ΤΟ

JOHN EDWIN SANDYS, ESQUIRE, M.A.

Public Orator in the University of Cambridge.

MY DEAR SANDYS,

The period devoted to the production of this volume has been coincident, for the most part, with your tenure of the office of Public Orator. During the last eight years it has, from time to time, devolved upon you to recall to our recollection the achievements of not a few of our illustrious living, while it has been my endeavour to illustrate the careers of many of our memorable dead. I can scarcely venture to hope that my efforts will appear to have been attended with success in any degree comparable to your own; but when I remember that I was, in the first instance, encouraged and aided in the prosecution of my task by one of your many distinguished predecessors, the Orator of our undergraduate days,-I feel that there is no one to whom I can more fitly dedicate the following pages than to one who, while ably filling the same office, has constantly aided me with like sympathy and encouragement.

Believe me,

Very truly yours,

J. BASS MULLINGER.

ST JOHN'S COLLEGE,

3 Sept. 1884.

PREFACE.

THE period comprised within the present volume, although somewhat less than a hundred years, can hardly but be regarded as the most important in Cambridge university history prior to the present century. It was the time when the code by which, with little modification, the university was governed for nearly three centuries, was, notwithstanding strenuous opposition, first introduced, and the ancient constitution of the academic community thereby almost subverted. It was the time of the foundation of four of the colleges, among them the most considerable of the entire number. And it was the time when those trammels were thrown over our higher national education from which it has but lately been set free.

While such was the internal history of the university, the influence which it exercised on the nation at large was not less notable,-far greater, indeed, than most writers on this period seem to be aware. In a former volume I have attempted to shew the extent to which the Reformation in England derived its inspiration from Cambridge; in the following pages it has been no small portion of my task to endeavour to shew the manner in which the great Puritan party was here formed and educated. In dealing with the career and influence of some of the chief leaders of that party, Thomas Cartwright, Walter Travers, Whitaker, Laurence Chaderton, and Preston,-I have sought to be

strictly impartial; a matter of some difficulty where the motives and the actions of the characters under consideration often excite very different sentiments. I would fain hope, on the other hand, that I have done something towards bringing out more clearly the real character of Whitgift and the services which he unquestionably rendered to the university. The slur cast upon his memory by one of the most distinguished ornaments of that society which he ruled so ably, must always be a matter of regret to those who have at heart the cause of historic truth.

The difficulty in dealing with my whole subject has certainly not diminished as the materials have multiplied. It has been truly observed by a very careful investigator of university history, that an adequate treatment of the subject postulates not merely due attention to the organisation and the code, the general discipline and the privileges, of an academic corporation, but also frequent reference to contemporary events and to the influences, whether favorable or restrictive, resulting from the policy of the civil and ecclesiastical powers; while the developement of the intellectual and scientific life of the whole university and the corresponding achievements of its most conspicuous members, are obviously of primary importance. If I admit that it has been my endeavour to realise, in some degree, the high ideal indicated by professor Aschbach, it will be conceded that the labour involved has been considerably beyond that of a mere registration of facts; in no respect, perhaps,

1 'Eine alle Beziehungen erschöpfende Universitäts-Geschichte welche den gegenwärtigen Anforderungen an eine wissenschaftliche Darstellung ganz entsprechen soll, darf das auf die Organisation, die Statuten, die sonstigen Einrichtungen und Privilegien Bezügliche nicht übergehen; sie kann auch die äusseren Ereignisse der Zeit und die fördernden oder hemmenden Verhältnisse zur Landesregierung und zur Kirche nicht unbeachtet lassen; sie muss aber vor allen Dingen die Entwicklung des wissenschaftlichen Lebens in seinen manchfachen Richtungen verfolgen, und die Ergebnisse der vorzüglichsten Leistungen der namhaftesten UniversitätsMitglieder in eingehender Weise darlegen.' Gesch. d. Wiener Universität im Ersten Jahrhunderte ihres Bestehens. Von Joseph Aschbach. Introd. p. viii.