years of age. Mr. Jenkins’ behaviour from his first appearance in
College was so regular and exact that a good Opinion was soon taken of
him. But the Troubles of the Nation soon after coming on, Mr. Jenkins
took Arms for the Royal Cause. Thus were his tender years seasoned
and exercised not only with Learning and Diligence, but also with an
equal Mixture of Adversities, the best Preparatives for the succeeding
Varieties of his Life. For the Society into which Mr. Jenkins had been
admitted, was not only obliged to give way to Strangers, but also the
College itself was dismantled, and became Part of a Garrison by Order
from Court; and for some time continued to be the Quarters of the Lord
Herbert afterwards Marquiss of Worcester, and of other persons of
Quality, that came out of Wales on the King’s Service. The Garrison of
Oxford being surrendred in the year 1646, and the Visitation of the
University by the two Houses coming on in the following year, this
College, among others, soon felt the fatal Effects of it, for of 16
Fellows and as many Scholars, there remained but one Fellow and one
Scholar that was not ousted of their Subsistance. Mr. Jenkins retired
to Wales and settled not far from Llantrythyd where Dr. Mansell was
living at the House of Sir John Auberey who was an adherent of the
Royal Cause. The first employment found for Mr. Jenkins was the tuition
of Sir John’s eldest son. Being indicted for keeping a Seminary of
Rebellion and Sedition, he was forced to leave that Countrey and
removed with his Charge to Oxford in May 1651, and settled there in a
Town-house belonging to Mr. Alderman White[302] in the High-street,
which from him was then commonly called and known by the Name of
the Little Welsh-Hall. Mr. Jenkins’s regular and orthodox Behaviour
at Oxford was not quite so close and reserved, as to escape all
Observation, but he began to give Offence to some of the inquisitive
schismatical Members of the University and was obliged to retire from
thence, with his Pupils as it were in his Arms, and go beyond Sea,
for fear of Imprisonment, or of some worse Disaster. Even this was
no unlucky Accident, for it helped to add to his former Acquirements
the Knowledge of Men as well as Letters. It gave him an Acquaintance
with some eminent and learned Men, particularly Messieurs Spanheim and
Courtin; it was the Means of acquiring a great Accuracy in the French
and other Languages. It appears by a little Diary that he made a Tour
over a great part of France, Holland and Germany, and resided at their
famous Seats of Learning, especially at Leyden. He returned to England
in 1658, and was invited by Sir William Whitmore, a great Patron of the
distress’d Cavaliers, to live with him at Appley in Shropshire, where
he continued till the year 1660 enjoying the Opportunities of Study,
and a well-furnished Library. As soon as the King was restored to his
Kingdom and the University to its just rights, Mr. Jenkins returned to
Jesus College, about the 35th Year of his Age, and his Reputation among
his Countrymen was so considerable that upon his first Appearance and
Settlement of the Society, he was chose one of the Fellows, and his
Behaviour gained so fast upon them that he was very soon after, upon
the Resignation of Dr. Mansell, unanimously chose Principal of the
College, and thereupon commenced Doctor of the Civil Law.
“And indeed the College had never more Occasion of such a Ruler
than at this Time, when the former Discipline of it had been so
long interrupted by the late distracted and licentious Times,
and had suffered so much by the Management of his ‘infamous and
corrupt’ Predecessor.[303] Dr. Jenkins did abundantly satisfie the
Hopes conceived of him; he made it his first Concern to restore the
Exercises, Disputations and Habits, and to review and consider the Body
of Statutes. By these prudent Methods he retrieved the Reputation
and advanced the Discipline of the College. He busied himself in
adding to the Buildings of the College, and completed the Library
and part of the western side of the Inner Quadrangle. He was made
Assessor to the Chancellor and Deputy Professor of Civil Law. He was
also of singular use to the University in maintaining their Foreign
Correspondences by his skill in the French and other Languages. He was
also very instrumental to his Friend and Patron Archbishop Sheldon in
the Settlement of his Theatre and Printing-House. He not only framed
the Draught of that Grant with his own Hand, but also the Statute ‘de
Vesperiis and Comitiis a B. Virginis Mariæ templo transferendis ad
Theatrum,’ that the House of God might be kept free for its own proper
and pious Uses.
