5

yearly towards the exhibition of five learned men to read and teach divinity, law, physic, Greek and Hebrew, and of his munificence in founding Trinity college and other bounties, he goes on1:

"Howbeit all they that haue knowen the vniuersitye "of Cambryge sence that tyme that it dyd fyrst begynne "to receive these greate and manyefolde benefytes from the "kynges maiestye, at youre handes, haue iuste occasion "to suspecte that you haue deceyued boeth the kynge 10" and vniuersitie, to enryche youre selues. For before that "you dyd begynne to be the disposers of the kynges "lyberalitye towardes learnyng and pouerty, ther was in "houses belongynge vnto the vniuersitye of Cambryge, "two hundred studentes of dyuynytye, many verye well 15"learned: whyche bee nowe all clene gone, house and

'manne, young towarde scholers, and old fatherlye Doc"tors, not one of them lefte: one hundred also of an "other sorte, that hauynge rich frendes or beying benefyced men dyd lyue of theym selues in Ostles and Innes, be 20❝eyther gon awaye, or elles fayne to crepe into Colleges, "and put poore men from bare lyuynges. Those bothe "be all gone, and a small number of poore godly dyly"gent studentes nowe remaynynge only in Colleges be not "able to tary and contynue their studye in yo vniuersitye 25 "for lacke of exibicion and healpe. There be dyuers "ther which ryse daily betwixt foure and fyue of the "clocke in the mornynge, and from fyue until syxe of the "clocke, vse commen prayer wyth an exhortacion of gods "worde in a common chappell, and from sixe vnto ten of 30"the clocke vse euer eyther priuate study or commune "lectures. At ten of the clocke they go to dynner, where

as they be contente wyth a penye pyece of biefe a"mongest .iiii. hauynge a fewe porage made of the "brothe of the same byefe, wythe salte and otemel, and 35 "nothynge els.

"After thys slender dinner they be either teachinge "or learnynge vntyll v. of the clocke in the euening, "when as they haue a supper not much better then theyr

1 A Sermon preached at Pauls | Crosse, the .xiiii. day of December, by | Thomas Le=[uer| Anno .M.D. | L. | [fol. E 1 vo.]

"diner. Immedyatelye after the whyche, they goo eyther "to reasonyng in problemes or vnto some other studye, "untyl it be nyne or tenne of the clocke, and there beyng wythout fyre, are fayne to walk or runne up and downe "halfe an houre, to gette a heate on their feete whan they 5 "go to bed."

In another place' he has this passage:

"The Kynges Magestye that deade is, dyd gyue a Benefyce to be appropriate vnto the vniuersitye of Cambridge, in liberam et puram eliemosinam: as free and 10 "pure almes. Howe be it, hys hands were so vnpure, "which should haue deliuered it, that he receiued .vi. hun"dreth poundes of the vniuersitye for it. Whether that thys .vi. C. poundes were conueied to the kings behoofe priuelye for that Almes, whyche by playne wrytynge 15 "was giuen frely, or els put into some Judas pouch, I "would it were knowen. For nowe, by such charitable Almes, the king is slaundered, the parishe vndone, and "the vniuersitye in worse case then it was afore.

"Pleaseth it your Magestye-heare what hath bene 201 "done in your tyme "-and then goes on to acquaint the king with the abuses and alienations, in colleges, grammar schools, etc., and particularly in Sedberg school', then and now in the patronage of St John's college.

I have the rather mentioned this passage, because the 25 life of this man of unpure hands has been lately wrote by one of his family and lodged in the public library, with design, I suppose, to preserve the memory of a benefactor, for herein the donation of this benefice seems to be attributed to him. The patronage of Burwell rectory was his 30 inheritance and appropriated to the university of Cambridge by his solicitation and favour with the king, and (as we

1 A Sermon preached the thyrd | Sondaye in Lente before the Kyngs Ma = liestie, by Thomas Leauer. an. dni. 1550. [fol. D 8 vo.]

...

2 This alienation at Sedberg was made in Dr Bill's time upon promise of a compensation by a potent courtier.

Ex litter. coll. dat. Cal. Octobr.

G. Bill præfecto.

This sermon might probably forward a compensation, for an. 1551 in April a grant is made from the crown to Sedberg school to the value of £20. per annum and upwards. See Strype's Eccles. Mem. Vol. II. [Bk. 2. c. 33.] p. 536.

firmly believe) at his own charge'. I have no doubt of the belief of this honourable person, though at the same time my own belief must rest upon Mr Leaver, as well from the integrity of the man, as because what he says of £600 5 is sufficiently confirmed from the archives of the university2. That living cost us dear, and the moneys not being to be raised otherwise, it was the first occasion" of draining the chests, which have been since almost empty, and nothing now to shew for them but auditors and keys.

