commissioned the College architect, Mr. Charles Barry, to produce a design worthy of our aspirations and resources: and he certainly did so.

The date fixed for the laying of the first stone proved to be an ill-omened day. The ceremony was to have been performed by Mr. Gladstone, but adverse circumstances summoned him to Windsor to deliver up the seals of office as Chancellor of the Exchequer. The news of his unavoidable absence only came at the last moment, and in the emergency the distinguished function was, at the request of the other Governors, discharged by myself. In four years' time Dulwich possessed a magnificent pile of buildings. Surrounded by 45 acres of land, with every practical convenience and appliance— hall, class-rooms, library, lecture-theatre, laboratories, swimming-bath, mechanical work-shops, masters' houses in a commanding position, I know nothing to beat it.

The College was opened on June 21st 1870 by H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, accompanied by H.R.H. the Princess, and, considering the interest felt by the late Prince Consort in the reconstruction of the foundation, the inauguration could not have taken place under happier auspices.

Under the wise management and great zeal of Dr. Carver the Upper School made rapid strides. The maximum of 600 boys was soon attained, and their successes at the Universities and in the Army and

In 1883,

Civil Service increased year after year. when the new scheme came into operation, Dr. Carver retired on a pension, and was succeeded by Mr. Welldon, who after two years' tenure of the Mastership became Head Master of Harrow. He was followed by Mr. Gilkes, in whose hands the tone and reputation of Dulwich College are in safe keeping.

The final development of the Lower School has only lately been reached. Circumstances prevented its earlier foundation on its present basis. Over and over again it has been threatened with extinction, but the new buildings, erected at a cost of £12,000 for the accommodation of 450 boys, have now been opened. 'Alleyn's School," as it will in future be called, is destined to play a still greater part than ever in the work of middle-class education, and its fortunes could not be more ably and earnestly directed than by its present Head Master, the Rev. J. H. Smith.

So it has come to pass that Alleyn's educational foundation, restricted for 240 years to the twelve "poore schollers "-well fed, well clothed, wretchedly taught already comprises two well-organised and successful schools, containing more than a thousand boys, receiving in them a first-rate education.

The sky at Dulwich is now clear and serene. That was not always so. Between 1872 and 1882 four schemes for its management were issued by the Endowed Schools Commissioners and three by the

Charity Commissioners.

But all elements of uncer

tainty are now removed, and the future of Alleyn's foundation should be very brilliant.

In Dulwich itself little remains to be done. "James Allen's Girls' School," so called after a Master who left some money for the purpose, has recently started on what bids fair to be a prosperous career in the department of high-class education. The establishment of a School of Fine Art in connection with the Picture Gallery will complete the constructive tasks of the Governors. The Dulwich Gallery, by the way, is not as well known to Londoners as it ought to be, though it is familiar enough to Americans and foreigners. It contains about 400 pictures, and nearly all the old masters are represented, particularly those of the Dutch and Spanish schools. It is open on every week-day, and once a year some members of the Royal Academy attend to borrow a work which will serve for the instruction of their students. We wind up the proceedings with a very good luncheon, and the President always winds up the luncheon with a very good speech.

Just a sentence or two as to the extra-Dulwich development of Alleyn's charity. The standing grievances of the favoured parishes have been softened, possibly obliterated. They still nominate their almspeople, which is perhaps the privilege they value most, and by 1892 they are to receive considerable educational endowments. St. Saviour's, Southwark,

will have £15,000 down and an annual income of £1500, while to St. Botolph Bishopsgate, and St. Luke jointly, will be paid a capital sum of £50,000 and £2000 a year for ever.

"For ever." It is not such a dangerous expression as it used to be, because it does not now mean what it says. The Charity Commissioners take care of that, and Dulwich College, with its £20,000 a year to-day, and who knows how much a century hence, is likely to require and receive the attention of the present Commissioners and their successors till Commissioners and Colleges are no more.

VIII.

PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE.

A VOLUME of this kind is usually regarded as incomplete unless it contains a chapter on "Celebrities I have met" or "Men I have known," or something of the kind. I have certainly met a few celebrities and known some men during my sixty-eight years of pilgrimage, but, without either lauding my friends or abusing any enemies I may have left, I will pass on to some observations of a general kind.

And first of all about education, the cause which still lies nearest to my heart. One needs to pause and reflect sometimes to be sufficiently grateful for what has been accomplished. When I began my ministerial life nothing looked less likely than that education would some day be within the reach of every English child, and nothing certainly was more improbable than that its range would be as wide as it is now. Men did not realise that there was no darkness but ignorance. They saw darkness all around them, but they failed to see whence it came, and the few enthusiasts who by word and deed pleaded and