John by divine providence Archbishop of Canterbury, of all England Primate and Metropolitan; to all Christian people to whom these presents shall come, sendeth greetings in our Lord God everlasting. These are to let you understand, that upon receipt of sufficient testimony of the good life and conversation of William Swetnam, of the parish of Saint Margaret Patens in London, fishmonger; and upon further examination of him, being first sworn in due form to the supremacy of the Queen's most excellent Majesty, and subscribing to the Articles agreed upon by the Clergy in anno 1562, we have licensed, and by these presents do license the said William Swetnam, to teach and instruct children in the principles of reading, and introduction into the accidence; and also to write, and to cast accounts, in any parish within the city of London, or our peculiar Churches of Canterbury, within the said city. Enjoyning him, that every week he do instruct his children and scholars in the Catechism made and set forth by Mr. Alexander Nowel, now Dean of the cathedral church of Saint Paul in London: and that he with his scholars, so many as shall be of the parish where he shall teach, do usually and commonly resort and repair, on all sabbaths and festival days, to the church of the parish where he shall so teach. and he with his scholars do reverently hear Divine service and sermons, and dutifully and diligently attend ther unto, And also we will, this our license to endure, during his good behavior, and our pleasure; and no otherways. In witness whereof, we have caused this our seal of our office of principal registry to be put hereunto. Dated this 20th day of July, in the year of our Lord 1599, and of our translation the 16th. In 1603 a new Statute made all schoolmasters in the realm subject to license by the Bishop, as a condition precedent to teaching.

169. Grammar-School Statutes regarding Prayers

(Cowper, H. S., Hawkshead, p. 475. London, 1899) Much emphasis has been laid upon religion in the English grammar schools. The boys have been required to attend both the services of the English Church and the devotional exercises of the school itself. Morning and evening prayers have been and still are an established feature of English grammar-school life. These prayers were usually prescribed by some church official, though they were sometimes appointed by the master, and sometimes even placed in the Statutes of the school by the founder. The following extracts from the Statutes for the grammar school at Hawkshead, as laid down by the founder, are typical and illustrate the character of the prayers required.

Also I ordayne and Constytute, that certayne godlye prayers hereafter set downe and ymediatelie followinge in these Constytucons, be made in the said schole by the scholemaster for the tyme beinge, the usher and the schollers of the same schole, eu'ie mornynge before the said scholemaster, and usher begin to teache the said schollers and everie eveninge ymediatelie before the breakinge up of the said schole, And eurie day before they goe to dynner to singe a Psalme in Meter in the said schole.

A Praier for the Morninge

Most mightie go, and m'cyfull ffather, we sinners by nature, yett thy Children by grace, here pstrate before thy devyne Matie, doe acknowledge our Corrupcon in nature, by reason of our synnes to be suche, that we ar not able as of our selues to thinke one good thought much lesse able to pffytte in good learninge and lyterature, and to come to the knowledge of thy sonne Chryste of sauiour, except yt shall please the of thie great grace and goodnes to illumynate or understandinge, to streghten or feable memories, to instructe us by thy holie spyritt, and soe power upon us thy good guifts of grace, that we may learne to knowe to practyse those thyngs in these or studies, as may most tende to the glorye of thy name, to the profitt of thy Churche, and to the pformaunce of our Chrystyan dewtie, Heare us O god, graunt this our Peticon, and blysse of studies O heavenlye ffather, for thy sonne Jesus Chrystes sake, in whose name we call upon the, and saye O our father, &c.

The Statutes also included prayers to be offered for "the Queenes Majestie," evening prayers, and prayers to be offered "at breakings up of the Schole."

170. Effect of the Translation of the Bible into English (Green, J. R., Short History of the English People, pp. 460-62. London, 1888) The wonderful moral and educational influence of the translation and setting up of the English Bible in the churches of England is described by Green, as follows:

No greater moral change ever passed over a nation than passed over England during the years which parted the middle of the reign of Elizabeth from the meeting of the Long Parliament. England became the people of a book, and that book was the Bible. It was as yet the one English book which was familiar to every Englishman; it was read at churches and read at home, and everywhere its words, as they fell on ears which custom had not deadened, kindled a startling enthusiasm. . . . The popularity of the Bible was due to other causes beside that of religion. The whole prose literature of England, save the

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lorgotten tracts of Wyclif, has grown up since the translation of the Scriptures by Tyndale and Coverdale. So far as the nation at large was concerned, no history, no romance, hardly any poetry, save the little-known verse of Chaucer, existed in the English tongue when the Bible was ordered to be set up in churches. Sunday after Sunday, day after day, the crowds that gathered round Bonner's Bibles in the nave of Saint Paul's, or the family group that hung on the words of the Geneva Bible in the devotional exercises at home, were leavened with a new literature. Legend and annal, war-song and psalm, State-roll and biography, the mighty voices of prophets, the parables of Evangelists, stories of mission journeys, of perils by the sea and among the heathen, philosophic arguments, apocalyptic visions, all were flung broadcast over minds unoccupied for the most part by any rival learning. The disclosure of the stores of Greek literature had wrought the revolution of the Renascence. The disclosure of the older mass of Hebrew literature wrought the revolution of the Reformation. But the one revolution was far deeper and wider in its effects than the other. No version could transfer to another tongue the peculiar charm of language which gave their value to the authors of Greece and Rome. . . . But the tongue of the Hebrew, the idiom of the Hellenistic Greek, lent themselves with a curious felicity to the purposes of translation. As a mere literary monument, the English version of the Bible remains the noblest example of the English tongue, while its perpetual use made it from the instant of its appearance the standard of our language. For the moment however its literary effect was less than its social. The power of the book over the mass of Englishmen showed itself in a thousand superficial ways, and in none more conspicuously than in the influence it exerted on ordinary speech. It formed, we must repeat, the whole literature which was practically accessible to ordinary Englishmen. . . .

