upon breaking out of the civil wars, he sent all his plate to the King, and declared that he would rather, like Diogenes, drink in the hollow of his hand than that his Majesty should want. A prudent course perhaps, if he was in danger and threatened with (as it is admitted he was) a sequestration for his debts. He was remarkable, as already noticed, for his charity to the poor. Fuller communicates to us this trait in his character in the following words, "for though he had a wife and many children, and expected daily to be sequestered, yet he continued his usual liberality to them, having, on hearing Dr. Hammond's sermon at St. Paul's, been persuaded by the truth of that divine's assertion, that charity to the poor was the way to grow rich." His charity did not certainly begin at home. What a multitude of sins this charity doth cover! What folly! what knavery! what dishonesty! what hypocrisy! What a mistaken notion of charity! He married Elizabeth, daughter of Dr. Charles Sorribanke, Canon of Windsor, who survived him; and became the wife of his successor in College, the great and learned Dr. Gerard Langbaine. To her former husband she bore a large family; their son Charles (student of Christ Church) afterwards turned Papist, joined Crofts alias James Duke of Monmouth, and was made one of the ushers to Henrietta Maria, the Queen-Mother of England. The Provost wrote and published "A Sermon at the Consecration of Barnabas Potter, D.D. Bishop of Carlisle, at Ely House, in Holborn, 15 March, 1628, on John xxi. 17." Lond. 1629. 8vo. 6 "An answer to Edmund Knott's Charity Mistaken,' entitled Want of Charity justly charged on all such Romanists as dare affirm that Protestancy destroyeth Salvation,' &c. Oxon. 1683. 8vo. Second Edition, 1634, revised and corrected at the instance of his friend Laud, and dedicated to Charles I*.” He also translated from the Italian into English "The History of the Quarrels of P. Paul V. with the State of Venice." Lond. 1626, by Father Paul Scarp. There were several unpublished MSS. at the time of his death: "A Survey of the Platform of Predestination," and three letters on the same subject, which afterwaids coming into the hands of Twisse, or Twissius, of Newbury, were answered by him. He also wrote his " Vindication," by way of a letter to Mr. Vicars (Bishop Carleton's son), touching the points of God's Free Grace, and Man's Free Will, which seems to be an answer to Mr. Vicars' "Strictures on the Sermon preached at Ely House, on his Uncle's Consecration to the See of Carlislet." * See Life of Chillingworth, Wood's Ath. Oxon, and Fuller's Worthies. + See 5 Wordsworth's Eccl. Hist. p. 504 n. (Sanderson.) And a letter relating to the privileges of the University of Oxford*.” He died on the 3rd March 1645, and was buried in Queen's College Chapel, where we find a monument, with the following elaborate, fulsome, and not the most grammatical Juscription: CHRISTOPHORI Potter, S. S. The. Professoris Ecclesiæ Wigorniensis Decani, Dunelmensis designati, Qui Craterum cum Hephestione miscens, Serius pietatis cultor, rigidus honesti servator, Literarum omnium divinarum humanarumque condus, Mox ut quas ipse colebat unicè virtutes esse desierunt. (Et si quid ipso adhuc tristius impendente providebat) In qua singula ipsi supra vota successerant *Wood's Ath. Oxon. (Edit. Bliss.) Gerard Langhaine. D. D., PROVOST OF QUEEN'S COLLEGE, OXFORD; KEEPER OF THE UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES, &c. 1608-1657. "Of right and wrong he taught, Truths as refined as ever Athens heard; And (strange to tell!) he practised what he preached." ARMSTRONG. ERARD LANGBAINE was one of the brightest ornaments of the University of Oxford in his day; need we add, of his native county? He succeeded the Dean of Worcester in the Provostship of his College, and married his widow; but here begins and ends the similarity of their fortunes and character. The one became the head of the institution by nepotism; the other by the force of his own genius: the one was ever ready to cast his skin for the sweet aspect of princes; the other would rather have been a worm and fed upon a dunghill than barter either for the first fruits of the Church. The one idolized Laud, and worshipped in turn the people and the Monarch; the other worshipped his God with all his might and with all his strength; but mark, the one became Dean of Worcester and Dean of Durham, the other made Keeper of the University archives! So unevenly are the good things of this world distributed, especially when they are in the hands of court minions, who are more pleased with the incense of flattery than the stern language of truth. But let us see what others thought of him, and what he did to deserve their praise. "He was (says Wood) in general esteem for his great learning and honesty, skill in satisfying doubts, and discretion in the composure of controversies, especially those between the two bodies-the University and City. He was also an excellent linguist, an able philosopher and divine, a good common lawyer, a public-spirited man, a lover of learning and learned men; beloved by Dr. Usher, Selden, and the great Goliahs of literature. He was also an excellent antiquary, and as judicious in his writings as indefatigable in his studies as in immense undertakings." He was the son of William Langbaine, a small statesman, at Barton-Kirke, and was born there in the year 1608*. There appears to have been no school there * Dr. Adam Airay and Dr. William Lancaster, Provost of Queen's, were natives of this parish (Martindale). Dr. Dawes, Archdeacon of Carlisle, was also a native of this parish. See Burn's Hist. (Barton). |