\ THE FOUNDING OF EXETER SCHOOL ♦• • Portrait of Hugh Crossing. THE FOUNDING OF EXETER SCHOOL A HISTORY OF THE STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM OF EDUCATION WITHIN THE CITY OF EXETER By H. LLOYD PARRY Tow^f Clerk of Exeter JAMES G. COMMIN CUATTO & WINDUS EXETER LONDON 1913 UA6 3? ''7 DEDICATED TO THE EXETER CITY COUNCIL CONTENTS Chapter Page Introduction - - - i I. The High School - - 7 II. The Dispute between the City Chamber and William Perr^anan ... 15 III. The Founding of the Free Grammar School - - - 37 IV. The St. John's Hospital - - 59 (a) The Free Grammar School. (b) The Orphanage. (c) The Free English School. V. Subsequent History of the High School and the St. John's Hospital Schools 79 Conclusion - - - 96 APPENDICES A. Letter and Order of the Privy Council approving- the provision of a Free Grammar School, a.d. 1630 - loi B. Statutes and Ordinances for the Govern- ment of the Free Grammar School, A.D. 1633 - - - 104 C. Order of the Privy Council for the provision of a Free English School, A.D. 1636 - - - 113 D. Charter of Incorporation of the St. John's Hospital, a.d. 1637 - 115 E. Letter of Bishop Temple to the Mayor of Exeter relating to proposals for re-organization of the Educational Endowments of Exeter, a.d. 1872 - 127 f ^o^i ^^ ILLUSTRATIONS Pagre I Portrait of Hugh Crossing ... Frontispiece 2. Seals of the Franciscan Priory of St. John the Baptist (13th century) ... 6 3. Seals of the St. John's Hospital and of the Grammar School (17th century) 72 4. Plan of St. John's Hospital (a.d. 1759) ... 78 5. The Door of the High School ... ... 82 6. Plan of St. John's Hospital (a.d. 1878) ... 84 7. The St. John's Hospital — High Street Frontage ... ... ... ... 92 8. Exeter School (present day) ... ... loo THE FOUNDING OF EXETER SCHOOL. Introduction. The valuable collection of archives belonging to the Exeter Corporation has yielded in the famous Shiliingford Letters* a series of documents which throw a valuable flood of light upon the social conditions and the methods of local govern- ment that prevailed in this country during the middle of the 15th century. They treat of a legal dispute between the Municipal and Ecclesiastical Authorities as to the extent of their respective jurisdictions within the city. Neither the merits of the conflicting claims of the two parties to the action nor the legal points in dispute have, however, at the present time, more than an academic interest, as the object for which the parties strove has long ago lost its significance, and we can now view the result with indifference. The main interest lies in the personal confidences and the intimate details set forth in the private letters of that worthy and doughty Mayor, John Shiliingford, which enable us to acquire a familiar acquaintance with the daily life of the individual actors and steep ourselves in the social atmosphere of the period in which they lived. * Published by the Camden Society, The Founding of Exeter School The Shillingford controversy represents a chap- ter in the history of the conflict between the Municipal and Ecclesiastical Authorities in the City, which continued intermittently from the time of the removal of the Episcopal See to Exeter to quite recent years. The Shillingford letters take pride of place among the municipal archives, for they throw a flood of light upon a period of history of which records are scarce. The Ferryman papers, which afford the main material for the history of the founding of the Exeter School, serve to cast a similar illumination upon the conditions of life within the City of Exeter about a century and a half later, but still nearly three centuries removed from the present. They also present a chapter in the long conflict between the Municipal and Ecclesiastical powers, but the question at issue, unlike that of Shillingford's time, is one of intimate concern and interest to the citizens of the present day, and had the result been other than it was one may well doubt whether the City would have been possessed to-day of that complete educational system of which it is so justly proud. For the history of the controversy is the history of the foundation of this educational system. Whatever differences of opinion there were at the time, the cause of the City Chamber now claims universal sympathy, for they were con- tending for the overthrow of a harmful monopoly and for the right of the citizens to provide for the education of the poor children of the City. The Founding of Exeter School It is strange that the interest and importance of the Ferryman controversy should have so long escaped the notice of our local historians, and equally strange is the neglect of the history of education in Exeter prior to the establishment of the St. John's Hospital Trust, which now governs three of the four public secondary schools of the City and its premier Elementary School. The history of the Trust from its foundation is fully set out in the voluminous report of the Charity Commissioners upon the Endowed Schools of Exeter, but no historian has taken up the story of education within the City prior to the period dealt with by this report. This will account for the misapprehensions that exist as to the circumstances of the founding of the oldest of these schools — the Exeter School, lately known as the Exeter Grammar School, and originally as the Exeter Free Grammar School. What are the current beliefs as to this school ? They are as follows : 1. That it was founded and endowed in 1332 by Bishop Grandisson pursuant to the pious intention of his predecessor Bishop Stapledon. 2. That it was carried on in the old Fran- ciscan Priory of St. John the Baptist till the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIH. 3. That it was re-founded by Hugh Crossing early in the reign of Charles I. But what are the facts ? I. Far from being an ecclesiastical foundation, the Exeter School was founded in the face of the strenuous opposition of the Dean and Chapter. The Founding of Exeter School 2. There never was a Grammar School in the old Franciscan Priory of St. John the Baptist, and the only connection between the Free Grammar School and such monastery was in the accident of a common site. 3, The charitable purposes of Hugh Crossing had no reference to the establishment of a school, and there is no evidence that he had any intention to endow or benefit a Grammar School out of his estate. It is also surmised that the existing school is the product of the amalgamation, in the middle of the 1 8th century, of the Free Grammar School founded in the reign of Charles I. and an older school in the City known as the High School. There is no proof of this and the evidence is all to the contrary. There was, it is true, an educational foundation connected with the St. John's Priory, but it was merely a scholarship endowment with provision for the scholars to be boarded within the precincts of the Priory, the master and brethren of the Hospital being appointed trustees of the endowment fund. The foundation deed* was executed in November, 1332, and is printed in full in Oliver's Monasticon. By this deed Bishop Grandisson, in fulfilment of a project of his predecessor Bishop Stapledon, appropriated, for the endowment of certain scholar- ships, three acres of glebe land in the village of Erniscombe together with the advowson of the Parish Church. The scholars were to be elected, * Copied in the Cartulary of St. John's Hospital, fo. 68b. The Founding of Exeter School two from the Archdeaconry of Barnstaple, one or two from the Archdeaconry of Totnes, two from the Archdeaconry of Exeter, one or two from the Archdeaconry of Cornwall, three from among the choristers of the Cathedral Church of Exeter, and one on the nomination of the chief lords of the Church of Erniscombe. The sum of 5d. per week was allowed for the support and maintenance of each of these scholars, and provision was made for the appointment of a warden and of a master in grammar to take charge of the boys and regulate their conduct. Oliver is not noted for his accuracy, and his heading to this deed, " Appropriation of the Church of Erniscombe and Foundation of a Grammar School," is inexcusable, for a perusal of the deed shews clearly that it did not effect the foundation of a school. On the contrary it makes reference to an existing grammar school in Exeter at which the scholars were to pursue their grammatical studies for five years according to the custom of scholars in the City. The head master of this school is given the right of presenting to the warden of the hospital four boys from each of the selected Archdeaconries for election to any vacancies among the scholars and he is given a voice in the dismissal of the master appointed to take charge of the boys, who is permitted by the scheme, and obviously intended, to be employed as a teacher in the school. Provision is made for increasing or decreasing the number of scholars with any increase or decrease in the income of the endowment. The Founding of Exeter School It would have been strange had this deed provided for the foundation of a grammar school in the Priory. It is a common mistake that education in the middle ages was undertaken by the monks, but no instance is recorded of a monk teaching a grammar school. We usually find that monasteries were merely trustees of school endowments.* Upon the dissolution of the monastery in the reign of Henry VIII., this scholarship endowment which then produced £i^ 12s. per annumf was appropriated with the remainder of the hospital estate. At that time there were nine scholars, each costing the hospital for maintenance the sum of eight pence per week. The buildings of the hospital were granted by the King to Thomas Carew in 1540. Part was converted into dwelling-houses and part allowed to fall into decay. Nearly a century later, in 1623, the inheritance of these premises was purchased from the Carew family for the purpose of a City workhouse, and shortly afterwards a portion of the premises was utilised for the Free Grammar School. It is obvious, therefore, that there was no educational connection whatever between Bishop Grandisson's foundation and the Exeter School. * Leach's English Schools at the Reformation, p. rg. t The value of money at this time was about ten times its present value. a 1o Oi X a Id oa V _c V ** JS c , J3 a (U •-5 en ^ -0 (A c £ ^ (A a a (fl X CQ CHAPTER I. The High School. What now of the Grammar School mentioned in Bishop Grandisson's deed ? This was doubtless the school known as the High School, which appears to have been an ancient school in 1332. The first known document relating to the school is an entry in the register of the Archdeaconry of Exeter, dated the 7th February, 1343, recording an ordinance by the Lord Richard of Braylegh, Dean and Canon of Exeter, by the consent of Thomas of Nassington, Archdeacon of Exeter, for the removal of the school from Smvthen Street to a building in Trinity Lane (now called Musgrave Alley)*, and the provision of a house on an adjoining site as a residence for the head master. The site was the property of the Chapter, and the buildings were provided at the expense of the Dean. In a deed of the following year it was ordained that the head master, Walter de Okysbourne, and his successors should pay a * This Register is not contained among the existing records of the Archdeaconry, but an official copy of the entry of the 7th February, 1343, was made by Archdeacon Thomas Barret in May, 1625, and is contained in the document numbered 2477 of the Chapter Records. No reference is made in this entry to the former location of the school in Smythen Street. The fact is inferred from the words in vico Fabrorum ubi aliquando scolae fuerunt, which occur twice in the Cartulary of St. John's Hospital, fo. 36. The Founding of Exeter School rental of 24s. a year, the money to be distributed during the Hfe of the Dean as he should direct and to be devoted after his death in celebrating his obit in the Cathedral Church of Exeter.* While this is the earliest reference to the school that can be found, there is a reference in the Exeter Episcopal Registers (Grandisson), vol. I., p. 240, of date 5th December, 1329, to Richard of Ratford, schoolmaster of the City of Exeter, doubt- less then master of the High School. He was of some distinction academically, for three or four years earlier he had been Rector of Stapledon Hall (Exeter College), Oxford. f This signifies that the school was of some repute at that time. J The headmastership of the school was in the gift of the Archdeacon of Exeter " ad quem spectat providere virum idoneum et bene literatum tam in gramatica quam dialectica et ad prede- cessores suos pertinuit ab antiquo." For nearly two centuries afterwards the history of the school remains a blank except for an entry in the Obit Book of the Warden and College of Vicars in the Cathedral Church of Exeter, dated the 31st January, 1457, which records the receipt * Chapter Records, No. 2228. 1 1 am indebted for this reference, as also for other valuable assistance, to Mr. Frank Fletcher, M.A., of the Exeter University CoUeg^e. J Izacke's Meviorials of the City of Exeter, MS. fo. 28b, has the following reference to the school under the year 1445: " The Deane & Chapter fFounded & builte the High schoole w'hin this Citty for the better education of youth in good literature, & allowed ye maister thereof for his better incouragement a stipend of Twenty pounds ^ annii." This statement, which has been copied by later historians of the City, is obviously incorrect. 8 The Founding of Exeter School of ten marks sterling from the executors of Laurence Bodyngton, late master of the Grammar School of the City of Exeter, and one of the secondaries of the Cathedral, for the repair of the Cathedral edifice and for the celebrating of the obit of the deceased.* Among the Chapter Recordsf is a copy of the appointment in 15 15 of Thomas David, M.A., as Master of the School. The appointment is by Bishop Oldham, and is expressed to be in exercise of the jurisdiction of the Archdeaconry of Exeter that office being then vacant in his hands. It ordains that no person other than the lawfully appointed master of this school shall conduct a school in the City or within a distance of seven miles from the City under penalty of the greater excommunication. The High School was not a free Grammar School, nor did it possess any endowment. At the time of the Reformation it was the only Grammar School in the City, Bishop Oldham's injunction preventing at this time the establish- ment of any other such school. There was the usual Song School at the Cathedral, and there were doubtless a number of classes in the City at which elementary instruction was given by the priests and chaplains, particularly the Chantry priests. Provision was made for one such ele- mentary school in connection with the Wynard's * Chapter Records, No. 3675. I am indebted for this reference to Miss E. Lega-Weekes. t Chapter Records, No. 2477. The Founding of Exeter School almshouses, for under the terms of Wynard's will the chaplain of the almshouses is required to teach, as he may reasonably have leisure, at the least three and at the most nine boys, at the costs and charges of their parents and friends in all things, — to read from the beginning of the alphabet up to the great Psalter of Holy David, and to learn the same. Edward VI., in the Royal Visitation during the first year of his reign, enjoined that in every Cathedral Church where no free Grammar School was already founded within the Close, nor any such school near adjoining founded by any person, there should be kept and maintained perpetually out of the common lands and revenues of the Church a free Grammar School, the Master to have yearly 20 marks {£13 6s. 8d.) and his house rent free, and the usher yearly 10 marks (;£6 13s. 4d.) and his chamber free. The Dean and Chapter and other ministers of the Cathedral Church were also required to " fynde suche chorusters as have servyd in the churche fyve yeres or more and hath their voyces chaunged at some gramer scole and gyve them yerely thre powndes syx shillyngs eight pence out of the revenuse of the comune landes for the space of fyve yeres." The Commissioners also enjoined that the nomination and election of the school- master and usher of the Grammar School at Exeter should thenceforth pertain to the Dean and Chapter, and that the Archdeacon of Exeter should be utterly secluded from the nomination and appointment of the said schoolmaster. 10 The Founding of Exeter School The Injunctions also provide that, inasmuch as the greater number of the twelve secondaries of the church who were bound by the statutes to go to the Grammar or Song School did not attend the same but lived dissolutely and idly, the Dean and Chapter should appoint to the Grammar School, in the place of the secondaries, twelve scholars, poor men's sons, preference being given to the choristers of the church when their voices change. Each of such scholars was to receive five marks {£^ 6s. 8d.) yearly out of the revenues of the secondaries and common lands of the church for the space of five years. The twelve secondaries then in the church were to be reputed for grammar children and enjoy all the emoluments then to them appointed if they would go to the Grammar School and diligently apply their study there.* In the Royal Visitation of the first year of Queen Elizabeth's reign it was enjoined that such of the vicars as were not able to study by them- selves should daily at all times in the forenoon and the afternoon, except during services, resort unto the Grammar School and learn such things whereby they might afterward be the more able to serve God and the commonwealth. The schoolmaster of the town and all the scholars of the town were required to be present at the morning prayer. An Order was also made by the Queen's Commissioners in this Visitation that the Dean or President of the Chapter should pay to the * The Injunctions of i Ed. VI. are set out in the Chapter Records* No. 3674. II The Founding of Exeter School executor of the late Walter Hart the sum of ;^3 6s. 8d. which he had expended upon the Grammar School and such further moneys as should be proved to have been expended by him upon the school.* This Walter Hart was head master of the school and was dismissed from his office by the Chapter in Easter, 1555. f Upon the dissolution of the school in the middle of the i8th century the Dean and Chapter took counsel's opinionj as to their obligations in regard to the maintenance of the school. He advised that the Injunctions, especially at that distance of time, had not the force of law, so far as to subject or charge the revenues of the Church with the payment of the salaries of the school- master and usher, and it was a question how far they were binding even during the life of Edward VI., as the Act of Parliament which gave the Crown a visitatorial power in ecclesiastical matters was not passed until the first year of Elizabeth's reign when the High Common Court was first erected. § He stated that he could not find that any such salaries were ever settled or paid by the Chapter to the master or usher, and, to shew that these Injunctions had not been looked upon to be of any weight or authority, the Archdeacon of Exeter had ever since, without * The Injunctions of i Eliz. are set out in the Chapter Records, Act Book III., No, 3552, fol. 137A — 142B. t Chapter Act Book, 23 Feb., 1555. t Chapter Records, No. 2477. § The opinion omits to make any reference to the Act of i Ed. VI., cap. xiv., which authorised the visitation of that year. 12 The Founding of Exeter School interruption, constantly nominated the master notwithstanding the Injunction giving the nomi- nation and election to the Dean and Chapter. This statement is not quite correct, for the Dean and Chapter on the 28th September, 1548, the year following the Visitation of Edward's reign, decided to augment the salary of the usher (hypodidasculus) by 20s. per annum. It will also be seen, later, that on one occasion, in 1602, the appointment of the head master was not made by the Archdeacon. It is clear, however, that the Dean and Chapter in the main avoided the observance of these Injunctions. In 1569 the Dean and Chapter, for their own protection, and in order to guard against any pretended claim that might be made to a salary in virtue of the Injunctions, took a bond from the master, then nominated by the Archdeacon, in the penalty of ;^ioo conditioned not to demand any salary from the Chapter or the Archdeacon, and succeeding masters were required to give a bond to the same effect.* Though the Dean and Chapter took rent for the school building, they do not seem to have taken upon themselves the responsibility for its repair. Reference has already been made to the expenses incurred by Walter Hart and the order for its repayment by the Chapter. In 1561 the master, Mr. Williams, made an appeal for funds for its repair, and the matter was taken up by John Hoker, the Chamberlain of the City, who raised * Chapter Records, No. 2477. 13 The Founding of Exeter School among the citizens sufficient money to enable the building to be " new buylded seeled* seated and playstered."f Mr. Ferryman, who was appointed master in 1602, "re-edified the school" and claimed to have expended ;£30o upon this work, the money being raised by subscriptions " from the Justices and gentlemen of Devon and from the magistrates and citizens of Exeter," supple- mented by Mr. Ferryman (according to his own account) out of his private income. Such is briefly the history of the High School up to the time of the dispute that led to the establishment of the Free Grammar School. * Wainscoted. f Hoker's Commonplace Book, fo. 354. 14 CHAPTER II. The Dispute between the City Chamber AND William Ferryman. In the story of the dispute between the City Chamber and Wilham Ferryman we have the story of the founding of the Exeter Free Grammar School. This dispute extended over a period of twenty-three years, from 1619 to 1632, and was fought out by Ferryman with the utmost tenacity. The local courts, the Lord Lieutenant of the County, the Bishop of the Diocese, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Frivy Council were all called upon in turn by this assiduous litigant to hear and decide upon his complaints of the harassing iniquity of the City Chamber. Regarded from, this distance of time one recognises that the merits of the dispute were with the Chamber, but Ferryman had powerful influence at his back, and it is amusing to note the shifts to which these various tribunals had recourse in order to avoid a definite decision in favour of either party. Hence the protracted character of the dispute. Ferryman was appointed master of the High School in 1602. Upon the death or retirement of Mr. Drayton in that year, the nomination of his suc- cessor was placed by the Bishop in the hands of the City Chamber. This was a curious circumstance 15 The Founding of Exeter School and must have been induced by some strong reason. It appears that it was a compliment to the citizens for their liberality in subscribing to the restoration of the building earlier in Elizabeth's reign. The minute of the City Chamber* in which the favour of the Lord Bishop and the thanks of the Chamber are recorded concludes, however, with a resolution that inquiry should be made what fee the schoolmaster of the City in times past had had in King Edward's time or Queen Mary's time of the Dean and Chapter for and in respect of a free school. The matters were evidently connected and the inference is that the Dean and Chapter hoped by placing the nomination of the master in the hands of the Chamber to escape such an inquiry. If that was their expectation it met with disappointment. The Mayor, on behalf of the Chamber, sub- mitted to the Bishop the name of Mr. Ferryman, the Chamber having decided that if this nomination should not please his Lordship Mr. Pasmore should be nominated in the second place. The appointment was given to Mr. Ferryman, a decision which the Chamber had subsequently much reason to regret. A minute in the Chapter Act Book of the 23rd May, 1618, shews that building operations were again taken in hand, for on that date the Chapter handed Mr. Ferryman ^^lo towards the new building of the High School, and allowed him to conduct his school temporarily in the cloisters. * 22nd May, 1602. 