^ u 
 
 l\ 
 
 V. 39 
 
 \UIBRA1;
 
 ^\\EUNIVER% 
 
 & 
 
 \V\EUNIV
 
 A 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 COLLEGES, HALLS, 
 
 AND 
 
 PUBLIC BUILDINGS, 
 
 ATTACHED TO THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD, 
 
 INCLUDING THE 
 
 LIVES OF THE FOUNDERS.
 
 A 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 COLLEGES, HALLS, 
 
 AND 
 
 ATTACHED TO THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD, 
 
 INCLUDING THE 
 
 LIVES OF THE FOUNDERS. 
 
 ALEX. CHALMERS, F. S. A. 
 
 i LI. us r n A i F. i) rsy 
 A SERIES OF ENGRAVINGS. 
 
 OXFORD, 
 
 PRINTED BY CO i.LIXGWOOD AN'D CO. 
 
 For J. COOKE and J. PARKER, Oxford ; and M<!ssr*. LONGMAN, HLRST, 
 
 REES, and OR.ME, London. 
 
 1810.
 
 LF 
 
 -A 
 
 V - \ 
 
 TO THE 
 
 CHANCELLOR, 
 
 MASTERS, AND SCHOLARS, 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD, 
 
 THIS WORK 
 
 IS MOST RESPECTFULLY 
 
 DEDICATED 
 
 BY THEIR OBEDIENT SERVANT, 
 
 ALEX. CHALMERS.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 1 HE history of the English Universities is one 
 of the most interesting objects on which a lover 
 of literature can fix his attention. It embraces 
 all that is curious to the antiquary, or important 
 to the scholar ; and even to minds not deeply 
 affected by curiosity or learning, it must be a 
 delightful object to contemplate those extensive 
 and magnificent establishments, not as emerging 
 from national wealth, or royal favour, but from 
 the liberality of a series of individuals in the 
 darker ages of our history, who were insensibly 
 led to become the benefactors of sound learning 
 and religion, while their immediate object, al- 
 though proceeding from the most honourable 
 and benevolent motives, was to perpetuate su- 
 perstition and credulity. 
 
 The history of these Universities, however, 
 has not been studied with the care bestowed on 
 objects of far inferior interest. Cambridge is 
 still without an historian worthy of notice; and 
 although Oxford has been more fortunate in the 
 extensive labours of Antony Wood and other 
 antiquaries, yet since the time of AylirTe, or 
 
 a4
 
 viii PREFACE. 
 
 perhaps Salmon, no distinct and well-arranged 
 publication has been allotted to the history of 
 her Colleges in their actual state. 
 
 An attempt to supply this deficiency is now 
 offered by the Editor of the following pages, 
 who has ever regarded the University of Oxford 
 (with which accident made him very early ac- 
 quainted) with sentiments of profound venera- 
 tion, and with a curiosity which insensibly led 
 him to inquire into its history. It was during 
 one of the many visits he has paid to this Uni- 
 versity that he first communicated the idea of a 
 history of the Colleges, &c. which, he conceived, 
 should be more ample than the common Guides 
 afforded, and yet less prolix and confused than 
 the collections of Antony Wood. But whether 
 he has accomplished this intended object in a 
 satisfactory manner, is a question which he 
 would be afraid to ask, without a reliance on 
 the candour of those who may be acquainted 
 with the state of the sources of which he was 
 to avail himself, and the disadvantages which a 
 person not constantly resident must ever have 
 to encounter in similar attempts. 
 
 The labours of Antony Wood, as given to the 
 public some years ago by the Rev. John dutch, 
 Registrar to the University, must continue to 
 be the foundation of all future researches, and 
 to them the present writer is ready to acknow- 
 ledge his highest obligations. Nor has he beeu
 
 PREFACE. iz 
 
 less indebted to the histories of individual Col- 
 leges, published by Savage, Smith, Lowth, War- 
 ton, and particularly his much esteemed friend, 
 the Rev. Archdeacon Churton, whose polite 
 and liberal communications he begs leave to 
 acknowledge with the utmost gratitude. 
 
 Yet the work would have been deficient in 
 many points, for which no printed authorities 
 can be consulted, had not the Editor, throughout 
 the whole of his undertaking, been assisted by 
 many resident, members of the University, who 
 have contributed much valuable information with 
 a kindness which he is at a loss to acknowledge 
 
 O 
 
 as it deserves. This aid was tendered in a man- 
 ner so extremely liberal, although peculiar to 
 minds distinguished at once for intelligence and 
 urbanity, that, were no other consequence to 
 result from the Editor's labours, he would find 
 a consolation in recollecting that he was ho- 
 
 O 
 
 noured with a display of this striking and 
 acknowledged feature in the character of the 
 members of the University of Oxford. 
 
 With every assistance, however, from printed 
 or oral authorities, the Editor cannot presume 
 that he has escaped the errors to which every 
 attempt of this kind must be liable. A few of 
 these have been pointed out, and some other 
 corrections, he has to lament, were communi- 
 cated too late.
 
 x PREFACE. 
 
 With respect to the plan, that laid clown h\ y 
 Wood has been nearly followed ; and some in- 
 formation, not generally known, it is hoped, 
 has been recovered respecting 1 the lives of the 
 Founders, most of whom have been unaccount- 
 ablv neglected. In the selection of the names 
 of the eminent scholars of Oxford, as well as the 
 short characteristic sketches attempted, more 
 regard perhaps has been paid to contemporary 
 fame, than to the capricious verdict of modern 
 and more fastidious times. Few pleasures can 
 surely be more rational, few satisfactions more 
 complete, than to be able to recall the memory 
 of departed worth, and to point out the classic 
 ground that has been " dignified by genius, wis- 
 " dom, and piety," and which none can pass 
 over with "frigid indifference/' Although ne- 
 glect has too frequently obscured the history of 
 the learned and the pious of ancient times, it 
 ought never to be forgotten, that our learning is 
 the result of their labours, and our piety the an- 
 swer to their prayers. 
 
 A. C. 
 
 Ava 1 College JjfniCf 
 June 16, IS 10.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 _L HE early history of the University of Oxford is in- 
 volved in the same obscurity with the civil and poli- 
 tical state of our nation, and has been perplexed by 
 the same improbable and contradictory traditions and 
 legends. The spirit of rivalship too has had its share 
 in exciting disputes, which have been perpetuated with 
 obstinacy; a circumstance the more to be regretted, as 
 they end in no more important result than a certain 
 degree of priority in point of time, for which no liberal 
 mind will now think it of much consequence to' con- 
 tend. It seems agreed upon among the ablest anti- 
 quaries of modern times, that, although this Univer- 
 sity may be traced to very high antiquity, and far be- 
 yond the age of satisfactory records or annals, the il- 
 lustrious monarch, who was formerly supposed to have 
 founded or restored it, had really no share whatever in 
 its establishment; and it is certain, that no document 
 or well-authenticated history can be produced in which 
 the name of Alfred appears as a benefactor to the Uni- 
 versity of Oxford. And if we can trace no credible 
 information to his days, it will surely be more fruit- 
 less to carry our researches higher, and follow, either 
 with doubt or credulity, the absurd traditions which 
 speak of the state of learning at Oxford and Cam- 
 bridge before the Christian sera. 
 
 The probability is, that Universities, like other esta- 
 blishments, arose from small beginnings, and grew
 
 xii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 into bulk and consequence by gradations, some the re- 
 sult of wisdom, and others of accident. The first se- 
 minaries of education in Oxford appear to have been 
 mere schools, in which certain persons instructed youth 
 in the scanty knowledge themselves possessed. These 
 schools were either claustral, that is, appendages to 
 convents and other religious houses, or secular, such 
 as were kept by, or hired and rented of, the inhabitants 
 of Oxford. When many of these secular scholars re- 
 sided in one house, it got the name of Hall, or Hostel, 
 and Governors or Principals were appointed over them, 
 who superintended the discipline and civil affairs of 
 the house. But what portion of science was taught in 
 these, or how far the mode of education was different 
 from that carried on in religious houses, where proba- 
 bly what may be called education was first dispensed, 
 it is not easy to discover. The schools were divided 
 into grammar-schools, sophistry-schools, schools for 
 arts, medicine or physic-schools, law-schools, divinity- 
 schools, &c. and were we to trust to names only, these 
 seem adequate to a perfect system of education ; but the 
 literary remains of the early ages afford no great pre- 
 sumption in their favour. The only men of learning, 
 or what was considered as deserving that name, were 
 educated for some of the orders of the church ; and we 
 know, that, owing to the ignorance of laymen of the first 
 ranks, their sovereigns were obliged to employ ecclesi- 
 astics in the highest offices of state, and particularly in 
 the department of law. In point of fact, it is difficult 
 to trace any regular plan of education, tending to that 
 general diffusion of learning which now prevails, before 
 the foundation of the first College by Walter cle Mer- 
 lon, whose statutes afford an extraordinary instance of
 
 INTRODUCTION. xiii 
 
 ft matured system, and with very little alteration have 
 been found to accommodate themselves to the pro- 
 gress of science, discipline, and civil economy in more 
 refined ages. 
 
 Of the number of students who resided at Oxford 
 in the early ages, we have more accounts than we can 
 rely upon with confidence. In the time of Henry III. 
 we are told they amounted to thirty thousand; and 
 even when Merton College was founded, they are said 
 to have amounted to fifteen thousand. But this latter 
 number will appear highly improbable, when we in- 
 quire into the state of society and population at that 
 time, and endeavour to discover, or rather to conjec- 
 ture, by what means provision could be made in Ox- 
 ford for the accommodation of a number almost four 
 times greater than ever was known since records have 
 been kept. 
 
 The University, as a corporate body, has been go- 
 verned by statutes enacted at different times, and con- 
 firmed by charters granted by different monarchs, with 
 more or less liberality. Those at present in force were 
 drawn out in 1629, and confirmed by the charter of 
 Charles I. in 1635. The Corporation is styled, "THE 
 " CHANCELLOR, MASTERS, AND SCHOLARS OF THE 
 " UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD," and is governed bylaws 
 passed in Convocation. 
 
 The highest officer in this corporation is the CHAN- 
 CELLOR, whose office is of great dignity and im- 
 portance. In the thirteenth century, the Chancellors 
 were styled the Masters or Rectors of the Schools, and 
 appear to have derived their authority from the Bi- 
 shops of Lincoln, who were then the Diocesans of Ox- 
 ford, and who confirmed, while the Regents and Non-
 
 xiv INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Regents nominated; but after the reign of Edward III. 
 they were elected and confirmed by the Regents and 
 Non-Regents only. At first their election was for one, 
 two, or three years, but afterwards became perpetual. 
 Still, however, the persons chosen were resident mem- 
 bers of the University, and always ecclesiastics, until 
 the time of Sir John Mason, in 1553, who was the first 
 Lay-Chancellor. It was afterwards conferred, at the 
 pleasure of the Convocation, upon ecclesiastics or lay- 
 men ; but since the time of Archbishop Sheldon, in 
 1667, upon noblemen of distinction, who have been 
 members of the University. 
 
 The Chancellor's deputy was formerly styled Vice- 
 gerent, or Commissary, but for many years past, VICE- 
 CHANCELLOR. His office is annual, though generally 
 held for four years. The Vice-Chancellor is nomi- 
 nated by the Chancellor, on the recommendation of 
 the Heads of Colleges, and appoints four Deputies, or 
 Pro-Vice-Chancellors, who must likewise be Heads of 
 Colleges. During the vacancy of Chancellor, how- 
 ever, the office is executed bv the Senior Theolo^us. 
 
 ~ O " 
 
 or Cancellarius notus, resident in the University. 
 
 The next office is that of HIGH STEWARD, who is 
 appointed by the Chancellor, but continues for life. 
 His business is to assist the Chancellor, Vice-Chan- 
 cellor, and Proctors, to defend the privileges, &c. of 
 the University, and to hold a court, by his deputy, for 
 determining causes in which a scholar or privileged 
 person is concerned. This otlice for some centuries 
 has been held by laymen or noblemen of distinction. 
 
 The office of PKOCTOH is supposed to be coeval 
 with that of Chancellor, and it is of great trust and 
 importance, as the Proctors are to inspect the conduct
 
 INTRODUCTION. XT 
 
 of the members of the University, as to all matters of 
 discipline and good order, and are in fact the acting 
 magistrates. They must be two Masters of Arts, of 
 not less than four years standing, and chosen out of 
 the several Colleges by turns, according to a cycle in- 
 vented in 1629 by Dr. Peter Turner, Savilian Profes- 
 sor, and Robert Heggs, of Corpus College, and sanc- 
 tioned by the statutes given by Charles I. at that time. 
 After their election, they nominate four Masters of 
 Arts to be their deputies, or Pro-Proctors, and may 
 depute their authority to a larger number, if neces- 
 sary. 
 
 In 1603, James I. by diploma, dated March 12, 
 granted to each University the privilege of choosing 
 two Representatives in Parliament; a measure which 
 \vas opposed by the House of Commons, but ably sup- 
 ported by Sir Edward Coke. These are chosen by the 
 Vice-Chancellor, Doctors, and Regent and Non-Re- 
 gent Masters, in Convocation. 
 
 The University of Oxford now consists of twenty 
 Colleges and five Halls. Of the Colleges, each of which 
 is a corporation of itself, Merton, University, and Bal- 
 liol, were founded in the thirteenth century ; Exeter, 
 Oriel, Queen's, and New College, in the fourteenth ; 
 Lincoln, All Souls, and Magdalen, in the fifteenth ; 
 Brasen Nose, Corpus Christi, Christ Church, Trinity, 
 St. John's, and Jesus, in the sixteenth; Wadham and 
 Pembroke in the seventeenth ; and Worcester and 
 Hertford in the eighteenth. Before these Colleges were 
 
 O O 
 
 erected, the scholars who were educated in the Halls 
 or Inns subsisted there at their own expence, or that 
 of opulent Prelates or Noblemen ; but many of the 
 youth of the kingdom, and perhaps the greater part,
 
 xti INTRODUCTION. 
 
 were educated in St. Frideswide's Priory, Oseney Ab- 
 bey, and other religious houses in Oxford and its vi- 
 cinity. As the Colleges, however, increased in the num- 
 ber and value of their endowments, the scholars and 
 dependents on religious houses began to decrease. In 
 Colleges, at first, none were educated but those who 
 were admitted upon the foundation; but when learn- 
 ing, and the love of learning, began to be more ex- 
 tensively diffused, those establishments were resorted 
 to by independent members, under the names of Com- 
 moners, and Gentlemen Commoners*. 
 
 It is the intention of the present writer, and he hopes at no great 
 distance of time, to enter far more fully into the history of the University 
 from the earliest times, and endeavour to detail its rise and progress as 
 connected with the history of literature. This will necessarily embrace 
 a great variety of important circumstances, which are of a nature to 
 general to be included in the history of the respective Colleges.
 
 MERTON COLLEGE. 
 
 1 HIS College, which claims the priority in point of 
 legal establishment, was founded by Walter de Mcr- 
 ton, Bishop of Rochester, and Chancellor of England. 
 Neither time nor diligence has recovered much of the 
 personal history of a man, who, in an age of compara- 
 tive barbarity, had the judgment to project the first 
 regular and well-constituted College, and the liberality 
 to leave an example of generous and munificent en- 
 dowment, which, for the honour of human nature, has 
 been followed in many illustrious instances. 
 
 From a pedigree of him, written about ten years 
 after his death, we learn, that he was the son of Wil- 
 liam de Merton, Archdeacon of Berks in 1224, 1231, 
 and 1236, by Christina, daughter of Walter Fitz-Oli- 
 ver, of Basingstoke. They \verc both buried in the 
 church of St. Michael, Basingstoke, where the site 
 of their tomb has lately been discovered. Their son 
 was born at Merton, and educated at the convent 
 there. So early as the year 1239, he was in possession 
 of a family estate, as well as of one acquired. From 
 his mother he received the manor of St. John, with 
 which he commenced a public benefactor, by found- 
 ing, in 12Gl, the hospital of St. John, for poor and. 
 infirm clergy; and, after the foundation of Merton 
 College, it was appointed in the statutes, that the 
 incurably sick Fellows or Scholars of that College 
 should be sent thither; and tiie office of Master was 
 .A'ery early annexed to that of Warden of Merton, 
 
 B
 
 e MERTON COLLEGE. 
 
 Not many years ago, part of the chapel roof of this 
 hospital remained, pan n el led with the arms of Merton 
 College in the intersections, and one of the Gothic 
 windows stopped up; but all this gave place to a new 
 brick building in 1778. 
 
 According to Mr. Denne", he occurs prebendary 
 of Kentish town, and afterwards had the stall of 
 Finsbury, both of them in the church of St. Paul's, 
 London. He held in 1259 a prebend in E.veter cathe- 
 dral ; and, according to Browne Willis, was Vicar of 
 Potton in Bedfordshire at the time'of his promotion 
 to the see of Rochester. Other accounts say, that he 
 was first Canon of Salisbury, and afterwards Rector of 
 Stratton. lie became eminent in the court of chan- 
 cery, first as King's clerk, then as prothonotary, and 
 lastly rose to be Chancellor of England in 1258. Of 
 this office he was deprived in the same year by the 
 Barons, but restored in 12(J1, with a yearly salary of 
 four hundred marks; and held it again in 1274, in 
 which year he was consecrated Bishop of Rochester. 
 He appears to have been of high credit in a flairs of 
 state, and consulted on all matters of importance, as a 
 divine, a lawyer, and a financier. His death, which 
 was occasioned by a fall from his horse, in fording 
 a river in his diocese, took place Oct. 27, 1277. 
 Notwithstanding his liberality, at his death he was 
 possessed of goods, valued, by inventory, at 51101., 
 of which he left legacies to the amount of 2"2()1. 
 His debts amounted to 746!., and he had owinr to 
 
 O 
 
 him about ()22l. 
 
 Oiistomilf Roff.-nsr, p. Igj. and Ni. liuh's Hist, of I,ieet 
 rol. ii. j-art ii. p. ij-ij.
 
 MERTON COLLEGE. S 
 
 He was interred on the north side of St. William's 
 chapel, at the north end of the cross aile in Rochester 
 cathedral, with a marble monument", which had pro- 
 bably been injured, or decayed, as in 1598 the pre- 
 sent beautiful alabaster monument was erected to his 
 memory by the Society of Merton College, at the 
 suggestion of the celebrated Sir Henry Savile, then 
 Warden. The figure of the Bishop, habited in pon- 
 tificals, his hands raised and joined, lies on an altar- 
 tomb, on the front of which is the following inscrip- 
 tion, in two tablets, in Roman capitals. 
 
 " Waltero de Merton, Cancellario Angliae sub Hen- 
 " rico Tertio : Episcopo Roffensi sub Edwardo Primo 
 t( rege: Unius exemplo, omnium quotquot extant 
 " Collegiorum Fundatori: maximorum Europae totius 
 " ingeniorum foslicissimo parenti : Custos et scholares 
 " domus scholarium de Merton in Universitate Oxon. 
 
 m This must have been once a very costly specimen of art. Mr. Cough, 
 in his Sepulchral Monuments, (vol. iv. p. 113.) brings to light an ac- 
 count of 401. 5s. 6'd. for the enamelled work of this monument. Ena- 
 melling flourished in the twelfth century, particularly at Limoges i 
 France, and was much employed in ornamenting tombs. Mr. Leonard 
 Yate, Fellow of Merton, and afterwards Rector of Cuxham, informed 
 Mr. Wood, in 16'59, that when, on removing the stone, the Founder's 
 grave was opened, the portraiture of his body was discovered, and his 
 person seen to be tall and proper : that he had in one hand a crosier staff, 
 which, when touched, fell to pieces ; that he had in the other a silver 
 chalice, which would hold more than a quarter of a pint ; that the War- 
 den and Fellows caused it to be sent to the College, and to be put 
 in their cista jocalium ; but that the Fellows in their zeal sometimes 
 drinking wine out of it, this their so valued relic was broken and de-- 
 stroyed. MS. A. Wood, quoted by the late Rev. Jos. Kilner, in his " Ac- 
 " count of Fythagoras's School in Cambridge : as in Mr. Crose's Anti- 
 " quities of England and Wales, and other iiotices." This work was 
 printed some years ago, but never published. I am indebted to it for 
 many interesting memoranda respecting Merton College, 
 
 B 2
 
 4 MERTON COLLEGE. 
 
 " communibus collegii impensis, dcbitum pietatis 
 " monumentum posuere, anno Domini 1598. Henrico 
 " Savile Custodc. Obiit in vigilia Simonis et Juda?, 
 " anno Domini 1277, Ed ward i Priini quinto. Inchoa- 
 " verat collegium Maldoniae in ajjro Surr. anno Do- 
 
 \J w- 
 
 " mini 12(34, Hcnrici Tertii ejuadragesiiBO octavo : 
 " Cui dein, salubriconsilio Oxon-ium, anno 1270 trans- 
 " lato, extrcma manus fctlicissimis, ut credi par est, 
 " auspiciis accessit anno 1274, ipsis Kalendis August! 
 " anno regni regis Edwardi Priini secundo. 
 
 " Magne senex titulis, Musarum sede sacrata 
 " Major Mertonidum maxima progenies 
 " Ihcc tibi gratantes, post secula sera, nepotea 
 " En votiva locant marmora, sancte Parens." 
 In l(j()2, when this monument was repaired by the 
 College, after the injuries it had received from popu- 
 lar fury during the civil war, the following inscription 
 was placed on a separate tablet. 
 
 " Hunc Tumulum fanaticorum rabie (qtiae durante 
 " nupero pluscjuam civili bello, prout in ipsa Templa 
 " sic in Heroum, Sa-nctorumque reli(]uias ibidem pie 
 " recondttas, iimnfwiiter saeviebat) deformatuin atque 
 " fere deletum, Custos et scholares doinus Scholariurn 
 " de Merton in Academia Oxoniensi pro sua erga 
 " fnnditorem pietate et gratitudine redintegrabant, 
 " anno Domini 1(JG2, Custocle Domino Thoma Clay- 
 " ton Equite." 
 
 This monument was again repaired in 1770, by the 
 direction of the Society, and freed from a thick cover- 
 ing of white-wash, applied by some unskilful " beauti- 
 "ficr;" and a sum of money has been regularly ap- 
 propriated for its preservation. 
 
 \\ ith respect to the foundation of this College, uu
 
 MERTON COLLEGE. 5 
 
 opinion has long prevailed, which the inquiries of 
 some recent antiquaries have rendered doubtful. It 
 was stated by Wood and others, that Walter de Mer- 
 ton first founded a College at Maldon, as a nursery 
 for that at Oxford ; that at a certain age the Scholar* 
 were removed from Maldon to Oxford, where the 
 Founder provided a house for them on the site of 
 the present College; and that the whole establishment 
 was not removed from Maldon to Oxford until the 
 year 1274, when the third and last charter was ob- 
 tained. On the contrary, his original intention ap- 
 pears to have been to establish a religious house at 
 Maldon, consisting of a Warden and Priests, who 
 were to appropriate certain funds, with which he en- 
 trusted them, to the maintenance and education of 
 twenty Scholars, at Oxford or elsewhere; and that 
 when he founded Mcrton College, he removed the 
 Warden and Priests thither. What seems to confirm 
 this account is, that the Founder appointed a Fellow 
 of Merton College to instruct such of his Students 
 as were ignorant of crrammar, which could not have 
 
 O O 7 
 
 been the case had they been brought from a prepara- 
 tory school". 
 
 Nothing could be more satisfactory than to be able 
 to trace the progress of this great work from these 
 small beginnings; but all that can be now collected 
 is, that, having purchased several tenements on the 
 ground where the College stands, he began his erec- 
 tion, and, by charter dated Jan. 7, 1'2G4, established it 
 by the name of Domus Schotariutn de Merton. This 
 
 * Wood's A nuals, vol. ii. p. 7 12. Lysonb's Environs, art. Maiden; and 
 Mannin's Surr.
 
 6 MERTON COLLEGE. 
 
 first charter, with the statutes prescribed in it, con- 
 tinued in force until 1270, when it was confirmed by "a 
 econd, in which great additions were made to the en- 
 dowment by estates in Oxford, Oxfordshire, and other 
 counties; the Scholars were increased, and the term 
 fratres became used as a farther step towards the 
 present form. A third charter was granted in 1274". 
 All these which respect the creation in 1264, the en- 
 largement in 1270, and the completion in 1274, and 
 refer to and confirm one another, are now preserved 
 in the library, and were consulted as precedents in the 
 foundation of Peter-house, the earliest College of the 
 sister University, and probably of others in both Uni- 
 versities. The first officers of Merton were appointed 
 in 1276- It yet remains to be noticed, that Walter de 
 Merton's preference of Oxford is thought to have 
 been owing to his better acquaintance with the place; 
 there being a tradition, that he studied some time 
 nmong the Canons regular of Oseney, or in Manger 
 Hall, in St. Martin's parish, Oxford. 
 
 The other benefactors to this College were, Ela 
 Longspee, Countess of Warwick, about the year 1295, 
 whose monument was discovered in Rewly abbey in 
 1705, and placed by Hearne in the Bodleian: John 
 Willyott, Chancellor of Exeter, in 1380, who provided 
 by certain lands and tenements for a number of ex- 
 
 The allowance to Scholars, according to the statutes, was fifty shil- 
 lings jier annum for all necessaries. \Yhrn Aivhhisbop Peekham had, at 
 their importunity, made a smr>.l! a'ldition for v.ood, h>- was obliged to re- 
 voke the- ^ra-i', as not having -,',-r il onsi.hn d the Founder's statutes. 
 Traior '-ipt of Ardil/'s'iop I'eckl.atn's Register by Tvvyno, in the Schools' 
 tower, quoted l)> Sini'U, in. Mist, of Uirvcrsity College, p. 2. 1 ). In the 
 yc*\r l.vr>, when the University was vislttd by Henry VIII. the a 
 allowance was only 41. Gs. tid.
 
 MERTON COLLEGE. : f 
 
 hibitioners, afterwards called Portionista, or Post- 
 masters. On the building of the chapel, these Post- 
 masters officiated as choristers, and had a salary of six 
 shillings and four-pence per annum for this service; 
 but there was at that time no regular choir. These 
 exhibitioners resided in a hall opposite to the CoU 
 Jege, which had been given to it by Peter de Abing- 
 don, or Habendon, the first Warden ; and here thejr 
 remained until the latter end of Queen Elizabeth's 
 reign, when they were taken into College. This hall, 
 or a part of it, became afterwards the property of An- 
 thony Wood's father, and the birth-place of that 
 indefatigable antiquary, Dec. 17, 1632: and here in 
 1642 John Lord Colepepper, Master of the Rolls, and 
 others of his Majesty's (Charles the First) privy coun- 
 cil, took up their residence, during the short period 
 that Oxford was enabled to maintain its loyalty. 
 
 The provision for the Postmasters was augmented 
 by Dr. Thomas Jessop, physician in 15Q5, and by 
 John Chamber, Fellow of Eton, and Canon of Wind- 
 sor, in the beginning of King James the First's reign, 
 who increased their number from twelve to fourteen. 
 Dr. Higgins, Sir John Sedley, Bart. Edward Worth, 
 M. D. the Rev. George Vernon, Rector and Patron 
 of Bourton-on-the-Water in Gloucestershire, are also 
 among the more recent contributors to the mainte- 
 nance of these exhibitioners. 
 
 William Rede, Bishop of Chichester, and Sir Thomas 
 Bodley, left a fund to be occasionally borrowed by the 
 Fellows, on proper security; and the former built a li- 
 brary, which he furnished with books. James Leche, 
 a Fellow, and Griffin Higgs, Dean of Litchfield, were 
 also contributors in books; and the former, in I58y, 
 
 B 4
 
 * MERTON COLLEGE. 
 
 purchased land in Cheshire, to enable the natives of 
 that county to become eligible into the College. Be- 
 sides Henry Sever and Richard Fitz-James, who were 
 very extensive benefactors, the name of the Rev. 
 Henry Jackson, Minor Canon of St. Paul's, deserves 
 honourable notice. On his foundation four Scholars 
 were added, who are to be natives of Oxford. He 
 died in 1727; but, for whatever reason, his benefaction 
 did not pass into effect until the year 1753. 
 
 Among the livings, now the property of this College, 
 by the liberality of its Founder and Benefactors, are 
 the Rectories of Cuxham, Oxfordshire; Farley, Sur- 
 ry; Ipstone, Bucks; Kibworth-Beauchamp, Leicester- 
 shire; and Lapworth, Warwickshire: and the I icar- 
 uges of Diddington, Huntingdonshire; Elham, Kent; 
 Embleton, Northumberland ; Kibworth-Harcourt, Lei- 
 cestershire; Maldon, Surry ; St. Peter in the East, 
 Holiwell, and Wolvercot, Oxford ; Ponteland, North- 
 umberland ; Stratton St. Margaret, Wilts; and Great 
 Wolford, Warwick. Of these the College has been 
 in the possession of Elham, Farley, Wolford, and 
 Lapworth, from its foundation. 
 
 The number of Students in Merton College appears 
 to have been regulated by the variations which oc- 
 curred in its revenues. At present it consists of a 
 chief by the title of Warden, twenty-four Fellows, two 
 Chaplains, fourteen Postmasters, four Scholars, and 
 two Clerks. In 1.592, the rents were estimated at 4001. 
 and in 1(112, the Society consisted of ninety-three per- 
 sons. In the election of a Warden, the Fellows choose 
 three of their number, whom they present to the Vi- 
 sitor, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who appoints one 
 of them.
 
 MERTON COLLEGE. 9 
 
 THE BUILDINGS 
 
 of Merton College, which is situated to the east of 
 Corpus Christi, consist of three courts. The outer 
 court to the street was rebuilt in 1589, except the 
 tower and gate, which were constructed in the early 
 part of the fifteenth century by Thomas Rodburne, 
 Warden in 1416, and Bishop of St. David's, one of 
 the ablest mathematicians of his age. This gate 
 was ornamented with the history of St. John the 
 Baptist, and with statues of King Henry III. and 
 the Founder, under rich Gothic canopies; but these 
 were much defaced during the Usurpation. In 1682, 
 Wood informs us, these ancient monuments of art 
 were "repaired and new oylecl over in white colours." 
 Some portion of the Warden's lodgings is supposed 
 to be coeval with the foundation of the College; but 
 about the year 1693, in Dr. Lydall's Wardenship, the 
 antique windows were modernized. Some alterations 
 in the same taste had been introduced in 1674, in 
 the Wardenship of Sir Thomas Clayton : of these 
 Wood has given a minute and very angry account"; 
 and it is not improbable that these lodgings had 
 previously suffered considerably in 1647, when the 
 Visitors appointed by the Republican Parliament 
 took up their residence in them, and here principally 
 
 * In his Life, edit. 1772. Perhaps the following; will be a sufficient 
 specimen. " The Warden, by the motion of lih lady, did put the College 
 " to unnecessary charges, and very frivolous expences ; among which 
 " were a very large looking-glass, for her to see her ugly face, and body 
 " to the middle, and perhaps lower, which was bought in Hilary terme, 
 " 1674, and eost, as the Bursar told me, above 1 01. A bedstted and 
 " uediiinsT worth -101. must also be bought, because the former bedstede 
 " and bedding was too short for him, (he being a tall man ;) so perhaps 
 " when a short Warden comes, a bhort bed must be bought," &c. p. 173.
 
 10 MERTON COLLEGE. 
 
 carried on their proceedings, ejecting all members of 
 the University who would not submit to their autho- 
 rity. The building over the kitchen, with its Gothic 
 windows, and the gallery over the Warden's apart- 
 ments, are evidently coeval with the foundation ; but it 
 is not so clear to what purposes they were applied. 
 The former was most probably the Founder's private 
 chapel, as it still retains the chapel proportions. 
 
 The most ancient part of the College was built by 
 Sever and Fitz- James, two of the Wardens, and men 
 of such liberality and skill, as to divide the honours 
 of foundership with Walter de Merton. 
 
 The outer court opens by a noble arch into the 
 larger, inner, or garden court, which is one hundred 
 and ten feet long, and one hundred in breadth, and 
 was completed at the expence of the College in 1610. 
 As a taste for mixed architecture was at this time pre- 
 valent, we are not surprised to find the south gate of 
 this quadrangle surmounted by a specimen of the Co- 
 rinthian, Doric, Ionic, and Tuscan orders. The terrace 
 formed on the city-wall in the garden admits the 
 spectator to the view of very rich scenery along the 
 meadows, &c. 
 
 The third or small court brings us again back to 
 ancient times. It was probably built about the same 
 time with the LIBRARY, which forms nearly the south 
 and west sides of it. This Library was founded in 
 1370, by William Rede, Bishop of Chichester, an 
 architect of great skill. It was built from a plan 
 furnished by him, and is lighted by two series of 
 windows, the upper of the bay-kind, projecting from 
 the outer roof in three compartments : the lower se- 
 ries are oblong aud very narrow, and in both are
 
 MERTON COLLEGE. n 
 
 painted arms of the benefactors, &c. The wainscot- 
 ting at one end is curiously cut in small architectural 
 figures, probably of a later date than the rest of the 
 building; the roof is of wood in angular divisions. 
 But whatever may be thought of this Library as a 
 work of art, it cannot fail to be contemplated with 
 peculiar veneration by the antiquary, as the most 
 ancient Library in the kingdom. Before the establish- 
 ment of Colleges, there was no distinct building under 
 the name of Library. In monasteries and other re- 
 ligious houses, which were the only repositories of 
 learning, books were kept in chests, where most con- 
 venient. Merton, therefore, which exhibited the first 
 regular College, gave also the first exemplar of a 
 Library. 
 
 Bishop Rede contributed the first part of the col- 
 lection of books, which has since been augmented, 
 both in MSS. and printed books, by the liberality of 
 many succeeding scholars. In 1550, when the work 
 of reformation was pursued, in some instances, with 
 more zeal than judgment, many valuable MSS. were 
 taken from this Library, particularly such as related 
 to divinity, astronomy, and mathematicks, and were 
 the production of the Fellows of the College. Some 
 perished in the general devastation; but others were 
 recovered, purchased by private individuals, and given 
 to the public Library, when it was restored by Sir 
 Thomas Bodley. Other libraries suffered in propor- 
 tion on this occasion, as well as at other tumultuary 
 periods ; and it is to these desolations that we owe our 
 present uncertainty as to the respective merits of the 
 founders, benefactors, and artists employed in erecting 
 the more ancient colleges.
 
 12 MERTON COLLEGE. 
 
 We enter the HALL by an ancient door, the hinge* 
 of which are made to cover the whole in various 
 figures, as was the mode before pannels were in- 
 vented, in the fourteenth century. This Hall, besides 
 the arms in the windows, is decorated with the por- 
 traits of the Founder, of the present Bishop of Dur- 
 ham, and the late Mr. Justice Rooke. The portrait of 
 the Founder was the gift of Dr. Bcrdmore, late War- 
 den, and was presented to the Society in the 52'2d 
 year from the foundation of the College. At the 
 loirrr end is a large historical painting, representing 
 the Founder sitting in his episcopal robes and mitre, 
 and pointing to a view of his College. The triumph 
 of sound learning over superstition and bigotry is dis- 
 played in allegorical figures. This piece was given to 
 the Society by Dr. Wall of Worcester, who died in 
 177G. He was originally a Scholar of Worcester Col- 
 lege, and afterwards a Fellow of Merton ; a man 
 of great medical skill, and of considerable taste in 
 painting. Some of his correspondence with Shcn- 
 stone the poet has been published. 
 
 When Queen Elizabeth visited the University in 
 1592, her privy council, with many noblemen and 
 others belonging to the court, were entertained at 
 dinner in this Hall, and after dinner were farther en- 
 tertained with disputations performed by the Fellows. 
 But long before this, in 1.318, Merton College had the 
 honour of a royal visit from Catharine, wife to Henry 
 VIII. \\lio, as \Vood quaintly says, " vouchsafed to 
 " condescend so low as to dine with the Mcrtonians, 
 " for the sake of the late Warden Ilawlyns, at this 
 " time Almoner to the King, notwithstanding she was 
 " expected by other colleges." During the greater
 
 MERTON COLLEGE. IS 
 
 part of the royal visits, it WAS customary for the 
 King to reside at Christ Church, and the Queen at 
 Merton. A passage has been described, that led 
 from the Warden's lodgings to the Hall, and thence 
 to the Vestry and Chapel, for her Majesty's accom- 
 modation in bad weather : but it is not now vi- 
 sible* 
 
 The CHAPEL, which Is at the west end of the outer 
 court, and is the parish-church of St. John Baptist, 
 originally belonged to the abbey of Reading. Rich- 
 ard, one of the abbots, gave it to Walter de Merton 
 in 1265, and the gift was confirmed by Henry III. 
 and by the Bishop and Chapter of Lincoln, of which 
 diocese Oxford formed a part, until the reign of 
 Henry VIII. In 1292, on the death of the incum- 
 bent, Oliver Bishop of Lincoln appropriated it to the 
 Scholars of Merton, and made it a collegiate parish- 
 church. The parochial duties are discharged by one of 
 the Chaplains of the College, and a certain part of the 
 interior is allowed as a burial place for the parishion- 
 ers, who once were very few in number. In Wood's 
 time there were only seven houses and ten families ; 
 and in 1771 there were seventeen houses and eighty- 
 five inhabitants ; but, according to the last returns of 
 population, there are now twenty-one houses, and one 
 hundred and eleven inhabitants. 
 
 This Chapel, or Church as it then was, appears to 
 have gone to decay about the beginning of the fif- 
 teenth century, when it was rebuilt from a plan which 
 gome think was furnished by Bishop Rede before 
 mentioned. According to Wood, it was re-dedicated in 
 1424: but as Rede died in 13S5, it seems more proba- 
 ble that Rodeburne, to whose skill the College was ia-
 
 U MERTON COLLEGE. 
 
 debtcd about this time for other baildings, was also 
 the architect here. The whole exhibits a specimen of 
 rich Gothic workmanship, not inferior in its principal 
 features to the most celebrated structures in this style, 
 and in higher preservation than we generally find 
 1)iiildings of the same age. It appears, however, to 
 form but a part of the architect's original design. As 
 in the best days of our ancient architecture the colle- 
 giate church, or the cathedral, and the insulated cha- 
 pel were built on fixed and distinct plans, and as we 
 find here a choir and a cross aile, features of the ca- 
 thedral structure, it has been very justly supposed 
 that the architect's design was to have erected a 
 much more extensive edifice on the latter plan, but 
 that he was enabled to complete only the choir, 
 which is the longest of any, (except that of New Col- 
 lege,) and the cross aile. 
 
 The choir is illuminated by seven windows on each 
 side, richly ornamented with painted glass of saints, 
 martyrs,&c. the colours of which are remarkably vivid. 
 The north, west, and south windows of the cross aile 
 are noble specimens of the original architecture ; but 
 the great east window in the choir will probably attract 
 most attention, from the exquisite proportions of the 
 mullions and tracery, and the beautiful paintings in 
 the interstices. The body of this window is filled up 
 with a series of scripture-paintings, executed by Price 
 in 1700, and the gift of Alexander Fisher, some time 
 senior Fellow of this College. This benefactor, who 
 died in 1(>?1, also paved the Chapel, and wainscotted 
 and seated it with oak. The \rainscotting and scats, 
 
 O 7 
 
 however, as well as the screen, which might have de- 
 corated a uiodcru temple with propriety, are evidently
 
 MERTON COLLEGE. 15 
 
 incongruous with the style of this Chapel. The pld 
 stalls were ornamented with portraits of the prophets, 
 saints, and martyrs, painted in the reign of Henry 
 VII. and probably with a due attention to ancient 
 costume. The mob during the Usurpation daubed 
 them over with paint, and in 1659 an attempt to re- 
 store them ended in complete obliteration. In this 
 state Fisher found them, and the wood-work being 
 much decayed or destroyed, he supplied its place in 
 the then reigning taste. The expence of the painting 
 in the east window, to which Dr. Lydall, Warden, 
 and executor to Mr. Fisher, liberally contributed, i* 
 *aid to have amounted to 601. 
 
 The altar-piece*, under this window, is a picture of 
 the crucifixion, supposed to be an original by Tinto- 
 ret, which was given a few years ago by John Skip, 
 Esq. a gentleman commoner of Merton. Tintoret's 
 finest crucifixion is in' the Albergo of the Scuola di 
 S. Rocco, if not removed by the French plunderers. 
 It is much to be regretted, that the north windows of 
 this Chapel, which are to the street, are frequently 
 damaged by the wantonness of the rabble. In the old 
 vestry, adjoining to the Chapel, are many fragments 
 of painted glass destroyed in times of public turbu- 
 lence, or by the ignorance of repairers, and the inat- 
 tention of their employers. From such a sight we 
 turn with pleasure to a more gratifying subject, the 
 taste and care of the late Warden, Dr. Berdmore, to 
 
 * During the residence of the parliamentary visitors, Sir Nathaniel 
 Brent, one of their number, took down the rich hangings at the altar of 
 this Chapel, and ornamented his bed-chamber with them. Wood's An- 
 nals, vol. ii. p. 615. There is still much ancient tapestry in the oldest 
 rooms of the Warden's lodsnnijs.
 
 16 MERTOX COLLEGE. 
 
 whom the admirers of this College are under great 
 obligations. 
 
 The tower, which rises from the centre of the cross 
 aile, and to which Uodeburne is supposed to have 
 added the external pannelling and the pinnacles, i 
 not only a noble object in itself, but contributes a 
 very important feature in the magnificence of Oxford, 
 when viewed from the vicinity. This tower has since 
 undergone some, although not very important, altera- 
 tions. When the bells were recast in H>57, a new 
 belfry was built, and the window next to Corpus was 
 opened. Of the cross aile a singular accident is re- 
 corded. On Oct. 17, l6o,5, nearly half the roof of the 
 south end adjoining to the tower fell inwards, and 
 damaged the monumental stones on the floor: but on 
 the removal of the rubbish, Anthony Wood recovered 
 the brass plates on them, and recorded the inscrip- 
 tions in his valuable history. 
 
 In this Chapel i- the monument of Sir Thomas Bod- 
 lev, executed by Nicholas Stone in 1615, for which 
 he was paid 2001. The funeral of this great benefac- 
 tor was conducted with a solemnity and pomp becom- 
 ing the University which he had so amply enriched. 
 The botlv lay in state for some days in the hall of 
 this College, surrounded by three heralds at arms, 
 the relations of the deceased, his executors, the V ice- 
 Chancellor, Dean of Christ Church, the Proctors and 
 Bedels, and the whole Society of Merton. On the 
 duv of the funeral, March C7, H)13, a procession was 
 formed of the Heads of the several Houses, all the 
 distinguished members of the University, and sixty- 
 seven poor Scholars, (the number of his years,) chosen 
 by the Heads of Houses: the body was removed from
 
 MERTON COLLEGE. 17 
 
 Merton College through Christ Church to Carfax, 
 'and thence through the High-street to the Divinity 
 School, where it was deposited, while an oration was 
 delivered; it was then removed to St. Mary's church, 
 where a funeral sermon was preached by Dr. Wil- 
 liam Goodwyn, Dean of Christ Church : and these 
 ceremonies being over, the corpse was conveyed to 
 Merton College; and, after another speech, it was 
 interred at the upper end of the choir, under the 
 north wall. The whole concluded with a funeral din- 
 ner in the hall, at which were present the greater part 
 of those who formed the procession. 
 
 This Chapel also contains the monument of Sir 
 Henry Savile, which is honorary, as he was buried at 
 Eton : those of Dr. Bainbridge, Henry Briggs, the 
 first Savilian Professor, Dr. Wyntle, a late Warden, 
 and, among others of inferior note, that of Earle, 
 Bishop of Salisbury, to whom Walton ascribes more 
 innocent wisdom, sanctified learning, and a more 
 pious, peaceable, primitive temper, than were to be 
 found in any after the death of Hooker. To this may 
 be added, that his " Microcosmography," which Lang- 
 baine has improperly ascribed to Blount, a bookseller, 
 proves him to have been a satirist of genuine humour. 
 In the antechapel lie the remains of Antony Wood, 
 a man, who, by his indefatigable researches into its 
 history, antiquities, and biography, must be acknow- 
 ledged, in these respects, the greatest benefactor the 
 University ever had. It is much to be regretted, that 
 he was diverted by his other undertakings from the 
 particular history of this College, for which he had 
 made some preparations. 
 
 One of the finest variety of crosses which Mr. 
 c
 
 IS MERTON COLLEGE. 
 
 Gough could recollect in England is in this ante- 
 chape!, for John Bloxham, seventh Warden. The 
 flowered shaft rests on a tabernacle inclosing the 
 Holy Lamb, and under the two steps is a scroll, in- 
 scribed with the names of the two persons whom it 
 commemorates, Johannes Bloxham and Johannes IVhyt- 
 ton. This was formerly placed at the bottom of the 
 steps leading up to the altar, but was removed, with 
 others, when the Chapel was paved in l6?l. Jo/in 
 1\ hytlon is omitted by Wood among the "divers 
 *' benefactors whose gifts were small"." 
 
 This College was fated to be a precedent in every 
 appendage. The first COMMON ROOM was fitted up 
 here in KJOl. Common Rooms made no part of the 
 plan of the Founders. The progress of society to- 
 wards communicative habits, interchange of senti- 
 ments, and mutual kindness, first produced meetings 
 among the senior members of the Colleges, which 
 were held by turns in each other's apartments; and 
 this yielded to the superior convenience of having a 
 room in common, to which such members as contri- 
 buted to the expence of its furniture, See. might have 
 access, and where strangers are entertained with ele- 
 gant hospitality. 
 
 The present WAUDKN is the thirty-ninth from the 
 foundation. Of these the most eminent were, Thomas 
 Rodburne, a man of great learning and skill in archi- 
 tecture, who died Bishop of St. David's about the 
 vear 144'J: Sever and Fit/- James, already noticed as 
 benefactors; Fit/-.Jau;c< was successively Bishop of 
 Kochustcr, Chichester, and London, and occurs among 
 
 Gouli' Sepulchral Monument.;, vol. iv. j>. 1 1J.
 
 MERTON COLLEGE. ig 
 
 the contributors to the erection of St. Mary's church : 
 Dr. John Chamber, who, with Lynacre and Vic- 
 toria, founded the College of Physicians in Lon- 
 don ; he was also a divine, and the last Dean of St. 
 Stephen's Chapel, Westminster, where he was the ar- 
 chitect of a cloister of exquisite workmanship: Dr. 
 Thomas Bickley, Bishop of Chichester, and a bene- 
 factor to this Society and to Magdalen College school; 
 the sermon preached on May-day in this College was 
 one of his foundations : Sir Henry Savile, a very ce- 
 lebrated scholar, and founder of the Geometry and 
 Astronomy Professorships; he died Provost of Eton, 
 Feb. 19, 1621-2: Sir Nathaniel Brent, a lawyer of 
 great learning, but unfortunately a deserter from the 
 laws and constitution of his country in the grand 
 rebellion ; yet he had been knighted by King Charles, 
 when on a visit to Oxford in l6<29> and the royal 
 party were sumptuously entertained in this College in 
 honour of the newly-knighted Warden. To these may 
 be added, the very celebrated Dr. Harvey, the dis- 
 coverer of the circulation of the blood ; and Dr. Rey- 
 nolds, Dean of Christ Church, by authority of the 
 parliament in 1648, but on the restoration made Bi- 
 shop of Norwich. The style of his works has a vi- 
 gour and polish of which we find few instances at that 
 period. In 1674 he gave 1001. to adorn the chapel. 
 
 Of the ARCHBISHOPS and BISHOPS who received 
 their education here, the most eminent names of anti- 
 quity are those of Bradwardine and Islip, Archbishops 
 of Canterbury in the fourteenth century. Bradwardine, 
 one of the iirst mathematicians of his age, treated 
 theological subjects with mathematical accuracy: his 
 treatise against the Pelagians extended his fault; ovyr 
 
 c 2
 
 20 MERTON COLLEGE. 
 
 all Europe. The learned Savile became his editor anr' 
 biographer. The title of Profound, bestowed on him 
 by his contemporaries, a|>pcars to have been not unme- 
 rited, and of his piety and integrity there are indubi- 
 table proofs. Rede, Bishop of Chichester, and Rod- 
 burne, already noticed. William of Wainfleet, Bi- 
 shop of Winchester, and Founder of Magdalen Col- 
 lege, is supposed to have belonged to this Society, 
 and Hooper, the martyred Bishop of Gloucester and 
 Worcester: but with more certainty Merton College 
 may boast of the pious and excellent Dr. Jewell, Bi- 
 shop of Salisbury; Parkhurst, his tutor, a poet, and 
 one of tire translators of the Bible; and Dr. Carleton, 
 of Chichester. Dr. Robert Huntingdon, Provost of 
 Trinity College, Dublin, and Bishop of Raphoe, was a 
 Fellow of Merton, an able oriental Scholar, and a 
 benefactor of valuable MSS. to the Bodleian Library, 
 the Curators of which purchased the remainder of hi* 
 collection in Ki'Jl. He died Sept. 1, 1701, a few day* 
 after being consecrated Bishop of Raphoe. 
 
 Among scholars of oilier ranks, the once celebrated 
 John Duns, or Duns Scotus, as he is usuallv called, 
 was educated here. England, Scotland, and Ireland 
 contend for his birth ; but the conclusion of his MSS. 
 works in the library of this College gives the preference 
 to England, and states, that even by birth he was con- 
 nected with Merton, having been born " in a certain 
 " village called Dunstan, in the parish of Emildon, 
 " (Embleton,) in the county of Northumberland, be- 
 " longing to the house of the Scholars of Merton 
 " Hall, in Oxford." He was tilled Doctor Subtilis, 
 as his successor and opponent ir this College was 
 named Doctor IiriincibUis, Scotiu died iu 1308; but
 
 MERTON COLLEGE. 21 
 
 there appears no foundation for the report that he 
 was buried alive. Occam died in J347- The no less 
 celebrated John Wickliffe was admitted a Commoner 
 of Queen's, but removed afterwards to Merton, of 
 which he became a Fellow. He too acquired a title 
 of respect, that of Doctor Evange/icus. To these may 
 be added, Dr. George Owen, physician to Henry 
 VIII. praised by Leland for his extensive learning: 
 Dr. Richard Smith, the ablest supporter of the catho- 
 lic religion in the reign of Mary : Grimoald, poet 
 and translator, the author of a spirited paraphrase on 
 Virgil's Georgics, published in 15QI : Jasper Hey- 
 wood, a poet: The celebrated Drusius was admitted a 
 member of this College, and handsomely entertained 
 
 C? ' ^ 
 
 by the Society, in return for the instructions he gave 
 in oriental languages : Dr. Goulston, founder of the 
 Goulstonian Lecture: Sir Isaac Wake, ambassador, 
 a man of various learning; he was Public Orator in 
 ]()04, and Representative of the University in 1624: 
 Dr. Bainbridge, originally of Cambridge, astronomer 
 and Savilian Professor: Robert Devereux, Earl of 
 Essex, the parliamentary general, whose character by 
 Clarendon does so much honour to the impartiality of 
 that illustrious historian: Farnaby, the eminent clas- 
 sical scholar and teacher: Francis Cheynell, to whose 
 history Dr. Johnson's elegant pen has given a consi- 
 derable degree of interest: Samuel Clarke, the orien- 
 talist, and first archetypographer of the University : 
 Hugh Cressy, the Roman Catholic historian, one of 
 the firmest champions of that religion in the seven- 
 teenth century, but remarkable for softening the as,- 
 perities of controversy by his manners as well as his 
 pen: Dr. Edmund Dickinson, a physician of great 
 
 r 3
 
 2 MERTOX COLLEGE. 
 
 eminence in an age that could boast of Willis, Syden- 
 ham, and Lower, but who, as a philosopher, did not 
 keep pace with Boyle, Hooke, or Newton : Antony 
 Wood, the Oxford historian : Sir Richard Steele, the 
 father of periodical essayists, was at one time Post- 
 master here; and the ingenious editor of Chaucer, 
 Thomas Tyr\\hitt, took his Master's degree in this 
 Society, but will occur hereafter as a Scholar of 
 Queen's.
 
 UNIVERSITY COLLEGE. 
 
 1 HE origin of this College has been involved in 
 a considerable degree of obscurity, by the zeal of 
 some ancient chroniclers and historians, who have 
 wished to carry it so far back as to be beyond all 
 power of illustration from authentic records. Their 
 opinion was, that the justly celebrated King Alfred 
 was either the founder or the restorer of it. To con- 
 firm this, a petition has been produced, in which, in 
 the eleventh year of Richard II. 1387, the College ad- 
 dressed Parliament for relief in a certain matter at issue 
 in the courts of law, respecting part of their estates, 
 and represented, as a fact which might procure them 
 favour, that John of Beverley, Archbishop of York, 
 the venerable Bede, and other famous Doctors of an- 
 cient times, had been students or scholars here. One 
 consequence of the production of this petition was, 
 that when the College came to be built in a quadran- 
 gular form in the time of Henry VI. the erligics of 
 John of Beverley and of Alfred were placed in the 
 windows, and served to create and perpetuate the 
 belief of a fact, which before that time had never 
 been asserted, and was not now proved. 
 
 All, indeed, that seems necessarv to remark on this 
 petition is, that Bedc and John of Beverley had been 
 dead above a century before Alfred was born, and 
 that 87-, the year usually assigned for the foundation 
 of the College, was the second of that monarch's 
 
 c -1
 
 24 UNIVERSITY COLLEGE. 
 
 reign, during which he was involved in difficulties 
 which precluded him from attention to any other ob- 
 jects than the preservation of his throne and people. 
 He must, therefore, according to the opinion of 
 Camden, Powel, and llearnc, have been only the 
 RESTORER; but what lie did restore does not appear 
 to have been a College, or any regularly constituted 
 Society deserving the name ; nor, which is of more 
 importance, is there to be found in any of the records 
 belonging to the University the smallest intimation 
 respecting any benefactions, halls, or schools in Ox- 
 ford, given or founded by Alfred. The most ancient 
 historians, his contemporaries, are equally silent; and 
 Ralph liigden is the first, who, in the fourteenth 
 century, introduces him as establishing a common 
 school at Oxford of divers arts and sciences; but on 
 what authority liigden asserts this, has not yet been 
 discovered. With respect to the custom of praying 
 for King Alfred, it is not older than the reign of 
 Queen Mary, and then he was not mentioned in the 
 prayer as the Founder of this College, but as the 
 " Founder of the University";" an honour to which 
 lie seems to have a better title. 
 
 The historian of this College has very clearly 
 proved, that it was created by the liberality of Wil- 
 liam of Durham, Rector of Wearmouth, or Bishop- 
 Wearmouth. Very few particulars have been handed 
 down to us of his personal character. It is probable 
 that he was a native of the place from which lie takes 
 
 Smith's Ilist. of University College, p. WR. The entire ohject of 
 this history was to irive the Foimtler-hip to \\illiani of Durham, or to 
 the rni\rr-i!v, \\ith his money; and the traiu of proof anil argument 
 -.rrnis unanswerable.
 
 UNIVERSITY COLLEGE. 25 
 
 his name, and was educated there, or in the mona- 
 stery of Wearmouth adjoining, and afterwards sent to 
 study at Oxford. He died in the year 1249, at Rouen 
 in Normandy, on his return from the Court of Rome, 
 whither, it is supposed, he had gone for the purpose 
 of soliciting the Bishopric of Durham, on the resig- 
 nation of his friend Bishop Farnham, which took 
 place in February of that year. Leland says, that the 
 issue of this journey was his being appointed Arch- 
 bishop of Rouen, and that he was buried in the 
 church of that see. 
 
 By his will he bequeathed to the University the 
 sum of three hundred and ten marks, to purchase cer- 
 tain annual rents for the maintenance of ten, eleven, 
 twelve, or more Masters, which was at this time the 
 highest academical title, and implied the highest 
 degree in Divinity, Law, Physic, or Arts ; and these 
 Masters were to be natives of Durham or its vicinity. 
 On this money being deposited in the hands of the 
 Chancellor and Masters of the University, the first 
 mode they seem to have adopted was, by lending it 
 to Scholars upon proper security, and upon interest, 
 which interest they carried to the account of the 
 Masters to be sustained. They then began to make 
 purchases, the first of which, in 1253, was a corner 
 house in School-street, now part of the front of 
 Brazenose College; the second, in 1255, a house in 
 the High-street, opposite to the present College; 
 the third, in 12(>2, on the south side of the first, 
 which in the survey 7 Edw. [. 1279, was called Braze- 
 nose Hall. With the former house it now forms the 
 whole front of Brazenose College, and had anciently 
 four schools belonging to it. In 1270, a fourth and
 
 25 UNIVERSITY COLLEGE. 
 
 last purchase was made of t\vo houses west of the 
 Angel Inn, in St. Peter's parish. At this time, ten 
 years was the accustomed rate of purchase in Oxford, 
 and eleven per cent, the interest of money. 
 
