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 A HISTORY OF RUTLAND duty or moral lapse they may be dismissed by a majority of the governors after three warnings by word or writing. ' Otherwise ... I desire and hope that the Governors will encourage them, and mend their stipends, if they can conveni- ently.' Their stipend was fixed at ^1^ a year. They were also to act as wardens of the hos- pitals established by the founder in Oakham and Uppingham, and for their care and pains in this connexion they were to have lodgings in the hospitals and receive an additional stipend of £(i a year. The schools were to be free to children born and bred up in the two towns, whose parents could not afford to ' keep them constantly to school ' ; others were to pay according to their means, such fees being subject to revision by the governors resident in the diocese of Peterborough. The holidays were to be from lo December until the Monday after Twelfth Day, and from Thursday before Easter and Whitsunday until the following Monday week. No ' plays' were to be given on any Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, ' unless they be holyday evens ' — for any breach of this regulation the master was to for- feit 3J. d. to the hospital poor-box. The masters were to pay to the ushers one-half of the scholars' fees so long as that proportion did not exceed 5 marks, and one-half of the entrance fees, fixed at izd. The rest of the chapter gives somewhat elaborate instructions for the appointment of the schoolmasters. Governors resident within the diocese of Peterborough were to be served with notices to attend the meeting for the election. The parties or party that stand for the place shall be opposed in Greek and in Latin by any of the Governors, or any of them whom the m.ijor part shall appoint, and after that the major part of them present shall appoint two to take the voices, and then shall every governor present write whom he will choose. The elective governors and the patron may 'send their voices and consent under their hands and seals.' The competitor receiving the most ' voices' is to be declared elected. Each school is to have an usher, who is to be a — godly, learned and discreet man, one that can make true Latin, both in prose and verse. He shall carry himself reverently towards the schoolmaster, and be ruled by him in his discipline, and for matter and manner of teaching whom and when. He shall not disgrace the schoolmaster or animate the scholars in undutifulness towards him, or seek to withdraw their or their parents' affections from him, but shall be diligent in his school. The ushers are to be appointed by the governors resident in the diocese of Peterborough, the schoolmasters being allowed to suggest two names from which they must select. The ushers may be dismissed by the governors on their own initiative, or on complaint of the schoolmaster, who must first give to the ushers concerned two ad- monitions in the presence of two governors. The ushers were to receive ^Tia a year, in ad- dition to their share of tuition and entrance fees, and to act as sub-wardens and confraters'* of the hospitals, receiving free quarters in them and ^3 a year for reading prayers with the poor people at least twice a week. The contents of the fourth chapter, ' Of the poor people,' only concerns us in so far as it throws light upon the value of the trust property. Besides the wardens and sub-wardens, there were to be in each hospital 15 poor people, one of them able to read prayers in the sub-warden's absence, receiving £^ a year, 13 receiving ^3 a year, and ' one woman to wash their buck cloches, they finding her things necessary thereunto,' re- ceiving ;^3 a year. If it should be found neces- sary to increase the number of hospitallers to 24, the annual allowance might be reduced to ^^2, if the funds would not allow a payment of ^^3 apiece. The fifth chapter, entitled ' Of the Scholars,' establishes scholarships from the schools to the universities, of the value of forty shillings per annum, 'till the number of seven at least be filled up in each place.' Caeterh paribus, poor candi- dates were to be preferred, and the scholarships were to be tenable for seven years, so long as the holders did not absent themselves for more than ten weeks in the year. The scholars were to be chosen by the governors resident in the diocese of Peterborough, and might also be deprived by them for unsatisfactory behaviour in case of non- amendment after two warnings conveyed to them through the receiver. In absence of satisfactory candidates the money set apart for scholarships might be devoted to providing books and other necessary things for the schools or expended on the hospital premises. The salary of the receiver, who was to collect the rents, pay the salaries and allowances, and keep the accounts, was fixed at ^5 a year. In the seventh chapter, ' Of letting the land,' long leases and sub-letting, within certain limits, are forbidden. The property is always to be let ' to the best and safest advantage of these my schools and hospitals.' Bribery employed to in- fluence the letting of the property is to disqualify the governor receiving the bribe from voting concerning the particular lease and the would-be tenants from holding the land. The funds and evidences of the foundation are to be kept in five chests — two chests, one con- taining the funds, the other the documents con- cerning that hospital, are to be kept in each hospital ; and one other chest, containing the documents common to both places, is to be de- posited in one of the two. " Archdeacon Johnson's elder brother Geoffrey w.as confrater or sub-warden of Wigston's Hospital, Leicester, from 1569. 266