magdalene is changed very little since the days of samuel pepys. its first court has been refaced with new-looking red brick, but the interior, with its luxuriant covering of ivy, is time-worn and venerable. there is, however, not much of any importance. the hall is, perhaps, the best which is to be found among the smaller colleges, and the spacious double staircase which leads from it to the combination room, is a feature of which any college might justly be proud. “although the staircase, as it exists, is the work of restorers, the detail of the woodwork is excellent, and was doubtless suggested by the fine renaissance carving at audley end.” the chapel, north of the court, was restored in 1847, and retains some of the ancient features, including the roof. there is some modern stained glass, not very good.[202] beyond the hall, in the same position as the building at christ’s (with which it may be compared), is the famous pepysian library, a charming building in the very latest style of renaissance gothic. its general effect is quite equal to the earlier work at christ’s, and is very superior to that of the river front at clare, with which it is almost contemporary. the spandrils of the arches in the basement are very profusely decorated with fantastic patterns, and similar ornaments appear in the space between the library windows and the heavy cornice below them. the ionic pilasters of the central compartment show traces of the palladian influence which just then found its way everywhere; and it is a fortunate circumstance that the architect had enough feeling for his style not to multiply them. as it is, they add to the charm of the building, and bring its central division into a prominence which is demanded by the two very plain wings with their chimneyed gables and rusticated angles. the master’s lodge (1835) is north of the college, and is supposed to stand[203] on one of the escarpments of the ancient camboritum—that is, if the castle-hill is camboritum. otherwise, it is a simple gothic building, rather better than most houses of the time, but with no obtrusive features.
we have seen that jesus and st john’s colleges were founded by means of the dissolution of monastic houses. magdalene, founded thirty-one years after st john’s, was merely the final step in the secularisation of a religious house. in 1428 henry vi. granted the site of the present college to the monks of crowland, who wished to found a hostel at cambridge for the use of their scholars at that university. the abbeys of ely, ramsey and walden joined with crowland in the work, and contributed to the building. in the latter half of the century this theological college, as we should call it, received substantial aid from henry stafford, duke of buckingham, whose favours were continued in 1519 by his son edward. in recognition of the benefactions of duke henry, the hostel took its title of buckingham college. the foundation seems to have departed gradually from its original purpose, for laymen were admitted to it before the dissolution. however, it was only natural that, when crowland surrendered to the king, its dependent house should surrender also. the crown resumed the property in december, 1539. henry viii. granted the messuages of buckingham college to thomas, lord audley of walden, who also became possessed of walden[206] abbey. in all probability, the original connection between the abbey and the college induced him to refound the institution on a new plan. he reconstituted it in 1542 under the name of the college of st mary magdalene. since his day, through all the vicissitudes of his family, magdalene college has remained under the protection and patronage of the owner of audley end, a stately and beautiful appendage to the noblest country house in england. his work was carried on by his successors. at his death he left a daughter, the lady whose magnificent portrait by lucas van heere hangs in the great hall at audley end. she married the duke of norfolk, who, in 1564, being at cambridge with queen elizabeth, generously promised the college an annuity of ￡40 until they had finished the “quadrant of their college,” and further endowed the society, which was become much impoverished, with landed property. norfolk’s liberality was supplemented by the contributions of the lord chief justice sir christopher wray,* who had been one of the lay students of buckingham college.