16 The Founding of Exeter School The first incident in the open quarrel between the City Authorities and Ferryman occurred on the 22nd June, 1622, when Ferryman lodged a com- plaint before the Magistrates that Zachary Wills, an apprentice, and others had made an attack upon his ushers and scholars in Southernhay. Failing to obtain satisfaction he presented a petition to the Frivy Council complaining of the outrage offered unto him and his school and charging the Magistrates with countenancing and abetting the business. As his complaint was couched in general terms and gave no particulars, the Frivy Council, in a communication of the 15th July, 1622, com- missioned the Bishop, Valentine Cary, to hold an enquiry and report to them thereon that they may make such order as the cause should require. The result of this enquiry was communicated to the Frivy Council in February, 1625, upon the hearing of a second petition from Ferryman raising fresh grounds of complaint against the City Authorities. The Bishop reported that the matter of the riot w^as fully investigated by him in the presence of divers wise and discreet gentlemen. After hearing the evidence of both parties, he found that great abuse had been offered unto the school by some of the younger sort of the City and that the Magistrates had failed to deal with the matter until they learnt of Ferryman's petition to the Frivy Council, when they formally bound some few of the delinquents to good behaviour unto the time of the next Sessions, but bound no one to appear and lay anything to their charge. The 17 The Founding of Exeter School Bishop explained that he had not certified the matter to their Lordships at the time for two reasons, (i) because he was loath to do the City any bad office, having been only recently appointed to the Bishopric, and (2) because he hoped to make peace between the parties and thought the suppression of the certificate would tend to this. To that end he had warned the schoolmaster to carry himself respectfully towards the Magistrates and exhorted the Magistrates to use him friendly. He had, however, found his labour in vain, other causes of dispute having arisen between the parties. The Mayor and Aldermen* at the same time • presented their version of the affair. They stated that the Court went very fully into the matter of Ferryman's complaint immediately it was presented to them, which was in the week following the affray, and had sat for three days for the purpose. Upon this examination they found both parties to blame but bound over the townsmen complained of and them only to take their trial at the next Court of General Sessions. No one, however, appeared to prosecute at this Court, and the townsmen were accordingly discharged. They stated that they had heard of the petition presented by Ferryman to the Frivy Council, but had not been allowed to see it, that the proceedings before the Bishop were held in private, and they were informed by the Recorder, who was present, that * The Mayor, Recorder and Aldermen acted as the Magistracy of the City till the ist May, 1836. J8 The Founding of Exeter School Perryman, though accusing the whole of the Magistracy in gross, could bring no specific accusation except against one, Alderman Prowse, and none of the Aldermen (Mr. Prowse excepted) was ever called before his Lordship. The Mayor and Aldermen were unable therefore to learn the slanders against them and thus right themselves by a course of law. Perryman had also his say. Proof of the justness of his complaint having been laid before the Lord Bishop, he had on his Lordship's motion, desisted from prosecuting his complaint further in hope of winning by that means the love and favour of the Mayor and Aldermen. What the Privy Council made of these delight- fully conflicting reports history does not relate, but no decision on their part was required, for the matter was by that time closed. What are the facts in regard to this so-called riot in Southernhay ? Fortunately, the Municipal Records have preserved for us the depositions of all the witnesses before the Magistrates.* From this evidence we are able to piece together an incident which, trivial in itself, is interesting for the picture of the times which it affords. On the 25th June, 1622, four days after the event, the Mayor and one Alderman sat to take the evidence of a witness who was suddenly called away from the City. The next day the Mayor and the full bench of Aldermen (with one exception) took the evidence of sixteen witnesses, four on • Proceedings in the Mayors' Court, Book No. 64, p. 82 et seq. 19 The Founding of Exeter School behalf of Zachary Wills, and twelve on behalf of Ferryman. Among the latter were Ferryman, his chief usher (Haytor) and nine of his scholars of ages varying between 13 and 20. It appears that on the day of the affray the boys held a shooting match in Southernhay for a prize and the post of captaincy. On the green with the boys and the ushers were the gentlemen archers, mostly of the merchant class, and on either side at a respectable distance were assembled persons of lower class, mostly artisans and apprentices. Haytor was judging. When he gave his decision, Zachary Wills, who had pressed forward towards the centre of the green, took exception to it and said that Mr. Faul's son had hit the mark and should have got the chiefest prize. Haytor told him he had no business there and bade him go back among his fellows. Wills retorted that he kept as good company as he, and again protested against the decision. Words ensued, and as Haytor walked away, Wills called him *' base rogue " and " base rascal." Then Haytor, coming back to Wills, asked him what he said and Wills repeated the names. Whereupon, Haytor gave him a thrust in the breast and bade him begone. Then Wills struck him and they fell a fighting, or fell by the ears as one witness expressed it. Another of the ushers coming up to part them, as was thought, was tripped up from behind by an apprentice (name unknown). Haytor deposed that after the quarrel, as he was among the gentlemen archers desiring their ao The Founding of Exeter School opinion for deciding of the prize, one, Henry Gandy, shouted " base rogue " at him, held up his fist, and bade him come forth if he dared and he would fight him himself. Ferryman, who had now come upon the scene, advanced to Gandy and bade him go upon his business. Gandy affronted him and said he would stand there in spite of Ferryman's teeth. Where- upon Ferryman suspected there was a plot laid to beat his ushers, so he willed them to withdraw and stay among the gentlemen. Evidence was called to shew that the affray was premeditated. Two of the scholars stated that before the quarrel they heard John Turner (in company with Abraham Reed and three or four others) say that if ever the ushers came without Westgate they would need to have one hundred men in arms to have them home again. Two other scholars stated that after the gentlemen archers had gone away they heard Abraham Reed tell Wills that if Haytor did come down into the Bonhay (evidently the apprentices' playing ground) he would make him that he should never come home again except he was brought home. Wills' friends gave much the same account, but their evidence was conflicting as to which of the combatants first called the other a '' base rogue" or "base fellow" and which struck the first blow after the thrust. A petty squabble to bring before His Majesty's Frivy Council and the Lord Bishop of Exeter, but the first scene in an act full of consequences for the City. 21 The Founding of Exeter School Perryman was soon furnished with fresh grievances against the City. These had reference (a) to a proposal of the City Chamber to establish a new school and (b) to certain rates or charges that had been levied upon him. It is probable that there had been for several years a growing dissatisfaction with the existing provision for the education of the young within the City, and that the citizens were beginning to discuss the establish- ment of a new school even before Ferryman's petition to the Privy Council in regard to the affray in Southernhay. The action taken by him in that matter would certainly have the effect of enhancing his unpopularity with the citizens, and tend to bring to a head any suggestions for the erection of a new school. That the school of this "learned but lashing master," as Izacke terms him, was held in disrepute among the citizens may be judged from the statements in a petition presented to the City Chamber by certain in- habitants of the City and neighbourhood, which is not dated, but was doubtless presented soon after the Southernhay affair. During the Bishopric of William Cotton (1598- 162 1), a private school had been opened in the City, with the permission of the Bishop, by a schoolmaster named Thomas Spicer. An attempt was made by Perryman to procure the suppression of this private school which led to the petition to which reference has been made. This petition* is signed by Bartholomew Hore and three others * Ancient Letters, vol. 6oD, No. 281. 22 The Founding of Exeter School in the behalf of themselves, their friends and of many hundreds more within the City and in the country. The petitioners state that they had put their children to Ferryman's school, but that Ferryman and his ushers, being over-pressed with a far greater multitude of scholars than they were able to teach, "■ they profited nothinge at all. For " which Cause and for the Crewell and Tiranicall " whippinge of Divers of o'' said children beinge " apt to learne and of mild nature some Three " fower ffive and Six tymes in one day whereby " some of our Children pretendinge that they went " to schoole went of Meechinge* halfe of yeare or " more togeather others refusinge ever to goe to " schoole to him chusinge rather to hange them- ■'' selves drowne themselves cutt theire owne " Throates or otherwise murder or mischeife " themselves whereupon divers more compelled to " put theire Children to theire greate charge att " Country Scholes and others to keepe them att home *' from schoole, divers of yo*" suppliants beinge in " this perplexitie did put theire children to schoole " to one Thomas Spicer where for the most parte " they profitted more in one quarter of the yeare " then they did in Twoyeares at the said Ferrimans " Schoole. But so itt is yf itt may please your "wo'"PPs that of late the said Ferriman hath '• procured of a letter from Mr. Doctor Goach to " prohibite the said Thomas Spicer from teachinge. " By reason whereof your Suppliants and theire " children are likely to be utteHie undone and to * Playing truant. 23 The Founding of Exeter School " be barred from learninge w^^ is most lamentable." The petitioners, therefore, prayed the Chamber to take steps for the erection of another school. As will be seen later the Bishop declined to prohibit Mr. Spicer from teaching, but upon his death in or about the year 1624 the school came to an end. The first official action taken by the Chamber towards the erection of a free school was in the commencement of the year 1623, when the Chamber deputed the Recorder, Alderman John Prowse and Mr. John Chappell to wait upon the Bishop in London and solicit his consent to the establishment of another school in the City. They were also, apparently, commissioned, if they found it advisable, to obtain parliamentary powers for this purpose. A letter from Mr. Chappell to the Mayor, dated thei27th April, 1623*, states the result of their mission. The Bishop took time to consider his reply, desiring to consult those who possessed a fuller acquaintance with the school than he had. The deputation waited upon him later, when he informed them that if, upon his return to Exeter, he found the establishment of a new school would benefit the City, he would yield to the request of the citizens. The Chancellor of the Diocese, who was present at this second interview, stated that the number of scholars in the school did not exceed 140 and that the master did not make more than a clear income of £100 a year out of the school, which number and sum were far below what had been stated by the deputation. Mr, Chappell was * City Records, Ancient Letters, vol. 6oc, No. 234. The Founding of Exeter School desired by the Recorder to inform the Chamber that, in his opinion, the Chamber would not obtain their purpose unless they could prove some pregnant matter against Ferryman. He advised, also, that it would be a hazardous expenditure of money to move in the matter in Parliament, as that assembly was so congested with business that " if every day were a week " it would prove too little to determine upon all the petitions and bills that were then before the House. About Michaelmas of this year a petition was presented to the Chamber of Exeter signed by sixty of the leading citizens, all subsidy men, importuning the Chamber to solicit the consent of the Bishop to the establishment of a free school. The Mayor, Recorder and some of the Councillors thereupon waited upon the Bishop and renewed the motion made to him in London in the spring. In the account of this interview furnished by the Bishop to the Privy Council in February, 1625, he reported that he enquired of them whether they had any just charge to lay against Perryman, either of insufficiency or negligence or misdemeanour or undue usage of his scholars, to which they replied that they had not. Thereupon he stated that he saw no necessity for a new school, as the High School, which had been recently rebuilt mostly at Perryman's own charges, was so spacious that it was able to receive a hundred more scholars, and the staff was sufficient to teach many more scholars than were then in the school. He considered it would be a disadvantage to the City to have 25 The Founding of Exeter School another school, as indulgent parents would upon slight occasion remove their children from school to school to the detriment of their education. He was unable therefore to yield to their desire. The Mayor and his fellows replied to this that if he would not grant their desire they would look to a higher power from whom they had no doubt they would obtain it. The higher power to which the Mayor referred was probably the Archbishop of Canterbury, for on the 25th May, 1624, the Chamber resolved that a letter be written to the Archbishop touching more schoolmasters in the City. The City records do not shew whether any action was taken upon this resolution. Ferryman's second grievance against the Chamber arose in this same year. Hitherto he had been discharged from payment of certain assessments by virtue of his office, though apparently not legally exempt. These assessments were (i) a powder rate levied within the City and (2) the first and second subsidies of the reign of James I. and the fifteenths. Among the City Records* is a precept dated the 2ist March, 1624, under the hand of Francis, Lord Lieutenant of the City and County of the City of Exeter whereby the Lord Lieutenant authorises and requires the Deputy Lieutenants, of whom there were five (including the Mayor), to assess the persons whose names are under- written to the several amounts set opposite their * Document No. 1741. 26 The Founding of Exeter School names for the raising of a sum of money to purchase powder to be kept in store for the preservation and safety of the City. It is thereby enjoined that any person refusing to pay the rate should be bound by recognizance in the sum of ;f 10 to appear before the Lord Lieutenant at his house in Westminster within twenty days after his refusal to answer the contempt. The names of 498 citizens appear in the rate list, and among them is that of William Ferryman, who is charged to 7s. 6d. Ferryman declined to pay, and after three or four warnings, being still obdurate, was bound over on the 22nd December to answer his contempt before the Lord Lieutenant. Ferryman, nothing loath to carry his grievances to the higher powers, addressed a petition* to the Archbishop of Canterbury and presented himself before the Lord Lieutenant in London with such speed that he arrived there before delivery of the letter and recognizance from the Mayor and the other Deputy Lieutenants. In this petition Ferryman did not confine himself to his grievance in respect of the powder rate. He brought a sweeping charge against the Magistracy of the City. He complained that out of their malice against him for his complaint to the Frivy Council in 1622 they had lately, besides making divers false and malicious aspersions defaming him, both in his person and his profession, taxed him to the first and second payment of the * Ancient Letters, vol. 6oc, No. 235. 27 The Founding of Exeter School last subsidy ; they had laboured to erect a new school to the prejudice if not overthrow of his most ancient school, notwithstanding his many sacrifices in its behalf ; then, lastly, in further execution of their continuing spleen, they had, without any former usage, assessed him towards the erection of a powder magazine, and had bound him in this time of Christmas and dead of winter to appear before the Lord Lieutenant in London, and he could by no means beg a later and more seasonable journey. He prayed his Lordship to give protection to a poor scholar from such great wrongs and oppression. The petition was forwarded by the Archbishop to the Lord Lieutenant with this note at the foot, " January 4, 1624. I praie the L. Russell to give the best assistance that his Lp can to this petitioner in his honest cause, G. Cant."* Lord Russell communicates his decision on the matter to the Mayor on the 6th January.f It is an ingenious attempt to give satisfaction to both parties, but, as will be seen, failed to make peace. What with the obligation to enforce his own precept and to preserve the dignity of his Deputy Lieutenants, and the desire to pay some regard to the recommendation of the Archbishop, he was in a difficult position and escaped as best he could. Ferryman had brought before the Lord Lieut- enant many complaints against the City Magistracy, but Lord Russell found that the refusal to pay the powder rate was the only matter within his * George Abbot. t Ancient Letters, vol. 6od, No. 273. 28 The Founding of Exeter School jurisdiction. He approved and commended the action of the Deputy Lieutenants and informed Ferryman that his exemption from payment of rates of the hke nature in the past was not of right but of favour. On learning this, Ferryman adopted a humble tone and submitted himself to the judgment of the Lord Lieutenant. He acknow- ledged his error in so obstinately insisting on his right of exemption. He alleged that what private means he had was acquired, for the most part, not from the emoluments of the school, but by marriage, and that he had laid out the greater part of his fortune in re-edifying the school by which expenditure the whole City benefited. In consideration of these circumstances and having regard to the special recommendation of the Archbishop, the Lord Lieutenant decided to yield to Ferryman's request that he should be spared from contributing to this present charge on condition that he confessed his error before the Mayor and Deputy Lieutenants. It was enjoined that this favour to a single scholar was not to be drawn upon as a precedent for others of whatever quality who may hereafter desire such exemption. One must not assume too readily that the action of the City Authorities in rating Ferryman was dictated by a feeling of enmity. A reference to the previous precept for a powder rate in 1615* from which Ferryman had been exempted shews that on that occasion the total assessment was only £^6 and the number of persons rated 287. On *City Records, No. 1730. 29 The Founding of Exeter School the second occasion the amount of the assessment was £i^y 8s. 6d. and the number of persons rated 498. It may well be, therefore, that in any event Ferryman's name would have been included in this enlarged list of contributors. The same may be said in regard to the rating to the subsidies and the fifteenths. These were raised under the Act 21 James I., c. 33, which provides for the raising of three whole fifteenths and tenths to be levied on personalty and three subsidies to be levied on personalty and on realty. They were to be raised in three payments — the fifteenths and tenths by the loth July, 1624, the loth December, 1624, and the loth May, 1625 ; the subsidies by the 20th June, 1624, the loth October, 1624, and the loth March, 1625. Each subsidy was fixed at 2s. 8d. in the ■£ on personalty and 4s. in the £ on realty. The preamble to the Act states that the object of the Aids was to provide the King with money in expectation of a war with Spain consequent on the dissolution of the treaties of marriage with that country and for restitution of the Palatinate, and it adds that this was the greatest Aid ever granted to be levied in so short a time. The assessment lists still preserved among the City Muniments shew that Ferryman was rated at 8s. (i.e. on an assessment of £Tf on his goods) in respect of each payment of the subsidies, and is. in respect of each payment of the fifteenths. In the collection of these the assessors were ordered to disregard the old rates and to rate every man according to their own knowledge, not even 30 The Founding of Exeter School accepting his own declaration. There is evidence that Ferryman's own declaration as to his means was not accepted by the assessors. Ferryman had an uneasy time of it when the citizens learnt the character of his mission to London. The Deputy Lieutenants decided to extract the fullest satisfaction they could out of Lord Russell's decision, and called upon Ferryman to make public confession of his error, declining to receive a written communication as a compliance with his Lordship's order. They doubtless took care that the citizens should be made acquainted with the time appointed for this, and one can imagine the crowd that would assemble at the Guildhall to enjoy his humiliation. Ferryman was not, however, prepared to exhibit before such a concourse the humble demeanour which he had assumed before the Lord Lieutenant. He made a very qualified confession, which was apparently accepted, but the reception which one can well imagine he received from the crowd in the body of the hall, evidently stirred him to hot anger, for on his return home he immediately addressed a petition to the Frivy Council* setting out all the grievances which he had laid before the Arch- bishop and the Lord Lieutenant, but in more detail. He commenced with a reference to his former petition in regard to the riot in Southernhay and gave his version of the examination before the Bishop. He then charged the Mayor and * Ancient Letters, vol. 6oD, Nos. 271 and 272. 