THE HOSPITAL OF ST. JOHN

The Library: St John's Coll:

CHAPTER III

t. John's College, as we know it, was founded in 1511, and opened in 1516. But at the time of its foundation it took over the buildings and property, and many of the duties, of an earlier and then a venerable foundation, that of the Hospital of St. John the Evangelist in Cambridge. The origin of the old house is obscure, and its earlier history lost, but it seems to have been founded about 1135 by Henry Frost, a burgess of Cambridge. It consisted of a small community of Augustinian canons; its site was described about 140 years later as "a very poor and waste place of the commonalty of Cambridge."

Whatever its early history and endowments may have been, it formed a nucleus for further gifts; and its chartulary, still in the possession of St. John's College, shows a continuous series of benefactions to the old house.

Founded before the University existed, the brethren were occupied with their religious duties, and with the care of the poor and sick who sought their help. An Infirmary, part of which was adapted for worship, was built. In the thirteenth century a chapel was added, afterwards adapted as the College Chapel, and used as such down to 1869.

Of the domestic buildings practically nothing is known. When some years ago trenches were dug to lay the electric cables for the lighting of the Hall, some traces of a pavement of red tiles were found near the entrance gate of the College.

The Hospital had the opportunity of becoming the earliest College in Cambridge. Hugo de Balsham, Bishop of Ely, obtained in 1280 a licence from King Edward I. to introduce a certain number of scholars of the University into the Hospital, to be governed according to the rules of the scholars of Merton. The regular canons and the scholars were to form one body and one College. The Bishop gave additional endowments to provide for the scholars, but the scheme was a failure. Thomas Baker, the historian of the College, suggests that "the scholars were overwise and the brethren over good." All we do know is that both were eager to part company. The Bishop accordingly removed the scholars in 1284 to his College of Peterhouse, now known as the oldest College in Cambridge. His endowments were transferred with the scholars, and perhaps something besides, for shortly afterwards the brethren complained of their losses. It was then decreed thatPeterhouse should pay twenty shillings annually to the Hospital, an acknowledgment of seniority still made by Peterhouse to St. John's College.

For another two hundred years the Hospital went on, not however forgetting its temporary dignity, and occasionally describing itself, in leases of its property, as the College of St. John.

Towards the end of the fifteenth, or beginning of the sixteenth century, the old house seems to have fallen into bad ways. The brethren were accused of having squandered its belongings, of having granted improvident leases, of having even sold the holy vessels of their Chapel.

At this juncture the Lady Margaret came to the rescue. She had already founded Christ's College in Cambridge, and intended to still further endow the wealthy Abbey of Westminster. Her religious adviser, John Fisher, sometime Master of Michael-House and President of Queens' College in Cambridge, then Bishop of Rochester and Chancellor of the University, persuaded her to bestow further gifts on Cambridge, suggesting the Hospital of St. John as the basis for the new College. The then Bishop of Ely, James Stanley, was her stepson, and in 1507 an agreement was entered into with him for the suppression of the Hospital and the foundation of the College, the Lady Margaret undertaking to obtain the requisiteBull from the Pope, and the licence of the King. Before this could be carried out King Henry VII. died, 21st April 1509, and the Lady Margaret on the 29th June following.

By her will she had set aside lands to the annual value of £400 for the new College; but innumerable difficulties sprang up. King Henry VIII. was not sympathetic; the Bishop of Ely raised difficulties; the Lady Margaret's own household claimed part of her goods. Fisher has left a quaintly worded and touching memorandum of the difficulties he experienced, but he never despaired. He ultimately got the licence of the King, the requisite Papal Bull, and the consent of the Bishop of Ely. From a letter to Fisher, still preserved in the College, it appears that the "Brethren, late of St. John's House, departed from Cambridge toward Ely the 12th day of March (1510-11) at four of the clokke at afternone, by water."

All facts which have been preserved show Fisher to have been the real moving spirit—to have been the founder in effect, if not in name, and the College from the first has always linked his name with that of the foundress. Of the foundress' estates only one small farm, at Fordham, in Cambridgeshire, came to the College, and that because it was charged with the payment of her debts. What did come was part of what would now be called her personal estate—moneys she had out on loan, and what could be realised from the sale of her plate and jewels, the furniture and hangings of her various mansions. Rough priced-lists of these, probably handed over by Fisher, are preserved in College.

