E THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES Ex Libris SIR MICHAEL SADLER ACQUIRED 1948 WITH THE HELP OF ALUMNI OF THE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION ANNALS OF WESTMINSTER SCHOOL gt'EEX ELIZAIiElH FROM A PAINTING AT THK SCHOOL ANNALS OF WESTMINSTER SCHOOL JOHN SARGEAUNT T / 37 ?X e '' "AA.* dyaBrj HOM. Od. ix. 27 METHUEN & CO. 36 ESSEX STREET, W.C. LONDON 1898 Education Library LF 195 PREFACE T HAVE gratefully to acknowledge my obligations -* to some of my friends. I am especially indebted to Mr. William Kneen, who most kindly placed his skilful pencil at my service. His drawings (those facing pp. 44, 202, 224, 244, 252, 256, 258, and 261) represent subjects of interest, most of which have not been previously used in illustration of the School. Mr. Kneen has also given me most effective help in dealing with the other illustrations. I am also indebted to Mr. W. N. Just for assistance with the proofs, and to the unvarying kindness of Dr. Rutherford. Something I owe to the tenacious memories of my own kinsmen and connexions among Old Westminsters. J. S. Westminster, 1898. A 2 CONTENTS CHAPTER I. PAGE THE SCHOOL BEFORE ELIZABETH Its Origines Its Dependence upon Monastery and Chapter Dissolu- tion of the Monastery and Foundation of the College Nowell The Scholars Their Allowances Restoration of the Monastery Udal . . . . ... I CHAPTER II. ELIZABETH Monastery Suppressed New Foundation Statutes Revenues Headmastership Payment of Masters Queen's Scholars and Town Boys Tutors School Buildings Hall Common Life Celibacy Dormitory and other Buildings Christ Church and Trinity Election Competition Maunday Money Challenge Liberty Boy Ages at Admission Preference for Oxford Country and Town The Plague House at Chiswick . . 9 CHAPTER III. THE EARLY CURRICULUM Morning First Lessons Gustos Breakfast Authors Read Greek Dinner Afternoon Lessons Supper Friday's Corrections Sunday Bevers Station Monitors Holidays The Play . 36 CHAPTER IV. 1572-1622 Grant, Head Master Greek Camden, Head Master His Prose- lytes Third Master Change of Schoolroom Difficulties with Christ Church and Trinity Benefactors Ireland, Head Master Pensions Title of Queen's Scholars The Plague Gun- powder Plot Wilson, Head Master . . 51 viii CONTENTS PACK CHAPTER V. WILLIAMS AND OSBALDESTON Osbaldeston's Politics His Friendship with Williams Heylyn A Royal Commission Laud the Persecutor Osbaldeston's Punishment His Pupils Cowley Cartwright Osbaldeston's Teaching Geography The Play Disuse of Common Life Epigrams Class of Boys at the School Westminsters at Christ Church Bishop's Boys . . ... 65 CHAPTER VI. BUSBY His Appointment His previous Career Political Changes The Committee The Covenant Governing Body The Engage- ment Bagshaw The School's Loyalty Its Catholicity Christ Church Students The Restoration Westminsters at Oxford Dolben Huguenots Coronation of James II. The Revolution Busby's Last Years Curtain Story Benefactors Boarders Fees Masters' Incomes Busby's Expenditure on the School The Library Opposition of Academies Classes of Boys Distinctions of Rank Boarding-houses Preparatory Schools . . . . ... 79 CHAPTER VII. THE CURRICULUM UNDER BUSBY Busby's Qualities His Freshness of Mind Hebrew Arabic English Pronunciation of Latin and Greek Mathematics Private Study Little Tutor Objectors to Busby's Method: Cowley, Locke His later Teaching Music Games . . 113 CHAPTER VIII. KNIPE, FREIND, AND ATTERBURY Knipe's Age His Boys Election Scholarship of the School The Shell Freind, Head Master His Qualities Politics Members of the School Sir Robert Walpole's Hostility Its Failure- Decay of the Dormitory Hannes's Legacy Dispute in the Chapter Atterbury, Dean Appeal to the King Wren's De- sign Lord Burlington New Buildings begun More Difficulties Completion of the Work Mon6s Play Scenery Epilogues Town Boy Plays New Customs The Westminster Gather- ing Freind's Preferments Incidents of School Life Funerals of South and Addison Catholicity of the School Dames' Houses Fees Shadow and Substance Holidays Diet- Squibs Challenge A Benefactor . . . 135 CONTENTS ix CHAPTER IX. NICOLL His previous Career and Name His Character Effect on the School Character of the Age Chesterfield's View The School and the World Relaxed Discipline Vincent Bourne Teaching Dick Sutton Cowper Nonsense Club Westminsters at Oxford Composition Hebrew Latin Greek Carteret Parents' Motives Fame of the School Nicoll's Latter Days Pre- paratory Schools A Benefactor Games School Gate . 165 CHAPTER X. MARKHAM AND SMITH Markham's Character Demolition of the Old Dormitory Green Play Scenery Epilogues Macaronics Distinctions of Rank Bentham Bicentenary Hinchliffe Smith, Head Master George III. A Whig School School Life Turbulence The Trifler Soldiers India The Hastings Cup The Curriculum Verses French Games Smith's Boys Benefactors . .189 CHAPTER XI. VINCENT, CAREY, AND PAGE Vincent's lifelong Connexion with the School His Qualities Southey Religious Teaching A Controversy Spoken Latin Town Boys' Play Benefactors Carey's early Career Young Boys "Mills" Rough Life Amusements Longevity Plays Fields Carey's Boys His Benefaction Walls of School Page's Character Water . . ... 207 CHAPTER XII. THE SCHOOL'S DECLINE Its Difficulties The Chapter Revenues Ecclesiastical Commission Scholarships less Valuable Dormitory Boarding-houses Growth of the City Bad State of the School Athletics- Cricket Water The Play Wilberforce and Buckland, Deans Visitation of the Crown Liddell, Head Master . . 229 CHAPTER XIII. THE SCHOOL'S REVIVAL Proposal to Abolish the Play Reforms of the Chapter Choristers Sanitation Liddell's Reforms Growth in Numbers Games The Crimean Monument Scott, Head Master His Character Play Scenery Trinity and Christ Church Gymnasium Class Rooms Public Schools Commission Act of 1868 En- largement of the School Ashburnham House College Garden Challenge Election Abolition of Under School Games Last Words . . . ... 244 CONTENTS PACK Lists . . . . ... 265 Note on the Westminster Pronunciation of Latin . . . 273 I. Chapter Acts on Bevers and Commons . ... 277 II. Consuetudinarium of the Early Part of the Seventeenth Century . . .... 278 III. A School Exercise of Cowley's . ... 282 IV. Letter of Charles I. on the Westminster Supper . . 283 V. Accounts of Francis Lynn . .... 284 VI. Extracts from Letters of Lady Caithness . . . 287 VII. Atterbury's Memorial to George I. . ... 289 VIII. Description of the Forms in Freind's time . . . 290 IX. Chapter Act Relating to Markham's Improvements . . 291 X. Inscription on the Warren Hastings Cup . ... 292 XI. Prologues to Town Boy Plays . ... 292 ILLUSTRATIONS Queen Elizabeth Dean Goodman The Old Dormitory College Hall (interior) . A Black Jack . School . College Hall (exterior) . . . Busby . Coronation of James II. The Busby Library Westminster in 1650 Atterbury . Wren's Dormitory (exterior) Wren's Dormitory (interior) Nicoll . Westminster in 175 The School Gateway Little Dean's Yard The "Warren Hastings" Cup Vincent . Tuttle Fields . Marbles in Cloisters A Window Up School . Water . The Cloisters . The Star Chamber Doorcase in the School The Gymnasium . . , Staircase in Ashburnham House . , In Ashburnham House . The Abbey from the Drawing School Dr. Rutherford Frontispiece Face page n 20 41 44 56 . 64 80 95 ioi 112 ,, 143 146 ,, ISO 165 172 188 191 202 > 207 ,, 216 221 ,, 224 226 M 229 , 244 >, 252 M 256 2 5 8 26l ANNALS OF WESTMINSTER SCHOOL CHAPTER I. THE SCHOOL BEFORE ELIZABETH Its Origines Its Dependence upon Monastery and Chapter Dis- solution of the Monastery and Foundation of the College Nowell The Scholars Their Allowances Restoration of the Monastery Udal. T N some public documents, notably in the Act of * Uniformity, the Royal College of Westminster is associated with William of Wykeham's College at Win- chester and Henry the Sixth's College at Eton. There are some conspicuous points of likeness ; but in its foundation, and, to a less degree, in its history, West- minster differs almost as much from Winchester and Eton as from Harrow and Rugby. The other schools can fix their dates of birth, but the origin of Westmin- ster is lost in the obscurity of the Middle Ages. The beginning of its present life is ascribed to the year 1 560 and the pious bounty of Queen Elizabeth. Knowing this, a young Westminster is sometimes puzzled when he is enjoined to commemorate among his benefactors the name of King Henry the Eighth. In fact, Elizabeth 2 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL did but re-establish, with some change of form, a school founded twenty years earlier by her father, and existing, probably even flourishing, under the rule of her sister and Cardinal Pole. Westminster cannot give to Eliza- beth the single devotion which Winchester owes to William of Wykeham and Eton to the Royal Saint. Even Henry the Eighth himself was not the father of education within the precincts of St. Peter's. Long before the suppression of the Abbey, though perhaps not so early as the days of the Confessor, there was a school of some sort in the cloister. Of the character of that school we know but little. If it was, as some have thought, a school of novices, it was no place of education in any worthy sense of the word. If it was only a singing school, it has no proper place in the pedigree of Westminster. If indeed we could trust Stowe, we could assert that it was something better than either. When King Henry established his school, Stowe was a boy of fifteen. Writing in later life he avers that among the scholars who in his youth gathered for the purpose of disputations in St. Bar- tholomew's Churchyard were the boys of the grammar school of St. Peter's, Westminster. That he regarded the school as no new foundation is certain, for he surmises that of the three great London schools referred to by Fitzstephen in his Life of Archbishop Becket Westminster was one. It is, however, possible that Stowe's memory deceived him. After 1560 the school sprang so rapidly into fame that he may have forgotten that it had no existence in his earliest years. In any case he mistook Fitzstephen, who wrote only of the city of London and not of the city of Westminster. BEFORE ELIZABETH 3 On the other hand, there is some evidence of the existence of a grammar school in connection with the monastery. As early as the reign of Edward III. a salary was paid to an official who is styled " Magister scholarium pro eruditione puerorum grammaticorum" In these teachers of grammar we may find the fore- runners of that illustrious line of head masters which dates from 1540. Another point of difference from Winchester and Eton was the relation of Westminster to the Collegiate Church of St. Peter's. The School was an integral part of the College, and the Dean as head of the College was head also of the School. Apart from the College the School had neither revenues nor local habitation. It was entitled to its share both of money and of buildings, and it had a call upon the services of the Dean and the Prebendaries. In fact, its prosperity depended in no small degree upon the honesty and highmindedness of the Chapter. That dependence the School had for more than two centuries and a half but little cause to regret and much cause to like. The history of Winchester and Eton shows that a governing body created for a school's sake may prefer to exist for its own. If corruption was slower to creep into Westminster, its consequences were for a time more disastrous. There was a brief period in which the Chapter forgot its duties. Unhappily it was the very period when for several reasons the School most needed them. The neglect did not last long. If the School owed its decline in part to the Chapter, it must in part also ascribe its recovery to the Deans who succeeded Ireland and Turton. Whatever part the monks of St. Peter's may have 4 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL taken in the work of education, the history of the School can hardly be carried back beyond the dis- solution of the monastery. Be Henry or Elizabeth its true founder, it is in character and aim essentially a work of the Reformation. In the month of January, 1540, Abbot Benson and his twenty-four monks sur- rendered the Abbey to the King, who at once erected it into a college of secular canons. The new foundation included provision for a school of two masters and forty scholars, and Benson was appointed its Dean. In this form the College lasted only a few months, for in the following December it was changed into a Cathedral and Thomas Thirlby nominated its bishop. Benson retained his Deanery, and the twelve original Preben- daries were named in the foundation deed. In this Charter the King expressed his desire rather to amend than to destroy. One of his objects is expressly de- scribed as the liberal education of youth, and it is implied that such education was no new thing in the precincts of St. Peter's. As the School was already established no special mention is made of it in the deed ; in fact, John Adams, the first Head Master, had already entered upon his work. Three years later he was succeeded by Alexander Nowell, the author of the Catechism and the inventor of bottled beer. Among Nowell's boys was William Harrison, the author of the Description of England. Harrison describes himself as an "unprofitable grammarian." The phrase implies that the curriculum followed that of the numerous grammar schools which already existed in the country. Yet there was a difference. Strype says that Nowell, as Head Master of Westminster, " brought in the read- BEFORE ELIZABETH 5 ing of Terence for the better learning the pure Roman style." The inference has been wrongly drawn that it is to Nowell that the School owes the Play. But the debt to Nowell was none the less considerable. The full bearing of Strype's statement has not always been appreciated. Great as were Colet's services to the cause of education, the curriculum which he estab- lished at St. Paul's was in some points retrogressive. At any rate, he was not afraid of barbarism. He set less store than did Wolsey on a training in pure classics. Nowell must indeed be regarded as the educational successor rather of the Cardinal than of his predecessor in the Deanery of St. Paul's. Colet took his Latin with all the contaminations of the Middle Ages. Nowell, like Wolsey, was determined to go to the pure fountains. In 1550 the bishopric was abolished, and the Dean resumed his full authority. The Dean at the time was Richard Cox, who on Mary's accession was thrown into prison, and afterwards retired to Frankfort. It does not appear that Henry desired to set himself in rivalry with the founders of Winchester and Eton. His foundations or reconstructions at Oxford and Cambridge associated his name with the cause of learning. He had the same object at St. Peter's, but the School was perhaps not his chief means of attain- ing it. The School was smaller than Winchester and Eton, and had a less place in the College of which it formed a part. Had not the King been in his last years when he substituted his own name for Wolsey's, it is possible that he might have exactly followed the 6 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL example of Henry VI. As it was, it was left to his younger daughter to complete his work. Of the management and life of the School in the reigns of Henry and his son it is natural that not many particulars should have come down to us. From later regulations it may be doubtfully inferred that the School was not confined to the forty King's Scholars. Unlike some schools, Westminster did not profess to teach the elements. For the tenure of the scholarships certain qualifications were required, among them being ability to read and write, with some knowledge of grammar, but there was no competitive examination. The Dean nominated four scholars, and each of the Prebendaries three. The list of them was called a " ball," a sense of the word which seems to have escaped the editors of the Oxford dictionary. Some of the Prebendaries regarded their right as a source of profit, and in 1552 the Dean and Chapter decreed that anyone, who could be proved to have received a reward for a nomination, should lose his right for ever. At this time the scholars were in some cases day boys, in others what are now called half-boarders. There was a common table in the College Hall, but commons were kept for only eighty-seven days in the year, and there is no proof of the existence of a dormitory. For each scholar there was a yearly allowance of .3 6s. 46., and the cost of his commons was deducted from this sum, while the remainder was paid to him. Those who boarded at home received 3, while the difference went to the commons of the Fellows or Prebendaries and the general charges of the mess. In order to determine the cost, a scale of prices was fixed from time to time. BEFORE ELIZABETH 7 The actual scale does not usually appear, but in 1550 a bushel of wheat was reckoned at twenty pence, and a barrel of double beer at twice as much. Two yards of broadcloth were priced at eleven shillings, so that if that quantity made a gown, and a gown lasted a year, a scholar would have something left to pay his shoemaker and hosier. These facts show that Elizabeth made at least one great change in the foundation. As a board- ing school Westminster rightly dates from 1560. ^ n *553 Cox was succeeded in the Deanery by Hugh Weston, for the Government had not yet made up its mind to restore the monasteries. The work of the School went on, and its maintenance throughout Mary's reign may be used as an argument for its existence before the dissolution. As, however, the election of scholars was continued in accordance with King Henry's foundation, it is more probable that the Queen and her advisers did not look back to the far past. They were unwilling to abolish a place of educa- tion, even though it rose on the ruins of a monastery. This feeling had one strange effect. Before the end of Weston's reign Nowell was deprived of his prebend and fled to Germany. A successor to the headmastership was appointed, and the successor was a Protestant This was Nicholas Udal, the famous flogging master of Eton, and author of the first English comedy. Able and learned as he was, there are other facts than his Protestantism which make it difficult to explain his appointment. The circumstances in which he departed from Eton had cast a cloud upon his name, and might be thought to disqualify him for further employment. That his rod was not always able to enforce gentle 8 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL behaviour may be inferred from an incident recorded by Henry Machin in 1556: "A boy kyld a byge boye that sold papers and prynted bokes horlynge of a stone and yt d hym under the ere in Westminster Hall : the boy was one of the children that was [at the] sckoll ther in the Abbey." A better example of the West- minsters of Mary's reign is found in Edward Grant, the great Grecian, who in 1572 became Head Master of his old School. It was not until late in 1556 that the monastery was restored. Its mitre was conferred upon John of Feckenham, and a better choice could hardly have been made. If the new Abbot was no favourer of the new churchmanship, at least he was not afraid of the new learning. He seems to have possessed some of the spirit which had made Wolsey a founder of colleges, and to have shown it in his dealings with his own Abbey. His rule, however, lasted little more than two years. There is some evidence that when Udal was Head Master of Eton the study of Greek flourished there, and afterwards decayed. It is possible that he brought Greek to Westminster. It will at any rate be shown that after Elizabeth's accession Greek at once took a very considerable place in the curriculum of the School. It cannot, however, be proved that before that time Greek was studied in other books than the New Testament Of Latin books Westminster soon began to put forth its own editions. Udal's Flowers for Latin Speaking Gathered out of Terence was published in 1560. It will be seen that English had to yield place to Latin in colloquial use. CHAPTER II. ELIZABETH Monastery suppressed New Foundation Statutes Revenues Headmastership Payment of Masters Queen's Scholars and Town boys Tutors School Buildings Hall Common Life Celibacy Dormitory and other Buildings Christ Church and Trinity Election Competition Maunday Money Challenge Liberty Boy Ages at Admission Preference for Oxford Country and Town The Plague House at Chiswick. r I ""HE accession of Elizabeth was accepted by many, -*- whom it threatened with degradation and ruin. In the Church of St. Peter's there must have been much apprehension of change ; but even the monks felt that, however changed in form, Westminster must keep an eminent place in the new order. In 1559 the bolt fell. The Abbot was planting elms in the yard when news was brought him that his monastery was dissolved. The news can hardly have been unex- pected, and the old man was not to be deterred from continuing his work. He was well assured, he said, that that church would always be kept for an encour- agement and seat of learning. His confidence was justified. In the following year the College of St. Peter's was refounded by letters patent. In some points Elizabeth's constitution differed but little from her father's, but the School took a much higher place in it. The College was now to consist of a Dean, 9 io WESTMINSTER SCHOOL twelve secular Canons or Prebendaries, two School- masters, and forty scholars, together with petty canons and other inferior members. Large estates were as- signed to the College, together with the Abbey Church and such of the monastic buildings as still stood. Although Elizabeth was willing to take the credit of a foundress, there was something of filial duty in her reconstruction of the College. Her father on founding the bishopric had explicitly stated the pur- poses of his foundation. The chief of them were the ministry of the services of the Church, the liberal edu- cation of youth, and the sustenance of aged servants of the Crown. Elizabeth acted in her father's spirit, and showed, both in the terms of her foundation and in many acts during her long reign, that she regarded the prosperity of the School as of equal importance with the ministry of the College Church. The deed which founded the College did not contain statutes for its management. The first Dean of the re-established Church was William Bill, who was also Provost of Eton and Master of Trinity. Bill was no unworthy occupant of the place. He was an adherent of the new learning and a reformer, who had suffered something for conscience sake in the late reign. To him it was apparently left to draw up statutes for the administration of the college. Bill, however, survived his promotion little more than a twelvemonth. The statutes bear marks of his hand, especially in the adoption of the Eton curriculum, but in the form which they finally took they seem to have been the work of his successor, Gabriel Goodman. The new DEAN GOODMAN FROM A DRAWING BV G. P. HARDING AFTER THR ORIGINAL riCTI'RE AT RUTIIIN ELIZABETH n Dean was a dependant of Cecil's, and owed his pro- motion to his patron, while his Welsh birth found him favour in the eyes of the Tudor Queen. Cecil was a patron and benefactor of the School, and has even been credited with the design of making it the nucleus of a university. His appointment of Goodman was made in a fortunate hour. The new Dean was but little over thirty, and had no desire for a greater place. Remain- ing in the Deanery for forty years he was able to guide the College through its tender youth and establish a constitution, under which it flourished for nearly three centuries. It is said that the statutes were never formally ratified by the Queen. It is possible that she meant to keep a free hand during her lifetime. Indeed, she sometimes set the statutes aside. For instance, they provided that the Head Master should be a clerk in orders, but in 1593 the Queen procured the place for Camden, who, although he was at one time a Prebendary of Salisbury, remained a layman to his death. In the same way the clause which excluded the wealthier classes from the Queen's Scholarships was deliberately ignored. With these exceptions the statutes were practically recognized in letters patent both of Eliza- beth herself and of subsequent sovereigns. Three centuries later the legal advisers of the Crown declared that such parts of the statutes as had been consistently observed had the force of law. Apart from the College the School had no indepen- dent existence or revenues. Nor was the distribution of the revenues fully prescribed by the deed of founda- 12 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL tion. Payments to the different members of the College were fixed by the statutes. The Head Master received as salary 12 a year, raised to 20 before the statutes took their final form. He had also 1 ics. od. for his gown, and 6 is. 8d. for commons. The Second Master's fees were 7 6s. 8d., 1 35. 4d., and 6 is. 8d. The forty Scholars had each 3 os. lod. for commons and two marks for gowns. The gown of course was no mere ornament worn over the coat, but the chief part of the raiment. It survives in the blue coat of Christ's Hospital. The sums paid to the Masters and Scholars amounted to nearly one-fourth of the total payments made to the Dean, Prebendaries, and other members and officers of the College. The general charges, including the maintenance of the fabric, were not inconsiderable. Of the whole revenue it would seem that about one-tenth was appropriated to the uses of the School. Unfortunately it was not foreseen that while the value of money fell there would be a large increase in the revenues. The control of the revenues remained with the Chapter. It will be seen how in course of time the Dean and Prebendaries came to treat the surplus as their own. For more than three centuries they left the Head Master's salary at 20, even when each Prebendary was receiving sixty times his statutory salary. Nor was there in this point any change until the Public Schools Act took the control out of the Chapter's hands. The appointment to the headmastership rested alter- nately with the Dean of Christ Church and the Master of Trinity, subject to the approval of the Dean of ELIZABETH 13 Westminster. In early times the influence of the Crown was sometimes employed. After Busby's time this principle fell into abeyance. Indeed, from 1610 to 1764 the Head Master was invariably a Westminster student of Christ Church. The duties of the Head Master were defined with details that seemed to credit him with little enterprise. Not only was he enjoined to instruct in the tongues, in the poets and the orators, and to mould morals and manners, but he was to enforce cleanliness of skin and neatness of dress, hair, and nails. Above all he was to take care that no pediculi were to offend by presence on a boy or transition to his neighbour. Those were days when the Laus Pediculi had not only the humour which still provokes a smile, but also the practical application of which modern habits have deprived it. More than a century later Aubrey, in his sketch of education, would have his butler "to be a barber to shave the boys' heads and keep them free from '' that which is best named in Latin. In addition to their fixed stipends the Masters had their profits from their boarders. The payment was in- adequate, and they took means to supplement it. Every boy in the School was supposed to give a Christmas gift to each of the Masters. Practically the gift was a compulsory payment. In Busby's time the Head Master received a guinea, the Second Master half a guinea, and the Usher a crown, but the Usher had nothing from the forty Scholars. It is probable that the payment was originally less, but the sum is not known. After twenty-four years of service as Second i 4 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL Master and Head Master, Camden was able to declare that he had gathered a contented sufficiency by his long labours in the School. This he could hardly have done save by the Christmas gifts. Under the new foundation the Queen's Scholars were to be boarders. It was thus necessary to provide them with lodgings. The addition of Town boys to the previous foundation also called for an increase in the space occupied by the School. Indeed, though Elizabeth was not the first foundress of the College, she was none the less the real mother of the School. Her father's foundation had provided for forty Scholars and no more. Such a diminutive school could never hope to take a leading place. Elizabeth had other aims. The statutes, framed in accordance with them, enjoined that the Queen's Scholars should be chosen from boys who had already been at least a year in the School. It was thus necessary to make regulations for those who came to be known as Town boys. They were divided into three classes, Pensioners, Peregrines, and Oppidans. The Pensioners boarded with the Dean, one of the Prebendaries, or one of the Masters. The Dean might take six, the Head Master four, and the Second Master and each Prebendary two each. There could thus be thirty-six in all, but it is doubtful if there was ever the full number. Some of them had commons with the Queen's Scholars. In 1566 the number of those who had this privilege was limited to fourteen, the Dean to have two, and each Prebendary one. The Head Master's Pensioners no doubt lodged in his house, and the Second Master found room for two in his ELIZABETH 15 tower. The Dean's Pensioners are supposed to have been, like the Warden's Commensales at Winchester, boys of superior rank. This is probable, but can hardly be asserted as truth. David Barry, a son of David Barry, Viscount Buttevant, was a Dean's Pensioner in 1600. Robert Cecil sent him and paid for him. With the decay of celibacy Pensioners were taken only by the Masters. The name died out, and with the Peregrines they became known as boarders. The Pensioners were intermediate between the Queen's Scholars, who were full members of the foundation, and the Peregrines and Oppidans, who were not on the foundation at all. Their membership of the College was like that of commoners at Oxford and pensioners at Cambridge. While the Queen's Scholars were said to be "admitted" into the College, the Pensioners were " received " as " studiorum socii" The Oppidans were the sons of residents in Westminster and the neighbourhood, the Peregrines country boys, who boarded with kinsmen or friends. The Oppidans thus answered to the present home boarders. The Choristers were only so far members of the School that they were to attend lessons during two hours on each week-day. Before doing this they were to have received a preparatory training in grammar. Godfrey Goodman, the Dean's nephew, and afterwards Bishop of Gloucester, started his Westminster career as a Choir boy. It was provided that the members of the School should never exceed one hundred and twenty beside the Choristers, but this provision became obsolete in the Queen's reign. The limitation was made in the 16 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL interest of the Masters, but it will be shown that an addition to the original staff soon made it unnecessary. Had it been observed, the Queen's real intentions would never have been fulfilled. Of one class of persons attached to the College the position has not been satisfactorily explained. The weakness of early years, say the statutes, needs the advice and wisdom of the elders. Every Queen's Scholar and Pensioner had, therefore, to be under the guidance of a tutor. The tutor was responsible for the pupil's behaviour and, a matter of equal importance to the College, for his dues and charges. The tutor supplied his pupil with raiment, bedding, and other necessaries, and in case of sickness took the boy away. The tutors seem also to have exercised some general supervision over their pupils' studies. They do not seem to have been necessarily members of the College, and it may be that we find in them the predecessors of the Assistant Masters. It has been asserted that in monastic times the west cloister was used as the schoolroom. However that may have been, the expulsion of the monks left ample room for the needs of the new foundation. The Abbot's public refectory became the dining-hall of the College, while the granary was used as the dormitory and living room of the Queen's Scholars. Both the granary and the Hall had been built by Abbot Litlington in the latter half of the fourteenth century. The Hall stands near the south-west corner of the Church, and north of it, under the same roof, is Jerusalem Chamber. The Hall was, in fact, part of ELIZABETH 17 the Dean's house, and long continued to be so. In 1640, when Dean Williams was suspended and sent to the Tower, Laud obtained from the King leave for Archbishop Usher to occupy the Deanery. When Usher complained that he could not get the keys of it, Laud wrote to him that he might dwell in the house, where there was room enough for him, but the keys he could not have, " for the King's Scholars must come thither daily to dinner and supper in the Hall, and the butler and other officers must come in to attend them, and to this end there is a porter by office and oath, that keeps the keys." At first the Queen's Scholars were not alone at their meals. In accordance with collegiate use the Dean, if he chose, the four Prebendaries in residence, and the other members and servants of the College, took their meals in common ; for these all, except the Queen's Scholars, paid in certain proportions. In the case of the Scholars the allowance for commons was taken as covering the cost, but on any dispersion of the School, as for the plague, they received each a shilling a week to feed them at home. In 1564 it was arranged that on default of any Prebendary in residence the Head Master should preach in his place and receive his commons free. At other times the Head Master paid three shillings and sixpence a week, a sum which exceeded his allowance by something more than a shilling. In 1594 the Queen expressed her desire that the Head Master should have his commons free, and the Chapter accordingly granted a patent for them to Camden. This right was continued C i8 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL to his successors. The Under Master did not obtain his commons free until the Prebendaries generally ceased to take their meals in Hall. Of the thirty-six Pensioners two of the Dean's and one of each of the Prebendaries' received their commons free. For the other twenty-two payment seems to have been made at the weekly rate of one shilling and ninepence apiece. Choristers were admitted to the Scholars' commons in 1605. As the College was bound to show hospitality, the sums paid did not cover the total cost of commons, and the deficiency was made good in money or kind out of the general revenues. Some members of the College were enjoined to show their gratitude by gifts. Within a month of his admis- sion the Dean was to present a silver-gilt spoon of the value of thirteen and fourpence, and a silver-gilt cup of the value of six pounds ; and each Prebendary a silver spoon worth ten shillings, and two pounds ten towards the price of a cup. Pensioners were to contribute twenty shillings towards the price of a cup or salt- cellar, and to pay one shilling quarterly to the cost of their commons. If the School ever had the use of these gifts, it must have lost it with the discontinuance of the common life. It was not till 1697 that the King's Scholars were allowed the use of a spoon. In that year the butler was directed on the admission of a Scholar to "deliver to him a spoon and no more to be allowed at the College charge." The common life of the College of course required celibacy, and celibacy the Foundress was determined to enforce. In August, 1561, she issued an order, ELIZABETH 19 addressed to the Archbishops, and forbidding the resort of women to the lodgings of cathedrals or colleges on any pretence. The rule of celibacy no doubt obtained throughout her reign, but it hardly survived her. Andrewes, who was Dean at the time of her death, died a bachelor, and Montaigne and Williams, who held the Deanery from 1610 down to the Civil War, followed his example, but Neile, who preceded Mon- taigne, had a wife. The Head Masters held out longer, for it would seem that they were bachelors till the year 1695. The dissolution of the common life began with the Prebendaries and the Second Masters. Thomas Hardinge, who became Second Master in 1610, was a married man, and "had his abode in his own familie." It is possible that an Usher occupied the tower, though years later complaint was made that the Second Master's absence had ruined discipline in the dormitory. In 1631 most of the Prebendaries were married men, and made their wives an excuse for the neglect of their duties. The common life was most evident in the College meals. In their own dwelling the Queen's Scholars were under the sole control of the Second Master. The ancient granary, which was assigned as the place of their sleep and private studies, stood some little way to the south-west of the Hall, on what is now the open space of Dean's Yard. It was a substantial edifice built on stone arches, with a habitable tower at one end. Its selection for the Scholars' dormitory was the work of Dean Bill, and his bounty supplied it with furniture ; but it is doubtfully asserted that the 20 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL room was not occupied by the boys until the time of Gabriel Goodman, who in 1561 succeeded Bill in the Deanery. The actual dormitory was one chamber, known for at least a century as the Long Room. The rooms in the tower were occupied by the Under Master. The present dormitory has for some time been known in common parlance as "College," but the name seems never to have been attached to its predecessor. The reason is obvious. For two centuries or more "College" was the ordinary designation both of the whole society and of the buildings occupied by it. Dean, Prebend- aries, and Masters habitually dated their letters from " Westminster College," and historians and biographers hardly used any other name for it. In formal and correct use the whole School is still described as St. Peter's College, Westminster. The ancient buttery became what it has ever since been, the Head Master's house, while some other room was used as the actual place of teaching. It was not well fitted for its purpose. It was small and low, and the School soon outgrew it. It was, however, in use for some forty years. There was, of course, no thought of providing form -rooms, and the whole School was taught under a single roof. This was accounted an essential part of the common life. The Hall was heated by an open fire under a louvre. The louvre still exists, but a stove with a subterranean chimney took the place of the open fire in 1848. Logs were burned both in the Hall and in the kitchen, sea- coal not finding its way into the kitchen until 1606. In the dormitory it is doubtful if any means were taken to ELIZABETH 21 keep out the frost. After a time the Chapter made an allowance of logs, but the number was insufficient, and the boys paid for the necessary supplement. It was part of Elizabeth's scheme to bring her College of St. Peter's into close union with her father's founda- tions of Christ Church in Oxford and Trinity College in Cambridge. In this she was following the examples of William of Wykeham and Henry VI., but with this difference, that she imposed upon a College in either University an obligation which her predecessors had limited to one. The red rose was to be brighter than the white and to outshine the mitre. Three Scholars at the least were to be elected annually on to the founda- tion of Christ Church, and three to the foundation of Trinity. The letters patent, by which this Election was prescribed, expressed the Queen's wish that even more should be chosen. Such royal mandates were not infrequently issued without much regard to the means of obeying them. The right to Election was confined to the Queen's Scholars, and was not thrown open to the Town boys until 1873. As the choice of Students to Christ Church and pro- spective Scholars to Trinity took place at the School, there was every year a two-fold Election. The boys who stood for admission to College were called minor candidates, while those who desired to be " sped away," as the phrase ran, to Oxford or Cambridge, were known, as they still are, as major candidates. Of both the minor and the major candidates the choice originally lay with the same Electors. These were seven men, chosen from the three royal Colleges. From St. Peter's 22 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL were the Dean or his deputy, the Head Master, and another, usually a Prebendary. The Dean of Christ Church and the Master of Trinity, appearing in person or by deputy, brought each a Master of his own house. The Electors from Oxford and Cambridge were to receive a reasonable sum for expenses from the funds of St. Peter's College. At Election former Queen's Scholars were invited to dinner by the College, and during the meal the boys regaled them with epigrams. The "cap" which goes round after dinner was probably an early institution, but, as the money was divided, no boy's purse was as full as the Etonian's who profited by montem. On the Tuesday the Electors were in School, and the boys recited declamations on appointed theses. These verses were usually from the Master's pen, but occasionally a candidate wrote his own. This custom ceased in the early part of the present century. On the Wednesday the major candidates elected to Christ Church and Trinity took their leave with declamations delivered "up School" to the Dean, Prebendaries, Masters, and boys. The principles of Election on to the foundation were prescribed by the statutes, and ratified by letters patent issued in 1 576. Special regard was to be paid to a boy's intellect, learning, character, and want of means. No one of these claims was to have more weight than another. A preference, however, was given to the Choristers and to sons of tenants of the College. It has been asserted that only the Pensioners were eligible. This is an error founded on a misreading of the statutes. There were, ELIZABETH 23 however, some further restrictions. No boy was to be admitted before eight years of age, nor until he had been a whole year in the School. Not more than one could be taken from any one county at the same Election, and no owner of or heir apparent to a property exceed- ing ten pounds a year was eligible. These last restric- tions, if they were ever observed, soon fell into abeyance, and the change in the value of money would have made the latter unduly harsh. In fact, from the beginning V J some of the Scholars were not sons of poor parents. Most of them would be technically described as plebeiorum filii, and some were of narrow means. These shared in Robert Nowell's benefaction. Nowell, who died in 1569, left money to give gowns to the poor scholars of schools about London. Giles Ascham, the son of Elizabeth's tutor, whose widow was left in poverty, owed his Queen's Scholarship to the interces- sion of Burleigh. On the other hand, the College was y not five years old when it admitted a son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal. The Queen was too wise to desire that the younger sons of the ' governing class should be excluded from an intellectual . atmosphere. The minimum of knowledge that qualified a boy for a Scholarship was acquaintance with the eight parts of speech, and ability to write at least moderately. Although the Queen's Scholars were elected from Town boys of at least a year's standing, the same qualifications were required for admission to the School. Though some of the boys may have been trained at home, the regulation clearly implies the existence of H WESTMINSTER SCHOOL preparatory schools. These must have been the small grammar schools and Church schools in London and elsewhere, which for a time served as a nursery for Westminster. In one point Election at Westminster stood alone. It followed, at least nominally, on a competitive examina- tion. This was a novel principle, of which the credit is probably to be assigned to Bill or Goodman. It was a principle which some at least of the Electors and many parents could hardly bring themselves to recognize. The Prebendary, who acted as an Elector, thought himself entitled to nominate a Scholar, and interest was very often employed to obtain a Scholar's place. Nor did the principle find imitators elsewhere. In 1864 the Commissioners reported that " until lately the foundation at Westminster was the single one among all the public schools to which admission was obtained by competition." It is perhaps worth while remarking that competition is a method which to a superficial observer is not to the interests of the less wealthy. If a place on an educa- tional foundation be viewed as a gift of charity, it is not sought by those whose means can send them to the School without it. Of the present King's Scholars of Eton not a few would before the establishment of competition have refrained from seeking a place in the College. The plebei filius would have stepped in before them unchallenged. It may, however, well be doubted if a restriction of the competition be really to the interest of those who seem to gain by it The " mute inglorious Milton " is a creature of fiction. There may ELIZABETH 25 be quoted now, as there may be quoted again, the witty saying of a Westminster Scholar. " Many a boy," said South, " runs his head against a pulpit who might have done his country excellent service at the plough-tail." Westminster was less obnoxious to his reproach than any other School. Not a few of her ablest Scholars were the sons of poor parents, but she has seldom been induced by the mere plea of poverty to bestow a gift whose momentary delight was to be followed by a life- time of bitterness. Nor has wealth been accounted a good ground for exclusion. Granville Leveson-Gower, elected into College in 1736, and afterwards Marquis of Stafford, was heir to the broad lands of his ancestors. From early times it was no uncommon thing for a boy of promise to receive help from persons of fortune. In 1580 Richard Neile, afterwards Archbishop of York, was sent to Cambridge by Mildred, Lady Burleigh. The boy's father, a tallow chandler, had died poor, and the son, though of no mean parts, was not a good grammarian. It is not known whether he missed Election for this defect, or was a Town boy and there- fore ineligible. When he rose to fortune he showed his gratitude by sending yearly to the Universities two or more King's Scholars who had missed Election. Some instances of later date will be mentioned hereafter. The Queen also founded prizes in a form which still exists and is peculiar to Westminster. An annual grant of 2 in Maunday money was given in rewards for exercises in prose or verse. In the seventeenth century the coins seem to have fallen to the composers of extemporary verses in Latin and Greek. At a later 26 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL period English verses also made their claim, and the epigram was rewarded with a Maunday penny. Cowper's reference to his prize is well known : " Where discipline helps opening buds of sense, And makes his pupils proud with silver pence, I was a poet too." The limitation of the coinage gave an artificial value to the small pieces of silver. Soon after Cowper's time some at least of the boarding-house masters used to give four shillings for each Maunday coin. The shillings were a house reward, but were not all loss to the master. At the present time the coins go to boys who are at the head of their forms or sets in each month. One too is given to the reciter of each School epigram. Of the custom of giving books as prizes there appears no trace in the early times. The library of a boy who was elected to Christ Church must have been much scantier than it sometimes is in the present day. The examination of minor candidates is known as " Challenge." The name descends from the earliest times, but the method has been changed more than once. The statutes provided that the boys should appear before the Electors on the Monday and Tuesday of Election week, and be examined in grammar, in humaner letters, and in composition. This brief ex- amination probably continued in use until the reign of Queen Anne. The boy who was elected head of the list into College was known as Captain of his Election and as Liberty boy. The latter title was conferred upon him ELIZABETH 27 by the seniors, and expressed a very real benefit After admission the juniors appeared before the seniors, and the others heard their fate in the words addressed to the Captain : liber esto, ceteri servi. The servitude, from which the Liberty boy was free, was never formally recognized, but was none the less effective. It is described by William Taswell, admitted in 1666 : " I was extremely maltreated," he said, " during my seven months and two weeks' servitude as junior by the monitors, whom the considerable share of power with which they are invested renders insolent : employed chiefly in performing the menial office of a servant, in consequence of this diverted from my studies, and even when freed from the state of slavery could scarce return to them, indulging a lazy disposition." It is probable that fagging had not been so bad in the earliest days of the School. The Captain had to pay for his free- dom. In the seventeenth century he was expected to give a guinea to every senior. Queen's Scholars of fifty and sixty years ago are apt to imagine that the gradations in College, as they knew them, were coeval with the foundation. At that time it was customary for a boy to be admitted into College in his fifteenth year, to remain four or with special leave five years, and to be a major candidate at the end of the course. During this course he was called successively a junior, a second election, a third election, and a senior. But this rule was unknown in the earliest times. It was the creation of the eighteenth century, and even in that century the exceptions were very numerous. Before that time there was no uniformity 28 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL in the age of admission or in the length of the tenure of a scholarship, and but little in the age of the major candidates. Thus of the boys elected to Christ Church in 1589 two were aged nineteen at matriculation, and he third was but fifteen. Down to the reign of Queen Anne the scholarships were most commonly held for two or three years, but instances can be quoted of wide divergence. Samuel Fisher was admitted as Captain in 1669 at the age of eighteen, and was elected to Christ Church in the following year. In 1675 William Rayner was admitted into College, and he was elected to Oxford seven years later. There can be no doubt that Fisher never was a junior. In fact, the gradations in College depended rather upon a boy's age at admission than on his standing as a Queen's Scholar. It followed that the number of seniors and juniors was not always the same. It is known, for instance, that in 1689 there were not ten seniors but eight. In the difference of ages at admission the present system is a reversion to the original plan. In fact, the history of Westminster is a record of change, while in each generation of Westminsters some are apt to imagine that all reforms began after their own time. The changes were least in the actual work of teaching, and the conservatism was strongest in the successors of Busby. Of the difference of ages at admission there were several causes. Not the least was the undisguised partiality of the Electors. They had indeed to take an oath against it, but either they avoided the obligation or the oath sat lightly on the clerical ELIZABETH 29 conscience. Their neglect of it found encouragement from high places. Elizabeth would not have been herself if she had not occasionally made a nomination of her own. Burleigh procured the admission of Giles Ascham, and other statesmen followed his example. In fact, each Elector claimed a right to nominate a boy. Some of them even looked for a reward. Peter Heylyn as a Prebendary was thrice an Elector, and complained that, though he had put three boys on to the foundation, he had not got by it so much as one pint of wine nor anything of less moment. As late as 1689 Francis Lynn was twice put by "for want of friends," and was not admitted until he " stood captain " and could not for very shame be passed by. Two years later he was " elected away Captain of the School to Trinity College in Cambridge." Something of the same unfairness was shown to the major candidates, but here there was a force to restrain it. The Electors from Christ Church and Trinity had their own interests to consider, and would not take a bad scholar. In 1604 James I. desired the election of one Moreton to Cambridge, but the boy was not accepted. To a titular precedence less objection was made. In 1713 Atterbury, then Dean of Christ Church, told Bishop Trelawny that his boy should go first of his Election to Christ Church in whatever place he stood, and the Dean fulfilled his promise. Such a favour was, perhaps, not often shown to any but the son of an Old Westminster. If there was some partiality in both Elections, 30 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL there was one point on which the Electors for many years showed great strictness. They would allow no genius to atone for ignorance of the rules of grammar. This Cowley found to his cost in 1636. His Head Master fully recognized his abilities, but the young poet would not learn according to the rules. He was rejected by Trinity in favour of four boys, no one of whom afterwards made any figure. Yet Cowley, though he had already published a volume of poems and written a comedy, seems not to have thought that any injustice had been done him. Indeed, he had little cause, for the authorities of Trinity conceded to Cowley the poet what they refused to Cowley the King's Scholar. He was at once elected to a scholar- ship, and in 1640 to a fellowship of the College. The rejection of his favourite pupil can hardly have pleased Osbaldeston. Originally the date of Election was fixed for the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday after St. Peter's day. As it clashed with the Cambridge commence- ment, Dean Goodman consented to a change. The week of Rogation Sunday was chosen instead. For the Students of Christ Church the choice of this time of year was unfortunate. As the terms were arranged they could not always graduate in time to keep the emoluments of their studentships. In such cases it was necessary for them to apply for a dispensation. Such dispensations were easily granted, and several Westminsters were allowed to reckon terms, which in fact they had not kept It was perhaps difficult to fix a date that would be equally convenient to the boys a.nd to the Electors, ELIZABETH 31 From the beginning boys preferred Oxford to Cam- bridge. The preference was strengthened by a material consideration. A studentship at Christ Church was of considerable value, and was tenable until marriage or promotion. Even in Atterbury's time, when the cost of living had risen, an undergraduate could almost live on his studentship, though its nominal yearly value was but 20. At Trinity a boy began as a Pensioner, and when, after a year's interval, he obtained a scholarship, he found it worth but half of what fell to his Oxford contemporary. Nor could he be sure of a fellowship. Of about a hundred boys elected to Trinity in Eliza- beth's reign only one in three became a Fellow of the College. This was nearly the proportion in later times. In the forty-three Elections in which Bentley took part, one hundred and sixty- three boys were elected to Trinity, and fifty-six of them became Fellows. But for many generations there were cases of boys who were chosen by Trinity refusing their election. In 1645 Walter Pope was elected to Trinity, and actually matriculated, but in a very short time betook himself to Oxford, where he matriculated from Wadham. In 1723 Thomas Newton moved Bentley's surprise by a request to be taken at Trinity. The Master was more accustomed to requests of the opposite sense. It is therefore no cause for wonder that Westminsters have less often occupied the Master's Lodge at Trinity than the Deanery of Christ Church. Though both places have always been in the gift of the Crown, regard has always been had to merit. Of the twenty-five Deans of Christ Church appointed since 1576 no less than 32 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL sixteen have been Westminsters, while their only schoolfellow among the Masters of Trinity is John Hinchliffe. It must not be forgotten that Westminster was at this time really in the country. Under the shadow of the Abbey various causes, among them the mischievous right of sanctuary, had collected a considerable, pro- bably an undesirable, population. This population, however, was compressed within a narrow area. A walk of a few yards in any direction but one would carry a boy beyond the reach of houses. To the north two minutes would bring him into St. James's Park, and leaving the Cockpit and Spring Gardens on his right he could walk through fields to Hampstead or Highgate. To the west was the road to Chelsea, and on the south and south-west lay the marshes of Tuttle Fields. Outside the south wall ran the brook, whose bridge is said still to exist far below the surface of Great College Street. The river itself was a subterranean visitor, and its high tides served to flush the cesspools. The whole area must have been too damp for health. It is now one of the healthiest in London, and owes its health to the change which turned it into town. Good water it never lacked. A spring in the yard was fed from the high ground, which afterwards became Hyde Park. The pump which drew the water, "pump vetus" as an audacious epigram of 1810 calls it, played its part in many of the boys' escapades. The tunnelling of the city dried it up in 1818, but sixty years later a relic of its use still existed. All the water for the Head Master's house ELIZABETH 33 used to enter a cistern under the floor, and was pumped up to three small cisterns by means of an old-fashioned iron pump. When the company's water was substituted for the Hyde Park supply the old cistern was left in use, though the supply could of course have been carried as high as was desired. Bad as it was, Westminster was not less sanitary than the rest of the kingdom. In other points the site had manifest advantages. The Court, the Law Courts, and Parliament were close at hand. It was not long before the boys "sucked advantage" from them, quickening their wits by the arguments of Westminster Hall and the oratory of the House of Commons. A tradition, which can hardly be correct, attributes to Elizabeth the privilege, which they still possess, of attending the debates. Barristers, "neat men in ruffs," were not always pleased to see the boys in court. "Boy," said one to a King's Scholar in the reign of Charles I., " get you gone, this is no school." " Oh, no ! " was the reply, " for if it were all you gown'd-men would go up for false Latin." At a much later period we shall find that the deeds and words of Westminsters were noised in every coffee-house. There was more leisure for this city life in the days before athletics. It had, however, its draw- backs, and the precocity which it encouraged was no sure forerunner of a plentiful harvest. The site had indeed one disadvantage, which it shared with the London schools. It was liable to the visita- tions of the plague. Brought by Warwick's troops from Havre in 1563, the sickness seems at first to have avoided the School. It was not until May in the next D 34 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL year that the Chapter found it well to provide against its visitation. It was then resolved that in case of any sickness happening the boys should be removed to Wheathampstead or any other convenient place. They were to be accompanied by a Prebendary, who was allowed twenty pence a week. In 1565 the boys were at Putney from May to Michaelmas, and half the Prebendaries' commons were kept there. A more permanent refuge was secured by the action of Dean Goodman. He held the prebend of Chiswick in St. Paul's Cathedral. To the prebend was attached a house at Chiswick, and Goodman procured its tenancy in perpetuity for the College. There he is said to have planted a row of elms, some of which stood within living memory. The house at Chiswick, or the " College house," as it came to be called, was also used for another purpose. So long as the boys remained in residence during the holidays it was well that they should have a change of air and scene. For this purpose in the later summer months the College used to remove to Chiswick. It may be assumed that enough members were left at Westminster to provide for the services of the Church. When common life fell out of use only the Masters and boys migrated to Chiswick. In time the School outgrew the accommodation, and it then became customary to leave the Under School at Westminster. About the end of the seventeenth century the summer holidays became a reality, and removal was no longer necessary. The house became the country residence of the Head Master, and was last occupied by Dr. Markham about the ELIZABETH 35 year 1760. The lease was afterwards surrendered for a price. Part of the money is said to have been spent in building the studies in "Grant's," which still bear the name of " Chiswicks." The walls of the College house continued to bear evidence of its former occupancy. The names of John Dryden and Charles Montagu were still to be read on the walls. Nor were its literary associations soon closed, for some fifty years since it was the home of Whittingham's Chiswick Press. CHAPTER III. THE EARLY CURRICULUM Morning First Lessons Gustos Breakfast Authors read Greek Dinner Afternoon Lessons Supper Friday's Corrections Sunday Severs Station Monitors Holidays The Play. T N the scheme of educational work the statutes of * Westminster show little originality. They are content to borrow from their predecessors. The order of the day is enjoined with very great minuteness of detail. With some slight and almost necessary deviations this order was practically observed through- out the Queen's reign. The most marked difference between the consuetudinaria of Eton and Westminster was the larger place given at St. Peter's to the study of Greek. The Queen's Scholars were to be called at five o'clock by a thundering cry of "Surgite!" from one of the monitors of dormitory. They then knelt to say the collect for grace, the sentences said alternately by one boy and by the rest. Each of the forty boys took the first sentence in his turn. Like all the prayers, this was said in Latin. The careless drafting of the statutes makes it doubtful what followed. In one chapter no further prayers seem ordered for this hour ; in another, instructions are given for a somewhat lengthy service. 