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
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
knew or by the recommendation of others believ'd to be fit objects of his Charity these were next in succession and afterwards the Election was to be in the Dean and Chapter and the Bishop of Salisbury Alternis vicibus by turns This College of Matrons is a strong regular Building within the Close of Salisbury and a great Ornament to it It is fitted for the reception of Ten Women the Widows of Orthodox Ministers of the Diocese of Salisbury and in case there should not be found so many therein their vacancy is to be supplied out of the Bishopric of Exeter but I fear this will never happen They have each two Chambers and a little Garden peculiar to their selves To the maintenance thereof the Bishop settled more than two hundred pounds a year in Free Land which lies in the Neighbourhood over the Gate is written in Letters of Gold the Inscription following D' O' Mo. Collegium hoc Matronarum Humillime Dedicavit Sethus Episcopus Sarum Anno Domini MDCLXXXII That is To the Honour of Almighty God This College of Matrons Was most humbly Dedicated By Seth Bishop of Salisbury In the Year of our Lord 1682. Two Years after he built an Hospital at Buntingford in Hertford-shire the place of his Nativity for Ten poor aged Men allowing each of them Ten pound per annum which is also a Noble Structure and bears this Inscription Anno Domini 1684. This Hospital was Erected and Endowed By Seth Ward Doctor of Divinity Lord Bishop of Salisbury and Chancellor of the most Noble Order Of the Garter Who was Born in this Town within the Parish of Aspenden and Educated In the Free-School of Buntingford These poor Men are put in by Mr. Freeman and his Heirs for ever Besides this he augmented the Stipend of the Minister and the School-Master in that Town Tho' I am conscious that I have not ennumerated all his Benefactions yet I will conclude this Chapter with his Erecting of four Scholarships at Christs-College in Cambridge and endowing them with pound per Annum which in that University is a considerable Allowance the Scholarships there being generally inferiour to those at Oxford as the Fellowships better He had designd to have placd this his Benefaction at Sidney-College but upon some disgust altered his intention tho it is not improbable but that that College might refuse his proffer upon very good Reasons For at Oxford no College will accept a Benefaction which only increases the number of Fellows or Scholars for thereby the Society is rather injured than profited unless the Benefactor also builds Chambers for their reception for taking away so many Chambers takes away from the Fellows so many Pupils but on the contrary a Benefactor who will increase the Stipends of the Members of the Society will always be very gratefully embraced CHAP. XIII Of his Friends SHould I enumerate all his Friends whom I knew I must fill two or three Leaves with Names and Titles and this Chapter would look like a Money Act wherein the Commissioners were all particularly set down I shall not therefore use that dry way I will insert but few and those distributed into several Classes according to the laudable Custom of England giving Precedence to the Female Sex and placing them in the Van. Even from his unjust expulsion out of Cambridge which we have mentioned in its due place he never was destitute of Friends of the fair Sex till some few Years before his Death never without prossers of Wives much beyond his deserts as the Markets go in Smithfield to several of whom he to my knowledge recommended good Husbands and his recommendation was effectual of these I will mention but one for whom he also procured a good Parsonage and he shall be Mr. Gibson a Contemporary a Fellow-Collegian and Fellow-sufferer in the Common Cause he many Years after when his Children were like Olive Branches about his Table came from Hertford-shire to Salisbury to give the Bishop a Visit and accosted him in this manner My Lord I am come to wait upon your Lordship and to return my most humble and hearty Thanks for your many and great Kindnesses to me I owe all to you you have got me all that I have in this World except my Children The reason why he did not Marry then as I have received from himself was this he had not an Estate or Preferment sufficient to maintain a Wise suitable to the Fortunes which was prosserd with them And that he would not put it into the power of any Woman if they should happen to disagree as there are few very few if any Marriages without Dissentions those being the happiest where they are less frequent to upbraid him that she had made him a Man and that had it not been for what she brought he would not have been worth a Groat Being made a Bishop first of Exeter and afterwards of Salisbury and consequently become greater and richer 't is not to be imagin'd those proffers should diminish I am certain they increased I knew several Persons of great Quality and Estates who found ways to make it known to him that if he would address himself to them in the honorable way of Marriage he should not want a kind entertainment But at that time he was furnished with another reason to continue in Celebacy he thought it not unlawful but undecent for a Bishop to Marry perhaps he had in his eye the Fate of one of his Predecessors Bishop Iewell who married after he was Bishop of Salisbury and upon that account received so severe a Reprimand from his Brother the Archbishop of Canterbury and laid it so much to heart that it accelerated his death Upon these reasons he continued unmarried till his death But this rare Example has been followed by none of his Profession except only Dr. Barrow as we shall have occasion to shew hereafter 'T is time now to take my leave of the Ladies and proceed While Bp. Ward resided at Exeter George Duke of Albemarle began his Friendship with him which continued and augmented till his Graces death he did him many good Offices at Court and defended him against the Clamours and Calumnies of the Fanatics The Bishop also was serviceable to the Duke he instructed his Son in the Mathematics he also waited upon him frequently while he was in Health and was never absent from him in his Sickness he was with him in the last moments of his Life he gave him the Holy Sacrament closd his Eyes and preachd his Funeral Sermon which was printed both by it self and amongst his Works published by Iames Collins as above-mentioned To him I will add the Earl of Sandwich Vice-Admiral of England who was his Contemporary in Cambridge a great lover and very well skilld in the Mathematics but most famous for his skill in Maritime Affairs for his not only adventuring but sacrificing his Life for his Country The next shall be my Lord Chancellor Hide who had the Bishop