at the foundation of the school.* The building of Christ's Hospital having been thus completed, and its machinery set in motion, the Institution continued to progress and thrive, and we read that, in Camden's time, by the munificence of its benefactors, its prospects had so brightened, that, in proportion as its wealth increased, its charities became more and more extended. In the year 1655, weekly allowances were made for nursing a large portion of the younger children, in various parts of the city and its vicinity, and at three different periods in that year the number of children amounted to nine hundred, nine hundred and eighty, and one thousand one hundred and twenty, respectively. In addition to the establishment in London, there were branches for the junior boys at Ware, called the Place House, with accommodation for a master, and one hundred * Willson's History of Christ's Hospital. and forty boys. Hertford also is named as having been a similar establishment. In the year 1694, Christ's Hospital, which had so long been basking in the sunshine of prosperity, received a check in consequence of the mismanagement of Mr. Treasurer Hawes, by whom its financial affairs were greatly embarrassed. On the 14th of November in that year a meeting was summoned, on the necessity of raising a loan to meet the present exigences, at which it was stated that several benefactions had been misapplied by the treasurer, and that a gift of five hundred pounds in particular, had been applied for other uses than that for which it had been designed. It also appeared that money had been frequently borrowed without the sanction of the Court; and at a court, held on the 10th of December following, it was found necessary to borrow two thousand pounds, for the disbursement of outstanding tradesmen's bills. The debts, however, continued to accumulate till the resignation of Mr. Hawes, in 1698, when the prospects of the house, under the superintendence of Mr. Pepys, began to assume a more favourable appearance. In extenuation of these defalcations, the great increase of the establishment was repeatedly urged; and in truth the number of admissions had greatly exceeded the means of accommodation. The Place House at Ware, and another nursery, which had been recently erected at Broxbourne, were wholly inadequate to the increasing overflow of the parent institution. With this increase of scholars it became necessary to prepare a reception for the younger members of the community; the funds of the existent revenue were quite inadequate for this purpose, and thus, out of impending danger, much good was achieved. The frauds lately practised on the Hospital, and its present inability to rear its head, from the blow it had received, attracted the attention of the good and charitable, who rallied round the pious foundation of our Sixth Edward, with the zeal of true Christians, and with the healing balm of charity and love, raised its drooping form. Many kind and warm-hearted Governors nobly headed the list of subscriptions; and the appeal was quickly responded to by the friends of the institution; for in a short period funds, amounting to the princely sum of £5,325 17s. 6d., were either received or promised, and this was considered sufficient to complete the laudable undertaking. The salubrity of the air, and its convenient distance from the metropolis, had pointed out Hertford as affording a favourable site for the intended erection; and accordingly, in 1683, the foundation of the present commodious building was laid in the eastern extremity of the town; though an interval of twelve years elapsed before it was entirely finished. The erection once tenantable, it was not long ere its walls echoed with the shouts of some two hundred boys; there not being, at first, so many inmates as at present; for the rival branch at Ware was still in existence, and, as the reader will perceive, was not united to that of Hertford until some years afterwards; for we read in Trollope's History of Christ's Hospital, that, in 1775 the last election of a master at Ware took place; and, in 1780, the children were finally removed from thence to Hertford. The structure at Hertford consists of three sides of a quadrangle.* The boundary wall extends along the south side, with large foldinggates having a wicket on each side. The gates are suspended on stone pillars, which are each surmounted with a leaden figure of a boy in his blue costume. Concerning these two figures, a strange story is in circulation among the boys, the favourite version of which is as follows: The figure placed with his face towards the road to London, looks on the gaol which rears * See frontispiece. |