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who was one of Henry VII . * s chosen councillors ; Fisher , Bishop of Rochester / who so boldly withstood the adulterous wishes of his sovereign , and was the friend and fellow-martyr of Sir Thomas More ; Thomas Cromwell , chief "jackal-in-waiting" to the " lion" who " sucked the blood of his , prey ; " Gardiner , the red right hand of a morose and cruel mistress ; Cardinal Pole , who in vain attempted to abate the bigotry of his creed ; Nicholas Baeon , whom Elizabeth so delighted to honour , and who was so much worthier , though .
lesser than his son ; and Sir Thomas Gresharo , that " royal merchant" whose charity and intelligence have left behind him a brighter light than manygreater men of his age . It was at Gonville Hall , which subsequently Became merged into Caius College , that this prince of merchants graduated ; Dr . John Caius himself , who gave the name to the latter college , was educated at the same place , and afterwards obtained from Philip and Mary license to endow and enlarge the _ college , and to build three gates respectively inscribed to Humility , to Virtue and Wisdom , and to Honour .
The noble army of the martyrs is also most fully represented in this book as to all its regiments and companies . Pirst came the victims of Roman Catholic Henry VIII ., headed by Tyndal , who was kidnapped abroad and murdered by that sovereign and his minister Wolsey , for translating part of the Bible into the vulgar tongue ; and John Lambert , who was burnt tor denying the real presence Richard Whytyng , abbot of Glastonbury , who was hanged , drawn , " and quartered , was rather a political than a religious martyr ; but Robert Barnes , Thomas Gerrard , and William Jerome were burnt for denying the real presence . To these succeed the victims of Mary ' s persecution—a fearful list-John Rogers . Saunders , Taylor , Bishop Farrar ,
Hullier , Marsh , Cardniaker , Bradford , Glover , and last—three illustrious names—Latimer , Ridley , and Cranmer . All these Cantabs died at the stake . Of all the monstrous acts of intolerance recorded , none perhaps exceeds the exhumation and burning of the dead bodies of Martin Bucer and Paul JTagius , which had been for years honourably reposing in their graves . These learned men were invited over " from Germany by Cranmer and Protector Somerset , to fill the professional chair of Divinity and Hebrew at Cambridge , and so high was their reputation for Protestantism that the commission which visited that University in Mary ' s reign thought it . necessary to commit this outrage upon their memories .
Fain would we dwell upon the names of those who were luminaries iu that age of revival of literature . Erasmus made some brief stay at Cambridge , barely enough to warrant Messrs . Cooper in , including ^ him among the " Athense ; " but SkeHon , the poet ; Xieland , the antiquarian ; the learned Christopherson ; Sir John Cheeke , the eminent divine and classical scholar ; poor Lady Jane ' s tutor , Itoger Ascham ; Bishop Coverdale , the translator of the Bible , and Archbishop Parker who revised it ; Gascoignc , the poet ; Hollingshcd , the chronicler ; and Plowden , the lawyer , all theso were undoubted
Cantabs . Sonic very voluminous authors may also be found , where many volumes are found , nowhere but on the shelves of the curious j such as John Bale , Bishop of Ossory , of whose works no less than ninety arc cutalogucd ; Thomas Bacon , who wrote forty "Seven , a small part of which have been reprinted in three volumes for the Parker Society ; and Dr . Turner , who wrote thirty-four separate works upon every variety of subject , from divinity to natural philosophy . It would be a ploasaut task , moreover , to draw from the pages of this valuable vplume some information as to the simple and modest mode of life in vogue among the students of an age when Barnwdl wns yet a monastery , and noble youths were satisfied with commons at which
sizcrs would now turn up their noses ; interesting , too , to record the benefactions and endowments with which , the grateful sons of Alum Muter testified their sense of the benefits she had showered upon them — how ono gave houses and lands , another moneys , nnd another a oup of silver-gut , weighing sixty-soven ounces , commonly called tuo Anuthoma Cup—but it must not bo : already have wo toomuohtrespassed upon t ho space allottoclloreviows , and wo onu do no moro than earnestly recommend every ono who fcols any interest m that venerable scat of learning which crowns the banks of the sluggish Cum , to lose no time ju possessing themselves of this first volume of what promises to be a work woi-lJiy of its subject—and that is no light standard
