Food parcels from home were a noted feature of life in private schools - sharing his cake would have helped young Gilpin to make friends. Likewise, the gift for the master was offered in the hope that the boy would be well treated. Boys were often badly treated by their fellows and masters - a phenomenon discussed in popular novels of the 19th century, notably by Charles Dickens in Nicholas Nickleby (published 1838/9) and later by Thomas Hugh's in Tom Brown's Schooldays which was informed by his own schooldays during 1834 to 1842