June.]

THE CLIFTONIAN.

[1881.

EDITORIAL.

THE present number of The Cliftonian forms the first of the seventh volume. The number seven has always had certain mystic properties attached to it, and a seventh son is popularly supposed to have some exceptional and superior qualities. That the seventh volume of The Cliftonian, while following the line of its predecessors, will be endowed with exceptional and superior qualities is our earnest hope, and one with which, unless we are greatly mistaken, all our readers, past and present members of the School alike, will sincerely sympathise. As we look back upon the six volumes which already fill a place upon the shelves of our libraries we cannot help thinking that the aim with which this magazine was started, as stated in the preface to the first number fourteen years ago, "to be the organ of the School, to be the mirror in which its progress will be reflected for many years to come," has hitherto at least been fulfilled. Neither can we help observing how strictly it has adhered to its original plan of not being on one hand solely a collection of essays and poems, nor on the other solely a record of school games and societies, but of combining as far as possible both these ends. Our only desire is that The Cliftonian may continue in its dual capacity to be a worthy representative of the School, that it may "grow with its growth, and strengthen with its strength."

This may be taken as a favourable opportunity of saying a few words about several matters connected with our magazine. In the first place it is highly satisfactory to be able to state that at no time has it been necessary for us to raise what has been termed the "editorial howl." Both from old fellows and from the School we continue to receive a fair amount of support, though why the contributions. from the latter source are invariably poetical must remain a mystery. The number of persons able to write a respectable article in prose must surely be larger than that of those who can produce anything worthy of the name of poetry, yet compositions in verse, serious and comic, steadily flow in, while the stream of prose, save for the exertions of a limited band would long since have run dry. We should therefore recommend those of our readers who are anxious that their productions should see the light of day in the pages of The Cliftonian to give over the attempt to bestride Pegasus with a more or less unsteady seat, or the equally barren task of writing letters on such well-worn topics as the College hymnbook, and betake themselves to the composition of prose articles on some interesting subject, and we can assure them that in so doing they will find no lack of opportunity of displaying whatsoever of imagination, fancy, wit, or culture they possess. However we must not be unjust to our poetical contributors, for many of their productions, though not quite up to the standard of publication, are very fairly good, and this circumstance, taken in conjunction with the fact that an unprecedented number of prize-poems have been sent in this year, encourages us in the belief that the literary spirit is spreading in the School-a spirit to be at once the cultivator and the exponent of which is the chief aim of this magazine.

Our readers are aware that during the last year the "Old

Cliftonians' Chronicle" has been put upon a new basis in the hope that it will form a fresh link to bind old fellows to the School; of the result it is of course as yet premature to speak. As another means of furthering the same end we have been requested by the authorities to make known to Old Cliftonians and their parents who live in London that they would confer a signal obligation on the School by receiving in their houses for a few days fellows who happen to be up for the I.C.S., Woolwich, or Sandhurst examinations. Anyone who would kindly undertake to do so is requested to communicate with the Head-Master, Mr. Hall, or any one of the house-masters.

Of course this, the first editorial of the summer term, would be incomplete without a reference to the all-predominant topic of cricket. It is our pleasing duty to have to chronicle a victory in the Knole Park match, an event which has not happened since 1875. We offer in the name of the School our heartiest congratulations to the captain and members of the XI. upon this event, as also upon the very long scoring in the match against a team from Oxford, and the defeat administered to Clifton Club. These successes encourage us to hope that the season of 1881 will be a prosperous one, that the disasters of last year will be retrieved, and the former glories of Clifton cricket revived. The chief difficulty to be contended with at present is the bad state of the ground, but a little rain would do much to remedy this and is the one thing wanted, we feel confident, to give us the two desiderata of the summer term-good pitches and good cricket.