easdem in meliorem competentiorem formam redigendo de eisdem addendo ab eisdem detrahendo de intimando easdem omnibus singulis quorum interest seu interesse poterit quovismado juxta Jurisperitorum consilium pro loco tempore congruis opportunis prout moris est juris atque styli Super quibas omnibus singulis peto à te Notario publico Instrumentum publicum sive Instrumenta publica unum sive plura mihi confici Testesque hic praesentes testimonium inde perhibere Lecta interposita fuit haec Appellatio octavo die Augusti Anno Domini 1631. Annoque regni Domini nostri Caroli Dei gratiâ Angliae Scotiae Franciae Hiberniae Regis Fidei Defendoris c. Septimo in Hospitio Guardiani Collegii Wadhami in Vniversitate Oxon. intra Collegium praedictum notoriè situato per venerabilem Virum Guillelmum Smith Sacrae Theologiae Professorem Collegii Wadhami praedicti Guardianum atque 〈◊〉 Oxon. Vicecancellarium qui tunc ibidem appellavit Apostolos petiit protestatus querelatus est 〈◊〉 caetera fecit exercuit in omnibus per omnia prout in hujusmodi Protocollo continetur In praesentiâ mei Notarii Publici subscripti praesentibus etiam tunc ibidem testibus subscriptis ad praemissa testificanda specialiter rogatis scil Venerabilibus Viris Guilielmo 〈◊〉 Legum Doctore Decano Ecclesiae Cathedralis Wigorn. Richardo Zouch Legum Doctore nec non Richardo Mathew Literato Ita testor Guil. Juxon Rich. Zouch Ric. Mathew Humfridus Jones Notarius Publicus Upon this Petition and Appeal his Majesty coming that year in progress to Woodstock he resolved to hear the Cause Himself and put an end to those Factious and Disorderly courses which were grown too heady for any other Hand And upon 〈◊〉 Aug. 23. his Majesty in the presence of all the Lords of his Counsel which were with him divers Heads of Colleges being also present heard at large all Complaints and Grievances on either side And concluded That both the Proctours should in the next Convocation resign their Offices and Two other of the same Colleges be put in their Places And that Thomas Ford of Magdalen-hall Giles Thorne of Baliol College and John Hodges of Exeter College should be banish'd the University And that Doctor Prideaux Rector of Exeter College and Dr. Wilkinson Principal of Magdalen should then and there receive in the presence of the King and the Lords a publick and sharp Reprehension for their misgovernment and countenancing the Factious Parties The Lord Viscount Dorchester then Principal Secretary of State was commanded to deliver this Sentence from the King which he did accordingly and gave the Reprehension as was enjoyned The King himself then publickly Declaring that Dr. Prideanx deserved to lose his Place more than any of the rest but was content to spare him partly because he had been His ancient Servant and hoped he would look better to himself for the future and partly because I intreated Favour for him As for Francis Hide who had been Proctor the former year and was as mutinous as any of the rest he was out of the University when the Summons came for their Appearance before the King and so kept himself till the Hearing was past Yet nevertheless so much appeared against him as that afterwards he was glad to come in and make his submission that he might escape so Then his Majesty commanded Secretary Dorchester to write a Letter for Him to Sign and to be sent to the University and in Convocation to require the performance of this Sentence in every particular This Letter was written and sent accordingly and the Tenor of it follows in haec verba At WOODSTOCK Aug. 23. 1631. CHARLES R. TRusty and wellbeloved We greet you well Having at full length and with good Deliberation heard the Cause concerning the late great Disorders and Disobedience to Government in That Our University of Oxford and being moved by the greatness of the offences to Punish some persons according to their several Demerits and to Order some things for the more settled and constant Government of That our University hereafter Our Will and Pleasure is That you forthwith upon the receipt hereof call a Convocation for performing and registring these Our Sentences and Decrees as followeth And first We pronounce your Appeal to be just And return Tho. Forde of Magdelane Hall Giles Thorne of Baliol College and William Hodges of Exeter College whose Causes were likewise submitted unto Us unto your power And command you that forthwith they be all three Banish'd the University according as your Statutes in that behalf require Secondly Because the Proctours which should have been Assistants to the Vicechancellour and Helps for upholding of Authority and Government have most unworthily behaved themselves in countenancing all manner of Disobedience in receiving Appeals in case of manifest perturbation and breach of Peace and by their cunning practicing after these Appeals received especially Thorne's whose Contumacy was notorious and his Sermon base Therefore for them Our Pleasure and Command is as was yesterday delivered unto themselves that they shall presently resign their Office in Convocation according to Course as if their year had been fully expired and the two Colleges of which they are may name two others to succeed in their Office the rest of the year to be chosen and settled according to your late Statutes made in that behalf And for the Execution of this you are as we have before order'd presently to call a Convocation and publish this Our Sentence and proceed accordingly Thirdly For Francis Hyde of Christchureh and Richard Hill of Brazen Nose we require that so soon as they return to Our University you warn them to be in a readiness and give notice to your Chancellour when they are there that they may be sent for to Answer such things as are laid against them And when they are heard they shall receive such Sentence as the merits of their Cause deserve Now for the things which we think fit to settle presently in That Government they are these First VVe Command that if the Vicechancellour for the time being think fit to call for any Man's Sermon which upon his own hearing or complaint made by any other seems offensive in any kind the Party of what Degree soever he be shall deliver a true and perfect Copy to the Vicechancellour upon Oath which when he hath perused he shall Convent him if he find cause either by the Statute of Le cester as it is call'd or by the later Statute of the 〈◊〉 Doctors at the Vicechancellours choice until at this New settling of your Statutes one entire and absolute Statute be made of Both. Secondly That if the Vicechancellour find cause to Command any man to Prison the Party so Commanded and sent by a Beadle shall for so the Statutes require presently submit and go
