A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



forbade it. 'If one individual is peccant he shall be severely punished ; 

 but if numbers are seen the whole school shall be punished by being 

 refused leave to dine with their friends on Easter Day just coming.' The 

 boys had Easter holidays then, but only for a few days and did not leave the 

 school. A day or two after the edict the second master meeting a college 

 prefect at the band reported him, and the warden, instead of punishing 

 him alone, refused leave-out to the whole school. 1 The forty seniors, 

 resenting this breach of proclamation, bound themselves by oath to stand 

 together, and sent a Latin letter of remonstrance, which ended : 'While 

 they had implicitly obeyed him, they hoped that in future he would 

 act differently.' To this no answer being given, except, perhaps, a verbal 

 one through Dr. Warton, another letter was sent asking for an answer. 

 The warden replied : 



If the Scholars are so forgetful of their rank and good manners as to insult their 

 Warden by letters of consummate arrogance and extreme petulance, the Warden can 

 give no other answer than that he shall continue to refuse all indulgence till the 

 Scholars behave better. 



The boys thereupon sent to the masters to say ' they would not 

 trouble them to go to school.' Dr. Warton stayed at home. Goddard, 

 the usher, went to school and found the boys armed with clubs, and 

 ' metamorphosed into serpents.' He was pelted with marbles, for it 

 seems that marbles were then played at public schools. The warden 

 sent for the prefects, who refused to go. The boys then took the keys 

 from the porter, broke into the second master's house, and blocked the 

 passage to the warden's lodgings in Middle Gate with seats, then entered 

 the warden's lodgings and kept him, Goddard and a fellow, prisoners in 

 his dining-room all night. In the morning the warden went out of 

 college, but was followed by the boys shouting epithets, and the gates 

 were locked behind him. He tried to hold a college meeting in the 

 headmaster's house, but one fellow being imprisoned in college the 

 quorum of four could not be obtained. The warden then sent a 

 message that he gave them 'leave of absence till 28 April, and if the 

 masters approve, the scholars are desired to go home immediately.' 

 Doubting his good faith, they refused to go. The warden then went off 

 to the town hall where the magistrates were assembled to draw up a 

 loyal address to the Crown. The high sheriff and others went down and 

 tried to persuade the boys to submit. But they found Outer Gate 

 barricaded, while the paving of Chamber Court had been taken up and 

 carried up to the top of Tower for ammunition, and the parapet loosened 

 ready to hurl down upon any assailants. Swords and bludgeons were 

 there and the red cap of liberty hoisted. The sheriff left this formidable 

 fortress unassailed. Next day Dr. Warton began a parley, which, through 

 the mediation of the sheriff, ended in the capitulation of the school and a 

 proclamation by the warden : 



The warden promises for the future not to punish the community for the sake of 

 an individual, and to grant a general amnesty, provided the keys are given up. 



1 Wykebamica, p. 143. 

 352 