 The rents arising from these purchases were at first 
 distributed among Masters of Arts, or lent to persons 
 of rank. Such use of the money appeared most con- 
 formable to the testator's will; but many ineonvenien- 
 cics arose from it, especially as the money was given 
 to students over whom the executors had no control 
 or inspection, and could not always determine by 
 whom it was best merited, or how long the pension 
 ought to be continued. They might likewise be in- 
 duced to divert the money to a better and more 
 secure purpose, from observing the plan adopted in 
 Mcrton College, which was now endowed, and not 
 only exhibited an unexceptionable precedent, but 
 contained some of the most eminent men of the a^e. 
 
 O 
 
 It may be here noticed, that while Smith, the his- 
 torian of University College, is unanswerable in his 
 proofs that Alfred was neither the founder, restorer, 
 or benefactor of it, he is less successful in giving the 
 priority to this College, and censuring Antony Wood 
 for preferring Merlon. Smith calls William of Dur- 
 ham the first founder of a College, because he be- 
 queathed his money in IC-lf), and adds, that his do- 
 nation created a society, and that society ought pro- 
 perly to be called a College, which, he says, " is not 
 *' a building made of brick or stone, adorned with 
 *' gates, towers, and quadrangles, but a company, or 
 " society, united in a body, and enjoying the same or 
 " like privileges one with another." But granting 
 this to be true, as a definition, it does not apply to
 
 UNIVERSITY COLLEGE. 27 
 
 the present case ; for the persons who profited by 
 Durham's liberality were not a society, but chosen by 
 the University from various societies, as proper ob- 
 jects, and remained in subordination to the halls 
 or schools in which they were educated. William of 
 Durham does not appear to have had a College in 
 contemplation, nor was such an institution known in 
 his time; nor was it till the year 1280 that the Uni- 
 versity, by resigning his property to his scholars, 
 took the first step to found a College, independent in 
 itself, and independent of the mode in which he pre- 
 scribed that his money should be employed. And it 
 may be further observed, that no College in Oxford 
 was titled or considered as such, either popularly or 
 historically, until it had received those very buildings 
 of brick and stone, gates, towers, and quadrangles, 
 which Mr. Smith seems to consider as non-essentials. 
 In the above-mentioned year 1280, an inquiry was 
 ordered by the University, respecting the uses to which 
 William of Durham's money had been applied; and 
 the Masters who were delegated to make this inquiry, 
 after a scrupulous examination, appointed four Mas- 
 ters, who were to constitute the manainnsr members of 
 
 ' O O 
 
 a society, under certain conditions. This, which ap- 
 pears to have been the first foundation or appoint- 
 ment of any thing like a College, w r as afterwards in 
 1292 confirmed by a small body of statutes, agreed 
 upon between the University and the Scholars, at the 
 procurement of the e.\ccutors of William of Durham. 
 According to these it appeared that sufficient care had 
 not been taken to restrict the objects of his liberality 
 to the city or county of Durham, and it was now 
 ordered, that such local preference should be pune-
 
 t8 UNIVERSITY COLLEGE. 
 
 tually observed; and that if there were a deficiency 
 of Masters of Arts applying, Bachelors should be 
 preferred, and even Sophisters, who were born in or 
 nearest Durham. Their next statutes were dated 
 1311, and here the same preference was confirmed; 
 the Fellows were to reside in one house, and their 
 numbers to be increased according to the increase of 
 their revenues. In all these documents William of 
 Durham is recognized as the Founder, without the 
 remotest mention or allusion to Alfred, or to any 
 hall, college, or other institution made by him, and 
 connected with this new foundation; but as the house 
 where Durham's scholars first assembled had been 
 many years called University Hull, and those that 
 lived in it University Scholars, in these last statutes it 
 was specially provided that they should be called 
 William of Durham s Scholars. 
 
 With respect, however, to the house, or hall, where 
 they first met, there is no positive evidence. Historians 
 have generally placed them in University Hall, which 
 now makes part of the site of Brazenose College, be- 
 cause that Hall had been purchased by them ; whereas 
 the other Halls, Brazenose Hall and Drowda Hall, 
 which they had occasionally occupied, were only 
 hired by them, and were of too great rent for them 
 at present to afford. 
 
 From this Hall they removed to the present site in 
 the High-street, according to the most probable calcu- 
 lation, in 1343. On this spot, where the College now 
 stands, was Durham Hall, so called from Andrew of 
 Durham, an Alderman of Oxford ; it had afterwards 
 the names of Selverne Hall, and Spicer's Hall. This 
 they purchased, in 1332, from the three daughters of
 
 UNIVERSITY COLLEGE. 2$ 
 
 Adam Feteplace, many years Mayor of Oxford : and 
 to this they added the purchase of White Hall and 
 Rose Hall in Kybald-street, (a street which no longer 
 exists,) and Ludlovv Hall in St. Peter's parish. On 
 their removal to this situation, they styled themselves 
 the Masters and Scholars of the Hall of the University 
 of Oxford. Their first house they had named Univer- 
 
 */ t/ / 
 
 sity Hall in School-street, their present was called 
 University Hall in High-street. From the year 
 JS'Ol, their leases ran in the name of the Master 
 and Fellows of the Hall of William of Durham, 
 commonly called University Hall; but in 1381 it 
 was called Great University Hall; and from that time 
 the names Aala Universitatis and Magna Aula Uni~ 
 versitalis were used promiscuously until the reign of 
 Queen Elizabeth. This title of Great University 
 Hall was used either to distinguish it from the one 
 they had left in School-street, or from one upon the 
 spot, which they purchased in 1404, and which was 
 called Little University Hall. Other purchases made 
 by the Fellows are carefully recorded in their books, 
 \\hich evidently prove, that every thing which be- 
 longs, or ever did belong, to this College, was pur- 
 chased with the money of William of Durham, or of 
 the succeeding benefactors. In 1475 they received 
 a third body of statutes, which, improved -by some 
 subsequent additions, continues still in force. At 
 what time the corporation was completed is un- 
 certain ; but they had a common seal in or before 
 the year 1320. and soon after, their first College 
 
 / <^j 
 
 was built i;i a quadrangular form, and continued 
 until the year 16YJ8. 
 
 Benefactors appeared very early; in 1290 u con.-
 
 30 UNIVERSITY COLLEGE. 
 
 siderablc addition of landed property was given by 
 Gilbert Ynglebred ; and in i:>'20, Philip of Beverley 
 gave a mill and lauds in Holderness, to support two 
 Scholars or Masters, born near Beverley. He was 
 Rector of Kangham, or Canygharn, probably a Fel- 
 low of the College, and the only Doctor of Divinity 
 in the Archdeaconry of the Ea>t Hiding of Yorkshire. 
 After his death he was reputed a saint, and miracles 
 were attributed to him. Robert de Replyngham, 
 Chancellor of York, who died in loJ2, is also enu- 
 merated, although doubtfully, among the early sup- 
 porters of this house"; but the following are named 
 with more certainty; King Henry IV. and Walter 
 Skirlaw, Bishop of Durham, in 140;3, gave the manor 
 of Roth vug Margaret, or Mark's Hall, in Essex, for 
 
 / ^D 
 
 the maintenance of three Fellows, either Graduates 
 or Undergraduates, natives of ^ ork or Durham. 
 Skirlaw furnished the library also with sojne manu- 
 scripts, lie was a native of Ski flaw, or Skirley, in 
 ^ orkshire, and is said to have run away from his 
 father's house, when a boy, to the University, where 
 he cultivated learning with such success, as to be 
 made, first. Dean of St. Martin's, afterwards Bishop 
 of Lichfield and Covcntrv, then of \\ ells, and lastly 
 of Durham, where he died, April, 140!). If \\c mav 
 credit his biographers, his parents knew nothing of 
 him from the time of his elopement, until he arrived 
 at the see of Durham, \\hen he found them out, and 
 provided for them suitably to his rank. 
 
 Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, about the 
 
 Wood anil Smith diflfi-r tnudi in tin r .TToir.it-; <;f the first l/oiu T.ie- 
 torMo this Cullr^v. I am nut r*rt.:in that I ha\c been ubK: to reconcile
 
 UNIVERSITY COLLEGE. Si 
 
 year 1442, gave the Society a quantity of land, and 
 the advowson of the Rectory of Arncliffe in Craven, 
 in the county of York, for the maintenance of three 
 Bachelors or Masters of Arts, of the dioceses of Dur- 
 ham, Carlisle, and York, to study divinity, and to be 
 accounted Fellows. By this donation, and a sum of 
 money given by Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winches- 
 ter, and Cardinal, the Society were enabled to build a 
 refectory and other additions to their house. In 1560, 
 Joan Davys, wife of Roger Hewet, citizen of Oxford, 
 gave estates in the parish of St. Martin and St. Tho- 
 mas, for the support of two Logic lecturers, or one on 
 Logic and another on Philosophy, and for increasing 
 the diet of the Master and Fellows. In 1584, Francis 
 Russel, second Earl of Bedford, bequeathed 201. per 
 ami. to be given to two poor Students in divinity, who 
 were to be called The Earl of Bedford's Scholars : and 
 in 1587, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, gave lands 
 for the maintenance of two Scholars, at the rate of 
 201. per aim. each. In 15QO, Otho Hunt, the clergy- 
 man of Methely in Yorkshire, provided by lands for 
 a Scholar, to be chosen from Swinton, in the parish 
 of \Vcith, or from that parish generally, or the 
 parishes of Mcthely or Kirkburton, or in Yorkshire 
 generally, or the places next adjoining. In 1592, 
 John Freyston, of A! tofts in Yorkshire, Esq. gave 
 an estate in Pontefraet, for the maintenance of a 
 Fellow and two Scholars, who were to be natives of 
 the county he gave money also for the purchase of 
 a house on the west side of the College, now part of 
 the great quadrangle. In 1007, John Browne, 13. I). 
 Vicar of Basingstoke in Hampshire, Fellow of Baliiol, 
 and of this College, gave an exhibition. In 1018, the
 
 32 UNIVERSITY COLLEGE. 
 
 Rev. Robert Gunsley, Rector of Titsey in Surry, 
 bequeathed the rectory and parsonage of Flamsted 
 in Hertfordshire to the College, for the maintenance 
 of two Scholars, for a certain period, and afterward* 
 of two more, all of whom should be chosen by the 
 Master and Fellows, two out of the Grammar-school 
 of Rochester, and^ two out of that of Maidstone, all 
 natives of Kent, except such as might be of his kin- 
 dred. Their present allowance is 15l. per annum, and 
 chambers in the College ; and nearly one half of the 
 Scholars who have enjoyed this benefaction appear 
 to have been of the name or kindred of the testator. 
 
 In the same year the Rev. Charles Greenwood, 
 Rector of Thornhill in Yorkshire, bequeathed money 
 for the maintenance of certain Fellows and Scholars ; 
 but one of his executors having disputed this at law, 
 it was not recovered in such a manner as to fulfil the 
 intention of the testator. It appears, however, that 
 he contributed the sum of loOOi. towards raising the 
 
 J 
 
 present buildings, and that part of them were erected 
 from his plan. In 1031, a pupil of Mr. Greenwood's, 
 Sir Simon Bcnnet, Bart, by will, dated August 15, 
 vested the estate of Hanley lodge and park, in Tow- 
 ccster hundred, Northamptonshire, in trustees to the 
 use of Dame Elizabeth his wife, for the term of her 
 life, settling the reversion on this College, towards 
 completing the new buildings, and for eight Fel- 
 lowships and elicit Scholarships; but the lands not 
 being so productive as was expected, the number 
 was reduced to four each. Sir Simon purchased 
 this estate for GOOOl. It lias since been deaftbrested, 
 and converted into pasture and tillage. 
 
 By the liberality of these aiid other benefactors, the
 
 UNIVERSITY COLLEGE. 33 
 
 College is now in possession of the VICARAGE of 
 Arncliffe in Yorkshire; the RECTORIES of North 
 Cerney, Gloucestershire; Checkendon, Oxfordshire ; 
 Elton, Huntingdonshire; Melsonby, Yorkshire; Tar- 
 rant Gunville, Dorsetshire; Headbourne Worthy*, 
 Hants, &c. and the perpetual CURACY of Flamsted, 
 to be given to one of Mr. Gunsley's Scholars. 
 
 In addition to these benefactions may be mentioned 
 that of Dr. Radcliffe, who left to the College his estate 
 of Linton, near York; and directed by his will, that two 
 travelling Fellows, to be appointed by the Lord Chan- 
 cellor, the Chancellor of the University, the Chancel- 
 lor of the Exchequer, the Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 the Bishops of London and Winchester, and the Mas- 
 ter of the Rolls, should receive 3001. per annum each, 
 for ten years, the first five of which they are required 
 to spend abroad ; and that the surplus of the estate 
 should be applied to the purchase of advowsons. 
 
 Dr. Browne, Master of the College, who died 1764, 
 founded two Scholarships, worth 201. per annum, for 
 natives of Yorkshire, and increased the other York- 
 shire Scholarships to the same value. 
 
 In 1592, the rents of this College were valued at 
 1001. and in 1612, the Society consisted of seventy- 
 two persons. It now consists of a Master, twelve 
 Fellows, and seventeen Scholars, with other students. 
 The King is the Visitor. 
 
 This living, by the will of Dr. Radcliffe, dated 13 Sept. 1714, as 
 often as it becomes void, is to be bestowed on a Member of University 
 College, to be nominated by the Vice-Chancellor, the two Divinity Pro- 
 fessors, the Master of University College, and the Rector of Lincoln 
 College, for the time being, or the major part of them. 
 
 D
 
 34 UNIVERSITY COLLEGE. 
 
 Very little information can now be recovered respect- 
 ing the original BUILDINGS belonging to this Col- 
 lege, as to the time of erection, the architects, or the 
 form. It appears, however, that in the beginning of 
 the reign of Henry II. the various tenements, schools, 
 or halls, inhabited by the Society, were pulled down, 
 and the whole re-edified in a quadrangular form, but 
 without exact proportions, as its progress depended 
 on their funds. About the beginning of the reign of 
 Henry VIII. a tower was added by Ralph Hamsterly 
 over the public gateway. The whole was executed 
 in a plain, substantial manner, but of no great height, 
 .which was the case with all the original Colleges. 
 When the more ancient part began to decay, a new 
 quadrangle was projected, and built at various times, 
 from the year 1634 to 1673, with the architectural aid 
 of the before-mentioned Charles Greenwood. It is a 
 noble Gothic structure of an hundred feet square, 
 containing on the south side the Chapel and Hull. 
 Many judicious alterations have been lately made on 
 the exterior of this square, to which the designs of 
 Dr. Griffith, the present Master, have given a more 
 decided Gothic character. Above the gateway are 
 two statues, that on the outside of Queen Anne, 
 and that within of James II. the latter presented 
 to the Society by a Roman Catholic, and placed here 
 in the Mastership of Mr. Obadiah Walker. 
 
 The other and newer court, of which this College 
 is composed, has only three sides, each about, eighty 
 feet in length, and opens to the Master's garden on 
 the south. The north and east sides, which were 
 built by the munificence of Dr. Uadclille, contain
 
 UNIVERSITY COLLEGE. 3.5 
 
 the Master's lodgings. Above the gateway of this 
 court, on the outside, is a statue of Queen Mary, 
 and another within of Dr. Radcliffe. These two 
 quadrangles form a grand front towards the High- 
 street, of above two hundred and sixty feet in length, 
 with a tower over each gateway at equal distances 
 from the extremities. The whole, from its numerous 
 Gothic ornaments, and especially when contrasted 
 with the airy grandeur of its opposite neighbour, 
 Queen's, exhibits an appearance of higher antiquity 
 than is justified by its history, and serves to per- 
 petuate the notion, that this is the eldest daughter 
 of Alma Mater. 
 
 The HALL was begun to be built in 1640, but, 
 owing to the interruption given to the University 
 during the Usurpation, was not completed until the 
 time of Charles II. In the year 1766, the interior 
 was much improved by the removal of the fire-place 
 from the centre of the room, where it was usually 
 placed in College-halls, as well as in the ancient halls 
 of our nobility and gentry". A chimney was then 
 constructed on the south side, and a wainscot put up 
 with a screen at the lower end, and the whole orna- 
 mented in the Gothic taste. The entire expence of 
 these alterations was borne by the spirited contribu- 
 tions of the Master and Fellows, and of some gentle- 
 men who had left the College with a grateful remern- 
 
 O O 
 
 brance of her favours. The elegant chimney-piece 
 was one of the many donations of the late Sir Roger 
 Nevvdigate, Bart, some time Gentleman Commoner 
 here, and for many Parliaments one of the Repre- 
 
 Churton's Lives of the Founders of Brazenose College, p. 85, 
 D 2
 
 36 UNIVERSITY COLLEGE. 
 
 sentatives of the University. The arms of most of the 
 other contributors are placed on the wainscot, toge- 
 ther with the portraits of Sir Roger Newdigate, Lord 
 Radnor, Sir William Scott, and Sir Robert Cham- 
 bers. The south window contains the figures of 
 Moses, Elias, and our Saviour, in painted glass, by 
 Henry Giles, dated 1687 ; and the roof is decorated 
 with the arms of the principal benefactors. 
 
 The COMMON ROOM contains Wilton's excellent 
 bust of Alfred from Rysbracb/s model, given to the 
 College by the Earl of Radnor : the portraits of Henry 
 IV. and Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, burnt in 
 wood by Dr. Griffith; a mode of delineating objects, 
 which certainly produces a very extraordinary effect, 
 and may be ranked among the most ingenious substi- 
 tutes for the pencil. From the same artist, is a beau- 
 tiful drawing of the High-street: and prints of Dr. 
 Samuel Johnson and Sir William Jones have lately 
 been added to the decorative memoranda of this 
 room. 
 
 The old LIBRARY was an upper room at the west 
 end of the Chapel, and as far back as 1632, when 
 Dr. George Abbot, the Master, gave an hundred 
 pounds for the purchase of books, consisted of a 
 considerable number; but when the old Chapel was 
 pulled down, the present Library was erected on the 
 south side, and beyond the principal quadrangle, and 
 finished in 1669. The collection has since been valu- 
 ably enriched, both in MSS. and printed books, by 
 various presents. Wood's notice of this Library in 
 its infant state is illustrative of the manners and 
 learning of the times. " At first the Society kept 
 " those books they had (which were but few) in
 
 UNIVERSITY COLLEGE. 37 
 
 " chests, and once, sometimes twice in a year, made 
 41 choice for the borrowing of such as they liked, 
 " by giving a certificate under their hands for the 
 *' restoring of them again to their proper place 1 ." 
 How arduous the pursuit of literature, and how slow 
 its progress, before the invention of printing! 
 
 It does not appear that, for some years after the 
 foundation of this College, the Society had any place 
 for divine service belonging to themselves, but at- 
 tended either in St. Mary's, or St. Peter's in the East, 
 About the year 1369, they possessed an Oratory, or 
 CHAPEL, within their own premises, of which little 
 can be traced. The Chapel which preceded the pre- 
 sent was finished and consecrated to the memory 
 of St. Cuthbert on the second of the Kalends of 
 April, 1476. This continued in use until about the 
 year 1639, when a design was formed of building the 
 present Chapel on the south side of the new qua- 
 drangle; but this was interrupted now, and again in 
 1657, by the distractions of the Interregnum, and 
 the building was not finally completed until l66'5. 
 On March 20, St. Cuthbert's day, it was consecrated 
 with great solemnity by Dr. Blandford, then Bishop 
 of Oxford, afterwards of Worcester; a man, says 
 Burnet, " modest and humble even to a fault." 
 
 The painted windows were executed by Abraham 
 van Linge in 1640-1, and as the Chapel was not then 
 ready to receive them, escaped the general destruction 
 to which most works of art of this description were 
 devoted. The fine east window, whose colours are 
 much decayed, was the work of Henry Giles, already 
 
 * Wood's Colleges and Halls, edit. Gutch, vol. i. p. 61. 
 D 3
 
 38 UNIVERSITY COLLEGE. 
 
 noticed, a famous glass-painter of York, and was 
 given by Dr. RadcliiTe in 16S7. The ceiling of this 
 Chapel is of Gothic groined, and of more recent 
 date than the walls. The screen, as usual, of the 
 Corinthian order, is exquisitely carved by Grinlin 
 Gibbons. The altar-piece is a copy of Carlo Dolce's 
 Salvator Mundi, burnt in wood by the present 
 Master. The ante-chapel has lately received an 
 addition calculated to excite the highest emotions 
 of veneration, the monument of Sir William Jones, 
 from the classical chisel of Flaxman, and presented 
 by Lady Jones. The bas relief represents Sir Wil- 
 liam employed, with the assistance of some Bra- 
 mins, in preparing that great work, a digest of the 
 Hindoo laws, on which he seemed to wish that his 
 fame, as a public benefactor, should rest. But the 
 fame of such a man could not be circumscribed. He 
 had perhaps more various learning, and more ex- 
 tensive knowledge, than any scholar of his time. This, 
 by comparison, is only preeminence, but, joined as it 
 was in him to the exquisite sensibility of the finest 
 taste, was truly wonderful. A monument by Flaxman 
 has lately been erected to the memory of Dr. Wcthe- 
 rejl, the late Master. 
 
 We find no MASTER or Gustos on record before 
 the year 13.32, which is consistent with the date as- 
 signed to the habitation of Durham Hall before men- 
 tioned. The first Master was Roger de Aswardby, 
 and he was succeeded in 13f)2 by John Pocklington, 
 who, in Wood's opinion, had been Principal of Bal- 
 liol Hall. In this list we find the names of Dr. Ab- 
 bot, afterwards Archbishop or' Canterbury ; Dr. Ban- 
 croft, Bishop of Oxford ; and Obadiah Walker, who
 
 UNIVERSITY COLLEGE. 30 
 
 Jost his Fellowship, during the Rebellion, for his ad- 
 herence to the Church of England, and his Master- 
 ship, at the Revolution, for his adherence to the 
 Church of Rome. Dr. Radcliffe, who had been his 
 pupil, kindly maintained him until his death in 1699, 
 ,and interred him in St. Pancras church-yard, London, 
 with a short epitaph, intimating that he' had reached 
 the grave " through good report and ill report." The 
 present Master is the thirty-sixth on the list. 
 
 Among the ARCHBISHOPS and BISHOPS educated 
 in University College, attention is first due to Skir- 
 law, Bishop of Durham, already noticed as a benefac- 
 tor to this College, but probably in a less degree than 
 to other places. Besides the erection of several bridges 
 and gateways, and the repairs of churches in his dio- 
 cese, he built at his own ex pence a great part of the 
 tower of York Minster, usually called the Lantern. 
 He founded a chantry likewise in that church, erected 
 part of the beautiful cloister of Durham, and a chapel 
 called from his name in the parish of Swine in Hol- 
 dernesse. His will affords additional proofs of his 
 munificent spirit. His successor in the Bishopric 
 of Durham, Thomas Langley, was also of this Col- 
 lege, according to Wood, although Hutchinson places 
 him at Cambridge. When appointed to this Bishop- 
 ric, he resigned the seals as Lord Chancellor, and 
 afterwards was made a Cardinal by Pope John 
 XXIII. He was likewise a very extensive bene- 
 factor in his diocese: Richard Flemming, Bishop of 
 Lincoln, and Founder of Lincoln College : John 
 Shirewoode, or Sherwood, Bishop of Durham from 
 1485 to 1493, had the reputation of a poet, and, what 
 was perhaps more remarkable in his time, that of 
 
 i> 4
 
 40 UNIVERSITY COLLEGE. 
 
 a Greek scholar: Bishop Ridley, the martyr, was 
 sometime Fellow here, but properly belongs to Cam- 
 bridge : Dr. Tobie Matthew, Archbishop of York, 
 belongs both to University and to Christ Church; 
 one of the most eminent and laborious divines of 
 his time, and a man of extensive benevolence and 
 learning: Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury, whom 
 Baliiol may claim as a Fellow, has already been no- 
 ticed among the Masters; and to him may be added 
 Bancroft, Bishop of Oxford ; Potter, Bishop of Ox- 
 ford and Archbishop of Canterbury, and author of 
 the Grecian Antiquities; and Dr. Charles Lyttelton, 
 Bishop of Carlisle, President, and a considerable be- 
 nefactor of books and MSS. to the Society of Anti- 
 quaries. 
 
 This College gave education likewise to Richard 
 Stanyhurst, a poet of a very singular cast, but more 
 deserving of notice as one of our earliest poetical 
 critics: and it may claim the whole of the learned 
 family of Digges ; Leonard and Thomas, celebrated 
 mathematicians ; Sir Dudley, Master of the Rolls, 
 his son Dudley, and his brother Thomas, the poet 
 and translator: Sir George Croke, Chief Justice of 
 England : Lord Herbert of Cherbury, who has been 
 characterised as a man of a martial spirit and pro- 
 found understanding, and who exhibits in his writ- 
 ings the inconsistencies of a credulous infidel ; a 
 character less uncommon than the pride of infi- 
 delity is disposed to allow : General Langbaine, 
 son of Dr. Gerard Langbaine of Queen's, the first 
 regular biographer of dramatic writers, and the first 
 collector of a dramatic library: Dr. Dudley Loft us, 
 Civilian, but more eminent as an oriental scholar:
 
 UNIVERSITY COLLEGE. 41 
 
 Dr. John Hudson, Keeper of the Bodleian Library, 
 a very learned classical editor, originally of Queen's 
 College, and afterwards Principal of St. Mary Hall. 
 When Dr. Radcliffe was inspired with the incli- 
 nation, but irresolute as to the proper mode, Dr. 
 Hudson is said to have directed his attention to 
 those objects, in this University, which his muni- 
 ficence afterwards promoted and enriched : Flavel, 
 a nonconformist writer of considerable learning, and 
 uninterrupted popularity: William Smith, Rector of 
 Melsonby, who published the history of this College 
 in 1728. He became a member of it in 1668, and 
 was elected Fellow in 1675. His history would have 
 been of much higher value had he not delayed it to his 
 
 O / 
 
 last days, when age and infirmity nearly overpowered 
 him ; and had he made it to embrace the whole pro- 
 gress of the College, instead of confining it to the 
 single point of William of Durham's right to the 
 honours of Foundership: Dr. RadclifTe was of this 
 College before he removed to Lincoln : The Rev. 
 Joseph Bingham, whose Origines Ecclesiastics induce 
 us to regret that he should have been obliged to 
 
 O O 
 
 resign the advantages derivable from his Fellowship, 
 a circumstance which the editors of the Biographia 
 Britannica have for some reason omitted; he was the 
 tutor of Dr. Potter, Archbishop of Canterbury : The 
 learned William Elstob, some time a Commoner of 
 Queen's, was elected Fellow of this College by the 
 friendship of Dr. Chariot and Dr. Hudson. His life 
 and that of his equally learned sister were discovered 
 in the Bodleian Library by Dr. Wetherell, late 
 Master of this College". Carte, the historian, took 
 
 1 Nichols's Life of Bowyer, vol. iv. p. 112.
 
 42 UNIVERSITY COLLEGE. 
 
 his first degree here, previously to his removing to 
 Cambridge : and lago, the poet and friend of Shen- 
 stone, was Servitor here in 1732. Among the law 
 scholars of more recent times, the name of Sir 
 Robert Chambers will readily occur. He was Vi- 
 nerian Professor in 1777, when he was appointed 
 second Justice of the Supreme Court of Judicature 
 in Bengal. On this occasion, the University, in full 
 Convocation, passed a vote for appointing a substi- 
 tute, and allowed Sir Robert the option of returning 
 to his professorship within three years, a mark of 
 respect which would have been suliicient to fix 
 the character of this learned and amiable man, had 
 we no other testimonies of his worth. Sir William 
 Jones has already been noticed, and cannot too often 
 be recommended to students, as a pattern of literary 
 industry, and a proof that the most indefatigable 
 labour is no obstruction to the energies of natural 
 taste and genius.
 
 BALLIOL COLLEGE. 
 
 1 HE Founder of this College was John de Balliol, of 
 Bernard's castle in the county of Durham, a man of 
 great opulence and power in the thirteenth century, 
 and a steady adherent to Henry III. in all his civil 
 contests and wars. His ancestor, Guy Balliol, came 
 into England with William the Conqueror; and the 
 second of the family built Bernard's or Barnard 
 castle, the ruins of which still remain. 
 
 The wealth and political consequence of John de 
 Balliol were dignified by a love of learning, and a 
 benevolence of disposition, which about the year 
 1263 (or 1268, as Wood thinks) induced him to 
 maintain certain poor Scholars of Oxford, in num- 
 ber sixteen, by exhibitions, perhaps with a view to 
 some more permanent establishment, when he should 
 have leisure to mature a plan for that purpose. On 
 his death in 1269% which appears from this circum- 
 stance to have been sudden, he could only recom- 
 mend the objects of his bounty to his lady and his 
 executors, but left no written deed or authority: 
 and as what he had formerly given was from his 
 
 *- O 
 
 personal estate, now in other hands, the farther care 
 of his Scholars would in all probability have ceased, 
 had not his lad} 7 been persuaded to fulfil his intention 
 in the most honourable manner, by taking upon her- 
 
 Savage, the historian of this College, is of opinion, that he died 
 before Pentecost, 12G6'.
 
 44 BALUOL COLLEGE. 
 
 self the future maintenance of them. But, without 
 detracting from the merit of her own liberality, it 
 would he injurious to suppress the name of Richard 
 Slickhury, a Minorite Friar and her Confessor, who 
 was her principal adviser in this matter. His argu- 
 ments, we are told, were hacked by those of another 
 ecclesiastic, the Confessor of the Countess of Pem- 
 broke, who had succeeded in persuading that lady to 
 endow Pembroke Hall in Cambridge; but the distance 
 between the periods renders this circumstance some- 
 what improbable, as the Countess of Pembroke did 
 Hot begin her foundation until the year 1343. 
 
 John de Balliol's lady, styled the Lady Dervorgille, 
 was one of the three daughters and coheiresses of 
 Alan of Galloway, a powerful Scotch Baron, by Mar- 
 garet, the eldest sister of John Scot, last Earl of 
 Chester, and one of the heirs to David, sometime 
 Earl of Huntingdon, younger brother of William, 
 King of Scotland. By her marriage with John de 
 Balliol, she became mother of John de Balliol, the 
 ill-fated King of Scotland. 
 
 The first step which Lady Dervorgille took, in pro- 
 viding for the Scholars, was to hire a house in Horse- 
 monger lane, afterwards called Canditch, (from Can- 
 dida Fossa,) in St. Mary Magdalen's parish, and on 
 the site where part of the present College stands; 
 and, being supported in the design by her husband's 
 executors, continued the provision which he allotted. 
 In 1282, she gave them statutes under her seal*, and 
 
 This seal contains a portrait of her, the dross of which was copied 
 in her portrait in the Picture Gallery; hut the fare is said to have been 
 taken from an Oxford beauty, an apothecary'* daughter of the name of
 
 BALLIOL COLLEGE. 45 
 
 appointed Hugh de Hartipoll and William de Menyle 
 as Procurators, or Governors of her Scholars. These 
 statutes, which remained in force for several years, 
 will serve to throw some light on the modes of colle- 
 giate discipline and order in the thirteenth century. 
 
 After the appointment of the Procurators, the 
 Scholars were enjoined to be present at divine offices 
 on Lord's days and principal festivals, and also at 
 sermons on those davs. unless urgent occasions di- 
 
 / ' O 
 
 verted them. On other days, they were to frequent 
 the Schools, and follow their studies according to the 
 
 O 
 
 statutes of the University: they were to obey her 
 Procurators in all things which she had ordered for 
 their government and good, and were to choose from 
 among themselves a Principal, whom all should obey 
 in things according to statutes and customs approved 
 and used by them. The Principal, after being duly 
 elected, was to be presented to the Procurators, to be 
 approved and confirmed by them, till which time he 
 should not exercise any authority. The Scholars were 
 to procure three masses to be solemnly celebrated 
 every year for the soul of her husband, the souls of 
 her predecessors, and her own health and safety, &c. 
 Every day, before and after dinner and supper, they 
 were to say a benediction, and pray especially for the 
 soul of her husband, and for her Procurators, accord- 
 ing to a prescribed form. In order that the poor 
 might be the better maintained, the richer Scholars 
 were enjoined to live so temperately, " that the said 
 " poor be not grieved by burthensome expences ;" 
 
 Reeks. Communicated by Mr. Huddesford, sometime Keeper of the Asli- 
 niolean Museum, to Granger. See Hist, of England, vol. i. p. 30.
 
 46 BALLIOL COLLEGE. 
 
 and such Scholars as murmured against this and 
 some other injunctions respecting extravagance, were 
 to he removed immediately, without any hope of re- 
 turning. The Scholars also were to speak Latin in 
 common, and in case of disobedience should be re- 
 buked by the Principal, who, after two or three 
 admonitions, had the power to remove them from 
 the common table, to eat by themselves, and be 
 served last; and if they remained incorrigible for a 
 week, the Procurators were to expel them. Every 
 other week a sophism was to be disputed and de- 
 termined in the house among the Scholars by turns, 
 so that they both oppose and answer; and if any 
 Sophister advanced so far as to be able to determine 
 in the Schools, the Principal was to inform him that 
 he should first determine at home among his fellows. 
 At the end of every disputation, the Principal was to 
 appoint the next day of disputing, and was to mode- 
 rate and correct the loquacious, and appoint the so- 
 phism next to be handled, and also the opponent, 
 respondent, and determiner, that so they might the 
 better provide themselves for a disputation. The 
 only other regulation worthy of notice was, that they 
 were to have a poor Scholar assigned them by the 
 Procurators, to whom they were bound to give every 
 day the leavings or broken meat of their table, unless 
 the Procurators should think it lit to be omitted. 
 The Scholars appear at this time to have amounted 
 to sixteen. 
 
 In 11>84, the Lady Dervorgille purchased a tene- 
 ment of a citizen of Oxford, called Mary's Hall, as a 
 perpetual settlement for the Principal and Scholars 
 of the House of Balliol. This edifice, after receiving 
 
 f w
 
 BALLIOL COLLEGE. 47 
 
 suitable repairs and additions, was called New Balliol 
 Hall, and their former residence then began to receive 
 the name of Old Balliol Hall. The same year she 
 made over certain lands in the county of Northum- 
 berland, the greater part of which was afterwards lost. 
 The foundation, however, was about this time con- 
 firmed by Oliver, Bishop of Lincoln, and by the son 
 of the Founder, who was afterwards King of Scotland, 
 and whose consent in this matter seems to entitle him 
 to the veneration of the Society. 
 
 The revenues of this College were at first very 
 small, yielding only eight-pence 8 per zceek to each 
 Scholar, or twenty-seven pounds nine shillings and 
 four pence for the whole per annum, which was soon 
 found insufficient. A number of benefactors, how- 
 ever, promoted the purposes of the Founder, by en- 
 riching the establishment with gifts of land, money, 
 and church-livings; and although some of these were 
 lost by various accidents, or wrested from the College 
 by injustice, yet what remained proved, under judi- 
 cious management, sufficient to answer the liberal in- 
 tentions of the benefactors. 
 
 In 1294, Hugh de Wychenbroke, or de Wyer, gave 
 the advowson of St. Lawrence Jewry, London, and 
 some other property in that parish. In 1310, Hugh 
 de Warkenby, Principal, and William de Gotham, a 
 Fellow of the College, gave four messuages in School- 
 
 O ' O O 
 
 street, for the support of a Chaplain to officiate in 
 the Oratory, which had been provided a few years 
 before. In 1320, Richard de Hunsingore gave a te- 
 nement in Oxford, in St. John's parish, which is now 
 
 * As good, says Savage, as a mark now (IGG8).
 
 48 BALLIOL COLLEGE. 
 
 part of Alban Hall, and some lands. But as with all 
 these helps the Scholars had no more weekly than 
 the eight-pence before mentioned, and that no longer 
 than until they became Masters of Arts, many of 
 them were obliged to relinquish their studies, and 
 even to follow mechanical trades for a maintenance. 
 
 The first benefactor who stepped forward to relieve 
 them in this distress, and to support the College, was 
 Sir William Felton, Knt. who about the year 134O 
 gave them the Rectory and manor of Alboldesly, or 
 Abbotsley, in Huntingdonshire ; and Pope Clement, 
 who confirmed Sir William Felton's gift, joined with 
 him likewise in introducing a regulation, that the 
 Fellows might keep their place, even after becoming 
 Masters or Doctors, until they succeeded to a living. 
 About the same time, both their numbers and re- 
 venues were augmented by the liberality of Sir Philip 
 Somervylc, Lord of the Manor of Wykenore in Staf- 
 fordshire ", who gave the church of Mikell Benton, or 
 Long Benton, with lands in the county of Northum- 
 berland, for the maintenance of six Scholars, who 
 were to be chosen by the sixteen Fellows already be- 
 longing to the College, and to be natives of the places 
 nearest to the estates he made over to them, and such 
 as were the poorest, and of the most promising abi- 
 lities. 
 
 This benefaction was accounted so considerable, as 
 to give Sir Philip the privilege of introducing a new 
 body of statutes, the principal articles of which were, 
 that the Society should choose out of their number 
 
 * He held this manor on condition of keeping a flitch of bacon hang- 
 ing in his hall, to be pjhen to any couple who had been married for :t 
 }:*! without (luarrullinij. See Spectator, N'o. C07.
 
 BALLIOL COLLEGE. 49 
 
 One who should govern all the House, and he and 
 his successors to be always called by the name of 
 MASTER*; that, after the election, he should be pre- 
 sented, first, to the Lords of the Manor of Wykenore, 
 if of the posterity of Sir Philip Somervyle; secondly, 
 to the Chancellor of the University; thirdly, to the 
 Guardian or Warden of Durham College in Oxford: 
 
 O * 
 
 and, lastly, to the extrinsic Masters of this College, 
 who were to confirm the election, and make him 
 swear to maintain the statutes, &c. of Sir Philip 
 Somervyle. Other regulations were introduced re- 
 specting their studies, and the weekly allowance of 
 the Fellows and Scholars raised to eleven pence % 
 which, in case of dearness of victuals, might be in- 
 creased to fifteen pence* These new statutes are dated 
 Oct. 18, 1340, and were confirmed by the Bishop of 
 Durham, Aungerville, either as Lord Chancellor or Lord 
 Treasurer, and by Edward Balliol, King of Scotland. 
 
 Two years after, Thomas Cave, Rector of* Wel- 
 wyke in Yorkshire, left one hundred pounds for the 
 purchase of benefices in Lincolnshire, out of the pro- 
 fits of which the number of Scholars was to be in- 
 .creased. William Broklesby, Clerk, to whose care 
 this money was entrusted, purchased, in 1343, the 
 livings of Fillingham, Riseholme, and Brokleby, or 
 Brattleby, which were settled on the College; but it 
 does not appear what number of Scholars was added. 
 Their number at all times seems to have been rec;u- 
 
 O 
 
 lated by the state of their revenues, and to have fluc- 
 
 According to the statutes of 1282, the Head of this House was sub- 
 ordinate to the Procurators. 
 
 1 " As good as eighteen shillings and four pence now (1GG3;." 
 Savage* 
 
 E
 
 50 BALLIOL COLLEGE. 
 
 tuated accordingly; and it was wisely provided, that 
 the number of Scholars on any particular foundation 
 should be reduced, if that foundation proved inade- 
 quate to their maintenance, and thus avoid infringing 
 on the general revenues, or other foundations of the 
 College. 
 
 In 1364, Simon of Sudbury, then Bishop of Lon- 
 don, and afterwards the unfortunate Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, gave this Society a new body of statutes, 
 which remained in force until 1507, when, in conse- 
 quence of an application of the Masters and Scholars 
 to the Pope, Julius II. the Bishops of Winchester 
 nnd Carlisle, Fox and Sever, drew up another body 
 of statutes, limiting the number of Fellows to ten, 
 who were all to study divinity, and enter into holy 
 orders after some years standing in the degree of 
 Master. Each Fellow was to have the presentation 
 of one Scholar, and the Master two, who were to 
 serve the Master and Fellows consistently with the 
 prosecution of their studies. Of the Fellows, two 
 were to be Priests, perpetually officiating in the cha- 
 pel, and two were to be Deans, and two Bursars, annu- 
 ally chosen. The exact number, therefore, at this time 
 was one Master, ten Fellows, and twelve Scholars. 
 
 This number was afterwards increased by lands be- 
 queathed in 1522 by Thomas Harrope, or Harrowe, 
 Rector of Hasely in Oxfordshire: and in 15CG, Dr. 
 John Bell, Bishop of Worcester, who died in that 
 year, founded two exhibitions, for youths born in the 
 diocese of Worcester, on certain lands in the parish 
 of Clerkenwell, London. William Hammond, Esq. 
 of Guildford in Surry, and sometime Mayor of that 
 place, who died 1575, bequeathed 1001. per annum;
 
 BALLTOL COLLEGE. 51 
 
 but no more of that legacy was recovered than the 
 principal sum of 2001. with which the Society pur- 
 chased Hammond Hall, afterwards called Hammond's 
 Lodgings, on the west side of the College, and which, 
 in the opinion of Wood, is the same that was once 
 called Sparrow Hall. About the latter end of Queen 
 Elizabeth's reign, Peter Blundell % of Tiverton in De- 
 vonshire, clothier, gave 20001. for founding six Scho- 
 larships in Oxford and Cambridge, to be supplied 
 from the Grammar-school of Tiverton, which he had 
 endowed ; and a third part of this money was laid out 
 on lands in Oxfordshire, for the maintenance of one 
 Fellow and one Scholar in this College. In 1605, 
 Mrs. Mary Dunch, wife of William Dunch, of Bright- 
 well in Berkshire, gave an annuity of 101. charged 
 upon North-Morton in Berkshire, for the maintenance 
 of one Scholar. John Browne, B. D. Vicar of Basing- 
 stoke, already noticed among the benefactors to Uni- 
 versity College, founded an exhibition here from Ba- 
 singstoke. In 1620, Lady Elizabeth Periam, of Green- 
 land in Berkshire, widow of Sir William Periam, Lord 
 Chief Baron of the Exchequer, founded a Fellow- 
 ship and two Scholarships, the Scholars to enjoy 
 their places three years after they have proceeded 
 
 a This was one of the most extensive benefactors of his time. In le- 
 gacies and munificent contributions he is said to have expended 40,0001. 
 Prince, who has a very interesting account of him among his Worthies- 
 of Devon, gives a different statement of his benefaction from that we 
 have taken from Wood. By his will, he founded three Scholarships in 
 Oxford and Cambridge, which his trustees afterwards increased to four 
 in Balliol, and four in Sidney College, Cambridge. There are, however, 
 now only t\vo Fellows and two Scholars of his foundation at Cambridge. 
 Blundell died in London, May '2, I6'01, and was buried in ihe church of 
 St. Michael Royal. 
 
 K 2
 
 J2 BALL1OL COLLEGE. 
 
 B. A. This lady was sister to the celebrated Lord 
 Bacon. 
 
 The last considerable benefactions appear to have 
 been suggested partly by a grateful remembrance of 
 the favours, though distant, that were conferred on 
 this Society by the mother of the King of Scotland, 
 and by the King himself, and partly to extend the ad- 
 vantages -of an English University education to such 
 of the natives of that kingdom as belonged to the 
 English Church. With these views, Dr. John Warner, 
 Bishop of Rochester, the founder of Bromley College, 
 the first of its kind in England, gave, in 1606, part of 
 the profits of his manor of Svvayton in Lincolnshire, 
 for the maintenance of four Scholars of the Scotch 
 nation, to be chosen, from time to time, by the Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Rochester. 
 Each was to have 201. yearly until M. A. when they 
 were to return to their own country, in holy orders, 
 " that there may never be wanting in Scotland some 
 " who shall support the ecclesiastical establishment of 
 " England ." Owing to some demur on the part of this 
 College, these Scholars were first placed in Gloucester 
 Hall, (now Worcester College,) and there was a de- 
 sign to have made that a College for their use; but, 
 in the Mastership of Dr. Thomas Good, in Ifi72, 
 they were removed hither; and the fund for Scotch 
 Scholars has since been increased by the liberality of 
 John Snell, Esq. who gave the manor of Uffton in 
 Warwickshire for that purpose. Mr. Snell was a 
 native of the county of Air in Scotland, and educated 
 in the University of Glasgow. He was at first Clerk 
 to Sir Orlando Bridgman, afterwards Crier of the 
 
 Godwin, ap. Richanlon.
 
 BALLIOL COLLEGE. 55 
 
 Court of Exchequer and of the Common Pleas, and 
 lastly Seal-bearer to the Lord Keeper. All these 
 offices lie held under Sir Orlando as chief of the re- 
 spective courts. He bore the Seal again under the 
 Chancellorship of Anthony Earl of Shaftesbury. Dur- 
 ing this time he acquired the estate which he left for 
 the maintenance of certain Scotch Scholars in such 
 College or Hall of Oxford, as should be chosen by 
 the Vice-Chancellor, the Provost of Queen's, the . 
 Master of Balliol, and the President of St. John's, 
 whose choice fell upon BallioJ. The estate was then 
 valued at 4501. per annum, which, after a certain num- 
 ber of years, and money expended thence, was to be 
 applied for the benefit of not more than twelve, nor 
 under five Scholars ; to be chosen from Glasgow Col- 
 lege, from such as had spent three years there, or two 
 at the least there, and one or two in some other Col- 
 lege in Scotland. This benefactor died in Holywell, 
 Oxford, Aug. 6, 1679- 
 
 By means of these and other benefactions, this Col- 
 lege is now enabled to enumerate among its church- 
 livings the RECTORIES of Brattleby, Fillingharn, and 
 Riseholme, Lincolnshire; All Saints, Holy Trinity, 
 and St. Leonard, in Colchester; Huntspill, Timsbury, 
 and Kilve cum Stringston, in Somersetshire; and 
 Tendring in Essex: the VICARAGES of Abbotsley, 
 Huntingdonshire; Long Benton, Northumberland; 
 Bere Regis, Dorsetshire; Duloe, Cornwall; St. Law- 
 rence Jewry, London, alternately with the Dean and 
 Chapter of St.. Paul's ; and Tey Marks, Essex *. 
 
 Of these livings, Bere Regis was given by Dr. Mander, Master in 
 1704, and the five livings in Essex by Dr. Henry Complon, Bishop of 
 London. 
 
 E 3
 
 54 BALLIOL COLLEGE. 
 
 In the 26 Henry VIII. 1535, the rents of this Col- 
 lege were estimated at 74l. 3s. 4d. and in 1592, at 
 1001. In 1612, the Society consisted of one hundred 
 and twenty-seven persons. It consists at present of a 
 Master, (called Procurator until 1282, and Principal 
 or Warden until 1340, when the title of Master was 
 introduced in Somervyle's statutes, and confirmed by 
 Queen Elizabeth's charter in 1588,) twelve Fellows, 
 fourteen Scholars, and eighteen Exhibitioners, with 
 other students. The present Visitor is the Bishop of 
 Durham, elected by the College, which is the only 
 one that enjoys the privilege of electing a Visitor. 
 
 The site of the BUILDINGS was originally occu- 
 pied by the tenements or halls already mentioned, and 
 which were purchased by, or presented to, the So- 
 ciety in its infancy. The front of the quadrangle 
 is divided by a fine Gothic gate, on which are the 
 arms of the Balliol family. Bell, Bishop of Worces- 
 ter, is supposed to have had some share in building 
 this gate. Part of the quadrangle was built in the 
 time of Henry VI. and part in that of Henry VII. 
 After various alterations and repairs, which render 
 the ancient forms rather objects of conjecture than 
 description, the east side, and the south-east from the 
 gate, were entirely rebuilt in the beginning of the 
 eighteenth century. The whole is one hundred and 
 twenty feet long, by eighty in breadth. 
 
 Besides this quadrangle, there is an area on the 
 north-west, consisting of several detached lodgings 
 for the students, and purchased for their use by 
 Archbishop Abbot, in the beginning of the reign of 
 Charles I. They were called Caesar's Lodgings, from
 
 BALLIOL COLLEGE. 55 
 
 Henry Caesar, (brother to Dr. Julius Caesar, Master 
 of the Rolls,) who was a member of this society in 
 the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and afterwards Dean of 
 Ely. There is likewise a new building at the south- 
 west angle, fronting the street, erected at the expence 
 of Mr. Fisher, late Fellow of Balliol, who enjoined 
 the following inscription to be placed on the north 
 side, VERBUM NON AMPLIUS FISHER. The front, 
 which is one hundred and eight feet long, is divided 
 into three stories. The pediment over the centre has 
 a shield within its flat surface, the whole surrounded 
 with a block cornice. 
 
 The HALL, on the west side of the quadrangle, 
 originally built in the reign of Henry VI. once con- 
 tained the arms of many of the benefactors ; but the 
 present interior is modern, and the only arms in it 
 are those of the College. 
 
 The LIBRARY, which in Wood's time was esteemed 
 one of the best in the University, was originally built in 
 two parts, the lower or west part, in 1427, by Dr. Tho- 
 mas Chace, and the upper or east part, about the year 
 1477, by Mr. Robert Abdy, both some time Masters. 
 William Lambert, who was Master in 1406, and Robert 
 Thwaites, who attained the same honour in 1451, gave 
 many valuable MSS. and William Wilton, a Fellow, 
 and afterwards Chancellor of the University, was also 
 a contributor of books in 1492. Grey, Bishop of 
 Ely, in 1454, proved a most noble benefactor, not 
 only in money for the building, but in adding to the 
 collection about two hundred manuscripts, many of 
 them richly illuminated, which he had purchased in 
 England and Italy. In the latter country he employed 
 transcribers and illuminators, as appears by some of his 
 
 4
 
 56 BALLIOL COLLEGE. 
 
 MSS. still in this Library; but tbis collection, like all 
 others, suffered by the depredations of King Edward's 
 Visitors. Some books, thus removed, are said to have 
 been sold by Robert Parsons, Bursar, and Protestant 
 books purchased with the money. He changed his 
 opinion on these matters afterwards, when he became 
 Parsons the Jesuit. There is a curious MS. by him 
 now in the Library, entitled, Epitome controversiarum 
 hujus temporis. Balliol Library, about the year 1550, 
 had a supply of books from Durham College. In 
 lG~3, Sir Thomas Wendy, of Haselingfield, in the 
 county of Cambridge, K. B. once a Gentleman Com- 
 moner, bequeathed his collection, supposed to be 
 worth 6001. and Archbishop Abbot contributed with 
 his usual liberality, and in some measure repaired the 
 damages occasioned by the mistaken zeal of the 
 Visitors. The interior of this Library was rebuilt by 
 Wyat a few years ago, in a style peculiarly chaste 
 and elegant, in imitation of the Gothic; and the 
 windows contain the arms, &,c. of the benefactors, 
 which were formerly in the old Library windows. 
 At the same time a new Common Room and offices 
 were made underneath. 
 
 The CHAPEL was begun to be built in 1.521, and 
 finished some time before \o ( 29. The site of the 
 former Chapel is doubtful, unless it stood where the 
 Master's lodgings now are, the beautiful bay window 
 of which has the arms of Bishop Grey, who built 
 these lodgings. There appears to have been a Chapel 
 as early as 1327, dedicated to St. Katharine. The 
 Abbot of Reading gave ten marks towards the build- 
 ing of it, and a glass window which cost 101.' The 
 
 Savairc.
 
 BALLIOL COLLEGE. 57 
 
 present Chapel, however, rose on the munificence of 
 individuals whose names have not been preserved, 
 except some of those who contributed to the windows. 
 The great east window, which contains the Passion, 
 Resurrection, and Ascension, in glowing colours, was 
 the gift of Dr. Laurence Stubbs, in 1529- It affords 
 no inconsiderable proof of the value in which this 
 window was held, that Wadham offered 2001. for it, 
 with a view to place it in his chapel. On what occa- 
 sion he thought himself encouraged to make this offer 
 we are not told. The other windows are ornamented 
 with Scripture pieces, portraits of saints, and heraldic 
 devices belonging to the respective donors. In the 
 second window on the south side is the story of Heze- 
 kiah's sickness and recovery, by Bernard van Linge, 
 dated 1637, and presented by Dr. Peter Wentworth, 
 Fellow. Lord Orford enumerates Van Linge among 
 those who have preserved the art of glass-painting, 
 but makes no mention 'of this piece. 
 
 Since the foundation, this College has been super-, 
 intended by two Procurators, eight Principals, or 
 Wardens, and forty-two MASTERS. Among these 
 we find the name of the first reformer, as he is 
 visually reckoned, the celebrated John Wick li fie, 
 whose real merit has been more obscured by in- 
 temperate praise and censure, than that of any man 
 whose history is interesting to the friends of religion 
 and learning. Of a different stamp was one of his 
 successors, Brookes, Bishop of Gloucester, a subde- 
 legate from the Pope, and one of Cranmer's judges, 
 but whose authority, and his only, that illustrious 
 martyr refused to own. The name of Cranmer ne- 
 cessarily recalls to memory, that he and Ridley and
 
 58 BALLIOL COLLEGE. 
 
 Latimer suffered martyrdom in Canditch, opposite to 
 the front of this College. Some years ago, the stone 
 on which the fatal stake was placed used to be shewn 
 to strangers ; but so remarkable an event seems to de- 
 mand a more distinct memorial'. 
 
 Dr. Henry Savage, who was chosen Master during 
 the Usurpation, but conformed afterwards, published 
 a work, entitled, " Balliofergus, or a Commentary 
 " upon the Foundation, Founders, and Affairs of Bal- 
 " liol College, 4to. 1668." Wood says he had no na- 
 tural geny for a work of this kind, and has committed 
 many blunders ; and it may be added, that bis style is 
 uncommonly vague, diffusive, and pedantic. His aim 
 was to appear great in little things ; and the gravity 
 with which he discusses the origin, derivation, &c. of 
 the name Katherine, whether it should be spelt with 
 a K or a C, at what time the h was introduced, and 
 the double / in Balliol, is truly wonderful. One of 
 the last Masters, Dr. Theophilus Leigh, who died 
 Jan. 3, 1785, was a man of learning and wit, and a 
 remarkable instance of academical longevity. He 
 held the office of Master for the very long term of 
 fifty-nine years. He took the degree of M. A. at 
 Corpus in 1715, and had been a resident in Oxford 
 nearly seventy years. 
 
 Of the PRELATES educated in this College, some 
 
 The public spirit of a worthy citizen of Oxford has preserved a 
 very interesting memorial of these illustrious confessors. Some years 
 ago, when the Bocardo, or prison in which they were confined previously 
 to their martyrdom, was pulled down, Mr. Alderman Fletcher (now, 
 for the third time, Mayor of Oxford) caused the door of their cell to be 
 removed, and fixed up in the common room of the city jail, with a suit- 
 able inscription, and the portraits of the martyrs very ingeuiously burnt 
 in wood, by a young man of the city.
 
 BALLIOL COLLEGE. 59 
 
 were men of great fame. Morton, Archbishop of Can- 
 terbury, a man of munificent taste and liberality, who 
 was successively Master of the Rolls, Bishop of Ely, 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord High Chancellor, 
 and a Cardinal, the second perpetual Chancellor of 
 the University, and a considerable benefactor to it. 
 He was the favourite minister of Henry VII. and 
 had no inconsiderable share in producing those mea- 
 sures which effected the union of the Houses of York 
 and Lancaster: Cuthbert Tunstall, Bishop of Durham, 
 a Prelate of great power and influence; but these were 
 so tempered with humanity, and dignified by learn- 
 ing, that, although he was an opponent of the Refor- 
 mation, he must be placed at an honourable distance 
 from the Bonners and Gardiners of his time. Eras- 
 mus, Dean Colet, Sir Thomas More, and Linacre, are 
 profuse in their encomiums on him ; nor have Whar- 
 ton, Pits, and Camclen, done less honour to his memory. 
 Omitting Piers and the Abbots, enumerated by Wood, 
 and already incidentally noticed, we come to the vene- 
 rable Dr. John Douglas, late Bishop of Salisbury, who 
 entered in 173() a Commoner of St. Mary Hall, but in 
 1738 removed to this College, first on Bishop War- 
 ner's, and afterwards on Snell's foundation. Besides 
 the many other obligations the literary world owes to 
 this distinguished scholar, he will be long remembered 
 as a detector of the impostures of Lauder and Bower, 
 and as an able advocate for the genuine miracles of 
 the Christian faith. 
 
 Many eminent names occur in the list of students of 
 other ranks, and none more distinguished than those of 
 the good and learned Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, 
 the founder of the public library : the accomplished
 
 60 BALUOL COLLEGE. 
 
 John Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester, who flourished in the 
 reigns of Henry VI. and Edward IV. a judicious encou- 
 rager of literature, by importing from abroad those trea- 
 sures which England wanted. Tanner informs us, that 
 he gave manuscripts to this University which were va- 
 lued at five hundred marks. He was one of the first 
 English writers who employed the press of Caxton. 
 It is to be regretted, however, that the softening in- 
 fluences of learning did not enable him to rise supe- 
 rior to the barbarous practices of his age, and that 
 his violent dcnth was in some respect a measure of 
 retaliation. Ross of Warwick, the historian, appears 
 to have been contemporary with Tiptoft in this Col- 
 lege. Here also were educated those distinguished 
 lawyers, Sir John Popham, Chief Justice of the King's 
 Bench; Lord Coventry, Lord Keeper; Sir Humphrey 
 Davenport, Chief Baron of the Exchequer; and Sir 
 Robert Atkyns, who was promoted to the same office, 
 and whose son, the historian of Gloucestershire, was 
 also of this College*. To these may be added, Parsons, 
 the celebrated Jesuit, whose intrigues were so consider- 
 able during the unsettled period of our national reli- 
 gion, and who, as already mentioned, began his ca- 
 reer of zeal by purging the library of Popish writ- 
 ings : Dr. Thomas Holland, who will occur hereafter 
 as Rector of Exeter: Tobias Crisp, said to be the 
 founder of the sect of the Aniinomians, a part of his 
 character which has since swelled into a controversy: 
 The very learned and ingenious John Evelyn, to 
 
 Ilu^h Holland, the author or compiler of the Heerolosjia, is said 
 by Wood, in his Hist. Folio, to have matriculated here in I.">82; hut he 
 appears to confound him with Hugh Holland, a poet. Tho author 
 of the Hcerologia was a stationer or bookseller in London.
 
