M The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/cletails/cu31924092704216 2 "^ ide •«- 4 'li '40 om. mi *f t.i; <^^ Osifi FEB2 11950 Wl 1 1952 CORNELL UNIVERSI]nr LIBRARY 3 1924 092 704 216 UNIVEESITY OF CAMBEIDGE FROM THE ROYAL INJUNCTIONS OF 1535 TO THE ACCESSION OF CHARLES THE FIRST. aonHon: C. J. CLAY, M.A. & SON, CAMBEIDGE UNITEESITY PEESS WAEEHOUSE, AVE MAEIA LANE. €mtixiase: DEIGHTON, BELL, AND CO. Eeipsia: F. A. BEOCKHAUS. THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE FROM THE ROYAL INJUNCTIONS OF 1535 TO THE ACCESSION OF CHARLES THE FIRST. JAMES BASS MULLINGER, M.A. LECTUREK ON HISTOKY AND LIBKABIAN OP ST JOHN'S COLLEGE. CAMBRIDGE : AT THE UNIVERSITY PR.^SS. 1884 J I , ^ [All Eights reserved.]' ■ . d. Lily. CamkiUge: PRINTED BY C. J. CLAY, M.A. AND SOK, AT THE CNITEBSITY PEESS. JU'^-t^ ^^ .^iauN.vfffj^ •try Presider.i: VVf-:; / Library / / S^i'^va s-S-^ Y T I r W "-h V 1 w u Y5i AilHI.l 4^ JOHN EDWIN SANDYS, Esquire, m.a. Public Orator in the University of Cambridge. My dear Sandys, The period devoted to the production of this volume has been coincident, for the most part, with your tenure of the office of Public Orator. During the last eight years it has, from time to time, devolved upon you to recall to our recollection the achievements of not a few of our illustrious living, while it has been my endeavour to illustrate the careers of many of our memorable dead. I can scarcely venture to hope that my efforts will appear to have been attended with success in any degree comparable to your own ; but when I remember that I was, in the first instance, encouraged and aided in the prosecution of my task by one of your many distinguished predecessors, — ^the Orator of our undergraduate days, — I feel that there is no one to whom I can more fitly dedicate the following pages than to one who, while ably filling the same office, has constantly aided me with like sympathy and encouragement. Believe me, Very truly yours, J. BASS MULLINGER. St John's Colleoe, 3 Sept. 1884. PREFACE. The period comprised within the present volume, although somewhat less than a hundred years, can hardly but be regarded as the most important in Cambridge uni- versity history prior to the present century. It was the time when the code by which, with little modification, the university was governed for nearly three centuries, was, notwithstanding strenuous opposition, first introduced, and the ancient constitution of the academic community thereby almost subverted. It was the time of the foundation of four of the colleges, among them the most considerable of the entire number. And it was the time when those trammels were thrown over our higher national education from which it has but lately been set free. While such was the internal history of the university, the influence which it exercised on the nation at large was not less notable, — far greater, indeed, than most writers on this period seem to be aware. In a former volume I have attempted to shew the extent to which the Reformation in England derived its inspiration from Cambridge; in the following pages it has been no small portion of my task to endeavour to shew the manner in which the great Puritan party was here formed and educated. In dealing with the career and influence of some of the chief leaders of that party, — Thomas Cartwright, Walter Travers, Whitaker, Laurence Chaderton, and Preston, — I have sought to be vm PEEFACE. strictly impartial ; a matter of some difficulty where the mo- tives and the actions of the characters under consideration often excite very different sentiments. I would fain hope, on the other hand, that I have done something towards bringing out more clearly the real character of Whitgift and the services which he unquestionably rendered to the uni- versity. The slur cast upon his memory by one of the most distinguished ornaments of that society which he ruled so ably, must always be a matter of regret to those who have at heart the cause of historic truth. The difficulty in dealing with my whole subject has cer- tainly not diminished as the materials have multiplied. It has been truly observed by a very careful investigator of university history, that an adequate treatment of the sub- ject postulates not merely due attention to the organisation and the code, the general discipline and the privileges, of an academic corporation, but also frequent reference to con- temporary events and to the influences, whether favorable or restrictive, resulting from the policy of the civil and ecclesiastical powers ; while the developement of the intel- lectual and scientific life of the whole university and the corresponding achievements of its most conspicuous mem- bers, are obviously of primary importance'. If I admit that it has been my endeavour to realise, in some degree, the high ideal indicated by professor Aschbach, it will be con- ceded that the labour involved has been considerably beyond that of a mere registration of facts ; in no respect, perhaps, 1 'Eine alle Beziehungen ersoliopfende Universitats-Gesoliielite welolie den gegenwartigen Anfordernngen an eine wissenscliaftliclie Darstellung ganz entsprecheu soil, darf das auf die Organisation, die Statuten, die Bonstigen Einriohtungen und Privilegien Beztigliolie nicht iibergehen ; sie kann auoh die ausseren Ereignisse der Zeit und die fordernden oder hemmenden Verhaltnisse zur Landesregierung und zur Kirche nicht unbe- achtet lassen ; sie muss aiber vor alien Dingen die Entwioklung des wissen- scbaftliohen Lebens in seinen manohfaoben Kichtungen verfolgen, und die Ergebnisse der vorziigliobsten Leiatungen der nambaftesten TJniversitats- Mitglieder in eingehender Weise darlegen.' Gesch. d. Wiener Universitat. ini Ersten Jahrhunderte ihres Bestehens. Von Joseph Asohbaoh. Introd. p. viii. PEEFACE. IX have I been more conscious of the difficulties of my task than when endeavouring to discriminate (as I have continu- ally been under the necessity of doing) between the inci- dents and features in college history which properly belong to such a treatment of the subject, and those which must be considered as appertaining rather to the special history of each separate foundation. For the encouragement and practical aid which I have received in every quarter, I here take the opportu- nity of expressing my sincere thanks. To the Masters of Magdalene, Trinity, Emmanuel, and Sidney Colleges, my acknowledgements are especially due for access to documents, and for advice and corrections in my accounts of those several foundations. To the Rev. John E. B. Mayor, M.A., professor of Latin and senior fellow of St John's College, — to J. E. Sandys, esquire, M.A., fellow and tutor of St John's Col- lege and public orator to the university, — and to the Rev. Christopher Wordsworth, M.A., formerly fellow of Peterhouse, I am, as in connexion with my former volume, under no small measure of obligation for continuous help in the revision of my proof-sheets and other valuable assistance. To no one, however, is my indebtedness in this respect greater than to the late E. R. Horton, esquire, m.a., fellow of Peterhouse and vice- master of University College School, London, who, until within a few weeks of his lamented death, aided me with a careful and suggestive criticism which 1 shall always gratefully remember. To the Rev. H. R. Luard, d.d., senior fellow of Trinity College and registrar of the university, I am indebted for access to the original documents in the registry; to Henry Bradshaw, esquire, m.a., senior fellow of King's College and university librarian, for information relating to the history of the Library and other matters of literary interest ; to J. Willis Clark, esquire, M.A., auditor and late fellow of Trinity College, for the loan of transcripts of the original statutes of the college and other help ; to W. Aldis Wright, esquire, M.A., fellow of Trinity College, for information and valuable guidance on points connected with the history of PREFACE. the college ; to the Rev. Robert Sinker, b.d., librarian of Trinity College, for like assistance and for access to the library of the foundation. I have also to thank E. J. L. Scott, esquire, of the manuscript department of the British Museum, for the loan of his transcript of Gabriel Harvey's Note Book, prior to its publication by the Camden Society ; and Robert Bowes, esquire, of the firm of Macmillan and Bowes, for the loan of his copy of Cooper's Additions and Corrections to the Annals (a volume now of great rarity), and also for permission to consult the manuscript of his paper read before the Cambridge Antiquarian Society on the printers to the university. To the trustees of the Williams Library, Grafton Street, London, my thanks are due for frequent access to the library, a collection of special value for students of our seventeenth century history. For information and assistance on various points, I would venture to express my obligations to H. Maxwell Lyte, esquire, M.A., of Christchurch, Oxford; to T. W. Jackson, esquire, M.A., tutor and dean of Worcester College, Oxford ; to the Rev. J. W. Hicks, M.A., fellow and librarian of Sidney College; to the Rev. W. A. Cox, M.A., fellow and junior dean, to W. F. Smith, esquire, M.A., fellow and lecturer, and to R. F. Scott, esquire, M.A., fellow and bursar, — of St John's College. Lastly my acknowledgements are due to the Syndics of the University Press, during the last seven years, for the assistance rendered me in the production of this volume and their kind consideration of the delay which has attended its publication. St John's College, Sept. 1884. CONTENTS. Chap. I. From the Royal Injunctions of 1535 to the Foundation OP Trinity College. ^ V Cromwell elected chancellor of the university His claims to this distinction, as compared with those of pre ceding chancellors His patronage of Latimer and Edward Fox Disputes between the town and university . Growing boldness of the town authorities . Cromwell interposes on behalf of the university Evasive conduct of the mayor and burgesses They put in counter allegations . The royal mandate . . ... Final expedients of the townsmen Further proceedings of Cromwell as Visitor The Royal Commission Dr Leigh's Injunctions, Oct. 1535 .... Surrender of the university charters, etc. . Institution of a university lectureship in Greek or Hebrew Importance of the above measures .... Election of Crayford to the vice-chancellorship, 1534-5 1535-6 Significance of his election Election of Dr Mallet Remission to the university of first-fruits and tenths, 1536 Institution of King Henry the Eighth's lectureship . Number of beneficed clergy at the universities . They are required either, to apply themselves to study return to their cures The wealthier clergy required to maintain scholars at university and or to the PAGE 1 2 3 3—4 4 5 6 ih. 7 8 9 ih. ih. 10 ib. 11 12 13 ib. 14 ih. 15 16 17 18 19 ib. ib. 20 ib. 21 22 ib. 23 XU CONTENTS. PAOB Alexander Alank 1'' His experiences at Cambridge He takes an active part in the debate in Convocation The Institution of a Christian Man Essentially an exposition of the Cambridge theology ol the time Evidence of reactionary feeling in the university Election at St John's of a successor to Dr Metcalfe as master Ascham's testimony to Metcalfe's merits Election of Dr Day Dissolution of the Monasteries .... Latimer's invectives against the monasteries The royal commissioners and the monasteries Dissolution of the Cambridge houses . The Carmelites and Queens' College . The authorities of the latter petition the Crown for the transfer of the premises of the Carmelites into their hands .... 24 Surrender of the Carmelites 25 Suppression of the priory at Barnwell .... ib. The university petitions that the suppressed friaries at Cambridge may be converted into colleges . . ib. Further petitions with the same object ... 26 Evidence they supply of the impoverished state of the university and its diminution in numbers ... 27 Relations of the monasteries to the universities ... 28 The monastic element in the latter, though much diminish- ed, still not inconsiderable ib. Story of a monk in a college told by Latimer ... 29 Other and more favorable examples of this element in the universities 30 — 31 The monasteries themselves not altogether corrupt . . 32 Their total abolition in England a matter of regret in after times 33 The duke of Norfolk's election as high steward of the uni- versity 34 The universities required to renounce their allegiance to the Pope 35 Reactionary symptoms ... . . . ib. Pall of Cromwell ib. He is succeeded in the chancellorship by Gardiner ... 36 Stephen Gardiner, his career and character .... ib. Cambridge in 1640 ih. St John's College ih. CONTENTS. XllX Fitz Testimony of Ascham and of Edward Grant Masters of St John's College George Day John Taylor State of parties in the college during his mastership Significance of the opposition to Taylor's rule The opposition dictated by Catholic sympathies . Thomas Watson, John Seton .... The Reform party in the College John Madew, John Redman, Robert Pember, Hugh herbert . John Cheke Roger Ascham William Grind al William Bill . William Cecil . William Pilkington Queens' College Thomas Smith His intimacy with Cheke He succeeds to the public oratorship John Ponet . Nicholas Ridley of Pembroke Matthew Parker of Corpus His extensive learning and popularity as a preacher John Skip, master of Gonville Hall General depression at both the universities Effects of religious changes . ... Anticipated confiscation of the college estates . Measures at Cambridge resulting from the decline in numbers and in the university revenues Rivalry between three systems of instruction : the voluntary. the public, and the collegiate Creation op the Regius Professorships . Ascham's testimony to their good effects The first Regius professors . . . . Controversy respecting the Pronunciation op Greek Researches of Smith and Cheke on the subject . Device employed by Smith in order to introduce the new method His account, as paraphrased by Strype His example soon followed by Cheke and other influential members of the university Smith leaves England for Padua PAGE 36 37 ib. ib. 38 39 40 40—41 41 41—42 42 ib. 43 44 ib. 45 ib. ib. ib. 46 ib. 46—47 47 48 ib. 49 ib. ib. 50 51 52 *. 53 54 55 ib. ib. 56 57 CONTENTS, State of the university of Padua The university frequently resorted to at this period by Cambridge men Smith admitted to the degree of d.c l. at Padua He visits the French universities Manner in vphich his proposed new method is there re- ceived Opposition at Cambridge . . . • Gardiner's unexpected decree : May, 1542 . Its discouraging effect Controversy between Gardiner and Smith and Cheke Subsequent history of the controversy Statute of 1544 for the matriculation of students Buckingham College, a Benedictine foundation open to the secular clergy Sir Thomas Audley He obtains extensive grants of the monastic estates Foundation of Magdalene College, a.d. 1542 Its charter and early statutes Unusual powers vested in the master . The president, fellows, and bible clerk Disputations and lectures Insufficiency of the endowment for the original design Bequest of Hugh Dennis . . . Bequests of John Spendluffe and Sir Christopher Wray Changes introduced into the statutes in the reign of Elizabeth .... Interference of the Crown in elections to masterships Appointment of Dr Parker to the mastership of Corpus Christi His election to the vice-chancellorship , College Plats . . . . ! Encouragement given to their performance in colleges at this period ... .... ' Thomas Kirchmeyer : his translations and dramatic com- positions His Pammachius \ Its extensive popularity I Its performance at Christ's College Gardiner apprised by Cuthbert Scott of the circumstances of its performance His remonstrance and enquiries .... Action of the Privy Council . . Act for the Dissolution of Colleges Advocacy of Cheke and Smith on behalf of the university PAGK 57 58 ib. lb. ib. 59 60 ib. 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 ib. 68 68—69 69 ib. 70 ib. 71 ib. 72 ib. ib. 73 ib. 74 ib. 75 ib. ib. 76 ib. 11 CONTENTS. XV PAGE Appeal of the university to queen Katliariue ... 78 Appointment of a Commission ib. General results of their enquiry ib. Interview between the commissioners and the King . . 79 Rumours of a new College ib. Queen Katharine's letter .... . . 80 Demolition of the buildings of the Franciscans . . . ib. Surrender of Michaelhouse and of King's Hall . ib. Foundation of Trinity College, Dec. 1546 . . .81 The college a notable illustration of the modern as opposed to the mediaeval spirit ib. Illustration of this afforded by its present church patronage 81 — S3 No Oxford men on the foundation . . .84 Debt of Trinity College to St John's . . . ib. The first master . .... .85 Sentiments with which the Reformers regarded the new foundation . ib. Considerations which point to a more tolerant view . . 85 — 86 Chap. II. From the Foundation or Trinity College to the Accession op Elizabeth. Condition of the university in first year of reign of Edward vi. 87 Testimony of Walter Haddon to its prosperity . . . ib. Apparent contradiction between the assertions of Walter Haddon and other, evidence ... ... 88 Testimony op Ascham m 1547 . . .... 89 Testimony op Latimer in 1549 90 His account of the tendencies of theological and classical studies in the university ib. Two causes which chiefly hinder the advancement of learning . ■ ■ ib. Testimony op Lever in 1550 ib. The courtiers worse than the monks 91 Disappearance of the studious class, both young and old, from the university ib. Danger of the grammar schools ih. The case of Sedbei^ 92 Importance of such foundations to the universities . . . ib. Evils and defects to which the foregoing evidence appears to point 93 1. The irregular and unjust exercise of patronage . . . ib. Further evidence from Latimer 94 Corroboration from Harrison, circ. 1586 ib. XVI CONTENTS. PAGE 2. Disappearance of the ' unattached ' or poorer class of stu- dents from the university ... ■ /' Comfort and security of college life . . . . • *''• The schools become almost deserted '"' Walter Haddon's testimony and remonstrances with the students to. Overflowing numbers but fewer real students . . ■ • 9' The university largely resorted to by the young aristocracy . ib. Important testimony of Dr Caius in 1558 ^^ Decline of studious habits and prevalence of dissipation among the students 99 Dr Caius' complaint confirmed by Harrison *^- Absence of leaders of recognised attainments and ability . . 100 Departure of Smith and Cheke 'ib. Walter Haddon a somewhat unequal successor . . ib. Departure of Ascham . . ... 101 Non-residency of Heads . . . . ib. The degree of doctor but rarely taken in any of the faculties . ib. Cambridge and the first English Prayer Book . . . 102 The services of the compilers at Cambridge not available for university instruction ib. Polemical theology begins seriously to prejudice the pursuit of genuine study . . ib. The Pkotestant Universities of Germany .... 103 Marburg .... t6. Jena, Wittenberg, and Leipzig 104 Experience of Schliisselberg at Wittenberg . . . 105 — 6 The disputatious spirit productive rather of discord than of the establishment of doctrine . . . 106 Contrast presented by Louvain . . ... 107 Flourishing condition of this university in the latter half of the century ... ib. Character of its theological school 108 Cranmer's admiration of the German Protestant theology . . ib. Foreign divines in England ib. Peter Martyk and Martin Bucer 109 Statutes of Edward vi (April, 1549) and Injunctions op the Visitors (July, 1549) . . . . 109—10 New statutes respecting duties of lecturers on rhetoric, philosophy, mathematics, dialectics, Greek, Hebrew, and law jjj^ New courses of study for undergraduates, bachelors, masters of arts, and bachelors of divinity .... t6. Further study discretional on the attainment of the degree of doctor .... • . . ib CONTENTS. XVU PAGE Disputations in the different faculties required to bo regularly held 112 Statutes relating to elections to offices, period of regency, &c. ib. The powers of the Heads not augmented . . 113 Statutes relating to College discipline ib. Visitation of the Colleges ib. Disputations in honour of the Visitors, the Eucharist being the chief subject ^ . 114 Departure of the Visitors ib. Ascham's solitary protest against their enactments withrefcreHce to studies ib. His remarkable plea for the endowment of research . . . 114 — 5 - Peter Martyr at Oxford . . - 115 His character 116 He deplores the importance attached to theological disputations at Oxford „ . . . ib. Fierceness and effects of this controversy ib. Martin BucBR AT Cambridge .... 117 His pacific disposition . . ib. He is compelled to leave Strassburg, and m invited by Cranmer to England 118 Bucer, Alane, and Gardiner ib. Bucer succeeds Madew as Regius professor of thealogy . ib. His inaugural oration 119 He enjoins the maintenance of a proper standard in all examinations for degrees ib. His remonstrance elsewhere, oocasioned by the indolence of senior fellows 120 His complaint supported by the testimony of Harrison 121 His controversy with Young, Peme, and Sedgwick ... ib. John Young lectures in opposition to Bucer . . . . 122 Deaths of Pagius and Bucer . . ... 123 Respect paid to Bucer's memory ib. Deaths of lords Henry and Charles Brandon from the plague . 124 The Civil Law . . 125 Alciati and Zasius - . ib. Introduction of their method at Cambridge. ... 126 Reform in the study advocated both by Gardiner and by Smith ib. Circumstances unfavorable to the revival of the study in England 127 Alciati's account of the method of interpretation which he sought to abolish 128 M. II. f> XVlll CONTENTS. Smith's iKAtTGURAi address as Regius Propessoe . He confesses his original aversion to the study of the law Value of classical learning as an aid to the study His own reading His pursuit of the study abroad . . • • His proposed plan of tuition The study a difficult one and the aid of a tutor necessary His SECOND ADDRESS The civil law the road to fame and preferment . His tribute to the eloquence and skill of the common lawyeri His praise of the English language . . . • The study of the Code and the Pandects useful to the classical scholar His efforts meet with but poor success Proposal to found a college for the study of the civil law Instructions given to the Visitors of 1549 to carry this pro- posal into effect It is designed to amalgamate for the purpose the founda- tions of Clare Hall and Trinity Hall The proposal approved at TVinity Hall but strenuously resisted at Clare The fellows at Clare endeavour to forestall the despoilers ' Neque do, neque repugno ' . . . . . Ridley intervenes in behalf of Clare .... His letter to Somerset His objections to the scheme His correspondence on the subject with the Protector Somerset . . .... Rogers' letter to Somerset .... The scheme ultimately abandoned Circumstances adverse to the continued study of the civil law in England Origlnal Statutes of Trinity College, Nov. 1552 . Completeness of the organisation for which they provide The office of Master Objections imposed by his oath on entering upon office Other officers of the college — ^"superior' and 'inferior' Duties assigned to the deans, bursars, and preachers Tutors and pupils Elections to fellowships No clause against dispensations from the oath . Declaration required from candidates on admission Fellowships for medicine and civil law General qualifications required in candidates for fellowships PAGE 129 a. ib. 130 *. 131 ib. ib. ib. ib. 132 ib. ib. 133 ib. 134 ib. 135 *. 136 ib. ib. 136 137 ib. ib. 138 139 *. ib. 140 ib. ib. 141 ib. ib. 142 ib. CONTENTS. XIX Fellowships vacated by marriage .... Elections to scholarships Conditions under which pensioners are admissible Lessons to be learnt in chambers and recited in hall Details of coUege discipline Limits of lawful absence from college . ' Commons ' and fines Northumberland succeeds Somerset as chancellor of the uni- versity Munificent designs of Edward vi in relation to Cambridge Encouragement given to disputations not designed to favour liberty of conscience The Visitors propose to make subscription to the Forty-two Articles imperative on those admitted to m.a. or to divinity degrees . . Form of proposed oath This the earliest attempt to introduce a religious test into the university upon admission to degrees .... Point of view from which this design was conceived . Effect of the precedent thus set on Queen Mary and her advisers During Elizabeth's reign degrees conferred at Cambridge in all the faculties without the imposition of any subscription or test Accession op Queen Mary, July, 1553 Northumberland at Cambridge Edwin Sandys, his character, and sermon on the occasion . Direct political application of his text Return and arrest of Northumberland Stormy scene in the regent-house Deposition and arrest of Sandys Arrest of Ridley and Bradford Norfolk and Gardiner set at liberty and restored to office in the university Address of the university to Gardiner, Aug. 1553 The Statutes and Injunctions of Edward vi rescinded Watson appointed Gardiner's delegate He is elected to the mastership of St John's .... Changes at Peterhouse, St Catherine's, and Corpus . Parker's retirement into obscurity Changes at Pembroke, Trinity Hall, Queens', Christ's, King's, and Trinity Ascham's description of the state of the university daring the reign of Mary His description somewhat exaggerated and hardly consistent with his own statements elsewhere b PAGE 142 ib. 143 ib. 144 145 >/ ib. 146 ib. 147 ^ ib. ib. ib. ib. 148. ib. 149 ib. ib. ib. 150 ib. ib. ib. ib. 151 :/ ib./ 152' 152- 2 XX CONTENTS. Increase in the number proceeding to degrees . Reactionary policy of Gardiner His interference in tlie election to a vacant bedellship Tlio university refuses to elect his nominee His letter, Mar. 1555, imposing a new religious test on those proceeding to degrees His death, 12,Nov. 1655 He is succeeded in the chancellorship by Reginald Pole . Martyrdom of Cranmer, Latimer, Ridley, and John Hullier Deathof Sir John Cheke, 15 Sept. 1557 .... Visitation of the university, Jan. 1557 .... Burning of the remains of Bucer and Fagius Statutes given by cardinal Pole Chief features in these as noted by dean Peacock New regulations with respect to election of vice-chancellor, of the ordinary lecturers, and of the caput . John Caius His high professional status and reputation in England His travels and studies abroad . ... His character He procures a charter to refound Gonville Hall . He revisits Cambridge Gonville Hall Bloomfield's account of the foundation of Gonville and Caius College Fuller's comment on Dr Caius' benefaction . Statutes given to the College in 1572 Scheme of the foundation Qualifications required in the Master . Preference to be shewn to natives of Norfolk or Suffolk Oath to be taken by the Master and fellows Qualifications required in those elected to fellowships or scholarships Only medical fellows permitted to study abroad . A knowledge of Latin required of all students at matricu- lation Details respecting discipline Forbidden sports . . Dress The ' Gate of Honour' to be mostly kept closed . Definition of perjury, in relation to the statutes . Deaths of queen Mary and cardinal Pole .... Slit William Cecil elected chancellor PAGE 153 154 ib. ib. 155 *. ib. 156 ib. ib. ib. ib. 157 ib. 158 ib. ib. 159 ib. ib. 160 lb. 161 ib. ib. ib. 162 ib. 163 ib. ib. ib. 164 ib. ib. 165 ib. CONTENTS. Chap. III. From the Accession op Elizabeth to the Death OP Archbishop Parkee. PAGE OXPORD 166 More fevored than Cambridge thronghont the reign of Mary ib. Foundation of Trinity College in 1554, and of the College of St John the Baptist in 1555 ih. Arthur Teldart, a fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge, appointed first philosophy lecturer at the former founda- tion 167 Oxford more favorable to Catholicism than Cambridge . ib. Comparative number of students at the two universities . . 168 Career of Cecil after quitting Cambridge ib. His letter to the university on his acceptance of the chancellorship 169 Condition of the two universities in 1559 ib. Testimony of bishop Jewell and Matthew Parker . . . 170 Small number of bachelors admitted at Cambridge in the year 1558-9 *. Retubn OF the Marian Exiles 171 Their experiences at Zurich, Strassburg, Frankfort, and Basel ib. Ponet, James Haddon, Tremellius, Sandys, Grindal, Lever . 172 The two Pilkingtons, Roger Kelke, and many others return to Cambridge 173 The state policy signally disappoints the expectations of the exiles ib. Three religious parties now apparent in the university . . 174 i Appointment of another University Commission, June, 1559 . ib. Their instructions compared with those of the Commission ten years before 175 Conduct of the Heads on being called upon to take the oath of supremacy ib. Parker warns Cecil of their intentions . ... ib. Evasive policy of the majority at Queens' CoUeg J . ib. Ultimate resignation of the President 176 Changes at St Catherine's Hall and Trinity College . . . ib. Disappearance of Dr Taylor, the master of Christ's . . . ib. Hawford is appointed his successor ib. Arrival of the Commissioners at Cambridge, Sept. 1559 . 177 xxii CONTENTS. Changes enforced in the headships of St John's, Pembroke, Trinity Hall, Jesus College, Clare Hall . ■ • Dr Pory, Dr Caius, and Dr Perne manage to retain their posts Changes at Magdalene and King's College . . • • Further proceedings of the Commission . . . • The experiences of ten years, as summarized by Dean Peacock Inconstancy in matters of religious belief a characteristic of the clergy of these times Dr Andrew Perne His inconstancy in his profession of religious belief Redeeming traits in his character .... Reparation offered by the university for the treatment of the remains of Bucer and Pagius . . . • Generous treatment of Bucer's grandson . . . • Low ebb of education among the clergy .... Livings in the gift of the Crown promised to deserving students The use of a Latin version of the Prayer Book permitted in the college chapels Extension of the legal rights and privileges of the university Imperfectly defined status of the Heads at this period in re- lation to the university Importance of their position Jambs Pilkington, master of St John's .... His letter to Cecil Unsatisfactory account which he gives of the Heads and of the state of his own college Cecil proposes to retire from the oEBce of chancellor . Alarm of the university Cecil withdraws his resignation but stipulates for tho adoption of certain measures of reform .... The royal visit to the university State of discipline in the university .... Leonard Pilkington retires from the mastership of St John'i Main features and incidents of the royal visit Cecil and the lady Mildred Elizabeth Master's oration ... .... Dr Perne's sermon Dr Kelke and the players The disputations The royal departure Tho Duke of Norfolk visits Magdalono College . Results of the royal visit ... The Bidding Prayer PAGE 177 ib. 178 ib. ib. 179 180 ib. 181 182 ib. 183 ib. 184 ib. ib. 185 ib. ib. 186 ib. 187 ib. 188 ib. 189 ib. 190 ib. ib. ib. ib. 191 192 ib. CONTEXTS. XIUl PAQK Consequences which According to Sir G. Paolo resulted from one of the diapatatious 193 ThOU,^ CjJtTWMGHT ib. His Puritaueal sentiments probablv to be referrad to the iufioence dominant at St John's 194 Rsqud sfteful of Calrinistic doctrines in tiie nniyenity ib. IHdibB to the use of the surplice 195 Parkers letter to Cecil 196 Destruction of superstitious windows ib. George Withers . ib. 273 ib. 274 275 ib. ib. ib. 276 ib. 277 ib. 278 ib. 279 280 ib. ib. ib. 281 282 ib. CONTENTS. XXIX Puritanism in the ascendant at the latter university . Assertion of Anthony Wood This corroborated by Whitgift and by Giordano Bruno State of the Continestal Universities . Wittenberg Greneva Strassburg, Heidelberg, Leyden, and Paris Evidence of a growing spirit of independence at Cambridge Impatience manifested in the univei'sity at royal nominations Case of Henry Copinger at Magdalene College . Character of his successor, Degory Nichols Case of Booth, a nominee of Burghley at Corpus Christi Dr Norgate's letters to Burghley .... Booth declines the ordeal of an examination Remonstrance addressed to Burgliley by tlie university on the evils resulting from the practice Dr Peme refuses to admit a royal nominee at Peterhouse The same society refuses to elect John Tenison . Renewed activity of the Puritan party .... Proposal to print Cartwright's translation of Travers' Disciplina in England Re-establishment op the Univeesity Pkess . Hostility of the Stationers' Company . Thomas Thomas appointed university printer Interference of the Stationers' Company Remonstrances of the university Their letter to Burghley .... John Aylmer, bishop of London His conduct in relation to the Puritan press He concurs with the Stationers' Company in urging Burghley to suppress the Cambridge press Burghley's cautious rejoinder Attitude of the university . Burghley finally sanctions the establishment of the university press Reviving spirit of the Puritan party at Cambridge Increasing importance of the questions raised by the party Influence still exercised by them in the university Motives whereby many of their opponents were at this time actuated .... Richard Greenham His pupil, Robert Browne Browne's career at Cambridge . He retires to Norwich PAGE 28.3 ib. •283—4 284 ib. 285 ib. 286' ib. ib. 287 ib. 288 289 ib. ib. 290 291 292 ib. 293 ib. ib. 294 *. ib. ib. 295 296 ib. 297 ^^. 298 ib. 299 300 ib. ib. ib. XXX CONTENTS. Together with Robert Harrison of Corpus, he leaves England for Middelberg DiRsensions among their followers John Smith Dissensions among his followers at Amsterdam . The tendencies of Separatism afford a seeming justification of the policy of Whitgift .... A new translation of the Disdplina printed at the university press Travers a favorite of Lord Burghley His general reputation His relation to Whitgift His sympathies with the Genevan reformers Significance of the appearance of this new version of the Dis- ciplina at Cambridge Whitgift's letter to Burghley on the appearance of the volume The Mastership of the Temple Richard Alvey Whitgift dissuades Burghley from appointing Travers to the post .... Appointment of Richard Hooker Efforts of both universities to obtain representatives in Parlia- ment Petition to Parliament to allow fellowships at colleges to be held for the purpose of more protracted study The proposal implied the endowment of research Its scope according to the views of the bishops . Their counter opinion ... . . Their unqualified condemnation of the proposal, chiefly on the ground that it would be prejudicial to the study of divinity Conclusion to which their objections would seem to point Permanent consequences of the rejection of the proposal . Foundation op Emmanuel College, Jan. 1584 SiK Walter Mildmat His attachment to the college and to the university . He is accused by Elizabeth of designing to found a Puritan College Circumstances that might tend to justify the suspicion The original statutes of the society .... Preference given to natives of Essex and Northampton General design of the college . . . . Its Puritan character . ... Eminent Puritans educated at the college . .301 ib. ib. th. 302 ih. 30.3 a. ih. ib. 304 ib. ib. 305 ib. ib. 306 ib. ib. 307 a. SOS 309 ib. 310 ib. ib. 311 ib. 312 ib. 313 ib. ib. CONTENTS. XXXI PAGE Habitual disregard shewn by the society for the discipline of the Established Church 313 Lengthened exclusion of the college from the academic 'cycle' 314 High reputation of society during the Commonwealth . ib. Sir Walter concurs with the bishops in wishing to dis- courage long residence at college on the part of the fellows ih. The statute de Mora Sociorum 315 Arguments advanced by Laurence Chaderton against its abrogation 316 Subsequent history of the statute ib. Conditions eventually attached to the tenure of college fellowships in general 317 The results 318 Sermon by John Smith of Christ's against the perfoi-mance of plays on Sunday evenings 319 The universities combine to protect their presses against the piracy of the London Stationers ib. Thomas Thomas 320 His Latin Dictionary ib. He publishes the Harmonia Confetsionum . . . 321 The last election of one who was not a Head to the vice-chan- cellorship ib. Dr Copcot, master of Corpus Christi ib. William Whitakee, master of St John's 322 His sympathy with the Puritan party 323 He tries to expel Everard Digby from his fellowship at St John's ib. Meetings of Puritan leaders at 8t John's in order to revise the Digciplina ib. Question of Whitaker's complicity in these meetings dis- cussed by Baker ib. Whitaker's reputation as a controversial writer . . . 324 The predominant theology at Cambridge in the latter part of the sixteenth century eminently Calvinistic . . . 325 Doctrine and discipline 326 Opposing views of the two divinity professors .... ib. Pbtbk Baeo *• His character as a theologian ib. William Barret 327 His sermon ad clerum, Baster, 1595 ib. This the occasion of the Lambeth Articles .... ib. Barret is cited before the vice-chancellor and Heads . . ib. xxxu CONTENTS. He is indaced to make a public recantation I-Iis enemies are dissatisfied with liis recantation and he is again cited He appeals to Whitgift He complains of the injustice of his persecution . He had been accused of attributing blasphemy to Beza Theodore Beza .... The Codex Bezae .... » . . . Whitgift's transcript of the Codex . . <. . Richard Bancroft .... ... His writings against the Puritans Both Bancroft and Whitgift assume a less deferential attitude towards Beza Barret avails himself of this change in Whitgift's views and is to some extent defended by him The vice-chancellor and Heads vindicate their proceedings to Whitgift They allege that their efforts towards the repression of heterodoxy had been attended with success in the university . Whitgift's reply : he accuses the university of ingratitude . He asserts his right of interference as granted by the Crown, but denies that the Heads have power to decide in questions of doctrine He exculpates himself with regard to Barret .... He betrays his consciousness that Barret's doctrine could not be reconciled with that then professed by the English Church Conduct of Robert Some . . .... His covert attack on Whitgift . . . . Whitgift's resentment Dexterous tactics of the academic authorities Burghley endeavours to bring about an understanding Barret is summoned by Whitgift to London and consents to read a second recantation The Lambeth Articles Death of Whitaker His contemporary and subsequent reputation Death of Dr Perne His career and character His efforts on behalf of the university library Mr Bradshaw's account of the library at this period Election of John Overall to the Regius professorship . Election of Richard Clayton to the mastership of St John's Clayton a royal nominee His merits as a master ... TAOE .'528 ib. lb. 329 *. 330 lb. ib. 332 ib. ib. 333 334 ib. 33.5 ib. ib. ib. 336 ib. ib. 337 338 ib. 339 340 ib. 341 342 343—5 345 ib. ib. ,346 CONTEXTS. XXXlll PAGE The enlargement of the college accompanied by a decline in numbers 346 Thomas Platfeeb 347 Playfere elected lady Mai'garet professor in the place of Peter Bare ih. Circumstances that led to Baro's retirement .... ib. His sermon at St Mary's and its consequences .... ib. Opposed opinions of Whitgift and Buighley . . . 348 Bare defended by an influential minority 341) His ultimate resignation of his chair ib. Barret also quits the miiversity and allies himself with the Jesuits 350 Indications at Cambridge of a certain reaction against Puritan doctrines ib. Praelections at the competition for the Regius professorship . 351 Anthony Wotton, first professor at Gresham College . . . ib. Opposition oflfered by the university to the foundation of Gresham College ib. The press at Oxford 352 John Case ib. His Speculum Moraliam Quaestionum .... ib. He suggests that a university should be founded in Ireland 353 Foundation op Tbxnitv College, Dublin .... ih. George Bkowne, archbishop of Dublin . . ib. His scheme for the foundation of a university at Dublin 354 Scheme of 1563 . . '■^'• Instructions given to Sir John Perrot in 158t . . . ib. Subsequent alteration in his design 355 The first five provosts of the college all Cambridge men . ib. Walter Travers, second provost ib. Speech of ai-chbishop Loftus, on introducing his successor . ib. He suggests a total abolition of religious controversy . . 356 Henry Alvey, third provost ib. Sir William Temple, fourth provost ib. William Bedell, fifth provost ib. Foundation op Sidney Sussex College, 1596 .... 357 Viscount Fitzwalter and the Countess of Sussex . . . ib. The countess's executors: the earl of Kent and Sir John Harington ib- They proceed to treat with Trinity College for the transfer of the site of the Franciscan itiary .... 358 Difficulties attending tlie negociations ib- Whitgift's decision as arbitrator '^'• The executors look upon the amount as excessive . ib. M. II. '^ xxxiv CONTENTS. Final completion of the transfer . . • ■ Laying of the foundation stone . ■ • ■ The first master and fellows Subsequent bequests still leave the college poor . The Blundell scholarships Singular conditions annexed to tl)eir acceptance . These are declined at Oxford and at Cambridge . Original statutes of the college . ■ ■ ■ The conception that of a seminary for the Church The statute de Mora Sociorum soon rescinded . Scotchmen and Irishmen made eligible to fellowships John Young, a Scotchman, elected fellow in 1606 Relations existing down to this time between the Scottish and the English universities Outline of the history of the former . Foundation of the University of St Axdrkws Its three colleges St Leonard's College becomes a centre of Reformation doctrines . .... Foundation of the Univeksity op Glasgow . Foundation of the UKrvEssiTV of Abeedeen . State of the above universities at the Reformation They are reconstituted by John Knox Andrew Melville His early career His measures of reform as principal of the university of Glasgow His invitation to Cartwright and Travers . His success as a teacher at Glasgow Alexander Arbuthnot of Aberdeen Melville and Arbuthnot prepare a new constitution for their respective universities .... St Andrews is similarly reconstituted and Melville is elected to preside over St Mary's College Thomas Wilson's account of his lectures at St Andrews Opposition excited by his attitude as a reformer His flight to England and visits to Cambridge and Oxford The results of these visits .... Death of James Lawson .... Foundation of the University of Edinburgh Robert RoUock, its first teacher . His course of instruction .... Members of the university required to subscribe to the National Covenant PAGE 359 ih. ih. ib. 360 i6. 361 ib. ib. 362 ib. ib. ib. 363 ib. ib. ib. 364 ib. ib. 365 ib. ib. 366 ib. ib. ib. ib. 367 ib. ib. 368 ib. ib. 369 ib. ib. ib. CONTENTS. XXXV PAGE Death of lord Burghley 369 Death of Edmund Spenser . . 370 The poet and his persecutor ib. Burghley's distinguishing merit . ib. His chancellorship of the university contrasted with that of Leicester at Oxford ib. Chap. V. College Life. Giles Fletcher of King's .... ... 372 His poem de Liiieris anttquae Britanniae .... ib. Description it contains of the Cambridge colleges . . . 373 Impression which we derive from the poem respecting the con- dition of the university ib. Testimony of Peter Baro to the prosperous condition of the colleges ... ib. Other evidence to the same effect 374 Testimony of William Sooae ib. This condition largely attributable to the Act for the Mainten- ance of Colleges, etc ib. The measure chiefly owing to the foresight of Sir Thomas Smith 375 Circumstances which served to suggest his scheme . . . ib. The system of fines ib. Its frequent abuse by the trustees of corporations or of eccle- siastical bodies 376 Act of 13th Elizabeth 377 Act of 18th Elizabeth ib. Special provision of the Act: one-third of the college rents to be paid in com ib. Advantages resulting to the colleges 378 Augmentation in the value of fellowships 379 Various testimony with respect to the results of the Act . . 380 Consequent disappearance of the hostel ib- Increased importance of the office of Head .... ib. Change in the sense of responsibility attached to the office . 3.S1 Some of its difficulties become diminished ib. The average length of its tenure during the periods 1560—1600 and 1600—1640 compared 382 The language of Dr Bridges in relation to the office and that of Fuller compared **■ Unrestricted powers of the Head in some of the smaller colleges 383 Example afiforded at Corpus Christi College .... 384 Complaints to Parliament of the abuse of these excessive powers ib. Motion brought forward by Mr Davies 385 c2 XXXVl CONTENTS. Counter-petition of the universities . ... Increased value of college fellowships . ... Malpractices in the management of college revenues . Instances at St John's and Trinity Position of the senior and junior fellovi's contrasted . Undue influences in elections to fellowships and in the succession to college livings Growing tendency to look upon the fellowship as a provision for life . . . .... Counter tendency to dispense with residence on the part of bachelors of arts (not being fellows) studying for the degree of m.a. The obligation to reside abolished by decree of IfiOS J Reasons alleged by the authors of the decree in defence of this innovation . . ...... Results attributable to this decree Weakening of connecting link between the master of arts and the undergraduate The graduate required by the statutes to be a model with respect to dress The constitution of the university in the early part of the 17th century contrasted with that of a hundred years before The undergraduates of the period .... Their insubordination . . .... The ideal undergraduate of the statute book Contumacy of the actual undergraduate, especially with respect to dress Statements of "William StaflFord and Henry Peacham with respect to a certain class of the younger students . Many sent at too tender an age to profit by a university curriculum Peacham's description of their habits of life, circ. a.b. 1625 Life in the college "Women no longer permitted to be resident The colleges greatly overcrowded Three or four occupants in each room .... The tutorial system much the same as now Payments, how made Furniture of the college chamber .... Tutors and their pupils . . Laxity of college regulations with respect to tutors Lord Burghley's complaint More favorable aspect of these relations Average age at entrance PAGE as.") ih. lb. 386 3S7 ib. ib. 388 ib. 389 ib. ib. 390 ib. 391 ib. 393 394 ib. 395 ib. ib. 396 ib. ib. 397 ib. ib. 398 ib. 399 CONTENTS. XXXVll PAGE Dr Owen Gwyn's order for the registration of freshmen at St John's 399 Classes from which students were then mainly recruited . ib. Considerations which serve to qualify the supposed fusion of classes ib. The sizar often really a menial 400 Services which he was thus called upon to render . . ih. The freshman's ordeal ib. 'Salting' . . ib. 'Tucking' 401 Features in the undergkaduatb course of study which dis- tinguish IT from that op the mediaeval bra . . ih. ' Mathematics' no longer included as compulsory . 402 Subjects then included under that designation . . ib. Antiquated character of the text-books .... ih. Reason why these subjects received so little attention at the universities . ■ ■ ,, : 403 Rhetoric takes the place of mathematics as the subject of the first year's study • ih. The ancient manuals still the only ones used . . . ib. Logic the chief study of the second year .... 404 Peter Ramus ib. His attack on Aristotle in the schools of Paris . . . ib. Sensation thereby produced in learned Europe . . . ib. William Temple's testimony to his genuine love of truth . 405 His genius destructive rather than creative . . . ib. His Dialectica ib. Its main design to render the study of logic more easy and popular 406 Its method ih. His definition of logic .... . . ib. Logic divided into three grades ib. Also into ' invention' and 'judgement' 407 The Socratic method preferable to that of the schoolmen . ib. Criticisms unfavorable to Ramus's treatise by Hooker, Bacon, Keckerman, Scaliger, and Casaubon . . 408 Genuine merit in Ramus notwithstanding . . 409 Testimony of Temple to the widespread success of his logic ib. Centres where its success was most marked . . . 410 Cambridge becomes the chief stronghold of Ramistic doc- trine 411 Editions of the Logic by Ames, Samuel Wotton, and John Milton «■&■ George Downham and Gabriel Harvey among its supporters ih. XXXviii CONTENTS. PAOE students from abroad resort to Cambridge as the chief school of Ramistic logic But even at Cambridge it encounters opposition . • «*■ Experience of William Gouge .413 Studies of bacheloes op arts foe the degeee of M.A. • 414 'Bthics,"physics,' and 'metaphysics' «^- Sense in which these terms are to be understood . ■ «&■ Theology while it becomes the principal study is conceived in a yet more narrow spirit ^J'"* The habits of scholasticism still prevail . . • _■ «*■ The excessive attention to theology detrimental to linguistic studies '^"' Hbbebw . . ib. The Regius professors and readers: Thomas Wakefield, Fagius, Tremellins, Chevallier, and Philip Bignon . ib. Philip Ferdinand 417 He reads Hebrew with private pupils .... ib. Comment of William Eyre on the results of his departure . 41S Necessary inference from tlie two statements of William Gouge and William Eyre ib. Erroneous estimate of the relative importance of Hebrew that then prevailed ib. Playfere's view as a comparative philologist . . . 419 Geeek ib. Decline of the study towards the close of the century . ib. John Bois and Andrew Downes ib. Scanty evidence of genuine attainments in the language . ib. Lament of Casaubon . . 420 History ib. Reactionary tendencies in the conception of historical evidence 421 Edward Lively and Edniond Howes ib. Peacham . . . ib. Giles Fletcher the elder ib. Richard Parker of Caius, Sir John Hayward Thomas May 421—2 Influence of foreign thinkers 422 Giordano Bruno at Oxford {(>, Inferiority of the English historical literature at this period to that of France 423 The Civil Law jj,_ Rivalry between its professors and the clergy in the ecclesiastical courts jj_ Hostihty to the study on the part of the common lawyers . 424 Sir Edward Coke .... ■ . ib CONTENTS. XXXIX PAGE His sympathies entirely with the common hxwyers . . 424 Slight revival of the study at Oxford, initiated by Albericus Gentilis 425 Similar revival at Cambridge ib. Degrees taken in civil law between a.d. 1591 and 1601 . ib. Professor John Cowell ib. Perilous condition of those studies which were taught only by the professors 42G The professors' lectures as badly attended as ever . . . ib. Notable testimony of Gabriel Harvey ib. Formal character of the proceedings in the schools requisite before proceeding to a degree ih. Description of these proceedings given by the author of the Abstract . 427 Practice of non-placeting a degree ib. Instance of Gabriel Harvey 428 Regulations with respect to religious duties .... ib. Attendance at the university sermons strictly enforced . . ib. Uses to which the university pulpit was sometimes degraded . 429 Estimation in which the function of university preacher was held ib. Spobts and Pastimes ib. Prohibited games ib. Plays in the English tongue 430 Performance of Chib Law at Glare College .... ib. Performance at inns 431 Latin plays ib. Comparison of the state op the English univebsities with THAT Of those ABBOAD 432 Advantages of the collegiate system ib. Admiration expressed by De Dominis of both Oxford and Cambridge 432—3 Contrast afforded with respect to discipline by the univer- sity of Jena 433 Professor Wolfgang Heyder of Jena 434 His description of the ordinary graceless student of his uni- versity 434-6 The college system may claim to have in a great measure prevented similar demoralisation in the English univer- sities 436 Criticism of Bacon on the defects of the universities in his day . 437 — S Conclusion 433 — 9 coxTEyrs. CHAP. VI. From the death of Lord Accession op Chaeixs I. BcKGHlEr TO THE PAGE 440 a. ib. ib. Election of the earl of Essex to the chancellorship His visit to Cambridge ... His esecntion for high treason, Feb. 1601 . Sir Robert Cedl is elected his successor Hia character as a statesman and good o£5ces on behalf of tiie miiTersity Decision of Essex in the disputed question of precedence be- tween the vice-chancellor and the mayor Compl^nts of the town against the uniTersity in 1601 The town and the academic authorities Dr John Jegon and the townsmen He denounces the men that 'live by ns' and yet object to the privil^es of the university .... Essex's intervention is entreated . .... A lull in theolt^cal contention Death of Elizabeth, and gra<« of the university on the occasion Personal influence of king James in the universities . The deputation to Hinchingbrook Bacon's advice to James llr Gardiner's criticism The Catholic Petition The Millesabt Petitiox . Arthur Hildersham The Petition evidently nnfiiendly to the universities Action taken at Cambridge and Oxford .... The Cambridge grace, 9 June 1603 The Oxford Answer e . James proi>oses himself to iuitiate Church reform He declares his intention of restoring the impropriations in the possession of the Crown 4^9 His letters to the chancellors of the two universities, and to the Heads of colleges urging them to a like course . 449—50 ■Whitgift dissuades him from his design The scheme is ultimately abandoned I'nanimity of the universities,— the Cambridge letter to Oxford Relevancy of these and preceding events :u Cambridge to the proceedings at the Hampton Court Conferenci, 1604 Gradual change m James news and sympathies Illness and death of \Miitgift, Feb. 1604 Death i.fCartwright, Dec. 1603 . 441 ib. 442 44.^ ib. 444 ib. ib. 445 ib. ib. 44'; ih. ih. 447 ib. 44S ib. ib. ib. ib. 4.M 451 ib. 45-2 4.53 ib. CONTEXTS. xli He and Whitgift recoucilcii iu their latter yeai-s Svinpathy between James and Bancroft, the result of similar experiences Rkstixts of the Hampton Court Coxfekexcb . The wearing of the surplice in college chapels moi-e strenu- ously enforced Viscount Cranboume's letter to the universitv. Dea 1604 . He recommends that subscription to the Three Articles shall be imposed on all who are permitted to preach before the university ... .... Tlie oath of conformity and declaration of adherence to episcopal government is imposed on all admitted to a degree, April, 1605 Subscription to the Tliree Articles is imposed on jill admitted B.D. and on all admitted to the doctorate iu any &culty, June, 1613 .... Cambridge less submissive than Oxfoi-d .... Grace of the Senate, 7 July 1613 Subscription to the Three Articles imposed on all admitted to any degree whatsoever, 3 Dea 1616 Edict for the banishment of the Catholic priests, Feb. 1604 Closer relations betwet;u the Crown and the two universities The uuiveraities receive the privilege of returning each two members to ParUament Letter of Sir Edward Coke to the vice-chancellor ^Mar- 1604) announcing the concession of this privil^e . Reasons which had led him to apply for its concession He advises that members of Convocation should not be re- turned The Church patronage in the hands of 'popish recusants' placed at the disposal of the universities, a.d. 1606 . Fuller's observations on the results of this measure . The universities are exempted from subsidies Sir "Wm. Hamilton's observations on the relations of the Heads and the professoriate at this period The Heads attempt to monopolise the privilege of returning members to Parliament The chancellor compels them to recognise the conditions subject to which the privilege was accorded Election of A.D. 1614 ... . . Return of Sir MUes Sandys and Fraxcis Bacox Francis Bacon and Cambridge Unfavorable results of the autocratic power of the Heads in their respective colleges . . .... PAGE 4.i4 455 t*. 456 ib. ib. 457 ib. a. 45S ib. ib. 459 ib. ih. 460 461 ib. ib. ib. 462 463 464 (7>. ib. ib. 465 xlii CONTEXTS. PICE. Increasiiig importance of cdl^e Iugt4>i7 ■*** The CohLBGta asb theis Heads. A-d. 1600 — 1^3 . . . *- BoGER Goad, ^vrost of King's *- The 'Goad riot' *^ His nile at King'ii, and his character as a theologian . . ib. Characto- of the sodetj at this period *. Thoicas Xettlijk, master of Trinity 468 His eariy imiTereity career •*- CunditioD of Trinity College at this period . . 4fi9 Keville's designs for its improronent tb. TiSects of his administiatiim 470 RiCHASD Ci^iTOX, master of St John's, x.d. 1595 — 1612 . . ib. OwEJf GwrsHK, master of St John's, A-D. 1612 — 33 ... ib. Remisaiess of both as administratore ..... 471 ImiRVTranente in the eoU^e notwidistanding ... Q>. Distingnished members of tlie soci^f ib. ElxXASUEi. and CHSiap's CoD^es 472 Conditionof tiielatt^-nnda- Barwdl, AJ>. 1582 — 1609 . tft. Charges brong^t against bim in 1582 ib. WiuJAM Pebsiss of Cfarisf 8 473 His Fnritan ieaAeaaea ib. His success as a tutor and a preacher 474 L^gatt the printei's testimmj to th^ widespread pt^o- larity ib. Frakins' Reformed CathoUke 47.5 Talestisk Cabt, master of Christ's, k.t>. 