Eric, or, Little by Little
Frederic William Farrar's cautionary tale, Eric, or, Little by Little
presents the gradual downfall of the unfortunate English schoolboy, Eric
Williams. Despite the novel's apparent place in the school-boy literary canon,
Farrar makes no attempt to hide his stern moral message: Eric's good intentions
fail as he succumbs to the temptations of schoolboy popularity. Having started
on this path, his pride urges him onwards down a path of cheating and drinking.
Thus although his best friend, Edwin Russell, and his little brother, Vernon,
die pious deaths and use their last breaths hoping that Eric will repent, Eric
fails to be saved and eventually runs away to sea. However, unlike the penny
dreadful hero Jack Harkaway, Eric is not cut out for adventure upon the high
seas, and he ultimately returns home only to die, repenting.
The tale begins with the twelve year-old Eric counting down the days until
he starts school at Roslyn. The pastoral femininity of Fairholm Cottage, where
he lives with his widowed aunt and her daughter, contrasts sharply with the
all-male environment of Roslyn. Fairholm Cottage, the abode of two gentlewomen,
lies in a green valley surrounded by Nature, the "wisest, gentles, holiest of
teachers," and here Eric "was allowed to go about a good deal by himself, and it
did him good. He grew up fearless and self-dependent, and never felt the want of
amusement" (13). Although Eric and his friends are able to enjoy the countryside
around Roslyn, women make almost no appearance at the school. Instead, Eric is
constantly surrounded by boys, both well meaning and corrupt, and guided only by
the well-meaning, mostly stern schoolmasters. Roslyn's somewhat two-dimensional
bullies, such as Baker and Bull, highlight the fact that Eric is good at
heart.
Here Eric departs from his predecessors in evangelical tracts, for, unlike
them, he has inherent goodness, but it is not enough to ensure salvation, for
one must also overcome temptation. Mr. Rose, Eric's mentor at Roslyn, makes this
clear in his letter to the schoolboy:
The innocence of mere ignorance is a poor thing; it cannot, under any
circumstances, be permanent, nor is it at all valuable as a foundation of
character. The true preparation for life, the true basis of a manly character,
is not to have been ignorant of evil, but to have known it and avoided it; not
to have been sheltered from temptation, but to have passed through it and
overcome it by God's help. [137]
In an early episode, the previously sheltered Eric fails to avoid evil,
staying silent instead of condemning his dorm mate's indecent nighttime talk.
The narrator warns that this seemingly innocuous lapse is crucial:
Now, Eric, now or never! Life and death, ruin and salvation, corruption and
purity, are perhaps in the balance together, and the scale of your destiny may
hang on a single word of yours. Speak out, boy! Tell these fellows that unseemly
words wound your conscience; tell them that they are ruinous, sinful, damnable;
speak out and save yourself and the rest. Virtue is strong and beautiful, Eric,
and vice is downcast in her awful presence. Lose your purity of heart, Eric, and
you have lost a jewel which the whole world, if it were "one entire and perfect
chrysolite," cannot replace. [71]
When Eric fails to speak out, he takes yet another small step towards his
eventual disgraceful downfall that happens a hefty two-hundred pages later.
Interestingly, Farrar was roundly denounced by his contemporaries for his
harrowing descriptions of rampant schoolboy drinking and cheating.
Yet despite Farrar's criticism of Roslyn and of the company of English
school boys, Eric remains a surprisingly good read. Farrar describes public
school life with great familiarity, and amid his forced pathos and barely
disguised lessons, he conveys a sense of innocent fun and childish enjoyment.
The boys enjoy nature walks and boating trips and at times even extract great
satisfaction from their scholarly achievements. Moreover, although Farrar
carefully casts a pious light on every scene, his descriptions of late-night
pillow fights, jaunts to the town pub, even the manner in which the sly,
blackmailing Billy is finally caught, and of course, Eric's brief service as
ship's boy strongly call to mind the scintillating details beloved by penny
dreadfuls. Thus when Dr. Rowlands, Eric's stern House master, takes a night off,
the boys engage in hilarious antics:
It was Mr. Rose's night of duty. He walked slowly up and down the range of
Dormitories until every boy seemed ready to get into bed, and then he put out
all the candles. So long as he was present, the boys observed the utmost quiet
and decorum. All continued quite orderly until he had passed away through the
lavatory, and one of the boys following him as a scout, had seen the last
glimmer of his candle disappear round the corner at the foot of the great
staircase, and heard the library door close behind him.
After that, particularly as Dr. Rowlands was absent, the boys knew that they
were safe from disturbance, and the occupants of No. 7 were the first to
stir.
"Now for some fun," said Duncan, starting up, and by way of initiative
pitching his pillow at Eric's head.
"I'll pay you out for that when I'm ready," said Eric, laughing; "but give us
a match, first."
