at Cambridge, that Cranmer, Latimer, and Ridley met their fate. § 36. The touching farewell to his old University left us by the last-named martyr, shows how close was the connection between Cambridge and those Protestant principles for which he laid down his life: "To whom, after my kinsfolk, should I offer farewell, before the University of Cambridge; where I have dwelt longer, found more faithful and hearty friends, received more benefits (the benefits of my natural parents only excepted), than ever I did in mine own native country wherein I was born? . § 37. "Farewell, therefore, Cambridge, my loving mother and tender nurse! If I should not acknowledge thy manifold benefits, yea, if I should not for thy benefits at least love thee again, truly I were to be counted too ungrateful and unkind. What benefits hadst thou ever that thou usest to give and bestow upon thy best beloved children, that thou thoughtest too good for me? First to be Scholar, then to be Fellow; and, after my departure from thee, thou calledst me again to a Mastership of a right worshipful College. I thank thee, my loving mother, for all this thy kindness; and I pray God that His laws, and the sincere Gospel of Christ, may ever be truly taught and faithfully learned in thee. § 38. "Farewell, Pembroke Hall, of late mine own College, my care and my charge! What case thou art now in, God knoweth; I know not well. Thou wast ever named since I knew thee, which is now thirty years ago, to be studious, well learned, and a great setter forth of Christ's Gospel and of God's true Word. So I found thee, and, blessed be God, so I left thee indeed. Woe is me for thee, mine own dear College, if ever thou suffer thyself by any means to be brought from that trade. In thy orchard (the walls, butts, and trees, if they could speak, would bear me witness) I learned without book almost all Paul's Epistles; yea, and, I ween, all the Canonical Epistles, save only the Apocalypse. Of which study, although in time a great part did depart from me, yet the sweet smell thereof I trust I shall carry with me into Heaven; for the profit thereof I think I have felt in all my lifetime ever after. And I ween of late (whether they abide now or no I cannot tell) there was that did the like. The Lord grant that this zeal and love toward that part of God's Word, which is a key and true commentary to all the Holy Scripture, may ever abide in that College so long as the world shall endure!" § 39. With the accession of Elizabeth came yet another counter-gale of reaction, which the inevitable. Dr. Perne (from whose name the University wits now coined the word pernare, "to be a turn-coat") again succeeded, almost alone, in weathering. By this time continuous instability, alike in its curriculum and in the personnel of its staff, had brought the University very low indeed. Already, under Cromwell's chancellorship, its numbers had so declined that it became practically bankrupt, and could barely pay its way by selling the books of the library and suspending the salaries of the Professors; while during the reign of Edward the number of B.A. degrees given annually averaged scarcely thirty. Macaulay also tells us that "in the reign of Edward the Sixth the state of the students at Cambridge is described to us, on the very best authority, as most wretched. Many of them dined on pottage made of a farthing's worth of beef with a little salt and oatmeal, and literally nothing else. This account we have from a contemporary Master of St. John's." 1 If Perne clung to his position, he did not make a bad use of it. He improved the Cambridge water-supply, and helped to re-establish the University Library, as he had helped to destroy it. To his college he was also a benefactor, and the weathercock there, which bore on either side his initials, A. P., was said to describe him as A Papist and A Protestant alternately. 