e reaction against alcoholic treatment can, I
believe, be definitely dated from the 10th of January, 1872, when the
heads of the medical profession published their opinion that "alcohol,
in whatever form, should be prescribed with as much care as any powerful
drug, and the directions for its use should be so framed as not to be
interpreted as a sanction for excess." This was a heavy blow and deep
discouragement to the school of Snuffim and Pilkins, and the system of
port at 11, and "the domestic stimulant" between whiles, died hard.

But this is a long digression. I return to the Family Physician who
prescribed for my youth. He was Dr. T. Somerset Snuffim, son of the
celebrated Sir Tumley, and successor to his lucrative practice. His
patients believed in him with an unquestioning and even passionate
faith, and his lightest word was law. It was he who in 1862 pronounced
me physically unfit for a Private School, but held out hopes that, if I
could be kept alive till I was fourteen, I might then be fit for a
Public School. Four years passed, and nothing particular happened. Then
the time arrived when the decision had to be made between Public School
and Private Tutor. After a vast amount of stethoscoping and
pulse-feeling, Snuffim decided peremptorily against a Public School. My
parents had a strong and just detestation of "private study" and its
products, and they revolved a great many schemes for avoiding it.
Suddenly my mother, who was not only the kindest but also the wisest of
mothers, bethought herself of making me a Home-boarder at Harrow. She
was one of those persons who, when once they are persuaded that a
certain course is right, do not let the grass grow under their feet, but
act at once. We did not desert our old home in Bedfordshire, and my
father had still his official residence in Speaker's Court; but my
parents took a house at Harrow, at the top of Sudbury Hill, and there we
established ourselves in September, 1867.

On the 4th of November in that year, Matthew Arnold, who was
contemplating a similar move, wrote to Lady de Rothschild:--"What you
tell me is very important and interesting. I think Lady Charles Russell
has a boy who, like my eldest boy, is an invalid, and I dare say you
will some time or other be kind enough to ascertain from her whether the
school life is at all trying for him, or whether she has any difficulty
in getting him excused fagging or violent exercises."

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The L.C