Page:The Cottagers of Glenburnie - Hamilton (1808).djvu/404

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to have neglected his duty, or who permitted the least noise or disturbance in his class, was degraded to the rank of an under-tenant. It became, therefore, his interest not to permit any infringement of the rules. When these were in any instance broken, it became his duty to inform the master, who called the culprit before him, attended by the landlord and tenants of his class. If the tenants who formed his jury found him guilty of the charge, sentence of punishment was immediately pronounced; if idleness was the crime, the culprit was obliged to sit in a corner, having his eyes blindfolded, and his hands tied across: if disobedience had been proved against him, he was imprisoned in a large chair turned to the wall: and if noise, he was obliged to carry a drum upon his back round the school. Nor after punishment did a boy immediately regain his rank; he was obliged to sit apart from his companions the whole of the following day, without being per-