ABSTRACT OF THE DEAN'S STATUtes.

The worthy dean expresses an ardent wish, that children should be taught regularity of conduct, and a knowledge of literature. That he might perform his part, he resolved to found this school of St. Paul's for one hundred and fifty-three children, to be taught "free in the same."

The office of high master requiring great abilities in its possessor, he very justly defines what are the qualifications necessary: "A man whole in body, honest, and virtuous;" learned in pure Latin and Greek ; a man either single or married; a priest, "with no benefice with cure," or any impediment which might prevent or divert his attention from the duties of his situation. Such a man is to be chosen by the Company of Mercers, in the school, during good conduct; which is to be examined into on Candlemas-day, at the school. The Mercers are forbid to permit the master's absence without their licence; and any dissension between him and the sur-master is to be referred to "the surveyors being for that year." His lodgings were to consist of the whole story over the hall and chambers, and a "little middle chamber in the house roof," now yclept a garret, and a gallery, with "all the cellar beneath the hall, the kitchen, and buttery." He received his furniture; and his wages were a mark per week, with a gown annually, of four nobles value.

The dean permits the children admitted to be of any nation; and mentions, that they must previously read, write, and be capable of repeating their Catechisms. The high master is permitted to receive 153 (alluding to the number of fish taken by St. Peter); with the trifling sum of 4d., admission money, which he orders to be given to the poor scholar who swept the school. Each child finds his own candles of wax, for those of tallow are expressly rejected.

He directs that one scholar shall preside on every form; and that the teaching commence at seven in the morning, continue till eleven; recommence at one, and terminate for the day at five: "with prayers in the morning, and at noon, and at evening."

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He allows neither eating or drinking in the school; cockfighting, " riding about of victory;" and no holydays, or "remedies*,” under a penalty of 40s. from the high master, unless commanded by the king, archbishop, or bishop, at the school, in person.

The scholars were to attend at St. Paul's on Childermas-day, to hear the boy-bishop's sermon; when, at high mass, every member of the institution was to offer one penny to the said boy-bishopt.

During their processions, their boys were to repeat seven Psalms, and the Litany, in a devout manner, "and not sing out.'

If a person, having a son at this school, was so indiscreet as to permit him to attend any other, expulsion, without a possibility of re-admission, ensued. The ancient school was burnt in 1666; it was rebuilt 1670, by the Mercer's Company, under the particular direction of Robert Ware, Esq., warden of the school.

The late school was a parallelogram, extending north and south, almost

* Play-days.

The boy-bishop was one of the choristers of a cathedral, chosen by the rest, to officiate from St. Nicholas' day to the evening of Innocents'-day, in the habit of a bishop; and, if he died in the interval, was buried in that habit, or represented in it, as at Salisbury.

directly facing the chancel of St. Paul's church. The north wing, consisting of large and elegant apartments, occupied by the head master; the south were those of the surmasters, or principal usher.

Scholars are admitted to the age of fifteen; but, at present, no boy is eligible to an exhibition, if he is admitted after the age of twelve. It is, however, probable, that some alteration will be made in the admission of boys, as to their eligibility to exhibitions, and an earlier period than twelve will most likely be fixed. There is no prescribed time of superannuation by the Statutes: but no boy is expected to remain at the school after his nineteenth birth-day. On Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday of each week, the school begins at seven o'clock in the morning, except from the Monday after the 1st of November, to the Monday before the 1st of March, when it begins at eight, and continues till twelve, when it closes for the rest of the day. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, the school begins at seven (except as above), and continues till eleven; then begins again at one, and continues till four. The grand examination of the scholars takes place after Easter, and occupies two days; on the last of which, the seniors of the eighth class make their recitations, in Greek, Latin, and English, previous to their admission at some college, and the captain of the school leaves it at that time.

The annexed elegant and commodious structure is just completed, on the site of the old one; and, altogether, it forms one of the most interesting public buildings of our metropolis.

DR. MEYRICK'S ARMOURY.

