and were viewed and confirmed by Thomas, bishop of Lincoln, July 26th. 1571.

By a decree of the Court of Chancery in 1815, it is provided that any surplus of rents and profits which may arise, shall be appropriated towards the maintaining of one or more Exhibitions at the Universities of Oxford or Cambridge, and that such exhibitions shall not exceed £50, nor be less than £30 a year, and shall be tenable for four years, or not more than six months after admission to the degree of Bachelor of Arts. No scholar is to be eligible to such exhibitions unless he shall have duly attended and have been educated at Grantham school for at least two years immediately preceding his going to any college at either of the Universities, and shall have obtained from the schoolmaster a certificate of such attendance, and also certifying that such scholar so offering himself a candidate for such exhibition is duly qualified in respect of learning, and of good morals and behaviour. There are at present eight Exhibitions, the appointment to which rests with the aldermen and burgesses of Grantham, with the advice and concurrence of the Bishop of Lincoln.

1763. John Newcome, D.D. founded two Exhibitions "for the support of two scholars who come properly qualified in morals and learning from the grammar-school at Grantham, if any such shall be admitted of St John's College, Cambridge, from that school; if not, from some other school in Lincolnshire, each to receive £20 num, so long as they shall reside nine months in the year, and behave well, until they proceed Masters of Arts, and no longer, or become fellows of the said college." (See p. 323.)

per an

Rev. Thomas Lovett, of Nottingham, by his will, founded two Exhibitions. now of the annual value of £45 each, at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, for scholars duly qualified from the grammar-school of Grantham in preference; or from the school of Oakham, in case of the former failing to fill the vacancy, for the space of three years at least. (See p. 378.)

STAMFORD.

THE FREE GRAMMAR-SCHOOL.

FOUNDED 1530, A.D.

THIS School owes its origin to the benevolence of William Radcliffe, aldermun, or chief magistrate of the town, who made provision by his will for the establishment of the school.

In the second and third years of Edward VI. an act of parliament was passed for establishing this foundation: and after reciting the will of Mr Radcliffe, it was enacted from henceforth that the alderman of the town of Stamford, for the time being, and his successors, should hold all the lands and tenements so bequeathed, "to the intent therewith yearly to find an honest, able, and sufficient learned man, to teach freely, within the same town of Stamford, all such scholars as shall, from time to time, resort to the school-house appointed for teaching such scholars ;" and the schoolmaster to be paid the yearly profits (now above £500 a year) of all such lands, by four even portions. The alderman of Stamford, with the advice and consent of the Master of the College of St John the Evangelist in Cambridge, shall name, direct, assign and appoint, from time to time, such an able and learned person to be schoolmaster there; and that "the trade, form, and manner of instructing and teaching to be used within the said school, be approved and allowed by the said master of the above-named college for the time being."

1581. The Lord Treasurer Burleigh augmented twenty-four Scholarships at St John's College, Cambridge, and directed that after his death, two scholars should be appointed by the heir of the house of Burleigh, one of whom was to be chosen out of the grammar-school at Stamford. (See p. 311.)

1612. Thomas Cecil, Earl of Exeter, gave a rent-charge for founding three Fellowhips and eight Scholarships at Clare Hall, Cambridge, and it was agreed that "the master, fellows, and scholars of Clare Hall, on their nomination and election of new scholars into the said scholarships which so shall be void, shall principally prefer such persons of the said University as formerly have been taught and instructed in the school at Stamford, in the county of Lincoln, if, in respect of their learning and honest conversation, they shall be found as fit and able as others which shall be competitors with them for the said scholarships." (See p. 215.)

Mr Marshall left £12 a year for an Exhibition for a scholar born in the borough of Southwark, and educated in the school kept in the parish of St Saviour's, or born in the town of Stamford and educated in Stamford school.

1700. Mr Thomas Truesdale, by will, vested £50 in the hands of the corporation of Stamford (who pay interest at 5 per cent.) for the benefit of freeborn scholars belonging to the free school, going directly from thence to the University. At the present time there are two

Exhibitions, each of the value of £50 a year, tenable for four years, by a student from Stamford school, at Oxford, Cambridge, or Durham.

LOUTH.

THE FREE GRAMMAR-SCHOOL.

FOUNDED 1552, a.d.

