There is also an entry at this point referring to the "husher in the schoole", a Mr. Forward. Its most interesting part is on the subject of the income for performing this duty. Mr. Forward received 20 markes yearly "for his paines", in modern terms �13 6s. 8d., now approximately �200.

By 1635 Gabriel Reeve had replaced White. He was also a clergyman and an Oxford graduate who later took his M.A. Reeve was obviously an extremely poor headmaster. Soon after his appointment he took two years' leave and later, a further three years during the Civil War. As a pretext for his leave-taking Reeve complained about his salary. Many masters before him (and since!) had complained upon this score, so it may have been justified. However, when when he was dismissed by the Governors in 1650 Reeve refused to go until he was paid arrears in pay. It took a further 6 months finally to remove him, and this feat was accomplished in early 1651. The Governors had written to him in this vein: "It being commended to Mr. Reeve's consideration whether it were not better that he did relinquish this place having lost his esteem both in the Towne and country, than any longer to contraive schoolmaster to the prejudice of the Towne and Schoole".

Reeve's complaints about his salary did have some effect. Just before the outbreak of the Civil War in 1642, "all men of ability" were asked to contribute 20 shillings a year for every child that they sent to the school. And thus came into being the first Voluntary Fund, but, let it be said at once, with a very different object in view from its modern equivalent. For in this way the headmaster's salary was increased to �40 a year and the staff also increased in numbers at the same time. A scrivener was added to the master and usher. He was paid 2s. 6d. a quarter to teach "such scholars as are willing". O tempora, o mores!

It is interesting at this point to follow the history of several people associated with the school. At this time particularly, on the outbreak of civil war, strongly Puritanical beliefs in connection with the school come to light. A certain Denis Bond, who carried his Puritan principles far beyond the boundaries of Dorset, had been at the school in the late 16th century as a pupil and was later a friend of headmaster John White. Bond was so anti-Royalist that he was selected to be one of the Judges at the trial of Charles I, although his signature does not appear on the death warrant. He became one of the members of Cromwell's Council of State and died in 1658. As a result of his presence at King Charles' trial, his family was dispossessed after the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660. His son attended the school from 1620 to 1625 and later, like Headmaster White, became a preacher to the Long Parliament. He was made Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University upon his father's death in 1658.

John Humphrey was an Old Boy of the school and went to Trinity College, Cambridge. After graduating he went to New England as a strong supporter of Puritanism. When civil war broke out in 1642 he returned to England to become a colonel in Cromwell's army. Humphrey also bore the Sword of State at Charles I's trial.

A committee of school associates was formed under the name of "The New England Plantation Parliament". It was dominated by John White and met in the school-room itself. It eventually paved the way for the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Thus the school, along with the churches of Dorchester, linked by successive headmasters, earned the reputation of being a "breeding place of Puritanism".

There is an interesting document drawn up in Reeve's time, though whether the conditions of it were ever fulfilled is unknown. It runs as follows:

"1646. Nov 27. Whereas in the town of Dorchester there is a convenient dwellinge provided for the schoolmaster and a small pencion but of twentie pounds per ann. for his mayntenance, in respect thereof the sayd schoole hath been a good space since without a schoolmaster there, and whereas Mr. Gabryell Reve, whoe hath heertofore been a schoolmaster there, uppon the intreatie and request of the inhabytants of Dorchester aforesayd, see that there may be an addicion of fortie pounds per ann. to the sayd schoole, hath ingaged himself to undertake the government of the sayd schoole againe; it is ordered that �20 per ann. be paid him out of each of the impropriate parsonages of Puddletrenthide and Fordington on condition that he teach gratis twelve scholars of Dorchester and twenty of the country".

After Reeve's eventual dismissal in 1651, the Revd. Samuel Cromleholm, M.A. was appointed. He was another Oxford graduate, and a friend of Samuel Pepys. It was in fact with great difficulty that a successor to Reeve had been procured. Several men had accepted and then inexplicably withdrawn. It was eventually discovered that they had been dissuaded from taking up their appointment by the Headmaster of Sherborne School. At last the Governors overcame this difficulty and managed to stop this Sherborne headmaster from setting up a rival school. Cromleholm never settled down, however, and left in 1657 to take up an appointment as head of St. Paul's School, London - and one can scarcely blame him for that! He had increased the reputation of the school considerably by gaining many entries to Oxford and Cambridge. During his time, too, the salary was increased by adding the profits of the town brewery to the master's stipend. Whether the Headmaster ran the brewery, or whether the brewery ran the Headmaster is not clear.

Mention must surely be made of Denzil Holles whose ornate tomb may be seen at the west end of St. Peter's Church. He was M.P. for Dorchester and one of the most distinguished of the school's Governors. At first a friend of King Charles I, he figured in most of the subsequent quarrels with the king. In 1642, after the famous but abortive attempt by Charles to arrest the Five Members (of whom he was one), he raised a regiment of rebel soldiers in Dorset and Somerset. At times during his stormy career he was imprisoned by both Charles and Cromwell. But at the Restoration, in which he eagerly assisted, he was made a Baron and became a member of Charles II's Privy Council.

Another school, named Trinity School, began to take an active part in the school's welfare. It had been set up in 1623 with the object of preparing boys for entry to Hardye's. It increased its standards rapidly and thus the pupils at Hardye's were of a much higher standard.

John Stevens took over from Cromleholm in 1657 and the high standard achieved by the latter started to fall away. Fortunately Stevens left in 1664 and a much more capable man, the Revd. Henry Dolling, M.A. (Oxford) was appointed. He was a very learned man who had translated "The Whole Duty of Man" into Latin. Samuel Wesley's first book of poems was satirically dedicated to him. The standard and reputation of the school rapidly increased once more and by now pupils were being drawn from well beyond the county's boundaries.

Dolling left the school in 1677, and no records of any substance remain that refer to the next 150 years of the school's history. The reasons for this are obscure but a possible explanation is mentioned later. Obviously no major events occurred in the school during this time, and presumably the standard and reputation remained much the same. Amongst the few names of headmasters recorded is that of Revd. Francis Hinchman, M.A. He was Headmaster in 1786 and 1787 and then resigned when he was offered the living of Marlborough.

Once more there is a large, uneventful gap in which the names of only two Headmasters come to light. One was the Revd. Henry John Richmond, a friend of William Barnes and a learned Winchester scholar; the other was the Revd. Richard Cutler who was appointed soon after Richmond in 1824 and was later translated to Sherborne School after doing good work in restoring the old school buildings which he had found in a very delapidated state. In 1846 the Revd, Thomas Maskew, M.A. became Headmaster. He was one of the very few headmasters to graduate from Cambridge. At this juncture a lawyer decided that fees could be charged only for the teaching of subjects other than Latin or Greek, and, by the original Charter, no other subjects were allowed to be taught. This decision set back the school's progress for thirty years.