Terræ-filius: or, the Secret History of the University of Oxford/Terræ Filius No. IV
Terræ-Filius. No. IV.
Behold I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Dr. Delaune's Text upon Original Sin.
Wednesday, January 25.
IF to found and endow publick nurseries of learning is (as it is generally esteemed) the most noble and commendable of all benefactions; it will follow, that to embezzle or misapply moneys of estates bequeathed for that purpose, is, of all frauds, the vilest and most detestable: private acts of injustice, which extend no farther than a family, or a single person, are very pardonable in comparison of those publick ones, which reach to distant posterity, and frustrate the useful progress of knowledge and philosophy.
A tradesman may, by extortion, take two or three shillings in the pound, or even Cent. per Cent. more than his commodity is worth, of an old miser; or a whore may pick a young spendthrift's pocket, 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 its impression, might have been a benefaction of an inestimable value to us; but it falling into the hands of a Person oppress'd with the want of money, &c. it has come short of its just profit and advantage above three thousand pounds. Indeed, there were some laudable efforts made to recover part of this sum in the vice-chancellorship of Dr. Lancaster, by vertue of a sequestration; but his honest endeavours have since been render'd vain and fruitless, by the base spirit of one of his successors[1].
Three Thousand Pounds is, I think, a pretty handsome sum to be sunk at one time, and by one man; for I do not find, that, in this particular depredation, he had any co-partners or accomplices: But should it appear, upon enquiry, (which enquiry it shall be my business to make,) that the very same person has been guilty of many other such-like fraudulent appropriations, what can be expected in a short time (if such scandalous corruptions go unexamin'd and unpunish'd) but that most of our colleges must shut up their gates; that the fellows of them must turn vagabond mendicants over the earth; and that the university must become a den of thieves, instead of what it was once called, the second school of the church, and the great seminary of letters.
Nay, in some colleges, which I could mention, the revenues are already reduced so low, by the mismanagement and collusion of the governing part of them, that it is with the greatest difficulty they make up their accounts at their Audits, or times appointed for that purpose; insomuch, that the Bursarship which used to be canvass'd with great application, as the most valuable office in college, is now become so inconsiderable and contemptible, through the intricacy and confusion of their finances, that no body cares to undertake it, unless some humble creature of the Tyrant-Head, who is oblig'd to accept of it with a good grace, to serve a double policy; as by this means he may conceal from vulgar eyes how bad a condition their affairs are in, and by whose fault they became so——— For I have heard, by the by, that all Heads of colleges, and Senior fellows, do not pay their Battels as they ought to do.
But I was speaking of my lord Clarendon's history.—Is it not a very discouraging consideration to all future benefactors that so great a man, as this noble author, should watch so many nights, and waste so much of his brain, only to enable one man to fare sumptuously every day; to entertain Lords and ministers of state; to eat French kickshaws, and drink French wine; to game, to wench, to stock-job, and indulge himself in all the vanities and vices of the world?
I have indeed often heard it argued in defence, or rather in commiseration of this venerable deceiver, that he was a very worthy, but unfortunate gentleman; that the most urgent necessities obliged him at that time to do what he did; that it had been the case of a great many very honest men, besides him; and that if we waited with christian patience, and christian charity, he would, no doubt, poor gentleman! honestly re-imburse us; with a great deal more of such old-woman-like stuff, which might with as much justice be pleaded in behalf of a pick-pocket, or an highway-man.
Nay, don't we, in like manner, often hear the friends of one who comes to the gallows, say, with tears in their eyes, alas! poor young man! his misfortunes brought him to this; necessity obliged him to it: whereas, perhaps, if you examined his life, you would find that his vices were his only misfortunes; and that if Necessity did oblige him to it, yet that it was a long course of raking, drinking, whoring, and gaming, that brought him to that Necessity; is he therefore to be pitied? is he therefore to be defended?
Methinks the headship of a college, with a good living tack'd to it, (which practice I shall hereafter consider) and two or three other preferments should be enough to make an humble successor of the apostles, a meek follower of Jesus Christ easy in the world, and to keep him decent and sleek enough to escape contempt, without running over head and ears in debt, and plundering publick coffers to keep himself out of gaol; especially, if to all these we add a large paternal inheritance, which this unfortunate gentleman actually had.
For my part, I could be content to live honestly, and serve my country, for a quarter of that encouragement.
But I would ask these indulgent vindicators of fraud and corruption, whether, supposing the same necessities, and the same misfortunes, every Head of a college, or every Vice-Chancellor has not an equal right to pay his private debts with the publick money he is intrusted with; and, whether the same indulgence, and the same compassion is not due to one as well as another: and then, if it be so, my next question is, whether our Alma Mater be not in a hopeful way of thriving, and her numerous family of children being brought up, under such guardians and trustees.
It has of late, I confess, been very industriously given out by the friends of this reverend gentleman, that he has made up this matter, and paid the debt; which I very much doubt, and not without very good reasons: nay, were it publickly declared by academical authority, that they have received full satisfaction therein, I should be induc'd to look upon it as a modest artifice to conceal from the world what fools and bubbles they suffer themselves to be to a person, who has cozen'd them in so flagrant a manner.
- ↑ Vol. I. p. 216