bishop alcock’s gate-tower, a few years earlier than those of christ’s and st john’s, and almost contemporary with that of queens’, forms a charming prelude to this beautiful college. its stepped battlements are original, and its plan is more domestic than those of the other towers, which have a very monastic appearance. the founder’s coat-of-arms, the three cocks which the college has ever since borne as its cognisance, appear on various parts of the tower and in the roof of the gateway; but the statue of bishop alcock and a good deal of the decoration are new.[5] the tower is the entrance to the outer court of the college, whose ivy-grown buildings date from 1641. they are very fair[147] late gothic work and carefully follow alcock’s tower in their general lines; they are due to richard sterne (master, 1633-1644 and again in 1660), but they were not actually finished until the beginning of george the first’s reign. they occupy three sides of the court; the western side is open, affording a good view of the towers in the centre of the town. from the opposite side a low postern gateway (part of the original work) leads into the inner court of the college, round which the public buildings are situated. the hall is on the north side; opposite it is the master’s lodge and the nave of the chapel. the library occupies the west side, and the northern transept of the chapel the east side. this was originally the cloister of the nunnery which was superseded by the college. the cloisters which exist are subsequent to the founding of the college, and for some time were shut in, like those at wilton house. in the last century, however, they were opened to the court, and now they are simply of the ordinary covered type, without any wall of partition. a few years ago, while repairs were being carried on in the eastern wall of these cloisters, just[148] north of the transept-end of the chapel, a beautiful triple arch of the early english period was laid open, and may now be examined. this was probably the entrance to the nuns’ chapter-house. it is a very unique and delicate piece of work, dating probably from about 1240, and compares very well with the excellent work of that period to be found in cambridgeshire.
part of the chapel dates from the foundation of the nunnery, but a great deal of it is early english, and the whole building was remodelled by alcock on the collegiate principle. he seems to have cut away the aisles of the convent church, leaving only the north choir aisle; he left the transepts unchanged, save for a set of perpendicular windows with scanty tracery, which are repeated in the nave and choir. his east window has been taken away and the early english triplet restored. he thus made an ordinary monastic building into an aisleless cruciform church, differing from a college chapel only in that it retains a nave, in which respect it is unique. he also added the perpendicular upper storey to the central tower, the lower half of[149] which is early english, and corresponds in its interior arcading with the arches in the cloister. the upper storey of this earlier tower had fallen in 1297. on the whole, one can hardly give unqualified praise to alcock for his treatment of the building, but he made it answer his purposes very well. moreover, he gave it some beautiful stalls and a screen. unfortunately, these ornaments offended georgian taste. the restoration of the chapel in the last century was a wonderful proceeding. the walls were daubed with yellow relieved by a low black dado, the ceiling was plastered, the best part of the woodwork was removed to landbeach church, five miles on the way to ely, and the central lantern was closed up, so that the fine arcade was completely hidden. to-day, however, we are able to see the chapel without these encumbrances, for the restoration, begun in 1845 and continued to our own day, has made it the most historical interior in cambridge. the south transept with its eastern gallery is for the most part norman of a very simple order, coeval with the foundation of the monastery. the central tower, the choir and chancel are early english, save for alcock’s additions[150] on the south side, and the remaining aisle, which contains decorated work. the arcaded lancets on the north side of the chancel should be noticed: this singularly graceful arrangement is almost unique. there is, however, an example, completer and perhaps finer, at cherry hinton, within an hour’s walk of cambridge. another specimen of local work is the double piscina, whose splendid mouldings, crossing each other in the head of the arch, and reminding one of well-folded linen, are only to be found in three or four churches in, or immediately round the town. i have spoken of alcock’s perpendicular work, which is of a kind more domestic than ecclesiastical. the stalls and screen are rather more than forty years old, but they show a taste of a kind unusual at that time, and are much improved by the dim light of the whole building. this dimness is due to the stained glass, which is all modern. the glass in the lancets is by hardman; it is not very good, but it is unobtrusive. that in alcock’s two choir windows was put in rather earlier by the restorers of 1845-9; it is the great defect in their work. but the eleven perpendicular windows of[151] the antechapel, including the enormous south window, have been filled with glass by sir edward burne-jones and mr william morris; and their magnificent, if somewhat secular, work, serves to hide the shallowness and unoriginality of the stonework. it is a pity that, in one or two places, the colours already show signs of decaying; but, on the whole, the two great artists seldom collaborated to such purpose or found such excellent material for their work. the organ at the west end is new, and there is perhaps too little space for it. the older organ, a small instrument with a triptych front, is in the choir aisle, and has an appearance strongly suggestive of the bygone monasticism of the place.
