John Underhill (1589), Rector of Lincoln College, and one of Queen Elizabeth's chaplains, was next appointed, "being persuaded," says Willis, "on certain considerations, to accept it in the way of a better." But it proved "very much out of his way; for ere the first-fruits were payed he died in great discontent and poverty about the beginning of May 1592."
Again Elizabeth, who had already taken away some of the best estates from the bishopric, kept it in her hands the third time (1592-1604): "who," says Willis, "constituting no bishop forty-one years of her forty-four, disposed of its income to her courtiers as she thought fit, giving whatever they had a mind to ask; though, as some writers remark, it proved miserably fatal to them, particularly to her great favourite the Earl of Essex."
With John Bridges (1604-1618) commences the unbroken succession of Bishops of Oxford. It is suggested by Fuller in his "Worthies" that "the cause that church was so long a widow was the want of a competent estate to prefer her"; but at this time, Elizabeth being dead, the endowment of the see had been increased; and henceforward occupants for it were found. Bridges is known to history mainly from his name appearing at the head of the title-page of the first two Marprelate tracts. He was then, 1587, Dean of Sarum, and had written a temperate reply to the Puritan pamphleteers who were pouring violent abuse upon Episcopacy. Martin Marprelate seized upon his book, "A Defence of the Government Established in the Church of England," and headed the "Epistle" and the "Epitome" with, "Oh read over D. John Bridges, for it is a worthy worke." He was a good Bishop.
John Howson (1619-1628) was a great controversialist of the time, his four sermons against the Pope's supremacy having, according to Fuller, "made him famous to all posterity." He was one of the original members of Chelsea College, an institution founded by James I. "to afford divines leisure and other conveniences to spend their time wholly in controversy." Mercifully this terrible design soon gave way, and Chelsea College became Chelsea Hospital. Bishop Howson was translated to Durham in 1628, where he died at the age of ninety-five.
Richard Corbet (1628-1632) was "a distinguished wit in an age of wits, and a liberal man amongst a race of intolerant partizans." But perhaps his liberality (which did not prevent him, by-the-way, from carrying out the Laudian discipline with a high hand) was due to his own easy way of living: for he and his chaplain were wont to lock themselves in the wine-cellar and be merry. He seems to have been a genial, kind, generous, and spirited prelate; sincere and affectionate in private life, he was, says Gilchrist, "correct, eloquent, and ingenious as a poet." At least he was a man of character. From 1632 to 1635 he was Bishop of Norwich.
John Bancroft (1632-1641), Master of University College, and nephew of the Archbishop of Canterbury of that name, was a great benefactor to the see. Being a single man he devoted his money to this purpose; and besides many financial acquisitions, he built an episcopal palace at Cuddesden at the suggestion of Archbishop Laud. This palace, the first since the time of Edward VI., was finished in 1634, and burnt down ten years later by Colonel Legg, to prevent its becoming useful to the parliamentary forces. It lay in ruins till the time of Bishop Fell.
Robert Skinner (1641-1663) was translated from Bristol. He was imprisoned in the Tower by the Puritan party, and remained in obscurity during the Commonwealth; but he was one of the few who continued to ordain. At the Restoration, being then over seventy, he was translated to Worcester.
William Paul (1663) and Walter Blandford (1665) did nothing memorable.
Hon. Nathaniel Crewe (1671-1674) entered into holy orders in 1664; in the short space of five years he was Dean of Chichester, and two years after that Bishop of Oxford. He was an ambitious and restless man: in 1673 he had the boldness to perform the marriage ceremony between the Duke of York and Mary of Este, in defiance of the House of Commons. As a reward for this act, the Duke procured him the see of Durham, whither he was translated in 1674. At the Revolution, as a consequence of his political intrigues, he was excepted from the general pardon, and obliged to fly to Holland. But he afterwards made his peace; and, on the death of his elder brother, becoming Lord Crewe, he was the first man to be summoned to Parliament both as baron and bishop. He lived on till 1722.
Hon. Henry Compton (1674-1675), son of the Earl of Northampton, who died fighting by the king at Hopton Heath in 1644, was after the Restoration a cornet in the army before he took orders. He was conspicuous throughout his long life for his efforts to reconcile the dissenters with the Church of England, and for his opposition to Rome; he was the first to sign the declaration for the Prince of Orange on William's arrival in London. But at Oxford he was a bird of passage, being translated to London in 1675.