9. The prince of Wales, afterwards Charles I, came to the College to inspect these alterations, and he was followed later by James I. These visits are commemorated by the statues of James, his wife, and Charles placed on the west side of the Great Gate. The king was so pleased with his entertainment that he repeated his visit on three subsequent occasions. Of Nevile, one of his contemporaries wrote, "He never had his like for a splendid courteous and bounteous gentleman," and the College still gratefully honours his memory. He was trusted and esteemed by Elizabeth, and when dying she selected him to carry to Scotland the fateful letter in which she nominated James I to succeed her. If you go into the dining room of the lodge you will see Nevile's portrait, hung in the place of honour over the mantelpiece, representing him as holding this letter in one hand. 10. You must not think that under Nevile's rule the energies of the College were wholly directed to material ends. In a memorandum of 1607 on the use of college emoluments for students, he was able to say that of the higher church officials of the day, eleven deans, seven bishops, and the two archbishops, were drawn from Trinity. In academic distinctions, in legal appointments, and in statesmanship its records were equally satisfactory: so the College was worthily maintaining its tradition of service in church and state. Under his immediate successors the College entered on a period of steady prosperity. In the next generation, however, the shadows of the civil disturbances of the seventeenth century began to fall; theological disputes increased, scholarship in other subjects received but scanty attention, and a general slackness in intellectual pursuits was visible, though it is fair to say that among the students of the time were three or four who later deservedly acquired reputation as poets. Among the latter I particularize George Herbert, Abraham Cowley, and Andrew Marvell; Dryden entered a few years later. 11. On the outbreak of civil war the town was occupied by the parliamentary forces, troops were quartered in the College, and a good deal of damage done to the fabric. In 1644 a large number of the fellows were expelled, their places being filled by zealots of but slight education. It may be put to the credit of a few who were left, notably Duport and Ray, that in this time of stress they devoted themselves to maintaining the standard of scholarship. On the restoration such of the expelled fellows as were still alive and unmarried resumed office. They decided that there should be no retaliations, and that all those nominated to fellowships under the commonwealth should be allowed to remain, provided only they did not preach in the chapel unless they were members of the Church of England: that was a noble reply to the wrongs suffered.