2. 
In his own Life of Tusser he tells that he was ’’borne,., 
of lineage good, of gentle blood” in Essex ”in village faier 
that Rivenhall height,” He gives no date, but the event is 
thought to have occurred about 1524, When ”yet but yong” his 
”good father” in spite of tears and pleading sent him to a choir 
school. It seems almost impossible that so much cruelty could 
be contained in the one short stanza he devotes to that ”painfull 
time” at Wallingford; 
0 painfull time, for everie crime. 
What toesed eares, like baited bearesl 
What bobbed lips, what jerks, what nipsl 
what hellish toiesj 
What robes, how bare I What colledge fare I 
Vdiat bread, how stale I what pennie Alei 
When Wallingford, how wart thou abhord 
of sillie boiesl 
The period at St« Pauls, where he ”found grace, a cer¬ 
tain space, still to remaine” was happier not only because 
of Dean Colet*s more merciful ideas of education but also it 
would seem because of the presence there of the organist, 
John Redford, from whom the boy gained ”8ome part of Musicke 
art.” His fondness for music I think we may assume remained 
with him always, because in his will a whole item is concerned 
with the bequest to his eldest son of his ”Books of Musicke 
and Virginalls,” The reputation of Nicholas Udall, the famous 
headmaster of Eton, is in no wise enhanced by the lines in which 
Tusser discusses him. 
From Paules I went, to Eaton sent. 
To learn straight waies, the latin phraies. 
Where fiftie three stripes given to mee 
at once I had: 
For fault but small, or none at all 
It came to pass, thus beat I was. 
See Udall see, the mercie of the 
to me poore lad. 
The unhappiness of his childhood makes us rejoice doubly 
that he really found pleasure in his Cambridge years. Once 
more I shall use his own words; 
From London hence, to Cambridge thence 
With thanks to thee, 0 Trinitee. 
That to thy hall, so passing all 
I got at last: 
There joy .1 felt, there trim I dwelt. 
There heaven from hell, I shifted well. 
With learned men, a number then, 
the time I past. 
An illness, a time at court where Lord Paget, ”that noble 
man,” was his patron, the death of his parents, ten further 
years at court, his removal with his wife to ”Suffolke soil ... 
to moil and toil," his wife's illness and death, the friend- 
