Plumptre’s defence of Montem is historic; he believed it to have been substituted for a triennial procession in honour of the Virgin Mary, and that therefore it ought to be preserved as a sort of protest against Popery.[21] It is only fair to say that in this case and some others Mr. Bethell sided with the Provost and Head Master. The Fellows, however powerful Hodgson and Hawtrey might be, had still a toothless voice in the government of the College. There was a long and tough fight over every innovation, but in the end common sense prevailed over the knee-breeches. It was not long before the last of these disappeared in the waters of Lethe. After all, they could claim a goodly record for the old dispensation. Even in their own narrow scholastic circle they could point to great teachers like Keate[22] and Hawtrey; among the assistant masters were Edward Coleridge, a famous tutor, son-in-law of Keate, who certainly came up to the Greek definition of a gentleman: “handsome and good;” Cookesley, a crank, but a brilliant scholar, delighting in Pindar and Greek metrical problems; Carter, clever, but perhaps a little too eager to exact heavy payment for the pleasures of idleness; my own excellent tutor, best and kindest of men, Francis Edward Durnford; Edward Balston, afterwards Head Master, another καλὸς κ’ ἀγαθός; William Johnson, who afterwards changed his name to Cory, a sound scholar, and no mean poet. These were all men of a very high standard, the children of the old Eton herself, children of whom the kind mother might well be proud. But the old school had to take note of a new sharpness in the struggle for life. Not the schoolmaster only, but the examiner, was abroad, and the time had come when every position, no matter how humble, must be won by hard fighting. So the last three years of the eight which I spent at Eton were lived in altered circumstances. Many changes, and doubtless great improvements, have been effected since then, but the first great upheaval took place in 1851 and was due to the genius and foresight of Dr. Hawtrey. Far too much credit for all this has been given to Dr. Goodford. It is true that many alterations took place during his tenure of office, but they had almost all been proposed by Dr. Hawtrey and were only delayed by the obstruction of some of the old men, with Provost Goodall at their head. When Hawtrey became Provost, Goodford’s path was smoothed by the very man who had laid its foundation. I, who though a boy or a very young man was much behind the scenes, know to whom the palm was due. [Illustration: FIRE-PLACE IN EVANS’ HOUSE. _From a water-colour sketch by W. Evans._]