Nuts to crack; or Quips, quirks, anecdote and facete of Oxford and Cambridge ScholarsGooch, Richard
History
Nuts to crack; or Quips, quirks, anecdote and facete of Oxford and Cambridge Scholars
Gooch, Richard
University of Cambridge -- Anecdotes; University of Oxford -- Anecdotes
Which being replied to by Leland (In Encom. Eruditorum in Anglia, &c.
per Jo. Leland's edit. Lond. 1589,) was answered by a friend of
Croke's in verse also. And here by the way I must let the reader know
that it was the fashion of that age (temp. Hen. VIII.) to buffoon, or
wit it after that fashion, not only by the younger sort of students,
but by bishops and grave doctors. The learned Walter Haddon, Master of
Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and afterwards President of Magdalen College,
Oxford, in an epistle that he wrote to Dr. Cox, Almoner to Edward IV.
(afterwards Bishop of Ely) "doth give him great commendations of his
actions and employments, and further addeth (in his Lucubrations) that
when he was at leisure to recreate his mind, he would, rather than be
idle, 'Scevolæ et Lælii more--aut velitationem illam Croci cum Lelando
perridiculam, vel reliquas Oxonienses nugas (ita enim profecto sunt,'
saith he,) 'evolvere voluerit, &c.' Dr. Tresham, also, who was many
years Commissary or Vice-Chancellor of the University, is said by
(Humfredus in Vita Juelli) 'ludere in re seria, &c.'" When Queen
Elizabeth was asked her opinion of the scholarship of the two great
cotemporaries, the learned Buchanan and Dr. Walter Haddon, the latter
accounted the best writer of Latin of his age, she dexterously avoided
the imputation of partiality by replying: "_Buchannum omnibus
antepono, Haddonum nemini postpono_."
* * * * *
LORD MOUNTJOY
Was the friend and cotemporary of Erasmus, at Queen's College,
Cambridge, and was so highly esteemed by that great man, that he
called him, "_Inter doctos nobilissimus, inter nobiles doctissimus,
inter utrosque optimus_." His noble friend once entreated him to
ATTACK THE ERRORS OF LUTHER.
"My Lord," replied the sage, "nothing is more easy than to say Luther
is mistaken: nothing more difficult than to prove him so."
VIR EGREGIE DOCTUS,
Was the _soubriquet_ conferred upon the celebrated Etonian, Cantab,
Reformer, Provost of King's College, and Bishop of Hereford, Dr.
Edward Fox, by the learned Bishop Godwin. Another Etonian and Cantab,
Dr. Aldrich, Bishop of Carlisle, received from Erasmus, when young,
the equally just and elegant compliment of
"BLANDÆ ELOQUENTIÆ JUVENEM."
* * * * *
A POINT OF ETIQUETTE.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account