Duncan produced some several vestas, and no sooner had they lighted their
candle, than several of the dormitory doors began to be thrown open, and one
after another all requested a light, which Duncan and Eric conveyed to them in a
sort of emulous lampadephoria, so that at length all the twelve dormitories had
their sconces lit, and the boys began all sorts of amusement, some in their
night-shirts and others with their trousers slipped on. Leap-frog was the
prevalent game for a time, but at last Graham suggested theatricals, and they
were agreed on. [78]
And again, only a few weeks after this eventful night, the schoolboys
persuade Eric to go to the town pub:
"Well, it's all gone. We must get some brandy — it's cheaper," said Brigson;
and accordingly some brandy was brought in, which the boys diluted with hot
water, and soon dispatched.
"Here! before you're all done swilling," said Brigson, "I've got a health;
'Confound muffs and masters, and success to the anti's."
"And their chairman," suggested Wildney.
"And their chairman, the best fellow in the school," added Brigson.
The health was drunk with due clamor, and Eric got up to thank them.
"I'm not going to spout," he said; "but boys must be boys, and there's no
harm in a bit of fun. I for one have enjoyed it, and am much obliged to you for
asking me; and now I call for a song."
"Wildney! Wildney's song," called several.
Wildney had a good voice, and struck up, without the least bashfulness --
"Come, landlord, fill the flowing bowl,
Until it does run overt
Come, landlord, fill," &c
"Now," he said, "join in the chorus!" The boys, all more or less excited,
joined in heartily and uproariously —
"For to-night we'll merry merry be!
For to-night we'll merry merry be!
For to-night we'll merry merry be!
To-morrow we'll be sober" [161-62]
Farrar carefully recounts these episodes only to denounce each event as
immoral — Eric is invariably caught or claims responsibility for each debacle
and duly punished while his superior friends pray for his salvation — he
nonetheless makes them very entertaining, which probably explains why Eric
enjoyed such popularity in the mid nineteenth-century. The pious moral tone
underlying every jaunt must have appealed to adults while there remains just
enough excitement to satisfy youthful readers.
Finally, it is interesting that Farrar, who is obviously deeply religious,
has Eric describes his final disgrace by referring to Tennyson's cursed Lady of
Shalott:
"The curse has come upon me," cried
The Lady of Shallott.
Like the Lady confined to her tapestry and her tower, the bulk of Eric's
adventures occur within an enclosed, protected world. The academic walls of
Roslyn are his tower of Shalott, and his precipitous escape into the outside
world brings about his early death. Eric loses his health in the squalid
conditions in "the foul, horrible hold of the 'Stormy Petrel'" (258). Having
travelled a full circle from the maternal, loving atmosphere of Fairholm Cottage
to the boisterous schoolboy environment at Roslyn to the rough company of male
crew on board the Stormy Petrel, Eric returns to his childhood home to die, "oh,
happy, happy at last — too happy!" surrounded by his female relatives and his
school companions.
presents the gradual downfall of the unfortunate English schoolboy, Eric
Williams. Despite the novel's apparent place in the school-boy literary canon,
Farrar makes no attempt to hide his stern moral message: Eric's good intentions
fail as he succumbs to the temptations of schoolboy popularity. Having started
on this path, his pride urges him onwards down a path of cheating and drinking.
Thus although his best friend, Edwin Russell, and his little brother, Vernon,
die pious deaths and use their last breaths hoping that Eric will repent, Eric
fails to be saved and eventually runs away to sea. However, unlike the penny
dreadful hero Jack Harkaway, Eric is not cut out for adventure upon the high
seas, and he ultimately returns home only to die, repenting.
The tale begins with the twelve year-old Eric counting down the days until
he starts school at Roslyn. The pastoral femininity of Fairholm Cottage, where
he lives with his widowed aunt and her daughter, contrasts sharply with the
all-male environment of Roslyn. Fairholm Cottage, the abode of two gentlewomen,
lies in a green valley surrounded by Nature, the "wisest, gentles, holiest of
teachers," and here Eric "was allowed to go about a good deal by himself, and it
did him good. He grew up fearless and self-dependent, and never felt the want of
amusement" (13). Although Eric and his friends are able to enjoy the countryside
around Roslyn, women make almost no appearance at the school. Instead, Eric is
constantly surrounded by boys, both well meaning and corrupt, and guided only by
the well-meaning, mostly stern schoolmasters. Roslyn's somewhat two-dimensional
bullies, such as Baker and Bull, highlight the fact that Eric is good at
heart.
Here Eric departs from his predecessors in evangelical tracts, for, unlike
them, he has inherent goodness, but it is not enough to ensure salvation, for
one must also overcome temptation. Mr. Rose, Eric's mentor at Roslyn, makes this
clear in his letter to the schoolboy:
The innocence of mere ignorance is a poor thing; it cannot, under any
circumstances, be permanent, nor is it at all valuable as a foundation of
character. The true preparation for life, the true basis of a manly character,
is not to have been ignorant of evil, but to have known it and avoided it; not
to have been sheltered from temptation, but to have passed through it and
overcome it by God's help. [137]
In an early episode, the previously sheltered Eric fails to avoid evil,
staying silent instead of condemning his dorm mate's indecent nighttime talk.