“The University now became too narrow a Field for such an active Mind
and too scanty an Employment for those high and encreasing Abilities
which exerted themselves in him. He was therefore encouraged by his
Friend the Archbishop to remove to London in Order to apply himself to
the publick Practice of the Civil Law. So he resigned his Principality
in 1673, and was succeeded by Mr. (afterwards Dr.) John Lloyd. The
after career of the great Lawyer was successful and distinguished,
but it does not lie within the scope of the present work, so it must
be very briefly described. He rose to be Judge of the High Court
of Admiralty and Prerogative Court of Canterbury, Ambassador and
Plenipotentiary for the General Peace at Cologne and Nimeguen, and
Secretary of State to King Charles II. He was also made a Knight,
and became Member of Parliament for Hythe, one of the Cinque Ports,
and afterwards Burgess for his own University. It may, however, be
excusable to give the description of his last return to the College he
loved so much, when his body was brought to be buried by the side of
‘his dear Friend Dr. Mansell in Jesus College Chappel.’
“The Pomp and Manner of his Reception there and of his Interment is
thus described by one that was an Eyewitness. When the Corps came near
the City, several Doctors, and the principal Members and Officers of
the University, the Mayor, Aldermen and Citizens, some in Coaches,
some on Horseback, went out to meet it and conducted it to the Publick
Schools, where the Vice-Chancellor, Bishop of the Diocese and the
whole Body of the University were ready to receive it and placed it in
the Divinity-School, which was fitted and prepared for that Purpose,
with all convenient Ornaments and Decorations. Two Days after, the
Vice-Chancellor, several Bishops, Noblemen, Doctors, Proctors and
Masters met there again in their Formalities, as well as many others
that came to pay their last Respects to him; and the memory of the
Deceased being solemnized in a Latin Oration by the University Orator,
the Corps was removed to the Chappel of Jesus College. Where the
Vice-Chancellor (who happened to be the Principal thereof) read the
Offices of Burial; and another Latin Oration was made by one of the
Fellows of the College, which was accompanied with Musick, Anthems
and other Performances suitable to the occasion. After which it was
interr’d in the area of the said Chappel, with a Marble Stone over his
Grave and a Latin Inscription on it, supposed to be made by his old
Friend Dr. Fell Lord Bishop of Oxford and Dean of Christ Church.”
Among other benefactions Sir Leoline left his valuable library to
the College, only reserving forty law-books to begin the library at
Doctors’ Commons in London.
His portrait, painted by Tuer, at Nimeguen, hangs in the College
Hall; of this painting there are two replicas, one in the Principal’s
Lodgings, the other in the Bursary, both so well executed as hardly to
be distinguished from the original. He is represented sitting by the
council-table in a chair[304] covered with red velvet and holding a
memorial in his hand. His dress is plain, but decorated with rich lace
at the neck and wrists; his hair is long and flowing; his features
strongly marked and melancholy in expression.
The last Principal of the seventeenth century was Jonathan Edwards, who
seems to have been an able man, and was a benefactor to the College. He
contributed £1000 to the improvement and decoration of the chapel.
A long list of benefactions might be written down for the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries; but space allows individual mention of
one only. King Charles I. gave (1636) divers lands and tenements in
trust to the University, that they with the profits of them maintain a
Fellow in Jesus College (as also in Exeter and Pembroke Colleges) born
in the Isle of Jersey or Guernsey. To these benefactions conditions
were generally annexed, the profits to be paid to Fellows or scholars,
frequently with preference for the kindred of the donor, or for natives
of particular places and counties, or for certain schools in Wales.
The eighteenth century presents a great contrast in interest to its
predecessor. In Jesus College it was exceptionally uneventful. The
buildings of the College were complete, the north-west corner of the
inner quadrangle being finished in 1713. Since then the College has
not been altered in form nor enlarged. Several valuable benefactions
were received, but there was none of the vigour or enthusiasm of
the sixteenth century. The most considerable endowment was what is
now called the Meyricke Fund, left in trust to the College by the
Rev. Edmund Meyricke. Meyricke was, like the original founder of the
College, treasurer of the cathedral church of St. Davids. He was one
of the Ucheldre family, a branch of that of Bodorgan, in Anglesey. He
declares in his Will--“as for my worldly estate, which God Almighty
hath blessed me with above my merits or expectation, I dispose of
in manner following: Imprimis, whereas I always intended to bestow
a good part of what God should please to bless me withall for the
encouragement of learning in Jesus College, in Oxford, and for the
better maintenance of six of the junior scholars of the foundation
of the said College out of the six counties of North Wales; I doe
give devise and bequeath all my real and personal estate,” &c. The
property thus left became very valuable, and a number of Exhibitions
were established, strictly confined to Welshmen, with a preference for
natives of North Wales. It has been questioned by some whether this
fund has been beneficial to the College. There is no doubt it made a
University education possible to many Welshmen who would otherwise
not have thought of an Oxford Degree. These new students, drawn from
the middle and lower classes in Wales, soon formed a majority of the
undergraduates. It therefore became customary for the sons of Welsh
gentry to resort to other Colleges in Oxford, and to some extent the
old connection was broken. This was a decided loss to the social status
and prestige of the College; but it is probable that the compensating
gain was greater. The young squires who resorted to the University
in the eighteenth century were not as a rule students, and formed an
element in a College requiring much discipline and toleration. On the
other hand, the students, encouraged by the new endowment, if not
intellectually very distinguished, owing to lack of early advantages,
generally made good use of the privileges afforded by the University,
and did solid work for the Principality in after life. When the
endowments of the College were strictly and by statute confined to
Welshmen, it is in Wales that we must look for educational results. And
it must be confessed that when we do look, we are not disappointed.
