it implies a scholar of a lower order of society than practically has been the case." To-day, of course, the poor scholars are the sons of genteel people, " persons exceedingly well connected," said Archdeacon Hale, adding, "We are principally a boarding-school for gentlemen's sons."

One may note here that, in 1613, Bearcroft says that the governors had agreed that "no children whose parents had any estate in land, but only the children of poor men" should profit by the school foundation. Grocers and drapers, and tradesmen generally, in the seventeenth century were, as Puritans, hostile to courtiers and landlords.

The Annual Charities Register and Digest (twenty-third), published 1914 by the Charity Organisation Society, tells us the object of the Charter-house is—

"A Home and Pension for those who have seen better days. Admission: By nomination by Governors, in the following order, as vacancies occur:-the King, the Queen, Queen Alexandra, Earl Brownlow, Viscount Cross, Viscount Halifax, Lord Alverstone, Archbishop of Canterbury, Bishop of London, Earl Roberts, Bishop of Winchester, Marquis of Salisbury, Rev. Gerald S. Davies, Dean of Westminster, Viscount Midleton, Archbishop of York, Sir H. S. King, Bishop of Gloucester, E. M. Pollock, Esq., K.C. Applications to be made to the Registrar, who is not at liberty to say which governor is next to nominate. Candidates must be at least 60 years of age, not possess an income of £60 p.a., and be bachelors or widowers; British subjects by birth or designation, deserving men of good character, being or having been officers in Army or Navy, clergymen, merchants, or persons in trading, professional, agricultural, or other similar occupations, who have become reduced by misfortune, or accident without their own wilful default, members of the Church of England, of good character and conduct. Inmates have an apartment with coal and candles; their rooms kept clean by a nurse, and extra attendance when necessary from sickness; dinner in hall, and supply of bread and butter daily, medicine in sickness; £36 a year; and a black, cloth cloak once in two years. Inmates (1912) 64. Master: Rev. Gerald S. Davies ; Registrar: G. M. Walters."

We now ask our reader's pardon for the quotation of a letter, relative to the present administration of the Charterhouse, which appeared, over the signature of a wellknown London solicitor, in the Daily News and Leader of July 6th, 1914. It will be noted that the writer perpetuates the old fallacy that the Charter-house was founded for the benefit of decayed officers, merchants, and gentlemen who have suffered reverses of fortune. But those who have read the foregoing will have noticed that Thos. Sutton's real intention-" the tending, sustentation, and relief of poor, aged, maimed, needy, and impotent people —was diverted by James I. and the subservient contemporary governing body of the Charter-house Hospital, to the "relief of poverty-stricken gentlemen" of various kinds, including cast-off Royal favourites [vide p. 227, above, and the adumbration of this alienation in the Domestic State Papers (December 18th, 1611), letter from Chamberlain to Carleton (vol. 68, No. 18)., quoted loc. cit.]. The portions of the somewhat lengthy letter cited are as follows:

"The balance-sheet of this Trust, of which the Charterhouse School at Godalming and the Brotherhood of Charterhouse in London are the two branches, has lately been made available to the public, though it is only for the year ending March 22, 1913. But as all ancient trusts, and this one in particular, are of real public interest, the leading figures of this balancesheet, as far as they throw light on the life of the Brotherhood, are worthy of attention.

"The gross revenue of the Trust for the year is £29,732, out of which sum no less than £8,591 is absorbed by various 'general charges,' including £1,773, the salaries of the master, registrar, assistant-receiver, and auditor. The balance of revenue, £21,141, is divided into two moieties of £10,570, one moiety for the school and the other for the London Brotherhood. To the latter are added certain items of revenue belonging to the Brotherhood alone, raising its income to £10,790, which for 55 brothers, the number in the year in question, gives an average income approaching to £200 for each brother.

"Turning to the expenditure, the cost of keeping up the

present residence of the Brotherhood during the year was £10,457, that is about £190 per head, out of which it is noticeable that the pensions of the Brothers amounted to only £2,161, or about £40 each.