piled also a chronicle of the worthies of that lJnive ? sity , under the well-known title of " Athcncc Oxonienses ; " yet ' up to the appearance of the volume before us , none but the most partial efforts to produce a similar monument for the sister University appear to have been made . In their brief preface , Messrs : Cooper make summary mention : of their predecessors in the task . There was a certain Henry Sampson , who was ejected from Pembroke Hull for " nonconformity in 1662 , and who a-nnears to have made some collections of that kind ,
and a learned Mr . Baker , of St . John ' s , has also left valuable MSS ., some of which are still preserved at Cambridge and some at the British Museum . About the - . beginning - of the eighteenth century , Mr . Drake Morris compiled two volumes of lives of eminent men educated at Cambridge ; but this was necessarily insufficient . Towards the latter end of the same century , Dr . Richardson , the Master of Emmanuel , collected notes for the lives of about three hundred and fifty worthies , which were never printed . Dr . liichardson also compiled a catalogue of the graduates of the University from 1500 to 1735 , which i ? characterised
by Messrs . Cooprr as " a work of vast labour and no slight ability . " The most serious' attempt in this direction , " however , Mas made by the llcv . William Cole , of Milton , near Cambridge , who was originally of Clare Hall , but removed to King ' s College . His vast collection of MS . notes collected for this purpose were bequeathed to the British Museum , with an injunction that they should not be opened till twenty years affer his death , but after a careful examination the Messrs . Cooper pronounce them to be but of moderafe utilitv . " He amassed , " say they , " more than he could" digest . Mr . Cole had ' the industry of Wood without his common sense . "
It seems , then , that after many of the sons of Alma Mater had made ineffectual endeavours to supply a desideratum long felt to be due to the honour of this University , " it has been reserved for two gentlemen , not by any means Cantabs , and only united to Cambridge by bonds of sympathy and liking for its history , to execute this work . It is true that they have to acknowledge valuable assistance received not only from the authorities of the University , but from many members who have aided them in" a-private capacity ' . Still , the great bulk of such credit as may be due to the work
must certainly be attributed to Messrs . Cooper . It is evident t hat these gentlemen must have spared no personal pains or labour upon their task ; the number of authorities referred to at the end of some of the articles is a sufficient proof of this . _ It would , of course , be extremely difficult , if not impossible , for us as reviewers to undertake such a comparison between the book and the authorities upon which it is founded as would enable us to determine the exact degree of accuracy which Messrs . Cooper have attained . For our purpose it must be sufficient to take it for granted that they have carefully examined the sources which they quote , and to ' content ourselves with giving a brief
was not so clearly defined in those days as it is at present , and that it . was a very common thing for men to belong to both . Now-a-days , few causes but rustication or expulsion induce a man to ¦ quit one University and seek the shelter of the other ; but in former times it was different . Then , indeed , it was even possible for one man to hold the same office in both Universities ; as in the case of Sir Reginald Bray , who fought at Bosworth Field , and was afterwards Speaker of the Commons , but who held the office of High Steward of both Universities of Oxford and Cambridge . In some
cases , perhaps , . -Messrs .. Cooper have taken the fact of the double membership too easily for granted ; for we cannot be expected to receive as absolute such expressions ( and they are not infrequent ) as , " it is most probable , " &c . Running through the volume in its chronological order we come upon some great names . The very first article in the book is devoted to Archbishop Rotheram , a great man . in his generation . His time was indeed somewhat anterior to the period already mentioned , for he died in 1500 . He was successively Chaplain to Edward IV ., Secretary of State , Keeper of the Privy
Seal , Bishop of Rochester , then of Lincoln , Chancellor of the University of Cambridge , Lord Iiigli Chancellor of England , Master of Pembroke Hall , and finally Archbishop of York . There must certainly have been a great scarcity of good men in England , since one of them had to fill so many offices . John Alcock , who was founder of Jesus College ( which still bears a cock for its crest in memory of him ) , and was Bishop of Ely , Master of the Rolls , Lord Chancellor of England , and tutor to Edward V ., comes shortly afterwards ; and James Stanley , an ancestor of the preseut Lord Derby , who became Bishop of Ely through
