MAGDALEN COLLEGE
AND
KING JAMES II
iforti
PRINTED BY HORACE HART, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY
MAGDALEN COLLEGE
AND
KING JAMES II
16861688
A SERIES OF DOCUMENTS
COLLECTED AND EDITED BY
THE REV. J. R. BLOXAM, D.D.
LATE FELLOW OF MAGDALEN COLLEGE
WITH ADDITIONS
PRINTED FOR THE OXFORD HISTORICAL SOCIETY
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
1886
[All rights reserved^
097
ffg
CONTENTS.
PAGE
INTRODUCTION . . vii
APPENDIX TO INTRODUCTION :
THE PRESENT VOLUME xxxi
MANUSCRIPTS '-.'...'". . . ., xxxii
BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . ... . . . . xl
LIST OF DOCUMENTS . . ' . . . . ' . . fc . . . xlii
ERRATA . . . . . 1
DOCUMENTS . . . . . ; . . . . . . 1-274
INDEX TO DOCUMENTS, ETC. . . . . . . . . . 277
INTRODUCTION.
IT is seldom that the annals of a private Corporation can
aspire to furnish more than a remote basis for the national His-
tory. The transactions which such documents record may with
many similar events be taken as materials from which a general
account of the times may be constructed ; but the events them-
selves, their circumstances, and the names of the actors, are lost
in the infinite variety of details which go to make up that con-
fused and changing current of human affairs, of which history
can but preserve a dim and distant outline. It has however been
the fortune of Magdalen College, at one crisis of its existence, to
be the scene of a contest which from the greatness of the issues
it involved and the direct and immediate effect which it had upon
the accepted principles of Government and the permanence of
the then established dynasty, has been thought worthy by
English historians to occupy a place in the main course of their
narrative. The name of Hough appears in the pages of Hume
of Lingard and of Macaulay when they review the disastrous
policy of James II. The reasons for the remarkable prominence
assumed by this particular incident in a long series of transactions
identical in principle and of similar tendency may have been
in part accidental : but its intrinsic interest was quite sufficient
justification for it.
It seems not improbable that the affairs of Magdalen College
might obtain a more general notoriety and enlist a wider
sympathy in consequence of the position occupied by several of
the Fellows of that period in the houses of great persons. Dr.
Hough, upon whose title to the place of President the whole
battle was fought out, was Chaplain to the Duke of Ormond, one
of the most distinguished noblemen of the day. Dr. Younger,
who retained his Fellowship throughout, without making any
submission, was able to do so from being in attendance as chap-
viii INTRODUCTION.
lain upon the Princess, afterwards Queen Anne : while a former
Fellow, Dr. Jessop, discharged the same office in the household
of the Earl of Sunderland, the President of the Council and
Secretary of State, by whom most of the King's movements in
this affair were executed.
The intrinsic importance of the event was due to its connexion
with the King's systematic and determined efforts to dislodge
the Church of England from the position guaranteed to her at
the Restoration, and to secure the equality, if not the sole
ascendancy of the adherents of the Roman mission. In pursuit
of this object, and of the establishment of his own absolute
authority, James set aside the rights and liberties of the subject,
the sanctions of Acts of Parliament, and the whole system of
official custom and tradition, by force of the prerogative. This
course of action received a remarkable illustration, and appeared
embodied in a single instance in the case of Magdalen College.
The measures there attempted were an overt and undisguised
step towards opening the chief seminaries of the Church of
England to Roman influences and occupation.
It is true that in the year before (1686) a new convert to that
Communion had been appointed Dean of Christ Church ; and
that the Master of University College, with some few Fellows,
had also received dispensations from attending the English Ser-
vice, and from everything inconsistent with their allegiance to the
Church of Rome : but the whole of these circumstances were not
generally known 1 , nor did they involve any such violation of
individual consciences, or injury to freehold rights as was inevit-
able if Farmer was to be made President of Magdalen, or Hough
was to be dispossessed.
Hume says, speaking of this latter stage of the proceedings,
' This act of violence, of all those which were committed during
the reign of James, is perhaps the most illegal and arbitrary.
When the dispensing power was the most strenuously insisted
on by Court lawyers, it had still been allowed that the statutes
which regard private property could not legally be infringed by
that prerogative. Yet in this instance it appeared that even these
were not now safe from invasion V When Hough was removed
1 Hallam's Constitutional History, ch. xiv (vol. iii. p. 64. Seventh Edition).
a Hume's History of England, Ixx. 22.
INTRODUCTION. ix
from the office to which he had been elected, he became, as
Hallam puts it, the one man in this reign who 'had been
despoiled of his property V
The mode of action adopted in this instance by the King was
similar to that by which the civic incorporations had already
been brought within his grasp. In the year 1683, during the
preceding reign, upon occasion of a disputed election of sheriffs
in which the King had interfered, a writ of quo warranto had
been issued against the City of London, and it was adjudged
to have forfeited its charter. The King agreed, upon the humble
petition of the City, to restore the charter ; but upon condition
that none of the city officers should in future be admitted to the
execution of his office except upon his Majesty's approbation.
In like manner most of the corporations in England were in-
duced to surrender their charters into the King's hands : and in
this way all places of power and profit throughout the country
were put at the disposal of the Crown 2 . In 1687 the Charter
of Dublin and of all the corporations in Ireland was annulled
by King James, and new charters were granted, subjecting the
corporations to the will of the Sovereign.
The same measures were now threatened against the aca-
demical foundations to which the Church of England held an
exclusive right, and on which she depended for the education of
her clergy. This implied a fresh exercise of the dispensing
power, for which the King after removing four of the judges had
lately procured judicial sanction in the case of Sir Edward Hales
(June 21, 1686), and which he had publicly asserted, although it
had been three times denied to be legal by the House of
Commons 3 , immediately before the commencement of the pro-
ceedings at Magdalen, in his Declaration of Indulgence (April
4, 1687).
That Declaration was professedly intended to relieve all classes
of Nonconformists, as well Protestant Dissenters as Roman
Catholics, from all religious tests, and from all penal and in-
capacitating statutes : but when it was applied to secure their
admission to ecclesiastical or University offices or corporations it
1 Hallam's Constitutional History, ch. xiv (vol. iii. p. 83. Seventh Edition).
2 See Hume's History, Ixix. 7, 8.
3 Feb. 27, 1662 j Feb. 14, 1672 ; Nov. 16, 1685.
x INTRODUCTION. A.D. 1687, March 24
amounted in fact to an abrogation of the title of the Established
Church.
The critical position of the national religion was thus becoming
more and more apparent : and the difficulties which the King
encountered in his new attempt to push forward his attack upon
it were as formidable as they were in all probability unexpected.
The duty of passive obedience to the sovereign had long been
a favourite doctrine in the University of Oxford. Only a few
years before (July 21, 1683) it had passed a Decree in Convoca-
tion ' against certain pernicious books and damnable doctrines ; '
the ninth of the condemned propositions being as follows :
' There lies no obligation upon Christians to passive obedience
when the prince commands anything against the laws of our
country 1 .' Nevertheless, the President and Fellows of Mag-
dalen, with the unquestionable support and sympathy of many
other leading members of the University, including the Vice-
Chancellor, offered an unyielding passive resistance to the King's
mandates when they contravened the College Statutes : a resist-
ance which continued until the time when the King's resolution
finally gave way before the universal alienation of the affections
and allegiance of his subjects, of which he became sensible when
it was too late.
It may not then be uninteresting to students of History to
possess a full and minute collection of the records, chiefly con-
temporaneous and original, which recount the rise and progress
of that famous struggle : between the Churches of Rome and
of England ; between arbitrary and constitutional Monarchy ;
between a King and a College.
A short summary of the leading incidents, as gathered from
the documents which follow, together with some remarks on the
course of events, is here offered by way of introduction.
Dr. Henry Clerke, President of Saint Mary Magdalen College
in the University of Oxford, died March 24, 1687, at Gawthrop
Hall, the house of his daughter Lady Shuttleworth, in Lanca-
shire. The Vice-President, Dr. Charles Aldworth, had formal
notice of his death on the 29th, being Easter Tuesday.
Dr. Younger, one of the Fellows, who was Chaplain to the
1 Collier's Ecclesiastical History, Part II. Book IX. (vol. viii. p. 473. Lathbury's
Edition.";
-April 1. INTRODUCTION. xi
Princess Anne, had received information in London as early as
the 26th, in order that he might make interest with the King for
the vacant Presidentship 1 . But he declined the opportunity: and
advised Dr. Thomas Smith to use his efforts to secure the place.
This last-named Fellow, who also resided in London, went on the
Monday to consult the Bishop of Oxford, Dr. Samuel Parker
(who was afterwards nominated President by the King), request-
ing the Bishop to obtain for him the King's recommendation to
the College. But upon learning from the Bishop ' that the King
expected that the person he recommended should be favourable
to his religion,' and that His Majesty would not be satisfied with
such a pledge as he was ready to give, ' that he would make it
his business to advance piety and learning, to keep men dutiful
and obedient to the King's person and government and truly
loyal, and to promote true Catholic Christianity ; ' he answered,
' Then let who will take the Presidentship for me ; I will look
no more after it 2 .' It is clear from this that the King's design of
making the College subservient to the interests of the Roman
Communion was already formed, and in a measure known :
which accounts for the correspondence between the College and
the Visitor, the Bishop of Winchester, which followed immediately
upon the news of the President's death.
A letter was written March 3ist, by the Vice-President and
Fellows, requesting his Lordship's advice and assistance : to
which the Bishop replied the next day, pressing them to observe
the Founder's Statutes in the coming election, and naming the
Bishop of Man, Baptist Levinz, a late Fellow of the College, as
statutably qualified 3 . This prelate would doubtless have been
elected, if he would have accepted the office. But though
1 Letters of recommendation to the Electors to places on College foundations were
very frequently issued at this period. Two, if not three, of the last previous elections
of President had been determined in this way. Even in such small matters as the
choice of candidates for Demyships Royal Letters were not uncommon. James I
sent one to President Langton in favour of Edward Hyde, afterwards Earl of Clarendon,
which was disregarded : and the Earl, when he was Chancellor, wrote to President
Oliver reminding him how he had been employed by Charles I to tell him ' that if
he himself should at any time recommend a person who was not in manners and learn-
ing very fully qualified for the favour, he would never take it ill if he were rejected
and another chosen more fit : ' from which it is clear that such recommendations were
not granted as possessing constitutional authority, but merely by way of influential
patronage. See Bloxam's Magdalen College Register, vol. v. pp. 85, 87.
2 No. 4-7. 3 No. 12, 13.
xii INTRODUCTION. A.D. 1687, April 5
he at first said he would stand, and, if elected, would
zealously maintain the Statutes in opposition to the Man-
damus, he afterwards, upon the remonstrance of his brother, re-
fused the honour l . The Mandamus he alluded to was issued by
the King on the 5th April, ' willing and requiring the College to
elect and admit into the place of President his trusted and well-
beloved Anthony Farmer, M.A., 5 and dispensing with any Statute,
custom or constitution to the contrary. This Anthony Farmer
had formerly been of St. John's, then of Trinity College, Cam-
bridge ; afterwards he had entered Magdalen Hall in Oxford,
and had finally been admitted into Magdalen College, but not on
the Foundation. He was therefore not qualified for the office of
President under the Founder's Statutes, which restrict that office
to such as are or have been Fellows of Magdalen or New College ;
he was also a man of disorderly and scandalous character ;
and when the evidence against him came finally to be heard
before the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, the Lord Chancellor
Jeffries told him * that that Court looked on him as a very bad
man V
On the 8th the Visitor wrote to the College recommending
them to draw up an address to the King, setting forth the true
state of their case, and to send it with a letter of remonstrance
from himself (which he enclosed) to Lord Sunderland.
This was accordingly done next day (April 9th), and on the
loth the College Petition 3 representing Farmer's incapacity, and
begging either to be left to act according to their consciences
and their Founder's Statutes, or that the King would recommend
such a person as might be more serviceable to his Majesty and
the College 4 , was placed with the Visitor's letter in the hands of
the Earl of Sunderland, by Dr. Thomas Smith and Captain
Bagshaw, another of the Fellows who had ridden a good part
of the preceding night in order to reach London with it in good
time. This Petition lay four days in his Lordship's hands, with
a promise of his favour, and was then returned with the brief
response, ' The King must be obeyed.' ' There is good reason,'
says Dr. Routh, 'to believe that the King was unacquainted
with the answer given by Lord Sunderland to the petition, and
with the College ever petitioning before they elected Hough. 5
1 Note 2, p. 25. 2 No. 91. 3 No. 19. * So in No. 309.
April 15. INTRODUCTION. xiii
This statement seems to rest mainly upon Dr. Thomas Smith's
report of an interview which he had with two of the Commis-
sioners, the Bishop of Chester and Baron Jenner, on the i5th of
November; and his inference, from the way in which they
questioned him about the exact day on which he delivered the
College Petition to Lord Sunderland, and that on which he
received his answer: and on a conversation of James II with
Dr. Ironside, then Vice-Chancellor of Oxford, which is also
mentioned in Dr. Smith's Diary 1 .
The next day (April nth) Dr. Thomas Smith, having endea-
voured to learn from the Chancellor through a friend the fate of
the petition, began, as he tells us, to fear that Lord Sunderland
had suppressed it 2 .
On the 1 3th, Lord Sunderland himself said to Dr. Smith, in
company with Captain Bagshaw and Dr. Jessop, a late Fellow,
who was Chaplain to Lord Sunderland, ' Sir, I have delivered
the Bishop of Winchester's letter, and your address, to the King :
the King has sent down his letter to the College, and expects
to be obeyed V
However this might be, no alternative to the election of his
most ineligible nominee was offered by the King to the Vice-
President and Fellows.
Having therefore waited till the last day allowed by the
Statutes, the great majority, having heard the King's answer
from Dr. Thomas Smith, notwithstanding his advice, in which
the Vice-President and two other Senior Fellows concurred,
that they should defer the election, and petition the King a
second time, resolved to proceed in due course to an election.
For some time they were running about the Chapel, in their
surplices, or standing in knots and talking ; but when 'they had
come to a conclusion one of the Seniors went to the Altar and
began the Communion Service, upon which they all took their
places, except Mr. Charnock, who had been elected by Royal
Mandate, and was by this time a declared Papist, and Mr.
Thompson, who was one of the band of Pensioners at Whitehall,
who went out 4 . The rest having received the Holy Eucharist,
and been sworn in order to the election of a President, John
1 See No. 224; and compare No. 19, note r, p. 17, and No. 112.
2 No. 24. s No. 27. * No. 31.
xiv INTRODUCTION. A.D. 1687, April 15
Hough, B.D., was regularly and statutably elected : Mr. Char-
nock and Mr. Thompson, who had come back, declaring after-
wards viva voce for Mr. Farmer, according to the King's Mandate.
The meeting lasted nearly five hours \ The same afternoon an
Instrument 2 bearing the College Seal was drawn up and put
into the hands of Mr. Maynard, the Fellow chosen to present
the President elect to the Visitor, upon sight of which Mr. Hough
was sworn and admitted by the Visitor without delay.
He and his companion started from Oxford on the evening
of the 1 5th; on the i6th he was admitted at Farnham ; and,
having brought back a certificate to that effect from the Visitor,
on the 1 7th, being Sunday, he took the prescribed and customary
oaths, notwithstanding the Declaration of Indulgence, and was
installed in the Chapel, where he also took his seat as President
at the 4 o'clock Prayers 3 .
On the same day the Visitor received and answered a letter
from Lord Sunderland, warning him against admitting Hough.
The Visitor's defence was that he had acted according to the
Statutes, and therefore had not violated his duty : a plea which
is in substance repeated again and again throughout the long
and tedious proceedings which followed upon this much contested
election.
The Vice-President and Fellows, in their answer to a letter
from Lord Sunderland, dated April sist, requiring them in the
King's name to give an account of what they had done, express
their confidence that ' a Loyal Society can never suffer in the
hands of so generous and gracious a Prince, for what they have
done out of a conscientious discharge of the trust reposed in
them by their founder 4 .' Shortly after (April 24th) they sent
up a statement of their case, with extracts from the Statutes
on which they relied, and an address to the King. Here they
assert the same principles, saying that ' when they had on pre-
vious occasions elected in obedience to the King's letters, it had
always been in cases where the persons recommended had been
every way qualified by the Statutes ; in which cases they always
had been, and ever would be, ready to comply with his Majesty's
pleasure V ' a stubborn and groundless resistance to the Royal
1 No. 32. 2 No. 37. 3 No 36. 4 No. 48. 5 No. 49.
June 22. INTRODUCTION. XV
Will and pleasure being that which their souls eternally abhor V
But in the present case they find themselves reduced to the
unfortunate necessity of either disobeying his will, or violating
their consciences (which his Majesty is studious to preserve) by
a notorious perjury 2 . Their reasons for this statement are to
be sought in the particular clauses of the College Statutes, to
which they refer 3 .
It is clear that at this time the electors of Hough were pre-
paring to defend themselves, and it was soon necessary for
them to do so.
On the 28th of May a Citation was ordered by the King's
Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes to be issued against the
Vice-President and Fellows, requiring them, or such of them
as should be empowered to represent the whole body, to appear
at Whitehall on the 6th of June, to answer to such matters as
should be objected against them concerning the Election.
At their first appearance on that day the Delegates obtained
a week's respite : and on the I3th they gave in their Answer,
and a copy of the Statutes 4 . One of the Delegates, Dr. Fairfax,
had declined to sign the Answer ; and desiring to be heard, he
questioned the jurisdiction of the Court, for which, on the 22nd
of the same month, he was by the Commissioners suspended
from his Fellowship.
The Answer signed by the Vice-President, and four of the
other five Fellows chosen to represent the College, proceeds on
the same line of defence as has been already indicated.
It sets forth that the College is a Body Corporate, governed
by local Statutes, granted to them by King Henry the Sixth,
and confirmed by several others of his Majesty's Royal Pre-
decessors, under the great Seal of England.
That by these Statutes the Fellows are bound to elect as
President a man of good life and reputation, who is or has been
Fellow of their own or New College : and that every Fellow,
when he is admitted, swears that he will observe these Statutes,
1 No. 50. 2 No. 49 and 50.
3 A similar view had been taken before. In 1648 one of the Master Demies, on
being examined by the Parliamentary Visitors, affirmed, ' I can acknowledge no Visitor
but the Bishop of Winchester without perjury.' Bloxam's Magdalen College Register,
vol. v. p. 144.
* No. 54-66.
xvi INTRODUCTION. A. D. 1687, June 22
and will not procure, consent to, or make use of any dispensation
contrary to this oath, or in contravention of these Statutes, from
any authority whatsoever.
They therefore, presuming that his Majesty never intended to
dispossess them of their rights, had humbly represented by
petition that they could not comply with his Letters in favour
of Mr. Farmer, without the violation of their oaths, and the
hazard of their property ; and having deferred the Election to
the last day limited by their Statutes, they did then with all
proper forms elect a person every way qualified to be their
President ; and that the same person had been confirmed by
their Visitor, the Bishop of Winchester ; and moreover, to the
end that they might not lie under his Majesty's displeasure by
their proceedings, they had already, on the I9th of April, made
humble representations thereof, by their Chancellor, 'setting
forth their indispensable obligation to observe their Founder's
Statutes V
Other particulars which were probably present to the minds
of the Fellows, and may have weighed with them, are mentioned
in existing draughts on which this formal answer seems to have
been founded ; for instance, that Mr. Farmer was ' reported to
have left the Communion of the Church of England, which the
Fellows are bound to maintain ; ' ' that the election of a Presi-
dent was not a matter of Ecclesiastical cognizance ; ' and that
the Court before which they were summoned had been erected
in defiance of the Act of Charles I by which the Court of High
Commission was dissolved. It is also put more plainly in
another but apparently unauthorized version of the Answer that
the King's Letters Mandatory had been, as they were per-
suaded, issued under a misapprehension, both in regard to the
King's right of appointment, and the character of Mr. Farmer, for
which reason they hold themselves excused for non-compliance 2 .
On the 22nd of June they supported their plea by allegations
as to Farmer's unfitness for the office of President which led to
the disappearance of his name from all future proceedings on
the part of the King. The evidence which remains upon record
is bad enough, and there appears to have been worse behind 3 .
The same day the Ecclesiastical Commissioners declared
1 No. 68. 2 No. 69. 3 No. 75 and 82.
August 28. INTRODUCTION. xvii
Hough's election void, and * amoved ' him from the place of
President J . They also suspended Dr. Aldworth from his office
of Vice-President, and Dr. Fairfax (as has been already stated)
from his Fellowship 2 .
The Fellows in residence refused to take any part in the
publication of these sentences ; and it was not till the 2nd of
August that copies were affixed to the College gates by officers
of the Court 3 .
On the 1 8th of July the King issued an inhibition against the
election or admission to any Fellowship or Demyship until his
pleasure should be further signified 4 ; in spite of which Henry
Holden, Probationer, was admitted actual Fellow at the usual
time ; an act which was defended as being merely the consum-
mation of a former election 5 .
From this point the affairs of the College take another turn.
Hitherto the offence urged against the Vice-President and
Fellows had been their disobedience to the Royal Mandate in
not electing and admitting Farmer President. But after the
final hearing of the evidence against him, on the 29th of July,
this point was dropped, and the case turned upon the validity
of Hough's election. The Commissioners had pronounced
against it on the 22nd of June ; and on the I4th of August the
King proceeded to act upon their sentence by issuing a Mandate
for the admission of Samuel (Parker), Lord Bishop of Oxford to
the place of President 6 .
This prelate's acquaintance with the King's designs has
already been proved by his communications with Dr. Thomas
Smith.
The Mandate did not reach the College till the 27th of
August. It was accompanied by a letter from Lord Sunder-
land to the Senior Fellow 7 ; and the day following Dr.
Alexander Pudsey, who, in the absence of Dr. Fairfax, occupied
that position in the College, wrote as commanded to Lord Sun-
derland, and stated that he had read the letters with all due
deference in the Chapel that morning; and that the answer
unanimously given by the assembled Fellows was 'that they
humbly conceived the place of the President to be full V
1 No. 76. 2 No. 77. 3 No. 79. * No. 87.
5 No. 87 and 102. No. 95. 7 No. 96. 8 No. 98.
b
xviii INTRODUCTION. A.D. 1687, Aug. 28
A similar notification was sent to the Bishop of Oxford, who
had written to request that, on account of the state of his health,
he might be admitted by proxy l .
After the interval of a week, on Sunday the 4th of September,
the Fellows were summoned by Lord Sunderland to appear
before the King in the Dean's lodgings at Christ Church 2 .
Twenty-one presented themselves. The King reproached
them with having behaved to him undutifully and not like gen-
tlemen ; saying to them, ' Is this your Church of England
loyalty ? Go back and shew yourselves good members of the
Church of England . . . and admit the Bishop of Oxford Head V
They were recalled that he might enquire into Holden's case,
which the King declared to be a fresh aggravation. They twice
offered a Petition upon their knees ; but the King refused it,
saying, * get you gone, and immediately repair to your Chapel
. . . and elect me the Bishop of Oxford forthwith, or else ye
shall know what it is to feel the weight of a King's hand V
They accordingly returned to the College and met in the
Chapel ; but the answer returned by all but Charnock was that
what the King required of them did not lie in their power.
This answer was attested by a public notary and carried at
once to Lord Sunderland 5 .
The Petition, which the King refused to receive, was much
the same in substance as the statement sent to Lord Sunderland
on the ^4th of April, with the further observation that having
in compliance with their Statutes, elected a President, they had
conveyed to him all that right which their Founder had en-
trusted them with, and that it did not lie in their power to admit
any other 6 . This having been rejected, a short Address to
his Majesty, asserting the Fellows' loyalty, and their readiness to
obey his Royal pleasure in any instance that should not interfere
with or violate their conscience, was given on the 6th of Sep-
tember to Lord Sunderland, to be delivered to the King at
Bath 7 .
The construction put upon this Address, though without much
apparent reason, was that if the King should think fit by his
own authority to make the Bishop of Oxford President, the
1 No. 99. 2 No. 101. 8 No. 102. * No. 102 and 103.
5 No. no. 6 No. 109. 7 No. 113.
Oct. 9. INTRODUCTION. xix
Fellows would readily acknowledge and obey him, provided they
might be excused from electing him, a thing which they could
not do without breach of their oaths.
This interpretation of their words is given in a letter from
Lord Sunderland to the Bishop of Oxford, dated the 9th of
September 1 . The same course was suggested in certain queries
sent anonymously from Windsor on the J5th 2 .
The Fellows replied on the 25th that they could not do so
without violence to their consciences, and deliberate perjury.
At the same time they gave an account of the case of President
Bond, the only President, as they alleged, who had ever been
admitted without election ; and asserted that * places concerned
for the Headships and Fellowships of Colleges are temporal
possessions, and cannot be impeached by summary proceed-
ings ;' and that no Commissioners, whether in spiritual or tem-
poral cases, can proceed otherwise than according to Law 3 .
This of course referred to Hough's professed ' amotion ' from
the place of President by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners.
During this stage of the proceedings there were several com-
munications held with William Penn, the Quaker, who had been
with the King at Oxford, and was said to stand high in his
favour.
On the 5th of September he wrote a letter to the King in
reference to the Fellows' declaration that they could not admit
the Bishop of Oxford, according to the King's Mandate, without
the guilt of perjury, ' intimating that such mandates were a
force on conscience, and not very agreeable to his other gracious
indulgences 4 .'
Penn expressed great concern for the welfare of the College ;
but the President does not seem to have trusted him, although
he and several of the Fellows went on the 9th of October to
consult with him at Windsor 5 .
Penn then urged them to make concessions, though he would
not give them the slightest information respecting the measures
which the King designed to take against them. Reports had
been circulated that a writ of Quo warranto had been ordered to
be issued against the College with a view to its dissolution, but
1 No. 116. 2 No. 118. 3 No. 121.
4 No. 114. 5 No. 128 and 129.
XX INTRODUCTION. A.D. 1687, Oct.
Penn said he knew nothing in particular. However, the Pre-
sident spoke out. ' We have our Statutes and Oaths,' he said,
' to justify us in all we have done hitherto ; but setting this
aside we have a Religion to defend, and I suppose that you
yourself would think us Knaves if we should tamely give it up.
The Papists have already got Christ Church and University
College ; the present struggle is for Magdalen, and they threaten
that in a short time they will have the rest.'
To this Penn made some frivolous reply, on which Hough
added, ' I see that it is resolved that the papists must have our
College, and I think all that we have to do is, to let the world
see that they take it from us, and that we do not give it up?
These words, which are from a letter of Hough's written the
same day J , ought to be remembered as throwing light upon his
motives in the more intricate and technical disputes in which he
was soon afterwards engaged with the King's Commissioners.
On the i;th of October the Bishop of Chester Thomas Cart-
wright, the Lord Chief Justice Sir Robert Wright, and Sir
Thomas Jenner one of the Barons of the Exchequer, having
been added to the Commissioners for Ecclesiastical affairs, with
particular power to them or any two of them to visit Magdalen
College, held a meeting and issued their citation to ' Mr. John
Hough, the pretended President, and also the Fellows and all
other the Scholars and Members of the said College ' to appear
before them in the Chapel on Friday, the sist inst., to undergo
their Visitation 2 . This citation was fixed on the College gates
and on the Chapel door by a King's messenger on the iQth 3 .
Before leaving London the Commissioners had received in-
structions from the Earl of Sunderland, and had had conferences
with Father Petre, the King's Confessor, shortly afterwards ad-
mitted to the Privy Council, and others. Dr. Thomas Smith had
come to Oxford before them ; and as both he and two of them
kept diaries which have been preserved, and other reports of
the proceedings were made at the time, the records from this
point become exceedingly minute and full.
The Commissioners entered Oxford, attended by three troops
of horse, on Thursday, Oct. soth.
In opening the Commission the next day, the Bishop of
1 No. 129. 2 No. 133. 3 No. 140.
Oct. 22. INTRODUCTION. xxi
Chester made a grandiloquent speech in the College Hall on the
duty of submission to the Royal authority. ' Never any true
son of the Church of England/ he affirmed, ' was or will be
disobedient to his Prince. The loyalty which she hath taught
us is absolute and unconditional V
In the afternoon, after asking for a copy of the Commission
and being denied it, the President declared in the name of him-
self and of the greatest part of the Fellows ' that they submitted
to the Visitation so far as it was consistent with the Laws of the
Land and the Statutes of the College, and no further V
To this the Lord Chief Justice replied, ' You cannot imagine
that we act contrary to the Laws of the Land, and as to the
Statutes the King has dispensed with them.' The President
asserted his continued obligation to observe them. The abroga-
tion of the Mass was brought up against him, to which he replied.
Then the decree of the 22nd of June was read, declaring his
election null and void. The President took further exceptions to
the proceedings and statements of the Commissioners, and they
argued several points with him : the Lord Chief Justice asserting
that * a Mandate ' for the election of a particular person (though
utterly incapable) ' always implies an inhibition in respect of all
others.' The Commissioners then demanded the College Re-
gisters, with an account of their Revenues, and of their Bene-
factors, and how their benefactions had been employed, and also
a copy of their Leases for the last two years. They then ad-
journed till the next morning at nine o'clock, in the Common
Room : ' the Hall being, as they said, too public and incom-
modious V
On the 22nd the President was called in alone, and asked first
whether he would submit to the sentence of the Commissioners.
He gave reasons for considering it. a nullity. Then whether he
would deliver up the Keys of the President's Office and Lodgings
for the use of that person whom the King had appointed Presi-
dent. ' My Lord,' he replied to the Bishop of Chester, ' there
neither is nor can be a President so long as I live and obey the
Statutes of the College, and therefore I do not think fit to give
up my Right, the Keys and Lodgings.' After some further
altercation the President was ordered to withdraw. When he
1 No. 149. 2 No. 155. * No. 155.
XXli INTRODUCTION. A.D. 1687, Oct. 22
had been called in again with the Fellows and had repeated his
refusal to give up his Keys, the King's Proctor stood up and
accused him of contumacy, upon which the Bishop of Chester
admonished him to depart peaceably out of the Lodgings, and
no longer to act as President or pretended President of the Col-
lege. They then ' struck his name out of the Buttery Book and
admonished the Fellows and others of the Society that they
should no longer submit to his authority V
At the afternoon sitting of the same day (Oct. 22), after the
Fellows had refused to admit the Bishop of Oxford President,
Dr. Hough came in 'with a great crowd of followers 2 ' and pro-
tested against the proceedings of the morning, and all that had
been done in prejudice of him and his Right, as illegal, unjust,
and null : ' and therefore,' said he, ' I appeal to my Sovereign
Lord the King in his Courts of Justice 3 .'
This speech was applauded by certain strangers and young
Scholars in the room ' with a great hum,' which the Lords Com-
missioners resented very much 4 : and the Chief Justice was so
incensed therewith that he bound over Dr. Hough in ;iooo, with
two sureties in .500 each, to appear before him at the King's
Bench Bar on the i2th of November. The Bishop of Chester
then in the name of the Commissioners dismissed his appeal as
unreasonable and inadmissible 5 . The same day enquiries were
made as to the Fellows' disregard of the King's verbal command
at Christ Church, and Dr. Pudsey's letter to Lord Sunderland, to
which they declared their continued adhesion.
The next day (Oct. 23) being Sunday, the Earl of Sunderland
wrote to acknowledge the receipt of the Commissioners'' account
of their proceedings which they had sent up on Saturday evening,
and to promise the King's pardon to those Fellows who might be
brought to submit to the admission of the Bishop of Oxford as
their President 6 , enclosing a Mandate by virtue of which the
Commissioners were authorised, in case the Fellows should per-
sist in refusing to admit the Bishop of Oxford, to admit him
themselves, either in person or by proxy 7 .
On the 24th, as appears from Baron Jenner's Diary, Dr. Hough
had a long, and it would seem friendly interview with the Com-
1 No. 160. 2 No. 170. 3 No. 166, &c. * No. 169.
5 No. 169. 6 No. 173. 7 No. 174.
Oct. 25. INTRODUCTION. xxiii
missioners 1 . He had quitted the College on the evening of the
22nd 2 , and on the 25th he was dining, presumably in London,
with the Countess of Ossory, the daughter-in-law of the Duke
of Ormond. She then uttered the remarkable words, ' Come,
Doctor, be of good comfort ; 'tis but twelve months to this
day twelvemonth;' and that day twelvemonth Hough was
restored 3 .
It was thought at this time that the great body of the College
would come to terms with the Commissioners. The Bishop of
Oxford was installed by proxy in the Chapel on the morning of
the 25th 4 , and put in possession of the Lodgings : though none
of the Fellows, except Mr. Charnock, would assist at either
ceremony ; and the doors of the President's lodgings were broken
open by a smith. The question was then put to the members of
the Foundation whether they would submit to the Bishop as
their President. Their answer, which was given in writing in
the afternoon, was extremely guarded : being that they would
submit so far as was lawful and agreeable to the Statutes. There
was a further condition which for some time they insisted on
adding, but at last withdrew upon the opinion of the legal mem-
bers of the Commission that it was ' insignificant ' ; since nothing
they could do would in any way invalidate Dr. Hough's title :
and that was in the words, ' and in no way prejudicial to the
Right and Title of Dr. Hough 5 .'
Dr. Thomas Smith submitted more unreservedly 6 . Dr.
Fairfax, the Senior Fellow, who in the morning had delivered to
the Commissioners a protest against their proceedings, and an
argument against the doctrine that a Mandate implies an Inhibi-
tion ; and Robert Gardiner, the Under Porter, refused to make
any submission, and were expelled 7 .
The same day the Commissioners reported to Lord Sunder-
land, without mentioning any qualifications, that all the rest had
submitted : that they had left them in good temper, and the
Bishop's servants in quiet possession : that they were satisfied as
to their general conduct, and the application of their revenues :
and that it would be best to leave any individual irregularities to
be dealt with by the Bishop of Oxford as President according to
1 No. 177. 2 No. 168. 3 No. 191. 4 No. 179-181.
5 No. 1 86, 192. 6 No. 184. 7 No. 188.
xxiv INTRODUCTION. A.D. 1687, Oct. 26
the Statutes. Having thus executed his Majesty's commands,
they crave his gracious permission to return to London l .
They afterwards made some further enquiries as to the College
charities, with which they declared themselves more than satis-
fied 2 , dismissed a petition from Dr. Benjamin Rogers, formerly
Organist 3 , and settled some other minor matters. They inspected
the Leases, and affirmed the validity of those which had been
sealed after Dr. Hough's Election 4 . But they evidently con-
sidered that their chief business was at an end : they were going
about seeing sights, paying and receiving visits, and availing them-
selves of the hospitalities of members of the University, while
they impatiently waited for a summons to return. In the mean-
time the Fellows were much blamed by those who had sympa-
thised with them in their assertion of their rights and liberties,
for their compliance, and taunted by the Roman Catholics with
pusillanimity. A ' Magdalen College conscience * became a
proverb of reproach in Oxford 5 : while from other quarters they
were encouraged to persevere in their resistance by promises of
support and countenance from men of high position 6 . All this
may have had some effect upon their feelings and judgment,
and made them less willing to submit. But any designs of com-
promise in which they might have been willing to acquiesce, were
nullified by the action of the King himself.
On the 27th Lord Sunderland wrote to the Commissioners sig-
nifying the King's approval of the expulsion of Dr. Hough and
Dr. Fairfax, whom he wished to have further punished by being
incapacitated for all ecclesiastical preferment, and informing them
that his Majesty considered the so-called submission of the
Fellows to be nothing of the kind unless it were accompanied by
an Address, ' asking pardon for their late offences and obstinacy,
and acknowledging the jurisdiction of the Court, and the justice
and legality of its proceedings in the whole matter.' He also
instructed the Commissioners to appoint two Roman Catholics
to Fellowships in the College 7 : of whom one had been obliged
to leave the place on the ground of his religion more than forty
years before. On the 28th this letter arrived, much to the dis-
comfiture of Baron Jenner, who appears all through to have been
1 No. 189. 2 No. 195. 3 No. 197. 4 No. 202. 5 No. 210.
6 No. 224. T No. 206.
Nov. 16. INTRODUCTION. xxv
ashamed of his part in the Visitation, and to have been favourable
to the College l . The Fellows were summoned again and called
upon to make the required acknowledgment, which all who had
been concerned in Hough's election refused to do. On the con-
trary, they gave in a paper signed with twenty names, in which
they maintained that they had done nothing but what their Oaths
and Statutes indispensably obliged them to. They moreover ex-
plained that they did not mean by their answer of the 25th that
they would obey the Bishop of Oxford as President, but only
that they did not and would not oppose the Royal Authority
which put him (in that capacity) into the College 2 .
One of them who objected that the mode by which the Bishop
had been put in possession was not legal, was suspended from
the profits of his Fellowship during his Majesty's pleasure 3 .
The same day (Oct. 28) the Commissioners set out on their
journey to London, without taking any further steps, although
we learn from Baron Jenner that the Bishop (of Chester) ' was
for expelling them all presently 4 .'
There was then a pause in the succession of events until the
i6th of November, when the same Commissioners having been
sent down arrived again with the same attendance of soldiers,
and summoned all the Fellows of the College to appear before
them 5 , the King having given directions to treat all who should
be absent as guilty and liable to expulsion 6 .
The King also enjoined the Commissioners at this time strictly
to examine into the management of the College affairs, and to
see whether matter might not be found sufficient for a Quo
warranto.
The Bishop of Oxford had come to reside in the College as
President on the 2nd 7 . On the i6th, after Proclamation had
been made, the two Roman Catholics named in the Earl of
Sunderland's letter of the 27th of October were admitted Fellows,
in accordance with the King's Declaration of Indulgence, with-
out taking the Oaths of Allegiance or Supremacy 8 . The Bishop
of Chester then made a speech 9 more fulsome and exaggerated
than that on the previous occasion (Oct. 21). He told the
1 See No. 213 and 237. 2 No. 207, 209, and 212. 8 No. 209..
* No. 213. 5 No. 223. " No. 226. 7 No. 217.
8 No. 227, 229. 9 No. 229.
XXVI INTRODUCTION. A.D. 1687, Nov. 16
Fellows that ' their scruples were not such but that they might
without sin have been sacrificed to their Prince's pleasure, as a
peace-offering to the Father of their country, to their Mother
Church, and to the good of that and all other such charitable
Seminaries of good learning and Religion ' sentiments which
were thought every way in character in the mouth of a candidate
for the Archbishopric of York at that juncture l .
The form of submission and retractation, prescribed by the
King was then read, and they were all called upon to sign it :
which all who were concerned refused to do, and were that day
expelled to the number of twenty-five 2 .
This was the first appearance of the Vice-President before the
Oxford Commissioners, and he asked to be heard in his own
defence. This was granted ; but when he said that to admit a
stranger in place of Dr. Hough would be 'a giving up the
Rights of the College to other uses than the Founder designed
it/ he was interrupted, and told that the Statutes were overruled
by the King's authority 3 .
This was in fact the point in question throughout : whether the
King could arbitrarily and at his own discretion dispense with
Statutes which had been authorized as the Law of the Society
to which they related, and moreover release members of that
Society from the obligation of Oaths which they had taken to
observe and maintain those Statutes inviolably. No precedent
could be adduced for such wholesale dispensations as the King
affected to grant ; and it was clear that if the principles which
were asserted on his behalf were allowed, all property, no
less than all Ecclesiastical benefices, and the whole system of
Public Worship, would lie at his absolute disposal.
Many of the Demies were ambitious to share the honour of
expulsion for conscience sake, but the Commissioners declined
to take account of them. Most of them were deprived, about
the beginning of the next year (1688), by the intruded Officers,
whose authority they persistently refused to own 4 .
After the Visitors had returned to London it was proposed in
the Ecclesiastical Commission that the expelled President and
Fellows should be incapacitated for all Ecclesiastical appoint-
1 No. 239. 2 No. 229 and 231. 3 No. 231.
INO. 229 ana 231.
4 No. 236, 257, and 267.
A.D. 1688, June 4. INTRODUCTION. xxvii
ments, and those who were not already in Holy Orders for
Ordination l .
Bishop Sprat of Rochester, one of the Commissioners, speaks
of this as cruel 2 . Nevertheless after several debates, in the
course of which the Lord Chief Justice Herbert gave it as
his opinion ' That Dr. Hough's Election was regular 3 ,' it was
passed Dec. ioth 4 , though by a majority of 'one only 5 ,' and
ordered to be sent to every Archbishop and Bishop. The pre-
lates however do not seem to have paid much attention to it,
as several of the deprived Fellows were instituted to livings
during their year of expulsion 6 .
The public sympathy was strongly excited in favour of these
' Confessors for the Protestant Religion V Among other con-
tributors the King's daughter Mary, the Princess of Orange,
sent 200 to be distributed among them 8 . The Bishop of
Oxford admitted more Popish Fellows and Demies, including
several Jesuits, upon the King's successive Mandates 9 , much, as
it would appear, to his chagrin ; and on the sist of March he
died, in the Communion of the Church of England 10 .
His successor to the title of President was Bonaventura
Gifford, Bishop of Madaura, who was admitted upon the King's
Mandate on the 31st 11 .
To him the King committed the full and sole power of
admitting to Fellowships, Demyships, and other places in or
belonging to the College such persons as he should 'judge
qualified according to the Statutes 12 .'
The College, as Dr. Thomas Smith says, ' now filling apace
with Popish Priests, and others of the Roman Communion, they
seized wholly upon the College Chapel for the uses of their
religion.' Dr. Smith would have gone to Oxford to demand
1 No. 246.
2 'I persisted immoveable in my Dissent from every Vote that passed against
Magdalen College in Oxford; from their very first citation before that court, to the
cruel incapacitating of the President and Fellows.' A letter from the Bishop of
Rochester to the Earl of Dorset concerning his sitting in the late Ecclesiastical Com-
mission. 1688. p. 14.
8 No. 246. * No. 252. 5 No. 253.
6 Bishop Frampton of Gloucester went further, and refused institution to a Fellow
presented by the Bishop of Madaura to the living of Slymbridge. See No. 288.
7 No. 224. 8 No. 254. 9 No. 258, 274, 276. 10 No. 277.
11 No. 279. 12 No. 282.
xxviii INTRODUCTION. A.D. 1688, Aug. 3
the use of the Chapel for the Service of the Church of England,
but he was dissuaded 1 . On the 3rd of August he was expelled 2 .
So far it had seemed impossible for a subject successfully to
resist the forces which the King could bring into play to bear
down any opposition to his will. But it was not long before the
complete failure of his arbitrary policy became apparent.
After all the people's affection for liberty and zeal for religion
had been excited by the trial of the seven Bishops, when the Army
and Navy had given unmistakeable signs of rejecting the King's
attempt to force the Roman Catholic Religion upon them ; and
when the Prince of Orange was making preparations for an im-
mediate expedition to England, the King had recourse to the
advice of the Bishops whom he had so long neglected, and so
recently insulted. On the 3rd of October the Archbishop of
Canterbury, with the other Bishops who were in London, ad-
dressed his Majesty, recommending him among other things to
restore the expelled President and Fellows 3 . On the 5th the
King dissolved the Ecclesiastical Commission 4 , and on the nth
he gave orders to Lord Sunderland to write to the Bishop of
Winchester, directing him as Visitor of Magdalen College to
settle that Society regularly and statutably 5 .
The Roman Catholic Bishop Leyburn gave it as his opinion
that the expulsion ' had been a spoliation, and that the posses-
sion in which the members of his Communion now found them-
selves was violent and illegal 6 .'
The Visitor does not seem to have acted with the same
promptitude on this occasion as he did at the beginning of
the troubles : and being called away to hear the evidence on
the Prince of Wales' birth, after his first arrival in Oxford,
before he had taken any steps towards executing his commission,
it was commonly believed that the King, being relieved from his
immediate fear of the landing of the Prince of Orange, who had
1 No. 280 and 281.
2 No. 286. Later in the year he was restored with the President and the rest of the
Fellows : and was finally deprived of his Fellowship in July 1692, for refusing to take
the oaths to the Prince and Princess of Orange, as he calls them. He endeavoured to
steer a middle course between resistance to the King's express will and complicity
with his designs against the Church of England, and he found little favour with either
party. He went occasionally by the name of Dr. Roguery ; and yet he seems to have
been an honest and high-principled man.
3 No. 289. * No. 291. 5 No. 292. 6 Note, p. 253.
Oct. 25. INTRODUCTION. xxix
been driven back by adverse winds, had repented of his repent-
ance, and revoked his tardy concessions.
A close comparison of dates, however, shows that the unfor-
tunate coincidence was merely casual 1 . The King was much
displeased to find that his orders to reinstate the Society had
not been executed, and sent the Bishop back for that purpose
with all speed; and on the 25th of October, exactly twelve
months after the Installation of Samuel Parker, John Hough
and the rest of the legitimate members of the Society were re-
stored, amid great rejoicings, to their places in the College, and
the enjoyment of their statutable rights and privileges 2 .
The exact legal and equitable position of the several parties
in this protracted and memorable contest has always been open
to debate, and will no doubt continue to be a matter on which
there will be differences of opinion. Apart from that extreme
view of the Prerogative on which the Lawyers especially among
the King's supporters relied, as giving his Majesty power to do
or undo anything, the strength of the King's case lay in the
encroachments upon the Statutes in the matter of Elections to
which the College had already been a party ; and (from their
bearing upon the literal obligation of the oaths taken by the
President and Fellows) in the religious changes which had been
made, since the time of the Foundation, in due course of Law.
But none of the previous infringements of their Statutes to
which the College had yielded at all equalled in extent or
importance the complete subversion of their constitution which
King James II demanded and attempted to effect.
Moreover perjury is malum in se, and as such beyond the scope
of the King's power to enforce or sanction : and this seems to have
been the reason for the repeated assertions of the Fellows that
they could not comply with the King's commands without
perjury. The King's agents appealed to precedents: but the
only real parallel to Hough's case, or rather Farmer's, was to be
found in that of Walter Haddon, who was thrust upon the
College in the reign of Edward VI, without statutable qualifica-
tion or election ; and with a similar purpose of transforming the
Ecclesiastical system of the place by Royal authority. That
attempt was only partially successful ; and subsequent events
1 No. 302. 2 No. 303.
xxx INTRODUCTION.
had shown that the times for such a barbaric method of con-
version were gone by. The idea of constitutional, as opposed
to personal monarchy, had grown in the meanwhile, and it was
widely felt that, whatever might be the theory of the law, the
Sovereign was not morally justified in setting aside of his own
mere motion the legal claims and customary liberties of his
subjects.
The members of the College deserve the credit of having
seen the critical nature of the occasion, and the important con-
sequences involved in the questions respecting the elections
which came before them for decision ; of having, on the whole,
taken their stand upon the great principles of all good govern-
ment ; and of having vindicated the freedom of conscience from
arbitrary interference, and the stability of transmitted rights,
whether of property or of action.
With this object they sacrificed their existing means of sub-
sistence, and they risked their future ; and when ' things were
running apace towards the endangering of our laws and Religion 1 ,'
they maintained the cause of the reformed Church of England
and the settled administration of the Law with a degree of
sagacity moderation and firmness which entitles them to the
approbation and gratitude of all who know the value of sober
truth and even-handed justice.
H. R. B.
1 Bishop of Rochester's second letter to the Earl of Dorset concerning his sitting in
the late Ecclesiastical Commission. Second Edition. 1689. p. u.
APPENDIX TO INTRODUCTION.
1. THE PRESENT VOLUME.
In 1884 the Rev. John Rouse Bloxam, D.D., of Beeding Priory,
Upper Beeding, Sussex, late Fellow of Magdalen College, compiler of
seven volumes of the Register of Magdalen College (Oxf. 1853-81), pre-
sented to his College a manuscript volume containing his collection of
papers connected with the attempt of James II to force a President
on the College. The following extracts may be made from his
preface :
' Some forty years ago I proposed to ... (a publisher) that if he would
publish the work on his own account, I would gratuitously compile a narrative
of the events connected with the attack of James II on Magdalen College,
for which purpose I had already been collecting materials. He declined my
offer. . . . However, it is perhaps as well that the attempt was not made at
that time, for various sources of information have since been opened to me
both in print and in manuscript, of which I have availed myself, and I now
offer the result of my researches to my benefactors, the President and
Fellows of Magdalen College, the successors of Dr. Hough and his noble
companions . . .
I have only to add my thanks to those who have assisted me in sending
me books and manuscripts, in making transcripts of documents from the
archives of Magdalen College, from the Bodleian Library, and elsewhere ;
most especially to Major-General Rigaud, without whose unwearied labours
I could scarcely have entered upon such a task in a secluded Parsonage ;
to Charles Lennox Peel, Esq., Clerk of the Privy Council, who has not only
searched the Council books of James II for me, but has supplied me with
copies of most valuable documents relating to the period in question ; to
Edward Maunde Thompson, Keeper of the Manuscripts at the British
Museum ; to the Rev. Henry Austin Wilson, Librarian of Magdalen College ;
and to my old and kind friend, the Rev. William Dunn Macray, of the
Bodleian Library. J.R.B.'
S. Luke's Day, A.D. 1884.
The volume thus presented to the College is the ground and sub-
stance of the present book. On the application of some members of the
Oxford Historical Society, Dr. Bloxam at once consented to allow the
xxxii APPENDIX TO INTRODUCTION.
documents to be printed, if he were relieved of the task of seeing the
book through the press. Accordingly, about five-sixths of the collection
are from Dr. Bloxam's manuscript and in the form in which he tran-
scribed them that is to say, slightly modernised in matters of punctua-
tion, the use of capitals, and the writing in full of all contractions. The
few omissions consist of lengthened biographies, portraits, a few side
episodes not connected with the College, and some quotations from
printed books.
The additions consist of such MS. material as came to hand in the
course of preparing the volume to go to press (see the acknowledgements
of help on pp. xxxii, xxxiv, xxxviii): but it was thought better that some of
the colour, so to speak, and complexion of the originals should be retained,
by the expedient (already attempted in the case of Hearne's Collections,
now in course of issue by the Society) of reproducing such contractions
and abbreviations as are by themselves easily intelligible, so far as
ordinary type can represent them. It must be remembered that this is
a collection of documents, in printing which no uniformity is possible
without the undesirable process of thorough modernisation. These are
days in which the literary public demands facsimiles in photozincograph
rather than editorial changes, and welcomes any device which brings
before it the appearance and entourage of the original paper, as well
as the bare words of its contents. The additions then are printed in fac-
simile style, and are those marked in the body of the work as Braybrooke,
Buckley or Johnston MS., and in the List of Documents as Bk., By. or
Jn. The rest are from the Compiler's volume and are reproduced
exactly as they there stand.
The Introduction has been kindly undertaken by the Rev. H. R.
Bramley, and the Index by the Rev. H. A. Wilson, both Fellows of
Magdalen College : the additional documents and all other letter-press '
have been contributed by F. Madan, Esq., of Brasenose College, who has
taken the whole through the press.
2. MANUSCRIPTS.
The following are the more important MSS. connected with the affair
of Magdalen College (so far as is at present known), other than official
documents of the Crown and College.
(i) The Braybrooke MS., a folio volume in the possession of Lord
Braybrooke, who has most courteously allowed the Society to make full
use of it, for which grateful acknowledgement is here made. It contains
the papers of the Rev. Charles Aldworth, Vice-President of the College
APPENDIX TO INTRODUCTION. xxxiii
during the contest, and was known to the editor of Bishop Cartwright's
Diary. The contents are as follows :
Contents of Lord Braybrooke' 's volume lettered ( Proceedings on the case of
Magdalen College, Oxford, 1687-8. MSS:
(There is no foliation, but the documents are numbered in the lower left-
hand corner of the first leaf.)
Letter from Dr. M. J. Routh, President of Magdalen College, to the Hon.
Richard Neville, 13 Feb. 1824. Thanks for the loan of the following papers.
(Orig. : foil. 2. 8).
1. (Doc. 4.) Notes from the Vice-President's register, 29 Jan. 168^4 ? Apr.
1687. (Copy by Aldworth, pp. 2, foil. 2. Fol.)
2. (Doc. 13.) Letter from the Bp. of Winchester, Visitor of the College, to
the V.P. and Fellows, i Apr. 1687, indirectly recommending the Bp. of Man
to be President. (Orig., signed by the Visitor, p. i, foil. 2. Fol.)
3. (Doc. 12.) Draft of letter from the V.P. and Fellows to the Visitor [31
Mar. i687],*announcing the death of the President and asking advice. (Orig.,
in Aid worth's hand, p. i, foil. 2. 4.)
4. (Doc. 18.) Letter from the Visitor to the V.P. and Fellows, i Apr. 1687,
recommending an address to the King and sympathizing with the College
in its probable troubles. (Orig., all in the Visitor's hand : p. I, foil. 2. Fol.)
5. Copies of (i) 'A true narrative of the whole proceedings relating to the late
election of the President of St. Mary Magdalene College in Oxon from the
death of Dr. Clarke to the resettlement of Dr. Hough and the ejected
members : ' beg. ' An account of what passed at the Election. The President-
ship ; ' ends ( they addresst to his Majestic by their petition bearing date Apr. 9
as follows, viz.' (2) The petition of the V.P. and Fellows to the King, 9 Apr.
1687. (3) Letter from the Visitor to the Earl of Sunderland, 8 Apr. 1687.
(4) the King's Mandate to the College 5 Apr. 1687. (fol. i. La. fol.)
6. (Docc. 23-3.) ' Queries in reference to the admission of a President,' pro-
posed to Dr. Pudsey, with Dr. Pudsey's reply, the latter dated u Apr. 1687.
(Orig., in Aldworth's hand ; the answers in Pudsey's hand, pp.3, foil. 2. Fol.)
7. (Doc. 36.) ' The whole process of our proceedings in the election of a
President],' beg. 'The death of Dr. Clerke,' ends 'his seat in the chapel.'
(Orig., in the first person, by Aldworth, foil. 2. Fol.)
8. An account of the election, almost as printed in the Impartial Relation,
2nd ed., pp. 1-3 : beg. 'The presidentship,' ends 'who was accordingly by y 6 ,'
at end of page. (Orig., in Aldworth's hand, p. i, fol. i. La. fol.)
9. Letter from Lord Sunderland to the V.P. and Fellows, 21 Apr. 1687.
(Copy, p. i, foil. 2. 40.)
10. Answer of the V.P. and Fellows to the foregoing letter. (Copy, p. i, foil.
2. Fol.)
11. Petition of the V.P. and Fellows to the King [9 Apr. 1687] (copy, p. i,
fol. i. Fol.)
12. (Doc. 56.) ' The state of the case of the Vice- President and Fellows . . . ,'
a diary of proceedings 31 Mar .-30 May, forming the plea of the College.'
(Draft or copy in Aldworth's hand, pp. 2, foil. 2. Fol.)
c
xxxiv APPENDIX TO INTRODUCTION.
13. (Doc. 57) Certificate of James Almont, public notary, that the proceed-
ings at the election of Dr. Hough were regular, 2 June, 1687. (Orig., p. i,
fol. i. Fol.)
14. (Docc. 58, 63, 66, 74, 80.) Abreviate of the proceedings before the Lords
Commissioners for ecclesiastical causes . . . ' 30 May-23 June 1687. (Orig.
by Aldworth, pp. 3, foil. 2. Fol.)
15. Notes of replies to the Commissioners' questions and points [May or
June, 1687]. (Orig. by Aldworth, pp. 3, foil 2. Fol.)
1 6. Copies of documents No. 5 (4) and of above, (p. I, fol. i. Fol.)
17. Draft of the answer of the V.P. and Fellows to the questions of the
Commissioners, with notes of alteration by Dr. Aldworth bringing the answer
into near accord with the final answer. (Clerk's copy, with Aldworth's notes,
pp. 4, foil. 2. Fol.)
1 8. Copy of the Answer to the questions of the Commissioners in its final
state. (Clerk's copy, pp. 2, foil. 2. Fol.)
19. The reasons of the V.P. and Fellows, why they did not elect Mr.
Farmer [delivered 22 June 1687]. (Certified copy, 21 June, 1687, pp. 2,
fol. 2. Fol.)
20. A second certified copy of doc. No. 19. (pp. 2, foil. 2. Fol.)
21. 'Copies of [u] letters and certificates delivered in to the Lords Com-
missioners.' (Certified copy, 25 June, 1687, pp. 6, foil. 4. Fol.)
22. The citation of the V.P. and Fellows by the Lords Commissioners,
28 May, 1687. (Copy, p. I, foil. 2. Fol.)
23. (Doc. 20) Letter from Thomas Smith to Dr. Aldworth [Apr. 1687],
discussing the Petition. (Orig., pp. 3, foil. 2. 4.)
24-25. (Doc. 72.) Draft by Dr. Aldworth of a reply to the questions of the
Commissioners [May or June 1687], written in the first person, apparently
to the Commissioners, quite different from art. 1 5. (Orig., pp. 7, foil. 4. 4.)
26. Answer of the V.P. and Fellows to the citation of the Commissioners
[early in June ? 1687]. (Copy, pp. i, fol. i. La. fol. : different from the known
replies, but in a final form.)
