Few of the old Court customs practised in past years were more curious than that of “whipping by proxy.” It appears that the office of whipping-boy doomed its unfortunate occupant to undergo all the corporal punishment which the heir-apparent to the throne—whose proper person was, as the Lord’s anointed, considered sacred—might chance to incur “in the course of travelling through his grammar and prosody.”

One of the most celebrated instances of the observance of this custom was the appointment of Barnaby Fitzpatrick as King Edward VI.’s whipping-boy, to which we find numerous allusions. Thus, Burnet[126] says, “This Fitzpatrick did afterwards fully answer the opinion this young king had of him. He was bred up with him in learning; and, as it is said, had been his whipping-boy who, according to the rule of educating our princes, was always to be whipped for the King’s faults. He was afterwards made by Queen Elizabeth, Baron of Upper Ossory in Ireland, which was his native country.”

Strype[127] makes several allusions to Barnaby Fitz{307}patrick, and relates how he was “much favoured by King Edward VI., having been bred up with him from a child. Him the King sent into the French king’s Court, furnished him with instructions under his own hand for his behaviour there, appointed him four servants, gave him three hundred French crowns in his purse, and a letter to the French king in his favour, declaring that the King had sent him thither to remain in his Court to learn fashions, for the better serving him at his return.”

Burnet,[128] further speaking of Elizabeth Dysart, who afterwards became Duchess of Lauderdale, tells us that her father, William Murray, had been page and whipping-boy to Charles I. But, as it has been pointed out, we hear nothing of such an office being held by any one in the household of Prince Henry, the elder brother of Charles I.

It appears, too, that it was customary to have such a substitute in France, for Fuller says that D’Ossat and Du Perron, afterwards cardinals, were whipped by Clement VIII. for Henry IV. of France. Louis XIV., however, on one occasion when he was conscious of his want of education, exclaimed, “Est ce qu’il n’y avait point de verges dans mon royaume, pour me forcer à étudier?”—a remark which seems to show that such a practice was not always observed in France.

It may be remembered how Sir Walter Scott,[129] on introducing Sir Mungo Malagrowther, of Girnigo Castle, to his readers, gives a graphic account of{308} this custom. After narrating how he had been early attached to Court in the capacity of whipping-boy to King James VI., and trained to polite learning with his Majesty, by his celebrated preceptor, George Buchanan, he adds: “Under his stern rule—for he did not approve of the vicarious mode of punishment—James bore the penance of his own faults, and Mungo Malagrowther enjoyed a sinecure. But James’s other pedagogue, Master Patrick Young, went more ceremoniously to work, and appalled the very soul of the youthful king by the floggings which he bestowed on the whipping-boy when the royal task was not suitably performed. And be it told to Sir Mungo’s praise that there were points about him in the highest respect suited to his official situation. He had, even in youth, a naturally irregular and grotesque set of features which, when distorted by fear, pain, and anger, looked like one of the whimsical faces which present themselves in Gothic architecture. His voice was also high-pitched and querulous, so that when smarting under Master Peter Young’s unsparing inflictions, the expression of his grotesque physiognomy, and the superhuman yells which he uttered, were well suited to produce all the effects on the monarch who deserved the lash, that could possibly be produced by seeing another and an innocent individual suffering for his derelict.”

We can easily understand that such a custom would afford our old dramatists abundant opportunity for enlivening their audience by the witty introduction of it, as they generally contrived to{309} gain popularity for their performances by upholding or ridiculing any foolish usage of the time. In an old play, entitled “When You See Me, You Know Me,” the custom is thus noticed:—

“Prince (Edward VI.). Why, how now, Browne! What’s the matter?

“Browne. Your grace loiters, and will not ply your book, and your tutors have whipped me for it.

“Prince. Alas, poor Ned! I am sorry for it; I’ll take the more pains, and entreat my tutors for thee. Yet, in troth, the lectures they read me last night out of Virgil and Ovid I am perfect in, only I confess I am behind in my Greek authors.

“Will (Summers). And for that speech they have decli............