To The Editor of "The Peterite". Dear Sir, It was with some regret that I read in the last edition of "The Peterite" that Mr. R. D. Wheatley had chosen to plague us with yet another poll. By all means, let him emulate Kipling's elephant-child and "satisfy his 'satiable curtiosity"; but must he make public his conclusions? He claims that his poll was "fairly representative"—yet he interviewed no School Monitors. Typical of his conclusions was that the number of boys intending to study Law has dropped in four years from 50 to 12; this was duly noted and, indeed, head-lined by a national newspaper. In actual fact, there are no fewer than 13 candidates for the legal profession in the Sixth Form alone. My real grievance, however, lies in the inclusion of Question X :"Do you think the scope of the Music Society should be widened to include modern popular music?" Now, if Wheatley had troubled to make any inquiries at all, he would soon have discovered that the aim of the Music Society is "to provide its members with good music, which they would not otherwise have the opportunity of hearing".
These last words clearly rule out what Wheatley euphemistically terms "modern popular music", which, as everybody knows, is the regular fare of the typical common-room. The tastes of Mr. Wheatley and his friends are indeed well catered for. It goes without saying that, as there is adequate opportunity for enjoying "modern popular music", it does not fall within the province of the Music Society. In short, Wheatley had no right at all to ask his question, since it was tantamount, not to widening the scope, but to altering the constitution of the Society, and changing its aims. By the same token, Wheatley would no doubt wish to widen the scope of the School Library by the regular provision of the latest comics. How true were his words "de gustibus non disputandum". Yours, etc., D. G. HILTON.
HISTORICAL NOTE THE SCHOOL IN 1589 Dr. J. S. Purvis, the Minster Archivist, has sent us a copy of a letter of 1589, preserved in the Diocesan Register, from the then Archbishop of York to the Chief Judge of the Queen's Exchequer Court. The letter, a hitherto unnoticed document, is concerned mainly with the School's title to the Rectory of Stillingfleet, but its principal interest is the light which incidentally it sheds on the repute and numbers of St. Peter's School at that date. It comes as a surprise to find that in the year 1589 there were as many as "two hundred scholars or there27