 BALLIOL COLLEGE. 61 
 
 whose well-timed interference the University is in- 
 debted for the possession of the Arundelian marbles, 
 and whose life, it has been eloquently said, " was a 
 " course of inquiry, study, curiosity, instruction, and 
 " benevolence :" Dr. Charles Davenant, (son to Sir 
 William Davenant, the dramatic poet,) one of the 
 earliest and ablest writers on the subject of finance: 
 Dr. David Gregory', a branch of an illustrious 
 family of scholars both in England and Scotland : 
 Keil and Bradley, mathematicians and astronomers of 
 more recent fame : Dr. William King, who will be 
 noticed among the Principals of St. Mary Hall: 
 Hutchinson, the learned historian of Dorsetshire: 
 and James West, some time President of the Royal 
 Society, whose valuable manuscripts were lately pur- 
 chased by Parliament from the heirs of the first 
 Marquis of Lansdown, and deposited in the British 
 Museum. 
 
 Not a scholar of this House, hut a member of it when he came t 
 Oxford to succeed Dr. Bernard in the Saviliau Professorship.
 
 EXETER COLLEGE. 
 
 VV ALTER, de Stapledon, Bishop of Exeter, was the 
 Founder of this College, and of Hart Hall, now Hert- 
 ford College. All we have of his history 3 begins with 
 his advancement to the Bishopric in 1307. He is said 
 to have been of " great parentage," the younger 
 son of Sir Richard Stapledon, Knight ; but we hear 
 no more of him until his installation, which was 
 graced by ceremonies of magnificent solemnity. On 
 his arrival at Exeter, he alighted from his horse 
 at Eastgate, and walked on foot, the ground being 
 smoothed and covered with black cloth, to the cathe- 
 dral; on each hand, he was accompanied by a per- 
 son of distinction, while Sir William Courtney, who 
 claimed the honour of being steward on this occasion, 
 walked before him. At Broadgate he was received 
 by the Chapter and Choir. After the accustomed ce- 
 remonies, a grand feast was given, of such expcnce, as 
 the revenues of the Bishopric, according to Godwin's 
 estimation, would not have been sufficient to defray 1 '. 
 All the steps of his political life were marked with 
 honours. He was chosen one of the Privy Council to 
 
 His name is local, and was taken from Stapledon in the- parish of 
 Cookberry, the ancient residence of the family. Prince thinks he was 
 horn at Auiicry, in the parish of Monklcgh, near Great Torrinjjton, in 
 Devonshire. 
 
 b Vet in Henry IV.'s time it was valued at 70001. J>cr annum, a sum 
 scarcely credible as the expend: ol an entertainment.
 
 EXETER COLLEGE. 63 
 
 Edward II. appointed Lord Treasurer, and employed 
 in embassies, and other weighty affairs of state, in 
 which his abilities and integrity would have been 
 acknowledged, had he not lived in a period of re- 
 markable turbulence and injustice. In 1325 he ac- 
 companied the Queen to France, in order to negociate 
 a peace : but her intentions to depose her husband 
 were no longer to be concealed ; and the Bishop, 
 whose integrity her machinations could not corrupt, 
 continued to attach himself to the cause of his unfor- 
 tunate Sovereign, and fell an early sacrifice to popular 
 fury. In 1326 he was appointed Guardian of the 
 city of London, during the King's absence in the 
 West; and while he was taking measures to preserve 
 the loyalty of the metropolis, the populace attacked 
 him, Oct. 15, as he was walking the streets, and be- 
 headed him near the north door of St. Paul's, toge- 
 ther with Sir Richard Stapledon, his brother. God- 
 win informs us, that they buried the Bishop in a heap 
 of sand at the back of his house, without Temple-Bar: 
 Walsingham says, they threw it into the river : but the 
 former account seems most consistent with popular 
 malevolence and contempt. Exeter-house was founded 
 by him as a town residence for the Bishops of the 
 diocese, and is said to have been very magnificent. 
 It was afterwards alienated from the see, and, by a 
 change of owners, became first Leicester, and then 
 Essex-house, a name which the site still retains. It 
 appears that the Queen soon after ordered the body 
 of the murdered Bishop to be removed, and interred, 
 with that of his brother, in Exeter cathedral. In the 
 3 Edward III. 1329, a synod was held at London be- 
 fore Simon, Archbishop of Canterbury, to make in-
 
 4 XTrl COLLEGE. 
 
 quiry into Bishop Stapledon's death ; and his murder- 
 ers, and all who were any way privy or consenting to 
 the crime, were executed. His monument, on the 
 north aisle of Exeter cathedral, was erected by the 
 Rector and Fellows of this College ; and afterwards 
 repaired by this Society in the year 1733, and again 
 in 1807. The original inscription, which has been re- 
 moved, may be seen in Polwhele's Hist, of Devon. 
 Among the muniments of the Dean and Chapter of 
 Kxeter, there is an account of the administration of 
 his goods, by Richard Braylegh, Dean of Exeter, and 
 one of his executors; by which it appears, that he 
 left a. great many legacies to poor scholars, and several 
 sums of money, from twenty to sixty shillings, for the 
 repairing of bridges in the county, and towards build- 
 ing Pilton church, &c.* 
 
 The foundation of this College, which perhaps, 
 strictly speaking, was posterior to that of Hert- 
 ford, is so involved with it, as to make it difficult 
 to consider them, at least for some time, as different, 
 establishments. After he had engaged Hert or Hart 
 Hall for the accommodation of his Scholars, he pur- 
 chased a tenement on the site of the present College, 
 called St. Stephen's Hall, in the year 131 j; and hav- 
 ing purchased also some additional premises, known 
 then by the names of Scot Hall, Leding Park Hall, 
 and Baltaye Hall, he removed the Rector and Scho- 
 lars of Stapledon, or Hart Hall, to this place, in pur- 
 suance of the same foundation charter which he had 
 obtained of the Kin'jr for founding that Hall in the 
 
 O O 
 
 preceding year. According to the statutes \\hich he 
 gave to this Society, the number of person;* to be 
 
 ruUUtle'u Hit. of Devon, p. 284.
 
 EXETER COLLEGE. 05 
 
 maintained appears to have been thirteen; one to be 
 instructed in Theology or Canon-law, the rest in Phi- 
 losophy. Eight of them were to be of the Archdea- 
 conries of Exeter, Totness, and Barnstaple ; four of 
 the Archdeaconry of Cornwall ; and one, a Priest, 
 to be nominated by the Dean and Chapter of Exeter 
 from any other part of the kingdom. 
 
 In the article of money, the munificence of Bishop 
 Stapledon was soon aided by other benefactors, as 
 Philip de Skeltone, Ralph Germayne, and Richard 
 Grenfield. In 1404, Edmund Stafford, Bishop of 
 Exeter, reformed the statutes, changed the name 
 from Stapledon to Exeter Hall, and gave, in benefac- 
 tions of money, above two hundred marks, besides 
 books and ornaments to the Library and Chapel, and 
 the addition of two Fellowships from the diocese of 
 Salisbury. He was brother to Ralph, the first Earl 
 of Stafford, and was Chancellor of England under 
 Henry IV. He died, according to Izacke and God- 
 win, Sept. 4, 1419"; and the Scholars of this House 
 were so sensible of their obligations, as to appoint a 
 perpetual obit for him. 
 
 The superior endowments of this College were re- 
 served for the liberal spirit of another benefactor, Sir 
 William Petre. Some notice is due to a man of his 
 fame and accomplishments ; the founder of the noble 
 family of Petre, a statesman of acknowledged abilities 
 under the very discordant reigns of Henry VIII. Ed- 
 ward VI. Mary, and Elizabeth, and, what is not unin- 
 teresting to Oxford, the father of Dorothy \Vadham. 
 The exact time and place of his birth are not known. 
 
 Mr. Polwhele thinks his death took place some time before this, as 
 his corpse was brought to Exeter cathedral on the 3d.
 
 66 EXETER COLLEGE. 
 
 Exeter and Tornewton claim him as a native, from 
 one of which he was sent to Exeter Hall, and after- 
 wards, in 1523, elected a Fellow of All Souls. He 
 took the degree of Bachelor of Civil Law in 1526, 
 and that of Doctor in 1532. He was then made Prin- 
 cipal of Peckwater Inn, and was tutor to Thomas 
 Boleyne, Earl of Wiltshire. This served to introduce 
 him at Court, where he became a favourite with 
 Henry VIII. who sent him to travel, with the allow- 
 ance of a pension. On his return, he acted as Latin 
 Secretary in the office of the Secretary of State, and 
 in 1535 was appointed to be one of the Visitors of 
 the monasteries. For this he was remunerated with 
 grants of abbey -lands, received the honour of Knight- 
 hood, was admitted into the Privy Council, and finally 
 appointed one of the Principal Secretaries of State. 
 Edward VI. continued him in the Privy Council, and 
 as Secretary of State, and honoured him with other 
 appointments ; and notwithstanding in ecclesiastical 
 matters he had acted with Cranmer, Queen Mary re- 
 tained him as her Secretary, and found him, although 
 cautious, not averse to some of her measures. It is 
 certain that her successor, Elizabeth, continued him 
 in the office of Secretary for some years, and he was 
 of her Privy Council until his death in 1572". The 
 latter part of his days was devoted to acts of liberality. 
 In 1565 he procured a new body of statutes for this 
 College, and a regular deed of incorporation. He 
 
 Sir William Petre is not a solitary instance of this kind. William 
 Poulett, Lord St. John of Basing, afterwards Earl of Wiltshire and Mar- 
 quis of Winchester, was a Prny Counsellor under H< nry VIII. and Lord 
 Treasurer in the three following reigns. Sir John Mason, who will 
 occur amonj thu Scholars of All Souls, was another instance.
 
 EXETER COLLEGE. 67 
 
 founded at the same time eight Fellowships, from the 
 counties of Devon, Somerset, Dorset, Oxford, Essex, 
 or from any others in which he or his descendants 
 had estates, which are at present. Norfolk, Suffolk, 
 and Surry, endowing them in money and lands. To 
 these his lady and son made considerable additions 
 in money. We shall find him also among the bene- 
 factors to All Souls. 
 
 The other considerable benefactors to this College 
 were, Sir John Ackland, probably about the same 
 time that he contributed so largely to build the Hall : 
 Samuel Hill, Rector of Warlegan in Cornwall, who 
 in 1634 founded four Scholarships, two of Devonshire 
 and two of Cornwall. In 1636, King Charles I. gave 
 lands for the maintenance of one Fellow here, one in 
 Jesus, and another in Pembroke, who should be alter- 
 nately natives of the isles of Jersey and Guernsey. In 
 1637, Sir John Maynard settled a provision for the 
 increase of Fellowships, and for a divinity lecture, and 
 a lecture on the oriental languages. This was the cele- 
 brated Serjeant Maynard, whose steady policy enabled 
 him to reach the peaceful times of the Revolution, 
 through the stormy reigns of Charles I. and II. and 
 James. The last benefactor usually noticed in accounts 
 of this College is Mrs. or Lady Shiers. On her pic- 
 ture in the Hall she is commemorated as " Elizabetha 
 " Shiers terras legavit, ex quarum provcntn, addendi 
 " sunt Scholares : emendys Advocation.es: snpplenda 
 " Bibliotheca : augenda Stipendia, et Cominunac." 
 This was Lady Elizabeth Shiers, widow of Sir Robert 
 Shiers, of Slyfield-house in Surry. She died in 1700; 
 and her heir, Hugh Shortridgc, Rector of Fetcham, 
 made over to the College the estates she left for the 
 
 F 2
 
 68 EXETER COLLEGE. 
 
 various purposes above stated, but particularly for the 
 addition of two Fellowships from the counties of 
 Hertford and Surry. 
 
 The late Thomas Rowroey, Esq. M. P. for the city 
 of Oxford, gave the living of Wootton in Northamp- 
 tonshire to this College ; which has likewise attached 
 to it the RECTORIES of Baverstock and Somerford 
 Magna in Wiltshire j and Bushey in Hertfordshire ;. 
 and the VICARAGES of Kidlington, Merton, and 
 South Newington, in Oxfordshire; Menhinniot, Corn- 
 wall"; and Long Wittenham in Berkshire. 
 
 In the 26 Henry VIII. the revenues were valued at 
 811.; in 15Q2 at 2001.; and in 1612 the Society con- 
 sisted of 206 persons. The present members are, a 
 Rector, twenty-five Fellows, one Scholar, who is 
 Bible Clerk, and ten Exhibitioners,, besides other stu- 
 dents. The Bishop of Exeter is Visitor. 
 
 Respecting the ancient form of the BUILDINGS 
 of this College, our information is very imperfect. 
 They do not, however, appear to have composed a 
 regular whole, but were augmented from time to time, 
 us liberality supplied the means. About a century 
 after the foundation they were probably inclosed, for 
 at that period a gate was built, which continued to be 
 the principal entrance until Exeter lane was stopped 
 up. The tower which appears in Aggas's map, and a 
 new gate at the west end of the College, were added 
 about the same time. Afterwards some lodinner rooms 
 
 o O 
 
 were built by Thomas Bcntley, in 1597, and others, 
 in iGlB, by Sir John Periam, Knt. an opulent citizen, 
 
 Tlio Vicar of Menhinniot is chosen by the Chapter of Exeter, but 
 must be or have been a Fellow of this C'ullejre.
 
 EXETER COLLEGE. 69 
 
 an Alderman of Exeter, and brother to Sir William 
 Periam, whose widow was a benefactress to Balliol 
 College. These were long known by the name of 
 Periain's buildings. The gate and the rooms over 
 it, opposite to Jesus College, were built by Everard 
 Chambers, a Fellow of the House about the latter 
 nd of Queen Elizabeth's reign. The rooms were 
 purchased by the College in 1605, at the price of 
 2261. 6s. Sd. The building between this gate and the 
 Chapel was principally erected in 1672, one half by 
 benefactions, and the other half, at the west end of the 
 Chapel, was finished in 1682. In 1671, Dr. Arthur 
 Bury, Rector from 1666 to 1690, added a stone fa- 
 bric of three stories on the north side of the Rector's 
 lodgings. 
 
 The other parts of the quadrangle were rebuilt in 
 the beginning of the last century ; the tower over the 
 gateway, and the rooms from the south side of the 
 tower to the west end of the Hall, in 1700; and iu 
 1708, the apartments on the east side which joins 
 Periam's buildings, and the Rector's lodgings in the 
 place of the old Library, then taken down. 
 
 The principal front, two hundred and twenty feet 
 in length, is divided by the gate of rustic work, sur- 
 mounted by a tower, with Ionic pilasters supporting 
 a semicircular pediment, in the area of which are the 
 arms of the Founder on a shield surrounded with fes- 
 toons. The inner front is of a similar construction, 
 but with the arms of Lord Petre. The various al- 
 terations progressively made have now reduced the 
 whole to one extensive quadrangle, of nearly one 
 hundred and thirty-five feet each side, comprehending 
 the Hall, the Chapel, the Rector's lodgings, the front
 
 70 EXETER COLLEGE. 
 
 of which was rebuilt at the expence of the Society in 
 1798, and the chambers of the Society. Some of the 
 Fellows are accommodated in a large house behind the 
 Rector's lodgings, which was built by Dr. Prideaux, 
 Rector from ]6l2 to 1642, for the use of such foreign- 
 ers as resorted to this College to avail themselves of 
 his instructions. From the copious list Wood has given 
 in his Athens, it appears that Dr. Prideaux's fame as 
 a tutor was most extensive. Afterwards this house was 
 inhabited by private families for some years before it 
 was converted to its present use. The gardens, which 
 complete the premises of this College, beyond the 
 quadrangle, are laid out with considerable taste. 
 
 The HALL was built by Sir John Ackland of De- 
 vonshire, Knt. some time after the year 1618, when 
 the old Hall was pulled down. The expence was 
 10001. of which Sir John contributed SOOl. and the 
 College the remainder. It is ornamented w r ith por- 
 traits, among which are, a whole length of the 
 Founder, painted and presented by Peters in 1780; 
 an old portrait of the same ; Charles I. ; Sir John 
 Periam ; Sir John Ackland ; Archbishop Marsh ; Mrs. 
 Shiers; Hall, Bishop of Chester; Sir William Petre ; 
 and Doctors Bray, Stinton, and Richards, late Rectors. 
 
 A LIBRARY doubtless entered into the contempla- 
 tion of the Founder, if the madness of the times had 
 spared his life. We find, however, as early as 1368, a 
 benefaction of theological manuscripts by John Gran- 
 dison, Bishop of Exeter, and of mathematical and 
 astronomical writings by Simon de Bredon, an emi- 
 nent mathematician, in 137'2. The contributions of 
 other benefactors suggested the erection of a room 
 proper for their reception about the year 1383, which
 
 EXETER COLLEGE. 71 
 
 was situated in the east end of what was in Wood's 
 time called the Upper Court. This building was en- 
 larged in 1404; but the liberality of many eminent 
 scholars gradually rendering more space necessary, 
 the books, augmented also by the art of printing, 
 were in 1625 deposited in the old Chapel, where 
 they remained until 1/OQ, when an accidental fire 
 destroyed all the interior of the building, and the 
 principal part of the books. It was soon refurnished, 
 and enriched with a valuable collection both of manu- 
 scripts and printed books, particularly Aldine classics, 
 the gift of Thomas Richards, Esq. and Joseph San- 
 ford, B. D." some time members of this House. In 
 1778, this, the only remaining part of the original 
 College, was taken down, and rebuilt in a plain and 
 neat style from a plan given by the present Public 
 Orator. 
 
 It sometimes happened, that a CHAPEL made no 
 part of the original foundation of the Colleges. The 
 students of this Society, while at Hart Hall, attended 
 divine service at St. Peter's in the East, and when 
 they were brought to Stapledon Hall, at St. Mildred's, 
 their parish church, which stood nearly about the 
 centre of the present College. A few years after, 
 they obtained a licence from Henry Burwesh, Bishop 
 of Lincoln, to build a Chapel, which was finished 
 about the year 13<26, and consecrated to the honour 
 of the blessed Virgin Mary, St. Peter the Apostle, 
 and St. Thomas the martyr. It continued in use 
 until 1624, when, as already mentioned, it was turned 
 
 * Mr. Sanford was afterwards Fellow of Balliol, and died Sept. 1774, 
 art. 84, He lies buried in St. Mary Magdalen church, in the middle 
 aisle. 
 
 F 4
 
 72 EXETER COLLEGE. 
 
 into a library, and remained in that state until 1778. 
 The present Chapel was hegun in March ] 6*22-3, and 
 finished by Dr. George Hakewill, afterwards Rector, 
 at the expence of 14001. of which he contributed 
 12001. It was consecrated to the memory of St. 
 James, Oct. 5, l6%4, on which day Dr. Prideaux, 
 then Rector, preached a consecration sermon. Dr. 
 Hakewill left a sum of money for prayers and a ser- 
 mon on the anniversary. The Chapel, contrary to 
 the accustomed form of Chapels, consists of two 
 aisles, one of which is furnished for divine wor- 
 ship. It is enlightened by eight Gothic windows, 
 with this inscription on each, " Domus mea Domus 
 " Orationis"." The monumental inscriptions are nu- 
 merous, and upon the roof, which is an imitation of 
 groin and fret-work, and over the screens, are the 
 arms of Dr. Hakewill. An excellent portrait of him 
 is placed by his desire in the south aisle. 
 
 Before the changes introduced by Sir William 
 Petre in the constitution of this Society, the election 
 of the Head was annual; but from that time the 
 office became, as in other Colleges, perpetual. Of 
 the RECTORS, Dr. Thomas Holland, formerly of 
 Balliol, who held this office from 1592 to 1612, is 
 recorded as a man of extraordinary learning and 
 reading, and highly revered by the University, the 
 Heads of which attended his funeral in solemn pro- 
 cession, and the Rector of Lincoln, Dr. Kilbye, de- 
 
 Luke xix. 46. Dr. Prideaux's text to the consecration sermon. 
 When Dr. Hakewill gave so large a sum towards the building of 
 this Ch.ipel, he was only a Fellow, without preferment. The College 
 afterwards added a tenement in the parish of St. Mary Magdalen, 
 towards the better celebration of the day. Prince's Worthies of IJevon, 
 f. 406.
 
 EXETER COLLEGE. 75 
 
 livered an oration in his praise. He was succeeded 
 by Dr. John Prideaux, already noticed as a benefac- 
 tor, a voluminous writer, and one of the most learned 
 men of his age. It is to his honour that he entered 
 this College poor and friendless ; and, while employed 
 in the most menial offices in the kitchen, drew the 
 attention of the Fellows, who removed him into a 
 situation more worthy of his talents. Before he came 
 to Oxford, he stood candidate for the office of parish 
 clerk at Ugborow in Devonshire, and was unsuccess- 
 ful. He used to say, that if he had been elected clerk 
 of Ugborow, he should never have been a Bishop. 
 Towards the latter part of his reign, Charles I. nomi- 
 nated him to the Bishopric of Worcester ; but the 
 predominance of the republican party prevented his 
 enjoyment of this preferment, while the nomination 
 served to point him out as an object of persecution. 
 He was also Canon of Christ Church, and above 
 thirty years Regius Professor of Divinity; but after 
 t f he King's death he was obliged to sell even his books 
 to procure a maintenance. Dr. George Hakewill suc- 
 ceeded him in 1(542, but, owing to the confusion of 
 the times, resided mostly at a living in the country 
 until his death in 1649- The office was then filled by 
 Dr. John Conant; but he refusing to subscribe to the 
 Act of Conformity in 1662, resigned this as well as his 
 other preferments. Some years after he returned to 
 the Church, and in 1676. was promoted to the Arch- 
 deaconry of Norwich, and in 1681 to a prebendal stall 
 in Worcester. He died in the eighty-sixth year of 
 his age, 1693. Six volumes of his sermons were pub- 
 lished by Dr. Williams, Bishop of Chichester ; and a 
 great many more, with other manuscripts, containing
 
 74 EXETER COLLEGE. 
 
 memoirs of his eventful life and times, are still in the 
 possession of his descendants. Dr. Conybeare, after- 
 wards Dean of Christ Church and Bishop of Bristol, 
 was Rector from 1730 to 1733, when the Deanery was 
 conferred upon him for his able defence of Chris- 
 tianity against Dr. Tindal. He was one of the most 
 
 */ O 
 
 popular preachers of his time, and in his writings one 
 of the most acute and temperate of reasoners; The 
 present Rector is the nineteenth upon the list. 
 
 Many of the PRELATES educated at this College 
 were men of considerable fame. Dr. Bayley, Bishop 
 of Bangor, may be instanced as the author of one of 
 the most popular books in the English language, 
 " The Practice of Piety :" Dr. Prideaux, already 
 noticed : Dr. Bull, Bishop of St. David's, one of the 
 ablest champions of our Church, and Archbishop 
 Seeker, are too well known to require more particular 
 notice. 
 
 The list of eminent men of other ranks which 
 Exeter has produced is very copious. One of her 
 earliest pupils was John de Trevisa, Canon of West- 
 bury in Wiltshire, who, in 1387, at the command of 
 his munificent patron, Thomas Lord Berkeley, trans- 
 lated Higden's Polychronicon, Bartholomaeus de Pro- 
 prietatibus Rerum, and other Latin authors. There 
 seems, however, no foundation for attributing to him, 
 as Mr. Warton has done, a translation of the whole 
 Bible. Grocyn, one of the revivers of learning, re- 
 sided here some time, but more properly belongs to 
 .New College: Sir John Fortescue, one of the most 
 eminent lawyers and law-writers of the fifteenth cen- 
 tury : Sir George More, a benefactor to the public 
 library: Browne, the poet, and author of Britannia'*
 
 EXETER COLLEGE. 75 
 
 .Pastorals: Robert Hay man, another poet of less re- 
 pown : Henry Gary, Lord Falkland, a nobleman of an 
 illustrious family, four of whom were successively au- 
 thors: Sir John Doddridge, eminent as a judge and 
 antiquary : Sir William Noy, Attorney General, more 
 entitled to respect as a writer, than a practical lawyer: 
 -r-The Fitzherberts, Sir Anthony, Nicholas, and Tho- 
 mas : Diggory Wheare, the first Camden Professor, 
 and the first who wrote systematically on the study of 
 history : The unfortunate James, Duke of Hamilton, 
 who was beheaded for his inflexible attachment to 
 Charles I. Dr. Arthur Duck, an eminent civilian, 
 and the biographer of Archbishop Chichele : Lord 
 Chief Justice Rolle : Henry Carey, second Earl of 
 Monmouth, who employed his retired hours, during 
 the Usurpation, in many historical translations and 
 original compositions; Sir Simon Baskerville, a very 
 learned physician, and the most opulent and extensive 
 practitioner of his age. He died in 1641. It is upon 
 record, as a proof of his popularity, that he had gene- 
 rally one hundred patients a week, and of his good 
 sense and humanity, that he took no fee from any 
 clergyman under the rank of Dean : Joseph Caryll, a 
 learned nonconformist, and well known as the author 
 of a most voluminous commentary on the book of 
 Job : John Poulett, the loyal Marquis of Winches- 
 ter, whose house at Basing stood a siege of two y-ears 
 against the Parliamentary forces : the history of this 
 siege forms one of the most interesting narratives of a 
 period that was full of wonders. Drydcn honoured 
 his Lordship, as Milton did the Marchioness, with an 
 epitaph : Thomas Branekcr, a mathematician : Jo- 
 seph Glanviile, a man of considerable talents, an able
 
 76 EXETER COLLEGE. 
 
 opponent of the Aristotelian philosophy, and no less 
 zealous in his belief in witches and apparitions: An- 
 thony Ashley Cooper, Lord Shaftesbury, a statesman 
 of unquestionable talents, acuteness, and judgment, but 
 whose real character and merits in public and private 
 life are yet contested by historians and biographers : 
 Quick, the ecclesiastical historian : Dr. Gideon Har- 
 vey, a voluminous, but not very successful medical 
 writer: Sir George Treby, Chief Justice of the Com- 
 mon Pleas. Among the more modern Scholars of 
 this College may be enumerated Anstis, the cele- 
 brated herald : Dr. Walker, the historian of the 
 loyal Clergy : Maundrell, the traveller : Samuel Wes- 
 ley, father of the founders of the Methodists, John 
 and Charles Wesley: Dr. Borlase : Sir Michael 
 Foster : Mr. Lewis of Margate, the biographer : 
 Norris, Rector of Bemerton, the Platonist : Upton, 
 the editor of Epictctus, and one of the earliest com- 
 mentators on Shakspeare : Toup, eminent for clas- 
 sical knowledge and criticism: Tindal, the conti- 
 nuator of Rapin : Hole, the poet : and Dr. Ken- 
 nicot*. 
 
 " This College consisteth chiefly of Cornish and Devonshire men, 
 " the gentry of which latter, Queen Elizabeth used to say, were cour- 
 " tiers by their birth. And as these western men do bear away the bell 
 " for might and sleight in wrestling, so the Schollars here have alwayes 
 " acquitted themselves with credit in Pulifstra liferaria." Fuller'* 
 Church History, book iv. p. 102.
 
 ORIEL COLLEGE. 
 
 Jl<DWARD II. an unfortunate monarch, but a scho- 
 lar, a poet, and an encourager of learning, is the ac- 
 knowledged Founder of this House. But without de- 
 tracting from the liberality which had induced him 
 before this to found the College of Carmelite Friars 
 in Oxford, and similar institutions in other places, it 
 is necessary to notice in the present instance, that the 
 College owed its establishment to the instigation of 
 his almoner, Adam de Brom. The only accounts we 
 have of this benefactor state, that he was Rector of 
 Han worth in Middlesex in 1315; the year following, 
 Chancellor of the diocese of Durham; in 1319, Arch- 
 deacon of Stow; and a few months after was promoted 
 to the living of St. Mary, Oxford. In 1324, he re- 
 quested of his Sovereign to be empowered to purchase 
 a messuage in Oxford, where he might found, to the 
 honour of the Virgin Mary, a College of Scholars, 
 governed by a Rector of their own choosing, sub no- 
 mine Rectoris Domus Scholarium Beatce Maria, Oxon. 
 With this the King readily complied, and authorized 
 them to purchase lands and advowsons to the yearly 
 value of thirty pounds. 
 
 De Brom immediately commenced his undertaking 
 by purchasing a tenement in St. Mary's parish ; and, 
 by virtue of the charter granted by the King, and 
 dated on the feast of St. Nicholas, Dec. 6, 1324, 
 founded a College of Scholars for the study of Di- 
 vinity and Logic. He then resigned the whole into
 
 78 ORIEL COLLEGE. 
 
 the hands of the King, of whose liberality he appears 
 to have made a just estimate, and from whose power 
 he expected advantages to the Society, which he was 
 himself incapable of conferring. Nor was he disap- 
 pointed in the issue of this well-timed policy. The 
 King took the College under his own care, and the 
 next year granted a new charter, appointing it to be 
 a College for Divinity and the Canon-law ; to be 
 governed by a Provost; and, for their better mainte- 
 nance, besides some tenements in St. Mary's parish, 
 he gave them the advowson of St. Mary's church, on 
 condition of their providing certain Chaplains to per- 
 form service in that church daily. He also enlarged 
 their powers of making purchases of lands, See. to the 
 yearly value of sixty pounds. 
 
 Adam de Brom, who was deservedly appointed the 
 first Provost, drew up a body of statutes in 1326, 
 according to which the College was to consist of a 
 Provost, and ten Fellows or Scholars, studying Divi- 
 nity, three of whom were afterwards allowed to study 
 the Canon-law. He gave them also the church of 
 Aberforth in Yorkshire: and in 1327, Edward III. be- 
 stowed upon them a large messuage, situated partly 
 in the parish of St. John Baptist, called La Oriole, to 
 which the Scholars soon removed, and from which the 
 College took its name. Besides this, De Brom, ever 
 anxious for the prosperity of the institution, procured 
 of the King the hospital of St. Bartholomew, which 
 eventually added considerably to their revenues, al- 
 though the immediate object was only to furnish them 
 with a place of .safety during times of pestilential in- 
 fection. The site of this hospital was about half a 
 mile from St. Clement's church, in the centre betweea
 
 ORIEL COLLEGE, 79 
 
 the two London roads. It was built by Henry I. in 
 1126, and was partly an hospital, and partly a con-- 
 vent. It was demolished about the time of the siege 
 of Oxford, but rebuilt in 1649- The last aid which 
 De Brom appears to have given to the College con- 
 sisted of the advowson of Coleby in Lincolnshire. 
 
 By their statutes they are required, as often as they 
 become possessed of new estates to a certain amount, 
 to increase proportionably the number of Fellowships. 
 In the year 1504, they wished for a dispensation of 
 this rule in a particular instance, and to be permitted 
 to appropriate the manor of Shenington in Glouces- 
 tershire, which they had recently purchased, to the 
 emolument of the Provost and Fellows as they then 
 subsisted, without adding to their number. The re- 
 quest appeared reasonable; and Bishop Smyth, who 
 as Bishop of Lincoln at that time exercised the power 
 of Visitor, ratified the ordinance . 
 
 For above a century after the time of Adam de 
 Brom, we hear of no accessions to this College. In 
 1441, however, John Franke, Clerk, Master of the 
 Rolls, and afterwards Lord Chancellor, bequeathed the 
 sum of 10001. to purchase lands for the maintenance 
 of four Fellows of the counties of Somerset, Dorset, 
 Wilts, and Devon. Another Fellow from the diocese 
 of Worcester, and an annual exhibition to six poor 
 Scholars, were added, in 1476, by John Carpenter, 
 Bishop of Worcester, who was educated here, and 
 who also gave to the Society Bedell Hall, an ancient 
 
 a Churton's Lives of the Founders of Drazcnose College, p. 227. This 
 claim of the Bishops of Lincoln to be Visitors has heen since determined 
 to be illegal, by a judgment in the Court of Common Pleas, A. D. 1727. 
 and from that time the Lord Chancellor has exercised the power of Vi- 
 sitor.
 
 80 ORIEL COLLEGE. 
 
 receptacle for scholars, situated between St. Mary's and 
 Oriel College garden, and three othef tenements in the 
 vicinity. This Prelate was a very eminent benefactor 
 to the once magnificent architecture of Westbury Col- 
 lege in Gloucestershire, where he lies buried. 
 
 Smyth, Bishop of Lincoln, the founder of Braze- 
 nose, whom we have just mentioned as Visitor, was 
 the next benefactor. He is supposed, although upon 
 very slight grounds, to have been educated here. His 
 first intention, with respect to this College, was to 
 have given them an estate in land; but money being 
 at that time wanted to complete a purchase, he gave 
 them the sum of three hundred pounds, for the main- 
 tenance of a Fellow of the diocese of Lincoln, on 
 certain conditions, which were agreed to May 5, 1507, 
 but broken through by mutual consent of the Bishop 
 and Society on the first opportunity. The learned 
 biographer of Bishop Smyth informs us, that at the 
 first election on this foundation, Roger Edgeworth, 
 B. A. was chosen, who was not of the diocese of Lin- 
 coln, but of Lichfield ; and his election was also con- 
 trary to the standing rule of having not more than two 
 Fellows at the same time from the same diocese, there 
 being at this time two of the diocese of Lichfield. A 
 provision, however, was introduced to prevent this 
 election from being drawn into a precedent". 
 
 In 1529, Dr. Richard Dudley, who had been a Fel- 
 low, and was now Chancellor of the church of Salis- 
 bury, gave the manor of Swainswick in Somersetshire 
 for the maintenance of two Fellows and six Exhibi- 
 tioners. In 1.399, John Jackman, likewise a Fellow, 
 left a house and lands in St. Giles's parish for the 
 
 Churton's Lives of the rounders of Brazenose College, p. 232-4.
 
 ORIEL COLLEGE. 81 
 
 maintenance of a poor scholar of Worcestershire. 
 In 1714, Queen Anne annexed a prebend of Roches- 
 ter to the Provostship* Dr. Robinson, Bishop of 
 London, no less eminent as a statesman than as a 
 divine, and whose acts of munificence were numerous 
 and splendid, gave 25001. to augment the Fellowships, 
 and to found three Exhibitions. Dr. Carter, Provost 
 from 1708 to 1727, left money for the purchase of 
 livings for the benefit of the Provost and Fellows, 
 and to found three Exhibitions ; and Charles Noel, 
 fourth Duke of Beaufort, gave 1001. per annum for 
 four Exhibitions. By her will, dated Sept. 28, 1761, 
 Mrs. Elizabeth Ludwell founded two Exhibitions, 
 with preference to candidates from the parish of Cha- 
 ring in Kent, where she had endowed a free-school; 
 the Exhibitions to be paid out of the rent of a farm 
 in Throw ley. 
 
 In consequence of the liberality of the founders and 
 benefactors, the College now possesses the RECTO- 
 RIES of Cholderton, Wiltshire; Cromhall Abbots 
 and Tort worth, Gloucestershire; Ply m tree, Devon- 
 shire ; Purleigh, Essex ; West Saltfleetby, Lincoln ; 
 Swainswick, Somersetshire ; and Ufton, Berkshire : 
 the VICARAGES of Aberford, or Aberforth, York- 
 shire; Coleby, Lincolnshire; and St. Mary the Vir- 
 gin, Oxford : and the CURACY of Moreton Pinckney, 
 Northamptonshire. 
 
 The revenues of this College were valued 26 Henry 
 VIII. at 1821. 8s. 6d. per annum, according to Tanner; 
 but Tvvyne makes them only 1581. 15s. In Elizabeth's 
 time they were valued at 2001. In 1612, the Society 
 consisted of seventy-nine persons. The present mem- 
 bers are, a Provost, eighteen Fellows, and thirteen. 
 
 e
 
 M ORIEL COLLEGE. 
 
 Exhibitioners, besides other students. The Lord 
 Chancellor is the Visitor. It was formerly under the 
 jurisdiction of the Bishops of Lincoln. 
 
 The first of the BUILDINGS belonging to this 
 College was Oriole, or Oriel Hall, partly in Schyd- 
 yard-street, and partly in St. John's-street. Subse- 
 quent additions were made to complete the quadran- 
 gular form about the latter end of the reign of Edward 
 III. This remained until 162O, when the south and 
 most of the west sides were rebuilt, from the west end 
 of the Chapel to Oriel College corner, and thence to 
 the buildings on the north side of the common gate. 
 For this purpose, Anthony Blencowe, D. C. L. some 
 time Provost, gave 13001. The north and east sides 
 were pulled down in 1637, and a few years after, the 
 east, north, and part of the west sides were erected in 
 conformity to the buildings which arose after 1620, 
 the whole occupying a much larger space than the 
 old quadrangle. Dr. John Tolson, who was Provost 
 from 1621 to 1644, contributed 11501. towards this 
 building, besides other considerable donations. 
 
 This quadrangle contains, on the north, part of the 
 Provost's lodgings ; on the east, the Hall and entrance 
 into the Chapel, which runs eastward ; and on the 
 south and west, the chambers for the Society. On 
 the roof of the gateway, on the west side, are the 
 royal arms of Charles; the same on the east side; and 
 the other door-ways are ornamented with the arms of 
 the benefactors. The rooms in the tower over the 
 gateway are used as the bursary, and for the archives. 
 
 Besides this quadrangle, on the east and west sides 
 f the garden are two handsome buildings, the first
 
 ORIEL COLLEGE. 83 
 
 erected in the lifetime and at the expence of John 
 Robinson, already mentioned, who was Bishop of 
 London from 1713 to 1723. This noble benefaction, 
 with that of three Exhibitions for Bachelors, is re- 
 corded by an inscription on the front of the building, 
 dated 1719, in which the reader will not fail to remark 
 the delicate compliment paid to his lady. The Runic 
 motto implies, Omnino homo puheris incrementum, or, 
 as Lye translated it, Homo est puheris adauctus, seu 
 puheris augmentum. George Carter, some time Pro- 
 vost, bequeathed his whole fortune for the purpose of 
 erecting the building on the west side, which was 
 begun in March 1729, and for the further purpose of 
 purchasing livings for the Provost and College. The 
 new Library stands between these buildings. 
 
 The HALL, which is part of the quadrangle that 
 rose in 1637, is ascended by a flight of steps, with 
 a portico, over which are the statues of the Virgin 
 Mary and child, and those of the Kings Edward If. 
 and III. under coronal canopies. The room, which 
 is fifty feet long by about twenty in breadth, is chaste- 
 ly ornamented in the Doric style, and contains three 
 whole length portraits of Edward II. by Hudson, 
 Queen Anne by Dahl, and the Duke of Beaufort by 
 Soldi. In one of the windows are the arms of Pierre- 
 point, Earl of Kingston, quartering nineteen coats, 
 with the motto, Pie repone te. Among the curious 
 plate belonging to this Hall are two cups ; the on6 of 
 silver gilt, and richly carved, which was presented by 
 the Founder; the other was the gift of Bishop Car- 
 penter. 
 
 The first LIBRARY belonging to this College was 
 built in 1444, and lasted until 1637, after which the
 
 84 ORIEL COLLEGE. 
 
 late one was erected on the north side of the quadran- 
 gle. The present is an elegant edifice designed by 
 Wyat, the exterior harmonious and simple in decora- 
 tion; the inside, an oblong of eighty-three feet by 
 twenty-eight, and twenty in height, is liable to some 
 objection, o account of the imperfect distribution of 
 the light, and the unequal proportions of the orna- 
 ments. Jt is placed between Carter's and Robinson's 
 buildings, and, besides the books formerly pertaining 
 to the College, contains a very curious and valuable 
 collection, the legacy of the late Edward Leigh, 
 Baron Leigh of Stourleigh in Warwickshire, who 
 was some time a Nobleman of this College, and after- 
 wards High Steward of the University. This munifi- 
 cent benefactor died in 1786 ; and the new building was 
 begun in 1788, and was ably supported by the sub- 
 scriptions of the Provost and Fellows, of various 
 members of the Society, and of the Hon. Mrs. Leigh, 
 sister and heiress to Lord Leigh. The only painting 
 in this Library is one by Vasari, of which there are 
 said to be two copies extant by the same master. 
 The subject is a group of Italian poets, Guido Ca- 
 valcanti, Dante, Boccaccio, Petrarch, Politian, and 
 Marsilius Ficinus. In the gallery of this Library is 
 a scarce print of the same, but somewhat different in 
 the expressions of the countenances. This picture 
 was lately presented by James Clutterbuck Smith, 
 Esq. A new room adjoining to the gallery is lined 
 with some of the rich wainscotting which belonged 
 to New College Chapel before the late alterations. 
 
 For some time after the foundation of Oriel, the 
 students attended divine service at St. Mary's. In 
 1372 they obtained a licence for a CHAPEL within
 
 ORIEL COLLEGE. 85 
 
 their own premises, which was built at the expence of 
 Richard, Earl of Arimdel, and his son Thomas, Bi- 
 shop of Ely, and afterwards Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury, and continued in use till 1620, when it was 
 pulled down. The present was finished in 1642, a 
 time very unpropitious for such erections. In 1677, 
 the high altar, and in 1678 the rest of the inner 
 Chapel, were paved with black and white marble, in 
 consequence of legacies left for that purpose by 
 Samuel Short and Charles Perrot, Fellows of the 
 House. The east window is ornamented with the 
 Presentation of our Saviour in the Temple ; designed 
 by Dr. Wall, and painted by Peckitt. It was givert to 
 the Chapel by the Duke of Beaufort, Viscount Wen- 
 man, and Lord Leigh, in 1?67. 
 
 The number of PROVOSTS, from the foundation, is 
 thirty-eight. Adam de Brom, already noticed as en- 
 titled to the highest veneration for the zeal and libe- 
 rality with which he fostered the Society in its in- 
 fancy, died June 16, 1332, and was buried in St. 
 Mary's church, in a chapel called after his name, 
 and said to have been built by him, where his tomb, 
 now decayed, was visible in Wood's time. Of his 
 successors, Carpenter, Lyhert, and Hals, were pro- 
 moted to the Episcopal bench, and the latter was a 
 benefactor to his College : Dr. Walter Hodges, au- 
 thor of Elihu, an elaborate work on the book of Job, 
 was one of the earliest Hutchinsonians. When this 
 exposed him to misrepresentations, he was told that 
 a writer on the book of Job should take every thing 
 with patience. The biographer of Bishop Home in- 
 forms us, that in his days he was a man of a venerable 
 appearance, with an address and delivery which mad 
 
 G 3
 
 86 ORIEL COLLEGE. 
 
 him very popular as a preacher. He held the office 
 of Provost from 1727 to 1757. 
 
 Besides those PRELATES who were educated at this 
 College, and became Provosts, the following memora- 
 ble names belong to the same rank. Arundel, Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, a statesman of lofty ambition, 
 and an ecclesiastic of inflexible adherence to the 
 Church as constituted in the fourteenth century; but 
 whose fine taste and spirit in ornamenting many reli- 
 gious edifices will more honourably perpetuate his 
 name : Reynold Pecock, Bishop of Chichester, who, 
 after Wicklirle, appears to have conceived some im- 
 perfect notions of the reformed religion, for which he 
 was reduced to a private station: Dr. Butler, Bishop 
 of Durham, a man of strong sense and acute reason- 
 ing, and author of the celebrated " Analogy," a work 
 so well known, and so interesting to students of divi- 
 nity, as to render any farther notice of him wholly 
 unnecessary. It may not, however, be so readily re- 
 collected, that he expended the whole income of the 
 Bishopric of Bristol, which he held twelve years, in 
 the repairs of that cathedral. 
 
 Among the many eminent men of other ranks in- 
 debted for their education to Oriel College, we find 
 Robert Langlandc, the supposed author of Pierce 
 Plowman, and a brother satirist, Alexander Barclay, 
 author, or rather translator, with additions, of the 
 " Ship of Foolcs." He wrote also five Eclogues, 
 which Mr. Warton thinks were the first that ever 
 appeared in the English language: Dr. Edgcworth, 
 a Popish writer of considerable fame, already noticed 
 as the first Fellow on Bishop Smyth's foundation : 
 Morgan Phillips, who, from his skill in disputation,
 
 ORIEL COLLEGE. 87 
 
 was called Morgan the Sophister; he was afterwards 
 Principal of St. Mary Hall : Peter White, the 
 ejected Dean of Waterford, an able classical scho- 
 lar: Cardinal Alan, a most zealous enemy to the 
 religion and government of his country : Sir Henry 
 Union, ambassador: The illustrious and unfortunate 
 Sir Walter Raleigh : Prynne, the noted republican 
 barrister, a most voluminous writer, and the Cato of 
 his party, but more deservedly acknowledged as an 
 industrious antiquary : Richard Brathwaite, a fa- 
 mous wit and poet: Sir William Scroggs, Lord 
 Chief Justice of the King's Bench : and a successor 
 in that office, of higher and more unsullied fame, Sir 
 John Holt. Among recent scholars, are the respected 
 names of Dr. William Berriman, Dr. Edward Ben- 
 tham, originally of Corpus, and afterwards Canon of 
 Christ Church, and that exemplar of elegant criti- 
 cism, taste, and literature, Dr. Joseph Warton. 
 
 6 4
 
 QUEEN'S COLLEGE. 
 
 1 HE Founder of this magnificent College was Robert 
 Eglesfeld, the son of John Eglesfeld and Beatrix his 
 wife, Rector of Burgh, or Brough, in Westmoreland, 
 imd confessor to Philippa, Edward III.'s Queen. His 
 descent appears to have been honourable, and more 
 than once the county of Cumberland was represented 
 in Parliament by a member of the house. They had 
 considerable estates in different parts of that county; 
 and we find that either the Founder of the College, or 
 one of the family of the same name, received of Ed- 
 ward III. in exchange for the manor of Laleham in 
 Middlesex, the manor of Ravenwick, or Renvvick, in 
 Cumberland, which had been forfeited to his father, 
 Edward II. on the attainder of Andrew de Harcla, 
 Earl of Carlisle, in 1323. This manor is now the pro- 
 perty of the College. 
 
 It is probable that Robert de Eglesfeld was born at 
 Eglesfeld, a hamlet in the parish of Brigham, in the 
 county of Cumberland, where the family was certainly 
 possessed of property in the time of Henry III. In 
 the reign of Edward III. they came into the pos- 
 session of Alneburgh Hall, or ISetherhall, in the 
 parish of Cross Canonby in the same county, which 
 from that time was their principal residence. Here 
 they lived in high estimation, until, in the reign of 
 Philip and Mary, Elizabeth, eldest sister and coheiress 
 f Richard Eglesfeld, Esq. was married to John Sen-
 
 QUEEN'S COLLEGE. tip 
 
 house, of Sealscale Hall, Esq. This marriage brought 
 the property into the family of Senhouse, in which it 
 has ever since continued*. 
 
 Robert de Eglesfeld appears to have been highlj 
 esteemed by his royal master and mistress, and to have 
 shared in their intimacy and confidence. In 1332, the 
 King bestowed on him, the Rectory of Burgh, in the 
 person of Adam de Eglesfeld, his proxy, and probably 
 relation ; and he was ordained Priest at Carlisle in 
 Lent following. This church was appropriated to the 
 College by Pope Clement VI. in 1344. Eglesfeld em- 
 ployed his interest at Court in promoting religion and 
 learning, giving all he had to the public, and that in 
 his lifetime, when he could best secure those advan- 
 tages which he was anxious to bestow on posterity. 
 
 The old Liber Obitalis of his College dates hia 
 death 2 Cal. Jun. 1349, in these words: " ROBERTUS 
 " EGLESFELD, CUMBRIENSIS, SACRJE THEOLOGIZE 
 
 " BACCALAUREUS, RfiGIN^E PHILIPPJE UXORIS ED- 
 
 " WARDI CAPELLANUS, RECTOR DE BuRGO SUBTUS 
 " STANESMORE, IN DEI GLORIAM, ECCLESIJE BO- 
 " NLM, ET BONARUM L1TERARUM PROPAG ATIONEM 
 " COLLEGIUM HOC REGIN.& FUNDAVIT, A. D. 1340, 
 
 " ET ANNO REGNI EDW. III. 15. OfillT ISTE Ro- 
 
 " BERTUS, A. D. 1349, 2 CALEND. JUNII." Mr. 
 Gough, to whom we are indebted for part of the 
 above account, gives many reasons to confirm the 
 tradition of his having been buried in the old Chapel 
 of this College, and that the brass plate found there 
 
 * Humphrey Senhouse, Esq. of Netherhall, Alneburgh Hall, or 
 Ellenborough, is now the representative of both families. From this 
 Ellenborough, the present Chief Justice of the King's Bench derives 
 his title.
 
 90 QUEEN'S COLLEGE. 
 
 under the communion table belongs to him. It repre- 
 sents a Priest in a cap and rich rochet powdered, with 
 Jieurs de Us in lozenges, faced and hemmed with a dif- 
 ferent border, and fastened on his breast with a jewel. 
 The sleeves of his black gown are faced with fur, and 
 all his pictures are exactly like this effigy. 
 
 It is probable that he resided occasionally in his 
 native country, at least he well knew its condition and 
 wants, as his principal motive in founding this Col- 
 lege was to supply education to the northern district, 
 in which the frequent and barbarous contests of the 
 borderers had created, to use his words, literature in- 
 solitam raritatem. To remedy this defect, and extend 
 the blessings of learning to such of his countrymen as 
 wished to have access to the University, he purchased 
 three tenements in the parish of St. Peter in the East, 
 and some pieces of ground, and obtained, Jan. 18. 
 1340, a charter from Edward III. to constitute a col- 
 legiate Hall, under the name of AULA SCHOLARIUM 
 REGIN.E BE OXON. a title which seems to imply 
 that the Queen was instrumental in promoting the 
 work, or willing to take it under her protection. To 
 this Hall (which Wood thinks was formerly called 
 Temple Hall, and is now part of New College stables) 
 he appointed a Provost and twelve Fellows, or Scho- 
 lars, who were to be natives of Cumberland and West- 
 moreland. Few of his first Scholars, however, were 
 of those counties, but chosen from the Halls and Col- 
 leges already established. It is thought that he limited 
 the number to twelve, in allusion to Christ and his 
 twelve Apostles ; and that, in allusion to the seventy 
 Disciples, he intended to add seventy poor Scholars, 
 who were to be regularly educated, and chosen Fellows
 
 QUEEN'S COLLEGE. gt 
 
 in all cases of vacancy. The Society was to be called 
 to meals by the sound of a trumpet; and the Fel- 
 lows, being placed on the one side of the table in robes 
 of scarlet, (those of the Doctors faced with black fur,) 
 were to oppose in philosophy the poor Scholars, who, 
 in token of submission and humility, knelt on the 
 other side. These regulations do not appear to have 
 been adopted in his lifetime, but prevailed afterwards 
 for many years, and one vestige of them is yet re- 
 maining. The Society is still called together by the 
 sound of a trumpet; and during part of the last cen- 
 tury the Fellows and Taberdars used sometimes to 
 dispute on Sundays and holidays. 
 
 According to the statutes which the Founder gave 
 them, Feb. 10, 1340, the Provost is to be elected from 
 the number of Fellows, and to be in holy orders. Tha 
 Fellows are to be of Cumberland and Westmoreland, 
 in the first place, and afterwards of those counties in 
 which the College shall be possessed of lands, manors, 
 or advowsons. A preference was also to be given to 
 those of his own family; but few of these have ap- 
 peared. The only instances are, in the list of Pro- 
 vosts, a Thomas Egle;feld, in 1432: in 1632 a claim 
 of relationship was advanced by a Gawin Eglesfeld, 
 and, although not clearly proved, out of respect to the 
 Archbishop of York, the Visitor, who took his part, 
 the College gave him the living of Weston in Ox- 
 fordshire : in the List of Graduates is George Egles- 
 feld, M. A. 1674: and previously in 1625 a James 
 Eglesfeld w r as admitted of this College, who was a 
 native of Somersetshire, and afterwards Vicar of 
 Chevvton in that countv.
 
 92 QUEEN'S COLLEGE. 
 
 The Founder continued to extend the bounds of 
 this College as long as he lived, by additional pur- 
 chases, the tenements on which, as well as on the 
 whole premises, were afterwards removed, and the first 
 College built on the site. Edward III. at his request, 
 and particularly by the solicitation of Queen Philippa, 
 who became the patroness of the College after Egles- 
 feld's death, and Edward IV. gave certain advovvsons 
 for the better maintenance of the Society, the hono- 
 rary patronage of which was vested in the Queens 
 consort of England. 
 
 Before closing the little that we have been able to re- 
 cover respecting this Founder, it may be necessary to 
 advert to his name, Eglesfeld. The arms he gave the 
 College are three spread eagles, which were probably 
 the arms of his family. A singular custom, however, 
 has been traced to a fanciful derivation of his name. 
 It was thought to be composed of aiguille, needle, and 
 Jil, thread; and it became a commemorative mark of 
 respect, continued to this day, for each member of 
 the College to receive from the Bursar, on New 
 Year's day, a needle and thread, with the advice, 
 " Take this, and be thrifty." These conceits were 
 not unusual at the time this College was founded, 
 and are sometimes perhaps thought trifling, merely 
 because we cannot trace their original use and sig- 
 nification. Hollingshed informs us, that when the 
 Prince of Wales, afterwards Henry V. who was edu- 
 cated at this College, went to Court, in order to clear 
 himself from certain charges of disaffection, he wore 
 a gown of blue satin full of oilet holes, and at every 
 hole a needle hanging by a silk thread. This is sup-
 
 QUEEN'S COLLEGE. 95 
 
 posed to have proved at least that he was an academi- 
 cian of Queen's, and it may be conjectured that thi 
 was the original academical dress. 
 
 The establishment of this House was soon followed 
 by a long series of benefactors, who contributed to 
 the increase of its revenues and members, by bestow- 
 ing money, lands, or church-livings, in various parts 
 of the kingdom. In the fourteenth century, these be- 
 nefactors were Robert Achard, John Handle, and 
 John Stanford, Knight, Dr. John de Hotham, Pro- 
 vost, and the Lady Isabel, wife of Sir Robert Par- 
 vyng, Knight. In the fifteenth century, Thomas 
 Beaufort, Duke of Exeter, William Chardeyne of 
 Westminster, Robert Wrangwis, John Wharton, and 
 Richard Chamberlayne. In the sixteenth century, 
 Rowland Richardson, Edward Hilton, Edward Rigge, 
 Provost, Christopher Bainbridge, Cardinal and Arch- 
 bishop of York, John Kirkby, William Fettiplace, 
 Nicholas Mylys, D. D. and Archbishop Grindal. In 
 1626, Charles I. gave three Rectories, and as many 
 Vicarages, in the county of Southampton, at the in- 
 tercession of his Queen, solicited thereto by the Lord 
 Keeper Coventry, Lord Hay, the Earl of Carlisle, 
 and George Goring, her Majesty's Vice Chamber- 
 lains. Some valuable Exhibitions have been more 
 recently founded by Lady Mary Hungerford, Sir 
 Francis Bridgman, Mr. Tylney, Lady Elizabeth Hast- 
 ings, and Dr. Holmes. Lady Hastings' Scholars, five 
 in number, are to be taken from eight schools in 
 Yorkshire, two in Westmoreland, and two in Cum- 
 berland ; and for their maintenance she gave the 
 manor of Wheldale, or Queldale, in Yorkshire ". 
 
