your selves against the Afternoon to which time they adjourned the Court. The Court being Sate in the Afternoon Afternoon Dr. Hough appeared with a great Rabble of followers and after a short time said whereas your Lordships this Morning have been pleased pursuant to the former Decree of the Lords Commissioners to deprive me of my place of President of this College and to strike my Name out of the buttry-Buttry-Book I do hereby protest against the said proceedings and against all that you have done or hereafter shall do in prejudice of me and my Right as Illegal Unjust and Null and I do hereby Appeal to our Sovereign Lord the King in his Courts of Justice Dr. Tho. Smiths Diary Upon which there was a Tumultuous Hum in the Room which the Lords Commissioners resented very much and said they would never suffer the Kings Authority to be so affronted my Lord Chief Justice said he would defend the Kings Authority while he had Blood in his Body and told Dr. Hough that he was the occasion of this mis-behaviour by his popular Protestation which he might have made in the Morning that he had broke the Kings Peace and that now they had brought in the Civil Power over them and that if need were they would use the Military that he must Answer that affront of the Kings Authority at the Kings Bench Court. Upon which he was bound in a Thousand pound Bond and his Sureties in Five Hundred pound a piece Then the Bishop of Chester gave-the Doctor this Answer to his Appeal Doctor we look upon the Appeal as to the matter and manner of it to be unreasonable and not to be admitted by us First because it is in a Visitation where no Appeal is allowable Secondly because our Visitation is by Commission under the Broad Seal of England which is the Supreme Authority therefore we over-rule this Protestation and Appeal and Admonish you once for all to avoid the College and obey the Sentence The Doctor and Fellows declared their grief for the disorder of the Crowd and disclaimed their having any hand in it After which Dr. Pudseys Letter to the Lord President being Read See this Letter c. 1. sect 3. §. 3. their Lordships askt the Fellows concerning the Kings Verbal Command to them at Oxford to which they said it was to Elect the Bishop of Oxford which they could not Then being askt why they did not Admit him which was all the Kings Letter required and to which the Verbal Command referred Eight of the Fellows said they were not there and Thirteen owned they were and gave consent to the Letter §. 5. Vpon Complaint made by the Lords Commissioners of the Hubub before mentioned the Vice-Chancellor published this following Programma QUum nihil minus deceat Viros Ingenuos nedum Academicos ad optima enutritos quam morum Inelegantia Rusticitas Quam absonum videri debeat Adventantes strepitu sibilis excipere pro Coetu Philofophorum turbam Morionum Peregrinis ostentare Quocirca dolemus hac in parte peccatum esse in Viros Illustres admodum Reverendos quod omnium Gravissimum est Regia insuper Authoritate munitos speramusque hoc Indecentiae vel potius contumeliae aut saltem maximam partem ab Infrunitis hominibus de plebis Faecula natis omnino provenisse monemusque omnes quotquot sunt Scholares ut ab omnibus Illiberalibus Dicteriis sannis Pedum supplosione male feriatorum Turbinum Cachinno Screatu clamore murmure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 penitus abstineant Si quis vero in posterum in aliquibus istius modi deliquerit sciat se non mediocres Temeritatis Insolentiae suae paenas luiturum Octob. the 24th 1687. Gilb. Iron-side Vice-Cancelarius §. 6. My Lord Presidents Letter to the Lords Visitors in Answer to theirs of the 22d of October To the Lords Commissioners Letter and the account sent of their proceedings I find this Answer given by my Lord President Whitehall Octob. 23. 1687. MY LORDS I Have received your Lordships of the 22d with the account of your proceedings which His Majesty is well satisfied with I herewith send you such an Order for Admitting the Bishop of Oxford as you desired and am directed by His Majesty to acquaint you that if the Fellows of the College can be brought to submit to the Admission of the Bishop as their President His Majesty is Graciously pleas'd no Punishment should upon that account be Inflicted by you upon such as do submit but if any of them be refractory you are to proceed against them according to the Commission and His Majesty would have you also to Inspect the Constitutions Orders and Statutes of the College and to Enquire into the behaviours of the Members thereof and what abuses may have been Committed either by mis-applying their Revenues or other mis-doings a particular account of which together with the Names of the Offenders you are to transmit up to His Majesty that he may give such further Order as shall be requisite in the matter I am MY LORDS Your Lordships Most humble Servant Sunderland P. The Lords Commissioners Answer to this I shall Insert in it's place and now proceed to what was transacted at the Court held October the 25th In the Morning §. 