In every department of civil life, but especially in the Church, we
find sons of the College occupying posts of usefulness and dignity.
Even for the highest posts in the Church there was no deficiency of
native talent, but it was the mistaken policy of the Government under
the Georges to make use of the Welsh Bishoprics as rewards for English
ecclesiastics, who were ignorant of the language and characteristics
of the people whom they were supposed to guide--a policy which is now
admitted to have inflicted serious, and it is to be feared permanent,
injury on the Church in Wales. Thus in the eighteenth century the
College was debarred from furnishing occupants of the four Welsh sees,
though many of her sons may be pointed out as worthy of the mitre. Soon
after the mistaken policy was discontinued we have seen half the Welsh
sees occupied by ex-scholars of the College.[305]
Among the distinguished men of this period may be mentioned Thomas
Charles, B.A., 1779, commonly called Charles of Bala, founder of the
sect of Calvinistic Methodists, and author of the _Geiriadur_, a book
still much used. He was a man of great piety and learning, and did not
secede, but was driven out of the Church by the injudicious treatment
of his ecclesiastical superiors. His name is still a “household
word” in Wales. David Richards (Dafydd Ionawr), an eminent Welsh
poet, author of _Cywydd y Drindod_; Thomas Jones, 1760, a painter
of considerable merit, a favourite pupil of Wilson; Evan Lloyd,
1755, a poet, and friend of Churchill, Garrick, Wilkes, &c.; Goronwy
Owen, a celebrated Welsh poet and scholar, one of the great names in
Welsh literature; John Walters, Master of Ruthin School, 1750; James
Bandinel, the first Bampton Lecturer (1780); and William Wynne, 1704,
a Welsh poet. We may also mention as a contrast to the above, who are
chiefly ecclesiastics, Richard Nash, best known as “Beau Nash,” for
fifty years the celebrated Master of the Ceremonies at Bath, whose
smile or frown proclaimed social success or ostracism in fashionable
life.
Towards the middle of the eighteenth century the College became in a
peculiar degree connected with the Bodleian Library. In 1747 Humphrey
Owen, Fellow and afterwards Principal, was elected Librarian. After
some years he made John Price, a Fellow of the College, Janitor, and in
1758 Adam Thomas, M.A., Sub-Librarian; when Thomas quitted the Library
in 1761 his place was taken by Price, John Jones becoming Janitor.
In 1768, on Owen’s death, Price was made Librarian, and held office
for forty-five years. From 1758 to 1788 all the Sub-Librarians in
succession were members of Jesus College, and nearly all the persons
who are found otherwise employed in the Library--no full or official
list exists--bear Welsh names.
Dr. Johnson in one of his frequent trips to Oxford made Jesus College
his head-quarters. This fact has been recently ascertained by Dr. G.
Birkbeck Hill, the well-known authority on Johnson and his times, in
preparing for publication the great lexicographer’s letters. His host
was his “convivial friend,” Dr. Edwards the Vice-Principal of the
College, the editor of Xenophon’s _Memorabilia_, who gave up his rooms
to his guest. These were, probably, situated in the south-western
corner of the outer Quadrangle on the first-floor. It was early in June
1782 that Johnson came into residence in the College, at a time when he
was broken in health. Nevertheless, as we learn from Miss Hannah More,
who was at the time the guest of the Master of Pembroke College, he did
what he could to spread cheerfulness around him. The Fellows of Jesus
College were to give a banquet in his honour and hers, to which “they
invited Thomas Warton and all that was famous in Oxford.” Unfortunately
she does not give us any account of the banquet. Doubtless it was held
and the old Hall rang with the sound of Johnson’s deep voice, but
not an echo has been caught. The fact of his residence is curiously
confirmed by the Battel-books, which show that at the time when he was
in Oxford the Battels of Dr. Edwards and other members of the College
were unusually high. In fact, everybody in the College seems to have
indulged in hospitality, no doubt being anxious to let his friends see
the great man whose sun was now supposed to be so rapidly setting.
