canter it is as well to say that the 
 greater part of my life has been spent in acquiring 
 as extensive a knowledge of childhood as it is possible 
 to obtain upon such an inexhaustible subject. My 
 grandfather and father were both medical men, and, 
 as I ran about the consulting rooms, I was very early 
 in life familiar with sick children ; indeed long before 
 I was a man in years I knew better how to treat a 
 sick child than many a newly-fledged M.D. who in 
 all his glory had never examined one of these. 
 
 It may seem astonishing, but a few years ago ref- 
 erence to children's ailments was seldom seen in med- 
 ical examination papers — I believe things are but little 
 better now. The consequence is that a great many 
 medical men labour under the impression that the 
 medical treatment of children does not require much 
 learning, and similar false ideas are rife among those 
 who deal with children in other concerns of childhood. 
 
 In the present little book I have endeavoured to 
 keep as far as possible at a distance any allusion to 
 childish ailments. 
 
 As a literary work I claim nothing for this small 
 
viii FOREWORD 
 
 effort of mine, it is simply what it pretends to be — a 
 history of childhood which for the greater part has 
 been grubbed up from ancient and scarce books, ob- 
 scure pcimphlets and papers. 
 
 In the making perhaps the most exacting considera- 
 tion was what, and what not, to include in order to 
 make the little book both clean and complete, and 
 of its omissions I can but plead that I preferred leaving 
 alone that which was superfluous, or that which would 
 leave an unpleasant taste in the reader's mouth. 
 
 A reference to every quotation in my little book 
 would have made the size of the volume prohibitive, 
 nevertheless each reference has been most carefully 
 examined and its genuineness proved as far as it is 
 possible to prove anjrthing. 
 
 Although written as an introduction to child study, 
 it is in this, as in all else, that in practical acquaintance 
 one gains real knowledge (I am the father of seven 
 children) ; at the same time this practical knowledge 
 cannot be obtained unless one has some further in- 
 sight into the natural history of the child. 
 
 To the contributors to " Notes and Queries," " The 
 Antiquary," " The Athenaeum," the Editor of the 
 New Oxford Dictionary, Dr. Rouse, Messrs. Herman 
 Cohen, Walter Johnson, Walter Rye, Col. Pitcher, 
 and to many parted by broad seas whom I may never 
 hope to meet but in the sweet beyond, the success of 
 my little book is in great measure due. Nothing per- 
 haps has affected me more than the labours of men, 
 until that moment strangers to me, so freely and gen- 
 erously bestowed. 
 
 Fairview, Torquay. Courtenay Dunn. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. HIM BEFORE HE WAS 13 
 
 II. HIS ANCESTRY 23 
 
 III. HIS EARLY LIFE LEGAL INFANCY . . 4I 
 
 IV. HIS NAME 57 
 
 V. HIS ENVIRONMENT 73 
 
 VI. HIS LANGUAGE 95 
 
 VII. HIS SCHOOLDAYS I05 
 
 VIII. HIS SCHOOLING 1 29 
 
 IX. HIS DEVELOPMENT 159 
 
 X. HIS PLAY 193 
 
 XL HIS RELIGION 221 
 
 XII. HIS MENTAL CONDITION . . . • 25I 
 
 XIII. HIS NAUGHTINESS 269 
 
 XIV. HIS AFFLICTIONS ...... 297 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 HIM BEFORE HE WAS 
 
 " Only a baby small, 
 Dropped from the skies: 
 Only a laughing face, 
 Two sunny eyes." 
 
HIM BEFORE HE WAS 
 
 One night, some years ago, I was sitting quietly 
 thinking of a certain baby who was coming on a 
 permanent visit, when the impulse suddenly came to 
 give rein to my fancies and imagine to myself what 
 were that same baby-to-be's experiences and medita- 
 tions, and so I pictured to myself the baby-to-be as 
 an embryo in the first stage, an insignificant film of 
 network consisting of protoplasm, feeling very comfy ; 
 well-fed, nursed and clothed by nature herself; he 
 had been less undoubtedly, but no one knows and it 
 could not have been much. By and by the quivering 
 little net becomes a little round cell, very small, it is 
 true, but baby-to-be begins to fancy himself as quite 
 a superior piece of living matter, and probably having 
 little knowledge of other conditions of life, is perfectly 
 satisfied with his present condition, which does not 
 continue long before there comes a kind of a don't- 
 know-what shock. 
 
 " My goodness gracious me, why I'm splitting up," 
 he exclaims, and before baby-to-be can say " Jack 
 Robinson " he is severed by an invisible sword into 
 two as equal parts as would have delighted his future 
 friend Euclid (had he been aware of it), and now he 
 has begun a life of changes enough to raise a chame- 
 leon's envy. 
 
 13 
 
14 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD - 
 
 Short is his respite, he has hardly time to admire his 
 present, to him, incomparable appearance, when again 
 he splits, turning into a four-celled animal, perhaps 
 looking back on his previous conformation with a 
 tinge of disdain; but as wonders will never cease, so 
 neither apparently to baby-to-be will splitting, and 
 just as he is getting tired of it all, and wondering how 
 much more of this sort of thing his constitution will 
 stand, and having already been split up into a simply 
 terrific number of different segments, looking more 
 like a mulberry than an3^hing else to the fanciful eye 
 of the embryologist, nature varies her joke and he 
 receives another shock in the shape of a more definite 
 change, and in astonishment exclaims, " My word ! 
 Why, I'm going to be a starfish ! " 
 
 But this deduction, born of youth and inexperience, 
 is incorrect, for nature keeps on modelling and remod- 
 elling, undoing a little bit of her work here and adding 
 a little more to it there, until one fine morning just as 
 baby-to-be is getting used to it, and perhaps dwelling 
 on the advantages of Torquay or some other cele- 
 brated seaside resort as a place of future residence, 
 he arrives at the conclusion that his ultimate destiny 
 is not that of a starfish, and later on he feels quite 
 confident in that he is not going to be a fish at all, but 
 what is he going to be ? Why " a frog who would 
 a-wooing go," and doubtless he is gratified at his rise 
 in the scale of nature, looking down upon such inferior 
 beings as fish and a life on the ocean wave, begins to 
 consider the geographical distribution of ponds, and 
 flies as a bonne bouche. 
 
 But whilst all these ephemerally interesting subjects 
 
HIM BEFORE HE WAS iS 
 
 are humming through that little brain-that-is-to-be, 
 Nature, never sleeping (although baby-to-be may be), 
 patiently continues her original design, and one morn- 
 ing, after a good night's rest, baby-to-be awakes flab- 
 bergasted to find that the master-magician has suc- 
 cessfully performed still another feat. 
 
 " Dear me, this is curious," says baby-to-be as he 
 feels himself all over. " I'm — w?hat am I ? " and 
 pausing to think, for baby-to-be is in a dilemma, at 
 length arrives at the conclusion that he is without 
 doubt going to be a mammalian, but whether he is 
 to be a mouse with a taste for cheese ; or an elephant 
 with prodigious tusks and a trunk long enough to tie 
 a knot in; a lion with a liking for raw victuals; a 
 great big whale; or even, perhaps, a baby pink and 
 cuddlesome, remains still a puzzle to him. 
 
 Guesswork of such a magnitude as to upset the 
 calmest of dreams of any baby-to-be's slumber rapidly 
 follows, for from change to change he passes until 
 at length (after driving him almost mad with idle 
 speculations) the wondering little soul is satisfied with 
 the knowledge that he is finally going to be a real live 
 baby. A baby, it may be, only the size of a farthing 
 Dutch doll, and a baby who does not yet know whether 
 he is going to be a he or a she baby, but little Hans 
 en Kelder has the proper pride for a person in his 
 sphere of life, and reckless of the future cares-to-be, 
 is rejoiced to find himself right at the tip-top of the 
 animal world, and possibly a future disbeliever in 
 Darwinism, Evolution, Mendelism, and similar specu- 
 lations. 
 
 Such indeed are, in fact, the various phases through 
 
i6 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 which we have all passed, and through which countless 
 numbers must yet travel. As far back in life as a little 
 fragment of net has been discovered, we are now wait- 
 ing for the philosopher who is to describe a yet earlier 
 stage of existence. 
 
 By the worst of ill-luck we can obtain no assistance 
 by questioning the baby until too late. 
 
 The theories of Evolution and Darwinism are very 
 old indeed, almost as old as babies themselves are. 
 They were discussed by the ancient Jews and the 
 Talmud doctors. Philo ascribes an ascidian origin to 
 humanity. That Adam had a tail which was cut off 
 to make Eve is to be found in the Talmud. 
 
 Let the scoffer at the theory of Evolution consider 
 what his ancestors were but three or four hundred 
 years ago; then calmly consider whether man was 
 in the beginning, or even seons ago, what he is to-day ; 
 and let him also think of the development of the rest 
 of the animal world. 
 
 " Think, too, that all man's life through a great 
 Dark laboureth onward." 
 
 Lucretius. 
 
 Few, however, in these days will give much credit 
 to the statement in Bulwer's " Man Transformed ; or 
 the Artificial Changeling," that there were Irishmen 
 with tails " neare a quarter of a yard long." Passing 
 belief also is Captain Samuel Turner in his " Embassy 
 to Tibet," where " species of human beings with short, 
 straight tails, which were extremely inconvenient to 
 them, as they were inflexible, in consequence of which 
 they had to dig a hole in the ground before they could 
 sit down." 
 
HIM BEFORE HE WAS vj 
 
 Some tyventy years ago a London physician, still I 
 believe in the land of the living, caused a little flutter 
 of excitement by expressing his opinion that a disease 
 known as Acromegaly was nothing less than a crab- 
 like countermarch, and that patients affected by this 
 disease, instead of going to the dogs were going to 
 the monkeys. 
 
 " Apart from man," says Schopenhauer (the gentle 
 pessimist who cooed like an angry dove), "no being 
 wonders at its own existence." 
 
 Of this of course we have no proof with the excep- 
 tion that Schopenhauer was a philosopher, and philos- 
 ophers are always right (at least they say so), but 
 even now there are comparatively few who think that 
 among the serious problems prevalent one of the most 
 important, not only to parents, but to mankind in toto, 
 is the natural history of the child. 
 
 The study of children for many centuries past has 
 occupied in one form or another the attention of the 
 greatest minds of their day, and there it has stopped. 
 Until quite recently the world in general remained 
 quite content with the knowledge that children were 
 born, clothed, fed and educated — in some haphazard 
 and uninteresting manner; and in the majority of 
 cases it fell to their lot to struggle somehow to man- 
 hood. What connection children had with bygone 
 ages or their existence in substance, or in spirit, in 
 whole or in part on this planet after death were blind 
 subjects to the ordinary individual and too trivial in 
 importance except to a small number of philosophers, 
 who in ancient days had usually a very rough time of 
 it — the unhappy authors of original theories often 
 
i8 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 meeting with a hurried exit in a most painful manner 
 from a disapproving world. 
 
 In fact, were the father or mother of the baby ques- 
 tioned as to his or her knowledge of the child, that 
 answer, however flowery, would have (when carefully 
 scrutinized) amounted to little more than Topsy's 
 " spect she growed." Of the Anthropology, Anthro- 
 pography, Ethnology, Ethnography and other obscure 
 and faddy sciences dealing with humanity ordinary 
 fathers and mothers know practically nothing. 
 
 So if you want to catechise a father, ask him what 
 the christening cost. At present man is too highly 
 organized a creature to imitate the stickleback, to man 
 that part of the harem yclept the nursery is as a sealed 
 book, and did he once poke his nose inside that sacred 
 door protestations would avail nothing — they would 
 say, " It was not the baby he wished to study," and 
 probably the child student would suffer calumny suf- 
 ficient, and the nurse receive warning on the spot. 
 Science is rarely generous to its devotee. 
 
 Alas ! it is a queer world, and so it happens that even 
 in the reign of his gracious Majesty George V. rational 
 methods of rearing and educating children are only 
 recognized by a small minority of persons, although so 
 far back as the days of the Tudors good old Roger 
 Ascham expressed a strong and decided opinion on the 
 neglect of parents in the care of their children. It may 
 be that babies, like all things mundane, are sometimes 
 a bit of a nuisance, especially in the case of twins, as 
 with all unnecessary duplicates; and yet withal the 
 babyhood of man, even to the confirmed misanthropist, 
 cannot be without interest, if only in what we may call 
 
HIM BEFORE HE WAS 19 
 
 original sin, and to the ordinary man in the street 
 there are numberless items of the most absorbing in- 
 terest to be found in every phase of child-life which 
 require but a small amount of mental exertion. 
 
 Most of us, at any rate, have seen a conjurer per- 
 forming, among other tricks, the production of a rab- 
 bit from the borrowed hat of some confiding person 
 in the audience, and we know very well how that rab- 
 bit (and the many other articles he produced from 
 the hat) came there; but when we come to study the 
 first appearance of man, that expert conjurer, Mother 
 Nature, is a great deal too cunning to disclose the 
 whole of her secret. 
 
 Albeit what with the microscope, dissecting case, 
 incubator, and a few other scientific paraphernalia 
 there have been provided for us by deep thinkers more 
 startling disclosures than all that the great Maskelyne 
 ever dreamed of ! 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 HIS ANCESTRY 
 
 " Our ancestors are very good kind of folk; but they are the 
 last people I should choose to have a visiting acquaintance with." 
 
 SHESIDAlf. 
 
II 
 
 HIS ANCESTRY 
 
 Quite late in man's history it was generally believed 
 that by killing an enemy, and perhaps devouring a 
 portion of his body (a warrior's heart for bravery — a 
 wise man's brain for cleverness), or by other means, 
 it was possible to appropriate the enviable qualities of 
 the dead man. For this assumption we might allow 
 some slight grounds, but it seems incredulous that the 
 collaterals of Bertrand de Gourdon, who shot Rich- 
 ard I., should long afterwards bear the name of 
 Richard with the object of securing to themselves the 
 dead King's virtues. Under the impression that the 
 one would be inoculated by the other's blood, Scan- 
 dinavian foster-brothers, when they arrived at the age 
 of fifteen or sixteen, were accustomed to make inci- 
 sions in their arms with knives and, binding the limbs 
 together, allow the blood to mingle. This conceit, 
 however, effected no change in their social standing, 
 the noble remaining a noble ; the peasant, a peasant still. 
 A curious custom among French and Highland fam- 
 ilies was that of fostering their offspring on people 
 of lower rank, the children leaving home about eight 
 or nine. The foster-parents agreed to give the chil- 
 dren an equal share with their own of their personal 
 estate at death; the parents, on the other hand, con- 
 tracting to protect the foster-parents, and in later 
 times paying some small matter for board. At the 
 
 23 
 
24 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 present day in many country districts it is the custom 
 when a widow marries for her children, if she has 
 any, to assume the stepfather's name. 
 
 The practice of adoption, with succession to the 
 property of the adopter where there was no heir, is 
 of the greatest antiquity, and was recognised by the 
 ancient Hindus, the Jews, and the Romans. This sys- 
 tem still holds good in the French civil code and other 
 Continental codes founded on the French — where a 
 childless man may, with certain limitations, adopt a 
 child who shall inherit his property. These children 
 are commonly called " fiction children," because in 
 primitive days they were supposed to acquire the 
 adopter's blood, together with his property, and, as 
 a rule, they were actually near or distant relatives of 
 the adopter. By ancient law foster-children could not 
 marry into their foster-parents' families, i.e., because 
 they were probably blood relations. 
 
 In the charter of William the Conqueror to the City 
 of London these words occur : 
 
 "And I will that every child be his father's heir after his 
 father's day." 
 
 In Ireland formerly the eldest male kinsman suc- 
 ceeded to the property of the deceased. This system 
 is known as Tanistry, and is still recognised by the 
 Mohammedans. 
 
 The right of pre-emption was very strictly enforced 
 in many towns and villages in the twelfth century. It 
 was the custom that if a person sold his lands to a 
 stranger his nearest heirs might take possession of 
 those lands, with or without the purchaser's consent, 
 
HIS ANCESTRY 25 
 
 if they offered the amount of the purchase money. 
 
 A child's head is frequently found in Welsh coats 
 of arms. In the coat of the Vaughan family are three 
 children's heads entwined about the necks with snakes. 
 Gwillim says : " It hath been reported that possibly 
 (but not probably) some one of the ancestors was born 
 with a snake about his neck." 
 
 Perhaps it was a caul? 
 
 The Babington arms portrays the upper part of a 
 child's body protruding from a barrel — Bab-in-tun. 
 
 The Duke of Leinster derives his crest of " a mon- 
 key " from a tradition that, when the castle was on 
 fire, the servants rushed out, leaving the infant heir 
 to be rescued by an ape. 
 
 The Stanley crest — an eagle, with wings extended, 
 preying on an infant lying swaddled in a cradle — 
 owes its origin to the following pretty story : — 
 
 Lord and Lady Latham, both being about 80 years 
 of age, were childless, and without the slightest expec- 
 tation of being otherwise. One day an eagle brought 
 a baby boy to her nest which she had built in the park. 
 When the aged couple heard of this, they ordered the 
 child to be brought to them and adopted it. The child 
 was baptised and called Oskell. He became the father 
 of Isabella Latham, with whom Sir John Stanley 
 eloped. Oskell forgave the runaways, and left them 
 his property. 
 
 Burke gives another, but not so pretty, romance. 
 
 The Stanleys are notable for their long continuity 
 of descent. 
 
 May 1: be forgiven if I make a digression in order 
 to advert to the various tales related of eagles carry- 
 
26 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 ing off children, and (usually) the mother climbing 
 the mountain and rescuing her darling, which are sim- 
 ply fables from beginning to end, invented to make a 
 good story — the best, perhaps, is " The Dillosk Girl," 
 by Geo. Cruikshank. The eagle of the Alps is a %ti1- 
 ture, and far too weak to carry a decent-sized baby 
 many yards. In Stratford-on-Avon Church is a mis- 
 ericord with an eagle seizing a child depicted on it. 
 
 A remarkable example of determination of purpose 
 exhibited itself in the case of the five daughters of 
 \^'^illiam Barlow, Bishop of Chichester, all of whom 
 were married to Bishops, as we learn from an inscrip- 
 tion on a monumental stone in Simonbum Church, 
 Northumberland. 
 
 Evidently these young ladies, finding it impossible 
 to become real live Bishops themselves, married them 
 instead. 
 
 Here let us note that parish registers were instituted 
 by Cromwell, under Henry \^in., in the year 1538, 
 and that very few of that date survive — the greater 
 part having been burnt at one time or anotlier ; several 
 have been stolen; some have served the village grocer 
 as sugar bags, or the shoemaker for foot measures; 
 the curate's wife (what will not women do?) made 
 kettle-holders from these notices of births, marriages, 
 and deaths. As the registers were common vehicles 
 for jotting down important events happening in the 
 district their untoward fate has been a serious loss to 
 the country's history. 
 
 What with forgeries and mutilations the parish reg- 
 ister is often very untrustworthy evidence. It has 
 played a great part in the Law Courts, for instance : — 
 
HIS ANCESTRY z] 
 
 The Stafford Peerage case, 1825; King and White, 
 1829; Lloyd and Passingham, 1809; Ansell and 
 Gompetz, 1837; and the Shipway Pedigree case of 
 1898. 
 
 The putting out of children to nurse — baby- farming, 
 as it is still called — is a very ancient practice. From 
 the time of the Tudor kings to the present day, with 
 but a brief pause, all large towns boarded out their 
 infant paupers. 
 
 References to this one time extensive business are 
 very frequent in the pg^rish registers, which plainly 
 show how large the death rate must have been among 
 this class, who are registered under titles such as 
 " nurse child," " an hospital childe," " a parish child," 
 an " aspetall chyld," etc. 
 
 In a parish register for 1595 we come across the 
 following notice : — 
 
 " Francis Tailor, a commo keeper of children, was buried." 
 
 The Greystoke register, of Ap. 13, 159 2/3, records 
 the burial of a child of a "spayner at tohylbarrow " 
 — " spayner " probably meant a person to whom chil- 
 dren were sent to be weaned. 
 
 " Dallas children."— In a letter of Dr. O. Plunkett 
 to the Internunzio at Brussels the word " dallas " is 
 thus explained : — 
 
 " Some wicked priests becoming nutritors (fosterers) took 
 to their care the children of Protestants, that thus they them- 
 selves might be defended against their ecclesiastical superiors. 
 These children were called ' dallas.' " 
 
 The story of a son of Richard III. has been the 
 subject of one or two historical novels. This son was 
 born in 1469, and was educated at Lutterworth. At 
 
28 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 the age of fifteen he was taken to visit the King in his 
 tent at Bosworth Field. After the battle he made his 
 way to London and apprenticed himself to a brick- 
 la)'er, in which employment he was found by Sir Thos. 
 Moyle engaged in building the house at Eastwell Place 
 — ^he was nearly eighty at this time. Richard Plan- 
 tagenet, as he was called, was knighted by his father 
 at York in 1483 — ^Jesse says that it was John of Glou- 
 cester. His death is recorded in the Eastwell register 
 as " Richard Plantagenet," and he " was buryed the 
 22nd daye of December anno et supra ex Register de 
 Eastwell sub anno 1550." 
 
 The Plantagenets' tomb is of Betterden marble 
 under a sepulchral arch. 
 
 Henry VIII. had a male child by Elizabeth Blount, 
 whom the King created Duke of Richmond and Somer- 
 set, and Cardinal Wolsey undertook the duty of his 
 godfather. 
 
 At the Free School of Shrewsbury is an entry in an 
 old Latin Bible which runs as follows : — Henry Roido' 
 Dudley Tuther Plantagenet filius Q.E. et Robt. Comitis 
 Leicestr. Nothing more can be ascertained concern- 
 ing this child, and many believe that the insertion was 
 malicious and without foundation. 
 
 Foxe (the Martyrologist) accused " Bloody Mary " 
 of attempting to procure a child of low birth to adopt 
 as her heir. 
 
 There have been numerous claims of relationship to 
 the Protector from long-established residents in the 
 United States, but so far as human knowledge can pen- 
 etrate there is no conclusive evidence in any one case. 
 Very strangely the maker of the first American flag 
 
HIS ANCESTRY 29 
 
 was a person named (Mrs.) Betsy Claypole, she was, 
 however, neither kith nor kin to the Protector. OHver 
 Cromwell (who was ninth cousin to Charles I., one 
 remove) had a daughter married to a man named 
 Hartop, who lent money to Milton. It could not have 
 been a very serious marriage failure, as Hartop lived 
 to be one hundred and thirty-seven years of age. 
 
 Oliver's son, " Mr. Cleveland," was not so lucky as 
 his brother-in-law, and suffered death at the hands of 
 the family surgeon. The unfortunate " Mr. Cleve- 
 land " — so runs the story — was subject to apoplectic 
 fits, and the man of medicine, supposing him dead, 
 proceeded to perform a post-mortem examination, 
 which soon put an end to all doubt. 
 
 We cannot but think that of the thousands passing 
 through the streets of our towns there must be an 
 enormous proportion who are directly descended, legit- 
 imately or otherwise, from royalty, and the uncleanly 
 tramp perchance may be the scion of a noble house. 
 Not only are all men equal in God's sight, but they 
 are also genealogically equal in the mind of the student. 
 
 Worth noting is the following curious case of 
 involved relationship quoted by Dr. Wordsworth 
 ("Journal of a Tour in Italy," 2nd ed., vol. ii., 
 237-8), from Sir E. Sandy's Europoe Speculum, 
 Lond., 1673, p. 43 :— 
 
 " As a specimen of the confusion introduced into families by 
 the Pope's matrimonial dispensations, it may be observed, in the 
 words of Sir E. Sandys, that ' King Philip the Second might 
 have called the Archduke Albert — his brother, cousin, nephew 
 and son; for all these he was to him either by blood or affinity ; 
 being uncle to himself, cousin-german to his father, husband 
 to his sister, and father to his wife.'" 
 
30 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 The Church of Spain also had a most convenient 
 method of estimating the value of a pedigree — the 
 proud chip of the old block who was a Catholic and 
 whose pedigree could be traced beyond the time of 
 the Moorish conquest claimed to have blue blood in 
 his veins. If not quite so highly distinguished he 
 might have red blood, or if of a more inferior race it 
 might be white. Gentile heretics and infidels were the 
 owners of black, but unstinking blood. The Jews, 
 who were hardly considered human, were the only per- 
 sons in whose veins ran stinking black blood. 
 
 Instances of what foolish young people may say and 
 do when under the influence of the tender passion are 
 not wanting in real life, but to marry one's grand- 
 mother, however great may be the natural affection 
 existing between the contracting parties, is by no 
 means of frequent occurrence. There are, however, 
 instances of such happening. Wherever there is mis- 
 chief to be done, if it is possible there is a boy in it, 
 some say always a woman, too, and it has been left to 
 a child of tender years to set a fashion to his elders 
 which few (however they may envy him) can ever 
 hope to copy. 
 
 This limb of a boy, some many years ago, was actu- 
 ally precocious enough to become his own grandfather. 
 
 This is how he managed it : 
 
 GeorgeCT 
 
 . I 
 William = Anne = Henry 
 
 I 
 David 
 
 1 « 
 
 Thomas = Jane ' ~ 
 
HIS ANCESTRY 31 
 
 Anne (a widow) married Henry, son of George; 
 Jane, her daughter-in-law by her first marriage, mar- 
 ried George. The widow Anne being mother (in 
 law) to her husband's father, and grandmother (in 
 law) to her husband Henry, her son David was there- 
 fore her great-grandson. Necessarily the son of a 
 great-grandmother must be either a grandfather^ or 
 great-uncle, therefore David was his own grandfather. 
 The boy was a scholar at Norwich School, and, if alive 
 now, must be an old man. 
 
 Poor David! One can imagine that he as stoutly 
 denied the relationship as certain persons in Corfu 
 (according to Southey's "Omniana") did who were 
 generally believed to be the direct descendants of 
 Judas Iscariot. Very respectable people in Normandy, 
 Caen, and Rouen still (I believe) suffer from the same 
 imputation; perhaps the imputation induces them to 
 remain good, but it is an unenviable one. 
 
 Undoubtedly a large proportion of " claimants " 
 have not had the slightest justification for their claims ; 
 yet from what we can glean there were cases in which 
 it appears probable that the pretenders were the legiti- 
 mate heirs. 
 
 Jack Cade hardly finds a place here, as he was a 
 man, and so far as it is known left no children to fol- 
 low in his footsteps, but the same cannot be said of 
 Lambert Simnel, who was only fifteen years of age at 
 the time of his invasion. 
 
 As for Perkin Warbeck, opinion is, and always has 
 been, divided as to his pretensions. 
 
 The most romantic of all injured princes is the lit- 
 tle French Dauphin. 
 
32 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 Whether Beauchesne's account of his imprisonment 
 is true in whole or part, it has been sufficient to make 
 thousands give a sigh of reHef at the fate of the little 
 Dauphin's tormentor, Simon, who went to the guillo- 
 tine in the same tumbril as Robespierre. 
 
 There were not wanting pseudo-Dauphins — I believe 
 there were about thirty claimants in all to the title of 
 Louis XVII. — the best authorities agree that the poor 
 little Dauphin died in the Temple when a little over 
 ten years of age. 
 
 Some of the pretenders deserve notice, and among 
 these is Hervagault, who stuck to it to the last that he 
 was Louis XVII., and died in prison. Maturin Bru- 
 neau underwent five years' imprisonment for pretend- 
 ing to be the Dauphin, after which he disappeared 
 from human ken. 
 
 Richemont, whose trial took place in 1834, was a 
 thorough scamp, and was sentenced to twelve years' 
 imprisonment. It was at his trial that evidence was 
 given by a very old man, Lasne, the faithful keeper 
 of the Temple, in whose arms the Dauphin breathed 
 his last. 
 
 The Rev. Eleazer Williams was an American prod- 
 uct who was reared by, and at one time was chief of, 
 the Iroquois Indians. The pretensions of this gentle- 
 man to the throne of France were very slight. 
 
 Augustus Meves, who died in Bloomsbury in the 
 year 1859, was another Louis XVII. He left two 
 sons, who called themselves Bourbon. 
 
 Karl Wilhelm Naundorff also lived in England at 
 one time; at Camberwell he distinguished himself by 
 manufacturing explosive shells and fireworks until the 
 
HIS ANCESTRY 33 
 
 neighbourhood revolted — and summoned him for be- 
 ing a nuisance. An attempt was made to shoot him, 
 and thinking life none too secure in England he went 
 to live at Delft, where he passed the remainder of 
 his life. 
 
 Some years ago his two sons, who called themselves 
 Bourbon, and claimed the French throne as descend- 
 ants of the Dauphin, brought an action (which if they 
 had won would have probably caused a revolution) 
 against Henri Rochefort because he had said in his 
 paper that Louis Charles de Bourbon and his brothers 
 had no right to the name, but merely that of Naun- 
 dorff. They lost the case. It was alleged that the 
 late Prince Imperial was an adopted child. 
 
 Apart from heredity being a royal road to prison 
 walls and the headman's block, it is easy to trace 
 genius, in some cases persisting generation after gen- 
 eration, as in the Cecil, Churchill, Darwin and other 
 families, whose members have through a direct male 
 line attained eminence in their respective spheres of 
 work — environment, says the economist, is the true 
 cause. Yet we find genius absent in a generation or 
 two, though often again reappearing. 
 
 Is it possible that some aeons ago one primitive 
 ancestor of a present great sculptor was a mighty 
 artist, who chiselling in the grime of his paleolithic 
 studio, excelled all others in his carvings on deer's 
 horn, or the blade bone of a mammoth, and that some 
 infinitesimal mind cell from the brain of this early 
 artist has been a real living molecule lying dormant 
 in a series of bodies during many ages, being passed 
 on from flesh to flesh, more or less quietly slumbering 
 
34 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 through generation after generation, until at last blos- 
 soming and ripening in the soul of the modern R.A. ? 
 
 Alas! we do not know what ultimately becomes 
 of the very flesh covering our bones, nor do we under- 
 stand the connection between life, soul, mind and body, 
 but we may conclude that not only do we live again 
 in our children, but there are also co-existing, both in 
 ourselves and in them, we do not know how many 
 mind cells of our ancestors. In fact throughout life 
 we demonstrate in ourselves the traits of our forbears, 
 and the child, whatever may have been his lineage in 
 the past few centuries, unmistakably exhibits in addi- 
 tion the customs and habits of primitive man. Indeed 
 it is not going too far to say, some of the traits of the 
 lower animals as well. 
 
 For instance, young children invariably at one time 
 or another sleep on their stomachs, a condition found 
 among monkeys and other animals. The habit is 
 common among the negro races, and is held in great 
 contempt by the Mohammedans, who refer to the 
 former as monkeys. 
 
 Besides which that most distressing habit all little 
 rascals have of picking with their finger nails little 
 pieces of paper from the walls, Buckman says is a 
 survival of the habit of bark picking of their early 
 progenitors, for the purpose of finding insects to eat. 
 These atavistic traits are rarely appreciated unless it 
 be by the most scientifically inclined parents, and the 
 youngster generally finds cause te lament the idiosyn- 
 crasies of his early ancestors, which stick to him as 
 closely as the monster did to Frankenstein. 
 
 There is, however, one great dissimilarity between 
 
HTS ANCESTRY 35 
 
 young children and monkeys — monkeys are dreadfully 
 afraid of every description of dead animals, whereas 
 as a rule children will readily handle dead birds or 
 rabbits. 
 
 In considering the rearing of children we must cau- 
 tiously investigate the life histories of the near rela- 
 tives, if solely in their bearing on health, in order to 
 assess the eugenic conditions of the infant, and it fol- 
 lows that it is as fully important (if not more so) 
 that the medical attendant should be as conversant 
 with the family history of the newly-born babe as that 
 of an adult, in order that he may be in a position to 
 warn the parents as to the possibilities of the trans- 
 ference of those diseases of which near relatives had 
 been victims and be himself prepared to act in pre- 
 venting the baby from adding another to the list. 
 
 Moreover, in every case we must rely in some meas- 
 ure on heredity for the future welfare of the child, 
 as by the law of ancestral inheritance each parent con- 
 tributes one-quarter, each grandparent one-sixteenth, 
 and so on, whence it follows as a general rule that 
 the brothers and sisters resemble one another more 
 than they resemble their own parents, what may be 
 described as unity in multiplicity caused by a redis- 
 tribution of mind and matter. 
 
 We also find them with remarkably similar tastes, 
 voices, gestures and speeches, which in some cases may 
 owe in part their origin to the intimate companionship 
 of young childhood. A similar resemblance is fre- 
 quently found in husbands and wives who have lived 
 together for a number of years. 
 
 Passing by we may note that a well-known African 
 
36 THE NATURA' .iISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 traveller vouches for the statement that in Abj^ssinia, 
 where divorce is a household institution, the children 
 of one father by different mothers hate one another, 
 but the children of one mother by different fathers get 
 along well enough together. Perhaps this is owing 
 to the maternal influence. 
 
 More unaccountable still is the somewhat curious 
 fact, of which there seems absolutely no solution, that 
 in the case of two brothers if one of them is a genius, 
 it is usually the elder, but neither in mental nor phys- 
 ical characteristics can we draw hard and fast lines, 
 we know so little as yet. 
 
 The grandmother of Dickens (the great novelist) 
 was nursemaid in the family of Lord Crewe, and held 
 in high esteem for her ability to pitch tales for the 
 benefit of the youngsters. 
 
 Whilst I am discussing family likenesses my amicus 
 curiae, who has a love of the horrible, insists upon my 
 quoting the case of the notorious Count Belecznai, 
 who was executed for murder, as were also his two 
 elder sons. The youngest son would probablv have 
 shared the same fate had not he fortunately been a 
 precious bad shot, for he made a most deliberate 
 attempt. 
 
 Major-General Holdcroft Blood, son of the Colonel 
 Blood of infamous notoriety, was actually accused of 
 theft, according to an old memoir, which makes this 
 remark of him : — 
 
 "He was in a rising posture till being unhappily accus'd for 
 robbing a post-boy of some letters that came from Spain, he 
 was tryed for his life at the Old Bailey and acquitted; and 
 his Majesty King William was satisfy'd of the innocency and 
 usefulness of the gentleman that he was quickly promoted to 
 
HIS ANCESTRY 37 
 
 higher commands than before." — "A Compleat Hist, of Europe," 
 1707, printed for H. Rhodes 1708, p. 477, 8vo. 
 
 Whether the child is strong or weak, or whether the 
 preservation of the child is (as far as human intelli- 
 gence can divine) for the benefit of himself, his par- 
 ents, or society, yet at the same time the average par- 
 ent is earnestly solicitous to preserve the life of his 
 off-spring, even under the most unfavourable circum- 
 stances. Moreover, whether the subject is labouring 
 under the disadvantage of inherited disease, congen- 
 ital deformity or premature birth, in ninety cases out 
 of a hundred in which death or life-long misery occurs 
 the victims, under rational treatment, could have been 
 saved and made useful members of society. 
 
 Truly, bar accidents, it is the healthiest and strong- 
 est that survive, and are most serviceable to mankind, 
 but we must bear in mind that some of the world's 
 greatest men were invalids — Cassar, Alexander and 
 Napoleon were epileptics ; Richelieu, Keats and Mozart 
 were tuberculous. Even Herbert Spencer was an in- 
 valid during a great part of his life, and so we might 
 go on naming eminent character after eminent char- 
 acter who, according to some ultra eugenists, should 
 never have been allowed to live. 
 
 Men have risen to high positions in the State, be- 
 come great scholars, divines, etc., whose parents were 
 ne'er-do-wells and vagabonds. Even those descend- 
 ants of the notorious " Jukes " family who were sep- 
 arated from their unrighteous stock, and brought up 
 by foster-parents in a purer atmosphere, lost their little 
 cloven hoofs, and became sans peur et sans reproche. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 HIS EARLY LIFE — LEGAL INFANCY 
 
 Poterat ridere prius puer qui nascitur, quare a fletu incipit 
 invere? ridere non dum novitf quia caepit ire in istam vitam. 
 
 A child at birth could have first laughed; why does it begin 
 life with weeping? Laughter it knows not yet; why already 
 know tears? Because it embarks on life as you coil U. 
 
Ill 
 
 HIS EARLY LIFE LEGAL INFANCY 
 
 What we know as infancy is that period of child-life 
 which belongs to the suckling period, the first year or 
 the first three years of so-called separate existence, 
 according to different authorities, and it is the most 
 helpless and precarious link in the whole chain of life. 
 Its length is the origin of man's superiority over the 
 lower animals. 
 
 Immense as is the rate of mortality (120 per thou- 
 sand), apart from the fact that more children are born 
 during the winter time, and apart from many other 
 causes, when we take into account that birth is not 
 by any means the beginning of the baby's history, but 
 that he belongs to an innumerable ancestry from whom 
 he has acquired at times even their very liability to 
 disease, we cease to marvel. 
 
 At birth the amount of oxygen in the respiratory 
 centre is diminished; this excites the centre itself so 
 that the newly-born child involuntarily breathes. We 
 may note in passing that it is some time after birth 
 before the lungs properly expand, the delay assisting 
 the fatality which attends newly-born babies who are 
 unfortunate enough to catch cold. The next event to 
 happen .is "a cry " — a cry which, however sweet it 
 may be to the mother's ear, is disappointing in that 
 it has no individual tone, and is no different in voice, 
 therefore, than " Jinks's " or any other baby. 
 
 41 
 
42 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 The old Sairey Gamp will anxiously watch the baby 
 as he expixsses his opinion of the world into which 
 he is bom, and will say that if, at the same time, he 
 lifts up an open hand, that he is bom to command; 
 but if he clutches with the thumbs turned in, he will be 
 unhealthy and of a cringing, slavish disposition. The 
 Venetian matron believes that crying babies will have 
 fine eyes and broad shoulders. 
 
 \A^ith regard to foretelling the sex of the child : if 
 a boy is born on a waning moon, a girl will be the 
 next child to solace the parents, and zfice versa. But 
 should a boy be born on a growing moon, then the 
 parents can look forward with confidence to a boy ap- 
 pearing on the next occasion. These beliefs still hold 
 good in many parts of England. 
 
 Every Welshwoman knows, or let us hope that she 
 does, that if the tide begins to rise at the time when 
 the birth of a child is imminent, the anxious parents 
 will be blessed with a boy. 
 
 That in a gentleman's family the girls come first, 
 and then the boys, is a bit of Italian folk-lore, and the 
 Italian mother also believes that if her nose bleeds 
 before the baby is bom, whatever else may happen, 
 the baby will be a little boy. 
 
 In the hands of the superstitious the Bible has for 
 ages appeared to be a most appropriate instrument for 
 divination. The last chapter of the Book of Proverbs 
 consists of thirty-one verses, each of which is supposed 
 to have a mystical reference to the corresponding days 
 of the month, and prognosticates the fate of a child 
 bom on any day. 
 
 To be born at midnight is to be very distinguished 
 
HIS EARLY LIFE— LEGAL INFANCY 43 
 
 in Holderness, where children who are happy enough 
 to do so are able to see sights which others are unable 
 to do. In Finland, if a child should happen to be 
 born during Mass on Sunday morning, when the priest 
 is at the altar, he can see more than ordinary people. 
 
 Let people born on Tuesdays be very careful, as 
 one hour out of the twenty-four is a most unfortunate 
 time to make one's debut. It is a matter of consid- 
 erable regret to learn that no one seems to be quite 
 certain as to which hour is the evil one. 
 
 Worse still is the fate of a baby born in the interval 
 between the old and new moons, as it is fated to die 
 young. 
 
 No ordinary thing in life is without superstition 
 attached to it, and so minor a matter as paring the 
 nails, or cutting the hair for the first time, was in 
 bygone days a serious undertaking. Through Ger- 
 many, Scotland and England there prevailed the be- 
 lief that if the child's nails were cut during the first 
 year he would turn out a thief, and even now many 
 mothers and nurses bite the child's nails and burn the 
 bits or throw them away, but the old wiseacres used 
 to bury them under an ash tree, and the child then 
 became a first-rate singer ! 
 
 As to cutting a child's hair for the first time, that 
 was the most unlucky thing one could do for a Sussex 
 baby unless the operation was carried out under a 
 waxing moon. In the rest of England similar beliefs 
 were held, and on the Continent they went one better, 
 and refused to even wash the child's hair during the 
 first two years of life, as a clean scalp at that age was 
 considered prejudicial to health. 
 
44 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 Generally throughout England superstitious mothers 
 burn the baby's hair, because if it is thrown away the 
 birds might find it and build it in their nests, a pro- 
 ceeding which would prevent the owner rising on the 
 Last Day. 
 
 In Scotland the mothers tell the children that the 
 baby's hair should be burned, because else they will 
 become bald. In Oxfordshire and Ireland they bury 
 the hair. 
 
 However abstemious the natives of Donegal may be 
 in themselves, their babies as soon as born are com- 
 pelled to take a dose of spirits, and are immediately 
 afterwards suspended by the upper jaw from the 
 nurse's forefinger — ^their excuse for this proceeding is 
 that it prevents head-fall. 
 
 Never take a child into a cellar before the end of its 
 twelfth month, or it will be nervous for the rest of its 
 life; nor should it be allowed to look in the mirror 
 or it will become proud. 
 
 The mother must swallow the first tooth shed by the 
 child to ensure a new growth of teeth. 
 
 If the baby cuts its teeth early, it will grow up to 
 eat its father and mother, but if lucky enough to cut 
 its teeth late it will support its parents in their old 
 age. This is a bit of Chinese folk-lore. From the 
 same source we learn that when a child walks early 
 it will have to work hard for its living. / walked 
 early, but I am not a Chinaman. In many parts of 
 the country if a child's teeth are wide apart in the 
 jaw, it is believed to be a warning to him to seek his 
 fortune far from his native place. Other places be- 
 lieve that to wash the child's hands during the first 
 
HIS EARLY LIFE— LEGAL INFANCY 45 
 
 year will ensure the child's both living and dying 
 poor. 
 
 To possess blue veins across the nose is a bad omen 
 for the baby, as it will not live to see its one and 
 twentieth year; nor will a baby with short ears live 
 long, say the Venetians, so that it is necessary in such 
 a case for. the mother to pull them. 
 
 Babies who live over seven days will probably live 
 seven weeks, and if they live over seven weeks they 
 will live seven months; and unless something very 
 extraordinary happens the children who survive seven 
 months of this world's troubles will live seven years. 
 There is a great deal of truth in this. 
 
 Up to the end of the first two weeks of life the child 
 loses considerably in weight, often a matter of eight or 
 ten ounces, owing to the shock occasioned by the event 
 of birth, the somewhat necessary (and I am afraid 
 often unnecessary) rough handling of the doctor and 
 nurse, the exclusion from food for the first few days 
 of life, and the physiological action of the milk when 
 first secreted in the breasts, etc. 
 
 It is not our custom yet to place the newly-born 
 baby in a dug-out hole in hot sand, as the natives of 
 Tasmania used to, and those of New Guinea do to this 
 day. I am not suggesting that it should or could be 
 followed in every case, but if the child is a weakling 
 and the parents wish to preserve it, which is sometimes 
 the case with parents, then immediately after birth the 
 child should be removed to a light, airy apartment 
 already warmed and prepared for its reception. It is 
 highly important that the room should have a southern 
 aspect, the windows should be kept opened, and if there 
 
46 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 is any suspicion of congenital weakness then a tube 
 of oxygen gas should be at hand ready for use. 
 
 It is a well authenticated fact that shortly after a 
 child is born it can grasp an object, and support the 
 whole weight of its body for a short period by cling- 
 ing to the fingers of an adult. 
 
 In the early period of life all children are ambidex- 
 trous. The habit of using the' right hand in pref- 
 erence to the left is purely a matter of education, 
 or in some few instances arises from a minor in- 
 jury which occasions the choice of one hand for pre- 
 hensile acts. In Scotland it is considered very un- 
 lucky if the child first uses the left hand to grasp 
 an object. 
 
 The monkey is ambidextrous, and so are many prim- 
 itive races; of Europeans from two to four per cent, 
 are left-handed. 
 
 During the first twelve months of life the child 
 tests all things within his reach by the mouth. It is 
 his " chemical and physical laboratory," and with very 
 few exceptions infants acquire a habit of sucking a 
 finger or thumb, usually the latter, a habit which is 
 often very difficult to cure. The child himself usually 
 abandons the practice before the end of the second 
 year. If continued after that time, it then begins to 
 be harmful, and is very often the chief if not the sole 
 cause of adenoids. It may, and sometimes is, con- 
 tinued past puberty, in which case the member 
 becomes atrophied, and the child is invariably 
 phthisical. 
 
 Thumb-sucking is one of the causes of attacks of 
 infantile diarrhoea, slight attacks of which few, if any. 
 
HIS EARLY LIFE— LEGAL INFANCY 47 
 
 children escape, as if the fingers are withheld the child 
 will by hook or by crook get some other object to suck 
 or lick. 
 
 Freud says that children who are habitual thumb- 
 suckers become as adults habitual kissers, or, as men, 
 have a marked desire for drinking or smoking. 
 
 Twins — Twindles, Twyndles — are always anxious 
 subjects to rear, perhaps more especially so when they 
 are what is called a " pigeon pair," or " free martins," 
 that is brother and sister twins. 
 
 It is a popular fallacy that the female of the pair 
 will not bear children. As twins both of the same 
 sex are presented to the world in the proportion of 
 about once in every two hundred and fifty births, and 
 free martins more rarely still, corribined with the fact 
 that few of them live to maturity, and if they do, do 
 not always marry ; there is a great deal of difficulty in 
 arriving at reliable statistics. 
 
 Triplets, trines, trinnettier, or trinnatier children, 
 as they are indiscriminately called, are more un- 
 common still, and I do not believe that the world 
 can show triplets who have reached the age of 
 one-and-twenty. 
 
 An interesting case is the following, which is taken 
 from Walpoole's " British Traveller " : — 
 
 When Henry VII. went on a hunt to Barton-under-Needward, 
 in Staffordshire, a poor labouring man was presented to him 
 who was the father of triplets — three fine boys. The King 
 took compassion upon them and ordered them to be sent to a 
 Public School and afterwards to the University at his own 
 expense. One of the boys was John Taylor, a celebrated canon- 
 ist, who became Master of the Rolls, and Ambassador to France. 
 Of the other two, however, there is no record. 
 
48 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 There must be few people indeed who have not been 
 kissed as children, and the reader will probably call to 
 mind that at Rome it was the custom for the nearest 
 friend to kiss the dead or dying person for the purpose 
 of transferring the departing soul to the living. 
 
 Later, in Rome, men kissed their wives to find out 
 whether they had been drinking. 
 
 Dr. Winsenuis declared that the custom of kissing 
 was unknown in England until the year 449, when the 
 Princess Rowena, daughter to Hengist, King of Fries- 
 land, pressed her lips to the cup and saluted Vortigen 
 with a little kiss. 
 
 Erasmus, in a letter to Faustus, sets down in writ- 
 ing his opinion of Englishwomen, and the great pleas- 
 ure he took in kissing them. From his account we 
 learn that he was happy enough to live in a time when 
 the women of this country were not beautiful alone, 
 but that they both received, and returned, the kisses 
 of their male friends and acquaintances; a custom ap- 
 parently not in fashion at that time on the Continent. 
 
 John Selden (1610), in Jani Anglorum faces altera, 
 
 alludes to 
 
 " The officious kiss, the earnest of welcome which is as freely 
 admitted by our women from strangers and guests, which 
 take some particular notice of as [it is] the custom of the 
 country." 
 
 Noukios, in the time of Henry VIII., says: — 
 
 " Not only do those who are of the same family and house- 
 hold kiss them on the mouth with salutations and embraces, 
 but even those who have never seen them [before]. And to 
 themselves this appears by no means indecent." 
 
 Much as one may appreciate kissing, or being kissed 
 by a baby, or other object of affection, the kiss never- 
 
HIS EARLY LIFE— LEGAL INFANCY 49 
 
 theless has its origin in cannibalism, some trace of 
 which it is not uncommon to find, especially in women, 
 who take a mild delight in playfully biting the baby's 
 cheek. On the other hand, all babies strongly object 
 to being kissed, perhaps instinct tells them that the 
 fond mother wishes to devour her child, not only in 
 kisses. 
 
 When Captain Speke in Africa was about to kiss at 
 parting a dusky daughter of a chief whose guest he 
 had been, the young lady shrieked for fear and fled — 
 she thought he was a cannibal. 
 
 Again many parents quite properly object to their 
 children being kissed by others than near relatives, 
 from the fear of their catching some infectious dis- 
 ease, and, remarkably enough, many diseased persons 
 are particularly fond of kissing young children. 
 
 During the first epoch of infancy master baby is 
 quite happy in playing alone, he is learning the mys- 
 teries of dropping — and breaking — breakable articles, 
 and the, smashing of the best china on the floor has 
 a great attraction for the terrible infant. Wait but 
 a little while, and he is wallowing in the mud, putting 
 dirt and stones in his mouth, and splashing in the pud- 
 dles of dirty water in the garden. 
 
 Eternal confusion to the prim nurse who would 
 dress him in a pinny white as the driven snow, and 
 keep him like a doll in a toy-shop! That's not the 
 baby for me; I want the baby with a dirty face, a 
 wholesome grimy, fun-loving piccaninny, who enjoys 
 romping, and who is making the most of life. 
 
 Whichever colour of the rainbow he may be, and 
 however much his mummy loves him, the little savage 
 
so THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 must learn much without outside assistance, and what 
 he learns without a helping hand can only be by three 
 different methods. 
 
 ( 1 ) Trial and success or failure. 
 
 (2) Imitation. 
 
 (3) Intelligence. 
 
 In the trial and success method, the child learns when 
 stretching out his hand to grasp a desired object, that 
 it requires some practice before he can accuraltely gauge 
 the distance to accomplish his design. It then dawns 
 upon him (when he has grasped the object) that it 
 has a certain definite form, and he obtains some ex- 
 perience of its shape, size and other qualities. 
 
 Nos. 2 and 3 explain themselves, and are as inter- 
 esting to the child student as the former. 
 