36 EARLY CURRICULUM 37 After In Pnomine atris and Poenitentiam agite came the General Confession, the Lord's Prayer, and the suffrages, followed by the hymn Jam lucis orto sidere and Psalms vii., xix., and xxiv. After a first lesson from the Proverbs, the Te Deum was said, and after a second lesson from the Sermon on the Mount, the Benedictus. Then came the Apostles' Creed, the Lord's Prayer again with the suffrages, two collects, and the prayer for the Queen. The service was concluded with the collect for peace. After prayers the boys made the beds and swept the space under them. The sweepings were collected and carried out by four juniors. All then went two and two into the cloisters to wash. Only the hands are men- tioned ; but, as a dirty face brought punishment, the washing must sometimes have gone to this length. Farther it never went. As these various duties did not need a full hour, the boys in practice did not rise till 5.15. At six o'clock all the boys Queen's Scholars and Town boys met the Second Master "up" School (if this phrase was then in use), and there were again prayers, Psalm Ixvii., the Lord's Prayer, suffrages, and two collects. The Master then took in turn the lowest four forms, the fourth at this hour sitting in the Lower School. Meantime one monitor took the names of the late and absent, while another the monitor immun- dorum scrutinized hands and faces throughout the School. At seven the Head Master came, the fourth went into the Upper School, and all boys said repetition. Apparently all the boys in a form said it together, 38 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL taking the time from the custos. The custos held his office as a punishment. A boy who spoke English, said more than three words wrong in a rule, or made three mistakes of spelling in his exercise, became custos, and remained such until another culprit was detected. He who had the place last in the day seems to have been liable to a fine, or in later times to an imposition. Neither fine nor imposition is mentioned in the statutes, and in later days the office seems to have been limited to meal times. At eight o'clock the Head Master set a proposition or passage in Latin to be translated by the fourth, varied or controverted by the fifth, and versified by the sixth and seventh, the custos of each form doing it first. Briefer passages were set by the Second Master to the Lower forms. Each custos then took the lesson of the form below him before it was heard by the Master. This duty of the custos soon dropped out of use. By accident or design no hour was assigned for breakfast. The draft statutes bear evident marks of carelessness, and in practice the hour from eight to nine was not spent in school. A bever, or allowance of bread and perhaps beer, was given to the boys ; but when commons ceased to be kept the bever also probably disappeared. At any rate, the omission of breakfast in the statutes came at last to provide the Chapter with an excuse for not supplying it. The consequence will be seen below. The insertion of the breakfast hour brought a change in the lessons. By the statutes the Upper forms wrote on themes on Monday and Wednesday in EARLY CURRICULUM 39 prose, on Tuesday and Thursday in verse, Latin and Greek. The Lower forms were confined to prose. The themes were followed by appointed authors, of whom some were studied on Monday and Tuesday, others on Wednesday and Thursday. The system and the list of authors were borrowed from Eton, but there were some notable additions. The books read were : In the first form, the Disticha of Dionysius Cato, the Exercitatio Linguae Latinae of John Lewis Vives, and the Dialogues and Confabulationes Pueriles of Corderius. In the second, Terence, ^Esop's Fables (in Latin), Dialogi Sacri, and Erasmus's Colloquies. In the third, Terence, Sallust, Sturmius's Selection of Cicero's Letters, and ^Esop (in Latin). In the fourth, Terence, Sallust, Ovid's Tristia, Cicero de Officiis, and in Greek Lucian's Dialogues. The form also began Greek grammar. In the fifth, Justin, Cicero de Amicitia, Ovid's Metamorphoses, and in Greek Isocrates and Plutarch. In the sixth and seventh, Caesar, Livy, Virgil, and in Greek Demosthenes and Homer. In the Upper School other authors were read in the afternoon. The list of Latin authors is somewhat longer than at Eton, where Sallust, Livy, and Erasmus seem to have been ignored. Cicero's Offices, which at West- minster were read by the fourth, were reserved at Eton for the sixth and seventh. But the most remarkable difference was in the study of Greek. In 40 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL 1560 the Etonian read Lucian in the second form, but he read him in a Latin translation. Greek he did not begin until he reached the sixth, and even then he read no author. The Westminster reached the fourth before he read Lucian, but then he read him in Greek. His Homer, Demosthenes, Isocrates, and Plutarch were unknown to his contemporaries at Eton. The Westminster's grammars were Cleonard's for Greek and Lily's for Latin. It has sometimes been asserted that the time-tables which appear in some school regulations of the sixteenth century were too elaborate to be exactly observed. The assertion seems to be based on mere conjecture, and of Westminster it is certainly untrue. One regulation of the time-table remained in force for more than two centuries. Greek was not taught in the three lowest forms. The permanence of the rule is a witness to the lasting conservatism of Westminster, but we may also find in it a confirmation of the reality of the statutory prescription. There can be no doubt that in Elizabeth's early years the fourth form read Lucian, and the sixth followed in the original Greek the wrath of Achilles and the wanderings of Ulysses. In fact, the list of authors was rather increased than diminished. Seventy years later we find Thucydides and Euripides established among the regular studies of the School, and it is probable that the Greek anthology also found an early place. The Greek authors must have owed their place to Dean Goodman. Bill was Provost of Eton, and had he brought Homer to Westminster would not have kept him out of the older College. EARLY CURRICULUM 41 It will be observed that there were in all seven forms. The distinction between the seventh and sixth was probably nominal, as the two forms seem to have been taught as one. The growth of the School caused a subdivision of the forms and, as will be seen, the addition of the "shell." In the present century the prevalence of preparatory schools caused the disappear- ance of the three lowest forms. After these lessons there were prayers, consisting of Psalm cxxiii., the Lord's Prayer with suffrages, and the thanksgiving for the Queen and benefactors. After prayers the Queen's Scholars and Pensioners went two and two into Hall, and standing in two rows down either side said grace before dinner. During the meal a boy read aloud a chapter of the Old Testament at the discretion of the Dean or sub-Dean. For this was afterwards substituted the reading of Latin manuscripts, "to facilitate the reading of such hands." From the high table a Prebendary would sometimes send down " good remembrances " of food with a theme for extem- pore epigrams. Dinner was followed by a long grace. On the boys returning to school the monitors took charge until the Second Master returned at one o'clock. An hour later the Head Master returned, and lessons went on till six o'clock. The Head Master might be out of school from four to five, and the Second Master for half an hour after five. This long period was, how- ever, in practice abbreviated, and an hour's respite was allowed in the middle of it, and twice a week an hour was given to music with the choirmaster. The after- noon lessons included Greek grammar for the sixth 42 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL and Hebrew grammar for the seventh, with a lesson from the Psalter for both forms in both tongues. Other work comprised construing and translation from prose into verse and verse into prose. Themes were set for exercises, to be brought up next day. From Philip Henry we learn how time was found to do them. "It was customary there," says ms son, "among the studious boys, for one or two more to sit up the former part of the night at study, and when they went to bed about midnight to call others, and they others at two or three o'clock as they desired." It is no marvel that with such habits there was at times a desire to sleep in school. The necessity was wisely recognized, and leave could be formally obtained to drop the head upon the desk. The word that was used for this slumber must date from the time when Latin was the tongue of common speech. Abbreviated as it was, the verb " dor " had dignity enough to give it a place in dictionaries. At six o'clock came supper, with the same order as dinner, but with different and briefer graces. At seven two monitors took the forms, teaching translation from English into Latin. After prayers the Queen's Scholars and Pensioners went into Hall for a supper of small beer only, and at eight o'clock, after evening prayers in the dormitory and a collect said privately, the Queen's Scholars went to bed. Friday was the day of correction and repetition. The monitors made a report of offences. Sometimes impositions were set, at others a meritorious exercise won forgiveness for its writer or his friend. The EARLY CURRICULUM 43 accusations, as they were called, were followed by a revision of the week's work. In the afternoon there were new lessons in Latin authors, which were repeated next day. The fourth now read epigrams from Martial, Catullus, and others, the fifth Horace, and the sixth and seventh Lucan and Silius Italicus. Saturday was also a day of repetition and examina- tion. In refutation of the popular Puritan error it is worth noting that in the statutes Saturday is called Dies Sabbati, and Sunday has its right name of Dies Dominica. At two o'clock on Saturday a bell was rung to call the whole College into Hall. Here two or three boys, chosen by the Head Master, declaimed on a given theme. Attendance at these declamations was in early times one of the duties which the Prebendaries did not habitually neglect. On Sunday mornings the Litany and Psalms were said and lessons read in the dormitory. On Christmas Day, the Sunday before Easter, Easter Day, Ascension Day, Whit - Sunday, and Trinity Sunday there were also prayers from the Liber Precum Privatarum, edited by Dean Bill. The whole College attended morning and evening prayer and communion in Abbey. The Prebendaries preached in turn on Sundays and Saints' Days, and after morning prayer the boys made a summary of the sermon the Upper forms in Latin verse, the fourth and third in Latin prose, and the rest in English. Otherwise a Saint's Day was a "play" or holiday. A " late play " or half-holiday was allowed only once a week by leave of the Dean or his sub- stitute. A Saint's Day barred any other play in the week. 44 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL As the School became one of the sights of West- minster, strangers came as freely as they attended the public examinations at Oxford. They would often ask for a " play," and it was found convenient to inscribe on the wall the clause in the statutes which restrained the Master's desire to comply with the request. The companies of idlers, "plump-walkers" as they were called, gave the boys an occasion to display their talents, but were not always welcome to the masters. In addition to the regular meals there were certain allowances of food, in which the Scholars had a part. The name of bever, borne by these allowances, is cognate with boire, but as early as the beginning of the sixteenth century had been extended to solid food. At Westminster it may have been originally applied to beer, but soon came to include bread. Afterwards the liquid sense went out of the word, and in the early part of this century the name was used almost exclusively of a conical roll, which was the only food at supper. The name has since suffered yet another change, and is now given by the Queen's Scholars to their supper. These bevers were also assigned to the almsmen, and in some cases were taken by those who had no right to them. It would seem that it was not the boys but the College purse that suffered from the theft. The last meal of the day, if small beer can be called a meal, has bequeathed some of its implements to posterity. The apparatus of bread and beef has dis- appeared, but the School still possesses two black jacks, each holding about two gallons. Though they may not be coeval with the foundation, their survival is no misleading index of early usage. If the food was A BLACK JACK FROM A DRAWING BY W. KNEEN EARLY CURRICULUM 45 carefully watched, it " snewede " in Hall of small beer. Even in later times, when the Chapter had shed its last ray of Saint Julian, the boys were allowed beer and stout to their hearts' content. There was this difference, that they bought it with their own moneys. So long as the boys paid for it, it mattered little to the Chapter what they ate or drank. From the beginning the School was under the shadow of the rod. Udal was known as the " greatest beater " of his time. Archbishop Neile avowed that the whip- pings he suffered under Grant prevented his obtaining a mastery of Latin. Until 1829 the juniors made the rods from which they suffered, and lamented that, if they were like Spartans in fortitude, they suffered in not bearing their wounds in front. But the rod was not the only means of punishment. There were probably no impositions in writing, but a culprit was ordered to repeat speeches out of Virgil, Euripides, and other authors, and even whole orations of Cicero or Demos- thenes. The less the pen was used, the more active was the memory. How powerful those memories were may be seen in Hacket's Life of John Williams. The Queen's Scholars were bound to be in some particular place, called "station," at every moment of the day. School, yard, fields, dormitory, hall, and cloisters were the places where the monitors had to see station observed. To these in the eighteenth century was added water. In course of time seniors came to be excused, but the rule was strictly enforced upon juniors. In a modified form the rule still holds good for Queen's Scholars and Town boys alike. It is now chiefly used for the encouragement of games. Thus an old rule is 46 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL wisely adapted to new circumstances, and the necessary exercise is satisfactorily ensured. In its original design " station " had little bearing on recreation. The Masters must know where every boy was at every minute of the day. The early rulers of the School saw clearly that much of its government must be carried on by the boys them- selves. Not only is the monitorial system no creation of yesterday, but in its earliest years it had one func- tion of which it is now almost wholly deprived. The monitors were in fact the Ushers of the School. Their teaching hours perhaps involved some loss of time, but the loss had its compensations. They were continually taken back to the elements of grammar, and must have learned something while they taught No boy who had attained to the monitorial dignity would care to make a mistake in these matters with which his youngers were more directly conversant He would know that in the little boys' eyes such an error, assuming excessive seriousness, would impair the reputation of omniscience which the fourth form ascribes to the seventh. Long after Ushers had supplanted monitors in the work of the form, the system of Helps in the Challenge brought the elder Queen's Scholars back to their elements. The work of the help, said Liddell, "made the elder boys keep up their grammar." This was a good result, of which the framer of the statutes may not have been wholly conscious. The statutes prescribed that there should be in all eighteen monitors, four of the School, one of Hall, two of Abbey, four of the dormitory, four of Fields, two of the Oppidans, and one immundorum et sordidorum EARLY CURRICULUM 47 puerorum, who was also to be censor morum. It is, however, probable that the same boy held more offices than one. In course of time the monitors of School and dormitory came to be the same. The Captain and his three associates ruled over the Queen's Scholars, and their sway is described in a traditional hexameter, " Quattuor unanimes cedes socialiter ornant? The initial letters formed the word " Quceso? which became the name of this governing body. The holidays or " breaking-up times," as they were called, were brief. Some of them were hardly to be called holidays. Indeed, it is not certain that any of the boys went away. The removal to Chiswick was accounted a holiday and was accompanied by some relaxation of work ; but, at any rate after the appoint- ment of a third Master, the younger boys remained at Westminster. It soon became, if it was not always, the practice to allow some four weeks in the summer. Even then the School was not empty. Commons were main- tained, and in those days of difficult travel many boys did not go home. At that season there was no adequate discipline. The Prebendaries may have exercised some sort of control, a Master was sometimes in residence, and there was always the fear of the Dean. But, although disorders were not unfrequent, there were boys in residence as late as the reign of George II. The custom marks the distinction between the public school, which was known to the whole country, and the grammar school, which gathered boys only from its own neighbourhood. Some of the earliest Westminsters had their homes in distant shires. No institution is more characteristic of Westminster 48 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL than the annual Play. It is true that in the days of Elizabeth and her successor the Play was no special mark of the School, for acting was generally regarded as a necessary part of education. There was, perhaps, no school of note which did not frequently put upon the stage both the dramas of Plautus and Terence, and those dull Latin comedies of which the age was so prolific. Indeed, play-acting was a commonplace of academical life. The Elizabethan statutes of Trinity College, Cambridge, provided that the lecturers should act comedies and tragedies at Christmas. The Queen herself witnessed plays both at Oxford and at Cam- bridge. For this habit of play-acting there was ample reason. As Latin was not merely an instrument of education, but the medium through which all know- ledge was to be acquired, it must be known colloquially, and to be known colloquially it must be studied in the Comedians. It might, indeed, be studied mediately in Erasmus, whose phrases are but the echo of the Umbrian and the " learned African slave." The forms of salutation, the colloquial expressions of gratitude and excuse, the enquiries after the wife who has borne twins or the business that was still to seek, show that to Erasmus Latin was rather a speech than a study. In this spirit his Colloquies were read in the second form, but for just elocution the Play was the thing. Our contempt for medieval methods has, perhaps, exaggerated the extent to which mumpsimus had supplanted sumpsimus in monastic speech, but even the early reformers were content to mould their Latin on that which was hardly the classical style. To Alexander Nowell, Head Master from 1543 to the EARLY CURRICULUM 49 accession of Mary, must be ascribed the introduction of Terence into the School. It may be safely inferred that his object was to impart a colloquial knowledge of classical Latin. It would not, however, appear that he established the Play, and its annual occurrence must at any rate be ascribed to Elizabeth. After the Puritan epoch the Westminster Play was the sole survivor of many, and its survival is explained by the statutory obligation. It was provided under penalties for omission that every Christmas a Latin play should be presented by the School and an English play by the Choir-boys. It was not only facility of speech that was sought in these performances. Graceful delivery and elocution were the objects prescribed by the Queen to the Westminster actors. The more modern tricks of the stage, the artifices which give the air of nature to the players of a modern comedy, are as little educational as Terentian, and the scanty attention paid to them on the Westminster stage needs no defence. The theatre was perhaps originally the Hall. Its use for that purpose must have occasioned some in- convenience, and at an early period the scene was transferred to the dormitory of the Queen's Scholars. Of actual scenery there was none, nor was there any attempt to construct a convenient auditorium. As late as Queen Anne's time the spectators were content to sit on the edge of a table or the top of a box. Of the plays acted no record was kept. It is, however, probable that Terence was less often presented than his modern imitators. Of these Westminster imitators the most celebrated was William Gager, elected to E 50 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL Christ Church in 1574. In the world of pedants Gager's fame outshone Shakespeare's, and this partial verdict was ratified many years later by Anthony Wood. Ben Jonson never became a Queen's Scholar, but it is not impossible that he may have taken a part in the Play. Though for the last two hundred years at least Town boys have had no part in the Play, it is not clear that this was always the case. About the year 1686 Barton Booth's performance of Pamphilus in the Andria won him enough applause to send him on the stage. Booth was not a Queen's Scholar, and it may be doubted if the Town boys had yet started their play. Even when they did their choice was not Terence. They were eager to compete with Betterton on his own ground. Indeed, the boys had never con- fined themselves to their own stage. In Elizabeth's reign a company of child actors was formed of West- minsters and probably appeared even on the boards at Blackfriars. To maturer players these " little eyases that cry out on the top of question " were a cause of lasting offence. Although there was no scenery, the Play was not put on the stage without cost. From the earliest times this was made good by a "cap." At Christmas, 1563, the Queen was probably present at the performance. Her contribution to the Westminster and St Paul's plays was fifty marks, and it may be conjectured that the sum was equally divided. CHAPTER IV. 1572-1622 Grant, Head Master Greek Camden, Head Master His Proselytes Third Master Chang-e of Schoolroom Difficulties with Christ Church and Trinity Benefactors Ireland, Head Master Pen- sionsTitle of Queen's Scholars The Plague Gunpowder Plot Wilson, Head Master. T)ETWEEN 1563 and 1572 there were three Head - ' Masters, but no one of them was a man of mark. In the latter year the office was conferred upon an old Westminster, who was one of the greatest scholars of his time. Edward Grant had been at the School in Mary's reign. As he did not matriculate at Cambridge until 1564, he may have been a boy at Elizabeth's accession. His University career was strangely varied. In 1564 he matriculated at Cambridge from St. John's College and completed his exercises for a degree, but did not take it. In 1572 he was allowed to take a degree at Oxford, and is said to have belonged to two, if not three, houses in succession. He took his Master's degree at Oxford, and was incorporated at Cambridge. The degree of Bachelor of Divinity he took at Cam- bridge, and as of that degree was incorporated at Oxford. His scholarly qualities had recommended him to the friendship of Roger Ascham, whose letters he lived to publish. The twenty years of his master- Si 52 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL ship have left scanty written records, but there can be no doubt of his success. He was the first Head Master to leave a mark upon the School. We have seen that Greek was established in the School at that time. It was, however, attended with difficulties, which Grant endeavoured to remove. The boys had to contend with the prolixity of Cleonard's Grammar, and Grant assisted them with a work of his own. This was perhaps the second of many famous Westminster school books, and was destined to a change of form and a double change of name. First published as a Spicilegium in 1575, it was altered by Camden into an elementary Greek grammar. Sup- planting Cleonard's work, it remained in use at West- minster until the publication of Busby's Greek Grammar about 1647. After its rejection in its birth-place it continued in use at Eton. It had, however, surrendered its own title to its successor at Westminster, and thus came to be known as the Eton Grammar. Under that name it was familiar to many generations of Etonians, and was in use within living memory. Grant's name soon became famous, and the School outgrew its space. He endeavoured to obtain a larger and more suitable room for the work of teaching, but his efforts did not bear fruit in his own time. In his desire to increase his own somewhat slender income he was more successful. A prebend was conferred upon him in 1577, and the tithes of several rectories came into his pocket. He did not, however, resign his mastership until 1593, when he was succeeded by William Camden, who had held the second mastership 1572-1622 53 for nearly eighteen years. Of the boys who came under Grant and Camden the most distinguished was Ben Jonson. Bishops Ravis, King, Parry, Morgan, Bancroft, and Archbishop Neile began the long list of Westminster bishops. Camden's appointment is not without interest. It is probable that technically he had no university degree. He had matriculated from Magdalen in 1566 and sup- plicated for the degree of bachelor of arts in 1570. On a second supplication in 1573 he was admitted, but there is no record of his determination. In 1588 in an unsuccessful supplication for the next degree he described himself as a bachelor of arts, though, pro- bably, he was so only by courtesy. The clause of the draft statutes, providing that the Head Master should be a master of arts, had the saving phrase, " si commode fieri potest." It has been already pointed out that Camden was a layman, and meant to remain one. Camden was not without favour at Court. The Queen sent a letter to the Dean, ordering that the new Head Master should have his diet ; and the Chapter, " for the dutiful acknowledging of Her Majesty's pleasure in that behalf," gave him a patent of it for life. The six years of Camden's rule were uneventful, but one fact may be quoted to illustrate the religious views of the time. As the Queen's Scholars were under the obligation of attending the Abbey services, they were necessarily conforming members of the Church. In the case of the Town boys there was no such obligation, \J and it is probable that from the beginning some 54 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL of them were of a different faith. Some of the papist families were not afraid to send their sons to the School, but their confidence was misplaced. Camden took credit to himself for having brought to church certain Irish boys of popish breeding and affection. In itself his conduct was indefensible, but it was, of course, in accord with the morals of the time, and it must not be forgotten that in 1570 Pius V. impudently professed to absolve Englishmen from their allegiance to the Queen. There was, after all, little ground for Camden's boast, for one of his vaunted converts was Peter Lombard, who obtained from the Pope the titular . archbishopric of Armagh, and died Provost of the Cathedral of Cambrai. In his leisure hours Camden did better work than proselytism. If the boys had few real holidays, one of the Masters could at times leave them. The surveys which led to his Britannia were made while Camden was still a Master in the School. But he must have had scanty repose in full term. The statutes made no provision for a Third Master, and the work of teaching a hundred and twenty boys must have fallen heavily on two men. To some extent the labour was lightened by the employment of the monitors and the custos. A line of later date dealing with life among the Queen's Scholars applies with equal force to life in the School : " Vox est et vetus et vera t senesce^ fluer." Further help was given by the Dean and perhaps by the Prebendaries. Of this work there is evidence before the end of the reign. It was, indeed, a regular custom from the time of Launcelot Andrewes, who became 1572-1622 55 Dean in 1601. John Hacket, afterwards Bishop of Salisbury, who was a King's Scholar in the early years of James the First, told Dean Williams how Andrewes would sometimes take the School work for a week together, and at other times look over the boys' exercises. In the evenings he would send for the elder boys to the Deanery and teach them Greek and Hebrew from eight to eleven o'clock. Williams himself was, as Hacket testifies, " assiduous in the School, and missed not sometimes every week, if he were resident in the College, both to dictate lectures to the several classes and to take account of them." It must be remembered that Hacket uses " College " in the older and more proper sense. It is probable that Andrewes and Williams were but following in the steps of Goodman. It may well be believed that such able men, though but amateurs in education, could do no little to make the boys prompt and ingenious. As, however, such assistance must have been irregular and capricious, the need of another Master was none the less real. The difficulty may have been partly met by the tutores. At some uncertain date, though certainly before the Queen's death, the Masters obtained the relief which they deserved. A formal and permanent appointment was made, although the Third Master never obtained a place upon the foundation. His work was to take the first and second forms, and he was paid in part, if not wholly, by their tutorial fees. At the same time the Head Master was relieved of the fourth form. The Third Master's place was fit for a bachelor of arts, since he could always get 56 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL leave to count the time spent in the School as terms of residence in Oxford. Thus in 1622 Thomas Merry, of All Soul's, was on this ground dispensed seven terms for his Master's degree. There is no list of the Third Masters of this period, and the next recorded appears to be George Eglionby, elected to Christ Church in 1619, and afterwards Dean of Canterbury. The saving of terms at Oxford survived long after Merry and Eglionby. As late as 1713 Edmund Lewis, who had been elected to Christ Church in 1706 and come back after his first degree as an Usher to Westminster, was allowed to graduate a Master, though he had missed four terms. He learned more in his Schoolmaster's place than he would have got from idle residence between the two degrees. In Grant's time the need of a larger schoolroom had become obvious. In 1591 the Chapter decreed that part of the old dormitory of the monks and the large room to the south of it should be converted into a library and school-room. Both rooms were out of repair, and the Head Master was instructed to gather moneys from such godly persons as would contribute to the cost of repair. After some delays the work was completed before the end of the century. In it for many years all the boys had their teaching. Classes were held in it down to 1883, and it is still the gathering place of the whole School. The room was not unworthy of its occupation. Built over the massive arches and pillars which still display the work of the Confessor, it carried on Norman and Early-English walls a chestnut roof of 1572-1622 57 the thirteenth century. It was large enough, as was proved in later years, to afford teaching room for more than four hundred boys. From an iron rod near the middle of it was hung a curtain to divide the Upper from the Under School, and below the curtain the Second Master reigned supreme. The division remained until the Under School was united with the Upper in 1880. The curtain is gone, but the rod still remains. Once a year on Shrove Tuesday it plays a part in the School life, for over it the cook throws the pancake. The ceremony is the sole survivor of the medieval sports which were, or were supposed to be, the delight of infancy. Although its origin cannot be traced, it can hardly have come into being after the date of Elizabeth's foundation. Both Grant and Camden found some difficulties in the relations between the School and Christ Church and Trinity College. The obligation which the Queen had placed upon her father's foundations in Oxford and Cambridge was not always easy of fulfilment. Deaths and promotions do not always follow a king's will, and it would thus happen that there were not always vacancies for the elected of Westminster. This was especially the case at Christ Church, where a Westminster studentship, with the usual restriction of marriage or certain kinds of promotion, was tenable for life. At Trinity a scholarship was held for a term of years, and did not, without another election, lead to a fellowship. The first Election took place in 1561, when Christ Church and Trinity chose each one Scholar. This 58 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL number was doubled in each of the nine following years, but neither College would take more than two. In 1571 Dean Goodman insisted upon the rights of the School, and the full number of six obtained Election. A com- promise followed, and it was agreed by the Electors that in every third year there should be six chosen, and in each of the other years four. Accordingly four only were taken in 1572 and in 1573, and six again in 1574. But the authorities of Christ Church, if not of Trinity, were unwilling, perhaps unable, to stand by their compact. Of the three whom they chose early in 1574, only one was admitted to a studentship before the end of the year, and one seems never to have been admitted at all. It was pleaded that there was but one vacancy in the studentships, and this valid objection was sup- ported by another, natural perhaps but technically indefensible. The College would rather confer its studentships on undergraduates of some standing than on raw schoolboys. In those days "grammar learning" was the work of the Schools, while logic and divinity belonged to the Universities. In 1575 Christ Church elected Thomas Ravis, afterwards Bishop of London, and Edmund Carrow. The lads went up to Oxford, and Christ Church refused to admit them. There was but one vacancy, and for that a candidate had appeared with a Queen's letter. Ravis and Carrow found themselves in a strait place. They were in Oxford and without means to stay or to depart. An appeal to Burleigh put the College on its defence. It was admitted that no better grammarians could be found than the Westmin- sters, but it was pleaded that with a free choice there 1572-1622 59 could be found many who were not only "poor and towardly," but also logicians of two and three years' standing. The Queen would not admit the defence, and the College was compelled to admit Ravis. His fellow- candidate had perhaps died or wearied of the delay, for no more is heard of him there or elsewhere. Of the three elected in 1577 two have no place in the Univer- sity register. As the School rose in fame the objector's voice was less heard. From 1588 the election of three to either University became with stray exceptions an annual event. From 1616 there was even an increase in this number. At Christ Church the Westminsters became dominant, but Trinity with its larger numbers was not always willing to grant them its fellowships. James I. did not view this unwillingness with favour. It is probable that he sometimes " cracked " Latin with the boys of the King's School, and little liked that boys who had listened to his Terentian idiom should not have the preference at Cambridge. Trinity was com- pelled to listen to a royal injunction. Why, said the King, did the Westminsters of Christ Church supply more bishops than their school-fellows at Cambridge? Let the Westminsters, if there were no objection to their character or learning, be elected to fellowships in Trinity. The grievance was not apparent, and the King's letters had but little effect. In the former half of his reign some fourteen Westminsters became Fellows, and in the latter half but nine or ten. We have somewhat anticipated our narrative and must return to Camden, whose time saw the first of the considerable list of private benefactors to the School. 6o WESTMINSTER SCHOOL Mildred, Lady Burleigh, Sir Anthony Cooke's learned daughter, had indeed preceded him by an indirect benefaction. Her foundation of two scholarships in Goodman's name at St. John's College, Cambridge, was designed to serve Westminster. It had already saved from a tallow chandler's shop a Westminster boy who was destined for the archiepiscopal mitre. Burleigh himself had shown continuous interest in the School, and in 1594 opened his purse in its service. A per- petual annuity of twenty marks was by his gift divisible among the Scholars elected to Oxford and Cambridge. Like several other benefactions, Burleigh's now sup- ports an Exhibitioner in the School. Camden retired in 1599, "having gathered a contented sufficiency by his long labours in the School." He was succeeded by Richard Ireland, elected to Oxford in 1587. From this time for nearly two centuries and a half the Head Master was always a Westminster. In 1609 Ireland pleaded that his health was broken, and the Chapter granted to him and John Wilson, elected to Oxford in 1602, a joint patent of the headmastership with a single fee and commons for one. The object of this arrangement was to secure to the retiring Master a small pension. Ireland probably received half the salary, while Wilson, of course, obtained the right of succession. It cannot be said that the arrange- ment was good. It reduced the Head Master's income, and, at least in some cases, it gave moneys to a man who had ample means from other sources. The system, however, came to be generally recognized. It was even extended to the second-mastership, and lasted into the eighteenth century. In 1714 George Tollett was in- 6l capacitated by a permanent illness. Atterbury ap- pointed Nicoll to his place, and Nicoll pensioned his predecessor. Ireland, on his retirement, did not seek ecclesiastical preferment, and his reason was soon disclosed. He retired to France, and the popular voice ascribed his resignation to another cause than that which he had alleged. It was said he had turned papist. If he had, it is remarkable that in the same year the head of the Election to Cambridge was Charles Chauncey, whose sturdy nonconformity was destined to face many perse- cutions before he found his grave more than sixty years later in New England. On the report of Ireland's perversion the Chapter met and resolved that, "Whereas there hath of late been raised by common bruit some jealousy of Mr. Ireland, now in France, touching his disposition in religion," he should be forthwith recalled. Apparently he did not obey the summons, and certainly Wilson had all the powers of a Head Master from 1609. Ireland survived many years, was perhaps a papal agent in England, and was certainly one of those who both hoped and said that Laud would join the Church of Rome. His boys showed no disposition to follow their Master. The greatest of them was George Herbert, elected to Cambridge in 1608. Richard Lane, afterwards Lord Keeper, had preceded him in 1602. Dean Fell and Bishops Duppa, Hacket, and King were strenuous confessors of the Church, and Thomas Randolph not the least of poets. During Ireland's mastership Queen Elizabeth died, and the question must have arisen what name the Scho- lars were to bear. At Eton the memory of Henry VI. 62 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL had made no compliment to the maiden Queen. At Westminster it was hardly possible to ignore the reigning sovereign, who held his Court at Whitehall. The School was the King's School, inherited with his crown, and the forty boys became the King's Scholars. This title they bore until the accession of Queen Anne brought a revival of their original designation. The School, whose strict title was the Royal College of St. Peter's, was familiarly called the King's School, and is sometimes so called even in official records. Ireland's time suffered from one of the worst visita- tions of the plague. On July 2/th, 1603, it was hastily resolved that the College should break up on the following day until the seventh of October. By suc- cessive resolutions the dissolution of commons was continued to the end of the year. The Dean, how- ever, with the high spirit that always marked him, would not allow the danger to divert him from his duty. As the seniors, who were to be major candi- dates at the next Election, would suffer from enforced idleness, Andrewes called them back into residence with the Head Master and one or two of the Preb- endaries. Five servants remained to wait upon them. Nothing could show more clearly the original spirit of the College, and the important place which the School held in it. The time was not come when a Preb- endary could suppose that the College existed in order to support himself. In 1605 Andrewes was promoted to the bishopric of Chichester, and was succeeded by Richard Neile. Neile was installed on November the fifth, but the interest in his installation paled before a more memorable event. 63 The gunpowder plot brought out the budding poets of the School. It was perhaps the first of the numerous occasions on which a Westminster boy has found a publisher for his lucubrations. Edward Hawes was but sixteen when he sent to the Press the twenty-four pages of Trayterous Percy es and Cat es byes Prosopopeia. Perhaps his Master had set the theme. He found none more remarkable before his resignation in 1610. Ireland's successor was a pupil of his own, the John Wilson who was already his colleague. He is said to have had a " faculty more than ordinary in instructing youth." His fame must chiefly rest upon the careers of his pupils. The greatest of them was George Morley, the celebrated Bishop of Winchester. Morley was surpassed in learning by Robert Crichton, Bishop of Bath and Wells, and by John Price, the friend of Usher, who was at one time Greek Professor at Pisa. Wilson retired in 1622, and showed a faculty more than ordinary as a pluralist. In 1634 he died Dean of Ripon and Master of the Savoy, bequeathing to posterity little but a name and a copy of verses on the King's visit to Christ Church. During Wilson's mastership the Dean was George Montaigne, afterwards Archbishop of York. Mon- taigne's lively ambition led him into profuse expendi- ture. There was a rise of prices at this period, and when in 1620 Montaigne, then Bishop of Lincoln, re- signed the Deanery, the College was in debt .300 "by the hospitality of the table." It is probable that the School would have suffered but for the munificence of Montaigne's successor, John Williams. By the first of his many services to the College the new Dean dis- 64 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL charged the debt. His own hospitality was not less than his predecessors', but he was able to disprove the charge that he kept a plentiful table "out of the diet and bellies of the Prebendaries." Still less did he imitate Montaigne in keeping it out of the purses of his tradesmen. In the School at this time games were hardly known. There were, however, occasional seasons of revel. A bonfire on Saint Peter's Day had since 1605 found a companion in the destruction of Guy Fawkes. At Election the King's Scholars had a feast at the cost of the newly-admitted juniors. On Shrove Tuesday there was the tossing of the pancake, and the Liberty boy paid for tarts. Francis Lynn paid ten shillings in 1690, and this was perhaps the usual cost. At Christmas the Saturnalia showed that ancient custom could survive its religion and its name. The master of the revels was called Paedonomus. Bishop King, in telling how Brian Duppa, afterwards Bishop of Win- chester, filled the office about 1604, calls it "the greatest dignity the School could afford." If, as seems to be the case, the people chose their own king, it may be doubted if Duppa would in these days have been chosen. King quotes his election as a proof of his intellectual attainments. Nowadays Demus is apt to be attracted rather by the hand than by the head. Happily he sometimes finds a Crichton, who excels with both. CHAPTER V. WILLIAMS AND OSBALDESTON Osbaldeston's Politics His Friendship with Williams Heylyn A Royal Commission Laud the Persecutor Osbaldeston's Punish- ment His Pupils Covvley Cart wrig-ht Osbaldeston's Teaching- Geography The Play Disuse of Common Life Epigrams Class of Boys at the School Westminsters at Christ Church Bishop's Boys. T IKE his predecessor, Wilson was followed by a -* ' pupil of his own. This was Lambert Osbaldeston, who was elected to Christ Church in 1612. He was the son of a Southwark rector, and a man of great activity. Elizabeth's death had been followed by the mutterings of the storm, and the School was now to be involved in the turmoil of religious and political controversy. Whatever doubt there may have been concerning Ireland's religious views, there was none about Osbaldeston's. Even in politics he took a more active part than any other schoolmaster before Dr. Arnold, but his boldness outran his discretion. Strongly opposed to the views of Laud, he was neither able nor willing not to plunge into the strife. In 1620 the Deanery had been conferred upon John Williams, who in the following year became also Lord Keeper and Bishop of Lincoln. To Williams Osbaldeston owed his mastership and a prebend in F 65 66 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL Lincoln Cathedral. It was alleged against him that he neglected the School to attend upon his patron at Buckden. The prosperity of the School, even apart from the direct evidence of Racket and the Head Master himself, should be enough to dispose of the charge. On Williams' fall in 1625 Osbaldeston adhered to his patron, and it is possible that in his hatred of Buckingham and his successors he showed less respect than was due to the King. On the King's birthday it was customary for the Scholars to post in Hall copies of verses made for the occasion. In 1634 this ceremony was omitted, and the omission was afterwards made a ground of accusation against the Dean. Williams admitted the fact, but pleaded that the Scholars had been punished for it. There is no doubt that the charge had been concocted by that unamiable controversialist, Peter Heylyn. The King had made him a Prebendary of Westminster with the direct purpose of sticking a thorn in the Dean's side. In the exercise of this function Heylyn prompted three of his colleagues to appeal to the Crown against the Dean. Heylyn's action established the principle, which but for this might at a later period have been disputed, that the Crown was the visitor of the College. In answer to the appeal a Commission was appointed, consisting of Laud, Neile, Juxon, and five laymen. As the laymen had some sense of law and justice, the efforts of the King and his episcopal nominees were for the moment unsuccessful, but Laud's pertinacity and Williams' friendship were in the end fatal to the unfortunate Head Master. In the course WILLIAMS AND OSBALDESTON 67 of the proceedings against the Dean in 1639 a per- fidious Welsh steward produced two letters addressed to him by Osbaldeston in the winter of 163!. In these letters two unnamed persons were spoken of, the one as "Leviathan," the other as "Vermin, little Urchin, meddling Hocus-Pocus." Laud, as is clear from his own writings, was privately prompting all the charges against Williams. The letters gave him an oppor- tunity of displaying the lack of humour which did so much to ruin him and his cause. He was, perhaps, specially pleased to interfere in a "peculiar" where he had no spiritual jurisdiction. Yet only a fatal animosity could have induced him to found a criminal charge on what Racket calls such "gryphes and oracles" as the phrases of the letters. In fact, the Head Master's gibberish had often puzzled his corre- spondent. Laud, however, chose to assume that Portland was the Leviathan, and himself the meddling Hocus-Pocus. Dr. Gardiner holds that there is no reasonable doubt of the correctness of the Archbishop's interpretation. There is, however, something to be said on the other side. One of the witnesses against Osbaldeston undoubtedly perjured himself, and the Welshman was certainly a traitor and probably a liar. Osbaldeston himself swore, and Hacket believed him, that he meant not Portland and Laud, but Chief Justice Richardson and a certain Mr. Spicer. That Spicer was known as Hocus-Pocus was an admitted fact But Laud, though incapable of a lie himself, was prone to suspect one in others. He felt that the cap fitted, and was determined to wear it. Bishop 68 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL Hacket so far forgets the dignity of history as to call the accusations " fadoodles." In any case there was no criminal offence, but the Star Chamber cared little for the law, and was practically under the Archbishop's control. One of its members was pleased to display his knowledge of Aristotle. The philosopher, he said, had forbidden a schoolmaster to take part in politics. Osbaldeston foresaw his fate, and withdrew unnoticed from the court He was condemned to lose his spiritualities, to pay two fines of five thousand pounds, one to the Crown and the other to the Arch- bishop, to have one ear nailed to the pillory in Palace Yard and the other in Dean's Yard in presence of his scholars, and to remain in prison during the King's pleasure. Laud was eager to see the sentence executed, but Osbaldeston with a taunting jest was fled, as Hacket says, from " the cruelty of the Tyger." He was gone, he left word, " beyond Canterbury." It appears from various indications that in the seventeenth century the nearness of the School to the seat of government gave to the political views of the boys an importance which on their merits they could not possess. The frankness or the turbulence of boyhood made their doings an index of the feelings of their class. At this time they seem generally to have agreed with Osbaldeston. They disliked Laud, but were loyal to the King. Pym and Cromwell were in their eyes monsters of malignant wickedness, and the execution of King Charles was an inexpiable crime. There were, of course, exceptions, and one WILLIAMS AND OSBALDESTON 69 at least of the regicides, Thomas Scott, was a Westminster. Of Osbaldeston's qualities as a schoolmaster some judgment may be formed from the characteristics of his pupils. He seems to have given to English composition a higher place than it held with his predecessors. Some of the exercises survive in Cowley's Juvenilia. Cowley claims to have written Pyramus and Thisbe in his eleventh year, and as even now it can be read with pleasure, it must have obtained from Osbaldeston the "auspicious alpha" to which the poet refers. Bishop Sprat had these poems in mind when he wrote of " the noble genius peculiar to" the School. Indeed, the bent of poetical feeling, which Johnson oddly called metaphysical, had its home in Westminster, and found a fostering spirit in Osbaldeston. Eight years senior to Cowley was William Cartwright, whose meteoric splendour has long since paled. " My son Cartwright," said Ben Jonson, "writes all like a man." Jonson was attracted by Cartwright's immense learning, but the mannerisms of the School were too strong for permanent popularity. Dryden absorbed all that was great in Cowley, and the Pindaric art was soon to be forgotten. Osbaldeston can hardly be blamed if in the works of the " learned school" of poets the learning is sometimes more apparent than the poetry. In one of his pupils the Master's mannerisms were shown in rhetoric. Heneage Finch, Earl of Nottingham, was for a time the most admired of orators. His fate was harder than Cowley's, for the poet at least did not outlive his fame. It was 70 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL otherwise with the orator. Nottingham, says Burnet, " was long much admired for his eloquence, but it was laboured and affected, and he saw it much despised before he died." The notable likeness of the styles of Cowley and Nottingham may be traced to the influence of their schoolmaster. It is clear that Osbaldeston's views of literature and art were neither before nor behind his age. This was at once his strength and his weakness. His command of the thoughts that were in the air stimulated his best boys. They caught his manner and reproduced it in poetry and prose. But his manner was but the whim of a generation. It held the secret of temporary popularity. Cowley in his lifetime was preferred to Milton, and Finch to Clarendon. But alike in poet and orator there was lacking that universal element which only has life. " Who now reads Cowley ? " said Pope. Who would now accord with the educational practice of Osbaldeston? Osbaldeston's love of conceits so stamped itself upon his pupils as to prove that, if his taste was defective, his character had no lack of strength. Nor was he without a desire to widen the scientific curriculum. Although Hakluyt, like Vincent and the present dis- tinguished President of the Royal Geographical Society, was a Westminster, it cannot be asserted that the study of geography has ever taken a prominent place in the School. Under Osbaldeston there was in summer a geography lesson for the seventh form and occasionally for others. After supper the boys went to the Master's room, and were there "instructed out of Hunter's WILLIAMS AND OSBALDESTON 71 Cosmographie, and practised to describe and find out cities and countries in the mappes." The instructor was probably the Second Master, and it is doubtful if the lesson outlived him. It had certainly disappeared at the end of the century. Smollett laughs at the Duke of Newcastle's tardy discovery that Cape Breton was an island, but the Duke's ignorance was probably shared by many of his school-fellows. When Lord Chesterfield sent his son to Westminster he gave him a private tutor for geography, and Cowper lamented the sad experience which told him that geography was "im- perfectly, if at all, inculcated in the schools." On the matter of its exclusion there may perhaps be two opinions. Osbaldeston, like his predecessors, was a trainer of divines. Among them were his more famous successor, Bishops Rutter, Price, and Wood, and Archbishop Dolben. Henry Bennet was designed for orders, but the Civil War diverted him to another career. Accident rather than shining abilities gave him his coronet of Arlington and his place in the Cabal ministry. Bennet was not the only Westminster who found his way to the war, but the martial spirit was an accident of the times. It cannot be compared with the zeal for battle which sent Westminsters from " mills in green " to the Peninsula and the Crimea. The Play no doubt prospered under James the First, though there is no actual record of his attendance at it. His pedantry, his erudition, and his love for the " learned African slave " make it improbable that he was not sometimes present. It is possible that in his 72 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL son's time some simple scenery was introduced, though there is no actual evidence of its use before the end of the century. In the sumptuous theatrical performances with which Oxford welcomed the King in 1636, the chief playwright and the chief actor were Westminsters. In Cartwright's "Royal Slave" Busby took the part of Cratander with immense applause. As scenery was used on this occasion, it may well be that Busby introduced the scene which is known to have appeared upon the Westminster stage within a few years of his death. The rich Persian habits, that "gave great content," as worn by Busby and his fellow -actors, had for more than two centuries no parallel on the West- minster stage. There from year to year Simo and Pamphilus followed the changes of fashion as they were set by Buckingham and Dorset or Oxford and Rochester. In Osbaldeston's time the general dinner in Hall fell into disuse. Celibacy had gradually ceased to mark the life of the Prebendaries, and they preferred to take their meals in their own houses. During Chapter times, however, commons survived for some years, and at such periods considerable hospitality was dispensed. In 1631 commons were formally discontinued except for the Queen's Scholars and Choristers. The servants were put on board wages, and after provision was made for the almsmen the surplus was divided among the Chapter, the Dean taking one-third and the Prebend- aries equal shares of the remainder. To ensure dis- cipline in Hall a grant of free commons was made to the Under Master Osbaldeston, perhaps, still dined in WILLIAMS AND OSBALDESTON 73 Hall, but in 1640 his successor, who kept a boarding- house, received a yearly grant of 13 6s. 8d. in lieu of his free commons. To one form of literature the common life gave special encouragement, and it is a form which still survives at Westminster. Both in schools and in the colleges of the Universities it was no uncommon thing for Scholars to put in the hands of the president in Hall some epigram or set of verses in Latin or Greek. From those days the epigram has always been present in Westminster life. To the large collection, which