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ELY (BISHOP OF) v. BENTLEY [1732]
II BROWN.

LXI. Item, We article and object to you, the said Dr. Richard Bentley, that the said Serjeant Miller, in consideration of the said sum of £453 so paid to him out of the college stock or treasury, as before set forth, did by a writing or instrument under his hand and seal, bearing date the 19th day of December 1719, covenant and agree that he would not at any time after, prosecute or proceed upon the before mentioned petition to his said late Majesty, but would withdraw, or cause the same to be withdrawn, and do all other acts in his power towards the preventing or hindering any further prosecution thereupon, as by the said writing or instrument now in the college registry, reference being thereto had, will appear. And the said Serjeant Miller did never afterwards follow or prosecute the said petition, or do or cause any act to be done thereupon, and hath ever since refused, and doth still refuse to deliver up all such papers, writings, or instruments as were entrusted in his hands, in order to carry on such prosecution. Hocque, etc. Et objicimus & articulamur de quolibet alio tempore, etc. Et ut supra.

LXII. Item, We article and object to you, the said Dr. Richard Bentley, that notwithstanding you are by your oath, and by the 29th of the said statutes, obliged to preserve all the moveables of the college, and to take care that the senior Dean and junior Bursar do every year, within one month after their admission into their respective offices, make, or cause to be made, two perfect inventories of all the goods, moveables, plate, and other things belonging to the said college, one of such inventories to be reposited in the public treasury, and the other with the Vice-master for the time being; and at the same time to take an exact account of such goods, moveables, plate, etc. as shall be at that time missing, by comparing such inventories with those made in the preceding year: but for these ten years last past, and upwards, no such inventories have at any time been made, neither have you at any time called upon or required the senior Dean and junior Bursar, or either of them, to perform their duty, according to the said statute; nor have you ever censured or punished them for their neglect therein, as by the statutes of the said college you are obliged and ought to have done; by reason whereof, a considerable part of the college plate hath been for several years last past, and is now missing out of the college treasury, and no examination or enquiry hath been made after it by you the said Dr. Bentley. Hocque, etc. Et objicimus et articulamur de quilibet aliâ quantitate, etc. Et ut supra.

LXIII. Item, We article and object to you, the said Dr. Richard Bentley, that by the 33d of the said statutes it is (inter alia) ordained and provided, that the Bursars and Steward of the said college, for the time being, shall bring their respective accounts to be examined by the Master, or in his absence by the Vice-master, and the eight senior Fellows of the said college, at the end of every quarter; but that such accounts have not once, during the whole time that you have been Master of the said college, been brought in and examined, according to the directions and intent of the said statute. And when one of the seniors demanded and insisted to have the accounts examined quarterly, pursuant to the said statute, you the said Dr. Bentley replied with great disdain, "don't tell me of statutes." Hocque, etc. Et ut supra.

LXIV. Item, We article and object to you, the said Dr. Richard Bentley, that at the general audit of the accounts of the whole college, which is by the said last mentioned statute appointed to be on the 4th of December yearly, these accounts lave for many years past been passed in gross only, without entering into any particulars, or examining vouchers for any of the sums said to be expended therein; and at several times, and more particularly in the year 1715, when one of the seniors at such meeting demanded, that the orders by which great sums of the college money had been paid and laid out, should be produced, and particulars of general sums specified, and the vouchers thereupon examined; you the said Dr. Bentley, with great insolence and foul language, hindered and prevented such examination; and by reason of your ill treatment and behaviour, no objection hath of late been made to the accounts concerning the extravagant sums laid out upon the lodge, garden, and additional buildings upon the aforesaid house at Over, nor to an article of £400 demanded for velvet and other materials said to be used in the chapel, nor no enquiry made after the college plate so as aforesaid embezzled, lost. or missing; nor after the great sums of money laid out and expended in bread, beer, coals, and other fuel, linen, pewter,

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