Figures on the West Porch, College of St. Ma y Magdalen, Oxford. LONDON: BURNS AND LAMBERT, 17 PORTMAN STREET, AND 63 PATERNOSTER ROW. The town of Waynflete. William's birth and parentage. His education at Winchester and Oxford. He is chosen master of Winchester school and of St. Mary Magdalen's hospital. Character of Henry VI. Love of learning among the Eng- Waynflete's first meeting with Henry. He removes to Eton. The king's designs for his colleges. Beckington's conse- cration. Waynflete is appointed provost of Eton. Eton The king's marriage. Margaret of Anjou enters London. Death of Gloucester, and of Beaufort. Waynflete appointed to the see of Winchester. His humility. His enthronisa- tion. State of education in England during the reign of Claims of the House of York. Insurrection of Jack Cade. Dispersion of the rebels. Conduct of the Duke of York. Illness of the king. Birth of Prince Edward. Waynflete's interview with the king. Henry's recovery. The battle of St. Albans. The Duke of York Protector. Henry resumes CHAPTER V. Waynflete's chancellorship. He draws up the Eton statutes. Prosecution of the Bishop of Chichester. The king arbitrates between the rival parties in the state. The procession of reconciliation. Waynflete proceeds with the foundation of his college. His love of architecture. Waynflete's friends. Recommencement of hostilities. Battles of Blorcheath and Ludlow. Attainder of the Duke of York. Waynflete resigns the chancellorship. The compromise. Battle of Wakefield. Death of the Duke of York. Battle of Towton. Victory and coronation of Edward IV. CHAPTER VI. Threatened ruin of the Eton foundation. Waynflete's benefactions to the college. Brief restoration of King Henry. Waynflete crowns him in London. Return of Edward. Barnet and Tewkesbury. Murder of Prince Edward, and of Henry VI. His funeral. Honours paid to his memory. Waynflete's sorrow. He is kindly received by Edward IV. The Windsor festival. Waynflete proceeds with his foundation at Oxford CHAPTER VII. Magdalen College. Contemplative features of the English character. Letter from the University of Oxford. Waynflete assists them in building their divinity schools. Completion of Magdalen. Its plan. Its statutes. King Edward's visit to the college. Course of studies established by Waynflete. Daily rule of life among the students. Their devotions. Their dress. Dissensions among the fellows. Waynflete's letter of advice CHAPTER VIII. Waynflete's charities. He frees the bond-slaves. His favourite CHAPTER IX. Burial of Waynflete. His chantry chapel. His effigy. Relics preserved of him in Magdalen College. Sacrilege committed in the seventeenth century. Magdalen Tower. Choral service on the 1st of May. Conclusion PAGE 38 52 63 78 91 THE LIFE OF WILLIAM OF WAYNFLETE. CHAPTER I. The town of Waynflete. William's birth and parentage. His education at Winchester and Oxford. He is chosen Master of Winchester school and of St. Mary Magdalen's hospital. Character of Henry VI. Love of learning among the English nobles. Henry resolves to found a college. The Eton charter. THE traveller through the fen districts of Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire does not need to be reminded how desolate a country that is which stretches along the western coast between the rivers Ouse and Humber. To one who has ever passed over it, its features remain ineffaceably stamped upon the memory; the wide flat, broken here and there by patches of water and groups of stunted willows, with nothing to break the long straight line of the horizon save, it may be, one of the tall spires of the Lincolnshire churches. Flocks of geese and wild-ducks, and the cattle feeding on the marshy plains, seem the only living inhabitants of these regions, which yet, strange to say, have a beauty and fascination of their own. Perhaps their broad expanse, checkered by the shadows of the moving clouds, and lit up here and there with pools of sudden sunshine, carry back the thoughts of the traveller to the Roman campagna; or perhaps the locality itself awakens in his heart memories and associations of the faith: for these fens were once the English Thebaid; they were peopled by monks and hermits like St. Guthlac, the English Anthony; and Croyland and Ely and Peterborough were K |