LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 University of California. 
 
 Class '%'!^^ 
 
Life and Letters 
 
 of 
 
 Sir Richard Claverhouse Jebb 
 
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE, 
 
 C. F. CLAY, Manager. 
 
 HOtttroii: FETTER LANE, E.G. 
 
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UNIVERSIT 
 
 OF 
 
Life and Letters 
 
 of 
 
 Sir Richard Claverhouse Jebb 
 
 O.M., Litt.D. 
 
 by his wife 
 Caroline Jebb 
 
 With a Chapter on Sir Richard Jebb as Scholar 
 and Critic by Dr A. W. Verrall 
 
 OF 
 
 .7 
 
 Cambridge : 
 
 at the University Press 
 
 1907 
 
GENERAL 
 
 Cambritifie : 
 
 PRINTED BY JOHN CLAY, M.A, 
 AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. 
 

 PREFACE 
 
 MY work In preparing this book was made 
 unexpectedly easy. My husband in the 
 latter half of his life collected a series of volumes 
 which he named Servanda — scrap-books In which 
 were pasted letters, reviews, extracts from speeches 
 and newspaper cuttings — matter of any kind that he 
 wished to preserve. Here ready to my hand was 
 evidence sufficient of the interests and occupations 
 of his full and busy life — if only I could use it 
 aright. But selection from such a mass of material 
 was difficult and I am haunted by the fear that 
 what was put aside may in part be of more general 
 Interest than that given here. I could only use my 
 own judgment, bearing always in mind that to tell 
 the whole tends to tediousness. The many family 
 letters which Mr Heneage J ebb and Mrs Arthur 
 J ebb placed unreservedly at my disposal gave the 
 story of his earlier years, and a little diary which he 
 kept chiefly for engagements — in an unbroken series 
 from 1877 to 1905 — has been invaluable to me in 
 furnishing dates for our many journeys together and 
 my own memories. 
 
VI Preface 
 
 It now remains my pleasant duty to thank 
 warmly Mr J. D. Duff of Trinity, who has most 
 kindly and carefully gone through my proofs with 
 me page by page, giving me much friendly and 
 valued criticism, and Mr S. H. Butcher, who after 
 reading the first type-written chapters gave me 
 encouragement to go on with the more difficult part. 
 
 Thanks are also due to the Rev. Dr Denney 
 and Mr R. P. G. Williamson for their interesting 
 recollections of Sir Richard J ebb as a teacher, and 
 to the many friends who sent me letters. Whether 
 or not these could be fitted into the fabric of the 
 book, it was a great pleasure to me to read them. 
 
 And I wish also to thank Mr R. T. Wright for 
 the interest he has shown in the progress of the 
 book and for his advice on technical points. Indeed 
 all the officials at the Pitt Press have been most 
 patient with my ignorance which must often have 
 given them needless trouble. 
 
 For nothing in the Life and Letters is Dr Verrall 
 responsible. He has not yet seen them. I felt it 
 the very greatest kindness and a great point gained 
 when he consented to write the chapter on my 
 husband's work as critic and scholar. 
 
 CAROLINE JEBB. 
 Springfield, 
 Cambridge. 
 
 September^ 1907. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. Family History i 
 
 II. 1841 — 1858: Childhood and School Days ... 9 
 
 III. 1858— 1862 : Undergraduate Years . . ' . .20 
 
 IV. 1862— 1864 : Fellowship and College Work. — Tour in 
 
 Egypt 56 
 
 V. 1865— 1870: Diary and Letters. — Public Oratorship . 75 
 
 VI. 1871— 1872 : Letters to C. L. S 103 
 
 VII. 1872 — 1874: Cambridge Life and Work . . . 143 
 
 VIII. 1874— 1878 : Marriage.— Election to Glasgow Chair. 
 Inaugural Address. Letters by Rev. Dr Denney, 
 and Mr R. P. G. Williamson, M.A.— Vibit to Italy and 
 Greece. — Illness 177 
 
 IX. 1878— 1880 : British School at Athens. Hellenic 
 
 Society. — Visit to Paris. — Challenge by Dr Blackie. 
 
 — Visit to Venice 211 
 
 X. 1881— 1883 : Springfield. —Bentley. — Attack on Glasgow 
 
 University. — The Troad. — School at Athens . . 230 
 
 XI. 1883 — 1889 : Visit to America. — Professor Fawcett. — 
 
 Death of Mr Robert J ebb. — Royal Academy. — Ode 
 
 to Bologna. — Resignation of Greek Chair in Glasgow. 250 
 
 XII. 1889 — 1894 : Regius Professor of Greek at Cam- 
 
 bridge. — Rede Lecture. — Election to Parliament. 
 First Speech 270 
 
viii Contents 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 XIII. 1894— 1896 : The Welsh Church Disestablishment 
 
 Bill. Speech. — Illness 290 
 
 XIV. 1896 — 1898 : Conference on Secondary Education. — 
 
 Visit to the Riviera. — Voluntary Schools' Grant 
 Bill. Sir John Gorst's Education Bill. Burial 
 Grounds Committee 313 
 
 XV. 1898— 1900: Death of Mr Gladstone.— Speech on the 
 
 Rating of Clergymen. — Letters. — Romanes Lecture. 
 
 — War. Consultation's Committee. — Knighthood . 330 
 
 XVI. 1900 — 1901 : Re-election. — Death of the Queen. — 
 
 Deputation to Mr Balfour. — Irish University Com- 
 mission 357 
 
 XVII. 1902— 1903 : British Academy. — Education Bill. — 
 
 Tercentenary of Bodleian Library. — Trustee of 
 British Museum. — Memorial Cloister at Charter- 
 house 372 
 
 XVIII. 1904— 1905 : Letters.— Order of Merit.— Defeat of 
 
 Government 398 
 
 XIX. 1905 : Visit to South Africa.— Last Illness . . 418 
 
 The Scholar and Critic. By A. W. Verrall . . . .427 
 
 Index 489 
 
 Portrait of Sir Richard Claverhouse Jebb . . . Frontispiece 
 
/ >^' OF THE ^ 
 
 f UNIVERSITY 
 
 \ OF 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 FAMILY HISTORY. 
 
