Part 5

OTWAY was bred at St. John's College, Cambridge. But though his tragedies are still received with "tears of approbation," he lived in penury, and died in extreme misery, choked, it is said, by a morsel of bread given him to relieve his hunger, the 14th of April, 1685. BEN JONSON, "Rare Ben," also "finished his education" at St. John's, nor did I ever tread the mazes of its pleasant walks, but imagination pictured him and his gifted contemporaries and successors, from the time of the minstrel of Arcadia to the days of Kirke White,

In dalliance with the nine in ev'ry nook, A conning nature from her own sweet book.

But Ben, though "the greatest dramatic poet of his age," after he left Cambridge, "worked with a trowel at the building of Lincoln's Inn," and died poor in everything but fame, in 1637. Ben, however, contrived to keep nearly as many "jovial days" in a year, as there are saints in the Roman calendar, and at a set time held a club at the same Devil Tavern, near Temple-bar, to which the celebrated Cambridge professor, and reformer of our church music, Dr. Maurice Greene, adjourned his concert upon his quarrel with Handel, which made the latter say of him with his natural dry humour, "_Toctor Creene was gone to de tavil_." There Ben and his _boon_ companions were still extant, when TOM RANDOLPH (author of "The Muses' Looking-Glass," &c.,) a student of Trinity College, Cambridge, had ventured on a visit to London, where, it is said, he stayed so long, that he had already had a _parley with his empty purse_, when their fame made him long to see Ben and his associates. He accordingly, as Handel would have said, _vent to de tavil_, at their accustomed time of meeting; but being unknown to them, and without money, he was peeping into the room where they sat, when he was espied by Ben, who seeing him in a _scholar's thread-bare habit_, cried out "_John Bo-peep_, come in." He entered accordingly, and they, not knowing the wit of their guest, began to rhyme upon the meanness of his clothes, asking him if he could not make a verse, and, withal, to call for his quart of sack. There being but four, he thus addressed them:--

"I, John Bo-peep, to you four sheep, With each one his good fleece, If that you are willing to give me five shilling, 'Tis fifteen pence a-piece."

"By Jesus," exclaimed Ben (his usual oath,) "I believe this is my son Randolph!" which being confessed, he was kindly entertained, and Ben ever after called him his son, and, on account of his learning, gaiety, and humour, and readiness of repartee, esteemed him equal to Cartwright. He also grew in favour with the wits and poets of the metropolis, but was cut off, some say of intemperance, at the age of twenty-nine. His brother was a member of Christ Church, Oxford, and printed his works in 1638. Amongst the _Memorabilia Cantabrigiæ_ of Milton is the fact, that his personal beauty obtained for him the _soubriquet_ of

"THE LADY OF THE COLLEGE;"

And that he set a full value on his fine exterior, is evident from the imperfect Greek lines, entitled, "_In Effigie ejus Sculptorem_," in Warton's second edition of his Poems. Some have supposed he had himself in view, in his delineation of the person of Adam. Every body knows that his "Paradise Lost" brought him and his posterity less than 20_l._: but every body does not know that there is a _Latin_ translation of it, in twelve books, in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge, in MS., the work of one Mr. Power, a Fellow of that Society, who printed the First Book in 1691, and completed the rest at the Bermudas, where his difficulties had obliged him to fly, and from whence it was sent to Dr. Richard Bentley, to publish and pay his debts with. However, in spite of his creditors, it still remains in MS. The writer obtained, says Judge Hardinge, alluding I suppose, to "the tempest of his mind and of his habits," the _soubriquet_ of the "_Æolian Exile_." There is also a bust of Milton in the Library of Trinity College, and some of his juvenile poems, &c., in his own hand-writing. Cowley was bread at Trinity College. His bust, too, graces its Library, and his portrait its Hall.

BOTH THESE ALUMNI,

When students, wrote Latin as well as English verses, and the curious in such matters, on reference to this work, will be amused by the difference of feeling with which their _Alma Mater_ inspired them. To Cowley the _Bowers of Granta and the Camus_ were the very seat of inspiration; Milton thought no epithet too mean to express their charms: yet, says Dyer, in his supplement, "it is difficult to conceive a more brilliant example of youthful talent than Milton's Latin Poems of that period." Though they "are not faultless, they render what was said of Gray applicable to Milton--

'HE NEVER WAS A BOY.'"