31 The Founding of Exeter School Aldermen with malicious persecution of him and in particular that : — 1. They had, contrary to the law and the opinion of the Judges of that Circuit, the will of the assessors and some of the Commissioners and their own usage for 22 years, taxed him to the payment of the first subsidy, and, though he was discharged from that, taxed him to the second subsidy, and, notwithstanding his discharge also from that, they had taxed him to the fifteenths. 2. They were taking steps to erect a new school, though he had taught in the City for 22 years, being drawn there by the City Chamber themselves from a place of equal benefit. His school was capable of receiving many more scholars than it had, and he had spent ;^3oo out of his private means in re-edifying the school and had provided a staff of learned ushers at great cost. 3. They had assessed him to the erecting of a powder magazine, though he had been previously exempt, and had bound him in the dead of winter by recognizance to appear before the Lord Lieu- tenant in London. The Lord Lieutenant had discharged him from the payment but had willed that he should not stand upon his right of exemp- tion but rather admit himself to be in error. Upon his return he had acquainted them with this, whereupon they had reviled him, saying he was a proud, saucy, insolent fellow, and they would whip him worse than he whipped any scholar. Within a few days afterwards, to his further disgrace, they called together an unusual assembly 32 The Founding of Exeter School and pressed him there to make public confession of his supposed error. He prayed their Lordships to exempt him from future payment of the like taxes and charges and to uphold the privileges of his ancient school and to order some reparation for the disgrace he had sustained. Their Lordships forwarded a copy of the petition to the City Chamber and ordered the attendance of two Aldermen before them on the 1 8th February, 1624-5, t° answer the complaints. The Chamber carefully drew up their answer. They first of all presented their version of the proceedings that had followed the riot in Southern- hay, then dealt, as follows, with the specific charges made by Ferryman.* I. As to the subsidies, it was the duty of the Commissioners to rate all persons who were liable, and they had been advised by divers learned lawyers that Ferryman was not exempt ; accord- ingly his name had stood as the raters had presented him. They had heard that two of the Commissioners had afterwards certified for him into the Exchequer and after some labour obtained his discharge, with the direction however (as they were informed) that he was not to expect the same favour in the future. In further performance of their duty they had rated him to the second subsidy also but knew not whether he had been discharged from that. The reason why he had been exempt from * Ancient Letters, vol. 6oD, Nos. 275 and 27SA. 33 The Founding of Exeter School former subsidies was that the best part of his estate (as they understood) was in a tenement in the County of Devon and that he was rated there by the Commissioners for that County, but that tenement having been sold they considered they were in duty bound to rate him in the City. 2. They considered the complaint against the proposal to establish a new school as strange, for such had ever been regarded as an act of piety. It was not conceived with the object of injuring Mr. Ferryman. Their intention was that it should be a free school endowed for its maintenance for the good of posterity. There were great complaints of the " verie extraordinarie greate " charges made by Ferryman, more than double what had been paid to any of his predecessors. Owing to the populousness of the City and the number of children who came there from the country to be taught another teacher was much needed, and in the past the City frequently had two schools. Ferryman had been an earnest suitor for his present appointment, and had moved the Arch- deacon to solicit on his behalf. And it was well worth his endeavours, for his previous school was a mean one in a country town and his present place was more than seven times the value of the former. What he spent in re-edifying the school they knew not, but he received large subscriptions from the justices and gentlemen of Devon and from the magistrates and citizens of Exeter, some being of 34 The Founding of Exeter School opinion that his receipts exceeded his disburse- ments. 3. With regard to the powder rate, they acted only in accordance with the precept and he was treated no otherwise than were others who were rated and declined to pay. Upon his return from the Lord Lieutenant he had been treated with every respect and the Chamberlain and one of the bailiffs of the City (no ordinary messengers) had waited *upon him with the notice of the time and place appointed to receive his public con- fession. He made a bare acknowledgment of his supposed error, as he termed it, and it was accepted by the Deputy Lieutenants in a peaceable manner. Two of the City Aldermen with learned counsel appeared before the Privy Council on the day appointed, Ferryman and his counsel being also present. After many allegations on both sides and much debate their Lordships adjourned their consideration of the matter till the 23rd February in order to obtain a report from the Bishop of Exeter and, in particular, his certificate of the result of his investigation into Ferryman's com- plaint in respect of the Southernhay riot, which had been deputed to him by the Council nearly three years ago. The Bishop reported in writing, being prevented by sickness from attending in person. This report*, which dealt with the circumstances of the riot and with the petition of the Chamber to him in 1624 to permit another * Ancient Letters, vol. 6oD, No. 276. 35 The Founding of Exeter School Grammar School in the City has been already referred to. In the end their Lordships found that some- what too hard a hand had been carried against Ferryman by the magistrates in some particulars which put him to unnecessary charges and vexation, that there was some warrant for their action but as it appeared to have some mixture of private ends, accompanied with some indisposition towards the person of the schoolmaster (of whose sufficiency and good demeanour the Board was satisfied), they ordered that the magistrates should be admonished to forbear to put any like unneces- sary charges upon him thereafter and to give such respect and countenance as belonged to a person of his calling and profession, he demeaning himself accordingly. Ferryman who was then present before them was admonished that he should by a respectful carriage endeavour to regain the love and good opinion of the City. It will be noted that the Council confined their order to the question of the exactions. 36 CHAPTER III. The Founding of the Free Grammar School, Ferryman's first and second petitions to the Privy Council, though induced by his fear of the estabhshment of a free school in the City, had direct reference merely to the affray in Southernhay and the charge of i6s. 6d. to the powder rate and other assessments, matters of trivial importance for the consideration of so high an authority. These petitions were the preliminaries to his third petition to the Council, when the question of the Free Grammar School was directly raised and settled. Though this question was raised in the second petition in 1625, no order in the matter could well be made by the Privy Council in respect to so insubstantial a charge as a mere desire to erect a free school, especially as any action to effect that desire had been checked by the refusal of the Bishop to grant a licence. By the year 1630, however, the charge had become a substantial one, for in the meantime desire had been translated into action. The refusal of Bishop Carey in 1624 to licence a second master in the City had barred, for the time being, any action by the City Chamber for the establishment of a new school. In 1627 Carey was succeeded in the Bishopric by Joseph Hall, and on the 21st November of that year the 37 The Founding of Exeter School Mayor and Aldermen presented to him their congratulations upon his inauguration into the diocese and made suit to him to allow two public grammar schools in the City. They referred to the expense and discomfort to which parents were put in sending their children away to school, being dissatisfied with the High School, owing to the overcrowding and the ill-using of the scholars there. They challenged any legal privilege in the school, by patent or otherwise, to usurp the monopoly of the teaching of grammar within certain precincts of the City, and in support of their contention referred to the fact that at divers times in living memory there had been two public teachers of grammar in the City, though of late years, at Ferryman's instance, some had been prohibited by the Bishop's predecessors.* Bishop Hall did not, however, grant their request, being influenced, so the Mayor and Aldermen subsequently alleged, by the Dean and Chapter. With this fresh disappointment the citizens might well have been excused if they had, for the time being, renounced all idea of founding another school, for it was evident that no sym- pathy could be expected from the Bishop and the Chapter, and the efforts to obtain a licence for another master to teach in the City had been of no avail. But the City Fathers were made of stern stuff. They were determined to have their school and, having failed to untie the knot of their * Ancient Letters, vol. 6od, No. 306 (21st Nov., 1627). 38 The Founding of Exeter School difficulty, they boldly proceeded to cut it. On the advice of counsel they took up the contention that the Bishop's licence for a master to teach in the intended Free School was not required. Matters were precipitated by a legacy of ^^200* in the will of Alderman Thomas Walker towards the erection and yearly endowment of a school whereby the children of the freemen of the City might be instructed in the Latin tongue without any charge to their parents. It was a condition of the legacy that such Free School should be erected within five years after the testator's decease. The Will is dated the 15th November, 1628, and the testator died on the 23rd February, 1628-9. This bequest is worth chronicling, for this was the first in the long list of gifts which have gone to the establishment and the endowment of the Exeter School, and, although the foundation of the School is properly attributable to the joint action of the leading citizens of that day, to Thomas Walker belongs the credit of laying the first stone. On the 13th December, 1629, died Elizabeth Dowrich, daughter of Thomas Walker, and by her will the sum of £^0 was bequeathed for the Free School. These two legacies were followed by a gift of ;^ioo by Alderman Walter Borough, and with this ;^35o in hand the Chamber proceeded to brave the embargo placed by the ecclesiastical authority and to take measures for the provision of a school building and for the raising of a permanent endowment. * The value of money at this time was about four times its present value. 39 The Founding of Exeter School Difficulty seems to have been met in finding a convenient site for a building, but eventually arrangements were made for adapting a portion of the buildings of the old St. John's Hospital for the purposes of such a school and a lease of the premises was obtained. The two legacies and Mr. Borough's gift were formally handed over to the Mayor, Aldermen and Bailiffs, who covenanted, in consideration thereof, to provide a school building as soon as they should be enabled thereunto by the charitable benevolence of well disposed persons, and to appoint a school- master freely to instruct, without charge, the children of the freemen and inhabitants of the City in the Latin and Greek tongues and other learning. They also covenanted to grant a rent charge of ;£20 a year out of the Manor of Exe Island for the payment and maintenance of such schoolmaster, with power reserved to transfer the security for the charge to some other portion of the corporate estate of no less capital value than ;^35o. It was agreed that the school should be called the Free School and be under the govern- ance of the Mayor and Common Council. These arrangements were incorporated in two deeds dated the 30th January and 20th February, 1629-30. The battle over the Free School was fought out in this year of 1630, the previous events having been mere skirmishes in the campaign. It was felt that the provision of a school building and the endowment of the school would place the City in a strong position when the matter came to be • 40 The Founding of Exeter School fought out before the supreme authority. It was a risk well run and in the end the bold course paid. The preparation of a building for the new school was eagerly taken up and the contributions of the citizens flowed in apace. On the 25th May, 1630, the Chamber gave directions for the felhng of some trees in Duryard Wood for beams for the intended Free School, if other convenient timber could not be conveniently gotten for money, and by the same resolution an order was given for the purchase of 200 deal boards for which the sum of ;£ 16 was paid.* On the loth June, eight members of the Chamber were appointed and two deputed to each quarter of the City to collect a moiety of the money which " divers inhabitants of the Cittie had lovinglie " under written to contribute to the founding of a " Free Schoole." At the same meeting of the Chamber, an order was given to fell six trees in Duryard Wood for the better furtherance of the work. On the 8th July it was agreed that the remainder of the money promised towards the founding of the Free Grammar School should be called in and in consideration of its receipt a rent charge of £;^o per annum was granted out of the Manor of Exe Island. This investment did not, however, represent the whole of the contribu- tions, for a portion was devoted towards the cost of the building operations. As may be expected. Ferryman was again spurred into action by this activity on the part of * Minute 29th September, 1630. 41 The Founding of Exeter School the Chamber. In June of this year he presents his third Petition* to the Privy Council. He refers to their Order of the 23rd February, 1624-5, admonishing the magistrates to forbear to impose any further charges upon him hke to the assess- ment to the subsidies and the fifteenths, and states that the magistrates in contempt of such Order, and contrary to the opinion of the Judges of Assize in point of law, had since forced him to pay new assessments, but that he (unwilling to have any new differences with them) had been content to pay and to forbear making any further complaints to their Lordships. He had also endeavoured "by all respective and good carriage" to regain the love and good opinion of the magis- trates, but they, conceiving causeless spleen against him, were (contrary to the will of the Bishop and of the Dean and Chapter) preparing material for erecting a new school and had resolved to bring in a schoolmaster of their own in order to impoverish him. He again recounts the sacrifices he had rnade for his school, and prays their Lordships to stay the erection of the new school and preserve him from any further trouble in the matter. The Privy Council referred this Petition to the Bishop and the Dean and Chapter for their observations. In replyf they submitted the state- ment presented to the Privy Council by Bishop Carey in February, 1624-5, together with two certificates, one by Bishop Hall and the other by * Ancient Letters, vol. 6oE, No. 334. t Ancient Letters, vol. 60D, No. 276. 42 The Founding of Exeter School the Dean and Chapter, confirming and expressing their agreement with the statement of Bishop Carey, the Dean and Chapter adding that it would be very prejudicial to the privileges of their Church and contrary to their local statutes that a new school should be erected within the City. At a meeting of the 25th June the Privy Council made an Order* in which they reproved the dis- respectful carriage and proceeding of the Mayor and Magistrates and required that they should forthwith forbear to erect any new school within the City without the privity and licence of the Board. They further ordered that the Mayor and Magistrates should cause repayment to be made to Ferryman of all such sums as had been taken from him in contempt of the Board's Order of the 23rd February, 1624-5. In the recitals to this Order their Lordships expressed themselves as satisfied with the merits of Ferryman and the sufficiency of his school and called to mind that on the former hearing before the Board they had declared to those who were then present as agents for the City that they should erect no new school without first acquainting the Board and obtaining a licence in that behalf. This Order was made without affording the City any opportunity of a hearing, and immediately it was communicated to the Chamber instructions were given counsel to prepare a counter petition. The City were advised throughout this dispute by * Privy Council Registers, 25th June, 1630. Also City Records. Ancient Letters vol. 60E, No. 335. 43 The Founding of Exeter School one of the ablest, if not the ablest, lawyer of the day, William Noy, who was appointed Attorney General in October, 163 1. He was a native of Cornwall and educated at Exeter College, and was doubtless from these connections on terms of personal friendship with some of the leading citizens. He was appointed counsel to the City Chamber in April, 1625, at a fee of £t^ 6s. 8d. per annum, and evidently performed his services to the great satisfaction of the Chamber, for on the 22nd December, 163 1, they voted him a present of the value of £"] or ;^8, and on the 22nd January, 1633-4, ^l^^y resolved that " a tonne of the best " syder that cann be gotten and that two good samon " pyes shall be provided att the charge of the Cittie " to be bestowed uppon Mr. Attornye as a token of " the thanckfulness of this Chamber unto hym for " his greate love and care in the publick affaires of "this Cittie." The Petition* presented by the City Chamber dealt, in the first place, with the charges made by Ferryman against the Mayor, Aldermen and Magistrates and then advanced reasons for the establishment of a Free Grammar School within the City. ' They stated that Ferryman had not been assessed to any rate whatsoever since the Magistrates had notice of any Order of the Lords, the poor rate only excepted, and this he had always willingly paid. They further stated that upon receipt of the Order of the 25th June, 1630, the Mayor had enquired of * Ancient Letters, Vol. 6ok, No. 342. 44 The Founding of Exeter School Perryman what assessment he meant by his petition and what moneys he had paid, to which he repHed that it was 8s. for one subsidy and something to the poor, that of the poor he weighed not but expected repayment of the 8s. That assessment, it was explained, was made a few days after the Order of 1624 and before the Commissioners had any notice of it, and having collected the money the Commissioners felt bound to pay it to His Majesty. They never understood that the Judges had delivered any opinion as to Ferryman's liability to pay, but heard that Perry- man had moved the Judges and told them he kept a Free School, which was not true. The Com- missioners, being advised by Counsel that he was not exempt, considered it their duty not to pass him by, for it was publicly known that he had a great estate. Yet two of the Commissioners had, in favour to him, raised [hefyed'] his case into the Court of Exchequer that the Judges of that Court might do him right, if he were wronged by the assessment. They denied that, in erecting a school, they had knowingly done anything contrary to any Order of the Privy Council, nor had they heard any declara- tion of their Lordships restricting the erection of any school within the City before the Order of the 25th June last, by which time a Free School had been founded within the City by the charitable and liberal bequests of divers worthy persons. Perryman was not master of the High School at the time his petition was presented, neither did he intermeddle 45 The Founding of Exeter School with the scholars, but farmed the school out at a yearly rent. The pecuniary sacrifices which he claimed to have made in the interests of his school were also categorically denied. Reasons for the erection of a new school were set out at some length and the petitioners prayed that they might have leave to perfect the said Free School and be freed from the complaints of Ferryman, who had often and without just ground molested them and put them to great charge. They stated that they did not desire to place any schoolmaster into the Free School but such as should conform to the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England and be approved of by such as their Lordships should think fit. The first draft of the petition proposed that this approval should be by the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal for the time being, if their Lordships should think fit, but this proposal was struck out with a marginal note that the Bishops would take exception. Upon receipt of this petition the Privy Council directed Perryman and the Bishop and Dean and Chapter to write them a letter certifying their reasons for opposing the erection of a Free School. The Mayor and Corporation thereupon addressed a further petition* to their Lordships, desiring them, if they did not consider the reasons advanced in the former petition sufficient to obtain a revoca- tion of the Order of the 25th June, to summon all parties before the Council, and to put them to the * Ancient Letters, vol. 6oE, No. 343. 46 The Founding of Exeter School proof of their allegations so that some final Order might be made in the matter. So proper a request prevailed, and on the 26th November, 1630, the Board appointed the second Wednesday in the next term, being the Hilary term, for the hearing of the cause.* All the parties opposing the City's petition were ordered to send to the Clerk of the Council, a full week before the day of hearing, the reasons for their opposition and to send also copies of the same to the petitioners that they may be prepared to make answer thereto. The Chapter had by this time ranged themselves definitely on Ferryman's side, for on the 17th July of this year they resolved that if thereafter Mr. Ferryman be questioned by the citizens concerning the erection of a new school within the City, they would give him all the assistance and furtherance that they could. The City Muniments contain a copy of Counsel's brief with the answers of the City to the reasons presented to the Privy Council in opposition to the Free School. Every statement is attested by some witness, and it is evident that the City spared no pains or expense to make their case complete so as to end the controversy once and for all. The reasons presented by the opponents to the Free School do not seem to have been preserved, but they may be gathered from the City's answers. The following is a summary of the case presented by the City Chamber.f * Ancient Letters, vol. 6oE, No. 344. t The Documents summarised are Ancient Letters, vol. 60K, No. 340 and Nos. 345 to 349, also Counsel's Instructions and Depositions of Witnesses. 