50 INTERVIEW OF THE KING 1 On the evening of Saturday, the 3d of September, the King, in the course of his Progress, arrived at Oxford, and on the following day required the attendance of the Fellows. Of this interview the following curious contemporary record is preserved in the State-Paper Office :- 66 September y 9th /87. "The Lord Sunderland sent order to the Fel"lows of Magdalene College to attend the King "on Sunday last at 11 o'clock, or at 3 in the "afternoon. 66 66 66 66 66 66 "They attended accordingly, Dr Pudsey speaker. "K. What's your name? Are you Dr Pud'sey?' "Dr P. Yes, may it please your Majesty.' "Dr P. Yes, sir, we did.' "K. Then you have not dealt with me like gentlemen. You have done very uncivilly by me, and undutifully.' Then they all kneeled down, and Dr Pudsey offered a petition con taining the reasons of their proceedings, which 1 Ath. Oxon. Life of Wood, vol. i. 275, ed. 1848; Ellis' Correspondence, vol. i. 337. WITH THE FELLOWS OF MAGDALEN. 51 his Majesty refused to receive, and said: You "have been a stubborn and turbulent College; I "have known you to be so this twenty-six years; 66 you have affronted me in this. Is this your "Church of England loyalty? One would won"der to find so many Church of England men in such a business. Goe back, and shew yourselves 66 66 66 66 good members of the Church of England, gett ye gone; know I am your King, and command "you to be gone; goe, and admit the Bishop of Oxford head, principal-what do you call it, of your College?' One standing by said, 'Presi"dent.' 66 "K. I mean President of your College. Let "him know that refuses it.-Looke to't; they shall find the weight of their sovereign's displeasure.' 66 66 66 The Fellows went away, and, being gone out, "were recalled. 66 66 “K. ‘I hear you have admitted a Fellow of your College since you received my inhibition; is this true? Have you admitted Mr Holden 66 Fellow ?' 66 66 'Dr P. 'I think he was admitted Fellow, but we conceive "The Dr hesitating, another said, 'May it 52 INTERVIEW OF THE KING WITH THE FELLOWS. 66 66 please your Majesty, there was no new election or admission since your Majesty's inhibition; "but only the consummation of a former election. We always elect to our year's probation, then "the person elected is received or rejected for "ever.' 66 "K. The consummation of a former election; "'twas downright disobedience, and 'tis a "fresh aggravation. Get ye gone home, and immediately repair to your chappell and elect the Bishop of Oxford, or else you must expect "to feel the heavy hand of an angry King.' "The Fellows offered their petition again on "their knees. 66 66 66 66 66 66 "K. Gett ye gone; I will receive nothing from-till you have obeyed me, and elected the Bishop of Oxford.' 66 Upon which they went directly to their chappell, and Dr Pudsey proposing whether they would obey the King and elect the Bishop, they answered, every one in his order, they "were all very willing to obey his Majesty in all things that lay in their power as any of the rest of his Majesty's subjects; but the electing of the Bishop of Oxford being directly contrary to their 66 66 66 66 66 66 PENN REMONSTRATES WITH THE KING. 53 statutes, and to the positive oath they had taken, they could not apprehend it in their power to obey him in this matter; only Mr Dobson (who had publicly prayed for Dr Hough, the undoubted President) answered doubtingly, he was ready to obey in everything he could; and "Mr Charrocke, a Papist, that he was for obeying in that.”1 66 66 At this point begin the charges brought by Lord Macaulay against Penn with regard to this transaction. Penn had been with the King at Chester, and had accompanied him to Oxford. On the same day on which the angry interview between the King and the Fellows took place, Penn dined in company with Creech, one of the Fellows, who took the opportunity to have a long conversation with him regarding the affairs of the College. This appears from a letter written by Creech to Charlett, another Fellow, dated the 6th of September. For anything that appears to the contrary, this was the first occasion on which the affairs of the College were brought to the notice of Penn, who subsequently expressed to Hough 1 State-Paper Office, Domestic, James II., 1687, No. 4. 54 PENN REMONSTRATES WITH THE KING his regret that he had not concerned himself about them at an earlier period;1 and it was unquestionably in the character of a mediator with the King that he acted; for, on the following day (Monday, the 5th of September), he went to the College, and, after hearing from the Fellows a statement of their case, he wrote to the King, remonstrating with him in bold language, and representing the inconsistency of his conduct with the professions of his Declaration of Indulgence. Lord Macaulay delights to sneer at Penn as a "courtly Quaker." Who but Penn would have been bold enough to face James in the very moment of his wrath, and to tell him unpalatable truths? With regard to this part of the transaction the evidence is abundant and unexceptionable. The following passages, which occur in letters addressed at the time by Creech and Sykes, two of the Fellows, to Charlett, who was absent, are conclusive. The originals are preserved in Dr Ballard's collection of Letters at Oxford, and they have been printed in the Athenæum Magazine for April and May 1809. 1 Hough's Letter, post. |