THE DECAY OF POST-REFORMATION EDUCATION.

109

temper and good life; that so in the education of youth, especially such as are designed for holy orders, there may not be an ill foundation laid1."

It was, alas! too late. For the third time in the history of England, national education was smitten down. We have seen the failure of the first Saxon system. We have seen how the combined influence of the suppression of Lollardy and free thought on the one hand and the destruction of the Chantry schools on the other undid mediæval education. We now see how the new education that arose after the Reformation out of the ruins of medieval education was itself rendered valueless as a national institution by a policy begun, in spite of herself, by Elizabeth, intensified in the unwise times of the Stuarts before the Restoration, and completed in the timorous and tyrannical days of the restored monarchy. Not even the efforts of good Archbishop Tenison could awaken education, as the State understood education, from sleep.

We are not concerned here with the merits or demerits of the ecclesiastical policy of the Tudors and the Stuarts in so far as it concerns the history of England at large, but as regards popular education, a more benighted and heartbreaking policy was never conceived. Education could only be given by those who accepted without reservation the tests and tenets of the Church of England as by law established and who were prepared to suffer any indignity that the Legislature and the Bishops might devise. So purely place-men were the schoolmasters of the realm that they were ordered to contribute "with all readiness" to the war chest of Charles I. and were till a late date subjected to a ceaseless and intolerable inquisition into their beliefs and thoughts at the hands of Bishop and Crown alike. The schoolmaster was forbidden by law to think for himself, and indeed the possibility of thought was extinguished by the method of selection employed. The fear of the universal

1 Cardwell's Documentary Annals.

110

THE SUSPENSION OF EDUCATION.

spread of dissent created a dread of free education as plainly at the end of the seventeenth century as was the case in the beginning of the fifteenth century. The possibility of a more excellent way did not occur to the politicians of either period. It did not appear feasible to obtain by liberal treatment the same results as were aimed at by a policy of stern and harsh repression. We may, perhaps, appreciate the motives that lay behind the policy of both Church and State-a policy that was unworthy of a great community and of a noble establishment—but it is impossible not to recognise that such a policy could only have one end: a suspension of education until a new method of effort and thought should evolve a new system. It remains for us to see how for the fourth time education was brought to England.

CHAPTER IV.

THE BEGINNINGS OF STATE EDUCATION IN SCOT

LAND, IRELAND, THE COLONIES, THE ISLE

OF MAN AND JERSEY.

Scotch

and the State.

23. THIS book does not profess to deal directly with education in Scotland, but it will be found useful for comparative purposes to refer in some slight education detail to the efforts made in that kingdom, in Ireland, in the Isles of Man and Jersey, and in the colonies, for the advancement of youth in early times, and at this moment of pause it can be done with advantage. The history of education in Scotland is peculiarly instructive, and in the seventeenth century it has, unfortunately, as it seems, some points in common with the general movement in England.

In the general report, dated December 14, 1867, of the Assistant Commissioners appointed to enquire into the Burgh and middle class schools, we find the following passage': "Schools for Latin, to which were subsequently added ‘Lecture' schools for English, existed in the chief towns of Scotland from a very early period. We have authentic notice of a school in Aberdeen in 1124. The schools of Perth and Stirling were in existence in 1173, and Charters quoted in Chalmers' Caledonia2 mention other schools, both in the

1 Third Report of the Schools Commission (Scotland), vol. 1. pp. 1, 2. 2 Vol. 1. p. 767, footnote (l).

112

SCOTCH COMPULSORY EDUCATION.

twelfth and the subsequent century. It would serve no good purpose to enumerate them all, but we may specify St Andrews, whose school was under the charge of a rector in 1233; Aberdeen and Ayr', of which we have notices in 1262 and 1264; Montrose, which had the honour of receiving a small endowment from Robert the Bruce in 1329; and, speaking generally, it may be said that all the chief towns, and many that have since sunk into obscurity, had schools, such as they were, before the beginning of the sixteenth century. The statute of the Scottish Parliament in the reign of James IV. (1494), which ordains that barons and freeholders who were of substance should put their eldest sons or heirs to the 'schules fra they be six [eight] or nine years of age, and to remain at the Grammar Schools quill they be competentlie founded and have perfite Latine,' is conclusive and satisfactory proof on this point2. These schools were under Church, and were closely connected with the cathedrals, monasteries, and other religious establishments of the country. Thus, the monks of Dunfermline were directors of the school of Perth

The Compulsory

Education

Act, 1496.

the direction of the

1 It may be added that Ayr is mentioned in 1233.

2 This statute was passed at Edinburgh on June 13, 1496. It may be compared with the statute which has been referred to above (p. 7) as attributed on insufficient evidence to King Alfred. The text of this earliest compulsory Act is given here, as the reference in the above report may mislead those using the official edition of the Acts.

66

Apud Edinburgh, xIII die junii, A.D. M,CCCC, XCVI. 3. Item It is statute and ordanit throw all the realme that all barronis and frehaldaris that ar of substance put thair eldest sonis and airs to the sculis fra thai be aucht or nyne yeiris of age and till remane at the gramer sculis quhill thai be competentlie foundit and haue perfite latyne. And thereftir to remane thre yers at the sculis of art and Jure sua that thai may haue knawlege and vnderstanding of the lawis. Throw the quhilkis Justice may reigne universalie throw all the realme. Sua that thai that ar schireffis or Jugeis Ordinaris vnder the kingis hienes may haue knawlege to do Justice that the pure pepill suld haue na neid to seik our souerane lordis principale auditors for ilk small Iniure. And quhat baroun or frehaldar of substance that haldis not his sone at the sculis as said is haifand na lauchfull essonye bot failyeis heirin fra knawlege may be gottin thairof he sall pay to the king the soum of xx li." The Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, vol. II. p. 238.

CHURCH CONTROL OF SCOTCH EDUCATION.

113

and Stirling; Ayr school was connected with the church of St John the Baptist'; the monks of Kelso were directors of the schools in the county of Roxburgh. Our first authentic notice of the schools of Dundee is a document in the 'Register of the See of Brechin, in 1434.' In that year, a priest ventured to teach without the authority of the Chancellor; and was in consequence summoned before the Bishop, and after duly acknowledging his offence was deprived of his office. The burgh of Edinburgh provided a school-house, and paid a salary to its teacher, at least as early as 1500; but the High School itself was dependent on the Abbey of Holyrood; and as late as 1562, Lord Robert Stewart, a natural brother of Queen Mary, was recognised by the TownCouncil as patron of the High School, in virtue of his office. as Commendator of the Abbey. Later still, in 1596, thirty years after the patronage had been handed over to the TownCouncil, the rector of the school, who had then held his office for twelve years, thought to secure himself in his position by purchasing 'a gift of the Grammar School' from the Abbot of Holyrood. For this and other offences he was dismissed by the Town-Council. The Glasgow Grammar School, which existed early in the fourteenth century, was dependent on the cathedral church, and the Chancellor of the diocese had the appointment of masters and superintendence of education in the city. An offending priest, in 1494, who had presumed to teach grammar and other branches without due authority from the Chancellor, was summoned before the Bishop, and ordered to desist. In Aberdeen the early usage was as follows:-The Town-Council presented the master to his office, subject to the approval of the Chancellor of the Bishop, who instituted the presentee. We find frequent notices of this from 1418 downwards. The terms of the appointment of Rector in that year are in substance as follows: 'The

In 1233 the rector of Ayr School was appointed to an office by Pope

Gregory IX.