without doing any real miſchief to mankind in general: but when large legacies, given for ſome publick uſe, are perverted to private luxury and grandeur, the whole world become the ſufferers, and loſe the advantage which their benefactor deſign'd them, through the combination or connivance of corrupt executors.
Fulfilling the will of the dead is commonly eſteemed a very ſacred duty, even when it relates only to trifles and indifferent matters; but when the will of the dead is inſeperable from the publick good, the fulfilling of it then ought ſurely to be eſteemed much more ſacred; for the violation of it, in ſuch a caſe, is the moſt impious of all ſacrilege, and the higheſt treaſon againſt mankind.
There are frequent complaints of this infamous practice in Oxford, and I will venture to affirm, ſeldom without reaſon, though generally without redreſs; which muſt neceſſarily put a ſtop to the generous purpoſes of many perſons, who might perhaps become great benefactors to the univerſity, were they aſſured that their munificence would be honeſtly applied, and not divided between cormorant Head of a college and his perjur'd abettors.
We find a remarkable inſtance of this evil in Dr. Ayliffe's hiſtory of the antient and preſent ſtate of the univerſity of Oxford, which is very well worth our conſideration.
The doctor having quoted a paſſage out of Clarendon's Hiſtory, concerning the Parliamentary Viſitation of the univerſity of Oxford, in the year 1647 adds theſe words: And thus far from the hiſtory of that noble peer, the Earl of Clarendon, a copy of which he bequeathed as a legacy to the univerſity of Oxford, to make ſome reparation for the damages it ſuſtain'd, during the rage of this unnatural civil war: which gift, if it had been rightly improv'd and honeſtly managed by thoſe who had the care of
