great man to have brought down philosophy from heaven to earth, that it might raise man up from earth to heaven. He felt and knew that good which he had so long desired to find. He felt that God was that good of which the sensible world is but an image. He knew it; for conviction had told him so. What a grand sight it must have been to see Socrates before his judges mildly reproving his accusers without attempting to defend himself, breathing the sentiments of a Christian rather than a heathen. He was found guilty and condemned to diewas taken to prison previous to his death-might have escaped from prison, but great Socrates refused to break his country's laws even though they had condemned him. Firmly and cheerfully he drank off the hemlock, consoling rather than needing consolation. Thus died the greatest heathen the Old World ever knew, the greatest Deist that either Old or New World ever saw, and the sage of ancient Greece, whose wisdom made the nearest approach to the Divine morality of the Gospel. Eagle! why soarest thou above that tomb? To what sublime and star-ypaven home Floatest thou? I am the image of the Deist's spirit, THE RELATION BETWEEN SCHOOL SIR,-Among the first things usually impressed upon a boy at his first coming to Rugby, is the importance of standing by his house in all matters. This duty, which very naturally, and very rightly too, is looked upon as a deep obligation, has a great influence over the feelings of a new boy, more especially as these first inklings of the spirit of the school strike very deeply into the thoughts of a new comer. Accordingly throughout the school this feeling is deeply rooted; so deeply indeed that at times it may almost appear to be injurious. A rivalry between different bodies of our school, if carried to a great length, is always to be avoided, when the chief object is unanimity as a whole; for this rivalry often degenerates into a mere depreciation of the merits of others, and then follows what is most to be dreaded, a sectional feeling. This rivalry it is which always has produced, and always will produce a a considerable separation of thought and feeling between members of the same school, as members of different houses. And if this feeling be permitted to usurp the first place, where will be our boast of that bond of fellowship which, as we say, unites all who bear the name of Rugbeians? True it is that we owe a duty to our house, but no less true is it that we owe a still greater one to our school, and when the two duties seemingly clash without hesitation we must make the more private give way to the public. It has been urged, that in having a strong house feeling we have a strong school feeling also, looking upon the house as a part of it, and to its members representing the entire school. This is a very specious argument, and no one would deny that the relation between house and school is very close indeed, and he who would not feel for his house would not be likely to do so for the school; but does experience show that the fact of making house feeling the chief thing does not tend to split up the school, and divide it in a great measure? I fear it does not; and to one who has participated strongly in this feeling I question whether afterwards, though Rugbeian would to him be a dear term, yet if coupled with the name of the rival house, it would not seem a little less delightful. And the slightest diminution of this common bond of union is to be looked upon with apprehension, as separating those between whom there should be no separation. The devotion of a Rugbeian to his house ought to be that of a sailor to his ship, or a soldier to his regiment; he ought to make it the means by which he strives to exalt the school, serving it with a constancy that is not marred by bigotry, and a spirit from whose fervour envy takes away nothing. Let his first thought be for his school, and through his house let him serve it; and strange indeed will it be, if, while doing his duty to the school, he fails in that to his house. I am, Sir, Yours very truly, Σ. MULTUM IN PARVO. WHO knoweth not the tale of the son of France who, on making a voyage unto England, with the desire of attaining unto a knowledge of the tongue there spoken: who, after hearing the oft-repeated sound of box for luggage: a band-box: a box on the ear: a Christmas box: a carriage box, and a box tree, did wax sorely wroth, and vowed a vow within his heart, that never more should he set his foot on a land where everything was denoted and signified by one word. Even so, as saith Maro, Si parva licet componere magnis (though which is the parva, which the magnis, I leave to the decision of my readers),-even so, methinks, would the uninitiated and vulgar herd be sorely troubled within themselves to conjecture what were the significance of some of our School phrases and terms; and herein occurreth to me the memory of a tale, which will, perhaps, be of some small interest and ground of laughter among my readers. There cometh one day into the School Quadrangle a man high of stature, who desireth to see and learn everything that he can concerning the School. He mooneth into the close; he asketh what that large piece of ground is so flat and smooth; he is answered, "It is Bigside." He wondereth but is silent. Soon after he cometh again and seeth some thirteen youths playing at Cricket thereon. . These, he is told, are "on Bigside." He walketh into the fields to muse. He seeth a concourse, and asketh "what meaneth this ?" "Hare and hounds starting." "What hare and hounds ?" asketh he, seeing neither the one nor the other. Then cometh again in response the single mystic word "Bigside." He marvelleth more and more. On returning to the School he beholdeth two youths admiring a beauteous cap of velvet with a fair gold tassel or appendage. Concerning this he inquireth, "What is that for?" He almost dreadeth the answer, which fulfilleth his expectations" for playing a Bigside." He heaveth a sigh, and is constrained to shake the head of dubitation. Soon, however, his self-communings are interrupted by a fearful and terrible clamour, as of many hands smitten together, and many voices shouting in unison. He is far too awed to ask the reason thereof, but to his ineffable delight it is explained by two boys, who say one to the other, "It is only the Levèe.” "What Levèe," asketh he, his interest again awakened; when with his hopes crushed, and with intellect most grievously bewildered, he rusheth with maddened stride, as on his anxious ear falleth away that word of portent, "BIGSIDE." THE NEW RUGBEIAN. No. II. NOVEMBER, 1858. POPULAR EXCITEMENTS. AMONG the various subjects for study which history presents, perhaps one of the most interesting is to be found in the history of those public excitements which have from time to time broken out in growth of all the nations which have ever existed; those movements I mean of popular opinion, when the heart of the whole nation seems to move in sympathy, and has but one object, of antipathy, resistance, or dread: those revolts against some hated despot, those national armaments against some foreign power, those universal shunnings of some much dreaded plague. It is in these outbursts of popular feeling that we can most fully realize the power of public opinion; it is at times when, as at the siege of the Bastille, the people's voice sounds, hoarse indeed and indistinctly, but yet giving "utterance to their instincts, which are truer than their thoughts;" it is then that a man truly encounters a trial which it requires almost superhuman fortitude to resist. Truly when a nation thus rouses itself as one man, when with one voice it shouts to obtain some one object, then it is that the nation's voice is irresistible; then it is that we see most clearly the power of the will of man. E |