One personal relic, a manuscript Book of Hours, which belonged to her, was in 1902 presented to the Library by Dr. Alexander Peckover, Lord-Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire.

Chapter IV

he Hospital being closed, the way was cleared for the new College. The Charter, signed by the Executors of the Lady Margaret, is dated 9th April 1511; in this Robert Shorton is named as Master. He held office until on 29th July 1516 the College was opened, when Alan Percy, of the Northumberland House, succeeded. He again was succeeded in 1518 by Nicholas Metcalfe, a member of the Metcalfe family of Nappa Hall, in Wensleydale. Metcalfe had been Archdeacon of Rochester, and was no doubt well known to Fisher as Bishop of that Diocese.

The building of the College commenced under Shorton, but was not finished until about 1520.

It must be remembered that the College was founded before the Reformation, and that these three Masters were priests of the Church of Rome.

Metcalfe was more of an administrator than a student, and his energies were chiefly devoted to the material side of the College interests. Fresh endowments wereobtained in place of those which had been lost. King Henry VIII. was persuaded to hand over to the College the estates of three decayed religious houses—the Maison Dieu at Ospringe, the Nunnery of Lillechurch in Higham, both in Kent, and the Nunnery of Broomhall in Berkshire.As these houses, as well as the Hospital, had allowed their affairs to fall into disorder, it is probable that the identification of their lands, and the reduction of these to effective possession, was a matter of some difficulty. Metcalfe was much absent from College; the accounts of his private expenditure on these journeys have survived, and letters to him from the College during his absences show that his skill and wisdom were much relied on.

The Old BridgeThe Old Bridge

Fisher also gave largely to the College, and through his example and influence others were induced to endow fellowships and scholarships. He gave three successive codes of statutes for the government of the College in 1516, 1524, and 1530. These present no novel features, being for the most part based on existing statutes of Colleges at Oxford or Cambridge. They are long, and, as the fashion then was, lay down many rules with regard to minor matters. A few of the leading provisions may be given. One scholar was to be Chapel clerk, to assist the sacrist at Mass; another was to ring the great bell at 4a.m., as was done before the College was founded, and again at 8p.m., when the gates were closed; another was to be clock-keeper. These three scholars were to be exempt from all other domestic duties, except that of reading the Bible in time of plague. Seven scholars were told off to serve as waiters in Hall, to bring in and remove thefood and dishes; an eighth was to read the Bible in Hall while the Society were at dinner. When in honour of God, or the Saints, a fire was made up in Hall, the Fellows, scholars, and servants might stay to amuse themselves with singing and repeating poetry and tales. The Master, Fellows, and scholars were to wear clerical dress; red, white, green, or parti-coloured boots were forbidden.

One-fourth part of the Fellows were always to be engaged in preaching to the people in English; Bachelors of Divinity, preaching at Paul's Cross, were to be allowed ten days of absence for each sermon. No arms were to be borne, though archery was allowed as a recreation. No Fellow or scholar was allowed to keep hounds, ferrets, hawks, or singing-birds in College. The weekly allowance for commons was 1s. for the Master and each Fellow, 7d. for each scholar. The President or Bursar was to receive a stipend of 40s. a year, a Dean 26s. 8d. No one under the standing of a Doctor of Divinity was to have a separate room; Fellows and scholars were to sleep singly, or not more than two in a bed. Each room was to have two beds—the higher for the Fellow, the lower or truckle-bed for the scholar; the truckle-bed being tucked under the other during the day.

The College made an excellent start, and was soon full of earnest and successful students. It is sufficient to mention thenames of Sir John Cheke, the famous Greek scholar; of Roger Ascham, the tutor of Queen Elizabeth; and, in another sphere, William Cecil, first Lord Burghley, to give an idea of the influence the College was spreading through her sons.

In all this Metcalfe had his share. He is the "Good Master of a College" in Fuller'sHoly State, where we read: "Grant that Metcalfe with Themistocles could not fiddle, yet he could make a little city a great one." And Ascham inThe Scholemasterwrites of him: "His goodnes stood not still in one or two, but flowed aboundantlie over all that Colledge, and brake out also to norishe good wittes in every part of that universitie; whereby at his departing thence, he left soch a companie of fellowes and scholers in S. Johnes Colledge as can scarce be found now in som whole universitie: which either for divinitie on the one side or other, or for civill service to their Prince and contrie, have bene, and are yet to this day, notable ornaments to this whole Realme. Yea S. Johnes did then so florish, as Trinitie College, that princely house now, at the first erection was butColonia deductaout of S. Johnes, not onelie for their Master, fellowes and scholers, but also, which is more, for their whole both order of learning, and discipline of maners; and yet to this day it never tooke Master but such as was bred up before in S. Johnes; doing the dewtie of agoodcoloniato hermetropolis, as the auncient cities in Greice, and some yet in Italie at this time are accustomed to do."