to hear so many Soldiers take Oxford in their way but glad withal that you keep the Scholars so well from them that all Disorders may be prevented as you write they have hitherto been Lambeth June 19. 1640. W. Cant. NOtwithstanding the Accident which fell out upon Tuesday June 16th between the Commanders and the Soldiers which was a very mutinous Quarrel in their Drink and cost some Blood Oxford June 22. 1640. A. Frewen ON Friday June 19th a Batchelor of Arts of Magdalen-Hall was found drowned in the River by New-Parks His wide-sleev'd Gown Hat and Band lay on the Bank but the rest of his Cloaths were upon him which makes us much suspect that he wilfully cast away himself The Crowners Inquest hath found him not Mentis compotem And I hear from good Hands that he was much troubled in Mind for which reason at the opening of his Study I mean to observe what Books he used most Oxford June 22. 1640. A. Frewen ON June the 25th 1640. I sent by Dr. Baylie Dean of Sarum and President of St. John Baptist's-College the Conveyances for the perpetual Settling of the Arabick Lecture in Oxford and the Statutes which I made for the due reading of it and desired that those Statutes might by the Vice-Chancellor's care be transcribed into the Original Statute-Book and the Conveyances also according as he finds done with other Lectures given by other Benefactors to the University As also for the transcribing of these Statutes into all other Statute-Books of the University respectively that those which are bound to be Auditors may know both their Times and their Duties These Directions I sent by Dr. Baylie but sent no Letter at this time to the the University because of the hast which I made to have the Business done and to he out of my Hands in these broken Times which gave me no leisure at all from more Publick Affairs to write unto them As for the Evidences which belong to this Land they are all in the Custody of the Town of Redding to which Town I gave all my Land lying in Bray in Berkshire of which this to the Arabick Lecture is not a full fifth part and could not dismember the Evidences and therefore thought it fittest to leave them there where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 part of the Land was settled to other charitable Uses 〈◊〉 I have made the Vice-Chancellor for the time being with some 〈◊〉 Heads of Colleges perpetual Visitors of that which I have done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Counterpart whereof remains in the Custody of the 〈◊〉 and Fellows of St. John Baptist's College of all which I gave 〈◊〉 present Vice-Chancellor an Account June 25th 1640. W. Cant. Right Honourable YOUR Letters of the Seventh of this June with all Humility we have received And according to Your Lordships Commands therein we have diligently enquired and informed our selves and do find that some Guests being Recusants do resort to the Inn called the Miter and that Greene named in Your Lordship's Letter was presented at the last Sessions for a Popish Recusant but not many Years since he was one of our Serjeants and did then frequent the Church And we finding that he Marrying the late Inn-holder's Widow of the said Inn became Owner thereof during the Minority of his Son-in-Law and by that means it being an ancient Inn of the Inheritance of Lincoln-College he keepeth the same Inn. And touching the Authority and Licensing the said Greene so to do His Majesty's Letters were lately procured and sent to us that we should not meddle in the Licensing of any Person to keep Ale-Houses or Victualling-Houses but that we should leave the same to the Vice-Chancellor and the Justices that were Members of the University And under pretence of that Letter when we in Obedience to His Majesty's Proclamation and his Highness's Writ directed to us for the observing of Lent at the beginning of the last Lent did by Warrant Summon the Victuallers of our own Body only to become bound to His Majesty according to the said Proclamation the Vice-Chancellor sent his Beadles to the Mayor to tell him that the binding of Victuallers did belong to the Vice-Chancellor and not to the Mayor And thereupon the Vice-Chancellor presently made a Warrant to call all the Victuallers before him at another Place one Hour before the time appointed in the Mayor's Warrant And amongst others did take a Recognizance of the said Greene but never certified the same Recognizance not any other Recognizances to the Sessions according to the Law And we make bold to certifie Your Lordships That we have only the Name of Mayor and Magistrates but the Vice-Chancellor Doctors and Proctors do interpose in the Town Affairs That all our Liberties and Privileges are much lessened that of late we had much ado to get Mayor and Bailiffs there being so many that paid their Fines to refuse that the City was at last forced to refuse their Fines and to compel them to take upon them the same Offices Whereas heretofore when we enjoy'd our Liberties and Privileges the same Places were much desired And so hoping that the Premisses considered Your Lordships will not conceive us so careless therein as in Your Lordships Letters is express'd we humbly take leave resting at Your Lordships Service Oxon 15 Junii 1640. John Smith Mayor William Potter Aldermen John Sare Aldermen Henry Southam Aldermen Thomas Cooper Aldermen May it please Your good Lordship ACcording to the Statute of Winchester in the Thirteenth Year of the Reign of our late Sovereign Lord King Edward the First and according to certain Orders and Directions publish'd by the Body of his Highness Privy-Council 1630. A Watch was set by Mr. Mayor and his Brethren with the Consent of the Vice-Chancellor these Rebellious times requiring the same part of which Watch by reason of divers Inrodes and Inlets besides the Gates of the City were appointed by Mr. Mayor to walk about their several Wards and Liberties for the Safety thereof and good Order by which Watch straggling Soldiers and others have been taken and we have been safe But Mr. Proctors question the said Watch and exact of them 40 s. a time for such their walking And for Non-payment thereof threaten to sue them in the Vice-chancellor's Court and send for these Watch-Men very often to their Chambers and make them attend them there and have imprison'd some of the Constables and have laid hold of the Watch-Men and taken some of them to the Prison Gates with an intent to Imprison them and do say that Mr. Mayor cannot give them Power to go from the Gates of the said City And for these Causes Mr. Mayor is forced to discharge the Watch but the Watch in St. Thomas Parish being the Entrance from Farrington where the late Rebellion was he did not discharge and the last Night Proctor Allibond Imprisoned the Constable for setting the same Watch. All this we will prove to be true upon Oath if
it be denied And therefore our humble Suit to Your Lordship is That by Your good furtherance we may receive the Opinion of the Honourable Lords of His Majesty's Privy Council what shall be done in the Premisses And whether Mr. Mayor shall be freed of all Danger for not setting a Watch in these troublesom Times or not And so craving Pardon for our so often troubling You we remember our Humble Service to Your Lordship and render many Thanks always remaining Oxon June 24. 