SCHOOLS 



born and bred. His father, Edward Allen 

 was described as 'yeoman' in 1555, as 'inn- 

 holder' when buying in 1566 the house in 

 Bishopsgate in which his son was born, and 

 as * one of the Queen's majestie's porters ' in 

 the entry of his burial in the register of St. 

 Botolph's, Bishopsgate, 1570. 



Allen and his foundation have been fortu- 

 nate in finding a faithful and full historian in 

 William Young. From him we gather that 

 the founder was born i September 1566. 

 Where he was educated we do not know, but 

 probably at St. Anthony's or St. Paul's school. 

 He makes his first appearance in history as one 

 of a company of strolling players of the Earl 

 of Worcester's servants, who insulted the 

 Mayor of Leicester* for refusing them leave 

 to play on a Friday in Lent, 6 March 1583-4, 

 which leave the mayor had eventually to give. 

 Five years later,* 3 January 1588-9, Allen 

 was already a ' gentleman ' when Richard 

 Jones ' yeoman ' assigned him his share of 

 certain ' playing apparelles, playe bookes, 

 instruments and other commodities.' In 

 1592,^ at the age of twenty-six, it was written 

 of him * ' Not Roscius or .^sope, those trage- 

 dians admyred before Christ was borne, could 

 ever performe more in action than famous 

 Ned Allen,' and Ben Jonson asked, if Rome 

 boasted Roscius and Cicero 



How can so great example dye in mee 

 That, Allen, I should pause to publish thee ? 



It was however as actor-manager rather 

 than actor only that he made his fortune. 

 On 22 October 1592 he married the step- 

 daughter of Philip Hensley or Henslowe, who 

 after being dyer, pawnbroker, and several other 

 things, was then a theatre proprietor and 

 manager of the ' Rose ' on Bankside in South- 

 wark, and also ' one of the gromes of Her 

 Majestie's chamber.' Nothing could be more 

 charming than Allen's letters to his ' sweet 

 mouse,' as he calls his wife, or hers to him, and 

 his demand for ' domesticall news ' when he 

 is wandering over the country in the pursuit 

 of his profession is delightful." 



In 1604 he and his father-in-law became the 

 chief masters and overseers of ' his majesty's 



» Leicester Hall Pafers, i. 38-42. Ibid. 5. 



a Ibid. 5. 3 Ibid. 3. 



♦ T. Nash in Pierce Pennylesse. Ibid. 6. 



5 Cf. especially Young, ii. 18, ten years after 

 their marriage, ' I am glad to heare you take delight 

 in hauckinge, and though you have worne your 

 appayrell to rags, the best ys you knowe where to 

 have better, and as wellcome to me shall you be 

 with your rags, as yf you were in cloathe of gold 

 and velvet. Trye and see,' 



games of Beares, Bulls and doggs.' In this 

 capacity they managed and exhibited, chiefly 

 at Paris Gardens in Southwark, a sort of men- 

 agerie, including wolves and lions ; they 

 worried bulls ' dead at the stake,' and gave 

 ' pleasant sport with the horse and ape and 

 whipping of the blind beare.' At this time 

 they were both vestrymen and churchwardens 

 of St. Saviour's, Southwark, and governors of 

 the Grammar School there. On i October 

 1605 Allen, now ' esquire,' became a landed 

 proprietor on a large scale, buying the Hall 

 Place in Dulwich for ;^790, and two days 

 afterwards signing an agreement for the pur- 

 chase of the manor of Dulwich and the lands 

 belonging to it for .£4,900. In 161 3 he left 

 Southwark for Dulwich, and at once set about 

 building his college. It would seem that this 

 foundation reversed the ordinary course of 

 things, the building coming first, then the 

 inmates being appointed and installed, while last 

 of all the legal instruments settling the trusts ° 

 and conveying the property were executed. 



The contract' for the building was made 

 with John Benson, bricklayer, of Westminster, 

 17 May 161 3. The building was arranged very 

 much on the plan of Winchester College, which 

 he several times visited, and to which he wrote 

 for information, but on a very much smaller 

 scale, and of brick instead of stone and flint. 

 The chapel and schoolhouse formed the centre 

 of the quadrangle, opposite the entrance gate, 

 a line of 95 feet long, 29 broad, and 30 high ; 

 wdth a tower behind 60 feet high The walls 

 of the chapel were 3 bricks in thickness, and 

 the upper part of the school 2 J and i J. The 

 front was beautified with six Doric pilasters. 

 On each side were six almshouses, but the 

 fourth side of the quadrangle consisted only 

 of * one faire gate rome to be fynished in the 

 best and most decent manner with pillasters 

 freze cornishe and piramides ' in the middle 

 of a wall 8 feet high. Allen was to dig out the 

 foundations and find scaffolding boards, cords 

 and nails, the contractor finding the brick and 

 other materials. Payment was to be at the 

 rate of 40/. a rod ' running measure.' The 

 building was begun in June 161 3, and 

 finished by 22 April 1614, at a cost of £\yj? 

 The glazing, Allen finding the materials, and 

 Benson doing the work (though this was kept 

 close for fear of the glaziers), cost another ;£ 10. 

 Inigo Jones, having been present at the open- 

 ing of the College, has been credited ^ with 



« Young, i. 7. ' Ibid. 19. 



8 Manning and Bray guessed the cost at £^,000, 

 a sum in those days amply sufficient to build the 

 whole of Hampton Court. 



" Manning and Bray, iii. 43J. 



19? 