 The almond, cakes, rice and water, dates and cocoa- 
 nuts are waved over the heads of children shortly after 
 birth in India. In Greece, China and Japan a tray 
 containing an egg, money, pen, tools, etc., is placed 
 before the child, and whichever the infant first touches 
 is an indication (as they believe) of his future career 
 or fate. Bad is his luck if he touches an egg, for he 
 will be good for nothing, but in Lincoln or York, at 
 the first house a child is taken to, it is given an egg, 
 salt and bread. Several opinions have been expressed 
 at one time or another of the custom of presenting or 
 offering a baby an egg — ^probably it is to wish the 
 child a long life. In olden times cakes were offered 
 to the moon when a child was bom, and the mothers 
 nicknamed their babies " cake-bread." Cakebread 
 was the name of a notorious female dipsomaniac in 
 the 1890's. 
 
HIS EARLY LIFE— LEGAL INFANCY Ji 
 
 If the Bantu mother eats an egg before the baby 
 is born, the child will be bald through life, and walk 
 hke a hen. 
 
 The infant Zeus was fed with the honey from the 
 sacred ash, and from bees. The same food was that 
 first given to babies by the ancient Germans. 
 
 Among the Hindus, the father puts his mouth to 
 the right ear of the newly-born child and murmurs, 
 " Speech, speech ! " three times, then names the child. 
 Then he mixes clotted milk, honey and butter, and 
 feeds the babe with it out of pure gold. 
 
 In the Highlands the nurse gives the newly-born 
 baby the sap from the ash tree as its first food. In 
 several parts of the kingdom butter and sugar is the 
 child's first food. 
 
 The future welfare of Mr. Baby depends often 
 enough upon the locality in which he is born. In one 
 particular island in Scotland so great was at one time 
 the mortality from tetanus that the expectant mother 
 was, if possible, carried to the mainland for the pur- 
 pose of increasing the census. One baby, and only 
 one, as far as I can gather, had the unusual experi- 
 ence of being born in a balloon in mid-air. This oc- 
 curred above the wicked city of Paris, and as it was 
 a French baby ought not perhaps to count for much 
 — no English baby, let us hope, would be born in any- 
 thing less exclusive than an aeroplane. Hans Chris- 
 tian Andersen was born on a bed, the frame of which 
 was originally a bier. 
 
 Poor little babies born during periods of national 
 danger and distress are not the most fortunate if sta- 
 tistics go for anything, for in France during the Rev- 
 
52 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 olution of 1798 a large proportion of children were 
 either bom, or became lunatics, or idiots, and in the 
 Revolution of 1848 an abnormal number of children 
 were prematurely born. If this conclusion is correct, 
 then England must have enjoyed exceptionally favour- 
 able circumstances in 1698, when there was a tax upon 
 births, which leads one to infer that there was not 
 only a sufficiency of births, but that the babies bom 
 were healthy ones. 
 
 Perhaps the secret of the increase in the number 
 of the Jews is due to the circumstance that having a 
 son is the deeply coveted wish of every Jewish woman, 
 in the hope that hereafter one of her descendants 
 might become the Messiah. Before the end of an- 
 other century the Jew will rule absolutely in Christen- 
 dom, due to the decreasing birth-rate among Christians. 
 
 Throughout the northern part of Europe the chil- 
 dren are told that it is the stork which brings the little 
 baby brother or sister. 
 
 Danish ladies are otten compelled to keep their beds 
 because the naughty stork which brought the new lit- 
 tle brother or sister has, with no doubt the best of 
 intentions, bitten the mother's legs. 
 
 The word stork has nothing whatever to do with 
 the Greek word aropyq (the natural affection of par- 
 ents and children). The ancient German name for a 
 stork is Adsbar, or O debaro, and means literally, 
 child- or soul-bringer. 
 
 Children — or cildra, the old English word — re- 
 mained in common use for boys at school for many 
 centuries. Child is also an old provincial name for 
 a female child (Shropshire, Cornwall, Lancashire). 
 
HIS EARLY LIFE— LEGAL INFANCY 53 
 
 The word " boy " is mentioned only on three occa- 
 sions, and girl only on two, in the Bible. The ety- 
 mology of the word " boy " is obscure, and that of 
 " girl " unknown. 
 
 Of baby songs of all lands there is an immense 
 number, though many parents prefer to court the muse 
 and compose their own. There is, however, too little 
 space in the present volume to even enumerate a re- 
 spectable selection of such lyrics. 
 
 Who was the author of " The hand that rocks the 
 
 cradle " ? Miss Kate Roberts said that the poem was 
 
 written by William Ross Wallace — she obtained her 
 
 information from Thomas J. Leigh, then an old man 
 
 of seventy-one, and she quoted one verse : — 
 
 " They say that man is mighty. 
 He governs land and sea, 
 He wields a mighty sceptre 
 O'er lesser powers that be; 
 But a mightier power, and stronger, 
 Man from his throne has hurled, 
 And the hand that rocks the cradle 
 Is the hand that rules the world." 
 
 Probably the real author of the poem was W. S. 
 Ross (" Saladin"), and it appeared many years ago 
 in the now defunct " Agnostic Journal." Not, per- 
 haps, the place every one would expect to find it in. 
 A SONG FOR WOMEN TO SING 
 
 They say man rules the universe. 
 That subject shore and main 
 Kneel down and bless the empery 
 Of his majestic reign; 
 But a sovereign, gentler, mightier, 
 Man from his throne has hurled — 
 For the hand that rocks the cradle 
 Is the hand that rifles the world, 
 
54 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 In deep mysterious conclave, 
 
 With philosophic minds 
 
 Solving portentous problems, 
 
 His bootless task man finds ; 
 
 Yet all his dreams of dare and do 
 
 To heaven's four winds are hurled — 
 
 For the hand that rocks the cradle 
 
 Is the hand that rules the world. 
 
 Amid the reel of gore and strife, 
 Behold the hero stand. 
 Behold the blade of victory 
 Clenched in his dying hand : 
 That hero hand for ages rules. 
 Mail rent, and standard furled — 
 But the hand that rocks the cradle 
 Is the hand that rules the world. 
 
 Great statesmen sway the nations. 
 
 Kings mould a people's fate. 
 
 But the unseen hand of velvet 
 
 These giants regulate. 
 
 The Nation's doom hangs on the babe 
 
 In that wee blanket curled — 
 
 And the hand that rocks the cradle 
 
 Is the hand that rules the world. 
 
 'Tis ours to bring back Eden. 
 To vanquish hate and crime, 
 'Til all curses turn to kisses 
 On the rosy path of Time. 
 Proclaim it 'neath the spangled sky, 
 The flag of God unfurled — 
 The hand that rocks the cradle 
 Is th« hand that rules the world. 
 
 " Salaoin." 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 HIS NAME 
 
 "A tower of strength is an honest name." 
 
 Bulweh-Lytton. 
 
IV 
 
 HIS NAME 
 
 In whatever part of the world a baby is born, it is 
 necessary that it should undergo a naming ceremony. 
 Among some races the name is changed at puberty, 
 or at manhood. 
 
 The inhabitants of northern Britain named their 
 sons only when they had performed sortie brave act, 
 or given some indication of their disposition and 
 character. The names of ancient Britons preserved 
 by writers of antiquity are significant in the British 
 language, and indicative of personal characteristics. 
 The Gippsland blacks name the parent after the child, 
 i. e., the father of Sammy, or whatever his name may 
 be, as they believe that by mentioning the name of a 
 person, directly, his life will be shortened. 
 
 T.he origin of the name Adam, I have heard, was 
 as follows : — 
 
 The first man that was created was called Adam. 
 
 The man God loved best was called David. 
 
 The last man that will be born will be the Messiah. 
 
 The Hebrew word is spelt in three letters, ADM, 
 the initials of the above, hence the reason why the 
 first man was called Adam. 
 
 We learn from the Koran that when Eve was ex- 
 pecting her first-born the Devil came and did just what 
 one would expect of a person of his reputation — asked 
 
 57 
 
58 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 her whether she knew what she carried, and how she 
 should be dehvered. She went to Adam in a fright; 
 he, however, was as much in the dark as Eve, and did 
 not know what to think. They were helped out of 
 their difficulty by the reappearance of the Devil, who 
 promised that, by his prayers, he would obtain a prom- 
 ise from God that she might be safely delivered of a 
 son in Adam's likeness, if they would promise to name 
 him Abdo' Chareth, or the servant of Hareth (which 
 was the Devil's name among the angels), instead of 
 Abd' Allah, or the servant of God — which Adam had 
 designed. This they did — the child was born, named, 
 and immediately died. 
 
 The names of the two children whom Jesus took up 
 in his arms were Jedida and Benjamin. The former 
 is, singularly enough, a name rarely given to children, 
 and nine out of every ten parents who name their 
 children Benjamin do so with the idea of naming him 
 after the son of Jacob. 
 
 By the ecclesiastical law the minister must not allow 
 wanton names to be given to children, and wanton 
 names may be changed by the Bishop at confirma- 
 tion. The frequently quoted case of change of name, 
 Thomas Bugg, alias Norfolk Howard, is an entire 
 fabrication from beginning to end. 
 
 " If-Jesus-Christ-had-not-died-for-thee-thou-hadst- 
 been-damned " was the full baptismal name of Dr. 
 Barebone, generally known as " Damned Dr. Bare- 
 bone," which, as his morals were none of the best, 
 appears to have been more appropriate than'his entire 
 baptismal prefix. 
 
 Napoleone Orsino, Count of Monopello (about 
 
HIS NAME 59 
 
 1370), is a curious coupling of names, as there is, so 
 far as I am aware, no connection between the Count, 
 Orsini, and Napoleon Bonaparte. 
 
 In the register of Youlgreave, Derby, 1739, the 
 vicar's entry runs as follows : — 
 
 " Baptised Charity, the daughter of the Lord knows who.'' 
 
 In the register at Hill Croome, dated June 13, 1716, 
 is the entry of a man yclept (Christian name) Tell no 
 (surname) Lyes. 
 
 Oliver Cromwell's birth and baptism are registered 
 as follows, at All Saints' Church, Huntingdon: — 
 
 "Anno Domini 1599, Oliverus filius Roberti Cromwell generosi 
 et Elizabeth huxoris ejus. Natus vicesimo quinto die April is 
 et Baptisatus vicesimo nono ejusdem mensis." Then follow, 
 " England's plague for many years," written in another hand. 
 
 Daughter was a frequent affix to a surname in the 
 sixteenth century. Geffreydaughter in the register of 
 Leigh in the year 1662. 
 
 What in the name of all that is good was the reason 
 of any one selecting "Devil" as a surname? Per- 
 haps because it was uncommon, yet it was quite a 
 fashionable one in mediaeval days among the higher 
 classes on the Continent — let us hope that the connec- 
 tion with the original owner went no further. 
 
 Very fantastic, in many cases, is the name bestowed 
 upon the little intepunk, as the d^^llers in Holderness 
 are in the habit of calling the baby, the new-fangled 
 title in many cases causing an extraordinary amount 
 of feeling among the female relatives of the bairn. 
 
 It is a very common thing to find one or more mem- 
 bers of a family bearing the same Christian name. 
 
6o THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 James IV. of Scotland and his brother, the Duke o£ 
 Ross and Marquis of Ormonde, were both called 
 James. 
 
 All the male members of the Metcalfe family were 
 yclept Theophilus, and most of the female Theophila. 
 The sixth Earl Fitz- William named all his eight boys 
 William, but we do not bargain for Caroline as a boy's 
 name, yet there was the Hon. Caroline Scott, H.M. 
 29th Regt., A.D.C. to H.R.H. Duke of Cumberland 
 in 1749. Another notable person, the Lord Mayor of 
 London in 1680, was Sir Patience Ward; but when 
 John Croke, Speaker of the House of Commons about 
 1596, gave his son a female name he took a course, 
 which has since been frequently followed, by spelling 
 the name backwards, which then read Epolenep. 
 Penelope was not the mother's name. 
 
 I had nearly neglected to mention that the last king 
 (?) of the house of Stuart, Henry IX. (Cardinal 
 York), bore the name of Henry Benedict Maria Clem- 
 ent. The third son of the fourth Duke of Hamilton 
 was called Anne, after the Queen, his godmother. The 
 fourth son of the first Earl Poulet was also named 
 Anne. 
 
 Why the parents of these exalted persons elected to 
 employ the female gender of the above names for their 
 children instead of substituting Marius and Annas, 
 which are the male synonyms, it would be hard to 
 discover. 
 
 Ethel is an Anglo-Saxon word signifying noble, 
 and is masculine in gender. 
 
 Noah was the name of a girl in Chichester, who 
 may have been named after Noah, one of the daughters 
 
HIS NAME 6i 
 
 of Zelophehad (Num. xxvii. 2), not the patriarch, but 
 the rarity of it as a female appellation is, at any rate, 
 noteworthy. To have the surname of Peace, and pos- 
 sess three daughters respectively named Faith, Hope 
 and Charity, surely falls to the lot of but few mortals 
 — let us hope that they were very good little girls. 
 
 Mailliw is a common way of spelHng William as a 
 female name, but girls more frequently own boys' 
 names than vice versa, sometimes they are herma- 
 phroditic, as witness Miss Nicholas Ann Aitken. By 
 the way, Flora Macdonald's name was not Flora at all, 
 but Flory, and she always signed herself Flory Mac- 
 donald. 
 
 It is common enough to come across children chris- 
 tened "Earl," "Duke," "Lord," "Lady," etc., and 
 in remote parts of England to this day the seventh 
 son is named " Doctor," and the seventh daughter 
 " Doctress," and when old enough are frequently con- 
 sulted on medical matters by country people. Never- 
 theless, uncommon as many names are, only once have 
 I come across the name of Lilith. What was the 
 mother's idea? I could never learn; she was certainly 
 not a Jewess, because when a birth is expected the 
 Jews are careful to inscribe on the walls of the lying- 
 in chamber, "Avaunt Lilith." Lilith, one of the 
 Devil's wives, and mother of the worst devil ever 
 conceived, is a spirit inimical to children. Nor can 
 much better be said for the wits of the parent of 
 Herod Gurney, whose tombstone is still in existence, 
 I believe, in Winick Churchyard, Northamptonshire. 
 
 What excuse can be made for a woman whose Chris- 
 tian name was Verily, who having so small a collec- 
 
62 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 tion of female names in her cranium actually selected 
 "Verily Verily" as her daughter's cognomen? 
 
 Hilda is not derived from Hild — a. battle — says 
 Skeat, but is a bad monkish-Latin form of a native 
 English word, which must be very disappointing to 
 those parents who have given their daughters this 
 pretty name under the impression that it was a mar- 
 tial one. 
 
 Nor does the fault always lie with the parents, and 
 it must be with some surprise that a stranger hears 
 for the first time the names of some of the old West 
 Indian soldiers, who at one time upon enlisting were 
 named after distinguished naval and military officers. 
 This, however, was stopped in the late Queen Victo- 
 ria's reign, but there must be many copper-coloured 
 West Indians now living bearing very distinguished 
 names. 
 
 Easy to please must have been the parent or parents 
 in the following instance, for they ran nearly through 
 the whole alphabet, unless, which is unlikely, they had 
 so large a female circle and named the child after them. 
 
 Ann, Bertha, Cecilia, Diana, Emily, Fanny, Ger- 
 trude, Hypatia, Inex, Jane, Kate, Louisa, Maud, 
 Nora, Ophelia, Quince, Rebecca, Starkey, Ulysis, 
 Venus, Winifred, Xenophon, Yeni, Zeus — child of 
 Arthur Pepper, a laundr}Tiian, and his wife Sarah, 
 bom December 19, 1882, ^^'^est Derby, Liverpool. 
 
 To learn that Christ is a favourite name for Hun- 
 garian boys causes little wonderment after the fore- 
 going examples, but we fail to fathom why in the 
 sixteenth century infants baptised by the midwife were 
 called " creatures of Christ," or " children of God," 
 
HIS NAME 63 
 
 nor why the latter term should have been commonly 
 applied to illegitimate children — filius, or filia populi, 
 or mundi, as these children were called in the follow- 
 ing century, seems more appropriate. 
 
 Upon the other hand, according to "the Ameri- 
 cans," the United States possessed families who had 
 apparently insuperable difficulties in finding Christian 
 names appropriate to their offspring. 
 
 A Mr. and Mrs. Stickney were driven to such a 
 desperate course as to name their three sons, One, 
 Two, Three; and their three daughters First, Second, 
 Third. 
 
 Another family managed all right with the first 
 baby's name, and triumphantly called him — Joseph. 
 
 When the next baby came the parents must have 
 peeped in to futurity for they named him — And. 
 
 Their anxiety was relieved by the appearance of 
 another child, whom they called — Another. Had they 
 been still further blessed with more children, it is said 
 that the parents had decided to call them — Also, 
 Moreover, Nevertheless, and Notwithstanding. 
 
 One happy couple met with a great surprise. They 
 had a child which they called Finis. Then they had 
 three more children born to them, a daughter and two 
 sons. They were equal to the emergency and named 
 them Addenda, Appendix, and Supplement respec- 
 tively. 
 
 The superstition attached to the caul is very ancient, 
 and was prevalent in the days of the Roman Empire 
 — it is firmly believed in Burmah. 
 
 Sir Thomas Browne says that in his day a caul was 
 worth from £2 ids. to twenty guineas, a desideratum 
 
04 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 to a poor family. Not many years ago I remember 
 seeing one advertised in " The Bazaar," I believe, at 
 £2. In Germany it was held that a child bom in a 
 helmet, or caul, could see spirits ; in England the child 
 was powerful against the supernatural, and the same 
 ideas prevailed if a child were bom under a lucky star, 
 with a tooth, or a grey lock. In some parts of Eng- 
 land, however, a child bom with a tooth was supposed 
 to die early. A caul was variously known as a haly, 
 sely, or silly how, that is, a holy or fortunate cap. 
 
 I suppose that every one knows, without receiving 
 further information from me, that the value of a caul 
 lay in its virtue of being a positive safeguard against 
 drowning; and as few sailors could, or can, swim, a 
 caul became a most desirable acquisition. Suffolk 
 mothers, who were lucky enough to have borne chil- 
 dren in a caul, carefully kept them, believing that as 
 they became moist or dry it was an indication whether 
 the child was ill or well in whatever part of the world 
 the children might be. A lawyer in France who pos- 
 sessed a caul could not escape being eloquent. 
 
 Belchild was a name given indiscriminately to a 
 grandson, son-in-law, stepson, or godchild. 
 
 Imp (an abbreviation of impubes, one who has not 
 arrived at puberty) was a word in very common use. 
 " Royal imp " has been used in a prayer for the son 
 of a monarch ( " beloved son Edward our prince, that 
 most angelic imp." — " Pathway unto Prayer," Bacon), 
 and in Bishop Parkhurst's letter to the Norwich alder- 
 men (1573) we find " special care of the youth of the 
 diocese, as the imps that by God's grace may suc- 
 ceed us." 
 
His name 
 
 6s 
 
 Slang is the most attractive language to nursemaids 
 of every degree, and practically every part of the 
 baby's body is dubbed by the fond mother or nurse 
 with a nom de plume, the fingers and toes being spe- 
 cially provided for. Passing over " This little pig 
 went to market," or " This little cow gives good milk " 
 (the Chinese equivalent), a lucid and ingenious strata- 
 gem for amusing the child and at the same time teach- 
 ing it the distinction between the different digits on 
 the feet and hands, the following are the more ordi- 
 nary nursery names for them : 
 
 TOES 
 Great Toe, or Tom Toe Tom Barker. Toe Tipe. Harry 
 
 Whistle. 
 ... Long Rachel. Perry or Penny wipe. 
 
 Tommy Thistle. 
 . . . Minnie Wilkin. Tommy Tistle 
 
 (Thistle). Harry Wibble. 
 . . . Milly Larkin. Billy Whistle. Tommy 
 
 Thibble. 
 . . . Little Dick. Trippingo (Tripping 
 
 go). Little Oker Bell. 
 
 Second Toe 
 
 Third Toe 
 
 Fourth Toe 
 
 Little Toe 
 
 FINGERS 
 Tommy Tomkins. Bill Milker. Tom 
 
 Thumper. 
 Billy Wilkins. Tom Thumper. Ben 
 
 Bumper. 
 Long Larum. Long Lazy. Long 
 
 Nation. 
 Betsy Bedlam, Cherry Bumper, 
 
 Tem'tation (Temptation). 
 Little Bob. Tippity, Tippity-Town- 
 
 end. Little man o' war, war, 
 
 war. 
 
 A child born with webbed toes is bound to be lucky. 
 Reference to the works of the late (always to be 
 
 Thumb 
 
 Forefinger 
 
 Third Finger . . . 
 
 Fourth Finger . . . 
 
 Little Finger (Pinkie) 
 
66 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 lamented), Professors Max Miiller and Skeat throws 
 no light whatever on the above curious names. 
 
 All the fingers were sacred to deities — the thumb 
 to Venus; the index to Mars; the third finger to 
 Saturn; the fourth to Sun; the fifth to Mercury. 
 
 What has not served as a cradle, and what has not 
 served as a cradle song. 
 
 A cradle is mentioned among the earliest writings. 
 
 Probably it was at first designed so that it could be 
 either carried on the back or laid on the floor, and was 
 made of reeds, or twigs, as many cradles are to-day; 
 its derivation indeed is old English: cradol, cradel — 
 a little basket. 
 
 I suppose the reader knows that if during the 
 mayor's term of office there is an addition to his fam- 
 ily he is presented with a silver cradle as a solatium. 
 This silver cradle is really a piece of silver plate. In 
 ancient times a cradle of clay was presented to the 
 parents on the event of a birth, perhaps because it 
 was cheap ! 
 
 In the seventeenth century miniature cradles of clay 
 were manufactured and given as a joke to newly-mar- 
 ried couples, or to the child as a christening present. 
 
 The silver cradle presented to the Mayor of Belfast 
 in 1882 was in the shape of a canoe. 
 
 Tradition says that the pulpit of the Venerable Bede 
 (who probably never used one) was put aside after 
 being demolished for the purpose of being made into 
 a cradle. The same veracious authority states that 
 Baxter's pulpit actually served as " the bedrock of 
 humanity." The cradle must not be rocked when 
 
HIS NAME 67 
 
 empty, or it soon will be, nor may it be carried by two 
 persons, because two would move a child's coffin. 
 
 In some parts of Greece in ancient times it was cus- 
 tomary for mothers to make a cradle of a thing bearing 
 some resemblance to whatever sort of life the children 
 were designed for; such as conveniences to win- 
 now corn, which were designed as omens of future 
 wealth. 
 
 Of elder wood a cradle should never be made. Tra- 
 dition says that once upon a time the elder-mother 
 pulled a baby by the legs and annoyed it in a variety 
 of ways until it was taken out of its elder wood cradle. 
 
 A man's coat laid over the child or its cradle is a 
 fine counter-charm to the fairies' spells. 
 
 The establishment of the royal nursery in 1779 was 
 a somewhat extensive one, consisting as it did of the 
 following : — 
 
 Governess, Lady Charlotte Finch; salary, £600. 
 
 Sub-governess, £300. 
 
 French teacher, £300. 
 
 English teacher, £100. 
 
 Eight wet nurses, who had an annuity of £200 p.a. each. 
 
 Dresser to the Princesses. 
 
 Dry nurse to the Princesses. 
 
 Dry nurse to the Princes. 
 
 Two rockers. 
 
 Nurserymaid. 
 
 Washerwoman to the Princesses. 
 
 Washerwoman to the Princes. 
 
 At one time in the history of our beloved country 
 it was the custom for the nurse to take the child a 
 day or two after birth to the parsonage to have it 
 registered. She was given a shilling for making the 
 
68 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 entry in the register, and if she were a cross between 
 a Bacchanal and a Christian her scruples vanished at 
 a convenient public-house, and she arrived at the par- 
 sonage gloriously drunk, with the result that she forgot 
 both the sex and name of the child. Hence it 
 happened that many children were registered as be- 
 longing to the opposite sex. In a Beverley register 
 a writer records, after an entry of the baptism of three 
 children, that he has blotted out the register because 
 the mother came to the parson "with a lye in her 
 mouth," and he did not believe that they had been 
 baptised anywhere. 
 
 I really do not know where to find " a sickening 
 cake " in these days of degeneration, although it is 
 not so very many years since they were common 
 enough. Certainly I have never cut one myself. 
 
 The sickening cake was a comestible containing 
 nitrogeneous and indigestible ingredients in no way 
 differing from the ordinary article of confectionery. 
 At the birth the first slice was cut into small pieces 
 by the doctor, and was used as " dreaming-bread " by 
 unmarried ladies. To use it as a successful charm, 
 the bashful virgin must place her piece in the foot of 
 her left stocking, and throw it over her right shoulder. 
 Which is quite a simple matter ! More difficult, how- 
 ever, is it that the anxious enquirer should retire to, 
 and get into, bed backwards without speaking, and fall 
 asleep before twelve o'clock, when in her dreams her 
 future partner will appear. I have never known this 
 charm to fail — or be successful! 
 
 " The christening bit " consists of pieces of cheese, 
 biscuit and gingerbread, the presentation of which to 
 
HIS NAME 69 
 
 the first stranger met after a christening ceremony is 
 an old Edinburgh custom. 
 
 The christening cake (" fuggan cake," so-called in 
 Cornwall) is, or was but a few years ago, made for, 
 and presented to, the first person the christening party 
 met on its return from the ceremony. In most parts 
 of the country it was believed that the child would in- 
 herit the good or bad qualities of the man or woman 
 who received the cake. It was a very extensive 
 practice. 
 
 The christening tongs are like ordinary sugar tongs 
 in shape, and represent a stork standing upright — 
 when open, the body (which is hollow) discloses the 
 image of a baby. It is, of course, of Teutonic origin, 
 the connection between stork and baby being suffi- 
 cient proof. 
 
 It seems a weird thing that the counterpane which 
 covered the bed of Charles I. the night before his 
 execution, and which is made of rich thick blue satin 
 embroidered with gold and silver thread, serves as a 
 christening mantle to the Champneys of Orchardleigh, 
 near Frome. 
 
 The important ceremony of christening has always 
 been an occasion for rejoicing, and the following is a 
 good example of the customary high jinks of the day: 
 
 ■' A Bill of Fare at the Christening of 
 
 Mr. Constable's child, Rector of Cockley Cley, in 
 
 Norfolk, January 2, 1682." 
 
 (i) A whole hog's head souc'd with carrots in the mouth, and 
 pendants in the ears, with guilded oranges thick sett. 
 
 (2) 2 Oxs cheekes stewed with 6 marrow bones. 
 
 (3) A leg of Veal larded with 6 pullets. 
 
 (4) A leg of Mutton with 6 rabbits. 
 
70 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 (5) A chine of bief, chine of venison, chine of mutton, chine 
 
 of veal, chine of pork, supported by 4 men. 
 
 (6) A Venison Pasty. 
 
 (7) A great minced pye, with 12 small ones about it. 
 
 (8) A gelt fat turkey with 6 capons. 
 
 (9) A bustard with 6 pluver. 
 
 (10) A pheasant with 6 woodcock. 
 
 (11) A great dish of tarts made all of sweetmeats. 
 
 (12) A Westphalia hamm with 6 tongues. 
 
 (13) A Jowle of Sturgeon. 
 
 (14) A great charg"^ of all sorts of sweetmeats with wine, and 
 
 all sorts of liquors answerable. 
 
 The venerable quill-driver goes on to add that " soon 
 after the child dy'd, and the funerall expences came 
 to 6d." 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 HIS ENVIRONMENT 
 
 The three great factors in life are good health, good appetxte, 
 and good clothes. 
 
HIS ENVIRONMENT 
 
 When children were ill, and when doctors were called 
 leeches, wise women, white witches, and cunning men 
 physicked unfortunate children with horrible com- 
 pounds too disgusting to even think about. The nas- 
 tier a drug was, the more potent. But whether a 
 good shot or arising from practical knowledge on the 
 part of the ancient physicians, their prototypes are 
 now prescribing similar animal extracts. 
 
 Of favourite drugs for children some of the most 
 popular were — the maidenhair fern, the polypods, and 
 the hart's tongue. Among the more disagreeable 
 were — earthworms for bruises, hare's brains as a seda- 
 tive; swallows smashed to a jelly, a sovereign remedy 
 for all aches. Live pigeons ripped up and the pal- 
 pitating bodies placed on the feet were of great virtue 
 for fevers. Beer with a white hot flint stone dropped 
 into it; the sole of an old stocking; goose dung; rotten 
 apple; and even candle drippings were among the 
 nasty messes that unfortunate children were com- 
 pelled to swallow as a penalty for being ill. 
 
 Charles II. was no doctor's friend. As a child of 
 nine or ten his objection to physic was so great that 
 his mother felt compelled to write as follows : — 
 
 73 
 
74 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE LH11.U 
 
 "Charles, I am sore that I must begin my first letter with 
 chiding you, because I heere that you will not take physicke. 
 ... If you will not, I must come to you, and make you take it, 
 for it is for your healthe." 
 
 ^Vhen we consider the extraordinary virtues snakes 
 were supposed to possess, that adders are now scarce 
 creates little astonishment; indeed it is surprising to 
 find reptiles of any description more numerous here 
 than in the Green Isle. 
 
 ]\Iany unfortunate persons were supposed to be 
 bewitched, and of these many were doubtless suffering 
 from consumption. Perhaps the baby had an attack 
 of indigestion, commonly known as the gripes; or a 
 fit of convulsions — whichever it might have been the 
 terrified mother often believed that her baby had been 
 bewitched, or, as she called it, " overlooked," and woe 
 betide the unfortunate mite if she thought it had been 
 stolen by the fairies and a fairy child substituted. 
 That poor baby was in for trouble — ^he might survive 
 the priest's prayers, but the dreadful old wise woman, 
 or white witch, was a terror. Sometimes, without 
 giving him a choice in the matter, his natural guardians 
 sat the supposed fairy child on a hot shovel, or ducked 
 him several times in the river or pond, and so ended 
 his career. 
 
 Quite a favourite antidote in Ireland was to force 
 bushmore (digitalis, a rank poison) and gruel into the 
 changeling. 
 
 The patroness of sufferers from aching molars is 
 St. Appolonia, and the following extract from the 
 "Conflict of Conscience" (1581) was a one-time 
 popular charm : — 
 
HIS ENVIRONMENT 75 
 
 " It is for a prayer mastres my demandyng, 
 That is sayd ye hawe of Saynt Appolyne, 
 For the toothake wher of this man is in pyne." 
 
 On the authority of Shakespeare we learn that 
 even philosophy was beyond affording adequate 
 assistance, still it is said that Pascal cured his toothache 
 by learning mathematics, a method unadvisable in 
 the case of very young children. 
 
 The Irish charm for toothache will appeal to all 
 lovers of uncleanliness, I put it down with the pride 
 of one recording so estimable a device — don't wash on 
 Friday. 
 
 My deluded parents were unfortunately ignorant 
 of this magic spell, therefore I suffered occasionally 
 from toothache. St. Paul's thorn in the flesh is 
 supposed to have been toothache, and as it was a 
 very frequent complaint among our forefathers there 
 was a great number of charms. The cause of the 
 complaint was almost universally believed to be a 
 worm. 
 
 " If your teeth you hap to be tormented 
 By some little wormes therein do breed. 
 Which pain (if need be tane) maybe prevented 
 By keeping cleane your teeth, when you do feede; 
 Burn Francomsence (a gum not evil scented). 
 Put Henbane into this and Onyon seed, 
 And will a tunnel to the tooth that's hollow, 
 Convey the smoke .thereof, and ease shall follow.'' 
 
 Another rhyme connects St. Paul, or St. Peter, 
 with the toothache cured by Our Lord, and the 
 venerable sorceress (who concocted the rhyme) 
 claimed to cure this ill, because she was one of the few 
 
76 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 who were able to find the hnes in the Bible, a fact 
 she accomplished by first placing them there. 
 
 A superstitious mother would, directly after the 
 child was baptised, wash out her baby's mouth with 
 the holy water to prevent teething troubles and 
 future toothache, for nothing else is teething troubles 
 but toothache. 
 
 The Bulgarians believe that if you hold a bit of 
 iron between your teeth, when the Sabbath bells are 
 ringing the pain will cease. 
 
 The mother's remedy, from the time when wedding 
 rings and thimbles were first invented, is to rub the 
 child's gums with one or another of these useful 
 articles. 
 
 In 1 71 7 there was published " A Philosophical Essay 
 upon the Celebrated Anodyne Necklace." This neck- 
 lace consisted of artificial beads, looking like small 
 barley corns, and there was a ready sale for them, the 
 price being five shillings only. George Primrose, who 
 went to Amsterdam to teach Dutchmen English, 
 without recollecting that he should first know some- 
 thing of Dutch himself, says : " May I die by an 
 anodyne necklace, but I had rather be an under- 
 turnkey than an usher in a boarding school." 
 
 Other charms for toothache were — driving a nail 
 into an oak tree; biting off the ground the first fern 
 that appears in spring; and a second, confirmation. 
 
 In very ancient days the teeth of bears and other 
 animals were bored and made into necklaces, probably 
 to assist in teething. 
 
 For whooping-cough the most curious charms which 
 I can think of were — ^passing the child through a 
 
HIS ENVIRONMENT . 7; 
 
 Stone with a hole in it; passing a child round a special 
 stone, i.e., the Crick stone at Madron, Cornwall ; pass- 
 ing the child under a donkey's belly; donkey's hair 
 dried, and made into a powder and,swallowed : the don- 
 key's hair was taken from the back of the neck, where 
 there is some resemblance to a cross — for a boy, the 
 hair was that of a female donkey ; for a girl, that of a 
 male. 
 
 Universally the idea of the tiansference of disease 
 was in favour, so the mother cut off some of the 
 child's hair, and putting a hair or two between pieces 
 of bread and butter gave it to a dog — which often made 
 the animal cough, and the parent imagine the disease 
 transferred to the dog! Sometimes the child was 
 passed over a fire, or through the split trunk of a tree 
 — the same charm being used for rupture. After a 
 child had been passed through a cleft tree, his life was 
 supposed to be intimately bound up with the fortunes 
 of the tree. Devout parents carried the child into 
 three separate parishes, fasting, on Sunday morning. 
 
 A toadstone ring (the fossil palatal tooth of a species 
 of ray) was supposed to protect new-born babies and 
 their mothers from the power of fairies. 
 
 To prevent the child becoming a changeling the 
 Chinese mamma burns a dried banana skin to ashes, 
 which she mixes with water, and then paints a cross 
 on the baby's forehead. 
 
 Thrush is cured (?) in Scotland by the mother 
 repeating the second verse of the eighth Psalm on three 
 consecutive mornings. In some parts of the country 
 the mother puts the head of a fish or frog in the baby's 
 mouth to transfer the disease to the lower animal. 
 
78 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 For fevers, " Abracadabra " repeated over the patient 
 was a potent remedy, and some of the child's hair 
 in a piece of bread and given to the donkey to eat is 
 supposed to haye cured a great many of scarlet fever. 
 Hiccough is very easily subdued, the sufferer has only 
 to cross the front of the left foot with the forefinger 
 of the right hand whilst repeating the Lord's Prayer 
 backwards. Try it. 
 
 The Irish used a draught consisting of sheep's dung, 
 water, porter and sulphur for measles. In 1878 a 
 great many young children were permanently relieved 
 from all further ills by the above prescription. 
 
 Among the cures for bad eyesight are — snails 
 crushed and applied as a poultice to the eyes; eye- 
 bright (euphrasia) powdered, and mixed with sugar, 
 taken internally. But if you have a stye, then by all 
 means rub it with the cat's tail. 
 
 The ears of babies are pierced, and gold wire in- 
 serted soon after birth, in Spain, with the object of pre- 
 serving the eyesight. At manhood the gold wires are 
 removed. Eye troubles are very rare in Spain. 
 
 In Portugal the ears are pierced when at the age of 
 three weeks; in Italy at eighteen months; in France 
 at three years of age. 
 
 To protect the baby from the influence of the fairies, 
 leave an open Bible beside the child's cradle. 
 
 The plague spoon is a cowry shell set in silver. 
 Medicine taken from this spoon was an infallible 
 remedy. 
 
 Castor oil, which delights not the palate of the 
 little Englishman, finds favour in the sight of the 
 
HIS ENVIRONMENT 79 
 
 Berbers, who anoint their Hmbs with it, and with which 
 the fellahin of the Said flavour their bread and 
 vegetables. 
 
 The Egyptians of the Pharaonic age preferred it 
 before all others for anointing their bodies, and for 
 culinary purposes. Truly hath it been said that there 
 is no accounting for taste. 
 
 The precautions taken by mothers against the 
 malevolent designs of the evil eye are almost incredible. 
 The little piece of lace or muslin which the sedate 
 nursemaid or nurse places on the baby's face when out 
 fo«" an airing is a survival of this superstition, and if 
 the English nursemaid does not know this, the Suther- 
 land mothers and nurses do. 
 
 So particular are the precautions taken among the 
 Moors to preserve male children against the evil eye 
 that the mortality is enormous — it is much less in the 
 case of girls, who are considered less valuable, and 
 receive less attention. 
 
 Before looking at a baby in Greece the mother may 
 request you to spit on it three times, as a preventive 
 in case you possess the evil eye. The same custom 
 obtains in many countries. 
 
 The origin of using spittle as a charm is very ob- 
 scure. We know that Our Lord used it in anointing 
 the blind man's eye with clay ; we know that the lower 
 classes spit upon money for luck, spit on the ground 
 for luck. In Connemara as soon as a baby is born 
 the nurse spits upon it. Among the Mandingoes when 
 a child is named, which is at eight years of age, all 
 the company spit three times in his face. In the 
 
So THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 ordinary Roman baptism of to-day the priest exor- 
 cises with spittle the ears and nostrils of the infant. 
 
 Possibly the reason why spitting is held in such 
 disrepute in Protestant countries arises from the 
 Reformation. 
 
 In Turkey, among both Christians and Moham- 
 medans, when a child is bom it is immediately loaded 
 with amulets, and a bit of soft mud, properly prepared 
 by previous charms, is stuck upon its forehead to 
 obviate the effects of the evil eye. 
 
 The skin of a hyena, the kernel of the fruit of the 
 palm tree, necklaces, the key of the house door, etc., 
 hung over the cradle — all these act as remedies against 
 the evil eye. 
 
 The coral is an amulet — note the shape — ^while the 
 silver and bells symbolise Diana. The coral is sup- 
 posed to turn pale when the wearer is unwell. 
 
 The wolf's tooth attached to the body of an infant 
 prevents its being startled — and acts as a preventive 
 of teething troubles. In Naples a sprig of rue is a 
 charm (against the evil eye) frequently seen on the 
 breasts of infants. 
 
 The profusion of jewels worn by Hindoo, Arabian 
 and Turkish children are all charms against the same 
 evil. 
 
 One of the oldest charms is the niano in fica worn 
 by little Italian children. It is called turpicula res 
 — an ugly thing. It is hung round the child's neck, 
 where it also serves to cut the teeth. It is a model of 
 a wrist and hand with the thumb thrust between the 
 index and middle finger. 
 
 This is not the place for a fuller description of 
 
HIS ENVIRONMENT 8l 
 
 charms and amulets, which may be found in works 
 specially devoted to that subject. 
 
 Red was a medicinal colour of great repute. John 
 de Gaddessden, author of the " Medical Ro$e," cured 
 the son of Edward II. by wrapping him up in scarlet 
 cloth and hanging scarlet curtains round the bed. 
 
 Red is an obnoxious colour to evil spirits all over 
 the world. 
 
 Pere Elisee, surgeon to Louis XVI., declared that 
 the reason why so many English children had water 
 on the brain was the infamous custom of shaking and 
 tossing them before the head was properly supported 
 by the muscles of the neck. 
 
 Another quite original idea occurs in " Hope Ever- 
 more," a temperance tale published in " Cassell's 
 Illustrated Family Paper," 1858. The writer says, 
 "No child of Apple Blossom's had died of water on 
 the brain since Bob had given up drink." 
 
 The author had a remarkable idea of what a healthy 
 child should look like, as he describes a three months' 
 infant as follows : — " Its sweet round face was as 
 clear and white as porcelain, and it had large, loving 
 black eyes and rosy, dimpled lips." 
 
 From the description it appears quite likely that 
 this child also had water on the brain. 
 
 King's evil, or scrofula, was a very common disease 
 indeed. Charles II. touched 92,107 persons, and in 
 doing so possibly lost some of his personal virtue. 
 Cromwell, whose virtues are questioned, failed miser- 
 ably, but of seventh sons and seventh daughters and 
 other true and spurious practitioners of healing, the 
 number must have been enormous — nor were they 
 
82 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 always unsuccessful. It is well to remember the 
 marvels of faith ! Dr. Johnson was touched by Queen 
 Anne. 
 
 Often one finds among a mass of folk-lore some 
 grains of common sense. In the old Cornish, Norfolk, 
 and Sussex belief that a kitten and a baby in the same 
 house cannot thrive, there is a good deal of truth. 
 The cat tribe are peculiarly susceptible to phthisis, 
 diphtheria, and other infectious diseases. The blood 
 of a black cat is said to be good for shingles. 
 
 At the end of the fifteenth or the beginning of the 
 sixteenth century overlying a baby was a serious matter 
 as regards the church : — " Also if there be any women 
 that doo oppresse there children in leyng of them yn 
 the bedde w* them. If ye knowe any suche ye shall 
 p'nt them." {Ante Reformation archdeacon's charge 
 and inquisition, relating to the diocese of Salisbury.) 
 
 The custom of dressing boys as girls with the design 
 of circumventing evil spirits was at one time practically 
 universal, being followed in Aran, Ireland; in Maker 
 Island, Zuyder Zee; in Egypt; in China; and in situ- 
 ations widely distant, and among peoples differing 
 almost as much in social habits. In Achill Island as 
 late as the year 1900 (even if not now observed) boys 
 were dressed as girls up to the age of fourteen in order 
 to escape the boy-seeking-devil ! 
 
 It may be asked, " Has this dressing of boys as girls 
 anything to do with the genesis of the kilt ? " I 
 think we can safely answer that it has not. The 
 breacan feile was a piece of tartan four to six yards 
 in length and two yards wide, which was adjusted 
 somewhat like the Roman toga, but that it was folded 
 
HIS ENVIRONMENT 83 
 
 round the waist in plaits, and bound round the middle 
 with a leathern belt, so that while there were foldings 
 behind, the cloth was doubled in front. The upper 
 part was fastened on the left shoulder with a brooch 
 or pin, the two upper ends hanging down; while 
 usually the longer one, that on the right side was 
 tucked into the belt. The dress is said to have been 
 introduced into Scotland from Flanders. 
 
 The first modern kilt and plaid in the British Army 
 is said to have been manufactured by General Wolfe's 
 regimental tailors. They were possibly copied from 
 those of Thomas Rawlinson, an Englishman, who it 
 is affirmed introduced the short kilt into Scotland in 
 1728. The word " kilt " is of Scandinavian origin, 
 from the Danish " kilte," to tuck up. 
 
 The Teutons of Germany, the Celts of Gaul, the 
 ancient Welsh and Irish wore the kilt. It character- 
 ised the Celtic parts of Great Britain with the exception 
 of Cornwall and Devon, and it is the most comfortable 
 of costumes to wear. 
 
 In Wesley's time all the male population over three 
 years of age wore cocked hats. Wesley said, " I don't 
 like my preachers to wear round hats; they look too 
 buckish." 
 
 Until Elizabeth's reign schoolboys wore neither 
 caps nor hats. 
 
 Hats were abolished at the Bluecoat School about 
 1865. 
 
 In 1840 little boys wore nankeen trousers, white 
 waistcoats, green coats, frilled shirt collars, turned 
 open over the shoulders, white stockings, and pumps. 
 
 Little girls wore low necked, short-sleeved frocks. 
 
84 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 with their hair in pigtails, their legs in frilled trousers, 
 and white socks, and their feet in sandals. 
 
 In early times perforated teeth and bones probably 
 took the place of the button of to-day. 
 
 The little boy who was a true English boy drank 
 his beer at breakfast, dinner and supper. This beer, 
 however, was a right good wholesome drink which 
 the publican of to-day has no idea of. 
 
 In 1760 the thanks of the governors of the work- 
 house of Dublin were presented to Lady Arabella 
 Denny for her unremitting attention to the fovmdling 
 children, but particularly for a clock put up at her lady- 
 ship's expense in the nursery which struck every 
 twenty minutes, at which intervals of time the infants 
 were to be fed, unless they were asleep. They must 
 have had stomachs of iron. 
 
 Nowadays a boy usually takes a certificate of good 
 health to school with him, but there was a time when 
 one condition of admission to the " Freemason's 
 School " was that the applicant had suffered from 
 small-pox. I am afraid it would be a very exclusive 
 school in these days which admitted boys on that 
 condition. 
 
 The plague was a cause of considerable anxiety in 
 the schoolmaster's mind. As late as the year 1721 
 a boy at Eton was flogged for not smoking tobacco as 
 a preventive. It would be superfluous to make known 
 the number of youths who have undergone discipline 
 for a very different reason. Smoking undoubtedly 
 has a very serious effect in the case of boys. On the 
 whole it is better for him to suck too much of Callard 
 §L Bowser's butter-scotch, or some other good sweet. 
 
HIS ENVIRONMENT 8s 
 
 On Christmas Day the little Englishman was 
 allowed a good time, but the poor little French boy 
 was forbidden to eat meat in order to escape fevers; 
 no plums, and, therefore, no mince-pies or plum- 
 pudding, or ulcers might follow; and as a climax, 
 to avert fevers and toothache, he was compelled to 
 take a bath ! 
 
 In the ninth century eggs were prohibited in Lent, 
 but chicken — owing to the, belief that fowls and fish 
 had a common origin — was allowed. 
 
 In the reign of Edward I. the most costly fish, in 
 Lent, was the porpoise, which fetched 6s. 8d. in Bil- 
 lingsgate. The boy who tasted this fish came of de- 
 cent people. The whale, grampus and sea-wolf were 
 other fish in demand. 
 
 In Edward III.'s reign herrings cost nearly a penny 
 apiece during Lent. 
 
 Fish diet was supposed to be the cause of leprosy, 
 and although it has been frequently stated that in the 
 indentures of apprenticeship, both in England and 
 Scotland, the appearance of salmon on the table was 
 restricted to two or three times a week, unfortunately 
 no one has been able to produce one of these 
 indentures. 
 
 The Puritans, not satisfied with the scarcity of 
 vegetables,^ forbade their children eating potatoes 
 because they were not mentioned in the Bible ! 
 
 The little French or German boy knows the taste 
 of horseflesh, the little English boy knows it only 
 under its more euphonious designation of " Ham and 
 chicken," or " turkey and tongue " paste. Few of 
 them are aware probably that before Christianity 
 
86 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 became the predominant religion of the land the 
 little heathen Enghsh boy was probably very fond 
 indeed of horseflesh — when he could get it. It was 
 a very common article of food down to the close of the 
 eighth century, when it was prohibited by one of the 
 Popes. So just as a broad brimmed hat became the 
 symbol of Quakerism, so the eating of horseflesh was 
 for many centuries connected with paganism, and 
 until recent years, with the exception of Icelanders, 
 no Christian would touch it. 
 
 According to the late Professor Autenrieth it is 
 possible to make a palatable quartern loaf out of a 
 deal board. 
 
 During war time in northern Europe sawdust 
 has served the useful purpose of ordinary flour, and 
 might still be in vogue but that it is impossible to 
 deprive it of its special flavour. Still there were no 
 doubt times when hungry boys and girls carefully 
 scraped the crumbs off the table. 
 
 Earthworms, slugs and snails have all at one time 
 or another taken a place in the diet-sheet of children. 
 As I write now there is a shop in Bristol where edible 
 snails are on sale. Slugs are well known as being most 
 nutritious. In 1774 in Scotland a woman was con- 
 victed of witchcraft. The suspicion was caused be- 
 cause her family, although very poor, were in such 
 good condition. She was actually tortured, and con- 
 fessed to witchery. Fletcher of Saltoun went to the 
 jail, and promised her liberty if she told the truth. 
 She had fed the children on snails, of which they found 
 barrels filled at her home. 
 
 Pig's marrow was abstained from by the Egyptian 
 
HIS ENVIRONMENT 87 
 
 priests (and Englishmen) under the impression that 
 it would drive them mad. 
 
 Westminster boys were proficient in the art of 
 making toast. When coal came into common use we 
 lost what was previously a national dish, and one which 
 every schoolboy could, and most of them did, cook at 
 one time or another — roasting eggs in hot wood ashes. 
 It is only with a wood fire that one can do this, but 
 it is a dish worth trying, and was a very common one 
 among the Winchester boys as late as the earlier part 
 of the nineteenth century. 
 
 In German nurseries the children believe that Easter 
 eggs are laid by hares, and in Lincolnshire the hare 
 itself is the Easter emblem. The hare, according to 
 the legend, was a bird which Ostara (the Anglo-Saxon 
 Eastre, or Eostre) transformed into a hare. In grate- 
 ful remembrance of its former state it lays eggs on the 
 festival of Ostara. 
 
 The " Manus Christi " (that is, drops of treacle) 
 was a dish much appreciated in the days when sugar 
 was a luxury of the rich. The mothers of very few 
 boys were rich enough to make them jumbols, a 
 sweet-cake very much like the almond paste on the 
 wedding cake, which was shaped like a knot and iced 
 over. 
 
 But the poor boys trapped small birds, which made 
 the most delicate of dishes (as I can testify), and they 
 " victualled free " on hedgehogs, snails, and other 
 small fry which for the majority of us are undis- 
 covered dishes, and very likely to remain so. 
 
 Of fish of all kinds even a century ago the boy 
 had a much greater share than his fellow of to-day. 
 
88 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 Fish was then much cheaper and far more plentiful 
 than now. In the very early days the little Briton 
 chose his meals, breakfast to supper, from a very 
 inextensive bill of fare. According to Dio Nicceus fish 
 was not used as a food. Milk they drank, and they 
 made cheese. Geese and hens were forbidden. 
 
 The boar, the wild ox, and the wolf were welcome 
 dinners to the little savage whenever the hungry 
 natives were lucky enough to snare, trap or even kill 
 them in combat. 
 