 See Barnard's interesting Life of this extraordinary lady, p. 97,
 
 94 QUEEN'S COLLEGE. 
 
 The last important benefaction, which has been 
 called the New Foundation in Queen's College, was 
 bestowed by John Michel, Esq. of Richmond in 
 Surry, who was of this College from 1676 to 1680, 
 and died Sept. 5, 17SQ. He bequeathed the manor of 
 Plumsted in Kent, with his marsh land in that parish, 
 the manor of Horton Kirby, and all his lands in Sand- 
 wich and Worde in Kent, and his lands and tenements 
 in Old Windsor, of the estimated value of 5001. or, 
 according to some, 7001. a year, to Queen's College 
 for ever, for eight Master Fellows, four Bachelor Scho- 
 lars, and four Undergraduate Scholars, or Exhibition- 
 ers; also for the purchase of advowsons and presen- 
 tations to livings, above the yearly value of 1201. to 
 be annexed for ever to his Fellowships ; and for a 
 building to be erected for the reception of the said 
 Masters and Bachelors, who were to be elected by the 
 Provost and Fellows from any other Colleges or Halls 
 within the University, and have the use of the cha- 
 pel and hall, and other advantages of the College, 
 in common with other members of the same rank. A 
 benefaction of this importance requiring much con- 
 sideration, many delays took place, but the whole was 
 finally settled by an Act of Parliament in 1751 ; and, 
 among other regulations, three gentlemen, Dr. Ship- 
 per, Dr. Mather, and Dr. Coxed, were appointed Vi- 
 sitors of this new Society. Mr. Michel was the son 
 of John Michel, Esq. of Balliol College, who, during 
 the siege of Oxford in 1644, procured from the King 
 a commission for the Scholars to arm in defence of 
 the University ; and he was heir to his uncle Hum- 
 phrey, who built an hospital at Richmond for ten old 
 men. Mr. Michel had also bceu a member in two
 
 QUEEN'S COLLEGE. 95 
 
 Parliaments for Sandwich in Kent. He was buried 
 at Old Windsor with his ancestors, who had been for 
 many years settled there, where they had a good 
 estate. Humphrey Michel, Esq. was surveyor of 
 Windsor Castle to Queen Elizabeth, and died in 
 1598'. 
 
 This foundation of Mr. Michel is one of the many 
 obligations which Queen's College owes to the zeal of 
 Provost Smith. Dr. Joseph Smith, a native of Low- 
 ther, was early patronized by his godfather, Sir 
 Joseph Williamson, and admitted by his means on 
 the foundation of this College, where he had Dr. 
 Lancaster, afterwards Provost, for his tutor, and 
 Bishops Tanner and Gibson for his associates. After 
 taking orders, Provost Halton appointed him Divi- 
 nity Lecturer in the College. On the death of Dr. 
 Halton, he was proposed for the Provostship, but 
 preferred employing his interest in favour of Dr. 
 Lancaster, who was elected. The first considerable 
 service Dr. Smith performed towards his College 
 was to persuade Sir Joseph Williamson to alter 
 his will in its favour b , which before had been drawn 
 up in favour of endowing a College in Dublin. He 
 was also instrumental in procuring Queen Caro- 
 line's donation of 10001., Lady Elizabeth Hastings' 
 Exhibitions, and those of Sir Francis Bridgman, 
 which, without his perseverance, would have been 
 entirely lost; and, besides what he bequeathed him- 
 self, he procured a charter of mortmain in May 
 1732 to secure these several benefactions to the Col- 
 
 Aubrey's Surry, vol. v. p. 341. 
 
 b He bequeathed GOQOl. towards the buildings, besides what he gave 
 in his lifetime.
 
 6 QUEEN'S COLLEGE. 
 
 lege. He died in his eighty-sixth year, Nov. 23^ 
 1756. 
 
 In consequence of the various legacies and gifts 
 bestowed on this College, it can now enumerate 
 among its livings the RECTORIES of Brough in 
 Westmoreland ; Blechington, Charleton upon Ot> 
 moor, Hampton Poyle, and South Weston, in Ox- 
 fordshire; Brainshot, Enham b , Headley , Newnhatn, 
 Niton , Church Oakley, and Weyhill , in South- 
 ampton; Holwell in Somersetshire; Sulhampstead 
 Abbots and Sulhampstead Banister * in Berkshire: 
 the VICARAGES of Aldermaston and Sparsholt in 
 Berkshire'; Bramley, Carisbrooke with the Chapels 
 of Newport and Northwood, Milford c with the Cha- 
 pels of Milton and Hordle, Godshill" with the 
 Chapel of Whitwell, Monks Sherborne, and Holy 
 Rood, in Southampton ; Chedworth in Gloucester- 
 shire ; and Newbold-Pacy f in Warwickshire : and 
 and the CURACY of Upton Grey, in Southampton. 
 The livings belonging to Mr. Michel's foundation are, 
 English Bicknor in Gloucestershire, Upton Scudamore 
 in Wiltshire, St. Wendron with the Chapel of Hel- 
 stone in Cornwall, and the second portion of Pons- 
 bury in Shropshire. 
 
 In the 26 Henry VIII. the revenues of this College 
 were valued at 3021.; in 1^92 at 260l.; and in 1C12 
 the number of the Society was 2G?. The present 
 
 k Given by Sir John Handle, temp. Edw. III. 
 
 These six were given by Charles I. 
 
 Sulhampstead Banister was given by Edward IV. Sulhampstea.l 
 Abbots was purchased by the College of Lord \orreys in IGlU. 
 
 Sparsholt was given by Sir R. Acbard, in 1345. 
 f Giren by Lady Isabel Parvyng, 1344.
 
 QUEEN'S COLLEGE. 97 
 
 members are, a Provost, sixteen Fellows, two Chap- 
 lains, eight Taberdars, (so called from Taberdum, a 
 hort gown which they formerly wore,) sixteen Scho- 
 lars, two Clerks, and forty Exhibitioners, besides those 
 cm Mr. Michel's foundation, and other students. The 
 Archbishop of York is the Visitor. 
 
 The whole of this spacious College is indebted to 
 modern taste and liberality. The ancient BUILDINGS 
 were, as usual, connected in a quadrangular form, but 
 without harmony of design, and the civil part without 
 much architectural ornament. Few dates have been 
 preserved, except those of the Hall and Chapel, which 
 were built about the same time, at the close of the 
 fourteenth century, but not, as Wood says, soon after 
 the foundation of the College. , 
 
 The present buildings consist of two spacious 
 xourts, divided by the Hall and Chapel, and compose 
 ;an oblong of three hundred feet in length, and two^ 
 hundred and twenty in breadth. The foundation-stone 
 of the first or south quadrangle, the front of which 
 contributes so largely to the grandeur of the High- 
 street, was laid Feb. 6, 1710, Queen Anne's birth-day,, 
 by Dr. William Lancaster, Provost. It is one hun- 
 dred and forty feet long by one hundred and thirty in 
 breath, having a lofty cloister supported by square 
 pillars on the west, south, and east sides. In the west 
 side is a gallery communicating to the Hall, the Com- 
 mon Room, chambers for the Fellows, and the Pro- 
 vost's Iodc;in2;s. The cast contains chambers for the 
 
 O O 
 
 Society, and on the north arc the Chapel and Hall. 
 The south side has no chambers except at each end, 
 but is divided by a magnificent gate, over which to- 
 il
 
 93 QUEEN'S COLLEGE. 
 
 wards the street is a statue of Queen Caroline, under 
 a cupola supported by pillars. This quadrangle bears 
 a resemblance to the Luxembourg palace in Paris, 
 and was executed by Havvksmoor, from a design 
 either of his great master Sir Christopher Wren, or 
 of Dr. Lancaster, but was not finished until the year 
 1759. However strong our prejudices may be in. 
 favour of the Gothic style in collegiate and ecclesias- 
 tical structures, it must be confessed that the whole of 
 this edifice exhibits a strength, grandeur, and correct 
 adjustment of parts, which, varied by the delicate 
 magnificence of the Corinthian ornaments, are highly 
 creditable to modern taste. 
 
 Most liberal as the sums bestowed by individuals 
 were for the erection of this quadrangle, some of the 
 principal bequests were retarded by process of law, 
 and in the mean time the price of materials and 
 workmanship increased. In 1733 Queen Caroline 
 gave 10001. to carry on the design, and the east side 
 was built chiefly at the expence of John Michel, Esq. 
 already mentioned. On Dec. 18, 1778, the interior of 
 the west side was totally destroyed in a few hours, by 
 an accidental fire which broke out in an attic chamber 
 on the staircase, No. 2, adjoining to the Provost's lodg- 
 ings. The expence of rebuilding, which amounted to 
 64241. 5s. 4d. was defrayed by various benefactions. 
 The Queen, patroness of the College, gave 10001. and 
 the Archbishop of York, Visitor, 1001. The Duke of 
 Montagu and Lord Godolphin gave each 5001. Seve- 
 ral of the other Colleges contributed to the amount of 
 10001. And the remainder was made up by the kind- 
 ness of many Gentlemen who had previously been of 
 the House, and by the contributions of the then exist-
 
 QUEEN'S COLLEGE. gg 
 
 fng members of the Society; a proof, if any were 
 wanting, of the perpetuity of that munificent spirit 
 which was so strikingly exemplified by the founders 
 of the English Universities. 
 
 The second, or north court, which is one hundred 
 and thirty feet by ninety, is occupied on the north, 
 east, and south sides by chambers for the Society, 
 and on the west by the Library. 
 
 The first HALL, which stood on the west of the old 
 quadrangle, was built of stone taken from Headington 
 quarry, and completed in 1399- It was profusely or- 
 namented with coats of arms belonging to the various 
 benefactors, and other eminent characters. The pre- 
 sent Hall, on the north side of the principal quadran- 
 gle, was built in the beginning of the last century : 
 its dimensions are sixty feet by thirty, with a finely 
 arched roof, and it is decorated with many portraits, 
 both on glass and canvas. Among the former, which 
 fill the arches of the windows, the most conspicuous 
 are those of King Edward III. and Queen Philippa, 
 Edward IV. and Henry V. Sir Joseph Williamson, 
 Provost Lancaster, the Founder, and Charles I. and 
 II. with their Queens. Of the full-length portraits^ 
 those of the Founder at the upper end of the Hall, 
 of Queen Philippa, Queen Anne, and Queen Caroline, 
 were given by Mr. Michel. There are also portraits 
 of her present Majesty, of Provosts Lancaster and 
 Smith, Sir Joseph Williamson, Lady Elizabeth Hast- 
 ings, Addison, and Tickell, &c. In the gallery at the 
 west end of the Hall is a collection of ancient and 
 modern portraits, in which we find those of Margaret, 
 Queen of Scotland, Queen Elizabeth, Mary, Queen of 
 Scotland, and Queen Anne, given by George Clark, 
 
 H 2
 
 100 QUEEN'S COLLEGE, 
 
 D. C. L. some time Fellow of All Souls, and one of 
 the Representatives of the University. 
 
 The LIBRARY, on the west side of the north court, 
 was hegun in IG'92, and the outside finished in 1(394. 
 Provost Halton bore a great part of the expence, be- 
 sides giving his collection of books. The library also 
 of Bishop Barlow, which first suggested the necessity 
 for the present ample room, those of Sir John Floyer, 
 the curious manuscripts, chiefly heraldic and political, 
 of Sir Joseph Williamson, and the valuable series of 
 coins and numismatical books belonging to Mr. Mi- 
 chel, form part of the present extensive collection. 
 The fine orrery was the gift of six Gentlemen Com- 
 moners, in the year 1?C3, viz. Edwyn Francis Stan- 
 hope, William Guyse, Edmund Thomas, George Mow- 
 bray, Oldfield Bowles, and Richard Simmonds, Esqrs, 
 The cast in plaster of Paris of the Florentine Boar 
 was presented by Sir Roger Newdigate. 
 
 This noble and extensive room is enriched with the 
 busts of some of the benefactors, and with the por- 
 traits of Dr. Crackenthorp, Bishops Gibson and Bar- 
 low, and Provost Halton, and with two ancient por- 
 traits on glass of Henry V. and Cardinal Beaufort, 
 formerly in what was called Henry V/s chamber, and 
 removed when the old College was pulled down, but 
 afterwards recovered and restored to the Society by 
 Alderman Fletcher. This room is one of the largest 
 in the University, being one hundred and twenty- 
 three feet in length, and proportionable in breadth. 
 The bookcases are ornamented with delicate carved 
 work, and the ceiling is stuccoed in compartments 
 with great taste by the late Mr. Roberts. 
 
 The first CHAPEL was begun in the lifetime of the
 
 OUEEN'S COLLEGE. 101 
 
 Founder, but the progress of its erection, for whatever 
 reason, was very slow. The Founder died in 134Q: 
 Provost Mtischamp, the second who held that office, 
 and who died in 1355, built a great part; and Ro\ve 
 Mores, the late antiquary, discovered by the registers, 
 that the whole was not finished until 1382; but even 
 then another unaccountable delay occurred, for Wood 
 informs us that it was not consecrated until 1421. 
 From this time we are only enabled to trace, that 
 in 1518 an outer Chapel was built by Dr. Itobert 
 Langton. In 1631 the inner Chapel was wainscotted, 
 and in 1633 the upper end was paved with black and 
 white marble; in 1636, the windows were supplied 
 with painted glass by Van Linge ; and in this state it 
 stood the terrors of the reign of anarchy, which at 
 least spared the windows. 
 
 The foundation of the new Chapel was laid Feb. 6, 
 1713-14, Queen Anne's birthday, and was dedicated 
 on All Saints .Day, 1719, by Sir William Dawes, 
 Archbishop of York, and Visitor. This Chapel, of the 
 Corinthian order, is one hundred feet long by thirty. 
 Besides the painted windows by Van Linge, which 
 were repaired by Price in 1715, and four older windows 
 brought from the former Chapel, it has received a 
 farther decoration of the Ascension on the ceiling by 
 Sir James Thornhill, arid in the middle window of the 
 chancel, the Holy Family by Price. Under this is a 
 copy, by Mr. Cranke, of Corregio's celebrated Night, 
 or rather Dawn, in the Dresden gallery, a present to 
 the Society by the late Mr. Robson of Bond-street. 
 The colours of some of the old windows, which are 
 said to have stood nearly three centuries, are remark- 
 ably vivid, but the objects are growing indistinct. 
 
 a. 3
 
 102 QUEEN'S COLLEGE. 
 
 Underneath this Chapel is a vault for interment, in- 
 which, among many others, the remains of Dr. Smith 
 and Dr. Halton are deposited. The monumental in- 
 seription of the former is placed in the grand passage 
 between the Chapel and Hull. 
 
 The present PROVOST is the thirty-fifth on the list. 
 Many of them, besides filling this office with credit 
 and advantage to the College, devoted a considerable 
 part of their fortunes to extend and perpetuate its 
 usefulness. The most eminent in their day were Dr. 
 Thomas Langton, Bishop of Salisbury in 1485, and of 
 Winchester in 1493, a great encourager of learning: 
 Bainbridge, Archbishop of York, and Cardinal : 
 Henry Robinson, Bishop of Carlisle: Dr. Henry 
 Airay, noted for learning and piety, originally of 
 Edmund Hall, and before that a pupil of the ce- 
 lebrated Bernard Gilpin, who refused the Provostship 
 of this College about the year 1559: Dr. Barnabas 
 Potter, Bishop of Carlisle, who, in the opinion of the 
 republican party, had no fault but that of being a 
 Bishop. He was succeeded by a relation, the learned 
 and pious Dr. Christopher Potter, Dean of Durham : 
 Dr. Gerard Langbaiue, whom the historian of the 
 nonconformists acknowledges as a man of great learn- 
 ing, integrity, and public spirit: Dr. Thomas Bar- 
 low, Bishop of Lincoln, librarian to the Bodleian, and 
 one of the greatest scholars of his age. Having been 
 also one of the ablest opponents of Popery, he was 
 thought inconsistent in reading King James's Declara- 
 tion : the truth was, he read it himself as a step to- 
 wards toleration, to which he strongly inclined, but 
 considered it as a matter of so much delicacy and 
 doubt, that he did not enforce it on his Clergy.
 
 QUEEN'S COLLEGE. 105 
 
 In the catalogue of BISHOPS educated at this Col- 
 lege, we find, as the first, the celebrated Cardinal Beau- 
 fort, son of John of Gaunt, and brother to Henry IV. 
 whose character has been more frequently appreciated 
 from Shakspeare's account of his last moments, than 
 from an impartial inquiry into his conduct as a states- 
 man and prelate, or his munificence as a contributor 
 to pious and charitable purposes. The favour in 
 which he always stood with the Commons in Parlia- 
 ment is no inconsiderable proof, that in his political 
 transactions he aimed at the public good. Bainbridge, 
 Langton, Robinson, Potter, and Barlow, have been 
 already mentioned; to whom may be added, Dr. Guy 
 Carleton, Bishop of Bristol, and afterwards of Chi- 
 chester, a severe sufferer during the Usurpation: 
 Dr. Compton, Bishop of London, a man of great 
 integrity, firmness, and spirit, and, during the tumul- 
 tuous period which led to the Revolution, a vigorous 
 supporter of the Church; he was also distinguished 
 for his liberality to the Clergy, and ranks among the 
 benefactors of his time. He entered as a Nobleman 
 of this College in 16-19, being the youngest son of 
 the Earl of Northampton, and died in 1713. To this 
 House also belong, Dr. William Nicholson, author of 
 the " Historical Library," which involved him hi 
 many controversies; his character will be found illus- 
 trated by his confidential correspondence lately pub- 
 lished by Mr. Nichols: Dr. Gibson, Bishop of Lon- 
 don, well known as an able antiquary, and vigilant 
 guardian of the Church, and the founder of the 
 Preacherships at Whitehall : Dr. Tanner, Bishop of 
 St. Asaph, the value of whose " Notjtia" and " Bi- 
 " bliotheea" will ever be readily acknowledged bj 
 
 H 4
 
 104 QUEEN'S COLLEGE. 
 
 antiquaries and biographers. His numerous and va- 
 luable manuscript collections are among the treasures 
 of the Bodleian library. 
 
 In noticing the eminent scholars of other ranks 
 who have done honour to this College, every conside- 
 ration requires that we begin with Henry V. who, 
 according to our early historians, was educated here; 
 and they add, that his chamber was over the great 
 gate of the old College, opposite to Edmund Hall 
 gate. It is certain, that in this chamber was his por- 
 trait in glass, (now in the Library,) with the following 
 inscription : 
 
 IN PERPETUAM REI MEMORIAM, 
 
 IMPERATOR BRITANNIA, 
 
 TRIUMPHATOR GALLIJE 
 
 HOST1UM VICTOR, ET SUI, 
 
 HENRICUS QUINTUS HUJUS COLLEGII', 
 
 ET CUBICULI (MINUTI SCILICET) 
 
 OLIM MAGNUS INCOLA. 
 
 In the Hall, under the arms of Cardinal Beaufort, is 
 another inscription, intimating that he studied here 
 under that Prelate, who was his uncle; but Mr. Mil- 
 ner, the historian of Winchester, following the au- 
 thority of Stowe, contends for his having been edu- 
 cated at New College under the Cardinal, who was at 
 that time Chancellor of the University. 
 
 This and the following line are thus given in Wood's History of 
 the Colleges and Halls by Gutch, 
 
 " HENRICL'S V 
 " PARVI I If JUS Ct'BICl'Ll" 
 
 The inscription in the text is what now stands. Fuller inform 1 ? us, that 
 in his time Dr. Barlow inhabited the King's charnher, when the window 
 Mas entire.
 
 QUEEN'S COLLEGE. io 
 
 Among the scholars of less rank, were the cele- 
 brated Bernard Gilpin, whose history has been so 
 ably given* by his descendant the Rev. William Gil- 
 pin, one of the most elegant writers on the pictu- 
 resque, and also a member of this Society: The un- 
 fortunate Sir Thomas Overbury : Wingate, an emi- 
 nent lawyer and arithmetician : Burton, the learned 
 commentator on Antoninus: Dr. Holyoake, lexico- 
 grapher : Sir John Davies, lawyer and poet : Sir 
 John Banks, lawyer, and Sir Edward Tumour, Chief 
 Baron : Dr. Samuel Annesley, one of the most emi- 
 nent of the nonconformists : Dr. Lancelot Addisou, 
 Dean of Lichfield : Dr. Thomas Hyde, an eminent 
 orientalist, some time Arabic Professor, and after- 
 wards Regius Professor of Hebrew : Wycherley, the 
 poet : Dr. John Mill, the very learned editor of the 
 Greek Testament: Dr. Anthony Horncck, a fo- 
 reigner, incorporated here, and afterwards promoted 
 in the Church: Sir John Floyer, physician: Dr. 
 Edmund Halley, a very eminent philosopher, and Sa- 
 vilian Professor: The illustrious Addison, and his 
 friend Tickell, the poet: Dr. Hugh Todd, antiquary: 
 Dr. Thomas Smith, biographer : Dr. John Hud- 
 son, the editor and very acute critic on Thncydides, 
 Dionysius, Longinus, 8tc. Mr. Christopher Rawlin- 
 son and Mr. Edward Thwaites, Saxon scholars and 
 antiquaries 11 : The Rev. Jeremiah Seed: Dr. Shaw, 
 
 Bishop Carleton's Life of Gilnin has lately been reprinted and judi- 
 ciously illustrated by notes in Dr. Wordsworth's valuable Ecclesiastical 
 Biography. 
 
 b At this time (1G98) Queen's College was a nest of Saxonists. 
 Thwaites in one of his letters says, " We want Saxon Lexicons. I have 
 " fifteen young students in that language, and but one Somner for 
 " them all." Nichols's Bowyer, vol. iv. p. 141.
 
 100 QUEEN'S COLLEGE. 
 
 the traveller: Collins, the poet: Dr. John Dalton, 
 the reviver of Milton's Comus : Edward Rowe 
 Mores, a distinguished antiquary, and collector of an- 
 tiquities: Thomas Tyrwhitt, the very able and judi- 
 cious editor of Chaucer, afterwards Fellow of Mertou : 
 Dr. Richard Burn, author of one of the most popu- 
 lar books in the English language, on the duties and 
 office of a Justice of Peace: a work which enriched 
 the bookseller, Andrew Miller, who ventured a trifle 
 for the copyright, when rejected by all his brethren.
 
 NEW COLLEGE. 
 
 ALTHOUGH some of the Colleges already noticed 
 were built in the reign of Edward III. they do not 
 appear, if we may judge from the most ancient draw- 
 ings, to have partaken much of that noble specie* 
 of architecture which was brought to perfection in 
 that reign. We are now, however, approaching the 
 sera of the pure Gothic, which was introduced at Ox- 
 ford by the skill and liberality of one man, whose 
 share in the annals of England would have been un- 
 usuailv j>:reat. had our historians devoted their atten- 
 
 */ O 
 
 tion to the arts of peace. When indeed we contem- 
 plate the architectural triumphs of Edward's reign, as 
 they yet appear at Windsor, St. Stephen's Chapel, 
 Winchester, and New College, (were there no other 
 remains visible,) we know not how to term the four- 
 teenth century a " dark age," or how to reconcile 
 that consummate taste in art and decoration, which, 
 notwithstanding our improvements and skill, we now 
 find to be inimitable, with those anomalies in the 
 moral, religious, and political systems, which disgrace 
 the history of the same splendid period. A splendid 
 period it surely was, which could boast of the valour 
 of the Black Prince, the poetry of Chaucer and 
 Gower, the patronage of Edward III. and the archi- 
 tecture of Rede, Rodburne, and Wykeham. 
 
 The Founder of New College must be allowed the 
 preeminence among the most illustrious names of 
 English antiquity, whether we regard the munificent
 
 108 NEW COLLEGE. 
 
 spirit which prompted, or the original talents which 
 executed, his majestic designs : and those who feel 
 that veneration and gratitude are duties, will readily 
 acknowledge how much we owe to the learned bio- 
 grapher hy whose researches the character of Wykc- 
 ham has been so ably illustrated. Nor will the fol- 
 lowing sketch be without its uses, if it excite a higher 
 degree of curiosity, and prompt the reader to consult 
 more ample sources of information respecting a bene- 
 factor, in whose history nothing can be deemed unin- 
 teresting. 
 
 William Wykeham, or of Wykcham, was born at 
 Wykeham in Hampshire, in the year 1324. Whether 
 Wykeham was his family name seems doubtful. He 
 mentions his father and mother only by their Chris- 
 tian names, John and Sybill, or Sybilla. Some of his 
 biographers arc inclined to think that his father's 
 name was Long, and others Perrot, but there is no 
 direct evidence for either; and we know by many 
 other instances that nothing was more uncertain at 
 the period of his birth than the state of family names. 
 
 His parents we're of good reputation and character, 
 but in mean circumstances when he was born ; yet 
 from the number of his contemporary relations, whose 
 names and situations are upon record, it is probable 
 that the family was not of mean extraction. Of their 
 poverty there is less reason to doubt the report, as 
 they could not afford to give their son a liberal educa- 
 tion. He soon, however, found a patron, supposed to 
 be Nicholas Uvedale, Lord of the manor of Wyke- 
 ham, and Governor of Winchester castle"; who must 
 
 See a disquisition on this subject, Gent. Ma;j. LXIV. 1172.
 
 NEW COLLEGE. 109 
 
 have discovered some talents worth improving, since 
 he maintained him at Winchester school, where he 
 was instructed in grammatical learning, and where he 
 gave early proofs of piety and diligence, employing 
 his leisure hours in acquiring a knowledge of arith- 
 metic, mathematics, logic, divinity, and the canon 
 and civil law. He was afterwards employed by his 
 patron in quality of secretary, and either by him, or 
 by Edyngclon, Bishop of Winchester, or by both, was 
 recommended to the notice of Edward III. 
 
 This circumstance, however honourable to his ta- 
 lents, appears to have limited the progress of what 
 was then deemed education, and disposed him to a 
 life of business rather than of study, but can never be 
 advanced to justify the opinion, that he was deficient 
 in useful learning. He certainly did not study at 
 Oxford, and escaped the contests prevailing between 
 the disciples of Occham and of Duns Scotus, which 
 seem to have formed the only learning then in vogue: 
 but that one who dignified every office, civil and eccle- 
 siastical, with the wisdom, talents, and popularity of 
 Wykeham, should have been illiterate, is an absurdity 
 too gross to require refutation, and would have passed 
 unnoticed, had it not been, as far as his architectural 
 abilities are concerned, in some measure countenanced 
 by the Wartons". 
 
 He was about twenty-two or twenty-three years of 
 age when first introduced at Court, but in what em- 
 ployment has not been ascertained, although it was 
 probably of the same nature with those which he 
 
 Warton's Hist, of Poetry, vol. i. p. 306. adopted by Dr. Joseph 
 Warton in Pope's Works, vol. i. p. 142.
 
 NEW COLLEGE. 
 
 Afterwards so ably filled. There is every reason to 
 think that his skill in drawing recommended him to a 
 Sovereign who was bent on adding to his country the 
 ornament and utility of magnificent and durable struc- 
 tures. The first office he held, or the first of which 
 we rend, had evidently a reference to this object. In 
 May, 13-56, he was appointed Clerk of all the King's 
 works at the castle and in the park of Windsor. It 
 was by his advice that the King was induced to pull 
 down great part of this castle, and by his skill it was 
 rebuilt nearly in the manner in which we find it. His 
 other great work was Queenborough castle": and al- 
 though in these military structures he had little scope 
 for the genius displayed afterwards at Oxford and 
 Winchester, they would have been sufficient to prove 
 that he had already reached that degree of architectu- 
 ral skill, which modern art can but poorly imitate. 
 
 With a sovereign of Edward III.'s magnificent 
 taste, it was but natural that Wykeham should now 
 become a favourite; and accordingly we find that his 
 Majesty wished to distinguish him by many marks of 
 royal favour. In order to facilitate this, it was neces- 
 sary he should take orders, as ecclesiastical promotion 
 was more particularly within his Majesty's power, 
 where the Pope did not think proper to interfere: 
 but this part of Wykeham's history is not so clearly 
 detailed as could be wished. There is, on the contrary, 
 some reason to think that he was in the Church be- 
 fore he had given proof of his talents at Windsor and 
 Queenborough. In all the patents for the offices he 
 
 Of this castle there are now no remains, except the moat, and 
 well in the middle of the site.
 
 NEW COLLEGE. Ill 
 
 held, he is styled Clericus; but, as his biographer sup- 
 poses, he had as yet only the clerical tonsure, or some 
 of the lower orders, while the historian of Winchester 
 thinks he was ordained Priest by Bishop Edyngdon. 
 The first preferment bestowed on him was the Rec- 
 tory of Pulham in Norfolk, in 1557 a ; and as the 
 Court of Rome threw some obstacles in the way 
 which kept him for a time out of that living, the 
 King, in 1359, granted him two hundred pounds a 
 year over and above all his former appointments, 
 until he should get quiet possession of Pulham, or 
 some other benefice to the value of one hundred 
 marks. But the disproportion between the worth of 
 the living, and the compensation for delay, is so very 
 striking, as to incline us to think, either that Dr. 
 Lowth has by mistake inserted 2001. for 201. b or that 
 the King took this opportunity to shew a special 
 mark of his favour, for which the loss of the living 
 should be the ostensible motive. In the mean time 
 he was presented to the Prebend of Flixton in the 
 church of Li ch field, which he afterwards exchanged 
 for some other benefice; and in 1359 he was consti- 
 tuted Chief Warden and Surveyor of the King's 
 castles of Windsor, Leeds, Dover, and Hadlain, and 
 of the manors of old and new Windsor, Wichemer, 
 and several other castles, manors, and houses, and of 
 the parks belonging to them. In 1360, the King 
 
 By the notes of Dr. Matthew Button, in the Harleian Collection, 
 it appears, that in the same year the Kin? presented him with the liv- 
 ing; of Irstede in the diocese of Norfolk. See Gent. Mng. LV. p. IB,'). 
 
 b Dr. Mutton's notes say 201. a year, which very probably was the 
 case. A list of many other livings held at various times by our Prelate 
 b given under the above reference in the Gent. Mag. See also p. 425.
 
 lit NEW COLLEGE. 
 
 granted him the Deanery of the Royal Tree Chapel, 
 or Collegiate Church of St. Martin le Grand, Lon- 
 don, which he held about three years; during which 
 he rebuilt, at his own expence, the cloister of the 
 chapter-house, and the body of the church. This is 
 the first instance on record in which he is noticed as 
 n public benefactor. In 1361 he was quietly settled 
 in the Rectory of Pulham, and in less than two years 
 received many other ecclesiastical preferments, speci- 
 fied by Dr. Lowth. The annual value of his livingi 
 for some years before he became Bishop of Winches- 
 ter amounted to 8421. but " he only received the reve- 
 " nues of the Church with one hand, to expend them 
 " in her service with the other'." 
 
 His civil promotions were not less rapid and ho- 
 nourable. He was made Keeper of the Privy Seal in 
 1364, and soon after Secretary to the King, and 
 Chief of the Privy Council, and Governor of the 
 Great Council. These last terms his biographer sup- 
 poses were not titles of office, but were used to ex- 
 press the influence he now possessed in the manage- 
 ment of affairs of State, and which was so great, that, 
 according to Froissart, " every thing was done by 
 " him, and nothing was done without him." 
 
 On the death of his old friend and patron William 
 de Edyngdon, Bishop of Winchester, in 1366, Wyke- 
 ham was immediately and unanimously elected by the 
 Prior and Convent to succeed him. Some delay hav- 
 ing taken place before he could be admitted into pos- 
 session, it has been supposed that he was objected to 
 bv the Kinir on account of his want of learning. But 
 
 O O 
 
 a /Mihir's Hist, of Winchester, edit. 1809. vol. i. p. 29^.
 
 NEW COLLEGE. 113 
 
 this is utterly destitute of foundation, as it was by the 
 King's express desire that he was chosen ; and, what i* 
 yet more in point, the Pope's bull, contrary to the 
 official language used at that time, in which there 
 was frequently no mention of learning, declares, that 
 Wykeham was recommended to his Holiness, " by 
 " the testimony of many persons worthy of credit, 
 " for his knowledge of letters, his probity of life 
 " and manners, and his prudence and circumspection 
 " in affairs both spiritual and temporal." The real 
 cause of the delay is stated at great length by Dr. 
 Lowth, and depended on circumstances belonging to 
 the history of that age, connected with the general 
 state of ecclesiastical patronage. 
 
 His advancement to the Bishopric was followed by 
 his being appointed Chancellor of England. In hid 
 speeches to Parliament, it has been observed, that he 
 innovated on the practice of his clerical predecessors! 
 whose oratory savoured more of the pulpit than the 
 bench, by introducing a style and manner wholly po- 
 litical. In 1371, when the Parliament, become jealous 
 of churchmen, requested that secular men only should 
 be appointed to offices of state, Wykeham resigned 
 the Seal, but without any loss of favour on the part 
 of the King, the Commons, or the public at large. 
 The King was obliged to comply with the request to 
 dismiss churchmen from the high offices of state, but 
 soon found it necessary to have recourse to the only 
 persons of that age whose education and talents 
 seemed to fit them for such preferments. 
 
 Soon after his being settled in the Bishopric of 
 Winchester, he began to employ his architectural 
 skill in the repairs of the cathedral, the whole ex- 
 
 i
 
 114 NEW COLLEGE. 
 
 pence of which was defrayed by himself; but his more 
 enlarged designs for this edifice were not executed for 
 some years after this. The care he bestowed on other 
 parts of his Episcopal duty, in reforming abuses, and 
 establishing discipline, was highly exemplary; and, 
 in the case of his visitation of the Hospital of St. 
 Cross, involved him in a long and troublesome dis- 
 pute, which ended greatly to the benefit of that insti- 
 tution, and clearly to the honour of his firmness, judg- 
 ment, and integrity. His mind appears now to have 
 been deeply impressed by sentiments of enlarged libe- 
 rality, and wholly influenced by those motives which 
 determined him to become a benefactor to his country 
 upon a most munificent scale. 
 
 The foundation of a College, or of some institution 
 for the education of youth, had probably been re- 
 volved for a considerable time. About two years after 
 he entered on the Bishopric of Winchester, he began 
 to make purchases in the city of Oxford with that 
 view, and he connected with it the plan of a College at 
 Winchester, which should be a nursery for that of 
 Oxford. As early as the year 1373 he established a 
 school at Winchester, in which he placed certain poor 
 Scholars, who were to be instructed in grammatical 
 learning, by one Richard de Herton, with an assistant. 
 But the progress of this generous plan was for some 
 time impeded by the intrigues of a party, headed by 
 the Duke of Lancaster, in the last year of the reign 
 of Wykeham's friend and master, Edward III. An 
 accusation, branching into eight articles, was brought 
 against him; but upon a fair trial seven were found 
 destitute of proof, and the eighth only was laid hold 
 of as a pretext for seizing into the Kind's hands the
 
 NEW COLLEGE. 115 
 
 temporalities of the Bishopric of Winchester, exclud- 
 ing the Bishop from Parliament, and removing him 
 from Court. A measure so violent, and justified upon 
 such slight grounds, was not to be overlooked even 
 in those days of popular acquiescence. At the ensu- 
 ing Convocation, the Bishop of London, William 
 Courtney, had the spirit to oppose any subsidy to the 
 King until satisfaction should be made for the injury 
 done to the whole body of the Clergy, in the person 
 of the Bishop of Winchester; and lie was so firmly 
 supported by the Convocation, that the Archbishop 
 of Canterbury, though a warm partizan of the Duke of 
 Lancaster, was obliged to admit Wykeham into their 
 assembly, where he was received by every member 
 with all possible marks of respect. JS T or was he less a 
 favourite with the people, who, when they rose in the 
 affair of Wickliffe, demanded that the Duke of Lan- 
 caster should allow the Bishop to be brought to a fair 
 trial. Wykeham was soon after restored to his tem- 
 poralities, but with the ungracious condition, that he 
 should fit out three ships of war for a certain time, or, 
 if they were not wanted, pay the amount of the proba- 
 ble expence to the King that King who had formerly 
 heaped so many marks of favour on him, but who, al- 
 though in some measure reconciled to him, was now 
 too much enslaved by a party to act with his wonted 
 liberality. 
 
 Edward III. died June 21, 1377: and on the acces- 
 sion of Richard II. Wykeham was released from all 
 his dirliculties, and, by a solemn declaration of the 
 Privy Council, most honourably acquitted of the ac- 
 cusations formerly preferred against him by the Lan- 
 caster party. This new reign, however, was a period 
 
 i 2
 
 UO NEW COLLEGE. 
 
 of turbulence, faction, and bloodshed - r and it required 
 all the wisdom and circumspection of his steady mind 
 to preserve the favour of the King, and the confi- 
 dence of the people. Yet in both he was in a con- 
 siderable degree successful. It was not long before 
 the Parliament appointed him one of the commission- 
 ers to inquire into the abuses of the former reign; and 
 in their other proceedings they appear to have looked 
 up to him- as a statesman of inflexible integrity: nor 
 was he less consulted in all matters of difficulty by 
 the King and Council. But notwithstanding such en- 
 couragement, the part he had to act was extremely 
 arduous ; the new reign was distracted by contending 
 factions, and in the conflict of factions men of inde- 
 pendent minds can seldom be safe: but what rendered 
 the danger greater was, that the King, as he grew up, 
 listened more to flatterers and favourites, than to the 
 legitimate advisers of the Crown. 
 
 When Richard assumed the reins of government, 
 on coming of age, one of his first measures was to ap- 
 point Wykeham Lord Chancellor, and to dismiss the 
 administration which had the care of public affair* 
 during his minority. The new ministers, however, 
 unwilling to be suspected of owing their appointment 
 to a fit of caprice, after a short time professed to re- 
 sign, that their conduct might be investigated in Par- 
 liament; and what they wished actually happened. 
 The Commons declared in favour of their conduct, 
 and they were all restored. In conjunction with them, 
 W T ykeham had the satisfaction of being very instru- 
 mental in promoting public tranquillity, until his re- 
 signation of the Great Seal in 1391- After this he 
 ijceras to have kept at a distance from the manage-
 
 NEW COLLEGE. 
 
 aient of public affairs, and thus avoided the risk of 
 countenancing those ruinous proceedings which led 
 to the deposition of the King. During the succeeding 
 reign his age and infirmities afforded an excuse for 
 his no longer attending as a Peer of Parliament. 
 
 If we consider the importance of the undertaking 
 begun at Oxford, and connected with a similar plan 
 at Winchester, it will not appear surprising that he 
 should, during the greater part of the reign of Richard 
 II. have been disposed to bestow his whole attention 
 on objects so dear to his heart. What he projected 
 was certainly sufficient for the attention of any one 
 man, and enough to immortalize the greatest. The 
 design, Bishop Lowth has eloquently expressed, was 
 noble, uniform, and complete. " It was no less than, 
 " to provide for the perpetual maintenance and in- 
 " struction of two hundred Scholars, to afford them 
 " a liberal support, and to lead them through a per- 
 " feet course of education, from the first elements of 
 " letters, through the whole circle of the sciences; 
 " from the lowest class of grammatical learning, to 
 " the highest degrees in the several faculties." 
 
 A design so enlarged, so comprehensive, so munifi- 
 cent, had not yet been conceived by the most illustri- 
 ous of our English founders. In bringing it to per- 
 fection, we have not only to admire the generosity 
 which supplied the means, (for opulence may some- 
 times be literal at a small expence,) but that grasp of 
 mind which at once planned and executed all that can 
 be conceived most difficult in such a vast undertak- 
 ing, and which enabled him to shine with equal lustre 
 as benefactor, legislator, and architect, and give a Ics- 
 
 I 3
 
 118 NEW COLLEGE. 
 
 son and example which could never be exceeded by 
 the wisest of his posterity. 
 
 It has already been mentioned, that in the year 
 1373 he had begun his preparatory school at Win- 
 chester, and about the same time, having purchased 
 tenements for the purpose, he established a similar 
 institution at Oxford, appointing a Governor, and 
 acting in other respects towards his infant society in 
 such a manner, that its constitution might be matured 
 by the test of experience, and " that the life and soul, 
 " as it were, might be ready to inform and animate 
 " the body of his College, as soon as it could be fi 
 " nished." 
 
 Within less than three years from this commence* 
 ment of his plan, the Society consisted of a Warden 
 and seventy Fellows, who were called, Pauper es Scho- 
 lares Venerdbilis Domini Domini IVilhelmi de Wykeham 
 Jl'ynton. Episcopi. The AVarden hnd a salary of 201. a 
 year, and the Fellows were lodged in the places hired 
 for them, and then known by the names of Blake 
 Hall, Hart Hall, Schilde Hall, Mayden Hall, and Ham- 
 mer Hall. The annual expence amounted to 101. 13s. 
 4(1. and each was allowed Is. Gd. a week for com- 
 mons. 
 
 In 1379> having completed the several purchases of 
 land necessary for the site of the College, he obtained 
 
 o ' 
 
 the King's patent, or licence, to found, dated June 30 
 of that year; and likewise the Pope's bull to the same 
 effect. In his Charter of Foundation, which he pub- 
 lished on November 20 following, his College is en-r 
 titled, Seinte Marie College of Wynchestre in Oxenford. 
 But it is rather remarkable that the name of JNew
 
 NEW COLLEGE. 119 
 
 College, which was then given in common speech 
 without much impropriety, should be by some means 
 continued until the present day, when it is in reality 
 the oldest as to its principal buildings, and the seventh 
 in the order of foundation. The foundation-stone was 
 laid March ,3, 1380, and the whole completed in six 
 years; and on April 14, 1386, the Society took pos- 
 session by a public entrance, accompanied with much 
 solemnity. 
 
 According to the statutes the Society consisted of a 
 Warden and seventy poor Scholars", Clerks, students 
 in theology, canon and civil law, and philosophy; 
 twenty were appointed to the study of laws, ten of 
 them to that of the canon, and ten to that of the 
 civil law; the remaining fifty were to apply them- 
 selves to philosophy, or arts, and theology ; two to 
 the study of medicine, and two to astronomy; all of 
 whom were oblisred to be in Priest's orders within a 
 
 O 
 
 certain time, except in case of lawful impediment. 
 Besides these there were ten Priests, three Clerks, 
 and sixteen boys, or Choristers, to minister in the 
 service of the chapel. The body of the statutes, 
 
 " Among the severity poor Scholars, the Foumler orders that his next 
 of kin should have the preference, and that immediately on their admis- 
 sion they should become Fellows, without undergoing the two years of 
 probation, as is the case with the others : and even should there be no 
 vacancies at New College, they are allowed to stay at the College at 
 Winchester till they have attained their thirtieth year for the chance 
 of a vaeaney, pro\ided they have good characters, and have been proved 
 by the electors to be sufficiently versed in grammar. By the injunctions 
 of Yi-itors the number of Founder's kin as eligible for New College is 
 now confine;! to two ; but in defect of such kinsmen only, the choice by 
 the Founder \\.i-, extended to others, according to the counties directed 
 in the statute, from which boys were to be admitted upon the founda- 
 tion at Winchester. 
 
 I 4
 
 120 NEW COLLEGE, 
 
 which was entirely of his composition, underwent 
 many revisions and corrections, the result of expe- 
 rience and profound thinking on a subject which 
 appears to have engrossed his whole mind : and al- 
 though some of the latter revisions left an opening 
 for irregularities which the Society have not always 
 been able to prevent, these statutes upon the whole 
 are considered as highly judicious and complete, and 
 have been very closely copied by succeeding Foun- 
 ders'. 
 
 During the progress of the building, he established 
 in form that Society at Winchester which was to sup- 
 ply New College with its members. The Charter of 
 Foundation is dated Oct. 20, 1382, and the College 
 named Seinte Marie College of Wynchestre. The year 
 after New College was finished, he began this other 
 upon the site where stood the school at which he 
 received his early education. This likewise was com- 
 pleted in six years, with a magnificence scarcely infe- 
 rior to that of New College, and was opened for the 
 reception of its intended inhabitants March 28, 1393. 
 The Society resembles that of his other institution, 
 consisting of a Warden, seventy Scholars, to be in- 
 structed in grammatical learning, ten secular Priests, 
 perpetual Fellows, three Priests' Chaplains, three 
 Clerks, and sixteen Choristers ; and for the instruction 
 
 Particularly Henry VI. who founded tlie two Colleges of Eton and 
 King's College, Cambridge, entirely upon Wykeham's plan, transcrib- 
 ing the statutes of the latter, without any material alteration. In 14G4 
 a treaty of union for mutual defence was concluded between these two 
 Colleges and Wykeham's two. It was entitled, " Concordia amicahilig 
 " sive Compositio Collegiorum Regalium Cantabrigiae et Etona et 
 " Wiccharaicorum O.xon. ct prope Winton."
 
 NEW COLLEGE. 1*1 
 
 of the Scholars, a Schoolmaster, and an Undermaster, 
 or Usher. We have already seen that the Founder 
 of Queen's, by his twelve Fellows and seventy Scho- 
 lars, intended to allude to the Apostles and Disciples. 
 The historian of Winchester informs us, that the 
 same design entered into the contemplation of Wyke- 
 ham. The Warden and ten Priests represented the 
 Apostles, with the omission of Judas: the head 
 Master and second Master, with the seventy Scho- 
 lars, denoted the seventy-two Disciples, as in the 
 Vulgate; for the English Bible, which is translated 
 from the Greek, has only seventy: the three Chap- 
 lains and three inferior Clerks marked the six faith- 
 ful Deacons; Nicholas, one of the number, having 
 apostatized, has therefore no representative : and the 
 sixteen Choristers represented the four greater and 
 the twelve minor Prophets". 
 
 From this school the Society at Oxford was to be 
 supplied with proper subjects by election; and the 
 College at Winchester was to be always subordinate, 
 both in government and discipline, use and design, to 
 that at Oxford, and subject to a yearly visitation from 
 the \Varden and two Fellows of the latter. This visi- 
 tation, and the annual elections from Winchester to 
 New College, generally take place in the second week 
 of July 1 '. The Warden of Winchester is elected by 
 the Fellows of New College, who for some years chose 
 their own Warden for that office ; but in Wykeham's 
 time, and for many years after, the Wardcnship of 
 
 Milncr, vol. ii. p. 133, K)4. 
 
 b The Founder enjuins the election to be at anytime bctuceti St. 
 Thomas a llecket's day and the lirst of October follo\\ injj.
 
 122 NEW COLLEGE. 
 
 New College was far superior in value*. The first 
 instance of a Warden of New College being preferred 
 to Winchester is that of Dr. Nicholas, in 16?9> and 
 the last, Dr. Coxed. 
 
 Among the special privileges secured by the 
 Founder to New College, one was that the Fellows 
 should be admitted to all degrees in. the University, 
 without asking any grace of the Congregation of 
 Masters, or undergoing any examination for them in 
 the public Schools, provided they were examined in 
 their own College according to the form of the Uni- 
 versity, and had their graces given them in the same 
 manner by the government of the House b . In 1608 
 this was disputed; but Archbishop Bancroft, then 
 Chancellor of the University, decided in favour of 
 the College. 
 
 Wykeham lived long enough to witness the pros- 
 perity of both his institutions, and almost to see 
 others emanating from them. He died in 1404, in 
 his eightieth year, leaving in his will a continuation 
 of those acts of munificence and pious charity which 
 he had begun in his life. He was interred in the 
 beautiful chantry which he had built for himself in 
 Winchester cathedral. In this cathedral we still see 
 the triumphs of his skill in the main body of the edi- 
 fice from the tower to the west end, but more particu- 
 larly in his chantry, which, with his monument, is kept 
 in repair at the joint expence of his two Colleges c . 
 
 This superiority is again restored, and the three last Wardens of 
 Winchester were not Wardens of New College. 
 
 b I have been informed that this privilege was obtained in conse- 
 quence of a purchase made by the Founder from the University. 
 
 c There are several paintings and sculptures of Wykeham in New
 
 NEW COLLEGE. 123 
 
 Of the benefactors to New College, one only ap- 
 peared in the Founder's lifetime, John de Bucking- 
 ham, Bishop of Lincoln, who gave to the Society the 
 advowson of SwalclifFe church, and some lands adjoin- 
 ing. In 1440, Thomas Beckiagton, Bishop of Bath 
 and Wells, besides what he left in his will, persuaded 
 Henry VI. to give them the manor of Newton Long- 
 ville in Buckinghamshire. Thomas Jane, Bishop of 
 Norwich, in 14Q4, Clement Hardy ng in 1507, and 
 Archbishop Warham in 1509, contributed landed pro- 
 perty, and Robert Shirebourne, Bishop of Chichester, 
 besides lands in Middlesex and Buckinghamshire, 
 founded four Prebends, viz. Bursales, Exceit, Wynd- 
 ham, and Bargham, in Chichester cathedral, for the 
 Fellows of this or Winchester College. In lj'24, 
 Thomas Wells, D. D. founded three exhibitions for 
 three Priests; a like foundation was made in 1028 by 
 John Smyth, a burgher of Ipswich, who appears to 
 have been incited to this by a tritiing circumstance. 
 Being asked by a neighbour, whether he would sell 
 certain lands to Dr. Fleshmonger ? he asked, what the 
 Doctor meant to do with them ? The answer was, to 
 nve them to New College, that he migrht be remein- 
 
 O O ' O 
 
 bered in their prayers. " If so," rejoined Smyth, " I can 
 " as well find in mv heart to cjive them as Dr. Flesh- 
 
 / O 
 
 " monger;" and accordingly made them over to the 
 College. In the same year this Dr. Fleshmonger, 
 who was Dean of Chichester, bestowed the manor of 
 
 Colle-re. The latter over the gatew.-iy tower, the entrance to the hall, 
 &i'. were probably coeval with the College. In the common room is 
 an ancient portrait, and one apparently ancient, hut different in fea- 
 tures, in the Warden's lodsrin^s, which, however, I suspect to be a copy. 
 There is one, not unlike it in features, at Winchester.
 
 124 NEW COLLEGE. 
 
 Sheringhall in Tackley, in the county of Essex, to 
 found an exhibition for four Fellows; and contributed 
 to purchase the manor of Staunton St. John in Ox- 
 fordshire, on condition of adding exhibitions for 
 twelve Fellows. In 1533, Thomas Mylling, a Fellow, 
 contributed to the same purchase, and on the same 
 condition, with a variation in the sums, and number 
 of Fellows. Fleshmonger's twelve were to have one 
 pound each, and Mylling's two Fellows were to have 
 forty shillings each, per annum. In 1558, John White, 
 Bishop of Winchester, gave the manor of Hall-place 
 in Southampton, out of the profits of which the sum 
 of thirteen shillings and four pence should be given 
 to every Scholar on his being admitted Fellow. In 
 1589, Christopher Rawlins, Vicar of Adderbury, after 
 building and endowing the free-school of that place, 
 conveyed the whole to the Warden and Fellows, who, 
 after paying the Schoolmaster's salary, and providing 
 for the repairs of the school-house, were to divide the 
 produce of his estates in Lincolnshire among the poor- 
 est Fellows and Scholars. The sermon on Trinity 
 Sunday was a benefaction of Dr. Ryves, Warden in 
 1613. Other sermons, orations, and lectures, usual 
 in this College, were endowed by Lettice Williams, 
 executrix of Thomas Williams, and Lake, Bishop of 
 Bath and Wells; and in 1647, Robert Pinke, War- 
 den, and Rector of Staunton St. John in Oxfordshire, 
 and Colerne in Wiltshire, gave the patronage of 
 Wotton near Woodstock. 
 
 Among the livings belonging to this College are 
 the RECTORIES of Akelcy, Hardwick, Horwood, 
 RadciifTe, and Tingewick, in Buckinghamshire; Al- 
 ton Barnes, Berwick St. John, and Rushall, in W r ilt-
 
 NEW COLLEGE. 125 
 
 shire; Birchanger and Little Sampford in Essex; 
 Bucknoll and Hey ford Warren in Oxfordshire; St. 
 John Baptist in Norwich; St. Michael Stratton and 
 Weston in Norfolk ; Paulespury in Northamptonshire; 
 and Stoke Abbots in Dorsetshire: the VICARAGES 
 of Chesterton and East Adderbury in Oxfordshire; 
 Colerne in Wiltshire; Heckfield in Southampton; 
 Horn-church and Writtle in Essex ; Marsh field in 
 Gloucestershire; Steeple Morden in Cambridgeshire j 
 Whaddon in Buckinghamshire ; and Great Witching- 
 ham in Norfolk : and the DONATIVE of Roxwell in 
 Essex, 8cc. 
 
 Such was the prosperity of this College, arising 
 from these benefactions, and particularly the solidity 
 of Wykeham's endowment, that in 1534 the revenue* 
 of this College were valued at 8871-, and in 1592 at 
 lOOOl.; and the Society at the last of these periods 
 consisted of one hundred and thirty persons. The 
 present members are, a Warden, seventy Fellows, ten 
 Chaplains, three Clerks, a Sexton, and sixteen Cho- 
 risters. The Visitor is the Bishop of Winchester. 
 
 The whole of the College, as it stood until the 
 middle of the seventeenth century, was built by and 
 at the sole expence of the Founder. Some part of 
 the ground on which it stands was occupied by tene- 
 ments and Halls ; but the greater part consisted of 
 pieces of land, tcnantless and waste, which were not 
 thought of much value until Wykeham oflered to 
 purchase them. The first purchase he made is very 
 accurately described by Wood, as amounting to two 
 roods, and consisting of void plots of ground, in the 
 palish of St. Peter in the East, lying between Ham-
 
 NEW COLLEGE. 
 
 mer Hall on the west and the city wall on the east, 
 and between that wall on the north and the wall of 
 Queen Hall on the south, and between the city wall 
 on the east and the church-yard of St. Peter's and 
 Edmund Hall on the west, and the walls belonging to 
 the tenements of St. John's hospital in the High- 
 street between Queen's College corner and the east 
 gate of the city on the south. To this he added two 
 acres more near the same premises, and six void plots 
 of ground, lying between Hammer Hall on the north 
 and New College lane on the south, and between the 
 city wall on the east and St. Peter's church-yard. 
 Other pieces of waste ground were successively pur- 
 chased, so as to procure room for his intendc I plan, 
 which embraced the whole space on which the Col- 
 lege now stands, including that part on which the 
 new buildings have been erected, and which for many 
 years was an avenue leading to the gardens. 
 
 These purchases were made at various times from 
 1369 to 1379? when the Founder saw it necessary to 
 secure undisturbed possession, by providing against 
 present prejudices and future claims. As he had 
 bought a very considerable space of ground, which 
 either had been considered as loose property, or wa* 
 connected with the city wall, at that time a fortifica- 
 tion of much importance, he procured the King's 
 writ, ordering an inquisition to he made, " whether 
 " it would be to the damage of the King, or the town 
 " of Oxford, as to the fee-farm thereof, or to anv one 
 " else, if he were now to inclose his present pur- 
 " chases, and others which he had in his eye, and spe- 
 " dried, for the erection of his Colleger" A jury wa* 
 accordingly summoned, and their verdict was in fa-
 
 NEW COLLEGE. 127 
 
 Your of his occupying the said premises, on condition 
 only, that the College should keep in repair that part 
 of the city wall which would inclose their premises, 
 leaving a gate on each side of the wall, at the extent 
 of their limits, through which the Mayor and Bailiff's 
 might every three years inspect the wall, and likewise 
 for the conveniency of the inhabitants in time of 
 war". And these conditions were duly fulfilled, until 
 the wall ceased to be an object of importance to the 
 defence of the city, and was gradually removed to 
 make way for alterations suited to a more improved 
 state of society. 
 
 From the verdict of this jury we also learn, what 
 has been already hinted, that part of the grounds pur- 
 chased by the Founder were not built on, or inclosed 
 for private use, but were covered with oftal and rub- 
 bish brought from all parts of the town, and were the 
 usual haunts of malefactors, murderers, strumpets, and 
 other disorderly persons; so that the jury had no hesi- 
 tation in declaring, that to inclose these grounds, and 
 erect such buildings as were proposed, Would, instead 
 of being a detriment to any on, add greatly to the 
 ornament, conveniency, and security of the city and 
 inhabitants. Another curious circumstance we learn 
 from this verdict : eight of these plots of ground 
 were estimated at no higher value than ten shillings 
 yearly, because no person ever entered upon or had 
 any thing to do with them; but although this depre- 
 ciation seemed in favour of the Founder, he was made 
 
 On the north side of the ante-chapel, where the buttresses rest upon 
 the city wall, arched passages wx-re made through them, that the sol- 
 diers in case of a siege might have 110 impediment to manning the wall-, 
 in the mobt couveuieut manner.
 
 128 NEW COLLEGE, 
 
 to pay eighty pounds for them by the citizens, whose 
 property they were, which Wood very justly thinks 
 " a hard purchase for ground worth but ten shillings 
 " per annum" 
 
 Although a considerable part of the ground whick 
 formed the site of New College and its appurtenances 
 was waste, there formerly stood on other parts of it 
 some of those ancient Halls, where youth were lodged 
 during their education at this University. Among 
 these antiquaries enumerate Maryol Hall, which was 
 situated near St. Peter's church ; Spalding Court, 
 built by a person of that name for the reception of 
 indigent Scholars ; Botte Hall, Chimney Hall, and 
 Hammer Hall, which last stood near to the present 
 garden gate ; Mayden Hall, of which there appear to 
 have been two of the name, one belonging to Univer- 
 sity College ; and lastly Schilde Hall, which stood on 
 the site of the cloister. Two streets or lanes, one 
 called Hart Hall lane, and the other Thorald or Turold 
 street, were also included in the extensive premises 
 devoted to the erection of this College. 
 
 The whole of New College, as built by the Founder, 
 consisted of the principal quadrangle, (which includes 
 the Chapel, Hall, and Library,) the fine cloister, the 
 lofty tower, and the gardens. The qiradrangle remained 
 in its original state of two stories, which was the usual 
 height of all the old Colleges, until the end of the six- 
 teenth century, when, a third story was added, but was 
 not completed as to uniformity of windows until the 
 year 1675, when the east, south, and west fronts were 
 modernized as we now find them. The dimensions of 
 the quadrangle are about one hundred and sixty-eight 
 feet by one hundred and twenty-nine. The Chapel
 
 NEW COLLEGE. isy 
 
 and Hall occupy the north side, the Libraries part of 
 the east, and the south and west the Warden's and 
 Fellows' lodgings. The statue of Minerva was placed 
 in the centre in ]6<j6, a present from Henry Parker, 
 Esq. of Honnington in Warwickshire, hut has been 
 removed for some years. 
 
