Sir Walter Mildmay, the founder of Emmanuel College, being at the Court of Queen Elizabeth, she said to him:—“Sir Walter, I hear you have erected a Puritan Foundation.” “No, madam,” he replied; “far be it from me to countenance anything contrary to your established laws; but I have set an acorn, and when it becomes an oak, God alone knows what will be the fruit thereof.”—Fuller’s History of Cambridge, p. 147.
In the “Grave Poem” of Bishop Corbet, Emmanuel College is thus satirised:—
But th’ poor house of Emmanuel Would not be like proud Jesabel, Nor shew herself before the King, An hypocrite, or painted thing; [And images she would have none, For fear of superstition, or] But that the ways might seem more fair, Conceived a tedious mile of prayer.[73]
The plot of “Ignoramus” was borrowed from the Trappolaria of Giamballista Porta, an Italian dramatist, but the characters were taken from life. “Ignoramus” was designed to personify Mr. Francis Brakyn, the Recorder of Cambridge, who had rendered himself obnoxious to the University in a dispute about precedence between the Mayor of the town and the Vice-Chancellor. Mr. Brakyn was a barrister, and the ridicule cast upon him was as much enjoyed by the dignified heads of houses as by noisy undergraduates.[74]
A list of the _dramatis personæ_ in the play of “Ignoramus” is preserved in Emmanuel College; it was once in the possession of Archbishop Sancroft; and an elaborate edition of the play, with valuable notes, has been printed by T.S. Hawkins.
Amongst the performers was John Cole, afterwards Earl of Clare, distinguished for his moderation in the Civil Wars. The youth who was nearly being precluded from acting by the tutors of Emmanuel College, was the Rev. John Towers, afterwards Bishop of Peterborough, one of the twelve loyal Prelates imprisoned by Parliament. Fuller says of him, “He was a great actor when young, and a great sufferer when old, dying rich only in children and patience.” “Ignoramus” was translated into English in the year 1678, and a mutilated version of it was produced at the Royal Theatre in the same year, called the “English Lawyer.” This was written by Edward Ravenscroft.[75]
Nichols’s Progresses of James I., vol iii., p. 50.