It is well known that the Brotherhood of Charterhouse was founded in the troubled reign of James I. to provide home and pensions for officers, merchants, and gentlemen who, late in life, through no fault of their own, had suffered a reverse of fortune, and that nomination to the Brotherhood is vested in the reigning Sovereign and a body of distinguished noblemen and prelates. But what is less known is that the large revenue, instead of being principally devoted to benefiting the members of the Brotherhood, in accordance with the habits of life of the age we are living in, is spent in keeping up a quaint and costly institution, and perpetuating amongst the Brothers the austere and primitive life that was lived by our ancestors in the days of the early Stuarts when England was in the throes of religious and political turmoil. The régime enforced on the Brothers at this day comprises compulsory residence, one daily meal, attendance at daily chapel wearing a long Elizabethan cloak, reading by candlelight, and compliance with antique rules and regulations. It is hard to see what object there is in the twentieth century in compelling gentlemen who have held a good position in the world of to-day to live together in comparative seclusion under this archaic régime, which is 300 years old and is now almost ridiculous. No doubt the establishment, with its beautiful gardens, is a paradise for the numerous officials and their families, while its quaintness and romance are an attraction to sightseers; but these considerations ought not to weigh against the real object of the Trust.

"Appreciating this, the Governors as long ago as 1886 introduced a Bill into Parliament to authorise the sale of the immensely valuable land on which the present establishment stands, to dispense with compulsory residence, and to grant free pensions to those who were honoured with a nomination to the Brotherhood. The then Archbishop of York, in a letter to The Times, warmly supported the scheme, pointing out how much the brothers themselves would prefer a position of greater freedom and less isolation from friends. And further, and this is the main point, the whole revenue, augmented by the proceeds of the sale of the land, could then be devoted to giving generous and acceptable aid to a far larger number of deserving men, instead of being spent in keeping up an expensive and antiquated establishment for the dubious benefit of a few. The Bill of 1886 passed the House of Lords, but was for some reason withdrawn in the Commons. It is

understood that the question is again to be brought before Parliament, and it is hoped that nothing will stand in the way of a reform which will enable the benefactions of the ancient founder to be spread over a much wider field in a manner suitable to the age we live in, so as to bring aid and comfort to a far larger number of really deserving men.

"GEORGE H. RADFORD."

Not a word in all this, the reader will note, about causing the benefits of Sutton's bounty to revert to the indigent for whom he meant them. That, of course, would be quite Utopian !

CHAPTER XVI

CHRIST'S HOSPITAL

BLUECOAT SCHOOL AND GREYFRIARS' MONASTERY-EDWARD VI.'s CHARGE TO BISHOP RIDLEY-AN INTERVIEW WITH THE KING AT HIS PALACE" THE SPITALS "-VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTIONS AND ENDOWMENTS-THe Cock of Westminster- -STIGMA OF Servitude-CHURCH LINEN GRANTED TO THE HOSPITAL-MONOPOLY IN A Market, and CART-LICENSING NO CHANCE FOR GAMFIELD THE Sweep"-TYPES OF BENEFICIARIES-A TEMPORARY WANE-LADY RAMSEY'S BEQUEST -CHARLES II.'S MATHEMATICAL SCHOOL-THIN END of the WedgeFIRST CLASS DISTINCTION !-WILLIAM WALES EVOKES WAILSEFFECT OF THE GREAT FIRE ON HOSPITAL-AMPLE ASSISTANCE AND FINANCIAL AID-CAREFUL THOMAS GUY JILTS HIS MAIDSERVANT— THOMAS ROUTS THE VULTURE"-BENEFACTION TO CHRIST'S HOSPITAL -NOTABLE PHILANTHROPY, NOT SYCOPHANCY-"CY-PRÈS" DOCTRINE AND A QUERY-PAST AND PRESENT STATUTES-PATHETIC RHYMES AND MONASTIC DIET-LEIGH HUNT'S LUDICROUS STEWARD" ANECDOTE-LELY AND HOLBEIN PORTRAITS-PEN PICTURES OF HOSPITAL LIFE BY LAMB, Hunt and Coleridge-SOLITARY CELLS for RunAWAY SCHOLARS.

"

MORE generally known as the "Bluecoat School," Christ's Hospital, in its inchoate state, was one of five Royal eleemosynary hospitals of the city of London, the others being St. Bartholomew, Bethlehem, the Bridewell, and St. Thomas. With the exception of Christ's Hospital, they seem to have been intended as refuges for the maimed, sick, diseased, halt, blind, and other varieties of the indigent poor. But the "Bluecoat School' was especially devoted to the educational and general assistance of young, fatherless children," and for its endowment and establishment the buildings and site of a Franciscan or dissolved Greyfriars' monastery were appropriated.*

* The immortal Dick Whittington had bequeathed to this monastery a valuable library, which Henry VIII., after the Dissolution, presented to the City of London, from whom it seems to have been borrowed and never returned by the Lord Protector Somerset (temp. Edward VI.).