But troubles were in store both for Fisher and Metcalfe. The Reformation, the divorce of Henry VIII. from Queen Catherine, the Act of Succession, and the sovereign's views on the royal supremacy, were the stumbling-blocks. Fisher went to the Tower, and on 22nd June 1535, to the scaffold; Metcalfe was compelled to resign in 1537.

Fisher had by deed of gift presented his library to the College, but retained its use for his lifetime—the greatest loan of books on record, as has been said. This magnificent collection was now lost, a loss more lamentable than that of the foundress' estates. Endowments might be replaced, but "the notablest library of bookes in all England" was gone for ever. It is to the credit of the Fellows of the College that, no doubt at some risk to themselves, they stood by Fisher. They visited him in his prison, and in a nobly worded letter stated that as they owed everything to his bounty, so they offered themselves and all they were masters of to his service.

In 1545 King Henry VIII. gave new statutes to the College, adapted to the reformed religion; but all mention of Fisher and his endowments is cut out; the College even had to pay 3d. for removing his armorial bearings from the Chapel.

During the reign of King Edward VI.the outspoken and eloquent Thomas Leaver was Master; on the accession of Queen Mary he, with many of the Fellows, had to fly to Switzerland. In Ascham's words: "mo perfite scholers were dispersed from thence in one moneth, than many years can reare up againe."

The reign of Queen Mary did not extend over much more than five years, but while it lasted a resolute and unflinching effort was made to re-establish the Roman Catholic faith.

The accession of Queen Elizabeth resulted in an equally rapid and fundamental revolution of opinion on the most vital points which can interest mankind. A few selected extracts from the College Account Books for this period bring before us, with almost dramatic effect, the changes which occurred. (Queen Mary succeeded in 1553, Queen Elizabeth on 17th November 1558.)

"1555, To the joyner for setting up the rood, 2d.; A new graell printed in parchment 40s.;—1556, In Spanish money given to the goldsmyth by Mr Willan to make a pixe to the highe Aultar, 24s.11d.; A redde purple velvet cope, with the border of imagrie, having the assumption of our Ladie behinde and three little angels about her and the greater being full of floure de luces, 46s.8d.;—1557, To William Allom for two antiphoners, one masse book and hymnal and processioners, £6 13s.4d."

"1558, To John Waller and his man for a dayes working pulling down the hye Altar and carrying it away 20d.; For pulling down the aulter in Mr Ashton's Chapel 6d.; 1563, Received for certain old Albes and other popishe Trashe, sold out of the Revystry the last yere, 26s.10d.; Paid to Mr Baxter for ten Geneva psalters and six service psalters, bought at Christmas last, 22s."

This last entry gives us the key to the troubles at St. John's; the Marian exiles had returned with strong Calvinistic leanings. The unrest was, of course, not confined to St. John's, but was general throughout the University. But for the greater part of the reign of Elizabeth there was a strong leaning toward Puritanism in the College. There was a rapid succession of Masters, most of whom were thrust on the College by Court influence; and about this time the Fellows of St. John's acquired the reputation of being "cunning practitioners" in the art of getting rid of unpopular Masters.

Queen Elizabeth visited Cambridge in August 1564, and was received with all honour. She rode into the Hall of St. John's on her palfrey and listened to a speech from Mr. Humphrey Bohun, one of the Fellows, in which for the last time the restitution of the Lady Margaret's estates was hinted at, without result.

Richard Longworth, a man of Presbyterian sympathies, was at this time Master.In 1565 he, with the Fellows and scholars, appeared in Chapel without the surplice. Lord Burghley, as Chancellor of the University, wrote a sharply worded letter to Longworth, expressing his grief that such a thing should happen in "my dear College of St. John's"; adding, "truly no mishap in all my service did ever plunge me more grievously."

