A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



grammatka erudiemii), the number of whom varied with the place, being 

 fifty at Canterbury and twenty at Peterborough. A whole chapter of 

 the statutes (chapter 26) is devoted to the ' Grammar Boys and their 

 Informators.' ' That piety and good literature may ever give out shoots, 

 increase and flower in our church, and in due season bear fruit to 

 the glory of God and the use and ornament of the commonwealth,' 

 prefaces the king, for these statutes bear the impress of the ' grand 

 style ' of Henry himself, ' we decree and ordain that there shall always 

 be in our church of Peterborough, elected and appointed by the Dean 

 (or in his absence the sub-Dean) and Chapter, twenty boys, poor and 

 destitute of the help of friends, to be maintained (aleudi) of the posses- 

 sions (bonis) of our church, of talents naturally fit, so far as may be, 

 for learning.' These boys were not to be admitted as ' poor boys of 

 our church ' before they knew how to read, write, and had acquired a 

 fair knowledge of {mediocriter calluerini) the rudiments of grammar, in 

 the judgment of the dean or head master [archididascali). They were 

 to be maintained {alit) at the expense of the church until they had gained 

 a fair knowledge [jnediocrem notititiam) of Latin grammar and had learnt 

 to speak and write Latin. For this, four years, or if the dean and head 

 master thought fit, at most five years, were to be given. They were not 

 to be admitted under nine or over fifteen years old, except choristers, who 

 might be admitted later, and, if fit, were to have the preference for 

 admission. If any boy turned out to be remarkably slow and stupid 

 after a long trial [post multam probationeni) he was to be expelled, ' that 

 a drone may not consume the bees' honey.' ' And here,' proceeds the 

 legislator with great solemnity, ' we charge the conscience of the Teachers 

 [Informatoruni) that they bestow the greatest possible labour and diligence 

 in order that all the boys may progress and become proficient in learning 

 {Uteris) and that they allow no boy who is remarkably slow to linger use- 

 lessly among the rest, but at once hand up his name to the Dean, that he 

 may be removed and another and fitter boy elected in his room.' The 

 scholars were quite distinct from the choristers, who had their own 

 master, and it was as a rule only after their voices broke that choristers 

 were admitted to the grammar school. The grammar scholars were, how- 

 ever, bound to attend the services with their masters in the choir on 

 festivals at matins, litanies {processionibus), mass and vespers, in clean sur- 

 plices ; while in choir, unless the head master otherwise directed, they 

 acted under the orders of the precentor. On lesser festivals {diebus 

 profestis) they had to be present at mass at the elevation of the Host 

 only, staying till the Agnus Dei was sung, and meanwhile saying in pairs 

 the Penitential Psalms, the Lord's Prayer, and De profundis. They 

 were specially directed to be present at the obit of the founder on the 

 day of his death, and at the requiem mass for him on the morrow. 



With regard to the appointment of masters, the dean and chapter 

 were to choose one ' learned in Greek and Latin, of good character and 

 pious life, with a faculty for teaching [Latine et Grece doctus, bona famce, 

 et pia vitce, docendi facultate imbutus). He was to have the primacy 



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