and Physicians were also before in other Colleges whence they are removed And more than this also there may be some certain number of Priests and Chaplains established in these Colleges now occupied by Lawyers and Physicians to say Mass daily for the Founders which with Dispensation of the See Apostolick seemeth would be a reasonable and sufficient Compensation And this is so much as for the present occurreth to my mind to be suggested about the reforming and perfecting of our English Universities whereof would follow no doubt great honour and profit to our Commonwealth if it might be done as it should be and if besides all this a third University might be added to the two which we have already and be placed in the North Parts of England about Durham New-Castle or Richmond as before hath been mentioned in the Chapter appertaining to the Council of Reformation where reasons also were alledged for the same The utility no doubt and honour thereof would greatly import the benefit of our Weal publick and principally the parts near about where it should be placed which I leave to the wisdom of them who shall have authority to dispose thereof at the wished day that we expect and pray for CHAP. VII Of Religious Men and Women and matters appertaining unto them IN divers former Chapters there hath been mention made of Religious Orders both Men and Women which being the third principal part or member of the Clergy as before hath been signified should have in this place some peculiar Treatise also but that there has been so much spoken thereof already upon different occasions as little remaineth to be added here The principal point that seemeth needful to be remembred is That this part of the Clergy I mean Religious People is or ought to be the ornament of all the rest and that by the height of their Vocation they should participate in a more ample and eminent sort of those excellent names of Lights of the World and Salt of the Earth which our Saviour vouchsafed to attribute to all his Portion and Clergy but yet are they more due unto the State of Religious Persons which bind themselves by Vow to a life of greater perfection than the rest and consequently ought to be clearer Lights and more excellent Salt than any other And he that would consider of Religious Orders as he should seeing them intermixed among other People in a Catholick Commonwealth he should imagine them as Veins and Arteries spread throughout Man's Body to give Blood and Spirit to the fleshy parts that lye about them And again as Wells Springs Brooks and Rivers divided all over the Earth to minister moisture and life to the Fields and pasturages adjoyning unto them and so consequently as when the Rivers of any Country or Veins or Arteries do wax dry or are corrupted or give evil moisture nourishment or infection all the rest must needs perish and putrifie so when Religious People themselves be corrupted and do infect or scandalize others by their evil example or do dry up and fade away all the rest must needs come to desolation This hath been tryed in no Country more for times past than in ours and for that cause is the greater care and desire of good Men to have it well remedied at the next change and that as on the one side it is desired as before hath been noted that all the approved Religious of God's Church should be admitted again into England for more honourable satisfaction of impieties committed against them in times past so on the other side is there no less desire of good Men that none should be admitted but called for and chosen and such as will promise the perfect observation of their first Institution and Rule so as they may be true Lights and Salt indeed The Edict or Proclamation whereof I spoke before to be made at the very first beginning against the entrance of any Religious People but only upon Licence and Approbation of the Council of Reformation will help greatly to this effect if it be observed as it ought to be with exactness For otherwise all idle and wandring People and such as best may be spared in other places will flock to us All Emulation and Contention among Religious Orders must be carefully avoided at that day whereunto it seemeth that two things will greatly help first That no Religious be admitted but reformed as hath been said for that between good and perfect Men there is never Emulation or Contention both Parties being united in Christ Qui fecit utraque unum as the Apostle saith non est exceptor personarum and so the nearer that each part is united to Christ in Holiness and Perfection the nearer are they united with others also then can there be no difference between them according to the Rule most certain of Euclides that such things as are united in a third are united also between themselves so as wheresoever there is Contention or Emulation between Religions that profess both of them to serve Christ the off-spring is Imperfection in one or both parts and the more Contentious is ever the more imperfect and this is the first point The second help or remedy may be That the Council of Reformation with Faculty of his Holiness do take upon them the Distribution of all Ecclesiastical Livings and Lands which shall be restored according to the present necessity conveniency and utility of the time present without respect of former Possessors Great and special care must be had of erecting Monasteries for Women which are like to be far more in number than Men that will enter into Religion at the beginning having been violently debarred thereof all the Reign of this Queen And no one Impiety of our Hereticks perhaps hath been greater or more barbarous than the forcing of Virgins to break their holy purposes or not permitting to execute the same by entering into Religion And for that the scarcity of able Men will be such at that time and so many other things wherein to employ them as they shall be hardly able to attend to the Government of the Nunneries for a time which yet cannot well go forward without the Direction and oversight of some such grave vertuous and discreet Men. For this cause it behoveth to consider well what Orders of Religious Women are to be admitted at the first and how they may best be governed to the end that such strifes may be avoided as oftentimes in Catholick Countries about these and the like affairs do fall out In divers Parts and Provinces of Christendom there are some Religious Orders in these our days more reformed than others and of these ought our Council of Reformation to call before the rest For as the first Foundation shall be laid in England so will the rest follow and go suitable to that and as the Clock is first set with us so will the wheels walk afterwards and the hours follow accordingly And for that all