2 "Essays," vol. i., p. 258. $ 40. "To the Universities," says Froude,' in his story of this reign, "the Reformation had brought with it desolation." "They were called stables of asses, stews, schools of the devil." "The Government cancelled the exhibitions which had been granted for the support of poor scholars. They suppressed the professorships and lectureships which had been founded by Henry VIII. Degrees were held anti-Christian. Learning was no necessary adjunct to a creed which lay in a nutshell." "College libraries were plundered and burnt. The Divinity Schools at Oxford were planted with cabbages, and the laundresses dried clothes in the School of Art." § 41. Things at Cambridge never became quite so bad as at Oxford, and during Mary's reign the chancellorship of Cardinal Pole doubled the number of resident students. But with the Elizabethan changes it fell lower than ever, only showing any permanent tendency to rise when the comparative security of the reign became evident, and put an end to the horrible see-saw of change and counterchange which had so long been distracting the nation. § 42. The utter unsettlement of the times in our County is strikingly set forth in such local church accounts as have survived. Those of the parish of March cover the whole of this period, and supply us with the following items: 1542 Payd to ye gold-smyth in pt of payment for a pyx and a crysmatary of sylver Payd for makyn lx li wax at candyllmas For a caes to cary ye pyxes 1543 For xvii elns of cloth for ye rochyt Payd for waxx at Stryrigg fayer Recayryd for godds lytt3 1 "History of England," vol. v., pp. 269, 270. - iijli. vijd. ijd. 2 The sepulchre was a recess in which the Host was reserved from Good Friday to Easter. 3 I.e., the lamp kept burning before the Sacrament. 1547 For baryn of ye banyars on Assessyon day Payd for ye bybull Payd for gyrdylls & tapys for vestments 1547 Reign of Edward VI. To Kyrspe for pluckynge doun emags1 in the To Sams wyfe for drynkynge the fyrst tyme xxd. xd. XS. viijd. xs. viijd. ijd. iijd. xiid. To Thomas Payne and Ihon Andrew for xd. forth ye stonns For a tabull cloth For whyghttynge of the Church 1550 Pd for breckyng down the aller and carrying 1553 Pd for ye new comunion boke Going to Wysbech for the same boke For a boke to synge our salms on Payd to Sams wyfe for a dener when we drew It for goinge to Ely when we carryd ye plait1 1553 Reign of Queen Mary. For to yards & a half of hayer cloth for ye hy For ye crismatory For a grayill &c. iijs. xxiis. For ye pyx For ye hy alter makynge For an alter cloth For a gyrdyll. 1554 For hangynge up ye sance bell For books for ye Church & ye cariege of ye sam 1 I.e., images. 2 I.e., gear; probably the ornaments, banners, etc. 3 I.e., "obit straight." An obit was a service performed on the anniversary of the death of a benefactor, and contained prayers for his soul. It was, therefore, now erased as superstitious. 4 See above, § 25. For a fram to set on candells for lent and for workmanshyp about ye sepulker Pd for a chein for ye sencer For ye rode Mary and Ihon and for costs1 1555 Pd to ye clark for makyng of small candell agaynst candelmas 1557 Pd for thre pound wax and a quarter 1558 Reign of Queen Elizabeth. Pd for ye comunion book Pd for paper to pricke forth stayne sams2 for ye Quier Pd for ye omiles3 Pd for pulling doun ye hy alter Pd for ye comunion tabull 1560 Pd for one part of the phraphasis1 Pd for pullyng doune ye roodloft Pd for removinge of ye organs 1566 Pd for a comunion cup for ye church § 43. Nor was it only in numbers that this long and general unsettlement had perniciously affected the University. Its morale had also grievously suffered. Dr. Caius, the Court Physician, on returning to Cambridge after many years' absence, in 1559, complains bitterly of the decline in academic decencies, the neglect of reverence to authority, the idleness in study, the extravagance, and the disuse of cap and gown amongst the undergraduates. The hostels which he had seen in old days swarming with students were now deserted to the townsfolk (freshmen were now indeed expected to inscribe not only their name, but their College, in the books of the Registrary at entrance); while the colleges themselves were not untainted by the all-pervading corruption, but gave Fellow1 The roods were this year ordered to be set up again where "missing." 2 I.e., "certain psalms." The first metrical version of the Psalms was issued at this time, and became very popular. 3 I.e., homilies, of which every church had to keep a copy, very few of the clergy being licensed to preach during this reign. 4 I.e., the paraphrases of Erasmus, which were chained to the reading-desk beside the Bible. |