kill him, but soon rejected that expedient, thinking it would be an unjust action, as the dog only did his duty, and he himself was in fault for rambling out of his lodging before day-light. At length he called out so loud that he awoke the people of the house, who rose and parted the combatants, Barrow having suffered no hurt beyond the straining of his wrists. During his residence at Felsted, he was admitted a pensioner of Peter House,* which was Bishop Barrow's College; but when he was fit to be removed to the University in February 1645, his destination was changed to the noble foundation of Trinity, his uncle, together with Mr. Seth Ward, Peter Gunning, and John Barwick, having been ejected from his college the year before, for writing against the Covenant.+ At this time his father was with the king at Oxford, having suffered so much from his adherence to the royal cause, that he could not have supported his son at college without assistance from one of those great and benevolent characters that shed a lustre on the age in which they live. The generous friend who thus held out the hand of encouragement to our young scholar was the celebrated Dr. Henry Hammond, himself a sufferer in the cause of loyalty, who took this method of restoring sound learning, piety, and discipline, to the established church. At the death of that eminent and good man in 1660, Barrow testified his gratitude in an epitaph consecrated to his memory, which I have inserted in the margin, not only as a specimen of the exuberant fertility of his style in Latin composition, but because it has been thought to describe with great accu Dec. 15th, 1643. + Life of Dr. John Barwick, p. 36. racy the writer's character, as well as that of his friend.* The time of his undergraduateship was spent in the dili *LEGE, LUGE, disce. Ne te prætergressum poeniteat, siste pedem hic et animum, Viator. Etenim, Hic jacet H. HAMMOND, S. T. D. Theologorum sui sæculi coryphæus. Literatorum princeps. Anglicæ gentis decus. Ecclesiæ columen. Veritatis assertor peritissimus. Pacis cultor devotissimus. Ordinis fautor studiosissimus. Antiquitatis genuinæ fidissimus interpres, et propugnator acerrimus. Sanctitatis magis ter præstantissimus. Omnibus ornamentis instructissimus. Philosophus solide acutus, dilucide subtilis. Orator inaffectate politus, nervose copiosus. Disputator vehemens, extra acerbitatem. Egregius criticus, absque superbia tamen aut supercilio. Lectionis infinitæ sed exquisite digestæ. Maximi ingenii, majoris judicii, consummatæ eruditionis cum pari modestia, tantis dotibus usus præclarissime. De ecclesia, principe, patria optime meritus. Utriusque tabulæ legum præco, observator, vindex. Ecclesiæ Anglicanæ ensis et clypeus; quam a falsi schismatis labe purgavit, a veri contagio munivit; Romanis hostibus, et perfugis sectariis fusis, fugatis. Sinceræ doctrinæ radio veteres tenebras pseudo-catholicas dispulit, nova lumina Anti-Catholica extinxit. Presbyteranam paritatem prostravit. Fanaticam licentiam coercuit. Temporum iniquitatem expugnavit scriptis victricibus, patientia triumphali. Ecclesiastici ordinis jurisque vindex fortissimus, ac felicissimus. Liturgiæ patronus consultissimus. Theologicorum dogmatum scrutator sedulus. Difficultatum enodator accuratus. Veritatum explorator sagax. Novum Testamentum, et Psalterium Davidicum, luculenta paraphrasi, eximio commentario, sancto exemplo illustravit. Calamo scripsit, vita edidit practicum catechismum. Christianæ fortitudinis, patientiæ, mansuetudinis illustre exemplar. Mentis insigni prudentia, invicta constantia, candore illibato, solertia indefessa mirabilis. Morum integritate spectabilis, gravitate venerabilis, comitate amabilis. Summa pietate in Deum; extrema fide in principem; propensa charitate in omnes conspicuus. Vir scholasticus, theologus, plane incomparabilis, omni epitheto major, quolibet elogio potior. Meruit haberi martyr assiduus pro ecclesia cu gent prosecution of his studies; and though he was at this important period of his life emancipated from the restraint of paternal admonition, he showed that he needed it not, by the purity of his conduct, and the attention which he paid to his religious and moral duties. In the year 1643, the famous Covenant had been ratified between England and Scotland; which, whilst it pretended to secure the privileges of parliament, the liberties of the nation, and the king's authority, openly avowed the overthrow of prelacy and of the established church. This covenant, having been taken by the members of both