27. Two Orders of the High Commissioners, 22 June 1687, with a note that
they were affixed to the College gate 2 August, 1697. (Copies by Dr. Aldworth,
the note being his : p. i, fol. I. Fol.)
28. (Doc. 86.) Letter from John Smith to Dr. Aldworth, 13 July, 1687, dis-
cussing the College affairs. (Prob. orig., p. i, fol'. I. 4.)
29. (i) The King's mandate to the College for the election of the Bp. of
Oxford as President, 14 Aug. 1687, with (2) the Bishop's own letter to the
College, dated 27 Aug. 1687. Also (3) Lord Sunderland's letter to the College
from Bath, 21 Aug. 1687. (4) (Doc. loo-ioi.), Lord Sunderland's letter to the
College bidding them attend the King at Christ Church, 4 Sept. 1687. (Copies
by Aldworth, pp. 2, fol. i. Fol.)
30. Hasty copy of the Address of the Fellows to the King, 6 Sept. 1687.
31. (Doc. 103.) Conversation of the King with Dr. Pudsey, 3 Sept. 1687,
followed by notes of proceedings which followed and the Petition of the
APPENDIX TO INTRODUCTION. xxxv
Fellows, refused by the King, 4 Sept. 1687. (In Dr. Aldworth's hand, pp. 4,
foil 2. 4)
32. ' Reasons against our debate with the Judges' [Oct. 1687 ?]. (Copy, p. I,
foil. 2. Fol.)
33. 'An account of the visitation of Magdalen College,' 19-28 Oct. 1687,
almost as in the Impartial Relation, pp. 35-36. (Copy, pp. 24, foil. 13. 4.)
34. (Doc. 216.) Letter from John Aldworth to Dr. Aldworth his brother,
31 Oct. 1687, giving an account of the latter part of the Visitation and of
the subsequent proceedings. (Orig., pp. 2, foil. 2. Fol.)
35. 'His Majesties Instructions to the Visitors,' beg. 'The King having
seen,' ends ' proceeded against accordingly.' (Copy, pp. 2. Fol.)
36. 'An account of the proceedings before the Commissioners for Visitation
. . ., 16 Nov. 1687,' nearly as Imp. Rel. p. 60-62. (Copy by Dr. Aldworth,
pp. 2, foil. 2. Fol.)
37. Dr. Aldworth's speeches [16 Nov. 1687]. In Dr. Aldworth's hand,
pp. 2, foil 2. 4.)
38. (Doc. 53.) 'A defence of the late election of the President . . . ' [7 May ?
1687], full notes by Dr. Aldworth of the legal points, questions submitted to
the Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge, with his replies, etc. (Orig., pp. 8, foil. 4.
Fol.)
39. (Doc. 221.) Letter from R. Aldworth to Dr. Aldworth his brother, 12
Nov. 1687, commenting on some answers to objections, possibly the pre-
ceding document. (Orig. p. I, foil. 2. 4.)
40. Extract from Coke's Institutes, part 4, cap. 44, of the Courts in the
Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. (In Dr. Aldworth's hand, with a few
notes by him ; pp. 4, foil. 2. 4.)
41. (Doc. 220.) Notes by Dr. Aldworth as heads of speeches to be delivered
by him to the Commissioners, and varying according to the possible demands
made on him. [Nov ? 1687]. (Orig., in Dr. Aldworth's hand, pp. 4, foil. 4. 4.)
42. (i) 'Finis et conclusio Statutorum,' (2) 'Part of the Oath taken by
every Fellow at his admission,' (3) extracts from the Vice-President's Register,
1552-53, and from the Register of Admissions, 1549. (Copies by Dr. Aldworth,
pp. 3, foil. 2. 40.)
43. (i) Extracts from the Statutes of the College, (2) extracts as art. 42
(3) above.
44. (i) The substance of the statute De electione Praesidentis, (2) The
queries proposed to Dr. Pudsey, as in art. 6. (In Dr. Aldworth's hand, pp. 2,
foil. 2. Fol.)
45. ' Finis et conclusio Statutorum,' as art. 42 (i). (In Dr. Aldworth's hand,
with a few notes : pp. 2, foil. 2. Fol.)
46. ' Statutum de numero scholarium et de electione Praesidentis.' (Copy :
pp. 9, foil. 6. Fol.)
47. Extract from the Vice-President's Register (?) 5 Apr. 1589, giving the
Queen's Letters Patent for the election of Dr. Bond as President.
48. (i) Extracts from the College Statute ; (2) (Doc. 52) 'The case of St.
c 2
xxxvi APPENDIX TO INTRODUCTION.
Mary Magdalen College Oxon relating to the election of the President,
according to these Statutes/ This is endorsed by Dr. Aldworth, * Our case
stated by myself,' and contains considerations 'for my own vindication in
giving way at Stat. Election.' (Orig., by Dr. Aldworth, pp. 4, foil. 2. Fol.)
49-50. ' Finis et conclusio omnium Statutorum.' (Copy, pp. 5, foil. 4. Fol.)
51. Extracts of Statutes, the Vice-President's Register, etc., concerning the
election of Dr. Bond, A.D. 1589. (In Dr. Aldworth's hand ? , pp. 4, foil. 2. Fol.)
52. (i) 'An abstract of the statute de electione Prsesidentis,' in Latin.
(2) Oaths to be taken in the course of the election, in Latin. (Copies by Dr.
Aldworth, pp. 4, foil. 2. 4.)
53. Letters from N. Bacon, Lord Privy Seal, 25 Nov. 1561, and the Visitor
of the College (25 Nov. 1561), to the V.P. and Fellows, in the matter of
the deprivation of Dr. Coveney, President of the College, from the Vice-
President's Register. (Copies in the same hand as art. 51, pp. 2, foil. 2. Fol.)
54. Anthony Farmer's Vindication of himself [27 June, 1687]. (Copy, pp. 7,
foil. 7. Fol.)
55. Reasons of the V.P. and Fellows, as art. 19. (Certified copy, pp. 2,
foil. 2. Fol.)
56. (i) (Doc. 290.) List of the 40 Fellows, with notes whether they were
expelled or submitted, etc., and of the elections made by the Commissioners.
(2) Dr. Aldworth's account of money owing by him to the College and others
and by the College to him, presumably at the date of his expulsion. (Orig. in
Dr. Aldworth's hand, pp. 3, foil. 2. Fol.)
57. (Doc. 293.) Letter from Thomas Clarges to Dr. Aldworth, n Oct. 1688,
announcing that the King was about to restore the expelled Fellows. (Orig.,
pp. 2, foil. 2. Fol.)
58. The answer of the V.P. and Fellows to the Commissioners, 13 June,
1687. (Certified copy, 13 June, 1687 : pp. 3, foil. 2. La. fol.)
59. Extracts from the Statutes of the College, in Latin, with notes con-
cerning the use of certain moneys left by the Founder to meet law charges
which were proposed to be used. (Perhaps in Dr. Aldworth's hand, imperfect,
pp. 2, fol. i. Fol.)
(2) The Buckley MS., a folio volume in the possession of the Rev.
W. E. Buckley, of Middleton Cheney Rectory, Banbury, who kindly
entrusted the volume to the editors' hands with permission to print any
part of it. The Rev. H. A. Wilson has made the following notes of its
contents, omitting some of the commoner papers :
Dr. Hedges' MSS. relating to Magdalen College.
Fol. i. Form of citation.
3-4. (Doc. 192.) Letter from John Smith, Fellow, to Dr. Hedges. Oct.
26, 1687.
5. Note by Dr. Hedges.
7. Memorandum as to the opening of proceedings.
APPENDIX TO INTRODUCTION. xxxvii
8. Abstract, or notes of proceedings from Oct. 18.
19. Draft of a letter from the Commissioners to Lord Sunderland, desiring
power to admit the Bp. of Oxford by proxy. A memorandum at the bottom.
20. (Doc. 230, as are the next three artt. : see Errata.) Notes of pro-
ceedings 1 6. Nov.
Admission of Joyner and Allibone.
Summoning of the Fellows.
Bp. Cartwright's speech.
Dr. Aldworth's speech.
Answers of the various Fellows.
Sentence.
Admissions in places of expelled Fellows.
Form of submission.
22. Notes as to proceedings Oct. 25.
Form of submission proposed Oct. 25.
26. Notes of proceedings on Friday (Oct 21 ?) and Oct. 28. (col. 2.)
28. Notes of proceedings Oct. 22.
29-30. Answers of the various Fellows as to admitting Bp. of Oxford.
31. Rough notes of what is found at fol. 10.
34, col. 2 and verso. Case of Benjamin Rogers, notes.
38. Sentence on Dr. Fairfax, Oct. 25.
38 v. the Fellows.
42. Copy of a commission 10 Eliz. to visit C. C. C. (sent with the next).
44. Letter from Doctors' Commons to Dr. Hedges. Oct. 20, 1687.
46 v. and 47. Notes and extracts.
48. (Doc. 136.) Letter from Bp. of Chester to Dr. Hedges. Oct. 17.
50. Notes on case of Alban Francis and University of Cambridge.
51. Statute of Eliz. on the point above.
53. Note as to reasons against inquiring into a case (not specified).
56-8. Notes on Acts relating to the Common Prayer Book.
59. Notes as to Royal power of visitation.
61-68. Notes on various points of the case, being heads of arguments and
propositions for the King as against the College. Those at fol. 64 and fol.
68, which are much alike, may have been in the hands of the Commissioners.
70-88. Papers relating to the case of Anth. Farmer, for whom Dr. Hedges
was Counsel.
89. An Apology of Dr. Hedges.
91. Notes of a conversation between the King, the Lord Chancellor, Lord
Sunderland, and Dr. Hedges, Oct. 14.
94. Notes of a previous conversation with the Lord Chancellor and of
another, Oct 13.
98. Opinion of Dr. Hedges given Dec. 8, against incapacitating the
deprived Fellows.
xxxviii APPENDIX TO INTRODUCTION.
99 v. Notes of a private consultation on the same subject, Dec. 6. (Con-
tinued fol. 101.)
100. A memorandum.
102. A more careful Apology, signed.
106. A letter from Dr. Stafford, referred to in the last.
(Foil. 107-156 are concerned with the Sharpe and Compton case ; 157 to end,
correspondence between Johnson and Hedges about the Visitatorial power.)
(3) The Johnston MS., a folio volume kindly deposited by its owner,
F. B. Frank, Esq., of Campsall Park, near Doncaster, in the British
Museum for the use of the Society. The contents are :
Contents of MS. Johnston.
(An old irregular numbering runs through the volume beginning with p. 79 :
which is here used for reference).
General Description. Papers and collections made by, and chiefly in the
handwriting of N. Johnston : partly a portion of the MS. copy of his Visita-
torial power, from which the book was printed.
pp. 79-210. Notes and papers chiefly in Nathaniel Johnston's hand, on
which is based his book on the King's Visitatorial power : with very little about
Magdalen.
p. 215. Letter from Philip, Bp. elect of Aureli(an)ople asking (Johnston's)
opinion about the authority of the King over bulls from the Pope. (The
endorsement is p. 226.)
p. 217. (Doc. 272.) Letter from Walker, 14 Feb. i68|, to Johnston, about
King's Visitatorial power.
p. 221. (Doc. 273.) Do. 19 Feb. i68|.
p. 241-4. (Docc. 283, 285.) Two letters from Tho. Fairfax (to Johnston ?)
4 and 9 July 1688.
p. 291. Considerations on the 6th chap, of Dr. Johnston's treatise.
p. 313-4. (Doc. 126.) Objections in the case of Magd. Coll. referred to 'his
Majesty's learned Council ' to be answered. (Ten in number.)
PP- 3 2 3> 3 2 5- (Doc. 127.) Answers to the above.
p. 379. Draft of a letter beginning ' My Lord, It hath been the greate felicity
of this college : ' ends ' surgeon or apothecary.' Not important, in Johnston's
hand.
p. 381. Letter from Rob. Brady to Johnston, 6 July, 1688, partly answering
pp. 313-4.
pp. 481-4, 487-end. (Ordinary copies of papers about Magdalen College :
chiefly from the Register of the College.)
p. 485. Paper by Tho. Smith read to the Fellows, on his return from
presenting the petition to the King, dated 10 Apr. 1687, beg. ' Gentlemen,
it is my opinion.' Dated 14 Apr. 1687.
The last page is 518.
APPENDIX TO INTRODUCTION. xxxix
(4) The Rawlinson MS. in the Bodleian Library (MS. Rawl. D. 390,
foil. 24-54) : noticed by the Rev. W. D. Macray as follows :
Rawlinson MS. D. 390.
A collection of papers relating to the visitation of Magdalen College in 1687.
1. Transcripts by one hand: 'A letter to Dr. F[airfax], Aug. 8, 1687;' 'A
letter to Dr. Tfhomas] S[mith],' Oct. 20, 1687 5 'A letter with some quaeries
sent to the Lords Commissioners at Oxon,' Oct. 24, 1687 ; * A letter to Dr.
Hedges, Oct. 20, 1687 ;' A letter to the Lord Chief Justice Wright, not dated ;
' Dr. Fairfax's Plea, not delivered.' Foil. 24-32.
2. An account of the proceedings, beginning on Oct. 19, to Nov. 16. Foil.
33, 39-
3. Petition from the College to the King. Fol. 42.
4. Fragmentary notes of the proceedings on 16 Nov. Foil. 44, 49.
5. Two lists of the Fellows and Demies, marking those who did and who
did not submit. Foil. 45, 46.
6. Answer of the College to questions from the Commissioners as to the
relief given by the College to the poor in fulfilment of charitable benefactions ;
22 Oct. Fol. 47.
7. Summons to the College to appear before the Council, I July ; summons
to appear before the Visitors, 17 Oct. ; opinion of Dr. Bourchier as to the
obligations to obey the King's commands. Foil. 48, 41, 50.
8. Answer of the Vice-President and the deputed Fellows of the College
to the question, why did they not elect Dr. Farmer. Fol. 51.
9. Copy of a letter signed C. C., giving a report of the Bishop of Chester's
first speech to the College ; dated Tring, 3 March, 1688. Fol. 53.
The MS. material used by Dr. Bloxam besides a few separate original
papers, and the official Registers of Magdalen College, is :
(5) The Diary of Baron Jenner, one of the Commissioners.
(6) Letters from Henry Holden, one of the Fellows, to his father,
(y) Account of the proceedings of George Hunt, Fellow.
These three are in Magdalen College Library.
The above will serve as examples of the class of manuscripts from
which, and from printed sources, this volume has been compiled. It
would be easy to extend the list by referring to such volumes as British
Museum MS. Lansdowne 1045, Sloane 3076, Hargrave 401 (from which
Dr. Thomas Smith's Diary was printed, though itself only a transcript),
and probably several other volumes of the same kind are in private hands.
But it is believed that the present collection leaves little room for any
substantial addition.
xl APPENDIX TO INTRODUCTION.
3. BIBLIOGRAPHY.
\a. An impartial relation of the whole proceedings against St. Mary Mag-
dalen Colledge in Oxon in ... in 1687. Containing only matters of fact as
they occurred, [by Charles Aldworth, Vice-President of the College. Also
attributed to Henry Fairfax, as for instance by one Thomas Collins in Wood's
copy in the Bodleian : some thought that Francis Bagshaw was the author.]
pp. (6) + 40: no place, 1688. 4.
ib. [second issue : Table begins at back of title, catchword of p. i sent,
not the.}
ic. An impartial relation of the illegal proceedings against St. Mary Mag-
dalen Colledge in Oxon, in ... in 1687. Containing only matters of fact as
they occurred. The second edition, to which is added the most remarkable
passages, omitted in the former, by reason of the severity of the Press.
Collected by a Fellow of the said Colledge [C. Aldworth].
pp. (4) + 66 + (2, advertisements of books) + 8 (' a letter to the author of
the Vindication of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, concerning the legality of
that Court'). Lond. 1682. 4. [This edition is often found without the last
piece, which the catchword ' A ' on p. 66 joins to the first : or if the last
piece be found the leaf of advertisements (sign. K 2) is usually torn off.]
2. The King's Visitatorial Power asserted, being an impartial relation of the
late Visitation of St. Mary Magdalen College in Oxford ... By Nathaniel
Johnston . . .
PP- (3 6 ) + 352 : Lond., 1688. 4.
3. A Vindication of the proceedings of His Majesties Ecclesiastical Com-
missioners against the Bishop of London and the Fellows of Magdalen-
College [by Sir Charles Hedges].
pp. (4) + 78 : Lond., 1688. 4.
4. A letter to the author of the Vindication of the Ecclesiastical Com-
missioners, concerning the legality of that Court. [Signed at end ' Philo-
nomos Anglicus.']
pp. 8 : n. pi. [1688 ?] sm. 4.
4& [another edition, with * Vindication of the proceedings of the
Ecclesiastical Commissioners ' and * By Philonomus Anglicus ' on title page.]
pp. (2) + 20 : ' Eleutheropolis ' [1688 ?] sm. 4.
5. An account of the late Visitation at St. Mary Magdal. Colledge in
Oxon. by the ... Bish. of Winton., ... 24 October 1688 [by Nicholas Cox?,
late manciple of St. Edmund Hall],
pp. 4 : Lond., 1688. fol.
.6. The history of King James's Ecclesiastical Commission, containing all
the proceedings against . . . Magdalen College in Oxford . . . [and other places
and persons.]
Lond., 1711. 8. [pp. 30-52, out of 90, are concerned with Magdalen.]
APPENDIX TO INTRODUCTION. xli
7. The life of the Rev. John Hough, D.D. . . . containing many of his letters
. . By John Wilmot . . .
pp. 16 + (2, errata) + 388 : Lond., printed for the author, 1812. 4.
8. Proceedings against St. Mary Magdalen College in Oxon, for not elect-
ing Anthony Farmer President of the said College, 5 James II, A.D. 1687-88.
[Also 'An account of the proceedings at Magdalen College, Oxon, 1687,'
being Dr. Thomas Smith's Diary, printed from a Hargrave MS. (No. 401)
now in the British Museum.]
Columns 1-112 of vol. 12 of Howell's State Trials, also known as Cobbett's
State Trials. Lond., 1812. 8.
9. Attempt of King James the Second to force a Dissenter upon Magdalen
College, Oxford, April 1687. Compiled from Howell's State Trials, and other
sources.
pp. 28 : Oxf., 1834. 8.
10. The Diary of Dr. Thomas Cartwright, Bishop of Chester . . . term-
inating with the Visitation of St. Mary Magdalene College, Oxford, October
M.DC.LXXXVII. Now first printed from the original MS. in the possession
of the Rev. Joseph Hunter, F.S.A. [by whom the volume was edited],
pp. 18 + 110 : Lond., printed for the Camden Society, 1843. 4.
F. M.
LIST OF DOCUMENTS.
[Additions to D r . Bloxam's collection are marked Bk. = Braybrooke MS.,
By. = Buckley MS., or Jn.= Johnston MS.]
No. DATE.
1686.
1. July 17. Appointment of Lords Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction.
2. Letter respecting the same.
168f.
3. Jan. i. List of Fellows of Magdalen College.
4 ' Mar 2' I Notes from the Vi ce-President's Register (Bk.).
1687.
5. Mar. 26. Dr. Thomas Smith's Narrative.
6. 28. Do. continued.
7. 29. Extract from the Vice-President's Register (President's death).
8. Statutum de electione Praesidentis.
9. ,, 31. Notice of new election.
10. Extract from the Vice-President's Register.
11. Do. (Bk.).
12. Letter from the College to their Visitor (Bk.).
13. April i. Visitor to the College (Bk.).
14. 1-9. Notes from the Vice-President's Register (Bk.).
15. 5. The King's mandate for electing Farmer President.
16. ,, Dr. Smith's Narrative.
17. 8. Visitor's letter to Lord Sunderland.
18. Visitor's letter to the College (Bk.).
19. 9. Petition of the College to the King.
20. 10. Letter from Dr. Thomas Smith to the Vice-President (Bk.).
21. Dr. Smith's Narrative.
22. ? Queries in reference to the election and admission of a President (Bk, ) .
23. ii. Dr. Pudsey's answers to the foregoing queries (Bk.).
24. Dr. Smith's Narrative.
25. Delivery of the King's Mandate.
26. 12. Dr. Smith's Narrative.
27. 13. Do. : reception of Petition by the King.
28. 14. Do. : action of the College.
29. 15. Do. do.
30. Do. do.
31. Do. do.
32. Do. : election of Hough as President by the College.
33. Official account of the election.
34. Dr. Smith's Narrative.
LIST OF DOCUMENTS. xliii
No. DATE.
1687.
35. April 15. Another account of the election.
36. 15-17. The Vice-President's account : confirmation by the Visitor (Bk.).
37. 16. Official account of the confirmation.
38. Dr. Smith's Narrative.
39. No. 37 continued.
40. Another account.
41. ' Lord Sunderland's letter to the Visitor.
42. 17. Answer of the Visitor.
43. Return of the President.
44. Do.
45. 1 7-19. Dr. Smith's Narrative : appeal to the Duke of Ormond to inter
cede for the College.
46. 1 8 or 19. The Appeal.
47. 21. The King demands an explanation.
48. 23? Answer of the College.
49. 24. Statement of the case of the College.
50. 24? Address to the King.
51. 23-27. Dr. Smith's Narrative of his own action.
52. May, early? The Vice-President's statement of the case of the College (Bk.).
53. 7. Another defence of the College (Bk.).
54. 28. Proceedings taken against the College.
55. Do.
56. ? The College Plea (Bk.).
57. June 2. Notary's certificate of the election (Bk.).
58. May 30. Summons to appear before the Commissioners (Bk.).
59. June 6. The Delegates of the Fellows appear as summoned.
60. Do. : Dr. Smith's Narrative.
61. Do. : Bp. Cartwright's Diary.
62. ,, Do. : Official account.
63. ,, Proceedings of the Commission (Bk.).
64. 8. Do. : The Vice-President's letter to Hough.
65. ,, 13. Second appearance of the Delegates before the Commissioners.
66. Do. (Bk.).
67. Do. : official account.
68. ,, Answer of the Delegates to the question, why Farmer was not
elected President.
69. Do. : another version.
70. Luttrell's Diary.
71. Proceedings of the Commissioners.
72. The Vice-President's notes for an answer to the Commissioners (Bk.).
73. 22. Third appearance of the Delegates.
74. Do.(Bk.).
75. Do. : Bp. Cartwright's Diary.
76. Order of the Commissioners, amoving Dr. Hough from the office of
President.
77. Do., suspending Dr. Aldworth, Vice-President, from his office and
Fellowship.
78. ,, Do., for publication of the foregoing Decrees.
xliv LIST OF DOCUMENTS.
No. DATE.
1687.
79. June 24. The Decrees published at Oxford (Bk.).
80. 23. The Decrees sent to Oxford (Bk.).
81. 24. Reception of the Decrees in the College.
82. 27. Certificates about Farmer's character delivered to the Commis-
sioners.
83. July i. Farmer's answer to the certificates.
84. ,, Do., a letter from Mr. Ludford to the President.
85. ,, ,, Citations of the Commissioners.
86. 13. Letter from Mr. John Smith to the Vice-President, on recent
events (Bk.).
87. 18. Royal mandate inhibiting the College from elections.
88. 29. Proceedings of the Commissioners.
89. Do. : re-issue of orders depriving the President and Vice-President.
90. Do.
91. 31. Newsletter of W. Sherwin, No. i, on recent events.
92. Aug. 5. The Deputies of the Fellows give their answer about the orders of
June 22.
93. Do.
94. ,, 8. Letter on recent events.
95. 14. Royal mandate appointing the Bishop of Oxford President; see
No, 174.
96. 21. Letter from Lord Sunderland to the Senior Fellow, enforcing the
mandate.
97. ? Letter from the Bishop of Oxford to the Senior Fellow, asking for
admission to the Presidentship by proxy.
98. 28. Answer to Lord Sunderland.
99. Do. to the Bishop of Oxford.
100. ? Do.
101. Sept. 4. The King at Oxford.
] 02. Do. : interview of the King with the Fellows.
103. Do. do. (Bk.).
104. Do. do. : Dr. John Smith's account.
105. ,, Do. do. : Mr. Blathwayt's account.
106. ,, Do. do.: M. Baurepas's note on the interview.
107. Proceedings of the Fellows.
108. ,, Do. : William Penn's attempts to make peace.
109. ,, Petition of the Fellows rejected by the King.
110. Meeting of the Fellows in Chapel.
111. 5. The King's interview with the Vice- Chancellor.
112. Do.
113. 6. Address of the Fellows to the King, delivered to Lord Sunderland.
114. Letter from Mr. Creech to Dr. Charlett on the King's stay at Oxford.
115. ,, 7. Letter from Mr. Sykes to Dr. Charlett, on recent events at Oxford.
116. 9. Letter from Lord Sunderland to the Bishop of Oxford, on the
conduct of the Fellows.,
117. 16. Letter from Mr. Sykes to Dr. Charlett.
118. 15. Anonymous queries sent to the Fellows from Windsor in order to
their submission.
LIST OF DOCUMENTS. xlv
No. DATE.
1687.
119. Sept 19. Letter from Lord Sunderland to the Bishop of Oxford.
120. Do. to the Vice-Chancellor.
121. 25. Answer to the anonymous queries (No. 118).
122. ,, end? Ptnn's intercession.
123. Penn's letter (see Errata}.
124. Oct. 3. Answer to Penn's letter.
125. Sept. 25. Newsletter of W. Sherwin, No. 2, on recent events.
126. Oct. ? Questions proposed to Counsel on the King's side (Jn.). )
327. ,, Notes of answers to the above (Jn.). j
128. ,, 9. Conference of Deputies of the Fellows with Penn.
129. Account of the Conference, by the President.
130. 13. Bishop Cartwright's Diary : new Commissioners to visit the College.
131. 14. Do. do.
132. ,, Dr. Smith's Diary : do.
133. 17. Citation of the College for Oct. 21, by the new Commissioners.
134. Bp. Cartwright's Diary.
135. ,, ; , Baron Jenner's Diary.
136. Meeting of Bp. Cartwright and Dr. Hedges (By.).
137. 1 8. Bp. Cartwright's Diary.
138. Baron Jenner's Diary.
139. 19. Bp. Cartwright's Diary: journey to Oxford.
140. The Citation.
141. ,, Baron Jenner's Diary : journey to Oxford.
142. 20. Do. : arrival at Oxford.
143. ,, 21. Bp. Cartwright's Diary : do.
144. 20. Anonymous letter to Dr. Hedges.
145. Do., to D r . Smith.
146. 21. Meeting of the Commissioners at Oxford. See Doc. 230.
147. Do. : Bp. Cartwright's Diary.
148. Do.: Dr. Smith's Diary.
149. Do. : Bp. of Chester's speech.
150-1. Do., afternoon : Baron Jenner's Diary.
152. Do. : Bp. Cartwright's Diary.
153. Do. : Dr. Smith's Diary.
154. Do. : List of Demies, Chaplains, Clerks and Choristers cited before
the Commissioners.
155. Do : detailed account.
156. Do : Letter from Henry Holden.
157. 22. Do.: Do.
158. ? ,, Anonymous letter to Lord Chief Justice Wright.
159. 22. Proceedings of the Commissioners: The President's name struck
out of the College Books.
160. Do.: Do.
161. Do. : Dr. Fairfax and the Commissioners.
162. ,, Do. : Baron Jenner's Diary.
163. Do. : Dr. Smith's Diary.
164. Do. : Bp. Cartwright's Diary.
165-6. Do.
xlvi
No.
DATE.
1687.
167.
Oct. 22.
168-9.
170.
22-3.
171.
55 23.
172.
55 55
173.
55 55
174.
55 55
175.
5, 2 4 .
176.
55 55
177.
178.
2 5 .
179.
55 55
180.
5 55
181.
55 55
182.
55 >5
183.
55 55
184.
5> 55
185.
55 55
186.
55 55
187.
55 55
188.
55 55
189.
55 55
190.
55 55
191.
55 55
192.
55 55
193.
55
194.
J5 55
195.
26.
196.
55 55
197.
55 55
198.
55 55
199.
55 55
200.
55 55
201.
27.
202.
55 55
203.
55 55
204.
55 55
205.
55 55
206.
55 55
207.
28.
208.
55 55
209.
55 55
210.
55 55
211.
55 5'
LIST OF DOCUMENTS.
Do. : Dr. Smith's Diary.
Do. : Letter from the Commissioners to the Lord President, enclosing
No. 169, their report.
Do. : Bp. Cartwright's Diary.
Letter from Bp. Cartwright to the Bp. of Oxford.
Baron Jenner's Diary.
The Lord President's answer to No. 168.
Royal mandate enforcing No. 95.
Bp. Cartwright's Diary.
Proclamation of the Vice-Chancellor against interruption of the
Commissioners.
Baron Jenner's Diary.
Protest of the College to the Commissioners.
Installation of the Bp. of Oxford by proxy : Baron Jenner's Diary.
Do. : Official notice.
Do.
Action of the Commissioners.
Do. : Bp. Cartwright's last entry in his Diary.
Do. : Dr. Smith's Diary.
Do.
Afternoon : qualified submission of the Fellows to the Bp. of Oxford
as President.
Dr. Fairfax expelled.
Dr. Fairfax's Protest, etc.
Report of the Commissioners to the Lord President.
Letter from Mr. H olden.
Anecdote of the Countess of Ossory.
Dr. Fairfax.
Do. : D r . Smith's Diary.
Do. : Letter from Mr. Holden.
Enquiry into the College Charities.
Do. : Dr. Smith's Diary.
Dr. Rogers's Petition.
Do. : Letter from Mr. Holden.
Letter from John Smith, about his absence (By.).
Baron Jenner's Diary. See also No. 230.
Tramallier's account of the proceedings on the 2Oth-25th.
[Academy.]
Proceedings of the Commissioners.
Dr. Smith's Diary.
Letter from Mr. Holden.
Baron Jenner's Diary.
The King desires further submission from the Fellows.
The Fellows further qualify their former submission.
Do.
Do. : fuller account.
Do. : Dr. Smith's Diary.
Do. : Letter .from Mr. Holden.
LIST OF DOCUMENTS. xlvii
No. DATE.
1687.
212. Oct. 28. Do. : Newsletter of W. Sherwin, No. 3.
213. ,, Do. : Baron Jenner's Diary.
214. 31. Do. : Newsletter of W. Sherwin, No. 4.
215. Do. : Letter from Mr. Holden.
216. Do. : Letter from Dr. John Aldworth (Bk.).
217. Nov. 2. The Bp. of Oxford occupies the President's Lodgings.
218. 3. Meeting of the King's Council.
219. 6. Newsletter of W. Sherwin, No. 5.
220. early? Draft of the Vice-President's Defence.
221. 12. Do. : criticism by R. Aldworth (Bk.).
222. 11-13. Election of New Fellows.
223. 14-15. The Commissioners again visit Oxford: Baron Jenner's Diary.
224. 15. Interview between Dr. Smith and the Commissioners : Dr. Smith's
Diary.
225-6. ? Royal instructions to the Commissioners, suggesting a form of
submission.
227. ii. Form of Royal order to elect new Fellows.
228. 15. Arrival of the Commissioners in Oxford.
229. 16. The Bp. of Chester's speech, and refusal of the Fellows to submit.
230. Rough notes by Dr. Hedges of the proceedings on Oct. 21-28,
Nov. 16, 1687. See Errata. (By.)
231. 1 6. Proceedings about the refusal to submit.
232. Do. : Dr. Smith's Diary.
233. Do. : with admission of new Fellows.
234. List of Fellows who were absent or submitted.
235. Speech of Mr. Holt, a Demy.
236. Letter from Mr. Sykes to D r . Charlett about the proceedings.
237. 16-17. Baron Jenner's Diary.
238. 17. Newsletter of W. Sherwin, No. 6.
239. Tramallier's account of the proceedings, Oct. 28 Nov. 16.
240. 1 8. Letter from William Thornton (Sherwin?), on the same subject.
241. Dr. Smith's Diary, about his conduct in London.
242. Do., Do.
243. 20. Newsletter of W. Sherwin, No. 7.
244. 22. Do., No. 8.
245. 24-25. Dr. Smith's Diary, about his own conduct.
246. 28. Proceedings at a meeting of the King's Council, on the question
whether the expelled Fellows should be incapacitated from
Ecclesiastical preferment.
247. Do.
248. Dec. 6. State of Magdalen College, Mr. Hawles.
249. 7. Do.
250. 8. Proceedings of the King's Council.
251. 9. State of the College.
252. 10. Proceedings of the Council, incapacitating the Fellows from prefer-
ment.
253. 12. Do.
254. Dr. Smith's Diary : public feeling.
xlviii LIST OF DOCUMENTS.
No. DATE.
1687.
255. Dec. 17. State of the College, Mr. Charnock.
256. 25. Do.
257. 29. Newsletters of W. Sherwin, No. 9.
258. 31. Royal mandate for the admission of new Fellows and Demies : with
biographical notes.
259. Dr. Smith's Diary, about the College Chapel.
168.
260. Jan. 4-11. Admission of new Fellows.
261. 7. Royal mandate for appointing College Officers.
262. 8. Newsletter of W. Sherwin, No. 10.
263. 14. State of the College.
264. 9. Do. : Letter from Mr. Holden.
265. 15. Conduct of the Demies : Letter from Mr. Holden.
266. 16. Expulsion of the Demies.
267. 17. The form of expulsion.
268. Newsletter of W. Sherwin, No. 11.
269. 19. Dr. Smith's Diary.
270. ,, 24-30. Admissions to places in the College.
271. ,, 31. Further expulsions of Demies.
272. Feb. 14. Letter from Obadiah Walker to D r . Johnston, on the affairs of the
College (Jn.).
273. 19. Do., Do. (Jn.).
274. 24-Mar. 16. Admission of Fellows.
275. Mar. 3. Letter from the President to the Hon. A. Newport.
276. 14. Royal mandate appointing Richard Short a Fellow.
277. 21. Death of the Bp. of Oxford 'President' of the College, with his
epitaph.
1688.
278. 30. Admission of Demies.
279. 31. Bonaventura Gifford appointed ' President,' with letter from D'Adda,
the Papal Nuncio.
280. April Dr. Smith's Diary, about the College Chapel.
281. May 21 Do., Do.
282. June 4. Royal mandate to Dr. Clifford.
283. July 4. Letter from Tho. Fairfax to Dr. Johnston [?], on the College
Statutes (Jn.).
284. 5-9. Admission of Fellows.
285. ,, 9. Second letter from Tho. Fairfax to Dr. Johnson [?], on the records
of the College.
286. Aug. 3. Dr. Smith's Diary, about his expulsion.
287. ,,4-10. Acts of the College.
288. Mr. Hawles and Slimbridge.
289. Oct. 3. Dr. Smith's Diary: advice to the King to restore the President and
Fellows.
290. Summary of the treatment received by the Fellows under James II.
(Bk.)
291. ,, 5. Suppression of the Ecclesiastical Commission.
LIST OF DOCUMENTS.
xlix
No. DATE.
292. Oct. ii. Restoration of the President and Fellows.
293. Do. : Letter from Dr. Clarges to Dr. Aldworth (Bk.)
294. 12. D r . Smith's Diary, about the Visitor restoring the President, etc.
295. 16. Delay in the restoration.
296. Do. : Dr. Smith's Diary.
297. 21. Do. : Letter from the Warden of All Souls.
298. 22-5. The Visitor in Oxford.
299. Oct.-Nov. Do., Tramallier's Letter.
300. Oct. Do.
301. The delay : Dr. Smith's Diary.
302. Do.
303. 24-25. The final Restoration.
304. 27. Do. : Letter from Dr. Smith.
305. 25. Do. : the official account, with lists of the persons restored.
306. Do. : list of intruded persons, now expelled.
307. Dec. 10. Letter of Father Con, on the recent proceedings.
308. Letter of the Earl of Sunderland : Do.
309. The King's Vindication of himself.
310. The sequel, 1688-1834.
311. 1689. Do., the case of King's College, Cambridge.
168^
__>--
Jan. 2, 9, 16, 23, 30.
Feb. 6, 13, 20, 27.
Mar. 6, 13, 20.
1687.
^ A
Mar. 27.
Apr. 3% 10, 17, 24.
May i, 8, 15, 22*, 29.
June 5, 12, 19, 26.
July 3, 10, 17, 24, 31.
Aug. 7, 14, 21, 28.
Sept. 4, u, 1 8, 25.
Oct. 2, 9, 16, 23, 30.
Nov. 6, 13, 20, 27.
Dec. 4, ii, 18, 25.
BLE OF SUNDAYS
168|.
__^^__
._ ^ ^_.
Jan.
I,
8, 15,
22, 29.
Feb.
5,
12, 19,
26.
Mar.
4>
ii, 18.
.
1688.
i
MaT
_ -- A '-
1 -^
25-
Apr.
It
8, 15;
22, 29.
9-
May
6,
13, 20, 27.
June
3,
10 b , 17, 24.
i.
July
i,
8, 15,
22, 29.
Aug.
5,
12, 19,
26.
Sept.
2,
9, 1 6,
23, 3-
Oct.
7,
14, 21,
28.
Nov.
4,
ii, 18,
25-
Dec.
2,
9, 1 6,
23, 30.
Easter Sunday.
b Trinity Sunday.
c Advent Sunday.
ERRATA, &c.
(Contributed by the Rev. H. A. Wilson: corrected in the Index.']
PAGE
33. 1. 19 from bottom, for eum read cum.
38. 1. 20 from bottom, for 8 th read II th (?) : it is 8 th in the original.
49. 1. i8,for Baybrooke read Braybrooke.
1. 4 from bottom, for Eldowes read Eddowes (?).
56. 1. 23, for Beldock read Baldock (see Nos. 247, 250).
71. 1. 1 8 and note, for Tenefar read Jenefar.
99-101 (Doc. 123-124). These are taken from the Impartial Relation, pp. 25-27,
but modernized. The following corrections or alternatives for the text
are from Brit. Mus. MS. Lansdowne 1045, p. 46 : p. 99, 1. 8, trapan]
trappe or ensnare. 1. 14, be] but be. 1. 15, whether] where. 1. 18,
instant] juncture. 1. 28, prudent] prudential. 1. 29, you] men of your
ingenious education. 1. 31, so] the so. p. 100. 1. 2, credit] interest.
1. u, as] which is. 1. 14, with] to. 1. 20, 128] 138. 1. 21, Abbess] abbat.
1. 13 from bottom, to] with. 1. 5 from bottom, invade] undo. p. TOI,
1. 12, four] seven, most] many. 1. 14, subscribe] submit. The MS.
assumes that the letters were written to, and by, the Vice-president.
(F. M.)
102. Nos. 126-7 are perhaps misplaced. They deal with questions raised by the
Fellows at the Visitation, and are therefore perhaps the result of discus-
sions in October, and themselves belong to a time later than the opening
of the Visitation.
106. 1. 15, for Young read Goring (see No. 128).
1 08. note i. This, as well as note 2, applies to Sir C. Hedges.
no. line 9 from bottom, for hree read three.
119. In list of clerks, for Rigby read Ryaly (?), see pp. 154, 263.
142. line 9 from bottom, for Hatton read Halton.
153. 1. 7 from bottom, for Hawley read Hawles.
154. In List of Demies, for Benjamin Gardiner read Bernard Gardiner ; for Renton
read Kenton.
In List of Choristers, for Slack read Clerk.
In List of Clerks, for Russell read Basse tt.
162. 1. 2, for Hawley read Hawles.
1. 3, for John Bayley read James Bayley.
ERRATA. li
PAGE
170. 1. 14, for Hwales read Hawles.
178. 1. n, forPelham read Fulham.
191-203. The notes of No. 230 belong to various days, not in chronological order :
the order should be probably this :
A. Oct. 2i st , p. 201, 1. 20, 'Dr. Aldworth,' to p. 202, 1. 23, ' y e petition read.'
B. Oct. 22 nd , p. 198, 1. 16 from bottom, 'Saterday,' to p. 201, 1. 19, ' y e
manner of admitting.'
C. p. 202, 1. 24, 'Saterday 2,' to p. 203, 1. 15, ' adjourn'd till
tuesday.'
D. Oct. 25 th , p. 194, line 5 from bottom, 'Tuesday, 8,' to p. 197, 1. 15, 'in
3 days.'
E. Oct. 26 th , p. 203, 1. 19, ' Wednesday, 9,' to ' reject y e petition/
F. Oct. 27 th , p. 203, line 4 from bottom, * Tuesd. (? Thursd.) betwixt 9 & 10,
to end.
G. Oct. 28 th , p. 197, line 16, * Friday morning 7 ... 8,' to p. 198 line 17
from bottom, ' may retract.'
H. Nov. 1 6 th , pp. 191-194, 1. 6 from bottom.
191. 1. 9 from bottom (and through No. 230) for Cudford rawTLudford.
192. 1. 14, for Hawly read Hawl(e)s (?) ; also p. 193, 1. 25 from bottom.
1. 26, for Baghlaw read Bagshaw ?
1. 1 8 from bottom, for Bohmant read Bateman (?).
1. 4 from bottom, for Chadnock read Charnock.
195. 1. 14, for ch. G. read ch. J. (i. e. Chief Justice).
,, 1. 18 from bottom, for Tho. read The.
196. 1. 15 from bottom, for Hawley read Hawles.
199. 1. 6 from bottom, Bp. should be in italics.
201. 1. 3 from bottom, for Taylor read Fayrer.
204. 1. ij,for Tey read Fey.
228. 1. 27, for Setter read Seller.
230. 1. 16 from bottom, read ' alternatim ' (?).
234. for Adamas read Adams ; for Walkins read Watkins (bis).
248. 1. 12, for B. Smith readR. Smith.
251. for H r . Smith read F r . Smith.
252. for Whales read Whal(l)ey.
253. note, for 1668 read 1688.
PROCEEDINGS IN THE
CASE OF MAGDALEN COLLEGE, OXFORD,
1687-8.
1.
1686, July 17. The Appointment of Lords Commissioners
for Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction.
At the Councill Chambers at Hampton Court,
17 July, 1686.
His Majesty was this day pleased to declare that for the prevention of
Indiscreet Preaching (his many Exhortations having proved ineffectual)
he had granted a Commission for the inspecting Ecclesiastical Affairs to
the Lord Archbishop, the Lord Chancellor, Lord Treasurer, Lord President,
the Bishops of Durham and Rochester, and the Lord Chief Justice Herbert.
2.
The same.
(Letter to John Ellis, Esq. from )
What takes up most men here is a new Commission that his Majesty
has issued out, whereby he is pleased to constitute seven Lords Com-
missioners for executing and exercising all ecclesiastical jurisdiction:
viz. the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury 1 , the Bishop of Durham 2 , the
Bishop of Rochester 3 , the Lord Chancellor 4 , the Lord Treasurer 5 , the
Lord President 6 , and Lord Chief Justice Herbert. They have power
and authority to visit and correct all offences, to enquire of any mis-
demeanors against the Ecclesiastical Laws, and to punish the offenders
by suspension, deprivation, and excommunication, and other Church
censures, according as they in justice shall think meet ; to examine into
all irregularities and immoralities punishable by Church laws, and even
into disorders in marriages ; and to call before them and punish any
offenders, or any that shall seem to be suspected persons ; to cite and
swear witnesses ; to punish the obstinate and disobedient ; to tax and
condemn in costs the party prosecuting or prosecuted ; to have a Re-
gistrar, who is M r . Bridgman, and a Common Seal with the circumscrip-
tion of Sigillum Dominorum Commissariorum S. R. Majestatis ad Causas
Ecclesiasticas. For all this three are to be the Quorum, whereof the Lord
Chancellor to be one. They are farther to cause all Universities, Col-
leges, Cathedral and Collegiate Churches, to bring up their Charters and
Statutes when required, and the same to alter as they see cause, and to
1 Bancroft. He refused to act. Lord Mulgrave was substituted for him.
2 Crewe. * Sprat. * Jeffries. 5 Rochester. 6 Sunderland.
MAGDALEN COLLEGE
1687.
add to or diminish from the same, and where there is room, to make
such Statutes as any five of them shall think meet, notwithstanding any
law, statute, etc. to the contrary. This is the purport of it as far as I can
remember. Ellis, Original Letters, 2 d series, vol. iv. pp. 96-98.
The greater terrors attended the Court, because it could not sit, un-
less when Jeffries was present. It was known privately that Bancroft,
from respect to the Church, would not act, which gave an opportunity of
putting the Bishop of Chester, a Prelate less scrupulous, in his place.
Dalrymple Memoir s> vol. ii. p. 77.
3.
A List of the Fellows of S. M. Magdalen College at the
commencement of the year 1687.
Charles Penyston.
Thomas Goodwin.
Robert Hyde.
Edward Yerbury.
Robert Holt.
Robert Thornton, Fellow 1684.
Robert Charnock.
Stephen Weelks, Fellow 1685.
Henry Holden.
William Hooper.
Charles Aldworth, Vice-President.
Henry Fairfax, Fellow 1659.
Alexander Pudsey.
John Younger.
John Smith.
Thomas Smith, Ludimagister 1663.
Thomas Bayley.
Thomas Stafford.
Charles Hawles.
Robert Almont.
Mainwaring Hammond.
John Rogers.
Richard Strickland.
Francis Smith.
Edward Maynard.
Henry Dobson.
James Bayley.
John Davys.
Francis Bagshaw.
John Hicks.
Jasper Thompson.
James Fayrer.
Joseph Harwar.
Thomas Bateman.
George Hunt.
William Craddock.
John Gilman.
Thomas Ludford.
George Fulham.
4.
16 8f. Notes from the Vice-President's Register.
7 Pebr. 8f Leave to M r . ^raesid. on ace*, of his indisposition till
he is in a condition to return.
March 24. 8. D r . Clerke president dyed at Gawthrop Hall in Lan-
cashire.
Notice given me of his death March 29.
John Hough.
XIII Seniors present at the
Election.
Charles Aldworth, V. P.
Henry Fairfax, Scrutator.
Alexander Pudsey, Scrutator.
John Smith.
Thomas Smith.
Thomas Bayley.
Thomas Stafford.
Robert Almont.
Mainwaring Hammond.
John Hough.
Richard Strickland.
Edward Maynard.
Henry Dobson.
1687. AND KING JAMES II.
5.
1687, March 26. D r . Thomas Smith's Narrative.
Hearing from D r . Ironside; then Vice-Chancellor, and others, that
they had met with a report that I had endeavoured to get the King's
mandate for the Presidentship of the College, then vacant by the death
of D r . Clerke, I replied that I had as good a pretention (it may be with-
out the least guilt of immodesty) as any other, and that I knew so well
how the Presidentship had been disposed by the Kings and Queens of
England that I saw no ill or indecency in such an application. But the
whole affair in short lies thus :
My friend and colleague D r . Younger came to my lodging at
Charing Cross, London, on Easter Eve, the 26 th of March, 1687, about
ten of the clock, just as I was going to bed, to acquaint me, that that
evening a messenger came to him from my Lady Shuttleworth, in Lan-
cashire, to let him know that her father, D r . Clerke, died at her house a
few days before, and that this was a secret^ and to be made use of accord-
ingly. I told him that the Lady by this quiet and speedy message de-
signed to pay him a particular respect and kindness, as being her Father's
intimate and dear friend, and that by all means he should procure by the
interest of Princess Anne, whose domestic chaplain he was, and is still,
the King's recommendatory letters to the College, which would put the
matter out of all possible doubt and question, this being consonant to the
often repeated advice I had given him long before of looking after the
Presidentship, whenever it should be vacant by D r . Clerke's resignation
(which once he was inclinable enough to have done in favour of D r .
Younger) or by his death, he growing in years and becoming very crazy.
But the Doctor told me, no ; that he had thought often seriously upon
it, and now more especially ; that such a kind of life did not suit with his
genius ; that he should be happy enough without it when the living of
Bishopstone should fall by the death of the incumbent, who was then
about fourscore years of age; that he also absolutely refused meddling
with it and stirring for it, and then advised me to look after the Presi-
dentship, and to use my interest in Court to procure it, and take time by
the forelock. I thanked him for his information and advice as the effect
of a long and dear friendship between us, and told him that it was now
late at night, that the next morning being Easter-day I intended to receive
the Eucharist in Whitehall Chapel; that that day was too sacred and
: solemn to do any business in, however that after I had performed my
devotion, I would then reflect on his advice and consider what was best
to be done.
6.
1687, March 28. D r . Thomas Smith's Narrative continued.
On Monday morning, the 28^ of March, I went to Thistle worth to
D r . Parker, Bishop of Oxford, with whom I had then, and several years
before, an intimate acquaintance, to desire him to go to London, and to
represent me to the King, and acquaint him with his knowledge of me.
B 2
4 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
I found him not well, and he assured me that he could not go that little
ourney without great inconvenience, but said he, ' I will write for you,
and that will be as well.' So I being in haste to return to London, he
retired immediately to write the letter, which he said he would give me.
After about half an hour he brings me a letter directed to his landlord,
where he had lately lodged, dwelling in the Haymarket, saying when he
gave it me, ' There is another letter enclosed ; you must not know or
enquire to whom it is directed. This if any thing will be effectual : ' nor
would he ever tell me afterwards who the person was to whom he wrote,
though I learned it not long after by a mere accident. After three or four
days I went to Thistleworth a second time to know what answer he had to
his letter ; for I was not to stir or say any thing of the business 'till I heard
from him. He then told me that he was not my competitor, notwith-
standing the noise of the Town that the King would make him President :
that the King expected that the person he recommended should be
favourable to his religion, and then asked me what I would do, or could
do, therein. I replied, ' my Lord, I pray acquaint the King, that if his
Majesty shall please to recommend me to the College I will make it my
business to advance piety and learning, to keep men dutiful and obedient
to his person and government, and truly loyal, and to promote true
Catholic Christianity ;' and ' I hope/ said I, ' the King will require no more
of me, for this is all that I can do/ He answered me ; ' This I assure
you will not do/ I said to him, ' Then let who will take the President-
ship for me ; I will look no more after it ; you are the only person I have
addressed to about it.' I prayed him upon his next going to Court to
acquaint the King with the answer I made, and to assure his Majesty of
my unalterable loyalty, whether he should think fit to recommend me or
otherwise. After this I made no address in the least to any person either
in the Court or out of it, about this matter, as having been fully convinced
by the discourse which I had with Bishop Parker that all future attempts,
as things then stood, would be vain and to no purpose.
7.
1687, March 29. Extract from the Vice-President's
Register.
Notum fecit Mr. Sanderson venerabilem virum Henricum Clerke, Med.
Doctorem, et Collegii B. M. Mariae Magdalenae in Universitate Oxon.
nuper Prsesidem in agro Lancastriensi obiisse.
8.
De electione Preesidentis Statutum Coll. B. M. Magd. Oxon.
Praesidens omnibus scholaribus, Sociis, clericis, ministris, et quibus-
O 1' i f cunc l ue a ^ s existentibus et degentibus in eodem, praesit, et
the President Presidens perpetuo nuncupetur; vir bonae conversationis
et honestae, scientia, bonis moribus et conditionibus, appro-
batus, in spiritualibus et temporalibus discretus, providus et etiam circum-
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 5
spectus. Cujus nominationem, electionem et praefectionem, perpetuis
futuris temporibus, statuimus, ordinamus et volumus, debere
fieri sub hac forma ; videlicet, quod, cedente, decedente vel notation
etiam amoto, Praesidente hujusmodi, vel alias dicto Collegio and election,
quoquomodo destitute Praesidente, infra duos dies immediate
sequentes destitutionem hujusmodi, omnes et singuli Socii j^jj^g C
nostri Collegii praedicti in Universitate praesentes, per Vice-
Praesidentem si praesens fuerit, vel eo absente vel alias impedito, per
Socium simpliciter seniorem ipsius nostri Collegii, prsemoniti, simul con-
veniant in capella dicti nostri Collegii, de die nominationis futuri Praesi-
dentis fiendae, ut convenit, tractaturi : quam nominationis diem, quam
citius fieri poterit, infra quindecim dies ex tune immediate sequentes
continue numerandos, pro nominatione hujusmodi facienda, praedictus
Vice-Praesidens vel dictus Socius statuat et praefigat, per literas citatorias
et monitorias in valvis capellae dicti Collegii figendas: proviso tamen
quod Socios suos absentes, per duodecim dies a tempore praemonitionis
in hoc casu fiendae, priusquam ad futuri Praesidentis nominationem pro-
cedant, teneantur et debeant expectare. Quibus hujusmodi duodecim
diebus transactis, in crastino convocentur per Vice-Praesidentem, vel ipso
absente per Socium seniorem, ad capellam praedictam omnes et singuli
Collegii nostri Socii praesentes ; cujus quidem Vice-Praesidentis seu, ipso
absente, Socii hujusmodi senioris vocationi omnes et singulos Socios
antedictos parere volumus, sub pcena perpetuae amotionis a nostro
memorato Collegio, quam non parentes incurrere volumus ipso facto.
Quam etiam pcenam omnes et singulos Socios, in nominationibus et
electionibus quorumcunque officiariorum interesse habentes, et effectua-
liter nominare seu eligere renuentes, incurrere volumus ipso facto. Ex-
posita ( vero per eundem convocantem causa convocationis praedictae,
scilicet pro nominatione futuri Praesidentis facienda, pro Spiritus Sancti
gratia in hac parte uberius impetranda, antequam ad nominationem pro-
cedant, missam de eodem Spiritu Sancto faciant inter se solenniter
celebrari. Qua celebrata, statim legatur hoc praesens statutum plene et
perfecte per Vice-Praesidentem, vel ipso absente per Socium praedictum
seniorem, palam et publice. Deinde, ad nominationem futuri .
Praesidentis, exspectatorum, ut praemittitur, absentia non O ftwo
obstante, in forma infra scripta ulterius procedatur. Duo candidates.
Socii nostri Collegii omnibus aliis Sociis seniores, quos Scrutators
scrutatores in ista nominatione esse voluimus, ac omnes
alii Socii supradicti, tactis per ipsos et per ipsorum quemlibet sacrosanctis
Dei Evangeliis, coram Vice-Praesidente praedicto, vel ipso impedito seniori
Socio praesente, corporale praestent juramentum publice tune ibidem, quod,
postpositis omnimodis amore, favore, odio, timore, invidia, partialitate,
affectione consanguinitatis, affinitatis, facultatis et scientiae, necnon accep-
tione personarum et patriae, et occasione quacunque precis aut pretii,
cum omni celeritate qua poterint nominabunt unum vel p res id en t to be
duos de Sociis ipsius Collegii aut de illis qui aliquando elected from
fuerint ipsius Collegii Socii et ex causis licitis et honestis Fellows of
inde recesserunt, vel nominabunt unum vel duos de Sociis ^f 3 ^ 1 ^ or
nostri Collegii beataj Mariae Virginis Wyntonise in Oxonia,
vel de his qui quondam fuerunt Socii ipsius nostri Collegii, et ex causis
6 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
recesserunt honestis. Ita, vero, quod nominent duos ex his prsedictis
Collegiis, vel ex altero eorundem, in theologia, jure canonico, civili, aut
in medicinis Doctores, vel artium Magistros, quos in ipsorum scientiis
magis idoneos, sufficientiores, discretiores, utiliores et aptiores ad sub-
eundum, gerendum, faciendum et exercendum, Praesidentis officium,
speraverint et firmiter crediderint. Necnon quod illos quos nomina-
verint sperant et firmiter credunt, quoad bonum et salubre regimen et
diligentem curam ipsius Collegii, personarum, statutorum, ac bonorum
ejusdem Collegii, terrarum, possessionum, et reddituum, spiritualium et
temporalium, et jurium eorundem, conservationem, plus posse proficere
debere. Jurabuntque insuper dicti scrutatores, ante ipsum scrutinium,
quod votum cujuslibet Sociorum praedictorum in ipsa nominatione dili-
genter et fideliter examinabunt; qui, ut praemittitur, examinati, coram
dictis scrutatoribus sua vota secrete et sigillatim emittere et ea manu
propria in scriptis redigere teneantur et debeant : ad quod etiam dictos
scrutatores per duos proximos seniores, modo quo praefertur examinatos,
arctari volumus et ordinamus. In quo quidem scrutinio,
"voteJ s * con tingat duas personas vota majoris partis omnium
Sociorum tune praesentium habere, senior dictorum scru-
tatorum, dicto scrutinio inter se communicate et fideliter calculate, ipsum
scrutinium mox de hujusmodi nominatis personis publicet in communi.
Qua publicatione facta, illae personae pro nominatis habeantur. Si vero
in dicto scrutinio in duas personas consensum non merit, ut praefertur,
absque omni tumultu et contradictione iterum consimile fiat scrutinium ;
et sic deinceps per tres dies continues. Quod si in tertio non concor-
datum fuerit, illi duo pro nominatis habeantur qui, scrutinio inter dictos
scrutatores communicato, plures Sociorum nostri Collegii voces, partium
comparatione numerum, habere inveniuntur. Si vero nulli duo plures
voces simpliciter sed multi aequales voces numero habuerint, illi pro
nominatis habeantur qui de habentibus aequales voces numero fuerint
seniores ; quod per seniorem ipsorum scrutatorem in communi publicetur.