 Richard Claverhouse J ebb was born on the 
 27th of August, 1 84 1, at Dundee In the house of his 
 grandfather the Dean of Brechin, where his parents 
 were then upon a visit. He came of gentle stock 
 on both sides. The J ebbs of Woodborough in 
 Nottinghamshire were prominent from the begin- 
 ning of Queen EHzabeth's reign. Towards the end 
 of the seventeenth century a part of the family settled 
 at Mansfield, in the same county, where they soon 
 became noted for eminence in literary work. " Few 
 families," says Mr Nichols in his Literary Anec- 
 dotes, '' have produced more persons connected with 
 the literary history of the eighteenth century." Short 
 lives of these are given in Maunders Biographical 
 Dictionary, and a Memoir of Dr John Jebb\ F.R.S., 
 
 ^ Dr John Jebb was celebrated for the remarkable liberality of 
 his political and religious opinions, and was fortunate in having a 
 wife like-minded with himself, to judge from a biographical notice 
 of her published at her death in 181 2. She was a daughter of 
 the Rev. John Torkington and Lady Dorothy Sherard (daughter 
 of the second Earl of Harborough). The young couple met at a 
 ball in Huntingdon and "took no long time to discover that 
 
 J. M. I 
 
2 Sir Richard J ebb 
 
 F.S.A., of Peterhouse, Cambridge, whom the Bishop 
 of Limerick characterized as his very honest and 
 able but wrongheaded and heretical cousin, is 
 prefixed to a collection of his miscellaneous works. 
 
 Samuel Jebb, the grandfather of Dr John Jebb, 
 and of Sir Richard Jebb, Bart., Physician to 
 George III, was also the direct ancestor of Richard 
 Claverhouse Jebb, the subject of these memoirs. 
 He was born in 1670, and married in 1690 Elizabeth, 
 only daughter of Richard Gilliver, Esq., of Bamfield, 
 Yorkshire, whose wife was Amelia de Witt, daughter 
 of Jacob de Witt, Burgomaster of Dort, and sister 
 of John de Witt, the Grand Pensionary of Holland, 
 and of Cornelius de Witt, Admiral of the Fleet, who 
 were murdered on the 14th of August, 1672. On 
 account of the disturbances of the time, Jacob de Witt 
 left Holland during the lifetime of his famous sons 
 and came to England. He undertook to drain the 
 Fens of Lincolnshire, and large grants were assigned 
 to him of the reclaimed lands, which, on account of 
 the disorders that prevailed during the Civil Wars, 
 were lost to his only daughter and her descendants. 
 
 Happily some of the de Witt force of character 
 
 their hearts and understandings were formed for each other." 
 They were married in 1764 and came to live in Cambridge, where 
 Mrs Jebb soon became a social centre. The Memoir says : — 
 "She was listened to with deference and attention by some of the 
 most eminent characters. Her conversation was at the same 
 time spritely, argumentative, and profound ; and while she ex- 
 pressed herself fluently on all occasions her language was equally 
 happy and correct." — Memoirs of Mrs John Jebb by G. W. M. 
 1812. 
 
Family History 3 
 
 was Inherited by them. Bishop Jebb^ writes, '' They 
 were distinguished by their strength of character, in- 
 dependence of mind, love of freedom, and indomitable 
 ardour in all their pursuits. With strength however," 
 he adds, '* weakness was sufficiently mingled ; and 
 prudence, in the ordinary sense of the term, was by 
 no means their characteristic. Some of them were 
 tolerably successful in the acquisition, but none pro- 
 ceeded to the accumulation, of the goods of fortune. 
 They were apt to spend with more rapidity than 
 they acquired ; and many of them were liberal in 
 the transactions, and almost profuse in the charities, 
 of life." 
 
 Samuel J ebb had by this marriage six sons and 
 three daughters. The eldest son, Richard, went to 
 Ireland early in the eighteenth century, where he 
 entered into business. He is described as "a man of 
 strong sense and sound principles, hasty in temper, 
 but good-natured and benevolent to a degree." 
 
 This Richard J ebb married in 1718 Mary, 
 daughter of William Stanley, Esq., of Lincolnshire, 
 and died in 1761, leaving an only son, John, of whom 
 his son, Bishop J ebb, writes, '' I never knew a more 
 innocent human being, an Israelite indeed in whom 
 there was no guile." 
 
 John Jebb was twice married, the second time to 
 Alicia Forster, a beautiful woman to judge by her 
 portrait now at Springfield, Cambridge. By this 
 marriage he had two sons, both destined to be men 
 of influence on their time, and three daughters. 
 ^ Life of Bishop Jebb by the Rev. Charles Forster. 
 
4 Sir Richard Jebb 
 
 Richard, the elder son, the grandfather of Richard 
 Claverhouse, born in 1766, was educated at 
 Drogheda, and afterwards at Trinity College, Dublin. 
 Having come into a property as the heir of his cousin 
 Sir Richard Jebb, Bart., he went to the Irish bar at 
 the age of twenty-two. His rise was rapid in his 
 profession ; and he also came early into notice by 
 the part he took in opposing the Union. In 1799 
 he published '' A Reply to a Pamphlet entitled 
 * Arguments for and against a Union,' " which 
 received wide recognition. Lord Glenbervie, the 
 successor of Lord Castlereagh in the Irish Secretary- 
 ship, cited it as containing all the arguments of real 
 weight against the Union ; "to the whole of which," 
 he said, '' he felt himself to be replying in answering 
 Mr Jebb." 
 