47 The Founding of Exeter School I. As to the Prohibition of another Schoolmaster. The opponents had referred to the Ucence granted by Bishop Oldham to Mr. David in 15 15 and the inhibition in the same instrument against any other person teaching grammar publicly at or within seven miles of Exeter. The reply is that ' this could have had effect only temporarily during the Bishop's life for he was dominus et diocesanus pro tempore, nor could any act of his bind his successors. If such power is given now to one man he must be prepared to teach 1,000 scholars or more within that circuit. The multitude of citizens has doubled or trebled, and four schools at this time are not more competent than one school was in those days. The inhibition was intended for licensed schools at that time only and not to any free school, and it will be proved that for fifty years since and more there have been several public teachers of the Latin tongue within the City at one and the same time, all licensed as it is conceived. One, Thomas Spicer, taught by Bishop Cotton's approbation and authority within the Citv and afterwards in the suburbs, nor did Bishop Carey inhibit him, but when he died about five or six years ago, the Bishop declined to license another, though the Mayor, Magistrates and Commons made earnest suit to the Bishop to do so.' At the hearing Counsel for the City, in evidence of this statement, produced a license under seal granted by the Archbishop of Canterbury to one, 48 The Founding of Exeter School Thomas Pasmore, B.A., to teach within the City, all others being restrained, Mr. Drayton then master of the High School alone excepted. 2. The Inadequacy of the High School. 'The present school is not convenient or commodious enough for the children that attend, being 300 or thereabouts.* The recent re- edification has not enlarged, but rather lessened the accommodation. Whereas it was a ground room it is now an upper room and the stairs and portal take away much of the largeness thereof. For so many to meet in one room cannot but be dangerous for infection.' The opponents appear to have pointed to the successes of the old pupils of the school as proof of its efficiency. To this the reply is given that ' such is a matter casual and common to schools of such great resort, and that the number of fellow- ships gained by the scholars at the Universities is disappointing. Besides, the master of the school never took any degree in any University.' At the hearing before the Privy Council the Dean and Chapter produced a certificate from Dr. Prideaux (the Rector) and others of Exeter College, which is preserved among the State Papers in the Public Record Office. f They testify thereby that since Mr. Perryman and Mr. Haytor had been teachers of the High School of Exeter as many well ordered and grounded grammarians, • Elsewhere the number is stated to be "200 and more." t State Papers Domestic, vol. clxxxii., fo. 4 (3rd Jan., 1631). 49 The Founding of Exeter School both in Greek and Latin, had come from thence to that College as ever at any time, or usually might be expected from such a place. At that time they had from thence seven in their society (being a third part of it), besides commoners and others to the number of twenty and upwards. They esteemed the school one of the chief nurseries for supply of their western students of which their College especially consisted. 3. The Exactions of the High School. 'The payments and exactions of the High School {besides other great abuses) are of late grown great and changeable, for whereas before Ferryman's time a scholar paid only 6s. 8d. or 8s. a year and never above los., Ferryman usually takes 20s. a year and more for one scholar and his ushers charge 8s., los. or 12s. and more for the same person, besides other exactions, else they will be sleighted.' The Recorder of the City testified that he paid but 4s. and afterwards 8s. a year, and Dr. Vilvain gave evidence that at the time of his training there Mr. Drayton the schoolmaster required and received from the meaner sort only 6s. 8d. yearly, of most part 8s., and of the ablest I OS. at most. 4. The Need for a Second School. ' The City of Exeter is spacious and populous, consisting of nineteen parishes besides the Cathe- dral Church and its precincts, and there are 50 The Founding of Exeter School divers other great parishes near adjoining the City. It is not right that such a multitude of people should be tied to the humours of one teacher, be he of good or evil reputation. When two schools are licensed in one City there will be the better discipline in either, for the masters will strive to deserve best and civil emulation between scholars is accounted a ready way for increase of learning. As it is now, a scholar cannot be prepared for the University within ten or twelve years. There is not the like precedent that in a City or County there should be no free school. It is a work of charity and conceived lawful for any man to erect or endow a free school. Plymouth, a sea-town of much less extent and resort, has two public free grammar schools ; so also Bristol, Salisbury, Gloucester and divers other towns in this shire and elsewhere have one free school at least. It is the earnest desire of most of the chiefest citizens to have another school. The City is the chief place of all these western parts and many gentlemen do often meet there and would rather send their children thither than to other places if there were another school to entertain them, which would be beneficial to the City. Divers gentlemen and others residing near the City and many of the citizens also, who were wont to send their children to school in the City, now send them away to school to their great cost and greater discomfort.' 51 The Founding of Exeter School 5. The Site and Endowment of the New School. 'The intended free school is part of a Hospital lately founded within the City and is a place most fit for the purpose, and for air, situation and spaciousness it far exceeds the present school. There will be scholars enough for both schools. The gifts to the intended school amount to ;^i,ooo and upwards. A place and materials have been provided and an annual salary granted to a schoolmaster, all which was done before any notice of any Order to the contrary. If the City is not permitted to proceed in perfecting the school most part of these gifts will be lost.' 6. As to the Proposals for Co-operation. The Dean and Chapter had apparently pro- posed that the City Chamber should confer with them with the view to the moneys received for the Free School being bestowed upon the High School, such school to be made either wholly or partially a Free School and the master elected jointly by the Chapter and the Mayor and Magistrates. The reply of the Mayor and Magistrates is that 'such proposal is most unreasonable for since the Chapter have withdrawn the stipend of ;^20 or £^0 a year, anciently due or given to the master for teaching the poor sort gratis, there is no reason why the citizens should confer their revenues on the Chapter's School when they intend to erect a new one of their own. Their chief end is to erect a new school because one is not enough for the 52 The Founding of Exeter School City. Besides, a Free School must be erected on fee simple land and the Dean and Chapter cannot grant a fee of their school. As regards the proposal for a conference, Virgil's Tiineo Danaos et dona ferentes might well deter the Mayor and Magistrates from accepting it, and they did wisely to refuse it, for the Dean and Chapter preferred it for their own advantage, either to gain time by pretending to the Lords that they were upon terms of treaty, or to entrap them otherwise.' " Lastlie, for the proposicon of electinge the '* maister of the Chymaerian free schoole to bee " erected on the chapter's land and endowed with " the cittizens largesses by the deane and Eight " Cannons on the one part and the Maior and 8 " Aldermen on the other, constitutinge the Bishop " for the time beinge for umpier in case of equalitie " of suffrages, it is a mere moustrap : for the chapter "will alwayes agree in their voices on one, so " that if the Cittizens dislike or dissent the Bishop "to please his brethren will adhere to the Canons "and sticke to their choice so that the Maior " and magistrates wilbee but Cyphers or Stales in " the eleccon." 7. The Opposition of the Dean and Chapter. * The Lord Bishop was at first willing to grant the suit of the citizens for another school, but was induced by the Dean and Chapter to refuse the request. These have their own ends to serve for they obtain a rent of ;^5 a year from Ferryman, and whereas they used to contribute ^^20 or £^0 a 53 The Founding of Exeter School year to the maintenance of the schoolmaster, they are now saved this payment, for Ferryman had rather trust to the benevolences of his scholars than to this stipend. As the Dean and Chapter will do no good work themselves so they will hinder the like in others. They were suspected heretofore of concealing or misemploying moneys or lands given to charitable purposes, and, upon an Inquiry held in the third year of the reign of Elizabeth, were ordered to pay yearly to the poor in Exeter ;f 34 3s. lod., which they paid for many years afterwards, but which now they withhold.' A marginal note states that this can be presently proved by the Commissioner and Inquisition. This had reference to proceedings then pending, which resulted in a decree of the Commissioners of Charitable Uses whereby the Dean and Chapter were ordered to continue certain payments to the poor which they had withheld for some years.* One of the chief witnesses for the City was Robert Vilvain, the most noted physician of his time in the west parts of England, and a distin- guished author.f In his evidence, after setting out the need for a Free School, he proceeds to state that towards such work he " laboured long, " and stirred up som pious Benefactors to further " so necessary a work which was in a fair forwardnes, * Report of Charity Commissioners on the Exeter Endowed Charities, 1909, p. 43. t An account of his life and literary productions is contained in Wood's Athenae Oxoniensis, vol. iii., p. 631. 54 The Founding of Exeter School " had it not bin retarded by the cross-opposition of " som malevolent Planets, who for their own privat " ends seek by misinformations to blast the good " intentions of others, and to support their own " unjust monopoly, whereof this Kingdom cannot " afford the like precedent." Such being the sentiments of the citizens towards the Dean and Chapter it is not surprising that proposals for a compromise were incontinently rejected. The Dean and Chapter had evidently charged the Magistrates with a discourteous answer to such a proposal, for the Magistrates in their answers strongly repudiate such a charge. The case was debated at large before the Privy Council by learned Counsel on both sides, and on the 9th February, 1 630-1, the Council made their Order.* They state that, having regard to the en- dowments already conferred upon the Free School and further intended, they were careful not to give the least check or discountenance to works of that nature. They conceived that it would be for the good of the City in general to have both schools, but had cause to fear that the erecting of this Free School would be the decay, if not the overthrow, of the school already there, which deserved to be upheld. They had decided, therefore, that it should be first considered and provided by all the best ways and means possible, that the erecting of the new be not the undoing of the old, and they directed that the Dean and Chapter should confer with the Mayor and Magistrates for the making of * See Appendix A. 55 The Founding of Exeter School the old school likewise a Free School and procuring it to be endowed with some competent maintenance, and that the two bodies do use their joint endeavours to procure donations for that purpose. They were required to certify to the Council by the 27th of April next, the result of their proceedings. One of the Privy Councillors who was present at the hearing of the dispute was William Laud, afterwards Archbishop, but then Bishop of London and Chancellor of the University of Oxford. Counsel for the City had evidently alleged that the fellowships gained at Exeter College by the old pupils of the High School were close fellowships, and consequently no criterion of merit. Laud, as Chancellor of the University, made enquiries of the Rector of the College as to the facts, to which the Rector replied* that the election of their fellows was not limited to any particular school, and that the old pupils of the High School had attained theirs from the conceived hope and worth of their abilities. He also stated that Sir John Acland gave ;£8oo to the building of their Hall, and at his death remembered the College with ;^i6 yearly for two poor scholars from Exeter School, which was performed in the beginning for a year and somewhat more, but for the past two years and upwards these pensions had been cut off ; that two poor youths had the title of Sir John Acland's Pensioners, but not a penny of main- tenance. He heard the City had reasons for this, * State Papers Domestic, vol. clxxxiv., fol. 85 (14th Feb., 1631). 56 The Founding of Exeter School which they had omitted to acquaint the College with. In charity he conceived their kindness may be yet to come and, therefore, he was far from making complaint or taking part, but thought it well to inform his Lordship how the case stood. The scholarship endowment referred to is contained in the Will of Sir John Acland of Culme-John, Devon, Knight, of the 14th Sept., 1609, whereby £16 a year was appointed to each of two poor scholars to be approved by the Mayor, the Recorder, the Schoolmaster of the High School, the Rector of Exeter College, and the owner of Culme-John or any three of them. The Minutes of the City Chamber indicate that they applied themselves honestly and diligently to arrive at some composition with the Dean and Chapter on the lines suggested by the Privy Council. On the 5th April the Chamberlain and Town Clerk were directed to repair to Mr. Dean for the answer of the Dean and Chapter touching the Lords' letter about the Free School, and two members of the Chamber were deputed to see what could be got by their friendly persuasions of the chiefest inhabitants of the City towards the endowment of the school desired to be founded by the Dean and Chapter in co-operation with the City. On the 2ist April it was resolved that the Town Clerk and two of the Chamber should go again to the Dean and Chapter to conclude with them that if they would deposit ;^6oo in money towards the endowment of the existing school, as they did 57 The Founding of Exeter School proffer, the City would do the Hke upon reasonable terms, or, otherwise, to consider with them some other agreement whereby the new school might be erected without further opposition, so that both schools might subsist together. The Dean and Chapter do not appear to have been able to raise their share of the endowment, but an Agreement was arrived at upon other lines. This Agreement provided that the Free School should be perfected and continue together with the old school. It was further agreed, to the end that no one of them should be pre- judicial to the other, that neither of the schools should entertain or take above 150 scholars until the other school was completely furnished with the like number, and that the master of the old school should not demand for himself and his ushers more than 20s. a year for the teaching of any scholar. The Agreement was signed by the Mayor and Aldermen and the Lord Bishop and Dean and Chapter, and on the loth May the Town Clerk rode off to London for the confirmation of the Agree- ment by the Board. This confirmation was duly given on the i8th May and the Agreement ordered to be entered as an Act of Council, to remain on record for a final ending and determining of all differences touching the two schools.* * See Appendix A. 58 CHAPTER IV. The St. John's Hospital. The circumstance that the Free Grammar School was erected on the site of the dissolved St. John's Hospital has led to two misconceptions in regard to the origin of the school. The belief that it sprang from an educational foundation of Bishop Stapledon in 1332 has been shewn to be erroneous. Scarcely less erroneous is the statement commonly made that to Hugh Crossing is due, or mainly due, the credit of the founding or (as it is commonly termed) the refounding of the school in the reign of Charles I. It is certain that Hugh Crossing never contemplated the establishment of such a school as part of his charitable designs. The Free School was determined upon and endowed by the citizens quite apart from any intent of locating it permanently on the site of the dissolved Hospital, or of appropriating for its benefit any part of the Charity founded by the Crossing family, known later as the St. John's Hospital Trust. The school was grafted on to the Trust by the accident of site and such benefit as it eventually obtained from the charity of the Crossings was but slight. The site and buildings of the dissolved St. John's Hospital were granted by King Henry VIII. on the 29th April, 1540, to Thomas Carew, son and 59 The Founding of Exeter School heir of John Carew of Haccombe, who converted some of the buildings into dwelling-houses. On the 24th November, 1593, the body or lower part of the Hospital Church, known as St. John's Church, as far as the wall where the tower of the church sometime was, and also the higher room and loft over the lower part of the tower, were leased by Humphrey Carew (the son of the grantee) with Peter his son, to the Mayor, Bailiffs and Commonalty of Exeter for ninety-nine years, if the said Humphrey Carew and Peter Carew should so long live, at the rent of 40s. per annum. Hugh Crossing, an Alderman and Past Mayor of the City, shortly before his death in 1622, began to treat with Peter Carew for the purchase of the inheritance of the site and buildings of the old Hospital for the sum of £yoo, in order to found a Hospital there for setting " poor children and people " to work. He died before the purchase could be completed, but his widow Joan and his son Francis, for the accomplishment of his charitable purpose, completed the purchase on the 2nd April, 1623. An offer was then made by them to the City Chamber to convey the inheritance to such gentlemen of the Chamber as should be nominated by the Chamber in trust for the establishment of the intended Hospital or Work- house. The offer was accepted on the 25th August, and at a meeting of the Chamber on the 25th November, it was decided that Mr. Francis Crossing should have the nominance of the title or name of the Hospital. The conveyance was 60 The Founding of Exeter School effected by an Indenture of the 14th January, 1623-4*, to thirteen feoffees being members of the City Chamber, the premises comprising the house, site, circuit and precinct of the late dissolved Hospital, and the site of the church and churchyard of the Hospital and other messuages and lands therein particularly mentioned. In the same Indenture it was provided that if at any time it should seem meet to the Mayor and City Chamber that the feoffees should demise the site of the church to the City Corporation, for any number of years not exceeding thirty, for a storehouse or granary for corn or for a cloth hall or for any other good use for the City, the feoffees should from time to time demise the same to the Corporation, for the best yearly rent that could be obtained, such rent to be expended upon the repair and maintenance of the Hospital. It was also agreed between the parties to the deed, by the consent of the Mayor and Common Council, that the Hospital should be named Crossing's Hospital. The intent seems to have been to establish a Work-house for poor children and adults, but primarily for children. In the event, the charitable design was confined entirely to children. The City Chamber were appointed governors of the Hospital, the feoffees merely taking over the legal estate. The reparation and adaptation of the Hospital buildings for their new purpose involved the City *City Records, No. 1740. 61 The Founding of Exeter School during the next ten years in an expenditure of £^io los. 2d.* The premises seem to have been made ready for the reception of children in July, 1625, for in that month the Chamber appointed a Committee to interview Thomas Brook of London, pin maker, with a view to his appointment as master of the Work-house. His appointment is not recorded, but it probably followed. On the 5th February, 1628-9, Thomas Rose of London, pin maker, was appointed master and the sum of ;£i2 to -£14 was expended in London in the purchase of tools, and ;^50 in the purchase of wire. In the following May permission was given Rose to have two apprentices to be appointed by the Mayor and Aldermen. It was in this month of February, 1628-9, six years after the death of Hugh Crossing, that Alderman Thomas Walker died, leaving the bequest of ;£200 towards the founding of a Free Grammar School, with the condition that such school should be erected within five years of his decease. Then it was that the City decided upon the bold course of establishing such a school in defiance of the claim that no such school could be established without the licence of the Bishop. Having taken this determination, one of the first considerations was the selection of a site for the new school. The whole of the church buildings of the old Hospital and two rooms within such buildings had been repaired and utilised as a cloth •Chamber Minute of 22nd April, 1634. 62 The Founding of Exeter School hall.* No appropriate use had, however, been found for the remainder of these buildings. This suggested itself as an appropriate place for the school, and on the 30th January, 1629-30 the feoffees demised to the Mayor, Bailiffs and Commonalty for a term of thirty years, with a covenant to renew, the body or lower part of the church to the wall, where the tower of the said church was, to be employed for the intended school "to the end that the godly intention of the said Thomas Walker and others might take effect which had been delayed for want of a convenient place to found the said school and sufficient means to endow the same." The location of the Free School in Crossing's Hospital was evidently intended only as a temporary expedient, for in a deed of the 20th February, 1629- 3of confirming this arrangement it was provided, " to the intent the said school might thereafter be the better and more orderly established, and a larger maintenance for a schoolmaster and for ushers therein provided," that it should be lawful for the Mayor, etc., at any time thereafter, to remove the school to any other convenient place or house within the City, when thereunto enabled by the charitable gifts of well affected persons. The activity of the Chamber in effecting the necessary repairs upon the old church has been already described. The work was arrested by the Order of the Privy Council of the 30th June, 1630, but upon the confirmation of the Agreement *City Chamber Minutes, loth Mar., 1624-5. t Report on Exeter Endowed Charities, pp. i and 2. 