Trinity-College after Mr. Hawes had resignd he was chosen by the Suffrages of the Fellows who had a legal Authority to Elect neither can he by accepting of this Place be truly accounted to put Dr. Potter who was Ejected by the Visitors many Years before as we have declard in the seventh Chapter or so much as to keep him out for he was as the Times went then uncapable of being Elected and of enjoying it if he had been chosen As to the last part of his Accusation His boasting of his Loyalty to the King and Church after his Majestys Restoration Why might he not glory in a laudable Action and a Matter of Truth For as we have made it appear in the second Chapter he was an Actor and great Sufferer in that Good Cause Mr. Wood had for a long time usd the liberty to revile and speak disrespectfully of several Eminent Persons movd thereunto either by a private pique or to please some others who lookd upon their Promotion with an Evil Eye this I say he had done for a long time with Impunity but Vengeance or Punishment at last tho late overtook him It cannot be said of him Distulit in seram commissa piacula mortem that is He went to his Grave unpunisht for he livd to see his Book censurd and burnt himself expelld the University obligd to Recant and give security not to offend any more in that kind and this he underwent for writing too lavishly concerning a Great Man dead long since upon the complaints of some of his Relations whereof take this Authentic Proof as it is Registred in the Chancellors Court at Oxford and Printed by Authority in the Gazette Numb 2893 from Monday the 31. of Iuly to Thursday August 3. 1693 in these words Oxford Iuly 31. 1693. ON the 29 th Instant Anthony A. Wood was Condemnd in the Chancellors Court of the University of Oxford for having Written and Printed in the Second Volume of his Athenae Oxonienses divers infamous Libels against the Right Honourable Edward late Earl of Clarendon Lord High Chancellor of England and Chancellor of the said University and was therefore banished the said University until such time as he shall subscribe such a public Recantation as the Judge of the Court shall approve of and give Security not to offend in the like nature for the future And the said Book was therefore also decreed to be burnt before the public Theatre and on this Day it was burnt accordingly and public Programmas of his Expulsion are already affixd on the three usual places This Punishment was severe enouf and may warn little ones not to provoke the Powerful But as to what he has written against the Bishop of Salisbury I freely forgive him for this reason but before I declare it give me leave to tell a short Story which I heard at Rome There was heretofore in that City a famous Confessor who finding that Age and Infirmity had impaird his Memory fearing this might render him unfit for his Profession made use of this Invention to remedy that defect He had always in readiness when any Penitent repaird to him to Confess a Board and a piece of Chalk with which he scord their Sins using several Marks according to their degrees It happened that one confessd he had kild a Man That 's a great Sin said the Father and made a long Chalk upon the Trencher After that he confessd he had got a Bastard Was it said the Ghostly Father very gravely a Male or Female The Penitent answerd it was a Man-Child Say you so replied the Priest A Man is Kild and another got in his stead set one against the other then spitting upon his Fingers rubs out the Chalk To apply this the reason I promised to give for my Absolving Mr. Wood is this He had written much good of the Bishop of Salisbury and truly and but a little bad and that falsly Set one against the other and let it be as if he had never done either the one or other And here I should dismiss Mr. Wood and close this Chapter had I not a just cause of quarrelling with him upon mine own account for having endeavourd to rob me of my deserved Praise and to obscure the most glorious Action of my Life Diripere Ausus Haerentem Capiti multa cum laude Coronam In not mentioning that famous Contestation concerning Formalities which I have describd at large in the fifth Chapter or my being Proctor but out of Ignorance or Design either of which is sufficient to ruin the Credit of an Historian he has falsified the History having made the Proctors Bifield and Conant serve for the Years 1657 and 1658 which is not only notoriously untrue but also it thrusts my College and my self out of the Fasti or the University Chronicles which is an intolerable grievance to Persons thirsty of Fame and ambitious of Honour But for our comfort whoever consults the University Register or the Convocation Books will be easily and clearly convincd of the truth of what I have here asserted Hence I conclude if he may not be credited in a Matter so notoriously known and of such importance to his History we may with good reason suspect the Character he gives of a