within the churchyard wall,
looking down over a little square into which several streets open, and
the old stocks still lie in the shadow of the trees.

Bishop Grandisson obtained a licence to establish here 'a monastery or
collegiate church for a fixed number of secular canons ... governed
mainly by a Warden, a Minister, and Sacrist, and a Chanter or
Precentor,' and he drew up a most comprehensive set of statutes for
their guidance. Occasionally he issued additional 'monitions,' as, for
example, when the Warden had allowed stage-plays to be performed in
church during the Christmas holidays. It is reasonable to suppose,
however, that they were 'mystery plays' or 'moralities.'

Lord Coleridge says: 'The town was dominated by the College. The bridge
by which you entered the town from the West was the bridge of the Holy
Saviour. In one of its recesses the sacred light was ever kept burning,
inviting those who passed to pray.' Henry VI and Henry VII both visited
the College. The Dissolution swept it away, but a part of its endowment
was devoted to founding the King's Grammar School.

Many incidents befell Fairfax and his troops at Ottery. It was chosen
for their winter-quarters in 1645, and they arrived worn-out and
exhausted and in great need of refreshment. Ill-fortune, however,
awaited them, as the Rev. Joshua Sprigg, General Fairfax's chaplain,
tells us in _Anglia Rediviva_, his account of this army's movements. A
mysterious disease broke out, very fatal, so that there were 'dying of
soldiers and inhabitants in the town of Autree, seven, eight, and nine a
day, for several weeks together.' A Colonel Pickering died of it, on
whom the chaplain wrote an elegy. One has heard of blank-verse that is
merely 'prose cut into lengths,' but his lines suggest that they must
have been on the rack to bring them to the right measure. The author
feared that it was the lack of action that had proved fatal.

'Must thou be scaling heaven alone,
For want of other action?
Wouldst thou hadst took that leisure time
To visit some responsal clime!'

But Sprigg's deep affection and respect cannot be disguised even by his
words.

At Ottery, Sir Thomas Fairfax received and entertained two envoys from
besieged Exeter, who came with a view to discussing the possible terms
of a general peace; but their mission was, of course, unsuccessful. A
pleasant event was the presentation to the General of a fair jewel, set
with rich diamo