7. Dr. Stafford Read the following Paper in Answer to what was objected on Friday October 25th Morning that a Mandate Implyed an Inhibition which I think fit to Insert out of the Printed Relation To the Right Reverend and Honorable the Commissioners for Visiting of St. Mary Magdalen College in Oxon. May it please your Lordships ON Friday last in the Afternoon you seemed to Insist very much upon this particular viz. That His Majesty in Commanding the Fellows of the said College to Elect Mr. Farmer President did thereby Inhibit them to Elect any other Person whatsoever which has not yet been made to appear to be Law To these Arguments Answer will be given in due place out of Civil Canon or Common-Law neither is it agreeable to reason that a Command to Elect a Person uncapable should oblige not to Elect a Person Capable that being a kind of Contradiction in Terminis yet this being granted it cannot at least affect the said Fellows or Invalidate the Election of Dr. Hough notwithstanding His Majesties Mandate in behalf of Mr. Farmer wholly uncapable of the place The Fellows cannot be said to be Guilty of any disobedience or disloyalty in proceeding to the Election of another Person who was qualified according to the Statutes being forced to make an Election for they are obliged by the Statutes of the College when called together to Elect a President or any other Officer under pain of Expulsion perpetual from that College to meet and make an Election which Punishment they Incur Ipso facto who either refuse to meet when so called or being met do not Nominate and Elect a Person into the Office void
to be as fairly Elected * This was a bold Assertion and I hope to prove it as false and as Legally Possessed as ever any since the Foundation of the College I cannot submit to the Bishop of Oxon as President so he was ordered to withdraw After this the same Question was put to all the Fellows singly who all refused to Sign the submission except Dr. Thomas Smith and Mr. Charnock who were not pressed having as their Lordships said behaved themselves Dutifully towards the King Mr. Thompson desired to be excused from subscribing for that he had given his Vote for Mr. Farmer and had not concurred with the Society in any thing they had done since in this business and declared he never had been disobedient nor ever would be Then their Lordships produced a Petition sent to the Earl of Sunderland upon the report of the Kings Mandate for Mr. Farmer which he had Signed therefore pressed further his subscribing the submission This he owned but said it was before the Kings Mandate was produced but after it was shewn at the Election he Voted for Mr. Farmer in obedience to the Kings Command and promised to obey the Bishop of Oxford whereupon their Lordships excused him §. 5. Then the Lords called for the Buttry-Book and caused all the Names of those Fellows who refused to subscribe to be struck out and the Fellows so struck out being called in the Sentence of Expulsion was Read to them in this Form. By His Majesties Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes and for Visiting of the Universities and all Cathedrals and Collegiate Churches Colleges Grammar-Schools Hospitals and other the like Corporations or Foundations and Societies and particularly impowered to Visit Magdalen College in the Vniversity of Oxford WHereas in our Visitation of the said College it appeared to us that Dr. Charles Aldworth Dr. Alexander Pudsey Dr. John Smith Dr. Thomas Bayley Dr. Thomas Stafford Mr. Robert Almond Mr. Mainwaring Hammond Mr. John Rogers Mr. Richard Strickland Mr. Henry Dobson Mr. James Bayley Mr. John Davies Mr. Francis Bagshaw Mr. James Fayrer Mr. Joseph Harwar Mr. Thomas Bateman Mr. George Hunt Mr. William Cradock Mr. John Gilman Mr. George Fulham Mr. Charles Penyston Mr. Robert Hyde Mr. Edward Yerbury Mr. Henry Holden Mr. Stephen Weelks Fellows of the said College have been severally guilty of disobedience to His Majesties Command and obstinately contemned His Majesties Royal Authority and do still persist in the same We have thought fit upon mature consideration hereof to declare pronounce and decree that the said Dr. Charles Aldworth c. and every of them be Deprived and Expelled from their respective Fellowships and we do by this our Sentence and Decree Deprive and Expel them from their said several respective Fellowships Given under our Seal the 16th of November 1687. About Twelve a Clock as soon as their Lordships rose the Decree for the Expulsion of these Twenty Five Fellows was fixed on the College Gates in the Form aforesaid §. 6. The Expelled Fellows give in their Protestation against the Lords Commissioners Decree The Fellows under-named then gave in Papers subscribed by themselves to the Lords Commissioners in this Form. May it please your Lordships I Do profess all Duty to His Majesty and respect to your Lordships but beg leave to declare that I think my self injured in your Lordships Proceedings and therefore Protest against them and will use all Just and Legal ways of being relieved Novemb. the 16. 