1602 — 1620 . . ib. Latfsesce CHADEBTOa, master of Kmrnannrf, a.d. 1584 — 1622 476 Hb prerioos career at Christfs Ccflege .... S>. His aUe administration tg. His intimacy with Bantaoft and its origin .... iJb. Tfloius Legge, master of C^os, aj». 1573 — 1607 . 477 WiDiam Branthwaite, master, a.d. 1607 — 1618 . . . ib. HincPHSET TianDALt, prerident of Queens', aj>. 1579 — 1614 . ib. His sympathies vith Puritanism . .... A. His defects as an administrator 478 JoHS Pkbstov of Queens' j5_ His remarkable endowments iff. His extraordinary powers of acqnisiticm .... 479 He aims at a political career and looks with omfempt on **eologT j5 JoHS CoTTOs of Enunannel .... 400 A hearer of Perkins, but com-erted by Richard Sibbes ib. His postion at Knmanuel, his oratorical &me . . , 4si His sermon at St Mark's .... -ji CONTEXTS. xliii PAGE The university wits refuse to 'Imm' 482 Preston among his auditors and converted by his discourse ib. Evidence afforded at this period of the influence of the pulpit in the university ib. Contest for the presidency of Queens' on the death of Tyndall 483 JoHjf Davenast, president of Queens', a.d. 1614 — 1622 . . (b. His ability as a moderator, and eminent qualifications for the headship 484 George Montaigne ib. Deathof Tyndall, 12 Oct. 1614 Preston's promptitude and dexterity secure a firee election . Election of Davenant Montaigne's chagrin and resentment His subsequent career Lancelot Aniirewes, master of Pembroke, a.d. 1589^1605 Scholarships founded by Dr Watts Andrewes' character, genius, and love of leaching His success as a catechetical lecturer . . . . , His ability as an administrator Samuel Haksxet, master of Pembroke, a.d. 1605 — 1616 . His Arminian views He discourages the belief in witchcraft ... ib. ib. 485 lb. ib. 486 ib. 486—7 488 ib. ib. ib. 489 John Dupoet, master of Jesus College, a.d. 1590 — 1618, and RoGEE AxDREWES, master, A.D. 1618 — 1632 . . 489 — 90 Samuel Waed, master of Sidney CoU^e, a.d. 1609 — 43 . . 490 His powers of acquisition and general character . . . 491 His Diary, Advermria, and portrait ib. His Diary more especially 492 JoHX RiCHAXDSOS, master of Peterhouse, a.d. 1609 — 1615 . . 493 Visit of Isaac Casaubon to Cambridge in 1611 ... ib. His obligations to Richardson's library .... ib. Richardson as master of Trinity College, a.d. 1615—1625 . 494 SUte of Clare College ib. William Smyth and Robert Scot, masters .... ib. Babnabt Gooch, master of Magdalene, a.d. 1604 — 1626 . . 495 His efforts to recover the college property in London . . ib. John Jegon, master of Corpus Christi, a.d. 1590 — 1602 . . ib. His evasion of crown interference, to secure the election of his brother ib. Thomas Jegon, master, A.D. 1602—1617 496 His nepotism and consequent disunion in the college . . ib. Samuel Walsall, master, a.d. 1617 — 1626 ib. John Cowbll, master of Trinity Hall, a.d. 1598—1611 . ib. He is patronised by Bancroft 497 xliv CONTENTS. His relations with Camden, Daniel], and Coke . His Institution es Juris Anglicani . . . ■ His Interpreter, and its consequences . . . ■ Mr Gardiner's account of the do.trines which it enforces Disapproval of king James The book is suppressed by royal proclamation Clement CoEBET, master, A.D. 1611 — 1626. Thomas Bdejst, master, a.d. 1626 — 1645 .... John Ovbeall, master of St Catherine's Hall, a.d. 1598—1607 Testimony to his skill as a disputant and general ability Distinguished Heads who were also professors in the university Distinguished professors who were not Heads Bdwaed Lively, professor of Hebrew a.d. 1575 — 1605 His necessitous condition Playfere's testimony to his varied merit .... Attempt to obtain an augmentation in the endowment of two of the professorships Thomas Playfeee, lady Margaret professor, a.d. 1596 — 1609 . His insanity and death Andeew Downes, professor of Greek, a.d. 1585 — 1625 Account of Downes given by Simonds D'Ewes The Authokised Veesion op the Bible . The Cambridge translators Misgivings of the translators as to the reception likely to be accorded to their labours Current assertions respecting the translation Selden's verdict Demonstrations of Puritan dissatisfaction still sometimes to be heard in the Cambridge pulpits .... Thomas Taylor, fellow of Christ's College .... He denounces Bancroft's harsh measures and is silenced by the vice-chancellor Case of Nicholas Rush, a second fellow of Christ's Case of William Ames, a third fellow of Christ's His relations with the master, Valentine Cary His sermon at St Mary's Its results fatal to his Cambridge career His retirement to the United Provinces and professorship at Franeker .... His Medulla Theolagoruin and de Conscientia . His account of the manner in which he had been led to introduce the new Cambridge method of the study of divinity into the course of study at Franeker PAGE 497 ib. 498 ib. 499 ib. 500 ib. ib. .500—1 502 ib. ib. .503 504 ib. 5U5 J6. 506 ib. ib. 507 ib. 508 ib. ib. 509 ib. 510 ib. 511 ib. ib. ib. 512 CONTEXTS. xlv PAGE He holds that the method deserves to be more generally sanctioned by Protestant teachers 612 Corroboration of his observations afforded by those of Selden 5 1 3 Importance of his teaching botli abroad and in England . ib. Death of the earl of Salisbury and election of his successor, the earl of Northampton ib. Visit of prince Charles and the Elector Palatine, Mar. 1613 . 514 Death of the earl of Northampton, election of the Earl of Suffolk ib. Deputation to the earl of Suffolk at Audley End, Aug. 1614 (7*. He prevails on the King to visit the university . . . 515 Anticipations of the royal visit ... . . ib. Motives for wishing to conciliate the royal favour . . ib. Preparations for the occasion 516 Instructions issued to the students ib. The royal arrival, 7 March, 161^ . . 517 Attitude of the Puritan colleges ib. General features of the visit . . . . . 518 The Act and the Comedy ib. The Act ... .... 519 The disputants, Matthew Wren and John Preston . . ib. Can dogs syllogize ? 520 Royalty to the rescue, with a crucial instance from New- market Heath 521 Possible connexion between the disputation and a passage in the Novum Organum ib. Evident reference to the quaestio in Peacham's treatise . 522 The Return from Parnassus, or Scourge of Simony, — a connecting linlr between Club Law and Ignoramus . ib. Outline of the play 523 Its value as shewing the academic estimate of the contem- porary poetry ib. Spenser ranked above Shakespeare 524 Discontent in the university which it attests with the existing system of impropriations ib. Jealousy of the common lawyers and dissatisfaction with the results of academic life 525 Animosity towards the townsmen 526 The old contention ib. Question of precedence between the vice-chancellor and the mayor revjved ib. Francis Brackyn, the Town Recorder ib. Visit of the judges and conduct of William Archer, the mayor *6. Special odium incurred by Brackyn, as the adviser of the . town authorities 527 xlvi coXTEVrs. PAGE Conflict between the ecdesiastical conrts and the common - J ... 527 J"^^ .528 Igsobamus Elements in the play which especiaDy appealed to the pre- jndices of liie audience ' Its long popnlarity _' ' Gbobge RrGGLB ■"'.*' Outline of the 0ot ... ■ • 529—540 James delighted with the performance **<* The actors '^^ The derical element promiaent ....-- 542 Milton's criticism of similar performances .... ft- Important after results 543 Oxford edipsed . . . io. The rojal Tisit repeated within two months .... ib. TABOrfS ACCOirST OF THE SKCOSB VISIT *». The universitj- lines the streets 544 Humble demeanour of tiie town authorities ... ib. The royal reception at Trinity *&. Second performance of Ignoramus before the King . . 545 His complete saidsfaction ib. A laborious Sabhatli ib. He maintains the dignity of the mureisity not only befxnc tbe town but before the shire ib. The Act in Trinity Chapel 546 Chamberlain's acconnt of the results to CarietDu. ... i%. Irritation of ihe lawyers 547 Grayer consequences as regards the town ... . ib. The Corporation seek to have Cambridge raised from a free borough to a city t%. Vigilance of Suffolk 54S The nniTeiaty applies for a draught of the proposed charter A. The corporation demurs to 'parting the lion's skin' ... t&. The unirersitY appeals to Bacon to exert his influence in their behalf ib. Their assertion respecting the unfriendly feeliog habitnaSy evinced by the townsmen 549 Bacon proves to have anticipated their request .... ib. The drau^t is obtained and the university comments on it . Sk Petitions presented by tiie university both to Bacon and the King strongly deprecating the concession of the new diarter 550 James declare that he will grant no privileges to Cambridge that are likely to be an occasion of anxiety to her nnivnaity ib. Benefactions of Ds Stephen Pebse 551 The Grammar School .... . . ib. CONTEXT?. xlvii PiGK Fellowsliips Mid scholarships at Cams GoUcge . o51 His contemplated benefaction to the nniversitT library ib. Archdeacon Johnson 552 Effect of the roj^ visit on indiridual minds .... H>. George Herbert, public orator 1619 — 1627 .... ib. His character as a student and a fellow .... t&. His rhetoric lectures on an oration of king James . . 553 James presents the uniTersity with a copy of his collected woite . . . . ib. Herbert's letter of actnowiedgement ib. His Jiigh hopes 554 His ultimate disappointment and changed views . . . ib. I*reston &lls under a cloud .... . . . ib. His assiduity as a collie officer «&. His increasinglj" intimate relations with the Puribin partv . ib. His favour with Davenant 555 His eminent success as a college tutor ... . ib. His principle of selection in accepting pupils ... ib. He extricates a pupil from an imsuitable engagement . 5-56 His success as a college catechist . . . . . ib. St Botolph's Church 557 Preston's sermon there, Jan. 1519 .... ib. Dr Xewcome forbids the sermon, but Preston preaches not- withstanding 55S Dr Xewcome complains to the King at Xewmarkct . . ib. Preston is required to apologise to Dr Xewcome and to con- demn his own conduct in a second sermon ... ib. Ball's account of his adroitness 559 He is prohibited from preaching again wiUiout permission first obtained .560 He preaches before the King at Royston and makes the acquaintance of Buckingham . . . - ■ ib. The SrsoD of Doet »*- John Hales and the Cambridge deputies .... *. Violence and ant^ance of the Calvinistic deputi^ . . 561 Cold reception of the English delegates at Leyden . . *. David Parasus . . 562 Distinguished as an opponent of the temporal power of the Papacy . . . > »*• 'His ImiiciuH 563 Hii Cdininfntary OH the Rontiins *. Limitations under which he proposes to accept the theory of the royal prerx^ative »"*■ Dislike which James had already evinced to such limitations 564 TVilliam Knights sermon at Oxford, April, 16:2 . 563 xlviii COXTEXTS. PAGE He maintains that tyrants are to be resisted even with force of arms . . . 56j Alarm of the nnirersitv authorities . ... 56fi Knight's confinement at Westminster and subsequeut death ih. James thanks the university of Oxford .... ih. The works of Paraeus are condemned at both universities, and subsequently burnt at Oxford, Cambridge, and Paul's Cross ''*>' Death of Paraeus ... . . . . ib. William Lucy's Armiuian sermon 568 Retirement of Davenant from the presidency of Queens' . . ib. Election of John JIansel 'S- Critical state of aflairs at Emmanuel College .... 569 It is proposed tliat Chaderton shall retire and Preston be ap- pointed his successor th. Chaderton's green old age . . ib. His reluctance to give place to an unknown successor . . 570 His jjoverty ib. Buckingham's influence and generosity provide a solution of the difficulty ib. Secresy observed at Preston's election ih. He is escorted from Queens' College to his new home . . 571 He reaches the climax of his career ... . . ib. He is appointed lecturer at Trinity Church . . . 572 Apprehensions and reluctant consent of king James . . . ib. Gldimeeixgs of Sciesce . . ib. Observations of Bacos on presenting his Novum Organum to the univeisity . . . ... 573 JoHX Deb . . . . ib. AVelliam Gilbebt . . . ... ifi. WiLLIAJI OUGHTKED . . . . . 574 WiLLiAjf Hastet . . . ib. Condition of the university towards the close of James' reign . ib. The King's last visit to the university H. Aspect of aflairs. June, 1625 tb. \>T Samuel Ward's survey of the situation tb. APPENDIX. (A) Early Statutes of Trinity Collie. (B) The Bidding Prayer. (C) The Duciplina. (D) The Counties ; Xorth and South. (E) Foreigners at the University. fF) Giles Fletcher's Verses descriptive of the Colleges. (G) An Abstract, etc. GH ER I. ERBATA, ETC. p. 119, 1. 2, for ' professor ' read ' reader. ' p. 119, 1. 10, for 'senis ' read ' senex.' pp. 151 and 177. I have omitted to notice that on the death of bishop Gardiner, in 1555, Dr Mowse was a second time elected to the mastership of Trinity Hall, a fact which becomes necessary to explain his second expulsion from the office. p. 257, n. l,for ' 1833' read ' 1633.' p. 293, 1. 11, /or '1582' read '1583.' p. 347, n. 2, 'found no corroboration,' — see however p. 505, n. 5. p. 349. To references here given with respect to proceedings against Peter Baro, add Heywood and Wright, Cambridge Proceedingt during tlm Puritan Period, II 89—100. p. 470. ' Tho. Morton (bishop of Peterborough),' for 'Peterborough' read 'Durham.' p. 498. Cowell's original manuscript of the Interpreter, interleaved for additions, is in the Library of St John's College, MS. I. 32. irOrO l±\J HxyjX-l^, 1 Fuller (ed. Priokett and Wright, p. 215) says that Fisher continued to be chancellor to 'his last hour,' that is, to June 22, 1535, and the lists which represent Cromwell as created chancellor in 1533 are cer- tainly in error (see Cooper, Annals, I 371, note 5). 'Had this,' continues Fuller, ' been imitated in after ages, Cambridge had not been charged with the suspicion of ingratitude, for deserting some of her patrons as soon M. II. as greatness deserted them ; as choos- ing not their persons but prosperity for her chancellor. ' Cromwell's letter to the mayor and burgesses, in which he says, 'Understanding that the body of that the universitie of Cam- bridge hath elected and chosen me to be their hed and chancelor,' (print- ed without date in Cooper, Annals, i 372,) was probably wiitten just be- fore the commencement of the aca- demic year 1535-6. CHAPTER I. FROM THE ROYAL INJUNCTIONS OF 1535 TO THE FOUNDATION OF TRINITY COLLEGE. The destinies of learning in England, in the year with chap.i. which the preceding volume closes, must have seemed to depend on the decisions of a single mind. It illustrates the completeness of the revolution that was impending in the domain both of letters and of belief, that it was the newlv- cromweii 'i 1 1 11 p 1 elected elected chancellor of the university who sent his predecessor °??j;f "°'' to the scaffold. Months before his purpose found its ac- ™'™™'^- complishment on Tower Hill, an entry among Cromwell's private memoranda, — 'Item: when Master Fisher shall to his execution ? ' — had recorded his stem and relentless design. Cambridge, by the general admission, had stood honour- ably by her late chancellor', but now that her generous patron was no more, the instinct of self-preservation became ' Fuller (ed, Prickett and Wriglat, as greatness deserted them ; as choos- p. 215) says tliat Fisher continued ing not their persons but prosperity to be chancellor to 'his last hour,' for her chancellor. ' Cromwell's letter that is, to June 22, 1535, and the to the mayor and burgesses, in which lists which represent Cromwell as he says, 'Understanding that the created chancellor in 1533 are cer- body of that the universitie of Cam- tainly in error (see Cooper, Annals, bridge hath elected and chosen me I 371, note 5). 'Had this,' continues to be their hed and chancelor,' (print- Fuller, ' been imitated in after ages, ed without date in Cooper, Annals, i Cambridge had not been charged 372,) was probably written just be- with the suspicion of ingratitude, for fore the commencement of the aoa- deserting some of her patrons as soon demic year 1535-6. M. II. 1 chancellors. 2 A.D. 1535 TO 1546. . CHAP. I. paramount. ' The university,' says Lloyd, ' made Cromwell ™J daima chancellor to save itself'.' Already Master of the Rolls, ^'^miSed chancellor of the exchequer, and secretary of state, the of precelfng signs of his growing power were such as none might safely disregard ; although his claims, in other respects, might hardly have seemed to entitle him to this new distinction. Hitherto it had been deemed essential that the head of the university should have acquired a certain academic status or that he should represent the name and influence of some noble and powerful house. To the latter class belonged the Percys and the Fitz-Hughs; to the former, such men as Thomas Rotheram, who was not only the son of a knight but also a fellow of King's and at the time of his first elec- tion, in 1469, bishop of Rochester, — Thomas Cosyn (1490), master of Corpus, — and Thomas Ruthill (1503), the same whose incaution when lord keeper of the privy seal had betrayed to the royal eyes the record of his inordinate wealth, and who, at the time of his election, was archdeacon of Gloucester and in high repute at Oxford for his attain- ments in philosophy ; Fisher, when already Margaret professor and master of Michaelhouse, had succeeded to the chancellor- ship and the bishopric of Rochester in the same year. Their newly- elected successor, on the other hand, was a man of humble origin, — according to common report, the son of a blacksmith, — and one whose early experiences had been gained in the licence of the camp rather than in the discipline of the schools. He seems first to have come prominently into public notice by his energy in carrying out Wolsey's plans for the suppression of the smaller monasteries and by the ability he evinced in the task of applying their revenues to the use of his patron's foundations at Oxford and Ipswich. But the prevalent impression of his character at this time appears to have been that of a clever and not very scrupulous adventurer in whom the king had recognised a fit instrument for his bold designs in asserting his in- dependence of Rome. Lukewarmness as a friend or a patron was not among 1 State Worthies, p. 61. TOWN AND UNIVERSITY. 3 Cromwell's defects, and already two of the most eminent . chap, i. _ Cambridge men of the day had reaped the advantage of his personal good will. Edward Fox, of King's College, of whose his patron- abilities he had already had personal experience as his ^^™f p"* coadjutor in the organisation of Wolsey's foundations, was raised in September to the see of Hereford, notwithstanding that he had been prominent among the opponents of the royal divorce ; and Latimer, who was perhaps Cromwell's most trusted friend, succeeded a few weeks earlier to the bishopric of Worcester\ They were both men well qualified for carrying out the work which Henry and his minister had in view. Fox's dexterity in debate and unrivalled oratorical powers had already, according to one writer, made him the 'wonder of the university^'. His genius however inclined him rather to the stirring arena of political life, and before the end of the year he was on his way to Smalcald, together with Heath and Barnes, deputed to warn the assembled princes against the lures of both pope and emperor ; while Latimer, a few months later, in his memorable sermons before Convocation, was making the ears of men tingle with his satire and denunciation of the old abuses and his stirring appeals for reform both in doctrine and practice. The new chancellor's connexion with Cambridge was of J'J'p^^^^j,^^ but recent date, — apparently not earlier than the year 1532. th™™* At that time the chronic strife between university and town ^''™'^" had risen to a point which led the former to make application to the Crown for assistance in the defence of its prescriptive rights, and Cromwell, then the royal secretary, had listened favourably to the petition. The university, to mark their sense of his good offices, had bestowed on him a compli- mentary pension for life, and two years later, on the decease of their high steward, lord Mountjoy (Erasmus's old pupil), had elected him to the vacant office. To the additional dis- tinction now conferred upon him by his election, to the dignity of chancellor, Cromwell responded by measures which aflford a good illustration of his consummate skill and tact in winning popular support. The feud with the townspeople I Cooper, Athenae, i 531, ^ Lloyd, State Worthies, p. 89. 1—2 A.D. 1535 TO 1546. riiAP. I. fi rowing boldness of tde town autliorities. , had not been allayed, and it was foreseen that at next Stur- bridge fair the fray between 'town' and 'gown' would probably assume serious dimensions. Another element had also been imported into the dispute. The jurisdiction of the two ' taxors ' of the university, exercised throughout the year conjointly with two burgesses of the town, included a right of ' search of vitail ' at the fair\ The mayor and burgesses now boldly declared their intention of excluding the taxors from the fair and also of claiming exemption from taxation for certain articles of consumption. In other ways they had also thwarted the legitimate action of the univer- sity : they had failed to appear on the juries summoned to the two half-yearly assizes which the university was empowered to hold, and when appearing, under compulsion, had refused to convict offenders^ Their malice, their sub- terfuges, and their continual encroachments appear to have often tried the temper of the academic authorities to the utmost. "They are wonderfuU maliciouse," wrote Ealph Aynsworth, proctor of the university and afterwards master of Peterhouse, nor does he hesitate to accuse them, in con- nexion with one particular suit, of " uncharitable lyes"." However faint the interest that now attaches to the ^ Stat. Antiq. Ixv, Ivi; Documents, I 349-50 ; Peacock, Observations, pp. 2S-6. The real cause of the sore feeling between the town and the university at this period appears to have been the loss of trade to the town owing to the developement of the college system. The colleges made and baked their own bread and brewed their own ale, and thus be- came independent of the town brew- ers and bakers. This appears very plainly from an appeal, addressed in 1532 to the lord chancellor of the realm and the chief justices by the mayor and burgesses of Cambridge, in which they urge that ' at the time of the said grants made to the uni- versity for the said assize of bread and ale, the substance and greatest part of the said university consisted in hostels, haUs, and other small places ordained for students, which at that time were furnished of all their iread and ale and other victual of the poor occupiers and inhabitants of the said town ; now at this present time, the great substance and more part of the said university oonsisteth in colleges as well of old time as more lately builded, which by reason of their great riches, substance, and possessions wherewith they be en- dowed, been waxen so politic and wise that they have provided brew- houses and bakehouses of their own, and so at these days the more part of the said colleges do brew and bake in their own houses, by means whereof the officers of the said uni- versity give the less care and dili- gence to the true and just assize of bread and ale, but many times for lucre, meed, gifts and reward do suffer great misusage in that behaJf.' Cooper, Annals, i 349. = Ibid. I 372-3. ' Lamb, Documents, p. 34. i umver- TOWN AND UNIVERSITY. 0 history of these local grievances, it is probable that as a . ^^p- ^- . serious source of disquiet they were, for the time, more pr™weu T. J J » , interposes effective than either the Koyal Injunctions or the Oath of J"''^''*"''' Supremacy. In the preceding year, Dr Heynes, the vice- '"^' chancellor, had already addressed a letter to the university suggesting the imperative necessity of concerted action in defence of their privileges, and significantly adding, ' also I pray you remember that ye send letters to Mr Crumwell, thanking him for his goodness and to desyre him to con- tynew'.' It was this suggestion that the authorities now proceeded to carry out. In his interference on behalf of the body over which he had been elected to rule, Cromwell displayed his usual tact. Professedly the man of the popular party, he was anxious not to make enemies among the burgesses ; but at the same time he was well aware that the announcement of his designs in connexion with the univer- sity would shortly try its loyalty and temper to the utmost, and that something must be done to win as far as possible the favour both of Catholic and Reformer in its midst. He had already, in conjunction with Sir Thomas Audlej', lord chancellor of the realm, given the townsmen warning to keep the peace. This was shortly before the fair of 1535. On the fifth of the following September he issued another mandate to ' his loving friends ' the mayor and burgesses, enjoining them to 'permit and suffer' the university 'to use and exercise their privileges ' in the matters above described. On the 15tb of October he reiterated these commands in somewhat more peremptory language: and on the 15th of December a fourth letter, after specifying certain direct violations of the law on the part of the town, concluded with the following menace : ' yet in cace prayer and gentle entreatie cannot pull and allure you away from the doing of wrong and injury, both to the king and his subjects, I will not fail to advance, to the uttermost of my power, justice, and to see punished with extremytie the interrupters thereof, to the example of other^.' 1 Coo-per, AmmU, i 367-8; Lamb, Documents, -p. 35. 2 Ibid. I 377-8. 6 A.D. 1535 TO 1546. Evasive con- duct of the mayor and Tliey put in counter allegations. A letter from the corporation to Cromwell, dated on Michaelmas Day in the following year, reveals another source of contention between the town and the university. It was customary for the newly-elected mayor to take a formal oath that it was his intention and wish to observe and enforce due consideration for the rights of the academic com- munity. This oath the vice-chancellor claimed to admmister in person. The burgesses now evaded the obUgation under the pretext that it rested with Cromwell and the high steward of the town (then the Duke of Norfolk) to appoint the day for the administration of the oath. As however they had altogether omitted to communicate with either authority no day had been fixed, and they could only plead that this was the result of the negligence of the 'olde mayer,' who was 'so remysse in assembling his brithern to knowe their opynyons and myndes in that behalf'.' In the year 1537 we find the corporation assuming the aggressive, alleging 'a certain case of misorder and mis- demeanour' done by the proctors' servants. The result of this indictment does not appear, but on the 15th of May a letter from Cromwell to the town authorities shews that his patience was wearing out before the interminable strife. He laments that ' no entreatie or good meane ' can bring about peace between the two bodies, and intimates that it may be his duty to bring the 'perverse inclinacions ' of the town under the notice of the king himself^ Even this warning however seems to have produced but little effect, for at the ensuing Sturbridge fair the town element distinguished itself by a brutal assault on some members of the university and by other acts involving a breach of the peace. Another letter from Cromwell followed, purporting this time to have been written by the royal direction, wherein he laments that by their 'perverse doings' they should have shewn them- selves ' so unkind ' to him, ' contempning all my letters written unto you in the favor of the universite,' and enjoin- ing, in his majesty's name, prompt submission and obedience. Cooper, Annals, i 384-5. 2 Hid. I 388. TOWN AND UNIVERSITY. 7 But still the obstinacy of the townsmen was unsubdued and . chap, i. ^ they responded only by a series of plausible demurrers which roused the royal wrath to the highest pitch. A letter signed The royai with the royal manual now appeared, enjoming instant compliance with the chancellor's commands, ' any contempt of which,' says the letter, 'we shall not fail to see so punished as it shall be heavy for the transgressors of the said com- mandment to bear it'.' The danger they had invited was now too obvious to admit of further trifling, and in their anxiety to escape the penalties that seemed imminent the burgesses resorted to the disingenuous expedient of bringing a series of counter-allegations against the university. Depu- Final cx- ties were hastily despatched to Hampton Court there to °' *» J r 1 townsmen. confront the vice-chancellor and his proctors in the presence of the king and the lords of the Star Chamber. That they met with but indifferent success may be inferred from the brief but pithy comment that accompanies the entry of the expenses in the accounts of the treasurers of the town, — that ' all was lost as it fortuned".' In the meantime Cromwell's influence at Cambridge had Further pro- made itself felt in another direction, and one much more cromweii T . . PI- "^ Visitor. closely concerning the university as a seat of learning. Both there and at Oxford it begun to be clearly discerned that his accession to power portended not merely reformation, but re- volution. We have already seen^ how the Royal Injunctions had changed both the ecclesiastical allegiance and the studies of the university, — substituting homage to the Crown for the ancient homage to Rome, and altogether suppressing the faculty of the canon law*, enjoining the professors to discard the Sentences for the Bible, and making it lawful for all students to study the sacred volume in private, banishing the •prolix commentators, and requiring the colleges to institute lectures in Greek, putting aside the scholastic interpreters of Aristotle and introducing in their place the more scientific 1 Cooper, Annals, i 339-90. Eome in point of his marriage, did 2 Ibid. I 391. in revenge destroy their whole hive 3 Yol. I p. 680. throughout his own universities.' * 'King Henry stung with the Fuller (ed. Priokett and Wright), dilatory pleas of the canonists at p. 225. 8 A.D. 1535 TO 1546. . CHAP. I. ^ and intelligent expositions of Rudolphus Agricola and Me- lanchthon, or the simpler manual of George of Trebizond. At the same time that these Royal Injunctions were promulgated, Cromwell had been appointed Visitor to the university', with plenary powers to act ' according to his discretion, judgment, and experience.' Burdened however as he was with pressing affairs of state, it was impossible for him personally to discharge the office, and he was accordingly content in turn to appoint a delegate. His selection could hardly have ThE Royal failed to give warning of his purpose. Among the royal commissioners most distinguished during the following three years by their zeal in the work of suppression and confiscation, five names are especially conspicuous, those of Dr London, Dr Tho. Leigh, Dr Richard Leigliton, Dr Ap Rice, and Richard Thornton, the sufiragan bishop of Dover. Among these five, Leigh and Leighton acquired an unenviable no- toriety by their harsh severity ^ They had both been edu- cated at Cambridge and had graduated in civil law'. Leighton, as we have already seen, was about this time busy in expelling the scholastic writers from Oxford, and we also find him acting as one of the commissioners sent to interrogate More Dr Leigh, and Fisher in the Tower*. Leigh had recently returned from a diplomatic mission to Flanders. It would probably be unjust to conclude that he was indifferent to learning, for about this very time he rendered kindly assistance to the eminent but unfortunate Leland, whom he may have per- sonally known when the latter was at Christ's CoUege^ But all accounts agree in representing him as a man of imperious nature and unyielding will. Even those with whom he was shortly after associated as their fellow-com- missioner cried out against him. Ap Rice could not but note his ' satrapike countenance,' and declared that he was ' By the 20th clause of the Act of Fronde, Hist, of England, ii 509. 1533 the right of visitation was » Leighton was b.o.l. in 1522 ; transferred from the pope to the Leigh in 1527, and d.c.l. in 153l! Idng, and Cromwell, as the royal CooTpei, Athenae, i Si, 87. deputy, was invested with plenary •» State Papers, i 431. Po^s'^s. 5 Leland proceeded b.a. in 1521- 'The two most active and un- 2; Cooper, Athenae, i 110. popular of the monastic visitors.' THE NEW INJUNCTIONS. 9 'too insolent and pompatique.' Leighton, of whom Leigh . chap. i. ^ complained as too lenient, retorted by asserting that Leigh was ' overweeningly proud and conceited,' and that he ' used the monks with great severity'.' Such was the man whom CromweU, who never, as Fuller observes, ' sent a slug on his errands,' now deputed to act as his representative at Cam- bridge. The university was not long left in suspense as to the character of the new commissioner's instructions, and but a few days' interval separated the Royal Injunctions from those of Cromwell's surrogate. The latter open, it is true, nr Leigh's ° ^ -*■ Injunctions: with requirements of no alarming nature. Scholars are '^'^- 1^^^. enjoined to observe the 'statutes, constitutions, ordinances, and laudable customs ' of the university ; factions, whether of counties or of colleges are bidden to compose their dif- ferences; heads and fellows are directed neither to sell fellowships nor to take money for the reception of scholars. . ^ Then however follows the main purpose of the missive : \ within less thaii four months from the issuing of these | ■ injunctions", the vice-chancellor and proctors and the heads of houses are commanded to deliver their respective ' charters surrender . '. . . of the of foundation, donation, or appropriation, statutes, constitu- university ^ ^ cnsirterSj etc> tions, pontifical bulls, and other diplomas and papistical muniments, with a full rental of their immoveable property and true inventory of their moveable goods into the hands of Master Thomas Cromwell or of his deputy for the purpose, to await his good pleasure.' Another requirement in the injunctions must be looked upon as of considerable importance, inasmuch as it represents the introduction of a new principle into university education. This is the iniunction directing that the university shall institution *' " . of a univer- institute and maintain, at its own expense, a public lecture in Ij^f^'pf'"'''- either Greek or Hebrew. The details of the directions sound g'^ew.' somewhat strangely to modern ears, for not only is the lecturer required to be one known for his attainments and 1 Cooper, Ibid, i 536 ; Ellis's cation of the Blessed Mary then Orig. Letters (3) n 334; Wright, next;' i.e. the 2nd of February, Suppression of the Monasteries, p. 57. 15 J-j. ^ 'Before the Feast of the Purifi- 10 A.D. 1535 TO 1546. CHAP. I. Importance of the aljove measures. Election of Grayford to the vice- ehancellor- ship, 1S34-S and 1535-6. his rectitude of life, but he must also be willing to lecture ' purely, sincerely, and piously,' and without ' carnal affection or any other ' unjust regard.' Within one month, the whole university is commanded to assemble at St Mary's on the occasion of the celebration of high mass for the souls of the founders of the university and its halls and colleges, as well as 'for the most happy state of our lord the king and of the lady Anne, his lawful wife, queen of this realm, and for the utmost increase of their high honour under whose auspices the Christian faith again flourishes.' Finally the head of each house is required to provide himself with a copy both of these and of the Royal In- junctions, and to cause them to be read monthly in his house to all the scholars, any one of whom, if desirous of transcribing them, is to be at full liberty to do so*. Fuller's estimate of the importance of these injunctions is probably marked by the fact that he gives them at full length in the original Latin. They involved indeed a complete surrender of the university and college property into the royal hands, and perhaps no better proof of the terrorism represented by the rule of Henry and his minister can be given than the fact that both at Cambridge and at Oxford (where like demands were made) they were received not only with prompt and unquestioning compliance, but even with professed satisfaction^ Other signs were not wanting which plainly foreshadowed a policy that demanded for its execution bold, if not unscrupulous, hands. Hitherto it had been deemed a necessary qualification for the vice-chancellor- ship that the candidate for the oflSce should have already been admitted d.d. When however the election for the year 1534-5 took place, John Crayford, master of Clare Hall, 1 Fuller-Prickett & Wright, pp. 216-219. " 'Also the hole universyte of Cambryge be very joyful of your Injunctions, whiohe saye that tber cum never un to the universyte so lawdable, so good, and godly a pur- pose for the common welthe of all the students ther in, savyng iij or iiij of the PharysayoaU Pharysys, from whom that blyndeness that ys rotyd in them ys. impossybyll, or ells very hard, to eradycate and plucke awaye. Yet they saye they woll doo well.' Ellis's Letters, (3) ii 363. CROMWELL S POLICY. 11 was elected -without regard to this precedent, the usual chap. i. qualification being conferred after his election, ut gradus, to quote the sarcastic comment of Dr Cains', qiiaestum ex officio faceret. Originally of Queens' College, Crayford had been one of those who accepted Wolsey's invitation to Cardinal College, and had been selected a canon on that foundation. He subsequently returned to Cambridge, and succeeded to the mastership of Clare Hall. The motive for his election to the vice-chancellorship, without regard to the usual conditions, and his re-election in the following year, is to be surmised from the fact that he was notoriously one well fitted for strenuous measures and stormy times. Tradition indeed would seem to imply that he was qualified rather for the tournament or the wrestling-ring than to wear the academic gown, ' a man of mettle,' as Fuller apologetically suggests, sigiuacance ' chosen of purpose with his rough spirit to bustle through ciecuon. much opposition^' Another election which took place at nearly the same time, and also under Cromwell's influence, points in the same direction. Dr Francis Mallet, one of Election of Cranmer's chaplains, was appointed master of Michaelhouse, and on Crayford's retirement succeeded to the vice-chancellor- ship for the year 1536-7; in the following year he was made chaplain to Cromwell himself. That the loyalty of the universities, stiU largely Catholic, was severely tested by Cromwell's successive measures admits of little doubt, and it appears to have been deemed politic to conciliate both bodies by an important concession in their 1 Cains {de Antiq. Cant. Acad, i a fury cut off the hand from one 156) states that Crayford was ex- Pindar, and cast out a fellow out of pelled from the ooUege ; but Mr the regent-house, catching him up Searle {Hist, of Queens' CoU. p. 158) on his shoulders by main force.' says that though 'there seems to Notwithstanding these harsh traits have been some dispute between the of character, Crayford appears to college and Craforth, no particulars have been not indifiereut to team- have been found.' The statement ing. He afterwards became spiri- would seem to be rendered improba- tual chancellor of the diocese of ble from the fact that Crayford was Durham, and on his death be- invited by Wolsey to Cardinal Col- queathed to the library of the church lege. in that city St Augustine's works (10 2 Fuller-Prickett & Wright, p. vols. fol. 1529), a St Basil in Greek 215. Fuller, quoting Caius, sug- and 'Eabbi Moses in print..' Dur- gests that Crayford was ' gladiator ham Wills, p. 194. vielior quant procanceUarius, who in 12 A.D. 1535 TO 1546. Remission to tile uni- versity of first-fruits and tentlis, Feb. 1685-6. , favour, — the remission of the payment of lirst-fruits and tenths, which in the year 1534 had been imposed by the Crown'. The urgency with which this boon was solicited by Cambridge and the warm expressions of gratitude with which it was acknowledged are significant proofs of the diminution which had already taken place in the resources of the uni- versityl This substantial concession was however accom- panied by a stipulation which is deserving of special notice as marking the commencement of an important change in the system of tuition in both universities, whereby the higher instruction of the students was no longer left dependent upon the regents, — who, with little regard to merit or capacity for instruction, had hitherto succeeded by virtue of mere academic status to the office of teachers — ^but was confided to professors of recognised ability who received a certain adequate stipend. Of this change it will be necessary 1 Stat. 26 Henry viii. c. 3. 2 The effect of this form of taxa- tion in driving away the poor scho- lars in the colleges is insisted upon with singular emphasis by the uni- versity : ' Sentit tamen ex hac re magnam sibi aliquando filiorum orbitatem proventuram esse. Sentit hino hino in academia nunc celebri magnam olim soUtudinem magnam soholasticorum paucitatem fore... Quando nemo est qui nes- ciat omnes fere qui apud nos in col- legiorum sodalitia cooptantur^ licet doctrina ceteros excellant, tamen pauperrimos omnium esse.' Letter to King Henry, Epist. Acad, i 172. In a second letter to Henry, the petitioners expressly disclaim the imputation of exaggeration in their statements: 'Altera res, o princeps, est ipsa academiae tuae salus, quae profecto oonservari diu non poterit si banc sibi imperatam modo pecu- niam quotannis solvere cogetur. Nihil hie figurate a nobis dicetur, nihil amplificationibus, nihil dinosi aut ullo orationis colore ; tantum plane ac simpliciter tum vota nostra tum pericula confitentes vehementer obsecramus Majestatem tnam,' etc. Ibid. I 176. The preamble to the act remitting these payments (Cooper, ,1 iinals, I 379) and the terms in which the petitioners express their thanks shew that these representations had weighed with the king. After de- scribing his generosity as unprece- dented and most princely, they fur- ther characterise it as ' quae tantam pecuniae vim de summa thesauri sui decedere perireque maluerit potius quam in academiis bonas Htterae perirent, potius quam artium omnis generis et diticiplinarum studia mi- sere collapsa, deserta, relictaque iace- rent: Epist. Acad, i 180. That the payment of first-fruits was a real burden is also attested by a letter of Dr Leigh to Cromwell: 'And in divers colleges we founde the nombre of felowes decreased, for that (as they said) they that were chosMi felowes were not able to pay the Kings first frutes; wherfor we think that ye might doo a very good dede yf ye wolde helpe theym to he discharged of that.' Ellis's Letters (3) ni. 117. The authorities of Queens' College found it necessary to reduce the number of fellows in priest's orders from twelve to ten, the order to this effect affirming that the ' hows can- not susteyne the old accustomed number of prestes felows and soho- lers with other charges and also pay the seid x* part.' Searle, Hist, of Queens' Coll. p. 191. THE CLERGY AND THE UKIVEESITIES. 13 to speak more fully hereafter; at present, we have only to ^ chap, r. ^ note the fact that the colleges and halls in each university were now required collectively to support a public lecturer 'in any suche science or tonge as the Kynges majestic shall institution assigne or appoynte,' — the lecture to be called 'King Henry g^^^^*"" the eight his lecture'.' S^i^.e Another measure, passed in the same year, served con- '""^^ siderably to diminish the numbers of the residents in the university. Eight years before, parliament had been called upon to deal with a growing evil of the times, — the non- residency of the clergy, — and had enacted some stringent regulations. It had been ordered that a rector or vicar Number of , , beaeticed should in no case absent himself from his cure for a whole ■''^FBy »' *« universities. month at a time, and that his absence in the aggregate throughout the year should be less than two months. An exception had however been made to these requirements in favour of those beneficed clergy who might be desirous of visiting the universities for the purpose of study, and of this exception many had taken advantage to an extent that called for renewed interference. Never perhaps, either before or since, has the social life of Oxford and Cambridge assumed so attractive a guise when compared with the conditions of life in other parts of the kingdom. They were centres not simply of learning and of intelligence, but also of gaiety and, too often, of dissipation, — features which, when weighed against the moral satisfaction resulting from the faithful discharge of laborious duty in a remote country parish, were often only too potent attractions. The academic authorities, accordingly, found themselves not a little embarrassed and perplexed by the large numbers of middle-aged clergymen who, without devoting any attention to study, 'ne,' as the Act of 1536 sternly adds, 'never entending,' flocked to the university there to pass their time in gossiping at the Dolphin, the Bull, or the White Horse, 'in idleness and in other pas- times and indolent pleasures,' and to occupy the chambers and encroach on the "commodities" designed exclusively for "the relief and maintenance of poor scholars." On these un- 1 Stat. 27 Hen. vin. c. 42. 14 A.D. 1535 TO 1546. CHAP. I. Thej; aro required either to apply tliem- selves to study or to tiieir cures. Thewealtliier clergy re- quired to maintain scholars at the imiversity. Alexander AJane. 6.1600. d. 1566. faithful .shepherds, parliament, under Cromweirs inspiration, now imposed an effectual check : all over forty years of age were required forthwith to betake themselves to their cures, while those under that age were permitted to remain at the university only on condition that they gave satisfactory evi- dence of their studious designs by attendance at lectures and keeping in their own persons 'sophems, problems, disputa- cions, and other exercises of lemyng' and assuming the arduous functions of opponent or respondent in the schools'. In the same year, with the design apparently of replacing these pretended votaries of learning by a more genuine class, certain injunctions to the clergy required every beneficed clergyman whose emoluments from church property aimonnted to £100 yearly, to maintain a scholar at Oxford or Cambridge or at some grammar school, who, says the injunction, 'after they have profited in good learning may be partners of their patrons " cure " and charge as well in preaching, as otherwise in the execution of their offices, or may when need shall be, otherwise profit the commonwealth with their counsel and wisdom".' It was in the year 1534-5 that the Scotch Eeformer, Alexander Alane, visited Cambridge. He had been invited over to England by Cromwell and Cranmer, who hoped to secure in the disciple of Melanchthon and the approved antagonist of Cochlaeus an able champion of the doctrines 1 Btat. 28 Hen. viii. c. 13; Cooper, Annals, i 384; Wood-Gntoh, ii 66, That this statute was directed at a real and serious abuse is evident from the fact that similar require- ments were laid down by the Convo- cation of the province of Canterbury in the reign of queen Mary. Wilkins, Cone. IV 166-7. Beeon, in his Vessel of Joy (Works, Pt. ii. f. 15), says ' God commandeth tithes to be paid. But for what cause? That the mi- nisters should spend them in the Court, or at the university or in keeping of hawks and dogs," etc. 'Nay, verily, but that there should be meat in his house.' ^ WUkins, Cone, in 814. Cooper, Annals, i 386; Wood-Gutch, ii 66. Wood observes, ' The reason for this injunction was because the abbies and priories from whence exhibitions for poor scholars proceeded, were at this time dissolved, and thereupon many of those students that had not wherewith to subsist in the univer sity were forced to leave it and be- take themselves to another course of life.' The injunction was re-enaeted in 1547 under Edward vi. (Cooper, 16. II 16), 'Whether these injunctions were duly observed I find not. I doubt by the hoense given to the clergy to take wives and the distrac- tions in the king's reign, they were not observed.' (Wood-Gutch, n 86). ALEXANDER ALANE. 15 which they sought to uphold'. Alaue appeared at Cambridge . ™^p- '• as the 'king's scholar' expressly charged with the office of lecturing in the university on the Scriptures, and with the more direct design of instructing his hearers in the theology of the German Reformers. He entered at Queens' College, His cxperf- where, according to his own statement, he found congenial Cambridge, companionship, — ' jucundissimum sodalitium ; ' and we can well understand that the story of his youthful and stem experiences in the Scottish university, of his interviews with cardinal Beaton and the merciless prior of St Andrew's, his long incarceration in the noisome dungeon and romantic escape to Wittenberg, his intimacy with Melanchthon and not inglorious controversy with Cochlaeus, could hardly have failed to win for the 'Wanderer"' more than ordinary sympathy and interest. He was however embarrassed by the non-receipt of the pension which Cromwell had promised but never paid' ; while in his office of lecturer he soon found himself confronted by opposition of a kind which clearly attests not only the extent to which the university was still hostile to Lutheran doctrines, but also the boldness with which, notwithstanding the terrorism of its chancellor's rule, it could yet, at times, give expression to this feeling. He was lecturing on the Psalms, when, according to his own account*, he appears to have been interrupted and challenged to defend the views which he maintained. He thereupon intimated his readiness to meet his antagonist in a formal disputation at the schools and named the hour and the day. At the appointed time he was in his place and found a ' He was, says Prof. Lorimer, thon, from the resemblance of his ' one of the first batch of students name to the Greek word d\ati>a, ' to who were educated in the new Col- wander.' See Lorimer, Precursors of lege of St Leonard's, founded in 1512 Krwx, p. 167, note 11. by Prior John Hepburn.'... 'He was ' MS. Parser, oxix, 215; Searle, fond of theological disputation, and Hist, of Queens' Coll. p. 192. soon acquired considerable reputa- * The facts are given by Alane in tion for his dialectical skill.' The a tract which he afterwards pub- Saottuh Reformation, p. 30. Came- lished. Of the authorite of the word rarius speaks of him as ' cupidus of God agaymt the bishop of London, conflictus.' Vitae Quatuor Beform. etc. made by Alexander Alane, Scot, (ed. Neander) p. 79. and sent to the dvke of Saxon, No ^ His name of 'Ales' or 'Alesius' date, was probably given him by Melanch- 16 A.D. 1535 TO 1546. ciiAP.r. considerable number of intending auditors assembled, but " ' his antagonist failed to appear. The feeling excited agamst himself was however so strong that, as he avers, he went in fear of his life and was advised to appeal to the vice- chancellor for protection. But Crayford, who then tilled the • office, shewed him so little sympathy, that Alane, king's scholar though he was, deemed it prudent to quit the university. He accordingly went to London and having resolved on entering the medical profession, there became the pupil of a Dr Nicholas, a physician of note at that time. He takes It SO happened that while Convocation was sitting in 1536, fill active ^^ t* t ^ J • j.1, part in the Cromwell met Alane m the streets ot liondon, and, m the Convocation, j^^pg ^f ggcuriug for the cause which he had at heart the services of an experienced controversialist, introduced him to the assembly. The discussion, which soon became of the warmest, resolved itself into the ancient dispute concerning Church doctrine as distinct from Scriptural authority, or, to quote the language of Alane himself, ' the grosse blasphemy of the unwritten worde.' Alane upheld the teaching of Melanchthon, although, in arguing concerning the definition of a sacrament, he did not disdain to appeal to the definitions of Augustine, the Master of the Sentences, and Thomas Aquinas. He was attacked by Stokesley and as warmly defended by Fox,^the poor fugitive from Cambridge and the ' wonder of the university ' appearing in striking accord. Fox urged the assembly not to appeal to ' the doctors and schole writers ' but to the Scriptures alone, and it is some- what surprising to find him deliberately asserting that ' the lay people do now know the Holy Scriptures better than most of us.' Alane however conducted himself with more zeal than discretion' and his intrusion was resented by some of the bishops. On the following day he received an intimation from Cranmer to this effect and accordingly did not present himself a second time. ^ I must confess myself unable to Alane's own account it appears that concur in Dr Lorimer's statement, he twice assumed a leading part in that Alane delivered his opinion the debate, and was proceeding to do with 'equal modesty and ability' so a third time when CromweS bade {The Scottish Eef. p. 59). From him ' be content for the tyme.' IN'STITUTION OF A CHRISTIAN MAN. 17 The controversy in which he had taken part resulted^ . cuav. t. as is well known, in the Ten Articles, and these again found a place in the most importaot theological treatise of the time, — The Institution of a Christian Man'. This celebrated tiw imn- 1 1 ■, . 1 1 -PI •!_• tution of a volume, — beyond question the most beautiiul composition christian which had as yet appeared in English prose,' — was the joint production of a Commission which included the whole episco- pate, eight archdeacons, and seventeen doctors of divinity and civil law ; an illustrious list, seeing that it contains the names of those who were also the translators of tbe Bible of 1540 and the compilers of the Prayer Book. Essentially a 1 That Alane exercised consider- able influence on the controversies of the time is evident from the lan- guage of Weston, the catholic dean of Westminster, at the disputation at Oxford: 'A runagate Scot did take away the worshipping of Christ in the sacrament, by whose procure- ment that heresy was put into the last Communion Book; so much pre- vailed that one man's authority at that time.' Latimer-Corrie, ii 278. ^ A good account of the Institution is to be found in Mr J. H. Blunt 'a Heformation of the Church of Eng- land, pp. 444-469. He regards it as 'the great dogmatical document of the Eeformation,' and speaks of it as a ' noble endeavour on the part of the bishops to promote unity and to instruct the people in Church doctrine.' ' The spirit of reactionary TJltramontanism,' he observes, 'had not then been imported into English affairs, as it afterwards was by the provocations of Edward vi and his courtiers ; nor had the spirit of Con- tinental Protestantism as yet made its way to any extent among divines ' (p. 446). Mr Perry {Hist, of the Chmch of England, p. 152) also cha- racterises the work as 'a very admi- rable attempt to separate in a calm and reverent spirit, catholic truth ' from the admixture of papal error.' Dr Short, in his Hist, of the Church of England (Append. B to c. 5), gives a detailed comparison of the doctri- nal teaching of the Institution and the Erudition of a Christian Man (the ' King's Book'), whicli was published six years later, with that of the M. .II. Thirty-Nine Articles. So far as it deviated with respect to doctrine from the Eomish Church, the Insti- tution was mainly a reproduction of/ the Ten Articles. Transubstautia- tion was essentially still taught. The placing of images in churches was encouraged, although it was for- bidden to worship them. Justifica- tion was declared to be attained through Christ's merits conjointly with contrition, faith, and worts oi charity on the part of the believer. Prayers for the dead are commended, as also are masses and exequies on their behalf; but the Eoman theory of masses ad scalam coeli, as of effi- cacy to obtain remission from the pains of purgatory, is condemned. The most important innovation was that introduced in the definition of the Church Cathohc as that which ' cannot be coarcted or restrained within the limits of any one town, city, province, region, or country, but is spread and dispersed univer- sally throughout the whole world.' It is a matter of some dispute whe- ther the Institution or the Erudition (published six years later) exhibits the closer approximation to Eomish doctrine; Strype (Mem. i 589) hold- ing that the latter work shews what ' a good step the reformation of reli- gion had made,' while Collier (Eccles. Hist. V 102) considers that it proves that there had been a retrograde movement towards Eolne. Mr Hunt (Religious Thought in England, i 10) considers that Strype's is the more correct view. 18 A.D. 1535 TO 1546. CHAP. I. Essentially an ex- position of the Cambridge tlieology of the time. , compromise between the doctrines of Lutheranism and those of Eoman CathoUcism, the Institution has gained the com- mendation of the majority of our Church historians rather, it would seem, from the spirit in which it was conceived than on account of the standpoint which it represents. For our present purpose it is of exceptional value as an illustra- tion of the spirit and theology of the school of thought predominant in the Cambridge of that day. Of the ascend- ancy of that party in the assembly to which the book owed its origin there can be no reasonable doubt \ Of the twenty-. One bishops only three,— Stokesley, Voysey, and Longlande, — can be regarded as distinctively Oxford men. Cambridge, in fact, was already identified in the eyes of the nation at large with that eclectic spirit which subsequently resulted in the position taken up by the Church of England, and in this relation exercised an influence over the state policy and 1 In the subjoined list the names of those who were educated at Cam- bridge are printed in italics, an as- terisk being prefixed to the names of those who either studied Or proceeded to degrees at hoth universities. The remaining names are those of di- ■vines who had received their educa- tion at Oxford exclusively. Thomas Cranmer, arohbp. of Canter- bury. Edward Lee, archbp. of York. John Stokesley, bishop of London. *Cuthbert Tunstal, , Durham. Stephen Gardiner, , Winchester. Robert Aldrich, , Carlisle. John Voysey, , Exeter. John Longlande, , Lincoln. John Clerk, , Bath. Rowland Lee, , Coventry & Lichfield. Thomas Goodrich, , Ely. Nicholas Shaxton, , Salisbury. •John Bird, , Bangor. Edward Fox, , Hereford. (provost ef King's College.) Hugh Latimer, , Worcester. *John Hilsey, , Eoohester. Richard Sampson, , Chichester. William ReppeH, , Norwich. *William Barlow, , St David's. Robert Parfew, , St Asaph. Robert ffolgate, bishop of Llandaff. Richard Wolman, archdn. of Sudbury, (principal of Paul's Tnn. ) William Knight, ,, Biehmond. *John Bell, ,, Gloucester. Edmund Bonner, ,, Leicester. William Skip, ,, Dorset, (master of Gonville HaU. ) Nicholas Heath, „ Stafford. Cuthbert Marshall, ,, Nottingham.