Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 7.djvu/467

 lo s. VIL MAY is, 1907.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

383

Mati, poglejte

Ljubega, Nocem nobenga

Drugega.

The first is an ungallant description of Laibach damsels, and the second is an entreaty to a mother to countenance a beloved one. FRANCIS P. MARCHANT.

Streatham Common.

MAGDALEN COLLEGE SCHOOL AND

THE 'D.N.B.'

(See 10 S. iv. 21, 101, 182, 244, 364 ; v. 22, 122, 284, 362 ; vi. 2, 104, 203 ; vii. 63, 142, 304.)

MB. ABTHUB GROOM PARK AM, B.A., of Exeter College, who was a Magdalen chorister 1895-1900, permits me to quote from some MS. recollections of his. " My name," he says in this " human document," " had been down on the list for a year or more when notice came that a trial would be held to fill two vacancies ; and so on 4 July, 1895, at the mature age of twelve, I journeyed to Oxford with my mother to compete for a choristership. Forty- six other small boys were bound on the same errand, and I well remember the despair with which I saw this formidable array of rivals in the College Hall. We went to the music room in batches, and underwent various small tests, being gradually weeded out until seven were left, who each had to sing a solo. At this stage my mother was unofficially told by the Dean of Divinity (the present Bishop of Stepney) that I should probably be successful ; and finally was officially informed by the President that I had been elected. I was then medically examined ; asked a few elementary questions relative to such book-lore as I possessed and dismissed with the information that I shoulc commence my duties in the following October.

"I went to School on 18 September, and unti the beginning of the University term, on 12 October lived the ordinary life of a schoolboy, attending the School chapel, and doing the usual lessons The only difference between a chorister and ai ordinary Magdalen College schoolboy is that the former attends the College chapel each day instead of that belonging to the School, and misses two hours of the morning's work. For the rest he i exactly on a par with the others being merely a ' scholar ' of the School, and, in virtue of hi choristership, getting his board and education free A few days before the University term we donnec cap and gown and went into College for an hour' practice at 10. After term began we had chora mattins at 10, followed by a practice lasting unti 12 ; and choral evensong at 6. On Fridays ther was no practice after mattins, but a 'full rehearsal (that is, one at which the choirmen also attendee from 2 to 3. This was the routine of each day fron the beginning of the University Michaelmas Term until Boxing Day. Then we had three week ' holiday, followed by chapel from the beginning ( the University Lent Term to^ Easter Monday ; the ten days" " ning of tl on 25 July

osed a much easier year's work than that which ills to the lot of a cathedral choirboy. There is othing extraordinary about the chapel services, xcept their peculiar excellence. The choir is a mall one, and in such a place as St. Paul's would e lost ; but in their own chapel they are con- dered by many people the finest in Europe an pinion which was shared by the famous musician rahms.

"After two years," continues Mr. Parham, "I ose to the head of the Cantores' side, which posi- on I held for the rest of my time as a chorister. . November, 1897, I sang my first solo ; and my last n March, 1900. There are always two chief solo oys, who generally 'lead' the Decani and Cantores espectively. Visitors who happen to have attended ervice at Magdalen when the President, or Vice- 'resident, or both are present, may have noticed wo boys quietly leave their places at the begin- ing of the first lesson and walk down the chapel, ne to the President's and the other to the vice- 'resident's 'throne.' They are the leaders of the wo sides, whose duty it is to find the place in the nthem-books of those dignitaries and point it iut to them. In this manner I found the Vice- Resident's place whenever he was in chapel ; while ny vis-a-vis upon the Decani fulfilled the same )ffice for the President.

"I can never remember being wearied of the ervices. The constant variety, the excitement, ind the enthusiasm for keeping up our great repu- ,ation which inspired the smallest of us prevented my feeling of impatience at the daily routine. But, ooking back upon my time as a chorister, my jleasantest memories are connected with those red-letter days when we celebrated some annual observance. Some of these survived only as a name and as a tradition in my day; some of those ihen existing bid fair gradually to die out ; but the ife of a chorister will be bereft of half its charm if all these picturesque ceremonies are abolished.

"One last trace of the old times of waiting in Hall still lingered in my day. Each of the eight senior choristers in turn had a week's duty as 'grace-boy.' Dinner at Magdalen takes place at 7 o'clock, and at 7.30 the 'grace-boy' in the cap ind gown without which no chorister ever went into college walked up the Hall to a stool in the corner behind the Vice-President's chair. There he sat until dinner was ended, when he seated him- self in the Vice-President's great chair and was served with his meal. The reason for his presence was that he had to call for grace should the high- table happen to finish dinner before the Demies. In such a case the Vice-President would turn to the ' grace-boy' (Aularius) and say, ' Grace, please ' ; the latter would walk across to the head of the Demies r table and say, ' Grace, please,' return to the centre of the dais, and, facing the Hall, cry out, ' Gratiarum actio ' ; there remaining while the junior Demy recited a Latin grace. This being over, the high- table filed out of Hall and the boy had his supper as visual. It very seldom happened that the 'grace- boy' was required indeed, in over three years I

only called two or three times The result has

been that the ' grace-boy' was abolished a year or more ago; doubtless much to the regret of those who remembered the joys of that excellent supper such a contrast to the Spartan diet of School. On great occasions, such as Restoration Day, how- ever, he still occupies his stool as of yore, that the old custom may not fall completely into disuse."