Old and New London, A Narrative of its History, its People and its Places. Illustrated with Numerous Engravings from the Most Authentic Sources. vol 3
Thornbury, Walter
1872-78
Chapter LV:Westminster School.
Chapter LV:Westminster School.
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Under the wing of almost every abbey and monastery in England there grew up a school for the education of the young; and formed no exception to the general rule. Tanner, in his tells us that there would appear to have been a school attached to the Abbey of from its foundation. Under the system which prevailed throughout Christendom in the Middle Ages, whenever a bishop's see or a large abbey was founded, a school for the instruction of boys in religious and useful learning was sure to spring up, under the shadow of the church, after the example of the of which mention is so often made in the Old Testament. This was the case not only at Canterbury, at Winchester, and in other cathedral cities, | |
p.463 | but in such abbey churches as those of Glastonbury, St. Albans, and . Accordingly we find that the Abbey of had not been very long in existence before provision was made for the instruction of the youth of the neighbourhood. At all events, it is an ascertained fact that even in the reign of Edward the Confessor, and probably at an earlier date, there was a school attached to it, for Ingulph, the abbot and historian of Croyland Abbey, states that he himself received his education there, adding that, in his way back from school, he would meet Edgitha, the queen, who would ask him as to his lessons, and and then, like a good kind woman and queen as she was, she would The chronicle of Ingulph, we are aware, has been impeached as to its genuineness; but, at all events, genuine or not, it bears testimony to the tradition of an old monastic school here before the Conquest. Very |
few trustworthy notices, however, remain to show us the character of this early institution. Fitz- Stephen, in his confirms the fact of a school being attached to the Abbey; and from other sources we know that a salary was paid by the almoner of the monastery to a schoolmaster for teaching boys grammar. This salary continued to be paid down to the time of the dissolution of the monasteries. | |
A school for the young being thus as necessary an adjunct to a monastery as were its cloisters and its mill, the chief homes of the monks of London and its suburbs soon after the Norman Conquest-St. Paul's in the City, St. Mary Overy in , and the Abbey at Westminsterwere no exceptions to the rule. It is clear from Fitz-Stephen (and from other writers too) that the attainments of many of the boy-scholars in those were of no mean order, and it is by no means certain that any London schoolmaster of our own enlightened age could afford a more creditable or amusing programme for his Prize Day, or than or mentioned by that author. Possibly, in the annual at current events in the epilogue to the we have the remnant of this old playful satire preserved to us unchanged. But of thing we may be sure, namely, that by such exercises as we have described above was as much encouraged as by all our modern system of cramming and of competitive examinations. | |
Dean Stanley, in his after describing the cloisters, adds,
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When he remodelled the Abbey and made it into a bishop's see, Henry VIII. added to the foundation masters to teach grammar scholars. In the reign of Edward VI. we find of the Reformers-Alexander Nowell-taking an active, part in the instruction of the youths in During the reign of Queen Mary, when the monastic character of the church at was restored, we hear little or nothing about the school attached to it; but on the accession of Queen Elizabeth the Abbey underwent yet another change in , being re-founded as a collegiate church, comprising besides a dean and prebendaries and almsmen, an upper and under master, and scholars; this arrangement has remained substantially the same down to the present time. The college as established by Elizabeth, and attached by her to the collegiate church, is described in books of the time as It was designed at for not more than boys, including the who were to be chosen in preference from among the choristers or from the sons of the chapter tenants. | |
Widmore tells us that on the surrender of the monastery to Henry VIII., the King included the school in his draft of the new establishment for the see of , which is still preserved in the archives of the chapter. he adds, In fact here, as elsewhere, the contrived pretty effectively to have her own way. It was by her foresight that, in order to prevent family cliques obtaining possession of the school, a statute was added forbidding more than youths from any county being chosen in year. | |
