Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 6.djvu/512

 424 NOTES AND QUERIES. OB* s. vi. DEO. i, im For a long period it has been a mystery a to who was " a man of York." Elsewhere i is stated that the memorial in Croydo Church to Michael Murgatroid, the founder secretary, bears the words " Michael Mur gatroid, Eboracensis," and that therefor probably it was he who went to the cost o the window. The hospital records, however, put th matter at rest. The man of York was chaplai to Archbishop Whitgift and named Mr. Wil Ham Thornhill, " who was at the charge of th great-wyndow in the Chappie for stone, iron and glasse work which cost him 12lbs. 16s and 8d." In the archives of the hospital there is a rent-charge of 13/. 6s. 8d. on Lancaster Col lege, St. Paul's, now Cook's warehouse. Thi charge was granted for 1,000 years to Whit gift's Hospital of the Holy Trinity. Although the property has so enormously increased in value, the 131. 6*. 8(1. is still all that the hospital receives. To the deed referred k there are nine coats of arms, one of them being of the family of Lucy of Stratford-on-Avon This Lucy is the one who prosecuted Shak speare for poaching, and was immortalizec by him in 'The Merry Wives of Windsor, that complete specimen of Shakspeare's comic powers, in which Lucy is satirized as Mr. Justice Shallow. The "dozen white louses" mentioned by Evans unquestionably refer to the white luces, or pike, the arms of the Lucy family The number given by Shallow is not correct and it is not a matter of surprise that he elk: not refer with exactitude to this. What adds to the antiquarian value of this interesting document is the fact that attached to it, and connected with one of the seals, is a gold angel. It now only remains to refer very briefly to Whitgif t's generosity in providing also for a school in connexion with the hospital. The schoolmaster "shall be a parson well qualyfyed for that function, that is to saye, an honest man, learnede in Greeke and Lattin tongues, a good versifier in bothe the foresayde languages, and able to wryte well (yf pos- sible yt may be)." Are not these two qualifications, taking Greek and Latin as one, and caligraphy the other, nearly transposed in the actual ac- quirements of the same class to-day? A house was to be built for the schoolmaster, "adioyning to the sayde hospital!, and nere unto the sayde schoolehouse, together with suche back- sides and grounds as I have appointed to be annexed to the saydo howse." The visitor will look in vain for the "grounds," " schoolehouse," and the master's house de- scribed. The school which Whitgift built and endowed was for the parish of Croydon, the children of which shall be taught " withoute exactinge any thhige for theyre teachinge, as are of the poorer sorte." He added that these buildings before named " shalbe for ever ira- ployede to that use onlye, and to no other." Also all connected with the hospital and school should be under the governorship of the Archbishops of Canterbury. It is perhaps a nice question how these reverend gentle- men gave, or will give, if required, a good account of their stewardship. Certain it is that a charitable institution, such as the one under consideration, deserved and deserves the best possible attention, protection, and consideration of an archbishop who is pre- eminently supposed to be strongly imbued with the feelings of his Master, whom Whitgift, in respect of charity, certainly made an effort to follow. There is little to add here of great interest with respect to the structure itself. Samuel Finche was made vicar of Croydon in 1581, and took an active part in the erection of the hospital (1596-8). From his letters to Archbishop Whitgift and others during its building several items are worth notice. On the 8th " Februarii Ao. 1590":— " The yarde ys all defenced." "Nowe we take morter- makinge in hande, clensinge and leavellinge of the grounde." "Hillarie saith we shall be rcadie for the foun- dac'on and bricklayer by Monday come sevenight." Writing in the same month to his friend Mr. Woorinall, Lambeth, he says :— "The laborers have digged up iiii skulls and the jones of deade persones in the trenche that they are nowe digginge, next the highway leadinge to the Parke." It appears from another letter, in which reference is again made by Finche to the find of bones, that Mi1. Woormall had been inter- ested in the discovery, for on the 19th of " For the skulls, there were iiii digged up indeede: and I presentlye upon the findinge of the firste did .onferre with Outred, and asked him yf his con- cience were cleare: and he sayd that yt was leare." ,t would seem from this that Outred lived n the house which exposed the remains when jeing taken down. The same writer says it vas generally supposed that where the skulls were found was some waste place wherin n the tyme of some mortalitie) they did urie in." The clock, which in the earliest engraving f the hospital I know, 1755, is represented s projecting from the south-west corner,
 * he same month Finche writes :—