Page:The histories of Launceston and Dunheved, in the county of Cornwall.djvu/382

346 THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL. besides the landes above specified iiij u . Penc. Ixvj 8 viij d . The wife of the said George Sprye, Laundres there, for her wages out of the said landes in th'andes of the said John Denham, xiij 8 iiij d . Penc. xiij 8 iiij d . A scole there. To the poore people yerelye xiij 8 iiij d . At Launceston Contr : quosq : w* th'accustumed wages xvij 11 xiij 8 iij d ob. . The Stipendarye in the parishe Churche of Mary Magdalene in the Boroughe of Launceston — houselyng people iiij c . Stephen Gourge, incombent and scolem 1 ", for his wages and salary clere vj u . John Balmok, scolem r there, a teacher of poore mennes children there A. B. C., yerelye xiij 8 iiij d . A scole there. To the poore people yerelye xxxiiij 8 ij d . Reparacions of the said church x u . Sm of the schole xxiiij 11 vj s vij d ob. The Pencon of the priest to be borne by the Inhabitaunts of the Towne, because the Scholem r of Saint Marye Wike, by their own suete, is re- moved hether. These certificates show, first, that provision had been made for a school by the grant of Colyn, Cobthorne, and Tharrape, to which we have already twice referred (pp. 1 1 5, 304), and that the statement of the mayor and commonalty in 1478 was strictly correct, although it did not particularize the duties of the schoolmaster. Second, that our local tradition of the Week St. Mary School being the parent of the Launceston School is a myth, a palpable error. Dame Percival was born Thomasine Bonaventure, at Week St. Mary, in the year 1450. The pretty story of her early poverty, her beauty, and her three marriages fills some pages of Cornish histories After the death of her third husband, Sir John Percival, knight, who was lord mayor of London in 1499, she returned a wealthy widow to her birth- place. There is no reason to doubt that she founded a chantry there, and that she was benevolent and religious. She made her will in 15 12, and, in a codicil to it, briefly mentions her chantry and grammar school, adding that her cousin, John Dynham, was in full possession of her wishes and directions respecting these institutions. The dame had a brother, John Bonaventure, to whom she gave a