1640. Your Lordship 's to be commanded John Smith Mayor William Potter John Nixon Thomas Smith Leo. Bowman John Sare William Charles Humphrey Whistler Henry Southam Martin Wright Roger Griffin Walter Cave Bailiffs William Poole Bailiffs SIR THE Mayor of Oxford hath lately sent these two Letters above written one to the Lords of the Council and the other to the Earl of Berks to shew to the Lords And I here send you the Copies of them both The Letter to the Lords is most concerning Greene and his Inn in which I do desire you to make a clear and distinct Answer to these Particulars following As First Whether this Inn be the Inheritance of Lincoln-College and whether Greene is possessed of it by the Marriage of the Widow in the Right of his Son-in-Law And this the rather because your first Information said That the Town authorized him to keep this Inn. Secondly You may see by this how angry they are about their Victuallers where they directly charge you That amongst others you took a Recognizance of the said Greene but never certified the said Recognizance nor any other to the Sessions according to the Law To which also it will be fit you give Answer Thirdly They say they have only the Name of Mayor and Magistrates and speak in all the rest of their Letter as if all the Town Privileges were invaded by the University And here I would have you answer two things The one That they offer to invade the University Privileges which I conceive is true And the other Whether so many as they mention did refuse the Offices of Mayor and Bailiffs this last Year Their second Letter is only concerning their Night-Watch in which I think there is a manifest invading of the Vniversity Privilege And Proctor Allibond is challenged by Name But they have taken a very cunning rise for their Business for they put it all upon their Care for a Watch by reason of the Seditious Tumult at Farrington There is great reason that Mr. Mayor should be freed from all Danger about setting of a Watch save only such as is his Duty to set but the Lords will not give me their Opinion till they have an Answer from the University how the Mayor's Watch and the University Privileges stand together I pray therefore send a full Answer to this Particular especially But I pray send your whole Answer in such fair Terms as that I may shew it whole and entire to the Lords but let the matter be as full home as you can Lambeth July 3. 1640. W. Cant. Most Reverend IN the Name of the whole University as well as in my own I return Your Grace humble Thanks for the Notice which by Your last Letter You have been pleased to give me of a late Information preferred by this Town unto the Lords of the Council against us To the several Branches whereof I will make bold to return a brief Answer that it may the more fully appear unto Your Grace how false in some and groundless in all Particulars the Complaint is 'T is true That Green's House belongs to Lincoln-College and that he now enjoys it by the Right of his Wife But this makes it not to be an Inn that must be done by License which he must either have from the Town as all other Inns as yet have or else he hath none For confident I am that he hath not any from the Vniversity By Virtue of His Majesty's late gracious Grant unto us we License Ale-House-Keepers and Victuallers Above which Rank until better informed now by the Town we conceived Inn-holders to be and therefore meddled not with them If Greene came in the throng at the beginning of Lent to be bound by me from dressing of Flesh the which I remember not he came not called For by my Warrant I then Summoned none but Privileged Persons and such only of the Town as by the Power given the University by His Majesty had been allowed by us The Recognizance of those 〈◊〉 Licensed I confess I returned not to the Quarter-Sessions and that for this Reason His Majesty by the fore-mention'd Letter was pleased to grant us the same Authority over Ale-Houses and Victuallers which the University of Cambridge hath No Recognizances are returned there whereof I am certain for I sent thither purposely in November last to enquire And therefore none by us The University there keeps them in its own Power and so do we The Town-Clerk who Pen'd the Letter does I grant by this means lose some petty Fees which the Poor Men now save in their Purses he formerly had whilest the power of Licensing was in them But this is a very weak Plea in a Business of such Consequence Nor indeed are those Fees now considerable we having already reduced those Ale-Houses to Five Score which before were Three Hundred A great number And yet not to be marvelled at when one Man this Mayor's Father-in-Law Bosworth a Brewer and Justice of the Town was as I have credibly been informed in a very short time the means of Licensing an Hundred for his part upon Conditions which tied them faster than their Recognizance to the King that they should take all their Beer of him nor did he stand single Others they have who trod after him in the very same steps which makes me wonder with what Face they can complain of the Loss of a Power which they so grosly abused And yet more I marvel at their Complaint against us for invading their Liberties when themselves are so notoriously guilty of daily Attempts upon ours without any colour at all of Right for their so doing Witness their Intrusion into the Office of Clerk of the Market Their Enquiries at their Leets touching the Cleansing and Paving of the Streets Their refusing to be regulated by the Vice-Chancellor as heretofore touching the Price of their Candles Arresting and Suing of Privileged Persons in their City Court Taking of Felons Goods and interrupting our Proctors in their Night Walk Nor can I amongst these Grievances omit their present multiplying of Cottages and Inmates in all Parts of the Town in despight of the Inhibition to the contrary sent unto them by Letters from the Lords of the Council whereof they have in a friendly manner been put in mind by the University both at their Publick Sessions and at other times If the Mayors of Oxford have now as is pretended only the Title not the Authority of the Place they are
habentium ac non habentium longe munificentissimus Siste manum siste ne premat Te virtus nimia totum enim Te figis atque insumis emolumento nostro Nullus 〈◊〉 Filius sic Matrem sugendo exhausit ac Te Patrem filia Academia 〈◊〉 nunc dicas quae suit Mater cum eam ex ruinis regenitam lautiori Fronte perpoliveris Ore novo mox loqui docueris Nos itaque licet nondum Sermone Arabico Donum enim hoc vestrum est certe gentium omni genere pectore gratias conceptissime recumulamus semperque retinebimus sub linguis omnibus unam animi devotissimi Effigiem E Dome nostrae Congregat ionis Aug. 10 1636. Sanctitatis vestrae humillima Cultrix Oxon. Acad. THis year his Majesty and the Queen invited themselves to me to Oxford and brought with them Charles Prince Elector Palatine and his Brother Prince Rupert being both then in England They came into Oxford at the end of this Summer's Progress on Munday August 29. The Vice-Chancellour made a very good Speech unto them where my self and the University met them which was a mile before they entred the Town That Speech ended they passed along by St. John's where Mr. Tho. Atkinson made another Speech unto them very brief and very much approved of by his Majesty afterwards to me Within Christ-Church Gate Mr. William Strode the University Orator entertained them with another Speech which was well approved Thence the King accompanied his Queen to her Lodging and instantly returned and went with all the Lords to the Cathedral There after his Private Devotions ended at the West Door Dr. Morris one of the Prebendaries entertained him with another short Speech which was well liked And thence hisMajesty proceeded into the Quire and heard Service After Supper they were entertained with a Play at Christ-Church which was very well penn'd but yet did not take the Court so well The next day being Tuesday the King came to Service soon after 8 in the Morning It was at Christ-Church and Mr. Thomas Brown being then Proctor made an excellent Sermon which gave great Content The Sermon ended The Prince Elector and his Brother Prince Rupert attended by many of the Lords came