 The Government Richard Jebb had opposed 
 offered him a seat in Parliament which, after full 
 consideration, he declined ; nor would he allow him- 
 self to be nominated for Drogheda, though much 
 urged, and with the certainty of being elected. 
 
 The younger son John, after a distinguished 
 career at College, chose the Church for a profession. 
 He at once became noted for eloquence as a preacher 
 and for his skill in public discussions. In 1806 he 
 preached the Visitation Sermon at Cashel, and was 
 publicly thanked by the Archbishop, While he was 
 receiving the congratulations of his friends, the Rev. 
 Dr Hare startled him by exclaiming, ** I give you 
 no credit for that Sermon ; you stole it. Sir, you stole 
 it." The astonished preacher said, *' May I ask 
 
Family History 5 
 
 from what source ? " when Mr Hare's countenance 
 relaxed, and he answered with a gentle voice and a 
 profound bow : — *' From your own life and conversa- 
 tion\" 
 
 John Jebb was appointed Bishop of Limerick in 
 1823. His first speech in the House of Lords — on 
 the Irish Tithes Commutation Bill — lasted three 
 hours. Mr Wilberforce declared it to be one of the 
 ablest speeches ever delivered in the House. Bishop 
 Jebb was also famous for his learning, his many 
 contributions to literature, his social charm, and, 
 above all, for the beauty of his life. 
 
 Between the two brothers Richard and John, 
 nine years apart in age, the closest affection existed. 
 When a little boy John was struck with the words 
 Memento Mori on a tomb at Leixlip. He asked his 
 brother to translate them, and then to write them in 
 his childish album. Richard wrote instead Memento 
 Mei. " From that hour to the present," adds the 
 Bishop, ''he has taken special care that the impres- 
 sion made while he translated these words should 
 never be obliterated. To me and to our sisters he 
 has been, as to our father he was for several years, 
 in loco parentis, his heart and house ever open to us, 
 every advantage with which Providence has been 
 pleased to favour him affectionately shared with us. 
 He has been dealt with accordingly ; — blessed with 
 a most valuable wife, and children of the highest 
 promise, he has just attained (18 18) a Judge's seat 
 on the King's Bench. Nor can I omit that he has 
 ^ Life of Bishop Jebb by the Rev. Charles Forster. 
 
6 Sir Richard J ebb 
 
 risen by pure merit ; that he never courted business 
 or asked for office ; that he kept most delicately 
 aloof when many might have thought him to blame 
 in not putting himself forward." 
 
 It may not be out of place to give here a passage 
 from the Rev. Charles Forster's Life of Bishop J ebb, 
 the less so that many of the characteristics of 
 this Richard J ebb and his brother were repeated in 
 their descendants. 
 
 "In the groundwork of their characters — in- 
 tegrity, candour, generosity, high-mindedness — never 
 were brethren more in unity ; in manner, on the other 
 hand, they were of perfectly opposite styles. Both 
 were characteristically modest and constitutionally 
 shy : but probably owing to the influence of their 
 different professions. Bishop Jebb's native modesty 
 and shyness occasioned a degree of reserve in society 
 which his brother's daily contact with life enabled 
 him to overcome. Both were naturally playful, with 
 a vein both of wit and humour : but the Bishop's 
 manner though cheerful was grave, and seldom 
 relaxed except among intimate friends ; while his 
 brother's was easy, lively, and universally pre- 
 possessing." 
 
 Who that knew the late Sir R. C. J ebb intimately 
 will not recall the almost boyish playfulness which 
 made him in his own family and with intimate friends 
 such a delightful companion ? 
 
 Richard Jebb married in 1803 J^^^ Louisa Finlay, 
 a daughter of John Finlay, Esq., of Corkagh in the 
 County of Dublin, a Member of the last Irish Parlia- 
 
Family History 7 
 
 ment. Bishop Jebb describes her as ''uniting a 
 masculine strength of mind with truly feminine 
 delicacy and tenderness of heart." 
 
 Five sons and one daughter were born of this 
 marriage. The eldest son, John, entered the Church 
 and became Rector of Peterstow and Canon of 
 Hereford ; the second son, Richard, studied law, 
 and was for many years Vicar-General in the Isle 
 of Man ; the third, Robert, went to the Irish bar. 
 
 Robert was a man of extraordinary accomplish- 
 ments ; his son Richard Claverhouse always spoke 
 of him as the most accomplished person he had 
 ever known ; but the gentleness and innocence of his 
 nature — inherited from his grandfather — prevented 
 him from winning the place in his profession to which 
 his abilities gave him a right. He shrank from any 
 appearance of striving for his own advantage. A 
 seat on the Irish Bench, practically promised to him, 
 when it became vacant, was given to another with 
 more interest. From that time Robert Jebb retired 
 from active life, having found the struggle with this 
 "everlasting flint," the world, too hard for his 
 gentle spirit. He passed his quiet days in the study 
 of ancient and modern literatures, in the care of his 
 beautiful garden, and in educating his children. 
 Until Richard was sent to school at the age of 
 twelve his father was his only teacher. 
 
 Robert Jebb married in August 1840 Emily 
 Harriet, third daughter of the Rev. Heneage Horsley, 
 Dean of Brechin, and grand-daughter of Bishop 
 Horsley of St Asaph's. The Horsley family had 
 
8 Sir Richard Jebb 
 
 long been established in Hertfordshire. The Bishop s 
 own father, John Horsley, became Rector of 
 Thorley in 1745, receiving about the same time 
 the Rectory of Newington Butts in Surrey. He 
 appears to have had a higher standard of clerical 
 duty than was common at the time. " At Thorley," 
 says the late Lord Selborne, " he resided constantly, 
 when residence was not enforced as it is at present ; 
 did his duty as long as he was able ; and was a 
 considerable benefactor to the parsonage." His 
 eldest son Samuel (afterwards Bishop of St Asaph's) 
 was presented to the living of Albury in Surrey, 
 and married in 1774 Mary Botham, the daughter of 
 the late Rector. The Albury Register states that 
 ** Samuel Horsley, Clerk, Doctor of Laws in this 
 Parish, Batchelor, and Mary Botham of this Parish, 
 Spinster, were married in this Church by License, 
 this 13th day of December, 1774, by John Buckner, 
 Curate pro hac vice!' Of this marriage two children 
 were born; one died in infancy; the other, Heneage, 
 afterwards Dean of Brechin, married in 1801 Frances 
 Emma Bourke, sister of Sir Richard Bourke of 
 Thornfields, County Limerick. She was a cousin 
 of Edmund Burke, and it was at Beaconsfield that 
 Heneage Horsley first met her. 
 
