London. In
London Warren Hastings was first sent to school at Newington, where his
mind was better nourished than his body. In after life he used to
declare that his meagre proportions and stunted form were due to the
hard living of his Newington days. But the Newington days came to
{247} an end. When he was some twelve years of age, his uncle sent him
to Westminster School, where his name is still inscribed in letters of
gold, and where his memory adds its lustre to the historic associations
of a place that is richly blessed with historic associations. Warren
Hastings distinguished himself in the great school of Westminster, as
he had already distinguished himself in the little village school of
Daylesford. With his oath of Hannibal burning in his mind, he seems to
have determined to seek success in all that he attempted, and to gain
it by his indomitable energy and will. If he was brilliant as a
scholar, he was not, therefore, backward in those other arts which
school-boys prize beyond scholarship. He was as famous on the river
for his swimming and his boating as he was famous in the classroom for
his application and his ability. His masters predicted for him a
brilliant University career, and it is possible that Hastings may have
seen Daylesford Manor awaiting him at the end of such a career, and
have welcomed the prospect. But the life of Warren Hastings was not
fated to pass in the cloistered greenness of a university or in the
still air of delightful studies. Howard Hastings died and left his
nephew to the care of a connection, a Mr. Chiswick, who happened to be
a member of the East India Company. Perhaps Mr. Chiswick resented the
obligation thus laid upon him; perhaps, as a member of the East India
Company, he honestly believed that to enter its service was the
proudest privilege that a young man could enjoy. Whatever were his
reasons, he resolutely refused to sanction his charge's career at the
university, insisted upon his being placed for a season at a commercial
school to learn arithmetic and book-keeping, and then shipped him off
out of hand to Bengal as an addition to the ranks of the Calcutta
clerks. Thus it came to pass that Warren Hastings, like Clive, was
sent to India by persons in England who were anxious to get rid of a
troublesome charge. There were a good many persons in the years to
come who were very ready to curse the obstinacy of the elder Clive and
the asperity of Mr. Chiswick f