OXFORD UNDER THE COMMONWEALTH.*
PROFESSOR BURROWS has done here better work for the Camden Society than, as far as we know, he has done for his University. Yet this, too, is in a sense done for the University. A very curious and interesting passage in its existence has been fully and judiciously illustrated, and a really valuable contribution made to our knowledge of academical, and, indeed, of English history. The further Professor Burrows removes himself from his own times, the more impartial and intelligent is the view which he takes of the men and the measures of which he has to speak. There is nothing of the partisanship which be has unfortunately made us associate with his name, in the sober, candid, and impartial estimate of the combatants who battled for the possession of the University some two centuries and a half ago.
Oxford, which throughout its later history has suffered from its unhappy connection with reactionary politics, never received so much injury as it did from the disastrous choice by which Charles selected it as the head-quarters of the Royalist party. The prosperity and the adversity of that party were equally disastrous to it. In early days, before the genius of Fairfax and of Cromwell had turned the tide of Royalist success, it had a season of gaiety and splendour. It was the seat of a Court which, if it cared little for ethics, had a very keen appreciation of aesthetics. Its streets and cloisters were filled with the brilliant figures of Cavaliers and ladies of quality. But the functions of the University were almost forgotten. It was, to borrow an illustration from our own experience, as if the Commemoration week, with all its excitements multiplied a hundredfold, were extended over the whole of the academical year. And when the tide turned, pleasure and luxury, indeed, disappeared, but learning did not return. Antony Wood, him- self a red-hot Royalist, draws a deplorable picture of the con- dition of the University, when, the cause of the King being now desperate, it had to yield itself to the Commonwealth. Not only were the revenues of the Colleges miserably diminished, but "lectures and exercises had for the most part ceased." " The few scholars that were remaining were, for the most part,. especially such that were young, much debauched, and become idle, by their bearing arms and keeping company with rude soldiers." The College plate, which had gone into the bottom- less pit of the King's military chest, might have been spared, for scholars can eat and drink from earthenware ; but the books (" the books of some libraries were embezzled "), were a more grievous and a more significant loss. "In a word," as Wood. sums up the matter, " there was scarce the form of a University left." So complete, in some quarters, was the desolation, that its effects were not repaired till long after the Restoration. A quaint story is told, on the authority of Warton, of Dr. Bathurst, President of Trinity (1664.1704), who, in his old age, would amuse himself by throwing stones at the windows of Balliol, " as if anxious to complete its ruin." " Throwing stones at Balliol" is an amusement which, in a metaphorical sense, has survived to our own time, suggested, it is true, not by its ruin, but by an almost intolerable prosperity.
Professor Burrows readily allows that intervention from without was necessary to redress the disorders which had almost brought the University to ruin. It is needless to say that the authorities of the day perceived nothing of the kind. They opposed to the action of the Commission an obstinate and skilful resistance. The details of this struggle make some very amusing reading. The party of resistance began by scoring a point. The Visitors summoned the authorities to appear before them on June 4th, 1647, at eleven a.m., but, thanks to the prolonged eloquence of their own preacher, they were too late for the ap- pointment. The Vice-Chancellor and Doctors had declined the sermon, and left the Convocation House "precisely as the clock struck ; their procession meeting that of the Visitors on the Proscholinm, the Bedell audaciously cried, 'Room for Mr. Vice- Chancellor The Visitors, being taken unawares, gave place. As they passed, the Vice-Chancellor very civilly moved his cap to them, saying, Good-morrow, gentlemen ; 'tis past eleven of the clock,' and so passed on, without taking further notice of them." Three months and more passed without any other action. At the end of September, the Visitors reappeared, armed with fresh powers. Still they made very little way. The outward symbols of dignity and power
• The &gistsr of the Visitors of the University of OrforJ, A.D. 1847-1859. Edited by Montagu Burrow,. Chit:bele Pr,feenor of Modern li.etory. Printed for the Camden Society. 1581.