 From this quadrangle, the middle gate leads to the 
 garden court, which was built in imitation of the 
 palace of Versailles, or more probably of the King's 
 house at Winchester, as designed by Sir Christopher 
 Wren, but with battlements to correspond with the 
 old quadrangle and city wall. It widens by triple 
 breaks as we approach the garden, from which it U 
 separated by an extensive iron palisade of one hun- 
 dred and thirty feet in length'. The first stone of 
 this court was laid by Warden Beeston, Feb. 13, 1()82, 
 and the whole finished in 1(>84. The gardens, which 
 are spacious, are laid out with much taste; but the 
 mount is not, as formerly, accessible, and the King's 
 and Founder's arms, a dial, and a knot, " all curiously 
 " cut in box," are no longer to be seen. The whole 
 of the gardens and bowling-green is inclosed by the 
 city wall, in perfect repair. The ditch on the east 
 side was drained about the year 1(J71, and some build- 
 ings erected on the spot, which now front the wall of 
 Magdalen grove. The spectator is generally and very 
 properly directed to view the new buildings of the 
 College from the garden gate, as they are seen there 
 to the greatest advantage; and this view, indeed, ap- 
 
 * lironti'Iit from " Tiinon's \illa," so ailininiMy satirixccl l/y Pope, 
 Moral l-^says, c|<. iv. ver. .').'). It is also x:u<l, th;it the jiill.irs of the 
 ti'iiijik' in the bowling-green were brought from the sume i>luce.
 
 130 NEW COLLEGE. 
 
 pears to have been a favourite object vvitb the archi- 
 tect. 
 
 Although the ancient part of New College still re- 
 mains in good preservation, much damage was done 
 to the buildings during the civil war. In 1642, when 
 preparations were made to oppose the invasion of Ox- 
 ford by the Parliamentary army, New College was 
 unfortunately selected, on account of its ample space, 
 as a garrison ; the armed Scholars were exercised in 
 the quadrangle, and, during the King's residence at 
 Oxford, the cloister and tower were used as magazines 
 for ammunition. In 1651, on the report of Charles 
 II.'s coming to Oxford, this College was fortified by 
 a Colonel Draper belonging to the Usurper's army, to 
 the great injury of the buildings, holes being made 
 through the walls of the cloister and gates, and other 
 dilapidations committed, to fit it for tbis preposterous 
 service. 
 
 Of the HALL, as it came from the hands of the 
 Founder and architect, we can only admire the just- 
 ness of the proportions", it appears to have under- 
 gone its first most considerable alteration in the War- 
 denship of Dr. London, who presided over this So- 
 ciety from 1526 to 1542. Between these periods the 
 present wainscotting was put up, some of which is 
 curiously carved, particularly the emblems of the cru- 
 cifixion at the upper end of the Hull under the 
 Founder's picture. Tradition reports that this wain- 
 scotting was furnished at the ex pence of Archbishop 
 Warham. About twenty years ago it underwent 
 another repair, but without any attempt to restore 
 
 These were seventy-eight feet in length by thirty-live in breadth, 
 and forty in height, before the modern eeilinj was placed there.
 
 NEW COLLEGE. 131 
 
 the character of the roof. It contains the portraits 
 of the Founder, of Archbishop Chichele, and Wil- 
 liam of Waynfleet, who followed his steps in the 
 foundation of All Souls and Magdalen, of Dr. Lake, 
 Bishop of Bath and Walls, and of Dr. Bisse, Bishop 
 of Hereford. Over the screen is Lord Radnor's valu- 
 able present of a painting of the shepherds coining to 
 Christ after his birth, from the school of the Carracci. 
 This was brought from the Chapel on the late altera- 
 tions. The windows, as well as the wainscotting, are 
 filled with various arms and devices belonging to the 
 Founder and benefactors, or eminent scholars edu- 
 cated here, and among the arms are those of the Com- 
 monwealth reversed. The grammar and music schools, 
 formerly between the east cloister and the west end of 
 the Chapel, are now under this Hall*. Wood informs 
 us, in his Life, that in H><)4, above one hundred Com- 
 moners, besides Choristers, attended these schools, then 
 under the tuition of Mr. James Badger, who, for want 
 of room, obtained leave to teach in the congregation- 
 house at St. Mary's. 
 
 In 1()05, Aug. CJ), King James, his Queen, the 
 Prince of Wales, and a considerable number of the 
 nobility, were sumptuously entertained in this Hall. 
 This appears to have been a day of business with the 
 roval visitor. Before dinner he heard disputations in 
 physic at St. Marv's; after dinner, disputations in 
 philosophy at the same place, which he concluded 
 
 Th( re is a set of rooms nr.ir the e;ist i ml of the ( hripel, between it 
 and the (itv \v:ill, ;iml two Mil. ill ;,|>.irtiiu ll!s, \vliieli probably smiil tor 
 *:uTistie>, where tlu- i>rie-t> ini^tit ha\e rol.n.-tl tlii-iu-ielvcs bi fore they 
 went to the hitvh ;i!t.ir. Tin- two (lours in the j'a^sa^t: bulwuen tht-iK 
 and the Chapi-1 arc now closed up. 
 
 K 2
 
 133 NEW COLLEGE. 
 
 with an oration. He then supped at Christ Church, 
 and afterwards went to St. John's, where a play, called 
 Annus Recurrens, written by Dr. Gwynne of that So- 
 ciety, was acted : but here his Majesty is said to have 
 fallen asleep, and when he awaked left the assembly 
 without any extraordinary expressions of satisfac- 
 tion*. 
 
 The LIBRARY, on the east side of the quadrangle, 
 is divided into two collections, formerly known by the 
 names of the Arts and Law Library, and the Manu- 
 script Library ; but the books are now differently ar- 
 ranged 11 . They occupy two spacious rooms, one on 
 the second and the other on the third story. The 
 upper was lately rebuilt in the interior by Wyat. Be- 
 sides what the Founder contributed, this Library was 
 enriched soon after its erection by presents of books 
 from Rede, Bishop of Chichester, Robert Heete, 
 LL. B. John Walter, M. A. and Fellow, Arch- 
 bishop Cranley, Richard Andrew, first Warden of 
 All Souls, Bishop Beckington, Thomas Chaundler, 
 Warden, Russel, Bishop of Lincoln, Archbishop 
 Warham, Sir Richard Read, Bishop Luke, Dr. Pinke, 
 
 In the statutes of this College, copied afterwards into those of 
 Magdalen and Corpus, the Founder orders his Scholars, for their recrea- 
 tion on festival days in the Hall, after dinner and supper, to entertain 
 themselves with songs, and other diversions consistent with decency, 
 and to recite poems, chronicles of kingdoms, the wonders of the world, 
 together with the like compositions, not misbecoming' the clerical cha- 
 racter. See a specimen in Warton's Hist, of Poetry, vol. i. p. 93. 
 
 b The lower Library is rilled with books of divinity, and the room 
 which now serves as a Common Room to the senior part of the Society 
 was, before the additional story in 1GT9, filled with books on the civil 
 law. The passage that communicated between these Libraries is now 
 closed up, and the room on the new story contains the books of miscel- 
 laneous literature.
 
 NEW COLLEGE. 133 
 
 and Dr. Woodward, who in 167-5 bequeathed five 
 hundred folios, besides octavos, 8cc. In the same 
 year the law and manuscript Libraries were united, 
 and the room enlightened by windows to the qua- 
 drangle. 
 
 The history of a manuscript, once intended for this 
 Library, may afford some notion of the difficulty of 
 procuring copies of books, the high value set upon 
 them, and the consequent very slow diffusion of 
 knowledge before the a>ra of printing. We are in- 
 debted to Mr. Warton for the anecdote, who, after 
 noticing how sacred the property of a book was con- 
 sidered, informs us, that many claims were made about 
 the year 1488 to a manuscript of Matthew Paris, be- 
 longing to the monastery of St. Alban ; and that Kus- 
 sel, Bishop of Lincoln, above mentioned, thus condi- 
 tionally defended or explained his right of possession. 
 " If this book can be proved to be or to have been 
 " the property of the exempt monastery of St. Alban 
 " in the diocese of Lincoln, 1 declare this to be my 
 " mind, that, in that case, I use it at present as a loan 
 " under favour of those monks who belong to the 
 " said monastery. Otherwise, according to the con- 
 " dition under which this book came into my posses- 
 " sion, I will that it shall belong to the College of the 
 " blessed Winchester Mary at Oxford, of the founda- 
 " tion of William Wykeham. Written with my own 
 " hand at Bukdene, 10 June, A. I). I48S. Jo. Li.v- 
 " COI.N. Whoever shall obliterate or destroy thi-i 
 " writing, let him he anathema." 
 
 The CiiAi'F.L of this College, still the most magni- 
 ficent in the University, affords but a faint idea of the 
 wonderful structure which Wykeham left. If we may 
 
 K 3
 
 134 NEW COLLEGE. 
 
 trust to general tradition, confirmed in some measure 
 by a reference to his exquisite skill displayed in Win- 
 chester cathedral, this Chapel once comprehended an 
 assemhlage of all that was beautiful and grand in the 
 Plantagenet architecture, and all that munificence, 
 piety, or superstition could add in rich and gorgeous 
 furniture and decoration. It is probable that it re- 
 mained in this state until the Reformation, when our 
 ecclesiastical edifices were robbed of their gold and 
 silver and precious stones, and the finest specimens of 
 art defaced under the notion that they administered 
 to idolatry. The first notice we have of these depre- 
 dations occurs in 1550, when King Edward's visitors 
 ordered the painted windows to be taken down ; " but," 
 says Wood, " the College not being rich enough, as 
 " they pretended, to set up new, promised that they 
 " would when they were in a capacity." According to 
 the same historian, the Chapel remained nearly in its 
 pristine state, the images only being removed from 
 the east end, until about the year 1636, when the 
 stalls and desks were supplied by new ones, and the 
 wainscot ornamented with paintings of the Apostles, 
 Saints, &c. a At the same time the screen was erected, 
 and the floors of the inner and outer Chapel paved 
 with black and white marble. In 160.3, the organ 
 made by Dolham, and since improved by Green and 
 Byfield, was placed over the screen. The former 
 organ, which was first set up in 1458, stood in a loft 
 on the north side of the upper end. 
 
 The fate of the east end of this Chapel, at least 
 through all its injurious treatment, cannot now be easily 
 
 In the porter's lod^e are three paintings of this kind on pannel, 
 which were removed from the Chapel.
 
 NEW COLLEGE. 135 
 
 traced. It appears, that when sentence of destruc- 
 tion was averted from the windows in 1550, the high 
 altar was decorated by a series of niches containing 
 images of gold and silver, as is supposed, all of which 
 were then taken down or destroyed, and the niches 
 filled up with stone and mortar, and the whole plas- 
 tered over, in what manner cannot be ascertained. 
 In H)95 this plastering was removed, and some broken 
 statues discovered, and the whole replaced by a mix- 
 ture of wood-work, gilding, and painting, the latter 
 executed by Henry Cook, an artist of King Wil- 
 liam's reign. It was his fancy to represent the con- 
 cave of a semi-rotunda, in which the east end of the 
 Chapel seemed to terminate. In the centre was the 
 salutation of the Virgin Marv, and over the commu- 
 
 ' 
 
 nion-table Carracci's picture, now in the Hall. 
 
 AH this remained until 1/89, when the decayed 
 state of the roof induced the Society to order a com- 
 plete repair of the whole Chapel, and the original wall 
 at the east end was again discovered, with the re- 
 mains of some of its beautiful niches 11 and fret-work. 
 These were now completely removed, and the present 
 improvements introduced, under the direction of Mr. 
 Wyat, so as to restore the wall to a resemblance of 
 what it is supposed to have been in the rounder's 
 age. These changes, with the additional painted 
 windows, stalls, screen, &.c. are so amply detailed in 
 the common Guides, as to render it unnecessary to 
 specify them in this place. The propriety of some of 
 them has been questioned, and a dispute, that might 
 have been conducted with urbanity between men of 
 
 The ground colour of thc^e niches was of a dorp ultramarine blue, 
 and the exterior edges of the shafts of the niches richly gilt. 
 
 K 4
 
 136 NEW COLLEGE. 
 
 taste, lias extended to an angry and apparently end- 
 less controversy, in which we have no inclination to 
 engage. Whatever defects may appear to an eye 
 nicely and fastidiously conversant with that species of 
 architecture to which it helongs, it will not be easy 
 by any powers of reasoning to lessen the admiration 
 which a survey of this Chapel excites". 
 
 Among the curiosities preserved here is the superb 
 and costly crosier of the Founder, of silver, gilt, and 
 enamelled, in which, instead of the Holy Lamb usu- 
 ally placed within the circle of crosiers, is a figure of 
 Wykeham in his favourite pious posture of kneeling. 
 Some of the ornaments pertaining to his mitre, which 
 are of gold and precious stones, his gloves and ring, 
 &c. are preserved in the muniment room. This room 
 is in the third floor of the massy tower, situated at 
 the south east end of the Hall, which contains four 
 stories, consisting of single rooms vaulted with stone 
 roofs ; the two upper rooms are of beautiful propor- 
 tions. 
 
 In the outer Chapel are the monuments, both in 
 stone and brass, and the remains of many eminent 
 men who belonged to this College, and of some of its 
 Wardens. A few of these were formerly in the in- 
 ner Chapel ; but a much greater proportion of the 
 Wykamists are interred in the 
 
 CLOISTERS, an appendage to a College of which 
 this was the first instance, and the only one in Oxford 
 except that of Magdalen, the roof of which is flat, 
 
 Those who have viewed the exterior of the Chapel and Hall only 
 from the quadrangle, can have hut an insufficient idea of the grandeur 
 of elevation which they present from the back gate in Holiwell. The 
 genius of the architect is there before them.
 
 NEW COLLEGE. 137 
 
 whereas this is finely arched in open timber-frame. 
 Its extent is one hundred and forty-six feet by one 
 hundred and five, and it was consecrated, with the 
 area within, Oct. 19, 1400, as a burial place for the 
 College. Many of the curious brass plates here were 
 stolen during the Rebellion, when the College was 
 made a garrison. In 1802 the monuments, &c. were 
 carefully repaired, and the inscriptions restored : and 
 the utmost care seems to be taken to preserve a build- 
 ing, which has so direct a tendency to excite solemn 
 meditation, and to recall the memory of departed 
 worth. 
 
 The first on the list of WARDENS, Richard de Ton- 
 worthe, appears to have been employed to govern the 
 Society, if it might be then so called, while in Hart 
 Hall and Blake Hall, only during the Founder's plea- 
 sure. He accordingly resigned his office in 1379, 
 when Wykeham appointed his kinsman, Nicholas 
 Wykehatn. On his resignation in 1389, Thomas de 
 Cranley was appointed, and was the first Warden 
 after the Fellows had taken possession of the College. 
 He was afterwards Archbishop of Dublin ; but re- 
 turned to England in 1417, died that year, and was 
 buried in the College Chapel. Thomas Chandler, 
 the eighth Warden, and Dean of Hereford, is praised 
 by Leland as one who graced scholastic disputations 
 with the ornaments of pure Latinity; he was likewise 
 reckoned an able critic in polite literature, and a 
 patron of Walton, the translator of Boethius in 1410. 
 John London, the thirteenth Warden, deserves notice 
 only that the reader may be reminded of the able 
 answer of Dr. Lowth to the calumnies which this 
 wretched man raised against the Founder, to whom
 
 158 NEW COLLEGE. 
 
 he owed his education and subsistence. His motives 
 for this attack on the memory of his benefactor are 
 now inscrutable. He was one of the first and most 
 implacable persecutors of those who were suspected 
 to favour the Reformation ; but in his zeal to bring 
 new victims to the stake, he committed perjury, for 
 which he was pilloried, and otherwise ignominiously 
 exposed, and ended his days soon after in a jail. The 
 other Wardens most celebrated for the part they bore 
 in public transactions, or for learning and piety, were 
 Cole, Skinner, Lake, Pinke, Stringer, Bigg, and 
 Coxed. Some of those were chosen Wardens of 
 Winchester, and some occur in the list of Bishops. 
 The present Warden is the thirty-fifth from the foun- 
 dation, during which period of four hundred and 
 thirty-five years there have been only twenty-five 
 Wardens of Winchester. 
 
 Among the PRELATES educated in New College 
 are, Cranley, Archbishop of Dublin, already noticed: 
 Chichele, Archbishop of Canterbury, who will occur 
 hereafter as Founder of All Souls : Thomas Becking- 
 ton, Bishop of Bath and Wells, a liberal encourager 
 of learning, and a benefactor to this and Lincoln 
 College: John Russel, Bishop of Rochester and 
 Lincoln, the first perpetual Chancellor of the Uni- 
 versity, and afterwards Chancellor of England, cele- 
 brated for his learning, but at the same time unfortu- 
 nately conspicuous for his zeal against the friends of 
 the Reformation : William Warham, Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, eminent as a statesman, divine, and law- 
 yer, an encourager of literature, and the patron of 
 Erasmus : Sherborne, or Shirebourne, Bishop of Chi- 
 chester, Bilson of Winchester, Lake of Bath and
 
 TsEVV COLLEGE. 139 
 
 Wells, Gunning of Ely, afterwards Master of St. 
 John's College, Cambridge, Turner of Ely, Kenn of 
 Bath and Wells, so well known for his practieal writ- 
 ings, Bisse, the munificent Bishop of Hereford, La- 
 vington of Exeter, and the learned and excellent Dr. 
 Robert Lowth, successively Bishop of St. David's, 
 Oxford, and London, are among the most celebrated 
 on this list. 
 
 The scholars of other ranks educated here are bj 
 far too numerous to admit of a complete specification. 
 Among these, however, we may begin with Grocyn, 
 one of the revivers of learning: Stanbridge, an able 
 grammarian : Philpot, a learned civilian and linguist, 
 and one of the first martyrs in Queen Mary's reign : 
 Talbot, an antiquary, and benefactor to this Col- 
 lege: Pullaine, the poet, and translator: Harding, 
 the learned opponent of Bishop Jewell: Fowler, a 
 very learned printer: Nicholas Saunders, a voluminous 
 writer against the Reformation: Nicholas Harpes- 
 field, another writer in the same cause, and a poet: 
 Sir Henry Sidney, the father of Sir Philip, a great 
 and accomplished statesman : Thomas Neale, a philo- 
 sopher, poet, and topographer; but less known in these 
 characters than as the propagator of the calumny of 
 the Nag's-hcad Consecration, which has been often re- 
 futed, it is more to his honour that he taught Bernard 
 Gilpin Greek and Hebrew: Dr. Balev, an eminent 
 philosopher and medical writer: Turberville, the 
 poet : Christopher Johnson, a Latin poet: Thomas 
 Slapleton, one of the most learned Roman Catholics 
 of his time, and a very voluminous writer: Lloyd, 
 an excellent classical scholar, and master of Winches- 
 ter school: Pits, one of our earliest biographers:
 
 140 NEW COLLEGE. 
 
 Bastard and Owen, the famous epigrammatists: 
 John Bond, the classical commentator: Dr. Thomas 
 James, first librarian of the Bodleian : Herbert, Earl 
 of Pembroke, a poet of superior and elegant fancy : 
 Sir Henry Wotton, an accomplished writer, an artist, 
 and a connoisseur; removed afterwards to Queen's: 
 Sir Henry Martin, civilian : Dr. Zouch, of the same 
 profession : Thomas Lydiat, the learned and unfor- 
 tunate, whom this Society honoured by a monument 
 on his grave, and another in the cloister: Sir Tho- 
 mas Ryves, an eminent civilian : William Fiennes, 
 Lord Say and Sele, one of the first Noblemen who 
 took up arms against Charles I. and one of the first 
 whom Charles II. promoted: Dr. Bruno Ryves, 
 Dean of Windsor, and writer of the first newspapers 
 published in England: Dr. Edward Young, Dean 
 of Sarum, father to the poet : Sir Edward Herbert, 
 Chief Justice of the King's Bench : Wood, author 
 of the Institutes of the Laws of England : Dr. Wil- 
 
 O 
 
 liam Musgrave : Somerville and Pitt, eminent poets: 
 Rev. Joseph Spence, an elegant critic and miscella- 
 neous writer: Dr. Gloster Ridley, the biographer 
 of his great ancestor the martyr: His son James, a 
 miscellaneous writer of promising talents and genuine 
 humour: Dr. William Smith, translator of Thucydi- 
 des and Longinus: and the late Dr. Robert Holmes, 
 the learned collator of the Septuagint, in the publica- 
 tion of which he had made considerable progress, and 
 which since his lamented death has been resumed by 
 the University, who have consigned it to the care of 
 a Gentleman qualified to do justice to this arduous 
 undertaking.
 
 LINCOLN COLLEGE. 
 
 ItlCHARD Flemming, or Flemmynge, the Founder 
 of this College, descended from an ancient family, 
 was born at Crofton in Yorkshire, and educated at 
 University College, where his extraordinary profi- 
 ciency in logic and philosophy procured him higher 
 degrees than were then usually conferred. In 1406 he 
 was presented to the Prebend of South Newbold in 
 the church of York, and next year served the office 
 of Proctor in the University. The copy of the sta- 
 tutes bclonsnii"; to the duties of Junior Proctor, which 
 
 O O * 
 
 he caused to be transcribed, is still preserved among 
 the archives. 
 
 Soon after taking his Master's degree, he professed 
 a zealous attachment to the principles by \\hich 
 Wickliff was endeavouring to oppose the established 
 religion, and argued with so much ability as to make 
 many converts, some of whom were persons of high 
 distinction. By what means he was induced to change 
 his opinion, and display equal or greater zeal against 
 the Reformation, is not known. In 1.') ( JG', when a 
 student in theology, or scholar, (^lagister llicardus 
 Heiityiig,) we find his name among the other Ox lord 
 men who condemned the tenets of \\ ieklifl ; and it is 
 certain, that when he speculated on the foundation of 
 a College, it was for the express purpose of educating 
 
 divines, who were to exert their talents against the 
 * o 
 
 heresy of that Reformer.
 
 142 LINCOLN COLLEGE. 
 
 In 1415, being then Rector of Boston in Lincoln- 
 shire, he exchanged his Prebend of South New bold 
 for that of Langford in the cathedral church of York, 
 and on April 28, 1420, was promoted to the see of 
 Lincoln. In 1424 he was sent to the Council of 
 Sienna, where, in a dispute about precedency, he vin- 
 dicated the honour and superiority of his country 
 against the Spanish, French, and Scotch deputies. 
 This Council was called to continue the proceedings 
 of that of Constance against the Hussites, and other 
 continental reformers; and our Prelate distinguished 
 himself so much, as to become a favourite with Pope 
 Martin V. who would have promoted him to be Arch- 
 bishop of York, had not the King as well as the Dean 
 and Chapter opposed his election with such firmness, 
 as to oblige the Pope to yield. Flemming consequently 
 remained in his diocese of Lincoln. In 1428 he exe- 
 cuted that decree of the Council of Constance, which 
 ordered that the bones of Wickliflf should be taken up 
 and burned ; the harmless remains of a man whom 
 he once honoured with the warmth of his zeal, and 
 supported with the vigour of his talents. 
 
 Whatever disappointment he might feel in not suc- 
 ceeding to the Archbishopric of York, it does not ap- 
 pear to have interfered with his generous design of 
 founding a College; but his full intentions were frus- 
 trated by his death, which took place at Slcford, Jan. 
 25, 1430-31. He was interred in Lincoln cathedral, 
 where a tomb was erected, with a long epitaph in 
 Monkish rhime, some part of which was written by 
 himself. The only information it convoys is, that the 
 Pope consecrated him Bishop of Lincoln with IIM 
 own hands.
 
 LINCOLN COLLEGE. 143 
 
 In the year 1427 he obtained the royal licence to 
 found a College or Society of one Warden or Rector, 
 even Scholars, and two Chaplains, in the church of 
 AH Saints in Oxford, which was then under his own 
 patronage as Bishop of Lincoln ; and to unite, annex, 
 and incorporate that church with the churches of St. 
 Mildred and St. Michael at the north-gate, which 
 were likewise in his gift; and these churches so united 
 were to be named the church of All Saints, and 
 erected into a collegiate church or college. A certain 
 chantry in the chapel of St. Anne within the said 
 church was to be annexed, under the patronage of 
 the Mayors of Oxford, provided that daily mass, Sec. 
 was duly performed in the chapel for the souls of the 
 Founder and others. There were also to be two Chap- 
 lains, elected and removeable at the pleasure of the 
 Rector, who were to officiate in the said church, with 
 the cure of souls. The College was to be called, The 
 College of the blessed Virgin Mary and All Saints 
 Lincoln, in the University of Oxford. The Hector 
 and Scholars were also to be perpetual parsons of the 
 said church, and were empowered to purchase lands, 
 rents, and possessions, to the yearly value of ten 
 pounds. This licence was dated Oct. 1(2, 14*27- 
 
 The Founder then employed John Bay sham, Ni- 
 cholas Wynbush, and William Chamberlayn, Clerks, 
 (who were intended to be of the number of his Scho- 
 lars,) to purchase' ground for the erection of buildings. 
 The first purchase they made was a tenement called 
 Deep Hall, situated in St. Mildred's lane, between St. 
 Mildred's church on the west, and a garden on the 
 east; but the Founder's death interrupting their pro- 
 gress, the Society resided iu Deep Hall, a* it stood,
 
 144 LINCOLN COLLEGE. 
 
 maintained by the revenues of the churches above 
 mentioned, and the money left by the Founder. They 
 had as yet, however, no fixed statutes for their go- 
 vernment, and were kept together merely at the dis- 
 cretion of the Rectors, whose judicious conduct, 
 joined to the utility of the institution, induced some 
 benefactors to augment their revenues by gifts of 
 lands and money. 
 
 Among these were, John Forest, Dean of Wells, 
 who about the year 1437 built the Chapel, Library, 
 Hall, and Kitchen ; John Southam, Archdeacon of 
 Oxford; William Finderne, Esq. ; Cardinal Beaufort; 
 and John Buketot; and these were followed by one 
 who has been allowed to share the honours of founder- 
 ship, Thomas Rotheram, Bishop of Lincoln. 
 
 This munificent benefactor was born at Rotheram 
 in Yorkshire, from whence he took his name, but that 
 of his family appears to have been Scot. He rose 
 by his talents and learning to the highest ranks in 
 church and state, having been successively Fellow of 
 King's College, Cambridge, Master of Pembroke Hall, 
 Chancellor of that University, Prebendary of Sarum, 
 Chaplain to King Edward IV. Provost of Beverley, 
 Keeper of the Privy Seal, Secretary to four Kings, 
 Bishop of Rochester and Lincoln, Archbishop of 
 York, and Lord Chancellor. His buildings at Cam- 
 bridge, Whitehall, Southwell, and Thorp, are eminent 
 proofs of his magnificent taste and spirit. 
 
 He was promoted to the see of Lincoln in 1471; 
 and we learn from his preface to his body of statutes, 
 that a visit through his diocese, in which Oxford then 
 was, proved the occasion of his liberality to this Col- 
 lege. On his arrival here in 1474, John Tristroppe,
 
 LINCOLN COLLEGE. 145 
 
 the third Rector, preached the visitation sermon from 
 Psalm Ixxx. 14, 15. " Behold, and visit this vine, and 
 " the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted," 
 &c. In this discourse, which, as usual, was deli- 
 vered in Latin, the preacher addressed his particular 
 requests to the Bishop, exhorting him to complete his 
 College, now imperfect and defective both in build- 
 ings and government. Kotheram is said to have 
 been so well pleased with the application of the text 
 and subject, that he stood up, and declared that he 
 would do what was desired. Accordingly, besides 
 what he contributed to the buildings, which will be 
 noticed hereafter, he increased the number of Fellows 
 from seven to twelve, and gave them the livings of 
 Twyford in Buckinghamshire, and Long Combe in 
 Oxfordshire. He formed also in 1479 u. body of sta- 
 tutes, in which, after noticing, with an apparent de- 
 gree of displeasure, that, although Oxford was in the 
 diocese of Lincoln, no College had yet made provi- 
 sion for the natives of that diocese, he enjoined that 
 the Rector should be of the diocese of Lincoln or 
 York, and the Fellows or Scholars should be persons 
 born in the dioceses of Lincoln and York, and one of 
 Wells, with a preference, as to those from the diocese 
 of York, to his native parish of Rotheram. This 
 Prelate died in 1500 at Cawood, and was buried in 
 the chapel of St. Mary, under a marble tomb which 
 lie had built. 
 
 There being now every prospect of a solid establish- 
 ment, other benefactors e;un>; forward, even during 
 the lifetime of Uotheram, to testily their respect for 
 the Societv. Walter Bate, a Priest and Commoner 
 here, gave them a house and garden adjacent to the 
 
 L
 
 146 LINCOLN COLLEGE. 
 
 College; and Thomas Crosby, Treasurer of Lincoln, 
 gave one hundred marks to found a Chaplainship. 
 William Dagvyle, of Oxford, Gent, bequeathed a te- 
 nement called the Christopher in St. Mary Magda- 
 lene's parish, Dagvyle's Inn in All Saints' parish, a 
 tenement in St. Martin's, and a garden ground in 
 Grand-pont in Berkshire. These he left by his will, 
 dated 1474, at which time they were valued at 61. 13s, 
 4d. per annum, and were not to come to the College 
 until after the decease of his widow. She made them 
 over, however, to the College in 1488, on condition of 
 receiving the above rent during her life, which was 
 prolonged until the year 1523. 
 
 In the beginning of the sixteenth century, Bishop 
 Smyth, the Founder of Brazenose, although he had at 
 that time his own College in view, gave the manor of 
 Bushberry, or Aillcston, near Brewood in Stafford- 
 shire, and the manor of Sengclere, or Sencleres, in 
 Chalgrave, Oxfordshire, for the general purposes and 
 benefit of the Society of Lincoln. Bushberry is re- 
 puted the best single estate in the possession of this 
 College*. In 1518, Edmund Audley, Bishop of Salis- 
 bury, the son of James Touchet, Lord Audley, gave 
 the sum of four hundred pounds for the purchase of 
 lands in Buckinghamshire, and added the patronage 
 of a chantry in the cathedral of Salisbury. 
 
 In 1535, Edward Darby, M. A. some time Fellow, 
 and Archdeacon of Stow, founded three Fellowships, 
 one to be of the Archdeaconry of Stow, the second of 
 the county of Northampton, and the third of the 
 county of Oxford. Benefactions in money were made 
 
 a Churton's Lives of the Founders of Brazenose College, p. 238-241
 
 LINCOLN COLLEGE. 147 
 
 in 1.514 by Sir William Finderne, Knt. nephew of the 
 Finderne already mentioned, and in 1521 by John 
 Denhmn, a Fellow. In 156H tour Seholarships were 
 endowed by Joan Trapps of London, by a bequest of 
 fifty-two acres of land at Whitstaple, Kent. Two of 
 these Scholars were to be chosen by the Rector and 
 Fellows from any part of the kingdom, and two by 
 the Governors of Sir Roger Manwood's free-school in 
 Sandwich", alternately with the Rector and Fellows. 
 It is probable that the husband of this lady had a 
 share in this intention, as she honoured his memory 
 by enjoining that the Scholars should be styled the 
 Scholars of Robert Trapps, of London, goldsmith, and 
 Joan his wife. These Scholarships were afterwards 
 augmented by their daughter, Mrs. Joyce Frankland, 
 whom we shall have occasion to notice more particu- 
 larly as a benefactress to Brazenose. One proviso 
 in this gift was, that Sir Roger Manwood, who was 
 one of her mother's executors, and had misapplied 
 some of her bequests, should not have the nomination 
 of the Scholars; or if this injunction was disobeyed, 
 her money was to be employed in founding a Scho- 
 larship of her own. Another Scholarship was founded 
 in 1633 by John Smyth, Rector of Wykeham Breux, 
 in the diocese of Canterbury ; and in 1640, Thomas 
 Hayne of London, some time a student, gave mainte- 
 nance for two Scholars, to be chosen from the de- 
 scendants of his father Robert Hayne, or his uncle 
 John AJnsson, or from the free-school of Leicester, by 
 
 " The appointment of Master to this school is now vested in the 
 Rector and l-'tlluws of Lincoln College, who present two of tin ir num- 
 ber to the Mayor and Jurats of Sandwich, who niaL- . hoice of uin*. 
 
 I- <J
 
 148 LINCOLN COLLEGE. 
 
 the Mayor, Recorder, and three senior Aldermen of 
 that town. The fluctuations in the value, or supposed 
 value, of money, are in some degree illustrated by the 
 sums allotted to these Scholarships. Mrs. Trapps' 
 Scholars were to have 21. 12s. 6d. yearly, Mrs. Frank- 
 land's single Scholar, if appointed, Si., Mr. Hayne's 
 61. each, and Mr. Smyth's 141. 
 
 The next great benefactor to this and other Col- 
 leges was Nathanael Lord Crewe, Bishop of Durham, 
 and some time Rector of this College. He added 
 2Ol. yearly to the Rectorship, and 101. to each of the 
 twelve Fellowships, and increased the Bible Clerk's 
 place and the poorer Scholarships to 101. each. The 
 same sum was added to the Curacies of All Saints 
 and St. Michael's in Oxford, and Twyford and Long 
 Combe. All these took place in 1717, and the fol- 
 lowing year he endowed twelve Exhibitions of 201. 
 each. These Exhibitioners were to be Undergraduate 
 Commoners and natives of the diocese of Durham, 
 or, in want of such, of Northallerton, Howden in 
 Yorkshire, or of Leicestershire, and particularly of 
 the parish of Newbold Verdon, or of the diocese of 
 Oxford, or of the county of Northampton, to be 
 elected by the Rector and Fellows of Lincoln College, 
 and to enjoy the Exhibitions for eight years. He 
 bequeathed also 2001. a year to the University for 
 general purposes, and was a liberal contributor to the 
 buildings of Christ Church, Queen's, Worcester, and 
 All Souls Colleges, and the new church of All Saints. 
 The latter days of this Prelate, who died in 1721, 
 were spent in acts of munificent hospitality and cha- 
 nty, for which his name has been enrolled and is com-
 
 LINCOLN COLLEGE. 149 
 
 memorated among the most distinguished benefactors 
 to the University*. The Scholarships and Exhibitions 
 were lastly augmented by Thomas Marshall, D. D. 
 Rector and Dean of Gloucester, who added four to 
 their number, and by the benefaction of Richard 
 Hutchins, D. D. Rector from 17 55 to 1781, when he 
 died at the advanced age of eighty-three, and was 
 buried in the chancel of All Saints 1 *. 
 
 The principal livings belonging to this College are 
 the RECTORIES of Cublington, Okeney, and Twy- 
 ford, in Buckinghamshire, the latter annexed by 
 Bishop Rotheram to the Rectorship; All Saints, and 
 St. Michael's in Oxford; Waddington, Lincolnshire; 
 Winterbourne Abbas and Winterbourne Steepleton 
 in Dorsetshire, purchased by the College in 1725; 
 Long Combe in Oxfordshire; Much Leigh and Had- 
 leigh in Essex: and the PERPETUAL CURACY of 
 Forest Hill in Oxfordshire. 
 
 In 153.3 the rents were estimated at 1011. 8s. lOd. 
 and in 1592 at UX)1. In 1612 the Society consisted 
 of 109 persons. It consists now of a Rector, twelve 
 Fellows, a Bible (."Jerk, thirteen Exhibitioners, and 
 eight Scholars. The Bishop of Lincoln is Visitor. 
 
 * Tht; expellees of the EncaMiia, or annual commemoration of the 
 benefactors uf this University, are partly defrayed by a sum of money 
 originally left to New College by Lord Crowe, and formerly spent in an 
 ( ntcrtainmciit to that Society. About the year 1750, however, they 
 transferred it to the I'niversity in order to furnish a musical and mis- 
 cellaneous anniversary, in honour of its patrons and benefactors. 
 
 b A relative ot Sir George Hutchins one of the Kind's Commission- 
 ers of the Great Seal, and a man of considerable learning. He printed, 
 for the use of his pupils, a short Treatise on the Globes, which was al- 
 lowed by the late Mr. Adams, of Fleet Street, London, to be the best 
 that he had seen upon the subject. 
 
 L 3
 
 150 LINCOLN COLLEGE. 
 
 The BUILDINGS of Lincoln retain much of their 
 original character. The old Colleges were all erected 
 in the quadrangular form, and never loftier than the 
 buildings of this College. The whole premises, situ- 
 ated between Exeter and All Saints church, and in a 
 line with the former, consist of two quadrangles, the 
 one a square of eighty and the other of seventy feet. 
 They stand on the ground that was formerly occupied 
 by Winchester and Hampton Halls, and part of St. 
 Mildred's church-yard. The largest quadrangle, which 
 includes the Library and Hall, is the oldest, and was* 
 begun soon after the Founder's death. The Rector's 
 lodgings were built at the expence of Bishop Beck- 
 ington, and his rebus, a beacon over a tun, may yet be 
 discovered on the walls. Other parts of the quadran- 
 gle were built by Rotheram, the co-founder, whose 
 arms, three bucks trippant, are still visible on the 
 walls, as on the sinister side of the College arms. 
 
 The smaller court, in which the Chapel is situated, 
 was built about the year 1612, partly at the expence 
 of Sir Thomas Rotheram, Knt. of Bedfordshire, and 
 Fellow in Queen Elizabeth's time, who is said to have 
 given 3001. for this purpose, as an atonement for hav- 
 ing formerly misapplied part of the College revenues 
 when Bursar. The Society and a few benefactors con- 
 tributed to complete this square : and the only addi- 
 tion that has been made since that time is a building 
 in the grove, of six sets of rooms, which was erected 
 at the expence of the Society in 1759- 
 
 The HALL, on the east side of the oldest quadran- 
 gle, a handsome building, forty-two feet by twenty- 
 five, with a plain semicircular roof, was originally
 
 LINCOLN COLLEGE. 151 
 
 constructed by Dean Forest in 1436, assisted proba- 
 bly by other benefactors. The windows were for- 
 merly decorated with the anus of the Founder, Bi- 
 shop Beckington, and other friends to the Society. 
 In 1701 the interior was repaired and vvainscotted at 
 the ex pence of Lord Crewe and others, and the arms 
 of the Founder, &e. restored. 
 
 The LIBRARY, on the north side of the old qua<- 
 drangle, was of the same age with the Hall, and was 
 at first supplied with MSS. by the Founder and other 
 benefactors, many of which are said to have been of 
 great value and rarity, but plundered or destroyed 
 during the revolutionary periods. Dr. Kilbye, Rector 
 from 15yO to l6'20, repaired this Library completely, 
 by making new shelving for the books, and contribut- 
 ing a considerable collection, in which he was followed 
 by Sir Thomas Rotheram, Dr. Edmund Wilson, Da- 
 niel Hough, B. D. Bishop Sanderson, Dr. Gilbert 
 Watts, and others. In this state it remained until 
 the year 1656, when it was converted into chambers, 
 and the books removed to the old Chapel opposite to 
 it, at the expence of John, the first Lord Crewe, and 
 father to Nathanael, Bishop of Durham, and last 
 Lord Crewe. Thomas Marshall, D. D. Rector from 
 1672 to 1685, bequeathed such books of his private 
 collection to the Bodleian as were not in that Library, 
 and the remainder to Lincoln College Library. He 
 also fitted up the Common Room, then a novelty in 
 Colleges, and built a garden-wall, which completes the 
 inclosure of the premises. In 17-'>!), Sir Nathaniel 
 Lloyd, some time a mem her of this House, and after- 
 wards Fellow of All Souls, Judge Advocate General 
 to Queen Anne, and Muster of Trinity Hall, Cam- 
 
 L 4
 
 152 LINCOLN COLLEGE. 
 
 bridgey contributed 5001. to the repairs of this Li- 
 brary, which was farther enriched in 17-55 by the du- 
 plicates of a library which James St. Amand, Esq. 
 gave about that time to the Bodleian, and also by a 
 collection of very valuable Greek and Latin manu- 
 scripts collected by Sir George Wheler in his travels. 
 This room contains the portraits of the two Founders, 
 of Lord Crevve, and Sir Nathaniel Lloyd. 
 
 The CHAPEL of this College is in the new or lesser 
 court, but its history brings us back to the other. 
 The Society, like other Societies in their infancy, at- 
 tended divine service in the nearest churches. The 
 men of Lincoln principally frequented St. Mildred's, 
 and occasionally All Souls and Si. Martin's. In 1436 
 a Chapel or Oratory was begun by Dean Forest, with 
 the materials, and partly on the site, of St. Mildred's 
 church, which was about that time pulled down". 
 This Chapel was consecrated Feb. 10, 1441, to the 
 memory of St. Mildred, or St. Hugh, Bishop of Lin- 
 coln, but it was more generally known by the former 
 of these names. The liberality of the benefactors to 
 this Chapel appears to have been chiefly exerted in 
 its furniture, vestments, plate, Sic. which were ex- 
 tremely rich and costly. In l()o(>, as jusi noticed, it 
 was converted into the Library, having been disused 
 for some years as a Chapel owing to its decayed state. 
 The present Chapel, on the south side of the lesser 
 quadrangle, was built at the expence of Dr. John 
 Williams, Bishop of Lincoln, and afterwards Arch- 
 bishop of York, and was consecrated Sept. 15, 1631, 
 
 a A part only of this church appears to have been pulled down at 
 this time; but about the end of the century the whole was removed, and 
 the site partly occupied by the hall of Exeter College.
 
 LINCOLN COLLEGE. 133 
 
 by the poetical Dr. Richard Corbet, Bishop of Ox- 
 ford. It is u well-proportioned and elegant Gothic 
 edifice of sixty-two feet by twenty-six in breadth. The 
 painted windows were purchased by Archbishop Wil- 
 liams in Italy in l6 L 29- The great east window con- 
 tains the principal types and antitypes of the history 
 of salvation, and the windows on each side are filled 
 by figures of the Prophets and Apostles. The interior 
 is of cedar, and the roof in particular is richly or- 
 namented. Dr. Fitzherbert Adams, Prebendary of 
 Durham, and Rector from 1(>S5 to 1719, laid out 
 15001. a sum he had received for renewing the lease 
 of Twyford, in the repair of this Chapel and the 
 Rector's lodgings. The somewhat tedious biographer 
 of Archbishop Williams, (Dr. I Jacket,) after a short 
 account of the Chapel, adds, that " all this he did 
 " with the greater willingness, because the Society 
 " flourished at that time with men of rare and extra- 
 " ordinary learning." Among such Williams himself 
 deserves to be classed ; in learning and strength of 
 znind he was certainly one of the first men of his 
 age. 
 
 From the information we have of the RECTORS of 
 this College, it appears, that if many of them were 
 not distinguished members of the commonwealth of 
 letters, they deserve to be remembered with gratitude 
 for their judicious discipline and management of the 
 Society, and for devoting their property to the in- 
 crease of its revenues. The third Rector, Tristrope, 
 lias already been noticed as the instigator of Bishop 
 Rotlieram's bounty. He was a man of learning, 
 and conversant in the education of youth "before his 
 promotion to this Rectorship, having been Principal
 
 154 LINCOLN COLLEGE. 
 
 of Glazen Hall in School-street in 1444, a Hall so 
 named because it was the first that had glass win- 
 dows. It appears to have stood in St. Mary's church- 
 yard. He was also Principal of Hawk Hall in Che- 
 ney-lane, adjoining to the site of this College: 
 Hugh Weston, the ninth Rector, and Dean of West- 
 minster, and afterwards of Windsor, and John 
 Bridgewater, amply fulfilled the intentions of the 
 Founder, by becoming able and voluminous cham- 
 pions for the old religion : Dr. Kilbye was an excel- 
 lent Hebrew scholar, and Professor of that language 
 in 1610, and one of the translators of the Bible; a 
 translation of which its greatest enemy has declared 
 that " every sentence, every word, every syllable, 
 " every letter and point, seem to have been weighed 
 " with the utmost exactitude, and expressed either in 
 " the text or margin with the greatest precision." 
 Dr. Kilbye had also the honour to be tutor to the 
 great Dr. Sanderson, Bishop of Lincoln. To these 
 we may add Dr. Marshall, Rector, and Dean of Glou- 
 cester, already noticed as a benefactor, a very cele- 
 brated oriental and Saxon Scholar. 
 
 Very few PRELATES have studied in this College 
 who have not been noticed as belonging to other So- 
 cieties. It would, however, be unpardonable to omit 
 the name of Dr. Edward Wetenhall, successively Bi- 
 shop of Cork and Ross, and of Kilmore and Kildagh 
 in Ireland, the author of many pious and practical 
 treatises: Dr. Clavering, Bishop of Llandaffand Pe- 
 terborough, many years Hebrew professor: and, above 
 all, Dr. Robert Sanderson, Bishop of Lincoln, who 
 is allowed to excel all casuists, ancient and modern, 
 and who studied more than any logician of his time
 
 LINCOLN COLLEGE. 15J 
 
 the purest principles of truth and equity. To a very 
 superior judgment he added a diffidence which would 
 have often prevented those decisions to which the 
 theological world looked up, had he not been impelled 
 by accidental circumstances to a greater degree of 
 promptitude*. The great Archbishop Usher says of 
 a difficult case which he submitted to him, that he 
 " returned that hap;>y answer which met all my 
 " thoughts, satisfied all my scruples, and cleared all my 
 " doubts." His life is the most engaging and com- 
 plete of those which we owe to Walton : but it is not 
 perhaps so generally known that we are indebted to 
 him for those beautiful additions to the Liturgy, 
 made after the Restoration, the prayer " for all sorts 
 " and conditions of men," and the " general thanks- 
 " giving." Archbishop Potter was also a Fellow of 
 this College. 
 
 Among the scholars of inferior ranks, or in civil 
 life, educated here, the first respect is due to Ro- 
 bert Fleming, either nephew or near kinsman to the 
 Founder, who became Dean of Lincoln, and after- 
 wards travelled on the continent in pursuit of the 
 study of classical learning, in which he made a pro- 
 gress then very uncommon, in Latin he wrote an 
 elegant poem, entitled, " Lucubrationes Tiburtinae." 
 On his return, he deposited in the College library 
 many finely illuminated manuscripts, and a Greek and 
 Latin dictionary of his own writing, which was pro- 
 bably extant in Leland's time, who mentions it. Thi* 
 College may likewise enumerate Sir Edmund Ander- 
 
 " He hesitated so much, and rejected so often, that at the time of 
 " reading (his lectures he was often forced to produce not what was 
 ' licit, but what happened to be at hand." JOH.VSO.N.
 
 156 LINCOLN COLLEGE. 
 
 son, Chief Justice of the King's Bench : Bolton, 
 the learned Puritan divine, afterwards of Brazenose, 
 and one of the first Greek scholars of his time: 
 Edward Weston, an able champion of the Roman Ca- 
 tholic cause, and nephew to the Rector of that 
 name : Richard Brett, one of the translators of the 
 Bible, and a critical scholar in the oriental as well as 
 classical languages : Dr. John Davis, or Davies, an 
 eminent linguist and antiquary : Thomas Hayne, 
 afterwards a teacher in Merchant Taylor's school, a 
 celebrated grammarian, and noticed already as a be- 
 nefactor to this College : Dr. Christopher Bennet, 
 physician and medical writer: Arthur Hopton, an 
 able mathematician, whom science lost by a premature 
 death: Sir William Davenant, the poet, a native of 
 Oxford : Cornelius Burgess, one of the most distin- 
 guished of the parliamentary divines, and a volumi- 
 nous writer ; when almost on his death-bed, he gave 
 some rare copies of books to the public library: 
 Henry Foulis, ecclesiastical historian : Those learned 
 and conscientious nonjurors, Mr. John Kettlewell 
 and Dr. George Hickes: Sir George Wheler, the 
 learned traveller and botanist, already mentioned 
 among the benefactors to the library. At the age of 
 seventeen he became a Commoner of this College, 
 and went on his travels before he took a degree. His 
 Master's degree was conferred in 1683, long after he 
 returned from his travels, in consideration of his learn- 
 ing, and liberality to the College in presenting the 
 antiquities collected abroad : Tindal, the Deist, stu- 
 died here before he went to Exeter and All Souls : 
 but the disgrace is compensated by the superior fame 
 and useful labours of the ingenious Dr. Richard
 
 LINCOLN COLLEGE. 157 
 
 Grey, and the pious James Hervey. Nor must it be 
 omitted, that the celebrated John Wesley, originally 
 a student of Christ Church, was elected a Fellow of 
 Lincoln, March 17, 17'2(j, an honour upon which his 
 family appear to have set a high value; and on the 7th 
 of November following he was chosen Groek lecturer 
 and Moderator of the classes, although he was then 
 little more than twenty-three years old, and had not 
 proceeded Master of Arts'. The foundation of Me- 
 thodism was laid about three years afterwards. 
 
 Whitebead's Life of Wesley, vol. i.p. 404.
 
 ALL SOULS COLLEGE. 
 
 CiENRY Chichele, Archbishop of Canterbury, the 
 first imitator of William of Wykeham, and Founder 
 of this noble establishment, was born, probably in 
 1362, at Higham-Ferrars in Northamptonshire, of 
 parents who, if not distinguished by their opulence, 
 were at least enabled to place their children in situa- 
 tions which qualified them for promotion in civil and 
 political life. Their sons, Robert and Thomas, rose 
 to the highest dignities in the magistracy of London, 
 and Henry, the subject of this memoir, was, at a 
 suitable age, placed at Winchester school, and thence 
 removed to New College, where he studied the civil 
 and canon law. Of his proficiency here we have 
 little information ; but the progress of his advance- 
 ment indicates that he soon acquired distinction, and 
 conciliated the affection of the first patrons of the 
 age. From 1392 to 1407, he can be traced through 
 various ecclesiastical preferments and dignities, for 
 some at least of which he was indebted to Richard 
 Metford, Bishop of Salisbury. This valuable friend 
 
 * Wood says he .was made perpetual Fellow of New College in 1387> 
 and afterwards received the decree of Doctor of the Civil Law. Mr. 
 (iutch thinks his Fellowship of a much earlier date, as he was Bachelor 
 of Laws in 1388. The life of Chichele, written by Hoveden, OIK? of 
 the Wardens, and another supposed to l<e written by Dr. Warner, also 
 Warden, exist in MSS. That published in 1617 by Dr. Duck is more 
 accurate, but is now superseded by the copious and elegant life, pub- 
 lished in 1?83, by Mr. Oliph Lei^h Spencer, a Fellow of the Society.
 
 ALL SOULS COLLEGE. 159 
 
 he had the misfortune to lose in the last-mentioned 
 year; but his reputation was so firmly established, that 
 King Henry IV. about this time employed him on an 
 embassy to Pope Innocent VII. on another to the 
 Court of France, and on a third to Pope Gregory 
 XII. who was so much pleased with his conduct, as to 
 present him to the Bishopric of St. David's, which 
 happened to become vacant during his residence at 
 the Apostolic court in 1408. In the following year 
 he was deputed, along with Hallum, Bishop of Salis- 
 bury, and Chillingdon, Prior of Canterbury, to repre- 
 sent England in the Council of Pisa, which was con- 
 voked to settle the disputed pretensions of the Popes 
 Gregory and Benedict, both of whom were deposed, 
 and Alexander V. chosen in their room, who had once 
 studied at Oxford. 
 
 On our Founder's return, he passed some months 
 in discharging the functions of his diocese. In May, 
 1410, he was again sent to France, with other ne- 
 gociators, to obtain a renewal of the truce between 
 the two kingdoms; but this was not accomplished 
 until the year following, nor without considerable dif- 
 ficulties. For nearly two years after this we find him 
 residing on his diocese, or paying occasional visits to 
 the metropolis, which his high character as a statesman 
 rendered no less necessary than grateful to his royal 
 master. 
 
 On the accession of Henry V. he was again con- 
 sulted and employed in many political measures, and 
 appears to have completely acquired the confidence of 
 the new Sovereign, who sent him a third time into 
 France on the subject ot peace. The English were 
 at this time in possession of some of the territories
 
 160 ALL SOULS COLLEGE. 
 
 of that country; a circumstance which rendered every 
 treaty of peace insecure, and created perpetual jea- 
 lousies and efforts towards emancipation on the part of 
 the French. 
 
 In the spring of 1414, Chichele succeeded Arundel 
 as Archbishop of Canterbury, which he at first re- 
 fused in deference to the Pope ; but on the Pontiff's 
 acceding to the election made by the prior and 
 monks, he was put in complete possession, and soon 
 had occasion to exert the whole of his talents and 
 influence to preserve the revenues of the Church, 
 which the Parliament had more than once advised 
 the King to take into his own hands. The time was 
 critical ; the King had made demands on the Court 
 of France, which promised to end in hostilities, and 
 large supplies were wanted. The Clergy, alarmed 
 for the whole, agreed to give up a part of their pos- 
 sessions 3 , and Chichele undertook to lay their offer 
 before Parliament, and, as far as eloquence could go, 
 to render it satisfactory to that assembly. It is here 
 that historians have taken occasion to censure his 
 conduct, and to represent him as precipitating the 
 King into a war with France in order to divert his 
 attention from the Church. But while it is certain 
 that he strongly recommended the recovery of Henry's 
 hereditary dominions in France, and the vindication 
 of his title to that crown, it is equally certain that this 
 
 All the alien priories were given to the King, with all their lands 
 and revenues, hut the greater part oi' them were stiil continued for 
 sacred uses, being' bestowed on monasteries and collects. Some, it will 
 be seen, were bestowed on this College. These alien priories were cells 
 to foreign monasteries. See Nichols's History of Alien Priories. Tan- 
 ner's preface to his Notitia Monastica, Burn, &c.
 
 ALL SOUfcS COLLEGE. 161 
 
 was a disposition which he rather found than created ; 
 and in what manner he could have thwarted it, it' such 
 is to be supposed the wiser and hetter course, cannot 
 be determined, without a more intimate knowledge of 
 the state of parties than is now practicable. The war, 
 however, was eminently successful, and tbe battle of 
 Azincourt gratified the utmost hopes of the nation, 
 and has ever since been a proud memento of its va- 
 lour. During this period, besides taking the lead in 
 political and ecclesiastical measures at home, Chichele 
 twice accompanied the King's camp in France. 
 
 After the death of Henry V. in 1422, and the ap- 
 pointment of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, to bt- 
 Regent during the minority of Henry VI., Chichele 
 retired to his province, and began to visit the several 
 dioceses included in it, carefully inquiring into the 
 state of morals and religion. The principles of \\ ick- 
 liff had made considerable progress; and it was to 
 them chiefly that the indifference of the public to- 
 wards the established Clergy, and the efforts which 
 had been made to alienate their revenues, were at- 
 tributed. Officially, therefore, we are not to won- 
 der that Chichele, educated in all the prejudices of 
 the times, endeavoured to check the growing heresy, 
 as it was called; but from the silence of Fox <>' 
 the subject, there is reason to hope that his personal 
 interference was far more gentle than that of his pre- 
 decessor Arundel. On the other hand, history h.i> 
 done ample justice to the spirit with which he re- 
 sisted the assumed power of the I'ope in the disposi- 
 tion of ecclesiastical preferments, and asserted the 
 privileges of the English Church. In all this he was 
 supported by the nation at large, by a majority of the 
 
 M
 
 KJ2 ALL SOULS COLLEGE. 
 
 Bishops, and by the University of Oxford ; nor at this 
 time was more zeal shewn against the Lollards, or 
 first Protestants, than against the capricious and de- 
 grading encroachments of the Court of Rome. Among 
 the vindications of Chichele's character from the im- 
 putations thrown upon it hy the agents of the Pope, 
 that of our University must not be omitted. They 
 told the Pope, that " Chichele stood in the sanctuary 
 " of God as a firm wall that heresy could not shake, 
 " nor simony undermine; and that he was the darling 
 " of the people, and the foster parent of the clergy." 
 These remonstrances, however, were unsatisfactory to 
 the proud and restless spirit of Martin V. but after 
 lie had for some time kept the terrors of an interdict 
 hanging over the nation, the dispute was dropped with- 
 out concessions on either side, and the death of this 
 l*o pe, soon after, relieved the Archbishop from farther 
 vexation. 
 
 lie was now advancing' in years; and, while he em- 
 ployed his time in promoting the interests of his pro- 
 vince, he conceived the plan of founding a College iu 
 Oxford, which he lived to accomplish on a vcrv mas:- 
 
 i O 
 
 nificent scale. One benefit he conferred, about the 
 same time, of a more general importance to both Uni- 
 versities. During the sitting of one of the Convoca- 
 tions in 1458, the Universities presented a remon- 
 strance, stating the grievances they laboured under 
 from wars, want of revenues, and the neglect of their 
 members in the disposal of church livings. Chichele 
 immediately procured a decree, that all ecclesiastical 
 patrons should, for ten years to come, confer the be- 
 nefices in their gifts on members of cither University 
 exclusively ; and that vicars general, commissaries,
 
 ALL SOULS COLLEGE. 163 
 
 and officials, should be chosen out of the Graduates in 
 civil and common law. 
 
