Christ’s Hospital
by
Charles Lamb
(Summary)
Charles Lamb’s work “Essay of Elia” is matchless
on account of its naturalness and humanism. Essays of Elia is a study of
personality. The essays are light and full of wisdom. The full title of the
essay is ‘Christ’s Hospital Five and Thirty Years Ago’. This essay was
published in London Magazine, November 1820. The school was originally founded
in the 16th century in Greyfriars, London and Hertford.
The essay
presents an account of his school life. Lamb studied from 1782 to 1789, 7 years
in Christ Hospital, with Coleridge and enjoyed the privileges, which were
denied to others. His friends and relatives lived in town and he could go to
see them. The food, that was given to the boys was of bad quality and small in
quantity. They were given tasteless boiled beef and soups, which they had to
swallow.
In the
essay, Lamb narrates the greed and indifference of nurses in the school. The
nurses used to eat the boys’ share of food without any guilt and there was no one
to check them. Narrating his experiences, he says, that he was utterly lonely
among the six hundred boys. He had no friends and he used to feel sickness for
home. He was a witness to the mistreatment of junior students. They were beaten
by the seniors without any reason. Their life was miserable and pathetic. The
school authority too used to punish the boys severely for the slightest
aberration. For the first offense, the boy was put in fetters, for the second
he was locked up in a dungeon where he had to stay for the whole day and night.
After the third offense, the boy was not only expelled from the school but also
unkindly flogged.
The
school had a division into two sections, and both the sections were taught in a
very big room with an imaginary partition. The Rev. Matthew Field, the
gentleman, the scholar, and the Christian, was the in-charge of the
lower-section. He was a kind-hearted man and never beat his students. The
students used to enjoy total freedom, when he stayed away from school. The in
charge of the upper section, Rev. James Boyer was a good teacher and a strict
disciplinarian. He flogged his students mercilessly.
Lamb
presents a true picture of the school and tells us of the things which he knew.
In the essay, Lamb is autobiographical and egotistical. He gives an insight
into his character likes and dislikes.
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