His mulberry tree, more fortunate than either that of Shakspeare, or the pear tree of his contemporary and patron, Oliver Cromwell, is still shown in the Fellows' Garden of Christ College, and still "bears abundance in fruit-time," and near it is a drooping ash, planted by the present Marquis of Bute, when a student of Christ College.

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CROMWELL'S PEAR-TREE

I saw cut down, from the window of my sitting-room, in Jesus-lane, Cambridge (which happened to overlook the Fellows' Garden of Sidney College,) in March, 1833. The tree is said to have been planted by Cromwell's own hand, when a student at Sidney College, and, said the Cambridge Chronicle of the 11th of the above month, it seems not unlikely that the original stock was coeval with the Protector. The tree consisted of five stems (at the time it was cut down,) which rose directly from the ground, and which had probably shot up after the main trunk had been accidentally or intentionally destroyed. Four of these stems had been dead for some years, and the fifth was cut down, as stated above. "A section of it, at eight feet from the ground, had 103 consecutive rings, indicating as many years of growth for that part. If we add a few more for the growth of the portion still lower down, it brings us to a period within seventy years of the Restoration; and it is by no means improbable that the original trunk may have been at least seventy or eighty years old before it was mutilated. The stumps of the five stems are still left standing, the longest being eight feet high; and it is intended to erect a rustic seat within the area they embrace."

OTHER MEMORIALS OF CROMWELL

At Sidney College, are his bust, in the Master's Lodge, and his portrait in the Library. The first was executed by the celebrated Bernini, at the request of Ferdinand, Grand Duke of Tuscany, from a plaster impression of the face of Cromwell, taken soon after his death. It was obtained by the late learned Cambridge Regius Professor of Botany, Thomas Martyn, B.D., during his stay in Italy, and by him presented to the Society of Sidney College, of which he was a fellow. Lord Cork said it bore "the strongest character of _boldness_, _steadiness_, _sense_, _penetration_, and _pride_." The portrait is _unique_, drawn in crayons, by the celebrated Cooper, and is said to be that from which he painted his famous miniatures of the Protector. In the College Register is a memorandum of Cromwell's admission to the society, dated April 23, 1616, to which some one has added his character, in Latin, in a different hand-writing, and very severe terms.

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DRYDEN CONFINED TO COLLEGE WALLS.

Dryden, whom some have styled "The True Father of English Poetry," was fond of a _college life_, as especially "favourable to the habits of a student." He was bread at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he resided seven years, during which he is said never, like Milton and others, to have "wooed the muses." What were his college habits is not known. The only notice of him at Trinity (where his bust and portrait are preserved, the first in the Library, the second in the Hall,) whilst an undergraduate, is the following entry in the College Register, made about two years after his admission:--"July 19, 1652. Agreed, then, that Dryden be put out of Comons, for a fortnight at least, and that he goe not out of the College during the time aforesaid, excepting to Sermons, without express leave from the Master or Vice-master (disobedience to whom was his fault,) and that, at the end of the fortnight, he read a confession of his crime in the Hall at the dinner-time, at the three fellows' table."

His contemporary, Dennis the Critic, seems to have been less fortunate at Cambridge. The author of the "Biographia Dramatica" asserts that he was

EXPELLED FROM CAIUS COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE.

Which is denied by Dr. Kippis, in the "Biographia Britannica," and "when Doctors disagree, who shall decide?" In this case a third doctor steps in for the purpose, in the person of the celebrated Master of Emmanuel College, Dr. Richard Farmer, who, in a humorous letter, printed in the European Magazine for 1794, says, on turning to the _Gesta Book_ of Caius College, under the head, "Sir Dennis sent away," appears this entry: "March 4, 1680. At a meeting of the Master and Fellows, Sir Dennis mulcted 3_l._; his scholarship taken away, and he _sent out of the college_, for assaulting and wounding Sir Glenham with a sword."

