The young man preached a sermon
which was thought to look Romewards. Laud became SUSPECT, it was
thought a "scandalous" thing to give him the usual courteous
greetings in the street or in the college quadrangle. From this time
the history of Oxford, for forty years, is mixed up with the history
of Laud. The divisions of Roundhead and of Cavalier have begun. The
majority of the undergraduates are on the side of Laud; and the
Court, the citizens, and many of the elder members of the University,
are with the Puritans.
The Court and the King, we have said, were fond of being entertained
in the college halls. James went from libraries to academic
disputations, thence to dinner, and from dinner to look on at
comedies played by the students. The Cambridge men did not care to
see so much royal favour bestowed on Oxford. When James visited the
University in 1641, a Cambridge wit produced a remarkable epigram.
For some mysterious reason the playful fancies of the sister
University have never been greatly admired at Oxford, where the brisk
air, men flatter themselves, breeds nimbler humours. Here is part of
the Cantab's epigram:
"To Oxenford the King has gone,
With all his mighty peers,
That hath in peace maintained us,
These five or six long years."
The poem maunders on for half a dozen lines, and "loses itself in the
sands," like the River Rhine, without coming to any particular point
or conclusion.
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