Qua publicatione facta, statuimus et volumus Vice-Praesi-
Fmal selection dentem, vel ipso absente Socium simpliciter seniorem
of one of the , r. /->. n
two named for praesentem, convocare tredecim Socios seniores Collegii,
President. ad efficacem et finalem electionem unius de personis
Oath of elec- nommat i s > m Praesidentem assumendi et praeficiendi. Qui-
tors. b us convenientibus, jurabunt omnes et singuli tredecim
seniores praedicti, quod, postpositis omnimodis amore,
favore, odio, timore, acceptione personarum et patrise, ac partialitate
facultatis et scientiae, ac occasione quacunque precis aut pretii, quod
cum omni celeritate unum de praedictis nominatis, quern in ipsorum
conscientiis magis idoneum, sufncientiorem, discretiorem, utiliorem, et
aptiorem crediderint ad exercendum Praesidentis ofiicium, eligent, Vice-
Praesidente nostri Collegii, vel, ipso absente, Socio seniore dictos tredecim
et quemlibet eorum cum dicto juramento onerante, vel, si Vice-Praesidens
de illis tredecim senioribus unus existat, per alterum seniorem simili jura-
mento oneretur. Quo facto, scrutatores in prima nomina-
ti ne scrutinium de votis praedictorum' tredecim seniorum
Praesidentem eligere debentium facere teneantur. In quo
scrutinio, Socii Praesidentem eligere debentes vota sua pure, simpliciter
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 7
et secrete, manibus ipsis scribere teneantur, ipsis scrutatoribus videntibus
et auscultantibus. Et praedicti scrutatores, juramento simili praestito, sua
vota scribant coram duobus senioribus post eos proximis, pure, simpliciter
et secrete. In quo quidem scrutinio, si contingat unam personam vota
omnium praedictorum tredecim habere, scrutatores praedicti, dicto scru-
tinio inter se communicato, ipsum scrutinium de hujusmodi electa persona
mox per seniorem illorum publicent in communi. Qua publicatione sic
facta, ilia persona pro electa habeatur in qua tredecim Socii praedicti con-
senserint. Si vero in dicto scrutinio in unam personam per dictos tredecim
unanimiter consensum non fuerit, nihilominus ilia persona pro electa habea-
tur, absque tumultu, contradictione, querela, appellatione, supplicatione, seu
quocunque impedimento juris vel facti, in quam per majorem partem prae-
dictorum tredecim consensum fuerit ; et coram omnibus et singulis tune
ibidem praesentibus, celerius quo fieri poterit, pro Praesidente nostri Col-
legii per unum praedictorum scrutatorum denuntietur. Quibus omnibus
sic peractis, nullo alio juris ordine, processu seu solennitate,
in hac parte observatis seu etiam requisitis, ilia persona, in Presentation
Praesidentem sic in scrutinio finaliter nominata, citius quo f t ! ie 1 Pr f f'
~ . . . . . n . dent elect to
commode fieri potent per unum seniorem Socmm ipsius the Bishop of
Collegii, per majorem partem ipsorum tredecim seniorum Winchester,
nominandum, una cum literis electionis praedictae formam
ac praesentis nostri statuti, et nominati hujusmodi juramenti praestandi,
tenores plenarie continentibus, sigillo communi dicti Collegii sigillatis,
domino Episcopo Wintoniensi, qui pro tempore fuerit, vel, ipso in remotis
extra dicecesim suam agente, ipsius in spiritualibus vicario generali, aut,
sede Episcopali vacante, custodi spiritualitatis, praesentetur. Quibus
literis supra electione seu nominatione hujusmodi, modoque et forma
praedictis, absque probatione alia, plenam fidem volumus adhiberi. Qui
quidem Socius, cum dicta persona in Praesidentem nominata et electa,
mittendus coram dicto Episcopo Wintoniensi, ipsius Collegii tune Patrono,
seu illo cui dictam praesentationem fieri tune continget, propositionem
facere teneatur, dictum Collegium, personam in Praesidentem nominatam,
et omnes alias personas dicti Collegji, eidem specialiter, decenter et
honorifice, commendando. Ipse vero Episcopus dictus
Wintoniensis, seu ipsius vicarius, aut custos spiritualitatis
ejusdem, cui dictam praesentationem fieri continget, per-
sonam sic electam, absque mora, dispendio, et sine processu judiciario,
et absque impugnatione electionis sive nominationis praedictae, dicti Col-
legii praeficiat extra-judicialiter in Praesidentem. Si autem dominus
Episcopus supradictus, aliusve ex praedictis personis ad quern dictam
praesentationem fieri contigerit, et ad quern dicti Praesidentis praefec-
tionem spectare volumus, ut praefertur, per quinque dies a tempore
praesentationis praedictae sibi factae continue numerandos, noluerit per-
sonam in forma praedicta electam praeficere in Praesidentem, extunc
electus hujusmodi eo ipso praesentis nostri statuti vigore in Praesidentem
dicti nostri Collegii sit praefectus, et pro et legitimo ac perpetuo Praesi-
dente inibi habeatur. Praesidentem vero hujusmodi quemcunque, statim
post praefectionem suam, si hujusmodi praefectio tune fiat, primo coram
illo qui ipsum praefecerit in Praesidentem, et subsequenter in praesentia
omnium Sociorum ipsius Collegii praesentium, antequam quoquomodo
8 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
administret, tactis et inspectis per ipsum sacrosanctis Evangeliis, sub-
scriptum praestare volumus juramentum. 'Ego, N., in
taken b the Pnesidentem Collegii Beatae Mariae Magdalenae in Uni-
President. versitate Oxoniae nominatus, electus et praefectus, juro,
tactis et inspectis per me istis sacrosanctis Evangeliis, quod
dictum Collegium, omnia beneficia, terras, tenementa, pos-
sessiones, redditus spirituales et temporales, jura, libertates
et privilegia, et bona quaecunque ejusdem, necnon et singulos Socios et
scholares ipsius Collegii, juxta statuta et ordinationes reverendi patris
domini Wilhelmi Wayneflete, Fundatoris ipsius Collegii, absque per-
sonarum, scientiarum et facultatum, generis et patriae acceptione qua-
cunque, regam, custodiam, dirigam et gubernabo, et per alios regi,
custodiri, dirigi et gubernari, faciam juxta posse. Item, quod nee Sociis
vel scholaribus ejusdem Collegii, in aliqua scientiarum seu facultatum
hujusmodi studentibus, occasione scientiae seu facultatis ejusdem, plus
quam Sociis aliis vel scholaribus in scientiis aliis seu facultatibus studen-
tibus, favens ac partialis ero ; nee me partem pro aliquo aliqualiter
faciam, nee contra justitiam, caritatis et fraternitatis amorem, grava-
mina vel molestias alicui inferam vel inferri faciam quovismodo ; quod-
que, quantum in me fuerit, correctiones, punitiones, et
and punish- reformationes debitas, veras, rationabiles atque justas, de
ments. quibuscunque delictis, criminibus et excessibus, scholarium
et Sociorum dicti Collegii quorumcunque, quoties ubi et
quando, ac prout opus fuerit, juxta negotii qualitatem, omnemque vim,
formam et effectum, ordinationum et statutorum praedicti Collegii, per
dictum reverendum patrem editorum, absque partialitate quacunque,
postpositis et cessantibus omnimodis prece, pretio, amore, timore, odio,
invidia et favore, necnon affectionibus sanguinitatis, et affinitatis, facul-
tatis seu scientiae, ac praerogativis spiritualibus ex quibuscunque causis
protensis etiam vel conceptis, diligenter et indifferenter faciam et exer-
cebo, et ea per alios fieri et exerceri faciam et etiam procurabo, et ea
quae mea parte fuerint facienda fideliter in omnibus exequar et exequi
faciam juxta posse. Et si hujusmodi correctiones, punitiones et reforma-
tiones, ut praefertur, debite facere non potero, propter metum et potentiam
seu multitudinem delinquentium, ipsorum nomina et cognomina, cum
qualitate et quantitate delictorum et excessuum hujusmodi, extunc, quam
citius potero, infra mensem, domino Episcopo Wintoniensi, qui pro
tempore fuerit, seu, ipso in remotis agente, ejus vicario generali in
spiritualibus, vel, sede Wintoniensi vacante, custodi spiritualitatis ejus-
dem, denuntiabo et revelabo; et per eos hujusmodi correctiones, puni-
tiones et reformationes, juxta statuta et ordinationes praedictas, in omnibus
. . solerter et celeriter fieri procurabo. Item, quod guberna-
tkmoTlands ^ Om et re &^ mmi omnium terrarum, possessionum, reddi-
&c tuum spiritualium et temporalium, necnon administrationi
bonorum et rerum ad ipsum Collegium qualitercunque per-
tinentium, cum omni diligentia et providentia mihi a Deo concessis,
fideliter et diligenter intendam, ac alios ejusdem Collegii officiarios et
ministros, in diversis officiis et ministeriis deputatos et deputandos, in-
tendere faciam, juxta posse. Item, quod omnia et singula bona et
catalla dicti Collegii, in commodum et utilitatem Collegii, scholarium
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 9
et Sociorum praedictorum, prout necessitas ejusdem exegerit, et statuta et
ordinationes praedicti reverend! patris in hac parte pleriius dictaverint,
administrabo, procurabo, et faciam utiliter et fideliter dispensari et in
omnibus administrari ; et ea quse residua fuerint et excreverint ob-
servabo, et faciam ad incrementum dicti Collegii et commodum fideliter
conservari. Item, quod lites, placita et jurgia quaecunque,
ipsius Collegii defendam, necnon omnia et singula negotia
ipsum Collegium qualitercunque concernentia prosequar
diligenter, pos'sessionesque, libertates, privilegia, jura quaecunque, ipsius
Collegii manutenebo viriliter et defendam, et facianv ab aliis manuteneri
et defendi. Hoc tamen salvo, quod causas, placita, aut
lites graves, in quibus verti poterit ipsius Collegii exhaere- Fellows^
datio vel grave praejudicium, absque majoris partis omnium
Sociorum praesentium dicti Collegii maturo et deliberate consilio et
assensu, non incipiam nee movebo, nee inchoari nee moveri faciam
quovismodo. Item, quod ultra duos menses continues Absence
vel interpolatis vicibus discontinues, nisi, ex aliqua causa
rationabili per tredecim seniores approbanda, per unicum alium mensem
me abesse contigerit, in anno aliquo a dicto Collegio me non absentabo
nisi pro negotiis Collegii supradicti. Item, quoties electio
11- ill- /^ n Elections of
vel assumptio scholans vel scholanum in Collegium prae- scholars
dictum fuerit facienda, ut solum tales eligantur et etiam
assumantur quos, secundum conditiones et qualitates in ordinationibus
dicti Collegii et statutis expressatas, habiles, et idoneos reputaverim, et
quos in scientiis seu facultatibus quibus insistent ad commodum et utili-
tatem Collegii praedicti plus posse proficere ac debere firmiter crediderim,
sine personarum vel patriae acceptione, amore, odio, invidia et favore,
timore, prece ac pretio, postpositis quibuscunque, quantum ad me per-
tinet, partes meas fideliter interponam et id fieri effectualiter procurabo.
Item, in casu quo ab officio meo, ob culpam meam vel
etiam propter causam aliquam, me amoveri contingat, vel Surrender of
forsan cedam eidem, si bona aliqua dicti Collegii post goods of the
, . ' , . jf College in case
amotionem vel cessionem hujusmodi recepero, et quae per O f deprivation
me primis recepta fuerint mihi aut usui meo applicavero vel O f office,
appropriavero, praeter ilia quae mihi pro hujusmodi officio
exequendo in dicti Collegii statutis et ordinationibus disponuntur, sed
ipsa omnia et singula successor! meo, Praesidenti dicti Collegii, et eidem
Collegio, ad usum et utilitatem ejusdem Collegii, integre restituam et
refundam, absque contradictione seu diminutione quacunque. Item, si
per me seu occasione mei aliqua dissensionis materia, irae
vel discordiae, in dicto Collegio, quod absit ! suscitata fuerit, Submission to
si super ipsa materia per Vice-Praesidentem, Decanos et ^inchester^
quinque Socios seniores, finis rationabilis seu placabilis O f^ttersof
factus non fuerit, tune ordinationi, dispositioni, laudo et dissension,
arbitrio, domini Episcopi Wintoniensis, qui pro tempore
fuerit, seu, ipso in remotis agente, ejus vicarii in spiritualibus generalis,
vel, Episcopali sede Wintoniensi vacante, custodis spiritualitatis ejusdem;
et quod eorum aliquis statuerit, ordinaverit et diffiniverit, in ea parte
fideliter observabo, et eisdem cum effectu parebo sine contradictione
quacunque; cessantibus appellationibus, provocationibus, querelis, ex
10 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
ceptionibus. et aliis juris et facti remediis quibuscunque ; necnon omnibus
et singulis in vim pacti renuntio in his scriptis. Item, statutum illud de
sustentatione et reparatione capellae et aulae Collegii supradicti et aliorum
aedificiorum ejusdem, quod sic incipitur, ' Item, quia, secun-
dum auctoritates > facilius est destruere,' etc., et omnia in
eodem statute contenta ; necnon omnia et singula statuta
et ordinationes dicti Collegii Beatae Mariae Magdalenae in Universitate
Oxoniensi, per dictum reverendum patrem dominum Wilhelmum Wayne-
fleete, dicti Collegii Fundatorem, edita et edenda, quatenus' ipsa me con-
cernunt, secundum literalem et grammaticalem sensum et intellectum
eorundem inviolabiliter tenebo, exequar et observabo, et quantum in me
fuerit faciam teneri, exequi, et ab aliis observari. Item, si
C crets SC contingat me scire secreta dicti Collegii, ipsa in damnum
dicti Collegii nulli extraneo revelabo. Item, quod ad dicti
Assistance to Collegii meliorationem, augmentationem bonorum, terra-
of promotion 6 rum ' P ossess i num > reddituum et jurium ejusdem, et serva-
tionem et defensionem, promotionemque et expeditionem
negotiorum dicti Collegii quorumcunque, ad quemcunque statum, gradum,
dignitatem vel officium, in postero devenero, in sanis consiliis, beneficiis,
favoribus et auxiliis, quantum in me fuerit et ad me pertinuerit, diligenter
juvabo, et pro eisdem fideliter laborabo, et usque ad finalem et felicem
expeditionem negotiorum dictorum juxta posse instabo, quam diu vixero
in hoc mundo. Item, quod non procurabo diminutionem,
Maintenance mutationem, translationem seu annullationem, alicujus nu-
of numbers of mer | j n a ijq Ua sc i en tia seu facultate, nee etiam numeri
students in ,. . . ,, .. . _ ,
the different dictorum aut caeterorum ministrorum capellge dicti Col-
faculties, legii, statutis et ordinationibus dicti Collegii limitati, contra
formam statutorum et ordinationum ejusdem Collegii, vel ea
fieri permittam seu tolerabo, secundum meum posse, seu eisdem con-
sentiam quovismodo. Item, quod nulla alia statuta seu
- OI "d m ationes, interpretations, mutationes, injunctiones, de-
tutes. clarationes aut expositiones, vel glossas alias praesentibus
ordinationibus et statutis, vel qualitercunque vero sensui et
intellectui eorundem repugnantes et repugnantia, derogantes vel dero-
gantia, contrarias vel contraria, per quemcunque seu quoscunque, alium
vel alios quam per reverendum patrem Wilhelmum Wayneflete, Funda-
torem praedictum, fiendas vel fienda quomodolibet, acceptabo vel ad ea
consentiam aut ipsa aliqualiter admittam, nee eisdem parebo ullo tempore
vel intendam, nee illis vel illorum aliquo ullo modo utar in Collegio prae-
dicto vel extra, tacite vel expresse ; sed eis et eorum cuilibet contradicam
et etiam resistam expresse, ipsaque fieri viis et modis omnibus quibus
scivero impediam juxta posse: interpretationibus tamen,
er & c et of 10nj m J unct i n ibus, declarationibus et expositionibus, per reve-
Visitors. rendos in Christo patres, domini Fundatoris successores,
Episcopos Wintonienses, de et supra dubiis statutorum con-
n tingentibus faciendis, obediam et in eifectu parebo. Item,
cord. quod non ero detractor, susurro, seu faciens obloquia, aut
provocans invidiam, odium, iram, discordias, contumelias,
rixas et jurgia, ac speciales vel praecellentes praerogativas nobilitatis,
generis, scientiarum, facultatum aut divitiarum allegans, nee inter Socios
1687. AND KING JAMES II. II
ejusdem Collegii, vel alios Universitatis Oxoniae scholares, australes,
aquilonares seu boreales, aut scientiarum ad scientias, facultatum ad
facultates, patrise ad patriam, generis ad genus, nobilitatis ad nobili-
tatem vel ad ignobilitatem, seu alias qualitercunque comparationes, quae
odiosae sunt, in verbo vel in facto, causa commovendi Socios vel scholares,
scientias seu etiam facultates, tacite vel expresse, publice vel occulte, faciam
quovismodo. Item, quod nullas conventiculas, conspira-
tiones, confcederationes aut pactiones, aliquas ubicunque, ^"ins^S?
infra regnum Angliae vel extra, (contra) ordinationes et a College. 6
statuta dicti Collegii concernentia, vel contra ipsius Collegii
statum, utilitatem, commodum et honorem, aut contra aliquem Socium
dicti Collegii, illicite faciam, vel ipsa procurabo seu permittam ab aliis
fieri, quantum in me fuerit, quomodolibet in futuris ; seu facientibus ipsa
vel eorum aliquod praestabo seu dabo consilium, auxilium vel favorem,
aut eisdem scienter interesse praesumam, nee ipsis consentiam tacite vel
expresse. Item, de veris et perpetuis Sociis in dicti Col- .
legii eligendis et admittendis fidele consilium, omni favore Fellows
postposito, tribuam et impendam, ut de bonis personis,
castis, honestis, aptis, et ad studendum et proficiendum in actibus scho-
lasticis habilibus et idoneis, juxta formam statutorum dictorum, ac pro-
ficere volentibus, provideatur eidem. Atque contra dominum
Episcopum Wintoniensem, qui pro tempore fuerit, aut eccle- Assistance in
siam Wintoniensem, Prioremve aut capitulum ipsius ecclesiae, ^e^ho^r
in aliqua causa ipsam ecclesiam concernente, scienter non ero church of
consilio, auxilio vel favore ; causa mea propria et dicti Col- Winchester,
legii causa duntaxat exceptis. Item, quod non impetrabo Dig ensation
dispensationes aliquas contra juramenta mea praedicta et from oTths'o 1 !-
contra ordinationes et statuta de quibus praemittitur, aut statutes,
ipsorum aliqua ; nee dispensationes hujusmodi per me, alium
vel alios, publice vel occulte, impetrari aut fieri procurabo, directe vel
indirecte. Et si forsan aliquam meam dispensationem hujusmodi impe-
trari vel gratis oflferri aut concedi contigerit, cujuscunque fuerit auctori-
tatis, seu si generaliter vel specialiter, aut alias sub quacunque forma
verborum concessa, ipsa non utar nee eidem consentiam quovismodo;
sicut Deus me adjuvet, et haec sancta Dei Evangelia. Et si
contingat in posterum me, propter mea demerita seu causas A PP removal 86
in praesentibus ordinationibus et statutis contentas, juxta fr mrfiLe.
formam ordinationum et statutorum dictorum, ab officio
meo expelli seu alias amoveri, ex certa mea scientia, pure, sponte, sim-
pliciter et absolute, omni actioni, occasione expulsionis seu amotionis
hujusmodi, contra ipsius Collegii Socios vel Socium quemcunque institu-
endae, appellationique et querelae in ea parte fiendae, ac quarumcunque
literarum impetrationi, precibus principum, praelatorum, procerum mag-
natum et aliorum quorumcunque, necnon et quibuscunque
curiae ecclesiasticae vel saecularis ac omnibus aliis remediis, Oath of Presi-
iuris et facti, per quas aut quae petere possem me recon- j * *? J" e "
J ... . , . -'s ./ 1 . r x . duced to the
cihari vel in integrum restitui, contra praemissa, quantum- f orm O f a pub .
cunque alias mihi probitatis et vitae merita suffragentur, in H C instrument.
vim pacti renuntio in his scriptis.' Volumusque quod de
juramento prsedicto, statim fiat instrumentum publicum, signo et sub-
12 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
scriptione alicujus notarii publici munitum, ipsius juramenti diemque et
formam, ac nomen et cognomen Prsesidentis praedicti sic jurantis, ac
cujus dicecesis existat, continens; quod in thesaurario communi dicti
Collegii nostri perpetuo remaneat sub custodia diligenti.
(Literatim from Statutes of the Colleges of Oxford, Lond. 1853, vol. 2.)
9.
1687, March 31. Notice of New Election \
The Presidentship of S*. Mary Magdalen College in the University of
Oxford being void by the death of D r . Henry Clerk, late President of
the same, the Vice-President, D r . Aldworth 2 , gave notice to all the
Fellows present in the Chapel on Thursday the 3i st of March, 1687,
when it was unanimously agreed to proceed to the election of a President
on Wednesday the 13*^ of April following, at nine o'clock in the morning,
in the Chapel, and in order thereto the Vice-President caused a citation
to be fixed on the Chapel door of the said College, signifying the vacancy,
time and place of the election, according to the direction of the Statutes ;
but, before the day of election, being credibly informed that His Majesty
had been pleased to grant His Letters mandatory in behalf of M r . Anthony
Farmer 3 , they most humbly represented to His Sacred Majesty in their
petition, bearing date April 9^, that the said Mr. Farmer was incapable
by their Statutes of being President, and therefore they did most humbly
pray His Majesty to leave them to a free election, or recommend such a
person to them as was capable by their Statutes.
(Impartial Relation?)
10.
1687, March 81. Extract from the Vice-President's Register.
Carolus Aldworth, LL.D., Vice-Prseses, convocavit omnes et singulos
socios in Collegio praesentes in Capella Collegii praedicti, et ex unanimi
eorundem consensu decimum tertium diem insequentis Aprilis Electioni
Praesidentis hora nona; ante-meridiand in Capella peragendae statuit et
praefecit, praemonitis insuper sociis absentibus per literas citatorias ad
valvas dictae capellae appositas Electioni praedictae interesse.
1 For convenience sake I have taken the copy of *an impartial Relation of the
illegal proceedings against S*. Mary Magdalen College in Oxon, in the year of our
Lord 1687, containing only matters of fact as they occurred' printed in Cobbett's
Collection of State Trials, No. 355. vol. xii. p. 4 : and the 2 d Edition of the Relation.
2 D r . Charles Aldworth. He was supposed, with some probability, to have been
the author of ' The Impartial Relation.' Aldworth was connected with the family of
Lord Braybrook, in whose possession are some of Aldworth's papers relating to that
affair. See a note of D r . Routh in his last edition of Burnet's Reign of King
James II, p. 171 n.
3 Anthony Farmer of Magdalen Hall, M.A. Trin. Coll. Cambridge, incorporated
13 July, 1680. Entered at Magdalen Hall in September 1683. Left the Hall 13 July,
1685, and admitted into Magdalen College. (Anthony Farmer was admitted Pensioner
of St. John's College, Cambridge, 3 July, 1673. Son of John Farmer of Frowlesworth,
Leicestershire: matriculated 14 Aug. 1672, aged 14. B.A. (Trinity) 1676-7. M.A.
1680. Admitted Scholar at Trinity College 21 April, 1676.)
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 13
11.
1687, March 31. Note from the Vice-President's Register.
At a Meeting in y e Chapel after Euening seruice by y e unanimous
Agreem* of the Vicepr: & Fellows the i3 tn of Aprill next was appointed
y e day of Election of a New praesid, & a citacon then red to y e fellows,
& imediately fixt up at y e chap: door. At y e same time read a letter to
y e Visitor in y e Name of y e Vicepr: & Fell: signifying y e death of y e prses:
& praying His L dB P' s . aduice & Assistance in y e election.
12.
1687, March 31. Letter from the College to the Visitor.
\The italics represent erased words, the interlinear being substituted?^
May it please your Lordship,
By an Express out of Lancashire we have receivd aduice of the death
of D r . Clerke president of our College, after Halfe a years absence
US
from ye Coll. by reason of his continual sickness & indisposition.
Our former experience
The constant experience we have had of your Lordships goodness has
emboldend us at this time to implore your Lordships aduise & assist-
ance in a business of so great concern to the wellfare of ye College ; &
to make it our most humble request, That your Lordship would be
to patronise us in the choice of a president according to the direction of
pleased (if occasion be) to recomend us to His Majesties Grace <$
our Founders Statutes
favour, and prevent any stranger's being set ouer us. Your Lordships
appearing in our behalf at
summoning [?] of us at this time will give us that credit # reputacon as
will secure us from ye designs of those who wish ill to us, & lay a per-
petual obligacon of duty & gratitude upon
May it please your Lordship,
Your Lordships Most Humble & Most deuoted seruants
The Viceprses : & Fellows of S*. Mary Magd. Coll. in Oxford.
(Endorsed] Our Letter to the Visitor. (Braybrooke MS.)
13.
1687, April 1. Letter from the Visitor to the College.
Gentlemen
Your President being Dead, I doe most earnestly press you to
the observacon of your Founders Statutes in the Election of a Successor ;
& shall no farther recomend the Bishop of Man *, formerly of your Body,
then he comes (as I hope he doth) within the Statutable compass of your
Favour. I commit you to Gods Protection, & am
Yours affectionately P: Winchest*.
Farnham Castle April i s t 1687.
(Endorsed) To The Reverend the Vice President of Magdalin Colledge
Oxon to be forthwith comunicated to the Fellowes. (Braybrooke MS.)
1 Baptist Levinz.
I 4 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
14.
1687, April 1-9. Notes from the Vice-President's Register.
Aprill 1 st , The plate in y e praes: lodgings was inuentoryd by y 6
Vicepr: & Officers & weighd by Pater y e Coll Goldsmith and delivred
into y e Bursars custody.
Aprill 2 d , The books & writings relating to y e Colt then in y e praes:
lodgings his dining room & chamber, were put into 7 boxes nailed &
sealed with y e seal manual, & placed in y e lower room in y e tower by y e
Vicepr: & Officers.
Aprill 2 d , a Letter from y e Visitor to y e Society read in y e chappell,
pressing to proceed in y e Election of a praes: according to y e founders
Statutes, & recomending to our Choice y e Right Reuer : father in God the
BP. of Man. At y e same time agreed by y e Society, y* y e reparacon of y e
Organ (accord : to y e proposals made to y e Coll by M r . Harris) for weighty
Reasons be laid aside at present, & M r . Harris to proceed in y fc worke
no farther without fresh instructions from y e Coil. The same day
Thomas Williams admitted Clerke in the place of Owen deserting the
Coil ; He was Sworn by Me Apr : 5*^ in praesentia Jacobi Almont public!
Notarij.
Apr: 4 th . M re . Clerke required by me (per Jac. Almont Notary) not to
move or take any out of y e praes : Lodgings till the Bursars of
y e Coil had Inventoried the Coll ....
.... Bassett admitted & sworn Clerke in ye place of M r . Clerke maried
& receded from y e Coil.
Apr: 8. in praesentia Jac: Almont Not. publ:
[Remainder of page torn offl\
Apr: 9. A Letter from y e Visitor for dispensing with M r . Ludford
3 years for not taking Orders, approved of by y e Vicepr: (Officio praesi.
uacante) Deans & Bursers.
15.
1687, April 5. The King's Mandate.
James R. Trusty and well beloved, we greet you well. Whereas we
are well satisfied of the piety, loyalty, and learning of our trusty and well
beloved Anthony Farmer, Master of Arts of that our College of S*. Mary
Magdalen, we have thought fit hereby effectually to recommend him to
you for the place of President of our said College now void by the death
of Dr. Clerk, President thereof: willing and requiring you forthwith, upon
receipt thereof, to elect and admit him the said Anthony Farmer into
the said place of President, with all and singular the rights, privileges,
emoluments, and advantages thereunto belonging, any statute, custom, or
constitution to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding, wherewith we
are graciously pleased to dispense on his behalf. And so not doubting
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 15
of your ready compliance herein, We bid you farewell. Given at our
Court at Whitehall the 5 th day of April, 1687. In the third year of our
reign \
To our trusty and well beloved the Vice-President and Fellows of S*.
Mary Magdalen College of our University of Oxford.
By his Majesty's Command. Sunderland P.
16.
1687, April 5. Continuation of D r . Smith's Narrative.
I went over to wait upon my Lord Archbishop of Canterbury at Lam-
beth ; after dinner his Grace came to me, standing by the window, and
spake to me in these words : ' Doctor ! will the Presidentship of your
College fall into your hands?' I answered, 'No, my Lord, I do not
expect it. I shall never agree to the conditions/ He replied, 'What
conditions ? ' I said again in general terms only (without mentioning
the discourse I had had a few days before with Bishop Parker), ' I know
very well what I say to Your Grace/ ' Then/ said he, without asking
any further questions, 'well, Doctor, I know you are an honest man.
May you have your reward ; if not in this world, yet God is a good pay-
master/ So he left me and went to other company.
17.
1687, April 8. The Bishop of Winchester's Letter to the Lord
President upon the first noise of the Mandate.
My honored Lord, The obligation I have upon me as Visitor of S*.
Mary Magdalen College, Oxon, occasions this address : for I am informed
that great endeavours are used with his Majesty to recommend one Mr.
Farmer, who is not at present, nor ever was, Fellow of that College, to
be President of it, which is directly contrary to the Statutes of the
Founder, as I am confident some, who promote Mr. Farmer's interest,
cannot be ignorant of. And were there not many persons now actually
Fellows, and several who have formerly been (in particular the Bishop of
Man and Dr. Jessop), very eminent for their learning and loyalty, and
every way qualified according to the Statutes, I should not press your
Lordship to lay the concern of the College (which hath upon all occasions
expressed its zeal and forwardness in defence of the Crown, and as
I particularly know in the great affair of the Succession) before his
Majesty, who I hope will leave them to the Rules of their Statutes, which
1 ' Farmer had not the qualifications required by the Statutes : though an inmate, he
was not a Fellow either of that College or of New College in the same University ;
neither was he distinguished by the extent of his learning, or the regularity of his
morals. His sole title to the royal favour sprung from the adroitness with which he
had insinuated himself into the good opinion of some among the King's advisers, as a
man of loyal principles and well disposed to the (R.) catholic interest/ Lingard,
Hist, of England, vol. xiii. p. 108.
16 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 168,
have hitherto (excepting in the times of Rebellion) been constantly
observed, and which will be the highest satisfaction to that truly loyal
University, and promote his Majesty's service, which has always been the
endeavour of your Lordship's most humble Servant, P. Winchester.
Farnham Castle, April 8^, 1687.
To the Right Honourable the Earl of Sunderland, President of the
Council, and one of his Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, These.
(Johnston, p. 4.)
18.
1687, April 8. Letter from the Visitor to the College.
Reuerend M r . Vice President & Gentlem
I have an acco of your Affaires, & am very sorry to find
them in such a Posture. My advice is, that you forthwith draw vp an
Address to his Majestic & therein sett forth the true state of your Case,
& dispatch it with my Letter. Next I make it my Request, that vpon
the Consideration of M r . Ludfords applying himself to the Study of
Physick thereby to Qualyfie himself for a Lay Place in that Faculty, that
you would dispence with him from entring into Holy Orders for the space
of three yeares, I looking vpon it as a Statutable Impediment.
I am very much concerned the Colledge is likely to be involved in so
great difficulties & pray for a happy Issue who am
Your Affectionate Friend
P: Winchest r .
Farnham Castle
April ye 8^ 1687.
(Endorsed) To the Vice President & Fellowes of S*. Mary Magdalin
Colledge Oxon.
(Braybrooke MS.)
19.
[1687, April 9.] Petition from the College to the King.
' To the Kings most excellent Majesty. The humble Petition of the
Vice-President and Fellows of S*. Mary Magdalen College in Oxon : most
humbly sheweth, We have been credibly informed that Mr. Anthony
Farmer, who was not of our Foundation, has obtained your most excellent
Majestys recommendation to be President of your Majesty's College in
the room of Dr. Henry Clerk deceased.
We therefore with all submission, as becomes your most dutiful and
loyal subjects, most humbly represent to your Sacred Majesty that the
said Mr. Farmer is a Person in several respects uncapable of that
character, according to our Founder's Statutes; and do most earnestly
beseech your Majesty, as your Majesty shall judge fittest in your most
princely wisdom, either to leave us to the discharge of our duty and
consciences, according to your Majesty's late most gracious Toleration 1
and our Founder's Statutes, or to recommend such a Person, who may
1 Johnston remarks that the word was Declaration not Toleration, p. 6.
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 17
be most serviceable to your Majesty's College. And your Petitioners
shall ever pray, &c/
This Petition was delivered to the Earl of Sunderland by D r . Thomas
Smith, and Captain Bagshaw.
The Petition lay four days in his Lordship's hands, with a promise of
his favour, and then returned with * The King must be obeyed V
It was signed by
Charles Aldworth, V.P. Jasper Thompson, M.A.
Henry Fairfax, S.T.D. Francis Bagshaw, M.A.
Alexander Pudsey, S.T D. James Fayrer, M.A.
Thomas Smith, S.T.D. Joseph Harwar, M.A.
Thomas Bayley, S.T.D. Thomas Ludford, M.A.
Thomas Stafford, LL.D. Thomas Goodwin, M.A.
Mainwaring Hammond, S.T.D. Robert Hyde, M.A.
Richard Strickland, M.A. Edward Yerbury, M.A.
Henry Dobson, M.A. Robert Holt, M.A.
James Bayley, M.A. Stephen Weelkes, M.A.
John Davys, M.A. (Impartial Relation, etc.)
20.
[1687, April 10.] Letter from Tho. Smith to the Vice- President.
M r . Vice-president,
If my health had permitted, I had been at home as last night, or to
morrow at furthest : for all this last weeke I have been afflicted with a sad
paine in my right kidney, occasioned by a Stone, I feare, lodged there.
I did not know of any Mandate either ordered or much less drawn up,
signed & sealed til late Thursday night : & meeting accidentally with
D r . Jessop hee assured mee, that hee had written the post before to D r .
Levett with an earnest request y* hee should communicate the contents of
his letter to you : w ch made mee forbeare writing an after-accompt of the
ill newes ; & not knowing how the Mandate was worded, it was not any
way adviseable to seem to direct you in this great affaire, or to interpose
my private opinion. But to my great joy & satisfaction M r . Bagshaw
found mee out about 2 houres since in my lodging, & communicated to
mee the resolution w cl1 you had made, wherein you have done like men
of great honour, honesty & conscience. Having signed the petition to y e
King with greater heartines then I ever signed any paper in my life, I
judged it most proper to hasten away to Whitehall to wait upon my Lord
Presid* to whom wee were introduced after some attendance. Wee gave
my Lord of Wintons letter into his hands, w c k having read hee asked us,
if wee were both of the College. I told him y* wee were both actually
Fellowes of y e house, & y* y e Gentleman with mee had been a Cap*, of
one of y e companyes raisd by y e Vniversity in y e defense of his Ma ty &c
&, withall told him, yt wee had a petition with us. w ct wee desired his
Lordship to present to y e K., w ch having read hee said, hee would repre-
sent y e case to y e King. I further added, (for ther is no haranguing it
1 ' There is good reason to believe that the King was unacquainted with the answer
given by Lord Sunderland to the petition, and with the College ever petitioning before
they elected Hough.' Dr. Routh's Note to p. 172 of Burnet's History of the Reign of
James II. Ed. 1832.
C
i8 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
before great men) ' wee humbly implore your Lordships favour & patronage
in this affaire.' Hee said a second time, yt hee would represent it to his
Mate, & upon our further addressing our selves to him when wee should
wait upon his Lordship, hee said, within 2 or 3 dayes, & soon after fixt
upon Tuesday. I doubt not, but hee will acquaint y e K. with our petition
at y e Cabinett Council this evening, whether hee was hastning. I thought
it proper for us to go to my Lord of Durham, who was then in ye Chappell
at prayers : after w cl1 wee attended him in his apartmt & humbly moved
him to represent y e Case to y e K. but wee could not obtaine this favour
from him hee making severall difficultyes, as that y e King had never
consulted or so much as spake one word to him about it : then at least that
hee would bee our friend with y e Earle of Sunderland & my Lord Chan-
cellour : but my Lord was pleased to refuse to intermeddle at all & in short
told mee, yt hee was of opinion, y* y e Kings resolution was unalterable.
This is a bare but most just accompt of w* wee have done Now, M r .
Vice-presidt, give mee leave to write my thoughts to you freely & honestly,
yt as hitherto you have all acted bravely & conscientiously as one man, so
I hope yt no fansyed trouble wil terrify you, or affright you from the
good resolution you have taken & I vow to Almighty God, w fc I advise
you to do, I would do myselfe, if I bore your character in the College. It
is certaine, you ought not to do anything in y e busines, tho' the Mandate,
I doubt not, will bee delivered to you, before this letter arrives y re , til you
heare from us, w* y e K. wil please to say to our petition. God direct us
in this great & perplexing difficulty. I will go sometime this evening or
to morrow, if they bee not at home, to some Privy Councellours yt know
mee, & will leave nothing unessayed to serue y e College in this weighty
concerne. I heartily entreat you to give us further instructions, tho' wee
will use all possible care & diligence to discharge our duty to y e College.
In y e meane while God preserve us, & inspire us with the spirit of true
courage & zeale for our religion & our Founders Statutes ; & if wee bee
overpowred at last wee shall fall bravely, with y e commendation &
applause of all good men, who wish well to y e Church of Eng ld in this
day of her necessity, & w cl1 is above & before all, with great quiet & satis-
faction of conscience. I am
Your affectionate, faithfull & humble Servt
Tho. Smith.
From my lodgings between 5 & 6 Sunday evening.
I pray give my hearty service to all the Subscribers of the Petition.
is drawn up with all exactnes. (Braybrooke MS.)
21.
1687, April 1O. Continuation of D r . Smith's Narrative.
On Sunday, lo^ 1 April, 1687, in the afternoon, Mr. Francis Bagshaw 1 ,
one of our Fellows, came to me, by order of the Vice-President and
1 Hearne states in his Diary, A.D. 1728, June 28 : ' Mr. Warton of Magdalen College
told me yesterday that he had often heard that one M r . Francis Bagshaw, Fellow of
Magdalen College, and a very great Whig, was author of the account in 4 to of the
Proceedings at Magdalen College in 1688 : a book which D r . Thomas Smith used to
condemn as partial and full of falsities, and yet in one of the Catalogues of Bibliotheca
Rawlinsoniana D r . Rawlinson hath ascribed it by a very great mistake to the said
D r . Thomas Smith.'
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 19
Fellows, then at home at my lodging at Charing Cross, with a petition to
the King, which he immediately put into my hands, and of which I took
a copy.
The Petition had no date, but was written and subscribed the day
before, Mr. Bagshaw telling me that he and the servant, sent up with
him, rode a good part of the night to reach London the next day in good
time.
Upon my reading the Petition I told him, it seemed to me in several
points defective, however I would sign it with all my heart, and im-
mediately did so ; and then telling him that understanding by him he was
to do nothing without my advice and direction, my advice and opinion
was, that he and I should present our Petition to the King that evening,
either as he went to, or came from, the Cabinet Council, whereupon he
produced an order from the Vice-President and Fellows that he should
deliver it to my Lord President, the Earl of Sunderland, with a Letter
from the Bishop of Winchester to him, at which I could not but express
a hearty sorrow.
In obedience to this order we went immediately to my Lord Sunder-
land's lodgings : and, he having then newly dined, we were admitted, and
acquainting him with our business, we gave him our Petition, and the
Visitor's Letter. I told him the gentleman with me, with a sword by his
side, was a Fellow of the College, and that the College raising a company
upon Monmouth's invasion, we chose him Captain of it, to whom the
King had given a Commission, which was countersigned by his Lordship.
I asked him when we should wait upon him again for an answer ; he told
us on Tuesday morning, and so we were dismissed.
22.
Queries in reference to the Admission of a President.
i 8 *. The King hauing sent His Letters Mandatory to y e College in
behalfe of M r . F : Whither we can safely proceed to Election according
to our Statutes ; it hauing been the practise of the College to obey such
Mandats as well in y e Choice of presidents, as fellows, & in such cases
to omit the forme prescribed in the Statutes? So D r . Haddon, D r .
Bond, D r . Pierce, D r . Clerke were admitted prsesidents in obedience to
y e K 8 Letters ; & tis remark't of D r . Haddon, y* he was a Cambridge
man, & neuer fellow either of Magd. College or New College in this
University, (which is a necessary qualification for y e presidentship by our
Statutes,) & yet made president by Cofnand of King Edw. 6.
2 d . If we consent to y e K s letter, Whither the Oath of Allegiance
ought to be tendered by us ; the Act 7 Jac., cap. 6, sect. 3 d , directing y e
Vice-chancellors of y e Vniuersities, & all other Prsesidents, Heads, &
Gouernors therein to take y e said Oath in Convocacon, & not requiring
them to take it elsewhere.
3 d . Whither y Oath of Supremacy (to be taken by all persons prefer'd
to any Ecclesiastical benefice, promotion, dignity, or Office, before such
persons as shall haue autority to admit any such person to any such
Office, etc, i Eliz. i Sect. 7) ought to be tendered by us, or by our Visitor
y e Bishop of Winton; it being our part Nominare, et Eligere; & y e
c 2
20 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
said Bishops, personam electam in praesidentem praeficere ? Accordingly
the practise is, to send y e person Elected (tho J elected by y e K s comands)
to the Visitor, with an Instrument under our Cofhon Scale, wherein we
certifye y 6 manner of Election, & request His Lordship to admit the
said person praesident ; which Instrument begins, Reuerendo in Xto patri
Episcopo Winton, aut Cujuis alij admittendi potestatem habenti. Or,
whither y e said Oath is to be twice taken, first before y e Bishop, &
then before y e Society, as the Oath prsescrib'd in our Statutes must be ;
his Admission not being complete till He is sworn publickly in y e
College Hall, & possession giuen him of his office ?
4*h. If y e Oath of Supremacy be tendred by us, & refused, Whither
we ought not to certify y e Refusal into y e K s Bench within 40 days
after refusal, thereby to auoid y e penaltie of zoo 11 in ye Act 5 Eliz.
cap. i, sect. 7? And w* other penaltie we may incurre, by admitting
a praesident without takeing y e foresaid Oaths, & contrary to y 6 Mean-
ing of y 6 said Acts ?
Lastly, How far y e late opinion of y e Judges in reference to y e Test,
& ye K 6 power of dispensing with it, is applicable to our Circumstances ?
or, whither His Majesties late proclamacon of Indulgence will disable, or
Excuse us from tendring y e foresaid Oaths ?
(Brqybrooke MS.}
23-
1687, April 11. M r . Pudsey's Answers to the foregoing queries.
S r ,
I have pervsd & considered y r Queryes as well as the shortness of
time with Relacon & Comparison to so weighty a Subject will permitt
& as I ought not to presume to Direct you in matter of Discretion so I
dare not be positive in Law with an Inconvenient Consequence.
As to the first, if you gave your selves a Liberty of Dispensing with
your private Statutes in obedience to the King in other presidents I doe
not conceave it equall or safe to insist upon the Rigour now.
To the 2 d . I conceave that Allegeance is Due to the King as we are
naturall Subjects by y e Law of Nature & that the King may Dispense
with a Law introduc't as to the formall Oath of it (for his own Advantage)
& y* in this Case 'tis a Subsequent Duty to the Admissi on & to be
administred in another place & therefore within the power of y e
King's Dispensacon as vpon the Reason Adjudged of his prerogative in
S r Edw. Hales' Case & that the Late Declaration works vpon it & I
think y e Subsequent Dissability of the Statute doth not affect your Case.
To the 3 d . I take a Difference between y r Case & that of Francis in
the Vniversity of Cambridge, vpon the Disjunctive p* of the paragraph in
y r Case, & vpon the penning of y e Act also, & y* this is no Degree of
Learning & so no precedent Dissability contracted (as was the L d Chief
Justice's Opinion) & not like the Dean of Christ-church who is an Eccle-
siasticall Officer & Minister within the Act : The Oath (I think) can't be
intended to be taken twice &c.
To the 5 th . I doe not take this to be an Office or Degree within the 5 Eli.
cap. i & that therefore y e Certificate of Refusall doth not concern You.
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 21
As to the Last I conceave this Case not within the Letter of 25 Car 2
cap 2 & consequently not affected by the Argum*. or Resolution thereon.
But the late Declaracon of Indulgence is Materiall in the Case & a
Caution to Vs all to be very tender in Requiring Oaths &c S r This
in great Hast cursorily I adventure to give as my Opinion in Law I begg
Y r pardon if through want of tkne for Due Consideracon I have made
any Mistakes the point is of Great Consequence & I referr You to the
Opinion of M r . Serg*. Pemberton & M r . Finch in the Case of Francis if
You think it any wayes concerns Y rs , & the Discretionary p* of it to
Y r better Consideracon.
Y r humble serv^.
Wm. Pudsey
Kidlington April 11*. 87.
(Brqybrooke MS)
24.
1687, April 11. Continuation of D r . Smith's Narrative.
The next day n^ (Monday) meeting with my friend Sir Theodore
de Vaux, I prevailed with him to go and sup with my Lord Chancellor
JerTeries that night, and by a side-wind question, beginning as it were an
accidental discourse about the College, which was the common argument
of discourse, not only in the Court but all the Town over, to learn of him
what was the fate of our petition. ' My Lord,' said he, ' I hear the
Fellows of Magdalen College have petitioned the King about their
election, and against Mr. Farmer, recommended to be their President/
He replied, ' No such matter, they are too proud to petition. I was at
the Council last night before the King came and stayed till after he left
it. There was no petition either mentioned or produced.' When I heard
this from Sir Theodore de Vaux I was amazed, and began to fear that
my Lord Sunderland had suppressed our petition.
25.
1687, April 11. Proceedings of the College.
His Majesty's Letters Mandatory were delivered by the hands of M r .
Robert Charnock, Master of Arts, and Fellow of the said College, directed
to the Vice-President and Fellows of Magdalen College in Oxford,
requiring them forthwith to elect the said Mr. Farmer, and admit him
President ; which Letter the Vice-President read in the Chapel of the
said College, between the hours of four and five o'clock in the same day,
after evening Service, and asked them ' Whether they in obedience to His
Majesty's Letters would forthwith elect and admit Mr. Farmer President ?'
who all agreed, in consideration of M r . Farmer not being qualified, and
the danger of expulsion to any of the Fellows that should be absent
from the Election, and that the time of Election according to the
Citation was so near, to defer their answer till Wednesday following;
whereupon the Vice-President required all the Fellows to be present in
the Chapel the said Wednesday morning at nine-o'clock.
(Impartial Relation?)
22 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
26.
1687, April 12. Continuation of D r . Smith's Narrative.
On Tuesday morning the 12 th Mr. Bagshaw and I went to my Lord
Sunderland's lodgings, and having sent in our names by one of his
servants, he told us that his Lord would have us come the next day.
27.
1687, April 13. Continuation of D r . Smith's Narrative.
On Wednesday morning the 13^ Mr. Bagshaw and I went to my
Lord Sunderland's lodgings, and D r . Jessop, his Lordship's Chaplain,
accompanied us ; and after some little stay we were called in, and my
Lord Sunderland spoke to us in these words : ' Sir, I have delivered
the Bishop of Winchester's Letter, and your Address, to the King : the
King has sent down his Letter to the College, and expects to be obeyed,'
adding, ' he had nothing more to say.'
Before I went down into the stone gallery after we had left him, I put
down his very words in my table book whilst they were fresh in my
memory. Coming to Whitehall I advised M r . Bagshaw to go out of
Town that afternoon, and carry back the answer to the College, which
he promised me to do. For my own part I could not resolve on a
sudden what I should do. So we took leave of D r . Jessop. He and I
went into the Park to consider what was best for me to do, whether go
or stay ; for I had heard that the Fellows were resolved to proceed to
Election on Friday the 1 5*^. I was not bound to be present ; it was
enough that I was summoned in the general citation on the chapel door,
nor was there any danger of [from] being absent (and several were absent
at the election), besides at that time my distemper of gravil was heavy
upon me, but reflecting that M r . Bagshaw might not, for some reasons,
go directly to the College, and that it would have been turned upon me,
that not hearing of any answer from the King they went to Election,
I resolved to return to Oxford the next day, Thursday the 14 th , in the
8 Flying Coach,' which I effected not without difficulty.
28.
1687, April 14. Continuation of D r . Smith's Narrative.
Upon entering home (Magdalen College) about nine at night, I en-
quired for M r , Bagshaw, who was not, I was told, then returned, or
at least his return was concealed from me (for he did not appear till the
next morning), the account of which surprised me, and reconciled the
difficulty, as it proved, to my circumstances of that day's journey to me :
I walked in the cloisters till about ten that night, resolving to speak with
the Vice-President, and several of the Senior Fellows, who were in the
Town. Upon their return I acquainted them with the Earl of Sunder-
land's answer, which one of them desired me then not to mention to the
juniors. I fully perceived by their discourse that they were resolved to
elect the next morning, and they told me so much very plainly.
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 23
29.
1687, April 15. Continuation of D r . Smith's Narrative.
On Friday morning, 1 5*^ of April, the Porter came to me in the name
of, and by the authority of, the Vice-President, to warn me to the
Election of a President, and to give me notice that the Sacrament would
be administered before it. Soon after the Vice-President came to my
chamber to discourse with me about our great affair, and to know what
I would do. I told him very frankly what I thought ought to be done
in our present circumstances, and that it was most advisable to petition
the King a second time, and that I would read a paper which I had
prepared that morning to the same purpose publickly before all the
Fellows. He said the advice was good, and that though as Vice-
President he needed not to vote, till we all had voted, yet to shew his
readiness, he would vote in the first place for it. Soon after having put
on my surplice and hood I went to the chapel. As soon as all the
Fellows then at home were come together, the Vice-President in the
entrance, just within the choir, hard by his seat, the company pro-
miscuously standing about him, addressed himself to me, saying;
* that he had read the King's Letter to the Fellows when I was absent at
London, where I had been ever since the 1 9*^ of February, and that he
would read it again for my satisfaction/ which I desired him to do, and
it was done accordingly. After which he said to me, ' D r . Smith, pray
acquaint us with the answer that His Majesty was pleased to return to
our petition/ which I told him not long before in my chamber that it
was absolutely necessary for me so to do, having been employed by
them as a body of men, with which resolution he was very well satisfied.
Whereupon he told them that to prevent all mistakes I would read it out
of a paper, which contained these very words.
'Gentlemen, I find myself obliged to acquaint you all at this solemn
meeting, what I told the Vice-President, and several of the Fellows, last
night, that waiting with M r . Bagshaw (D r . Jessop being also in our
company) upon my Lord Sunderland, on Wednesday morning last,
according to his Lordship's appointment, to know what answer his
Majesty was pleased to return to the petition of the College, delivered
by us to his Lordship on Sunday afternoon, April the io*k; He told us
that he had delivered the Bishop of Winchester's Letter, and our
Address (for so he was pleased to call it), to the King, that the King
had sent his Letter to the College, and that He expected to be obeyed,
adding that his Lordship had nothing more to say. Thomas Smith.
S*. Mary Magdalen College, Oxon, 15 th April, 1687:'
30.
1687, April 15. Continuation of D r . Smith's Narrative.
This done I desired that I might read another paper which I held in
my hand, and which is as follows word for word.
' Gentlemen ; It is my opinion (for I will not pretend to call it by any
other name, much less by that of advice, leaving every man here present
24 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
the liberty of his own judgment) that his Majesty not having thought fit
upon our late application to him to revoke his royal mandate, nor, as we
pray in the close of our petition, to leave us to our own choice according
to the direction of our Founder's Statutes ; nor to recommend such an
one as may be more serviceable to his Majesty and to the College, we
most humbly petition the King again, and represent the several respects
referred to in our petition, which render M r . Farmer incapable of being
elected and admitted President : this method and procedure being most
prudent and dutiful, and fit to be entered upon immediately, the King
having interposed his royal pleasure and authority; which if it had not
been done I readily acknowledge that we not only might but ought to
proceed to the Election of a President in this very instant according to
the express letter of the Statute, in every particular. But for this let
every one concerned be his own casuist. These are my private thoughts,
and upon mature deliberation I conclude that I should be very defective
in my duty to the King, and in my respect to you, whatever misinterpre-
tations possibly some may frame of them, if I had not made you ac-
quainted with them at this meeting.
Thomas Smith, D.D., S*. Mary Magdalen College, April 15, 1687.'
Having read my two papers I bid Mr. Almont, Steward of the College,
and public notary, then present, to take notice of what I had done.
31.
1687, April 15. Continuation of D r . Smith's Narrative.
The Vice-President then proposed to the company whether they
would petition the King again, and defer the election ; and he first and
before all declared himself to be of that judgement, and so did the
two next senior Fellows, D r . Fairfax *, D r . Pudsey and myself. All the
rest were for present election. Then several hot debates arose about
the King's Letter, and horrible rude reflexions were made upon the
King's authority, viz. that he had nothing to do in our affair, and things
of a far worse nature and consequence. Upon which I told one of them
that the spirit of Ferguson 2 had got into him, but there was no pre-
vailing upon them by reason and argument. The Vice-President pro-
posed the question how they would manage the election, whether
according to the statute by scrutiny upon oath, or vivd voce, as was used
when the late President was recommended by King Charles the Second
to the College, and when Fellows have been received into the society by
virtue of the King's Letters, which indeed was our constant practice
during King Charles the Second's reign after the Restoration, and was
done but some few months before in the case of M r . Charnock 3 and Mr.
Peniston 4 ; whereas we are as much bound by the letter of the Statute to
choose a Fellow by oaths as a President. When it came to my turn to
1 Henry Fairfax, D.D. matr. at Exeter College 21 June, 1653, arm. fil. B.A. Exeter 7
Feb., 1656, M.A. Elected Fellow 1659. B.D. 26 April, 1666. D.D. 10 March, 1680-1.
Installed Dean of Norwich i Nov. 1689. Died 10 May, 1711.
2 Ferguson. See Macaulay's History.
3 Robert Charnock, elected Fellow by Royal Mandate, 1686. .
* Charles Peniston, elected Fellow by Royal Mandate.
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 2$
vote in the order of my course, the senior always voting first, I told
them that I persisted in my former judgement that it became them in
duty to petition the King again, and not to precipitate an election, for
several reasons which I then alledged ; only two were for electing vivd
voce ; all the rest for electing by scrutiny. This point being gained, I,
forseeing the consequences of this hasty and undue election, desired the
Vice-President to give me leave to go away immediately, for that it was
clearly my opinion and judgement that we lying under a restraint by his
Majesty's Letter (abstracting from the consideration the person recom-
mended thereon) might, without the guilt of the breach of the Founder's
Statutes, defer the election for some time. But the Vice-President would
not grant me leave to depart, which I bid the public notary take notice
of. One of the Senior Fellows told me that I would be expelled if I
refused to go to an election, and others said that I would at least run
the hazard of expulsion if I offered to go away, whereupon I stayed,
though I perceived afterwards that M r . Charnock, who by this time was
a declared Papist, and M r . Thompson, who at that time was one of the
Band of Pensioners at Whitehall^ quitted the Chapel, and retired at that
time.
32.
1687, April 15. Continuation of D r . Smith's Narrative.
The election of a President in this solemn manner being resolved
upon, the Fellows soon t after took their seats (for hitherto we stood all
promiscuously together or running to and fro in a tumultuous manner),
and one of the Senior Fellows, supplying the place of the Dean of
Divinity 1 , who was absent, went up to the altar and began the Com-
munion Service. After the Sacrament was ended, several went into the
outward Chapel to unrobe themselves, and myself among the rest, which
the Vice-President observing said, ' Whoever goes out is to return
hither upon pain of expulsion ; ' and I meeting in the outward Chapel
with D r . Fairfax, he said to me in the way of friendly advice that it was
not safe for me to go away. After all were returned into the inner Chapel,
the Vice-President standing in his seat read the Statute of the Founder,
de Electione President's, and the Statute of the Land as is required at
elections, and administered the Oath laid down in the College Statutes to
the Senior Fellow of all; who being sworn, the four next Seniors, of
which I was one, being called to be sworn, I said, ' M>. Vice-President,
you require me to take the oath and I must obey ;' he replied that ' the
Statute obligeth you, not I.' The oath was taken by all but the two
above mentioned, who, after the Communion was over, returned. The
two Senior Fellows, who were to take the scrutiny, being sworn again,
they went up to the altar, and there received the suffrages of those who
had been sworn secretly in writing, and after a little time, two of the
nominated having the major part of the voices of the Fellows present,
which is a necessary qualification appointed by the Statute, which were
M r . Hough 2 and M r . Maynard, the thirteen Seniors, who are to elect
1 Dr. John Rogers.
a John Hough. ' I have heard that the present Bishop of Worcester, D r . John Hough,
26 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687/
one of the two thus nominated, proceeded to a second scrutiny, and
M r . Hough had all the votes of the electors but one, and his own ; for
by reason of the absence of several of the actual Seniors, he came into
that number ; and, accordingly, he was declared and pronounced duly
elected President of the College. Thus the election was finished at that
meeting after we had been in the Chapel almost five hours.
