35

"Jannabi, the Kadi, of which I saw some pieces, you told me that we should tarry till the transcribing it was finished, and when it was finished we should buy it, if the most high God please. "The commentary on Gubstan is also finished, " which we will send you; and, if it please God, we will do our endeavour to send you the his.

tory of Ebn Chalecan; and any book that we "shall see, which is convenient for you, we shall "send to you. And you must needs send us an

answer to these letters, and some little token of "what your country affords. Send us also a printed "geography; and whatsoever business you shall "have in these parts, send and let me know, that "I may enjoy the performance of it.

"The poor DERVISE AHMED."

SECTION II.

MR. POCOCK having settled his affairs at Aleppo, in order to his return, soon had the opportunity of a ship to carry him home. During the former part of his voyage he enjoyed the company of a person, who, though he told sad stories, was of a very entertaining conversation. He was an old dominican friar, dispatched out of the east to Rome, with a lamentable account of the state

VOL. I.

D

of

of Christianity in India and China. And as he diverted Mr. Pocock with several relations of the learning and customs of those remote countries, so he made no scruple to acquaint him with the secrets of his message; which was to complain of the Jesuits, and give a particular account of the abominations they were guilty of. Those wretched apostles, who had boasted so much of vast numbers of proselytes, converted people indeed, but not to the faith of Christ: to acknowledge the pope's supremacy, and bear a great deal of respect to their order, were some of the chief duties they recommended to those they preached to; and provided they would be hearty in such as these, any thing else, which they were fond of, was easily dispensed with. They might, on such terms, have as much zeal as they pleased for Confucius, or retain any of their former impieties: they might be still Pagans and Idolaters, and yet very good Catholics. What success this honest old friar met with when he came to Rome, I know not; but too manifest it is, that these missionaries have still proceeded in the same method; their practices of this kind having been not very long since, under the examination of the Inquisition.

The friar being set on shore in Italy, the ship continued her voyage, and came safe into England; and Mr. Pocock having taken care for the landing and conveyance of the learned ware he

brought

brought with him, made what haste he could to Oxford; where he was received with due respect and esteem from all; but by his old friends, with all the expressions of a very tender affection: principally, by Mr. Thomas Greaves, aforementioned; the eldest, Mr. John Greaves, being then still in Italy.

After what was due to the kindness of his friends in Oxford, Mr. Pocock's next business was, to make preparation for his degree of bachelor in divinity, which he was now persuaded to take. The questions, on which he answered, in his exercises on that occasion, were these two: Whether pilgrimages to places, called holy, undertaken on the account of religion, are to be approved? And, Whether there be any such thing as purgatory? And, as he defended the negative of both these, so in his explanation of them, he confirmed the Protestant doctrine, about these matters, in opposition to the opinions of Rome, with all imaginable strength and clearness; not contenting himself with what is to be met with in modern tracts, but searching out the sense of the primitive church, from the writings of the fathers; particularly, on the first question, to expose the vanity of those pilgrimages, which the council of Trent hath declared to be very pious, and are esteemed, as of considerable merit, in Popish countries. He made great use of that oration,

or rather epistle, of Gregory Nyssen, concerning them that travel to Jerusalem, published by itself in Greek and Latin, by Peter du Moulin ; setting the arguments of that excellent father in their best light, after he had first noted the unreasonable scruples and the impotent rage of some Popish writers, on occasion of that epistle, more especially of Gretser, the Jesuit.

The Latin Sermon he preached, I suppose, was on those words of the Prophet Malachi, chap. ii. ver. 7. "The priests lips should keep "knowledge, and they should seek the law at "his mouth; for he is the messenger of the Lord " of Hosts." This however is certain, that a learned discourse on that text, written by his own hand, was found amongst his papers. But on whatsoever subject it was, he had, as he would sometimes in discourse occasionally remember, an extraordinary auditory, when he preached it. For, besides the usual members of the university, there were then present, Dr. John Bancroft, Bishop of Oxford; Sir John Coke, one of the principal Secretaries of State; Sir Henry Marten, Judge of the Admiralty and of the Prerogative Court: Sir Edward Littleton, Solicitor General; and Dr. Thomas Rives, the King's Advocate; being at that time his Majesty's Commissioners at Oxford, on a very solemn occasion *. It was

Hist. et Antiq. Univers. Oxon. 1. i. p. 342.

the

the confirmation of the new body of statutes for that University, which by the care and wisdom of the Chancellor of it, had been collected out of a vast number, that had continued a confused heap for many ages. A work which proved too difficult for those two great Cardinals, Woolsey and Pool: who both attempted it in vain*, and which only that excellent conduct, and those unwearied endeavours, which were peculiar to Archbishop Laud, were able to get accomplished.

The necessary exercises being thus finished, he was admitted to the degree of Bachelor of Divinity, July 8, 1636. And soon after that, the honour, which his great patron had designed for him, was actually conferred on him. For on the eighth day of the next month, Dr. Baylie, President of St. John Baptist's College, and Vice-` chancellor of the University, declared in a convocation, held for this purpose, that, whereas their much honoured Chancellor, the Archbishop, had lately given to the public library library a considerable number of Arabic books; he was now to acquaint them, with an addition to that bounty. For, that those treasures might not continue lockt up, and so useless, his Grace had been pleased to settle 401. per annum, during his life, on a person, who

304.

Hist. of the Troubles and Trial of Archbp. Laud. p.

should