The Middlesex Archæological Society.

that ample space is left between each block for the purposes of ventilation and exercise . Under able guidance , we glanced at the steward ' s department ; and , beginning at the basement , found that on this particular day the spacious kitchen was very actively in use , as it was not cold meat day ; all were busily at work cooking the dinner of seven hundred and nine boys . From the kitchen to the hall is but a short journey . The windows there are filled with stained lass ; at the farther endbehind a daisis a large

g , , gallery . On the wall in this partis a picture of considerable size , representing Edward VI . granting the charter to the hospital . Mr . J . Gough Nichols , in a very valuable "Catalogue of the Portraits of King Edward the Sixth , " recently printed for private distribution , points out that this painting is ' an amplification of the picture representing the foundation of the city hospitals at Bridewell Hospital . It has been erroneously attributed to Holbein . Another large picture in the balleihty-five feet long '

, g , painted by Verrio , represents the foundation of the mathematical school by dames If . There are also portraits of the Queen , Frince Albert , and others . It is an imposing sight to see all the boys assembled here to sup . From the hall we went over several of the dormitories and sleeping wards . The iron bedsteads are arranged to the number of about fifty in eacli ward , which is superintended by a matron . It is almost needless to say that the greatest attention is paid to cleanliness . There is a curious feature in most of the

sleeping wards : in one corner , near the roof , and reached by a staircase , is a wooden box of moderate proportions , which serves as a resting-place and study for the " Grecian" of the ward . From this eminence he is enabled to notice any delinquency below . It is evident that in a sanitary point of view , the position is not very enviable ; for the atmosphere of those studies must , under the best circumstances , be polluted to some extent by the breath

of sleepers below . In the dormitory for the houseless in New Farringdonstrcct , the beds arc ranged in considerable numbers on the floor , while surrounding this place is a gallery of from six to seven feet wide , and at a time of great pressure beds were made up in the gallery . Down below , during a considerable time , no disease of ( ever or any case of this class occurred ; but in the gallery several were from time to time stricken with fever , and so dangerous did it prove to be to allow persons to sleep there , that orders

were given for its disuse by the officers of health . The various schools—the Latin school , mathematical school , writing school , drawing school—are established in different apartments , and are presided over by numerous masters . The school rooms are plain , and without any striking architectural feature . The sick wards are separated from the other buildings , and arrangements arc made for the treatment of any iitfectious disease ; the medical attendants' residence is close at hand .

It has now struck twelve , a bell has rung , and presentl y from all parts deafening voices are heard , and large bodies of the scholars rush ad libitum to the playground . There are some who , notwithstanding the temptation , open a door which is marked " library , " and on entering with a few of the " small boys , " we find a spacious room , divided into boxes and provided with tables : on the walls hang useful maps , and engravings of the steam engine : at one end is stored a small but well chosen collection of books ,

and on the table are several illustrated periodicals . This library is of recent foundation , and will , no doubt , be attended with much good . Before its establishment the boys bad no option but to waste a very large amount of the spare time between school hours ; now they can amuse themselves with useful reading . The books already in use have been purchased by a grant of two hundred pounds—a sum sufficient to make a beginning ; the shelves , however , arc very bare , and wc think that if some of the wellwishers of 3 H 2