and the absent master to appear before them, and on 4 Feb. 1689 the office of master was declared vacant, and filled by the election of the senior fellow.
On the first day of term, 23 Oct. 1689, a writ of habeas corpus was moved for Walker, and the House of Commons ordered that he should be brought to the bar. He was there charged, first, with changing his religion; secondly, for seducing others to it; thirdly, for keeping a mass house in the university of Oxford. To these charges he made answer that he could not say that he ever altered his religion, or that his principles were now wholly in agreement with the church of Rome. He denied that he had ever seduced others to the Romish religion, and declared that the chapel was no more his gift than that of the fellows, and that King James had requested it of them, and they had given a part of the college to his use. Having heard these answers, the commons ordered that he should be charged in the Tower by warrant for high treason in being reconciled to the church of Rome and other high crimes and misdemeanours (Commons' Journals, x. 275).
Walker remained in the Tower till 31 Jan. 1689–90, when, having come to the court of king's bench by habeas corpus, he was after some difficulty admitted to his liberty on very good bail (Luttrell, Brief Relation, ii. 10). On 12 Feb. he was continued in his recognisances till the next term, but was eventually discharged with his bail on 2 June 1690 (ib. ii. 50). He was, however, excepted from William and Mary's act of pardon in May 1690. Walker now again lived for a period on the continent, and after his return resided in London. Being in poor circumstances, he was supported by his old scholar, Dr. Radcliffe, ‘who sent him once a year a new suit of clothes, with ten broad pieces and twelve bottles of richest canary to support his drooping spirits’ (Wood, Life and Times, i. 81). On his infirmities increasing, he eventually found an asylum in Radcliffe's house.
Walker died on 21 Jan. 1698–9, and was buried in St. Pancras churchyard, where a tombstone was erected to his memory by his staunch friend, with the short inscription:
O W
per bonam famam
et per infamiam.
His works are: 1. ‘Some Instruction concerning the Art of Oratory,’ London, 1659, 8vo. 2. ‘Of Education, especially of young Gentlemen,’ Oxford, 1673. This work was deservedly popular, and reached a sixth edition in 1699. It shows its author to have been a man of the world, with a shrewd understanding of the weaknesses of youth. 3. ‘Artis Rationis ad mentem Nominalium libri tres,’ Oxford, 1673, 8vo. 4. ‘A Paraphrase and Annotations upon the Epistle of St. Paul,’ written by O. W., edited by Dr. Fell, Oxford, 1675, 8vo. A new edition of this work appeared in 1852, with an introduction by Dr. Jacobson, D.D., in which he concludes that the book was first written by Walker, and afterwards possibly corrected and improved by Fell. 5. ‘Versio Latina et Annotationes ad Alfredi Magni Vitam Joannis Spelman,’ Oxford, 1678, fol. 6. ‘Propositions concerning Optic Glasses, with their natural Reasons drawn from Experiment,’ Oxford Theatre, 1679, 4to. 7. ‘The Benefits of our Saviour Jesus Christ to Mankind,’ Oxford Theatre, 1680, 4to. 8. ‘A Description of Greenland’ in the first volume of the ‘English Atlas,’ Oxford, 1680. 9. ‘Animadversions upon the Reply of Dr. H. Aldrich to the Discourse of Abraham Woodhead concerning the Adoration of our Blessed Saviour in the Eucharist,’ Oxford, 1688, 4to. The printer is said to have supplied the sheets of Abraham Woodhead's discourses concerning the adoration, &c., which was edited by Walker in January 1687, to Dr. Aldrich, whose answer to Woodhead's book appeared immediately. 10. ‘Some Instruction in the Art of Grammar, writ to assist a young Gentleman in the speedy understanding of the Latin Tongue,’ London, 1691, 8vo. 11. ‘The Greek and Roman History illustrated by Coins and Medals, representing their Religious Rites,’ &c. London, 1692, 8vo.
[Univ. Coll. Register and MSS.; Wood's Life and Times; Gent. Mag. 1786, vol. i.; Gutch's Collectanea Curiosa, i. 288; Pittis's Memoirs of Dr. Radcliffe; Wood's Athenæ Oxon. ed. Bliss, iv. 439; Smith's Hist. of Univ. Coll.; British Museum and Bodleian Catalogues.]
WALKER, RICHARD (1679–1764), professor of moral philosophy at Cambridge University, was born in 1679. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating B.A. in 1706, M.A. in 1710, B.D. in 1724, and D.D. per regias literas in 1728. He was elected a fellow of Trinity College, but in 1708 left Cambridge to serve a curacy at Upwell in Norfolk. In 1717 Richard Bentley, who had a difference with the junior bursar, John Myers, removed him, and recalled Walker to Cambridge to fill his place. From this time an intimacy began between Walker and Bentley which increased from year to year. He devoted his best energies to sustaining Bentley in his struggle with the fellows of the college, and rendered
