on this University Committee, of whom 10 were on the side of the University, and 13 against them. Sir Harry Vane, Mr. Fiennes, and Mr. Selden were among the friends of Oxford, and the Independents generally were favourable to their cause, partly on the ground of liberty of conscience, and partly from jealousy of the Presbyterians, who had already become influential in Cambridge, as well as in other parts of the country. Numerous meetings of the Committee were held; and on the 28th December, when there were 15 members present, they decided by a majority of ten to five, that Dr. Fell, the Vice-Chancellor of Oxford, should be removed from his Deanery of Christ Church, and from his office in the University, having been guilty of high contempt of the authority of Parliament. Various individuals of less note were also ordered to be removed from their academical offices.

The Parliament supported the Committee in their proceedings, by appointing a new Vice-Chancellor, Mr. Reynolds, and two new Proctors. On the 8th March the House of Lords deputed the Earl of Pembroke, Chancellor of the University, with the Visitors, to create Mr. Reynolds a Doctor of Divinity, and formally to admit him and the new Proctors into their respective offices. They farther empowered the Chancellor, Visitors, Vice-Chancellor, Proctors, and the Delegates who had assisted the Visitors, to confer degrees on all who should have been examined and approved by these Delegates, and to suspend and remove from any power in the Convocation House all those who might be convicted of contempt of the power of Parliament, so that "none of the known enemies of Parliament might hereafter "intermeddle in the government of the University, or any "longer retard the reformation there intended by the Parliament, contrary to the articles agreed upon at the sur"render of Oxford."

Great difficulties were still experienced in carrying out the proposed changes; and on the 31st March (1648) the Committee reiterated the order of the House of Lords, directing that none of those who either had been or should

EARL OF PEMBROKE.

469

be convicted of resisting or denying the authority of Parliament in the visitation of the University, should be admitted to vote or speak in the Convocation or Congregation of the University. General Fairfax also despatched an order at this time to Lieutenant-Colonel Keylsey that he should send for some companies of his regiment to Oxford to assist the Visitors, and this order, as Anthony Wood observes, “made "the Visitors more bold and peremptory."

In April the Earl of Pembroke, as Chancellor, arrived in Oxford to complete the new appointments in the University. He endeavoured, unsuccessfully, to persuade Mrs. Fell, the wife of the former Vice-Chancellor, to leave the Deanery at Christ Church. A military escort accompanied him on his visit, and the lady was ultimately carried by some of the soldiers in a chair into the quadrangle, which enabled Reynolds, the new Vice-Chancellor, to obtain possession of his collegiate residence at Oxford.

Academical oaths, under the new regulations of the Parliament, contained a clause by which the officers of the University engaged to observe the University statutes, liberties, privileges, and customs rightly established, and in a way subordinate to the authority and power of Parliament. But the personal attendance of the Chancellor was requisite at various Colleges, in order to induce the Episcopalian heads of those establishments to quit their houses. At All Souls College, Dr. Sheldon, the Warden, declined to deliver up the keys of his residence, and in consequence of his refusal the doors were broken open, and the reverend doctor himself was committed to prison, where he remained until October, for contempt of the authority of the Visitors. Dr. Baylie, of St. John's College, was asked by Prynne if he would not yield obedience in case the King should visit the College; to which he replied that he knew that the King would not visit. Dr. Radcliff, of Brasenose College, was removed from his office as Principal, and the appointment of the new Principal was entered in the College books in the following manner :

"We, the Chancellor, Visitors, and Proctors of this University, according to an order of the Lords and Commons assembled, do invest Daniel Greenwood, Bachelor of Divinity, elected Principal of Brasenose by the Committee of Lords and Commons for the reformation of Oxford, with all and singular the rights, privileges, and emoluments which do of right belong to the Principal of the College aforesaid. In witness whereof we subscribe our names, this 13th April, 1648.

"PEMBROKE & MONTGOMERY, Chancellor.

"WILL. PRYNNE.

"FR. CHEYNELL.

"ROB. HARRIS.

WILL. COBBE.

NATHANIEL BRENT.
JOSHUA CROSSE (Proctor)."