The narrator warns that this seemingly innocuous lapse is crucial:
Now, Eric, now or never! Life and death, ruin and salvation, corruption and
purity, are perhaps in the balance together, and the scale of your destiny may
hang on a single word of yours. Speak out, boy! Tell these fellows that unseemly
words wound your conscience; tell them that they are ruinous, sinful, damnable;
speak out and save yourself and the rest. Virtue is strong and beautiful, Eric,
and vice is downcast in her awful presence. Lose your purity of heart, Eric, and
you have lost a jewel which the whole world, if it were "one entire and perfect
chrysolite," cannot replace. [71]
When Eric fails to speak out, he takes yet another small step towards his
eventual disgraceful downfall that happens a hefty two-hundred pages later.
Interestingly, Farrar was roundly denounced by his contemporaries for his
harrowing descriptions of rampant schoolboy drinking and cheating.
Yet despite Farrar's criticism of Roslyn and of the company of English
school boys, Eric remains a surprisingly good read. Farrar describes public
school life with great familiarity, and amid his forced pathos and barely
disguised lessons, he conveys a sense of innocent fun and childish enjoyment.
The boys enjoy nature walks and boating trips and at times even extract great
satisfaction from their scholarly achievements. Moreover, although Farrar
carefully casts a pious light on every scene, his descriptions of late-night
pillow fights, jaunts to the town pub, even the manner in which the sly,
blackmailing Billy is finally caught, and of course, Eric's brief service as
ship's boy strongly call to mind the scintillating details beloved by penny
dreadfuls. Thus when Dr. Rowlands, Eric's stern House master, takes a night off,
the boys engage in hilarious antics:
It was Mr. Rose's night of duty. He walked slowly up and down the range of
Dormitories until every boy seemed ready to get into bed, and then he put out
all the candles. So long as he was present, the boys observed the utmost quiet
and decorum. All continued quite orderly until he had passed away through the
lavatory, and one of the boys following him as a scout, had seen the last
glimmer of his candle disappear round the corner at the foot of the great
staircase, and heard the library door close behind him.
After that, particularly as Dr. Rowlands was absent, the boys knew that they
were safe from disturbance, and the occupants of No. 7 were the first to
stir.
"Now for some fun," said Duncan, starting up, and by way of initiative
pitching his pillow at Eric's head.
"I'll pay you out for that when I'm ready," said Eric, laughing; "but give us
a match, first."
Duncan produced some several vestas, and no sooner had they lighted their
candle, than several of the dormitory doors began to be thrown open, and one
after another all requested a light, which Duncan and Eric conveyed to them in a
sort of emulous lampadephoria, so that at length all the twelve dormitories had
their sconces lit, and the boys began all sorts of amusement, some in their
night-shirts and others with their trousers slipped on. Leap-frog was the
prevalent game for a time, but at last Graham suggested theatricals, and they
were agreed on. [78]
And again, only a few weeks after this eventful night, the schoolboys
persuade Eric to go to the town pub:
"Well, it's all gone. We must get some brandy — it's cheaper," said Brigson;
and accordingly some brandy was brought in, which the boys diluted with hot
water, and soon dispatched.
"Here! before you're all done swilling," said Brigson, "I've got a health;
'Confound muffs and masters, and success to the anti's."
"And their chairman," suggested Wildney.
"And their chairman, the best fellow in the school," added Brigson.
The health was drunk with due clamor, and Eric got up to thank them.
"I'm not going to spout," he said; "but boys must be boys, and there's no
harm in a bit of fun. I for one have enjoyed it, and am much obliged to you for
asking me; and now I call for a song."
"Wildney! Wildney's song," called several.
Wildney had a good voice, and struck up, without the least bashfulness --
"Come, landlord, fill the flowing bowl,
Until it does run overt
Come, landlord, fill," &c
"Now," he said, "join in the chorus!" The boys, all more or less excited,
joined in heartily and uproariously —
"For to-night we'll merry merry be!
For to-night we'll merry merry be!
For to-night we'll merry merry be!
To-morrow we'll be sober" [161-62]
Farrar carefully recounts these episodes only to denounce each event as
immoral — Eric is invariably caught or claims responsibility for each debacle
and duly punished while his superior friends pray for his salvation — he
nonetheless makes them very entertaining, which probably explains why Eric
enjoyed such popularity in the mid nineteenth-century. The pious moral tone
underlying every jaunt must have appealed to adults while there remains just
enough excitement to satisfy youthful readers.
Finally, it is interesting that Farrar, who is obviously deeply religious,
has Eric describes his final disgrace by referring to Tennyson's cursed Lady of
Shalott:
"The curse has come upon me," cried
The Lady of Shallott.
Like the Lady confined to her tapestry and her tower, the bulk of Eric's
adventures occur within an enclosed, protected world. The academic walls of
Roslyn are his tower of Shalott, and his precipitous escape into the outside
world brings about his early death. Eric loses his health in the squalid
conditions in "the foul, horrible hold of the 'Stormy Petrel'" (258). Having
travelled a full circle from the maternal, loving atmosphere of Fairholm Cottage
to the boisterous schoolboy environment at Roslyn to the rough company of male
crew on board the Stormy Petrel, Eric returns to his childhood home to die, "oh,
happy, happy at last — too happy!" surrounded by his female relatives and his
school companions.