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PRIOR LAID OUT THE WALKS OF ST. JOHN'S

College, Cambridge, as I have been told, where he was educated, and lived and died a Fellow. After he became French Ambassador, and was distinguished by his sovereign, he was urged to resign his fellowship. His reply was (probably not having much faith in the longevity of _princes' favours_,) "Should I need it, it will always insure me _a bit of mutton and a clean shirt_!" But it ought also to be added, to his honour, that the celebrated Thomas Baker, the antiquary, having been ejected from his fellowship in the same college, for refusing to take the oaths to William and Mary, Prior generously allowed him the proceeds of his.

The same Cantab was once at the opera, where a conceited French composer had taken his seat adjoining, and being anxious that the audience should know he had written the music, he annoyed our poet by humming every air so audibly as to spoil the effect of the person's singing the part, one of the greatest _artistes_ of the day. Thus annoyed, Prior ventured to _hiss_ the singer. Every body was astonished at the daring, he being a great and deserved favourite. The composer hummed again,--again Prior hissed the singer, who, enraged at the circumstance, demanded "Why he was subject to such indignity?" "I want that fellow to leave off humming," said Prior, pointing to the composer, "that I may have the pleasure of hearing you sing, Signor."

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STUNG BY A B.

Dr. Thomas Plume, a former Archdeacon of Colchester, was the munificent founder of the Cambridge Professorship of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy, which (as in the case of the late Dr. Edward Daniel Clarke and the present George Pryme, Esq. M.A. and M.P.) he was the first to fill; but he was not as fortunate as the former, to fill his chair with unparalleled success,--in fact, his lectures were not quite the fashion. He was smarting under this truth, when he one day met Dr. Pearce in the streets of Cambridge, the Master of Jesus College, whom he addressed with, "Doctor, they call my lectures Plum-B-ian, which is very uncivil. I don't at all like it, Dr. Pearce." "I suppose the B. stung you," rejoined the latter. Here we may not inappropriately introduce a trifle, hit off between Dr. Pearce and the woman who had the care of the Temple Gardens, when he was master there. It is a rule to keep them close shut during divine service on Sundays; but the Doctor being indisposed, and having no grounds attached to his residence save the church-yard, wished to seize the quiet hour for taking a little air and exercise. He accordingly rung the garden bell, and Rachel made her appearance; but she flatly told him she should not let him in, as it was against the Benchers' orders. "But I am the _Master_ of the Temple," said Dr. P. "The more shame for you," said Rachel, "you ought to set a better example;" and the Doctor retired dead beat.

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A NEST OF SAXONISTS.

Queen's College, Oxford, was called "_a nest of Saxonists_" towards the close of the sixteenth century, when those learned antiquarians and Saxonists, Rawlinson and Thwaites, flourished there. It is recorded of the latter, in Nichols's Bowyer, that he said, writing of the state of the college, "We want Saxon Lexicons. I have fifteen young students in that language, and but one _Somner_ for them all." Our Cambridge gossip,

COLE, RELATES A PLEASANT MISTAKE,

(taken notice of by Warton also in the first volume of his History of English Poetry) of a brother Cantab's having undertaken to translate the Scriptures into Welsh, and rendering _vials_ of wrath (meaning _vessels_--Rom. v. 8) by the Welsh word _Crythan_, signifying _crowds_ or _fiddles_. "The Greek word being [Greek: phialas]," he adds, "it is probable he translated from the English only, where finding _vials_, he mistook it for _viols_." The translator was Dr. Morgan, who died Bishop of St. Asaph, in 1604.

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MINDING THE ROAST.

Lord Nugent, _on-dit_, once called on an old college acquaintance, then a country divine of great simplicity of manners, at a time when his housekeeper was from home on some errand, and he had undertaken to _mind the roast_. This obliged him to invite his lordship into the kitchen, that he might avoid the fate of King Alfred. Our dame's stay exceeded the time anticipated, and the divine having _to bury a corpse_, he begged Lord N. to take his turn at the spit, which he accordingly did, till the housekeeper arrived to relieve him. This anecdote reminds me of the following

SPECIMEN OF A COLLEGE EXERCISE,

_By the Younger Bowyer, written at St. John's College, Cambridge, November 29, 1719._

"Ne quicquam sapit, qui sibi ipsi non sapit."

A goodly parson once there was, To 's maid would chatter Latin; (For that he was, I think, an ass, At least the rhyme comes pat in.)