33.
1687, April 15. Account of the Election from the Vice-
President's Register.
Convocatis omnibus et singulis sociis in Collegio praesentibus in
capella praedicta datum est responsum Dm Regis per Thomam Smith
S. T. P. et dicti Collegii socii, quod ipse ab honoratissimo Dno Praesi-
dente Concilii ore tenus acceperat, viz. velle Dnum Regem mandatis
suis obedientiam praestari. Cum igitur dictam electionem differre per
Statuta non liceret, visumque esset majori longe parti sociorum non
posse se officio suo et conscientiis satisfacere, nisi ad praescripta
Statutorum electio fieret : ante omnia sacra synaxi ad invocationem
Spiritus sancti celebrata (absente M ro . Charnock) dein singulis jura-
mento oneratis (exceptis M ris Thompson et Charnock) juratis insuper
duobus sociis senioribus de scrutinio fideliter computando, aliisque om-
nibus per Statutorum exigentiam rite et solenniter factis, absque omni
strepitu aut tumultu itur ad scrutinium. Cumque in primo scrutinio a
majori parte sociorum in duos consensum non fuerit, repetito demum
scrutinio nominantur egregii viri, M r . Hough et M r . Maynard, et a
seniore scrutatore vere et legitime nominati ad officium Praesidentis
pronunciantur. Dein convocatis per Vice-Praesidentem xiii Sociis
Senioribus in capella praedicta ad finalem electionem unius e nominatis,
singulisque debite juratis, a majori parte electus est venerabilis vir
Johannes Hough S. T. B. et dicti Collegii Socius, simulque in prae-
sentia omnium sociorum, summoque omnium plausu, dictus Johannes
Hough, S. T. B., Praesidens Collegii B. M. Magdelenae in Universitate
Oxon: a seniore scrutatore pronunciatur ; vir generosi et praesentis
animi, quique morum simplicitate et candore, mitissimo ingenio, et vir-
tutum maxime laudabilium felici temperie, spem omnibus fecerat ilium
Collegio suo, et toti Academiae, ornamento fore singulari. Post finitam
often talks of the affair of Magdalen College, Oxford, at the time of the Revolution, par-
ticularly with respect to King James's Mandamus for a President. He (Hough) was
then Chaplain to the Chancellor of Oxford, the Duke of Ormond. He and others,
even all excepting three, were resolved to oppose the Mandamus, and they pitched upon
D r . Baptiste Levinz, Bishop of Man, for President, who accepted of their offer, and
said he would stand, and, if elected, would zealously maintain the Statutes in op-
position to the Mandamus. But Hough says, a little after came a letter from a very
near relative, a brother of Levinz, persuading him by all that was sacred to desist,
which accordingly he did, which being looked upon as very dishonourable, they were
put to their shifts, but at last resolved to elect Hough, who told them he would not
only accept of it, though at so ticklish a time, but would strenuously act against the
Mandamus, and it was then resolved to choose M r . Edward Maynard with him, for
there must be two, which being effected accordingly, Hough was brought in President
to the great disappointment of all who were for the Mandamus.' Hearne, (Diary
18 Jan. 1734-5.)
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 27
electionem M r . Edvardus Maynard, unus e tredecim Senioribus Sociis,
ab ipsis tredecim praedictis nominatus est, quae Praesidentem sicut
praefertur electum Dno Episcopo Winton : praesentaret, dictumque
Collegium, personam in Praesidentem electum, et omnes alias personas
dicti Collegii eidem decenter et honorifice commendaret.'
34.
1687, April 15. Continuation of D r . Smith's Narrative.
It was ordered at the meeting just after the Election was over that Mr.
Maynard should accompany the President elect to Farnham (about
36 miles from Oxford), according to the direction of the Statute, to be
presented, admitted and sworn by the Bishop of Winchester our Visitor.
An instrument about the election was drawn up in the afternoon and
sealed with the College Seal: and in the evening they began their
journey to Farnham.
35.
1687, April 15. An account of the Election from ' an Impartial
Relation of the Proceedings.' 2 d . ed.
At eight o'clock in the morning the Vice-President and Fellows being met,
D r . Thomas Smith and Captain Bagshaw, two of the Fellows, acquainted
the rest from my Lord President of the Council, that in answer to their
Petition, his Majesty, having sent his Letter to the College, expected to
be obeyed. After which the Vice-President read again the King's Letter
to them, and asked whether in obedience thereunto they would elect and
admit M r . Farmer President. They answered, that they desired they might
proceed to an Election. Then the Vice-President having proposed
whether having received his Majesty's pleasure in answer to their peti-
tion, they would make any further address, the Vice-President, D r .
Fairfax, D r . Pudsey, and D r . Thomas Smith were for a second address,
but all the rest declared immediately for proceeding to the Election.
Then the Vice-President proposed, whether they would go to an Election
mvd voce or by scrutiny ? The Vice-President, M r . Thompson, and M r .
Chernock, were for proceeding to an Election vivd voce, all the rest
were for going to an Election by scrutiny, except D r . Thomas Smith,
who was not for going to Election until the King should again be
petitioned.
This therefore being their sense, that they ought to proceed to the
Election of a President, according to the Statutes, and this the last day
limited for Election, in order thereunto the Holy Sacrament was solemnly
taken by all, except M r . Chernock, then the Statute de Electione Prae-
sidentis, and 5 Elizabeth against corrupt elections, was read by the
Vice-President. Every one took the oath prescribed in the Statutes to
be taken, in order to the nomination of a President (except Mr. Thomp-
son and Mr. Chernock who refused it) and the two Senior Fellows were
sworn scrutators in the scrutiny of the whole Society. For the nomina-
tion of a President M r . Hough and M r . Maynard had each of them the
major part of all the voices, and were accordingly pronounced by the
28 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687."
Senior Scrutator, Nominati in Ordine ad Electionem Presidentis ; then
the thirteen Senior Fellows being met to elect one of these two President,
and every one of them sworn according to the Statute, eleven of them
elected Mr. Hough, who was accordingly pronounced President of St.
Mary Magdalen College in Oxford by the Senior Scrutator, in the pre-
sence of all the Fellows ; and M r . Maynard was appointed by the thirteen
Senior Fellows to present the said President elect to the Visitor in order
to his admission : after this M r . Thompson and M r . Chernock declared
vivd voce for M r . Farmer according to his Majesty's Letter.
36.
1867, April 15-17. ' Our proceedings in ye Election of a Presi-
dent ' [recounted by the Vice-President, D r . Aldworth],
The death of D r . Clerke late president of this College signifyd to me
his V by an Express out of Lancashire (M r . Sanderson) March
29 about 2 of y e .... afternoon being tuesday. Within two days after
Notice, uiz. thursday March 31 .... Even: prayer I comunicated y e
same to all the fellows then present called together in y e chap : for y*
purpose. At y e same time we unanimously appointed y e day of Election
to be Apr: y e 13*^ following in y e Chappell to begin 9 a clock in y e
Morning & as soon as we came out of y e Chap : y e same day I imediately
fixt up a Citafi at y e Chap : doore signifying y e vacancy, day of Election,
& citing all to appear thereat. It being comonly reported y* y e King
intended to recomend M r . Farmer for praesident, before y e receipt of His
Majesties letters by aduice of our Visitor (as appears by his Lordships
letter to us) we drew a petition to His Majesty & sent it up Apr : ix
instant by M r . Bagshaw, appointing D r . Younger, Th. Smith, & Jessop to
attend it, together with my Lord of Winton's letter to my Lord praesident
Sunderland requesting His Lordship to lay our Case before the King.
Monday Morning Apr : n*^ about 8 a clock, M r . Charnock came to my
Chamber, & delivered to me y e kings letter in behalfe of M r . Farmer,
telling me he had brought me an unwellcome letter ; I told him the K s
letter must be received with duty & respect, & was so by me ; I promisd
to cofnunicate it with all convenient speed. The same day at dinner in
y e Hall I warn'd a Meeting of all y e fellows in the Chappell after 4 a
clock prayers to the Reading of His Majestic' letter, (the chappell being
y e only proper place for Meetings in this election,) & gave y e porter
Orders to give Notice to all others not there at dinner as he should
meet them. After 4 a clock pr : in y e Chappell accordingly y e same day
I read the K s letter to all the fellows, & the quaestion being put whither
they would imediately proceed to election of M r . F : in obed : to His
Majesties letter? 'twas unanimously agreed to deferre their answer till
Wednesday Morn : according to y e time fixt in y e Citacon, by reason y*
M r . Farm : y e person to be elected & admitted by y e K 8 letter was y*
morn : gone to London, and y* y e time of election in y e Citacon was so
near, & y e danger of expulsion to euery fellow present in y e Vniversity y*
should absent from y e election ; All declaring at y e same time, y* they
did and hereby refuse to obey y e k 8 letter, but only for y e present respit
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 2,9
y r answer for ye reasons aforesaid. Then I required y e publ : not : to
make an Act of w* was then done, & required euery one on pain of expul-
sion to attend y e meeting on Wednesday morn : 9 a clock, & give a positive
answer to y e kings letter. Wedn : morn 9 a clock All y e fellows being
met, (upon surnons y e night before in y e hall at Supper,) I told 'em y e
Meeting in order to y e Election of a president. After which
I read the .... Elect, praesidentis, & y e Statute 5 Eliz : ag st corrupt
Elections was read also. Before .... any further, I read y e K s letter in
behalfe of M r . Farmer, a 2 d . time telling my .... freely ; i st , y* hauing
obeyd y e Kings letters formerly as well in el : of praes: as fellows [last five
words interlineated\ we ought to give good .... if we don't obey them
now; 2 1 ?, y* if there were any thing extraordinary in M r Cir-
cumstances to make him uncapable of y* Office we had taken a very
good way viz. in representing y e same to his Maj : by our petition, & y*
I thought in decency we ought not proceed in y e Election till we had
received his Majesties pleasure in answer to our petition ; which was y e
general opinion of all present (except M r . Charnock,) who all agreed
(except y e said Mr. Char.) to defer & adjourn y e Election till the next
morn : Thursday 9 a Clock in y e same place, which was accordingly
done. Thursd : 9 a Clock mor : y e Company being met in y e Chap : I
told 'em y e Election had been defered hitherto on account of our petition
to His Maj : in answer to which we had not yet received his Majesties
plesure, y* the next day viz : Ap : 1 5 th was y e utmost time we could
deferre y e election by y e Statutes, & therefore necessary they should now
come to some resolution ; I told 'em The King comanded us to elect
M r . Farmer President, & demanded y e sense of y e Company ; which was
unanimous (except M r . Charnock,) uiz. y* y e election be deferrd till the
next Morning 8 a Clock in y e same place, & in order thereto y e sacrament
to be first administred, accordingly was adjourned. Apr: 15^, the
Company being met in ye Chapp: D r . Th: Smith & Mr. Bagshaw
acquainted us from my Ld President Sunderland in answ : to our petition,
y* His Majesty hauing sent his letter to y e College expected to be .obeyed.
After which, I read y e K s letter once more to them, & askt whither in
obedience thereto they would admit M r . Farmer president ? The company
declined to proceed to election, as more consistent with ye Kings letter &
y e Founders Statutes. Next I askt whither having receivd his Majesties
plesure in answer to our petition, they were for a 2 d Addresse ? for which
I declared, as did also D r . Fairfax, D r . Pudsey, D r . Th : Smith ; ye rest
declared for goeing to election, y e King having comanded them to elect,
then I askt, whither they would goe to election uiua" uoce, as has been
practisd on receit of y e k's letters ; this I agreed to, so did M r . Thompson,
& M r . Charnock ; y e rest all for election by Statutable scrutiny, only
D r . Th : Smith ag st any way of election, but for a 2 d address. Where-
upon I told 'em, y* the King having comanded us to elect as well as admit
without determining y e way of election & y e Majority uoting for election
according to y e direction of y e Statutes, and this being y e utmost day
allotted us for election, I was obliged to comply with them. Then y e
Sacrament being solemnly administred to all (except M r . Charnock who
absented himselfe,) & y e Statute of y e founder read, as also y e Act 5
Eliz to prevent corruptions by me, & ye Oath admin all having
30 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
power to nominate, (except M r . Thompson & M r . Charnock, who refused
it,) as likewise of Scrutators to D r . Fairfax & Dr. Pudsey y re
Sen : fellows, it appeard in Scrut M r . Hough & M r . Maynard
had y e Major part of all y e uoices, & were . . . .-ly pronounced by D r .
Fairfax Sen : Scrutator Nominati in ordine ad election . . . praesidentis.
then y e 13 Sen: fellows being there imediately called together by me to
elect one of those 2 praesident, & euery man sworn accord : to y 6 Statute :
y e Major part elected M r . J. Hough, who was accordingly pronounced
by D r . Fairfax Sen : Scrutator praesident in praesentia omnium Sociorum.
At y e same time M r . Maynard was made choice of by 13 Sen 8 to present
y e praesident Elect to y e Visitor in order to his admission, & an Instru-
ment y e same day sealed in y e Com : Hall signifying to His L ds P. y e
whole processe of Election. Apr. 17^. in y e morning the praesident
elect returned to y e Coll. with an Instrument from y e Visitor signifying
to us his acceptacon, approbacon, and confirmacon of y e election, &
y* he had admitted & sworn y e said M r . Hough into y e praesidentship.
The same day being Sunday betw : y e hours of 3 and 4, afternoon,
the fellows being met in y e chappell, the praesident came to y m , & was
by them (hauing seen before in y e morning y e Visitors Instrument in
confirmacon of y e election etc) conducted to his stall, where he first tooke
y e oath praescribd in ye Statutes before y m all, (Mr. Maynard M r . Bay-
ley and M r . Fuller (?) attesting yt yey were present when he tooke y e same
oath before y e Visitor,) next he uoluntarily of his own accord tooke y e
Oaths of Alleg : & Supremacy, y e Vice praesident declaring before y e publ :
Notary y* in obedience. to his Majesties late gracious declaracon he would
not require them of him. Then y e keys of y 6 tower being delivered to
him by y e Vicepr : & yt of y e Seal by D r . Fairfax Sen. fellow, we attended
him to his lodgings, and there left him. A 4 a clock prayers he tooke
his seat in y e Chappell.
* * * * * *
That y e Admission is completed by y e BP. of Winton, appears by ye
praesidents Oath. Ego A. B. in praesidem Co 11 . B. M. Magd. Nominatus,
Electus,' et Praefectus, Juro Etc.
(Endorsed) My own diary of y e Election.
(Braybrooke MS.)
37.
1687, April 16. Election of D r . Hough confirmed by the
Visitor.
On their arrival at Farnham Castle at eleven o'clock, M r . Maynard
introduced the President elect in these words :
Illustrissime Praesul,
Quum nuper ad nos allatus Nuncius de meritissimi nostri Praesidis
excessu animos nostros perculisset, non secus ac olim veteres soliti sunt
in rebus arduis ad Delphicas Arces confugere, nos grati memores ubi
solemus certiora Oracula depromere, ad has JEdes statim nos con-
tulimus. Jam vero rTaelices quod in hunc tarn eximium Virum, omni-
bus, turn eruditionis turn ad Rerum administrationem Naturse dotibus
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 31
instructissimum, tanquam uno ore consensimus, iterum hue revertimur,
ffaelicissimi futuri, si Reverentiae vestrae placuerit, humillimorum tuorum
Clientum Votis Coronam addere, et ffaelicitatem nostram Ratam facere.
In Negotio tanti Ponderis serio Rem egimus, et implorato prius
Numine, liberavimus animas nostras. Quod superest, bonorum operum
ffautor Deus Superne, Tuque in terris aeternum nobis colende Patrone,
nostra regas Consilia, et non est quin adhuc speremus prosperum exitum.
The Visitor's answer was
Gratulor vobis Praesidentem vestrum, et statim post Preces electionem
vestram Ratam faciam.
(So far from the original MS. pasted in D r . Bloxarris volume?)
After prayers M r . Maynard produced the following Certificate of the
Election :
Reverendo in Christo Patri ac Domino Petro, permissione Divina
Winton : Episcopo Coll : Beatae Magdalenae in Universitate Oxon :
Patrono, aut cuivis alii admittendi Potestatem habenti, Carolus Aldworth
LL.D. Collegii praedicti Vice-Praesidens, unanimusque ejusdem Ccetus,
Salutem in Domino. Collegio tuo praedicto, per mortem naturalem
venerabilis viri Henrici Clerke M.D. nuper Praesidentis ibidem, jam
Prsesidente destitute, Nos Carolus Aldworth, Vice-Praesidens ante-dictus
et socii omnes et singuli Collegii praedicti in Universitate praesentes, in
capella ejusdem Collegii capitulariter et collegialiter tricesimo primo die
Martii, anno Domini 1687 congregati, deliberatione inter nos habita
diligenti, decimum tertium diem instantis mensis Aprilis cum continua-
tione et prorogatione. dierum sequentium ad nominationem et electionem
futuri Praesidentis in capella dicti Collegii per nos celebrandam unanim-
iter et concorditer definivimus et decrevimus : ipsumque diem praedictae
nominationi et electioni definitum ut praefertur decretum fuisse, ut lateret
neminem in praedicta nominatione et electione interesse habentem, literis
Collegii capellae valvis eodem die horam circiter quintam post-meridianam
affixis, Carolus Aldworth Vice-praeses antedictus publice declaravit; omnes
praeterea socios tune temporis absentes citandos atque monendos, ut ipsi
una nobiscum die hujusmodi praefixa horam nonam ante-meridianam,
aut eo circiter, praedictae nominationi et electioni faciendse personaliter
interessent.
Cumque Carolus Aldworth, Vice-Praeses antedictus per duodecim dies
a tempore praemonitionis et citationis antedictae socios praedicti Collegii
absentes expectasset, die crastino viz. decimo tertio die instantis Aprilis
celebrandae futuri Praesidentis nominationi et electioni assignato atque
praefixo ad Capellam dicti Collegii omnes et singulos socios tune in Uni-
versitate praesentes convocavit in ordine ad electionem futuri Praesidentis,
et lectis per dictum Vice-Praesident statutis Collegii nominationem et
electionem Praesidentis concernentibus, necnon Statute Parliamentario
tempore Elizabeths Angliae Reginae edito, lectis etiam eodem tempore
Literis a Regia" Majestate acceptis in favorem Antonii Farmer Artium
Magistri et dicti Collegii Commensalis, Carolus Aldworth, Vice-praeses
antedictus cum consensu majoris partis Sociorum dicti Collegii tune et
ibidem praesentium dictum nominationem et electionem futuri Praesidentis
in horam nonam matutinam diei sequentis prorogavit, die crastino hora"
locoque assignatis convenientibus et congregatis omnibus et singulis
32 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
sociis dicti Collegii tune in Universitate in online ad nominationem et
electionem futuri Praesidentis tenendam prorogatione dictae nominationis
et electionis prius facta Carolus Aldworth, Vice-Praeses antedictus, cum
consensu majoris partis Sociorum dicti Collegii tune et ibidem praesentium
dictam nominationem et electionem futuri Praesidentis in horam octavam
matutinam diei sequentis prorogavit et Sacramentum Eucharisticum eodem
tempore in Capella dicti Collegii celebrandum statuit et ordinavit. Die
crastino hora octava matutina convenientibus et congregatis in Capella
dicti Collegii omnibus et singulis sociis ejusdem in ordine ad nomina-
tionem et electionem futuri Praesidentis secundum Prorogationem dictae
nominationis et electionis hesterno die factam, et celebrato in dicta Capella
Sacramento Eucharistico, lectisque Statutis per Reverendum in Christo
Patrem Dominum Gulielmum Waynflete, Episcopum quondam Winton :
et dicti Collegii Fundatorem, in ea parte editis, dictam nominationem et
electionem Praesidentis concernentibus, Carolus Aldworth, Vice-Praeses
antedictus cum sociis omnibus dicti Collegii tune et ibidem praesentibus ad
nominationem et electionem futuri Praesidentis processit, absentia quo-
rumdem sociorum non obstante, prout inferius continetur, viz. lecto
iterum Statute Parliamentario, tempore Elizabethae Angliae Reginae edito,
necnon Literis a Regia Majestate acceptis in favorem dicti Magistri
Farmer, Carolus Aldworth, Vice-Praesidens antedictus, omnesque Socii
tune in Universitate praesentes, exceptis Magistro Tompson et Magistro
Charnock, dicti Collegii Sociis, ipso Vice-Praesidente caeteros omnes one-
rante atque per Doctorem Pudsey onerato, inspectisque per eos et eorum
quemlibet et tactis Sacrosanctis Dei Evangeliis publice tune et ibidem
jure jurando asseruerunt se omni celeritate nominaturos duos ex praedicti
Collegii aut saltern Collegii Beatae Mariae Virginis Wintoniensis in Uni-
versitate Oxon : tune sociis, aut qui olim illorum aut eorum alterius socii
fuerunt, et honestis ex causis recessere, in Theologia, Jure Canonico
Civili, aut Medicinae Doctores, vel artium Magistros, quos suae judicio
conscientiae idoneos ad exercendum Praesidentis omciurn speraverint aut
firmiter crediderint ad bonum et salubre regimen et diligentem curam
personarum, statutorum, et bonorum ejusdem Collegii, terrarum poses-
sionum, et reddituum spiritualium et temporalium, ac jurium ejusdem
conservationem plus proficere et debere postpositis omnimodis amore,
favore, odio, ^ timore, invidia, partialitate, affectione, consanguinitatis
affinitate et scientiae, necnon acceptarum personarum et patriae, ac occa-
sione precis aut pretii quacunque. Juraverunt insuper Henricus Fairfax
et Alexander Pudsey, Sacrae Theologiae Doctores, supradicti tui Collegii
Socii, omnibus aliis seniores, idque propterea in hac nominatione, et
sequenti electione, juxta praedicti statuti exigentiam Scrutatores, se
diligenter cujuslibet praedictorum sociorum vota fideliter examinaturos.
Quibus omnibus et singulis ut praefertur peractis praefacti duo Scrutatores
seorsim se receperunt, omnesque socii tune praesentes dicto juramento
onerati sigillatim ad eos accepere, sua suffragia coram iis secrete et
sigillatim emissuri. Quibus omnibus diligenter examinatis et suffragia
sua manibus propriis conscribentibus, Domini Scrutatores numeros varie
nominantium supputantes venerabiles viros Magistrum Johannem Hough
et Magistrum Edvardum Maynard, dicti Collegii Magdalenensis Socios,
majorem partem suffragiorum omnium Sociorum praedictorum habere
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 33
comparuerunt, lit alter eorum per tredecim Seniores in dicti tui Collegii
Praesidentem quam primum eligiretur, praedictusque Henricus Fairfax, cui
maximae senioritatis jure hoc promulgandi incumbit officium reliquis suis
consociis universis convocatis in communi scrutinium publicavit. Qua
publicatione facta tresdecim praedictorum sociorum seniores. viz.
Carolus Aldworth, Vice-Praeses. Thomas Stafford,
Henricus Fairfax, Robertus Almond,
Alexander Pudsey, Mainwaring Hammond,
Johannes Smith, Johannes Hough,
Thomas Smith, Ricardus Strickland,
Thomas Bayley, Edvardus Maynard,
Et Henricus Dobson, jubente Vice-Praesidente convenerunt unum ex
iis in dicti Collegii tui Praesidentem electuri, qui in Praefato Scrutinio
majoris partis omnium Sociorum consensu fuerunt nominati, qui omnes et
singuli inspectis per eos et eorum quemlibet et tactis sacrossanctis Dei
Evangeliis jure jurando asseruerunt se postpositis omnimodo amore, favore,
odio, timore, acceptione personarum et patriae, ac partialitate facultatis et
scientiae, et occasione quacunque precis aut precii, cum omni celeritate
unum de predictis viris nominatis indicti tui Collegii Praesidentem electuros
quern in ipsorum conscientiis magis idoneum, sufficientiorem, utiliorem,
discretiorem, et aptiorem, reddiderunt ad praedictum Praesidentis officium
exercendum, Vice-Praesidente praedicto hoc juramentum a caeteris duo-
decim et eorum quolibet exigente, et coram Thoma Bayley, socio seniore
idem juramentum praestante; Quo facto undecim eorum seniores socii
praedictis scrutatoribus, ipsis vero scrutatoribus coram duobus proximis
senioribus sibi vota sua pure, simpliciter, et secrete propriis manibus scri-
bentibus major pars dictorum Sociorum Seniorum, viz. eorum undecim
egregium virum Johannem Hough, Sacrae Theologiae Baccalaureum,
virum pium, doctum, et pacificum indicti tui Collegii Praesidentem
eligerunt, ipsumque sic electum fuisse, praefatus Henricus 'Fairfax omnibus
aliis sociis senior in communi publicavit, ac pro electo tui Collegii Prae-
sidente publice declaravit eum praedictorum sociorum consensu et ap-
plausu. Quamobrem vestrae Dominationi praefatum egregium virum
Johannem Hough ad vestri Collegii Praesidentiam, Praesidentisque officium,
majori parte sociorum ejusdem Collegii, uti praemittitur, nominationem et
electionem unanimi consensu omnium sociorum tenere Praesidentiam
praesentamus, atque praefatum Edvardum Maynard, Artium Magistrum,
ad hanc nostram praesentationem exequendam, et ejusdem egregii viri
indicto officio institutionem atque praefectionem petendum cum omnibus
iis exercentibus, dependentibus, et annexis, uno eorundem Sociorum ore
electum nostrum, verum, legitimum atque indubitatum Procuratorem atque
nuntium specialem constituimus per praesentes, humiliter supplicantes
quatenus eundem Johannem Hough indicti tui Collegii Praesidentem extra
judicialiter praeficere digneris, caeteraque peragere, quae juxta ejusdem
dicti Collegii Statutorum exigentiam vestro incumbunt officio Pastorali.
Electionis quoque nostrae formam plenariam hac membrana conscriptam
dicto Edvardo Maynard ad vestram Reverendissimam Paternitatem
dedimus praeferendam. Sigillo nostro communi ad omnium et singulorum
fidem et testimonium consignatam atque corroboratam.
Datum in Communi Aula dicti tui Collegii Beatae Mariae Magdalenae in
34
MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
Universitate Oxon : decimo quinto die instantis Aprilis Anno Domini
millesimo sexcentessimo octogesimo septimo, annoque Regni serenissimi
Domini nostri Principis Jacobi Secundi, Dei Gratia^ Anglise, Scotise,
Franciae, et Hiberniae Regis, Fidei Defensoris etc. tertio.
(Ledger S. 355.)
38.
1687, April 16. Continuation of D r . Smith's Narrative.
On the arrival of the President elect and M r . Maynard at Farnham
Castle, ' they met with quick despatch the Visitor telling them, as M r .
Maynard upon his return told me, that he admired their courage ; and
an Instrument of the President's being admitted and sworn before him,
the next day (the i6 th ) being drawn up \sic\ with all possible haste, to
prevent any inhibition that might come from the King, which was both
expected and feared, they returned to the College.'
39.
1687, April 16. An account of the admission at Farnham.
Praesidens electus ad castrum de Farnham in agro Surriensi Dno
Episcopo Winton. praesentatus est, una cum literis communi sigillo
dicti Collegii sigillatis, et electionis praedictae formam, Statuti de elec-
tione Praesidentis et juramenti ab ipso praestandi tenores plenarie
continentibus ; eodemque die dictus Dfius Episcopus dictum Joannem
Hough, absque morse dispendio, et sine processu judiciario, et absque
impugnatione electionis seu nominationis praedictae, ut Statuta exigunt,
in Praesidentem extrajudicialiter praefecit : Praesidens vero sic praefectus
coram Dno praeficiente praescriptum sibi praestitit juramentum.
( Vice-president's Register.}
40.
The same.
M r . Hough, President elect, was presented to the Visitor by M r .
Maynard, who at the same time delivered to his Lordship an Instrument
under the College Seal, containing the Proceedings of the Election,
after a sight whereof M r . Hough was sworn and admitted President by
his Lordship according to the Statutes. (Impartial Relation}
41.
1687, April 16. Lord Sunderland's Letter to the Visitor.
The news of the Election of course speedily reached the Court, and on
this same day Lord Sunderland dispatched the following Letter to the
Visitor :
Whitehall, April 16, 1687. My Lord, I have received your Lord-
ship's Letter of the 8 th instant, with an Address or Petition inclosed in
it from S fc . Mary Magdalen College in Oxford, which I laid before the
King, who had before granted his mandate in behalf of M r . Farmer to
be elected and admitted President of that College; and being since
informed that, notwithstanding the same, they have made choice of
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 35
M r . Hough, His Majesty commands me to acquaint your Lordship, that
His pleasure is you should not admit M r . Hough to be President till
further Order from him. (Johnston?)
42.
1687, April 17. The Bishop of Winchester's Letter to Lord
Sunderland.
My Honourable Lord, this morning I received yours of the sixteenth
(by the hands of M r . Smith, one of His Majesty's messengers), in which
your Lordship signifies to me His Majesty's pleasure not to admit M r .
Hough to be President of S*. Mary Magdalen College, Oxon: until
further order from him.
But M r . Hough being yesterday morning presented to me by some of
the Fellows of the College, as statutably elected, I did, according to the
Trust reposed in me by the Founder, after he had taken the oath
enjoined by the Statute, admit him President ; and am certain when the
Statutes of the College are laid before his Majesty, he will find that
I have not violated my duty, in performance of which I never was, nor
ever shall be, remiss, as I desire you to assure him from your most
humble Servant, P. Winchester. Farnham Castle, April 17 th , 1687.
[It may be assumed that wearied by the journey of the preceding
night and in some degree by the excitement of the situation, after his
admission, the President and M r . Maynard remained that day in con-
sultation with the Visitor, and slept that night at Farnham, and on the
following morning, Sunday, April 17, returned to Oxford.]
43.
1687, April 17. Extract from the Vice-President's Register.
Rediit ad Collegium Praesidens praedictus eodemque die in capella
dicti Collegii, lecto prius Instrumento de approbatione et confirmatione
electionis praedictae et repetito per ipsurn Praesidentem in praesentia
omnium sociorum juramento, solenni more installatus est : et demum
universo Magdalenensium ccetu comitante in Hospitium Dni Praesidentis
inductus est.
44.
The same day.
M r . Hough at his return to the College took the same oath again
before the Society, and afterwards as President took his seat in the
Chapel at 4 o'clock prayers in the afternoon.
(Impartial Relation?)
45.
1687, April 17-19. Continuation of D r . Smith's Narrative.
The President and Mr. Maynard returned to the College on Sunday
morning the 17^ of April. In the afternoon the President was again
sworn and installed in the Chapel, and soon after took possession of the
Lodgings.
D 2
36 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
It was thought necessary, in order to maintain this election and to
keep off the King's displeasure, to send an Address to the Duke of
Ormond, whose chaplain M r . Hough had the honour to be, that he would
use his interest with the King, and intercede for the College. A Letter
was accordingly drawn up, dated April 19 th , i687j and sent to him in
the country, of which Address I was wholly ignorant, much less did I sub-
scribe to it, though it appears by the very letter which the Duke of Ormond
sent up to Court, that they (the Fellows) very knavishly and basely
foisted my name into the subscription of the Fellows, which fourbery
I did not discover till I read the letter with the subscriptions, printed
by D r . Johnston in his Vindication of the King's Visitatorial Power
about a year after, which was matter of amusement to me. Besides that
they all knew, if I had been spoken to, I should never have consented,
several things contained in it being contrary to my express declaration
and judgement. I did not vote for M r . Hough at all, either in the first
nomination or after scrutiny, but being upon oath, first named two others,
whom I believed and knew to be better qualified. Of the two named
who had the majority of all the Fellows present, one of which was neces-
sarily to be chosen, I was for the other, strictly herein following the
dictates of my judgement and conscience, according to the oath I had
then newly taken, as a Senior Fellow, and a new Elector.
46.
1687, April 18 th (Cobbett) or 19 th (Johnston). Letter to the
Duke of Ormond.
May it please your Grace. We the President and Fellows of Magdalen
College in Oxon, sensible of the benefits and honour we enjoy under
your Grace's Patronage, and how much it imports us to have your advice
in all the difficulties wherewith we are pressed ; having, as we fear, dis-
pleased his Majesty in our Election of a President, do humbly beg
leave to represent to your Grace a true state of our case and hope
you will please to inform the King how uncapable we were to perform
His commands.
His Majesty was pleased on the death of D r . Henry Clark, President of
St. Mary Magdalen College, to command us by his Letter to elect and
admit M r . Anthony Farmer in that office, a person utterly incapable of
it by our Statutes, as we are ready to make appear, in many particulars ;
and since we have taken a positive oath of obedience to them, and that
exclusive to all dispensations whatsoever, we humbly conceive we could
not obey that command in favour of Mr. Farmer, unless he had brought
those qualifications with him, which our Founder requires in the person
of the President, and being confined as to the time of election, we have
been forced to proceed to the choice of one, who has approved his
loyalty in the whole course of his life, and whom we think suitably
qualified for the place.
May it therefore please your Grace to intercede with his most sacred
Majesty for us, that we may not lie under the weight of his displeasure
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 37
for not being in a capacity for obeying his command. We know him to
be a Prince of eminent justice and integrity, and cannot think he will
value any instance of duty to himself, which breaks in upon the obligation
of our consciences ; and your grace's extraordinary unblemished loyalty
to the crown, and that regard which, we assure ourselves, our most
honoured Lord and Chancellor has to the peace and welfare of this place
induceth us to presume your Grace will omit no endeavours to set before
his majesty the true reason and necessity of our proceedings. That God
Almighty protect your Grace shall be the daily prayer of, may it please
your Grace, your Grace's most obedient Servants.
From S*. Mary Magdalen College in Oxford, April 19^, 1687.
John Hough, President.
Charles Aldworth, Vice-President.
Henry Fairfax, D.D. James Fayrer.
John Smith, D.D. Joseph Harwar.
Thomas Smith, D.D. George Fulham.
Thomas Bayley, D.D. Thomas Bateman.
Alexander Pudsey, D.D. John Gilman.
Thomas Stafford, LL.D. Stephen Weelkes.
Robert Almont, B.D. Thomas Goodwyn.
Mainwaring Hammond, B.D. Edward Yerbury.
Richard Strickland. Robert Holt.
Edward Maynard. Francis Bagshaw.
Henry Dobson. James Bayley.
John Davys. Robert Hyde.
[This List of names is given only by Johnston. D r . Thomas Smith's
name seems to have been inserted without his consent or even knowledge].
47.
1687, April 21. Lord Sunderland's Letter to the Vice-President
and Fellows.
Gentlemen. The King being given to understand that notwithstanding
his late mandate sent to you for electing Mr. Farmer to be President of
that College, you have made choice of another person : His Majesty
commands me to tell you he is much surprised at those proceedings, and
expects you should send me an account of what passed upon that occa-
sion, and whether you did not receive His Majesty's said Letters Man-
datory before you chose M r . Hough. I am, gentlemen, your affectionate
and humble Servant, Sunderland P. Whitehall, April 21, 1687.
48.
1687, April 23 (P). Answer to Lord Sunderland's Letter.
May it please your Lordship. Your Lordship's of the 2i st we re-
ceived, signifying to us His Majesty's pleasure, that we should give your
Lordship an account of what passed at our late Election of a President,
and of the receipt of His Majesty's Letters Mandatory on behalf of
38 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
M r . Anthony Farmer. In all dutiful obedience to his Majesty we have
accordingly sent to your Lordship a plain state of the case, wherein
nothing in the world could so much affect us as that we could not elect the
said M r . Farmer President in compliance with his most sacred Majesty's
Letters, being a person in our judgements utterly uncapable of that office.
We beg leave to represent to your Lordship that our Prince's displeasure
would be the greatest misfortune that could befall us ; and our only support
under this apprehension is that a Loyal Society can never surfer in the hands
of so generous and gracious a Prince, for what they have done out of a
conscientious discharge of the Trust reposed in them by their Founder.
That God Almighty would crown all your Lordship's endeavours
with success, and preserve your Lordship in the grace and favour of the
best of Princes shall be the daily prayer of, may it please your Lordship,
your Lordship's most humble and most obedient Servants, the Vice-
President and Fellows of S*. Mary Magdalen College, Oxford.
(Johnston?)
49.
1687, April 24. ' The Case of the Vice-President and Fellows
of S*. Mary Magdalen College in Oxford, in their late Elec-
tion of a President.'
Upon the first notice of the death of D r . Clark, late President of
S*. Mary Magdalen College in Oxford, the Vice-President called a
Meeting of the Fellows, in order to appoint a day for Election of a
new President, and the 13*^ day of April was the time prefixed, with
power to prorogue the Election as they should see cause till the 15^,
beyond which time it was not in their power to defer the same. This
being agreed, a Citation or Prsemonition was fixed upon the chapel-door
of the College, signifying the same, and summoning all the absent Fellows
to repair home to the ensuing election, as the Statute in that state directs.
After this upon the 8^ of April they received His Majesty's Letter in
behalf of M r . Farmer, requiring them to elect and admit him President :
but he having never been Fellow of that College or of New College in
Oxford (which are the only persons capable of being chosen, by the
Statutes), and wanting likewise such personal qualifications as are required
in the character of a President, they did not imagine it was, or could be,
His Majesty's pleasure, that they should act so directly against the
express words of their Statutes, to which they are strictly and positively
sworn. But they did humbly conceive they w r ere bound in duty to be-
lieve that His Majesty had been mis-informed in the character and capacity
of M r . Farmer, and therefore upon the 15^ of April (the last of those
days within which they are confined to finish the Election) they proceeded
to a choice, and having first received the Blessed Eucharist, and taken an
Oath as the Founder enjoins, to choose a person so qualified as is there
specified, they did elect the Rev. M r . John Hough, Bachelor in Divinity,
who is a person every way qualified by the Statutes of the said College :
and if it shall be objected that his Majesty did in his Letter to M r . Farmer
graciously dispense with all those Statutes that rendered him uncapable of
being elected, and that therefore they might have obeyed without breach
of their oath, they humbly beg leave to represent that there is an express
1687. AND KING JAMES IL 39
clause in that oath, which every man takes when he is admitted Fellow
of the College, wherein he swears, neither to procure, accept, or make
use of, any dispensation from his oath or any part thereof, by whomsoever
procured or by what authority soever granted.
As to their former practice, when they have elected in obedience to
the King's Letters heretofore, it has been always in such cases where the
persons recommended have been every way qualified for this office by
their Statutes, in which cases they always have been, and ever will be,
ready to comply with his Majesty's pleasure, it not being without un-
speakable regret that they disobey the least of his commands. They
know how entirely their welfare depends upon the countenance and
favour of their Prince, neither can anything more deeply affect and grieve
their souls than when they find themselves reduced to this unfortunate
necessity of either disobeying his will, or violating their consciences by a
notorious perjury.
(The case within stated was publickly read by the Vice-President
of S*. Mary Magdalen College at a meeting of the Fellows, and generally
approved of, in the presence of me
James Almont, Public Notary.)
[Endorsed on the back'] April 24 th , 1687.
Certain clauses of particular Statutes to which, the foregoing
Case refers were also sent, viz. :
In the Statute concerning the Election of a President, his character is
thus described : that he must be a man of good reputation, and good
life, of approved understanding, good manners and temper, discreet,
provident, and circumspect both in spiritual and temporal affairs. .
In the same Statute which every Fellow is obliged to take before he
can give his voice in the nomination of a President is this : that he will
name one or two of the Fellows of S*. Mary Magdalen College, or of
those who have formerly been Fellows there, and have left the place upon
a legal and creditable account : or that he will name one or two of the
Fellows of S*. Mary Winchester College, commonly called New College,
in Oxford ; or of those who have formerly been Fellows there, and have
left the place upon a creditable account : After this the thirteen Senior
Fellows swear that of the two that are nominated, they will with all speed
elect one to exercise the office of President, whom in their consciences
they think most proper and sufficient, most discreet, most useful, and
best qualified for it, without any regard to love, hatred, favour or fear,
as in the forementioned Statute is more largely expressed.
Part of the oath, which all persons take when they are admitted actual
Fellows, runs thus : Item, I do swear that I will not procure any
dispensation contrary to my foresaid oaths, or to any part thereof, nor
contrary to the Statutes and Ordinances to which they relate, or any
of them, nor will I endeavour that such dispensation should be procured
by any other or others publickly or privately, directly or indirectly ;
and if it shall happen that any dispensation of this sort shall be procured
or freely granted or obtained, of what authority soever it be, whether in
40 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
general or particular, or under what form of words soever it shall be
granted ; I will neither make use of it, nor in any sort consent thereunto.
So help me God. (Johnston^
[.Endorsed on the back of this ^\ April the 24^, 1687.
50.
1687, April 24 (?). Address to the King.
We your Majesty's most humble and most dutiful subjects, the Fellows
of S*. Mary Magdalen College in Oxford, being deeply afflicted with the
late sense of your Majesty's heavy displeasure, grounded, as we in all
reason humbly presume, upon the most unkind mis-representation of our
actions in relation to the Election of a President into your Majesty's said
College, do humbly beg leave to prostrate ourselves at your Royal feet,
offering all real testimonies of duty and loyalty. And as we have never
failed to evince both our principles and practices to be truly loyal, in
obedience to the commands of your Royal Brother, and your sacred Self,
in matters of the like nature, so whatsoever way your Majesty shall be
pleased to try our readiness to obey your Royal Pleasure (in any in-
stances that do not interfere with and violate our consciences, which
your Majesty is studious to preserve) we shall most gladly and effectually
comply therewith : a stubborn and groundless resistance of your Royal
Will and Pleasure in the present and all other cases, being that which
our souls eternally abhor, as becomes your Majesty's most dutiful and
obedient subjects.
Alexander Pudsey, D.D. John Oilman, M.A.
Thomas Stafford, LL.D. Charles Penyston, M.A.
John Rogers, B.D. Henry Holden, M.A.
Mainwaring Hammond, B.D. John Smith, D.D.
Robert Almont, B.D. Thomas Bateman, M.A.
James Bayley, M.A. John Davys, M.A.
Richard Strickland, B.D. Edward Yerbury, M.A.
Henry Dobson, M.A. Robert Thornton, M.A.
James Fayrer, M.A. Robert Hyde, M.A.
Joseph Harwar, M.A. Robert Holt, M.A.
George Hunt, M.A. Stephen Weelkes, M.A.
William Craddock, M.A. Francis Bagshaw, M.A.
(Johnston^
51.
1687, April 23-27. Continuation of Dr. Thomas Smith's
t* Narrative.
About the 23 rd of April a Letter written two days before (21^ of
April) came from my Lord Sunderland directed to the Fellows of the
College, requiring us in the King's name to give an account of what had
passed at the Election the week before, and whether the King's Letter
Mandatory had not been delivered before the election of M r . Hough.
To this an answer was framed, to which I told them I could not sub-
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 41
scribe, nor approve of the Case drawn up in several of the particulars
alleged, and therefore I desired to be wholly unconcerned for the future,
as I really was, in this troublesome business, which might have been pre-
vented by our petitioning the King a second time ; and upon the reading
both of the Letter and Case, I bid M r . Almont our Steward and Public
Notary to take notice that I disliked several things both in the one and
the other, and before him and in the presence of the Fellows in the
Cheque (the Bursary) publickly interposed my dissent. After this I re-
fused to be present at other meetings which were had about petitioning
the King. A Petition, I heard, was drawn up to be presented to the
King, and the President and three or four of the Fellows with him went
up on Wednesday, 27^ of April, to deliver it.
52.
1687, early in May (?). Case of S*. M. Magd. Coll. Oxon relating
to the election of the President according to the Statutes.
[By jy. Aldworth^
The presidentship of our College being uoyd by the death of D r .
Clerke, the day for the ensueing election is decreed, as the Statutes direct,
& published by a Citacon fixt up at the Chappell doors. Before the day
of election, we had notice of His Majesties design to recomend M r . Anth:
Farmer to be our president ; whereupon by aduice of the Bp of Winton,
our patron & Visitor, we petition'd His Majesty, setting forth, That the
said Mr. Farmer was uncapable of y* office by our Statutes, & praying to
be left to the obseruance of our oaths, & a Statutable election. After this,
hauing seriously considered as well our duty to His Majesty, as our
obligacon to observe the Statutes, & in order thereto adjourn'd the election
from day to day to the utmost time limited by the Statutes, we unanim-
ously agreed, (2 or 3 excepted,) out of a conscientious discharge of y e
Trust reposed in us by our Founder, to proceed to election according to
his Statutes ; And after the H : Sacrament first receiued, a strict Oath
taken, & all things regularly performed, we elected the Reuerend M r . J :
Hough president, a person in the whole course of his life of approved
loyaltie, & euery way qualifyd for y* Office. Which Election was approued,
ratifyd, & confirmed by the Bp of Winton, & the said M r . Hough Ad-
mitted & Sworn president by His lAhip.
Reasons against M r . Farmer.
i st . He was neuer fellow either of this College, or New College;
which is a qualificacon necessary by our Statutes.
2!y. He is a person of no good fame ; which is likewise a qualificacon
requisite by Statute, & absolutely necessary in the person of a Gouernor.
3 1 ?. He is a Stranger, wholy unacquainted, & unexperienced in the
affairs of the College ; which yet in this Statute de electione presidents,
& seueral others, is specially & most expressly to be considered in the
choice of a president. And therefore lastly,
4 ] y. Hauing so great a Trust reposed in us by our pious Founder in
this election, preparatory to which w r e receiue the B : Sacrament, & take
42 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
a most strict Oath, we could not without the greatest uiolence to our
Consciences consent to the election of a person in our judgements
utterly incapable of y* Office.
Ob. If it be Objected, That the King in His letter does dispense with
our Statutes ; And y* in like Cases we have elected presidents in obedi-
ence to the K.s letters.
We Answer,
Sol. I s *. Quaere, How far a Letter from His Mate will be a legal dis-
pensacon from the Obligacon of our Statutes ?
2 ] y. When admitted Fellows of the Coll, we are sworn to observe in-
uiolably all the Statutes ; And by a Clause in y* Oath, we are obliged
neither to procure, accept, make use of, or consent to any dispensacon
from our Oaths, & obseruance of our Founder's Statutes, by whomso-
euer procured, or by w* Authority soeuer granted.
3 ! y. As to our former practise ; Dr. Pierce was elected in a Statutable
way, tho' recomended by the King. And if we have sometimes sub-
mitted to His Mamies letters, without the formality of Election, it has been
in such Cases, when persons have been recomended that were duely
qualifyd by Statute : in which Cases we have been ready to comply with
His Ma fcies pleasure in determining our choice, & in the like case should
have been so now, as appears by our petition.
Tis true D r . Haddon was a Cambr: man, & neuer fellow either of our
College, or New College : but I st , we are not answerable for any irregu-
larity in His election, which was ult. Edw: 6 ti . 2, We know not w 4 force
was at y* time upon the College. 3 The said D r . Haddon was euer
accounted an Intruder, & before the end of the same year ran away from
the College, & left his presidentship.
Ob. If after all it be said, we have admitted presidents, & fellows, on
receipt of the K.s letters, without taking the Oaths praescribd in the
Statutes, We Answer,
Sol. It has neuer been so done, but where the Substance of the s<*
Oaths has punctually been obserued as to all the qualificacons requisite
in the persons so elected. And we are perswaded, our readyness to
yield all due obedience to our Soueraigns comands when requiring any
thing of us consonant to our Statutes, shall neuer be made an argument
to force our consciences in other cases directly contrary to our Statutes.
Ob. If it be said, we are not so tender of our Oaths in the Obseruance
of other Statutes, as we pretend to be in this of the Election of a
president.
Sol. We Answer, we are. For -proofe whereof, tis to be considered,
That in most other Statutes there is a certaine penaltie inflicted on the
delinquent, or if no penaltie specifyd, then the delinquent is to be
punished according to the discretion of the president & Officers: in
which cases our wise Founder provides, y* no delinquent shall incurre
the guilt of perjury, unless pena perjurij be the Sanction of y* particular
Statute ag s * which he offends, or unless he refuse to submit to such
other punishments imposed by the Statute.
Ob. Lastly, If it be said, seueral of our Statutes with reference to the
Ch: of Rome are totally laid aside, which can neuer stand with our Oath
to observe all our Statutes.
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 43
Sol. Our Answer is, That we act conformably to your Ma ties laws,
which have regulated some parts of our Statutes ; And that we own our
selves Loyal Subjects to your Maty, & Members of the Ch: of Engl: by
law established, which your Maty has most graciously promised to protect.
For my own Vindicacon in giuing way to a Statutable Election, it
may be considered,
I st . That I lay under the same obligacon of Oaths to obserue the
Founders Statutes, as all the rest of the fellows did.
2*y. That I was of necessity concluded by the Majority, hauing no
negative uoice in this election giuen me by the Founder ; And if I had,
the same is absolutely taken away by 33 Hen. 8, cap 27.
3^. That I used all honest endeauors in behalfe of M>. Farmer ; pro-
posing the electing of him uiua uoce, in obedience to the K.' 8 letter ; or
at least admitting him in obed : to the King, without any election : but
the genrality judgeing him uncapable, & uoteing for a Statutable election,
I was necessitated to joyn with them ; & hauing taken a strict Oath, &
receiued the holy Sacrament, I could doe no otherwise then as my Con-
science directed me, which His Maty has most graciously declared He
will neuer force.
(Endorsed) Our Case Stated by Myselfe.
(Brqybrooke MS.)
53.
1687, May 7. A defence of the late Election of the prsesident of
St. Mary Magd : Coll in Oxford.
I st . The vndoubted Right of y e fellows to choose y r prsesident, as
appears by their Statt. which Statt. the founder was empowerd to make
by Charta Henr : 6 ti : which Charter has been since Confirmed by seueral
Royal Charters as well before, as since y e Reformacon ; And by an Act
of parlt 13 2 Eliz. (uide Cokes Inst. 4^ pt, Cap. of y e Courts of y e
Vnivers : of Oxf & C) All y e Rights franchise imunities liberties etc of
both those bodies & all p ts of 'em are for euer confirmd, so y* no Quo
Warranto, scire facias, etc, will lye ag st 'em.
2*y. The Oath we have taken to observe these Statt ; & to admit of no
dispensacon (by wt autority soeuer) ag st the plain letter & meaning of
them.
3*y. Our obligacon to elect a president qualifyd accord : to the s d Statt.
& his Character therein.
4^. That accordingly our Election of M r . Hough was in all points
regular, both as to his qualificacons, & the manner of election.
5 J y. Yt upon a bare report only of M r . Fs having obteined y e Ks letter,
& before y e receipt thereof, we addresst early to His Maty in our Most
Humble petition, setting forth therein the incapacity of Mr Farmer, &
shewing our selves to comply with His Royal will in behalfe of any one
yt should be duly qualified by our Statt, & accord : to y e Oaths we lay
under. On acct of which petition lying before His Maty, we adjournd
y e election from day to day to y e utmost time limited by Statute.
lastly. That as well by y e Visitors & our letter to my L d praesid : of y e
Council, as by our Addresses to His Gr : y e L d of Orm : our Chancellor
44 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
& to y e BP of W. our patron & Visitor, we have done all we can to
represent our Case to his Maty, & how unfortunate we are under the
apprehension of His Royal displeasure.
Ag st y e Coll may be pleaded
I st . The K.s Right by prescription. In answ : to which we Reply
i st. Yt of Nineteen presidents since the foundacon, All came in by a
Statutable election (as appears by our Registers), 3 only excepted viz.
D r . Haddon, D r . Bond, & Dr. Clerke. tis said, yt D r . Oliver came in by
a Letter from King Ch : i st , but this does not appear to us, the great
Register wherein yt election was enterd at large being lost, & all yt
appears upon y e Register in y e Cust : of y e Vicepr is, y* y 6 s d D r . Oliver
was Electus ad Officium praesidentis Maij uicesimo sexto an : 1644, et
Admissus ejusdem Maij uicesimo 8 U . D r . Pierce had 2 letters Mandatory
from K : Ch : 2 d ., but was elected & admitted pr : in all points accord :
to y e Statute.
2^. Of those y* came in by ye K.s letters, The first was D r . Haddon, &
comes nearest y e case, as having neuer been fellow of our Coll. or New
Coll. & and so in yt respect as much unqualified as M r . Farmer. He
was elected sexto Edw : 6 th . 15 Oct. an: 1552 by 2 letters & a special
Mandate from y e King; but the Case will appear uastly different, if
it be considered; i s t. That The Ks letter was sent to the Coll. before the
resignacon of D r . Oglethorp the former president, with an express prohi-
bition to proceed to the election of any other. 2 ] y. yt 2 1 Sept : preceding
y e election Letters were sent to y e Coll. from y e Council, comanding uti in
omnibus juramentis seu presidents seu sociorum in ipsorum admissione
hec Clausula adhiberetur, viz. Hec omnia obseruabis, quatenus preroga-
tiuae ordinaonibus et Injunct. regijs, juribusque et Statt. regni non aduer-
sentur ; sicut Deus te adjuvet et sancta Dei Evangelia : which order of y e
Council was reversd i mo . Mariae, & y e Coll. comanded statuta per omnia
obseruare, antiquatis injunct 8 . ac ordinaonibus omnibus in contr : editis :
& so it continues ever since. 3^. yt Maij 8 UO 1549 Regij delegati for y e
Visitacon of the Vnivers. had open'd their Comission at St. Maries, &
establish! seueral new statt. & injunctions, as well for ye whole Vniversity,
as part : Colleges. 4^ yt ye Coll, as appears by y r humble remonstrance
to y e King, & by y e Register of y e election, did acknowledge d r . Haddon
to be a person of most singular parts & endowments, & worthy of a
far greater preferment, & of a temper fit to preserve y 6 peace of y e Coll
(which is by our founder expressly considered in y e character of his
president,) & expressd how gladly they should accept him had he been
of y r own foundacon, or New Coll. & lastly ; yt that if they did not
punctually observe their oaths, yt will excuse us from keeping ours.
D r . Bond was recomended to the Coll by Q. Eliz, who in her letter
takes notice of y e great duty which in conscience & by oath they were
straitly bound to, & requiers them to elect d r . Bond pr : as one yt had
been long of y r Society, born all the seueral offices of y 6 house, well ac-
quainted with y e Statt. & orders of y e house, & euery way sufficiently qualifyd
to govern & benefit y e same. After which a difference arising at y e elec-
tion, & by reason of some disorderly proceedings y e time of election
being lapst, D r . Bond is made pr : by a diploma from y e Queen, wherein
the Q : owns the right of election to be in y e Coll, & yt she will protect
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 45
them therein ; And yt she claimed ye right of electing ye praes pro ilia uice
by deuolution, Jure sibi per deuolutionem acquisito,) & in favor to y e
Coll. for remedy & supply of their defect in lapsing y e time of election ;
which defect could be supplyd by no other autority but y e Queens.
D r . Clerke was admitted prsesident by letters from K. Ch : 2 d , who
therein recomends him as a person every way qualifyd accord to y e
founders Statt. & of great & long experience in y e Statt. Customs
revenues & whole Condition of y e s d Coll.
From y e premisses it may be considered yt of these few instances Dy.
Haddons was a very partic : case, y e Coll at yt time with y e whole uni-
versity lying under a Visitacon & hauing several new oaths & statt.
imposed on them, yt Q. Eliz : did jure suo make D r . Bond praes : y e Coll.
hauing lapsd y r election, whose right otherwise y e Q acknowledgd : yt
D r . Pierce & D r . Clerke were in all respects qualifyd by Statute both as
to y r relacon to y e Cell, & all other personal qualificacons : in which
case we should also thankfully have complyd with his Ma ties . pleasure as
appears by our petition. Nor can we apprehend how our readiness to
submit to his Ma ties . plesure, w n by our Statt. we may, can prejudice our
rights of election, & cancel these oaths & obligacons so strictly tyed
upon us by our Founder. But 2^
It may be Obj : yt y e King in M r . F's Case does dispense with our
Statt. And y* y se dispensacons, & such like graces, are a principal branch
of y e supremacy. We Answer i st ., When admitted fellows of y 6 Coll. we
are sworn to observe inuiolably all y 6 Statutes ; And by a Clause in yt
Oath we are obliged neither to procure, accept, make use of, or consent
to any dispensacon from our Oaths & obseruance of our Founders Statt.
by w* autority soeuer granted, 2 ] y M r . Farmer had no legal dispensacon
under y e broad Seal. 3^'., we conceiue such a dispensacon, tho' it might
be an act of grace to M r . F, & capacitate him to some purposes for
which he was incapacitated before, yet will not bind us to act contr : to
our Statt. to the obseruance whereof we are solemnly sworn. 4 ly There
is a trust reposed in us to perform y e will of our Founder, & thereby a
duty indispensable.
If it be said, seueral of our Statt. are antiquated by Act of ParK since
the Reformacon, which cant stand with our pretended obligacon to reject
all dispensacons from our Statt by w* Autority soeuer granted : We
Answ : That we professe to live conformably to His Maties. laws which
have null'd some parts of our Statt ; And yt we own ourselves Members
of y e Ch : of Engl by law establisht, which His Maty has most graciously
promisd to protect.
