CURRENT LITERATURE.
HISTORY OF WARWICK SCHOOL.
History of Warwick School. By A. F. Leach. (4. Constable and Co. 6s.)—Warwick first appears in history in 914 A.D., under the name of Waeringwicon, when Queen Ethelflted fortified it. The school itself was not much later, for it is one of the few pre- Conquest schools, with better evidence, thinks Mr. Leach, of continuity than any other can produce: There were in fact two schoolmasters, the "grammar schoolmaster" and the " musio schoolmaster "; and in 1155 the Dean and Chapter settled a dispute between them, a dispute which has its modern counter- part' in the overlapping of primary and secondary teaching programmes. The "bone of contention" was the presence of the " Donatists," scholars who were learning the Latin accidence of Aelius Donatus, author, by the way, of the famous percent wale qui ante nos nostra dixerunt. Little is known of what happened between the date given above and the revolution of Henry VIII.'s time. The school was saved in those days of confiscation by the good sense and liberality of the Gild of the Trinity and St. George, consisting of "the better-to-do and well-disposed people of Warwick." The charter which by their exertions, and probably their money, was obtained from the King bears date May 15th, 1545. The school "by us founded, created, erected, and established" was to be called the "King's New Scole of Warwyke." Mr. Leach thinks that this title indicates that it was "not a school of the King's creation, but merely a scheme recreating the old school." We do not deny the fact, but do not see it in the words. Of the subse- quent history of the foundation down to the present time Mr. Leach has much to tell us, and it is well worth reading. But the speciality of his book is, as might be expected, its precise description of the early relations of town, church, and school.
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