John Stephen Farmer

“ Feeder-cric (Christ’s Hospital) .—See ante. This game got its name from the “feeder,” i.e. the thrower of the ball, and the humble imitation that it was of cricket. The bat was a stick like a “glorified” ruler, but cut away at one end to resemble in some sort a cricket-bat. It was played against a buttress, on which was marked a circle in chalk, which served as a wicket. The ball was soft, with a hole in it; as in rounders the batsman might insist on certain conditions as to the method of “feeding,” and might refuse to recognise a “feed” unreasonable in height. ”

“ Slack, verb (Durham) .—To sell: specifically, to dispose of property to a dealer in second-hand goods. [From the name of a second-hand bookseller in Durham.]
Slave-driver, subs. (Harrow) .—A fag-master: exclusively at cricket.
1890. Great Public Schools, p. 95. The upper ground on these days is given up to practice at the nets for the Eleven and the “Sixth Form” game, and to practice in fielding and catching. Boys below the Removes have to fag for them, and these fags are managed by SLAVE-DRIVERS (three or four boys appointed for the purpose) . ”

“ Brute, in Cambridge University slang, is a man who has not yet matriculated. The play is evident. A “man” in college phrase is a collegian; and as matriculation is the sign and seal of acceptance, a scholar before that ceremony is not a “man,” and therefore only a “BIPED BRUTE.”
Buck, adj. 1. (Winchester: obsolete) .—Handsome.
2. (Felsted) .—Fine; jolly.
1897. Felstedian, July, p. 129. What’s the good of a Præfect? he never gets anybody up, and has never been known to be in time himself. He’s a BUCK lot of use.
To be bucked, verb. phr. (Uppingham) .—To be tired.
To buck down, verb. phr. ”

“ Ninety feet long and thirty-six in breadth, it is sufficiently spacious to allow all the BOOKS to be assembled there without more confusion than is inseparable from the system of teaching so many distinct classes in a single room—an arrangement peculiar to Winchester alone amongst our large Public Schools. ”

“ The points of difference are chiefly these: (1) the balls must be swift, and bowled along the ground; (2) the batsman must hit—“slog” is the term; and (3) the game is played at a single wicket. Bat, ball, and wickets differ in shape and size from those used in cricket proper. In Father Gerard’s Stonyhurst will be found a detailed account of the game, and a connection is traced between it and a crude form once played at Eton. It is in all probability a survival of very primitive cricket which became stereotyped because of the life of the College abroad. ”

“ He goes out with his umbrella rolled up, and he finds he is swaggering; or he carries it by its middle, or under his arm, or he walks on the middle terrace after chapel, or he innocently wears his “blues” open when it is hot, or turns his trousers up when it is wet, and again he is swaggering. Lady visitors sometimes think small boys at Harrow rude. It is not rudeness which leads boys to stick close to the wall, even when coming up covered with mud from football, and shoulder the world into the gutter, it is modesty ”

“ It is akin to a species of football played at Eton, and is clearly a relic of the past. In matches the sides usually have names: e.g. “French and English,” in the Grand Matches—a significant survival from old continental days; “Federals and Allies” (now obsolete) ; “Pipes and Windows”—a favourite impromptu match, the “Pipes” being those who sit on one side of the old “Study Place,” the “Windows” those who sit on the other. Now that the “Pipes” (hot-water pipes) are on the same side as the windows, the match is more commonly called “Walls and Windows,” but sometimes “Chapel Pipes and Windows.” ”

“ Directly we enter, we are struck by the stillness and solemnity that reign around, helped by the dim light, the windows with painted glass, the ponderous shelves, the illuminated missals, the graduates or attendants conversing in low whispers or moving quietly about. ”

“ Pascoe, Life in Our Public Schools. Across the two ends of the ground a small trench is dug, about four inches wide and two deep, and a goal is obtained when the ball is fairly kicked across the trench (Wiccamicé WORMS) .
Wrangler, subs. (Cambridge) .—The name given to those who are placed in the first class in the first or elementary portion of the public examination for honours in pure and mixed mathematics, commonly called the Mathematical Tripos, those placed in the second class being known as Senior Optimes, and those in the third class as Junior Optimes. ”

“ Well, a good many do precious little. Still there is this check. All who do not pass their examinations within a certain time must “GO DOWN,” i.e. they must leave. It wholly depends upon ourselves, then, how much work we do; and it is naturally a much more difficult matter to “read” in this way than when one has regular schools and studies.
Goal, subs. (Winchester) .— (1) At football the boy who stands at the centre of each end, acting as umpire; and (2) the score of three points made when the ball is kicked between his legs, or over his head, without his touching it. ”