Of all the visits that we have yet paid to the various collections that London contains, this has been the most agreeable, and nearly the most instructive. Whoever can obtain an introduction, will do well to present himself at the private residence of Dr. Meyrick, in Upper Cadogan-place, without delay, if he have the least taste for historical or military antiquities.

The doctor's collection comprises a vast assemblage of defensive and offensive weapons, of which nearly the earliest are some Roman spear-heads and an ancient British shield, which was discovered in a turbȧry in the north of England; and the latest are some of the trophies of Waterloo. But the greatest antiquity of all is a Greek helmet of bronze, of the purest and most simple form, dug up near Athens. In this interesting specimen one sees, at a glance, that corrosion and decomposition have done their worst; but one also sees how the immortal beauty of Grecian art knew to devise those exquisite forms that triumph over the most perdurable metals: and, while the smallest fragments of its productions preserve any consistency at all, can still attest, after two or three thousand years have rolled away, the master-mind that once animated the most sublime and the most favoured race of mankind. The old Danish "miölner," that weapon which our imaginations connect with all the wild and stormy legends of the Scandinavian mythology; the battle-axe; the "bwyellt arve" of the ancient Britons; some similar remains of their Saxon rivals; the lance-heads of the hardy and enterprising Normans, who won, at their points, almost simultaneously, two of the richest kingdoms in the north and south of Europe, England and Sicily; and the multiplied swords, daggers, cross-bows, arrows, quarrels, bolts, pikes, glaives, morgen

steirns, &c. of our Anglo-Norman ancesters; the anelacios, misericordes, rapiers, of the Spaniards and Italians; and, in short, some examples of almost all the warlike weapons of the dark ages of Gothic ignorance and valour; are deposited in Dr. Meyrick's armoury with a degree of chronological arrangement that not only bespeaks the extraordinary accuracy of this distinguished antiquarian, but impresses the memory of every visitor in a proportionate degree with the ages, the nations, or the individuals to which the several specimens may appertain.

The oldest suit of plate-armour in this collection, and most probably in England, is an Italian suit of the time of our Henry VI. There is an astonishing number of other suits, some of which have once belonged to such men as Charles V.; his brother, the king of the Romans; the counts Manfredi; the dukes of Ferrara; and the most eminent peers of France, Italy, and Britain. A suit of the duc de Longueville, which is mounted on a gray charger, has a most superb effect. He sustains in his hand the baton of the great duke of Alva, which is covered all over with the most elaborate calculations, minutely executed in figures of gold and silver. The shield of Charles V. too, in which all the principal achievements of that monarch are engraved in gold, is a superb relic; and the Italian suits of black and gold are of the most costly and beautiful description. Some interesting historical portraits serve very agreeably to mark and confirm the costume of the different ages to which they belong. Up stairs, there is an extremely rare and valuable assemblage of fire-arms, from the unwieldy hand-cannon, and the wheel-locked pistol and carbine, down to the beautiful rifles and fowlingpieces, upon the most elaborate constructions of Germany and Italy in the last century. There is also a small collection of the arms that are used among the South-sea tribes. The chain mail of the Mahratta cavalry; the Roman shaped parizonium, or short sword of Thibet; the Tartar cutlass, and the Asiatic sabre; some Albanian cutting swords and long muskets, and a very curious Genoese weapon, for the annoyance of cavalry, are among the most unique ornaments of this collection.

GLASS WORKING AND MODELLING EXHIBITION. THIS exhibition is situated at No. 161, Strand, opposite Newcastle-street, and merits notice as an ingenious invention, as well as for the precision and fidelity with which each specimen is produced.

The proprietor, (Mr. Finn,) is the principal operator, who exhibits the experiments of fancy glass work in miniature; and of spinning common glass with the finest substances. He also makes various ornaments, such as pens, ornamental ships, birds, crosses, quadrupeds, baskets, &c.

The admission is one shilling; and specimens of the art, to that amount, may be received.

