education within the walls, who, but for so kindly a provision, must have continued in lamentable ignorance. But it was not till after the arrival of Augustine that the education of children generally was much insisted on. Sigebert, Bede tells us, on his return from France, whither he had fled from his brother Redwald, on regaining the crown of East Anglia, first established a school in his dominions. He was assisted in his good work by Bishop Felix. ALETHES. His name, and that of Bishop Felix, should never be mentioned but with respect. It was a day of small things, but he made a beginning, and it was much. Opportunity was offered, and the monks would be the readier teachers when the example was set by their king, for, as Claudian says, "Componitur orbis Regis ad exemplum." EUBULUS. We know that the example was followed, and although the instruction of the House was limited, still, whoever wished to learn must betake himself to abbey or monastery. Almost every thing that appertains to the education of monks and nuns will be found in Fosbrooke's "British Monachism -a very useful and entertaining book. I wish, however, that he had pursued the subject of education generally as it emanated from the cloister and the cowl. ALETHES. The subject, though the fact be acknowledged, is beset with difficulties, and requires a careful induction of particulars. But as regards Sigebert's school, that, as it appears to me, was rather for ecclesiastics; and I think my opinion is borne out by what Bishop Stillingfleet says in his "Discourse of the true Antiquity of London." Any education which proceded further was but, so to say, the overflowing of the cup. EUBULUS. I forget what Stillingfleet says; but his "Ecclesiastical Cases" are on the shelf, and we will look to it. A very valuable work, Alethes! ALETHES. That it is. I can turn to the passage at once; and the reference is to Bede. "Where Bede speaks of Sigebert's appointing a school among the East Angles for the education of youth, he saith, that Felix, Bishop of the diocese, provided masters and tutors for them, according to the custom of Canterbury. Now this Sigebert was contemporary with Eadbaldus, son to Ethelbert; and Felix was Bishop of the East Angles, while Honorius was Archbishop, and Paulinus Bishop of Rochester. From whence it follows, that at Canterbury, there was care taken in the monastery there founded, for masters and tutors, in order to the education of fit persons for the Church's service "." EUBULUS. I admit the restriction; but, as I said before, the source of education is clear enough. To use the Psalmist's words, "It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down unto the beard, even unto Aaron's beard, and went down to the skirts of his clothing"." It began with the Priesthood; but the skirts of the congregation participated in its sovereign influence on their minds, and by degrees, began to find that knowledge was power. Now, I am convinced, it was the destruction of these schools which retarded the progress of education. If I mistake not, Mr. Churton, in his "Early English Church," is of the same opinion. But observe, I could not enter into a contest about words; and the effects of the school, whether within or without the monastery, were nearly one and the same. His words are: "There was commonly a school kept near the great abbeys, and at the expense of the monasteries. The loss of these schools was one of the public evils felt, when Henry VIII. so rapaciously broke up these religious houses. In the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's reign, A. D. 1562, the Speaker of the House of Commons, Williams, complained that more than a hundred flourishing schools had been destroyed, which had been maintained by the monasteries, and that ignorance had greatly increased from it "." When he goes on to say that "these schools do not seem 5 See 2nd Part of Eccles. Cases, vol. ii. p. 554. 7 Churton's "Early English Church," p. 324. 6 Psalm cxxxiii. v. 2. to have done much to advance the state of learning amongst the people," he states what is true; and we only differ in the acceptation of words. Knowledge emanated from these schools; and to them, after all, the people were indebted. The impetus given was from thence. ALETHES. But are you not confounding together what should be kept apart, I mean, Cathedral and Monastic Schools? No wellinformed person would deny what Aubrey asserts, in his "Life of Hobbes," namely, that "before the Reformation, all monasteries had great schools appendant to them "." EUBULUS. 