“ Dickens, Dictionary of Oxford and Cambridge, p. 16. Battels is properly a designation of the food obtained from the College Buttery. An account of this, and of the account due to the Kitchen, is sent in to every undergraduate weekly, hence these bills also are known as BATTELS, and the name, further, is extended to the total amount of the term’s expenses furnished by the College. In some Colleges it is made essential to the keeping of an undergraduates’ term that he should BATTEL, i.e. obtain food in College on a certain number of days each week. ”

“ Cannibal, subs. (Cambridge) .—In a BUMPING-RACE (q.v.) a College may be represented by more than one boat. The best talent is put into the first, but it has sometimes happened that the crew of the second have got so well together that it has disappointed the prophets and bumped the first of its own College. In this case it is termed A CANNIBAL, it having eaten up its own kind, and a fine is exacted from it by the University Boat Club.
Canoodle, verb (Oxford) .—To paddle or propel a canoe.
1879. E. H. MARSHALL, in Notes and Queries, 5 S., xi. 375. ”

“ Good-supper and Good-breakfast. Whence DO-ROOM = the long room in which a DO is held. [As a rule words with the suffix “room” are modern; “PLACE” (q.v.) is the older form.]
Dock, verb (Winchester) .—To erase: as by rubbing out, or by a stroke of the pen; to tear out: as leaves from a book. Also DOCK OUT.
Doctor, subs. (Winchester) .—The Head-master.
c. 1840. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 27. The Head Master, or the Doctor, as he is always called, lives in “Commoners’ buildings.” ”

“ For reading purposes the library is as free and as good as the library of the British Museum; with the advantages that you may be seated in front of a window commanding a beautiful garden prospect, that your arm-chair is not disturbed, that books are allowed to accumulate around you, and that you are not obliged to return them to the care of the custodian on leaving the library. ”

“ One day a boy was so unlucky as to tear it; and Busby’s known severity left no doubt of the punishment that would follow. The offender was in despair, when a generous schoolfellow volunteered to take the blame upon himself and suffered in his friend’s stead accordingly.... In three year’s time he was sufficiently advanced to be admitted by Busby ABOVE THE CURTAIN—that is, into the fourth class, the lowest in the upper school. Of this class, however, he says the head-master “took little or no care,” but as he rose into the higher forms he found the teaching more satisfactory. ”

“ Houses are drawn together, and play against each other; and the same course is pursued with regard to the “Lower Round” Houses. When all these ties are played off, the winner of the “Upper Round” plays the winner of the “Lower Round” for COCK-HOUSE. A silver challenge cup is presented to the COCK-HOUSE of the year.
1898. Warner in Harrow School, 271. Coming back from the holidays a boy will eagerly discuss with his comrades the prospects of the term. Have they any chance of being “COCK-HOUSE” in football or cricket—and no chance is too small on which to build a mighty castle of hope. ”

“ Selections from classical authors, ancient or modern, are recited by the Sixth-form boys, who are dressed for the occasion in black swallow-tail coats, white ties, black knee-breeches and buckles, silk stockings, and pumps. Then follows the provost’s luncheon, given in the college hall to the distinguished visitors, while similar entertainments on a smaller scale are going on in the various tutors’ and dames’ houses. At 3 o’clock there is full choral service in chapel. ”

“ Cricket-machine, subs. (Stonyhurst) .—A boy who studies cricket scores with excessive care.
Crock, subs. (general) .—An indifferent performer at a game.
Crocked. To be crocked, verb. phr. (general) .—To be injured at a game.
Crow’s-wing (and -refectory) , subs. (Stonyhurst) .—The part of the house in which the masters live and fare. See Crow.
Cut. To cut in, verb. phr. (Harrow) .—If a boy misses his place in the line at Bill (q.v.) , and tries to run in irregularly, he is said TO CUT IN.
D, subs. ”

“ Every night at ten o’clock the monitor of chamber gives the order for the juniors to put out the lights and go to bed—“Extinctis lucernis intrate lectos.” It is only within the last generation or two that the rule of speaking Latin exclusively, both by boys and masters, during school hours has fallen into abeyance. ”

