Christ

. See Jesus Christ

Christ's Hospital, a celebrated charity school in Newgate Street, London. The word hospital formerly meant an institution for furnishing hospitality to, or caring for, the needy. Hence the name was given frequently to charity schools. The school was founded in 1653 by Edward VI for orphan children. At some times as many as a thousand boys and girls have been in attendance, receiving board, clothes, and instruction. The boys wear a very noticeable uniform--a long blue woolen coat, with clergyman's bands at the neck, a red leather belt, yellow silk stockings, low shoes, and no hats. From this costume, they have been called Bluecoat boys and the school is commonly known as the Bluecoat School. Many noted Englishmen received their early education at Christ's Hospital--Coleridge, Lamb, and Leigh Hunt among them. In the days of Coleridge and Lamb, the life was a hard one. The food was poor and scanty, the work wearisome, holidays few, and floggings many and severe. In the Essays of Elia Lamb has written an account of this school and his friendships there, under the title, Christ's Hospital Five and Thirty Years Ago. Christ's Hospital has been for some years under a new and much improved scheme of management.