If it be said yt we have sometimes submitted to y e K's letters without
y formality of a statutable election. We Ans : It has been in such Cases,
when persons have been recomended yt were duly qualifyd by Statute ;
In which cases we have been ready to comply with His Maties. pleasure
in determining our Choice, & in y e like case should have been so now, as
appears by our petition.
If it be said, some of our selves came in by favor of y e K.s letters.
Answ., we thankfully own it, but we were qualifyd by our Founders Statutes.
If it be said, our late praesident & seueral fellows have been elected
& admitted on rec : of y e K.s letters by us without taking y e oaths
46 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
prescribed in order to such elections : We Answ : It has never been so
done, but where the substance of y e s d Oaths has punctually been
observed as to all y e qualificacons required by those oaths in y e persons
to be elected, in which cases we have taken y e surest in fauor of y e person
comended by y e King. And we are perswaded, our readyness to yield
all due obedience to our Soveraigns Comands, when requiring any thing
of us consonant to our Statt, shall never be made an Argument to force
our consciences in other cases directly contrary thereto.
If it be said, Our late president was not qualifyd by Statute, as not
being in holy orders, We Ans : i st . That The founders Statute which we
are to observe as our rule in this election, & our Oath therein, ex-
pressly oblige us to nominate such for presidents, as are in Theologi^
Jure ciuili canonico vel in Medicinis doctores vel Artium magistri but doe
not express y fc he be in holy orders. 2 ] y. y* hauing receivd y e K.s letters
in fauor of y e s d D r . Clerke, they did not thinke meet to reject a person
so recomended, & otherwise duly qualified for y e Office, on defect of a
qualificacon not clearly expresst in y e statt. 3 ] y y* nevertheless upon
presumption y fc y e Founder intended his president should be in H :
orders, the s d D r Clerke did after his election take orders, & thereby fully
satisfye y e intent of y e founder in the opinion of y e then Visitor G. L d BP
of Winton, to whose judgem*. all ambiguities in our statt. are referrd, &
thereby finally determind. Lastly, y* most of us were unconcernd in
d r . Clerks election ; nor can any defect therein, by reason of ambiguity in
y e statt. warrant us to proceed to y e choice of a person uncapable by y e
express letter of y 6 Statute, & an express Clause of our oath, & lyable to
such an incapacity as could never possibly de postea be supplyd, such
was his not having been fell : of this Coll. or N : Coll.
If it be said, y* we ourselves did not punctually observe y e letter of y e
statt. in our last election, viz. Missa Spiritus Sancti omitted, Scrutiny not
begun in due time :
We Answ : i, that y e Comunion office in order thereto was read, & the
holy Sacrament administerd, the oaths taken, the Scrutiny regularly per-
formd, & all things performd without y e least disorder, nor did any one
except ag st y e fairness of our proceedings as to y e Statt. 2, our wise
founder forseeing how apt some might be to cauil at every little nicety in
the election, has provided etc. (uide at large & excellently [in the] defence
of R : Smiths election, pres : vellum booke page 192.) lastly y e election
certifyd & confirmed by y e Visitor, who only could except to our pro-
ceedings.
If it be said, we are not so tender of our oaths in y e obseruance of
other Statt, as we pretend to be in this.
We Answ : we are. For proofe tis to be considered That in most of
our statt. there is a certain penalties inflicted on y e delinquent, or if no
penalties specifyd then y e delinquent to be punished accord: to y e
discretion of y e president & officers : In which cases our wise Founder
prouides, y* no delinquent shall incurre y e guilt of perjury, unless pena
perjurii be y e sanction of y* partic : Statute, ag st . which be oifends, or
unless he refuse to submit to such other punishments as shall be inflicted
on him by y e pr : & officers.
As to any flaw in y e election, I st . w* ever was essential was duly
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 47
observed as citacon, Sacram*, oaths, scrutiny, pronunciacon, & his
personal qualificacons. 2. if any defect, in circumstantials, y e Bp
of Wintons ratificacon answers it.
Our Reasons ag^ M r . Farmer, if demanded, are these.
i s t. He was never fellow either of this Coll. or N : Coll. ; a qualificacon
expressly requisite by statute.
2. He is a person of no good fame; a qualificacon likewise requisite
by Statute, & absolutely necessary in y e person of a Governor.
3^. He is a stranger, wholy unacquainted & unexperiencd in the
ordinances statutes customes & revenues of y e Coil ; all which are
chiefly comended to y e care & prudence of y e pr : by y e founder.
4 1 ?. Y* he is not of a peaceable temper, which is most specially
required in the character of y e president.
5 ] y. He has not been discretus in temporalibus, providus, et circum-
spectus, as to his own concerns, & therefore unfit to be trusted with y e
revenue of y e College. & therefore
Lastly. Hauing so great a trust reposed in us by our pious founder in
this election, preparatory to which we receive y e b : Sacram*, & take a
most strict Oath, we could not without y e greatest uiolence to our con-
sciences consent to y e election of one in our judgem ts . utterly incapable of
yt office.
If it be said, y* M r . Farmers ill fame (the chiefe objection ag st him) is
not proved. i st ., We Answ : it appears by his behauior at Abingdon &
Fox Hill at y 6 very time y e Kings letter came for him, by his behauior
since his being of this Coll., by his behavior at Maudlyn Hall, & his being
forct to leave it, by his behavior formerly at Cambridge & after when a
Schoolmaster in y e Countrey.
If it be said, these are for y e most part reports, which are usually
groundless & f&lse. We Answ : some part will be proved : & for the
rest, tho' bare reports are not sufficient to endite a man; yet when
credibly averrd they are sufficient for us, who are sworn to elect a Man of
a good fame & reputacon ; & it concerned him to have cleerd himselfe
before y e election.
If it be said, several of us not long since gave him a testimonium
under our hands. We Answ : Such testim : run to y e best of our know-
ledge & as far as we are informd, quantum scimus, et quantum nobis
innotuit, And knowing then but little of him, being lately come to our
Coll. we thought ourselves in charity obliged to give him y* testimony,
which we are sorry we cannot doe now y* we are better informd.
*******
If it be obj : y* in y e case of y e diuinity Reader we ourselves appeald
from the Visitor to y e late King, thereby owning His prerogative. We
answer we then prayd His Ma^ 8 fauor in defence of an Election made
regularly accord : to Statute, & humbly pray y e same fauor now. And y*
we have formerly, & must always (when we find ourselves oppresst) fly to
His Royal justice & goodness for protection.
3 points to be especially cleerd
i st : Why we now charge M r . F's Morals, hauing giuen him a testi-
monium under our hands ab* Xmas last ?
48 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1087.
2 ] y: How we make this charge outag st him ?
3!*'. Whither we did not rashly proceed to election, after receipt of the
Ks letter, (supposing MX Fs incapacity,) before y e Ks pleasure was
farther known ?
If M r . Fs friends recriminate. We Answ: i st : Let euery one answer
for his own faults when they are legally charged. 2*y, Howeuer criminal
we may be thought ourselves we maintain in y e present case we have
elected a person without exception. 3^, As to ourselves, The election of
a person so every way qualifyd, & so unblameable, will (we hope) in y e
mean while be a charitable presumption y* we are not so obnoxious as we
are pretended to be.
Sat : May 7.
Questions put to the Vicech. of Cambr.
2. Q. Whither some one had not been admitted without takeing y e
Oaths?
A. Neuer by him.
3. Q. Whither some one had not been admitted to degrees by y e K s .
letters ?
A. Only to Honorary degrees. He instanced where a Mandate had
been rejected.
i . The first question was, w* were the Oaths he was sworn to ?
A. To observe the laws of y e Land, & y e Statt. of the Vniversity.
The Vicech : being by y e Court suspended from His office, & head-
ship, during the K.s plesure ; The rest y* were delegated in 'y e same
business, & sign'd the plea, were also ordered to attend Thursd :
following.
The Vicepr 6 : plea for Himself e.
i st : That he lay under the same obligacon to observe the Founders
Statt, as all the rest of fellows did.
2*y. That he was of necessity concluded by the majority, hauing no
Negative uoice this election giuen him by y e Founder.
3!?. If it be said, such a Negative is uirtually included in his Office:
tis answered first, That y e late Bp. of Winton being consulted on this
point, told the late pr : to his face, that if he denied to propose things
to y e Society accord : to y e statt. he ought & would for y* reason expell
him : much less therefore may y e vicepr : use such autority : tis
answered 2 1 ?, That y e Vicepr : was not in y e Ks letter comanded to stop
proceedings in case they refus'd to elect M r . Farmer : tis answered 3^,
That such a Negative is absolutely taken away in all elections by an
express Act of parlt, uiz. 33 Hen : 8, c : 27.
4*y. That he used all fair & just endeauors in behalfe of M r . F, pro-
posing y e electing of him uiua uoce. in obed. to y e K.s letter, or at least
admitting him in obed : to y e Kg. without any election ; declaring myselfe
for a farther address to His Maty. But y e generality judging Him un-
capable, & uoting for a statutable election, for y* they had stayed y e
utmost time prsefixt for yt election ; I was necessitated to joyn with them ;
And hauing a strict oath to choose a man qualifyd by Statute, & received
y e H. Sacram* in order thereto, I could doe no otherwise then as my
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 49
Conscience directed me, which His Mate has most graciously declared He
will never force. If obj : why I gave y 6 oath, which was wholy in my
power ? Ans.
A transcript of y e Statt de Hen : 8, c. 27.
A transcript of y e Founders stat. de elect, prses : directing y e Vicepr : to
cite, swear, regulate accord : to y e s d . Statute, but no where empowering
him to over rule, or stop proceedings. Neither had he any comand from
y e Kg. so to doe, y e letter dispensing with M r . F, but not with y e electors
Oaths, nor inhibiting them to proceed to a statutable election, in case they
could not choose M r . Farmer. Notwithstanding which, y e election pro-
rogud, & early notice given to the Kg by petition. The Founder so far
from empowring y e Vicepr : to over rule y e election, y fc he does not allow
y* power to y e Visitor, who is obliged absque mora to admit, or otherwise
y e president in jure electionis suse is complete without it. The most I
could doe was to propose fauorably, y e Majority to determine.
Copies of such statt., or Registers, as are for our purpose, to be authen-
ticated.
(Baybrooke MS.)
54.
1687, May 28. Proceedings taken against the College.
At length his Majesty, thinking it expedient that the Fellows of S*.
Mary Magdalen College should be called to an account for their dis-
obedience, ordered the Lords Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes to
proceed against them. Therefore the following summons was sent to them.
By His Majesty's Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes, and
for the Visitation of the Universities, and of all, and every,
Cathedrals and Collegiate Churches, Colleges, Grammar Schools,
Hospitals, and other the like Incorporations or Foundations and
Societies.
Complaint having been made unto us that the Vice-President and
Fellows of S*. Mary Magdalen College in the University of Oxford have
refused to comply with his Majesty's Letters Mandatory for electing and
admitting Mr. Anthony Farmer President of the said College in the room
of D r . Clark deceased, and that, notwithstanding his Majesty's said
Letters, they have elected M r . John Hough President of the said College,
you and either of you are hereby required to cite and summon the said
Vice-President and Fellows, requiring them, or such of the said Fellows
as they shall depute on their behalf, to appear before us in the Council
Chamber at Whitehall upon Monday, the sixth of the next month of
June, at four in the afternoon, to answer to such matters as shall be
objected against them concerning the premisses. And of the due exe-
cution hereof you are to certify to us then and there. Given under our
Seal the 28^ day of May, 1687. To Thomas Atterbury and Robert
Eldowes, or either of them.
Extracted out of the Register Book from the 28^ of May to the 5 th of
August.
(Johnston.}
E
50 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
55.
1687, May 28. At a Court in the Council Chamber at
Hampton Court.
Present :
The-Lord Chancellor. The Bishop of Durham.
The Lord President. The Bishop of Rochester.
The Lord Chamberlain. The Lord Chief Justice Herbert.
Earl of Huntingdon.
The business about the election of the President of Magdalen College in
Oxford moved.
The Court ordered a Citation against the Vice-President, and the
Fellows of the said College, or such of the Fellows as shall be empowered
to appear the next Court day at the Council Chamber in Whitehall, on
Monday sennight at four o'clock *.
56.
The State of y e Case of ye Vicepr: & Fellows of St. Mary
Magdalen Coll in Oxford.
Thursday, Mar: 31. Vpon Notice of y e death of D r . Hen: Clerke late
president of y e s d College, It was unanimously agreed by y e Vicepr: &
Fellows of the s d Coll to proceed to y e Election of a praesid* on Wednes-
day y e i3*k of Apr: following. And in order thereto a Citacon was fixt
up y e same day at y e Chap: door, signifying ye uacancy, time. & place of
election according to y e direction of y e Statutes.
Saturday, Apr 9^. It being reported y fc M r . Anth : Farmer had
obteined His Majesties Letter Mandatory to be presidt of y e s d College,
The Vicepr: & Fellows represented to His Majesty by their most humble
petition bearing date y e sd 9^ of Apr : yt ye s d M r . Ant Farmer was in-
capable of y* Office by y r Statt., praying to be left to a free election, &
obseruance of y r Oaths.
Monday, Apr: nth. The Vicepr: receiued His Majesties letters Man-
datory directed to y e s d Vice-presid* & fellows, requiring y m forthwith to
elect & admit y e s d *M r . Farmer prsesid fc which letter was y e same day
comunicated by y e Viceprsesid*.
Wednesday, Apr: 13^: This being y e day Appointed for y e election,
The Vicepr: & fell met in ye College Chappell, & hauing read y e founders
1 These Minutes of Proceedings of the Privy Council are to be found in a MS. Book
in the Rawlinson Collection in the Bodleian Library, D. 365. p. 20. The Rev. W. D.
Macray states, ' It is apparently the Book of hasty minutes jotted down by the Se-
cretary at the meetings of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, as his private Book, and
intended for further transcription into the official Register. It was bought at the sale
of his daughter's Library by Rawlinson for is. 6c?.' Unfortunately three leaves have
been cut out where all the most material passages about Magdalen College might be
expected. The official Register has not been discovered.
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 51
Statute de Electione praesidentis, as likewise y e K.s letter, in regard of
their petition then lying before His Majesty adjourned y e election to y e
next day, & afterwards on y e same ace* till fryday following.
Fry day, Apr: 15^. A Message was deliuered to y e Societie by 2 of
y e fellows from my L d praesid* of y e Council, That His Majesty hauing
sent His letter to y e Coll. for M r . Farmer expected to be obeyed. After
which, the greatest p* of y e Fellows declared they thought y m selues
obliged to proceed imediately to election, for y* they had stayd y e utmost
time limited by y e Statt. for y fc election. And hauing taken y e usual
oaths, & receiued y e H: Sacramt praeparatory to y e s d election, they
Elected y e Reuerend M r . J: Hough praesid*, a person in all respects
duely qualifyd for y* Office.
Saturday, Apr: 16*. The s d Election was ratifyd by y e Right
Reuerend Father in God Peter L d BP of Winton Visitor of y e Coll, &
M r Hough sworn, & admitted presid* by His Ldship.
Sunday, Apr: 17^. Mr. Hough was install'd at 4 in y e Afternoon, &
tooke his Seat in the Chappell of y e College.
The whole proceeding was orderly & regular, as will appear by the
attestacon of the publick Notary who attended the Election.
Monday, 30^ of May. The s d Vicepresid* & fellows were Cited to
appear before His Majesties Comissioners for Eccles: Causes etc, to
answer why they refused to comply with His Majesties letter mandatory
for electing admitting M r . F: presid*.
In Answer whereto
They most humbly Offer to your Ldships Consideracon.
I st . The Character of y e presid* in ye Statutes, viz. praesidens sit vir
bonae conuersaonis et honestae, sciential, bonis moribus et conditionibus
approbatus etc.
2*y. The Electors Oath, viz.
Tu Jurabis, quod postpositis omnimodis amore, fauore, odio, timore,
etc, Nominabis unum uel duos de Socijs ipsius Collegij etc, uel de Socijs
Collegij B : Marie Winton in Oxonia etc ; Quos in conscientia tua magis
idoneos, sufficientiores, discretiores, utiliores, et aptiores ad subeundum et
exercendum praesidentis officium speraueris et firmiter credideris etc.
3ly. The Oath taken by euery fellow at his admission, viz:
Ego Juro, quod omnia Statuta et ordinaones hujus Collegij etc inuiola-
biliter tenebo et obseruabo. Item quod non impetrabo dispensaonem
aliquam contra juramenta mea praedicta, uel aliquam particulam eorun-
dem, nee contra ordinaones et Statuta, aut ipsorum aliquod etc. Et si
forsan dispensaonem hujusmodi impetrari, gratis concedi, uel acquiri
contigerit, cujuscumque fuerit Autoritatis, ipsa non uter, nee eidem con-
sentiam quouis modo.
The premisses considered, The s d Vicepraesid* & fellows doe humbly
offer, That they haue neuer faild in their duty & allegiance to His
Majesty, or His Royal praedecessors, & are most deeply affected y* they
could not in regard of their afores d Oaths comply with His Majesties
letter for electing & admitting M r . F: presidt, the s d M r F: hauing neuer
been fellow either of their Coll, or New Coll, nor otherwise qualifyd
as y e y uerily belieue by his life & manners for y* employm* : they farther
offer, y fc y e s d M r . F: is reputed to haue left y e Comunion of y e Ch. of
E 2
52 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
England by law establisht, which they are bound to Maintain. Humbly
praying your Ldships they may be dismisst, & hopeing in regard
of His Majesties great clemency, & His gracious declaracon, they shall
not be censured for obseruing their Oaths, & acting conformably to His
Majesties Laws.
(indorsed) -The College Plea. (Braybrooke MS.)
57.
Notary's Certificate.
Juney e 2 d : 1687.
I James Almont publick Notary being present at the late Election of
the President of S*. Mary Magdalen College in Oxford, doe hereby
Certify, that all persons therein concerned behaved themselves quietly &
regularly Without the least Disorder.
James Almont publick Notary F.
(Endorsed) Notary's Certificate.
(Braybrooke MS.)
58.
*A bretdate of the proceedings before y e L ds Comission rs for
Ecclesiastical Causes, & for Visitacon of y e Vniversities,
Colleges, etc.'
(By Dr. Aldworth. See NO*. 63, 66, 74, 80.)
1687, May 30. The Vicepresidt & fellows of S*. M. Magd. Coll.
Oxon were summond to appear before ye L ds Comission rs at ye Council
Chamber in Whitehall y e Sixth of June following, to shew reason why
they did not obey y e K.s letter requiring y m to elect & admit M r .
Anth: Farmer presid*? which sufnons under y e Comissioners seal bears
date May 28*** 87.
(Braybrooke MS.)
59.
1687, June 6. As above.
The Delegates of the Fellows, viz. Dr. Charles Aldworth, Vice-President,
D r . Henry Fairfax, D r . John Smith, M r . Mainwaring Hammond, M r . Henry
Dobson, and Mr. James Fayrer, appeared before the Commissioners, and
desired time for consideration, which was granted them till June
60.
1687, June 6. Continuation of Dr. Thomas Smith's Narrative.
About the 6 th of June I asked leave to be absent for some time from
the College, and went to London : where I continued extremely afflicted
for the troubles brought upon the College by this hasty election ; nor
would any curiosity carry me to Whitehall to be present at the several
times the Fellows were summond to appear by his Majesty's Com-
missioners for Ecclesiastical Causes and for the Visitation of the Uni-
versities, sitting at Whitehall, though one or other of the Fellows would
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 53
come to my lodgings, and give me a particular account of their pro-
ceedings, which no way concerned me to relate.
61.
1687, June 6. Extract from the Diary of Bishop Cartwright.
' I was at Whitehall with the High Commissioners, where the Vice-
President of Magdalen was asked by my Lord Chancellor whether he
did not receive a Mandate from the King to make Mr. Farmer President,
and why he disobeyed it ; to which he replying that he desired time to
advise with council before he answers, his Lordship said that he was like
a man of his coat (Aldworth a civilian) first to do an ill thing, and then
to advise with council to defend it ; but told him in fine that the Com-
missioners would not be so hasty in adjudging him as he had been in
disobeying and contemning the King's authority, and therefore bidding
him bring the Statutes with him gave him till Monday next' (June 13).
62.
1687, June 6. At a Court in the Council Chamber, Whitehall.
Present :
The Lord Chancellor. The Earl of Huntingdon.
The Lord President. The Bishop of Durham.
The Lord Chamberlain. The Bishop of Rochester.
Dr. Aldworth, Vice-President of Magdalen College, Oxford, and the
Deputies of the Fellows attend upon the Citation issued against them.
They did receive the Mandate, and desire time to give an answer.
This day sennight at 4 in the afternoon.
63.
1687, June 6. Proceedings of the Commissioners.
(See NO. 58.)
June 6 th . The Vicepresid*, & five other of y e fellows, (dr Fairfax,
Smith Sen., M r . Hafnond, Dobson, Fairer) deputed thereto at a meeting
of all y e fellows, appeard before y e s d Comissioners, & were askt, whither
they had not receiued y e Ks letter for M r Farmer to be presidt ? which
being confessd ; The next question was, why they did not obey it ? To
which they pray'd time, y* they might aduise with Counsel in a case
of so great weight, & concern to y e whole Society. So they were
ordered to giue in their Answer y e 1 3 th of June following. At this first
appearance upon our asking hime Ld Ch: obseru'd we had disobeyd y e
King, & now desired to aduise with Counsel how to defend our dis-
obedience. I replyed, we had a trust reposed in us by y e Society, &
dard not trust our own managem*, y re fore prayd time. Being calld in my
Ld told us Their L^SPS would not be so quick with us, as we had been in
disobeying y e King ; yrefore indulgd us time to giue in our answer till
Monday following. And y* y r Ldships orderd us to bring in our
Statutes.
54 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
64.
1687, June 8. Dr. Aldworth's letter to the newly elected
President.
London.
Sir, D r . Thomas Smith, I presume, has given you an account of
what passed last Monday (June 6^) at our first appearance before the
Lords Commissioners. I have likewise sent an account of it to the
Bishop of Winton yesterday. We all waited on his Grace the Duke of
Ormond, and intend from time to time to give his Grace notice of all
occurrences. We are to give in our answer to the question, 'Why we
did not obey the King's Letter?' next Monday (June 13), and are now
drawing it up as full, and with as much strength as possible, by advice
of the ablest lawyers, both common lawyers and civilians. As soon
as it is finished, I will send you a copy, if we do not see you here
before the end of the week. You know best, Sir, what is fittest to be
done ; it is our opinion that it may be convenient for you to come up
before Monday that you may be ready upon any occasion. Our friends
at Doctors' Commons are of the same opinion, and that immediately after
our answer is given in and read, you ought to appear by your Proctor
before the Commissioners, to allege your interest, and plead your free-
hold, as being elected, sworn, admitted, and in legal and actual possession
of the place of President. However Serjeant Byrche 1 was of a contrary
opinion : we have discoursed with him, and he thinks that you should
continue at the College. We intend this afternoon to advise with Counsel
about our answers, at which time I will ask their opinion about your
coming up, as likewise your Instalment, and taking possession on Sunday,
which Serjeant Byrche says can be no exception against you. We are
commanded to bring our Statutes on Monday, and have therefore sent
Ned Jackson down to you to bring up the Dean's Statute Books, that it
may be in readiness if the Commissioners insist upon it. Pray, Sir, fail
not to send us the best evidence you can get of Farmer's immoralities ;
for as to Law, we must desire to be heard by Counsel, and, if desired,
leave it to their Lordships' own consideration, but what we allege from
our Oaths and Statutes we must be able to defend. A modest resolution
(to use my Lord of Winton's expression) to maintain our rights, and
justify what we have done, is, I think, our province : the success we
must leave to God Almighty.
Sir, some of us will not fail to write constantly to you, and we shall be
glad to receive your commands and directions. I heartily wish you
health and prosperity, and am, Sir, with all sincerity, your most affec-
tionate Servant, Charles Aldworth.
(Wilmofs Life of Bishop Hough, p. 342.)
65.
1687, June 13. Proceedings of the Commissioners.
The Delegates appeared again before the Commissioners, and the
Lord Chancellor Jefferies said, ' M r . Vice-President, you desired time to
1 Edward Byrche, Sergeant at Law, Brother of D r . Hough's Mother.
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 55
bring in your answer why you did not admit MX Farmer President of
your College, you have had time assigned you, now what is your
answer?'
Then M r . Vice-President delivered the answer in writing to MX
Bridgman *. It was signed by five only of the Delegates, for Dr. Fairfax
did not consent to it, and therefore he desired their Lordships to hear
him apart, and take his reasons why he could not subscribe to it.
The Lord Chancellor answered, ' We did not cite M r . Fairfax but the
College. Let us first hear the answer of the College, and then you shall
speak.'
Then M r . Bridgman read the following Answer 2 , and the Deputies
being withdrawn, the Lords Commissioners thought fit to put off the
further consideration of the matter till the 22 d instant at ten o'clock
in the morning, at which time they were required to appear.
(Impartial Relation and Johnston?)
66.
1687, June 13. As above.
(See NO. 58.)
Monday, June 13 th . L d Ch: asked whither our answer was redy?
Vicepr : In obedience to y r L ds P 8 orders we haue drawn up our Answer
in writing, & humbly lay it before y r L d ships. The Answer being red
(which was signd by all except D r . fairfax) D^. Fairfax desired to be
heard. He first of all excepted ag st yt deputacon from y e Coll, as not
being legal (under y e Seals I suppose) tho' himselfe had appeard before
upon yt deputacon, & even now pleded yt he was deputed as well as y e
rest, & equally to be heard [He excepted likewise yt we could not have a
Copy of y e libel or Complaint, as y e law directs in all Eccles: pro-
ceedings.] This dispute ran uery high, my L d Ch saying he was a
Madman, & D r . Fairfax downright questioning y e jurisdiction of y e Court,
yt it lay before Westm: Hall, & not before y m ; insomuch as my L d Ch:
threatnd to commit him, & orderd him to withdraw. L d Ch: asking us
ife we had any thing further to say, I answered, It was y e Sume of our
Answer in reference to our oathe & Statt. If upon reding our Answer any
question in point of law arose to y r L d ships we prayd to be heard by our
Counsel. So withdrew, hauing first delivred a Copy of our Statutes.
After an hours time The Vicepr. was calld in alone, & askt whither there
was any other Statutes besides those we had given in? Vicep: there are
no other. L d Ch., Are not your Statutes read every year, & are these all
yt are read ? Vicepr., They are read ouer publickly once every year, &
these are all yt are read. L d Ch, Are there no statt. of y e Bps of Winton ?
Vicepr: There are some Injunctions of BP. Morley, & BP. Cooper.
L d praes, Those are Statutes, you are by your Statt. to obserue his injunc-
tions. Vicepr., in doubtfull cases y e Visitor interprets, but if he enjoyns
any thing contr: to Statute, we are sworn to reject it.
1 M r . Bridgman, Secretary to the Commissioners.
2 See N. 68.
56 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
L d Ch: Is y re any thing in those injunctions ab fc those elections? Not
a word to the best of my remembrance. BP. Durham, doe y e take y e
oath as tis in y e Statutes expressly, or with such a Clause as this, viz. So
far as it is not contr: to y e laws of the land? Ans., expressly as in y e
Statute, & no otherwise. L d Ch, Is not your pres: obliged to be in
orders? Ans., The Statutes seeme to intend it, but no express Statute
enjoyns it. L d Ch, was not one Haddon presid* ? Ans., He was put in
y e last of Ed. Sixth, & before y e year went ab*, forck to quit for fear of
being put out as an Intruder.
We were orderd to attend Wednesday sennight to know y r Ld s P s
plesure.
67.
1687, June 13. At a Court in the Council Chamber,
Whitehall, at 4 in the afternoon.
Present :
The Lord Chancellor. The Bishop of Durham.
The Lord President. The Bishop of Rochester.
The Lord Chamberlain. Lord Chief Justice Herbert.
The Vice-President and Deputies of Magdalen College attend with
their answer signed by the Vice-President and Four of the College
Fellows. The answer was read and they withdrew.
M r . Sollicitor General, Sir Thomas Pinfold,
Mr. Serjeant Beldock, Dr. Hedges,
To consider of the matter, and of the Kings Power and Prerogative in
this case. They are to attend on Wednesday sennight at 10 in the
morning.
68.
1687, June 13. The answer of the Vice-President and other
Fellows of S*. Mary Magdalen College, whose names are
hereunto subscribed, being deputed by the rest of the
Fellows of the said College, to answer the Question pro-
posed by the Bight Honourable and Right Reverend the
Lords Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes, &c. * Why
they did not obey His Majesty's Letters, requiring them
to elect and admit Mr. Anthony Farmer President of the
said College?'
The said Vice-President and other deputed Fellows answer and say
that the said College of Saint Mary Magdalen in Oxford is a Body Cor-
porate governed by local Statutes, granted and confirmed to them by his
Majesty's Royal Predecessor, King Henry the Sixth, for him, his heirs
and successors, under the great Seal of England, which are also since
confirmed by several others Letters Patents of other his Majesty's Royal
Predecessors, under the great Seal of England.
That by the Statutes of the said College, to the observation of which
each Fellow is sworn, it is ordered that the Person to be elected President
thereof shall be a man of good Life and Reputation, of approved under-
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 57
standing, and of good manners and temper, and discreet, provident, and
circumspect, both in spiritual and temporal affairs. And at the time of
the Election of a President the said Fellows are bound by the said
Statutes to take an Oath, that they shall nominate none to that office but
such as are or have been Fellows of the said College, or of New College
in Oxford, and if they are not actually Fellows at the time of Election,
that they be such as have left their Fellowships, in those respective
Colleges, upon creditable accounts. And when two qualified persons
shall be nominated at the time of Election by the greater number of all
the Fellows to the said office of President, the thirteen Seniors also swear
that they will elect one of them, whom in their consciences they think
most proper and sufficient, most discreet, most useful, and best qualified
for that place, without any regard to love, hatred, favour, or fear; and
every Fellow when he is first admitted to his Fellowship in the said
College, swears that he will inviolably keep and observe all the Statutes
and Ordinances of the College, and all and every thing therein contained,
so far as does, or may, concern him according to the plain, literal, and
grammatical sense and meaning thereof, and as much as in him lies will
cause the same to be kept and observed by others : and that he will not
procure any dispensation contrary to his aforesaid Oaths, or any part
thereof, nor contrary to the .Statutes and Ordinances to which they relate,
or any one of them, nor will he endeavour that such dispensation shall
be procured by any other, or others, publickly or privately, directly or
indirectly, and if it shall happen that any dispensation of this sort shall be
procured, granted, or obtained, -of what authority soever it be, whether in
general or particular, or under what form of words whatsoever, it shall be
granted, that he will neither make use of it, nor in any sort consent
thereunto, all which several oaths follow in express words at the end of
this their answer.
That upon notice of the death of D r . Clark, late President of the said
College, the Vice-President called a Meeting of the said Fellows in order
to appoint a day for Election of a new President, and the thirteenth day
of April last was the day prefixed, with power to prorogue the same as
they should see cause until the 15 th day of the same month, beyond
which time they could not Statutably defer their Election, and in pursu-
ance thereof a Citation or Praemonition was fixed upon the Chapel-door
of the said College signifying the same, and by which the absent Fellows
are summoned to repair home to the said Election, as the Statute in that
case requires.
And the said Vice-President, and other deputed Fellows further say
that upon the eleventh day of the said month of April they received his
Majesty's Letters requiring them to elect and admit the said Mr. Anthony
Farmer to be President of the said College, but forasmuch as the said
Vice-President and the other Fellows apprehended the right of Election
to be in themselves, and did believe his Majesty never intended to dis-
possess them of their rights, and forasmuch as the said Mr. Farmer had
never been Fellow, either of Magdalen College, or of New College in
Oxford, and had not those qualifications, which in and by the Statutes of
the said College are required in the character of a President, as they in
their consciences did and do verily believe, and in regard they could not
58 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
comply with his Majesty's Letters, without the violation of their oaths,
and hazard of that legal interest and property, whereof they are by the
said Statutes possesst, and which by their oaths they are bound to main-
tain ; they represented the same by their humble Petition to his Majesty,
and having deferred their Election of a President to the last day limited
by their Statutes, they then proceeded to Election : and having first
received the blessed Eucharist, and taken the said Oaths as the Statutes
require, to choose a Person so qualified as is before expressed, they did
elect the Reverend M r . John Hough, Bachelor in Divinity, and one of
the Fellows of the said College, a person every way qualified to be their
President, who has been since confirmed by the Lord Bishop of Win-
chester their Visitor, as the Statutes of the said College direct.
And that they might not lie under his Majesty's displeasure by their
proceedings, on the nineteenth day of the said month of April they made
humble representations thereof to his Majesty, by his Grace the Duke of
Ormond, Chancellor of the University of Oxford, setting forth their in-
dispensable obligation to observe their Founder's Statutes.
All which matters the said Vice-President, and other deputed Fellows,
do humbly offer to your Lordship's consideration, and pray to be dis-
missed with your Lordships' favour.
Charles Aldworth, Vice-President.
John Smith, D.D.
Mainwaring Hammond, B.D.
Henry Dobson, Dean of Arts.
James Fayrer, M.A.
{Johnston : see N. 69.)
69.
A second version of the Answer (N. 68).
The said Delegates say, for and in behalf of the said Vice-President
and Fellows, that the said Saint Mary Magdalen College in Oxford,
whereof they are members, is a Body Corporate governed by Local
Statutes, granted and confirmed to them by his Majesty's Royal Pre-
decessor, King Henry the Sixth, for him, his heirs and successors, by his
Letters Patent, under the great Seal of England, and since confirmed by
several Letters Patent of his Majesty's Royal Progenitors.
That the said Fellows of the said College by those Statutes are sworn
to provide, that the person to be elected President thereof be a man of
good life and reputation, of approved understanding and of good manners,
and temperate and discreet, provident and circumspect both in Spiritual
and Temporal affairs, and that none be nominated to that office but such
as are, or have been, Fellows of the said College, or of New College in
Oxford, and if they are not actual Fellows at the time of Election, that
they be such as left their Fellowships in the said respective Colleges
upon credible accounts ; and that upon the vacancy of the said President-
ship, all the Fellows of the said College, or the Major Part then present,
shall within 15 days nominate two persons qualified to stand Candi-
dates for the said office of President, and that thereupon the thirteen
seniors of the Fellows of the said College do swear upon the Evangelists
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 59
that they will elect one of them so nominated, whom in their consciences
they think most proper, sufficient, and most discreet, most useful, and
best qualified for the Place, without any regard to love, hatred, or favour,
as in the said Statute is more largely expressed ; and every Fellow of the
said College, when he is admitted to his Fellowship, in like manner swears
that he will not admit any dispensation contrary to his oath : and if any
such dispensation shall be procured, and freely granted, under what form
of words whatsoever it be granted, not to make use of it, or in any sort
to consent thereunto.
That upon the first notice of the death of Dr. Clerk, the late President
of the said College, the Vice-President called a Meeting of the Fellows,
in order to appoint a day of Election of a President as aforesaid, and
the thirteenth day of April last was the time appointed for the said
Election, with power to prorogue the same, as they should see cause
until the fifteenth of the said month, beyond which time they were not
authorized by their Statutes to prolong the same, and in consequence of
this appointment a citation was fixed to the door of the Chapel to sum-
mon the Fellows to repair to the said Election, as the Statutes and
Customs of the said College in that case provide : that about this time
they were informed that M r . Anthony Farmer, who had never been
Fellow of their College, and was otherwise a Person of very ill fame, had
obtained his Majesty's Letters Mandatory to be President of the said
College.
And in regard they could not comply with such Letters Mandatory,
without the violation of their oaths, and their Legal Interest and pro-
perty invested in them by the said Statutes, they represented the same
by their humble Petition to his Majesty, being thereunto encouraged by
many gracious expressions of his Majesty in his Royal Declaration,
wherein he is pleased to declare that no man's property shall be invaded.
After three days attendance without any answer from his Majesty to their
humble Petition, the Delegates appointed for that purpose were neces-
sitated to return to the College to prevent the inconveniency of a Lapse
to the said Election ; and finding that notwithstanding all their endeavours
to prevent it, his Majesty was pleased to send his Letters Mandatory
under his signet and sign manual, directed to the said Vice-President
and Fellows of S*. Mary Magdalen College, thereby requiring them to
elect the said M r . Farmer to be President of the said College, which said
Letters were communicated to them on the eleventh of April last, they
then perceived by the purport of them that his Majesty had been advised
by a mistaken suggestion, as they humbly conceived, that the said office
of Magdalen College was in his Majesty's disposition, and therefore were
grieved to find his Majesty deceived therein, because they could not
comply therewith without breach of their Oaths, Statutes,' and Laws,
by which they are supported : and although in his Majesty's said Letters
there were clauses of Dispensation with the Statutes of the College, yet
they could not but observe, that if they had been at liberty by the said
Statutes to have consented thereunto, they could not have been effectual
to them; and that, as they are advised, no Letters of Dispensation with
Statutes and constitutions [are issued] by Letters patent under the great
Seal.
60 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
Therefore having deferred the Election of a President to the last day
limited by the Statutes, in hopes to have received his Majesty's Re-
commendation of some qualified Person for that office, or a recalling of
the said Letters, and no such Recommendation or Resumption appearing,
they then, viz. on the fifteenth day of April last past, with the solemnity
required by their Statutes, proceeded to the Election, and chose Mr.
John Hough, B.D. one of their Fellows, and a person every way
qualified to be their President, who is since confirmed in his Election by
the Bishop of Winchester, as the Statutes of the College direct ; he is
therefore invested with a Freehold under the Protection of his Majesty's
Laws : and that they might not suffer in his Majesty's good opinion
by these proceedings, they made an humble representation thereof to his
Majesty by the Chancellor of the University : and they do now again
desire your Lordships to represent their case to his Majesty that they
may not lie under his Majesty's displeasure, upon any mistaken ap-
prehension whatsoever.
And they also humbly offer to your Lordships' consideration that his
Majesty's Letters even under the Great Seal (which are of greatest force)
when they are granted upon a mistaken suggestion, are frequently con-
troverted and vacuated in his Majesty's Courts at Westminster, without
derogation to his Majesty's prerogative, which can do no wrong to the
properties of his Majesty's subjects, and they have observed the expression
of Quantum ex nobis est frequently used in Letters Patent of greatest
importance, wherein many are extant in the Registry of the University of
Oxford, made by his Majesty's Royal Predecessors for the benefit thereof,
since the tenth year of King Henry the Third, to show the great caution
used by the Ministers of the Crown, lest the King should be deceived in
such Letters and Grants.
And moreover, they further humbly offer that the Letters of his
Majesty's Predecessors to the Colleges of Oxford in ancient times were
only recommendatory without any claim of right, and they have ever
observed that when his Majesty's Predecessors of later times have sent
Mandatory Letters to any of the said Colleges for places which could not
be conferred on the persons by the Statutes of such Colleges, upon
representation thereof made, the same have not been pursued, or insisted
on, or any imputation made to such Colleges, for not complying there-
with, though they must humbly offer to your Lordships that the actions
of other men, departing from the laws and Statutes of their College,
if any such have been, can be no Precedent or Inducement to them in
the like errors.
And they in the last place humbly represent to your Lordships that the
matter of electing of a President of Magdalen College is merely temporal,
and in no sort of Ecclesiastical cognizance : and that in the Statute made
in the sixteenth year of the Reign of his Majesty's Royal Father, King
Charles the First, Entitled ' An act for the repeal of a branch of a Statute
made in the first year of the late Queen Elizabeth, concerning Commis-
sions for Causes Ecclesiastical,' whereby the said branch is repealed, it is
enacted that no new Court shall be erected, or ordained, or appointed
within this realm, which shall, or may have, like power, jurisdiction or
authority as the High Commission Court then had, or pretended to have,
1687. AND KING JAMES If. 6 1
but that all and every such Commissions and Grants, and all Persons
and Authorities granted, or pretended to be granted thereby, should
be void and of none effect, as in and by the said Statute more fully
appears.
(Impartial Relation.)
70.
1687, June 15. Extract from the Diary of Narcissus Luttrell.
Magdalen College, in Oxford, appeared before the Ecclesiastical Com-
missioners, and gave in an answer why they had not elected Mr. Farmer :
and one D r . Fairfax was very bold there, for which he was severely
reprimanded, and told he was fitter for a madhouse.
71.
1687, June 13. Proceedings of the Commissioners. Answer
of the College.
After the Reading of the answer D r . Fairfax said, ' My Lords, I am a
Fellow of S*. Mary Magdalen College, as well as any of these gentlemen ;
pray give me leave to give my reasons why I did not subscribe.
'JMy Lord, there is a Statute of Henry the fifth, where it is provided
that in Ecclesiastical Courts there should be a Libel given to the Party
appealed, that he may know what he is accused of. My Lords I desire
this Libel, and do not know what I am called here for. I was to enquire
of the Secretary for this Libel, but he would give me none. The matter
doth not lye in this Court but in Westminster Hall.'
(Impartial Relation.)
Before D r . Fairfax had spoken the Lord Chancellor Jefferies being in
hopes he would submit, gave him leave to speak, saying, ' Ay, this looks
like a man of sense, and a good subject, let us hear what he will say/
but finding his mistake, the Chancellor endeavoured to baffle his plea by
telling him that he was Doctor of Divinity, but not of Law. To which
the Doctor replied that he desired to know by what commission and
authority they sat ? This put Jefferies into such an excessive passion as
made him cry out, ' Pray what commission have you to be so impudent
in Court ? This man ought to be kept in a dark room. Why do you
surfer him without a guardian ? Why did you not bring him to me to beg
him. Pray let the officers seize him/
Then the Fellows were ordered to withdraw, and after a whole hour's
debate, the Vice-President was called in alone, and ordered to attend the
Court with the rest of the deputed Fellows on Wednesday the 23 d of the
same month.
(Cobbett.)
62 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
72.
1687, June 13. Dr. Aldworth's Notes for an answer to the
Commissioners.
My Lord,
We humbly conceive the election of our presid* to rest wholy in the
College : our Statutes confirm'd by seueral letters patents plainly shew this
right, the founder has placd it there, & the person elected is to be admitted
by y e Bp of Winton extrajudicialiter. absque omni processu judiciario, etc,
& if y e Bp refuse 5 days he is to all intents & purposes presid* even without
y 6 Visitors confirmacon, merely in uirtue of his election. The King neuer
claim'd this election de jure, & His Ma*"* writing to y e College to elect
is an allowance of our right. Accord: to this right we haue made an
election, & the person elected is in full & entire possession, & we conceive
has as good a right as any presid* since y e foundacon of y e College.
My IA
As to MX F, I humbly conceive tis not so much a question ab* our
right to elect, as whither we haue shewed y* respect & duty to y e Kings
letter we ought to haue done. My Lord His Ma*y can not doubt of the
loyalty of Madlyn College, & had his Ma*"* recofnendacon of M r . F. been
consistent with our oaths I doubt not y re would haue been a ready com-
plyance. The first Clause of y e Electors oath is to choose a fellow of
Magd, Coll. or N. Coll.: M r . F. was neither. In y e next place, My L d .,
our Founder enjoyns us to choose one of a good temper, & good
manners. My LA, this is a tender point, I had rather suffer in my
own reputacon, then do y e least act to y e prejudice of another man?
All y* is required of us is to choose a person whom in our own con-
sciences we thinke most fit, but if y r I/kMps shall comand us we believe
we can make it appear yt M r . F. as to his morals is no way fit to be
presidt of Maudlyn Coll.
If it be requisite, giue in the paper, which we offer to their L d ships not
as a charge ag st MX F , but to satisfye their L d ships w* motiues we
had to belieue him not fit for the presid*ship.
If your L d ships will please to consider the indispensable obligacon we
lye under to obserue our Founders Statutes, & yt Mr. F was in our
judgemts utterly incapable of y s office, we hope we shall neither incurre
the Kings displeasure, nor your lordships. There is no Societie has
giuen greater testimonies of their duty & loyalty to his Maty & his Royal
predecessors in y most rebellious times, y n we haue done, & hope we
shall not forfeit his royal fauor for not being in a capacity to obey him.
As to my own Vindicacon
I lay under the same obligacon to obserue my founders Statutes
with ye rest of y e Society, & was of necessity to be concluded by the
majority. By our Statutes 2 must be nominated by all y e fellows or a
major part of y m , of those 2 one must be elected by y e 13 sen 8 , the person
elected must be admitted & sworn by y e Visitor. It was no way in my
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 63
power to stop proceedings, neither had I any inhibition from ye King to
stop y m . I read y e Ks letter seueral times, we gaue early notice to his
Ma^ O f Mr. Fs incapacity by our petition, we stayd y e utmost time in
hopes His Maty would haue been graciously pleased to recomend a fit
person, which we should gladly haue complyd with, we haue since repre-
sented y e Case by our Chancellor, & omitted nothing yt was in our
power to prevent any misapprehension his Maty might haue of our
proceedings.
If I am dismisst my Office on y 8 ace*, I humbly thanke his Maty,
esteeming it a greater fauor, y n to be obligd to act y re in contr: to my
oath & duty.
If these particulars haue not been so punctually obseru'd formerly ;
yet y e Founders Statutes nevertheless were our rule to proceed by, & we
are expressly sworn to observe no Custome (were y re any) to y e Contrary.
Irregularities in former elections [are] no precedents for us, much less ag sfc
\v* is now regularly done, which is all at present we contend for. Our
part to defend our own election, not to answer former omissions which
were inquirable & punishable by y e local Visitor, complaint being made
in due time. No Society can subsist, if euery irregular Case shall be a
precedent more forcible y 11 y e Statutes. Tis true we haue elected some-
times without Scrutiny, or oaths ; but it has only been where the person
recomended has been euery way qualifyd by Statute, & y 6 Substance of
y e Oath obserued, in which case as y e manner of election we haue taken
y e readiest way to comply with his Ma ties plesure, & in y 6 same case
should haue done so now. And we trust our readyness to comply with
his Mat' 68 pleasure w n comanding any thing agreeable to our Statutes will
be no argument to force our consciences in matters directly contrary
y re to. The manner of election by Scrutiny, or uiua uoce, not material,
where y e person is such a one as y e founder enjoyns us to elect.
As to Haddons Case.
Tis true he was Admitted by vertue of y e Ks Mandate ult. Edw: Sexti,
An: 1553, & was a Cambridge man. But we offer first, y fc one single
instance, 134 years Since, in troublesome times, can be no precedent for
us to proceed contr : to y e express letter of our Oath, & Statutes.
2*y, yt D r Haddon was a person of a uery eminent Character, as
appears by the Coll. Register, & one whom they acknowledged worthy
of much better prefermt, & only excepted to his incapacity as neuer
having been fellow of y r Coll. or N. Coll., otherwise yt he was a person
peculiarly qualifyd to perserue y e peace & quiet of y e Coil, which our
good founder is very tender off. 3 J y. y fc New Oaths & Statt. were
obtruded on y e Societe y e year before Haddons election w ch are since
taken of, & we left to Act conformably to our Statutes. Lastly w* other
Motiues they might haue then we know not, only we thinke ourselves
were obliged to doe as we haue done : neither can we fear yt his Maty
from such an example will take occasion to breake in upon either our
rights, or consiences, who has always exprest so tender a regard for both.
It may be considered farther, There was no other person in possession
then, as is now.
64 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
As to D r . Clarkes Case.
I st . T'is not exprest in y e Statute (which is our rule) y* ye person to
be elected should be in H : orders at y e time of election, only y* he be
a dr in diuinity, etc. or M r of Arts. 2^ because there arose some doubt
ab* it, he tooke orders after he was elected, which was judgd sufficient
by y e then Bp of Winton Visitor of y e Coll., who by y e Statutes is in-
terpreter of all Ambiguities therein. Lastly very few of us concerned in d r
Clark's election.
As to pullickfame.
If M r F be injured, yet we are sworn to elect one whom in our con-
siences we believe of a cleer reputacon, & such a one we can not thinke
M r F, as we are informed. I desire not to Accuse him, t'is sufficient for
me y* I have followed ye dictates of my Consience : & yet we have con-
siderable evidences to prove this fame, & more upon subpoenas may
appear.
W n we gave our hands to his testimonials, I knew then no ill of him, nor
had heard any, & y re fore thought my selfe obligd to sign his testimonials,
which run usually Quantum nobis innotuit : and I am heartily sorry
yt I cant give him y e same testimony now y* I did then. When he aims
at a place of so great concern to our peace & wellfare, tis but reason we
should enquire w* his temper life & conversacon has been If he Re-
criminates, w n calld to answer we assure our selves we shall prove his
Allegacons false ; at present tis enough y* we have elected a presid* of an
unblemisht reputacon.
We thankfully own yt some of our selves were recomended to y e
Society by letters Mandatory, but we were Scholars of y e house, & quali-
fyd in y e judgem* of y e Societie.
As to prescription.
Of 20 presid ts since y e foundacon it does not appear y fc more y n 3 or
4 have been recomended by y e K.s letters, and y e y all (except Haddon)
on no other ace* y n as hauing been fellows of y e Coft, & born all y 6
offices, & so every way qualifyd to serve & benefitt y e same.
As toy 6 Ks dispensacon.
We are expressly disabled to admit any such dispensacon by our Oath
w n admitted fellows. Nor can we thinke y e Kings dispensacon in fauor
of Mr F, any dispensacon to us from Obseruance of our Oath & Statt., to
which we are so solemnly sworn. The founder Obliges sub pcena an-
athematis et sub interminaone diuini judicis to observe his Statutes.
Neither was it to be presumed the King intended to dispense with M r
Fs imoralities.
Where our Statutes are totally nulld & abrogated by y e law of the
land, our Oath as to such particulars ceases. A bare dispensacon
supposes y e Oath in force, which whilst it is so, is indispensable. If this
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 65
be insisted on, we own ourselves members of y e Ch of Engl by law es-
tablisht, & intend by Gods grace to live & dye in her Comunion.
Jf we are urgd with the dayly breach of our oaths in other particulars;
We Answer there is a certain penaltie in most of our Statutes, which if
the delinquent submits to, he is by y e founders own interpretacon of his
oath excused from (or not intended to incurre) y e guilt of perjury. For
y e present we were only sumon'd & deputed to answer to matters re-
lating to the Election.
********
********
Queries to be Considered, Haue not the Ks letters, w n sent to the Coll,
euer been submitted to ? And was not Haddon, equally unqualifyd with
F, elected in obedience y^to ? Why we did not wait y e K.s pleasure ?
If F : was so uicious, why was he neuer censured, or expelld ?
We desire our Statute booke may be returned. & if any alteracons
threatned, y* y e finis et Conclusio may be Considered.
(Brqybrooke MS.)
73.
1687, June 22. Further proceedings of the Commissioners.
The Vice-President and Deputies of S*. Mary Magdalen College in
Oxford attend before the Commissioners, and are asked whether they
had any thing else to offer by way of answer. Upon which they gave in
a paper containing an account of several misdemeanors committed by
M r . Anthony Farmer, which being read, the Lords ordered that M r .
Farmer should have a copy of the said Paper, and appointed to hear
him upon it at the next meeting, requiring some of the Fellows of the
said College to attend at the same time.
(Johnston, p. 34.)
The Fellows' reasons why they did not elect Mr. Farmer.
Whereas the Vice-President and other deputed Fellows of S*. Mary
Magdalen-College in Oxford have in their answer to your Lordships set
forth that by the Statutes of the said College it is orderd, that the
Person to be elected President thereof should be a man of good Life and
Reputation, and of good manners and temper ; and likewise that M r .
Anthony Farmer has not those qualifications which in and by the said
Statutes are required in the character of a President, as they in their
consciences did and do verily believe : they humbly crave leave to repre-
sent to your Lordships some of those reasons which induced them to
such belief, viz. :
That Mr. Farmer did misbehave himself in Trinity College in Cam-
bridge, that he received admonition from the Master of the College in
order to his expulsion, which admonition remains in the Register of the
said College under his own hand.
F
66 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
That having left Cambridge he taught School at Chippenham in
Wiltshire under a Nonconformist Minister without licence.
That in September 1683 the said M r . Farmer was entered at S*. Mary
Magdalen Hall in Oxford, where such frequent complaints were brought
against him to the Principal for his troublesome humour and unquiet
temper that to preserve the peace of the Society he was desired to leave
the said Hall.
That after his leaving Magdalen Hall he was admitted into Magdalen
College, where discoursing about religion he declared that there was no
Protestant but would cut the King's throat: notwithstanding which, at
other times he declared to some of the Fellows of the said College, that
whatsoever he pretended, he was really a Member of the Church of
England, and that he made an interest with some Roman Catholics only
to get preferment by their means, and for that reason was willing to be
thought of their religion.
That at the very time when his Majesty's Letter came to the College
in his behalf the said M r . Farmer was at Abington in very ill company,
where he continued drinking to excess two or three days and nights
together, and amongst other disorders was one of those that then in the
night threw the Town-stocks into the river ; and that in general the said
M r . Farmer has had the unhappiness to lie under an ill fame as to his life
and conversation, as by several letters and certificates ready to be pro-
duced, will more largely appear.
(Impartial Relation?)
1687, June 22. The President took his Degree of D.D.
74.
1687, June 22. Proceedings of the Commissioners.
(See NO. 58).
L d . Ch. M r . Vicepresid*, we understand you have something farther to
offer to y e Court.
Vicep. My L d , We humbly desire these papers may be considerd by
yr L ds P s , they contein no new matter, but only explain something we
gave in before for y r L d8 P- s satisfaction. (At y e same time I gave in y 6
papers relating to M>. F's Morals.)
L d . Ch: $ L . pr.es: Very well, read 'em.
M r . Bridgeman hauing read the abstract & certificates at large, I
added : My L d , I am sorry, we are forct to produce these papers : t'is not
our desire to meddle with any mans reputacon, but though ourselves
highly concernd to satisfye y e king & y r L ds P s y fc we could not in con-
sience elect a person of such a temper, & such morals.
L d . Ch. Withdraw.
After halfe an hour we were calld in.
L d . Ch. M r . Vicepr, Their L ds P s have considerd of your Answers, and
will not let you goe away under a mistake. They set here in a double
capacity (as your citacon might have informed you) both as Comission rs for
eccles. causes, & as Visitors of y e Vniversity. Their L ds P s have thought
fit to declare the election of M r . Hough to be uoid, & y* he be removed.
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 67
M r . Vicepr, Their Ld s v* for your contempt & disobedience to y e King
have suspended you from y r vicepr s P : they have likewise set a marke of
yt displesure on IX Fairfax whome they have suspended from his fellow-
ship. Withdraw. D r . Smith movd for ye Statute booke, w ch was orderd
to be deliverd accordingly.
75.
1687, June 22. Extract from Bishop Cartwright's Diary.
June 22. 'I visited F. P. (Father Petre) at Whitehall, and after heard
the Magdalen College business decided before the Commissioners, whose
sentence was that the Vice-President should be suspended from his
office, and D r . Fairfax from his Fellowship, and the President's Place
declared void : before which was given in the blackest character of M r .
Farmer, for whom they received the King's mandate, that any modest
man would blush to hear, and any one on this side to be found guilty of
it. D r . Johnston (Author of the Vindication, &c.) dined with me.'
76.
1687, June 22. The Lords Commissioners made the following
Order.
Whereas it appears unto us that M r . John Hough, Bachellor in
Divinity, has been unduly elected President of S*. Mary Magdalen
College in the University of Oxford, we have thought fit, upon mature
consideration thereof, that the said Election be declared void, and that
the said M r . John Hough be amoved from the said Presidentship ; and
accordingly we do hereby declare, pronounce, and amove the said M r ,
John Hough from the place of President of the said College.
Given under our Seal the 22 d of June, 1687.
(Johnston*)
77.
At the same Court the following Order was also made.
Whereas Charles Aldworth, Doctor of Laws, Vice-President of S*.
Mary Magdalen College in the University of Oxford, and the Deputies
of the Fellows of the same, have been convened before us, for their con-
tempt in not obeying his Majesty's Letters mandatory for electing and
admitting M r . Anthony Farmer President of that College ; and the said
D r . Aldworth and Deputies having been heard thereupon, we have
thought it fit to declare, pronounce, and decree, that the said D r . Charles
Aldworth shall for the said contempt be suspended from being Vice-
President of the said College, and also that Henry Fairfax, Doctor of
Divinity, one of the Fellows of the said College, shall for the said con-
tempt be suspended from his Fellowship ; and accordingly we do hereby
suspend the said Dr. Charles Aldworth from being Vice-President of
the said College, and the said D r . Henry Fairfax from his Fellowship in
the said College. Given under our Seal the 22 d day of June, 1687.
(Johnston.)
F 2
68 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
78.
1687, June 22. The Commissioners also issued the following
Order for the publication of their former decrees.
Whereas we have thought fit to declare, pronounce, and decree, that
the Election made by you of M r . John Hough, Bachelor of Divinity, to
be President of S fc . Mary Magdalen College in the University of Oxford
is void, and to amove the said M r . John Hough from the place of
President of the said College : and whereas we have thought fit to
suspend D r . Charles Aldworth from being Vice-President of the same,
and D r . Henry Fairfax from his Fellowship in the said College, we do
hereby enjoin and require you to cause our Orders, vacating the said
Election, and suspending the said D r . Aldworth and D r . Fairfax, copies
of which Orders under our Seal are hereunto annexed, to be affixed on
the gates of the said College, to the end that due notice may be taken of
the same. And you are to certify us under your hands and seals of the
due execution of what is hereby required.
