152 
It has been assumed that the date on Robinson’s school, 1670, 
indicates the time when the benefaction first accrued. This, I 
think, is a mistake. Taking the date and the inscription together, 
“Ex sumptibus Will. Robinson civis Lond. 1670,” plainly means 
that the school was erected at the cost of William Robinson in 
1670; and the inference I draw is, that William Robinson in his 
lifetime sent money to pay for the erection of the school, so as to 
give effect to his bequest when it fell in; and the fact that there is 
no provision in his will for building a school favours such a con- 
clusion. 
The bequest of £55 a year is even now a handsome one; but 
if we estimate it by the value of money at that time, it cannot 
represent less than £200; and further, as Walker in his history of 
Penrith says: “In Mr. Robinson’s time, his property in Grub 
Street, the rent of which was charged with the £55, would be of 
much less value than at present ; and had he left the property, or 
a certain proportion, to the parish, instead of a fixed sum, what 
might have been its present value?” This is only one out of 
hundreds of cases in which a testator in olden times bequeathed a 
specific sum out of property, not thinking that in course of time 
the value of the property might increase. An extreme case is at 
(I think) Rochester, where the rent of certain land, then a little 
over five pounds a year, was left in trust to the Dean and Chapter 
to pay five pounds a year to the Grammar School, the small residue 
of the rent to be taken by the Dean and Chapter for the trouble 
of dealing with the trust. The land now produces some hundreds 
a year, but five pounds is all that is legally due to the school— 
more is actually given, but the Chapter still takes the lion’s share. 
William Robinson also gave the sum of ten pounds to the 
church stock. ‘This is not provided for in his will, and therefore 
if not given in his lifetime, must have been arranged for in some 
other way than through the Grocers’ Company. The receipt of 
the second half of this £10 is noted in the old churchwardens’ 
book thus: “ April 23rd, 1676, #5 more of Mr. William Robin- 
son’s money, to be put forth (ie. invested) for the use of the 
Parish.” 
