St. Paul's School, known to cathedral visitors chiefly by that murky,
barred-in, purgatorial playground opposite the east end of Wren's great
edifice, is of considerable antiquity, for it was founded in 1512 by
that zealous patron of learning, and friend of Erasmus, Dean Colet. This
liberal-minded man was the eldest of twenty-two children, all of whom he
survived. His father was a City mercer, who was twice Lord Mayor of
London. Colet became Dean of St. Paul's in 1505, and soon afterwards (as
Latimer tells us) narrowly escaped burning for his opposition to
image-worship. Having no near relatives, Colet, in 1509, began to found
St. Paul's School, adapted to receive 153 poor boys (the number of
fishes taken by Peter in the miraculous draught). The building is said
to have cost L4,500, and was endowed with lands in Buckinghamshire
estimated by Stow, in 1598, as of the yearly value of L120 or better,
and now worth L12,000, with a certainty of rising.