XVII. Grindal. 1575-6 Barons of Kendal; and was residing, at the period under CHAP. consideration, at Easthwaite Hall. As this family were the feudatories of Furness Abbey, where, even at this Edmund time, a school was maintained, highly distinguished as a place of education, there is great plausibility in the con- Grindal jecture of the biographers that to the monks of Furness probably Sandys was indebted for his primary education, and that educated he was attended thither by his friend Grindal. After the Abbey. statement made by Grindal himself of the ignorance prevalent at St. Bees, it is thus that we account for the high character which was at once assigned to him upon his becoming a member of the University of Cambridge. at Furness lates at bridge. Grindal. He found at the university some eminent scholars Matricuwho had already given distinction to the family name. CamWe cannot indeed directly trace their relation to Edmund : but when we hear of James Grindal, and another whose Christian name is not mentioned; and that when Edmund was consecrated to the see of London, he gave them appointments in his household, and made one of them, at least, a dignitary of the Church-we may regard as probable the conjectures which connect them with the family of St. Bees. Another, William Grindal, William was a marked man, who, if he had lived, would probably have obtained the preferments which were afterwards conferred upon Edmund. William Grindal was the dear and intimate friend, pupil, and colleague of Roger Ascham. Through the recommendation of Sir John Cheke, Ascham became a tutor to Edward VI.; and when Ascham was absent from court, the instruction of the prince devolved upon William Grindal, who dwelt with Ascham and shared his studies. He appears, however, to have been more frequently and regularly employed in directing the studies of the Lady Elizabeth; and to the precepts of his friend, Ascham did not hesitate to assert that the Princess СНАР. Edmund 1575-6 Grindal. 1583. State of the Uni versity. B.A. 1537-8. Fellow of M.A. 1541. Ordained, 1544. Senior Proctor, 1548-9. Lady Margaret s was deeply indebted.* He was unfortunately cut off in the prime of life in the year 1548, when he fell a victim to the plague. His character was thus described: "Mores, ingenium, memoriam, judicium tale habuit, quale vix cuiquam in Anglia contingit." The university at this time was in a deplorable condition; but under the least favourable circumstances there has always been a certain class of reading men, distinguished from the body of undergraduates, and forming, as it were, a literary aristocracy. This is an aristocracy open to the poor as well as to the rich, provided that they are distinguished for their genius and industry; and as industry is absolutely necessary to enable the poor to support themselves, this state of things is so far favourable to that class of students that they soon become men of distinction. When fit men are sought for important places -which, at a revolutionary period, must be the case—the circumstances just mentioned become favourable to their selection from the lower orders, and their rise to eminence. Edmund Grindal matriculated at Magdalen College, and migrated first to Christ's College, and then to Pembroke Hall. In 1537-8 he took his bachelor's degree, and soon after was elected fellow of his college. He had the advantage of having for the master of his college the celebrated Dr. Ridley. The master, when he became Bishop of London, did not forget the merits of Grindal, who in 1541 had commenced M.A. On July 4, 1544, offering his fellowship for his title, he was ordained by John Bird, Lord Bishop of Chester. He still remained at the university, of which in 1548-9 he became senior proctor. In the same year he was appointed Lady Margaret's Preacher, and president or vice-master of his college, XVII. having previously taken the degree of B.D. He is fre- CHAP: quently described in the Acts of the university as " Assistens Vice-Cancellarii in judiciis" (the vice-chancellor's Edmund assistant in matters judiciary). He evidently had studied 1575-6the law. Grindal. 1583. Visitation, This was a memorable year in the history of Grindal. Soon after the accession of Edward VI. a commission was appointed to hold a royal visitation of Cambridge, University with full powers to reform the university and the colleges. 