has been formally and informally preserved, additions are yearly made at Election dinner and at Election. First- rate epigrams are scarce in all literature, and many of the Westminster budget were of ephemeral interest. The obituary epigrams, especially Vincent's on Lloyd, show much grace and feeling, and some others are not unworthy to rank with Martial's. A study of the worst of them might make a man, as Johnson said of Strachan, a judge of what is not an epigram. Elizabeth's School was now nearly eighty years old ; and, as the subsequent half-century witnessed a change which has had no inconsiderable effect upon English life, it may be well here to take a retrospect of the School's social status. It has been pointed out that the Foundress did not desire to confine her College to one class, but in this period there were reasons to pre- vent Westminster, or indeed any public school, from becoming a nursery of statesmen. The squires, the clergy, and the lawyers sent their sons. With them sat children of tradesmen and of dependents of the 74 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL Court. It is true that no Town boy register was kept, but the evidence is sufficient without it. The result was, that while the School in these eighty years bred a very large number of bishops and deans, many men of letters, and some lawyers, it sent out very few states- men of mark. Writing a century after the foundation, Peter Heylyn, a Prebendary and a King's Scholar's father, was able to call it "a College founded, as it proved, in such a happy conjuncture, that, since the new foundation of it, it hath given breeding and pre- ferment to 4 Archbishops, 2 Lord Chancellors or Lord Keepers of the Great Seal of England, 22 Bishops and 13 Deans of Cathedral Churches, besides Archdeacons and Prebendaries and other dignitaries in the Church to a proportionable number, which is more than can be said of either of the two famous Colleges of Eaton and Winchester, though the one was founded 168 and the other 114 years before it." One of the Lord Keepers was Sir Richard Lane, elected to Trinity in 1602, the other perhaps Sir John Finch. Of the other statesmen Dudley Carleton was a squire's son, who rose by merit to be Secretary of State and Viscount Dorchester, and in much the same rank were born Sir Humphrey Lynd, Sir Thomas Aylesbury, and Henry Bennet, afterwards Earl of Arlington. Sir Harry Vane, if he was a West- minster, was an exception to be classed only with David Barry, Lord Barry's son, whom Lord Salisbury sent to board with the Dean, and Heneage Finch, afterwards Lord Chancellor and Earl of Nottingham. The men of letters included George Herbert, Lord Herbert's brother, but Ben Jonson, Randolph, Cartwright, and Cowley were of humbler origin. WILLIAMS AND OSBALDESTON 75 In the latter part of Elizabeth's reign fashion had set against the Universities, and the tendency gained strength under James and Charles. The eldest and often the younger sons of men of rank were brought up by a tutor at home or in foreign travel, or as pages in a nobleman's household. The material interests of the Crown kept from school the wards of the Court which bore their name. The few boys of rank who matriculated at Oxford or Cambridge went up at a tender age in charge of a tutor. In the sixteen years, from 1606 to 1621, the Oxford register records the matriculation of but eleven noblemens' sons, and their average age was fifteen. In the same years the total number of matriculations was over five thousand, and seventeen was the average age. Mr. Clark has pointed out that the number of dispensations from keeping terms granted in the latter part of Elizabeth's reign and under James I. indicates the private tutor in the country house. The grand tour or residence in France were hardly less fashionable. In 1638 Brilliana, Lady Harley, was told that there were but few noblemens' sons in Oxford, for they were sent for the most part . very young into France. The boys of this class, who in Laud's chancellorship were at Oxford, often came straight from home. The only school that at this time attracted them was Eton, and the attraction of Eton failed amid the clash of arms. Before the end of the century we shall find a striking change. In spite of what has been said, the range of rank among the boys was not inconsiderable. Defective as the register is, it supplies the material for such a con- 76 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL elusion. More complete details would probably only strengthen it. Nor did the boys come only from London and its neighbourhood. Down to 1603 the names of little more than three hundred are known, and not a few of them are but names ; yet among them may be traced the sons of squires, clergymen, and others from Devon, Dorset, Hampshire, Sussex, Northamptonshire, and Wales. Indeed, the number of Welsh boys is remarkable, and it has been sug- gested that North Wales was at the time too poor to keep its children at home. Certainly some of the Welshmen, such as John Price, afterwards Greek pro- fessor at Pisa, were born in London, but this was not the case with all the King's Scholars who bore the names of Thomas, Williams, Griffith, Wynne, Edwards, Lloyd, Owen, and Powell. It must not be forgotten that the Queen was proud of her Welsh descent, and that for sixty out of these eighty years the Deans were natives of the principality. Competition had not yet won the victory over nomination, and the Dean could promise a Scholar's place to a boy who would come to London from the slopes of Snowdon. Of the Queen's Scholars whose names appear in the imperfect Oxford Matriculation lists during the reign of Elizabeth, two-thirds are entered as plebeiorum filii. More than half the remainder are generosorum filii. Under James I. the latter class are more than a third, the former less than one-twelfth. There are also more boys of higher rank, including two knights' sons. Possibly the line between pleb. f. and gen. f. was drawn with less strictness. This allowed, it is still clear that WILLIAMS AND OSBALDESTON 77 the Scholars were drawn from more classes than before. In fact, the scholarships were becoming an object of general competition among the Town boys. A Westminster elected to Christ Church was a per- manent student of the House. He thus lost a spur which has often proved very forcible. A Wykehamist elected to a scholarship at New College passed without challenge into a fellowship. When Laud was Chan- cellor he complained that the members of New College had lost all interest in learning. They read nothing but Calvin's Institutions, instead of " logic, philosophy, mathematics, and the like grounds of learning." It is hard to see why the Westminsters at Christ Church overcame the temptation to be idle on a competence and with the prospect of a College living. That they did overcome it is clear from the Chancellor's silence and the records of their careers. When Laud spoke of them it was in terms of commendation. He was asked to make Cartwright superintendent of the press, and replied that he had high report of him, that he was " passing fit for Greek, and every way well deserving this or a better place." It may well be that the Westmin- sters had drunk delight of literary London, and their wits were kept lively by the memories and hopes of the Mermaid Tavern, but the merits of the Westminster student may be more directly traced to the principle of competition. Westminsters were already dominant in Christ Church, and from 1596 to 1648 six of them in succes- sion occupied the Deanery. They carried their school feeling with them, and its exclusiveness moved the Chancellor's anger. To the annual Westminster supper 78 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL he objected on three grounds. It led, he said, to faction, to expense, and to riot. He was further enraged that the supper was on a Friday, a day pro- bably chosen in his defiance. The Dean was little likely to suppress a meeting in which in the past, per- haps even in the present, he took a part. The Chancellor could not directly overthrow the liberties of a college, but he could call in a higher power. A King's letter ordered the suppression of "that supper or meeting by what name soever it be called." The order was no doubt obeyed, but the discipline of a mere disciplinarian can never be permanently effective. Under various names and in various forms the meeting has survived to the present time. The chief benefaction of the period came from the bounty of Dean Williams. By a deed of trust he assigned to the Dean and Chapter rents to the amount of 27 6s. 8d. out of the manors of Sandbury and Stanmore for the maintenance of four Welsh Scholars. The boys were to receive their education free, to wear purple gowns, and to be called Bishop's boys. From School they were to be removed to St. John's College, Cambridge, where Williams founded two fellowships for their benefit. The first Fellow was elected in 1625. In the troubled times the two holders of these fellow- ships were evicted, and in later years Westminsters seem to have shown no liking for St. John's College. Under the provisions of the Universities Act the School in default of candidates lost its interest in these fellowships. CHAPTER VI. BUSBY His Appointment His previous Career Political Changes The Committee The Covenant Governing Body The Engagement Bagshaw The School's Loyalty Its Catholicity Christ Church Students The Restoration Westminsters at Oxford Dolben Huguenots Coronation of James II. The Revolution Busby's Last Years Curtain Story Benefactors Boarders Fees Masters' Incomes Busby's Expenditure on the School The Library Opposition of Academies Classes of Boys Distinctions of Rank Boarding Houses Preparatory Schools. AFTER Williams was suspended from office in ** 1637 a royal commission had at Laud's instiga- tion been prepared, authorizing the Prebendaries in the Dean's absence to do all capitular business under the title of the Dean and Chapter of the Collegiate Church. Robert Newell, the sub-Dean, a half-brother of Arch- bishop Neile, was acting as Dean when in 1638 Richard Busby first took the Head Master's work. As Osbaldeston was under the shadow of persecution, it was necessary to put a man in his place. On his deprivation the Chapter did not at once grant a patent of his office to his successor. It is probable that they were unwilling to make a permanent appointment in the Dean's absence. Yet it would seem that Williams was ready to approve of Busby. On the demand of the Peers the Dean was released 79 8o WESTMINSTER SCHOOL from the Tower in November, 1640, and at once resumed the powers of his place. In the next month Busby had a patent of " the office and room of school- master, with his. house and lodging thereunto be- longing." In later life Busby seems to have claimed connexion with the family of his name established at Addington, in Buckinghamshire. The connexion was probably fanciful. His father, a citizen of Westminster, sent him to the School. In 1624 the boy was elected to Christ Church, and at Oxford won no little fame as a Scholar and as an actor. He had indeed thought of becoming a professed player, and it is probable that he was diverted from that purpose by the opportunity of succeeding Osbaldeston. The unrivalled length and the unsurpassed success of his mastership, the tenacity with which through great political changes he clung to his post, the dominance of his intellect, and the terror of his rod, have raised his name above all of his profession. In face of the policy of the Long Parliament the connexion of the School with the Chapter may well have caused serious apprehensions in the Master's mind. Though he had no reason to fear the Puritan leaders, there were others who might fail to distinguish between an ecclesiastical college and a place of teaching. If the Chapter fell, would not the School be involved in its ruin? The boys at least were unwilling to dissociate themselves from their rulers. When the apprentices attacked the Abbey the King's Scholars mustered in its defence and gloried in, if they did not cause, the death of the assailants' leader. BUSBY FROM A PAINTING AT THE SCHOOL BUSBY 81 Such tumultuous attacks as Sir Richard Wiseman's could easily be repelled. The policy of Parliament was not to be met by force. In fact, those who desired the welfare of the School were little likely to adopt such a remedy. A thoughtless observer might suppose that the political changes were to affect the whole being of the School. Its constitution was indeed cast anew ; but, with Busby in possession of his chair, the alteration was only on the surface, and the work went on in its established lines. Of this continuity there were two principal causes, the educational zeal of the Puritans and the masterful astuteness of the Head Master. As the School had no independent revenues, and the very buildings were the freehold of the Dean and Chapter, the ordinance of Parliament, by which in 1642 the property of all ecclesiastical bodies was sequestered, would naturally have brought the School to an end. This, however, was by no means the intention of the dominant party. An order of the House of Commons referred it to the Committee of the King's revenue to see that the educational moneys of the Colleges of St. Peter's and Christ Church were not diverted from their purposes. The receiver of the College was still to take the rents and the steward the provisions. Elections were still made to Christ Church, though for some reason, which does not appear, in 1643 and 1644 no election seems to have been made to Cambridge. The Civil War seems to have detained some boys at School after their election to Christ Church. At any rate, they pleaded such detention with a view to abbreviate G 82 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL their course at Oxford. It is, however, difficult to re- concile their account with the Election lists. Election to Cambridge was resumed before Parliament again took the matter in hand. In November, 1645, an ordinance of the Lords and Commons entrusted the School to a Joint Committee of thirty-three men, of whom eleven were of the Lords. As was inevitable the Committee was of a Presbyterian cast. Included in it were Lord Manchester, who shared with Lords Warwick and Holland the leadership of the Presbyterian party, Lord Pembroke, who was soon to be the head of the Oxford Commission, and the younger Vane. Of the great lawyers there were Maynard, St. John, and Glynne, the last of whom was a Westminster. Of the other Westminsters on the Committee were Nottingham and perhaps Vane. Westminster's claim to Vane is doubtful, and the epithet of illiterate, applied to him by Clarendon, is certainly against it. If Clarendon used the word, according to Chesterfield's definition, to mean ignorant of Greek and Latin, there can be little doubt in the matter. To this Committee, of which the quorum was at first seven and afterwards five, together with the Master of Trinity and the Head Master, was assigned the duty of electing to Christ Church and Trinity. The Dean of Christ Church, Samuel Fell, a Westminster, was excluded because he had not taken the Covenant, but provision was made that if he ceased to be a delinquent, or were succeeded by one who was not a delinquent, the Dean should then be of the Com- mittee. Edward Reynolds, who succeeded Fell in 1648, was duly qualified. BUSBY 83 This ordinance suspended from office all members of the College who had not taken the Covenant. As Busby' was not suspended it would at first sight seem that he must have taken it. Some indirect testimony seems to point to the same conclusion. Walter Pope, who was elected to Cambridge in 1645 but went to Oxford, accuses Busby of ploughing with the Parlia- mentary heifers. Many years later Hearne called him a compiler and a time-server. Hearne's evidence is not worth much, and neither before nor after the Restoration did Busby's enemies hint a word of his taking the Covenant. South spoke of his unswerving loyalty, and himself heard the prayer for the King read in School when the scaffold was already set in Whitehall. As Busby had friends in power it is perhaps possible that there was connivance at his delinquency. The Presbyterians set so high a value on education that they may have been willing to concede to Busby a grace which they denied to others. After no long time the rise of Independency made the Covenant obsolete. While it lasted the Committee was not inactive. When in 1647 Philip Henry stood for Election with Busby's nephew and others his god- father, Lord Pembroke, took part in the examination- Sir Harry Vane was a frequent visitor. On one of his visits Busby pointed out to him a clever boy, whose mother supported herself by her needle. The boy him- self made money by doing his school-fellows' exercises, and Sir Harry's purse relieved him from this immoral necessity. In later days the boy became famous as the learned and witty adversary of the Royal Society. 84 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL In April, 1649, all Chapters were annulled by Parliament. Though all School revenues were exempt from the Act, Westminster became dependent upon the trustees of ecclesiastical property. But the Independents were no less zealous than the Presby- terians for the separate existence of the School. In the following September an Act was passed for its maintenance and a governing body established. The number of Governors was fifty-six, of whom nine or ten had been members of the previous Committee. To this body was entrusted the management of the School and the maintenance of the forty Scholars and the Bishop's boys, together with the care of the Abbey. In them were vested all the School buildings, including the house at Chiswick and the Fields. They were also incorporated under the title of " the Governors of the School and Almshouses in Westminster." By an Act of 1654 visitors were appointed. These were the visitors of the Universities or any four of them, whereof two were to be of the visitors of either University. It is clear, both from the name given to the Governors and from other indications, that the first thought of Parliament was for the School. From its position the Abbey was naturally kept as a place for lectures, and the Governors were required to pay the lecturers, and even to see that the preacher of the Abbey attended prayers in the House of Commons. As Independency prevailed over Presbyterian ism the lectures may have been delivered less frequently, but at all times the Puritan layman cared less for preaching than for education. He was, indeed, willing to show BUSBY 85 his respect for the schoolmaster in an eminently practical way. By the Assessment Act of 1656 among other persons exempted from payment were the < Masters and Scholars of Westminster in respect to their stipends. Busby had mastered the difficulty of the Covenant. In 1650 he had to face another problem of casuistry. Parliament resolved that he and his Scholars should take the Engagement. Again we are at a loss to determine his course. If he did not take it the omis- sion would probably have been alleged against him in a bitter quarrel in which he was soon to be engaged. Second of the Election to Oxford in 1646 was Edward Bagshaw, the son of a Northamptonshire lawyer, whose abilities had made him one of Busby's " white boys," or favourites. Bagshaw's career at Oxford did not fulfil the promise of his childhood. His vanity and quarrel- some spirit were more conspicuous than his undoubted intellectual parts. He became an active supporter of John Owen, the great Independent, who as Dean of Christ Church and Vice-Chancellor held for some years powerful sway in Oxford. The indiscretions of the student often outran the purposes of the Dean, but of this Busby seems to have had but imperfect informa- tion. In 1656, on Owen's suggestion, Busby offered Bagshaw the second mastership in succession to Thomas Vincent. Vincent was a sensitive scholar, on whose nerves the mistakes of the fourth form so jarred that he retired to die of their false Latin. If Vincent was too weak, Bagshaw was too strong, but Busby, even if he were acquainted with Bagshaw's qualities, 86 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL may have found it difficult to refuse Owen's nomina- tion. Walter Pope, who had been by a year Bagshaw's senior in College, told him that he would be unwise to go to Westminster. Busby was masterful and Bagshaw was petulant, and they could never set their horses together. To this advice Bagshaw turned a deaf ear, but it soon became clear that Pope was right. Bag- shaw had views of his own and did not scruple to express them. Busby taught Arabic, and the Usher said it was valueless. A more tender point was touched by the suggestion that Busby's Greek Gram- mar was capable of improvement. Nor would the Second Master's stubborn Independency fall in with the usages of the School. He scandalised Busby by wear- ing his hat in the Abbey. For such views and actions Busby was not slow to manifest his dislike. Finding remonstrances fruitless, he took a step which was no doubt intended to drive Bagshaw from his place. In July, 1657, ne removed the Upper School, together with Bagshaw, to Chiswick, while the Lower School remained with the Assistant at Westminster. Suddenly Busby appeared at a meeting of the Governors and obtained an order that the Second Master should have charge of the Lower School. Posting back to Chiswick he directed Bagshaw to return at once to Westminster. Disobedience was impossible, but Bagshaw vowed re- venge. In October, somewhat before the usual time, Busby brought his boys back to Westminster and successfully applied to the Governors for leave to take the Assistant into the Upper School, paying the stipend of forty pounds out of his own pocket. The Assistant BUSBY 87 was William James, a precocious Scholar, who at the age of fifteen had been elected to Oxford in 1650. Busby came up School with James, and, perhaps with some irritating ostentation, led him past Bagshaw and the little boys to install him above the curtain. In great wrath Bagshaw appealed to the Governors, but could get no redress. He returned sulkily to his post and forbade his boys to give James the customary recog- nition. He even sent a monitor to tell the Assistant to hold his tongue. Not content with insulting the underling, he struck at the Head Master. Busby, to his indignant astonishment, found his own name in the monitor's bill. The boys' delight must have been boundless and their amusement increased when they saw Bagshaw carry off his forms to teach them in his own rooms. Busby had now good ground for appealing to the Governors. He pointed out that Bagshaw had no patent of his place, and besought them to prevent the disorder and ruin of the School. Bagshaw was directed to answer the accusations, and the boys were summoned as witnesses. On their evidence the Gover- nors supported Busby, suspended Bagshaw till the next Election, and called on him to prove his right to his place. From Maynard and other leading lawyers Bagshaw obtained advice that the suspension was illegal. Acting on this he insisted on taking his place in the School and occupying the tower of the dormitory. Busby, who had procured a Cambridge undergraduate to take the Second Master's place, thought it was now time to employ force. He made his boys seize Bagshaw 88 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL and remove him from the School, and he sent workmen to pull down the staircase that led to the tower. At Election Bagshaw laid his evidence and his lawyer's opinion before the Governors. He was supported by Owen, Bradshaw, and two others, but the majority were so manifestly against him that he determined to retire. Busby had his way, and, as if to show the real purpose of his action, agreed that Adam Littleton, Bagshaw's successor, should take the fourth form, while the Assis- tant went back below the curtain. Bagshaw's subsequent career was not happy. Ejected under the Bartholomew Act, he became a conventicler and remained a railer. After spending some time in several prisons he died at the end of 1671 in Tuttle Street. He had, however, won the respect of his party. His body was followed by many hundreds to its grave in Bunhill Fields, and Owen wrote his epitaph. Bagshaw was not the only Roundhead by whom Busby was troubled. One Owen Price, a Welshman, who had been under-butler of Jesus College, and was now Master of Magdalen College School, descried in Bagshaw's discomfiture an " unexpected providence " that was to bring him into the vacant place. Seeming to himself par negocio he attributed to the " divell " a "remora" which blocked his way. The remora was doubtless Busby, but Price looked to "the Lord that teaches to profit" to "vindicate his own name and interest " by procuring the appointment of his servant. The divine guidance so confidently asserted by Price was less apparent to Busby, and the ex-butler remained at Oxford. BUSBY 89 After his retirement Bagshaw published a book in which he stated his case against the Head Master. If Busby had not taken the Engagement it is difficult to believe that in this acrimonious volume such a handle would not have been used against him. It is true that by an Act of 1654 all obligation to take the Engage- ment and all penalties for not taking it had been annulled, but the previous Act had been four years in force. The probable inference that Busby and his boys did take the Engagement does not involve any slur upon his loyalty. Its terms, unlike those of the Covenant, were such that a man might fairly take it, if, without approving of the government of the Common- wealth, he was minded to take no active steps against it. An acknowledgment of the Government de facto was not incompatible with a desire for the Government de jure. It may indeed be surmised that Busby acted with the knowledge and approval of some whose loyalty was beyond question. Among them must have been the men to whom at the Restoration he applied for a certificate of loyalty. The certificate was signed by John King, Bishop of Chichester, elected to Christ Church in 1608 ; John Earles, who had been Charles' chaplain abroad, and in 1660 was made Dean of West- minster ; John Cosin, the great Bishop of Durham ; and Robert Sanderson, Bishop of Lincoln, whose loyalty had once left him without a crust. Earles had lived at Antwerp with George Morley, afterwards Bishop of Winchester, elected to Christ Church in 1615, and pro- bably Busby had been in communication with them. In fact, through all this time the loyalty of the School 90 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL had never really been in doubt Just as the King had been prayed for on the day of his execution, so the Church services were regularly held under Busby's own roof. The Scholars were still called King's Scholars, and even written down such in the careless jottings which the Head Master took for accounts. In the height of Cromwell's power at least one school-book J was dedicated to the King's School. Even at Cromwell's funeral, with Busby in official attendance, a daring deed showed the spirit of the School. Robert Uvedale, a senior in College, sprang through the legs of the guard and carried off from the bier a satin banner, which is still in the possession of his descendants. To the same spirit Dean Owen bore testimony. He saw many Westminsters at Election and at Christ Church, and it would never be well, he said, with the nation till that School was suppressed. He at least knew that Busby was in the winter of his discontent, and always hoping for the grasshoppers. It was only natural that at such a time the boys should show much diversity of opinion. If at the head of the Election to Cambridge in 1650 was John Dryden, who had much admiration for Cromwell, at the head of the Election to Oxford in 1651 was Robert South, who had none. If Locke was sped off to Oxford in 1652, he was followed in 1654 by Bisby, who lived to be a Nonjuror. Not a few of Busby's pupils were deprived of their studentships by the Parliamentary Visitors in 1648. At least six former King's Scholars were ejected from their cures in 1662, and all the six set up conventicles or schools in London BUSBY 91 or elsewhere. In contrast with this it may be added that Westminster sent no man of mark to swell the ranks of the Nonjurors. A few Westminsters did indeed refuse allegiance to William and Mary. Two of them, Nathaniel Bisby and Francis Hickman, were Busby's pupils, but Busby's teaching did not incline men to imitate the impracticable obstinacy of a Leslie or a Dodwell. Christ Church was not one of the colleges that offered most stubborn resistance to the Parliamentary Visitors, and Mr. Montagu Burrows traces this submission to the Nonconformist leaven of the Westminster students. But here we must make a distinction. The students who held their places when the visitation began were not in the same case as those who at their matriculation found the Visitors in power. The latter could have no good reason for refusing to acknowledge the powers that were. It would be idle to impeach the loyalty of men like South and Wetenhall and Hooper, who were elected, Wetenhall to Cambridge and the others to Oxford, during the Commonwealth. By the reproach, if it be one, Busby's boys who were students in 1648 are hardly touched. At least fifteen of them were expelled, and not more than five are known to have submitted. Nor are the five necessarily to be blamed. Though we may admire those who rejected the Visitors, in submission itself there was no crime. Philip Henry submitted, and his subsequent career proved that no persecution could turn him from his principles. Thomas Vincent remained a student, and in the plague year he showed that he had no fear of the death from which so 92 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL many of the Church clergy had fled. Such men com- pare not unfavourably with such frivolous persons as Robert Whitehall, to whom a jest was a sufficient reason for "malignancy." His answer is well known: "My name 's Whitehall : God bless the poet ! If I submit the King shall know it." Charles might well have said that he wanted no such adherents. In the mind of the government of the Restoration there was no serious doubt of Busby's loyalty. As he had held his place through all the broken times, it was necessary for him to get the certificate of loyalty, but this was little more than a form. The suppression of Chapters had deprived him of a prebend of Wells. He was restored to it, and he was made Prebendary of Westminster. Oxford hastened to create him Doctor of Divinity, and the Chapter of Wells their proctor in Convocation. As Prebendary he carried at the Coro- nation the eagle holding the sacred oil. His prebend gave him a second house in the precincts, and enabled him to add considerably to his income. If he desired power, and he clearly did, he was not denied his desire. His prebend gave him a voice in the Chapter, and the archdeaconry, to which he was chosen in 1672, gave him rank. Throughout the greater part of the reign of Charles II. the Dean was John Dolben, an amiable Westminster, who gave Busby his full support. The School flourished under a despotism. Busby's work was hardly interrupted by slight attacks of illness. In 1667 he spat blood and his end was expected, but he soon returned to his post. Though he was little more BUSBY 93 than sixty, he had for some time spoken of himself as an old man. By the world he was regarded as a miracle of grey-headed activity. To the last he was free from all signs of dotage. Busby, perhaps, did not excel in humility, and at Oxford the Westminsters of the Restoration were rather feared than loved. They suffered for their supremacy and, it may be, for their arrogance. Their leader was not himself a Westminster, for he had become a student of Christ Church in his twelfth year. But a twofold bond attached him to Saint Peter's. He was a Westminster's son, and he was Dean of Christ Church. Most of his friends and, it must be added, most of his flatterers were Westminsters. His master- ful determination to be all in all was not greater than his services to the University and Westminster, nor can posterity deny its tribute to the memory of John Fell. The place which Westminsters took in his time gave them an opprobrious nickname. The undergraduate students of the Westminster Election were known throughout Oxford as " Hodmen." The great Oxford antiquary, in whose diaries some of the hodmen are blackened beyond their deserts, gives no clue to the origin of the name. Anthony Wood had some excuse for his petulancy, for the Latin version of his history was the work of a Westminster, and was mangled by Fell. It cannot be denied that some of the Oxford Westminsters of the Restoration so lived as to do little credit to their School. They were not, however, more deeply tainted than their contemporaries with the wild orgies that followed the triumph of the monarchy and the Church, 94 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL Before that triumph began to stir the indignation of all moderate men, Westminster came under the rule of one of her own sons. As a boy of twelve years John Dolben, a great-nephew of Williams, had in 1637 been chosen a King's Scholar. Three years later he went, last of his Election, to Christ Church. Before he could take a degree he was swept into the vortex of the war, and bled for his cause at Marston Moor and at York. After the Roundsides' victory he returned to his studentship, only to lose it at the hands of the Commissioners. Nothing daunted he took orders in 1656, and with Fell and Allestree risked all penalties in the performance of the services of the Church. The Restoration brought him his reward. He became Dean of Westminster in 1662, and four years later united with his deanery the bishopric of Rochester. Dryden delighted to show his affection for the School in celebrating " Him of the western dome, whose weighty sense Flows in fit words and heavenly eloquence." His military service had left him a practical power, which does not always mark the divine. In the Fire of London he called upon the King's Scholars to form in rank, and marching with them to the City saved from the flames the Church of St. Dunstan's in the East. In the very stress of the fire the Westminster did not forget his favourite author. As he stood upon the bridge in Palace Yard Taswell took a Terence from his pocket and read it by the light of the flames of St. Paul's. For twenty years Dolben reigned over the Chapter BUSBY 95 and left the Head Master to rule the School. In 1682 he was translated to York, the first of five Westminsters who for a hundred and ten years out of a hundred and sixty-five kept state at Bishopthorpe. At Westminster his successor was Thomas Sprat, who used to thank God that though no Westminster he was a bishop. The revocation of the Edict of Nantes gave the School the opportunity of throwing open its doors to the persecuted stranger. The Huguenot had, indeed, been welcomed at an earlier time. Michael Maittaire, who may have been born in England, was admitted into College in 1682, and was followed by Philip Bouquett in the next year. In 1685 the exiles J established a school in Westminster. With the pious alteration of det for dat they adopted the motto of St. Peter's. One of their boys may have been Robert James Trouillant, admitted into College in 1696. It should perhaps be said that the original Westminster motto is supposed to have been Memores fecere merendo. The present, Dat Deus incrementum, has not been traced earlier than 1732. It cannot, however, have been then first adopted in face of the motto of the Huguenot School. At the coronation of James II. the King's Scholars filled the place which they have ever since occupied in the ceremony. Their right is established by the official report of Lancaster Herald : "And it is to be Noted that when the QUEEN entred the Choir, the King's Scholars of Westminster- School, in Number Forty, all in Surplices, being placed in a Gallery 96 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL adjoyning to the Great Organ -Loft, Entertained Her MAJESTY with this short Prayer or Salutation, VIVAT REGINA MARIA; which they continued to Sing until His MAJESTY entred the Choir, whom they entertained in like manner with this Prayer or Salutation, VIVAT JACOBUS REX, which they continued to sing until His MAJESTY ascended the Theatre" On such an occasion the presence of the young is rightly desired, and the last survivor of the spectators must usually be sought among the Westminsters. Of the King's Scholars of 1685 Robert Freind lived down to 1751. Sandford's picture represents the coronation with the tapestry hung round the walls. This tapestry was for many years, if not in the possession, at any rate in the use of the School. The separation of the School from the Chapter perhaps entailed its restoration to the Abbey. Busby had seen too many changes and was too far stricken in years to be affected by the Revolution. The boys had the opportunity of watching the events which led to it. Some old Westminsters who had returned to the seat of their childhood supported the King. Stephen Crespion, the Liberty boy of 1663, was now chaunter of the Abbey, and dreamed himself a bishop when he became confessor of the royal house- hold. Some of his superiors were little better. The Dean was ready to read the Declaration of Indulgence. Lord Dartmouth, a Town boy at the time, has described the scene. When the Dean began the congregation rose and passed out of the Church. His hand trembled so that he could hardly hold the paper, and before he had BUSBY 97 finished reading it he had no auditors but the members of the College. This prelude of the Revolution was more alarming than the actual change. From a revolution guided by Whig wisdom the School had nothing to fear. Only to one of the Scholars had it any terrors. The current which swept away King James involved the Liberty boy of 1685. This was John Jeffreys, the Chancellor's son and successor, who may have thought it well to withdraw for a few years his hated name into obscurity. He did not stand for Election, and waited for six years to take his seat in the House of Lords. Once again he appeared upon the Westminster stage to do honour in his wild way to the greatest Westminster of his time. In 1700 Dryden died, and his son designed a private funeral. Lord Jeffreys forced it into publicity, and, though Curll's narrative is undoubtedly a fiction, the ceremony as performed seemed fitter for Hudibras than for the great poet Even in William's reign Busby was still active. He took part in the coronation of the King and Queen, and in 1691 his eye was not dim when he recovered from a sickness which was expected to be his last. He took his work till the last weeks of his life, and expired In the unhealthy spring of 1695. More than three-quarters of a century had elapsed since he became a Town boy in the School over which he presided for fifty-seven years. It was his good fortune that the storms came when he had strength to meet them, while his later life was spent in calm waters. For the smaller troubles of daily life he had ample vigour to the last. H 9 8 It is natural that not a few picturesque facts give colour to so long a reign. For more than twenty years the Head Master was under a Dean who had been his own pupil. The Dean's sons, and probably at least one of his grandsons, were of Busby's boys. Dryden also sent his sons to his old Master. More than nine years before his death Busby saw the great seal of England in charge of one of his pupils, who was ten years younger than his mastership. When death closed the fifty-seven years of his reign the Chancellor of the Exchequer was one who had been admitted into College when that reign was already in its fortieth year. Of all the stories of the time none has proved more interesting than that which bears the name of the Curtain. Famous as it is, and based upon fact, as it certainly must be, it has little claim to accuracy in the form in which we know it. Budgell first told it in The Spectator, and put on it more weight than it could carry. It was best, he thought, to go to a public school, for there you might make a friend who would save you from the gallows. A meek boy accidentally tore the curtain which divided the Upper from the Under School. His dread of the rod moved the pity of a bolder school-fellow, who took upon himself the blame and the penalty. Years passed and the boys lost sight of each other. The vicarious criminal took part in Penruddock's rising, and was tried for his life. His judge was the boy who had torn the curtain. A recognition followed, and the judge, making interest with the Protector, saved the prisoner's life. Budgell BUSBY 99 gave no names, but Zachary Grey states, as a thing well known, that the accused royalist was William Wake, father of the Archbishop of Canterbury. As Wake was born in 1628, and Penruddock's rising was in 1655, the judge of assize can in that case hardly have been more than thirty years of age. Of the judges at the trial none has been identified as a West- minster contemporary of Wake. Of this period the School commemorates three bene- factors, of whom two were her own sons. The other was Thomas Triplett, a student of Christ Church and Prebendary of Westminster, who died in 1670. His benefaction is now of considerable value, and yearly affords exhibitions and gratuities to major candidates who have missed their Election or increases the in- comes of the elected. Peter Samwaies, who was elected to Cambridge in 1634, founded a benefaction for the Westminsters elected to Trinity. Richard Hill, elected to Christ Church in 1640, and afterwards Canon of Salisbury, founded exhibitions which are still tenable by Westminsters of his house. Valuable as these benefactions are and were, they had less attraction than the solid merits of the School and its Master. Bagshaw had complained that, whereas the Head Master should have but four boarders, and those to diet in Hall, Busby all his time had had between thirty and forty boarded at excessive rates in his own house. It was not even true that he could claim diet for four in the College commons, but there was nothing to for- bid him taking more in his own house. The statutes ioo WESTMINSTER SCHOOL certainly had not desired more than a hundred and twenty boys in the School, and Busby had seen twice as many. Bagshaw had not taken this point. In fact, the statute had long been obsolete, and it was well that it was. Busby's new house gave him room for more than forty boarders, and there is little doubt that he did not neglect his opportunity. Bagshaw's complaint that the boarding fees were excessive was as baseless as his other accusations. The complaint was repeated more than twenty years later by John Aubrey, the Oxford antiquary. "The exorbitant deare rates for boarding," he wrote in a treatise still unpublished, " at Westminster Schoole and other schools about London is a great grievance, viz., thirty pounds per annum, twenty - five pounds per annum at the least, and yet the children have not their bellies full." The last charge was not brought by Bagshaw, and was apparently groundless. The fees were not uniform. Boys at the Upper table, who answered to the Pensioners of an earlier period or the gentlemen commoners of an Oxford College, paid ten pounds a quarter. The usual charge was no more than six or seven. When a boarder became a King's Scholar he paid less than the bare cost of his diet. As, how- ever, he then got no breakfast, it is probable that the boy's delight in his gown was less than his father's. Whether King's Scholar or Town boy the lad had his money's worth, and it can hardly be contended that his Masters got more than their due. Of the cost to a Queen's Scholar's parent we have a record in the diary of Francis Lynn, admitted into .- 1HK IJUslJY UUK.AKV . K.MICI.VKFE, 1845 FROM A SKETCH U BUSBY 101 College in 1689. On his admission the boy paid about eleven guineas chiefly for furniture and clothing, and eight guineas in fees to the seniors. His School fees were a guinea a quarter to Busby, and half a guinea a year to the Second Master. Lynn's pocket money averaged less than two shillings a month. Candles cost fivepence a month. The barber and bed-maker had four shillings a quarter between them. Books, clothing, and other small charges bring the sum to nearly ten pounds a year. A home boarder paid a School fee of ten shillings a quarter, and at Christmas a guinea to the Head Master, half a guinea to the Second Master, and five shillings to the Usher. Lynn mentions no entrance fee, but in most cases one was paid. Its amount seems to have depended upon the means of the parent. Busby's income in his wealthiest time may be estimated at ;iooo a year, and the Second Master's at ^300. If Busby's revenues were large he worked hard for them. There was no man of his time who either found less leisure or less desired it. If he held more places than one, he neglected the duties of none of them. It would of course be idle to attribute to him any sympathy with the objection to pluralities after- wards expressed by Mr. Allworthy. But if he gathered moneys, he spent but little on himself. His daily pint of claret and his habitual pipe of tobacco were no excessive luxuries. His charities were large, and, when other objects failed him, the School had the profit of his purse. Dolben induced the Chapter to share their dividend with the fabric fund of the College, and upon that fund Busby took care that the School made little 102 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL claim. Even for a library, a room much needed, he made no appeal to the guardians of the School funds. The room which he built at the south-east corner of the School looks out upon the College garden, and under its beautiful carved ceiling are still gathered the books which he collected. For the work of education they are of course obsolete, but some of them have an antiquarian interest Here is the Royal Slave, the play in which Busby won his spurs. Here is the first edition of the Greek Grammar, which Francis Gregory compiled under the Master's eye. Vocabularies and anthologies testify to his compiling powers, and Bibles in many languages to his zeal for the tongues. Among them is the first edition of the Bible in the dialect of the Massachusetts Indians, the work of John Eliot, the Indian apostle. Even Malay and Barou have their representatives, while Euclid stands beside them in Arabic. The first edition of Lycidas shows that West- minster was not unwilling to honour a poet greater than any of her own. The library, now the form room of the seventh, is but the most conspicuous of many like tokens of Busby's bounty. In fact, he seems to have defrayed out of his own pocket all the cost of keeping the School buildings in repair. He even paid for the broken windows, and for such of the furniture of the dormitory as was not supplied by the boys. In 1656, perhaps the year in which he built the library, he seems to have spent more than 200. Nor did his benevolence cease with his life. To the promotion of piety, to the assistance of the poor and of men of letters, and to the building of BUSBY 103 churches, as is asserted by the most truthful of all the epitaphs in the Abbey, " quicquid non erogarat vivus legavit moriens" It has been shown that before the Civil War the School drew but few boys from the class of hereditary politicians. Such statesmen as she trained rose, like Dorchester, from the ranks of the squires. The King's wards and the sons of the great houses had their education in a French academy or with a domestic tutor. A well-grounded dissatisfaction with the result prompted various schemes for keeping them at home. A Royal Academy had been more than once projected in Elizabeth's reign, and the matter won the attention of Prince Henry, Bacon, and Buckingham. In the reign of Charles I. two such academies were actually ' established. Had they succeeded the sons of the nobility and wealthier gentry would at School have been separated from the sons of the clergyman, the lawyer, and the merchant. There might have followed some of those evils which gave birth to the French Revolution. The man of action and the man of learning must come in time to the parting of the ways, but it is well that they should start together. From the schemes already propounded the French academies had little to fear, for the faction of classes has seldom found much favour in England. Men of character had, however, little reason to be pleased with a system which carried an innocent infant from England and brought him back, as Evelyn somewhat later complained, growing into a man " insolent and ignorant, debauched, and without the least tincture" 104 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL of what should have been hoped for. Hence it was that before the middle of the century the French academy and the travelling tutor began to find formidable rivals in Westminster and Eton. For the new fashion England owes much to the Puritans. Men like Manchester and Warwick were naturally unwilling to send their sons to a corrupt education in a papist country. Like Cromwell they were zealous in the cause of the Universities. It is true that they would reform those seats of learning, but their hostility to Oxford and Cambridge is a baseless figment. A statesman's son who was to be sent to Oxford or Cambridge would naturally get his grammar learning at Westminster. John Owen, indeed, the great Independent Dean of Christ Church, had declared in a petulant moment that it Would never be well with the nation till Westminster was suppressed. Even if, as South asserts, Owen often repeated the v phrase, it is clear that he repented of it. As an Elector he showed himself most friendly to the School, and had the satisfaction of choosing among others John Locke. Before the death of Charles I. we find at the School the two sons of the second Lord Montagu of Boughton, who had adhered to the Parliament, and a little later Robert Spencer, Earl of Sunderland. These earlier examples are not convincing proofs of the superiority of an English education. Sunderland could hardly have been a more consummate master of profligacy and chicanery had he been educated only in Paris. The elder Montagu, indeed, fell BUSBY 105 gallantly at Bergen, but his brother was destined to marry two large fortunes, to become a pensioner of France, to live without shame and faith, and die Duke of Montagu. There were others who shed more lustre on their School. George Legge, Lord Dartmouth, James the Second's Admiral, was faithful to an unworthy master. Contemporary with him were Daniel Finch, afterwards Earl of Nottingham, and his brother Heneage, first Earl of Aylesford. With them were Russells, Montagus of the Manchester branch, and others whose character was worthy of their birth. After the Restoration and the abolition of the Court of Wards the current set still stronger towards the Public Schools. By the end of Busby's time Westminster was become a nursery of statesmen. Of the Ministers of William and Anne, beside those already named, Charles Montagu, Dorset, Dartmouth, the Admiral's son, Rivers, Peterborough, Henry Boyle, and others were Westminsters. Of the First Lords of the Treasury in the reigns of George I. and his son four out of nine, and of the Secretaries of State five, if not six, out of fifteen were their school-fellows. Some traces of the feeling that Westminster was a School only for divines may be noted till the end of the seventeenth century. Some statesmen were more inclined to get tutors from Westminster than to send their sons to it. In spite of his Puritan leanings Algernon Percy sent his boy abroad in 1658. For the boy, who was but fourteen, Evelyn recommended a tutor, and his choice fell on John Mapletoft, Locke's friend, who was elected to Trinity io6 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL in 1648. As late as 1692 a great man's friends would not always advise him to send his son to Busby. In that year Lady Caithness, who had lately put her boy to Westminster, wrote to the Laird of Methven, "Som say the Scool he is at is mo proper for to breed up youths for Church men than any other station." Writing under Queen Anne the brilliant author of the Characteristics complained that in England a boy must be bred either in pedantry or in foppery. Lord Shaftesbury was a Wykehamist. Had he been a Westminster he would have known that there was a more excellent way. It is noteworthy that the last attempt to keep our statesmen from Westminster was made by a traitor from the camp. Lewis Maidwell was rejected at Election in 1668. He set up a school in London and boldly designed to secure it an endowment. In 1700 he petitioned the House of Commons to this end, and met with some support from those who still believed in knightly exercises and the management of the great horse, but the time for such schemes v/as past. Happily he proposed to raise funds by a tax on all printed matter. John Wallis, the great mathematician, poured ridicule upon the adventurer's project, and in a short time it went into the limbo that it deserved. It was indeed time for the sons of the great to be sent to school. There they need not learn much, but the tutor at home usually taught them nothing. Waverley's Mr. Pembroke was probably a favourable specimen of his class, and Mr. Pembroke troubled his pupil but little. Burnet complained that many a boy was taught BUSBY 107 dancing, fencing, and riding, but learned nothing of history and geography, and but little of the tongues. There were no doubt exceptions, of whom Chesterfield was one. On the other hand, there were those who, like Newcastle, carried much ignorance away from school ; but the completest gentleman of his time was < Carteret, and Carteret was a Westminster. The schemes which aimed at a separate education for the nobility seemed to suppose 'that in a school all boys were on a level. This, however, was not yet the case. Distinctions of rank in school life were slow to break down, and traces of them may be found in the reign of George III. In the seventeenth century it was usual for a boy of wealth and rank to be attended by his own servant. Two or more brothers would usually have but one servant between them. In Busby's time we find such attendants on the sons of Lord Manchester, Lord Winchilsea, Mr. Packington, and others. Busby provided the servant with board and lodging and charged rather highly for it, as was indeed right. The usual payment seems to have been ten marks a month. The servant may have been in some cases a man, in others he was certainly a lad of his master's age. A tenant's son from the family estate might be treated as a humble friend. From an essay of Steele's we may infer that the servant was sometimes able to get some benefit from the school curriculum, though he never attained to the position of an Oxford servitor. Tom Trusty went to a day school in the country with Harry Rockrent, the son of his father's landlord, and after- wards accompanied him to Westminster. Tom was io8 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL amicum mancipium domus, whom his master " loved en- tirely, and was often whipt for not keeping him at a distance." The distance was not increased when they came to Westminster. At night when Harry did his exercises Tom looked out words in the dictionary, and j his master taught him what he had learned in the day. Harry, it must be thought, was a boy of exceptional virtue. In 1712 the four sons of Lord Bristol had a servant, Will Fiske, for whose board at Mrs. Beresford's their father paid ,5 a quarter. When the elder boys left the servant remained with the younger brothers. Soon afterwards the custom died out. Another distinction of Busby's time was the difference of table. For a place at the first table a higher price was paid. The boys who sat at it had their last descendants in the "parlour boarders" of the country grammar schools. The occupation of a private room may have been a younger custom. It certainly out- lasted the private servant. In the middle of the eighteenth century at least one great nobleman had a suite of rooms to himself. To Busby's later time we must probably attribute the establishment of a system of boarding-houses, which v lasted for more than a century. It differed both from the original plan and from that of which alone any living Westminster, except the very oldest, has had personal experience. Of the Pensioners it is probable that in the reign of Charles II. there remained only the Head Master's boarders. There seem to have been no longer any boys in the houses of the Dean and the Prebendaries. The scanty profits of a few boarders BUSBY 109 were beneath the notice of prosperous pluralists. The Second Master had to reside in the tower of the dormitory, and by choice or compulsion resigned his right to take boarders. It is not, however, certain that this resignation was made by Knipe, Second Master from 1663 until he succeeded Busby. In 1667 South complained that Knipe's neglect of his duty to the King's Scholars had ruined the School. Be that as it may, the supply of boarders outran the accommoda- tion. As they could not come as Pensioners, they must come as Peregrines. The Third Master was perhaps too young to preside over a house. Hence boarding- houses were opened by strangers. One of the earliest of these was kept by Hilkiah Bedford, a Nonjuror who was ejected from the rectory of Wittering, and at a later period was styled a bishop. Bedford had been a Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge, and was no doubt fitted for his place. Among his Westminsters were his nephew, George Smith, and his son Thomas, both of whom became Nonjurors. They were, however, of later date than Busby. In Bedford's house we see the genesis of the system of dames. These boarding-houses held boys whose ages varied from six to twenty. In fact, it was not until the present century that a distinct line was drawn between prepara- tory schools and public schools. Very late in the reign of George III. boys were admitted to Westminster, even as boarders, at the ages of six and seven. Prepara- tory schools have, however, existed since the reign of Elizabeth ; and, whereas now the range of age at admission rarely exceeds three years, and is often less, no WESTMINSTER SCHOOL there was in the past much greater diversity. Some boys came from their mothers' knees, others from the grammar schools of London or of Chelsea, Battersea, and other neighbouring villages. At least as early as the time of James I. boys of promise began to make their way from the country grammar schools. West- minster was their highway to Oxford or Cambridge. Cartwright, " my son Cartwright," as Ben Jonson called him, came up from the free school at Ciceter. Probably Randolph, another of Ben's "sons," and certainly Dryden were at schools in Northamptonshire. Cowley, a Londoner by birth, was admitted in- or before his tenth year, and, as Sprat says, "soon obtained and increased the noble genius peculiar to the School." Unlike Philip Henry he may have known no other. Henry went to school first at St. Martin's, and passed through Battersea to Westminster at the age of twelve. He could protect babes of six in the First form and look with awe upon giants of eighteen in the Sixth. He may even have had grown men for his school- fellows. It is certain that in 1657 Charles Sackville had passed his twentieth birthday when he first came under Busby's rod. " Children of 6 years old," wrote Lady Caithness in 1692, " ar in the First form." It is a most remarkable fact that in or before Busby's time a King's Scholarship had in most cases ceased to be a direct source of profit to the parent. Only to a boarder was it of immediate value. His boarding fee might be as much as 40, and was never less than 24 a year. His initial expense on entering College was for fees, livery, and furniture about 15, and his tuition BUSBY in fees were about .5 a year. If he held his scholarship for three years he made a profit which varied from some 50 to nearly twice that sum. The boarders, however, formed little more than a fourth part of the Town boys, and many of them had no desire to become King's Scholars. It followed that the majority of the King's Scholars were chosen from the day-boys. As a day- boy boarding at home paid in tuition fees and