1687. Others desired that the like Protestation might be entred for them Charles Aldworth James Bayley Joseph Harwar John Gilman Tho. Bateman Edw. Yerbury Stephen Weelkes Then their Lordships Ordered them to withdraw Register and proceeded to Admit others into their places and in order thereunto called for those who were recommended by His Majesties Mandates viz. (a) Dated 11. November Mr. Charles Goring Mr. Thomas Higgons (b) Dated 12. Nov. 1687. Nov. 13. 1687. Mr. Fairfax Mr. Robert Hill Mr. John Warburton Mr. Francis Haslewood and Mr. Lawrence Wood. But none of them appeared except Mr. Thomas Higgons whereupon their Lordships sent for three of the Demys viz. Mr. Samuel Jenefar Mr. Mander and Mr. Hanson and the two last desiring to continue Demys their Lordships Admitted Mr. Higgons and Mr. Jenefar Fellows they taking the usual Oath of a Fellow Then Mr. Bradley Whalley Mr. Walter Walsh and Mr. Midleton were called but Mr. Midleton not appearing Mr. Whalley and Mr. Walsh were Admitted Demys and took the Oath of a Demy and their Names were entred in the buttry-Buttry-Book Then their Lordships took into their consideration the Case of the absent Fellows the non-appearance of Mr. Maynard Mr. Hicks and Mr. Goodwin seeming excusable by the Certificates produced and Oaths made in their behalfs and also it appearing that they and Mr. Francis Smith who is Travelling abroad had not been any ways concerned in the whole Affair their Lordships thought fit to excuse them And left the Expulsion of the rest viz. Mr. Hawks Mr. Holt and Mr. Thornton to the President who they conceived had full Power to Expell them if hereafter at their return to the College they should refuse to make their submission in the same manner as proposed to the rest of the Fellows and so the Lords Commissioners concluded What followed after their Lordships return to London §. 7. What was done by the Lords Commissioners at Whitehall Out of the Register At a Court held in the Council Chamber at Whitehall the 28th of November 1687. Present the Lord Chancellor Lord President Lord Chamberlain the Bishops of Duresm Rochester and Chester the Lord Chief Justice Wright the Lord Chief Justice Herbers and Mr. Baron Jenner The further Account of the Proceedings of the Visitation of St. Mary Magdalen College in Oxford was Read upon which it was moved The Lords Commissioners resolution to Incapacitate the Expelled Fellows c. that the Expelled Fellows should be further proceeded against by a Sentence of Incapacity The Lords upon debate were of Opinion that the said Fellows ought to be incapacitated from receiving any Ecclesiastical Preferments for the future and direct that Mr. Sollicitor General Sir Robert Baldock Sir Thomas Pinfold and Dr. Hedges shall Attend the next Morning at Nine of the Clock upon this matter At a Court c. the 29th of November 1687. Mr. Sollicitor General Sir Robert Baldock Sir Thomas Pinfold and Dr. Hedges attend and have the following Paper delivered to them The Lords think it requisite that the Fellows lately Expelled out of St. Mary Magdalen College should be Incapacitated from receiving any Ecclesiastical Preferment for the time to come and desire you to consider of the Method and best manner of proceeding herein Their Lordships appointed them to give them their Opinion upon the matter upon Munday next at Ten in the Morning but the Meeting was put of till Thursday the 8th of December At a Court the 8th of December 1687. Present the
any Act Statute Ordinance Provision Proclamation or Restriction to the contrary so that in this one Instance the Kings dispensing power to be put in Execution by Commissioners is most amply manifested Understand it in matters wherein Mandates have been used and whatever power the King can give to Commissioners he may Execute himself by his Royal Mandate and if he can dispense with the Statute surely the obligation of an Oath to observe that Statute ceaseth as I shall largely shew hereafter ☞ By the Execution of this Commission whereof I shall now treat it will be apparent that the design of this Visitation was to abolish the Catholic Religion there and plant the Reformation in the University which they did by changing the Magistrates or Governing part of the Colleges disannulling the old and making new Statutes censuring and punishing all whom they found culpable according to the Articles which they published to abolish the power of the Bishop of Rome and present Clergy and set up the Kings Supremacy Which Articles I am informed are extant tho' I have not yet been so fortunate as to have procured any Copy of them § 10 I shall now Abreviate the proceedings of the Commissioners in that Visitation by which it will appear What the Commissioners did in this Visitation how merciful our King hath been in this last Visitation comparatively to what was then done ☞ First The King praevious to this Visitation Wood Antiq. Oxon. fol. 269. a. In Turri Schol. N. 17. The Suspension of Elections and College Acts during the Visitation in his Mandate to the University Commanded that no Graduate should proceed to the Election of a President or Fellow of any College or do any Act that should hinder the