served with a citation to appear before the Com- | privileges to be visited by none but the king, or

by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the archbishop being dead, it follows we can be visited by none but the king; to submit, therefore, to another visitation, must be a breach of our liberties, and, consequently, downright perjury. They urged, farther, the statutes of their several colleges, which bind them to certain rules in their electing of proctors, in the calling and meeting of convocations, in the choice of several officers in case of a vacancy, all which, instead of being referred to the members of the university, is now done by the arbitrary power of the visiters. Nothing," say they, "can be alleged in answer to this, but the pretended sovereign power of the two houses to make and abolish laws, which we absolutely disbelieve. Upon the whole, they appeal to any divine whether they ought to submit to the visitation as long as they believe their oaths to be in full force, and are confident that the two houses cannot dispense with them? And, consequently, whether they ought to be turned out of their freeholds on this account?"

The committee at London, having waited till the end of the month of December to see if any of the heads of colleges would submit, voted Dr. Fell out of his deanery of Christ Church for contumacy;* and passed the same sentence

mittee for the Reformation of the University at Westminster the 11th instant, which they did accordingly; and having owned their approbation of the answer of the proctors in the name of the university, they tendered a paper to the committee in the name of all who had been cited, setting forth, "that what they had done was not out of obstinacy, but from conscience; and praying that in an affair of so much consequence they might be allowed time to advise with counsel." Their request being readily granted, two gentlemen of the long robe of their own nomination, viz., Mr. Hale and Mr. Chute, were appointed their counsel. The day of hear ing was December 9; the position they offered to maintain was, that it was one of the privileges of the university to be subject only to a royal visitation: the counsel for the university made a learned argument upon this head; but, as Mr. Collyer observes, this question had been debated before the king in council in the year 1637, when Archbishop Laud claimed a right of visiting the two universities jure metripolitico.* It was then admitted that the king might visit when he pleased; yet, after a full hearing, his majesty, with the advice of his council, declared and adjudged the right of visiting both universities, as universities, to belong to the archbish-upon op and metropolitan church of Canterbury, by themselves or commissaries, and that the universities should from time to time be obedient thereunto. Which determination of his majesty the archbishop moved might be drawn up by counsel learned in the law, and put under the broad seal, to prevent disputes for the future. And the same was accordingly done; the university, therefore, lost their question in the committee. The counsel for the visiters were farther of opinion, that the kingly power was always virtually present with his great council of Parliament, and that therefore they might visit; but supposing this to be a mistake, they affirm-lor and the two proctors were ordered into cused that the Parliament had an undoubted right to reform the university by the articles of capitulation, in which they had expressly reserved this power to themselves. After a full hearing on both sides, the committee voted that the answer of the several heads of houses, and of others of the university, was derogatory to the authority of Parliament.

The Oxford divines, not satisfied with this determination, appealed soon after to the public in a letter to the learned Mr. Selden, representative for the university, entitled "The Case of the University of Oxford; or, the Sad Dilemma that all the Members thereof are put to, to be perjured or destroyed." The letter says, "that the only question proposed by the visiters to every single person in the university is, Whether he will submit to the power of the Parliament in this visitation? To which they reply, that unless they have the personal consent of the king, they cannot submit to any visitation with out danger or perjury, as appears by the words of the oath, which are, You shall swear to observe all the statutes, liberties, privileges, and customs of the university;' to which the scholar answers, 'I swear.' Now it being one of our

6

* Ecclesiastical History, p. 766.

+ Sufferings of the Clergy, p. 133. Vol. Pamp., No. 34.

66

Trinity.
St. John's.

Dr. Oliver, President of Magdalen College.
Dr. Potter,
Dr. Bayly,
Dr. Radcliffe, Principal of Brazen Nose.
Dr. Gardner,
Dr. Iles,

Dr. Morley,

Canons of Christ Church.