One day the house to prayers were met, With well united hearts; Below, a goose was at the spit, To feast their grosser parts.

The godly maid to prayers she came, If truth the legends say, To hear her master English lame, Herself to sleep and pray.

The maid, to hear her worthy master, Left all alone her kitchen; Hence happened much a worse disaster Than if she'd let the bitch in.

While each breast burns with pious flame, All hearts with ardours beat, The goose's breast did much the same With too malicious heat.

The parson smelt the odours rise; To 's belly thoughts gave loose, And plainly seemed to sympathise With his twice-murdered goose.

He knew full well self-preservation Bids piety retire, Just as the _salus_ of a nation Lays obligation higher.

He stopped, and thus held forth his _Clerum_, While him the maid did stare at, _Hoc faciendum; sed alterum Non negligendum erat_.

_Parce tuum Vatum sceleris damnare._

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TULIP-TIME.

Writing of the death of a former Master of Magdalen College, "whose whole delight was horses, dogs, sporting, &c.," which, says Cole, happened on the first of September, the legal day for partridge-shooting to begin, "it put me in mind of the late Dr. Walker, Vice-master of Trinity, a great florist (and founder of the Botanical Garden at Cambridge,) who, when told of a brother florist's death, by shooting himself in the spring, immediately exclaimed, 'Good God! is it possible? Now, at the beginning of tulip-time!'"

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THE COLLEGE BELL.

When Dr. Barrett, Prebend of St. Paul's, was a student at Peter-house, Cambridge, he happened to make one of a party of collegians, where it was proposed that each _gentleman_ should _toast_ his _favourite belle_; when it came to his turn, he facetiously gave "the _college-bell_!"

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COLLEGE FUN.

"Previous to my attending Cambridge," says Henry Angelo, in his Reminiscences, "one of my scholars (whom I had taught at Westminster School,) at Trinity College, engaged an Irish fencing-master, named Fitzpatrick," more remarkable for his native humour than science, and when he had taken too much of the _cratur_, "was amusing to the collegians, who had engaged him merely to keep up their exercise." One day, during a bout, some wag placed a bottle of his favourite "mountain dew" (whisky) on the chimney-piece, which proved so attractive, "that as his sips increased, so did the numerous hits he received, till the first so far prevailed, aided by exertion and the heat of the weather, that he lay, _tandem_, to all appearance dead." To keep the fun up, he was stripped and laid out like a corpse, with a shroud on, a coffin close to him, and four candles placed on each side, ready to light on his recovery. This _jeu de plaisanterie_ might have been serious; "however, Master _Push_-carte took care not to push himself again into the same place."

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THE KING OF DENMARK AT CAMBRIDGE.

When the late King of Denmark was in England, in 1763, when he visited Eton, &c., he is said to have made a brief sojourn at Cambridge, where he was received with "all the honours," and took up his abode (as is usual for persons of his rank) in the lodge of the Master of Trinity. In his majesty's establishments for learned purposes, as well as throughout all Germany, &c., no provision is made for lodging and otherwise providing for the comforts of students, as in the two English universities; and when he surveyed the principal _court_ of Trinity, he is said to have had so little notion of an English university, that he asked "whether that court did not comprise the whole of the university of Cambridge?" This royal anecdote reminds me that his present gracious Majesty,

WILLIAM THE FOURTH, ANNOUNCED HIS INTENTION TO VISIT CAMBRIDGE.

