CHAP. VIII. CHARLES II.'S RESTORATION-HIS NEW ARRANGE- : : AT the Restoration, such of the royal party as were then alive, who had been ejected from their offices, were reinstated; those put in by the Parliament ejected; and Charles the Second, Feb. 6, 1660, at the beginning of his reign, sent his royal injunction to the Vicechancellor and heads of the University. August 3, 1661, he, also, ordered, that Magdalen, Emmanuel, and Sidney Colleges, should be received into the Cycle for proctors, taxors, and scrutators: he also, in succession, ⚫ sent various other orders relative to the government of the University, the degrees of bachelors of arts, oppo : nencies in divinity, disorders in the Regent House, preachers wearing long hair and perukes, against preach ing from book, with other particulars; and to the various queries sent by his command to the University, were returned answers expressive of a ready obedience, as agreed on, in a meeting of the Heads and Presidents, August 9, 1675. In general, Charles enjoined, that the business of subscriptions should be resumed, and continue as it was in his father's and grandfather's reign. Among his new regulations were, that Lady Margaret's preachers' sermons should be dispensed with; and that, in conferring honorary degrees, knights and baronets should be con sidered as nobles. Charles's last communication with the University related to penalties for not performing bachelor of arts exercise. Agreeably to the order of things now established, the University experienced another change. Charles was not favourable to either the theological or political opinions of the Puritans, who, under him, therefore, became subject to deprivations similar to what the royal party had under the Parliament; they who would not subscribe, nor conform, were obliged to abandon their University preferments. I shall not discuss the merits of the case now: there were men on each side of great abilities, equally excelling in the learning which distinguished those times; and the presumption is, that most, on each side, who chose to abide by their principles, and relinquish their preferments, were men of some worth; and by very many on both sides the latter was preferred. 1 Whoever wishes to inform himself relative to the royal party ejected, may consult Wood's Athenæ Oxonienses, and Mr. Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy, together with the Querela Cantabrigiensis, published in 1647. Dr. Calamy's Abridgment of Mr. Baxter's History of his Life and Times, Mr. Pierce's Vindiciæ Nonconformistarum, together with Neal's History of the Puritans, unfold the principles and characters of such as were ejected under Charles the Second. For my own part, in the progress of this work I shall pursue the same line of conduct as was pursued by the learned and candid Thomas Baker, who, in his MS. History of St. John's College, Cambridge, frequently alluded to in this work as being now in the British Museum, gives to the liberal and eminent of each |