Given under our Seal the 22 d day of June, 1687.
Superscribed ' To the Fellows of S*. Mary Magdalen College in the
University of Oxford.'
(Johnston.}
79.
Orders of the Commissioners.
These decrees for uacating M r . J. Hough's election, & for suspending
d r . Ch Aldrd from being Vicepr, & d r . Hen Fairfax from his fellow 8 ?
were brought to y e Coll by Atterbury on y e 24^ of June, with an In-
strum* under y e Comiss rs Seal directing to y e fellows in general, &
requiring ym to execute y e s d decrees, & to signifie their execution under
their Comon Seal, which y e fellows refuseing, M r . Atterbury himselfe by
order of y e Comiss rs fixd em on y e Coll Gate on y e 2 d of August
following.
(Endorsed: )The decrees for Vacating Mr. Hough's election, & sus-
pending, the Vicepr. & D r . Fairfax.
80.
1687, June 23. Proceedings of the Commissioners.
(See NO. 58).
Ab* 2 a Clock Mr. Bridgman acquainted me & D r . Smith, yt their
had allowed time to Mr. F till fryday sennight to clear himselfe if he
thought fit, & had orderd some of us to attend y e same day with the
original Certificates.
The same day 5 afternoon, M r . Bridgman deliverd into my hands y e
Statute booke, & shewd me y e decrees for vacating y e election, & sus-
pending me & D r . Fairfax, they were directed to y e fellows of y e College,
& sent away y* evning by M r . Atterbury.
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 69
(Endorsed: ) Breuiat of proceedings before y e Comiss rs at London
see my ace* 1 to y e Bp of Winton.
81.
1687, June 24. M r . Thomas Atterbury, the King's Messenger, had
been sent with these Orders to the College. He states in a Letter, dated
June 24*^, that he came thither on that day, and enquired for D r .
Pudsey, who, as he understood, was Senior Fellow in residence, and
finding him he told him that he was directed by the Lords Com-
missioners to apply to him as Senior Fellow ; and desired him to call a
meeting of the rest of the Fellows that he might deliver to them the
orders from the said Lords. D r . Pudsey replied, that he did not act as
Senior Fellow, having been elected a Bursar of the College, but that he
would endeavour to get an answer at five oclock, as soon as Prayers
were over. But at that time he told him that he had no power to call a
Meeting of the Fellows, nor could he do it in any way, for so long as
there was a President in the College, the Fellows had no power to act.
As there were two or three Fellows with the Doctor, one of them asked
M r . Atterbury if he might see the Orders, to which M r . Atterbury
answered, that if he and D r . Pudsey and the rest of the Fellows would
receive them, he would deliver the Orders to them, but he would not
read them. Then he showed them the Indorsement, that the Orders
were directed to them, and offered to deliver them up to them. But
they refused to receive them saying that they had no authority to call a
College Meeting, nor had any power to do so, and therefore it was not
proper for them to receive the said Orders and then when he desired
them to tell him if that was their final answer, they said ' Yes.' So he
told D r . Pudsey that he must give a speedy answer to the Register, M r .
Bridgman ; and accordingly sends him this account, adding moreover
that the Doctor treated him very civily, and invited him to dine with
them while he stayed in Oxford.
(Johnston.)
82.
1687, June 27. Copies of Letters and Certificates delivered to
the Lords Commissioners for Ecclesiastical affairs.
I. I, Anthony Farmer, Bachelor of Arts, and Scholar of this College, do
confess that I have behaved myself very unlike a Member of this College,
and even as a Christian, at the Dancing School : For which I humbly
ask pardon, and do acknowledge before the Seniority that I have de-
servedly received of the Master my first admonition in order to expulsion.
Trinity College, Cambridge, June u, 1678. Anthony Farmer.
This is a true copy of Anthony Farmer's Admonition, attested by
us, whose names are here underwritten.
Humphrey Babbington,
John Hawkins, I vice . M ist- t .
Benjamin Pulleyn,
John Laughton,
70 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
II. These are to certify that M r . Anthony Farmer was Usher to
M r . Benjamin Flower, a Non-conformist Preacher in the Town of
Chippenham in the County of Wilts, for the space of half a year or
upwards, the said M r . Flower keeping School withont licence from the
Bishop, and the said MX Farmer continuing his Usher for the time
mentioned without any licence also.
William Lake, Vicar.
William Loude.
William Gale.
III. M r . Anthony Farmer was entred of S*. Mary Magdalen Hall in
Oxford, Sept. i, 1683 ; where after he had been some time, frequent
complaints were brought to me by some of the Masters, that he raised
quarrels and differences amongst them : that he often occasioned dis-
turbances, and was of a troublesome and unpeaceable humour. Where-
upon, that love and friendship might be preserved and continued in the
Society, as it used to be, I advised the said M r . Farmer to make trial if
he could live more easily and quietly in some other House. Accordingly
he did voluntarily leave the Hall, July 13*^, 1685, and got himself ad-
mitted into Magdalen College.
W T illiam Levet, Principal.
IV. I do certify that M r . William Bambrigg, Gentleman Commoner
of Magdalen Hall, Oxford, did say, that M r . Anthony Farmer, Master of
Arts, did entice him from his studies in the University to go to London,
where he, the said M r . Farmer, did attempt to draw the said M r . Bam-
brigg into several debaucheries both at Taverns and Bawdy houses.
Witness my hand.
John Ryland, Master of Arts of Magdalen Hall.
V. I do certifie that Mr. Bambrigg, Gentleman Commoner of Mag-
dalen Hall did say, that Mr. Anthony Farmer, Master of Arts of the
said Hall, did receive money of him and other gentlemen publickly to
expose unto them a naked woman ; which he did accordingly. Witness
my hand.
June 15, 1687. Richard Clerk, Master of Arts of Magdalen Hall.
VI. I am very willing to justify any thing I have formerly said,
relating to so serious a matter as this is you enquire after. Mr. Farmer
one night in the cloister asked me why I did not get a Commission.
I told him truly I had not friends to do it for me. He then asked me
what I would do for one. I told him I would fight for my King, and
whatsoever he should command me. He then asked me if I would fight
for the King's religion. I told him there would be no occasion for that,
nor would it ever be required of me. He asked me of -what religion I
was. I told him a Protestant, and then he said, there was no Protestant
but would cut the King's throat, and that he should lose three thousand
pounds for being of that religion he intended to be off which he said
was a Papist's. This to the best of my remembrance is the full (account)
of what he said. If I have omitted any thing it is (from) my care not
to write more than I would honestly and justly swear to.
I am, Sir, your most obliged and humble Servant, John Brabourne,
June 9, 1687.
1887. AND KING JAMES II. 71
VII. In or about January last, 1687, MX Anthony Farmer declared
before us that the report of his being a Papist was false ; but that he was
willing to be thought so, because it might do him a kindness. That the
reason of his acquaintance with M r . Brent * and M r . Walker 2 was to get
preferment by their interest. That he had not forsaken the Protestant
Religion, adding that we should call him rogue if ever he did. That he
would not make any public declaration of this, but would declare it
amongst friends, when and where he pleased.
Henry Dobson.
James Fayrer.
Thomas Goodwyn.
VIII. I do hereby certifie that Robert Gardner, Porter of S*. Mary
Magdalen College, did tell me that M r . Farmer did very often come into
the College late at night so much in drink, that he could scarce go or
speak.
Witness my hand this 17*^ of June, 1687. George Fulham.
IX. Upon Monday, April the third, M r . Farmer came to ' the Lobster '
in Abingdon with M r . Clerk, M r . Gravener, and M r . Tennyfar 3 , about
eight in the morning, and stayed some time in the house, and went from
thence to ' the Tavern ; ' returned again about eleven at night, and sat
up till one in the morning. The next day they went to ' the Bush-
Tavern/ and sent for a quarter of Lamb for their supper, and there
M r . Farmer, M r . Clerk, M r . Gravener, and two troopers, and others,
continued till past eleven at night, and so returned to the foresaid place,
and sat up till past three in the morning. This I do assert was the.
company that the said M r . Anthony Farmer kept, and these were the un-
seasonable hours. In witness whereof I am ready to swear whenever a
subpoena shall be sent to me. George Mortimer.
X. Mistress Mortimer is ready to assert that when M r . Anthony Farmer
came to ' the Lobster ' about eleven at night he came much concerned in
drink, and was for Kissing the said M rs . Mortimer, which he being a
stranger she permitted him to do ; but in doing so the said M r . Anthony
Farmer put his tongue in her mouth, which was such a rudeness, that
she immediately went out of his company and would not come nigh
him anymore.
Martha Mortimer.
XI. Being in company with William Hopkins of Abingdon the
of June last, 1687, I heard him declare that himself, with one M r . Farmer
of the University of Oxford, and some others, did in a frolic at an un-
seasonable time of night, take away the Town- Stocks from the place
where they constantly stood, and carried them in a cart a considerable
way, and threw them into a Pool, commonly called Mad Hall's Pool.
Witness my hand the day and year above written.
Charles Peacock.
1 Humphrey Brent of St. John's, M.A. 1674.
2 Obadiah Walker of University College, Master.
3 Moses Gravener of Magdalen Hall, M.A. 1676. Abel Clerke of Magdalen Col-
lege, M.A. 1686. Samuel Tenefar of Magdalen College, M.A. 1683.
72 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
These Papers being delivered into Court, the College was ordered to
prove them, which they did sufficiently, for they proved as much more
against him, even such things as are not fit to be heard or spoken.
83.
1687, July 1. M r . Farmer's Answers to the allegations
against him.
M r . Anthony Farmer gave in his answers to the complaints exhibited
against him by the Fellows of Magdalen College, which were read, and
the Court made an order to hear the matter at their next Meeting,
when all parties concerned were required to attend, and that com-
pulsories should be granted to both sides for witnesses.
(Johnston, p. 38.)
In answer to and confutation of all the Allegations made against him,
M r . Farmer offered to the Honourable Court the following Defence.
I. That the said Vice-President and the Fellows of the said College,
finding all shifts and allegations too weak to justify their disobedience to
his Majesty's Royal Mandate for electing and admitting the said M r .
Farmer to be their President, have falsely and maliciously contrived
these several allegations against his good life and conversation, on pur-
pose, not only to defame the said M r . Farmer, but consequently all others
who have appeared on his behalf, and who have recommended him as
a person fitly qualified for his Majesty's favour. To every of which
defamations, and false and malicious allegations, the said M>. Farmer
thus answereth.
As to the first Article, the Respondent answers, and is ready to prove,
that the Vice-President and Fellows being publickly demanded at the
time of the Election, whether they had anything to object against his
good life and manners, or could assign any misdemeanour against him,
the said Vice-President answered that there was nothing of that nature
assigned, or insisted on, which is a clear proof that the pretended allega-
tions were contrived after the Election of M r . Hough.
To the second Article the Respondent answers, that about nine years
since he crowded into a Dancing Room at Cambridge against the
Dancing- Master's consent, on whose complaint the said M r . Farmer
received Admonition, and was enjoined to make such an acknowledge-
ment as hath been produced against him : and such admonitions and
acknowledgements are frequent in that College, and that was the first
and only one that ever he received or made, and was then not esteemed
a fault of so high a nature as to bar him the Testimonial of the College,
which he received several years afterwards, under the College-Seal,
subscribed by George Chamberlain, Vice-President, M r . Clement Nevil,
and divers others, who recommended him to be ordained Deacon : and
the said Testimonial the Respondent doth exhibit with the Registry of
this Honourable Court, which he hopes their Lordships will be pleased to
take as a satisfactory answer.
To the third Article M r . Farmer saith that he did not teach School as
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 73
an Usher to MX Flower, but he being then with his Father at Chippenham,
where M r . Flower taught School, the said M r . Flower being his Kinsman,
and then sick, he was prevailed upon at his Father's request to teach the
said School, during the said M r . Flower's sickness, which he did gratis
for the space of four or five months, not knowing that the said M r . Flower
was a non-licenced School-master.
To the fourth Article he saith that he very well remembers that there
were many differences and contests between him and several Masters of
Magdalen Hall, which was occasioned, as he conceives, by the envy and
apprehension the Masters had lest he should gain the tuition and care
of many pupils, being solicited thereunto by the Principal. So that for
his own sake and quiet he was as desirous to quit the Hall, as they were
to have him quit : which clearly demonstrates that these contests were
not occasioned by any uneasy or disorderly humour of the said M r .
Farmer, the Principal, D r . Levet, giving him a Berie Decessti, at his
parting thence ; and even in the Certificate exhibited into the Court, under
the hand of the said D r . Levet, it doth not appear that he did accuse him of
any misdemeanour, nor did he advise him, as is herein pretended, to
leave the said Hall. That M r . Farmer being with several of the Fellows
of Magdalen College, who were sensible of the abuses he suffered at the
said Hall, they were very importunate in their invitations to have him
enter himself at that College, which he accordingly did ; and hopes this
Honourable Court will esteem this as a full answer, and confutation of
these calumnious accusations.
To the fifth Article he saith, that he doth utterly deny the same to be
true, in any part thereof, save that there was a discourse that some
officers in my Lord Peterborough's Regiment were displaced for drinking
a disloyal health at my Lord Lovelace's house, which the Certifier, M r .
Brabourne and M r . Farmer discoursing of, M r . Farmer said, if ever there
was occasion such discarded officers he believed would sooner fight
against the King than for him ; and what is certified by M r . Dobson,
M r . Fayrer, and M r . Goodwin, as to his pretending to be a Roman
Catholic, in hopes of preferment : this seems very inconsistent with the
former Certificate ; and that he never did pretend any such thing will
appear by Mr. Brent's and M r . Walker's certificate, unto which the
Respondent refers himself, nor did he ever make application to either of
them under such pretences, which being considered with the character of
M r . Brabourne, the other Certifier, he hopes this Honourable Court will
discharge him from the ignominy of this Article.
To the sixth Article, the Respondent doth deny the same to be true in
any part thereof, for that he was not at Abingdon at the time the Kings
Mandate was exhibited to the Vice-President, nor for several days before
or since, nor when the Stocks were thrown into the pool, all which he
doubts not of disproving by certificates and witnesses now in Court.
To the seventh Article, the Respondent refers himself to the Censure
of all sober and unprejudiced persons, and what his character was with
these accusers before their disobedience he refers to their own testimonials,
from whence it may be inferred that whatever other person had been
recommended to them by his Majesty he would have found the same
measure as the Respondent hath, viz. to be certified out of his reputation
74 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
and his life too, if these false certificates might prevail, which he hopes
this Honourable Court will take into consideration.
What remains is to show that the Vice-President and Fellows by
gathering together these false certificates endeavour to possess this
Honourable Court with an ill opinion of him the said Respondent,
thereby utterly to incapacitate him of his Majesty's favour, without
any regard to common honesty or Christian charity, there appearing
no dates to the said certificates.
In answer to the rest of the Certificates viz. M r . Ryland, M r . Clarke,
George and Martha Mortimer, and M r . Fulham, which may be reduced
to three heads :
First, that the said M r . Farmer did invite one Bambridge to London,
to spend his money in Taverns and Bawdy-houses.
Secondly, that being at Abingdon he kept unseasonable hours, and
behaved himself immodestly.
Thirdly, that he often came home to his College late at night, and
much in drink.
In answer to which the Respondent humbly answereth,
First. As to the first. It is an hearsay only certified by M r . Ryland,
and M r . Clark, two of his professed enemies, and is absolutely false, he
never being but once at London with M r . Bambridge, and how often
he was then in his company he refers to the Certificate of M r . Heath
and Mr. Buckwill.
Secondly. As to the second Article grounded on Mortimer's and his
wife's certificates it is strongly to be presumed that Mortimer and his
wife were by flattery, promises, and indirect means, prevailed upon to
sign such certificates : the most reflecting contents of which they disown.
Thirdly. As to the third Article, grounded on Mr. Fulham's certificate,
it is an hearsay, and may be presumed to be malitious, by what the
Porter hath declared since.
All which forementioned Articles, as M r . Farmer hath disproved them
by authentic certificates and witnesses, he is moreover ready to confirm
the whole contents of the answer, by his own oath, and the oaths of
several credible persons, upon doing whereof he humbly prays this
Honourable Court will forbid any further libels against his good name
and reputation, and declares his innocency as to the Allegations already"
exhibited.
Anthony Farmer.
(Impartial Relation?)
84.
1687, July 1. Letter to the President from Thomas Ludford,
Fellow'. Pall Mall.
Sir, I believe you are as impatient to hear of the success of this day,
as we were to see it over. Their Lordships put on a calmness above our
expectation, and though we could not depend on their favour, yet they
1 Thomas Ludford, Demy 1678-1682. Fellow 1682-1687. In Anstey Church, co.
Warwick, is a flat stone with the following inscription : Thomas Ludford, Fellow of
Magdalen College, Oxford, departed this life the ist of September, anno 1687.
1687. AND KING JAMES IL 75
gave us no great assurances of their future displeasure. M r< Farmer was
first called in to give his answer, which was drawn up in tacked
schedules like his last Will and Testament. Afterwards it was enquired
whether there were any to appear on behalf of the College, upon which
D r . Smith and myself in decent formality came in, and the Chancellor
began to this effect, ' that it had been already made manifest that we had
disobeyed the King in refusing his Letters in behalf of M r . Anthony
Farmer, and to make good the Plea we had urged several certificates
against the behaviour of M r . Farmer, but Reputation was a very tender
Plea, and ought to be touched with caution, and it was expected that as
M r . Farmer was to give his answer to his character, so we must give a
very good confirmation of what was already alledged, and to satisfy all
people Kis answer should be made as public as his Impeachment.'
Upon which M r . Bridgeman was ordered to read his Reply, in which he
first in general told their Lordships ' that the character was false, scan-
dalous, and malicious, and designed not only to deprive him of his
Majesty's present favour, but eternally to exclude him from his future :
that first, it was true he made some acknowledgement at Cambridge for a
small crime, which was only violently crowding into a Dancing-School, an
ordinary thing there ; and upon complaint he made a submission for
quietness-sake, but they gave him their Bern Decessit (I think their Tes-
timonials for Deacon's Orders), that he was no Usher to an unlicenced
fanatic Schoolmaster, but upon the sickness of the Master, who I think
he said was a kinsman, he did officiate for him for a small time : that
at Magdalen Hall M r . Ryland and Mr. Randolph envied and maligned
him, fearing he should get the Pupils of the Hall from them, and that
M r . Fayrer, being sensible of their scurvy behaviour to him, invited him
into the College : that he was as willing to go as they desired, and yet
M r . Principal gave him likewise his Eerie Decessit', that the story of M r .
Bainbridge was only hear-say, and consequently no proof, and besides, a
vile scandal ; that when his Mandate came, he was not at Abingdon,
nor after ; that M r . Vicep. said he knew nothing of him at the Election,
and that all these Libels were amassed together after the Election.' In
short it was as bold a Denial as ever was heard of the whole matter.
I cannot recount the particulars : every one was so peremptory a denial
that I almost lost one, while I admired the impudence of the former.
My Lord, as well as a Barrister, talked upon the whole, and said that
his Reply was full ; and therefore, because their Lordships would have a
fair hearing and righteous decrees, we must make what we had alleged
good. It was all we could wish, and D r . Smith told his Lordship that
we were there to attend, and desired, if his Lordship would put it upon
that issue, that we might have time allowed, and the authority, and we
would subpoena the evidences. His Lordship said that all proofs were
secundum allegata et probata, and that the fairest way would be face to
face on both sides, for M r . Farmer had certificates and witnesses ready;
but my Lord said that was no proof. D r . Brice desired, because of the
distance and expence of bringing up witnesses, that they might be
examined upon Commission; but their Lordships will have all before
them, and ordered this day (i.e. Friday) month for their appearance. It
is hoped that care will be taken to maintain the witnesses, and secure
76 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
them from subornation. There was nothing said in relation to Atter-
bury. I could wish I had begun on larger paper, for I must here break
off, having no more room left than to assure you of the services of all,
and of your most dutiful.
T. Ludford.
(Wtlmofs Life of Hough, p. 344.)
85-
1687, July 1. The Commissioners send out citations to various
witnesses to give testimony in the case of M r . Anthony
Farmer in the following form.
You and either of you are hereby required to cite and summon James
Fayrer, Master of Arts of Magdalen College etc, to appear personally
before us in the Council Chamber on Friday, the 29* day of July
instant, at four of the clock in the afternoon, then and there by virtue of
this Citation, as witnesses, to give their testimonies in the matter depend-
ing before us, betwixt the Fellows of S*. Mary Magdelen College in
Oxford and one M r . Anthony Farmer, under pain of the law and con-
tempt thereof. And of the due executions hereof you are to certify us
the day and year aforesaid, together with these presents. Given under
our Seal the First day of July, 1687.
On the same day, July 1 st , their Lordships, having been in-
formed that their foresaid Order of June 22 d had not been
obeyed, ordered the following Citation.
Whereas we thought fit by our Order of the 22 d of June last to enjoin
and require the Fellows of S*. Mary Magdalen College in the University
of Oxford to cause our Orders for the vacating the Election made by
them of M r . John Hough to be President of the said College, and for
suspending D r . Charles Aldworth from being Vice-President, and D r .
Henry Fairfax from his Fellowship in the same, to be affixed on the
gates of the said College ; and whereas we are given to understand that
our said Order hath not been obeyed by the said Fellows, you and either
of you are hereby required to cite and summon the said Fellows of S*.
Mary Magdalen College, requiring them to appear before us in the
Council Chamber at Whitehall, upon Friday the 2 9th instant, at Four in
the afternoon, to answer the said contempt ; and of the due execution
hereof, you are to certify us then and there. Given under our Seal the
first day of July, 1687.
(Both these documents are superscribed to Thomas Atterbury and
Robert Eddows or either of them.)
(Johnston)
86.
1687, July 13. Letter from John Smith to D r . Aldworth.
July 13, 87.
D. Mr. Vice P.
I heartily thanke you for your kind leter. Tom L. went out of town
presently upon his return otherwise, doubtlesse he had not failed you.
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 77
Upon my coming home I found Atterbury here, his businesse was to Cite
every Fellow particularly to giue an account on y e 2 9 th why they did not
execute y e decrees. Some noise & little disputes were raised about this
before we could come to a settled resolution, and this hindred our re-
turning y e names of y e persons to be subpoena' d so soon as it ought to
be done, but now I thinke we are pretty well agreed on both particulars.
Y e persons Cited with 2 w cl1 1 sent in a second leter to D r . Newton are
29 in number, Mich. Rawlins of Abington & W. Viner of Foxcomb Hill
& Ch : Tea are newly added to confirm Abington businesse, M r . Pullen
to confirm y e Principles evidence & one Harwood to back Bambrigges,
Farmer has been tampering with him & tis feared we shall hardly find
him out to get him up, M r . Latimer Crosse of Wadham & MX Will.
Hall of Lincoln Colt are added to confirm y e businesse of his being usher
to a Nonconformist. If you see D r . Newton I pray confer notes with him :
I think I have not forgot any but one Ely an under Officer to Captain
Peacocke. In y e other particular we are come to this resolution to draw
up a reply to Farmers Answer, & to have it confirmed by our evidence
Article by Article 2. to give a short Answer why they did not execute y e
decrees, & to draw up a fuller one out of ye Finis et Conclusio Statuto-
rum, why they can not. I have got H. H. to transcribe all y* concerns
this mater out of Statute & to send it up to D r . Brice & D r . Newton,
whom we must intreat to draw up something to y e same purpose, & desire
you likewise to spend your thoughts upon this Subject, for this is y e last
push I belieue yt we can giue. After this we design a petition to his
Majesty contriuing a Summary of our proceedings. I wish we had a
good Actuary to draw this respectiuely & home. Our next care is for
money and in case other ways faile we thinke of pawning some plate. I
pray let us keep our design to ourselues as much as possibly we can
without being Shy of one another. This is all but humble Service & hearty
wishes to y e common cause from
S r . Obliged humble Servant,
John Smith.
My hearty Service and thanks to Mr Auditor for his noble and
frequent entertainments : to morrow I go to Wood eaton to see my IA
F. and some other strangers there, & intend to be backe sometime next
week. I pray hasten to town to mind this businesse. I belieue Dr. Bailey
will be our Leading Delegate next time, I will do my endeavour to get
two of them up y e next weeke.
(Braybrooke MS.)
87.
1687, July 18. During the interval before the Fellows could
appear again before the Lords Commissioners, the King
being probably made aware that the customary Election-
time for Fellows and Demies would fall soon after the 22 d
of July issued the following inhibitory Mandate to the
FeUows of Saint Mary Magdalen CoUege.
James R. Trusty and Well-beloved, we greet you well. Whereas
we are informed that a Sentence or Decree lately made by our Com-
78 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
missioners for Ecclesiastical affairs, touching an Election in that College
hath not been obeyed, our will and pleasure is that no Election or
Admission be made of any person, or persons whatsoever, to any
Fellowship, Demyship, or other place or office in our said College, until
we shall signify our further pleasure, any Statute, Custom, or Constitution
to the contrary nothwithstanding ; and so expecting your ready obe-
dience herein we bid your farewell.
Given at our Court at Windsor the 18 th day of July, 1687. In the
third year of our Reign. By his Majesty's Command. Sunderland P.
(Superscribed : ) To our trusty and well beloved the Fellows of S*.
Mary Magdalen College in our University of Oxford.
(Johnston?)
(Notwithstanding this Mandate Henry Holden, who had been elected
Probationer in the former year, 1686, was admitted actual Fellow at the
usual time on or soon after the 22 * of July.)
D r . Bouchiers opinion on the King's Inhibition.
I am of opinion that his Majesty's commands ought to be obeyed, and
that they do not come within the word Dispensation in the Fellows
Oaths, and that this forbearance ought to be no prejudice to the Pro-
bationers otherwise now to be admitted. Thomas Bouchier.
(Impartial Relation.)
88.
1687, July 29. Proceedings of the Commissioners.
The next Court was held the 29^ day of July, at which time I do not
find that the Fellows of S*. Mary Magdalen College did exhibit their
answer why they obeyed not the Order of the Lords Commissioners on
the 22 d of June, nor that their Lordships required it, but I find in the
Register an order to affix the Sentence on the College Gates by the
King's Messengers. (Johnston.)
Hunt however states that the College did appear by its Delegates, but
they were dismissed by the Court without any thing being said to them.
(Hunt's MS. p. 33.)
89.
1687, July 29. Order by his Majesty's Commissioners.
Whereas we have thought fit to declare, pronounce, and decree, that
the Election made of M r . John Hough, Bachelor in Divinity, to be
President of S*. Mary Magdalen College in the University of Oxford is
void, and to amove the said M r . John Hough from the Place of Pre-
sident of the said College : and whereas we have also thought fit to
suspend D r . Charles Aldworth from being Vice-President of the same,
and D r . Henry Fairfax from his Fellowship in the said College, you and
either of you are hereby required to cause our orders, vacating the said
Election, and suspending the said D r . Aldworth and Dr. Fairfax (copies
of which under our Seal are hereunto annexed) to be affixed on the
gates of the said College, to the end that due notice may be taken of the
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 79
same ; and of the due execution hereof you are to certify unto us at the
next Court. Given under our Seal this 29^ day of July, 1687.
To Thomas Atterbury and Robert Eddows, or either of them.
(Johnston.)
90.
The same day.
On the same day, July 29. MX Anthony Farmer was heard upon the
complaint exhibited against him by Magdalen College. I find nothing
more relating to him entered in the Register, therefore since the inform-
ation against him and his defence are to be reckoned among the
Attentata, as the Civilians stile them, and are noways material to the
discussing or clearing the authority of his Majesty or the Lords Com-
missioners I shall wholly omit any account of them, and proceed to
what was done in the Court. (Johnston?)
91.
1687, July 31. Letter from W. Sherwin to T. Turner.
(This is the i st of a number of News-Letters, which appear to have
been written to D r . Thomas Turner (Brother of Francis, Bishop of Ely,
and President of Corpus Christi College Oxford) in the following year
1688, and most of them indited by William Sherwin 1 , Father of William
Sherwin, one of the Demies of this time. The originals are in the
archives of Corpus Christi College, and have been printed in the Aecount
of the Proceedings &c. in Vol. XII. of Cobbett's State Trials. No. 355,
col. 92.)
1687, July 31. Sir, though it is very likely that you will have a
better account from London of the Magdalen College Proceedings before
the Commissioners on Friday last than what I shall give you, yet I
would not omit letting you know what came to the College by a Person
they employed on purpose. My Lord Chancellor heard all their
evidence against Farmer very calmly, and when some of the managers
of his side would have produced something by way of criminating, he
told them that he would hear nothing, unless they could by any sub-
stantial proof invalidate any thing that had been said : upon which one
Brockwell 2 , formerly of Magdalen Hall, and as very a rascal as any in
the Bunch, swore directly against what a gentleman had before sworn ;
but my Lord Chancellor gave him a sharp reproof, and it is thought
that he will have something more to say to him. What was made out
against Farmer was so scandalous that Obadiah (Walker) and his other
friends being in the Court could not say one word, the evidence of the
College being most of them people of good report. The conclusion was
that my Lord Chancellor told Farmer that that Court looked on him as
a very bad man, and the College do believe that they are fully discharged
1 William Sherwin was one of the University Bedells. On the south wall of the
church of S*. Peter's in the East is, or was, a monument to Mr, W. Sherwyn, a Beedel
of this University. Dyed April 12, 1718, aged 83. He was a Barber and Yeoman
Bedell.
2 Charles Brockwell, Magdalen Ha 1 !, B.A. 1684.
80 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
of him. On Friday next they are to answer why they did not all appear
according to the Citation. D r . Bernard has brought another letter to
the College, and they have admitted him. Our Bishop lives at Cud-
desdon, but the Clergy do not very much resort to his house. M r . Davies
gives you his service. All your friends in the College are well. D r .
Fairfax continues still at London. Sir, I am your obedient Servant
William Sherwin.
To the Rev. D r . Thomas Turner at Ely House in Holborn.
92.
1687, Aug. 5. The Deputies of the Fellows attend the Court,
and give in the following Answer in writing why they did
not obey the Order of the 22 d of June.
The Fellows of S*. Mary Magdalen College in Oxford, whose names
are hereunto subscribed, deputed by the rest of the Fellows of the said
College, make answer to the Citation of the Right Honourable the Lords
Commissioners of Ecclesiastical affairs &c, that they, on behalf of them-
selves and the rest by whom they are deputed, do humbly conceive that
the Order mentioned in the said Citation was not legally served upon
them, for that D r . Alexander Pudsey only was desired by the Messenger
to call a Meeting of the Fellows to publish the said Order } which he
declared he could not do, for that he was Bursar of the said College, and
had no authority to do the same, nor was the said Order particularly
directed to him but to the Fellows in general, as the Messenger there
declared ; and when one of the Fellows desired of the Messenger to have
it read, the said Messenger refused it, saying, that his directions were to
communicate it to the Fellows at a Meeting, whereas the said Fellows
cannot meet together till they are statutably called. Saving which
declaration of the said Messenger the Respondents were wholly ignorant
of the Contents of the said Order until the forementioned Citation of the
first of July was served upon them. And that in the ordinary course of
Law all decrees and orders of Court are served and executed by the
Ministers and Officers of the said Courts, but not by any person or
persons upon or against themselves, as they conceive the present case is.
Alexander Pudsey,
Thomas Bayley,
Thomas Ludford.
Aug. 5. The Deputies of the Fellows having given in the above-
mentioned answer, after it had been read, were dismissed.
(Johnston.)
93.
1687, Aug. 5. At a Court in the Council Chamber, Whitehall.
Present :
The Lord Chancellor. The Bishop of Rochester.
The Lord President. Lord Chief Justice Herbert.
The Lord Chamberlain.
The Syndickes of the Fellows of S*. Mary Magdalen College, attend
and give in their answer, which was read. They are dismissed.
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 8 1
94.
1687, August 8. Letter sent to D r . Fairfax.
Sir, the first news I heard of the fixing the Decrees of the Com-
missioners on the Gates of the College was very surprising, for consider-
ing that on Friday before they had been convinced of the infamous life
of M r . Farmer, it was admired that on Tuesday after a Sentence of sus-
pension should be published against the Vice-President, and you, for a
contempt in not complying with the Kings Letter in his Election, when
those, that are not partial in it, acknowledge that the King was deceived
and abused in the grant of it. The vacating the President's Place
without hearing is of the like nature. I hear he is advised to stay in
the College, and exercise the Functions of his Place without taking
notice of the Sentence : and that all the Fellows are resolved to adhere
to what they have done, and if a Mandamus comes for the Election of a
new President to make a humble Representation to the King that the choice
of President upon the death of D r . Clerke was a trust incumbent upon
them by the Statutes, which upon the pain of Perjury they were obliged
to perform, and that they have executed that trust with the greatest
solemnity that can be required for the perfection of any human action ;
and the President is thereby invested with a Freehold under the Pro-
tection of his Majesty's Laws, which they cannot impeach, and which in
duty to God and their consciences, and the Rights of the College, they
are obliged so far as in them lies to maintain : and I believe this to be
true, for since all their sufferings have been derived to them for a con-
scientious observation of their Statutes, the same obligation is still
cogent to oblige their perseverance therein. D r . Bayley and his Col-
leagiates behaved themselves with great prudence in their conduct here.
The Commissioners were gladder than they to come off fairly with them.
They are men of spirit and consciences. It is said that the President
is so just to himself and the Fellows as to do nothing without their
advice, and I suppose you will follow that method, for if you continue in
unity, nothing can hurt you. Your adversaries may think a light thing
to suppress one or two single men, but to evacuate a whole College will
be too scandalous to be attempted. It seems that the Commissioners
have adjourned their Court to the 6^ of October next, which will give
you a good breathing time whatever happens. And the approach of
the Term, which will be within a fortnight after the meeting, may make
them cautious of what they act. Excommunication is a long Process,
more terrible in name than in power. It seems that on friday Dr. Price
was going from the Council-Chamber when M r . Charnock challenged
him, and he complained of it to the Commissioners, but they had
adjourned before he came. Yet my Lord Chamberlain was so incensed
at it, because it was in the King's House, that he commanded him to be
apprehended, but he got away ; and a Warrant is made to apprehend
him if he can be found, so that for a time you are rid of him. Farewell.
(Impartial Relation?)
82 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
95.
1687, August 14. The King's Mandate for a new President.
Anthony Farmer has disappeared from the scene, and is heard of no
more ; but ' the King/ states Johnston, ' being willing to place such a
President over the College, as by the character he bore in the Church,
being Bishop of the Diocess, might be an honour to the Society, was
graciously pleased to grant the following Mandate :
James R. Trusty and well beloved, we greet you well. Whereas the
place of President of that our College of S*. Mary Magdalen is 'now void,
our will and pleasure is, and we do hereby authorize and require you
forthwith, upon receipt hereof, to admit the Right Reverend Father in
God, Samuel 1 , Lord Bishop of Oxford, in the said place as President, to
hold and enjoy the same, with the rights, privileges, profits, emoluments,
and advantages thereunto belonging, any Statute or Statutes, Custom or
Constitution to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding, wherewith we
are graciously pleased to, and do accordingly hereby dispense herein.
We bid you farewell. Given at our Court at Windsor the 14 th day of
August, 1687. In the third year of our reign. By his Majesty's Com-
mand. Sunderland P.
Superscribed: To our trusty and well beloved the Senior Fellow of S*.
Mary Magdalen College in our University of Oxford, or in his absence
to the Senior Fellow residing there, and to the rest of the Fellows of the
said College.
Note. ' That this Mandate was sent after the hearing of Mr. Farmer's
Cause before the Lord's Commissioners, whose accusation is printed in a
late Book 2 without his reply, on purpose to vindicate the proceedings of
the Electors of D r . Hough, but since there was no juridical Sentence
upon it, and the stress of the case lies not upon his qualifications I shall
pass it by/
(Johnston.)
96.
1687, August 21. Lord Sunderland sends the following Letter
from Bath to the Senior Fellow of Magdalen College.
Sir, the King having been pleased by his Letter Mandatory to require
the Fellows of S*. Mary Magdalen College to admit my Lord Bishop of
Oxford President of that College, his Majesty commands me to let you
know, that immediately upon receipt hereof he would have you assemble
the Fellows, and communicate to them his Majesty's said Letters, and I
am further commanded to tell you that his Majesty expects ready
obedience to be paid to his pleasure herein, and I desire you will send
me an account of your proceedings as soon as you can, that I may
acquaint his Majesty with it. I am, Sir, your affectionate friend and
servant. Sunderland P.
To the Senior Fellow of St. Mary Magdalen College.
(Johnston.)
(This did not reach the College till the 27^ of August.)
1 Samuel Parker. 2 Second edition of the Impartial Relation.
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 83
97.
About the same time the Bishop of Oxford wrote to the Senior
Fellow the following:
Sir, You will receive herewith his Majesty's Mandate to admit me
President of the College of S*. Mary Magdalen in Oxford, together with
a Letter of my Lord Sunderland, pursuant to his Majesty's Command.
I am indisposed, as I have been for some time, and not in a condition as
yet to travel, and therefore my request to you is, that, upon receipt of the
King's pleasure, you would do me the favour to admit me by proxy, that
is, either the next Senior Fellow under your self, resident, or either of my
Chaplains, M r . William Wickins 1 , or M r . Thomas Collins, whom I depute
in my stead, which is as valid in law, as if I were present myself, and is
the most usual customary practice : and by so doing you will oblige, Sir,
your very loving friend and Brother, Samuel Oxon.
(Johnston.)
98.
1687, August 28. D r . Pudsey returns the following answer to
Lord Sunderland.
May it please your Lordship. Upon Saturday the 27^ of August last
at night I received his Majesty's Letter Mandatory together with your
Lordship's, in behalf of the Right Reverend Father in God, Samuel
Lord Bishop of Oxford ; which I the next morning communicated to the
Fellows, and read them in the Chapel with all deference to his Majesty
and your Lordship. The answer that was given to me was that they
humbly conceived the place of the President to be full : and because your
Lordship requires an account of the proceedings of the Society in this
matter, I send their own words unanimously agreed upon, and in com-
pliance to your Lordship with all celerity of despatch. My request is
that your Lordship would accept of this Letter with candour, and favour-
ably interpret it as to the point of Obedience, and that I may have the
honour of being accounted your Lordship's most faithful and most
humble Servant, Alexander Pudsey. Magdalen College, Oxford. Aug.
28. 1687.
Subscribed to the Right Honourable the Earl of Sunderland, Principal
Secretary of State.
(Johnston.)
99.
On the same day D r . Pudsey wrote to Bishop Parker as
follows :
My Lord, I have perused your Lordship's Letter and in obedience to
his Majesty have read his Letter Mandatory, and my Lord Sunderland's
Letter pursuant to the same business in the Chapel before the Society
this morning. I asked the Fellows how they would proceed in this
matter of concernment, and what answer I was to return to my Lord
1 Of Emanuel College, Cambridge. ' '
G 2
84 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687
Sunderland's by the Messenger. They replied unanimously that the
Place of the Presidentship was full, and that they could not admit any
other into the Place. This, my Lord, is the matter of fact, and so I
remain your Lordship's most humble Servant, Alexander Pudsey. Mag-
dalen College. August 28^ 1687.
{Johnston?)
100.
As above.
D r . Pudsey sen fellow returnd (by letter from himselfe only to my L<*.
Sund :) y e fellows Answer ; viz. that y e place of presid*. was full, etc.
(Endorsed] Lres for y e BP of Oxf.
(Braybrooke MS.)
101.
1687, Sept. 4. The King at Oxford.
Gentlemen Oxford, Sept. 4 th . 1687.
The King Cofnands me to acquaint you, that He would haue you
attend Him in ye Deans lodgings in X* Ch Colledge at three of y e Clock
this afternoon.
I am Gentlemen Y r Most Humble Seruant
Sunderland P.
To y e fellows of Magd. Colledge.
(Braybrooke MS.)
102.
The same.
On the following day, Sunday, Sept. 4, Lord Sunderland sent an Order
to the Fellows of S*. Mary Magdalen College to attend the King at Christ
Church at three o'clock in the afternoon. (Impartial Relation.)
Wood states, 'after dinner twenty one Fellows of Magdalen College
went to him according to summons about three of the clock. Dr. Pudsey
being at the head of them, and making his appearance in the Presence
Chamber, the King bid him come hither he came hither, then said he,
Are you D r . Pudsey ? Yes, if it please your Majesty. Then the King
fell foul upon them : reprimanded them very severely. D r . Pudsey
offered several times (to speak) but the King prohibited him. He bid
them go to their Chapel, and elect the Bishop of Oxford : whereupon
they did go, but could not elect him. (Wood's Diary.)
The account 1 given in the 'Impartial Relation' 2 d Ed. p. 22, is :
The King. What is your name ? Are you D r . Pudsey ?
D r . Pudsey. Yes, may it please your Majesty.
1 Amongst the MSS. of Countess Cowper at West Park, Bedfordshire, is one con-
taining an account of the Interview between King James II and the Fellows of
Magdalen College, 4 Sept. 1687. (Historical MSS. Commission. Second Report,
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 85
The King. Did you receive my Letter ?
D r . Pudsey. Yes, Sir, we did.
The King. Then you have not dealt with me like gentlemen. You
have done very uncivily and undutifully. . here they all kneeled, and
D r . Pudsey offered a Petition, which his Majesty refused to receive, and
said, ' Ye have been a stubborn, turbulent College. I have known you to
be so these six and twenty years. You have affronted me in this. Is this
your Church of England Loyalty ? One would wonder to find so many
Church of England men in such a business. Go home and show your-
selves good members of the Church of England. Get you gone, know I
am your King. I will be obeyed ; and I command you to be gone. Go
and admit the Bishop of Oxford, Head, Principal, what do you call it, of
the College? (one, who stood by, said, President) I mean President of
the College. Let them that refuse it look to it : they shall feel the weight
of their Sovereign's displeasure.
The Fellows going out of the Lodgings were called back.
The King. I hear that you have admitted a Fellow of the College,
since you received my inhibition. Is this true ? Have you not admitted
Mr. Holden Fellow?
D r . Pudsey. I think he was admitted Fellow, but we conceive
M r . Cradock. May it please your Majesty. There was no new
Election or Admission since your Majesty's Inhibition, but only the con-
summation of a former Election. (They always elect to one year's
Probation, then the Person elected is received or ejected for ever.)
The King. The Consummation of a Former Election ! It was down-
right disobedience, and it is a fresh aggravation. Get you gone home,
I say again, go, get you gone, and immediately repair to your Chapel,
and elect the Bishop of Oxford, or else you must expect to feel the
weight of my hand. (The Fellows offered again their Petition on their
knees.) Get you gone, I will receive nothing from you, till you have
obeyed me and admitted the Bishop of Oxford.
103.
The same.
(An Ace*, of w& y e K said to y e fellows of Magd Coll Oxon Sept 4 th
1687. at Chr. Church, betw 3 & 4 Afternoon.)
K. W*s y r name ? Arn't you d r Pudsey ?
D r . P. Yes, may it please y r Majty.
K. Did you receiue my Ire ?
D r . P. Yes may it please etc we did.
K. Then I must tell you & y e rest of y r fellows y* you have behaved
y r selues undutifully to me, & not like Gentlemen : you have not payd
me comon respect: you have always been a stubborn & turbulent Coll.,
I have known you to be so these six and twenty years myselfe ; you
have affronted me, know I am y r K, & I will be obeyd. Is this y r
Ch. of Engl. Loyalty ? One would wonder to see so many Ch. of Engl.
men got together in such a thing. Goe back & shew y r selues good
members of y e Ch. of England. (Here all kneeling, d r . Pudsey offerd a
86 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
petition, which ye K. refused, saying) The hearing 1 nothing from you,
get you gone, I comand you be gone, goe and admit y e BP. of O. Head,
principal, or w* doe y e call him (one y* stood by said presid*.) as presid*.
of y e Coll, let y m yt refuse it looke to it Goe & obey me or you shall
feel y e weight of y r Soveraigns displesure.
The fellows being gone out of y e deans lodgeings were recalld.
K. I hear you have admitted a fellow since my Ire, is it not soe ? have
you not admitted Mr. Holden fellow ? was it not since my Ire ?
M r . Charn. Yes & please y r Maj*y it was after y e y had receiud y e
inhibition.
D r . P. Yes I thinke it was.
M r . Crad. May it please y r Maty, it was only a Consumacon of a
former election.
K. A Consumacon, dont tell me, tis an aggrauacon. I calld you
again only to let you know, y* its a fresh instance of y r disobedience to
me. Get you gone home, He see w* Ch. of Engl. men you are. I
comand you, goe, get you gone, and imediately repair to y r chappell, &
call y r fellows together, & elect me y e BP. of O. forthwith, or else y e
shall know w*. it is to feel y e weight of a Ks hand. (Here y e fellows
offerd y r petition again on y r knees.) Rise and get you gone, He
receiue nothing from you, I wont hear a word till you have went &
obeyd me.
Then all y e fellows withdrew, And in obed. to his Ma ties Comands
imediately repair' d to y r Chap y e same day betw 4 & 5, & gave y e follow-
ing Answers, attested by a publ : notary.
D r . John Smith saith, That he is as ready to obey his Maj s . Comands
in all things y* lye in his power as any other of His Maj s . Subjects
w^soeuer ; but he apprehends it to be contr. to his Founders Statt. & y e
Oaths which he hath taken to elect y e Right Reu : father in God y e IA
BP. of Oxf presid* of Magd. Coll., and y re fore it does not lye in his power.
D r . Staff., M r . Hamond, Rogers, Strickl, Bayley, Dauis, Bagshaw,
Fayrer, Hunt, Crad, Gilman, Peningston, Hyde, Yerbury, Holt, Thornton,
Holden, Weelks, agree with d r . Smiths answer
M r . Dobsons sayes, He is ready to obey His Ma*y to y e utmost of his
power in y e election of y e BP. of Oxf. M r . Rob Charnock sayes, He is
ready to obey His Ma ties orders in electing y e BP. of Oxf. presid* of Magd
Coll. D r . Pudsey sayes, yt he does agree with y e rest of the Society.
These Answers were taken by a publ : Notary, & carried imediately to
my L d presid* by
(Braybrooke MS.)
104.
1687, Sept. 4. D r . Hough being absent at the time of the Con-
ference given in N os . 102-3, D r . John Smith sends the follow-
ing account to him.
Mr. President, at three this afternoon (Sept. 4) we appeared before the
King by virtue of a citation from my Lord Sunderland. His Majesty
1 This is unintelligible.
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 87
was very severe with us, told us angrily that we had not only been un-
dutiful, but unmannerly, with him from the beginning, and said we had
not behaved ourselves like gentlemen, or Church-of-England men ; that
he had known us for a refractory sort of people these twenty six years,
bid us go home, and forthwith choose the Bishop of Oxford. Then D r .
Pudsey offered the. Petition you saw, but he would not meddle with it.
He offered to speak but He would not hear, but bid us go and choose or
else we should find what it was to disobey our King. We were no
sooner out of the Lodgings, but we were called in again to ask us
whether we had admitted Holden, which being owned, he was more
angry. He (D r . Pudsey) offered our Petition a second time, but He
threw it off with much indignation, and bid us go into the Chapel and
elect immediately, or else we should feel the weight of His displeasure.
We returned and unanimously (all but Charnock) agreed in this, that it
did not lie in our power. This is short, but not very sweet. What will
become of us we cannot imagine. I am your affectionate humble
Servant,
John Smith.
For the Rev. D r . Hough, President of Magdalen College in Oxford, at
Astrup Wells.
(Wilmot's Life of Hough, p. 16.)
105.
1687, Sept. 5. Letter from William Blathwayt to Samuel Pepys.
Oxford. For news I can only tell you that my Lord President was
taken very ill yesterday morning of a cold, and was let blood last
night.
His Majesty being informed that the Fellows of Magdalen College had
refused to admit the Bishop of Oxford to be their President in the stead
of M r . Farmer, sent for them yesterday, after dinner, 'to his ante-chamber
in Christ Church College, where his Majesty chid them very much for
their disobedience, and with much a greater appearance of anger that
ever I perceived in his Majesty ; who bid them go away immediately and
choose the Bishop of Oxford before this morning, or else they should
certainly feel the weight of their Sovereign's displeasure. The terms
were to this effect, and yet I hear this morning they have not obeyed his
Majesty's Commands, the consequence of which I cannot yet learn.
(Correspondence printed at the end of Pepys's Diary.)
106.
1687, Sept. 4. The King's anger.
Baurepas, the French agent, who was at that time with the King,
records, 'that his anger prevented him from continuing his speech for
some moments/ Mayure, Histoire de la Revolution, Tom. ii. p. 29.
(Dr Routh's Notes on Burnet's History of James II d .)
88 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
107.
1687, Sept. 4. Proceedings of the College.
Being thus repulsed by the King the Fellows went immediately to their
Chapel, and D r . Pudsey proposing whether they should obey the King
and elect the Bishop of Oxford, they answered in their turns that they
were as ready to obey his Majesty in all things that lay in their power as
any of the rest of his subjects ; but the Electing of the Bishop of Oxford
being directly contrary to their Statutes, and the positive Oaths they had
taken, they could not apprehend it in their power to obey him in this
matter.
(Impartial Relation?)
108.
The same.
Anthony Wood states that ' William Penn, the Captain of the Quakers,
who followed the King in his Progress, went after them to Magdalen
College to persuade them to yield to the King's desire, but upon their
story to him about breaking of Statutes and Oaths he rested satisfied.'
(Diary.)
Amongst Fulman's MSS. in the Library of Corpus Christi College is
part of a News-Letter written in the chamber of Charles Goring, one of
the Demies, but the writer's name torn off, in which he states, ' After the
King's reprimand to the Magdalen (Fellows) and their determination
ensuing, William Penn chanced to be in company with one Goring of
Magdalen, whom he told that he had a desire to discourse with some of
the Fellows concerning that business, and accordingly some were called
to him, and when he had heard their reasons, he told them, that truly
they ought not to have taken such oaths, but since they had he thought
they ought to keep them, that he had taken his leave of the King, else
he would have discoursed with Him about it, but that if they pleased he
would write, which they consenting to he wrote the Letter which you will
find enclosed.'
Penn's Letter to the King was to this effect, that he had discoursed
with some of the Fellows of Magdalen College : that they profess as
much loyalty as any man, but that they could not obey his Majesty in
what was required of them without breach of some oaths, which they had
taken, and that therefore if his Majesty should turn them out of their
places for a matter of conscience, it would make a great noise, and look
ill in the world.
109.
1687, Sept. 4. The rejected Petition of the Fellows to the King
, at Christ Church.
To the Kings most excellent Majesty, etc. Humbly sheweth that
upon the 2 ^h o f August we received your Majestys Letters Mandatory,
dated August the 14 th , requiring us to admit the Right Reverend Father
in God, Samuel, Lord Bishop of Oxford, to be our President, and dis-
1687.
AND KING JAMES II. 89
pensing with all statutes and constitutions to the contrary. It is an
unexpressible affliction to us, to find ourselves reduced to such an
extremity that either we must disobey your Majesty's Royal Command,
contrary to our own inclinations, and that constant course of Loyalty,
which we have shown in all instances hitherto, upon all occasions what-
soever, or else break our Founder's Statutes, and deliberately perjure
ourselves.
For our Founder hath obliged us under oath, when we came in
Fellows, inviolably to observe his Statutes, and one clause therein en-
joins us never to admit, or make use of dispensations, granted by any
authority whatsoever, whereby we may be absolved from the same. In
this Statute for the Election of a President he commands us upon oath to
elect such a person into the place of President within fifteen days after
the vacancy, who either is, or has been, Fellow of our own, or New
College, which we represented to your Majesty in our humble Petition
signed April the 9 th , wherein we offered ourselves ready to elect any
Person capable of the same, whom your Majesty should be pleased to
recommend, and having waited the utmost time limited by our Statutes,
and received no answer to that effect, we did then, according to the
exigence of our Statutes (having first taken the Holy Eucharist, and our
several oaths to that purpose) nominate and elect such a person, as we
in our consciences did believe to be every way qualified for that place.
By which act of ours we have conveyed all that Right to him, which our
Founder hath intrusted us with, and it does not lie in our power to admit
any other. Our Founder in another Statute obligeth us under the pain
of perjury, a dreadful anathema, and eternal damnation, not to suffer any
of his Statutes to be altered, infringed, or dispensed with, and commands
us under the same sacred obligations, not to exercise any Orders or Decree
whatsoever, contrary or repugnant to the said Statutes and Oaths, and so
we are utterly incapacitated to admit the said Reverend Father in God
to be our President.
May it please your sacred Majesty to give us leave to lay this our case,
and ourselves, with all submission, at your Royal Feet, most earnestly
beseeching your sacred Majesty to extend to us, your humble Petitioners,
that grace and tenderness, which your Majesty hath vouchsafed to all
your other Subjects, and not to believe us guilty of any obstinacy or un-
dutifulness, crimes which our souls abhor, but to receive us into your
Majesty's grace and favour, the greatest temporal blessing which our
hearts can wish.
And your humble Petitioners shall always, as in duty bound, pray to
Almighty God to bless your Majesty with a long and happy reign over
us, and afterwards to receive you to an immortal Crown of Glory.
(Impartial Relation?)
110.
1687, Sept. 4. At the Meeting of the Fellows in the Chapel
between four and five in the Afternoon.
John Smith, D.D., saith that he is as ready to obey his Majesty in all
things that lie in his power as any other of his Majesty's Subjects what-
90 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
soever, but he apprehends it to be contrary to the Founder's Statutes
and his Oath to elect the Right Reverend Father in God, Samuel, Lord
Bishop of Oxford, President of S*. Mary Magdalen College in Oxford,
and therefore it does not lie in his power.
All these following agree with D r . Smith's answer above written.
Thomas Stafford. William Craddock.
Mainwaring Hammond. Charles Penniston.
John Rogers. Robert Hyde.
Richard Strickland. Edward Yerbury.
James Bayley. Robert Holt.
John Davys. Robert Thornton.
Francis Bagshaw. Henry Holden.
James Fayrer. Stephen Wilks.
George Hunt.
M r . Henry Dobson, M.A., saith that he is ready to obey his Majesty
to the utmost of his power in the Election of the Bishop of Oxford.
M r . Robert Charnock, M.A. and Fellow of the said College saith that
he is ready to obey his Majesty's Order in the electing the Bishop of
Oxford President of Magdalen College.
Alexander Pudsey, D.D. and Fellow of Magdalen College in Oxford
saith that he doth agree with the rest of the Society.
In the presence of John Greenway, Pub. Notary.
(Johnston.)
111.
1687, Sept. 5. The Vice-Chancellor of Oxford's Discourse with
his Majesty.
(After the Banquet in the Bodleian Library) the King spoke to the
Vice-Chancellor and told him that there was a great sin reigning
among them called pride ' of all things I would have you avoid Pride,
and learn the virtue of charity and humility. There are a sort of
people among you that are wolves in sheep's clothing : beware of them,
and let them not deceive you and corrupt you. I have given liberty of
conscience to some of my subjects, therefore do not take it ill, for in what
I have done I think I have not done harm to you, let not therefore your
eye be evil and mine be good, but love one another and practice divinity :
d as you would be done to, for this is the law and the prophets/
(Anthony Wood's Diary.)
112.
1687, Sept. 5. The same.
[It is in our power, writes Dr. Routh in a note to Dr. Burnet's History
of the Reign of King James II d (Ed. 1852, p. 180), to produce the
following recital of a conversation between the King, and Dr. Ironside,
the Vice-Chancellor at the time of the King's visit to Oxford, from a
paper in the handwriting, as appears both by external and internal
evidence, of the Vice- Chancellor himself.]
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 91
King. The Clergy of the Church (of) England have been commonly
blamed for their, want of humility : I advise them to wipe off the charge,
and learn to be more humble. There be wolves among you in sheep's
clothing : men that pretend to be of the Church of England, yet act
contrary to it, who are not so obedient to me, as your Church pretends.
I do verily believe that I have at this time no enemy in the Kingdom,
but among those who call themselves Church-of-England men.
Vice-Chancellor. Your Majesty may please to remember that none of
them were exclusioners.
King. Your Magdalen College men are Church of England men, yet
they have used me very unhandsomely in denying my mandate, and
choosing a President in contempt of me.
Vice-Chancellor. We do not say but that we here of this place depend
upon the will and pleasure of your Majesty and the Kings of England.
Nor can we say but that your Majesty can dissolve our constitutions by
your breath ; but this withall must be acknowledged, that standing these
constitutions, and while our Statutes do continue (which have been con-
firmed to us by your Majesty's Royal Predecessors), and which are bound
upon each of us by an Oath, we cannot go against them, without in-
curring the heinous sin of perjury. We must observe our Statutes,
being obliged thereunto by Oath, and no power under heaven can
dispense with these Oaths.
