OCR Text |
Show 37~ A T R 0 C I 0 t.; S ,1 U D U E t'. f A. D. 1\.ibi sumn1oncd the fellows to attend the1n. These reverend auJ gallant divine appeared, h eaded by their new pre id nt, who defended hi. right with skill, temper and resolu lion; steadily 1nnintaining that, by the laws of I~ngland, he had a fi·eeholcl in hi ofilce, and in the house and reveuue~ annexed to jt. Being a ·ked whether he submitted to this royal visi.tation, he ans\·vered:- " l\ly lord.s, I do declare here, in the name of myself anu the fellow ... , that we ubmit to the vi itation as far a it i · consistent with the laws of the land and the statutes of the eollege, and no further." JVrigltt, 0. J. -"You cannot imagine that we act contrary to the laws of the land ; and a to the statutes, the king has dispensed with the1n. Do you think we come here to break the laws?" Itouglz.-" It does not become 1ne, 1ny lords, to ay so; but I will be plain with your lord --hip~. I find that your com1ni ·sion gives you authority to alter the statutes. Now, I have sworn to uphold and obey them ; I n1ust admit no alteration of them, and by the g race of Gocl never will." Ile W[l.s a ked whether one of the statutes of the founder diclnot require 1nass to be i:iaid in the college chap 1; but he answered, "not only was it unlawfnl, uut jt had b ·en repealed by the act of Parliament reqniring the n e of the Book of Common Prayer." IIowever, sentence was gi\en that the election of IIongh was void, ancl that he be ueprivetl of his oflice of pre ·ident. Ilouglt. _"I do her ehy prote t against all your proceeuing$, all you have done, or shall hereafter do, in prejudice of me and 1ny right, and I appeal to my sovereign lord the king in his courts of justice." "Upon which ( ays a contemporary account) the stranger:3 and young cholars in the hall gave a hum which so 1nnch . ' Jncen~ed their lord .. hips that the lord chief justice wa not to 1\. D. 1GS7 .] nOBEUT \''RIGHT. B73 be pacified, but, charging it upon the presiuent, bound hin1 in a bond of one thou an<l pounu , and ·ecurity to the like Yaluc, to make his appearance at the ICing's Bench bar on the 12th of November; and, taking occasion to pun upon the pre ~ident's name, said to hin1, " S ir, you n1ust not think to huff us." lie then ordered the door of the president's hou e to be broken open by a blacksmith ; and a fellow observing, "I mn infonned that the proper officer to gain possession of a freehold is tl~c sheriff with a posse cornitatus," \Vright aid, "I pray who 13 the best lawyer, you or I?. '.1r. o ur 0 x f'o r(l law is no better than your Oxford l1iviuity. If you have a n1ind Lo a posse com·itatus, you may have one soon enougI 1 . " . IIavinO' eiected IIourrh he is::saed a. mandate for ex.pcllmg 0 '.J b ' f all the contumacious fe1low ~, and in~u red the expulsion ° James from his throne, when t I1 e comm1·s 1· 01 1cr:":;' returned in triumph to Londou. 1nu n ·g ht WaS 11·1 \ .e W·l SC H ffiClU b e1. of' t·l 1c Ecclesia. tical Court of Iligh Commission, of which J efJ'reys wa~ president, and he strenuously J· O·i ned 1· 11 all the J·U u,, gmen t s~ of th'a t i llerbr al and. ar- h1. trary tn.b unal, w bw. h, w1. th a non ob s t an l e, had been revn·ed m. the very teeth of. an ex1· st1· ng ac t of Pa' rliarnent. lit~ treated with ridicule the scrup1 c s o f S anci· oft' the Archbi ~hop of Canterbury anJ others who re [n ~ e d t o 1· t UI)On it' and he urged the infl'i ction of severe pu.u r·s 11 1ne, n t 0 11 'a H who den i c c1 its jurisdiction. 1 AI thou o-h he was not a 1uen1 b Cl . o f tl1e C·<t binet.' he u ·ual Y } lCard frobm the chancellor the n1easu1. es w hieh had been .r e- solved upon there, and he was ever n WI· lrm g t 0 ol in CUlTJil10o ' them into effect. \Vhen the cleray \vere in"u I teeI, an(l tl 1 e whole country ·w• as thrown into a flnmo e by the f.n tnl or<.1 c r H· l c.~o uncil for r eadwg ' * 4) ·> d ... |