gifts only some 4. a year, he might actually lose nearly 20 by a three years' tenure of a scholarship. Against this is to be set the cost of his living at home. In spite of. this seeming disadvantage there was no lack of able competitors. The explanation is not far to seek. A scholarship was an honour, and it was a necessary prelude to Election, the greatest honour that the School could confer. Even the open partiality of the Electors could not deprive it of its distinction. A boy of more talents than interest could find an in- centive in the hope of compelling the Electors to attend to his claims. Francis Lynn was put by twice " for want of friends," but on the third occasion, he rightly boasts, " standing captain or senior I was elected in accordingly." To a boy designed, like Lynn, for the University there was a further motive. Only a King's Scholar could stand for Election. A studentship of Christ Church was perhaps the most valuable prefer- ment that a schoolboy could obtain. While he was an undergraduate it covered more than half the expenses of his career, and, if he chose an academical life, it became a permanent provision. If a scholarship at Trinity was of much less value, it at least gave the ii2 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL undergraduate a considerable position in the College. The society to which it introduced him was likely to stimulate his intellectual powers, and increase his chance of a fellowship. If he chose to serve his country in Church or State, a Westminster, whether of Christ Church or of Trinity, found the gate open to him. At his start in the world he was likely to get more credit than he deserved. George Stepney's wretched verses won him the name of an " illustrious poet," and opened the way for a brilliant diplomatic career. In the Church we find testimony to the same effect. An ambitious young Town boy would not be heedless of the saying of that divine who used to thank God that he was a bishop though he was not a West- minster. Under the present system, a boarder who becomes a resident Queen's Scholar reduces his ex- penditure by some 70 a year. CHAPTER VII. THE CURRICULUM UNDER BUSBY Busby's Qualities His Freshness of Mind Hebrew Arabic Eng- lish Pronunciation of Latin and Greek Mathematics Private Study Little Tutor Objectors to Busby's Method, Cowley, Locke His later Teaching Music Games. r I ^HE secret of Busby's success and unique reputation -* is not hard to explain. His method was not per- haps the best, but he was the ablest exponent of the method of his time. Something must be ascribed to his scholarship, to his dominant energy and untiring intellect, to his mastery of political difficulties, and to the protraction of his rule. But he had two qualities of even greater power. His enthusiasm was catching. It was almost too much so, for if his better boys had in Steele's phrase "such a peculiar readiness of fancy and delicacy of taste, as is seldom found in men educated elsewhere," his worse boys had the arrogance that springs from " learning without genius." It was a fault that in the next century was avoided by Nicoll. But the most potent of all Busby's influences was his power over the conscience. He had his own opinions, and knew how and when to assert them, but he also knew that there is something better than opinions. The dogma is educationally worthless, the ideal is 1 113 ii4 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL everything. His best pupils sometimes differed from him, and perhaps those who most differed admired him most and loved him best. "Child," he said reproach- fully to Philip Henry, "what made thee a Noncon- formist?" "Truly, sir," was the reply, "you made me one, for you taught me those things that hindered me from conforming." Busby's surprise showed that he was hardly conscious of the true greatness of his work. Yet he might have remembered that in Henry's own case he had shown that his zeal was singularly free from bigotry. Henry's mother, whose native puri- tanism had perhaps been sharpened by her acquaint- ance with Laud, had successfully begged of Busby that her boy might attend Stephen Marshall's daily lectures in the Abbey, and Case's weekly lectures at St. Martin's. This noble toleration characterised Busby's Westminster. It had indeed one exception, which became more clearly marked under the house of Hanover. No uncommon theme for epigrams in the earlier years of the eighteenth century was the system of a Church which could be described in strong figures from the Apocalypse, and Busby himself had little tolerance for the Bishop of Rome. If Busby was no great educational reformer, he re- tained a freshness of mind which showed itself in the school work. Early in his career he supplanted Camden's Greek Grammar and Lily's Latin Grammar by works composed under his own supervision, and destined to bear his name. But he did not regard any edition as final. To an adversary like Bagshaw he would not admit that his Greek Grammar was CURRICULUM UNDER BUSBY 115 capable of improvement, but, in fact, he was continually improving it. Of each successive edition of his Latin Grammar he made his boys get copies and learn the new text. His Hebrew Grammar, though it remained unprinted, was transcribed for use in the School, and doubtless altered in the same way. He was always alive to new knowledge, and always seeking fresh sub- jects of instruction. At Oxford, or perhaps later, he had made some way in Arabic, and when he wrote a grammar of the tongue his boys said he wished it to be thought that all learned languages were to be got at Westminster. Those who did not understand that a teacher must always remain a learner ascribed to whim what was really due to wisdom. There were, however, critics who had perhaps better reason for finding fault. The staple of education was undoubtedly the classics. Busby dropped no subject, except perhaps to some extent geography, that had been taught by his prede- cessors, but he never forgot that amid the multiplicity of subjects the best training was to be obtained from Greek and Latin. Even Hebrew he regarded but as a means, if not to thought, at least to the study of the Bible. In the teaching of Hebrew Busby followed the letter of the statutes. It was the one subject in which no change was made for some three centuries, and the first and last change was the banishment of the tongue. The study was confined to the highest form, and to grammar and the psalter. When Andrewes was Dean he took the teaching of Hebrew on himself, and to him Bishops Duppa and Hacket owed their knowledge of n6 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL it. Busby was equally energetic. He was glad to increase Taswell's scanty income by appointing him examiner in Hebrew to his old School. Nor was Taswell the only Hebraist who found a profit in his knowledge. In 1691 Roger Altham was made Hebrew professor at Oxford. He owed his place to his school reputation of twenty-five years back, for Wood implies that he had forgotten the language. He might recover it from Busby's own grammar, which was still multiplied in manuscript, and not published till 1708. The book seems to have remained in use until Hebrew died out about the middle of the present century. Busby did not confine his desires to the classical languages. He had some skill, as has already been pointed out, in Arabic, and loved to display it At Election, as Evelyn found in 1661, there were themes and verses in the tongue, and at least one of Busby's boys, Bishop Hooper, was a master in it Perhaps the subject did not outlive its introducer. With the Arabic Grammar appeared and disappeared the one book which shows Busby as an anticipator of more modern methods. For the use of the lowest forms he compiled an " English Accidence," whose quarto sheets were distributed to the children. It is still a matter of dispute whether English is not best taught through the medium of other tongues. Busby's anticipation of Lindley Murray was not destined to keep its place, and the School library contains no copy of the work. In its time the little book hardly had a rival, and Aubrey, who perhaps did not share the general admiration of Busby, was obliged to admit it CURRICULUM UNDER BUSBY 117 into his scheme of education. To most of his contem- poraries the study of English grammar seemed little better than a pedagogue's caprice. After his fashion Busby set his Usher to compile a book upon the subject. William Walker's Treatise of English Par- ticles was dedicated to the Head Master. Walker was afterwards Head Master of Grantham Grammar School, and it is probable that some of Busby's spirit was carried by his Assistant into his native county of Lincolnshire. The list of authors prescribed by the statutes could not be expected to satisfy the omnivorous genius of Busby. Dryden's translations from Juvenal and Per- sius were in some cases based upon versions which he had made for Busby. When Busby introduced a new author it was his custom to publish a text. His publisher was Elizabeth Redmayne, who also published for Eton. Among the less familiar works which she printed for Busby was an edition of Apollodorus. A knowledge of mythology was one of the first steps in education. Some of these books were frequently reprinted, and when in 1846 the grammars were ex- pelled by Liddell, there was a large stock of the last edition on the hands of Ginger, the School bookseller. It was found necessary to compensate him for the loss. If in the teaching of English Busby had no rival to meet, he would not admit one, even where one could be found. The annotators on the classics were little to his taste, and a plain text was all that his boys dare bring into form. His own comments were better ii8 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL than any that could be found in print. His neglect of the professional scholar was outdone by his contempt for the educational amateur. In one point his method still obtains at Westminster. The travelled English- man was apt to feel an unnecessary shame that his Latin pronunciation was hardly understood at Avignon or Florence. Milton learned at Rome to despise those who would " smatter Latin with an English tongue." Evelyn, who had smattered it at Padua, could not endure the Westminster's pronunciation. It was so odd, he complained, "that out of England none were able to understand or endure it." John Pell, the mathe- matician, added his voice to the protesting faction, but Busby was not to be misled. He knew that the object of school education was not the accumulation of know- ledge. It is doubtful if in this matter Busby's view can rightly be called conservative. In his early time his pronunciation of Latin did not perhaps obtain in all schools in England. There was no uniformity, and Aubrey declared, in words which are perhaps still true, that all the pronunciations were false. Before Busby's death his own method had perhaps completely estab- lished itself throughout England. Of late two rival methods have made way elsewhere, but at Westminster the standard pronunciation holds its own. The West- minster boy is still taught to sound cdno and cdno alike, and read the familiar English diphthongs into the a, i, and o of the Romans. The method is somewhat out of fashion, but is by no means incapable of defence. Its qualities are said, not with absolute accuracy, to CURRICULUM UNDER BUSBY 119 rest in the eye and the mind, and not in the ear. It is at least uniform and consistent, and for general educational purposes is at least as good as the new- fangled travesty which in some places passes for the pronunciation of ancient Rome. There may be lecture rooms at Oxford and Cambridge where Cicero would understand what is said, but there is probably no school- boy whose tongue would be intelligible to the hearers of the Pro Murena and the Philippics. In the pronunciation of Greek there has been a change, for which there were adequate reasons. Busby spoke the tongue neither as an Englishman nor as a Greek. He inherited or promulgated an error which in our own time misled the eccentric genius of John Stuart Blackie. The mark of accent was supposed to be, as it is in modern Greek, a mark of stress. A few in- stances will illustrate the result. Metam6rphosis, a pronunciation denounced by Macaulay as a novelty, occurs in the Prologue to Ignoramus in 1713, and like instances may be quoted from earlier times. The lines which Dryden wrote at school in honour of Lord Hastings contain the couplet : " Learn'd, virtuous, pious, wise, and have by this An universal metempsychosis." In Greek Dryden's ear so misled his eye that he was capable of writing evpeKa, and actually did so in the Religio Laid, written thirty-two years after his leaving school. Prior, indeed, could spell the word, but it is evident that his pronunciation agreed with Dryden's : " Your doubts resolv'd, you boast your labours crown'd, And, evprjKa. ! your God forsooth is found." 120 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL Not ignorance but a false theory made him write in a prologue : " Most of you snored whilst Cleome'nes read." Dryden uses the same pronunciation throughout the play, and by some writers has consequently been accused of a false quantity. It can hardly have been the case that, when these names occurred in a Latin author, the fanciful use of the accent still obtained. Prior may thus justify such lines as " Does Squire Protdgoras live here ? " and " Who from Euripides makes Phaedra speak." A like inconsistency may be observed in Dryden. This pronunciation still obtained in the School in the middle of the eighteenth century. "They that read Greek with the accents," wrote Cowper to Unwin in 1785, "would pronounce the e in 0tXew as an i/. But I do not hold with that practice, though educated in it." Perhaps the last survival of the theory was in a punning phrase, the traditional property of the Head Master. On Shrove Tuesday, if the cook's throw left part of the pancake on the bar, the Head Master ejaculated Uav KdKov, and the sound was at least a passable imitation of " pancake on." The phrase was used by Smith about 1775, and may perhaps have lasted into the present century. The theory has left its mark in the current pronunciation of the word " idea." If Westminster under Busby was, as South called it, inconfusa Babel, it must not be supposed that the tongues were the only study. Long before Charles the Second's foundation of a mathematical school in Christ's CURRICULUM UNDER BUSBY 121 Hospital the fresh vitality of Busby had brought geometry and arithmetic to Westminster. His own command of the science of numbers sometimes broke down in practice. The addition sums in his account book are not invariably correct. In the footsteps of Euclid he trod with more success. As early as 1650 one of his boys astonished him by mastering six books of geometry in a single week. Nor did Busby's zeal abate with years. He was nearly eighty when Atter- bury styled him another Cicero clearing away the brambles from the forgotten tomb of Archimedes. He would never rest, said his boys, till the School produced a second Euclid as acute as the Alexandrian. The language of compliment had perhaps a definite reference to Edward Wells, who was elected Head to Christ Church in 1686. Wells was a mathematician of no mean attainments, and his works had for some time a considerable vogue. A better claim might have been asserted for the boy who had so rapidly mastered Euclid. The boy taught geometry to Robert Boyle, and was in fact the connecting link between Bacon and the Royal Society. Even before Newton he divined the theory of universal gravitation, and had he equalled Newton's equanimity would have been the first to demonstrate it. A peevish temper drew part of his ener- gies into useless quarrels, and his restless mind diverted itself with lesser inventions. With all his defects the practical side of English science was largely fostered by Robert Hooke. Mathematics were of course taught through the medium of Latin. Among the text- books employed 122 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL by Busby were William Oughtred's Clavis Mathematicae and Isaac Barrow's Eudidis Elementa. A copy of the latter, interleaved and annotated by Atterbury, was for many years in the possession of his descendants. With all this it may be doubted if mathematics formed part of the regular curriculum. Probably they were taught only to boys who seemed to have a taste for them. Hooke was a Town boy boarding in Busby's house, and according to his school-fellow, Sir Richard Knight, used to come but little into School. He pro- bably studied his mathematics apart, and was assisted by private conference with Busby. His hours were not all spent in pure study. He invented no less than " thirty severall wayes of flying," but it is not recorded that he induced any of his school-fellows to put them into practice. His liberty of study seems to have been shared by Christopher Wren, and it is evident that Busby was wise enough to exercise only a general supervision over the boyish ventures of true genius. It was not only in the irregular subjects that boys were encouraged to take their own line. Even his grammars and vocabularies owed something to their research. They collected the examples and noted words which were not to be found in the current dictionaries. Their efforts filled two volumes with " words collected out of divers authors, which were not to be found in Stephens's Thesaurus" The boys were ready to read by themselves many authors, in whose works they could hope to find an unrecorded word. Nor did the habit soon die. Even in the present century there have been boys who read out of School much more than they mastered in it CURRICULUM UNDER BUSBY 123 There was also another custom by which the elder boys were induced to maintain their acquaintance with the elements of their studies. This was a system of private tuition that has long since fallen into abeyance. The very name of " little tutor," familiar in the schools of the seventeenth century, is now wholly forgotten. The elder boys, who superintended the work of a junior, took on a smaller scale the place in teaching which had been occupied by the monitors. The tutor was usually a King's Scholar, and the pupil a young Town boy. The " little tutor " was paid for his services, and might thus gather a small purse against the time when he should go to the University. An undergraduate could even return to the work during his vacations. Walter Titley, elected to Cambridge in 1719, had been little tutor to Osborn Atterbury, the Dean's son. When three years later young Atterbury was a major candi- date, Titley stayed at the Deanery to "coach" him. Titley and Atterbury had been King's Scholars to- gether. There was sometimes a greater difference of age. Robert Clayton, afterwards the high-minded Bishop of Clogher, was five years younger than his " little tutor," Zachary Pearce. The " little tutor " did not long outlive this period, but he left a lineal descendant in the " help " in Challenge. The " help " passed away when the living voice gave place to the pen. His function is sometimes now fulfilled by a Master. The subjects of instruction are become so numerous that the change was perhaps inevitable. The loss was at least equalled by the gain. In spite of the zeal with which Busby had thrown i2 4 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL himself into the study of numbers and figures, there were not lacking, even in his own time, some to whom the Westminster curriculum seemed deficient If his Babel had no confusion, it was still Babel. Even among Westminsters we may trace a desire for other learning than language and literature. The lessons of the Novum Organon prompted Cowley's strange pro- ject of a philosophical college. Intended in some points as an attack upon Busby, the design still shows Cowley as a Westminster. The College was to be steeped in Latin. The elements of natural science were to be studied in Varro and Pliny, the principles of divination in Cicero. Every month a play of Terence was to walk the boards, and even the professors' triennial report of their discoveries was to be written in " proper and ancient Latin." Busby was not to be moved. He would have no premature "specialising," and held the classical training to be the best even for a chemist. Of the great physicians of the time Henry Stubbe, Nathaniel Hodges, Sir Thomas Millington, John Mapletoft, and Richard Lower had been King's Scholars. The two last, like Walter Pope and other Westminsters, were Fellows of the Royal Society, of which Stubbe was the "snarling adversary." Sir Christopher Wren was a Town boy, and went to Oxford at fourteen without standing for College. While Cowley was at Westminster, Busby was still at Oxford. A more direct assault than Cowley's was made by one of Busby's own pupils, but the book in which it was made mentions neither the School nor its Master. Nor would it have seen the light but for the CURRICULUM UNDER BUSBY 125 importunities of the author's friends. Written for the father of a young family it remained in manuscript almost to the ninth year, and perhaps never came under Busby's eye. In the matter of punishments and in some details he might have profited by it. Indeed nowadays it needs some courage to suggest that, in so far as they conflict with Busby's principles, there is on the whole a retrogressive and unworthy spirit in Locke's Thoughts Concerning Education. Locke's fault is not so much that too little place, as Johnson said, is given to literature : it is rather that too much is thought of mere worldly success. The boy is to seek for an estate, much as Jane Austen's young women must seek for husbands. This touch of vulgarity colours both the general view and the practical suggestions. As a man of ideals Busby would have rejected his pupil's material- ism. Himself a capable man of business, he would not have admitted that the only or even the first object of a humane education was to get an estate. Mines of gold and silver, says Locke, are not discovered on Parnassus. . To Busby the sentiment would have carried its own condemnation. Busby's zeal for languages and literature did not con- fine him to the desire of making scholars. The man of affairs was often the creation of his voice and rod. Indeed, of his later teaching it must admitted as a fault or claimed as a merit that it went to the making rather of the man of action, politician or churchman, than of the scholar. When Aldrich, himself a Westminster, ruled at Christ Church, his students had, as Macaulay says, the skill and address of most able, artful, and ex- 126 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL perienced men. They tilted against Bentley, and so disguised their defeat that for a time more than half the world took it for a victory. Bentley was almost the equal in wit and immeasurably the superior in learning of Freind, Atterbury, Smalridge, and King, the West- minsters who defended the genuineness of the letters of Phalaris. But great as his powers were, he was no match for them in the art of catching the ears of con- temporaries. Had Busby been alive he might have whipped his scholars for their blunders, but would have marked their astuteness with an "alpha." He would have avowed that for the work of the world he had trained better men than Bentley. It has been already pointed out that at first the boys during two hours a week received instruction in music from the Master of the Choristers. It was held, rightly or wrongly, that a knowledge of music tended to clear elocution. It would, however, seem that the subject was soon dropped. John Lant, elected to Oxford in 1572, became public praelector in music, but prayed to be excused delivering lectures for the sufficient reason that they were of scanty value to the auditors. Under James I. and his son the professional musician found scanty favour from Westminster authorities. Dean Williams used to say that musicians had "but half brains," and Cowley, who as a King's Scholar had watched the Abbey choir, prayed to be delivered " From singing-men's religion who are Always at church, just like the crows, 'cause there They built themselves a nest." John Earles, afterwards Dean, drew a darker picture CURRICULUM UNDER BUSBY 127 of the class. They were, he said, a bad society : their politeness stopped at a bow to the Prebendary ; their knowledge was nothing, and their exercise drinking. Busby, it is true, was not without some feeling for music, and even kept an organ in his house. It has been supposed that under the Commonwealth his use of it exposed him to the risk of punishment. The sup- position is, however, inaccurate. It is true that by an Act of 1644 all organs were to be removed from churches, but this Act, like others of the Presbyterian ascendency, fell into abeyance under the Common- wealth. Busby's danger was that he used the Church Liturgy, and the noise of the organ exposed him to the risk of detection. At this very time the Abbey had its regular organist. Richard Portman died in 1654, and by an Order in Council John Hingston was in the next year appointed to succeed him. In the early years of the Protectorate, while Portman was still organist, there was a boy who took much delight in the instrument This was the same Hooke that raced through his Euclid. We do not know whether it was on the Abbey organ or on Busby's that he did " of his own accord learn to play twenty lessons." Vocal music also was not without patrons among the leading Independents. Cromwell's Whitehall choir was famous, and the Protector's liking for a good voice was of service to a Westminster student of Christ Church. James Quin, ejected by the Parliamentary visitors, sang before Cromwell at Whitehall. " Mr. Quin," said the Protector, "you have done very well. What shall I do for you ? " Quin begged to be restored 128 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL to his studentship, and on Cromwell's ready compliance returned to Christ Church, and soon afterwards died a lunatic. But Quin, despite his fine bass voice, had little sense of time or tune, and had evidently learned nothing of the art of music. Richard Rhodes, elected to Christ Church in 1658, is said to have gone to Oxford " well grounded in the practical part of music," but like Christopher Jeffreys, who followed him in 1659 and was "excellent at the organ and virginalls," he may have owed his knowledge to his father. Dean Aldrich, Jeffreys' junior by three years, was a famous composer of glees and catches. It is, however, very doubtful if Aldrich learned any music at Westminster. The last two years of his school life were subsequent to the Restoration. Kingston's successor was the " grand debauchee," Christopher Gibbons. For Gibbons Busby had some contemptuous toleration, and occasion- ally tossed him a few shillings by way of alms or, if the phrase may be allowed, a "tip." Once at least he lent him a sovereign "to be repaid." But neither Gibbons nor his associates were men to be admitted into the School. The body of the most famous of them disgraces the cloisters, where his vices found him an early grave. Such characters as Gibbons and Baltzar moved the indignation of the greatest of Busby's pupils. Super- ficial as the view may have been which confounded the art with its professors, it is little wonder that Locke, who had ample opportunity of judging, spoke with contempt of musicians, gave to music the last place in "the list of accomplishments," and thought that it CURRICULUM UNDER BUSBY 129 were much better spared in the work of education. Aubrey, who desired to include the subject in his curriculum, spoke in even harsher terms of the com- panions of his contemporary musicians. Indeed the names which he applies to them are such as can no longer be mentioned without offence. In the life of Westminster Locke's opinion did not die with him. More than a century later it found frequent expression in the Deanery of Christ Church. The brilliant intellect of Cyril Jackson carried thither the fierce hostility to the musical art which had possessed him as a West- minster boy. He once asked a candidate for a Chorister's place what ear and voice he had, and was told by the boy that he had " no more ear nor a stone, nor no more voice nor an ass." " Never mind, my boy," replied the Dean, "you'll make a very good Chorister." Music stands half-way between study and recreation. Mere play had a long struggle before it won recognition. It would perhaps be an exaggeration to say that before Busby's time no Westminster played a game. The hours of play were certainly brief. On Saints' days there was probably leisure in the late afternoon. If no Saint's day fell in the week the Dean might, if he chose, grant one late play. But some Deans con- demned play as "loitering," and Andrewes took care that there should be none. Even in his walks he had with him "a brace of this young fry, and in that way- faring leisure had a singular dexterity to fill those narrow vessels with a funnel." Bishop Racket, one of the vessels, was filled too full, for his learning oozes out of every crack. The boys would have been the K 130 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL better for regular games. As it was they were not denied recreation on certain days. St. Peter's Day was celebrated by a bonfire. Shrove Tuesday perhaps claimed that primitive form of football which descended from the Middle Ages. The day was certainly marked by a custom which still survives. The schoolroom was divided by a curtain hanging on a bar. The curtain being drawn to the side, and boys and Masters all assembled, the College cook came in with a pancake in a pan. From the north side he threw the pancake over the bar towards the door. The boys rushed to seize it, and anyone who could carry it off whole could claim a guinea from the Dean. Of late years the "greese," as it is called, has been confined to a few boys, one representing each form. The other sports of early Westminster have perhaps but a faint interest for an age whose athletics are an organized system. On the hoop, the top, and the marble even antiquity can hardly confer an air of distinction. To Locke there seemed no good that boys should get from learning to "wrangle at Trap or rook at Span - farthing." He was doubtless better pleased with the boxing, a favourite amusement of the time, and the wrestling, in which Edward Bathurst, elected to Cambridge in 1666, was an expert. Later in life, as tutor of Trinity, Bathurst used to teach his pupils to apply to wrestling the principles of mathematics. Some form of ball game too was not unknown. In the Prologue to Cleomenes, written by Prior in 1696, and spoken by Lord Buckhurst, who still wanted some days to complete his eighth year, R IE C & GRAMMATICES RUDIMENTA. I N Ufurn Scholae Weftmonafterienfis. L O N Z> / N /, Ex Officina Eliz. Redm*j*c. MDCLXXXIX. Facsimile of he title-page of the Greek Grammar in use in 1689. CURRICULUM UNDER BUSBY 133 credit was taken for the surrender of play hours to the work of rehearsal : "Our tops neglected and our balls forgot." It is indeed probable that from the earliest times a rude form of football was not unknown at West- minster. The association of the game with Shrove Tuesday, its peculiar feast in medieval England, cannot be traced in the school. Certainly the game in the cloisters two hundred years ago was not confined to a single day in the year. It was an unorganized game such as within living memory obtained in " Green," and is still known at Dorking. It was not the game "of the twenty-two men " or of an hour and a half. Any number could take part in it, and the cry of " time " was never heard. This was the sport which once disturbed Addison's meditations, and which, in 1710, the Chapter vainly endeavoured to repress. In a later generation Cowper declares that he excelled at it. Mr. Andrew Lang, judging from Olney and Weston, says that nobody believes him, but Mr. Lang forgets the dilapidating effects of love, lunacy, and John Newton. A survival of this game may be observed in " Green." Played in the odd minutes of the day, when there is neither school nor station, it is accounted an excellent training in the command of the ball. All these amusements were probably confined to the precincts. It was but a scanty area, indeed little more than the cloisters. The open space of what is now Little Dean's Yard was blocked by buildings and small enclosures. What is now " Green " was hardly i 3 4 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL of more use. The dormitory and the ancient brew- house stood in the southern part of it To the College garden it is doubtful if the boys were admitted. There were, indeed, Tuttle Fields, but much of that district was still a marsh. Such inhabitants as it had perhaps made it well to keep away from it Indeed, it may well be doubted if any Westminster saw the fort and battery erected, as Clarendon says, with " marvellous expedition" in 1643. If Vertue's plan may be trusted, the fort stood almost on the site of the present pavilion. Certainly no boy made his way there to play cricket Stob-ball was played there in 1679, but there seems no evidence that it was played by boys. Of cricket itself no trace appears at Westminster before the reign of George I. Facsimile of inscription facing the title-page of Greek Grammar, dated 1689. CHAPTER VIII. KNIPE, FREIND, AND ATTERBURY Knipe's Age His Boys Election Scholarship of the School The Shell Freind, Head Master His Qualities Politics Members of the School Sir Robert Walpole's Hostility Its Failure Decay of the Dormitory Hannes's Legacy Dispute in the Chapter Atterbury, Dean Appeal to the King Wren's Design Lord Burlington New Buildings begun More difficulties Completion of the Work Mon6s Play Scenery Epilogues Town Boy Plays New Customs The Westminster Gathering Freind's Preferments Incidents of School Life Funerals of South and Addison Catholicity of the School Dames' Houses Fees Shadow and Substance Holidays Diet Squibs Challenge A Benefactor. T)USBY'S successor, Thomas Knipe, had spent **J almost his whole life at the School. Born about 1638 he became a Town boy perhaps before 1652 and a King's Scholar somewhat later, and was elected Head to Christ Church in 1657. Four years later he returned as Usher, and from 1663 was Second Master. It was not to be expected that at the age of fifty-seven he should do aught else but wear without change the shoes for which he had long waited. Even a younger man might have found many difficulties in altering a system which the world had stamped with its approval. It was perhaps well that such a man should hold the reins until the memory of Busby's management had lost its first freshness. 136 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL The sixteen years of Knipe's mastership, uneventful as in most ways they perhaps were, witnessed another step in a movement which had begun under Busby. Westminster, always a School of poets and divines, became under Knipe also a nursery of statesmen. The statesmen were of many parties, and had not learned, as Freind's boys did, to make their school acquaintance the basis of a party. They supplied in the Duke of Newcastle the centre round which their successors gathered. Pelham, like his brother, was a Westminster. Pulteney, if an abler, was a less scrupulous representative of the School's statesmanship. The School had more reason to be proud of Carteret, who never forgot his scholarly instincts either amid the din of politics or under the domination of the bottle. Of the second rank were such men as Henry Boyle, Earl of Shannon, many years Speaker in Ireland, and Thomas Robinson, Lord Grantham. Speaker Bromley sent his three sons, while the names of Berkeley, Sackville, Chetwynd, Harley, and others testify to the growing affection of the governing class. If the literary world was illumined only by such lesser lights as Aaron Hill and Leonard Welsted, there was no fall in the standard of scholarship. The Election of 1710, which included Zachary Pearce, long maintained its reputation at Cambridge, and the School was destined to profit by the attainments of John Nicholl and Vincent Bourne. More famous in his day was Robert Clayton, and they who most dislike the Bishop's views must admire his qualities of head and heart. The numbers of the School steadily grew. It is KNIPE, FREIND, ATTERBURY 137 probable that at least as early as Busby's time the seventh and the sixth had been divided not only in name, but in fact. Under Freind, possibly even under Knipe, we find a new form between the sixth and the fifth. At the north end of School was an apse, behind which was the rod-room. This apse was known as the " Shell," and from it the new form took a name, which has been borrowed by many other schools. At or about the time of the creation of the "Shell" there was established a rule of promotion which was not peculiar to Westminster. A boy who remained long enough at School was sure of his promotion into this form, but for a further move he had to rely upon his abilities. The tide, as Southey put it, carried him into the Shell, but not beyond. In the time of Knipe and Freind the old preference for Christ Church grew stronger than ever. Many boys refused election to Trinity, and preferred their chance of a canoneer studentship at Christ Church. They were not without reason for their confidence. From 1689 to 1719 three Westminsters were Deans of Christ Church. Though Aldrich had been unwilling to take more than three boys at Election, even the unrestricted studentships were invaded by Westminsters. "All the three," wrote Smalridge in 1698, "who are now come in by Canon's Election had before stood at Westminster, and been chosen to Trinity College in Cambridge." As these three do not appear in the lists of boys elected to Trinity, Smalridge must have meant that they had refused the offer. Thus Trinity had to take inferior boys. In spite of this the College usually elected four 138 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL or five, and a considerable number of them were after- wards chosen to fellowships. It would therefore seem probable that the Canons of Christ Church had taken the Westminsters on their merits. The scholarship of the School must have been at the time without a rival. Some of it may perhaps have been due to the Second Master, Robert Freind. Knipe, who had been made a Prebendary in 1707, died four years later, and Freind succeeded him. Freind, who was elected to Christ Church in 1686, was the son of a Westminster long beneficed in North- amptonshire, and at Oxford had stood next to Atter- bury in that coterie of wits which waged unequal war with Bentley. The father had called himself Friend, and the sons altered their spelling. In the year in which Bentley put forth his famous second edition of Phalaris Freind left Oxford to become Second Master at Westminster. He had already determined to sit in Busby's seat. If the Chapter desired the School to train the statesmen of England they could not have made a better choice. Freind's scholarship was rather elegant than deep, and his learning was no match for Bentley's. Yet Bentley, when as Master of Trinity he met him at Election, was surprised to find that his old opponent had much more scholarship than could be inferred from his controversial works. If in conversation Freind affected, as Pope suggests, the style of Terence, such an affectation would easily be forgiven at West- minster. There was one class of parents that looked rather for elegant scholarship than for great learning, KNIPE, FREIND, ATTERBURY 139 and it was a class which Freind was able to attract. He was well acquainted with such political leaders as Peterborough and Rivers, who were both Westminsters, and Harley, who had sent his sons to Knipe. The Tories trusted him, and some at least of the Whigs had pious reasons for sending to him their sons and their nephews. Yet in his own political views he made no compromise. In the January after his appoint- ment Parliament met, and, the Lords having required a sermon from the Whig Bishop of Norwich, Freind was selected by the Commons to preach the pure Tory doctrine at St. Margaret's. As several of the famous Brothers' Club were Westminsters, Freind was not long in making acquaintance with Swift. Swift, indeed, who found his nearest approach to happiness in supposing himself to manage other men's business, delighted in escorting boys to the School and hovering round them when they had entered it. One day he must commend Lady Kerry's son to the special superintendence of the Dean ; another he must praise his dull cousin, Pat Rolt, on the Master's report of his industry and sobriety. He was also a frequent guest at the literary gatherings which met under the Head Master's roof. Able, as he imagined, to help all men but himself, he was eager to use his influence with the courtiers in Freind's favour. The School perhaps profited more from the influence of the Head Master's brother John, the physician whose polished manners almost outran the superior skill of Radcliffe. Thus a combination of causes led to an increase in the numbers and prestige of the School. It might be supposed that the death of Queen Anne i 4 o WESTMINSTER SCHOOL was a check to Freind's prosperous career, but this seems not to have been the case. On the contrary, throughout the reign of her successor there was a steady growth in the numbers of the School. The Deanery became a centre of Jacobite plots, but the Whigs continued to send their boys to the boarding- houses. In the last year of the reign of George I. there were 434 boys in the School. In fact, the King had shown himself a good friend to Westminster ; but he was not able to win the approval of its Master. John Freind had attached himself to the Prince of Wales, and the tone of the epigrams of 1727 shows that his brother had turned to the rising sun. The epigrams of the next year were full of loyal flattery. Yet, if we may trust certain lists in the Harleian MSS., the years which followed brought a decided fall in the numbers of the School. It is difficult to reconcile the numbers given in these lists with the exultant tone of the contemporary school literature. A couplet in the Epilogue of 1733, the year of Freind's retirement, gives them the lie direct : " Daily through Freind her swelling numbers rose, The hate, but more the envy of her foes ." Such a vaunt can hardly have been made without adequate ground. If the fall in numbers actually occurred, it may perhaps be attributed to the influence of one powerful enemy. The Epilogue quoted was probably from the pen of Samuel Wesley, the elder brother of John and Charles. Wesley had been a Queen's Scholar, and was then an Usher in the School. Like the Freinds he was KNIPE, FREIND, ATTERBURY 141 an unswerving opponent of the Whig Ministry, and there can be no doubt that when he wrote of the foes of the School he was thinking of Sir Robert Walpole. Hatred and contempt are said by a contemporary to have been the feelings with which Sir Robert regarded the Freinds, and something of the sentiment is re- flected in his son's letters. At an earlier time he had not been able to carry all his own kinsmen with him. His nephew, Anthony Hammond, author in his twenty- second year of some elegies of frigid pedantry, came to the School about the year 1720. Nor were West- minsters lacking among his colleagues in office. The Duke of Newcastle, Henry Pelham, and Lord Hervey remained with him to the end. But the Westminsters who left him to head the Opposition were men of greater parts. In 1/25 Pulteney turned his wit, his wealth, and his energy against the Minister, and was followed in 1731 by the unsurpassed genius of Carteret. Among the Tory leaders they found school-fellows in Sir John Hynde Cotton and "downright" Shippen. The chief organ of their party made them pose as a Westminster Opposition to the great Etonian. The first number of the Craftsman was published in December, 1726, and its imaginary editor was made to describe himself as a Westminster of the time of Busby. Walpole doubted the fidelity even of the Westminsters who remained with him. One night the Duke of Newcastle came to him "half drunk," wrote Lord Hervey, " from a Westminster School feast, where he and Lord Carteret (being both Westminster Scholars) had dined together." The Duke made a tender in H2 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL form of Carteret's services, and offered to be surety for his good behaviour in office. Walpole's reply was stern and decisive. The Duke must make up his mind under which master he would serve. If he could not, another should be found to take his place. The Duke swallowed the insult and forgot his school-fellow. Newcastle's rebuff occurred after Freind's retirement We must return to that which was perhaps the most important event in his mastership. At the very time when the Town boys grew ever more numerous the Queen's Scholars found their dormitory likely to tumble about their ears. In Knipe's later time it had become evident that at least a renovation was necessary. The Chapter, busy with the decaying fabric of the Church, were unwilling or unable to undertake the necessary work. Knipe himself was come to three- score and ten, and doubtless lacked the energy to set himself the difficult task of raising a considerable sum of money. There was, indeed, an obligation on the Chapter, but their revenues had not yet reached the point when it might have been easily met. Unless the payment could have been extended over a term of years, the burden would have been heavy on the Prebendaries of the moment The deciding impulse came from a dead hand. Edward Hannes, elected to Christ Church in 1682, had become physician, oculist, and poet, and had been knighted by Queen Anne. Sir Edward was hardly sane, and the ribald wits of the Nonjurors said that his knighthood was anticipated pay : the touch of a lunatic oculist was to restore sight to an impious ATTERRURY FKOM THE ORIGINAL MEZZOTINT BY J. FABF.K KNIPE, FREIND, ATTERBURY 143 Queen. But Hannes was sane enough to be aware of the lamentable state of the room where for four years he had worked and slept. He made a will bequeathing a thousand pounds to rebuild it On the site and plan the Dean and Chapter were to take counsel with two Old Westminsters, Dean Aldrich and Sir Christopher Wren. On the testator's death in 1710, despite an effort made on his infant daughter's behalf to upset the will, the legacy took effect Two years later the Chapter determined to rebuild the dormitory on the same site, and for that purpose lodged the Scholars in a neighbouring house. The project, of course, involved the destruction of much that was of architectural and archaeological interest, but it was not an age to feel scruples on such a point Another objection proved of more weight. The Chapter had not met in full force, and it was soon seen that a majority were opposed to the plan. The work could not be done for Sir Edward's thousand pounds, and the Chapter would neither contribute nor try to raise the necessary money. Seven of the Prebendaries signed a protest against the resolution. Dean Sprat, long since obese and inert and now old and dying, was in no mind to fight, and an order was obtained from the Lord Chancellor to spend the money in repairing the old granary. Before the work was begun Sprat died, and Harley conferred the deanery upon Francis Atterbury, who had been elected to Christ Church in the year when Freind became a King's Scholar. It was the reward, said the Whigs, for the flame he had raised in the 144 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL Church. It was certainly the forerunner of a flame in the precincts of St. Peter's. " I envy Dr. Freind," wrote Swift, "that he has you for his inspector, and I envy you for having such a person in your district, and [one] whom you love so well." The Doctor might have spared his envy, for inspector and inspected were destined to fight out their quarrels in the Law Courts. The new Dean would not hear of repairs, and he had the support of Sir Christopher Wren. New masonry on the old arches would but involve the fall of both. A new dormitory must be built, and the Dean was determined that it should be on a new site. His energy at first carried most of the Prebendaries with him. An appeal was issued for voluntary benefactions, and the boys were promptly moved back into their old habitation. Meantime Queen Anne died, Atterbury's mind was engaged in Jacobite in- trigues, and for five years the matter slept At last in 1718 the Dean found leisure for domestic affairs. The play of that year was the Adelpht, and for it Samuel Wesley wrote an epilogue enforcing the duty of contribution. The old building, it said, was too small even for the Play. In the vigorous English which he always had at command Atterbury penned a petition to the King. Westminster, he said, was a royal foundation; it had been highly favoured by His Majesty's ancestors, and had bred up many great men, and several of the present Ministers. Five thousand pounds at least were needed, and the King's example would be the best promise of procuring them. George could not be deaf to such an appeal. He gave a KNIPE, FREIND, ATTERBURY 145 thousand pounds, and five hundred more were con- tributed by his son. Twelve hundred pounds were voted by Parliament, and the larger part of the cost was thus ensured. Atterbury proposed to build in the College garden, but his plan met with a fierce opposition, whose pettiness could hardly be paralleled outside the walls of a cloister. The opposition found an unexpected leader in Freind. The Head Master was not indeed opposed to a new building, but objected to the proposed site. He claimed a garden ten feet wide, over part of which it would be necessary to turn an arch, and he had lately leased a house whose light would be obstructed by the new build- ing. One of the Prebendaries made a like objection on the score of light, while another pleaded that his house was so near the proposed site that he must move out of the dust while the house was building, and be annoyed by the tramp and talk of the boys when it was built. Others complained of the threatened trespass on their grass-plots, and the circumscription of their evening promenade. Such motives easily produced a conviction that the garden site would not bear founda- tions. On this and .other grounds the opponents obtained an injunction to stop the building. The masterful spirit of Atterbury was not to be daunted by the costs of a lawsuit. He had held two deaneries before, and this was not his first battle with a Chapter. Prior, who had known him as Captain of the School, avowed that the Dean would bring an action of trespass against anyone who, on the simple surmise that the owner was dead, should venture to tread upon 146 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL his grave. Supported by four of the Prebendaries Atterbury appealed to the Court of Chancery. On the matter of ancient lights he pointed out that an allowance had been made in anticipation on the renewal of the leases, and he pleaded that small private conveniences must give way to a great public good. Chancery ordered the matter to be tried in the King's Bench. Against this order Atterbury appealed to the House of Lords, and bestirred himself among the bishops and Old Westminster peers. As Bishop of Rochester he had a seat in the House, and his eloquence induced the Lords to order a vote of the Chapter on the conflicting sites. By this time he had half the Prebendaries on his side. His own vote gave him a majority, and on May i6th, 1721, the House of Lords gave decree in favour of the garden site. It is pleasant to record that Freind accepted his defeat with a good grace, and did his best to forward the work. Sir Christopher Wren had prepared a plan for the new building, but the long delay had deprived the College of his further services. It also robbed the architect of his due credit. The Chapter had recourse to the Earl of Burlington, and the Earl produced a design which was virtually Wren's. On the ground of some slight alterations or mutilations he seems to have taken the whole credit to himself. The design was for an upper room over an open piazza facing the garden, and the foundation stone was laid in April, 1722. The day of the month is always said to have been the 24th, being the Tuesday in Election week, but the inscrip- tion makes it the 25th : " Posuit felicibus, (faxit Deus) > KNIPE, FREIND, ATTERBURY 147 Auspiciis Ricardus Comes de Burlington, architectus, 7 Kal. Maii 1722." Atterbury was not destined to see the fruit of his labours. The King's Scholars playing in the yard had for some time, says one of them, noticed with surprise the frequent visits paid to the Dean by his old enemy Lord Sunderland. It may have been with less surprise that they heard of Atterbury 's treason. On the following Bartholomew's Day he was committed to the Tower, and long before a bed was placed in the dormitory he was eating his heart in a hired lodging at Brussels. On his trial the interest he took in the building was used as an argu- ment that he could not at the same time be engaged in a criminal conspiracy. His activity was equal to both tasks. Atterbury's successor was Samuel Bradford, who had been one of the recalcitrant Prebendaries, and under his rule the Chapter made fresh difficulties. The cost of the building had largely exceeded the estimate, and the money subscribed had not been sufficient. The parish of St. John's had lately been constituted, and the Chapter had sold for one hundred and twenty pounds a piece of ground in Tuttle Fields to serve as its cemetery. This sum with the approval of the Court of Chancery they were willing to contribute, but out of their yearly dividend they would give nothing. The dormitory was like Dido's walls. The shell of the building was finished, but it had neither floor nor staircase. Meantime the old room had become uninhabitable. Every Election produced epigrams on its miserable i 4 8 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL state. The gods, it was said, had made it their habita- tion. Jupiter descended in rain through the roof, and Apollo sent his beams through the cracks in the wall. It was not safe, complained the Scholars, to go near the old room, and it was strictly forbidden to approach the new. In 1729 some temporary repairs were made, and the Chapter were at last shamed into making a contribution. The debt was about fourteen hundred pounds. They agreed to give seven hundred, if the Head Master would make himself liable for the rest Freind accepted the liability ; but it would seem that he obtained most of the money by a curious device. William Morice, Atterbury's son-in-law, and an old Queen's Scholar, was high bailiff of Westminster, and wished to sell his office. He was allowed to do so on condition of contributing five hundred pounds to the dormitory debt. At last, after twenty years of agitation, the beds were moved from the old dormitory to the new. Even then the work was not complete. There were no fireplaces, and as the staircase was not built the boys must have climbed bed ward by a ladder, but these defects were remedied in 1733. For more than seventy years Lord Mendip used to boast that he had slept in both rooms. Of those who had endured the discomforts of the old granary he was probably the only one that lived into the present century. The old dormitory was allowed to stand. With some repairs it became the receptacle for the King's and Cottonian Libraries, which had been previously deposited in Ashburnham House, and had there run imminent risk of destruction by fire. At a KNIPE, FREIND, ATTERBURY 149 later period it will be necessary to record and regret its demolition. As the Chapter did not make allowance for enough servants, the door of the dormitory was guarded during school hours by a young King's Scholar. This func- tionary has no mention in the statutes, but probably descended from early times. He was known as monos, an abbreviation of monitor ostii. His duties were dull, but as he was exempt from all school work, an idler found his compensation when the office came to his turn. Monos held his place until after the report of the Public Schools Commissioners. His descendant still bears his name, but has few of his duties and none of his exemptions. It speaks ill for the Chapter that the School should so long have been without the services of a menial porter. To the boys themselves it is improbable that it ever seemed a grievance. The migration to the new dormitory was made the occasion of painting a new scene for the Play. A tradition of the last century says that in the earliest times a few curtains only were fastened to the beams at the back and sides of the stage. In Knipe's time there was in use a simple scene, which seems to have represented Covent Garden, the ancient possession of St. Peter's Abbey. A prologue of the time refers to the yearly appearance of the same scene with the square and colonnade. A sundial or clock marked an unchanging hour, but other furniture a mirror, a table, and a clock seems oddly placed in the open air. In 1729 a new scene was ingeniously contrived to serve as an appeal for money. It represented the 150 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL new dormitory in its unfinished state, the "sleeping" scaffold, and the grass growing on the "opera inter- ruptd" of the walls. In 1728 it seems that a temporary theatre had been put up, for at the moment neither dormitory was available. When the Play actually migrated to the new dormitory a new scene appeared. It is described as neat but not Attic, and was perhaps a street in Westminster. It was used for the last time in 1757. At this time ladies, " mulierculae indoctae" as they are called in an ungallant prologue, were not admitted to the Play. This was the more illiberal that the actors got their women's dresses, even to the hair of their heads, from their lady friends. By the ladies too they were trained to restrict the sprawling gait and bear the body more seemly; but, the rehearsals over, the doors were ungratefully shut upon the trainers of Nausistrata and Pythias. Although the early epilogues are no longer extant, the gradual development of this feature of the perform- ance can be traced from the beginning of the eighteenth century. The epilogue to the Amphitryon of 1704, if the date be rightly conjectured, consists of nine Latin couplets, spoken by Sosia, and celebrating the triumphs of the war. At that period English sometimes took the place of Latin, or the two languages made a friendly division of the lines. In 17 if a second character appeared, but Dulman's part was but to say "God bless the Queen." Brief as his part was, it proved the birth of a new drama. Twelve months later the epilogue to the Phormio was a short dialogue of three KNIPE, FREIND, ATTERBURY i 5 r characters in iambic senarii. But the monologue did not yield its place without a struggle. It again held sway until 1725, and the century had expired before it finally succumbed to its more boisterous rival. The two last monologues of the ordinary course made their appearances in 1794 and in 1801. In the first winter of the Crimean War it was felt that desipience would be ill-timed, and the dialogue gave place to a serious poem. The brief epilogue of early times sometimes referred to the public events of the hour, but was more often in direct connexion with the Play. Marlborough's victories and Nicolini's operas, the Grecian coffee house and the bear garden of Hockley in the Hole, suggested lines which hardly recall Pope's on the same themes. In an epilogue of Vincent Bourne's one of Thraso's ragged regiment appears as a Chelsea veteran. Here we seem to have the germ of the modern epilogue, in which all the characters of the Play transport them- selves into the nineteenth century. The present cycle of four plays has held its place since 1860. In earlier times there was less regularity. The subject of the Amphitryon and the name of the Eunuchus had not yet driven them from the stage. Nor was there always only one play in the year. In 1713 the Ignoramus was followed a few days later by the Phormio. Dryden's Cleomenes was acted in 1695. It may have been the play of the year, or it may have been the private venture of the Town boys. At any rate, the prologue was spoken by a Town boy who numbered but seven summers. Prior wrote it for little 152 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL Lord Buckhurst, afterwards Duke of Dorset, and its audacity may be judged from a single couplet : " We neither censure fear nor beg applause, For these are Westminster's and Sparta's laws." Unlike the classical plays, Cleomenes ventured to adopt classical costumes. They were bought by the boys out of their own moneys. This fact makes it probable that the King's Scholars had no part in Dryden's play. To the new rival Prior again lent his aid in 1720. Lord Dupplin spoke his prologue to Otway's Orphan at Hickford's dancing-rooms, in Panton Street. In the new dormitory there grew up some customs which had no place in its predecessor. Among them should perhaps be reckoned the institution of " Watch in College" and "Tenner." Had they been of much earlier origin they would have borne Latin names. " Tenner," at any rate, whose title signifies ten hour or ten o'clock, had no place when the boys went to bed at eight. The " Watch in College " must have got his name in the new dormitory. The Watch in College was a junior who was on duty in the dormitory from early morning till ten at night. The fires, the cleaning of cutlery and crockery, the preparation of tea, and the reception of parcels, all fell to his care. When the dormitory was locked in the evening he conveyed messages to the servant who sat at the door. "John," or as he came to be called " College- John," was at his post to fetch for the seniors whatever they might desire. Sometimes he was sent for books, more often for meat and drink. Porter and "half-and-half" came from the inn in the Bowling Alley, nor was there anyone to KNIPE, FREIND, ATTERBURY 153 object to the custom. The duties of the watch were taken in daily rotation, and the junior who was on duty was exempt from all school work. At ten o'clock the watch surrendered his office to the tenner, and the juniors, except the tenner, retired to bed. The tenner had to supply to the seniors any stationery that they might need. At eleven he ended his duties with the cry of " extinctis lucernis intrate lectos" Both watch and tenner were frequently called on by a senior to tell him the time, and a continual alertness was expected in him. Their office has been defended on the ground of the training which it enforced. It may be thought that quickness and readiness might have been instilled in other ways. Though Election and the Play had long attracted gatherings of Old Westminsters, the dinner at Election was restricted to former King's Scholars. In the Play the Town boys had but rarely and perhaps irregularly taken part, and their interest in it was therefore less than was felt by their school -fellows who had been on the foundation. A meeting in which Town boys could take part had been projected by Jeffreys in the last days of Charles II., and South wrote a sermon for the occasion. The King's death stopped the gathering, and the plan seems to have remained in abeyance for more than forty years. In 1727, probably at Freind's suggestion, it was successfully revived. An annual meeting was instituted, and the meeting naturally took place at the dinner table. Here the Whig and the Tory could meet in amity. The 154 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL stewards were the Duke of Devonshire, the Earl of Oxford, Lord Finch, Henry Pelham, William Pulteney, and John Freind. Of these the last only had been a King's Scholar. Finch was afterwards the Lord Winchilsea who was First Lord of the Admiralty, and whose wig and spectacles were the delight of the caricaturist. The wealthier diners were pleased to send tickets to their less fortunate school-fellows. In dull Latin lyrics Michael Maittaire returned his thanks to John Freind, not without a sly suggestion that the gift should be annual. The dinner took place in College Hall, was attended by the presentation, if not by the oral delivery, of epigrams, and was followed by a representation of the Phormio. It was soon found that this gathering interfered with the attendance of Old Westminsters at Election, and it was held but six times in succession. It was, however, revived in 1751, and thenceforward remained for many years an annual event. It is now represented by the dinners of the Elizabethan Club. The facts of Freind's career at Westminster show that he was an energetic man of the world, to whom the School owed no inconsiderable debt. There can be little doubt that he hoped to exchange the academical cap for the mitre ; but Walpole, if he could not stay the progress of Westminster, had at least the power to direct the course of the apostolical succession. Freind was forced to content himself with a canonry of Windsor and a prebend of Westminster. The former benefice he obtained in 1729, the latter in 1731. He did not at once resign his mastership, KNIPE, FREIND, ATTERBURY 155 but until 1733 continued to exercise upon the boys an influence, which in one point at least it is not difficult to trace. Boys are in one respect like Sir Anthony Absolute. Nobody is more easily led when they have their own way, and in one direction the wishes of Master and boy undoubtedly coincided. A certain audacity of character has already been noted in the pupils of Busby. It was fostered openly by the example and indirectly by the connivance of Freind. His place in the great world made his boys suppose themselves also to belong to it If they ever asserted their position by rough and puerile methods, Freind was little likely to view them with disapproval. In 1716 South died Prebendary of the College. His connexion with it from the time of his admission to the School in the reign of Charles I. had been practically unbroken. His remains were therefore carried into College Hall that the Captain of the School might pronounce a funeral oration over them. By some means Edmund Curll, the most infamous of publishers, obtained a mangled report of the speech and printed the scraps. Adding folly to sin he soon afterwards ventured his person within the limits of Dean's Yard. Promptly "nabbed" by the boys, he was " presented with the ceremony of the blanket," soundly scourged, and forced to beg pardon on his knees. It is not improbable that the Head Master from his window observed Curll's body in its heaven- ward course. There is no doubt that he approved of the punishment, and a triumphant satire on the theme was attributed to the pen of Samuel Wesley. 