- Richard Curren, ,, Oxford. *WUliam CMfle, canon of York. WiUiam Downes, canon of York. Robert Oking. Ralph Bradford (one of Latimer's chaplains). Eichard Smith (regius prof, of divi- nity, Oxford). Simeon Matthew. John Pryn. William Buckmaster (vice-chancellor of Cambridge). William Mey (afterwards president of Queens' College). Nicholas Wotton. *Eichard Coxe. John Edmunds (master of Peter- house). Thomas Eobertson. John Baker. Thomas Barrett. John Hare. John Tyson.- PARTIES AT CAMBRIDGE. 19 religious thought of the nation throughout the century to . chap, i. which the sister university could make no claim. But although the influence of the Reformation was pre- dominant, there still existed at Cambridge a considerable party who viewed with equal dislike the new learning and the new theology. Alane, as we have just seen, had been Evidence of driven from the university by their machinations, and two feeiingta'^ . •' ' . the uni- years later the same feelings found more formal expression ^™"i- at St John's College. In that society the more reasonable and respectable conservative element was still opposing a pertinacious check to the innovating policy supported by the younger fellows. In 1537 this struggle reached a crisis, and pjecaonat Dr Metcalfe, who had held the mastership ever since theofasuc- , , , cessor to year 1518, was induced under something like compulsion to a/,^i^'° retire from the post. He had been greatly esteemed by Fisher, of whose virtues and habits of thought he was no unfit representative. Roger Ascham, who was then a young Ascham's student in the college, long afterwards described him as one Metciofe's who 'was parciall to none, but indifferent to all: a master for the whole, a father to every one in that college. There was none,' he goes on to say, ' so poore, if he had either wil to goodnes, or wit to learning, that could lacke being there, or should depart from thence for any need. I am witnes myself, that mony many tymes was brought into yong mens Studies by strangers whom they knew not'.' It was however well known that Metcalfe was distrusted by the new chan- cellor and the court, for although he had yielded to the recent innovations with both temper and tact, he was sup- posed to regard them with secret dislike and to be still a Catholic at heart. Under these circumstances the interests of the college may have seemed to call for his removaP, 1 Asoham,Scftofeinas«er(ed. Mayor), nnwillingly resigned) that prefer- p. 160. xaent in the same way that Day had 2 'It is very ohservable that Dr done before him, and that under Day, who succeeded him in the mas- bishop Day's own roof, to make way tership here and was removed from for a third person. And yet these hence to King's CoUege, was after- two great men, who thus jostled out wards obliged to abdicate his pro- one another, had been very dear and Tostship to make room for Cheek, entire in their friendship whilst they and that Sir John Cheek after a few Uved under Dr Metcalfe, to whom years' enjoyment did abdicate (i.e. they both owed their rise and be- 2—2 20 A.D. 1535 TO 1546. CHAP. I. Election of Br Day. Digsolution of the mo- nasteries. but nothing could well be more impolitic than the subsequent conduct of the society. They proceeded to petition Crom- well for full liberty to elect a new master, 'giving him/ according to Baker, 'strong hopes that all should be transacted to his satisfaction'.' Cromwell gave a formal assent to this petition, although at the same time the college received a significant intimation that Dr Day, one of the royal chaplains and public orator in the university, would be no unfit person for their choice. We must look upon it as a last and fruitless effort to assert their inde-- pendence that the majority of the voters elected Dr Nicholas Wilson, formerly master of Michaelhouse, who was not only a staunch opponent of the theory of the royal supremacy but had recently been a state prisoner on a charge of misprision of treason. Fortunately Wilson had the prudence and good sense to decline the perilous honour, and the college, awaking somewhat tardily to the rashness of its conduct, thereupon proceeded to elect Dr Day. The anger of the chancellor, however,' was not lightly expressed, and it needed no slight contrition and all the united eloquence of Fox and the new master to avert from the society the royal displeasure and the consequences of its indiscretion^ The suppression of the smaller monasteries in 1536 and the consequent uprising of the northern counties, though doubtless watched with intense interest both at Oxford and Cambridge, had but slightly affected the actual condition of the two universities. But now the tide of revolution rolled closer, and the visitation of the larger monasteries, followed by their ultimate surrender in 1537 and 1538, both touched the interests and affected the character of academic life very nearly. The work was directed by Cromwell with his usual consummate sagacity. While the most influential of the nobility and gentry were bribed into acquiescence by the promise or the actual bestowal of the richest abbey lands, the scholar and the churchman were induced to keep silence ginning.' Baker-Mayor, p. 105. See, much to the same effect, PuUer- Prickett and Wright, p. 227. 1 Baker-Mayor, p. 110. = Ibid. pp. 111-2. DISSOLUTION OF THE MONASTERIES. 21 by the hope of seeing new and splendid homes of learning , chap, r. _ Endowed from the monastic spoils. Just as the confiscation of the estates of the alien priories under Henry v had given birth to Eton and King's College, — as that of the lands of the smaller monasteries under Wolsey had resulted in the foundation of Cardinal College and the grammar school at Ipswich, — so, it was imagined, the final abolition of the monasteries would prove to the universities a yet more splendid gain. At this period the activity of Latimer is astonishing, and Activity of probably no one individual in those days, Cromwell alone excepted, attracted to himself a larger share of the nation'^ interest and sympathy. We trace him at the university. He is the where he was Cromwell's most trusted agent and corre- correspon- spondent, now furnishing letters of introduction to fellows promweii of St John's about to solicit freedom to elect a master of "^"'""y- their own choice \ or intimating that 'disaffection' (such as had been shewn in the matter of Wilson's election) is not yet altogether banished from that society", — ^now entreating Cromwell to remember 'poor Clare Hall,' at that time groaning under Crayford's despotic rule, — now suggesting that he should, from time to time, send for the masters of the different colleges and inspect the statutes, dismissing the former and altering the latter whenever he might see cause'. We see him in his own diocese issuing injunctions to his clergy to procure for themselves copies of the Institution, and to the monasteries to provide themselves with English bibles and testaments and with schoolmasters who could teach grammar. We find him, again, at Paul's Cross, sounding His in- high and clear the key-note to which the pulpits throughout against tiio T-i i' ••! 1-1- TTTi monasteries. England were enjomed to attune their exhortations. When ' 1 15 Jtdy, 1537. 'For these two " Sep. 6, 1537. 'As for S. John's feUows of St John's College, Cam- college, I can say no more but that bridge, do come to your lordship in all factions and affections be not yet the name of the whole college, to exiled out of Camljridge : and yet, the intent to shew your lordship the my good lord, extend your goodness tenor of their statute as touching the thereunto, forasmuch as you be their election of a new master,' etc. (La- chancellor, that in your time they be timer-Corrie, ii 378). With refer- not trodden under foot.' Ibid, ii ence, evidently, to the election of 382. Metcalfe's successor. ? Ibid, ii 378. 22 A.D, 1535 TO 1546. ciiAP. I. the monasteries bad been finally marked out for destruction, bis unrivalled powers of sarcasm and invective were turned with terrible force upon the most palpable and indefensible abuses. The gross absurdities perpetrated in connexion with the veneration of relics were especially singled out by him for scathing ridicule. ' I think/ he cried, in bis famous second sermon before Convocation, 'ye have heard of St Blesis's heart which is at Malveme and of St Algar's bones, how long they deluded the people; I am afraid, to the loss of many souls. Whereby men may well conjecture that ajl about in this realm there is plenty of such juggling conceits'.' The royal The royal commissioners, on their errand of confiscation, ere and tiie caught up the hint with alacrity. As seen in their letters to monasteries. iti ii ji ... Cromwell, they appear to have been actuated by a spint in which contempt for superstition and greed of gain were somewhat oddly compounded, and the rich settings and jewels that adorned the relics rendered these monastic treasures a special object of their cupidity. 'I have Malkow's ere that Peter stroke of,' wrote the bishop of Dover. Dr London sent v/ord that he had already captured two heads of St Ursula and had tidings of a third. Ap Rice, at Bury, reported the finding of 'the coles that St Lawrence was tested withall, the paring of St Edmundes nayUes, St Thomas of Canterbury's penneknyff and his bootes, and divers skulles for the hed- ache^' The complete enumeration included objects which, though designed by monastic imposture to excite veneration, it appears profanity now to name. To such excesses had an ancient superstition been carried, which, as at first harboured by the Christian Church, might undoubtedly claim the sanc- tion of some of the most illustrious of her teachers. D^is^sdution On Cambridge the final dissolution inflicted a blow of hlu^^'' "which the outward and visible traces long remained. The map executed under the direction of archbishop Parker thirty- sis years later shews the sites and surrounding orchards of three out of the four foundations of the Mendicant Friars 1 Ibid. I 55. Wright. Camden Society), pp. 212 ■^ Letters relating to the Suppres- 234, 85, etc. ' sioii of the Monasteries led. Thos. THE CARMELITES AT CAMBRIDGE. 23 still unoccupied, — the house of the Augustinian Friars near chap. i. the old Botanic Gardens, looking on to what is now Pembroke Street, — that of the Dominicans standing where Emmanuel College with its gardens was shortly to appear, — while a solitary small tenement in one corner of a broad expanse of orchard ground, which is traversed by the King's Brook, alone represents the once splendid buildings of the Fran- ciscans \ Of these foundations, none fell much regretted. The reputation which the Augustinian house had acquired 'tender Barnes' presidency faded away with his departure; and the men who had ruled the Dominican society for the last quarter of a ceutury, JuUys, Oliver, and Pickering, bad acquired little esteem in the university, and were noto- riously opposed to all reform^ It was natural that the university should hold that it had the first claim to benefit by the dissolution of the houses in its immediate neighbourhood, and we accordingly now find the pens of its most distinguished scholars not infrequently employed for the purpose of urging upon royalty and other influential personages the consideration of its case. The Thecarmei- ites and example, in this respect, was first set by Queens College. ^^,S' Between that foundation and King's College there stood the ancient house of the Carmelites, which now presented a pitiable spectacle of external and visible decay. Their poverty indeed had already led them to alienate portions of their property to the authorities of King's College and of Queens". The latter of these societies was at this time presided over ^ Their ancient importance may be 1534:, one Disse, appears to have inferred from the fact that the house been a bachelor of divinity and to had been, in the reign of Richard ii, have preached in the university selected as the place of assembly for church. Report of Hist. MSS. Gom- the Parliament which met at Cam- mission, iv 417. bridge. Baker-Mayor, p. 38. ' Searle, Hist, of Queens' Coll., p. ■■^ An exception however is to be 194-6. On 25 Nov. 1533, the Car- made in favour of the prior at the melites leased to William Bussing, time of the dissolution, who is de- a fellow of King's, a garden with a scribed by Hilsey, bishop of Roches- house thereupon, which lay on the ter, in a letter to Cromwell, as 'a north side of their church. This man off good lemynge and a prechare piece of ground was finally ceded to off God's trewe gospell,' and also as King's College for £26. 6s. 8d. dur- opposed to image worship. Ellis's ing the provostship of John Chete, Letters (3), iii 98. The head of the Cooper, Annah, A. & C, p. 258. Franciscan house in Cambridge in 24 A.D. 1535 TO 1546. CHAP. L Theantho- ntiesof Qneens' College petitioa the Crown for the transfer of the premises of the Carmelites into their , by Dr Mey, a warm supporter of the Reformation, and dis- tinguished by the ability with which he had discharged the duties of the office of commissary to Cranmer in the diocese of Norwich. To his pradence and aptitude for practical affairs', the college was largely indebted throughout this period, and in the work of administration he was effectively seconded by two of the fellows, — one the celebrated Thomas Smith, the other, Richard Wilkes, afterwards master of Christ's College. In view of the impending dissolution, Dr Mey bad already obtained from the Carmelites a formal promise of the transfer of their property into the hands of the college authorities*. It was however necessary that this transfer should be sanc- tioned by the Crown, and for this purpose a letter, couched in a superior Latrnity, at once suggestive of Smith's hand, was forwarded to Cromwell, beseeching hi^ good offices in their behalf It sets forth that the friars, owing to the decline of false religion and of the supplies once yielded by the practice of mendicancy, had already nearly all forsaken the house; and those who remained were unable alike to maintain themselves and to keep the premises in repair. The writers doubt not that it is the royal design (cujus te non immerito caput et principem esse putamus) to convert the house to better and more reputable uses, and they suggest that the premises, though not extensive, woidd be most useful to the coUege. They proceed accordingly to iirge their claims on the royal favour. They recall how, whenever royalty had visited Cambridge, Queens' College had almost invariably been selected as its place of sojourn, the college standing remote from the noise of the town, and being not without a certain charm of situation. But if the adjacent property should pass into other hands it was im- possible to say to what base uses it might not be turned: a granary, or perchance a tannery, might arise, which the ^ Downes says of Tiim 'he was well skilled in the constitntion both of Chnich and State, and there was scarce any considerable step t&ken towards the leformation of the pre- vailing coimptioiis and abases with- out consulting his opinion.' Lices p. CW XV. ' Searle, Hist, of Queens' Coll., p 222. THE CAKMELITES AT CAMBBLDGE. 25 college would find a great annoyance and royalty itself, on a . chap.l future visit, most displeasing! On the other hand, the bestowal of these buildings on the college would be a lasting source of comfort and congratulation to the society, and attended, the petitioners would fain hope, with some advan- tage to his royal Majesty himself*. Cromwell, who was then with Henry at Arundel Castle, did not keep the petitioners long in suspense. Their appeal was dated the 8th of August, and on the 16th an answer was returned that the college was empowered, in conjunction with the provost of King's, Dr George Day, to take possession of the property, and, after drawing up a complete inventory of the goods, to hold the same until the royal pleasure was further known. On the 28th of the same month, the Car- sairender of the mehtes, now only slk in number, signed a formal deed of SS'ak'Sas. surrender ; and for the next seven years the bursar's accounts shew us the college authorities employed in taking down windows, repairing locks, removing nettles from the neglected garden ground, and finally, in the year 1541, purchasing of the king's officers the entire building materials of the ancient fabric*. On the 8th of November in the same year, the last of snpprcssion •' ' of the these foundations, that of the venerable and once illustrious g^^^^ society at Barnwell, surrendered to Dr Leigh in the chapter- house. Although the valuation made by the commissioners in 1534 shews that the revenues of the priory were stiU con- siderable*— they were exceeded by those of only two of the colleges in Cambridge, King's and St John's, — the fact that but six canons, besides the prior, attested the deed of surren- der, proves that the house had participated in the prevalent decay. Encouraged apparently by the success of the authorities ocl ^ at Queens', the university now commenced to press its claims ^^g^, more boldly on the attention of the crown, and in the October ^p*^ of 1538 addressed to Henry a letter congratulating him on clS^e may be_ con- 1 MS. Cotton, 'Faustina,' C. Tii, 'The revenue was estimated at "^^^^ 102; Searle, Ibid. 'Additions,' pp. £256. lU. lO^d. Cooper, Annals, yi, -rii. I 370. « Searle, Ibid. pp. 228-9. 26 A.D. 1535 TO 1546. Further petitions with the same object. his policy of confiscation and at the same time pleading in sufficiently plain language for some share in the spoil. It servilely compared itself to the trembling soldier whom Augustus, as told by Suetonius, rebuked for the groundless trepidation with which he presented his petition \ The un- failing clemency, the virtues, and the ardent regard for piety which distinguish Henry, embolden the petitioners to ask for that for which otherwise they could scarcely have ven- tured to hope. They dilate on the splendid results already achieved by the royal policy: the Eoman pontiff shut out from the realm, — his indulgences, diplomas, and other empty pretences (nugae) given to the winds, — the superstitious life, vain religion, and monstrous rites of monasticism abolished, — the friars, 'a race begotten of fraud and falsehood, the rem- nant of the Pharisees and false philosophers,' expelled. But it is not, they urge, sufficient to root up the evil weeds, good seed must also be sown; and the university is deeply moved by the spectacle of the downfall of these societies in its midst, — moved, not to deplore their fate, but to hope that these ancient haunts of superstition and vain religion may yet be made subservient to Christian doctrine and to the spread of sound learning, — that, in brief, these same houses, from whence 'swarms of lazy drones and great throngs of impostors were once wont to issue,' may be converted into colleges, the resorts of 'young men distinguished by their aptitude for learning or of older men well quaUfied for preachino•^' That this and similar petitions were received with at least apparent favour, may be inferred from the sequel It began to be rumoured that it was the royal design to found a new and splendid college, endowed from monastic revenues ; while we find the university, as the next step, venturing openly to beg for the gift of the noble premises of the Franciscans. A petition to Henry, drawn up apparently in 1 Suetonius, Avrivstus, o. 53. ^ Strype, Memorials, i ii, App. 86. Both Strype (Ibid. Vol. i, pt. i, c. 41) and Cooper, in the abstract given by him {Annals, i 392), represent the university as referring in this peti- tion to the monastic foundations generally; but the expression 'movet nos frateroulorum nostrorum ruina' proves, I think, very 'clearly that the petitioners had at the time only the Cambridge houses in view. THE MONASTERIES AND THE UNIVERSITIES. 27 November, 1539, both contains a distinct allusion to the , chap, i. ^ probability of the foundation of another college and dwells at length upon the great importance of the Franciscan buildings to the university'. In the following January, again, a letter, pro Academia, written by Roger Ascham, e senatu nostra, to Thirleby, bishop of Westminster", expresses the concern of the community at the little progress they are making in their endeavours to attain the latter object of their desire, — 'the house of the Franciscans,' says the letter, 'is not only an ornament to the university but is especially suited for holding congregations and for the transaction of the other business of the body V Another feature common to these two letters is that they Theso alike describe the university as much straitened in its pecu- shew that .... . ^^^ ^"^~ niary resources and materially diminished in numbers. The ^^^^^^^^ letter to the king speaks of the students in the colleges as ai°d™dlf^ed applying with commendable industry to their studies, but"""™™" adds that these are now almost the only students left in Cam- bridge^ Ascham declares that 'poverty casts aside shame in begging,' and implores Thirleby to have compassion on his ' 'Interea temporis fratrum jam ' ' Franciscanonmi aedes non modo vacua coenobia, si vel in id tempua decus et ornamentum academiae, sed quando collegium aliqtwd erigere opportunitatea magnas ad comitia et placebit tuae Maj. servanda, vel ad omnia aeademiae negotia oonficienda rcipub. nostrae usus, ut necessitas habent.' Ascham, Epist. p. 332. exigat, aliter disponenda, etc 't 'Nam sive ita vertentibus rerum Franciseanorum aedes, ubi actus in- vicibua languidiores homines ad stu- signiores ante comitiaque nostra cele- dia litterarum fiant, sive quia patroni brabantur, quam sunt ad decus aca- ac meeaenates desunt, Academias in- demiae tuae neoessariae, quamque viti deserunt, sive quod non tanta gratam rem nobis omnibus, quam inde compendia aperent, maguoa pro- necessariam nostrae reipub., quam gresaua et uberiorem disoiplinam iam tua Munifioentia dignam, si vel eas plurimi negligant, sive quae sit alia modo largiaris, faoies, non commode cunque causa, illud pro comperto litterae, plenius ao melius viva Pro- habemua, turbam scholasticorum nos- canoellarii nostri vox enarrabit.' trorum vehementer esse imminutam, Letter to Hen. VIII, Epist. Acad, i et praeter eos quos alunt collegia, qui 207-9; Baker MSS.x393. Baker adds, diu bonis litteris et continenter incum- ' Scriptae erant litterae M'". Writhis- bant, aut nullos apud nos, aut perquam leo et D. Thomae Crom. Cauc. nos- paucos inveniri. Quam vero exiguum tro, dat. Nov. 5, sub eodem tenore, numerum, ad innumeram tuam ple- viz. de Franciscorum aedibus et de bem edooendam, Academiae duae novo coUegio instituendo.' Ibid. nisi valde populosae ac frequentes 2 He was of Trinity Hall and had fuerint, possint emittere, nemo me- proceeded d.c.l. in 1530. Cooper, lius ac rectius quam tua pnidentia Ath. I 287. novit.' Epist. Acad, i 207. 28 A.D. 1625 TO 1640. CHAP. I. _ Tffii^li the teaching of any one of the Fathers for 500 years after Christ. This broad challenge met with no direct re- sponse, but some eighteen months later, Montagu received a tract bearing the title, A Gagg for the New Gospel, in which certain doctrines, alleged to be those of the Church of England, were examined and refuted. The writer, whom Montagu stigmatises as 'a very worthless author,' seemed scarcely to deserve a reply, had not the opportunity appeared to be one not to be lost. Here were certain tenets held up to condemnation, which were asserted to be those of the English Church, — Montagu held that they were not taught by his Church, and that a formal disclaimer to that effect was peremptorily called for. The language in which he subsequently explained his point of view deserves to be OToc'S his especially noted : ' I was forced upon the controversies of tosee the°^'' thcse times,' he wrote, ' between the Protestant and Romish England Confessiouists. And because it hath bin ever truly counted sponsible for a readier way for the advancement of piety rather to lessen doctrines not "^ ^ x ./ trfbutoWeto ^^'^ abate than to multiply the number of many needless her teaching, contentions in the Church : therefore when I first under- tooke to answer that very worthless author, I did it with a firmed purpose to leave all private opinions and particular positions or oppositions whatsoever, unto their own authors or abettors, either to stand or fall of themselves; and not to suffer the Church of England to be charged with the maintenance of any doctrine which was none of her own, publickely and universally resolved on. For we are at a great disadvantage with our adversaries to have those tenents put and pressed evermore upon us, for the generall doctrine established in our Church, which are but eyther the problem- aticull opinions of private doctors, to be held or not held eyther way ; or else the fancies many of them of factious men, disclaimed and censured by the Church, not to be held any way^.' 1 Epist. Dedic. to the Appello tradition de I'Eglise, mais uon pas Caesarem,a,v. It is difficult here not vos casuistes... Je vois Men. ..que to be reminded of Pascal and his fifth tout est bien veuu chez vous, hormis Provincial, — 'Je oroyais ne devoir les anciens Peres.' Lettres Provin- prendre pour regie que I'Ecriture et la dales, ed. 1853, pp. 95, 103. Of the EICHARD MONTAGU. 29 Such was the language in which Montagu ultimately . chap, i. justified his position to king Charles. For the present, he preferred to issue a lengthy pamphlet, extending to 328 quarto pages, which he apparently had not time to con- dense within more reasonable limits, entitled 'A New Gagg for an Old GooseK' Although not free from the scurrility that characterised the controversial literature of those times, this production is justly described by Gardiner as 'a tem- perate exposition of the reasons which were leading an increasing body of scholars to reject the doctrines of Eome and Geneva alike I' It was the writer's aim to shew that ^|/X*'- the 'errors' attributed by Calvinist or Romanist to Pro- *(f^i°^^„°/ testantism were not errors at all, but the outcome of a deliberate suspension of judgement with respect to certain opinions, — opinions which had been raised, without adequate authority, by certain doctors of those communions to the dignity of dogmas. He accordingly brings forward a series of these doctrines, among them those of predestination, transubstantiation, the identification of the pope with Antichrist, the duty of confession to a priest ''j the inter- cession of angels, prayers for the souls of the departed, and seeks to prove that they are, as he above describes them, ' problematical opinions ' of doctors, or the ' fancies of factious men ' ; but in each case it is his endeavour to shew that the Protestant divine does not seek to put aside these doctrines by a sweeping negation, but rather to relegate them to the authors vaunted by Pascal's anta- are expresse for confessing. Igraunt: gonist, Frances Suarez and Gabriel and for confessing of sinnes too, but Vasquez were probably already well not expresse for publique or private known to not a few Anglican di- confessing; not for confessing unto vines. whom, to man or unto God ; not, 1 A Gagg for the New Gospel? No: whether in generall they confessed A New Gagg for an Old Goose. Who themselves sinners ; or, descended to would, needes undertake to stop all some particulars there more ordinary Protestants mouths for ever, with 276 direct and enormious sinnes. These places out of their owne English are not instanced, discerned nor Bibles. ...By Eichard Mountagu. determined. Writers are divided in London, 1624. opinion. You know it not: only ^ Gardiner, Hist, of England, v because there was confessing of 352. sinnes, it must needes be such confes- ' The following is a good specimen sion of such sinnes as you imagined.' of his mode of argument : ' The A New Gagg, p. 85. words of our Bible {Matth. iii 5, 6) tbeuni- veraities. 30 A.D, 1535 TO 154C. . CHAP. L the monk, "for it importeth many things, to Kve well, to dis- charge the cure'.'" The dissolute tone of many of the monasteries found expression however in something more than openly avowed dislike of moral restraints. At the time when Latimer told this story in the presence of king Edward, there were pro- bably not a few still living at Cambridge who could well remember the tragical fete of Edward Loud a quarter of a century before, and how when that gallant gentleman had been liberated from Cambridge castle, where his bold opposi- tion to the vicious monks of Sawtrey had led to his temporary imprisonment, he had made merry with his friends at the university', other and Other members of the monastic profession there were, aweei- howover, of a widely different stamp. John Houghton, the amples . . ^^^^^ heroic and saintly prior of the LoBdon Carthusians, too^ether monastic •/ ir ' o ttTS™ ynAh WiUiam Exmeuse, of the same house, both of whom suffered for their denial of the royal supremacy', had received their education in the university and appear to have passed with some distinction through the ordinary course. The 'grand old abbat ' of Glastonbury, whose cruel and unmerited end moved the compassion of the whole realm, was both M.A. and D.D. of Cambridge, and under his rule Glastonbury had become a noted school for the universities as well as a much frequented centre of education for the young nobility and gent^y^ John Bale, the well-known writer, had passed from a Carmelite foundation to Jesus College. John Barret, afterwards a canon of Norwich and a laborious student of the writings of the Reformers, was a member of the same order when he proceeded D.D. in 1533*. Miles Coverdale, who graduated as bachelor of the civil law in 1531, had been 1 Third Sermon before Edward VI, was of Christ's College and was one Mar. 22, 1549; Latimer-Corrie, i of the fe-w monks of the time who 153. had any knowledge of Greek. ' See Strype, Memorials, Vol. i, * Cooper, Athenae, i 520. pt. i, c. 46, where the incidents are = Hid. i 71. Bichard 'Whiting, narrated. styled by Leland, ' homo sane candi- ' See Mr Fronde's account of the dissimns et arnicas mens singnlaris.' foundation in the ninth chapter of Be Seriptt. Britt. (ed. HaU), i 41. his History of England. Exmeose • Ibid, i 224. THE MONASTERIES AND THE UNIVERSITIES. 31 a member of the Augustinian friary at Cambridge'. Among . chap, i. those who assisted in the compilation of the Institution of a ChHstian Man, Parfew, bishop of St Asaph and bachelor of divinity at Cambridge, was a monk of the Cluniac order and still held the abbey of Bermondsey in commendam ; while Hilsey, bishop of Rochester and d.d. of Oxford, who had studied at both universities, was prior of the Dominicans in London when their house was finally surrendered into the royal hands'. Scory, afterwards bishop of Hereford, whose signature occurs in the surrender of the house of the same order at Cambridge, proceeded in the following year to the degree of d.d. by a grace which stated that he had been for nine years a student in the faculty of theology'. The heads of the houses of the Augustinian Canons which made their surrender at this time to the Crown, at Ipswich, Lees, and St Ositb's in Essex, at Kirkby Bellars in Leicestershire, Cokesford in Norfolk, at Huntingdon, and at Merton in Surrey, — those of the Augustinian friaries at Cambridge and at Tickhill in Yorkshire, — the abbats of the monasteries at Thorney, Peterborough and Ely, at Westminster, Saffron Walden and Hyde near Winchester, of Ensham in Oxford- shire and Selby in Yorkshire, — those of the Cistercian houses at Bordesley in Worcestershire, at Buckfastleigh in Devon- shire, of Bittlesden in Buckinghamshire, of St Mary Byland in Yorkshire, of Bindon in Dorsetshire, and of Tiltey in Essex, — were all men who had passed through the regular course of study requisite for a degree in theology or the canon law at Cambridge. If, in addition to the head of each society, we remember that the statute of 1535 must have compelled each of the larger monasteries to support one or two students at the university, we can readily understand that the overthrow of these ancient foundations must have involved a temporary diminution of the numbers at Oxford ^ Ibid. I 268. The two August- however {Hist, of St John's Coll., inian orders undoubtedly represented p. 47) speaks slightingly of the learn- a considerable share of the intellec- ing of the Augustinian Canons at tual activity of the time. Dr Lori- Cambridge. mer notes that in Scotland many of = Cooper, Athenae, 1 170 and 70. the Reformers came from their ranks. ' Ibid, i 511. Patrick Hamilton, p. 164. Baker, 32 A.D. 1535 TO 1546. The monasteries themselves not altogether corrupt. Feelings with which the dissolu- tion was regarded hy the laity at larg& , and Cambridge scarcely less serious than would result, in the present day, from a sudden diversion of those educated at the public schools'. Justice, again, requires us to admit that the condition of many of these societies was very far from being of the kind represented in the unscrupulous exaggerations of the Black Book. The commissioners, strongly prejudiced though they were and eager to Usten to all that might discredit and defame the monastic character, were yet obliged to allow that there were houses with the administration of which they could find no just fault. Those at Newark, Folkestone, Dover, Ramsey, and not a few others, presented to the most inquisitorial scrutiny a state of discipline, order, and economy, which it was impossible to gainsay^. Leland has left on. record the admiration with which he first beheld the splendid structure at Edmundsbury — ' like a great city, with its brazen gates and towers,' — and the no less reverent awe with which he gazed at Glastonbury on the vast assemblage of ancient authors in the library'. Although moreover the most zealous and prejudiced members of the Reform party could see in the monastery only the home of ignorance, the stronghold of obsolete superstitions, and a shelter for vicious and abandoned men, to the great majority of the nation, who had nothing to gain by the overthrow of these ancient societies, the associations they suggested were of a very different kind. Many a noble had received his education within monastic walls and not a few had there found shelter with their families in times of difficulty and distress*. There was scarcely a merchant who 1 A letter addressed by the univer- sity of Oxford to Sir Thomas More plainly indicates both the oommence- ment and the causes of this decline : it speaks of abbats recalling their monks ; nobles, their sons ; and priests their young kinsmen. Wood- Gutch, II 69. See also Huber's ob- servations in his English Universi- ties, I 256-9. " Wright, Suppression of the Mo- nnsteries, pp. 89, 93, 98, etc. " 'Vix certe limeu intraveram. cum antiqnissimorum librorum vel solus conspectus religionem, nescio an stuporem, animo incuteret meo; eaque de causa pedem pauUulum sistebam.' De Scriptt. Britt. i 41. * 'The common people well liked them and generally were very fond of them; because of the hospitality and good housekeeping there used. The inhabitants of these cloisters relieved the poor, raised no rents, took no excessive fines upon renew- ing of leases; and their noble and THE MONASTERIES AND THE LAITY. 33 had not met there with a welcome and a resting-place when chap, t. ^ on his journeys ; not a scholar who envied not the treasures of learning there enshrined, the legacy of a less degenerate race. Men could remember how often at the decline of day, as the sunset reddened on the ancient towers, the weary cavalcade had halted at some abbey gate, to find there a hospitality which was seldom otherwise than heartily accorded and was often sumptuous and profuse in character. They could remember how as they had sat at the social board they had listened to and discussed each new item of intel- ligence,— the designs of Wolsey, the machinations of the emperor, the vacillations of the French monarch, and the perplexities and trials, amid all these contending interests and passions, of the Holy Father at Rome ; grave themes, varied perhaps by some story none too chaste from the wanton page of Poggio or Boccaccio, until the evening service with its impassioned chant and plaintive Miserere summoned them to loftier thoughts. To all these familiar experiences there was now an end, and notwithstanding the shouts of exultation with which the work of destruction was urged on, not a few, from the zealous reformer of the sixteenth century to the candid historian of the nineteenth, while admitting that monasticism as a system was obsolete, have yet seen cause to regret that its institutions should have altogether perished'. Thoughtful minds have held, even in these later The total -^ ° -, n -I abolition of times, that it might be well if some such retreats tor the jj™«_^«^^g heart-stricken and the desolate still existed among us, where ^^^"^^ those unfitted by temperament or defect for the rude warfare XliSes. weU-built structures adorned the and the interesting fourteenth ohap- places and countries where they ter of Haweia' Sketches of the Be- stood. The rich also had here edu- formation. cation for their children.' Strype, ^ See on this point Blunt (J. H.), Memor. Vol. i, pt. i, c. 46. Henry Reformation of tlie Church of Eng- Stafford, son of the duke of Buck- land, p. 281 ; Leoky, Hist, of Morals, ingham, is represented in a letter to ii 392. ' There is,' says this latter king Hemy as having been 'fayne writer, 'I think, no fact in modem to lyve full powerly at boorde in an history more to be deplored than that abbey this four yere's day, wyth his the Eeformers, who in matters of wyfE and seven children.' EUis's doctrinal innovations were often so LetUrs (2nd series) ii 24. See also timid, should have leveUed to the facts cited from the evidence of dust, instead of attemptmg to regene- Eobert Aske when in the Tower, rate, the whole conventual system of Froude, Hist, of England, ii 501-2; Catholicism.' M. II. '5 3-1. j\.D. 1535 TO 154G. CHAP. I. of life, or smitten, it might be, by some irretrievable calamity, which had embittered the cup of worldly intercourse for ever, might yet cast their solitary remaining talent into a common fund, and treading an unbroken and tranquil round of lowly duties and devout observances, pass the remainder of their days nearer in thought to heaven and in action more helpful to man. The duke of Is'orfjlk In the year 1540, a vacancy having occurred in the office Ito'^™*" of high-steward to the university, the duke of Norfolk was University, elected to the post. His eldest son, the earl of Surrey, was at the same time united with him in the office. No name now stood higher than the father's in the general esteem, and seven years before, the university when soliciting his intervention on their behalf against the townsmen, had dilated on his still growing fame, — had recalled the prowess which had inflicted at Flodden so deadly a defeat on Scotland, and declared him, next to the king himself, the chief bulwark and pillar of the state'. His recent victory over the northern rebels' had yet further added to his renown, while his political leanings were of a kind that served to conciliate not a few Significance of the partv over whom that victory had been oained. His, election may accordingly be interpreted as of twofold signifi- cance : as indicating a sense on the part of the university of the absolute necessity, at this critical juncture, of winning the powerful to the support of its interests, and also a certain reaction against the influence of the Reform party. The old duke was no friend to the changes in progress either in letters of the election. ^ 'Neque enim nesoimus quanto- pere Eegni huius salus et incolumitas e tua salute pendeant et sustenten- tur qui secundum regem ipsum oui- nium consensu es maximum huius regni propugnaculum et columen. Qui ut praesens iam et in republica versans magnam ounctis huius regni incolis seouritatem praestas praesen- tia tua, adversus Bellicos omnes ru- mores et metus hostiuni; ita dum absens in Gallia legatus ageres in- gens tui desyderinm nobis fuit, dum ad omuem de Scottorum in nostros fines inoursionibus rumorem, Nor- f olsiensis statim duels virtutem prae- sentiamque desyderamus ; dum recor- daremur tuae et fortitudinis et Bei militaris peritiae ; maxima vero dum oogitaiemus clarissimam tuam de ilia gente victoriam, quam ante multos annos ipsorum occiso rege et exercitu onmi victo et profligato nobis reportasti.' Letter {written by George Day) from the University to the duke of Norfolk, Oct. 4, 1533. Epistolae Academiae, 1 131—2. ^ The duke had halted at Cam- bridge with his army when on his way to the north. State Papers, Hen. VIII, I 494, 518. THE UNIVEESITIKS AND ROME. 35 or religion. He had been heaixi to declare that 'it was chap. i. merry in England before the new learning came up'; as for the Bible, ' he never had read it and he never would.' The rupture between the imiversities and Rome might Therni- well, it is true, have appeared irrepai-able. In 1536 an Act of J^'"j;S^'" Parliament had required of every person proceeding to any ^^IT degree in any university of the reakn, to make oath before '^"''"^ the commissary of such universit}-, ' that he from henceforth shall utterly renounce, refuse, relinquissh or forsake the , Bishoppof Rome and his auctorite, power, and jurisdiccion"; j while the papal bull, issued two ye;irs later, excommunicat- ing Henry in terms, to quote the language of Father Paul, such as ' had never been used by the pontiff's predecessors, nor were ever imitated by his successors',' seemed finally to close the door against all reconcihation between the Holy See and the English Crown. Yet notwithstandinsr the party nractionary «.,,_. o r J symptoms. of reaction were still active and far from despondent, and the Act of the Sis Articles had proved their power. Latimer had resigned his see, and was for some time the prisoner of bishop Sampson ; while bishop Sampson's confessions when, in 1540, he was himself committed to the Tower, revealed a concerted effort, of which Giudiner, Tunstal, and Stokesley were the chief leaders, for preserving in the English Church the most important doctrines and rites of Catholicism'. An outbreak of more than ordinary turbulence at the re-election of Dr Buckmaster to the vice-chancellorship for the year 1539-40 probably indicates the excited state of parties within the university*. Cromwell had sanctioned the election to the high-steward- ^J^"^,, ship and had even designated the duke as the more eligible of two candidates for the honour, but within a few months the hand of Norfolk himself plucked the insignia of the garter from his neck in the council chamber, and another of the chancellors of the university died on the scaffold. 1 Stat. 28 Hen. nn, c. 10, ss. 6 ■* See A Broyle upon the attempt of and 7; Cooper, Annals, i 382. D. GUjn the Lower for the Eh-ction ^ Strype, Memor. Vol. i, pt. i, o. 43 of a Tice-Chancdlor contrary to the ad rill. myndes and libertyes of the Begeiili!'. ■' Ibid. Yol. I, pt. i, c. 42. printed in Cooper, Annals, i 3115-6. 36 A.D. 1535 TO 1546. CHAP. I. Cambeidqb IH 1540. St .John's College. Testimony of Ascham and Kdward Grant. Cromwell was succeeded by Gardiner, whose tact and com- pliant character had marked him out as a fit instrament for the accomplishment of the royal designs. He was now high in Henry's favour, — favour however not unmingled with con- tempt for his too manifest lack of principle'. His rise since the time when he first comes prominently into notice as master 4)f Trinity Hall and a supporter of the royal divorce had been singularly rapid. He had been promoted to the see of Winchester. He had been employed on more than one im- portant state negotiation, and was this very year despatched as ambassador to France. He had taken an active share in the promulgation of the Six Articles, and Melanchthon, pained beyond measure at their character and the harshness of the penalties with which they were enforced, cast on him the chief blame. That his election as chancellor was, on the whole, a politic measure, there seems little reason to doubt. He was now in his forty-sixth year, a ripe scholar and a skil- ful orator, and he subsequently proved himself a jealous guardian of the academic interests and privileges ; while al- ready the rising talent of the university was beginning to look to him as a judicious patron of struggling merit. Of the Cambridge of 1540 it may probably be said with truth, that never had the need or the desert of her scholars been greater, and St John's, to its lasting honour, may fairly claim the distinction of including among its members at this time a majority of the most able teachers and the most promising students in the university. Roger Ascham, writing about seven years later, declares that from their society went forth the talent which formed the ornament of nearly every other college in the university''; while more than a quarter of a century afterwards, as he recounted the names of those who ' This trait in Gardiner's charac- ter seems to have been soon noted by Henry's shrewdness ; in a letter to an unknown individual written in 1536, he says : ' we may well peroeyue hym to have ostentyd and bostyd hym to have doone more then in deede he hath, and u, coloryd dowblenes ether to be in hym or in Morres, or in hothe.' Ellis, Orig. Letters (2nd ser.), u 86. Compare Burnet's state- ment, that the king used Gardiner ' not as a counsellor but as a slave.' Bumet-Pocock, i 401. ^ '. . .ex nostro coetu proficiscuntur, qui reliqua fere singula collegia ex- plent et ornant.' Letter to Somerset, Epist. p. 292. ST John's college. 37 had adorned the college in his own time, he could venture to chap. t. assert that it then numbered more true scholars than the university of Lou vain could shew in a long course of years \ Not less emphatic is the testimony of his biographer, Edward Grant, also, for a short period, a member of the same founda- tion and afterwards the eminent master of Westminster School. He does not hesitate to declare that in Ascham's time the number of ' learned theologians, erudite philosophers, and eloquent orators ' at St John's equalled, if it did not sur- pass, that which could be found in any other single home of letters throughout the world^ It does not appear that the several masters who ruled the Masters of society after the time of Metcalfe are entitled to much of the coiiege. credit that attaches to this satisfactory state of affairs. Dr Day, George Day, who succeeded Metcalfe, was a man of considerable abilitv, and ch-chester. _ , . •} ' 0. 1501. his Latin scholarship is sufficiently attested by his letters *^*^^ written when public orator, to which office he was elected in 1528 on the retirement of Richard Croke'; he was the tutor of John Cheke and appears also to have been the first to deliver lectures on the Linacre foundation in the college. But in the same year that he was elected to the mastership, the provostship of King's became vacant by the death of the accomplished Fox, bishop of Hereford, and Day was trans- ferred to the more lucrative office''. His appointment as 1 Seholemaster (ed. Mayor), p. 62. that it shews the genius of a great " 'Imo certe in hoc uno eollegio, man.' Baker-Mayor, p. 110. The quod ea aetate singula totius orbis salary was raised to £4 yearly; 'et literarum domicilia et doetissimorum pro lahoribua quos superioribus die- theologorum numero, eraditissimo- bus sustinuit xxvi' viii"'. ' Documents, rum philosophorum turba, eloquen- i 436. tissimorum oratorum multitudiue, ^ The provostship of King's was vel juste adequare, vel longe superare at this time by far the most valuable posset, erant complurimi homines, piece of preferment in the university, omni politiori literatura, linguarum- being more than half the value of all que cognitione praestantissimi.' de the otlier headships together. The Vita Aschami, p. 6. stipend attached to the mastership ^ It would seem that his services of St John's, which ranked second in were specially appreciated by the value, was not a third the amount, — university, for a grace was passed to the master receiving, according to the increase the orator's stipend 'for Mr Commission of 1546, for stipend, Days time ' (Baker MSS. xxxi 186). £12 ; for commons, £5. is. ; for In this capacity it devolved upon livery, £1 ; while the provost of King's him to draw up the university decree received, for stipend, £66. 13s. 4d.; of the royal supremacy in 1535, a for livery, £6. 13«. id.; and for exe- task, observes Baker, ' so well done quiee, £1. 3s. id. ; Cooper, Annals, 38 A.D. 1535 TO 1546. bp. of Lincoln. b. (?) 160T. d.USi. CHAP. I. ^ Linacre lecturer suggests that his inclination was rather to scientific than theological studies, ' wherein,' says Baker, ' he was exceeded by Redmain, Madew and others, that were fellows about the same time'.' In his subsequent career his zeal as a partisan of the Catholic party was so unmistakeably shewn, that Downes does not scruple to say that had he lived john^Tayior, he would have proved a second Bonnerl His successor, Dr John Taylor, a fellow of Queens', was a man of a different stamp, — an enthusiastic student of logic, and a not less en- thusiastic advocate of the doctrines of the Lutherans. He carried indeed his opposition to the Six Articles so far that it resulted, in this same year, in his committal for a short time to prison. His appointment to the mastership, if judged by the sequel, cannot certainly be regarded as judicious, and it will be of service here somewhat to anticipate the order of events so as to supply a connected account of an episode which affords valuable evidence of the relations of the university at this time both to learning and to religious parties. There is probably but little weight to be attached to the suggestion of Baker, that Taylor was unpopular in his new position from the fact that he was ' a stranger to the society.' The appointment of a member of one college to the head- ship of another was too common an exercise of the royal prerogative at this period to be in itself the ground of much dissatisfaction. But, just as Metcalfe had been compelled to retire by the influence of the more progTessive element in St John's, at the time when their power was at its height, so Taylor was eventually constrained to abdicate by the action of the conservative element now that the tide was turning in their favour. They do not appear to have offered any immediate opposition to his appointment, but towards the state of parties in tlie college during ins mastersliip. I 435 and 437. Prior to the statutes of 1545 the master of St John's had received as stipend only £6. Baker- Mayor, p. 119. 1 Baker-Mayor, p. 112. Baker observes "Tis pity he did not con- tinue longer ; being fitted for govern- ment and very learned, the college might have flourished under him much more than it did under his successor, who had not the art of governing a eoUege ; especially divi- ded, as the society then was.' Ibid. ^ Downes, Lives, p. cxii. He was with Bonner in the commission ap- pointed for removing the Protestant bishops on the accession of Mary, and also visited Gardiner on his deathbed. Froude, Hist, of England, IV 251 ; Baker-Mayor, p. 6(32. ST JOHN'S COLLEGE. 39 close of the second year he found himself involved in a series chap. i. of disputes which resulted in a complete rupture. Supported ' " by an influential minority, he had recourse to the extreme measure of expelling three of the fellows, Saunders, Becke, and Fawcett ; while a young bachelor, the afterwards cele- brated Thomas Lever, was refused admission to a fellowship. The malcontents hereupon lodged an appeal with the Visitor, the bishop of Ely, — at that time Dr Goodrich. A formal visitation was held, and, chiefly through the persuasions of the bishop, a temporary reconciliation was effected. The three expelled members were re-admitted to their fellowships, and in 1543 Lever was elected a fellow. The liberal party in the college, however, exerted their influence at court in order to place a permanent check upon the power of their opponents; and in 1545, mainly through the interest of Day and Cheke, a new body of statutes was obtained whereby the authority of the master was augmented, and the numbers of the northern fellows restricted''. The statement of Baker, that the majority of the appel- sigmficanco lants against Taylor were ' northern ' men and ' men of the ^.a^'torV old learning,' is sufficiently borne oiit by his enumeration, but that they represented the ' sounder part ' of the body is a statement that may fairly be challenged. In fact, the names only too plainly proVe that the opposition was really a con- spiracy of zealous Catholics against the authority of an equally zealous Reformer^ Seton, the author of the Bialec- ^ 'By these statutes there was to these private foundations were to be a master and twelve seniors (the come into account, so that where master's stipend was ahnost doubled there were two fellows or scholars with some new advantages), and only in for private founders in any county, one mediety of the seniors, and no that county was fuU, and could have more, were to be of the nine northern no advantage, from the formdation.' counties: and whereas by the origi- Baker-Mayor, p. 119. nal establishment these nine counties ^ The language of John Cheke to vrere to have at least one-half of all Gardiner plainly indicates bis view the fellows and scholars of the foun- of the whole dispute : 'tamen pertur- dation,. according to the foundress' bationes coUegii nostri, ut quidam intentions, by these statutes they turmiltum contra magistrum statutaque coiild only have so many at most, fecerunt, nosti; quibus tute etiam and it was scarce possible for them immiscuisti et ad eas cognosoendas to have so many : for whereas before sacellanum tuum misisti.' Be Pro- private foundations were no bar to nunt. p. 228. The chaplain referred any county, it was now otherwise, to was Thomas Watson. rule. 40 A.D. 1535 TO 1546. CHAP. I. /faca. and Thomas Watson were both very shortly afterward^ among Gardiner's chaplains; Alban Langdale appears as one of the disputants against Cranmer, Eidley, and Latimer at Oxford in 1554; Peacock, afterwards president of Queens', resigned that post in 1559 to avoid the expulsion which his avowed tenets would have necessitated; Eichard Fawcett refused, as canon of Canterbury, to take part in the election of archbishop Parker and forfeited his canonry in conse- quence ; John Young, the acrimonious assailant of Martin Bucer, and George Bullock, afterwards master of the college, were equally distinguished throughout their lives by their pertinacious resistance to the reformed doctrines^ It is significant proof of the close connexion that then existed between theological tenets and the new culture, that not more than one of the appellants appears to have been distinguished in those studies by which St John's was now rising into such honourable pre-eminence. The solitary exception was Thomas Watson, afterwards master of the college and bishop of Lincoln, whom Ascham, with his habitual fairness, does not hesitate to describe as ' one of the best scholars that ever St John's College bred.' The im- pression we obtain of his attainments however is rather suggestive of the Italian dilettantism than of that more sober enthusiasm which characterises the rising school of classical learning in the Cambridge of this time, — scholars who un- doubtedly derived from the masterpieces of antiquity a real and noble inspiration. He translated, it is said, with remark- able felicity, certain portions of Homer, and composed a tragedy entitled Absalon, which, says Ascham, 'he would The op- position dictated by Catholic sympathies, Thomas Watson, bp. of Lmcoln. t. 1616. d. 1684. - Ascham, himself a Eiohmond- shire man, and -venerating the me- mory of Dr Metcalfe, endeavours to rebut the charge of partiality fre- quently preferred against the 'North- ern men' by appealing to the many proofs of their liberality to the col- lege [Scholemaster, pp. 159-60). The circumstantial evidence is however too strong to permit it to be gainsaid that the great majority of them at this time were Catholics in religion, and reactionary in their sympathies. A very similar experience to that of St John's under Dr Taylor appears to have befallen Queens' College on the eve of Peacock's resignation of the presidentship (see Searle, Hist, of Queens' Coll., pp. 271-6). The de- tails in the latter case are too imper- fect to supply a clear narrative, but the same connexion between northern partialities and Catholic sympathies is sufficiently evident. ST JOHN S COLLEGE. 