Perhaps the first half of the nineteenth century is remote enough from
our times to warrant the mention of a few names of distinguished men
who have been removed by death. Here, as in the preceding century, we
must look chiefly to Wales, where we find among Welsh poets, Daniel
Evans (Daniel Ddu); John Jones (Ioan Tegid), a well-known writer and
editor of Welsh books; John Blackwell (Alun), one of the most pleasing
and attractive of Welsh poets; Morris Williams (Nicander), well known
as poet, preacher, and writer in Welsh; and last, but not least, John
Richard Green, the brilliant historian. We must not omit to mention
the late Principal, Charles Williams, D.D., who was well known in
the University for his love of his country, his hospitable social
qualities, and his acute and elegant scholarship.
In 1857 the University Commission, which made such changes in Oxford,
dealt with Jesus College, but forbore from adopting the sweeping
measures at one time threatened. The chief change made was that half
the Fellowships were declared for the future to be open to general
competition. This declaration did not excite much opposition or remark
in Wales, though great indignation was expressed when more than
twenty years later another Commission dealt in the same way with the
scholarships. It should be remembered that the principle was sacrificed
in 1857, and that the opposers of the last Commission could only
advance arguments of expediency, on which Commissioners are apt to have
their own opinions. Whether the change is likely to be for the good of
the College and of Wales is a point much disputed, and this is not a
place where it can be discussed.
We have seen that the buildings of the College have not been enlarged
in extent since 1713; many structural alterations have, however, taken
place. The upper story throughout the College, except on its extreme
western side, consisted of attics with dormer windows, which in old
pictures gives the College a picturesque appearance. The roof has,
however, been raised, and in the outer quadrangle battlements surmount
the walls; in the inner quadrangle gables mark the points where the
dormer windows formerly existed. The dining-hall, which once had a
fine open oak roof, was, in the time of Principal Hoare, fitted with
a plaster ceiling, in order that the space above might form attics to
increase the accommodation of the Lodgings. Since the enlargement of
the Principal’s house in 1886 the accommodation is no longer needed,
and it is to be hoped that the hall may soon regain its original
proportions.
The chapel, which was consecrated in 1621, has been frequently altered,
and at least once (in 1636) enlarged. The doorway, with its picturesque
porch, bearing the scroll, “Ascendat Oratio, Descendat Gratia,” is
not the original entrance. When the south wall was being re-faced
some years ago, another doorway of older workmanship than the present
one, was discovered. The change was probably made when the massive
Jacobean screen was put up, which now separates the chapel from the
ante-chapel. In 1864 the whole interior was restored. Of the success of
the restoration there may be two opinions; but there is no doubt that
the widening of the chancel-arch was a mistake, as it has permanently
dwarfed the proportions of the building. The woodwork substituted for
what existed previously, though good of its kind, presents too violent
a contrast with the screen already mentioned. The east window is a
painted one of some interest, though not of high artistic merit. In the
ante-chapel is an excellent copy of Guido’s picture of “St. Michael
triumphing over the Fallen Angel.” The original is in the Capucini
Church at Rome. The picture was presented by Lord Bulkeley of Baron
Hill in Anglesey.
In 1856 the whole eastern front of the College was re-faced, and a
tower built. The work was carried out under the superintendence of
Mr. Buckler, architect, Oxford, and is admitted to be very well done.
There are, however, some who think that the old Jacobean gateway was
more in harmony with the domestic architecture of the College, and more
suitable to its position in a narrow street.
The library contains a considerable number of volumes which are not of
great interest to the student of the present day, but is exceptionally
rich in pamphlets of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and in
works on Canon Law. A valuable and numerous collection of manuscripts
has been removed to the Bodleian Library for safety. The best known of
these is the _Llyfr Coch_, the famous Red Book of Hergest, containing a
collection of Welsh legends and poetry, which is gradually being edited
by Professor Rhys and Mr. Evans.
The College is not exceptionally rich in portraits, but possesses two
of great merit--a portrait of Charles I. by Vandyke, and of Queen
Elizabeth by F. Zucchero.