As in duty bound, upon his accession to the throne of his ancestors, a loyal congratulatory address was voted by the members of the University of Cambridge in full senate. This was shortly afterwards presented to his Majesty at St. James's Palace by the then Vice-Chancellor, Dr. George Thackery, D.D., Provost of King's College, at the head of a large body of the heads of colleges, and others, _en robe_. His majesty not only received it most graciously, but with that truly English expression that goes home to the bosom of every Briton, told Dr. Thackery he "should shortly take pot-luck with him in Cambridge." The term, too, is worthy of particular notice, since it expresses his Majesty's kind consideration for the contents of the university chest, and the pockets of its members. Oxford, it is well known, is still _smarting_ under the heavy charges incident upon the memorable visit of his late Majesty, George the Fourth, in 1814, with the Emperor Alexander and the King of Prussia and their _suites_. It would be no drawback upon the popularity of princes if they did take "_pot-luck_" with their subjects oftener than they do. Let there be no drawback upon hospitality, but let the "feast of reason and the flow of soul" suffice for the _costly banquet_. In olden times, our monarchs _took pot-luck_ both at Oxford, Cambridge, and elsewhere, without their subjects being the less loyal. Queen Elizabeth and James the First and Second were frequent visitors at both those seats of learning. Elizabeth, indeed, that flower of British monarchs, suffered no designing minister to shake her confidence in her people's loyalty. She did not confine her movements to the dull routine of two or three royal palaces,--her palace was her empire. She went about "doing good" by the light of her countenance. She, and not her _minister_, was the people's _idol_. I therefore come to the conclusion, that the expressed determination of his majesty, William the Fourth, to take _pot-luck_ with his good people of the University of Cambridge, is the dawn of a return of those wholesome practices of which we read in the works of our ANNALISTS, when

"'Twas merry in the hall, And their beards wagged all."

Wood relates, amongst other humorous incidents, that

DURING QUEEN ELIZABETH'S SECOND VISIT TO OXFORD,

In September, 1592, besides plays, &c., there was a disputation in law and physic, and, amongst many questions, was one,--"_Whether the air, or meat, or drink, did most change a man?_" and a merry Doctor of that faculty, named Richard Ratcliffe, lately Fellow of Merton College, but now Principal of St. Alban's Hall, going about to produce the _negative_, showed forth a big, large body, a great fat belly, a side waist, all, as he said, so changed by _meat_ and _drink_, desiring to see any other so metamorphosed by the _air_. But it was concluded (by the Moderator) in the affirmative, that _air_ had the greater power of change. One of the questions (the next day) was,--"_Whether it be lawful to dissemble in the cause of religion?_" written thus, says Gutch, "Non est dissimulandum in causa religionis;" "which being looked upon as a nice question," continues Wood, "caused much attention from the courtly auditory. One argument, more witty than solid, that was urged by one of the opponents, was, 'It is lawful to dispute of religion therefore 'tis lawful to dissemble;' and so going on, said, 'I myself now do that which is lawful, but I do now dissemble; ergo, it is lawful to dissemble.' (Id quod nunc ego, de rebus divinis disputans, ego dissimulare; sed quod nunc ego, de rebus divinis disputam, ego dissimulare est licitum; at which her majesty and all the auditory were very merry.)"

WHEN QUEEN ELIZABETH FIRST VISITED CAMBRIDGE,

In the year 1564, she took up her residence at the lodge of the Provost of King's College, which stood near the east end of King's Chapel. We well remember the old pile and the solitary trees that branched beside; and much as we admire the splendid improvements to which they have given place, we could almost find it in our hearts to express regret at the removal of those landmarks of the topographist. The hall was her guard-chamber, the dining-room her presence-chamber, and the gallery and adjoining rooms her private apartments. Her visit lasted five days, during which she was entertained with comedies, tragedies, orations, disputations, and other academical exercises. She personally visited every college, and is said to have been so pleased with the venerable, solemn, and scholastic appearance of Pembroke Hall, that she saluted it with the words--

"O Domus antiqua et religiosa!"

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THE FIRST DISSENTER IN ENGLAND,

According to the author of _Historical Anecdotes_, &c., was Thomas Cartwright, B.D., Lady Margaret's Professor and Fellow of Trinity College. He and Thomas Preston (afterwards Master of Trinity Hall,) says Fuller, during Queen Elizabeth's visit at Cambridge, in 1564, were appointed two of the four disputants in the philosophy-act before her Majesty. "Cartwright had dealt most with the muses; Preston with the graces, adorning his learning with comely carriage, graceful gesture, and pleasing pronunciation. Cartwright disputed like a _great_, Preston like a _gentile_ scholar, being a handsome man; and the Queen, upon a parity of deserts, always preferred properness of person in conferring her favours. Hereupon, with her looks, words, and deeds she favoured Preston, calling him _her scholler_, as appears by his epitaph in Trinity Hall chappell.

'THOMAS PRESTONÆ, Scholarem, 'Quem dixit princeps Elizabetha suum,' &c.