the influence of his mother-in-law , Margaret Countess of Richmond . What manner of prelate he made may be gathered from Baker , who , after denouncing the patroness , characterises this app ointment as "the worst thing she ever did . " The illustrious family of Howard appears to have numbered among its scions many worthy graduates of the University of Cambridge . Thomas Howard , the second Duke of Norfolk , who fought at Bosworth as Earl of Surrey , heads the list ; his son , Thomas Howard , the third Duke , comes next , who commanded the vanguard at Floddeu , and so narrowly escaped with his life through the timely death of Henry VIII . To him succeeds his son , the gentle Henry Howard , known among poets as the Earl of Surrey , basely
than her sister , and it is in the middle of this reign that the volume closes . The most casual glance over this long and eventful panorama of history must render it at once apparent that persons occupying such an important status in society as the members of one of the two great Universities must necessarily have played a very active part in the transactions of the times . A volume containing all the remarkable- men educated at Cambridge from the commencement of the present century until now would scarcely contain the names of so many men who have exercised a powerful and moulding influence over their times as the present one . It should be remembered , however , that the linn of demarcation between the two Universities
sketch of the volume before us . The period comprehended within these pages extends from 1500 to 15 S 5 , perhaps one of the most eventful in English history . It found the astute , hard-headed seventh Henry upon the throne ; it witnessed the ascent of his sensual , bull-headed , yet large-minded son . Many a time and oft were the dons of the University required to occupy themselves with nice and touchy questions ancnt the Sacrament of Marriage , in which tho laws of Mother Church pulled terribly hard on the one side , and tho will of my lord the King was not less cogent on tho other ; by-and-by came questions affecting their allegiance to the Pope , ami the right of this royal polygainist to be regarded as tlio Head of God ' s -Holy Chuveli in England—a doctrine imposed upon them by royal will , but for holding which but a few years previously the same royal will would have delivered them over to tho secular
done to death by a Norfolk jury upon the absurd cliargo of treason for having used the armorial bearings of Edward tho Confessor . The son of this last was Thomas Howard , fourth Duko of Norfolk , whose tutor was John Fox , the martyrologist , and who was decapitated under the sign-manual of Elizabeth . Finally William , Lord Howard of Ellingham , ono of the favourito couijticrs of the maiden Queen , anil who , in spite of his cousinship to the last-named Juke , sat in judgment upon him to condemn him to the block . Who can wonder ( hat such complacency was well rewarded , and that William died in all honour at Hampton Court , and was buried with great solemnity P
Other uoblo niuncs arc upon tho roll . Hero is Sir Thomas Moro , whoso business hero is not , however , so clciu * , seeing tlmt ; ho was educated exclusively at Oxford , albeit lie did hold the oilico of High S ' tcwnrcl of Cambridge . Here , also , is tho accomplished Sir Thomas Wyut , who graduated at SI :. John ' s ; tho Lord Protector Somerset , too , and John Dudley , afterwards Duke of Northumberland , whose own life , besides those of so many innocent victims , wns sacrificed ( o his inordinate ambition . The headsman was indeed busy among these magnates . Of those who took lendin ' pr parts in tho cvonts of those troublous times the roll is long . Bishop Fox ,
nowoi' and tho louder mercies of Smithflcld fagots . Thcso were- troublous limes for Cambridge , yet worse wcro in store . Tho month of January , 15-17 , saw Henry into his grave , and tho mild , tho teachable , tho well-meuning , yet nuioh misled Edward VI . commencing his brief reign . Six years afterwards ( tho mail , brief stmgglo m which poor Lady Jano was onught up and whirled to pieces as in a touardo , having intoi'venod ) Bloody Mary is upon tho throno , ; during whoso dark reign oi' five short yeays many a Cambridge worthy was doomed to perish at tho stake . To hoi followed Elizabeth , scarcely loss bigoted ( though in imothoi' cause )
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No . 455 , December 11 , 1858 . J THE LEADER . 1347
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 11, 1858, page 1347, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2272/page/11/
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