"And it is further ordained by the authority aforesaid, that the said Visitors, or any seven or more of them, for each University respectively, are hereby empowered to find out and settle some equal and just way of competent allowances to their register and mandatory for their attendance and pains during the time of their visitation.

"And be it further ordained by the authority aforesaid, that the said Visitors for both the said Universities, or any four or more of them, whereof two at the least [are] to be Visitors of each University, be and are hereby appointed to be Visitors of the School of Westminster, and that the said Visitors of the said University of Oxford, or any four or more of them, be and are hereby appointed to be Visitors of the College and School of Winchester, and of Merchant Taylors' School, London; and that the said Visitors for the University of Cambridge, or any four or more of them, be and are hereby constituted and appointed to be Visitors of the College and School of Eton, and of the Masters, Fellows, and Scholars in the said respective Colleges and Schools, and are hereby authorized to put in execution all and every the powers and authorities heretofore given or granted to any Visitor or Visitors of the said Schools and Colleges respectively, or any of them, by any Statutes of the said Colleges or Schools, and to consider of any Statutes of the said Colleges and Schools which are fit to be taken away and abrogated, and of such other Statutes as are fit to be made for the well ordering and government of the said Colleges and Schools respectively, for the better advancement of piety, learning, and good nurture in the said Colleges and Schools, and present the same to be approved as aforesaid."

In 1656 an Act of Parliament was passed to confirm the Ordinance of the Lord Protector and his Council in 1654, for the visitation of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. This Act (Sess. 1656, cap. 10) commenced as follows:

"Whereas, since the 20th day of April, 1653, in the great exigencies and necessities of these nations, divers Acts and Ordinances have been made without the consent of the people assembled in Parliament, which is not according to the funda mental laws of the nations, and the rights of the people, and is

Scobell's Acts and Ordinances, September, 1654.

ACT OF PARLIAMENT.

479

not for the future to be drawn into example, yet the actings thereupon tending to the settlement of the estates of several persons and families, and the peace and quiet of the nations: Be it enacted by His Highness the Lord Protector and this present Parliament, and it is hereby enacted and declared by the authority of the same," &c. &c.

It was enacted by this Statute that the Ordinance for appointing Visitors for the Universities should be confirmed and continued for six months from and after the end of the first Session of the Parliament.

The extensive visitatorial powers thus granted were regarded with considerable jealousy by the University, and a proposition was made to the Visitors, by a committee of members of the Academical Convocation, requesting them not to carry into effect any alteration, until the intended change had been notified to and confirmed by His Highness the Lord Protector and the Parliament. New members were also suggested by the committee to be added to the visitatorial body, and a limitation of the term of office of the Visitors to one year was proposed. Such suggestions were, however, not listened to by the Visitors, and an appeal was consequently made to the Lord Protector and his Council, who cautiously abstained from any undue sanction of extraordinary interference with existing laws. The negotiation ended in a feeling of confidence that the Visitors would use their powers with discretion, and in an assurance from the Lord Protector and his Council that they would not exercise any legislative authority in making new Ordinances previous to the sitting of Parliament.* At this period the University seriously took up for itself the cause of reform: a multitude of promissory oaths were removed from the Statute-book; and academical expenses and excessive entertainments were placed under regulation. The wearing of University gowns appears to have been nearly voluntary, and, according to Wood, "every one that pleased did take the liberty to "neglect the use of academical habits without control."

*Wood's Annals, A.D. 1654.

It was farther openly stated in Convocation, that if any person were dissatisfied in conscience concerning the unlawfulness of using the dresses of the University, he might have a personal dispensation for himself. The Convocation would not, however, grant any general dispensation with respect to the wearing of academical gowns, and the Visitors found that on various points they were unable to carry into effect the changes which they wished for in the University. Decrees of the Visitors were accordingly published on the supposition that they had the power to make Statutes, and the idea was entertained among the Visitors of remodelling the Convocation itself, and of placing its powers in the hands of godly and prudent men, by the majority of whom new members might be admitted. This last-mentioned proposal was based on the following reasons:-" that the multitude of "employments abroad soon took off from the University all "that were of any worth, and that the greatest part of those "who remained were but drones, or were too young to be "intrusted with government." The Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Owen, eagerly promoted the changes proposed by the Visitors, but on his arrival in London he was induced to desist from such extensive alterations, and the rules of the Visitors were principally confined to matters of inferior

moment.