63 The Founding of Exeter School between the City and the Dean and Chapter in May, 163 1, it was free to proceed. Mr. Francis Crossing, who was a member of the Chamber, had signified his agreement with the proposal to locate the school in the Hospital, but some disagreement seems to have arisen between him and the Chamber, for on the 28th July, 163 1, the Chamber decided that, as Mr. Crossing had not returned his answer touching the upper room of the Cloth Hall, the rooms over the Eastgate should be forthwith prepared for the Free School, and arrangements were made for the tenant to vacate the house. On the 9th August, however, it was reported that Mr. Crossing and his mother were pleased to agree that the higher part of the Cloth Hall should be converted and made a Free School in such manner as Mr. Mayor and his brethren should think most fitting, and the resolution of the 28th July was rescinded. A fortnight later directions were given to prepare the rooms over the Cloth Hall and adjoining chamber for the school, such portions thereof as need it to be taken down and rebuilt ; also to prepare a chamber adjoining thereto over the gate for the accommodation of the schoolmaster. A Committee was appointed to supervise the work and their names might almost stand for a Committee of the present day, so persistent have been the surnames in the City. They were J. Acland, N. Martin, J. Hakewill, A. Bennett, J. Crocker, J. Penny, T. Tucker, H. Battishill, R. Vilvain, A. Paul, A. Salter, H. Crocker and S. Snow. 64 The Founding of Exeter School So much money was spent by the Chamber upon this work of restoration that it was considered desirable to obtain a greater security of tenure and fix the school there permanently. Negotiations were opened with the Crossings for the conversion of the leasehold into a freehold, and by a deed of the ist August, 1632,* the feoffees granted and enfeoffed to the Mayor, Bailiffs and Commonalty, for a ground rent of 5s. per annum, the body and the lower part of the late church, together with the tower standing between the church and chancel which, since the dissolution, had been used as a gate or entry into the hospital, upon trust to convert some convenient part of the tower for a gate and passage to and from the hospital and school, and so much of the residue of the premises thereby granted as the Mayor and Common Council should think fit for a school house and as a house for the school- master and ushers. It was provided that such portion as was not required for the school, viz., the ground room of the church (then used as a cloth hall) should be used for such purposes, being for the common good and profit of the City, as the Mayor and Common Council should think fit. In the following year, 1633, the Chamber framed ordinances! for the government of the school. These fixed an entrance fee of 6d. for every child of a freeman, and 2s. for every child of a stranger. The master was debarred from making any charge for teaching the children or grandchildren of any *Report on Exeter Endowed Charities, p. 2. t See Appendix B. 65 The Founding of Exeter School freeman or of any such benefactor to the school as the Mayor and Common - Council should think fit to be exempted. On the i8th June, 1633, the first headmaster was appointed.* This was William Nosworthy, M.A., and he entered upon his appointment on the following Lammas at a salary of £-^^0 a year. Shortly afterwards, an usher was appointed at a salary of £10 a year, which was increased the following July to ;^i5.t It has been stated that certain portions of the hospital buildings were converted by the Carews into dwelling-houses. In Michaelmas of 1635 ^^e tenancies of these were terminated J and thenceforth the whole of the Hospital was devoted to the direct purposes of the Charity, with the exception only of the great room under the Grammar School, which continued to be let for various public purposes. Free English School. The next year, 1636, witnessed the founding of the Free English School within the precincts of the Hospital. This was not effected without a dispute, for the settlement of which the intervention of the Privy Council was again sought. George Jourdaine of Exeter, grocer, by his will dated the 22nd August, 1632, bequeathed £^0 to the Free School. He died shortly afterwards, and * City Chamber Minutes, i8th June, 1633. t City Chamber Minutes, 22nd April, 29ih April and 5th July, 1634. J City Chamber Minutes, 27th August, 1635. 66 The Founding of Exeter School his widow Elizabeth, by her will dated the 27th September, 1633, bequeathed £soo to trustees upon trust to employ it towards such good and pious uses within the City as they should think fit ; if they neglected so to employ it within four years after her death the legacy was revoked. She also died within a short time after making her will. The City Chamber sought to obtain this money for the Hospital, and the Privy Council were induced by a petition from the Chamber to recommend the trustees to apply the money to this purpose.* At first the trustees intimated their willingness to bestow the money upon the Hospital, f but being informed that Elizabeth Jourdaine in her last illness had mentioned, among other suitable objects for her bequest, the erecting of a Free English School for poor children, they proposed later that the money should be specifically devoted to the establishment of such a school.J The Chamber at that time had under considera- tion an application for a Charter of Incorporation of the Hospital so as to obtain le^al sanction for its establishment, and the City Recorder, purporting to act on behalf of the Chamber, entered into an informal Agreement with Mrs. Jourdaine's trustees that, in the event of the Charter being obtained and a room therein allotted for a Free English School, the two bequests of £soo and £^0 should be employed upon such a school within the *Cit)' Records, No. 36S (30th April, 1635). t City Chamber Minutes, loth October, 1635. J State Papers Domestic, vol. cccxvi., fo. 54 (18th Mar. 1635-6). 67 The Founding of Exeter School Hospital " for teacheing of such poore Childeren '' of the said Cittie whose parents are not able to " mayntaine them ; and who now wander disorderlie " aboute the streets, that they might bee taught to " read and write and soe made fit to bee bound out " apprentizes."* The Recorder, though authorised bythe Chamber to confer with the trustees, does not appear to have had any authority to conclude an Agreement on behalf of the Chamber, and it is clear that any such Agreement could not extend to the sum of £^0 which had been specifically bequeathed for the Free Grammar School. The arrangement failed to meet with the approval of the Chamber, and on the i8th March, 1635-6, the trustees presented a petition* to the Privy Council in which they complained that the Chamber disclaimed the Agreement made by the Recorder and claimed to have the legacy of ;£5oo handed over to them to be devoted to the pur poses of the Hospital as the Chamber should think fit. The large room under the Free Grammar School which had been used as a Cloth Hall seems to have been vacant at this time and it had probably presented itself to the Chamber as a convenient place for the proposed school. If so, the cause of the disagreement with the trustees may be found in the fact that the Chamber had in the meantime found another and a more pressing use for the room. Exeter had been the chief emporium for * State Papers Domestic, vol. cccxvi., fo. 54 (i8th March, 1635-6). 68 The Founding of Exeter School wool in the West and a weekly market in this commodity had existed in the City from time out of mind. This market had grown in importance so that the place where it was held had become too small for the purpose. As a consequence, much wool was being sold in inns and private houses, which led to escape from payment of the customary tolls. The Chamber, accordingly, decided on the 5th April, 1636, that the room below the Latin School should be prepared and appointed at the public charge of the City for a Common Hall and Wool Hall for the weighing and sale of all " toddwooll,* '' rudge-washt wooll,f and fieecewooll, and un- " washed wooll," and that a market should be held there every Wednesday and Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. All handwashed wool and worsted and combed wool were to continue to be sold in the place heretofore accustomed — the wool market within the Parish of St. Mary Major — every Friday between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. The sale of wool elsewhere than in these two markets was forbidden for the future. The proposal to locate the market for coarse wool in the Hospital was frustrated for the time being, by the receipt of an Order from the Privy Council! requiring the Chamber to confirm without delay the Agreement with the trustees of Mrs. Jourdaine's bequest. * Clean Wool made up into tods (i.e. bundles of the weight of two stone each). t Fleece wool that has been washed only on the sheep's back J See Appendix C. 69 The Founding of Exeter School This Agreement was confirmed by an Indenture of the loth January, 1636-7.* The Legacy of ;£5oo was handed over to the Chamber and invested by them and they covenanted that they would before the 2oth September following, at their own costs and charges, obtain from His Majesty a licence for founding and erecting a Hospital in the City, and would before the same date provide a convenient room in the Hospital for a school house to be called the Free English School of the Hospital. The schoolmaster was to receive fifty poor children and teach them to write and cypher. This number was to include the charity boys, and the remainder of the pupils were to be sons of such poor people as were relieved by, or likely to be chargeable unto, the City. The children were to be elected by the City Chamber upon the nomination of the churchwardens and overseers of the poor. The stipend of the Master was fixed at ;£20 per annum, and upon any vacancy in the office the trustees were to nominate two men for the election of one by the Chamber. Upon the death of the last surviving trustees the election was to be wholly in the hands of the Chamber. The licensing and incorporation of the Hospital were effected by Royal Letters Patent bearing date the 2nd June, 1637. f After reciting the various chief benefactions to the Hospital and the charitable intentions of the donors, the establishment of the Free Grammar School in the part of the Hospital which was anciently the body or lower parts of the * City Records, No. 1754A. fSee Appendix D. 70 The Founding of Exeter School Hospital Church, the apphcation of the bequest of £S^o by Ehzabeth Jourdaine " for the maintenance *■ of a ffree Enghsh Schoole therein for the better '• preparinge of the Children of the said Hospitall " and others for the Grammar Schoole and other "fitt professions," and the recent re-edification of the higher part, or decayed chancel of the said church, by the cost of Alice Hele, widow, as a chapel for the use of the Hospital, the Mayor, Bailiffs, and Commonalty are given power, licence, and authority (i) "To place erecte found and " establish, att or in the said house (heretofore " called St. Johns Hospitall) within the cittie of " Exeter and other the premisses thereunto " adioyninge, One Hospitall, house or place of *' abidinge for the findeninge sustentacon releife " and educacon in learninge and all or any other " lawfull Arts and Trades of poore children from " time to time borne or inhabitinge within the said " Cittie or Countie of the same. And for the " habitacon releife and maintenance of aged or " impotent poore people from time to time " inhabitinge within the said Cittie or Countie." '' (2) " To place erecte found and establish at " or in the said Hospitall and other the premisses " One ffree Grammar Schoole, and one ffree '' English Schoole, for the instructinge teachinge '' maintenance and educacon of poore children " or Schollers borne or inhabitinge within the " said Cittie of Exeter," and to appoint school- masters and ushers '' and alsoe one learned and "godlie Preacher to reade divine service and to 71 The Founding of Exeter School " teach and preach the word of God in the said " Chappellto all the said persons poore people and " children members and officers att or in the said " house, with the allowance of the Ordinarie.'' The Mayor, Recorder, Aldermen and Common Council of the City for the time being are appointed Governors of the Hospital, with certain powers therein mentioned, and incorporated with power to purchase and take lands, to sue and be sued by their corporate name and to have a common seal. Building operations for providing the necessary accommodation for the various purposes of the Hospital became very active after the grant of the Letters Patent, and private benefactions were stimulated by the need of funds for this capital expenditure. The sum of ;£300 was subscribed by Alice Hele to be bestowed in the repairing and beautifying of the chapel, any surplus to be bestowed upon the perfecting of the Hospital.* Of this sum ;£28o was expended upon the chapel, which was consecrated in 1639. f The whole of the late church was now converted to its new purposes — the body and lower part for the Free Grammar School and the Wool Hall, and the chancel for a Chapel. Between the chancel and the body of the church stood the tower, which, * City Chamber Minutes, 24th March, 1635-6, 20th and 27th Sept., 1636, 29th March, 1638. tCity Chamber Minutes, 30th July, 1639, and 31st Dec, 1639, the latter minute authorising payment of 20s. for the "writinge or instrument latelie made and sealing by the Lo. Bp. for the conser- vation or reconciliacon of the Chappie of St. Johns Hospitall." 72 The Founding of Exeter School since the dissolution of the old Hospital, had been used as a gate or entry into the premises. This was continued as the main entrance to the Hospital and school. The tower over the gate was repaired by the City Chamber in 1630 for the storage of gunpowder and was used for this purpose till the year 1663.* Upon the incorporation of the Hospital, action was immediately taken for the establishment of the Free English School. The first master of the English School was Peter Hcllyar, elected by the City Chamber on the nth January, 1637-8, with the consent of Mr. Francis Crossing. The Chamber also decided, with the like consent, that the great room under the Latin Free School, or such part thereof as should be thought fitting, should be prepared for the accommodation of the School if another place be not thought more fit. Another place was evidently thought more fit, for the great room under the Latin School was let to a Mr. Mallack for one year from Michaelmas, 1638, at a rental of £6yf and on the 13th August, 1639, the Chamber decided that the same room should be thereafter employed wholly as a Wool Hall and the rent of £6 per annum devoted to the reparation of the Hospital. * The City Receiver's Roll, 5 and 6 Chas. I. shews an expenditure of £1 IS. " for repairinge the Tower over St. John's Gate for a roome to putt powder in." On the 4th Sept., 1663, the Chamber were required by the Deputy Lieutenant to remove the arms and ammunition from the chapel of St. John's Hospital to the magazine in the Castle. (City Records, No. 432). t City Chamber Minutes, 9th Oct., 1638. 73 The Founding of Exeter School On the 8th January, 1651-2, Peter Hellyar was given the office of master of the Hospital in addition to his office as master of the EngUsh School. The Governors do not seem to have been fortunate in the masters of the Workhouse or Hospital. The appointment of Thomas Rose, the pin maker, in February, 1628-9, has already been mentioned. A minute of the City Chamber of the 5th February, 1629-30, records a gift of ^^50 from Mr. Wakeman for the placing of six boys in the Hospital, and on the same day the Chamber made an arrangement with a resident in the Hospital, named William Bickley, for him to take into his service such boys as should be placed with him by the Chamber. The sum of £^ was allowed by the Chamber to Rose and Bickley for each boy apprenticed to them, both men being required to enter into a bond for repayment of a moiety of the money at the end of each boy's apprenticeship. In November of this year, 1630, Rose the Pinner, as he was generally called, had three apprentices and Bickley seven.* Bedding and furniture for the boys were purchased by the Chamber, and blue gowns and caps provided for their apparel. f Two years later. Rose the Pinner was arrested and imprisoned for some offence, and the City Chamber appointed William Godwin, his journey- man, "to keepe the Boyes to work." Rose's wife was retained as housekeeper and allowed 24s. weekly • City Chamber Minutes, 4th Nov., 1630. tCity Chamber Minutes, 9th and 30th Nov., 1630. 74 The Founding of Exeter School for the diet of the boys, the other ordinary charges to be paid out of the profit of their work.* In the following February the Chamber appointed what would be termed in these days an After Care Committee to find masters for the boys apprenticed in the Hospital. Soon afterwardsf it was decided not to " entertain " another pinner in the City in the place of Thomas Rose, as it was conceived that that trade was not so necessary as others for the education of boys. The appointment of Thomas Rose had been an unfortunate one, for after his imprisonment an investigation was made into his accounts and a deficit of £g^ 15s. id. was discovered.^ Certain statutes and ordinances for the regulation of the Hospital were made by the Governors of the Hospital on the 21st December, 1638. These provided for the appointment of a steward to receive the rents and keep the accounts, and of a master to have in charge the keeping of the Hospital and the care of the children admitted. These children were to be chosen by the Governors and no child was to be admitted under seven or continued after fourteen years of age. The parents or friends of such children were required at the time of admission to pay to the Master of the of the Hospital 40s. towards the decent apparelling of the children, which money was to be repaid for the benefit of the children when they should be * City Chamber Minutes, 4th Dec, 1632. t City Chamber Minutes, 12th March, 1632-3. X City Chamber Minutes, 27th Oct., 1635 and 6th Sept., 1638. 75 The Founding of Exeter School placed with a master out of the Hospital. Every child admitted was to have two suits of apparel yearly at the cost of the Master of the Hospital, except the gowns and caps which were provided by the house. Every child was to be freely taught in any of the free schools within the Hospital to read, write and cypher, and in the Latin tongue also, if the capacity of the child should be conceived by the Master of the Hospital to be fit for the same. On the 2ist September, 1646, John Sprake, Silkweaver, was elected Master of the Hospital in the place of one, George Follett, and in January, 1651-2, Peter Hellyar was appointed to the office in the place of John Sprake, who had been receiving a salary of £^ per annum.* Hellyar ranks among the benefactors of the Hospital. Possessed of private means and having no dependents except a sister, he gave freely of his labour and money to the English School and the Hospital. Izacke reckons that what with gifts of money and salary and other payments renounced he benefited the School and Hospital to the amount of ;£i, 830.1 In consideration of his divesting himself thus of his wealth the Governors agreed, upon his request, to grant to his sister upon his death an annuity of £10.% Such was the first master of the Free English * St. John's Hospital Act Book, 21st Aug., 1649. flzacke's History of Exeter, MS., fo. 153. Jenkins in his History of Exeter calculates the amount to be £,2,o;^o. J St. John's Hospital Act Book, 24th Feb., 1656. 76 The Founding of Exeter School School, a happy choice, and happy less in the benefit to the finances of the School than in the good influence which a man of this character must have exercised upon the boys entrusted to his care. '' On the 26th June, 1660, the City Chamber in ''regard of Mr. Peter Helliar'sage and indisposicon " and weaknes of bodye and of his earnest request " to have a fitt person to ease and helpe him in the '' teachinge and educatinge of his Schollers" allowed him to engage an assistant with a salary of £20 a year, this " not to bee taken as a president for " tyme to come, Mr. Helliar beinge a speciall " Benefactor to this Hospitall."* On the 9th September, 1663, an order was made limiting the number of boys in the English School to fifty. Hellyar died in the autumn of 1666, Henry Hooper being appointed in his place on the 31st October, 1666, at a salary of ;^20 a year. The name to be given to the Hospital seems to have been the subject of considerable debate. The deed of conveyance of the 14th January, 1623-4, provided that the name should be Crossing's Hospital. This name, however, seems never to have gained acceptance. Walter Borough (whose gift of ;£ioo to the Free Grammar School has already been mentioned), by a deed of the 28th October, 1625, granted a sum of money to the Hospital upon the condition that it should be called St. John's Hospital or The City Hospital, but the * St. John's Hospital Act Book, 26th June, 1660. 77 The Founding of Exeter School Minutes of the City Chamber shew that the name to be given the new Hospital was still in debate in 1629 and 1630. After what seems a long discussion by the Chamber on the 14th April, 1637, it was finally decided to call it "The Hospital of St. John's," and this title was formally conferred by the Charter granted in the following June. Even this authority failed to oust the old name and St. John's Hospital it is called to this day. 78 Site Plan of St. John's Hospital from Map Book of the Lands of the City Chamber, 1759. I. — Tenement in occupation of Thomas Cirovcr. 2. — Building- in same occupation, belongfing- to the City Corporation, consisting- ot three little ground rooms, height - tt. g in. (nor intended to be built higher so as to obstruct the lights ot the Chapel). 