When these resolutions were sent to Oxford, the proper officers refused to publish them, and when they were pasted upon the walls of the colleges, they were torn down, and trampled under foot; upon which the pro-vice-chancel

tody; but they absconded, and Dr. Oliver assumed the office of pro-vice-chancellor. The Parliament, provoked at this usage, passed an ordinance, January 22, 1647-8, constituting the Earl of Pembroke chancellor of Oxford, and March 8, they ordered him to repair thither in person, to support the visiters, and place the several persons whom the committee had chosen in the respective chairs of those they had ejected.t

April 11, the chancellor made his public entrance into the city, attended with a great number of clergy and gentlemen of the country, and about one hundred horse out of Oxford itself;, the mayor welcomed him at his entrance into the city with a congratulatory speech; and when he came to his lodgings, Mr. Button, one of the new proctors, made a speech to him in Latin, but not one of the heads of colleges came near him; the insignia of the university were not to be found, and the scholars treated the chancellor and his retinue with all that rudeness they had been taught to express towards all who adhered to the Parliament.

Next morning, the earl, attended with a guard of soldiers, went to Christ Church, and having in vain desired Mrs. Fell, the dean's *Sufferings of the Clergy, p. 131. + Whitelocke, p. 290.

wife, to quit the lodgings peaceably, he com- of Dr. Pit; and Mr. Greenwood was put into manded the soldiers to break open the doors, possession of Brazen Nose College, in the and carry her out into a chair in the middle of room of Dr. Radcliffe, allowing those they disthe quadrangle ;* he then put the new-elected placed a month's time to remove their effects. dean, Mr. Reynolds, afterward Bishop of Nor- But some of the students of Christ Church wich, into possession; from thence his lord-having got the Buttery Book, impudently cut ship, with the visiters, went to the hall, and out the names of those whom the visiters had having got the Buttery Book, struck out Dr. inserted; so that they were forced to return Fell's name, and inserted that of Mr. Reynolds; the next day, and write over again the names the like they did by Dr. Hammond, sub-dean of their new deans and canons. * The heads and public orator; by Dr. Gardner, Dr. Rayne, of colleges being thus fixed in their several staDr. Iles, and Dr. Morley,† placing in their stead tions, the chancellor took leave of the univerMr. Corbet, who was made public orator; Mr.sity and departed for London; and having reRogers, Mr. Mills, Mr. Cornish, Mr. Henry Wil- ported his conduct, April 21, received the kinson, Sen., and Mr. Langley; Dr. Sanderson thanks of the two houses. being spared, because he was out of town when the last summons was issued.

In the afternoon they held a convocation, which was opened with an elegant Latin oration, pronounced by Mr. Corbet, their new orator. When the chancellor had taken the chair in the Convocation House, he declared Mr. Reynolds vice-chancellor, to whom an oath was administered that he would observe the statutes and privileges of the university, subject to the authority of Parliament. Mr. Button and Mr. Cross were declared proctors, and all three returned their thanks to the chancellor in Latin speeches. On this occasion, degrees were conferred upon divers learned men. Mr. Chambers, Mr. Gallicott, and Mr. Harris, were made doctors of divinity; Mr. Palmer, doctor of physic; Mr. J. Wilkins [afterward bishop], Mr. Langley, Mr. Cornish, and Mr. Cheynel, bachelors of divinity; the young Earl of Carnarvon, the chancellor's two youngest sons, and several other gentlemen, masters of arts.

But Dr. Wilkinson, Sen., and Mr. Cheynel, who returned with the chancellor, having represented to the Parliament that the fellows, scholars, and under officers still refused to submit to their orders, it was resolved "that the visiters should cite all the officers, fellows, and scholars before them, and that such as refused to appear, or upon appearance did not submit, should be suspended from their places, and their names returned to the committee, who were authorized to expel them from the university; and the new heads (on signification of such sentence from the committee), in conjunction with the visiters, were empowered to put others in their places. They resolved, farther, that the bursars should make no dividend of money till they had orders from the committee; and that the tenants should pay their rents to none but the heads appointed by the authority of Parliament."+ But the bursars absconded, and were not to be found.