 He had now held eighteen synods, in all of which 
 
 J 
 
 he distinguished himself as the guardian of the Church; 
 and was eminently successful in conciliating the Par- 
 liament and nation, by such grants on the part of the 
 Clergy, as shewed a readiness, proportioned to their 
 ability, to support the interests of the Crown and 
 people. The most noted of his constitutions were 
 those which enjoined the celebration of festivals, re- 
 gulated the probates of wills, provided against false 
 weights, and augmented the stipends of Vicars. That 
 which is most to be regretted was his instituting A 
 
 O O 
 
 kind of inquisition against Lollardism. 
 
 In 1442, he applied to Pope Eugenius for an in- 
 dulgence to resign his oilice into more able hands, 
 being now nearly eighty years old, and, as he pathe- 
 ticallv urges, " heavy laden, aged, inHrm, and weak be- 
 " yond measure." He entreats that he may be re- 
 leased from a burthen which he was no longer able to 
 fciipport either with ease to himself, or advantage to 
 others. He died, however, before the issue of this 
 application could be known, on the 12th of April 
 144J, and was interred with great solemnity in the ca- 
 thedral of Canterbury, under a monument of exquisite 
 workmanship, built by himself. As a farther mark ot 
 respect, the Prior and Monks decreed, that no person 
 be.-ic'e should be buried in that part of the church 
 where bis remains were deposited. 
 
 His character, when assimilated to that of the age 
 in which he lived, is not without a portion of the 
 dark sentiment, and barbarous spirit of persecution, 
 which obstructed the Reformation j but 011 ever) oc- 
 
 H 'I
 
 164 ALL SOULS COLLEGE. 
 
 casion where he dared to exert his native talents and 
 superior powers of thinking, we discover the measures 
 of an enlightened statesman, and that liberal and be- 
 nevolent disposition which would confer celebrity in 
 the brightest periods of our history. 
 
 The foundation of All Souls College is not the first 
 instance of his munificent spirit. In 1422, he founded 
 a collegiate church at his native place, Higham Fer- 
 rars, so amply endowed, that on its dissolution by 
 Henry VIII. its revenues were valued at 156L This 
 College consisted of a quadrangular building, of which 
 the church only now remains, and is used as a parish- 
 church. To this he attached an hospital for the 
 poor, and both these institutions were long supported 
 by the legacies of hia brothers, Robert and William, 
 Aldermen of London*. He also expended large sums 
 in adorning the cathedral of Canterbury, founding a 
 library there, and in adding to the buildings of Lam- 
 beth palace b , Croydon church, and Rochester bridge. 
 
 His first intentions with respect to Oxford ended in 
 the erection of a house for the Scholars of the Cister- 
 cian order, who at that time had no settled habitation 
 at Oxford. This mansion, which was called St. Ber- 
 
 Robert Chichele, citizen ami grocer, served the office of Sheriff in 
 1402, and that of Lord Mayor twice, in 141 1 and 142'2. He died without 
 issue. William served the office of Sheriff in 140,9, and his son John 
 was Chamberlain of London. He had a very numerous issue. 
 
 b He built the great tower at the west end of the chapel, called the 
 Lollard's tower, at the top of which is a prison room. Before the Re- 
 formation, the Archbishops had prisons for ecclesiastical offenders, 
 who, if persons of rank, were kept in separate apartments, and used to 
 eat at the Archbishop's table. LYSON'S ENVIRONS, art. LAMBF.TH, and 
 Clmrton'i Lives of the Founders of Hrazenose College, p. 1B9. et seqq.
 
 ALL SOULS COLLEGE. 165 
 
 nard's College, was afterwards alienated to Sir Thomas 
 White, and formed part of St. John's College. The 
 foundation of All Souls, however, is that which has 
 conveyed his memory to our times with the highest 
 claims of veneration. Like his predecessor and friend, 
 Wykeham, he had amassed considerable wealth, and 
 determined to expend it in facilitating the purposes of 
 education, which, notwithstanding the erection of the 
 preceding Colleges, continued to be much obstructed 
 during those reigns, the turbulence of which ren- 
 dered property insecure, and interrupted the quiet 
 progress of learning and civilization. 
 
 At what time he first conceived this plan is not re- 
 corded. It appears, however, to have been in his old 
 age, when he obtained a release from interference in 
 public measures. The purchases he made for his 
 College consisted chiefly of Berford Hall, or Cherle- 
 ton's Inn, St.. Thomas's Hall, Tingewick Hall, and 
 Godknave Hall, comprising a space of one hundred 
 and seventy-two feet in length, in the High-street, 
 and one hundred and sixty-two in breadth in Cat or 
 Catherine-street, which runs between the High-street 
 and Hertford College; to these additions were after- 
 wards made, which enlarged the front in the High- 
 street. The foundation-stone was laid with great so- 
 lemnity Feb. 10, 1437- John Druell, Archdeacon of 
 Exeter, and Hoger Keyes, both afterwards Fellows of 
 the College, were the principal architects; and the 
 charter was obtained of the King in 14'>S, and eon- 
 firmed bv the Pope in the following year. In the 
 charter the King, Henry VI. assumed the title of 
 Founder, at the Archbishop's solicitation, who ap- 
 pears to have paid him this compliment to secure hi 
 
 w 2
 
 166 ALL SOULS COLLEGE. 
 
 patronage for the institution, while the full exercise 
 of legislative authority was reserved to Chichele as 
 co-founder. 
 
 According to this charter the Society w r as to consist 
 of a Warden and twenty Fellows, with power in the 
 Warden to increase their numher to forty, and to he 
 called, The Warden and College of the Souls of all 
 the Faithful deceased, Collegium Omnium Animarum 
 Fidelium defnnctorum cle Oxon. The precise meaning 
 of this may he understood from the obligation imposed 
 on the Society to pray for the good estate of .Henry 
 
 VI. and the Archbishop, during their lives, and for 
 their souls after their decease; also for the souls of 
 Henry V. and the Duke of Clarence, together with 
 those of all the Dukes, Earls, Barons, Knights, 
 Esquires, and other subjects of the Crown of Eng- 
 land, who had fallen in the war with France; and 
 for the souls of all the faithful deceased. 
 
 Sixteen of the Fellows were to study the civil and 
 canon laws, and the rest philosophy and the arts, and 
 theology. But the most remarkable clause in this 
 charter, when compared to former foundations, is that 
 which gives the Society leave to purchase lands to the 
 yearly value of 3001. a sum very far exceeding what we 
 read of in any previous foundations, and which has 
 more recently been increased to lOJOl. by charters from 
 Charles I. and George II. Another charter of very 
 extensive privileges was granted soon after the founda- 
 tion by Henry VI. and this and the charter of founda- 
 tion were confirmed by an Act of Parliament 14 Henry 
 
 VII. 149L). 
 
 It was not till within a few days of his death that 
 the Archbishop gave a body of statutes for the regu-
 
 ALL SOULS COLLEGE. Hi? 
 
 lation of his College, modelled after the statutes of his 
 illustrious precursor, Uykeham. After the appoint- 
 ment of the number of Fellows, already noticed, he or- 
 dains that they should be born in lawful wedlock in 
 the province of Canterbury, with a preference to the 
 next of kin, descended from his brothers Robert and 
 William Chichele". To the Society were alio added 
 Chaplains, Clerks, and Choristers, who appear to have 
 been included in the foundation, although they are not 
 mentioned in the charter. 
 
 For the more ample endowment of this College, the 
 Founder purchased and bestowed on it the manor of 
 Wedon and Wcston, or Wedon Pinkeney, in North- 
 amptonshire. King's College, Cambridge, became af- 
 terwards possessed of a part of it; but All Souls has, 
 besides the advowson of the churches belonging to it, 
 the largest estate, and the lordship of the waste. The 
 Founder also gave them the manors of ilorsham, and 
 Scotney, or Blotching Court, in Kent, and certain lands 
 called the Thrifts, or Friths, in \\ apenham, Northamp- 
 tonshire; with the suppressed alien priories of Uoinney 
 in Kent; the rectory of I pchurch ; the priories of 
 
 Thi ] nil of the rounder's statutes has occasioned much litigation, 
 a? the farther the time is reniovnl from his :i^c, the dimVnlty of ascer- 
 taining eoii-amrninity bcconu s almost insuperable. Ac.-ordin^ to tin: 
 Stcnr.n.Ua ( Inclu-li ana, published in 17 <)'.'>, the eollater.il <1 -cendants uf 
 ("in 1 I nil i nil r \verc th 'ii to he t raced through nearly t \\el\e bund red fami- 
 lie-- ; ! Mt tin-, which seems at first to administer facility, is in let the 
 source of niai<\ disputed ,sr.<! disputable claims. In 177 ( >, 'n an appli- 
 cation to ( ornwallis Archhishop of (Canterbury, as \ i>itor, he de reed 
 that the nmnhcr of l\:!u\\s t..i lie admitted on claim of kindred *h<>ulil 
 be limited to twenty. In 17.')-', on the elai:n of kindred by a person, 
 when the number of twenty happened to he complete, the matter \> i- 
 reheard, and the former Archbishop's decree ratilitil a.nd continued. 
 
 M 4
 
 168 ALL SOULS COLLEGE. 
 
 New Abbey near Abberbury in Shropshire, of St. 
 Clare in Carmarthenshire, and of Llangenith in Gla- 
 morganshire. Wooci says, that King Edward IV. took 
 into his hands all the revenues of this College, and 
 these priories, because the Society sided with Henry 
 VI. against him: but it appears by the College ar- 
 chives, as cited by the accurate editor of Wood's his- 
 tory, that the King took only these alien priories, and 
 soon restored them, probably because he considered it 
 as an act of justice to restore what had been purchased 
 from, and not given by, the Crown. Besides these 
 possessions, the trustees of the Founder purchased 
 the manors of Edgware, Kingsbuvy, and Malorees, in 
 Middlesex, &c. and he bequeathed the sums of 1341. 
 6s. 8d. and a thousand marks, to be banked for the 
 use of the College". 
 
 These transactions passed chiefly during the build- 
 ing of the College, which the aged Founder often in- 
 spected. In 144G it was capable of receiving the 
 Warden and Fellows, who had hitherto been lodged at 
 the Archbishop's expence in the hall and chambers 
 hired for that purpose. The chapel was consecrated 
 early in the same year by the Founder, assisted by 
 the Bishops of Lincoln (Alnwick), Worcester (Bour- 
 chier), Norwich (Brown), and other suffragans. The 
 whole of the College was not finished before the latter 
 end of the year 1444, and the expence of building, ac- 
 cording to the accounts of Druell and Keys, may be 
 estimated at 41561. as. 3d.^ The purchases of ground, 
 books, chapel- furniture, 8vC. amounted to 43021. 3s. Sd. 
 
 He gave also 1231. Gs. 8d. to New College, and the same sum to 
 the University chest, as a fund for small loans to the members, and 
 subscribed lartely to the public library.
 
 ALL SOULS COLLEGE. loy 
 
 From the biographer of Chichclc we learn, that the 
 stone employed in the buildings was brought from the 
 quarries of Hedingdon, Teynton, Sherborne, Ilinxey, 
 arid Sunningwell; the timber from Shotovcr, Stovv- 
 wood, Horsham, Eynsham, Cumner, and Beckley. 
 The workmen were the best that could be procured, 
 and the same who afterwards assisted in repairing the 
 castle of Windsor. The wages of the carpenters and 
 sawyers were sixpence a day: masons, eightpence : 
 stone-diggers and common labourers, fourpence half- 
 penny : joiners, from sixpence to eightpence; daubers, 
 fivepence: master-carpenter, three shillings and four- 
 pence a week : carvers and image makers, four shil- 
 lings and eightpence a week, and bed and board found 
 them: a woman labourer, threepence a day. The 
 windows were glazed at one shilling per foot. These 
 were very high wages for the time, and prove that 
 the Founder spared no expenceon the work, while, by 
 his noble endowment, he raised his College to a higher 
 degree of opulence than was then enjoyed by any So- 
 ciety in either University. 
 
 Nor have many Colleges been more fortunate in tilt- 
 liberality of their subsequent benefactors, who, in this 
 case, may be divided into two classes. Those who 
 contributed to the College as it was left by the 
 Founder, and those who have enriched it more re- 
 cently in its renovated state. The latter will be no- 
 ticed when we come to speak of the new buildings. 
 Among the former was James Gold well, some time 
 Fellow, and afterwards Bishop of Norwich, who died in 
 14<)8, and, besides various sums given in his lifetime, 
 left 1461. Us. 4d. for a foundation of a chantry in the 
 Chapel. Three other chantries were founded with
 
 170 ALL SOL'LS COLLEGIA 
 
 estates or money, by Robert Honeywood, L L. I). 
 Richard Bartlett, M. I), and Robert Broke, all Fel- 
 lows. On the Reformation, these were converted into 
 exhibitions for the Chaplains. Sir William Petre, 
 already noticed among the benefactors to Exeter Col- 
 
 / O 
 
 lege, gave a piece of ground joining to this College, 
 and the Rectories of Barking and Stanton-Harcourt, 
 and founded three exhibitions for three Scholars. He 
 was patron of the \ icarage of Stanton-Harcourt, and, 
 in consequence of his petition, Cardinal Pole, who 
 was then invested with certain impropriate Parson- 
 ages, granted the said Rectory to this College : but 
 after Queen Mary's death the Bishop of Winchester 
 claimed it, and was prevailed on by Lord Burghlcy 
 to grant it to the Queen, (Elizabeth,) who restored it 
 to the College, although somewhat reluctantly. The 
 
 CT -* O *> 
 
 Rectory of Barking appears to have been the property 
 of William Pouncet, who left his estate to Sir William 
 Petre, and two other executors, in trust, for pious and 
 charitable uses. With part of the profits of this Rec- 
 tory, after paying the Vicar, two exhibitions were 
 founded for two Fellows, which are still called Poun- 
 cet's exhibitions. 
 
 In 1558, Edward Napier of Holywell, Gent, and 
 some time Fellow, left exhibitions for three poor 
 Scholars. David Pole, a relation to the celebrated 
 Cardinal of that name, and Bishop of Peterborough, 
 (of which he was deprived on the accession of Queen 
 Elizabeth,) left a legacy of money and books. Thomas 
 Gwynne, LL. D. a Fellow in 1597, gave certain lands in 
 Penhow, in the county of Monmouth, in trust for the 
 purchase of advowsons. This fund has been since in- 
 creased by the contributions of several members of
 
 ALL SOULS COLLEGE. 17 1 
 
 the Society, particularly the late Warden, Dr. Niblet, 
 and Doctor John Sanford, some time Fellow, and Rec- 
 tor of Chellcsfield in Kent; and by it many or' the 
 best livings belonging to the College have been pur- 
 chased. 
 
 These benefactions have enabled the Society to enu- 
 merate among their livings the RECTORIES of Bar- 
 ford St. Martin, Wilts; Buckland, Surry ; Chelles- 
 field, Elmeley Isle, and Harrietsbam, Kent ; East 
 Lockinge, Berks ; WeKvyn, Herts ; Stanton-Har- 
 court, Oxfordshire; and Weston Turville, Bucks: 
 the VICARAGES of Alberbury, Shropshire; Barking, 
 Essex ; Lcwknor, Oxfordshire ; New Romncy and 
 Upchurch, Kent: and the CURACY of Walton Car- 
 tlilfe, Gloucestershire. 
 
 The endowment of this College was valued in 15S5 
 at 39-1. '2s. Jd. or, according to Twyne, at 3931. ; in 
 Ij9<2 it was estimated at o(X)l. ; and in 1(JI<2 the So- 
 ciety consisted of ninety-three persons. At present 
 it consists of a Warden, forty Fellows, two Chaplains, 
 and six Clerks and Choristers. The election of a 
 Warden is conducted in the same manner as that of 
 Merlon College. The Society present two of their 
 number to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Visitor, 
 who makes choice of one. 
 
 Of the original BUILDINGS, very little now re- 
 mains as left by the Founder. The principal front to 
 the 11 lull-street, which retains somewhat of its pris- 
 tine character, was at first one hundred and ninety- 
 four feet in length, with two gateways, and three very 
 fine bay windows, now modernized, and an embattle- 
 ment along its whole length, with grotesque heads
 
 172 ALL SOULS COLLEGE. 
 
 and sponts. The gate to the westward, surmounted 
 by the tower ornamented with the finely sculptured 
 figures of Henry VI. and Chichele, opened into the 
 principal quadrangle, which contained the Chapel, 
 Hall, Library, and a cloister on the north-west side of 
 the Chapel. The gate towards the east led to a lesser 
 court of old and irregular buildings, and the Warden's 
 lodgings were over this gate. Nigh to them was a 
 mean building with two bay windows on the site of 
 the present Warden's lodgings. 
 
 The new and extensive quadrangle was erected since 
 the beginning of the last century ; and the Chapel, 
 Hall, and Library have passed through three stages of 
 alteration since the College was founded. It must be 
 noticed, however, that these alterations were neither 
 capricious, nor unnecessary. The College suffered so 
 much by the violence which injudiciously accompanied 
 the Reformation, and during other periods of public 
 turbulence, that it became necessary for the Society, 
 in justice to themselves and their munificent Founder, 
 to restore as much beauty and regularity to the Cha- 
 pel, 8cc. as the taste and prejudices of the times would 
 admit; and it is universally acknowledged, that the ad- 
 ditions and alterations of the last century have con- 
 tributed highly to the magnificence of this College. 
 
 It will be necessary, therefore, to notice the erec- 
 tion of the new quadrangle, as leading to some account 
 of the principal buildings. This quadrangle, which 
 extends one hundred and seventy-two feet in length, 
 and one hundred and fifty-five in breadth, contains 
 the Library on the north, the Chapel and Hall on 
 the south, the cloister and principal entrance on the 
 west, and the Common Room and other apartments,
 
 ALL SOULS COLLEGE. 175 
 
 with the two Gothic towers, on the east. The whole 
 was projected in the beginning of the last century, and 
 was completed principally at the expence of various 
 benefactors. The list is very copious, and there ap- 
 pears to have been at this time a generous emulation 
 of the munificent spirit of ancient days. 
 
 In a sketch like the present, a few names only can 
 be enumerated. The building between the Hall and 
 the south tower was erected chiefly at the expence of 
 Sir Nathaniel Lloyd, some time Fellow here, but ori- 
 ginally a Commoner of Lincoln. Having studied the 
 civil law, he practised at Doctors Commons for some 
 years, and was Official of Surry, Advocate General to 
 Queen Anne; who conferred the honour of Knight- 
 hood upon him, and was in 1710 chosen Master of 
 Trinity Hall in Cambridge, to which he was a most 
 generous benefactor. To the buildings in this qua- 
 drangle, he gave the income of his Fellowship, which 
 he retained for some time after he became Master of 
 Trinity Hall, and which amounted to IjOl. and also 
 12001. one thousand of which was by will. 
 
 The north tower and the stair-case adjoining on the 
 north were built by the Hon. William Steuart, (third 
 son of James, fifth Earl of Galloway,) Lieut. Colonel 
 of foot, and Commander in Chief of Ireland, at the 
 expence of 7861. The south tower, stair-case, and 
 rooms between the towers, were erected chiefly by 
 the benefactions of the Earl of Carnarvon, afterwards 
 Duke of Chandos, and Henry Godolphin, Dean of 
 St. Paul's and Provost of Eton. 
 
 The building between the north tower and the Li- 
 brary was undertaken by a man from whose personal 
 character such a contribution was rather singular, but
 
 174 ALL SOULS COLLEGE. 
 
 who was consistent in promising more than his extra- 
 vagance and folly permitted him to accomplish. This 
 was the gay and wretched Philip, Duke of Wharton, 
 who conditioned with the huilder to complete it for 
 the sum of 11831. but as he died in involved circum- 
 stances, many years elapsed before the debt was en- 
 tirely recovered. Dr. Young, who is known to have 
 been patronized by Wharton, of which he lived to be 
 ashamed, is said to have had some influence in pro- 
 curing this benefaction. 
 
 The cloister and gateway on the west side were 
 finished about the year 17-34, principally by the con- 
 tributions of the Hon. Dodington Grevile, Esq. the 
 Right Hon. Henry Boyle, Baron Carlton, Dr. Richard 
 Hill, Thomas Palmer, Esq. of Fairfiekl, Somerset- 
 shire, and Sir Peter Mews, LL. D.'^ll of whom had 
 been some time Fellows, and their names, with those 
 of the other leading benefactors, are placed on the 
 walls, gateways, &c. with appropriate inscriptions. 
 
 This quadrangle, especially when viewed from the 
 west-entrance, presents one of the most attractive 
 scenes of which Oxford can boast. The general 
 style is the mixed Gothic. The late Lord Orford, 
 after erroneously attributing this work to Gibbs, en- 
 deavours to lessen its merit, in his usual sarcastic 
 manner, by observing, that " the quadrangle of All 
 " Souls has blundered into a picturesque scenery not 
 " devoid of grandeur." To this it has been very pro- 
 perly replied by the editor of Wood's history, that 
 there was no blundering in the case, ;is what wa* 
 done was done intentionally, not bv Gibbs but by 
 Havvksmoor, whose correspondence with Dr. Chirks 
 on the subject is preserved among the archives of
 
 ALL SOULS COLLEGE. 175 
 
 this College. Lord Orforcl, indeed, who, for whatever 
 reason, had no great veneration for this Univer- 
 sity, appears to speak from a very imperfect recol- 
 lection ; for almost in the same page he says, that 
 Hawksmoor rebuilt some part of All Souls, " the two 
 " towers over the gate of which are copies of his own 
 " steeple of St Anne's, Limehouse." It is supposed by 
 Wood's editor that he had seen, perhaps in Williams's 
 Oxonia, a plan of Hawksmoor's, which was never 
 executed, for rebuilding the front towards the street, 
 in which there are two towers*. 
 
 The old HALL, at the east end of the Chapel, appears 
 to have been of nearly the same dimensions as at pre- 
 sent, but no account of its architecture has been trans- 
 mitted. The windows were ornamented, as usual, with 
 the arms of the Founder and benefactors. The present 
 Hall, the interior of which was built at the expence 
 of the Society, and of many gentlemen who had for- 
 merly been members, was begun in 17-!), according to 
 a plan given by Dr. George Clarke, who also coir- 
 tributed the wainscot and the chimney-piece. 
 
 Besides the arms of many benefactors, this elegant 
 room is decorated with Sir James Thornhill's paint- 
 ing of the " rinding of the law, and King Jusiah 
 " rending his robe* 1 ;" and the portraits of the Founder, 
 Colonel Codrington, and Sir Nathaniel Lloyd, by tin; 
 same hand. There is also a series of casts from the 
 
 In the eilition of his Lordship's works lately pviMMied, he offers an 
 apology for the mistakes in this account, but blames the want, of tun- 
 Gothic character in this (iiiadraii^le, which had not been asserte.l ; and 
 concludes with recommending Mr.Wyat a* an architei t capable ot thiiik- 
 hi in the spirit of the Founder. 
 
 k '2 Kin^s xxii. 11.
 
 176 ALL SOULS COLLEGE. 
 
 antique, and a very fine bust of the Founder, another 
 of Linacre, and a third of Leland, which was en- 
 graven for his life, published in 1772. Bacon's stutue 
 of Mr. Justice Blackstone is universally regarded as 
 one of the principal ornaments of this room. It was 
 erected in 1784, and the expence (four hundred and 
 fifty guineas) defrayed by Dr. Buckler, Sub-Warden, 
 Dr. Long, and the late Warden, Dr. Tracy, whose 
 fine portrait is now added to the collection, and by 
 the Society. Wyat planned the arch under which 
 the statue is placed, tinder Sir James Thornhill's 
 large painting is another of the architect presenting 
 the plan of the street-front to the Founder. The 
 Buttery and Kitchen adjoining were built at the 
 same time with the Hall. Dr. Clarke planned and 
 fitted up the fine arched roof of the Buttery, which 
 contains a bust of Giles Bennet, Manciple", and an- 
 other, with perhaps less local propriety, of Hawks- 
 moor, the architect. 
 
 The old LIBRARY, part of the second story of the 
 east side of the old quadrangle, (now a set of very ele- 
 gant chambers,) was built and partly furnished with 
 manuscripts by the Founder. Wood notices his 
 " Commentaries on the Constitutions of England," 
 as probably among these, " a work then in much 
 41 esteem, and since sought after, and desired;" but 
 there is reason to doubt whether such a work ever 
 existed ; nor is it improbable that Wood mistook his 
 
 m " Manciples, the purveyors general of Colleges and Hall*," says Mr. 
 Churton, " were formerly men of so much consequence, that, to check 
 " their ambition, it was ordered by an express statute, that no Manciple 
 " should he Principal of a Hull." Lives of the Founders of Brazcnose 
 College, p. 2.90.
 
 ALL SOULS COLLEGE. 177 
 
 Commentaries for his Constitutions, which are ex- 
 tant". 
 
 Henry VI. Henry Penwortham, one of the first 
 Fellows; Richard Andrew, first Warden; Norfolk, first 
 Sub-Warden ; Bishop Goldwell ; John Stoakes, War- 
 den; Pole, Bishop of Peterborough; Sir John Mason, 
 Archbishop VVarham, and Dr. Morris, first King's 
 Hebrew Professor, and Canon of Christ Church, con- 
 tributed at different periods to enlarge the collection 
 both in printed and manuscript; but their liberality, 
 considerable as it was for the times in which they 
 Jived, has been eclipsed by the noble legacy of Chris- 
 topher Codrington, Esq. to whom we owe the present 
 superiority of the building, and its contents. 
 
 This eminent benefactor was born, of English pa- 
 rents, at Barbadoes, in 1(J(J8, and educated in Eng- 
 land. In KJ85 he entered as Gentleman Commoner 
 of Christ Church, and took his Bachelor's degree. In 
 1689 he was admitted a Fellow of All Souls, and re- 
 tained his Fellowship after he took up the profession 
 of arms. King William, whom he served with fide- 
 lity and bravery, appointed him Captain General and 
 Governor in Chief of the Leeward Caribbee islands, 
 which ollice he resigned some time before his death, 
 April 7, 1710. He was first interred in the church of 
 St. Michael, Barbadoes; but his body was afterwards 
 brought over to England, and deposited with great 
 solemnity in the Chapel of this College, June If), 
 1716'. An oration was delivered on this occasion by 
 Digby Cotes, M. A. a Fellow of the Society, and 
 Public Orator; and another on the following week, 
 
 k See a List in TANNER'S Bibliotheca, Art. CHJCMEI.B.
 
 178 ALL SOULS COLLEGE. 
 
 when the foundation-stone of the Library was laid, by 
 the celebrated Dr. Young a . 
 
 Besides his College in Barbadoes, for the mainte- 
 nance of which he left estates which were at that time 
 valued at 20001. per annum, he bequeathed 10,0001. for 
 the purpose of building a new Library to All Souls, 
 and a collection of books supposed to be worth 60001. 
 The foundation-stone was laid June 20, 1716, but the 
 building was not completed, as it now stands, until 
 the year 17^6. The entire expence was 12,1011. 5s. 
 During this long interval, the principal legacy was 
 suffered to accumulate interest 6 , and with part of it an 
 estate was purchased at Levvknor in Oxfordshire, the 
 profits of which are applied to the purchase of books, 
 or for repairs. 
 
 This noble room, the largest of the kind in the king- 
 dom, is one hundred and ninety-eight feet in length, 
 the breadth thirty-two and a half, except in the cen- 
 tral recess, which is fifty-one and a quarter; the height 
 forty feet, with a gallery surrounding three sides. 
 Over the gallery are busts in bronze of some of the 
 most eminent Fellows of the College, cast by Sir 
 Henry Cheere c , Knight, with a vase between each. 
 
 Col. Codrington is admitted among the English poets in the col- 
 lection of poetical biography, published under the name of Cibber. 
 But his claims to this rank are not very strongly supported, if we except 
 two lines in his Verses to Dr. Garth, which have become proverbial : 
 " Thou hast no faults, or I no faults can spy: 
 " Thou art all beauty, or all blindness I." 
 
 ll Without this precaution the sum left by the Founder would have 
 been insufficient. He willed that out of the 10,0001., GOOOl. should be 
 appropriated to the building, and 40001. laid out in the purchase of 
 books. 
 
 c This artist died, if I mistake not, in 1731, at an advanced age. 
 He received the honour of Knighthood in 1760, wheu he went to court
 
 ALL SOl'LS COLLEGE. 179 
 
 Roubi lilac's fine bust of the Founder, and a large 
 statue of the same by Sir H. Cheere, are among the 
 most striking decorations of this room. The exterior 
 was built alter the model of the Chapel, under the in- 
 spection of Sir Nathaniel Lloyd and Dr. Clarke. The 
 site had been occupied by two tenements, and an 
 orchard, which the College for many years held by 
 lease, and now purchased of the trustees of the church 
 and poor of the parish of St. Mary's, according to the 
 terms of an Act of Parliament, passed 1 George I. 
 1715, for the principal sum of 3311. los. (id. 
 Amonar the more recent contributors to this col- 
 
 O 
 
 lection are the late James Clitherow, of Boston-house, 
 Middlesex, D. C. L. Anthony Jones, Esq. and Dr. 
 Ralph Freeman. For the admirable arrangement of 
 the books, and the facility of consulting any class, the 
 Society are indebted to the skill and judgment of Sir 
 William Blackstone, who also arranged the records and 
 muniments of the College, and prescribed a mode of 
 keeping the accounts, which he adopted when Bursar 
 in 174(), and which has since been found very beneficial. 
 In the windows of the ante-library, and other 
 rooms at the south end, are some valuable specimens 
 of ancient glass-painting, consisting principally of 
 portraits of Kings, Fathers, Bishops, Sec. Of these 
 
 with an address from Westminster, and w:is afterwards created a Ba- 
 ronet. If the same \\iio executed the magnificent monument of I'ishop 
 Willis in Winchester cathedral, his name " deserves to he tr.msmiued to 
 " posterity with that of Koi.hilliac." Dr. Milner, wholes this opi- 
 nion of his merit, adds, that he was guilty of one error, which is said to 
 have preyed so much upon his mind, as to occasion his death. He mad.? 
 the statue of Bishop Willis face the west end in-tcad of tl.e east end of 
 the church, contrary to all precedent, ancient and modern. Milner's 
 Winchester, vol. ii. p. H[). 
 
 N 2
 
 180 ALL SOULS COLLEGE. 
 
 the portraits of Henry VI. and that of the Founder, 
 which were formerly in the old Library, and have 
 lately been engraven by Bartolozzi, are supposed to be 
 coeval with the foundation. Another of John of 
 Gaunt, engraven in Carter's Specimens, is thought, 
 with great probability, to have been executed in his 
 lifetime, and probably placed at All Souls by Arch- 
 bishop Chiehele*. 
 
 The tripod, in the vestibule of this Library, was 
 found at Corinth, and belonged for some time to the 
 Museum of Anthony Lefroy, Esq. who, in 1771, pre- 
 sented it to this College. The celebrated antiquarian 
 Venuti, and other connoisseurs in the history of tri- 
 pods, pronounce this to be unique, from its being of 
 marble, and from the construction of the pedestal, 
 which forms three feet. It was dedicated either to 
 Cybele, whose symbols are the lions, or to Juno, 
 whose handmaids are the supporters b . 
 
 The CHAPEL of this College retains the exterior 
 only as left by the Founder, who built it for the cele- 
 bration of religious rites, and as a place of repose for 
 the illustrious dead. It was consecrated Sept. 16, 1442, 
 the year before the Founder's death, and dedicated to 
 the four fathers, Jerom, Ambrose, Augustine, and Gre- 
 gory. With the spirit of VVykeham in his heart, and 
 the example of Wykeham before his eyes, we cannot 
 doubt that the Founder enriched this Chapel in the 
 most sumptuous manner, and that it originally ex- 
 
 Letter from Dr. Milner, in Carter's Specimens, vol. ii. p. 54. 
 
 '' The inscription on the pedestal runs thus ; 
 
 Aram. Tripodera. 
 
 Olim. Matri. Deum. 
 
 In. Templo. S. CorinthL 
 
 Consecratuin.
 
 ALL SOULS COLLEGE. 131 
 
 hibited a highly finished specimen of what the artists 
 of his age could produce". It had eight altars, viz. 
 the high altar, six in the nave, and one in the vestibule, 
 each decorated with paintings, statues, and whatever 
 was then supposed to excite or elevate devout affections. 
 At the Reformation these were disfigured or de- 
 stroyed, and probably with the more severity, because 
 this Chapel was particulary obnoxious from its being 
 appropriated to public use on certain occasions. In 
 the year 1444, Archbishop Stratford, Chichele's .suc- 
 cessor in the see of Canterbury, granted forty davs 
 indulgence to all Christians within the province of 
 Canterbury, who would visit this Chapel, and de- 
 voutly pray for the souls of the faithful persons at rest 
 with Christ. How long it was thus exposed to ge- 
 neral superstition does not appear; but in 1 30(3 we 
 find Archbishop Parker addressing a letter to the So- 
 ciety, commanding them to deface such plate as did 
 " remain in superstitious fashion :" and in the fol- 
 lowing year, a letter was sent by the high com- 
 missioners, Parker, Grindall, &,c. requiring the Col- 
 lege to send up divers monuments of superstition, 
 part of which were specified in the schedule, and con- 
 sisted of books, vi/. missals, grailes, processionals, the 
 Founder's mass book, and even their music. This 
 was followed by an order to deface and break all the 
 church plate, except a few articles which might be 
 applied to profane uses, and to scad up to the com- 
 missioners their t\\o books of epistles and gospels, 
 " reserving unto themselves the images of silver of 
 
 * An inventory of tlie books, plate, vestments, \- ( .. given by Chi- 
 clie.le, may be sc-en in Gulch's Collectanea, vol. ii. p. '1J1. 
 
 N 3
 
 182 ALL SOULS COLLEGE. 
 
 " the same defaced in mariner aforesaid." With these 
 orders the Society appear to have complied with great 
 reluctance; for when her Majesty's commissioners sat 
 at Oxford in 1573, they again peremptorily ordered 
 the College " upon syght thereof utterly e to deface 
 " all copes, vestments, albes, missals, books, crosses, 
 " Sec." Even then taste or superstition secreted some 
 of these proscribed articles; and there yet remain, 
 among the curiosities of this College, a few fragments 
 of the ancient furniture of the Chapel. The missals, 
 however, were probably destroyed; and, from the few 
 specimens to be found in our public libraries, some 
 idea may be formed of the exquisite art and skill be- 
 stowed on them. 
 
 Of the Chapel, when thus deprived of its appro- 
 priate furniture, we have no account, except that the 
 niches in which tbe statues stood were permitted to 
 remain. It is conjectured that the high altar had 
 undergone some change, at no great distance from 
 the Founder's time, as Goldwell, Bishop of Norwich 
 in 1504, left a legacy of 501. " circa redificationem 
 " sum mi altarisV Goldwel! also built the first screen 
 which parted the inner from the outer Chapel, and 
 which remained until the year ]()G4, when the inner 
 Chapel was paved with marble, and a new screen 
 erected at the expence of Sir William Portman, Bart, 
 a Gentleman Commoner. In the same year the niches 
 which contained the statues were filled up, and tbe 
 whole repaired. Streater, &erj cant-painter to King 
 Charles II. painted the ceiling, and an altar-piece of 
 the resurrection. Lord Orford is again unfortunate 
 in his notices of this College, lie says, " Streater 
 
 * Gutch'-; Collectanea, vol. i ; , p. i?(>G.
 
 ALL SOULS COLLEGE. 183 
 
 " painted the Chapel at All Souls, except the Resur- 
 " rection, which is the work of Sir James Thornhill," 
 who was an infant when Streater died; but, under the 
 article FULLER, he ascribes it to him, and adds, that it 
 is despicable. 
 
 The last alteration, to which this Chapel owes its 
 present beautiful interior, took place about the begin- 
 ning of the last century, and was accomplished by 
 the combined taste and skill of Dr. Clarke, Sir James 
 Thornhill, and Sir Christopher Wren. Their respec- 
 tive shares cannot perhaps be exactly ascertained, but 
 the painting over the altar of the Founder, and the 
 ceiling and figures between the windows, were exe- 
 cuted by Sir James; the screen which parts the Cha- 
 pel and ante-chapel by Sir Christopher" ; and Dr. 
 Clarke contributed the marble altar-piece with its 
 furniture. Henry Portman, Esq. son of Sir William 
 Portman, John Webb, M. A. and Henrv Doddington 
 Greville, defrayed the ex pence of Sir James Thorn- 
 hill's labours. The screen and other ornaments were 
 furnished at the expence of the College. Mcngs's 
 fine picture, the AO/J me ({inhere, was purchased of 
 him at the price of three hundred guineas. The win- 
 dows were painted in chiaro scuro by Lovegrove of 
 Marlowe in Buckinghamshire, and the tine west win- 
 
 Amonic the architectural drawing of Sir Christopher Wren in the 
 Library of this ( olle^e is a design for thi-. screen, luit not exactly ;is it 
 now appears. His original designs for all his building* appear to have 
 been frequently alt< red. He also constructed the dial on the outside of 
 the (,'hapel, mi the ninth side of the old tuiadrani;!'-. " Thi-, dial shews 
 " the time to a iniiiiite, ha\in^ two half nt\ s ;uid one whole one for 
 " evcrv hour, and I he miimics marked on the --ides of the rays, tiftefii 
 " on each -idt-." 
 
 N 4
 
 184 ALL SOULS COLLEGE, 
 
 dow was executed a few years ago by Eggingtorr. No 
 Chapel in Oxford is more admired by common spec- 
 tators than this. The complicated grandeur of New 
 College, which they seldom examine leisurely, over- 
 powers them with a confused idea of undefinable mag- 
 nificence: but it is usually observed, that whatever 
 visitor remembers any thing of Oxford, remembers 
 the beautiful Chapel of All Souls, and joins in its 
 praises. Simplicity of decoration has seldom been 
 exemplified with a more happy effect. 
 
 The monuments of the eminent scholars and bene- 
 factors, &c. both of early and recent times, are very 
 numerous. A cloister, in imitation of that of New Col- 
 lege, formed part of the Founder's plan, and was begun 
 in his time. It was an oblong square on the north- 
 west side of the Chapel, and was finished in 1491, at 
 the expence of Thomas Overy, LL. B. some time Fel- 
 low, Bishop Goldwcll, Thomas Calfoxe, and John 
 Danvers, Esq. This cloister was pulled down to make 
 way for the new quadrangle. 
 
 The Warden's lodgings were originally some apart- 
 ments at the south-east corner of the old quadrangle, 
 to which additions were made in 1553, by Dr. War- 
 ner, Warden, and a few other benefactors, or, as 
 Wood thinks, at a later period, by Dr. Hoveden, and 
 at the expence of the College. In 1703, Dr. Clarke, 
 wishing to build a house within the limits of this 
 College for his private residence, agreed with the Col- 
 lege for a spot of ground for the purpose, on con- 
 dition, that, after his death, the house to be erected 
 should become the property of the College. He ac- 
 cordingly completed his house, and the College added 
 the buildings which join the new and the old lodg-
 
 ALL SOULS COLLEGE. 18.5 
 
 ings, now converted into chambers for the Fellows. 
 Dr. Clarke died in 1736, and left part of the furniture 
 and pictures for the use of his successors. Dr. Tracy 
 introduced some judicious alterations in these lodg- 
 ings, which have added considerably to their con- 
 venience and elegance. Part of the building stands 
 upon the site of Inge Hall, a grammar-school founded 
 by Walter Inge, and by him given to the hospital of 
 St. John Baptist. It afterwards became the property 
 of Magdalen College". 
 
 The first WARDEN of All Souls was Richard An- 
 drew, LL. D. a relation of the Founder, and one 
 of his executors. He was appointed Warden in 1437, 
 and resigned the office in 1442, after contributing li- 
 berally to the ornamental furniture and buildings of 
 the College. He was afterwards employed in state 
 embassies, and promoted for his services to the rank 
 of King's Secretary, which was followed by a Ca- 
 nonry of Windsor, and the Deanery of York 1 ". He 
 died in 1477. Among his successors, we find Robert 
 Hoveden, author of the life of Chichele, and of a ca- 
 talogue of the Wardens and Fellows ; both these are 
 preserved in MS. in the Library, and have been con- 
 sulted by Wood, Duck, and other historians. He 
 died in UJ14, and was buried in the Chapel. Arch- 
 bishop Sheldon was elected Warden in K>:?j, but was 
 ejected by the parliamentary visitors in H)4(), and im- 
 
 So in vol. ii. of Wood's Annals, published by Mr. Gutch ; but the 
 description dots not aijree with th:it jfiu-M in Wood's " Anriunt and 
 " Present St.ite of tin- (.'ity of Oxford," published by Sir John 
 Pi-shal. 
 
 b Willis's Cuthrdn.ls, and Wood's Collides, edit. Gutch, where a 
 particular account is given of hi> civil and eucle&i.istical progress.
 
 186 ALL SOULS COLLEGE. 
 
 prisoned. His successor, Palmer, dying in 1G59-60, 
 on the eve of the Restoration, Dr. Sheldon was again 
 elected, but never took possession, on account of his 
 promotion to the Bishopric of London. He will 
 occur hereafter as a benefactor to the University. 
 The present Warden is the twenty-sixth from the 
 foundation. 
 
 We find the names of very few PRELATES among 
 the alumni of this College, and not more than twenty- 
 one can be traced as having had any connection with 
 it. Among the most noted are, Goldwell, Bishop of 
 Norwich, an early benefactor, and Bullingham, the 
 pious Bishop of Lincoln and Worcester. Duppa of 
 Winchester and Archbishop Sheldon, although elected 
 Fellows here, were educated, the first at Christ Church, 
 and the second at Trinity. Jeremy Taylor, Bishop of 
 Down and Connor, an honour to any college or any 
 nation, became a Fellow here in 163G, by the nomi- 
 nation of Archbishop Laud, as Visitor, bat contrary 
 to the statutes, as he was bevond the a"-e at which 
 
 , O 
 
 candidates are eligible, and had not been of three 
 vears standing. 
 
 v O 
 
 The list of scholars of other ranks affords many 
 established names, some of which, however, appear 
 here by election from other Colleges. The celebrated 
 Linacre seems to have been first educated here, and 
 to have pursued his studies abroad until he was en- 
 abled to introduce polite literature into his own 
 country. He was the first person who taught Greek 
 at Oxford. His own master in that language was 
 Demetrius Chalcondylcs, one of the learned Greeks 
 who took refuge in Italy after the taking of Constan- 
 tinople by the Turks in 1453. Linacre was eminently
 
 ALL SOULS COLLEGE. 187 
 
 qualified to teach what he had studied. He was, ac- 
 cording to Erasmus, Vir non exacti tantum, sed seven 
 inrrenii. He was one of the founders of the College 
 
 O O 
 
 of Physicians, London, and its first President, and 
 founder of the Physic lectures in Merton College. 
 
 The no less celebrated Leland studied here for some 
 time: and one, who, according to the character left 
 hv his contemporaries, equalled any for extent of 
 learning, Recorde, a physician and mathematician. 
 His history, however, is obscure; and all we know 
 certainly is that he died a prisoner in the King's 
 Bench. To his other acquirements he added a know- 
 ledge of the Saxon, as appears from his notes on 
 Alexander Esscbiens, a MS. in Corpus library, Cam- 
 bridge, where he took his Doctor's degree in medi- 
 cine. To All Souls likewise belong, Andrew Kings- 
 mill, an able linguist and divine, formerly of Corpus: 
 Dr. Key, or Cay, one of the earliest historians of 
 Oxford, and Master of I Diversity College, where he 
 ought to have been noticed: Sir Anthony Sherley, 
 or Shirley, ambassador and traveller: Sir John Ma- 
 son, Privv Counsellor during the four discordant 
 reigns of Henry VI II. Edward VI. Mary, and Eli/.a- 
 beth : Sir William Petre, already noticed among the 
 benefactors of Exeter College: Robert Hey rick, 
 poet : Marehmont Needham, one of the earliest 
 writers of newspapers, of the Mercurius Britannicus, 
 and other scurrilous papers intended to promote the 
 Oliverian cause: Joseph Keble, first ot Jesus, a la\v 
 writer ot considerable note, and of almost incredible 
 industry. Iie>ides several folios, kk,c. published in his 
 lifetime, he left above one hundred and titty tolios 
 and quartos in MS. The disease of reporting was o
 
 188 ALL SOULS COLLEGE. 
 
 strong upon him, that, although he was never known 
 to have a brief, or make a motion, he reported all the 
 cases in the King's Bench court from 1661 to 1710, 
 the period of his death, and all the sermons preached 
 at Gray's Inn chapel, amounting to above four thou- 
 sand. Dr. Matthew Tindal, the deist, has already 
 been noticed as of Lincoln and Exeter : in this Col- 
 lege, of which he was chosen Fellow in 1678, he was 
 chiefly renowned, if we may credit one of his biogra- 
 phers 3 , for an extraordinary appetite. We have more 
 pleasure, however, in adding the names of the pious 
 John Norris, Rector of Bemerton, elected from Exe- 
 ter, and Dr. Sydenham, the improver of medical sci- 
 ence, first of Magdalen Hall : Sir William Trumbull, 
 the friend and correspondent of Pope, and an elegant 
 scholar, and accomplished statesman : Lord Chancel- 
 lor Talbot, first a Gentleman Commoner of Oriel, 
 and Sir Christopher Wren, the formation of whose 
 genius and taste belongs more properly to Waclham 
 College, and procured him a fame which cannot be 
 circumscribed. 
 
 All Souls also enumerates among its most distin- 
 guished scholars in the departments of law and poli- 
 tics, Sir Robert Weston, Lord Chancellor of Ireland 
 in Queen Elizabeth's time: Sir Clement Edmonds, 
 Secretary of the Council to James I. Sir Daniel 
 Dunn, Dean of the Arches, and Master of the Re- 
 quests, 1567-1617 : Henry Coventry, Secretary of 
 State to Charles II. Richard Steward, Dean of St. 
 
 
 The Religions, Rational, and Moral Conduct of Matthew TmdaV, 
 LL. I), late Fellow of All Souls College in Oxford ; in a Letter to a 
 Friend. By a Member of the same College. 8vo. Lund. 1735.
 
 ALL SOULS COLLEGE. 189 
 
 Paul's and Westminster, Clerk of the Closet to Charles 
 I. and Commissioner of ecclesiastical affairs at the 
 treaty of Ux bridge: Sir Nathaniel Lloyd, already no- 
 ticed: and that illustrious ornament to his profession 
 and to the University, Sir William Blackstone. It is 
 much to be regretted that Dr. Buckler* of this Col- 
 
 O 
 
 lege neglected to leave memorials of so interesting a 
 character. He had been the friend and associate of 
 Blackstone during the greater part of his splendid ca- 
 reer, and was in every respect qualified to detail the 
 progress of his various studies, and the many benefits 
 he conferred on this and on Queen's College, where 
 he succeeded Dr. Coxed as one of the visitors ou 
 Mitchell's foundation. His memory, however, can 
 never perish while his Commentaries exist, it will 
 hereafter come to be noticed, that Blackstone received 
 his early education, and his first marks of distinction, 
 while an Undergraduate of Pembroke College. 
 
 Dr. Buckler was a man of extensive learning, and an able antiquary. 
 Of bis wit, lie h.is left a must incontrovertible proof in his " Complete 
 " Vindication of the Mallard of All Souls College, against the injurious 
 " suggestions of the Rev. Mr. Pointer," who in his short History of Ox- 
 ford insinuated, that the huge mallard, found imprisoned in a gutter, or 
 dr;iin, at the digging of the foundation of the College, was a goose. 
 This mallard is still commemorated in a song on one of the College 
 g.-iudies. Dr. Buckler's Vindication, which is one of the finest pieces of 
 irony in our language, was followed by a sheet of Pro|xjsals for a " Com- 
 " plete history of the Mallardians," scarcely less humorous, drawn up 
 by Mr. Rowe Mores and Mr. Bilson, and published in 1752. This last pro- 
 mised " a true history of Pentrapolin fi Calamo, usually stvlcd, by way 
 " of eminence, The KICKLKR of the Mallardians." Dr. Buckler died 
 Dec. <2-\, 17*0.
 
 MAGDALEN COLLEGE. 
 
 1 HE genius of Wykeham still predominated in Ox- 
 ford. At the distance of more than seventy years, 
 and during a state of public affairs peculiarly unpropi- 
 tious to undertakings of this description, his example 
 gave rise to Magdalen College, an establishment which 
 for opulence and extent of usefulness had at that time 
 scarcely a rival in Europe. 
 
 This well-constituted Society was founded by Wil- 
 liam of Waynfleet, Bishop of Winchester, and Lord 
 Chancellor in the reign of Henry VI. He was the 
 eldest son of Richard Patten, of Waynfleet in Lin- 
 colnshire, by Margery, daughter of Sir William Brere- 
 ton, Knight, and had for his brother John Patten, 
 Dean of Chichester; but the precise time of his birth 
 is no where ascertained. According to the custom 
 of his day, he took the surname of ^V r aynrleet from his 
 native place. 
 
 He was educated at Winchester school, and studied 
 afterwards at Oxford, but in what College is unce\- 
 tain. The historian of Winchester is inclined to pre- 
 fer New College, which is most consistent with the 
 progress of education at Wykeham's school. Wood 
 acknowledges, that although his name does not occur 
 among the Fellows of New College, nor among those 
 of Merton, where Hollingshed places him, unless he 
 was a Chaplain or Postmaster, yet " the general
 
 MAGDALEN COLLEGE. 191 
 
 " vogue is for the College of William of Wykeham'." 
 Wherever he studied, his proficiency in the literature 
 of the times, and in philosophy and divinity, in which 
 last he took the degree of Bachelor, is said to have 
 been great; and the lame he acquired as Schoolmaster 
 of Winchester, with the classical library he formed, is 
 a proof that he surpassed in such learning as was then 
 attainable. 
 
 Of his preferments in the church we have no early 
 account that is not liable to suspicion. Wood says, 
 that he was Rector of Wraxall in 1433, and that he 
 was Rector of Chedscy in 14(>9, which is highly im- 
 probable, because he had then been twenty years 
 .Bishop of Winchester. It is, however, more clearly 
 ascertained, that about the year 1430 he was appointed 
 Head Master of Winchester school, where he dis- 
 played great abilities as a teacher. In 1438, he was 
 Muster of St. Mary Magdalen Hospital near Win- 
 chester, which is supposed to have suggested to him 
 the name and patroness of his foundation at Oxford. 
 
 In 1440, when Henry VI. visited Winchester, for 
 the purpose of inspecting the discipline, constitution, 
 and progress of W ykeham's school, on the model of 
 which he had begun to found one at Eton, he procured 
 the consent of \\ayuHeet to remove thither, with 
 five Fellows and thirty-five of the Scholars; whose 
 education our Founder superintended until December, 
 144. J, when he was appointed Provost of that cele- 
 brated seminary. On the death of Cardinal Beaufort, 
 in 1447, he was advanced to the see of Winchester, 
 
 1 I)r (handler, :is I ,1111 just informed by one of hi. intimate friend*, 
 as irielintd to jiivl'er Merlon.
 
 192 MAGDALEN COLLEGE. 
 
 which he held for the long space of thirty-nine years, 
 during which he amply justified the recommendation 
 of the King, being distinguished " for piety, learning, 
 " and prudence." His Highness honoured with his 
 presence the ceremony of his enthronement*. 
 
 His acknowledged talents and political sagacity 
 procured him the unreserved confidence of his royal 
 master, who appears to have treated him with conde- 
 scending familiarity, employed him in some affairs of 
 critical importance, and received throughout the 
 whole of his turbulent reign abundant proofs of his 
 invariable loyalty and attachment. In 1450, when 
 the rebellion of Jack Cade burst forth, Waynfleet, 
 who had retired to the nunnery of Holy well, was sent 
 for by the King to Canterbury, and advised the 
 issuing a proclamation offering pardon to all con- 
 cerned in the rebellion, except Cade himself; in con- 
 sequence of which the rebels dispersed, and left their 
 leader to his fate. Soon after, when Richard, Duke 
 of York, took up arms, the King sent our Prelate, 
 with the Bishop of Ely, to inquire his reasons for so 
 alarming a step. The Duke replied, that his only view 
 was to remove evil counsellors from his Highness, and 
 particularly the Duke of Somerset. Waynfleet and 
 his colleague having made this report, the King or- 
 dered the Duke of Somerset to be imprisoned, and 
 received the Duke of York with kindness, who on his 
 part took a solemn oath of future allegiance and fide- 
 lity; which, however, he violated at the battle of 
 Northampton in 1460. In October, 1453, Waynfleet 
 
 Vetusta Monument*, vol. ii. Milner's Hist, of Winchester. Bud- 
 den's Life of Waynfleet, apud Batesiura.
 
 MAGDALEN COLLEGE. 193 
 
 baptized the young Prince of Wales by the name of 
 Edward. 
 
 In October, 1456, he was appointed Lord High 
 Chancellor in the room of Bourchier, Archbishop of 
 Canterbury; and the following year he sat in judg- 
 ment with the Archbishop, and other Prelates, upon 
 Dr. Reginald Pecocke, Bishop of Chichestcr, who had 
 advanced some doctrines contrary to the prevailing 
 religious opinions. On this occasion the court was 
 unanimous in enjoining Pecocke to a solemn recanta- 
 tion, and confinement to his house; his writings also 
 were ordered to be burnt: but the Archbishop, ac- 
 cording to Mr. Lewis's account, took a far more 
 active share in this business than the Chancellor". 
 
 Waynfleet resigned the oihce of Chancellor in the 
 month of July, 1 i()0; about which time he accompa- 
 nied the King to Northampton, and was with him a 
 few days before the fatal battle near that place, in 
 which the royal army was defeated. Waynflect's at- 
 tachment to Henry's cause had been uniform and 
 decided, yet his high character and talents appear to 
 have protected him. Edward IV. treated him not 
 only with respect, but with some degree of magnani- 
 mity, as he issued a special pardon in his favour, 
 and condescended to visit, unasked, his newlv founded 
 College at Oxford, a lavour which to Way n licet, em- 
 barked in a work which required royal patronage, 
 must have been highly gratifying. The remainder of 
 his life appears to have been tree from political inter- 
 t< rcnce or danger, and he lived to see the quiet union 
 of the Houses of \ ork and Lancaster, in the mar- 
 riage of Henry VII. with Elizabeth of York. 
 
 Lewis's Life of Pecocke, p. ^dl. ft scqq. 
 O
 
 194 MAGDALEN COLLEGE. 
 
 Besides his other preferments, he is said to have 
 been Chancellor of the University of Oxford ; but his 
 name no where occurs in Wood's copious and accu- 
 rate account of the persons who filled that office. 
 
 He died of a short but violent illness in the after- 
 noon of Aug. 11, I486, and was interred, with great 
 funeral pomp, in Winchester cathedral, in a magnifi- 
 cent sepulchral chapel, which is kept in the finest 
 preservation by the Society of Magdalen College. 
 In his will he bequeathed legacies to all his servants, 
 to all the religious of both sexes in Winchester, to all 
 the clergy in that city, and to every Fellow and Scho- 
 lar in Wykeham's two Colleges and his own. 
 
 His biographers" have celebrated his piety, temper, 
 and humanity. Besides the foundation, of which we 
 are to give a more ample detail, he established a free- 
 school in his native town, and was a benefactor to 
 Eton college, Winchester cathedral, and other places. 
 In these labours, while his munificent spirit induced 
 him to hire the ablest artists, he displayed himself 
 very considerable talents as an architect. Leland was 
 informed that the greatest part of the buildings of 
 Eton College were raised under his direction, and at 
 his expence. In 1478 we find him overseer of the 
 buildings at Windsor, an office formerly held by his 
 great predecessor Wykeham, and it was from that 
 place he sent workmen to complete the Divinity- 
 school of Oxford. 
 
 In the second year of his Bishopric he obtained a 
 
 Biuldcn, 4to, IGO'J, Circb, Vetusta Monumonta, &o. A Life of 
 Waynfleet has long been expected from a distinguished Member of his 
 College, the late Dr. Chandler, and is now in preparation for the 
 press.
 
 MAGDALEN COLLEGE. 195 
 
 licence of Henry VI. dated May 6, 1448, enabling 
 him to found, in Oxford, a Hall, for a President and 
 Scholars, the number to be regulated by their reve- 
 nues. This he was permitted to endow witli 1001. 
 per annum, and to give them a common seal, lie 
 then employed John Godmanston of Essex to pur- 
 chase ground on which this Hall might be erected, 
 who obtained from the Master and Brethren of St. 
 John's hospital a long lease of all their lands lying 
 between the lane that led from the east-gate to St. 
 John's-street on the east, Horsemull lane, now called 
 Logic lane, on the west, and High-street on the north, 
 and St. John-street, where Merton College and Alban 
 Hall stand, on the south, upon a yearly rent of (il. (>s. 
 Sd. Much of this ground was at that time waste, but 
 on other parts tliere were tenements, and four Halls, 
 Bostar Hall, Hare Hall, Fencrych Hall, and Night- 
 ingale Hall. 
 
