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    No. 455, December 11, 1858.J THE LEADEB,...

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  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

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    Athene Cantad1ugienses. Athena* Cantabrf...

    piled also a chronicle of the worthies of that University , under the well-known title of " Athente 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 Hall for nonconformity in 1662 , and who appears 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 arc 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 . Kichardson also compiled a catalogue of the graduates of the University from 1500 to 1735 , which is characterised by Messrs . Cooper as " a work of vast labour and

    no slight ability . " The most serious attempt m this direction , however , was made by the Rev . 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 after his death , but after a careful examination the Messrs . Copper pronounce them to be but of moderate utility . "He amassed , " 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 supplv a desideratum long felt to be due to the honour of this University , it has been reserved for two jjcntlemen , 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 1 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 certainlv be attributed to Messrs . Cooper .

    It is evident that these gentlemen must have spared no personal pains or labour iipon 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 liavc 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 sketch of tho 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 tho astute , hard-headed seventh Henry upon the throne ; it witnessed the ascent of his sensual , bull-headed , yet largo-minded son . Many n time and oft were the donsofthc University required to occupy themselves with nico and touchy questions ancnt tho Sacrament of Marriage , in whiqli tho laws of Mother Church pulled terribly hard on the ono 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 tho ' Pope , and tho right of tho royal polygamist to be regarded as tho Head of God ' s Holy Church in England—a doctrine imposed upon them by royal will , but for holding which but , a tew years previously tho same royal will would have delivored thorn ovor to tho secular

    power and the tender mercies of bmithflcul fagots . Those wcro troublous times for Cambridge , yet worse wore in store . The month of January , 15-17 , saw Henry into his grave , and tho mild , tho teachable , tho woll-moaning , yet much misled Edward VI , commencing his brief reign . Six years aftorwarda ( tho mad , brief struggle in which poor Lady Jane was caught up mid whirled to pieces as in a tonardo , having intervened ) Bloody Mary is upon tho throne , 'during whoso dark reign of live short years many a Cambridge worthy was doomed to porish at tho stako . To hor followed Elizabeth , softrccly less bigoted ( though in another cause )

    than her sisterj 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 line of demarcation between the two Universities was not so clearly denned in those days as it is at present , and that it was a very common thing for men to belong to both . jSTow-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 , c * 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 somed

    what anterior to the period already mentione , 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 High 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 tlie Rolls , Lord Chancellor of

    England , and tutor to Edward V ., comes shortly afterwards ; and James Stanley , an ancestor of the present Lord Derby , who became Bishop of Ely tlirough 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 appointment 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 Elodden , 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 done to death by a Norfolk jury upon the absurd charge of treason for having used the armorial bearings of Edward the Confessor . The son of this last was Thomas Howard , fourth Duke of Norfolk ,

    whose tutor was John Fox , tho nrarlyrologisfc , and who was decapitated under the sign-manual of Elizabeth . Finally William , Lord Howard of Ellinghani , ono of tho favourite courtiers of the maiden Qviccn , and who , in spite of his cousinship to tho last-named duke , sat in judgment upon him to condemn him to tho block . Who can wonder 1 hat such complacency was well rewarded , and that VVilliam died in all honour at Hampton Court , and was buried with great solemnity P

    Other noble names arc upon tho roll . Hero is Sir Thomas More , whose business horo is not , however , so clear , seeing that ho was educated exclusively at Oxford , albeit ho did hold the oilico of High Slcwnrd of Cambridge . Horo , also , is tho accomplished Sir Thomas Wyat , who gradvuvtod at St ., John ' s ; tho Lord Protector Somerset , top , and John Dudloy . afterwards Duko of Northumberland , whoso own life , besides those of so many innocent victims , was sacrificed to his inordinate ambition . Tho headsman was indeed busy among these magnates . Of Ihoso who took leading parts in tho events of those troublous times the roll is loug . Bishop Fox ,

    lesser than his son ; and Sir Thomas Gresham , that " royal merchant" whose charity and intelligence have left behind him a brighter light than many greater 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 . First 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 for 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 tlie real presence . To these succeed the victims of Mary ' s persecution—a fearful

    list—John Rogers , Saunders , Taylor , Bishop 1 arrar , Hullier , Marsh , Cardmaker , Bradford , Glover , and last—three illustrious names—Latimer , Ridley , and Cranmcr . 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 Fagius , which had been for years honourably reposing in their graves . These learned men were invited over from Germany by Cranmcr 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 in that age of revival . of literature . Erasmus made some brief stay at Cambridge , barely enough to warrant Messrs . Cooper in including him among the " Athena ; " but Skelton , the poet ; Leland , the antiquarian ; the learned

    Christopherson ; Sir John Cheeke , the eminent divine and classical scholar ; poor Lndy Jane ' s tutor , Roger Ascham ; Bishop Coverdale , the translator of the Bible , and Archbishop Parker who revised it ; Gascoigne , the poet ; Hollingshed , the chronicler ; and Piowdcn , the lawyer , all these were undoubted Cantabs . Some very voluminous authors may also be found , where many volumes are found , nowhere but on the shelves of the curious ; such as John

    Bale , Bishop of Ossory , of whose works no less than ninety arc catalogued ; Thomas Bacon , who wrote forty-seven , a small part of which have been reprinted in three volumes for the Pavker Society ; aud Dr . Turner , who wrote thirty-four separate works upon every variety of subject * from divinity to natural philosophy . It would be a ploasant task , moreover , to draw from the pages of this valuable volumo some information as to tho simple and modest mode of life iu voguo among the studonts of an age when Barnwell was yet a monastery , and noble youths wore satislied ^ vith commons at which sizcrs would now turn up their noses ; interesting , too , to record tho benefactions and endowments

    with which tho grateful sons of Alma Mater testified their senso of tho benefits sho had showered upon Ihem — how one gave houses and lands , another moneys , mid another a cup of silver-gilt , weighing sixty-seven ounces , commonly called tho Anathema Cup—but it must not bo ; already have wo too much trespassed upoutho spaco allotted toreviows . and wo can do no more than earnestly rooommona every ono who feels any in ( crest in that venerable scat of' learning which crowns tho hanks of tho sluffffish Cum , to lost ; no time in possessing them , selves of this first volume of what promises to be a work worthy of its subject—and that is no light standard

    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" " 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 Bacon , whom Elizabeth so delighted to honour , and who was so much worthier , though .

    No. 455, December 11, 1858.J The Leadeb,...

    No . 455 , December 11 , 1858 . J THE LEADEB , 1347

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 11, 1858, page 11, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_11121858/page/11/