1549. Dr. Ridley, now Bishop of Rochester, was one of the commissioners, and took a prominent part in the proceedings. He was ably supported by Sir William Paget, Sir Thomas Smith, Sir John Cheke, together with the Diocesan, Thomas Goodrich, Bishop of Ely. A commission consisting of more competent, moderate, and learned men, all of them more or less distinguished in literary or political circles, it would have been difficult to form. A considerable time elapsed before their plans could be matured; and although their appointment was dated November 11, 1548, it was not until May 1549 that they arrived at Cambridge. On Sunday, May 5, the members of the university were summoned before the visitors in St. Mary's Church; all the commissioners being present except the Bishop of Ely, who was detained by his episcopal duties till the Monday morning. After the service, performed we presume according to the ancient Ritual,* a sermon was * The first Act of Uniformity required conformity to the revised Prayer-Book on June 9, 1549. The book itself was published in March 1568-9, but three months were allowed, to enable the clergy to understand the changes proposed. That the book thus published, was regarded as substantially identical with the former services, is shown by the fact that, in after days, Cranmer offered to prove that the order of services set out in the reign of Edward VI. was the same as had been used in the Church of England, for the space of fifteen hundred years CHAP. preached by the Bishop of Rochester. Of this sermon I do not find a copy in Ridley's Works. XVII. Edmund Grindal. 1583. At the conclusion of the service, the commission was 1575-6 opened in King's College Chapel, where the proctors and the heads of houses delivered up, first the statute book of the university, and then the statutes of their several colleges. All were required on oath to renounce allegiance to the pope, and to acknowledge the king in all cases and over all persons civil as well as ecclesiastical to be supreme. The new statutes signed by the king and subscribed by the council were delivered to the vicechancellor by Sir John Cheke. The Bishop of Rochester again addressed the assembly, exhorting them to renounce papistry and superstition, and expressing the readiness of the visitors to pay attention to any suggestions that might be offered with the view of reforming abuses. The commissioners dined with the vice-chancellor, Dr. Bill, at St. John's College. Disputation on Transubstantiation, June 20, 1549. The attendance of Grindal, as the senior proctor, upon the commissioners was merely official, and we are not, therefore, required to enter into details further than to say that ample employment was given to the officials; for the new regulations descended from the most important matters relating to university legislation to the conduct, and even to the apparel, of the students. On June 20 a grand disputation was held in the schools on the subject of the Eucharist. This subject at that period involved, or we should rather say absorbed, past. Jeremy Taylor, vii. 292. There would be no objection therefore to have the unreformed service used at the visitation. * This exhortation is in some accounts given to the Bishop of Ely; but if it were delivered on the Sunday after the service, this could not have been the case, as the Bishop of Ely did not join the conference till the Monday. XVII. Grindal. 1575-6 1583. Grindal the dogma of transubstantiation, and upon this dogma CHAP. opinions in the university were much divided. It was a proud testimony to the character of Grindal when he, Edmund still a young man, was appointed one of the disputants. Although there was nothing brilliant in Grindal's character, yet on this, as on other occasions, he exhibited that one of the calmness of judgment, and soundness of learning, for which disputants. he was distinguished in all the transactions of his life. The conclusions to be discussed were as follows: 1. That transubstantiation could not be proved by the plain and manifest words of Scripture; and 2. That it could not therefore be necessarily collected, nor yet confirmed, by the consent of the ancient fathers for three thousand years past. Of this disputation, displaying, as it did, more learning and good temper than was usual among disputants of the age, a minute account is given by Foxe. The historian was, without doubt, supplied with information by Grindal himself. Dr. Glyn, Dr. Langdale, Dr. Sedgwick, Dr. Young, and Mr. Parker of Trinity College, all of them good scholars and able men, advocated the cause of transubstantiation; and were opposed by Mr. Perne, Mr. Guest, Mr. Pilkington, and Mr. Grindal. At the same time, through the admirable management of Bishop Ridley, everything was done decently and in order, and indecorous disputation was avoided. It would occupy too much space to present the reader with a full report of the part taken by Grindal in the * See Grindal's "Remains," 195, and Lamb's Collection of Letters, Statutes, Notes, &c., Introduction, xxvi. xxvii. and p. 114-115. We know that Grindal, when in exile, communicated to Foxe an account of the events in which he was concerned before he left England. The account given by Foxe is in a style superior to that which the Martyrologist adopts when he tells his story in his own way. See also Fuller's Cambridge, 243; and Ridley's Works (Parker Society), 171. |