Numerous satires were published on the occasion of the Earl of Pembroke's visit to Oxford, one of which commenced with the following words :

"Nay, black coats, now look to 't, you must away;

Zounds, men, my lord is come to town to-day."

Another description of the visitation begins as follows, in playful Latin:

"Rumore nuper est delatum,

Dum agebamus ruri,

Oxonium ire reformatum
Ab iis qui dicti puri.*

The Puritan Visitors deemed it right on May-day to interfere with the amusements of the people, by breaking garlands and dispersing morris-dancers; all the members of the University were required to submit to the authority of the Parliament, and a large number complied, either directly or indirectly, with this command.

In April 1649 an order was made by the Parliamentary Committee, and shortly afterwards put in execution, that all members of the University and of the Colleges and Halls, who had continued in Oxford whilst it was a garrison against the Parliament, and who had absented themselves since the

* Wood's Annals, vol. iii. p. 581.

VISITATION OF COLLEGES.

471

surrender without any statutable licence, should be removed from their places. The Visitors resolved at Oxford, in the same year, 1649, that the Colleges in the University should be visited, particularly with a view to inquire into the manners of all the members thereof, in relation to the several Statutes that ought to be observed; and to inquire into whatever was contrary to the reformation begun and intended by the Visitors.

Powers were granted by Parliament to the Visitors to take away and destroy pictures, images, crucifixes, and relics, adjudged by them to be superstitious or idolatrous : Books of Common Prayer were removed from college chapels; Latin prayers according to the Liturgy were discontinued at Christ Church, and the new service of the Directory was gradually introduced at Oxford.

In September 1649 a model for the perfecting of the reformation of the University was prepared by the Parliamentary Committee, in which the following directions

appear :—

66

Resolved, That because Statutes as well as persons are a grand subject of reformation, the Fellows of all Colleges, who came in by a Parliamentary power, be appointed to consult with their respective heads, for removing such Statutes and constitutions as are either impious, superstitious, or inconvenient, and to substitute such as may promote piety and learning.

"That the Delegates of the University, last year appointed, do the like by their Statutes, and then present them to the Visitors, to be confirmed by them.

"That lest men should degenerate, and make their means their end, and through retirement become drones, no man should enjoy his Fellowship beyond Doctor's standing, or one year after his commencement [as a Doctor], unless they be such as are Professors or Public Lecturers."

The Visitors were directed by the Parliamentary Committee to take care that no other language than either Latin or Greek should be spoken by any Fellow, Scholar, or Student whatsoever, with a view to promoting a more familiar acquaintance with the ancient languages: the orders on this

subject were, however, neglected by the Students, and were repeated probably without much result.

A declaration of fidelity to the Commonwealth of England, as established without a King or House of Lords, was sent to the University of Oxford in November 1649, but the Vice-Chancellor Reynolds, and some other leading men, refused to sign this engagement, and a petition to the University Committee was sent from the Convocation, stating the conscientious scruples of those who objected to subscribe the test in question, and promising, on behalf of the body of the University, that they would live quietly and peaceably in their places and callings under the then existing government. Party feeling ran high at that period, so that, notwithstanding the academical remonstrance, the Visitors insisted on tendering the obnoxious pledge. Dr. Reynolds and some others, who refused this engagement, were consequently ejected in the year 1651.

A society of scientific men had been formed in London during these troublous times, who had met to discuss philosophical subjects, and as several of their body obtained academical offices in Oxford, their meetings were held in that city, and after the restoration of the monarchy they became the nucleus of the Royal Society, instituted under the auspices of King Charles II. Oliver Cromwell was appointed Chancellor of the University of Oxford after the death of the Earl of Pembroke in 1649-50; the Parliamentary Committee for the reformation of the University was also dissolved about the same time, and Cromwell delegated to persons chosen by himself the control of the University.

Anthony Wood describes the costume of the Students as different at the time of the Commonwealth from that of an earlier period: the academical gowns were adorned with sleeves wider than those of surplices, and the College caps were very seldom worn: a youthful taste for hair-powder, top-boots, horses, and dogs,* appears, however, to have cha

* Wood's Annals, 1650.