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See also: English divine, son of See also: Samuel See also: Fell, dean of Christ See also: Church,
See also: Oxford, was See also: born at Longworth in Berk-See also: shire and received his first See also: education at the See also: free school at Thame in See also: Oxfordshire
.
In 1636 he obtained a studentship at Christ Church, and in 164o he was specially allowed by Archbishop Laud on account of his " known See also: desert," when wanting one See also: term's residence, to proceed to his degree of B
.
A
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He obtained his M.A. in 1643 and took See also: holy orders (deacon 1647, See also: priest 1649)
.
During the See also: Civil War he See also: bore arms for the See also: king and held a commission as ensign
.
In 1648 he was deprived of his studentship by the
See also: parliamentary visitors, and during the next few years he resided chiefly at Oxford with his See also: brother-in-See also: law, Dr T
.
Willis, at whose See also: house opposite Merton See also: College he and his See also: friends Allestree and See also: Dolben kept up the service of the Church of See also: England through the See also: Commonwealth
.
At the Restoration Fell was made prebendary of See also: Chichester, See also: canon of Christ Church (See also: July 27, 166o), dean (Nov
.
30), master of St See also: Oswald's hospital, See also: Worcester, See also: chaplain to the king, and D.D
.
He filled the office of See also: vice-chancellor from 1666 to 1669, and was consecrated See also: bishop of Oxford, in 1676, retaining his deanery in commendam
.
Some years later he declined the primacy of See also: Ireland
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Fell showed himself a most capable and vigorous See also: administrator in his various high employments, and a worthy See also: disciple of Archbishop Laud
.
He restored in the university the See also: good See also: order instituted by the archbishop, which in the Commonwealth had given place to anarchy and a general disregard of authority
.
He ejected the intruders from his college or else " fixed them in loyal principles." " He was the most zealous See also: man of his See also: time for the Church of England," says See also: Wood, " and none that I yet know of did go beyond him in the performance of the rules belonging thereunto." He attended See also: chapel four times a See also: day, restored to the services, not without some opposition, the See also: organ and surplice, -and insisted on the proper academical dress which had fallen into disuse
.
He was active in recovering church See also: property, and by his directions a See also: children's catechism was See also: drawn up by See also: Thomas
See also: Marshall for use in his diocese
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" As he was among the first of our See also: clergy," says Burnet, " that apprehended the design of bringing in popery, so hewas one of the most zealous against it
.
He was forward in making converts from the See also: Roman Catholics and Nonconformists
.
On the other See also: hand, it is recorded to his honour that he opposed successfully the incorporation of Titus See also: Oates as D.D. in the university in See also: October 1679; and according to the testimony of See also: William
See also: Nichols, his secretary, he disapproved of the Exclusion See also: Bill
.
He excluded the undergraduates, whose presence had been irregularly permitted, from convocation
.
He obliged the students to attend lectures, instituted reforms in the performances of the public exercises in the See also: schools, kept the examiners up to their duties, and himself attended the See also: examinations
.
He encouraged the students to See also: act plays
.
He entirely suppressed " coursing," i.e. disputations in which the See also: rival parties " ran down opponents in arguments," and which commonly ended in blows and disturbances
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He was an excellent disciplinarian and possessed a See also: special talent for the education of See also: young men, many of whom he received into his own See also: family and watched over their progress with paternal care
.
Tom See also: Browne, author of 'the Dialogues of the Dead, about to be expelled from Oxford for some offence, was pardoned by Fell on the condition of: his translating extempore the 33rd
See also: epigram from See also: Martial:
" Non amo te, Sabidi, nec possum dicere cjuare;
Hoc tantum possum dicere, non amo te
.
To.whichhe immediately replied with the well-known lines:—" I do not love you, Dr Fell, But why, I cannot tell, But this I know full well, I do not love you, Dr Fell." 1 ' J . T . Browne, See also: Works (9th ed. by J
.
Drake), iv
.
99-too; T
.
See also: Forde, Virtus rediviva (1661), to6
.