Person with whom I firmly believe he never had any Conversation CHAP. XXIV Of the Bishops Sickness and Death THE Bishop of Salisbury dated his indisposition of Health from a Fever he had in London in the Year 1660 which was not well cured as we have mentioned before he was very ill when he was to be consecrated Bishop of Exeter and not without apprehension that he should not survive that Solemnity It was a cold rainy morning when I waited on him to Lambeth when he was to be consecrated and he had not been out of his Chamber for some Weeks before He went Sick to Exeter and was confind to his Chamber a long while yet he remitted nothing of his Study during that time he made the Notitiae of his Diocese mentioned in the ninth Chapter But his often travelling betwixt Exeter and London conduced much to the meliorating of his Health and enabled him to endure his Malady tho not wholly to subdue it I have heard him say that Colds to which he was very subject never accompanied him the whole Journey but always left him before he reachd Salisbury either in his going to London or returning to Exeter After he was Bishop of Salisbury he was seizd by a dangerous scorbutical Atrofy and Looseness as we have said in the ninth Chapter which was cured by riding t is a very good Recipe but a dear one â„ž caballum that is Up and ride After he left off this Exercise by which he receivd so much good he complaind of a pain in his Toe tho I believd then that the Malady was in his Head but I found he was displeasd at my telling him so I went upon this reason upon Inspection no Artist could tell
disappointments especially a great one that happened to him at Westminster by the means of Mr. Busby of which perhaps more hereafter I say upon this and other Misfortunes he became a Presbyterian and Commonwealths-Man if this addition be not superfluous He was a Man of Learning and knew it and very hot and zealous in his way he I say came to my Chamber and told me his Message Well said I to him what have you to say against Caps and Hoods He made a long Discourse which I heard with patience and when I perceiv'd he was silent Ned said I to him prithee go back to thy Chamber and put in writing all that thou hast said and bring it to me And what will you do with it then said he I will I reply'd blot out the words Caps and Hoods and in their places insert Gowns will not your Arguments be every whit as strong against them as against Formalities I confess they will he answer'd but we are not come thither yet I replyed I 'd make it my endeavour to keep you where you are and so we parted As I was confident the Party would drive on the design furiously so I saw that without me they could never bring it to take effect there being a Statute which says in express Terms That no Statute be deem'd abrogated or repeal'd without the attestation of the Vice-Chancellor and both the Proctors under their hands that it was formally taken away in the Convocation But before I proceed any further in this Contest give me leave to make a small digression and recount what afterwards befel this my Friend I hinted before a great disappointment he had received from Mr. Busby the School-master of Westminster the matter of Fact was thus Mr. Vincent the second Master left that Station and went to Travel for his Health then did Mr. Busby write to my Friend who was Master of Arts and Student of Christ-Church to come and be Second Master After he had receiv'd this Letter brimful of joy he brought it me thinking I should as his Friend be also much pleas'd at this good News and encourage him to accept of this proffer But I contrary to his expectation us'd my utmost endeavour to diswade him from it He answer'd that I spoke out of prejudice against Mr. Busby but he knew better things 'T is true when he was a Kings Scholar at Westminster he was a little well-favour'd white-hair'd Youth and his Father was liberal to the Master all which concurring with a good docible Inclination made him one of Mr. Busbys White Boys or chief Favourites But I foresaw the Case would soon be alter'd when he should pretend Equality and not content himself to keep at such a distance as the former Usher did I told him there is a great difference betwixt you and Mr. Vincent he was a very honest and learned Man but of mean Parentage Mr. Busbys Servitor at Oxford and but one remove from it at Westminster you are a Gentleman and of no submissive Temper you have had liberal Education and kept good Company and know the World 't is impossible you can submit to such Usage as you will find there For I very well knew both their Humours and easily foresaw that 't was absolutely impossible for those two as the Saying is to set their Horses together The event prov'd that I was on the right side of the Hedge he found such Usage as I foretold and I doubt not but his Behaviour was as I conjectur'd it would be but the particulars thereof are too long and not necessary to be here