156 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL Curll vainly strove to turn the laugh by protesting that he had not been tossed in a blanket but in a rug. Such incidents prompted Pope to set the courage of Westminsters above that of the sons of Eton and Winchester. In the Dunciad the terrible schoolmaster's spectre makes the Etonian and Wykehamist shake with shuddering horror. " Westminster's bold race " show less alarm, but that they should shrink at all is to the poet's mind a conclusive testimony to the power of the apparition. This audacity is in one aspect the effect and in another the cause of the school life. In as far as it owed anything to Freind, it makes a striking contrast between his influence and his successor's. In doing honour to South the boys did honour to their own. The interments in the Abbey sometimes allowed them to show a generous recognition of others. In 1719, at a midsummer midnight, the King's Scholars with tapers in their hands stood round an open grave in the Chapel of Henry VII. Atterbury had summoned them to the burial of a great Carthusian. His political animosities were forgotten in the bond of literature, and more than seventy years later Lord Mansfield recalled the impressive tones in which the Dean had read the service over the dust of Addison. Wholly as Addison's politics differed from Atter- bury's and Freind's, there were as wide distinctions within Westminster itself. It is indeed very evident, from the list of boys who wrote verses for the anni- versary dinner, that the School was no party seminary. The names of Harley, Hay, Harcourt, and Osborn were KNIFE, FREIND, ATTERBURY 157 balanced by those of Cowper, Sackville, and D'Arcy. The Tory leader, Sir William Wyndham, an Etonian, sent his heir to Westminster. Bishops and archbishops are too numerous to mention, Lord Mansfield and Charles Wesley too great to omit. In a time of little inspiration poetry was represented by Dyer, and has, perhaps, been stimulated by Sir Roger Newdigate, whose greater qualities a master hand has depicted in Mr. Gilfil's Love Story. With so catholic a list it would hardly be supposed that in the political world of thirty years later there was a coterie of statesmen dubbed the Westminsters. But to so acute an observer as Lord Shelburne it seemed that the tie of school acquaintance held them together. He observed sourly enough that their success was greater than their deserts. He was clearly unjust to Mansfield, whom he classed with the Stones and other West- minsters of the period as " a set of men who, by sticking together and contenting themselves mostly with subaltern situations, or at least with subaltern roads to great situations, pursuing always a Machia- velian line of policy, clinging to the Duke of Newcastle and his brother as long as they had any power left, and abandoning them as readily to pay their court to every new favourite, cultivating Whig connexions with Tory principles, continued always to enjoy substantial power and patronage, while greater men were without difficulty suffered to do the business and take the honours of it." Shelburne's dislike for the Westminsters was sharpened by his just dislike for Lord George Sackville, whose "Westminster connexion secured him constant access to 158 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL the Duke of Newcastle." In spite of all, Shelburne's own sons were Westminsters, nor had Westminster any more devoted son than the third Lord Lansdowne. It has been already shown that the system of board- ing-houses began under Busby. The first of them were kept by men, but under Freind, if not under Knipe, some of them were kept by dames. Before the end of Anne's reign one such house was kept by Mrs. Beresford. There must have been others, for in 1706 there were nearly four hundred boys in the School. The rise in the numbers, and the need of discipline in the dames' houses, called for additions to the staff. Three men could not teach four hundred boys, and dames could not control them. An Usher was therefore established in each dame's house, and this system of dual control lasted into the present century. Occasionally an Usher kept a house himself, but these seem to have been smaller than the dames'. Some Ushers made it a favour to take a boy at all. Chesterfield expressed his great obligation to Thomas Fitzgerald for receiving Philip Stanhope ; but Vincent Bourne seems to have had a full house. These houses were in Great and Little Dean's Yard, in the two College Streets, and in Abingdon and Great Smith Streets. The names of some of them may be traced. About 1718 William Murray, afterwards Lord Mansfield, was at Tollett's in Dean's Yard. It was, perhaps, kept by George Tollett, who had two sons elected into College in 1710 and 1713. At the same time Denison Cumber- land, afterwards Bishop of Clonfert, was at a house which thirty years later, when he sent his son there, KNIPE, FREIND, ATTERBURY 159 was kept by Ludford. A boy of this name was elected into College in 1751. A contemporary house was Hutton's in Little College Street, where Charles Wesley boarded in 1720. In that year John Hutton was admitted into College. The house bore the same name, and seems to have been kept by the same man in 1750. The house in which Gibbon boarded was established by his aunt, Catherine Porten, in College Street, in 1748. The size of these houses varied very much. Mrs. Porten's, which had nearly fifty boys, was probably among the largest. The discipline of these houses was supposed to be under the control of one of the Masters, who received a fee from the dame. It was sometimes little more than a name. Of the Masters some at least were content to act only when the boys interfered with their personal comfort. Perhaps few were like Dodd, the actor's son, who allowed his father to come drunk from Drury Lane and play his part again to an audience of striplings and infants. In these boarding-houses it seems that the fees varied considerably. For his four sons and their servant Lord Hervey paid to Mrs. Beresford 35 a quarter. When the eldest son left the fees fell to ,27 los. There were additional charges, among which was one for wax candles. School books seem to have cost each boy about thirty shillings a year. The entrance fee was a guinea, and the tuition fee a guinea a quarter. The Christmas gifts to the Masters remained as they had been in the days of Busby. The total charges for board and tuition perhaps ranged between 25 and 35 a year. The Herveys had a brother at Bury St. 160 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL Edmunds School, and his fees for board and tuition were 22 a year. There were not a few country grammar schools where the fees were considerably less. The increase in the number of boarders seems to have brought with it the custom of " substance " and " shadow." For his first week every new boy was a shadow. His substance was a boy in the same form, by whom he was initiated into the day's routine, and who was responsible for his error in it. In form the shadow sat next to the substance, and they rose and fell together. The shadow could not take down the substance. As a King's Scholar could not be a new boy, the system was confined to Town boys. At the present day an analogous custom is found among Queen's Scholars, but the names of shadow and sub- stance are known only to the houses. In the houses the substance still does his work, but he has ceased to be known in form. A new boy has no longer to be initiated into the intricacies of Busby's grammar. About the end of Freind's time a change was made in the King's Scholars' holidays. The number of those who remained in residence had gradually decreased. Travel was easier, and most of the boys were drawn from a wealthier class. The few who remained were naturally turbulent, and the Chapter determined to close the dormitory during the holidays. Provision was, however, to be made for any who chose to remain. In 1736 it was found that in the three years past no boy had remained. The Scholars were therefore allowed " 20 per annum for roots, greens, and other kitchen herbs with their boiled meat five days in the week ; fire, KNIPE, FREIND, ATTERBURY 161 butter, and vinegar and pepper included." Vinegar with the boiled meat was a novel luxury. Nearly thirty years earlier a Westminster student of Christ Church, lamenting the world's ignorance of sauces, had complained that there were no hopes " of any progress in learning whilst our gentlemen suffer their sons at Westminster, Eaton, and Winchester to eat nothing but salt with their mutton and vinegar with their roast beef upon holidays." The juniors would gladly have spared the sauce if they could have been sure of a bellyful of the meat. The political squibs, in which Parliament figured as Westminster School, have sometimes been a source of error. One of them is in the Craftsman, and an earlier satire appeared as a pamphlet in 1717. The school- master was, of course, George I., and Marlborough, Oxford, and Walpole appear among his Scholars. As long ago as 1820 a writer in the Gentleman's Magazine absurdly identified the characters with the King's Scholars, and invented a rebellion in which they were supposed to have taken part Although such rebellions were incidents of fifty years later, they seem to have been unknown under the dominance of Freind, no less than under the gentle sway of his successor. In the original constitution of the School the minor candidates, no less than the major, were examined by the Electors. This system seems to have obtained at least down to the end of the seventeenth century. The date of the separation does not seem to be re- corded. The examination of minor candidates came to M 162 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL be conducted by the Head Master and was known as the Challenge, a name which it still bears. The essence of the system was that a boy put questions to the boy above him. It is not improbable that this method came down from Elizabethan times. In was in fact in accord with the medieval system, but the exami- nation lasted but two days. When the Challenge was transferred to the superintendence of the Head Master the time was extended to six or eight weeks. The method may be briefly described in Liddell's words : " All the candidates for vacant places in College are presented to the Master in the order of their forms. There were commonly between 20 and 30 from the Fourth form upwards. The two lowest boys came up before the Head Master, having prepared a certain portion of Greek epigram and Ovid's Metamorphoses, which had been set them a certain number of hours before. In preparing these passages they have the assistance of certain senior boys, who are called their Helps. The lower of the two boys is the Challenger. He calls on the boy whom he challenges to translate the passage set them, and, if he can correct any fault in translating, takes his place. The Upper boy now becomes the Challenger, and proceeds in the same way. When the translation is finished the Challenger, which- ever of the two boys happens to be left in that position, has the right of putting questions in grammar ; and, if the Challengee cannot answer them and the Challenger answers them correctly, the former loses his place. They attack each other in this way until their stock of questions is answered. The first Challenge is called KNIPE, FREIND, ATTERBURY 163 the Unlimited Challenge, in which they may ask any number of questions they like. These questions are all in grammar, and sometimes the boys were so well pre- pared that I have known two boys go on until 9 o'clock at night, having begun early in the morning. After this Unlimited Challenge, by which a clever boy who is low in the list may get to the top, what is called the Limited Challenge began, in which the questions are limited to a certain number, the Challenge ceasing after these questions were exhausted." The books used in the Challenge were a selection from the Greek Anthology and another from Ovid's Metamorphoses. The rules had to be said with strict exactness, and from grammar and dictionary there was no appeal. The system remained in force down to 1855. In 1856, although Challenge still existed, it was not the sole ground of Election to a scholarship. In this method there was both good and bad. It brought about valuable relations between the elders and the youngers ; it made the elders keep up their grammar, and it gave them good habits of teaching and organizing. It was also a very strong stimulus to work, and it helped to teach confidence and presence of mind. On the other hand, it was not only a heavy burden upon the Head Master's time, but, while the Challenge lasted, it necessarily involved the neglect of many subjects. Further, when the Challenge was finished a boy who had won his place in College kept it for the rest of his time. At the end of his four or five years he appeared in that place before the Electors. After the hard labour of months he was i6 4 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL already inclined to be slack, and the removal of com- petition strengthened his inclination. Though the Challenge usually brought out the boys in an order of real merit, it sometimes failed to satisfy a rejected candidate. Southey, who stood unsuccess- fully in 1789, condemned it as "cram." It is not too much to say that Southey 's thoughts on education were worthless. He held that all that a boy learned should be remembered through life, and he endeavoured to carry out his theory. His own Commonplace Book is a melancholy proof that judicious forgetfulness may be an intellectual virtue. There was perhaps a tinge of disappointment in the poet's condemnation. A benefaction of this period had an unusual origin. The porter of a Strand tavern was sent for to go an errand for a man of birth and fortune named Onley. The porter bore the same name, and Onley, who had no heir, adopted the porter's son Nicholas. Young Onley was sent to Westminster and elected to Christ Church in 1658. He became Master of the Savoy, and dying in 1724 left the advowson of Staverton, inherited from his patron, to be held by a Westminster student of the House. NICOLL FROM AN ENGRAVING AKTKK THE OKICINAL PICTLRK CV R. TAYLOR CHAPTER IX. NICOLL His previous Career and Name His Character Its Effect on the School Character of the Age Chesterfield's View The School and the World Relaxed Discipline Vincent Bourne Teaching Dick Sutton Cowper Nonsense Club Westminsters at Ox- ford Composition Hebrew Latin Greek Carteret Parents' Motives Fame of the School Nicoll's Latter Days Preparatory Schools A Benefactor Games School Gate. T?REIND retired in 1733, and, as had so often * happened before, was succeeded by a pupil of his own. John Nicoll, like his predecessor, was of Northamptonshire birth, and had followed him step by step in his career. It was not the least of Atterbury's services to the School that he brought back Nicoll to its labours. In 1714 George Tollett, who had been Second Master for some three years, was compelled by a serious illness to resign his place. Atterbury had made Nicoll's acquaintance at Christ Church, and noted the qualities which, however unlike his own, were worthy of all affection and respect Nicoll had little regard for money, and was willing to allow a pension to his disabled predecessor. After nineteen years he succeeded to Freind's chair, which never had a nobler occupant. His one disadvantage was his age, for he was now past fifty ; but his virtues were of that kind which is but slowly impaired by the march of years. 165 166 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL Nicoll has been scantily treated by biographers, and even the great dictionary has not accorded him a line. His very name was mangled not only by posterity, but by his own pupils and contemporaries. Pulteney and Chesterfield, Cowper and Warren Hastings, Warburton and Cumberland call him Nichols or Nicholls, and "Johnny" Johnson and other later writers have fol- lowed them. Yet Nicoll deserved better treatment, for no era in Westminster history is more fertile of great names than the twenty years of his mastership. Nor can we ascribe to Nicoll no part in this greatness. He was not inferior to Freind in scholarship or in urbanity. He was, wrote Cumberland, dropping for once his habitual jealousy, "a master not only of the dead languages, but also of the living manners." His manners came from the heart, and beside the love which his boys accorded him the affection of Busby's pupils seems cold and pale. His treatment of Warren Hastings is well known. The boy's guardian proposed to send him to India, and of this proposal Nicoll took the view that was natural in a cloister of learning. " I hazard," wrote Hastings in his old age, "the imputation of vanity in yielding to the sense of gratitude and justice, which is due to the memory of my revered Master, Dr. Nicholls, to relate that, when I waited upon him to inform him of that purpose of my guardian, he in the most delicate manner remon- strated against it, adding that if the necessity of my circumstances was the only cause requiring my removal, and I should continue at school, he would undertake that it should be no expense to me. I have been told NICOLL 167 that similar instances of his bounty were carried into effect." The genuine earnestness of the man had its influence even on the wildest spirits. On one occasion a new boy was tempted to escape from the Abbey and disturb the silence of a Quaker meeting. Reported by the monitor he stood trembling before Nicoll. Sixty yedrs later the culprit had fresh in his memory the look and tone with which his Master substituted for the rod a phrase from the Adelphi, "Erubuit, salva est res" It was like the phrase with which Busby had reproved Philip Henry, but with Busby the words were but a prelude to the rod. With Nicoll a prompt confession and an evident repentance always stayed the lifted arm. The boy who served up as his own a copy of Duport's verses broke down under the praise which Nicoll be- stowed upon them. With tears he confessed the piracy. " Child," said the Master, " I forgive you ; go to your seat and say nothing of the matter. You have gained more credit with me by your ingenuous confession than you could have got by your verses, had they been your own." Cowper, whose own religious opinions travelled far from his Master's, could not refrain from praising the pains which Nicoll took to prepare his boys for con- firmation. "The old man acquitted himself of this duty like one who had a deep sense of its importance ; and, I believe, most of us were struck by his manner and affected by his exhortations." Much the same thing had been said of Busby. With such a leader it is little wonder that there was in the School "a court of honour, to whose unwritten i68 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL laws every member of the community was amenable, and which to transgress by any act of meanness, that exposed the offender to public contempt, was a degree of punishment, compared to which the being sentenced to the rod would have been considered as an acquittal or reprieve." It is evident that the standard, though undoubtedly conventional and defective, was at once high for the time, and but seldom disregarded. Cum- berland adds an anecdote to the point. There was, he says, a certain boy from the fifth, who was summoned before the seniors in the seventh and convicted of an offence, which in the high spirit of that School argued an abatement of principle and honour. Doctor Nichols having stated the case demanded their opinion of the crime, and what degree of punishment they conceived it to deserve. Their answer was unanimously, "The severest that could be inflicted." " I can inflict none more severe than you have given him," said the Master, and dismissed him without any other chastisement. Such incidents as this made Nicoll's pupils take a new view of school discipline. This view even found expression from the King's Bench. Lord Mansfield, the Scotsman, whom Westminster had " caught young," declared that severity was not the way to rule either boys or men. He might have quoted a proof from the conduct of Westminster in the rebellion of 1745. Of the curses showered upon the marauding army none were heard in the precincts of St. Peter's. There were boys in the School who had kinsmen in the Pretender's army, and while the despairing force retreated from Derby they might well expect blows and bitter words NICOLL 169 from school-fellows who were of the age which " knows no pity." Nicoll expressed a wish that their limbs and feelings should be left unhurt, and no boy raised a finger or wagged a tongue against them. Yet their feelings were strong enough to drive them to the field. Lord Rockingham was then a boy of fifteen on his way home for the holidays. His Whig spirit made him run away and join the army against the rebels. After his exploit he returned to School for the next term. He was too modest to boast of his adventure, and too earnest to repent of it. Nicoll's method calls for no little strength of character. However successful in his own case, in the weaker hands of some of his subordinates the system was undoubtedly a failure. But it was a failure that did less harm than an excess of brutality. It hardly needs the career of Charles Churchill to show that there was some relaxation of discipline. It would be idle to deny that something of the worse spirit of the time had found its way into the School. If there was some of the clearness, symmetry, sobriety, and good sense which Mr. Lecky ascribes to the century, there was also the wild excess which always characterizes the strip- lings of a materialistic age. That Cowper's Tirocinium is no picture of his own school is proved by others of his writings. It is, in fact, a poem with a purpose, the preaching of a religious partisan ; and such works are never truthful. Not only was Cowper, like Bunyan, inclined in his later years to magnify the faults of his youth, but he deliberately chose to paint the flock from the black sheep. His few white sheep he makes very i;o WESTMINSTER SCHOOL white ; and in his own friends, such as Hastings, Lord Dartmouth, and the Bagots, he could see no speck. Yet it is true that he could find in Westminster, as in any public school of the time, some material for the darker shades of his picture. Robert Lloyd's excesses did not begin till his school-days were over, but there were boys of more precocious insobriety; and Churchill, while still a King's Scholar, went so far as to take to himself a wife. A worse beginning led to a worse end in the case of Timothy Brecknock. He forged a draft on his father, and on detection fled from the School and the country. Returning after a time he became a gambler, an author, and a member of Lincoln's Inn. In 1786 he assisted "fighting" Fitzgerald, an Etonian, in a murder, and they were both hanged for the crime. Brecknock was no worthy school-fellow of Hastings and Cowper. In one point there was no undue precocity. The parent, whose ideal was the manners of a dancing- master, was sure to be disappointed. When Lord Chesterfield's opinion is read it must be qualified by a remembrance of his character. "The peerless peer of capers and congtes " had indeed many great qualities, but he had scanty sympathy for the exuberance of boyhood. Nicoll's rule was a democracy tempered by affection, and no man was less a democrat than Lord Chesterfield. "Westminster School," he wrote, after Philip had left it, " is undoubtedly the scene of illiberal manners and brutal behaviour." On the publication of the Letters after Chesterfield's death the School was not slow to take its revenge. The prologue to the NICOLL 171 Phormio in 1774, though it ignored Philip Stanhope's Westminster training, criticised with justifiable severity the ideals of his father. The stinging epigram, by which Johnson avenged himself for an imagined insult, was known everywhere. Its phraseology would not in those days exclude it from quotation even in a form- room. Though the book had been so lately published, the prologue contains an obvious allusion to Johnson's famous sentence. The defects in Westminster manners were not, it is true, entirely imaginary. Cowper ascribes the awkward shyness of a young Englishman to his training in a boarding-house in a society of males. Yet here West- minster had an advantage over other schools. In the last century it became more and more the custom for boys to be at home or with friends from Saturday to Monday. Polite society opened its doors to them, and Lord Frederick Campbell's visits to Lady Towns- hend even set agog the scandalous tongue of Horace Walpole. Lord Huntingdon was famous at School for the graces which afterwards made him the head of ton, and Sir Richard Sutton was as much admired for his bearing as for his gift of tongues. To Huntingdon's politeness Chesterfield himself bore witness, and was well content that the boy should be known as his adopted son. Of his own son neither the father nor the School had much reason to be proud. The boy probably suffered from the continual supervision more than from the unheeded exhortations of a father who supposed that he could make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. WESTMINSTER SCHOOL If the boys had desired a cloistered life, they could hardly have ensured it. The stranger, who in these days turns with a curious eye to note the cap and gown of the Queen's Scholar passing between St. Margaret's and the Abbey on his way to the House of Commons, probably has little thought of the prominent place which for more than a century and a half after the death of Elizabeth the Westminster boy held in the nation's sight From Busby's time to Nicoll's men of letters and of action amused themselves by turning into the School to talk with the Master or encourage the boys, to laugh at an epigram, or commend an exercise. In a smaller England the boys' doings could even have a political significance. In the reaction after the Popish Plot they had celebrated the fifth of November by burning Jack Presbyter instead of the Pope. The news of it caused joy in Oxford Halls, and " vexed," wrote Wood, " the Presbyterians of London." When Marlborough sent home the captured flags of the French and Bavarians, it was known in every coffee- house how a Westminster boy had said he could not sleep or play for thinking of the colours in Westminster Hall. "He ought," wrote the Spectator, "to be free from receiving a blow for ever." The boys' verdict on a play had a value in the eyes of author and manager. On the production of the Beggar's Opera, " Lord," wrote Swift to Gay, "how the schoolboys at Westminster adore you at this juncture." When a boy wrote a declamation on the theme, " ridentem dicere verum quid vetat?" the lines were at once known to Pulteney. The Old Westminster politician was in the very crisis NICOLL 173 of his last struggle with Walpole, but he found time to transcribe a copy of the verses for the exiled Dean of St. Patrick's. It need hardly be said that the laughing truth-teller of the epigram was the persecutor of Part- ridge and the writer of The Drapier Letters^ a second Socrates and a better Plato. Such incidents did not perhaps make for discipline in a School of four hundred boys. The relaxation of discipline under Nicoll was perhaps most marked in school hours. In his own case, if there was an abatement of the rod, there was no loss of command. Sometimes, indeed, the boys would play on his good nature. A story goes that a lady in a sedan chair called on him and begged to be shown over the School. As he led her from form to form he was shocked by rude laughs, which seemed to justify Chesterfield's condemnation. In fact, the hoop and petticoat were worn by one of his own boys. The im- postor was young Lord Higham-Ferrers, who as Lord Rockingham lived to win the veneration of every true Whig. If on this occasion Nicoll was roused to inflict punishment, there were some of his masters whom no provocation could stir. Vincent Bourne took the fifth form and hardly affected any control. Once Lord March set fire to his master's greasy locks and then boxed his ears to put it out. Intent upon his own charming verses Bourne cared little what verses his boys brought him, " determined," said Cowper, " as he was the best so he would be the last Latin poet of the West- minster line." Cowper's gentle irony is nowhere better seen than in his ascribing the virtue of determination 174 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL to " Vinny " Bourne. Philip Stanhope was also in the fifth, and his father afterwards charged him with having picked up in it a " curious infelicity of diction." There was perhaps a touch of archaism or even of pedantry in Bourne's style, and certainly Chesterfield's English was not admired at Westminster. Toplady, a contemporary Westminster, condemned the style of the Letters as fiercely as Johnson assailed their morals. In fact, Chesterfield lacked catholicity of judgment. When Philip got out of the third form he received his father's congratulations that it was no longer his duty to turn the " bad English of the Psalms into bad Latin." After such criticism it may be thought that the Usher's standard rightly differed from the Earl's, but it may be doubted if the gentle pedagogue really taught at all. Hardly more effective was Pierson Lloyd, who from 1725 took the fourth form, and though passed over in 1733 in favour of his younger school-fellow, James Johnson, became Second Master in 1748. He is the " senex amabilis" of Vincent's well-known elegy, the " good old friend " of Cowper's translation, and as we regret to add, the " Tappy " Lloyd of Bentham's school- days. The nickname arose from a perhaps mythical affiliation to an innkeeper. Johnson was of sterner stuff, and after surviving a charge of Jacobitism died Bishop of Worcester. Indeed, if Nicoll himself could dispense with the rod and Bourne had not the strength to use it, Johnson did much to fill up the blank. Colman's lively verse men- tions with a directness now out of fashion the part re- cipient of the many a cruel lash that was to " make him NICOLL 175 sometime hence a parson." In Colman's own case the rod missed its effect The boy was advised by his friends to prefer Orders to the Bar, for " Judges there are but twelve and never more, But stalls untold and bishops twenty-four." Lord Bath compelled his nephew to neglect this advice, but Colman was soon claimed by the theatre. His translation of Terence proves that he had not wasted his time on the School stage. From Terence, too, he drew an incident in one of his comedies. In hisfeafous Wife the intoxication of Charles is modelled on that of Syrus in the Adelphi. From Lloyd and Bourne not much was to be learned. In fact, throughout all the history of the School there has been no period, save one, when less knowledge was imparted, and few when more was acquired. Put thus baldly the statement reads like a satire on educa- tion, but certain deductions must be made. Children who are always carried will never learn to walk. The system of private studies, instituted or fostered by Busby, was still active in the School. Cowper relates how he and Dick Sutton read through Homer together. Cumberland set himself to translate the Georgics, and sixty years later was proud enough of the work to publish a part of it in his Memoirs. In style and metre the verses are a respectable imitation of Thomson. When Lord Bath's son and heir left the School for the grand tour his cousin, George Colman, a fifteen-year-old King's Scholar, sent after him a poem, of whose easy jingle and learned vivacity no writer need have been ashamed, A few years his senior was Clayton Mordaunt i;6 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL Cracherode, whose great learning did not aspire to print. Over the private studies of these boys the Head Master exercised a general superintendence, and the occasional hint of a skilful instructor may, in a fertile soil, bear much fruit Such an instructor was Nicoll, and to some observers the crop seemed super- abundant. " Dick Sutton," wrote Warburton, " is a charming boy, but Westminster has made him a little whimsical. He has an insatiable thirst after new languages." Not only had he Latin and Greek, but he spoke and wrote Spanish and French with great exactness, understood Italian, and started his Cambridge career with German. " Were I," wrote the Bishop, " to be the reformer of Westminster School (with the highest reverence be it only whispered), I would order that every boy should have impressed upon his Accidence, in great gold letters, as on the back of the Horn book, that oracle of Hobbes, ' that words are the counters of wise men and the money of fools.'" If Sutton did not fulfil all the hopes formed of him, he had little reason to be dissatisfied with himself. After making as much figure in politics as he desired he retained to the end of his life his activity of mind, his love of literature, and the warmest affection of his friends. No doubt the curriculum was none too broad, and Cowper came to be somewhat of Warburton's opinion, though his reform would have taken a different direction. " When I was eighteen years of age," he wrote, in 1781, to Newton, "and had just left West- minster School, I valued a man according to his proficiency and taste in classical literature, and had NICOLL 177 the meanest opinion of all other accomplishments unaccompanied by that." It was no bad frame of mind for a boy of eighteen, and, though most men should put off childish things, it would have been well for Cowper's happiness had he remained in his illusion. Cowper, indeed, is himself a sufficient example to prove that the Westminster training could in itself make a man of letters. He became so estranged from literary life that even the prolific Cumberland, who had been a boy with him "up Ludford's," was to him, in 1788, only the clever lad, whom on Mrs. King's report he was ready to suppose not to have lost his early abilities. Yet in this estrangement, almost without books and wholly without literary acquaintances, Cowper designed to tear from Homer the periwig with which Pope had crowned him. Before Cowper's unhappy affection drove him into retirement he found delight in the lucubrations of the Nonsense Club. Its seven members were all West- minsters. Bonnell Thornton was somewhat older than the rest, who included Robert Lloyd, Charles Churchill, Joseph Hill, and James Bensley. Gibbon was too young to be of the company. Thornton and Colman started the Connoisseur, while Colman was still an undergraduate at Christ Church. Cowper contributed a few papers, which, however slight, are of more value than the pages in which Colman taught that " virtue is a good thing." A more amusing offspring of the Nonsense Club were the Odes to Obscurity and Oblivion. The excellent fooling took an edge from the boyish rivalry with the Etonian poet. Gray was only amused, and perhaps felt that the Bard would N i;8 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL survive the "bloody satire." The Nonsense Club paid another tribute to Westminster. Colman,who had acted in the Phormio and the Eunuchus, afterwards translated Terence and a play of Plautus. Thornton began a trans- lation of Plautus, but died after completing five plays. If letters owed something to Nicoll, the debt of the world was much greater. To the names of Warren Hastings, perhaps the greatest of Westminsters, Rock- ingham, and others already mentioned, must be added those of Dowdeswell, Gower, Stormont, Dolben, William Burke, Richmond, Keppel, and Portland in politics, with a considerable list of Bishops, Archbishops, and Judges. A statement of Lord Shelburne's might lead to the false inference that in Nicoll's later time Westminster was no place of intellectual activity. Shelburne, who matriculated from Christ Church in 1753, says that Westminsters were always the ruling party there, and that the College was then very low. His proof is that of all his contemporaries only the Duke of Portland had made a name in politics or letters. The Duke was a Westminster, and Shelburne forgot George Colman, who had matriculated two years before him. His own chief friend was another Westminster, Hamilton Boyle, afterwards Earl of Cork. But, in fact, just at that time Christ Church failed to attract the best boys. They perhaps did well to avoid Oxford in what has been called her nadir of attainment and discipline. England owes much to the guardian who kept Warren Hastings from the homes of thoughtless meditation, and Gibbon, short as was his school life, was even less indebted to Magdalen than to West- minster. It is a significant fact that John Conybeare, NICOLL 179 afterwards Bishop of Bristol, who in 1733 was made Dean of Christ Church "to cleanse out that Augean stable," some years later sent his own son to West- minster. Either he did not attribute to the pre- dominance of Westminsters the defects that he may have found in Christ Church, or he saw that West- minster under Nicoll differed from Westminster under Freind. Of his grandsons two, also Westminsters, were distinguished geologists and scholars, and the line was continued in the editor of St. Paul's Epistles, who was at the School under Williamson. Westminster at this time had great faith in its " composition." Cumberland conceived that the School possessed "a kind of taste and character peculiar to itself, and handed down perhaps from times long past, which seems to mark it out for a distinction that it may indisputably claim, that of having been above all others the most favoured cradle of the Muses." The claim may be somewhat exaggerated, but there certainly was a tradition, and it was not purely classical. Bourne's elegiacs have an elegance of their own, but are decidedly not Ovidian. The influence of school manuals and school copies sometimes overrode the authority of the classics. Down to a late period of the eighteenth century the second syllable of ego was habitually made long. The boys followed Maittaire and Bourne, and Bourne was the victim of a school tradition. In this period the Hebrew of the School did not improve. It had never been quite on a level with Latin and Greek, and Vincent with good reason ascribed the better knowledge of the classical tongues to the practice of composition. Exercises were indeed i8o WESTMINSTER SCHOOL recited at Election Dinner, and were set above the compositions in Latin and Greek. As late as 1861 Lord Harrington recited to Sir Robert Phillimore Hebrew verses which he had declaimed at Election no less than fifty years before. But as a rule only those boys whose eyes were set on orders gave much thought to the subject Charles Wesley was learned enough to teach it to his Carthusian brother, but Sir James Lamb deemed his own scanty acquaintance with it was as much "as was at all necessary for one not destined to the Church." Colman's claim was even less extensive : " Though I have long with study mental Labour'd at language oriental, Yet in my soil the Hebrew root Has scarcely made one single shoot." The colloquial use of Latin decayed in the eighteenth century, but was alive in Nicoll's days. When Maittaire was training Philip Stanhope for Westminster, the boy's father had no fears on the score of Latin. " Pray, mind your Greek particularly," he wrote, " for to know Greek very well is to be really learned. There is no great credit in knowing Latin, for everybody knows it, and it is only a shame not to know it." The colloquial power was sometimes put to a strange use. Ten years after leaving school Cowper, in a letter to Clotworthy Rowley, sent to his friend Alston a message, which, in the vulgar tongue, would have exceeded his utmost enterprise. The knowledge of Greek, too, seems to have advanced under Nicoll. " Since you mention Greek," wrote Carteret to Swift in 1737, " I must tell you that my son, not sixteen, understands it better NICOLL 181 than I did at twenty ; and I tell him ' Study Greek KCU ovSev ovSeTTore Tcnretvov evOvwOqa-fl OVTC ayav eTrtOv/uitja-ei ? Tii/o?.' He knows how to construe this, and I have the satisfaction to believe he will fall into the sentiment ; and then, if he makes no figure, he will yet be a happy man." Lord Carteret's phrase will perhaps show why Gulliver had great difficulty in understanding Alexander's Greek when he met him at the Court of Glubbdubdrib. If Carteret was no master of Greek composition, his enthusiasm was undoubtedly genuine. The scene described by Robert Wood, well known as it is, will yet bear repetition. The Under Secretary of State brought to the dying Lord President the preliminary articles of the Treaty of Paris. Despite his languor Carteret insisted that they should be read to him, quoting in Greek from the great speech of Sarpedon to Glaucus. The story shows, says Matthew Arnold, "the English aristocracy at its very height of culture, lofty spirit, and greatness." Of Pulteney, another of Knipe's pupils, it was said eighteen months later that he had ceased to quote Greek, and must therefore be dying; and the prophets were right. If his knowledge of Greek was rather wide than deep, it was a fault which he shared with the professors of the time. Of the King's Scholars elected to Oxford and Cambridge in the four years beginning with 1736, no less than four became Greek professors. At Oxford Samuel Dickens was appointed to the chair in 1751, and was succeeded by William Sharpe in 1762. At Cambridge William Fraigneau was elected in 1744, and was succeeded by Thomas Franklin in 1750. Franklin's translations of Sophocles and Lucian once had some vogue. 182 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL It may be well here to remark that the greatness of the School brought to it boys whose parents' motives it is impossible to praise. Eustace Budgell, in the Spectator, told the curtain story as an illustration of " an advantage mentioned by Quintilian as accompanying a public way of education, . . . namely, that we very often contract such friendships at school as are of service to us all the following parts of our lives." Though the story, true or false, will hardly bear the weight of the inference, it has no touch of meanness in it. It is, however, easy to give a baser tone to the sentiment. Cumberland has done so in his rather absurd story of Geminus and Gemellus, Of the two brothers one was educated at home, the other at Westminster. In the result a meaner Blifil if such a thing be possible was confronted with an amended Jones. A feebler Thwackum prompts a debased All- worthy, but the tables are turned when a nobleman's carriage drives up to the father's door and carries off the Westminster to a secretaryship and fortune. The fiction had its parallel in life. Chesterfield urged his son to maintain his friendship with Lord Pulteney, for Pulteney 's father, he said, "cannot live long, and will leave him an immense fortune." Lord Bath was farther from his grave than Chesterfield supposed. He survived for twenty years, "an aged raven," said Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, and outlived his son. Such instructions were often doomed to disappointment, and were little likely to benefit the tone of the School. In a famous passage Cowper has satirised the father who designs his son a bishop. The boy goes to school not to learn "true worth and literary skill," but to find NICOLL i$ 3 friends among those who will create the dignitaries of the Church. " His intercourse with peers and sons of peers, There dawns the splendour of his future years ; In that bright quarter his propitious skies Shall blush betimes and there his glory rise," Such a course of life had raised George Stone, one of Freind's King's Scholars, to the Primacy of Ireland ; but besides Bagot, whom as his own friend Cowper excepts by name, the lives of Bishops Barnard, Madan, and others show that not all Nicoll's episcopal pupils were of that worldly type which must be admitted to have stamped one of them in its most shameless form. Few, indeed, will be found to defend the character of Frederick Augustus Hervey, Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Derry. The predominance of the School is curiously illus- trated by an incident of the earthquake in 1750. No man had a better sense of proportion than Warburton ; but though the shock which dislodged some pinnacles of the Abbey left the School buildings unharmed, it was not of the Chapter that Warburton thought. " Where," he wrote to Kurd, " was the Genius loci of the School when this disaster happened ? Perhaps in the office of Diana when her temple was a-burning, gone a-midwifing to some Minerva of the brain, which is to make its first bodily appearance in an immortal epigram at the next Election of scholars." If the epigram secured its immortality, it rests with its con- temporaries in the dust of unexplored archives. At the Universities it was not only in learning that the Westminster asserted himself. The meetings which Laud had temporarily suppressed at Oxford were re- 1 84 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL vived after the Restoration. At Cambridge a like gathering of Westminsters came to be held on the day of Elizabeth's accession. In 1749 a proctor, who suffered from an animus against Westminsters, endea- voured to suppress it. A company of forty-six with a Fellow of Trinity in the chair had just concluded their festivities with the toast of the Head Master's health when the proctor appeared among them. The Masters of Arts put their shields before the under- graduates and the proctor was baffled. The war of pamphlets that followed did no harm to the chairman of the evening. In the next year, after a fierce conflict, he was elected to the Greek professorship. He was the same professor that took the ^Eolian lyre for the harp of ./Eolus. Of his Cambridge contemporaries very few could have detected the mistake. We are reluctant to take leave of Nicoll, whose amiable characteristics were repeated in some of his best scholars. Even now there lingers something of personal affection in the thought of Dick Sutton and Will Cowper, of Warren Hastings and Elijah Impey. Nicoll, it is true, was no educational reformer. His name cannot be handed down as the framer of any new principle or the founder of any new scheme of educa- tion. The subtle personal influence could not take form in any definite and lasting rules, but it could work with unsurpassed potency within the narrow bounds of a single life. Consciously or unconsciously he had an ideal that excelled Busby's. Busby had tried to make his boys, but Nicoll with a wiser instinct made them make themselves. If Busby's practice had ex- celled his theory, it was in his own despite. Busby had NICOLL 185 successfully contended with external difficulties which would have paralysed Nicoll. He was more masterful and more astute, and his very difficulties had set him in large before the world's eyes. Yet it may be doubted if all Busby's virtues and talents entitle him to a place above the unobtrusive genius and devotion of his third successor. In 1753, having reached the age of seventy and laboured in the School for nearly forty years, Nicoll resigned his mastership. He retired to a canonry in Christ Church, whither his only son had been elected seven years before. His retirement was not unclouded, for his son died in 1759. Six years later the old man was laid beside him under the pavement of the Cathe- dral. Many of the most brilliant of his pupils had pre- ceded him to the grave. Few can have survived, like Warren Hastings, to the last years of George III. For Westminster at this time there were preparatory schools at Wandsworth, Marylebone, and Walthamstow. More famous was Newcome's Academy at Hackney, where plays were acted in imitation of St. Peter's. The plays were, however, English, and some of their pro- logues were composed by Garrick. It might be thought that the little children of these schools met with gentler treatment from their Masters than did their elders at Westminster. In fact, the migration was often a relief. The " many tears and much blood " which Gibbon shed in the study of grammar ceased to flow when he became a boarder at Westminster. Even the bully was worse at the infants' school. The tormentor from whom Cowper suffered at Dr. Pitman's, at Market Street, had no equal in his Westminster career. Bentham, who 1 86 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL came to the School a child of six, relates that he was never bullied or flogged. In Nicoll's time the Scholars elected to the Universi- ties became entitled to a further benefaction. Noel Broxholme was elected to Cambridge in 1705, but preferred a canoneer studentship of Christ Church. In the early years of George II. he rose to the head of the medical profession, and in 1748 cut his throat at Hampton Court. His bequest of 20 a year has been commuted into an exhibition. While Nicoll was still Second Master the boys began to find their way into Tuttle Fields. "Tuttle" is one of those euphonic forms absurdly called corruptions, which prove that a language still lives. It is derived from tot hill, the hill of outlook, a mound which seems to have stood on the site of Regency Place. South and west of the mound lay the wide expanse of open and marshy fields to which the Westminster now began to betake himself. A few stray houses had long stood among the ponds and ditches, and Rochester Row began to push its way into the waste. To the south of it there was an expanse of grass fitted for a game, of which society still doubted if a gentleman could play it. The West- minster boys decided the question in its favour. The consequence was that in Nicoll's time cricket began to assume importance in the school life. There were indeed at least two cricketers of note at the School under Freind. To no family did early cricket owe so much as to the Sackvilles, and from the brilliant wit of King Charles's Court to the last of the line the Sack- villes were Westminsters. Lord Middlesex left School about 1728, and seven years later was captain of an NICOLL 187 eleven of Kent against All England. The match was for 1000 aside, and the All England eleven, captained by the Prince of Wales, lost it. Lord Middlesex's younger brother, Lord John Sackville, also learned his cricket in Tuttle Fields, and played in 1746 in the first match, whose score is preserved. The " cricketalia " instituted by him in Twitnam Meadows disturbed the unsympa- thetic pen of Horace Walpole. Though cricket soon took its rightful place, it had at first to dispute the pre-eminence with pitch -farthing. Some parents confused the games, and looked with dubious favour on both. " I have often told you," wrote Chesterfield to his boy in 1745, "that I wished you even played at pitch and cricket better than any boy at Westminster." There were also other competitors. Cowper knuckled down at taw, and delighted " To pitch the ball into the grounded hat, Or drive it devious with a dexterous pat." Even if the last word was dictated by the exigencies of rhyme, it has to a modern athlete the ring of another world. In those days the boys had by no means the exclusive use of their cricket field. By grace of the Chapter strangers frequented it for various purposes. Twice a year the ground was occupied by booths. Donkey and pony races attracted disorderly crowds. The Westminster trained bands performed there the evolutions which according to the military wits they mistook for drill. Nor were illegal visitors wanting. Once, when the young Atterburys were ill, Dr. Freind came to see them fresh from sitting an hour with Sir Cholmondeley Dering. There had been a duel in the i88 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL Fields, and Bering died of Richard Thornhill's pistol- shot. It seems probable that to Nicoll's early time the School owes a building which holds a considerable place in the memories of old Westminsters. At the foot of the steps leading to the School is a fine gate- way, which is often attributed to the hand of Inigo Jones. The flight of steps must no doubt have been there from the days of Elizabeth, and it seems that there was a doorway at the foot of them. It appears, however, from the acts of the Chapter, that at the time of the building of the new dormitory this doorway or gateway had either fallen out of repair or was con- sidered unworthy to stand beside the work of Wren and Burlington. In 1734 the Chapter contributed "$O towards the expense of taking down the old and putting up a new door and doorcase at the foot of the stairs leading into the School, provided that the other part of the expense be borne by voluntary contributors." The design can hardly have come from any other hand than Lord Burlington's. If that was so, it is his best claim on the gratitude of the School, for, as we have seen, the plan of the dormitory was really Sir Christopher Wren's. THE SCHOOL GATEWAY FROM A DRAWING BY J. T. J-MITH, 1808 CHAPTER X. MARKHAM AND SMITH Markham's Character Demolition of the Old Dormitory Green Play Scenery Epilogues Macaronics Distinctions of Rank Bentham Bicentenary Hinchliffe Smith, Head Master Georg-e III. A Whig- School School Life Turbulence The Trifler Soldiers India The Hasting-s Cup The Curriculum Verses French Games Smith's Boys Benefactors. TV^NIPE, Freind, and Nicoll had passed from the -1 *- Second Master's to the Head Master's chair. There were now good reasons for breaking a custom, which might easily become dangerous. Pierson Lloyd had many virtues, but no commanding power. He was a humourist and on the verge of fifty, and perhaps did not aspire to a place for which another was much better fitted. The new Head Master bore a name which, in the persons of his descendants, has ever since been connected with Westminster, and won distinction in many fields. William Markham was elected to Christ Church in 1738, and was thirty-three at the date of his appointment. Both at School and at Oxford he won a great reputation for Latin verses. After grad- uating in arts he proceeded in law, and it is said that