6. M Air LAND: THE RENAISSANCE 177 gether, the Rev. Prof. Dr. Sir Thomas Smith, Knt., M. P., Dean of Carlisle, Provost of Eton, Ambassador to the Court of France and Secretary of State to Queen Elizabeth was a man of mark in an age of great events. Had some of those events been other than they were, we might now be saying of him that he played a prominent part in Renaissance, Ref- ormation and Reception, and a part characteristic of that liberal and rational university of which he was professor, public orator and vice-chancellor.^^ Some German historians, as you are aware, have tried " Of Smith's two orations there is a copy in Camb. Univ. Libr. Baker M8S. xxxvii. 294, 414. Mr. MuUinger (Hist. Univ. Cambr., vol. ii., p. 127) has given an excellent summary. The following passage is that in which the Professor approaches the question whether in England there is a career open to the civilian. He has been saying that we ought not to study merely for the sake of riches. " Tamen si qui sint qui hoc requirant, sunt archiva Londini, sunt pontificia fora, forum est praefecti quoque classis, in quibus proclamare licet et vocem vendere; est scrip- tura; singuli pontifices cancellarios suos habent et officiales et com- missarios, qui propter civilis et pontificii iuris professionem in hunc locum accipiuntur." The orator proceeds to ask whether there is any youth who ungratefully thinks that proficiency in legal science will not find an adequate reward. " In quo regno aut in cuius regis imperio tam stulta ilium opinio tenebit? In hoccine nobilissimi atque invictissimi nostri principis Henrici octavi regno, cuius magnificentia in bonas literas, studiumque in literates, omnium omnis memoriae principum facta meritaque superavit, cuius ingentia in academias beneficia, licet nulla unquam tacebit posteritas, tamen omni celebratione mariora reperientur. Cum strenue laboraveris et periculum ingenii tui feceris, teque non lusisse operam sed dignum aliquo operae precio et honore ostenderis, cur dejices animum? Cur desperatione conflictabis? Cur de tanto fautore ingeniorum, tam insigni bonae indolis exploratore, tam potenti Rege, tam nmnifico, tam liberali et egregio amatore suorum demisse viliterque sentias ? " There follows much more flattery of the king as a patron of learning of every kind. " Iuris quidem civilis consulti facultas in hac republica cum ad multos usus pernecessaria est, tum a principe nostro nequaquam negligi aut levem haberi, vel hoc argumento esse potest, quod tam amplo planeque regio stipendio et meam hie apud vos mediocritatem et alium Oxonii disertum ac doctum virum ius hoc civile praelegere profiterique voluit." And the study of the civil law is the high road to diplomatic service. " Ius vero civile sic est commune ut cum ex Anglia discesseris, nobiles, ignobiles, docti, indocti, sacerdotes etiam ac monachi cum aliquod specimen eruditionis videri volunt exhibuisse, nihil fere aliud perstrepunt quam quod ex hoc iure civili et pontificio sit depromptum." The king has wisely employed civilians in his many legations. There follow com- pliments paid to Stephen Gardiner, Thomas Thirlby, William Paget, Thomas Wriothesley, and Thomas Legh. On the whole, the professor can hold out to his pupils the prospect of diplomatic employment, of masterships in the chancery ("sunt archiva Londini"), of practice in the ecclesiastical courts and the court of admiralty, and besides this they are to remember that the king is a great patron of learning. I do
