HIS PUBLIC CAREER. xxxi 



break of the civil war in England ; the politician had then 

 other than pullets' eggs to hatch. 



The king's physician, not to speak of the author of a new 

 doctrine of the motions of the heart and blood, was sure to 

 find favour in the eyes of the high church dignitaries of Oxford ; 

 and we accordingly find that, besides being everywhere hand- 

 somely received and entertained, Harvey had the honorary 

 degree of Doctor of Physic conferred on him. Oxford, indeed, 

 when the king and court were driven from the metropolis, which 

 was now wholly in the hands of the popular party, became the 

 head- quarters of the royal army and principal residence of the 

 king for several years. And here Harvey seems to have 

 quietly settled himself down and again turned his attention 

 to his favorite subjects. Nor was the honorary distinction 

 of doctor of physic from the university, which has been men- 

 tioned, the only mark of favour he received. Sir Nathaniel 

 Brent, Warden of Merton College, yielding to his natural bias, 

 forsook Oxford when it was garrisoned by the king, and began 

 to take a somewhat active part in the proceedings of the 

 popular party ; he came forward in especial as a witness against 

 Archbishop Laud, on the trial of that dignitary. Merton 

 College being thus left without a head, upon the suggestion, 

 as it is said, of the learned antiquary and mathematician, John 

 Greaves, and in virtue of a letter of the king, Harvey was 

 elected warden some time in the course of 1645. This appoint- 

 ment was doubtless merited by Harvey for his constant and 

 faithful service to Charles; but it may also have been bestowed 

 in some measure as a retort upon the Parliament, which, the 

 year before, had entertained a motion for the supercession of 

 Harvey in his office of physician to St. Bartholomew's Hospital. 1 



1 Feb. 12, an. 164f . " A motion this day made for Dr. Mieklethwayte to be 

 recommended to the warden and masters of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, to be 

 physician, in the place of Dr. Harvey, who hath withdrawn himself from his charge, 

 and is retired to the party in arms against the Parliament." (Journals of the House 

 of Commons, iii, 397.) 



