Note 608 — Chapter XXII

Hist. of Cambridge, 236. Sancroft did not take the Covenant. The following extract from a letter of his to Dr. Holdsworth, Master of Emmanuel, is very curious:—"Ah! Sir, I know our Emmanuel College is now an object of pity and commiseration. They have left us like John Baptist's trunk when his head was lopped off, because of a vow or oath (or Covenant, if you will) that went before, or like Pompey's carcase upon the shore; so stat magni nominis umbra. For my part, tædet me vivere hanc mortem. A small matter would prevail with me to take up the resolution to go forth any whither where I might not hear nec nomen, nec facta Pelopidarum. Nor need we voluntarily give up our stations. I fear we cannot long maintain them. And what then? Shall I lift up my hand? I will cut it off first. Shall I subscribe my name? I will forget it as soon. I can at least look up through this mist and see the hand of my God holding the scourge that lashes; and with this thought I am able to silence all the mutinies of boisterous passions, and to charm them into a perfect calm. Sir, you will pardon this disjointed piece: it is the production of a disquieted mind; and no wonder if the child resembles its parent. My sorrow, as yet, breaks forth only in abrupt sighs and broken sobs."—D'Oyley's Life of Archbishop Sancroft, i. 32.