He was principal secretary to the Founder's unfortunate son, Prince Edward: and he is entitled to the praise "principibus placuisse viris," of each of the rival dynasties. For he was entrusted with the same confidential office by Edward the Fourth, Edward the Fifth, and Henry the Seventh. (Alumni Etonenses.) JEFFERY BLYTHE went from Eton to King's in 1483. He is honourably mentioned as Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry in 1503, and as having been entrusted by Henry the Eighth with the important office of Lord President of Wales. He was accused of treason, but "cleared himself very worthily of the charge." He died in 1533. (Alumni Etonenses.) THOMAS LANE, an Etonian who went to King's in 1497, was made Bishop of Norwich in 1499. WILLIAM CONYNGSBY, Who left Eton for King's in 1497, was the first Judge of the Common Law Courts that Eton is recorded to have produced. Conyngsby was made Serjeant-at-Law in 1541, and was appointed by Henry the Eighth one of the judges of the Court of King's Bench in 1541. The Provosts of Eton during this century, besides Sever, and Waynflete, were JOHN CLERC, one of the five fellows brought by King Henry the Sixth from Winchester in 1442. He was made Vice-Provost of the College in 1443, and succeeded to the Provostship, when Waynflete resigned upon being made Bishop of Winchester in 1447. Provost Clerc only held his office for a few months, as he died in the December of the same year, and was succeeded by WILLIAM WESTBURY, who had previously been Head-Master. Westbury deserves to be remembered as the Camillus of Eton, who rescued her from the grasp of a barbarous spoiler. His noble resistance to Edward the Fourth in behalf of King Henry's foundation will be presently described. He was Provost of the College which he saved, for nearly thirty years; until his death in March, 1477, when he was succeeded by HENRY BOST, who for some years held the Provostship of Queen's College, Oxford, as well as that of Eton. The Etonians of this century, whom we have been considering individually, were all on the foundation; but it is certain that Eton, even so early as its Founder's time, was resorted to as a place of education by the youth of the higher orders, as well as by the class for whose immediate advantage the benefits of the foundation were primarily designed. These students, not on the foundation, were lodged in the town of Eton, and thence called Oppidans. The expense of maintaining these students fell entirely on their relations. The scholars on the foundation, who in after times have generally been called the Collegers of Eton, were lodged and boarded in the College buildings, and at the College expense. They seem to have been placed in two large chambers on the ground-floor in the old quadrangle of the College, three of the upper boys being placed in each, with authority over the others, and responsible for good conduct being maintained in the dormitory. The upper and lower master had their separate apartments in the upper story of the same building. Many years elapsed before "Long Chamber," which has in the last few years been done away with, was built, and made the common dormitory of all the scholars. A dinner in the hall was provided daily for all the members of the College, and also supper. And every scholar received yearly a stated proportion of coarse cloth, which probably was at first made available as a chief article of clothing, but has long ceased to be made up in any useful form. The vicinity of Eton to Windsor, the usual place of Royal residence, and of the Court, probably aided much to make Eton from its very commencement the first place of education in the land. An interesting anecdote is cited in the MS. History, in the British Museum, apparently first told by one of King Henry's chaplains, who was an eye-witness of what he relates, which shows both how early the school was frequented by the connexions of the King's attendants, and the gentle but earnest anxiety of the Founder for his young Alumni. "When King Henry met some of the students in Windsor Castle, whither they sometimes used to go to visit the King's servants whom they knew, on ascertaining who they were, he admonished them to follow the path of virtue, and besides his words would give them money to win over their good-will, saying to them, 'Be good boys; be gentle and docile, and servants of the Lord."" [Sitis boni pueri, mites et docibiles, et servi Domini.] In the well-known collection called the Paston Letters' there is preserved a curious document, which proves both how early the sons of the English gentry were educated at Eton, and also that from the very first period of the school's existence, skill in Latin versification was regarded as the crowning excellence of an 3 See vol. i. p. 297 of Original Letters; it is referred to by Hallam. Etonian. The letter I refer to, is one written on the 14th of February, 1467, by William Paston, junior, from Eton, to his elder brother, John Paston, at the family seat in Norfolk. The young student, who seems at the date of the letter to have been about eighteen or nineteen, and who was evidently an Oppidan, thanks his brother for money sent him to pay for his board, and for some figs and raisins which he was expecting by the first barge. He then narrates a love affair, and describes the merits of a young gentlewoman to whom he had been introduced at a wedding-party in the neighbourhood by his Dame. The young gentleman seems even at that tender age to have been wary in his love, and does not omit to mention the money and plate that would form his fair Margaret's immediate dowry, and also her reversionary interests, which he wishes his brother to inquire further into. And, as if he distrusted his own taste in beauty, he wishes his brother to see the young lady and judge for himself, and says, "Specially behold her hands, for and if it be, as it is told me, she is disposed to be thick." He seems impatient to leave Eton, and tries to convince his brother that he only lacks skill in versification to make his education complete. To show what progress he is making in this requisite, he quotes with a good deal of self-satisfaction a Latin hexameter and pentameter distich of his own making, on a given theme, which he also quotes. The verses are not calculated to impress us with a very high opinion of young Paston's knowledge of quantity, &c.; but they throw valuable light on the state of education then existing in England, and on the system pursued at Eton soon, if not immediately, after its foundation. As this earliest specimen of an Etonian's letter to his friends is both an amusing and valuable record of the time, I have quoted it entire in a note, adopting the modernised form given by the original collectors and publishers of the work referred to. 4 From the PASTON LETTERS. From Master Wm. Paston at Eton to his Worshipful Brother, John Paston, be this delivered in haste. Right reverend and worshipful Brother, after all duties of recommendation, I recommend me to you, desiring to hear of your prosperity and welfare, which I pray God long to continue to his pleasure, and to your heart's desire; letting you wit that I received a letter from you, in which letter was 8d. with the which I should buy a pair of Slippers. Farthermore certifying you as for the 138. 