Page:The histories of Launceston and Dunheved, in the county of Cornwall.djvu/384

 348 THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL. monasteries, priories, and chantries of the kingdom, and that to the majority of these schools had been attached. We lately found in a small heterogeneous mass of loose papers the following remarkable letter. It is addressed : To my louyng ffriends Mr. Mayo r and his Bretherin of launces- ton. W* Spede. Mr. Mayor, I comend me to youe and the rest of yo r Brethern. When I was an officer, I was reddye to doe youe the pleasure I could, and stode you in soche stede as ye hadd neu r attaiyned yo r ffrce scole, nor any allowance for yt, yf I wuld haue sayd agaynst yt when I was askyd myne opynyon therin, which I dyd not, but I fortheryd yt, soe as ye p'vaylyd. Yett p'happs not soe suerlye as ye thynk. Myne aduyse is ye wake not the slepyng dogg, but content youe being well, w*out demaundyng of one that is not due, and that which ye shall neu r attaiyne at my hands. I saye noe more, for this is ynowght to the wyse ; and thynkk that here- after ys not yet. Soe fare ye hartelye well. London the xxv th of Januarye 1565. Yo r Ser 1 J. Aylworthe. Th' importunat sute of yo r Solicito 1 ", Mr. Kympthorn, is the cause of these Ires. The writer of this letter may have been the gentleman of the same name who assisted at the enquiry concerning the Week St. Mary and other chantries, under the Com- mission issued by King Henry VIII, 1546-7 (pp. 115, 343). Mr. Kympthorn, whom he names, had been member in Parliament for the borough in the year 1555, when the Charter of Philip and Mary was obtained. The letter is characteristic of the times, and it is the only authentic note we have seen respecting the nature and origin of Elizabeth's assistance to [not foundation of] the school. Some of the Corporation muniments were scheduled in the year 1657. Among these was one labelled "The Grant of the Free Schoole." It has been lost, or it is hopelessly secreted. We have diligently searched for it here, and for any record of it in London. In its absence