was imprisoned and detained in custody for some time by the order of that sovereign, who regarded him with great suspicion. Either by compulsion or by persuasion, Richard soon acquired some ascendancy over Rotherham; and the Archbishop, on being released from imprisonment after the death of the Lady Anne, Richard's first wife, was not unwilling to employ his influence with King Edward's widow, in order to promote Richard's scheme of marrying his niece Elizabeth, who afterwards, by the fate of war, became the Queen of Henry the Seventh; and Rotherham certainly identified himself so far as an adherent of Richard's, as to place the crown on his head at his second coronation at York, a little time before the battle of Bosworth, in which King Richard lost both crown and life. It is not to be wondered at that Henry the Seventh showed Rotherham no favour. But there is no reason to suppose that the ex-Chancellor of Edward the Fourth suffered any persecution from the restored Lancastrians. He seems to have passed the remainder of his days in quiet, and died in the year 1500 at the age of seventy-six. He was buried in his own cathedral in a vault which was opened in 1735. A bust, remarkably well sculptured in wood, was there found, which was justly believed to be a likeness of the Archbishop; and from it was taken the fine painting of Rotherham which is in King's College, Cambridge, and which has been so frequently engraved.

Among the Etonians of this century who attained high office in Church and State, there is one, the early part of whose history is rather more curious than creditable. NICHOLAS WEST, born at Putney in Surrey, was educated on the foundation at Eton, and succeeded thence to a scholarship at King's in 1484. The late Provost, Goodall, in his MS. notes to the "Alumni Etonenses," has thus epitomised West's biography :—

"Nicholas West, born at Putney in Surrey. Being factious and turbulent, while he was Scholar, he set the whole College (i. e. King's) together by the ears about the Proctorship; and when he could not obtain his desire, he set the Provost's lodge on fire, and, stealing away certain silver spoons, departed from the College but shortly after became a new man, repaired to the University, and commenced D. D. He had a great faculty in opening the dark places in Scripture; was likewise well experienced in the canon and civil laws. Was often sent ambassador by

King Henry the Seventh to foreign princes. Was made Dean of Windsor, and Registrar of the Order of the Garter. Bishop of Ely in 1515. In lieu of the wrong he had done to the College, he gave it many rich gifts and plate, and built part of the Provost's lodge. Queen Catherine chose him and Fisher her advocates in the cause of divorce, wherein he incurred the king's displeasure. He kept daily in his house one hundred servants, to the meanest of which he gave 40 shillings per annum, and to some more; and to each of them 7 yards of cloth for their winter and summer liveries. He relieved daily two hundred poor folks at his gates with warm meat and drink. In time of dearth he distributed great sums of money among those of the Isle. He lived Bishop of Ely seventeen years and six months, and lyeth buried at Ely, under a tomb built by him before his death."

Fuller's account of Bishop West, in his "Worthies of England," is distinguished by more than an average spice of that writer's exquisite and most expressive quaintness. Fuller says that when West was a youth at King's College, Cambridge, he was "a Rakel in grain; for, something crossing him in the College he could find no other way to work his revenge than by secret setting on fire the master's lodgings, part whereof he burnt to the ground. Immediately after, this incendiary (and was it not high time for him?) left the College; and this little Herostratus lived for a time in the country debauched enough for his conversation.

"But they go far who turn not again;' and in him the old proverb was verified. 'Naughty boys sometimes make good men.' He seasonably retrenched his wildness; turned hard student, became an eminent scholar and most able statesman; and, after smaller promotions, was at last made Bishop of Ely, and often employed in foreign embassies. And now, had it been possible, he would have quenched the fire he kindled in the College, with his own tears and in expression of his penitence he became a worthy benefactor to the house, and rebuilt the master's lodgings firm and fair from the ground. No bishop of England was better attended with menial servants, or kept a more bountiful house; which made his death so much lamented: anno Domini, 1533."

Another eminent man was OLIVER KYNG, who left Eton for King's in 1449. He was made Canon of Windsor in 1483, Bishop of Exeter in 1492, and Bishop of Bath and Wells in 1495.

He was principal secretary to the Founder's unfortunate son, Prince Edward: and he is entitled to the praise "principibus placuisse viris," of each of the rival dynasties. For he was entrusted with the same confidential office by Edward the Fourth, Edward the Fifth, and Henry the Seventh. (Alumni Etonenses.)

JEFFERY BLYTHE went from Eton to King's in 1483. He is honourably mentioned as Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry in 1503, and as having been entrusted by Henry the Eighth with the important office of Lord President of Wales. He was accused of treason, but "cleared himself very worthily of the charge." He died in 1533. (Alumni Etonenses.)

THOMAS LANE, an Etonian who went to King's in 1497, was made Bishop of Norwich in 1499. WILLIAM CONYNGSBY, who left Eton for King's in 1497, was the first Judge of the Common Law Courts that Eton is recorded to have produced. Conyngsby was made Serjeant-at-Law in 1541, and was appointed by Henry the Eighth one of the judges of the Court of King's Bench in 1541.