 Dean Horsley died on October 6th, 1847, leaving 
 one son, Samuel (the " Uncle Sam" of the letters), 
 and three daughters, Frances Emma, Eglantyne, 
 and Emily Harriet ; the first two remained un- 
 married, Emily Harriet became the wife of Robert 
 Jebb and the mother of Richard Claverhouse Jebb. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 CHILDHOOD AND SCHOOL DAYS. 1841— 1858. 
 
 For some years, while Robert J ebb was still 
 active in his profession, the family home was in 
 Dublin. Here the little " Dick " passed his early 
 childhood amid surroundings peculiarly suited to his 
 sensitive affectionate nature and quick intellect. Not 
 only his parents but his mother's two sisters, Frances 
 and Eglantyne Horsley, found in the eager, beautiful 
 boy their chief interest in life. Full of vitality and 
 intelligence as he was, even his faults were engaging. 
 He had a passionate temper as quickly allayed as it 
 was excited. When he was two years old his Aunt 
 Eglantyne offended him by laughing (as he thought) 
 at him. Like a flash, yet gently, his hands flew to 
 her cap, pulled it off and threw it on the floor. 
 "Aunty sorry," he remarked triumphantly; adding 
 the instant after, '' Dicky sorry too," as he burst into 
 tears and threw his arms around her neck. Miss 
 Horsley told me it was impossible to express what 
 a delight he was to them all. Notwithstanding his 
 quick temper, he was a very good child, easily 
 
lO Sir Richard J ebb 
 
 governed by affection. A look of disapproval from 
 his mother made him miserable : to disappoint any- 
 one who loved him was all his life intolerable to him. 
 ** Dick sorry ; forgive your Dick " was a phrase 
 not confined to childhood. He was also naturally 
 obedient and law-abiding, with a respect for au- 
 thority. 
 
 If affection could ever spoil, I am afraid his 
 adoring ''Aunt Fanny" was guilty. He had a 
 vivid recollection of the pastry-cook's shop to which 
 he always turned her steps when taken out for a 
 walk by her. She said he was as a child quite 
 irresistible, so affectionate, so amusingly coaxing : 
 she had to gratify him. Until Miss Horsley died 
 at the age of 92, he remained her darling, and he 
 gave her back a most devoted affection. To the 
 very last, he would snatch time from the busiest 
 season to visit her, at least once a year, at Bath. 
 In the later years he used to come back saddened 
 at seeing her so aged and changing. 
 
 One of his pleasantest recollections of the home in 
 Dublin was a pony on which he was allowed to ride 
 alone in the Park. His mother often recalled the 
 picture of her little son, his beauty heightened by 
 excitement, his large blue eyes shining, as he claimed 
 her sympathy when starting for a ride. His sister 
 remembers that an old gentleman, who lived opposite, 
 used to have his chair wheeled to. the window 
 at the time when Dick usually returned from his 
 ride, in order that he might watch ''the spirited little 
 fellow dash up the street, jump off, throw his rein 
 
1847] Childhood and School Days 1 1 
 
 over the rail, and running up the steps, reach with 
 difficulty the knocker on which he gave a resounding 
 summons." 
 
 His first letter, written on ruled paper in big 
 letters at the age of six, to his uncle John, was about 
 this pony. 
 
 '' My dear Uncle, 
 
 I have got a nice set of tools amongst which 
 there is a saw half a yard long. I have had three 
 falls from my pony so I suppose I shall be a good 
 rider at last the same pony I had in the Isle of Man 
 is to be sent to me by my friend Willie Wynyard. 
 Uncle Sam came to us on Sunday he is to stay 
 with us till Saturday and is to go to Uncle Tom's 
 wedding and I am to go too. I was in the Kings- 
 town Railway the other day with Uncle Tom and 
 the Train stopped which rather alarmed us but we 
 found out at last that they had lost the track and 
 soon we went on again as usual, now dear Uncle 
 John I must bid you good bye with love and a kiss 
 to dear Aunt J ebb Believe me your affectionate 
 Nephew, 
 
 R. C. Jebb 
 Wednesday loth Nov^" 1847 
 23 Temple st." 
 
 Dick was four years old when his sister Eglantyne 
 was born. From the first, her coming was a great 
 delight to him, and all through his life the close tie 
 between them was a source of happiness. When 
 
12 Sir Richard J ebb [1850 
 
 either was staying at Danesfort, Killarney, the home 
 of their uncle Mr Samuel Horsley and his two 
 sisters, and a second home to the J ebb children, the 
 correspondence between them was constant. At 
 first '* brother Dick " printed his letters in large type 
 because the little sister could only read print. 
 