 The boy, in answer to the question what he drank, 
 in the Saxon Dialogues in The Cotton Library, 
 replies — 
 
 " Ale if I have it, or water if I have it not" 
 
 The little Briton lived in a little round house which 
 if old enough he might have helped to build. The 
 foundations were of stone ; the walls of timber, wattle 
 and reeds; the roof was conical and had an aperture 
 in the top which served the double purpose of window 
 and chimney. The floors were sometimes paved with 
 thin layers of stone, and there were small excavations 
 for fireplaces. 
 
 Later on arose a Solomon who cunningly suggested 
 windows in the walls of the houses, and was no doubt 
 looked upon almost as a supernatural being in con- 
 sequence, until his glory was dimmed by a jealous 
 rival who called Solomon's windows " rude holes 
 in the wall," and suggested their being covered with 
 canvas to keep out the bad weather. Then King 
 Alfred (who invented many things besides English 
 cookery), invented the lantern because the candles 
 
HIS ENVIRONMENT 89 
 
 burnt out too quickly, and this gave the idea of glazing 
 windows to another genius, but where no one knows. 
 Glazed windows were common enough in the sixteenth 
 century — in the Royal Palaces and the mansions of the 
 nobility glass in casements was fixed into the stone 
 windows as early as the thirteenth century. It was 
 imported by the Flemings, and cost about 4j4d. per 
 foot, a sum equal to about six shillings of our day, 
 so that there were good reasons for objecting to stone 
 throwing upon principle. 
 
 A romantic case of feeding is that of little Phelan. 
 On June 16, 181 2, while H.M.S. Swallow was in action 
 against the French, a sailor on board named Phelan 
 was mortally wounded. His wife, who was helping 
 the wounded below, rushed on deck, and supported 
 the dying man in her arms. Almost as he gasped 
 his last breath, a shot took the woman's head off, and 
 the pair fell to the deck dead. Their baby, a boy of a 
 few weeks old, was adopted by the ship's company, 
 and was suckled by a Maltese goat which was luckily 
 on board. 
 
 We have failed totally in finding any reference to 
 pigeon's milk ever having been in request as an article 
 of diet in the rearing of infants, but one day by a 
 stroke of luck our education was brought one step 
 nearer its completion by the unlooked-for tidings that 
 " bull's milk " was, and still is, an every-day dish 
 for both adults and children in the West of Ireland. 
 
 It should be explained that " bull's milk " consists 
 of meal and water, which is allowed to ferment, after- 
 wards being commonly used as a sauce to potatoes. 
 
 According to the N.E.D. the first mention of a feed- 
 
90 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 ing bottle for babies is 1858. The feeding bottle is 
 much older than that. Feeding bottles have been 
 found among old Roman remains in England. Bax- 
 ter speaks of a suck-bottle in 1643. The feeding 
 bottle in 1830 was often made of china, prettily deco- 
 rated, and a calf's teat was used as a mouthpiece before 
 the introduction of rubber. In the middle ages we find 
 the breast-formed suck bottle, of which several 
 examples are still in existence. 
 
 Of foods given to babies, at one time and another, 
 and under exceptional circumstances, the list is a for- 
 midable one, but we wonder at times whether there is 
 any truth in the stories of children being adopted and 
 suckled by wild animals. It seems feasible that a 
 wild beast who has lost her young (as a means of re- 
 lieving the tension of her udders) should welcome any 
 animal to her dugs. Cases of children artificially 
 fed by animals are by no means rare. A few years 
 ago there was — if there is not now — a Foundling 
 Hospital in Italy where goats were employed to suckle 
 the tiny inmates, and a very curious experience it 
 was to notice a child, lying on the ground, start to 
 yell, and a goat come trotting to its side to suckle the 
 hungry infant. Withal we must treat with grave sus- 
 picion the Indian wolf-children. There were, and 
 perhaps now are, idiot children living a lower animal 
 life, and going upon all fours, but these cases are 
 probably those of neglected idiots — not children reared 
 by wolves, or other wild animals. 
 
 Bancroft in " The Native Races of the Pacific States 
 of North America " throws a light upon the manner 
 in which the children of the ancient Mexicans were 
 
HIS ENVIRONMENT 91 
 
 reared, which was obtained from a series of ancient 
 Aztec paintings. 
 
 Children of fhree years of age were allowed half a loaf of 
 bread for each meal. During the fourth and fifth years, the 
 boys were accustomed to light labour, and the girls were 
 instructed in using the distail. At this age they were allowed 
 a whole loaf or cake of bread. 
 
 During the sixth and seventh year, the boy follows the father 
 to market, carrying a light load, and while there picks up the 
 grains of corn, and other trifles that happen to be spilt about 
 the stalls. The girl is represented as spinning under her 
 mother's directions. The children are now allowed a cake and 
 a half of bread per meal, and this quantity continued until the 
 thirteenth year when the allowance was increased to two cakes 
 of bread. From thirteen to fifteen the boys were engaged in 
 bringing wood from the mountains, or catching fish ; the girls, 
 in grinding corn, weaving or cooking. At fifteen the boys were 
 delivered to the priests to receive religious instruction, or were 
 educated as soldiers by an officer called Achcauhtli, 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 HIS LANGUAGE 
 
 'In the childhood of nations speaking was singing." 
 
 Jean Paui,. 
 
VI 
 
 HIS LANGUAGE 
 
 It may be true that primitive man had no ideas and, 
 therefore, wanted no language, but whether singing 
 preceded speech, as (among others) Darwin beheved, 
 or not, we all agree that crying is the first means 
 employed by infants to express their various wants 
 that is understood by adults, and with a little patience 
 we can distinguish between the definite cries of pain, 
 temper and hunger in children (although they vary 
 enormously), long before we can interpret gesture and 
 speech. 
 
 The errors of syntax, etc., which a child commits 
 in learning English are often not errors at all, but the 
 ordinary mode of expression in some other language. 
 
 Psametichus wishing to learn what was the original language 
 of man, shut up two infants where the language of man was 
 never heard. On being brought before the king they said 
 bekos (toast). — Herodotus, ii. 2. 
 
 James IV. of Scotland, and Frederick II. of Sweden 
 tried the same experiment. 
 
 Then we have another problem before us. Many of 
 the European and other languages belong to the Aryan 
 family, others do not, and the same applies to the 
 various languages of the Hebrew race (let us note 
 that there is no necessary ethnological connection be- 
 
 95 
 
96 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 tween those who speak a language derived from the 
 Aryan) ; but whether the parents of the child belong 
 to the Arjran, Semitic, Ural-Attic, Indo-Chinese, 
 Dravidian, Malayo-Polynesian, or even the Kaffir 
 family, or whether the baby be black, brown, yellow, 
 or white in colour, its language is similar. So from 
 these premises, some persons conclude, that there was 
 in remote times one universal language, and that is 
 probably the baby language used by our own chil- 
 dren during early infancy. 
 
 This, so large a speculation as it seems at first sight, 
 does not wholly satisfy the questioning of some en- 
 quirers, and we are asked if we are to conclude that 
 the little " squeaks " and " grunts " of baby animals 
 is the language of their primitive ancestors also? 
 and that if the theory of evolution is correct, is it 
 possible to form an idea of what was the language of 
 the first talking animal ? 
 
 Alas! all attempts to teach animals, even monkeys, 
 to use anjrthing like human language have been again 
 and again without success. Just as the monkey be- 
 gan to talk he died, it proved too much for him. My 
 own experiments on monkeys, kittens, and puppies 
 were hopeless ; I got no result that, put the best com- 
 plexion on it I might, could be called successful. 
 
 It seems as if there were some form of aphasia, the 
 animals (in the case of full grown dogs and monkeys) 
 at times appearing to fully understand, but being 
 utterly unable to express themselves in human lan- 
 guage, just as we observe the baby (before it has 
 learned to talk) make ineffectual attempts in its own 
 language to copy ours. 
 
HIS LANGUAGE 97 
 
 "The rise of man he loved to trace 
 
 Up to the very pod, O ! 
 And, in baboons, our parent race 
 
 Was found by old Monboddd. 
 Their A, B, C, he made them speak, 
 
 And learn their qui, que, quod O! 
 'Till Hebrew, Latin, Welsh and Greek 
 
 They knew as well's Monboddo ! " 
 
 James Burnett, who as a Scottish judge, sat as 
 Lord Monboddo (born 171 4, died 1779), was the 
 originator of the simian descent of man. 
 
 Notwithstanding all this, let babies and monkeys 
 take unto themselves some grains of comfort in that 
 it has been said that Corneille, the great French classic, 
 could not even speak his own language correctly. Of 
 course we admit that man's articular language is due 
 to the formation of his chin. 
 
 As regards my own personal investigations in the 
 case of my children, I discovered that although it was 
 extremely difficult to distinguish any difference what- 
 ever in features as babies between my seven children 
 when asleep, or from their photographs at the age of 
 twelve months, at the same time the baby language 
 used by each, as well as the gestures, had certain very 
 marked differences. 
 
 Nor in the case of twins when they speak what we 
 know as " twin language " do they exactly resemble 
 one another. 
 
 But in every case the child must understand before 
 he speaks at all, and know a language before using 
 one. His great difficulty lies in getting others to un- 
 derstand him. This occurs much less frequently when 
 talking to another baby, especially if that baby him- 
 
gS THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 self speaks the same " mother tongue," than when en- 
 deavouring to make himself understood by an adult. 
 
 The baby's troubles do not however end here, for 
 having already acquired a language of his own, he 
 must perforce climb still higher in the scale of life and 
 learn yet another language, that of his parents, which 
 before the end of his third year may contain as large 
 a vocabulary as the ordinary country labourer's, that 
 is to say, 300 or 400 words. With adults, few people 
 use more than three to four thousand words, so the 
 baby does not seem to have lost much time. 
 
 Whether the baby speaks plainly or not the little 
 tongue wags freely during his second year, so much 
 so that at times it is an unceasing clatter, often detri- 
 mental to sedentary comfort. 
 
 A period of logorrhoea (very rapid speaking) is an 
 event not to be lightly treated, owing to the possibility 
 of stammering, or other faults of speech resulting 
 from it. The condition is met with among savage 
 tribes and lunatics. In older children it points to some 
 slight, or serious, mental deficiency. 
 
 Another peculiar mode of talking common to babies 
 is the amalgamation of the whole sentence into one 
 word. This is also a trait found among savage races. 
 
 It is the opinion of nurses that babies which have 
 dimples have short tongues and will lisp. If a baby 
 girl puts out her tongue, and makes a spluttering 
 noise, it is a sure sign of rain; if a boy, it will blow 
 hard. This is Chinese. 
 
 When they first begin talking the language of their 
 parents, babies make use of either the beginnings of 
 words — as for instance, " ba " for ball, " ca " for cake, 
 
HIS LANGUAGE 99 
 
 " ca " for cat — or the endings — as " ake " for cake, 
 and " bup " for butter, etc. 
 
 Nor do they use the neuter gender, the child in- 
 variably referring to anything as " he " or " she." 
 Whether this is another primitive trait, as it is usually 
 supposed to be, or on the other hand due to ignorance 
 of sex or some difficulty in pronunciation, has yet to 
 be determined ; and we have to take into account that 
 there are modern languages in which the neuter does 
 not occur. 
 
 Besides this there are (as every one knows) many 
 words that babies know well enough but find great 
 difficulty in pronouncing, and it is very funny to watch 
 a little imp making ludicrous attempts to find some 
 other than the appropriate word to express his mean- 
 ing, and at last giving Minerva the slip by either break- 
 ing off the sentence, and leaving his hearers to guess 
 at the fag end, or succumbing to circumstances by 
 using a word that he already knows, or at the worst 
 inventing a new one. 
 
 Language, it is said, was given to man to conceal 
 his thoughts. Perhaps this explains why young chil- 
 dren when living together, and if not otherwise pre- 
 vented, invent a language of their own commonly 
 known as " twin language," because it is so frequently 
 used by twins. It is a language which, although per- 
 fectly understood by themselves, as a rule defies in 
 toto the deepest philologists to interpret it and often 
 forms a habit very troublesome to cure. 
 
 In our own language it is well to take into account 
 the fact that in many cases there is not only a want 
 between the sound and the sense in nomenclature, but 
 
100 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 at times a word from its sound appears to be almost 
 the reverse of its meaning; hence we get slang terms 
 which sound more appropriate. And it is also owing 
 to this influence that, until he has sufficient command 
 of words to express his requirements in the language 
 of his parents, the child will often use one word to 
 signify many and this word is always one that the 
 child learned early. 
 
 From the conquest to the reign of Edward III. 
 Norman-French was the common language of the 
 upper and cultured classes. 
 
 Shelta, or Chebru, the Caird's language, is a secret 
 language spoken by tinkers, beggars, and other " 
 nomads throughout the British Isles. Its existence 
 has only been known a matter of forty years. Shelta, 
 although only known and spoken by the lowest classes, 
 is really a cryptic language of great antiquity, and 
 to a large extent a systematic perversion of the pre- 
 aspirated Gaelic spoken before the eleventh century. 
 Thus it may be best described as a " jargon," since 
 it is not a language in the precise sense, but a form 
 of speech manufactured from a true language — ^viz. 
 Gaelic. 
 
 Good English has been defined as the standard 
 speech of London, Oxford, Cambridge, and the South, 
 but it must come as old news to everybody that our 
 language is changing not alone in the introduction of 
 new and the exclusion of old, words, but also in the 
 prommciation of existing words in daily use. There is 
 no need to be alarmed, however, because our language 
 has always been changing. So recently as the early 
 part of the nineteenth century the aspirate was dropped 
 
HIS LANGUAGE loi 
 
 by all classes of society in the Midlands and South of 
 England, the sound still being in use among the 
 Northerners; and now we find, among other strange 
 changes, the sound of h, in words beginning with wh, 
 silent among the educated Southern English. 
 
 Whether or no our language is retrograding to that 
 universal form used before the confusion of tongues at 
 the building of the Tower of Babel, it seems probable 
 that our great grandchildren will speak a language as 
 different to that which we speak as ours is to that of 
 our great grandparents. 
 
 Nothing is more astonishing in considering the long 
 iiifancy of the child than the rapidity with which he 
 learns the language of his parents, but it is not often 
 that the child speaks as many as- six or eight words at 
 the end of the first year, and indeed there are cases 
 where some quite normal children do not speak until 
 the beginning of their third year. 
 
 But if we are anxious for the child to talk early 
 and well we must in conversing with him never allow 
 to be used the ordinary infantile language which silly 
 women will persist in talking to babies. It may be 
 pleasant enough to the ears of ordinary mortals, but 
 baby language naturally lasts sufficiently long, and 
 when we imitate the baby's language instead of en- 
 couraging the child to imitate ours, we prolong the 
 life of infancy beyond its ordinary limits to the child's 
 future detriment; besides which the child will almost 
 as readily learn such simple words as " thank you," 
 " good-bye," as the primitive " ta," and " sa " which 
 is his own baby language. 
 
 Nor is it wise to bother the child too much by try- 
 
102 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 ing to teach him to talk every five minutes of the 
 day, if he is wanted to speak early and well. 
 
 Children are very much like other animals, and 
 require, besides sleep, a period of relaxation, there- 
 fore allow them the privilege of turning over in their 
 little minds the new and curious matters that have 
 happened to them during the day in their own child- 
 world in which we have now no part. 
 
 Among the various appellations for father and 
 mother, pa, ma, mamma, mama, mam, daddy and 
 mammy have never found their way into serious 
 literary English, although pappa is to be found in 
 Homer (i3k6 — 1. 57). 
 
 But pappa, or papa, and mamma, or mama are 
 interchangeable in different races. 
 
 Dada, in French, is a child's name for a horse. 
 Hence it comes to be used, like the English hobby, 
 for a favourite idea or pursuit, a crotchet. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 HIS SCHOOLDAYS 
 
 " Culture is the passion for sweetness and light, and (what is 
 more) the passion for making them prevail." 
 
 Matthew Aknold. 
 
VII 
 
 HIS SCHOOLDAYS 
 
 THE MAISTER 
 
 He gied us Scripter names tae spell, 
 But what they meant we couldna' tell; 
 He maybe didna ken his sel' — 
 The Maister. 
 
 What funny dogs we used tae draw 
 Upon our sklates, an' ships an' a, 
 Till keekin' roond wi' fright we saw 
 The Maister. 
 
 He gied oor lugs a fearfu' pu', 
 Said he wud skelp us black an' blue; 
 I doot he wudna try that noo — 
 The Maister. 
 
 We mind them weel, his lang black taws, 
 They nippit sair like parten's claws; 
 A crabbit little man he was — 
 The Maister. 
 
 He birled me roond like Nann^s wheel. 
 Said he was tellt to lick me weel ; 
 He seemed tae like tae hear me squeal — 
 The Maister. 
 
 His plump roond cheeks as red's the rose, 
 
 His twinklin' een an redder nose, 
 
 Showed that he suppit mair than brose^ 
 
 The Maister. 
 
 los 
 
io6 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 He opened aye the schule wi' prayer, 
 An' psalms an questions gied us mair 
 Than that we thocht was proper there — 
 The Maister. 
 
 An' after time, an' siller spent, 
 We left as wise as when we went; 
 It wasna muckle that he kent — 
 The Maister. 
 
 It's forty years noo since that day, 
 An' time whase besom's aye at play 
 'Mang other things has soopt away — 
 The Maister. 
 
 Joseph Teenan. 
 
 From the far away days of Horace, who calls his old 
 schoolmaster " plagosum orhiUum," until a few years 
 ago, the schoolmaster was universally the most un- 
 popular of men. Even now the profession of child 
 teaching does not meet with the recognition it de- 
 serves, seeing. that the hope of the future generation 
 depends upon it. 
 
 St. Augustine says : — 
 
 " I was put to school to get learning of which I knew not 
 what use there was ; and yet if I was slow to learn I was 
 flogged. For this was deemed praiseworthy by our forefathers. 
 Many before us passing through the same course, had appointed 
 these troublesome ways, multiplying labour and sorrow upon 
 the sons of Adam." 
 
 His faith was actually shaken because he prayed 
 to God to escape a flogging, yet flogged he was. 
 
 As a boy he preferred games, and hated both Greek 
 and Homer. 
 
 St. Thomas Aquinas was called " the stupid boy," 
 and it requires a very small stretch of imagination to 
 
HIS SCHOOLDAYS 107 
 
 picture his schooldays as exceedingly stormy. The 
 education of Archbishop Usher, of Armagh (1580- 
 1656) is unique. He was taught to read from the 
 Bible by two blind aunts, who knew it off by heart. 
 
 Erasmus, who at the age of nine went to Daventer 
 School, had but a poor opinion of Hegius, his tutor, 
 for he says that as little was taught, he learnt little. 
 
 Lamb and Coleridge found little pleasure in their 
 masters or their school, which can hardly surprise one 
 after reading the ancient history of the Bluecoat 
 School. 
 
 Cowper was so indignant at the methods of educa- 
 tion that he wrote the " Tirocinium," though not 
 whilst at school as has been asserted, but (wisely) 
 when at Cambridge. 
 
 Southey did not wait until he got to a University 
 but wrote an article on flogging in the Westminster 
 School Magazine called appropriately enough, " The 
 Flagellant." The writer reaped his reward and was 
 expelled by Dr. Vincent. 
 
 Shelley was caned at Mill Hill School by Mr. Foote, 
 the master, and repeatedly flogged by Keate. Among 
 others, poor little Crabbe, the future poet, when sent 
 as a scholar to Bungay was so young that he did not 
 know how to dress himself, and the first morning he 
 whispered in great confusion to his bedfellow, " Can 
 you put on your own shirt, for — for — I'm — afraid I 
 can't." 
 
 Browning disliked his school because there was a 
 weekly routine of combing and oiling the boys' hair. 
 
 Mrs. Reader (the mistress) was fond of hymns 
 which she chanted at the least provocation. The 
 
io8 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 weekly hairdressing afforded an exceptional oppor- 
 tunity, and was usually reserved for her favourite 
 hymn, " Sweet is the work, my God and King," which 
 she sang to a tune known as " Portugal New." When 
 it came to anointing the head she smeared the oil on 
 with the appropriate lines : — 
 
 "While countless blessings on me shed 
 Like holy oil upon my head." 
 
 Francis Galton regarded his schooldays with little 
 satisfaction. He complains that when sent to a school 
 at Boulogne, for the purpose of acquiring a good 
 accent, he learnt instead a detestable and limited 
 patois. 
 
 However, the authorities made up for their educa- 
 tional shortcomings by using the birch ad libitum. 
 
 On one occasion the monotony of schoolboy life 
 was relieved by a gaunt haggard young French boy 
 who, to create a sensation among his fellows, swal- 
 lowed a live frog in a most artistic manner. 
 
 Galton went afterwards to King Edward's School, 
 Birmingham, where he was not much more com- 
 fortable. " Grammar " (he says) " and the dry rudi- 
 ments of Latin and Greek were abhorrent to me, for 
 there seemed so little sense in them," — and we won- 
 der how many thousands of weary boys have thought 
 the same? 
 
 From " The Paston Letters " we get a glimpse of a 
 
 backward boy: — 
 
 " To prey Grenefeld to send me feythfuUy by wrytyn who 
 Clement Paston hath do his dever in lemyng. And if he hathe 
 nought do well, nor wyll nought amend, prey hym that he wyll 
 trewly belassch hym till he wuU amend; and so ded the last 
 maystr, and the best that ever he had at Caumbrege. And 
 
HIS SCHOOLDAYS 109 
 
 sey Grenefeld that if he wyll take up on hym to brynge hym 
 into good rewyll and lemyng that I may verily know he doth 
 hys dever I wyll geve hym x marcs for hys labor for I had 
 he werfayr beryed than lost for defaute." 
 
 Lady Arabella Stuart must have been a female 
 prodigy, for when she was but twelve years old, 
 Queen Elizabeth told the wife of Chateauneuf, the 
 French Ambassador, that she spoke French, Latin and 
 Italian very well. 
 
 Over and above the risks to life and limb that the 
 little scholar ran when safely housed beneath the 
 pedagogue's roof there were serious dangers from 
 germ laden passengers and desperate highwaymen in 
 the days when boys travelled to school by the coach, 
 and travelling in winter time was no joke, especially a 
 long journey. 
 
 When George Cruikshank was taken to school by 
 his father in the coach an alarm of highwayman was 
 raised, and consternation prevailed among the passen- 
 gers. 
 
 Cruikshamk's father was, however, a man of re- 
 source, and as the highwayman rode up to the coach 
 door, he told little Cruikshank to point the bell end 
 of his tin trumpet out of the window. The young 
 warrior followed his instructions, which were attended 
 with immediate success, for the highwayman took 
 fright at what he thought was a blunderbuss and rode 
 away, troubling them no more. 
 
 Children sent to school on the following dates it 
 was believed would become good scholars : — 
 
 January 3 and 13, February 5 and 28, March 3, 22, 
 30, April 5, 23, 29, May 4y 28, June 3, 8, July 12, 13, 
 
no THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 15, August 12, September i, 7, 24, 28, October 4, 15, 
 November 13, 19, December 23, 26. It might be 
 interesting to learn the opinions of a boy who was told 
 to go to school on December 26. 
 
 It is diflficult to write of schools without mentioning 
 pedagogues. Early schoolmasters were often slaves, 
 indeed so were all trades and professions at one time. 
 
 The Roman schoolmasters possessed a more lucra- 
 tive profession than the present day pedagogue, seeing 
 that they received twelve times as much as the soldier 
 or day labourer. 
 
 The earliest schoolmaster in England whom we 
 know by name was John Cornwall. 
 
 Schoolmasters sometimes got into trouble. Sir John 
 Bernard and William Brynge, Chaplains, on Decem- 
 ber 23, 1423, were summoned before John Hatfield, 
 abbot of Walden, to show by what authority . they 
 taught small boys the alphabet, the graces, and higher 
 books, without obtaining leave from the abbot, though 
 they had been previously reproved for this. 
 
 Busby was the father of the English public school 
 system. He was headmaster of Westminster through 
 the reign of Charles L, the Civil War, the Protectorate, 
 the reign of Charles II., and the Revolution of 1688. 
 Under him Westminster became the first school in the 
 kingdom. When Charles II. visited the school, Busby 
 stalked before the King with his hat upon his head, 
 whilst his most sacred majesty meekly followed him. 
 In private Busby explained that his conduct was due 
 to the fact that he could not allow, for discipline's 
 sake, the boys to imagine there could be a greater man 
 than himself alive. 
 
HIS SCHOOLDAYS in 
 
 Godinez, the schoolmaster of Gil Bias, bore the repu- 
 tation of being the most expert flogger in Oviedo. 
 
 Thomas Beard, Puritan Minister at Huntingdon, 
 was Oliver Cromwell's schoolmaster. 
 
 In the Coroners' Roll, December 19, 1300, to June 
 15, 1302, now preserved in the Bodleian Library, the 
 following case is worthy of remark : — 
 
 "Dec. 7, 1301. — ^John de Newshatn, clerk and schoolmaster, 
 was found dead on the bank of the Cherwell. The jury declared 
 on oath that John de Newsham went after dinner to find rods 
 to whip the boys whom he taught, and that he climbed a. willow 
 to cut twigs near the millpool which is called Temple Hall, 
 and by accident fell into the water. The jury on oath say 
 that no one is to blame for his death." 
 
 Probably the ancient schoolmaster was not such a 
 bad fellow in general, although flogging his pupils must 
 have occupied nearly as much of his time as teaching. 
 Certainly Nicholas Udall, headmaster of Eton in the 
 sixteenth century, was accused of stealing the College 
 plate. Whether guilty or not he was subsequently 
 appointed headmaster of Westminster, where, owing 
 to the proximity of the Houses of Parliament, perhaps 
 they were not over particular. 
 
 Perhaps the most eminent of modern schoolmasters 
 was Almond of Loretto, who from a private school of 
 less than a dozen boys, manufactured the best school 
 in the world. His success was due to his treating his 
 boys intelligently, and obtaining the best from each, 
 both in schoolwork and sport. In the year 1884 there 
 were seven old boys playing in the Oxford Rugby 
 team, and he had plenty of scholars too. 
 
 At first people thought Almond was cracked, but 
 
112 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 when it became evident that a larger proportion of 
 boys from Loretto were famous in scholarship and 
 sport, than any other school, criticism lost its sting. 
 There were very few schoolmasters in the early '8o's 
 who considered the necessities of any but those who 
 were likely to obtain scholarships. 
 
 The modem English schoolmistress is in many cases 
 the proper person in the proper place. It is one of the 
 things peculiar to the Anglo-Saxon races, and which 
 other countries will do well to copy. Space only 
 allows me to mention one — Dorothea Beale, head- 
 mistress of Cheltenham Ladies' College, of whom all 
 that is good in woman can be truthfully said. A 
 wonderful old woman who continued her work to 
 within a few weeks of her death at the advanced age 
 of 75.— R.I.P. 
 
 Locke says : — 
 
 " How any being put into a mixed herd of boys and thus 
 learning to wrangle at trap or rook, at span farthing, fits him 
 for conversation or business I do not see." 
 
 Evil there is in plenty among the other subjects 
 taught and learned in every school, and as in every 
 other condition of life the pupil readily acquires a 
 greater or less knowledge of sin. It is inevitable but 
 that he will learn it sooner or later; the moral at- 
 mosphere of the school often tells tremendously in 
 the later life of weak vessels. 
 
 Yet the knowledge and practice of schoolboy hon- 
 our, the experience gained from, and the imitation of, 
 the good conduct of older boys, the self-restraint nec- 
 essary to do well in the school games, the spirit of 
 
HIS SCHOOLDAYS 113 
 
 emulation, the gospel of give and take, and the social 
 intercourse are advantages that cannot by any other 
 means be obtained, and which far outweigh the un- 
 fortunate waste of time, and happily the moral and 
 intellectual injury caused by the necessary methods of 
 school education. 
 
 VITAI LAMPADA 
 By Sir Henry Newbolt 
 
 " There's a breathless hush in the Close to-night — 
 
 Ten to make and the match to win — 
 A bumping pitch and a bUnding light, 
 
 An hour to play and the last man in. 
 And it's not for the sake of a ribboned coat. 
 
 Or the selfish hope of a season's fame, 
 But his Captain's hand on his shoulder smote, 
 
 ' Play up ! play up ! and play the game ! ' 
 
 " The sand of the desert is sodden red. 
 
 Red with the wreck of a square that broke; 
 The Catling's jammed and the colonel dead, 
 
 And the regiment blind with dust and smoke. 
 The river of death has brimmed his banks. 
 
 And England's far, and Honour a name. 
 But the voice of a schoolboy rallies the ranks, 
 
 ' Play up 1 play up I and play the game 1 ' 
 
 "This is the word that year by year 
 
 While in her place the School is set. 
 Every one of her sons must hear. 
 
 And none that hears it dare forget. 
 This they all with a joyful mintl 
 
 Bear through life like a torch in flame, 
 And falling fling to the host behind — 
 
 ' Play up ! play up 1 and play the game ! ' " 
 
 And this is what the Public Schools have taught in 
 the past, and are now teaching. Not a bad education, 
 if even somewhat incomplete. 
 
 Did the child escape the public school, he was 
 
114 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 probably little better off in that severity was the order 
 of the day whatever rank he might have held. When 
 Madame de Genlis, the Hen-Rousseau, was appointed 
 by Philipe Egalite governess and govemeur to the 
 young princesses and princes, no doubt the pupils 
 thought they would have an easy time because the 
 other tutors resigned in a body disgusted, but what a 
 mistake! Diane de Poitiers and Mme. de Maintenon 
 were both bad women, and bad servants, not so 
 Felicite. 
 
 The children loved her, though she had them at 
 work from 6 a.m. to lo p.m. She made them sleep 
 on hard beds, and learn all kinds of manual trades, 
 she cared neither for Latin nor Greek, but she made 
 them learn foreign languages, hygiene and gym- 
 nastics. As for holidays, there were none. She was 
 a pretty woman, and her morals were decidedly mixed ; 
 she was a mighty paradox, but as a guide, philosopher, 
 and friend to her youthful charges, Felicite was 
 perfection. 
 
 The subject of erring tutors we can hardly touch 
 upon, but it is worth while to refer to Eugene Aram, 
 the murderer, less well known as a scholar, and author 
 of " Specimens of an Anglo-Celtic Lexicon " — a part 
 of which work may be found at the end of a curious 
 small book entitled, " The Life and Trial of Eugene 
 Aram." As a schoolmaster Aram was a gentle soul. 
 It is recorded in "The Gentlemen's Magazine" of 
 1837 that upon his arrest, when he was placed hand- 
 cuffed in the chaise (alas! for the veracity of Tom 
 Hood), his schoolboys burst into tears — ^he used to 
 play with them. 
 
HIS SCHOOLDAYS 115 
 
 As a rule the usher of the school at Lynn held the 
 post of librarian at the Library there, peculiarly 
 Eugene Aram did not. 
 
 Robert Irvine, who in 171 7 was tutor to the two 
 sons of Mr. Gordon, of Ellon, was a horrible creature. 
 For telling tales of him he murdered the two boys. 
 He was taken redhanded and hanged two or three days 
 afterwards at Edinburgh, having his hands first struck 
 off. 
 
 Camillus, the traitorous schoolmaster, betrayed the 
 young nobles of Falisci. 
 
 Udall, to whom we have already referred, if not a 
 thief, was by his own confession a most immoral per- 
 son, and utterly unfitted for the position of school- 
 master in any age. 
 
 As a master he was a severe disciplinarian. Tusser 
 says that he was merciless. Apart from his moral 
 character Udall was a really great man. He was the 
 author of the first English comedy, " Ralph Roister 
 Doister," which was probably played by his own 
 scholars, but of this we are not certain. During the 
 reigns of Henry VIH. and Edward VI. Udall was a 
 Protestant, but in Queen Mary's reign he became a 
 Roman Catholic, and a frequenter of the Court. He 
 wrote plays which were performed for the amuse- 
 ment of the Queen. At the time of his death he was 
 headmaster of Westminster. 
 
 The earliest school play of which we can find any 
 mention was written by Ralph Radcliffe, and per- 
 formed at Hitchen School in 1538. Unfortunately it 
 is lost. The earliest school play extant in the British 
 Museum is entitled, " ' Apollo Shroving,' composed for 
 
ii6 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 the schollars of the Free School, Hadleigh in Suffolke. 
 And acted by them on Shroue Tuesday being the sixt 
 of February, 1626." It is worth reading if only for 
 the comments of one of the characters, a suffragette 
 of the time. It requires extensive Bowdlerising. 
 The name of the author is unknown (? Hawkins). 
 
 In January, 1711, the children of the Charity School 
 at Clerkenwell performed " Timon of Athens." As 
 to the merits of the performance history has ungra- 
 ciously left no account, but the Society for Promoting 
 Christian Knowledge was so angered that it severely 
 censured John Hoveycroft, the master. Perhaps they 
 thought the play too lively ? 
 
 The following extract from The Dublin Chronicle, 
 July 31, 1790, is interesting: — 
 
 " The public examinations at Mr. Whyte's School in Grafton 
 Stieet closed on the 22nd instant with an uncommon degree of 
 splendour. 
 
 " A Master Moore, a boy not more than ten years old, dis- 
 tinguished himself in a remarkable manner, and was deservedly 
 the admiration of every auditor." 
 
 The Master Moore referred to was Thomas Moore, 
 the poet. 
 
 As in every form of government in animal life, 
 rebellion due to one or another cause was at times an 
 incident in the School world. Harrow boys had in 
 their contests against approved authority usually 
 some slight excuse for their attempts to obtain by 
 force what had been otherwise denied. In 1771 the 
 boys rose in rebellion against the election of Heath 
 as headmaster. They had a favourite candidate in 
 Parr .-at that time a junior master in the school, and 
 ihey went to the length of smashing the coach of one 
 
HIS SCHOOLDAYS 117 
 
 of the governors. The disturbance was quelled by 
 dismissing the School for some days. 
 
 In 1805 Butler was chosen as headmaster by the 
 governors, instead of Drury, who was favpured by the 
 boys. Feeling ran very high, and a train of gun- 
 powder was laid (it has been said by Byron) and fired 
 with the design to further elevate the unpopular But- 
 ler, but without a satisfactory result. Later, in the 
 year 1808, Butler had his revenge. He curtailed some 
 of the privileges of the boys, and then there was 
 trouble. The keys of the birch cupboard were an- 
 nexed, and general disorder reigned for a few days, 
 ending only in the expulsion of the ringleaders. 
 
 This period of Harrow's history is not a happy one. 
 The boys were educated young men of sixteen to 
 eighteen, and they were morally right in attempting 
 to enforce their demands upon the governors, who 
 were possibly advised by unworthy reasons, or were 
 suffering from abnormal stupidity. 
 
 " Barring out " is conspicuous by its absence in the 
 chronicles of Eton College. Rebellions however, 
 serious enough in all faith, took place, and pretty 
 frequently too at one period. The most serious hap- 
 pened in 1768. Dr. Foster, the headmaster, on the 
 complaint (an act of spite) of one of the assistant 
 masters, severely flogged one of the prseposters, whose 
 only offence was that he was doing his duty. The 
 sixth form praeposters resigned in a body, and vowed 
 they would take no part in the ensuing Declama- 
 tions. Dr. Foster retorted that they must either 
 declaim or leave the school. A council of war was 
 held, and joined by others, one hundred and 
 
li8 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 sixty boys marched to Eton, and spent the night 
 there. 
 
 Then the rot set in, a few proved traitors, and the 
 boys scattered, some to return to school to be flogged, 
 some to their friends. Lord Harrington's son swore 
 an oath that he would not submit, and went to his 
 father's house ; but could only obtain a hearing whilst 
 outside the front door. His father insisting upon 
 his immediate return to Eton — " Sir," said the son, 
 
 "consider I shall be d d if I do." "And I," 
 
 replied the father, " will be d d if you don't." 
 
 This was the last straw to the young hopeful, v.'ho 
 
 retorted : " My Lord, but you will be d d whether 
 
 I do or not." 
 
 The history of the Great Schools up to the past 
 few )'ears is not a happy one. In the eighteenth 
 century the majority of the masters were poorly paid, 
 and often great blackguards; in the nineteenth cen- 
 tury they were mostly fools. 
 
 Miss Edgeworth founded one of her stories on a 
 " barring-out." Barring-out was originally an inno- 
 cent custom and a very ancient one to boot. The 
 Statutes of Witton School, Cheshire, founded in 1558, 
 ordained that " a week before Christmas and Easter 
 according to the old custom the scholars bar and keep 
 forth the schoolmaster, in such sort as other scholars 
 do in great schools." 
 
 Often enough some daring little rascals, stung to 
 the point of desperation by ill-usage of practically 
 every form, took possession of the schoolroom or 
 dormitory, barred, bolted, and locked the doors, and 
 bid defiance to the authorities. 
 
HIS SCHOOLDAYS up 
 
 At Bromfield School barring-out was an annual cus- 
 tom which took place at the beginning of Lent, and 
 was more innocent than the barring-outs in many 
 other schools. 
 
 Withal it was a serious matter, for if the boys 
 lost the battle the impositions were severe to a degree. 
 The boys were armed with popguns to defend the 
 fortress, and if they could manage by hook or by crook 
 to keep out the besiegers for three days, the master 
 offered terms of capitulation, which were the arrange- 
 ment of the hours of study and play for the following 
 twelve months. 
 
 On one occasion a forlorn hope in the shape of a 
 dominie forced his way through a window, but the 
 besieged were not to be trifled with, and sans cere- 
 mony he was bundled out neck and crop with his coat 
 tails burned off. 
 
 Boys and men were equally cruel in those days, and 
 in the case of defeat on the part of the boys the 
 penalties were inhuman. 
 
 At Edinburgh in 1595 a barring-out ended in a 
 fatality. 
 
 The town council refused to grant more than three 
 holidays out of eight demanded by the scholars. The 
 magistrates and patrons of the school tried to reason 
 with the boys in vain; they refused, saying that they 
 would treat with the Master only. An attempt was 
 made to force an entrance into the school at night, 
 and BaiUie Macmoran was shot dead on the spot by 
 a boy (Sinclair?). 
 
 No doubt but that barring-out was a pretty popular 
 and exciting form of sport in the late " fifties." The 
 
120 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 following is an abridged account of a " barring-out " 
 which I received recently from one of the actors in 
 the drama, Mr. C. C. Bell. 
 
 " In the fifties of last century I was a day scholar 
 at Weir House Academy, Hickling, Notts, kept by a 
 Yorkshireman named Featherstone. The school had 
 been removed from Long Clawson, and a holiday was 
 given to the boys on the annual feast day. When the 
 school was established at Hickling, Mr. Featherstone 
 altered the holiday to that of the Hickling feast. 
 Some boarders who came from Long Clawson resented 
 this, and resolved on a " barring-out " if they were 
 not allowed a holiday for the Clawson feast too. A 
 cousin of my own was the leader, and my brother 
 and I were induced to join in the plot. On the fateful 
 day we assembled in full force in the playground, and 
 demanded a holiday. It was refused, and after din- 
 ner the boarders locked up the school and decamped. 
 We Hickling boys joined them and went off in a body 
 to Clawson. I have no doubt that we were thrashed, 
 but we were thrashed so frequently that we cared lit- 
 tle for it. The boarders, I believe, got a double dose, 
 Mr. Featherstone entering their sleeping rooms one 
 after the other, and giving them their dues when they 
 were at a disadvantage. He would thoroughly enjoy 
 himself." 
 
 I am indebted for an amusing account of a barring- 
 out in which the writer took part to Mr. S. Fisher, 
 who writes from Ramsgate : — 
 
 " In 1850-1855 I was at a Preparatory School of 
 fifty or sixty boys at Brighton, kept by an elderly lady, 
 Mrs. B., assisted by her daughter, two masters, and 
 
HIS SCHOOLDAYS 121 
 
 a French governess. A biggish boy from Merchant 
 Taylors' School joined us in 1853-4, and a few months 
 after his arrival astonished us by saying, * Why don't 
 you fellows bar-out?' Five or six of the most dar- 
 ing spirits agreed to follow out his instructions, and 
 accordingly for a week or so previous to the day on 
 which the barring-out was to take place, hunches of 
 bread were abstracted from the dining-hall, and with 
 a few jugs of water were secreted in the schoolroom 
 lockers. The night before the event a paper on which 
 was written — ' When the tiger crouches he springs,' 
 was slipped under the door of Mrs. B.'s room. The 
 next morning on the arrival of the assistant master 
 about eight o'clock he found the schoolroom door 
 locked, and was met with the cry : ' We have barred- 
 out,' to which he replied by saying that if it was not 
 opened within two or three minutes he should burst 
 it open. During the two or three minutes the Mer- 
 chant Taylors' boy prevailed on some of the others to 
 tie him down to a form, in which position he was 
 found on the door being opened, and he made it his 
 excuse for his not opening the door immediately. The 
 matter was, of course, reported to Mrs. B., who ad- 
 ministered the usual whipping (on the hands) to all the 
 barrers-out, and ordered that they should have no other 
 food till the bread and water was all consumed." 
 
 But with the march of civilisation, barring-out died 
 a lingering death; only leaving as a memento of the 
 past the elementary schoolboys' " strike " of the 
 passing day. Indeed, the last barring-out which hap- 
 pened in this happy land of ours took place in a 
 board school at Dalston, in Cumberland, in the jear 
 
122 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 1887, where it had been the custom from time im- 
 memorial on December 21 in each year. The au- 
 thorities were appealed to by the humane school- 
 master to close the school on that day, and so put 
 an end to the ancient festival. 
 
 Without reference to gladiatorial combats no de- 
 scription of school life can be complete, and for boy- 
 ish displays of fisticuffs Tom Brown's fight at Rugby 
 is, perhaps, the best known and the one most fre- 
 quently referred to, although it is not to be compared 
 Avith the descriptions of pugilism to be found in the 
 much maligned and long since dead periodicals, 
 " Young Men of Great Britain " and " The Boys of 
 England." 
 
 I don't suppose that one per thousand of the boys 
 who devoured those entrancing novels, of which pa- 
 rental authority had nothing but evil to say, knew 
 the name of one of the authors who so pleased him. 
 
 Apart from these glorious fights in which virtue was 
 always victorious, the most interesting conflict that 
 comes to my mind is that of Shelley, the poet, who, 
 one morning in 1809, when a boy at Eton, received a 
 challenge from a little insignificant chap, much smaller 
 than himself, one Sir Thomas Styles. The ring was 
 formed, seconds and bottle holders chosen. The 
 weedy poet with his angelic locks stood like a giant 
 about to devour a mannikin, and the first round was 
 fought by the little 'un dodging the big 'un. 
 
 During the interval between the two rounds the 
 miniature baronet sat quietly upon his second's knee, 
 but Shelley, confident of victory, and scorning such 
 assistance, stalked round the ring scowling upon his 
 
HIS SCHOOLDAYS 123 
 
 little adversary. Round 11, time was called and the 
 little baronet got one in on his opponent's chest, but 
 the poet went in and knocked his enemy down, and 
 whilst he lay there limp and motionless, the tall lean 
 Shelley spouted Homeric defiances at him, to the huge 
 delight of the youthful spectators. 
 
 Shelley's triumphant boasting was, however, short 
 lived. In the following round the scion of the aris- 
 tocracy smote the son of the muses in the bread-basket, 
 which startled Shelley about as much as if he had 
 come in contact with a live bomb. His nerves were 
 shattered; he broke through the ring and flew, pur- 
 sued by seconds, bottle holders and backers, from the 
 field of battle, and (outdistancing all) arrived safely 
 at his tutor's house. 
 
 Pugilistic encounters are very infrequent at Eton 
 to-day, and the freshly green springing grass on " the 
 milling ground " at Harrow is no longer nourished by 
 blood drawn from the nostrils of the British aris- 
 tocracy. 
 
 There has ever been a cat and mouse sympathy 
 between certain publishers and authors, and how de- 
 lighted must the latter have been at the catastrophe 
 which befell the infamous, dauntless Curl, the pub- 
 lisher, when he pirated the Latin Oration pronounced 
 by the Captain of the King's Scholars over the body 
 of the learned and witty Robert South. Had Curl 
 simply printed it, probably nothing more would have 
 been heard about the matter, but alas! he misprinted 
 it. Curl was lured on some pretext into Wesminster 
 School, where he was treated with the greatest indig- 
 nities, being tossed in a blanket, and afterwards 
 
124 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILL) 
 
 birched by as many of the boys as were lucky enough 
 to get near the unfortunate pubHsher. 
 
 In the earlier part of the nineteenth century tokens 
 were commonly employed in many schools, and as 
 there is in existence a brass token of Cliff House 
 School, St. Margaret's, dated 1858, and which was 
 current coin in the village and bay, it is possible that 
 there are still knocking about the world elderly boys 
 whose memory is not so dim but that they can yet 
 recollect exchanging these same tokens for hardbake, 
 or parliament, at the local tuck shop. 
 
 Mrs. Pope and two other ladies at Birmingham is- 
 sued a token. 
 
 Christ's Hospital tokens for 6d., id., and J4d. were 
 current in the school, and a few neighbouring shops. 
 
 Other schools also issued tokens. 
 
 The great use of the token in school life was the 
 facility with which it could be traced, a boy spending 
 such a coin in an illegal manner had sorrow in store. 
 
 " God bless the man who first invented holidays," 
 is the prayer of an old boy who, too many years for 
 comfort at the grindstone, is looking forward to a 
 holiday next year. 
 
 Anaxagoras is not a euphonious name to many 
 English ears, sounding as it does like the cracking of 
 nuts, nor is his name known to many little boys, not 
 nearly so well known as is that blackguard Herod's. 
 Hi ! waiter, bring forth the sparkling goblet of ginger 
 beer, and let us drink a health to the soul of St. 
 Anaxagoras of Clazomene. To thee, most honourable 
 philosopher, whose ashes should find no other resting- 
 place but mingled with St. Lubbock. 
 
HIS SCHOOLDAYS 125 
 
 Anaxagoras was a good man, and strange to say a 
 popular one. It is not always so. Three years before 
 his death he was asked whether he had any particular 
 wish, and told that if he would only mention it, it 
 should be fulfilled. " Certainly I have," said the good 
 old man ; " I wish to be remembered by all school- 
 boys, and I only ask that in memory of me they may 
 always have a whole holiday on the anniversary of my 
 death." Could any one desire a more pleasant re- 
 membrance ? Holidays were, as a matter of fact, long 
 known as Anaxagoreia. I am ashamed to confess that 
 as far as I can recollect I did not know anything of 
 Anaxagoras when a schoolboy; the immoral school- 
 masters under whom we groaned, maliciously de- 
 frauded us of one holiday per annum. 
 
 The ancient schoolboy shout on the arrival of the 
 holidays (but which I never heard) was " Let's singe 
 old Rose, and burn libellos," is said to have meant, 
 " Let us singe the master's wig and burn our books." 
 
 Another version is, " Let's sing old Rose, and bum 
 the bellows," the meaning of which I do not know 
 but judge it to be a corruption of the above, or a 
 reference to St. Anthony. 
 
 Among my collection of schoolboy songs the follow- 
 ing is unique. The youthful author, who lived in the 
 latter part of the fifteenth or early sixteenth century, 
 was a poor classical scholar, and the verse, which is 
 in bad mediaeval Latin, presented so many difficulties 
 that several eminent scholars, including the writer, 
 shrank from the task of rendering the song in Eng- 
 lish. We are indebted to the courage of Dr. Rouse 
 for the translation. 
 
126 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 THE SONG OF THE SCHOOLBOY AT CHRISTMAS 
 
 (Latter part of the fifteenth or early part of the sixteenth century) 
 
 Anteffinem termini Baculus portamus, 
 Caput hustiarii ffrangere debemus ; 
 Si preceptor nos petit quo debemus Ire, 
 Breiuter respondemus, " non est tibi scire," 
 O pro nobilis docter, Now we youe pray, 
 Vt velitis concedere to gyff hus leff to play, 
 Nunc proponimus Ire, without any nay, 
 Scolam dissolvere; I telle itt youe in fey, 
 Dieut istud festum, merth-is for to make, 
 Accipimus nostram diem, owr leve for to take 
 Post natale festum full sor shall we qwake, 
 Quum nos Revenimus, latens for to make. 
 Ego nos Rogamus, hartly and hoUe, 
 Vt isto die possimus, to brek upe the scole. 
 
 TRANSLATION 
 
 Before the end of the term we carry sticks. 
 
 We must break the porter's* head. 
 
 If the master asks us where we should go. 
 
 We briefly answer. It is not yours to know, 
 
 O noble Doctor, now we you pray, 
 
 That you may grant to give us leave to play, 
 
 Now we propose to go without any nay. 
 
 So break up the school, I tell it you in faith 
 
 On this feast is to make mirth. 
 
 We take our day our leave to take 
 
 After the feast of the Birth (of Christ) full sore shall we quake 
 
 When we come back for to make Latin. 
 
 Therefore we ask heartily and wholly 
 
 That this day we may be able to break up the School. 
 
 * Probably the meaning is " usher " — see under " usher." 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 HIS SCHOOLING 
 
 ' The Wall on which we tried our graving skill, 
 The very name we carved subsisting still; 
 The bench on which we sat while deep employed, 
 Though mangled, hack'd, and hewed, not yet destroyed. 
 
 COWPKR. 
 
VIII 
 
 HIS SCHOOLING 
 
 From the little one can gather of the methods of 
 education among the Anglo-Saxons, they cared little 
 for Latin or Greek, and their arithmetic was very 
 elementary indeed, for the very practical reason that 
 considered by the side of strength and courage they 
 were not important subjects. It was the usual trial 
 of a boy's courage to place him on a sloping building, 
 and if without screaming, or terror, he held fast, he 
 was styled a " stout herce," or brave boy. 
 
 The Druid Schools were held in caves — the most 
 eminent academy is said to have been in the Isle of 
 Anglesey. 
 
 British children were separated from their parents, 
 and were under Druidical instruction until 14, and 
 no one was capable of a public employment who had 
 not been educated by a Druid. 
 
 The Druidical method of instruction was greatly 
 improved by the Roman Invasion, and Julius Agricola 
 was careful that the sons of the principal Britons 
 should be taught the liberal sciences. 
 
 The word school was coined by some ancient wag 
 from the Greek (rxoX'n (schole), and it originally meant 
 pleasant employment (amusement) after the actual 
 day's work was done and finished with. 
 