to the Convocation-House where the Place was full of University-Men all in their Forms and Habits very orderly And the two Princes with divers Lords were pleased to be made Masters of Art and the two Princes Names were by his Majesty's leave entred in St. John's College to do that House that Honour for my sake In Convocation the Vice-Chancellour having first placed the Princes and briefly exprest the cause of that Convocation I made a short Speech which here follows in haec verba Florentes Academici hoc tempore florentissimi quibus Caroli Regis Pientissimi Prudentissimi simulque Mariae 〈◊〉 Heroinae Consortis suae charissimae praesentiâ frui datur Nec eâ solum sed praesentiâ eximiae spei Principum Nepotum M. Jacobi Sacratissimoe Memoriae Monarchae de Academia Literatisque omnibus optimè meriti Principes hi sunt hoc Titulo suo omni honoris genere dignissimi Vos eos omni quo 〈◊〉 prosequimini Quid expectatis ultrà Academici An ut ego Oraetorio in hoc Senatu fungar munere At illud memoria curis simul annis fracta lingua per se inculta desuetudine loquendi 〈◊〉 praesens 〈◊〉 quod ad alia festinat omnino Prohibent Nec Principes hi Preceresve illud à me expectant Cui aliud satis jam incumbit negotium qui illis 〈◊〉 in omnibus sum pollicitus Breviter itaq quod ad vos attinet Principes non Ortu magis quà m Virtutibus illustres Non expectat à vobis Academia ut possitis totam Entis prosunditatem exhaurire ut sic sitis Artium Magistri sed liceat dicere Freta aetatis vestrae nondum transiistis AEstus jam urgent juveniles Hos discite superare fluctus procellas has in auras redigere omnium insimul Artium Magistrieritis quid ni fortunoe Atque utinam nostrae potestatis esset coecoe illi Deoe oculos dare quibus virtutes vestras cerneret agnosceret jura Et vos etiam Proceres Principum horum Cultores convocata hac Academia exultat videre non solum conferre gradus suos in vos gestit quos omni honoris cultu veneratur sed potiùs eos conferendo honorem summum gradibus suis quaerit quod placeat Principibus hisce vobisq Pannis suis nam 〈◊〉 in purpura est inaugurari Floreat sic soepius Academia Nativis simul Adoptivis Filiis gaudeat Egregie Vice Cancellarie ad Creationem Admissionem simul pro Officio tuo descende AFter this the Vice-Chancellour proceeded made another short Speech and after Creation and Admission of the Princes and and other Honourable Persons ended the Convocation That finisht they all returned to Christ-Church to attend upon the King the Princes having formerly in the Morning seen some of the fair Colleges Then the Queen being not ready the King with the Princes and the Nobles my self also waiting upon him went to the Library where the King viewed the New Buildings and the Books and was entertained with a very neat Speech made by the Son of the Earl of Pembrook and Montgomery then Lord Chamberlain Then word was brought up that the Queen was come So the King went into the 〈◊〉 to her and they went away to St. John's to dinner the Princes and Nobles attending them When they were come to St. John's they first viewed the New-Building and that done I attended them up the Library Stairs where so soon as they began to ascend the Musick began and they had a fine short Song fitted for them as they ascended the Stairs In the Library they were Welcomed to the College with a short Speech made by one of the Fellows And Dinner being ready they passed from the old into the new Library built by my self where the King the Queen and the Prince Elector dined at one Table which stood cross at the upper end And Prince Rupert with all the Lords and Ladies present which were very many dined at a long Table in the same Room All other several Tables to the number of 13 besides these two were disposed in several Chambers of the College and had several Men appointed to attend them and I thank God I had that happiness that all things were in very good order and that no man went out at the Gates Courtier or other but content which was a Happiness quite beyond Expectation When Dinner was ended I attended the King and the Queen together with the Nobles into several withdrawing Chambers where they entertained themselves for the space of an hour And in the mean time I caused the Windows of the Hall to be shut the Candles lighted and all things made ready for the Play
to begin When these things were fitted I gave notice to the King and the Queen and attended them into the Hall whither I had the happiness to bring them by a Way prepared from the President 's Lodging to the Hall without any the least disturbance And had the Hall kept as fresh and cool that there was not any one person when the King and Queen came into it The Princes Nobles and Ladies entred the same way with the King and then presently another Door was opened below to fill the Hall with the better sort of Company which being done the Play was begun and Acted The Plot was very good and the Action It was merry and without offence and so gave a great deal of content In the middle of the Play I ordered a short Banquet for the King the Queen and the Lords And the College was at that time so well furnisht as that they did not borrow any one Actor from any College in Town The Play ended the King and the Queen went to Christ-Church retired and supped privately and about 8 a Clock went into the Hall to see another Play which was upon a piece of a Persian Story It was very well penn'd and acted and the strangeness of the Persian Habits gave great Content so that all Men came forth from it very well satisfied And the Queen liked it so well that she afterwards sent to me to have the Apparel sent to Hampton Court that she might see her own Players act it over again and see whether they could do it as well as t' was done in the University I caused the University to send both the Clothes and the Perspectives of the Stage and the Play was acted at Hampton Court in November following And by all Men's confession the Players came short of the University Actors Then I humbly desired of the King and the Queen that neither the Play nor Cloathes nor Stage might come into the Hands and use of the Common Players abroad which was graciously granted But to return to Oxford This Play being ended all Men betook themselves to their rest and upon Wednesday Morning August 31. about Eight of the Clock my self with the Vice-Chancellor and the Doctors attended the coming forth of the King and Queen and when they came did our Duties to them They were graciously pleased to give the University a great deal of thanks and I for my self and in the Name of the University gave their Majesties all possible thanks for their great and gracious Patience and Acceptance of our Poor and mean Entertainment So the King and the Queen went away very well pleased together That Wednesday Night I entertained at St. John's in the same Room where the King Dined the Day before at the long Table which was for the Lords all the Heads of Colleges and Halls in the Town and all the other Doctors both the Proctors and some few Friends more which I had employed in this time of Service which gave the University a great deal of Content being that which had never been done by any Chancellor before I sat with them at Table we were merry and very glad that all things had so passed to the great satisfaction of the King and the honour of that place Upon Thursday September 1. I Dined privately with some few of my Friends And after Dinner went to