THE free Grammar-school of Louth was founded by letters patent of King Edward VI. in the fifth year of his reign; the preamble of which states, that: "Whereas we have always coveted, with a most exceeding, vehement, and ardent desire, that good literature and discipline might be diffused and propagated through all parts of our kingdom, as wherein the best government and administration of affairs consists; and therefore, with no small earnestness, have we been intent on the liberal institution of youth, that it may be brought up to science, in places of our kingdom most proper and suitable for such functions; it being as it were the foundation and growth of our commonwealth.” His majesty, at the humble petition of Richard Gooderick, Esq. attorney of the Court of Augmentations and Revenues of the Crown, and of the inhabitants of Louth, granted and ordained that "hereafter there may and shall be one grammar-school in the said town of Louth, which shall be called the Free Grammarschool of King Edward the Sixth, for the education, institution, and instruction of boys and youth in the grammar, to endure for ever."

King Edward endowed the school with property of some ancient guilds in the town of Louth, consisting of about 260 acres of land, with the tolls of markets and fairs. The present income from the property is about £700 a year. A decree was issued in 1702 under a commission of charitable uses, for the correction of certain irregularities and misapplications of the trust, and it was ordered that one half of the revenues should be assigned to the master, one fourth to the usher, and one fourth to twelve poor persons; which mode of distribution appears to have been intended by the original charter.

1718. Mr Charles Humphry founded a Scholarship at Jesus College for a scholar from the grammar-school of Caistor, Louth, or Alford. (See p. 289.)

1855. The sum of about £150 has been accumulated towards an exhibition fund for scholars from Louth school entering either at Oxford or Cambridge.

ALFORD.

THE FREE GRAMMAR-SCHOOL.

FOUNDED 1565, A. D.

THIS school was founded and endowed by Mr Francis Spanning of that town, merchant. Its revenues have been considerably augmented by later benefactions. By a charter obtained in 1576, it was made a royal foundation, to be called "The Free Grammar-school of Queen Elizabeth.”

The rules and orders of the school were made in the year 1599, and in them it is directed that "If the schoolmaster shall perceive such untowardness in any child that he cannot learn the rudiments of grammar, either wilfulness and negligence that he will not learn, that then it shall be lawful for the schoolmaster (his friends being first certified thereof) to refuse him, as one unworthy to bear the name of a scholar, spending his time in idleness.”

"If the scholar be found apt to learning, his friends shall not remove him to any other, before he hath attained competent learning to his own profit, his friends' comfort, and the good commendation of his teacher."

1594. Mr Spendluffe founded one Fellowship and two Scholarships in Magdalene College, Cambridge, for students from Alford school. (See p. 331.)

1718. Mr Charles Humphry gave a rent-charge of £6. 8s. 6d. per annum for a scholar at Jesus College, Cambridge, from the grammar-school of Caistor, Louth, or Alford. (See p. 289.)

BOSTON.

THE GRAMMAR-SCHOOL.

FOUNDED 1554, A.D.

THIS school was both founded and endowed by Queen Mary for the instruction of boys and youth in grammar. The school-buildings were erected by the mayor and burgesses of the town in 1567.

There are two Exhibitions for students from this school proceeding to Cambridge or Oxford, each of the value of £40 a year, but at present they are in abeyance.

THIS School was founded and endowed by Anthony Pinchbeck of Butterwick, yeoman, "for the love and good will which he beareth to the inhabitants of Butterwick and within the hundred of the same, and for the better educating and instructing in learning all the children and youth, at all times hereafter inhabiting in Butterwick aforesaid, and the hundred thereof."

Mr Pinchbeck provided that one Exhibition, now about £20 a year, should be given to a scholar of this school of his own name and descended from his family, and be tenable either at Oxford or Cambridge for four years.

CAISTOR.

THE FREE GRAMMAR-SCHOOL.

FOUNDED 1630, A.D.

THIS school was founded in pursuance of the will of Francis Rawlinson, clerk, rector of St Nicholas in South Kelsey.

The head mastership is endowed with the great tythes of the parish of Bilsby, near Alford, which have been commuted for the annual rent charge of £225, and with six acres of land in the same parish. The usher is paid from the rents of an estate at Cumberworth, near Alford, which is let on lease at £50 per annum.

1718. Mr Charles Humphry gave a rent-charge for a scholar from this school at Jesus College, Cambridge. (See p. 289.)

COUNTY OF MIDDLESEX.

LONDON.

WESTMINSTER SCHOOL.

FOUNDED 1561, A.D.

ST PETER'S COLLEGE, Westminster, or as it is more commonly called, "Westminster School," owes its foundation as it now exists to Queen Elizabeth.

It would appear, however, that there was a school attached to the abbey of Westminster, long anterior to the period of Queen Elizabeth,