“ Double puff, ... a game played after the fashion of “tip and run,” except that instead of a wicket and tennis ball a Stonyhurst cricket bat is used, and a ball about the size of an ordinary BANDY (q.v.) ball, made of soft material and covered with sheepskin, which made it very hard to hit far, and still harder either to catch, or to pick up and throw in.... The distance between the wickets is not as long as in wicket cricket; and the rule about bowling is the same as in Stonyhurst cricket, namely, under-arm and not waiting till the batsman is ready. ”

“ These were the principal duties of the FAGS in the house. From supper until nine o’clock three FAGS taken in order stood in the passages, and answered any præposter who called “Fag,” racing to the door, the last comer having to do the work. This consisted generally of going to the buttery for beer and bread and cheese (for the great men did not sup with the rest, but had each his own allowance in his study or the fifth-form room) , cleaning candlesticks and putting in new candles, toasting cheese, bottling beer, and carrying messages about the house.... ”

“ Find, subs. (Harrow) .—A mess of, usually, two upper boys which takes breakfast and tea in the rooms of one or other of the set: a privilege of the Sixth Form. Whence FIND-FAG = a fag who lays the table for the upper boys. [Find (dial.) = to supply; to supply with provisions.] Also as verb.
1867. Collins, The Public Schools, p. 316. Immediately a certain number of rolls (FINDS they were called—etymology unknown) were ordered at the baker’s, and were rebaked every morning until they were pretty nearly as hard as pebbles. ”

“ Derrywag, subs. (Harrow) .—Paper used for parsing: ruled twenty lines down, and six across. [That is, “derivation paper.”]
Deten, subs. (King Edward’s, Birm.) .—A card issued to a boy set down for Saturday afternoon detention. Also called a SOUP-TICKET.
Devor, subs. (Charterhouse) .—Plum-cake. [From the Latin verb.]
Dex, subs. (Loretto) .—A form of “small cricket” once extremely popular at Loretto. [The name originated with Andrew Lang, and was not intended to be complimentary to the game. Often called PUDDEX, owing to a mistaken derivation.] ”

“ King, subs. (Royal High School, Edin.) .—A game peculiar to the school. The players range themselves on one side of the playground, one going into the centre and calling “King!” The centre player endeavours to catch some one, who then joins him, and this goes on till all are caught. A rush is then made for the side, the last to reach it taking the centre place in a new game. It forms an excellent training for football and a source of revenue to tailors.
Lady Gallery (Stonyhurst) .—A gallery in which is a statue of the Blessed Virgin.
Lamm. To lamm in, verb. phr. (Stonyhurst) .—See Peg in. ”

“ Of the fellow-commoners, or COMMONERS, as they are now termed, who have so increased as to form a supplementary body of scholars doubling in number the College boys themselves, it will be necessary to give some account. Provision had been made in the original statutes for the reception and instruction of independent students to the number of ten, sons of noblemen or of “special friends” of the College, who, though not claiming the other advantages of the foundation, might yet wish to avail themselves of its sound teaching ”

“ Collins, The Public Schools, p. 66. The Winchester football game is peculiar. It is played in CANVAS, as it is called. A portion of Meads, some 80 feet by 25, is marked off by screens of canvas on each side, within which the game is played, the two open ends forming the lines of goal, across which the ball is to be kicked. It is placed in the middle of the ground to begin with, and a “hot” formed round it by the players stooping down all close together, with their heads down, and at a given signal trying to force the ball or each other away. ”

“ Bouncer, subs. (Stonyhurst) .—A ball kicked from the hand before it reaches the ground: Stonyhurst-football (q.v.) .
Boy, subs. (Harrow) .—Specifically, a fag a grade above the lowest form. See ante. As a verb, TO BOY = to call for a fag: all fags are summoned by a long drawn-out shout.
Brick (and Clat) , subs. (Stonyhurst) .—The names given to the two rival camps in a certain notorious quasi-insurrection in the College some fifty years ago. A full account appears in Fitzgerald’s Stonyhurst Memories. ”

“ To be a HIVITE has long been considered a little worse than a “literate.”... Of the value of some St. Bees’ testimonials we may form an estimate, &c.
Hobbs, subs. (Tonbridge) .—A fad; a mental eccentricity. See Tachs.
Hobby, subs. (common) .—A translation. To RIDE HOBBIES = to use CRIBS (q.v.) .
Hockey-sticks and Fourpennies, subs. phr. (Charterhouse) .—A kind of irregular cricket played at Old Charterhouse. The bats were huge bludgeons called hockey-sticks, but without any curve at the end; the balls were like large fives-balls, and a little smaller than a regulation cricket-ball ”