ed, was also a
favourite game; but these amusements were chiefly confined to the sons of
tradesmen in the town.

Among the boarders archery was practised, and by some of them with a
skill almost rivalling that of Locksley in Sir Walter Scott's novel of
_Ivanhoe_. A carpenter in the town made for us bows of lancewood, and
arrows of poplar, tipped with spikes of iron. With these we could not
only split our "willow wand" at 80 yards distant, but the more skilful
deemed an arrow hardly worth having until it had been baptized in the
blood of blackbird or pigeon, and some of the neighbouring pigeon cotes
suffered accordingly. The writer was presented with a bow made of
bamboo, and arrows said to be poisoned, which a great traveller, then
residing in Horncastle, had brought from the South Sea Islands. He lent
these to a brother archer, who by mistake shot another boy in the calf of
the leg. Great alarm was the result, but the poison must have lost its
power, for no evil consequences ensued, except that the wounded party
almost frightened himself into a state of fever.

[Picture: Successive Head Masters, from 1818 to 1907]

These, however, were among the less hardy of our sports. The good old
Doctor's great aim was to get us healthily engaged in the country. With
this object he would say on a Monday morning to the bigger boys of the
two highest classes, "Now, lads, if you will translate this book of
Virgil, or Homer, or this Greek play, as quickly as you can, you shall
have the rest of the week to spend as you like." Put upon our mettle by
such a challenge the work would be completed, by us perhaps on the
Wednesday, and three days of varied enjoyment in country rambles would
follow. In these days, when bird-nesting is forbidden as being "cruelty
to animals," it may horrify some of our readers to learn that the Doctor
encouraged his pupils to collect eggs. On our excursions in early summer
every hedge was carefully examined for many miles round, the tallest
trees were climbed, or, as it was then called "swarmed," in search of the
eggs of hawk, carrion crow, woodpecker, &c.; those of the owl were found
in the thick fir plantations, or those of the jackdaw in old ruins; the
rarest specimens being presented to the Doctor himself, while commoner
kinds were hung in festoons from the ceiling of our study at his
residence. The two chief holidays at this season were the Queen's
Birthday, May 24th, and "Royal Oak D