Visitation so that during the Visitation no Statutes were observed and none of the University could attain any Office without consulting the Visitors and my Author saith that the Commissioners especially Cox put in their Friends and Dependents every where into places as he Instanceth in Maurice Ley an Irish Man Fellows made contrary to Statutes who was made a Fellow of Exeter College contrary to their Statutes and Edmund Cooke Esquire wholly Ignorant of University Learning made Fellow of the same College so George Cartwright Born in Nottinghamshire thereby Secluded by the Statutes was made Fellow of Corpus Christi College And by the Mandate aforesaid the Execution of the Statutes of the University were Suspended The Execution of the Statutes Suspended by which means the Jurisdiction of the Masters of Colleges and other University Magistrates being in a manner Abrogated it might remain in the Visitors power only to inflict punishments When the Commissioners had deprived the Choristers and Singing Boys of their Stipends Id. fol. 270. b. Concerning Choristers and Signing-Boys the Towns-men representing the dammage it would be to them by reason their Children were thereby provided for This was something mitigated Some of the Chantries were converted to Stipends but mostly those in Parish Churches whereof some were of the Patronages of Colleges were sold away But of these things and the change of Divine Service I shall not speak because they were according to the Reformation through the Kingdom after the Book of Common Prayer was Established § 11 ☞ The Visitors made a new Book of Statutes which were called King Edward the Sixth's Statutes Id. fol. 271. a. Anno 1549. The Visitors make a new Book of Statutes which altho' in the most part they were contrary to the Ancient Statutes of the University yet they were in force till those were made which now are used I pass by the great destruction made of Books in the public and private Libraries Id. fol. 271. b. The destruction of Books where few that had any Red Letters or were Writ by any in the two last Centuries escaped the Fire or worse uses tho' they were Books of Divinity Astronomy or Mathematics The Books being brought in great heaps into the Market places and publickly burnt of which the Reader may peruse a sad Account in Dr. Heylin and Mr. Wood. I shall omit the Cases of Ralph Skinner and Gualter Haddon till I come to Treat of the Kings dispensing with Statutes § 12 ☞ The severity of the Visitors continued from the Year 1549. to th Year 1553. 10. Mariae Id. fol. 272.273 274. The severe proceedings of the Commissioners in which time by the absenting themselves or Expulsion of so many Fellows the Colleges were left very thin the Writings Bulls Charters and other Muniments especially those granted from Rome were seized the Registers and Repositories searched the Monies taken from the Chests where lodged in former Ages to be in readiness upon any Streights the Houses might be reduced to Yea they sold four or five public Schools to Towns-men who pulled them down and converted the Materials to their own uses and annexed the Grounds to their Gardens So great was the subversion that the Terms were altered from the periods used in former times Terms and Lectures altered and Degrees neglected the Ancient Exercises c. as Lectures scorned and the taking of Degrees by some thought Anti-Christian and others neglected to take any by the apprehension that there should be no use of them and because the Stipends were withdrawn But says my Author we are not to complain of the Violating of the Honors and Degrees in Learning since Learning it self was Expiring and drawing it's last breath the Schools being ruined and the Philosophy Exercises being taken away Those who have a mind to Read the Ravage then made by the Visitors either by their Covetousness or Connivance may find them fully related in the foregoing Authors For a Reformation being designed by the King there was no place in the University for the Unconformable SECT II. The Visitation in Queen Maries Reign §. 1. Queen Maries Visitation ANno 1553. Wood fol. 274. 275. Wood Antiq. Oxon lib. 1. fol. 274.275 Pat. 1. Maria part 6. When Queen Mary came to the Crown she took great Compassion on the University as appears by her Letter in which she sets forth the grievousness of the former Visitation and she bestowed some Rectories upon it by her Charter May 11.1 o. Regni Neither did she omit to Exercise her Authority in Visiting the University in restoring the Roman Catholic Religion as she did through the Kingdom The first that Visited was Steven Gardiner Bishop of Winchester See for the Visitation of Cardinal Pool Anno 1557. a. who was Local Visitor of New-College and Corpus Christi and St. Mary Magdalen College He appointed for his Deputies Sir Richard Read Kt. and Dr. George Wright Arch-Deacon of Oxford Large account in Fox Act sand Mon. Vol. 3. Edit 1640. fal 762. to 780. Upon the 26th of October they Visited St. Mary Magdalen College and Dr. Haddon the late President of his own accord did quit the Presidentship Thomas Bentham the Dean