Houses, was inforced, not only in the city of London and many other parts of the kingdom, but with peculiar rigor in the two universities, where many conscientious individuals, masters, fellows, and students, were ejected from their several stations on their refusal to submit to its terms. The loyalty of Barrow led him steadfastly to reject this oath, though he carried himself with such general fairness, candor, and prudence, that he gained friends where he might least have expected them: among these was Dr. Hill, Master of the College, who had been appointed by the parliament in the place of Dr. Comber, ejected for his adherence to the royal cause. This gen ris et vigiliis confectus. Occidit diei nostri Lucifer anno 1660 salutis partæ, primo Regis restituti, patriæ liberatæ, ecclesiæ instauratæ ; quæ a se strenue promota, et ardenter concupita præsagiit animo, sed oculo non adspectavit, in hoc felicissime infelix.-Vade, Cogita, Imitare. Nec magnum tamen Hammondum satis ulla loquantur Digna sui tantum sunt monumenta libri. tleman, meeting Barrow one day in the court, is said to have laid his hand on his head, and thus to have addressed him : 66 Thou art a good lad; 'tis a pity thou art a cavalier." Also at another time, when the youth had made a public oration on the anniversary of the 5th of November, and had celebrated former times in such a manner as to reflect on the present, the Master screened him from the resentment of some amongst the fellows, who were provoked even to move for his expulsion, silencing them with a striking testimony to the excellence of his character; and probably not without some misgiving of his own conscience: Barrow," said he, "is a better man than any of us." A few years afterwards the Engagement, another oath very obnoxious to the royalists, was instituted by the prevailing party, requiring all persons to profess true allegiance to the government, as then established without King or House of Lords; whilst they who refused it were declared incapable of holding any office in church or state. Barrow was probably induced by considerations like those, which determined Sir Matthew Hale and many other eminent conscientious individuals, to acknowlege an unjust but prevailing power: he accordingly signed the Engagement; but soon afterwards repenting of what he had done, he went back to the commissioners, declared his dissatisfaction, and got his name erased from the list; continuing ever after, amidst all the tergiversations of party-men and the seductions of self-interest, to move in the straitforward course of honor and loyalty. In 1647 he was chosen a scholar of the house. With respect to the junior members of the college, his contemporaries, he is reported to have been very ready in giving the assistance of his superior talents to those who needed it; though in return for many exercises, both in prose and verse, he never received any recompense, except one pair of gloves. The same disinterestedness seems to have accompanied him through life; for he never but twice obtained any pecuniary emolument from the excelleut and laborious sermons, which he was willing to deliver on all occasions. At a time when the studies of our universities were confined within much narrower limits than at present, when the intellectual powers were cramped, and the progress of knowlege retarded, by the remains of that scholastic philosophy which neglected experiment for hypothesis, and dwelt on distinctions of matter, form, and essence, too nice to be understood, Barrow set a worthy example of breaking through the trammels of prejudice, into the regions of true and legitimate science. Disgusted with what was falsely called the Aristotelian philosophy, he turned his attention to the writings of Lord Bacon, Galileo, Descartes, and other great writers of the preceding age; and though he was afterwards obliged to reject some notions thence obtained,* yet by this course he acquired general habits of sound reasoning, and enlightened views on the subject of education. Nor did he cultivate the abstruse sciences only; for he exercised his powers of imagination by poetry, refined his taste by a diligent reading of the classic authors, improved his judgment and philosophy by the study of history, ethics, and legislation, whilst he laid the foundation of those eminent theological acquirements, which crowned his labors, as they have se In his Opuscula is a long Thesis intitled, "Cartesiana Hypothesis de Materia et Motu haud satisfacit præcipuis Naturæ Phænomenis. In Comitiis 1652." |