3 — Dwelling house and stable in occupation ot William Hill. 4 — Three dwelling houses in occupation of George Yard. CHAPTER V. Subsequent History of the High School and THE St. John's Hospital Schools. The establishment of the schools in the St. John's Hospital had important and valuable con- sequences, for it was to the example thus set that the City owes also the two schools now known as the Maynard's Girls' School and the Hele's School for Boys. Both originated during the Common- wealth period. The former was founded as a Hospital for poor maiden children commonly known as the Blue Maids Hospital, being a sister Institution to the Blue Boys Hospital at St. John's. The Hele's School sprang from an educational en- dowment to assist boys in obtaining education at the schools in the St. John's Hospital, which endow- ment was utilised for the erection and maintenance of Hele's School by Royal Warrant of 1840 and subsequent Instruments. The endowments of both these schools are now administered by the Trustees of the St. John's Hospital. The fourth of the Exeter Endowed Secondary Schools known as the Episcopal Modern School for Girls has sprung from an educational endowment established by Bishop Blackall in 1709. The main object of this book is to narrate the circumstances which led up to and which 79 The Founding of Exeter School surrounded the establishment of the Exeter School. In point of time this may be regarded as terminating with the commencement of the Commonwealth Period. The subsequent fortunes of this school and the history of the other endowed schools of the City are set out in the Report of the Charity Com- missioners, and the details of the administration of the St. John's Hospital Schools may be gleaned from the Act Book of the Hospital which commences with an entry of the 21st September, 1638. For the completion of the present narrative, therefore, no more than a brief reference need be made to the later history of the Exeter School and its kindred Institutions connected with the St. John's Hospital. The High School. It will be appropriate, however, in the first place, to follow the history of the old High School to its close, particularly in view of the supposition that the Exeter School, as we now know it, sprang from the amalgamation of the High School with the Free Grammar School. The establishm.ent of the rival school made the Dean and Chapter apprehensive for the fortunes of the High School and on the 25th June, 163 1, they decreed that if, upon building the New Free School, the income of Mr. Haytor, the then Master of the High School, should be found to be not worth ;£ioo per annum they would subscribe £2>^ per annum to make it up. This offer was personal only to Mr. Haytor and was paid to him from the time of the Restoration to 1670 or 167 1 when, 80 The Founding of Exeter School presumably, he died. The payment was not made to any of his successors.* The fierce controversy over the estabhshment of the Free Grammar School seems to have left no ill will against the High School, if one may judge from the action of Dr. Vilvaine, who had been one of the strongest advocates of the Free School. He died on the 21st February, 1662, bequeathing the greater part of his possessions to the City for educational purposes. Among his bequests was one of ;f32 yearly for four Exhibitions to Oxford University, the exhibitioners to be chosen two out of the High School in Exon and two out of the Free Grammar School. The electors were to be the Mayor and Recorder of the City and the Master of the School out of which the exhibitioner was to be appointed. They were to choose '' City born children before strangers, caeteris paribus, if they be so well qualified for learning, behaviour, toward lives and poverty, without partial respect of persons." The term of the exhibitions was seven years. It was provided that, if the school wherein an election was to be made had no scholar at the time qualified to be elected, then the place should be supplied out of the other school if it had any scholar fit or eligible, also that if, there- after, the two grammar schools should be turned into one all four exhibitioners should, thenceforth, be chosen out of the school remaining. The last headmaster of the High School was John Bradford, who was appointed on the 14th •Chapter Records, No. 4521. 81 The Founding of Exeter School March, 1737. A letter written by him to the Dean and Chapter on the 25th March, 1747, is extant in which he stated that upon his invitation to accept the appointment he was informed that the school house had been lately fitted up at a great expense for the reception of a master and scholars, and that he would receive from the Chapter (though he was not to regard this as a binding engagement) an annual payment of twenty guineas a year on con- dition he instructed as many choristers as they thought proper to send him. He complained that the school, far from being fit for his reception, was in such condition that he was obliged to expend £'^0 immediately upon it, that, some time after, he paid to the Chapter's mason the sum of £1^ or £1$ for rebuilding one of the walls which was about to fall, not doubting but that he would be reimbursed by the Chapter, and that he had frequently applied for repayment but without satisfaction. He further complained that since the first year he had received no more for the schooling of the choristers than after the rate of £2 per annum per boy, and that, at the date of the letter, the number had been reduced to three, while in the meantime the taxes of the School house had been increased. He stated that all these circumstances rendered the school not worth his pains unless he met with some redress in his grievances.* The Act Books of the Chapter shew that he re- ceived in the three following years ;^8, £11 los., and £10 for teaching the choristers Latin. The * Chapter Records, No. 4661. 82 Door of the High School. Photo by H. Turner Hems, Exeter. The Founding of Exeter School last of these annual payments was made on the 31st March, 1750. About the same time the Chapter's Surveyor was given instructions to survey the building and report upon its condition, and a few years later the premises were leased for other pur- poses than a school. The evidence, therefore, points to 1750 as the date of the dissolution of this High School which had probably existed since the trans- ference of the seat of the bishopric from Crediton to Exeter exactly 700 years before. It appears, therefore, that there was nothing in the nature of an amalgamation between the High School and the Free Grammar School, and as the former had no endowments and no educational trust attached to the school premises, it ceased utterly to exist. The premises were purchased in 1778 by the Wesleyan Methodists and used as their place of worship till 181 2.* It was subsequently used as a place of worship by other religious denominations till 1868 when it was demolished to make room for business premises. The sole relic of this most ancient School is the entrance door made in 1593 which is still preserved.! St. John's Hospital Schools. It has been stated that the first master of the Free Grammar School was appointed at a salary of ;^30 per annum. He was also allowed occupation * Mr. Chick's History of Methodism in Exeter, Chap. iv. t This door is now in the possession of Mr, Harry Hems, of Exeter. 83 The Founding of Exeter School of a house within the Hospital and part of the garden behind. In consideration of this renumera- tion he was required to instruct freely all such scholars as should be admitted into the School, being the sons of any freeman, citizen, or inhabitant within the City. In 1664 the Master's salary was increased to £/\.o per annum, but in 1776 a new house was built for him upon land outside the City wall at the cost of ^1,700, whereupon his salary was reduced to -^20 per annum. He was allowed to take boarders and the new house was doubtless provided to enlarge the accommodation for this purpose. Upon the election of a Master in 1809, it was resolved that he was not to charge day boys more than six guineas per annum without the consent of the trustees. Two years later the fixed salary was restored to the former sum of £/\^o per annum. In 1819 it was resolved that the head usher should be a clergyman of the established church, and the under usher a graduate of one of the Universities, also that divine service should be performed twice on Sundays in the chapel of the Hospital. This service was conducted generally by the master of the school, but occa- sionally by one of the Mayor's chaplains. Seats were reserved in the chapel for the Mayor and the members of the City Chamber, and the Master had the privilege of letting the other seats, which at the time of the Commissioners' Report in 182 1 brought him in an income of £iy or ;£i8 a year. By this time (182 1) only the sons of freemen were considered to be entitled to a free education, and 84 HIGH STREET Site Plan of St. John's Hospital from the Ordnance Survey, 1878. The Founding of Exeter School it was required that they should be appointed by the Governors. The Commissioners reported that of the sixty day boys then attending the school only two were free scholars. The two offices of master of the Hospital and master of the Free English School which had been temporarily united in the hands of Peter Hellyar were permanently united in the year 1812. The holder was given a salary of £2^ a year and an allowance of ;^i6 a year for each Blue Boy in con- sideration of which he furnished each bov with board, lodging, washing and a complete suit of clothes once in each year. The boys were in- structed in reading, writing and arithmetic and each was entitled to a premium of £6 on being bound apprentice if a proper master could be found. These boys were instructed with the day boys in the English School referred to in the Commission- ers' Report as the Blue School. The day boys were charged fees which the master was allowed to take. At the date of the Report of 1821 the school con- tained 60 day boys and 21 Blue Boys. Upon the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, ^he City Chamber ceased to be Trustees of the St. John's Hospital foundation and a body of trustees (known as the Municipal Charities Church List) was appointed by Order of the Court of Chancery to administer the funds of the en- dowment. In 1852 the Grammar School was to a consider- able extent reconstructed and improved at a cost of about ;^2,30o. 85 The Founding of Exeter School The Commissioners' Report in 182 1 shewed that the accounts of the St. John's Hospital trust had become very confused in the hands of the City Corporation and Httle care had been exercised in keeping the Charity properties distinct from the City properties. Proceedings were taken in the Court of Chancery to straighten out the tangle and after a long inquiry a settlement was arrived at which was embodied in a Deed of the 12th May, 1858. Certain properties therein described were definitely assigned to the Charity and the claims of the Charit}'' to certain charges upon the City pro- perty were discharged in consideration of a mone- tary payment. The house which had been built outside the City Wall for the residence of the master of the Grammar School, together with the portion of the wall adjoining such school house, were made the absolute property of the Charity. Reports upon the schools of the St. John's Hospital were made in 1859 on behalf of the Charity Commissioners,* and in 1867 on behalf of the Schools Inquiry Commission. f From these it appears that the number of boys in the two schools were as follows : Grammar School. In 1859 — 2 free boys, 55 day boys and 26 boarders. In 1867 — 43 day boys and 12 boarders. * This report was not published, t Reports of the Schools Inquiry Commission, vol xiv. 86 The Founding of Exeter School Blue School. In 1859 — 25 blue boys and 85 day boys. In 1867 — 25 blue boys and about 170 day boys. In the year 1876 a scheme re-constituting the Charities of the St. John's Hospital, Hele's School and the Blue Maids' Hospital was framed under the Endowed Schools Acts and approved by the Privy Council. This scheme, as also a scheme of the previous year dealing with the Episcopal Charity Schools, though emanating from the Endowed Schools Commissioners, were the work of Bishop Temple who was a member of the Commission. They brought into being the two secondary schools now known as the Maynard's Girls' School and the Episcopal Modern School for Girls (originally known as the Modern School), and constituted a complete system of secondary education within the City. The main principle underlying these schemes was the allocation of a substantial portion of the educational endowments of the City to secondary education. The endowments of the Grammar School and of the English School and the Orphanage in the St. John's Hospital, where they were not joint in their origin, had in course of time become merged, and in the allocation of the income the eleemosynary side of the trust had been favoured at the expense of the educational, and the elementary school at the expense of the secondary school. The Elementary Education Act of 1870 had but 87 The Founding of Exeter School recently come into force, and the expectation which this Act gave of the provision of an efficient system of rate aided and state aided elementary schools within the City not only removed any claim for preferential treatment on the part of the elementary school, but suggested that a larger proportion of the endowment for the education of boys should be devoted to the provision of education above the elementary, and that some proportion of the endowment for the education of girls should be devoted to the provision of higher education for that sex. It is a thorny task to interfere with charitable endowments, though it be only to restore them to their original purpose or to adapt them to new needs and the changing circumstances of time, and the proposals of the Endowed School Commissioners roused strong opposition within the City. The intent of these schemes and the reasons for the changes which they effected are admirably set out in a letter from Dr. Temple to the Mayor, dated the 5th February, 1872,* which had the effect of allaying suspicions and secured for his proposals the general support of the citizens. It is a striking proof of the greatness and the foresight of Dr. Temple that the principles upon which he based his proposals for the re-organisation of the system of endowed education within the City and which he had to advocate against all the strength of public opinion, have by this time each grown into a truism. These were (1) the desirability * See Appendix E. 88 The Founding of Exeter School of the provision of higher education for girls ; (2) the right for all classes of the community to rate aided and state aided education ; (3) the advantages of home life over institutional life in the education of the young, regarding education in its highest aspect as the formation of character ; (4) the degrading effect of charity that is dependent upon solicitation and personal favour. Who now regards the provision of an Upper School for girls as something " especially incongruous " and who would now challenge the claim of every child, however poor, to the education, however high, for which his talents fit him ? A ladder of education for boys, with its lowest rung in a charity school and its highest in a University, was part of the original scheme of the St. John's Hospital endowment, but it had fallen to the ground and it was for Dr. Temple to re-erect it. It will be observed that he advocated the establishment within the City of three grades of schools above the elementary. What he called the Third Grade Schools corresponded with what has been since known in other parts of the country as Higher Elementary Schools. This proposal, though countenance was given to it by Prof. Sadler in his report of 1905 on Secondary and Higher Education in Exeter, has not found favour, and the scheme of education for the City, as finally adopted and approved by the Board of Education, provides for only two grades of schools above the elementary. With this exception, Dr. Temple's proposals were adopted almost in their entirety, 89 The Founding of Exeter School and, as has been already stated, effect was given to them by the scheme of the 28th April, 1876, made under the Endowed Schools Acts. This scheme of 1876 placed the administration of the endowments of the Charities of St. John's Hospital, the Hele's Gift andthe Blue Maids' Hospital in the hands of a body of trustees, called the St. John's Hospital Trustees, representative of interests within the Parliamentary Borough of Exeter. The administration of the Exeter School was placed under a Governing Body representative of interests within Exeter and the County of Devon and of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. A Governing Body representative of interests within the City was also appointed for the Maynard's Girls' School. The St. John's Hospital Trustees acted directly as the Governing Body of the Hele's School and the St. John's Elementary School till the coming into operation of the Education Act, 1902, when a separate Governing Body was appointed for the Hele's School, and school managers, in accordance with the requirements of the Act, were appointed for the Elementary School. The desirability of removing the Grammar School from the St. John's Hospital to the suburbs of the City had become obvious some years prior to the making of the Order of 1876. In 1866 an appeal was made by the then Master of the Grammar School with the approval of the Governors for subscriptions towards raising a fund for the purchase of a field of five acres in the 90 The Founding of Exeter School Higher Barnfield, Exeter, as a site for a new school and a playfield, at a price of ;^2,ooo. A sum of about ;£i,300 was subscribed by the public, and the purchase was effected, but the intention to build a new school upon this site was subsequently abandoned, and it was sold in 1878 to the Governors of the Maynard's Girls' School, who utilised a portion of the land for the erection of their existing school. The reason for this sale was that a more spacious and suitable site for the Grammar School had in the meantime presented itself. This was the site now occupied by the School, which lies partly within the City and partly within the Urban District of Heavitree. An Order of the Charity Commissioners was obtained in December, 1877, for the purchase of this land, comprising an area of about twenty and a half acres, for the sum of £7,^00. Upon this land new school buildings were erected in 1880 at the cost of ;£i6,75o, the money being raised partly by the sale of some of the endowment securities with provisions for gradual replacement, and partly by the sale of the site of the old Grammar School. An Act of Parliament was obtained in 1878 authorising the sale of the Hospital Chapel and, under the powers conferred by this Act and certain Orders of the Charity Commissioners, part of the chapel site and part of the Grammar School playground were sold for ;^3,ooo for the purpose of the erection of the existing Post Office. The site of the old Grammar School buildings with the headmaster's house and 91 The Founding of Exeter School the remainder of the playground were sold for £6ySi2 los. for the erection of business premises and for a street widening. Several valuable additions have been made to the Exeter School since the erection of the main buildings in 1880. In 1886 a chapel was erected at the cost of about ;^2,i30, provided partly by the proceeds of the sale of the site of the St. John's Chapel and partly by voluntary contributions. A swimming bath was provided in 1889 at the cost of about ;^200, a sanatorium in 1893 at a cost of £S73 15s- 6d., a gymnasium in 1897 at a cost of ;f402 IS. 8d., and new science schools in 1905 at a cost of ;£3,240 8s. 4d. The money for the swimming bath and gymnasium was raised by voluntary contributions. Under the Order of April, 1876, the original Free English School was constituted a Public Elementary School within the statutory definition in force for the time being, tuition fees to be charged at a rate of not less than 6d. and not more than 9d. a week. Certain structural alterations have been effected for this school, the chief being the construction of a new class room and cloak room in 1890 at a cost of £soo, and the construc- tion of a new class room and the tar paving of the playground in 1899 at a cost of ;^46i is. 11 d. By the same Order of 1876 the administration of the endowment of the Orphanage within the St. John's Hospital was placed in the hands of the Governors of the Hospital, with power to continue the existing Orphanage or apply the endowment 92 ji '^ .S? c? I I JS a: ■5- t- 'S o The Founding of Exeter School funds in the award of exhibitions to orphan children resident in the Parliamentary Borough of Exeter, tenable in any of the schools of the Trust or elsewhere. The Orphanage was closed at Easter, 1908, there being at the time eight orphans lodged there at the cost per head of about ■£31 per annum. In 1876 the annual income of the Trust apportioned to the Orphanage was ;£5oo. This continued up to 1907, when it was reduced to ;£45o and later to ;f400. Of this income ;£25o is devoted to boys and £iS^ to girls. Out of the sum of ;£25o, £iS^ is expended in providing ten exhibitions of £1^ a year tenable at St. John's School, ;^5o in providing five exhibitions of ;^io a year tenable at Hele's School, and ;^5o in providing exhibitions of £2^ a year tenable at Hele's School or in providing instruction in a Manual School or kindred Institution for the exhibitioners of St, John's School after the age of 14 or 15. Out of the sum of £15^ provided for girls, ten exhibitions of ;^i5 a year is expended upon the maintenance and clothing of orphan girls and the payment of fees for their education at an elementary school, ^^30 a year in making provision for these exhibitioners proceeding to a secondary or technical school including a school of cookery or domestic economy, and £;^o in three exhibitions of ^10 a year at the Modern School or other secondary school approved by the Governors. Such was the scheme of education established by the Order of 1876 and its amending Orders, 93 The Founding of Exeter School whereby a complete scheme of school education for boys and girls was provided for the City of Exeter and for the surrounding districts of the County of Devon. The Education Act of 1902 which, for the first time, placed upon Local Authorities the duty of providing an efficient system of secondary education for their areas left little more to accomplish. Certain slight alterations were made in the schemes governing the four secondary schools so as to make them eligible for government grants. The City Council made provision for an annual grant from the City rates to all four schools, and the County Council made provision for an annual grant from the County rates to Hele's School and the Episcopal Modern School for Girls, the two Local Authorities being given representation or additional represent- ation upon the Governing Bodies of the schools to which they contributed. This scheme of school education is capped by the Educational Institution located in the Royal Albert Memorial buildings in Queen Street, the foundation stone of which was laid in the year 1865, Humble in its beginnings it has gradually, through the energy and generosity of the City Council and the munificence of private donors, grown into the composite Institutions of University College, Training College for Teachers, School of Art, and Manual School which are doing such excellent work for the education of the geographical County of Devon and the adjoining areas. " Exeter is the Educational Metropolis of the 94 The Founding of Exeter School West. It inherits a great historic position and no small measure of intellectual prestige." These are the words of Prof. Sadler, and, with such a system of education as is described above, it must be conceded that the City has striven well to justify the proud title which he conferred upon it. 95 Conclusion. A perusal of the foregoing pages shows that such eminence as Exeter now possesses in its educational administration is attributable in its origin to the energy, the courage and the generosity of the leading citizens of the period which witnessed the establishment of the Free Grammar School in the reign of Charles I. The Church, the early custodian of education, had lamentably failed in her trust, though this failure was redeemed in later years by the efforts and the enlightened foresight of Bishop Blackall and Bishop Temple. At no time in the history of the City has the flame of municipal patriotism burned brighter than during the Tudor period and the earlier half of the Stuart period. The struggles against the two great insurrections of the West and the religious distractions of the Reformation consumed the energies of the citizens during the early part of the Tudor period. The great commercial prosperity which followed enabled the leading citizens to amass great wealth and it became a matter of pride and of duty to contribute freely of this wealth to the public services of the City which they loved so well. Their generosity found an outlet during the reigns of Elizabeth and James I. mainly in the endowment of the numerous Almhouses and other Charities in which the City 96 The Founding of Exeter School is so rich. This was succeeded by the estabhsh- ment of the educational trusts which have been here described. The government of the City was in those days an oligarchy. The members of the City Chamber were appointed for life and new Councillors were elected by the Chamber itself. Whatever the evils and dangers inherent in that system it had certain advantages and was doubtless the best adapted for that time. The members were, for the most part, men of ripe experience in municipal work, there was no temptation to opportunism, and a continuity of policy was secured. The schemes of the Chamber were laid upon deep and broad founda- tions and were often in disfavour with the populace who had less foresight and were less content to sacrifice the present for the future.