You have private boarding-schools, which with us are called preparatory schools, as they form the vestibule to the public school.

And you have, lastly, a few large public schools somewhat on the model of Eton and Harrow.
Let us begin with the boarding-school.

I do not intend for one moment to deny the advantages of our great English public schools.

They are excellent for discipline and the formation of strong character, especially for a ruling race like ours; and their very numerical strength and importance command a splendid set of men as masters.

But both public and private boarding-schools labor under one great disadvantage: they remove a boy from all family influence and violate the order of our life, which can never be violated with impunity.