41 never suffer to go abroad, and that onelie bicause in locis chap. i. paribus Anapaestus is twise or thrise used instede oi Iambus^.' The only other scholar of any note among the appellants was Seton, who had a considerable reputation as a tutor and Joim s^'""- whose manual of logic became the text-book of the univer- sity. But the names which mainly justify the proud assertions The Reform of Ascham and Grant are to be found in the list of those coiiege: who probably sympathised with the new master and gave him their moral support. Of these, Madew, Redman, and John iiadew. Pember, were the three most distinguished seniors. Madew, who was afterwards professor of divinity and master of Clare Hall, was a man of high character and attainments and is always referred to by Ascham in terms of the highest respect''. Redman, who was of good family and related to Cuthbert .loim Tunstal, had also been a student at Oxford and at Paris, and d. issi. ' when he returned to England and entered at St John's Col- lege about the year 1522, had already acquired some reputa- tion as a scholar. His elegant Latinity marked him out as a fitting successor to Dr Day on the retirement of the latter from the public oratorship, and his example and advice exercised a special influence in rousing to honourable emula- tion the two most promising young scholars in the uni- versity,— Thomas Smith of Queens' and John Cheke of St John's ^ He was now about forty years of age and his warm sympathy with the Reformation had, for some time past, led him to bring his classical acquirements to bear upon the study of divinity, a branch of learning which he culti- vated with so much success as to gain for himself the reputa- tion of being one of the ablest theologians in Europe^ As a preacher, his admirable exhortations to the Christian life ^ Scholemaster (ed. Mayor), pp. ^ Stryye, Life of Sir Thomas Smith, 169-70. P- 1". ^ ' Salnta gravissimum virum et * Burnet, in alluding to the fact mihi amioissimum dominum Ma- that Eedman was employed by daeum, cui quantum debeo non ex- Cranmer to compose a treatise on cidit mihi.' 'gravissimua vir et the much-controverted subject of maona eruditione ac modestia prae- Justification, speaks of him as one ditus.' Ascham, Epist., pp. 115, who ' was esteemed the most learned 303. 'Esteemed in the university and judicious divine of that time.' as few men ever were.' Baker-Mayor, Burnet-Pooock, i 2S7. p. 129. 42 A.D. 1535 TO 1546. CHAP. I. Robert Pumber. Hush Fitz- herbert. .TOHN C^IIUKE. I. 1514. d. 1667. Roger ASCHAM. b. 1616. d. 1668. ^ were powerfully enforced by his blameless character, his liberal hand, — ever open to the relief of poor students, — and by his winning disposition. Pember, though of less con- spicuous ability, was a man of similar stamp and of about the same standing in the college. He is highly commended by Ascham, who was one of his most attached pupils, for the extent of his acquirements in Greek*. Another tutor, to whom both Pember and Ascham were under no slight obligations and who was not unworthy to rank with those just named, was Hugh Fitzherbert, who had been removed by death some three years before''. But while St John's was in no small degree indebted for its reputation to the virtues and abilities of these men, it was in a younger fellow, the illustrious John Cheke, that it recognised its greatest ornament and its inspiring genius. He was a native of the town, the son of one of the esquires- bedelP, and although only twenty-six years of age already distinguished as the most successful tutor in the college. His youthful merit had gained for him the exceptional dis- tinction of being appointed, like Alane, king's scholar, and he was now prosecuting the study of the classics and espe- cially of Greek with a steady enthusiasm which communi- cated itself to not a few around. Among his pupils, although but one year his junior, was Roger Ascham, the youngest representative of a family well known in St John's. Ascham had been indebted for his. university education to the gene- rous aid of Sir AnMony Wiiigfield, and his career had amply justified his patron's choice. As the pupil of Fitzherbert, 1 Grant, Vita Asohami {ed.'Elstoh), p. 7. 2 'Dootrina, virtiite, et modestia praestans, et Eoterto Pembero in- tima familiaritate oonjunotissimus. Quem Pemberum summa caritate eomplexus est Fitzherbertus et ad omnem honestatem saoraeque Serip- turae leotionem melliflua orations saepissime vocaTit et amicissime in- struxit.' Ibid. p. 6. '■' According to Baker, Cheke's mother ' sold wine in St Mary's parish in Cambridge, in which quality she may be met with upon the college books.' Baker-Mayor, p. 105. This fact, if such it be, was unknown to Baker's correspondent, Strype, who represents the family as coming from the Isle of "Wight and of good descent. Life of Cheke, p. 2. The will of the father (ann. 1529) and that of the mother (ann. 1548) printed by Cooper {Annals, ii 135-6) clearly prove that they died possessed of competence, if not wealth. ST JOHN'S COLLEGE. 43 Pember, and Cheke successively, he appears to have won the chap. highest regard from them all\ His natural independence of thought had however, even thus early, manifested itself in a manner which seemed only too likely to prejudice his advancement, and some bold expressions of opinion with respect to the Pope, hazarded at a time when such language was stni dangerous in England, had seriously imperilled his election to a fellowship. But old Dr Metcalfe, although professing to be greatly scandalised, had secretly exerted his whole influence in Ascham's favour^ and one of the brightest ornaments of our literature was thus preserved to the society of St John's. Ascham had already been appointed Greek reader in the university, at a fair salary, and, chiefly on account of his singularly felicitous Latin prose, but partly, perhaps, owing to the exceptional beauty of his penmanship^, had also for some years past been employed as the writer of the letters from the university to royalty and other illustrious personages. Among his pupils was one whom he regarded with especial friendship and for whom he augured a brilliant career ; this was William Grindal, after- wniiam 1 . . , . GriudaL wards tutor to the princess Elizabeth. He was admitted fellow in 1542-3; but his high promise as a scholar ended with his premature death in 1548. Among Cheke's nume- 1 Grant (p. 6) expressly says that that Ascham taught the fellows of Asoham was a pupil of Fitzherbert; St John's to write. See also "Wood, while, as regards Pember, he says Fasti, 1 114. A very beautiful speci- ' Huno Eobertus Pember unice ama- men of his skill is preserved in the bat, amplexabatur, in manibus habe- college library, — Expositiones quae- bat, laudabat, ad majora in dies et dam antiquae in Epist. Divi Pauli . praesens sermone et absens litteris ad PMJemon, etc., given to the college excitabat.' Ibid. p. 7. in 1726 by Dr John Bernard. Dr ^'Andyetforallthoseopenthreates, Cowie says that 'it looks like print- the good father himselfe privilie pro- ing so much, that at first I thought cured, that I should even than be it must be a mistake to call it manu- chosen felow. But the election script.' Descriptive Catalogue of being done, he made countenance of MSS. etc. in St John's College Li- great diseontentation thereat.' As- brary, p. 107. As regards Ascham's cham, Scholemaster, p. 151. Dr Latin style, its merits are felicitously Katterfeld notes that Metcalfe was described in a criticism purporting to born near Ascham's birthplace (Kirby be that of Petrus Nannius of Louvain Wiske), and was also intimate with reported in a letter to Ascham him- the Scrope family to whom Ascham's self from Eichard Brandesby. As- father was steward. Ascham's Leben, cham, Epist. 387 ; see also his Scholc' p. 10, n. 2. ■ master (ed. Mayor), pp. 270-1. 3 Baker (MSS. xxvi 351-4) says 44 A.D. 1535 TO 1546. Wm. Cecil. b. 1520. d. 1598. rous pupils and admirers none liave left on record so emphatic a tribute to his merits as Ascham, who while gratefully- acknowledging the debt under which the college lay to Red- man, always asserted that it was to the former that the impetus there given to the study- of the new learning was rightfully to be ascribed'. It was from Cheke, again, that he himself mainly derived the admirable conceptions of the teacher's method unfolded in the pages of his Scholemaster. Of the same age as Ascham, and equally high in their com- mon tutor's esteem, was William Bill, a future master of the college. His genuine merit and signal services to learning were adequately rewarded in after life by a remarkable combination of honourable offices" ; at the time however of his election to a fellowship in 1535, his poverty would have barred his admission^, had he not been aided by the generous bounty of Ann Boleyn obtained through the efforts of Cheke and Parker. Another recently elected fellow was one whom Dr Metcalfe in his time had often noted with approval and sometimes encouraged with gifts of money*, — an indefati- gable student who rose at four to pursue his studies and at the age of fifteen had already been appointed to lecture the sophisters. This was William Cecil, the future chancellor, on whose nod the university was one day to wait and whose name was destined to be so conspicuously interwoven with ^ The Grace Book r in the Registry contains under the year 1539-40 the following entry : ' Cone, ut Mr Askam possit mutuari ex Bibliotheca vestra communi Polianum Historiographum ut transcribat, usque ad Eestum Om- nium Sanctorum prox. futurum, et turn reddendum.' So again under 1540-1 we find that Jo. Cheke is to be allowed to borrow Greek commen- taries on Homer and Hesiod for 16 months, 'quoniam quidam tipis eos imprimere vehementur cupiunt.' Ba- ker MSS. XXXI 198-9 ; 200. We find no similar entries for members of other colleges at this time. " ' No other person ever held at the same time the three important posi- tions of master of Trinity, provost of Eton, and dean of Westminster.' Cooper, Athenae, i 212. ' Strype [Life of Sir John CheTte, p. 8) says that Bill 'had not where- withal to pay his college debts,' but Choke's language implies nothing of this kind: 'multum ate desidero et requh'o ut aliqua via ad reginam per- feratur, esse adolescentulum gravi paupertate oppressum, cui iter ad viotum suum interclusum est, quod oolligere certam peouniam nequeat, quam numerare ante debeat quatii societatem inire possit.' Parker Cor- respondence, p. 3. The sum required was really the 'first-fruits,' to which fellowships in the universities were then subject, but from the payment of which they were shortly after re- lieved. See supra, p. 12 ; also Baker- Mayor, pp. 128, 856. * Cooper, Athenae, ii 249. queens' college. 45 its history,— at the time of which we write, in his twenty- chart. first year and college lecturer in Greek. Of nearly the ^^I7i^ same age and just admitted to his fellowship was William '"'"'°' Pilkington, afterwards bishop of Durham and distinguished as an active leader of the Reform party and a somewhat too zealous iconoclast'. Though scarcely rivalling St John's, Queens' College may Members of fairly claim the distinction of ranking second among the '^""^^e. Cambridge foundations of this period, when estimated by its services to learning. The spirit of Erasmus was still potent within its walls, and the fact that Alane selected it as his college and found a friendly reception is evidence of its sympathy with the Reformers. The most distinguished thomas member of the society at this time was Thomas Smith, and '""u .,.,-. 'a. 1677, it was owing to the discernment and generosity of Dr William Butts, the court physician and a former fellow of Gonville Hall, that Cambridge still retained this remarkable genius within her walls. We have it on Smith's own authority, that but a few years before, friendless, faint at heart, and without resources, he had already been meditating a farewell to the university and to letters, when the ability which he had dis- played at a disputation in the schools reached the ears of that good Maecenas. The youthful scholar was summoned His intN to the kind physician's presence and bidden to be of good chekc. cheer; and from that day the career of one of the most remarkable and most estimable Englishmen of the sixteenth century was one of almost uninterrupted success ^ For Smith, Cheke appears to have cherished an admiration and regard greater than he felt for any of his fellow-collegians. That admiration and that regard were warmly reciprocated. ^ Ibid. I 344-9 ; Baker-Mayor, pp. propter nescio quam famam disputa- 146-9. tionis oujusdam in soholis meae, vo- ^ I cannot forbear quoting Smith's cavit ad se rudem prorsus et ferum, toucliing tribute of gratitude, uttered et ejus amplitudini penitus ignotum, when his success was fully assured, — et quod haotenus scire possim, a especially as the passage, so far as I nemine commendatum, desperare ve- am aware, has never before been tuit, et ex eo tempore, non Hercle printed : ' Hie me primus, prope pue- tanquam patronus et amicus, sed rum, destitutum omni spe amicorum, tanquam naturalis aliquis pater, om- propter egestatis et inopiae molestias ni studio me fovit et amplexatus est.' desperantem, et jam consilia deseren- Oratio secunda de Dignitate Legum, di Academiam ac litteras agitantem, etc. Baker MSS. xxxvii 406. 46 A.D. 1535 TO 154G. . CHAP. I. _ ' We are of the same age,' said Smith to Gardiner, ' and of like condition in life : our studies have been the same and we are recipients of the same royal bounty ; we have been engaged in a continual emulation with each other in the arena of intellectual achievement, but this rivalry, which is wont to kindle envy and strife between others, has hitherto only bound us more closely together in fraternal affection'.' The ' in utrumque regia benignitas' refers to the fact that He succeeds Smith, like Cheke, had been elected king's scholar. In oiatorsMp. another respect however he had temporarily taken the lead of his brilliant friend and rival, for in the year 1538 he had succeeded to the public oratorship, on the retirement of Dr Redman. No member of the university enjoyed a higher reputation for varied learning, and his Greek lectures, both in college and as public reader, were attended by numerous and admiring audiences. Among their number was a young student of King's College, the afterwards celebrated Walter John Ponet Haddou ; while among his own pupils at Queens' was John Ponet, the author of the Treatise of Politique Power^, already known for his attainments in Greek and also as one well read in patristic literature and an Italian and German scholar'. NicHoiAs Turning to the other foundations, we find two notable Ridley. *^ ^ *• \f^^ characters destined to pre-eminence not only in the univer- sity but in their age. Of these one was at this time often to be seen pacing the orchard walk at Pembroke, intent on a volume of the Pauline Epistles, which he was diligently committing to heart, — a man whose long visage, aquiline nose, and arched eyebrows suggested rather a Latin than a Teutonic descent. Such was Nicholas Eidley, the newly- elected master of the college*. He had studied not only at 1 De recta linguae Oraecae pronun- bold spirit of our early Protestantism. tiatione...Epistola, p. 50. They seem Mr Hunt {Beligioas Thought in En- to have been regarded by their con- gland, i 29) says that Ponet was the temporaries as twin brothers in genius reputed author of King Edward's and virtue. Haddon {Lucubrationes, Catechism. p. 133) says 'neutrum in nostris stu- 3 Cooper, Athenae, i 155. diis alterosuperiorem,' while he ranks . * According to Downes {Lives, them as superior to all the rest of p. Ivi) Eidley had been elected to a their fellow-students. fellowship at University College, Ox- 2 A treatise noted by Hallam (Hist, ford, but refused to accept it. of Lit. , II 136) as characteristic of the MATTHEW PARKER. 47 Cambridge, but also at the Sorbonne and at Louvain, — chap.i. advantages for which he was indebted to the liberality of his uncle, a prebendary of St Paul's and a staunch Catholic, who bad discerned in his nephew talents which he designed should be employed for the defence of the ancient faith. But the younger Eidley had taken to the study of Greek, and the knowledge to which he thus gained the key had enlarged his views. He had recently, moreover, read the famous treatise on the doctrine of transubstantiation that went by the name of Ratramnus, and had become convinced of the error of the Roman doctrine^. He was now somewhat over forty years of age, and, with at once more learning and more discretion than Latimer, was becoming one of the most trusted leaders of the Reformers. Like the master of St John's, he had already openly borne his protest against the Six Articles. The other, Matthew Parker, was somewhat Ridley's matthbw junior and at this time temporarily withdrawn from the *; i|°|' university to his college of Stoke-by-Clare^, of which, His retire- through the interest of Ann Boleyn, he had recently been stote^ appointed dean. It was a pleasant country retreat situated amid green fields and orchards — his Tusculanum, as his young friend Walter Haddon was wont to style it, in pro- fessed envy of his lot. Parker was certainly not forgotten at Cambridge, from which he was only some twenty miles removed ; but he was at this time in indifferent health and we may well believe that this period of comparative repose was of inestimable service in enabling him to gather fresh strength for the varied activity and arduous duties of his subsequent career. He was now just thirty-six years of age, a man in whom great natural energy was combined with a singularly retiring disposition which led him, in marked contrast to most of his contemporaries, rather to shun the 1 Downes, Lives, ib. See also the year 1540, when designing a si- author's History, Vol. i 40, n. 3. milar foundation at Thetford took 2 A college for the training of the them for a model,— a high, tribute secular clergy. Parker's statutes for from one who was certainly not friend- the foundation were considered so ly to Parker's party. Strype, Life of judicious that the duke of Norfolk in Parker, p. 13. 48 A.D. 1535 TO 154t). CHAP. I. honours and preferment which from time to time were pre- sented for his acceptance'. Like his friend Skip, just created bishop of Hereford, he had declined Wolsej's alluring invitation to Cardinal College ; and it was only under con- siderable pressure that he was prevailed upon to act as His extensive chaplain to Ann Boleyn. While deeply read both in the po™iaS™as Fathers and the Reformers, he had also acquired a high a preaclier. reputation as a preacher, and whether he discoursed before rural congregations like those at Madiugley, Grantchester, and Barton, or to the more critical audiences at court, his popularity in this respect was already inferior to that of Latimer alone. His retired life at Stoke did not altogether secure him from attack on account of his courageously avowed sympathies with the Reformation, and in the year 1539 he had been accused by the townsmen of Clare of manifesting undue contempt for the Catholic rituaP. But of the great part which he was yet to take in controversy and in state affairs, he would seem at this time to have had no conception, and we picture him to ourselves in his calm seclusion at Stoke ever and anon deeply pondering the dark questions whereby he had seen so many well-trained intellects perplexed and ever watchfully observant of the stormy times in which he had seen so many a strong purpose and stout heart go down, b^ofalre- Among Parker's most intimate friends was John Skip, '""'■ whose name must not be passed by here altogether un- noticed. He had been promoted in the year 1539 to the bishopric of Hereford and in the following year resigned the mastership of Gonville Hall. Prior to this he had been for some time resident at court as chaplain to Ann Boleyn, and in this capacity he had continued to render the university good service by skilfully directing the royal bounty to the relief of poor and meritorious students, thus ably seconding the benevolent efforts of Dr Butts. But while the standard of scholarship was thus rising and 1 See on this feature in his charac- Parker Correspondence, p. 199. ter his letter to Cecil (? 1563), in 2 The articles are printed in the which he speats of his own 'natural Parker Correspondence, pp. 7-9. viciosity of overmuch shamefastness.' DEPRESSED STATE OF THE UNIVERSITIES. 49 the promise of not a few of the younger students was singu- ,chap. i.^ larly hopeful, the recent changes were telling with serious at both effect on the general prosperity of hoth universities. The ""'""" '^°' , six years from 1542 to 1548, which mark perhaps the period Oxford and \ of the greatest depression, shew us only 191 as admitted to "*™ ^'^' the degree of b.A. at Cambridge' and at Oxford only 173". The latter university, indeed, seems to have witnessed a decline yet more serious than that which we have already noted as existing at Cambridge. A letter from the com- munity addressed to Cromwell in 1539 declares that the number of the students has diminished by one half, and Wood himself admits that Oxford now ' fell into great ruin and decay as well in learning as in virtues, behaviour, and good manners^.' If we compare with this declaration the language in which Melanchthon at Wittenberg, in 1537, deplored the neglect that had there overtaken all profound and generous learning, we shall probably be justified in ^t^C^ concluding that the condition of Cambridge, unsatisfactory^ \^ though it might be, was at least as encouraging as that of ' any of the universities which espoused the doctrines of the ' Reformation. ■ -, In England however religious differences operated with Effects of i^6lisiouB peculiar intensity ; for while the oath of renunciation of the oVnges. papal authority necessarily excluded all conscientious Catho- lics, the Six Articles, ' a noted touchstone,' as Anthony Wood truly styles them, 'to try the consciences of men,' were a scarcely less formidable stumbling-block to many of the Reformers. To these influences must be added the uncer- tainty and depression created by the foreboding which had for some vears hung over both universities, — that they were Anticipated JO " . coniiscation destined before long to share the fate of the monasteries, otthe^ According to Harrison, it was not until the king had rebuked estates. with more than wonted sternness the greed of the courtiers, declaring that he 'judged no land better bestowed than that which was given to the universities,' that the machinations 1 Baker MSS, xi 35-41. vol, iii adjin. « Sloane MSS. quoted by Huber, » Wood-Gutoh, ii 69. M. II. 4 50 A.D. 1535 TO 1546. of the despoiler were for a time effectually checked'. At Cambridge the embarrassment resulting from the decline in numbers was so serious that, in February, 1588, a statute was promulgated whereby the regents were required to discharge their functions in the schools for two years instead of one, — a measure rendered necessary by the fewness of those who were of the proper standing and at the same time in other respects qualified for the performance of these duties^ Other measures plainly indicate the pressure resulting from an impoverished exchequer. The office of taxor to the university was abolished, his functions being superadded to those of the proctors^ The ' useless books ' in the university library were sold*. The amount contained in the ' common chests ' of the university was found, on one 1 ' When sucli a motion was made by some unto King Henrie the eight, he could answer them in this manner : "Ah Sirha, I peroeiue the abbie lands haue fleshed you and set youre teeth on edge to aske also those colleges. And whereas we had a regard onelie ,^to pull downe sinne by defacing the monasteries, you haue a desire also to ouerthrowe all goodnesse by sub- version of colleges. I tell you, sirs, that I judge no lande in England better bestowed than that which is giuen to our universities ; for by their maintenance our realme shall be weU gouemed when we be dead and rot- ten."' Description of England (ed. Pumivall), p. 88. According to the same writer these schemes of spoUa- tion were only temporarily abandon- ed, being renewed in king Edward's reign, 'and in the time of our gra- tious queene Elizabeth,' he adds, ' I heare that it was after a sort in talke the third time, but without successe as moued also out of season.' Ibid. p. 89. Huber (English Univ. i 307) is of opinion that these apprehen- sions had finally subsided before 1576. " The language of the statute ap- pears to imply that the young regents were either unable or too careless to prevent great irregularities taking place at the different elections : ' Nunc autem cum eo res revoluta et in eum locum adductum est, ut propter an- nuum disputationum cursum omnes graventur sumptu, regentium nume- rus minuatur, bedellorum munus plus laboris minus compendii habeat, gravitas tum oneris, tum impensae, ad paucos pertineat, et error in suSra- giis magnus et nefarius regentium novorum imperitia saepe committa- tur,' etc. De continuanda regentia per hiennium. Documents, i 438. The statutes of Edward vi, of queen Mary, and those of the first year of Elizabeth extended the period of re- gency to three years, the first being that of obligatory regency accordina^^ to the ancient statutes. By th^ Btatutesof Elizabeth (1570) this perio3 of obUgatory regency was extended to Jive years. Documents, i 459; Pea- cock, On the Statutes, p. 51. ' The number of regents,' says Dr Peacock, 'in one year rarely exceeded twenty ; before the suppression of the monas- teries they were generally dbnble that number, besides from ten to eighteen bachelors in canon law annually.' lb., p. 33. John Mere, however, when writing to apprise Parker of his elec- tion to the vice-chancellorship in Jan. 1544-5, speaks of 98 regents being present. Parker Correspondence, p. 18. ' Cooper, Annals, i 401. ^ Grace Booh, V fol. 152 (a). DEPRESSED STATE OF THE UNIVERSITIES. 51 occasion, to be less than £20, and it was necessary to borrow ,chap. t.^ from other sources". The Hebrew and Greek lecturers in the university were on two occasions paid only by the expedient of suspending the mathematical lecturer for the current year and appropriating his salary^. Among the more immediate results of this diminution in BWairy between the numbers was the inability of those regents or other teachers ^f jn^Sfo!"" who were supported by their pupils' fees to gain an adequate voluntary, income. We have already had occasion to quote the autho- and^Se '"' ritative statement of the university', to the effect that, in 1539, the colleges contained nearly all the students still remaining in its midst. It is evident indeed that these foundations, — where the ' tutor,' it is to be remembered, at that time represented one who actually taught, — were almost completely absorbing the work of instruction and the majo- rity of the public lecturers in the schools found their classes > dwindling year by year. The Royal Injunctions of 1535, as we have already seen, had made a step towards the provision of extra-collegiate instruction by imposing on each college the obligation of providing a daily public lecture both in Latin and Greek*. A second step bad been taken by the institution of the lectureship created by Cromwell's Injunc- tions^; a third, by the creation of the King Henry the Eighth's lectureship^ But although these lectures were open to the university at large, the advantages held out to those students who could command or gain admission to a college, independently of the prospect of a fellowship, pre- sented overwhelming attractions. Already a certain rivalry between the different foundations is discernible, and college tutors appear to have taken the liveliest interest in the dis- tinctions acquired by their pupils. • They aided them not only by private instruction but also by the loan of manu- 1 Ann 1539-40 ; Baier MSS. xxxi rate the only coUeges which exhibit ■1 go a separate stipend for a Greek leo- s'le in the years 1535 and 1537; turer in the accounts for 1546, are Ibid. XXXI 195 and 197. King's, Queens', and St John s. 3 m-pm, P- 27, n. 4. Cooper, Annals, i 4il-8. 4 This requirement would seem to ^ sw^ra, p. 9. have ceased after the foundation of « m-pra, p. 13. the Eegius professorships; at any 52 A.D. 1535 TO 1546. Creation of the Begiub Professor- ships. scripts and books. Seton, for example, in the preface to his Dialedica, tells us that his manual was in use in a manu- script form among the students of St John's some years before he would consent to publish it, although strongly- urged to do so by different tutors'. What Huber terms ' the voluntary system ' of instruction was, in fact, fast disappear- ing, and its disappearance was accelerated by the creation, in 1540, of the Regius Professorships ^ The Eegius professorships were five in number, repre- senting the several subjects of Divinity, Civil Law, Physic, Hebrew, and Greek', and each endowed with a stipend of £40. As the first instalment of the long-looked for gain from the dissolution of the monasteries they were eagerly welcomed ; while the liberality of their endowment added to the general satisfaction of the university. Ascham, writing thri™oo^'° scarcely two years after the event, to Richard Brandesby, a effects." •/ •/ ^ ^ M/ fellow of his college, speaks in glowing terms of the change brought about by the creation of these august chairs. ' Cam- bridge,' he says ' is quite another place, so substantially and splendidly has it been endowed by the royal munificence*.' Aristotle and Plato were being read even by 'the boys,' although this, indeed, had been the case at St John's for some five years. 'Sophocles and Euripides,' he goes on to Ascham'a 1 'Nondum absolutoopere, coeptus est juvenum manibus teri hie libellua quinquennium, frustra me iuterea looi ad editionem sollicitantibus ¥ene- randis viris Medoalfo, Daio, et Talero, collegii nostri praepositis Tandem ubi coepit hie liber et aliena intrare collegia, juveututisque manibus pas- sim teri, adeunt me amici mei Checus et Watsonus, viri singular! eruditione, et oomplures alii pereruditi,. minan- tur non deesse, qui me invito hoc opus evulgare et typograpbis credere student.' Pref. to edition of 1672. ° Dr Peacock is of opinion that the 'decline in the numbers of the uni- versity had left few resident teachers who were competent to keep pace with the progress of knowledge.' I somewhat doubt whether iheteaching power of the university had ever been greater than at this time, but this able critic appears here to have left out of account the very large amount of tuition that was now being performed by the colleges. That ' the establishment of the regius professor- ships was preparatory to a most im- portant change in the system of aca- demical education' {Observations on the Statutes, etc. p. 34), admits of no question. ^ It will be seen that the Eegius professorships were thus in a maimer supplementary to the so-called Bama- by lectures, the subjects of which were Terence, Logic, Philosophy and Mathematics. * 'De Cantabrigia, si quid aves audire, en jam pene nova tibi videri potest, tarn divinis et immortaUbus litterarum praesidiis et ornamentis auxit earn optimi prinoipis nostri munificentia.' Ascham, Epist. p. 74.. THE REGIUS PROFESSORSHIPS. 53 say, ' are more familiar authors than Plautus was in your chap. t. time. Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon are more conned and discussed than Livy was then. Demosthenes is as familiar an author as Cicero used to be ; and there are more copies of Isocrates in use than there used to be of Terence. Nor do we disregard the Latin authors, but study with the greatest zeal the choicest writers of the best period. It is Choke's labours and example that have lighted up and continue to sustain this learned ardour. He has already lectured gratis on the whole of Homer, the whole of Sopho- cles twice, the whole of Euripides and nearly the whole of Herodotus^' It is hardly necessary to say that Cheke had succeeded The first T?gQri|23 Pro* to the chair of Greek. The appointment of Smith to that lessors. of the Civil Law was probably accepted as an equally well deserved recognition of high desert. Now that Robert Wakefield was no more, his brother Thomas was admitted to be the best qualified to fill the chair of Hebrew. The claims of John Blythe, of King's College, to the chair of Physic were supported by the fact that he was an M.D. of Ferrara, and perhaps not less effectually by the interest which he could command as Choke's- brother-in-law^ But the election to the professorship of Divinity is less intelligible, for while men like Madew, Taylor, Ridley, and Parker were at com- mand, they were all passed over for Eudo Wigan, an elderly theologian who had formerly filled the ofiice of sub-dean of the chapel to Cardinal Wolsey, but who, were it not for the mention of his name on this occasion by Ascham", would almost have escaped the notice of posterity. Such a selec- tion is perhaps to be best explained by the supposition that in the excited state of feeling that then prevailed in the university with respect to theological questions, and the caution required in steering between the renunciation of the 1 Ibid. B- Brandisbaeo, Epist. p. 74. Ac- 2 'Blitus, qui sororem D. Cheoi cording to Baker (MSS. xi 45), Wigan duxit.' Asoham perhaps intends to was a member of King's Hall and Snply that Cheke's influence had proceeded D. D. in 1524 ; he was con- sbmething to do with his brother-in- sequently probably over fifty at this law's election. time, and little likely to have much 3 'Wigginus Theologiae.' Asoham in common with the Eeformcrs. 54 A.D. 1535 TO 1546. /'iiAP. I., papal authority, on tbe one hand, and the acceptance of the Six Articles on the other, it was thought most expedient to elect to the newly-created chair some undistinguished, fairly well-read mediocrity, who might he relied on to exhibit in his expositions neither originality of view nor independence of thought. In the very same letter however as that in which he records the satisfactory results that had followed upon the creation of the new professorships, Ascham found himself under the necessity of relating how Cheke's zeal and assiduity had met with a disheartening repulse, and we are here pre- sented with an episode of considerable interest and import- ance not only in relation to Cambridge history but also to that of learning at large. cosTRo- It is a fact familiar to scholars, that the pronunciation of sMCTiKSTHE Greek, like that of Latin, had undergone a great change PROHDNCIA- ' O O ^O Greek' since the classical era of the language; but that, unlike Latin, which had faithfully reflected these successive changes by a corresponding modification of its orthography, Greek still preserved unaltered the modes of spelling used by Demosthenes and Isocrates. The Greek still wrote <})l\ai and (ftiXe, though he pronounced the final syllable in exactly the same manner. Words such as Skoiti^, ^iXo/ifjueiBTj';, and fiaKaplTrj(;, still preserved, as written, those differences of structure which were lost to the ear in a precisely similar pronunciation of the penultimate. The vowels ??, c, v, and the diphthongs ot and at, were also pronounced exactly alike. The scholars of the Italian Renaissance appear to have accepted without enquiry the pronunciation which they heard from the lips of teachers like Chry soloras an d Argyropulos; and Reuchlin, in his turn, brought back with him into Germany the pro- nunciation which he had heard in the class rooms of Rome\ The involved anomaly however did not pass unchallenged by Erasmus, who in his famous dialogue between 'Leo' and 'Ursus,' — de recta Latini Graecique sermonis pronuntiatione, — published in 1528, propounded an improved method". His 1 See vol. I 407. his first letter to Cheke,— 'Atqui -^ Hence the taunt of Gardiuer, in hnjus tui conatus gloriam (si quam PRONUNCIATION OF GREEK. 55 suggestions met with little response in Germany, and Me- chap. i. lanchthon continued to support the method handed down by Reuchlin*. To Smith, whose genius for linguistic researches was of Reaearohc, no common order, belongs the credit of having revived the ciieifeoVth* scheme put forward by Erasmus, while he is equally entitled °" '^"^ to be looked upon as an originator in connexion with the whole question. It was, as we learn from his own account^, about the year 1535, when he and Cheke were little more than twenty years of age, that their active minds, whose natural inquisitiveness nothing escaped, were attracted to the subject. They discussed the difficulty together, but could arrive at no conclusion. A little later, Erasmus's treatise fell into their hands and also one by Terentianus, — de Litteris et Syllahis; and, aided by this new light, they agreed that it was most desirable that an entirely amended method of Greek pronunciation should, if possible, be adopted. The young reformers felt however the risk of exciting opposition by a too sudden introduction of their innovation, and Smith's ingenuity was successfully exerted Device em- E loved by „„. „ „ , mithforthe ° o o J introduction mation of his designs, he commenced, in a course of lectures ^^^-^^ on Aristotle's Politics, an occasional use of his new method, — to quote his own expression — 'lapsu linguae, as it were.' ' Which,' says Strype, in his quaint paraphrase of Smith's His account, account, 'he did for this end, that if his auditors utterly ghr^ed by refused his words thus pronounced, then he reckoned he ought to defer his purpose for some longer time; and ac- cordingly so he intended to do ; but if they received them with a good will, then he would the more speedily go on Avith his innovation. But behold the issue! At first no notice was taken of it; but when he did it oftener, they began to observe, and listen more attentively. And when expectasjpraeripnitErasmus.' Cheke, pronwntiatione, Thmnas Smith Angli, de Pronuntiatione, p. 2. tunc in Academia Gantabrigiensi pub- 1 Geiger, Beuchlin's Leben, pp. lid Praelectoris, ad Vintonemem 101-2. Episcopum Epistola (Lutetiae, 1568) 2 The facts here given are derived dated ' Cantabrigiae, 12 Augusti, from Smith's narrative in his treatise 1542.' de recta et emendata linguae Graecae 56 A.D. 1535 TO 1546. CHAP, i.^ Smith had often inculcated 17 and 01 as E and OI, they who three years before had heard him sound them frequently uncon-ectly after the old way, could not think it was a lapse of his tongue, but suspected something else, and laughed at the unusual sounds. He again, as though his tongue had slipped, would sometimes correct himself, and say the word again after the old manner. But when he did this daily, and, as appeared, every day, the corrected sounds flowed from him more and more, some of his friends came to him and told him what they noted in his lectures. Smith now cared not to dissemble, but owned that he had been think- ing of something privately, but that it was not yet enough digested and prepared for the public. They, on the other hand, prayed him not to conceal it from them, but to tell them without any grudging. Whereupon he promised he would. Upon this rumour many came together, and re- paired to him; whom he required only to hear his reasons, and to have patience with him three or four days at most, until the sounds, by use, were made more trite to their ears, and the prejudice of novelty more worn off. And so by little and little he explained to them the whole reason of the sounds'.' His example Smith's example was now followed by Cheke and also by b" ciieke and Pouet, wlio was shortly afterwards appointed to read the other infiu- i t i • r^ ^ entiaimem- puDuc lecture m Greek. Ascham, althouarh he does not beri of the ■*■ ' o university, admit the fact in his letter, was at first disposed to resist the innovation, but soon surrendered to arg-ument, and when he was in his turn appointed Greek reader and lectured on Isocrates, was one of the most zealous advocates of the change', The triumph of the reform party was complete when Eedman gave in his adhesion to their cause and ' Strype, Life of Sir Thomas Smith, pronuntiationem banc ad sequendum pp. 11-12. aspemabatur; repreheudere tamen ^ 'Asoamus erat juvenis magnis graviter ae aperte, propter Chaeci ingenii naturae ao diligpntiae suae authoritatem et meam nolebat. Idem ornamentis praeditus, qui turn Aoa- paulo post, quern ad modum quidem demiae nomine Graeoa praelegebat et nunc est, aeerrimus hujus rei de- maobohs: fmt Ule liber, ut arbitror, feusor, extitit.' Smitb, de Pronunt. Isocrates, quern enarrabat. Hie ve- fol. 42. litabatur in initio cum Poneto meo, PRONUNCIATION OF GREEK. 57 adopted the new method whenever, in his divinity lectures, ,chap. i.^ he had occasion to quote a passage in the original Greek. In fine, all those who, to quote Smith's expression, bad any reputation for ability joined readily in promoting an ob- viously useful reform'. In the firm persuasion that his efforts had been crowned smiti. leaves with permanent success, Smith, on the institution of the Palu"^ Regius professorships, ceded his chair of Greek to Cheke, and, in order more fully to qualify himself for his duties as professor of the civil law, left England in the autumn of 1540 for Padua. That ancient seat of learning, sharing in the revived state of th& fortunes of the Venetian Eepublic, was at this time at ^^<^ the zenith of its reputation — 'attracting,' to quote the exultant language of its historian, "students from all the other universities of Italy and famous throughout the world ^' Its teachers were often men whose names were familiar to every scholar in Europe, who had been vigilantly sought for and were munificently remunerated''. Its chief study, however, was still that of the civil law; and no less than twenty professors, among whom Accorambonus and Rubeus would appear to have been the most eminent, expounded from as many chairs the Institutions, the Infortiatum, and the Digest, the Codes of Gregorianus, Hermogenianus, and Theodosius, and other special subjects belonging to the same faculty*. Cambridge men not unfrequently, at this 1 'Omnes qui quicq.uam posse ere- Jebb), p. 163. He did not return to debantur isto more sonabant. Ego England until 1544, and did not see deinde in Galliam : Graeca Eeg. Ma- Cambridge again until 1558. See jest, lectio Chaeco ooncessa est.' Ibid. infra, note 4, and p. 58, note 1. fol. 42 b. See also Cheke {de Pro- ^ Facciolatua Triumviris Gymnasii nunt., p. 106) who specially mentions Patavini (prefixed to the Fasti). Ponet, PUkington, Ascham, Tonge, ' 'Where,' says Sir William Ha- and Bill among those who ' totos se milton, ' the highest ^ celebrity was huic nostrae emendatae dediderunt.' possibly to be obtained, nothing Strype (Life of Cheke, p. 155) would could exceed the liberality of the accordingly appear to have been Senate or the zeal of the Moderators; guilty of an anachronism in referring and Padua was thus long eminently to Dr Oaius as one of the objectors at fortunate in her competition for il- this time. Caius had left Cambridge lustrious teachers with the most fa- in 1539 and was now at Padua, voured universities of Europe. ' Dis- where, according to his own state- sert. and Discuss., p. 358. ment, he himself lectured on Aristotle * Faooiolati, Fasti, in 79-201; in the schools, de Libris propriis (ed. Eiccoboni, de Gym. Patav. lib. vi., 53 A.D. 1535 TO 1546. Smith ad- mitted to the degree of D.C.L. He visits the French universities. Manner in which his proposed re- form of Greelc pronuncia- tion was received in France. period, found their way thither, — in some instances for a lengthened sojourn. Among others, Dr Caius was at this very time a teacher of Greek', and was himself being in- structed in medicine and anatomy by Montanus and Vesalius. From Padua, Eton received the treatise which served as a model for its time-honoured Greek grammar^ Here Smith was admitted to the degree of doctor of civil law, returning to England towards the close of 1541'. On his way to Padua he visited not only Paris but most of the other French universities, and to those Greek scholars whom he met with he did not omit to unfold his new scheme of Greek pro- nunciation and to invite their opinion on the question. He frankly admits that the plan was entirely new to them and that it was not always that it commanded their assent. Landrinus, indeed, at Orleans hailed the reform with en- thusiasm and soon after adopted the method in his own class room; but Strazelius, at Paris, demurred and hesitated. He warned Smith, who appears to have contemplated giving p. 18. The other branches of study do not appear to have been onltivated with much success. Dr Caius, who was there at the same time as Smith, says that the law schools were the only pubUc schools in the university, and that the students in other fa- culties met in the house of a private citizen, — 'aedibus humilibus satis et obsonris.' Before he left however he had the pleasure of seeing new schools erected at the expense of the Senate of Venice. Hist Acad. Cant., p. 184. > This fact rests solely on his own statement : ' Anno enim Domini 1543, defunctus publico munere prae- legendi Aristotelioam disciplinam Graece publico salario illustrium Venetorum, concurrente Eealdo Co- lumbo Cremonense, in soholis publ. apud S. Blasium Patavii, etc' de Libris propriis, p. 163. His name does not occur in Facoiolati {Fasti) who gives a chronological list of the professors with the amounts of their salaries, nor does it occur in Eicco- boni, in the list which he furnishes of 'ExplioatoresHumanitatisGraecae et Latinae' {de Gym. Patav., pp. 28- 29). Dr Caius' use of the term 'con- currente ' will be understood from the following passage : ' The plurality of concurrent chairs (which long con- tinued) superseded the necessity of hasty nominations ; and it not un- frequently happened that a principal ordinary [professorship] was vacant for years, before the Triumvirs found an individual suflBciently worthy of the situation.' Hamilton, Discuss, and Dissert., p. 858. 2 HaUam, Hist, of Literature, i 336, note. " An entry in the college books proves that he had returned before 20 Jan. 1541-2 (Searle, Hist, of Queens' Coll., p. 234). It wiQ be observed that he was thus absent for more than a year, while holding the office of public orator. Ascham, in like manner, when in Germany, continued to hold the office and draw the salary, much of his time being given, as his biographer tells us, 'ut oratoris munus, cujus ille absens fructum percipiebat, dUigenter sup- pleretur ' (Grant, Fite, p. 19). By the forty-fourth of queen Elizabeth's Sta- tutes this was forbidden, and the Ora- tor's absence limited to three months ' nisi veniam ab Academia uberiorem habeat.' Dyer, Privileges, i 193. PRONUNCIATION OF GREEK. 59 a course of Greek readings before the university, that he .chap. 1. doubted whether the innovation would be favourably re- ceived. There were, he said, a good many lecturers on Greek in Paris, but in that branch of learning, as in others, it was not the most profound scholar who was listened to with the greatest favour, but the one who could most suc- cessfully ingratiate himself with the Parisian world at large. For himself, he was content to adhere to the old plan, and in fact he could not but look upon disputes about pronun- ciation as somewhat pedantic and fit only for schoolmasters; from Smith they looked for something more worthy of his reputation. A third scholar, a native Greek, scouted the whole scheme, and roundly taxed Erasmus with having sought to introduce deep German gutturals and harsh-sound- ing diphthongs into a language to which they were totally alien'. In the mean time it had devolved on 'Cheke at Cam- opposition atCam- bridge to develope their joint project and eventually to bear ''"*^'- the brunt of the attack to which it was subjected. Jealousy, it is said, of the marks of royal favour with which he and his friend had been honoured, gave rise to an opposition which, in its first manifestations, was merely contemptible. One RatclifP, a member of the university but a man of no attainments, made a ludicrous attempt to argue the merits of the question with Cheke in the schools, but was hissed and laughed down and hustled by 'the boys' in the crowd''. Skilful misrepresentations to the chancellor were more effec- tual. Gardiner, it is easy to understand, may have been far from unwilling to inflict a marked humiliation on the little band of Johnian scholars and their leader, distinguished as they were by theological sympathies widely at variance with his own. But as yet he manifested no disapprobation ; and Smith, who shortly after his return to England had waited upon him at Hampton Court, appears to have been received with favour and to have succeeded in conciliating the chancellor's personal good will'. It was consequently 1 Smith, de Pronuntiatione, fol. = Ibid. fol. 42 b. 4_5. ' Ibid. fol. 1. 60 A.D. 1535 TO 1546. CHAP. I. couraging effect. Controversy between Gardiner and Smith and Clielie. like the fall of a thunderbolt from a serene and unclouded sky', when, in May, 1542, a decree from Gardiner came down to the university enjoining an immediate return to the former pronunciation of Greek under pain of the severest penalties. Had the offence in question been parricide, Smith said, the chancellor's edict could hardly have been more sternly enforced. Refractory regents were to be expelled from the senate; candidates for degrees were to be refused permission to proceed; scholars were to forfeit all advantages accruing from their scholarships; while other undergraduates who persisted in this insane endeavour to lisp Greek after the supposed classic fashion were to be birched before their fellow students in college^. According to the unanimous testimony of the reform party, Gardiner's decree had a most disheartening effect on the university. Cheke declared that he had no longer any pleasure in lecturing nor his class in listening, while not a few had definitively abandoned the study of the language'. ' All sounds in Greek,' says Ascham in his letter to Brandesby, ' are now exactly the same, reduced that is to say to a like thin and slender character and subjected to the authority of a single letter, the iota ; so that all one can hear is a feeble piping like that of sparrows or an unpleasant hissing like that of snakes.' What made the blow all the harder to bear, he adds, was the fact that it had been dealt by one for whose authority and learning they all alike cherished the utmost respect^ Botli Smith and Cheke now hastened to employ their argumentative powers and elegant Latinity in defence of what they felt to be a just and honourable cause. The 1 ' — multis his annis niliU even- isse meminimus tam insperatum et inexpeotatum, nihil molestius et ma- gis aoerbum, quam ut per ediotum tuum toUeretur, etc' Ibid. fol. 1 6. 2 Cooper, Annals, i 402-3. Cheke, de Pronunt., pp. 18-22. It is re- markable that Dr Caius, in his His- toria Acad. Cant. (p. 124), should have represented this decree as con- firmatory of the new method of pro- nuneiation. This probably shews that, at the time when he wrote, no one any longer thought of calling the method in question. ' Cheke, de Pronunt., p. 103. Ascham goes so far as to say that the decree 'omuem pene Graecae linguae perdisoendae ardorem in animis nostris funditus exstinxit.' Epist., p. 75. " Ibid. PRONUNCIATION OF GREEK. 61 former, who generously took upon himself the whole re- ,cnAP. i. sponsibility of the innovation, composed in the following August an elaborate letter to Gardiner, vindicating the new method of pro unciation and giving a detailed account of the manner in which he had been led to undertake its intro- duction. At the same time, Cheke and Gardiner exchanged a series of letters on the subject which was not concluded until the following October*. The general ground on which the latter chiefly rested his defence was that in a matter like pronunciation usage was the safest guide; and be maintained, rightly enough, that it was a fallacy to suppose that all written characters were necessarily to be reproduced in sound^. It is rather suggestive of the real weakness of his case, tbat he thought it worth while to urge that the younger students, who naturally found the least difficulty in the new method, evinced a mischievous delight in the perplexity which it occasioned their elders, and were thus rendered pert and arrogant. His most solid objection was undoubtedly that derived from the diversity that the change would create between the English and the Continental prac- tice',— an objection to which both his opponents readily admitted that some weight was to be attached*. ■i Johannis Cheki Angli de Pro- uno verbo Aiiglico totam Graeoam nuntiatione Graecae potissimum Lin- linguam evertis.' Ibid. p. 84. guae Disputationes cum Stephana ' Ibid. pp. 168, 199. Wintoniensi Episcopo, septem con- « 'Diluend a sunt ilia quae maxime trariis Epistolae ccmprehenme, &c. Tidentur officere causae nostras; Basileae, 1555. Gardiner's first let- quorum hoc fidetur vel praecipuum, ter was written prior to his decree, in in quo etiam ego ipse testis esse citor, the hope apparently of deterring qui aliquando nescio cui amioo ^m Cheke before recourse was had to so aurem dixerim me nusquam extra extreme a measure. Mr Wordsworth Cantabrigiam nostram nostrae pro- (University Studies, p. 109, n. 4) has nuntiationi patronum mvemsse. briefly summarised this correspond- Smith, de Pronunt. fol. 3. Gardmer gugg/ more than once presses Smith s ad- s' 'Vide, quaeso, apud nos in mission against Cheke, and to Dr nostra dialecto, utrum osoulum jam Caius it always appeared a fatal ob- Kusse dices, vel Kysse! Quod ex- jection: 'Hie itaque sic cogitabam emplum ideo tibi propono, ut videas apud me, cum neo Eomae nee m apud nos sonum litterae v Graecae, universa Italia, imo vero cum neque quae antiquioribus et rudibus sona- in Germania, Galha, neque Belgia, bat u, urbanitate quadam loquendi nee alibi gentium quam in nostra in sonum i litterae extenuatum.' Britannia ullum unquam yerbum de Cheke, de Pronunt., p. 10. To this pronuntiatione ilia nova ullave men- Cheke very happily rejoins: 'Sed ab tio aut Bigmficatio turn fuit, novam antiquis ad nostra me transfers, et pronuntiationem alibi in usu nou 62 A.D. 1535 TO 1546. CHAP. i._ The testimony of Ascham undoubtedly implies that the wstMro^he chancellor's decree met with a certain compliance, — at least coDuuvwsy. g^^ ^i^g public lectures. But it is evident that the submission of the university was not of long continuance, for in the following year Gardiner found it necessary emphatically to repeat his prohibition, declaring that he would not submit to be 'deluded and contempned\' In 1545 we find him complaining that his decree, which he affirms had received the assent of the whole body, had been set aside with impunity^; while in 1654, when his authority had acquired fresh terrors with the Catholic reaction, he proceeded to enforce his determination by vigorous dealings with the recalcitrants'. But in a few years more the force of reason I had prevailed, and the Erasmian pronunciation was generally adopted in England, until in turn superseded by the more i recent method which now prevails*. Its adoption on the Continent was somewhat later", but the treatises of Mekerch, Beza, Ceratinus, and Henry Stephens familiarized scholars with the arguments in its favour and gradually obtained for it an almost equally general acceptance. The real service rendered by Smith in bringing about this important reform fuisse quam in Britannia certo scire 11, 1550), states that he has just licet.' de Pronunt. (ed. 1574), p. 3. heard Theodoric Lange lecture at ' Cooper, AnnaU, i 406. Coelius, Louvain, and that the lecturer 'se- the editor of the correspondence be- quutus est in omni nostram pronun- tween Cheke and Gardiner, denies tiationetu. ' Epist. 