490 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 160. 



be told, that such exercises are usually imposed by 

 the governors of colleges upon Bachelors of Arts and 

 undergraduates. I shall forbear to be particular in 

 his, as being a forced compliment to the Usurper. 



«' Not but that even those discover a certain unwil- 

 lingness to act in favour of that monster, whom even 

 the inimitable Earl of Clarendon, in his history of the 

 Grand Rebellion, distinguishes by the name and title 

 of a glorious villain." — . South's Posthumous Works, p. 5. 



■ South was about twenty-one years old when 

 this memorable event took place, and his partici- 

 pation in the matter has been the only thing, even 

 approaching to a fact, that his bitterest enemies 

 have ever alleged in proof of his inconsistency. 

 Nor did his sixty-two subsequent years of devoted 

 loyalty silence their malicious comments upon it. 

 I much regret that at present I am unable to 

 examine the little volume itself. It was dedicated 

 "by John Owen to Oliver Cromwell, and entitled 

 Musarum Oxoniensium, 'EXutocpopia, &c. Some 

 account of it may be found in Orme's Memoirs of 

 the Life of John Owen., D.D.., pp. 189 — 191., Lon- 

 don, 1820, 8vo. ; and the note at p. 191. refers me 

 to Dr. Harris' Life of Cromwell, pp. 369, 370. 

 Besides Dr. South and John Owen, the celebrated 

 John Locke was a contributor ; and also Dr. Zouch, 

 Professor Harmar, Dr. Ralph Bathurst ; and still 

 more the loyal and devoted Dr. Richard Busby, 

 who was South's master at Westminster School, 

 and beside whom his remains sleep in Westminster 

 Abbey. Indeed such was the known loyalty of 

 Dr. Busby, and of Westminster School, that South 

 himself tells us in his Sermon upon Proverbs xxii, 

 6. ad fin. (vol. ii. p. 188. : Dublin, folio), that John 

 Owen, " that noted coryphasus of the Independent 

 faction," used constantly to say that it never would 

 be well with the nation till it was suppressed. 

 And then South continues : 



" But if in those days some four or five, bred up in 

 this school (though not under this master), did un- 

 worthily turn aside to other by-ways and principles, we 

 can however truly say this of them, That though they 

 went out from us, yet they were never of us. For still 

 the school itself made good its claim to that glorious 

 motto of its royal foundress ' Semper Eadem ; ' the 

 temper and genius of it being neither to be corrupted 

 with promises, nor controuled with threats." 



And speaking of the state of things when West- 

 minster Abbey was in the possession of the rebels, 

 he goes on to say : 



" For though indeed we had some of those fellows 

 for our governours (as they called themselves), yet, 

 thanks be to God, they were never our teachers ; no, 

 not so much as when they would have perverted us 

 from the pulpit. 



" But though our ears were still encountered with 

 such doctrines in the Church, it was our happiness to 

 be taught other doctrines in the school ; and what was 

 drank in there proved an effectual antidote against the 

 poyson prepared for us here" {sail. Westminster Abbey). 



Having thus proved South In respectable com- 

 pany on the occasion, I transcribe his compli- 

 mentary lines as I find them in his Opei'a Post- 

 huma Lafina, after the Preface and table of 

 contents : 



" Olivario Cromwellio, in Foedera inter Rempubli- 

 cam Britannicam et Ordines Foederatos Belgii sta- 

 bilita, 1654. 



" Intulerant miseranda duae sibi Bella Sorores, 



Utraque fatales, utraque Parca sibi. 

 Sic in sangulneam mare commutatur Arenam, 



QuEe gladiatoi'um bella, necesque videt. 

 Has fluctus, illas rapiunt incendia naves, 



Et miscent sestus flamma fretumque suos. 

 Quaeque mori solita est flammis, exhorruit undas, 



Ne mediis Phcenix mersa periret aquis ; 

 Belligeros quot pugna duces, quot sustulit unda ? 



Sic tamen ipsa solent astra subire fretum. 

 Sic mare Ceeruleum est : sed sieut Cterula Vena, 



Qu» tuinet incluso sanguine plena fluens. 

 Non nostras Batavus submisit Carbasa classi, 



Nee quamvis habuit vela, modestus erat. 

 At sic deposuit tandem Leo Belgicus iras, 



Securam ut ducat per mare Phryxus ovem. 

 Caetera bella licet pugnasq; elementa sequantur. 



Sola tamen Pacis F'cedera servat aqua. 



" At tu dux pariter terrae domitorque profundi, 

 Componunt laudes cuncta elementa tuas. 

 Cui mens alta subest pelagoque profundior ipso, 



Cujus fama sonat, quam procul unde (s'c) sonat ; 

 Si currum ascendas domito pane orbe triumphas, 



In currus aderunt axis uterque tuos. 

 Inclusam populi tua fert vagina salutem, 



Ut Lateri hinc possis semper adesse tuo. 

 Tu poteras solos motos componere fluctus. 



Solus Neptunum sub tua vincla dare. 

 Magna simul fortis vicisti, et multa Trophaels 



Ut mare, sic pariter cedit arena tuis. 

 Nomine pacifico gestas insignia pacis, 



Blandaque per titulos serpit oliva tuos. 

 Seston Ahydos amat ; Batavas colit Anglia terras. 



Insula te tanto facta Beata Duce 

 Insula quam Pelagus, simul et victoria cingit, 

 Qufeque (quod hie praestat) cingitur ense tuo." 

 Pp. xiii. xiv. : Londini, 1717, 8vo. 



Let any one compare these lines with those 

 which South wrote on the Restoration of King 

 Charles II., and called Britannia Rediviva ; and I 

 think It will easily appear that thej^ were not a 

 " labour of love." However, the history of the 

 times may perhaps prove an additional defence of 

 South. And I am glad to remember at the mo- 

 ment a passage written by the honest-hearted 

 royalist Cowley, and written, too, after the death 

 of Cromwell. Speaking of the usurper, he says : 



" The first of his foreign (scil. actions) was a peace 

 with our brethren of Holland (who were the first of 

 our neighbours that God chastised for having so great 

 a hand in the encouraging and abetting our troubles at 

 home), who would not imagine at first glympse that 

 this had been the most virtuous and laudable deed that his 