4d. which ye sent by a Gentleman's man, for my board, called Thomas Newton, was delivered to mine Hostess, and so to my Among the troubles which clouded over the latter years of Henry the Sixth, and the wars which overthrew his dynasty, his favourite foundation suffered grievous curtailments from the ample measure and proportion which his munificence had designed for it. Not only was the progress of the buildings checked, but Edward the Fourth, besides actually taking away from Eton large portions of its endowments, obtained in 1463 a bull from Pope Pius the Second for dissolving Eton College and merging it in the College of St George at Windsor. From this imminent destruction Eton was saved by the strenuous exertions of William Westbury, "clarum et venerabile nomen" to all Etonians, whom the Founder had made Provost, and who publicly and solemnly Creansor [Creditor] Mr. Thomas Stevenson; and he heartily recommended him to you; also ye sent me word in the Letter of 12 lb. of Figgs and 8 lb. of Raisins, I have them not delivered, but I doubt not I shall have, for Alweder told me of them, and he said, that they came after in another Barge. And as for the young Gentlewoman, I will certify you how I first fell in acquaintance with her; her father is dead, there be two Sisters of them, the elder is just wedded; at which wedding I was with mine hostess, and also desired [invited] by the Gentleman himself, called William Swan, whose dwelling is in Eton. So it fortuned that mine Hostess reported on me otherwise than I was worthy; so that her mother commanded her to make me good Cheer; and so in good faith she did; she is not abiding where she is now, her dwelling is in London; but her Mother and she came to a place of hers five miles from Eton, where the wedding was, for because it was nigh to the Gentleman, which wedded her Daughter; and on Monday next coming, that is to say, the first Monday of clean Lent, her Mother and she will go to the Pardon at Sheene, and so forth to London, and there to abide in a place of hers in Bow Church-Yard; and if it please you to enquire of her, her Mother's name is Mistress Alborow, the name of the Daughter is Margaret Alborow, the age of her is, by all likelyhood, 18 or 19 years at the farthest; and as for the money and plate it is ready whensoever she were wedded; but as for the Livelihood, I trow [I believe], not till after her Mother's decease, but I cannot tell you for very certain, but you may know by enquiring. And as for her Beauty, judge you that, when you see her, if so be that ye take the labour, and specially behold her hands, for and if it be as it is told me, she is disposed to be thick. And as for my coming from Eton, I lack nothing but versifying, which I trust to have with a little continuance. Quare, Quomodo. Non valet hora, valet mora. Unde di...... Arbore jam videas exemplum. Non die possunt And these two verses aforesaid be of mine own making. No more to you at this time, but God have you in his keeping. Written at Eton the even of St. Mathias the Apostle in haste, with the hand of your Brother Eton, Wednesday, 23d of February, 1467-8, 7 E. IV. WILLIAM PASTON, Junior. Tamen. The words preceding the distich were most likely the theme set for verses. D protested against the designed incorporation, and exerted himself so effectually both with King Edward and the Pope, that the bull was revoked, and King Edward restored to Eton many of the possessions which he had originally taken from it. Still the College, though saved, suffered severely, nor was the full number of members of the various branches of the foundation ever completed. The actual number kept up has consisted of a provost, a vice-provost, six fellows, two chaplains, ten choristers, the upper and lower master, and the seventy scholars. With the accession of Henry the Seventh, Eton was restored to royal favour. There is a tradition, that this prince had in his boyhood been educated at Eton for some time, by the direction of King Henry the Sixth. This tradition prevails not only at Eton but in very high quarters. I have heard that the late King William the Fourth used to speak of Henry the Seventh as having been a student at Eton. It is far from being impossible or improbable that such may have been the fact, but I have searched in vain for any documentary historical evidence of it, and in the absence of such testimony, I have not felt justified in formally claiming the founder of the Tudor dynasty as an Etonian. The only printed authority that I could find, is Sandford. Sandford was Lancaster Herald of Arms in the reign of Charles the Second, and compiled a genealogical history of the Kings and Queens of England by the direction of that prince, who is stated in the preface to Stebbing's edition of the work, to have "very largely contributed towards the compleating thereof." Sandford, in the commencement of his account of Henry the Seventh, says that "While he was a child, and a scholar in Eton College, he was there by King Henry the Sixth, prophetically entitled the Decider of the then difference between that prince and King Edward the Fourth." In the margin, Sandford cites as his authority Edw. Hall, fol. 224. But on turning to "Hall's Chronicle," at the part referred to, we find a mere allusion to what he had stated before at folio 211, at which passage Hall's words are:-" Jasper, Erle of Pembroke, toke this childe, being his nephew, out of the custody of the lady Herbert; and at his returne he brought the child to London to Kyng Henry the Sixte, whom when the Kyng had a good space by himself secretly beholden and marked both his wit and likely towardness, he said to such princes as were then with him, 'Lo, surely this is he to whom both we and our adversaries |