studied sixteen hours a day. For several years John Owen did not allow himself more than four hours' sleep. Feats of memory are as remarkable for their frequency as for their comprehensiveness, and were practised from early childhood in the repeating of sermons, in the learning of Latin grammar and in almost every academic discipline. Moreover, the number of references to memory testifies to the conscious cultivation of the art. The exercise of visualisation of the Old Testament histories was heightened by stories of martyrs; and the family tradition and household culture that made these events 'real as life' in puritan homes supplied the mental basis for justifying doctrine and precept. In short, the scholarship and learning of this period, by their direct bearing upon the Bible, permeated and transfigured the national life in a rare degree, giving it, in spite of all its excesses and deficiencies, a strenuousness, sobriety, and, on the whole, a sincerity, probably never so largely sustained, by book learning, in any age, and rarely in any country. And yet, of the highest and purest scholarship, it is true, as Mark Pattison says, in reference to Casaubon :

To search antiquity with a polemical object is destructive of that equilibrium of the reason, the imagination and the taste, that even temper of philosophical calm, that singleness of purpose, which are required in order that a past time may mirror itself on the mind in true outline and proportions1.

1 Isaac Casaubon, p. 466.

CHAPTER XIV

ENGLISH GRAMMAR SCHOOLS

It was but slowly, and long after the reformation had been carried into effect in England, that the transition from the scholastic to the humanistic theory of education began to be perceptible among the grammar schools of the country. An endeavour has, indeed, been made in recent years to show that the tendencies at work during the reign of Edward VI were essentially reactionary, and that nothing of much importance resulted from the liberal and enlightened policy of Somerset. Such a theory, however, is very far from being borne out by the evidence, which proves that, not only were important new foundations established under his auspices, and subsequently, by Northumberland, but that the views which found expression in their organisation and discipline were virtually identical with those which afterwards obtained under Elizabeth. The great queen, although holding the memory of Somerset in aversion, had always cherished a sisterly regard for the youthful monarch, whose remarkable precocity of intellect, love of learning and strong religious convictions (harmonising, to a great extent, with her own) had commanded the admiration and respect alike of scholars and of politicians during his lifetime. The influences that predominated during the reign of Mary, on the other hand, had been reactionary, and became yet more so under the joint rule of the queen and her consort. But, so soon as Elizabeth found herself 'supreme governor' of the church, the Edwardian policy in relation to education was, forthwith, adopted by her as her own-much as the Prayer Book of 1552 was again prescribed, with but slight alterations, for use in the English ritual; and it is to be borne in mind that Burghley had been the personal friend of Somerset, under whom he served as an officer of the crown. Accordingly, it is in the reforms advocated during the reign of Edward, that the subsequent designs of our most discerning legislators are rightly to be regarded as taking their initiative, however much they might be baffled or delayed, for a time, by the selfish aims

of courtiers intent on little else save their personal enrichment and that of their families and dependents. In the rapacity of those who should have been foremost in setting an example of self-abnegation, the young king and his adviser encountered, indeed, a resistance which they were but very partially able to

overcome.

The latest researches in the history of our public schools exhibit Winchester and Eton, the two most ancient of their number, as designed to enjoy peculiar advantages and an exceptional independence, while, at the same time, occupying the position of training institutions in relation to centres of more advanced education—the former to New college, Oxford, the latter to King's college, Cambridge1. As Winchester college had now been in existence somewhat more, and Eton college but a little less, than two centuries, it becomes interesting to compare the progress of the one with the other, and that of both, in turn, with the development of other great public schools which were subsequently founded that is to say, with St Paul's, Christ's Hospital and Harrow, with Westminster and Merchant Taylors', with Shrewsbury and Rugby: all of which, with the exception of the first-named, represent the original design of Edward VI, as carried into effect after Somerset's death by Northumberland and, subsequently, by Mary and Elizabeth.