Cuddesden to my ancient Friend my Lord the Bishop of Oxford's House there I left my Steward and some few of my Servants with him at Oxford to look to my Plate Linnen and other things and to pay all Reckonings that no Man might ask a Penny after we had left the Town which was carefully done accordingly Upon Friday September 2. I lay at a house of Mr. Justice Jones's of Henley upon Thames upon his earnest Invitation And upon Saturday September 3. God be thanked I returned sase home to my House at Croyden The week after my Steward and other Servants which staid with him came from Oxford to me where the Care of my Servants with God's Blessing upon it was such as that having borrowed all the King's Plate which was in the Progress and all my Lord Chamberlain's and made use of all mine own and hired some of my Gold-smith I lost none but only two Spoons which were of mine own Plate and but little of my Linnen My Retinue being all of my own when I went to this Entertainment were between 40 and 50 Horse though I came privately into Oxford in regard of the nearness of the King and Queen then at Woodstock There was great store of Provision in all kinds sent me in towards this Entertainment and yet for I bare all the Charge of that Play which was at St. John's and suffered not that poor College to be at a penny Loss or Charge in any thing besides all these sendings in the Entertainment cost me ........ Salutem in Christo. SIR THE Sickness of these Times and my many other occasions made me forget to write to you before the beginning of Michaelmas Term last concerning the Sermon and Prayers usually had at St. Maries at the beginning of Terms which were wont to be not so orderly as they should nor with so good Example to other places at large in the Kingdom as such a University should give For First the Communion was Celebrated in the Body of the Church and not in the Chancel which tho' it be permitted in the Church of England in some cases of necessity where there is a Multitude of People yet very undecent it is and unfitting in that place where so few the more the pity use to communicate at these Solemn times But this abuse I caused to be rectified in Dr. Duppa's time and I hope neither you nor your Successors will suffer it to return again into the former Indecency Secondly tho' none do come to those Solemn Prayers and Sermons but Scholars and those too of the best Rank yet to no small dishonour of that place the Sermon is in Latin and the Prayers in English As if Latin Prayers were more unfit for a Learned Congregation than a Latin Sermon And the truth is the thing is very absurd in it self and contrary to the Directions given at the beginning of the Reformation of this Church for in the Latin Service Books which were first Printed in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth there is an Express both Direction and Charge that notwithstanding the altering of the ordinary Form of Prayers throughout the whole Body of the Kingdom from Latin into English Yet in the Universities such Prayers unto which none but they which were Learned did resort should be in Latin And for my part I do much wonder considering how Publick that Direction was that the University at the beginning of Terms should fall from this Ordinance and so divide the Service and Sermon between Latin and English Upon Consideration of this I acquainted His Majesty both with that Printed Direction of Queen
Remedy by their Care I will my self 〈◊〉 the King and the State with these foul Sufferances and not stay till Great Men who of late begin to open their Mouths apace complain first of these great Enormities For my own part I have done my utmost And I do very well understand what hurt this may bring to the University in such Times as these But better some hurt than that they should be quite undone And I pray let the Heads know how sensible I am of these foul Disorders in private and how the Publick comes to suffer by them I thank you heartily for making the disorderly Fellow of Trinity-College an Example And for Hull if my Kisman miscarry I shall then expect what the Law will do to him but if he escape yet I hope the Fact being so barbarous and for ought I yet hear without Provocation you will take order when he comes out of the Castle to send him out of the University too by Bannition As for those which you say are suspected to have a hand in this foul Business and are now under Bail I leave you to do to them as proof shall rise against them But I confess I never heard of more than Hull in the Business till I read it in your Letters And the more were in it the worse the Business for then it seems the Outrage was plotted I perceive that the Complaint which I received concerning the Young Earl of Downe was not causless And how strangely soever Dr. Fulham look upon the Business I think it had been well some restraint had been put upon all the Quarrellers so far forth as they had appeared Guilty For Young Noblemen when they are in the University must be kept to a Vniversity Life in some measure or else their Example will spoil the rest Lambeth March 6. 〈◊〉 W. Cant. MR. Justice Jones gave the Vice-Chancellor Thanks openly on the Bench at the last Assizes for his Care and Pains in Reforming the Ale-Houses Sir Francis Windebanke and Sir John Danvers were on Monday March 9th Sworn Burgesses of the Parliament for the University with an unanimous Consent of the whole House Our Nobility here are not kept in such awe the more is the pity as those bred up at Cambridge And here is one Causield an Irish Lord's Son who both Disorders himself and misleads others I think it would be a good Office done to the University to have him removed hence Oxford March 9. 〈◊〉 A. Frewen I Am sorry to hear that the Noblemens Sons which are with you are not kept in so good Order as they should be And more that it should be confessed by you that they are not kept in so good awe as they are at Cambridge for I am sure your Statutes are perfecter than theirs and I dare say you have as much careful Assistance from me in all things as Cambridge hath from their Chancellor And this being undeniably true the fault must needs be among your selves And I protest unto you I knew nothing of any of their Liberty misgiven or misused till about a Fortnight since that I writ to you about the Young Earl of Downe and that now you write to me about Caufield the Son of an Irish Lord. These are therefore to pray and require you at your next meeting with the Heads to let them know that I am very much scandalized at the Liberty which is given to these Young Men and to require of them in whose Colleges or Halls any Noblemens Sons are First That they be as carefully held to all manner of Exercise which they are able to perform as any other whatsoever And Secondly That they be kept in Obedience to all the Statutes within the several Houses respectively as I hope your self will take care for their Observation of the Statutes of the University 'T is true I would have a difference put between Noblemens Sons and others of meaner Condition but that should be in an Honourable Usage of them not in giving them any Liberty at their own hurt and the Dishonour of the University Now whether you will send for all these Young Men to the meeting of the Heads that they may know what Charge I have given concerning them I leave to your self and that which you shall judge fittest upon the place But I would have Young Caufield called and his Tutour and there let it be told unto them and the Head of the House in which he is that if he mend not his Manners he shall not stay there to corrupt others And I do hereby require of you and them That either they keep him in better Order or presently send him away to his Friends And if they do not do the one or the other either you shall banish him the University or I will And to this end I pray send me up the Form of a Bannition to lie by me and Caufield's Christian Name that I may begin with him if there be cause And for the Young Earl of Downe I have written to Dr. Fell to look better to him or I will make him an Example also let his Friends take it as they please Lambeth March 13. 