Harrow School at Harrow on the Hill, Middlesex (now a part of
London), is one of the oldest and most respected public schools
in England. It was founded in 1572 by the yeoman-farmer John
Lyon, who is buried nearby at the parish church of St Mary.
There is a fine memorial to him there by John Flaxman; like many
other Flaxman memorials, this tells the story of a life well
spent. One of the three pupils in the sculptured relief looks up
at the still youthful Lyon in wide-eyed reverence, while the two
boys beside him are preoccupied with (probably) construing their
Greek or Latin text. Inside the original Harrow School building,
known as "Old Schools," is the old Fourth Form. Here, like Lyon
in the memorial, the headmaster would have been enthroned at one
end of the form while the usher would have sat in an armchair at
the other. The most interesting part of this room now is the
black panelling, on which many famous Old Harrovians, including
Sheridan and Byron, etched their names (Stevenson 70). On an
outside wal