Notwithstanding the pressures this and other colleges were under in point of maintenance, which Mr Leaver complains of in his sermons, occasioned by the courtiers' invading church preferments (that were intended as rewards of learning) by racking their tenants, formerly accustomed to 15 easy rents whilst a great part of the lands of the nation

were in the hands of the church, by their neglect of hospitality which ought to have been kept up, and by their want of charity which had formerly been maintained, yet the college flourished in learning, and what usually attends it, 20 in the true religion. The reformation nowhere gained more ground or was more zealously maintained, than it did here under this master's example and the influence of his government: as appeared best in the day of trial, when he with twenty-four of his fellows quitted their preferments to 25 preserve their innocence.

For upon king Edward's death and the return of popery and superstition, to the which he bore a perfect abhorrence, he with two brothers of his name fled to Arow in Switzerland, where he was preacher to a congre30 gation, and held a friendship and correspondence with Bullinger and Calvin and received from them a tincture very prejudicial to his future preferment. It was really well he would condescend to fly, for he seemed to be made. for martyrdom; his testimonials are entered upon the 35 books in rubric characters, whether from some inward. bodings or with what other intent was best known to him

1 MS. p. 51. Since printed with other things, 8vo.

ย Apud Hare Collect. Vol. III.

3 MS. coll. Corp. Chr.

4 Black Book,

self, but they are the only testimonials that stand there

in red.

Under queen Elizabeth he returned to England, but never to his mastership, having brought with him that unhappy tincture that unqualified him for greater preferments. 5 James Pilkington, who had been fellow under him and succeeded him as master (though not immediately) being promoted to the see of Durham, he accepted the hospital of Sherburn near Durham', to which he was collated January 28th, 1562, then void by the death of Ralph Skinner; and 10 the year after was collated to a prebend in that church, both which preferments he held, as I suppose, by some connivance from the bishop.

He was deprived of his prebend an. 15673, but held his hospital to his dying day, when he was succeeded by one 15 of his name, Ralph Levir M.A., his brother, as I suppose, and fellow of St John's, who was collated to Sherburn hospital July 16 an. 1577, as then void by the death of Thomas Levir B.D. He is said to have died at Ware in his journey from London to Durham; he lies buried (or 20 has a cenotaph) in the chapel at Sherburn under a fair marble with this epitaph:

Thomas Leaver preacher to king Edward y Sixth, he dyed in July, 1577.

Preaching indeed was his talent (though in a very dif- 25 ferent strain from Dr Bill) which, as it was thought fit to be made the only ingredient in his character, so he continued to the last, after he was deprived. Thus much may be gathered from the printed Register, that will give a very authentic character of the man. The passage is too long to 30 be transcribed at large, but thus much may justly be inferred from it in his commendation; first, that he was so useful a person that he was permitted to preach after his deprivation; and secondly, that he was so inoffensive in his

1 Regr. Dunelm.

2 Febr. 2. an. 1563. Regr. ut supra.

3 Regr. Dunelm.

4 Parker ΣKeλ. Cant. who either

mistakes or has given occasion to Fuller to mistake the time of his death.

5 Part of a register, p. 27, etc.

temper, that no sufferings could provoke him to strike in and join himself with violent men. And yet in king Edward's reign, when preferment was in view, no man had been more vehement or more galling in his sermons against the waste of the church revenues and other prevailing corruptions of the court, which has given occasion to bishop Ridley' to rank him for his zeal with Latimer and Knox.

The thing that gave the first and great offence, his 10 advising the queen not to accept the title of supreme head, though it was borrowed from Calvin, yet seems to have been done with temper and with regard to bring the bishops into the church and government3. Calvin wrote that comment in queen Mary's reign, when the dangers 15 were visible of lodging such a power in the queen, and Mr Leaver was so honest as to apply the doctrine home to queen Elizabeth, though possibly it was the title that most offended him. But this was no reign for such doctrines, nor indeed for such preaching as Mr Leaver's, who had 20 been well heard by king Edward's courtiers, though they would not amend; under queen Elizabeth they were so far from mending, that they would not hear: so it was in vain. for the charmer to charm any longer.

He was a married man, entered into that state upon his 25 return from exile and sooner than he could very safely do

it some of his name and family are yet or were lately living in the diocese of Durham. And might not that be some bar to his return to his mastership? for the queen at first only connived at the marriage of the clergy, and after30 wards by her injunction there was no room for mistresses within the walls of a college.

He gave Ludovic. Cœlius Rhod.", as his predecessor Dr Bill did Suidas, to the library. Books of his own composing were, his Sermons in a small volume, that used 35 to be lodged amongst our MSS., since tossed out of place

1 Lamentation of bishop Ridley in Fox, Mart. Vol. III. p. 517. [ed. 1631.] * In Amos. Cap. 7, v. 13.

3 Hist. Refor. Vol. II. Collect. [Bk. 3. no. 2.] p. 332.

Dat. Aug. 9 an. reg. 3tio. Hare Collect. Vol. III.

5 Ex archivis coll. That which is now in the library was not his gift.