by the Heresies of our time it will be needful in this behalf to make a great Reformation And albeit that all respect and reverent regard be to be had and born unto the old Laws and Ordinances of Universities and Colleges where no inconvenience is seen to the contrary yet must the Commission and Faculty of such as come to reform be very ample and large both from the Realm and See Apostolick And first of all for settling of common Discipline most evident it is that all habitation concourse and negotiation of Women which heretical Dissolution hath brought in is utterly to be removed from all Colleges and communities of Students and herewith all junkets all lascivious banqueting excess of Apparel Dancing Fencing-Schools and the like that no Man have leave to go forth but by knowledge and licence of his Superiour and this to known honest parts and Persons at Houses lawful accompanied with his fellow or more if need be in decent Apparel Which Apparel for use of the whole University may be divided generally into two or three sorts as in other best Universities of foreign Countries is to be seen to wit that Graduates Fellows and Scholars of particular Colleges may have one sort of Apparel distinct from the rest of the whole Body of the University and those of one College to be known from those of another by some distinction of Collars or other like difference in their habits and that after these Collegials all the rest which are Students of the University may have a certain general and modest kind of Attire without permitting any man to differ from the same which is a Student except in some rare and extraordinary case as of some Prince great noble Man or the like And that this common habit be divided only into two sorts the one for Divines only more grave which yet ought to be as near to old English custom and form of ancient Catholick times as may be and square Caps with Cassocks down to the Knee as in Lovain Doway Paris and other Universities of France and Flanders now also is used And the other sort of Apparel may be for Lawyers and Physicians and such as study Philosophy and inferiour Sciences or are Commoners in the Halls or Colleges which sort of Apparel may be long Cloaks with Hats as it is used in Spain and Italy if it shall be so thought convenient Which points I do touch the sooner in particular for that great exactness will be necessary in this behalf at the beginning both to cut off the liberty and superfluity brought in by Hereticks as also to prevent the Novelties which some of ours may chance bring home from other Countries if care be not had And this point of Apparel is a principle of much good or evil in the Commonwealth Porters that be discreet honest and faithful men must be appointed to the Gates of every College Heads of Houses also must be chosen at the beginning rather according to their vertue and love toward Discipline and good order than of any other quality For that without such men it will be hard in the beginning to raise up and establish again vertuous Life and Conversation after so universal a Flood of Enormities as hath overflowed all And for this respect perhaps it will be needful that not only all interest to Headships of Houses but Fellowships also and Scholarships and all other Officers of particular Colleges and of the Vniversities in general be made void at the beginning and new men planted and placed again upon choice as they shall be thought fit for this new beginning and perfect Reformation and that the overplus of Rents and Revenues of Colleges for the mean space be gathered and put in a common Purse by order of the said Council of Reformation not to be disposed of to any other uses as other Eclesiastical Rents before mentioned but to be reserved for better furnishing of the same Colleges and Universities as need shall offer it self when a number of Students shall be increased for more reason whereof it may be considered that not only our Universities in common will have need of great and publick reparations and expences at the beginning in building publick Schools founding of common Lectures and the like but every particular Hall also and College the like For that the most of them are very defective in their building and other things necessary to their furniture as of their Chappels Churches and publick Halls and places for Disputations Repetitions and other such exercises of learning as are in other Countries and are to be provided in ours And besides this divers of them do lack infirmaries for sick-men Rooms of Hospitals for Strangers Comers and Goers and Novices that enter of new or are in their first probation and divers such other buildings reparations and accommodating of their Houses both for common and private uses Many of them also do want Rents sufficient for maintenance of a sufficient number of Fellows and Scholars to uphold the credit of the House divers of them are in debt and other difficulties and wants without provision of sufficient Libraries and Books and other furniture necessary for learning all which particular needs of private Colleges as also the wants before mentioned of publick Schools Lectures Masters Readers must be now holpen with the common Purse of the Universities Lands laid together for some years at the beginning I mean the over-plus that shall remain above the maintenance of some few fit and chosen men to be Heads and Fellows of Houses for bringing in of this perfect Reformation And as for Heads and Governors of Colleges it may be thought upon whether it were not best that some moderation should be established for their expences state and manner of Life in the Colleges otherwise than now it is For seeing that England hath so many other places of Prelacy for men of merit to be preferred unto as divers Archdeacons Chancellorships and the like many men are of Opinion That it were much better that the Heads of Houses in Universities should never be given for time of Life nor have so great allowance of men houses and wages as some of them have that use it only to pomp and to no profit of Students but rather that it should be as it is in other foreign Universities a matter of dignity and honour than of wealth and gains and that it should endure but for a certain time to wit two or three years whereby more Men by succession of time might obtain the same and thereby made fit to govern afterwards in other places whereas now those that once get the Rooms accounting themselves sure thereof during their lives are made more careless and are much absent from their charges lying commonly in the Court and making this Headship of the College but a step of Ambition to a higher promotion And the allowance of their expences are so great that it outeth almost a