〈◊〉 W. Cant. MR. Sympson a Senior Fellow of Trinity College is by the Statutes of that House urged to proceed Doctor or to resign Their Visitor as Doctor Potter tells me hath herein been consulted who finds only this way to relieve him by having his Grace denied him in the University their being a Clause in their Statute to that purpurpose which I have seen Hereupon they beg a Repulse of me and shall grant it if Your Grace think well of it The Party is poor and so likely to draw more Disrepute on the Degree than it can bring Honour to him March 23. 〈◊〉 A. Frewen SIR I Am inform'd there is an express Mulct set down in the Statute for each Regent to pay that hath forfeited his Cautions in not fulfilling the Duties belonging to his Regency which are creating Generals moderating Quodlibets examining of Candidates and the like These Mulcts as far as I remember are to be gathered by the Proctors and all or some part of them to be accounted for by them to your self and the Delegates at the end of their Office I do not remember that these Duties have been so well accounted for to the University as they ought to be which as it is some Loss to that Body so it is a great Encouragement to the Regents to be slack and careless in the Performance of all those Duties which belong unto them Whereas were they strictly called to an Account for them you should have a far greater performance of all Duties than now there is These are therefore to pray and require you forthwith to acquaint the Proctors with what I have here written and to require them in my Name That at their Accompts they present unto you before the Delegates
Houses most of them poor mean Persons seven or eight in all here a Pistol and there a Sword rusty and elsewhere a Birding-Piece so we are safe enough from them God keep us from the Scots In that View I found two Convicted One here below East-Gate a sorry labouring Mason The other one Mr. Hunt by the Castle a Stranger staying here only a while in a House of his own till he can find some Brewer to take it being fit for that purpose and standing void November ult 1640. Ch. Potter I Thank you for your Pains in your Search for Arms among Recusants and am glad you find all so safe and them so unfurnish'd As for Mr. Hunt if he be a Stranger the sooner the Town is rid of him the better For the Confirmation of your Endowments upon your Professors and Orators you shall do well when the great Businesses are more over for till then it will not be intended to move for Confirmation in Parliament And in the mean time it may be very for you fit to prepare a Bill by some good Council which may contain them all in one if it may be It is true you write that most Colleges have upon Christmas-day a Sermon and a Communion in their private Chapels and by that means cannot come to the publick Sermon of the University at Christ-Church And whereas you write farther that some have wished that in regard of this the Morning Sermon for the University might be put off to the Afternoon as it is upon Easter-day for the like occasion I for my part think the motion very good it being a day of Solemn Observation Yet I would have it proposed to the Heads and then that which you shall do by publick Consent shall very well satisfie me Lambeth Dec. 4. 1640. W. Cant. MR. Wilkinson complained in Parliament against the Vice-Chancellor for Censuring of his Sermon The Vice-Chancellor according to the Command of the Committee for Religion in the House of Commons sent up the Copy of Wilkinson's Sermon and his Exceptions against it upon Tuesday December 8th the time appointed for the Committee But the Carrier's late coming in hindred the delivery for that time but it was deliver'd the next Morning by Dr. Baylie W. Cant. WHereas upon Enquiry made by Dr. Frewen late Vice-Chancellor of Oxford in two several Assemblies of the Heads of Houses there none of them could inform him of any University-Man whom he knew or probably suspected to be a Papist or Popishly affected Notwithstanding which Care of the Governors and clearness of the Vniversity it could not be avoided but some Persons suggestions should be put up to the High Court of Parliament as if Mass were ordinarily said in the University and frequented by Vniversity-Men without any Controll of the Governors there We therefore the present Vice-Chancellor and the Heads of Houses for the better clearing of our University from such foul Imputations have thought fit under our Hands to testifie That we are so far from conniving at the Celebration of Mass here or knowing of any such Matter that we neither know nor can probably suspect any Member of our University to be a Papist or Popishly addicted In witness whereof we have Subscribed Decem. 4. 1640. Christo. Potter Vice-Chancel Oxon. Nat. Brent Praefect Coll. Mert. Ro. Kettle President of Trin. Coll. Jo. Prideaux Rector Coll. Oxon S. T. P. Regius Jo. Wilkinson Aul. Magd. Princ. Samuel Radclif Coll. AEr Nas. Princ. Jo. Tolson Coll. Oriel Praepos Paul Hood Rector Coll. Lincoln A. Frewen Pres. Coll. Magd. Rich. Baylie Praesid S. John Tho. Clayton Coll. Pembr Magr. Med. Prof. Reg. Tho. Lawrence Magist. Coll. Bal. Fran. Mansel Coll. Jesu Princ. Tho Walker Universit Mr. Gilbert Sheldon Ward of All-Souls Coll. Daniel Escott Ward of Wadh. Coll. Guil. Strode Eccl. Christ. Subdec Adam Airay Princip of Edmond-Hall Ro. Newlin Praes Coll. Corp. Christ. Rich. Zouch Aul. All. Princip Philip. Parsons Aul. Cervin Princip John Saunders Aul. Mur. Princ. Degory Wheare Princ. Glouc. Hall P. Allibond Proct. Sen. N. Greaves Proct. Jun. The other Headsof Houses were not in Town when this was Subscribed MY Present Condition is not unknown to the whole World yet by few pitied or deplored The righteous God best knows the Justice of my sufferings on whom both in life and death I will ever depend the last of which shall be unto me most welcome in that my life is now burdensome unto me my mind attended with variety of sad and grievous thoughts my soul continually vexed with anxieties and troubles groaning under the burden of a displeased Parliament my name aspersed and grosly abused by the multiplicity of Libellous Pamphlets and my self debarred from wonted access to the best of Princes and it is Vox Populi that I am Popishly affected How earnest I have been in my Disputations Exhortations and otherwise to quench such sparks lest they should become Coals I hope after my death you will all acknowledge yet in the midst of all my afflictions there is nothing more hath so nearly touched me as the remembrance of your free and joyful acceptance of me to be your Chancellor and that I am now shut up from being able to doe you that Service which you might justly expect from me When I first received this honour I intended to have carried it with me to my Grave neither were my hopes any less since the Parliament called by his Majesties Royal Command committed me to this Royal Prison But sith by reason of matters of greater consequence yet in hand the Parliament is pleased to procrastinate my Tryal I doe hereby as thankfully resign my Office of being Chancellor as ever I received that Dignity entreating you to Elect some Honourable Person who upon all occasions may be ready to serve you and I beseech God send you such an one as may do all things for his glory and the furtherance of your most famous Vniversity This is the continual Prayer of Tower June 28. 