FULHAM PALACE - 
Iam not passing in review all the Bishops of London, but simply 
singling out those whose names, for one cause or another, have 
shed lustre, or brought discredit, on the famous and ancient See. 
Nicholas Ridley, reformer and martyr, though only three years at 
Fulham, cannot be omitted in any mention of it. A Tynedale 
man, he was educated at Newcastle-on-Tyne and Cambridge. 
Having taken his degree of M.A. in 1526, and making divinity 
his principal study, he set out on his travels on the Continent. 
He was absent three years, spending some time with the doctors 
of the Sorbonne, at Paris, and the professors of the University of 
Louvain. Louvain at that period was specially noted for its 
theological teaching, and, with students numbering six thousand, 
it was at the zenith of its fame and prosperity. The tragical fate 
of this ancient seat of learning, has in these later days, drawn to it 
the attention of an indignant and compassionate world. It is 
interesting to remember that among the seventy thousand volumes, 
and five hundred precious manuscripts in its famous and priceless 
library, so wickedly and wantonly destroyed in 1914 by the brutal 
soldiery of the Kaiser, not a few must have been handled and 
studied by the young, Cambridge divinity graduate who, nearly 
four hundred years ago, sojourned there to perfect himself in theo- 
logy. On his return to Cambridge Ridley soon made his mark 
as a disputant and orator, with leanings towards the Reformed 
faith; and he was appointed by Cranmer to the living of Herne, 
in Kent. He became Chaplain to Henry VIII. and Canon of 
Canterbury. Even at that time he was accused of heretical teach- 
ing, but contrived to satisfy his ecclesiastical superiors. He came 
into high favour in the reign of Edward VI., was one of the compilers 
of the English Prayer Book, and in 1549, on the deprivation of 
Bonner, became Bishop of London. It is said that he behaved 
with great kindness to two of the relatives of the dispossessed 
prelate, and brought them to Fulham House to live; and if this be 
true Bonner was guilty of base ingratitude. The part taken by 
Ridley in the attempt to establish Lady Jane Grey on the throne, 
even more than his religious views, drew upon him the vindictive 
enmity of Queen Mary, and though he asked her pardon for the 
former offence, he was committed to the Tower. There he wrote 
a defence of his opinions, but was declared a heretic and excom- 
municated. Refusing to recant, he was sent to Oxford with 
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