Fortunately affairs were in strong and capable hands. With the authority and in the name of Queen Elizabeth, Whitgift, at this time Master of Trinity, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, and Cecil provided new statutes for the University in 1570, and for St. John's in 1580. By these much more power was put in the hands of the Master, and government rendered easier to a resolute man.

Matters improved, if not at once, at least gradually, and the Anglican rule became firmly established. But during the mastership of William Whitaker (1586-1595) we still hear of troubles with "Papists." Whitaker was a learned scholar and an acute theologian, but he does not seem to have been a ruler of men or a judge of character. He got involved in an unfortunate dispute with Everard Digby, one of the Fellows, a man of considerable literary reputation, but of a turbulent disposition. Whitaker, who clearly wanted to get rid of Digby, seized upon the pretext that his bill for a month's commons, amountingto 8s. 7¼d., was left unpaid, and deprived Digby of his fellowship. An appeal was lodged with Whitgift and Cecil, who ordered Whitaker to reinstate Digby. Whitaker replied that Digby was a Papist, was wont to blow a horn in the Courts and to holloa after it, and that he had threatened to put the President in the stocks! He seems to have succeeded in getting rid of Digby for good.

On the death of Whitaker in 1595, Richard Clayton became Master. If not a brilliant scholar, he commanded respect, and the tenor of many letters which have come down from that time shows that the Fellows in residence were on good terms with each other, and with those of the Society who had gone out into the world. The College was prosperous, and the building of the Second Court was the visible sign of returned efficiency. Clayton lived on into the reign of King James I., dying 2nd May 1612; besides being Master of St. John's, he was also Dean of Peterborough and a Prebendary of Lincoln.

During this period the College enjoyed a considerable reputation as a training ground for medical men. Thomas Linacre, physician to Henry VIII., founded in 1534 a medical lectureship in the College, endowing it with some property in London. The stipend of the lecturer was to be £12 a year, no mean sum in these days—being, in fact, the same as the statutable stipend ofthe Master. In the Elizabethan statutes special and detailed provisions are made for the continuance of the lectureship. These lay down that the lecturer must be versed in the works of Aristotle, and that he should lecture on the works of Galen, which Linacre had translated. The effect of the foundation was to attract a number of medical students to the College, many of whom seem to have obtained fellowships, for we find the Fellows petitioning Queen Elizabeth, while her code of statutes was under consideration, that Divines should be preferred to Physicians in the election of Senior Fellows; otherwise, they submitted, an undue proportion of Physicians would get on the seniority and rule the College. Further, they asked that the medical Fellows, as some return for their privileges, should attend on poor students free of charge. That the College school of medicine was a noted one is confirmed by the fact that three successive Presidents of the Royal College of Physicians were Fellows of St. John's: Richard Smith (1585-1589), William Baronsdale (1589-1600), and William Gilbert (1600-1601). Smith and Gilbert were physicians to Queen Elizabeth; Baronsdale and Gilbert had been Senior Bursars of the College. Of these Gilbert is the most celebrated; his treatise,De Magnete, is a scientific classic. Galileo spoke of Gilbert as "great to a degree which might be envied." FrancisBacon mentions the book with applause, and Hallam describes Gilbert as "at once the father of experimental philosophy in this island, and by a singular felicity and acuteness of genius, the founder of theories which have been revived after the lapse of ages, and are almost universally received into the creed of science." Gilbert, who always signs his name Gilberd or Gylberd in the College books, was Senior Bursar of the College in 1569, and President in the succeeding year.

Amongst others who have held the Linacre lectureship, and attained to scientific distinction, was Henry Briggs, who was appointed lecturer in 1592. He afterwards became Gresham Professor of Geometry and Savilian Professor at Oxford. He took up Napier's discovery of logarithms; the idea of tables of logarithms having 10 for their base, and the calculation of the first table of the kind, is due to him.

CHAPTER V

he second century of the College history opened quietly. Owen Gwyn was elected Master by the choice of the Fellows; John Williams, then a Fellow, afterwards Lord Keeper, Dean of Westminster, Bishop of Lincoln, and Archbishop of York, exerting himself on Gwyn's behalf. It appears that Williams in after years repented of the choice, and Thomas Baker, the historian of the College, speaks slightingly of Gwyn. Still, under his rule the College flourished, and Williams himself marked the period by providing the greater part of the funds for the new Library.