The right of election to and Trinity College being such an important element in the constitution of as it now is, Elizabeth has always been considered to have a just claim to be looked upon as the royal foundress of the college. The foundation, then, as she left it, consists of a head master, a master or and who are maintained and educated free of cost and charge, with the privilege of election annually to studentships at , Oxford, and the same number of scholarships at Trinity College, Cambridge- in all. This was to be the number elected each year - but she adds so that (as there are, on the average, admitted each year to the college at ) she seems to have meant that, if possible, all who were once thus admitted to her foundation should be provided for at of the Universities. There is every year an election to supply the places of those thus drafted off to Oxford and Cambridge, each boy remaining | |
p.465 | years in the college before presenting himself for the latter election, and if then rejected, leaving. Thus the Queen's Scholars are divided into those admitted together in each year forming such Until about the year , the nomination of boys to the as King's (or Queen's) Scholars, rested with the Dean and members of the Chapter; but now admission into the college is gained only by competitive examination; the examiners, we may add, are called as at Winchester. The competition is open to those who have been at the school at least a twelvemonth, and have not exceeded their year at the election time, which is always in Rogation week, ., the week before Whitsuntide. It is conducted by as they are termed, which go on for about weeks during the preceding winter. The candidates are at arranged in the order of their standing in the school, and or examine each other in Latin and Greek construing, parsing, and grammar, beginning with the lowest candidates, the conqueror of whom then the next above him, and so on through the whole list several times; the order in which they leave off at the last challenge (subject now to some additional examination test) being that in which they succeed to the vacancies in college: and this order is retained the whole years, so that the head of each is the of his year. Great excitement frequently prevails in the challenges for this post of distinction, or hours having been sometimes occupied by boys in endeavouring to exhaust each other's stock of grammar, while their anxious are sitting by as counsel (each candidate being provided with a Queen's Scholar, who takes this office for him), and pleading points of law in favour of their respective clients before the head-master, who presides as judge. The boy who is finally victorious is on a ladder times round the school precincts and cloisters, followed by the whole school, amidst a shouting and din, the like of which it would exceed the powers of imagination to conceive. We may add that the whose pupil obtains a scholarship, receives a reward of for his services. The system has the advantage of making the boys quick and ready, while the assistance of the promotes a good spirit between the senior and junior boys. There are, besides, exhibitions amounting to a year, which, as heretofore, are to be open to the whole school. The annual tuition fees of boys not King's Scholars are guineas a year, with an entrance fee of guineas; while the fees for boarding, apart from tuition, are guineas a year, with guineas as an entrance fee. |
The Queen's Scholars live together in the college, and are distinguished by cap and gown and white neckcloth; in the Abbey they wear white surplices, as being part of the foundation of the collegiate church. The Dean and Chapter are the guardians of the college, and administer its revenues. Among the muniments of the college there are, doubtless, many curious items which would show the manner in which its domestic arrangements have been carried out. Here is of them. In an enacts that
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Since the studentships at Oxford and the scholarships at Cambridge have been thrown open to competition among the whole school. The foundation still consists of the Queen's Scholars, in number, who are elected by examination at Whitsuntide in each year, the old system of being still retained to a modified extent, as stated above. They must be under years of age, and must have been in the school already for a year at least. | |
The system of of which we have spoken, and by which admission into college was gained, is thus described by Dean Liddell, who was formerly head-master of School: --
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The school is at present divided into sections-namely, the the the
and Forms, the Form, and the composed of the and Forms. Each form except the is subdivided into an upper and lower division. Boys being no longer admitted at a very tender age, the Form has disappeared. The boys are also distributed into other classes for mathematics and for modern languages, and all the school is now obliged to learn either drawing or vocal music. | |
The school has fluctuated considerably in its numbers. It appears to have been at its height in , when it had scholars. years later there were , and in only . The numbers stood about that ratio, now a little higher and then again lower, till , when they reached a maximum of . They decreased rapidly from that date down to , when they were only , from which they have risen again steadily and gradually up to above . | |
