That Sir Nicholas Upton was Grand Prior of England in 1551, is sufficiently shown in the above extract; and that he was Commander of Repton, or Ripston, will be as readily seen by the following lines translated from the Latin, and to be found in a book of manuscripts of the years 1547, 1548, 1549, now in the Record Office. (Vide Lib. Bull. M. M. F. J. Homedes.)
"On the 15th November, 1547, Nicholas Upton was appointed by the Grand Master Omedes Commander of Ripston in the language of England. And on the 5th of November, 1548, he was exalted to the dignity of Turcopolier, in place of the knight Russell deceased."
I am unable to inform R. L. P. what English knights were present in Malta in 1551; but enough has already appeared in "N. & Q." to show that they were few in number, and poor as regards their worldly effects. The Reformation had destroyed the British language, and caused the ruin of its members. The first severe blow against the Order of St. John of Jerusalem was given by Henry VIII., and the last by Queen Elizabeth in the first year of her reign. (Vide "N. & Q.," Vol. viii., pp. 189. 193.)
William Winthrop.
La Valetta, Malta.
GRAMMARS, ETC., FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
(Vol. ix., p. 8.)
St. Mary's College, Winchester (publisher, D. Nutt).—Novum Florilegium Poeticum; Carmina quædam elegantissima; De Diis et Heroibus poeticis libellus; Homeri Ilias (Heyne) et Odysseæ; Interpretatio Poikiles Istorias; Ovidii Fasti, libri vi.; Ποικιλη Ιστορια; Selectæ Historiæ ex Cæsare, Justino et Floro; Notes on the Diatessaron, by the Rev. Frederic Wickham, now Second Master; Græcæ Grammatices Rudimenta, by Bishop Wordsworth, late Second Master; Greek and Latin Delectus, by the Rev. H. C. Adams, late Commoner Tutor.
Of Eton books there were in use the Latin and Greek Grammars; Pindar's Olympian and Pythian Odes; Scriptores Græci et Romani. A complete list of Eton and Westminster school-books will be found in the London Catalogue, which enrols Vidæ de Arte Poeticâ; Trapp's Prælectiones Poetica, and the Rise, &c. of Poetry and Fine Arts in Ancient Rome, as Winchester school-books.