SCHOOLS ing to the university ; John Henley, better known as ' Orator Henley,' mountebank parson, chas- tised by Pope in his Dunciad, and caricatured by Hogarth, who entered St. John's 15 June 1709,^* and took his B.A. degree in 17 12, and his M.A. in 17 16; Caleb Parnham, the antiquary, who first entered at Clare Hall, 12 July 1 7 10, and migrated to St. John's a year later {17 July 1711),'^ of which college he was subsequently a fellow ; John Adcock, agricolae filius, as he appears in the St. John's Register,^' also a fellow of that college, who after twelve years' absence returned to Oakham as successor to his own head master ; Thomas Harrison, fellow of Sidney- Sussex College, B.A. 1 7 14, M.A. 1718, B.D. 1725 ; Robert Seagrave, of Clare Hall, B.A. 17 14, M.A. 17 1 8, a Methodist preacher and disciple of George Whitefield ; William Hodg- son, fellow of Clare from 1 72 1 to 1730, B.A. 17 19, M.A. 1723; William Richardson, an anti- quary. Master of Emmanuel College from 1736 to 1775 ; Christopher Hand, fellow of the same college, B.A. 1720, M.A. 1724, B.D. 1731 ; Thomas Negus, fellow of Clare, B.A. 1723, M.A. 1727, D.D. 1763 ; and Richard Philpot, fellow of Christ's, B.A. 1726, M.A. 1730. Of the 22 pupils sent by Wright to St. John's, 12 were sons of ' clerks,' 3 of ' gentlemen,' i was son of a squire, i of an attorney {attarnatus), I of a bailiflF {villiais) to the Earl of Nottingham, I of a farmer {/irmarius), I of a husbandman {agrlcola), I of a grocer [aromatarius), and i of a plumber [plumharius). Besides Mr. Weston already mentioned, we know the names of three ushers under Wright, two of them old boys — John Bass, in 17 16 and 1717, a fellow of Clare, B.A. 1 7 10, M.A. 1715; and John Gooddall, between 17 17 and 17 19, admitted at St. John's 13 June 1 7 13," B.A. 1716, M.A. 1 72 1. The third was William Hubbard, of Clare Hall, B.A. 1718, M.A. 1722, who came in 17 19, and after fifteen years' ser- vice was transferred by the trustees to Upping- ham, as head master, doubtless in the hope that he would breathe fresh life into that moribund institution. In 1716, during Wright's mastership, a decree of the governors forbade the teaching of English in the school, ' ye Institution being ordered by ye Founder for Latin, Greek, and Hebrew.' '^ " Admissions to S(. Join's, pt. ii, 194. The Did. Nat. Biog. says Henley was educated privately at Oak- ham ; the St. John's register, however, says he was at ' Occham ' under Mr. Wright. Henley was an in- dustrious author, and prob.ibly deserved more credit th.in he got for insisting that sermons were none the worse for good elocution and dramatic delivery. " Op. cit. pt. ii, 202. '" Ibid. 204. " Admissions to St. Johrfs, pt. ii, 209. " There is no reference to the teaching of Hebrew either in the foundation charter or in the school statutes ; but the language was commonly taught in The occasion of this prohibition must be a mat- ter of speculation. But one conjecture may have more probability than another. It is much more likely that the usher was attempting to convert his section of the school into an English department, with the object of attracting a goodly number of scholars from the town and immediate neighbourhood, than that we have here traces of a disciple of Mulcaster or of a forerunner of Thring, who believed that a thorough knowledge of the mother tongue should form the founda- tion on which the superstructure of foreign languages, ancient and modern, should be raised. Once established within the walls of a grammar school, an English department, teaching the merest rudiments of an elementary education, in natural course destroyed the higher work. The local gen- try and clergy, who willingly sent their sons to the nearest grammar school, so long as they had merely to associate with their intellectual equals, if social inferiors, the clever sons of the shepherd or plumber, or grocer, or farmer, developed symptoms of class prejudice when the crowd of elementary scholars deprived the more capable boys in their early years at school of the atten- tion which was their due, and possibly lowered the standard of manners. Many signs of this process of degradation are to be found in the history of schools in the neighbouring counties. Arch- deacon Johnson's schools escaped this particular disease. Wright was succeeded by his old pupil, John Adcock, whose regime extended over twenty-nine years, from 1724 to 1753. Under him the school maintained its reputation. Twenty-six of his pupils, almost one a year, entered at St. John's College between 19 April 1726, and 5 November 1754. With regard to their parent- age, 13 were sons of 'clerks,' 2 of 'gentlemen,' 2 of squires, 2 of lawyers (a '■juris comultus ' and an *■ attornatus ad legem^), I of an army captain {centurio), I of the master of a merchant vessel (navis onerariae praefcctus) with a very Welsh name (Hopkin Thomas), I of the town gaoler (carceris apud Oakham praefectus), 2 of tradesmen (a druggist, pharmacopeia, and a wineseller, oenopola), 2 of agriculturists (a farmer, agricola., and a grazier, pecuarius). The school, it good schools. See the account of Abraham Johnson's education ; and Hoole's New Discovery (published 1660), pt. iii, chap. 3. 'Though it be found a thing very rare, and is by some adjudged to be of little use, for school boys to make exercises in Hebrew, yet it is no small ornament and commendation of a school (as Westminster School at present can evidence) that scholars are able to make orations and verses in Hebrew, Arabic, or other oriental tongues, to the amazement of most of their hearers, who are angry at their own ignorance, because they know not well what is then " said or written." ' The New Discovery is largely a description with comment of Hoole's own practice while head master of Rotherham Grammar School (1633-42). 73 35
