holder has taken his Bachelor
of Arts degree. The Queen's Scholars are partially maintained by the
school; but all other boys, of which the average number is about one
hundred and fifty, pay very handsomely for their education.

[Illustration: A VIEW OF WESTMINSTER.]

The government of this school is an absolute monarchy in the hands of
the Head-Master, though the Dean and Chapter of Westminster can exercise
a certain control of the Queen's Scholars, and the reigning sovereign of
England is by the statutes Visitor of the School. In 1846 the father of
one of the Queen's Scholars complained to her Majesty that his boy had
been cruelly treated by three of the other scholars, and she ordered an
immediate trial, and punishment of the guilty parties.

Westminster, from its earliest records, has been famous for its Masters.
Before the great Camden--the Pausanias of England--were Alexander
Nowell, Nicholas Udall, and Thomas Browne. Nowell was Master in Queen
Mary's reign, and Bonner intending to burn him, he fled for his life. On
Elizabeth's accession he again became Master, and was also one of
Elizabeth's preachers, and reproved her so plainly that on one occasion
she bade him "return to his text." You know, boys, it is so easy and so
natural for school-masters to tell people when they are wrong, and the
Masters of Westminster have been noted for the habit.

Dr. Busby's name is forever associated with Westminster, and he ruled
the school with his terrible birch rod for upward of fifty-seven years.
"My rod is my sieve," he said, "and who can not pass through it is no
boy for me." So many able boys, however, passed through it, that he
could point to the Bench of Bishops, and boast that sixteen of the
spiritual lords sitting there at one time had been educated by him. The
height to which he carried discipline is exemplified by his accompanying
King Charles through the school-room _with his hat on_, because "he
would not have his boys think there was any man in England greater than
himself." Dryden was one of Busby's scholars, and received from the
great Master many a severe flogging, yet Dryden always spoke of Dr.
Busby with the greatest reverence. Flogging is now only administered on
very grave occasions, by the Head-Master, and in the presence of a third
party, who must be one of the boys.

In Dr. Busby's time the upper and lower schools were divided by a
curtain, about which there is a remarkable story. A boy, having torn