233. In WTiting, that the former in any way submitted : however, to Edward Eaven. in the 'Hand tamen ejus potentia territus, following February, he qualifies this Checus rectissimo studio susceptam statement and says that 'the reader, causam sibi esse deserendam duxit, in oi, followed our pronunciation' sed fortiter in ea persistendum ; illud {English Works, ^. Sa5). As regards cogitans, nihil esse veritate poteu- the Continent, Mr Clark observes: tius.' de Pronunt. a 5. 'The change was the more easily 2 Cooper, Annals, i 426. made since in all countries the pro- ' Ibid. II 92. nuuciatiou of the consonants was * The precise differences between nearly the same as that already the Eeuchlinian, the Erasmian, and employed both for Latin and for the the modern English methods are con- vernacular tongues, while the Eras- cisely described in a paper from the mian pronunciation of the vowels pen of the late W. G. Clark, in the was the same as that already in use Journal of Philology, i 98-108. He in France, and with the exception of observes (p. 100) that long before the v, with that used in Italy and Ger- time at which Strype wrote (1721) the many. In England alone the ano- English pronunciation had super- malous pronunciation of the vowels seded both the Erasmian and the in the native tongue presented an Eeuchlinian in this country. obstacle which did not exist else- ' Ascham, writing to Cheke (Nov. where.' Journal of Philology, i 102. PRONUNCIATION OF GREEK. 63 has been somewhat unduly lost sight of by posterity; for to chap. i. Cheke, in conjunction with Erasmus, the merit has chiefly been assigned'. That Smith's popularity had been in no way diminished statute of by his advocacy of the new pronunciation of Greek, may be matricuia-° • 1} ^ f IP n 1 • -, 'J tion of interred irom the tact of his election to the vice-chancellor- students. ship for the year 1543-4. His tenure of oflSce was marked by one measure of more than ordinary utility, — the passing of a statute for the due matriculation and registration of students. Before this time, no other formality had been observed save that of an oath administered to all students above the age of fourteen by the head of the college or hall to which they belonged, whereby they pledged them- selves to obey the authorities, preserve the peace, and defend the interests of. the university. By the statute of 1544, the student was required to go before the registrary and give in his name, together with that of his tutor and that of his college, to pay the matriculation fees", and then, if of mature age, to take an oath to the following effect: STIfC CfjancElIor and Vicechancellor of the university of Cambridge so far forth as is lawful and right, and according to the rank in which I shall he as long as I shall dwell in this republic, I will courteously obey. The laws, statutes, approved customs and privileges of the university, as tnuch as in m^ is, I will observe. The advancement of piety and good letters, and the state, honour, and dignity of this university I will main- tain as long as I live, and with my suffrage and counsel, asked and unasked, will defend. &a f^elp me ®oS anS tljt ignlg ®ospris of ®clr'. 1 Mekerch (Havertamp, Sylloge and Flanders. Ibid. Scriptorum, etc. p. 30) mentions Eras- ^ The various sums payable, ao- mus and Cheke as the writers by whom cording to the status of the individual, he had been principally guided in his are enumerated in Cooper, Annals, i researches. So again Henry Stephens 414. writes: 'Quidquid D.Erasmus, quid- ' IMd. i 413-4. Among other quid Joannes Checus scripserunt de good results from this measure is to hac controversia sonorum hterari- be noted the fact that it rendered it orum, primum est acoeptum.' Ibid. necessary that the Registers at the p. 391. At Paris, the eminent Ramus different colleges should also be more appears to have been the first to systematically kept. The Registers introduce the new method, and he of Admissions at St John's College all was foUowed by Lambinus (Iftid. 391- date from the following year, viz. 2). Stephens, who wrote his treatise 1545; whUe previously, even the re- in 1578, speaks of the new method as gister of the admissions of the fellows already prevalent in Gaul, Britain, had been so neglected that professor 64 A.D. 1535 TO 1546. CHAP, i.^ Iq the year 1542, the spoliation of the monasteries was turned to the advantage of secular education in the university in a somewhat remarkable manner. On the other side of the river, ' cut off,' as Fuller describes it, ' from the continent of Cambridge,' there stood an ancient house known as Buck- ingham College, its name having been derived from Henry Stafford, duke of Buckingham, who was beheaded in 1483. The foundation of the house, however, dated as far back as the year 1428, when the Benedictines of Croyland, dissatisfied with the somewhat shiftless condition of those members of their order who sought to pursue their studies at the univer- sity, erected a separate building for tlieir accommodation, in which monks repairing to Cambridge ' to study the canon law and the Holy Scriptures' might reside under their own rule'. This tenement was supplanted about half a century later by a more solid structure, the gift of the above duke, and Buckingham thenceforth bore the name of Buckingham College^ Other ABenedic- Beuedictme monasteries built additional rooms , while the tionbu°open society received from Edward Stafford, the son of Henry and clergy and "' third duke, a considerable endowment, and it is probable that the foundation of the college as a secular, or semi- secular society, dates from this period*. But in the year 1521 the chivalrous Stafford was executed on the charge o Mayor, in his endeavour to complete Collegii nomen adinvenit.' Caius, the list from the foundation, describes Hist. Acad. Cant., p. 77. Cooper his information as derived 'from (Annals, i 179, n. 3) appears to have bonds, required by statute to be overlooked this distinct assertion by given at admission in the reign of Dr Caius. Henry 8,' or from ' a broken, im- ' ' Nam Eliense monasterium perfect register in the treasury,' or unum cubioulum, alium Waldense, from 'the series of names, as they 3 Eamisense monasterium fabrica- stand upon some old college books, runt.' Caius, Ibid. p. 77. or other papers.' Baker-Mayor, p. * It is worthy of note that in a 284. sheet contained in a copy of Caius' ' Cooper, Annals, i 178-9, 227. de Antiquitate Cant, presented by For some of the facts contained in John Parker (sou of the archbishop) the following account I am indebted to James I, now preserved in the to entries contained in a volume British Museum, in which the arms known as the ' Old Book,' preserved of the different colleges are emblazon- in the custody of the master for the ed with the dates of their respective time being of Magdalene College. foundations superscribed, the date ^ ' Bi ante paucos annos, nuUis assigned to the foundation of Mag- datis possessionibus, ex opere late- dalen is 1519. The same date is ritio initium dedit Henr. Bucking- given by Carter in his 7/ )s(o?-i/ o/ (Ti^ hamiae dux, undc Buckinghamiae University. FOUNDATION OF MAGDALENE OOLLEGE. 65 of high-treason, and the endowment of the college along chart. with his other estates was confiscated by the Crown\ There seems little doubt that the secular element in the colleo-e about this time was considerable. Cranmer, on resigning his fellowship at Jesus College after his first marriage, had supported himself by giving lectures here in theology"; it was here that Sir Robert Rede, the distinguished bene- factor of the university, and lord chancellor Sir Thomas Audley were said to have received their education'; while the last prior of the house was Henry Holbeach, a Cambridge doctor of divinity and afterwards bishop of Lincoln*. It is to the presence of this secular element that we may probably attribute the exemption of the society from the operation of the successive acts for the dissolution of the monastic bodies, and the inclusion of its name with the names of the other Cambridge colleges which, by one of the provisions of the Royal Injunctions of 1535, were required to maintain 'two daily public lectures, one of Greek the other of Latin".' The loss of the endowment received from Edward Stafford was now succeeded by the loss of the fees formerly paid by students from the monasteries, and the financial state of the college was such as to threaten its speedy dissolution. It was at this crisis that, to use the expression of Baker, the house was ' restored^' by the intervention of Sir Thomas Audley. Among those who had urged on the overthrow of the sir Thomas nil • -1 Audley. religious houses none had taken a more active part m the b. im. work or had shared more largely in the spoil than that eminent statesman. Endowed with consummate tact and a commanding presence, he had achieved no ordinary political success and had acquired considerable wealth by a singular combination of talent, audacity, and craft, — the characteristics 1 Carter saj's the foundation had I am unable to trace Baker's autho- not been 'perfected,' and that the rity for this statement, property consequently reverted to the ^ Cooper, Athenae, i 20 and 80. Crown. Hist, of the Univ., p. 290. * Ibid. 1 105. " ' Tho. Cranmer cum a collegioJesu ' See author's Hist, of the Univ., oessit matrimonii causa fit Praelector i 630. Theologiae in Coll. Buckingham.' * 'renovatum.' Baker MSS. vi Baker MSS., xxi 167 ; Harleian, 70i8. 111. M. II. 5 66 A.D. 1535 TO A.D. 1546. cHAP.T. of one who in the language of Lloyd 'was well seen in the flexures and windings of affairs at the depths whereof other Hg obtains hoads not so steady turned giddv'.' The offices of speaker extensive *^ T^n r* ^ 11 r T BjantsofthD q£ ^-^q House of Coinmons, chancellor of the duchy oi Lan- '"^'™- caster, lord keeper of the great seal, and lord chancellor of the realm had successively rewarded his untiring persever- ance and real services. Among the first to profit by the plunder of the monasteries, he was also one of those who shared in its fiual distribution. la 1535, the priory of Aldgate with its estates— 'the first cut/ as Fuller terms it, 'in the feast of abbey lands' — fell to his share, and was followed in 1536 by the bestowal of St Botolph's Priory at Colchester. But these splendid prizes were far from satis- fying his cupidity''. He pleaded that he had been a heavy loser by the rebellion in the North and again by the cessa- tion of the fees wliicli in his capacity as chancellor he had formerly derived from the monasteries. When accordingly the wealthy abbey of Walden, with its large estates, was confiscated he begged boldly for the gift. 'In the besy world,' he says, in a letter to Cromwell, ' I susteyned damage and injury and this slial restore me to honeste and como- dyte^' His representations were favourably heard by Henry, and in 1538, Sir Thomas, as possessor of the property, was raised to the peerage under the title of lord Audley of Walden. But the royal munificence was not yet exhausted, and in 1542 the priory of Crutched Friars at Colchester and Tiltey Abbey completed the intriguing statesman's magni- ' State JVorthies (2nd ed.), p. 73. Braybrooke, p. 12. 'Every grant,' Elsewhere the same vrriter describes observes the noble author, 'whicli him as one ' whose knowledge was Sir Thomas obtained encouraged him as large as his authority, whose wit to importune the king for further was equal with his wisdom, whose recompense.' Ibid. memory was strong and judgement ^ *The chai-ges of the rebellion solid.' Ihid. p. 72. See also Froude, and the occasion cost me xj°. markes lUst. of Eniilaiid,! 2i8. The 'Gray's and above.'...'! have lost by capa- Inn lawyer ' mentioned by the same cyteez liberally and frely granted to wiiter as making a happy rejoinder relegeous persones of all the howses to the bishops' appeal to 'custom' suppressid, of very ordinary ffeez (p. 247) was Sir Thomas Audley. anexid to my oflSoe above a M", and Mr Froude assigns to him 'a middle have it no reoompens for it.' Letters j)lace ' among the contending interests relating to the Suppression of the at court. Ibid, iv 207. Momts'teries, p. 242. " Hist, of Audley End, by Lord FOUNDATION OF MAGDALENE COLLEGE. 67 ficent reward. If ever the hope that the suppression of the chap. i. monasteries might prove the gain of the universities was to be in some measure realised, it must be admitted that there was no courtier from whose aggrandizement the latter bodies had a better right to look for some advantage than the newly-created lord of Walden. He was moreover, when his years were estimated by the average of life in those days, already an old man. He had no male heir; and the Cam itself, as it stole onward through the abbey grounds at Walden, might serve to remind him of those ancient and impoverished foundations which rose on its banks in its remoter course, and in behalf of which his powerful influence had more than once been exerted'. We have no record of any specific appeal to him on the subject, but he was fully informed of the straitened condition of the university and of the existing desire for more colleges, and in the year 1542 we find him applying for the royal licence to change the name of Buckingham College to that of St Mary Magdalene and subsequently reconstituting the society as a college of the university endowed for the maintenance of a master and eight fellows. Although however the college was reconstituted in 1542 ciiaiterof o o ^ foundation of and its charter granted by Henry, ' Ecclesiae Anglicanae et coliBMr" Hiberniae supremum caput,' it devolved on the executors of •**'■ ^' ^^*^' the founder (who died in April, 1544) to draw up the statutes, and it was not until the sixteenth of February, 1554, that ^arfy^^^^ these received the sanction of Philip and Mary — ' Dei gratia uonfjirar Regis et Reginae Angliael' The executors were Elizabeth ^k-^' lady Audley (the widow), Edward lord North, Sir Thomas Pope, knight, and Edmund Martin and Thomas Barber, esquires'. Of these, two at least were staunch Catholics*, 1 In the Epistolae Academiae (i which by the courtesy of the present 184) there is a letter thanking him master of Magdalene I have been for his assistance in procuring for permitted to examine, the order is as the university the remission of the I have given it. These statutes, he- payment of first-fruits and tenths sides other features of interest, are (see supra, p. 12). noticeable for having the names of " Documents, in 346. each of the executors inscribed in 3 In Documents and also in Cooper full at the foot of every folio. (v 258) the last two names are trans- ^ Lord North was one of the posed, but in the original statutes, Commission for the suppression of .5—2 68 A.D. 1535 TO A.D. 1546. CHAP. T. Unn^ual powers vested in the master. The r resident. , and whea we take into consideration the date at which the statutes were drawn up, it is evident that, whatever might have been the founder's designs, the display of any decided preference for the ' new learning' would probably have proved subversive of the whole scheme. In marked contrast there- fore to the statutes of Christ's CoUege and St John's, the original code of Magdalene College is noticeable chiefly for what may be termed its more domestic character, and the evident design of the founder and his executors that the society shall be permanently to a great extent under the con- trol of his heirs, — the successive owners of Audley End. They are to possess the sole right of appointing the master of the college, while the whole tenour of the statutes is carefully directed towards maintaining intact the master's authority. As regards the head himself, it is required that at the time of succeeding to the office he shall be about thirty years of age\ 'a promoter of religion, virtue, and sound learning,' and that if not in holy orders he shall forth- with take the necessary steps for admission to the same. No statute recognises the contingency of his suspension or removal, while, on the other hand, he himself is invested with full power to eject from the college ('sine ulla mora aut appellatione') any of the fellows who may resist or re- fuse to obey his authority". The stipend originally attached to the office was liberal, being, after that of the provost of King's and that of the master of St John's, the largest de- rived from a similar position among all the other foundations then existing in the university. No clause requires that he shall be resident, a fact which is partially explained by the provision made, notwithstanding the limited numbers of the society, for the appointment of a president. This officer is required to exercise a general supervision over the whole heresy, 8 Feb. 1556-7 (Cooper, Athenae, i 232). On Sir Thomas Pope's well-known Catholic sympa- thies it is unnecessary here to dwell. 1 ' Sit praeterea annos triginta natos aut circiter:' this somewhat singular expression has I belieye been construed, in one instance, into li- berty to appoint a master of the age of twenty-seven. ^ Documents, iii 348. ' ' CoUegii praefectus pro vrnius anni commeatu quinquaginta duos Bolidos, pro Stipendio quinque libras et octo solidos habebit.' Documents, III 357. Cf. Cooper, Annals, i 431-8. FOUNDATION OF MAGDALENE COLLEGE. 69 body, to enforce the observance of the statutes, attendance ^ chap, i. _ at chapel, and attention to study. In elections to fellowships it is directed that no heir to Feiiows property shall be eligible, and preference is to be given to those <=icrk. who are ' docti et pauperes' and intending to devote them- selves to theological studies. Those not in priest's orders within three years from their election, are to be liable, at the discretion of the master, to forfeit their fellowships. Besides the fellows there is to be a 'bibliothista' or chapel clerk, who is to assist the officiating priest at divine worship'. It is directed that every fortnight there shall be dispu- Disputations . ^ and lectures. tations and 'problems' in the college chapel between the hours of five and seven, at which the president, the fellows and pensioners are all required to be present for the purpose of taking part. There are also to be daily lectures in hall between six and seven in the morning, but the detailed directions with respect to subjects which we find in the statutes of Christ's College and St John's are altogether wanting^. It was originally designed, as already stated, that in con- iiieendow- pp !• 1 II 1 11 ^6"' proves formity with the charter of foundation the college should insufficient support a master and eight fellows', no restriction beiug im- ™JJft°feiiows posed with respect to counties or place of birth. But the desSd-""^ executors, on proceeding to draw up the statutes, found the revenues so far inadequate that they reduced the number to six, while in contemplation of any difficulty being subse- quently experienced in maintaining even this limited number the society was empowered to suspend for a time elections to fellowships which might fall vacant*. It was afterwards found necessary so far to exercise the discretion thus conferred that the number of foundation fellows was further reduced to four, and we hence find that this last number is that which is usually spoken of as provided for by the original foundation 1 Documents, in 348-9. non potest ; turn fundatrioi dum-vivit ^ Ibid. Ill 350-1. et post ejus mortem magistro et ma- 3 Hid. Ill 341. jori parti sociorum lioebit sodalitia ■• 'Praefectus et socii eint septem tunc temporis vacua in uaum ool- numero....Si tamen oontigerit oolle- legii ad tempus convertere.' Ibid. gium in tantam decidere inopiam ut in 349. inde numerus hio praescriptus ali 70 A.D. 1535 TO A.D. 154C. Hugh Dennis. of Sir Thomas Audley'. Before his decease, however, we find in the year 1543 the suppression of the monasteries resulting in another gain to the college. A fund had been Bequest of bequeathed some years before, by one Hugh Dennis, to the priory of Shene 'for the finding of two priests to pray for ever for his soule and divirs other soules mentioned in his will'.' But as the priory had been dissolved these conditions could no longer be fulfilled, and the heirs of Hugh Dennis accordingly obtained permission by Act of Parliament to commute the obligation imposed on them by the directions of the will for an arrangement whereby it was agreed that there 'should be given to St Mary Magdalene College in Cambridge for ever a yearly pension of £20 in money issuing out of his manor in Burleigh, whereof 20 nobles to be to the use of the college for ever, and the other 20 markes pension to be paid yearly to 2 such fellowes as the king shall nominate, which 2 fellows shall pray for the soules of King Henry the 7th and King Henry 8 and for the soules of Hugh Dennis and his wife and for all other soules mentioned in the will of the sayd Hugh Dennis'.' In addition to these two 'king's fellows,' as they were termed*, John Spendluffe, of Farlsthorpe in Lincolnshire, gave in 1584 lands 'to the value of £30 and upwards' for the maintenance of one fellow and two scholars; and in 1587 two fellowships were founded by Sir Christopher Wray. Other bequests for a like purpose were made, until, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, the number of fellow- ships amounted to 16 and the scholarships to 31. Bequests of John Spendluffe and Sir Christopher Wray. 1 Cooper, Annals, i 404. Baker (MSS. IV 120) says, 'Lord Audley's foundation consisted of four fellow- sliips and six scholarships;' in MSS. Ti 111, he says however that Sir T. Audley 'ordinavit uuum Magis- trum et octo Socios.' Dr Caius, ■writing in 1574, says 'Fimdatio ad- mittit unum magistrum et 8 socios, sed ex praediolo ne sufficit quidem quod alat quinque, poterit tamen cum plaouerit bonis viris.' Hist. Acad. Cant. p. 78. ''.'Old Book' of Magdalene Col- lege Lodge, p. 43. 3 Ibid. * But not, it will be observed, of royal foundation. In the year 1634 Charles i instituted enquiry in the belief that the latter was the case and that these two fellowships were 'in his owne absolute power to dis- pose of.' The society returned reply that the fellowships had been founded by 'one Hugh Dennis, Esq., the nomination only being with the king, and that both fellowships were at that time fiUed.' 'Old Book,' p. 117. THE CROWN AND THE COLLEGES. 71 It remains to observe that although early in the reign ^ chap, t. ^ of Elizabeth, before that is to say the year 1564, many Alterations 1 ' TIT' pi'i o '11 T ^^^ additions alterations and additions, some oi which were of considerable introduced into the importance^ had been introduced into the original statutes, "[^fi'JlJ i^ the directions with respect to the master's authority were EifzaS"' repeated only with greater fulness and force ^,-^a feature which would appear satisfactorily to prove that the special and peculiar powers attached to the mastership of this foundation have throughout been regarded as in conformity with the design of the founder. It is about this time that we begin to find the interference JfufJcr"™ of the Crown with elections to the masterships of colleges, as iU^teraWps'." seen in the appointments of Dr Day and Dr Taylor at St John's, becoming the rule rather than the exception, and however indefensible in principle, it admits of no question that this undue exertion of the royal prerogative was some- times attended with beneficial results. At a time when party spirit ran high, a conflict within college walls was often thus averted, which would otherwise have given birth to bitter and long-enduring dissension in the society. Certainly no 1 'In as muche therefore as the auctoritatem post Christum suprenmm said statutes are aUredye appointid ex conscientia nou agnOTerit, qui oa- perusid and also correotid by suche nonioas Scripturas Patrihns ao Con- judgmente as the said Executours ciliis humanis omnibus non aute- and I (whom it pleasid God to ap- posuerit' (Original copy of Statutes). pointe for the time beinge and my ^ The principal additions which children hearafter as proper heires point to an extension of the master's unto the sayd L. Awdeleye) have prerogative (1) enjoin that any fellow thought meet and conveniente ' etc. who shall disobey or resist his au- LMer from the duke of Norfolh (the thority shall forthwith be expelled by son-in-law of the founder) to the him ; (2) vest the election of the Pre- master and fellows, Jan. 24, 1564. sident in his hands; (3) permit the Documents, in 344-5. These addi- time of the election to fellowships to tions or alterations (for in some in- be altered at his pleasure; (4) forbid stances the words are inserted over that any feUow shall hold a benefice an erasure) illustrate the transition without his special consent ; (5) allow from the Marian to the Ehzabethan votes to be promised before the time era- eg we find in the statute de of elections to fellowships, if he so qualitate Magistri, over an erasure, will; (6) give him, in addition to to-o ' aut ooelibem aut maritatum esse pro votes on every occasion, the casting suo arbitrio permittimus' (see Docu- vote whenever the votes are equal; merits, in 348) ; while in that de Elec- (7) place in his hands the supervision tione Sociorum, a distinct paragraph and arrangement of the exercises a,nd (covering an extensive erasure) de- disputations. Documents, iii 348- olares no one to be eligible ' qui Eegis 50. 72 A.D. 1535 TO AD. loJ^e. CHAP. I. happier instance can he cited than that whereby in loi-t the fellows of Corpus Christi were induced to acquiesce in the Dr Parker clectiou of Dr Parker as their head. His able administra- fi^l'too™"^ tion of Stoke College constituted one of his chief recommenda- m^llrship tions, while the impending dissolution of that college was in cTiSff"^ itself an argument in favour of his claims to other prefer- DecTi544 Qjeut'. The royal letter to the fellows describes him as ' a man, as wel for his approved learning, wisedom, and honestie, as for his singuler grace and Industrie in bringing upp youth in vertue and learning, so apte for the exercise of the said roome, as is thought very harde to finde the like for al respects and purposes'.^ His eiecuoa The election to the mastership took place in December, ctan'ceiio?- and on Sunday, the 25th of the following January, ' at iii of ship, 2S Jan. ■' . - ii i ■ • 1^*5- the clock,' Parker was elected to the vice-chancellorship m succession to Smith. The election was carried by a trium- phant majority, and John Mere, the registrary, 'a hearty lover' of the university', in communicating the result to Parker at Norwich, does not attempt to conceal his satisfac- tion. He states that it was ' a very great house,' the number of regents being ninety-eight, and of this number the voting papers shew that seventy-nine votes were given for Parker, five for Ridley, eight for Standish, and six for Atkinson*. It was probably felt that at this juncture the appointment was of more than ordinary importance ; and we find, indeed, that all Parker's discretion and tact were needed in connexion with an occurrence which soon after placed him in a position of some difficulty between contending parties. couegepiays. The acting of plays was a form of amusement which had long divided opinion in the universities. At Paris we find the austere Gerson interdicting their performance and stigma- tising such I'ecreations as 'ludi stultorum;' at Cambridge, however, they were at this time a practice recognised by the 1 Parker's efforts on behalf of the ' He -was a King's man, and also college only postponed the evil day, filled the office of esquire-bedeU. anditwaseventuallydiRsolvedinlo47. Coofei, Athenae, i VJi; Parher Cor- Strype, Life of Parker, bk. i. c. fi. respondtnce, p. 19; Masters,- fiwt. of ^ Ibid. Append., No. v.; Parker Corp. Chr. Coll., Append., no. xxv. Correspondence, p. 17. " Ibid., p. 18. COLLEGE PLAYS. 73 authorities and encouraged by statutory enactments, — chap.i. penalties even being sometimes imposed on those who refused sanctioned to bear their part\ The amusement and interest which thev oouraged at . "^ this period excited was in no way diminished by the fact that they were fo^^^l^ ^t frequently the medium through which one party asserted its ''™'"'''*k«- own views and satirized those of its opponents. In the Christmas week of 1536 the performance of the Plutus of Aristophanes at St John's College, with the new Greek pro- nunciation, had given early indication of the coming reform. But the favourite weapon with the Reformers at this period, was the ' mystery,' or religious play, a form of dramatic en- tertainment which is to be traced in England as far back as the Norman Conquest". Among the producers of this litera- ture, Thomas Kirchmeyer (or Nao-Georgus) holds in the Jhomas ^ ^ o / Kirchmeyer, sixteenth century a conspicuous place. He had been educated ^.^mi at Tubingen, at the time when that university was inspired by the presence and teaching of Camerarius, and his attain- ments as a Greek and Latin scholar were of a high order. He had however embraced Calvinistic views, and while him- self a vigorous assailant of the Papacy had been compelled in turn to flee by Lutheran intolerance. He appears to have conceived also an admiration for the Stoic philosophy, and his published translations of such authors as Dion Chrysos- Histrans- ^ *' lationa and torn, Epictetus, and Synesius, shew that his sympathies were eompoSions. with a school of thought which had, in those days, but few followers or admirers. But it was by his dramatic composi- 1 A statute of Queens' College of sometimes private, sometimes open the year 1546 directs that any student to the whole university {Documents, iii refusing to take part in the acting of 54). For a clause from the statutes a comedy or tragedy in the college, of Trinity CoUege see Wordsworth, and absenting himself from the per- University Life, p. 188, where for formance contrary to the injunctions '1535 ' read 1560. Much of the im- of the President shall be expelled portance attached, at this period, to from the society. Fellows and scho- the acting of plays by students, may lars on the foundation, not being I think be attributed to the precepts of bachelors of theology, are to be fined, John Sturm of Strassburg, of whom I for like contumacy, a sum of 5s. : it shall hereafter have occasion to speak, is also directed that the expense in- = Ward (Prof.) Hist, of English curred in getting up and exhibiting Dramatic Literature, i 86. Professor a comedy or tragedy shall be defrayed Ward observes that ' Uterary termino- by the President from the common logy must distinguish between the chest. Baker MSS. xxxii 274-5. By miracle-play as primarily of literary, a later form of this statute it would and the mystery as primarily of re- appear that the performances were ligious, i.e. liturgical origin.' 74 A.D. 1535 TO A.D. 1546. His Pam~ machius. £5^^iiL/ tions that Kirchraeyer was chiefly known to his contempo- raries, and a Latin tragedy which he published in 1538, under the title of PammacUus, acquired an almost European fame. It is an unsparing satire of the abuses and crimes of the Papacy. Pammachius is an imaginary Pope, a contemporary of the emperor Julian, who, weary of the simplicities of the true faith, begins to hold unhallowed communication with the sophists, — of whom Porphyry, by a slight anachronism, is selected as a representative. The result of their consulta- tions is that Pammachius resolves on transferring his alle- giance from Christ to Satan. Christ thereupon, in his divine displeasure, commands that Satan shall be unloosed, and be permitted for a time to work his will on earth. Pammachius and Porphyry straightway offer to become the liegemen of Satan on condition that the former receives a portion of the new kingdom. This being granted, Pammachius expels the imperial Caesar from the Church and deposes him from his throne. The latter subsequently comes to terms with his conqueror, but it is upon rigorous conditions, and Satan in his exultation at the pontiff's victory, erects a trophy. At this crisis the divine permission is given to the apostle Paul and to Truth to revisit earth, and a terrible conflict ensues, of which the issue is still undecided when the drama closes \ This rude caricature of papal history, as seen through Calvinist spectacles, is also made the vehicle for a series of invectives against the whole body of Romish ceremonies and observances, and consequently attained to considerable popu- larity among the Eeformers. John Bale, the author of the Scriptores Britanniae, deemed it worthy of translation. It is however due to Kirchmeyer to admit that though his play Itg extensive popularity. 1 In the collected edition of his dramatic compositions, published at Wittenberg in 1542, from whence I have derived my knowledge of the play, there is prefixed to Pammachius a dedication to Cranmer, wherein the vices of the papal system are severely animadverted upon. Strype, who does not appear to have seen the play, very inadequately describes it as ' an interlude, wherein the popish manner of Lent fastings and the cere- monies were exposed' {Life of Parker, bk. I. 0. 5). The author himself, in the 'Prologus,' much more nearly describes the scope of the composition when he says, 'In summa, papatum suis coloribus depmximus.' PAMMACHIUS. abounds with imputations and insinuations of all kinds, it . Chap, i. never descends to blasphemies and foul scurrilities such as characterise Bale's own efforts in the same kind of composi- tion'. It says more for the zeal than the charity of the mem- Tiiepiay performed bers of Christ's College that they selected Pammachius for '^Jp^^ . *' 1545, at a dramatic performance and the season of Lent (1545) for gfiege. its production. The authorities gave their sanction to the selection, and even granted a sum of nearly twenty nobles for the expenses of bringing out the play, although before it was rehearsed they had the prudence to revise the text and expunge some of the more offensive passages. Gardiner, who Gardiner had his informants in every college, soon heard of what had ""^ perform- ° aiice by taken place, his intelligence on this occasion being received scolll'^^ through Cuthbert Scott, a young fellow of Christ's, who on the accession of queen Mary was rewarded for his staunch Catholicism by being promoted to the see of Chester. The chancellor was at this time probably in a more than usually suspicious state of mind. His plot for the overthrow of Cranmer had just been signally foiled; Dr London had recently died a miserable death in Fleet Prison ; and Parliament had effectually interposed to mitigate the action of the Six Articles Bill. He at once sent down peremptory instructions His remon- to Parker to report on the whole matter. The latter insti- enquiries, tuted enquiries the result of which was to vindicate the performers from some of the heavier charges : it was clear that the performance had not taken place without due sanc- tion, and it was certain that the play itself had been to a certain extent expurgated. No one who was present, Parker said, as far as he could learn, had professed himself in any way scandalised by what he had beards His report was far 1 See particularly, Bale's Comedy e accident that Parker's reply is dated concerning thre lawes, published ia ' this good frydaye, ' but the early Ee- the same year as Pamvmchius. Bale formers omitted no opportunity of had been educated at Jesus College, shewing their contempt for the ob- but was at this time in exile with his servanoe of Lent. Bale, in his Vo- wife and family in the Low Countries. cacyon to the Bishoprick of Ossory, Cooper, Athenae, i 226. tells us that his 'comedy' of John the 2 Lamb, Cambridge Documents, i Baptist and his 'tragedy' of God's 49. It cannot, I think, be quite by Promises were acted by the youths 76 A.D. 1535 TO A.D. 1546. Action of the Privy Council. Act for tlie Dissolution of Colleges. , from satisfying Gardiner, who wrote again, requiring that further enquiry should be made, and that all the Heads and doctors of the different faculties should assist in its prosecu- tion. He urged that if some passages of the play had been omitted, this only proved more clearly the deliberate intent with which the remainder had been uttered. He affected to look upon the whole matter as touching upon the king's authority as Head of the Church, and finally warned Cam- bridge not to abuse her ample privileges, with respect to which, he declared, she was more favoured than Oxford, lest 'ther opinion shulde be confermed which not many yeres past have laboured to prove in bokes prynted in englyshe that the universities be the corruption of the realme*'. It does not appear that the chancellor derived much satis- faction from the report of the assembled Heads and doctors, nor indeed from a perusal of the expurgated copy of Pam- machius which was sent for his inspection. In a third letter he expressed his disgust at the whole composition, and also his general dissatisfaction with the state of affairs in the uni- versity at large. His missive was followed up by a warning letter from the Privy Council, — designed apparently quite as much to shield Scott from the consequences of his unpopu- larity as to enforce the chancellor's mandate, — John Crane, a junior fellow of Christ's who had taken a leading part in the performance, was bound over to appear when called for, and here the matter would seem to have terminated '. But before the close of the year the peace of the univer- sity was again disturbed by a far more important event, — the passing of the 'Act for the Dissolution of Colleges.' The alarm in both universities now rose to the highest point. It was well known that the courtiers had already cast longing eyes on the landed endowments of the colleges, and that Henry himself was scarcely able to withstand their greed and importunity, especially when their claims were urged, as was not unfrequently the case, on the ground of distinguished upon a Sunday at the market cross of Kilkenny. See Warton, Hist, of English Poetry, iii 78-9. 51. Lamb, Cambridge Documents, p. IMd. pp. 54-57. THE UXIVEIiSITY AND THE CROWN. 77 service to the state'. Not a few at both Cambridge and chap.i. Oxford began to predict that the Leighs and the Leightons would shortly again be seen in their midst, and that King's College and Cardinal College would ere long share the fate of Glastonbury and the Charterhouse. It was at this June- ^^^^^^ ture that the advantage of possessing such representatives of onlieM ot their interests as Cheke and Smith was forcibly brought 'uy™'"" home to the university. Even the dullest conservative, who had been wont to look upon these two eminent men as only fantastic troublers of calm waters, could not but acknowledge that genius and originality had their uses when he found them potent to ward off the hands of the despoiler from his own table, his fellowship, or his prebend. In the preceding year, Cheke had been called away from Cambridge to act as tutor to prince Edward, an appointment, as Ascham truly describes it, 'full of hope, comforte, and solace to all true hartes of Englande". ' About the same time. Smith received the appointment of clerk to the queen's council. The duties of his ofBce do not appear to have rendered it necessary for him altogether to absent himself from Cambridge, and Walter Haddon in the same year describes him as infusing life and animation into every branch of academic study, and being like St Paul ' all things to all men,' in order that all might benefit by his endeavours'. He was however fre- quently at court, and appears to have gained considerable influence over both the invalid and irritable monarch and his ' This, according to Parker, who reliquiutreipublieaeserviant. Vernm ■was present when the words were si utilitatem quae profloiscitnr ex spoken, was Henry's only excuse for plnrimis ingeniis optime iustitstis conduct which really admitted of no cum unius hominis opera comparare justification : — 'that he could not but velis, facile eemes quantum nos ho- wryght for hys serrantes and others neste petere, et quantum tu juste doyng the service for the realme in tribnere, non nohis, sed reipubUcae warys and other affayres.' Lamb, potius debes. ' Epist. f. 296. Docwments, p. 60; Cooper, Annals, i ' Toxophilm (ed. Arber), p. 78. 431. Ascham when pleading with ' 'D. Smithus conserit inter nos the Protector Somerset a year or two litteras omnis generis, jus civile do- later, on behalf of St John's College, cet, ad philosophiae causas acoedit, skilfully exposes the shallowness of medicos etiam tentat novos nostros, this plea: 'Intelligimus multos pri- exemplo D. Pauli fit omnibus omnia, vatosvirosexbenignitateregummag- fructumutafferatomnibus.' Haddon, nas divitias consequutos esse. Op- Epist. p. 166. time factum, hoc modo excitabuntur 78 A.D. 1535 TO A.D. 1546. ■ new consort, the virtuous and benevolent Katharine Parr. To both him and Cheke the university now addressed an im- passioned appeal for aid\ while at the same time a more formal petition was placed in Smith's hands, addressed to the queen, soliciting her advocacy of their interests with the king". The evidence is such as to leave little doubt that it was to Smith's exertions that Cambridge, at this juncture, was indebted for its escape from imminent peril. A commis- sion could not indeed be altogether averted, but he dex- terously contrived, under the plea of relieving the university from heavy and unnecessary expense, that it should not be saddled with the cost of an enquiry conducted by any of the mlK'a ^o""^* officers, but that the proposed task of reporting on the jaSliMMe. revenues of the colleges and the manner in which they were expended, should be confided to some of its own members whose experience and character would afford a guarantee of their efficiency and good faith. "We can imagine the sense of relief which must have been experienced throughout the uni- versity when it was known that the commissioners appointed were Parker, Eedman, and Mey, men with respect to whom the language of the royal commission, describing them as of ' notable vertue, lerning, and knowledge^' might well be recognised as conveying no empty compliment. Suite of ^^® commission was issued on the IGth of January, their enquiry. 1545-6, and the enquiry of the commissioners was concluded before the spring of the same year. Its result, if not alto- gether satisfactory, was at least well calculated to move the compassion of the intending despoiler. It exhibited fifteen distinct foundations, for the most part but poorly endowed and with the one exception of the new college of St Mary Magdalene embarrassed by the insufficiency of their revenues to meet their ordinary expenditure. King's College and St John's alone shewed an annual income of more than £500 • at Peterhouse, where the income was but £138, the expendi- ture was £50 in excess; Queens' College and Michaelhouse were the only foundations which could furnish a fairly satis- ' Mcham Epist. 223-4. = Cooper, AnnaU, x 430 b •* Lamb, Docmnents, p. 58. COMMISSION OF 1546. 79 factory balance sheet'. Parker, who with the other commis- . chap, i. sioners and some of the courtiers was present at Hampton interview ri i. 1, TT 11 between the Kjoxin when Menry perused the report, has left on record in ^m™'™"- - , ■■■ ers End tbQ his own handwriting the royal comments and the royal deci- '"°*' sion. As the king glanced down the parchment, he was fain to admit that he 'thought he had not in his realme so many persons so honestly maynteyned in lyvyng bi so little lend and rent'. When he enquired the reason why nearly all the colleges seemed involved in an expenditure so much exceeding their revenue, he received for reply that ' yt rose partly of fynes for leases and indentures of the fermours renewing ther leasys, partly of wood salys^.' Thereupon he significantly observed that ' petye it wer these londes shuld be altered to make them worse,' 'at which wordes,' says Parker, 'som wer grieved for that they disapoynted lupos quosdam Mantes. In fine we sued to the Kinges Majestic to be so gracious lorde, that he wolde favour us in the contynu- ance of our possessions such as thei were, and that no man by his grace's letters shulde require to permute with us to gyve us worse.' Then Henry smiled and put forward the plea to which we have already referred, — of the necessity under which he found himself of rewarding the servants of the state. But he added, says the narrator, that ' he wold put us to our choyce vjether we shulde gratifie them or no, and bad us hold our owne, for aftyer his wryting he wolde force us no furder. With which wordes we were wel armyd and so departed^.' The averting: of despoliation had not been the only result Rumours of Ci r 'J anewcoUege. of Smith's eloquent pleading with Katharine. In her reply 1 Cooper, Annals, i 431-8. Hall, had granted 'three fraudulent 2 This sentence is partially ex- leases' to 'three of the yong felowes.' plained by Mr Fronde's statement State Papen, Dom. Edwd. vi, vol. vii. that, in anticipation of dissolution, See also Cooper, Annate, ii 23. Fuller the lands belonging to some founda- implies that the rentals of college tious 'had been granted away in lands, like those of the monasteries, leases upon lives, the incumbents had not been raised in proportion to securing their personal interests by the general rise of prices at this pe- fines' (Hist, of Eru/land, iv 193). riod. Hist, of the Univ. (ed. Prickett In the visitation of Trinity Hall in and Wright), p. 235. 1549, it was found that the society, ^ Lamb, Documents, p. 60; Par- in alarm at the proposed amalgama- leer Correspondence, pp. 35-36. tion of their foundation with Clare 80 A.D. 1535 TO A.D. 154C. ClIAP. I. Demolition of the build- ings of the Franciscans. Surrenders of filichael- house and King's Hall : Oct 29, 1546. to the university, she intimated that it was her lord's desire rather to advance learning and ' erecte new occasion thereof, than to confound those your ancyent and godly instytu- tions',' — a vague assurance, indeed, especially when proceed- ing from royal lips, but destined in this instance to a splendid realisation. Before two months had elapsed, the long-coveted buildings of the Franciscans, with their stately church and the surrounding cloisters, were seen falling before the hammer of the workman, not however to furnish plunder to the courtier but to serve as material in the erection of a mag- nificent royal college. On the ground adjacent to King's Hall and Michaelhouse foundations were dug and walls begun to rise, the commencement, it was rumoured, of a more imposing edifice than had ever before graced the university". A few months later it became known, that the master and fellows of Michaelhouse and the master and scholars of King's Hall had, for the furtherance of the same object, been called upon to surrender their respective houses into the royal hands. At the same time, the society of Gonville Hall was summoned to surrender (in return for an annual pension of £8) the ancient building known as Fiswick's HosteP, which stood on the northern limits of the proposed site*. ' Lamb, Documents, p. 71; Strype, Memorials, vol. ii. pt. i. c. 16. =" ' A particular Survaye made the 20tli of May, anno regni Eegis Hen- rici Ootavi 38, of the late dissolved House of the Grey Freers within the TJniTersity of Cambridge, as hereafter foUoweth, that is to say : The Church and Cloyesters with all other the Houses thereupon bilded bine defaced and taken towards the bilding of the King's Majestie's New College, iu Cambridge, and therefore valued. 'The Soyle whereof with the Or- chard, Brewhouse, Malthouse, MiU- house, and Garden, within the Wallis thereof bine yerely worth to be letten foure Pounds six Shillings and eight Pence sterling. 'Vis. et Examinat. per me Ko. Chester, Supervis. Domini Ee- gis ibidem.' Cole MSS. XLVi 228. •June 30: 5th of Edward vi. '"At the Freres : 8 stooles for ma- sons to hewe stone off; a roofe tymbre over the Hall at Freres, lying in a storehouse Three sowes of lead, of which one lieth where ye Church stode, etc. " This shows to what use the Grey Freyers House was convert- ed, viz. towards the building of Trinity College.' Baker MSS. xxxiii 187. 8 Founded in 1393 by William Fis- wick, beadle of the university, — ^the term 'Physick Hostel' being a cor- ruption of his name. Here 'young scholars belonging to GonviU Hall were first instituted.' Blomefield, Annals of Gonrille and Caius College in Documents, ii 370; see also ii 353-4. The only trace pir Aldis Wright informs me) now existing of the armual pension of £3 is a quit rent of lOd. stiU annually paid by Trinity to Caius College. * Hence the conceit of Fuller, that Trinity College was 'bo called, not FOUNDATION OF TRINITY COLLEGE. 81 And on the 19th of December, 1546, the royal letters were chap.i. granted for the foundation of a college of literature the Foundation ,.-,,, ° ' OfTEINITY sciences, philosophy, good arts, and sacred theology; consist- £°ec'iM6: ing of one master and sixty fellows and scholars', to be called J 'Trynitie College, within the towne and universitie of Cambrydge, of Kynge Henry the Eights foundacion'.' No Cambridge foundation and probably no academic The raiiego institution in Europe furnishes so striking an example as "'"stration does Trinity College of the change from the mediaeval to the ^°pS% modem conception of education and learning. It rose on the yatTpwr ruin of the monasteries. For many a long year after, the Franciscan precincts exhibited only a wide expanse of orchard ground, whereon a few outbuildings were all that remained of the stately structure which had once moved the admiration of the passer-by. If it were asked to what uses the former fabric had been converted, men pointed to where, scarcely a hundred paces distant, a new and noble college met the view". In its endowment that college illustrated yet more fully the process of the great revolution, an illustration which, it deserves to be noticed, may still be traced in a somewhat remarkable manner in the extensive church patronage pos- sessed by this society. It is a fact familiar to the student of the history of these This parti- -,.... . cularly ob- times, that, in the gigantic system of impropriations which Jg^^^'^f had long been going on, the monasteries had been largely ihMch""^ enriched by the application to their own uses of the great p""™"^'- only because dedicated to God, One ' Fragments of very fine early in three persons, but also because Gothic tracery and some Norman made by King Henry the Eighth, one mouldings were found in the course of Three Colleges.' Fuller-Prickett of a reparation of the chapel in the and Wright, p. 83. present century, and are now in the ^ The enumeration as given in the Master!s garden. The present Master, Charter of Dotation {Documents, in to whom I am much indebted for cri- 367) does not distinguish between tioism of the above account, says, 'I fellows and scholars; Baker (MSS. have no doubt they came from the XI 324) conjectures that the last ten despoiled "Freres," — at any rate the 'at least' were only scholars. 'Ac- later fragments' (Letter of April 4, cording to Dr Eichardson's MS. Be- 1880). Mr J. WiUis Clark informs gister,' says Dyer, 'there were also me that lie has come to the conclu- forty grammar scholars, a school- sion that although the chapel was master, and an usher.' Privileges, ii probably begun in 1554-55, it was 77. probably not until 1557 that the work 2 Cooper, Annals, i 444. began to make any real progress. M. II. 6 82 A.D- 1535 TO 1546. CHAP. I. tithes paid by the church lands which formed part of their endowment, which were thus often, to quote the expression of Hallam, ' diverted from the legitimate object of maintain- ing the incumbent to swell the pomp of some remote abbot'.' In no case do these tithes appear to have been restored, at the dissolution of the monasteries, to the Church ; instead of I enriching the monastery, they were simply applied to enrich the Grown or the courtier. On the present occasion Trinity College stood in the position of the courtier, and like him seems to have recognised no obligation to restore the great tithes to their ancient use ; nor indeed, it must in justice be added, is there any probability that such a course would have ! been looked upon as in harmony with the royal founder's i design^ But even in the general corruption then prevalent, there were those who could not shut their eyes to the anomaly involved in the spectacle of a college designed mainly for the education of the clergy deriving its chief revenues from the impropriation of church livings. 'The fyrst parte of reformacion,' said the high-minded Lever at Paul's Cross, ' is to restore and geue agayne all suche thynges as have bene wrongfullye taken and abused Why dyd God cause the abeyes to be destroyed, but for papystycall abuses ? And why shoulde not God plage the vnyuersityes and byshops kepynge and meddelynge wyth improperacions, that bee the same papysticall and deuilish abuses' V It is however certain that little discretion had been left to the authorities of Trinity College in this matter. In the very same sermon, Lever distinctly implies that the blame of these impropria- tions rested almost solely with the courtiers, and he makes reference to some daring act of malversation on their part whereby, it would seem, property representing 'many hundred pounds ' of the royal bounty had been diverted from the new foundation, to which, in consequence, the impropriate tithes 1 Const. Hist of England {eA.. 1869), modo et forma prout ultlmi abbates, I 77. etc habuerunt.' Documents, iii " The Charter of Dotation expressly 384-5. declares that the master and fellows ' 'A sermon preached at Paules are to hold the estates *adeo plena Crosse.' Dec. 12, 1550. Lever, Ser- libere et integre ao in tarn amplis mom (ed. Arber), pp. 124-5. FOUNDATION OF TRINITY COLLEGE. 83 offered almost the only remaining source of revenue'. It is chap. i. thus that in the long list of livings to which Trinity College presents, no rectorial living appears as derived from monastic church property'. The comparatively few rectories to which it has acquired the right of presentation, were either derived through King's Hall or Michaelhouse, as previously appro- priated to those foundations, or else were bestowed on the society at a period subsequent to the Reformation". In this ' 'Was it not a godly and charit- able prouysion of the Kynge to geue vnto the vniuersity manye hun- dred pounds to the foundacyon and erecciou of a newe CoUedge? And was it not a deuUishe deuyse of you to tourne all thys the Kinges bouu- tuouse liberalitye into improperacions of benefices, whyche be papystioall and vnoharytable spoyles of most necessarye prouysion for pore pa- ryshes?...He that sette the eares, shall he not heare tlie sorowfull com- playnt of pore paryshes, agaynst you that haue by improperacions olene taken awaye hospitalitye, and muche impared the due Uuynges of Gods mynysters, the peoples instructoures and teachers?... He that fashioned the eie, doth he not beholde howe that the beste landes of abbeyes, col- leges and chaunteries be in youre handes, and euyll improperacions con- ueyd to the Kyng and to the univuer- sities and by shapes landes! ' [? 