youth of the town must have been left in ignorance; unless we be permitted to conclude that here and there some deprived and needy member of the dissolved community, driven from his cloistered home, sought sustenance by imparting the principles of learning to the youthful burghers, from his own humble store. At length, in 1605, upon the grant of a new charter from James I. to the town, it was ordained that there should be here a grammar-school, to be styled "the Free Grammar-school of Prince Henry of Evesham," placed under the charge of a head-master, and also of an under-master or usher. The mayor and common council were appointed governors; and were empowered in that capacity to purchase, receive, and possess "manors, messuages, and lands" to the use of the foundation. Presuming that the king relied on some portion of concurrent zeal upon the part of the governors, toward the maintenance of this school, the royal grant of ten pounds yearly, still paid from the Exchequer, may be considered handsome; when we reflect that that sum was then equivalent to ten times that amount at the present day. We have only to regret that so much land as would have been then valued at £10 yearly, was not made the basis of the grant, in lieu of a fixed annual payment. The endowment would then, doubtless, by this time have exceeded the larger amount just mentioned.

The corporate body, as governors, seem early to have bestowed attention upon their charge. As early as 1653 they assessed the three parishes of the borough, to raise the sum of twenty pounds, then needed for repairing the house and school : 420 and in 1677 they appropriated the proceeds of a house near the shambles to the purchase of needful books. 421 At a later period they become remiss. Their accounts, in 1682, shew us that a sum had been left to them, as governors, by Mr. Jacob Jackson, the interest upon which, being thirty-six shillings, had in that year been paid; but afterward this entry disappears. 422 The only other individual recorded as having augmented the endowment, is a Mrs. Anne Roberts, who in 1663 granted to the corporation a messuage and garden in Ode-street, in

420 Order of 25th March 1653, in Corporation Books.

421 Accounts of 1677, in Corporation Books.

429 Accounts of Martin Ballard and Nicholas Field, mayors.

trust for the schoolmaster; not, alas, in his capacity of tutor, but as an inducement to administer toward temporary prejudice, by "making a speech every 5th of November." This endowment still remains but in unison with the spirit of the institution, an examination of the pupils, accompanied by a suitable oration, now takes place upon the above day.

Only a small portion of the lower walls of abbot Lichfield's School-house at present remains, if we except the porch. This was till recently entire, and presented the interesting appearance depicted beneath. It has since been unfortunately deprived of its

gable; and the only striking feature it retains is the original entrance, which preserves above its low-browed arch the customary injunction with which our grateful predecessors oft complied, "Orate pro anima Clementis Abbas."423 Above this, the arms of the abbey are carved in low relief, and in a small escutcheon under, are the initials CL. A label at the crown of the arch, bearing the date 1546, shews that the porch was added in that year; and thus affectingly proves that although the abbot was at this time deprived

423 Pray ye for the soul of Abbot Clement.

of his preferment, yet he did not the less exert himself for the wellbeing of those in the midst of whom he had so long dwelt. In 1829 the porch was altered; the school-rooms being at that time nearly rebuilt, and the residence of the master improved also. This was effected during the mastership, and at the sole expense of Mr. Christopher Crofts; prior to whose appointment in that year the institution had been suffered to continue for some time in a state of dormancy.

The master, in addition to the endowment paid from the Exchequer, receives the rent of the premises in Ode-street, and occupies the residence connected with the school. He also instructs a certain number of private pupils. The Report from the Commissioners of Charities, relating to this school, states that in 1830 there were ten scholars upon the foundation; from whom there were received, on account of English instruction, 25s. per quarter from freemen's sons, and 30s. from the sons of others: but these payments have recently been equalized, and the terms are now 15s. per quarter. The present master is the Rev. Thomas Taylor, M. A. curate of St. Lawrence, Evesham.