at this time he had no intention of taking orders. Possibly the prospect of the headmastership made him alter his mind, though he thought twice before 189 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL accepting it. He had made many friends, especially among the Whigs, in whose principles he was bred, and the literary world had hailed him as a young man of great promise. William Burke, who was nine years his junior at Westminster and Christ Church, had the most ardent affection for him, and the most unbounded confidence in him. After a time Markham fell away to Toryism, and described Edmund Burke's house as a hole of adders. The estrangement was very painful to his Whig friends, while the wits at Brooks's, who had not his personal acquaintance, ridiculed his poetry, his views on divine right, his affection for Warren Hastings, and his son's rapid promotion in India. He had at that time risen to be Archbishop of York, the fifth of the seven Westminsters who have held that see. Markham's eleven years at Westminster were a period of wise and successful administration. To his energy and public spirit was due what from the point of view of the School was a great improvement in the precincts. Unhappily this improvement involved the demolition of the old dormitory with its architectural interest and its historic memories. What is now the southern half of Green, the open space of Dean's Yard, was occupied by this and other buildings. An Act for dealing with it was passed by Parliament in April, 1755, and in the following year Markham took the matter in hand. He determined to throw the space open as a playground for the School. As it was necessary to purchase certain outstanding leases, the cost of his scheme would be very considerable. To reduce it the Chapter gave him the materials of the dormitory and brewhouse, with the ground on which they stood, without fine or rent. A Prebendary named Wilson was strongly opposed to the scheme. He was a Fellow of the Antiquarian Society and had some reason for his view, but the boys, to whom the future was more than the past, nicknamed him the Antisquarian. The capital for the undertaking was found in part by a Dr. Cox and a Mr. Salter, a speculative Charterhouse Master. Six houses were built on a terrace at the south end of the Yard. One of them was taken by Gibbon's aunt, Catherine Porten, who had previously kept a dame's house in College Street, where Gibbon himself had boarded. The others did not easily let, and Cox fell into difficulties and the houses into disrepair. The School, however, had obtained a playground which could be used in those intervals whose brevity forbade a visit to the Fields. Markham seems also to have cleared part of the area of Little Dean's Yard, and to have built the houses on the south side of it. One of them, now known as Rigaud's, was rebuilt in 1897, but the other, Grant's, still stands. Its external architecture is hardly a work of consummate imagination. To Markham is due one considerable improvement in the Play. He was reasonably dissatisfied with the scenery that had been in use for some quarter of a century. Archaeology had made some progress, and it would be well for Terence to have an Athenian background. A scene was designed by James Stuart, known as "Athenian" Stuart, and the cost was defrayed by the Head Master. The scene was first used in 1758. The prologue to the Plwrmio, written by Robert Lloyd i 9 2 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL and spoken by Edward Salter, afterwards Canon of Winchester and Prebendary of York, called the spectators' attention to the Parthenon, the Theseum, and the Temple of the Winds. The scene remained in use for fifty-one years, and in 1809 was succeeded by a copy. Both the original and the copy have perished, and there is perhaps little reason to regret them. We have pointed out that in Freind's time is to be found the germ of the modern Epilogue. As the Play was acted in the dresses of the day, the contrast between Play and Epilogue was not yet strongly marked. The change to dialogue naturally suggested some corruption of the Latin. The macaronic element, which of late years has tended to increase, is not perhaps wholly justifiable. It cannot, however, be alleged that the fungoid growth is a thing of yesterday. As early as 1730 we find such words as " baggis" and " deska" while for needless audacity one couplet of that year has scarcely been surpassed : " Hinc ditescentes merito thrivamus honore, Et dat, si volumus sumere, Barra togam." The fashion was but temporary, and in 1759 we find Robert Lloyd not sure of approval for his bar- barous words. He would like to praise the turtle, which some Old Westminster had sent to regale the weary actors, but he says : " Vereor Calepash dicere vel Calepee." Three years later there was no scruple in saying : " Navales schedulae, Transfer, Scrip, India, Consols," MARKHAM AND SMITH 193 but in 1779 there was an apology for the barbarous cry of the Jew : " Quis transfert, vendit, emitve, Billas navales, Annua, Post obitus." The early years of this century found humour in such couplets as : " Mysterisativus enim est, Individuali- tativus, Philopro-vel-genitivus Homo." More skill was shown in the translation of phrases current from the " Conatus longus fortis et unanimis " of 1806 to the "Tu premis umbonem, cetera nos facimus" of a recent year. Such versions may be dull to the reader, but they cause genuine amusement in the recitation of the stage. In the epilogue of 1894 a street song of the day was forced into an elegiac couplet. Though such trash was hardly worth imitating, the music was no novelty. It had found a place even in the Play. In 1765 the maid- servant in the Andria was made to sing a rhyming trans- lation of Swift's Kitten. Though the version was said to be the Head Master's, it was perhaps playing to the groundlings to make Mysis chant " O felicula blandula, O felicula dulcis, O mihi semper amanda, Aliis longe prae multis." The precedent was imitated in 1798, when the Fisherman in the Rudens gave Dodd's version of an old ballad : O 194 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL " Piscatores, piscatores, Vinum coronemus : Liberi feliciores Genio libemus." Natural loyalty in 1897 is hardly called upon to excuse the rendering of the National Anthem. The prologues and epilogues of the Town boy plays were usually, if not always, written in English. They may sometimes have owed touches to such Westminster actors as Thomas Sheridan. As far as they have been preserved they recall the famous epithet which Johnson applied to that father of a greater son. Although at this period boys of rank and wealth had ceased to be attended at School by their own man- servants, there was still open to them one advantage or disadvantage in the boarding-houses. By payment a boy could secure the sole occupancy of a room or rooms. A new boy would sometimes think himself entitled to a like distinction in School. The nobleman's son, who asked Markham to point out to him the place appropriated for boys of his rank, learned his first lesson in equality. "You, sir," the Doctor is said to have replied, " with more confidence and consequently less respect for me than you ought on this important occasion to feel, enquire for your proper place in the School. It is therefore my duty to inform you that here the only distinctions made are those which arise from superior talents and superior application. The youth that wishes to obtain eminence must endeavour by assiduity to deserve it. Therefore your place at present is the lowest seat on the lowest form." It was to Markham that Johnson bowed with "such a studied elaboration of homage, such an extension of MARKHAM AND SMITH 195 limb, such a flexion of body as have seldom or never been equalled," but in rotundity of utterance Markham must have been the Rambler's disciple. The greatest of Markham's pupils was Jeremy Bent- ham, who entered the School in 1755 at the age of seven and left it for Oxford in 1760. Bentham called his Head Master the great glory of the boys and the object of their adoration, but had little content in the retrospect of his own school-days. Though he long re- tained the habit of writing Latin verses, he imagined that the hours of boyhood spent on them were wasted. His view was coloured by the fact that his contem- poraries who made a name at School made little figure in the world. Of one who was long a member of Parliament and a Welsh judge, he says unkindly that he was " good for nothing." Bentham's reminiscences are in some points demonstrably incorrect, and he pro- bably exaggerated Markham's inattention. "If the boys performed their tasks well, it was well ; if ill, it was not the less well." Yet Markham's boys held their own at the Universities, and some were known in a wider sphere. The best known of them were Arch- bishop Agar, Bishop Randolph, Chief Baron Macdonald, Deans Cyril Jackson, and Vincent, and the fifth Duke of Leeds. In 1760 the College celebrated its bicentenary. The celebration was an alternation of prayer and feast. The King's Scholars delivered orations and verses from the gallery in Hall; the dinner lasted from 2.15 to 4.30, and was immediately followed by evening service in the Abbey. The presiding Dean, Zachary Pearce, was himself a Westminster. 196 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL In 1765 Markham resigned his mastership for the Deanery of Rochester. On his retirement there was a breach in the long tradition of an Oxonian Head Master. John Hinchlifie was elected to Cambridge in 1750, came back as an Usher some four years later, and afterwards travelled as a tutor. He owed his appointment to the Duke of Grafton, a Cambridge acquaintance, who is asserted by the Dictionary of National Biography to have been also a school-fellow, but the proof is not apparent. Appointed in March, Hinchliffe resigned his place in June, ascribing his retirement to lack of health. In fact, he had been asked to become tutor to Lord Hartington, and aimed through Whig influence at a higher place. He had judged aright, for he passed from the mastership of Trinity to the bishopric of Peterborough. As a bishop he remained true to his principles, and with Shipley of St. Asaph, whose son was Bentham's "shadow" at School, gave episcopal support to the ministry of his school -fellow, Lord Rockingham. In that Ministry, besides the First Lord, the Chancellor of the Ex- chequer, the Lords Chancellor, President, Privy Seal, and Chamberlain, one of the Secretaries of State, and one of the Lords of the Admiralty, were Westminsters. Short as was Hinchliffe's reign, in one way he left his mark. A senior, writing to his uncle, expressed his no small grief at Markham's departure, and added, " Our new Master, Dr. Hinchliffe, is, I believe, very good- natured : he did not flog anyone the first week, but he has gone on at a good rate since." It was long before Westminster Masters ceased to believe that a boy could gain at one end only by losing at the other. MARKHAM AND SMITH 197 Hinchliffe was succeeded by Samuel Smith, who had been of the same standing at Westminster and Cam- bridge. The twenty-four years of his rule are remark- able for a loss of Court favour, for which there were more reasons than one. George III. did not love the Rockinghams, and there were other Westminsters whom he loved less. Of the " Bloomsbury gang " Bedford and Gower were Westminsters, and if the King disliked anyone more than the Bedfords it was Beckford. Again the King preferred Windsor to London, and therefore preferred Eton to Westminster. Writing in 1804, Cumberland, while expressing his own affection for his own School, stated that he was not unaware that for some years past the tide of Court favour had set in another direction. Of this change one result was that the School lost some of its catholicity. It became, at any rate for a time, the "great seed-plot of Whig statesmen." Some great Tory families, notably the Somersets, remained faith- ful ; but the Whigs predominated, and it must be admitted that they showed the spirit which Swift had attributed to them. A Whig, wrote the Examiner, is against all discipline. A favourite amusement of the time was breaking bounds, or, as it was called, "going on a scheme." The object was often a play at Drury Lane or a trial in Westminster Hall. Smuggled in by peer or door- keeper, Westminster boys never failed to get a sight of Warren Hastings, or what Colman calls " a slice of the Duchess" of Kingston. When the lady pleaded the privilege of peerage they prayed for the rejection of her plea. They had caught the words " corporal punish- 198 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL ment," and could conceive but one kind. Another incident may be told in the words of a contemporary journalist : " ' Small-Talk, or The Westminster Boy,' a farce by Captain Topham, was attempted to be acted at Covent Garden for the benefit of Mr. Wells. By the most unexampled negligence of the Masters of West- minster School a number of the gentlemen educated at that seminary were suffered to be at the theatre this evening, and by every species of disturbance put a stop to the performance of the piece." The prologue to " Small-Talk " was written by a Westminster, with whom some of the disturbers may have been at School. To stop these "schemes" the Masters' only method seems to have been to wait in Palace Yard and the Sanctuary and catch the returning truants. They were seldom successful, for the houses which then stood near St. Margaret's, and whose demolition Southey regretted, were a cover that prevented capture. It is probable that the " scheme " sometimes took a boy to Almack's. Sir John St. Aubyn, a Town boy in his eighteenth year, raised money by annuity bonds, in which he induced a school friend just come of age to join him. Perhaps such excesses were not common. For turbulent violence the School at this time had a reputation not wholly unmerited. Hide-and-seek in the Abbey and precincts was varied by assault and battery. Even to visit his mother's tomb Horace Walpole dared not venture his fairy limbs in the precincts. His fear was perhaps an affectation, but, like all his affectations, it was crossed with a truth. Indeed, the boys' violence once brought them into peril of the law. On some unknown provocation six of them attacked a man in MARKHAM AND SMITH 199 the Yard, and by a threat of ripping him up forced him to beg pardon on his knees. Brought before Sir John Hawkins and other magistrates at quarter sessions, four of them were sentenced to a month's imprisonment and a fine. If they would ask pardon on their knees the imprisonment was to be remitted, but this they obstinately declined to do. One of them, the son of a Northamptonshire squire, had just been elected to Christ Church, and on his father's appeal the imprison- ment was remitted. The others naturally claimed the same remission, and, though Sir John Hawkins was obdurate, he found himself in a minority, and the boys triumphed. The "petty classical bravoes," as a wrath- ful journalist called them, lived down their follies, and died canons, members of Parliament, or governors of provinces. With this fierce spirit Smith was little fitted to deal. " Dull and good-natured " Colman calls him, and Southey speaks of his "good-natured, easy way." He was too good-natured even to get rid of an in- competent Usher. Samuel Hayes, an old King's Scholar and Fellow of Trinity, became an Usher on taking his degree. He almost made a practice of winning the Seatonian prize for a sacred poem, and he quite made a practice of fuddling himself with beer. The boys in School used to stick his wig full of paper darts, a habit from which, it would seem, Vinny Bourne had frequently suffered. Yet Hayes was an Usher for nearly twenty years, and, after marrying a dame, retired in dudgeon because he was not made Second Master. The boys called him " Botch," and perhaps were sorry to lose him. Smith, it is true, had very capable Assist- 200 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL ants in William Vincent, Gerrard Andrewes, afterwards Dean of Canterbury, and William Trivett, but the School was often on the verge of rebellion. Once it broke out, and Smith quelled it by unexpected energy and a thick stick. Sometimes the offenders suffered, and an act of insubordination put a close to the school career of Sir Francis Burdett. On smaller offences Smith was not unduly severe. On the publication of the Trifler, though little pleased to see his boys appear in print, he satisfied his vengeance by setting as a theme " Scribimus indocti doctique" The mention of the Trifler gives occasion for pointing out a change in the vehicle in which a clever boy expressed himself. The Westminsters of the past, from Cowley to the elder Colman, had instinctively put their thoughts into verse. In face of the imitative faculty of the young it is surprising that the Spectator and its numerous offspring did not earlier find followers at St. Peter's. The Connoisseur did perhaps prompt a few essays and letters which the curious may unearth from the magazines of the period, but the Trifler owed its birth to rivalry with the Etonian Microcosm. Between May, 1788, and March, 1789, it passed through forty numbers. The founders were some of the seniors of the year Robert Oliphant, John Hensleigh Allen, William Elias Taunton, and Walter Hutchinson Aston. Oliphant's promising career at Cambridge was cut short by death, but Aston lived to succeed to his father's peerage, and Taunton died a judge of the King's Bench. They were hardly the equals of Canning. It has been already shown that in Nicoll's time some of the best boys did not stand for Election. Under MARKHAM AND SMITH 201 Smith an academical career was often distasteful to the turbulent King's Scholar. Even before this Oxford was not always the prelude to a peaceful life. It may be fanciful to seek a Westminster in the pages of Tom Jones. It is at least a coincidence that the lieutenant, who always carried in his pocket what ensign Northerton called a " Homo," and damned accordingly, was named Thomas. Third of the Election to Christ Church in 1732 was Lewis Thomas, a poetaster of some small account, who rose to be a lieutenant -colonel in the army, and fell at the storming of Havannah. In Smith's time some twenty King's Scholars entered the English or the Indian army, some after taking a degree and some without matriculating. It would almost seem as if Trinity, at any rate, were willing to give honorary election to a soldier. One at least received his com- mission before standing for Election, though he may not have joined his regiment even in the three next years. In the eleven years between 1770 and 1782 six boys elected to Trinity, instead of matriculating, took commissions. In the same period two boys elected to Christ Church, and five who did not stand for Election, became soldiers. Another entered the navy, and several received commissions after taking a degree. They may have been influenced to some extent by the example of Town boys, of whom a very large number entered the King's service. To this movement a further impulse was given by Warren Hastings' return to India in 1768. A cadet- ship or a commission in India was now open to any Westminster of promise. He might be excited by the early promotion of William Markham, who left College 202 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL at seventeen, and at twenty-one was Resident at Benares. The lad amply justified his selection, but he owed it in part to the Governor's affection for his School. Hast- ings' witty enemies in spiteful burlesque made the youthful Resident's father tender his thanks to the man " Whose bounty sent My Markham's delegated rule To riot in the plunder of Benares." So strong was Westminster feeling in Bengal that when, a year or two before Hastings' return, he and Impey with fifteen of their school-fellows desired to send to the School a token of their affection, five men, who were not Westminsters, were proud to join in the gift. The silver drinking cup adorned with elephants, whose trunks make the handles, bears the names of the twenty-two donors. Two of them had been elected to Christ Church, but preferred the Ganges to the Isis. Mr. Phillimore gives 1777 as the date of the gift, but William Francklin, one of the donors, was elected to Trinity in 1781, and went to India in the following year. The real date was 1782 or 1783. Fifty years later Colonel Francklin was present at Election dinner, and a charming epigram saluted one who was perhaps the sole survivor of the donors. In the curriculum it seems probable that Smith made as little change as his immediate predecessors. He introduced no new subject, and he dropped no old one. He had a nice taste in verses, and in epigrams showed a decided liking for the pun. Facility in writing Latin verse was given by an habitual fifth -form exercise of this period. The exercise, though of uncertain origin, was probably older than Smith's time. It was THE WARREX HASTINGS CUP KROM A DRAWING UV XV. KNEEN MARKHAM AND SMITH 203 called the Horace lesson, and lasted well into the present century. An ode was set to be turned into a different metre. An example will illustrate the method. Sir Elijah Impey's son had set him the familiar ode to Postumus. The boy went home, where his father was in bed recovering from a footpad's assault. Young Impey set to work in his father's room, but could not strike the vein. Sir Elijah turned in his bed and suggested a couplet : " Labitur hora fugax, heu, Postume, Postume, vitae, Nee morti pietas afferet ulla moram." Sir Elijah in his boyhood may have transmuted the same ode for Vinny Bourne. Such work was pre- paratory to the "sacred exercise," the twenty Latin hexameters on a biblical subject which were expected from a boy in the sixth. At this time in the preparatory schools French held the place which Latin had held and, to some extent, continued to hold at Westminster. It was the language of conversation, and a divergence into English involved penalties. The Marylebone school, to which George Colman sent his son to be prepared for Westminster, had two French Masters, whose accent the boys managed to avoid. In the Lower School at West- minster English had probably found a place. The Upper School clung to Latin. Thus young Colman in his school career gathered his knowledge through a threefold medium. No doubt many boys found little difficulty in losing their scanty store of French, unless, like Philip Stanhope, they were tortured by a private tutor in their leisure hours. In the boarding-houses the dual control did not make 204 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL for the happiness of the younger boys. Some of the Masters thought that a new-comer must take his chance. Even when there was no malice, the practical joke had terrors for the shy boy the owl forced on the daylight. They had not all the epigrammatic resource of Frederick Reynolds, who, after a single night's experience, wrote home that he must return or die. " I am all over ink," said his letter, " and my fine clothes have been spoilt I have been tost in a blanket, and seen a ghost." His sorrows were of short duration. The ghost made a second appearance, but a "thrashing" from an elder boy effectually laid him. Reynolds's coloured waistcoat gave place to more sober raiment, and happiness followed his relapse into conventionality. This was probably a general experience. In the summer of 1790 Bosvvell was afraid to send his son back after an illness, for he was much oppressed by the big boys ; but in the following April he wrote to Temple, that his " little friend James " was quite recon- ciled to Westminster. There must, however, have been children whose sufferings blighted their lives. Yet it would seem that, though the bullying was bad, the bullies were not numerous. In Southey's first room all the outrages were the work of one boy, and him mad. Southey's head was a mark for poker and porter- pot, water was poured into his ears while he slept, and he was held by the leg out of window. Sometimes Satan was divided against Satan, and the wolfish bully repressed the outrages of the mean and malicious. Neither race had anything to fear from the vigilance of Master or dame. The bullying would have been less had there been MARKHAM AND SMITH 205 more order in the games. The dominance of athletics brings its own evils, but at least it diverts the thoughts of the idle hour. " Up Fields " there were still boys who played each for himself. There were others who " snatched a fearful joy " with one companion. George Colman and a friend kept a carriage and pair "up Fields." The carriage was of "unpainted pieces of rough wood clumsily nailed together, and the cattle were a couple of donkeys." The boys who envied the owners could hardly envy the beasts. Smut and Macaroni had no sinecure, for when one was ill their lords rode double upon the other. Colman's amusements were individual and selfish. From the nobler spirit of cricket some of his school- fellows learned the power of combination and the merits of self-sacrifice. One of them at least deserves a place in the history of the game. Cricket in the army has done no little to create sympathy between the officer and the private. Such " collusion " was little to the taste of a dominant aristocracy, and could hardly have been accomplished but by an officer of the highest birth. In the last decade of the eighteenth century the 35th Foot was happy to serve under a commander who had learned his cricket in Tuttle Fields. He was, perhaps, the first officer that played with his men, and the private could forgive himself if his " twisters " failed to dislodge the bails of Colonel Lennox, the heir and afterwards the successor to the Dukedom of Richmond. The growing greatness of Eton began about this period to tell upon Westminster. Under Smith the numbers ranged from 250 to 300 or a little more. The boys, however, won distinction in many fields. Of 206 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL churchmen beside bishops and deans there was Harcourt, Archbishop of York, a faithful attendant at the School celebrations, even to his ninetieth year. Lord Amherst governed India, and Charles Abbot presided over the Commons. Of other statesmen there were the Marquis of Westminster, and the Dukes of Bedford, Portland, Beaufort, and Sutherland. Of many generals Lords Anglesey, Strafford, and Combermere, and Thomas Grosvenor rose to the rank of Field Marshal. Nor were Westminsters unknown in the older service of war. Among seamen were Admirals Sir Home Popham, Sir William Hotham, Sir Henry Hotham, and Sir Eliab Harvey. Among the Town boys was Peter Elmsley, the one English Scholar of the century who is worthy to rank with Bentley and Porson. From Lord North the trainer of Whigs could hardly hope for preferment, but an appeal, at first anonymous and then avowed from Bishop Newton, got the promise of a stall at Westminster. In 1787 Pitt added a prebend of Peterborough, and in the next year Smith retired from the School. The School still received benefactions from her sons. In 1761 Richard Frewin, elected to Christ Church in 1698, and afterwards Camden's Professor, left .80 a year to Westminster students of the House. Another student of Christ Church, Fane William Sharpe, member of Parliament for Callington in 1771, left 500 to the School. The interest of the money now supports an exhibition in the School. VINCENT FROM AN 1 ENGRAVING AFTER THF ORIGINAL PICTt RF BY W. OWEN, R.A. CHAPTER XL VINCENT, CAREY, AND PAGE Vincent's lifelong Connexion with the School His Qualities Southey Religious Teaching A Controversy Spoken Latin Town Boys' Play Benefactors Carey's early Career Young Boys " Mills " Rough Life Amusements Longevity Plays Fields Carey's Boys His Benefaction Walls of School Page's Character Water. "\ T 7TTH the doubtful exception of Busby no other * * Westminster has been so long associated with the School as Smith's successor. Born in 1739, William Vincent became a Town boy in 1747, and a King's Scholar in 1753. He was elected to Cambridge in 1757, and five years later, " unde abiit reversus" as his epitaph runs, became Usher of the lowest form. He had been a boy in it at the age of seven, and again as a Master he passed through every form. In 1771 he succeeded Pierson Lloyd, and in 1788 no candidate disputed his claim to Busby's chair. He left it for the deanery in 1802, and died Dean in December, 1815. Of his seventy-six years more than sixty-four were spent at St. Peter's. Vincent was the type of the learned and studious Head Master. He had not perhaps grasped the principle that the object of education is not to make a boy know, but to make him think and act. He had 207 208 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL grasped the principle that a teacher must always be a learner. By reflexion or by natural taste he was led to a practice of no less moment. He was devoted to a study that lay beyond the immediate sphere of school life. " Next to Rennell," says Sir Clements Markham, " and beyond him in some respects, Vincent was the greatest comparative geographer of his time." His devotion to his own subject gave him vitality in all others. In the "Golden Election" of 1793 there were sped away to Oxford three boys, who won paramount distinction in the three learned professions. Their careers illustrate the catholicity of Vincent's teaching. His industry grew with the growth of years. His physical exercise was limited to the tramps to and fro in front of his desk, while he thundered against in- accuracy or lavished praise upon the signs of spirit and taste. Nor was his thunder mere sound. " He rolls his blood-shot eyes," said a Latin epigram, "and looks round for the rod." " Plaguily severe " is the epithet applied to him by an idle pupil. In the end his severity was not wasted even upon the younger Colman. Vincent had indeed two faults. He lacked humour and he gave an excessive value to routine. The one fault abbreviated the school career of Southey, the other was perhaps a bar to necessary reforms. Southey's lifelong devotion to literature had its first fruit in a rejected contribution to the Trifler. The abortive birth was followed by a lively offspring. Southey's own School magazine was audaciously named the Flagellant, and an early number applied VINCENT, CAREY, AND PAGE 209 the title to the Head Master. Vincent was moved to uncontrolled wrath and an action for libel against the publisher. Southey at once admitted himself the author of the paper and was promptly expelled. In his other controversy it cannot be denied that Vincent was for the moment equally victorious. Dr. Rennell, afterwards Master of the Temple, preaching a foolish sermon, reiterated an accusation made by Jones of Nayland. The public schools, he said, systematically neglected religious education. Jones seems to have held that the right food for the youthful imagination and intellect was the scientific formulae of dogmatic theology. A classical education was a training in paganism, and the boy who read Ovid must necessarily believe that Daphne became a laurel and Arachne was metamorphosed into a spider. Vincent sarcastically replied that he had not found it necessary to warn a fourth-form boy that the Metamorphoses were but fables, and he knew no student of Sanscrit who had blossomed into a Buddhist. Jones had admitted to Vincent that as regarded Westminster his accusation was groundless, and Vincent successfully insisted upon a like retrac- tation from Rennell. But the word had already passed on to the lips of the preachers. Two years later the Bishop of Meath preached a sermon which he thought fit to publish. In a note he repeated the charge that its authors had withdrawn. In a pamphlet no less modest than trenchant Vincent showed that the Bishop had mistaken " rhetoric for argument and assertion for truth." His lordship had preached at random to P 210 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL tickle the ears of the groundlings. As for Rennell he was "bred at Eton and has lived at Winchester, but he knows no more of Westminster than Tom Paine does of the Bible." If he disliked a classical education, why had he sent his own son to a public school ? And why did his own eloquence smack of Demosthenes and Cicero ? Vincent's defence was in form complete. He was able to show that the formulae were inculcated by perpetual reiteration. Of the many statutory prayers one only was obsolete. The theological lectures were still delivered, the prelude of confirmation was never neglected. Of the effect it was not his to speak. He cast, he said, his bread upon the waters, and it must be sought after many days. The lives of his boys prove that in some cases it was to be found. Vincent's argument silenced Jones and the Bishop of Meath. He proved that what they required was to be found at Westminster. He was not concerned to prove more, but he may have felt that against wiser adversaries there was a joint in his harness. At least it required care in the wearing. Vincent was not unaware that if the formulae were to be of any value the spirit must not fail. Augustus Short, writing of a somewhat later period under Page, complains that the spirit was no longer in the teaching. The formulas were still taught, but they were taught for their own sake, and there was an end. Even in Vincent's time the formulae were but dry bones in the hands of his assistants. The worst of his VINCENT, CAREY, AND PAGE 211 early colleagues had, indeed, disappeared. But the supersession of Hayes by John Wingfield, although it removed an evil example, had not provided an efficient successor. Southey sums up Wingfield's colourless personality in the statement that he had "no qualities at all." Ponderous as Vincent had shown himself in his assault upon the Flagellant, he could sometimes smile at a joke of which himself was the victim. One day in the gateway of Dean's Yard an aged and infirm crone besought his alms. He gave her half a crown, and a few minutes later descried the old woman held forcibly under the pump by Harley, afterwards Earl of Oxford, and Carey, afterwards Head Master. A third boy plied the handle. When Vincent ran to stop the outrage the woman's bonnet fell off and disclosed the features of a King's Scholar. The crone was James Hook, after- wards Dean of Worcester, and the father of a more famous son. Vincent was glad to hide his merriment by a precipitate retreat. A favourite exclamation of Vincent marks the end of Latin as a spoken tongue. An epigram on the subject is worth quoting. Vincent was Dean when in 1811 Owen painted his portrait for the School. His mellow age could laugh at the gentle satire : "The tints on Owen's canvass spread Are truth itself, no mockery : I thought the living portrait said 'Eloquere, eloquere."' The surviving traces of the spoken Latin are not peculiar to Westminster. To the verb " flog " Eton had 212 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL an equal claim, and the world has made it its own. Of one word the use has survived the knowledge. Its true meaning should have lived longest at Westminster, for it was transcribed by the comedians from Greek. The boy who would cry " Hold, enough," uses a word which he generally believes to be the Latin word for peace. Historically it is of a different origin. Erasmus took it from Plautus, and Plautus had but given Roman letters to the irag of Aristophanes and Menander. Such abbre- viations as " flog " and " con " have long since ceased to be recognized as Latin. Some at least of them have found their way from the form-room into the language of literature. Vincent's vigour of mind was not the source of any great educational reform. The School still pursued the course which it had known in the days of Freind and Nicoll. But the boys must have gained something from a Master whose studies bore fruit in other fields than the class-room. Among his boys were not a few Whig statesmen, of whom not the least were Lord Lansdowne and Lord Broughton. Lord William Bentinck was the first Governor-General of India, and Bishop Carey's name is hardly less in the history of the Church than in the grateful affection of West- minsters. There was, indeed, one matter in which Vincent seems to have made a move. It appears to have been in his time that some slight attempt was made to extend the curriculum. A boy who chose to surrender his half- holidays was allowed to learn the elements of the science of numbers. The teacher of the subject was the VINCENT, CAREY, AND PAGE 213 writing-master, and it would seem that he paid more attention to caligraphy than to arithmetic. William Dowdeswell, a Westminster of Nicoll's time, had been Chancellor of the Exchequer in the first Rockingham Ministry, and the same post was held by Lord Henry Petty in the Ministry of all the Talents. Lord Henry was Shelburne's son, and his illustrious father took care that the boy should have the training which West- minster of itself would not have given him. The boy boarded with Peter Debary, then an Usher in the School. Debary was elected to Cambridge in 1783, and had graduated in the mathematical tripos. Though he taught no mathematics in School, he gave his pupil the command of figures, which was not the least of his many claims on the gratitude of the Whigs and the country. Under Vincent the Town boys' Play was still an event of the year. Modern comedy was mostly affected, but even Shakespeare obtained an occasional recognition. In 1790 King John appeared on the boards. A special prologue was spoken by a boy named Bourke, who seems to have left School at the end of the previous term. The play was not at the School, and took place in the Christmas holidays. It is probable that Bourke's fellow-actors had, like himself, bidden their last farewell to the rod. During the earlier part of Vincent's mastership the Dean was John Thomas, the seventh of eight Deans who had also been Bishops of Rochester. Thomas showed himself a consistent friend of the School, and on his death in 1793 left a benefaction, which has now 214 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL taken the form of exhibitions. He was succeeded by Samuel Horsley, whose translation to St. Asaph in 1802 left it open to Addington, whose eldest son was then at the School, to confer the deanery upon Vincent. Much to the King's dislike the bishopric of Rochester was separated from the deanery. For twelve years more Vincent was able to watch over the interests of the School, and to pursue the re- searches which have given him a name outside the sphere of education. Thomas was not the only benefactor of the period. Edward Smallwell, Bishop of Oxford, elected to Christ Church in 1739, died in 1797, and left .1000 to the School. This fund also is now the maintenance of exhibitioners. On Vincent's elevation the headmastership was held for a few months by John Wingfield, who was elected to Cambridge in 1778, and returned as Usher in 1781. As he had "no qualities" it was perhaps well that he soon retired to a prebend of Worcester. His successor, William Carey, was a man of humble birth, assisted to rise by Vincent's early perception of his powers. The son of a Worcester tradesman, he was brought to the School by Vincent in 1783. In the second year of his headmastership Vincent had the satisfaction of seeing the boy elected head to Christ Church. Carey became a successful tutor of the House, and Cyril Jackson found the best man when he nominated him Wingfield's successor. There were at the time about 260 boys in the School, and the number probably increased during the twelve years of Carey's rule. VINCENT, CAREY, AND PAGE 215 The School had never rejected very young boys, but in Carey's time the number of them was perhaps larger than before. Augustus Short, afterwards Bishop of Adelaide, came at six years of age, and Lord Albemarle at eight. Infantile games flourished among them. A contemporary declamation names the top, the hoop, and the marble, to which Lord John Russell adds the pea-shooter. It might be thought that the tender children, who could delight in such sports, would receive some protection from their Masters. Carey took a different view of education, and the infants had to fight their own battles. Nor were the battles merely metaphorical. Carey encouraged fighting, and a "mill" in " fighting green " was accounted an adequate reason for adjourning school. " When I was a boy at West- minster," wrote the Bishop of Adelaide, "the boys fought one another, they fought the Masters, the Masters fought them, they fought outsiders ; in fact, we were ready to fight everybody." Short himself, as a child of seven, was compelled to do battle with a chimney-sweep, and to fight the only friend he had in the School. Fagging was a no less onerous duty, but never obtained from the authorities the recognition accorded to the art of self-defence. Lord Albemarle relates how he had to brush the clothes, clean the boots, and fill the basin of his fag-master a kinsman who was less than kind. Even with a gentle master a fag lived a slave's life. Short admits that his misery found some allevia- tion from the kindness of Charles Longley, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, whose "breakfast fag" he 216 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL was; but in his old age avowed that his first year at School was the most wretched in his life. When, in the early days of the colony, carpet-curates in South Australia complained to their bishop of the hardness of their work, " You ought," he said, " to have been a fag at Westminster." The evils of this system are sufficiently patent. The timid boy the owl forced upon the daylight perhaps suffered less from the fagging of his elders than from the persecution of his coevals. The worst effect of fagging was on the intellect. The continual call pre- vented the mind from working in other ways, and the release from it invited a slumber which sometimes outlasted the school career. The amusements of the elder Town boys were often such as would not now be tolerated. The wild area of Tuttle Fields, with its colony of thieves and poachers, still offered the brutalities of duck-hunting and bull- baiting. At fair times there were the dramatic booths, to which even a fag could find time to resort. Bolder spirits ventured on exploits which recalled the unruly deeds of Lord Camelford. Lord Albemarle describes a race in which he took part. The course was from the top of St. James' Street to the gateway of Dean's Yard ; the time was a Sunday evening, and the racing vehicles were hackney coaches. The jarvies were com- pelled to travel inside and shudder at the reckless pace with which the boys swept them along Pall-Mail and Whitehall. The poachers of Tuttle Fields supplied the means of other amusements. They kept terriers, and would always provide rats to be killed or a badger VINCENT, CAREY, AND PAGE 217 to be drawn. The cat-hunts and duck-hunts were among the complacent memories of many Westminsters who are but lately dead. The ditch-jumping transferred itself to Battersea, and the temple of its orgies was the " Red House." Every larger ditch had its own name. Men yet living can descry in the plantations of Batter- sea Park the drain that runs in the line of " Spanking Sam," and many a boy carried back in his clothes to Dean's Yard the scent of " Big Ben " and " Black Joke." This would have been pardoned had the boys been able to carry themselves. As it was, St. David's Day some- times brought them back from the Red House in no state to please their Masters. The fifth of November brought trouble of another kind. The boys used to arm themselves with clubs and sally forth to seize the " guys." " You are an example," said Usher Ward in impotent wrath, "to all the rascals and scoundrels in the kingdom." To Digby Mackworth even these amuse- ments lacked excitement. For a bet he passed a night in the Abbey. At Election he spoke an epigram on his exploit. Nelson, it said, was happy to miss his prayer: to lie a single night among the kings and heroes was enough. Flogging might follow such exploits, but was rarely able to prevent them. Indeed, it may perhaps be doubted if Carey in his heart did not regard them as indications of spirit. Only when they touched his own authority was his wrath seriously stirred. In his first year the boys, failing to get an expected " play," hissed their Head Master. As they could not all be flogged Carey decimated the Fifth form. In the 218 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL afternoon the Sixth did not refrain from expressing their disaffection. To the question " Who had hissed ? " Lord Tavistock, a lad of fifteen, replied that he was one, and his back bore the sins of the form. The rebellion was quelled without loss of affection on either side. Short's reference to fights between boys and Masters clearly excluded Carey. It probably also excluded Page, his Second Master and successor. If Page was, as Lord Albemarle described him, as ignorant as a child of the springs which move human action, his temper must have deterred assaults. In the burlesque couplet which names the Masters of the time, two only are deemed worthy to be fitted with epithets, and Lord Albemarle held that Page's epithet described the whole man : " Carey, vetus Smedley, Jemmy Dodd, simul et Johnny Campbell, Knox, Ellis, Longlands, Pageque furore gravis." In times of frost there was in Tuttle Fields one innocent amusement in which David Longlands could show the way to perfection. Byron described him as the most elegant skater he had ever seen. At other times hockey and quoits were much played, and the quoit did not disappear from " green " till the middle of the century. Not a few old Westminsters expressed their sorrow for the disuse of these games. For hockey it would be difficult to supply time and place, and quoits lack the supreme merit of combination. On Saturdays boys often went to the theatre, and on other days, when leave was not to be had, it was often taken. Lord Albemarle used to get over the wall into VINCENT, CAREY, AND PAGE 219 College Street, leaving a dummy in his bed. Detection at last led to his removal. Lord William Lennox, after names were called, escaped from Mrs. Packharness', actually passing through the Master's room, spent the evening at Covent Garden Theatre, and slept at an hotel. Such was the laxity of discipline in the days of Carey and Page. It is true that, as Lord Albemarle found, the conse- quences of detection were serious. The fault was that little care was taken either to stop the more serious excesses or to keep the roughness within reasonable bounds. Such a life bred in some of those who had lived it an unreasonable contempt for milder methods. Part of it was perhaps obscured by the haze of years. " Westminster School," wrote little Lord John Russell when he left it, "was a rough place." In after years many Westminsters would not admit that it was more than bracing. It gave, as an acute observer writes, "a rough, harsh life, to which a man looks back with pleasure, not because he enjoyed it, but because some- how or other he lived through it." In this spirit we must take such exultant reminiscences as those of Lord Albemarle and Lord William Pitt Lennox. It is possible to quote others in whom the recollection moved little or no delight. Those who still have faith in the rough life can at least point to the longevity of the Westminsters who survived it. In the seven years beginning with 1890 nine are known to have died nonagenarians, and nearly forty others in the obituary were past fourscore. The Prologue of 1896 claimed as Westminsters the oldest 220 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL judge, the oldest beneficed clergyman, and the oldest peer of Parliament Lord Mansfield and Lord Esher are still alive, the clergyman died in his ninety-eighth year. Since that time Mr. Charles Pelham Villiers has died, and his place in the Commons has been taken by Sir John Movvbray. Hence at the present moment the fathers of both Houses of Parliament are Westminsters. Of the nine fathers of the Commons in the present reign only three have not been of the School. Longevity is, however, no new characteristic of the children of St. Peter's. In every generation she has seen her sons among the oldest of the land. Of her greatest men Wren, Pulteney, Mansfield, Hastings, Bentham, and John Russell were octogenarians. Of men of the next rank a long tale of equal vivacity extends from Bishop Morley to the present hour. Lord Combermere and Archbishop Harcourt were among the nonagenarians. The Head Masters also have not hastened to the grave. Of Busby's eighty- eight years more than sixty were spent at the School, of Knipe's seventy-three all but twenty, of Freind's eighty -four nearly half, of Nicoll's eighty -two more than half, and of Vincent's seventy-six no less than sixty-five. Markham died at eighty-seven, Smith at eighty, and Carey at seventy-six. Such longevity became a boast. Cumberland, writing of his school- fellow John Higgs, who had been a Fellow of Trinity with him, said, "We have not a senior to us in the College now living." Of Oxonians the most remark- able instance is in the Election of 1774. The years VINCENT, CAREY, AND PAGE 221 of the lives of the five students then elected fell but six short of four hundred. Of these aged pillars of Church and State not a few had been but babies when they first trotted among the giants of the sixth and seventh. Their grand- children stayed longer at home or in preparatory schools. When the youngest boy in the School could number ten or eleven summers his Master was un- willing to make him a member of the first or the second form. One after another the three lowest forms dropped out of existence, and the fourth became the lowest form in the School. The other forms were divided, while a desire for uniformity militated against the existence of the seventh. The sixth became the highest form, and so remained until the present Head Master restored the ancient seventh. We have spoken of the boys' fondness for the drama. Their affection for Terence was encouraged by Carey. In 1808 the scenes which Markham had given made their last appearance. The new scenes presented by Carey were, however, but a reproduction of their predecessors. The spirit of the play had found its way into the boarding-houses, and the youngest boys were forced into its service. The small stature of Lord John Russell perhaps suggested the choice of "Tom Thumb." He played the hero to the King of his eldest brother. A prologue was written by Brent and spoken by Cator. The epilogue from the same pen had four characters, one of whom was represented by the author, the others by Lord Tavistock, his brother John, and Cator. These burlesques must at 222 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL least have been winked at by the authorities. Perhaps such indoor exploits were encouraged by the gradual restriction of bounds. The old amusements of Tuttle Fields were now in their last days. As early as the days of Queen Anne the builder had begun to make his way along the river to the south of the College. Further west from the old Artillery Ground the line of Rochester Row still advanced into the waste. South of it lay the School cricket ground and King's Scholars' Pond. Between them and the river lay gardens and waste ground. All the land belonged to the Chapter, and the Chapter determined to let it for building. The alarm in the School was great. The Prebendaries were entreated to change their minds and set the welfare of the College before their private interests. A con- temporary epigram appealed to the Dean to respect the memory of the foundress : " Haec nobis, oro, tueare atque Integra serves, Quae dederit pueris munera Eliza suis ; Causae et communi patriae, populique Britanni Effice privatae posthabeantur opes." It was fortunate for the School that at this crisis the Dean was an old Westminster. The lease was not to be stopped, but ten acres of the playing field should be excepted from it, and reserved for the use of the School. In 1810 a deep furrow was ploughed round the ground, and a trench dug at the north-east end. The surface was levelled and one pond filled up. The other which lay nearer the Thames has not wholly lost its name. A pumping station just above Vauxhall Bridge, now in the possession of the County Council, is still called after VINCENT, CAREY, AND PAGE 223 the King's Scholars' Pond. In 1814 a rough fence was made round the ground, but iron railings were not put up till 1842. They were supplanted by higher ones in 1896. For many years the Chapter had allowed fairs to be held at Easter and Whitsuntide in Tuttle Fields. The withdrawal of this permission was not joyfully accepted by the booth-holders. In 1815 attempts were made to continue the fairs, and the Chapter were compelled to assert their rights. It will be seen that at a later period the freehold of the ground, now named Vincent Square, was transferred from the Chapter to the School. If Carey's belief in the hardening process was excessive, he had a genuine earnestness in the cause of education. He was a strong supporter of national schools. An epigram of 1813 commends his efforts to soften by religion and honesty the fierce spirits of plebeian England. Nor were his own pupils unable to combine gentleness with fortitude. Of Vowler Short, Bishop of St. Asaph, a Christ Church pupil truly wrote that " a character so simple, so truthful, and so upright is not the creation of a day." Short was a tutor of the House, and his colleagues, Longley, Bull, and Cramer, were all Westminsters. A name better known in classical literature is that of William Mure, of Cald- well, who went from Westminster to Edinburgh. The Whig tradition was continued by Lords Westminster, Broughton, Ebury, and Dover, and Sir David Dundas. The great Westminster soldier of the period was Lord Lucan. Sir Edward Vaughan Williams was raised to 224 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL the Bench, which his son, also a Westminster, still adorns. Admiral Rous was best known in the field where the School has now a worthy representative in Mr. James Lowther, and the wilder spirit of sport ran unbridled in the brief life of Jack Mytton. Though Carey did not spare the rod, he won the affection of his boys. With some exaggeration they compared his features to Punch, and contrasted them favourably with the fierce lineaments of Page, who succeeded him in 1814. Carey retired to a Yorkshire vicarage, with which he held a prebend of Westminster, became Bishop of Exeter in 1820, and died Bishop of St. Asaph in 1846. Mindful of his debt to the School he established a benefaction, whose munificence exceeded even Busby's. To Christ Church he gave a sum of .20,000 for the benefit of Westminster students. The income is known as " Carey money," and the West- minster Scholars of the House have good reason to reverence the memory of their benefactor. In Carey's time there was some apprehension that the roof of School was not safe. Its repair had no doubt been neglected. Whether the walls could have been saved it is now impossible to say. The Chapter's architect was Wyatt, and Wyatt had scanty respect for the work of his predecessors. He rebuilt the south window and the larger part of the east wall. A con- siderable part of the west wall was also so unfortunate as to claim his attention. His clerk of the works was directed to watch the roof, but the roof escaped the destroyer. At the south end the walls on both sides still testify to the solid stonework of the Middle A WINDOW UP SCHOOL FROM A DRAWING BV \V. KNEEN VINCENT, CAREY, AND PAGE 225 Ages. Wyatt's work obliterated many names graven on the walls. It is unfortunate that the part which he left untouched has but few names of the older time. William Page, who had been twelve years Second Master, was the son of a Westminster student of Christ Church, and had himself been elected to Oxford in 1795. That Page was a very capable scholar is clear from the Prologues and Epilogues which for nearly twenty years were mostly from his hand ; but he had little of the "good-humoured expression of face and affable manners " that were said to characterise his predecessor. In the senile recollections of his pupils the fierceness of his temper was the most prominent trait. Lord Albemarle's account of him, already quoted, perhaps exaggerates his defect, but has some air of truth. In the fierce shyness that characterises his portrait the painter has probably shown the man. It was Page's misfortune to rule at a time when parents' views of school life were rapidly changing. It was a reformer's opportunity, but Page was hardly the man to seize it. He had been less than five years Head Master when in 1819 he died. In the eighteenth century it was no uncommon thing for Westminsters to disport themselves on the river, but there is little evidence that they were skilful with the oar. Warren Hastings was a good " boatman," but this does not mean that he rowed. The two boys who were drowned in 1778 were upset from a sailing boat. The School boatman, " Antique dictus nomine Dicky Roberts," Q 226 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL died in 1816, but the epigram on his decease says nothing of the oar. Roberts knew the tides and winds and what sails each boat should have, nor against his will dared any boy spread canvass over the waves of Thames. But before Roberts's death the six-oared Fly had put out from the Lambeth Wharf. Number 2 was William, afterwards Lord, de Ros, who about 1816 owned one of the first four-oars that were seen at Oxford. The Fly was no racing boat, but its successor, the Defiance^ in 1818 lowered the unbeaten colours of the Templars. To the pedagogues of the time the in- novation was as offensive as span-farthing had been to Locke. A challenge from Eton was refused by Page's positive orders, and in 1820 Goodenough followed Page's example. It was not so easy to stop races with London clubs. In these two contests two West- minster boats, the Challenge and the Victory, claim to have never been beaten. Long expeditions were also in fashion, and on St. George's Day, 1825, the Challenge was rowed to Eton and back. The distance is about 115 miles, and of the twenty-one hours occupied by the journey only fourteen were spent in the boat. To most men of to-day the Masters' opposition stands self-condemned, but Page and Goodenough need not be condemned for their lack of foresight. They were afraid of accidents, and they saw evil con- sequences from the excitement of the competition. They did not see that the organization of athletics brought its own advantages. Lord Albemarle and many of his school-fellows could have told them that it was possible to waste much time on selfish or even VINCENT, CAREY, AND PAGE 227 cruel amusements. A coming duck-hunt or a promised badger-baiting could absorb a boy's thoughts no less than a race with Eton. Had they accepted Johnson's belief that " by exciting emulations and comparisons of superiority you lay the foundation of lasting mischief," they would have been at least consistent. As it was they prompted in the lesson the very spirit which they opposed in the game. Achievements with bat and oar are nowadays valued above their deserts, but there is more to be said for the champion cricketer than for the champion rat-catcher or marble-player of the times of Carey and Page. Even then cricket asserted itself against the more selfish amusements. In 1796 for the first time West- minster met Eton on Hounslow Heath and won the match by sixty-six runs. In 1799 Lord's old ground witnessed a drawn match, but in the two next years Eton was decisively victorious. King's Scholars first met Town boys in 1806 and won by ten wickets. King's Scholars and Town boys wore different colours, and each in turn was adopted by Cambridge. The pink of the King's Scholars was worn by the earliest Cambridge crews, and has now become the colours of the School. The light blue of -the Town boys was surrendered to Cambridge, and has now no place at Westminster. Long before Page's death it had been at various times proposed to remove the School into the country. Putney was among the places first suggested. The proposal moved much controversy, and Westminsters were as a whole much averse to it. There were grave 228 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL financial difficulties in the way, but