 About five years later the family was completed 
 by the birth of twins. Mrs Arthur Jebb^ remembers 
 well an evening when her father was amusing herself 
 and Dick in the drawing-room. He had not long 
 before read portions of the Comedy of Errors to 
 Dick, who had been greatly interested and wished 
 much to see the play acted. When the door opened 
 to admit an old servant who announced the birth of 
 the twins, Dick gleefully exclaimed, '' Now we have 
 the two Dromios ! " 
 
 As one of the twins proved delicate, and the health 
 of the other children seemed to flag in town, it was 
 decided to make a move into the country. A small 
 house was bought at Killiney, nine miles from Dublin, 
 and the family went there in 1 850. No more beautiful 
 spot could have been found. Killiney Bay has been 
 compared to the Bay of Naples. However that may 
 be, the beauty of the shore, the sea, the hills, the 
 woods at the back, were never failing sources of 
 happiness to the group of children in the years that 
 followed. His sister describes it as '* a land of black- 
 berries, cowslips, and primroses, straggling hedges 
 
 ^ Eglantyne Jebb married in 187 1 Arthur Trevor Jebb of The 
 Lyth, Salop. The relationship, if any, between the two families 
 was never traced, though they used the same crest. 
 
1853] Childhood and School Days 13 
 
 and wandering footpaths. At that time the houses 
 were few, for the most part hidden by trees. What 
 a delight it was to race down the fields and find our- 
 selves on the open shore ! There was a little brook, 
 the Shanganagh, where we made dams and built 
 fortifications ; and where, a little later, Dick sailed a 
 whole fleet of ships." 
 
 With this world of delight outside, with a little 
 printing-press and an amateur carpenter-shop with 
 its turning-lathe for amusement on wet days, above 
 all with a father who could do such wonderful things, 
 and a sympathetic, devoted, wise mother, no wonder 
 the children remembered their childhood almost as a 
 tale of fairyland. 
 
 When Dick grew older he had regular lessons 
 from his father, which he studied with the thorough- 
 ness so characteristic of him. The set task was 
 often exceeded. His father, who used to see his work 
 in the evenings after coming from his Chambers, 
 would say, " But you cannot have done all that," to 
 which the response would be the recitation or trans- 
 lation of the whole. The pleasure of surprising his 
 father by his diligence was a sufficient incentive to 
 industry. 
 
 But the break had to come. In his childish 
 journals which he kept carefully for two years, and 
 which record the adventures of many kites and dearly 
 loved ships, often made for him by his father and 
 anxiously watched on their voyages by both, he 
 writes : 
 
 ''August 7th, 1853: — To-night, papa and I 
 
14 Sir Richard J ebb [1853 
 
 finished our studies which, for upwards of four years, 
 have been successfully continued. 
 
 I go to school next Wednesday. 
 It cannot be helped. 
 
 August loth, 1853. O ! Miserrima dies. To- 
 day I go to St Columba's College, Rathfarnham." 
 
 Dick was not at first happy at school ; the change 
 from home was too great. He was very sensitive, 
 was accustomed to loving sympathy in all his pursuits, 
 perhaps unaccustomed to criticism or censure. The 
 Headmaster wrote to his parents that it surprised 
 him to perceive how wretched a few words of blame 
 made the boy, and how his misery lasted for days. 
 He sent for him and talked to him seriously on the 
 mistake of having too much amour propre. '' Fancy 
 saying that to a sensitive boy of twelve ! as if I could 
 help it," he exclaimed, in telling me of his school 
 days. 
 
 All through the year, it is touching to see how 
 he clings to the thought of home, how he counts on 
 his mother's weekly visits, calls the post which brings 
 him her letters the ''event of the day," marks off 
 each week till the holidays. This continues, though 
 he quickly grows interested in his work and the 
 useful spirit of emulation comes to his aid. On 
 September nth, 1853, he writes to his mother: ''I 
 got a great piece of encouragement last night. When 
 
1854] Childhood and School Days 15 
 
 the Warden sent for me I went, very much wonder- 
 ing what he wanted me for. He was settHng some 
 papers as I came to him, and when he had finished, 
 he took me by the arms and said, 'J ebb, how are 
 you getting on?' 'Very well, thank you, Sir,' said I. 
 He said, ' I have had a very good report of you 
 from Mr Tuck well, and he says you are industrious. 
 I am very well satisfied with you. If I take no 
 notice of a boy, it is not because I am not satisfied 
 with him ; it is generally the reverse. For if I am 
 not satisfied with him I generally do notice him. I 
 am glad to see that you have boys about you that 
 will keep you up to your work. And remember, 
 you can scarcely be called placed. You have to find 
 your level, which you will do at the next examina- 
 tion. Well, God bless you. You can go.'" 
 
 This hint about the examination bore fruit. He 
 got his rise into the Fourth Form at the beginning 
 of the year, the only boy from the Third Form who 
 did. His progress that year must have been rapid, 
 for in August he writes to his mother : — "We heard 
 the history list this morning. I was first, O'Brien 
 Maximus second, Smith third. In Geography O'Brien 
 was first, I second. The Prize has been adjudged 
 to me, Mr Tuckwell spoke in the kindest way of 
 my paper which he said was much superior to 
 anyone else's. I am very much surprised at my 
 own luck ; I never expected to be above O'Brien 
 Maximus." 
 
 The Rev. W. Tuckwell kindly permits me to 
 publish this description of him as a boy. 
 
1 6 Sir Richard J ebb [1855 
 
 "Pyrford Rough, Woking, 
 
 November 26th, 1906. 
 
 Dear Madam, 
 
 I am perhaps the last man left who remembers 
 your husband as a pupil in 1853 (0 when brought by his 
 father to St Columba's College. He was in my Form, and 
 as classical master I had charge of his composition. I 
 remember the delightful contrast between him and other 
 boys. They were good studious fairly clever boys, but 
 looked on their Latin verses as at best a kind of Chinese 
 puzzle : he seemed to feel the force of a distinguishing 
 epithet, the charm of a corrected word or phrase ; caught 
 up hints and improved them, turned out all his copies with 
 something of artistic pride. He was unusually shy and 
 timid, blushing like a girl when addressed, his eyes mostly 
 downcast, but bright and glancing when he was encouraged ; 
 and he responded gratefully to kindliness and attention. 
 The Warden, George Williams of King's, a very remark- 
 able man, in masculine vigour of character and intense 
 hatred of evil closely resembling Dr Arnold of Rugby, saw, 
 as did we all, the great promise of your husband, and was 
 much hurt by his removal after a year or two. It was a 
 wise step ; he had in fact outgrown the St Columba 
 teaching." 
 
