They might, indeed, remind one of the portraits of the ancient kings of Scone, in Holy-rood House, Edinburgh, which, it is said, were all done by the same artist: for it seems probable, that most of the above mottos were written by the same person, and at the same time: this, too, may have been the case with the paintings themselves a For the same reason that I pass lightly over benefactions, I omit church livings, and proceed to other mat ters. It was not till long after the College was founded that they possessed a chapel; for in the registry of Ely, A. 1988, the Bishop grants a licence to the Master and Fellows of Peter House, to hear divine service, and exercise other divine offices, in their chapel, within the same house, which was before performed in St. Mary's Church. The chapel was built, on the present plan, in • Among these paintings was formerly one, which some antiquaries, perhaps, might have prized, beyond any of the preceding, that of the two old Hostels: but it is missing. It had under it this inscriptionHæc bina fuerunt Scholasticorum Hospitia, in quæ fratres Seculares extra Hospitale Divi Johannis traducebantur, quorum loco hoc Colle» gium est ædificatum : Quâ præit Oxonium Cancestria longa Vetustas, These lines might be received by some, perhaps, as an argument in favour of the superior antiquity of this College to Merton; but they would be hasty, for the reasons above-mentioned, and from what will hereafter appear: so, with my perfect good-will, Mertonians may still adopt the words, though but of more modern date, on the monument of their founder, in Rochester Cathedral: Unius exemplo, omnium quot extant Collegiorum Fundatori. 1632, and consecrated by Archbishop White; the MS. form of the consecration is in Caius College Library. I may pass the benefactors to the latter chapel, with the better grace, because a very curious table of them, and their donations, may be seen on the north side of the chapel; and it is copied at full length in Blomefield's Collectanea. The east window of this chapel is much admired: it contains the History of Christ's Passion, and is well preserved. During the disturbances in the civil wars, so fatal to the pictures and buildings at Cambridge, and more particularly of this House, it was concealed in boxes, which were long kept afterwards, and served the purpose of railing to the communion table. This College, our first in antiquity, happens also to be the first in situation, on our entrance into Cambridge from London. No part of the old building remains, except we may be allowed to mention the chancel of Little St. Mary's Church, which, as we have shewn, the scholars of Peter House, from very ancient time, used formerly as their place of worship: this church, indeed, has undergone great alterations; but the old archway (the arch being greatly sunk into the earth), together with the stone staircase, by which there was a private entrance from the College into the chapel, still remain, as also a very ancient inscription, under a brass figure in the pavement, but without a date. The About the time the present chapel was built, some other parts of the College also were erected anew. inside of the chapel is to be admired; but the exterior buildings exhibit an example of that trifling style of architecture, which characterizes the reign of, James I. and which was borrowed from the French. "It is evi dent," says a writer on English Architecture, "that Inigo Jones, who about the same time designed the cloisters of St. John's, in Oxford, was not called in here." The College now consists of two small courts, divided by the cloister and gallery. The western court is cased with Ketton stone-the first that was so cased in the University. The north side of the eastern court consists of a modern building, small, but in appearance somewhat magnificent, cased also with Ketton stone, with a parapet, and a fine view, to Gogmagog Hills. The buildings, taken all together, are crowded, displaying evidently want of room. Of garden, there is little or nothing; but the groves and walks to the south are very pleasing, and well adapted to studious retirement: and here Gray (whose first residence, while at the University, was in Peter House) meditated some of his best and sublimest odes. The library is a very spacious room, containing a large collection of printed books; the MSS. also are numerous, and some good ones. Among the printed books may be mentioned, as curious and beautiful, one volume of a very early printed Latin Bible, in folio (the second of the two volumes being missing): this may have been easily mistaken for a manuscript; and some writers, speaking one after another, notice an ancient MS. Juvenal, which turns out to be a printed copy of Juvenal and Persius, of 1475. Among the MSS. are most of the works of Aristotle, and Albertus Magnus, with many of the writings of the Fathers, particularly Augustine: Horace, also Terence, Virgil's Georgics, and Ci ↑ Dallaway's Observations on English Architecture, p. 17. cero's Tusculan Questions a, may be mentioned, and a beautiful MS. Latin Bible, given as early as 28th Nov. 1300, by Thomas de L'Insule, already mentioned as Bishop of Ely. Some of those who have written concerning Cambridge, speaking also one after another, take notice of a Liber Domus Petri, a Book of Peter House, in MS. given by Dr. Newton, formerly Master of this College. Dr. Newton was Master in 1300. But there is no such book in the Library, nor any entrance of it in the Catalogue of MSS.; nor does it appear, as I can find, in any catalogue printed many years sinceb: so, whatever of this kind formerly existed, has disappeared probably more than two centuries ago; and I mention this distinctly, and with concern; for had such a MS. existed, it would have thrown great light on the earliest part of the History of this most ancient INSTITU TION. Here I cannot but notice an instance of the imperfection of this College Register. Dr. Fuller observes, in his witty manner, "that his Catalogue of Masters cannot touch the top of the foundation by fifty years, looking like the blunt tower of a steeple, whose spire or shaft has been burnt down by lightning, or broken with thunder." In 1420 the monuments of this College were destroyed by a Dr. Bentley has made use both of the Horace and Terence. See his Pref. to Horace; and also his Horace, Lib. i. Od. viii. 1. and see the Andria of Terence, Act 1. Sc. 5, v. 22. Dr. Davis made use of the Tusc. Questions. See his edit. chap. viii. 1. ↳ I mean Dr. James' Eclogæ, printed in 1600, and the Catalogus Mistorum Angliæ et Hiberniæ, of 1690. • Hist. of Camb. p. 31. fire, so that Caius was obliged to begin his Catalogue of Masters at Thomas de Castro Bernardia. The present society consists of a Master, 14 Foundation Fellowships, open proportionably to the north and southern counties, two to each county. There are eight bye Fellows, that is, such as can obtain no other fellowship, preferment, or living, belonging to the College. The present Master is Dr. Barnes; the Bishop of Ely is the Visitor; and so I pass to the LEARNED and DisTINGUISHED MEN. Dr. Thomas Marshall is spoken of as an eminent mathematician, at a time when mathematics were but thinly spread in the University. He wrote some treatises, a little after the invention of printing; but I am not aware they were printed: so they lie probably among the other books given by him to the College. Dr. Marshall was also distinguished in physic, and physician to Edward IV. George Joye, Fellow, was a divine: he early embraced the anti-popish doctrines, against bishops, and particularly the Bishop of Rome; on justifying faith; against the wyveless chastity of priests; that every one a The six immediately prior to him were procured by Mr. Parker, from Ely Register: Hist. of Camb. p. 38. "Still (says Dr. Fuller) the Catalogue remaineth incomplete, (oh! that it were as easy to rectify as reprove faults), guilty, I am afraid, not only of transpositions in the order, but omissions in the number thereof. For I have read (MS. in 10)* that John Botsham was admitted Master in 14-,* yet he appears not in Caius, or any other printed author. b In Dr. Richardson's Book of Graduates, is a Geo. Joye, A. B. 1563; A. M. 1567. There was another Geo. Joye (no college mentioned), who took his B. A. degree in 1515; no M. A. is mentioned. This must be our Joye, VOL. II. ** I follow Dr. Fuller. C |