'handes'] Ibid. p. 124. See, for an able discus- sion of the whole question, bishop Kennet's treatise, On the Impropria- tion of Vicarages. Burnet, long afterwards, spoke of this grievance as ' the great scandal of our English Eeformation. ' 'Our fault,' he says, 'is, that at the dissolution of the monasteries restitution was not made to the parish priests of what the popes had sacrilegiously taken from them.' Burnet-Pocock, Preface to vol. ii, p. 15. ' A comparison of the church pa- tronage of Trinity with that of St John's wiU at once suggest the very different conditions under which the respective rights of these two colleges were acquired. The Cambridge Cal- endar gives the former as comprising sixty-five livings, of which only ten are rectories ; the latter as comprising fifty-one livings, of which the rectories are thirty-eight. A complete enu- meration of the rectories, churches and advowsons bestowed on Trinity College by Henry vin will be found in Cooper, Annals i 445-461. In the college statutes of 1560 an endeavour was made in some measure to com- pensate the despoiled parishes by providing that students born in these localities should have the preference, ceteris paribus, in elections to fellow- ships, see infra, p. 142. ' Thus the advowson of Fakenham was given by Edward in to King's Hall, 12 Bdw. 3 ; that of Orwell was bought by Michaelhouse. Hervey de Stanton (see vol. i 234) bought the perpetual advowson of Oheadle; that of Grundisburgh was purchased by Michaelhouse. Eeepham was ac- quired by exchange for the advowson of North Buncton, which was given to the college in 1623, by Thomas Hope, rector. The advowson of Diok- leburgh was given to the college in 1681 by Dr George Chamberlayne. A third turn of the advowson of Guis- ley was given to the college in 1667 by Sir Thomas Strickland. Gilling was bequeathed by Mr Pigott, the rector, who died in 1812. The ad- vowson of Loughton was given in 1678 by Francis Crane. That of Papworth Bverard was given by Dr Duport in 1674. In the cases of En- field and Shudy Camps, the great tithes had already been imprO|priated by Sir Thomas Audley and Sir Tho- mas Daroy before the king acquired them and gave them to the college. As regards the impropriations re- tained by the college, Mr W. Aldis Wright, the bursar (to whose courtesy the author has been indebted for 6—2 84 A.D. 1535 TO 154.6. No Oxford men on the foundation. nebt of Trinity to tit John's. , manner however the revenue of the college, derived mainly from what had originally been the revenue of the Church, was brought to a magnificent total which greatly exceeded that of any other foundation in the university'. The spirit, so alien from that of mediaeval ecclesiasticism, which characterises the whole conception of the new society, found expression even in the royal charter, wherein the illus- trious founder is described as one 'divinely appointed for the purpose of bringing the pure truth of Christianity into the realm and repelling the nefarious and enormous abuses of the Eoman papacy''.' It is a fact which Cambridge may regard with just pride, that although Wolsey at the foundation of Cardinal College deemed it for the advantage of the society that it should be largely composed of Carhbridge men, not a single Oxford name appears on the list of the original foundation of Trinity. On the other hand it is a fact which Trinity can admit with- out humiliation, that, with the design that the college should from the first include a due proportion of the best talent of the university, not a few of its first members were from St John's'. To St John's, Trinity was indebted not only for its first three masters, but also for three of the best Greek scholars then to be found in Cambridge, — Nicholas Carr, who in the following year was appointed to the Eegius pro- fessorship; Robert Pember, who was forthwith installed as first Greek reader in the college ; and John Dee, who appears to have acted as assistant Greek reader, but who is better known to posterity by his able reform of the Julian Calendar. Among other noteworthy names are those of William Glynn some of the foregoing particulars), writes: 'I thini this explains how it is that such a large proportion of our property (over £30,000 a year) is In Tithe Bent Charge. We are, I be- lieve, much larger holders of tithe than any other college, and so far ■have suffered from the malversation of the courtiers. The property is, in this respect, the same as it was when it came to us at the foundation of the college.' (Letter of Feb. 9, 1880.) ' The total revenues amounted to £1678. 3s. gjd., liable to certain de- ductions amounting to £38. 3s. Q^d. ' Documents, in 365. " 'Yea, S. Johnes did then so florish, as Trinitie College, that princely house now, at the first erection was but co- lonia deducta out of S. Johnes, not onelie for their master, fellowes, and Bcholers, but also, which is more, for their whole both order of learning and discipline of maners.' Asoham, Sc}wle master, p. 162. FOUNDATION OF TRINITT COLLEGE. 85 of Queens', the lady Margaret professor ; John Young, of . chap, i. St John's, the ablest of Bucer's opponents and afterwards master of Pembroke; and Ottiwell Holinshed, a cousin of the historian. To John Eedman, who for the preceding: four The first years had held the mastership of King's Hall, was assigned """^^iieK^. the honour of presiding over the new society. Any claim which he might have derived from his former office probably appeared slight when compared to that which could be urged from his acknowledged personal merits, — his genuine yet judi- cious sympathy with the new school of learning, his extensive attainments, and his dignity and weight of character. The selection was eminently happy ; and for six years — years of no ordinary difficulty and disquiet,- — he continued to rule the college, winning, according to high testimony, the regard of many and the respect of alV. It may be looked upon as beyond question, that the great sentiments majority of those who were thus summoned to form and"=sB«f°™: , , ers regarded guide the new society, were among the most learned and en- fo^'d^on. lightened members of the university of that time, and also favourable to the principles of the Reformation. Something of triumph and much of hope were doubtless the predomi- nant feelings with which they entered upon their fresh cares and responsibilities ; while both to them and to Cambridge at large the new foundation could scarcely but have seemed an enduring memorial of the victory of the new learning and the new faith over Romish doctrine and mediaeval institutions. We shall however perhaps more justly estimate ^"^'^J.^*^ the significance of the circumstances if we look upon them ^^l J",*,. as representing a natural law rather than as affording occa- tation'ot^ht sion for party exultation. The history of the external fabric of Trinity College may well be regarded as symbolising a deeper change. In the transfer of the stones which had once 1 ' — Bocietatem banc omnium cum sent by the writer after hearing Eed- approbatione per sexennium pene in- man's declaration of his religious tegrum administravit, et suis charus views upon his death-bed ; it clearly quibuBlibetvenerabiLis.' Baker MSS. proves Eedman to have possessed in XI 309. See the remarkable letter of a very high degree both discernment John Young to Cheke, translated by and moderation in his acceptance of Foxe (Foxe-Townsend, vi 271-i), — the principles of the Eeformation. 86 A.D. 1535 TO 1546. . CHAP. I. _ formed part of the ancient friary to build the walls of the new college, we may recognise no inapt illustration of the relations of the modern learning to the effete monasticism. The zeal, the love of letters, and the self-devotion, wherewith, three centuries before, the followers of St Francis of Assisi had quickened and renovated the religious impulses of Europe had doubtless not been in vain. Nor had the spirit in which those virtues took their rise become extinct; it had but passed away from the monastery and the friary to identify itself with other modes of thought and other institutions. That the Reformer of the sixteenth century, with his temper embittered in a fierce and deadly struggle, and his mental vision bounded by the intellectual horizon of his age, should have failed to discern this philosophic fact can in no way surprise us. Still less could he foresee the extension and latitude of interpretation that belief and doctrine would afterwards find in the college which he had helped to form, — that there learning, with canons of criticism to him unknown, would lay no sparing hand on much that he most revered, — that there science would discover principles and enunciate new laws which would subvert his conception of the uni- verse. Neither in the past could he trace, nor in the future could he presage, the all-importance of that principle where- on the vitality of such institutions depends and whereby alone their influence over the minds of men can be effectually maintained, — the freedom and the ability to modify their own organization with the changes of its environment, and thus preserve it in harmony with the highest intellectual activity of the age. Wisdom indeed may pitch her camp at nightfall, but she ever moves onward with the dawn. The theories formulated in one generation become the traditions of the next, and it may be the obsolete prejudices of a third. They are often ultimately abandoned, — not necessarily as altogether erroneous, but because superseded by more ade- quate conceptions of the truth. CHAPTER II. FROM THE FOUNDATION OF TRINITY COLLEGE TO THE ACCESSION OF ELIZABETH. The changes which followed upon the accession of the ^chap.ii._ young king must, at first sight, have seemed to give good condition .1 1 11-1 1 • 11 of the uni- promise that the well-wishers to learnmg would now at \e«lty '" ^ - ^ ° the first length find full scope for their designs. Gardiner, proving '^^^'ij yj^ contumacious, was committed to the Fleet and there under- went a short term of imprisonment. He was succeeded in the chancellorship by the duke of Somerset, the lord pro- tector of the realm and guardian to the king, well-known as a patron of the arts and of letters and a warm supporter of the Reformation. The university charters and privileges were confirmed, although not without involving the com- munity in exorbitant expense. The fear of dissolution and confiscation was for a time dispelled ; and while colleges, chantries, and grammar schools elsewhere throughout the land fell a prey to the despoiler, and Parker pleaded in vain for his beloved college at Stoke and Ascham deplored the imminent ruin of Sedberg, none of the Cambridge founda- tions (Trinity excepted) suffered material injury or loss. To a superficial observer, indeed, the university now Testimony p T • 1 1 ■ t-ir I of Walter began to wear an aspect of undeniable prosperity. JN ever, Haddon to said Walter Haddon, at the academic Commencement off^^'y- 1547, ' do I remember to have seen it more affluent or more 88 A.D. 1546 TO 1558. Apparent contradiction between the assertion of Walter Haddon and otlier evidence. CHAP. II. thronged'.' Among other signs of a revival, the re-appoint- ment of 'taxors,' in the preceding October, is noted by Dr Peacock as one of the earliest',— although the measure may perhaps have been rendered imperative by the occur- rence of fresh disputes between the university and the town. It certainly seems strangely at variance with Haddon's assertion, that an examination of the registers shews that the number of those admitted to the degree of B_i. during the six years of Edward's reign was but slightly larger than that of those admitted during the preceding six years', — the period, as already noted, of the greatest depression. Not less apparently incompatible with his tone is the fact that the testimony of those contemporaries who were best informed with regard to the actual condition of the university and best able to estimate the tendency of the influences there prevalent, is uniformly expressive of grave dissatisfaction. It so happens that we are in possession of three independent pieces of evidence with respect to the state of Cambridge during the reign of Edward vi, each the deliberately recorded impression of one who, from his recognised position in the university and his intimate knowledge of its affairs, was exceptionally well qualified to pronounce on its general condition at this period. Of these three observers, the first in order of time is Ascham, who, writing in 1547 to Cranmer, takes occasion to give him some account of the actual condition of the uni- versity*. A large number of the students are, he says, absorbed in theological controversy. It was the time when Albert Pighius of Utrecht, the assailant of Luther and of Testimony of Ascliam in 16iT. 1 See infra, p. 96 n. 2. It il- lustrates the haijitual unfairness of Anthony Wood that, with this explicit assertion before him, he did not hesi- tate to bring forward the statement of Haddon with respect to the de serted state of the schools as proof of the condition of the whole university. See "Wood-Gutoh, ii 80. Sir William Hamilton has followed in Wood's track and exaggerated his miscon- ception. See his Dissertations and Discussions, p. 415. ' Peacock, Observatiom, etc., p. 26 a. 2; Cooper, Annals, i 441. The office was finally abolished by Sir John Pattison's award, 31 Aug. 1855. ^ The aggregate number admitted during the academic years 1542-3 to 1547-8 was 191; during the years 1548-9 to 1553-4, 196. Baker MSS. XI 42. * Ascham, Epist. bk. ii, no. li; Strype, Memorials of Cranmer, bk. ii. c. 6. CONDITION OF THE UNIVEESITY. 89 Bucer', was reviving with considerable argumentative subtlety chap. ii. the dark and apparently interminable controversy concerning predestination and free will, — a question with respect to which, Ascham cannot but think, theologians would do mucb better ^'t^^jft"™' in accepting once for all the masterly decisions of Augustine, theoio^^ As regards scriptural studies in general, he reports that the sSdte^n'tile authority of the great African Father is stiU paramount. "™™°' ^" The classical authors receive also a large share of attention. In philosophy, Plato and Aristotle are most studied, with a certain attention to the philosophical writings of Cicero ; in history, Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon ; in poetry. Homer, Sophocles, and Euripides. But whatever direction their intellectual activity may take, he says, they one and all cannot but be sensible of the irreparable loss they have sustained in Choke's departure, — their only consolation being the thought that their loss is the State's gain. There are two causes o ... which chiefly however two more general evils which are seriously impeding l^vtncement the advancement of learning in the university. Of these the °' '™™"'8- first consists in the fact that, from causes which he does not attempt to assign, men of mature years and attainments, who might stimulate the younger students by their example and guide them by their influence, are no longer to be found in their midst. The second is, that most of those who now come up to the university are mere boys ('pueri'), the sons of wealthy parents, who are never willing to undergo the toil involved in gaining full and solid knowledge of a subject, but are satisfied with superficial and elementary acquire- ments. And hence, he goes on to say, the university is exposed to a twofold detriment: first, in that the mental growth of its students is never suffered to come to maturity, but 'is mown long before a harvest can be reaped'; secondly, in that the hopes of the poorer students, who would probably T- Qaidam, et hi sane multi, insano not only condemned by Protestants, tamen iudicio, immensum quantum but also found his way into the Index Pigiotribuunt.' £:i)ist.p.218. Buoer, of the Inquisition. See Schmidt (Dr however, admitted the ability with V.) Peter Martyr Vermigli, Leben und which Pighius treated the question, ausgewdhlte SchHften,-pp.llS-7; also and Peter Martyr at Oxford bestowed Ascham's Scholemaster (ed. Mayor), considerable pains on the attempt to p. 226. refute his arguments. Pighius was 90 A.D. 1546 TO 1558. Testimony of Latimer ial649. Testimony of Lever in ISSO. ■^ give their whole time to study, are excluded by ' these drones ■who usurp their places.' ' For talent, learning, poverty, and discretion avail nothing ia the college, when interest, favou r letters from the great, and other irregular influences exert their pressure from without'.' It was about two years from the time when Ascham wrote, that Latimer, in a sermon before the king, gave expression in more general terms to the same complaint. According to his statement, what at that time constituted, according to the prevalent opinion, the chief function of the university, — ^the education of a learned clergy, — seemed likely altogether to fall into neglect. ' There be none now,' he says, ' but great men's sons in colleges, and their fathers look not to have them preachers.' Those who studied divinity were only just sufficient to supply the colleges with lecturers ^ 'for their livings be so small and victuals so dear that they tarry not there, but go everywhere to seek livings, and so they go about.' In the following year, the complaint of Latimer was urged with yet greater boldness and plainness, in a sermon at Paul's Cross, by Thomas Lever, who, in 1551, succeeded to the mastership of St John's. A man of fearless though humane and gentle spirit, the esteem in which he was held for his disinterestedness and moderation enabled him to plead the cause of his university with exceptional force'. ^ 'Ingeniumenim, dootriiia,mopia, iudioium, nil quioquam domi valent, ubi gratia, favor, maguatam litterae et aliae persimiles extraordinariae iHegitimaeque rationes vim foris adterunt.' Tifist. p. 220. The only interpretation of which Asoham's language admits is that at St John's the statute of 1545 with respect to attainments at admission (see vol. i 625) was practically disregarded. 2 'Alas! what is that? It will come to pass that we shall have no- thing but a little English divinity that will bring the realm into a very barbarousness and utter decay of learning. It is not that, I wis, that will keep out the supremacy of the bishop of Eome.' Sermon before K. Edward, Apr. 6, 1549; Latimer- Corrie, i 179. ' Lever is described by Baker as ' a man of as much natural probity and blunt native honesty as the college ever bred, a man without guile or artifice, that never made court to any patron or for any preferment, one that had the spirit of Hugh La- timer And yet though his sermons be bold and daring and full of rebuke, it was his preaching that helped him to his preferment, the men at court being either afraid of him, or his re- buking the courtiers having procured him reverence with the King. ' Baker- Mayor, p. 130. CONDITION OF THE UNIVERSITY. 91 His plaintive description, on this same occasion, of the con- ,chap. ii.^ dition of the poor students of St John's has already come '^^^^^i^^ under our notice \ He roundly declared that, viewed as ^"/'^o';;^". a despoiler, one courtier was worse than 'fifty tun-bellied monks.' ' If,' he said, directly appealing to the courtier class, ' ye hadde any eyes ye shoulde se and be ashamed that in the great aboundance of landes and goods taken from abbeis, colleges and chauntryes for to serue the kyng in all neces- saryes and charges, especially in prouision of relyefe for the pore, and for mayatenaunce of learnynge the kynge is so dysapoynted that bothe the pore be spoyled, all maynten- ance of learnynge decayed, and you only enryched^.' All that the young king and his royal father could do for the universities, the preacher admitted they had done. The privileges of both Oxford and Cambridge had been con- firmed; exemptions had been granted to both bodies from tithes and fir.«t-fruits; new chairs had been munificently endowed; at Cambridge a splendid college had been founded. ' Howbeit,' continued the intrepid orator, ' all they that have Disappear- knowen the vnyuersitye of Cambryge sence that tyme that °iJJ*°both it dyd fyrst begynne to receyue these greate and manyefolde JfaTtfom'' benefytes from the kynges maiestye, at youre handes, haue verswy." juste occasion to suspecte that you haue deceyued booth 'the , kynge and universitie, to enrych youre selves. For before that you did beginne to be the disposers of the kinges liberalitye towards leamyng and poverty, there was in houses belongynge vnto the vnyuersyte of Cambryge, two hundred students of dyuynytye, manye verye well learned: whyche bee nowe all clone gone, house and manne, young towarde scholers and old fatherlye doctors, not one of them lefte : one hundred also of an other sorte that hauyng rych frendes or beyng benefyced men dyd lyue of thymselves in ostles and innes be eythe gon awaye, or elles fayne to crepe into Danger of colleges, and put poore men from bare lyuynges'.' From the scuol^sr™ 1 See Vol. I 368 n. 2 and 370-1. on under the Eeformers, see a re- " Lever, Sermons (ed. Arber), p. 120. markable piece of contemporary cri- For comparison between monastic ap- ticism in CoUier-Lathbury, v 507-8. propriation of tithes and that carried ' Lever, ibid. p. 121. 92 A.D. 1546 TO 1558. Case of Sedberg. Importance of sucli versifies. (3HAP. 11. universities the preacher passed on to the grammar schools, 'founded of a godly intent to brynge vp poore mennes sonnes in learnynge and vertue.' On this subject he had already dilated at greater length in a sermon preached before the king in the preceding Lent, when the case of Sedberg school furnished him with a forcible argument \ The dangers by which that foundation was menaced afford a striking illustration of the position of such institutions at that time. Situated in the extreme north, it supplied a want which could not be denied, for no other school existed within forty or fifty miles. Nor could any argument for its overthrow be drawn from its actual condition: the buUdings were excellent and there was an endowment of land for the master's maintenance. From six to eight of the scholars went up foundations yearly to St John's, where there were no less than eieht totheuni- "^ . . . ° scholarships appropriated to the foundation^ If such in- stitutions were to be sacrificed, it was felt that the efficiency of the universities could not fail to be seriously impaired, if indeed they could continue to exist. It is not surprising therefore that the authorities of St John's CoUege should have exerted themselves to the utmost to avert from Sedberg the fate with which it was now threatened, and successive appeals to the chancellor of the university, to Sir Anthony Denny, and the Marquis of Southampton plainly indicate the extent to which Cambridge felt itself involved in a common danger^ Hope and despondency alternate in their letters. In March, 1549, Ascham writing to Sir Anthony Denny (an old fellow-collegian), addresses him as one who had not only rescued Sedberg from its impending fate but had effectually secured it against spoliation in the future'. But a few months later the prospect again became clouded ; and Lever, when he preached before King Edward in 1550, spoke of the school as already an institution of the past. ' Ibid. p. 81 ; Balier-Mayor, p. 675. " Baker-Mayor, pp. 371-2. 3 ' Nam quod scholam uostram Sed- bariensem jam nutantem, imo dilap- sam et plane desperatam, vigilantia ct induBtria tua assidua tam mirabili mode recnperaveris, — ^non mode su- periorem fvmdorum venditionem im- pediendo vervun etiam diligentissime praeoavendo ne in simile posthaec perioulum deveniat,' etc. Ascham, Epist. 331. CONDITION OF THE UNIVERSITY. 93 The foregoing evidence, it must be admitted, goes not .chap.ii. a little way towards justifying the assertion of Huber, that up to this time the Eeformatinn had inflicted on both Oxford and Cambridge 'only injury, both outward and inward'.' Nor were the evils and abuses which form the subjects of complaint of that merely temporary character which might enable us to look upon them as consequences inseparable from a period of revolution and disorganization. On the contrary, they constitute for the most part the very features which throughout the century and long after that time \ represent the influences that most seriously prejudiced the \ interests of learning at both the universities. We shall \ accordingly be sufficiently justified in endeavouring here to ' ascertain more fully their precise nature and effects. The complaints then of Ascham, Latimer, and Lever, evUs and ^ ' ' ' defects to concern, it will be seen, in the first place the general con- J^^^J^^ dition of the university; in the second, the character of its IppSl-f to studies. Under the former head the main facts which they ^^ ' deplore are (1) the irregular exercise of patronage; (2) the / gradual disappearance of the non-collegiate or, as it is now / termed, the unattached element from the student body; / under the latter, (1) the want of men who by virtue of / their recognised ability and mature experience might stimu- ' late and guide the younger students ; (2) the injurious in- i fluence of theological polemics on genuine study. Among the many lessons of history few are more em- ^^^Jui'^ phatically enforced than that which teaches that the sudden |"erd?i"ot and irregular acquirement of wealth by any one class in p"""'^^- a nation is generally attended by great social demoralization. Of this the England of Edward vi affords a memorable example. The aristocracy of the realm had become rich by the plunder of the monasteries, but their riches so far from stimulating their liberality had in most instances only fostered avarice. The love of money became a characteristic of the courtier class, and they themselves, in the words of Ascham, while 'profuse in promises were parsimonious in 1 English Universities, i 284. 94 A.D. 1546 TO 1558. Further evidence from Latimer. cHAP.ir._ bestowal'.' In relation to the universities, this vice appears to have operated in a twofold manner. First, the wealthy sold their patronage, and vacant masterships, fellowships, and scholarships were too often filled up by those who could afford to bribe most largely or who could command those other irregular influences to which Ascham above refers. In the next place, the selfishness inseparable from avarice exhibited itself in indifference towards the poor. In order to avoid a,n expense which they could well afford, rich parents would make interest to gain admission for their sons on foundations designed exclusively for poor scholars, thus 'putting,' to quote the expression of Lever, 'pore men from bare liuings.' 'In times past,' said Latimer in his sermon Of the Plough^, 'when any rich man died in London they were wont to help the scholars at the universities with exhibitions When I was a scholar at Cambridge myself, I knew many that had relief of the rich men in London; but now I can hear no such good report, and yet I enquire of it and hearken for it. Charity is waxen cold ; none helpeth the scholar nor yet the poor ; now that the knowledge of God's Word is brought to light, and many earnestly study and labour to set it forth, now almost no man helpeth to maintain them'.' How deeply this double evil had infected the whole college system, may be gathered from the testimony of William Harrison, written in the latter years of the century, who thus sums up his account of the original design of these foundations and its culpable perversion : — ' They were erected,' he writes, 'by their founders at the first, onelie for poore mens sons, whose parents were not able to bring them up unto learning : but now they have the least benefit of them, by reason the rich doo so incroch upon them. And so furre hath this incon- Corrobora- tion from Harrison, circ 1586. ' 'Nec me fugit quam esse solent omnes aulici ad polliceudum largi et prolixi, ad praestandum tamen te- naoes et restricti.' Letter to Eed- man, Epist. p. 205. = Latimer-Corrie, i 60-61. ^ Compare the very similar com- plaint of Melanohtlion a few years before: 'Quid quod in multis locis, etiam uM emendatae sunt ecclesiae, nunc negliguntur studia litterarum, nemo opitulatur pauperibus scholas- tiois, fame necantur pii et docti sa- eerdotes, et eorum coniuges et parvi liberi. Quare aliquanto post et his defuturi sunt idonei pastores,' etc. 'Decl. de Officio Principum,' Corpus Reform, xi 437. ppearance CONDITION OF THE UNIVERSITY. 95 uenience spread it selfe, that it is in my time an hard matter chap. ii. for a poore man's childe to come by a fellowship {though he be ' ' neuer so good a scholar, and woorthie of that roome). Such packing also is used at elections, that not he which best deserueth, but he that hath most friends, though he be the woorst scholar, is alwaies surest to speed ; which will turne in the end to the ouerthrow of learning. That some gentlemen also, whose friends haue been in times past benefactors to certeine of those houses, doo intrude into the disposition of their estates, without all respect of order or estatutes deuised by the founders, onelie thereby to place whome they thinke good {and not without some hope of gain), the case is too euident : and their attempt woulde soone take place, if their superiors did not prouide to bridle their indeuors'.' The 2- Dia- J 1*1 11 appear."* danger which was already menacmg the universities, that °{t'ad,e. instead of representing first of all the centres of the highest Kor intellectual culture of the nation they would become rather f'om the the fashionable resort of the youth of the wealthier classes, '^^"^*^- was largely increased by the fact that the unattached students were fast disappearing from their midst. German theology and German learning were predominant in the lecture-rooms, but the organisation of both Oxford and Cam- bridge was more and more diverging from that of other Teu- tonic seats of learning, as the university system of education became superseded by that of the colleges^ The attractions held out by such foundations as Christchurch, St John's, and Trinity, could not indeed be denied. Peter Martyr at Oxford' and Martin Bucer at Cambridge alike express their comfort and <=* ^ security of admiration at the comfort and the discipline that charac- '=°"'^^^'"°- terized these institutions and the liberal provision made for ' Description of England (ed. 1686), giums zu Marburg, p. 11.] Perhaps ed. Furnivall for New Shakspere So- the English and Geiman universities ciety, 1877, pp. 76-78. The passage may, to some extent, be considered does not occur in the earlier edition to have eventually adopted the system of 1577. best suited to the genius and habits " An attempt made at Marburg in of the two peoples. 1529 to introduce the college and tu- ' Harrison {Description of England, torial system of instruction appears ed. Fvirnivall, p. 71) speaks of Peter about this time to have resulted in Martyr as having been 'astonished at corresponding failure. [See Koch the large linings and great revenues ' (Dr C.) Gesch. d. akadem. Padago- of Oxford. 96 A.D. 1546 TO 1558. CHAP. II. the stiidents; no college on the Continent, the latter de- clared, could compare to them'. It was perhaps an almost inevitable result that this domestic comfort should tend to render the collegian less assiduous than the student of former days in his attendance at the schools and at the lectures of the professors. Walter Haddon, when addressing the uni- versity at the Commencement of 1547, contrasts the over- The schools flowing uumbers of the whole body with the deserted aspect almost de- of the schools, and cannot forbear from making the latter serted. ' , feature the subject of serious remonstrance. He states that the attendance at the university lectures had become so small that professors were sometimes to be seen addressing themselves to a single auditor". As regards the disputations in the schools, he urges that the mental powers of the ancient philosophers were all disciplined by similar public contests, that public ought always to outweigh private duty, and that consequently the schools, have a prior claim to the college hall or chapel. Nothing, he feels assured, had been further from the late king's design in founding Trinity College, than that the collegians should use it as 'a hiding place in which to remain wrapt in private meditations'.' Four years later, we find him returning with increased emphasis to the subject, and affirming that unless there were soon some reform the term ' Common Schools ' would become altogether a misnomer Haddon's testimony and remon- strance. 1 ' Tarn enim ditia et bonis legibus instituta collegia, oujusmodi in utra- que regni academia tarn multa extant, nuUae habent in reliqua Europa vel academiae vel ecolesiae.' Buoer, Script, Anglic, p. 61. The language of Justus LipsiuB towards the close of the century is equally emphatic ; he speaks of the college as 'pulchrum inventum et quod in AngUa magni- fice usurpatur : neque credam in orbe terrarum simile esse, addam et fuisse. Magnae illic opes et vectigalia : verbo vobia dioam? unum Oxoniense col- legium (rem inquisivi) superet vel decern nostra.' Lovanium, p. 100. * 'Admonet me vestra oelebritas, admonet hoc tempus, admonet ante omnia hie locus in quo insisto, vobis- cum ut agam ue deseri has scholas sinatis et quasi privatas relinqui, quas nomine pubUcas, benefioiis publicis, institutione publica, doctorum et ar- tium, majores nostri ad publicam uti- litatem totius reipublicae fundave- runt. Quae tot modis pervulgatae sunt, quarum tarn multiplex ratio commuuitatis est, eas nolite pati in hao solitudine jacere qua jam diu ob- soluerunt. Kunquam affiuentior aca- demia fuit, nunquam numerosior viea memoria quam nunc est, nunquam de- sertiores lute scholaefuerunt, nunquam nmgis solitariae. Nam ad tantas an- gustias et ad tarn insignem paucitatem redacti sunt, ut vix singulis Tnagistris relicti sint singuli auditores.' Lucu- brationes, pp. 11-12. 3 Ibid. p. 15. CONDITION OF THE UNIVERSITY. 97 and those ancient structures would- have to be called the .chap.ii.^ •professors' haunts'.' "Within another five years we find Dr Caius indulging in a like complaint', and if we hear in mind that, at a time When the' system of examinations was in its infancy and triposes were unknown, these dia- lectical contests afforded the only means whereby the merit of collegians on different foundations could be openly tested and compared, Haddon's remonstrances must be admitted to have been far from unreasonable. The foregoing evidence, it will be noticed, serves also in overflowing a large measure to explain the apparent contradiction be- fewer reai , . . ■*■ ^ ^ ^ students. tween his assertion as to the large aggregate number of the students and the small numbers of those proceeding each year to their bachelor's degree. It is a somewhat significant fact, that in the same oration as that in which he deplores the deserted state of the schools he dwells with complacency on the many youthful representatives of noble houses, such The univer- sitv b6coni6s as those of Rutland, Maltravers, Howard, Cecil, Northampton, '"■■'8^'^)^ ^ Suffolk, Russell, North, Warwick, Sidney, who about this |y;*«J™^s time were gracing the university with their presence, and who, he implies, were in many instances actuated by a genuine love for learning'. It is however certain that they rarely proceeded to their degrees*> and by his own admission, the prevailing symptom in the university was that of indolence in study, and this spirit, he adds, was beginning to infect even the colleges^ His testimony is supported some six years later by that of an equally high authority, a Regius professor and staunch Catholic in the reign of queen Mary, ' 'Languori nimium nos ipsos de- dore non unus aut alter se nobisoum dimus et ignaviae, soholas in solitu- conjunxit, sed integrae aliquot pro- dine relinquimua et vastitate, quag pemodum familiae noslram in aoa- cum majores nostri communes nomi- demiam infusae sunt, et disoendi nari voluissent, propter libere com- causa nostros ad ooetus se aggrega- meautesinilUsultrocitroquelitteraa, verunt.' Lucubrationes, p. 122; see nostra desidia sic contractae sunt, et also -pp. 123-8. tarn insignem ad paueitatem recide- ■• It is evident that it was this iwatyUtquorundamprofessorumcertae feature which drew forth the stric- sedes, non universitatis communes tures and warnings of Martin Bucer ; scholae postliaec nobis cognominandae see infra, p. 138. Mr Furnivall, in sint.' 'Cantabrigienses; sive Exhor- his Education in Early England (pp. tatio ad Litteras.' Ibid. p. 112. xxxi-iii), has, I think, been somewhat 2 Historia, p. 92. misled by the evidence on this point, 3 'Bx hoc generoso nobilitatis ar- « Lucubrationes, p. 112. M. II. 7 98 A.D. 1546 TO 1558. ^ CHAP. 11.^ —the eminent Nicholas Carr',— and again, at a very short interval, in a memorable passage of his History, by that of Dr Cains. It was in the year 1558, that, after a long absence from Cambridge, this distinguished benefactor of the university stole a short respite from the labours of his London practice, to revisit the scenes of his youth and there t"Smm"*of found the college which bears his name^ After making due 1658?'^''''° allowance for his Catholic sympathies and his somewhat censorious temper, we cannot but conclude that the Cambridge of 1558 must have presented in many respects a striking contrast to the Cambridge of Ascham and Cheke. The poor, modest, diligent student of former times, with narrow means but lofty aims, rising before dawn to commence his studies, living on scanty fare, reverently doffing his cap in the streets and courts to the grey seniors, among whom he often found his best friend and counsellor, had dis- appeared. Dr Caius, as he passed along unrecognised and unaccosted, saw only other manners and other men'. He missed, he tells us, the dignified elders of former times, proceeding with sedate countenance and stately mien to the disputations in the schools, attended by the chief mem- bers of their respective colleges each in his distinctive academic dress, and preceded both going and coming by heralds*. The undergraduates no longer respectfully saluted ' 'Pauoi qui magistrorum opera tionemfaotamanimadyerteram.' Mis- discipuli, vix reperiuntur qui discipu- toria, p. 3. This statement from his lorum assiduitate deleetantur ma- own pen seems to me altogether to gistri.' de Scriptt. Britt. paucitate, contradict the assertion in Cooper etc. f. 2. _ (Athenae, i 312) that Dr Caius prac- '^ 'Cum medicinae studiis ao operi- tised at Cambridge during the interval bus et olim Patavii et jam multis between his return from Padua and annis Londini detentus, subinde Can- the founding of Caius College, for tabrigiae studiorum meorum parentis which indeed I have not been able to recordationem reteutam aoiimo sed discover any authority, remissam temporibus revooaveram, ^ 'Eteuim nova personarum, nova incesseratque cupido invisendi dulcia rerum omnium facies erat, novi mores, musarum veteris aoademiae limina nevus habitus, novus vultus et pro- etrecognoscendi grata per juventutem nunciatio, nova denique docendi, Echolarnm exeroitameuta, anno sa- disoendi, et disputandi forma. Et ne lutis humanae 1558, a medico munere omnescommemorem (suntenimprope intermissionem faciens, velut post- infinitae novitates) nee ipse cuiquam, liminio quodam Cantabrigiam con- nee mihi quisquam fere notus fuit.' cesseramjquocumpervenerammirum Historia, -p. 3. quantam dum aberam metamorpho- * ...'magnocomitatu omnium, om- sin, quantam rerum omnium muta- nis ordinis hominum sui collegii ho- CONDITION OF THE UNIVERSITY. 99 their seniors from afar and made way for them in the .chap, ir. streets ; many seemed to have altogether discarded the long Decline of gown and the cap. Their pocket money, he learned, was no previ^enceof; longer spent on hooks, their minds were no longer given to among'Se study, but both alike devoted to dress and the adornment of ^ " their chambers. They wandered about the town frequenting taverns and wine shops; their nether garments were of gaudy colours ; they gambled and ran into debt. Expulsions, he was informed, were not infrequent ; and he expresses his regret that a good old rule has become obsolete, which inflicted upon any college or hall that received into its society a student who had been banished from another house a penalty of forty shillings'. He hears that the students complain loudly that the generous patrons of learning of former times no longer exist; but, he takes occaision to observe, it is first of all necessary that the requisite merit should make itself apparent, whereas many students only bring discredit on the university and load their patrons with shame ^ The indictment which we have condensed from Dr Caius' Dr caim- com p 1 Ahin ij somewhat diffuse Latin is confirmed at a considerable in- JJ^^nS^ ""^ terval of time by the homely English of Harrison, who tells us of the undergraduates of his day, that 'being for the most part either gentlemen, or rich mens sonnes, they oft bring the universities into much slander. For, standing upon their reputation and libertie, they rufHe and roist it out, exceeding in apparel, and banting riotous companie (which draweth them from their bookes unto another trade). And for excuse, when they are charged with breach of all good order, thinke it sufficient to sale, that they be gentlemen, which grieueth manie not a litle'.' nestati, ad soholas praeoedentibus to have arisen more than once in et deducentibus praeconibus procede- later times. See Wordsworth, Univ. bant, singuli suis habitibus et alia Life, pp. 60, 573,577; Masters, Hist. deoeuti veste, pro eonditionis gradus- of Corpus Coll. p. 196. que Bui ratione induti.' {Ibid. p. 92.) " Caius, Historia, pp. 94-96. Dr Caius is here, of course, speak- ' Description of England {u. s.) ing of Cambridge as he recollected it. pp. 77-78. This passage also does The i^roecorees are the esquire-bedells not occur in the edition of 1577. who proclaimed ' Alons, alone, goe Harrison was a student at Cambridge masters goe goe.' See Vol. i 353. in 1551 (Cooper, Athenae ii 163) ; ' The bene decessit question seems and it seems to be open to question 7—2 v"-- 100 A;D. 1546 TO 1558. CHAP. 11.^ It can hardly be doubted that the decline, thus amply Atee^e^of attested, of the studious spirit among the younger members SSJflnts of the university was closely connected with the fact to which and ability. ^^^-^ Ascham and Lever refer, that no worthy leaders were now forthcoming who by their attainments and example Departure of ixjight stimulate others to honourable exertion. The brilliant Smith and o i i i cheice. i-(.^]g ^g^jj(j Qf scholars of which Cheke and Smith had been the leaders was broken up. In the year 1547, the former took his seat in Parliament for Bletchingly and shortly after became permanently attached to the royal court ; while the latter, m the same year, went to reside in the Protector's family and in the month of December was presented to the provostship Walter Had- of Etou. Walter Haddon, who in 1551 succeeded Smith as equal sue- Regius profcssor of the civil law, declared in his inaugural c6ssor. o i . address that no such misfortune had ever before befallen the university as this double bereavement \ As an accom- plished Latinist and perhaps as a dexterous controversialist, Haddon might appear not unworthy to succeed his former tutor, but in nearly every other respect his powers and attainments strike us as being of an inferior order. Even his Latin style reflects far too faithfully the affected refine- ments and forced conceits of the writers of the Silver Age, while his professional lectures, of which we have yet to speak more fully, give no evidence of that extended know- ledge of the subject or grasp of its true significance which alone could avail to restore the, studies of the civilian to their rightful place as a recognised branch of academic learn- whether the impression he is here sions, p. 497. recording is that of his own time or ' Nunquam hujusmodi tenehrae that derived from later accounts. In studiis induetae sunt, nunquam plaga either case, his agreement with Dr tam vehemens omnibus disciplinis Caius is remarkable. The Protestant invecta est. Checum antea videra- universities of Germany exhibit at mus, sooium in omni laudis genere least an equal decline in disoiphne. Smithi nostri a nobis ad aulam evo- Musaeus, professor of theology and catum. Quae suspiria! qui gemitus!' rector of the university of Jena, stig- Then, as the university had begun to matised Wittenberg as ' foetida cloaca resign itself to its loss and ' ad Diaboli ; ' while the celebrated Walter Smithum se quasi firmissimum quen- in a letter to Bullinger, says that ' in dam murum accliaasset,' Smith also Marburg the rule of morals is such was snatched from them ! Lucubra- as Bacchus would prescribe to his tiones, pp. 62-66. See also Ascham, Maenads and Venus to her Cupids.' Epist. pp. 215-220. See Hamilton, Dissert, and Discus- CONDITION OF THE UNIVERSITY. 101 ing. In tte departure of Ascham, Cambridge sustained . chap, ir.^ another loss scarcely inferior to that of Cheke or of Smith, ^^p^^" "' In the year 1550 he left England for Germany, and though he continued to hold the office of public orator for four years longer' his visits to the university from this time were short and only at long intervals. It was, in fact, in the example that many of the leading men themselves gave .of converting academic offices into sinecures that an undeniable precedent was afforded for the very evil which they unfeignedly de- plored. But such instances as Ascham, retaining his public Non-resi- d6ncv of oratorship while resident abroad, — Cheke, appointed sue- heads- cessively to the provostships of Eton and King's while officiating as royal tutor and immersed in state business, — Ridley, still holding his mastership of Pembroke while bishop of Rochester and then of London, — were probably looked upon as the most defensible examples of this abuse. If absent themselves from the university, they were present in spirit, ever watchful of its interests and often rendering it substantial service. Far more flagrant instances were such as that of Gardiner's long rule of Trinity Hall, while at a distance he plotted against the academic interests by espous- ing the cause of retrogression or faction, or Grindal's three j'ears' tenure of the mastership of Pembroke unmarked by a single visit to the collesre*. To the example thus set we may The degree o ° ITT ci"' doctor but with justice partly attribute the gradual disappearance of the rareiytaken. 'old fatherly doctors' to which Lever refers, — a complaint which is further illustrated by the fact that in the year in which his sermon was delivered the only instance of the conferring of the degree of doctor in any of the faculties is that of the admission of Martin Bucer, a foreigner, to the degree of B.D.; while in the following year not a solitary instance occurs'. It may perhaps appear that this want, so generally felt 1 Tbis practice on the part of an a competent substitute, ^-while a important functionary was checked formal grace was necessary if his by one of the Injunctions of 1549, absence exceeded three months in when it was ordered that the uni- the whole year. Lamb, DocumenU, versity orator should not go away p. 140. without having previously obtained " Cooper, Athenae, i 471. the consent of the vice-chancellor, — 3 Degree Book, No. in in Eegistrary; that in his absence he should leave Baker MSS. xi 43-44. 102 A.D. 1546- TO 1558. CHAP. 11.^ and deplored, contrasts somewhat singularly with the fact S'"th?lret *^^* *lie first edition of the English Prayer Book was the S^S'Book. work almost exclusively of Cambridge divines. We can imagine that many a Cambridge ' clerk/ on that memorable Whit Sunday of 1549, when the new service was first used in the churches throughout the land, must have been con- scious of a not unreasonable pride in the thought that of its thirteen compilers all but one were men who had been educated at his own university. But while their labours thus redounded to the credit of Cambridge, the divines who had rendered this signal service to the Church were engaged in other spheres of activity thau those of academic teach- The services ing. Cranmer, Day, Goodrich, Skip, Holbeach, Ridley, Svaulbie'for ^^^ Thirlby were presiding over their respective dioceses. STsteMtton. Dr Mey was largely employed on various commissions. Taylor, Heynes, and Cox were engaged in similar duties. Dr Redman, who was elected a second time in the July of the same year to the Margaret professorship, was the only one of the number whose services were at the command of the university. On the retirement of Eudo Wigan from the Regius professorship of theology he had been succeeded by Madew. But Madew, though zealous for the Reformation, disliked the disputatious spirit that now began more and more to characterize the supporters of the Protestant doc- trine', and as master of Clare Hall and vice-chancellor found another employment for his energies. No theologian of suffi- cient authority and ability to guide the community at large seemed forthcoming from the ranks of the younger men. Polemical Jq this growing dearth of able teachers at home, it is not se™"usiy to surprising that Cranmer should have looked for help to the affectgenuine Continent, and he and Melanchthon were now in frequent correspondence. The latter had at this time just given a notable pledge of his desire to reconcile contending parties by his public assent to the Interim^, and of both him and ' Ascham, Epist. p. 288; Baker- of Brandenburg that the Interim was Mayor, pp. 125-6. 'nothing but downright popery, only " A concession in which Melanoh- a little disguised.' Burnet-Pocook, thon stood almost alone. Buoer, ii 164-5. according to Burnet, told the Elector CAMBRIDGE AND THE CONTINENT. 103 Cranmer it may be said that their best efforts and fondest .chap.ti.^ aspirations were now directed to the attainment of religious peace and unity among the several Protestant communions. Unfortunately they were exceptions to the prevailing spirit and tendencies of their age, and it was beyond the power of either to control the overwhelming current of passion, pre- judice, and bigotry which was converting the universities into camps of rival schools of theology, and almost every scholar into a polemic. At no period indeed in the history of the Church has the controversial spirit assumed a more repulsive form or been attended by more baneful results. To find its parallel it would be necessary to go back to the Arian controversy of the fourth century, or that which divided the Realists and Nominalists in the fourteenth \ The broad grounds on which ' the earlier Reformers had vindicated their position, and in connexion with which they had won so considerable a victory, were gradually almost lost sight of in a series of interminable disputes respecting isolated doctrines. The Eucharist, justification by faith, pre- destination and free-will, and the personality of Christ were each made the subjects of speculative refinements asserted with a, vehemence and adhered to with a tenacity too often proportioned to the doubtfulness or absence of any explicit teaching in the Scriptures themselves. It will not be irrele- vant to our main enquiry if we here turn aside briefly to mark the working of this sinister influence in those con- tinental schools from whence Oxford and Cambridge alike derived no small portion ,of their theological bias. It was in the midst of those same tranquil regions where, me Protest- long centuries before, St Boniface had reared the monastic ties of Ger- , many. walls of Fulda as a bulwark of the Latin Church and the „ . ., , University of papal power, that the university of Marburg was founded ia JjIt.''"^' '^^ ' Unfortunately the warnings af- tlie only subjects taught by the pro- forded by the past were altogether fessors of theology at Wittenberg, lost sight of in a system of theological both Church history and pastoral study in which Church history found theology being entirely neglected. It no place. Von Eaumer (Gesch. d. was not unta the year 1624 that any Pddagogik, i 318) notes that even in attempt was made to introduce the the time of Luther and Melanchthon former subject. Grohmann, Annalen dogmatic theology and exegesis were der Univ. zu Wittenberg, n 77. 104 A.D. 1546 TO 1558. ^cHAP.ii. 1527, to become a stronghold of their sturdiest foes*. Like Trinity College, it rose on the ruing of the monasteries, — its chief endowment being from the revenues of a suppressed Dominican convent. For a time, it appears to have been the . aim of the new community to mediate between the con- tending sects. It was graced by the presence and aided by the counsels of Melanehthon ; and the conspicuous ability of its professors attracted students from all quarters of the Empire ^ But Marburg was unable to escape the all-pre- vailing contagion, and before long became a noted arena of contention between the Lutherans and Philippists. At last, in 1607, the former party quitted the university and founded the neighbouring university of Giessen, and the little state of Hesse Cassel became the seat of twa learned communities, in each of which the pursuit of knowledge was altogether sub- ordinated to sectarian theology, while fierce mutual jealousies impaired the efficiency and reputation of both^ jena,witten- Jena was scarcely more fortunate. Founded in 1548 by berg and "^ Leipzig. that great champion of Lutheranism, John Frederic 'the Magnanimous,' the Elector of Saxony, during his imprisonment at the hands of the Emperor, it was designed from the first to be a school of Protestant doctrine*, and along with Leipzig, where Alane now filled the chief theological chair, became the scene of interminable disputations'. Wittenberg shared the same fate, and Grohmann, its painstaking historian, while emphatically lamenting its misfortune, takes occasion to ^ The object Tsrith which these new Icdiglich die Ausbreitung der pro- universities in Germany were found- testantisehen Lehre zu befordem ed, — 'um mehrere Lehrer vmd Ver- suchte.' Iftid. p. 323. theidiger des neijen Lehrbegriffs zu ^ Alies verzerrt sioh in eiue klein- bekommen' (Justi undMursinna, An- liohe Polemik, die ganze theologisehe nalen d. Deutschen Univ.,, p. 446)., — Literatur dient ihrem Interesse, iiber- cannot have failed considerably to all ein lauernder Verdaoht, der auf favour the developement of the po- jedes unbedachte Wort fahndet, ein lemieal spirit. See on this point, sohmahlichea Schauspiel, so urtheilte Meiners, Gesch. d. Hohen Schulen, ii der Katholicismus, und Gottes ge- 204-8; Corner, Hist, of Protestant reohte Strafe ftir die lutherisohe Apo- Theology, n 1-10. stasie. Die meisteu dieser Kampfe * Some account of its professors drehen sioh um Wittenberg, als die will be found in Strieder, Hessischen Hauptstatte des lutherischen Protes- Gelehrten- Geschichte. tantismus. ' Prank, Oesch. der Protest. " Justi und Mursinna, u. s. p. 451. Theologie, i 92 ; see also Haberliu', * — 'durch deren Griindung man Beiehsgeschichte, vin 160-169. GERMAN PROTESTANT UNIVERSITIES. 105 give, in the following anecdote, an illustration of the extent to .chap.ii.^ which not merely the academic peace but academic propriety were sometimes endangered by these polemical brawls : — 'When the famous Schliisselberg'' says our authority, Experig^ce ' was a student at Wittenberg, he presented himseil in lobe bereatwit- . . , tenberg. before one Windsheim for admission to his master's degree. Windsheim thereupon asked, whether he had been correctly informed that at gatherings of the students Schliisselberg had accused the professors of the university of Calvinism and abused them for their theological perversion. Schliisselberg exculpated himself, but at the sarjie time intimated that all was not right as regarded the orthodoxy of the professors and readers, and that he was prepared to make good his charge. A council was forthwith convened, and Schlussel- berg was summoned to attend and there make his confession of faith. And now listen,' says Grohmann, who continues his account in Schliisselberg's own words, ' and now listen to what followed : " Hereupon Dominus Casparus Peucerus asked me and said, 'Hark ye, you follower of Flacius'', I learn that you look upon me as a Calvinist and profaner of the sacrament ; tell me thus much to my face, and prove that I am a teacher of false doctrine.' Thereupon I replied that I did hold him to be an unbelieving Calvinist and pro- faner of the sacrament, and was ready to make good my belief out of his own Praelections. Thereupon he became angry beyond all measure, called me a Flacian knave, and begged the Rector to give him permission to stand up in order that he might box my ears. I however said that I was no Flacian knave, but an honourable man, and did not care whether a Calvinist praised me or reviled me. If he wanted to dispute with me, he must bring forward arguments derived from God's own Word. Thereupon he exclaimed, 'What, my fine fellow {du schoner Vogel), is any one going to 1 A zealous Lutheran and author ^ Flaeius Illyrious, whose name of the Haereticorum Oatalogus (Frank- was also Matthias Franoowitz, a oor- furt, 1597-9)— 'das Arsenal,' as Frank respondent of Matthew Parker, and terms it, 'zu diesen naohreformato- the principal author of the Gentunae risohen Streitigkeiten.' Gesch. der Magdehurgenses. Protest. Theologie, i 93. 106 A.D. 1546 TO 1558. ^CHAP. 11. dispute with a Flacian knave like you ! ' And then turning to his colleagues, he said, 'My dear colleagues, is not this sad and astonishing? How shall we excuse ourselves with men of discernment, if we allow it to go forth that a young coxcomb {lecker) like this is allowed thus to reproach us to our faces V" As the result, Schliisselberg was banished for ever from the university, the sentence of his expulsion being couched in the following unambiguous terms, — Nunc ana- thema etiam pronuntiamus ac, te tanquam diaboli vivum or- ganum totis pectoribus exsecramur^ uouss^'mt'*" Nothing again can produce a more melancholy impression ?athCT 'ir tlian to note the proofs that continually present themselves, of'the'est'™ that this bitter sectarianism and untiring contentiousness, so of'doSe. far from tending to the establishment of doctrine rather gave rise to fresh schisms and new doubts and uncertainties. In the year 1581 the professors of theology at Leipzig, Witten- berg, and Jena held a solemn consultation. They had before them the several formularies wherein the teachers of the different sects had sought to define the orthodox tenets of their respective communions, — among others the Wittenberg Gnmdfest, the New Catechism, the Exegesis, and the Dresden Consens. They condemned them one and all, appending to each decision the special grounds on which it was founded''. Such formal efforts were however of little avail to allay the strife, and for more than a hundred years, from the death of Melanchthon to the year when Thomasius first lectured at Leipzig, the universities of Northern Germany, their intel- lectual vigour absorbed and wasted in unceasing and sterile controversy, exhibited few signs of healthy vitality, and none of progress'. 