On the south side of St. Paul's Church-yard, near the entrance from Ludgate Street, is a narrow passage leading to St. Paul's College, where are dwellings for such of the minor Canons as choose to reside there. Further on is Dean's Yard, in which is a large respectable building, originally erected by Sir Joseph Sheldon, but now appropriated as a town residence of the Deans of St. Paul's. On the east side of the Church-yard is that eminent institution ST. PAUL'S SCHOOL, which was founded and endowed by DR. JOHN COLET, Dean of St. Paul's, on the site of a more ancient Seminary, that had been subordinate to the Cathedral establishment; and was one of the tres principales ecclesiæ Scholas, in Londonia, celebrated by Fitz-Stephen, as of ancient dignity and privilege. Dugdale mentions a Charter of the time of Henry the First, by which the Bishop, Richard de Belmeis, granted to Hugh, the Schoolmaster, and his successor in that employment, the habitation of Durandus, at the corner of the turret, [that is the Clochier, or Bell-tower], where William, Dean of St. Paul's had placed him, by his the said Bishop's command; together with the custody of the Library belonging to the Church." Henry, a Canon of St. Paul's, who had been educated under the said Hugh, succeeded, and besides the house he had given to him by the same Bishop, a meadow at Fulham, with the tithes of Ilings and Madeley," to augment the revenues of the School; a further augmentation was made by Bishop Nigel, in the reign of Richard the First, who gave "unto this School all the tithes arising from his demesnes at Fulham and Horsete*." The appointments were made by the Chancellor of St. Paul's, but the Dean and Chapter only had authority to give possession to the Master; who was to be sober, honest, and learned; and a teacher not only of grammar, but of virtue, Eis non solum grammatices, sed etiam virtutis Magister? In the course of ages this School Y • Dug. Hist. St. Paul's, pp. 9, 10. ↑ Mal. Lond. Vol. III. fell fell to decay, but at what particular period is not known with certainty. The present foundation was commenced in the year 1509, and completed about five years afterwards, by Dean Colet, whose piety induced him to consecrate it to the honour of the Child Jesus, ('Christ Jesu in pueritia,') and his blessed mother Mary! This benevolent Prelate was the eldest son of Sir Henry -Colet, Knt. Mercer, and twice Lord Mayor of London, and Dame Christian, his wife; and notwithstanding the numerous progeny of his parents, who had twenty-one children, ten sons, and eleven daughters, he proved the only survivor. He was born in St. Anthony's Parish, in this City, in the year 1466, and is supposed to have been taught the rudiments of learning in the School attached to his parochial Church. In 1483, he was sent to the University of Oxford, where he continued about seven years, and made great progress in logic, philology, and the mathematics. He then travelled into France and Italy, and in consequence of some successful disputations, conducted agreeably to the scholastic regimen of those times, became, in foreign Universities, exceedingly admired for his learning and talents. After his return from the Continent, he obtained various promotions in the Church, and having commenced Doctor of Divinity, about the year 1504, was soon afterwards preferred to the Deanery of St. Paul's, by Henry the Seventh, whose favor he had obtained, and who, whatever were his faults, was not inattentive to the promotion of men of talents. It was impossible, remarks a contemporary writer,' that in the then clerical state of the Metropolis, the monarch could have made a better choice. Learned, benevolent, pious, exemplary in the performance of his duty, and equally so for the regularity of his life, the people, who daily experienced his munificence, idolized the Dean; consequently his death,' which was occasioned by a consumption, after an imperfect recovery from the sweating sickness, was a subject of general lamentation.' He died on the 16th of September, 1519, 6 in which year the disease just named, raged in England with uncommon violence. Whilst Dr. Colet was at Oxford, he became acquainted with the learned Erasmus, and to the arguments employed by these friends against the subtle distinctions of the old school-men, and to the boldness with which they canvassed the abuses of the Catholic hierarchy, the Reformation was much indebted for its advancement; so much so indeed, that the Bishop and Vicars of his own Church, would gladly have consigned the Dean to the stake and martyrdom,' if his enlightened and powerful friends, combined with the undeviating regularity of his own conduct had not preserved him. In a summary, that has been given of his character, he is stated to have been the complete [Christian] Philosopher, and capable of the most rigid self denial, a conqueror of himself, another Socrates: though inclined by nature to love, luxury, somnolency, fond of wine and levity, avaricious and high-spirited, he yet mastered all those propensities through a mental conviction of the pernicious consequences attending their indulgence, so effectually, that he was chaste, abstemious, an early riser, temperate, grave, generous, and meek, even to the bearing of reproof from his own servant.' He was buried in St. Paul's, under a monument erected by himself, in the south aisle of the Choir, with the inscription 'JOANNES COLETUS,' only; but the following epitaph written by Lilly, the grammarian, was afterwards added : Inclyta Joannes Londina gloria gentis Floruit sub Henrico 7, et Henrico 8, Reg. Disce mori mundo, vivere disce Deg. |