Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 02.djvu/163

 Ascham second brother, was an astrologer [see, fl. 1553].

Roger received his earliest education from his father, to whom he refers in his letters as 'the wisest of men,' and whose advice he frequently sought and acted upon in early manhood. But while still a child he was received into the family of Sir Anthony Wingfield, who 'ever loved and used to have many children brought up in learnynge in his house' together with his own sons (, Toxophilus, ed. Arber, p. 140). R. Bond was the name of the tutor employed by Sir Anthony, and under his guidance Roger made rapid progress in English as well as in classical studies. His physical education was not neglected, and Sir Anthony himself taught the boys archery, which was always Ascham's favourite exercise (ibid.). At the age of fifteen (1530) Roger, by the advice and at the expense of his patron, who recognised his promise, proceeded to St. John's College, Cambridge, where the best education of the day was to be obtained. His first tutor was Hugh Fitzherbert, who had become fellow of the college in 1528, but of him little is known (, Athen. Cantab. i. 64). Ascham appears to have developed his special aptitude for Greek under Robert Pember, another fellow of St. John's (cf. Epist. cxxxiv. ). During his undergraduate days he wrote a letter to Pember in Greek, which the tutor described as fit to have been written at Athens. But to John Cheke, afterwards tutor to Edward VI, and to John Redman, afterwards first master of Trinity College — both of whom were admitted fellows of St. John's during his first year of residence — Ascham always ascribed the chief advantages he derived from his academic training. With them, and especially with the first, he lived throughout their lives on terms of peculiar intimacy, and in his latest work he praised 'their onely example of excellency in learnyng, of godnes in liuyng, of diligence in studying, of councell in exhorting, of good order in all thyng' (Scholemaster, p. 67). Other friends that he made at St. John's at the same time were George Day and John Christopherson, both afterwards bishops of Chichester, Robert Horne, afterwards bishop of Winchester, Thomas Watson, afterwards bishop of Lincoln, James Pilkington, afterwards bishop of Durham, and John Seton, afterwards well known as the chaplain of Gardiner, bishop of Winchester. Among members of other colleges with whom he became acquainted were Edmund Grindal, afterwards archbishop of Canterbury, Walter Haddon, afterwards the eminent civilian, Thomas Wilson, who subsequently wrote on logic, and Nicholas Ridley, the martyr bishop of London. Besides devoting himself to Greek, which he taught as an undergraduate to students younger than himself, Ascham made himself master of almost all extant Latin literature, paid some attention to mathematics, became an accomplished musician, and acquired singular skill in penmanship. On 18 Feb. 1533—4 he took the degree of B.A., and on 23 March following was admitted to a fellowship at St. John's, which, as he wrote later, was 'the whole foundation. . . of all the furderance that hitherto else where I have obteyned' (Scholemaster, p. 134). Although Ascham's proficiency well merited a fellowship, his open avowal of the reformed religion imperilled his election. In 1533-4 a public disputation as to the authority of the pope in England took place at Cambridge, and Ascham so violently opposed the catholic champions as to offend many of his friends, among them George Day, a subsequent bishop of Chichester, to whom in later years he apologised for his 'imprudence' (Epist. cxxxvi.). His fellowship was only bestowed on him owing to the 'goodnes and fatherlie discretion' of Dr. Metcalfe, master of his college, who was himself a catholic, but came from the neighbourhood of Ascham's birthplace (Scholemaster, p. 134). Early in July 1537 Ascham proceeded M.A. In the meantime he had been studying hard and gatherin pupils about him, in whom he took an affectionate interest: among them he has made special mention of William Grindal, John Thomson, Edward Raven, and William Ireland, the last three of whom became fellows of St. John's, and to Raven and Ireland Ascham addressed some of his most charming letters in later life (Epistt. ci. cii. civ. cxvi. cxx. cxxx. cxxxiv.). About 1538 Ascham was appointed Greek reader at St. John's, with a good salary. His success was remarkable. In five years, he afterwards asserted, Sophocles and Euripides had become at his college as familiar as Plautus had been previously, and Demosthenes was as much discussed as Cicero in former times (Epist. xii.). Students from other colleges regularly attended his lectures. In 1539 he apparently sought, through the influence of William Buckmaster, vice-chancellor, a mathematical lectureship (Epist. iv.), although he candidly confessed in later life that, compared with the classics, 'Euclid's pricks and lines' had little educational value (Epist. ii. liv.; cf. Scholemaster, p. 34). The beauty of his handwriting also brought him much employment as the writer of official letters in behalf of the university; but although he said in