archbishop Chichele had procured the renewal of a decree, that ecclesiastical benefices should be conferred only on persons who had taken their degrees; yet few of them fell to the lot of academics. Many belonged to monasteries and cathedrals, or collegiate churches, and were supplied by vicars and hirelings with knowledge proportionate to their salary. Many were bestowed by the Pope; and the university afterwards solicited archbishop Bourchier to resist this usurped power, as the bane of literature. A dispensation purchased at Rome indulged the pluralist, protected the non-resident, or admitted the beardless youth to the first offices of the church. So numerous were the discouragements and so abject was the fortune of the Oxford scholars, that it was common for them to beg from house to house. We are told that in this reign the university of Paris, which flourished, broke off its ancient connexion with that of Oxford, as beneath its notice.

་

The attention of Waynflete had been di

b Duck, in V. Chich.

• Duck, p. 39.

A. Wood, p. 242, 225, 226.

e P. 58.

rected

oh please!

rected to the two universities by their alliance to the colleges of Winchester and Eton. He had observed the low estate of the scholars, clerks, and pitied their condition. On his advancement to the see of Winchester he became intent, says Budden, on demonstrating that he was equal to his new dignity, and that his possessing it would be of general advantage to the community. He studied in what manner he could most usefully oblige, not only his contemporaries but posterity. A fervent desire to increase knowledge in a country then scarcely beginning to emerge from barbarism, animated him, and he justly decided, that to promote letters was to be a public benefactor.

course.

Waynflete appears to have conceived early, a warm regard for the university at which he was educated, and to have been connected with it by constant friendly interDuke Humphrey was an encourager of learning, and a collector of books. He had added to a present of nine volumes, which he made to the university of Oxford, one hundred and twenty in 1439, and one hundred and thirty-five in 1443. He had

P. 67.

promised

promised more, perhaps his whole library, publicly, in an assembly of the doctors and masters in the congregation-house, and often afterwards privately by their messengers; and had confirmed his donation, as they were assured, on testimony deserving credit, a little before his death. When that happened, they were unwilling to lose his valuable gift; they requested Waynflete to exert his power, at which they professed to rejoice, in their behalf, and to endeavour to obtain it for them from the king; not doubting but he, naturally disposed to be gracious, would be influenced by his intercession, and that of other good men, in their favour. They intimated that more promises had been made by the duke, about which it was better to be silent. Waynflete was not as yet a bishop. They celebrate his approved love for his Alma Mater; and their letter is remarkable for the affectionate terms in which it is conceived.

King Henry had resided at Queen's college Oxford with his uncle Beaufort, who, proud as he was, had deemed it not unworthy of his high birth and station, to instruct him with other boys as their schoolSee Appendix, No VIII.

master.

master. He had condescended to be styled the Founder of All Soulen college established by the munificence of Chichele for forty poor and indigent scholars, clerks, to pray for Henry V, the duke of Clarence, those who had perished in the war with France, and for the souls of all the faithful defunct b. He had bestowed on it the lands of some of the alien priories, which had been surrendered by the archbishop and clergy as a propitiatory offering to his father in 1414, when he was petitioned by parliament to seize their revenues. He is represented as ever friendly to Oxford', and we are told, that Waynflete endeavoured to persuade him to erect a college there: but he replied, "Ra"ther at Cambridge;" declaring his wish, if possible, to continue two universities in his kingdom *.

If Waynflete did, indeed, at any time apply to Henry, as is related, and was un

h MSS. Tanner in Bibl. Bodl. N° 153, f. 1. "e quibus 24 ar"tium et sacrarum literarum, reliquos juris civilis atque canonici "studiis incumbere, &c."

i Stow, p. 956. A. Wood, vol. i. p. 224. Ayliffe, vol. i. p. 166. k "Immo Cantabrigiæ potius, ut ita duas, si fieri possit, in reg"no academias habeam." Wake. Rex Platonicus, in marg. p. 68. Queen's college at Cambridge was founded by Margaret, his wife, 28 Hen. VI. 1449. Baker.

successful,

successful, his own liberal hand was speedily extended to relieve literate distress. In 1448, the year after his advancement to the mitre, he obtained the royal grant', dated the 6th of May, impowering him to found a hall, to be called after the blessed St. Mary Magdalen, for the study of divinity and philosophy, at Oxford; to consist of a president and fifty poor scholars, graduates; the number to be augmented or diminished in proportion to their revenues; and to confer on them a right to use a common seal. This was accompanied with a license for one hundred pounds a year in mortmain.

It was the care of John Godmanston, an esquire of Essex, who is styled by Budden TM a great admirer of the fine arts, to procure a proper site for the intended edifice and society. An agreement was concluded on

1 See Appendix, N° IX. Mortmaynes, No 1. Index of Deeds. A. Wood, p. 187.

5to Nonas Maii. Budden, p. 67.

P.67. "Johannes Godmanstonus ex ea nobilium nota qui "armigeri appellantur, bonarum artium summus admirator, fun"datorem sponte sua satis incitatum benigne etiam instigavit. Et "ne in alicno solo edificaret fundum pie est elargitus."

Waynflete collated Simon Godmanston, A. B. his chaplain, to the parish church of Nutshulling, May 6th, 1452. Registr. Waynflete.

"S. Petrus in Oriente, N°11. Index of Deeds. A. Wood, p. 188, the

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