1 Annalen der Universitat zu Wit- nung in Druch gefertigt. Dresden, tenberg, von J. C. A. Grohmann 1581. (1801), I 153-5. ' Dbllinger, Die Universitaten sonst ^ See Fragstiick und Antwort, oder undjetzt (ed, 1871), p. 15. He makes erklerung der Theologen in den direien an exception in favour of Helmstadt, TJ. zu Leipzig, Wittenberg und Jena, where Conringius, in the first half of von den Wittenbergischen Grundfest, the 17th century, exercised a more Newern GatecMsino, Exegesi, Bres- genial influence. Dr Henke, how- nischen Consent, sammt anderen sa- ever, in his ahle work, Georg Galixtus cramentirischen dergleichen Schriff- und seine Zeit (1853-6) candidly ad- ten. Allen fromen Christen zur War- mits that at this period the' history LOUVAIN. 107 The triumph afforded to the Catholic party by the .chap, it. ^ spectacle of these dissensions among their foes is a familiar contrast pre- tale, and already the Romanist was beginning to contrast the ^omsia. controversial turmoil of the Protestant universities with the comparatively serene atmosphere of those schools where the ancient doctrine was still maintained and taught. Invigorated for a time by the skilful teaching of the Jesuits, the Catholic universities were the scene of a learned activity which commanded the respect even of their Protestant opponents. Englishmen to whom Oxford and Cambridge no longer afforded a friendly reception on account of their religious convictions, mostly sought Louvain. The ' Belgian Flourishing ° 'JO o condition of Athens,'* though scarcely yet at that height of reputation sij.yjn"j^,f" which it enjoyed in the days when the brilliant erudition of Jh" centur^' Bellarmine attracted new-comers from all parts of Europe, was already second only to Paris in numbers and in fame. In its numerous separate foundations and general organi- zation,— it possessed no less than twenty-eight colleges^, — it closely resembled the English universities ; while its active press afforded those facilities to the author and the contro- versialist of which Cambridge at this period was altogether destitute'. A tranquil air pervaded the whole city, which with its pleasant gardens, orchards, and green fields inter- spersed with groves and woodland, might well seem no unfitting retreat for the Muses^ The university moreover of Lutheran theology 'beinahe zu mounting at that time to 84 in num- einer Gesohiohte der deutschen Uni- ber. versitaten wird' (see vol. i. pp. 4-8). ^ Cooper, Athenae, i 85. The lives of many of the professors ^ ' Hio intra muros libera prata, of theology, as contained in Hen- vineae, horti spatiosi, agri, pomaria, ning Witte's Memoriae Theologorum oampi, dumi, saltus, pasoua, parvas (Frankfurt, 1674), with the lists ap- silvulae, parva nemusoula, ut merito pended to each Life of their several banc sedem et domicilium optimarmn literary productions, afford a me- artium delegerint majores nostri. lanoholy proof of the extent to Habet enim scholam, qua non sit ■which the energies of really able alia secundum Parisiacam numero- meu were expended in this not sior neque ornatior-.' Barlandus, 'Cof. merely fruitless but absolutely per- insign. Oppid. Germaniae inferioris,' nicious labour. quoted by Andreas, Fasti, p. 219. ' So styled by Justus Lipsius in ' Credite mihi, multa gymnasia, mul- his Lovanium, ui. 1. tas academias, multa musarum domi- 2 In the same work (ed. 1605) there cilia vidi, sed rara sunt ao prope is a map shewing all the public nulla quae cum hac illustrissima buildings and colleges, together a- sede ' ao veluti arce sapientiae vel 108 A.D. 1546 TO 1558. CHAP. 11. Character of its theologi- cal school. Cranmer's admiration of the German Protestant tlieology. Foreign divines in England. extended its welcome to all branches of academic learning, and medicine, the civil law, and the canon law were alike taught and studied within its walls. No degrees in Europe stood so high as guarantees of general acquirements. Erasmus records that it was a common saying, that ' no one could graduate at Louvain without knowledge, manners and age^'. But more especially it prided itself on a certain stately science of theo- logy, derived from a reverential study of the Fathers and the Councils, and expounded in authoritative and solemn tones which sometimes fell not ungratefully on ears deafened with the ceaseless wrangling of Wittenberg or Leipzig^. Here more than one Oxford professor, in times adverse to Catholic belief, found not only a refuge but a sphere of' labour; and here Nicholas Sander composed his treatise de Visibili Monarchia". It may fairly be urged in Cranmer's defence, that when he sought to bring the English universities into closer con- tact with the theologians of the Continent, he could not possibly have foreseen the deplorable excesses to which the stimulus hereby imparted to controversy would afterwards give rise. His admiration of the Swiss school of divinity was moreover unbounded, and the eminent foreign doctors as- sembled under the roof of Lambeth Palace, formed a circle with whom he was never weary of discussing the most mooted theological questions of the day*. More than once an endeavour was made to induce Melanchthon himself to come over, — but this was not to be ; in Martin Bucer however he found a man of like spirit, and scarcely inferior reputation. Fagius and Tremellius were Hebrew scholars of no small auditorum multitudine vel doctorum celebritate vel loci ipsius commodi- tate comparari possunt.' BeUarmine, Concio XX Lovanici habitaj Andreas, Fasti, p. 221. 1 Sir William Hamilton speaks of tlie examination at Louvain for a degree in arts as ' the best example upon record of the true mode of such examination, and, until recent times, in fact, the only example in the history of universities worthy of con- sideration at all. ' He has translated from Vemulaeus the order and method of this examination. ' Dis- sert. <& Discussions, Append, in. ^ ' Ad haeo, mom in vanis argumen- tis tempus conterentes, sed in ipsia Utteris divinis, in patribus eeclesias- ticis, et iis, quae ad rationem vitae faciunt, versantes.' G. Moringus in Vita A driani n ; quoted by Andreas, Fasti, p. 220. 2 Andreas mentions Thomas Har- ding, Begins professor at Oxford, and Eichard Smith, Peter Martyr's assail- ant. Ibid. pp. 54-56. ^ Strype, Mevi. of Cranmer, bk. ii, 0. 13; Schmidt, Peter Martyr Ver- migli, p. 78. TEACHERS FROM ABROAD. 109 attainments. Peter Alexander, a French refugee from Aries, ,chap. ii.^ compiled while resident with the archbishop, a new volume of ' Sentences,' designed to exhibit more faithfully than the ancient text-book the tenour of the patristic teaching on the doctrines most in question between the Lutherans and Eome. Dryander, or Francis Encinas, was a noble Spaniard who, having embraced the Reformed faith, came from Germany especially recommended by Melanchthon, and taught Greek for a short period at Cambridge. Utenhoven of Ghent was a scholar to whom all the chief theologians of Switzerland and Strassburg were personally well known. Peter Martyr, Ochin, peter and Cavelarius were divines who, though not of German birth, »• i|o|- faithfully reflected the spirit of the German Reformation. It was in September, 1548, that Peter Martyr arrived in V England, where, after a six months' sojourn with Cranmer, he was appointed to the Regius professorship of theology at^ Oxford\ He was followed about a year later by Martin maktik Bucer, who forthwith received the corresponding appoint- ». 1491. ment at Cambridge. Their arrival in the two universities was thus nearly coincident with the very important change in the academic constitution brought about in each by the new statutes of Edward VI, — a code which resulted in a transformation scarcely less complete than that inaugurated by Cromwell.'^ At Cambridge, the new statutes continued to be in force (save for one brief interval) until the statutes of Elizabeth'' of 1570,-'^and will consequently well repay a brief examination of their distinctive features. The statutes of Edward vi were given to the university I^atuteb op ^ -^ Edward vi, on the eighth of A.pril,1549, though not actually promul- ^p'" '**^' gated until a month later, during which interval another visitation of the university took place, which lasted until the fourth of July. The. visitors appeared bringing with them the new Code, which was partly designed to assist them in framing additional statutes'; and before they left, these ' See Petri Martyris Vermilii Oxford, and whicli were almost iden- Florentini Vita, per losiam Simlerum, tioal in character, remained in force Tigwrinum, in the Soriniuvi Anti- until the enactment of the Laudian quarium, vol. in, 1752; Strype, Statutes. Ayliffe, Present State of Memorials, bk. i, e. 15. Univ. of Oxford, 1 187. ' Those given to the university of ' Dean Peacock (Observations, etc. 110 A.D. 1546 TO 1558. CHAP. II. New statutes respecting duties of lecturers on Philosophy, Dialectics, additions, under the name of Injunctions, were likewise given to the academic body. The statutes and the injunctions alike deserve the description given by Dr Peacock, as being 'brief, distinct, and reasonable,' characteristics which the ability and good sense of the visitors would naturally lead us to look for. Bishop Goodrich, bishop Ridley, Sir William Paget, Sir Thomas Smith, Sir John Cheke, Dr Mey, and Dr Wendy, were one and all men who, while fully perceiving the defects of the ancient statutes, which in the royal letter are justly designated as 'antiquated, semi-barbarous, and obscure,' were little likely to have recourse to violent innovations or unduly partial reforms. In the new Code the customary times and forms for taking degrees were retained, but thecalterations in the different courses of study' were numerous and important. The four Barnaby lecturers and the Regius professor had their subjects and times of lecturing newly defined. Some were required to lecture four, and others five, days a week^. The old Terence lecture was changed to one on rhetoric, and the lecturer, as was also the case with the teachers of medicine and dialectics, had to commence his discourse in the schools at seven in the morning. The lecturer on philosophy was enjoined to supplement his labours on Aristotle by readings on Pliny or Plato. The text-books of the lecturer , on medicine were to be Hippocrates and Galen. The 'mathematics' of that day included cosmography, arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy, in which several subjects Mela, Pliny, Strabo, and Ptolemy, — Tonstall, Cardan, and Euclid, were the text-books prescribed for the several professors' use. p. 36) represents the Visitors as themselves the authors of the new Code, that this however was not the case is evident from the preamble : 'Qui ut id faoiliuB faoere possint visum est nonnullas leges in hoc volumen oonsoriptas quas nos in vestrum maxime oommodum tuU- mus iUis dare ut vobis tradant ut antiqudtis semibarbaris vestris et ob- scuris statutis et propter vetustatem jam plerkaiique non intellectis regiis deinceps legibus et nostro latis auspi- cio pareatis.' Lamb, Documents, p. 123; see also p. 109. These statutes are signed by E. Somerset, Willm. Sainctjohn, J. Russel, Arun- del, Thomas Southampton, Willm. Paget, Wingfield, WiUm. Petre, T. Smith. The Statutes thus represent the new Code which the visitors brought with them ; the Injunctions, the additions which, after conferring with the academical authorities, they deemed it desirable to make. 1 Lamb, Ibid. p. 124. STATUTES OF 1549. Ill The professor of dialectics and rhetoric was to use the Elenchi chap, ii.^ of Aristotle, the Topica of Cicero, Quintilian, and Hermogenes. The professor of Greek was to lecture on Homer, Demo- G'^*. sthenes, Isocrates, and Euripides, or some other classical author, and at the same time to give instruction in grammar and syntax. The Hebrew lecturer was to limit himself to Hebrew, the Hebrew Scriptures, and the grammar of the language. The professor of law was not only to interpret the Pandects Law. and the Codex, but also 'the ecclesiastical laws of out/ kingdom which we are about to set forth,' — an allusion to a project on which Cranmer had set his heart, and which after- wards found expression in the abortive Reformatio Legwn Ecclesiasticarum ^. The ancient trivium was completely recast, grammar New courses being altogether discarded and Jesus College being the only under- *-' ^ o ^ ./ graduates, foundation where it was permissible to give instruction in the maSs'ot subject. In its place ' mathematics ' appear as the initiatory l^hd'ors ot study for the youth fresh from school"; they were to be sue- """^^ ceeded by dialectics, and this again by philosophy. Further in- struction in philosophy, perspective, astronomy and Greek took the place of the subjects of the old quadrivium, or bachelor's course of study ; while the master of arts, after the time of his regency had elapsed, was required, unless intending the study of law or medicine, to devote his attention solely to theology and Hebrew'. Bachelors of divinity were required to hear a theological lecture daily; to respond once and dispute twice in theological questions ; and to preach twice in Latin and once in English in St Mary's Church. It was Further study discrs- not until the student had attained to the full-blown dignity tionaionthe *^ ■' attamment of doctor, that the decision as to whether he should or should °fdoctOTf'° 1 An attempt to furnish a body of and words were mainly Cranmer's canon law adapted to the English own.' See also Ibid. bk. ii, o. 26; Church. HaUam mentions the tra- Perry, Hist, of Church of Engl. pp. dition that it was the production of 174-5 ; and Dr Cardwell'a Preface to Cheke and Haddon {Hist, of Literat. reprint of edition of 1571, published II 32). This, however, is denied by in 1850. Strype, who says that Haddon did ^ ' Eeoens venientem a ludo litera- nothing more than correct the- Lat- rio primum excipiant mathematica.' inity (Mem. of Cranmer, bk. i, c. 30) Lamb, Documents, p. 125. and that the volume was the result ' ' Magister artiimi sedulus erit of a commission, in which Cranmer theologiae atque hebraioae lectionis took the leading part, and ' the work et quotidianus auditor : quibus rebus 112 A.D. 1546 TO 1558. CHAP. 11.^ not continue to add to the stores of knowledge acquired during his twenty or eighteen years' course of study was con- fided to his own discretion'. A large number appear to have generally decided this question in the negative, but their con- duct, as we shall shortly see, was regarded with much concern if not actual disapproval by the Mentors of the university. "'tEe dw™' '^^^ contentious spirit was very far from having died out ™qSt? with the scholastic philosophy, and in all the faculties, but • tareguiariy ggpggjajiy j^ theology, disputatious were regularly enjoined^ Both the Protector and Cranmer appear to have been firmly persuaded that no better weapon could be found against Catholic error in the universities than these time-honoured ordeals of the schools, and it was now enacted that theolo- gical disputations should be held every alternate Thursday from one to four'. In all cases the respondent was bound to affix three theses, three days beforehand, to the doors of the public schools*. statutes reia- A Considerable innovation on the former mode of electins tmg to elec- _ ^ o pSd'of're-' ^^^ chancellor is presented in the requirement that this gency.&c. officer shall henceforth be chosen in open scrutiny by the whole body, both regents and non regents ; while the elec- tion of the vice-chancellor, proctors, and taxors is vested in the regents alone ^ The period of obligatory regency im- posed upon masters of arts was extended to three years^ With the evident design of holding out encouragement to those who might resolve upon taking holy orders at a period of life somewhat later than that in which the choice of a pro- fession was then usually made, it was enacted that students entering the university after the age of twenty-four and passing through a three years' course of study in arts, and four in theology, should be admitted bachelors of divinity without the intervention of a degree in arts'. Some of the anuorum qmnque dabit operam.' » ' Themata dubia saorae sorip- Ibid. p. 126. turae loca sint vel ex illis ducantur.' 1 Ibid. p. 126. Ibid. p. 130. ' The disputations in mathematics, ■> Ibid. dialectics, and natural philosophy ^ Ibid. pp. 132-3. were to be held on Thursdays, « Ibid. p. 141 ; see supra, p 50 Fridays, and Sundays between the ^ Ibid. p. 140. This enactment hours of one and three. Ibid. p. 128. and that relating to the period of STATUTES OF 1549. 113 ancient ceremonies, such as public processions at exequiae ^chap. ii.^ and on other occasions, were forbidden ; and the form of worship at the university church and in the college chapels was brought into conformity with the new liturgy. The alterations in the statutes did not tend to augment'The powe™ ^ of the Heads the powers of the masters of colleges. ' No provisions,' J5,°nte| observes dean Peacock, 'were made affecting the mode of "~ election or the constitution of the caput senatus, and in one or two instances only do the Visitors appear to recognise the heads of houses or hostels as forming a distinct body in the academical commonwealth'.' The regulations laid down with respect to the general statutes reia- . ° . ° tinjtoCol- disciplme of the student body are of a kind which evidently lege^dud- imply that the complaints that have come under our notice of too great a laxity were not without foundation. Fencing schools and dicing taverns are especially forbidden^ ; no one is to be appointed Dominus ludorum' at Christmas in the colleges ; tutors are required to see that their pupils do not wander about the town; card -playing, though permitted at Christmas, is declared unlawful at all other seasons of the year. The details of the visitation of the colleges, which ex- visitation of 1 the Colleges. tended over a period of two months, have been preserved to us in a quaint and interesting though not altogether accurate contemporary account\ The statutes of most of the older foundations were revised and amended* ; while those which were left unaltered, were of course no longer valid on those points where they were in conflict with the new code. regency, are among the Injunctions quentetur.' Lamb, Documents, p. 139. appended by the Visitors. It was, ' An office better known as that more properly speaking, a re-enact- of lord of misrule or abbat of un- ment of an ancient statute {Stat. reason. See a large collection of .-oprotest openly expressed. That exception was Ascham, who was their legisia- then abroad, but who, writing from Brussels to Cecil in the tion: except r. ti . -tut t i* wh^ur'™"' lo^^owmg March, did not hesitate to express his regret that offrtTSouM non-regent masters of arts should have been required to toSn- introduced. He had himself, when learning Greek, cosmo- graphy, astronomy and oratory, managed to get on without an instructor ; but when he began to study civil law he had found that a guide was absolutely necessary, so vast was the extent of the field. No efforts would be wanting on his part, but he hoped that his class would not fail to attend other lectures ; such had been his own plan and he had found his labours greatly lessened thereby. In his second oration', delivered on the ensuing day', we smith-s ^ . , o J ' second ad- find Smith dwelling on the more general advantages of the ''''^ study. He appeals to the ambition of the students and refers The ci>-ii law '^ ^^ the road to to the numbers whom he has known who ' have gone up '™^^*nt^ from this little Cambridge of ours ' {ex hac nostra perexigua Cantabrigia egressi) and, by devoting themselves to the ener- getic pursuit of the profession of the civilian, have come to be deemed worthy of serving the State in the most import- ant negotiations. As instances, he names Gardiner, Thirleby, and Dr Butts, — the last of whom he stj'les ' the refuge of all students and the chief guardian and ornament of this uni- versity ^' He passes a high encomium on the liberality and discernment in encouraging letters shewn by king Henry, who, he states, had been heard to complain of the dearth of able lawyers. On the importance of legal studies to divines he holds it unnecessary to insist. While severely censuring His tnbnte i 11- •• nil ■ p «,'othe skUl the ' barbarism characteristic of the learning oi many ot the «nd eio- *^ ^ ^ quence of the papal lawyers, he takes the opportunity of paying a some- \^^°" • '...et doas modo mihi concedatis ^ 'Oratio secunda, de Dignitate horas, nnam audiendae, alteram re- Legmn atque XJtilitate Stndii Juris petendae lectioiiis, totidemqne cui- Civilis.' Baker MSS. xxxm 400-413. conqne alteri juris praelectori velitis ^ Ibid. p. 430. accommodare.' IHd. * Ibid. p. 403. 9—2 132 A.D, 1546 TO 1558. .CHAP. 11.^ yrhat notable compliment to the eloquence and vigour of thought not infrequently exhibited in the English common law courts. When away from Cambridge in the country, he says that he has often had arguments with these common lawyers, who, although acquainted only with ' our barbaric and half-Gallican laws ' and wanting altogether in the polite culture and training of the universities, had often astonished him by the skill and ease with which they unravelled each knotty question, and by the force and dexterity with which they upheld their own opinions or refuted those of others. Neither in dialectical skill nor in true eloquence could he His praise of prouounce them deficient. Another passage, equally charac- language, toristic of the scholar and the genius as distinguished from the mere academic pedant, is that wherein he ventures upon the praises of his native tongue, declaring that where its use was marked by precision and purity it might compare even with the Latin for beauty and force of expression. He The study of concludes by again enforcing upon his hearers the varied the Code and. pi i t i i JJ'e Pandec's lutcrest of legal studies when properly pursued, and remmds MtoS them that even scholars like VaUa and Politian had found their copia verborum considerably enriched by the study of the Digest. Smith's But notwithstanding Smith's conspicuous ability and the efforts meet o r j »ucce»'''°'"^ energy with which he devoted himself to his new task, Nicholas Carr informs us that 'there were but few who evinced much approbation, still fewer who professed to devote themselves to the pursuit of the study, and scarcely any who adopted it as their vocation'.' From the year 1544 to 1551 only one graduate proceeded to the degree of LL.D., and only eight to that of bachelor of laws", — the solitary doctor being Walter Haddon himself, who succeeded Smith as Regius professor in the last-named year and vainly employed all the resources of his ornate Latinity to kindle some en- thusiasm for the study in the minds of his hearers'. The ' ' Qui oum diserte jus civile inter- de Scriptt. Britt. paucitate etc. f 14. pretari Bolitus sit, pauoi erant qui ' Baker MSS. xi 37-42 ' ' probabant.pauciores qui se illi studio » . q^ q„j s„eggggj(. ^^^^ familia deditoa simulabant, prope nulli qui ris, ingemosissimus vir Haddonus sio discendi laboribus permanerent.' Carr, ad banc seientiam juris se applica'vit PROPOSED COLLEGE OF CIVIL LAW. 133 lack of competent jurists began however to be a source of real inconvenience to the government, for the diplomatic service and the consultations of the Privy Council alike required, from time to time, the aid of the civilian \ When accordingly the royal commissioners came down to Cam- bridge in 1549, their attention had already been directed to the languishing condition of the study and they were em- powered to use every means for its revivaP. For this purpose they were especially instructed, after the precedent set in the foundation of Trinity, to dissolve one or more of the existing colleges and ' to found and erect a College of Civil Law, and to endow the same with the lands, tenements, hereditaments, and goods of the colleges so dissolved, and to prescribe statutes for the fellows in the same until such col- lege should be fully established under the Great Seal ; and to provide annual pensions for. the masters, fellows, and scholars of the dissolved colleges'.' CHAP. TI. It is pro- posed to found a College of Civil Law. Instructions to this effect to the Visi- tors of 1549. ut eandem majore quam is f Smitlius] laude eloquentiae cumularit.' Carr, u. s. f. 14. Haddon appears to have officiated as reader in civil law for three years before his promotion to the professorship, and, according to Ascham, had some success. The latter writing to king Edward on behalf of the university in order to urge Haddon's claims on the royal notice, says : ' munus profitendi juris oivilis nunc vacuum est; cujus soientiae praeolaram dootrinam, tanto ingenio, eruditione, et assiduitate, frequentissimo hominum concHrsu, Gualterus Saddonus hoc triennium apud nos tradidit, ut nihil prius universi nos una voce a Maj estate tua contendamus quam ut hoc do- cendi munus huic doctissimo viro eonferatur.' Ascham, Epist. p. 299. In a letter to the Privy Council writ- ten at the same time and with the same object, he says, ' Schola juris oivilis apud nos conticesoit.' Ibid. p. 300. Haddon's overflowing audi- ences could not have lasted very long. ' ' And we are sure ye are not ignorant how necessary a study that study of civil law is to aU treaties with foreign princes and strangers, and how few there be at this present to do the king's majesty's service therein.' Somerset to Ridley, June 10, 1549 (see infra, p. 136). ^ 'Et quoniamstudium juris civilis non solum jam aliquot annos defer- buisse in aoademia nostra Cante : verum etiam propemodum extinctum esse nobis indicatum est, praecipuam vobis omnibus curam et sollioitudi- nem imponimus, ut quibus poteritis viis ac modis illud exeitetis et ampli- ficetis. Cui studio, ut possitis am- plius mederi et fructu laboris ac diligentiae juventutem in illud ac- cendere, plenissimam ac summam authoritatem per absolutam et regiam nostram potestatem vobis couoessi- mus ; dijo vel plura collegia in dicta universitate propter eam causam disBolvenda, et ex illis sic dissolutis et aliis loois idoneis eos qui vide- buntur ad illud studium aptos et accomnaodatos in unum collegium juris civiUs nostra auctoritate et nomine fundandi et coadunaudi. ' Baker MSS. xiii 175. 8 Cooper, Annals, ii 25. A pre- cisely similar scheme was proposed for Oxford, where All Souls was designed to be the law college of the university. See Wood-Gutch, ii 97- 134 A.D. 1546 TO 1558. «i^^iJL The foundations marked out to subserve this design were Clare Hall, where the mastership was held by Roland Swm- boume, a Catholic in his sympatbies, and Trinity Hall, still nominally ruled by Gardiner, although he himself was a prisoner in the Tower'. Smith's varied public duties ap- pear to have prevented his being present in Cambridge during the Commission*, but he watched with lively interest the progress of a scheme of which there can be little doubt that he was a chief promoter, and intelligence on the subject was regularly transmitted to him by William Ethers, a fellow of Queens' College, and registrary to the Commission. H'aiTno'ob- ^^ ^ letter written by Rogers on the 15th of May, we offered.'^ have his first circumstantial report. No opposition is an- ticipated on the part of Trinity Hall. 'All the felowes there,' he writes, -are well contented to the kniting of their howse and Clare Hall together, and take it to be, as it is in deed, a great furtherance to their studie and proceeding in strenuous ^hs lawcs.' It was othcrwise, however, at Clare HalL The resistance at ' ' *^''^' master and fellows of that ancient and religious house were all theologians and felt but little disposed to see their students in divinity compelled to give place to civilians. Something moreover of the old hostility between the two schools, such as actuated Holcot and Richard of Bury', still prevailed ia the university ; while it is probable that neither Ridley nor any of the members of Clare fully understood the far more defensible ground on which the advocates of the study of the civil law now rested their claims, or the far more rational method in which the study itself was pursued. Already, at the previous Sturbridge fair, rumours of the impending dissolution had reached the ears of the society, and they had sought to forestall the commissioners and to protect their own interest by conduct exactly resembling ' It -mU. be seen how. completely of the Commissioners for the visit- the following nai-rative refutesFuller's ation of the university, and is among account of the scheme, the failure those of the siguatari'es to the Ed- of which he attributes to Gardiner's wardian Statutes but not among opposition. FuUer (ed. Prickett and those who signed the Injunctions Wright), pp. 242-3. Lamb, Documents, pp. 123 146 " His name appears as that of one ' See Vol. i 211. ' PROPOSED COLLEGE OF CIVIL LAW. 135 that of the monastic bodies. They had agreed to sell the chap. ii. college plate and to divide the proceeds among themselves. 'Since the Visitors coming to Cambridge,' writes Rogers, The society 'their library hath been utterly spoiled, not a book left s^ii the de- saving a few old law hooks and certain other worthe nothing. All the Doctors with many goodlie books gone to the value as is esteemed of £15 or thereabouts.' The plate and 'trinkets abroad in the house' had been conveyed away so fast, that he expresses his belief that ' unless thai be kept under lock and key clene from them there will not be one disshe nor any thing els left within these two dales'.' As regarded the surrender of the house itself, they had but one phrase, — Neque do, neque repugno, — they recognised the royal author- 'Nequedo.ne- ity but they pleaded the obligation of their fellowship oath. " I see the King's majesty's pleasure," saith the Master, "and I desier the king to take his pleasure without my consent. For my part I will never give up the bowse neither by seale, consent, nor otherwise. To depart I am content at your Lordshipps commandment, if ye shall so command me, and will after claim no manner of interest, title, or right to the howse. But to give it up with my voice, surely I will not''." The fellows, while declaring that it was not their intention actively to resist the royal pleasure, also intimated, for the most part, that the proposed change would be without their consent and would involve their departure from the college'. 1 Among the plate was probably to consent to the dissolution of the the celebrated ' Poison Cup ' of which college, saving my obedience to the the College still retains possession. Kyngs majesty, per me, Edwakdum See Specimens of College Plate, by Babkek.' 'I, Thomas Hiskyns, fel- J. J. Smith; Camb. Ant. Soc. Publ. low of Clare Haule, as an obedient Vol. I, no. 8. subject to the Kyngs Majesty, am " State Papers (Dom.) Edw. n, Vol. content to gyve place to hys authoryte VII, nos. 10 & 11. Swinbourne was in the dissolutyon of the college of subsequently expelled by the Visitors Clare Haule, though my consent be on the 17th of June. Lamb, Docu- not agreeable to the same, by reason ments, p. 113. of my othe to my college. By me 3 The following are some of the Thomas Hesktns. ' ' I am noone of subsoriptiona : ' Iff yt shall please those that do hynder the Kyng's pro- the Kyngs majesty to dyssolve thys ceedings; in any godly purpose, and hous of Clare Hall, I shall be con- therefore I wyll goe my way. By me, tentyd to departe out of the College Chkistofer Cablel.' These and before the dissolution of the same, other details, transcribed by Baker not consentyng unto yt.' John Hop- from 'a loose sheet of paper and PER. ' My conscience is not pacyjied half sheet,' Feb. 21, 1681, when he 136 A.D. 1546 TO 1558. CHAP, ir.. It was at this juncture that bishop Ridley, though him- Ridioy inter- self One of the commissioners, came to the aid of the distressed beSo° society. At a meeting of the Commission he expressed his opinion that, in the face of such decided opposition, they were not competent to carry out the scheme without further instructions; nor can there be much doubt that he had originally sympathised but little with the design. This His letter to protest he followed up by a letter to Somerset, in which he M*^*i8°i549. more plainly stated it as his view that it was ' a very sore Hisobjec- thing, a great sclander to them that shal presently hear of sSemel '° the matter, a dangerouse example to the world to cum, to take a college founded for the study of goddes word, and to apply it to the use of students in man's lawes.' He com- pared Clare College to Naboth's vineyard. He recalled to mind the number of pious and learned men whom it had educated, — especially Latimer. Alexander had spared a city for Homer's sake. Latimer, he urges (an amusing illustra- tion of the Reformation spirit), 'far passes by that poete;' and he beseeches the king to spare Clare CoUege for Lati- mer's sake\ His corre- In the mean time, it had been whispered to the Protector spondence on -n-njii-i • ix j the subject that ' Ridley s barking, as it was contemptuously termed, '»='^ had stopped the whole scheme, and Somerset appears to have addressed to his friend a somewhat sharp remonstrance. fomc?s*et- '^^^ drew from Ridley a circumstantial apology, in which June t, 1649. jjg explained that, prior to being nominated a commissioner, he had not been made privy to the proposed measure, which consequently took him completely by surprise ; but that all that he had really done in the matter had been to express his doubts of the competency of the commissioners to enforce the execution of their instructions without the consent of the Somerset to master and fellows of Clare College ^ To this Somerset o^ 10, im replied in a letter, dated the tenth of the same month, wherein he could not forbear from expressing a wish that the Visitors should 'not be scrupulous in conscience, other- was but 25 years of age, have been ' State Papers, ti. s. preserved solely through his iadustry. " Burnet-Pooock, n ii 347-350. See Baker MSS. ii 161-2. PROPOSED COLLEGE OF CIVIL LAW. 137 ■wise than reason would.' He did not however refuse ^chap. il to argue the whole question and adduces some substantial reasons in support of the royal design : the plan was no hasty or crude conception, for it had been proposed in the preceding reign, ' as Sir Edward North/ he says, ' can tell : ' the number of civilians had been considerably lessened by the society of King's Hall (which was ' in a manner all lawyers canonists'), being made ' a college of divines '; then again on other foundations, such as King's, Jesus, and Queens', civil law fellowships, contrary to the late king's Injunctions, had been converted into divinity fellowships, ' aU which together,' he affirmed, made ' a greater in number than the fellows of Clare Hall be;' 'necessity compelleth us also to maintain the science :' he concludes with reminding Ridley of the grave consequences that may result from his example'. The effect of this letter is to be seen in another from Rogers to Somerset ; Rogers, who, writing to Smith five days later, reports that "'"'"^^'^***- Ridley has at last assented to a policy of compulsion*. The latter's submission came however too tardily and much to the regret of his feUow-commissioners he was recalled'. On the other hand, it is evident that the bold resistance of the authorities at Clare was ultimately successful, for although Swinboume was compelled to cede the mastership to Madew, the proposed scheme of amalgamation was silently abandoned, ^?^'=^^,™ though that of a coUege of civil law was for some time »'>an«d. longer still entertained*. But the difficulties under which the study now laboured ^^^"^3. could not be overcome. Its more scientific treatment pre- Juccess'ottho sented no attractions to the great majority of those by whom E^iMid. it had once been so ardently cultivated as a stepping stone 1 Bumet-Pocock, 11 ii 351-2. amble to tlie statutes of Trinity ' ' But thei ' [the Visitors] ' say (Nov. 8, 1552), where the names of that if that thing may be done while the Commissioners of 1549 are given, he is here the rest will be more easie his name is erased (see next page, note for them after his departure.' State 3). It is also absent from the Form Papers (Dom.) Edw. vi, Vol. vn of Oath imposed June 1, 1553, the no. 83. signataries to this document being ' Lemon, State Papers, Edward n, otherwise the same, viz. Goodrich, p. 15. Bidley's name, however, ap- Cheke, Mey, and Wendy (Lamb, pears as that of one of the signataries Documents, p. 164). to the Injunctions ; but in the pre- ■* Cooper, Annals, 11 58. 138 A.D. 1546 TO 1558. CHAP. IT. to political advancement, while the prevailing theological influences were distinctly unfavourable to a branch of learn- ing long associated with the rejected pretensions of the papacy. Martin Bucer, when calling the attention of king Edward to the confused condition in which the English law was suffered to remain, and suggesting that it should be codified and epitomised, and even partly thrown into the form of mnemonic verses to assist youthful learners, makes no reference whatever to the studies of the civilian'. ' The civil law,' writes Nicholas Carr, a few years later, 'is despised and contemned, and even where the study still survives it is pursued for the most part in a corrupt fashion".' oeiginai The labours of the Visitors in 1549 had not terminated Statutes of /~i n • t m*'/-^mii coiLBGE '^™ their departure from Camondge, Trinity College had Nov. 8, 1652. Jiitherto been without any more definite code than that fur- nished by the general injunctions which they had issued for the regulation of the colleges'. Upon Goodrich, Cheke, Mey, and Wendy it accordingly now devolved to prepare the earliest statutes of this illustrious foundation. It was not ' de Regno Ghristi, bk. ii, u. 56; Divi Pauli, Thomam Wendkium, Script. Anglicana, p. 149. medicum nostrvun primarinm, ad 2 ' — Juris civiiis scientia, quae statum academiae hujus non modo contempta quidem a plerisque et cognoscendum sed etiam emendan- spretajaoet; aut siqui earn retineant, dum emisimns : et iUi magna cum vel pauoi sunt qui bene, Tel multi gravitate et prudeutia multos erroreg qui inquinate.' de Scriptt. Britt. toti academiae commones sustule- paucitate, f. 14. The reference to runt, et bonis ac salutaribus prae- tbe plague of 1556 (f. 1 b) seems to ceptis et legibus earn fundarunt : shew that Carr's treatise was written Patris nostri amplissimi collegium about 1557; it was first published by incultum adhuc et nullis institutis ac Thomas Hatcher in 1576. legibus firmatum, neque negligi neque 2 For those portions of these stat- solute vel studiorum vel vitae * * utes which are necessary for the vivi aequo animo patiebamur: et elucidation of the text the reader is cum illorum cura atque industria in referred to Appendix (A). The state- bonis hisoe legibus et statutis edendis ment in the account of the Visitation posita nobis probata sit haeo eadem of 1549, — that 'new statutes wer vobis servanda et custodienda autho- given to Trynyte College ' (Lamb, ritate nostra mittimus, praecipimus- Documents, p. 118) is clearly shewn que ut reiiquis vel ante hac tributis by the preamble to the statutes to be vel post hac tribuendis omnibus incorrect : ' Itaque cum nos gravissi- praetermissis, ad haec statuta colenda moa viros D. Thomam Eliensem, D. omni vos studio ac voluntate trans- [ *] JoHANNEM CHEonM, fcratis ; etc' MS. Trinity College jboctorem atque informatorem nos- Statutes of Edw. vi. trum, GuLiELMUM Matum, Decanum * The blank here is beyond any doubt that caused by the erasure of Nicholaum Rqff'ensem (Ridley). STATUTES OF TRINITY COLLEGE. 139 until November, 1552, that their task was completed; but chap, ir.^ it will be observed that this was somewhat more than a year before the compilation of the original statutes of Magdalene and that any points of correspondence between the two codes must consequently be regarded as borrowed by the latter society. The original statutes of Trinity College are especially c»mpi«Je- remarkable for the completeness of the organization for which fo''|^"hkh'°" they provide and the minuteness of their instructions with ""^^ P'-oi'We- respect to details, — characteristics justified by the theory on which the whole scheme had been conceived as that of a foundation which, in the words of dean Peacock, ' gave the first complete example of the separation of domestic and collegiate, from academical, public, and professional instruc- tion '.' The functions of its numerous officers — the master, vice- master, deans (censores), ' magister aulae,' bursars, three Kegius professors, preachers, and chaplain (aedituus sacer), are all defined with much care and fulness. The office of the master The office or Master. is invested with new importance and his duties are described with greater exactness. The omission (noted by Baker as a somewhat remarkable one^) in the original statutes of Michael- house, of any oath as obligatory on the head of the society, is made good by the introduction of a formula which imposes upon him a distinct declaration of religious belief, of political f^^^^^^y allegiance, and of his recognition of the paramount claims eitering"" of the college upon his time and services'. It pledges him "p™° to the observance of the canons of the Protestant faith, to the maintenance of the royal prerogative as supreme and in no way subject to 'the jurisdiction of foreign bishops,' to the acceptance of the Scriptures as the highest rule of faith. He is bound not to be absent from the college more than three months in the year*, unless on business connected with the society, on state affairs, or by the royal command. It is ' Peacock, Observations, p. 35. master not to be absent more tlian ' MSS. XXX I 157-8. 28 days, or, in case of necessity, two ' Stat. 2, Appendix (A). months in the whole year. Mayor, * The statutes of St John's (1545) Early Statutes of St John's College, included a like condition, while bishop pp. 13 and 14. Fisher's statutes of 1530 required the 140 A.D. 154G TO 1558. CHAP. II, his duty to protect the property and revenues of the college from being diminished or alienated, and to enforce the general observance of the statutes through the agency of the other officers. other offl- The other officers of the college are distinguished as °But&M' 'superior' and 'inferior.' To the former class, who compose tdotT the senatus or seniority, belong the vice-master, the deans, the 'magister aulae',' the bursars, and the Regius professors (' as many as are fellows of the college ') ; to the latter, the preachers, the Greek and Latin examiners, the ' quaesitores aulae,' and the chaplain. All these officers are to be elected annually ; each retiring in succession from his office, — the electors being the whole official body^ assigned to To the deaus it belongs to superintend the religious disci- buMttrsaiid pliue and general conduct of the students; to the 'magister preachers. ,, ., ^. , iii*-. aulae, to supei-vise the studies and method ot tuition ; to the bursars, to manage the domestic economy and expenditure and to receive the tithes and other revenues due from the college estates. One-fourth of the fellows, at least, must be preachers, who are to assist the deans in watching over the moral conduct of members of the college ; by virtue of their office they are under obligation to preach at certain specified seasons of the year. None are to be eligible to this function who have not already given instruction in the college on the Catechism^. The preachers are also ren T-r i *-N dart, a fellow the philosophy lecturer, who when a sizar at C^lare Hal), Cam- of Pembroke , . College, Cam- bridge, had been one of Mary's pensioners. He had subse- '"''''"^• quently been elected a fellow of Pembroke College, and from thence he was invited to Oxford. At Oxford, he was before Heiaap- 1 1 1 • 1 1 • <^ m • • pointed the long promoted to the presidentship of Trinity, a post which flj^t phiio- he continued to fill with credit to himself and to the great Trin-ty'coi- ad vantage of the university until nearly the close of the '''^°' "'"^ century ^ That the larger share of patronage bestowed on Oxford during Mary's reign was the result of the greater degree of favour with which Catholic doctrines were there regarded, admits of no question. The special reputations of the two Oxford far , . , . , _ . more favour- universities had greatly changed since the time when Lyd- cathoUcism gate boasted that 'of heresie Cambridge bare never blame'.' bridj-e."™" The fame of Oxford, as a great centre of theological science and speculation, had long ago departed; while Cambridge, as a home of Reformation doctrine, might rival Wittenberg or Marburg. John Burcher, writing to Bullinger a few months after Bucer's death, and recommending Musculus as his suc- cessor, intimates that 'the Cambridge men will not be found so perversely learned as master Peter found those at Oxford.' ' For the scholars,' he goes on to say, 'have been always suspected of heresy, as they call it, by the ancient members, learned and 1 See the singular story told by next resorted to Oxford where his Wood, that Sir Thomas, having research was rewarded with the suc- conceived the notion of founding a cess which resulted in Ihe foundation college on the spot where he might of St John's College. WoodGutch, be able to discover ' two elms grow- i. 536. ing out of one root,' first paid a visit ^ Cooper, Athenae, ii 267. to Cambridge, but not being able to ^ See Vol. i., Append, p. 637. meet with this phenomenon there, 168 A.D. 15.38 TO 1575. CHAP. HI. unlearned: by which you may easily perceive that their " ' studies have always been of a purer character than those at comparative Oxford'.' At Oxford, accordingly, during the last five years, SSat the numbers of the students had increased in much larger 'vcSs""'" proportion than at Cambridge^ But neitlier learnmg, nor religion, nor morality prospered there. Ascham implies that in the study of the classics, its scholars appeared to prefer the writers of the Silver Age or of a yet later period to the best examples of the Latin genius'. Peter Martyr, whose last utterances had been an honest and courageous denunciation of the immoral conduct of the Oxford clergy, had quitted the scene of his labours within a few days after Edward's death* and his eloquent and learned expositions were succeeded by the reactionary teaching of a Soto, a John a Garcia and a Nicholas Sander ^ To the eye of the Eeformer, the Gospel light at Oxford seemed almost quenched. If we may credit the testimony of John Jewell, Peter's most distinguished disciple in the university, the lives of not a few, even of the professorial body, were flagitious in the extreme". No martyrdom in that dark and cruel reign so deeply stirred the nation's heart, as that, when under the walls of Balliol, the ablest divine and the most eloquent preacher that Cambridge could then reckon among her sons, amid the crackling flames, for conscience sake, yielded up their souls to God. Carper of Cecil, as we have already notod, had succeeded, to the qSSting'ttie chancellorship at Cambridge, on the death of cardinal Pole. He. had now, for some years, been withdrawn alike from St 1 Zurich Letters (3), p. 6^0. late and somewhat unfairly charac- 2 The number of those admitted terised by Schmidt as ' ein letzter * B.A. at Oxford during the years Best von Aehtungvordergesetzlichen 1555-9 (which is the period when Ordnung.' the effects of the Marian influences ^ 'Omnia ea quaeD. Petrus Martyr were most perceptible) was 216 ; at puloherrime plantaverat, everterunt Cambridge it was only 175. e radio, bus, et viiieam Domini rede- ^ Ascham to Stm'm (4 Apr. 1550), geruut in solitudinem. Yix credas Epif't. p. 20. tautam vastitatem afferri potuisse ■" See Schmidt (C.) Peter Martyr tam parvo tempore.' Jewell to Bul- Veriiii(]li, pp. 130-3, where the cir- linger (22 May, 1559) ; JewcU-Jelf, cumstances are given much more viii 124. fully than in Wood. Peter received •> Jewell to Peter Martyr (20 Mar. his safe-conduct from Gardiner, a 1559); Zurich Letters {1} ]p^. 11-V2. circumstance honourable to that pre- CECIL. 169 John's College aud the university to become absorbed in cuap. til political life, where it needed no ordinary sagacity and pru- dence to avoid the quicksands that then beset every publi-c career. The skill with which he evaded the perils attendant upon each revolution of the State, does not, it must be admit- ted, seem indicative of a high-.'spirited or very sensitive nature. He had profited by the friendship of Somerset, whose secre- tary he had been at the time of the Protector's fall; he had, notwithstanding, contrived to win the favour of Northumber- land and had received during the latter's brief ascendancy the honour of knighthood: while again the prudent reluct- ance with which he assented to the usurpation of the lady Jane Grey, followed by his formal profession of the Catholic faith, had enabled him to retain the honours of office throughout the reign of Mary. During that dark and anxious time, he had been the steady iriend and adviser of the prin- cess Elizabeth, and to him, in the midst of her new dangers and perplexities, the young queen now turned, to quote the expression of Froude, 'with exceptional and solitary confi- dence.' In the brief letter in which he notified to the university nis letter to his acceptance of the honour conferred upon him, Cecil, with sityonhis ■*■ , . acceptance of characteristic wariness, mtmiates that they must not expect 'JJ^J,'/"""^'' too much either from his purse or from his power to aid them, and deplores alike his moderate fortune and mean abilities, — -fortunam meam sans mediocrem etfacultatem etiam perie nullam. At the same time, however, he assures them that as one of their body (e vestro grege unus) his best care will be given to their interests'. It was undoubtedly an anxious office that he had added condition of •' _ ^ t]ie two uni- te his numerous responsibilities, for learning and the higher mf''^' '" culture had shared to the full extent in the disorganization, the impoverishment, and the low tone of morality that had prevailed throughout the nation during Mary's reign,- and the shock produced by the prospect of another religious revolution now served still further to intensify every discouraging fea- ' Peck, Desiderata Curiosa, bk. vii, no. 9. 170 A.D. 1558 TO 1575. CHAP. iiT. ture. Jewell, whose pathetic farewell, as he had quitted Testimony of Oxfoid and Corpus Christi College before the impending and Matthew storm, is Still On rocord', came back from Zurich to utter a Parker. i /> 1 1 t • i- i, • scaicely less mournful lament over the fallen condition ot his University. Writing, in 1559, to his venerated teacher, Peter Martyr, he describes Oxford and Cambridge as being both 'in a most deplorable state, and wanting alike in loyalty, in faith, in teachers, and even in any hope for learning^' Matthew Parker, writing somewhat earlier to Sir Nicholas Bacon, the new lord-keeper, expresses himself in similar terms as regards Cambridge, but with that lofty spirit of self-sacrifice by which he was so honorably distinguished, declares that on this very account, not less than from the fact that he should be returning to familiar ground, he would prefer once more to find his sphere of labour in his own university^. What earnest and high-minded Catholics, like Dr Caius, thought of the general nnorale of the students, we Small num- havo already seen. The disquieting effects of the all-prevail- bacheiors ad- ing uncertainty in the religious community are to be recog- cambridge, niscd in the fact that the number of those proceeding to the A. D. 1558-9. ■*■ ° degree of bachelor of .arts at Cambridge in the academic year 1558-9, was only twenty-eight*. If to these dishearten- ing conditions we add the interminable contentions in the colleges, involving constant appeals to the final decision of the head of the university, we shall easily understand that the chancellorship at this time could have appeared no very enviable office. 1 Life of Bishop Jewell, by Isaac- supplentur inanes in collegiis loci.' son, pp. xiii-xiv. State Papers (Dom.) Eliz. in no. 29. ^ Burnet-Pooock, iii iii no. 58 ; see ^ i ^^^ jf j ]jiig]it be yet bolder also JeweU-Jelf, viii 124, 143. To with you, as I was with the said Sir this we may add the frank avowal of John Cheke, to disclose my desire, Dr Peacock and certain of the fellows of all places in England I would wish of Queens', who appear to have to bestow most my time in the uni- favoured the Catholic cause (see in- versity, the state whereof is miser- fra, pp. 175-6). Writing to Cecil in able at this present, as I have had March, 1559, they candidly admit intelligence from time to time there- tUe scarcity of qualilied men for of.' Letter to Sir Nicholas Bacon fellowships : ' — oonsequuntur enim (written between 9th and 20th Dec. (at fortasse memineritis) his proxi- 1558), Parker Correspondence, p. 51. mis diebus infimum apud nos doc- * ISaker MSS. sxiv. trinae gradum juveues, quibus fere THE MARIAN EXILES. I7l Nothing indeed appeared less probable than that the new chap. hi. changes would be productive of a period of comparative free- Return of the dom from dissension and controversy at the two universities. "'="■ During the Marian persecution, the most eminent divines and not a few of the younger students who had represented the Reform party at Cambridge in the reign of Edward, had been living abroad in exile'. In the chief centres of Protestantism, and especially those where the doctrines of Calvin were most favoured, they had rarely failed to meet with sympathy and counsel, and often with substantial and much-needed aid. Peter Martj-r, Rodolph Gualter, and Bullinger were not un- mindful of the generous hospitality with which they or their countrymen had been received, under Cranmer's auspices, in England, and in their own homes, or by means of their interest with wealthy citizens, doubly repaid the debt ^ At Ti,eir expe- Ziirich, in the house of Christopher Froschover, was gathered Zurich," a little company of Oxford and Cambridge divines, not a few Frankfurt,' of whom afterwards rose to eminence and rendered good ser- vice to the Church and to the State in their own country^ At Strassburg, at the lectures of Peter Martyr, Sir Anthony Cooke, Cheke, Grindal, Jewell, and others illustrious refugees, listened to the voice which had been silenced at Oxford''. At 1 See the chapters 'Englische civitatis umbraculo, contra perse- Fliichtlinge und Zustiinde ' and cutionis aestum proteoti, magno cum ' Englisehe Fluchtlinge in Zurich ' consensu et amore civium degerent. in C. Schmidt's Peter Martyr Ver- Commemorant et magistratuum in- migli, pp. 152-8 and 219-28. He credibilem munificentiam: qui per names fourteen students from Oxford te subsidia vitae, et frumenti et vini, who had been pupils of Peter Martyr, quantum tredeoim aut quatuordecim and states that Thomas Lever on his sustentaniis satis esset, liberalissime arrival in Strassburg was accompa- obtulerunt ; et cum accipere recusas- nied by twelve students from Cam- sent, gratificandi opportunitatem de- bridge, fuisse doluerunt.' Burnet who had " See Lever's letter to Bullinger examined the Ziirioh Letters when (10 Jul. 1560) Zurich Letters (1), p. staying in that city in 1685, does 87 ; also Bale's emphatic tribute of not exaggerate when he describes gratitude for the treatment the exiles the hospitality received by the exiles had received at Zurich and Basel in there as such ' as engaged them to the preface to his Acta Romanorum the end of their lives to make the Pontificum, originally published in greatest acknowledgements for it.' 1559. Of Ziirioh he says, addressing Burnet-Pocock, iii 271-2. Bullinger,-' Commemorant ethic qui ^ See the life of Kobert Home in meoum quotidie sunt Basileae, curam. Coopers Athenae, i 408. solieitudinem, et paternum erga se * Schmidt, Peter Martyr Vermigli, affectum tuum, dum apud nos con- p. 152. junctim unis in aedibus sub vestrae 172 AD. 1558 TO 1575. ciiAv ITT. Frankfort, a similar community founded a Church, and even organised a little university, but also, in less harmonious accord, developed the germs of controversies which afterwards expanded into momentous contentions within the pale of English Protestantism at home'. It was natural that such experiences should serve to bind the exiles more closely in sentiment to their brethren in Germany and in Switzerland, and still further to alienate them from all that savoured of lioman doctrine. They were now returning, each one, almost without exception, cherishing the hope that they might suc- ceed in transplanting into England, in all its integrity, the creed of the Helvetic Churches; and that the mass, the altar, the surplice, and every other vestige of the old Roman cere- monial might finally be banished from the churches of their fatherland^ White, bishop of Winchester, when preaching queen Mary's funeral sermon, had already sounded the note of alarm at the coming of the 'wolves from Geneva;' had warned his Catholic brethren against the Protestant literature with which Germany was again flooding the land ; and had even ventured to mark out the returning exiles as fit victims for the assassin's hand^ Some indeed of their number did not Ponet, James return. Ponet and James Haddon (a brother of the illustrious Haddon, Pand^s""^' scholar) had died at Strassburg. Tremellius had settled as a LeveJf '■ teacher of Hebrew at Hornbach*. Others came back to England, but not to Cambridge. A more pressing need called for their services elsewhere; and Sandys, Grindal, and Lever were all, in the first instance, appointed members of the Commission now sent throughout the country for the establishment of reli- ' See A Brief Discourse of the troubles begun at Frankfort in Ger- many, A.D. 1554, about the Book of Covimon Prayer, and continued by tlie EnijUshmen there to the end of queen Mary's Reign. Printed in the second volume of Tlie Phoenix. The names of the signitaries to the various documents and letters are frequently those of Cambridge men. ^ See Kodolph Gualter's letter to queen Ehzabeth, Jan. 1559 : Ziirich Letters (2) pp. 3-8. ' 'The wolves be coming out of Geu'eva, and other places of Ger- many, and have sent their books be- fore, full of pestilent doctrines, blas- phemy, and heresy, to infect the people.' Strype, Memorials, Vol. Ill, pt. ii, Append. 