had there been any approach to unanimity these might have been overcome. It was argued on the one side that Westminster had ceased to stand in the fields, that the country would become ever more distant, and that the system and traditions of the School could be upheld on a new site. It was objected that Westminster was a very healthy spot, that the Abbey and the precincts were part of its memories and its life, and that a removal would in fact be the creation of a new school. The proposal was renewed at several later times, but never seemed likely to be carried out. Of the boarding-houses of the time, beside those already mentioned, some names survive. Clapham's was afterwards Jones's, then Best's, later Benthall's, and since 1846 has been Rigaud's. Mrs. Driffield's was afterwards Scott's and is now owned by the School. Of dough's Dodd had been usher, and of Mrs. Farren's Otly. Burgess', in Great Smith Street, and Mrs. Morell's, which sheltered Bentham, perhaps ceased to take boys before 1800. Glover's and Smedley's were houses in 1803, the latter kept by an usher. Grant's alone keeps the name which it had in the last century. CHAPTER XII. THE SCHOOL'S DECLINE Its Difficulties The Chapter Revenues Ecclesiastical Commission Scholarships Less Valuable Dormitory Boarding-houses Growth of the City Bad State of the School Athletics Cricket Water The Play Wilberforce and Buckland, Deans Visita- tion of the Crown Liddell, Head Master. / nnHE era upon which we now enter, a period of -*- some twenty-seven years, is the saddest in the annals of the School. It is so recent that the writer who deals with it still walks upon the treacherous ashes but he is bound to run the risk, and, where blame is due, not to fear imputing it. The difficulties of the time were great, but they were not insuperable. They required great qualities in the rulers of the School, and some of the more ordinary virtues in the Chapter. Edmund Goodenough, who became Head Master in 1819, and Richard Williamson, who succeeded him in 1828, were amiable men and accomplished scholars. In quiet times they might have prosperously guided the fortunes of the School. It was their misfortune to rule it at a time which called for other qualities than they possessed. Dean Ireland and his colleagues, one of them a Westminster, had little sense of the School's claims upon the Chapter, and even less willingness to acknowledge them. Ireland's gifts and legacies to the 229 2 3 o WESTMINSTER SCHOOL cause of learning were considerable, and Westminster was not without a share in his benefactions. Yet through the twenty-six years of his sway he retained for himself and his colleagues moneys on which the School had a moral claim. There were various ways in which the Chapter might have computed the annual sum which they should set apart for the School. They might have allowed for the change in the value of money, and given a sum equivalent on this calculation to the amount contem- plated by the statutes. They might have assigned the same proportion of their revenues as the School received in the early days of the foundation. In neither case could they have paid much less than four times the sum actually doled out to the School. Again they might have defrayed the cost of the King's Scholars' board, lodging, and livery, assigning at the same time a reason- able income to the two Masters. As it was they gave to the School scarcely .1400 a year out of revenues which were perpetually increasing until they mounted to a very large income. Even of the small sum allotted to the School a part was wasted by indiffer- ence and mismanagement, for the Chapter kept no due supervision over its servants. Even in the Whig schemes of reform misfortune seemed to dog the steps of the School. The Eccle- siastical Commission of 1831 was designed to amend the anomalies and corruptions of the Church. It called upon Chapters to make returns of their revenues and estimates of their expenditure. The Chapter of West- minster could not assign to the proper charges of the THE SCHOOL'S DECLINE 231 School a larger sum than they had been in the habit of spending upon it To do so would have been a con- fession of dishonesty. It followed that when the Chapter revenues were transferred to the Ecclesiastical Commis- sion of 1836, the revenues of the School were fixed at , 1400 a year. It is no wonder that, when the fact was brought before the Public Schools Commissioners, Lord Clarendon told the Sub-Dean to his face that the School had " not shared in that increase of income to an extent which appears to be proper and right." One result of the Chapter's disregard of the School's claims was that the scholarships lost much of their value. In various ways their payments had increased. The Chapter gave the boys no breakfast, and they had to pay for it in a boarding-house. The total fees of a Queen's Scholar came to amount to nearly 100 a year. It was a heavy price, and a parent was little likely to deem it the less for a contemplation of the dormitory. In that room necessary repairs and the calls of sanita- tion were alike neglected. Broken casements recalled the days of the old granary, and in times of frost it was easy to make a slide of ice upon the dilapidated floor. The holes in it were the delight of innumerable rats. One night a boy would lose his braces, another he was awakened by the thief biting his ear. Longley, after- wards Archbishop of Canterbury, one morning missed his surplice, and only a corner of white led him to its discovery under the boards. The rats were as hungry as the juniors, whose frequent fate it was to find in Hall that, when their elders had fed, there was little or nothing left for themselves. The Chapter would not 232 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL see that these hardships were intolerable. The days were past when a parent could regard them with the eyes of a Spartan. For the conduct of the Chapter there is some small excuse. Although the point was never really decided, they were probably acting within their legal rights. Andrewes and Williams and Atterbury would have made other use of the increased revenues, but these great men had almost passed from the memory of the Chapter. With few exceptions the Prebendaries of this period were not men of talents, and their ignorance is their defence. Their immediate predecessors knew nothing of the claims of the School, and had almost ceased to take an interest in it. They themselves took things as they found them, and in their ignorance of Elizabeth's intentions compared it to such insignificant grammar schools as were attached to the Cathedrals of Peterborough or Gloucester. They came to regard the charges of the School as a benevolence of their own. In some few cases the Chapter was induced to spend money for the benefit of the School. In 1827 the lodge was built at the east corner of Fields. Its cost was 440, but a very small part of the profits of the recent enclosure. In 1837 hot-water pipes were laid down in the dormitory, and in 1838 the little yard was paved for a fives court. A much larger sum was expended on the railings of Tuttle Fields. The old name of this district died hard, but about this period the Chapter began to call it Vincent Square. Unjust as the Prebendaries showed themselves in their dealings with the School, they could point to less THE SCHOOL'S DECLINE 233 excusable imitators in the dames and masters who kept the boarding-houses. These houses varied in number from four to five, and had at one time to provide ac- commodation for some two hundred or more Town boys and forty King's Scholars. The boys were " crammed together and placed higgeldy-piggeldy, side by side and topsy-turvy like pigs in a sty. There they were, some blacking shoes, others cooking mutton chops, others boiling coffee, all in one room together." One day Lady Mansfield came to see her sick son. The boy was sitting on the only chair in the room and talking to a friend who was seated on a coal scuttle. The friend got up and " with perfectly natural politeness offered it to her ladyship to sit down upon." It would have been well if Lady Mansfield had interviewed the dame. The boys were accustomed to this life and thought nothing of its hardships. Parents might well take another view, and they had a wider choice of schools at their command. Many decayed foundations had been restored, and there was a movement to found new schools. Westminster's dislike of change was thrown into stronger relief by Arnold's work at Rugby. Another fact troubled the anxious and, it must be added, ignorant minds of mothers. The town was rapidly closing round the School, and it was idly imagined that a boy would be in better health amid the floods of Eton. To the west dwelling-houses had already risen in the College orchard and the gardens of the Dacres. Further south the lands of the College had fallen into the builder's hands. The grounds of Grosvenor House, whence generations of Grosvenors 234 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL had been sent to Westminster, were covered with miserable dwellings and hives of industry, stretching along Millbank to the Penitentiary. The slaughter of the last snipe in Battersea Fields had already been claimed by many a Westminster. On the Abbey roof the hawk still pursued the pigeon, but a shot from an alien gun in 1840 was to scare away his race for ever. The wild wood pigeon, whose unnatural obesity now covers its eggs in the elms and planes of the precincts, had not yet learned the easy life of the city. Against the confinement of the streets the low death- rate of the neighbourhood bore witness in vain. Many fathers found, like Sir James Graham, that a mother's fears were strong enough to break a scholastic pedigree that went back for many generations. It will thus be seen that a coincidence of causes led to the decline of the School. Of the danger in which it stood no one in authority seems to have had any foresight. The Dean was a prosperous pluralist, little likely to be troubled by fears on such a point. Some at least of the Prebendaries, in their ignorance or contempt of the history of the College, were content with the security of their own position. A Head Master with sense to foresee and strength to withstand the difficulties might have done much. Even when the decline had begun he would not have been powerless. He could not perhaps have overcome the cupidity of the Chapter and successfully asserted the rights of the King's Scholars. He could not enlarge the room of the School or bring back the green fields. But a reforming spirit had a wide scope within the School itself. The THE SCHOOL'S DECLINE 235 " pigstyes " might have been changed into human habi- tations. Roughness might have been abated and disci- pline restored. The decline might have been arrested, the revival need not have waited for thirty or forty years. But the reformer was not found. Each difficulty reacted on every other. The School, which had numbered 324 boys in 1818, fell to 100 in 1835, and the decline culminated in 1841, when the Town boys were actually fewer than the Queen's Scholars. The decay of the School brought new evils and aggravated those that already existed. The Masters lost hope and interest. Some of them could not keep order, and could not or would not teach. Before one house the boys at last made it their amusement to gather, that they might hoot its Master when he appeared at the window. In 1846 the new Head Master found it necessary to insist that two of his predecessor's staff should surrender their appointments. The boys felt the weakness of their superiors, and played with it accordingly. Every attempt to enforce discipline was treated as an infringement on their rights. The idler and the bully had no fears, while wit and industry fought an uphill battle against neglect and dislike. But the gloom was not without flashes of light. The School could not wholly forget its tra- ditions, and the Head Masters were scholars. The sixth form never perhaps became quite unworthy of its name. Many of its members still live, and it would be invid- ious to distinguish among them. Of those that are departed Joseph Anstice and Herbert Kynaston were in the first rank of Scholars, and Henry Octavius Coxe 236 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL is worthy to rank with them. Sir Robert Phillimore was some twelve months older than Coxe and eight years older than James Anthony Froude ; Bishop Cotton came between them. Among other evil consequences of the School's de- cline was an unwillingness to admit the only principle which could restore it. Driven for a time to live upon its past, the School unconsciously crystallized its tra- ditions. To the scanty remnant of boys every custom seemed of equal value, every change was a revolution. There were customs, such as the minor candidates' dinner, to which in after years few could look back with satisfaction. In the School then there were few who did not fight for their maintenance. The Town boys would meet to discuss means of restoring the School, but their resolutions sometimes upheld the very things that opposed it. They naturally could not understand the forces that were at work. Both up School and among the Queen's Scholars there were many trivial regulations, whose infringe- ment might bring punishment. There was an old rule that no boy below the sixth form might walk in School. If a boy would move he must run. In the dormitory there must be exactitude of phrase. If "John is about to leave " were substituted for " John is going off" there was at least a rebuke from the senior. New restrictions sprang up, and after the lapse of a single generation some five or six years were accounted even by the juniors, who suffered from them, to be the ordinances of Elizabeth. The essayist of 1815 had declared that he knew no School so ignorant of the origin of its customs. THE SCHOOL'S DECLINE 237 Of the perpetual insistence upon trivialities different views may be taken. It certainly had its good side. Like military discipline, it was by most boys accepted as inevitable. It thus taught them to do without discontent that which was at first distasteful. Mill's complaint, that the rising generation could do nothing that they did not like, did not apply to Westminster. If under iron rules routine was substituted for thought, the one is in some natures the best substitute for the other. If genius suffered some loss of liberty, mediocrity was at least debarred from licence. But the system had its dangers, which were most real in College. The Town boys were never overburdened with rules, but a junior Queen's Scholar had much to learn and much to do. If he had been indulged at home the contrast of his new life assailed his nerves. His imagination foresaw punishments that were in fact never inflicted for the lesser offences. To boys of better training the care of all the duties was as great an obstacle to industry as their performance. Nor can it be denied that in the rare cases, where a senior had a bully's spirit, his opportunities for indulging it with impunity were not difficult to find. From the sorrows of Westminster it is pleasant to turn to her athletic energy on land and water. In Good- enough's early days no Westminster cricketer surpassed John Loraine Baldwin, who became one of the founders of the I Zingari. Outside Kent, where down to his death in 1896 he was the most familiar figure in the Canterbury week, he is perhaps best known as the editor of the Laws of Short Whist, Among the bats- 238 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL men who succeeded him in the School none deserves mention before Herbert Mascall Curteis, who was an Oxford blue in 1841 and 1842. Curteis became member for Rye, and gave up his seat to play cricket for his county. Of the rowing of this time the most lively account may be found in the pages of Sir George Dasent Some of the boys carried their skill to Oxford, and five of them rowed in the Christ Church boat, which in 1828 was head of the river. Of these five two, with their school-fellow Fremantle, afterwards Dean of Ripon, were in the Oxford boat of 1829. In this year West- minster for the first time met Eton on the water. A defeat was followed by others in 1831 and 1835, but the defeated crews were thought worthy to supply oars to the University boats. In 1837 Westminster had its revenge. The race has the further interest that the present School colour was then established. In the pre- vious race both crews had worn blue and white. For distinction Westminster now took pink and white, and the boat was painted pink. From that time pink became the recognized colour of the School. The King insisted on witnessing the race. His illness was aggravated by his temerity, and he drove home to die. Westminster had won by seven lengths. It were long to enumerate all the great Westminster oars of the period. Lord Esher still lives to bear testimony to the vivacity of the boy who could "row along thinking of nothing at all." Sir Warrington Smyth's son has shown that skill on the water may be an inherited gift, and Sir Patrick Colquhoun's name will always be on men's lips at Cambridge. THE SCHOOL'S DECLINE 239 Of one playground the School was at this time de- prived. Football had long been played in the cloisters, though objections to the practice had been raised as early as 1710. The objections were not without grounds, the chief of which was the probable damage to the stone work. The plea that the cloisters were a burial-place should perhaps have less weight. The inconvenience to the living residents must, however, have been consider- able, and the boys could hardly complain if they were driven into Green. The Chapter consulted their interests by putting railings round the grass, and compelling the bakers' and butchers' boys to go round by the road. They had never been allowed to cross the green with impunity. In the school life there were some incidents not devoid of interest. Since the coronation of James II. the Sovereigns had been acclaimed by the King's Scholars, whose voices were held to represent the people of England. At the coronation of George IV. the Town boys first found a place. The new King had many friends among Westminsters, and as Prince of Wales had seen the Play. At the coronation, if Hare may be trusted, one of the Abbey doors was kept by a Westminster, the most taciturn officer in the army. The Queen tried to push by him, and, failing in her attempt, appealed to him with words and tears. The guardsman said no word, but firmly held his sword to bar the way of the unwelcome visitor. About this period, perhaps for the first time, some voices were lifted up against the Play. The loudest was an old Town boy's. George Colman the younger, 240 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL whose erratic summer was followed by an autumn of puritanical acerbity, declared that by all rules and theories the plays of Terence should have a noxious effect. It was true he could give no instance of this result. He was willing to allow that Charles Abbot, who had acted Thais in Colman's first year and had afterwards been Speaker, took no harm from his pre- sentment of the part. The boys escaped harm, but their escape was a puzzle to Colman. The authorities pre- ferred fact to theory, and Colman's demand for the abolition of the Play fell on deaf ears. In 1839 the presentation of the Play underwent a remarkable change. Ten years before the prologue, spoken by a boy who still lives, had defended the modern costume. Such characters as Phaedria in the Eunuchus appeared in frock coats, while Chcerea wore the full uniform of the Guards. This, said the prologue, was better than a sham antiquarianism. The real costumes of Athens were unknown, and, were they known, would be as great an impediment as swaddling clothes. Correct dresses would make the audience demand a style of acting which was beyond a boy's powers. This reasoning seemed inadequate, and in 1839 Williamson issued a tract on the Athenian dress. His Eunuchus Palliatus was the prelude to the ap- pearance of classical costumes on the Westminster stage. The change was admittedly successful. It has the further merit of marking to the eye the contrast between the Play and the Epilogue, for the Epilogue is acted in modern dress. In spite of the applause which greeted its theatrical THE SCHOOL'S DECLINE 241 reform the School showed no signs of regaining its position. It was not until 1845 that there came a promise of better things. In May of that year Samuel Wilberforce was installed in the deanery, and at once set himself to the work of reform. His estimate of the School's degeneracy was perhaps exaggerated, but at least he saw where the fault lay. " The School," he wrote to Miss Noel, "is in a dreadful state, and very much, I feel sure, from the need of greater comforts, cleanliness, and attendance, which we ought to supply. If you treat boys as savages they will be savages." In his condemnation of the Chapter, Wilberforce probably judged only from what he saw. A study of the statutes must have strengthened his condemnation. His extra- ordinary force of character might have worked a thorough reform, but in a few months he was promoted to the see of Oxford. His successor was William Buckland, who, although past the prime of life, had still before him a few years of reforming energy. Buckland's appointment to the deanery preceded by a few months Williamson's resignation of the head- mastership. His position had long been very un- enviable. Mrs. Nickleby was pleased to fancy her son holding it, but had the mother's knowledge equalled her affection she would have turned her thoughts to some less thorny bed. It was little wonder that Williamson lost heart. In 1846 matters passed beyond his endurance. A Northamptonshire rector, a Queen's Scholar's parent, laid certain statements before Sir Robert Peel, then Prime Minister, and was advised by him to call in the powers of the Visitor. The Visitor R 242 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL was the Crown, but there had been no visitation since the time of the quarrel between Williams and Laud. Peel's advice was followed, and the Minister himself took an active part in the enquiry. It appeared that the Head Master had been the victim of his own good nature, but the enquiry called attention to the unhappy state of the School. Williamson announced his resig- nation, and Peel urged his old friend Thomas Gaisford, Dean of Christ Church, to seek a successor outside the ranks of Westminsters. He was convinced, he said, that certain reforms were necessary, and that a Westminster might not bring an unbiassed mind to their con- sideration. The place had not at the moment many attractions. The income was barely six hundred a year, some of the Chapter were hostile, and some of the Under Masters were notoriously incompetent. The School buildings were not large enough, and there seemed no immediate hope of increasing them. On the other hand, nothing could deprive the School of its history or its association with the buildings of Edward the Confessor and Henry III. William Buckland, the new Dean, had himself been a Canon of Christ Church, and in his reforming energy did not scruple to say what he thought of the past conduct of the Chapter. The Whigs were on the eve of their return to power, and were likely to renew their assaults upon corrupt corporations. There were still many Westminster families whose affection was unaffected by fashion, and there were in the wider London many boys who might be attracted to West- minster. THE SCHOOL'S DECLINE 243 For a man to take the place Gaisford had no need to look beyond the walls of his own House. The spirit of Liberalism and reform had no more able advocate than Henry George Liddell, tutor of Christ Church, himself a Carthusian, but a Westminster's son. In a happy hour for the School the Dean induced Liddell to accept the headmasterhip. Before his acceptance Liddell made certain terms with the Chapter, insisting among other things that they would guarantee him for three years an income of eight hundred pounds. But a small part of this sum would be paid by the Chapter, and even this part would not come out of the pockets of the Prebendaries. Under Buckland's new influence the Chapter accepted the condition, and in June, 1846, Liddell entered upon office. CHAPTER XIII. THE SCHOOL'S REVIVAL Proposal to Abolish the Play Reforms of the Chapter Choristers Sanitation Liddell's Reforms Growth in Numbers Games The Crimean Monument Scott, Head Master His Character Play Scenery Trinity and Christ Church Gymnasium Class Rooms Public Schools Commission Act of 1868 Enlargement of the School Ashburnham House College Garden Challenge Election Abolition of Under School Games Last Words. T N the very month in which Liddell became Head * Master Peel's Ministry gave way to its Whig successors. The new Prime Minister and the Presi- dents of the Council and the Board of Control, and both the law officers of the Crown, were Westminsters. The School might find in this a happy omen, and the omen was destined to fulfilment. For a moment the spirit of reform took an unexpected and unwelcome course. In 1846 there was no Play. In the following summer Lord Lansdowne presented to the Dean a memorial, in which the great body of old Westminsters prayed for its continuance. Its abolition, they were convinced, would not be for the good of the School. Buckland granted their prayer and found a better sphere for reform. He pointed out to the Prebendaries that there could be no justification for their neglect to provide the Queen's Scholars with breakfast. It must have been with some shame that they announced this reform. 244 THE STAR-CHAMBER DOOR-CASE IX THE SCHOOL FKO.M A UKAWING BY \V. K.NEEN THE SCHOOL'S REVIVAL 245 Coupled with it was a proposal to spend some four thousand pounds in building a sanatorium and in fitting up the cloister under the dormitory as studies. They did not, however, propose to pay for this necessary work, preferring to appeal to the Crown and to Old Westminsters. The work was carried out at a cost of something under ^"5000, towards which the Queen contributed .800. The Chapter were at length in- duced to furnish .700, but there was still a deficit of nearly ^"1500. This was paid off by a charge of five guineas a year upon each of the Queen's Scholars. The general result of these changes was that Queen's Scholars ceased to be members of the boarding-houses. It was a return to the ancient system of the School. The annual fees of a Queen's Scholar were reduced to 45, and after some time to 35. When these reforms had been effected the cost of a Queen's Scholar to his parent was not relatively larger than in the days of Busby. The Choristers had for many years held an anomalous position in the School. Many of them came from a class for which a classical education was unsuitable. The boys' duties in the Abbey removed them from their fellows in some school hours and most play hours. The result was that but few of them came to the School, while the rest got their education on the system by which Mr. Weller trained his son. Buckland rightly disliked the learning of the streets. In 1848 a separate School was established for the Choristers, and henceforth they necessarily ceased to be West- minsters. 246 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL Above all things Buckland delighted in sanitation. Though the science was in its infancy he found much work to do, and, it must be added, he left much to be done in the present generation. His subterranean researches, however beneficial to posterity, were not without loss to the health and even to the lives of his contemporaries. Nor did he limit his sanitation to the drains. In the dormitory the wood fires gave place to hot -water pipes, and in the Hall the open fire with its scattered smoke made way for a stove. The ancient louvre still serves for ventilation. While the Dean showed his energy on the School buildings the Head Master was at work reforming the School. One of his changes found some disfavour with Old Westminsters, but his reasons for it were perhaps adequate. Under his predecessor the old system of private tuition had become, as he phrased it, " very otiose." In fact, one at least of the Masters had taken the fees and done no work for them. Liddell desired to reduce the boys' fees, and was also unwilling to lay a burden upon a staff that was none too large. Among other minor changes Liddell abolished the purple gown, which the Bishop's boys had worn since the days of their Founder. As there were but four of them the mark of distinction was rather a burden than a pleasure. The boys became, what they are now, exhibitioners of the School. These are but small matters. Liddell's great work was the restoration of School discipline. The Masters whom he brought with him were men of energy, THE SCHOOL'S REVIVAL 247 character, and learning. He himself would have been a great man in any line of life, and the change wrought by him was the foundation of the School's future prosperity. There were, indeed, some customs whose long survival can cause only astonishment. A " late play " was supposed to serve for the boys' recreation. In fact, they were locked up in the dormitory and the boarding-houses. At the door of College till ten o'clock at night sat the " College John," or servant, ready to fetch for the boys whatever they might desire to eat or drink. There were traditional punishments whose brutality can hardly be excused by the fact that they were very rarely put into force. There were other matters that called for a reforming hand, and if Liddell did not do all that he desired, he did much that was of lasting service. In Liddell's nine years the numbers rose from about 90 to 140. It was not a great growth, but it gave a promise that was destined to be fulfilled. In 1855 Liddell was appointed to the deanery of Christ Church. In that office he continued for thirty- six years to watch over the fortunes of the School. There was no exaggeration in the graceful lines of the Prologue of 1891, in which his retirement was recorded by the present Head Master: " robur animi indutus et triplex suae Virtutis aes, labantem sustinuit Domum, Reparavit vires, res secundas praebuit, Facultatem hanc increscendi nobis reddidit." Before Liddell's retirement Buckland was attacked 248 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL by the malady which clouded the last years of his life. His name is not formally recorded among the benefactors of the School, but his work is not the less entitled to its gratitude. Happily he found a worthy successor in Richard Chenevix Trench. Small as were the numbers of the School there was no lack of athletic skill. The boat celebrated Liddell's arrival by defeating Eton, and Henry Barker, the West- minster bow, carried his prowess to Oxford and Henley. In 1847 he stroked the Westminster eight, which fell an easy victim to Eton. Liddell did not look with favour on the race and afterwards suppressed it. The suppres- sion did not prevent the boys from showing their rowing skill. Sir Penrose Fitzgerald rowed bow in the Cam- bridge eight of 1 86 1 and 1862, and other Westminsters were not less distinguished on the river. On the cricket field Westminsters were even better known. Edward Tyrrwhit-Drake, now rector of Amersham, was probably the best slow bowler of his time, and Walter Fellows' swift deliveries were as effective against Cambridge as against the Players. Among the other " blues " of the period were Charlton Lane, W. G. Armitstead, F. W. Oliver, W. H. Benthall, and C. P. Ingram. About the middle of this century the less formal games disappeared from school life. The sharper line between preparatory and public schools kept the hoop and the marble in their proper place. Nowadays they are even driven back into the nursery. Quoits and hockey for some years more found a place in " Green," until the prohibition of games in the cloisters compelled them to make way for football. THE SCHOOL'S REVIVAL 249 In the Crimean War and the Indian Mutiny not a few Westminsters won distinction. Lord Raglan's name may be read among the Somersets on the north wall of School. It was of him, according to Sir George Dasent, that the Duke of Wellington said, that when he entrusted any order to an old Westminster he was sure it would be carried out. Sir Henry Barnard was a Westminster of the next generation to Lord Raglan. The gloom of the first winter of the Crimea hung heavy over Westminster. The nurse of burlesque forewent her claim to the Epilogue. A monologue of sorrowful elegiacs was in better accord with the feelings of the audience. The return of peace called on Westminster to do honour to her departed. The column in the sanctuary was her answer to the call. It was designed by Landseer, and the inscription was from the pen of Thomas William Weare. Some of those whom he commemorated had been his contemporaries, one had been elected into College with him. Mr. Weare had been Second Master since 1841. To the names of the two commanders-in-chief were added those of seventeen other victims of the wars. The Crimean names had already been inscribed on a tablet in the Library with the motto e'xoi/re? eX-TrtSa. It were perhaps well to add a tablet with the names of those who dared death and survived. The list would be fitly headed with the name of Lord Lucan. Liddell's successor was Charles Brodrick Scott, an Etonian, a senior classic, and a Fellow of Trinity. The twenty-eight years of his rule were marked by many useful reforms and a steady rise in the numbers of 250 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL the School. The Public Schools Act of 1868 gave to the School a promise of new and vigorous life, and Scott had some of the qualities by which the promise might be realized. His scholarship was undeniable, and his courage rose in the face of opposition. Of the duties of the Chapter towards the School he took a view which was at least as strongly marked as the facts justified, and which failed to commend itself to some of the older generation of the Prebendaries. If he was at times too eager for a momentary victory in dialectics, he could at least plead that he was assail- ing abuses. The less intelligent of the Prebendaries were not unaware that their characters suffered at his hands. It was, perhaps, not his fault that he failed to convince them that the blows were not undeserved. For a time minor matters occupied Scott's attention. Half a century had passed since Carey's scenery first appeared upon the stage. The lapse of years had dimmed its colours, and the growth of learning pro- tested against its antiquarian inaccuracy. The professor of architecture in the Royal Academy, Charles Robert Cockerell, was a Westminster, and gladly acceded to the request that he would furnish designs for new scenery. His act-drop represents the theatre of Pompeii, while the scene itself gives the interior of Athens with the Acropolis in the background. The painter was Fenton, who was at the time Phelps' scene painter at Sadler's Wells, and whose hand has not yet lost its cunning. In 1906 the scenes will have lived through their allotted half-century. It must be the wish of all Westminsters that the next set of scenery may THE SCHOOL'S REVIVAL 251 profit by the genius of their school-fellow, the present President of the Royal Academy. In 1857 a change was made in the relation of the School to Trinity College. For the scholarships, to which Westminsters had been elected by preference, there were substituted Exhibitions of less value. The loss was in one point a gain, for a Westminster Exhibi- tioner can hold with his Exhibition an open Scholar- ship of the College. It has very frequently happened that an able boy has held both. At Christ Church the alteration of tenure was on other lines. In accord- ance with the general reform of Colleges the contin- uity of the studentship was broken. Westminsters were elected to junior studentships, and the senior studentships were awarded on another Election. The junior studentships were in fact scholarships, a name which has been since conferred on them. To the change of tenure no Westminster could reasonably object. The scholarships are of the value usual in Oxford Colleges, and the benefaction of Bishop Carey adds a considerable income to the Westminster Scholar of the House. At a later period others of the School benefactions were united into an Exhibition fund. These Exhibi- tions are tenable in the School, and some of them are yearly offered for competition. The examination is the Challenge, and the same boy can compete for both Scholarships and Exhibitions, but the two are of course not tenable together. It may here be mentioned that a scholarship has since been founded in memory of Mr. James Mure. The competitors are boys in the sixth and 252 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL seventh under the age of seventeen, and the Scholar may account himself the best boy of his year. In 1860 the School celebrated its tercentenary. The occasion was marked by some real improvements in the buildings, for which all credit is due to the Chapter. Most valuable of all was the construction of a covered playground. Between the Chapter House and the vaults under the School were some old buildings of great architectural interest. They were, however, put to little use, and the Chapter bore the cost of adapting them for the boys' play. With no damage, rather with advantage, to the ancient walls a roof was built over an open space. An approach to it was made through a vaulted chamber, which still displays the massive pillars of the Confessor. The room is now the School gym- nasium, and no school in the world can boast a play- room of such interest and antiquity. In one point the year 1861 marks an era in the history of Westminster. Down to that year the whole teaching of the forms had, with some small and ir- regular exceptions, found its place in a single room. The noisy life up School was passed in the people's eyes. All that boy or Master said or did was patent to his fellows. As temperaments varied the publicity served as an encouragement or a restraint. Self-consciousness and eccentricity took a stronger note. Boldness was tempted into excess, and timidity shrank into its shell. Only a divine absence of mind, such as Vincent Bourne's, could be unaware that it was the aim of the practical joke. Only a divine enthusiasm, like William Vincent's, could fail to see that the valet misjudged the hero. In a a a THE SCHOOL'S REVIVAL 253 a boy only the most level or the most stupid of minds could be unconscious of the eyes of the School. The very epigram was made the vehicle of immediate satire. Of one member of a Westminster family it is recorded in the memory of his fellows that an epigram was beyond his intellectual powers. On one occasion his form-master stooped to a cruel revenge. The boy, one of an albino race, had appealed to him for an epigram, and was sent on to the Head Master with a quatrain, which he had no choice but to recite : " That I am of the S r breed No one can doubt a minute, Who sees the whiteness of my head And knows how little 's in it." To a boy of ready parts this public life was not with- out its benefits. His readiness fed on the blame and praise which echoed at once through the community. But the few were fed at the cost of the many, and in all schools the time was coming when the dull boy also might claim his share in the meal. In 1861 an opportunity came of adding a class-room to the School. To the east of the rod-room was a room which had formed part of a minor Canon's house. At Scott's request Dean Trench induced the Chapter to grant its use to the School. A door was opened, and at a later period there was inserted a doorway, whose arch of splayed oak Dean Stanley believed himself to have brought from the dismantled Star Chamber. In this addition to the School the Dean showed a genuine interest in its welfare. The appointment of the Public Schools Inquiry 254 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL Commission in 1861 was of vital consequence to West- minster. The evidence given before it in 1862 and 1863 brought to light some defects in the management of the School, but was more valuable as showing the injustice which had been done and the means of repair- ing it. What the School needed was more space, more money, and another governing body than the Chapter. The Commissioners made upon these points recom- mendations, most of which were embodied in the Public Schools Act of 1868. The Governing Body for St. Peter's College, constituted in accordance with the Act in 1869, consisted of thirteen members. The connexion of the " three Royal Colleges " was rightly maintained in it The Deans of Westminster and Christ Church and the Master of Trinity are members of it by office, and each College elects another Governor. One is nominated by the Council of the Royal Society and one by the Lord Chief Justice of England. The other members were coopted. Two more Governors have since been added, one of whom is elected by the Masters of the School. To some of the Commissioners it seemed that the Chapter had starved the School. In fact, there was spent upon it hardly a fortieth part of the income from the capitular estates. It was not to be denied that the Chapter's action could find its legality in a long- standing custom. Had the point been fought when it first arose the custom would probably have been other than it was. So eager were the Chapter to disguise the facts that in a return made by them in 1864 of the contribution to the maintenance of the School they had THE SCHOOL'S REVIVAL 255 actually inserted a sum of 294, which they annually exacted from the parents of the Queen's Scholars. Though the error was, of course, unintentional, its culpable negligence is not without significance. When the Head Master brought it before the Chapter and re- quested its correction, he received for answer that hardly anyone was likely to read the return, and those who did would " forget it in a fortnight." It is fair to add that Dean Trench had no part in an answer which was perhaps characteristic of some of his colleagues. When this return was made the report of the Com- missioners had perhaps already been drawn up. In any case, they were no judges of past conduct. The control of the capitular income had passed into other hands, and the essential question was of the future. With a tender reticence the Commissioners declared that they did not find it necessary to decide the point of equity ; in fact, they did decide it. They recom- mended that the Chapter should take upon themselves the whole cost of the tuition of the Queen's Scholars. This course would cost the Chapter an additional annual sum of somewhat over ^900. To Parliament this sum seemed no sufficient part of the capitular income. The Act of 1868 assigned to the School an annual income of 3500 and a capital sum of ;i 5,000. This sum was intended to give them the power of extending the School buildings. In accordance with the recommendation of the Com- missioners there were transferred to the Governing Body all the buildings and ground in the occupation of the School. The only exception was that in the 256 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL area of Little Dean's Yard, in Hall, and in " Green " the School got only a right of user. The Governors were also given the right to purchase three houses belonging to the Chapter. When, on the death of the occupants, this right was exercised the School com- pleted its ownership of the ring of buildings which encompasses Little Dean's Yard. One of these houses thus purchased stands between the yard and the cloisters, on the site of the ancient guest-chamber, and the garden to the north of it was once occupied by the monastic refectory. The house itself is of very great historical and architectural interest. Built by Inigo Jones it appears to have been leased by the Chapter, and in Queen Anne's reign received from its occupant the name of Ashburnham House. It. was afterwards in the occupation of the Crown, and gave shelter to the Royal and Cottonian Libraries. In 1739 it reverted to the Chapter, and was divided into two houses occupied by Prebendaries. At the beginning of this century one was occupied by Charles Fynes, and here his son, Henry Fynes-Clinton, himself a Westminster, began the great work which still guides the steps of the historians of Greece. In later years the house was inhabited by Milman. With Milman in 1842 Macaulay dined before seeing the Adelphi and a brilliant Epilogue on Wackford Squeers. For the possession of Ashburnham House the School had to wait till the death of its prebendarial occupant in 1882. Dean Stanley vainly objected to the alienation of the house from the Chapter, but there was no historic STAIRCASE IN ASHBURNHAM HOUSE FROM A DKAW1NG BY W. KNEEN THE SCHOOL'S REVIVAL 257 outrage to lament. The School was no less a part of Elizabeth's foundation than the prebends. The house is no less carefully preserved, and is more accessible to the stranger than in days past. Between Ashburnham House and School was situate a house which had to be largely rebuilt. In the hands of J. L. Pearson, R.A., it was shaped into class-rooms and a chemical laboratory. Of Ashburnham House one part also was turned into class-rooms, while that part which showed the designs of Inigo Jones became a library, in which is commemorated the name of Dr. Scott. Below these rooms are traces of the old monastic walls, and the rooms which they encircle give shelter and a common life to a house of Day boys. The other Day boys have their Lares in the ancient building which stands between the two yards. The two houses, now known as " Home Boarders " and "Ashburnham," make an essential feature in the modern life of Westminster. Large as is the Day boy element in her present constituents, her organization remains that of a boarding-school. Of the sixty Queen's Scholars forty still reside in the dormitory and the rooms beneath it. To the boarders in Rigaud's and Grant's must be added the half-boarders whose days from nine o'clock to five, and often in summer to seven, are spent with them. Of the other Day boys but a few do not take their midday meal in the College Hall, and none are exempt from "Station." Their whole day is thus spent in the School or up Fields. In their earliest months some may not perhaps appreciate the bond which unites them to their fellows ; but the S 258 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL boy is but seldom seen in whom the sense of a common interest does not soon become an energy. The better of them learn to make the best of two worlds. The love of home and the love of School gain strength from a reciprocal activity. The School did not obtain possession of all these buildings until after Scott's departure. Throughout his time, and in the earlier years of his successor, some of the forms were still taught up School. There was one point on which Scott was destined to disappointment. In common with most Old Westminsters he had desired to secure for the boys the use of the College garden. Sir Robert Phillimore had no doubt that research would prove that the garden was intended rather for the boys than for the wives and daughters of the Canons. He did not, however, mention that ordinance of Queen Elizabeth which has already been quoted. Apart from the Queen's views on celibacy there was probably no intention in the matter. There was a garden, and the College might use it as it would. Usage varies, but it need not be forgotten that in some Oxford Colleges the gardens are open to the undergraduates. Boys in the garden would, however, have been distasteful to the Sub-Dean. The Commissioners ignored his feelings, and recommended that the boys should be admitted under proper regulations. Unfortunately the interests of " thoughtless meditation " prevailed. The Commis- sioners' recommendation had no place in the Act. By courtesy to an ancient custom the Queen's Scholars and major candidates are admitted to the garden in the days of Election. ROOM IX ASHBURXHAM HOUSE FROM A DRAWING BY W. KMEEN THE SCHOOL'S REVIVAL 259 The boys' play was not forgotten in the new con- stitution. To the Governing Body was conveyed the freehold of Fields and of the gymnasium. The user of the racquet court and of the enclosure in Dean's Yard, known as Green, gave the School as much as it could claim, if not all that it could desire. Under Scott the system of Challenge, that had obtained, it would seem, for more than a century, began to break down. The introduction of Latin Prose made it necessary to set a paper, and other papers were afterwards introduced. Finally, it was decided to throw the scholarships open to boys who were not in the School, and two such boys were elected in 1876. The necessary consequence was that the written supplanted the spoken word. The Examination still bears the name of Challenge. The last occasion on which the election of minor candidates was wholly decided by the oral Challenge was in 1855. There is now no oral work at all. In 1873, in accordance with the recommendations of the Commissioners, election to Christ Church and Trinity was thrown open to Town boys. Three of them were elected in that year, and one of the three was afterwards Craven Scholar at Oxford. Before 1880 the School had for many years been under a double control. The Second Master was the supreme head of the Under School. This power he had to some extent possessed until the appointment of an Usher in Elizabeth's latter days. He had then taken the third and fourth forms, but by Busby at least his independence was not admitted. He seems to have 260 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL gained his independence when he returned to the lowest form. On Mr. Ingram's resignation in 1880 a new statute took effect. The second - mastership was abolished, and the Under School came directly under the authority of the Head Master. The Queen's Scholars were provided with a house master, who is styled Master of the Queen's Scholars. The same year saw the last of the Liberty boys, a title not likely to be revived. Scott's departure coincided with the end of " water " at Westminster. Rowing had for some time suffered from ever increasing difficulties. The traffic on the river had driven the boats from Roberts's to Putney, and the Elizabethan Club had provided a launch to take the boys up the river. The hours were, however, not con- venient, and the Masters of the School found other objections to the system. These objections they pre- sented to the new Head Master, and in accordance with what they believed to be for the welfare of the School a change of hours involved the extinction of rowing. Its loss was regretted by many Old West- minsters, some at least of whom were hardly in a position to judge of the question. Unanimity in the staff of a school is not so common a thing that it may be made light of. Possibly its occurrence on this occasion was unknown to most of those who disliked its consequence. The football of Westminster and Charterhouse was the mother of the present Association game. In other schools, where handling the ball was forbidden, the rule of off side was the same as in the Rugby game. THE ABBEY FROM THE DRAWING-SCHOOL FROM A DRAWING BV \V. KNEKN THE SCHOOL'S REVIVAL 261 Though combination was thus impossible, the rule was generally adopted. Happily for the interests of the game Westminster and Charterhouse held out, and in 1867 their influence prevailed. They were able to force their rule upon the Association, and the modern game may be said to date from that year. Since 1875 the two Schools have played each other both at football and cricket. Of the whole number of games Charter- house has won a considerable majority, but in 1897 and 1898 the advantage was with Westminster. Since the institution of the Oxford and Cambridge match in 1874 twenty-one Westminsters have been football " blues." In 1883 Dr. Scott resigned the headmastership. His energy had done much for the School, and it had been his fortune to see it put upon a sound financial basis. He survived until 1894, and the regard of his pupils has been shown in many ways. His successor was Dr. Rutherford, the present Head Master. Subsequent events have hardly passed into the domain of history. One constitutional improvement must, however, find mention. In 1894 the number of Queen's Scholars was prospectively raised to sixty. From 1897 onward sixty is the normal number. The new twenty do not reside in the dormitory, but are attached to the houses as boarders, half-boarders, or Day boys. As a consider- able number of Queen's Scholars are elected at an early age, it has been found well to add a new rank. Some of the boys are now known as " fourth elections." There have also been some changes in the buildings. The School entered into possession of the houses granted to it by the Public Schools Act, and the 262 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL class-room system was thus established. Room was also found for a chemical laboratory, and the School followed others in founding a modern side. Of the old customs none have been abolished that could profit- ably be maintained. In some cases they have been modified. Mon6s still wears away the stone at the school door, the shadow has his substance, and the old cries are heard before school and up fields. The pancake is thrown over the bar, and epigrams are recited at Election Dinner. Though the number of boarders has diminished, the School retains the essential features of a boarding-school. Westminster is almost the only School that can boast a descendant of the terrae filius. Before Election the juniors have an opportunity of satiric revenge upon any senior whom they may have cause to dislike. The seniors are obliged to sit in mute conclave while every junior in turn assails or commends each of them in English verse. Though no names be mentioned, there is no difficulty in the application of the lines. As the junior need not be the author of his own "declamations," it is generally believed that the other " Elections " sometimes find a vent for their feelings. Complimentary and even other verses may sometimes owe a grace of form to the more practised pens of a past generation. The custom is not without its value, nor has it been abused. The declaimer has, indeed, one advantage over his Oxford parallel. Had the terrae filius confined his attacks to those whose authority was coming to an end his office might still exist THE SCHOOL'S REVIVAL 263 From this survey of the history of Westminster it is perhaps possible to estimate her place in the history of English education. She cannot claim, like Win- chester, to have been the first of her race. Indeed, her descent is through Eton from Winchester. There was nothing that was meant to be novel in her con- stitution, in her relation to the Universities, or in the statutes which directed her curriculum. Her Foundress was content to rival her predecessors in their own field. For the first century of the School's life there was little to indicate her subsequent pre-eminence. Yet the place had been well chosen. Already she had nursed literary giants who owed something to the proximity of London. A breath from the Mermaid Tavern had inspired their boyhood. Her own Jonson sat amid her sons and called them his own. The place which Westminster took after the Restoration was due to three causes. She owed it to her geographical position, to her Puritan rulers, and to the genius of Busby. At that time the education of the upper classes, it might almost be said the social order of England, was at stake. If boys of rank and wealth had been compelled to turn their backs on the public schools and the Universities, the whole history of the country might have been changed for the worse. Eton and Westminster, and Westminster even more than Eton, gave the means of victory to the opponents of seclusion. And West- minster did more. She justified the victory. Whatever verdict may be pronounced on the statesmen of the eighteenth century, it will hardly be denied that they 264 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL would have been the worse for a training in Maidwell's Academy. Originality has not the only, not always even the greatest, claim on the gratitude of posterity. High ideals may be set in the even tenour of life. If West- minster has not always been alive to the last movement of thought, she has never but once been far behind it. She has never, not even in her darkest hour, failed to serve the State or speed her nurslings on the highway of fame. To prove it were but to tell the tale again. The new life, which began under Liddell, has been fostered by friendly and able Deans, and by no less able Head Masters. The School, as far as she could, has extended her ancient confines, but still delights to nestle under the shadow of the Abbey. In an age when every head cries for space she cannot gather such a multitude as works and plays in many another ancient and modern school, but she sees her sons go forth to be " profitable members of this Church and Nation." And to-day, as much as ever, her sons' love for her grows with the flying terms, and, as an abiding presence, passes with them from the cloister of her life. **. DR. RUTHERFORD FROM THE PICTURE BY J. SEYMOUR LUCAS, R.A. 265 DEANS OF WESTMINSTER William Benson . 1540 Francis Atterbury i7'3 Richard Cox X 549 Samuel Bradford . 1723 Hugh Weston '553 Joseph Wilcocks . I73 1 [John de Feckenham, Zachary Pearce . 1756 Abbot . 1556] John Thomas 1768 William Bill 1560 Samuel Horsley . 1793 Gabriel Goodman 1561 William Vincent . 1802 Lancelot Andrewes 1601 John Ireland 1816 Richard Neile 1605 Thomas Turton . 1842 George Montaigne 1610 Samuel Wilberforce 1845 Robert Tounson 1617 William Buckland 1845 John Williams . 1620 Richard Chenevix [Richard Stewart * 1646] Trench 1856 John Earles 1660 Arthur Penrhyn Stanley 1864 John Dolben 1662 George Granville Brad- Thomas Sprat 1683 ley .... 1881 * Stewart was not admitted to the deanery, which remained abolished till the Restoration. 266 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL DEANS OF CHRIST CHURCH John Oliver. Richard Cox Richard Martial . George Carew Thomas Sampson Thomas Godwin . Thomas Cooper . John Piers . Toby Mathew William James Thomas Ravis John King . William Goodwin Richard Corbett . Brian Duppa Samuel Fell Edward Reynolds John Owen . Edward Reynolds '533 George Morley . 1660 1546 John Fell . 1660 1553 John Massey 1686 1559 Henry Aldrich 1689 1561 Francis Atterbury 1711 i5 6 5 George Smalridge I7U i5 6 7 Hugh Boulter 1719 i57o William Bradshaw 1724 1576 John Conybeare . 1733 1584 David Gregory 1755 1596 William Markham 1767 1605 Lewis Bagot 1777 1611 Cyril Jackson 1783 1620 Charles Henry Hall . 1809 1629 Samuel Smith 1824 1638 Thomas Gaisford . 1831 1648 Henry George Liddell . i855 1651 Francis Paget 1892 1659 MASTERS 267 MASTERS OF TRINITY John Redman . -1546 William Bill . -1551 John Christopherson . 1554 William Bill . .1558 Robert Beaumont . 1561 John Whitgift . .1567 John Still . . . 1577 Thomas Neville . . 1593 John Richardson . . 1615 Leonard Mawe . .1625 Samuel Brooke . .1629 Thomas Comber . .1631 Thomas Hill . .1645 John Arrowsmith . 1653 John Wilkins . . 1658 Henry Feme . . 1660 John Pearson . .1662 Isaac Barrow . .1672 John North . . . 1677 John Montague . . 1683 Richard Bentley . . 1700 Robert Smith . . 1742 John Hinchliffe . .1768 Thomas Postlethwaite . 1789 William Lort Mansell . 1798 Christopher Words- worth . . . 1820 William Whewell . .1841 William Hepworth Thomson . . 1866 Henry Montagu Butler 1886 268 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL HEAD MASTERS John Adams Alexander Nowell Nicholas Udall . John Passey* John Randall Thomas Browne . Francis Howlyn . Edward Grant William Camden . Richard Ireland . John Wilson Lambert Osbaldeston Richard Busby . Thomas Knipe . Robert Freind 1540 '543 1555 J 563 1570 1572 1593 1599 1610 1622 1638 1695 1711 John Nicoll. . . 1733 William Markham . 1753 John Hinchliffe . . 1764 Samuel Smith . . 1764 William Vincent . . 1788 John Wingfield . . 1802 William Carey . . 1803 William Page . .1814 Edmund Goodenough . 1819 Richard Williamson . 1828 Henry George Liddell . 1846 Charles Brodrick Scott 1855 William Gunion Ruther- ford . . .1883 It is uncertain whether Passey came before or after Udall. SECOND MASTERS 269 SECOND MASTERS Odnell Hayborne . 