 He left St Columba's in 1854 and was admitted 
 at Charterhouse early in the following year. 
 
 " ...I like Charterhouse very well — it is pleasant 
 for a school," he writes on February 17th, 1855, — 
 though he still drags a lengthening chain with the 
 other end fast at Killiney. ''How I wish I could 
 get over these high walls ; into a train ; and home 
 again. But Whitsuntide must come at last if the 
 world endures so long," 
 
1856] Childhood and School Days 17 
 
 He soon began to feel more at home in Charter- 
 house, becoming greatly attached to Mr Elwyn, 
 the second master, who became Headmaster in 
 1858, on the death of Dr Elder. He quickly 
 made friends among the boys, besides meeting 
 family friends in the sons of the Rev. Charles 
 Forster, the close friend and able biographer of his 
 great-uncle Bishop J ebb ; he liked examinations and 
 competitions, and of these there was a sufficiency ; 
 above all, he liked feeling his own powers which 
 were rapidly growing and shaping. The prizes he 
 won were chiefly a pleasure to him because of the 
 happiness his success gave to the dear ones at 
 Desmonds His brother Heneage describes him 
 rushing up the steps and into the drawing-room, 
 on his return for the holidays, dropping down on 
 his knees before ''darling Mammy" and throwing 
 with both hands his prizes into her lap. They were 
 her chief treasures until she gave them to his wife 
 after his marriage. 
 
 His letters to his sister at this time are written 
 in a tone of cheerfulness, which shows life was satis- 
 factory. 
 
 "My dearest Tye, 
 
 It is precisely nine minutes to ten on 
 Saturday night and here I am in the Parthenon Club ; 
 don't you think under the circumstances I ought to 
 be starting for Charterhouse ? Well, not just yet. 
 Uncle Richard is dozing and soon will be snoring, 
 ^ His father's house at Killiney. 
 J. M, 2 
 
1 8 Sir Richard J ebb [1858 
 
 and the rooms are very quiet, so altogether there 
 couldn't be a better time for writing a letter to a 
 dutiful sister like yourself. Uncle R. took me by 
 surprise about ten o'clock to-day at C.H. I thought 
 he was safe at Desmond but there he was ; so I got 
 leave to go out with him and we went in a little 
 Thames steamboat down to Chelsea and walked 
 about in Battersea Park. He had first to leave a 
 parcel for Aunt J ebb at Mr Burke's ; he gave me 
 three guesses what it was : I guessed 
 
 1. a backgammon-board 
 
 2. a Peerage 
 
 3. a medicine-chest : — 
 
 but it was brown soap! 
 
 Look in the Times and you'll see £2/\^. \js. 2d. 
 was collected in the C.H. Chapel on the First Day. 
 Pretty well for only boys and pensioners, was it not ? 
 Your affectionate brother, 
 
 Dick." 
 
 Dick's school days came to an end in the spring 
 of 1858 : on May 6th, having now left Charterhouse, 
 he writes : 
 
 "Peterstow, May Sth^ 1858. 
 
 Dearest Mammy, 
 
 I did feel the greatest regret at leaving 
 the old place and all its associations. We attended 
 service in Chapel as usual at the end of the 
 quarter, at 9.30 a.m. yesterday. The distribution of 
 prizes commenced immediately afterwards at 10.15. 
 
1858] Childhood and School Days 19 
 
 Mr Elwyn and the four other masters of the school 
 presided. When the turn of the Sixth Form came, 
 we went up before the awful dais and the order was 
 read out. I stood first and received the prize : but 
 what I value ten times more, was the way in which 
 Mr Elwyn spoke of me to the school on behalf of 
 the Examiners and Masters. I shall never forget 
 his words as long as I live : but they are not words 
 to be written down at length, and you shall have 
 them some other time. The Preacher then adjudged 
 the prizes for the Theological Essays : — subject, 
 ' National Judgments and National Mercies as ex- 
 hibited in Bible History.' He awarded the first 
 prize to me, and was good enough to say that my 
 essay was the best that had ever been shown up for 
 his prize. He then spoke of me in terms as grati- 
 fying and kind as those which Elwyn had used. 
 Then came the mathematical list. I was surprised 
 that I stood second and received the second Walford 
 prize in six volumes. Lastly I received two Classical 
 Medals for Latin prose and Greek verse. Elwyn 
 then presented me with the book usually given to 
 the Monitors at leaving with a few of the very 
 kindest words I ever heard in my life " 
 
 His old school said its last word to him on 
 December 13th, 1905, when it sent a beautiful 
 wreath with the message 
 
 Fratri Praeclarissimo 
 Valedicunt 
 Carthusiani. 
 
 / ^ OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 UNDERGRADUATE YEARS. 
 1858— 1862. 
 
 J EBB came up to Cambridge in October, 1858, 
 under good auspices. His reputation from Charter- 
 house preceded him, and he was fortunate in having 
 that great scholar, Dr Lightfoot, late Bishop of 
 Durham, for his tutor. He was very young, having 
 attained the age of seventeen only five weeks before, 
 on August 27 th. Mr J ebb had felt much doubt 
 about the advisability of allowing him to come up 
 this year, but the general opinion was in favour, and 
 the boy himself was set against delay. 
 
 His friend, the Vice-Provost of Eton\ describes 
 the impression made on his contemporaries at this 
 time. 
 
 " It was in October 1858 that I went to Bishop's Hostel, 
 being then in my second year, to call on the famous fresh- 
 man. There is always a famous freshman : the year before 
 it was Trevelyan, from Harrow ; that year it was Jebb, 
 from Charterhouse. The impression then received has 
 only been deepened in the years that have followed ; an 
 
 * Mr F. Warre Cornish in the Cambrids:e Review. 
 
