who built the cathedral library at Salisbury. Bishop Jewel died September 23, 1571. According to Walton, Richard Hooker was admitted a clerk at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, in the year 1567, when he was fourteen or fifteen years of age. As Dr. Cole did not become president till July 19, 1568, Hooker seems to have been fifteen years of age on his admission.1 It was a college which from the first had a great name, and much success. 2 To a footnote in the late Dean Church's Introduction to the First Book of The Ecclesiastical Polity, to which reference has been already made, I owe the following information relative to Hooker's college days: Dean Church wrote 66 "I am indebted to the late President of Corpus and to the Warden of Wadham, who is also Keeper of the Archives, who have been good enough to examine afresh the contemporary registers, for the following further particulars relating to Hooker's Oxford life. "There is no record remaining of his admission to the college, or of his matriculation; but this last seems to have been either in 1569 or in 1570. Walton says he was admitted to ‘a clerk's place.' The statutes of Corpus Christi 1 See above, p. 23, note 1. College say nothing of 'clerks'; but among the ministri, they speak of two choristae, to be appointed by the President, to retain their place till change of voice, and to be taught grammar either in the college or at Magdalen school. The President's register, during Dr. Cole's presidency, does not notice the admission of any ministri. "The Warden of Wadham has found the date of Hooker's B.A. degree, to which he was admitted the first day of term, Jan. 14, 1573-4. The 'grace' for a degree at that time was always asked for, and either granted or refused, some day previous to the admission. Hooker's 'grace' is found to have been granted the preceding Michaelmas term 1573 (on some day between October 16 and December 9), and he might have been admitted B.A. in that term, which ended December 17. He must therefore have been at that time four years, or sixteen terms, from his matriculation, which must have been at the latest in Lent term 1569-70, and probably in Michaelmas term 1569. No doubt, as the Warden suggests, this degree was delayed, to enable Hooker to be elected Discipulus in his college (December 24, 1573). "There is a point relating to this election, first noticed by the late President, which is of considerable interest as a proof of Hooker's early reputation. The twenty Discipuli, like the twenty Scholares or Fellows, were to be elected from certain counties and dioceses, not more than two from each, and the Discipuli were to be under 19 when elected. But Hooker was not far from 20 when admitted; (he would be 20, the register notes, the following Easter; Keble's Hooker, i. 6. 15). It appears that his own county, Devonshire, was full at the time of his previous residence, and he was elected at last, by a not uncommon arrangement, for Hampshire, one of the other counties of the foundation, from which he would be transferred, on a vacancy, to his own. But the relaxation in point of age is more remarkable. It was in accordance with a permission, given by the Founder in the conclusion' of his statutes, in favour of an Externus of extraordinary attainments. Hooker, therefore, must have been elected as such an Externus, whether it means a person not belonging to the college, in which case Hooker's connection with it had been temporarily broken, or, simply, not on the foundation. But the case seems to stand alone. The Warden of Wadham noticed no other instance of the permission having been acted upon, except in Hooker's election.1 "It appears from the Register of Convocation that Hooker was admitted to the degree of M.A. March 29, in the Lent term of 1577. He became full M.A. at the following Act, July 8."2 Dr. Fowler, the President of Corpus Christi College, in his History of that college has made public some interesting records of the assistance rendered to Hooker in his college days. Robert Nowell, brother of Alexander Nowell, Dean of St. Paul's,3 left to trustees "In his admission as Disciple, he is described (in the College Register) as 'quendam Ricardum Hooker viginti annorum aetatis circiter festum paschae proxime futurum natum in comitatu Devoniensi, electum pro comitatu Southamptonensi.' The election of a Scholar, who was a native of one county, on the foundation of another was not uncommon, a readjustment taking place when an opportunity offered. It is more important to notice that the statutable limitation of age at the time of election to a Scholarship was nineteen, though, in the Supplementary Statutes, it was, in case of extraordinary and preeminent excellence (egregie eruditus, et caeteris illius aetatis longe praestantior'), extended to one and twenty. Hooker's was one of the very rare cases in which the Electors availed themselves of this liberty."-Eowler, The History of Corpus Christi College. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1893, p. 148. 2 Hooker, Book I. Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, edited by R. W. Church. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1882. Introduction, pp. xxvii. xxviii. notes. 3 Of this man Heylyn relates-"When one of Queen Elizabeth's chaplains (Mr. Alexander Nowell, Dean of St. Paul's) had spoken less reverently in a sermon preached before her of the sign of the cross, she called aloud to him from her closet window, commanding him to retire from that ungodly digression, and to return unto his text."-History of the Reformation, ed. Eccles. Hist. Soc., Vol. II. p. 317. a considerable amount of money to be used in aiding poor scholars at Oxford. Richard Hooker received assistance from this benefaction on no less than five occasions: it is remarkable that in these five entries his name is spelt in three different ways, namely: Hoocker, Hooker, and Huker. The various entries are as follows 66 Rychard hoocker xx"." This was in July, 1570. "To Mr. Doctor Cole, presydente of Corpus Christe Colledge in Oxforde, to the use of tow poor schollers the one ys Named Thomas Cole, the other Rychard hooker the xxxth of Januarye A° 1571 (i. e. 1571) and Thomas Coole hade xxx" of theys and thother x, as appeareth by Mr. Coole bill." "To Richard hooker of Corpus Christie colledge the xiith of februarye Anno 1571 (i. e. 157) to bringe hym to Oxforde ii vid " 1 "To one Rycharde hooker scholler of corpus-christie Colledge in Oxforde the VIII of Marthe A° 1573 (i. e. 1572) iii* iiii.' d 1This date appears to be that of Hooker's return to Oxford after a visit to his parents at Exeter after serious illness, alluded to above. See p. 24. |