commodious for that albeit he pay sometimes a good fine at his first entrance yet liveth he at an easie Rent afterwards and leaveth a certain and sure provision for his Children and commonly the Father payeth the Fine of his Son so as the Son entreth without any burthen at the beginning And if one Landlord take great Fines which also were to be moderated yet another will come of a better Conscience who will take less and so the Tenant liveth always in hope and if the worst happen he is sure to be preferred ever before others paying as another Man doth which is a great preferment and very honourable also to the Landlord to have Families continue in his Lands for divers Ages whereby they are more knit unto him in hearty good will and true Allegiance and being wealthy their Riches are his at commandment both for his own service and his Prince which is not so where Tenants are rackt and changed often and made so poor both in love and substance as they are neither willing nor able to do any thing at all for their Landlords when need requireth To the Commonwealth this manner of tenure is wonderful beneficial for that by this means the Lands come to be well manured tilled plowed planted fertile and abundant For that every Tenant holdeth the same as good as for his own Lands and knoweth that neither he nor his Posterity shall be deprived thereof where on the contrary side in divers Countries for that Lands are let only from year to year or for very few years together and that all Rents are raised and rackt to the uttermost it is pitiful to see how bare and needy common Husbandmen be and how miserably the whole Land lyeth open and naked without Hedge Ditch or Tree every Man only endeavouring to draw out the heart and substance thereof for the small time he hath to use it being well assured that if he should manure or cherish the same another would give more and take it from him the year following where they neither love the Lands nor the Landlords but only follow their present Commodity and both the Commonwealth the Prince the Landlords and themselves receive great damage thereby as hath been declared Wherefore it may be considered both by the Prince and Parliament whether it were not good that so honourable ancient and so profitable a custom of letting Lands after the old Rents be restored to our Country again and that all rackt Rents be brought back to the old proportion or somewhat near the same with some reasonable recompence to the Landlord by way of Fine and that from henceforward no Man may raise his yearly Rents but with a certain moderation to be limited which thing no doubt would wonderfully concern the Wealth ease and contentment of all the Realm for that every Realm is so much the better and more prosperous by how much the more indifferently the substance thereof is divided into the hands of many according to each Man's Estate and Condition and not as in some Countries where one sort of Men are very rich and the other sort extream poor the one sort of Lords having all in their own hands the other sort seeming to be Bond-men and meer Servants having only to eat that which the other sort giveth them from day to day whereby it cometh also to pass that little good can be done with them in matters of their Souls by reason of their continual labour ignorance rudeness and extream poverty From which misery God hath hitherto delivered the Commonalty of England by reason of this kind of Tenures Leases Bargains and Copy-holds by which most of the common People are able to maintain themselves decently and bring up their Children in Civility and will be able to do the same still and much better if the former custom be brought back again continued and established And for that I take this point to be a great and substantial foundation of the publick and particular weal of our Country I have been the longer in treating thereof And now therefore to make an end having spoken of the Nobility and Gentry both in their own Persons as also of their Housholds Servants Children Wives and Tenants there seemeth little remaining to be added except I should say That whereas the English Nobility seemeth in other things to be the most prosperous in the World in one thing only which concerneth them most of all which is the safety of their lives they are thought to be most unfortunate miserable and subject to injuries of any other Estate of Men that live for that upon any least suspicion or displeasure of the Prince or every of their Enemies they may be brought in danger and made away as we have seen that the greatest Men commonly of our Realm have been and few eminent Men above the rest as Dukes have dyed in their Beds and no marvel for that the Kingdom being but little and the sway of a Duke great among the People especially when there is but one or few of that Title and the way to cut them off so easie as to put him upon a Quest of his Peers whether they be Friends or Enemies and that in one day only he shall be tryed and the most of that time spent by the Princes learned Council in amplifying and exaggerating Enemies or suspicions of Enemies against him and no Lawyer or Attorney given or allowed to defend or speak for him which should be granted if the matter concerned but ten Shillings of Lands or Goods only These things I say being so which to Strangers seem wonderful and almost incredible no marvel though our Nobility be cut off many times upon small occasions and that their Estates by others be judged very slippery and miserable for remedy whereof some are of Opinion That for avoiding of jealousie in the Prince and Commonwealth against great and powerful Men it were a good means to have many equal in the self same degree as for example many Dukes Marquises as there are of Earls For that hereby every one would come to be less respected and to be of less power with the People for the Dignity would be divided amongst many and consequently less eminent in one And if any one should go about to be insolent the other would be able to repress him and we see that in old time it was so in England Another means will be that all such Dignities Prerogatives publick Emoluments Offices and Preferments as are to be in the Countries where these great Men dwell should depend on the Prince immediately and not of them and that some other Men also of Dignity that are made and set up by the Prince and depend only of him as namely Bishops should have sway with them and Commission in all matters belonging to the publick and when any poor Man were injured by a great he might be heard easily and remedied and so taken into the Prince's peculiar Protection as he durst