 Bostar HaFl, a building of one hundred and thirty- 
 five feet by thirty-seven, and Hare Hail, of seventy- 
 five feet by sixty-six, which stood on the south of the 
 High-street, and near to St. John's-street, were taken 
 possession of by the Founder, who made of them one 
 Hall, consecrated to St. Mary Magdalen, and on Aug. 
 CS, 1448, >cttled in it a President, John llorlry ", B. I). 
 thirteen Master Fellows, and seven Bachelor Fellows 
 or Scholars. Other premises were then purchased 
 with a view to enlarge this Magdalen Hall, but it 
 appears that the Founder altered his purpose; and 
 although we know not upon what account St. John's 
 
 " Or ratiirr Ilond'v. !!< hid thflmnj; of St. Rennet Shecrhoir in 
 London, ami Dart fun! in Kriit. IK- died at Dart ford nearly twi-iity 
 y^irs alter rusi^iiin^ the oilict 1 of President of Mogiluluu Hall. 
 
 u 2
 
 196 MAGDALEN COLLEGE. 
 
 hospital was now so easily to be procured, it is cer- 
 tain that, in a conference with Henry VI. on the sub- 
 ject, he obtained leave of the King to convert the 
 whole buildings and premises belonging to that hospi- 
 tal into a College. Tradition says, that Henry, whose 
 partiality to Cambridge was well known, endeavoured 
 to persuade Waynfleet to carry his designs to that 
 University; but finding him more disposed towards 
 Oxford, he readily entered into his views, and pro- 
 mised him every assistance. 
 
 The hospital of St. John the Baptist stood at the 
 eastern extremity of Oxford, but was possessed of 
 premises of very great extent, both on the north and 
 south side of the High-street. Its history can with 
 difficulty be traced farther back than to the reign of 
 King John". About the year 1233 it was either re- 
 built or repaired by Henry III. and is said to have 
 been intended for infirm persons, or poor strangers 
 travelling to St. Fridesvvyde's, St. Edmund's well, and 
 other places of superstitious resort. It extended in 
 buildings and orounds from east-bridge to cast-^ate, on 
 
 O O O c? 7 
 
 both sides of the street, its burying ground being on 
 the site of the present physic garden. Its endow- 
 ments were very considerable; and at the time above 
 mentioned Henry III. gave the hospitallers his mill at 
 Hedington, called the King's mill, with its lands and 
 meadows, the Jews' garden or burial place, on which 
 part of the hospital was erected, and a piece of ground, 
 supposed to be now Magdalen grove, with many other 
 privileges and immunities. They were also possessed 
 of several churches and manors, and of some estates, 
 
 a Yet a recital exists in the College of a grant of Henry II. Juhn'> 
 father, to the hospital of certain lands.
 
 MAGDALEN COLLEGE. 197 
 
 both in and near the city of Oxford. The few re- 
 mains of this hospital that are still standing will be 
 noticed hereafter. 
 
 In the year 145G and 1457, the King licensed these 
 hospitallers to surrender their hospital, with all its ap- 
 purtenances, manors, lands, and possessions, spiritual 
 and temporal, into the hands of the President and 
 Scholars of Magdalen Hall, on condition that the 
 Master and Brethren of the hospital should receive 
 maintenance during their lives. The licence to found 
 a College is dated July 18, 1457. Its boundaries are 
 described to be a plot of ground without east-gate, 
 having the river Cherwell on the east-side, the way 
 leading from the east-gate to the east-bridge on the 
 south, the high-way leading from the east-gate to 
 Holy well and Canditch on the west, and certain lands 
 on the manor of Holywell on the north. The 
 Founder's endowment was, as before stipulated, to be 
 1001. yearly. 
 
 This transaction being completed, the Founder, on 
 June 12, 1458, placed in his new College a President, 
 William Tybard, B. I), three Master and three Bachelor 
 Fellows, and two days after, the President and Scho- 
 lars of Magdalen Hall" surrendered up their house to 
 the College, and joined the Society. The foundation 
 was then confirmed by the bull of Pope Calixtus III. 
 and afterwards by that of Sixtus IV. removing the Col- 
 lege from the jurisdiction of the see of Lincoln to that 
 of \\ inchester, and enabling the Society to prove the 
 wills of such members as die in College. 
 
 o 
 
 This II;ill reverted to the name of Bostar Hall, and w;is for several 
 years inhabited by students of the University, and afterwards used as a 
 tavern or inn. 
 
 O 'J
 
 198 MAGDALEN COLLEGE. 
 
 During the progress of the new buildings, the 
 Scholars resided partly in the old hospital, and partly 
 in Magdalen Hall. The Brethren of the hospital also 
 were entertained during their lives within the pre- 
 mises. The foundation-stone of the first quadrangle 
 was laid May 5, 1473; and in 1479, some time before 
 the buildings were completed, the Founder gave the 
 Society a body of statutes. According to these the 
 College was to be called Seinte Marie Maugdalenc 
 Colledge, to the honour and praise of Christ crucified, 
 the blessed Virgin (his mother), St. Mary Magdalene, 
 St. John Baptist, the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, 
 the glorious confessor St. Swythine, and other patrons 
 of the cathedral of Winchester. The number of re- 
 sident members were to be forty Fellows, thirty Scho- 
 lars, called Semi-communarii or Demies, four Chap- 
 lains, Priests, eight Clerks, and sixteen" Choristers. 
 Poor Scholars were also to be supplied with food, and 
 strangers entertained as formerly while the hospital 
 stood; but those regulations were afterwards rendered 
 unnecessary, by the altered and improved state of 
 education and society. Some of the Fellows were to 
 study the canon-law, and some medicine, but the 
 greater part divinity; and they were to be chosen in 
 the following local numbers: of the diocese of Win- 
 chester, five; county of Lincoln, seven; of Oxford- 
 shire, four; Berkshire, three; diocese of Norwich, 
 four; of Chichester, two; county of Gloucester, two; 
 of Warwick, two ; of Buckingham, Kent, Nottingham, 
 Essex, Somerset, Northampton, Wilts, and the city of 
 London, one each. The Demies are restricted to 
 those counties in which the College possessed lands 
 before the Founder's decease; and were to be conver-
 
 MAGDALEN COLLEGE. 199 
 
 sant in grammar, logic, sophistry, and that species of 
 music called plain song, or chaunting. 
 
 Two Fellowships were founded in 1461 by John 
 Ingledew, chaplain to W ay n fleet, who were to be na- 
 tives of the dioceses of York or Durham, to profess 
 divinity, and be on their election graduates in arts. 
 A third was added, about the same time, by John 
 Forman, who was born at Ilothwell, and was after- 
 wards Vicar of Huston, near Wakefield, in Yorkshire; 
 this Fellowship was to be enjoyed either by the de- 
 scendants of his father, or by a native of Ilothwell, or 
 Ruston, or its neighbourhood, within the county of 
 York. These three Fellowships complete the number 
 of forty specified in the foundation of the College. 
 
 Some of the benefactors to this College sjave lands 
 
 o o 
 
 in the lifetime of the Founder. Amon^r these occurs 
 
 O 
 
 the name of Sir John Fa^toHF, Knight and Knight- 
 Banneret, a brave and celebrated General, Governor 
 and Nobleman in France, during our wars and con- 
 
 ' O 
 
 quests in that kingdom in the reigns of Henry IV". V. 
 and VI. and Knight of the Garter. He was person- 
 ally attached to William of AY aynfleet, whom he ap- 
 pointed one of his executors, and his name is comme- 
 morated among the benefactors in the anniversary 
 speech. He died before this College was settled, but 
 the Founder constituted within it his chantry to say 
 mass for the benefit of his soul. It is likewise as- 
 certained, that the boar's head in South wark, now di- 
 vided into tenements, and Caldccot manor in Suffolk, 
 and probably other estates in Lovingland in the same 
 county, were part of his benefaction. This great man 
 has been strangely confounded by some writers with 
 Shakspeare's braggart buffoon of nearly the same 
 
 o 4
 
 200 MAGDALEN COLLEGE. 
 
 name, although certainly a feigned one; but the late 
 Mr. Gough has done ample justice to his character 
 in the enlarged and accurate memoir which he drew 
 up for the new edition of the Biographia Britannica. 
 
 In 1483, William Fitz-alan, Eurl of Arundel, gave 
 this Society the hospital of St. John and St. James 
 at Aynho in Northamptonshire. There succeeded also 
 some smaller benefactions ; but all of them toge- 
 ther were of little comparative value with the ample 
 possessions granted by the Crown from the alien prio- 
 ries, or acquired by the munificent Founder. About 
 the close of the sixteenth century, Simon Perot, or 
 Parret, some time Fellow, gave lands at Stanlake for a 
 sermon on St. Mark's day in the College Chapel, and 
 a commemoration on the Monday before, on which 
 day sums of money were to be given to the President 
 and Fellows present, to the Choristers, and an increase 
 of their commons. An oration is also to be delivered 
 in the Hall before dinner by a Demy. The mem- 
 bers of the University attend this sermon. Among 
 the more recent benefactors, the names of Warner, 
 Bishop of Rochester, Ralph Freman, Esq. of Hainels, 
 Hertfordshire, and John Norris, Esq. LL. D. stand dis- 
 tinguished. Warner, who had been Fellow in the 
 
 O ' 
 
 reiffi) of James I. contributed above 14001. to the Col- 
 
 O 
 
 lege Library ; Mr. Freman gave the Society Freman's 
 Court near the Royal Exchange, London ; and Mr. 
 Norris, who had been formerly on the foundation, be- 
 queathed the sum of 50001. towards carrying on the 
 present new building. 
 
 The benefices at present belonging to this College 
 are the LIVINGS of Appleton, Aston Tirold, East Ilsley, 
 and Tubney, in Berkshire; Beaconsfield and Saunder-
 
 MAGDALEN COLLEGE. 20i 
 
 ton in Buckinghamshire; Boyton, Dinton, Winter- 
 borne Basset, and Fittleton, Wiltshire; Houghton, 
 Northamptonshire; Bramber, Sussex; Brandeston, 
 Norfolk ; Candlesby, Horsington, Middle Saltfleetby, 
 and S \vaby, in Lincolnshire; Svvaford, Ducklington, 
 and Stanlake, in Oxfordshire; Slimbridge, Gloucester- 
 shire; Stanway in Essex; and the alternacy of East 
 Briclgeford, Nottinghamshire: the VICARAGES of Ba- 
 singstoke, Selbourne, East Worldham, in Hants; Up- 
 per Beeding, Findon, New Shoreham, Old Shorcham, 
 and Washington, in Sussex ; Evenley, Northampton- 
 shire ; and Willoughby, Warwickshire : all which Vi- 
 carages the College has augmented by leases of the 
 respective impropriate tithes, and of the tithes of 
 Horspath, Oxfordshire, and of West Tisted, Hants. 
 
 By the benefactions we originally noticed of Fas- 
 tolrF, and Fitz-alan, Earl of Arundcl, and by the noble 
 endowment of the Founder, this College became the 
 most opulent in the University, its revenues being 
 valued, in 1035, at 10761. 5s. 2d. yearly, or, according 
 to Twyne, at 10fi(il. 5s. Gd. In HilG the Society con- 
 sisted of two hundred and forty-six persons. It now 
 consists, as originally, of the President, forty Fellows, 
 thirty Demies, a divinity Lecturer, a Schoolmaster 
 and Usher, four Chaplains, eight Clerks, and sixteen 
 Choristers, besides Gentlemen Commoners, lor there 
 are no Commoners. 
 
 On the extensive BUILDINGS of this College, 
 William Orchvarde was employed as architect, under 
 the direction of the Founder. The entrance to the first 
 court is through a modern portal of the Doric order, 
 decorated with a statue- of \Vaynflcet. On the left is 
 part of the President's lodgings, begun in 148J, al-
 
 MAGDALEN COLLEGE. 
 
 tered in 176Q. In front is the original entrance into 
 the large quadrangle by a gateway, now disused, under 
 a venerable Gothic tower, adorned with statues of the 
 Founder, of Henry III. St. John the Baptist, and St. 
 Mary Magdalen, under canopies of exquisite work- 
 manship. This tower, nay whole front, preserves its 
 ancient form and beauty. The windows of the cham- 
 ber over the gateway, which has been always called 
 the Founder's chamber, were supplied by Dr. Hum- 
 phrey (President from 1561 to 1.589) with arms and 
 inscriptions in honour of the Founder, and other cele- 
 brated characters belonging to the College; among 
 whom we find the Cardinals Pole and Wolsey, Arch- 
 bishop Lee, Bishops Stokesly, Langland, Vesey, Ogle- 
 thorpe, Downham, Bentham, Harley, Parkhurst, &c. 
 . Most of these have been since removed into the win- 
 dows of the Hall. 
 
 In a corner also of the court, before we enter the 
 great quadrangle, is the ancient stone pulpit, from 
 which the sermon on St. John the Baptist's day used 
 to be preached. The court was on that occasion fur- 
 nished around the sides with a large fence of green 
 boughs, in allusion to St. John's preaching in the wil- 
 derness- but for many years past this sermon before 
 the University has been delivered in the Chapel. 
 
 Through this court we pass into the larger quadran- 
 gle, with its fine cloister, begun by the Founder in 
 1473, and nearly in the state in which he left it, ex- 
 cept the south cloister, which was added after his 
 death in 1490. This quadrangle contains the Chapel, 
 Hall, and Library, the older part of the President's 
 lodgings, and apartments for the Fellows and Demies, 
 and behind is the ancient Kitchen, which belonged to 
 St. John's hospital. The interior of the quadrangle is
 
 MAGDALEN COLLEGE. 2QS 
 
 ornamented with a series of hieroglyphics, which were 
 added in 1509, and were originally coloured. The in- 
 tention of them has long perplexed curious inquirers. 
 In the Library is a manuscript solution, which affords 
 what many think a vary satisfactory explanation of 
 these singular specimens of sculpture. This manu- 
 script is entitled, "CEdipus Magdalenensis, Explicatio 
 " Imaginuin et Figurarum, qua; apud Magdalenensea 
 " in interiori Collegii Quadrangulo Tihicinibus impo- 
 " sitai visuntur." It was written by William Reeks, 
 some time Fellow of the College, at the request of Dr. 
 Clerke, who was President from 167 1 to 1(J87. 
 
 To this solution, which we have thrown into a 
 note m , it is impossible to refuse the praise of iuge- 
 
 * " Beginning from the south-west corner, the two first figures we 
 " nuvt with are the Lion and the Pelican. The former of these is the 
 " emblem of (.'mirage and I ~i<> ilnnce ; the latter, of partntal Tenderness 
 " and /Affection. Both of them together express to us the complete 
 41 character of a good governor of a College. Accordingly they are 
 " placed under the window of those lodgings which originally belonged 
 " to the President, as the instructions they convey ought particularly to 
 " regulate his conduct. 
 
 " Going on to the right hand, on the other side of the gateway, are 
 " four figures, viz. the Schoolmaster, the Lairyer, the Physician, and 
 " the Divine. These are ranged along the outside of the Library, and 
 " represent the duties and business of the students of the house. 15y 
 " means of learning in general, they are to be introduced to one of the 
 " three learned professions ; or else, as hinted to us by the figure with 
 " Cap and Hells in the corner, they must turn out l''ooln in the end. 
 
 " \Ve come now to the north side of the quadrangle ; and here the 
 " three first figures represent the history of David, his conquest over thi> 
 " I Ann and duliatk ; from whence \ve are taught, not to be discouraged 
 " at any difficulties that may stand in our way, as the f 'iff our of Youth. 
 " \\\\\ easily enable us to surmount them. The ne\t figure to these is 
 " that of the Uippopotamos, vtt Hirrr-JIorsr, earning his young one 
 ' upon his shoulders. This i~ the emblem of a good tutor, or Fellow of 
 " 4 Coll'^e. \v',io i> jet to watch over the youth of the society, and by
 
 04 MAGDALEN COLLEGE. 
 
 nuity. It tends completely in all its parts to one uni- 
 form course of precepts; nor does the author, like some 
 sanguine conjecturers, appear to have been seeking 
 more than he could find. In a few instances only it 
 has been thought that he has given a moral meaning to 
 figures, such as the dog, dragon, and deer, which are 
 merely heraldic. The writer of a note on this subject, 
 in Mr. Gutch's Appendix to Wood's history, conjec- 
 tures, that the figures were executed from designs by 
 Holbein 8 . 
 
 Those who have attributed figures of this kind, and 
 the indecent sculptures in some of our cathedrals, to 
 the contests between the regular and secular clergy, 
 mutually ridiculing each other's character and conduct, 
 or to the licentious invention of the builders, seem to 
 involve the subject in additional obscurity. Can it be 
 conceived that the founders of our Colleges, or the 
 guardians of our Churches, many of whom were emi- 
 
 " whose prudence they are to be led through the dangers of their first en- 
 " trance into the world. The figure immediately following represents 
 " Sobriety or Temperance, that most necessary virtue of a collegiate life. 
 " The whole remaining train of figures are the vices we are instructed 
 " to avoid. Those next to Temperance are the opposite vices of Glut- 
 " tony and Drunkenness. Then follow the Lncanthropos, the Hi/ana, 
 " and Panther, representing Violence, Fraud, and Treachery ; the 
 " Griffin representing Covetousncss, and the next figure, Anger or 
 " Morose/less. The Dog, the Dragon, the Deer, Flattery, Envy, and 
 " Timidity ; and the three last, the Mantichora, the Boxers, and the 
 " Lamia, Pride, Contention, and Lust. 
 
 " We have here, therefore, a complete and instructive lesson for the 
 " use of a society dedicated to the advancement of religion ami learn- 
 " ing ; and, on this plan, we may suppose the Founder of Magdalene 
 " speaking, by means of these figures, to the students of his College. 
 
 P. 273. These figures may be contemplated at leisure in Mr. Car- 
 ter's Specimens of Ancient Sculpture.
 
 MAGDALEN COLLEGE. 205 
 
 nent for piety, however mistaken in some points, 
 would have permitted those edifices to be thus prosti- 
 tuted ? Or that the slow progress of the most ingeni- 
 ous artist's labour should be employed in a regular 
 series of carvings or sculpture, for no other purpose 
 than to expose temporary feuds and quarrels at the 
 expence of public decency? 
 
 This cloister does not appear to have been intended, 
 like those of New College and All Souls, for a place 
 of burial, nor are there any monuments erected in it. 
 
 South of the Chapel, and on the south side of 
 what is called the Chaplains' court, stands the great 
 tower of Magdalen College, whose beautiful propor- 
 tions, solidity, and picturesque effect, have been so 
 much and so uniformly admired. The foundation- 
 stone of this noble structure was laid August 9, 149-, 
 by Dr. Richard Mayew, President, and it was finished 
 in 1498. Cardinal Wolsey being about this time 
 Bursar of the College, when only twenty-three years 
 of age, the plan of it has generally been attributed to 
 him. Tradition goes even so far as to say, that he 
 supplied himself by unfair means with money from 
 the College treasury to complete the work ; but his 
 biographer, Fiddes, has very ably defended him 
 against this charare. An ingenious modern writer* 
 
 O O O 
 
 has conjectured, that the plan was taken by Waynfieet 
 from the design of Kind's Collesre in llenrv V I.'s will. 
 
 O CJ O - 
 
 in which will he is so highly complimented and trusted, 
 and that this borrowed plan or sketch might have been 
 left by the Bishop at his death. There is certainly rea- 
 son to think, that in some parts of the \enerable qua- 
 
 Dallaway'a Obsorvatioui on English Architecture.
 
 206 MAGDALEN COLLEGE. 
 
 drangle Waynfleet availed himself of that plan which 
 the unfortunate monarch was not able to carry into 
 execution ; and the writer just mentioned has specified 
 a few coincidences which cannot be supposed to be 
 accidental. At the same time it must be remarked, 
 that in the ages of the pure Gothic there was a con- 
 siderable uniformity of plan in structures of the same 
 kind. In the college, the chapel, the cathedral, the 
 cloister, &c. there were certain great outlines, charac- 
 teristic of the Gothic style, to which every architect 
 regularly adhered. 
 
 Before the Reformation, a mass of requiem for the 
 soul of Henry VII. used to be performed on the top 
 of Magdalen tower every May-day early in the morn- 
 ing. This was afterwards commuted for a few pieces 
 of music, which are executed by the choristers, and 
 for which the rectory of Slimbridge in Gloucestershire 
 pays annually the sum of 101. From this commemora- 
 tion it has been supposed that Henry VII. contributed 
 to the building of the tower. But it does not appear 
 that he was otherwise a benefactor to this College, 
 tban by being instrumental in confirming the right of 
 the above-mentioned rectory to the College. During 
 the grand rebellion, when hopes were entertained of 
 effectually fortifying Oxford against the Parliament- 
 ary army, a quantity of stones were carried up to the 
 top of the tower, in order to annoy the enemy on their 
 entrance. 
 
 Soon after the erection of the tower, the Chaplains' 
 court was built, and the line of building to the west of 
 the tower, forming the south side of the first court, 
 was much altered. The rooms, seen from Magdalen 
 bridge, arid placed at the cast end of the Hall, were
 
 MAGDALEN COLLEGE. 20? 
 
 not built until the year 1635, and some alterations 
 were made on the north of the Kitchen in 1783, 
 partly at the ex pence of Thomas West, D. D. late 
 Fellow. The grove, meadow, and walks, and other ru- 
 ral beauties belonging to this College, were planned and 
 laid out at various periods, and in various tastes, as the 
 science of gardening and laying out pleasure-ground 
 became better understood. The water-walk and Grove 
 
 O 
 
 are supposed to have been first formed in the reign of 
 Queen Elizabeth. In 17^9, an oak at the entrance 
 of the water-walk, which had been the admiration of 
 many generations for nearly six centuries, fell down 
 with a tremendous crash. Its height was seventy-one 
 feet, girth twenty-one, and its cubic contents seven 
 hundred and fifty-four feet. Evelyn computed that it 
 might drop on seven hundred and sixty-eight square 
 yards, and that two hundred and fifty-six houses, or 
 three thousand four hundred and fifty-six men, might 
 
 t O 
 
 stand under its boughs, "supposing," adds this curious 
 calculator, " that they did spread of equal length from 
 " the trunk like the rays of a circle." A chair made 
 of its wood is now among the furniture of the Pre- 
 
 w 
 
 sident's lodgings. 
 
 Nearlv in the state above detailed Magdalen Col- 
 
 / O 
 
 legc remained until the early part of the last century, 
 when an intention was formed to erect a new qua- 
 drangle, and to take down three sides of the old one, 
 leaving only the Chapel, Hall, and south cloister. For 
 this purpose a plan was designed by Edward Holds- 
 worth, M. A. Fellow, author of the Muscipula, and 
 other ingenious writings, who quitted this College on 
 account of his adherence to the exiled family of Stuart. 
 One side only of this quadrangle, looking to the
 
 203 MAGDALEN COLLEGE. 
 
 south, has been finished, three hundred feet in length, 
 the front resting on an arcade, the roof of which is 
 decorated in stucco with much taste. It is a noble 
 specimen of chaste design and convenience, there be- 
 ing three series of rooms, spacious, lofty, and of equal 
 dimensions. The foundation of this building was laid 
 
 O 
 
 Sept. 27, 1733, by Dr. Knibb of this Society, as proxy 
 for the Bishop of Winchester, the Visitor of the Col- 
 lege. The second stone was laid by Miss Butler, 
 daughter of Dr. Butler, the President; and two others 
 by Sir William Bowyer, a member of the College, 
 and Mr. Rowney, one of the Representatives of the- 
 gity of Oxford. The inscription runs thus : 
 
 MORIBUS EXCOLENDIS 
 STUD1IS LITERARUM EXORNANDIS 
 
 OTIUM DATURA, 
 
 AVAINFLETI NOMEN ET HONORES 
 
 ULTIMUM PROROGET IN JEVUM 
 
 MAGDALENA INSTAURATA, 
 
 27 SEPTEMBRIS 1733. 
 
 EDVARDO BUTLER, LL. D. 
 
 PRJESIDE. 
 
 The contributions of the members in aid of the 
 College expence were most liberal; Dr. Butler gave 
 25001.; Dr. Hough, Bishop of Worcester, and formerly 
 President, and Dr. Boulter, Primate of Ireland, 10001. 
 each; and above 40001. were contributed in smaller 
 sums by a few individuals. Towards the completion 
 of the design a building fund has been long accumulat- 
 ing, to which the late Dr. Thomas Waldegrave, Vicar 
 of Washington, left 1.3001. three per cent consols ; and 
 in 1786 John Morris, Esq. bequeathed, as was formerly 
 mentioned, 50001. It is doubtful, however, whether the
 
 MAGDALEN COLLEGE. 209 
 
 quadrangle as originally projected will ever be com- 
 pleted. The openings to the east and west afford 
 picturesque scenes of such striking beauty, that taste, 
 at least, will be amply gratified by finishing the ends 
 of the present new building, and taking down the 
 north side of the old quadrangle. 
 
 The HALL, a spacious and elegant room, was built 
 by the Founder, and, besides the arms, &c. removed 
 thither from his chamber, and from the election-cham- 
 ber, which was pulled down in 1770, contains some cu- 
 rious, but rather grotesque, carvings on the wainscot at 
 the upper end, of a much later date than the building. 
 There is also a carving of Henry VIII. and whole or 
 half-length portraits on canvas of the Founder, Mr. 
 Freman, Dr. Butler, Prince Rupert, Henry Prince of 
 Wales, eldest son of James I. Dr. Warner, Bishop 
 of Rochester, Addison, Dr. Sacheverell, Archbishop 
 Boulter, Dr. Hammond, Bishop Hough, Sir Edmund 
 Isham, Bart, formerly Fellow, Wilcocks, Bishop of 
 Rochester, benefactors or eminent persons belonging 
 to this house. The small whole length of St. Mary 
 Magdalen has been much admired. It has fascinations 
 
 O 
 
 which bespeak the manner of Guercino in his female 
 figures ; but some connoisseurs doubt whether it is not 
 the performance of a still abler hand. 
 
 This College was very early favoured by royal 
 visits. In 1481, on the 20th of September, the 
 Founder came to inspect his buildings, and was re- 
 ceived with all due respect, both as Founder and Vi- 
 sitor. Two days after, the King, Edward IV. then at 
 Woodstock, intimated that he would come and see his 
 College, in which he lodged with the Bishops of Ely,
 
 210 MAGDALEN COLLEGE. 
 
 Chichester, and Rochester, and the Lords Lincoln, 
 Stanley, Dacres, and other noblemen and persons of 
 distinction. During their stay, the royal party were 
 magnificently entertained in this Hall, and in other 
 Colleges, and heard disputations as usual on such oc- 
 casions. 
 
 In July, 1483, the Founder came again to prepare 
 for the reception of Richard III. who was received on 
 entering the city with great pomp hy the Chancellor, 
 Regents, and Non-Regents, and conducted to this Col- 
 lege, where he lodged with all his train of Bishops and 
 Noblemen. The day after his arrival, solemn disputa- 
 tions were held in the Hall, when the disputants were 
 rewarded in a manner characteristic of the times. 
 Dr. John Taylor, opponent in the divinity disputation, 
 received a buck and five pounds, and the respondent, 
 the celebrated Grocyn, a buck and five marks. The 
 opponent in philosophy received also a buck and five 
 marks, and the respondent a buck and forty shil- 
 lings. The King also gave the President and College 
 two bucks and five marks for wine. These may be 
 enumerated among the few good deeds of this tyrant; 
 and it would be unjust to his memory not to add, that 
 he was in other respects a benefactor to the Univer- 
 sity. About this time he confirmed all its privileges, 
 and procured an Act of Parliament, in the infancy of 
 printing, to allow the sale of foreign books, a matter 
 of great importance to the seminaries of learning. 
 
 In 1496, another visit was paid by Prince Arthur to 
 this College, who was entertained in the President's 
 lodgings, and his nobles in the Fellows' apartments. 
 This visit was repeated in 1501, but few memorials
 
 MAGDALEN COLLEGE. 211 
 
 have been preserved of what passed on either occa- 
 sion ". 
 
 The next honour of this kind occurred at the dis- 
 tance of nearly a century, when James I. and his 
 court visited the University, and, hy way of compli- 
 ment, Henry, Prince of Wales, was admitted a mem- 
 ber of this College. The University displayed its learn- 
 ing and splendour in harangues, disputations, and mag- 
 nificent entertainments; and some notice has already 
 been taken of his Majesty's reception at this time, and 
 on the returns he made in expressing his satisfaction. 
 The Prince was matriculated in August, 1605, and 
 John Wilkinson, B. D. Principal of Magdalen Hall, 
 then Fellow, and afterwards President of this College 
 for a year during the Usurpation, was appointed his 
 tutor. His Highness kept his court in some rooms 
 on the north side of the quadrangle, which still re- 
 tain the ornamented wainseotting, with which they 
 were then furnished. The Founder, in his statutes, 
 reserves, amongst others, two rooms in that part of 
 the quadrangle pro jil'ris dominorum, and these are 
 supposed to be the same as were occupied by the 
 Prince, during the short time of his visit. 
 
 In 1649, this Hall was destined to entertain visitants 
 of another description. On May 19th of that year, 
 Cromwell, Fairfax, and the other commanders of the 
 parliamentary army then in Oxford, dined here, 
 where, Wood says, they " had good cheer, and bad 
 
 Chiirton's Lives of the Founder'; of Bra2enoe College, p. Ifl.'J 'GT. 
 
 b This College, is required hy its statutes to entertain the Kings of 
 England, and their eldest sons, whenever they come to Oxford. Dr. 
 Birch, in his Life of Prince Henry, gives a very minute account of ibt 
 above royal visit. 
 
 P 2
 
 212 MAGDALEN COLLEGE. 
 
 " speeches." After dinner they played at bowls on 
 the college-green ; and a Convocation being ordered to 
 be held, Cromwell and Fairfax were created Doctors 
 of Civil Law, and the other officers were admitted 
 Masters of Arts. It is not certain whether the de- 
 struction of the Chapel windows by the soldiers pre- 
 ceded or followed this visit, or whether that savage act 
 was not reserved to honour the graduation of their 
 officers on this memorable day. 
 
 The LIBRARY, built in the Founder's lifetime, is a 
 room of considerable extent, but low roofed. It was 
 supplied by the Founder with above eighty volumes, 
 principally manuscripts of course, and other bene- 
 factors have increased the collection. Dr. Warner, 
 Bishop of Rochester, gave in all about 14001. for the 
 purchase of books and the ornamental part of this Li- 
 brary. His portrait and that of the Founder are the 
 only commemorative ornaments of the room. 
 
 Before the erection of the CHAPEL, the Society, 
 while at Magdalen Hall, attended divine service at 
 the venerable church of St. Peter in the East, and 
 afterwards in the oratory belonging to St. John's 
 hospital, -which stood on the south side of the pre- 
 sent Chapel, and in 1(165 was converted into cham- 
 bers. The present Chapel was completed by the 
 Founder, and furnished with all suitable magnifi- 
 cence. It remained in its original state, although de- 
 spoiled of most of its furniture at the Reformation, 
 until the year 1635, when the inner Chapel was paved 
 with black and white marble, and provided with new 
 stalls and wainscotting, a new organ, a screen, and 
 painted windows, during the Presidentship of Dr. Ac- 
 cepted Frewcn, afterwards Archbishop of York. At
 
 MAGDALEN COLLEGE. 213 
 
 this time the monuments of the Presidents Humphrey, 
 Bond, Langton, Tybard, Hygden, and Cole, were re- 
 moved into the outer Chapel, which contains a great 
 number of other monuments, erected to the memory 
 of members of this house. Some of them are good 
 specimens of sculpture, particularly one erected to 
 the memory of the two Lytteltons, brothers, sons 
 of Sir Thomas Lyttelton, Bart, who were drowned in 
 the Cherwcll while struggling to save each other*. 
 It was executed by Stone, the elder, in \635, at the 
 price of 301. The two fine columns, by which the roof 
 of this ante-chapel is supported, are enviable testimo- 
 nies of the genius of the Gothic architects. 
 
 In this elegant Chapel, the original style of building 
 still predominates; but in the screen and pannelling, 
 put up about the year 1740, which last covers the 
 east wall, formerly of great beauty, we have those 
 Grecian ornaments which were generally adopted in 
 the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The body 
 is enlightened by ten windows, painted with figures of 
 the apostles, fathers, saints, &c. in claro obscuro. The 
 west-window, containing the last judgment, was exe- 
 cuted after a design of Christopher Schwarts, origi- 
 nally prepared fur the wife of William, Duke of Ba- 
 varia, as appears by a print engraved by one of the 
 Sadelers. After being damaged by the high wind in 
 1/03, it was restored in 17 ( J4 by Egginton to its pris- 
 tine beauty b . Eight of the lateral windows were re- 
 moved from the ante-chapel in 1741, and two new 
 
 Cowl*-}' wrote ;in Elfjjy on this atFrcting subject, Imt full of misera- 
 ble conceits. 
 
 u Dr. Montcigue Choliueley, who died in 17 B3 Fellow of the (Jyl-
 
 214 MAGDALEN COLLEGE. 
 
 ones next the altar added by the younger Price, who 
 died in l?6i>. The eight fine windows now in the 
 ante-chapel, put up in 1797, were executed from de- 
 signs of Egginton, and are filled with the College 
 arms, Scripture history, and portraits of St. John 
 Baptist, St. Mary Magdalen, Kings Henry IIL and 
 VI. the Founders of Magdalen, New College, Corpus 
 Christi, and Cardinal College, now Christ Church, 
 the two last of whom had heen Fellows of this Col- 
 lege, admirably drawn and coloured. 
 
 O ' * 
 
 The present altar was constructed in 1740, and cor- 
 responds with the modern alterations in the inte- 
 rior of this Chapel. The altar-piece hy Fuller, repre- 
 senting the last judgment, has not been fortunate in 
 attracting universal admiration. As an imitation of 
 
 o 
 
 Michael Angelo, it falls far short of the sublime, al- 
 though sometimes wild, imagination of that great 
 artist; nor is the colouring harmonious or natural. 
 Some of the figures, however, are correctly drawn ; 
 and he has at least imitated the temper of Michael 
 Angelo with success, in introducing, among the 
 damned, the portrait of an hostler at the Greyhound 
 Inn, near the College, who had offended him. Mr. 
 Addison has honoured Fuller's painting with an ele- 
 gant Latin poem, in which he seems to praise the 
 genius that ought to have predominated in such a 
 subject. This painting was placed here about the 
 year 1630. 
 
 Underneath is a noble picture of our Saviour bear- 
 ing his cross, which was long supposed to have been 
 
 lege, bequeathed 3001. for a new west window; but the restoration of the 
 old one cost the Society 8iOl.
 
 MAGDALEN COLLEGE. 215 
 
 painted by Guitlo, or, in the opinion of Mr. Byres of 
 Rome, a very competent judge, by Ludovico Caracci ; 
 but it is now given to Moralez, styled El Divirio, a 
 Spanish artist who flourished in the sixteenth century, 
 and whose works are rare in this country. Sherwin's 
 beautiful print from it is well known, and Egginton 
 made a copy for the east window of the church of 
 Wansted in Essex. It remains to be added, that this 
 picture was brought from Vigo in 17O2 by the last 
 Duke of Ormond, and afterwards fell into the hands of 
 William Freinan, Esq. of Hamels in Hertfordshire, 
 who gave it to the College. He gave also a new organ, 
 and was in other respects a considerable benefactor. 
 
 This incidental notice of the present organ reminds 
 us of a singular anecdote respecting the one formerly 
 belonging to this Chapel, which was first related by 
 Mr. Warton in his " Observations on the Faerie 
 " Quecne." Cromwell, who was fond of music, and 
 particularly of that of an organ, an instrument pro- 
 scribed under his government, was greatly delighted 
 with this of Magdalen, and, when it was taken down 
 as an abominable agent of superstition, caused it to 
 be convoyed to Hampton Court, where it was placed 
 in the urreat eallerv for his amusement. There it con- 
 
 O O - 
 
 tinned until the Restoration, when it was returned to 
 the College, and stood in this Chapel until about 
 thirty years ago, when Mr. Freman's present was 
 put up. It was then disposed of to the church of 
 Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire. Although Mr. \\ar- 
 ton has not given his authority for this anecdote, no 
 reason to doubt it can be grounded on Cromwell's 
 character. Cromwell had not that dislike to music 
 which Shakspt-are considers a* the indication of u
 
 MAGDALEN COLLEGE, 
 
 traitor. He was, on the contrary, extremely fond of 
 music, both vocal and instrumental. On one occa- 
 sion, when at Oxford, he restored a young gentleman 
 of Christ Church to his student's place, who had been 
 ejected by tire parliamentary visitors, merely in conse- 
 quence of hearing him sing", 
 
 It would have been fortunate had he possessed as 
 much taste for historical windows. Those which an- 
 ciently decorated the inner Chapel were removed dur- 
 ing the rebellion, and concealed for some time ; but 
 being discovered by the parliamentarian soldiers, they 
 had the barbarity to place them flat on the pave- 
 ment of the cloisters, and jump on them until they 
 were entirely destroyed. By what means the other 
 windows escaped their search, we are not told. 
 
 In the year 1793 a new roof in the Gothic style, 
 the old one being decayed, was placed on the Chapel 
 and Hall, under the direction of Mr. Wyatt, which 
 cost the College upwards of 40001. paid out of the in- 
 comes of the President and Fellows; as was also the 
 further sum of 14001. for the painted windows in the 
 ante-chapel. 
 
 We cannot leave this Chapel without noticing five 
 remarkably fine though small statues, in good pre- 
 servation, placed over the beautiful west porch. They 
 represent St. John the Baptist, Henry III. St. Mary 
 Magdalen, William of Wykeham, and the Founder. 
 The Founder and Henry III. are in a kneeling pos- 
 ture. These are among the finest specimens of ancient 
 sculpture in Oxford, and are coeval with the Chapel. 
 
 Of the thirty-one PRESIDENTS who have superin- 
 tended this Society from its foundation, the first two, 
 
 A. Wood's Life, p. 139. edit. 1772.
 
 MAGDALEN COLLEGE. 317 
 
 John Hornley and William Tybard, were appointed 
 to that office before the Founder had secured the disci- 
 pline and tranquillity of his College by a body of sta- 
 tutes. In the thirty-second year after the Society 
 began to reside in Magdalen Hall, Richard Mayew, 
 D. D. a Fellow of New College, was nominated by the 
 Founder, whose veneration for Wykeham was such, 
 that he permitted the members of New College an 
 equal right with those of his own to be chosen Presi- 
 dents of Magdalen. Dr. Mayew resigned after having 
 been promoted to the Bishopric of Hereford two years 
 before, and John Claymond and John Hygclen were his 
 successors as President, but resigned in a few years, 
 Claymond being appointed the first President of Cor- 
 pus, with additional preferment held incommendam,a.nd 
 Hygden the first Dean of Christ Church. Dr. Walter 
 Haddon, a poet, orator, and elegant Latin writer, was 
 advanced to this office, although a member neither of 
 the College nor University, in consequence of manda- 
 tory letters from Edward V I. and expressly contrary 
 to the will of the Society. On the death of Edward, 
 however, he retired abroad, and on his return, at the 
 accession of Queen Elizabeth, was otherwise provided 
 for. Dr. Lawrence Humphrey, who became Pre- 
 sident in 15(J1, was one of the most learned divines of 
 his time, and was honoured with considerable prefer- 
 ment in the Church. His aversion to the ecclesiastical 
 habits, which he acquired among the exiles at Geneva, 
 produced a well-known hint from Queen Elizabeth : 
 " Mr. Doc-tor, that loose go\\n becomes you mighty 
 " well. 1 wonder your notions should be so narrow"." 
 
 Peck's Desiderata, Nichols's Progresses, &o. The (jueen was at 
 this time (liiGu; receiving the homage of the University at Wolvercote,
 
 218 MAGDALEN COLLEGE. 
 
 We have already seen that he had no objection to 
 the ornaments befitting the rooms of a College; and 
 if the inscriptions which he placed in the Founder's- 
 chamber were at his own expence, they afford a 
 proof of his liberality. Strype, in his Life of Arch- 
 bishop Parker, speaks- of his sufferings and imprison- 
 ment about the year 1565; but these were probably of 
 very short duration, as we can discover no interruption 
 in the office of President. Mr. Warton * remarks, that 
 about the year 1563 there were only two divines, the 
 Dean of Christ Church and the President of Magda- 
 len College, who were capable of preaching the public 
 sermons at Oxford. Sampson was at this time Dean 
 of Christ Church, and, like the President of Magdalen, 
 accused of puritanism. Dr. Humphrey's monument, 
 formerly in the choir, but now in the ante-chapel, was 
 erected by his daughter Justina, wife of Caspar Dor- 
 mer, Esq. of Steeple Barton, Oxfordshire. 
 
 During the Usurpation, the office of President was 
 filled, first, by Dr. John Wilkinson, Principal of Mag- 
 dalen Hall. In 1605, King James I. as we before 
 observed, being then at Oxford, had appointed him 
 tutor to his son Henry, Prince of Wales. Wilkinson 
 died in 1619, about eight months after usurping the 
 office of President, and was succeeded by the cele- 
 brated champion of independency, Dr. Thomas Good- 
 win, a great favourite with Cromwell, who placed him 
 here, although he belonged to the other University. 
 
 on her way to Oxford. Wood, in his Annals, gives the Queen's speech 
 another form. " Dr. Humphrey, methinks this gown and habit be- 
 " comes you very well, and I marvyle that you are so straight-laced in 
 " this point but I come not now to chide." 
 
 Life of Sir T. Pope, in a digression on the illiteracy of the Clergy 
 about the time of the Reformation.
 
 MAGDALEN COLLEGE. 219 
 
 Granger is of opinion, that he is the " independent 
 " minister and head of a College," of whom the ludi- 
 crous story is told by Addison, in No. 494 of the Spec- 
 tator. 
 
 The regular succession of Presidents recommenced 
 with the restoration of Dr. John Oliver, who had 
 been ejected by the parliamentary visitors; but he hav- 
 ing died in October 1661, after being promoted to 
 the deanery of Worcester, was succeeded by Dr. Tho- 
 mas Pierce, a controversial divine of great learning 
 and piety, and a poet and wit; who resigned on the 
 express condition of having other preferment in lieu 
 of his Presidentship, and had afterwards conferred 
 upon him the deanery of Sarum. He was succeeded 
 by Dr. Henry Clerke. The death of this gentleman in 
 1(386-7 afforded the Society an opportunity of evincing 
 that spirit and consistency which they had never failed 
 to display on critical occasions, and which were no\r 
 excited by an extraordinary stretch of arbitrary 
 power. 
 
 The infatuated James II. who had recently granted 
 toleration to all religions, that he might have an op- 
 portunity of filling the seats of learning and religious 
 instruction with men attached to the Church of 
 Rome, no sooner heard of the vacancy in this College, 
 than he sent a mandamus requiring the Fellows to 
 elect one Anthony Farmer, a papist, who was totally 
 disqualified, being neither a Fellow of Magdalen nor 
 of New College. The Society at first endeavoured to 
 avert this imposition by a submissive petition; but 
 having received no ansuer within the statutable time 
 for proceeding to election, they elected John Hough, 
 15. D. a man in all respects qualified for the station,
 
 220 MAGDALEN COLLEGE. 
 
 and by his spirit and talents peculiarly fitted to vindi- 
 cate his own and their privileges against so gross an 
 outrage. On this the Vice-President, Dr. Aldworth, 
 and a deputation of the Fellows, were cited before his 
 Majesty's commissioners for ecclesiastical affairs at 
 Whitehall, where they firmly, yet respectfully, main- 
 tained the legality of their election, and represented 
 the incapacity of Farmer, not only for the reasons 
 already stated, but for gross immorality. The com- 
 missioners, however, decreed the election of Hough 
 void, and ordered that the Vice-President should be 
 suspended ; and the King forbade the Fellows to elect 
 any person into a Fellowship or other situation in the 
 College until his pleasure should be known. 
 
 In the month of August following his Majesty is- 
 sued another mandate, not insisting on the election of 
 Farmer, for of him the commissioners themselves are 
 said to have been ashamed, but requiring the Fellows 
 to elect Dr. Parker, Bishop of Oxford, into the office of 
 President. But before they could proceed on this new 
 election, the King, then on his way to Bath, appeared 
 at Oxford, Sept. 4, and ordered the Fellows to attend 
 him at Christ Church, where, after an absurd insulting 
 speech, to which they returned a firm but modest re- 
 ply, they retired to their Chapel, and resolved that it 
 was not in their power to obey his Majesty in this mat- 
 ter. This provoked another measure on the part of the 
 King equally unwise. He now ordered a commission 
 to sit at Oxford, and to proceed to election by force. 
 The commissioners were, Cartwright, Bishop of Ches- 
 ter, the Lord Chief Justice Wright, and Baron Jeu- 
 ner; but the Fellows persisted in their adherence to 
 the statutes of the College, which no power had a
 
 MAGDALEN COLLEGE. 221 
 
 right to violate, and Dr. Hough, their new President, 
 replied to the arguments, or rather invectives, of the 
 commissioners with uncommon firmness and ability. 
 The issue was, that he was displaced by force, and 
 twenty-six of the Fellows were declared incapable of 
 receiving any ecclesiastical dignity, benefice, or pro- 
 motion ; and such of them as were not yet in holy or- 
 ders, were adjudged incapable of receiving or being 
 admitted into the same. The Demies also refusing 
 obedience, the names of thirteen of them were struck 
 out of the College books. 
 
 Parker did not long enjoy the advantages of this 
 most illegal and arbitrary act. He was installed by 
 proxy Oct. 25, 1687, and, after presiding over an 
 almost empty house for a few months, died March 20, 
 1688. The King, whose infatuation was now at its 
 height, sent another mandate to the College to elect 
 one Bonaventure Gifford", a Doctor of the Sorbonne, 
 and titular Bishop of Madaura, /// partibus injidelium, 
 (a city in Africa,) who accordingly took possession on 
 June 15, but was removed bv the Kini* himself in 
 
 O 
 
 October 1688, when the prospect of the arrival of 
 the Prince of Orange had terrified him into this tardy 
 attempt towards conciliation. Dr. Hough was then 
 restored by the Visitor, and in 1690 was made Bishop 
 of Oxford, and allowed to keep his Presidentship. In 
 1699 he was translated to the see of Lichh'eld and 
 Coventry, and in 1701 resigned the ollice of Presi- 
 dent 1 '. Among his successors, the name of Dr. George 
 
 Dodd and other Roman Catholic writers sjive .1 favourable account 
 of Giftord. He died about tin; year 11.57, at Hammersmith, at tb 
 se of ninety. 
 
 k The Life of this amiable Prelate, who was finally Bishop of \S'or-
 
 MAGDALEN COLLEGE. 
 
 Home will long be remembered with the regard due 
 to excellence of public and private character. 
 
 Fuller remarks, in his usual quaint style, that there 
 is scarce a Bishopric in England to which this Col- 
 lege has not afforded one Prelate at the least, " dou- 
 " bling her files in some places," and many of them 
 were unquestionably men of high distinction in their 
 day. The two celebrated English Cardinals, Wolsey 
 and Pole, were both educated here. Pole entered as a 
 Nobleman, and resided, as his biographer says, in the 
 President's lodgings. His masters were Linacre and 
 Latimer, under whom he acquired not only a taste for 
 the literature of Greece and Rome, but that liberal 
 spirit of patronage which induced him to encourage 
 and correspond with men of learning when proscribed 
 by the bigotry of the times. Of the Bishops belong- 
 ing to this College, the most eminent were Lee and 
 Frewen", Archbishops of York, the latter a benefac- 
 tor to the College, and Boulter, Archbishop of Ar- 
 magh ; Longland, Bishop of Lincoln; Cooper, of 
 Winchester; Warner, of Rochester; Nicholson, of 
 Gloucester; Hopkins, of Raphoe and Derry ; Hough, 
 of Worcester ; Smalbroke, of Lichfield and Coven- 
 try ; and Home, of Norwich. 
 
 The scholars of other ranks who attained high re- 
 putation by their genius and writings form a very 
 numerous list, and many of them who studied here 
 during the first half century from the foundation con- 
 
 eester, is now preparing for the press, from authentic documents by one 
 of his family. 
 
 * Dr. Frewen was ably vindicated in a Letter, published in 1743, 
 against certain misrepresentations of his character by Antony Wood, 
 Drake, the historian of York, and Browne Willis.
 
 MAGDALEN COLLEGE. 223 
 
 tributed not a little to the revival of real literature, 
 which at no great distance of time facilitated the Re- 
 formation. Of these Dean Colet and Lily the gramma- 
 rian were of this College, and Linacre and Latimer 
 either taught as private tutors, or lectured within its 
 walls. It could afterwards boast of Dr. John Roper, 
 Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity, and one of the 
 most eminent theologists of his time: Dr. Wotton, 
 physician to Henry VIII. and a writer on natural his- 
 tory : Robertson, an excellent grammarian, and one of 
 the compilers of the English Liturgy in 1549: Fox, 
 the celebrated author of the " Acts and Monuments of 
 " the Church," a work of stupendous labour and co- 
 pious information, which the adherents to the Church 
 of Rome may be excused for depreciating, since it 
 tended so considerably to consolidate the Protestant 
 establishment 11 : Sir Francis Knollis, statesman: Lily, 
 an elegant writer and dramatic poet: Dr. Field, the 
 learned Dean of Gloucester: Dr. Thomas Godwyn, 
 the Hebrew antiquary : Sir Thomas Roe, the ambas- 
 sador: Hampden the patriot: John Digby, Earl 
 of Bristol: Chilmead, the critic and philologist: 
 Theophilus Gale, a nonconformist divine of conside- 
 rable talents: The very learned and pious Dr. Ham- 
 mond: Dr. Peter Ilcylin, ecclesiastical historian and 
 controversial writer, from whose pen there is, in the 
 
 Fox was a Fellow of this College, Imt had been originally entered of 
 Brazenose College. It is a remarkable circunistancc in liis life, that he 
 was protected hy the polish Duke of Norfolk against the persecution of 
 Bishop frcirdim r, and, until obliged to retire to the continent, had been 
 employed by the Duke to he tutor to the children of hi* tun, the elegant 
 and accomplished Earl of Surry.
 
 224 MAGDALEN COLLEGE. 
 
 archives of this College, a metrical life of the Founder, 
 written probably when Heylin was young: George 
 Withers, a voluminous and most unequal poet, whose 
 reputation seems to be reviving : Harmar, the learned 
 Greek professor: George Digby, Earl of Bristol, son 
 to the preceding John, but inferior in fame, unsteady 
 in character, and an example of the misapplication of 
 eloquence and knowledge : Elisha Coles, formerly one 
 of the most popular of our Latin lexicographers : Sir 
 Robert Howard, the dramatic poet : and the learned 
 traveller and biographer, Dr. Thomas Smith. To these 
 may be added the illustrious name of the elegant and 
 accomplished Joseph Addison, who was about fifteen 
 when he entered Queen's ; but Dr. Lancaster, then Fel- 
 low, and afterwards Provost, having seen his Latin 
 verses on the inauguration of William III. discovered 
 the excellence of his Latin poetry, even at that early 
 age, and procured his being elected a Demy of Magda- 
 len College in 1689, when he was seventeen. His Cato 
 and most of his early pieces were written while he 
 was a student here : Dr. Sacheverell, once the idol 
 of a party, and once, let it be remembered, the friend 
 and associate of Addison : Collins, Yalden, and 
 Holdsworth, poets : Dr. Matthew Horbery and Dr. 
 Thomas Waldgrave, divines. The latter was tutor to 
 Gibbon, the celebrated historian, who might have 
 graced this list, for he passed some time in Magdalen 
 College as an Undergraduate, had not his foolish pre- 
 sumption driven him from regularity of study into 
 that vague and capricious pursuit of miscellaneous 
 information, which has so frequently ended in super- 
 ficial knowledge and lax principles. The recent
 
 MAGDALEN COLLEGE. 225 
 
 deaths of Dr. Townson and Dr. Chandler afford an 
 opportunity to add their names. With their cha- 
 racters the world will he made still hetter acquainted 
 hy the repuhlication of Dr. Townson'i works, to- 
 gether with his Life, by Mr. Churton, and of Dr. 
 Chandler's Life of the Founder.
 
 BRASEN NOSE COLLEGE. 
 
 V\ ILLIAM Smyth, Bishop of Lincoln, and Founder 
 of this College, was the fourth son of Robert Smyth, of 
 Peelhouse in Widdows, or Widness, in the parish of 
 Prescot, Lancashire. His grandfather was Henry 
 Smyth, Esq. of the adjoining township of Cuerdly, 
 where the family appears to have resided both before 
 and after the birth of the subject of this sketch, and 
 extended its branches of the same name through va- 
 rious parts of the kingdom. Of his father we have no 
 particular information, nor of the period of his birth, 
 unless that it took place about the middle of the 
 fifteenth century; which is, however, not very consis- 
 tent with the report, that he was an Undergraduate of 
 Oxford so late as the year 1478. 
 
 The same obscurity envelopes his early } r ears. 
 Wood indeed says, that he was trained up in grammar- 
 learning in his own country; but in what seminary, or 
 whether his country at that time could boast of any 
 institution deserving the name of a grammar-school, 
 are subjects of conjecture. His late biographer, with 
 equal acuteness and reason, has supposed him to have 
 been educated in the household of Thomas, the first 
 Earl of Derby. The Countess of Richmond, who was 
 the second wife of this nobleman, according to a laud- 
 able custom in the houses of the nobility, provided in
 
 BRASEN NOSE COLLEGE. 227 
 
 this manner for the instruction of young men of pro- 
 mising talents; and it is known, that she was an early 
 patron of our Founder. 
 
 At what time he removed to Oxford is uncertain, 
 nor has any research discovered the College of which 
 he was a memher. Wood, after some hesitation be- 
 tween Oriel and Lincoln, is inclined to prefer the 
 latter, because he finds one William Smyth a Com- 
 moner there before and in the year 1478; and his re- 
 cent biographer, while he thinks it not very clear that 
 he studied in either, has not discovered any proof that 
 the William Srnyth of Lincoln in 1478 was not the 
 Founder of Brasen Nose. Of his academical honours, 
 all that we know with certainty is his degree of Ba- 
 chelor of Law, which he had taken some time before 
 the year 14Q2, when he was instituted to the rectory 
 of Cheshnnt in Hertfordshire. The clergy, as well 
 as others, in that age, were accustomed to proceed in 
 law degrees; and it is well known, that many of them 
 became, while Prelates, the ablest lawyers of their 
 time. Before the Reformation, the oliice of Lord 
 Chancellor was rarely filled by a layman. 
 
 Wood asserts, that he removed wit' other scho- 
 lars from Oxford, dreading the pestilence which then 
 raged, and went to Cambridge, where he became 
 Fellow, and afterwards Master, of Pembroke Hall. 
 Browne Willis contradicts this only in part, by inform- 
 ing us that he became Fellow, but not Master; and 
 here the matter would have rested, if Smyth had not 
 found in his last biographer one who possesses the 
 laudabk- scepticism and spirit of research, to which we 
 are indebted for all historical certainty. Mr. Churtoti 
 has decidedly proved, that he never belonged to Cam-
 
 228 BRASEN NOSE COLLEGE. 
 
 bridge, and that the mistake of his former biographers 
 originated in his being confounded with a person of 
 both his names, who was Fellow of Pembroke Hall, 
 and a contemporary. 
 
 To the course of learning usual in his time, and 
 which was neither copious nor solid, he appears to 
 have added the study of the Latin classics of the purer 
 ages, which was then less frequent, although more libe- 
 rally tolerated, and more admired, than an acquaint- 
 ance with the Greek language. In the fifteenth cen- 
 tury the latter was scarcely known, unless to the en- 
 terprising spirit of Grocyn, Linacre, and the other re- 
 storers of literature; and was so little relished, as to be 
 sometimes a topic of ridicule, and sometimes as dan- 
 gerous as heresy. 
 
 For his first advancement he is supposed to have 
 been indebted to the Earl of Derby, who was one of 
 those friends of Henry VII. whom that Monarch re- 
 warded, after the crown was established in security. 
 Probably also by his interest Smyth was appointed 
 September 20, 1485, to the office of the Clerk of the 
 Hanaper, with an annual stipend of 40l. and an addi- 
 tional allowance of eighteen pence per day during his 
 attendance, in person, or by his deputy, on the Lord 
 Chancellor. This salary is worthy of notice, as the 
 sum exceeds that which was attached to it, not only 
 on a subsequent appointment in this reign, but for a 
 century afterwards. It was therefore probably given 
 as a special renHineration to Smyth, whose influence 
 appears to have been increasing. It is certain that, 
 while in this office, he was solicited by the University 
 of Oxford to interpose, on a very critical occasion, 
 when they had incurred the King's displeasure; and
 
 BRASEN MOSE COLLEGE. 2<2<) 
 
 such was his influence, that his Majesty was pleased to 
 remove their tears, and confirm their privileges. This 
 occurred in the second year of Henry's reign. While 
 Smyth held this office, we also find his name in a writ 
 of privy seal for the foundation of Norbridgc's chantry 
 in the parish church of the Holy Trinity at Guildford. 
 In this deed, William Smyth, Clerk, is very honoura- 
 bly associated with Elizabeth, consort of Henry VII. 
 Margaret, Countess of Richmond, his mother, Thomas 
 Bourchier, and Reginald Bray, Knights. 
 
