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30 better provided with grammar schools before the Reformation than it has ever been since."

This startling statement has been confirmed by a careful study of the records of the time of Henry VIII. and Edward VI., from which it is clear that at least two hundred grammar schools must have been in existence before Edward came to the throne. Mr. Leach raises the number by the addition of another hundred, and says that three hundred is a moderate estimate for the year 1535; and this number is exclusive of elementary schools and universities. It will suffice to mention a few names of famous schools: Canterbury, Lincoln, Wells, York, Beverly, Chester, Southwell, Winchester, Eton, the school of Dean Colet in London, and the numerous schools attached to the monasteries. In regard to the great number of foundation schools established just after the Reformation, Professor Thorold Rogers maintains that it was not a new zeal for learning, but a very inadequate supply of that which had been so suddenly and disastrously destroyed.

During the period immediately preceding the Reformation, England possessed a great number of distinguished scholars, most of whom were ecclesiastics. The revival of letters was heartily welcomed by the clergy. The chief ecclesiastics of the day, as Wolsey, Warham, Fisher, Tunstall, Langton, Stokesley, Fox,