le another, of an equally
zoological turn of mind, announced that--

"On some fond _beast_ the parting soul relies,--"

instead of "breast."

But the climax of this "animal mania" was reached when the wretched
Bramble, finally pitched upon to go on, in spite of all his efforts to
hide, rendered the passage:--

"Haply some hoary-headed swain may say,
Oft have we seen him at the peep of dawn," etcetera, as--

"Happy some hairy-headed swine may say."

This was a little too much.

"That will do, sir," said the Doctor, sternly. "That will do. What is
your name, sir?"

"Bramble, please, sir."

"Well, Bramble, how long have you been in this class?"

"Two years, sir."

"And have you been all the while on the bottom desk?"

"Yes, please, sir."

"Sir, it displeases me. You are a dunce, sir."

And then, to Bramble's utter despair and to the terror of all the other
unprofitable members of the class, the Doctor proceeded to catechise
sharply the unhappy youth on his general knowledge of the subjects
taught during the term.

As might be expected, the exhibition was a miserable one; Bramble was
found wanting in every particular. The simplest questions could hardly
coax a correct answer out of him, whereas an ordinary inquiry was
hopelessly beyond his powers. He mixed up William the Conqueror and
William of Orange; he subtracted what ought to be multiplied, and
floundered about between conjunctions and prepositions in a sickening
way. The Doctor did not spare him. He went ruthlessly on--exposing the
boy's ignorance, first in one thing, then another. Bramble stood and
trembled and perspired before him, and wished he was dead, but the
questions still came on. If he had answered a single thing correctly it
would have been a different matter, but he knew nothing. I believe he
did know what twice two was, but that was the one question the Doctor
did not ask him. As to French, Latin, Grammar, and Euclid, the clock on
the wall knew as much of them as Bramble. It came to an end at last.

"Come here, Bramble," said the Doctor, gravely; "and come here, you, and
you, and you," added he, pointing to Stephen and Paul and four or five
others of the party who had been reading the _Dominican_ that morning.

The luckless youngsters obeyed, and when they stood in a row before the
dreaded Doctor, the bottom form and half of the bottom form but one were
empty.

"Now, you boys," began the head master, very gravely,