New-York tribune., 1901-08-24
ENGLISH SCHOOLS.
WINCHESTER. EroN AND OTHER FAMOUS
INSTITUTIONS.

pdnss
EToN. BY A. Clutton-Brock. illustrated Emo
pp xii. 2G3. The Macmillan Company
CHARTERHOUSE BY A. II. Tod. Illustrated
i2mo. pp xii, 2iL The Macmillan Company.
RUGBY Rg In. c MaGm5g gTaa6g' cdmpsng dTssTSteo
The first place in the series OF 'Handbooks 10
the Great Public Schools" in which these vol
urnes appear goes, not unnaturally, TO MI. war
ners contribution. "Seinte Marie College OF
WINCHESTER near WINCHESTER" has been called
the Mother OF Schools" In founded in
the year 1894 by william OF wykeham, Bishop
of winchester and Lord Chancellor TO Ed
ward III. The first institution of Its kind IN
England it contributed more or less TO the
systems Of all those which followed It. Though
William OF wykeham by the way, is represent
ed in the old portraits clothed in canonlcal
robes and bearing the crook OF his episcopal
Office IL was not as an ecclesiastic that he arst
attracted the Kings favor, but as a young ar
chitect OF great promise. The greater part of
Windsor Castle was built under his direction,
and thenceforward he was marked out for ad-
vancement both in Church and State. Keeper
OF the Kings Conscience" as he was-as Lord
ChancellOr-he had also a tender regard for the
souls of the Kings lieges. The Black Death
had carried off more than one-fourth OF the
English clergy between the years l345 and 1861,
and one of Wykeham's motives for founding
both winchester School and New College. OK
ford. its allied institution, was the desire 10
supply these losses.
The records of Winchester include the entry
of the payment. in 1413, Of shilings and
pence TO a messenger who brought TO the col
lege the news Of the victory "apud Agyncourt In
Pecardia." Mr Warner makes the most OF the
picturesque material in the earlier history OF
his school Winchester is still inveterately ad-
dicted 10 doing things as they used 10 be done in
he nod of
even was until a comparatively recent time
peculiar instrument. handed down from remote
generations-four apple switches attached to
short stout handle. The author says that this
older apparatus was really more effective than
its successor has proved TO be. The motto OF
the school is that of its founder, Manners
makyth Man"
The constitution OF Eton." says Mr.. Clutton-
Brock was avowedly based on that OF Win
chester; the connection between Kings and Eton
was an imitation OF that between Winchester
and New College: The first Etonians were
transplanted wykehamists and the first Pro-
vost OF Eton one of Wykeham's greatest
successors" Il is interesting 10 note that both
winchester and Eton were products Of the
spreading discomfort with the monastic orders,
a popular feeling which early in the sixteenth
century made il possible for Henry VIII 10 take
the first governmental steps toward the English
Reformation. A college of non-monastic clergy,
however. was new idea even IN the time of
Wykeham; what was new was the combination
of a school for boys, established expressly as
feeder for college at one OF the universities.
and a college reserved exclusively or chiefly for
the more advanced education Of boys from that
particular school. As Winchester was sup
plemented by New at Oxford, so was Eton by
Kings, at Cambridge.
The author Of this sketch OF Eton has done
well to devote his longest chapter TO the found
ing and early history Of the college. In this
and the chapter on Eton in the eighteenth cen
fury are TO be found many charming sidelights
upon the history of England. For example. It
was about 1442, when he made his foundation
that the sixth Henry granted 10 the provost Of
Elton ''the leper hospital Of ST. James, in West
minister fields to be his town residence, with a
large amount OF land attached 10 IL. This prop
erty Henry VIII. seeing that Its value would
become enormous, forced the College to exchange
for some land in a less valuable situation, and
built the Palace OF St. James where the pro-
vOst's home had been" An astonishing num-
ber Of Etonians have been Prime Ministers. from
Pitt and Fox. through Canning down 10 Glad
stone. Rosebery and Salisbury.
Thomas Sutton, the founder OF Charterhouse
was born Of presumably well 10 do parents. at
Knaith, Lincolnshire in 1871, and was educated
at EtOn. The sketch Of him and of his work in
the foundation Of the Hospital of King James"
given in Mr.. Tod's book throws interesting light
upon what must have been of the first in
English history OF mercantile successes in the
larger, modern sense. Sutton struck it rich" in
coal, and then. having fallen out with the no.
biity IN the neghborhood OF his Northumberland
mines, came 10 London, where he enjoyed a repu-
tation for enormous wealth. When Walsng-
hams secret service reported the preparations
OF the Spanish King 20 invade England, Sutton
dexterously applied his capital 10 the protec-
ton OF his country buying Up all the sight
drafts OF the Bank OF Genoa that could be found
floating in Continental markets. maneuvre
which prevented Philips obtaining from that
source the funds needed for his expedition. and
thus postponed the sailing OF the Invincible Ar
nada. This gave England time for counter
preparations, and in the feet which repelled the
first attack Of the Spaniaras a bark fitted out at
the expense OF Sir Thomas Sutton did good ser
vice. A striking glimpse Of the astonishingly
mean cupidity Of the Stuarts is afforded In the
record OF proposal on the part Of James that
Sutton should make Baby Charles'-afterward
Charles Ibis heir. for the consideration of a
patent OF nobility. This royal deal fell through
In early life Sutton had been an inmate OF
Howard House. when the Duke OF Norfolk after
ward beheaded by Elizabeth had kept almost
royal state there. Howard House had been part
OF the Chartreuse. corrupted "charterhouse." or
monastery OF the Carthusian monks, near Smith
field; IL had been cOnfscated, sold and sold
again. forfeited 10 the crown on the attainder
Of the Duke of Norfolk and restored by the
Queen 10 his younger son, the Earl Of Suffolk
all this within Sutton's own lifetime. On the
death OF his wife, Sutton a widower rich and