CAPITULUM PRIMUM DE MAGISTRIO PRIMARIO.

In the grammar schoole founded in the parish of St Laurence Pountney in London, in the year of our Lord God one thousand fyve hundred sixtyone, by this worshipful Company of the Marchaunt Taylors of the citty of London, in the honor of Christ Jesu, shall be first an High Master. This High Master, in doctrine, learning, and teaching, shall direct all the schoole: he shall be chosen by the right worshipful the Master, Wardens, and Assistants of the said Company of Marchaunt Taylors, with such advise and counsell of well-learned men as they can gett; a man in body whole, sober, discrete, honest, vertuous, and learned in good and cleane Latine literature, and also in Greeke; a wedded man, a single man, or a priest that hath no benefice with cure, office, nor service that may lett his due business in the schoole. He is to continue in possession of his office while he does his duty, and is not of his own mind to give notice of his departure without a warning of twelve months: nor is he to be absent more than twenty working days from the schoole in the year (conjunctim aut divisim,) without some urgent or allowable cause: that he shall have a house and lodgings free of rent, where he may dwell and keep howshold to his power; but is not permitted to have or teach at one time with the schoole more than two hundred and fifty scholars one hundred of which are to be taught for nothing, fifty at two shillings per quarter, and the remaining hundred at five shillings per quarter, according to their respective conditions and situations.

There shall also be one Chief Usher, or Under-Master, of the same character and qualities as the High Master, by whom he shall be appointed,* and to who, in case of vacancy, he shall succeed. When his election is approved by the Master and Wardens, he shall also have his lodgings assigned; and he is subject to the same periods of absence and terms of resignation as have been already mentioned.

In case of curable or temporary sickness, the full stipends are to be continued, and the other Masters or Ushers are to undertake the whole duty: but if it should so happen that

*The company soon found it necessary to reserve to themselves the appointment of the under teachers; and, by so doing, they rendered the situation more acceptable to men of talent and respectability.

the Master and Ushers should be sick at the same time, then during such visitation the school is to cease.

There shall be two Under-Ushers, good, honest, virtuous, and learned young men, who shall be chosen from time to time by the High Master, and who shall teach in the school under his directions. They are to have no office of any kind that may interfere with a due attention to their duties in the school. They shall teach the children, if need be, the Catechism, and instructions of the Articles of the Faith, and the Ten Commandments, in Latin; that is to say, such a Catechism as shall be approved by the Queen's Majesty that now is, and by the Honorable Court of Parliament of this realme from tyme to tyme. If they fail in their demeanor, they are to be removed, and others chosen, with the consent of the High Master and Usher.

There shall be taught in the said school children of all nations and countries indifferently,* coming thither to be taught but they must be able to read perfectly and write competently, and be acquainted with the Catechism in English or Latin, in order to qualify them for admission. Every scholar on his entrance shall pay twelve-pence for writing in his name, which is to be given to such person as shall be appointed by the High Master, &c. to keep the school, the court and the avenues thereto, free from uncleanness.

The children shall come to school at seven in the morning both winter and summer, and tarry till eleven; and return at one in the afternoon, and depart at five.† Thrice in the day, morning, noon, and evening, they shall say their prayers contained in a tablet set up in the school.

They shall never use tallow-candles in the school, but wax only nor are they to eat or drink in the school; nor to indulge in cock-fighting, tennis-play, nor riding about of victoring, nor disputing abroad. They are to have no leave to play, but once in the week, and that only when there falleth no holiday.

If any child, after he is received into this school, go to any other school to learn there, or shall be absent from the

* Children of Jews were excepted by order of court December 1731.

The boys do not now come to school till eight in the morning from the 1st of November to the 1st of March. The morning business is still concluded at eleven; but in the afternoon the school does not open till two, and closes for the day at four.

school for the space of three months at one time, without any reasonable cause, he shall be refused readmission.

The Master, Wardens, and Assistants, with the advice of learned men, shall once every year examine whether the Master and Ushers have done their duties in the school, and how the children have profited under them; as well as what reformations and amendments may be required.

The Clerk of the mystery shall read annually on a quarter day, in the common hall, all the several acts, decrees, and ordinances that have been or shall hereafter be made for the continuance of the said school in good order.

That the Master and Wardens of the company for the time being, and all who have borne the room of a Master of this mystery, shall be the surveyors of the said school, and superintend all its concerns.

No scholars shall be received into the school, unless they be first admitted, and their admission certified by the Master and Wardens to the Master, or, in his absence, to the head Usher.

There shall be yearly paid out of the common box of this mystery, for the stipend salary of the Schoolmaster and three Ushers, forty pounds, to be paid in equal portions to them," &c.