Like many other Colleges, Jesus College sacrificed its original plate,
of which a goodly inventory exists, to the needs of the Royalist cause
in 1641; but has since been presented with a fair collection, of which
the most remarkable piece is a very large silver-gilt bowl,[306] given
by Sir Watkin Williams Wynn in 1732.
Nothing has been said above of the Church patronage of the College,
which is considerable, advowsons being a favourite form of bequest with
the donors already mentioned, and with others. Unfortunately, few of
the livings are situated in Wales. Thus many able Welshmen have been
withdrawn from the service of their national Church to their own loss
and that of their country.
It is to be remarked that no considerable benefaction has been given to
the College during the present century. The history of Jesus College
has thus been brought down to living memory, which is the limit of this
work. Perhaps more space has been taken up than an existence of little
over three hundred years deserves. But the College holds a unique
position in Oxford as having a strong connection, notwithstanding much
alienation, with a Principality which is not yet English in language
or feeling. Such a connection has many advantages, and perhaps some
drawbacks. It is to be hoped that the College will be left undisturbed
long enough to prove that the latter are altogether outweighed by the
former.
XVII.
WADHAM COLLEGE.
BY J. WELLS, M.A., FELLOW OF WADHAM.
Wadham College occupies an interesting position in the history of the
University, as having been the last College founded until quite recent
times, for both Pembroke and Worcester were but expansions of older
foundations. Though actually dating from the reign of James I., it may
be said to share with Jesus College the honour of belonging to the days
of Elizabeth, as its founder and foundress were well advanced in years
at the time when they carried out their long meditated plans, and both
in the spirit which animates its statutes and in the architecture of
its fabric, Wadham College belongs rather to the sixteenth than to the
seventeenth century.
The founder of the College, Nicholas Wadham, of Merifeild, in the
county of Somerset, belonged to one of the oldest and wealthiest of
the untitled families of the West of England. He married Dorothy,
daughter of Sir William Petre, the well known benefactor of Exeter
College, but having no children, he resolved to devote his great wealth
to some pious use. Antony à Wood tells us that his original intention
had been to found a College at Venice for English Romanists, but that
he was persuaded to change his plans; the story[307] seems doubtful,
and Nicholas Wadham at all events died in the Anglican communion. All
his patrimonial estates went to his three sisters, who had married
into some of the chief families of the West of England; but he had for
some time past been accumulating money for his new foundation; and in
two conversations held with his nephew and executor, Sir John Wyndham,
very shortly before his death, he had given full directions as to many
points in the College. Of these two were especially notable: he desired
that the Warden as well as the Fellows should be unmarried; and also
that each of them should be “left free to profess what he listed, as
it should please God to direct him;” he did not wish them to “live
thro’ all their time like idle drones, but put themselves into the
world, whereby others may grow up under them.” He also arranged that
the College should be called after his own name, and that the Bishop of
Bath and Wells should be perpetual Visitor.
His widow and executors set to work at once to carry out his
wishes, and the present site of the College was purchased from
the city of Oxford for £600. It had formerly been occupied by the
Augustinian Friars, whose name survived in the old phrase for degree
exercises,[308] “doing Austins,” down to the beginning of this century.
The foundation stone was laid with great ceremony on July 31st, 1610,
and two years later the foundress, having some time previously obtained
a charter from James I., put forth her statutes (August 16th, 1612).
In these her husband’s wish was carried out by the provision that
Fellows should resign their posts eighteen years after they had ceased
to be regent masters: this provision remained in force down to the
commission of 1854. Originally the Warden was not required to be in
orders, but was allowed to proceed to his Doctorate in Law or Medicine
as well as in Divinity; but the foundress was persuaded to alter her
arrangements on this point, and the two former alternatives were struck
out.
There were to be fifteen Fellows and fifteen scholars, the former
being elected from among the latter; of these three scholars were to
be from Somerset, and three from Essex, while three Fellowships and
three scholarships were restricted to “founder’s kin.” These were
originally intended for the children and descendants of the sisters
above-mentioned, but in course of time it became frequent to trace
kinship with the founder through collateral branches of the Wadham
family. The buildings erected by the foundress are remarkable in more
ways than one. Their architect, who is supposed to have been Holt[309]
of York, the architect of the New Schools, was employed at several
other Colleges in Oxford, _e. g._ at Merton, Exeter, Jesus, University,
and Oriel. The resemblance between the inner quadrangle at the first
of these and that of Wadham is very marked. Owing to the extent of the
original design and the excellence of the building material employed,
Wadham has the unique honour among the Colleges of Oxford of having
remained practically unaltered since it left its foundress’ hands.