See also: JOHN
Delinquents, however, were not always treated thus mildly by Fell, and
See also: Acton See also: Cremer, for the See also: crime of courting a wife while only a bachelor of arts, was set as an imposition the See also: translation into English of the whole of See also: Scheffer's See also: history of See also: Lapland
.
As vice-chancellor, Fell himself visited the drinking taverns and ordered out the students
.
In the university elections he showed See also: great energy in suppressing corruption
.
Fell's See also: building operations almost rivalled the plans of the great ecclesiastical architects of the See also: middle ages
.
In his own college he completed in 1665 the See also: north See also: side of See also: Wolsey's great quadrangle, already begun by his See also: father but abandoned during the Commonwealth; he rebuilt in 1672 the See also: east side of the Chaplain's quadrangle " with a straight passage under it leading from the cloister into the See also: field," occupied now by the new Meadow Buildings; the lodgings of the canon of the 3rd stall in the passage uniting the Tom and Peckwater quadrangles (c
.
1674); a long building joining the Chaplain's quadrangle on the east side in 1677–1678; and lastly the great tower
See also: gate, begun in See also: June 1681 on the foundation laid by Wolsey and finished in See also: November 1682, to which the See also: bell " great Torn," after being recast, was transferred from the See also: cathedral in 1683
.
In 167o he planted and laid out the Broad Walk . He spent large sums of his own on these works, gave £5oo for the restoration of See also: Banbury church, erected a church at St Oswald's, Worcester, and the parsonage house at See also: Woodstock at his own expense, and rebuilt Cuddesdon palace
.
Fell disapproved of the use of St Mary's church for secular purposes, and promoted the building of the Sheldonian theatre by Archbishop Sheldon
.
He was treasurer during its construction, presided at the formal opening on the 9th of July 1669, and was nominated with Wren curator in July 1670
.
In the theatre was placed the University See also: Press, the establishment of which had been a favourite project of Laud, which now engaged a large share of Fell's energy and See also: attention, and which as curator he practically controlled
.
" Were it not you See also: ken Mr Dean extraordinarily well," writes See also: Sir L
.
Jenkins to J
.
See also: Williamson in 1672, " it were impossible to imagine how assiduous and drudging he is about his press."2 He sent for type and printers from See also: Holland, declaring that " the foundation of all success must be laid in doing things well, which I am sure will not be done with English letters." Many works, including a
See also: Bible, See also: editions of the See also: classics and of the early fathers, were produced under his direction and editing; and his press became noted not only in England but abroad
.
He published annually one See also: work, generally a classical author annotated by himself, which he distributed to all the students of his college on New See also: Year's day
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On one occasion he surprised the Press in printing surreptitiously See also: Aretino's Postures, when he seized and destroyed the plates and impressions
.
Ever " an eager defender and maintainer of the university and its privileges," he was hostile to the Royal Society, which he regarded as a possible rival, and in 1686 he gave an absolute refusal to See also: Obadiah See also: Walker, after-wards the Roman Catholic master of University College, though licensed by
See also: James II., to
See also: print books, declaring he would as soon " See also: part with his See also: bed from under him " as his press
.
He conducted it on strict business principles, and to the See also: criticism that more great works were not produced replied that they would not sell
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He was, however, not free from fads, and his new spelling (of which one feature was the substitution of i for y in such words as See also: des, dales, maiest) met with great disapproval
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Fell also did much to encourage learning in the university
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While still a young man at Christ Church he had shown both his
zeal and his charity by See also: reading gratuitously with the poor and
neglected students of the college
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He bore himself a high
reputation as a Grecian, a Latinist and a philologist, and he found
time, in spite of his great public employments, to bring out with
the collaboration of others his great edition of St Cyprian in
1682, an English translation of The Unity of the Church in 1681,
editions of See also: Nemesius of Emesa (1671), of See also: Aratus and of Erato-
sthenes (1672), See also: Theocritus (1676), See also: Alcinous on See also: Plato (1677),
St See also: Clement's Epistles to the See also: Corinthians (1677), See also: Athenagoras (1682),
Clemens Alexandrinus (1683), St See also: Theophilus of See also: Antioch (1684),
2 Cal. of See also: State Pap
.
Dom., 1672, p
.
478, and 167o, p
.
