NICHOLS-CARTWRIGHT. 137 and the return of popery, he quitted that seat of learning, and became clerk to a counsellor at law. This employ- ment, however, did not prevent the prosecution of his former pursuits. The study ofdivinity, and those branches of knowledge most calculated for usefulness to a divine, were his chief delight; and to which he still directed the closest application. In this situation he remained till the accession of Queen Elizabeth, when he returned to St. John's college, and in the year 1560, was made fellow of the house. In about three years, he was removed to Trinity college, where, on account of his great learning and worth, he was chosen one'of the eight senior fellows. In the year 1564, when Queen Elizabeth visited the university of Cambridge, uncommon preparations were made for her entertainment, and the most learned men were selected for the public disputations. Among these was Mr. Cartwright, whose performance on this occasion dis- covered such extraordinary abilities, as gave the greatest satisfaction, both to the queen and the other auditors.. Rtit many writers have asserted, that he received neither reward nor commendation ; and that he was presumptuous of his own good learning, but deficient in a comely grace and. behaviour. Indeed, it is added, that he was so vexed by her majesty's neglect of him, that he immediately began to wade into divers opinions relative, to the new discipline, and to kick at the government of the established church ; growing conceited of his own learning and holiness, and becoming a great contemner of those who differed from him.+ That this is a most notorious slander, appears partly from the account already given ; but especially from the words of another learned historian. From the relation of the queen's reception at Cambridge, says he, there appears no clear ground fOr any such discontent, as that which is charged against Mr. Cartwright ; for, as this relation informs us, the queen approved of them all.# In the year 1570, Mr. Cartwright was chosen Lady Margaret's professor of divinity. It is particularly men- tioned, that he delivered lectures upon the first and second chapters of the Acts of the Apostles ; which he performed with such acuteness of wit, and such solidity of judgment, that they excited the admiration of those who attended. He was also become so celebrated a preacher, that when it Clark's Lives annexed to his Martyrologie, p. 16, 17. Paule's Life of Whitgift, p. 9, 10. Strype's Annals, vol. i. p. 403.
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