A HISTORY OF SURREY 



may be gained from the statutes dated 

 l6 September 1608. They were, in fact, 

 earlier, having been ' many yeres sithens 

 drawen,' by George Austen, and ' sett downe 

 in wrytinge with consent of the corpora- 

 tion by the advice and helpe of sundry 

 lemed men of both the Universityes,' but 

 they were delayed till he could find a fit time 

 to get the approval of the Bishop of Win- 

 chester. At last, being burgess for the town 

 in the Parliament held in 1607, he gave them 

 to the Bishop, Thomas Bilson. After ' con- 

 ference hadd with the scholemaster of the 

 coUedge of Winchester,' Nicholas Love, 

 Bilson, who had himself been Headmaster, 

 of Winchester, approved them 16 September 

 1608. Austen's statutes are in the main an 

 adaptation of Colet's statutes for St. Paul's 

 school. Thus the provisions as to the master 

 and usher, who, as at Winchester and Eton — 

 which differed in this respect from the ordinary 

 chantry school where the master had a free- 

 hold — were told that they * had noe place of 

 perpetuity, but were removeable,' while the 

 provisions for the case of ' sickness curable 

 or incurable ' are almost verbatim from St. 

 Paul's statutes. 



The school hours were 6.30 — 11 a.m. 

 from I March to i September, and 7.30 — 

 11 a.m. from 1 September to March i, and 

 I — 5 p.m. throughout the year. But the 

 master had not to be in school till half an 

 hour later in the morning. At 8.45 the usher 

 had a quarter of an hour off, ' and on his 

 return the master may in the like sort, and 

 for the like space withdrawe himself out of 

 the sayd schole.' The unhappy boys seem 

 to have been allowed no intervals. 



Austen specially lays down that as the 

 income of the school had increased, the 

 masters' stipends were to be raised from 

 /;20 and i;io to £2^ and £1^ 6s. M., but to 

 abate again if the income fell. The school 

 was a Free Grammar School, so there were 

 no tuition fees ; but tovm boys paid 6d. en- 

 trance fee, and ' if of the country, or a 

 stranger,' is. entrance fee, and %d. a year, 

 viz. id. a quarter for ' brooms and rods,' 

 and ^. at Michaelmas for wax candles. 

 Colet specially provided at St. Paul's for 

 ' wax candles at the cost of their friends.' 



There were not to be play-days above one 

 a week, and they were to be on Tuesdays 

 or Thursdays, and then only from i to 5 p.m. 

 Saturday afternoon school ended at 4, and 

 was devoted to learning the catechism (not, 

 of course, our catechism, but probably that 

 of Nowell, Dean of St. Paul's) in Latin or 

 English, from i to 3, and from 3 to 4 the boys 

 ' learn and practice Wrytinge for the mendinge 



of there hands.' On ' half-hollydays ' or ' Saints 

 eves' ' they were todeclayme briefly in gram- 

 matical! or rhetoricall questions.' The very 

 useful practice of declamation and disputa- 

 tion or argumentative speech-making still 

 survived. At Winchester all the boys had 

 to talk Latin ; at Guildford the ' fewer chief 

 formes, shall in all their speeches within the 

 schole use the latyn tongue.' ' Sabbath days 

 and other hollidays,' were not wholly days of 

 rest, as the boys had to go to church ' and 

 take notes of the sermon.' The vacations 

 were about a month in the year : at Christ- 

 mas, St. Thomas' Day (21 December) to 

 Monday after Twelfth day ; Shrove Monday 

 afternoon and Shrove Tuesday; Thursday 

 before Easter to Monday after Low Sunday ; 

 and Thursday before Whitsuntide till the 

 morrow after Trinity Sunday. 



There was a yearly examination ' against 

 the Great Law Day after Easter,' when 

 ' some principall schollar was to make some 

 breif oration.' The examination was to be 

 from 8 to II a.m., and in the afternoon the 

 two examiners ' were to declare their judg- 

 ments to the Mayor and approved men,' 

 and the ' schollers to have intermission from 

 their studies all that day after following.' 



It was specially provided that the whole 

 number of boys was not to exceed 100, * least 

 peradventure the masters should be oppressed 

 with multitude.' 



It is rather remarkable, in view of the current 

 though absolutely groundless notions enter- 

 tained of the Parliamentarians being against 

 schools, to find that the longest tenure of 

 office that any headmaster at Guildford, 

 or perhaps anywhere else, ever enjoyed was 

 that of John Graile. He held office from 

 1645, when the Civil War was at its height, to 

 his death at the age of 88, on 4 January 1697-8,' 

 nearly 52 years. During his mastership the 

 school received an endowment which in 

 after years proved its salvation, in the shape 

 of 10 acres of land in Stoke by Guildford, 

 given by the will of Joseph Nettle, 27 Novem- 

 ber 1671, for a leaving exhibition. It was 

 to be for the maintenance of a scholar at 

 Oxford or Cambridge ' who should have been 

 taught and fitted for the University in the 

 Free Grammar School of Guildford, and 

 who should have read and learnt some Greek 

 author, and be well instructed and knowing 

 in the Latin tongue.' The further qualifica- 

 tion was unfortunately added that the 

 scholar was ' to be the son of a freeman of 

 and within the liberty of the town of Guild- 



170 



» Inscription in old Trinity Church. RmselPi 

 History of Guildford, p. 132. 



