A HISTORY OF BEDFORDSHIRE 



workmanship; and, in November, 1706, on complaint that the repairs are found ' very burthen- 

 some and chargeable,' Aspinall undertook to do all the repairs himself for thirteen years for 

 ;^10 a year. 



Nor were the corporation dissatisfied with Aspinall, for when on 18 May, 1692, they heard 

 that Longworth, 'after a long absence in foreign parts is dead beyond the seas,' they sent a request 

 to New College to appoint him master, as he had ' discharged his trust with great vigilance and 

 applause, so much to the generall satisfaction that we think it a wrong done to his merits to deny 

 him our common scale to this Testimonial.' 



Thereupon Aspinall was appointed permanent master. He was also, at least from 1706, 

 curate in charge of St. Peter's Merton, to the vicarage of which, a crown living, he succeeded on 

 12 January, 1711-12. About this time the usual disputes about tuition fees seem to have gone 

 on and some attack was made on Aspinall by Mr. Ferrer, M.P. for Bedford, dictated, according 

 to Aspinall, by political feeling. He wrote a lively account of what happened to the warden of 

 New College, 31 October, 1711 — 



By these Papers, you may perceive, that the Master of your Scheie, is obliged to teach the poor 

 children : and hitherto I have not refused any poor child offered to my care : the Rich indeed, if 

 either Burgesses or Free of this Corporation, have claimed a Priviledg, to have their children taught for 

 nothing, or for some very smal gratuity once a year, until I saw these Papers : since which time, I 

 have in some measure broke that custom, indeavouring to bring the Persons I am concerned with, 

 to the Observation of the Settlement : this perhaps may have given offence. An Occurence, that 

 happened lately, makes me think so : Mr. Farrer, Member of Parliament for this Town, tooke an 

 Occasion to come and see the Scheie, and afterward went into the hous, wanting to speake with me, 

 as he said : but at that time, schole being over for the forenoon, I was gone out, being sent for by a 

 Clergy-Man out of Hartfordshire, then in this Town, and saw him not : But the Reverend Mr. 

 Humphreys, having a Rectory in this Town, whose Curate I am, happening then to be here, 

 accompanyed Mr. Farrer into the Schole and hous : I being gone out, Mr. Farrer asked him many 

 Questions, Particularly inquired, how many Scholars I had, ' for,' said he, ' I hear he hath not above 

 ten.' ' That cannot be, for,' said Mr. Humphreys, ' I have seen more together of his at Play,* but 

 if it was so, as it is not, you know, as he continued, the Smal Pox was in this Town last Winter, and 

 the foregoing Summer, very severely, and that affords A Good Reason for the thinnes of any Schole. 

 But if the Smal Pox had not been here, Mr. Aspinall cannot oblige persons to send their Children 

 to him, unless they Please' : but Mr. Farrer then said, 'he takes no delite in his Business.' Mr. 

 Humphreys answered ' Two things are necessary for A Master of A Schole, Learning and Diligence ' : 

 Mr. Farrer said ' I believe the former of Mr. Aspinall, but question the latter ' : ' That cannot be,' as 

 Mr. Humphreys answered, ' because I and every one that know him, have observed, that he attends 

 his Schole sufficiently (and as is thought, to the Prejudice of his own health).' But Mr. Farrer urged 

 further that, ' he hath sent no Scholars to the Universities ' : ' That is not true ' (I think that was the 

 word) as Mr. Humphreys replyed, ' for he sent Mr. Smith, now lecturer of St. Sepulchers in London ; 

 Mr. Pierson, now Fellow of St. Johns College in Camb. ; Mr. Ashcrof now in Nottinghamshire ; 

 and Mr. Becket, late fellow of Corpus Christi in Oxford.' These he mentioned and might have 

 instanced in several others, that now make a Good Figure in the Church (I have now two scholars in 

 Camb. and sent a third to them last Spring). 



Mr. Farrer pressed further, ' he doth not consult the Advantage of the Town ' : Mr. Humphreys 

 returned answer, ' that is true, only in respect of his not being married, and not having boarders, as 

 formerly.' But Mr. Farrer concluded and said, ' I was at Church today and observed, that neither 

 Mr. Aspinall nor his Scholars were there' : to which Mr. Humphreys answered, 'he was gone to wait 

 on A Gentleman, that then sent to speake with him : and as for his Scholars, they I suppose were at | 

 their studies, or at their writing, that so their Parents might not have the least occasion to complain, 

 that their children lost their time.' Sir, I wil confess ingenuously, what might be alledged against me : 

 several of my Scholars when there lessons are over, learn to write : those I have spared from sending 

 them to Prayers, on Wednesdays and Fridays, because I observed, the gain of so much time, Pleased 

 their Parents : the rest I sent excepting five Dissenters Children, who tel me as often as I cal upon 

 them to go to Prayers at church, that their Parents forbid them. Preparation for Sunday, and very 

 little spare time have obliged me to be at my study too often when I should have attended at Church 

 on Wednesdays and Fridays : but this I have rectifyed already. We have several Court Dinners 

 yearly in our Town to which now and then I have been invited, but observing that one or other, then 

 commonly begged A Play," I have declined going to them, purely on that Account, and have not 

 been at any one, this long time, save our Mayors Feast, as we cal it, at Michaehnas Sessions. 



Aspinall lived for another ten years as vicar of St. Peter's, and died on 7 October, 1727, and 

 is buried in St. Peter's church, where a three-panelled tablet on the wall contains a long Latin 

 inscription to his memory. It says among other things that he left ;^I00 to New College and 

 jT 1 00 to Emmanuel College, Cambridge. This last benefaction was for exhibitions to that college, 

 with preference for boys from his old school, Clitheroe. 



" i.e. asked for a play-day or holiday, 

 168 



