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Dictionary of Phrase and Fable—D

Do-the-Boys' Hall

A school where boys were taken in and done for by a Mr. Squeers, a puffing, ignorant, over-bearing brute, who starved them and taught them nothing. (Dickens: Nicholas Nickleby.)

It is said that Mr. Squeers is a caricature of Mr. Shaw, a Yorkshire schoolmaster; but Mr. Shaw was a kind-hearted man, and his boys were well fed, happy, and not ill-taught. Like Squeers he had only one eye, and like Squeers he had a daughter. It is said that his school was ruined by Dickens's caricature.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
Dot and go One
Dosser
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More on Do-the-Boys' Hall from Infoplease:

  • Do-the-Boys' Hall - Do-the-Boys' Hall A school where boys were taken in and done for by a Mr. Squeers, a puffing, ...
  • Dictionary of Phrase and Fable: D - Definitions, origins, and illustrative excerpts for words, phases, and literary allusions starting with "D"

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