 129 
 
130 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 Between the Roman and English method of edu- 
 cation there was a direct continuity. Amongst the 
 Romans the elementary schools were usually held in 
 a verandah partly open to the street, and the school- 
 room was accordingly called pergula, taberna, or por- 
 ticus. The practice of teaching in the porch of a 
 church was, therefore, borrowed from the Romans, 
 and is mentioned by Evelyn in his Memoirs, in which 
 he says : — 
 
 " One Frier taught us in the church porch at Wotton." 
 
 At Hornsea, in East Yorkshire, school was held in 
 the south aisle of the nave down to about 1850. 
 
 The usher was originally an ostiarius or door-keeper. 
 He was so-called because, in addition to keeping the 
 door of a church, he taught his pupils in the porch. 
 
 In the Middle Ages a youth of good family was not 
 educated at a public school, or a University; but he 
 entered the house of some knight or nobleman, where 
 he was trained in the principles and practice of 
 chivalry. 
 
 At first, in the position of a page, he waited on the 
 ladies of the household, and learned the first principles 
 of courtesy. What we should call in these days his 
 " schooling," he learned from the chaplain or as much 
 as was considered desirable in those days. 
 
 The chief minstrel taught him to sing a romance, 
 and accompany himself upon a harp. 
 
 Then his education advanced; he became a squire. 
 In his new condition he was taught to manage a horse 
 and use his weapons by some old knight or squire. 
 
 In time of peace he attended upon his lord, carved 
 
HIS SCHOOLING 131 
 
 his meat, and filled his cup; carried his shield or hel- 
 met when on a journey; gave him a fresh lance in a 
 tournament ; remounted him when unhorsed, and acted 
 as subaltern officer of the troop of men-at-arms. 
 
 If lucky enough to become a knight, he had a bath! 
 
 Probably in the fifteenth century the majority of the 
 nobility and gentry could both read and write well; 
 among other studies the henchmen of Edward IV. 
 were taught grammar. 
 
 During the Tudor dynasty the children of the nobil- 
 ity left home at sfven or nine years of age to be edu- 
 cated in other noblemen's houses — in other words to 
 act as upper class servants, although they received 
 some scholastic training. It was often their last home- 
 leaving, as it was part of the bargain in most of these 
 cases that the nobleman should act as guardian for the 
 child, and endeavour to arrange a suitable marriage. 
 Any disagreement resulting in the child being returned 
 to his or her friends was a social disaster ; in the case 
 of a female absolutely ruinous to her moral character. 
 
 A serf could not send his child to school, nor could 
 he be ordained without his lord's permission, serfs 
 were adscripti gloebe; but in the thirteenth, and espe- 
 cially in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries there 
 are many examples of the serf paying a fine to his lord 
 for permission to send his child to school. This was 
 often given freely to a promising boy, and his freedom 
 also. 
 
 From the records of the manor of Woolrichston, 
 Warwickshire, we have the following instances : — 
 
 1361. Walter Martin paid Ss. for the privilege of putting his 
 son to school ad scholas. 
 
13* THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 1371. William Potter fined 13s. 4d. that his son may go to 
 school ad scholas, and take orders. 
 William Henekyn, fined 5s., to marry his daughter Alice. 
 
 Song schools were schools in which church singing 
 (ecclesiae carmina) was taught. They were profes- 
 sional schools — Grammar schools were where classics, 
 especially Latin and literature, were taught. As the 
 ritual was in the Roman tongue for hundreds of years, 
 the little English boy was compelled to learn the Latin 
 grammar. 
 
 Some of the boys of the Song Schools became 
 priests or choristers, others became minstrels. 
 
 The King's School, Canterbury, is without doubt 
 entitled to its claim of being the oldest school in Eng- 
 land. When the school was reorganised at the Refor- 
 mation Cranmer opposed a number of the commission- 
 ers who wished to exclude all but the sons of gentry. 
 
 Fitzstephen, in his " Account of London," in the 
 time of Henry IL, mentions the three principal schools 
 in London — St. Paul's, the Priory of the Trinity, and 
 St. Martin's-le-Grand. 
 
 A school was founded at Rolliston, Staffs., by Rob- 
 ert Sherborne, Bishop of Chichester, in the year 1520. 
 
 Sherborne directed that among other things — the 
 Master is to look after the boys' manners and dress, 
 as well as learning, and particularly that " their bodies 
 are free from worms, and their clothes whole." The 
 clever boys he is to press on so that they may act as 
 pupil teachers (pedagogos) to teach small boys, who 
 may be brought to him, the alphabet and first rudi- 
 ments. He is to take great care of the clever boys, 
 while the stupid, the lazy and those in human judgment 
 
HIS SCHOOLING 133 
 
 incapable of learning he is to sharpen as far as he can 
 by reading, writing and casting accounts, " lest they 
 should seem to have come to this our school for noth- 
 ing." The school was, owing to the inability of Sher- 
 borne to find land thereabouts to endow it with, 
 aborted. 
 
 Robert Hardyng, Mayor of Bristol, ancestor of the 
 Earls of Berkeley and Lord Fitzhardinge, established 
 a school for the orphans of those Jews who were killed, 
 or who fled from the outbreak against them at Bristol 
 in 1 146. 
 
 The endowed grammar schools were mainly founded 
 for citizens' and townspeople's children. Before the 
 Reformation the abbots received boys to educate, and 
 we glean from Strype's " Annals of the Reformation," 
 that after the dissolution of the monasteries there were 
 many fewer schools in England. 
 
 From my notebook I take a curious old school 
 account of 1547. 
 
 Allowance for A child named Ralfe Lyons that was gevyn our 
 Latte Souerayne Lorde Kynge Henry viijth wyche was put to 
 teache to Robartte Phyllypps of his graces chapell frome ye 
 feste off Christmas in ye xxxviij yere of the Reynge of cure 
 souereng Lorde Kynge Henry ye viij vnto our Ladye daye in 
 Lentt then next following in the furst yere of the Reyng of our 
 Soverynge Lord Kynge Edward the Syxte. 
 Item ij yarddes dim of clothe for a Coote pice the 
 
 yarde ... •• • • ■ ■ • • • vjs 
 
 Item for lyning to ye same Cotte v yardes price the 
 
 yarde viijd 
 
 iijs.iiiid 
 
 Item for making ye same Kott xvjd 
 
 Item for ij Shurttes vjs 
 
 /few for ij payre of hosse vjs.viijd 
 
 Item for iij payre of showys ijs.iijd 
 
134 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 Item for a doblett 
 Item ij dossen p03mntes 
 Item for a gyrdyll 
 Item for a Kappe 
 Item for a pursse 
 Item for a payre of knyvys 
 Item for his boord wagys 
 
 summa iijli. vjs. vijd 
 
 vs.iiijd 
 
 iijd 
 
 viijd 
 
 iijs 
 
 viijd 
 
 vd 
 
 xjs.viiid 
 
 The elementary school owes its existence in the first 
 place to Joseph Lancaster, 1808, " The British and 
 Foreign Schools Society," " The National Society for 
 Promoting the Education of the Poor in the Princi- 
 ples of the Church of England," while Andrew Bell 
 assisted to make the work complete. 
 
 As early as the seventeenth century, Scotland was 
 far in advance of England in attending to the educa- 
 tion of children. There were parish schools, and bur- 
 saries (or scholarships) for the Universities were 
 given to the clever pupils. 
 
 The first factory school was held in Price's candle 
 works in 1849, where out of 600 employees there were 
 at that date 400 children. The school, which was held 
 in an old warehouse, had about 100 pupils. It was a 
 most useful institution in its day. 
 
 At Domirey, near Clare, Ireland, a little school was 
 kept in the hollow trunk of an ash tree. 
 
 The boy who lived before the latter part of the nine- 
 teenth century and enjoyed school work must, to say 
 the least of it, have been out of the common. Indeed 
 most of the schools up to thirty years ago were more 
 than objectionable, as regards their purely educational 
 systems, in fact they were depressing beyond words. 
 
 In these effeminate days when children, who have 
 
HIS SCHOOLING 135 
 
 seriously offended against the law, are for the further 
 protection of their morals examined in a special police 
 court, it is difficult to realise that the natural guardian 
 of a child should dream of sending a boy to a public 
 school of even fifty years ago. Without exception, 
 one and all were grossly immoral. 
 
 Still to send a boy to school was agreed to by all 
 fathers as being the first step towards making a man 
 of him, and many little children wore their first pair 
 of breeches on their first " Black Monday." 
 
 Sad to say, few modern schools fulfil the ideals of 
 the paidologist. It appears impossible for the dominie 
 to move into a new and more useful groove of learning, 
 and at the same time obtain even a moderate income, 
 although there are not wanting signs of changes of a 
 most revolutionary character, but parents remain con- 
 servative to the backbone. 
 
 What was good enough for them in their schooldays 
 they consider to be sufficient for their sons and daugh- 
 ters. So it happens that at the present time the aver- 
 age boy is often compelled to waste a great part of his 
 life in acquiring a totally useless amount of unremu- 
 nerative knowledge, because the father is too inert to 
 interest himself in the matter. 
 
 The late Lord Salisbury remarked in one of his 
 speeches that " people may learn what is said in par- 
 liament," and sarcastically added, " well, will that con- 
 tribute to their education? " 
 
 James Mill carried his educational plan to excess, 
 and left his son to mourn that he had had no boyhood. 
 There is no doubt, besides the dangers arising from 
 overwork, that the man who as a boy has not lived 
 
136 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 the life of a boy cannot be said to be " an educated 
 person." 
 
 The fourth Earl of Dudley was another child to 
 whom play was the only subject he was not acquainted 
 with — he became a very morbid and brilliant scholar 
 and died a lunatic. 
 
 In spite of the pleasing whim of good old Anaxa- 
 goras, holidays were unknown to schoolboys until 
 about the fifteenth century, and then only in very few 
 schools. 
 
 Saints' days the boys had, but it was only to change 
 from one kind of study to another, and it was not un- 
 til 1644 that an appeal was made by the boys of Mer- 
 chant Taylors' School for play-days instead of holy- 
 days. 
 
 Ever since the publication of " Nicholas Nickleby " 
 certain classes of ignorant persons have imagined the 
 " Dotheboys Hall " was the only school of its date 
 where holidays were conspicuous by their absence. On 
 the other hand it was a very common arrangement not 
 only in English boarding schools, but also among those 
 on the Continent, and even in the United States. The 
 distance from home and the expense of a long coach 
 journey were items of great consideration in very 
 many cases. No vacation was the rule on the Con- 
 tinent; and until the last fifty years the majority of the 
 Roman Catholic Schools had no holidays, although St. 
 Omer had its Blandyke, which is the name holidays 
 go by to this day at Stoneyhurst College. Blandyke 
 is a village a few miles from St. Omer, which the 
 Jesuits bought in 1649, where the boys spent their 
 holiday. 
 
HIS SCHOOLING i37 
 
 As late as March 23, 1894, the following advertise- 
 ment appeared in The Daily Telegraph. 
 
 Home School for boys. £5 quarterly inclusive. Every 
 comfort. Unlimited diet. Commercial education. Shorthand, 
 French, German, etc. No holidays. Backward pupils rapidly 
 improved. 
 
 What joyless lives the inmates of John Wesley's 
 school, at Kingswood, Bristol, led, we can imagine 
 from the following in the ascetic's own words : — 
 
 " As we have no play day, the school being taught every day 
 in the year but Sunday, so neither do we allow any time for play 
 on any day — He that plays when he is a child will play when 
 he is a man." 
 
 Private schools were often mere burlesques of edu- 
 cation. Everybody smiled at reading the home letter 
 dictated by the Doctor to Mr. Bultitude, it was so 
 good an imitation of the grandiloquent language of 
 the Victorian pedagogue; yet Matthew Arnold capped 
 it by producing a Simon Pure copy of a school letter 
 — here it is : — 
 
 My Dear Parents, 
 
 The anticipation of our Christmas vacation abounds in 
 peculiar delights, not only that its festivities, its social gather- 
 ings, and its lively amusement crown the old year with happiness 
 and mirth, but that I come a guest commended to your hospitable 
 love by the performance of all you bade me remember when I 
 left you in the glad season of sun and flowers, and time has sped 
 fleetly since reluctant my departing step crossed the threshold of 
 that home whose indulgence and endearments their temporary 
 loss has taught me to value more and more. Yet that restraint 
 is necessary, and that self-reliance is as easily learnt as it is 
 laudable, the propriety of my conduct and readiness of my serv- 
 ices shaU ere long aptly illustrate. It is with confidence I prom- 
 
138 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 ise that the close of every year shall find me advancing in your 
 regard by constantly observing the precepts of my excellent 
 tutors, and the example of my excellent parents. We break upon 
 Thursday nth of December instant, and my impatience of the 
 short delay will assure my dear parents of the filial sentiments of 
 
 Theirs very sincerely, " N." 
 P.S. — Mr. and Mrs. P. present their respectful compliments. 
 
 In ancient Egypt all little boys were compelled to 
 copy out " The hymn in praise of learning " — the 
 above was evidently the master's idea of the same sort 
 of thing. 
 
 The earliest schoolboy letter is too good to miss, 
 here it is : — 
 
 " Theon to his father Theon greeting. 
 
 It was a fine thing of you not to take me with you to Alex- 
 andria. I won't write 3'ou a letter or speak to you or say good- 
 bye to you, and if you go to Alexandria I won't take your hand 
 nor ever greet you again. That is what will happen if you 
 won't take me . . . send me a lyre I implore you. If you don't 
 I won't eat, I won't drink. There now ! " 
 
 Eighteenth century education in France was little if 
 any better than that of England at the same period. 
 
 Some of the schools were free, at others the masters 
 were often very badly paid — Restif de la Bretonne's 
 schoolmaster received three sous per month for those 
 who did not learn writing, and five for those that did ! 
 The community added 30 bushels of wheat, and thirty 
 bushels of barley p.a. to his income, which was but a 
 very poor one. 
 
 Children were not sent to college until after being 
 confirmed, which means the eleventh or twelfth year, 
 before this they were either educated at home or at a 
 preparatory school. 
 
HIS SCHOOLING 139 
 
 At college, as in England, the boys were badly fed, 
 lodged, clothed, and often ill-treated, but there was no 
 distinction in rank — any class being admitted. The 
 food consisted of mouldy bread ; the wine was teetotal 
 in its alcoholic strength and flavour; the meals were 
 never well cooked and consisted of the coarsest viands. 
 
 The place was very dirty and in appearance was 
 more like a prison than a school or college. 
 
 The system of education was similar at all colleges 
 and science and mathematics were utterly neglected. 
 
 The scholars were kept in subjection by the correc- 
 tor, who wielded the birch with no unsparing hand 
 until the expulsion of the Jesuits, when the office was 
 abolished. 
 
 The Marquis de Dangeau founded a school for the 
 sons of gentlemen in the Rue de Chavonne, Paris, 
 where he educated at his own expense twenty young 
 boys of noble birth. Some bourgeois were admitted 
 by payment, and the latter it was said excelled their 
 more highly connected schoolfellows. There were 
 several schools of this description on the outskirts of 
 Paris. 
 
 Quintillian, in " Institutes of Oratory," says that 
 education should begin at three years of age, and that 
 children should leave school when fit, but does not 
 mention the age. He also tells us, which few boys 
 will agree with, that grammar is a necessity to boys, 
 and the only branch of study which is of more use 
 than show. On the other hand Boyle states that at 
 Eton he forgot most of his Latin conversation and 
 prose in learning grammar. 
 
 The earliest knowledge of teaching in London 
 
140 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 schools may be obtained from Fitzstephen the histo- 
 rian, and may be summed up in three subjects — writ- 
 ing, reading and flogging — few pupils were taught 
 Latin, and very few mathematics. Ascham's " Schole- 
 master " is one of the most delightful books in the 
 English language. His method of teaching Latin was 
 borrowed from the younger Pliny, and he was an ad- 
 vocate of compulsory Greek. 
 
 In the early part of the sixteenth century nearly all 
 the boys learnt by rote. 
 
 In remote parts of England and Ireland up to a 
 century ago children were taught writing with the tip 
 of the finger in sand sprinkled on a board. Earlier 
 still skins of animals, membraneous tissues of plants, 
 tablets of wood, the ink horn, and pen of leather 
 formed but clumsy substitutes for " Gillott " and " The 
 Swan." Levana is more indulgent to her charges in 
 these days. 
 
 The earliest writing masters in England were French 
 or Italians. The school slate is very old indeed; 
 Joseph Lancaster has been credited with its introduc- 
 tion about 1801, although Chaucer mentions it in the 
 line : — " Love hath my name y-strike out of his sclat." 
 The first steel pen made in England was that of Samuel 
 Harrison, the inventor of split-rings, for Dr. Priestley. 
 
 From the earliest Christian times the A B C was 
 conspicuously headed by a cross, and the child's first 
 spelling book was called : " Crist Crosse me spede." 
 The first Protestant A B C (1553) was appointed to 
 be used at Highgate Grammar School. 
 
 The Christ-cross-row, or cris-cross-row, was prob- 
 ably so-called because the superstitious had a mania for 
 
HIS SCHOOLING 141 
 
 writing the alphabet in the form of a cross, for a 
 charm, not because a cross was prefixed to the alphabet 
 in the old primers. It evolved into the progenitor of 
 the counting machine, common now in the aursery, 
 that is, a four-sided frame of wood with wires 
 stretched across on which are mounted movable beads. 
 
 The author of " Tom Thumb's Alphabet"—" A was 
 an archer and shot at a frog" — was Thos. White. 
 
 In the thirteenth century Donatus, or Donet (after 
 Donatus, a Roman professor of the fourth century), 
 was a synonym for a primer. 
 
 From the time of Anniquil there have been enough 
 grammarians to quarrel over syntax, but one can 
 hardly realise Ben Jonson writing " The English 
 Grammar." Was it Bacon at it again? 
 
 The oldest educational work is " The Colloquy of 
 Archbishop Alfric," in Anglo-Saxon and Latin, and 
 is written in a dialogue between masters and boys. 
 
 In his catalogue of arithmetical books. Professor 
 De Morgan designated Vyse as " the poet of arith- 
 meticians," and assigns to him the authorship of the 
 well-known lines : — 
 
 " When first the marriage knot was tied 
 Between my wife and me, 
 My age did hers as far exceed 
 As three times three does three," etc. 
 
 These lines, however, appeared more than sixty 
 years before the first edition of Vyse's Arithmetic in 
 1771. 
 
 There is a good story of Littleton who, when com- 
 piling his Latin Dictionary, engaged an amanuensis. 
 All went merry as a marriage bell until the ill-assorted 
 
143 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 partners arrived at the word " concurro," when the 
 scribe thought the time had arrived to distinguish him- 
 self, and officiously suggested " to concur " as a decent 
 translation. Littleton, who was very testy, roared out, 
 "Concur, sir? condog," and down it went, with the 
 result that the first edition of Littleton's Dictionary 
 actually appeared with that absurdity, "concurro, to 
 condog." 
 
 The schoolboy scribbling on the fly leaves of school 
 books in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries is 
 practically the same as the schoolboys of to-day. The 
 following comes under the same category, and is well 
 worth preserving; it was found in a Caesar belonging 
 to John She, 1589. 
 
 " My father to me — this booke did give ; 
 And I will kep it as long as I live. 
 Whose booke it is if you will knowe. 
 By letters twaine — I will you showe. 
 The one is I in all men's sight, 
 The other S and full of might, 
 Joyne these to letters — presently 
 And you shall know — my name by and by. 
 John Slye — is my name, 
 And with my pen — I writ the same. 
 God that made both sea and sand 
 Give me grace — to mend my hand ; 
 For I have neither hat nor cap. 
 He is a knave — that redes me that 
 The Rose is redd — the leves — are grene, 
 God save — Elizabeth — our noble Quene.'' 
 
 This was not written on the fly leaf but on scattered 
 pages in divisions as above. 
 
 The admonition to the light fingered in the well- 
 known verse, " Steal not this book for fear of shame," 
 
HIS SCHOOLING 143 
 
 etc., is as old as we can almost imagine. Perhaps the 
 following is the earliest example from which boys have 
 so persistently copied through generation after gen- 
 eration; it occurs on the tablets in the Royal Library 
 at Nineveh. 
 
 "The Palace of Ashur-bani-pal, King of Hosts, King of 
 Assyria, who putteth his trust in the gods Ashur and Belit on 
 whom Nabu and Tashmetu have bestowed ears which hear, eyes 
 which see. I have inscribed upon tablets the noble products of 
 the work of the scribe, which none of the kings who have gone 
 before me had learnt, together with the wisdom of Nabu in so far 
 as it existeth [in writing]. I have arranged them in my palace 
 that I, even I, the ruler who knoweth the light of Ashur, the 
 King of the gods, may read them. Whosoever shall carry off 
 this tablet, or shall inscribe his name upon it side by side with 
 mine own, may Ashur and Belit overthrow him in wrath, and 
 anger, and may they destroy his name and posterity in the land." 
 
 Christmas pieces were specimens of handwriting 
 executed in schools at the close of the Christmas 
 quarter, and were in general use from 1 720 to the early 
 part of the nineteenth century. They consisted of 
 folio sheets of paper bordered by engravings, the cen- 
 tral space being reserved for the writing. Their ob- 
 ject was to inform parents of the progress made by 
 the scholar. 
 
 The origin of the sampler is unknown. Skelton 
 mentions it in one of his poems. It was introduced 
 into England from the religious establishments in 
 France. 
 
 The early long sampler consisted of lace work and 
 embroidery, and was worked by the nobility and better 
 classes. Eventually the sampler was introduced into 
 schools, and this probably assisted its degeneration. 
 
144 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 The alphabet did not occupy a prominent position in 
 the early samplers, in the seventeenth century it held 
 the chief position on the work, afterwards again hold- 
 ing a subordinate position. 
 
 The embroidery and lace were early neglected giv- 
 ing place to figures of animals, trees, plants, etc., and 
 the border was only introduced when a craze came to 
 put them in frames, the older samplers have no bor- 
 der at all. 
 
 One thing every careful parent endeavoured that 
 his son should learn was a scrap of Latin, and good 
 priests often taught criminals to repeat a verse or text 
 by which the doomed one could plead " benefit of 
 clergy " and in some convictions escape hanging. The 
 criminal was expected to read aloud a verse of Scrip- 
 ture, usually the first verse of the fifty-first psalm 
 (the fiftieth in the Vulgate version) . If he could read 
 it (or repeat, as must have been often the case), even 
 if convicted of such a serious charge as that of man- 
 slaughter, he was burnt in the hand, and escaped the 
 gallows. There is no record of a child having pleaded 
 benefit of clergy at any period. 
 
 At times school children's education was indifferent 
 if we may judge from the following scholastic bill 
 discovered among the parochial accounts of St. 
 Clement's parish: 
 
 " Reifed of Jon Godwin the som of ten' shillings and aitpens 
 for ye childrens skoelen, from November lo, 1739, to a Leaday 
 daie, by me Tho. Phillips — £0 los. 8d." 
 
 In the county of Sligo, in 1824, a child in a school 
 sat reading a New Testament sitting between two 
 
HIS SCHOOLING 14S 
 
 Others, one of whom was supplied with " The Forty 
 Thieves," and the other with " The Pleasant Art of 
 Money Catching," while at a little distance another 
 child was perusing " The Mutiny Act," and all were 
 reading aloud their respective books at the same mo- 
 ment. 
 
 Perhaps spelling was at a low ebb in 1 578 when the 
 Corporation of Boston resolved 
 
 " that a Dictionarye shall be bought for the scollers of the 
 Free School; and the same boke to be tyed in a chesme, and 
 set upon a deske in the scoole." 
 
 " Blamed be the man who first invented ink, 
 And made it easier for to write than think." 
 
 To teach the Abecedarian to read handwriting, there 
 is nothing perhaps better than " Alice's Adventures 
 Underground," by Lewis Carroll. It was with the 
 idea of inducing the young scholar to read that our 
 forefathers nicknamed the horn book battledoor, prob- 
 ably not the toy but a word coined from battels, pro- 
 visions. Thus giving the newly formed word the 
 meaning of the door to something appetising, or it 
 may be the door to life. 
 
 As regards poetry, every child is taught certain 
 kinds, but often in a haphazard manner. Some verse 
 is very easily acquired because children derive pleasure 
 from its rhythmic character, not from the sense, nor is 
 this trait confined to child-life. 
 
 There are other kinds of poetry valuable for sense, 
 of which their name is legion, but it is no small under- 
 taking to select a poem to suit every child. Poetry 
 is a necessary subject in every child's curriculum — 
 
146 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 putting aside its present intellectual uses and pleasures, 
 it is worth learning if only for the fact that insomnia 
 is frequently the bugbear in the decline of life, and 
 many old people when lying awake in bed, obtain con- 
 siderable comfort from repeating to themselves lines 
 of poetry learned by heart in childhood, and surely we 
 should educate children, not for the day, or the mor- 
 row, but for the needs of a lifetime, even old age. 
 
 Therefore, poetry wants teaching in a way so that 
 the child shall not only learn the set piece, but at the 
 same time acquire a liking for verse. Nor are all 
 poets poetical at all times; Wordsworth's unhappy 
 vandalism of that beautiful child's prayer, " Gentle 
 Jesus, meek and mild," when he changed the lines into 
 " Holy Jesus, meek and mild " is an instance of what 
 awful things poets can do. 
 
 Music, " the only universal tongue," as Rogers calls 
 it, is, perhaps, the most important school subject of all. 
 
 At home careful parents take precautions from the 
 child's earliest days to allow it as far as possible to 
 hear good music only. 
 
 The lesson for a young child of ten is harmful if it 
 occupies more than fifteen minutes, and the time for 
 daily practice should not exceed ten or fifteen minutes 
 at the utmost — six hours a day comes later when there 
 is an intelligent appreciation of the work. 
 
 " Practising is good for a good little girl, 
 It makes her nose straight, and makes her hair curl." 
 
 And it might be added, makes it a punishment, and 
 spoils a musician. 
 
 As a rule the parents are at fault, they will have 
 
HIS SCHOOLING I47 
 
 their money's worth in solid time by the household 
 clock, out of the music master's brain. Forgotten al- 
 together is the fact of the child's welfare, and the poor 
 master is compelled to struggle against the difiEiculty 
 of interesting the pupil and the fatigue the pupil feels 
 at a long lesson. 
 
 As in every other branch of teaching, music masters 
 are often not the best musicians, and the best musicians 
 are often very poor teachers. 
 
 Drawing finds an important and early position 
 among the most necessary arts taught to children 
 whose parents are sufficiently wise to look for results 
 after school life. 
 
 From time immemorial no child has ever been able 
 to resist the temptation of scribbling with a lead pencil 
 or crayon on the family walls, even though it be the 
 drawing-room, where the young artist's efforts meet 
 with a minimum of popularity. 
 
 European art is cosmopolitan, but in the first few 
 years of childhood it is expressive because it is not 
 interfered with by change of life, and so after a pre- 
 liminary stage of scribbling with anything that will 
 make a mark, the Royal Academician in embryo inva- 
 riably launches his artistic career by an attempt at 
 what is a portrait of a man. However much it may 
 be open to criticism, and it is most certainly not ana- 
 tomically correct, still there it is — a representation of 
 one of the draughtsman's own species, and a full faced 
 one too, never a side-faced. 
 
 Let him take heart, there are daring souls who have 
 found fault with the Venus of Milo. They have said 
 that she has only one joint to her ten fingers; that 
 
148 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 her hands are too large; hips too small; her stature 
 stunted; and horrors! her head but the size of an 
 idiot's. One critic's soul has been greatly disturbed 
 because her ears are pierced for ear-rings, and as for 
 ourselves are there not many old and new masters 
 whose pictures (if we were unaware of their repute 
 and value) we would not have at a gift? 
 
 Go on, dear children, cover the drawing-room walls 
 (so long as they are not mine) with your artistic ef- 
 forts. Doubtless like the unknown sculptor of Madam 
 Venus, you will suffer a certain amount of adverse 
 criticism; it is the bitter portion of all artists, often 
 enough in the case of able critics the quality of mercy 
 is strained to the breaking point. 
 
 Then away with the ancient method, so familiar in 
 my childhood, of executing uninteresting geometrical 
 figures sufficient to make the goddess of art shudder 
 out of her toga. Provide the artist with pencils, cray- 
 ons, and modelling clay galore, and let him paint and 
 model, if not wherever he likes, at least what he likes, 
 and when old enough let him draw objects from mem- 
 ory — it is a capital exercise. 
 
 In every case where children show any exceptional 
 talent it is the parents' duty to communicate with 
 " The Royal Drawing Society." It is but a short time 
 since that there appeared in The Times an article in 
 which the writer stated that England was leading the 
 world in artistic design as applied to industries and 
 manufactures, so that even as a commercial invest- 
 ment drawing is a subject for consideration. 
 
 If however we leave, in the case of art, all teaching 
 to the art master, we may with the greatest of luck 
 
HIS SCHOOLING 149 
 
 and after some years possess a child with an artistic 
 temperament, but we are not likely to do so. The 
 boy or girl may have some aptitude for drawing, may 
 be able to shade, and copy colours, but even if he or 
 she begins life with a genius for drawing, or painting, 
 unless from the very time the child is able to distin- 
 guish figures the household paraphernalia is artistic, 
 the child's earliest and most impressive time to learn 
 has not only passed away, but it has also been sup- 
 planted by irremediable impressions. For those hor- 
 ribly grotesque German picture books, golliwog dolls, 
 and other repulsive monstrosities — burn them; they 
 are not only unbeautiful in themselves, but they, like 
 all else that is evil, cannot be indulged in without 
 an effect. " True art," says Hogarth, " can only be 
 learned in one school, and that school is kept by 
 Nature ! " 
 
 Geography is more of a pleasant study than a useful 
 one now-a-days, unless the pupil is to enter some walk 
 of life where a special knowledge of the subject is 
 required, and whether or no, the best way of teaching 
 it is by visits to the picture shows. A tour round the 
 world as a means of teaching the young idea how to 
 shoot, suggested some years ago by Dr. Alexander Hill, 
 is unfortunately beyond the pockets of most of us. 
 It has been said that in a few years the cinematograph 
 probably will be as common in schools as the black- 
 board. There is already a very good book published 
 on its uses by Professor Otto Schultz, " The Kinemato- 
 graph as a means of Educational Culture." The geog- 
 raphy book of the man in the street is a Bradshaw, 
 and if he wants to know more about a particular part 
 
ISO THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 of the world he must buy the latest work on that part. 
 
 A boy must learn some general information about 
 the world he lives in, but we cannot aflford to allow 
 him to waste too much time. As Huxley says, 
 " Science does everything but pay," so that any idea 
 of giving natural science a fair share in education can- 
 not be thought of except in the cases of millionaires. 
 We must teach mathematics because it is about the 
 only science subject that pays financially. 
 
 Of all subjects arithmetic is by far the most difficult 
 to get into the sensorium of the average child. It 
 has caused more grief and pain than all the crimes of 
 the world put together since the Flood; nor has any 
 book suffered so much ill-treatment from the year 
 1660 when Hylles presented to an ungrateful world 
 his " Art of Arithmetic," to the present year of our 
 Lord, as the common or garden elementary book of 
 arithmetic. 
 
 Little cares the swotting scholar that the very source 
 of cotmting arose from the fact of our possessing five 
 digits on each hand, ten on the two hands, and twenty 
 on hands and feet together (the term digit is still used 
 in mathematics) ; but we have been unable to obtain 
 any satisfactory answer from several fairly decent 
 mathematicians as to what would have happened to 
 us had we been centipedes. Gladstone's mathematics 
 at school were utterly hopeless, and yet he was Chan- 
 cellor of the Exchequer again and again. 
 
 The young arithmetician may sjmpathise with those 
 who maintain (quite justly) that eight is the most 
 rational basis for an arithmetical series, and he may 
 curse (quite respectably if he knew the comfort of 
 
HIS SCHOOLING 151 
 
 going without) the boots which cover our feet, and 
 which by covering ten of our digits have caused us to 
 use the inconvenient number ten as a basis. After 
 all who wants to be born without thumbs, and are not 
 great toes made for babies to put — among other things 
 — in their mouths? 
 
 The unlearned urchin is probably more in sympathy 
 with the Chiquitos of America who cannot count' 
 above one ; the Tasmanians who could not count above 
 two (a few years ago), the Damaras, and other 
 savages — in many ways so like himself. 
 
 Again an idle youth might quote Halle's cook who 
 dreamt of number seven on three occasions. She 
 multiplied the numbers together, and made the product 
 23. She bought a lottery ticket with this number, 
 and won a prize. So much for elementary mathe- 
 matics as a useful science. 
 
 At any rate at least a smattering of French must 
 be taught, if only for the gourmand's reason : — " Who 
 can help loving the land that has taught us six hundred 
 and eighty-five ways to dress eggs." 
 
 In the sixteenth century one William Paget was 
 accused of walking up and down outside his street 
 door " teachyng a dogg frenche." Not only was it 
 affirmed that he spoke " frenche " to the " dogg," but 
 that the beast also returned the compliment, and spoke 
 " frenche " to William Paget. 
 
 Now if a " dogg " can learn to speak " frenche," 
 surely a boy can if he is taught by modem methods, 
 and in fact the ordinary boy should know enough of 
 French, German, and Spanish to be able to make sense 
 of an ordinary simple book in those languages. We 
 
IS2 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 cannot hope to make the child a finished scholar dur- 
 ing school years; after that time the further study 
 must remain in his own hands. 
 
 " Frenssh she spak ful faire and fetishly, 
 After the scole at-te Bowe, 
 For .frenssh of Parys was to hire unknowe: " 
 
 Chaucer. 
 
 Greek was first taught in an English public school 
 by Lillye, at St. Paul's, about the year 1500. Eras- 
 mus says that St. Paul's School was the best school 
 in his time. St. Paul's was refounded by Colet for 
 157 boys (the number in the miraculous draught of 
 fishes). 
 
 The English pronunciation of Latin began in Eliza- 
 beth's reign at the suggestion of Sir Henry Cheeke. 
 
 " Is it passive, is it middle, 
 Cursed Scott, and cursed Liddle. 
 Is it future, is it not. 
 Cursed Liddle, cursed Scott" 
 
 So sang the poet Cowper. 
 
 Of all means of robbing both boy and parent none 
 can compare with the ancient and threadbare orthodox 
 classical education. Now although we may grant that 
 some Latin and Greek should form part of a basis for 
 the future acquisition of modem languages, and as a 
 means of recollecting scientific terms with ease, still 
 it is ridiculous that the best part of school-life should 
 be spent in what — considered in comparison with other 
 subjects — is of little value; and is even detrimental 
 in that classics occupy time which should be spent 
 upon other subjects. 
 
HIS SCHOOLING 153 
 
 There is ample time — if it be necessary to learn 
 the army of irregular Greek verbs, make Latin verses, 
 and do Greek prose — after our boys and girls are 
 familiar with Aristotle and Plato, without which, not 
 to mention a fair knowledge of our own classics, the 
 youth of sixteen is uneducated. I do not mean that 
 a boy or girl should not know something of ancient 
 authors — on the contrary they should be well read, 
 but it should be by means of translations, and these 
 well bowdlerised. 
 
 Arnold, the great Rugbeian, remarked that Shake- 
 speare would be but a poor substitute for Homer, and 
 was yet amazed 'at the want of poetry in the minds 
 of boys under him whose knowledge consisted of prac- 
 tically nothing but so-called classics. Arnold's re- 
 mark should be sufficient to damn classics beyond re- 
 covery, and some of us sympathise with those of his 
 boys who, like Jack Ketch once did, struck. Even 
 Arnold himself, although excellent at prose, could not 
 write good verses — what a wasted life! The Arch- 
 bishop of Cambray was severely flogged by angels for 
 spending too much time on Cicero — or so we are told. 
 
 Of the youth of sixteen who can write Latin verses 
 decently, it can well be said that " he has a great 
 future behind him." 
 
 Cock-fighting is no longer included in the school- 
 master's accounts for education, and in the not very 
 distant future, as parents become wiser, higher classics 
 will share almost the same neglect. By the way, cock- 
 fighting was continued in schools in Scotland, until at 
 least 1828. 
 
 The best which has been written, said, and thought 
 
IS4 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 in the world, and as much of it as it is possible for the 
 pupil to obtain, should be the educational design of 
 the tutor. When the boy leaves the schoolroom for 
 the last time — then comes the reckoning. 
 
 The great warrior who remarked that the battle of 
 Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton, 
 omitted to mention the number of victories that have 
 been lost through its class-rooms. 
 
 The following curious paper in the autograph of 
 Frederick Prince of Wales relates to the study of the 
 Princes George and Edward (afterwards George III. 
 and the Duke of York). 
 
 " Cliffden, October the 14th, 1750 — 
 
 The Hours for the two eldest Princes. 
 
 To get up at 7 o'clock. 
 
 At 8 to read with Mr. Scott till 9, and he to stay with 'em 
 till the Doctor comes. 
 
 The Doctor to stay from 9 to eleven. 
 
 From Eleven to Twelve, Mr. Fung. 
 
 From Twelve to half an hour past Twelve, Ruperti; but Mr. 
 Fung to remain there. 
 
 Then to be their play hour till 3 o'clock. 
 
 At 3 Dinner. 
 
 Three times a week, at half an hour past Four, Demoyet 
 comes. 
 
 At s Mr. Fung till half an hour past 6. 
 
 At half an hour past 6 till 8, Mr. Scott. 
 
 At 8, Supper. 
 
 Between 9 and 10 in Bed." 
 
 ***** 
 
 In spite of this carefully compiled time-table the 
 education of the Royal Princes was not altogether 
 successful. Stone, at one time the sub-governor to 
 the Prince of Wales, was brought before the Privy 
 Council for having drunk the Pretender's health, and 
 
HIS SCHOOLING 155 
 
 Lord Harcourt resigned being governor to the Prince 
 of Wales because the King would not dismiss Stone. 
 It is said that to such an extent had Jacobite prin- 
 ciples been instilled into George III. that Lord Bute 
 had formed a treasonable scheme in favour of the 
 Chevalier and that George III. was an accomplice in 
 the project for his own downfall. 
 
 THE OLD BOYS' DINNER. 
 
 " Old Boys," about the festive board collected, 
 With some distinguished dotard in the Chair, 
 
 From earth's obscurest comers resurrected, 
 
 Bound by fond mem'ries of the days that were, 
 
 By ties of past acquaintanceship connected, 
 Discuss the bill of fare. 
 
 Ah, woe is me ! The eyes that erstwhile twinkled 
 Have lost their lustre, ne'er to be recalled! 
 
 The sturdy backs are bowed, the brows bewrinkled 
 Where Father Time his signature has scrawled I 
 
 With wintry snows full many a scalp is sprinkled, 
 And most of us are bald! 
 
 There's Jones, who's ninety-eight, or very nearly; 
 
 His deafness makes him hard to entertain. 
 And Brown, the bore, whom at this banquet yearly 
 
 I struggle to avoid, but all in vain ! 
 And Robinson, whom I had hoped sincerely 
 Never to meet again ! 
 
 But still, to-night we'll toast our Alma Mater, 
 
 Imbibing Perrier Jouet by the quart ; 
 And though perchance we suffer for it later. 
 What matter? Life in any case is short 
 And second childhood fleeting! Now, then, Waiter, 
 Bring me a glass of port I 
 
 H. G. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 HIS DEVELOPMENT 
 
 ' This is somebody's birthday — 
 Jmt as sure as fate. 
 Some little boy is six years old. 
 Some little girl is eight; 
 Some little boy is three to-day, 
 Some little girl thirteen; 
 Some little twins are exactly two — 
 Two apiece, I mean." 
 
 F. Weatherley. 
 
IX 
 
 HIS DEVELOPMENT 
 
 The first person to investigate the rate of human 
 growth was Bufifon, the naturalist, who has had many 
 followers. Much that is both useful and interesting 
 has been brought to light, but in spite of modern dis- 
 coveries the history of human development is still open 
 for further investigation. 
 
 The unravelling of the development of the horse 
 from a rat-like creature in appearance, and the early 
 development from dissimilar types of many other ani- 
 mals is settled beyond dispute, but of pre-Adamite 
 man practically nothing is certainly known. The 
 Atlantosaurus of the Western American Jurassic beds 
 is the very largest animal ever known to have inhabited 
 this world. He stood i6 or i8 ft. without socks, and 
 was apparently not at all the sort of creature a dainty 
 young lady was likely to make a pet of ; but in another 
 geological period the Atlantosaurus was gathered to 
 his forefathers, and the lizard species as regards size 
 were nowhere. Instead of gigantic lizards, the pre- 
 historic Izaak Walton (if he existed at that time) 
 found sport with fish as big as houses. 
 
 In turn the fishes lost the lead, and another geo- 
 logical period introduced gigantic sloths, or Probos- 
 cidians, and now we boast of the Cetaceans. 
 
 " In those days there were giants." What days ? 
 159 
 
i6o THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 and when was this? May it not be literally true? 
 When we compare the history of man with the history 
 of other animals we are forced to the conclusion that 
 man had probably a predecessor, and moreover it does 
 certainly seem possible that man either was (or will 
 be at some future period) the largest of all animals. 
 
 Adam is said to have been 123 ft. 9 in. in height, 
 Eve 1 18 ft. high, Noah only 27 ft., and I am full 5 ft. 
 2 in. in my socks. It causes me a certain amount of 
 modest pride when I have time to consider that I have 
 even been less in stature. 
 
 Probably all the hideous stories of dragons told 
 from generation to generation had their origin from 
 dim memories passed on to us from the minds of 
 our ancestors, of pterodactyles and similar primaeval 
 monsters. 
 
 To-day men over a certain height are by no means 
 well developed as a rule, and this leads us to a con- 
 sideration of the physical development of the child. 
 
 The weight of an infant at birth varies very greatly 
 indeed, the average being from six to nine pounds, 
 the mean average a trifle over seven pounds, but it is 
 not very infrequent to find babies weighing as much 
 as fourteen pounds, and some as little as five and a 
 half pounds, do remarkably well. 
 
 Below that weight, however, there is practically 
 always some mischief in the bud to grapple with, 
 and the child is very rarely reared. The average 
 weight of a newly-born baby is about one-twentieth 
 the maximum weight to which in future years he will 
 attain. 
 
 Monstrosities are exceedingly rare in all civilised 
 
HIS DEVELOPMENT i6i 
 
 countries, and never more than five children are born 
 at one birth. These always die, so there is no reason 
 for the anxious mother to fear that she may unwill- 
 ingly copy the example of the Countess of Henneberg, 
 who is recorded to have given birth all at one swoop 
 to as many babies as there were days in the year. 
 
 The weight increases so rapidly that when six 
 months old the child is nearly double, and at the year's 
 end nearly three times as heavy as at birth. 
 
 But there is very often ffom the fifth to the twelfth 
 month a great decline in unhealthy children in the 
 rate of growth owing to teething complications. 
 
 During the second year of life normal children only 
 gain about six pounds, about four-and-a-half pounds 
 the third year, and the fourth year about four pounds. 
 
 Why, we do not know, but children naturally in- 
 crease more in weight during the winter months, or 
 more correctly from August to April, the greatest in- 
 crease in weight occurring from August to the mid- 
 dle of December. During the remainder of the year 
 they usually put on very little weight, sometimes none 
 at all, and yet they eat as much and live practically 
 the same life during these two periods. 
 
 The reverse is the case with height, the greatest 
 increase in height being from the beginning of April 
 to the middle of August, but to rear strong animals, 
 plants or children, or to run the lOO yards, it is the 
 start which tells in the majority of cases. 
 
 Still, however irregular may be nature's course of 
 development our object is from the very beginning to 
 make it as regular as possible, and to keep the child 
 steadily increasing in both weight and height, and so 
 
i62 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 long as we can fairly accomplish this, we can snap our 
 fingers at the very name of disease; which is, under 
 good circumstances, and with a certain amount of 
 intelligence, the very milk and water of infernos up to 
 school life when (as the senior wrangler would tell us) 
 we have to compete with a variety of forces in strong 
 opposition. 
 
 The normal length of a child at birth is about 
 twenty inches. During the first year there is an 
 increase of about eight inches, during the second an 
 increase of three-and-a-half only, and afterwards an 
 increase of from two to three inches yearly. A newly- 
 born child is rather below one-third of the maximum 
 length that he will attain when fully developed. 
 
 Until the child's eighth year the rate of growth 
 usually proceeds with fair regularity; then for the 
 following three years, that is up to the age of eleven, 
 it seems to slow down, this being one of the periods 
 when special care should be exercised in supplying the 
 best growing conditions for the child. Up to this time 
 both boys and girls gain about equally in weight, and 
 then the girls, who become matured earlier than the 
 boys, begin to grow much more rapidly, and by the 
 thirteenth year, to the disgrace of the male sex, are 
 three-quarters of an inch taller and four and a half 
 pounds heavier on the average than the boys. 
 
 Why this difference obtains between the two sexes 
 at this period of life is as yet a mystery, but it does not 
 remain so long, for at the fifteenth year the boys are 
 taller than the girls, but not so heavy, and the sixteenth 
 year marks the crisis when boys are both heavier and 
 taller than girls. 
 
HIS DEVELOPMENT 163 
 
 It is puzzling but true that the increase in muscular 
 strength differs in proportion to the growth in both 
 weight and height. A boy of six years has little more 
 than, if as much as one-sixth of the strength of a 
 boy of sixteen. 
 
 Again, the constitutional strength, or resistance to 
 disease, is nearly always found as the inverse to the 
 increase in height. 
 
 Nor have we any sufficient explanation to offer of 
 why growth of strength should not proceed in a more 
 equable manner. 
 
 The child's period of greatest growth is the first 
 part of the first year, then from eleven to fourteen in 
 girls, and from fourteen to seventeen in boys. 
 
 The growth of muscular strength is greatest from 
 eleven to sixteen. 
 
 Why these things should be, and whether we can 
 alter them if we desire, are the most important prob- 
 lems for us as child students to solve. 
 
 Again, statistics prove that the death-rate before five 
 years of age is less among female children than among 
 male ; that it is equal between the ages of five and ten ; 
 higher than among males between ten and fifteen ; and 
 again equal between fifteen and twenty. 
 
 Why the rate should be less in females before the 
 age of five is unaccounted for; it is easy enough to 
 see why it is equal between five and ten because the 
 rate of growth is practically equal in both sexes; 
 whereas the age of ten to fifteen includes the age of 
 puberty for the girls, and this probably is accountable 
 for the increased death-rate; but one would certainly 
 expect a higher death-rate among, boys than girls be- 
 
i64 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 tween fifteen and twenty, as boys live a more venture- 
 ■ some life. The timid mother, therefore, may console 
 herself with the consideration that, after all, football 
 and cricket cannot be such very dangerous games, or 
 the death-rate among boys would be higher. 
 
 But for the most part these variations are quite 
 unaccountable, even though we burn the midnight oil 
 and are up with the lark to make our practical and 
 theoretical observations. 
 
 A point which requires the greatest attention is the 
 relation between the intellectual and physical growth. 
 
 As the weight increase is inverse to the increase in 
 height, the mental is inverse to both; in other words 
 the intellectual growth is at its highest when the bodily 
 growth is at its lowest, indeed it is a matter of com- 
 mon knowledge that the big boys as a rule are not re- 
 markably clever — on the contrary one looks for the 
 sharpest boys among the small ones, often finding in 
 the ricketty child, in spite of malnutrition, astonishing 
 intellect, but which as the child improves bodily does 
 not develop accordingly. 
 
 Still it must be understood that as a rule the boys 
 who do best at school are of better physique than the 
 boys who do badly, and a stupid, small-for-his-age 
 boy is really an anxious subject as to his future wel- 
 fare. It may take years to develop him physically and 
 mentally. A boy with good physique has lacked a 
 good tutor if he becomes a wastrel. 
 
 Into consideration must also be taken the various 
 meteorological conditions. A wet summer, a severe 
 or prolonged winter, and other climatic eccentricities 
 in our much abused (often unjustly abused) country. 
 
HIS DEVELOPMENT 165 
 
 have one and all their bearings on growth, health and 
 intellect. 
 
 That children, like all young animals, grow better 
 in light, moderate temperatures, and good weather, 
 goes without saying, and it pays parents well to ob- 
 tain these favourable conditions • whatever may be the 
 loss and inconvenience in obtaining them. 
 
 We cannot expect and we do not obtain from chil- 
 dren living in large manufacturing towns the results 
 obtained from children reared in the cleaner atmos- 
 phere of the country or seaside. 
 
 From the infant to the mature ephebus each year, 
 nay, each month is a crisis, and to particularise one 
 age as being more critical than another is a difficult 
 matter. In fact so rapidly does the physical growth 
 change about without accompanying alterations in 
 bodily and mental vigour, that there is practically 
 nothing left as line of demarcation between the so- 
 called stages of childhood. 
 
 Neither does physical nor mental development make 
 a full stop at twenty-one. In truth one has to wait 
 a good many years often enough for some boys or girls 
 to develop. The wild youth, the stupid lad, the empty 
 headed hoyden, when another ten years have passed 
 by, are as frequently as not persons of the most 
 exemplary character. These changes are, in a milder 
 form, perhaps, of constant occurrence in various 
 stages of life, although in the majority of cases caus- 
 ing little attention ; but there are also familiar to most 
 of us the evidences of violent and sudden changes 
 taking place in the habits and ideas of adult persons 
 with whom we are intimately acquainted. 
 
i66 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 "Teens" — from teon (Anglo-Saxon) to kindle; 
 provoke ; afflict ; vex — begins at the end of the twelfth 
 year, and ends with the nineteenth. 
 
 Puberty is generally considered the most serious 
 change which takes place during childhood, and that 
 (during tk^ whole period) girls give more cause for 
 anxiety than boys — is due to the fact that the physio- 
 logical changes are as a rule more abrupt and violent 
 in the female sex. 
 
 However, in the majority of cases we find that there 
 is considerable neglect of the natural functions of the 
 body which, associated with the rapid growth of the 
 child in the earlier stages, leads often enough to very 
 serious troubles in girls. The most frequent (often 
 unrecognised until too late) being scoliosis (curvature 
 of the spine), with its accompanying deformity of the 
 chest, and green sickness, or anaemia. 
 