1641. Your dejected Friend and Chancellor Being the last time I shall write so W. Cant. FINIS AN ANSWER TO THE SPEECH OF The Right HONOURABLE WILLIAM Lord Viscount Say and Seal c. SPOKEN IN PARLIAMENT Upon the BILL about BISHOPS POWER in CIVIL AFFAIRS AND COURTS of JUDICATURE Anno 1641. By the Most Reverend WILLIAM LAUD Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Then Prisoner in the TOWER Non apposui ultimam manum W. CANT Arch-Bishop LAVD's ANSWER TO THE Lord SAY's SPEECH Against the BISHOPS THIS Speech is said to have done the Bishops their Calling and their present Cause a great deal of harm among the Gentry and divers sober-minded Men and therefore I did much wonder that so many learned Bishops present in the House to hear it should not some of them being free and among their Books so soon as it was printed give it Answer and stop the venom which it spits from poysoning so many at least as it 's said to
would have suffered him to take that place upon him so contrary to the command of Christ and the Practice of the Apostles if it had been so indeed Or would they have suffer'd their Preachers which then attended their Commissioners at London not only to meddle with but to preach so much temporal Stuff as little belonged to the Purity of the Gospel had they been of this Lord's Opinion Surely I cannot think it But let the Bishops do but half so much yea though they be commanded to do that which these Men assume to themselves and 't is a venture but it shall prove Treason against the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom and an endeavouring to bring in an Arbitrary Government Well! I 'll tell you a Tale. There 's a Minister at this day in London of great Note among the Faction well esteem'd by this Lord and others of this Outcry against the Bishops Votes in Parliament and their meddling in Civil Affairs this Man I 'll spare his Name being pressed by a Friend of his how he came to be so eager against the Church of which and her Government he had ever heretofore been an Upholder and had Subscribed unto it made this Answer Thou art a Fool thou knowest not what it is to be the Head of a Party This Man is one of the great Masters of the present Reformation and do you not think it far more inconsistent with his Ministerial Function to be in the Head of a turbulent Faction to say the least of them than for a Bishop to meddle in Civil Affairs Yet such is the Religion of our Times But 't is no matter for all this his Lordship hath yet more to say against the Ambition of the Prelates For Their Ambition and intermeddling with Secular Affairs and State Business hath been the cause of shedding more Christian Blood than any thing else in the Christian World and this no Man can deny that is versed in History This is the same over and over again saving that the Expression contains in it a vast Untruth For they that are versed in History must needs say 't is a loud one that Bishops meddling in Temporal Affairs hath been the cause of shedding more Christian Blood than any thing else in the Christian World What a happiness hath this Lord that his pale Meagerness cannot blush at such thing as this Yea but he will prove it here at home in this Kingdom For says he We need not go out of our own Kingdom for Examples of their Insolency and Cruelty When they had a dependency upon the Pope and any footing thereby out of the Land there were never any that carryed themselves with so much Scorn and Insolency towards the Princes of this Kingdom as they have done Two of them the Bishop that last spake hath named but instances of many more may be given whereof there would be no end 'T is true indeed we need not go out of our own Kingdom for Examples of their Insolency and Cruelty For in so many Ages 't is no wonder in any Kingdom to find some bad Examples be it of Insolency Cruelty or what you will Especially in the midst of so much Prosperity as accompanied Clergy-Men in those times But 't is true too that there are far more Examples of their Piety and Charity would this Lord be pleased to remember the one with the other As for their bad Examples his Lordship gives a Reason why not all but some of them carryed themselves with so much Scorn and Insolency towards their Princes even with almost as much as this Lord and his Faction carry themselves at this day towards their mild and gracious King And the Reason is a true one it was their dependency upon the Pope and their footing which thereby they had to subsist out of the Land which may and I hope will be a sufficient warning to his Majesty and his Successours never to let in again a foreign Supream Power into any of his Dominions For 't is to have one State within yet not dependent upon the other which can never be with Safety or Quiet in any Kingdom And I would have the World consider a little with what Insolency and perhaps Disallegiance this Lord and his Round-head Crew would use their Kings if they had but half so strong a foreign dependance as the Bishops then had that dare use the most gracious of Kings as they do this present day Two of these Insolent ones this Lord says the Bishop that last spake named Lincoln stands in the Margin by which it appears that Dr. John Williams then Bishop of Lincoln and since Arch-Bishop of York was the Man that named two but because this Lord names them not I know not who they are and therefore can say nothing for or against them but leave them to that Lord which censured them As for that which follows that the instances of many more may be given whereof there would be no end This is a piece of this Lord 's loud Rhetorick which can have no Truth in it especially relating as it doth to this Kingdom only But whereas this Lord said immediately before that their meddling in State business hath been the cause of shedding more Christian Blood than any thing else in the Christian World and in the very next words falls upon the proof of it in this Kingdom I must put him in mind that one Parliament in England namely that which most irreligiously and trayterously deposed Richard II. was the cause of the effusion of more Christian Blood amongst us than all the Bishops that ever were in this Kingdom For that base and unjust Parliament was the cause of all the Civil Wars those Bloody Wars which began in the Heir's time after the Usurpation of Henry IV. and ceased not till there were slain of the Royal Blood and of Nobles and the common People a Numberless Number And I heartily beg it of God that no disloyal Parliament may ever bring this Kingdom into the like distress For our Neighbours are far stronger now than they were then and what desolation it might bring upon us God in Heaven knows So this Lord may see if he will what a Parliament it self being misgoverned may do But will his Lordship think it Reason to condemn all Parliaments because this and some few more have done what they should not do as he here deals by Bishops Sure he would not But having done with the Bishops dependency on the Pope he goes on and tells us farther that Although the Pope be cast off yet now there is another Inconvenience no less prejudicial to the Kingdom by their sitting in this House and that is they have such an absolute dependency upon the King that they sit not there as free Men. I am heartily sorry to see this Lord thus far transported The Pope is indeed cast off from domineering over King Church and State But I am sorry to hear it from this Lord that this other