King James I. and Prince Charles (afterwards Charles I.) frequently visited the University; James holding his Court at Trinity, but being entertained at St. John's. On one of these occasions, comparing the great Court of Trinity with the two then existing Courts of St. John's, he is said to have remarked that there was no greater difference between the two Societies than between a shilling and two sixpences.

HALL, AND CHAPEL TOWER

With the advent of the Stuart kings thepractice arose of sending mandatory letters to Colleges, directing the election of named persons to fellowships. In theory it may have been correct enough; the statutes as enacted by Queen Elizabeth reserved to herself and her successors the power of rescinding or altering them. To direct that the statutory provisions as to elections should be dispensed with in favour of an individual was thus within the sovereign's power, however inconvenient it might prove in practice. One of the special grievances at St. John's was that King James directed the College to elect a Scotchman, George Seaton, M.A., to a fellowship, though there was none then actually vacant. The College obeyed, informing his Majesty that they had made their statutes wink to fulfil his bidding, and maintained an extra Fellow for a time. The practice was, however, followed by others; and Gwyn seems to have been deluged with letters from persons in high places, begging for his favour at elections. At some Colleges the device of "pre-elections" seems to have been resorted to; a promising man being elected to the next fellowship which should be vacant. Thus, when the vacancy became known, the College could, with a clear conscience, say that it had been already filled up; there is, however, no trace of this practice at St. John's.

On Gwyn's death in 1633 there was a disputed election to the mastership, whichCharles I. settled by nominating William Beale. Beale was originally a Trinity man, but had been for about a year Master of Jesus. He was a supporter of Laud; he embellished the Chapel, and introduced a more ornate ritual; under his influence St. John's seems to have been the only College at Cambridge which fully complied with Laud's instructions. Thus when the Puritans got the upper hand, Beale and his College were the subject of their displeasure.

In 1642 King Charles applied to the University for supplies. The contribution of St. John's was £150 in money and 2065 ounces "grocers weight" of silver plate. The list of the pieces of plate and of the donors' names is but melancholy reading; suffice it to say that among those sent were pieces bearing the names of Thomas Wentworth, Lord Strafford, and of Thomas Fairfax. The fact that this plate actually reached the King did not endear the College to the parliamentary party. Oliver Cromwell surrounded the College, took Dr. Beale a prisoner, and, to equalise matters, confiscated the communion plate and other valuables.

Beale, after some imprisonment and wandering, escaped from England and became chaplain to Lord Cottington and Sir Edward Hyde (afterwards Lord Clarendon) in their embassy to Spain; he died at Madrid, and was there secretly buried. A number of the Fellows were also ejected, and for sometime the College was used as a prison. The Chapel was stripped of the obnoxious ornaments, and other damage done. A little bundle of papers labelled "Receipts for Army taxes during the Commonwealth" still reposes, as a memento of these days, in the Muniment Room.

St. John's, which dabbled in Presbyterian doctrines during the days of Elizabeth, now had these imposed upon it by superior authority. The two Commonwealth Masters, John Arrowsmith (1644-1653) and Anthony Tuckney (1653-1661), were able men of Puritan austerity, the rule of the latter being the more strict; judging from the after careers of its members, the College was certainly capably directed. A well-authenticated College tradition relates that when, at an election, the President called upon the Master to have regard to the "godly," Tuckney replied that no one showed greater regard for the truly godly than himself, but that he was determined to choose none but scholars; adding, with practical wisdom, "They may deceive me in their godliness; they cannot in their scholarship."

On the Restoration, Dr. Peter Gunning, afterwards Bishop of Ely, was made Master; and the Earl of Manchester, who, as an officer of the Parliament, was the means of ejecting many of the Fellows, now directed that some of them should be restored to their places. An interesting College customdates from this period: on the 29th of May in each year the College butler decorates the Hall and Kitchen with fresh oak boughs; there is no order to that effect, but—"it has always been done."

The College ArmsThe College Arms

The rest of this century of the College existence, with the exception of one exciting event, passed quietly enough. Such troubles as there were in College were but eddies of the storms in the world outside. Of the "seven Bishops" sent to the Tower by King James II. in 1688, three were of St. John's: Francis Turner, Bishop of Ely (who had been Master of the College from 1670 to 1679); John Lake, Bishop ofChichester; and Thomas White, Bishop of Peterborough.

