WESTMINSTER SCHOOL
“_Enflamed with the study of learning, and the admiration of virtue;
stirred up with high hopes of living to be brave men and worthy
patriots, dear to God, and famous to all ages._”
MILTON (_Tract on Education_).
Before we say farewell to the Abbey and its story altogether we must
speak of one very important part of it, and one that ought to be
specially interesting to all English children, namely, the ancient and
famous Westminster School.
The history of the School takes us back really to Saxon times, as we
know that there was a school belonging to the monastery in the
Confessor’s days, and it may have been there even earlier than that.
There is a charming little story of that old convent school in the
eleventh century. The Abbot of Croyland used to tell of the kindness he
received from the Lady Editha, wife of the Confessor, when he was a boy
at the monk’s school in the cloisters. When she met him coming from
school, Editha would question him about his studies, and then, he says:
“She would always present me with three or four pieces of money, which
were counted out to me by her handmaiden, and then send me to the royal
larder to refresh myself.”
The School seems to have been what was called a “Grammar School,” which
really meant that Latin was taught there, for in those old days they
used to speak of Latin as “grammar.” The school was probably a place of
general education, and not intended only for boys who were going to
become monks. But, of course, when speaking of Westminster School it
must be remembered that it owes its present form, and its wide influence
and prosperity, to its foundation by two of the Tudor sovereigns, King
Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth.
In 1540, Henry VIII established the School with two masters and forty
scholars. There were probably other boys as well. The School went on and
flourished during the reigns of Edward VI and Mary, and then, when the
monastery was finally dissolved, it was re-established by Queen
Elizabeth in 1560. Queen Elizabeth kept very much to her father’s plan,
and arranged for a Headmaster, an undermaster, and forty scholars, who
are called “King’s scholars” or “Queen’s scholars,” according to whether
the sovereign is a King or a Queen. It was settled that the School was
to be part of the Collegiate Foundation of St. Peter in Westminster, and
the Dean was to be head of the school, just as he was of the rest of the
College.
As we already know, the boys dined, as now, in Abbot Litlington’s
Refectory, the present College Hall. The old granary of the monastery,
which stood in the middle of what is now Dean’s Yard, was fitted up as
their dormitory, and there also they used to do what a modern boy would
call his “home-work.” This arrangement was made for them by the first
Dean of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, Dr. William Bill.
In those old days there must have been a good deal of what we should
call hardship, for nearly every one now lives a much more comfortable
life than people did in the Elizabethan times.
The Great School is part of what used to be the monks’ dormitory. It is
a splendid room, first built in the Norman days, and then altered or
rebuilt in the fourteenth century. It stands on a lower storey which is
part of the Norman buildings. The School was very well restored not many
years ago. Besides the Great School there are, of course, many
class-rooms.
The King’s scholars now live in a fine building which was begun in Dean
Atterbury’s time, and designed by Sir Christopher Wren. It is here that
the famous “Westminster Play” is acted every year, about Christmas time.
The performance of this Latin play is a very old custom, and probably
began in the time of Queen Elizabeth. If any member of the Royal Family
has died during the year the play is not given.
Another curious old custom in the school is the tossing of the pancake
on Shrove Tuesday. This takes place in the Great School. In former days,
when classes were held in the Great School, there used to be a curtain
hung right across, to divide the upper and lower schools. This curtain
hung from an iron rod, which still remains, although the curtain has
gone. Every Shrove Tuesday the college cook has to bring a very solid
sort of pancake and throw it over this high bar. No doubt he has to
practise a good deal before he can do it properly, and he does not
always throw it over the first time. The boys scramble to catch it, and
if any boy gets the whole pancake the Dean’s Verger leads him to the
Dean, who gives him a guinea.
[Illustration:
[_W. Rice, F.R.P.S._
LITTLE DEAN’S YARD—ENTRANCE TO GREAT SCHOOL.
]
In old days the whole school might join in the scramble, and rather a
dangerous one it was. Now it has been arranged that only a certain
number of boys may struggle for the pancake, these boys being chosen
from various forms.