In this present period of change, it will not be a matter of surprise to our readers to hear that it has been more than once proposed to remove School into the country for the sake of and that other proposals have been made for abolishing the college as a separate institution and house, and to turn its funds into exhibitions open to competition and tenable by boys in any of the boarding houses. The masters of the school, however, have almost and all condemned the latter change, and the has hitherto offered insuperable obstacles to the carrying out of the former project, although the sister public school of the Charterhouse has more than doubled the number of its scholars since its removal from the heart of the City to the Surrey hills. | |
With regard to the removal of the college into the country, we may here remark that the dean of Queen Elizabeth's nomination, Dr. Goodman, took useful measure of precaution against the plague on behalf of the school and scholars. Happening to hold the prebend of Chiswick, he obtained for his church the privilege of being tenant in perpetuity of the prebendal estate, in order that it might afford a place of refuge for both masters and scholars, in case of an outbreak of that epidemic, setting apart for their use his house at Chiswick. According to the Lansdowne MSS., the house or at Chiswick was built at the cost of . We shall probably have an opportunity of describing it hereafter, when we reach Chiswick. It may be interesting to learn that this ancient structure was often used by the scholars in former times, and that it was not pulled down until about the year . The fund raised by its sale is set aside by the Governing Body to be applied to the payment of expenses incurred for the medical care and maintenance of the Queen's Scholars in time of sickness. | |
In Elizabeth's time it appears that the invalid scholars were sent down to Whethamstead, near St. Albans, under the charge of of the prebendaries, who was to be paid a week for his expenses. | |
On occasion, in Elizabeth's reign, the school was removed to Putney, from June till Michaelmas, no doubt on account of some fever or plague breaking out. In the school was dispersed on account of the plague, from till the eve of All Saints' Day. The same occurred again in . | |
Dean Goodman appears to have benefited the school in other ways also, collecting the scholars into spacious chamber, and making regulations for their support and maintenance. During the rebellion, and the rule of the Puritan fanatics, the school appears to have been dispersed for a time, though subsequently, in , provision was made by Act of Parliament for its continuance. | |
School is not separately endowed with lands and possessions, but is attached to the general foundation of the collegiate church, so far as it relates to the support of its as the boys on the foundation are called. These King's Scholars have their meals in the college hall, and sleep in a large dormitory, which is now cut up into little cells, or cubicula, by wooden partitions. The school, we may add, is often called, in formal documents of the last century,
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Dean Stanley says that, as not bred at | |
p.467 | , he has forborne to enter into the history of the school. This is a serious loss, and he merely refers to the and and to articles in for July and . He expressly says, however, that Henceforth the institution became, strictly speaking, a great academical as well as an ecclesiastical body. The old dormitory of the monks was divided into compartments, each destined to serve a distinct collegiate purpose. as Dean Stanley states, [extra_illustrations.3.467.1] |
The following is an extract from :--
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The College Hall, which serves as a refectory for the King's Scholars, was originally the refectory of the abbot's house, and dates from the reign of Edward III. From the archives of the church it appears that it was built by Nicholas Littlington, the same to whom the Jerusalem Chamber and a large part of the Deanery are ascribed. It is a very handsome Gothic building, adjoining the Jerusalem Chamber, and has still the ancient louvre of centuries ago. On each side are long and massive tables of chestnut wood, taken from the wreck of of the vessels belonging to the Spanish Armada. In the week there is a dinner in this hall, given by the Dean and Chapter to the electors, the masters of the school, and as many old as the hall will hold, on which occasion Latin epigrams are recited by the
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The schoolroom is a spacious but gloomy apartment, extending behind the lower end of the eastern cloister, and above some of the most ancient parts of the Abbey, the chief of which is the Pyx Chamber. It was originally the dormitory of the monks, and it still retains much of its original character. It has a very handsome Gothic roof of wood, but the windows are modern insertions. The roof is supported by iron bars, the centre of which formerly divided the upper from the lower school. Of this bar, however, we shall have more to say presently. Its walls on every side bear, carved in stone, the names of with the dates of their leaving. The schoolroom is thus described by a writer in the , in the year :--
