have done it for worldly glory or vain
ostentation, God knows, and will reward
accordingly."

Before we look into the action itself, let us
say that, after thirty years of happy marriage,
Joan Alleyn died, and her husband endured
but a few months of single life before again
seeking the blessings of the married state.
He married Constance, daughter of Dr.
Donne, by whom he was survived. When he
married her, the Dulwich College was already
in existence; and at his death he made for her
the provision promised in her behalf to her
father—a bequest of fifteen hundred pounds,
which is equivalent in value to seven or eight
thousand in the money of the present day.
It has been said, that in Alleyn's last days he
gave way to false sentiment by becoming one
of the poor brothers on his own foundation,
wearing the uniform and eating the
allowances provided. That is a mistake. He
dined with the poor brothers as a loving
friend, on holidays and special days; but he
retained until his death, at about the age of
sixty, his own natural position in society.
As for the poor brother's gown, he was so far
from affecting it, that we find among his last
recorded personal expenses very handsome
clothes—a beaver hat (taffeta lining in the
head), a satin embroidered hat-band, orange-
tawny silk for a night-cap, and silk stockings
of many colours, "which hath been knit for
me, rose-coloured, popinjay, ash-coloured,
decoy and sea-water green." Could a man be a
recluse in popinjay silk stockings?

Alleyn was nothing of the sort; nor was
there any monastic meaning in his rule, that
all officers and poor brothers and sisters in
his college should be single people. The
rule did not exist at first, and was not
contravened when his most eloquent chaplain
married the serving-maid. Afterwards, we
may say, if we please, that Alleyn, wishing to
comfort those who needed solace, looked upon
the single state as the most pitiable, and
thought that any one who married ceased to
be an object of compassion. But no doubt
the truth is, that he connected in his mind
marriage and multiplication. Having
narrowly adjusted his measure of help to the
means of helping, he foresaw confusion and
uncertainty that would arise out of the
doubling and trebling of mouths by the
growth of families within the college precincts,
and considered that the stability and
even working of his institution would be best
secured, if the comfort of it were confined to
single people. He feared, and provided
formally against, depreciation in the value of
the property with which his college was
endowed. How much it would increase in
value, he did not foresee, nor do we yet
know clearly. His direct endowment was
an income of eight hundred—or at the present
value of the money, four thousand—pounds
a-year. The produce has now risen to ten
thousand, but it is supposed that the value is
more nearly twenty thousand; careless
management of the estates, as happens at
the Charterhouse, causing a great depreciation
in the income yielded, as compared with
that which ought to be obtained.

Ten thousand a-year, however, is a noble
revenue. What is being done with it? Let
us first state simply what Alleyn intended to
have done. He wished, in the first place, to
help the poor orphans, and, in the next place,
to help the aged poor, of his own parishes;
considering as such Saint Botolph's, Bishopsgate
(in which he was born), Saint Luke's,
Finsbury, and Saint Saviour's, Southwark; in
which he followed, during a quarter of a
century, his calling as a player, and in which he
made his fortune; lastly, Camberwell, in
which he died. From these four parishes he
wished to have in his college always twelve
boys, either orphans or the sons of parents
utterly unable to bring them up, as being
themselves weekly recipients of parish alms.
If such children were not found in the four
parishes named, they were to be sought else-
where. With the same proviso, there were
to be chosen from these parishes six honest
men and six honest women, who were past
the age for work, and remained destitute.
These persons were to be lodged and fed
within the college walls, the boys taught, the
poor brothers and sisters cherished in their
last days of infirmity and sickness. The
provision made for education of the boys would
suffice also, and was ordered to be used for
the instruction of seventy-two other children
who might repair to the school, paying a
small fee towards the cost of rods, paper, and
candles. Moreover, there were to be, as part
of the plan, almshouses in London for the
solace of some thirty poor people, from the
number of whom poor brothers and sisters
were to be taken as vacancies arose. The
college was to be managed by a master, with,
general oversight; a warden, with care over
the accounts; four fellows, namely, two
preachers, a schoolmaster, and an usher.
These, with the six poor brothers, six poor
sisters, and twelve poor scholars, were, by
charter and by statute, appointed members of
the college.

In his statutes Alleyn added six chaunters,
or junior fellows, who should be, two of them
music masters, and the other four "men of
handicraft trades, viz., tailors, glovers,
embroiderers, shoemakers, or such like, and able
to sing." These persons were to exercise
their trades for the good of the college, and
"also every day, in the afternoon, teach and
instruct, in their several manufactures, such
and so many of the poor scholars as shall be
found unfit for the university;" it being
Alleyn's order that those of his orphan boys
who showed good parts should be maintained
at one of the universities, and helped to
attain a liberal education and calling; to
which end it was provided, that at any rate
all vacancies in the more honourable posts