LONDON. 
<eap, tied with a band; yellow (lockings, and black low- 
heeled (hoes. The boys in the mathematical fchool, as a 
badge of diftinction, wear on the left bread of their coat 
a plate of filver, with an emblematical device on it, the 
dye of which is kept in the Tower, where they are all 
damped. The principal figures on this plate are, Arith¬ 
metic, with a fcroll of accounts in one hand, and her 
other hand placed on a blue-coat boy’s head ; Geometry, 
with a triangle in her hand; and Adronomy, with a qua¬ 
drant in one hand, and a fphere in the other. Round the 
plate is the following infcription : AuJ'picio Caroli Secundi 
Regis, 3673. This badge they retain during their appren- 
tic£(hip, as a fecurity againd being preffed into the king’s 
lervice in times of war. 
The children are received into this hofpital at feven 
years of age ; and thofe who have not already been taught 
to read are fent down to Hertford ; at which place there 
is a fchool and proper inltruftors to prepare them for 
being fent to the hofpital in London ; where they are re¬ 
ceived as room is made for their admiflion by the elder 
boys being bound out apprentices. The girls (about fe- 
venty in number) are alfo all fent to Hertford, where they 
receive the whole of their education. 
The children to be maintained at Chrid’s hofpital were, 
by the original charter, defcribed to be poor and fatherlrfs ; 
but it is a long time fince the limitation of them to orphans 
bas ceafed. Another of the regulations prefcribed by the 
■charter and rules of this charity for the admidion of chil¬ 
dren is, that “ no children who have any probable means of 
being otherwife provided for diall be taken into the hof¬ 
pital on any account whatfoever ; and that the minider and 
churchwardens, and three or four of the principal inha¬ 
bitants of his parifh, are required to certify the incapacity 
of the parents to maintain and educate them ; and on thefe 
grounds the petitioner humbly befeeches their worfiiips, in 
their ufual pity and charity to didrefied men, poor widows, 
and fatherlefs children, to grant admiflion to the child in 
quedion.” The precifion with which the qualification of 
the pupil is here marked has not always been obferved, 
and its protection has in fome cafes been given to the 
children of thofe who were able to afford protection to 
the inditution itfelf; this has however very recently been 
fully and ably difcufl'ed, and fome refolutions paffed, 
which will mod probably prevent the recurrence of a 
fimilar abufe. Nothing can more clearly fliow what kind 
of children were formerly received as fit objects of the 
charity, than a precept to be found among the archives 
at Guildhall, dated on the 27th of September, 1582, by 
which the lord-mayor required the aldermen, or their de¬ 
puties, not to l'ubfcribe any bill from any of the pari dies of 
their ward for the admitting of any child into Chrid’s 
Hofpital, except that promife be made therein from a vef- 
try of every fuch parifh to receive fuch child back again 
from the charge of the hofpital, at the age of fixteen years, 
(being required thereto by the governors,) if in the mean 
time fuch child be not fent to fervice, dead, or otherwife 
provided for. 
The children of the grammar-fchool are examined in 
the months of March and September by an experienced 
perfon, who is appointed by the governors. The upper 
and under maders commence teaching at feven in the 
morning from March to November, and at eight during 
the remainder of the year; difmifs the boys at eleven, re¬ 
turn at one, and conclude at five, or at four in the win¬ 
ter. No child is to be taught Latin till he can read En- 
glifti perfectly, and write it grammatically. The upper 
mader examines the under mader’s highed form twice 
yearly, and takes thence fuch as he judges ready for his 
indruclion. A catalogue of the children with their forms 
is called over every morning and afternoon, and a copy 
delivered at the counting-houfe, previous to each vifita- 
tion by the committee; and the mailers are required to 
obferve the drefs of their fcholars as to their cleanlinefs, 
and the propriety of their demeanor. The holidays al¬ 
lowed are eleven days at Eader, including Sundays; one 
Fol, XIII. No. 922. 
week at Whitfuntide, and at Bartholomewtide three 
weeks; and at Chridmas fifteen days, and the ufual faints' 
days, &c. 