the rest of the court, hall, library and master’s lodge are much as the founder left them, although their outer shell has been from time to time considerably altered. the hall, with its dark lobby on the ground floor and its staircase, is a fine room, occupying the position of the convent refectory. there are some good portraits here and in the combination room, including one of cranmer in the manner of holbein.[152] the hall was wainscoted early in the last century. since then and since the completion of the outer court, the college has received no structural additions to its main body.[6] within the last thirty years, however, the need for accommodation has increased; and we owe to it, first, messrs carpenter and ingelow’s brick range of buildings north of the college and their houses for married tutors; and, secondly, the great building, also of brick, which waterhouse built about 1869 at the end of the garden east of the chapel. his work here is better than usual, and forms a picturesque outpost to the colleges as one crosses the end of midsummer common by the newmarket road. the jesus close, with its great palisade of trees and its view of the boathouses on one side and the venerable chapel tower on the other, almost rivals the backs in beauty.
john alcock, bishop of ely, whose chantry chapel by torregiano is one of the chief glories of his diocesan cathedral, left a more important monument to posterity in the shape of jesus college. in 1497 he obtained a charter for his foundation, which succeeded a[153] house of benedictine nuns, existing under the invocation of the blessed virgin and st rhadegund. this religious establishment had been founded in 1133 by favour of malcolm iv. of scotland, earl of huntingdon, and its chief benefactress was constance of france, daughter of louis vi. and widow of king stephen’s son eustace. started under these auspices, it became one of the most important conventual houses in cambridge, and received in its various vicissitudes help from divers quarters. in 1297, the chapel tower fell; there were fires in 1343 and 1376; in 1390, the buildings were seriously injured by a storm. it is possible that the morality of the house, which enjoyed great popularity, grew lax, and that the change was necessary. this was at all events the excuse for the disestablishment of the convent. however, mr clark, in his chapter on the college, proves with great likelihood that these complaints were merely superficial. the fact is that the demand for education was increasing, and the supply was furnished at the expense of the old monastic houses. at its dissolution the revenue of the nunnery was considerable. alcock kept up the traditions of the site by dedicating his college to the blessed virgin, st john the evangelist and st rhadegund, but the title was soon exchanged for the name of jesus. by its foundation a precedent was set for other colleges to follow. after jesus, other foundations were erected on the site of some monastery or hospital; even some of those existing, such as queens’, bought[154] up monastic property and enriched themselves with it.
jesus college took for its first shield the curious device of the five wounds of christ. but in 1575, it received its present coat-of-arms in memory of its founder. the three cocks’ heads erased have always been a feature of the college very much in evidence; they appear constantly in the buildings, and, in the cloister court, may still be seen the two cocks, one of whom says to the other from the library wall “?γ? ε?μ? ?λεκτ?ρ” (i am a cock), while the other, from the hall, bears in his mouth a similar scroll inscribed “ο?τω? κα? ?γ?” (and so am i). soon after alcock’s time, the college brought forth a fruit of the new learning in the shape of thomas cranmer,* who was a fellow here for some time. he lost his fellowship by his marriage. he contracted an alliance with the niece of the landlady of the dolphin, an inn close to what is now all saints’ passage, and, having resigned his fellowship in consequence, lived at the inn for some time. cambridge was a great university for reformers, and at this time a number of men who afterwards became distinguished for the novelty of their opinions were in residence. the college has honoured cranmer’s memory, and one of its most popular social clubs is named after him. readers of history know that cranmer was no less eminent as statesman and man of letters than as reformer, and his college may be justly proud of him. his portraits are interesting.[155] the picture in the hall is supposed to be a copy by reynolds from an older picture. in the combination room is the portrait dated 1548, similar to the portrait of 1546 by fliccius, now in the national portrait gallery. and in the master’s lodge is another portrait which is probably a copy of the last. both these latter portraits have been attributed to holbein.
