A HISTORY OF RUTLAND ham,' * and appointed a member of the govern- wj, body of the school. Two of his pupils entered at St. John's in 1630, one the son of a lawyer {juris peritus) and the other of a farmer {iioricohi). Clarke was succeeded at latest in 1 628 by Ezechieljohnson, M.A., foron 12 June 1633, Peter Shecld, son of Robert Sheeld, gent., who had been five years at Uppingham under him, was admitted a sizar at Gonville and Caius College.' Peter Shecld was unlucky enough to be killed by some sailors, possibly in a tavern brawl or in some town and gown encounter, in 1639, and was buried in Great St. Mary's Church. An usher under Johnson was John Chun, who, judging from a testimonial '^ presented by an old boy at St. John's on 9 September 1637, was proud of knowing some Greek in addition to the ' true Latin, both in prose and verse,' required of him by the school statutes : |.imes Dunkyn was admitted intoe the schoole of Uppingham in Rutland August 25° anno Domini 1637. Sic testamur Eze. Johnson, John Chun Ei'/xJrai8cvci)v. i.e. co-educator or usher. Between 1633 and 1646 as many as five of his pupils entered at Gonville and Caius, four of them also having been under his successor. Of these three are described as sons of gentlemen, one of a minister, and one of a mason [caementarius). The last- mentioned, who entered 30 April 1646, was the most distinguished of the lot — John Burton,' subsequently fellow of his college and head master in succession of Ely (1650-3), to which he was appointed four years after his admission, of Seaming (1653-7), where he had 50 pupils, 20 being boarders, and of Norwich Grammar Schools (1677-99). In 1660 he published an educational romance entitled Eriander ; and a History of Norwich School, which he composed during his mastership, was published in a volume of posthumous works of Sir Thomas Browne. John Berry,* another of the list, who was also at Repton Grammar School, took his B.A. degree in 1650-1, his M.A. in 1655, and was incor- porated at Oxford 13 July 1658. He became ' Supra, p. 265. The ushers under Clarke were John Harper, B.A., and Nicholas Bilbie, who were licensed to teach on 20 Oct. 16 1 8 and 12 Oct. 1 62 1 respectively. ' J. Venn, op. cit. i, 309. Ezechiel Johnson was no doubt the second son of Abraham Johnson and Elizabeth Chaderton, and therefore the founder's grandson. He was born in 1607 and took his B.A. degree from Emmanuel College, Cambridge, in 1625 and his M.A. in 1629. His brother Samuel and his stepbrother, Isa.ac, also of Emmanuel, were appointed governors by the school statutes of 1625. ' Admissions to St. John's, i, 36. John Chun was licensed to teach at Uppingham on 28 May 1629, and resigned on 12 July 1640. ' J. Venn, op. cit. i, 363. MbiJ. 1,365. head master of Market Harborough. He dis- covered at Oundle a Greek MS. of St. Ignatius's Epistles. Three other pupils of Johnson entered at St. John's, one the son of a gentleman, whose testimonial has been given, another of a merchant {rnercator), and another of an attorney [uttur- natus). In 1641 Francis Meres succeeded Johnson. The indifference as to spelling on the part of the college authorities, or the ignorance of the schoolboys, as well as the elasticity of the English notation, is illustrated by the fact that Meres's name appears in five different forms in the Registers. Meres was no doubt a native of the shire, son of Francis Meres, the divine and author, M.A. of Pembroke College, Cambridge, who was in 1602 appointed rector and schoolmaster of Wing, where he remained till his death (29 January 1646-7). A son, probably his name- sake, took his B.A. degree from Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1628.^ Meres sent 19 pupils to St. John's between 1642 and 1668, of whom some must also have been under his predecessor, 10 of them being described as sons of ' clerks,' one of a ' minister of God's word ' [verbi dei minister), two of gentlemen, and two of yeo- men ; and seven to Gonville and Caius be- tween 1648 and 1655, four of them also pupils of Johnson ; of the remaining three one was entered as ' son of a coachman of Lon- don.' ^^ Of the St. John's men the earliest was admitted 4 October 1642, having been under ' Mr. Francis Meeres' at Uppingham a year and a half." Another Johnian, Vincent Alsop, ad- mitted 13 September 1647,'" school exhibitioner the same year, became usher at Oakham. In 1662 he was ejected from the living of Wilby, Northamptonshire, for Nonconformity. Later, in the reign of James II, he became a person of considerable influence, and, after the Declaration of Indulgence in 1687, 'the chief agent who was employed by the government to manage the Presbyterians.' Macaulay describes him as 'a divine of some note, both as a preacher and as a writer.' But he had accepted a task beyond his powers, and he ' who had flattered himself that he should be able to bring over a great body of his disciples to the royal side, found himself on a sudden an object of contempt and abhorrence to those who had lately revered him as their spiritual guide, sank into a deep melancholy, and hid himself from the public eye.^ A few years earlier two other Johnians, pupils of Meres, the brothers Edward and Anthony Turner, who entered on 4 October 1642 and on 6 May 1645 respectively, met with a more tragic fate. Both had become Jesuits, and, as a result of the papist " Diet. Nat. Biog. '° J. Venn, op. cit. i, 394. " Admissions to St. Join's, i, 65. " Ibid. 86. " M.icaul.iy, Hist, of Engl, ii, 221, 348 ; Calamy, An Account, &c. (ed. 2), ii, 487-9. 282