* This system of government had also the effect that the members of the Chamber regarded the City as somewhat in the nature of their private estate and hesitated not to subscribe largely out of their private means to carry through a scheme for which the public funds proved insufficient. The leading citizens of the first half of the 17th century seem to have regarded the claims of the City upon their fortune as superior even to * There is no finer instance of this than the extension of the Exeter Ship Canal at the end of the 17th century, carried out in face of the active opposition of the City and the surroundings districts. An application for an Act of Parliament to borrow part of the cost was defeated, the opinion of the Chamber being too far in advance, not only of the commonalty of their City, but of the Legislature. Oliver estimates that this extension cost not less than ;{;25o,ooo. 97 The Founding of Exeter School family claims, and it was a common practice for them, after providing a sufficiency for their families, to bequeath the remainder of their estate to trustees to be expended for the benefit of the City in such manner as the trustees should in their discretion deem to be most beneficial. Hugh Crossing died intestate, but his charitable intentions were known to his widow and son and were faithfully carried out. The St. John's Hospital Trust, which they founded originally as a work- house, grew eventually, as we have seen, into an educational trust. In that form it immediately captivated the sympathies of the whole City and during the next half century scarcely a citizen of note died without some bequest to swell its endowment. Certainly no charitable institution in the long history of the City has been more productive of benefit and more lasting in its effect than the educational endowment of the St. John's Hospital. It is abundantly evident that the dole charities which were founded so profusely during the previous half century had conduced, as such charities inevitably do, to the manufacture of pauperism, and the wisest among the citizens had begun to realise that charity which is not confined to the helpless is effective only so far as it helps the recipients to help themselves. They, therefore, eagerly welcomed this new form of charity which, by placing education and the learning of a handi- craft within the means of the poorest, fulfilled the highest purposes of charity without the evil 98 The Founding of Exeter School consequences which charity so often brings in its train. Unemployment is no new disease and the spectacle of youths loafing about the streets of the City, with no settled employment and incapable of turning their hands to any skilled trade, was a matter of grave concern to the citizens, and is frequently referred to as the motive for the contributions that flowed into the hands of the trustees of the St. John's Hospital. History repeats itself, and it is interesting to note how the whirligig of time has brought us round full circle to the attitude of the City of the mid-Stuart period. The desirability, in the interests of the community, of securing for every boy, however poor, provided his abilities warrant it, the means, through education, of attaining the highest station in life, nay, the even greater desirability of securing for every child the training which will enable him to secure the most effective position to which his abilities entitle him, was made the conscious aim of the founders of the St. John's Hospital — Exeter College, Oxford, for the aristocracy of talent, a handicraft for the rank and file. Leaving scholarships for the former, apprenticeship or manual training for the latter, with such preparatory education as each is fitted for. Such was the scheme which these wise good citizens devised and such is the scheme to which we have again awakened. Imperial history has its lessons which all may learn, but local history, too much neglected in the 99 The Founding of Exeter School past, has also its lessons. Nor is their value much less, for though the issues are not so great they come closer home. Of all the chapters in the long and glorious history of this City of Exeter there is none more valuable, none more stimu- lating to its present day citizens, than that which deals with the foundation of the St. John's Hospital. 100 H 9inM|| j^^B^ ■''< I JH[^^L ''^flt'i.s' ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^H ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H '^^^^^^^^^^^^^H ^^^^^HB' ' ^^^^^^H^^^Ky^vyt ^rj / I'^fl^^^^^^H / Jp^'' rrf^^^^B 'jt£-^^— P^W"^^^ A^^^'uil'if IBE *" "T^ / [^^^ '^^ fgi^t / l""'"5Blr^ ^t^^i J^'y / fl^p ' I,. .. / ^Hh^^ «»'» ■■ ' ' ^ *i- i J J ^'■A ■ 1^^ .4^: m ■ MC^'~- -i-i. •^^A. * V m gjf-^Ci .^:.'l"^. i i •■ : k !' Jr^jXi .- -•■''^f^-'Kf -'^ E:iJ^Hp f . •"' "fH^'l" 1^- 1 . ..^^i^.ir/;?s^^'a«aro.>i grr '*>^ **^^^'' \ "^""-'' -^^^^BF- liiMH "•' v^'i\ ^r^^i^piHj \ ^^Wm^^i v'-'—L-Ma^M J Tr-'-p"iM^^ -- '"r'-^^H"^ ^ > ~-^->lH And that amongst other oar subiects there well affected to this pious worke, Johan Crossinge the widowe of Hugh Crossinge Esq deceassed late one of the Aldermen of the said Founders Cittie, and ffrancis Crossinge Esq their sonne one of the nowe Aldermen of the said Cittie, in psecucon of the charitable intendm'^ of the said Hugh Crossinge, have purchased a large and convenient house w'hin the said Cittie, w*^*" before the dissolucon of Monasteries was an hospitall, called S" Johns Hospitall, And likewise one Tenement neere adioyninge and sometimes pcell of or belonginge to the said Hospitall, w'^'' are held of us by Knight service in Capite, and have given the same for an hospitall or workehouse. And that sithence by the Charitie of Thomas Walker Esq deceassed and Elizabeth Dowrich widowe deceassed and of divers others, there is a Decent Schoolehouse made and reedified in a park of the said Hospitall w'^'' was ancientlie the bodye or lower children to be putt into the Hospitall. The 115 The Founding of Exeter School parte of the said Hospitall Church, and a free Gramar Schoole therein alreadie setled by the appbacon of our privie counsel!, and that the higher parte or decayed Channcell of the said Church is lateHe by the Cost of Ahce Hele widowe deceassed decenthe reedified and ppared for a Chappie for the use of the said Hospitall, And that there is alsoe ffive hundred pounds (w"'' was given by Elizabeth Jurdaine widowe deceassed for charitable uses w'hin the said Citie and Countie of Exon in pursuance of certain orders made by our privie Counsell) applyed to and for the maintenance of a fFree English Schoole therein for the better pparinge of the children of the said Ilospitall and others for the Gramar Schoole and other fitt pfessions. And that there have byn alsoe divers lands Tene- ments and somes of monye heretofore given by Walter Borough Esq and Nicholas Martyn Esq deceassed Dame Marie Prydeaux and others, and more pmised by severall other psons to bee given for the supporte and enlargement of the same Hospitall, Whereuppon the said Maior Bayliffes and Comynaltie have made humble suite to us for o' grace and favour in licenceinge them to erecte and found an The names Hospitall for ever in the said house (to bee called the of the Hospitall of S'- Johns w*hin the Cittie of Exeter, founded Hospitall by Hugh Crossinge Esq and others) And a ffree Gramar desired. Schoole and an English Schoole therein, And to renewe and continue divine service in the said Chappie for the said Hospitall, And that the said other parts of the said house might bee for ever imployed for the Dwellinge releife and educacon in learninge and all or any other lawfuU Arte and Trades of poore children borne and inhabitinge w'hin the Thelimitacon said Cittie or Countie of the same under the age of Sixteene of the tyme yeres And for the habitacon releife and maintenance of aged the children ^^ impotent poore people inhabitinge w'hin the said Cittie or Countie of the same. And of soe many children and aged rr-mayne in ' "^ . . the Hospitall. & impotent psons as the Governo" of the said Hospitall for ii6 The Founding of Exeter School the time beinge shall thinke fitt, and for the dwellinge of one or more Schoolemaisters to instructe the said Children, And that the Maior Recorder Aldermen and Comon Counsell oi the said Cittie for the time beinge might bee the Governo" of Who the said Hospital! and of the members goods lands revenewes shalbe the and hereditaments of the same att all times hereafter for ever, overnors. and might have the electinge and placeinge of Schollers Schoolemaisters ushers Chaplaines and other necessarie officers children and poore people, And that the said Governo'' and Hospitall might for ever bee incorporated and founded in name and in Deede A Bodye politique and Corporate to have continuance for ever, by the name of the The name of Governo" of the Hospitall of S'- Johns wVm the Cittie of [^^ Exeter founded by Hugh Crossinge Esq and others And ^gXir*''^''" that the said Governo" might have ppetuall Succession and by that name they and their Successors might for ever here- after have possesse and enioye aswell the said house and Tenement given by the said Johan Crossinge and ffrancis Crossinge as aforesaid notw'hstandinge the Statute of Mort- maine ; as all other lands Tenements Rents & hereditam'' goods and Chatties reall or psonall w'''' are or shalbe given unto the said Hospitall or purchased by the Governo" of the same, Soe as all the said lands Tenements hereditaments and rents soe to bee purchased or given (except the said Hospitall house and Tenement adioyninge) in the whole togeather shall not exceede the cleere yerelie value of ffive Hundred pounds, and should not bee held in Capite or by Knights service, And that the said Governo" and their Successors or the maior parte of them might have power to make lawes and ordinances for the well governinge placeinge and displaceinge of the members or other Officers of the said Hospitall, not repugnant to the lawes of o' Realme, and to make eleccon of such officer or officers concerninge the said Hospitall or the lands goods and revenues of the same ; as they or the maior parte of 117 The Founding of Exeter School Maior Bayliffes and coialtie their power. them shall thinke fitt, And that the said Governo" and their Successors might bee the visitors of the said Hospitall, And might have and use A Comon Seale to lease or otherwise dispose of their lands Tenem" or hereditaments goods or chatties, or for any other use touchinge or concern- inge the said Hospitall, w"* such other powers liberties and priviledges as shalbe meete for the well orderinge and establishinge of the said Hospitall. KNOW YE therefore His Ma''" That wee greatlie afFectinge such pious and Charitable works Grantetothe ^^^ q^j. ^f q^- Royall inclinacon to pmote and advance the same ; Off our especiall grace certaine knowledge and meere mocon Have given and graunted And by these psents for us our Heires & Successors doe give and graunte to the said Maior Bayliffes and Comynaltie of the Cittie of Exeter full power licence and lawfull authoritie at all times hereafter To found an att their Willes & pleasures to place erecte found and Hospitall. establish att or in the said house (heretofore called S*- Johns Hospitall) w'hin the Cittie of Exeter and other the ^misses thereunto adioyninge, One Hospitall, house or place of abidinge for the findeninge sustentacon releife and educacon in learninge and all or any other lawfull Arts and Trades of poore children from time to time borne or inhabitinge w'hin the said Cittie or Countie of the same, And for the habitacon releife and maintenance of aged or impotent poore people from time to time inhabitinge w'hin the said Cittie or Countie of the same, And of soe many Children or aged or impotent poore people and such other members and Officers of the said Hospitall as to the Governo" of the said Hospitall hereafter named and their Successors or the greater parte of them for the time beinge shall seeme meete, And that the said Governo'^ for the time beinge and their Successors shall have full power licence and lawfull authoritie att their Willes To place a and pleasures from time to time and att all times hereafter M'- &c. to place therein such Maister or head of the said Hospitall Ii8 The Founding of Exeter School and number of poore people and Children and such other members and officers of the said Hospitall as to them or the greater parte of them for the time beinge shall seeme con- venient, And further wee of our especiall grace certaine knowledge and meere mocon Have given and graunted And by these psents doe give and graunte unto the said Governo" and their Successors att their Willes and pleasures full power licence and lawfuU authoritie att all times here- after to place erecte found and establish att or in the said Hospitall and other the pmisses One ffree Grafnar Schoole and one ffree English Schoole for the instructinge teachinge maintenance and educacon of poore children or Schollers borne or inhabitinge w*hin the said Cittie of Exeter or Countie of the same, And that the said Governo'^ for the time beinge and their Succcessors shall have full power licence and lawfull authoritie att their Willes and pleasures from time to time and at all times hereafter to place therein such number of poore children or Schollers as to the Governo" of the said Hospitall for the time beinge and their Successors or the greater parte of them shall seeme conveniente. And likewise one or more learned able and sufficient pson or psons to bee Schoolmaister or Schoolemaisters of the same Schoole or Schooles, And one or more other able and sufficient pson or psons to bee usher or ushers thereof to teach and instructe the said Children, And alsoe one learned and godlie Preacher to reade divine service and to teach & preach the Word of God in the said Chappell to all the said persons poore people and children members and officers att or in the said house, w'** the allowance of the Ordinarie there for the time beinge And further wee of our said speciall grace certaine knowledge and meere mocon Have ordayned con- stituted assigned limitted and appointed. And by these psents for us our Heires and Successors doe ordayne constitute assigne limitt and appointe That the said house and other To found a free Gramer Schoole ?r English Schoole. Schoole- maisters & Ushers. A Preacher. With the all<= of the Ordinary e. 119 The Founding of Exeter School ^misses shall from hencefoorth for ever hereafter be remaine The house to continue and bee converted imployed & used for an Hospitall be continued ^jj^j house or place for the abideing dwellinge sustentacon or an ^^^ releife of such number of poore people and children, as the said Governo" of the said Hospitall and their Successors for the time beinge or the greater parte of them shall name assigne limitt or appointe to be lodged harbored abide and to bee maintayned and releived there, And for the abideinge dwellinge sustentacon and findinge of one or more Schoolemaister or Schoolemaisters usher or ushers one Preacher and of one head or Maister of the said house & Hospitall as aforesaid, And that it shall & may be lawfull to and for the said Maister Preacher Schoole- maisters ushers poore people children members and Officers of the said Hospitall, or therein to bee placed, for the time beinge, to assemble bee remaine abide and cohabite togeather The name of in the said Hospitall, And that the said Hospitall shall the Hospitall fQj. gyg^ hereafter bee incorporated named and called, the Hospitall of S'- Johns w'hin the Cittie of Exeter founded by Hugh Crossinge Esq and others. And that the same Hospitall Chappie and fFree Schooles by the name of the Hospitall of S*- Johns w hin the Cittie of Exeter founded by Hugh Crossinge Esq and others, wee doe firmelie by these psents for us our Heires and Successors erecte found establish and confirme to have continuance for ever, AND for the better maintenance and continuance of the said Hospitall fFree Schooles and other the said godlie and charitable uses intents and purposes, and that the same may have and take the better effecte, And that all and everie the Messuages lands Tenem'^ rents revercons services and hereditaments goods and Chatties heretofore given graunted conveyed assigned devised willed liiiiitted or appomted or hereafter to bee given graunted conveyed assigned devised willed limitted or appointed for the 120 The Founding of Exeter School maintenance sustentacon and releife of the psons aforesaid in the same Hospltall may be the better governed used imployed and bestowed for the maintenance of the psons in the said Hospitall for the time beinge to have continuance for ever, Wee will appointe assigne limitt and name, And for us our Heires and Successors doe graunte and ordayne by these psents That the Maior Recorder Aldermen and Comon Counsell of the said Cittie of Exeter for the time beinge shalbe Governo" of the said Hospitall, And of the lands possessions revenewes and goods thereof, And that the said Maior Recorder Aldermen and Comon Counsell of the said Cittie shalbe incorporated and have a ppetuall Succession for ever in Deede facte and name, And shalbe one Bodye Corporate & politique, And that they the said Maior Recorder Aldermen & Comon Counsell of the said Cittie and their Successors shalbe incorporated named and called by the name of, the Governo" of the Hospitall of S' Johns w'hin the Cittie of Exeter founded by Hugh Crossinge Esq and others, and them by the name of the Governo" of the Hospitall of S'- Johns w hin the Cittie of Exeter founded by Hugh Crossinge Esq and others, one bodye Corporate and politique by that name to have ppetuall Succession for ever to endure, Wee doe for us our Heires and Successors reallye and fuUie incorporate make erecte ordayne name constitute and establish by these psents. And that they by the same name bee and shalbe and continue psons able and capable in the lawe from time to time for ever hereafter, and shall by that name of Incorporacon have full power authoritie and lawful capacitie and abilitie to purchase take hold receive enioye and have to them and their Successors for ever aswell the foresaid Hospitall house and Tenement adioyninge w'hall the buildings Curtelages orchards gardens and apptennces thereunto belonginge as any other Messuages Manno'' lands Tenements Rents revercons Annuities and hereditaments goods and The Maior Recorder Aldermen & Comon Counsell to be Governors A Bodie Politique. The name of the incorporacon Power to purchase Landes, &c. 121 The Founding of Exeter School To sue & to be sued. To have a ComonSeale. All persons there to be ordered &c. by the Governors. Chatties whatsoever aswell of us our Heires and Successors ; as of anie other pson or psons whatsoever, And alsoe that the said Governo' for the time beinge and their Successors shall have full power and lawful! authoritie by the aforesaid name of Governo" of the Hospitall of S'' Johns w'hin the Cittie of Exeter founded by Hugh Crossinge Esq and others to sue and to be sued impleade and to bee impleaded to answeare and to bee answeared unto in all Co'" and other places w'hin this our Realme or elsewhere in all manner of suits what- soever and of what nature or kinde soever such suite or accon bee or shalbee, in the same and in as ample manner and forme to all intents Construccons and purposes as anie other pson or psons Bodyes politique or Corporate of this our Realme of England beinge able psons in the lawe may doe, And furthermore wee will and graunte by these psents for us our Heires and Successors unto the said Governo" for the time beinge and their Successors, That they and there Successors shall have and enioye for ever A Comon Seale wherew"' the same Corporacon shall and may seale any manner of Deed Writings or instrument touchinge the same Corporacon or the Manno" lands Tenem*^ rents revercons Annuities & hereditaments goods Chatties and other things thereunto belonginge or in any wise touchinge or concerninge the same, And wee do further of our especiall grace certaine knowledge and meere mocoii for us our Heires and Successors give and graunte That the said Maister Preacher Schoole- maisters ushers poore people Children Schollers members and Officers of the said Hospitall and everie of them shalbe allowed ordered governed directed visited placed or displaced by the said Governo" and their Successors or the greater parte of them accordinge to such allowances rules Statutes & ordinances as shalbe appointed set foorth devised or established by the said Governo" for the time beinge, or their 122 The Founding of Exeter School Successors or the more parte of them, Soe as the same rule Statutes and ordinances soe farr foorth as they shall concerne the Preacher of the said Hospitall bee made and sett downe w'h the allowance of the ordinarie there for the time beinge, And further wee have given and graunted And by these psents doe give and graunte to the said Governo'^ and their Successors for the time beinge or the more parte of them full power and authoritie to make sett downe and appointe such rules Statutes and ordinances for the rule goverm' and well orderinge of the said Hospitall and of the said Maister Preacher, Schoolemaisters ushers poore people Children Schollers members and Officers for the time beinge and for their and everie of their Wages stipends and allowances for and towards their or anie of their maintenances and releife ; as to the said Governo''* and their Successors for the time being or the more parte of them shall seeme meete and convenient, Soe as the same soe farr as they shall concerne the said Preacher be made w"^ the allowance of the said ordinarie for the time being, And that the same orders rules Statutes and ordinances soe by them to bee made sett downe and pscribed as aforesaid shalbe and stand in full force and strength in lawe to all constructions intents and purposes, The same not beinge repugnant to our progative Royall, nor contrarie to the lawes and Statutes of this Realme of England, or to any Ecclesiasticall Cannons or Constitutions of the Church of England w''' then shalbe in force, And that for the better government of the said Hospitall the said Governo" for the time beinge or the greater parte of them shall and may have full power and iawfull authoritie to visite the said Hospitall, and to order governe punish place or displace the Maister Schoolemaisters ushers poore people Schollers members and Officers of the said Hospitall and everie or any of them And to order reforine and redresse all & everie the disorders misdemeano" offences and abuses in the Those touchinge the Preacher to be all** of by the Ordinarie. Power to make ordinances. The Governors to be visitors & to redresse disorders in the Hospitall. Power to displace. 