Some fanatical individuals during the Commonwealth period held the doctrine that human learning was of no advantage to those who were intended to instruct others in the principles of the Christian faith. The grace of God and a deep inward impression of the inestimable value of gospel truth were all the qualifications which such persons considered necessary to render any one an accomplished instrument for saving souls.* Hence the Universities had occasionally to encounter storms of serious opposition: the same Statutes in many particulars still continued in force at Oxford and Cambridge, which had been prepared for the

*Godwin's Commonwealth, vol. iv. p. 98.

Colleges when they were ecclesiastical seminaries, and little practical benefit seemed to be derived from a continuance of the disputations in school divinity. Oliver Cromwell, however, had no desire to encourage the rash enthusiasts who wished to destroy the Universities, and he sent down troops of horse, which paraded the streets of Oxford in 1658, to guard against any sudden attack of the Anabaptists; the Scholars of several Colleges watched their gates,* and procured defensive weapons for their own safety, and the precautions taken were happily sufficient to avert the apprehended danger.

About this time the Presbyterians were desirous to have Visitors appointed for the various Colleges in Oxford, in the place of the general visitatorial body, a large portion of whom had been recommended by the Independents, and in 1657 they addressed the Parliament in favour of particular Visitors for the respective Colleges, specifying the Lord Protector for Christ Church, and, for the other Colleges, the President of the Council, the Warden of the Cinque Ports, the Lord Commissioner of the Treasury, the two Lord Chief Justices, the Commissioners of the Great Seal, the Master of the Rolls, the Attorney-General, the Earl of Pembroke, and their successors respectively, who were recommended as proper persons to be Visitors of individual Colleges, with an authority corresponding to that which had been exercised under the Episcopalian system of church government, by the Crown in Christ Church, and, in the other Colleges, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishops of Winchester, Lincoln, Bath and Wells, Exeter, the Earl of Pembroke, and, in the case of University College, by the Academical Convocation.

Statutes of Colleges formerly only permitted Visitors to determine cases presented to them according to the written law of the Statutes themselves, and the petitioners humbly desired the Parliament either to preserve their Statutes, or

* Wood's Annals, 1658.

else to take away their academical oaths, and to appoint Visitors who were not likely to violate either their consciences or their liberties: they farther prayed, that the fundamental Statutes of the respective Colleges might not be altered and changed, unless by the supreme power of Parliament, and they stated the dilemma in which the Fellows of Colleges found themselves placed, either to render themselves liable to expulsion for disobedience to the orders of the present Visitors, or, in case of their submission to the visitatorial orders, to merit expulsion for perjury and for the breach of their own Statutes.* No new appointments were made in reply to this petition, and the Visitors probably exerted themselves to bring about a good understanding between the Independents and the Presbyterians.

In 1659 a general contribution was made among the chief Presbyterians in London and elsewhere, for the maintenance of forty scholars in each University, but the changes at Oxford and Cambridge, consequent on the restoration of the monarchy and episcopacy, in 1660, soon terminated this subscription.

King Charles II., very shortly after his arrival at Whitehall, issued a declaration in October, 1660, to all his loving subjects, concerning ecclesiastical affairs, in which the liberty of either wearing or not wearing the surplice was permitted, but was not allowed to be extended to the Chapel Royal, to Cathedrals, or to any College in either of the Royal Universities of Oxford or Cambridge; and it was ordained, "that the several Statutes and customs for the use of the surplice in the said places be there observed as formerly." A subsequent clause in the Royal declaration provided that no persons in the Universities should be hindered in the taking of their degrees from the want of a subscription to the three Articles of the 36th Canon.

Anthony Wood informs us, that the Common Prayer Book and the surplice were restored in every church and

* Wood's Annals, 1657.