The event of College interest was the fate of the nonjuring Fellows. The Nonjurors were those who, on various grounds, honourable enough, declined to take the oath of allegiance to King William and Queen Mary. Under the law they were liable to be deprived of their places and emoluments. At St. John's twenty Fellows and eight scholars took up the nonjuring position. In the rest of the University there were but fourteen in all, and the same number at the University of Oxford. No explanation seems to be forthcoming as to why there was this preponderance of opinion at St. John's. It is difficult to believe that it was enthusiasm for the cause of James II.; for when in 1687 that King directed the University to admit Father Alban Francis, a Benedictine monk, to the degree of M.A. without making the subscription or taking the oaths required for a degree, Thomas Smoult and John Billers, members of the College (the latter afterwards a Nonjuror), maintained the right of the University to refuse the degree before the notorious Judge Jeffreys, after the Vice-Chancellor and Isaac Newton had been silenced.

Humphrey Gower was at this time Master of the College; he was of Puritan origin, and entered the College during the Commonwealth. After the Restoration hejoined the Church of England, and though his sympathies were with the Nonjurors, he took the oaths and retained his mastership after the flight of King James. He had been for less than six months Master of Jesus before becoming Master of St. John's. Abraham de la Pryme, a member of St. John's, has handed down an irreverent jest on his appointment. "Our master, they say, is a mighty, high, proud man.... He came from Jesus College to be master here, and he was so sevear that he was commonly called the divel of Jesus; and when he was made master here some unlucky scholars broke this jest upon him—that now the divel was entered into the heard of swine; for us Johnians are abusively called hoggs."

In 1693 the Court of King's Bench issued amandamuscalling upon Gower to remove those Fellows who had not taken the oath. Defence upon the merits of the case there was none; but Gower or his legal advisers opposed the mandate with great skill on technical points, and after much litigation the Court had to admit that its procedure was irregular, and the matter dropped for some twenty-four years. During this period some of the Fellows in question died, others ceded their fellowships owing to the combined action of the general law and the College statutes. Under the latter Fellows were bound, when of proper standing, to proceed to the B.D. degree, but the oath of allegiance was required of those who tookthe degree, and so fellowships were forfeited. Thomas Baker, the historian, who was one of the Nonjurors, had taken the B.D. degree before 1688, so this cause did not operate in his case. But on the accession of King George I., an abjuration oath was required, and the meshes of the net being now smaller, the then Master, Dr. Jenkin, had no other course but to eject Baker and others. The College did all it could to soften the blow, and allowed Baker to reside in College until his death in 1740. He worked unweariedly at his manuscript collections and at the history of the College. The latter was first published in 1869, under the editorship of Professor John E. B. Mayor; with the editor's additions it forms a record of a College such as almost no other foundation can show. Baker's learning and accuracy are undoubted; but it may be permitted (even to a member of his College) to hint that Baker's judgments are a little severe, and his views somewhat narrow.

One notable improvement in the College records dates from this century. In early days no record was made of the names of those who joined the College. The statutes of King Henry VIII. enjoined that a register should be kept of all those admitted to scholarships and fellowships or College offices. This was begun in 1545, and has been continued to the present time. The entries of scholars and Fellows are in the autograph of those admitted, and if theypossessed no other interest, have that of providing numerous examples of contemporary handwriting. But of those not admitted on the foundation, or of those admitted prior to 1545, there is no official College record.

Dr. Owen Gwyn and the seniors of his day passed a rule that "the register of the College should have a book provided him wherein he should from time to time write and register the names, parents, county, school, age, and tutor of every one to be admitted to the College." This was commenced in January 1629-30, and has been continued, with varying care and exactness, ever since. It seems probable that the initiative in this matter was due to Gwyn, as few Masters have so carefully preserved their official correspondence.

Just before this general register commenced, three notable men joined the College: Thomas Wentworth, afterwards Earl of Strafford; Thomas Fairfax, afterwards Lord Fairfax, the victor at Naseby; and Lucius Cary, Viscount Falkland, who fell in Newbury fight in September 1643. Complimentary letters to the first and last of these, with the replies, have been preserved. Falkland, in his reply, complains that of the titles given to him by the College "that which I shold most willingly have acknowledged and mought with most justice clayme you were not pleased to vouchsafe me, that of a St. John's man."

Of others who entered we may name: Sir Ingram Hopton, son of Ralph, first Baron Hopton, who entered as a Fellow Commoner 12th May 1631. Sir Ingram fell at the battle of Winceby, 11th October 1643. He there unhorsed Oliver Cromwell in a charge, and knocked him down again as he rose, but was himself killed.

