Ascham

Ascham, Roger, was born at Kirkby Wiske in Yorkshire in 1515 A.D. At St. John's College, Cambridge, he took to Greek and Lutheranism, but in spite of these drawbacks got a fellowship, became public orator, and was appointed tutor first to Prince Edward and then to Princess Elizabeth. In 1544 he wrote his Toxophilus the Schoolmaster, or Partitions of Shooting, a curious and interesting treatise on the history and practice of archery. He spent three years in Germany (1550-2) as secretary to the English Ambassador at the court of Charles V., and returned to act as Latin secretary to King Edward, on whose death he contrived to keep his post under Mary, and at the accession of Elizabeth became reader to the Queen as well. Though his life was thus spent at Court he appears to have preserved an independent spirit, never soliciting favours. However, he received a prebendary stall in York Cathedral in 1559. Four years later he wrote his Schoolmaster, in which he explained his educational method - summed up in the words docendo disces. The work was not published till after his death. His health began to fail when he was fifty, and it is stated that he impaired his fortune by gambling and cock-fighting. He died of ague in 1568, to the genuine grief of Elizabeth.