master of the grammar school of Warrington. He considerably improved the master's house, and left a memorial of the fact in the shape of a stone tablet, still existing over the doorway, with the inscription "1688, Samuel Shaw, A.M." He obtained the consent of the trustees to the commencement of proceedings, at his own risk, for the recovery of some lands which were apparently lost to the charity, and which, after many years of litigation, were restored to the school. In 1690-1, he was presented to the rectory of Warrington, which was in the gift of the Atherton family. It was at this period of very little pecuniary value, an improvident lease for 200 years having been granted of the tithes, in the 34th year of Henry VIII., reserving a rent of £20, and the lessees covenanting with Edward Keble, the then rector, to find him and his successors a sufficient priest, to officiate in all sacramentals and services belonging to the church. The lease became part of the possessions of the owners of the Bewsey estates, who allowed the rector (as he was still called, notwithstanding the impropriation) to receive the small tithes, in lieu of having a priest found him according to the terms of the lease. We are informed by Mr. Canon Raines, in a note to Gastrell's Notitia Cestriensis, (ii, 233,) that Mr. Shaw held the office of King's preacher, being one of the four preachers sharing a royal stipend of £200, first established by Queen Elizabeth, and afterwards regulated by James I, "out of zeal to God's glory, and care of the souls of many thousands of his majesty's subjects within the county of Lancaster, there being great want of maintenance for preachers in most places of that shire," and appointed to preach among the impropriations there, according to the appointment of the bishop. In a letter to Bishop Stratford, in 1693, Mr. Shaw states that he, and others for him, had preached above forty sermons during the previous half year. His principal charge, as king's preacher, was Hollinfare, a chapelry within the parish of Warrington, where he preached two sermons per month, until a regular curate was found, in the person of the Rev. John Collier, the father of our Lancashire worthy, Tim Bobbin. Mr. Shaw continued to hold the office of master of the grammar school until his death, in the year 1718. He was buried at Warrington on the 30th September.

The REV. JOHN TATLOCK was next nominated to the mastership, but the Bishop refused to license him. An extract from the correspondence of Bishop Gastrell, among the Lanc. MSS., for which I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. Canon Raines, furnishes the grounds for the refusal. In

a letter dated from Christ Church, Oxford, 5th Nov., 1718, and addressed to his secretary at Chester, the Bishop writes:-" Mr. Tatlock holds the place for Mr. Hayward, till he is in orders, but I hope without Bond. If upon examination w" he applies for a Licence you find he has given Bond, let him have none, and plead my generall order to you for your refusall. I have enclosed the nomination." The refusal of a licence on such grounds must be regarded as somewhat of a stretch of episcopal authority, for even if it had been as settled law then as it is now, that the appointment of masters of Grammar Schools is matter of ecclesiastical cognizance, there could have been no pretence for treating such an appointment as a benefice, so as to render a bond of resignation simoniacal; and I can imagine no other ground for the Bishop's objection. It was however submitted to. Mr. Tatlock resigned the appointment, and on the 22nd March, 1719-20, a nomination was made of the Rev. THOMAS HAYWARD, M.A., of Brazennose College, Oxford, reciting the former nomination, the Bishop's refusal of a licence, and the resignation of Mr. Tatlock; and Mr. Hayward was duly licensed accordingly. He was born on the 5th February, 1695-6, a native of Warrington, and the son of Thomas Hayward, an attorney there. He was twice married, and had issue no less than 16 children. In an obituary notice of one of them (Francis Hayward, M.D., who died at Bath in the year 1831, at the advanced age of 92, and was the father-in-law of the Rev. Joseph Hunter, the learned assistant keeper of the records) it is stated that the Rev. Thomas Hayward was instituted to the vicarage of Garstang, on the 4th March, 1722, and resigned it in 1731, and about that time removed to Warrington. There is unquestionably an error in the date of the latter event, as I have procured my information direct from the original documents in the Episcopal registry at Chester. As early as the 31st March, 1719, we find Hayward's signature, with the addition of "ludi m"," occurring next to that of the rector, in the proceedings of a parish meeting; and there is a receipt, signed by him and Anne Shaw, for rents due to the master in November, 1718, lodged, apparently by accident, with the documents at Chester. It may be inferred from these facts that, even during Tatlock's nominal mastership, Mr. Hayward was performing the duties and in receipt of the emoluments of the office. There can be no doubt, however, that his presentation to the vicarage of Garstang was subsequent to his appointment to the Grammar School; and accordingly, in a note to Dr. Parkinson's "Old Church Clock," containing extracts from the diary of

the Rev. Thomas Parkinson, curate of Garstang, in which it appears that Mr. Hayward officiated there at Easter, 1723 and 1724, it is stated that he was non-resident. In 1728, the Chapel of Sankey, near Warrington, which had up to that time been used as a Presbyterian place of worship, was rebuilt, and placed under Episcopal government, (Notitia Cest. ii, 215, and Mr. Hayward became incumbent, which probably led him to resign his living at Garstang; but he continued to fill the office of master of the Grammar School. The obituary notice above mentioned, quotes the biographer of Dr. Percival, who was one of Mr. Hayward's pupils, for Mr. Hayward's character as "an able but severe master, an admirable scholar, and a very useful man." He is mentioned also in the Remains of John Byrom, (i, 315) who addresses a sportive invitation in verse to him and Mr. Haddon, the rector of Warrington. The error in the note to the passage referred to, naming 1731 as the date of his death, is attributable to Baines. Mr. Hayward died in 1757, and was buried at Warrington on the 2nd September.

The Rev. JAMES ANSDELL, of Bunwell, Norfolk, was nominated to succeed him, and presented to the bishop, if not actually licensed; but he subsequently wrote to the bishop, that in consequence of the augmentation of his salary he had determined to continue his residence there; and he accordingly resigned the appointment, and on the 4th November, 1757, the Rev. EDWARD OWEN, M.A., then usher of Great Crosby School, as stated in a memorandum endorsed on his appointment, in the Episcopal registry, was nominated in his stead. He states, in some memoranda to which I have had access, that he found the school in a dilapidated condition, the building in ruins, the roof ready to fall in, and the floors and walls all clay. He at once put it into a state of thorough .repair, converting some outbuildings into a dining room and bedrooms, and rendering the house fit for the reception of boarders, which, he states, it never was before. Mr Owen was a scholar, whose attainments were eminently calculated to extend the reputation of the school; and it seems accordingly to have been in a flourishing condition during the early years of his mastership. Among his scholars, who in after life attained a position of eminence, the name of the Rt. Hon. George Tierney deserves to be particularized. Mr. Owen's translation of Juvenal and Persius, published in two vols. 12mo. in 1785, when he must have attained the ripe age of 57, or thereabouts, has given him a permanent place in classical literature, though it has not maintained