A HISTORY OF SURREY 



so that Croydon School must have been a post 

 with some possibilities in it to make it worth 

 his while to give up Wells. He says of it, 

 • a school suii in its reputation, nay quite 

 gone, was risen again in your neighbourhood 

 (i.e. the neighbourhood of Streatham) and 

 became a flourishing one.' Incidental men- 

 tion is made of Mr. Wells, a Fellow of King's, 

 ' living under my roof with Mr. Pillonniere 

 as my assistant,' and Mr. Edwards, ' a Latin 

 usher,' while a succession of French ushers are 

 mentioned. £$o a year, with board and 

 lodging, was the salary paid to Mr. de la Pil- 

 lonniere, who succeeded a Mr. de Cize, and 

 was followed by Mr. Ronere. On engaging 

 Mr. Pillonniere, Mr. Mills informed him that 

 he had ' but few scholars that learned French, 

 but hoped their number would increase,' 

 and they did increase by seven or eight in one 

 quarter. There were a considerable number 

 of boarders — the actual number is not stated. 

 But one of the charges was that Pillonniere 

 was really dismissed, not because the arch- 

 bishop had objected to Mills employing a 

 Jesuit, who could produce no evidence that 

 he had ceased to be one, but because Pillon- 

 niere had once complained that the meat was 

 bad and the boys would not eat it. One of 

 the allegations against Pillonniere was that he 

 objected to taking the boys to church, and 

 when there read French books instead of the 

 Prayer-book, that he called the church of 

 England ' a beast ' in conversation with the 

 boys, and ridiculed Mills for teaching them 

 the Articles, which he derided. On the 

 other hand, Pillonniere accused Mills of 

 being a Jacobite, of keeping a portrait of the 

 Pretender, and of speaking against King 

 George I. Mills had, it appeared, made 

 himself unpopular with some nonconformists 

 by objecting to their sending a boy dressed 

 in fancy attire, riding about on a donkey, in 

 derision of Christmas day, when the boys 

 were on their way to church. Some dissenters 

 however, who signed a testimonial in favour 

 of Pillonniere, expressly disclaimed a passage 

 in it reflecting on Mills, which they said was 

 added after they had signed it. Mills himself 

 adjoins two largely signed addresses, one by 

 the tradesmen of the town, the other bv 

 parents and gentry, testifying to their con- 

 fidence in him and his conduct of the school. 

 There seems, indeed, clear evidence that the 

 school was flourishing under him, and at- 

 tended by a considerable number of boys, 

 both day-boys and boarders, and that 

 while a classical education was given, 

 modem ideas had so far been imparted that 

 learning French was provided for and en- 

 couraged. 



Mr. Mills held office for more than twenty 

 years after this very unedifying controversy. 

 In 1732 he published an Essay on Generosity 

 with a particular view of Archbishop Whit- 

 gift's Foundation in Croydon, Surrey. It is 

 largely composed of some rather fulsome 

 flattery to the then Archbishop Wake in the 

 form of comparisons with Whitgift. He 

 describes himself then as rector of Mertham 

 as well as Master of Whitgift's Hospital. 



Next year he compiled a school book, called 

 by the high-sounding name of Pueritiae 

 formandae artifex, or ' the Craftsman on the 

 formation of youth.' It was apparently re- 

 published in 1741 * with a long Latin preface 

 addressed to William Oliver, doctor at Bath, 

 on the general subject of education, the thesis 

 of which is that as ' at first poetry was the 

 only subject of instruction, when learning 

 was in its cradle, with poetry therefore I be- 

 gin.' The book was accordingly a collection 

 of pieces from the Latin poets arranged under 

 alphabetical headings of subjects — ars, averi- 

 tia, and the like. The fact that Mills took 

 the trouble to compile the book for use in his 

 own school and to publish it shows that the 

 schoolmaster was probably, as required by the 

 statutes, a good versifier, and that the school 

 was at all events fairly frequented. In the 

 preface he sets out a course of instruction, 

 which may be supposed to be that which he 

 himself pursued. The constant speaking of 

 Latin was recommended. The course in- 

 cludes Lucian and Greek epigrams, and for 

 those ' who wished to be clerics ' Hebrew 

 grammar and Lyra Prophetica. The standard 

 aimed at and no doubt attained was at least as 

 high as that of the great public schools. The 

 preface speaks with some scorn of those who 

 set up private schools ' and whisper to mothers 

 the advantages they confer,' and * as the 

 custom now is attempt to deceive the public 

 by calling a Grammar School an Academy.' 

 The contempt into which the very term 

 Academy has now fallen, even ' Academies for 

 Young Ladies,' is a justification of Mr. Mills' 

 strictures. 



We hear nothing of the school under Samuel 

 Staveley 1742, John Thomas Lamb 1751, 

 Hugh Hodgson, of Lincoln College, Oxford, 

 ^774^-1^01. John Rose, who came in the 

 latter year, was a Lambeth boy, who, bred up 

 at Merchant Taylors' School and St. John's 

 College, Oxford, was for nearly twenty years 

 undermaster at Merchant Taylors', before 

 taking the mastership at Croydon. 



» Pueritiae formandae artifex authore Hen. Mills 

 Scholae Croydoniensis Preceptore. Londini apud 

 J. Pemberton in Fleet Street MDCCXLI. 



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