An exhibition of drawing and fpecimens of writing 
takes place in the hall on the 31 d of March and 30th of 
September; each boy is feated at the tables with his perform¬ 
ances before him. Many of the latter are, fays Malcolm, 
(and what any vifitor may corroborate,) of fuperlative ex¬ 
cellence; and the word would procure the writer a fitua- 
tion in the mod fadidious merchant’s counting-houfe. 
Among the peculiarities of Chrid’s Hofpital, a light is 
exhibited from Chridmas to Eader every year, which no 
other inditution, lay, civil, ecclefladical, oreleemofynsry, 
has ever equalled in their granded ceremonies, or which 
is more calculated to imprels the heart of a fpecfator with 
the livelied fentiments of fympathetic pleafure; that is, 
the fupper of all the children on Sunday evenings at fix 
o’clock, to which drangers are admitted by tickets. The 
great hall, which was rebuilt after the fire of London, 
contains feveral tables which are covered with table-cloths, 
wooden plattets, and buckets of beer, with bread and 
cheefe. The treafurer and governors take their feats at 
the upper end, at a femicircular table; the boys, attended 
by the nurfes of their feveral wards, enter in order, and 
arrange themfelves on each fide of the hall; drangers are 
then admitted, who go along the centre of the hall to the 
upper end; the maders of the fchool, the deward, and 
the matron, take their places there alio; and the nurfes 
prefide at each table, on which a great number of candles 
are placed, and thefe, with many lamps and a large iudre, 
illuminate the room. The ceremony then commences by 
the deward firiking upon one of the tables three times 
with a mallet, which produces a profound filence; one of 
the boys intended for the church, having afcended a pulpit 
on one fide of the hall, then reads the fecond leflon for 
the afternoon-fervice of the day, and an evening-prayer 
compofed for the occafion, at the clofe of which the re- 
fponfe of Amen, from about eight hundred youthful 
voices, has a very intending effeft; a pfalm or hymn is 
next fung by the whole affembly, accompanied by the or¬ 
gan; the fame youth then delivers the grace, after which 
the boys take their feats, and the fupper proceeds. When 
the repad is concluded, the deward again drikes the ta¬ 
ble as before, and the boys indantly arrange themfelves 
again on each fide of the hall, and a grace is faid from 
the pulpit; an anthem is then fung; after which the boys 
collect all the fragments into (mall bafkets; and each 
ward, preceded by its nurfe with lighted candles, marches 
in order pad the upper table, where they bow to the go¬ 
vernors, and file off to an adjoining fcbool-room, the 
doors of which are thrown open to receive them, and the 
ceremony is clofed. There is no perfon who has ever 
witneffed this ceremony that does not feel theTublimed 
and the tendered emotions: it is a combined offering 
of the gratitude of hundreds to the throne of Divine 
Mercy! 
The following is an abdrafl of the account prefented 
to the lord-mayor and the red of the governors on Eader 
Monday lad (1814) : 
Children putforth apprentices,and difcharged from Chrid’s 
Hofpital, the year lad paft, 207, eleven whereof, be¬ 
ing indrudfed in the mathematics and navigation, were 
placed forth apprentices to commanders of (hips, out of 
the mathematical fchool, founded by his majefly king 
207 
7 
1178 
Charles II. of blefled memory 
Children buried the year Jalt pad 
Now under the care and charge of the hof¬ 
pital, in London and at Hertford 
To be admitted on prefentations granted 
to this time ... 
The permanent funds of this charity confift in an an¬ 
nual revenue in houfes and lands; the licenfing and look¬ 
ing after the carts allowed by the city, each of which pays 
a certain lum for fealing-, and a duty of three farthings, 
paid upon every piece ot cloth brought to Blackwell-hall. 
6 L it 
1060"! 
118J 
