[53] “About a month ago considerable sensation was created in Oxford by the rumour that one of the University examiners, who is also a “coach,” had prepared his private pupils in the precise questions set for examination. This, we may observe, was one of the heavy charges brought against Provost Hely Hutchinson, of Trinity College, about a century ago, the Provost having had recourse to the unprincipled manœuvre as an electioneering dodge. The ever-memorable Counsellor Peter Burrowes, when arraigning the Provost before a committee of the Irish House of Commons, said that his trick “would have made a docile parrot appear superior to Sir Isaac Newton;” but the committee condoned the Provost, against the judgment and votes of Arthur Wesley (Duke of Wellington) and Lord Edward Fitzgerald. The Oxford authorities seem not to be disposed to view so leniently the action of Mr. Philip Aldred, D.C.L. When the matter was reported to the Vice-Chancellor a substitute for the transgressing examiner was at once appointed. We believe that a University committee has been appointed to consider the expediency of taking away Mr. Aldred’s degrees—as was done in the Tractarian controversy days with Mr. Ward, the author of the “Ideal;” and, meanwhile, Mr. Aldred is now about to bring his case before the public, with the protest that he has been condemned unheard, after challenging investigation, and that he is able and willing to meet every charge brought against him.”—[Freeman’s Journal, Jan. 13th, 1882.]
[54] He was prevented from voting, not by any University or College statute, but by the Penal Law of 1727, which took away the franchise from Catholics. All the long past exclusiveness of the college, detrimental as it was to the college and to the country, was enjoined by the foreign power which cared little for the advancement of either. Down to this period the English legislature did not recognise at all the existence of Catholics in the college, believing them to be effectually excluded by the statute enforcing attendance at Anglican worship and Sacrament, and by the Supremacy and anti-Transubstantiation Declarations for Degrees, which were swept away by the Act of 1792.
[55] In 1725, Primate Boulter estimated that Dr. Delany, a Senior Fellow, and “the greatest pupil-monger,” had from Fellowship and pupils six or seven hundred pounds per annum.—[Letters.]
Swift, in 1730, computed that Delany, “by the benefit of the pupils, and his Senior Fellowship, with all its perquisites, received every year between nine hundred and a thousand pounds.”—[Works, vol. xiii., p. 82.]
Duigenan, in 1777, reckoned Dr. Leland’s Senior Fellowship at “£800, one year with another.”—[Lachrymæ.]
In 1777, it was considered surprising that Dr. Leland refused the living of Benburb, worth £1,000 a year, while his college income fell short of £700 a year.—[Exshaw’s Magazine, 1777.]
[56] In 1713, Swift wrote to Stella:—“I have been employed in endeavouring to save one of your Junior Fellows (Mr. Charles Grattan) who came over here for a dispensation from taking orders, and in soliciting it has run out his time, and now his Fellowship is void if the College pleases, unless the queen suspends the execution and gives him time to take Orders. I spoke to all the ministers about it yesterday; but they say, ‘the queen is angry and thought it but a trick to deceive her;’ and she is positive, and so the man must be ruined, for I cannot help him. I never saw him in my life, but the case was so hard, I could not forbear interposing. Your Government recommended him to the Duke of Ormond, and he thought they would grant it; and by the time it was refused, the Fellowship by rigour is forfeited.” The College Calendar has, “Charles Grattan, Fellow, 1710—removed for not taking Holy Orders, May 25th, 1713—Master of Enniskillen School, 1714.”—[Journal, Letter lxii., March 29th.]
[57] He got Scholarship along with his brother Robert, in 1775. The brothers Roberts, the present Senior Fellows, did the same in 1836.
[58] Denis George’s name does not appear in the list of scholars. He took his B.A. in 1773. Neither does Tankerville Chamberlain’s. He graduated in 1774.
[59] From the ranks of the Scholars have proceeded 13 Provosts, 199 Fellows; 1 Archbishop; 16 Bishops, of whom two held English sees; 4 Lord Chancellors; 2 Lords Justices; 29 Judges; 27 M.P.’s; 4 Vice-Chancellors; 18 Deans; 14 Governors, &c., of British dependencies; renowned Professors in all the Faculties, and nearly all the distinguished schoolmasters of the country; 1 Poet Laureate, and several celebrated authors and editors, besides numerous eminent clergymen and lawyers. This is exclusive of the enumeration [page xxvi] of the dignities obtained by Scholar-Fellows.