Winchester, the most ancient and conservative of all, was still governed mainly by the statutes of William of Wykeham. It had been distinctly menaced with dissolution by the Chantries act of 1547; but the actual result of the royal injunctions was little more, in the direction of reform, than to make the Latin or English version optional in the study of the text of the New Testament, although prescribing the use of the vernacular by the scholars at grace and at their devotions. The school continued to be recruited mainly from the diocese of Winchester and from the midland counties; it had educated Chicheley, Chandler (afterwards dean of Hereford), Warham and Grocyn; its loyalty never swerved. When king Edward visited the city in 1552, commoners and scholars had alike composed congratulatory verses; they did the same when the marriage of Mary and Philip was celebrated in their ancient cathedral; and, again, when Elizabeth visited the college in 1570. But, in 1560, the college petitioned successfully, along with Eton,

1 See ante, vol. 11, pp. 357-8.

The features of resemblance and of direct imitation between Winchester and Eton have already been referred to in vol. 11, chap. xv.

to be allowed the use of the Latin Prayer Book; while the number and importance of its converts to Rome, in the latter part of the century, was a symptom that could not be disregarded. During James's reign, more than one visitation, together with a series of injunctions issued by archbishop Bancroft, clearly indicate abuses, both in management and discipline, which betray the fact that the financial administration by the master and fellows was conceived on principles not a whit more disinterested than those of the commissioners of Edward VI. Eton, on the other hand, now begins to enter on a career of marked improvement, after a series of depressing experiences. It had seen the lilies tremble on the college shield, and ultimately disappear, altogether, from the shield of the foundation at Cambridge. But the wise supervision exercised by Waynflete, as provost, continued to operate after his promotion to the see of Winchester, and was continued, with equal ability, by his successor, William Westbury, promoted from the headmastership. It is scarcely an exaggeration, indeed, to assert that the rule of the latter, which extended over a whole generation, was the salvation of the college, for it was by Westbury's courage and tact that the designs of Edward IV-to whom, far more justly than to the sixth of the name, the epithet of 'despoiler' might have been applied-were ultimately frustrated. Had the fourth Edward been able to accomplish his purpose, the entire foundation of Eton college would have become merged in that of the dean and chapter at Windsor, and the name of Henry VI would have disappeared as that of a founder1. As it was, the progress of the college was materially checked, for many years after; and, not until about the time that the college on the banks of the Cam was beginning to acquire new lustre by the completion of its noble chapel, did something of a like prestige begin to gather round the college on the banks of the Isis. The revenues of Eton, however, continued to decline; although, in 1536, along with Winchester, it succeeded in obtaining exemption from payment of tithes; and it was only with the accession of Edward VI that any appreciable change for the better took place. The interest shown by that monarch in Eton affairs is probably attributable, in part, to the fact that Richard Cox, who had preceded Udall in the headmastership (1528—34), was both the young king's tutor and almoner; while the increase in the number of oppidans, noticeable after the dissolution of the monasteries, may be explained by the fact that they brought with them (although contrary to the founder's designs) 1 See Maxwell Lyte, Hist. of Eton College, chap. IV.

a certain augmentation of their teachers' scanty incomes. In the first year of Edward's reign, the college acquired certain advowsons and estates which had before been held by the suppressed orders1. Cox's successor, Udall-described by Walter Haddon as the 'best schoolmaster and the greatest beater' of his time can hardly be said to have raised the reputation either of the Winchester where he had been educated or of the college which he was called upon to rule, although he so far outlived the obloquy which he encountered as to die master of the school at Westminster. But the precarious condition of affairs throughout the country, which menaced every institution and every office, is also to be recognised in the fact that the headmastership of Eton was held by no less than twenty-one individuals during the sixteenth century. The function of the provost was to exercise a general superintendence over the financial administration and also to ensure a due performance of the duties attaching to each subordinate office-not excepting that of the headmaster himself. The appointment of Henry Savile to the provostship was wrung from the queen only by his own repeated solicitations, and, moreover, it was a direct infringement of the college statute, which enjoined that a candidate should be in holy orders, and vested the election itself in the provost and fellows of King's; but, notwithstanding, the royal intervention proved eminently beneficial in the sequel, and Savile's claims were indisputable. He had travelled much; he was a savant and a collector of manuscripts; and it was chiefly through the influence of Burghley (no undiscerning patron) that, some ten years before, he had been promoted to the wardenship of Merton college-an office which he continued to hold, in conjunction with the provostship, down to the day of his death. His fine presence, great powers of work and genuine attainments eminently fitted him, indeed, for the discharge of official duties, and, although not free from the reproach of excessive eagerness in the accumulation of wealth, it might be urged in extenuation that he showed almost equal readiness to part with it again, in promoting worthy objects. On succeeding to office, he made it one of his first cares to restore and augment the library, the fabric of which, at that time, was in a ruinous condition, while the collection itself had remained very much what it was at the death of Edward VI. As a master, however, Savile inspired awe rather than affection; with the King's men, he was distinctly unpopular, owing to his obvious partiality for promising 'aliens.' The oft-cited story, preserved by 1 Lipscombe, G., Hist. and Ant. of the County of Buckingham, 1v, 474.