81. * John Emmanuel Tremellius was a teacher of Hebrew at Cambridge during the reign of Edwai-d. He taught gratuitously, and his dis- interested services were rewarded by a oanonry in the church of Carlisle. He quitted England on the accession of Mary. Cooper, ^«7ie«ae, i 425. THE MARIAN EXILES. 178 gion. Of these, the first, notwithstanding his emphatic nolo chap, itl episcopari, was promoted, before the end of the year, to the see of "Worcester. Amid the privations of exile his wife- and daughter had died^ and he had returned to England with his naturally impetuous temper embittered by a sense of irrepa- rable wrong, which found expression in the exceptional severity with which he treated the Catholics in his diocese. Grindal, at the same time, was consecrated bishop of London. Lever, whose term of expatriation had been chiefly employed in ministering to the little English congregation at Aran, preferred to serve the cause he had most at heart by settling at Coventry, as pastor of the important and devoted body of Reformers in that town^ The two Pilkingtons, however, The two pn- James and Leonard, who had been members of the Church ^^°|^,';„^^"'° at Frankfort, and Roger Kelke, who had been residing prin- °c'tu™to cipally at Zurich, together with many others of minor note, *''"" " *"■ were once more to be seen in their former seats in hall and chapel, or moving through the streets of the university, with a sense of recovered influence and possessed by yet more ardent convictions than before. The expectations of the exiles were indeed unreasonably The state ■*■ "^ policy disap- high, and it soon became evident that they would be com- P™'^'„'Jt]^„3 of the exiles. ' Even at Ziiricli the exiles were take the title of supreme head' sometimes exposed to considerable {Parker Gorxespondence, p. 66). It sufferings. Anthony , Wood tells a seems difficult to reconcile this as- story of Cole, president of Corpus sertion with the reason assigned by Christi College, Oxford, in which Baker (Baker-Mayor, pp. 134-5) for the latter is represented as respond- Lever's non-return to the mastership ing to an intimation from the bishop of St John's, viz. that ' the unhappy of Winchester to the effect that, on tincture ' which he received from his account of mismanagement, he would ' friendship and correspondence with be required to resign the president- Bullinger and Calvin unqualified him ship, with the query 'What my good for greater preferments.' The very lord, must I then eat mice at Zijrich conflicting evidence as regards the again?' 'Meaning,' says Wood, extent of the royal sympathy with ^must he endure the same misery the extreme Eeform party at this again that he did at Zurich, when time, is probably to be best explained he was an exile in queen Mary's by the supposition that Elizabeth reign, where he was forced to eat had already begun to resort to her carrion tg keep ^ife and soul to- habitual poUcy of dissimulation,^ gcther.' Wood-Gutch, ii 168. ' propter quandam qnam se fingebat '' According to a statement made amare mediocritatem,' to quote the by Sandys, ia a letter to Parker, expression of Sander, de Origine Lever ' wisely put such a scruple in Schismatis {ed. 1585), fol. 162 b, the Queen's head that she would not 174 A.D. 1558 TO 1575. CHAP, iir. pelled to submit to no small measure of disappointment. Elizabeth, at this juncture, was resorting to a temporizing policy, and her preference for a certain splendour and Three re- elaborateness of ritual was genuine. Cecil was no friend to parties in the Sweeping reforms. In common with a numerous and in- umvers,ity. g^^^^j^-^ ^^^^ j^ ^j^^ natlou, of whom together with men like Parker and Sir Thomas Smith, he might be regarded as representative, be firmly upheld the theory of the royal supremacy and looked with plainly avowed disfavour on the democratic tendencies of the Swiss divines'. If to these opposed elements, now especially conspicuous in the univer- sity, we add the presence of a third party, who either openly avowed or secretly cherished their attachment to the Catholic faith and looked forward to some fresh revolution of State which should restore to them their former privileges and predominance, it must be owned that between the Act of Uniformity and the Act of Supremacy there seemed but faint promise of a long continuance of order and tranquillity in the academic community at Cambridge. Appointment The earliest measures resulting from the changes in the university govemment were decisive with respect to the Roman party. Commission; ^ • i> i i June, 1659. ihe oath renunciatory oi the papal supremacy was re- imposed on all persons proceeding to degrees ; and another Commission was appointed, whereby Cecil, Anthonj' Cooke^, Parker', Bill, Walter Haddon, "William Mey, Thomas Wendy, 1 Burnet seems very fairly to re- bencli is certainly nearer the truth, present the -views and influence of {Const. Hist, i 179.) this party when he says that they - A warm friend of the Keform pointed out to the queen, 'that these party, and one who attended Peter new models would certainly bring Martyr's lectures at Strassburg. with them a great abatement of her Cooke was compared by his admirers prerogative ; since, if the concerns to Sir Thomas More, whom he re- of religion came into popular hands, sembled both in his virtues and these would be a power set up dis- varied accompUshments. The edition tinct from hers, over which she could of Cheke and Gardiner's correspon- have no authority. ' Burnet-Pocock, deuce de Pronuntiatione, by Coelius vol. II., preface p. 25. Sander directly Secundus Curio, quoted above, (pp. accuses the exiles of want of fidelity 57-62) is dedicated to Cooke. See to the principles which they had pro- "Wordsworth, University Uludies, p. fessed at Geneva, de On'(;!ne, fol. 164. 109; Cooper, .ii/iena?, 1 353; Ziirich See also Ziirich Letters (1), nos. 62, Letters (2), pp. 1 and 13. 73, 110. HaUam's assertion that ^ Parker, who was consecrated to the Parker stood 'almost alone' among . archbishopric of Canterbury on the the moderate party on the episcopal first of the following August, seems THE NEW COMMISSION. l7o Robert Home, and James Pilkington were constituted visit- chap, itl ors, with full powers for the reorganization and reformation of the universitv. Their written instructions, however, were Tiieir in- •^ ^ structions little more than a transcript of those of the Commission of ^,^fji''t'j™'|. „f 1549, excepting that the clauses for the foundation of a s'io„*o"'i5i9." college of medicine and a college of civil law were omitted, together with that for the dissolution and amalgamation of ^-^ ' two or more' of the colleges. \ The oath of supremacy was necessarily a test which no conduct of evasion or refinements of casuistry could enable a con- Houses on *^ being re- scientious ultramontanist to accept, and the men who had ^"ku'^t'J,g°(„,t|, been appointed to the headships of colleges during the late ^l^^^"' reign were chiefly of this school. Like most of the members of the episcopal bench, they now confronted the inevitable with a courage which did honour to their cause, and no less than fifteen heads of colleges at the two universities either gave in their resignations or were expelled. At first, indeed, parkcrwarns a less creditable policy was, in some instances, adopted ; and intentions. an endeavour was made by some of the heads to turn the impending changes to their private advantage, — a line of conduct in which they were forestalled, happily, by the vigilance of Parker^ At Queens' College, Dr Peacock, the Evasive . . ... ■ ■ n 1 f , policy of the president, m conjunction with a majority of the fellows, ny-i,"*?g^i pressed on the election of three bachelors of arts (all mem- ''^e. hers of other foundations) to fellowships, with the design, apparently, of filling the vacancies with men favourable to the Catholic cause. Against these elections, the vice-presi- dent, along with a minority of the fellows, addressed to Cecil an appeal couched in the strongest terms. The elections, they represented, had been carried by the president and his supporters (whom they do not hesitate to describe as gam- blers and spendthrifts) from most corrupt motives, — the dread of anticipated reforms and the consciousness of bad administration. The conduct and character of the newly- to have been absent from Cambridge writes, 'be about to resign to their during this visitation. See Parker friends chosen for their purpose, per- Correspondence, pp. 69-73. adventure to slide away with a gain.' ^ See Parker's letter to Cecil, 1 Ibid. p. 54 ; Strype, Life of Parker, Mar. 155| : ' Some masters,' he p. 41. 17C- A.D. 1558 TO lo7i5. .ci'Ai^'. trr. elected fellows themselves are at the same time set forth in no sparing language. It might well be supposed that such representations would have been productive of energetic action on the part of the chancellor, but the sequel throws little light on the merits of the question. Cecil referred the dispute to the decision of three arbitrators, — Parker, Dr Pory (the vice-chancellor and master of Corpus), and Leedes, afterwards master of Clare Hall, — by whom two of the uitim.ite elections were confirmed'. In the following May, however, resignation of .... dent^or Pea- ^eacock dccmed it necessary to tender his resignation and cocit. retired into private life ; and Dr Mey, who had recently been restored to the deanery of St Paul's, was now reinstated in the office which he had already filled with no little advantage to the society ^ At Trinity College, a similar change had already taken place, and Dr WiUiam Bill found himself again master of the society and restored to the chapel stall from which he had been so rudely dragged. About the same time, Cosyn, the master of St Catherine's, anticipated the action of the commissioners by voluntarily retiring at once from the vice-chancellorship and the mastership of his college. He took refuge with the society at Caius, under the kindly protection of its newly-elected master; and his post at St Catherine's was filled by Dr John Mey^ At Christ's College, Dr William Taylor, after an impotent and childish display of vexation, disappeared abruptly from Cam- bridge, and betaking himself to the Continent is thenceforth lost to our view^ At the suggestion of Pory, Cecil recom- iiawrord.'ip- mended Hawford, a fellow of the college, to the society, bv pointed lus i i i J ' J whom the latter was accordingly elected. Clianges at Catherine's Hall, and Trinity College. Disappear- ance of Dr 'laylnr from Ciirist's. successor. 1 State Papers (Bom.), Eliz., iii. nos. 29-31, b6, 37; Seaile, Rist. of Queens' College, pp. 266-284. 2 Mr Searle (Ibid. pp. 285-6) has clearly shewn that Dr Mey was not in exile during Mary's reign. He appears to have belonged to the less advanced school of the lieform party. See Cooper, Athenae, i 107. '^ Strype's Parker, p. 89 (with Baker's MS. note) ; Cooper, Ibid, i 204. * The language in which Pory in his letter to Cecil, describes Dr Taylor's departure deserves quota- tion, if simply on account of the glimpse it affords of the domestic economy of a college in those days, — 'he standeth,' says the reporter, 'not clear in respect to the said college, departing from thence somewhat strangely, leaving his chamber much disordered, his garments cast in cor- ners, and the rushes tumbled or heaped, and the college writings scattered here and there.' State Papers (Dom.), Eliz. iv, no. 66. THE COMMISSIONERS AT CAMBRIDGE. 177 The other Heads preferred to await the arrival of the .chap, iil Commissioners, which took place on the seventeenth of Arrival of the ■*■ Commission- September and was soon followed by further important «^|: it Sept. changes. The oath of supremacy was tendered to all the academic authorities and functionaries, and its refusal was followed, in most instances, by immediate expulsion from office. At St John's, one genuine scholar was compelled to dianees cn- sive place to another. George Bullock was removed from headsiiips ot ° ^ ° . St.Jolirfs, the mastership* and his place filled by one of the commis- ?°P;!ty°Haii sioners, — James Pilkington, who, in his new office, appears fe^ge^oSre to have been invested with more than the usual authority ^ ^"'^ The change was effected, however, in a manner calculated to disarm opposition, and for a brief period the society appears to have remained comparatively free from the strife of parties. At Pembroke, Dr John Young wa^ succeeded by Grindal, the future archbishop. Dr William Mowse, at Trinity Hall, gave place to Dr Henry Harvey, who in the following year was also elected vice-chancellor. His accept- ance of the new tests was regarded with considerable mistrust ; and a Uke suspicion would appear to have attached to Edward Gascoigne, who supplanted John Redman in the mastership of Jesus College''. By the expulsion of Dr Thomas Bailey from Clare Hall, a really able man was lost to the university. He repaired to Louvain, and long after was often heard of in England as an energetic coadjutor to the celebrated Dr Allen at Douay. Pory, although he had Dr Pory, Dr succeeded to the mastership of Corpus in the reign of Mary, crPeme appears to have satisfied the requirements of the commis- ■■'^'^'n ««ir sioners, and not only retained his office but became actively participant in university business. Dr Caius was suffered to remain unmolested at the head of the society which he had himself reconstituted. At Peterhouse, Dr Perne, whose ^ Retiring to the Continent, lie Mm amongst his own party the finally settled at Antwerp, ' where character of a pious and learned he composed a large concordance man.' Baker- Mayor, p. 145. printed there in 1572, and after ^ According to Baker (iftid. p. 147), twenty years spent in devotion and the elections to the fellowships at St study he died about the year 1580, John's were left in Pilkington's hands and was buried in the monastery of by the commissioners. St Michael there ; having left behind ^ Cooper, Atlienae, ii 42 ; i 22. M. II. 12 Changes at 17S A.D. 1558 TO 1575. readiness of tergiversation gained for him a notoriety m which his real merits seem to have been forgotten, once more complied with the prescribed tests of orthodoxy and avowed himself a supporter alike of the royal supremacy and of the Protestant faith. At Magdalene College, Richard Sg„7s Carr was succeeded by Eoger Kelke. At King's College, the ''°'"^"' death of the provost, Robert Brassie, in the preceding No- vember, had created a vacancy which was forthwith filled up by the appointment of Philip Baker'. Further pro- The further action of the commissioners was productive ftfcoSmis- of no very important changes. The ' laws, injunctions, and resolutions' enacted during the reign of Edward were again put in force, both with respect to the university and to the colleges, — a few unimportant modifications only being intro- duced I The statutes of Peterhouse, Clare, Queens', Jesus, and King's College were either confirmed or subjected to a slight revision. By some of the other foundations, however, an opposition was offered which effectually deterred the com- missioners from proceeding with the task of reform ; and the several codes of these societies, except where they were found to be at variance with the general injunctions, con- tinued to remain in force, still preserving not a few features characteristic of the ancient discipline'. Theexperi- The temis in which, at this juncture, dean Peacock sums years, as up the baneful and demoralizing influences which had pre- suiumarized .,,., . . ,, iiy ocan Pea- vaucd lu the univcrsity during the preceding ten years, are such that it is impossible not to feel their force : the univer- sity itself, in that short lapse of time, ' under the government of four different constitutions,' — compelled to witness, within the same brief period, ' the banishment and death of some of her most distinguished ornaments,' — and ' exposed to the still more bitter trial and humiliation of witnessing the most rapid and fundamental revolutions of opinion and profession, ' Cooper, ^n7MZs, II 153-4. tury Statutes, etc. pp. 7 and 280; ' Among these the most important Lamb, Documents, p. 281. was that whereby the first year of a ^ Peacock, Obsei-oations, etc. p. 41, student's course of study was to be n. 2. Both Peacock and Cooper given to r/M'toj-ic, instead of to nn'/ft- {Annals, ii 158) are in error in as- metic, as enjoined by the Edwardian serting that the statutes of Peter- ytatutes. tlcyviood, Sixteenlli Ccn- houtt were ' revised ' on this occasioiu DR PEENE. 179 amongst a majority of her members, on the most vital points .chap, hi. which can concern mankind'.' A careful consideration of the history of these times, however, will probably incline us to conclude that it was comparatively but a select few in whom, in those days, religious conviction attained to the stern resoluteness of the later Puritanism. When, indeed, incon- with the lapse of another century, the Protestant faith had tersofre- ^ . . . ligious belief gathered to itself the reverence that waits on long tradition %t^^^^'' and cherished usage, the facile compliance of the English tiSimes. clergy of the days of Cranmer and Parker seemed, to many of their more thoughtful successors, almost inexplicable. The dispassionate Locke, when composing his great plea for liberty of conscience and seeking for an example, wherewith to enforce his argument, of the evils attendant upon coercion, could find no apter modern illustration than the scandalous facility with which the English divine of this period pro- fessed or denied his allegiance to Rome in servile obedience to the Crown ^ When sucTi vacillation, to use no harsher term, was an only too common characteristic of the clergy at large, we can scarcely but infer that it must have been carried to somewhat scandalous lengths, in order to gain for any one individual a special notoriety. To this 'bad eminence,' however, one member of the university, with whose sanction and cooperation the foregoing measures had been carried out and who, with the commencement of the academic year (1559-60), had now for the second time been elected vice- chancellor, would seem to have already attained. Dr An(^rew akdkew Perne, from whose name the wits of the university coined ». isia . . . , d. 1588. a new Latin verb, perno, pernare, which meant, they said, ' Ibid. , p. 41. Martin Marprelate in 1590, ' which 3 'Our modem English later his- have not either said masse, or helped tory affords us fresher examples in the priest to say masse or bene pre- the reigns of Henry Tin, Edward vi, sent at it.' Epistle, p. 16. The as- Mary, and Elizabeth, how easily and sertion of Sander (de Origine Schis- smoothly the clergy changed their matis, fol. 158) that both at Oxford decrees, their articles of faith, their and at Cambridge ' the flower of the forms of worship, everything accord- university' followed the example of ing.to the inchnation of their Kings the Catholic bishops is one of his and queens.' Letters on Toleration more than usually impudent false- led. 1870), p. 18. 'How many Bb hoods. {sic} are there in England,' asks 12—2 180 A.D. 1558 TO 1575. cnAF. III. < to change often,' had formerly been a fellow of St John's. From St John's he had migrated to Queens', where he had been promoted to the office of vice-president. In the year 1554 he had been elected to the mastership of Peterhouse. His incon- To what extent a contemporary satirist was justified in affirm- stancy in his x ./ . ^ . . j. j MiHousbe-' ^^S *^^* Perne held 'that names of partialities, sects, and ""'■ divisions, either in civil or religious causes, were but foolish words or pelting terms',' we have hardly suflScient evidence to enable us to determine ; but it must be admitted that the divine who had once warmly defended the adoration of pictured saints and the doctrine of transubstantiation, who officiated as chaplain to Edward VI, assented to the Catholic articles of the year 1555, and finally gave in his adhesion to the Thirty-Nine Articles of the English Church, must have been one to whom the disputed theological questions of the day could scarcely have assumed that primary importance claimed for them by the most learned and distinguished of his con- temporaries. It may however safely be asserted that this apparent laxity of principle did not arise from a blunted moral sense, in which self-respect and regard for the esteem of the good and wise and for the nobler ends of life had Redeeming crradually bccome effaced. On the contrary, we have ample traits in his ° . ■' •' '^ ciiaractcr. evidence that Andrew Perne was both himself a scholar and one to whom learning and his university were dear. During the reign of Edward, he had been one of the six chaplains appointed to preach the doctrines of the Reformation through- out the kingdom ; and at a subsequent period he was among the number of those divines who prepared the revised version known as the Bishops' Bible°. Parker, with whom he was intimately acquainted, sent his own son to Peterhouse that he might benefit by his friend's counsel and instruction. It may serve again in some measure to extenuate Perne's ter- giversation that, if himself wanting in the martyr's spirit, he was at least equally unwilling to make martyi-s of others • and to his humane tolerance we may probably attribute the 1 Gabriel Harvey, Pierce's Sttper- was the book of Ecolesiastes and the eror/atton (ed. 1815), p. 201. Cantica. Parker Gorresp., p. 335. " His special share in this work DR PERNE. 181 influence which, during the Marian persecution, shielded the chap, itl youthful promise of Whitgift'. Whatever again might be thought of the moral effect of his example, it could scarcely be denied that his subsequent efforts were directed to the welfare of his university''. At Peterhouse, the fellows could mark the gradual formation of a library which might com- pare with any similar collection in England. The colleges at large were materially benefited by a measure of reform, concerning which we have hereafter to speak, of which he was the reputed author. And both the university and the town were indebted to his energy for a signal contribution to their comfort and well-being". On the whole, the impres- sion we derive from the study of his career, is that of a tolerant and humane nature, wanting perhaps in elements of heroism or greatness, and aiming rather at the happiness of his species than at the assertion of any particular doctrine in theology, but gifted with a sense, rare indeed in those days, that even theological unanimity was a blessing that might be realised at too dear a price. It must however have been a sore humiliation to Perne, Reparation when, before his year of office had expired, he found himself the unive^- called upon to take part in a measure which involved the treatment of ■*■ , ■*■ , . the remains strongest condemnation of an act to which he had himself ^ J^™'' "nd given at least a formal sanction. In July, 1560, in pur- suance of instructions received from the ecclesiastical com- missioners, the university proceeded to make the only repa- ration in its power for the inhuman insult offered in Perne's first vice-chancellorship to the remains of Bucer and Fagius. A grace passed the Senate, without a dissentient vote, that the degrees and titles of honour which the deceased had "• Paule (Sir G.), Life of Whitgift, See Wood-Bliss, Fasti i 136. pp. 5-6. In this respect, the master ^ 'The university,' says one of his of Peterhouse signally differed from defenders, 'had not a more careful Dr Martial, the dean of Christchurch. father this hundred years. ' Strype, The latter who, in the facility with Life of Whitgift, i 9. which he changed his helief accord- •* The bringing the waters of Shel- ing to the times, almost rivalled Dr ford to Cambridge, designated by Perne, was distinguished as a perse- Cooper {Ath. ii. 48) as that 'useful ontor. The one protected Whitgift, and necessary work.' while the other persecuted Jewell. 182 A.D. ir)58 TO 1575. CTiAP. m. eDJoyed should be restored and all acts and proceedings against them and their doctrines be rescinded'. On the thirtieth of the month, the members of the university assem- bled in Great St Mary's, where once again there rustled on the walls verses in honour of the illustrious dead. Ackworth, the public orator, delivered an address, and James Pilking- ton, now regius professor of divinity, preached a sermon, — both alike descanting on the virtues of the late professors. Pilkington, who had been one of Bucer's most intimate friends, dwelt with severity on the sacrilegious cruelty of the a.ct which they were now assembled as far as po.ssible to «fFace, comparing it to the savage animosity with which pope Stephen vi had wreaked his hatred on the corpse of For- mosus, and, more aptly perhaps, to that conciliar edict which consigned the ashes of Wyclif to the river^. Then, after prayer and praise, and thanksgivings offered up for many blessings, but especially for the restoration of the true and sincere religion, the congregation dispersed. As regarded Bucer, it is gratifying to note that many years later an opportunity presented itself of offering more substantial «meroH3 reparation. In 1593, his grandson, Wolfgang Meier, arrived Bucers iu England from Basel with the desiarn of studying: at Cam- grandson. . • 1 /. ■/ o bridge. He received from the Crown a grant sufficient for his maintenance, and on arriving in the university was elected to the benefit of a fellow's commons at Trinity'. After passing through his course with distinction he returned to Basel, and was there appointed pastor of the church where his grandfather had once taught*. Low ebb of Four years passed away during which no event of pri- education . t i i i . ftmongthe mary importance disturbed the quiet of either Oxford or Cambridge. It appears to have been generally admitted 'that the national want which the two universities were especially designed to supply,— that of maintaining and educating those who were destined to be the relio-ious in- 1 Cooper, AnvaU, ii 161. 3 See lord Stafford's interestinK Concio D. Jacobi Pylkintoni in letter to Wolfgang Meier: Zurich Restitutione D. Martini Buceri et Letters (2), pp. 322-3. Fault Fagii: see Historia vera, etc. * Ibid.,Q 1 ; Hoffmann, icx Univ (1562), pp. 160-2. the gift 01* !rown, etc. promised EDUCATION OF THE CLERGY. 183 structors of the laity, — was great and urgent', and to meet- chap. m. ing this the injunctions of the Crown and the chief efforts of the academic authorities were now directed. A royal Livings letter, dated the 26th of March, 1560, refers to the fact that «!eS" . , - ft T t t etc, pi'uuiisisi the study of divinity and the Scriptures are at this present f^erfogtel."^ much decayed within the university of Cambridge,' and '"""""■ further announces that both the prebends in the royal gift and those in the gift of the Keeper of the Great Seal are henceforth to be bestowed on the most promising students of theology^ Amid the dissatisfaction of the clergy at the rapacity which Elizabeth and her courtiers had already begun to display in relation to the revenues of the Church, this intimation was probably as politic as it was well-timed. Another concession conciliated all parties except the most ad- vanced section of the Eeformers. This was the permission Tiicuseofa accorded to use a Latin version of the authorized Prayer- of'th°e Praye" Book in the chapels of the colleges of both universities as ™t'e(ffn the . ° college well as m those of the colleges of Winchester and Eton, — chapeia. a favour granted in direct response to a petition representing that familiarity with the Latin tongue would be thereby promoted, and that this iu turn would result in a richer growth of theology '. A third measure, enacted at nearly the same time, could not fail to be gratifying to all parties in the university. ^ See the remarkable evidence on out by Strype as a rare and pleasing this point contained in the Eeport exception to this condition of the respecting the Archdeaconry of Lon- London clergy. For the condition don, sent in at the requisition of of the clergy elsewhere, see Zurich Parker in 1562. From this it ap- Letters (1), p. 85, where Lever states pears that some of the beneficed that scarcely one in a hundred was clergy held three or four, and one, five ' able and willing to preach the Word livings together ; that ' few or none of God.' of the curates were graduates ; that ^ Cooper, Annals, ii 159. many of the vicars, nay, and parsons, ' ' — quoniam intelKgimus collegia were non-graduates ; that not above utriusque academiae, Cantabrigiensis a third part of them were preachers ; et Oxonienais, collegium item novum that as for their learning, it was prope Wintoniam, et Etonense, bonis commonly set down, Latine aliquod litteris dedicata, supplicibus votis (sic) verba intelligit. Latine utcun- petere, ut quo sacrarum litterarum que intelligit. Latine pauca intelli- monumenta Latina ad uberiorem theo- git.' Strype, Life of Parker, p. 95: logiae fructum eis reddantur magis bk. II c. 6. Robert Stokes, b.d. of familiaria, eis liceat eadem forma Queens' College, vicar of Hackney, precum Latine iiti,' etc. Cardwell, a pious and good scholar, 1=; singled Documentanj Annals, i 248. 184 A.D. 1558 TO 1575. CHAP. in. Tniperfectly denned sta- tus of tlie Heads of Houses at this period in relation to the uni- versity. Importance of tiieir position. This was the renewal and extension, by royal charter, of the rights and privileges of the academic community in its rela- tions to the town authorities. The legal prosecutions insti- tuted by the latter were often of a vexatious, not to say malicious, character ; while, again, the town magistrates ap- pear to have found a special pleasure in refusing to imprison or in prematurely liberating those whom the university had marked out for legal punishment. Against both these forms of annoyance the charter now issued provided a more effectual safeguard by the fuller jurisdiction which it vested in the chancellor, masters, and scholars over all members of the university alike in civil and criminal charges (mayhem and felony only excepted), and in all trespasses of the peace, and misprisions ' within the town begun and done,' to the complete exclusion of the ordinary municipal courts and officers'. By the statutes enacted in the year 1559, the Edwardian code, as has already been stated, regained for the most part its validity, and the position of the heads of houses was thus restored to its former somewhat indefinite character. Beyond the fact of their being constituted assessors of the vice- chancellor in imposing penalties for the violation of the statutes or injunctions in cases where no express penalty was already prescribed, they possessed no privileges beyond those attaching to their academical degrees. The Marian statutes, it is true, had largely augmented their privileges, but the Marian statutes can scarcely be said to have ever been really operative. The heads were now, however, sixteen in num- ber, and the importance and at the same time the indefinite- ness of their position in relation to the university began alike to be sensibly felt. Parker, writing to Cecil in 1559, intimates that it is most desirable that their number should include at least some who by high character and distinguished talents would command the confidence and esteem of the younger members of the university. Of such, however (as dean Peacock has taken occasion to note'), there was at this ' Cooper, Amuils, ii 164-7. ^ Obseii'atioiis, etc., p. 45. GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE HEADS. 185 period a marked absence, and his observation is illustrated chap, hi. by a valuable piece of contemporary evidence. Among the James Pilkineton ablest of the heads was James Pilkington, master of St master of ^t ° ' John's Col- John's, who on the 22nd March, 1561, was consecrated to {flgo^pof the see of Durham. Though a somewhat too ardent Ee- ""529."' former, his previous and subsequent career may be held to ' have amply justified his selection for that important post. His genuine interest in the university is attested by the fact that in 1560 he is found pleading, like Lever, on behalf of its struggling scholars, in a sermon preached at Paul's Cross. Among the Marian exiles he had been honourably distin- guished both by his learning and his moderation. At Frank- fort, his name appears foremost among those of the signitaries to the prudent and judicious letter with which the English congregation of that city rejected the intemperate proposals of Knox and Whittingham. In his new sphere of labour he exhibited a like spirit, and in conjunction with his friend, Bernard Gilpin of revered memory, displayed an equal con- cern for the welfare of the masses and for the higher educa- tion of the few. For eight months after his consecration he continued to hold his mastership, and was then succeeded by his brother, Leonard Pilkington. It was during this period, His letter to ' ° ox Cecil: May, in the month of May, 1561, that he addressed a letter to ^^■ Cecil, in which he plainly expresses his opinion with respect to the existing heads. ' For Cambridge,' he writes, ' I be- seche your honour have such a care that gude heades mai be placed and the evill removed. For some be such that I can nott tell whither thei doe lesse harme being absent or pre- sent, and none or veri fewe doe ani gude.' He describes his His unsatis- . . . . p -, . . , factory re- own college as being m a most unsatisfactory condition and po^ conoem- *3 ° "^ mg the Heads the more promising members as reduced to a state of despond- °na'°,"e state ency by the generally low tone of learning and of morals, college".™ As regards his successor he recommends his own brother, but does not hesitate to say that nothing but a spirit of disinter- ested self-sacrifice would induce the latter to accept an ofiice very inadequately endowed and beset with so much that was discouraging'. 1 ' My hert bledeth to think on S John's. I brought in half a score 18G A.D. 1558 TO 1575. CHAP, in. It seems probable that Pilkington's representations were Cecil pro- the means of inducing Cecil to investigate the state of atiairs poses to re- *-' i * 1, • 1 officio" *" ™°^® closely and with much the same result in nis conciu- junMsel.' sions, for in the following year he addressed a letter to the university intimating his wish to retire from the office of chancellor. It is difficult to suppose that the reasons he more prominently alleged were those which really weighed most with him. He pleads unfitness, want of learning and of leisure, and insufficient skill to determine the causes which came so frequently before him. And 'lastly,' he says, 'I cannot find such care in the hedds of houses to supply my lacke, as I hoped for to the ruling of unordinate youth, to the observation of good order, and encrease of leminge and knowledge of God.' At the same time, he does not fail to assure those whom he addresses of his undiminished regard for the university, 'whereof,' he writes, 'although I was once but a simple small unlerned and loe member yet have I as greate plentye of natural humor of love towards the same as eny other that hath by degrees byn rewarded to be yn the Alarm of the higheste place of that bodye'.' The feelings with which this university. . . . i p i i missive was received were those ot absolute consternation. The Heads, to whom it was addressed, attempted little in the way of self-exculpation, their first object being to seek to divert their chancellor from his stern purpose. A humble letter, expressive of the utmost penitence, was drawn up and with me to it and thei are as ready litell plesure or desire to it, nor I to leave it as I. 2 be with mi Lord will not therto move him ; yett bi- Keper ; 2 wold goe with me ; 2 be cause the youngest sort in time with gone to others, and the rest that gude governement mai growe to some have honestie of leving be readi to leming and honesti, if it shall seme ilie. There is never a precher in gude to your wisdom, to kepe outt a tbe college except one, and I see no wors for a time he wold doe his dUi- hope of ani to follow. Thei see so gens. The stipend is but xii lib: so litell hope of ani gude to come that that whosoever have it he must have thei be discouraged. It is more pro- other living beside. ' State Papers fitable and comtortable both for my (Dom.) Eliz. xvii, no. 9. brother and me to be together, but ^ Letter (June, 1562) 'To the Eight that litell honestie that is in the worshipful! my verie lovinge friends house doth so much desire him, that the Vicechaunoelor of the Universite if it may nott be done thei will me of Cambridge, and to the Masters and to kepe itt for a time. To continue Heddes of all the colleges and houses the keping of itt I will nott, and he of the said University. ' Cooper, aeing so litell studie and sobrietie in Annalt, ii 173-4. the house which shuld be kept, has THE chancellor's RESIONATKJN. 187 despatched ; Parker and Walter Haddon were commu'nicated .chap, hi. with and entreated to use their most strenuous intercession in order to ward off so 'desperate an evil';' and in the end Heisinduced Cecil was prevailed upon to revoke his decision. But in ws reslgntr' return for his compliance, he demanded the acceptance of stipulates for •■ ' ^ the adoption certain injunctions, which he sent by the hands of Pory and ^a'asuresof Hawford, wherein the order of divine service, the lectures of '■''^°"'™' the Regius professors and 'ordinary readers,' the disputations in philosophy, civil law, and physic, and the apparel and con- duct of the students, were successively made the subject of more definite and stringent enactments, — these new regula- tions being solemnly ratified by the collective body of regents and non-regents at a full congregation held on the 27th of June^ The year 1564 was marked by an event which, to the The royal . . , visit to the younger members of the university at least, must have 'i™''^5fgr seemed to throw the recent visitation with all its attendant consequences completely into the shade. This was no other than the presence of royalty itself, an episode which, foreign though it may seem in its varied features to the real progress of academic pursuits, offers a pleasing relief to the wearisome record of constant religious bickerings and increasing con- troversy. In itself, again, the royal visit was an omen of no slight importance: as Mary's favours had been chiefly be- stowed on Catholic Oxford, so Elizabeth's first signal mark of good will was accorded to Protestant Cambridge". The auspicious event was heralded by a missive from state of disci- Cecil, who, on the fourth of August, appeared in person, university. taking up his quarters with his 'old nurse' at St John's. He had come thus early, to set the university in order, — a task ' Letter 'e Senatu Praesidum,' '15 ^ Strype, Life of Parker, bk ii, u. Kal. Jul. 1562.' See Strype, Life of 11 ; Cooper, Annals, ii 174. Par&er.bk. ii,o. 11; and compare the 'Wood indeed asserts (Wood- expression of Bartholomew Gierke, Gutch, ii 155) that Elizabeth would when addressing Cecil five years have visited Oxford on this same pro- later : ' Qui et numero multo plurea gress ' or a little before ' had not her aumus, et forsitan mente saniores, te ' intention been diverted by the Eeipub. nostrae natum oredimus, et dregs of a plague then remaining non esse academicos malumus quam te there.' Of this however I find no non esse cancellarium.' Strype, Life evidence. Elizabeth first visited of Parker, Append, no. xliii. Oxford in 1566. 188 A.D. 1558 TO 1575. Leonard Pil- kington re- tires from the mastership of St John's. Robert Beau- mont is superseded in the lady Margaret professor- ship. Main fea- tures and incidents of the royal visit. of considerably more importance and delicacy than might at first sight appear. The divergence of Elizabeth's views from those of a large proportion of her clergy in matters of reli- gious ceremonial was becoming every year more apparent, while the insubordination of the Calvinistic party (as it may now be correctly termed) at Cambridge was rendering the preservation of the prescribed discipline more and more diffi- cult. At St John's, Leonard Pilkington had succeeded his brother, and the contempt displayed by the great majority in the college for the established discipline now reached a culminating point; in the chapel, Genevan psalters usurped the place of the new Latin prayer books, and the ancient plate that had adorned the communion table altogether dis- appeared. Somewhat suddenly, however, in the month of May, 1564, Pilkington vacated the mastership in favour of Richard Longworth, and his removal, in Baker's opinion, was not unconnected with the approaching royal visit ^. At the same time, Robert Beaumont, a divine of the same school, whose influence had been successfully exerted in bringing about Pilkington's appointment at St John's, was super- seded in the lady Margaret professorship by Hutton*. Cecil's verbal injunctions to the assembled heads were concise and peremptory ° ; and for a moment the whole university was awed into obedience and at least external compliance. On the following day, a blazing August Saturday, at about two o'clock, Majesty itself was to be seen approaching from Grantchester by Newnham. Into all the details of this memorable visit, quaint, amusing, and picturesque though they be, it would be beyond the purpose of these pages to ' 'He parted with his mastersliip at a very remarkable juncture, some short time before the queen's coming to Cambridge.... Her progress had been fixed and notified here by our clianoellor on the 12th of July, who mentions it as a thing much known and spoken of ; so that, allowing it to be known some time sooner (as such things are usually spoke of long before they happen), we need not be at a loss to find the true reason of his going off.' Baker- Mayor, p. 155. 2 Ibid. pp. 154-5 ; State Papers (Bom.), Elizabeth, vol. xrx, no. 54. ^ According to the account of Mat- thew Stokys, the esquire bedell, Cecil commanded 'that order should be dihgeutly kept of aU sorts, and that uniformity should be shown in ap- parel and religion, especially in setting of the communion table.' See Cooper, Annals, ii 184. THE ROYAL VISIT. 189 fenter. To all present it must have been an experience not chap, iii.^ soon forgotten. There was the Chancellor, that model ofcedi. shrewd observation and sagacious foresight, somewhat halt with a 'sore leg,' but assiduously present at every scene, marking with a keenness that little could escape the spirit and the purpose that underlay all the pageantry, the hyper- bolic eloquence, the mimic disputation. By his side appeared The My his learned and benevolent spouse, the lady Mildred', — a better scholar, it was whispered, than Elizabeth herself, and one of whose generosity the university, and more especially St John's, had far better proof. There was Royalty, attired Elizabeth. in black velvet and gorgeous with jewels, beauteous in mature but still youthful womanhood, entering on horseback the halls of the different colleges and listening to orations of welcome now in Greek now in Latin, herself inexhaustible of jest and repartee, admired and admiring, finding utterance to the feigned astonishment of the hearers in charming Cicero- nian Latin, and exhibiting throughout an elasticity of spirit and powers of physical endurance that won the genuine admiration of all", — not however so elate or so lulled into complacency as not to mark with sharp feminine eye the tattered gowns and soiled hoods in which some masters of arts ventured to appear, and even occasionally dealing out a true Tudor rap when importunity pressed somewhat unduly on her benignity. There, around her, was gathered the best talent of the university in black and in scarlet, presenting verses, orations, gloves and sweetmeats, haranguing, reciting, preaching, praying, acting, disputing, but ever returning by 1 A daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke, uUam vel simulationem prae se tulit.' and, according to Baker, 'a person Nichols, Progresses (ed. 1805), in 59. noted for her learning and therefore It is worthy of note that the perform- inore acceptable to the queen and to ance took place in King's College the university.' Baker-Mayor, p. 157; Chapel on a Sunday evening. Cole see also p. 583. observes ' I suppose this was in the 2 Eobinson, in his Latin narrative, spacious ante-chapel, never put to thus describes Elizabeth at the per- any sacred use.' There were however formance of the Aulularia: 'Et already those in the university who quamvis nonnuUi, vel somno assueti, looked upon profane plays as alto- vel Latini sermonis imperitia, aegre gether objectionable. See Cooper, ferebant tot horaruna jacturam, ipsa Annals, ii 217 ; Baker-Mayor, pp. tameu ad ultimum plaudite placidis- 159, 584. simo vultu permansit, nee lassitudinis 190 A.D. 1558 TO 1575. CHAP. III. Dr Feme's sermon. DrKelkeand the players. The disputa- tions. The royal departure. dexterous gyrations to the one essential topic, — the royal virtues and excellencies; William Master, the newly-elected orator, on his knees at the west door of King's College chapel, audaciously voluble on the pre-eminent antiquity of the schools of Cambridge, and insinuating that Leland (poor honest Leland, already laid to rest from his ill-requited labours in the church of St Michael-le-quern in London), who had ventured to call in question the traditional legend, was little better than a standing example of the folly of prying too curiously into past records and setting the individual judgement in opposition to the consent of antiquity', — Dr Perne, in the pulpit of Great St Mary's, preaching from Rom. xiii. 1, and insisting (as who more fitly?) on the necessity of obedience to princes, dexterously poising the balance between Romanist and Calvinist, and launching politic censure against the abuses defended by the one and the intolerance practised by tlie other, — Dr Kelke, in conjunction with the most pro- mising youthful talent of the universitj', approving himself another Roscius, in the Aulularia of Plautus, — Cartwright, Chaderton, Preston, and Bartholomew Clerk, acquitting themselves as dexterous masters of dialectic in set disputa- tions— among the spectators, representatives of the noblest houses of the realm, the Howards, the Clintons, the Dudleys, and the Yeres, and, not least conspicuous from their position, the proctors from Oxford, watchfully observant of every detail which might serve to guide them whenever royalty should deign to honour their university also with a like mark of favour. At last, after five days of successful and brilliant enter- tainment, fraught with much that was memorable but marred by no disaster", the ceremonies came to a close, and 1 'Historia nostra soriptum est, a Cantabro quodam Hispaniae prinoipe (cum domestico tumultu patria ejec- tus, m nostrum regnum appulisset) Gurguntii temporibus, fuisse extruc- tam. Hujua aiitoris sententiam Le- landus et vanitatis arguens et men- dacii, Sigebertum regem faeit aoade- miae nostras oonditorem. In quo pernioiosum reliquit exemplum nimis curiose in historias inquirendi, et sibi etiam parum consuluit. Nam, cum ipse tarn multis non credat mira- biliter in hoc oonspirantibus, quis paulo magis consideratus ei soli fidem putabit esse adbibendam ? ' Nichols, Progresses, m 43. 2 Mr Froude {Hist, of England, vii 205) gives _' from the Simancas MSS.' the following story, which rests on the authority of De SUva, the Spanish ambassador, who 'described the scene RESULTS OF THE ROYAL VISIT. 191 Elizabeth set out on the Thursday morniug by the Hunt- ctap. iil ingdon road, for the palace of my lord of Ely at Longstanton. All the colleges had been visited or at least inspected, except Jesus College and Magdalene. The former, from its remote- ness, was altogether passed by ; and although the royal cavalcade halted at the gates of the latter, the fatigues of the preceding days, the heat, and the pressure of the throng, induced the queen to forego the formality of listening to the proffered oration. Dr Kelke however was on the alert. The duke of Norfolk, who had accompanied Elizabeth to The nuke of /^ 1 11-1 ir^i 11 Norfolk visits Cambridge, was not only high steward of the town but also Magdalene son-in-law of the deceased lord Audley'. When the royal cavalcade had advanced a little distance on the road, he was induced to turn back and to note for himself the melancholy College. as he heard it from an eye-mtness ; ' ' Elizabeth had been entreated to re- main one more evening to witness a play which the students had got up among themselves for her amuse- ment. Having a long journey before her the following day, and desiring to sleep ten mUes out of Cambridge to relieve the distance, she had been unwillingly obliged to decline. The students, too enamoured of their per- formance to lose the chance of ex- hibiting it, pursued the queen to her resting-place. She was tired, but she would not discourage so much de- votion, and the play commenced. The actors entered on the stage in the dress of the imprisoned Catholic bishops. Each of them was distin- guished by some symbol suggestive of the persecution. Bonner particularly carried a lamb in his arms at which he rolled his eyes and gnashed his teeth. A dog brought up the rear with the host in his mouth. Elizabeth could have better pardoned the worst in- solence to herself : she rose, and with a few indignant words left the room ; the lights were extinguished, and the discomfited players had to find their way out of the house in the dark, and to blunder back to Cambridge.' 'The story,' adds Mr Froude iu a foot-note, 'naturally enough, is not mentioned by Nioolls (sic), who de- tails with great minuteness the sunny side of the visit to the university.' It is quite certain that Nichols never .saw the story. We are indebted for the details of the royal visit to three principal sources : (1) the narrative of Matthew Stokys one of the esquire- bedells and registrary of the univer- sity ; (2) a Latin narrative by Abra- ham Hartwell, fellow of King's Col- lege; (3) that of Nicholas Robinson, who, two years after, was elected bishop of Bangor. Of these three, Stokys was an intolerant Roman Catholic ; Hartwell was afterwards secretary to Whitgift ; and Robinson had once subscribed the Roman Cathohc articles. He subsequently subscribed those of the Church of England, but retained throughout his life a strong anti-Puritan bias. Robinson, again, was himself a writer of plays, one of which was acted at Queens' College in 1553, and it may fairly be presumed that he would have been likely to take a special interest in anything connected with their performance. It seems in the highest degree improbable that these three would have omitted all refer- ence to an incident so damaging to the Puritan party. I incline to the conclusion that the story was an in- vention of the Catholic party and that De Silva was imposed upon. 1 As the duchess of Norfolk was lord Audley's sole heiress, the Duke was, in her right, patron and visitor of the college. 192 A.D. 1558 TO 1575. CHAP. Ill, aspect of the unfinished buildings and the air of destitution that pervaded the whole college. He was moved by the spectacle, and on the spot bestowed a considerable largesse, while pledging himself to yet more effectual aid '. Resuitsofthe Such, in briefest outline, were the main features of the royal visit. The noble procession moved on ; and amid the clouds of dust that arose on that glowing summer's day was gradually lost to view, but it left behind an impression which long dwelt in men's memories and by many a poor student was doubtless often afterwards recalled amid the dull mono- tony of his remote country cure as the most splendid remi- niscence of his past. Some of the incidents however were attended by more definite results than mere transient grati- fication. Master's foolish vaunt respecting the antiquity of the university aroused the susceptibilities of Oxford, and gave rise to a controversy in which Dr Caius, unhappily for his well-earned reputation, was induced to espouse and defend an altogether untenable theory ^ A volume presented to the queen supplies us with a concise statement of the numbers and constituent elements in each college, and shews the aggregate total in the university at this time to have Thenewver- been 1267°. In the sermon preached by Dr Perne, we mav sionofthe . , ,. "^ > J bidding note, agam, the earliest extant version of that particular form of the bidding prayer so familiar to the attendants at the afternoon services at Great St Mary's, as it first found ex- pression divested, on the one hand, of the superstitious sentiments of Roman doctrine, and characterised, on the other, by that ampler diction and those special clauses which mark its adaptation to the services of the academic com- munity and record the peculiar tradition of the church in the university*. ' Nichols, Progresses, etc. (ed. 1805), Hearne with the animadversions of III 133. Tho. Caius thereon. Oxford, 1730]. ^ See Vol. I, p. 66. Caius wrote ' Cooper, Annah, ii 206-8. de Antiqnitate Gantabrigiemis Aca- * See Appendix (B) : the listeners demiae libri duo. In quorum secundo on this occasion could scarcely have de Oxoniensin quoque Gymnasii anti- failed to call to mind that one notable qnitatc disseritur et Cantabrigiense alteration in the prayer, thatwhere- longo CO antiquius esse difmitur. by Elizabeth renounced the title of Lond. 8vo. 1568. [Reprinted by 'supreme head' for that of 'governor' EESULTS OF THE ROYAL VISIT. 193 If however we were disposed to give credence to one ^chap. iit.^ writer, tlie royal visit was productive of consequences far q™^°;, graver than any of the foregoing. There are minds naturally ^ordtae^to so incapable of comprehending high and disinterested mo- rcsuried*" "' tive, that they invariably seek for the key of aU human the disputa- action in what is vulgar and ignoble. Wyclif 's assumption of the part of a reformer, if we will but listen to writers of this order, may be traced back to his personal resent- ment at his expulsion from the wardenship of Canterbury HaJl, — Luther's yet more heroic career, to the spirit of retaliation evoked by the infringement of the privileges of the religious community to which he originally belonged'. In like manner, we are told that Cartwrigbt's enmity to the Established Church dated from the day in which he and Preston, afterwards master of Trinity Hall, appeared as disputants in a scholastic act .before the queen. On this occasion, according to one narrator, Cartwright, although the better scholar and probably the abler disputant, was eclipsed in the royal estimation by the superior grace, carriage, and personal demeanour of his antagonist. Elizabeth openly and warmly commended Preston ; and before lea^dng, not only gave him her hand to kiss, but saluted him as her scholar and granted him an annual pension of twenty pounds. Cartwright, on the other hand, remained uncommended and thomas unpensioned. Conscious of slighted merit, he took deep weisht: umbrage ; and from that time, to quote the language of the