By virtue of these orders, the visiters cited Next morning, April 13, the chancellor and the fellows, scholars of houses, gentlemen-comvisiters, with a guard of musketeers, went to moners, and servitors to appear before them at Magdalen College, and having broke open the several times; the only question demanded of doors of the president's lodgings [Dr. Oliver], them was, Will you submit to the power of the who was out of the way, they gave Dr. Wilkin- Parliament in this visitation? To which they son possession. In the afternoon they went were to give their answer in writing, and acto All-Souls, where Dr. Sheldon, the warden, cording to it were confirmed or displaced. appearing, and refusing to submit, returned to Great numbers were absent from the university, his lodgings, and locked the doors; which be- and did not appear; others, who disowned the ing broke open, the doctor was taken into cus-power of the Parliament at first, afterward subtody for contempt, and Dr. Palmer put in his mitted, but the main body stood it out to the place; from thence they went to Trinity Col- last: Dr. Walker says that one hundred and lege, and having broke open the lodgings, Dr. eighty withdrew; that of about six hundred Harris was put into possession in the room of and seventy-six who appeared, five hundred and Dr. Potter. In like manner, Dr. Cheynel had forty-eight refused at first to own the authority possession given him of St. John's, in the of the visitation, but that afterward many subroom of Dr. Bayly; Mr. Wilkins was appoint-mitted and made their peace. In another place ed President of Wadham College, in the room he supposes one fourth submitted, and makes the whole number of fellows and scholars de

* Sufferings of the Clergy, p. 133. Dr. Grey, on the authority of Bishop Sander-prived three hundred and seventy-five; and son's biographer and Mr. Wood, says that Dr. Mor- then, by a list of new elections in some followley was not turned out. But Dr. Richardson says ing years, reduces them to three hundred and that, being deprived of all his ecclesiastical benefices fifty-six; but considering that some may have in 1648, he withdrew from the kingdom, first to the been omitted, he guesses the whole to be about Hague, and then to Antwerp.-De Præsulibus Anglia four hundred. The Oxford historian, Mr. Wood, Commentarius, p. 244. Dr. Grey appears to have mis- says the number of those that refused to subtaken the passage in Sanderson's Life, which relates mit was about three hundred and thirty four, only the steps that a friend would have taken to se- but that they were not presently expelled; for cure Dr. Morley's continuance in the university, and concludes with his memorable and generous reply, though the visiters were obliged to return their which shows that he declined availing himself of his names to the committee, and were empowered friend's kindness, saying, "that when all the rest of to expel them, yet they deferred the execution the college were turned out except Dr. Wall, he should take it to be, if not a sin, yet a shame, to be left alive with him only."-ED.

Rushworth, p. 1364.

Sufferings of the Clergy, p. 133, 134. VOL. II.-I

* Sufferings of the
† Ibid., p. 134.
Sufferings of the

ii., p. 138, 139.

Clergy, p. 134.
Life of Mr. Phil. Henry, p. 12.
Clergy, part i., p. 135;
and part

of their power, in hopes that time might bring them to a compliance; which it is very likely it did, because it appears by the register, that in the eight succeeding years, i. e., between the years 1648 and 1656, there were no more than three hundred and n'nety-six new elections, which, allowing for deaths and removals, must infer the deprivations at this time could not be very considerable; however, had their numbers been much greater than they really were, the Parliament were obliged, in their own defence, to dispossess them.*