related Upon this he turns turns with a vengeance goes over to the Gentiles and that he might be reveng'd upon Mr. Busby Sacrifices to Moloch worships and adores the worst of Men even the Judges of King Charles the First but Mr. Busby who Plow'd with the same Heifers had too much complyance cunning and money to be hurt by him Upon this he returns to his Students Place at Christ-Church makes me a Visit and rails so bitterly against Mr. Busby that even I was forc'd to take his part He remain'd at Oxford propagating his Commonwealth Principles and when he was Censor which Office in other Colleges is call'd the Dean whose business 't is to Moderate at Disputations and give the Scholars Questions he gave some in Politics and order'd the Respondents to maintain them against Monarchy and Episcopacy There he continued till the King was restor'd then some considerable Friends of his whom I knew advis'd him to go into the Country and there to live peaceably and conformably for the space of one Year at the end of which they assur'd him they would procure him some considerable Preferment in the Church Accordingly he went and tryed but not being able to hold out so long in a short time he repair'd to London seven times more imbitter'd against Ecclesiastical and Kingly Government than when he went into the Country And now he sides Tooth and Nail with the Fanatics and made a great Figure amongst them exceeding most if not all of them in Natural and acquir'd parts King Charles sent for him designing to work some good upon him and do him a kindness but he found him so obstinate and refractory that he was forc'd to leave him to his own Imaginations he afterwards married a blind Woman who fell in Love with him for his Preaching after which I met him in Covent-Garden and accosted him freely after the usual Complements past Ned said I to him jocularly I hear thou hast married a blind Woman dost thou intend to beg with her Upon this I perceiv'd his Countenance change and he return'd me this Answer What 's that to you may not I Marry whom I please Nay said I if you are pleas'd I have no reason to be offended and so we parted and I never saw him after but I understood since that he died a Prisoner in a House near Newgate whither he was committed for his violent opposition to the Government It is now full time I should reassume the Clue of my Narration The Vice-Chancellor summons a Convocation having most of the Heads of Houses and many Masters of Arts on his side It was very remarkable that all the Antediluvian Cavaliers I mean Fellows of Colleges who had the good fortune to survive the Flood of the Visitation and keep their Places and who had ever since that liv'd retir'd in their Cells never medling with Public Affairs in the University nor appearing in the Convocation or Congregations came now as it were in Troops Velut Agmine facto habited in their Formalities to give their Votes for their Continuation most of whose Faces were unknown to the greatest part of the Assembly with these unexpected recruits we easily carried our Cause tho' we could have done it without their Assistance After the Cause of the Convocation was declar'd as the Custom is the Vice-Chancellor put it to the Vote Whether the Statute commanding the
the time he enjoy'd the Astronomy Professors Place he never miss'd one reading Day Besides this he taught the Mathematics gratis to as many of the University or Foreigners as desired that Favour of him I remember he told me that a certain German Nobleman made application to him upon that account and that when Mr. Ward was in the middle of a hard Demonstration which required the utmost Intention of Mind to understand for if by Inadvertency one Link of it is lost all the rest is to no purpose and unintelligible this Person interrupted him and said Sir you have a fine Key his Key by chance lying then upon the Table 't is so reply'd the Professor and put an End to his Lecture and would read no more to that Pupil Besides this he preach'd frequently tho' he was not obliged to it for Sir Henry Savile had exempted his Professors from all University Exercises that they might have the more leisure to mind the Employment he designed them for His Sermons were strong methodical and clear and when Occasion required pathetical and eloquent for besides his Skill in the Mathematics he was a great Lover of Tully and understood him very well In his Disputations his Arguments were always to the purpose and managed with great Art his Answers clear and full I remember I heard him oppose in the Act time a Head of a House who then did his Exercise for Doctor in Divinity the Question was concerning the Morality of the Fourth Commandment against which he urged That the same time might be Saturday Sunday and Monday or Sunday and any two other days equally distant from it for supposing two Ships to set sail from the same Port one westward according to the Motion of the Sun it will make every day