King. Your Church are to blame for being offended at my giving
indulgence to tender consciences, since I protect you as well as ease
them. You do not do as you would be done by. Your eye is evil,
because mine is good.
Vice-Chancellor. The allowing every person in their several fancies
about religion must have horrible ill consequences : must bring in
blasphemies, atheisms, and such monstrous opinions, as no Christian
State ought in conscience to admit. When about a month since I
waited on your Majesty as Chaplain I was amazed to see what counten-
ance your Majesty gave that monstrous and scarce Christian sect, called
the Family of Love, and with what respect you received an Address
from them.
His Majesty saying nothing, Lord Sunderland replied, ' Mr. Vice-
Chancellor, the King in receiving addresses does not enquire into nor
allow the ill opinions of those which present them ; but looks on them
only as respects of such a part of his subjects, and upon that account is
pleased to receive them so graciously/
King. In this University I hear that in sermons and in your writings
you ridicule my religion, and abuse it, charging it with idolatry. In
which case I cannot but esteem myself abused too.
Vice- Chancellor. Any reflexion on your Majesty I neither know of,
nor would allow. And I hope no occasion has been given by us for
such an information. As to our presses, I hope your Majesty allows the
University in a sober way to defend the religion it professes, especially
when first attacked, as is our case. A press, which is not under our
power, did begin with us, and vend several pieces against the established
religion, in which case it did become us, and was our duty to give some
answer to them. Every thing, that hath or shall come from that press,
92 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
hath or will receive an answer from hence, and perhaps with more
sharpness than will be acceptable, but in this case the aggressor must
thank himself.
(In another old hand the following words are added : ' The Vice-
Chancellor asked the King how he could treat the fanaticks, and put them
into places of trust. He answered that he therefore kept up his army.'
' A Denial by the King of knowing that the College had petitioned
does not appear in the above statement ; but it occurred either in some
other conversation during the King's stay at Oxford between Him and
the Vice-Chancellor, or it was omitted, as the King's reliance on his army
against the Sectarians appears to have originally been; or the Vice-
Chancellor purposely avoided mentioning what was in King James's
favour, whose measures he had actively and ardently opposed/)
(Original MS. in Bloxam's Collection?)
113.
1687, Sept. 6. The Fellows delivered to Lord Sunderland the
following Address, which was to be delivered to his Majesty
at Bath.
We your Majesty's most humble and most dutiful Subjects, the Fellows
of S*. Mary Magdalen College in Oxford, bqing deeply afflicted with the
late sense of your Majesty's heavy displeasure, grounded, as we in all
reason humbly presume, upon a most unkind misrepresentation of our
Actions in relation to an Election of a President into your Majestys
said College, do humbly beg leave to prostrate ourselves at your Royal
feet, offering all real testimonies of duty and loyalty : and as we have
never failed to evince both our principles and practices to be truly loyal,
in obedience to the commands of your Royal Brother, and your sacred
Self, in matters of the like nature, so whatsoever way your Majesty
shall be pleased to try our readiness to obey your Royal Pleasure in any
instance, that does not interfere with, and violate, our conscience, which
your Majesty is studious to preserve, we shall most gladly and effectually
comply there with. A stubborn and a groundless resistance to your
Royal Will and Pleasure, in the present, and all other cases, being that,
which our souls eternally abhor, as becomes your Majesty's most loyal
and most obedient Subjects.
(Impartial Relation.}
114.
1687, Sept. 6. Letter from Thomas Creech to D r . Charlett.
On Saturday, Sept. 3 d , about five the King made his entry between a
line of Scholars on one side and Soldiers on the other. It was very
solemn, without noise or shouting, and of the manner of which the
printed Papers give you an account.
The same night news was brought to Magdalen College of the death
of M r . Ludford *, M r . Goring 2 , who told me this, put in for a Mandate,
1 Thomas Ludford died I st Sept. and was buried in Anstey Church, co. Warwick.
2 Charles Goring, one of the Demies, M.A., introduced Penn to the Fellows of
1687. AND KING JAMES If. 93
and M r . Collins did the like. His Majesty told Goring he should have
it when the College was settled ; but that it was a rebellious Society, and
he would chastise them.
On the Sunday afternoon Magdalen College according to summons
waited with a petition. The King would not hear any thing, but told
them he expected to be obeyed, that they should show themselves Church
of England men, if they were such, by their obedience, and concluded
that, if they did not go and elect the Bishop of Oxford presently, they
should feel the weight of a King's hand. At this time the Party triumphed
much, and Bernard said that this was some satisfaction. The Courtiers
wondered that they should pretend it was not in their power to obey the
King, and bade them learn more wit. In a little time they brought
their answers to the Secretary, M r . Thompson dissenting, that they were
sorry that the King's commands could not be obeyed, and that to make
such an election would be downright perjury. The Secretary told them
this was a very unsatisfactory answer, and so the matter hangs.
On Monday morning, Sept. 5, MX Penn, the Quaker, with whom
I dined the day before, and had a long discourse concerning the College,
wrote a Letter to the King in their behalf, intimating that such mandates
were a force on conscience, and not very agreeable to his other gracious
indulgences. The same morning a gentleman of the Bedchamber, with
Charnock, brought a letter to the Vice-Chancellor, requiring the Degrees
of Doctor of Divinity to be conferred on M r . Collins and Wickins, the
Bishop's Chaplains, and of Bachelor of Laws on M r . Brooks, his Secre-
tary. He was very earnest to have the Vice-Chancellor declare presently
whether it should be done or not, but the Vice-Chancellor replied he
could not do it by himself, but he would call a Convocation, as soon as
conveniently he could, and then an answer should be returned.
(Aubrey's Letter -s, vol. i. pp. 45-48.)
115.
1687, Sept. 7. Letter from Thomas Sykes to D r . Thomas Charlett.
Kind Sir, my last told you that the King sent away the Magdalen
College Fellows, commanding them to go and immediately choose the
Bishop of Oxford for their President, else they would feel the weight of
his displeasure, but now it goes earnestly that he said they should feel
the heavy hand of a King, and last of all, upon his recalling them, that
if they did not obey, they should feel the vengeance of an angry Prince.
He refused to hear them speak, or to receive any petitions from them,
telling them that he had known them to be a turbulent and factious
Society for this twenty years and above. The same night, that is
Sunday night, they gave in all their answers severally in writing. There
were twenty upon the place, and nineteen of them all to the same pur-
pose, that they could not in conscience comply in this case. Only one
gave a dubious answer, who was either M r . Thompson, or he that
Magdalen on the Monday, and afterwards accompanied the President to the interview
with Penn at Windsor. A mandamus was granted for his being made Fellow on the
1 6 th of November, but he did not appear to claim the benefit of it.
94 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
publickly made mention of the undoubted President of Magdalen College.
On Monday morning (Sept. 5) M r . Penn rode down .to Magdalen
College, just before he left the place, and after some discourse with some
of the Fellows, wrote a short letter, directed to the King. In it, in
short, he wrote to this purpose, that their case was hard, and that in
their circumstances they could not yield obedience without breach of
their oaths : which Letter was delivered to the King. I cannot learn
whether he did this upon his own free motion, or by command, or
intercession of any other. . . .
We had no Convocation on Monday, neither are any degrees yet
granted, but there was a Paper on Monday morning delivered into the
Vice-Chancellor's hands, but not signed by the King or any other,
wherein M r . Collins (Schoolmaster of Magdalen College, and Chaplain
to the Bishop of Oxford) and M r . William Wickens (of Emanuel College,
Cambridge, and Chaplain to the Bishop of Oxford) were named to be
Doctors of Divinity, and M r . Brookes, a Fellow-Commoner of S*. Mary
Hall to be B.C.L., and the Messenger, who brought this asked the Vice-
Chancellor if he would give them their degrees, saying, that he delivered
the Paper by Order from the King : to which he answered fhat the King
had not mentioned a word of any such matter to him. If the King com-
manded he would do his part, but it was not in his power to grant this.
He heard no more while the King stayed in Town, but since, I hear,
M r . Collins hath been with him to know whether it will be done or not.
And I am not certain whether he will grant a Convocation or not that
they may try their fortunes.
(Aubrey's Letters, vol. i. pp. 33-36.)
116.
1687, September 9 from Bath. Lord Sunderland sends the
following Letter to the Bishop of Oxford.
My Lord, the King commands me to send your Lordship the three
enclosed copies, that you may be the better informed in the case of
Magdalen College, the consideration of which he has committed to you,
the Dean of Christ Church x and M r . Walker 2 . The first is a copy of a
Letter to me, after the delivery of the King's mandate, which his
Majesty having perused sent for all the Fellows on Sunday last (Sept.
4 th ), to attend him at Christ Church College, and commanded them to
admit your Lordship President of that College without any further delay
or pretence. Instead of compliance they signed a Paper, and sent it to
me, containing a direct refusal, but upon second thoughts became more
sensible of their duty, and subscribed another paper in terms very sub-
missive : copies of both which you will herewith receive. Their meaning
in the last paper I am told is this : that if his Majesty shall think fit by
his own authority to constitute you their President, they will very readily
acknowledge and obey you, desiring only to be excused from electing
you, which they allege without breach of their oaths they cannot do.
1 John Massey, Dean of Christ Church, 1686-1689.
2 Obadiah Walker, Master of University, 1676-1688. Both members of the Church
of Rome.
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 95
His Majesty thought it necessary that your Lordship and the two gen-
tlemen above named should be made acquainted with these circum-
stances for their direction in the advice you shall offer to his Majesty
upon this occasion. I am further commanded to tell you that his
Majesty intends to be at Windsor on Saturday sennight, and would have
you attend him there on the Monday or Tuesday following, if your
health will give you leave. I am, my Lord, your Lordship's most humble
Servant Sunderland P.
(Johnston?)
117.
1687, Sept. 16. Letter from Sykes to Charlett.
Sir, I am to thank you for two letters, one of the io th , and another of
the 14 th instant, and you had not escaped an answer to the first of them on
Wednesday last, but that I was out of town at Sir William Dormer's. If
I had written then you had had an account of our Monday's Convoca-
tion. You know from M r . Lawrence that all Degrees were denied. I
suppose one main reason was, because it did not appear, as I have
formerly written, that it was the King's desire that they should be
granted. As to what concerns M r . Wickens, Collins, and Brookes,
you have had a true account already. M r . Sparkes and M r . Boileau
were only recommended by Munson, Secretary to my Lord Sunderland,
to the Vice-Chancellor, that if degrees were granted it was the Chan-
cellor of England's request that his chaplains might be Doctors. My
last acquainted you that the Vice-Chancellor wrote to our Chancellor to
know his pleasure as to those things. He wrote back to this purpose,
and as near as I can remember in these words : that he was creditably
informed that it was the King's pleasure that the persons above men-
tioned should have their degrees, and therefore he desired that the Vice-
Chancellor would immediately call a Convocation, that his Majesty
might be obeyed therein. It is thought that the Chancellor had no in-
formation, but what he had from the Vice-Chancellor's Letter; but
nevertheless the Vice-Chancellor was zealous that the Degrees should be
granted: but the Heads of Houses opposed it so vigorously that for
ought I can perceive it ought not regularly to have come into the House
of Convocation : and as soon as it was proposed, so briskly cried non
placet as I never heard. The House was in all about 170. The first
scrutiny for M r . Sparkes and M^. Boileau, contrary to the method of
Convocation, ran 53 affirmations, and 118 against them. The rest had
more against them, and for your friend T. C. (Thomas Collins) the
fewest of all, as I remember, 29. When the King was here, he asked a
reverend Judge, i. e. J. Holloway, what he should do with the stubborn
and rebellious Fellows of Magdalen College. He answered, his Majesty
had two ways to proceed, either by a writ of ejectment, or scire facias, and
then put in himself, or else to bring a quo warranto against their Charter,
and so dissolve the College.
Magdalen College stands as formerly.
(Aubrey's Letters, vol. i. pp. 39-41.)
96 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687*
118.
1687, September 15. The following Queries were sent anony-
mously to the Fellows from Windsor.
Firstly. Whether, waving your Election of the Bishop of Oxford, you
cannot without violence to your conscience signify to his Majesty, or the
above-mentioned Reverend Bishop, your willingness to admit the Lord
Bishop, President of your College.
Secondly. Whether it be not more interest to the Protestant Religion
to have a suspected Popish President than to have all the places of the
College refilled by the King's sole authority with Popish Novices and
Priests ?
Thirdly. Whether you are not under a mistake in thinking you should
render yourselves more acceptable to the Protestant Nobility and Gentry,
by your being turned out of your Fellowships by injustice and violence,
as you conceive ; or rather will they not be very cautious how they
receive you into their families, for fear of giving offence ?
Fourthly. Whether his Majesty, as Supreme Visitor of the University,
cannot place or displace there ad libitum ? or whether you have a right
notion of the Proceedings, which have been practiced against you?
Whether you suppose that the Lords Commissioners proceeded against
you, as Lords Commissioners, or Visitors ? which notion I am sure will
overthrow somebodies' plea and exception, against their authority.
Fifthly. Whether you acted like men skilled in business, when you
refused M r . Penn's mediation, who, you may be sure, had good authority
for what he did ? You could not but know that man, and therefore
must needs be fore-armed against any wiles that could be offered to
you. Whether an unanimous subscription for an expedient, which I
think you ought not to refuse in good manners, since the King was
pleased to propose it, presented to his Majesty by M r . Penn, or another
favourite, would prevent the destruction of the best Foundation in
Europe ?
Lastly, whether you be not drawn beyond your knowledge by some
hot-headed advisers, who never consider the present state of his Majesty's
Court of Justice ?
(Impartial Relation?)
119.
1687, Sept. 19. Letter from Lord Sunderland to Bishop Parker.
My Lord, I have received your Lordship's Letter by the Bearer, and
have laid it before his Majesty, who thereupon commands me to tell you
that this being a matter of very great importance he will have the advice
of some Lawyers in it that he may proceed upon sure grounds being
resolved to do right both to himself and your Lordship.
I am, my Lord,
Your Lordship's most humble Servant
Sunderland P.
(Dom. Car. n. Entry Book No. 56. p. 385.
State Records Office.)
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 97
120.
1687, Sept. 19. Letter from Lord Sunderland to the Vice
Chancellor of Oxford.
Sir, I have received your letter of the 16^ instant, it being only a
private concern the King does not insist upon it, but in regard of the
relation which those gentlemen l have to the service of my Lord Chan-
cellor, and the Bishop of Oxford, I should be very glad that the Degrees
desired might be conferred on them, which I earnestly recommend to
you, and will always owe this favour as a great obligation laid on, Sir,
Your most humble Servant
Sunderland P.
(Dom. Car. n. Entry Book No. 56. p. 385. Record Office.)
121.
1687, Sept. 25. On this day the following answer was returned
to the several Queries sent from Windsor on Sept. 15 th .
First. We cannot, without violence to our consciences and deliberate
perjury, admit any Person to be President of our College, that is not
elected thereunto, and qualified according to our Statutes, whereby the
Bishop of Oxford is in no sort capable ; nor is there any memorial in all
our Registers of any admission of a President without Election, except
of one D r . Nicholas Bond, whose case was as follows. Upon the death of
D r . Lawrence Humphrey about the 30*^ or 32 d year of Queen Eliza-
beth's reign, the Queen recommended D r . Bond, being (having been) a
Fellow of our College to be elected President. Many of the Fellows
inclined in their judgements to elect one Smith 2 another of the Fellows,
and at their meeting for Election the contention was so great, that they
rose without electing, and the obstinacy continued till the Place became
lapsed, and there being no provision in our Statutes to direct us what to
do in such a case, the Queen, by her Letters patent constituted the said
D r . Bond to be President, and therein declared that her Majesty being
informed that the Fellows had neglected to make Election of a Presi-
dent in due time, as their Statutes required, and those Statutes having
made no provision for such an omission, She, out of her princely care
for the Place, and indulgence for those persons, who had been guilty of
that neglect, did by the advice of the Bishop of Winchester, their
Visitor, constitute D r . Bond their President, with protestation neverthe-
less that she did not thereby pretend to supersede their Statutes, or invade
their right of Election, which was thereby invested in them, but took this
course as the only means left to supply their Defect of Election.
To the second. We must not make ourselves guilty of deliberate perjury
for any consideration whatsoever, both in respect to our consciences, and
that we may not by such a Breach upon our Statutes expose our Con-
stitution to a forfeiture, nor do evil that good may come of it.
1 The gentlemen proposed for Degrees were the Bishop's chaplains, Wiggins, and
Collins, and his secretary, Brook, and Sparkes and Belew.
2 Ralph Smith. Demies' Register, vol. i. p. 161.
H
98 MAGDALEN COLLEGE. 1687.
To the third. We conceive we shall be more acceptable to all good
men, for acting honestly according to our consciences, than for voluntarily
and unjustly departing from our Right.
To the Fourth. We pretend not to make it a question, whether his
Majesty by his authority royal as Supreme Visitor, can grant a com-
mission for visitation of any College that has a local Visitor by their
Statutes, and are not Royal Foundations. But we are advised that no
Commission can be granted under the great Seal to Visitors to place, or
displace, Members of Colleges, whose places are freeholds, ad libitum, or
discretum, but they must proceed according to legal discretion, that is, by
the Laws and Statutes of the Land, and the local Statutes of the College.
And places concerned for the Headships and Fellowships of College,
are temporal possessions, and cannot be impeached by summary pro-
ceedings. One D r . Thomas Coveney, President of our College 1 , was
deprived in Queen Elizabeth's time by the Bishop of Winchester, the
legal Visitor thereof, established by Royal Authority, and he appealed to
the Queen, but by the advice of all the Judges, it was held, that the
Queen by her authority as Supreme Visitor could not meddle in it, but
that he must bring an Ascire in Westminster Hall, because deprivation
was a cause merely temporal.
The King has a great authority spiritual as well as temporal, but no
Commissioners can be authorized by the Crown to proceed in any Com-
mission under the great Seal or otherwise but according to Law, in
Spiritual Causes by the Canon Law, in Temporal by the other Laws and
Statutes of the Land, and wherein the Proceedings in some Commissions
are directed to be sum-marie et de piano etc. those words are to be applied
to shorten the forms of Process, and not for matter of Judgement, for
Magna Charta provides for our Spiritual Liberties as well as our
Temporal.
(Impartial Relation?)
122.
William Penn's intercession.
It was now rumoured that the King had issued an Order to proceed
against the College by a writ of Quo warranto, but however this was, the
Fellows appear to have listened to an application made to D r . Thomas
Bailey, one of the Senior Fellows, from William Penn, who was said to be
in great favour at that time with the King, and had written to the Doctor,
as he says, out of a compassionate concern for the interest of himself
and his brethren to persuade them either to a compliance with his
Majesty's Letters mandatory, or to think of some expedient to prevent
the ruin of their College and themselves, and to offer it to his Majesty's
royal consideration that the order for the Quo warranto against the
College might be recalled before it should be too late. (Wilmot's Life of
Hough, p. 1 8.)
\ Thomas Coveney, President, 1558-1561.
1687. AND KING JAMES IT. 99
123.
Letter, directed to D r . Bayley, Fellow of Magdalen College, and
supposed to have been written by M r . William Penn.
Sir, upon an enquiry made of your present Fellows of Magdalen
College I am informed that you are a person eminent in that learned
Body for your temper, prudence, and good conduct in affairs, and
therefore very fit to be addressed to by me, who do not send you this
to trepann you and your Brethren, but out of a passionate concern for
your interest, to persuade you either to a compliance with his Majesty's
Letters Mandatory, or to think among yourselves of some expedient to
prevent the ruin of your College and yourselves ; and to offer it to his
Majestys Royal Consideration that the order for the Quo warranto
against the College may be recalled before it be too late, for you cannot
be sensible how highly his Majesty is incensed against you, neither can
you give one instance whether ever that sort of proceeding was judged
against the Crown. Your cause most think is very hard, but you are
not in prudence to rely on the goodness of your cause, but to do what
the present instant of affairs will permit, and in patience to expect a
season that will be more auspicious to persons of your character. Every
mechanic knows the temper of his present Majesty, who never will
receive a Baffle in any thing that he heartily espouseth, and that he doth
this, yourselves have had too late and manifest an instance to doubt of
his zeal in the affair.
Where there are so many Statutes to be observed it is impossible but
some must be broken at one time or other, and I am informed by the
Learned of the Law that a failure in any one point forfeits your grant,
and lays your College open to the Royal Disposal.
I could give many other prudent arguments that might possibly
incline you to a speedy endeavour of putting an end to your troubles,
almost at any rate, but I shall suggest this one thing to you, that your
fatal overthrow would be a fair beginning of so much aimed at Reforma-
tion, first of the University, then of the Church, and administer such an
opportunity to the enemy, as may not perhaps occur in his Majesty's
reign. I am your affectionate Servant etc.
[George Hunt, one of the Fellows, who shortly afterwards accompanied
the President and other to Windsor to have a conference with William
Penn, observes in his MS. account of the Proceedings, 'This Letter M r .
Penn disowned ' *.]
124.
The following Answer, dated Oct. 3 d , 1687, seems to have been
sent to William Penn.
The enclosed paper is a copy of a Letter, which by the charitable
purpose of it seems to be written by you, who have been already so
kind as to appear in our behalf, and are reported by all who know you
1 See Macaulay's Comment on this assertion. Hist, of James II.
H 2
100 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
to employ much of your time in doing good to mankind, and using
your credit with his Majesty to undeceive him in any wrong impressions
given him of his conscientious subjects, and where his justice and good-
ness have been thereby abused, to reconcile the persons injured to his
Majesty's favour, and secure them by it from oppression and prejudice.
In this confidence I presume to make this application to you, desiring
your excuse for not subscribing it. For if you did write the Letter, you
know to whom it was directed ; and if you did not, I hope your charity
will induce you to make such use of your light you have by it into the
affairs of our College as to mediate for us with his Majesty, to be re-
stored to his good opinion, as the only thing which is desired by us, who
are zealous above all earthly things for his felicity and glory.
We are not conscious of ever giving his Majesty any just offence, as
it will appear with you, when you shall have perused the enclosed Papers ;
and we have therefore no reason to fear the issuing out of a Quo
Warranto against us. And though you are pleased to apprehend, that no
instance can be given of a Judgement against the Crown upon the pro-
cess of that writ, the Learned in the Law tell me that there is nothing
more common, whereof many cases are reported by Kellaway from page
128 to page 152 of his Book of Reports. And I think that I have heard
of a case in Coke's ninth Report of the Abbess of Prata Marcella, which
evinces the same ; wherein also there is a recital of judgement given
against Roger Mortimer for the King, upon a Quo Warranto in Court
of Eyre, reversed for error in the King's Bench. We hope though we
have many Statutes, it will be found that we have not wilfully trans-
gressed any of them, for all our present troubles are derived to us from
our adherence to them, and our fear to offend God and blemish our
consciences, by departing from them.
The King is intentionally righteous and just in all his proceedings.
He will never knowingly invade any man's property, as he was solemnly
pleased to declare in his excellent Speech made in Council on the 6*k of
February 1684, at his accession to the Government, which is again re-
peated in his gracious declaration for Liberty of Conscience of the 4^ of
April last past. It is upon his sacred inviolable and royal word and
promise we must depend, not doubting but when his Majesty shall be
rightly informed of our case in reference to both his Mandatory Letters to
our College, his anger towards us will be totally extinguished. Our com-
pliance to the first, which was M r . Farmer's election, would have involved
us in the guilt of manifest perjury, and the wilful violation of our
Statutes, and we are confident his Majesty would never have granted the
second on the behalf of my Lord Bishop of Oxford, if he had known
that we were then possessed of a President duly elected according to our
Statutes, and confirmed by the Bishop of Winchester, our Visitor, as the
Statutes require, and if he is thereby invested with a Lay Freehold under
the Protection of his Majesty's Laws : which we cannot undOj or attempt
to invade, without subjecting ourselves to Suit-at-law, and doing an
apparent injury to the President, who does not conceive himself to be
affected by the Sentence of the Lords Commissioners, to which he was
no party, whereby his Place is declared void, without any citations,
summons, or hearing of him.
1687. AND KING JAMES II. IOI
I believe no instance can be given of a Quo Warranto brought against a
College or Hall in the Universities, from the first Foundation of them to
this day, or any other Ecclesiastical Corporation, for the Abuses of some
Constitutions or Franchises in them ; and the misdemeanours of particular
persons will not destroy a College. And if the Corporation of a College
should be dissolved the Revenues thereof will return to the Founder's Heirs,
and not devolve to the Crown. And if our College must be the first example
of that kind, we shall be better justified by the strict observation of our
Statutes, at least to God and our own consciences, than we could have
been by a voluntary and deliberate breach of them.
It was loyalty and conscience that, in the reign of King Charles the
First, made thirty four out of forty Fellows, and most of the Scholars of
our Foundation, rather quit their places, and embrace misery and ruin,
than to subscribe to the government of the Usurpers of the Crown.
And in Monmouth's Rebellion the same inducements prevailed on us to
raise a Company at our own charges under the command of one of our
Fellows 1 to engage against him. And we hope that these and many
other the like instances, which may be given, of the Loyalty and Zeal of
our Society to the Royal Family, will be received as evidences thereof,
and that our good and gracious Sovereign will not exclude us from
that Liberty of Conscience, which he was pleased to extend to all his
Subjects.
(Impartial Relation!)
125.
1687, Sept. 25. No. 11. of William Sherwin's News-Letters.
Sir, In my last I gave you an account of Magdalen College, and that
they had appeared before his Majesty, who gave them, it is thought, the
sharpest reprimand that ever he gave to any of his subjects, with a com-
mand forthwith to elect the Bishop of Oxford, but they rather chose to
fall under his Majesty's displeasure than put themselves in the least
danger by breaking their oaths. Their answer was given in to his
Majesty, and they have some reason to think that likewise both their
petitions. There has been no further trouble given them yet, neither do
they know which way it is designed to proceed against them. It is the
opinion of most that my Lord of Oxford's pretensions will not long con-
tinue, he being under such circumstances that he is not likely to live but
a very short time. He has never been well since he came into this
country. On the day that his Majesty left Oxford there was a Letter
brought to M r . Vice-Chancellor (but the King's name was not on it) for
the making M r . Weikins [Wiggins] and Mr. Collins 2 . both Chaplains to
the Bishop of Oxford, Doctors, and his Secretary M r . Brook B.L., and
M r . Sparks and Belew, Doctors, but the Convocation denied them
all. M r . Weikens has been at Windsor, it is thought for a mandate, but
there is nothing appears but a Letter from my Lord Sunderland. I am
afraid when it is proposed they will find the Convocation of the same
1 Captain Francis Bagshaw.
3 Thomas Collins. See Register of Schoolmasters, p. 216.
102 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
humour as before. M r . Collins has lost all his friends in the University,
and it is thought would willingly have a fair opportunity to declare, but
they think he will see how it goes with my Lord concerning that College.
Sir, I am your most obedient Servant, W. Sherwin.
(Cobbett, col. 93.)
126.
1687, Oct. (?). Questions proposed to Counsel on the King's side.
In the Case of S*. Mary Magdalen College these objections are
requested to be fully Answered by his Ma ties learned Council.
I st . How Statutes permitted by the Kings of England to be made &
which have been confirmed by successive Kings & never repealed are
made Voide by the Kings Dispensation onely.
2 d] y. How a Mandate Implyes an Inhibition to proceed to election
when the person proposed is by the Statutes in no capacity to be elected.
cjrdly. Where a local Visitor is appointed, how the King can visit
a particular College beffore the local Visitor at least hath been comanded
to Visit.
^.tliiy. Whether the sentence apt the president be valid when he never
was cited nor was heard nor his cause brought beffore the lords comis-
sioners.
5thiy. How one can be ejected out of a Freehold without due Court
of law.
6thiy. Whether the BP. of Oxford was to be put in the presidents Office
& y* being a Freehold by any but the sherive.
^thly. How D r . Fairfax's suspension was legal seeing it 1 was but fixed
on the College gates 5 daies after M r . Farmer was posted beffore their
LPP S to be Incapable by reason of his Morality.
gthly. That the best reasons in law & presedents be produced for the
Kings dispensing power & power of Visitation by Comission.
pthly. That the objections agst the granting Comissions contrary to
the Act for dissolving the High Comission Court be answered.
ibtkiy. What cases can be found wherein Appeales made from
Visitors hath been determined in Courts of Comon law or chancery in
Favour of the Visitors sentence, or hath been revoked by the Judges.
(Johnston MS.)
127.
Notes of answers to the above.
About y e Questions propounded Consider as to y e first. After a
previous vacating of their charter by reason of forfeiture their Colledge
Statutes w cjl depend upon their Charter would consequently be gone,
and then such dispensation of their Colledge statutes as is mentioned
in this Quaere would come too late and be idle and of noe effect, for that
w c h is null & voyd can't be dispensed with, nor can they be comanded to
doe any thing w n they are noe body.
As to y e second. Whither the Clause of dispensation inserted in the
mandate thereby to sett aside or suspend y e Colledge statutes for electing
1 The reading here is doubtful.
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 103
for yt time a person quallified w th in those Statutes, and to impower y e
Colledge without breach of their found rs rule and their Oath upon it, to
Elect a person not capable to be Elected by their Colledge statutes, but
otherwise of ability for such place [is valid : ] For this see Sanderson
de obligacone Juramenti in y e very case of Colledge Statutes.
As to y e third. That y e Local! visitor is appointed and trusted by y e
found r and hath thereby a private trust. But y e King as King hath a pub-
licke trust by opperation and construction of Law and by his Sovereigne
Authority and Jurisdiction is supreme Visitor and may Exercise y fc Royall
trust, w n and as often as he pleaseth, without commanding or expecting
y e visitation of y e locall visitor, And may as soe (having y e Generall care
of and inspection into y e mann rs and duties of his subjects) not only visit
inquire into and reforme y e members of y e Colledge, as to their actions,
but alsoe y e Locall Visitor himselfe as to his doings and performances in
or about his trust.
As to y e fourth. Whither the Locall Statute for electing a president
being supposed to be suspended by the mandate cum clausula dispensa-
tionis statutorum Collegij (which mandate y e fellowes received before
Election), they had then any power or authority to elect for yt time
otherwise y n as they were comanded : and consequently y 6 Election of
a president after yt was not null and voyd, and y n he could not be cited
as such, nor could as such appeare in person or by proxy.
As to y e fifth. Whither the Presidentship being vacant and y e Colledge
having after such mandate noe power to Elect other y n as commanded (&
y* person layd by) a new president might not nor ought not to be placed
there by mandate, and y e Colledge had noe other duty incumbent upon
them, but to receive him as such. The rest of this Quaere is not to y e
matter in Question, The freehold in these cases of Presidentshipps and
fellowshipps &c being determinable, alterable by visitation &c, as attending
upon and consequentiall only to such offices and places.
As to y e sixth. Whither D r . Fairfax's suspension being for dis-
obedience to y e mandate, by y e pronouncing thereof he stood not actually
suspended &c and y e affixing a coppy &c to y e colledge Gates but a
circumstance not materiall, nor whither Mr. Farmer was then or after
laid by or not, or whither he was unfitting by reason of his Immorality or
otherwise, and if in such case after y e mandate received they should not
have forborne their proceeding to Election and first made humble in-
stance to y e King as to his Royall pleasure therein.
As to the seventh. The reason for the Kings dispensing power
appears above and see D r . Sanderson &c.
As to y e eight. Time will not give leave to search Presidents for y e
visitation of Colledges but certeinly they are obvious enough. And see
D r . Woods History of the University of Oxford and Presidents there as
to Merton Colledge & this Colledge both as to this Quaere and the
last.
As to y e ninth. That y e Kings of England have such power and may
by Commission 1 " 8 Execute such power is plaine, and y fc not only by
diverse Acts of Parliam* but at common law, had never any Act been
made : for y e Statutes in such cases are but declaratory of y e Kings
antient and Inherent rights.
104 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
As to the tenth and eleventh. See in y e bookes following and others
The Kings Supremacy in Matt rs Ecclesiasticall. Cawdries c. II, Coke 5
reporte More 755; 1080 Rolls abridg 2 d parte 1*79, 219, 222, 224, 232;
Coke Suttons Hospitall 31 ; 20 H 646, stat i of Eliz, 13 Eliz &c; Coke
4*b Instit 74, Jones 393, Cro : Car 65 : &c.
(Johnston MS.)
128.
1687, October 9. Conference with Penn.
A Deputation from the College consisting of D r . Hough, President,
Mainwaring Hammond, George Hunt, William Cradock, Fellows, and
MX Charles Goring, formerly Demy, had a Conference with M r . William
Penn at Windsor, where the Court at that time was residing.
(Wilmot's Life of Hough, p. 22.)
129.
Account of this Conference contained in a Letter from D r . Hough
to a Relation of his, a copy of which is preserved in the
Manuscripts of Bishop Gibson in the British Museum.
Dear Cousin, October 9 th , at night.
I gave you a short account of what passed at Windsor this morning,
but having the convenience of .sending this by M r . Charlett *, I fancy
that you will be well enough satisfied to hear our discourse with M r .
Penn more at large. He was in all about three hours in our company,
and at his first coming in he began with the great concern he had for
the welfare of our College, the many efforts he had made to reconcile us
to the King, and the great sincerity of his intentions and actions ; that
he thought nothing in this world was worth a trick, or any thing sufficient
to justify collusion in deceitful artifice, and this he insisted so long upon,
that I easily perceived that he expected something of a compliment, by
way of assent, should be returned; and therefore, though I had much
ado to bring it out, I told him that whatever others might conceive of
him, he might be assured that we depended upon his sincerity, otherwise
we would never have given ourselves the trouble to come thither to meet
him.
He then gave an historical account in short of his acquaintance with
the King; assured us that it was not Popery but Property that first
began it; that however people were pleased to call him Papist, he
declared to us that he was a dissenting Protestant : that he dissented
from papists in almost all those points wherein we differ from them, and
in many wherein we and they are agreed.
After this we came to the College again. He wished with all his heart
that he had sooner concerned himself in it, but he was afraid that he now
came too late : however he would use his endeavours, and if they were
unsuccessful, we must refer it to want of power, not of good will, to serve
1 Thomas Charlett, Fellow of University College.
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 105
us. I told him I thought the most effectual way would be to give his
Majesty a true state of the case, which I had reason to suspect he had
never yet received, and therefore I offered him some papers for his
instruction, whereof one was a copy of our first Petition before the
Election, another was our Letter to the Duke of Ormond and the State
of our case ; a third was that Petition which our Society had offered to
his Majesty here at Oxford, and a fourth was that sent after the King to
Bath. He seemed to read them very attentively, and after many objec-
tions, to which he owned I gave him satisfactory answers, he promised
faithfully to read every word to the King, unless he was peremptorily
commanded to forbear. He was very solicitous to clear Lord Sunder-
land of suspicion, and threw the odium upon the Chancellor, which I
think I told you in the morning, and which makes me think there is little
good to be hoped for from him.
He said the measures now resolved upon were such as the King
thought would take effect ; but he said he knew nothing in particular,
nor did he give the least light, or let fall any thing where we might so
much as ground a conjecture, nor did he so much as hint at the Letter
which was sent to him.
I thank God that he did not so much as offer at any proposal by way
of accommodation, which was the thing I most dreaded \ only once upon
the mention of the Bishop of Oxford's indisposition, he said, smiling, ' If
the Bishop of Oxford should die, D r . Hough may be made Bishop.
What think you of that gentlemen?' M r . Cradock answered, 'they
should be heartily glad of it, for it would do very well with the President-
ship.' But I told him seriously, ' I had no ambition above the Post in
which I was, and that having never been conscious to myself of any dis-
loyalty towards my Prince, I could not but wonder what it was that should
make me so much more incapable of serving his Majesty in it, than
those whom He had been pleased to recommend/ He said, ' Majesty
did not love to be thwarted ; and after so long a dispute we could hot
expect to be restored to the King's favour without making some con-
cessions/ I told him that ' we were ready to make all that were con-
sistent with honesty and conscience ;' but many things might have been
said upon that subject, which I did not then think proper to mention.
' However/ said I, ' M r . Penn, in this I will be plain with you. We have
our Statutes and Oaths to justify us in all we have done hitherto ; but
setting this aside, we have a Religion to defend, and I suppose that you
yourself would think us Knaves if we should tamely give it up. The
Papists have already got Christ-Church and University College : the
present struggle is for Magdalen, and they threaten that in a short time
they will have the rest/ He replied with vehemence, * that they shall
never have, assure yourselves; if once they proceed so far, they will
quickly find themselves destitute of their present assistance. For my
part, I have always declared my opinion, that the preferments of the
Church should not be put into any other hands but such as they at
present are in ; but I hope that you would not have the two Universities
such invincible Bulwarks for the Church of England, that none but they
must be capable of giving their children a learned education.
I suppose two or three Colleges will content the papists : Christ Church
106 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
is a noble structure, University College is a pleasant place, and Magdalen
College is a comely building. The walks are pleasant and it is con-
veniently situated just at the entrance of the Town &c/ When I heard
him talk at this rate I concluded that he was either off his guard, or had
a mind to droll upon us. ' However/ I replied, ' when they had ours
they would take the rest, as they and the present possessors could never
agree.' In short, I see that it is resolved that the papists must have our
College, and I think all that we have to do is, to let the \Vorld see that
they take it from us, and that we do not give it up.
I count it great good fortune that so many were present at this dis-
course, whereof I have not told you a sixth part, but I think the most
considerable, for otherwise I doubt this last passage would have been
suspected as if to heighten their courage through despair. But there
was not a word said in private, M r . Hammond, MX Hunt, Mr. Cradock,
and M r . Young being present all the time.
Give my most humble service to Sir Thomas Powell and M rs . Powell.
I am, Dear Sir, your very affectionate and faithful Servant. J. H.
(Wilmot's Life of Hough, p. 2-5.)
130.
1687, Oct. 13. Continuation of Bishop Cartwright's Diary.
I was at the King's Levee, and afterwards into his Closet, where he
acquainted me that he, in confidence of my zeal to his service, had
appointed me one of his High Commissioners for Ecclesiastical affairs ;
and my Lord Chief Justice Wright and me to visit Magdalen College,
for their public and notorious disobedience to his commands ; and
commanded me to attend my Lord President for further instructions,
which I accordingly did, and then went over to Lambeth to dinner,
where I met the Earl of Clarendon, and the Bishop of Ely. From thence
I went to Doctors' Commons .... From thence I returned to my Lord
of Durham, and afterwards to Father Petre's at Whitehall, with whom
I discoursed the business of Magdalen College, and received papers
from him l .
131.
1687, Oct. 14. Continuation of Bishop Cartwright's Diary.
This being the King's Birthday, I waited on him at his Levee, to wish
him many years, for which I daily pray ; and received commands from
the Lord President to attend his Majesty at the Cabinet at six at night,
which, having visited the Master of the Rolls with Sir John Lowther,
1 ' Of the Roman catholics no one, whether it was owing to the merits of the in-
dividual, or the arts of Sunderland, had obtained so high a place in the king's favour
and confidence as Father Petre. To him had been given the superintendence of the
royal chapel. ' He was lodged in the same apartments which James had occupied
when he was Duke of York, and he was named a Privy Counsellor at the same time
with the lords Powis, Arundell, Belasyse, and Dover. The impolicy of this appoint-
ment was too glaring to escape the notice of any man of ordinary apprehension.'
Lingard.
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 107
and dined with the Lady Peterborough, I accordingly did, where my
Lord Chief Justice and I, in the presence of his Majesty and my Lord
Chancellor and the Lord President, received his Commands to provide
for our journey to Oxford on Tuesday next, and my coach not being in
Town, upon my Lord Peterborough's motion his Majesty promised me to
give orders to my Lord Dartmouth to provide me one against the time,
and brought me to kiss the Queen's hand as he led her in to supper;
and having received the congratulations of my friends for having got the
King's favour, after which all other things would be added to me, I
visited my Lord Peterborough in his bed, and returning to my Lodging
found D r . Johnston to whom I gave the answer to the Letter to a Dis-
senter to carry to Bishop Labourne, who came to London this night.
132.
1687, Oct. 14. Continuation of D r . Thomas Smith's Diary.
After above four months stay in London during the great contest
between the King and the College, hearing for certain that there would
be Commissioners sent down to Oxford to visit the College, where every
Fellow would be peremptorily cited to appear under severe penalties,
I thought it became me both in point of duty and prudence to return,
and accordingly I got home to the College, Oct. 14.
133.
1687, Oct. 17. Proceedings of the new Commissioners.
His Majesty being so greatly provoked by the disobedience to the
second mandate, and now finding it necessary to assert his own power,
resolved upon sending down certain local visitors, according to which
I [Johnston] find it thus registered.
Memorandum (Register of the Commissioners), there being a new
Commission with the addition of Thomas, Bishop of Chester, Sir Robert
Wright, Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench and Sir Thomas Jenner,
one of the Barons of the Court of Exchequer, with particular power to
them, or any two of them to visit S*. Mary Magdalen College in the
University of Oxford the Commissioners thought fit to meet at the
Council Chamber this day, being the 17^ of October, 1687.
The Commission was read, and the same officers confirmed as before.
The Lords Commissioners for visiting Magdalen College agreed upon
the following Citation in order to their visitation.
By Thomas Lord Bishop of Chester, Sir Robert Wright, Knight,
Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench, and Sir Thomas Jenner,
Knight, one of the Barons of his Majesty's Court of Exchequer, His
Majesty's Commissioners (amongst others) for Ecclesiastical causes, and
for the Visitation of the Universities and all Cathedral and Collegiate
Churches, Colleges, Grammar-Schools, Hospitals, and other like Incor-
porations or Foundations, and Societies, and particularly authorised
and empowered to visit S fc . Mary Magdalen College in the University
of Oxford, &c.
108 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
You and either of you are hereby required forthwith to cite and summon
M r . John Hough the pretended President, and also the Fellows, and all other
the Scholars and Members of the said College of S*. Mary Magdalen in the
said University of Oxford, to appear before us in the Chapel of the said
College on Friday next being the twenty first day of this instant October,
at nine of the Clock in the Morning, to undergo our Visitation, and fur-
ther to answer to such matters as shall then and there be objected against
them : Intimating thereby, and we do hereby intimate, unto them and
every one of them, that we intend at the same time and place to proceed
in our said Visitation, the absence or contempt of Him, the said pretended
President, or the said Fellows, Scholars, or other Members of the said
College, or any of them to the contrary notwithstanding, and of the due
execution hereof you are to certify us at the time and place aforesaid.
Given under the Seal, which we in this behalf use, the i^h day of
October, 1687.
[Subscribed: ] To Thomas Atterbury and Robert Eddows, or either
of them.] (Johnston.)
134,
1687, October 17. Continuation of Bishop Cartwright's Diary.
My Lord of Peterborough acquainted me at the Kings Levee, that the
King had given me 100 to fit myself for my journey to Oxford. I
took my place in the High Commission 1 , which was delivered to me by
my Lord Chancellor, and the Seal of the Court, in order to my Oxford
Journey. I dined with my Lord Peterborough, and his lady, visited
Sir Charles Scarborough, where I met Mr. Aires, the High Sheriff of
Lincoln, and D r . Johnston, and supped at Mr. T cures', when I met
Dr. Hedges 2 and M r . Atterbury, I visited in the morning Sir John
Lowther, Lord Powis, and the Lord Privy Seal. (pp. 85, 86.)
135.
1687, October 17. Commencement of Baron Jenner's Diary.
Went to London and at my Lord Chancellor's ; from thence to the
King, from whom I got my charge about the Ecclesiastical Commission
and Visitation : thence went up into the Council Chamber, where sat in
the Council present the Lord Chancellor, the Lord President, Lord
Mulgrave, the Bishop of Durham, the Bishop of Chester, the Lord Chief
Justice, and Self. Then went to dinner to Sir William Oliver's where
Colonel Philips, Father Warner etc. Thence to my House, slept, went
to Whitehall (inter)viewed the King, then to Lord Chief Justice's House :
so home to bed.
1 ' Bishop Cartwright was the Head of the Commission as Sir Charles Hedges was
the King's advocate to manage the matter.' Burnet.
Note to Burnet : ' He was afterwards Secretary of State to King William and Queen
Ann. He was turned out a little before King William died, and Lord Nottingham
refused to be Secretary to the Queen, unless he were restored, upon a pretence that he
suffered for a vote he had given in the House of Commons, but the truth was to
hinder Vernon from being so, whom his Lordship did not like for a colleague.' Dart-
mouth. Routh, ed. 1852, p. 175.
2 Charles Hedges, B.A. Magdalen Hall, 29 Nov. 1670. M.A. Magdalen College,
3 May, 1673. B. andD.C.L. 26 June, 1675. Chancellor of Rochester, vide infra, Oct. 20.
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 109
136.
1687, Oct. 17. D^ Hedges.
D r , 17 Oct. [i6]87-
The King having appoynted you his Council to attend his service at
Oxon, I would be very glad to speake with you this Evening from my L d
Cheife Justice with whom I have consulted, & if y r occasions will give
you leave to come to M r . Toures a Vintners in y e Piatza within an houre
or 2, or you appoynt me any other place you will oblige
Y r faithfull servant
Tho: Cestriensis.
(Endorsed] For my honoured freind D r Hedges at D rs Commons.
(Buckley MS.)
137.
1687, Oct. 18. Continuation of Bishop Cartwright's Diary.
This being St. Luke's Day, on which I did my homage, I went to my
Lord Chief Justice's Chamber to meet with him and Baron Jenner to
adjust our business in order to our journey to Oxford. I dined with the
Chaplains, visited Father Petre, and met the King with him at M r . Chiffin's
at four, and took his last instructions : went home, where I met Baron
Jenner, D r . Johnston, D r . Evans, M r . Elstob, and M r . Poulton 1 , and
Sir John Lowther.
138.
1687, Oct. 18. Continuation of Baron Jenner's Diary.
At my Lord Chief Justice's all the morning. Dined at my Brother
Holloways ; Sir Andrew Forster, Bridges, Bradshaw, &c. At my
Chamber. Went to my Lord Chancellor's in Sir Andrew's coach, and
to the Bishop of Chester's Lodgings : then again to my Lord Chan-
cellor's, where speak with him : thence home, meeting my son in Pater-
noster Row.
139.
1687, Oct. 19. Continuation of Bishop Cartwright's Diary.
I breakfasted at Mr. Rowland's with the Bishop of St. David's, where
Sir Richard Allibone was ; and my Lord Chief Justice and Baron Jenner
met me ; from whence we took coach and called at Uxbridge, where we
met Judge Powel and some other lawyers. We went to Wickham at
night, where Captain Lawson, C. Lloyd, and other officers there quartered,
supped with us.
140.
1687, Oct. 19. The Citation.
Mr. Atterbury the King's Messenger fixed a Citation on the College
and Chapel doors. (Impartial Relation?)
On Wednesday Oct. 19^ the Citation was fixed on the College and
Chapel door. (Johnston^
1 Poulton was the Jesuit, who presided over the School at the Savoy, whence some
of his pupils were sent to supply the places of the Demies who were expelled. Vide
infra.
110 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
1687, Oct. 19. Continuation of D r . Thomas Smith's Diary.
Wednesday, 1 9^ of October, an Instrument was affixed both upon the
outward gate of the College, and that of the Chapel, peremptorily citing
D r . Hough and all the Fellows to appear before the three Commissioners,
the Bishop of Chester, the Lord Chief Justice Wright, and Baron Jenner
on Friday morning at 9 o'clock in the Chapel of the said College.
(p. 61.)
141.
1687, Oct. 19. Continuation of Baron Jenner's Diary.
Set out from my own Chambers in my chariot at six for Oxford,
called at Charing Cross, where we all met, and so drove to Uxbridge,
where met by Brother Powell and Cottington: thence to Wickham to
sup, and so to bed. Some of the officers sat with us.
142.
1687, Oct. 20. Continuation of Baron Jenner's Diary.
Set out about eight, like to spoil our horses going down Stokenchurch
hill. Three troops met us near Oxford. We went into Town, and dined
about four : after much consulting on our business went to bed.
143-
1687, Oct. 20. Continuation of Bishop Cartwright's Diary.
We came into Oxford, my Lord Peterborough's Regiment receiving
us at the Town's end, where the Lieutenant Colonel, and the rest of
the officers dined with us. After dinner D r . Halton 1 , Dr. Hide 2 and
M r . Archdeacon Eaton, D r . Adams 3 , M r . Brown and M r . Barnard, and
M r . Wickens came to visit us.
On Thursday, Oct. 20, the Commissioners entered, attended by the
hree troops of Horse that quartered in the Town. (Johnston, p. 54.)
Continuation of D r . Thomas Smith's Diary.
On Thursday afternoon, Oct. 20*^, the Commissioners came to Town,
being attended by three troops of Horse of the Regiment of the Earl of
Peterborough, then quartered at Oxford. (Coll. 61.)
144.
1687, Oct. 20. Anonymous Letter sent to D r . Hedges.
Sir, the Knowledge that I have of your learning and ingenuity, made
me very glad to hear of your employment at Oxford, touching this Com-
1 Timothy Halton, D.D., Provost of Queen's.
2 Thomas Hyde, of Queen's College, D.D. 3. April, 1682 (?).
8 Fitzherbert Adams, of Lincoln College, D.D. 3 July, i685(?).
1687. AND KING JAMES II. ill
mission, for as you are an University Man, and a member of the Church
of England, and, which is most, a conscientious honest man, you will not
act contrary to knowledge and right, to destroy those foundations of
learning, by which that Church is chiefly supported. It is generally a
received opinion that the King cannot visit any College but of Royal
Foundation, where there are Statutes that appoint Local Visitors ; and
besides I have heard by a friend in this place that you alledged to him
that there was a Commission of Visitation issued in the time of Queen
Elizabeth to the Earl of Leicester and others to visit that College,
although the Bishop of Winchester was the Local Visitor of that place,
but if you will cast your eye upon the extent of that Commission, which
is herewith sent, you will see that nothing was there appointed to weaken
the Bishop of Winchester in his right of Visitation. And in the Fourth
year of the Queen, when Coveney the President of Magdalen College
was displaced by the Bishop of Winchester their Visitor, he applied to
the Queen for a Commission of Appeal, and a Commission was awarded
under the great seal to Brown and Weston, two of the Judges, and others.
But upon Conference with the rest of the Judges it was held that the
Queen could not impeach the Bishop's Judgement, and that Coveney
had an Assize in Westminster Hall. There is not time to enlarge further
on this subject.
I am, Sir, your very affectionate Servant,
(Impartial Relation, 2 d Ed. pp. 32, 33.)
On Thursday the 2oth at two in the afternoon they came into Town
attended by the three troops of the place with their swords drawn.
(Hunt's MS. p. 57.)
145.
1687, Oct. 20. Anonymous Letter sent to D r . Thomas Smith.
Dear Sir, Being yesterday at Lambeth, I heard that you were gone to
Oxford to their College, whereof all the company there were glad, be-
cause there may be need at this time of your prudence and experience to
assist and advise the Society in this present juncture. At my departure
from thence I came away in company with one that said there was much
debate amongst the King's Council, learned in the Law, about the
issuing out this Commission of Visitation now at Oxford. Some said
that by the Law the King could not grant a Commission of Visitation to
any College where there were local Visitors appointed by the Statutes of
the College, because they are private Foundations, conditionally con-
stituted and founded, and the Fellows are sworn to observe the Statutes
at their elections to their places, as the condition whereon they have them,
and cannot depart from them without incurring the guilt of direct per-
jury; Mention was then made of D r . Thomas Coveney, President of
Magdalen College, who had been ejected by the Bishop of Winchester as
Local Visitor of the College, and exempt from all ordinary jurisdiction ;
and thereupon he appealed to the Queen to have Visitors appointed to
examine the Case ; a Commission was therefore awarded under the great
Seal of England to Brown and Weston, two of the Judges, and others,
but upon advice of the rest of the Judges and Civilians, it was resolved
112, MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
that the Queen by her Authority Royal could not have cognizance of it,
and that Coveney had no remedy but to bring an Assize in Westminster
Hall J . But others, whereof D r . Hedges is one, did alledge that there
was a Precedent of a Commission of Visitors of Corpus Christi College
in the tenth year of Queen Elizabeth, although that College had the
Bishop of Winchester for their Visitor Local, and thereupon this Com-
mission was made, but the same Person informed me that he had seen
that Commission of Visitation, a copy of which he said was with the
President, and that it appears in the very words of it that the said Com-
mission had never been issued out, had not there been a Defect in their
Statutes, whereby the Bishop of Winchester could not then visit, because
his visitations are by them limited to quinquennial, unless he should
request to visit oftener, and it was not then two years since he had
visited, and no such request made, and even in that Commission the
Bishop of Winchester was made one of their Visitors, and they were
authorized by it not to proceed otherwise than the Ecclesiastical and
Municipal Laws of the Land, and the Statutes, Ordinances, Customs and
Privileges of the College did direct. So that you may perceive by this
Discourse upon what mistaken Foundations this Commission is built. It
is reported that the Commissioners will displace D r . Hough, and substitute
the Lord Bishop of Oxford in his Place, but I cannot see how that can
consist with the Statutes of the College, for if his Dismission be not
warranted by Law, he may recover the Place, and all the mean Profits
thereof of any Person that shall be put in. When I was at Bath the
Report was there strong of the Bishop's having his Majesty's Letter for
the Presidentship, and several of the Chaplains then there formed a Letter
to his Lordship, whereof the enclosed is a copy, which I desire you to
peruse. The truth is nothing but a verdict of twelve men, according to
Law, can displace the President except he will make a voluntary Resig-
nation. For God's sake as you are all men of loyalty and conscience be
unanimous in your resolutions. The Liberty of the Church and Univer-
sity are involved in your conduct. You have the Laws of the Land and
common Right (in addition) to the Law of God to support you. Farewell.
I am your affectionate humble Servant
(Impartial Relation, 2 d Ed. p. 30.)
146.
1687, Oct. 21. Proceedings of the Commissioners.
' The Lords Commissioners, appointed by his Majesty under the Great
Seal for visiting S*. Mary Magdalen College in Oxford, met on Friday
morning, the 2i st of October, 1687, in the Chapel of the same College,
and adjourned to the Hall, where their Commission being read, their
Lordships took upon them the execution thereof, and ordered the Fellows'
names to be called over, and D r . John Hough with several of the Fellows
and Scholars appearing, my Lord Bishop of Chester spoke to them
upon the occasion of the Visitation. The speech being ended, the Lords
adjourned till the afternoon to the Common Room of the College/
(Johnston.)
1 Coke 4 th Inst. fol. 346. Dyer's Rep. fol. 239.
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 113
' On Friday morning at nine of the clock they (the Commissioners)
went into the Chapel: the President and Fellows thinking they had
designed to sit in the Quire made no preparation of seats in the outward
Chapel, upon which their Lordships adjourned to the Hall, where their
Commission was then read, which in general was the same as the former,
these three being added to the other Lord Commissioners, and par-
ticularly empowered to visit Magdalen College only. This being done,
the names of the President and Fellows were called over, Dr. Hough
being first called, and all in Town appeared, except Dr. Fairfax, and
excuses made for the absent. Then a speech was made by the Bishop
of Chester, after which the Bishop told the President and Fellows that he
took their appearance in good part, and wished that the rest of their pro-
ceedings might be answerable to this beginning. Then the Commissioners
were conducted into the Chapel to Prayers by the President, D r . Hough,
who placed the Bishop in his own seat, and the two Judges next to him
on the same side, and sat himself in the Vice President's chair.'
(Impartial Relation?)
147.
1687, Oct. 21. Continuation of Bishop Cartwright's Diary.
We went to Magdalen College Chapel, where the crowd being great,
and no preparations made for our sitting, we adjourned into the Hall,
where the crowd being great, we sent Mr. Atterbury for the Proctors,
who came accordingly to keep the peace. M r . Tucker read the King's
Commission, M r . Atterbury returned the Citation on oath. Having
called over the Fellows I made a speech for the occasion of the visitation,
and adjourned till 2 in the afternoon. We went to prayers in the
Chapel. There dined with us M**. Barnard the Proctor, M r . Wickens,
M r . Brown, and the officers, and Archdeacon Eaton, who was robbed
the night before.
148.
1687, Oct. 21. Continuation of D r . Thomas Smith's Diary.
Friday, the 2i st of October, 'the Commissioners came down to the
College, and were received at the gates, which were a little before thrown
wide open, by all of us, and they went directly to the Chapel, but there
being no conveniences there, and preparations not being made according
to their mind, they adjourned to the College Hall. Then M r . Tucker
the Registrar read the Commission, which being done, the names of the
President and Fellows were called over, D r . Fairfax only absent of the
Fellows which were in Town. The names of those absent from the
University were noted, excuses made by several in their behalf for such
their absence, the Commissioners asking where they were, and what
distance from Oxford. This took up some time. Afterwards the Bishop
of Chester, who was first in the Commission, made a speech, which being
over he adjourned the Court till two in the afternoon, and so went to
prayers.'
114 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
149.