the college was never large, and its history is scanty. its first master of any importance was dr thomas nevile, who reigned from 1582 to 1593, and then removed to trinity. his fame belongs to the history of the latter college. in the great concussion of the seventeenth century, magdalene adhered, as was natural, to the royalist side, and its master, dr rainbow,* was rewarded after the restoration with the[207] bishoprick of carlisle. nicholas ferrar,* the famous superior of the community at little gidding, and the friend of crashaw and herbert, was a member of this college as well as of clare, and his portrait, with that of his mother, is preserved in the master’s lodge. this saintly man, like herbert, was happy in dying before the troubles of his party began. but one naturally connects magdalene less with ferrar than with an individual of a very different order. mr samuel pepys was entered at trinity in 1650, but, for some reason, preferred magdalene. by no means a scholar, he enjoyed the social advantages of the university, and in after years remembered the grateful flavour of goody mulliner’s stewed prunes, which he used to buy “over against the college.” his eventual generosity to magdalene was something of an accident. during the closing years of his life, the college was raising the exquisite eastern building. pepys was then casting about for a suitable destination for his library, and there is no doubt that the singularly admirable qualities of the new building, as well as his own prepossession for magdalene, aided his decision. by his will, he bequeathed his library to his nephew, mr jackson (another magdalene man), as his trustee, and provided that, at the death of this gentleman, it should pass to magdalene, and, by an express stipulation, be housed in the new building “and any part thereof, at my nephew’s selection.” the document contained certain reservations in favour of[208] trinity. its whole wording shows an amusing caution. after a preamble, in which he expresses his apprehension of the danger which might befall the books at the hands of an incompetent heir, he proceeds to leave them, at his nephew’s death, to one of the two universities, but to cambridge rather than to oxford. then he states his preference for a private to a public library, and confines the private libraries to trinity and magdalene. finally, he prefers magdalene to trinity, but provides that, in case of specified losses, the books are forfeit to the latter college. in this respect, he imitates parker’s bequest to corpus. “and that for a yet further security herein, the s? two colleges of trinity and magdalen have a reciprocall check upon one another; and that college, w?? shall be in present possession of the s? library, be subject to an annual visitation from the other, and to the forfeiture thereof, to the like possession and use of the other, upon conviction of any breach of their s? covenants.”
john jackson died in 1724, and the precious legacy passed to magdalene. its value is incontestable, and no treasure is to this day more jealously guarded. the inscription “bibliotheca pepysiana,” and pepys’ motto, “mens cujusque is est quisque,” were put up on the building after the arrival of the books. the value of the bequest was more fully illustrated when, in the present century, lord braybrooke, a magdalene man himself and visitor of the college, translated[209] pepys’ cypher diary and gave that unvarnished picture of contemporary manners to the world, opening thereby a most fruitful mine of research, as well as discovering a hidden classic. dr peter peckard,* master from 1781 to 1797, enriched the library with his own collection. he was dean of peterborough. the see of peterborough, at the beginning of the same century, was held by a magdalene man, dr richard cumberland, whose very exhaustive treatise on jewish weights and measures, as well as his polemical essay in answer to hobbes, are still remembered, although seldom read. the name of daniel waterland,* master from 1713 to 1746, is of greater fame in the history of controversial theology.
the present century, from 1813 to the present day, is covered by the long masterships of an uncle and a nephew. the first of these was the hon. george neville grenville, dean of windsor (* pickersgill); the second is the present master, the hon. latimer neville, who has ruled his college for forty-five years. the nevilles of audley end are descendants of the founder in the female line. the first lord braybrooke, the editor of pepys’ diary, was a neville of billingsbear in essex, and succeeded the last lord howard de walden, of the family of griffin, on the death of that nobleman without male issue. during the century, magdalene has had some reputation as a fashionable college; but the amusing american critic, mr everett, spoke of it somewhat unjustly when he said that[210] “it is a favourite home for young men who are of the opinion, either from conjecture or experience, that other colleges are too strict for them.” it has, like other small colleges, produced an excellent percentage of scholars and learned men. our opinions as to the literary merits of charles kingsley (* lowes dickinson) may be divided, but there can be no question as to his abiding influence on english letters. he is equally well known as parish priest, cathedral dignitary, novelist and poet, and professor of modern history. the roll of living members includes the name of professor alfred newton (* lowes dickinson), and the genial and kindly influence of the late mr frank pattrick (* dickinson), tutor and president of the college, is gratefully remembered by the latest and youngest of those who have pursued their studies at magdalene.
