was obtained from the Senate, on the 29th of November in this year, to assist them, by a pecuniary grant of fifty pounds from the University, in maintaining their rights against this supposed aggression. The University of Oxford took a part in this contest, which equally affected their own interests, and contributed a similar sum towards carrying on the suit. Several other concerns, of considerable local interest, seem to have rendered the time of Waterland's ViceChancellorship a year of active service. But towards the latter part of it still weightier matters;-matters, at least, of more general concern, and of more than ordinary difficulty;-called forth his exertions.

Political animosity was now at its height, and raged with considerable fury throughout the University. The enmity between Whigs and Tories was no where more vehement; and it required great discretion, good-temper, and self-possession, to enable a person, holding so high and responsible a station in the academical body, to escape obloquy, and to carry himself firmly, yet temperately, betwixt the contending parties. Waterland appears in this respect to have been eminently successful. He was a stedfast supporter of the Hanoverian succession; which was by no means the prevailing sentiment at that time in Cambridge; the Tories having been, on several occasions, the strongest party. On the night of King George's birth-day in 1715, considerable disturbances had been made by the young men; and the preceding Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Sherlock, (whose politics, as well as those of some other Heads of Houses, were somewhat suspected to be of the same cast,)

was accused of conniving at their excesses. Waterland took measures to allay these animosities; and was aided in his endeavours by powerful coadjutors. On the day after his election, Nov. 5, 1715, Dr. Bentley preached his celebrated Sermon against Popery at St. Mary's. Another Sermon against Popery, preached before the University, on Jan. 25, 1715-16, by Peter Needham, the editor of Theophrastus, was printed by desire of Waterland, the Vice-Chancellor. In April 1716, an Address of Congratulation to the King, on the suppression of the rebellion, was proposed in the Caput, and through the influence of the Jacobites, (two especially, Mr. Tyson and Mr. King, both of Pembroke Hall,) it was stopped in the Caput. Bentley is supposed to have framed the Address; and he presented the Grace for its admission. Here the matter rested during the long vacation. But at the beginning of the next term, it met with better success. Bentley, with two of his personal friends, having been brought into the Caput, he proposed the Grace a second time; when it passed without opposition; and being offered in the Senate, it passed also in the Non-Regent House by a majority of 36 to 15, and in the Regent by 34 to 14i. Dr.

No Copy of this Address is preserved in the University Register. The following is extracted from the London Gazette, October 23, 1716, deposited in the British Museum.

Hampton Court, October 22. This day the following Ad"dress to his Majesty was presented to His Royal Highness the "Prince of Wales, by the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, attended by several of the Heads of Houses and "Members of the said University, introduced by the Right

Bentley alludes to this occurrence, in a Letter to

"Honourable the Lord Viscount Townshend, one of his Majesty's "Principal Secretaries of State.

"The Humble Address of the Chancellor, Masters, and Scho"lars of the University of Cambridge.

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"Most Gracious Sovereign,

your

"As we once had the peculiar honour to attend your Majesty with our thanks for a most eminent instance of Royal favour and beneficence; so we had been among the "earliest messengers of the common joy and congratulation for "your victory over rebels, had not our intention been frustrated "by an unforeseen and unexampled impediment, which being re"moved, we take the first opportunity to show to your Majesty " and the world, that it was not the want of our duty or affection "but our misfortune and calamity.

"This we hope will excuse and justify our impatience, that we "wait not for your Majesty's return to Great Britain, but hasten "to address you, even while absent. And indeed we can scarce "esteem it absence, while you only cross your own seas to visit 'your own hereditary countries; while we see the influence of your mind and counsels pervade and animate all your domi"nions at once; while you still seem to reside among us, in that lively image of your person and virtues, as well as of your So"vereign power, His Royal Highness, your Son.

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""Tis with diffidence that we now mention to you a Rebellion "so speedily suppressed, subdued, and extinguished, and which "your princely magnanimity and clemency seems already to have "forgot. But our own concernments, our late fears, and present "joys oblige us to remark, that as no rebellion, in all our annals, "appeared in its designs and consequences more terrible and de"structive, so none ever went off and vanished in shorter time, "with less detriment, and more propitious event; serving only to "display your Majesty's superior wisdom and fortitude, the weak"ness and rashness of your infatuated enemies, the firmness of "your Ministry, and the faithfulness of your people. For even "the few wicked actors, and just sufferers in it, that were not "professed Papists, have done the justice to the Church esta

Dr. Samuel Clarke, published in Dr. Burney's Collection of his Letters, p. 258; where he says, "The

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fury of the whole disaffected and Jacobite party "here against me and Mr. Waterland, is unexpres"sible: one would think that the late Address had given them a mortal blow, by the desperate rage

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"blished, to declare they first deserted her communion, before they could imbibe the principles of treason and rebellion.

"In an age of such distraction, such unaccountable folly as "may seem rather imputable to the anger of Heaven than to the passions and interests of men, your University dare not answer "for every individual. But in the whole, we crave leave to assure your Majesty of our heartiest endeavours, both by precept and "example, to instill into our youth the warmest sentiments of "loyalty and allegiance, of veneration and gratitude to your Royal "Person and Family; to inculcate to them, that whatever is dear "to the good, or valuable to the wise, our religion and literature, "our possessions and liberties, do principally subsist (under God) upon the present happy Establishment.

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May the same good Providence that has hitherto protected “and guarded you, and has bound up the fate of the whole Re"formation with the fortune of your illustrious House, bring your Majesty back to us in peace and safety, with increase of your health, and new acquests to your glory; and (if we may aspire to so high a wish) accompanied with your beloved Grandson, that third security and pledge of Great Britain's felicity.' "To which Address His Royal Highness was pleased to return "the following Answer:

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"I will transmit this affectionate address to the King, my "father; who, I am sure, will be very well pleased with this in"stance of your duty and loyalty; and it is with great satisfac"tion I lay hold of this opportunity of assuring you, that I shall upon all occasions countenance and encourage the University.'

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* The Letter, by some mistake, bears date, in Dr. Burney's Collection, Nov. 1719: it ought to be 1716.

"they are in. I suppose you have seen a virulent lying paper printed at London about the Address, "wherein Mr. Waterland and I are described as

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objects of their universal hatred. Nothing now "will satisfy them, but I must be put by the Professor's Chair; and the Church is in great danger "from my New Testament."

Waterland's moderation and good temper appear, however, to have protected him in this affair, against much of that obloquy and ill-will which were so strongly shewn towards Bentley. And, probably, it was in consequence of his conduct on this occasion, that he was, in the following year, 1717, appointed to be one of the Chaplains in ordinary to the King. Bentley, in his above-mentioned letter to Dr. Clarke, had intimated how necessary it was at that juncture, that the court and government should give their public sanction and countenance to those who had strenuously laboured in the University to uphold the interests of the House of Brunswick, and to defeat the unremitting efforts of the opposite party. He represented, with his usual tone of confidence, the almost certain effect which would be produced, if those who had the patronage of the Crown at their disposal would openly shew their approbation of the adherents to the existing monarchy, by bestowing some portion of it upon such men as Waterland and himself. This he urged, regardless of being sneered at as a self-interested adviser, and apparently with a consciousness of the rectitude of sentiment which dictated the advice.

It is not, perhaps, ascribing too much to the weight of such advice, from such a man, if we sup