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The writer, who appears to have been a pupil at in the mastership of Dr. Freind, goes on to describe as follows the different classes of the school :
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Many old customs have been, and still are, kept up in the school. For instance, Latin prayers, including the and the are still said at the beginning and end of school, both in the morning and afternoon. The prayers are said by the captain of the school and monitors in turn, each taking a week. The monitor of the week kneels in the centre of the school, with his face turned to the east; the head-master, the usher, and the other masters kneeling in file behind him. There can be little doubt that these customs were derived, and have been handed down unchanged, from the old days before the Reformation. | |
The dormitory, already mentioned, is a lofty but dreary-looking room, erected for the King's | |
Scholars by the Earl of Burlington, at the time when the celebrated Bishop Atterbury was Dean of . A had been left for this purpose by Sir Edward Hannes, of the physicians in ordinary to Queen Anne, who had received his education at this school. But this legacy was not sufficient to meet the estimated expense, and the dormitory, in consequence, remained unexecuted until Atterbury revived the project, and procured a memorial to be presented by the Chapter to George I., running thus:
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The king was pleased to respond to this memorial by the gift of towards the desired object; the Prince of Wales contributed ; the Parliament voted , and William Maurice, Esq., gave . The new building was at length commenced, on the west side of the college gardens, from the design of Boyle, [extra_illustrations.3.469.1] , who personally superintended the works, but it was not erected until after a long Chancery suit as to the site, which came to an | |
p.470 | end in . It is in a portion of this building, fitted up for the occasion as a theatre, that the Latin plays are annually represented by the King's Scholars. |
We find that in nearly all the large schools which grew up under the shadow of the medieval Church, it was customary at Christmas to perform plays of kind or another, partly illustrative of the mysteries of the Christian religion, including from the Bible, and legends of the early saints, and partly others of a purely secular and classical kind. At School it is a custom which dates from the foundation of the school itself, and is, indeed, prescribed by the royal foundress in the statutes. Before Christmas, yearly, nights are set apart for the performance of a play from Terence or Plautus, the youthful actors being dressed up in the conventional costume of Athenian or Roman citizens, slaves, &c., and some sustaining the female parts. There are added to the performance a prologue and epilogue, also in Latin; the former recounting the events of interest to the school during the past months, the latter satirising almost all the political and social subjects of the day. end of the old dormitory is temporarily converted into a stage, and some admirable scenery, suited to the rather limited list of plays which are perormed by the boys, is brought into use. The former scenery, contrived under Garrick's directions, was the gift of a master of the school, Dr. Markham, afterwards Archbishop of York, and of a late Dean of , Dr. Vincent. The present scenery was painted and presented to School by the late eminent artist and architect, Mr. C. R. Cockerell, R.A. In the theatrical apparatus and scenery was repaired, and a new stage and auditorium added, by subscription among at the cost of nearly . Large crowds of visitors flock to see the a spacious side box being reserved for the ladies. | |
Those who have followed the course of the Plays for something like half a century may have observed how curiously they reflect the change that has taken place in the taste and feelings of the general public. When correctness of costume was but little regarded on the English stage, and in farces supposed to represent the manners of (say) , elderly gentlemen were attired after the fashion of Hogarth's pictures. The stage here was the scene of still more violent incongruities-Simo and Chremes, responsible Attic citizens, appeared in wigs and long waistcoats, as elders of the time of George II.; Davus was a smart footman, with red plush breeches and gold lace; Pamphilus exulted in his satin breeches and crescent-shaped opera hat; while Charinus, more modest, was content with a frock-coat and trousers. When the tunic and the chlamys took the place of habiliments that were inconsistent not only with the period represented by the fable, but likewise with each other, the reform of the Play might almost have been called a revolution. | |
However, for many years after they had put on the proper clothes, the Athenians, old and young, of , continued to disport themselves before the shabbiest of scenes, while their intervals of repose were marked by the shabbiest of dropcurtains, and unsightly busts, intended for Terence and Plautus, seemed grimly to superintend the entertainment. | |