 A few years after his being made Clerk of the Ha- 
 naper, lie was promoted to the Deanery of St. Ste- 
 phen's, Westminster, a dignity usually conferred on 
 some favourite Chaplain whom the King wished to 
 have near his person. The precise time of his arriving 
 at this preferment cannot be discovered, but it must 
 have been subsequent to July 28, 1480, when Henry 
 Sharpe occurs as Dean. While in this otliee he re- 
 sided in Canon Row, and was honoured by his royal 
 master with a seat in the Privy Council. 
 
 From the evidence of these preferments it cannot 
 be doubted that Smyth's talents and address hail justi- 
 fied the hopes of his family and patrons. He must 
 have certainly been a favourite with the King, and not 
 less so with his mother, Margaret, Countess of Rich- 
 mond, who on June 14, 1492, presented him to the 
 rectory of Cheshunt, which he quitted in 14<)4 for 
 higher preferment. She conferred upon him another 
 mark of her confidence, in appointing him one of the 
 feoliees of those manors and estates, which were to 
 answer the munificent purposes of her will. As to the 
 reports of his former biographers, that he held, at one 
 time, the archdeaconry of Surry and the prepositure of
 
 230 BRASEN NOSE COLLEGE. 
 
 Wells, Mr. Churton has clearly proved that they have 
 no foundation. 
 
 When the see of Lichfield and Coventry became va- 
 cant by the death of Bishop Hales, Dec. 30, 1490, 
 the King bestowed it on Smyth, by the style of " Our 
 " beloved and faithful Counsellor, Dean of our free 
 " chapel within our own palace at Westminster." 
 The time neither of his election or consecration is 
 upon record, but the latter is supposed to have taken 
 place between the l'2th and 29th of January 1492-3. 
 The cause of so considerable an interval from the 
 death of his predecessor must probably be sought in 
 the capricious proceedings of the Court of Rome on 
 such occasions. His final settlement in this see was 
 followed by a visitation of the Clergy under his con- 
 trol, and the performance of those other duties in- 
 cumbent on his new station. His usual residences were 
 at Beaudesert, and at Pipe, both near Lichfield, or at 
 his palace in London, which stood on the site of 
 Somerset-house. 
 
 His next promotion was of the civil kind, that of 
 President of the Prince's Council within the marches 
 of Wales. The unsettled state of Wales had engaged 
 the attention of Henry VII. as soon as he came to the 
 throne, and the wisest policy, in order to civilize and 
 conciliate the inhabitants of that part of the kingdom, 
 appeared to consist in delegating such a part of the 
 executive power as might give dignity and stability 
 to the laws, and ensure subjection to the Sovereign. 
 With this view various grants and commissions were 
 issued in the first year of his reign ; and about the year 
 1492, Arthur, Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester, 
 v/as included in a commission of the peace for the
 
 BRASEN NOSE COLLEGE. 231 
 
 county of Warwick, with Archbishop Morton, Smyth, 
 Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, and others ; and was 
 then, March, 1492-3, constituted his Majesty's Justice 
 in the counties of Salop, Hereford, and Gloucester, and 
 the marches of Wales adjoining, "to inquire into all 
 " the liberties, privileges, and franchises, possessed or 
 " claimed by any person, which were to be scixcd into 
 " the King's hands; and these inquisitions, taken from 
 " time to time, were to be certified into Chancery. 
 " The same commission also gave him power to sub- 
 " stitute proper persons under him, for the better and 
 " more effectual execution of this delegated trust. By 
 " virtue of this charter, a council, it is presumed, was 
 " appointed for the Prince, in which, whoever were 
 " his coadjutors/ Bishop Smyth presided"." There was 
 a renewal of this commission in the 17 Henry VH. of 
 which our Bishop, who had then been translated to 
 the see of Lincoln, was again Lord President. 
 
 The Prince's court was held chiefly at Ludlow cas- 
 tle, long the scat of the Muses, honoured at this time 
 with a train of learned men from the Universities, and 
 afterwards immortalized bv Milton and Butler. Here 
 Bishop Smyth, although placed in an office b that seemed 
 likely to divert him from the business ot his diocese, 
 took special care that his absence should be compen- 
 sated bv a deputation of his power to \ icars Genernl, 
 and a Suffragan Bishop, in whom he could confide; 
 and here he conceived some ot those generous and li- 
 beral plans which have conferred honour on his name. 
 
 Cliurton's Lives of the Founder-;, |>. ;<<), CO. 
 
 b lie ret. Yined th;s otlice to his ile;ilh. The S:ilHL- kiml of court Wa 
 renewed under succeeding monarchs, until the time of King William, 
 when, Lting no longer iit'ctsbury, it u:is finally dissolved. 
 
 o 4
 
 BRASEN NOSE COLLEGE. 
 
 The first instance of his becoming a public benefactor 
 was in rebuilding and reendovving the hospital of St, 
 John in Lichfield, which had been suffered to go to 
 ruin by the negligence of the Friars who occupied it. 
 Accordingly, in the third year of his Episcopate, 1495, 
 he rebuilt this hospital, and gave a rvew body of sta- 
 tutes for the use of the society. Of this foundation 
 it is only necessary to add here, that the school at- 
 tached to it y and afterwards- joined to the adjacent se- 
 minary of Edward VI. has produced Bishops Small- 
 ridge and Newton, the Chief Justices Willes and Par- 
 ker, and those illustrious scholars, Joseph Addison and 
 Samuel Johnson. 
 
 Smyth had been Bishop of Lichfield somewhat more 
 than two years, when he was translated to Lincoln, 
 November, 1495. In 150Q, he performed a strict visi- 
 tation of his cathedral, which his liberality had al- 
 ready enriched, and prescribed such matters of disci- 
 pline and police as seemed calculated to preserve or- 
 der, and correct that tendency to abuse, which ren- 
 dered frequent visitations necessary. Nor was his 
 care of his diocese at large less actively employed, in 
 hearing and examining grievances, and promoting dis- 
 cipline and morals. " But perfection," his biographer 
 has well observed, " is not the attribute of man - 7 and 
 " we learn with less surprise than regret, that Smyth 
 " did not escape the common fault of condemning he- 
 " relics to the prison or the stake." For this no apo- 
 logy can here be offered. The wonder is, that we. are 
 still solicited to a fellow-feeling with a religion which 
 could warp the minds of such men as Smyth. It would 
 have done enough to incur our aversion, had it done 
 
 o 
 
 no more than to stain the memory of those benefac-
 
 BRASEN NOSE COLLEGE. 233 
 
 tors, to whose liberality the learning of the present 
 age is so deeply indebted. 
 
 In the last-mentioned year, Suiyth was requested by 
 the University to accept the office of Chancellor, then 
 vacant by the death of Archbishop Morton. In their 
 letter, dated November 5, they "entreat him to accept 
 " of the office, the highest honour they had to be- 
 " stow ; which they conferred not only as a mark of 
 " gratitude for daily favours received at his hands, but 
 " from regard to those talents which so eminently fit- 
 " ted him for the trust, his extraordinary prudence, 
 " and many other virtues." And in such estimation 
 was he held at this time, that, upon his acceptance of 
 the office, they " applauded their good fortune in hav- 
 " ing obtained for their governor and patron a magni- 
 " ficent Prelate, who could not fail to administer their 
 " affairs in the best manner. They declared them- 
 " selves convinced, that they were born for each other ; 
 " he to serve their academic polity, and they to ad- 
 " vance his honour; who had, through them, received 
 " into his protection such a renowned seminary, where, 
 " if virtue and ingenuous arts had ever flourished, they 
 " would now appear with additional lustre, under the 
 " auspices of a Prelate, crowned with every virtue, the 
 " friend and patron of good learning." 
 
 How long he continued Chancellor is not exactly 
 known, but his resignation must have taken place be- 
 fore the 1 1th of August, 1.301), when Fit/James, Bishop 
 of Rochester, as the senior divine in residence, be- 
 came Cuncellarius ndtns,o\' deputy during the vacancy : 
 and he was succeeded as Chancellor in November fol- 
 lowing bv Dr. Alavew, President of Magdalen Col- 
 
 J * * 
 
 We.
 
 $34 BRASEN NOSE COLLEGE. 
 
 In 1507-8 he concerted the plan of Brasen Nos<* 
 College, along with his friend Sir Richard Sutton, 
 and lived to see it completed. Of his death we have 
 few particulars, nor can his age be ascertained. After 
 making a will in due form, characterized by the libera- 
 lity which had distinguished his whole life, he expired 
 at Buckden, Jan. 2, 1513-14, and was interred on the 
 south side of the nave of Lincoln cathedral, under a 
 marble grave-stone, richly adorned with brass, which 
 Sir William Dugdale had leisure to describe just 
 before it was destroyed by the republican soldiers or 
 mob. A mural monument was recently put up, with 
 u suitable inscription, by the Rev. Ralph Cawley, D. D. 
 and Principal of Brasen Nose from 1770 to 1777- 
 
 Before we proceed to the foundation of the Col- 
 lege, it may be necessary to give a short sketch of 
 Smyth's coadjutor in this great work, still acknowledg- 
 ing our obligations to the able pen which has revived 
 the memory and illustrated the history of these muni- 
 ficent benefactors. 
 
 Richard Sutton, descended from the ancient family 
 of the Suttons, of Sutton, near Macclesfield, in the 
 county palatine of Chester, was the younger son of 
 Sir William Sutton, Knight. Of the time or place of 
 his birth we have no certain account, nor whether he 
 was educated in the University to which he became so 
 bountiful a benefactor. He practised as a barrister of 
 the Inner Temple, and probably with success. In 
 1490 he purchased some estates in Leicestershire, and 
 afterwards increased his landed property in different 
 counties. In 1498, if not earlier, he was a member of 
 Henry VII.'s Privy Council, and attended the court 
 for many years after. In 1505, he was one of the
 
 BRASEN NOSE COLLEGE. 235 
 
 governors of the Inner Temple, and was in other years 
 chosen to this annual office. 
 
 It is uncertain at what time he became Steward of 
 the monastery of Sion, near Brentford in Middlesex, 
 but he occurs in this office in the year 151.0, and had 
 chambers in the monastery, where he frequently re- 
 sided. Besides bestowing estates and money on this 
 religious house, he bore the ex pence of publishing a 
 splendid, and now very rare book, in honour of the 
 house, called " The Orcharde of Syon"." 
 
 In 151*2, he was employed in purchasing the manor 
 of Pinchepolles in Farringdon, Berkshire, with lands in 
 Westbrook and Farnham in that county, which were 
 given by Mrs. Morley, and constituted the first per- 
 manent benefaction bestowed on Brasen Nose Col- 
 lege. He appears to have received the honour of 
 Knighthood in the year 1522, about two years before 
 his death, but the exact time of the latter event is not 
 known. As an annual commemoration of him is ob- 
 served by the Society on the Sunday after Michael- 
 mas, it may be inferred that he died about that time. 
 His will, drawn up March l(j, 1523-4, was proved 
 Nov. 7, 1524; and lie is supposed to have been buried 
 either at Macclesricld, or in the monastery of Sion. 
 His bequests are almost all of the religious or charita- 
 ble kind. To these scanty memoirs we may add, in 
 the grateful language of hi>> biographer, that, " un- 
 " married himself, and not anxious to aggrandize his 
 " family, which had long ranked among the best in 
 " a county justly proud of its ancient gentry, Sir 
 
 Tilt; rvadrr will 1in<) ;i tniniHc ;irr< lint of this \\orl-, \\\\\<-\\ was |>ub- 
 liihud in 1 5iy, in Mr. Cliurtoii'g Lite ot S,r R. Suttou, p. 417, ft *f</V-
 
 236 BRASEN NOSE COLLEGE. 
 
 " Richard Sutton bestowed handsome benefactions and 
 "kind remembrances among his kinsmen; but he 
 " wedded the public, and made posterity his heir. 
 " An active coadjutor from the first to the Bishop of 
 " Lincoln in laying the foundation of Brasen Nose 
 " College, he completed the building, revised the laws, 
 " and doubled the revenues of the growing seminary, 
 " leaving it a perpetual monument of the consoli- 
 " dated wisdom and joint munificence of Smyth and 
 " of Sutton." 
 
 They appear to have concerted the plan of a new 
 College at a time when Oxford had ten Colleges, 
 which, if not all in a flourishing state, enjoyed a de- 
 gree of prosperity correspondent to the original inten- 
 tion of the Founders. But reflecting minds, like those 
 of Smyth and Sutton, could perceive that a wider dif- 
 fusion of learning, and a greater facility in the means 
 and expences of instruction, were necessary, not only 
 to enrich the country with real science, but to extend 
 that portion of civilization and urbanity of manners, 
 which might counteract the barbarous sentiments and 
 practices that were still the opprobria of our Universi- 
 ties. 
 
 With this view they formed their design, and chose 
 the site of the building as early as the year 1508. In 
 October of that year, Sutton obtained from Univer- 
 sity College a lease of Brasen Nose Hall and Little 
 University Hall, with their gardens and appurtenances, 
 for the term of ninety-two years, at the annual rent of 
 three pounds ; and it was not until the expiration of 
 the above lease that an equivalent estate was made 
 over to University College, and Brasen Nose obtained 
 the freehold. These premises are described as abut-
 
 BRASEN NOSE COLLEGE. 237 
 
 ting upon School-street on the east, upon a Hall and 
 garden called Salisbury on the south, and to the north 
 upon streets that go from School-street towards Lin- 
 coln College. 
 
 On these premises the College rose, hut the precise 
 date of the foundation is not known. The learned 
 biographer of Bishop Smyth appears to have confided 
 for some time in an inscription on the south-west cor- 
 ner of the quadrangle, near the door which led to the 
 original Chapel of the College ; hut upon more mature 
 consideration, he is inclined to think the true inten- 
 tion of that inscription doubtful. The words are, 
 Anno Christi 1.009 et Regis Ilenrici Fill, pritno no- 
 wine ditino Lincoln prtesul quoque button hanc positere 
 pet ram rcgis ad iniperium primo die Jitnii. If a less 
 informed spectator may be allowed to hazard a con- 
 jecture, it would be in favour of Mr. Churton's sug- 
 gestion, vix. that it is probably a duplicate of the 
 foundation-stone. 
 
 Their next purchase was of the messuages called 
 Salisbury Hall and St. Mary entry, with the gardens 
 and appurtenances; but no part, it is thought, of the 
 present College, miles*, perhaps, the Kitchen, stands 
 upon these premises. Salisbury Hall was taken down, 
 and the ground converted into a garden, which is now 
 occupied by the Library and inner court. Five other 
 Halls were afterwards added, called Little Edmund 
 Hall, Haberdashers' Hall, Black Hall, Staple Hall, 
 and Glass Hall. Of all these, Brasen Nose, Salisbury, 
 Little Edmund, and Haberdashers' Halls, extended 
 from Lincoln College lane to the High-street. The 
 present lodgings of the Principal were erected on the 
 spot where Haberdashers' Hall stood. Brasen No*
 
 238 BRASEN NOSE COLLEGE. 
 
 Hall, which gave that singular name to the College, is 
 of great antiquity. In the thirteenth century it was 
 known by the same name, which was unquestionably 
 owing to the circumstance of a nose of brass affixed to 
 the gate. The names of others of the ancient Halls 
 were derived from circumstances equally trivial, as 
 their being slated or thatched, provided with glass 
 windows, having an elm or other tree before the door, 
 having a chimney, &,c. a 
 
 Little University Hall, of which some notice has al- 
 ready been taken b , is supposed to have been the second 
 of the three Halls founded by Alfred. Either in al- 
 lusion to that tradition, or in compliment to Henry 
 VIII. the new erection by Bishop Smyth was called, 
 " The Kind's Hall and College of Brasen ISose." The 
 
 C? O 
 
 whole of these Halls were formerly seats of education, 
 and the spot which our Founders chose may in a very 
 eminent sense be called classical ground. 
 
 Of the progress of the building we have no regular 
 account, but it appears that a society was formed al- 
 most as soon as the -College was projected. We find 
 a Principal in the month of June, 15 10. It is proba- 
 ble, therefore, that the scholars were accommodated 
 in some part of the ancient premises which required 
 
 " There is in Stamford, Lincolnshire, a building in St. Paul's parish, 
 " near to one of the tower gates, called Hrazenose to this day, and has a 
 " great gate, and a wicket, upon which wicket is a face or head of old 
 " cast brass, with a ring through the nose thereof. It had also a fair 
 " refectory therein, and is at this time written in leases and deeds Bra- 
 " zen Nose." Wood's Annals, vol. i. p. 432. An elegant drawing of 
 this brasen nose at Stamford, the gift of Thomas late Lord Daere, is 
 preserved in the lodgings of the Principal. Churton's Lives, p. 277. 
 where the reader will find some curious remarks on signs. 
 
 k P. 28, 29.
 
 BRASEN NOSE COLLEGE. 
 
 to be last removed, and that part, it has been conjec- 
 tured, was Brasen Nose Hall, which stood where the 
 tower now is; and what strengthens this conjecture is, 
 that, according to the compact with University Col- 
 lege, they agreed to expend in new building and re- 
 parations of this Hall the sum of 40l. within one 
 year following the date of this lease. The new build- 
 
 / 
 
 ing began at the south-west corner in 1509, and Bra- 
 sen Nose is spoken of as a Hall at least three years 
 later. During the building, Bishop Smyth visited 
 Oxford three or four times; but Sir Richard Sutton 
 appears to have principally superintended the work, 
 although he did not for some time after contribute 
 
 O 
 
 any permanent benefaction for its support. 
 
 The charter of foundation granted to Bishop Smyth 
 and Richard Sutton, Esq. is dated Jan. lj, 1.511-lCi; 
 and it is supposed that the Society became a perma- 
 nent corporation on the feast of St. Hugh, Nov. 17, 
 1,3 1C, or perhaps a little earlier. According to the 
 charter, the Society was to consist of a Principal and 
 sixty Scholars, to be instructed in the sciences of so- 
 phistry, logic, and philosophy, and afterwards in di- 
 vinity, and they might possess lands, &c. to the yearly 
 value of 3001. beyond all burdens and repairs. The 
 number of Fellows, however, was not completed until 
 their revenues, by being laid out on land, began to be 
 certainly productive. 
 
 The estates which Bishop Smyth bestowed on the 
 College were chiefly two; Basset's Fee, in the environs 
 of Oxford, which formerly is supposed to have be- 
 longed to the Bassets, Barons of I leadington ; and 
 the entire property of the suppressed priory of Cold 
 Norton, \\ith its manors and estates in Oxfordshire
 
 240 BRASEN NOSE COLLEGE 
 
 and Northamptonshire. It was sold to Bishop Smyth) 
 by the convent of St. Stephen's, Westminster, for 
 eleven hundred and fifty marks. 
 
 The estates given by Sir Richard Sutton were, the 
 manor of Burgh, or Borowe, or Erdeborowe, in the 
 parish of Somerby, in the county of Leicester, and 
 other estates in the same parish aud neighbourhood ; 
 an estate in the parish of St. Mary, Strand, London, 
 which in 1673 was sold to the commissioners for en- 
 larging the streets after the great fire for the sum of 
 17001. and with this an estate was purchased at Bur- 
 wardescot, or Burscot, in Oxfordshire ; which has re- 
 cently been exchanged for other lands at Stanford in 
 the vale of White Horse. He gave also the manor of 
 Cropredy in the county of Oxford, and certain lands 
 there", and an estate in North Ockington, or Wokyn- 
 don, in the county of Essex. All these Sir Richard 
 granted to the College by lease, July 18, 1519, and on 
 Nov. 29, following, by a conveyance under his own 
 hand and seal, he released them to the Society for 
 ever. 
 
 In the same year, by indenture with Sir Richard 
 Sutton, the Society agreed to keep an anniversary for 
 ever for Bishop Smyth and Sir Richard Sutton, on 
 the days of their respective decease. They were like- 
 wise to pay annually to three Priests five marks apiece, 
 who should officiate as Chaplains to the College, and 
 were to be nominated by Sutton and his heirs of the 
 manor of Sutton, and, if not previously on the foun- 
 dation, might, upon a vacancy, if eligible, be admitted 
 
 By a purchase made in 1789, this Colleg-e is in possession of 
 another manor of the same name, i. e. the manor, or reputed manor, of 
 Cropredy, bought of the late Sir William Botheby, or his heirs.
 
 BRASEX NOSE COLLEGE. 241 
 
 Fellows. This agreement respecting the Chaplains 
 continued in force ninil the middle of the last cen- 
 tury, when the diminution of the value of money ren- 
 dering the stipend inadequate to the maintenance 01 
 a single Chaplain, divine service began to be per- 
 formed, as it is now, by the Fellows, each i.i his turn. 
 Sir Richard Button's last benefaction to the College, 
 except that of il. for building a wall, wa* an estate 
 in Garsington and Cowley in Oxfordshire, of which 
 he put the College in possession in July, I.>!2'2. 
 
 Bishop Smyth composed a body of statutes before 
 the year 1.513, but they are not now known to exist, lu 
 his will he devolves to his executors the business of 
 correcting and amending these statutes ; and accord- 
 ingly a new code, signed and sealed by lour of his ex- 
 ecutors, was given to the College, and is stiil preserved. 
 In the year 1,:V21-'J*2 it underwent a complete revi- 
 sion, and was ratified by the seal of Sir Richard Sut- 
 ton,the surviving Founder. Of this, however, a tran- 
 script only remains. In forming these statutes consi- 
 derable use was made of those of Magdalen College, 
 which we have seen were borrowed from \\ vkelKim's. 
 
 In these last statutes the College is recognized as 
 Commonly called " The King's Haule and Colledgc 
 " of 13rasennose in Oxford," to consist of a Principal 
 and twelve Fellows, all of them born within the dio- 
 cese of Coventry and Lichfield ; with preference to 
 the natives of the counties ot Lancaster and Chester, 
 and especially to the natives of the parish of 1'reseot 
 in Lancashire, and of Prcsburv in Cheshire. Besides 
 those twelve, there were to be two Fellows, Masters 
 or Bachelors ot Arts, natives of the diocese of Sarum 
 or Hereford, agreeably to the intent of a composition 
 
 R
 
 BRASEN NOSE COLLEGE. 
 
 between Edmund Audley, Bishop of Salisbury, and 
 the College, for that purpose ; but for some reason, 
 not now known, this benefaction never took place. 
 
 The endowments of the Founders were soon fol- 
 lowed by a greater number of benefactions than it 
 will be possible, or may be thought necessary, to spe- 
 cify in this place. The first was that of Elizabeth 
 Morley, already noticed, widow of Robert Morley, 
 citizen and draper of London, who in 1515 demised 
 certain estates to the College, by an indenture tripar- 
 tite between herself, William Porter, Warden of New 
 College, and Matthew Smyth, Principal of Brasen Nose, 
 on condition that a Priest should be appointed from the 
 Fellows of the College to celebrate mass in the Col- 
 
 o 
 
 lege chapel, and preach once a year, himself or by de- 
 puty, in St. Margaret's church, Westminster ; and that 
 an obit or commemoration should be kept for her 
 after her decease on the 26'th of January, at which 
 the W T arden of New College is to be requested to 
 attend, and he is to receive for his attendance eight 
 pence and a dinner. In the following year, John Cox 
 of Kirtlington, Oxfordshire, on nearly the same terms, 
 gave a messuage in Chipping Wycombe, and money 
 to purchase lands, to provide two Priests, being Fel- 
 lows, for nearly the same services. 
 
 Among the founders of Fellowships are, John Wil- 
 liamson, Clerk, Parson of St. George's, Canterbury, 
 who in 1521 bequeathed a sum to found two Fellow- 
 ships, to be held by persons born in the city and 
 county of Chester, of the name, cousenage, or lineage 
 of John Williamson, or John Port, Serjeant at Law, 
 and afterwards Justice of the King's Bench, who con- 
 veyed the benefaction to the College. In 1528, Johu
 
 BHASEN NOSE COLLEGE. 541 
 
 Elton, alias Baker, Canon of Salisbury, founded a 
 Fellowship for his kindred, or, in defect of such, a 
 native of the diocese of Salisbury, or any rhember of 
 the University at large. In 1. 3:3 1, William Porter, 
 Warden of New College, founded a Fellowship, with 
 lands at Marston in Oxfordshire, and Kingsholrne in 
 Gloucestershire; the Fellow to belong to the county 
 or diocese of Hereford, or county most adjacent to- 
 ward Oxford. In 15.38, Edward Darby, Archdeacon 
 of Stow, already noticed among the benefactors to 
 Lincoln College, gave 1201. the usual sum, when 61. 
 per (inn. was thought sufficient for the maintenance of 
 a Fellow, and specified his preference for a native of 
 the Archdeaconry of Stow, the counties of Leicester, 
 Northampton, and Oxford, or the diocese of Lincoln 
 fit large. In the same year, Dr. William Clyfton, 
 Sub-Dean of York, gave lands in Ascot Doyley, Ox- 
 fordshire, and Kingsholme, Gloucestershire, for a Fel- 
 low, to he chosen from the counties of York and Lin- 
 coln alternately, or, in defect, from Nottinghamshire, 
 or any member of the University of Oxford. In 15-jy 
 it was agreed by a tripartite indenture that the sum of 
 1101. given by Bryan Hygden, Dean of York, who 
 did not live to express his intentions, should he laid 
 out in the purchase of lands, for the maintenance of a 
 Follow of the counties of York and Lincoln alter- 
 nately. Dr. Hygden was a friend of Bishop Smyth's, 
 and a man of eminence in his day. The twentieth 
 and last Fellowship was founded by Mrs. Joyce 
 Frankland, widow, daughter of Robert Trapps, citi- 
 zen of London, and goldsmith, a benefactress to Em- 
 manuel and Cains Colleges, Cambridge, and to Lin- 
 coln and Braseu Nose, Oxford. Her benefaction to 
 
 u 2
 
 '244 BRASEN NOSE COLLEGE. 
 
 
 
 Lincoln has already been mentioned. That to Brasen 
 Nose consisted of lands and money, for the founda- 
 tion of one Fellowship, to be called Mrs. Frankland's 
 Fellowship, with a preference of her kindred, espe- 
 c-ia-llv the Trapps and Saxies, and for four Scholar- 
 ships. Little is known of the personal history of this 
 
 lady. She had two husbands, Henry Saxy, and 
 
 Frankland. She lived at tin? llyehouse in the parish 
 of Stansted Abbots, Hertfordshire, and at a residence 
 in Philip lane, Aldermanbury, London, which she de- 
 vised to Caius College* Her will, dated at the llye- 
 house, Feb.- 20, loS6, is an eminent proof of piety, 
 liberality, and good sense. She bequeathed some very 
 curious and valuable articles of plate to this College, 
 the greater part of which was stolen not many years 
 afterwards. Her name, with that of the learned and 
 pious Nowell, is still repeated in the common grace 
 after meat in the Hall ; and the Society erected a mo- 
 nument over her grave in St. Leonard Foster, a church 
 in London, which was demolished in the great fire, 
 and not rebuilt. There is a very fine portrait of this 
 lady in the Hall, in which she is represented holding 
 a watch in her hand, of the form called hunting- 
 
 7 o 
 
 watches. The meaning of this is somewhat obscure; 
 and it may certainly be doubted whether spring- 
 watches of any description were invented before the 
 middle of the seventeenth century. 
 
 The Scholarships and Exhibitions were contributed 
 by a very numerous list of benefactors, of whom it 
 may be suilicient to give the names, dates, numbers, and 
 local preferences. John Claymond, first President of 
 Corpus, 1530, six Scholars, from Frampton near Bos- 
 ton in Lincolnshire, the place of his birth, Morelon,
 
 BRASEN NOSE COLLEGE. 245 
 
 or Stockton on Tecs, Overtoil, or Havant, or Mottes- 
 font in Hampshire, Henager near Wells, or Monk- 
 ton near Taunton, in Somersetshire, Cleeve in Glou- 
 cestershire, and Oxford, or the counties in which these 
 plaees are situated ; to be chosen by the President, 
 Vice- President, and Humanity Reader of Corpus, 
 and to hear the Humanity and Greek Readers of 
 that College. Humphrey Ogle, of Salford in Oxford- 
 shire, Archdeacon of Salop, 134.'}, two Scholars, from 
 Prescot in Lancashire, or Lichh'eld, or the diocese of 
 Chester. Henry Fisher, fishmonger of London, JO'5'2, 
 one Scholar, to be elected by the Skinners' Company 
 from Tunbridge school. John Lord Mordaunt, 157O. 
 Lowell, Dean of St. Paul's, 1.372, thirteen Scholars, 
 from the free-school of Middleton in Lancashire, or 
 the schools of Whallev and .Burnley, or any other 
 schools in that county". Joyce i'rankland, already 
 noticed, four Scholars. James Hinks, alias Stoddard, 
 of St. Olave Jewry, London, HiO?- George Pa'yn, 
 citi/en and girdler of London, H>09, from the county 
 of Chester. Samuel Radcliffe, 1). 1). Principal from 
 Hi 14 to ](J48, 1'rom the scliool of Steeple Aston, Ox- 
 fordshire, Rochdale, or Middleton, Lancashire, or any 
 of the Undergraduates of Urasen Nose who are nn- 
 prefcrred. John Milward, of Llaverfordwest in the 
 county of Pembroke, Gent. Hi.34, alternately from 
 
 Thi* excellent man founded at one and the s.-rtiu time n free- school 
 at Middlt 'Ion, ;nul thirteen Scholarships in this Colltjje; :uid a^ " ttu.-so 
 " h(>iief:ietii>ns were hoth of them established by rc\al patent, her M.i- 
 '' je--t\ also of her free hnuntv eiieoura^inij and a-~si~tiii!;' him, 1 he chose 
 " that the school should he called Oueeii r.li^abi'th's school, and the 
 Scholars ynccn Klizahuth's Scholar-,." ( hurton's Life of Nowcli, 
 
 K 3
 
 246 BRASEN NOSE COLLEGE. 
 
 Birmingham school or that of Haverfordwest. John 
 Cartwright, of Aynho, Northamptonshire, Esq. 1665, 
 from the school of Aynho, or the parishes of Bud- 
 worth or Wrenbury, in Cheshire, or Northampton- 
 shire, or Oxfordshire. Anne Walker, 167-5, from 
 Oxfordshire. Hugh Henley, 1675. Thomas Church, 
 B. D. 16?6, from his kindred horn at Nantvvich in the 
 county of Chester, or the county at large. Richard 
 Reed, of Lugwardine in Herefordshire, Esq. from his 
 posterity, or from the school of Bosbury in Hereford- 
 shire, or the free-school of the city of Hereford. 
 Sarah Duchess Dowager of Somerset, 1679> and by 
 her will 1686, from the free-schools of Manchester, 
 Marlborough, and Hereford, alternately. 
 
 Some of these Scholarships and Exhibitions were 
 afterwards augmented in value, or increased in num- 
 bers. In 1680, Thomas Yates, D. D. Principal, aug- 
 mented Church's Scholarships, and endowed three, to 
 be of the lineage of his father, of Middlewich, Che- 
 shire, or of the counties of Northampton and Wilts. 
 William Hulme, of the county of Lancaster, in 1691, 
 left estates in the neighbourhood of Manchester, to 
 maintain as Exhibitioners four of the poorest Bache- 
 lors of Arts, to be nominated by the Warden of Man-r 
 chester and the Rectors of Bury and Prestwich for 
 the time being. At the time of his death these Ex- 
 hibitions amounted to 151. each, but from the increased 
 value of the estates, Brasen Nose street, and other 
 . houses in Manchester, having been built upon part of 
 them, the trustees were empowered by Act of Parlia- 
 ment in 1795 to grant to the Exhibitioners, who 
 had for some years been increased to the number 
 of ten, and are now fifteen, such farther allowance
 
 BRASEN NOSE COLLEGE. 247 
 
 fs they should think reasonable, not being less than 
 6()1. nor more than HOl. and this latter sum has been 
 since paid". 
 
 Besides these extensive foundations for the mainte- 
 nance of Fellows and Scholars, Lectureships have been 
 founded in Philosophy and Humanity, 1360, by Sir 
 John Port, son of Judge Port, before mentioned ; in 
 Greek, 1572, by Richard Harper, one of the Judges 
 of the Court of Common Pleas; in Hebrew, Ifi28, by 
 John Barneston, D. D. Canon Residentiary of Salis- 
 bury, (formerly Fellow of Brasen Nose College;) and 
 in Mathematics, 1683, by Thomas Weston, Rector of 
 Crissleton, near Chester. 
 
 The principal LIVINGS of this College, by benefac- 
 tion or purchase, arc the RECTORIES of Steeple As- 
 ton and Great Rollright, Oxfordshire ; St. Matthew 
 Bethnal Green, Christ Church Spital Fields, St. 
 George in the East, St. Ann Limehouse, St. Mary 
 Whitechapel, St. Dunstan Stepney, St. Mary Strat- 
 ford Bow, and St. John's Wapping, Middlesex; Great 
 Catworth, Huntingdonshire ; Clayton and Selham, 
 Sussex ; Dudcote and WestShefford, Berks; Cotting- 
 ham, Middleton Cheney, Great Billing, Stoke Bru- 
 erne, Old or Wold, Northamptonshire ; Wotton Ri- 
 vers, Wilts, alternately with St. John's College, Cam- 
 bridge : and the VICARA<;E of Gillingham in Kent. 
 
 In ]'y'>4 this College was valued at 1131. !)s. Cd. or 
 1 1 ll. ()s. 3d. per annum, according to Twyne. In 1 j<) 2 
 the valuation rose to 3(K)1. and in Hil'J, the number of 
 the Society was two hundred and twcntv-^even. At 
 present it consists of a Principal, twenty Fellows, 
 
 Gent. Mag. Vol. LXXX. ]>. 24. .iiul from private information. 
 K 4
 
 248 BRASEN NOSE COLLEGE. 
 
 thirty-two Scholars, and fifteen Exhibitioners, be- 
 sides a great number of independent members. The 
 Bishop of Lincoln is Visitor. 
 
 The BUILDINGS of this College, constructed of 
 the Heading-ton stone, were all completed in the life- 
 time of the Founders, and still preserve much of the 
 original form, although in some of them considerable, 
 and not unnecessary, alterations have taken place. 
 The whole are comprised in one large quadrangle, 
 a lesser court towards the south, what are called the 
 new buildings, (apartments for seven-students,) and the 
 Principal's lodgings. These last were formerly near 
 to the gateway on the south, but in 1770 an elegant 
 house was erected for the Principal in the High-street, 
 on the spot where Haberdashers' Hall formerly stood. 
 
 The large quadrangle" contains the Hall and cham- 
 bers for the Society ; the lesser court is occupied 
 
 Of the statue in the centre of this quadrangle there are various 
 opinions. The guides call it Cain and Abel, and may, perhaps, justify 
 themselves from no less authority than Shakspeare in Hamlet, " How 
 " the knave jowls it to the ground, as if it were Cain's jawbone, that 
 " did the first murder!" Animals were killed in sacrifice before Abel 
 was slain, so that Cain might kill him with the jawbone of some beast; 
 and in the prints in some of our Bibles, taken from a painting by Gerard 
 Hoet, Cain is represented as using that weapon. Others have supposed 
 that the victorious figure is Samson. Here is undoubtedly the jawbone ; 
 but when Samson slew a thousand men with a jawbone, there was, we 
 may be sure, no conflict, or entangling with limbs, as in this statue ; and 
 perhaps it was the study of some sculptor, whose principal object was 
 that display of muscular strength and action. The intelligent corre- 
 spondent, to whom I am indebted for the' only valuable part of this 
 note, informs me, that he was once asked whether it was Hercules and 
 Anta-u^? It was given to the College by Dr. Clarke of All Souls, who pur- 
 chased it from a statuary in London.

 
 BRASEN NOSE COLLEGE. 249 
 
 chiefly by the Library and Chapel, which stand on 
 the site of Salisbury Hall. The grand and extensive 
 front of the College forms the west side of what is 
 now called Radcliffe square, and, with the exception of 
 the attic over the whole building, which was added 
 about the time of James I. is probably seen nearly in 
 its original state. The tower is of a purer Gothic 
 than any other part of the buildings, but, in conse- 
 quence of the addition of the attic, seems dispropor-. 
 tionately low. It was at first twice the height of the 
 other parts of the building, but now the adjacent 
 rooms are two thirds of the height of the tower, in the 
 print given in Mr. Churton's Lives of the Founders 
 there are only two tiers of windows, for the ground- 
 floor and first floor, but now there are three, for the 
 ground-floor, first floor, and attic, or garret, with dor- 
 mer windows on the inside of the quadrangle, and an 
 even parapet on the outside. Some few windows re- 
 main in their original shape, but many have been 
 sashed, and are parallelograms, instead of the semicir- 
 cular tops represented in the print ". 
 
 The 1 1 \ LL, on the south side of the great quadrangle, 
 is a spacious and lofty room, its windows decorated with 
 the arms of the Founders and benefactors, and its walls 
 with portraits of the Founders h , one of Alfred, mo- 
 dern, Dean Nowell b , the Principals Radclifle, Yarbo- 
 rough, and Cleaver, of Sarah Duchess of Somerset, 
 Mrs. Joyce Frankland '', and John Lord Mordaunt. 
 
 Mr. f hurtoii lias remarked, that tin- eround having IK'MI variously 
 luiilt upon, i< considerably elevated ;ibo\e its ancient le\el. Livei of I lit 
 Founders, jij>. '.v.-t, 2*l>. 
 
 '' These are finely engraved in C'hurtuu'* Lm* of the rounders, and 
 Life of Nowcll.
 
 250 BRASEN NOSE COLLEGE. 
 
 There are two ancient portraits of the Founders in 
 the fine bay window at the upper end of the Hall, and 
 two busts of the same, given probably by Dr. Samuel 
 Radcliffe, whose arms appear under them ; but the most 
 remarkable sculptures attached to this part of the Col- 
 lege are two busts of Alfred and Eri;ena. over the 
 
 O O ' 
 
 door of the Hall towards the quadrangle. These are 
 said to have been discovered when the workmen were 
 digging the foundation of the College. That of Al- 
 fred is in high preservation, and rich in expression, but 
 by what artist, or at what time they were executed, is 
 now beyond conjecture. John Scotus Erigena is said 
 to have been the first lecturer in University Hall in 
 the time of Alfred, but the circumstances of his life, 
 and particularly of his death, are involved in much un- 
 certainty. What all authors concur in representing is, 
 that he was one of the ablest scholars of his age, and 
 of a bold and enterprising spirit. 
 
 The present Lord Curzon gave the fire-place of this 
 Hall, and his initials A. C. (Asheton Curzon,) appear 
 in the wainscot. Prior to this (about the year 1760) 
 there was a central fire, as in other Colleges, but this 
 vestige of antiquity has totally disappeared. The fa- 
 mily of this venerable Nobleman were all students of 
 this house. 
 
 The LIBRARY, which was coeval with the foundation, 
 Stood on the north side of the quadrangle, opposite to 
 the Chapel, until the year 1(563, when it was converted 
 into chambers. The present Library was then built 
 over the cloister, between the Chapel and the south side 
 of the inner court, principally at the eripcnce of the 
 benefactors who contributed to the Chapel. Its walls 
 were formerly hung with portraits, some of which
 
 BRASEN NOSE COLLEGE. 
 
 were removed to the Hall, and some to the tower, in 
 which the archives are kept. In 1780, the interior was 
 rebuilt by Wyat, on a plan nearly resembling that of 
 Oriel and New College Libraries". Until this last date, 
 the old custom of chaining the books to the shelves 
 was strictly observed here. They appear to have been 
 first secured in this manner in 1.320, when the old 
 Library was glazed, and furnished with locks and other 
 iron work ; and when they were removed to the ne\r 
 Library, the same operation was repeated. 
 
 To some notices already given of the value our an- 
 cestors put upon books during the age of manuscripts, 
 and in the infancy of printing, we may add some in- 
 teresting particulars from the historian of this College. 
 He informs us, that it was ordered in the statutes, that 
 in all books beloniim<>- to the Librarv, the name of the 
 
 O O w * 
 
 donor, with that of the College, should be inscribed 
 on the second leaf; and in like manner, that the vo- 
 lume itself should be described in the catalogue by 
 the first word of the second leaf. " The first leaf," 
 adds our author, " is most liable to accidental injuries, 
 "and to the corroding effect of time; but besides 
 " this, the illuminations, so common in manuscripts, 
 " and often splendidly beautiful, perpetually exposed 
 " the first page, which was most frequently thus 
 " adorned, to the depredation of bold curiosity. The 
 " second leaf, therefore, was on all accounts the safer 
 " guardian of whatever was committed to it. But in 
 " composing a catalogue, the object was to identify the 
 " volume, which could not be done bv exhibiting the 
 " mere title or first words of the work. But it will 
 
 Dr. Barker, then Principal, contributed 3001. toward* the c \peiuv.
 
 252 BRASEN NOSE COLLEGE. 
 
 " rarely happen, that two copyists shall fill their page 
 " precisely with the same number of words; whence 
 " the initials of the second leaf of a manuscript will 
 " mark that individual copy, and no other. For this 
 " reason the mode here prescribed was the common 
 " precaution and custom of the times "." 
 
 The Founder, Bishop Smyth, John Longland, Bi- 
 shop of Lincoln, and Archdeacon Bothe b , (probably 
 John Bothe, or Boothe, Archdeacon of Hereford, 15 f J:2,) 
 were some of the earliest contributors of books to this 
 Library ; and were followed by Roger Brasginile, Fel- 
 low, Judge Harper, already mentioned, and others in 
 the reign of Queen Elizabeth ; and by that " true son 
 " of the Church of England," Henry Mason, S.T. B. 
 Rector of St. Andrew's Undershaft, who was deprived 
 of his living by the Presbyterians in the time of 
 Charles I. He gave as many books as were thought 
 to be worth JOOOl. The chief accession which the 
 Library has of late years received was the entire and 
 valuable collection of Principal Yarborough, given 
 by his heirs at law, (he having died intestate,) the clas- 
 sical part of which are illustrated by the manuscript 
 notes and manuscript collations of the learned Wasse, 
 of Queen's College, Cambridge, from whom, or his 
 heirs, Dr. Yarborough purchased them. Dr. Bentley, 
 if we may credit Whiston, characterized Wasse in 
 these words : " When I am dead, Wasse will be the 
 " most learned man in England." Wasse, however, 
 died too soon to attain this honour. 
 
 The first CHAPEL belonging to this College stood 
 
 Lives of the Founders, p. 31<). 
 
 b In his hooks is written " Lihruni donavit Bothe Archidiaconus 
 "Utum," and the same, with the change of name, in those of Loi inland.
 
 BRASEN NOSE COLLEGE. 253 
 
 over the Buttery, on the south side of the quadrangle, 
 and, Wood very erroneously thinks, never was conse- 
 crated. The exaet clay, indeed, of this eercmony can- 
 not he ascertained, hut it appears to have been be- 
 tween Sept. I, and Oct. 18, 1312, and the Feast of De- 
 dication long continued to be an anniversary. 
 
 The Founder, Bishop Smyth, bequeathed many or- 
 naments to this Chapel, books, chalices, and vestments 
 belonging to his domestic Chapel ; but, owing either 
 to violence or fraud, they never reached their destina- 
 tion. There is still extant, however, a schedule of the 
 original furniture of this Chapel, which, as usual at 
 that time, was of the most costly kind, and was pro- 
 bably removed by King Edward's visitors. 
 
 This Chapel was converted into chambers" about 
 the same time with the Library, when it is thought 
 Sir Christopher Wren, at that time a very young 
 man, gave the plans for that and the new Chapel. 
 The foundation-stone of the Chapel was laid June '26, 
 iGod, on the site where Little Edmund Hall stood, or 
 rather on a garden between that and Haberdashers' 
 Hall. It was partly built with the materials of the 
 ancient Chapel of St. Mary College b , where Erasmus 
 studied, and was finished, with the cloister adjoining, 
 
 Now tin- Common Room. Some of the original Gothic \\indow 
 re still discernible on the south side. CIIL IM'ON. 
 
 ' The guides sometimes confound this with St. Mary Hall, a totally 
 distinct and distant place. St. Mary Collide, in the parishes of St. 
 Peter in the B liley and St. Michael, was founded hy Thomas Holden, 
 Esq. and Kli/aheth his wife, in 1 !!.">, for Student ( inons of the order of 
 St. Austin. Tlie ir.iteway, leading into New Inn Hall lane, >till remains. 
 Part of the interior i>> occupied l.y the li.'>u-e of the Regius Profc-*ir of 
 Phvsic, held hy lease under Hrasen Nose (ollefre, and retain-, uuirk> of 
 antiquity prohahly as old as the da\-. when Kv.iiimi-, wrote and -Uidu d 
 in this calm retreat.
 
 2o4 BRASEN NOSE COLLEGE. 
 
 (lately formed into chambers,) in 1666. On the 17th 
 of November it was consecrated to the memory of St. 
 Hugh and St. Chad, by Blandford, Bishop of Oxford, 
 who had about a year before performed that ceremony 
 for the Chapel of University College. 
 
 The expences of building were defrayed by a very nu- 
 merous list of benefactors, at the head of which stands 
 Dr. Samuel Radcliffe, Principal from 1614 to 1647, 
 when, after a spirited and conscientious resistance, he 
 was ejected by the Parliamentarian visitors, and died 
 in 1648. As this event happened so long before the 
 foundation of the Chapel, it is probable that he had 
 very early determined to contribute to a new erection. 
 However this may be, we find that he gave as much 
 land at Pidington in Northamptonshire as produced 
 18501. The same fund was increased afterwards by the 
 Principal and Fellows, and by many other gentlemen 
 who retained a grateful remembrance of their educa- 
 tion here; and the money, thus liberally contributed, 
 proved sufficient to build both the Chapel and Li- 
 brary. 
 
 The architecture is of the mixed kind, which at 
 this time prevailed in most ecclesiastical structures. 
 Here we have Gothic arched windows with Corin- 
 thian pilasters, compensated, however, in some degree 
 by an excellent imitation, in wood, of a Gothic stone 
 roof, and yet more by an air of simple elegance dif- 
 fused over the whole interior. The beautiful east 
 window, the gift of Principal Cawley, is one of the 
 finest of Pearson's works, and was executed, in 1776, 
 from drawings made by Mortimer. The altar is de- 
 
 %/ 
 
 eorated with much taste. Both the Chapel and ante- 
 chapel contain the remains and monument!} of many
 
 BRASEN NOSE COLLEGE. 255 
 
 eminent scholars of this house. The bust of Dr. 
 Shippcn in the ante-chapel was esteemed a good like- 
 ness by some who well remembered him, and is said 
 also to bear strong marks of family resemblance to 
 several of his name and kindred living in America*. 
 The epitaph, which is generally admired, was from 
 the pen of Dr. Frewin, a very eminent physician of 
 Oxford. 
 
 In Williams's Oxonia we have a grand plan for re- 
 building this College, with a front to the High-street. 
 Such a project was talked of in the time of Dr. Ship- 
 pen, and the design has of late years been revived, 
 not without hope of carrying it into execution, at the 
 expiration of certain leases : for this purpose several 
 plans have been submitted to the Society by living 
 artists, but no one has as yet been preferred. 
 
 The first PRINCIPAL of this College, appointed 
 Aug. 24, 1510, was Matthew Smyth, probably a rela- 
 tion of the Founder, and a Fellow of Oriel, who super- 
 intended the affairs of the Society for forty years, and 
 bequeathed to it certain lands in Sutton, in the parish 
 of Prescot, Lancashire. His successor, John Hawar- 
 den, was tutor to Fox the martyrologist, and probably 
 to Nowell, Dean of St. Paul's. This last celebrated 
 character, the fifth Principal of Brasen Nose, was 
 elected into that otlice when on the verge of ninety, 
 Sept. 6, 15Qj, " rather as a compliment," says his 
 biographer, " than with a view to the performance 
 
 On the authority of Thomas Lee Shipper), Esq. of Pennsylvania, 
 who was in Oxford in July, 177. His i^ruit great grandfather was bro- 
 ther to Principal Shippen. Another brother of the Principal was the 
 famous Will. Shippcn, At. P. of \\hoin many curious auecdotes are given 
 in Coxe'i .Memoirs of Sir K. \ViiljJole.
 
 BRASEN NOSE COLLEGE. 
 
 " of much actual service." He resigned in December 
 following". Dr. Samuel Radcliffe has been noticed 
 among the benefactors. Having been ejected by the 
 Parliamentary visitors, he was succeeded, in conse- 
 quence of the same usurped authority, by Daniel 
 Greenwood, whom Antony Wood calls " a severe and 
 " good governor." On the Restoration, Greenwood 
 was obliged to give place to Dr. Thomas Yate, who 
 had been elected by the College on the ejection of 
 Dr. Radcliffe. The memory of Dr. Yate is yet held 
 in reverence, and his character is well expressed on 
 his monument in the cloister, " Collegii pater et patro- 
 " nits, el tertias tanturn non Fundator." The Society 
 is indebted to him, among other benefits, for the ad- 
 vowson of Middleton Cheney, and for a valuable 
 " Abstract of the Evidences and Charters of the Col- 
 "lege," which Mr. Churton pronounces " a work of 
 " infinite labour, executed with the most exact fidelity 
 " and judgment.' Dr. Ralph Cawley, who died in 
 1777, is numbered among the benefactors to the 
 Chapel, and bequeathed his books for the use of suc- 
 ceeding Principals. He also performed in his lifetime 
 what Dr. Yate intended, had he not been prevented 
 by age and infirmities, the restoration of the monu- 
 ment of Bishop Smyth in Lincoln cathedral. The 
 present Principal is the sixteenth from the founda- 
 tion. 
 
 The copious and elaborate Life of Nowell, lately published by the 
 historian of this College, precludes the necessity of saying more of him 
 in this place. Such Lives shew what may still be done by careful and 
 judicious research in reviving the memory of those past times, in the 
 history of which both Church and State are in no small degree in- 
 terested.
 
 BRASEN NOSE COLLEGE. 257 
 
 Of the fifteen Prelates who are enumerated among 
 the scholars of this Society, six were promoted to sees 
 in Ireland, and two to the Bishopric of Sodor and 
 Man. Few of them have occupied much space in our 
 ecclesiastical annals. Hugh Curwin, or Coren, to 
 whom Camden was maternally related, and whose ne- 
 phew was Archbishop Bancroft, yielded a moderate 
 compliance with the religion of Queen Mary's reign, 
 but conformed more heartily to the Reformation. 
 Being desirous of retirement in his old age, he soli- 
 cited permission to exchange the Archbishopric of 
 Dublin for the Bishopric of Oxford, "one," says Fuller, 
 " of the best in Ireland, for one of the worst in Eng- 
 " land." Barnes, Bishop of Durham, appears to have 
 been a man of equivocal character; but he had the 
 magnanimity to forgive the celebrated Bernaul Gil- 
 pin, who " withstood him to his face." Wolton, Bi- 
 shop of Exeter, and nephew to Dean Nowell, was an 
 able supporter of the reformed religion, and composed 
 many pious tracts to promote its principles. Miles 
 Smith, Bishop of Gloucester, was one of the greatest 
 scholars of his day, not only in Greek and Latin, but 
 in the Eastern languages, and one of the principal 
 translators of the Bible, to which he wrote the very 
 learned preface which is prefixed to some of the edi- 
 tions. 
 
 Among the scholars of this house were two bro- 
 thers of Dean Nowell; Robert Nowell, the Queen's 
 Attorney General of the Court of Wards, and Lau- 
 rence Nowell, Dean of Lichficld, an eminent anti- 
 quary, and reviver of the study of the Saxon lan- 
 guage": Cakhvell, the learned President of the Col- 
 
 Churton's Life of Nowell, p. 2342.5.9. 
 8
 
 253 BRASEN NOSE COLLEGE. 
 
 lege of Physicians : William Whittingham, Dean of 
 Durham, one of the poetical coadjutors of Sternhold 
 and Hopkins in the translation of the Psalms. He 
 was also concerned in the Geneva translation of the 
 Bible, and was an excellent Hebrew scholar. His de- 
 facing some of the monuments of Durham cathedral 
 
 O 
 
 is the chief stain on his memory: Fox, the martyro- 
 lojrist. afterwards of Magdalen : Sir John Savile, Ba- 
 
 v 7 ' CJ ' 
 
 ron of the Exchequer, and his younger and more emi- 
 nently learned brother, Sir Henry Savile, afterwards 
 Warden of Merton and Provost of Eton, where he 
 printed his beautiful and most accurate edition of St. 
 Chrysostom 3 : Barnaby Barnes, the dramatic poet: 
 Ferdinand Pulton, one of our early law-writers : Je- 
 rejtiiah Stephens, Prebendary of Salisbury, the able 
 coadjutor of Sir Henry Spelman in the publication of 
 the Councils : Sir John Spelman, the learned son of 
 his more learned father, Sir Henry, author of the Life 
 of- Alfred the Great, and editor of a Saxon Psalter: 
 Bferewood, mathematician, and first professor of astro- 
 noiivy in Gresham College, whose learned works were 
 published by his nephew, Sir Robert Brerewood : 
 Ralph Radcliftc, who established a flourishing school 
 and*fcunily at Hitchin in Hertfordshire, and wrote se- 
 veral tragedies and comedies : Richard Crompton, a 
 barrister and law-writer: Humphrey L!uyd,or Lloyd, 
 the Welch historian: Sir John Stradling, poet, the 
 fifth of the original Baronets created by James I. who 
 in his youth was " accounted a miracle for his readi- 
 
 a Sec Verses DC Musa Hen. Savilli Erjuiturn doctiss. ct Coll. /En. 
 N;i:-i <;liin alumni, 
 
 MI:N;UH S.ivilli lactariint ubera nnstra, &c. 
 by Principal Raikiiiie, in Guilt's Ultima Linea Savilii, 1G22.
 
 BRASEN NOSE COLLEGE. 
 
 u ness of learning and pregnancy of parts," and in his 
 inaturer years, accord in 2: to Sir John Harrington, 
 " gained universal respect and esteem." He was also 
 " courted and admired by Camden :" Sampson Erdes- 
 \vick, the Staffordshire anti<juary : Sir Peter Levces- 
 ter, the Cheshire antiquary: The Lord Chancellor 
 Egerton, Baron Ellesmere and Viscount Brackley, a 
 lawyer of acknowledged integrity and learn i n u: : Sir 
 James Ley, a judge of equal probity, and an able an- 
 tiquary, afterwards Earl of Marlborough : Bolton, 
 the celebrated Puritan, one of the first Greek scholars 
 of his time, and, in Wood's opinion, a singular orna- 
 ment to the University. He was originally of Lincoln 
 College: Robert Burton, author of the "Anatomy 
 " of Melancholy," a book which bus lately been re- 
 vived with unaccountable success; and his elder bro- 
 ther William Burton, the Leicestershire historian, 
 whose labours are. now superseded by the more co- 
 pious and perfect work of a living antiquary: Sir 
 William Petty, an universal scholar, but whose repu- 
 tation rests chiefly on bis knowledge of political arith- 
 metic. He became a Fellow of this College, but hud 
 not previously studied in Oxford : Kli;:s Ashmole, 
 who will occur hereafter as founder of the Museum, 
 entered this College in advanced life: i .Iohn I'rince, 
 author of the " \\ orthies of Devon." To the-e may 
 be added, Dr. \\ iiliain Assheton, a learned and pious 
 divine, the projector of a scheme for providing main- 
 tenance tor the widows ol clergviuen : I'homas Be- 
 consail, A. M. an a!>!e defnd'T of revealed ivh_rion : 
 Thoma> Cliiirch, who had the decree ol D. D. LTiveii 
 him l>\ dijil >ma, Feb. C.5, 171!), for au-weriirj; Bmmg- 
 broke. He was Hector of the. parish where Boling-
 
 260 BRASEN NOSE COLLEGE. 
 
 broke lived, who was orderly in his conduct there : 
 The Rev. John Watson, late Rector of Stockport, 
 Cheshire, author of the History of Halifax, the His- 
 tory of the Earls of Warren and Surry, and other 
 works on English antiquities : and the late Rev. 
 John Whi taker, B. D. Rector of Ruan-Langhorne, 
 Cornwall, the learned author of the History of Man- 
 chester, &c. who entered this College in 1752, and 
 continued about twelve months, after which he was 
 elected Scholar of Corpus.
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 Los Angeles 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
 APH 1 1 196C 
 
 JAM - 
 
 
 
 ID 
 
 SEP 
 
 JUL I 2 1994 
 
 Form L9-32m-8,'58(5876s4)444 
 
 LD-UKL 
 
 OCT 051984 
 
 RECT& UMJRIf 
 
 NOV 2 3 1984 
 
 91978
 
 !JO 
 
 
 
 
 Ml 1 1 
 
 3 1158 00933 6867^ 
 
 AA 000024145 
 
 LF 
 509 
 
 C3^ 
 
 v.l