 Sometimes in boys the voice cracks, or breaks, quite 
 suddenly and becomes harsh and unmanageable, often 
 causing considerable amusement to an unsympathetic 
 family audience. Probably this condition is due to 
 the swollen and congested state of the mucous mem- 
 brane of the vocal cords, and the great development 
 of the larynx as a whole. It is now time to take 
 extreme care of the voice; under no circumstances 
 should it be used for singing until puberty is well 
 over, when the boy should be at once placed under a 
 good master. 
 
 We must bear in mind that diphtheria in pubert}- 
 is really a dangerous disease. 
 
 It is especially at this crisis of life that parental con- 
 
HIS DEVELOPMENT 167 
 
 trol meets with its greatest difficulty. A young man 
 of one-and-twenty may often be easily advised, not so 
 a lad of sixteen; the former has had sdme experience, 
 the latter is wanting it. There is no time in the life 
 of a father requiring so much self-restraint as when 
 dealing with the man that almost is, and too often 
 either an excess of parental leniency, or severity, either 
 makes or mars the man. 
 
 The only hope as a rule lies in the father; the 
 mother at this stage is practically a nonentity to the 
 sons as the father has ever been to the daughters. It 
 is natural, the sexes being even more separate in their 
 views of the world, its necessities, vices and follies, 
 than in their merely anatomical and physiological dif- 
 ferences. 
 
 However much more the stripling may love the 
 mother than the father, and there is usually a senti- 
 mental bias towards " the mater," yet the father is a 
 man, who has had experience. Perhaps the boys think 
 him a bit of a humbug at times, not always fair, often 
 bad-tempered and possessed of a thousand other faults, 
 but when all is said nothing will alter the fact that the 
 father is a man, and can talk about manly affairs in a 
 masculine manner, which try as she may the mother 
 cannot do. 
 
 There are, we allow, some women with masculine, 
 and men with feminine characteristics, but between 
 even the highest masculine and the highest feminine 
 character there is an indefinable distinction; and in 
 those cases where men declare that their success in life 
 was due to the maternal influence, it is where the 
 
i68 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 mother was an exceptional character, or where the 
 father was perhaps a ladyHke gentleman, or in some 
 other way, a nonentity. 
 
 In the event of the daughter attributing her success 
 to paternal influence, it is even more unjustifiable ; the 
 father having far less influence with pubertal girls 
 than the mother has with boys, and when the daugh- 
 ter takes the father as a prototype, she is, or becomes, 
 peculiarly masculine in her habits. 
 
 .Taking it as a rule, no mother should enter lightly 
 upon the office of adviser to her son, nor the father to 
 his daughter — it is the blind leading the blind with a 
 vengeance. 
 
 It has been remarked that man is not a rational 
 animal in his parental capacity. 
 
 Puberty — cacophonous term! Why cannot some 
 spring poet find for us a more musical name for this 
 delightful period of existence — is the age of platonic 
 love. Here comes the boy with his bosom friend, the 
 girl with hers, and the boy or girl at this age without 
 a chum is — to say the least of it — peculiar. 
 
 It is extremely doubtful if we ever meet again with 
 such pure and devoted cronies, it is the last stage, of 
 innocence before leaving our garden of Eden. A few 
 years later there, comes gaps caused by death, migra- 
 tion, rise and fall in social standing, pressure of work, 
 and development of mature individuality. 
 
 Happily some of our old school and college chums 
 continue their friendship, and of others one might say 
 with Praed : — 
 
 " Some lie beneath the churchyard's stone, 
 And some before the Speaker." 
 
HIS DEVELOPMENT 169 
 
 Alas! we cannot expect the wisdom of Solon in 
 early life, and as a rule schoolboy friendship is brief. 
 It is too late when we awake to the realisation of what 
 we have so heedlessly thrown away. 
 
 Dr. Stanley Hall asserts that girls at puberty are 
 irreligious — on what authority I know not, nor did I 
 know they were, or are; on the contrary my experi- 
 ence, and the experience of most people I know who 
 have had to do with girls, is the opposite. 
 
 Puberty is the time of the greatest change that is to 
 take place in our physical and intellectual lives, the 
 time when development is more rapid than at any 
 other, the time when the girl goes to bed at night to 
 wake a woman in the morning. And though the stage 
 of puberty is longer in the boy, it is often not less 
 violent, so it is the period when resistance to disease 
 is (especially in girls) at its minimum, and the actual 
 strength below par. 
 
 " Too old for birch and lines 
 But not too old for gates and fines.'' 
 
 Many of the higher ecclesiastical ofificers and digni- 
 ties were given to young children, the sons of kings 
 and princes. 
 
 Prosper Colonna was made Archdeacon (not Arch- 
 bishop) of Canterbury in his fourteenth year. 
 
 William Wotton, Bentley's friend, was admitted to 
 St. Catherine's Hall, Cambridge, before he was ten 
 years of age, and actually graduated as B.A. when only 
 twelve years and nine months. 
 
 Several of the Archbishops of Canterbury were the 
 :hildren of poor parents : — 
 
170 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 William of Corbeuil — parentage unknown; 
 
 Becket — son of a London tradesman; 
 
 Baldwin — of humble parents at Exeter ; 
 
 Edmund Rich — son of a merchant at Abingdon. 
 
 On the other hand Cardinals were usually the sons 
 of the nobility and often were children : — 
 
 Pope Leo X., Giovanni di Medici, received his hat 
 when only twelve years of age ; 
 
 Ferdinand of Austria, son of Philip IIL of Spain, 
 was only ten at the time of his promotion ; 
 
 Don Luis de Bourbon, son of Philip V., was younger 
 still, being but eight years of age ; 
 
 Alexander Peretti, nephew of Sixtus V., was four- 
 teen years old; and Maurice of Savoy (Paul V.) the 
 same age when he became a cardinal. 
 
 Both Latimer and Luther were the sons of very poor 
 parents; and Nicholas Breakspear (Adrian IV.) was 
 a beggar, and the son of a beggar. 
 
 The never-to-be-forgotten Judge Jefiferies was only 
 fifteen years of age in 1663 when he entered the 
 Middle Temple. 
 
 In his " Fragmenta Regalia," Sir Robert Naunton 
 mentions boys of sixteen who were members of Parlia- 
 ment (he was probably incorrect, the youngest M.P., 
 I believe, was eighteen at that time), and James I. 
 made some very unpleasant remarks anent the youth- 
 ful M.P.'s. 
 
 In the Mexican Army, at the late revolution, we 
 learn that serving as private soldiers there were boys of 
 eleven years of age. All that was childish had disap- 
 peared in them, and it is said that, when marched out 
 to be shot, they behaved as callously as their older com- 
 
HIS DEVELOPMENT 171 
 
 rades. They were horribly cruel and in no way less 
 bestial than the Indians, and their only drawback to 
 adult soldiers was that they could not shoot for toffee. 
 
 In the Weekly Journal, October 13, 1722, the Gov- 
 ernor of Massachusetts Bay offered f 100 for scalps of 
 Indians over twelve years of age. It all seems very 
 horrible to us who are only conversant with the Euro- 
 pean child of to-day. 
 
 The story of the little girl who was compelled to 
 stand upon the family Bible to light the lamps of the 
 Longships Lighthouse near Land's End is said to be 
 authentic — her father, the lighthouse keeper, having 
 been kidnapped by wreckers. 
 
 We know that the William Tell story is untrue, a 
 false libel on boyhood. The true and only authentic 
 version happened in Finland, where the courageous 
 boy shot and the father was the one shot at ! 
 
 The number of children who followed the Pied 
 Piper was one hundred and thirty — ^this, as we all have 
 been taught, happened at Hamelin. The people of 
 Lorch were harder nuts and suffered accordingly. 
 The first year, a hermit appeared at Lorch and drew 
 all the insects to him and led them on to the lake 
 where they were all drowned. Of course he was re- 
 fused payment, and in revenge he beguiled the pigs to 
 a watery grave. 
 
 The second year appeared a charcoal burner who 
 piped away the crickets. The Lorch people again re- 
 fused to complete the bargain by paying up, and the 
 charcoal burner piped away all the sheep. 
 
 Yet these wretched Lorchites persisted in trying 
 their luck still further, and the third year an old man 
 
172 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 of the mountain piped away the children, and then the 
 Lorch people thought that he must have been a person 
 wholly devoid of any moral principles. 
 
 In all classes of society marriages of children of 
 tender years were of common occurrence in England 
 in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. 
 
 According to Swinburne's " Treatise of Spousals 
 or Matrimonial Contracts," 1686 (Swinburne died in 
 1624) :— 
 
 " They, therefore, which are not 7 years old cannot contract 
 spousals" . . . 
 
 " Spousals contracted during infancy are utterly void whether 
 the infants themselves or their parents for them do make the 
 contract" . . . and Swinburne goes on to say: "As Infants 
 cannot contract spousals, so they cannot contract matrimony 
 because they which cannot do the lesser, cannot do the greater." 
 
 However, on reaching the age of seven (the age at 
 which infants become children), the ratification of an 
 espousal could be made in a spiritual court, or a legal 
 separation obtained. 
 
 All these good intentions were however made naught 
 by a limitation which allowed child-marriage under 
 seven years of age, or perhaps we should more cor- 
 rectly describe it as infant marriage, if the infants 
 were of understanding beyond their years. To be 
 exact, a child marriage happened when the girl was 
 above seven but under twelve years, and the boy above 
 seven but under fourteen years. 
 
 Yet there were not wanting those who severely crit- 
 icised the custom. Philip Stubbes remarks in his 
 " Anatomie of Abuses in Ailgna " (Anglia), 1593 : — 
 
HIS DEVELOPMENT 173 
 
 " And besydes this, you shall haue evry sawcy boy of x 
 . . . yeres of age catch up a woman and marie her without 
 any feare of God at all, or respecte had to her religion. . . . 
 No, no; it maketh no matter for these things; so he haue his 
 pretie pusie to huggle withall, it forceth not, for that is the 
 only thing he desireth." 
 
 If, however, the parties were above the age of seven 
 years, and the boy under fourteen, and the girl under 
 twelve, then upon the boy reaching the age of four- 
 teen, and the girl that of twelve, either might object to 
 the contract and avoid it — unless it had been previously 
 ratified — or agree to continue together and need not 
 then be married again. 
 
 In Queen Mary's reign a girl under the age of six- 
 teen could not be married without the consent of her 
 parents. The penalty for so doing was " long im- 
 prisonment without baile, or with a grievous fine." — 
 4 and 5 Ph. and M. par. Women 7, 8. 
 
 With all its objections there were, however, solid 
 reasons in all cases for infant and child marriage, 
 although at times they were unscrupulous to a degree 
 — men being no more virtuous in feudal times than 
 to-day, and in the majority of cases where an infant, 
 or child, became heir to property through the decease 
 of the parent, there were not lacking jackals. 
 
 When Henry III. reigned, the custody of the heir 
 or heiress was in the hands of the king, who either 
 retained the wardship himself, or sold it. Now as the 
 guardian of the estates was not accountable for any 
 profits arising therefrom he naturally kept them for 
 his own use, and unless the father had taken the pre- 
 caution of marrying the child the guardian had in 
 
174 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 addition the opportunity of giving the child in mar- 
 riage to the highest bidder, and securing thereby a 
 dot for himself without considering the child's interest 
 in any way. This custom continued many years to 
 the great benefit of the Babes-in-the-Wood class of 
 wicked guardians. 
 
 Good Queen Bess, the sorely abused, was without 
 question a good, honest guardian to her wards, and 
 prevented many a poor orphan being ruined both 
 body and soul — which, let us hope, is remembered 
 elsewhere. 
 
 The English law of marriage remains the same as 
 the Roman law in that the age for girls still is twelve 
 years, boys fourteen ; but whereas in England parental 
 consent is necessary, in Scotland children may marry, 
 without the parents' consent, at the same ages. 
 
 With reference to Biblical characters : 
 
 Ahaz was not more than eleven when his son Eze- 
 chias was born; Josiah was but fourteen at the time 
 of Eliakim's birth; Solomon no more than eleven at 
 the birth of Rehoboam ; and the B. V. Mary is said to 
 have been but fifteen years of age when Our Lord was 
 born. 
 
 Of royal persons married early in life we have the 
 case of Richard II., who married Isabella of Valois 
 in the year 1396, the bride was but eight years old. 
 Richard, Duke of York, was married at the age of 
 four or six to Anne Mowbray, a young lady of three 
 or six years, according to different historians' calcula- 
 tions. The young prince was murdered in the Tower 
 by Richard III., three years later, and Sandford, some- 
 \vhat unnecessarily, adds, " died without issue." 
 
HIS DEVELOPMENT 175 
 
 In 1 5 18 Mary, daughter of Henry VIII., was mar- 
 ried to the Dauphin of France, son of King Francis I. 
 — she was but two years old, and the younger still 
 bridegroom not yet nine months. Admiral Bonnivet, 
 the proxy for the bridegroom, placed on the bride's 
 finger the smallest wedding ring ever known, although, 
 perhaps, valuable enough, as it contained a costly dia- 
 mond — the metal was gold. 
 
 Louis, son of the Emperor Rupert, Elector Palatine, 
 married, in 1401, Blanche, daughter of Henry IV. (of 
 England), who was only ten years old. 
 
 In 1641 William, son of the Prince of Orange, was 
 married to Mary, daughter of Charles I., aged nine- 
 and-a-half years. She was married to him again when 
 she was thirteen. 
 
 So much for royalty, now for our old nobility. 
 Maurice, the fourth Lord Berkeley, was married to 
 Eve, daughter of Lord Zouch, at eight years of age, 
 and his eldest son, Thomas, was born before either his 
 mother or father had reached the fourteenth year. 
 Thomas, the fifth Lord Berkeley, restrained himself 
 nobly until his fourteenth year, when he espoused 
 Margaret, daughter of Lord de Lisle, who could only 
 boast of having seen seven summers. 
 
 In the fifteenth century, Elizabeth, daughter of 
 Thomas, Lord Clifford, at six years of age was mar- 
 ried to Sir Robert Plumpton. This marriage was a 
 short one, the bridegroom only surviving five years of 
 domestic bliss. In the interim the widow had the 
 opportunity of more advanced , judgment, and at the 
 mature age of twelve years gave her hand and heart 
 to her brother-in-law, William. 
 
176 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 Miss Margaret Lynne, a young lady of under four- 
 teen years of age, was married in 1541 ; she afterwards 
 alleged compulsion and obtained her freedom. Her 
 experience of matrimony must have been much envied 
 by spinsters of an uncertain age, as she entered the 
 matrimonial market three times after her divorce, and, 
 therefore, had four husbands. 
 
 That notorious woman, Elizabeth (Baroness Percy), 
 Duchess of Somerset, was married three times, and 
 was twice a widow before the age of sixteen, and was 
 implicated in the murder of one husband. 
 
 Not so successful was the marriage of Joan Chader- 
 ton (the daughter of a bishop and distinguished 
 scholar in Queen Elizabeth's reign), who was married 
 at nine years of age to Richard Brooke, aged eleven. 
 
 Although the marriage was ratified four years later, 
 the young couple did not get along well together, and 
 eventually separated. 
 
 Ann, daughter of Sir John Cunningham, at the 
 mature age of twelve years — a forward j'oung minx 
 — ran away from a boarding-school with, and mar- 
 ried, the Rev. Andrew Hamilton. It would be im- 
 possible to paint the head-mistress's feelings at her 
 devotions in church the following Sunday — ^the pre- 
 siding clergyman must have felt the delicateness of his 
 position. 
 
 Child marriage was not the perquisite of the rich 
 alone, it was quite common among the lower classes 
 whenever there was a chance of any of the parties 
 concerned making a good thing out of it. The par- 
 ents, perhaps, thought it a good match — the father 
 mortgaged his child, the sum to be repaid if the mar- 
 
HIS DEVELOPMENT i77 
 
 riage was not agreed to when the children came to 
 years of discretion. 
 
 In the case of the marriage turning out unsatisfac- 
 torily the boy, when he arrived at the age of fourteen, 
 or the girl at the age of twelve, instead of objecting 
 then, had to wait until he or she could earn enough 
 money to pay the court fees. 
 
 After the marriage as a rule the children separated, 
 and went to their parents' homes — the boy to school, 
 or to an adjoining town as an apprentice, or servant, 
 depending on the circumstances of the parents. 
 
 There are several instances of children two, three, 
 four, five and six years carried or partly carried to 
 Church, and portions of the service repeated for them. 
 John Rigmarden was only three years of age when he 
 was married to his elderly bride of five summers. 
 The bridegroom was held in the arms of a clergyman 
 who coaxed him to repeat part of the service — being 
 an unaccustomed task the bridegroom complained of 
 being too tired to talk any more, and refused " to learn 
 any more lessons that day." It has been remarked 
 that John Rigmarden had an intellect beyond his years. 
 
 In 1538 Robert Parre, of Backford, was married 
 at the age of three to Elizabeth Rogerson — 
 
 " he was hired for an apple bie his uncle to goe to church . . . 
 at which time the said Robert colde scare speke." 
 
 Curiously this is not the only case of a boy (no 
 reference to Adam and Eve) being seduced into matri- 
 mony by England's national fruit, although one might 
 have expected the temptation, as in the following case, 
 to have come from the opposite sex. 
 
178 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 At Clitheroe, in the year 1 560, dwelt a " bigge 
 damsel," Jane, or it may be Anne, Holden — for dif- 
 ferent depositions call her by both names — who was 
 smitten with the desire to espouse one James Ballard, 
 a young gentleman of ten to eleven short summers. 
 Perhaps with a doubt as to his future prospects she 
 bought him for two apples — variety and size not men- 
 tioned. Perhaps she was generous, and might have 
 secured a husband at the price of one apple only — at 
 any rate she knocked the curate up, and at 10 p.m. that 
 very night James Ballard led Anne, or Jane, to the 
 hymeneal altar and endowed her with all his worldly 
 goods. There was no wedding breakfast to speak of, 
 but there was apparently an awful row when Jim's 
 " Vncle " knew the facts of the case, and doubtless 
 Jim had one of those painful experiences so insepa- 
 rable with early boyhood. The curate who solemnized 
 this unfortunate match " was ponished by the Arch- 
 bishop of York," and sarve him right. 
 
 Marriage without a mother-in-law would be, so far 
 as I am aware, an impossibility, and an agreeable 
 mother-in-law would be contrary to all such charac- 
 ters as I have witnessed on the stage, and so it comes 
 about that even here I am obliged to drag her in, and 
 a bad example she probably was. In 1550 Thomas 
 Stanley, fourteen to fifteen years of age, married 
 Margaret, but Thomas had a mother and father, and 
 these wretches starved the unfortunate bride, and when 
 her father sent her food the old woman took it away. 
 At length the father took his daughter home again, 
 and a case for restitution of conjugal rights ensued. 
 
 When John Bridge sacrificed himself to Venus in 
 
HIS DEVELOPMENT I79 
 
 the Parish Church of Bury he very nearly extinguished 
 the torch of Hymen with his tears. John was be- 
 tween the ages of eleven and twelve when he 
 took Elizabeth Ramsbotham, aged thirteen or four- 
 teen, to wife. It was a miserable jeremiad. Before 
 the wedding John cried, and told another little boy 
 that he wished he could go to the mill with him in- 
 stead of the altar. After the ceremony he refused to 
 touch the wedding supper, and cried to go home with 
 his father. The cause of this wretched piece of work 
 was the debt owed by John's father to Elizabeth's, 
 and the boy was sacrificed. It is a sordid story in 
 extenso. At length Elizabeth, unable to gain John's 
 affections, " delt shrewdlie with hym," until one pro- 
 pitious day she brought a case for divorce in the 
 spiritual court (perhaps she had another and more 
 suitable match in her mind), and obtained her suit, 
 doubtless to the delight of John Bridge, who, I hope, 
 never forgot his late squaw. All this happened so 
 long ago as the year 1559! 
 
 In the Sheldon register is the following curious 
 entry : — 
 
 6th January, 1753. The man about 14 years of age. Marrd. 
 — Cornelius White and Ellen Dale. The woman 70 ... of 
 Sheldon." The wife was a cripple, but managed to dance ( ?) 
 at the wedding feast. The husband was left a disconsolate wid- 
 ower within a week. 
 
 In a Hindu full caste marriage (shade) the follow- 
 ing ceremonies take place : — 
 
 ( I ) Pill Chithi — the yellow letter. A proposal for 
 the date of marriage sent by the girl's father to the 
 boy's. 
 
i8o THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 (2) Lagan — the date. A letter containing notice 
 of the date agreed upon sent to the boy's father. 
 
 (3) Tel ban — the cleansing ceremony. The boy 
 and girl are rubbed all over with a mixture of oil, 
 turmeric, and flour to purify them. 
 
 (4) Baral — the marriage procession. The boy and 
 his friends proceed to the girl's village where they 
 have refreshments. 
 
 (5) Barothi — the threshold ceremony. The boy is 
 taken to the threshold of the girl's house, whose female 
 relatives wave a tray containing butter, etc., round his 
 head. 
 
 (6) Phere — the turns round the fire. This is the 
 most important and binding ceremony. It takes place 
 under an awning in the courtyard at night, and when 
 the sacred fire has been properly prepared the boy and 
 girl go round the fire seven times — while the Brahmins 
 repeat the marriage vows and perform other ceremo- 
 nies. The boy and girl then sit down, and the girl's 
 father gives the girl away by placing her hand, with a 
 coin, a little water, and some rice, in the boy's. 
 
 (7) The Badhar — the marriage feast. This takes 
 place the following day, and then the procession re- 
 turns, taking the bride, who remains for a few days 
 in the father's house, and then returns to her own 
 father's until both parties are a little more advanced 
 in years. 
 
 My excuse for inserting the following little tale of 
 love in a history of childhood lies in the reason that 
 in all probability one if not both of the principal actors 
 concerned were of both tender hearts and tender years. 
 If it were needful to further excuse, I might plea4 
 
HIS DEVELOPMENT i8i - 
 
 that the account is the earliest we have in our his- 
 tory of a love-match — children rarely being consulted 
 as to their personal affection for intended future part- 
 ners. The story itself is short but sweet; the scene 
 is laid in Stoughton in Surrey. Hugh confirmed to 
 Agnes, daughter of Thurbet de Stoctun, and her issue 
 their freedom " ut sint liberi in perpetuum ab omni 
 Fatuitate " — an old legal term for slavery. This 
 Agnes afterwards married Peter de Stoctun, Hugh's 
 son. The long and the short of the matter is, that 
 the young " heir " fell in love with the " villein's " 
 daughter, and the Lord of the Manor, to gratify his 
 son's wishes, raised the lowly maiden to the level of 
 the freeborn. A pretty little love story untouched by 
 the novelist as yet. 
 
 The love story of Sir Edward Osborne is another 
 pretty little amour. When a little lad he served his 
 time as an apprentice to Sir William Hewitt. One 
 fine day, when the nurse was engaged in the pleasant 
 occupation of neglecting her duty, his master's child 
 fell from the window into the Thames — the apprentice, 
 still a boy, jumped into the river, and rescued her. In 
 later years he married her. It is good to learn that 
 he was prosperous, became a great merchant, and was 
 knighted by Queen Elizabeth, and no doubt but that 
 his wife was very proud of him. 
 
 Little girls, if troublesome, were easily got rid of 
 by being placed in a convent. The history of " The 
 Spanish Nun " by De Quincey is a celebrated case. 
 
 Children of the lower classes were in earlier times 
 openly sold as slaves ; they later met with the same fate 
 under a different name, often a better fate than that 
 
i82 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 waiting at home for them. In the memory of many 
 of us little maidens of nine or ten summers worked, 
 and worked hard, as general servants. Dickens' 
 Marchioness was but the type of a vast army of 
 " Marchionesses." 
 
 It is difficult to realise that, until the Factory Act 
 was passed in 1833, children of six years of age were 
 f requentl)- employed in factories. The Poor Law au- 
 thorities of London actually carted children down to 
 Lancashire by waggon loads for that purpose. These 
 little children received the extravagant sum of a penny 
 a day in wages. 
 
 In 1842 the Mines and Colliery Act was passed. 
 Up to that time little children of six years of age were 
 working in dark and unwholesome excavations. 
 
 Elihu Burritt raised a subscription from children in 
 America for the purpose of clothing, and sending to 
 school, a small deformed English boy who worked at 
 his father's anvil as a nail-maker. 
 
 In the time of Henry VI. children were pressed — 
 taken by force from their parents — for choristers for 
 the Chapel Royal. 
 
 A child who had been a labourer on a farm, in the 
 year 1388, was compelled to follow that occupation, 
 and was not allowed to be apprenticed to any trade. 
 
 The last child sold in England was a little negress 
 aged about fifteen, in the year 1761 or '2 (see Public 
 Register, December 31, 1761). A negro girl aged 
 eleven or twelve was advertised for sale in the Dublin 
 Mercury, on August 16, 1768. In 1764 there were 
 20,000 slaves in London alone, many of them children. 
 
 In 1772 Lord Mansfield affirmed the principle that 
 
HIS DEVELOPMENT 183 
 
 as soon as a slave sets his foot on English ground he 
 is free. 
 
 In 1579 an act dealing with beggars was passed in 
 Scotland. One of the clauses dealt with was if a beg- 
 gar's " baime " between the ages of five and fourteen 
 was "liked" by a subject of the realm of honest 
 estate, he was to have the " bairne " for service; in 
 the case of a girl until she was eighteen, and of a 
 boy till he was twenty-four. 
 
 The last recorded case of an Englishman and his 
 family being sold as slaves took place in the eighth 
 year of the reign of Richard II., when the wife of Sir 
 Thomas D'Engayne sold for a sum of money to the 
 Earl of Devon " my bom thrall (nativum meum) of 
 Schaldewell, with all his goods and chiattels where- 
 soever they be found together with all his posterity 
 and progeny (sequela et progenie) by him begotten," 
 etc. 
 
 This man could not have been a serf (adscriptus 
 glebae, or a villein regardant) but a villein in gross 
 who was sold like an ox or a sheep. A hundred and 
 fifty years later Sir Thomas Smith says that there 
 was not a villein in gross in all England. 
 
 This is incorrect, because an inquisition was held at 
 " Westwalton in the parties of marshland," December 
 7, 18 EHzabeth (a.d. 1575), in which certain men and 
 women were found bondmen in blood of the Queen's 
 Manors of Terington and Walpole. 
 
 The Act for the abolition of bondage was not passed 
 till Charles II. 's time. 
 
 The gap between the position of a slave and a royal 
 prince is too small to be noticeable. Including the 
 
i84 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 present owner of the title there have been fourteen 
 Princes of Wales, of whom only seven have come to 
 the throne. 
 
 Edward the first Prince of Wales was at least eight- 
 een years of age before he received his title. It has 
 been suggested that the motto " Ich Dien " is actually 
 " Eich dyn " — " Your man ! " the words used by 
 Edward I. in presenting the young prince. 
 
 Those inquisitive people who frequent the districts 
 where the Penny Gaff still lingers may often meet 
 with monstrosities in varying degrees of deterioration. 
 Usually they are taking a siesta in a glass jar contain- 
 ing spirit, or formalin. There may be even a living 
 missing link, or a giant baby, but I think it will be 
 impossible for the curiosity searcher to discover in 
 these days a freak with words written on the pupil 
 of the eye. Still such caprices of nature have been 
 exhibited. According to Evelyn's Diary a child was 
 exhibited in London in the year 1701 with " Deus 
 Meus " on the iris of the eye. 
 
 Again in 1828 a similar fraud appeared, and a child 
 was exhibited with " Emperor Napoleon," distinctly 
 visible, so it was asserted, in the iris of each eye. An 
 account of the case was given by C. W. Bingham, who 
 saw this child. He says that it had light blue eyes 
 with dark striae in the iris, but that no amount of 
 imagination could decipher the words. Many years 
 ago I saw a good many eye patients, and giving full 
 play to one's imagination it was possible to discover 
 a very rough and incomplete representation of some 
 written word. Of course " the mind's eye " of the 
 
HIS DEVELOPMENT 185 
 
 observer had more to do with all these cases than the 
 patient's eye. 
 
 A very nice little tale is the following : — In the year 
 1 1 00 Eliza and Mary Chuckhurst, or Chalkhurst, were 
 born at Biddenden, in Kent. These little children 
 were joined together by their shoulders and hips. 
 One died suddenly at the age of thirty- four years, the 
 other sister refused to be separated, and also died. 
 They left land which brings in £40 p.a., which is spent 
 in bread and cheese for the poor. After the afternoon 
 service on Easter Sunday a little oblong biscuit is 
 given away, to each member of the congregation, with 
 the name and date of the birth of the maids marked 
 upon it. Ireland says : " The whole thing is an idle 
 tradition," and certainly none of the historians men- 
 tion it. The charity was actually left by two maiden 
 ladies called Preston — while a similar yarn is told of 
 two females whose figures appear on the pavement 
 of Norton St. Philip Church, Somerset." 
 
 In the Museum of the College of Surgeons is the 
 double skull of a child, the upper head being placed 
 upon, and inserted into, the lower one. The label on 
 the head states that the child was born of native par- 
 ents in Bengal in 1783 and that curiously enough it 
 died from the bite of a cobra, and not from natural 
 causes as one would expect. 
 
 Boys are not what boys were in their social aspect, 
 they have altered considerably even since the days 
 when I was a puny little lad at school. The age of 
 childhood is longer; the elementary schoolboy is a 
 schoolboy until his fourteenth birthday, and slavery, 
 
i86 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 for it was often nothing less, for children, is dead, or 
 dying. 
 
 But the time is not far removed since English boys 
 of fourteen entered the Army, and even earlier still 
 the Navy, and not only saw active service, but in cases 
 either killed, or were killed by, their opponents. At 
 the battle of \A''aterloo there were on the French side 
 a number of boys of fourteen and fifteen engaged; 
 and it is said that upon one or two occasions they were 
 greatly terrified by charges of the enemy's cavalry. 
 
 Ellers in his Memories mentions a lad named Boys, 
 who left school for two or three months to go to sea, 
 and joined as a " mid " The Queen Charlotte just be- 
 fore Lord Howe's victory on June i. He got his leg 
 shot off in action, and immediately he got well returned 
 to school to finish his education, accompanied by a 
 wooden leg. He afterwards attained the position of 
 post captain in the Navy. 
 
 The Duke of Kingston nominated his daughter 
 (Lady Mary Wortley Montague) then a child of eight 
 years, as " The Toast " for the year of the Kit-Kat 
 Club, on the ground that she was " prettier than any 
 lady on the list." The members demurred because the 
 rules of the club forbade them to select a lady whom 
 they had never seen. The Duke sent for her — she 
 was received with acclamation — her claim allowed — 
 her health drunk by all, and her name was engraved 
 on the club glasses. 
 
 The Duchess of Marlborough, in a letter to Lord 
 Stair, states that Molly Lepel had had a cometcy given 
 her by her father as soon as she was bom, continued 
 to receive pay long after she was a Maid of Honour, 
 
HIS DEVELOPMENT 187 
 
 and was at last pensioned off by George I. at the in- 
 stance of Lord Sunderland. 
 
 In 1682 one Hugh McGie " gave in a bill to the 
 Privy Council representing that by the practice of 
 other nations, any tradesman having seven sons to- 
 gether without the intervention of a daughter is de- 
 clared free of all public taxes and burdens and has 
 other encouragements bestowed upon him to bring up 
 the said children for the use and benefit of the com- 
 monwealth, and claiming a similar privilege on the 
 strength of his having that qualification. The Coun- 
 cil recommended the magistrates (of Edinburgh) to 
 take Hugh's seven sons into consideration when they 
 laid their 'stents' (trade taxes) upon him." They 
 were more kindly then than now, I guess. 
 
 The Sanson family held the repugnant office of 
 hereditary executioners from 1685 to 1847. 
 
 The father of Charles Jean Baptiste Sanson died 
 in 1726, when the son was only six years of age; 
 Parliament took pity on the little orphan, and allowed 
 him to employ a substitute, exacting, however, that 
 the unfortunate child should be present at all execu- 
 tions. 
 
 The tale of the last of the Sansons dissecting the 
 bodies after death, and writing a work on physiology, 
 is all fiction. 
 
 It can hardly escape the notice of the careful child 
 student that in the portraits of children of bygone 
 times the features are older and graver in appearance 
 than those of the children of to-day, doubtless due to 
 the insecurity of life and fortune in addition to the 
 hardships suffered by children in those bygone days. 
 
i88 THE NATUR.\L HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 During the popular demonstrations against the Test 
 Act in 1681, the boys of Heriot's Hospital, finding 
 that the dog which kept the yards of that hospital had 
 a public charge and office, ordained him to take the 
 test, and offered him a paper which he refused. They 
 then rubbed it with butter which they called an 
 Explication of the Test, in imitation of Argyle — the 
 dog licked off the butter but rejected the paper; for 
 which the boys tried him, found him guilty of treason, 
 sentenced him, and the dog was actually hanged. 
 
 Beating the bounds still continues in some of the 
 Metropolitan parishes, where the Charity Boys, carry- 
 ing wands in their hands, walk two by two, headed 
 by the parish clerk. After attending a special service 
 in the church they proceed to beat the bounds. 
 
 In some cases the procession is marched through 
 houses and factories, where on being told that siich a 
 spot divides the parishes, the boys strike their wands 
 on the ground, and repeat after the clerk, " This is 
 the boundary." 
 
 A curious ceremony in which boys are concerned 
 takes place at Leighton Buzzard. The trustees of the 
 Charity of Edward Wilkes beat the boundaries on 
 Rogation Monday, accompanied by the Town Crier 
 and a band of boys. Halting at various properties, 
 from which the Almshouse obtains its endowment, as 
 required by the founder, the will of Mr. Wilkes is read, 
 during which time one of the boys stands upon his 
 head! 
 
 The Boys' Bailiff, an ancient custom at Wenlock in 
 Shropshire, died out in the year 1773. It was one of 
 the various ways taken of beating the bounds. Boys 
 
HIS DEVELOPMENT 189 
 
 and men were mounted on horseback, and the boys 
 wore wooden swords which were girded on the right 
 side, so that the wearer had to use his left hand when 
 he wanted to unsheath his trusty blade. 
 
 The old customs at Eton of catching the ram, and 
 the Montem have long disappeared. The Montem 
 was the last of the old customs to go. On Gaudy 
 Day the chaplain with his clerk used to proceed to Salt 
 Hill and read prayers. So far all was proper, but 
 then the chaplain started to kick his clerk down the 
 hill! This proceeding disgusted the late Queen Vic- 
 toria so much that it was stopped in the year 1847. 
 
 The Franks adopted the judicial duel in the reign 
 of Otho the Great (967), and neither women, old men, 
 invalids, or young children were exempted. They 
 could, however, employ a substitute. 
 
 Trial by combat dropped into disusage after the six- 
 teenth century, but to the astonishment of the inhabi- 
 tants of the Green Isle, a man named Clancy demanded 
 the right of trial by battle in 181 5. More interesting, 
 however, was the case of Abraham Thornton, accused 
 of the murder of Mary Ashford. Thornton was ac- 
 quitted at the Warwick Assizes in 181 7, but the friends 
 of the dead girl were so intent upon a conviction that 
 they obtained a writ of appeal, and the case being 
 heard in Westminster, Thornton flung down a glove 
 as a challenge to William Ashford, a mere boy. 
 Thornton escaped, and finding their fees in jeopardy 
 under the old law, the lawyers soon managed to get 
 it altered. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 HIS PLAY 
 
 "And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls 
 playing in the streets thereof." 
 
 Zechariah VIII. s 
 
X 
 
 HIS PLAY 
 
 All animals, as far as human experience goes, play 
 during some period of their lifetime, but none are so 
 persistent as man, who begins by playing with his 
 fingers, in many cases continues the same form of 
 amusement to his later years, and even ends with the 
 same form of relaxation. 
 
 Of the toys and games of children, many of them 
 have been traced almost to the days of the original 
 Noah's Ark. Francis Quarles in his Emblems men- 
 tions babies' bells, i.e. rattles. 
 
 Among toys of peculiar interest to boys and girls 
 of the present moment, one known as the bull roarer, 
 boomer and many other local names, is practically 
 universal, although not always utilized as a toy; for 
 it holds to this day an important place in the religious 
 ceremonies among some primitive tribes, which was 
 probably its original employment. Tip-cat is played 
 in Persia and India ; the ancient Egyptians and Vene- 
 tians also played it; Diabolo was played in Japan in 
 1279. 
 
 Another toy, the cats, scratch, or cratch cradle 
 (originally cratch, or manger, the manger wherein the 
 Holy Infant was laid), is a game known and played in 
 every habitable part of the world. Curiously enough, 
 although it is doubtless very much older than the 
 
 193 
 
194 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 Christian religion and has nothing but what has been 
 above said connected with it, yet an expert knowledge 
 of its play is a sine qua non in the education of the 
 missionary. Otherwise he has a difficulty in satisfy- 
 ing the natives of these out-of-the-way places that he 
 is a person of any intelligence, as they themselves are 
 most proficient in playing the game. It is but recently 
 that a volume was published, large for such an appar- 
 ently insignificant matter. 
 
 It is, in fact, comparatively easy to trace in nearly 
 all children's games and toys, either imitations of the 
 daily occupations of men and women, the work-a-day 
 life of their primitive ancestors, or their origin from 
 some old forgotten religious ceremony. 
 
 Bo-peep, hide and seek, king of the castle, chivy, 
 etc., originated in no amusement; there was no fun 
 in the daily occupations of our ancient forefathers 
 when they engaged in real ambush, pursuit, rescue, 
 attack and other warlike tactics. Even some of the 
 ring games of civilised children are analogous to the 
 dances of the primitive tribes of to-day, and very 
 similar imitations are played by the baby savages 
 themselves. 
 
 Boys' games have always been warlike, girls' games 
 always domestic. Children's games are divided into 
 singing and non-singing. The singing games repre- 
 sent the ceremonial dances and old Folk-Drama to 
 ensure good crops at sowing and harvest, cattle deal- 
 ing, contest for wives, marriages, birth, death and 
 other matters concerning the doings and welfare of 
 the community. 
 
HIS PLAY 195 
 
 Kitchee-Kitchee ! Kutchee-Kutchee, etc., are simply 
 corruptions of " Catch you ! Catch you ! " 
 
 Probably few of the Sedgemoor children who make 
 use of the word " Soho " in their games are aware 
 that it is an interesting survival of the password of 
 Monmouth's men — Soho was the name of the Duke's 
 residence. 
 
 The Durham byword " Run away, Dr. Bokanki," 
 is equivalent to calling an individual a coward, and 
 is yet in use among the younger population. 
 
 The ignominious term arose from the sometime 
 Dean of Durham running away from the city because 
 he thought the Scots were coming. Alas! for the 
 reputation of the Church — all the clergy, on this occa- 
 sion, showed obedience to their superiors, and accom- 
 panied the flying prelate. 
 
 " St. George " was the name of the well known play 
 which mummers (during the last century, mostly 
 youthful performers) acted on Christmas Eve in 
 nearly every town and village throughout England. 
 In Scotland on January i, there were Guisards, i.e., 
 boys dressed in fantastical costumes who acted a play, 
 the hero of which was one " Goloskin." 
 
 It was the custom in Scotland on Candlemas Day 
 (February 2) to bring offerings to the schoolmaster, 
 and the boy and girl who brought the richest gifts 
 were elected King and Queen and carried by way of 
 triumph in a King's Chair, i.e., the hands of two per- 
 sons so crossed as to form a seat. 
 
 Kings were not at all times majestic. There is a 
 painting of George III. playing at ball with the 
 
196 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 Princess Amelia, and another painting, by Bonnington, 
 representing Henri IV. (of France) carrying his chil- 
 dren pick-a-back, to the intense horror of the Spanish 
 Ambassador. 
 
 Plutarch says that Agesilaos was one day discovered 
 riding a cock-horse on his walking-stick for the pur- 
 pose of amusing his children. 
 
 From my breakfast-room I look into the garden, and 
 there behold the scrubbiest of my younger children 
 busily employed in the uncleanly occupation of mud- 
 pie making. 
 
 All the world over children always have and I ex- 
 pect always will manufacture dirty and unpalatable 
 imitations of that table luxury in which we delight. 
 I can honestly say that I never even remember tasting 
 one, and have every expectation, owing to a delicate 
 stomach, of it being highly improbable that I shall be 
 enlightened in the near future as to the flavour of the 
 most delicate mud pie — never mind, the loss is mine 
 — I could never make a decent number of converts. 
 
 Perhaps it might be different if I lived in Africa, 
 where the benighted heathen picanniny, lacking mud, 
 make sand-pies, but something within me tells me that 
 I should have to be extremely hungry. 
 
 Homer's children built castles on the sands just as 
 our children do to this day. The Greek and Roman 
 little girls had their skipping ropes, the boys their 
 hobby horses. They had kites, balls, tops, and rattles. 
 They played knucklebones, pitch and toss, hop scotch, 
 tug of war, blind man's buff, and hide and seek. 
 
 Many of the little playthings described in the British 
 Museum, as used by the young barbarians of thou- 
 
HIS PLAY 197 
 
 sands of years ago, might have been sepulchral ob- 
 jects, votive offerings, or even workmen's models. 
 Yet if this is so, as in the case of a diminutive suite of 
 furniture (which we would rather believe made some 
 little Roman maiden happy), still there are sets of 
 miniature jugs painted with scenes of children at play, 
 and we are quite sure that some little brown-eyed 
 puella must have been the happy recipient, perhaps on 
 her birthday, or on some festival, probably in honour 
 of Venus. 
 
 What member of the Peace Society can find us a 
 healthy, decent boy who delights not in toy soldiers 
 and mimic wars, preach we never so much that mur- 
 der on a large scale is as reprehensible as on a small 
 one. Quote for him as much as you like the famous 
 lines of Hosea Biglow: — 
 
 " Ef you take a sword and dror it 
 An' go an' stick a feller thru, 
 Guv'ment ain't to answer for it, 
 God'U send the bill to you." 
 
 The barbarism in the twentieth century boy may not 
 be as strong as it was in his tenth century prototype, 
 but it is there still. Toy swords, guns, bows and ar- 
 rows, tell their own story^ happily idealised. The little 
 boy in the middle ages had toy knights on horseback, 
 jousting, to play with. 
 
 I am sorry to say that I have seen the attempt 
 made to bring up children without allowing them to 
 indulge in such toys. The idea was all right, workable 
 perhaps a few thousand years hence, but only disap- 
 pointing now. 
 
 The parent who starts by trying to make a child 
 
198 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 see, hear, and understand as a man would do, is doing 
 more mischief than he can ever undo. 
 
 Let us give " hop o' my thumb " gaily painted sol- 
 diers, as well as the more peaceful toys, the little six- 
 penny box of carpenter's tools, which never would and 
 ne^■er will do anything but make a mess ; the little sail- 
 ing boat, the little toy engine, and the other devices 
 ^\•hich one and all demonstrate the imitativeness of 
 play. The very name toy itself is derived from tuig 
 — tools, implements. 
 
 An3^ing that will make a noise makes a good toy 
 and the Jew's, or jaw's harp, or Jews' trump as it is 
 called in Lincolnshire, is a venerable instrument still 
 to be obtained at the smaller toy shops, and in penny 
 bazaars, but is not probably so fashionable an instru- 
 ment as in the 1820's when Eulenstein combined six- 
 teen Jew's harps, and performed on them at the Royal 
 Institution. Probably from the fact of its being 
 known in France as jeu trompe (toy trumpet) that 
 volatile nation has the honour of its origin. 
 
 Some toys the urchin has to manufacture for him- 
 self, notably bird calls. One curious instrument used 
 by poachers is a tailor's thimble with a piece of parch- 
 ment stretched over one end. This is perforated with 
 a waxed horsehair run through it. \\'Tien skilfully 
 jerked it gives sound like the call of a partridge. A 
 corncrake caller is made of two flat bones, one notched 
 like a saw, the other when rubbed upon it makes a 
 very fair imitation of the bird's cry. The disagree- 
 able noises of these unmusical instruments occasion 
 great comfort to innocent children. 
 
 As plaj^hings, animals of any description are wel- 
 
HIS PLAY 199 
 
 corned by most children, and, like all other playthings, 
 have their time and place. But a very close compan- 
 ionship between the boy and the dog or cat results in 
 the animal becoming partly humanised; which as it 
 stops there as far as the cat or dog is concerned and 
 in cases begins to react on its playmate, is certainly 
 not desirable. 
 
 The history of Mary and her little lamb was a 
 favourite one for little girls in my younger day — my 
 preference was for stories of monkeys, dogs, and other 
 more spirited animals. No one doubts but that there 
 was both a Mary and a Iamb, yet Mary had sisters, 
 and it is undecided to this day whether Mary or Sarah 
 Sawyer, or who, was the heroine of the lamb story. 
 Nay, indeed the authorship of the verse has been a 
 matter of dispute, but is generally supposed to lie to 
 the account either of Sarah Josepha Hall, or a young 
 spring poet named Rawlston who died early. What 
 must always be a regrettable feature in the lamb's 
 case is that it never knew the flavour of mint sauce. 
 Alas ! the poor lamb met with a fatal accident. What 
 became of its flesh we know not, but its wool was 
 spun, and made into stockings. Many years after- 
 wards when the story became famous, Sarah, or Mary 
 — I know not which — ^unravelled these same stockings, 
 and stuck pieces of the yarn on cards which were sold 
 to save the old South Church of Boston from destruc- 
 tion. 
 
 Whether a boy keeps rabbits or not, he must on the 
 first day of the month say " rabbits " if he wants to 
 be lucky that month. 
 
 Little girls, lick your lips when you hear or read of 
 
200 THE NATURAL HISTUKY ut itiiL cHii^JJ 
 
 the nice Christmas box poor Marie Antoinette sent to 
 Maria Theresa when a little girl. It was a golden toy 
 kitchen in a glass case about i8 inches square. It con- 
 tained every imaginable utensil in pure gold, includ- 
 ing a bottle jack with machinery, a hearth, and sauce- 
 pans, tables, cupboards, kettles, cullenders, basins, 
 glasses, spoons, plates, pails, a stool, a well, a clock, 
 etc. The cook, cat, fowls, joints and vegetables were 
 in china. Marie Antoinette was not so generous with 
 her own children, on one Christmas Eve, when she 
 took them into a room where a collection of toys was 
 set out, and told them that they might look at them 
 but could not have them as she had given all the money 
 she possessed to the poor. 
 
 The Cluny Museum, Paris, contains an interest- 
 ing collection of children's toys in bronze or pewter, 
 dating from the fourteenth to the seventeenth cen- 
 tury. 
 
 Where is the little girl of whatever colour or race, 
 or in what age she lived or lives, to whom a doll was 
 or is not the most beautiful and never-to-be-nursed- 
 and-loved-too-much an object? Although the word 
 " doll " is of very recent date, dolls being called 
 " children's babies " in the middle ages, and its mod- 
 ern name being derived either from Dorothy, " idol," 
 or more probably the Norse daul — " a woman " — still 
 the doll is a very old toy indeed. 
 
 Lilly in his " True History of King Charles the 
 First," when writing of Bishop Wren, of Ely, says: 
 
 "This wretched Wrenn, a fellow whose father sold Babies, 
 and such pedlary ware in Cheapside." 
 
HIS PLAY 201 
 
 Earlier than this, Roger Edgeworth, Prebendary of 
 Bristol Cathedral, a volume of whose sermons were 
 printed in 1557, complains that the images were taken 
 from churches, and given to the children as "pretty 
 idols " or " dolls." 
 
 It was the custom before the Reformation to give 
 children dolls from the altar. At the Reformation the 
 statues of the Virgin Mary were sold to storekeepers, 
 who exhibited them at their shop doors, whence arose 
 the old sign of a black doll at the marine store shops 
 in my boyhood's days. The black images of the 
 Virgin I believe are not to be found out of the South 
 of Europe, except at Einsiedeln in Switzerland. The 
 origin of the marine store doll is also said to have 
 arisen from a bundle of rags left at an honest dealer's, 
 and which were hung outside the shop to attract the 
 attention of a poor woman who had forgotten to take 
 her money for the sale of them. 
 
 To return to our muttons. 
 
 In Lancashire, at Christmas time, a doll is called 
 " Dickey Chree," and was no doubt originally given 
 in memory of Our Saviour. 
 
 The name of " doll " was not at any rate widely 
 used in 1656, for in the Excise Act of that date they 
 are mentioned as under : 
 
 " Babies, heads of earth, the dozen ool. 09s. cod." 
 
 Scobell's Acts and Ordnances n. 458. 
 
 It is as well to mention here that the following toys 
 and children's belongings were not allowed to be im- 
 ported in the reign of Queen Elizabeth : " Children's 
 
202 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 cappes — daggers for children, children rattels — pup- 
 pits." 
 
 Dolls have been found in catacombs. They have 
 been discovered in all ages, in all countries, and made 
 of almost everything of which a doll could be made. 
 The Eskimo little girl, and the African maiden, the 
 Red Indian, and the little Jap all play with dolls, but 
 nowhere in the. world but in Paris can a toy-shop boast 
 of providing fashionable mourning for dolls. 
 
 Ancient Egyptian dolls have been discovered with 
 real movable, jointed arms, just as the ordinary doll 
 of to-day. Nay, more, there is a little Egyptian doll 
 in the British Museum who has a glorious head of hair, 
 made from mud beads. The Mohammedans prohibit 
 the manufacture of figures in human shape — ^hence for 
 little girls whose parents hold strict opinions, a bundle 
 of flannel or rags, just as our rag dolls, has to serve. 
 Still, dolls seem to be pretty much in evidence in 
 Mohammedan countries. In fact, it is somewhere 
 stated, I forget where, that Mohammed himself played 
 with his wife's doll, and Macaulay's schoolboy would 
 no doubt inform us of the fact, if he were here, that 
 Cortez found Montezuma and his Court playing with 
 dolls. 
 
 Plutarch's little daughter Timoxena, who died in 
 early life, would frequently beg of her nurse to give 
 the breast to her babies, or dolls (xoprj), as well as to 
 the other children. On her seventh birthday the small 
 Greek maiden offered her dolls at the altar of Venus. 
 
