Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 4.djvu/299

 10* s. iv. SEPT. 23, loos.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 245 "living idlie, bound to no exercise, no account taken of their preceding in learning ; whereby they bothe remaine here and become after unprofitable burdens to the Colledg, commonwealth, and church. proving in the end ether ignorant ministers or roagues." These "poor scholars" were in some cases the attendants of the wealthier commoners : Florio, the translator of Montaigne, for example, entered as Italian teacher and attendant of Enmnuel Barnes, son of the Bishop of Durham and elder brother of Barnabo Barnes the poet. In other cases they attached themselves to members of the College, acting as their servants, and receiv- ing some instruction in return; while the free teaching of the Grammar School, and the lectures of the Readers, gave them opportunities of which some at least availed themselves. But their connexion with the College was slight, and the system, not recognized by the statutes, was liable to freat abuse. They are therefore for the uture not to exceed thirteen, and these are to be attached, not to any one who chooses to retain them, but to the thirteen Senior Fallows, who are enjoined to make a careful choice. A decree of December, 1591, under Nicholas Bond, Humfrey's successor, enacts that the "poor scholars" are to attend the Grammar School. In the Long Vacation of 1612 Magdalen has as many as 76 " poor scholars." In 1628 the College had ordered that no one should be admitted to the place of a " poor scholar " without the President's approval. But in 1C35 the visitor, Bishop Curll, writes:— "lam informed that you have a multitude of poore schollers or servitors, which hang upon the Colledge in an idle and unsohollerly way, by reason that every man takes unto himself a liberty to take in whom he will to wayt upon him. without any order of admittance, which I take to be principally the fault of the President [Accepted Frewenl, who either out of negligence, or Indulgence and Con- nivance, sees and suffers this disorder, and reforms it not." A list drawn up in the following year shows there were 66 " poor scholars," of whom 45 are entered as depending upon par- ticular persons, 11 as "of the alms-basket," and 10 as " certain others." For the future none are to be allowed " to serve any of the foundation" without being admitted, and having their names entered in a book by the President. They are then to be required to attend the Grammar School ; or, if their learning has passed the range of its teaching, to attend lectures and perform all dispu- tations and exercises required of members of the foundation. In 1664 Bishop Morley's visitation gives permission to all Doctors, Masters of Arts, and Bachelors of Law to retain " poor .scholars " as servitors, provided that they lodge "caution" for those whom they employ. As late as 1851, reform being in the air, a College committee proposed to revive the " poor scholar " element. Mis- reading an early document, they looked upon these servitors as an essential part of the founder's plan. They proposed to build for these contemplated members of the College a new quadrangle, to accommodate 60 men, each having a single room, and that the recently erected schoolroom should be con- verted into a dining-hall, where they should have all their meals in common. They were to be placed under the charge of a special vicegerent and two tutors, and to pay the College, for board, lodging, and tuition, a fixed sum of 601. a year each. A sum was also to be set aside for exhibitions to be given to deserving members of this new- class. Here again we find an instance of an endeavour to divert one of the school build- ings from its proper uses. But in the sequel this aspiration of the reforming party was to be realized elsewhere, and the later founda- tion of Keble College is a living witness to their good intentions (Wilson, 127-9, 136, 141, 150, 183, 245). But to return to the end of the sixteenth century : in 1586 Thomas Qodstow, a Fellow and former Demy, was imprisoned by Lord Norreys for deer-stealing in the royal forest of Shotover. His friends, who had shared his poaching exploits, attacked the " Bear" Inn, near All Saints' Church, where Lord Norreys was staying for the July Quarter Sessions, but were beaten back by his re- tainers to St. Mary's. " Whereupon a great outcrie being raised, the Vice-Chancellor [Dr. Bernard], Proctors, and others are called, who, rushing suddenly in among the Scholars, appeased and sent them away with fair words, yet some of them were hurt, and Sinks, the Lord's keeper, sorely wounded." By direction of the Vice - Chancellor, all scholars were confined to their colleges, and Lord Norreys prepared to leave the town. " But the Scholars of Magdalen, being not able to- pocket these affronts, went up privately to the top of their tower, and, waiting till he should pass by towards Kicot, sent down a shower of stones that they had picked up, upon him and his retinew,. wounding some and endangering others of their lives. It is said that upon the foresight of this storm, divers had got boards, others tables on their heads to keep them from it, and that if the Lord had not been in his coach or chariot, he would certainly have been killed.'1—Wood's 'Annals.' It is not surprising that " the result came to pass, that some of the offenders- were severely punished, others expelled, and the-