longer than four and twenty Hours and consequently there must be fewer days in that Year and the other which we suppose holds its course Eastward must have the contrary Effect and consequently make more days in the same space of time Let us then suppose that these two Ships sail'd at the same time from the same place and return thither that day twelve-month it shall be to one of them Monday and to the other Saturday Or supposing two Swallows with greater Celerity to make the same Voyage both of them starting upon the same Sunday from the same place and granting one of them to gain and the other lose about half a quarter of an hour or eight minutes in four and twenty hours which they may do at their Return to the place from whence they set forth tho 't will be Sunday to those who remained there it shall be to one of these Swallows Tuesday and to the other Friday Again if the Sabbath is to be accounted from Sun-set to Sun-set as some observe it then to those who inhabit under the Poles it must be a year long for the Sun under the Northern Pole sets only in September at the Autumnal Equinox and to those under the Southern Pole it sets only in March or the Vernal Equinox To those who lie more Northward than the Arctic Circle or more Southward than the Anctartic the Sunday shall not only be several Days but Weeks and Months long And several other Arguments of this Nature To all which the Respondent vouchsafed no other Answer than this Omnia hujusmodi Argumenta sunt mere Astronomica As much as if he should have said These are all but Demonstrations and therefore I think them not worthy of an Answer Whilst he continued in that Chair besides his Public Lectures he wrote several Books one De Astronomia Eliptica one against Bullialdus one about Proportion one of Trigonometry one against Mr. Hobbs who never pardoned him for it to his dying Day as we shall have occasion to shew hereafter and one in English and a jocose stile against one Webster asserting the Usefulness of the Universities He also preach'd often at St. Maries to the Admiration of all the Auditory some of which Sermons are published in the Collection printed for Iames Collins At his first coming to Oxford he made choice of Wadham Col. to reside in invited thereto by the Fame of Dr. Wilkins Warden thereof with whom he soon contracted an intimate Acquaintance and Friendship their Humours and Studies lying the same way but Dr. Wilkins was so well known that I need not dilate in his Praise for if I should my near Relation to him might make my Character of him suspected therefore I shall say no more of him at present but that he was a Learned Man and a Lover of such he was of a Comely Aspect and Gentleman-like Behaviour he had been bred in the Court and was also a piece of a Traveller having twice seen the Prince of Auranges Court at the Hague in his Journey to and Return from Heydelburgh whither he went to wait upon the Prince Elector Palatine whose Chaplain he was in England He had nothing of Bigottry Unmannerliness or Censoriousness which then were in the Zenith amongst some of the Heads and Fellows of Colleges in Oxford For which Reason many Country Gentlemen of all Persuasions but especially those then stiled Cavaliers and Malignants for adhering to the King and the Church sent their Sons to that College that they might be under his Government I shall instance but in two eminent Sufferers for that Cause Colonel Penruddoc who was murder'd at Exeter and Judge Ienkyns who was kept a close Prisoner till the Kings Return for not owning the Parliaments usurp'd Authority these two had their Sons there I could name many more who for Dr. Wards sake left Cambridge and brought their Pupils with them and settled themselves in Wadham College as Dr. Gaspar Needham and Mr. Lawrence Rooke of whom I have much to say in its due place The Affluence of Gentlemen was so great that I may truly say of Wadham College it never since or before was in so flourishing a Condition I mean it never had so many Fellow Commoners as at that time tho it cannot be denied but that it has always had more than its proportion may it for ever flourish and encrease in Riches and Reputation this I heartily wish for the Kindness I have received from it At this time there were several Learned Men of the University and in the City who met often at the Wardens Lodgings in Wadham College and sometimes elsewhere to improve themselves by making Filosofical Experiments Some of these for I will not undertake to reckon them all up were Mr. Robert Boyle then well known but since more famous in all parts of Europe for his great Piety and Skill in Experimental Filosofy and other good Literature Mr. Matthew Wren afterwards Secretary to the Duke of York Dr. Willis Dr Goddard Warden of Merton and Professor of Fysic at Gresham College in London Dr. Wallis Dr. Bathurst Mr. Rooke c. About this time that Learned and Reverend Person Dr. Brownrig the ejected Bishop of Exeter