26
.
Grammatica rations sive institutions logicae (1673 and 1685), and a critical edition of the New Testament in 1675
.
The first volumes of Rerum Anglicarum scriptores and of Historiae Britannicae, &c. were compiled under his patronage in 1684
.
He had the See also: MSS. of St
.
Augustine in the Bodleian and other See also: libraries at Oxford generously collated for the use of the See also: Benedictines at See also: Paris, then preparing a new edition of the father
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Fell spent such large sums in his building, in his See also: noble See also: patron-age of learning, and in charities, that sometimes there was little See also: left for his private use
.
Occasionally in his schemes he showed greater zeal than prudence . He was the originator of a See also: mission to See also: India which was warmly taken up by the East India See also: Company
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He undertook himself to train as missionaries four scholars at Oxford, procured a set of Arabic types, and issued from these the Gospels and Acts in the See also: Malay language in 1677
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But this was scarcely the best method of communicating the gospel to the natives of India, and the mission collapsed
.
He affected to despise public opinion, and was masterful and despotic in his dealings with others, especially with those upon whom he was conferring favours
.
Having generously undertaken at his own See also: charge to publish a Latin version of Wood's History and Antiquities of the University of Oxford, with the See also: object of presenting the history of the university in a manner worthy of the great subject to See also: European readers, and of extending its fame abroad, he arrogated to himself the right of editing the work
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" He would correct, alter, dash out what he pleased
.
.
.
.He was a great man and carried all things at his pleasure." In particular he struck out all the passages which Wood had inserted in praise of See also: Hobbes, and substituted some disparaging epithets
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He called the philosopher's See also: Leviathan " monstrosissimus " and " publico damno notissimus." To the printed remonstrance of Hobbes, Fell inserted an insulting reply in the History to " irritabile illud et vanissimum Malmesburiense animal," and to the complaint of Wood at this usage answered only that Hobbes " was an old man, had one See also: foot in the See also: grave; that he should mind his latter end, and not trouble the See also: world any more with his papers." In small things as in great he loved to See also: rule and See also: direct
.
" Let not Fell," writes R
.
See also: South to R
.
See also: Bathurst, " have the fingering and altering of them (i.e. his Latin verses), for I think that, bating the want of siquidems and quinetiams, they are as good as his Worship can make." Wood styles him " a valde vult See also: person." He was not content with ruling his own college, but desired to govern the whole university
.
He prevented See also: Gilbert Ironside, who " was not pliable to his
See also: humour," from holding the office of vice-chancellor
.
He " endeavoured to carry all things by a high hand; scorn'd in the least to See also: court the Masters when he had to have anything pass'd the convocation
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Severe to other colleges, See also: blind as to his own, very partiall and with good words, and flatterers and tell-tales could get anything out of him." According to Bishop Burnet, who praises his character and his administration, Fell was " a little too much heated in the See also: matter of our disputes with the dissenters." " He had much zeal for reforming abuses, and managed it perhaps with too much heat and in too See also: peremptory a way." " But," he adds, " we have so little of that among us that no wonder if such men are censured by those who love not such patterns nor such severe task-masters." And Wood, whose adverse criticism must be discounted a little on account of the See also: personal dispute,—after declaring that Fell " was exceeding partial in his See also: government even to corruption; went thro' thick and thin; grasped at all yet did nothing perfect or effectually; cared not what See also: people said of him, was in many things very See also: rude and in most pedantic and pedagogical,"—concludes with the acknowledgment, " yet still aimed at the public good." See also: Roger North, who paid Fell a visit at Oxford, speaks of him in terms of See also: enthusiasm:—" The great Dr Fell, who was truly great in all his circumstances, capacities, undertakings and learning, and above all for his superabundant public spirit and See also: goodwill
.
.
.
.0 the felicity of that age and place when his authority swayed
!
"
In November 1684, at the command of the king, Fell deprived See also: Locke, who had incurred the royal displeasure by his friendship with See also: Shaftesbury, and was suspected as the author of certainseditious See also: pamphlets, of his studentship at Christ Church, summarily and without hearing his defence
.