|

mediate orders to search the colleges for arms; and on the 26th of May, 1648, the visiters ordered all the members of the university to deliver a peremptory answer in writing within seven days, whether they would submit to the authority of the Parliament in this visitation or not; and that none should depart the university without leave from the pro-vice-chancellor. The day following both houses of Parliament passed an order, "that forasmuch as many doctors, and other members of the university, notwithstanding the example that had been made The few scholars that remained in the uni- of some of them, did still persist in their con-versity treated the visiters with insufferable tempt of the authority of Parliament, which rudeness; scurrilous and invective satires, might be of dangerous consequence; therefore equal if not superior in raillery and ill language the committee for reforming the university to Martin Mar-Prelate, and the rest of the should have power to send for them under Brownistical pamphlets in the reign of Queen the custody of a guard, and commit them to Elizabeth, were dispersed in the most public prison." When this order came to Oxford, the places of the city every week; as Mercurius visiters declared that whosoever should not. Academicus; Pegasus, or the Flying Horse plainly, and without reserve, declare his subfrom Oxon; Pegasus taught to dance to the mission to the visitation, should be deemed as Tune of Lachrymæ; News from Pembroke and flatly denying its authority, and be taken into Montgomery, or Oxford Manchestered; the Owl custody; and that whosoever laid claim to any at Athens, or the Entrance of the Earl of Pem- place in the university, should within fifteen broke into Oxford, April 11; the Oxford Tragi- days declare his submission, or be deprived; comedy, in heroic Latin verse; Lord have mer- accordingly, at the expiration of the time, such cy upon us!-which is the inscription put upon as did not appear were deprived of their fellowhouses that have the plague; and many others, ships, and expelled the university: but still the which the visiters took no farther notice of than scholars would not remove, being too stubborn to forbid the booksellers to print or sell the like to be evicted by votes at London, or papers and for the future. If the Puritans had published programmes at Oxford. The visiters, therefore, such pamphlets against the exorbitances of the after having waited above six months, were High Commission Court in the late times, the obliged to proceed to the last extremity; and authors or publishers must have lost their ears, July 5, 1649, ordered a sergeant, attended with as the Brownists did their lives towards the lat- some files of musketeers, to publish by beat of ter end of Queen Elizabeth; and surely the uni- drum before the gates of the several colleges, versity might have evinced their loyalty with- that "if any of those who had been expelled by out offering such unmannerly provocations to the visiters should presume to continue any gentlemen, who were disposed to behave to- longer in the university, they should be taken wards them with all gentleness and moderation. into custody, and be made prisoners by the govThe visiters being informed that an insurrec-ernor." This not answering the proposed end, tion was designed among the scholars in favour the Oxford historian adds, that four days after of the king, and in concert with the loyalists in they published a farther order by beat of drum other parts of the kingdom, acquainted the com- before the gate of every college, "that if any manding officers of the garrison, who gave im- one who had been expelled did presume to tar*Some of the Episcopal clergy were men of learn-ry in the town, or was taken within five miles ing, and of estimable character, and the sufferings consequent upon their expulsion were deeply to be deplored. But the majority of those whom the commissioners drove from the university were distinguished only by their reckless loyalty, and a contumelious resistance to the will of Parliament. To have permitted such to retain stations of authority and influence, would have been to arm their enemies against themselves, and to have perpetuated in the rising generation the same spirit and principles as actuated the men of their day. The Parliament was perfectly right in demanding from the university submission to its authority; but was wrong in making a religious creed the test of obedience, and the badge of patriotism. Having established its own supremacy, it was entitled to require submission from all corporate bodies, and to eject from places of honour and emolument those who refused it. So far its proceedings coincided with the obvious neces sities of the case, and required no apology; but when the Covenant was enforced as the pledge of civil obedience, a course was ad pted which, however analogous to that of the bishops, admits of no extenuation or defence. The rights of conscience were invaded by the exercise of an authority unsanctioned by the Christian system.-Price's History of Nonconformity, vol. ii., p. 30.

+ Sufferings of the Clergy, p. 135.

of it, he should be deemed as a spy, and pun-
ished with death." And to enforce this order,
General Fairfax, who was then in the field, gave
public notice that he would proceed according
ly with such as did not depart in four days, un-
less they obtained leave from the vice-chancel-
lor and visiters to continue longer.
their courage cooled, and the young gentlemen
At length
were prevailed on to retire. Thus the Univer-
sity of Oxford was cleared of the Royalists, and
the visiters at liberty to fill up their vacancies:
in the best manner they could; in all which
one cannot tell which most to admire, the un-
paralleled patience and forbearance of a vic-
torious Parliament for almost two years, or
the stubborn perverseness and provoking beha-
viour of a few academics, against a power that
could have battered their colleges about their
ears, and buried them in their ruins in a few
days.

About ten of the old heads of colleges and professors of sciences submitted to the visiters, and kept their places, and about nineteen or twenty were expelled. Those who submitted were,

Puritans.

Dr. Gerard Langbain, provost of Queen's College, was a great ornament to his college; he was elected keeper of the archives or records of the university, being in general esteem for his great learning and honesty. He was an excellent linguist, an able philosopher and divine, a good common lawyer, a public-spirited man, a lover of learning and learned men, beloved of Archbishop Usher, Selden, and the great Goliahts of literature. He was also an excellent antiquary, indefatigable in his studies, and of immense undertakings. He died February 10, 1657-8, and was buried in the inner chapel of Queen's College.*

Dr. Paul Hood, rector of Lincoln College, had been many years governor of this house, and continued in it through all changes till his death; he was vice-chancellor of the university in the year 1660, when he conformed to the Established Church, and died in the year 1668.†

Dr. John Saunders, provost of Oriel College, disowned the authority of the visiters at first, but afterward complied; for, as Dr. Walker observes, there was no other provost till after his death, which was in the year 1652.‡

