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The Eagle

a Magazine supported by Members of
St John's College

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E. Johnson, Trinity Street

Printed by Metcalfe & Co. Limited, Rose Crescent

1894

Volume XVHI

Number CIV

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2.

PART II.

(Continued from p. 168.)

NDER the head of Birthplace of Students we will only note in passing the wide. field from which we drew our students even then. All parts of the British Isles will be found contributing to the Admissions; one boy comes from the "insula vulgo dicta Barbadoes," two come from Jamaica "apud Indiam occidentalem," and two from New England. France also furnishes two or three. "On London Bridge," given as the birthplace of one who was admitted in 1707, reminds us that that bridge had houses on it until the middle of last century.

3. The subject of the Schools which fed the College would lead us too far afield if treated as it deserves. Let it here suffice to say that a glance at the Index shows that in Part II Sedbergh was far and away our chief supporter, then comes Beverley, then Eton, Pocklington, and Shrewsbury. The number of small village schools is noticeable; and many of the boys were bred at home "sub patris ferula": a phrase which sums up the old notion of efficient teaching*.

Here the patient Editor or Index-maker must be

See, amongst others, Mullinger's Univ. of Camb., where vol. I., p. 345, the mediaeval examination of a teacher in practical work is given: "Then shall the Bedell purvey for every master in Gramer a shrewde Boy, whom he shall bete openlye in the Scholys, &c. . . . Thus endyth the Acte in that Faculty." Bp. Bedell's schoolmaster "was very able and excellent in his faculty; but accordingly austere" and made him deaf by beating

him "off a pair of stairs." Pp. 3, 4 in Prof. Mayor's Wm. Bedell.

VOL. XVIII.

JI

thanked for grouping the numerous schools under appropriate heads. For instance, the fourteen schools in Rutland (Oucham, Owkame, &c.), which occur throughout Parts I and II are conveniently treated as one, under "Oakham"; so also the eight Yorkshire schools called Sherbon, Shereburne, &c., are grouped under Sherburn in Part I, and under Sherburne in Part II; and the same treatment is given to the seven schools known as Sedbrig, Sedborough, &c. In all this the Index-maker has done wisely. Lest he be too much puffed up with the praise he so thoroughly deserves, let me point out a blemish or two in his Index. First, it is in some points too full and becomes a Concordance instead of an Index of facts. Let not the unwary statistician be led by p. 481 to conclude that one of our alumni migrated from St John's College, Cambridge-the mention of this College among the Schools that supported us is only a reference to a testimonial from Peterhouse, giving a B.A. "veniam removendi ad coll. Si Johannis." Next, let me point out some sins of omission: Why (on p. 489), under Oxford, has he omitted St John's College and attributed to St Edmund's Hall the two members (pp. 176 and 186) who came to us from our namesake? Why, in his Index to Part I, does he not mention among London Schools the "templum Sancti Clementis," at which were bred the two lads who came "de Strand in suburbiis Londini"? (Part I, p. 86, nos. 6, 7). If to these be added the less important omission (in Part II) of "schola audomarensis" as an alternative for "St Omer, France," I have given all the errors of any moment that I have found in this admirable compilation.

One instance must suffice to indicate the field of inquiry opened up by the list of Schools and schoolmasters-that of Little Thurlow and of Great Bradley in neighbouring Suffolk villages. Little Thurlow sent 15 boys to St John's between 1630 and 1715: during

20 years, however, (1670—90) the entries almost cease, and Great Bradley sends us 11 members, mostly in this interval. The School at Thurlow was founded and endowed (a neighbour tells me) by one of the Soame family* in the 16th century: within the last 50 years it has languished into a day school, and the endowment has been converted into scholarships. A considerable number of small endowed schools within a few miles' radius of this spot are now decaying or have lately ceased to exist. The existence of such schools perhaps accounts for the length of the Schools Index to the Admissions. The Rector of Great Bradley tells me that he can find no trace or tradition of the school there which sent us II freshmen. It seems reasonable to conclude that from some cause the Thurlow School was for these twenty years practically removed to Great Bradleyt; perhaps on account of illness or (as I incline to think) on account of the removal of a popular master of Little Thurlow to the Rectory of Great Bradley, viz. Robert Billingsley, who was admitted at St John's 8th December 1646 (see Part I, p. 81, no. 17). He appears in the Admissions Part II as Master of Little Thurlow from April 1656 to December 1660, and Master of Great Bradley school from September 1662 to June 1675. He was Rector of Great Bradley from September 9, 1662, and was succeeded by T. W. Cox on May 15, 1675. Another Master of Great Bradley, 'Mr Harwood,' (p. 75, 1. 35) appears as 'Mr Harrard' at Little Thurlow, (p. 128, 1. 17): when he entered St John's in 1668 he was called Henry Harward, (p. 16, no. 44). This variation in spelling makes the

The family sent several sons to St John's. One, Barnham Soam, (p. 70, no. 52), attained some eminence as a physician, according to Cooper's

note.

Even the Soames (who had endowed Thurlow School) send a son to Bradley: the former school must therefore have been under a cloud of some

sort.

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