2l LIVES OF THE PURITANS. when Ridley was cast into prison, and not long before he was committed to the flames, he wcot,, a lett, t to his friend Grindal, then in exile, in which he made affectionate and honourable mention of Mr. Lever, as one of the persecuted servants of. Christ. In the above year he preached two sermons, the one at Paul's cross,t the other be,iire the king, which, it is said, would in that day have spoil, d any man's preferment. As he delivered several things on these occasions, illustrating the history of the time, and particularly shewing the state of learning, the way of living, aced the course of study, as well as the manimr oi preaching, in those days, we shall take notice of one or two passages ; which serve also to describe the author in his spirit and address. Having spoken in commend,tion of King Henry's bounty, ingiving .'200 annually, towards the exhibition of five learned men, to read and t. ach divinity, law, physic, Greek andHebrew, and of his munificence in founding Trinity college, and other bounties, he proceeds as follows : ", Howbeit, all they that have knowen the universitye of " Caimbryge, sense that tyme that it dyd fyrst begynne to " receive these greate and manyefolde benefytes from the " kymges magstye, at youre handcs, have juste occasion " to suspecte that you have decyved boeth the kynge and " universitie, to enryche yourselves. For before that you " dyd begynne to be the disposers of the kynges lyberalitye " towards learnynge and poverty, ther was in houses be- " longyrge unto the universitye of Cambryge two hundred " students of dyvynytye, many verye well learned: whyche " be nowe all clene gone, house and name ; younge towarde " schoiers, and old fatherlye doctors, not one of them lefte. One hundred also of an other sorte, that havynge " rich frendes or beying benefycedmen dyd lyve of theym- " selves in ottels and inns, be eyther gon awaye, or elles " fayne to 'crepe into 'colleges, and put poore men from " bare lyvynges. Those bothe be all gone, and n small " number of pooregodly dylygent studentsnow rernaynynge " only in colleges be not able to tary, and contynue 44 their studye in the universitye, for lacke of exhibition and bealpe. There be dyverse ther which ryse dayly " betwixt foure and fyve of the clocke in the mornynge ; 3 Fox's Martyrs, vol. iii. p. 347. + Paul's cross was a pulpit, in the form of a cross, which stood nearly in the middle of St. Paul's church-yard, where the first reformers used frequently to preach unto the people.
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