the name of william bancroft,* archbishop of canterbury, brings us to the reign of james i. that wise monarch, on his visit to the university, professed a wish the justice of which most of us have acknowledged, that, were he at cambridge, he would “pray at king’s, dine at trinity and sleep at jesus.” the master at this date was dr john duport. jesus was, of all colleges, most loyal to the stewarts. dr william beale, master in 1632, and removed to st john’s in the next year, was a constant royalist. his successor, dr richard sterne,* was entirely of the same opinion. he, with dr beale and dr martin of queens’, formed a sort of syndicate for melting college plate and sending it to the king; and was accordingly arrested by cromwell and imprisoned in the tower. his friends shared the same fate; but sterne was probably especially marked out for this favour, as he had been laud’s chaplain and had attended him on the scaffold. after the restoration, he resumed his mastership, but he was removed in the same year to higher honours. in 1664 he was made archbishop of york, and died in 1683. his portrait in the hall[156] was presented by his nephew laurence sterne (* alan ramsay) who was later on a pensioner of jesus. laurence sterne, who also took holy orders, was a different type of man from his uncle. the great sentimentalist is one of the most distinguished alumni of jesus, although he did very little at college. as author of tristram shandy and the sentimental journey, as fashionable preacher and as wit, the eccentric vicar of coxwold has achieved a reputation only a little below that of fielding, on the one hand, and of swift, on the other.
in the meantime, dr sterne was succeeded by dr john pearson, who, after shedding his lustre on several colleges, became master of trinity and finally bishop of chester. it is fortunate for his various colleges that the honours of this great theologian have been so divided. about this time we come to the revered name of tobias rustat (* lely) gentleman of the robes, who was a great benefactor to the college and founded the rustat scholarships. even to-day the rustat scholars of jesus wear a peculiar gown of their own, differing slightly from the gowns of the rest of the college. rustat is buried in the chapel, like dr ashton at st john’s, and the college has reason to remember his name with the gratitude which ashton’s liberality excited in thomas baker. he may, indeed, be regarded almost as a second founder of the college.
the masters of the eighteenth century were, for the most part, stately and important men[157] who received a great deal of promotion. dr charles ashton, of whom the college possesses two portraits, was master for fifty-one years, from 1701 to 1752. in his time there was at jesus a whilom famous scholar, dr john jortin,* to whom we owe the very careful but extremely dull life of erasmus. he was a popular divine, and combined the lucrative posts of archdeacon of london, rector of st dunstan’s in the east, and vicar of kensington. dr ashton was succeeded by dr philip yonge, who was master for six years, and was then made bishop of bristol, being eventually translated to norwich in 1761. his portrait in the master’s lodge is said to be by reynolds. his successor, dr lynford caryl (* from a portrait by wright of derby), is remarkable for little save his picturesque name. he, in his turn, give place to richard beadon,* who was removed to gloucester in 1789 and died as bishop of bath and wells in 1824.
when dr william pearce (* beechey) was master—he was also master of the temple and dean of ely—samuel taylor coleridge (* from washington allston) came into residence. coleridge was two years younger than wordsworth, and came up after the elder poet had gone abroad to watch the french revolution. less fortunate than wordsworth, he left cambridge in 1794 without his degree, in this anticipating tennyson. like most poets, he formed few friendships while at cambridge, and took no considerable part in the academic[158] life of his day. milton, whose genius was eminently academic, is the exception to this rule. we find it difficult, on the other hand, to look upon coleridge as an university man, and the same difficulty would occur with regard to wordsworth, were it not for his minute account of his life at st john’s. shelley, also, who was twenty years younger than coleridge, took no degree at oxford. nevertheless, the colleges of these unsatisfactory students have, since their death, conspired to honour them, and doubtless to many jesus men coleridge is their genius loci very much as shelley is to men at university college.
dr clarke, professor of mineralogy (* opie) was a contemporary of coleridge who preferred to close his university life in the orthodox way. he died in 1822, when dr french* had succeeded dr pearce in the mastership. the days of ecclesiastical preferment ceased with dr pearce, and his successors were content to hold quiet country livings with their mastership. this was the case with the late master, dr corrie,* who divided his time between the college and his pleasant rectory of newton-in-the-isle. the last ten years of his rule were remarkable for the supremacy of jesus as head of the river, when the college was full of oarsmen like mr shafto and the late mr edward prest. it is matter of history how, when the boat “went down” for the first time in ten years, the jesus men appeared on the river and the towing-path in mourning. in 1885 dr morgan[159] (* collier), the brother of a celebrated oxford man, the late sir george osborne morgan, became master, and under him the college, if less successful on the river, has preserved its old reputation. among the modern sons of the college we should remember dr wilkinson,* the present anglican bishop in north and central europe, originally missionary bishop in zululand, and the rev. osmond fisher,* honorary fellow, to whose antiquarian zeal the college is indebted for the excavation of its monastic remains.