remained with their antagonists. ' The Bedells refused to give up the gold and silver staves which grace academical processions. Everything, in fact, went on as if the Visitors had never made their appearance in Oxford. In November, the ringleaders of the opposition were summoned before a Committee of Parliament, and their action pronounced, though not without division among their Judges, to be in contempt. They were accordingly de- posed; nevertheless, "these things being done, and their orders, by command, published, not a man stirred from his place or removed." It was not till February, in the following year, that the sentence was executed, and the official posts of the Univer- sity filled by men who were in harmony with the new order of things. It now remained to " purge " the Colleges, and this was a work which could not be done in a day. The question, " Do you submit to the authority of Parliament in this Visitation P" was put to every member, whether Master, Fellow, student, or servant, of the Colleges. The answers, as might be expected, gave plenty of trouble. Professor Burrows says
It is impossible to read the hundreds of different replies given in the Register without a deep interest. Every shade of ingenuity is to be found expressed. Every sort of spirit is to be traced, from the jaunty, contemptuous, and sometimes witty answer of the seasoned Cavalier, regarding the loss of his Fellowship or Scholarship, just as be would a bullet in battle, as the fortune of war, to the pitiful, almost agonised, wail of the man who is giving up all with infinite reluctance for conscience' sake, and thinks he may even yet soften the hearts of his judges. The Visitors soon find themselves bewildered in a labyrinth of evasive answers, and for a clue again apply to the sterner sagacity of the Committee of Parliament. Henry Wilkinson, senior, mo doubt sufficiently fretted at the scrupulousness of his colleagues, is again their ambassador. No time is lost in reply ; no weakness is to be discovered in the answer of the Committee. They classify the four most common methods of evasion, and pronounce them at once to be 'no submission.' Neither profession of ignorance' (the natural resource of many of the younger men and servants), nor referring to the answer of their several Houses,' nor saying that they cannot, dare not, or do not, submit without giving a reason, nor submitting to the authority of the King and two Houses of 'Parliament,' &c.,—no one of these is to be reckoned a submission."
But we have not done yet. Some " malignants " still continued to cling to their places. Some even, thanks to favour shown them in high places, managed to hold them to their death, or -till the wheel of fortune brought back their friends to power. In the end, about 400 expulsions were made. This is Wood's estimate, and Professor Burrows sees no reason to question its accuracy.
The Visitors did not limit their action to putting friends of the Commonwealth into the places of friends of the King. They bad ideas of reform in their heads, ideas which, after more than two centuries, we have begun tardily to adopt. It is not easy to ,estimate how much money would have been turned to better uses, and how many lives rescued from stagnation and indolence, if it had not been left for the latter half of the nineteenth century to realise the provisions of a " Modell," entered in the Register under date September 18th,1649 Lest men should de- generate, and make the meanes their end, and through retirement become droanes, may it be ordered, that noe man enjoy his Fellowship beyond Doctor's standing, or one year after his Com- mencement, unless they be such as are Professors or Public Lecturers, and may doe more eminent service in the Universitie than elswhere." Another reform has less approved itself to this generation. They enforced the ancient practice of speaking Latin in the assemblies of the University, perhaps for the same reason which had commended itself to Dr. Bond in 1590, that it caused " great quietness in our public assemblies."
In some Colleges, worse abuses than idle fellowships had to be -redressed. In three, New College, All Souls', and Magdalen, if not in others, fellowships were bought and sold. This evil seems not to have been finally extinguished till late in the century. We cannot give a tithe of the curious and interesting entries that the Register of the Visitors contains. Some that relate to financial matters are specially noticeable. Among the Head- ships which were so poor that the aid of the Visitors was invoked for their augmentation, are to be found some which are now supposed to be fair pieces of preferment. The Head of 'Trinity received £25 per annum, a benefice worth in quiet times £200 per annum, being then " much more uncomfortable than beneficial." At University and Pembroke, the Heads received £30 ; at Balliol, Jesus, and Oriel, little more. Some of these colleges we know from other statements to have been miserably poor. Wadham owed £400 to its butcher and baker. Three fellowships and three scholarships were to be kept 'vacant for four years, to pay the debt. If we suppose a fellow- ship to have been equal to three scholarships, this'would give
us £8 6s. 8d. as the annual value of the latter, and £25 for the former. At University College, the New Foundation was found to owe 0700. "All the Fellows were to be suspended for three years and a half from the profits of their fellowships."
If our readers are anxious to have more, they must go to Professor Burrows' very interesting volume.
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