Titus Oates, "the infamous," first entered at Caius 29th June 1667, migrating to St. John's, where he entered 2nd February 1668-69. Thomas Baker for once abandons his decorous reticence and states of Oates: "He was a lyar from the beginning, he stole and cheated his taylor of a gown, which he denied with horrid imprecations, and afterwards at a communion, being admonisht and advised by his Tutor, confest the fact."

Matthew Prior, the poet, was both scholar and Fellow of the College, holding his fellowship until his death. Robert Herrick, though he graduated at Trinity Hall, was sometime a Fellow Commoner here. Thomas Forster of Adderstone, general to the "Old Pretender," and commander of the Jacobite army in 1715, entered the College as a Fellow Commoner 3rd July 1700. Brook Taylor, well known to mathematicians as the discoverer of "Taylor's theorem," entered as a Fellow Commoner 3rd April 1701. While David Mossom of Greenwich, who entered the College as a sizar 5th June 1705, afterbeing ordained, emigrated to America, and became rector of St. Peter's Church, New Kent County, Virginia. He was the officiating clergyman at the marriage of George Washington in St. Peter's Church.

We get an amusing glimpse of the importance of the Master of a College in the following anecdote: "In the year 1712 my old friend, Matthew Prior, who was then Fellow of St. John's, and who not long before had been employed by the Queen as her Plenipotentiary at the Court of France, came to Cambridge; and the next morning paid a visit to the Master of his own College. The Master (Dr. Jenkin) loved Mr. Prior's principles, had a great opinion of his abilities, and a respect for his character in the world; but then he had much greater respect for himself. He knew his own dignity too well to suffer a Fellow of his College to sit down in his presence. He kept his seat himself, and let the Queen's Ambassador stand. Such was the temper, not of a Vice-Chancellor, but of a simple Master of a College. I remember, by the way, an extempore epigram of Matt's on the reception he had there met with. We did not reckon in those days that he had a very happy turn for an epigram; but the occasion was tempting; and he struck it off as he was walking from St. John's College to theRose, where we dined together. It was addressed to the Master:—

"'Istood, Sir, patient at your feet,Before your elbow chair;But make a bishop's throne your seat,I'llkneelbefore you there.One only thing can keep you down,For your great soul too mean;You'd not, to mount a bishop's throne,Payhomageto the Queen.'"

Chapter VI

he third century of the College history coincides roughly with the eighteenth century. It was not a period of very high ideals, and "privilege" was in full force. For the first time in the College registers men are entered as "Noblemen." These were allowed to proceed to the M.A. degree direct in two years without passing through the intermediate stage of B.A. The College was also full of Fellow Commoners, who sat with the Fellows at the High Table in Hall; until the close of the century these do not seem to have proceeded to any degree. The other two classes were the pensioners, who paid their way, and the sizars. A sizar was definitely attached to a Fellow or Fellow Commoner, and in return for duties of a somewhat menial character passed through his College course on reduced terms. Among other duties, a sizar had, with some of the scholars, to wait at table, a service not abolished until 6th May 1786.

The Chapel Tower from the River.The Chapel Tower from the River.

Speaking in general terms, the Collegeseems gradually to have acquired the reputation of being the Tory College in the Whig University; it became exceedingly fashionable, and towards the end of the century had more students in residence than any other College. At the same time its reputation for efficiency was very high. This was due to the policy of Dr. William Samuel Powell, Master from 1765 to 1775. He introduced various administrative changes on the financial side of College management, and also started annual examinations in the College, then a novelty in the University. These examinations were not very severe, and to the somewhat overtaxed undergraduate of the present day might seem almost trivial. They were not competitive, there was no order of merit, but no one seems to have been exempt; their object was simply to test the knowledge of the students. The success of the plan attracted much attention; it was proposed to institute similar examinations for the University at large, but Powell opposed this on the ground that candidates ought to be examined by those who taught them. From this date it would appear that Fellow Commoners, at St. John's at least, began to take degrees in the University.

During Powell's mastership an observatory was established on the top of the western gateway of the Second Court, and regular astronomical observations taken.Two sets of observations there made by Fellows of the College have been published; one set made by William Ludlam in 1767 and 1768, the other by Thomas Catton between 1796 and 1826, the latter being published by the Royal Astronomical Society in 1854.

