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A HISTORY OF RUTLAND of which we hear are the ratification of his claim, when parson of Bringhurst, to be freed from the burden, sought to be imposed on him in virtue of holding certain lands, of saying mass in the chapel of Drayton every week ; " his appointment by letters patent of 7 July 1345 to make a visitation of the Hospital of the Holy Innocents without Lincoln, a leper hospital, which had fallen into decay through neglect of previous wardens ; " and his departure on a pilgrimage, for which he obtained letters of safe-conduct on I August 1350." The Whitwell chantry appears in two Chantry Certificatesof Edward the Sixth's commissioners.^' They are in substantial agreement. Both give the 'clere yerly value 'as loy. gd., the total income, without deduction of 'rente resolute' (3J. 4^/.), being lojs. id. Since the priest had to pay a sum of gs. lid. annually as tenth to the king, his salary amounted to £4. 135. 10^. ' One Chales, poisant 20 ounces,' had been de- livered into the ' Jwelhowse,' and the 'orna- mentes belongynge to the sayd chauntry ' were ' praysed ' at 13J. iid. The people of Hamble- ton claimed a contribution from the chantry lands in their parish of 3;. 4^. ' to the payment of theire 15th, when yt chaunseth.' The ' Chauntry preest,' ' Sir Robert Sucklynge, of thage of 46 yers,' is as well spoken of as his fellows throughout the county ; he is said to be ' of honeste conversacon and good report amonge his neighbors,' ' albeyt unable to serve a cure because he is pore blynde.' The fact which dis- tinguished him from them, namely, that he had ' alwayes heretofore been exercysed in the edu- cacon of youthe in lernynge,' did not save his chantry from confiscation, though here, also like them, he had ' of other levynge besides this sayd chauntrye, none.' The need for his continu- ance was, however, emphasized by the words : ' Scole, preacher, or povertye ther relevyd and maytenyd, other than by the chauntrye preeste . . . none.' The school ceased, no doubt, be- cause it was not a part of the original foundation of the chantry, but a voluntary work undertaken by the incumbent. But so far as education is concerned, Rutland undoubtedly gained a good deal more than it lost through the Reformation. The county was lucky in possessing, in the rector of North Luf- fenham, not only an enlightened and generous enthusiast in the cause of local education, but one who through past associations was able to interest in his schemes some of the men most concerned in the work of transformation. The main lines of his scheme were certainly not original ; and it was perhaps a pity that he "Pat. 4 Edw. Ill, pt. i,m. 23. " Pat. 19 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 23 d. " Pat. 24 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 12. " Chant. Cert. 39 and 98, printed in A. F. Leach, Engl. Schools at the Reformation. carried imitation so far as to throw upon the endowment the burden of supporting an alms- house. But although he did not strike out a new path, he should receive the credit of grasping so clearly and emphasizing so distinctly tlie impor- tance of connecting grammar schools by means of scholarships with the universities. It is note- worthy that though both his grammar schools are described ad nauseam in various letters patent as ' libere schole Roberti Johnson clerici,' the freedom was limited by the statutes to poor chil- dren born and bred in the two towns ; all others were required to pay fees. The schools were certainly never free in the sense of providing gratuitous instruction for all comers. Although Johnson was clearly mainly interested in higher education, and the provision which he made for it has proved sufficient for the county to this day, certain bequests in his will suggest that he had also supported during his life several schools of a humbler type in neighbouring towns and villages, and that he was anxious about the technical in- struction of the children.^* It must not be supposed that Johnson's two schools attracted all the boys of the county who were likely to be sent later to the universities. The scions of the great families no doubt went elsewhere ; and we find in the St. John's Admis- sion Registers cases in which lads of humbler parentage had gone to Rugby,^' Westminster,^' and Charterhouse.'^ Private schools in the dis- trict were sometimes preferred, and we hear of them at Wing," Ketton, and Tinwell.^ Of the elementary schools it is possible that North Luffenham is the oldest, which may even date back to pre-Reformation days. In 1584 a school, elementary or catechetical in type, was held in the parish church of Pilton, and, accord- ing to records of the archdeaconry, the ' glasse windows ' suffered in consequence. Braunston School, founded as early as 1587, probably started in similar quarters ; at any rate the chaplain and curate were supposed to be the schoolmasters. So, too, in 1640, according to the archidiaconal records, a school was kept in ' the church of Langham by Mr. Boyd, and another in the chancel of the church at Stretton by Mr. Wat- kin,' about whose neglect of duty a church- warden complains. Langham, together with Empingham, Exton, Greetham, and Thisdeton, " See infra, p. 267. " Before 171 2 ; Admissions, &c. ii, 192, I. 16. " Before 1705 ; loc. cit. 177, 1. 11. " Before 1709 ; loc. cit. 195. '* Francis Meers the elder is said in the Diet. Nat. Biog. to have been schoolmaster there from 1602. " Before 1611-12 ; J. Venn, Biog. Hist. o/Gonvil'e and Caius Coll. i, 215. '" Before 1665 ; Admissions to St. "John's, i, 1 72. A boy from London and another from Leicester had attended a private school there kept by Mr. Rayner Herman. 60