Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 9.djvu/361

 1 5 70-] THE KWOLFI CONSPIRACY. 347 Occupied at the time with serious matters, Cecil was unable for a time to comprehend the nature of Cart- wright's offence. He wrote to the Board that he could see nothing in his conduct which could he called im- proper. The professor appeared simply to have been giving his pupils the result of his own studies of the New Testament. ' Until further orders could be taken/ it would be well if he did not touch on the disputed topics ; but beyond this recommendation Cecil declined to go. 1 Had Cecil's temperance been imitated at the Uni- versity, moderation might have produced moderation A man of genuine ability is never inaccessible to reason, and had Cartwright been treated discreetly he would have become himself discreet. But the opinion of a statesman weighed nothing with the men who governed Cambridge. The Professor was suspended, and his influence became ten times greater than before. Though the lecture-room was closed to him, the pulpits were free. He had but to open his lips there and his word was absolute. He denounced the unfortunate vestments. The next 'day, all the students but three in Trinity appeared in chapel without their surplices. It was too much. Cartwright was deprived of his Fel- lowship and expelled from the University. Of all types of human beings who were generated by the English Reformation, men like "Whitgift are the least interesting. There is something in the constitu- tion of the Establishment which forces them into the Cecil to the Vice-Chancellor and Heads of Houses, August 3 : MSS