8 These may require some slight discrimination; but the fact is, that on this matter there is little discernible difference. The truth is still one and the same,—all the earlier education of this country was in the hands of the religious houses. ALETHES. My remark was grounded on that section in Henry's "History of Great Britain," which speaks of the seminaries of learning from A.D. 1166 to A.D. 1216. He then divides them into five classes-I. General Studies, or Universities; II. Episcopal, or Cathedral Schools; III. Monastic or Conventual Schools; IV. The Schools of Cities and Towns; and, V. The Schools of the Jews'. EUBULUS. This distribution is sufficiently correct; but there can be no doubt that the Conventual sprung out of the Cathedral schools. Whenever, in its primitive acceptation, we speak of a minster, or a monastery, we must consider the Clergy and the Bishop as living together. At all events we cannot contemplate Augustine and his monks without such an association. ALETHES. Henry informs us, as we know, indeed, from other sources, that these conventual schools greatly increased during the reign of Henry I., Stephen, Henry II., and John. Between the time 8 Letters from the Bodleian, vol. ii. p. 614. 9 See History, &c., vol. iii. p. 436. of the Conquest and the death of the last-named king, no less than 557 religious houses of different kinds were founded; and as there was a school of some sort in each, we may guess the influence of learning even in those darker times, as they are called. As to the Episcopal or Cathedral schools, the same authority informs us that they were "even better regulated, and consequently more useful and more famous." One of the most remarkable schools mentioned during this period is that of St. Alban's. This I refer to, for a further reason; for, besides the school in the Abbey, there was another in the town, "under the government of Matthew, a physician, who had been educated at Salernum, and of his nephew, Gasinus, who excelled in the knowledge of the Civil and Canon Law. Of this academy Matthew Paris affirms, "That there was hardly a school in all England, at that time, more fruitful or more famous, either for the number or proficiency of its scholars. This plainly intimates that there were many schools of the same kind in England; which is further evident from the last Canon of the Council of Westminster, A. D. 1138, prohibiting the scholastics of Cathedral Churches from taking money for granting licenses to the teachers of the schools in the several towns and villages '." EUBULUS. Schools were now becoming very general; and although Matthew was educated at Salernum, enough were educated at home. The fact you have now stated from Henry goes entirely to corroborate what I said. The learning of religious houses was beginning to spread. If I am not mistaken, the first schools, not for the education of monks, but wherein youths were educated by the monks, were called "Schola Claustrales": The next step was to schools unconnected with the monasteries; and the teachers in them were considered to have usurped an authority not their own. Du Cange states this in these words: "Schola vero jus, seu eam tenendi in ejusmodi villis, inter jura dominica recensetur: adeo ut dominos laicos id sibi asseruisse, et Presby Henry, ut supra, p. 445. 2 See Du Cange v. "Schola Monasticæ," and again v. "Schola Christi," the word "Scholasticus" in its ecclesiastical sense, he explains to be, Dignitas Ecclesiastica, qua qui donatus est, Ecclesiasticis præest, Gall. Ecolâtre.” teris ademisse colligatur in Charta Balduini de Raducriis in Monastico Anglic., tom. ii. p. 180." He had stated above, "Scholas in villis et vicis habere jubentur Presbyteri apud Theodulphum in Capitul. c. 20. Et Attonem Episc. in Capitulari, cap. 61." ALETHES. It is curious thus to trace the little streams to their source, and to observe into what a mighty river they have now swelled. But was there not a proposition at the Council of Trent for the efficient restoration of schools in connexion with Monasteries and Cathedrals? EUBULUS. There was. We will refer to it in Courayer's Translation of Fra-Paolo Sarpi's History of that Council. Those five quarto volumes, on your left hand, I purchased in 1829, by the advice of the lamented Dr. Burton. The two first are Courayer's Translation of Paolo Sarpi; the three next, L'Enfant's Account of the Councils of Pisa and Constance. A well-timed "Book on Cathedral Institutions," recalled it to my mind years after. But here it is; and I will read it to you. 66 Quelques-uns proposèrent à l'égard des lesçons de rétablir l'usage qui subsistoit anciennement, lorsque les monastères et les chapitres n'étoient que des Écoles; usage dont il reste encore des vestiges dans plusieurs Cathédrales, où les dignités d'Écolâtre ou de Théologal, auxquelles sont annexées des Prébendes, sont demeurées sans exercise, faute d'être conférées à des personnes qui en soient capables. Tout le monde jugea donc, que c'étoit une chose avantageuse et utile de rétablir les leçons de Théologie dans les Cathédrales et les Monastères. L'éxécution en paroissoit facile dans les Cathédrales, en en remettant le soin aux Évêques. Mais il y avoit de la difficulté par rapport aux Monastères. Car, quoiqu'il ne s'agit que des Moines, et non des Mendians, les Légats, pour empêcher qu'on ne touchât aux privilèges accordés par les Papes, s'opposoient à ce qu'on donnát aux Évéques la surintendance et l'inspection de ces sortes de leçons. Mais Sébastien Pighino, Auditeur de Rôte, trouva à cela un tempérament, qui étoit de donner cette surintendance aux Évéques comme délégués du Saint Siège," &c." 3 Histoire du Concile de Trente, livre ii. c. lxii., vol. i. p. 305. Ed. 1736. Q |