 Perhaps the little English girl is fondest of dolls 
 about her eighth or ninth year, but this is not always 
 so by any means. At times she is very peculiar in her 
 
HIS PLAY 203 
 
 loves. What more human sight is there than that of 
 the child wheeling her best beloved in a pram, whilst 
 we know quite well (whether the unfortunate puppet 
 has met with divers serious accidents or not) that her 
 first bloom of beauty is a thing of the past, and there 
 are other and fairer dolls lying neglected at home. It 
 is the same sort of love a woman has for the man after 
 he has broken his Grecian nose, and acquired a patho- 
 logical Roman one. 
 
 Now just as we can foresee the future character of 
 a boy from his attraction to certain toys, in a like 
 manner we can also deal with girls, and the little girl 
 who loves the same old broken-nosed, one-eyed and 
 otherwise mutilated copy of herself as well if not bet- 
 ter than she did the first day the dolly came from the 
 toyshop in all her youth and beauty, is on the right 
 road to make a good staunch wife and mother. 
 
 " Folks say she is horribly changed, dears, 
 And her paint is all washed away ; 
 And her arm, trodden off by the cows, dears. 
 And her hair not the least bit curled; 
 But for old sake's sake she is still, dears, 
 The prettiest doll in the world." 
 
 One cannot pass over the subject of toys without 
 referring to the Christmas Tree, which is said to have 
 been introduced into England by, among others, the 
 good Queen Caroline — peace to her ashes. It has 
 brought simple, unalloyed happiness to thousands of 
 little EngHsh children.* The boys' gratitude is also 
 due to Pope Julius I., who dogmatically fixed Decem- 
 ber 25 as Christmas Day. 
 
 *A Christmas tree, so-called, stood at the top of Comhill in 
 the fifteenth century. 
 
204 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 After the best has been said of toys, it is true that 
 in every case the child prefers the real article, and 
 let us understand at once that Hop-o'-my-thumb's 
 choice is real swords and pistols, real carpenter's and 
 gardener's tools, and as a rule little Bo-peep will leave 
 her best doll to mourn in solitude for a real baby, and 
 if not carefully watched, her dolly's saucepan for the 
 ordinary kitchen utensil. 
 
 The parent whose longing is for peace in the nurs- 
 ery, procures real tools, real swords, real saucepans. 
 After all both boys and girls like to imitate as nearly 
 as possible, and do not over appreciate toy imitations 
 being found for them. Especially, perhaps, does this 
 apply to swords and pistols of all kinds. ^A'ith the 
 ordinary sword or pistol the boy recognises a weapon, 
 " the real thing," and likes it ever so much better. 
 ,The child, like many of his elders, imagines the toy 
 weapon as a harmless imitation only, and here lies 
 trouble. I would neither give, nor advise any one else 
 to give, a toy weapon of any description to a boy, it 
 is too dangerous. 
 
 I have mended several little bodies that have been 
 wounded by toy weapons on various occasions, but 
 never one that has been hurt by a real one. Of course 
 pistols and revolvers when handed to children should 
 be incapable of firing even a blank cartridge, or a cap. 
 
 The art of fishing is a sport much beloved by chil- 
 dren, especially boys, and is intimately connected with 
 unauthorised holidays. Early in life the future sports- 
 man opens his career by fishing, with the aid of a bent 
 pin, for whales in his mother's water butt — sometimes 
 he falls in, rarely indeed does he catch a whale, unless 
 
HIS PLAY 205 
 
 it be from his own voice. Boys in certain out-of-the- 
 way villages get to know the haunts and habits of the 
 finny tribe, and with inferior tackle meet with success 
 where anglers of repute fail ignominiously. For this 
 youthful success, inconsiderate mothers who object to 
 boys drowning themselves, anathematise the shade of 
 Izaak Walton, when we know quite well that if there 
 is mischief abroad a woman is the culprit. The first 
 book written on the piscatorial art was by Dame 
 Juliana Berners, and was printed by Wynkyn de Word, 
 and moreover, no doubt but that it was the cause of 
 Izaak's downfall, and that of many innocent genera- 
 tions of boys. 
 
 " Hail, cricket ! glorious, manly, British game I 
 First of all sports, be first alike in fame." 
 
 The first mention of cricket is in the sixteenth century; 
 it was, of course, little like the game that is played 
 now, and until quite modern times it was only known 
 to the gentry of England as a villagers' game, but it 
 appears to be one of the very few sports, or customs 
 " made in England." 
 
 Cricket (like everything at present in existence) had 
 its forefathers, rounders, stool ball, stump cricket, etc., 
 an offshoot crossing the Atlantic under the name of 
 baseball, which is probably much more like the orig- 
 inal game than cricket is itself. In " Where Three 
 Empires Meet," the author states that he saw at Leh 
 some small Ladaki boys playing cricket with two wick- 
 ets, polo sticks for bats, and a polo ball, but it is more 
 probable that it was introduced by Moravian mission- 
 aries than that it is an ancient Thibetan game. 
 
2o6 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 At present cricket does not hold anything like the 
 position it should do among the majority of boys, al- 
 though in every good preparatory school it is made a 
 special study of. The sharp schoolmaster recognises 
 that if not taught in early days, it is hopeless to rear 
 decent bats and bowlers, and he recognises as does the 
 public schoolmaster that organised games among other 
 virtues keep boys out of mischief. 
 
 The Scots are not smitten to any great extent with 
 the game, but what there is of it is in great part due 
 to the late Almond of Loretto, and Scotland can put 
 a really first-class all round eleven in the field. 
 
 Cricket is quite as useful as any other school subject, 
 but requires a great deal more practice and knowledge 
 of the game, as well as certain physical advantages, to 
 play it decently than does football. Both, however, 
 are such very good games that no parent should con- 
 sider the claims of any preparatory school which does 
 not fully recognise them. Perhaps it is necessary that 
 something should be done for those boys who do not 
 like cricket, but there must be very few, and tennis 
 (which is suggested as a substitute), unless the player 
 is taught to use both hands, is hardly likely to prove a 
 fair quid pro quo. 
 
 If we take cricket and football from schoolboy life, 
 then not only is the enjoyment of these games lost, but 
 also the health and necessary discipline they enforce 
 upon the players. 
 
 Often enough the peaceful as well as the warlike 
 arts, and even branches of sport, run in families. The 
 Clasper family made up a four-oared crew, cox. and 
 all. In 1845-6 the Colman family of eleven brothers 
 
HIS PLAY 207 
 
 formed a cricket team of their own, but the most fa- 
 mous family eleven was that of the Lyttelton family. 
 
 I have interned the following lines in my little book 
 because I do not know where else the reader can find 
 them except in an old copy of the Hagley Parish 
 Magazine. 
 
 Lines by the late Lord Lyttelton on the " Great 
 Match," at Hagley, played on Monday, August 26, 
 1867:— 
 
 Sing the song of Hagley cricket, 
 
 When the peer and all his clan 
 Grasped the bat to guard the wicket 
 
 As no other household can. 
 
 Fair the dawn and bright the morning 
 
 When the great eleven rose, 
 Toil and heat and danger scorning 
 
 Till the day's triumphant close. 
 
 But the peer and marshal courtly 
 
 Yielded not one single notch; 
 Nor, alas ! did parson portly 
 
 Fail alike his game to botch. 
 
 Yet the peer, to mend his glory. 
 
 One and eke another caught; 
 While the parson — mournful story, 
 
 Miss'd the two his hands that sought. 
 
 Charles and Albert, broad and lanky, 
 
 Well maintained the old renown ; 
 Yelled the field to bowler, " thank ye,'' 
 
 When at length their stumps came down. 
 
 Nevy, pride of England's army, 
 
 Kept the wicket, hit out free; 
 Spencer shouts, " 'Tis I shall harm ye," 
 
 Reached the top of goodly tree. 
 
2o8 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 Arthur and the sober Bobbin 
 
 Gird them to the task sublime; 
 Vain the attempts to drop the lob in. 
 
 Vain the fielding — for a time. 
 
 But the small undaunted heroes, 
 Trained in Walker's school to fame, 
 
 Scorned papa's and uncle's zeros, 
 Swelled the score and graced the name. 
 
 Collis and his crack eleven. 
 
 Good to bat, to bowl, to fag. 
 Vanquished in the strife uneven. 
 
 Strike the ancient Bromsgrove flag. 
 
 Ne'er again in mingled labours 
 
 Shall we willow weapon wield; 
 Ne'er again such thronging neighbours 
 
 Shall surround the famous field. 
 
 Sing the song of Hagley cricket, 
 
 " Come whate'er eleven may," 
 Quoth the peer, " my boys shall lick it, 
 
 My eight boys shall win the day.'' 
 
 To the disappointment and mortification of genera- 
 tions of cricketers the Royal family have been the 
 despair of the most eminent coaches. Enemies of the 
 game alleged that Frederick, Prince of Wales, died 
 from the blow of a cricket ball; as a matter of fact, 
 the actual cause of his death was from what is tech- 
 nically known as an empyoema. 
 
 There are peculiar-minded people who dispute the 
 value of athletics at all. Others object to sport be- 
 cause very few first-rate athletes become brilliant men 
 in after life, which might just as well be applied to 
 the second, third and to the fourth-rate athlete. 
 Admirable Crichtons are indeed few and far between, 
 
HIS PLAY a)9 
 
 but it is far more exceptional to find a brilliant or even 
 ordinary man with a weakly body in early life, than 
 otherwise, and athletics make sound flesh and bone 
 and brain. 
 
 Gymnastic exercises and drills, although they have 
 their place and value, and when properly applied can 
 hardly be over-rated, can never satisfactorily take the 
 place of the ordinary boy's games. 
 
 Natural, spontaneous and instinctive exercise subor- 
 dinated to an educational drill, quite a pleasant exer- 
 cise maybe, but when the best is said of it an exercise 
 still, and too much like school. Swedish drill or other 
 exercises should of course form a part of the child's 
 schooling. 
 
 May I relate a couple of good cricket stories which 
 come from Marlborough? 
 
 It was the pleasant privilege of the school organist 
 to select the hymns for evensong in the college 
 chapel which on the occasion of a match was usually 
 attended by the members of the visiting team. It 
 could have been small comfort to the great W.G., who 
 in his prime was bowled first ball by a Marlborough 
 boy, to listen to his opponents sing with gusto a hymn 
 containing the well-known line : " The scanty triumphs 
 grace hath won." 
 
 At one time Marlborough boasted of two redoubt- 
 able bowlers named Wood and Stone. On the occa- 
 sion of a match with Cheltenham, in which the two 
 bowlers played " old gooseberry " with the Cheltenham 
 wickets, the chosen hymn included the apt couplet: — 
 
 "The heathen in their blindness 
 Bow down to wood and stone" 
 
210 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 The choir giving a meaning to the lines brand new 
 to theologians of every denomination. 
 
 How many boys are there, I wonder, when they first 
 view themselves in all the glory of a school blazer, 
 who could tell us when and where it was first used? 
 Well, its introduction has been claimed by Magdalen, 
 Oxford, and St. John's, Cambridge. The colours of 
 the first are scarlet trimmed with blue. St. John's 
 scarlet only. Magdalen's blazer was first worn in the 
 late i86o's. St. John's in 1854. The boy should 
 know this if he is a sportsman, and he should also 
 know, if he is a " bargee," " water bob " or follows 
 the sport under any other name, that in the Long Vaca- 
 tion of 1845, F- J- Fumivall (but recently gone from 
 us, alas!) built the first narrow boat. 
 
 German pioneering work in education, from Froebel 
 to the present time, from infancy to manhood, is be- 
 yond praise; but many Germanities are liable to be 
 carried to excess, and the German idea of providing 
 (under an inspector of games) a couple of hours a day 
 for physical exercise, can never make up for the loss 
 of free play. 
 
 Even in England, until quite recent years, girls were 
 tabooed from organised games, but luckily for them, 
 parents are beginning to discover that after all there 
 is not so much difference between boys and girls as 
 there was formerly supposed to be in our grand- 
 mothers' days, and those persons who assert that they 
 want their " daughters to be young ladies (odious 
 description) not tom-boys," are in the minority, and 
 now any half-holiday, girls may be seen playing 
 
HIS PLAY 211 
 
 hockey and lacrosse so much to their benefit that the 
 bugbears of spinal curvature, green sickness and con- 
 stipation, the freqi:ent companions of girlhood, have 
 enormously diminished. 
 
 Rowing, rtmning, jumping, fives, wrestling, boxing 
 and fencing hardly need mentioning for their sundry 
 virtues, with the exceptions that boxing and wrestling 
 are totally unfitted for girls. 
 
 Nor must we expect the little Wendies to invariably 
 escape minor injuries, as play, like all affairs of life, 
 has its drawbacks. We must use an open mind, and 
 reflect that it is not only in play that accidents happen, 
 and consider whether the benefit accruing from the 
 gain in health does not reduce the frown of fortune to 
 microscopic dimensions. 
 
 Children's games in Henry VIII. 's reign had curious 
 enough names, though I could never find out what 
 some of them were like. I have collected the follow- 
 ing: — bokyll pyt, chyrystone, cobnutte or quaytyng 
 (quoiting), marybone, spume point. 
 
 Shuttlecock was a fashionable game when James I. 
 came to the crown. 
 
 Football was known in old England as balloon, or 
 balowne. The modern game is too well-known to 
 require further notice here. 
 
 During the twelfth century the following sports 
 were played by schoolboys in London : — 
 
 On Shrove Tuesday each boy brought a cock, and 
 there were cock-fights all the morning in the school- 
 room. 
 
 After dinner they played football. 
 
212 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 Every Sunday in Lent there was a sham fight — 
 some of the combatants being on horseback, some on 
 foot. 
 
 At Easter, water quintain — ^if they missed the target 
 they fell into the river. 
 
 On holidays, in the summer time, they engaged in 
 archery, running, wrestling, stone throwing and 
 bucklers. 
 
 In Sicily on the Eve of All Saints, when the church 
 bell rings out the nine strokes of the Ave Maria, the 
 mother stops the children's play for the recitation of 
 the rosary for the dead, after which, in quite a moth- 
 erly way she scares the children to bed and to sleep, 
 by telling them that else the morti will tickle the soles 
 of their feet with their cold hands — it is in fact a 
 ghoulish kind of a Christmas Eve, and it is no Santa 
 Claus who comes by night to fill the stockings with 
 toys, but the Dead, who for the time quit their long 
 last sleep, and wandering through the streets enter the 
 toy-shops and confectioners, taking what they require 
 to present to their young living relatives. The children 
 believe that the Dead watch their behaviour, and if 
 naughty will leave them no presents, unless disagree- 
 able ones. 
 
 On Christmas Eve, in Scotland, children beg from 
 the shopkeepers a couple of pins with which they play 
 a curious game. A cup is placed on the table, and 
 into this they drop their pins. The child who drops 
 his pin across another one wins the pins, and the game. 
 Curiously enough a similar game is played by children 
 in Cornwall. 
 
 At least 345 versions of the pretty story of Cinder- 
 
HIS PLAY 213 
 
 ella have been raked up from all the quarters of the 
 world. In the majority of cases the lost shoe is a 
 golden one. There is a sequel, however, to the fairy 
 tale. It was commonly reported some years ago that 
 Perrault in his version called it a fur slipper, fur being 
 at one time the adornment of the rich only, and the 
 compositor, more taken up with the story than the 
 typing it, put verre for vair, and so changed the slip- 
 per of fur to one of glass. 
 
 This is generally supposed to be a tall story. 
 
 It is a century ago that the brothers Grimm first 
 enchanted both children and adults with their collec- 
 tion of folk-lore tales; their giants, elves, magicians, 
 fairy kings and princesses; children changed into 
 frogs, birds, and other animals ; and to this day, with 
 the exception of the " unco guid," fairy tales are rec- 
 ognised as being as necessary to the child's welfare 
 as is good food, good clothing, or good anything else. 
 Nevertheless, few people a hundred years ago, as did 
 the good brethren, thought of examining the fairy 
 tale for evidence in the history of man, connecting it 
 with ancient mythology or even with our own religion ; 
 still there are very strong links between them all. 
 
 Nor is it less interesting to discover that German, 
 Indian, African, etc., fairy tales are all similar; Jack 
 the Giant Killer, Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, Brer 
 Rabbit, etc., over and over again, varied to suit the 
 taste, somewhat modified by the habits and surround- 
 ings of the story-teller, but our old hero. Jack the 
 Giant Killer, and his fair companions none the less. 
 
 Little thinks many a gentle, unsophisticated mother, 
 as she relates to her open-mouthed, wide-eyed, listen- 
 
214 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 ing child some interesting tale of fairy wonder, that 
 far away in Zululand, a rough copy of herself is tell- 
 ing the same soul-absorbing tale to some equally inter- 
 ested little nigger. 
 
 Playing at being fairies, dancing, and singing fairy 
 songs and jingles, which for lack of better, any good 
 mummy or daddy can easily compose, will brighten 
 often what would otherwise be many a dull hour, 
 saving a lot of temper, and preventing tears in little 
 eyes. Little minds are prone to wander after a story 
 has lasted more than a few minutes, and became ter- 
 ribly confused at too many trivial details, so that we 
 must perforce cut our story to suit our hearers. 
 
 But dancing and singing are so natural for little girls 
 that they take a lot of tiring. The cruel parent who 
 deprives them of such simple joys is doing a mischief 
 that cannot be readily repaired, yet, as I have had 
 before now to intimate to my daughters, there is a 
 close season sometimes, even for singing and danc- 
 ing. 
 
 And is there no song and dance for little boys? 
 Rather, but it is no fairy song they sing — no fairy 
 dance they trip. Their songs breathe gunpowder and 
 shot, their dances are those of the wildest Indians. 
 The author of the following lines may never aspire to 
 be made poet laureate, but I know small boys whose 
 blood thrills whilst, rowing a small but seaworthy 
 boat (The Crab-Catcher), they strike up with the 
 whole power of their lungs this inspiriting chorus : — 
 
 " Oh ! the black, black flag, 
 And the cross, cross bones, 
 And the fleshless skull on high. 
 
HIS PLAY 215 
 
 And the women shriek, 
 And the sailors squeak, 
 As the Pirate Ship sails by." 
 
 Nor is story-telling a less amusement for boys than 
 girls. It is quite as easy, too, unless one has a head- 
 ache, and then girls' stories are easier to relate, or the 
 girls are easier to please. The tyro who wishes to 
 become a successful tale pitcher must remember that 
 youth loves to go a-wallowing in gore. There must 
 be a little shipwrecked boat containing the heroes cast 
 on a desert island, and the heroes should be rescued by 
 a pirate captain. The whole family must be worked 
 in somehow, but the boys must always be the great 
 cards, parental experience does not meet with just 
 appreciation in juvenile yarns. 
 
 There must be no lack of exciting detail. Pirates 
 must swing at the yard-arm and walk the plank; 
 savages must take scalps ; brigands ply their nefarious 
 trade ; and scenes must happen in every quarter of the 
 globe of such splendid excitement as we can hardly 
 invent, and such as (if they really did occur) would 
 frighten us out of our wits. A whole menagerie of 
 ferocious beasts, and a botanical museum have their 
 place. Sharks, whales, sword-fish and giant kraken 
 all must appear to fall beneath the unerring rifles, and 
 a multitude of modern and ancient weapons, handled 
 with skill and precision by the boys. 
 
 Dynamite and gunpowder! see them look up the 
 maps to find where they have been, the natural history 
 of it, etc., and then hide your diminished head when 
 you find your knowledge does not correspond with the 
 school book ! 
 
210 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 Boys who listen to tales of this description very 
 quickly pick up a good idea of many subjects besides 
 pirates. 
 
 We have seen that play has been and is the great 
 business in the life of young children; even what 
 cynics call work is pressed into service, and the child 
 plays until he is too tired to play any more. 
 
 He plays because it pleases him, it gives the child a 
 feeling of personal strength and authority, it provides 
 an outlet for his superfluous energy, it exercises his 
 lungs and other organs, it keeps his soul and body 
 together; and as his body grows stronger, and his 
 intellect increases, so it follows that he neglects the 
 simpler, and takes pleasure in the more complicated 
 and difficult games, exercising body, brain and lungs 
 more and more until he ends with golf and cricket. 
 As Dubois Raymond says : " Bodily exercise is not 
 merely muscular exercise, but an exercise of the grey 
 matter of the central nervous system. 
 
 " Play, play, for your locks will grow grey ; 
 Even the marbles ye sport with are clay." 
 
 As a rule before the age of fifteen, rarely later than 
 sixteen, the boy shows in various ways some special 
 bent in the pursuit of what is commonly known as a 
 hobby. This hobby may take any form — a passion 
 for music or art, a fancy for natural history or a pre- 
 dilection for literature. Sometimes in badly bred 
 children this takes the form of sexual love, a disaster 
 often completed by an early marriage to a most 
 unsuitable partner, and consequent misery for life. 
 More happily placed is the boy who has a craze for 
 
HIS PLAY 217 
 
 more profitable occupation, if only a craze for col- 
 lecting postage stamps — which by the way is quite 
 a modern hobby, the earliest literature on stamp col- 
 lecting occurring in " Young England," Vol. I., 1862, 
 while later in the same year the first book on that 
 subject was published. 
 
 The age for crazes of all kinds may be very much 
 earlier in life, as premature as six or seven years of 
 age, even. In very many cases we can trace the for- 
 tunes of eminent men to their early enthusiasm for 
 some particular hobby. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 HIS RELIGION 
 
 " Educate men without religion, and you make them hut 
 clever devils." 
 
 Wellington. 
 
XI 
 
 HIS RELIGION 
 
 This is not the place to discuss the merits of the 
 various religions which have arisen from Jesus Christ 
 to Mahomet; nor to express an opinion on Huxley's 
 tenet that " a deep sense of religion is compatible with 
 the entire absence of theology," but the intention of 
 this chapter is to bring before the reader the past and 
 present history of the child's religion. 
 
 We all agree that true religion does not wholly 
 consist in church going, family prayers, and grace 
 before meals, but unfortunately much of the most 
 beautiful ritual, owing to the fear of heresy, and other 
 causes, has been lost to one or another of the Chris- 
 tian faiths. For instance, we have nothing to com- 
 pare with the Jewish Sabbath Eve when the father 
 solemnly lays his hands upon the heads of his chil- 
 dren, and blesses them. 
 
 At the same time we have either advanced in Chris- 
 tian charity, or become sufficiently civilised, to recog- 
 nise that an agnostic is not of necessity a scoffer and 
 blasphemer, and that on the other hand the apparent 
 piety of some persons may be discounted by the ex- 
 pectation of a future reward. Moreover, some rea- 
 sons for the severity towards the theological views of 
 others have lessened in proportion to the decrease of 
 the intimate relation between the religion and politics 
 of a nation. 
 
 221 
 
222 /HE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 Henrietta Maria actually discarded her little son 
 Gloucester on account of his refusal to embrace the 
 Catholic religion. Hatton took the hungry child to his 
 own lodging and fed him, and the little prince behaved 
 like a little prince should in refusing Hatton' s offer of 
 residence, lest he should bring further trouble from 
 the Cromwellian party on the head of his kind host. 
 
 The religion of the primitive boy was probably very 
 similar to that of the lowest savage of to-day. He 
 worshipped sun, moon, stars, plus any other natural 
 phenomena, in short anything to which he took a 
 particular fancy. Later on in the world's history 
 his theology became a little mixed. He began to 
 confound the characters of Noah, Adam, Janus, and 
 Saturn, which we now understand were probably the 
 names for one and the same person; Jupiter, Pluto, 
 and Ham, were to the little semi-heathen identical; 
 and, perhaps somewhat confused by the extraordinary 
 costumes of the figures in his little prehistoric Noah's 
 Ark, he confused Neptune with Japhet. 
 
 In other times, or in other countries, other little 
 boys had dim ideas of the want of connection between 
 Pluto and Shem; and some of them even mixed up 
 Nimrod with Bacchus, Minerva with Naamah ; Vulcan 
 with Tubal Cain, and Typhon with Og. 
 
 To sum up, the whole of the heathen mythology is 
 supposed to have been borrowed from Moses, and the 
 legendary stories of the Brahmans and the historical 
 events in the Old Testament are also curiously similar, 
 and we may conclude that from the most ancient 
 times there was a great deal of relationship in the 
 different religions which were taught our forefathers. 
 
HIS RELIGION 223 
 
 Amicus here interrupts with a question as to whether 
 those denaturalised people of whom one hears every 
 now and then cropping up as believers in the ancient 
 religions of Greece and Rome, etc., are suffering from 
 the effects of atavistic mind cells still existing among 
 them. 
 
 Yet there was a great likeness between the tenets 
 held by the little Christian child, and other children. 
 In the religions of China, Egypt, India, and Mexico 
 and other nations thousands of years before the 
 Christian era, the belief was held that a Saviour who 
 was the Son of God, and who was also the son of a 
 virgin, died for the salvation of mankind and rose 
 again after his death. 
 
 Osiris, Mithras, Buddha, Krishna were all virgin- 
 born redeemers of the world, though widely separated 
 as regards time and place. They were all born on 
 December 25, and they all died and rose again on 
 the third day, which was commemorated during the 
 season of spring. 
 
 The eating of the body and blood of a god in a 
 symbolical manner was a common religious rite in all 
 parts of the ancient world. 
 
 The Semitic feast Pesakh (paskha), the feast of the 
 Passover, owing to its lunar reckoning, prevented its 
 being united with any Roman pagan holiday, but when 
 the Roman missionaries came into contact with Teu- 
 tonic paganism then they absorbed the old Aryan 
 customs, and the Roman name of Pascha was aban- 
 doned for the Teutonic name of Easter (Ostara, 
 Eastre, the Queen of heaven?). 
 
 Christmas most probably is not the true anniversary 
 
224 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 of the birth of Our Lord, and it was not until the 
 fourth century that Julius L, Pope of Rome, agreed 
 to celebrate the birth of Christ on December 25. 
 More probably Christ was born during the last month 
 of the Jewish year. After the Norman Conquest the 
 name for " Midwinter," or that applied to the Pagan 
 celebration of it, viz., " Yule," was generally applied 
 to " Criste's mcesse." 
 
 Probably the Midwinter Day of the Saxon Chron- 
 icles was December 21 ; but as Christmastide and 
 Yuletide both covered a similar space of twelve days, 
 the two would to a great extent coincide. 
 
 After all this we can more easily understand how it 
 came about that the little Christian boy or girl became 
 so confused, and mixed up the deities, and other minor 
 matters of the contending beliefs. 
 
 The picture of the crucifixion is the supposed work 
 of a pagan schoolboy scratched on the wall of a nar- 
 row street crossing the Palatine Hill (Rome). The 
 wall was closed in about the second or third century 
 and has recently been exposed. 
 
 The object of Christian and Jewish worship was 
 caricatured by the head of an ass. 
 
 Primarily the cross wae probably symbolical of the 
 Divine union of the sexes, and it has been from all 
 time the most sacred of emblems. 
 
 At the beginning of Christianity the cross was not 
 allowed to be honoured by the early fathers, because 
 it was a pagan symbol, but three or four centuries 
 after Christ the Christians almost exclusively used it 
 as a symbol. 
 
 From the fact that the early Christians used the tau 
 
HIS RELIGION 
 
 22S 
 
 cross (T) it is considered that it actually represented 
 the form of the cross on which Jesus suffered. 
 
 It is the earliest, and most primitive form of a 
 cross. I do not know any Protestant or Catholic 
 priest, nor any Nonconformist minister who makes the 
 tau on the child's forehead when baptising it. 
 
 [AXE 
 
 lC(Bete 
 
 Alexamenos Worships God 
 
 Probably all the various deities of the ancient re- 
 ligions were but names for the different attributes of 
 the Almighty One; and in the various images and 
 paintings there appears to be a remarkable similarity 
 between Devaki and Chrishna; Horus and Isis, Ma- 
 donna and Child. 
 
226 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 A strong link in the chain of a one universal religion 
 is found in India, where the incarnate deity, Chrishna 
 in the arms of Devaki, is black with woolly hair — a 
 very curious thing in India. 
 
 In connection with this part of the subject it ap- 
 pears remarkable that a once celebrated architect de- 
 scribed a church being well designed exactly in the 
 proportion in which it resembled a heathen temple. 
 Many of the decorations in churches were not solely 
 for the purpose of pleasing the sight, but also for a 
 protection against the evil eye. 
 
 In modern as in ancient times each race, whether 
 Christian or pagan, idealises its own deity. The Eng- 
 lish painter portrays an English visage; the Italian, 
 an Italian; the French, a French one; and the flat- 
 nosed blackamoor bows only to an image which is 
 the facsimile of himself. 
 
 The atavisms of man may possibly be in some meas- 
 ure responsible for his frequent transference from one 
 faith to another, a remarkable case in point being the 
 Newman brothers, one of whom became a cardinal, 
 the other an agnostic. 
 
 But a boy of the present time learns his religion 
 from his teachers up to a certain point, and no further. 
 Beyond this his individuality begins to assert itself, 
 and whereas he has been educated as a Roman Catho- 
 lic, a high or low Churchman, or in one of the various 
 nonconformist creeds, his bias may run perhaps in 
 exactly the opposite direction. This often is only 
 discovered too late by cai^eful parents and as often 
 neglected, and disaster follows; the child if a boy be- 
 coming satiated with the particular form of worship 
 
HIS RELIGION 227 
 
 to which he is accustomed, but which is uncongenial, 
 and all ends in odium theologicum. 
 
 As far back in history as one can trace, the knowl- 
 edge of the religious experience of children has been a 
 Spartan one. In the earliest days little boys and girls 
 were apt to be considered at times as the most ac- 
 ceptable of sacrifices to heathen gods. In the early 
 Christian era they were torn to pieces by wild beasts, 
 or burnt at the stake in company with their parents 
 who had embraced a new and unpopular faith. 
 
 Happily these very dark days passed in civilised 
 countries, and the children of another era were only 
 persecuted by the scoffs, sneers, and sometimes blows 
 of those holding contrary opinions, and also the se- 
 vere rehgious discipline imposed upon them by their 
 guardians , but alas ! one can describe no chapter in 
 the religious history of the child, from its beginning 
 to (at any rate) quite recent years, as a particularly 
 joyful one. 
 
 Every good thing must be accompanied by a greater 
 or less amount of evil, and although there may be two 
 opinions on the blessings to children arising from a 
 too regular attendance at Sunday School, I think we 
 should recognise that had it not been for the Sunday 
 School, we might have had to reckon with the efforts 
 of the Salvation Army, and " The Young Soldier " 
 engaged in a modern children's crusade. Although it 
 might not have been so intense as the children's cru- 
 sades of 12 12, it probably would have been unsuit- 
 able enough, even, perhaps, dangerous to a large num- 
 ber of its followers. 
 
 The children's crusades of the thirteenth century 
 
228 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 were the disastrous outcome of the misplaced enthusi- 
 asm of Innocent III. The whole affair was a gigantic 
 epidemic of religious mania which spread through 
 France and Germany, and in which the victims were 
 children. Whether Stephen (the leader), a shepherd 
 boy, was a dreamer, or a schemer, none will ever know, 
 but with or without the consent of their parents thou- 
 sands of children followed him to Marseilles, relying 
 on the promise that he would lead them dry-shod to 
 the Holy Land. The unfortunate children were kid- 
 napped by slave dealers and sold into Egypt. What 
 became of Stephen no one knows. 
 
 The other " Children's Crusade " was the inspiration 
 of one Nicholas, a boy of Cologne, who led into Italy 
 an army, so it is said, of 20,000 children. Again we 
 are at a loss to determine whether the boy was a 
 dreamer or a schemer. It was generally surmised 
 that Nicholas pere had a considerable interest in the 
 matter, in that he had arranged to sell the children 
 into slavery. For this crime he was executed at 
 Cologne. Nicholas' army disappeared, and its fate is 
 no more than a matter of conjecture. 
 
 St. Nicholas was the patron and helper of all young 
 maidens, when nine years old, in the choice of hus- 
 bands. 
 
 St. Nicholas was well esteemed by boys and girls 
 because on his day he was supposed to bring them 
 presents, just as Santa Claus is now. 
 
 Although the Boy-Bishop was elected on St. Nicho- 
 las' day, Gregory the Great, who was also a patron of 
 schoolboys, was the person honoured in some cases. 
 The ceremony can be traced back to 867. 
 
HIS RELIGION 229 
 
 The election took place either on St. Nicholas' day, 
 St. Clement's, St. Katharine's, or Holy Innocents' 
 Day, or even in some districts on all these days. The 
 proceedings were farcical^-all the officers and cere- 
 monies, in some cases Mass, were performed by the 
 Boy-Bishop and his youthful companions. The cere- 
 mony lasted from St. Nicholas' Day (December 6) 
 to Innocents' Day (December 28) as a rule. During 
 his reign the Boy-Bishop was often not an unimportant 
 person. ■ At Heton, near Newcastle, a Boy-Bishop 
 said vespers before Edward I. In some parts of the 
 country if an ecclesiastical office became vacant during 
 the Boy-Bishop's reign he had the power of electing 
 some person to it. If he died in harness he was buried 
 with all the pomp and ceremonies accorded to an 
 ordinary bishop. In Salisbury Cathedral, close to the 
 tomb of WilHam Longspee, son of Henry II. and Fair 
 Rosamond, is the effigy of a Boy-Bishop who died 
 during his term of office. 
 
 As a matter of fact probably these are effigies of 
 adults, and not children. The best proofs that dimin- 
 utive effigies do not indicate children exist in the 
 effigy of Joan, Countess of Dreux, and that of Blanche 
 d'Artois. 
 
 The ceremony, after being abandoned, was revived 
 by Queen Mary in 1542, and was finally abolished in 
 Elizabeth's reign. 
 
 There is in existence, among the Cottonian MSS., 
 a sermon written in 1558 by Richard Ramsey (Rector 
 of Shenington, Gloucs.) for the Boy-Bishop, "John 
 Stubs, Querester," who preached it in Gloucester 
 Cathedral. 
 
2J0 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 Cardinal Salviati, nephew of Leo X., and Bishop of 
 St. Papoul, was too young to have a hair on his chin. 
 The Bishop of Clermont had a long and beautiful 
 beard of which he was very proud, but unfortunately 
 his congregation took exception to his beard, and feel- 
 ing ran as high as it does in these days when a clergy- 
 man has too many candlesticks on the altar. The 
 climax was reached when the mob tried to shave him, 
 and the Bishop fled, subsequently changing seats with 
 the Bishop of St. Papoul. So that we have here a 
 case of a Boy-Bishop holding two benefices. 
 
 In the thirteenth century, in the Benedictine nun- 
 nery at Godstowe, Oxford, on Innocents' Day, little 
 girls were wont to imitate the bo3's at other places, 
 and sing vespers and recite prayers. 
 
 On the day of St. Katharine, the girls' patroness, 
 girls had a special Saturnalia. 
 
 In the Church learning was at a low ebb during its 
 early history. 
 
 Henry VIII. in his speech to Parliament in 1545 
 referred to an ignorant priest who made for himself 
 an everlasting name for conservative stupidity, because 
 he read the word sniupsimus as munipsimus, because 
 he had a thirteenth century missal in which " s " and 
 " m " are much alike, and refused to alter his error 
 when it was pointed out to him. 
 
 Pastors and masters in the bygone days seemed 
 wholly to have lost sight of the fact that the original 
 meaning of the word " Deus " — " God " — is " bright," 
 nor could they take into consideration the child's ten- 
 der years, and speak much of the love of God, and 
 but little of His wrath. 
 
HIS RELIGION 231 
 
 To our forefathers the devil was not, as Dean Buck- 
 land describes him, " a ruminating graminivorous ani- 
 mal," and they dearly loved terrifying their unfortu- 
 nate little victims with the most blood-curdling repre- 
 sentations of his dreadful personality and terrible 
 powers, until little skins crept and little heads of hair 
 stood on end. At times under this ferocious doctrine 
 the young urchin would become desperate, and seeing 
 no hope of anything but eternal punishment, would 
 take to evil ways with the resultant whippings, dis- 
 grace, imprisonment, vagabondage and even hanging. 
 
 Before sympathising too deeply with the little Jew 
 through centuries of persecution and social losses, we 
 must consider that it was much easier and pleasanter 
 for the little Ichabod to learn the Jewish faith, because 
 he was taught to look upon the Old Testament as the 
 history of his own nation ; moreover, the Jewish boy is 
 more bound up in the Jewish ceremonials than the 
 Protestant or Roman Catholic boy in the ceremonies 
 of his own Church. At the present time the Jews are 
 also overcoming the difficulty of dealing with girls. 
 
 " Sunday was a heavy day to me when I was a boy," 
 said Dr. Johnson, and the same has been said by a 
 great many others who have mentioned their youthful 
 experiences of so-called religion. One learned don, 
 I really forget who it was, actually went so far as to 
 remark that for forty years he had attended the Uni- 
 versity Sermon, and thanked God that he was still 
 a Christian. 
 
 Yet even to a boy, however careless, some churches 
 or services must have had at times a charm. Many 
 children must have been accustomed to see the chained 
 
232 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 Bibles, and other sacred books, but in " The Life of 
 Archbishop Benson " there is mention made of the 
 Curate of a Church in Cornwall who was chained to 
 the altar during divine service. What lucky boys! 
 
 "A Sunday well spent 
 Brings a week of content, 
 And health for the toils of the morrow; 
 But a Sabbath profaned, 
 Whatsoe'er may be gained, 
 Is a certain forerunner of sorrow." 
 
 Sir Matthew Hale's golden maxim means that noth- 
 ing should be read, spoken, or thought of but religion 
 on that one day of the week ; an impossibility for nor- 
 mal children. So full of piety was a boy or a man (I 
 do not know which) that in the year 1839 he prose- 
 cuted his own mother for not attending church. 
 
 In some little dirty old room, separated by a modem 
 door from the church, the resting-place of brooms, 
 mops and dusters when not on active duty, or even 
 where coals are kept, we scrape a little of the accu- 
 mulated whitewash from the walls, and lay bare the 
 remains of a most beautiful picture, beneath which 
 in days gone by some devout child has bent the little 
 head, and lifted the tiny hands to its God in fervid 
 prayer. 
 
 In many an old church tower there yet remains a 
 fireplace as old as the church itself, but which has held 
 no fire within the memory of man, and the sexton is 
 unable to give any reason for its peculiar situation, 
 nor has he any idea of its uses. 
 
 Until good Queen Bess reigned for a very long time 
 
HIS RELIGION 233 
 
 Baptism was always performed in England by com- 
 plete immersion whether it was in winter or summer- 
 time, in fact Elizabeth was the last monarch to be 
 baptised by complete immersion. The seasons were 
 probably much the same as they are now, and it 
 necessarily followed that there should be a fire before 
 which to dry and dress the child during the cold 
 weather, and if the parents livfed some distance from 
 the church, it could also be nursed. The fireplace was 
 usually placed in the western tower because it was 
 near the font, which is always by the church door. 
 The fireplace also heated water for the godsibs to 
 wash their hands with as they were instructed by the 
 rubric to do before leaving the church. The tower 
 was also used as a Sunday School, and was, there- 
 fore, the first and the last familiar spot of the church 
 known to the child as a child. 
 
 The ancient practice of the English Church was the 
 confirmation and communion of infants either at the 
 time of baptism or shortly after, and this custom still 
 continues throughout Eastern Christendom. John 
 Wesley, if not actually in favour of infant commun- 
 ion, certainly defended it. 
 
 The practice of administering the Sacrament by 
 aspersion was allowed if the child happened to be 
 weak, but during Elizabeth's reign it was gradually 
 introduced as an ordinary method of baptism. The 
 earliest form of baptism in England was by aspersion. 
 
 In Edward VI.'s time, the child was immersed three 
 times — to the right, to the left, and lastly the head 
 was dipped. 
 
234 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 In one of the carvings on an ancient stone font in 
 West Lynn the child is being immersed head down- 
 wards. 
 
 In some parts of Ireland the baby is christened at 
 the first mass after it is born, and called after the 
 name of the saint whose day is nearest. 
 
 The following extract from the " Voiage to 
 Azores," 1589, is curious and interesting: 
 
 "Their manner of baptising differeth something from ours, 
 part of their service belonging thereto is repeated in Latin, and 
 part in Irish. The Minister taketh the child in his hand, and 
 first dippeth it backwards, and then forwards over head and ears 
 into the cold water in the midst of winter, whereby also may- 
 appear their natural hardnesse." 
 
 It was at one time a general custom in the north of 
 England not to wash the right arm of the newly born 
 infant, so that it could better obtain riches. Even 
 after the introduction of Christianity it was customary 
 on the Scottish border to keep the right arms of the 
 boys unchristened in order that they might strike 
 more deadly blows ! 
 
 The will of Brian Batty, 1 5 1 5, contains the following : 
 
 " Item I will that every child that I christyned have vjd. 
 that will ask it of my executors." 
 
 The sponsors of Edward VI. were Queen Mary, the 
 young prince's godmother — the godfathers being 
 Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, and Cranmer. 
 The last act of Henry VIII. was to sign the Duke's 
 death warrant, and Mary sent Cranmer to the stake. 
 
 In England in olden days many a poor, mother was 
 doubtless put to her wits' end to provide the necessary 
 
HIS RELIGION 235 
 
 cude, cude-cloth, chrysom or christening sheet as it 
 was called, which consisted of a linen cloth in which 
 the child to be baptised was wrapped, and which was 
 bound around its forehead after the ceremony. The 
 balm and oil with which the child was anointed was 
 called the chrism, and the child itself, a chrysomer. 
 It was also important that the christening sheet should 
 be burnt within a year of the child's birth, or the 
 little unfortunate would be unable to keep a secret. 
 
 In the register of Westminster Abbey under the 
 year 1687, occurs the following entry : " The Prin- 
 cess Ann's child, a Chrisome, bur. 22 Oct." This re- 
 quires some explanation as the word " chrisom " was 
 expunged from the prayer book of 1552; yet, for some 
 reason, children who died within a month after bap- 
 tism were styled " chrisoms " in the bills of mortality 
 and parish registers down to the eighteenth century. 
 
 Chrysom is also a term applied to the Roman Catho- 
 lic sacrament of confirmation. 
 
 Except in the Channel Islands every baby was ex- 
 pected to cry when baptised, as it was lucky so to 
 do, and unless this was a voluntary act on the child's 
 part, the nurse pinched him until he was glad to com- 
 promise matters, and save himself from being un- 
 lucky through life by considering the proceedings in 
 too cheerful a manner. Tyndale was wrong in saying 
 that the old word " volow " to baptise, came from the 
 Latin " volo." It is true Anglo-Saxon, and derived 
 from " Folewen." 
 
 Doubtless in the ages of spells, charms, and witch- 
 ery, it was at times difficult for the officiating minister 
 to wholly control his feelings. An ingenious method 
 
236 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 of showing his displeasure was exhibited in the case of 
 Robert Brown, founder of the Brownists, and incum- 
 bent of Achurch (Northants), when he wrote in his 
 register: "No. 7th, 1630, a child of my ungracious 
 Godsonne Robert Green baptised els were in schisme." 
 
 In the reign of George III. an act was passed (23 
 Geo. III.) imposing a duty of 3d. to be paid to the 
 king upon the entry of every baptism in the register. 
 The penalty for defaulters was £5. The act was re- 
 pealed in 1794. 
 
 Brasses to children, vested in the chrysm or 
 chrisome, are rather rare; examples are to be found 
 in the following churches: Chesham Bois, Bucks; 
 Blickling, Norfolk; Haughton-le-Skeme, Durham; 
 Dartf ord, Kent ; Clifford Chambers, Gloucestershire. 
 
 In the middle ages it was necessary that fonts should 
 be kept under lock and key to hinder superstitious 
 persons from using the water for magical purposes. 
 The water from the font was considered, by some, an 
 excellent remedy for ague and rheumatism. The Ice- 
 landers in the early days of Christianity went to the 
 hot wells to be baptised, preferring hot to cold water 
 for this rite. 
 
 The superstition that girls should be baptised before 
 boys was general, the reason ascribed being that other- 
 wise the girls would become masculine and have 
 beards, and the boys effeminate. 
 
 In the early days of Christianity religious obser- 
 vances were very strictly enforced. By the laws of 
 Ine, King of the West Saxons (688 a.d. to 725 a.d.), 
 it was enacted : ( 2 ) that children be baptised within 
 30 days, under a penalty of 30s. ; and if one dies un- 
 
HIS RELIGION 237 
 
 baptised, the father shall make bot, i.e., compensation 
 for it, with all he has. 
 
 (76) inflicts a special fine for slaying a godson, or 
 godfather — if it be a bishop's son, half the amount. 
 In these laws we find the earliest notice (in England) 
 of the custom of having a confirmation god-parent, 
 different from the baptismal sponsors, but apparently 
 the sons of bishops were not in such good odour as 
 they are to-day. Over the whole Christian world, at 
 one time, Gossipred, the connection between god- 
 parent and godchild, was held to be a bar to inter- 
 marriage. It is now recognised as such only by the 
 South Slavonians. 
 
 Horse godmother is a nickname for a coarse mas- 
 culine woman. 
 
 The first Christian church erected in England was at 
 Glastonbury about a.d. 60. The smallest (and a very 
 curious church) in England is the parish church of 
 Grove on the borders of Bedfordshire and Bucking- 
 hamshire. Probably fewer boys have worshipped in 
 this church than in most, as it will only seat about 
 twenty-five to thirty people, and the parish does not 
 contain twenty inhabitants. 
 
 A church bell or some other means of attracting 
 the willing and unwilling to church was a necessity 
 in the days when absence from Divine service was 
 punishable by a fine, or even imprisonment. 
 
 If the weather were good the boy or man could find 
 no excuse, but if wet he could plead that he was un- 
 able to see the time from his pocket sundial. So the 
 clergyman's only resource was to make a noise of 
 some sort just about church time. 
 
238 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 Bells were of course the articles in use among 
 genteel churches, just as to-day a fine peal of bells 
 is an object devoutly to be wished by all churches. 
 Some churches apparently had difficulty in finding the 
 necessary cash, and they had to use their wits in those 
 days probably as much as we do now if we want any- 
 thing which is difficult to obtain. 
 
 Lenton Church, near Nottingham, boasted a peal 
 of wooden bells — I wonder what they sounded like. 
 A bell made of green glass, fourteen inches in diame- 
 ter, was in the turret of the Chapel of the Grange, 
 Borrowdale, in 1859 — perhaps it is there now, and 
 Bowden Church boasted of bells made of leather. 
 Less opulent places depended for summoning their par- 
 ishioners to church by waving a flag — or a man blew 
 a horn, or even a conch shell — at others some happy 
 little rascal beat a drum. At Fordon (East Riding), 
 the parson walked up to the top of a hill in his sur- 
 plice, and cracked his whip several times. 
 
 In the old churches there was certainly more to 
 interest the idle boy than there is in the modern ones. 
 In many of them attached to the pulpit was an hour- 
 glass, by which the preacher regulated his sermon. 
 The hour-glass was generally enclosed in a brass case ; 
 in rare instances it is found attached to the pulpit 
 by a carved hand and arm. 
 
 This, at any uninteresting stage of the sermon, the 
 boy could watch as a relief and calculate from the 
 remaining sand how much longer he would have to 
 wait before the sermon ended ; perhaps have a pleasant 
 little gamble on it with a neighbour. 
 
 Then there were the carvings on the seats and walls. 
 
HIS RELIGION 239 
 
 which were more interesting then than now because 
 pictures of any sort were few and far between. But 
 I doubt his ability to find a clue to every one. 
 
 The carvings are not all of sacred subjects, some 
 dealing with the ordinary affairs of life; a man beat- 
 ing his wife; a woman beating her husband; a school- 
 master flogging his pupil; a butcher killing a pig; 
 and other everyday matters of life — some of which 
 according to our modern ideas are most indecent. 
 These carvings are called " misericords." Best off of 
 all were the boys of Fawsley in Northamptonshire, 
 as the ends of the church pews were decorated with 
 representations of the various scenes in well known 
 nursery rhymes. 
 
 In very remote times, according to Aubrey, " the 
 holy mawle, which (they fancy) hung behind the 
 church dore, which when the father was seaventie, the 
 sonne might fetch to knock his father on the head as 
 effete, and of no more use." 
 
 " Young Willie, auld Willie, 
 Willie amang the bairns ; 
 Ance we get another Willie 
 We'll knock out auld Willie's hairns." 
 
 is still, I believe, a rhyme chanted by schoolboys in 
 Berwickshire, " hairns " is the Scotch for " brains." 
 
 They were no model Sunday school scholars for 
 whose special benefit a man crept up and down the 
 aisles during prayers, and finding any heads raised, at 
 once poked them down with a long forked stick which 
 he carried in his brawny hand. Sometimes he poked 
 an inattentive woman or a sleeping man, then arose 
 joy in the ranks of the youthful worshippers. 
 
240 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THK CHILD 
 
 At times in some churches it must have been diffi- 
 cult to determine whether a snoring noise was caused 
 by a dissipated member of the congregation, or by 
 the so-called snoring of young owlets, crying for food, 
 who had made the church their nursery. This must 
 have been on such auspicious occasions a source of 
 great amusement to the juveniles when the man who 
 kept order in the congregation failed to arrive at a 
 correct conclusion as to the cause of the disturbance, 
 and unsuccessfully searched to find a delinquent in the 
 congregation. 
 
 In other churches the beadle went round the aisles 
 during service carrying a long staff at one end of 
 which was a fox's brush and at the other a knob. 
 With the brush he gently tickled the faces of the 
 female sleepers, but soundly rapped their male com- 
 peers on the head with the knob. 
 
 A better story is that in The Sporting Magazine, 
 1818, that the clergyman of a Welsh Church had a 
 tame goat that attended service, and if it saw a drowsy 
 Cambrian nodding, accepted it as a challenge, and 
 made so effectual a butt at its supposed antagonist that 
 he slept no more during that service. There seems to 
 be much room for doubt in this statement. 
 
 In Sweden, a few years ago, pinches of strong snuff 
 were offered to the sleepy in the congregation, in the 
 hope that after a few hearty sneezes they might be 
 in a more fitting condition to receive the admonitions 
 of the minister. 
 
 At St. Peter's Church, Burnley, an ancient custom 
 prevailed by which all persons who were married 
 there were fined by the boys of the Grammar School. 
 
HIS RELIGION 241 
 
 The money thus obtained was sufficient to maintain 
 the school library. 
 