The present TowN HALL, or-as it strictly is, the New Guild Hall, though superior in extent, must give precedence to the grammar-school in point of antiquity. This structure is most improperly seated within that space occurring at the junction of the principal streets, known as the Market Square,-which, if divested of such an incumbrance, would form a still more airy and agreeable interruption to the monotony of the street. The building before us has evidently been constructed at a period subsequent to the dissolution of the abbey; and is most probably indebted to the ruins of that magnificent foundation for the greater portion of the material which it includes. From depositions in the Exchequer case, already cited, we learn that in 1586 the building had then been recently erected, and that it was at that time known as the New Town Hall.424 Fifty years afterward we find its erection attributed by Mr. Abingdon to "one of the Hobys." But as sir Philip Hoby died in 1558, and as at that period the present hall

124"He doth very well know the New Hall, lately builded within the said town.” -John Rapp, in Exchequer Case, Hoby v. Kighley.

was not erected 425-there can be little doubt but that sir Edward Hoby, nephew of Sir Philip, and heir, by the death of Sir Thomas his father, to the abbey site and demesne, as well as to almost the entire town at that period, was the individual who actually reared the present structure.

The building includes a basement and upper story. The former consists of plain semicircular arches of the Elizabethan age, resting upon piers, the floor being additionally sustained by a middle row of pillars. This space is at present occupied as the market for provisions. Formerly, we find, it was employed for pitching corn; when purchases were not made by sample: and from the corporation books it evidently was used, too, as a threshing-floor, upon those days when not required for the market. The remainder of the basement was, prior to the municipal corporation act, occupied as the borough gaol together with apartments for the gaoler; a more ancient building used as the gaol, standing north-east of the hall, having been taken down in 1789, and sold by the corporation for its materials: the above portion of the basement is now the municipal police-station. The upper floor, which is attained by a modern and commodious staircase of iron, comprises a spacious hall partly fitted up as a court, where the borough quarter-sessions were once held, and where the nomination of parliamentary representatives still takes place. According to Abingdon, this hall was, during the seventeenth century, "sometimes used for judges to hold the assizes for the shire." The circumstance is confirmed by the mayor's accounts in 1683; one item being a payment to "James Welsbourne for the charges of the judges' horses when here.”426 Another apartment opens from this room, more modern, loftier, but less extensive than the first. This room we find to have been erected for a council-chamber, at the joint expense of sir John Rushout, bart., and John Rudge, esq., members for the borough in 1728. The fact, though hitherto unnoticed by our local writers, appears in the dedication of a printed sermon preached in the above year, upon the mayor's inauguration.427 During the years

425 R. Andrews, gent. deposes in 1586, that he had known the town thirty years; part of which time elapsed "before the New Hall was built."-Exchequer Case. 426 Accounts of John Horne, mayor, in Corporation Book.

1833 and 34 the whole structure was repaired, and the wing enclosing the present staircase was added; the latter unfortunately infringing further on the market area. The cost of the alterations was met by subscription from the members of the corporation, among whom the late sir Charles Cockerell, M.P., is understood to have munificently contributed; and the work was completed during the mayoralty of that baronet.

The original Guild-hall of the town was probably that noticed in the present governing charter, as then standing next the south-west corner of the bridge, and called the Old Guild Hall. This name and application both originate in Anglo-saxon usage; when neighbours mutually bound themselves either to produce any criminal member of their fraternity, or to make pecuniary satisfaction to the law. Hence the derivation of the term: the word gild being Saxon, and signifying money. During the middle ages, gilds were formed for religious and charitable purposes, as well as for trade and merchandize. The members were in both instances bound by certain rules, and contributed to a general fund to bear the common charge. They had annual feasts, and neighbourlike meetings, and were usually licensed by the crown to maintain one or more priests, make chantries, bestow alms, do other works of piety, and frame ordinances. 428 Hence the origin of our later guilds or companies. Chaucer thus introduces us among members of the more ancient of these fraternities, in his Prologue to the Canterbury Tales:"An Haberdasher, and a Carpenter,

427

A Weaver, Dyer, and a Tapiser

Were all yclothed in one livery

Of a solemn and great fraternity.

Full fresh and new their gear ypiked was.

Their knives were ychafed not with brass,

But all with silver wrought full clean and well,
Their girdles and their pouches every deal.

Well seemed each of them a fair burgess

To sitten in a gild hall, on the deis."

Civil Government, how far of Divine and how far of Human Institution: A sermon preached at the Parish Church of All-saints, in Evesham, on Tuesday the first day of October, 1728, being the day of the Mayor's Admission into his Office: by Nath. Nichols, B. D., Rector of the said church, and chaplain to the Right Honourable Eliz. Countess Dowager of Northampton." 8vo. Cambridge.

428 Dugdale's Warwickshire, edition 1656, page 119, etc.