Some of the most celebrated of the Westminster scholars have graves or
monuments in the Abbey, and thus are doubly connected with Westminster.
A few of these have already been mentioned, as, for example, Ben Jonson,
the famous poet and dramatist, and the poets Abraham Cowley, George
Herbert, John Dryden, William Cowper, and Robert Southey.
Matthew Prior, a poet much admired in his own day, was also a
Westminster scholar. He died in 1721, and was buried near Spenser. His
monument is near Poets’ Corner door.
Barton Booth, a well-known actor in the eighteenth century, was at
Westminster school. He died in 1733, and his widow put up a monument to
him in Poets’ Corner many years afterwards. Two streets in Westminster
are named in memory of him. One of these is Barton street, and the other
is Cowley street, called after Booth’s burial-place at Cowley, in
Middlesex. Both these streets are close to the Abbey precincts.
Most people have heard of the famous Headmaster of Westminster in the
seventeenth century, Dr. Richard Busby. He was Headmaster during the
troublous times of the Civil War and the Commonwealth, and was still
headmaster in the reigns of Charles II and James II. He was a very
remarkable man, and had many distinguished pupils. He was celebrated
both for scholarship and for severity.
It is told of Dr. Busby that on one occasion, when Charles II paid an
unexpected visit to the School, he would not take off his hat in the
King’s presence, for fear that if he did so the boys might think less of
his authority.
Dr. Busby died in 1695, and was buried in the South Transept. His
monument is very interesting, partly on account of the pathetic figure
of Busby and the fine expression of the face.
One of his remarkable pupils is buried near him, and the monuments are
quite close to one another. This pupil was Dr. Robert South, a great
preacher, and Prebendary of Westminster. South could remember seeing
Cromwell when he first appeared in Parliament, and heard Charles I
prayed for in the Abbey on the very day of his death, “that black and
eternally infamous day of the King’s murder.” Dr. South died in 1716.
There was always a great deal of Royalist feeling in the School, even
all through the Commonwealth time, and a leading Independent went so far
as to say that it would never be well with the nation until the School
was suppressed, so strongly did the boys take the Royalist side.
Dean Atterbury, of whom we have already heard, was a Westminster
scholar, and a pupil of Dr. Busby. As we know, he took a great part in
the plots to bring back James II’s son, some of which plots went on in a
secret chamber in the Deanery itself.
Richard Hakluyt, author of the _Voyages and Travels_; Warren Hastings,
of Indian fame; and the well-known statesman, Lord John Russell, all
formerly Westminster boys, have already been mentioned. In Statesmen’s
Corner is the large monument of Lord Mansfield, Lord Chief Justice of
England in 1756. He was also a Westminster scholar, and desired to be
buried in the Abbey, “from the love which he bore to the place of his
early education.” He died in 1793.
Charles Wesley and his elder brother Samuel were both educated at
Westminster School. The memorial to John and Charles Wesley in the South
Choir aisle has already been described. It is interesting to remember
that Westminster School was in this way directly connected with one of
the most important religious movements in England during the eighteenth
century.
Among the great soldiers who were at Westminster School were Lord Lucan,
the Marquis of Anglesey, and Lord Raglan. John Locke, the philosopher,
Sir Christopher Wren, the great architect, and Edward Gibbon, author of
the famous _Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_, were also Westminster
boys.
And now our travels through the centuries and round the Abbey, with all
its memories, must end. We have seen how that little Church on Thorney
Isle has gradually grown into this stately Abbey, the home of all the
great Anglo-Saxon race. We have seen too, at the same time, how the
little English kingdom of the early Saxon days has expanded into a
world-wide empire. It is for the children of Great Britain to see that
the Abbey shall stand, not only for noble memories, but also for high
hopes,—hopes, not only of riches and worldly success, but of the
righteousness that exalteth a nation.
_Printed by_ MORRISON & GIBB LIMITED, _Edinburgh_
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TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
1. Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling.
2. Archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings retained as printed.
3. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.