1687, Oct. 21. The Bishop of Chester addressed the President
and Fellows in the following words :
Gentlemen. If he, who provokes the King to anger, sins against his
own soul, what a complicated mischief is yours, who have done and
repeated it in such an ungrateful and indecent manner as you have done,
and upon such a trifling occasion. You were the first, and I hope will
be the last, who did ever thus undeservedly provoke him. There is a
great respect and reverence due to the Persons of Kings, and besides the
contempt of his authority in this Commission, you were so unreasonably
valiant as to have none of those fears and jealousies about you, which
ought to possess all subjects in their Prince's presence, with a due
veneration of his Sovereignty over them. It is neither good nor safe for
any sort of men to be wiser than their Governors, nor to dispute the
lawful commands of their Superiors in such a licentious manner that if
they sometimes obey for wrath, they oftener disobey (as they pretend) for
conscience sake. The King is God's minister, he receives his authority
from Him, and governs for Him here below, and God resents all in-
dignities and injuries done to him, as done to Himself. Now God hath
set a just and gracious King over us, who has obliged us in such a
Princely manner, as to puzzle our understandings as well as our gratitude,
for he hath bound himself by his sacred promise to support our altars, at
which he does not worship, and in the first place to maintain our Bishops
and Archbishops, and all the members of the Church of England, in
their rights, privileges, and endowments.
No doubt but he will do his own religion all the right and service he
can, .without unjust and cruel methods, which he utterly abhors, and
without wronging ours, which is by Law established, and by his own
sacred and free promises, which have been more than once renewed, and
repeated to us, without our seeking or soliciting for them, which we,
under some Princes, might have been put to crave upon our bended
knees. This is a most royal and voluntary present the King hath made
to his subjects, and calls for a suitable veneration from them, notwith-
standing the pretended Oxford Reasons which were published (by whose
means and endeavours you best know) to obstruct it, as if the King had
not thorns enough growing in his Kingdom, without his Universities
planting more. Now a Prince so exceedingly tender of his honour as he
is, so highly just to all, and so kind beyond example to his loyal subjects
and servants of what persuasion soever, is one under whom you might
have had all the ease, satisfaction, and security imaginable, if you had
not been notoriously wanting to yourselves, and under a vain pretence of
acting for the preservation of our Religion, you had not wilfully, against
all reason and religion, exposed it, as much as in you lay, to the greatest
scandal and apparent dangers imaginable. Your disingenuous, dis-
obliging, and petulant humour, your obstinate and unreasonable stiffness,
hath wrought this present Visitation upon you, and might justly have
provoked his Majesty to have done those things in his displeasure, which
might have been more prejudicial to this and other Societies, than you
can easily imagine.
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 115
But though you have been very irregular in your provocations, yet the
King is resolved to be exactly regular in his proceedings, and accordingly
as he is Supreme Ordinary of this Kingdom, which is his inherent right,
of which he never can be divested, and the unquestionable Visitor of all
Colleges, he hath delegated his Commissioners with full power to proceed
according to the just measures of the Ecclesiastical Laws, and his Royal
Prerogative, against such offenders as shall be found amongst you, and
not otherwise.
It is a great grief to all sober men to see any, who would be thought
true sons of the Church of England, act like men frightened out of their
wits and religion, as you have certainly done.
Never any true son of the Church of England was, or will be, dis-
obedient to his Prince. The loyalty which she hath taught us is absolute
and unconditional. Though our Prince should not please, nor humour
us, we are neither to open our mouths, nor lift up our hands against him.
Yours, like all other Corporations, is the Creature of the Crown ; and
how then durst you make your Statutes spurn against their Maker ? Is
this your way to recommend and adorn our religion ? and not rather to
make it odious, by practising that in such a froward manner, which our
Church professes to abhor ? Do we not pray for the King, as the Head
of it under Christ? Do we not acknowledge him for the Fountain of
Honour ? and does not Solomon command his son to fear God and the
King, the one with a religious, the other with a Civil fear ? Is he not the
Lord's anointed, and not to be touched but with reverence, either in his
Crown or Person ? And why should we not render then to all their dues ?
Fear to whom Fear, and Honour to whom Honour? Is not this an
eternal tie both of justice and gratitude ? For where the word of a King
is, there is Power. And who may say unto him, 'What dost thou?' Are
we not, next to God and his good angels, most beholden to him for our
safety, whose honour and lawful authority we are now come to vindicate ?
Is he not the Father of our Country, and ought he not to be more dear
to us than our natural Parents ? especially considering how indulgent he
has been to us, and what care he daily takes to keep us from biting and
devouring one another, we know not why. Is not he the Centre of the
Kingdom, and do not the concurrence of all lines meet in him, and his
fortunes? and how can we then understand the limits of self-love, if a
tender sense of his honour and happiness be not deeply rooted and im-
printed in our souls ? It was neither dutifully nor wisely done of you to
drive the King to a necessity of bringing this visitation upon you. And
as it must needs grieve every loyal and religious man in the Kingdom to
the heart to find men of your liberal education and parts so intractable,
and refractory to so gracious a Prince, so it will be very mischievous to
you at the Great Day of God's Visitation. Who will then be the greatest
losers by your contumacy? For God will revenge this among your
other crimes, that you have behaved yourselves so ungratefully towards
his Vice-gerent as to oppress his Royal heart with grief for your
stubbornness, to whom by your cheerful obedience you ought to have
administered much cause of rejoicing. They who sow the seeds of dis-
obedience have never any great reason to boast of their harvest, for what-
soever they vainly promise themselves in the beginning, they are in the
I 2
n6 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
end ashamed, and afraid of the income of their evil practices ; and indeed
every sort of disobedience hath so ill a report in the world, that even they
who are guilty of it themselves, do yet speak ill of it in others : let there-
fore the disreputation and obloquy which it will inevitably bring\upon
you, make you out of love with it, or if that will not do, let the stings of
your guilty consciences, and the fear of Divine vengeance restrain you, or
if you are still insensible of all these, yet at least let the present fear of
those temporal Punishments, which the Laws of the Kingdom have
superadded to the contemners of God's and the King's authority, oblige
every soul that hears me this day to be subject to the Higher Powers. If
neither a most merciful God, nor a most gracious King can please you,
your wages will he recompence upon your own heads. Were it not for
this serpent of discontent and jealousies, which are now so busy in it, this
Kingdom would be like the garden of Eden before the Curse, a mirror
of prosperity and happiness to all the world besides ; but this serpentine
humour of stinging and biting one another, and of tempting men to rebel
against God and the King, because others who differ from us in judgement
are as happy as ourselves, will as certainly turn us, as it did our first
Parents, out of Paradise. Our nation is in greater danger of being
destroyed by profaneness than Popery : by sin than by superstition : by
other iniquities than by idolatry, and I pray God that we may not see
sacrilege once more committed under the pretence of abhorring idols, as
I myself have seen in this place. If there be any among you who have
sinned with so high a* hand against our gracious Sovereign, as the
obdurate Jews did against our Saviour, saying, We will not have this man
to rule over us, such your petulant humour, such your shameful injustice
and ingratitude will deserve the just animadversions of this Court. What
distempers this College is sick of, which we are now come to visit by the
King's Commission, yourselves are best able to tell us. We are informed
of too many already, and yet we suspect there may be more, and therefore
be but ingenuous and make a conscience of giving us sincere answers,
and you shall find that we will abate nothing of the just measures of our
duty for fear or favour to satisfy the importunities of any man, being well
assured that God and the King will bear us out. I am sorry that you
should any of you run so far upon the score of the King's royal patience
and pardon, as some of you have already done : and that you should be
in such vast arrears of duty and respect to him as you are. But they go
far who never turn. The influence, which you may have upon other
parts of the Kingdom, makes me charitably hope that your future fidelity,
and allegiance will for ever answer your duty and the King's just expecta-
tion ; and therefore I hope it will not be in vain for me to exhort you in
the Bowels of Christ to a more entire submission and obedience, because
if such men as you, bred in so famous an University, are not thoroughly
convinced of the necessity of it, the more popular you become the more
pernicious will you be in encouraging your deluded admirers, who have
their eyes upon you from all parts of the Kingdom, to be as disobedient
and contumacious as yourselves, by which the honour and authority of
the King may be diminished, and the peace both of Church and State
come to be endangered. Obey them who have the Rule over you, either
in Church or State, and submit yourselves before it be too late, for your
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 117
contumacious behaviour towards them will yield you no profit at all, but
your obedience much every way: the former will prove like the sin of
Witch-craft, but the latter will be better accepted than Sacrifice, because
in that you only offer up a beast to God, but in this you sacrifice your
passions, you slay them, and offer them up to God's service. Re-
member error seldom goes in company with obedience, and that none
are so likely to find the way to eternal happiness in the end, as they who
follow the conduct of their Superiors from the beginning ; not with eye
service, as men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God and the
King ; and whatsoever you do, do it heartily, as unto the Lord, and not
unto us men ; and the Lord give you understanding in all things.
The speech being ended, the Lords adjourned till the afternoon to the
Common Room of the College.
(Johnston, pp. 54-61.)
Hunt states (MS. p. 57) that the speech was read by the Bishop of
Chester, and so the MS. afterwards was printed by D r . Johnston.
150.
1687, Oct. 21. Continuation of Baron Jenner's Diary.
Went to the College about nine, where all things were very civil and
quiet, only a great crowd : read our Commission, and so to dinner : there
again about two in the afternoon, where the crowd great, and D r . Hough
very obstinate, and other of the Fellows. However we proceeded fair as
we could, till about four ; and so went to Queen's ; thence home, had a
supper and so to bed. (Johnston?)
151.
1687, Oct. 21. As above.
Friday afternoon. At which time the Court being sat, Dr. Hough in
behalf of himself and the Fellows demanded a copy of their Lordships'
Commission, which was denied him, and the Court ordered to proceed,
and then admonished the Fellows to produce the Register of the College
affairs, and also to give an account of what Leases had been let for two
years last past, together with the Benefactions given to the College ; and
likewise ordered them to bring in the Buttery Book tomorrow morning,
to which time they adjourned.
(Johnston.)
152.
1687, Oct. 21. Continuation of Bishop Cartwright's Diary.
In the afternoon we called over the College Roll, and marked the
absent. D r . Fairfax, because in Town, and not appearing, was pro-
nounced contumacious, pceni reservatsi in prox. The Buttery Book
brought up by the Butler, and the Statutes by D r . Hough. D r . Hough
desired a copy of the Commission in writing, which was denied him, and
then he in his own name, and the greatest part of the Fellows said that
he did submit to the visitation so far as it was consistent with the laws
of the land, and the Statutes of the College, and no farther; and said
1 1 8 MA GDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
that he must suffer no alteration in any Statute by the King, or any other,
for which he had taken an oath, from which he could not swerve, and for
which he quoted the Statutes confirmed by Henry Vltb, and their oath in
them, that they would submit to no alteration made by any authority.
Then D r . Hough's former sentence of deprivation was commanded to be
read ; to which he replied that he had never been cited, nor heard, and
therefore supposed the sentence to be invalid, and refused to submit to it,
though he confessed that he had notice of it. The College's Petition to
the King to recommend some other in Farmer's room was read ; and
asking them why they did not stay for an answer to it, Dr. Hough replied,
that their fifteen days were out before April 15, on which they had no
other sent to them; and requiring him to give up the Register, he
promised we should have it tomorrow morning. D r . Rogers' Petition for
the organist's place, worth 60 per annum, of which he says he was
unduly deprived, was given in by MX Holloway, and filed, and so we
adjourned till the next day at 8. We visited D r . Halton, and the Bishop
of Man \ M r . Spencer, M r Welsh, and M r . Holloway came to visit us.
153.
1687, Oct. 21. Continuation of D r . Thomas Smith's Diary.
Afternoon they called over the names of the rest of the College,
Demies, Chaplains, &c. After this Dr. Hough demanded a copy of their
Commission, which was denied him, and several discourses happened
hereupon between them and him, about the order of the Commissioners
at London vacating and annulling his Election. Then our Petition was
read, which was delivered by me and M r . Bagshaw to the Earl of Sunder-
land on the tenth of April, and discourses upon it. The Commissioners
ordered us to fetch the Buttery Book, the Statute Book, the Registers, and
Ledger Books, to bring in an account of the standing revenues of the
College, and what moneys have been levied for fines for these two last
years, and what land or estate, given for hospitality, which has not been
applied for that use. They bid us deal ingenuously with them, for they
would deal fairly by us.
154.
List of the Demies, Chaplains, Clerks, and Choristers, with
References to the printed College Register.
List of Demies.
Register, vol. iii.
Page Page
Holt, Thomas 15 Goring, Charles 25
Cripps, Samuel 25 Brabourne, John 36
Jennefar, Samuel 24 Stonehouse, George. . . . 38
Adams, Richard 26 Hyde, Lawrence . . . . 41
Standard, Robert 30 Woodward, George. ... 42
Vesey, Richard 26 Livesay, Charles 40
1 Baptist Levinz, formerly Fellow of M. C., 1664-1683. At this time he seems to
be playing the courtier and complimenting the Commissioners,
1687.
AND KING JAMES II.
119
Page
Allen, Charles 43
Fulham, William 42
Watkins, Richard 42
Stacy, Daniel 43
Sherwin, William 43
Kenton, John 55
Bush, Maximilian. ... 45
Gardiner, Bernard. ... 45
Higgens, Thomas. ... 51
Page
Cross, John 51
Wells, Theodore 51
Mander, Benjamin. ... 51
Bayley, William 52
Hanson, Thomas. ... 52
Adams, Samuel 52
Levett, Henry 53
Bagshaw, Harrington. . . 52
Holyoake, Henry.
Mander, Thomas.
Nicholls, Stephen.
Morgan, Charles.
Smith, John.
Lydford, Matthew.
List of Chaplains.
Register.
vol. i. p. 95. Brown, Thomas. vol. ii. p. 77.
vol. ii. p. 77. Haselwood, Francis, vol. ii. p. 169.
List of Clerks.
vol. ii. p. 79. Rigby, Thomas. vol. i. p. 103.
vol. ii. p. 78. Basset, John. vol. ii. p. 82.
vol. i. p. 104. Williams, Thomas, vol. ii. p. 81.
vol. ii. p. 81. Harris, William. vol. ii. p. 81.
Broadhurst, Samuel.
Yalden, Thomas.
Wotton, Charles.
Bosse, Richard. .
Price, Thomas. .
Shuttleworth, John.
Bowyer, John.
Turner, Thomas.
List of Choristers.
vol. i. p. 108.
. . p. 108.
. . p. 119.
. . p. 119.
. . p. 119.
. . p. I2O.
. . p. I2O.
. . p. I2O.
Clerk, Edward. . .
Prince, . . . .
Innis, William. . .
Wordsworth, Robert.
Stanton, Miles. . .
James, . . . .
Stubbs, John. . .
Wood, Richard. . .
p. 120.
p. 120.
p. 120.
p. 121.
p. 121.
p. 121.
p. 121.
p. 121.
155.
1687, Oct. 21. Proceedings of the Commissioners.
In the afternoon were called over the names of the Demies, Chaplains,
Clerks, Choristers, and College Servants. The President then interposed,
desiring leave to speak before they proceeded any further, which being
granted he told their Lordships that :
President. The time betwixt your Citation and appearance was so
short, that the Society had not time to advise with the Council how to
behave themselves on this occasion : I therefore desire of your Lordships
a copy of the Commission and time to consider of it.
Bishop C. It is upon record, you may have it above.
President. Is it the same the other Lords Commissioners had ?
Bishop C. Yes, for the most part it is.
President. Then, my Lord, I do assure you, and will make oath of if
you please, that I have often endeavoured to get a Copy of it, and could
not procure it.
Lord Chief Justice. Have you not heard it read, or will you hear it
again ?
120 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
President. I am not capable of making a judgement of it myself, but
it is possible that there may be errors and defects in it, such as the
Society may make use of to their own advantage, and I am confident it
is neither his Majesty's intention, nor your Lordships, that we should be
debarred from it.
(A copy was then denied.)
Bishop C. Dr. Hough, will you submit to this Visitation ?
President. My Lords, I do declare here in the name of myself and of
the greater part of the Fellows, that we submit to the Visitation so far as
it is consistent with the Laws of the Land, and the Statutes of the College,
and no further. I desire your Lordships that it may be recorded. (This
was twice repeated.)
Lord Chief Justice. You cannot imagine that we act contrary to the
Laws of the Land, and as to the Statutes the King has dispensed with
them. Do you think that we come here to act against Law ?
President. It does not become me, my Lords, to say so, but I will be
plain with your Lordships. I find that your Commission gives you
authority to change and alter the Statutes, and make new ones as you
think fit. Now, my Lords, we have an oath not only to observe these
Statutes (laying his hand on the Book) but to admit of no new ones, nor
alterations in these. This must be my behaviour here. I must admit of
no alteration from it, and by the Grace of God never will.
Bishop C. Do you observe all these Statutes ?
President. Yes, my Lord, I hope we do.
Bishop C. You have a Statute there for Mass, why don't you read
Mass?
The President. My Lord, the matter of this oath is unlawful, and in
such a case no man is obliged to observe an oath. Besides the Statute
is taken away by the Law of the Land.
Bishop C. By what law ?
17. Stafford. By that which obliges us to say Common Prayer.
Bishop C. What, the Act of Uniformity ? I have often considered it,
and do not remember one word of Mass in it.
D v . Stafford. But that obliges us to use the Liturgy of the Church of
England in all Collegiate Churches and Chapels, and I hope, my Lords,
you do not imagine that we can say Common-Prayer and Mass together.
Bishop C. Do you allow that an Act of Parliament can free you from
the Obligation of a Statute ?
The President. I do not say but that his Majesty may alter our
Statutes, nor do I know but a Parliament may do the same : I dispute
not their power, only this, my Lord, I say that I, who already have taken
an oath to observe the Statutes as they now stand, and am sworn not to
admit of any change or alteration by any authority whatsoever [and then
turning to the oath, where they were to observe these Statutes and no
other, according to the literal and grammatical sense etc., and reading it
to their Lordships] can obey none. But then those who come after such
limitations and restrictions are made, are not obliged to observe them,
and that, my Lords, is our case as to the Statutes of the Mass.
Then the Decree of the 22nd of June was read, declaring the
President's Election null and void.
1687. AND KING JAMES II, 13 1
Bishop C. Did you know of this Decree etc. ?
The President. Yes, my Lord, I have heard of it.
Bishop C. Why then did you not obey ?
The President. I was never cited before their Lordships, nor was
either heard by them in person or proxy ; and I think that I am the only
instance that is extant of any man, who was ever deprived of a Freehold,
wherein he was legally invested, and of which he was quietly possessed,
without being summoned or heard.
(Here mention was made of D r . Fairfax's suspension.)
The President. My Lord, he is absent, and if your Lordships give
me leave, I have somewhat to say on his account ; your Lordship may
please to observe in that Decree that the reason given, why D r . Fairfax
was suspended from his Fellowship was because he had not observed his
Majesty's command in not electing M r . Anthony Farmer, President of
the College : now the charge of immorality given in against M r . Farmer
by the College Delegates was made out, and their Lordships fully satisfied
in it on the 29^ July, notwithstanding which this Decree for suspension
of D r . Fairfax was fixed on the College gates on the 2 d of August.
Bishop C. The King hath for the most part recommended to the
Presidentship of this College.
The President. I am the twentieth President, and only four of that
number have been recommended by the Kings and Queens of England,
whereof three were everyway qualified for that office.
Bishop C. Who were these ?
The President. My Lord, there was one in the time of Edward VI th ,
one in Queen Elizabeth's, and two in the late King's reign.
Bishop C. Was there never a one in the Reign of King Charles I st . ?
The President. Not that we know of.
Bishop C. What think you of D r . Oliver ? To my knowledge, as I
am informed, he had a mandate, and carried it about from Fellow to
Fellow, and showed it to them and they went into the Chapel, and imme-
diately elected him.
The President. It doth not appear to us, my Lord, that he ever had a
mandate, no such thing appears upon our Register.
Bishop C. But it appears to us, and I will bring you one to swear that
he had a mandate.
Lord Chief Justice. Where is your Register? Let us see them.
The President. The truth is that we have lost the Register of D r .
Oliver's Election and admission : the Register between the years 1640 or
thereabouts and 1660, being taken away by those, who were turned out
of the College at that time. But I believe, my Lord, we are able to
prove that he was elected and admitted according to the Statute.
Bishop C. Is this your way of dealing with us ? First, you quote your
Statutes, and then tell us they are taken away. If you have any Register,
deal above board with us, as we will with you, and let us see them.
The President. We have one of the time since the King came in.
Bishop C. Where is it ? Send for it.
The President. We cannot come at it, for there are several keys to the
Door, and D r . Aldworth has one, he being Vice-President, and he is out
of Town.
122 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
Bishop C. He is not far off, is he ? let us send for him. But I know that
D r . Aldworth is too much of a Gentleman, and too submissive to
authority, that he could not keep a Key, since he is pronounced not Vice-
President. Deal ingenuously with us. If he hath not the Key say so.
D r . Hough, have you any Register in your own keeping?
The President. Yes, my Lord, I have one, but I conceive that by the
Statutes I am obliged to keep it, and therefore I desire time to consider of it.
Bishop C. No Time but let us see it.
The President. Well, my Lord, you shall.
Baron Jenner. He questions our authority, I think. Did not our Com-
mission say that we were to call for, and see, all Papers and Registers ?
Bishop C. Well, Gentlemen, if your Statutes can no way be altered,
how came the late D r . Clarke to be admitted President ? Was he a
statutable person ?
The President. Yes, my Lord.
Bishop C. Do not your Statutes require that he should be in Orders ?
Was he in Orders ?
The President. My Lord, the Statutes only require that he should be a
Doctor of Divinity, Physic, Law, or Master of Arts. There is indeed
one Statute that says, that the President or Senior Fellow should read
Prayers upon certain days, from whence we conclude that the Founder
supposed that we might have a President, that was not in Orders : and in
such a case he takes care that the Senior Fellow should do his Duty.
Charnock. My Lord, will you be pleased to ask D r . Hough whether
D r . Clarke was married or not ?
The President. No, Sir, he was a Widower.
(Then the Petition was read from the Society to his Majesty, signed the
ninth of April, and presented on the tenth to the Earl of Sunderland by
the hands of D r . Thomas Smith and Captain Bagshaw, wherein it was
set forth that having heard that his Majesty would recommend M r . Farmer
to them, a Person incapable, they did humbly beseech him, either to leave
them to a free Election, or recommend a qualified person.)
Bishop C. Was this Petition answered ?
The President. Yes.
Bishop C. Why then, did you not stay for his Majesty's answer ?
The President. My Lord, we did, till the very last day, wherein we are
limited to finish the Election, and my Lord Sunderland returned us in
the King's name this answer ' That His Majesty expects to be obeyed/
Now, my Lords, we did no longer defer the Election because our Statutes
enjoin us (to elect) within such a time, and we did stay to the utmost, nor
could we choose the Person whom His Majesty did recommend, knowing
him to be so unfit, as we afterward made him appear to be.
Bishop C. Grant that M r . Farmer was not capable of it, how comes it
to pass, that when you had read the King's mandate you sent word to the
Earl of Sunderland that the Person, whom the King had recommended,
was unfit for the place, and that before you had humbly desired his Majesty
would recommend another that was fit for it, and you would thankfully
receive him. And yet notwithstanding when the Earl of Sunderland's
answer came with a mandate to you to elect the Bishop of Oxford, you
sent him word that the Place was full : my Question is how you came to
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 123
fill that place contrary to the King's mandate and your own proposals in
that Letter ?
The President. Had the King sent another Person, and that within
Statutable Time, we had thankfully received him. My Lords, within
fifteen days (as I have already informed your Lordships) they (the
Fellows) were bound to elect a President, and because the Earl of
Sunderland's Letter came not in that time, they were forced to make such
an Election as you see.
Lord Chief Justice. A mandate always implies an Inhibition in respect
of all others, and by virtue of the King's Prerogative there is supposed a
Reserve from what private Statutes require.
The President. My Lord, I cannot conceive that, neither since the
College was founded hath there been any instance of that nature.
Bishop C. But I can, and, if you question it, here is the King's
Councel ready to argue it, at what time was your College founded ?
The President. In King Henry the Sixth's Time.
Bishop C. Well, when the King suffers a College to be founded,
he always supposes such a reserve for his own Power.
The President. When a King suffers a College to be founded within
his Kingdom, and approves of the Statutes that were made for it, and
nothing is therein expressed, implying such a reserve, we, to whom
the Statutes are delivered, and who positively swear to the observance of
them, cannot have such a reserve implied in them ; whilst the Person
whom his Majesty recommends appears duly qualified for the Place, it
seems indeed to imply that we should not proceed to the Election of
another, but when he is known to be utterly incapable it seems to be the
same as if there were no Letter at all.
Bishop C. Well Gentlemen : in short. First of all, I demand all your
Registers. Secondly, I demand (an account of) the Revenues of your
College, with an account of your Benefactors, what every one gave, and to
what use the money was assigned, and how it was employed upon your
uses, and how far converted to others, and in plain English how far it
was designed for Hospitality. Thirdly, I demand a copy of all your
Leases, which you have let for two years last past, to whom you have
let them, and what Fines you have received upon them. M r . Steward,
do you hear, pray look out your leases.
The President. My Lord, this requires time, and I hope you will grant it.
Bishop C. Till Tuesday next.
(Some other Things and Questions less material were put, and then
the Court was adjourned till Saturday the 22 d , at nine in the morning to
The Common Room, the Hall being, as they said, too public and in-
commodious.) (Impartial Relation.}
156.
1687, Oct. 21. Letters from Henry Holden (Demy 1682, Fellow
1686) to his Father M r . Humphrey Holden of Erdington, co.
Warwick.
Honoured Sir. The Commissioners came to Magdalen College
Chapel, but disliking the Place as inconvenient, immediately adjourned
124 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
to the Hall. After reading the Commission the Bishop of Chester in a
large speech severely reprimanded the Fellows of their disobedience,
telling them that their obstinacy looked like rebellion, which is as the sin
of witchcraft, and exhorting them to a timely compliance as the only
means to prevent their eminent ruin &c. which done all the Fellows were
called over, and they adjourned to the afternoon.
The Court being seated, they called over all the members of the
House, and as they were going to proceed, D r . Hough addressed their
Lordships in these words : that he and the Fellows did submit to the
Visitation so far as it was consistent with the laws of the Realm and the
Statutes of the College but no further : that they had but two days
notice to prepare for it, desiring further time. The Visitors replied, God
forbid they should do any thing contrary to law, but their Statutes could
be no law to their judicature, overruling their plea for longer time of
(preparation ?) : then they demanded why they had elected D r . Hough in
contempt of a Mandate for M r . Farmer. It was replied that M r . Farmer
was not qualified in any respect, as had been sufficiently proved : that
they had petitioned his Majesty to have a Statutable Person named to
them, but not receiving an answer till the time limited by the Statutes
was just expiring they had made choice of Dr. Hough, who was elected
in due form, and confirmed by the Bishop of Winchester their Visitor :
that they had not received any prohibition ; nor could they elect or
admit of the Bishop of Oxford, for as much as when his mandate came
the Place was full already. To this the Court urged that the King's
mandate for Farmer (though a man unqualified) was in effect an inhi-
bition from choosing any other till His pleasure was farther known, upon
which followed much debate about the obligation of their Oaths and
Statutes, which their Lordships would have to be understood with refer-
ence to the King's dispensing power in all Corporations, as being Bodies
of his Majesty's creation, and mere products of his grace and favour.
D r . Hough spake very fully to all particulars with so modest, calm, and
yet assured mien, with so much reason, eloquence, and gracefulness, as
charmed not only his Judges, but even his enemies too. One thing
amongst many other he told them, which I will not omit, that he had
never in the whole course of his (office ?) been called to appear, and
that he imagined he was the first instance of any Person that had been
condemned unheard. The Court then ordered three things. I st to have
the College Registers produced. 2 d to have an account of what Bene-
factions had been given for Hospitality and Charity and how they are
now disposed of. 3 rd ly. that they should deliver in a list of what Leases
and Copies had been renewed for the two years last past, for what Fines,
and so adjourned till the next morning to the Common Room as more
convenient to keep out the Crowd, which was very troublesome.
PI
157.
1687, Oct. 22. Letters from Henry Holden, Fellow, continued.
The first thing they did was to call in D r . Hough, with whom they
discoursed in private for an hour, asking whether he thought himself
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 1 25
lawful President, and advising him to recede quietly, and leave his
Lodgings &c., all which he refused. In the discussion he told them that
he perceived that they were resolved to put him out, and as he had
before applied himself to them as Judges, so now if they were Persons
of honour and Gentlemen he urged them that they would represent him
to the King as his Majesty's most dutiful Subject ; that nothing but his
oaths and (conscience ?) would have moved him to withstand his
Majesty's pleasure, and that he should think himself most miserable,
should he be under his Prince's disfavour. Their Lordships accepted
very well what he had offered, and assured him that they would acquaint
the King with all imaginable favour in his behalf. The doors were then
opened, and the sentence of deprivation read, with the Mandate for the
Bishop of Oxford. The Fellows were asked singly whether they would
assist at his enstallment, which all but two or three refused.
They adjourned till after dinner, at which time D r . Hough appearing
entered his protestation that whereas their Lordships pursuant to an
Order from above had pronounced his place void, and struck his name
out of the Buttery-Book, he did protest against all that they had done, or
should at any time do, in prejudice of him and his right, as illegal, un-
just, and null, and did hereby appeal from them to our Sovereign Lord
the King in his Courts of Justice.
Upon speaking the same indiscreet persons set up a great hum, which
so incensed the Judges, already nettled at his remonstrance, which they
said was itself a Riot, that they instantly bound over D r . Hough in
1000 Bond, and two Sureties in 500, to appear at the King's Bench
Bar on November the 12^ though he and all the Fellows offered to
make oath that they were not in the least privy or abetting to it. The
Court then took occasion to express a very great esteem for the parts
and person of the Doctor, that they would all have ridden a hundred
miles to serve him, but that they must of necessity animadvert upon so
great an affront put upon his Majesty, and his Representatives; with
which the day's Proceedings ended, the Court being adjourned till
Tuesday.
158.
Anonymous Letter sent to the Lord Chief Justice Wright,
probably written in Oct. 1687.
To the Lord Chief Justice Wright. I have known your Lordship to
be a man of Integrity and Justice, and though you have great tempta-
tions, I cannot believe that you will depart from the Principles thereof.
The employment your Lordship is involved in is a great Cause. The
eyes of all the Kingdom are upon it ; it is not only the case of Magdalen
College but of all the Colleges and Halls of private Foundation in both
the Universities. Queen Elizabeth was invested with greater authority in
cases of Visitation than any of her Successors. There were two
Statutes in the First year of her Reign that gave her great power : the
first was printed, being the Act for restoring to the Crown the ancient
Jurisdiction of the State Ecclesiastical. The second was not printed.
It was entitled : an Act giving authority to the Queen to make Or-
126 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
dinances in Collegiate Churches and Chapels. It has always been held
as a Law that the King could not visit any College (but Royal Founda-
tions) where there are Local Visitors appointed by their Founders, and
although that Queen (Elizabeth) was invested with those Powers men-
tioned, there is no instance that can be given of any the like Commission
issued by her, as that by your Lordships. I know that there has been a
Precedent mentioned of a Commission of Visitation issued in the tenth
year of Queen Elizabeth to the Earl of Leicester, and others, to visit
Corpus Christi College in Oxford, but that does in no sort agree with
your Lordships Commission, for that was awarded upon a defect in the
Statutes of the College, for the Bishop of Winchester, their Visitor, could
not visit, for he is (allowed) by the Statutes but once in five years to
visit, and he had visited scarcely two years before, and so could not then
visit. And upon that it was that a Commission was granted to visit ;
and even in that Commission the Bishop of Winchester was one of the
Visitors, and they authorized to plead no otherwise than according to the
Ecclesiastical and Municipal Laws of the Land, and the Constitutions,
Ordinances, Customs, and Privileges of the College, and such rules and
articles as were used by the Bishops of Winchester in their usual Visita-
tion ; as your Lordship may see more at large in an Extract of that
Visitation here enclosed. There is another Case reported in Dyer : it is
Thomas Coveney's Case.
I desire your Lordships further to consider that the King is manifestly
wronged in this procedure. He is to be advised by my Lords, the
Judges ; and if he be misled, the imputation must be to you, and if any
Extraordinary Course be used to these poor men, who in the general
belief of both the Universities, and the whole Kingdom, have not
offended the Laws; the Question will be of strange consequence, for
Property and Right will never want friends, and the sufferers for it the
compassion of mankind. Your Lordship's most humble Servant
(Impartial Relation?)
159.
1687, Oct. 22. Proceedings of the Commissioners.
D r . Hough was called in, and it appearing to their Lordships that his
Election to the President's Place was made null and void by a sentence
given by the Lords Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes, and that
he, the said D r . Hough had legal notice of the same, but notwithstanding
the said sentence he had refused, and still did refuse to submit thereunto,
the Court ordered him forthwith peacably to depart the College, and
deliver up the Keys of the Lodgings, and they struck his name out of the
Buttery Book, and having so done, declared to the Fellows, that he was
actually expelled, and admonished them not to own him as their
President.
Then the Court asked the Fellows whether they would admit the
Bishop of Oxford their President according to the King's Mandate, but
all of them refused, except M r . Charnock, but said that they would not
oppose it.
Then they adjourned till the Afternoon. (Johnston)
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 127
160.
1687, Oct. 22. Proceedings, continued.
As soon as their Lordships met in the Common Room, and the Society
before them, the first word was, ' Withdraw/ and after a little time the
President was called in alone.
Bishop C. Do you submit to the Decree of the Commissioners whereby
your Election is declared null ?
The President. As to the Decree of the Lords above, it is a nullity in
itself from the beginning to the end, so far as it relates to me, I never
having been sued, or having ever appeared before them, either by Person
or by Proxy. Besides my Cause itself, I was never before them, their
Lordships never enquiring, or asking one question, concerning the
legality and Statutableness of my Election, for which reason, as I am
informed, that Decree was of no validity against me, according to the
methods of the Civil Law. But if it were, I am possessed of a Freehold
according to the Laws of England, and the Statutes of the College, having
been elected as unanimously, and with as much formality as any one
of my Predecessors, who were Presidents of this College, and afterwards
admitted by the Bishop of Winchester, our Visitor, as the Statutes of the
College require. And therefore I cannot submit to that sentence, because
I think that I cannot be deprived of my Freehold but by course of Law
in Westminster Hall, or by being in some way incapacitated, by the
Founder's Statutes.
Bishop C. Will you deliver up the Keys of the President's Office and
Lodgings for the use of that Person, whom the King hath appointed your
President, as the Statutes require ?
The President. As the Statutes require, my Lord.
Bishop C. Yes, as your Statutes require.
The President. I will immediately do it, if that appear.
Bishop C. Turn to that part of the President's Oath, where he pro-
miseth to submit quietly, if he shall be expelled, either for his fault, vel
ob all am cans am.
The President. My Lord, that Statute only concerns me, if I be ex-
pelled for any fault committed by me.
Bishop C. Vel ob aliam causam.
The President. Then, my Lord, to be short, here is no cause at all.
Bishop C. I ask you again, Will you deliver up the Keys to the
President whom his Majesty hath appointed ?
The President. My Lord, there neither is, nor can be, a President so
long as I live and obey the Statutes of the College, and therefore I do not
think fit to give up my Right, the Keys and Lodgings.
Bishop C. We may demand them of you as Visitors.
The President. My Lords, we never deliver up the Keys to the Bishop
of Winchester, and we own no greater Visitatorial Power than his. He
hath the King's authority. It is by virtue of a Royal Charter, that we
live together, and enjoy the benefit of this place, that empowered our
Founder to give us a Rule, and obliged us by oath to act suitably unto it :
and the Bishop of Winchester is hereby constituted to be our Visitor, and
128 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
all this we own from the King's authority. The Bishop of Winchester
is our ordinary Visitor : the King, I presume, our extraordinary. But
your Lordship knows it hath been controverted whether the King can
visit a private College or not ? The authority of the President is made
by delivering up the Statute Book and Keys, and therefore I look upon
them as an essential Badge of my office. But I humbly beg that I may
ask your Lordships one question. Your Lordship is pleased to demand
of me to give up these things. Does your Lordship own my Right ?
For if not, what is it your Lordships would have me give up ?
Bishop C. No, we look upon you as an Intruder.
The President. If I am an Intruder, the Bishop of Winchester made
me one, and I thank God for it. My Lords, the time we have been
allowed for this appearance has been very short, only one day betwixt it
and the Citation. We are more ignorant in the Laws, and I must
confess it of myself in particular that I have endeavoured to give your
Lordships a plain and satisfactory reply to such questions as your Lord-
ships have been pleased to put to me. It is very probable that through
ignorance and inadvertency I may express myself unwarily. If so,
I beseech your Lordships, let no advantage be taken of it, my intention
has been always to express myself with all imaginable duty to the King
and respects to your Lordships. If I have done otherwise, I beseech
your Lordships' candour in a favourable interpretation of what I said,
that nothing may be taken amiss, where all was dutifully intended.
And now my Lords, thus far have I appeared before you as Judges.
I now address you as Men of honour and Gentlemen. I beseech you to
represent me as dutiful to his Majesty to the last degree, as I always will be
so far as my conscience permits me to the last moment of my Life, and
when I am dispossest here I hope your Lordships will interceed that
I may no longer lie under his Majesty's displeasure ; or be frowned upon
by my Prince, which is the greatest affliction that can befall me.
Upon this the President was ordered to withdraw, and, after a little
time he and the Fellows were called in again. Then the Bishop
repeated this Question.
Bishop C. D r . Hough, will you deliver up the Keys, and quiet posses-
sion of the Lodgings to the Person whom his Majesty has appointed
President ? To this no answer was returned. The Bishop repeated a
second time.
The President. My Lords, I have neither seen nor heard any thing
to induce me to it.
Bishop C. D r . Hough, will you deliver up the Keys, and quiet posses-
sion of the Lodgings to the person whom his Majesty has appointed
President ?
Whereupon the King's Proctor stood up and accused D r . Hough
of contumacy. Then the Bishop of Chester admonished him in these
words three times : D r . Hough, I admonish you to depart peaceably out
of the Lodgings, and to act no longer as President, or pretended Pre-
sident of this College.
Which being so done they struck his name out of the (Buttery) Book
and admonished the Fellows, and others of the Society, that they should
no longer submit to his authority. (Impartial Relation.)
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 129
(It would appear that there were some in the Hall at the time of this
conversation, who either took notes of it at the time, or wrote down
afterwards what portions of it they recollected. This will account for
certain variations and additions which may be found in 'The Impartial
Relation,' in * the account of it in Wilmot's Life of Hough,' and in the
' Corpus Christi College Manuscript/
For example in Wilmot's Life, after the Denial of a Copy of the
Commission, the Bishop of Chester says to D r . Hough, What is the
reason that you act as President, since the Election was declared null and
void by the Lords Commissioners sitting at Whitehall in June last, and
the Fellows stand out in contempt of the King's Mandate ?
D r . Hough. My Lord, both myself and the Fellows have taken oaths,
so strong and binding, that we cannot depart from them without offering
the greatest violence to our consciences. It was according to the
Statutes of our College that they made choice of a President, and there-
fore they were not capable of proceeding otherwise ; and as to myself, I
have been condemned at Whitehall, and turned out of my property
without giving me a hearing, or so much as a Citation to appear.
*******
Bishop C. Will you deliver up the Keys to the use of that Person,
whom the King has appointed President, as the Statutes require ?
D r . Hough. As the Statutes require, my Lord ?
Bishop C. Yes, as the Statutes require.
D r . Hough. My Lord, I will immediately do it, if that appear.
Bishop C. Turn then to the Statutes where he promises to submit
quietly, if he shall be expelled, either for his own fault, or other cause.
D r . Hough. This Statute doth not concern me, if I be not expelled for
any cause committed by me.
Bishop C. Vel ob aliam causam.
D T . Hough. Then to speak the truth, my Lord, here is no cause
at all.)
161.
1687, Oct. 21. D^ Fairfax.
At the first Sessions D r . Fairfax purposely absented himself; but M r .
Atterbury making affidavit he was in Town, and that he advised him to
appear, the Doctor accordingly did so the next day (Friday, Oct. 21).
The Doctor being called in alone, and the Doors immediately shut, he
begged of the Lordships some company might be let in, because, as all
had observed, the Bishop in his Speech at the opening of their com-
mission promised to transact every thing in the face of the world. The
Bishop complained of the Crowd. The Doctor then desired to fetch in
but two or three, at length but one, and him at the door, viz. the College
Steward, a Public Notary.
Baron Jenner. You must not think to prescribe to the Court.
Bishop of Chester. What is the cause of your contempt in not appear-
ing at either of the Sessions yesterday ?
D r . Fairfax. No contempt, my Lord, but for these ensuing reasons.
I thought my Suspension above had eased me of that trouble. The
130 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
Doctor tendering a copy of it, which was read by the Commissioners, the
Doctor insisted very much on the reasons their Lordships at Whitehall
gave for his Suspension, viz. For not obeying his Majesty in electing
M r . Farmer, he tendering a Copy of Articles made good against him,
and yet their Lordships ordered his Suspension to be fixed on the
College Gates five days after that famous hearing. A Second Reason
for his non-appearance was that upon the first day of the ensuing term
he intended to meet the Lord Chief Justice at his Court of King's Bench
for relief against the Sentence, his Fellowship being a Freehold : witness
Coveney's' Case.
Bishop of Chester. You will find but little favour there.
D r . Fairfax. My Lord, in Courts of Judicature I only expect Justice,
and (turning to the Lord Chief Justice) I have myself, said he, been
above four years in all the Courts of Westminster Hall, and found ex-
cellent justice, and I will see how it is now.
Lord Chief Justice. You shall have justice.
D r . Fairfax. But your Lordship may save me the labour of two
journeys, and my charges, by improving your Lordships deserved interest
with my Lords Commissioners there, and get them now to take off my
Suspension. It is ill travelling at this time of year, and besides I am
not rich.
( Baron Jenner. To sue in Westminster Hall requires a Purse.
D T . Fairfax. My Lord, I did not say that I was poor.
Lord Chief Justice. You must make your supplication and submission
to the King.
D r . Fairfax. My Lord, they tell me that this business lies in your
Lordship's Court, and only there. Besides the trouble I am otherwise
to give your Lordship, what a noise will the cause make that Dr. Fairfax
is suspended for this very reason, viz. for not obeying the King in electing
Anthony Farmer, such a virtuoso : and under correction your Lordships
are obliged to take off my Suspension, to take off the shame from that
Body, whose number by a common adjunct you yourselves have lately
increased.
Baron Jenner. We must not endure these reflections on the Court.
Bishop of Chester. But will you submit to this visitation ?
Then D r . Fairfax read a paper subscribed by him, dated Oct. 21, in
these words : ' My Lords, I have been summoned and appeared in this
cause before the Lords Ecclesiastical at Whitehall, with whom your
Lordships are now joined in Commission, and then gave in my answer.
I have nothing to add to it, and find no reason to retract/
< Henry Fairfax.'
Bishop of Chester. Will you admit the Bishop of Oxford ?
IF. Fairfax. I am suspended.
Bishop of Chester, Have you done no Collegiate Act since your sus-
pension ?
D r . Fairfax. My Lord, I have gone into the Hall, and laid in my
chamber. I did not think their Lordships, when they suspended me,
ever intended that I should not eat, drink, or sleep.
Bishop of Chester. If your suspension was off, would you submit to
the Bishop of Oxford ?
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 131
D r . Fairfax. Truly, my Lord, I cannot do it.
Then all the Fellows were called into Court.
The President being withdrawn, the Bishop put the Question to all the
Fellows, viz. whether they would assist at the admission of the Bishop
of Oxford to be installed President by virtue of the King's Mandate ?
To which was answered by all the Fellows to this effect (except Dr.
Pudsey and Dr. Thomas Smith, who answered doubtfully, and Charnock
that he would assist) that they were under oaths to the contrary, and
therefore could not do it.
Then all were ordered to withdraw, and Dr. Pudsey being called in
alone, they asked him concerning the manner and form of installing a
President, which he instructed them in.
The Court adjourned till two in the afternoon.
(Impartial Relation?)
162.
1687, Oct. 22. Continuation of Baron Jenner's Diary.
Went to the College about eight, sat in the Common Room : all persons
being first turned out, we consulted what and how the next thing was to
be done : then went on with D r . Hough, pronounced him contumacious,
and put his name out of the Book, and admonished the Fellows not to
own him as President ; and enquired into some of their contempts ; then
adjourned till two.
The Bishop of Man (Baptist Levinz) dined with us. A Libel against
the Bishop of Chester left in the morning. When we went again the
room very full, and having home 1 proceedings against the Fellows,
D r . Hough came in with a great company, and did appeal from us to
the King in his Courts of Justice, whereupon there was a Hum, which
we took notice of, and my Lord Chief Justice required the sureties for
their good behaviour from the Doctor, who having withdrawn, we con-
sulted about this appeal, and then called them all in, and overruled their
appeal, and the Doctor was bound in 1000 himself and 500 apiece
his bail, to appear at the King's Bench this next term. Then we
adjourned till Tuesday, came home, and we filled the packet for
London, and in the mean time the Bishop of Man came from the
College, and D r . Hedges desired leave to go to the College, and upon
the whole we have yet some hopes of their complying in some measure.
The following Letter was written to my Lord Chancellor. The Vice-
Chancellor and some of the Heads came to see us ihis night.
May it please your Lordship. We have sent a Letter to my Lord
President with a particular account therein enclosed of our proceedings
here, by which it will be seen how the College have carried themselves
towards us, but by reason of the Bishop of Oxford not appearing in
person, and the King's Mandate for admitting him not being directed to
us but to the College, we have foreborne the executing the same till
Tuesday next, that we may give this account in the Interim, and receive
your Lordships commands herein, which we shall be ready to observe,
1 So in Dr. Bloxam's MS.
K 2
133 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
further craving leave to acquaint your Lordship that we humbly conceive
we cannot proceed further against D r . Hough than expulsion (which is
already done) by the powers we as yet have. We therefore beg the
favour of your Lordship's advice and direction which shall be readily
obeyed by your Lordship's most humble and dutiful Servants,
Thomas Chester,
Robert Wright,
Thomas Jenner.
P.S. My Lord, since the writing of this Letter we have reason to
believe we shall have an entire submission from the College on Tuesday
next, for D r . Hough since his expulsion has left the College, and taken
Lodgings in the Town.
(Another Letter to the like purpose was written to my Lord President,
signed by us all, wherein our proceedings at large copied out were sent.)
163.
1687, Oct. 22. Continuation of D r . Thomas Smith's Diary.
Adjourned to Saturday, 22 d October, 9 in the morning, to the Common
Room, where all the other meetings of the Court were held. We were all
soon bid to withdraw. Then the President was called in by himself,
where after some debate, as he told us, he was admonished to deliver up
the Keys of the Lodgings, which he refusing to do was ordered to with-
draw, and after some little time we were all called in together. D r .
Cartwright, the Bishop of Chester, admonished D r . Hough three times to
depart the College peaceably, to deliver up the Keys, and to quit all
further pretensions to the Presidentship. He replied that he would not
deliver up his Keys, no, not to the Bishop of Winchester, that he had
never been cited, and could not be turned out of his freehold. They
answered him that he had been cited as Fellow, and that he was never
owned by them as President. He still persisting, M r . Leigh, Proctor for
the King, desiring sentence of the Lordships against D r . Hough for his
contempt and contumacy, the said Bishop of Chester proceeded in these
words: 'Dr. Hough, by virtue of the King's authority, and a sentence
passed at London by the Lords Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Affairs,
we deprive you of the President's Place, and order you to depart the
College presently ; and we order also your name to be struck out of the
Buttery Book.'
Afterwards D r . Fairfax was called in by himself. Soon after all the
Fellows. The King's Letters Mandatory for admitting the Bishop
of Oxford President were read. The Fellows were asked in these
words, whether they would obey the King's Mandate for the Bishop
of Oxford to be President. D r . Fairfax, who did not appear the day
before, being under a Suspension, said nothing. D r . Pudsey demurred
at first, and said that he would submit to the King, though he could
not admit (the Bishop of Oxford), but that he would be present at
the Admission. My answer in my turn was, word for word, this, as I
put it down there in the room in my note book : ' My Lords Com-
missioners, if it be the King's pleasure to make the Bishop of Oxford
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 133
President, and that your Lordships acting by that authority have declared
him such, I do, because I must, submit. 1 make no opposition.' All
the rest refused, saying that it was against the Statutes and their Oath ;
and would not, except M r . Charnock and M r . Thompson. The Com-
missioners put down every Fellow's answer in writing. It was said then
that D r . Hough had been examined in private, whereupon they told us
that it was only for the greater convenience to themselves and us, but
that they did nothing but what they would let all the world know, and so
they read D r . Hough's answer. Then they said to us, if you think that
we have not taken your answers right, put them in writing yourselves
against the afternoon, to which time they adjourned.
(Cobbett, col. 61, 62.)
164.
1687, Oct. 22. Continuation of Bishop Cartwright's Diary.
We called in the Steward with the Books of Leases and Court Rolls,
which were delivered back to him, till we made farther use of them.
The Butler brought the Buttery Book, and D r . Hough being called in
again, I told him : ' Doctor, here is a sentence under Seal before us of
the King's Commissioners for visiting the Universities, by which your
Election to the Presidentship of Magdalen College is declared null and
void, which you yesterday heard read, and of which you confessed your-
self to have legal notice before it being fixed upon your doors. This
sentence, and the authority by which it was passed, you have contemned,
and in contempt thereof have kept possession of the Lodgings and office
to this day, to the great contempt and dishonour of the King and his
authority. Are you yet willing upon second and better thoughts, first,
to submit to this sentence passed by the Lords upon you, or not ?
Secondly, Will you deliver up the Keys and Lodgings, as by a clause in
your oath at your admission you are tied to do, for the use of the Pre-
sident, who has the King's Letters Mandatory to be admitted into that
office?'
To the first he says that the decree of the Commissioners is a perfect
nullity from the beginning to the end as to what relates to him, he never
having been cited, nor having ever appeared before them either in his
person or by his proxy ; besides, his cause itself was never before them, their
Lordships never enquiring or asking one question concerning the legality
and statutableness of the Election, for which reasons he is informed that
the Decree was of no validity against him, according to the methods of
the Civil Law ; but if it had been, he is possessed of a Freehold according
to the Laws of England, and the Statutes of the Society, having been
elected as unanimously and with as much formality as any of his Pre-
decessors, Presidents of the College, and afterwards admitted by the
Bishop of Winchester, their Visitor, as the Statutes of the College require ;
and therefore he could not submit to that sentence, because he thought
that he could not be deprived of his Freehold, but by course of Law in
Westminster Hall, or by being in some ways incapacitated according
to the Founder's Statutes, which were confirmed by King James the
First.
134 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
Then the Doctor asked, ' whether we acknowledged his Title to the
Presidentship.' I replied, * No, for we looked upon him as malse fidei
Possessor, or an Intruder/ He replied that ' the Bishop of Winchester
made him so, and said that he was satisfied with his own Title, and
therefore did not think himself concerned to apply to the Commissioners
till called, and that he expects legal courses should be taken against him,
if he keep legal Possession/ To which, I replied, * that the Election was
undue, because the King had laid his hands upon the College, which
was an Inhibition/
To the second question he answered that ' there neither is, nor can be,
any President so long as he lives and obeys the laws of the Land,
and the Statutes of the Place, and therefore he does not think it
reasonable to give up his Right, nor the Keys and Lodgings now de-
manded of him. He takes the Bishop of Winchester to be their ordinary
Visitor, and the King to be his extraordinary, as he believed, but it had been
controverted whether the King had power to visit or not (in Coveney's case
4 Eliz.), and yet he would deny him the Keys, because he looks upon
commanding the Keys from him to be requiring him to deliver up his
office. He said that he had appeared before us hitherto as Judges, and
that he now addressed us as men of honour and judgement, and besought
us to represent him as dutiful to his Majesty to the last degree, as he
always would be, where his conscience permits, to the last moment of his
life : and when he is dispossest, he hopes that we will intercede, that he
may no longer lie under his Majesty's displeasure, or be frowned upon by
his Prince, which would be the greatest affliction that could befall him in
this world/ Which having promised, I admonished him to depart peace-
ably from the President's Lodgings, and to act no more as President, or
pretended President of the College, in contempt of the King and his
authority. i, 2 do , et Tertio.
M r . Leigh accused his contumacy, and prayed our Judgement, which
was this : ' The Lords Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes, and for
visiting the University, have declared the President's Place of this College
to be null and void, and therefore, we, by virtue of the King's authority
to us committed, do order and command D r . Hough forthwith to quit all
pretensions to the said office, and that his name be struck out of the
Buttery-Book, and we do admonish you the Fellows, and other members
of this Society no longer to own him as your President.
Then we read the King's Mandate for the Bishop of Oxford, and so
adjourned to the same Common Room till 2 in the afternoon.
165.
1687, Oct. 22. Proceedings.
D r . Hough came into the Court, and made his Protestation against the
Proceedings, and appealed from the same as illegal, unjust, and null,
as he asserts. Whereupon there was a tumultuous hum, or acclamation,
made by the bystanders, which gave the Court some disturbance, in-
somuch that they thought fit to bind over D r . Hough in 1000, and two
Sureties in 500 each, to appear at the Kings Bench, and again ad-
monished D r . Hough to quit the College, which he accordingly did that
night. (Johnston.)
1687. AND KING JAMES II. 135
166.
1687, Oct. 22. Proceedings, continued.
(Saturday the 22nd of October, at two of the Clock in the Afternoon.)
The Commissioners being seated a Letter 1 from D r . Pudsey to the
Earl of Sunderland was read, dated Aug. 28. Then the Fellows present
desired of the Lords Commissioners that what had been transacted be-
tween them and D r . Hough in the morning might be publickly read,
which with much ado was granted.
Bishop C. Since D r . Hough's Place is declared void, will you admit
the Bishop of Oxford President ?
Fellows. Without deliberate perjury, my Lords, we cannot do it. It
is not in our power to do it. We will not do it.
Bishop C. Will you Sir ? (speaking to Mr. Hawles.)
Hawks. My Lord, I am passive.
Bishop C. Passive, what do you mean by passive ?
Hawles. My Lord, it is so common a word in the Church of England,
and so plain, that it needs no explication.
Bishop C. Will you Sir ? (speaking to Mr. Weelks.)
Weelks. I cannot agree to admit the Bishop of Oxford without pre-
meditated perjury, and I will not do it.
Bishop C. Well gentlemen, give us your answer in form that we may
satisfy the King.
Fellows. My Lord, we were forced by our Statutes to go to election,
a Statutable Election we have made by all our consents. D r . Hough
was elected. By our Oaths we are bound not to admit of any other :
and forasmuch as the King's Mandate for the Bishop of Oxford came
too late, we conferred our power upon D r . Hough, neither is it in our
power to transfer it to another.
Bishop C. Well then, you all consented to that Letter, which was sent
by D r . Pudsey to the Earl of Sunderland, in answer to the King's Man-
date to the Bishop of Oxford, that told him that the Place was full.
Fellows. Yes, my Lord, we did.
Bishop C. Did you Sir ? (to D r . Stafford.)
D r . Stafford. My Lord, I did consent to a Letter.
Bishop C. But to that Letter. Will you have it read ? (It was read.)
D r . Stafford. Oh 1 yes, my Lord, to that very Letter, that very Letter.
Bishop C. Did you Sir ? (to M r . Charnock.)
Charnock. No, my Lord, I was out of Town.
Fellows. My Lord, he was in Town ; but that Letter was agreed upon,
and sent from the Chapel. Had he been at Prayers he had known of it,
but, my Lord, he never comes to Prayers.
Bishop C. Did you Sir ? (to Mr. Bayley.)
M r . Bayley. Yes, my Lord, I did consent to it, and do, and it is my
opinion still.
Bishop C. Then I see that you are resolved not to admit the Bishop
of Oxford.
1 See above, No. 98.
136 MAGDALEN COLLEGE 1687.
The Fellows. My Lord, we cannot do it.
During this Examination the President came into Court without any
attendance, and having waited till it was ended, and their Lordships at a
pause, he made his application to them.
The President. My Lords, if your Lordships please to give me leave, I
would gladly speak a few words.
They were all pleased to put off their hats, and say he might, where-
upon he said : ' My Lords, you were pleased this morning in pursuance
to a Decree of the Lord's Commissioners at London to deprive me of my
Place of President of this College, and to strike my name out of the
Buttery Book. I do hereby Protest against all your Proceedings, and
against all that you have done, or hereafter shall do, in prejudice of me
and my Right, as illegal, unjust and null, and therefore I appeal to my
Sovereign Lord the King in his Courts of Justice/
Upon which the Strangers and young Scholars in the Room gave a
Hum, which so incensed their Lordships that, notwithstanding all the
protestations that the President and Fellows could make, the President in
particular offering to purge himself by Oath, that he was in no ways
accessory to, or abetting of it, and declaring that he was heartily ashamed
and troubled at it, yet the Lord Chief Justice was not to be pacified, but
charging it upon the President, he bound him in a bond of 1000, and
security to the like value to make his appearance at the King's Bench Bar
on the twelfth of November.
Moreover the Lord Chief Justice said that he had 