1540 Edward Cratford . 1551 Thomas Nott . .1556 Richard Spencer Randall * . . 1563 Thomas Alleyn . .1564 John Prise . .1568 [John?] Frobisher . 1572 John Grant . . 1573 Thomas Atkinson . 1574 William Camden . 1575 Middleton . 1593 Thomas Harding . 1610 William Pritchard . 1626 John Jordan . .1631 George Croyden . 1642 Thomas Vincent . 1645 Edward Bagshaw . 1656 Adam Littleton . 1658 William James . .1661 Thomas Knipe . . 1663 Michael Maittaire . 1695 Robert Freind . . 1699 George Tollett . .1711 John Nicoll . .1714 James Johnson . . 1733 Pierson Lloyd . .1748 William Vincent . 1771 John Wingfield . .1788 William Page . .1802 Edward Ellis . .1814 Henry Bull . .1821 George Preston . .1826 Thomas William Weare 1841 Henry Manning Ingram 1861 On Mr. Ingram's resignation, in 1880, the office of Second Master or Under Master was abolished. 270 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL THE PLAY 1704 (?) Plautus . Amphitryon 1746 (?) Terence . Eunuchus I 7 o6 (?) Terence . Eunuchus 1747 Ruggles . Ignoramus 1708 (?) . Phormio 1749 (?) Terence . Phormio 1709 . Adelphi 1750 (?) . Eunuchus 1710 (?) . Eunuchus 1751 . Adelphi 1711 (?) . Andria 1753 . Eunuchus I7i Ruggles . Ignoramus 1756 . Andria I?'! (?) Terence . Phormio 1757 . Eunuchus 1713 (?) Ruggles . Ignoramus 1758 . Phormio I7IS (?) Terence . Eunuchus 1759 . Adelphi 1717 . Phormio 1761 . Andria 1718 . Adelphi 1762 . Eunuchus 1719 (?) . Eunuchus 1763 . Phormio 1721 (?) . Adelphi 1765 . Andria 1722 . Phormio 1766 (?) . Eunuchus 1723 (?) . Eunuchus 1768 . Adelphi 1724 (?) . Adelphi 1769 . Phormio 1725 . Andria 1770 . Andria 172* . Eunuchus 1772 . Eunuchus 1727 . Phormio 1773 . Adelphi 1728 . Adelphi 1774 . Phormio I 7l% Plautus . Amphitryon 1775 . Andria 1730 Ruggles . Ignoramus 1777 . Eunuchus I73f Terence . Eunuchus 1778 . Adelphi 1733 (?) . Adelphi 1779 . Phormio 1736 (?) . Eunuchus 1780 . Andria 1738 (?) . Phormio 1781 . Eunuchus 739 (?) . Andria 1783 . Adelphi 1741 . Eunuchus 1784 . Phormio 1743 (?) . Phormio 1785 . Andria I744(?) . Andria 1787 . Eunuchus THE PLAY 271 1789 Terence . Adelphi 1828 Terence . Adelphi 1790 . Phormio 1829 . Phormio 1792 ., . Andria 1831 . Andria 1792 / Part of Plautus \ Amphitryon 1832 1833 . Adelphi . Phormio 1793 Ruggles . Ignoramus 1834 . Eunuchus 1794 Terence . Eunuchus 1835 . Andria 1795 . Adelphi 1836 . Adelphi 1796 Plautus . Aulularia 1838 . Phormio 1797 Terence . Phormio 1839 . Eunuchus 1798 . Andria 1840 . Andria 1798 1799 , f Part of Plautus \ Rudens Terence . Eunuchus 1842 1843 . Adelphi . Phormio 1800 1801 . Adelphi . Phormio 1844 1845 ., . Eunuchus . Andria 1802 . Andria 1847 . Adelphi 1803 . Eunuchus 1848 . Phormio 1804 1805 . Adelphi . Phormio 1850 1851 . Andria . Eunuchus 1806 . Andria 1852 . Adelphi 1807 . Eunuchus 1854 . Eunuchus 1808 1809 . Adelphi . Phormio 1855 1856 . Phormio . Andria X 1810 . Andria 1857 . Adelphi 1811 . Andria 1858 . Phormio 1812 . Eunuchus 1860 Plautus . Trinummus 1813 1814 . Adelphi . Phormio 1862 1863 Terence . Andria . Adelphi . Andria 1864 . Phormio 1816 , Eunuchus 1865 Plautus . Trinummus 1819 1820 . Adelphi . Phormio 1866 1867 Terence . Andria Adelphi 1821 . Andria 1868 . Phormio 1822 . Eunuchus 1869 Plautus . Trinummus 1823 . Adelphi 1871 Terence . Andria 1824 . Phormio 1872 . Adelphi 1825 . Andria 1873 . Phormio 1826 . Eunuchus 1874 Plautus . Trinummus 272 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL 1875 Terence . Andria 1877 . Adelphi 1878 . Phormio 1879 Plautus . Trinummus 1880 Terence . Andria 1 88 1 . Adelphi 1882 . Phormio 1883 Plautus . Trinummus 1885 Terence . Andria 1886 . Adelphi 1887 Terence . Phormio 1888 Plautus . Trinummus 1889 Terence . Andria 1890 . Adelphi 1891 . Phormio 1893 Plautus . Trinummus 1894 Terence . Andria 1895 . Adelphi 1896 . Phormio 1897 Plautns . Trinummus PRONUNCIATION OF LATIN 273 NOTE ON THE WESTMINSTER PRONUNCIATION OF LATIN THE traditional English pronunciation of Latin is almost extinct except at Westminster and one other public school. Its sound is natural to English lips, and is invariably adopted in words borrowed by us from the Romans. The attempts to improve it have ended in chaos or burlesque. Whatever place an antiquarian pronunciation of Latin may claim at the Universities, it may well be doubted if the changes of the last twenty years have had any educational value in schools. The current pronunciation of our fathers was achieved without effort. It added no superfluous difficulty where there were already difficulties enough. It was like M. Jourdain's prose, but now it is in such case that it cries for exposition. It may therefore be well to set forth the rules which it un- consciously followed and which it still follows at Westminster. The current pronunciation of words borrowed by us from the Latin will be seen to follow the rules here set forth. All English lips are at one in their pronunciation of such words and phrases as genus, nisi prius, amatory, amiable, nominal, convenient, and invidious. No one in literary English has ventured to tamper with the traditional sounds of Romulus and Remus. I. All letters have the force which is natural to them in English words derived from Latin. Thus C and G before E and I have the sound of S and J respectively, as civis, T 274 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL genus. A stressed or half-stressed vowel before another vowel or H is sounded long, as deus, Priamus, Diomedes. A long A, I, and O have the sound of a diphthong, as in English. II. Of monosyllables in all enclitics and in those which end in a consonant the vowel or diphthong is sounded short, as que, so/, quin, haec, except huic, which is a traditional exception. In all others the vowel is sounded long. III. Of dissyllables the penultimate vowel, if it be followed by a single consonant or by T and R or L, is sounded long, as amo, scelus, Titus, onus, furor, lyra, patrem, triplex. Traditional exceptions are ibi, tibi, sibi, quibus, Paris, and ero, eram, etc., from sum, to which Greek influence has now added ego. In all others the penultimate vowel is sounded short, as cinctus, cunctus, nondum, sanctus. IV. In words of more than two syllables, if the penultimate be long, the quantities are observed before a single consonant, as monebam, amavi. If the penultimate be short the ante- penultimate is also sounded short, as monitum, veritus, but in earlier syllables the quantities are observed, as mirabilia. If, however, a penultimate vowel other than U be immediately followed by another vowel the ante-penultimate vowel is sounded long, as habeo, melior, moneo, imperium, but monui ; except where the two vowels are both I or its equivalent, as utilia, Nicias, Pythius, Libya, video, inhibeo. The same principles apply to earlier vowels : thus the first syllable of amavcrunt is sounded short, and the first syllable of Dicaeopolis long. V. As an exception to these rules an initial short prefix keeps its quantity, as subit, redeo, ineo. N.B. The fourth rule has of late years so far broken down that in words ending in a dactyl or cretic a long vowel, unless PRONUNCIATION OF LATIN 275 followed by two consonants, keeps, except in proper names, its true quantity. Thus the ante-penultimate is now sounded long in sidera, nomina, -viaticum, but short in Sisyphus, Lydia, Euripides, Neapolis. This innovation is to be regretted, as it is contrary to the genius of the English tongue. Complex as these rules may seem, they present no difficulty to an English boy, whose lips have not been guided to an alien pronunciation. APPENDICES CHAPTER ACTS ON BEYERS AND COMMONS I. THE following extract from the Acts of the Chapter seems to show that the revenues of the College sometimes suffered from the misuse of the Bevers : "Dec. 3 rd , 1601. It is ... agreed that it shall not be lawful for any to sell or to alienate to any out of his own household the Abbey allowance called Bevers, upon pain of the loss of his Bever the first time for a fortnight, the second of a month, the third of a whole year ; and that no Bever or other victuals whatsoever shall at any time be carried out of the Dean's Court Gate, but by such as are known to belong unto those parties to whom Bever of right is due, upon pain of the loss of the same Bever, to be taken away from him by the porter and given to the poor, and such further punishment as to the Dean or Sub-Dean and Steward shall seem meet." The order relating to the change in Commons runs as follows : "Jan. n, 1631. Forasmuch as the College at this present is destitute of means to keep Commons together according as they have done heretofore, and the most part of our Society being married men have families of their own and live here in residence, we have agreed that while the said Commons raised out of our means and stipends is so discontinued, the Scholars, Choristers, and Poor being provided according to the usual proportion of their allowances, and the servants allowed board wages on full third part of wheat, malt, and other provisions shall be delivered to the Lord Bishop of 277 Lincoln, our Dean, and the other two parts shall be divided among the twelve Prebendaries according to the term of their several residences and housekeeping in this place, and accord- ing to such orders as they shall make among themselves with the consent of the Dean." II. To the industry of Archbishop Laud we owe a con- suetudinarium of the School in the time of Wilson or Osbaldeston. The transcript in Laud's handwriting is pre- served in the Public Record Office. It may have been made while Laud was a Prebendary of Westminster between 1621 and 1628, or, as is not unlikely, after he became Archbishop in 1633. He may have copied the original document as a possible instrument in his attack upon the Dean and the Head Master. It is more generous to suppose that his transcript is an evidence of that interest in learning which he undoubtedly felt. The document has been printed before, but there is a good reason for publishing it again. It goes far to refute an opinion which is held by some persons at the present time. The curricula, it is sometimes said, which are enjoined in the statutes of ancient schools, were merely counsels of perfection. Not only must it have been impossible to carry them out to the letter, but much of their spirit must have vanished as soon as they were put to a practical test. The instructions were too minute, the prescribed authors too numerous and too difficult to keep their place in School life. Laud's transcripts show, at any rate for Westminster, that this view is incorrect. The full spirit of the statutes is breathed in the recollection of this seventh form boy. He reads all the statutory authors, and he reads other classics besides. The abundant learning of such men as Bishop Hacket had its origin in the strict course of School life. To the same course we may fairly attribute some of the industry of the subsequent period. But for our knowledge of this severe training it were hard to credit the heroic achievement of one of Busby's pupils. William King, elected to Christ Church in 1681, is said to have taken APPENDICES 279 but eight years to " read over and make remarks upon " more than twenty-two thousand books and manuscripts. "This course was in my time taken by the Schoolm 1 of Weston: spec: for those of the 6 th and 7 th formes wherein I spent my time there. "About a q r of an houre after $ in the morning we were called up by one of the Monitors of the chamber (with a surgite] and aft r Lat. prayers we went into the cloyst" to wash, and thence in order two by two to the schools, where we were to be by 6 of the clock at the furthest. "Between 6 and 8 we repeated our grammar p ts (out of Lilie for Lat., out of Cambden for the Greek), 14 or 15 being selected and called out to stand in a semi-circle before the M r and other scholars, and there repeated 4 or 5 leaves in either, the M r appointing who should beginne and who should go on with such and such rules. After this we had two exercises that varied everie other morn*: the first morning we made verses extempore lat. and g r , upon 2 or 3 severall theames, and they that made the best 2 or 3 of them had some monie given them by the schoolm r for the most parte. "The 2 d morns one of the 7 th forme was called out to expound some parte of a Latin or g r author, Cicero, Livie, Isoer, Hom r , Apolli: Zenoph: &c. they of the 2 next formes were called to give an account of it, some other parte of the day, or else they were all of them (or such as were picked out, of whom the M r made choice by the feare or confidence discovered in their lookes) to repeat and pronounce distinctlie without booke some piece of an author that had been learnt the day before. "From 8 to 9 we had time for beav r and recollection of ourselves and preparation for future exercises. "Betwixt 9 and u those exercises were reade which had been enjoyned us overnight (one day in prose, the next day in verse) ; which were selected by the M r ; some to be examined and punished, others to be commended and proposed to imitation ; w ch being done we had the practise of Dictamina, one of the 5 th forme being called out to translate some 2 8o WESTMINSTER SCHOOL sentences of an unexpected author (extempore) into good Latin, and then one of the 6 th or 7 th forme to translate the same (extempore also) into good greeke ; then the M r himself expounded some parte of a Lat. or Gr. author (one day in prose, another in verse) wherein we were to be practised that afternoon. "At dinner and supper times we reade some portion of the Lat. in a manuscript (to facilitate the reading of such hands). And the prebendaries then hav* their table commonlie set in the Hall, some of them had oftentimes good remembrances sent unto them from hence and withall a theame to make or speak some extempore verses upon. "Betwixt one to 3, that lesson which, out of some author appointed for that day, had been by the M r expounded unto them (out of Cicero, Virgil, Hom r Eurip ; Isoc ; Livie, Sallust, &c.) was to be exactlie gone through by construing and other grammatical waies, examining all the rhetoricall figures and translating it out of verse into prose, or out of prose into verse ; out of g r into lat: or out of lat. into G r . Then they were enjoyned to commit that to memorie against y e next morn*. " Betwixt 3 and 4 they had a little respite, the M r walking out and they (in beav r times) going in order to the Hall, and there fitting themselves for theyr next taske. " Betwixt 4 and 5 they repeated a leafe or two out of some booke of rhetoricall figures, or choice proverbs and sentences collected by the M r for that use. After that they were practised in translating some Dictamina out of Lat. or G r and sometimes turning Lat. and G r verse into English verse. Then a theame was given to them whereon to make prose and verses Lat. and G r against the next morning. After supper (in summer time) they were called to the M r " Chamber (spec, those of the 7 th forme) and there instructed out of Hunter's Cosmographie^ and practised to describe, and find out cities and counties in the mappes. "Upon Sundayes, before morn* prayers (in summer) they were commonlie in the schoole (such as were King's Scholars) and there construed some parte of the Gospell in G r or re- APPENDICES 281 peated part of the G r catechisme; for the afternoone they made verses upon the preacher's sermon, or epist. and gospell. The best scholars in the 7 th forme were appointed as Tutors to reade and expound places of Hom r , Virg., Hor., Eurip., or other G r and lat. authors; at those times (in the forenoone or afte r noone or aft r beaver times) wherein the scholers were in the schoole, in expectation of the M r . "The scholers were governed by several Monitores (2 for the Hall, as manie for the Church, the Schoole, the Fields, the Cloister ; which last attended them to washing, and were called Monitores immundorii). The Captaine of the Schoole was over all these and therefore called Monitor monitorum. "These Monitors kept them strictly to the speaking of Latine in theyr several commands ; and withall they presented their complaints or accusations (as we called them) everie friday morn : when the punishments were often redeemed by exercises or favours shewed to Boyes of extraord. merite, who had the honor (by the Monitor monitorum) manie times to begge and prevail for such remissions. And so (at other times) other faultes were often punished by scholastic taskes, as repeating whole orations out of Tullie, Isoc; Demosth: or speaches out of Virgil, Thucyd., Xenoph : Eurip : &c. " Upon Play dayes (within an houre after leave granted and the Oppidales dismissed) the scholars of the house were often called in againe for an houre or more till they had brieflie dispatched the taske of that day. "There was a writing in capital letters within the schoole towards the upper part of the wall which the M r was wont to show to strangers as a testimonial how he was restrained for leave to play. "When Plumpe- Walkers came in (i.e., such as strived to hold M r in long discourses) the M r would call out some of his scholers to show what verses they could make on a sodaine upon a theame to be given by them, if they were scholers. " Every Friday they had repetitions of what was learned the former parte of the weeke. " Upon Saturdayes they pronounced their Declamations in 282 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL g r and lat., and the Preb. did often come in and give encouragement unto them. " All that were chosen away by Elect n took their leave in a pub. Orat. to the Deane, Preb : M r , Ush : Scholers made in the Schoole." III. The following poem exists in manuscript in the British Museum. It was written by Cowley, who was at the time a King's Scholar of fourteen or fifteen, and forms one of a collection in which the boys celebrated the birth of the Duke of York, afterwards King James II. It is an eminently characteristic example of the style encouraged by Osbaldeston : " Behold the silent night with happy birth Of Charles his second sonne crownes the glad earth ; Darkness itself discovers such a light, As makes the night a day, the day more bright The stars peep'd forth and pale with envy grow, To see a star greater than them below. Ffor were their number with Charles ofspring even Earth would wax proud and think itselfe a heaven. Wee saw a light, and guesst it Cynthia's ray ; But 'twas a bonfire in the milky way. Wee thought it rain'd, but Jove our gladness knew, And sent downe Nectar, or some better dew. We admir'd the storme ; 'twas that our joys might bee Common to all the windes themselves were free. Him safely kill (If any such you meete) Whose heart 's less fil'd with bonfire then the streete. Lett every oake sweat rich falernian wine, And grow incorporate with his wife the vine. Let Autumne know noe fruits but such as dare With the Hesperian apples to compare. With milke and oyle let every river flow, If nature, loath to loose her workes, would show Some water still, let it such vertue bring As poets please to give the Thespian spring. Since bounteous heaven meanes with the blest increase Of Charles his ishew to establish peace, And make Astraea stay, our joyes shall win Nature, and call the goulden age agin. " This poem of Cowley's should be compared with the lines APPENDICES 283 in which, in 1649, Dryden, a King's Scholar of seventeen, lamented the death of Lord Hastings. Bad as in some ways Dryden's poem is, the comparison will show both what he learned from Cowley and why he surpassed him. IV. The following letter of Charles I., written in 1638, was due to the instigation of Laud. It is addressed to the rulers of Christ Church : " Trusty and well-beloved, &c. We are informed that you have for some years suffered a very ill custom to continue in that our Collegiate Church ; for whereas there are divers Scholars chosen to be Students of that House, and divers others that live there as Commoners, but the greatest part of the Scholars are chosen from our School at Westminster ; there is a supper maintained yearly commonly called a Westminster Supper, at which all and only Westminster Scholars do meet. This supper we hold to be a very ill custom, and no way fit to be continued. For, first, it is a thing not allowable in govern- ment that any party of men should have a several meeting, which is a direct way to faction and combination, and it teacheth the rest of the students in such a society to bandy themselves together against the other, that they may not be thought to be neglected. Secondly, such a meeting must needs cause more expenses than many students are able to bear, especially in such chargeable times as these are. Thirdly, it gives an occasion of much drinking and riot, and conse- quently of all the bad effects which follow such excesses, besides no small disorder in leaving or keeping open the gates of the College for ingress and egress for resort to that disorderly meeting at later hours than are fit. And most usually, to add to all this disorder, this supper must be kept up on a Friday night, against both the canons of the Church and laws of the Realm, and to the great scandal of all sober men that hear it. " These are therefore to will and require you, the Dean and Chapter, to suppress that supper or meetings, by what name soever it be called, and to call the students together and 284 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL to command them in our name that they presume not at any time hereafter to resort together to any such meeting either in the College or out of it, and to register these our Letters among the Orders and Decrees for the government of that Church, as you and every one of you will answer it at your utmost perils; and these our letters we will shall be binding not only upon yourselves but upon your successors, that this ill and dangerous custom may never rise up into practice again." V. From the accounts of Francis Lynn some inferences have been drawn in the text. From the following portion of them it will be seen that a King's Scholar of the seventeenth century had to furnish his bed. Candles every boy had to supply, but, as a Home Boarder brought them from domestic stores, Lynn ignores them in his earlier time. His abstract also is not strictly correct. He says nothing of the cost of the clothing while he was a Town boy, and he must either have been unusually rich in raiment when he became a King's Scholar or have omitted some charges. His livery the waist- coat and the long gown falling to the feet left little else for the tailor to supply. Shoes and stockings cost but I2S. i id. in two years. Lynn's silence must not be taken to mean that he wore neither shirt nor breeches. If his mother's maid plied her needle for him, the linen must have been bought. It can hardly be doubted that only those moneys are mentioned which passed through the boy's own hands. The Masters usually, though not invariably, received their fees directly from the boys. Even Busby's boarders would travel up to town, carrying " in a bag " the gold to pay the bill of "last half." Lynn, as a Londoner's son, got his money at more frequent intervals. It should be observed that a guinea at this time was reckoned at twenty-one shillings and sixpence. This may be observed both in the quarterage and in the Under Master's New Year's gift. In one month September, 1689 Lynn seems to have charged himself a pound too much. APPENDICES 285 "I was born the 2 nd day of November, 1671, about one of the clock in the morning, in Westminster, and bred up by my father and two elder brothers, John and Charles, who were at Westminster School till between nine and ten years old, and then, without having been at any other school, I was put there under the care of Dr. Busby, or rather of Doctor Knipe, the second master, being admitted the very lowest boy in the school, which I passed quite through, and in the course was captain of every form. I lodged and dieted at home, so the charge of my schooling, during the eight years from admission till I got into the college, being at IDS. the quarter, was, for eight years i61. ; to Dr. Busby, every Christmas, as a gift, one guinea, 81. 123. ; to Mr. Knipe, ditto, half-a-guinea, 4!. 6s.; to the usher, ditto, 53., 2!. In all, besides books, 30!. 1 8s. "In May, 1689, I was elected into the foundation as a King's Scholar, having been put by two elections before for want of friends, but now standing captain or senior I was elected in accordingly." Here follows a particular account of expense whilst in Westminster College, "taken from my father's pocket-book": "May, 1689. 3. To entertain my school-fellows upon my being elected, a usual custom, 73. 6. For my theam making, 53. ; for an old gown for common use, los. 9. For a trunk, 143. ; nine ells of Holland for surplice, il. 143. gd. ; 16 ells of sheeting, i6s. ; a yard and half of kenting, is. 6d. ; a remnant more, is. ; a King's Scholar's cap, 6s. Total, 3!. 133. 3d. For admonishing money, i.e., the forfeitures for speaking English, 6d. 16. A Bible, Practice of Piety, and a comb, 43. 7d. 24. For a new gown, 2!. is. Total, 2!. 6s. id. "June, 1869. 10. This day was admitted into the college by the Dean, and put on my gown. 1 1. For double commons and servant's fees, as customary on this occasion, il. ; pocket- money and candles, los. 5d. ; new feather bed and bolster, il. 133.; bedstead cord and mat, 6s.; a rug, 123. ; two new 286 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL blankets, us.; a new table, 75. ; a canopy to the bed, 75. Total, s\. 6s. 5d. " 20. Paid to the eight seniors for my freedom, as customary for the captain of the election, 81. 1 25. "July, 1689. 8. Paid Mr. Gilbert for a waistcoat, i8s. 6d.j pocket-money, is.; poll-tax, is. IT and 22. Pocket-money, is. 6d. Total, iL 2S. "August, 1689. 9. Pocket-money, is. 12. Pocket-money, is. 29. Pocket-money, is. 6d. Total, 33. 6d. "September, 1689. 9. Candles, sd. 12. Pocket-money, is. 16. For Dr. Busby, il. is. 6d. 25. Pocket-money, yd. 30. Barber and bed-maker, 45. Total, zl. 75. 6d. [VJ. "October, 1689. 4. For Dr. Williams's Catechism, is. 9. For pocket-money, 6d. 10. Candles, 5d. ; pair of under- stockings, is. 3d. 15. Pocket-money, 6d. 25. Pocket- money, 6d. 29. Wax-candles, yd. ; cotton -candles, 5d. 30. Pocket-money, gd. Total, 53. ud. "November, 1689. 7. A waistcoat altered, 35. 6d. 10-17. Pocket-money, 23. 6d. 30. Curtains to my bed, 128. Total, 1 8s. "December, 1689. 3. Candles and pocket-money, ud. 13. Pocket-money, 6d. 23. Barber, bed-maker, and self, 53. 25. Box-money to servants, 23. Total, 8s. 5d. "January, 1690. 6. To Dr. Busby for two quarters, 2!. 35. 7. Pocket-money, is. 6d. ; to Mr. Knipe, New Year's gift, los. gd. 19. Pocket-money, 6d. Total, zl. 153. gd. "February, 1690. 2. Pocket-money, 6d. 8. A pair of shoes, 35. 6d. ; candles and faggots, is. 5d. 19. Pocket- money, 6d. Total, 53. i id. "March, 1690. 4. For tarts to treat as free-boy on Shrove Tuesday, los. u. For making a coat, 8s. 27. Barber and bed-maker, 43. Total, il. 25. "April, 1690. For the election board and putting up my name in gold letters on the tables, IDS. 19. Stockings and shoes, 75. 21. Candles and pocket-money, is. ud. Total, 1 8s. i id. " May, 1690. 30. A pair of shoes soled, is. 2d. ; pocket- money, 6d. Total, is. 8d. APPENDICES 287 "June, 1690. 28. Barber and bed-maker, 43.; pocket- money, is. Total, 53. "July, 1690 3. Poll-tax, is. 14: 31. Pocket-money, is. 6d. Total, 23. 6d. "August, 1690. 6 25. Pocket-money, 23. 6d. "September, 1690. 2. Candles, lod. 23. For the Doctor's new grammar, 45. Total, 43. lod. " October and November nothing appears. "December, 1690. To Dr. Busby for a year's schooling, 4!. 6s. "January, 1691. 2. To Dr. Knipe for a New Year's gift, i os. gd. ; pocket-money since September at several times, I2S. ; barber and bed-maker, 8s. Total, il. IDS. gd. "February, 1691. Nothing appears but five months' candles, 23. id. "March, 1691. 25. Barber and bed-maker, 43.; pocket- money, 53. Total, 93. "April, 1691. 20. To Dr. Busby, quarterage, il. is. 6d. ; pocket-money, 33. 6d. Total, il. 55. Grand total, 39!. 175. "May, 1691. 12. I was elected away, captain of the school, to Trinity College in Cambridge, together with the Hon. Dixey Windsor, Esq., William Shippen, Hugh James, and John Lambe. At the same time to Oxford were elected W. Adams, Henry Brydges, Adam Langley, and Nicholas Burton. ****** "Abstract of the foregoing accounts: Charge at West- minster School from my first going thither till I got to be a King's Scholar, 30!. i8s. ; charge while I was a King's Scholar till I was elected to the University, 39!. 175." VI. The following are extracts from three letters written in 1690 and the two following years by Mary, Countess of Caithness, to Patrick Smythe, Laird of Methven. i. Letter dated October loth, 1690: " .... I have set my child to Westminster Seoul ; this day month past he entered and thanks be to god doth bear verie 288 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL wel w 111 the change of dyot w ch his being in publick Seoul doth giv him ; he is set in the 3 rd form w ch I supos is that cal d the 3 rd part in Scotland for when he is don w th the 3 rd form they enter Greek . . . ." 2. Letter dated Feb. 3rd, 1691 : " . . . . Colin is a busie man at all his leasons is every day at Seoul all this winter befor 7 o'clock and his wax candle with him and doth not com out until past ij and they returne at i and stays until neir six ; this was far from his dyot at horn ; and in the great cold Seoul he sits the whole day over w th out a hatt or cap ; and all the windous broak and yet thanks be to god he taks very wel w th it tho he never seeth a fir but in my hous ; at the beginning his felow scolers wer hard on him upon the account of his Nation but he dooth now hold up pretie wel ether at scolding or boxing with them ; however I fear I los a Scotsman for he begins to get ther words and actsent; and says he wold fain hav his portion brought up to England ; I askt at him what he wold do with it and he said keep it. I told him he must lay it out to bear interest ; no said he ; for non but fools or begers wold borrow so much and I wil hav ill getting of it again from such ; if I must lay it out said he I wil purchas Land with it ; hear is a long story of nothing to you but he being my only companion maks me hav littel other subject to writ of to y, y r eldest son at Seoul w th Colin ; they ar bravely taught booth to be scolers and orators in Doctor busys Seoul at Westminster wher my son is ; I was frighted w th the report of the severity of the Maisters but my child now 5 months hath been at itt and hath never got a froun from any of the Maisters ; on the contrarie he is but too much made off; the Maisters are wis discreet men and children of 6 years old ar in the first form ; Colin was entered to the 3 d ; and in sumer is to goe to the forth wher they learn Greek. . . ." 3. Letter dated August 29th, 1692 : " .... I am sorie that al this whil I have not seen y that y and I might had talkt together conserning my sons present sircumstance y r advice wold hav mo weight with me than many others; Som says the Scool he is at is mo proper for to APPENDICES 289 breed up youths for Church men than any other station; I supos my sons inclinations wil not be for that post ; but I am resolved to folow my Lord Tarbat and Doctor Monros preceps to satel Colin he being now pretie wel advanced in his Latin The writer of these letters was a daughter of Archibald Campbell, first Marquis of Argyll. She married George Sinclair, sixth Earl of Caithness, after whose death in 1672 she married secondly, as his second wife, Sir John Campbell of Glenorchy, who had a large claim on the Caithness estates, and was himself created Earl of Caithness in 1677. The title was, however, successfully claimed by a Sinclair and relinquished by Sir John, who was then created Earl of Bredalbane. His wife continued to sign herself " M. Caithnes." Her Westminster boy was her only child by Bredalbane, the Honourable Colin Campbell of Ardmaddie. In spite of his hardy training Colin died a young man. VII. Atterbury's memorial to King George I., dated December 8th, 1718: "The bishop of Rochester, dean of Westminster, and the chapter of that church, humbly represent to your majesty that Queen Elizabeth of glorious memory founded the College of Westminster, which has in all times since been highly favoured by your majesty's royal ancestors, and has bred up great numbers of men useful both in Church and State, among whom are several who have the honour at present to serve your majesty in high stations : That the dormitory of the said college is in so ruinous a condition that it must of necessity be forthwith rebuilt ; the expence of which building (besides other charges that may thereby be occasioned) will, according to the plan now humbly presented to your majesty, amount to upwards of five thousand pounds. As a founda- tion for the raising of this summe, a legacy has been left by one who was a member of this college; and there is good reason to believe, that divers persons of quality, who owe their education to this place, may be disposed to favour this U 2 9 o WESTMINSTER SCHOOL design, if they shall be incited by your majesty's royal example. The said bishop and chapter therefore humbly hope that your majesty will, as an encouragement to learning, be pleased to bestow your royal bounty on this occasion in such measure as to your majesty's high wisdom shall seem proper." VIII. In the Gentleman's Magazine of 1739 there is a description of the School in verse. The author seems to have been a pupil of Freind, who retired in 1733. His account is so worded that it might be wrongly inferred that the "shell" came above the sixth. Freind seems to have abolished the seventh, and in its stead inserted the "shell" between the sixth and the fifth. The seventh has been revived by the present Head Master, but, as the lowest three forms have disappeared, the "shell" is still found between the sixth and fifth. The following lines describe the forms as they were in the time of George I. : " Ranged into seven, distinct the classes lie, Which with the Pleiades in lustre vie. Next to the door the first and last appears, Designed for seeds of youth and tender years. The second next your willing notice claims, Her numbers more extensive, more her aims. Thence a step nearer to Parnassus' height, Look cross the school, the third employs your sight : There Martial sings, there Justin's works appear, And lanished Ovid finds protection there. From Ovid's tales transferr'd the fourth pursues Books more sublimely penn'd, more noble views : Here Virgil shines, here youth is taught to speak In different accents of the hoarser Greek. Fifth, these better skill'd and deeper read in Greek From various books can various beauties seek. The sixth, in every learned classic skill'd, With nobler thoughts and brighter notions fill'd, From day to day with learned youth supplies And honours both the Universities. Near these the SAe/Fs high concave walls appear, Where Freind in state sits pleasingly severe. Him as our ruler and our king we own; His rod his sceptre, and his chair his throne." APPENDICES 291 IX. The following is the order of the Chapter relating to Markham's improvements in the precincts : "May 28 th 1756. This day the Rev d Dn Markham at- tended in order to come to an agreement with the Dean and Chapter about the intended New Square and other Buildings in and near Dean's Yard, pursuant to an Act of Parliament in that behalf passed, and made the following proposals, namely : " i st. That he the said Dr. Markham and Thomas Salter Esquire or their representatives should purchase in the out- standing Leases granted by the said Dean and Chapter and upon surrendering the same take a forty years lease or leases paying the usual and accustomed fines after the rate of 8 per cent according to the extended rents as they now stand or did stand at Lady Day 1756 at and under the present reserved rents and proper covenants. " 2nd. That upon the surrendering the 40 years Lease or Leases to have a Lease or Leases of all the ground belonging to the Dean and Chapter comprised within the Chain or Boundary now produced (except and always reserved the House Mr. Cell lives in and the Dean's Laundry Garden and Drying Yard adjoining) for the term of 99 years to be com- puted from Midsummer 1755 upon the payment of an advanced rent equal to three years purchase at four per cent. "3rd. That the Dean's Stables &c. the Minor Canon's Houses, the Singing Men's rents, the Almsmen's Houses and those they live in are not to be comprised herein but are to be considered as separate Estates. " To which proposals the Dean and Chapter agreed and out of regard to the School to the great expense of the Under- taking and to encourage the improvement they make them a present of the materials of the Old Dormitory and Brewhouse and of the Ground on which they stand without Fine or Rent. "And for these reasons do not only agree to waive their right to any advanced reserved rent till Michaelmas 1760 " But also agree upon the renewal of their forty years Leases 292 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL to calculate their Fines upon the column of 10 per cent for all those in which thirty years were elapsed at Lady Day 1756 and upon the Column of 9 per cent for all those in which 25 years were then elapsed." Dr. Wilson's dissent from this scheme is expressed in a marginal note in his own handwriting : " I dissent to this. Tho. Wilson." X. The following is the inscription on the Warren Hastings Cup: " Alumnis Regiis Scholae Westmon : ipsi plerique Alumni, d. d. d. Warren Hastings Job. Williams Elijah Impey Alex. Macleod Geo. Templer R. S. Perreau Edw. Hay Edw. Bengough Job. Wombwell G. C. Meyer Gul. Markham Car. Cooper John White George Arbuthnot Cl. Benezet F. Pierard Pet. Touchet Car. Mouat Rob. Holt Gul. Francklin Job. Sea wen Gual. Hawkes." Of the donors Wombwell, Bengough, Cooper, Scawen, and Mouat were perhaps not Westminsters. Francklin, who was a distinguished Orientalist, survived until 1839. XI. The Prologues and Epilogues published as Lusus Alteri Wtstmonasterienses do not contain any verses written for the Town Boy Plays. The three following may serve as specimens. The two former are the work of Prior, who, it will be observed, did not disdain a little repetition : " Prologue spoken by Lord Buckhurst in Westminster School at a representation of Mr. Dryden's Cleomencs at Christmas, 1695. " Pish, lord, I wish this prologue was but Greek, The young Cleonidas would boldly speak : But can Lord Buckhurst in poor English say, ' Gentle spectators, pray excuse the play ' ? APPENDICES 293 No, witness all ye Gods of ancient Greece, Rather than condescend to terms like these, I 'd go to school six hours on Christmas day Or construe Persius while my comrades play. Such work by hireling actors should be done, Who tremble when they see a critic frown, Poor rogues that smart like fencers for their bread, And, if they are not wounded, are not fed. But, sirs, our labour has more noble ends, We act our tragedy to see our friends : Our generous scenes are for pure love repeated, And, if you are not pleas'd, at least you 're treated. The candles and the clothes ourselves we bought, Our tops neglected, and our balls forgot. To learn our parts we left our midnight bed ; Most of you snor'd whilst Cleomenes read ; Not that from this confession we would sue Praise undeserv'd ; we know ourselves and you : Resolv'd to stand or perish by our cause, We neither censure fear, nor beg applause, For these are Westminster and Sparta's laws. Yet, if we see some judgement well inclin'd To young desert and growing virtue kind, That critic by ten thousand marks should know That greatest souls to goodness only bow, And that your little hero does inherit Not Cleomenes' more than Dorset's spirit." " Prologue to the Orphan. " Represented by some of the Westminster Scholars at Hick- ford's Dancing-room, February 2, 1720. Spoken by Lord Dupplin, who acted Cordelio the Page. " What ! Would my humble comrades have me say, ' Gentle Spectators, pray excuse the play ' ? Such work by hireling actors should be done, Whom you may clap or hiss for half a crown. Our generous scenes for friendship we repeat, And, if we don't delight, at least we treat. Ours is the damage, if we chance to blunder, We may be ask'd whose patent we act under. How shall we gain you a la mode de France ? We hir'd this room, but none of us can dance. In cutting capers we shall never please ; 294 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL Our learning does not lie below our knees. Shall we procure you symphony and sound ? Then you must each subscribe two hundred pound. There we should fail too as to point of voice : Mistake us not, we 're no Italian boys. True Britons born from Westminster we come And only speak the style of Ancient Rome. We would deserve, not poorly beg applause, And stand or fall by Freind's or Busby's laws. For the distress'd your pity we implore ; If once refus'd, we '11 trouble you no more, But leave our Orphan squalling at your door." " Prologue to King John, performed by the Boys of Westminster School Spoken by Mr. Bourke, 1790. " Have you ne'er seen (a quaint device 'tis reckon'd In Dodsley's Poems, vol. i. , page the second, A troop of boys in sportive guise, who bear The arms of Mars and attributes of war, Assay the sword to draw, the spear to wield, And raise with force combin'd the massy shield, Whilst one o'erwhelm'd, yet dreadful to the rest, Nods the dire plumes that threaten o'er his crest ? Not quite so young, yet, as we hope, more fit, Lo ! we attempt before this crowded pit, In feudal arms and royal robes, to stalk With tragic dignity of mien and walk, And deck'd with terrors from theatric shelves, Start at the phantoms we have raised ourselves. Yet let not harsh severity deride These early efforts of ingenious pride ; Think but how oft with more inglorious art Men mimick us and act a boyish part. Whoe'er in trifles or in trash delights, In truant sport consumes his days and nights, Is still a boy, however he may brag, And well deserves to ride on Busby's nag. Heavens, how they multiply by this new rule ! England itself is one great public school With many wicked boys O dire disaster ! Spite of the good example of its Master. Pardon our flippant wit ; the scene, the stage Inspire perhaps this pert satiric rage. APPENDICES 295 We lash not you, whom rather we must court To stoop your manly judgments to our sport, Nor wish you punishment as things now stand, Except a little clapping on the hand." The historic interest of the last prologue lies in the evident sneer at one in high place. It was probably written by a wit of Brookes's, and would not have met with Vincent's approval. As the play was acted in the holidays and in a hired room the Whig spirit was not to be curbed. INDEX Accusations, 42, 281. Adams, John, 4. William, 287. Addison, Joseph, 156. Agar, Charles, 195. Albemarle, George Thomas Keppel, Earl of, 215, 216, 218, 219, 225. Aldrich, Henry, 125, 137, 143. Allen, John Hensleigh, 200. Alt ham, Roger, 116. Amherst, William Pitt, Earl, 206. Andrewes, Gerard, 200. Lancelot, 19, 54, 59, 62, 115, 129. Anglesey, Henry William Paget, Marquis of, 206. Anstice, Joseph, 235. Arabic, 11$, 1 1 6. Arlington, Henry Bennet, Earl of, 71,74- Armitstead, William George, 248. Ascham, Giles, 23, 29. Roger, 51. Ashburnham House, 148, 256 seq. Aston, Walter Hutchinson Aston, Lord, 200. Atterbury, Francis, 29, 61, 121, 123, 143-147, 156, 165, 289. Atterbury, Osborn, 123. Aubrey, John, 100, 118, 129. Aylesbury, Sir Thomas, 74. Aylesford, Heneage Finch, Earl of, 105. Bacon, Edmund, 23. Bagot, Lewis, 170. Bagshaw, Edward, 85-89, 99. Baldwin, John Loraine, 237. Baltzar, Thomas, 128. Barker, Henry Raine, 248. Barnard, Sir Henry, 249. Thomas, 183. Barrington,William Keppel Barring- ton, Viscount, 1 80. Barrow, Isaac, 122. Barry, David, 15, 74. Bath, William Pulteney, Earl of, 141, 166, 173, 175, 181, 182, 220. Bathurst, Edward, 130. Bedford, Francis Russell, 5th Duke of, 206. Bedford, Francis Russell, 7th Duke of, 218, 221. Bedford, Hilkiah, 109. John Russell, 4th Duke of, 197- Benefactors, 60, 78, 99, 164, 186, 206, 213, 214, 224, 230. Bensley, James, 177. Benson, William, 4. Benthall, William Henry, 248. Benthall's, 228. Bentham, Jeremy, 174, 185, 195, 220, 228. Bentinck, Lord William, 212. Bentley, Richard, 31, 126, 138. Beresford's, Mrs., 109, 158, 159. Best's, 228. Bevers, 38, 44, 277, 279 seq. Bill, William, 10, 19, 24, 40. Bisby, Nathaniel, 90, 91. Bishop's Boys, 78, 246. Boarding-houses, 14 seq., 99 seg., 109, 158 seg. t 191, 203, 213, 219, 228. 296 INDEX 297 Booth, Barton, 50. Boswell, James, 204. Bouquett, Philip, 95. Bourke, John William, 294. Bourne, Vincent, 136, 151, 158, 173, 175, 179, 252. Bradford, Samuel, 147. Brecknock, Timothy, 170. Bristol, Frederick Augustus Hervey, Earl of, 183. Bristol, John Hervey, Earl of, 108. Bromley, William, 136. Broughton, John Cam Hobhouse, Lord, 212, 223, 244. Broxholme, Noel, 186. Brydges, Henry, 287. Buckland, William, 241-248. Bull, John, 223. Burdett, Sir Francis, 200. Burgess', 228. Burke, William, 178, 190. Burleigh, Mildred Cecil, Lady, 23, 60. Burleigh, William Cecil, Lord, n, 23, 29, 58, 60. Burlington, Richard Boyle, Earl of, 147, 188. Burton, Nicholas, 287. Busby, Richard, 13, 52, 72, 79-134, 167, 184, 220, 259, 285-288, 294. Caithness, Mary Campbell, Countess of, 106, no, 287-289. Camden, William, n, 14, 17, 52- 54, 57, 59, 60. Campbell, Colin, 106, 1 10, 287-289. John Bassett, 218. Lord Frederick, 171. Candidates (see Challenge, Election). Carey, William, 211, 212, 214-224, 251. Carrow, Edmund, 58 seq. Carteret (see Granville). Cartwright, William, 69, 72, 74, 77, no. Challenge, 24, 26, 162-164, 259, 285. Charterhouse, 261. Chauncey, Charles, 61. Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stan- hope, Earl of, 158, 166, 170, 171, 174, 182, 187. Chiswick, 34, 84, 86. Choristers, 15, 18, 22, 49, 72, 245, 277. Christ Church, Oxford, 12, 21 seq., 30 seq. t 57-59, 77 "q., 8l seq., 85, 90-93, 99, 104, I", 126-129, 137 seq,, 164, 178 seq., 181, 201, 203, 206, 220, 223 224, 251, 259, 283. Churchill, Charles, 169, 170, 177. Clapham's, 228. Clayton, Robert, 123, 136. Cockerell, Charles Robert, 250. Colchester, Charles Abbot, Lord, 206, 240. Colman, George, the elder, 17 4 seq., 175, 177, 180, 203. Colman, George, the younger, 197, 199, 203, 205, 208, 239 seq. Colquhoun, Sir Patrick MacChom- baich, 238. Combermere, Stapleton Cotton, Viscount, 206, 220. Commons, 6, 14, 17, 19, 53, 62, 99, 277- Conybeare, John, 178 seq. Cork, Hamilton Boyle, Earl of, 178. Coronations, 92, 95 seq., 97, 239. Cotton, George Edward Lynch, 236. Sir John Hynde, 141. Cowley, Abraham, 30, 69, 70, 74, 124, 126, 282 seq. Cowper, William, 120, 133, 166, 167, 169, 171, 173, 175, 176^., 182, 184, 185, 187. Cox, Richard, 5, 7. Coxe, Henry Octavius, 235. Cracherode, Clayton Mordaunt, 175. Crespion, Stephen, 96. Crichton, Robert, 63. Cricket, iS6seq., 205, 227, 237 seq., 261. Crimea Monument, 249. Cumberland, Denison, 158. Richard, 159, 166, 168, 177, 179, 182, 197, 220. 298 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL Cup, the Hastings, 202, 292. Curll, Edmund, 97, 155 seq. Curtain, the, 57, 98, 182. Curteis, Herbert Mascall, 238. Gustos, 38. Dartmouth, George Legge, Lord, 105. Dartmouth, William Legge, 1st Earl of; 96. Dartmouth, William Legge, 2nd Earl of, 170. Dasent, Sir George Webbe, 238, 249. Debary, Peter, 213. Declamations, 22, 42, 262, 281, 282. De Ros, William Fitzgerald de Ros, Lord, 226. Devonshire, William Cavendish, Duke of, 154. Dickens, Samuel, 181. Dodd, James, 159, 218, 228. Dolben, John, 92, 94, 98, 101. Sir William, 178. Doorway, School, 188. Dorchester, Dudley Carleton, Vis- count, 74. Dormitory, first, 16, 19, 20, 144, 147 seq., 191, 291. Dormitory, second, 144-149, 231, 245, 246, 261. Dorset, Charles Sackville, Duke of, 186. Dorset, Charles Sackville, Earl of, 105, no. Dorset, Lionel Cranfield Sackville, Duke of, 152, 292. Dover, George James Welbore Agar- Ellis, Lord, 223. Dowdeswell, William, 178, 213. Driffield's, Mrs., 228. Dryden, John, 35, 69, 90, 94, 97, 98, no, 117, ng seq., 151, 283. Dundas, Sir David, 223, 244. Duppa, Brian, 61, 64, 115. Dyer, John, 157. Earles, John, 89, 126. Ebury, Robert Grosvenor, Lord, 223. Eglionby, George, 56. Election, 21-24, 26, 30, 57 seq. t 8l seq., Ill, 138, 153, 161, 287. Electors, 21, 22, 28. Elizabeth, Queen, I, 9-11, 14, 17, 21, 25, 29, 33, 48, 59, 61. Elmsley, Peter, 206. Epigrams, 22, 26, 73, 140, 147, 183, 253, 262, 280. Epilogue, The, 144, 150 seq,, 192- 194, 240, 249, 256. Esher, William Baliol Brett, Vis- count, 220, 238. Eton College, i, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 10, 36, 39 seq., 52, 61, 75, 156, 161, 197, 200, 205, 227, 248, 263. Evelyn, John, 105, 118. Fagging, 27, 152, 215. Farren's, Mrs , 228. Feckenham, John of, 8 seq. Fees, loo seq., no, 159, 231, 245, 285-287. Fell, John, 93, 94. Samuel, 61, 82. Fields (see Tuttle Fields). Finch, Sir John Finch, Lord, 74. Fisher, Samuel, 28. Fitzgerald, "Fighting," 170. Sir Robert Uniacke Pen- rose, 248. Fitzgerald, Thomas, 158. Flagellant, The, 208. Football, 133, 260 seq. Fraigneau, William, 181. Francklin, William, 202, 292. Franklin, Thomas, iSl, 184. Freind, John, 139, 140, 154, 187. Robert, 96, 138-164, 220, 290, 294. Fremantle, William Robert, 238. French, 203. Frewin, Richard, 206. Froude, James Anthony, 236. Fynes-Clinton, Henry, 256. Gager, William, 49. Gaisford, Thomas, 242, 243. INDEX 299 Games, 64, 129-134, 186 seq., 205, 215, 216, 218, 225-227, 238^., 249, 260 seq. Garden, College, 145, 258. Geography, 70 seq. , 280. George I., 144, 289. II., 140, 145. III., 197, 295. IV., 239. Gibbon, Edward, 159, 185. Gibbons, Christopher, 128. Glover's, 228. Glynne, John, 82. Goodenough, Edmund, 226, 229. Goodman, Gabriel, 10 seq,, 20, 24, 30, 34, 40, 58, 60. Goodman, Godfrey, 15. Graham, Sir James Robert George, 234- Grammar, 4, 30, 40, 52, 58, 116 seq. (see School-books). Grant, Edward, 8, 51. Grant's, 35, 191, 228, 257. Grantham, Thomas Robinson, Lord, 136- Granville, John Carteret, Earl, 107, 141, 180 seq. Greek, 8, 39-41, 52, 55, 115, 119, iSoseg., 279-281, 288, 290. Green, 133, 190, 256 (see Games). Gregory, Francis, 102. Grey, Zachary, 99. Gunpowder Plot, 63 seq. Gymnasium, The, 252, 259, Racket, John, 45, 55, 61, 66-68, 115, 129, 278. Hakluyt, Richard, 70. Halifax, Charles Montagu, Earl of, 35. 98, 105. Hall, College, 16 seq., 20, 41, 246, 256, 280. Hannes, Sir Edward, 142 seq. Harcourt, Edward, 206, 220. Hardinge, Thomas, 19. Harrison, William, 4. Harvey, Sir Eliab, 206. Hastings, Warren, 166, 170, 178, 184, 185, 201 seq., 220, 225, 292. Hawes, Edward, 63. Hawkins, Sir John, 199. Hayes, Samuel, 199, 211. Hebrew, 42, 55, 115 seq., 179 seq. Helps, 46, 123, 162. Henry, Philip, 42, 83, 91, no, 114. Henry VIII., 2, 5. Herbert, George, 61, 74. Hervey, John Hervey, Lord, 141, 159- Heylyn, Peter, 29, 66, 73. Hickman, Francis, 91. Higgs, John, 220. Hill, Aaron, 136. Joseph, 177. Richard, 99. Hinchliffe, John, 32, 196. Kingston, John, 127. Hodges, Nathaniel, 124. Hodmen, 93. Holidays, 47, 160 (see Plays). Hook, James, 21 . Hooke, Robert, 121 seq., 127. Hooper, George, 91, 116. Horsley, Samuel, 214. Hotham, Sir Henry, 206. Huguenots, 95. Huntingdon, Francis Hastings, Earl of, 171. Hutton's, 159. Ignoramus, 151, 270 seq. Impey, Sir Elijah, 185, 202, 203, 292. Ingram, Charles Penfold, 248. Henry Manning, 260. Ireland, John, 229 seq. Richard, 60-62. Jacks, Black, 44. Jackson, Cyril, 129, 195, 214. James I., 29, 59, 62, 71. II., 95, 97, 282. Hugh, 287. William, 87. Jeffreys, Christopher, 128. George Jeffreys, Lord, 98, 153. 300 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL Jeffreys, John Jeffreys, Lord, 97. Jervis, Sir John, 244. Johnson, James, 1 74. Jones, Inigo, 188, 256. William, of Nayland, 209. Jones's, 228. Jonson, Ben, 50, 53, 69, 263. Juxon, William, 66. Keppel, Augustus Keppel, Viscount, 178. Kerry, Countess of, 139. King, John, Bishop of Chichester, 6 1, 64, 68. King, John, Bishop of London, 53. - William, 161, 278. Kingston, Elizabeth, styled Duchess of, 197. Kinnoul, Thomas Hay, Earl of, 152. 293- Knight, Sir Richard, 122. Knipe, Thomas, 109, 135-138, 142, 220, 285-287. Knox, John William, 218. Kynaston, Herbert, 235. Lamb, Sir James Bland, 180. John, 287. Lane, Charlton George, 248. Richard, 6l, 74. Langley, Adam, 287. Lansdowne, Henry Petty -Fitz- maurice, Marquis of, 159, 212 se?., 244. Lansdowne, William Petty, Marquis of, 157, 178. Latin, 37-43, 49, 115, 118, 124, 180, 211 seq., 273, 279-282, 290. Laud, William, 17, 61, 66, 77, 79, 278, 283. Leeds, Francis Osborne, Duke of, '95- Lennox, Lord William Pitt, 219. Lewis, Edmund, 56. Liberty Boy, 26, 64, 260, 286. Library, Busby, 102. Scott, 257. Liddell, Henry George, 46, 235, 243-247, 264. Litlington, Abbot, 16. Lloyd, Pierson, 73, 171, 175, 189. Robert, 170, 177, 191 seq. Locke, John, 90, 104, 124^., 128, 130. Lombard, Peter, 54. Longlands, David, 218. Longley, Charles Thomas, 215, 223, 231- Lower, Richard, 124. Lowther, James, 224. Lucan, George Charles Bingham, Earl of, 223, 249. Ludford's, 159, 177. Lynd, Sir Humphrey, 74- Lynn, Francis, 29, 64, 100, III, 284-287. Macdonald, Sir Alexander, 195. Mackworth, Digby, 217. Madan, Spencer, 183. Maidwell, Lewis, 106, 264. Maittaire, Michael, 95, 154, 179, 1 80. Manchester, Edward Montagu, Earl of, 82, 107. Mansfield, Frederica Murray, Coun- tess of, 233. Mansfield, William David, Earl of, 220. Mansfield, William Murray, Earl of, 156-158, I 68, 220. Markham, Sir Clements Robert, 70, 208. Markham, William, Archbishop, 34, 189-196, 202, 220, 291 scq. Markham, William, 20 1 seq., 292. Mary I., 7. Mathematics, 121 seq., 212 seq. Maunday Money, 25 seq. Maynard, John, 82, 87. Meals, 38, 41 s:q. t 42, 44, 72, 160, 231, 279 seq. Meeting, Westminster, 153. Mendip, Welbore Ellis, Lord, 148. Merry, Thomas, 56. Millington, Sir Thomas, 124. Milman, Henry Hart, 256. INDEX 301 Monitors, 37, 42, 46, 87, 279-281. Monos, 149, 262. Montagu of Boughton, Ed ward Mon- tagu, Lord, 104. Montagu, Ralph Montagu, Duke of, 105. Montaigne, George, 19, 63 seq. Morell's, Mrs., 228. Morgan, Robert, 53. Morice, William, 148. Morley, George, 63, 89, 220. Motto, School, 95. Mowbray, Sir John Robert, 220. Mure, James, 251. William, 223. Mytton, John, 224. Neile, Richard, 19, 25, 45, 53, 62, 66, 79. Newcastle, Thomas Pelham- Holies, Duke of, 71, 107, 137, 141, 157. Newdigate, Sir Roger, 157. Newton, Thomas, 31, 206. Nicoll, John, 61, 136, 165-188, 220. Nonjurors, 90 seq. Nonsense Club, 177. Nottingham, Heneage Finch, Earl of, 69, 74. Nowell, Alexander, 4, 5, 7, 48. Robert, 23. Oliphant, Robert, 200. Oliver, Frederick William, 248. Onley, Nicholas, 164. Oppidans, 14, 15. Osbaldeston, Lambert, 30, 65-73, 278. Oughtred, William, 122. Owen, John, 85, 88, 90, 104. Oxford, Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of, 154, 156. Oxford, Edward Harley, 5th Earl of, 211. Packharness', Mrs., 219. Paedonomus, 64. Page, William, 213, 225-227. Pancake (see Shrove Tuesday). Parry, Richard, 53. Pearce, Zachary, 123, 136, 195. Peel, Sir Robert, 241 seq. Pelham, Henry, 136, 141, 154, 157. Pembroke, Philip Herbert, Earl of, 82, 83. Pensioners, 14-16, 18, 22, 100. Peregrines, 14, 15. Peterborough, Charles Mordaunt, Earl of, 105. Phillimore, Sir Robert Joseph, 180, 236, 258. Play, The, 48-50, 71 seq., 149-152, 192-194, 239 sey. t 244, 270-272 (see Scenery). Play, Town-boy, 151, 194, 213, 221, 291-294. Plays, Early and Late, 43, 281. Pope, Alexander, 138, 156. Walter, 31, 83, 86. Popham, Sir Home, 206. Porten, Catherine, 159, 191. Portland, Richard Weston, Earl of, 67. Portland, William Henry Cavendish - Bentinck, Duke of, 178, 206. Preparatory Schools, 24, no, 185, 203. Price, John, 63, 76. Owen, 88. Prior, Matthew, 119^., 130, 145, 151, 292. Pulteney, William (see Bath). William Pulteney, Vis- count, 175, 182. Putney, 34, 227. Quin, James, 127 seq. Raglan, Fitzroy James Somerset, Lord, 249. Randolph, John, 195. Thomas, 61, 74, lio, Ravis, Edward, 53, 58 seq. Rayner, William, 28. Redmayne, Elizabeth, 117, 130. Rennell, Thomas, 209 seq. Reynolds, Edward, 82. Frederick, 204. Henry 302 WESTMINSTER SCHOOL Rhodes, Richard, 128. Richmond, Charles Lennox, Duke of, 173, 178. Richmond, Charles Gordon-Lennox, Duke of, 205. Rigaud's, 191, 228, 257. Rivers, Richard Savage, Earl, 105. Roberts, Dicky, 225 seq. Rockingham, Charles Watson- Wentworth, Marquis of, 169, 73, 196. Roll, Patrick, 139. Rous, Hon. Henry John, 224. Russell, John Russell, Earl, 215, 219-221, 244. Rutherford, William Gunion, 247, ?6i. Rutter, Samuel, 71. Sackville, George Germaine, Vis- count, 157. Sackville, Lord John Philip, 187. St. John, Oliver, 82. St. John's College, Cambridge, 78. Salisbury, Robert Cecil, Earl of, 15, 74- Salter, Edward, 192. Samwaies, Peter, 99. Scenery of Play, 49, 149 seq., 191 seq., 221, 250. School-books, 8, 39-43, 52, 70, 86, 102, 114-117, 122, 159, 279-281, 285-287. School Colours, 227, 238. Schoolroom, 20, 52, 56 seq., 224, 258. Scott, Charles Brodrick, 249-261. Thomas, 69. Scott's, 228. Shadow and Substance, 160. Sharpe, Fane William, 206. William, 181. Shelburne (see Lansdowne). Shell, The, 137, 290. Sheridan, Thomas, 194. Shippen, William, 141, 287. Short, Augustus, 210, 215 seq. Thomas Vowler, 223. Shrove Tuesday, 57, 64, 120, 130. Small well, Edward, 214. Smalridge, George, 137. Smedley, Edward, 218, 228. Smith, George, 109. Samuel, 120, 197-206, 220. Thomas, 109. Smyth, Sir Warrington Wilkinson, 238. Smythe, Patrick, 287. South, Robert, 25, 91, 104, 120, 153, 155- Southey, Robert, 137, 164, 198, 199, 204, 208 seq. Sprat, Thomas, 69, 95, 143. Stafford, Granville Leveson-Gower, Marquis of, 25, 197. Stanhope, Philip, 158, 170, 174, 180, 182, 187, 203. Stanley, Arthur Penrhyn, 253. Stepney, George, 112. Stowe, Andrew, 157. George, 157, 182. Strafford, John Byng, Earl of, 206. Stuart, James, 191. Stubbe, Henry, 83, 124. Substance, 160. Sunderland, Robert Spencer, Earl of, 104, 147. Sutherland, George Granville Leve- son-Gower, Duke of, 206. Sutton, Sir Richard, 175, 176, 184. Swift, Jonathan, 139, 144, 172 seq. t 193- Taswell, William, 27, 94, 116. Taunton, Sir William Elias, 200. Tenner, 152. Terence, 5, 8, 48-50, 71 seq., 94, 124, 138, 150^., 175, 178,240, 270-272. Thirlby, Thomas, 4. Thomas, John, 213. Lewis, 201. Thornton, Bonnell, 177, 178. Titley, Walter, 123. Tollett, George, 60, 158, 195. INDEX 303 Toplady, Augustus Montagu, 174. Tothill (see Tuttle). Trelawney, Sir Jonathan, 29. Trench, Richard Chenevix, 248, 253. Trifler, The, 200, 208. Trinity College, Cambridge, 12, 21 seq., 29-31, 48, 57-59, 81 seq., ill, 137, 184,201,220, 251,259, 287. Triplett, Thomas, 99. Trivett, William, 200. Trouillant, Robert James, 95. Tutors, 15, 55. Little, 123, 285. Tuttle Fields, 32, 134, 147, 186- 188, 216 seq., 222 seq., 232, 259. Tyrwhitt-Drake, Edward, 248. Udal, Nicholas, 7, 45. Usher, James, 17, 63. Uvedale, Robert, 90. Vane, Sir Harry, 74, 82, 83. Vincent, Thomas, 85, 91. William, 73, 179, 2OO, 207-214, 220, 222, 252, 294. Wake, William, 99. Wales, 76, 78. Walker, William, 117. Walpole, Horace, 141, 171, 187, 198. Walpole, Sir Robert, 141, 154. Warburton, William, 166, 176, 183. Ward, Thomas Watson, 217. Watch, 152. Water, 225 seq. , 238, 248. Weare, Thomas William, 249. Welsted, Leonard, 136. Wesley, Charles, 157, 180. Samuel, 140, 144. Westminster, Richard Grosvenor, Marquis of, 223. Westminster, Robert Grosvenor, Marquis of, 206. Weston, Hugh, 7. Wetenhall, Edward, 91. Whethampstead, 34. Whitehall, Robert, 92. Wilberforce, Samuel, 241. William IV., 238. Williams, Sir Edward Vaughan, 223. John, 17, 19, 45, 55, 63, 65-67, 78, 126, 278, 286. Williamson, Richard, 229, 240-242. Wilson, John, 60 seq, , 63. Thomas, 191, 292. Winchester College, 1-3, 5, 156, 161, 263. Winchilsea, Daniel Finch, Earl of, 154. Winchilsea, Heneage Finch, Earl of, 107. Windsor, Hon. Dixie, 287. Wingfield, John, 211, 214. Wiseman, Sir Richard, 81. Wood, Anthony, 49, 93, 116, 172. Thomas, 71. Wren, Sir Christopher, 122, 124, 143, 144, 146, 220. Wyatt, James, 224 seq. Wyndham, Sir William, 157. PLYMOUTH WILLIAM BRKNDON AND SON PRINTERS A CATALOGUE OF BOOKS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS OF METHUEN AND COMPANY PUBLISHERS : LONDON 36 ESSEX STREET W.C. CONTENTS PAGE FORTHCOMING BOOKS, .... 2 POETRY, ...... 8 BELLES LETTRES, ANTHOLOGIES, ETC., . . 9 ILLUSRTATED BOOKS, ..... IO HISTORY, . . . . . . .II BIOGRAPHY, ...... 14 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE AND TOPOGRAPHY, . . 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