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 distracted by the disputes between the defenders of the newly established Anglican discipline and theology and the supporters of the opposed conceptions derived from the discipline and doctrine of Geneva. In 1565 the fellows and scholars of St. John's, to the number of nearly three hundred, appeared in the college chapel without their surplices, and their example was shortly after followed at Trinity. This latter breach of discipline is attributed by one writer (, Life of Whitgift, p. 12) to the effect produced by three sermons preached in the college chapel by Cartwright. Hitherto, the puritanical tendency had been restricted to such matters as the use of vestments, the posture to be observed at different parts of religious services, &c.; but under Cartwright's influence, questions now began to be raised which affected the whole church organisation.

It may have been partly in order to escape from the contentions which he had done so much to evoke that he retired in 1565 to Ireland. Another fellow of Trinity, Adam Loftus, had been appointed archbishop of Armagh, and Cartwright accompanied him as his chaplain. They held the same theological views, and when, in March 1567, Loftus was raised to the see of Dublin, he took occasion strongly to urge that Cartwright should be appointed his successor in the see of Armagh. In a letter written 5 Dec. 1567 he declares that Cartwright had ‘used hym self so godly, during his abode with me in Ireland, bothe in lyfe and doctryne, that his absence from hence is no small greef and sorowe to all the godly and faythfull heare’ (, Original Letters, &c., p. 322). It would appear from this letter that Cartwright had left Ireland in the course of 1567. On his return to Cambridge, we hear of him associating on terms of intimacy with Rud. Cevallerius, the professor of Hebrew, and the youthful Jo. Drusius (, Vita Jo. Drusii, p. 4). The recommendation of Loftus was not acted upon, but in 1569 Cartwright was appointed Lady Margaret professor in the university, and both in the chair and in the university pulpit he now began to criticise and denounce the constitution and hierarchy of the English church, comparing them with those of the primitive christian organisations. In his lectures, when expounding the first two chapters of the Acts of the Apostles, his comments were directed to similar conclusions. He was answered from the pulpit by Whitgift, but in oratorical power Cartwright was generally acknowledged to be the superior. St. Mary's was thronged with excited listeners, and the party which sympathised with his views was probably at this time numerically the strongest in the university. The authorities foreboded, not without reason, the development of a controversy and fresh dissensions which would prove fatal to the peace of the academic community. Among those who severely censured Cartwright's conduct were men of known moderation and learning, such as William Chaderton, his predecessor in the professorial chair, and Grindal, archbishop of York. The remonstrances addressed to Cecil, the chancellor of the university, were so strong that he was roused to unwonted decisiveness of action, and addressed to the authorities a letter which was read in the Regent House on 29 June 1570. It was the same day that Cartwright was a candidate for the degree of D.D., and his supporters fearing that the decision of the caput, or governing body, would be adverse to him, non-placeted their election, which at that time took place on the assembling of every congregation. The vice-chancellor, Dr. May, retaliated by taking upon himself to veto Cartwright's degree. Both Cartwright and his opponents now appealed again to Cecil, the former, in justification of his conduct, alleging that he was altogether adverse from any disposition to sedition and contention, and taught nothing which did not naturally flow from the text he treated, although he did not deny that he had pointed out that the ministry of the church had deviated in discipline and practice from the ancient primitive model, and that he would gladly see a return from this departure (, Annals, i. Append. No. 1). His opponents, on the other hand, maintained that the manner in which he had inveighed against the Anglican method of choosing the ministers of the church, and against the dignities of archbishops, deans, archdeacons, &c., as impious and unscriptural, was imperilling the English church itself, and required to be summarily suppressed. At nearly the same time, a memorial in Cartwright's favour, signed by eighteen influential members of the university (among the names are those of Rob. Some, Ri. Greenham, Ri. Howland, George Joy, and Jo. Still), was forwarded to Cecil, testifying to Cartwright's character as ‘ a pattern of piety and uprightness,’ and also to his attainments; although, says the document, as a Greek, Latin, or Hebrew scholar, he is not without his equals in the university, in his combined knowledge of the three languages he is without a rival. Moved by these representations, Cecil, early in August, addressed to the academic heads a letter enjoining abstention, on the part of both parties, from all reference to the questions which Cartwright had raised (ib. ii. c. 57).

It was at this juncture that the great