, still subsisting in
the heart of London city. The death-day of the founder of the place is
still kept solemnly by Cistercians. In their chapel, where assemble the
boys of the school, and the fourscore old men of the Hospital, the
founder's tomb stands, a huge edifice: emblazoned with heraldic
decorations and clumsy carved allegories. There is an old Hall, a
beautiful specimen of the architecture of James's time; an old Hall? many
old halls; old staircases, passages, old chambers decorated with old
portraits, walking in the midst of which we walk as it were in the early
seventeenth century. To others than Cistercians, Grey Friars is a dreary
place possibly. Nevertheless, the pupils educated there love to revisit
it; and the oldest of us grow young again for an hour or two as we come
back into those scenes of childhood.
The custom of the school is, that on the 12th of December, the Founder's
Day, the head gown-boy shall recite a Latin oration, in praise of
Fundatoris Nostri, and upon other subjects; and a goodly company of old
Cistercians is generally brought together to attend this oration: after
which we go to chapel and hear a sermon; after which we adjourn to a
great dinner, where old condisciples meet, old toasts are given, and
speeches are made.
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