1858] Undergraduate Years 21 
 
 impression of force and refinement, shyness and courtesy, 
 pungency and kindliness, readiness and reserve, composing 
 a character the attraction of which was heightened by a 
 sense of enigma in an appearance of elaborateness without 
 affectation. Here was a person whom you were not likely 
 to know at once, nor beyond your own limitations ever ; 
 but how well worth knowing, so far as he would grant it ! 
 We were told, and we easily believed, that he came up to 
 Cambridge at seventeen, because he had learnt all that 
 Charterhouse could teach him. He appeared here with 
 a kind of nimbus of distinction, and it never left him. I 
 imagine him entering Cambridge with a blaze of light fol- 
 lowing him, and his gaze full of inquiry, set upon knowing 
 the world that opened before him and all that it contained. 
 He was radiant with life, wit, and all that the word scholar- 
 ship denotes ; which I take to be a bright and cheery word, 
 the very contrary of pedantry. He never did anything by 
 halves ; and in his first year he tried the taste of every- 
 thing, and became an epitome of university life. He joined 
 the A.D.C.\ the Beefsteak Club, the Whist Club, and I 
 almost think the Athenaeum ; he steered a First Trinity 
 Boat, held a commission in the Volunteers, and was an 
 officer of the Union and the Musical Society. We used to 
 smile at his versatility, thinking it superficial, not knowing 
 that Jebb did well whatever he did, and that these were 
 only phases of an almost universal capacity. His clear 
 and melodious voice expressed him, as did his beautiful 
 handwriting ; his somewhat hesitating manner came not 
 from uncertain judgment, but from a courteous wish to 
 show his own point of view, always individual and original, 
 without too much enforcing it. He could be not only 
 brilliant in talk, but cogent and severe in argument ; what 
 he loved best, like Henry Sidgwick, though with a different 
 method, was to find points of agreement in diverging views." 
 ^ Amateur Dramatic Club. 
 
22 Sir Richard J ebb [1859 
 
 The change is great from the strict rule of school 
 to the wide freedom a University accords to her 
 undergraduates. No wonder the youth was carried 
 away for a time by the amusements and fresh 
 interests that opened out before him. At school 
 he had been almost exclusively devoted to study ; 
 the only recreations he had cared for were long 
 solitary walks in the gardens of Sydenham, dream- 
 ing dreams and seeing visions ; — and music, which 
 he loved with intensity. Perhaps Nature whispered 
 that his mind was growing unevenly, — better give 
 study a rest and let the lighter social qualities take 
 their turn in developing ; thus he would be better 
 equipped for the part he might be called upon to 
 play in life. 
 
 In addition to other societies he had the honour 
 of being elected an '* Apostle" in his first year, a 
 distinction which he always valued, and which at 
 once brought him into intimate relations with many 
 of the best men in the University. It was a period 
 when much entertaining was the fashion, of which 
 he took his full share. One wonders how he found 
 time to read at all, so full is his diary of almost 
 hourly social engagements. Of course he could 
 not live within his allowance, and yet, as he always 
 said, he had no extravagant habits. The one thing 
 he could not do was to keep accounts, or remember 
 that the aggregate of many little sums makes sur- 
 prisingly big totals. It is almost pathetic to read 
 letter after letter to his father always expressing 
 amazement that the bills are so large. 
 
1859] Undergraduate Years 23 
 
 "FiRBECK Hall, 
 
 April 2:^rd^ 1859. 
 
 My dear Pappy, 
 
 I am greatly surprised at the amount of 
 the College Bill which you enclose ; and must in the 
 first place thank you for the kind manner in which 
 you have received it. I proceed to throw what light 
 I can on the items of which it is composed. 
 
 (i) 'Chandler' (for one term) ^8. 13^*. 4^. 
 This enormous item I am totally at a loss to explain. 
 I certainly was not a party to an Illumination or 
 anything else of the kind. 
 
 (2) 'Tailor' £ij. i^s. 6d. The largeness of 
 this item does surprise me, for though I certainly 
 did get some articles, I did not think they would 
 come to the half " 
 
 And so he takes up each item of a bill amounting 
 to over £100 ', always surprised, never really extrava- 
 gant, only ordering what he thought necessary, with 
 no thought or question as to the cost. All through 
 his life there were so many things to think about, 
 that he had no time to think of money. His father 
 had been afraid that he might be getting into an idle 
 and fast set, and letting his chances slip through his 
 fingers. This he repudiates indignantly : 
 
 *' I prize such honours too much and have worked 
 for them too hard to do anything so foolish. Can 
 you mention an instance of my missing or losing 
 anything from overweening confidence in my own 
 powers, and consequent idleness ? Allow me then to 
 choose my own set and trust to me that I will choose 
 in the way best for my own interests. I will read 
 
24 Sir Richard J ebb [1859 
 
 but not very hard ; because I know better than you 
 or any one can tell me, how much reading is good 
 for the development of my own powers at the present 
 time, and will conduce to my success next year and 
 afterwards ; and I will not identify myself with what 
 are called in Cambridge 'the reading set,' i.e. men 
 who read circ. twelve hours a day and never do 
 anything ; (i) because I should lose ten per cent, of 
 reputation (which at the University is no bubble but 
 real living useful capital) ; (2) because the reading 
 set, with a few exceptions, are utterly uncongenial to 
 me. My set is a set that reads, but does not only 
 read ; that accomplishes one great end of University 
 life by mixing in cheerful and intellectual society, 
 and learning the ways of the world which its mem- 
 bers are so soon to enter; and which, without the 
 pedantry and cant of the * reading man,' turns out 
 as good Christians, better scholars, better men of 
 the world, and better gentlemen, than those mere 
 plodders with whom a man is inevitably associated if 
 he identifies himself with the reading set. It seems 
 to me almost absurd to assure you that I have not 
 been idle ; but I give the assurance in case kind 
 friends have endeavoured to alarm you on that head. 
 Firbeck^ is extremely pleasant. We are getting 
 up ' Tom Noddy's Secret' for acting next week and 
 I am to be the hero. I will write to some of you 
 on Sunday. 
 