 The devil used to perch on the tower of Ladrock 
 Church, near Truro, and disturb the congregation, 
 exciting the irreverent to laughter. The vicar, at his 
 wits' end, remembered that the enemy of mankind had 
 a great horror of innocent children, so he sent his 
 clerk round to all the mothers of the parish who had 
 unchristened children, asking them to bring the chil- 
 dren to church to be christened the following Sunday. 
 The following Sunday eight children arrived, but the 
 mystical number is twelve, so the parson got four 
 other children who had been recently christened. 
 When the service was over the minister took and held 
 the children up, one by one, for the demon to see; 
 but the cunning one hid himself and would not look 
 until one of the children began to cry, and all the 
 others chimed in, and then the devil hopped out, and 
 looked down to see what the hubbub was about. The 
 sight of twelve innocent children crying was too much 
 for the fiend; he gave an unearthly yell and disap- 
 peared from that part of the world for ever. 
 
 The list of Holy Wells in Great Britain is enormous, 
 and they were famous for every conceivable complaint. 
 Where children were concerned the victim was either 
 dipped, sprinkled, or drank the water as a panacea. 
 The well of St. Levan deserves special notice. The 
 worthy saint supported himself wholly by fishing and 
 caught only one fish a day. On one occasion his 
 sister paid him a visit bringing her child with her. 
 This time the saint caught a chad which he did not 
 think good enough for his visitors, so threw it back 
 
242 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 again. He caught the same fish, three times running, 
 and at length cooked it. The child was choked by 
 the first mouthful — which was a punishment for his 
 dissatisfaction. The chad is still called " chack 
 cheeld " — choke child. 
 
 I am informed that from time out of mind it has 
 been a very anxious matter to Comishmen as to where 
 they were -baptised, it being a confirmed belief that 
 any person baptised with water from the well of St. 
 Euny could not be hanged with a hempen rope. Un- 
 kind things have been said of some Cornishmen, and 
 there are instances yet told of remarkable escapes. 
 
 In Ireland, in County Antrim, when children are 
 brought to be baptised, a piece of bread and cheese 
 is wrapped up in the infants' clothes. When there 
 are several children present a male child is presented 
 first, as is the custom in many other places. 
 
 Fonts, in which thousands of little Christians have 
 been dipped, or sprinkled by the water from them, 
 have for one reason or another been taken from the 
 Church, and cast into the churchyard, or removed to 
 the vicarage or rectory to serve as flower pots, etc. 
 Several of these ancient fonts have been discovered 
 under such humble circumstances, and restored, again 
 serving their ancient purpose. 
 
 In the churchyard at Chollerton there is a large Ro- 
 man altar, the top of which has been hollowed out 
 and made use of as a font. There is also a Roman al- 
 tar in the churchyard of St. John's, Lee, near Hexham. 
 
 Probably the Sunday School is an institution which 
 existed, not in its present form, many centuries before 
 the conversion of England to Christianity. It seems 
 
HIS RELIGION 243 
 
 quite modem to speak of Cardinal Borromeo's scheme 
 of special instruction in religious subjects to children 
 at Milan in the sixteenth century, or that of the Rev. 
 Joseph Alleine at Bath about 1665, but before these 
 dates our knowledge does not extend. After Alleine 
 came Frampton, Bishop of Gloucester, in i68g, then 
 a woman, Mrs. Boevey, of Flaxley Abbey, about 171 7. 
 In 1764 a Sunday school was started by the Rev. 
 Theophilus Lindsey at Catterick, which induced Mrs. 
 Catherine Cappe to do the same for Bedale in 1765. 
 Again a woman came to aid the movement when 
 Miss Hannah Ball held a Sunday School at High 
 Wycombe in 1769. In 1774 Mr. Wilham King 
 opened a Sunday School at Dursley, Gloucestershire; 
 and in 1775 James Heys held another at Little Lever, 
 Bolton, and so the useful work, more useful than we 
 can perhaps at this time imagine, went rapidly on — 
 undoubtedly helped by many more devout, interested 
 men and women than our incomplete history of 
 a now almost universal institution gives us any men- 
 tion of. 
 
 It was, however, not until Robert Raikes inaugu- 
 rated the Sunday School movement in 1764 that the 
 scheme became so widely known and universally prac- 
 tised. The scholars had to submit to three simple 
 rules : — " clean hands, clean face, combed hair." 
 They were taught both reading, writing, and arith- 
 metic, and the Sunday School for some years became 
 the only place where such instruction could be obtained 
 for the very poorest. 
 
 Strange as it may seem to us to-day it is neverthe- 
 less true that until about 1790, Sunday School teachers 
 
244 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 were paid; the sum was is. to is. 6d. per week. At 
 the period I am writing of there were no Sunday 
 School buildings, the lessons were held in churches, 
 chapels, or day schools. 
 
 The first Sunday School in America was founded by 
 Ludwig Hacker between the years 1740 and 1747 at 
 Ephrata, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. 
 
 The only case of a gipsy girl being buried within 
 a church is in the Parish Church of Stretham, Cam- 
 bridge. The entry in the register of burials of the 
 year 1783 runs as follows — "Ashena, daughter of 
 Edward, and Greenleaf Boswell, April 23." 
 
 In the commune of Ste. Bertrande de Commenge, in 
 France, were found several sarcophagi — one contain- 
 ing the skeleton of a young Christian girl, as is sup- 
 posed from the inscription which is : "Give, O Christ, 
 to Thy servant Emmelina repose and eternal life." 
 
 A fourteenth century poem by an unknown English 
 writer which was discovered in the Cottonian collec- 
 tion is due to the death of the writer's little daughter 
 " Pearl," or " Perle " as he prefers to spell the name, 
 who died when at the age of two years. 
 
 The author visits his child's grave, and falling 
 asleep by the side of it, dreams that he meets her 
 again, dressed in royal clothing, on the bank of a 
 stream which divides earth from heaven. 
 
 He tells Pearl that he has done nothing but mourn 
 her loss, and that his only wish is to cross the stream 
 and stay with her for ever — for which speech the child 
 rebukes him, and says that he must wait for death, 
 which grieves the father. The child then describes 
 the bliss of those who dwell in heaven. Pearl tells 
 
HIS RELIGION 243 
 
 her father that although she was only two years old 
 when she died, that she could do nothing to please God 
 whilst upon earth, and although she might have grown 
 up, and married a count, or become some great lady, 
 in heaven she is a queen. 
 
 I do not know a more dramatic poem; some of the 
 lines are very pathetic and beautiful, and the verse 
 is often of high quality. 
 
 Cyneburga, daughter of Penda, the Christian king 
 of Mercia, married Alfred, a pagan king of Northum- 
 bria, and converted him, and bore him a son. Accord- 
 ing to Lambarde ; — " As soon as he was born, he re- 
 peatedly cried with a loude voice, ' Christianus sum, 
 Christianus sum' ('I am a Christian, I am a Chris- 
 tian ' ) . And not ceasing thus, made forthwith plaine 
 profession of his faith, desired to be baptised, chose his 
 godfathers, named himself Rumwald, and with his fin- 
 gers directed the standers by to fetch him a great hol- 
 low stone that hee would have to be used for a Fonte." 
 
 He was baptised, and died three days afterwards. 
 
 Limbus Puerorum was the name given to the child's 
 paradise for unbaptised infants. Apropos, the Sici- 
 lians have a very pretty flight of fancy. They believe 
 that the B.V. Mary sends an angel from heaven one 
 day a week to play with the souls of unbaptised chil- 
 dren, and that when he goes away he takes with him 
 in a golden chalice all the tears which these little ones 
 have shed during the week, and pours them into the 
 sea, where they become pearls. 
 
 By the will of Dr. Robert Wilde, of St. Ives, who 
 died in 1678, £50 was bequeathed, the interest of 
 which was to be used for the purpose of buying Bibles, 
 
246 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 not exceeding 7s. 6d. each, which should be " cast for 
 by dice " on the Communion Table, every year by six 
 boys and six girls of the town of St. Ives, Htmting- 
 don. There was also a bequest of los. to the Vicar 
 for preaching a sermon on the occasion. 
 
 In 1662 the dean of the Chapel Royal issued an or- 
 der that any person on entering the Chapel with spurs 
 on should pay to the choristers the accustomed fine; 
 but that if he commanded the youngest chorister to 
 repeat his gamut, and the chorister failed to do so, 
 then the fine was remitted. The great Duke of Wel- 
 lington was called upon to pay his fine for wearing 
 spurs inside the Chapel; he called upon the chorister 
 to repeat his gamut, and the lad failed, and the fine 
 was therefore remitted. The same custom was ob- 
 served at St. Paul's, Windsor, Peterborough, etc. 
 
 Whatever has been written, thought, or said of 
 Satan himself, the Italians speak very well of his 
 grandmother, and if what they say of her is correct 
 then she is a deserving creature. She cooks and keeps 
 house for her grandson who, with all his little back- 
 slidings, is really very fond of the old lady. When 
 he is tired he lays his head in her lap and she sings 
 him to sleep. By the way, the enemy of mankind, 
 once met his match in a way he did not expect — ^he 
 fell in love, and got married, but his wife proved such 
 a terror, that he made an end of conjugal delights by 
 divorcing her within the first week. 
 
 A cautious, enquiring mind will be able to draw 
 from the clergyman of the parish a fair character of 
 the people. The Presbyterians of Cranf ord were noted 
 for their irreligion and stinginess, and in the return 
 
HIS RELIGION 247 
 
 made to the Presbytery of Lanark of the result of a 
 collection at the kirk all that was found in the plate, 
 after prayer, sermon, and a christening, were two bad 
 shillings and a babie. Babie was the old name for a 
 copper coin more recently known as a bawbee. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 HIS MENTAL CONDITION 
 
 ' 'Tis the mind that makes the body rich." 
 
 Shakespeaee. 
 
XII 
 
 HIS MENTAL CONDITION 
 
 Unlike Minerva, who was born with her mental 
 faculties fully equipped (what an interesting child 
 she must have been ! ) , so far as we are able to deter- 
 mine, the state of the mental faculties in the infant is 
 almost a blank. Mentally, the child differs infinitely 
 more from the adult than does the Bushman from his 
 civilised fellow. We know that during infancy chil- 
 dren are credulous, fearful and amoral, and this is 
 practically all we do know. To obtain any idea of 
 what is the actual condition of their minds is entirely 
 beyond the resources of mankind. The theory of 
 heredity is, in the psychological conditions of infancy, 
 at a loss — and, in spite of a long lineage of civilised 
 ancestors, we must recognize that the newly-born in- 
 fant lying in the cradle has no advantage over the lit- 
 tle baby savage as regards intellect. Moreover, it is 
 well-known that the children of savages reared and 
 educated by Europeans are quite on a par with the 
 ordinary European child ; the Murray Islanders to wit, 
 whose children are quite as proficient in arithmetic 
 as their white brethren, although there are but few 
 words in their original tongue to express numbers; 
 whereas the white child, back to his Aryan ancestors, 
 has always had the numbers from one to ten in his 
 vocabulary. 
 
 251 
 
252 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 In our care of children as regards morality, we must 
 realise that we are dealing not with the incarnation of 
 evil, but with an undeveloped and complex nervous 
 system which we must weigh and value as carefully 
 as an assayer of any precious metal. 
 
 A brain which at birth is comparatively six times 
 the weight of the brain of the adult, and which during 
 the first year of life doubles or even trebles its weight 
 in that time, which also at the time of birth contains 
 the not inconsiderable matter of six hundred million 
 undeveloped cells ! 
 
 When we add to the foregoing little sum the un- 
 developed cells of the spinal cord and nerves, we come 
 to the conclusion that the child-student has a task of 
 no little magnitude before him in order to bring to 
 maturity these millions of bantlings of the nervous 
 system. 
 
 But the brain, besides being a mass of grey and 
 white nerve tissue, is now generally recognised as a 
 muscle, and in order to strengthen it, as with ordinary 
 muscular tissue, judicious exercise must be practised. 
 
 As a proof it has been found that the weights of the 
 brains of scholars, professors, and first-class Univer- 
 sity men are greater than that of ordinary men; By- 
 ron's brain weighed 6 lbs., Cuvier's, 5 lbs., whereas the 
 normal weight of a brain is 50 ounces — a great many 
 other cases might be quoted. 
 
 " The quality of the brain and the nervous system 
 is inherited from the mother while from the father is 
 inherited the character and the will " (Schopenhauer). 
 Perhaps this is true in cases (Goethe says something of 
 the same kind, as do several other savants), but it 
 
HIS MENTAL CONDITION 253 
 
 does not certainly appear the rule, for as often as not, 
 the child in mental characteristics follows the mother 
 in character and will, as often as it follows the father. 
 
 We may here mention that proportionately the eyes 
 as well as the brain are very much larger in the babe 
 than in the adult; and the skin is also proportionately 
 greater, and in early life the spinal cord is the greater 
 factor in the nervous system, the brain becoming so in 
 later life. 
 
 According to some authors, the most rapid increase 
 of the brain takes place between four and seven years 
 of age, but in individual cases this must, like every- 
 thing else, greatly depend upon environment. 
 
 The child-student will observe that the new-born 
 child is extremely slow in mental development, much 
 more so, perhaps, than if it were possible to obtain a 
 knowledge of its exact mental condition and attempt 
 assistance. He will find that newly-born infants bear 
 light badly, and all care should be taken to shield them 
 from too strong an illumination, the neglect of this is 
 probably often the cause of more or less eye trouble in 
 later years. At the end of a fortnight a normal child 
 will follow with its eyes a moving light ; whether this 
 be instinctive or not we do not know. 
 
 There are many occasions during infancy when it 
 becomes a matter of considerable difficulty to decide 
 whether some act on the part of the child is one of 
 reason or instinct. 
 
 We shall also, by carefully watching the baby, find 
 that at the end of the second week the child is attracted 
 by different sounds, as well as by light, and that about 
 the ninth week it notices its hand for the first time; 
 
254 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 and eventually it is somewhat astonished to find that 
 it has a pair. 
 
 As the child gets older, the reflexes become more 
 and more under control ; but, as is truly said, rational 
 thought depends as much upon the use of thought as 
 muscular strength does upon the use of the muscles, 
 and muscular development and rational judgment (ex- 
 cept in an immature state) do not happen until the 
 body itself is matured to an approximately equal 
 extent. It has been stated that the dawn of real 
 intelligence comes with laughter! This emotion we 
 know is as variable in the time of its appearance as 
 is the environment, constitution and disposition of the 
 child. 
 
 When a young child notices an object we find that 
 he is principally concerned as to its use, as in the case 
 of a ball or a bicycle wheel : it is something that rolls 
 when moved. 
 
 He is also attracted by colour, and when he is able 
 to differentiate it, mostly prefers a red ; then follows a 
 yellow, a green, a blue. The latter colour is invariably 
 last in the list with all children, and curiously enough 
 there is among some primitive races actually no word 
 for it, perhaps because blue is such a pervading colour 
 in the sky in hot climates. Of course in testing a child's 
 preference all the colours should be equally bright, and 
 the objects the same shape and size. Sometimes it 
 will be found that the baby from some inexplicable 
 reason, actually dislikes a certain colour. In adult life 
 one not infrequently meets people of either sex who 
 have a decided objection to red colours of all shades. 
 
 They give as a rule, if they do give a reason at all, a 
 
HIS MENTAL CONDITION 255 
 
 very natural one, in that they say that the colout 
 recalls associations of blood. Perhaps the reason we 
 never find babies objecting to red colours is because 
 (being barbarians in thought and deed, as certainly 
 some of them are) they care not a bit about blood. 
 Sanderson, the blind professor of mathematics, ex- 
 plained his idea of the colour red, likening it to the 
 sound of a trumpet. A deaf and dumb pupil also 
 compared the sound of a trumpet to the colour red. 
 It is said that if two pieces of water-colours, red and 
 blue, were given to a child, and he was told to paint 
 with them a boy and girl, the boy's garments would 
 be red and the girl's blue. 
 
 Red ribbon is pinned to the boy's dress and blue 
 ribbon to the girl's at a Roman baptism. 
 
 Very rarely a child looks at a picture as an adult 
 does. Rarely he will hold it sideways. Almost in- 
 variably upside down. This can hardly be accidental ; 
 it is probably due to the following reasons : — 
 
 When an object is reflected upon the retina the 
 image is inverted, and it is only by being conscious, 
 through other senses, of the true position of the object 
 that it appears to us as it actually is. It is purely a 
 matter of experience which is lacking in the child, and 
 he takes hold of the picture upside down because only 
 in that position can he see the object as it really is. 
 
 Many animals show a preference for or aversion to 
 a certain colour; red is as inflammable to an elephant 
 as it is to a bull. 
 
 There are others also who have peculiar aversions 
 to this or that colour, and from nearly always some 
 definite associative reason. 
 
2S6 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 The following list of emotions found in the child 
 have not only appeared in animals but they appeared 
 in the same order as in the child : — 
 
 Fear. 
 
 Emulation. 
 
 Benevolence. 
 
 Surprise. 
 
 Pride. 
 
 Revenge. 
 
 Affection. 
 
 Resentment 
 
 Rage. 
 
 Pugnacity. 
 
 Emotion of the 
 
 Shame. 
 
 Curiosity. 
 
 beautiful. 
 
 Regret. 
 
 Jealousy. 
 
 Grief. 
 
 Deceitfulness. 
 
 Anger. 
 
 Hate. 
 
 Emotion of the 
 
 Play. 
 
 Cruelty. 
 
 ludicrous. 
 
 Sympathy. 
 
 
 
 
 "Ascent 
 
 of Man," Drummond. 
 
 During the latter part of the second or early part of 
 the third week the child shows unmistakable evidences 
 of fear. 
 
 At the sixth or seventh week he first shows a prefer- 
 ence for a certain person or persons; jealousy and 
 anger appear about the twelfth week ; and at the fifth 
 month the child shows sympathy; at the eighth 
 month, pride and resentment; and at the fifteenth 
 month we find shame, remorse, and sense of the 
 ludicrous. 
 
 When hurt, children often cry, not on account of 
 the pain of the bruise or wound, but because some 
 ill-advised person sympathises with them to such an 
 extent that they believe the hurt is too painful to be 
 borne without crying. 
 
 I have frequently stitched slight wounds in children 
 without making them cry at all — in fact healthy chil- 
 dren, if not interfered with, bear pain exceedingly well. 
 
 The emotion of fear plays so large a part in all 
 stages of life, and its consequences are so serious that 
 
HIS MENTAL CONDITION 25? 
 
 it is necessary not only to take particular precautions 
 against arousing this feeling in the child — and when 
 present to find out the exact cause — but if possible 
 put an end to it at all costs; because one single real 
 fright may change a lively, happy child to a lifelong 
 neurotic, even if nothing worse. 
 
 Whether fear is innate in human nature, or acquired 
 and intensified in each generation, and whether the 
 degree of fear arises from ignorance, or intimidation, 
 fright frequently causes a serious retardation in bodily 
 and mental growth, and is the origin of various nerve 
 disorders which become more difficult to eradicate as 
 the child grows older, often, indeed, becoming per- 
 manently established. 
 
 It is always among the earliest of mental develop- 
 ments; the young child, a few weeks old, afraid of 
 falling, must be a very common occurrence in the ex- 
 perience of most of us. 
 
 It is questionable whether the fear of darkness — 
 very general in nervous children — arises from heredity 
 or is simply caused by the child being unaccustomed to 
 it in earlier life. It is very possibly owing to the fact 
 that human enemies were in the olden times more 
 liable to attack their adversaries during the night — 
 another unfortunate atavism ! 
 
 The child may be weaned from the fear of being 
 left alone by having toys given to it to play with, etc., 
 and other causes must be treated as their needs. The 
 Chinese, to expel the sense of fear in a child, pass it 
 several times over a charcoal fire. 
 
 It occasionally happens that a young child who has 
 gone to bed to all appearance in ordinary health, and 
 
258 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 who for a short time has been fast asleep, awakes 
 suddenly with a loud and terrified cry. The child is 
 usually found sitting up in bed, and crying out, 
 " mother ! " or " father ! " At first the child does not 
 appear to recognize its nurse, or its mother, who 
 has rushed in alarm into the room, but seems wholly 
 to contemplate the horrible phantom that has dis- 
 turbed its repose. Consciousness gradually returns; 
 the child tightly hugs the nurse, or mother, and usually 
 bursts into a fit of passionate crying, and sobs itself 
 to rest in the mother's arms. 
 
 There may be, there mostly is, but a single attack, 
 but they may occur almost nightly for a considerable 
 period, and, rarely, there may be several attacks in 
 one night. 
 
 As a rule these attacks begin after the child has been 
 asleep from half an hour to two hours, and are usually 
 associated with some object, such as a dog or other 
 animal, and the illusion continues until full conscious- 
 ness returns. 
 
 The general cause of these symptoms is indigestion, 
 teething, worms, or the relation of horrible stories, 
 and but rarely arises from brain disease. In every 
 case the assistance of the family doctor is necessary 
 for diagnosis. 
 
 By all means allow the child a light in his bedroom 
 at night, and he must have some one to sleep in the 
 same room with him if necessary, if darkness or lone- 
 liness is the cause of his terror. 
 
 It is useless and cruel to try harshness. Compelling 
 the child to sleep in the room without a light, or bully- 
 ing him on account of his nervousness, will more likely 
 
HIS MENTAL CONDITION 259 
 
 than not terminate in making a coward for life, and 
 maybe a lunatic. 
 
 In many parts of the country the people still be- 
 lieve that if a child falls asleep in a beanfield when 
 the bean is in flower, it awakens no more. 
 
 King Halvdan Svarte, father of Harold the Fair- 
 haired, was advised to sleep in a pig-stye with the 
 object of dreaming, and did so. 
 
 Nightmare, or ephialtes, is a complaint from which 
 everybody has suffered at one time. 
 
 The nightmare demon in Germany takes the form 
 of any animal from man to mouse, and the credulous 
 frail is of opinion that it was brought to Germany 
 from England by a pretty woman who floated in a 
 sieve, and paddled with cow ribs. At times all ani- 
 mals suffer from nightmare, and one finds it guarded 
 against in cow-houses by a charm hung up on the 
 cow-house, often a round stone with a hole in it. 
 
 If fate should ever occasion you to pass a night 
 in a Suffolk cottage, and you find a stone with a hole 
 in it hung on the wall, you may rest assured that it is 
 a charm for nightmare. Do not be greatly alarmed 
 either at finding a carving knife underneath your 
 bed; the simple people mean you no harm, it is only 
 another charm for nightmare. Sometimes the carving 
 knife is suspended over the baby's cradle. 
 
 In Lancashire, where the nightmare is supposed to 
 take the form of a dog, the children (as a preventa- 
 tive) place their clogs, boots, or shoes, sole upwards 
 under the bed. 
 
 When I was a small boy it was yet a custom to use 
 as a means of terrifying children, the ghastly name of 
 
26o THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 Bogy. Happily this artifice is now almost wholly 
 confined to the lower classes. Bogy seems, however, 
 to have been a favourite means to an end in every 
 country. Boh! so frequently used as an exclamation 
 by mothers and nurses when playing with young 
 children, is said to have been the name of one of the 
 fiercest and most formidable of the Gothic generals, 
 and the son of Odin — ^the mere mention of whose 
 name was sufficient to spread an immediate panic 
 among his enemies. 
 
 In England, at various periods, the majority of 
 eminent persons have at one time or another been 
 called into requisition as bogies. Napoleon, Saladin, 
 Sir Thomas Lunsford (Hudibras), Gladstone, Jack- 
 the-Ripper, the policeman, the doctor— Rawhead and 
 Bloody Bones is a favourite bogy with both English 
 and Irish mothers. The latter, if very excited, will 
 call upon no other shade but that of Cromwell. John 
 Cuthead, who cuts off children's heads and carries 
 them in a sack, is the bogy of the W^est of England 
 child, and Bucca-boo (the Cornish Neptune or sea- 
 god) is the little Cornishman's bogy. The bogy 
 which takes my fancy most is " Hush ! the naked bear 
 (bare) will hear you." 
 
 Narses is the bogy of the ancient Assyrians; Cor- 
 vinus, the Hungarian, terrifies the little Turk; Sebas- 
 tian is a name which frightens the little Moors into 
 fits; and Tamerlane fnakes the hair stand up on the 
 head of the little Persian a la Hamlet. 
 
 The tender mother of Innsbruck quietens her young 
 ones by mentioning that Frau Hutt is an unpleasant 
 representative of the powers of punishment. 
 
HIS MENTAL CONDITION 261 
 
 The Roman children were very frightened at the 
 names of Attila and Tarquin, but their Httle descend- 
 ants in Italy only fear Le Befana when they are 
 naughty — to good children she brings toys just like 
 a fairy godmother. 
 
 The Italians seem to be somewhat uncertain as to 
 who Befana really is. One party will inform you of 
 the fact of her being Herod's grandmother; another 
 is certain that she was an aunt of Barabbas ; and others 
 that she was an ancient female of light reputation — 
 origin uncertain. Befana is actually derived from 
 Epifania, and is as often written Befania as Befana. 
 A name which conveys greater fear to the infantile 
 mind than Befana, is Bocio, or Barbocio, or Barbone 
 (Bourbon). 
 
 Richard I., Lamia, Lilith, Hunniades, have all been 
 useful as terrifiers of young children. The name of 
 Drake still lives in Central America, but it only 
 frightens children now, and the Covenanters left to 
 Kentucky, by way of a legacy, the hated nam^ of 
 Clavers (Claverhouse). 
 
 In Bengal Budah (not Buddah) is used colloquially 
 as equivalent to our word Bogy. 
 
 Many years ago an old friend of the writer's sang to 
 him a lullaby which he had learned from an old bonne in 
 Boulogne, the following being a very free translation. 
 
 "Baby! Baby! naughty Baby! 
 
 Hush ! you squalling thing, I say. 
 Peace this moment, or it may be 
 
 Wellington will pass this way. 
 Baby I Baby I he's a giant, 
 
 Tall and black as Rouen steeple; 
 Breakfasts, dines and sups, rely on't, 
 
 Every day on naughty people. 
 
262 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 Baby! Baby! if he hears you 
 
 As he gallops past the house, 
 Limb from limb at once he'll tear you 
 
 Just as pussy tears a mouse; 
 And he'll beat you, beat you, beat you, 
 
 And he'll beat you all to pap; 
 And he'll eat you, eat you, eat you. 
 
 Gobble you, gobble you, snap ! snap ! snap ! " 
 
 At whatever age, either in early infancy or in late 
 adolescence, the child shows signs of anger, whether it 
 is what the French call " en delicatesse," or " en f roid," 
 or more serious still, in all cases every endeavour 
 should be made to engage the mind on some fresh and 
 interesting subject differing toto coelo. All morbid and 
 unsavoury discourse and sights should be rigorously 
 avoided both by parents and instructors, and as rap- 
 idly as possible passed over when referred to by the chil- 
 dren themselves. On the other hand, let every induce- 
 ment be made to get the children to indulge in pleasant 
 conversation, and to employ themselves in helping one 
 another out of the little difficulties of childhood. 
 
 Of seven children in one family, why should each 
 one show the various emotions (including that of an- 
 ger) in a totally different manner? W^e can only un- 
 derstand by referring to atavisms, or traits from later 
 ancestors, and deal with them scientifically if we know 
 the character and environment of that particular ances- 
 tor whose emotions were shown in a similar manner. 
 
 There is to be found no better description of a 
 neurotic child than that in Harriet Martineau's biog- 
 raphy. Those to whom it is unfamiliar should read 
 it at the earliest opportunity. Parents of the most 
 unfavourable specimens of neurotic children will be 
 
HIS MENTAL CONDITION 263 
 
 compelled after that to come to the conclusion that 
 there is no hopeless case. 
 
 Professor James defined memory as " The knowledge 
 of a former state of mind, after it has already dropped 
 from consciousness." A clever person once upon a 
 time delivered himself of the axiom, " The child's mind 
 is of white paper." Hare, in " Guesses at Truth," 
 adds, " for their strongest impressions are black ones." 
 
 From the Talmud we glean that " there are four 
 kinds of pupils — the sponge, the funnel, the strainer, 
 and the sieve; the sponge is he who spongeth up 
 everything; the funnel is he that taketh in at this 
 ear, and letteth out at that; the strainer is he that 
 letteth go the wine, and retaineth the dross; the sieve 
 is he that letteth go the bran, and retaineth the fine 
 flour." 
 
 In infancy the memory is usually very bad, greatly 
 to the disappointment of the immediate friends of the 
 baby, and the child psychologists. It varies wonder- 
 fully in different children, and at different ages. 
 
 Now it is generally acknowledged that there are 
 two ways by which we are enabled to recall past 
 events — the one connected with sight — the other con- 
 nected with sound; but there are, apparently, cer- 
 tain people who are unable to use either of these forms 
 of memory, except in a slight degree, or are uncon- 
 scious of doing so. 
 
 Whichever type of memory the child possesses it 
 is generally found that that particular kind increases 
 with age, there being perhaps a slight decline just 
 before and sometimes during puberty, and then ris- 
 ing again. 
 
264 THE NATURAL HISIORy OF THE CHILD 
 
 It is, I believe, generally held that from the ages of 
 nine to eleven girls remember words better than boys, 
 and that boys, on the other hand, remember objects 
 better than girls — with always the provision that chil- 
 dren are individuals, and that what applies to the aver- 
 age does not necessarily apply to the unit. 
 
 With both sexes there is a great increase in all forms 
 of memory about the twelfth year, and at puberty, as 
 a rule, there is also in both sexes a decided forgetful- 
 ness of infantile reminiscences, added to a greatly in- 
 creased memory for recent events. 
 
 Some philosophers tell us that after puberty both 
 auditory and visual memory is better in boys than in 
 girls, but generally speaking to the age of twelve years 
 girls are much in advance of boys. Others say that 
 in children over thirteen years of age they find the 
 female sex slightly superior in immediate memory and 
 sensibility. 
 
 It is impossible to decide whether Box or Cox is cor- 
 rect. The data have been collected from French, Ger- 
 man, and American sources. But we may conclude 
 that memory is in a great part a habit, a matter of 
 training and method of classification which is strength- 
 ened by the learning of palatable, and weakened by 
 the learning of distasteful knowledge. It is con- 
 sidered a questionable matter whether such a subject 
 as the multiplication table (learned at the usual age) 
 does not do more mental harm than good 
 
 Of the various artificial aids to memory, mnemonics, 
 etc., not one that I am aware of is useful except in the 
 abstract, if one may call that useful; moreover, al- 
 though much may be learned by rote, in the way of 
 
HIS MENTAL CONDITION 265 
 
 quantity, it is at the expense of the intellect. Let us 
 take the cases of " lightning calculators," and " mem- 
 orizers " of various capabilities, few have ever risen 
 to a position of any intellectual standing. 
 
 There are of course exceptions, as in all else. Both 
 Scott and Macaulay are well known examples of 
 eminent people who possessed good memories. Many 
 cases of abnormal memory came under my notice dur- 
 ing my Cambridge and London days. How I used 
 to envy those men ! I can recall one man who learned 
 by heart a book on statics, a subject which he did 
 not understand, but by that means actually passed 
 his examination. Another case was that of a medical 
 student who learned his anatomy, surgery, and medi- 
 cine, even his clinical work, in the same manner, but 
 he never really understood any branch, and although 
 he took his degree without difficulty, in practice he 
 was very unsafe, purely owing to the manner in which 
 he had relied upon artificial methods. 
 
 We have advanced in our methods of security of 
 tenure since the days when, by the law of the 
 Riparians, on the purchase of a piece of land boys 
 were severely beaten in order that they should re- 
 member the exact boundaries of the purchase; no doubt 
 it was very successful. My personal memory as a 
 child was almost wholly a visual one, and in spite of 
 many unpleasant passages with those that were near- 
 est and dearest, and certain unliked school authorities, 
 it remained in statu quo up to manhood. 
 
 But the only way to intelligently recollect any sub- 
 ject for a time is to organically register it in the brain, 
 and this can only be accomplished by the aid of rea- 
 
266 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 son. Mnemonics fail utterly after a short period, in 
 that there is no intellectual connection, and there is 
 no chance of happening what the pupil is striving for 
 — that is, a spontaneous memory. Here I am again 
 brought to book by Amicus, who chimes in with her 
 usual persistency, and commands me to note that ages 
 before she was born, children living in the north of 
 England used to be sent regularly to have their hair 
 cut as a charm for obtaining a good memory. 
 
 The Standardisation of Intelligence as applied to 
 children requires an intimate knowledge of their tem- 
 peraments both in and out of school, the latter espe- 
 cially, before we can come to a scientific conclusion as 
 to their true position in the scale of intelligence and 
 is therefore a very uncertain modus operandi. 
 
 For as every child has individual tastes, so it can 
 only be a very rough method to examine all upon the 
 same subject; and if this is done, as, for instance, 
 in the case of writing a few simple essays, we find 
 that each of three children, brothers, writes from a 
 different point of view and with different success. 
 Perhaps the subject suits one, but not the others, so 
 A does well, B and C poorly. 
 
 The boy who described " Elephants " as, " sitting 
 on a tree " and the other who in an essay on " God's 
 good gifts to man" included "insects, reptiles, and 
 clergymen," should be seriously talked to. 
 
 There is insufficient space in this little work to do 
 more than mention the fact of children while labouring 
 under great physical disadvantages making a name for 
 themselves, but the lives of Helen Keller and Laura 
 Bridgman are well worth the time occupied in reading. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 HIS NAUGHTINESS 
 
 'Tis not easy to be bad or good; 
 Vice plagues the mind, and virtue flesh and blood.' 
 
XIII 
 
 HI'S NAUGHTINESS 
 
 "And what are sins? 
 Evils of which we hardly know the names. 
 There's vanity — a quaint fantastic vice, 
 Whereby a mortal takes much credit for 
 The beauty of his face and form, and claims 
 As much applause for loveliness as though 
 He had designed himself! Then jealousy — 
 A universal passion, one that claims 
 An absolute monopoly of love, 
 Based on the reasonable principle 
 That no one merits other people's love 
 So much as — every soul on earth by turns ! 
 Envy that grieves at other men's success, 
 As though success, however placed, were not 
 A contribution to one common fund! 
 Ambition, too, the vice of clever men 
 Who seek to rise at others' cost, nor heed 
 Whose wings they cripple, so that they may soar. 
 Malice — the helpless vice of helpless fools, 
 Who as they cannot rise, hold others down, 
 That they by contrast may appear to soar. 
 Hatred and avarice, untruthfulness. 
 Murder and rapine, theft, profanity. 
 Sins so incredible, so mean, so vast, 
 Our nature stands appalled when it attempts 
 To grasp their terrible significance. 
 Such are the vices of that wicked world." 
 
 The Wicked Would. 
 
 " But every schoolboy hath that famous treatment, 
 of Grunnius Caracatto Parcellus at his fingers' ends," 
 
 269 
 
270 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 is not only a quotation from Macaulay, but from 
 Burton's " Anatomy of Melancholy " as well. 
 
 The world has seen very many infant phenomena, 
 few of whom lived to manhood, and those that did 
 turned out to be very ordinary persons as a rule — with 
 the exception of artists and musicians, who usually 
 show their mettle very early in life, and win their spurs 
 before adult age, it is generally late in life before the 
 ordinary genius meets with public recognition. Chris- 
 tian Heinrich Heinken and Barratier are types of chil^ 
 dren who appear at infrequent intervals on this planet, 
 but hardly stay long enough for us to appreciate them. 
 Even Miss Crummies, of Thespian fame, daughter of 
 the " one and only Crummies," had her health so dis- 
 turbed by gin and water that after leaving for the 
 United States, Dickens mentioned her no more. 
 
 Barratier, poor little chap, might have been living 
 now, but that the King of Prussia, after interviewing 
 the little fellow, advised him to study the law. The 
 eminent child was a little disappointed, and probably 
 would have wished it had been " Grimm's Fairy 
 Tales " instead, had they then been written. In fif- 
 teen months little Barratier became an excellent lawyer 
 — Oh ! you idlers at the Inns ! — but it killed him. 
 
 Whether true, or whether but wicked prejudice on 
 the parts of informants, the majority of men who 
 have attained worldwide recognition for their pre- 
 eminence in one or another walk of life, barring jail- 
 birdism, have in their early days reputedly borne the 
 characters of being naughty boys. 
 
 The ordinary boy is in fact by no means the char- 
 acter represented in the Sunday school class of litera- 
 
HIS NAUGHTINESS 271 
 
 ture ; he is like the curate's egg, " excellent in parts," 
 and it therefore follows that he must be a source of 
 considerable anxiety to his natural guardians. At the 
 same time it is quite worth while to explore, and find 
 out, all the good there is in the boy; to show our ap- 
 proval of that ; and to turn a deaf ear to the nonsense 
 of the old women of both sexes, even if he has had 
 the misfortune to have had his finger nails cut during 
 his first year — this being, as is well known, an in- 
 fallible cause of crime. 
 
 In Scotland, which is a very good country indeed, 
 ash sap is given to newly-born babies to keep away 
 evil spirits. Alas ! there often seems to have been a 
 very minute dose of any antitoxic serum for naughti- 
 ness prescribed for some, for of bad boys there is an 
 absolutely shocking list among those who in later 
 life became, luckily for themselves, famous in other 
 directions than gracelessness. Wellington, Napoleon, 
 Darwin, Newton, and Nansen were young gentlemen 
 bearing the characters of idle and inattentive young 
 rascals. 
 
 Arnold, the schoolmaster, it is said, was a sluggard 
 in his youth. 
 
 Lord Reading (Sir Rufus Isaacs) was so little ap- 
 preciated by his tutor that the long-suffering peda- 
 gogue refused to accept the charge of any further 
 members of the family. Of course Lord Reading 
 could hardly hope to rise to the level of Chief Jus- 
 tices Roger Cholmeley and Popham, who had both 
 been highwaymen. 
 
 According to Lydgate's description of himself in 
 his " Testament," he was a boy of unlovely character. 
 
272 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 He preferred play to work; dirty in his habits; 
 shammed illness; ill-conducted; late for school; got 
 up late; talked in class; mocked his master; told lies; 
 and stole apples. He liked counting cherry stones 
 much better than going to church. He confesses that 
 he stood in awe of the rod. 
 
 Under extenuating circumstances — ^his father was 
 a non-juror — ^Joseph Addison's youthful career was 
 remarkable for insubordination. At his first school 
 he ran away to escape being flogged, and took up his 
 abode in a hollow tree, where he lived upon wild fruits, 
 and such scanty fare, until the publication of a reward, 
 when he was discovered. Later in his quest of knowl- 
 edge, at Lichfield, he was the head of a barring-out. 
 
 Sir Peter Carew possessed a minimum of good con- 
 duct marks; he was such a limb that his affectionate 
 relatives chained him in the Haccombe dog kennels 
 until he ran away. He became a great favourite of 
 Henry VIH. 
 
 Voltaire's professors declared that he would become 
 a deist — he did. 
 
 Hugh Miller's schooldays were eventful. On one 
 occasion he stabbed a schoolmate with his knife, and 
 ended his scholastic career by fighting with the school- 
 master, whom he would have conquered had he not 
 tripped over a form. Later he vanquished his adver- 
 sary by a copy of satiric verses, in the local paper, 
 entitled The Pedagogue. 
 
 Pharaoh nursed the infant Moses in his arms when 
 the plague of Egypt suddenly plucked the monarch's 
 beard in a very rough manner, which put the owner 
 into such a passion that he ordered the culprit to im- 
 
HIS NAUGHTINESS 273 
 
 tnediate execution. But Asia, his wife, representing 
 to him that Moses was only a child too young to dis- 
 tinguish between a live coal and a ruby, Pharaoh or- 
 dered the experiment to be tried, with the result that 
 Moses burnt his mouth and was forgiven — but suf- 
 fered afterwards from an impediment in his speech. 
 According to the auctioneer, the daughter of Rameses 
 II. in mummified state was sold in London in 1900, 
 for ten guineas. If this be true she may have been 
 the very daughter of Pharaoh who found Moses. The 
 auctioneer said that she was. 
 
 Judas was a naughty boy, and tried to poison his 
 schoolmaster. 
 
 In Carlisle Cathedral there is a picture representing 
 St. Cuthbert standing on his head, and another child 
 rebuking him. It was an early mediaeval idea that 
 children ordained to be saints should put away childish 
 things. 
 
 No case without an exception — St. Nicholas was a 
 good little boy, a very devout child indeed, which 
 seems to be curious when we consider that he was the 
 patron saint of boys. Nevertheless, the future saint, 
 while yet a baby in long clothes, abstained from more 
 than one meal on Wednesdays and Fridays. 
 
 Pocklington Grammar School has for its seal St. 
 Nicholas and the three little boys in the pickle tub. 
 
 More rarely one hears of naughty girls, perhaps they 
 are not so interesting. " Catched once at eleven years 
 old, at chuck farthing among the Boys," was the 
 criminal proceeding of " Mr. Spectator's " daughter 
 which resulted in her being sent forthwith to a board- 
 ing school. Here among other accomplishments she 
 
274 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 learned to dance sufficiently to make " Mr. Specta- 
 tor " remark that she danced herself into his esteem, 
 and there is no further notice of " Mr. Spectator's " 
 daughter being " catched " again. 
 
 In Hone's Diary for 1752-3, he informs us that 
 upon April i one of his children, called Amelia, " either 
 by drinking, or otherwise meddling with a bottle of 
 rum, was within a hair's breadth of eternity." Ap- 
 parently this indiscreet young lady became a total ab- 
 stainer, as she lived to an advanced age, and was 
 painted holding a cup of tea in her hand. 
 
 Whilst at the Louis-le-Grand College, the Marquis 
 d'Argenson and the Due de Boufflers distinguished 
 themselves by shooting peas at their master. Father 
 Lejay, whose feathers were so ruffled that the noble 
 pair were well birched. 
 
 Of all inanimate objects which healthy boyhood 
 abhors with horror is the schoolroom clock, the essence 
 of procrastination during the hours of study, and 
 making up for this unwarrantable conduct by racing 
 all the other clocks in the town during plajrtime. Still 
 a really clever boy, and daring one, may manage to 
 alter the hands occasionally. True, many have been 
 found out, and paid the penalty of genius — Marmontel 
 suffered in the cause. 
 
 Rousseau, like many other men of note, was an 
 awful duffer at " lessons," in fact school was so un- 
 congenial that he took French leave, and ran away. 
 
 Henry Fawcett, the blind Postmaster-General of 
 thirty years ago, caused his schoolmistress to publicly 
 lament that his conduct would most certainly kill her. 
 Even a bishop, now living, was as a boy such an art- 
 
HIS NAUGHTINESS 27s 
 
 ful little cuss, that when sent to bed for disobedience, 
 he was in the habit of taking an entertaining book 
 with him, and by that means turned his tribulations 
 to good account. The truth is that boys' failings are 
 much the same as those of men, perhaps more con- 
 spicuous because everybody is on the look-out for them, 
 and the child is unsophisticated. 
 
 Gladstone said " selfishness is the greatest curse of 
 the human race," and the child-student must not, 
 therefore, be surprised to find that altruism is a diffi- 
 cult virtue to implant in youthful bosoms. It takes 
 at least a lifetime for most boys to learn, and it has 
 its special stumbling-blocks in teaching, but with a little 
 help (boys and girls are sociable creatures) there is a 
 good chance of making them fairly good Christians. 
 Somebody once said, "You find plenty of people 
 willing enough to act the good Samaritan without 
 the oil and the twopence," and the child must have 
 the bump of philanthropy developed to at least the 
 size of an ostrich's egg if he does in truth love his 
 neighbour as himself. Very few men and women 
 can manage that, and the boy is from infancy an 
 egoist. 
 
 It is well to remember that whilst we are criticising 
 and scrutinising the child, the child is criticising and 
 scrutinising us — perhaps unfavourably. 
 
 But apart from original, or spontaneons, sin as a 
 cause of ill-behaviour, the more serious considerations 
 of physical disability must be taken into account. It 
 is estimated that from 15 per cent, to 30 per cent, 
 of children in England suffer from deafness in one 
 ear; from 15 per cent, to 20 per cent, suffer from 
 
276 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 defective eyesight ; 4 per cent, suffer from colour blind- 
 ness ; and that in the children's hospitals of the country 
 50 per cent, of the patients under one year suffer 
 from dyspepsia. 
 
 Add to this that 20 per cent, of the schools are 
 unhealthy, and among the working and lower classes, 
 at least 25 per cent, of the houses are insanitary, 
 another 25 per cent, overcrowded, the total risk of 
 child-life is actually about as great as a residence on 
 the Gold Coast, and necessarily has its effect on the 
 child's moral character. 
 
 From the child's point of view we must consider 
 that, from his earliest years, he shows in himself 
 unconsciously a knowledge of the struggle for exist- 
 ence, and to annihilate this (even in adult age) is 
 extremely difficult. Of course " bachelors' wives and 
 old maids' children " are always well taught. 
 
 Again, the standard of morality of adults is by no 
 means the standard of morality of children. It is, 
 therefore, essential that we should compare the school- 
 master's, the parent's, and the child's views of the 
 most frequent faults of childhood. Now the teacher 
 classes inattention and disorder as the most common 
 faults. But the parents consider wilfulness and ob- 
 stinacy as the most frequent. 
 
 On the other hand the children complain most of 
 bullying, fighting, teasing. So that comparing the 
 ideas of the three interested classes, we find that 
 neither of them agree as to which is the commonest 
 form of depravity in children. 
 
 Roughly speaking, it is said that boys are good at 
 eleven, gradually losing in grace up to the age of fif- 
 
HIS NAUGHTINESS 277 
 
 teen, when their behaviour becomes increasingly pol- 
 ished up to the eighteenth year. This is of course 
 not always the case. But perhaps the purest period 
 of child-life in both boys and girls is in the few years 
 preceding puberty. 
 
 Let us make no mistake — ^the child cannot help be- 
 ing a boy or a girl, neither can it help being boyish or 
 girlish as the case may be, unless there is something 
 very radically wrong. The above views of children, 
 parents and guardians, added to the foregoing para- 
 graph on physical disability, warn us against the dan- 
 ger of not reserving our judgment (in cases of child- 
 ish failings) when we are not perfectly clear as to 
 whether the cause cannot possibly be assigned to influ- 
 ences over which the child has little or no command. 
 A child does not copy all its errors and sins; it is an 
 individual and originates enough. 
 
 There are recorded cases of arrested mental growth, 
 in plenty, but at the same time we must cautiously 
 abstain from summing up a boy as mentally deficient, 
 indolent, inert, because he either cannot, or will not, 
 learn some amount of Greek, Latin, or other subject. 
 
 It may be the teacher's fault, or the subject is so 
 repugnant to him that he is unable to overcome his 
 disgust to it. Whatever he may appear to be on the 
 surface, the boy may have ability, capacity, and talent, 
 and eventually show it and make his mark when his 
 time comes. " Nature," says Beaconsfield, " is more 
 powerful than education; time will develop every- 
 thing." 
 
 When one reads the class of literature written a 
 century ago for the purpose of guiding the mother in 
 
278 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 the education of her child ( fathers in those days were 
 regarded as altogether without the pale of knowledge 
 in such affairs), it becomes a source of astonishment 
 that our forefathers survived the many snares laid 
 for body and mind. 
 
 Nor can much be said for the intelligence of those 
 extraordinary people who imagined boys ever were 
 of the Sandford and Merton type, of which book Bur- 
 nand's version was np more a burlesque than Day's 
 mythology. Day's adopted daughters were not a suc- 
 cess. 
 
 Although we may class all boys and girls as being 
 very much alike in many good, bad, and indifferent 
 habits, still we do get very out-of-the-ordinary children 
 under our notice at times. They are best described 
 as extreme examples belonging to one or the other 
 classes, as below: — 
 
 1. The Motor boy. 
 
 2. The Sensory boy. 
 
 3. The Inert boy. 
 
 4. The Idle boy. 
 
 5. The Mischievous boy. 
 
 6. The Mental boy. 
 
 When a boy is dubbed an evil-liver, often enough 
 the real culprit is society, in its insistence upon the 
 many detrimental and irritating conventions forced 
 upon unhappy children; the absurd subjects taught in 
 the majority of schools, and perhaps in a lesser de- 
 gree, the method of teaching them. 
 
 Among difficult children to deal with are those pre- 
 cocious young ladies and gentlemen who hold honour- 
 
HIS NAUGHTINESS 379 
 
 able positions as contradictors. Contradiction is not 
 always, as it was vulgarly supposed to be, a vicious 
 habit in children; it depends on what it arises from. 
 Let us see the different causes making a contra- 
 dictor : — 
 
 1. Discrimination. 
 
 2. The love of Contention. 
 
 3. The Defiance of all authority. 
 
 4. Self-conceit. 
 
 5. Impertinence. 
 
 6. Excitability. 
 
 7. Ill-humour. 
 
 We therefore treat each case upon its merits. 
 
 Little number one is a sharp boy, and there is noth- 
 ing to be done but to guide him from forming the 
 habit of false and vicious reasoning. 
 
 For little number two — an amount of reasoning, and 
 a diversion of his talent into another direction. 
 
 Little number three must be reduced to the ranks 
 from his self-appointed promotion — fatigue duty, and 
 other unpleasant ways and means must be his portion, 
 unless he can be soothed from it altogether. 
 
 Number four is more likely to cause one to grin, 
 and think what a little snob the fellow is. It is as 
 well to reward him with an ample dose of healthy 
 sarcasm. 
 
 Number five, if we do not ignore him, we may give 
 a real treat during his playtime in writing an essay 
 elaborating his opinions on the subject under discus- 
 sion, which we insist shall be definite, equitable, and 
 comprehensive — when this has been satisfactorily 
 
28o THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 brought to a close, he will probably have consumed 
 enough of his playtime ("wasted" the boy will call 
 it) in learning an amount of valuable knowledge 
 which he previously lacked, and he is ready to say 
 with the poet: — 
 
 "Let the long contention cease! 
 Geese are swans, and swans are geese." 
 
 Cool the excited one, and humour the ill-humoured. 
 
 The love of controversy in children is a powerful 
 weapon which can be encouraged or discouraged for 
 their good as the case may be. 
 
 It is often a nuisance, unless arising from discrim- 
 ination, and there is no inconsistency in his argument. 
 Very few people are pleased with this particular form 
 of precocity, and many get as savage as old monkeys 
 do when they are teased. That in itself is good 
 enough reason why one should endeavour to cure the 
 habit. 
 