The Provosts of Eton during this century, besides Sever, and Waynflete, were JOHN CLERC, one of the five fellows brought by King Henry the Sixth from Winchester in 1442. He was made Vice-Provost of the College in 1443, and succeeded to the Provostship, when Waynflete resigned upon being made Bishop of Winchester in 1447. Provost Clerc only held his office for a few months, as he died in the December of the same year, and was succeeded by WILLIAM WESTBURY, who had previously been Head-Master. Westbury deserves to be remembered as the Camillus of Eton, who rescued her from the grasp of a barbarous spoiler. His noble resistance to Edward the Fourth in behalf of King Henry's foundation will be presently described. He was Provost of the College which he saved, for nearly thirty years; until his death in March, 1477, when he was succeeded by HENRY BOST, who for some years held the Provostship of Queen's College, Oxford, as well as that of Eton.

The Etonians of this century, whom we have been considering individually, were all on the foundation; but it is certain that Eton, even so early as its Founder's time, was resorted to as a place of education by the youth of the higher orders, as well as by the class for whose immediate advantage the benefits of the foundation were primarily designed. These students, not on the foundation, were lodged in the town of Eton, and thence called

Oppidans. The expense of maintaining these students fell entirely on their relations. The scholars on the foundation, who in after times have generally been called the Collegers of Eton, were lodged and boarded in the College buildings, and at the College expense. They seem to have been placed in two large chambers on the ground-floor in the old quadrangle of the College, three of the upper boys being placed in each, with authority over the others, and responsible for good conduct being maintained in the dormitory. The upper and lower master had their separate apartments in the upper story of the same building. Many years elapsed before "Long Chamber," which has in the last few years been done away with, was built, and made the common dormitory of all the scholars. A dinner in the hall was provided daily for all the members of the College, and also supper. And every scholar received yearly a stated proportion of coarse cloth, which probably was at first made available as a chief article of clothing, but has long ceased to be made up in any useful form.

The vicinity of Eton to Windsor, the usual place of Royal residence, and of the Court, probably aided much to make Eton from its very commencement the first place of education in the land. An interesting anecdote is cited in the MS. History, in the British Museum, apparently first told by one of King Henry's chaplains, who was an eye-witness of what he relates, which shows both how early the school was frequented by the connexions of the King's attendants, and the gentle but earnest anxiety of the Founder for his young Alumni. "When King Henry met some of the students in Windsor Castle, whither they sometimes used to go to visit the King's servants whom they knew, on ascertaining who they were, he admonished them to follow the path of virtue, and besides his words would give them money to win over their good-will, saying to them, 'Be good boys; be gentle and docile, and servants of the Lord."" [Sitis boni pueri, mites et docibiles, et servi Domini.]

In the well-known collection called the Paston Letters' there is preserved a curious document, which proves both how early the sons of the English gentry were educated at Eton, and also that from the very first period of the school's existence, skill in Latin versification was regarded as the crowning excellence of an

3 See vol. i. p. 297 of Original Letters; it is referred to by Hallam.

Etonian. The letter I refer to, is one written on the 14th of February, 1467, by William Paston, junior, from Eton, to his elder brother, John Paston, at the family seat in Norfolk. The young student, who seems at the date of the letter to have been about eighteen or nineteen, and who was evidently an Oppidan, thanks his brother for money sent him to pay for his board, and for some figs and raisins which he was expecting by the first barge. He then narrates a love affair, and describes the merits of a young gentlewoman to whom he had been introduced at a wedding-party in the neighbourhood by his Dame. The young gentleman seems even at that tender age to have been wary in his love, and does not omit to mention the money and plate that would form his fair Margaret's immediate dowry, and also her reversionary interests, which he wishes his brother to inquire further into. And, as if he distrusted his own taste in beauty, he wishes his brother to see the young lady and judge for himself, and says, "Specially behold her hands, for and if it be, as it is told me, she is disposed to be thick." He seems impatient to leave Eton, and tries to convince his brother that he only lacks skill in versification to make his education complete. To show what progress he is making in this requisite, he quotes with a good deal of self-satisfaction a Latin hexameter and pentameter distich of his own making, on a given theme, which he also quotes. The verses are not calculated to impress us with a very high opinion of young Paston's knowledge of quantity, &c.; but they throw valuable light on the state of education then existing in England, and on the system pursued at Eton soon, if not immediately, after its foundation.

As this earliest specimen of an Etonian's letter to his friends is both an amusing and valuable record of the time, I have quoted it entire in a note, adopting the modernised form given by the original collectors and publishers of the work referred to.

4

4 From the PASTON LETTERS.
Letter 22.

From Master Wm. Paston at Eton to his Worshipful Brother, John Paston,

be this delivered in haste.

Right reverend and worshipful Brother, after all duties of recommendation, I recommend me to you, desiring to hear of your prosperity and welfare, which I pray God long to continue to his pleasure, and to your heart's desire; letting you wit that I received a letter from you, in which letter was 8d. with the which I should buy a pair of Slippers.

Farthermore certifying you as for the 13s. 4d. which ye sent by a Gentleman's man, for my board, called Thomas Newton, was delivered to mine Hostess, and so to my