Fagging, a peculiar system of service in vogue in English public schools, as at Eton, Harrow, Rugby, and Winchester. On entering school each boy is assigned as a fag or servant to an upper class man. He is required to black shoes, toast bread, brush clothing, run errands, chase balls, carry books; in short, to perform all sorts of menial services for his superior, under whom he is a sort of body servant. Under ideal conditions a little fellow is supposed to be very proud of the tall, distinguished student for whom he fags and from whom he receives protection in the rough and tumble of school life. Friendships formed in this way have continued through life. Dicky Steele, the author of The Tale of a Tub and promoter of The Spectator, was Joe Addison's fag at the Charterhouse School at London. If the truth were known, many an appointment to public position has been made by reason of an attachment formed when the candidate was a fag in a public school. On the other hand, the large students sometimes proved harsh and even brutal in their treatment of the little chaps entrusted to their care. The custom is less prevalent than it once was. An excellent account of fagging may be found in Tom Brown's School Days at Rugby. A mendacious servant in Sheridan's comedy of The Rivals is called "Fag."