 Without doubt children are what we make them, 
 and ufiless taken in hand the disagreeable boy will 
 remain disagreeable until " his golden locks time hath 
 to silver turned." 
 
 There was a school kept in the church of Narham 
 on the Tweed, and one of the scholars, a boy named 
 Aldine, in order to avoid a flogging, threw the key of 
 the church door into the Tweed, hoping thereby to 
 escape pimishment. At Vespers the priest found the 
 key of the door missing and the flogging and divine 
 service had both to be dispensed with. Good St. 
 Cuthbert appeared to the weary priest that night, and 
 ordered him to buy the first net of fish taken from the 
 river the following morning. Needless to say the key 
 
HIS NAUGHTINESS 281 
 
 was found in the mouth of a fish. History does not 
 record the boy's fate ! 
 
 Excluding the earlier days of infancy, when from 
 sheer inability to make himself a pattern for older 
 people in the delicate art of " pitching a tale," the baby 
 has but little respect for facts in the abstract. Lying 
 in young children may take the form of an innocent 
 tarradiddle, a story so-called, or a romance, and the 
 proprietor may be a Machiavelli, a Tartuffe, or a Baron 
 Munchausen in embryo. If the last, happily the com- 
 monest form, probably by the time he has reached 
 seven or eight he will have survived the complaint; 
 the former two are examples of really bad children, 
 and Tartuffe junior, unless carefully trained, will come 
 to a bad end. 
 
 Innocent as ordinary children's falsehoods are, 
 arising as they do largely from imagination, yet we 
 must teach them to speak the truth, a not very diffi- 
 cult matter, and one which can be managed without 
 our pharisaically expressing horror at such youthful 
 depravity which, if we know anything of children at 
 all, we know to be natural. 
 
 The fact of the matter is that the child so mixes up 
 what is, what might be, and what he wishes it was, in 
 his little brain, that he fails utterly to separate truth 
 from fiction, or he tells a downright whopper for the 
 purpose of creating a sensation, or he may simply 
 imagine a case. I remember one of my small boys 
 not many years ago dreaming that he had lent me a 
 penny. He reminded me of it as soon as he was 
 awake. By some strange means, the penny, which I 
 had not borrowed, amounted to sixpence before break- 
 
282 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 fast time, and the virtuous child shed tears over his 
 parent's dishonesty — either pohcy, or parental affection 
 overcame strict justice — I was victimised, but to save 
 the amount increasing " bang went sixpence," and the 
 tears were dried. There is no shadow of doubt but 
 that the boy had firmly persuaded himself that I owed 
 him sixpence, as I am certain that it was but a coin- 
 age of his brain. 
 
 It is astonishing to find how many eminent men 
 were as children addicted to the habit of lying. Sir 
 Richard Burton makes a confession in his autobiog- 
 raphy, but his is hardly a fair case — it is only a trav- 
 eller's tale. In early youth however — sad it is to say 
 — the greatest minds have been awful little liars. One 
 exception perhaps we ought to make — Huxley ; it does 
 require an amount of imagination to honestly impeach 
 him. But apart from him, if we heard an Archbishop 
 boast of truthfulness in early youth, I am afraid we 
 should think that he must have forgotten certain inci- 
 dents of his childhood. 
 
 As for adults it is well to say little, certainly as a 
 rule they do not show the best of examples — I think 
 it was Dr. Arbuthnot who said, " All political parties 
 die at last from swallowing their own lies." 
 
 In the Midlands it was the custom for boys who 
 wished to bind each other to an engagement, to link 
 the little fingers of the right hand, and say : 
 
 " Ring finger, blue bell, 
 Tell a lie, go to hell." 
 
 Polliceri — ^to promise; engage, owes its derivation 
 to pollex — the thumb. Licking the thumb has been 
 
HIS NAUGHTINESS 283 
 
 regarded as a solemn pledge, existing from the Goths, 
 Iberians, and Moors down to our own time. When 
 pressed on wax, it was a seal of good faith. Yet in 
 the nineteenth, if not the twentieth century, small, 
 crooked-conscienced, mendacious boys are found dar- 
 ing enough to upset the old order of things. 
 
 Biting the thumb was probably a gesture of insult, 
 or mortal revenge. 
 
 From time immemorial boys were held in little es- 
 teem by their superiors — Richard de Bury, who lived 
 in the fourteenth century, and was a great lover of 
 books, says in his " Philobiblion," that boys' fingers 
 are always dirty, and they smudge and dog-ear the 
 books. They also stick straws between the pages as 
 book-marks, and leave fragments of fruit and cheese 
 to sully the leaves. Apparently the fourteenth century 
 boy had a likeness to the twentieth, as he was in the 
 habit of pressing flowers and leaves in books, and 
 drawing frivolous figures on the blank margins thereof. 
 
 Boys' fingers are not always kept in a state of 
 immaculate purity — white as the driven snow — even 
 although enjoying the benefits of such an enlightened 
 age as that of the present. What they were like in the 
 time of Richard de Bury, imagination fails to conceive ! 
 
 Mischievous young beggars some boys are! One 
 little rascal — a Westminster school-boy — actually stole 
 the jawbone of Richard II. from Westminster Abbey. 
 
 " Here He the remains of Richard III., 1485 " was 
 carved by William Kelly, F.S.A., when a boy, on a 
 smooth piece of sandstone in the wall over the root of 
 a tree (King Dick's Willow) on Little Bow Bridge, 
 Leicester. This but a few years later was actually 
 
284 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 accounted a piece of antiquity, and the culprit himself, 
 as a penalty, became a distinguished antiquary. 
 
 Rare are preternaturally good boys of the George 
 Washington class. Fair play to George, because there 
 are records to show that in later life he was summoned 
 for allowing his chimney to catch fire. 
 
 Doubtless George never cut down a cherry tree in 
 his life, or, as a future eminent poHtician, refused to 
 tell a lie — the historical account of the President of 
 the United States in his youth, the cherry or apple 
 tree, and the hatchet, which subsequently caused so 
 much trouble to embryo American millionaires, is of 
 course a myth, and the fictitious invention of " Par- 
 son " Weems, one of Washington's biographers. 
 
 The Daily Advertiser, January 25, 1783, quoting 
 from The Dublin Register, acquaints us with the 
 amazing intelligence that George Washington was a 
 WOMAN. Probably this is a Whashingtonian. 
 
 Notwithstanding the fact that his pedigree has been 
 traced back to the Royal Family, there must have been 
 something we don't quite understand in his career, and 
 if we hear much more about him I am afraid we shall 
 have serious considerations of placing him in the same 
 category as Betsy Prigg put " Mrs. Harris." 
 
 A frequent childish wickedness is truancy. Chil- 
 dren of all kinds and colours play the Charley Wag, 
 or truant, at one time or another, and what can stop 
 their peregrinations is still a mystery. It is certain 
 that if a young child, from two to five years of age, 
 is left alone to play in a garden having a convenient 
 gate, that child will, before long, decamp and wander 
 a surprising distance — to the distress of its mother. 
 
HIS NAUGHTINESS 285 
 
 The Japanese mother has a very good tip for recov- 
 ering runaway babies. She fastens a Httle metal medal 
 on the child's dress with his name and address on it, 
 so that when found the treasure may be restored. In 
 Sheffield years ago it was the custom to chalk the name 
 and address of the lost child on the pavement. 
 
 Older children, usually boys, are at times suddenly 
 taken with the desire to abandon the pleasures of 
 philosophy as taught in schools, and seek the joys of 
 truancy. Poor Charley Wag! there are so few who 
 sympathise with him in his unlicensed holiday. Treat 
 him gently, 'tis in the blood, another of those un- 
 fortunate " atavisms " with which he is imbued. 
 Scientists tell us that he is the heterogeneous mongrel 
 of many peoples, and has the trait of migration more 
 strongly implanted in him, even though it be on 
 Shanks' mare, than fear of the wholesome cane. 
 Therefore, imitate Hamlet on this occasion only, and 
 though you speak daggers, pray use none. Probably 
 he will want a hearty tea — ^give it him. 
 
 Even Herbert Spencer, on one occasion when a boy, 
 played the truant. The very uncle who wished him 
 punished, had in his youth committed the same awful 
 crime, and we might add in a silent chorus, " and so 
 say all of us." Moreover, answering for my fellow- 
 countrymen, I must confess that instead of being 
 drowned, or tossed by mad bulls, or meeting some 
 equally horrible fate, we once at any rate caught a big 
 jarful of " Tommy Parsees," and had a most enjoy- 
 able time of it, the necessary sacrifice to Orthia which 
 followed being insufficient to obliterate the remem- 
 brance of the stolen joy. 
 
286 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 Winnington, a Minister of State and Paymaster of 
 the Forces under the Pelham administration, while a 
 boy at Westminster, ran away from school with two 
 companions. The three truants engaged themselves 
 as mason's boys to some builders at Blenheim, then in 
 course of erection (1710). One of them was discov- 
 ered by a friend who accidentally visited the works, 
 which led to the detection of the others. 
 
 Another truant from Westminster School was Ed- 
 ward Wortley Montague, who ran away to sea, and 
 served as a cabin boy. After he had been at sea some 
 time he got very uncomfortable, and one day told the 
 captain (Joseph Kemp) who he was. On arriving at 
 Malta, Captain Kemp reported the affair to the Admi- 
 ral, and the runaway was restored to his friends. 
 
 According to Forster, who was requested by the par- 
 ents of young Montague to use every possible means 
 for the discovery of the fugitive, the truant decamped 
 at Oporto, and although ignorant of the language, ob- 
 tained a post in a vineyard. One day he went to the 
 factory to do some interpreting. The English Consul, 
 and Capt. Kemp, both of whom knew him, were there, 
 and the discovery was complete. Mr. Forster after- 
 wards acted as his tutor. The truant's manhood ful- 
 filled the promise of his youth, for Mr. Montague died 
 in 1776, having lived a Mahometan by profession. 
 
 Like many other incidents of child life some cases 
 of truancy are historical. 
 
 "A tre from Mr. Speaker concerning 2 boyes prisoners at 
 Tarvin. 
 
 "Sr, 
 
 " Whereas Will™. St. Lawrence and John Gandy twoe 
 yonge boyes at Bury in Su£Folk ran away from schoole to Prince 
 
HIS NAUGHTINESS 287 
 
 Rupert about twoe yeares agoe, and to the intoUerable griefe 
 of theyr parents were nev' heard of since till now very lately 
 that they heare they are prisoners at Tarvin or thereabouts. 
 If yo"" pious endeavors will be pleased to second this bearer in 
 findinge out the twoe lost sheep and helping their sad parents 
 to them againe, you will doe a most charitable deede and 
 thereby engage 
 
 " Yor very lovinge ffriend, 
 
 "Wm. Lenthall, 
 " Speaker." 
 London, Nov* 6, 1645. 
 
 From the Correspondence of Sir Wm. Brereton. 
 
 THE TRUANT OF 1500 a.d. 
 
 Nay I nay ! by this day 1 
 
 What avayleth it me thowgh I say nay? 
 
 I wold ffayn be a clarke; 
 but yet hit is a strange werke; 
 the byrchyn twyggis be so sharpe 
 hit maketh me have a faynt harte. 
 what avaylith me thowgh I say nay? 
 
 On Monday in the mornyng whan I shall rise 
 
 At vj. of the clok, hyt is the gise 
 
 to go to skole without avise 
 
 I had lever go xxti (a) myle twysel (6) 
 
 What avayleth it me thowgh I say nay? 
 
 My master lokith as he were madde; 
 "wher hast thou be, thow sory ladde?" 
 "Milked dukkis (c), my mother badde:'' 
 hit was no mervayle thow I were sadde. 
 what avaylith it me thowgh I say nay? 
 
 My master pepered with well good spede : 
 hit was worse than ffynkll sede; 
 he wold not leve till it did blede, 
 Myche sorow haue be for his dede ! 
 what vaylith it me thowgh I say nay? 
 
288 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 I wold my master were a watt (d) 
 
 & my boke a wyld catt, 
 
 & a brase of grehowndi's in his toppe ; 
 
 I wold be glade for to se that ! 
 
 What vayleth it me thowgh I say nay? 
 
 I wold my master were an hare, 
 & all his bokis howndis were, 
 & I myself a loly hontere ; 
 to blowe my horn I wold not spare I 
 flfor if he were dede I wold not care. 
 What vaylith me thowgh I say nay? 
 Explicit, 
 (o) Twenty. (&) Twice, 
 
 (c) Milking Ducks. (d) Hare. 
 
 Where our old boyhood's acquaintance. Dr. Watts 
 (who, by the way, was a bachelor), got the notion 
 from that it is unnatural for boys and girls to fight, is 
 among those things we have still to learn. I do not 
 think he was what we might call in these days a seri- 
 ous child student,^ but treated the study of children 
 from an ideal standpoint, and, like many even of the 
 present day, persuaded himself that children, in spite 
 of his belief in original sin, should be too good. 
 
 " Wisdom has taught us to be calm and meek, 
 To take one blow, then turn the other cheek; 
 It is not written what a man shall do 
 If the rude caitiff smite the other too.'' 
 
 It was often remarked by the late Bobus Smith, 
 " I was the Duke of Wellington's first victory ! " 
 "How?" people asked him. "Why," would reply 
 the humourist, " one day at Eton Arthur Wellesley 
 and I had a fight, and he beat me soundly." 
 
 Wellington was thrashed by a little Welsh girl for 
 cheating her younger brother at marbles. Welling- 
 
HIS NAUGHTINESS 289 
 
 ton's brother stood by and saw fair play. " That was 
 the only pounding I ever had, and I deserved it," was 
 the remark of the hero of Waterloo, when he told the 
 story afterwards. 
 
 Of all practical joking, rough horseplay appeals 
 more than any other form of that class of amusement 
 to schoolboys, and whatever opinion we may have of 
 such " joking," yet we know that there can be nothing 
 more natural to the young savage than the joke of the 
 Magdalen choristers (as late as the early 1830's), when 
 on May mornings, directly after singing the Magdalen 
 hymn, they hastened to throw rotten eggs down upon 
 the heads of the listeners at the foot of the tower. 
 
 " Scolding and quarrelling," says Lamb, " have 
 something of familiarity and a community of interest." 
 Antagonism is natural to all normal children, who at 
 one time or another, whether boys or girls, will show 
 their savage origin in fighting. Even some writers, 
 in whom the barbarism of childhood has apparently 
 but little diminished, seem to advise encouraging rather 
 than restraining the ardour of the young warriors. 
 But if we, as child-students, agree that fighting is the 
 remains of barbarism in us, and, therefore, that it is 
 well to eliminate it as far as possible, surely we should 
 endeavour by all possible means to prevent its appear- 
 ance, instead of lending our support. If the boy is too 
 militant in his methods let him copy the motto on the 
 helmets of the soldiers of the Bishop of Hildesheim : — 
 " Give peace in our time, O Lord." 
 
 Certainly the boy who makes no attempt to defend 
 himself when attacked is a poor savage and unnatural 
 boy; but there is the provocation to be taken into ac- 
 
290 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 count. Even in France it is illegal to fight a duel on 
 any question which cannot be assessed at the value of 
 tuppence ha'penny! So far we may go, and in cer- 
 tain cases further still; for instance, I once compelled 
 two small boys, brothers, to fight a pitched battle be- 
 cause they were constantly patting one another, and I 
 thought that if I made them fight until they had had 
 more than enough of fighting, they would hardly be so 
 ready to use their fists again. The experiment was 
 attended with the best results, for the two boys never 
 attacked one another afterwards. Ugh! it was sick- 
 ening. Conciliation is at times a difficult art, for the 
 bottle holder. 
 
 In many children, apart from ordinary attacks of 
 temper, there happens at some period of childhood, it 
 may be only on one occasion, very rarely in many, a 
 hysterical paroxysm of rage. Occasionally one hears 
 of a little Tisiphone committing suicide under the in- 
 fluence of one of these attacks of fury. In these 
 ungovernable outbreaks the child is beyond any amount 
 of reasoning, calm or otherwise; corporal punishment 
 in any form is worse than useless, and even a dose of 
 cold water, although effectual at other times, is of no 
 avail as a rule in this extremity. 
 
 The child is quite insane for the time, and there is 
 but one way of dealing with these cases, and that is 
 to totally ignore them at the moment. After the 
 attack, measures may be taken to discover the cause, 
 practically always to be found in the general health, 
 but sometimes from some out-of-the-way source of 
 intense excitement, and when it comes to light, lay out 
 plans so as to prevent a recurrence. 
 
HIS NAUGHTINESS 291 
 
 It is a condition to be treated by no means lightly. 
 The attack of almost maniacal frenzy is sometimes the 
 forerunner of epilepsy, or confirmed hysteria, and we 
 must always treat it suaviter in modo, for if we con- 
 tinue to irritate the already infuriated brain we are 
 only helping to precipitate matters. 
 
 As it is necessary in early life to reward, it is equally 
 necessary at times to punish. 
 
 "Afflictive birch cursed by 
 Unlettered idle youth." 
 
 The methods of impressing the results of evil-doing 
 on little children not so many years ago were almost 
 farcical. In Mrs. Sherwood's " History of the Fair- 
 child Family," the following incident occurs : — Mr. 
 Fairchild, the father, takes three small children to a 
 place called Blackwood " to show them something 
 there which I think they will remember as long as they 
 live, that they may love each other with perfect and 
 heavenly love." The father then shows them a gibbet 
 with the murderer inside, and reads the frightened 
 children a lecture on theft and murder. 
 
 In the development of the child we mark as one of 
 the climacterics of the mind the desire to play no longer 
 by himself, but with companions ; a second stage where 
 the child becomes more boyish, or girlish, as the case 
 may be, which should happen about the sixth year. 
 Any delay in the transition from the one stage to 
 another requires sharply attending to, as it is most 
 certainly due to a lack of development proceeding from 
 either some mental or bodily defect, often so apparently 
 slight that it would otherwise be overlooked, but which, 
 
292 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 if allowed to continue, will be followed by more or less 
 serious drawbacks for years, it may be for life. 
 
 Among the boys in a large school we find one or 
 two uncompanionable, melancholy children, who care 
 not whether they win or lose in or out of school, 
 they are like May cats who will not catch mice — 
 useless ! 
 
 Boys of this class, if not mentally defective, either 
 become utter dolts, or excel later in life in some out- 
 of-the-way subject. School is no place for them, they 
 are really little old men who have skipped childhood, 
 and developed before their time. They never have a 
 very joyful experience, and rarely in later life refer 
 to any pleasant memories of their schooldays. The 
 only way to treat them is to send them to a private 
 tutor, who is the father of a family. The boys are 
 probably descendants of the man who in the reign of 
 James II. was hanged with his pardon carefully pre- 
 served in his pocket. 
 
 The girlish boy, and the boy who has been kept too 
 long in the nursery in the company of much younger 
 children, have a lot to learn, and a world of trouble to 
 face. Some of them turn out all right, some don't, 
 but it is the first year at school which tries the boy. 
 
 At first no one, from the masters down, like him, 
 and he has to make a choice of his future behaviour ; 
 he becomes either friendly, morose, servile, or cow- 
 ardly. If the first, he will soon get along all right 
 with his companions; if the second and third, it will 
 take some little time; if the last, he is doomed to an 
 unhappy childhood, not only in, but also out of school. 
 Nothing preys more on a boy's mind than the knowl- 
 
HIS NAUGHTINESS 293 
 
 edge that he is apart from his fellows who shun him 
 as though he had the evil eye. 
 
 Another unfortunate boy is the one who does not 
 shout at his play. Shouting and noises of all kinds 
 are as natural to children as they are to the savage 
 tribes of to-day, and unless a boy shouts well he is 
 either not developing, or is prematurely developed from 
 his natural savage self ; neither is he giving his lungs 
 that exercise which is necessary for their welfare. 
 
 We do not wonder at the ricketty child being often 
 more than on a par with his healthier mates, he is 
 but following a natural law — ^that is, when the growth 
 is greatest the mental development is least; they are 
 like the Magadoe who were born old and grew younger 
 daily. 
 
 It seems quite likely that the manners of children 
 of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries required as 
 much attention as those of the twentieth, if we may 
 be guided by the literature of the day. 
 
 " The Boke of Curtasye," printed about 1430, 
 warns the youngster against wiping the eyes or teeth 
 upon the tablecloth. 
 
 Another book of manners in those happy-go-lucky 
 days of spelling as you like, also printed about 1430, 
 and called " The Book of Curtesie. That is Eclepid 
 Stans Puer ad Mensam," impresses upon its youthful 
 readers that it is " better to bow than burst," and 
 another sensible admonition is : — " Don't stroke a cat 
 or dog at meals." 
 
 This sapient little book fairly eclipses itself when 
 it tells us that " children soon get angry and are easily 
 appeased by a piece of apple." 
 
294 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 In the sixteenth century boys were evidently in the 
 habit of playing in the streets, a proceeding which is 
 duly commented upon by " The Schoole of Vertue," 
 printed in 1557, and which implores its youthful read- 
 ers to " walk two and two orderly on your way home 
 from school, not running as a swarm or whooping or 
 hallowing as in a foxhunt." 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 HIS AFFLICTIONS 
 
 'And even if sorrow through life should remain. 
 We may meet with peace in heaven again; 
 And every tear of dark distress 
 Shall be dried by the Sun of Righteousness." 
 
 Makyanne Browne. 
 
XIV 
 
 HIS AFFLICTIONS 
 
 " Cheer, boys, cheer," you hold the proud position of 
 having been assaulted by a greater variety of weapons 
 than any other animal. 
 
 Boys were flogged by their parents before the altars 
 of Diana, from which we may infer that hunting was 
 not a favourite subject with them. The ancient phi- 
 losophers often gave their pupils a jolly good whack- 
 ing, and the beautiful story of Abelard and Heloise 
 is sadly marred by the fact that Abelard larrupped that 
 fallen angel Heloise, and gave her more black eyes 
 than was her natural share. 
 
 In Germany, the college pupils were birched by a 
 masked man. 
 
 Flogging was always popular. The tears of Ethel- 
 red who wept at the murder of his half brother Edward 
 the Martyr so enraged Elfrida, that the afflicted mother 
 nearly thrashed him to death with a wax taper. Mar- 
 vel not that the candle has played a part in the history 
 of flagellation, as it commonly served that purpose at 
 one time among the priesthood. 
 
 How popular it was to purify the soul by stripes we 
 may determine from the case of a baker who in 1816 
 brought an action against the Lord Mayor for not 
 ordering him to be flogged, which should have been 
 
 297 
 
298 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 part of the sentence he received upon conviction for 
 some misdemeanour. The baker came off victorious, 
 with one farthing damages. 
 
 From the dawn of history the rod, or whip, was 
 looked upon almost as sacred. It was the emblem of 
 power, and even now persists in its altered form as 
 the sceptre of kings. Alas! so little was the birch 
 reverenced in the fifteenth century, I do not mean to 
 say that it was not feared, that it became known by 
 the nickname of " makepeace." 
 
 The tawse was a leathern thong fringed at the end ; 
 it is a native of Scotland. Two Campbells got into 
 disgrace and changed their names — one to Tawse, the 
 other to Bums. The former became a pedagogue and 
 introduced the leathern thong, as a sleeping partner; 
 the latter was the progenitor of the poet. 
 
 According to Forby's " Vocabulary of East Anglia," 
 a layer-over is described as a gentle term for some 
 instrument of chastisement. In Surrey no sane person 
 dare strike a child with a branch of green broom, be- 
 cause the youngster would never grow any more. 
 
 The ferule was a wooden pallet, or slice very much 
 like a battledore. It was also called a hand clapper 
 or pallet. 
 
 At the sale of some Dwtch school relics fifty years 
 ago, the following lots were offered : — 
 
 A ferula in the shape of a bird, 
 An iron comb for unruly hair, 
 Fool's cap, bells, and asses ears, 
 A wooden block for penitence. 
 
 A painted piece of board on which is painted an ass's head to 
 hang over the chest. 
 
HIS AFFLICTIONS 299 
 
 In spite of De Quincey's statement, birch rods were 
 commonly kept and sold in the small grocers' and 
 general dealers' shops in Manchester as late as the 
 year 1870. 
 
 Longchamps, Bishop of Ely, an unpopular chancellor 
 to Richard I., pricked his servants (who were but chil- 
 dren) with a goad if they misbehaved. He was a 
 dreadful tyrant, and the boys used to say that the 
 bishop copied his methods of punishment from his 
 father, who was a poor labourer in Beauvais, and who 
 used a goad to hurry up his oxen at plough. 
 
 That saying so unpleasant to children's ears, " Spare 
 the rod and spoil the child " made its first appearance 
 in a little book entitled " Bibliotheca Scholastica," 
 
 Davies of Hereford, in his " Scourge of Folly," 
 161 1, relieves himself of the following beautiful lines: 
 
 " I must 
 Whippe you for lying, now you lie untrust : 
 I have tane you with the manner (too vilde). 
 Untrusse; to spare the Rodd's to spill the child." 
 
 Epigram 212. 
 
 In Dr. Dibdin's " Bibliomania," 181 1, is the follow- 
 ing curious calculation : — 
 
 " One of the ushers had calculated that in the course of his 
 exertions, he had given 911,500 canings, 121,000 floggings, 209,000 
 custodes, 136,000 tips with ruler, 10,200 boxes on the ear and 
 22,700 tasks by heart. It was farther calculated that he had 
 made 700 boys stand on peas, 6000 kneel on a sharp edge of 
 wood, 5,000 wear the fool's cap, and 1,700 hold the rod." 
 
 He was a busy man, and we should be astonished 
 to learn that he had any time left for teaching. 
 
300 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 How many there must be who have wished that 
 their schoolmasters would copy Artaxerxes Longima- 
 nus, who considered it degrading to have the great 
 men of his empire beaten, and ordered that the beating 
 should be given to their clothes instead. 
 
 Tradition says that when Elizabeth asked Bacon, at 
 the time he was a scholar in Westminster School, how 
 many times he had been flogged, he replied, " Infan- 
 dum, regina." 
 
 In most Christian countries children were whipped 
 on Innocents' Day to make them remember Herod, 
 not because he lived to a good old age — ^he lived to 
 see sixty summers at least — but because he did not 
 kill them. 
 
 Elderly gentlemen, of fifty years ago, were accus- 
 tomed to speak of their schooldays as " E.ducattis crat 
 sub ferula." " He was educated under the rod," or 
 " when I was under the rod." 
 
 In the eighteenth century, hanging days and saints' 
 days rivalled each other as popular holidays. The 
 boys of the Bluecoat school (Hertford) were taken to 
 see an execution as a moral lesson. 
 
 As late as 1820 Westminster schoolboys had a spe- 
 cial holiday to see the Cato Street conspirators exe- 
 cuted. 
 
 Rogers mentions seeing a cart load of girls being 
 taken to Tyburn to be hanged, but he made a mistake, 
 they were only out for a holiday — to see a man swing. 
 
 During the eighteenth century it was customary in 
 France and in most other countries, when an execution 
 took place, for parents to bring their boys to view it, 
 and well thrash them in order to impress upon their 
 
HIS AFFLICTIONS 301 
 
 minds the fate of evil doers. In some countries the 
 fathers performed, in others the mothers, in other 
 countries where they were not so particular so long 
 as the child was well flogged it was a matter of taste 
 as to which parent was selected. 
 
 John Wesley's mother believed strongly in the effi- 
 cacy of corporal punishment, to the great discomfort 
 of the unhappy boy. Harriet Martineau also had a 
 very unpleasant experience in her childhood. What 
 happened to Dr. Keate, the great flogging master of 
 Westminster, in his youth, history does not tell us, but 
 among other stories related of him is, that upon one 
 occasion he flogged eighty boys in succession. Per- 
 haps the story of Keate most likely to raise a smile is 
 that once he had the confirmation list handed to him 
 by mistake for the punishment list, and although in- 
 formed of the error, insisted upon flogging the cate- 
 chumens. Unfortunately posterity is left in the dark 
 as to whether they were in any way spiritually bene- 
 fited by it. 
 
 In the early days of the nineteenth century a 
 modeller named Edwards manufactured statuettes of 
 Keate, which were purchased by Eton boys for the 
 pleasure of throwing stones at. Thistlewood de- 
 nounced this man as " the contriver, instigator, and 
 entrapper " of the Cato Street Conspiracy. 
 
 Several of the seals of English schools possess an 
 instrument of flagellation. The rod is held in the 
 hands of the master in the seals of Macclesfield, Riv- 
 ington, Louth, and Kirkby Lonsdale ; on Oakham, and 
 St. Saviour's, Southwark, it is laid before him. 
 
 In the Tewkesbury seal the master holds a ferule. 
 
303 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 But a perfect genius in his way was one Bennett, 
 a schoolmaster of St. Ives, about a century ago, who 
 when he had a particularly difficult subject to deal 
 with, proceeded to tie a rope around the refractory 
 one's ankles, and haul him, face downwards, up to the 
 ceiling. An empty tub was then placed beneath the 
 culprit, and Bennett, having put on a butcher's apron, 
 with a most ferocious expression, approached his vic- 
 tim holding a large carving knife in one hand, and a 
 steel in the other. The moral effect was great, and it 
 is said, invariably resulted in a cure. 
 
 There were however, even in those remote times, 
 some who managed children without having recourse 
 to corporal punishment. De Quince)' says that at 
 Manchester Grammar School during his time there was 
 no corporal punishment. On the whole, however, we 
 may say that if a man thrashed a horse or a dog now, 
 as severely as children were thrashed fifty years ago, 
 he would be summoned for cruelty to animals — ^and 
 fined. Indeed he would be lucky if he escaped impris- 
 onment. 
 
 Still at Manchester things did not always go as one 
 could wish. A lively time had the Rev. Joshua 
 Brooks, who about 1 780 was a master at the Grammar 
 School. He was rather unpopular, and was often 
 forcibly ejected by the scholars, though fighting like a 
 Trojan warrior. Upon one joyous occasion the rev- 
 erend gentleman was only saved from being pitched 
 over the school wall into the river, by the appearance 
 of the headmaster on the scene. 
 
 Another pedagogue. Hunter of Lichfield, was cele- 
 brated for having flogged seven boys who afterwards 
 
HIS AFFLICTIONS 303 
 
 sat, at the same time, as judges in the superior courts 
 of Westminster. As a matter of fact the number is 
 exaggerated ; I believe there were only three. 
 
 The terrible Dr. Asterisks, who used to thrash Cole- 
 ridge at the Bluecoat School, upon one occasion when 
 a lady looked in at his class room, and asked for a 
 holiday for one of the boys, shouted in a dreadful 
 voice, " Bring that woman to me ! I'll flog her ! " It 
 has been said that the terrified lady did not wait to 
 chop logic, but took to her heels so nimbly that to the 
 everlasting disappointment of the class unfortunately 
 she escaped, thus defrauding them of a most sportive 
 scene. 
 
 The flogging of a whole school to discover the cul- 
 prit is, happily for the present generation, only a sub- 
 ject of tradition. 
 
 Pepys in his " diary," April 24, 1663 : — 
 
 " Up betimes, and with my salt eele went down in the parler, 
 and there got my boy and did beat him til I was faine to take 
 breath two or three times." 
 
 A salt eel is another name for a rope's end. 
 
 Lenient as was Sir Thomas More it is stated that he 
 used to whip his grown-up daughters with a rod made 
 of peacock's feathers — which no doubt stung the young 
 ladies. 
 
 Writing of the North of Germany, Coleridge says 
 in his " Friend," that on Christmas Eve, Santa Claus 
 enters the room and if the children have been naughty 
 during the year, instead of presents hands a rod to the 
 parents, and advises them to use it frequently. 
 
 Very early in history Kings, Queens, and even 
 
304 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 Emperors tasted the unpleasant medicine of the 
 rod. — 
 
 " Hold your tongue, wretch, you are always quar- 
 relling," said Henry II. to his son John, " if Fulk 
 did anything but good to you it must have been by 
 your own desert." Then he called his master and bade 
 him beat him" finely and well for complaining. This 
 Fulk was Fulk Fitzwarine, probably more popularly 
 known afterwards as Robin Hood (?). 
 
 Henry V. had as a guide, philosopher and friend. 
 Dame Alice Boteler until 1428, after which the Earl 
 of Warwick acted as governor. It appears that as the 
 King increased in years he objected to the infliction 
 of corporal punishment on his own person, which made 
 the Earl of Warwick so nervous that he appealed to 
 the council for advice. 
 
 The council agreed that the young king must be 
 well chastised, and assured the Earl against his maj- 
 esty's future displeasure for flogging him. 
 
 Mungo Murray held the position of whipping-boy 
 to Charles I., and had a pretty rough time of it. His 
 later life was happier, for he was created Baron 
 Huntingtower and Earl of Dysart. Indeed the posi- 
 tion of whipping-boy was actually a step towards hon- 
 ours and titles, often no doubt amply earned in youth. 
 D'Ossat and Du Perron were whipping-boys to Henry 
 IV. of France. They became cardinals, perhaps with 
 leanings towards the flagellants ? 
 
 The light of reason, after a while, fell upon royalty. 
 George III. told Dr. Markham, the young princes' 
 tutor, that if the young princes deserved it he was to 
 mark them in no unmistakable manner. Perhaps they 
 
Mis AFFLICTIONS 3og 
 
 escaped, or perhaps they might have been worse with- 
 out the chastisement — ^history says not. Good Queen 
 Caroline whipped her children personally, when she 
 came to loggerheads with them. 
 
 There were indeed few believers in the opposite 
 ranks, yet there were some who dared to say that a 
 merciful man might be merciful to other animals as 
 well as beasts, and Roger L'Estrange, in the year 1611, 
 published a little book which he called " The Children's 
 Petition," begging for more leniency from parents to- 
 wards their children. 
 
 In the year 1698 was printed another little book 
 called, " Lex Forcia, A sensible address- to Parliament 
 for an Act to Remedy the Foul Abuse of Children at 
 Schools, London, 1698." 
 
 In this ancient work, the author holds forth upon 
 the evil effects of corporal punishment in schools on 
 both master and boy. 
 
 Anne Lady Belcarres, who in her youth married an 
 old man, and had by him eleven children, was a model 
 of her time. Upon one occasion when out walking she 
 met her eleven children, the eldest boy bearing the 
 baby on his back, going along the road with the inten- 
 tion of seeking their fortunes in happier quarters. 
 
 Vandyke when a schoolboy painted the portrait of 
 his master on the breech of another boy who was 
 about to be flogged. It was an excellent device, for 
 the boy escaped punishment. How many times young 
 Vandyke was called upon to repeat his efforts we don't 
 know, but one can imagine that a considerable num- 
 ber of young gentlemen carried about with them a por- 
 trait of the pedagogue in a position not at all times 
 
3o6 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 observable to the public eye, and I understand that 
 none of those particular works of his survive. 
 
 From the Paston Letters we conclude that the home 
 life of young men and women of that period was but 
 a very unhappy one, especially for the latter. Poor 
 Margaret Paston's condition was a most miserable 
 one, as she had her head broken two or three times 
 weekly, and was anxious to get married because 
 she would then be removed from her parents' un- 
 kindness. 
 
 Poor Lady Jane Grey's home life was very unhappy, 
 if her letter to Ascham is to be believed. She says 
 that she was pinched and beaten by her parents, and 
 that her only consolation was the times that she spent 
 in her studies with her beloved tutor Elmer. 
 
 The discipline in schools for young ladies was not 
 less severe than in those for boys. It appears very 
 shocking that young women, sometimes within a few 
 weeks of marriage, should be birched in public with 
 all the accompanying indignities. 
 
 In " The Lives of the Lindsays," the governess was 
 compelled to whip Lady Margaret, to whom she was 
 greatly attached, a duty she found impossible to 
 carry out. 
 
 Corporal punishment is conspicuous by its absence 
 in French schools of to-day, but a century ago the 
 French governess was incomparable in the art of flag- 
 ellation. Nor were school girls the only class of fe- 
 males who underwent the discipHne of the rod, its 
 advantages being extended to female servants as 
 well. 
 
HIS AFFLICTIONS 307 
 
 Apparently ancient Mexican children were little in- 
 terfered with until the eighth year, when they were 
 merely shown the instruments of punishment as a 
 warning. At the tenth year, boys who were rebellious 
 and disobedient were bound foot and hand, and 
 pricked in dififerent parts of the body with maguey 
 thorns; girls were only pricked in the hands and 
 wrists; if no improvement followed they were beaten 
 with sticks. At eleven, naughty boys were held over 
 a pile of burning chile, and compelled to inhale the 
 smoke. Naughty girls were forced to rise in the mid- 
 dle of the night, and sweep the whole house. 
 
 Cruelty to children is, perhaps, more common now- 
 adays than is usually imagined, but it is extinct in 
 royal circles and the higher walks of life excepting in 
 the case of lunacy. 
 
 James Annesley, son of the fourth Lord Altham, 
 when a child of nine years, was the impediment in the 
 grant of some leases, and was, therefore, removed 
 from a public school, and sent to an obscure one, and 
 his death reported. The inhuman father ceased to 
 pay for his board at school, and his condition becom- 
 ing unbearable, he ran away, and arrived at the capital, 
 where he tried to find his father. After a long search, 
 during which time he earned his bread by running 
 errands, he found his uncle — among whose virtues 
 compassion was wanting. This rascal actually man- 
 aged to get the boy sold as a slave to an American 
 planter. He attempted to escape, was retaken, and 
 sold to another master, where the daughter and an 
 Indian slave both fell in love with him — the end of the 
 
3o8 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 amour being the Indian girl's suicide, and Annesley 
 sold to another planter whose wife was the double of 
 Potiphar's. 
 
 At length he escaped for good, and arrived in Eng- 
 land. At the Irish Court of Exchequer he brought 
 his case against his uncle, Richard, Earl of Anglesey, 
 and won it; but although he recovered his estates he 
 curiously never assumed the family titles. 
 
 He was twice married, and died in 1760. 
 
 It was from the earliest days a universal custom, 
 when the foundations of any important building were 
 laid, to bury beneath some living creature, and for 
 this purpose, although men and women were at times, 
 and in some places, the victims, yet a child was con- 
 sidered a very acceptable present to the earth spirits. 
 
 In Galam, Africa, the Grand Bassam, Yariba, 
 among the Dyaks of Borneo, and in the island of Sam- 
 bawa, not to mention other places, children are regu- 
 larly buried alive beneath the doorposts of an impor- 
 tant building, even to this day. Strack in " The Jew 
 and Human Sacrifice," says that there is reason to 
 believe that foundation sacrifice was practised in Ger- 
 many as late as the end of the sixteenth century. 
 
 I am reminded that Fitz-Stephen, the historian, 
 states that the mortar used for building the founda- 
 tions of the Tower of London was mixed with blood 
 in order to increase its strength. 
 
 From an ancient Servian ballad I have extracted 
 the following lines : — 
 
 " And these two — these two young twins so loving, 
 They must be immured in the foundations. 
 Thus alone will the foundation serve thee.'' 
 
HIS AFFLICTIONS 309 
 
 In Bulgaria and Transylvania a man is enticed to 
 the building, and part of his body, or his shadow, 
 measured, and the measurement buried beneath the 
 foundations. 
 
 In Greece a lamb or ram is killed, and the blood 
 sprinkled on the foundation-stone. 
 
 When the Siberian Railway was laid down, the 
 Chinese were in mortal fear that a child would be 
 buried under each sleeper! In i88jr or 1888 when the 
 bridge was built over the Hoogly, and in 1880, when 
 the harbour works were built at Calcutta, the natives 
 were terrified by the same idea. 
 
 In the legend of the building of the castle of Hen- 
 nenberg the mason sells his child. The child was 
 placed in the foundation, and as the last stone was 
 wedged in position, screamed, and the father fell from 
 the ladder, and broke his neck. 
 
 In the legend of Liebenstein Castle the mother sells 
 her child. 
 
 Of child foundation sacrifice in England I can find 
 no trace up to the present — that it occurred is most 
 probable. In 1742 the dried body of a boy about 
 twelve years of age was found bricked up in a vault 
 underneath St. Botolph's, Aldgate Old Church. He 
 was found standing erect, with his clothes on, and 
 was supposed to have been shut in the vault alive, in- 
 tentionally or not, during the plague year, 1665. This, 
 however, is very improbable. 
 
 Owing to the custom of burying the founder of a 
 church in a vault made in the church wall, this has 
 also given rise to empty stories of foundation sacri- 
 fice. 
 
310 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 About the year 1876 the church of Brownsover in 
 Warwickshire underwent great alterations. Beneath 
 two of the walls skeletons were found buried in the 
 clay with oak slabs over them that had apparently been 
 used as benches, as they had holes in them for the 
 legs. It is impossible that the skeletons could have 
 been placed there after the erection of the walls, but 
 as the church is surrounded by an ancient British 
 camp it is probable that it was built on a foundation of 
 very much earlier date. At any rate up to the present 
 time we have no evidence of a child having been used 
 as a foundation sacrifice of a church, but the popular 
 superstition that the first child baptised in a new 
 church, or font, will die is undoubtedly the remains 
 of the once world-wide superstition that the earth 
 spirit demands a sacrifice for the erection of a 
 building. 
 
 Through the great kindness of a correspondent I 
 am able to give the following account of what appears 
 to have been a genuine case of foundation sacrifice. 
 In 191 3 an excavation was made on the site of an old 
 Roman town (Kenchester) close to Credenhill Station, 
 near Hereford. 
 
 In the centre of the town the excavators found a 
 large kist made of stones, inside which was the skele- 
 ton of a young woman who had evidently been buried 
 fully dressed, as there were the remains of clothes, 
 brooches, and bone hairpins. As there was no sign 
 of any other burials near, and as it was contrary to 
 Roman custom to bury within their town walls, it ap- 
 pears very likely that the skeleton was the sacrifice 
 when the town was founded. This is a digression, but 
 
HIS AFFLICTIONS 3" 
 
 I cannot see my way clear to exclude it when touching 
 upon this subject. 
 
 The popular form of foundation sacrifice in Eng- 
 land is the burial of coins of the realm, and is an in- 
 teresting survival. Undoubtedly in its early days it 
 took the place of burying the shadow of, or the actual 
 person, and so we have stooped to bury the image 
 stamped on the metal. 
 
 Most curious and interesting is the following: — In 
 the district of Sheopur, which was acquired by con- 
 quest from a Rajput Raja in 1809 by the Maratha 
 chieftain Dowlar Rao Scindia, the Rajput family in 
 1760, or thereabouts constructed a massive stone-built 
 fort, w^ith four fine gateways. 
 
 One of the claimants to revenue-free land (about 
 1890), a man of low caste, produced a title deed, au- 
 thentic beyond question, granting to the family about 
 forty or fifty acres of land revenue free for ever in 
 consideration for the surrender of four members to be 
 buried alive under the foundations of the fort gateways 
 then in course of construction, one for each gateway. 
 The Marathas had never interfered with the grantee's 
 possession. 
 
 Of bloodthirsty monsters Richard III. occupies a 
 position little less abhorrent than that of Herod. 
 
 But he lived in the days when the life of one person 
 often meant the demise of another, and much as there 
 is pitiful in the fate of the young princes, probably had 
 either lived he would have been as little reluctant to 
 shed his blood; so that it is, perhaps, as well that we 
 are able to combine their sad histories with that of lit- 
 tle Prince Arthur, and remember them as innocent chil- 
 
312 THE NATURAL HISTuKr ur ititL utiii^jj 
 
 dren rather than men like those of the House of York. 
 
 The mention of the young princes in the Tower 
 would be incomplete without some reference to the 
 nursery story of the Babes in the Wood. 
 
 Like all respectable stories the tradition is accounted 
 for in various ways, one being that the tale was a 
 satire on Richard III. 
 
 More popularly, in the sixteenth and seventeenth 
 centuries, it was alleged to be a true account of a 
 Papist uncle and his orphaned nephew and niece, whilst 
 a third party declares it a mjrth, the idle coinage of 
 some fertile brain. However, the story cannot be 
 traced beyond the sixteenth century, and the incident 
 is popularly supposed to have taken place at Wayland 
 Wood, in Norfolk. 
 
 If ever auld Clootie existed in the heart of man, he 
 certainly was never more comfortable than in the 
 bosom of that murderous scoundrel, His Most Chris- 
 tian Majesty, Louis XL, who confined the two young 
 sons of the Due de Nemours in a filthy dungeon, or- 
 dered them to be birched twice a week, and to have a 
 tooth extracted every three months. 
 
 Pope Leo XII. ordered a boy named, suggestively 
 enough, Mortara, to be gilded all over with the object 
 of taking part in a pageant — ^the boy necessarily died. 
 From gold to lead is an easy transition. Poor little 
 Hew, son of Lady Helen of Merryland town, enticed 
 by an apple offered to him by a black-eyed Jewess, so 
 says the legend, fell like Adam. Unhappily, the 
 wicked Jewess stabbed him with a penknife, rolled the 
 body in lead, and flung it into a well, whence the ghost 
 cried, " The lead is wondrous heavy, mither." 
 
• HIS AFFLICTIONS 313 
 
 That in England young children have been tortured 
 and executed are undoubted facts, but the instances of 
 torture are rare, and consisted of flogging only. 
 
 Some years ago horrible, and unfounded stories 
 were in circulation touching the execution of children. 
 One case I remember well — for many years it was 
 printed and reprinted in a number of papers. It was 
 that of a little boy of nine years of age who was 
 hanged for arson at Chelmsford in 1831. Everybody 
 believed that story. 
 
 According to Blackstone, up to the age of ten and 
 a half years children were not punishable for any 
 crime. 
 
 We may take this as being perhaps a legal fiction, 
 as in those dear good old days of our forefathers 
 neither judge nor jury paid any attention to what was 
 and what was not legal when it so suited them. A ref- 
 erence to State Trials on this point is very instructive. 
 
 But in Archbold's " Criminal Pleadings," 1876, pp. 
 17, 18, there is an account of a little boy of twelve 
 years of age named Abraham Charlesworth who was 
 hanged, not for murder, but for rioting on June 11, 
 1812, at Lancaster. He is said at the foot of the scaf- 
 fold to have cried for his mother. A most affecting 
 story; and I have seen elderly ladies weep at the 
 recital of it, but it is untrue, and there is no account 
 of any Abraham Charlesworth, aged anything, having 
 been hanged anywhere or anyhow at any time. The 
 above account was copied from a respectable and trust- 
 worthy periodical, and the Editor was hardly to blame 
 for its insertion — it bore the mark of truth. 
 
 Determining to sift the matter thoroughly, I sought 
 
314 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 the assistance of Mr. Herman Cohen, a very learned 
 lawyer, perhaps the greatest authority on the history 
 of Criminal Law, who came very kindly to my assist- 
 ance in helping me to decently inter the many extrava- 
 gant fables of the barbarous cruelties inflicted upon 
 children. The following cases are without question: 
 
 Hale I P. C. 25 : " In my remembrance at Thetf ord," i.e. 
 between 1609 and 1676 when Hale died, " boy of 16 executed." 
 
 In 1629 Abingdon Assizes, boy between 8 and 9 executed; 
 note to Hale (above). 
 
 Earlier (date uncertain) a girl of 13 burned. Hale I P. C. 
 16. 1351 Year-Book 25 Edward III. 28. Judgment on boy 
 under 14; Hale, Ibid. 
 
 About 1320 a boy of 10 hanged; — Ibid. 
 
 In much later times children have been sentenced to 
 death. In July, 1896, a boy of fifteen was sentenced 
 to death by Justice Cave at Lancaster. Of course he 
 was reprieved. 
 
 Early in 1901 a Coroner's Jury at Edingthorpe, 
 Norfolk, found a verdict of " Wilful Murder " against 
 a boy of twelve. 
 
 As to torture — very few people were tortured and 
 certainly no children. 
 
 It is true that at the time children were hanged 
 they were afterwards anatomised, that was a matter 
 of course. 
 
 The only references to examination by or infliction 
 of torture on children are the following taken from 
 " Jardine on Torture in England" (1837) p. 82. 
 
 In 1580 the Privy Council directed a boy guilty 
 of robbery to be examined as to his accomplices, if 
 necessary " by some slight kind of torture such as 
 
HIS AFFLICTIONS 31S 
 
 may not touch the losse of any lymbe, as by 
 whipping." 
 
 In 1 581 Warrant from the Council to the Bishop of 
 Chester to have a " young myden " who had " fayned 
 visions to be seeverhe whipped." — Ibid. p. 86. 
 
 It is possible that the actual cause leading to the 
 suicide of Chatterton was the fear of being hanged for 
 the crime of forgery. 
 
 The Sicilian proverb, " Veni me patri ? Appressu ! " 
 (Is my father coming? By and by !) originated in the 
 pathetic story of a neglected little orphan boy, who, 
 sick with loneliness and the sad remembrances of his 
 father's love, in the desperation of despair went out 
 in the night to the place where the spirits of the dead 
 walk (a place of which all Sicilian children are terribly 
 afraid) to ask of every ghost he met, "Veni me 
 patri ? " Many ghostly forms passed him by, and as 
 he timidly put his question to each, the spirit answered : 
 — " Appressu ! " instead of doing him some terrible 
 mischief as he fearfully expected. The night wore 
 on, and the little laddie shivered with the cold as his 
 tired and blistered feet dragged, and could hardly 
 carry him upon his weary way. 
 
 As with tearful eye and quivering lip he was hope- 
 lessly faltering out his well worn query, he found 
 himself tightly clasped to the bosom of a man by a 
 pair of strong, warm, life-like arms, and with a joyous 
 little cry he nestled on the breast of the object of his 
 
 weary search. 
 
 * * * * 
 
 The lamp bums low, and the candle splutters and 
 gutters in its brazen socket as with all its shortcomings 
 
3i6 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CHILD 
 
 my little book is born into the world, and it is with 
 mingled feelings of regret and satisfaction that my 
 task is drawing to its close. If there is anything 
 omitted which in your judgment you consider of im- 
 portance, or anything included which may hurt your 
 tender sensibilities, forgive me, for such has been un- 
 intentional. Throughout it has been my endeavour 
 to make the little book fit to be left on the table open 
 at any page for either innocent boy or girl to read. 
 With the sincere wish that you will find as much to 
 interest you in the reading as I have done in the 
 writing thereof, dear reader, I bid you a courteous 
 adieu.