The statutes, the general purport of which has been here given, being established, the Master, Wardens, and Court of Assistants of the company proceeded to the choice of a chief Schoolmaster, when they agreed to make an offer of the appointment to Richard Mulcaster, M. A. of Christ Church, Oxford, who, after some short hesitation, declared his willingness to accept it. This eminent man was educated on the foundation at Eton; from which school he was, in 1548, elected to King's College, Cambridge. In 1555 he became a student of Christ Church, Oxford; where he was distinguished for his critical knowledge in Latin and Greek, and particularly for his attainments in Oriential literature.

The situation was, it is true, highly honorable, but the income assigned to it was barely sufficient to induce Mulcaster to accept it; and it is not improbable, that the generous spirit of Mr Hills, the master of the company, who added ten pounds per annum to the stipend, secured the new foundation the advantage of such a master.

Such was the character of Mulcaster, that scholars imme

diately flocked from all quarters to enjoy the benefit of his instruction, and, in less than twelve months, the new establishment was submitted to the solemn visitation of the diocesan, Grindal, Bishop of London; when, August 16, 1562, it was declared by that prelate, assisted by other learned divines, that the schoolmaster was worthy of great commendation as some of the boys had made a proficiency equal to that which had been attained by the scholars of any school in the realm.

The visitations of several successive years were attended with similar marks of approbation, when the benefaction of Sir Thomas White gave a consequence to the foundation, which advanced it to a superior rank among the public seminaries of the country. He, as a member of the court, had already been a co-founder of the school, and was now a munificent benefactor to it, by appropriating thirtyseven fellowships at St. John's College, in Oxford, which he had recently founded at his sole expense. Merchant Taylors' School now became as completely connected with the Universities, as the Colleges of Winchester, Eton, and Westminster.*

It cannot be considered as a free-school, because no boy can become a scholar without being subject to the payment of five pounds a year; he also pays the Head-Master a quarterage of ten shillings, and twelve shillings for breaking-up money each quarter. The boys taught there are not confined to any particular class in society, the company having always considered it as open to any persons who wished to bring up their sons decently: according to the statute, they should be recommended to the school by the Master and Wardens of the company, but in general they are put in by the Head-Master promiscuously as they occur. They are taught Latin, Greek, and Hebrew: they receive a complete classical education, and nothing more. The boys are considered merely as day-scholars, except when they happen to board with the Masters, which is a private concern.

The School, as it has been already mentioned, was kept in a house which belonged, at an early period of our history,

*Fortythree fellowships were actually left by Sir Thomas White to Merchant Taylors' School; but as six of them are subject to the claim of the founder's kin, who are very numerous, the number unreservedly appropriated to the school is but thirtyseven: for though, in default of a founder's kin candidate, the vacancy is filled up by a Merchant Taylors' boy, the snl repays the turn at the next election.

to the Duke of Buckingham; and was a residence of the nobleman of that title who was instrumental in obtaining the consent of the mayor and citizens of London to the usurpation of Richard III. But that edifice being destroyed by the great fire in 1666, the present structure was erected upon the same spot by the munificence of the Merchant Taylors' Company. It is a considerable structure, part of which is supported by stone pillars, forming a handsome cloister, within which are apartments for the Assistant-Masters. There is also a library of collegiate appearance, a chapel, which is more particularly appropriated for the solemn halfyearly examination of the scholars, and a house for the residence of the Head-Master.

The School-Room, which ranges over the cloister, is a spacious apartment of handsome proportions, but without any elevated seats, to mark the distinctive characters of the respective Masters. The public instruction of this school, and better instruction is no where given, is conveyed in the peripatetic form; the Masters generally perambulating before their respective classes.

The Chapel does not wear the appearance of a place of worship, though it has all the canonical character which original consecration could give it, when it was the chapel of the ancient manor-house of the Rose; the tradition asserts, that one of its existing walls survived the conflagration which destroyed the rest. On that wall is the whole-length portrait of Sir Thomas White, Knight, Alderman, Merchant Taylor of London, and the munificent Founder of St John's College, Oxford. This room is also decorated with an appropriate display of engravings.

"Much of the useful learning which has so remarkably enlightened the middle ranks of the English nation, and rendered us a wise and understanding people, has proceeded from the public schools established in different parts of the kingdom. It is in these truly respectable nurseries of literature that education has effected its most generous and valuable purposes. The idea, which would otherwise have been confined by sordid habits, has been expanded; genius, which would otherwise have been hidden from itself and from the world, has been called forth to the honor of human nature; while the general manners, which would have otherwise been rude and unpolished, have been rendered easy, courteous, and polite.