All this training was a preparation for the public speaking already mentioned. We spoke from a stage erected at the upper end of the school. Our auditors at this exhibition were our friends and the gentry of the neighbourhood. We recited verses, such as ‘Hohenlinden,’ and ‘The Burial of Sir John Moore,’ ‘Edward and Warwick,’ ‘Brutus and Cassius,’ and divers scenes from other poets and dramatists, ancient and modern. Whatever was the character, the speaker appeared in full dress. Once, the part of ‘Mawworm’ was assigned to me. I enacted it with my hair frizzled, in an olive coat, black waistcoat, white trousers, silk stockings, and pumps. The great attention paid by Old Bob to our acting, seems to indicate that he supposed we were, for the most part, intended for the church, the bar, or political life. What opinion then, of his system, are we to form, judged of by its results? Did it contribute to the formation of any great minds or distinguished characters? At this moment I know of but three persons of any eminence, pupils of his, who have reflected credit upon their master. One of these was a celebrated statesman, now deceased, who, however, completed his education at Eton. Another was a Greek scholar of some repute, whether as yet surviving or not, I am ignorant. The third is a living ornament to his College. This last had a natural aptitude for learning, and inasmuch as he never needed the stimulus of the rod, he cannot be considered indebted for his attainments to that element in Old Bob’s method of tuition. Not one single stupid or even idle boy, within my experience, did Old Bob with all his flogging improve in the least; and his severities, I am sure, disgusted some, possessed of good abilities, with study. For my own part, I never was flogged; but the fear of being so kept me continually in misery: and as long as I was subject to it, hindered my advancement, prevented me from learning anything with pleasure, and caused me to look upon my tasks as impositions, and to perform them with ill will, in a sulky, perfunctory manner. I shall never forget the torment I suffered in cramming long lessons in Greek Grammar, under terror of the rod. Exert myself as I would, I could not get anything dry well by rote; whereas, poetry, or whatever else interested me, I remembered without an effort. This was lucky for me; my good performances were a set-off against my bad. I knew then, as well as I know now, how worse than foolish and idiotic was the notion of whipping a boy into parrot-learning. I perceived then as clearly as I see at this present time, that memory is no single power of the mind; that there is as much of feeling in it as of intellect; that we best remember the ideas which we delight to dwell upon; and that the proper way of imparting knowledge is to render it as pleasant as possible, or if this cannot be done, to instil it by degrees: to administer the medicine whose flavour you cannot disguise, in minute doses.