123 The Founding of Exeter School A Lycence to purchase aswell the Hospital house &c. as any other Landes not excedinge 500" ^ annu. psons aforesaid and everie or any of them, or in the said Hospitall or fFree Schooles, or in or touchinge the Goverment order and disposeinge of the same as to the said Governo" for the time beinge and their Successors or the more parte of them shall seeme fitt iust and convenient, Soe as the same soe farr as it concernes the Preacher for the time beinge bee done w"" the allowance of the ordinarie there for the time beinge And further knowe yee that wee for the consideracons aforesaid of our especiall grace certaine knowledge and meere mocon Have given and graunted And by these psents for us our Heires and Successors doe give and graunte to the said Governo'' and their Successors for ever our especiall licence and free and lawful! libertie power and authoritie to gett purchase and take to them and their Successors for ever for the maintenance sustentacon and releife of all and everie the pson and psons to bee placed in the said Hospitall of and from the said Johan Crossinge and ffrancis Crossinge their Heires & Assignes or any other pson or psons, aswell the said Hospitall house and Tenement adioyninge w"" th' apptennces ; as any other Mano'' Messuages lands Tenements rents revercons Annuities and hereditaments whatsoever of and from any other pson or psons whatsoever, Soe as the same pmisses or any of them (excepte the said Hospitall house and Tenement adioyninge) bee not holden of us our Heires or Successors in capite nor holden of us our heires or Successors or of any other pson or psons by Knights service, And soe as the same Manno" Messuages lands Tenements hereditaments and pmisses (excepte the said Hospitall house and Tenement adioyninge) doe not exceede in the whole the yerelie value of ffive hundred pounds p Ann above all charges & reprizes, the Statute of Mortmayne or any other Acte Statute ordinance or pvision whatsoever to the contrarie thereof in any wise notw"*standinge Alsoe wee have likewise given and graunted And by these .124 The Founding of Exeter School psents for us our Heires and Successors doe give and graunt to everie of the subiects of us our Heires and Successors speciall licence and free and lawful! power & authoritie, That they or any of them shall and may lawfullie and freelie give graunte sell bequeath alienate or convey to the said Governo" and their Successors aswell the said Hospitall house & Tenement adioyninge w"" th' apptennces as aforesaid as any other Messuages Manno'^ lands Tenements Tithes Rents revercons and other hereditaments w'''' are not holden of us our Heires or Successors in Capite nor by Knights service, neither of any other pson or psons whatsoever by Knights service and soe as all the said Manno" Messuages lands Tenements Rents revercons and other the hereditaments (excepte before excepted) soe as aforesaid to bee given graunted aliened bequeathed or conveyed doe not exceede in the whole the cleere yerelie value of ffive hundred pounds above all charges and reprizes, The Statute of Mortmayne or any other Statute Acte ordinance or pvision heretofore made had published ordayned or pvided or anie other thinge cause or matter to the contrarie thereof in any wise notw^'standinge And further of our especial grace certaine knowledge and meere mocon wee doe for us our Heires & Successors graunte to the said Governo" of the said Hospitall and their Successors, That these our Ires Patentes or the inrollement thereof shall stand and be good firme stronge sufficient and effectuall in the lawe to all the intents and purposes aforesaid, and shalbee expounded construed taken and adiudged in all our Co"* of this our Realme & elsewhere stronglie against us our Heires and Successors ; And most benignely favourablie & beneficiallie to and for the said Governo" of the said Hospitall and their Successors, not- w^'standinge an ad quod dampnu hath not byn awarded touchinge the pmisses, or any omission impfeccon or defecte A lycence to all subiects to give any landes &c. not exceed- inge 500" p annu. That these presents shalbe efFect- uail in the lawe & taken beneficiallie for the Governors. 125 The Founding of Exeter School in these our letters Pattents or any other thinge cause or matter whatsoever to the contrarie thereof notw'^standinge, The liberties Nevertheles our intent and meaninge is And wee doe hereby of the Bp declare the same to bee, That these psents, nor any thinge & Deaiie therein conteyned shall extend or bee construed to extend to ^^ ^J the ^iudice of any the rights powers priviledges and Juris- diccons of or belonginge to the Lord Bp of Exeter for the time beinge, or to the Deane and Chapter of the Cathedrall Church of S'- Peter in Exeter and their Successors or any of them, Althbugh expresse mencon of the true yerelie value or certentie of the pmisses or anie of them or of anie other guifts or graunts by us or by any of our pgenitors or pdecessors to the said Governo" heretofore made in these ^sents is not made, or any Statute Acte ordinance pvision pclamation or restrainte to the contrarie thereof heretofore had made ordayned or pvided, or anie other thinge cause or matter whatsoever in any wise notw^'standinge. In witnes whereof wee have caused these our letters to bee made Patents, Witness ourselfe att Westminster the Second day of June in the Thirteenth year of our Raigne p breve de private Sigillo WOOLSELEY. 126 APPENDIX E. Letter of Bishop Temple to the Mayor of Exeter. The Palace, 5th February, 1872. My dear Mr Mayor, I should have been very glad if other engagements had left me free to take my part in the discussions which will take place in this City on the proposals made by the Endowed Schools Commissioners for the re-organisation of our Educational Endowments. But I am compelled to go to London, and shall not be back for some little time. For this reason I wish to take this opportunity of trying to put the proposals of the Commissioners in a brief, clear form, and to express my opinion on them in detail. The Commissioners propose to re-organise the endowments in such a way as to provide a complete system of schools from the lowest to the highest. They assume that Elementary Schools will be provided under the Education Act. And there is no reason to doubt that, after a little while, this part of the educational system will be as efficient as the careful control of the citizens and the supervision of the Government can make it. The grade of education next above, it is proposed to supply out of the Episcopal Charity and Maynard's Charity. The Episcopal Charity is to build an elementary school in connection with the Training College. This school, while an elementary school within the meaning of the Education Act, would be not the practising, but the model school of the Training College, where the students could watch and study the best method of teaching, but not be themselves 127 The Founding of Exeter School ordinarily employed as teachers. The fees would be between 6d. and gd. a week. It would thus stand midway between the ordinary elementary schools and the schools of the Third Grade. A certain number of selected children from the elementary schools might be admitted either free or at lower terms, and their fees either partially or wholly paid for them. The schools of the third grade would be held in the present buildings of the Episcopal Charity Schools. The fees would be between £i and £/^ year. For the present boys and girls would be taught in different parts of these schools. Hereafter, when the schools had grown (as they are sure to do), the girls would have schoolrooms of their own suppHed, or partly supplied, out of Maynard's Charity. The second grade of education would be given as proposed by the City Committee at Hele's School. The highest grade would be given by the Foundation which includes the St. John's Hospital and the Grammar School. It is important to notice that this is but one Foundation, and that from its origin both the purposes which it now professes to fulfil were contemplated, and, moreover, that the amount of the propejty to be assigned to either purpose is not determined by anything in the original instrument, but simply by usage. The Grammar School, as a matter of fact, has been almost ruined, in spite of laborious headmasters, by the small amount assigned to it, and this merely because an arrangement had gradually come into force which no one was willing to disturb. It is proposed, therefore, to assign to the purpose of higher education a much larger share of this joint endowment, and to give girls a portion of it as well as boys. To make the education complete and thorough this is absolutely necessary ; and as the Indenture of 1629 (the starting-point of the present Foundation) in more than one place speaks of the good of the City and the inhabitants thereof as a part of the general 128 The Founding of Exeter School aim, it is certainly no real departure from the original purpose to make such a rearrangement of the revenues as the general good requires. No argument is needed to show how sorely Exeter suffers from the want of a good Grammar School for boys and of a good Upper School for girls. The wealthier can, of course, provide for themselves. They can send both sons and daughters to a distance. But the great body of the middle class, who will be now for the first time rated, and perhaps heavily rated, for Elementary Schools, have no really efficient schools for their own children. And although it seems to be thought that there is something especially incongruous in providing an Upper School for girls, I cannot see how it is to be maintained that the middle classes, from the shop- keepers upwards, do not need efficient schooling for their girls as well as for their boys, nor how provision for it is inconsistent with the purpose of a Foundation which aims at the good of the citizens generally. Our ancestors, to whom we owe this Foundation, were wise men. They gave to their upper education the completeness, and to their lower education the form, that suited their day. We must do the same, or else, though we may mimic their acts, we shall not copy the example of their wisdom. The working of these schools should be this : each school would be attended by the children of those parents who could afford to pay the fees. But children selected by merit from the Elementary Schools would be admitted free into Third Grade Schools, and children selected by merit from the Third Grade Schools would be admitted free into Second and First Grade Schools. Thus a child even of the poorest parents might rise by his merit as far as his powers would fit him to rise. This would be done by means of the Exhibitions. Less is said in detail about Exhibitions in the Memorandum sent to us than the subject deserves, and this for an obvious 129 The Founding of Exeter School reason. It is not possible to estimate beforehand the nature and amount of the Exhibitions that will best suit the educational needs of the place. It is therefore usual in all good schemes of schools to leave the Governors a great latitude of discretion in dealing with the Exhibition Fund. But it possible to indicate the form Avhich these Exhibitions will probably assume. The spare money of the Episcopal Charity will probably be best used in providing means by which children from the Elementary Schools may be brought into the schools of the Third Grade, either at low fees or free, or even with a small amount of money in hand over and above the fees to compensate them for not at once beginning to earn wages. Besides these Exhibitions for children from the Elementary Schools there must be also provided from this fund Exhibitions to enable selected scholars in the Third Grade Schools to go to the Schools of a higher grade. If this be not provided, the Third Grade Schools will languish for want of the stimulus which these Exhibitions alone can give. The remaining income of the Foundation which now includes St. John's Hospital and the Grammar School, ought be used chiefly to fulfil a purpose which was once fulfilled by every Grammar School in the country, and which the inevitable change in the nature of modern education has rendered it impossible for them to fulfil any longer. It was once the case (and it would not be necessary to go very far back in the history of Exeter to find instances of it here) that a poor boy might, and often did find that the Grammar School near his home, provided the means of rising to high distinction and of doing honour to his school and to his town by his after life. By diligent use of the faculties that God had given him, without being beholden to anybody, the poor lad could attain the aims of an honourable ambition. And the perpetual recurrence of the phrase in hundreds of 130 The Founding of Exeter School Foundation Deeds, that it was intended that poor boys might be brought up to serve God in Church and State, shews how much the idea of making this possible prevailed in the minds of those who founded the Schools. This the poor have now lost, not because anyone has purposely taken it away, but because the old system of Grammar Schools has perished and cannot be revived. It is a boon better worth restoring than any other that can be given, and one which I believe the founders had more closely at their hearts, I do not much like the form of the proposal in this matter submitted to our consideration by the Commissioners. It is matter of much doubt whether the twenty Exhibitions will be the best mode of using the money. And I should prefer to leave the actual apportionment of the money to the discretion of the Governing Body, under the restraint of one simple rule, viz., that it should be used to enable, not poor children, but children who had been educated in the public Elementary Schools of the Parliamentary Borough of Exeter to carry on their education further, in proportion as they showed such diligence and capacity as to be likely to profit by doing so. Now this scheme is objected to as a robbery of the poor, and more particularly because it proposes no longer to maintain St. John's Hospital on its present footing. How it is possible for thoughtful men to believe that an educational system for the whole City which provides that every poor boy, if he have diligence and capacity to profit by the boon, shall have the means of using that system from one end to the other is not preferable to the maintenance and instruction of twenty-five poor children, it is difficult for one to understand. Consider what benefit the Hospital now confers. We bring a child in and give it a great boon. But, meanwhile, what The Founding of Exeter School have we done for those whom we have left outside ? Is there any single soul the better besides this child and the relations that are no longer burthened with it ? The sum total of the benefit is that out of this large City, you have taken care of twenty-five children. On the other hand, the Scheme of the Commissioners says to every Godfearing father and every careful mother that the pains taken to bring their child up well, to see that it is regular in its attendance at School, to see that it is diligent, attentive, and obedient, to encourage it in its learning, to see that the home life does not undo School lessons,— these make the most likely road to immediate and visible success, a success earned and not solicited, a success which is an honour to both parents and child. It is argued that such benefits are confined to clever children. It is true that where God has given special fitness for higher learning to any child, however poor, this Scheme recognises the claim (it seems to me an exceedingly strong claim) of that special fitness. But it is a mistake to suppose that this, and this alone, will decide all such competitions. Diligence, regularity, attentiveness, will tell most heavily, and in these points almost everything depends on the homes in which the children live and the parents to whom those homes belong. It is no slight blessing to the poor that a scheme of education should improve every Elementary School with the powerful stimulus of hope. Our Elementary Schools at present are often well taught, well managed, well examined ; but they are all alike deficient in that brightness and life which hope alone can give. There is no aim set before the learners which they can easily appreciate. There is little encouragement to the parents. While all other classes of society are eager for improved education, for the poor, and the poor alone, we are driven to use compulsion. And why ? 132 The Founding of Exeter School Chiefly, you may be sure, because every other kind of school oflFers rewards in plenty, and the Elementary School offers none. Nor is it a small matter to set the poor absolutely free in this matter from all need of soliciting trustees or patrons. Who can measure the mischief which such solicitation causes, or the many occasions when the wrong choice is made on such a system ? The Trustees may do their best, and yet on any system which makes them the dispensers of patronage it must constantly happen that the most deserving cases are passed by in consequence of their own desert. The poor widow who is so unselfish as always to fancy that her neighbour is in greater need than herself, the poor widow who thinks it a duty never to ask for help if she can possibly provide for her own by her own exertion, these are constantly and inevitably overlooked, even by the most careful trustees, and the boon is obtained by the importunate and the plausible. You may be sure, Mr. Mayor, that all boons given to the poor are multiplied tenfold in value if they are given in such a form as to recognise the poor man as a fellow citizen among citizens, and not as belonging to a class apart. In our private charities we cannot help aiding the poor as poor ; but then we are able, if we choose, to do it without attaching to our aid any public stamp of poverty, and to take off much of the evil of teaching the lesson of dependence by making the receiver feel that our gift is one of sympathy between man and man, and not of favour from rich to poor. And even then the many mistakes we make compel us to feel that our Lord has given us no harder problem to solve than how to aid the poor without doing them harm. But in dealing with public and permanent institutions, where it is possible to calculate beforehand how aid is to be obtained, it is of priceless importance to give aid in a form that shall encourage self-respect and self-reliance. I would wish the poor man to 133 The Founding of Exeter School get what can be given him out of these Endowments, not because he is poor, but because he is a citizen of Exeter — not because he has begged for it, but because he has fairly won it — with no sense of humiliation, but with that honest satisfaction which attends the success of conscientious labour. And I have that opinion of my poorer fellow citizens, that I feel confident that if they thoroughly understood the alterna- tive, they would much prefer a scheme which recognised their place in the whole body, and duly provided for what belonged to that place, to one which set them apart to receive a favour conferred on a few by the award of personal patronage. This is the most important question now in dispute. But there is another of less importance which deserves a very few words. It is proposed to treat the Grammar School as not only an Exeter, but also a County School, and to put it for that reason to a great extent under County management. It is obvious that Exeter may be considered in two respects, either as an ordinary town of 40,000 inhabitants, or as the County town of Devon, and the Cathedral City of both Devon and Cornwall. In dealing with the Grammar School, it is proposed to consider Exeter in the latter capacity, and in that capacity, if it holds eight places out of twenty on the Governing Body, it certainly has no reason to complain. Now I do not think it at all unnatural that it should appear at first sight as if there were no reason for this, and as if the school ought to be treated as simply an Exeter School. But on the other hand, it is to be remembered that it is for the interest of the school itself to hold county rank. The difference which this makes in the position of the Headmaster is very considerable, and you will assuredly attract much abler men to take charge of the school if that rank is given to it. The whole difference between a truly great and a very poor school will depend on the sort of men you put at the head. Men of learning and ability are^often keenly alive to 134 The Founding of Exeter School the dignity of the position which they are asked to occupy, and to make the School a County School will greatly increase its chances of thorough efficiency. In conclusion, Mr. Mayor, let me express a little regret that the reorganisation of our Endowments should have been made, as I see that it has been made, in some degree, a party question. It is not really a party question at all. The supreme consideration is the good of the whole City, and especially of our poorer fellow citizens as citizens of the City, and though it is natural that, till the matter is closely studied, party predilections should enter, they cannot remain if we examine deeply. Both sides have really one aim. I believe that both sides, if they had time to look into all the evidence, would come to one conclusion. For I remember the extreme divergence of views in the Schools' Inquiry Commission when it first met. And yet in the end we never had one difference of opinion on what we should recommend. I cannot help hoping that here, too, the longer we reflect the more we shall tend to unanimity. I have, the honour to remain, Yours very faithfully, F. ExoN. The Right Worshipful the Mayor of Exeter. 135 ^ais BOOK IS B„B-r ^ ^°===i==~J____^_^ "jaae before ow-7, '25 YD 00666 324294 /B: i::' r' 2 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY