y
cold school-room in winter.

At the Reformation, Henry the Eighth drew up new plans for Westminster
School, and Elizabeth perfected the statutes by which the school is
still governed. It was to consist of forty boys, who were to be chosen
for their "good disposition, knowledge, and poverty, and without favor
or partiality"; and even at the present day there is no admission as a
"Queen's Scholar" at Westminster except by long and arduous competition
between the candidates for the honor.

No one who has witnessed the mode of election will ever forget it. The
candidates are arranged according to their places in the school, and the
_lowest two boys_ first enter the arena. The lower of these two is the
challenger. He calls upon his adversary to translate an epigram, to
parse it, or to answer any grammatical question connected with the
subject. Demand after demand is made, until there is an error. The
Master is appealed to, and answers, "It was a mistake." Then the
challenger and the challenged change places, and the latter, with fierce
eagerness, renews the contest. Whichever of the two is the conqueror,
flushed with victory, then turns to the boy above him, and if he be a
really clever lad, he will sometimes advance ten, fifteen, or twenty
steps before he is stopped by a greater spirit. This struggle--which is
peculiar to Westminster, and highly prized by its scholars--frequently
extends over six or eight weeks, and the ten who are highest at its
close are elected "Queen's Scholars," in place of those advanced that
year from Westminster to Oxford or Cambridge.

This mental tournament is a very ancient custom, for Stow says that the
Westminster scholars annually stood under a great tree in St.
Bartholomew's Church yard, and entering the lists of grammar,
chivalrously asserted the intellectual superiority of Westminster
against all comers; and Stow, as you very likely know, died about A.D.
1600. There is, therefore, as you may see, a very great honor in being a
"Queen's Scholar"; besides which, the prizes to be divided among them
are very valuable. These consist of three junior studentships of Christ
Church, Oxford, tenable for seven years, and worth about L120 a year;
Dr. Carey's Benefaction, which divides L600 a year among the most needy
and industrious of the scholars in sums of not less than L50, and not
more than L100; and three exhibitions at Trinity College, Cambridge, of
yearly value about L87, tenable until the