MALCOLM, in his Londinium Redivivum, published in 1807, says, "However proper the addition in the fields' may have been when the parish stood detached from London, it is now utterly false and absurd: I would, therefore, recommend it should be termed, in future, St Martin's, Middlesex, or Westminster." However pertinent these observations might have been in 1807, it must be confessed they are peculiarly applicable to the present moment. Since that period, the magnificent piles of building, termed Pall Mall East, and forming one side of Cockspur-street, together with Suffolk-street and Suffolk-place, have risen in all the classic chasteness of modern architecture, and which, with the Italian style of the Opera-house, well bespeak the liberality with which British opulence rewards the merits of art.

The above engraving represents the superb church of St. Martin's, as it will appear on the removal of the Royal Mews, and the completion of a magnificent street leading to the same, to be called Waterloo-street.

The first traces of the history of St. Martin's church appear to have been conveyed to posterity by a parochial dispute, which occurred in 1222. The time of the foundation of the parish is buried in oblivion; but the living was, undoubtedly, a vicarage previous to 1363.

The funds and contributions to the erection of this church were so abundant, that the newspapers of 1724 mention the refusal of 500l. from a lady who would have given that sum towards enriching the altar-piece. The Prince of Wales, they observe, intended to give a peal of ten bells. The last stone of the steeple was placed in December, 1724.

It is said that the church of St. Martin was in a state of dilapidation and ruin in the reign of Henry VIII., which seems to confirm the supposition that the monastery of St. Peter had erected and kept it in repair rather than the inhabitants of the parish, who suffered it to remain so till that of James I. when he rebuilt St. Martin's, to which Prince Henry and the nobility added a chancel in 1607; but the building and tower, according to an old print, were wretched and ruinous.

The first stone of the new church, under ground, was laid, March 19, 1722, by (Willis,) Bishop Salisbury, Lord Almoner, on his majesty's behalf; and some time after the first stone, above ground, on the same side, and 12 feet above the other, with much ceremony, by the Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons,

The church was consecrated October the 20th, that year; when the Lords of the Admiralty presented to the parish a grand Standard of England, 30 feet long, and 14 broad, to be displayed on the steeple during public rejoicings; but it was blown to rags on the first day it was hoisted, August 1, 1726, the anniversary of the accession of George I.

Soon after the completion of the steeple, an adventurous Italian, named Violante, descended from the arches, head foremost, on a rope stretched thence across St. Martin's-lane to the Royal Mews; the princesses were present, and many eminent persons.

Between this period and 1737, the timbers which support the pediment of the portico shrunk so considerably, that the stucco cracked, and the whole seemed to threaten an immediate fall. In this unpleasant situation it remained till James King, carpenter, proposed to restore the ceiling by machinery within the angle of the pediment, which he effected to the satisfaction of his employers. The same person erected the timber obelisk, near York buildings, and made a model of a wooden arched bridge for Westminster, which, though not used, was highly approved of for its ingenuity.

The interior contains eight composite pillars, and four pilasters and entablatures, which support beautiful ceilings over the side aisles. The enriched bands spring from brackets and cherubim ; between, are slight domes, marked with plain circles. The vault of the nave is too elaborately ornamented for description; but the decorations are, certainly, very grand, and not too much crowded, yet sufficiently profuse to satisfy the man of taste.

In the waiting-room is a portrait of Sir Edmondbury Godfrey, Knt. A. D. 1678; the gift of Alexander Geekie, senior; a very dark picture, not badly painted, but discontented, wretched features. The same Mr. Geekie gave the parish two frames, divided into four glazed compartments, each of which contains representations of cruelties inflicted on the Protestants by Roman Catholics, neatly painted, and original.

Sir E. Godfrey, who fell a victim to the fanaticism of his age, was a parishioner of St. Martin's; and as this circumstance is connected with the history of the church, we have subjoined the following circumstantial narrative of his murder, from a scarce contemporaneous pamphlet.

"On the 12th of October, being Saturday, about nine of the clock in the morning, Sir Edmondberry Godfrey went out of his own house, in Green's