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Aspinall paid the usher, "out of his owne meanes," as had been in effect stipulated with Smart, and was a frequent, if indeed not the usual, arrangement, not only at Stratford, but generally. Incidentally, the difficulty in 162a from which we gather this statement concerned the question of whether one person should be both "readinge mynister and usher scoolemaster," as had been the case at Stratford more times than one.
Apparently the master had the election of the usher, whom he paid out of his own means. But neither the master nor the usher was responsible for the petty school. This had been the original stipulation, and we find in 1604 that one Thomas Parker was then and for some time had been the teacher of the petties.13 The normal arrangement at Stratford, therefore, was for the boys and girls to get their petty training in a separate petty school. Then the boys entered the gram-mar school under the usher and proceeded to the master.
But to continue our history of the schoolmasters at Stratford, John Acton14 had succeeded Brownsword by 1569, and presumably had done so in 1567. Brownsword's last specified appearance is in the ac-counts on January Io, 1568, where he received pay for seven quarters out of two years preceding Michaelmas, 1567. Since he had received pay for two quarters on February 15, 1566, he had now received pay for a total of nine quarters from his contract in April, 1565, which called for two years. He apparently served still another quarter with-out pay, according to a provision in the original contract. He thus served probably to Michaelmas, 1567.16 No name is specified in the accounts ending at Michaelmas, 1568, but Acton is mentioned in those of 1569. He served, however, only till Christmas, 1569,16 when he was succeeded by Walter Roche, who was paid for three-fourths of a year the following Michaelmas, and served to Michaelmas, 1571, when he was succeeded by Simon Hunt.
Roche, a Lancashire man, was of Corpus, Oxford, having matriculated February 16, 1555. He became fellow November 26, 1558, B.A. June 1, 1559,17 and was already entering other fields when he came to Stratford.
On 23 November, 1569, the Queen presented him to the rectory of Droit-
w Savage and Fripp, Vol. III, p. xi, n. 1. See Baldwin, Petty School (1443), pp. 137 if.
1' A John Acton (Salop) was admitted of Brasenose November 2o, 1553 (Brasenose College Register, 1509-1909 (Oxford Historical Society), Vol. I, p. 19).
Fripp, Shakespeare Studies, pp. 44-45.
14 Savage and Fripp, Vol. II, p. 46. 1* Bosse, Register, Vol. I, p. 240.
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