AT Westminster. BY THOMAS BROWN, THE YOUNGER. No. 1. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1815. Omne tulit punctum, qui miscuit utile dulci, HORACE. IT seems to have been the common policy of all men, from the earliest ages, to depreciate the merit of their own times by extolling those of their forefathers.-The good old days of plenty and excellence have been as universally lamented, and these latter days as universally decried by the moderns, as the golden age was eulogized, and their own times were abused by the ancients. B Ætas parentum pejor avis tulit -But I have heard of neither ancients nor moderns, who had more respect for "the olden time," than the Westminsters have at present. Who is there among us who does not remember, or think he remembers, when he first came here, what "terrible big fellows there were in the school;" when every cobler, donkey-driver, and apple-vender in Westminster, feared such and such of our champions, and when one form alone would have made nothing of all of us, such as we are in these degenerate times?-Nor is this all; for it not only appears that "there were giants in those days," but the ancients of this establishment are recounted to have been better cricketers, better football-kickers, fives players, &c. &c. better scholars, and even handsomer fellows than we can at present boast of.-Nay some do not hesi tate to assert that our manners and principles have equally degenerated with our accomplishments, lamenting with what bad effects our bread and beer breakfasts and wooden trenchers, have been softened down into tea and toast and effeminate crockery. Whether there is any foundation for these complaints or no, I am neither capable nor desirous of deciding. It would indeed be a vain task for us at present, to institute a comparison or to endeavour to determine on this point, when we have neither sufficient matter for the one, nor any criterion for the other. Tradition, which has always been considered as at least very defective, if not wholly inadmissible authority, is at this time the best standard by which we can form our judgement. But being desirous of affording to those who come after us, the means of judging with some certainty of their superiority or inferiority to their predecessors, I know of no better method of effecting this, than to publish, (with the help of my friends and correspondents, whose assistance I hereby earnestly solicit) a series of papers, which may at once be the mirror and lash of our little world, which may at once exhibit its œconomy and expose its vices, and be a source of entertainment, if not of improvement. Let those therefore who have a mind to correspond with me, direct their letters To MR. WHITE, my Secretary, at St. Peter's College, Westminster.' |