Parson or Curate of Warrington & before ye other Chantre Priest singing in Boteler's Chappell afores & if ye schoolm' upon ye sd Account made shall be found to have recd more money than ye sume of tene Pounds * for his Stipend for yt year & ye costs of ye Aniv'sary as is before expressd & named that then all ye overplus therof & ye same more money over ye sd ten pounds & ye costs of ye sd Aniversary * * * shall be put into A Coffer having three locks upon it & ye same money to be kept to beire ye costs & charges of ye Renuing of ye sd Feoffment & writing of ye Deeds Schedules & Indentures concerning ye same school & for ye Defence of ye Title of ye Premisses & for ye Ornamts of ye sd Chappel if need shall so require."

There is no trace of any interference with Sir Thomas Boteler's Foundation under the statute 14 Edw. VI., for the suppression of Chauntries and Trentalls. Probably the appropriation, which (looking at the words of the preamble as to the purposes to which the endowments were intended to be applied) would have been the result of any proceedings thereunder, was effected by the simpler process of neglecting the superstitious observances enjoined by the Foundation Deed. Perhaps the patrons claimed a share of the booty. At all events, we find that by the end of the sixteenth century they had contrived, to a considerable extent, to defeat the benevolent designs of Sir Thomas Boteler. His great-grandson, Edward Butler, died about the year 1586, the last male descendant of his family, having previously sold the Bewsey estates and the manor and advowson of Warrington, which by means of various assurances became vested in Thomas Ireland of Bewsey, whose family, in the 17th century, becoming extinct in the male line, was united by marriage with that of the Irelands of the Hutt and Hale, the ancestors of Mr. Ireland Blackburne. On the death of Edward Butler, the representation of his family devolved upon

*A stipend of £10, after making every allowance for the change in the value of money, seems a slender provision for "an honest and discreet priest groundedly seen and learned in grammar, and able to teach grammar;" but it is not to be attributed to any want of liberality in the views of the founder, for it is worthy of observation that precisely the same stipend was provided in some of the most celebrated foundations in the kingdom, namely that of William of Wykeham, at Winchester, Henry VI., at Eton, William of Wainflete, at Oxford (in connection with Magdalen College), and Hugh Oldham, at Manchester. It must therefore be regarded as an evidence of the low pecuniary value at which the age estimated the services of the learned, of which there is additional proof in the present deed, which provides a fee of 8d. for each of the priests "for their business" at the anniversary, and for each of the singing clerks 2d., being precisely the same remuneration to be given to the bellman for proclaiming the anniversary, while the clerk is to have 20d. for ringing the bells.

his two sisters and co-heiresses, Elizabeth, the wife of Sir Peter Warburton, one of the Justices of the Common Pleas, and Margaret, the wife of John Mainwaring. The latter had, under various pretexts, possessed himself of nearly all the School lands, partly under a grant from Queen Elizabeth, as concealed lands, partly under a lease from Sir Thomas Gerard, the last surviving feoffee, and partly, it would seem, by collusion with the Master. In the year 1602, Sir Peter Warburton, then Sergeant at Law, took upon himself to vindicate the Charity, and filed a Bill in the Duchy Court to compel the appointment of new trustees. The suit abated by the deaths. of Lady Warburton and Sir Thomas Gerard; but fresh proceedings were instituted, and eventually the Court ordered "that Thomas Tildisley, Esquire, of council with the said complainant, and Thomas Ireland, Esquire, of councill with the said defendant, and Sir John Broograve, Knight, Attorney General of this Court, umpier, should mediate some end betwixt the said parties, for the good of the said school;" and an award having been made accordingly, it was confirmed by decree on the 20th June, 1607, which provides that "the said John Manwaring, and Margaret, his wife, during the life of the said Margaret, and after the decease of the said Margaret, the said Thomas Ireland, being the owner of the Manor* of Warrington, where the said school is founded, his heirs and assigns shall have the nomination and appointment of the said schoolmaster, being an able man fit for that place, in consideration whereof, the said Thomas Ireland shall pay and bestow to and for the repairs of the said school the sum of £10, and to the said John Manwaring £20," and directions are given for the execution by all necessary parties of conveyances to new trustees, and for the future leasing and management of the trust estates, without the intervention of the master, "who shall attend his charge and have noe dealing with the setting and letting of the said lands, or imploying of the said stock or otherwise, save only with his rent and pension, and the use of the said stock, and the schoolmaster's house or chamber, with the crofts, &c., in Warrington, which order or forme of leasing is thought fit, notwithstanding the same be not expressed in the first foundation, because the late deceased schoolmaster there, having a lease from the feoffees, did assigne

The patronage of the school did not accompany the manor of Warrington, in its transmission from the Irelands to the Booths, and from them to the Blackburnes; but seems to have been invariably exercised by the patrons of the parish church, the advowson of which has always belonged to the owners of the Bewsey estates, and is at present vested in Lord Lilford.

the same to the heir of the founder, contrary to the true intent of the foundation." The new feoffments were accordingly executed in the year 1608; and in 1610 a commission of charitable uses was issued, under which certain orders and decrees were made on the 11th September in that year, confirming the feoffments, and making provision, in accordance with the decree of the Duchy Court, for the management of the estates and the appointment of schoolmasters: and it is provided that the schoolmaster "shall by all the tyme that he shall be scholemaster of the said schole, well and truely keep the said schole, and teach and instruct the scholars thereof freely, without takeing or agreeing to have any reward, stipend, or scholehyre, or any other thing, for teaching any scholar of the said schole, other than the stipend to be paid by the said feoffees or governors, and upon every schole day shall be and continue in the said schole three hours att the least in the forenoon, and three hours att the least in the afternoon, teachinge, hearinge, and examininge his schollers, if his health will permit, and shall every morning, together with his scholers, use some forme of prayer meet for the purpose, giveing thanks to God that stirred upp the hart of the founder, Sir Thomas Butler, Knight, to soe good a work, and likewise at night before they depart." The decree of the commissioners was duly confirmed; and thus the estates were restored to the foundation by the perseverance and public spirit of Sir Peter Warburton, who further testified his good will to the school by granting to it a rent-charge of £5 per annum, issuing out of a messuage in Chester. It is still received by the trustees; and though the altered value of money makes his gift of smaller pecuniary importance than he intended, it has entitled him to the gratitude of the inhabitants of Warrington, in testimony of which one of our public spirited antiquaries has deposited in our Museum a copy of Sir Peter's arms, from a window in the hall of Staple Inn, of which he was a Bencher. A drawing of the arms forms one of our illustrations.

The new system of management does not seem to have been much more successful than the old; for within about half a century we find the income of the school in danger of being almost wholly lost, in consequence of claims set up by the tenants to have their leases renewed at the almost nominal rents they were then paying. Active measures were taken, and the principal part of the tenants were brought to submit to take leases at rack rent in 1677. It will, however, be convenient to defer any notice of

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