It has been more than once proposed to abolish the Play; but the suggestion has always called forth so much opposition that the reformers on this point have been completely overpowered by the conservative element, which is strong both in old and in present
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We may add here that it was as a school-boy, under Dr. Busby, that Barton Booth, the distinguished actor and contemporary of Betterton, earned his laurels by his acting in a Latin play at this school. About to proceed to the University, he absconded and joined the company of Mr. Ashbury, the manager of the Dublin Theatre. | |
An almost complete collection of the Prologues and Epilogues of the plays since the year , has been printed in volumes under the title of to which the editor has prefixed what may be called a literary history of such performances, not only at but at Oxford and Cambridge, and in our Inns of Court. Along with these are printed a variety of Latin, Greek, and English verses and epigrams recited from time to time in the at the annual Whitsuntide elections. The Prologues, as a series, are chiefly interesting to since they dwell chiefly on the leading events connected with the life of the school and the minster to which it is an adjunct. The Epilogues, on the other hand, are of wider and more general interest; being for the most part mirrors of the manners and customs of the times, and touching in a humorous way on such subjects as divorces, duels, balloons, dress, Gretna Green unions, the Marriage Act passed in the year , quack auctions, public amusements, civic banquets, doctors, lottery jobbers, railway frauds, | |
p.471 | Parliamentary discussions, and indeed almost every conceivable subject. From these volumes we learn or curious facts about the Play; such as that in it was omitted on account of the panic caused by the Scottish Rebellion, and in on account of the death of Prince Alfred; and that it was Dr. Williamson who, in the year of Her Majesty's reign, introduced the youthful actors upon the stage in Greek and Roman dresses instead of in the comparatively modern costume of the Georgian era. In the Prologue bewails the ruinous state of the old dormitory, whilst those of other years celebrate the accession of George III.; the birth of his eldest son, afterwards George IV.; the deaths of Harley, Earl of Oxford, and of the Dukes of Cumberland and Newcastle; the burning of the Opera House; and the death of Nelson. |
A school oration, probably a prologue or epilogue to of the Plays, was pirated in by the notorious Edmund Curll, and printed by him with all sorts of blunders in the Latin. The boys accordingly invited him to the school to receive a corrected copy, but instead of giving it to him they treacherously whipped him and then tossed him in a blanket. | |
We have said that the dormitory is made to serve as a theatre every Christmas for the Play; and half a century ago it was a dreary, comfortless chamber, not cut up, as now, into small and comfortable cubicula. It is said that the Prince of Wales, when Prince Regent, soon after the battle of Waterloo, attended evening, and was shown by the Marquis of Anglesey the simple and homely beds in the dormitory. was his remark, As the marquis, when plain Henry Paget, was not of the King's Scholars, he did not actually sleep in the dormitory, but in of the boarding-houses; but his brother Arthur did; and there is no reason to believe that at that date there was much difference between the college and the private boarding-houses in respect of creature comforts. The Duke of Wellington, with his known love of simplicity, would have thought those beds a good nursery for soldiers not of the stamp. | |
Under the dormitory are sitting-rooms and studies for the senior boys; and a house attached serves as a sanatorium for invalids, superintended by a resident matron. Although built only in the early part of the last century, the building has a much more venerable aspect. The which the dormitory now faces, are no longer used (as their name might seem to imply) by the boys of the college (who are only allowed to enter them once a year, in the week), but are appropriated by the canons as a place of private retirement and recreation for their own families. | |
As late as the century the College Garden contained fruit-trees and an orchard, which was carefully tended. The fruit-trees were ordered to be cut down and superseded by lime-trees in . | |
In , some persons having improperly got possession of keys admitting into the Garden of the Abbey or College Garden, it was ordered by an under date ,
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The old dormitory was a Gothic building with a high pitched roof, and a row of pointed doublelancet windows; the entrance being under a lofty gateway, also of the pointed style. Good prints of the old and new dormitories, showing the costume of the scholars in the middle of the eighteenth century, will be found prefixed to the published in . The of these dormitories, as we learn from the preface to the book, was originally built as a granary for the monks. The Earl of Burlington presented the model, and condescended to survey the building, thus realising the words of Pope, The spare vaults situated beneath the old dormitory were let for wine-cellars. | |