the malicious cunning of that Opposite Faction And though I shall spare dead Men's Names where I have not certainty Yet if you be pleased to look back and consider who they were that Governed businesses in 1571 and rid the Church almost at their pleasure And how potent the Ancestors these Libellers began then to grow you will think it no hard matter to have the Articles Printed and this Clause left out And yet 't is plain That after the stir about Subscription in the Year 1571 the Articles were setled and subscribed unto at last as in the Year 1562 with this Clause in them for the Church For looking farther into the Records which are in mine own Hands I have found the Book of 1563 subscribed by all the Lower House of Convocation in this very Year of Contradiction 1571 Dr. John Elmar who was after Lord Bishop of London being there Prolocutor Alexander Nowel Dean of St. Paul's having been Prolocutor in 1563 and yet living and present and subscribing in 1571. Therefore I do here openly in the Star-Chamber charge upon that pure Sect this foul Corruption of falsifying the Articles of the Church of England let them take it off as they can I have now done and 't is time I should with the Innovations charged upon the Prelates and fit to be answered here Some few more there are but they belong to matter of Doctrine which shall presently be answered Justo Volumine at large to satisfie all Well-Minded People But when Mr. Burton's Book which is the Main one is answered I mean his Book no this Railing neither Prynn nor Bastwick nor any Attendants upon Rabshakeh shall by me or my care be answered If this Court find not a way to stop these Libellers Mouths and Pens for me they shall rail on till they be weary Yet one thing more I beseech you give me leave to add 'T is Mr. Burton's Charge upon the Prelates That the Censures formerly laid upon Malefactors are now put upon God's Ministers for their Vertue and Piety A heavy charge this too But if he or any Man else can shew that any Man hath been punished in the High Commission or elsewhere by the Prelates for Vertue and Piety there is all the Reason in the World we should be severely punished our selves But the Truth is the Vertue and Piety for which these Ministers are punished is for Preaching Schism and Sedition many of their Sermons being as bad as their Libels As Burton's Libell was one of his Sermons first But whether this stuff have any Affinity with Vertue and Piety I submit to any Christian Reader And yet Mr. Burton is so confident of his Innocency even in this Cause wherein he hath so fouly carryed himself that he breaks forth into these words I never so much as once dreamed that Impiety and Impudency it self in such a Christian State as this is and under such a gracious Prince durst ever thus publickly have called me in Question and that upon the open Stage c. You see the boldness of the Man and in as bad a Cause as I think in this kind ever any Man had I shall end all with a passage out of S. Cyprian when he then Bishop of Carthage was bitterly railed upon by a pack of Schismaticks his answer was and 't is now mine They have railed both bitterly and falsly upon me and yet non oportet me paria cum illis facere it becomes not me to answer them with the like either Levities or Revilings but to speak and write that only which becomes Sacerdotem Dei a Priest of God Neither shall I in this give way though I have been extremely vilified to either Grief or Passion to speak remembring that of the Psalmist Psal. 37. 8. Fret not thy self else shalt thou be moved to do Evil. Neither yet by God's Grace shall the Reproaches of such Men as these make me faint or start aside either from the Right-way in matter of practice they are S. Cyprian's words again or a certa Regula from the certain Rule of Faith And since in former times some spared not to call the Master of the House Beelzebub how much more will they be bold with them of his Houshould as it is in St. Matthew 10. 25. And so bold have these Men been but the next words of our Saviour are Fear them not I humbly crave Pardon of your Lordships for this my necessary length and give you all hearty thanks for your Noble Patience and your Just and Honowable Censure upon these Men and your unanimous dislike of them and defence of the Church But because the business hath some Reflexion upon my self I shall forbear to censure them and leave them to God's Mercy and the King's Justice FINIS Dr. Frewen Vicechancellour The Election of the R. R. Father William Laud Bp. of London to be Chancellour Convocation At London-House for Admission of their Chancellour Elect. The Letters Patents of the University Dr. Frewen continued Vicechancellour The Chancelor's Speech Order taken for weekly Letters from the Vicechancellour Concerning the making and settling the Statutes To Dr. Tolson the Vicechancellour's Deputy about two disorderly Sermons To Dr. Frewin Vicechancellor about observing Formalities My first Letters to the Convocation A 〈◊〉 in Christ Church given to the Hebrew Reader for ever The observing of Formalities The not spolling of his Majesty's Game Dr. Smith Warden of Wadham College apopinted Vicechancellour Dr. Smith A Letter of Thanks from the Vniversity for my Letters to Them Dr. 〈◊〉 the Hebrew Reader 's Thanks for the Prebend of Christchurch procured by me Certain Advertisements given the Vicechancellour at Michaelmas 〈◊〉 Octob 6 1630. An Order De accumulandis Gradibus Octob. 11. 1630. Dr. Prideaux his Letter De Accumulandis Gradibus My Answer to Dr. Prideaux his Letter de accumulandis gradibus Concerning Act Questions A Clause of my Letters to the Vicechancellour de susceptione Gradûs Baccalur in SS Theologiâ Octob. 15. 1630. De gradibus accumulandis Dr. Prideaux his Thanks and an Answer to my former Letters 〈◊〉 The Act Question Dr. Prideaux his Thanks and Acknowledgement of the Justness of my Proceedings The Proctors of the University their Thanks concerning Reformation Concerning the Principal of St. Edmund's Hall To the Vice-Chancellour concerning the Choice of a Principal of St. Edmund's-Hall An Act concerning the Commission for Fees Thanks from the University for my Care of their Liberties My Letters to the Vicechancellour about the publishing of Mr. Page's Book concerning Bowing at the Name of Jesus The occasion of the next foregoing Letter Mr. Baker's Letter to Mr. Page about the not publishing of his Book c. In my Predecessour's time Annus Cancellarii Secundus Dr. Smith continued Vice-Chancellour a Second year My Letters sent with his Majesties to the University about Fees July 4. 1631. His Majesties Letters to be Register'd The Delegates to settle presently the Business of Fees His Majesties Letters to me