E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
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.)
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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.
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.