The accommodation provided for the Queen's Scholars, as we learn from the report of the Public Schools Commission, until lately was very imperfect. No breakfast at all was provided for them, and they, therefore, had recourse for that meal to the boarding-house to which they had belonged formerly. The large dormitory was their sitting-room by day and their sleeping-room by night. Under the new arrangements, this monastic room is now divided into sleeping places, ranged on either side of a central passage, and closed in by curtains and wooden partitions. Some sitting-rooms and private studies were at the same time made below. The Queen's Scholars now not only dine, but breakfast and sup in the College Hall. | |
At present the Dean and Chapter defray the | |
p.472 | cost of the maintenance and tuition of the Queen's Scholars, each of whom, however, has to pay a year for washing, the use of the sanatorium, and college servants. The total school expenses of a boarder may be set down at a year. |
We learn from Bentley's that, in the earlier days of his mastership of Trinity College, Cambridge, in that distinguished seat of learning, but he complains that subsequently the school did not quite maintain its character. | |
Evelyn has the following entry in his under date , :-- It is much to be regretted that our insular mode of pronouncing Latin, so censured by Evelyn, is still kept up not only at , but at all the rest of our chief public schools. | |
writes Pope to the Earl of Burlington, in , says he,
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A good story is told, illustrating the rivalry which has existed for centuries between and Eton Schools. It is said that the Etonians on occasion sent the boys an hexameter verse composed of only words, challenging them to produce a pentameter also in words so as to complete the sense. The Eton line ran thus : The boys replied to the challenge -- As the Eton line contains an obvious false quantity, the boys, who contrived to steer clear of mistakes, may be allowed to have had the best of it. | |
In the last century the education here, as at most of our public schools, was almost wholly confined to the dead languages. Mrs. Piozzi, in her quotes the words of Dr. Johnson on this subject.
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In the last century, as we learn by constant allusions in Horace Walpole's letters, most of the young nobility who were not sent to Eton, were brought up at ; and in the last generation was the school of such great families as the Russells, Petties, Dundases, and Pagets. In this respect, however, during the last half century it has been entirely superseded by Harrow; and the fact that it is situated in the heart of the metropolis has operated to its disadvantage so far as the accession of boarders or is concerned. Whilst the Charterhouse has doubled and even trebled its numbers by effecting a removal into the country, the authorities of have resolutely adhered to the ancient spot which has been the home of the school for centuries, and refused to exchange it for The result is, as might have been expected, that its numbers remain, and must remain, at a low ebb-comparatively low, that is, with reference to the other large public schools. | |
The new arrangements of the Public School Commissioners have not made any alteration in the number of the as the boys on the foundation of the college were termed; they are still ; they are, however, elected wholly instead of partly by merit; their merit being ascertained by an examination on paper and , combined with a system of of which we have spoken above. In order to be elected a boy must be under years of age, and also have been in the school as a for a year at the least. At the age of eighteen the King's Scholars are chosen off to , Oxford, and to Trinity College, Cambridge, after another examination, which fairly tests them in regard to scholarship and mathematics. | |
Until the college was thrown open to competition, the numbers of the school stood usually at | |
p.473 | about a , but since that time they have largely increased, both as respects day scholars and boarders. There are several boarding-houses kept by various masters, and the total of the school now averages about boys, and its numbers show a tendency to rise rather than to fall. |
The monitorial system and its co-relative, the system, still prevail in the school, and are found to work satisfactorily, as the limits within which is allowed are strictly defined; and in case of any abuse of power by the senior boys there is a right of appeal to the head-master open to the aggrieved party. It seems to be agreed on all hands that this twofold practice is an essential part of the system of an English public school, and it certainly bears the very strictest analogy to the facts of after-life, whatever be the calling or profession that is chosen on reaching manhood. | |
Footnotes: [extra_illustrations.3.467.1] Powder Plot Cellar--Crypt [extra_illustrations.3.469.1] Earl of Burlington |