We find members of the College taking part in all the movements of the time. In the rebellion of 1745, James Dawson, a captain in the Manchester Regiment, was taken prisoner at Carlisle, and executed in July 1746 on Kennington Common; while Robert Ganton, afterwards a clergyman, was excused one term's residence in the University, during which, as one of "his majesty's Royal Hunters," he was fighting the rebels.

Charles Churchill, satirist, was for a short time a member of the College in 1748. William Wordsworth, afterwards Poet Laureate, entered the College as a sizar, and was admitted a foundress' scholar 6th November 1787. Many adopted military careers; of these we may mention George, first Marquis Townshend, who joined the College in 1741, afterwards entered the army, and was present at Fontenoy and Culloden; he went with Wolfe to Canada, and took over the command when Wolfe fell. Daniel Hoghton entered in 1787, he also became a soldier, and was one of Wellington's men in the Peninsular War; he was killedat the battle of Albuera, being then a major-general.

Of another type were William Wilberforce (entered 1776) and Thomas Clarkson (1779), whose names will always be associated in connection with the abolition of slavery. The saintly Henry Martyn, Senior Wrangler in 1801 and Fellow of the College, went out as a missionary to India in 1805, and died at Tokat in Persia in 1812. There have been many missionary sons of the College since his day, but his self-denial greatly impressed his contemporaries, and Sir James Stephen speaks of him as "the one heroic name which adorns the annals of the Church of England from the days of Elizabeth to our own." With Martyn curiously enough is associated in College annals another name, that of Henry John Temple, third Viscount Palmerston, sometime Prime Minister of England; for Martyn and Temple appear as officers of the College company of volunteers in the year 1803.

Thomas Denman, afterwards Lord Chief Justice, entered the College in 1796; he resided in the Second Court, staircase G, at the top. When he brought up his son, the Hon. George Denman, to Trinity he pointed the rooms out to him, and the latter pointed them out to the present writer, "in order that the oral tradition might be preserved."

Alexander John Scott, who, as privatesecretary and interpreter to Lord Nelson, was present on theVictoryat Trafalgar, entered the College in 1786, and became a scholar of the College 3rd November 1789. Fletcher Norton, Speaker of the House of Commons from 1770 to 1780, and first Lord Grantley, entered the College in 1734. With him, in a way, was connected John Horne (afterwards Horne Tooke), who entered in 1754; for Horne, for purposes of his own, libelled Fletcher Norton when Speaker. Horne Tooke's stormy career belongs rather to political than College history; but it is worth noting that when he presented himself at Cambridge for the M.A. degree, and the granting of this was opposed in the senate on the ground that he had traduced the clergy in his writings, the members of St. John's, headed by Dr. Richard Beadon, then Public Orator, afterwards Bishop of Bath and Wells, carried the grace for the degree. Horne and Beadon entered the College in the same year.

We have already mentioned Charles Churchill. Another Johnian poet of this period was William Mason, who entered the College in 1742. Mason afterwards became a Fellow of Pembroke, where he was the intimate friend of Thomas Gray. As the biographer of Gray he is perhaps better remembered than for his own poetry, though during his lifetime he enjoyed considerable fame.

A somewhat unusual career was that of William Smith, who entered the College from Eton in 1747, but left without taking a degree. He is reported to have snapped an unloaded pistol at one of the Proctors, and rather than submit to the punishment which the College authorities thought proper to inflict, left the University. He became an actor, and was very popular in his day, being known as "Gentleman Smith." He was associated with David Garrick, and Smith's admirers held that he fell little short of his master in the art.

The reputation of the College as a medical school was maintained by Dr. William Heberden, who entered in 1724. Heberden attended Samuel Johnson in his last illness, and Johnson described him as "ultimus Romanorum, the last of our learned physicians." A description which may be amplified by saying that Heberden was in a way the first of the modern physicians.

CHAPTER VII

he time has probably not yet come when a satisfactory account of College and University development during the nineteenth century can be written. The changes have been fundamental, involving perhaps a change of ideal as well as of method. In early days the College was filled with men saturated with the spirit of the Renaissance; casting aside the studies of the Middle Ages, they returned to the literature of Greece and Rome. The ideals of the present day are not less high, but more complex and less easy to state briefly; the aim is perhaps rather to add to knowledge than to acquire it for its own sake alone.

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