nly excepted and that, when any boy is initiated
into the ffree School he will not take any pay in case such Boy or Boys
should attend his School, altho' they may not have been a month at the
ffree School."

The matter of prizes is also taken up and a certain sum, which is not
named, was allotted to each of the three head classes and was to be
expended on books, which should be given to the best Scholar of each
class. No class was to compete which had less than nine boys and they
were to be examined once every year in the presence of the Governors.

The Master was required to see that the boys in the higher department of
the School had their conversation during School hours in Latin. This was
evidently a throw-back to the Ancient Statutes of 1592, when they were
at least given the alternative of Greek or Hebrew. Further they said
"conceiding that a Boy may improve in writing as much by an exercise as
a copy, they recommend that every boy be obliged to write his exercise
in the high or Writing School, under the inspection of the Writing
Assistant and each exercise to have his (_i.e._ the Assistant's)
initials affixed to signify that such Boy wrote his best, not to signify
whether a good or bad Exercise."

It will be remembered that in the house that James Carr built, the lower
part was for advanced teaching, the higher for writing. The distinction
had apparently continued and the upper portion alone had materials for
writing. Certain it is that each portion was wholly distinct from the
other, and Usher and Assistant were masters in their own domain. In
June, 1797, the Governors decided that attention should be paid to
Classics in the Writing Department and Nicholas Wood, the Usher, was
asked to undertake the work but refused, whereupon Mr. Clayton an
Assistant in the Classical Work was requested to do so and accepted the
duty for an additional remuneration of L10.

These two men held an interesting position. Wood certainly had a
freehold, and Clayton was difficult to remove, so that in 1798 the
Governors decided that an Assistant should "be provided during the
summer months to teach the Classical Scholars, unless Mr. Wood and Mr.
Clayton in three days signifie that one of them will teach." Fortunately
Mr. Wood at once agreed to do so. It referred, no doubt, to the
Classical Scholars in the Writing Department, whom Wood had refused to
instruct, but when Clayton undertook the work and received L10 for his
trouble, Wood