where every inch of the wall and benches is covered with names, some
of them most illustrious, as Dryden's. There were two bunches of
rods, which the Dean assured me were not mere symbols of power, but
were daily used, as, indeed, the broken twigs scattered upon the
floor plainly showed. Our ferules are thought rather barbarous, but
a gentle touch from a slender twig not at all so. These young men
looked to me as old as our collegians. We then went to their study-
rooms, play-rooms, and sleeping-rooms. The whole forty sleep in one
long and well-ventilated room, the walls of which were also covered
with names. At the foot of each bed was a large chest covered with
leather, as mouldering and time-worn as the Abbey itself. Here are
educated the sons of some of the noblest families, and the
Archbishop of York has had six sons here, and all of them were in
succession the Captain of the school. . . .

On Wednesday evening we went first to our friends, the Bunsens,
where we were invited to meet the Duchess of Sutherland with a few
other persons. Bunsen is very popular here. He is learned and
accomplished, and was so much praised in the Biography of Dr.
Arnold, the late historian of Rome, that he has great reputation in
the world of letters. . . . Although we have great pleasure in the
society of Chevalier and Madam Bunsen, and in those whom we meet at
their house. On this occasion we only stayed half an hour, which I
passed in talking with the Bishop of Norwich and his wife, Mrs.
Stanley, and went to Lady Morgan's without waiting till the Duchess
of Sutherland came. There we found her little rooms full of
agreeable people. . . . The next day, Thursday, there was a grand
opera for the benefit of the Irish, and all the Diplomatic Corps
were obliged to take boxes. Lady Palmerston, who was one of the
three patronesses, secured a very good box for us, directly opposite