One other important question still remains to be considered: when were definite school houses first erected? We have used the term "school" to describe the classes which were held in connection with the churches, but, as we have pointed out, these were for the most part merely classes in which a priest or a youthful clerk taught boys their "Donat." These schools were usually held in some part of the church building. Shakespeare refers to this:-- "Like a pedant that Keeps a school i' the Church." _Twelfth Night._ Similarly, in the _Memorials of Southwell Minster_ it is recorded on the occasion of one of the visitations, that one of the clerks complained that the boys who were being taught made so much noise as to disturb the services which were in progress.[260] It is not until a school possesses a definite building of its own that it can be said to possess a real independent existence. This question is also of interest in connection with the conflicting claims to the title of being the "oldest public school in England" which have been set up. If we content ourselves with the definition of a school as "a class held in a church for the purpose of teaching Latin," then the question of the relative antiquity of schools is that of the relative antiquity of churches, a question of comparatively little interest from the point of view of the history of education. We contend that we are on much firmer ground when we ask, when was the first building for specific school purposes erected in England. This is a question which still awaits investigation and can only be solved by one school establishing evidence to maintain the date of its first building and then waiting until its claim is overthrown by a school which can show a still more ancient origin. So far as we have been able to trace, the earliest record of a separate school building dates from about 1150 when Abbot Samson bought a stone house at Bury St. Edmunds and gave it for a schoolhouse.[261] We note also that about the same date, Wakelin of Derby and his wife Goda gave certain buildings in Derby "on this trust that the hall shall be for a school of clerks and the chambers shall be to house the master and clerks."[262] It is highly improbable that these are really the first instances. CHORISTERS' SCHOOLS. It is necessary that we should add here some reference to schools for choristers. It is obvious that for the adequate rendering of divine service, the use of boys' voices would be imperative, and consequently the need of providing instruction for them and of maintaining them would arise. The general rule was that the choir boys would be taught Latin by the master of grammar attached to the cathedral, and similarly music would be taught by the master of song.