But far greater than its effect on literature or social phrase was the effect of the Bible on the character of the people at large. Elizabeth might silence or tune the pulpits; but it was impossible for her to silence or tune the great preachers of justice, and mercy, and truth, who spoke from the book which she had again opened for her people. The whole moral effect which is produced now-a-days by the religious newspaper, the tract, the essay, the lecture, the missionary report, the sermon, was then produced by the Bible alone; and its effect in this way, however dispassionately we examine it, was simply amazing. . . . The whole temper of the nation felt the change. A new conception of life and of man superseded the old. A new moral and religious impulse spread through every class.

171. Ignorance of the Monks at Canterbury and Messenden (British Museum MSS., Arundel 68, f. 69; trans. by A. F. Leach)

At the visitation of the monastery at Canterbury, made on September 9, 1511, by the Archbishop, the Most Reverend Father William Warham, a number of defects were noted in the monastery and ordered reformed. Two of these relate to the condition of learning among the monks, and were set down as follows:

(5) Also a skilled teacher of grammar shall be provided to teach the novices and other youths grammar. For in default of such instruction it happens that most of the monks celebrating mass and performing other divine service are wholly ignorant of what they read, to the great scandal and disgrace both of religion in general and the monastery in particular.

(6) Also provision shall be made that the novices and other monks may not henceforth be without books.

Again, in 1531, we find another extract which shows that the monks of one of the northern monasteries had practically lost the use of the language of the Church. In that year the Bishop of Lincoln, in northern England, addressing the monks at the monastery of Messenden, wrote:

And for that ye be ignorant and have small understanding of Laten, we have drawen our said Injunctions in our vulgare Englishe tong to the intent that ye shuld the better undyrstand and knowe them, and soo see them more surely observed and kepte in every parte.

172. The Re-Foundation of the Cathedral School at Canterbury (Parker MS., Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, 120, f. 15; trans. by A. F. Leach) In 1541 Henry VIII re-founded the old Canterbury Cathedral School as a reformed-church grammar and song school, and for its government drew up and promulgated a long Statute, from which the following selections have been made. The course of study outlined shows the Renaissance influence in full force, and the influence of Colet's school in London.

Henry VIII by the grace of God, King of England, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, and on earth supreme head of the Church of England and Ireland, to all the sons of holy mother church to whose notice this present writing shall come, greeting. . . .

1. The whole number of those who shall be maintained in the cathedral and metropolitical church of Christ at Canterbury

First we decree and ordain that there shall be for ever in the said church a Dean, 12 Canons, 6 Preachers, 12 Minor Canons, a deacon, a sub-deacon, 12 lay-clerks, a master of the choristers, 10 choristers, two Informators of boys in grammar, of whom one shall be the teacher and the other the under-teacher, 50 boys to be taught grammar, 12 poor to be maintained at the expense of the church, 2 vergers (wandbearers), 2 sextons (sub-sacrists), 4 servants in the church to ring the bells and arrange other things, two door-keepers who shall be also barabers, a maniciple, a butler and an under-butler, a cook and an undercook; who shall to the number aforesaid each in his rank sedulously serve in the same church according to our statutes and ordinances.

26. The Choristers and their [Master] number

We decree and ordain that in our church aforesaid there shall be at the election or nomination of the Dean, or in his absence the Sub-dean, and Chapter, ten choristers, boys of tender age with clear voices and fit for singing, to serve the choir, minister and sing. For their instruction and education, as well in good behaviour as in skill in singing, we will that besides the twelve clerks before-named one shall be elected by the Dean [etc.] and Chapter, of good character, upright life and skilled in singing and playing the organ, to diligently employ himself in teaching the boys, playing the organ at the proper time, and singing divine service. And if he shall be found negligent or idle in teaching he shall after three warnings be deposed from office. And he shall be bound by oath faithfully to discharge his office.

27. The Grammar Boys and their Teachers

That piety and good letters may in our church aforesaid for ever blossom, grow and flower and in their time bear fruit for the glory of God and the advantage and adornment of the commonwealth, we decree and ordain that there shall always be in our cathedral church of Canterbury, elected and nominated by the Dean or in his absence the Sub-dean and Chapter, 50 boys, poor and destitute of the help of their friends, to be maintained out of the possessions of the church, and of native genius as far as may be and apt to learn: whom however we will shall not be admitted as poor boys of our church before they have learnt to read and write and are moderately learned in the first rudiments of grammar, in the judgment of the Dean or in his absence the Sub-dean and the Head Master;

And we will that these boys shall be maintained at the expense of our church until they have obtained a moderate knowledge of Latin grammar and have learnt to speak and to write Latin. The period of