Fell had in former years cultivated Locke's friendship, had kept up a See also: correspondence with him, and in 1663 had written a testimonial in his favour; and the ready compliance of one who could on occasion offer a stout resistance to any invasion of the privileges of the university has been severely criticised
.
It must, however, be remembered in extenuation that the legal status of a person on the foundation of a collegiate See also: body had not then been decided in the law-courts
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With regard to the See also: justice of the proceeding Fell had evidently some doubts, and he afterwards expressed his regret for the step which he was now compelled to take
.
But such scruples, however strong, would, with a man of Fell's See also: political and religious opinions, yield immediately to an order from the See also: sovereign, who possessed special authority in this See also: case as a visitor to the college; and such subservience, however See also: strange to See also: modern notions, would probably only be considered natural and proper at that See also: period
.
Fell, who had never married, died on the loth of July 1686, worn out, according to Wood, by his overwhelming public duties
.
He was buried in the divinity chapel in the cathedral, below the seat which he had so often occupied when living, where a monument and an epitaph, now moved elsewhere, were placed to his memory . "HisSee also: death," writes John See also: Evelyn, "was an extraordinary losse to the See also: poore church at this time"; but for himself Fell was fortunate in the time of his departure; for a few months more of See also: life would have necessitated a choice, most painful to a man of his character and creed, between fidelity to his sovereign and to his church
.
With all his faults, which were the defects which often attend eminent qualities such as his, Fell was a great man, " the greatest governor," according to See also: Speaker Onslow, " that has ever been since his time in either of the See also: universities," and of his own ccllege, to which he left several exhibitions for the maintenance of poor scholars, he was a second founder
.
He was a worthy upholder of the Laudian tradition at Oxford, an enlightened and untiring patron of learning, and a man of exemplary morals and great piety which remained unsullied in the midst of a busy life and much contact with the world
.
A sum of See also: money was left by John See also: Cross to perpetuate Fell's memory by an See also: annual speech in his praise, but the Felii laudes have been discontinued since 1866
.
There are two interesting pictures of Fell at Christ Church, one where he is represented with his two friends Allestree and Dolben, and another by Vandyck
.
The statue placed on the N.E. angle of the Great Quadrangle bears no likeness to the bishop, who is described by Hearne as a " thin grave man."
Besides the learned works already mentioned Fell wrote the lives of his friends Dr See also: Henry
See also: Hammond (1661), See also: Richard Allestree, prefixed to his edition of the latter's sermons (1684), and Dr Thomas Willis, in Latin
.
His Seasonable advice to Protestants showing the See also: necessity of maintaining the Established See also: Religion in opposition to Popery was published in 1688
.
Some of his sermons, which Evelyn found dull, were printed, including Character of the Last Daies, preached before the king, 1675, and a See also: Sermon preached before the House of Peers Dec
.
22, z680
.
The See also: Interest of England stated (1659), advocating the restoration of the king,' and The Vanity of Scoffing (1674), are also attributed to him
.
Fell probably had some share in the composition of The Whole Duty of Man, and in the subsequent works published under the name of the author of The Whole Duty, which included Reasons of the Decay of Christian Piety, The Ladies Calling, The Gentle-man's Calling, The Government of the See also: Tongue, The See also: Art of Contentment, and The Lively Oracles given us, all of which were published in one See also: volume with notes and a preface by Fell in 1684
.
1 F . Maseres, Tracts of the Civil War, ii . 673 . University by Dr J . F(ell) (1695) ; Notes and Queries, See also: ser. vi
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2, and ser. vii
.
166; Calendars of State Papers, Dom
.
Series (166o-1675)
.
Fell's books and papers were bequeathed by his See also: nephew Henry See also: Jones to the Bodleian library
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A few of his letters are to be found in Add
.
MSS
.
Brit
.
See also: Mus
.
11046, and some are printed in Life of James II., by Ch
.
J
.
See also: Fox, Appendix; Gent
.
Mag
.
77, p
.
633; See also: Academy, 8, p
.
141; See also: Athenaeum for 1887 (2), p
.
311; J
.
Gutch, Collectanea Curiosa, i
.
269; and in Cal. of State Papers, Dom
.
Series
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