182 NOTES AND QUERIES. [10* s. iv. SEPT. 2,1905. traditional versions recovered and printed during the last century. It is the song which has the curious quasi-Latin refrain of "Peri-men, dixi, domine," or "Para-mara, dictum, domine " (see my ' Popular Ballads of the Olden Time,1 Second Series, pp. 162-3). I may add that I shall always be grateful to hear of any such fragments of tradition, however valueless they may appear. F. SIDGWICK. 5, Clement's Inn, W.C. MAGDALEN COLLEGE SCHOOL AND THE 'D.N.B.' (See ante, pp. 21, 101.) FROM the fifteenth century onwards Magda- len School has had to endure not only the vicissitudes incident to such institutions in general, but others also arising from the divers fortunes of the College to which it is attached. At one time, it may be, many junior members of the University are re- ceiving their education within its walls in company with the sons of prominent citizens of Oxford ; at another it has shrunk into a school for the sixteen choristers only, who apparently, as we have seen, in earlier days learnt their grammar elsewhere. There can be no doubt that, for many years after its foundation, the School was in a very flourish- ing condition. The fourth master in succession was Thomas Wolsey, that "great child of honour." John Goldyffo, who was usher for a short time in 1498, the year of Wolsey's mastership, became later (1508-10), like his founder, head master of Eton. The Register commemorates various benefactions to the College by those who had received their education at the School. Thomas Phyllyps, for example, chorister in 1492, and Demy two years later, founds exhibitions for six Fellows. In 1501 Wolsey, then Dean of Divinity, travels up to London to purchase cloth for the College, and pays, among other things, five shillings "pro liberata (John) Style choristse continenti 2 virgat. et dimid." A chorister of two years later, William Tyler, becomes subsequently Groom of the Bedchamber to Henry VIII. Thomas Cannar the elder, a Demy of about the same date, becomes the first Canon, and then Sub-Dean, of Wolsey's Cardinal College, and in 1532 eighth Canon of its eventual successor, Christ Church. On two occasions in 1507-8 the greater part of the College, and no doubt of the School also, migrated—for six weeks at a time—to Witney, Brackley, and elsewhere from fear of the plague. A few choristers were left behind in College to assist the remaining Fellows and chaplains in the chapel services. On 8 June. 1513, Henry VIII. commanded the Prior of St. Frideswide to give Reginald Pole, then aged thirteen, a pension or corrody. About this time or earlier the future Cardinal Archbishop of Canterbury matriculated as a nobleman at Magdalen. The king was much interested in his young second cousin's edu- cation : and it seems not altogether impos- sible, considering his tender years, that some of his knowledge may have been acquired in the School. Pole, a little later, became one of the early Fellows of C.C.C. His fine portrait in Magdalen College Hall is similar to the three- quarter -length at Lambetb Palace, where it is described as a copy of a picture by Sebastiano del Piombo, at one time in the Barberini Gallery at Rome. Another portrait, a bust, belongs to the President of C C.C. Pole seems always to- have been painted in his red biretta and cardinal's robes. In 1556 Edmund Pole, aged fifteen, becomes Demy. He was probably a nephew of the cardinal, then Chancellor of the University. On 26 February, 1562/3, Edmund and his eldest brother Arthur were convicted and condemned of high treason, but, in consideration of their youth, the queen subsequently granted them a pardon. In the upper room of the Beauchamp Tower may be seen the inscription " /Et. 21 E. Poole, 1562" (Bloxam, iv. 152 : ' D.N.B.,' xlvi. 19). In 1516 Richard Stokys is mentioned as usher for about a year. Chaplain to Wolsey, he was the unsuccessful candidate in 1527 when John Burgess was elected President of the College. But Wolsey, as Legate, set aside the election, and replaced Laurence Stubbs, who had recently resigned, a* President. Burgess, who was subsequently Principal of Magdalen Hall, had been both a chorister and a Demy (Bloxam, i. 2, iv. 45 ; Wilson, pp. 68, 70). In 1520 a second visitation had been held by Bishop Foxe, of Winchester, the visitor, which throws some light on the treatment meted out to the junior members of the College. A number of charges were made against the President, John Higdon, one of which was that he was too severe in his punishments, especially in the case of Demies. This refers to cases where, the statutes being silent, the choice of punishments was left to the discretion of the President. Higdon appears to have adopted the method of corporal punishment, arid it is suggested he had some satisfaction in applying it (Wilson. E. 67). The birch was then considered, and sr long after, one of the most necessary