Dr. George Hakewell, rector of Exeter College, had been chaplain to Prince Charles and Archdeacon of Surrey; upon the promotion of Dr. Prideaux to the See of Worcester, he was chosen rector of this college, but resided little there, retiring during the war to his Rectory of Heanton, in Devon, where he led a recluse life, and died in April, 1649. He was, according to Dr. Walker, a great divine, a very good philosopher, and a noted preacher.(

visiters of the university, and esteemed a very learned and judicious civilian. He resigned his wardenship in the year 1650, and died in London in 1652, after he had lived seventy-nine years,

Richard Zouch, LL.D., principal of Alban Hall, was of noble birth, and served in Parliament for the borough of Hythe, in Kent. He was chancellor of the Diocess of Oxon, principal of St. Alban Hall in 1625, and at length judge of the High Court of Admiralty; he was subtle logician, an expert historian, and for the very able and eminent in his own profession, a knowledge and practice of the civil law the chief person of his time. As his birth was noble, says Mr. Wood, so was his behaviour and discourse; and as he was personable and handsome, so naturally sweet, pleasing, and affable, his death, which happened March 1, 1660-1. he kept his principalship and professorship till

Dr. Thomas Lawrence, master of Baliol Corlege, and Margaret professor of divinity, had been chaplain to King Charles I. and prebenda

of Litchfield, and by the interest of Archbishop Laud, preferred to the mastership of this college in 1637. He submitted to the authority of the visiters, and had a certificate under

their hands, dated August 3, 1648, wherein they
attest, that he had engaged to observe the Di-
rectory in all ecclesiastical administrations, to
preach practical divinity to the people, and to
Reformed church had condemned.† Dr. Walk-
forbear preaching any of those opinions that the
er says he resigned all his preferments in the
university in the year 1650, but does not say
less, and did much degenerate in his life and
upon what occasion; only that he grew care-
manners; that he died in the year 1657, but that
if he had lived three years longer, he would,
notwithstanding, have been consecrated an Irish
bishop.‡

the visiters, and were continued, were,
The professors of sciences who submitted to

and Arabic languages; one of the most learned
Dr. Edward Pocock, professor of the Hebrew
men of his age, and justly celebrated at home and
abroad for his great skill in the Oriental langua-
ges, and for many works that he published. He
Christ Church for refusing the engagement,
was afterward ejected from his canonry of

Thomas Clayton, M.D., king's professor of anatomy, which professorship he resigned to Dr.

* Athen. Oxon., vol. ii., p. 166. † Ibid., p. 135. Sufferings of the Clergy, p. 100.

Sir Nathaniel Brent, warden of Merton Col-1651, but was suffered to enjoy his professorship of Arabic and Hebrew; he conformed in lege, was probationer fellow in the year 1594, the year 1660, and lived in great reputation till and proctor of the university in 1607; he afterthe year 1691.|| ward travelled into several parts of the learned world, and underwent dangerous adventures in Italy to procure the history of the Council of Trent, which he translated into English, and therefore, says Mr. Wood, deserves an honourable mention. By the favour of Archbishop Abbot he was made commissary of the Diocess of Canterbury, and vicar-general to the archbishop, being doctor of laws, and at length judge of the prerogative. In 1629 he was knighted at Woodstock, and at the commencement of the civil war took part with the Parliament, for which reason he was ejected his wardenship of this college, but restored again when it came into the Parliament's hands in 1646. He was one of the

* Wood's Athen., vol. ii., p. 140.
+ Wood's Fasti, p. 127.
Walker, p. 131.
◊ Ibid., p. 114. Athen. Oxon., vol. ii., p. 92.

Childrey "for ignorance and insufficiency;" but Dr.
He was very near being ejected from his living of
Owen, the learned Independent, interested himself
in his behalf, and prevented his ejectment. When
he was in the East, into which he made two voyages,
the Mufti of Aleppo laid his hand upon his head, and
said, "This young man speaks and understands Ara-
bic as well as the Mufti of Aleppo." He was the first
Laudean professor of Arabic.-Granger's History of
England, vol. iii., p. 270, 8vo.-ED. This "ignorance
and insufficiency" sounds strangely, after reading that
he was "one of the most learned men of his age," if
his ignorance had been that of theology, that good
man, Dr. Owen, would hardly have been his advo-
cate.-C.
Athen. Oxon., p. 868.

Athen. Oxon., vol. ii., p. 94. the passage.-ED. Il Ibid., p. 133.