 I remain, 
 
 Your affectionate son, 
 
 R. C. Jebb." 
 ^ The house of Mrs Miles, a cousin. 
 
1859] Undergraduate Years 25 
 
 He had just won the Person Scholarship in his 
 second term. Congratulations poured in. The 
 Headmaster of Charterhouse wrote to his father : 
 
 " I always hoped great things of him but I had 
 
 scarcely ventured to carry my hopes so high, as the event 
 proves I might have done. The last Carthusian who 
 attained the same success was Bishop Thirlwall of St 
 David's." 
 
 His cousin Charles Spencer Perceval wrote to 
 Mr Jebb : 
 
 " I heard a little while ago that some of Dick's 
 
 Latin verses were so beautiful and pathetic as to extract 
 tears from the venerable eyes of Dr Jeremie, one of the 
 Examiners for the University Scholarships." 
 
 And his tutor, Dr Lightfoot, accompanies the 
 before-mentioned Bill with some remarks of a more 
 agreeable nature : 
 
 " You will be glad to hear also that the Trinity 
 
 examiners were very much struck with his papers On 
 
 the whole perhaps his plan of reading at home during 
 the vacation will be as good as any. He has too many 
 friends in Cambridge, and, I think, allows them to occupy 
 too much of his time. But it is hard to find fault with 
 one who has been so successful ; and his conduct, other- 
 wise, has been so satisfactory that I should not have 
 thought of mentioning this but that his brilliant prospects 
 only increase one's anxiety lest they should not be borne 
 out in the result." 
 
 At the end of this October term, a friend for 
 whom he had the greatest regard and admiration, 
 the present Master of Trinity, left Cambridge to 
 take up other duties. Writing to his father on 
 
26 Sir Richard J ebb [i860 
 
 November 20th, 1 859, he says, '* You will be glad 
 
 to hear that Butler has been made Headmaster of 
 Harrow, youth and inexperience notwithstanding ; 
 which indeed don't matter much where the mind is 
 so matured and so capable of quick development, or 
 rather adaptation. He will be greatly missed by 
 some men here. For my part I feel his loss already." 
 
 In i860 he began a correspondence with a distant 
 cousin whom he had seen much of during a visit to 
 Firbeck Hall, and later at her own home in Boston. 
 He writes of her to his mother, after saying how 
 happy he has been with the whole family at Boston, 
 
 '' My favourite, however, is the eldest daughter, 
 
 Susan, who will soon be an old maid, poor thing " 
 [this does not necessarily mean any advanced age — 
 merely the point of view of a youth of eighteen]. 
 ** She sympathises thoroughly with young people, 
 and is universally liked by old and young for her 
 unselfishness and kindness of disposition." 
 
 The letters to her tell something of his history in 
 the next two years, and, written as they are with 
 ease and frankness, give a vivid impression of the 
 keenness and ardour he brought to every pursuit, 
 whether it was work, or amusement, or something 
 that was soon to touch him still more deeply than 
 either — an affair of the affections. 
 
 To Miss Susan Jebb. 
 
 ^''February 2nd, i860. 
 
 Herbert Booth turned up last night at the 
 
 rooms of our friend Cornish, having just found the 
 
i86o] Undergraduate Years 27 
 
 hearthrug on the table in his rooms, and thence 
 perceived that his bed-maker did not know of his 
 arrival, and was innocent of any preparation for him. 
 
 I took a walk with him this afternoon, after a 
 game of billiards replete with extraordinary strokes 
 (for each of which one's adversary scores one — a great 
 mistake : brilliant misses ought to count double). 
 
 We compared notes about the Christmas vacation. 
 He seems to have been pleasantly quartered in 
 Staffordshire ; — quiet family party of six ; — amiable 
 boy ; — early dinner ; — piquet with the aunt ; — turn 
 over music for the sister. He is one of the most 
 sensible fellows I know, and I am glad to get his 
 advice about a profession, because his is precisely 
 the mind to choose well — being perfectly calm and 
 remarkably comprehensive. We came to the con- 
 clusion that an engineer is better off than a barrister 
 without interest, an emigrant who doesn't understand 
 sheep, an Indian servant without a spare liver, or a 
 parson without decided zeal... 
 
 I open this to add that I will do your character^ 
 and the others, directly the examination for the 
 Craven is over. 
 
 ' The hour is almost come 
 When I to stifling and tormenting grind 
 Must render up myself,' 
 
 which in the English of the nineteenth century signifies 
 that it is now twenty-five minutes past eight a.m., 
 and that I go into the Senate House at nine 
 
 ^ It was the fashion of the moment to tell character from 
 handwriting. 
 
28 Sir Richard J ebb [i860 
 
 Feb. T,rd. The examination for the Craven is 
 just over, ended at 4 p.m. Result will not be known 
 for two months or more 
 
 You cannot conceive the ecstatic feeling one has 
 on emerging from the Senate House, after the last 
 paper, into the fresh air 
 
 Excuse this vile writing. The fact is, I have a 
 spiteful pleasure in scribbling my worst after some 
 literary effort which has demanded good behaviour." 
 
 To Miss Susan Jebb. 
 
 ''March 1st, i860. 
 
 One more week struck off from the interval 
 
 before Easter: during which, 6.30 a.m. has seen me 
 out of bed regularly every morning, with a view to 
 7 A.M. Chapel, and Drill immediately afterwards.... 
 We have not turned out in uniform yet ; the day 
 fixed at present is Monday next ; when, after march- 
 ing through the town to Fenner's Cricket Ground 
 (the streets being kept by the Town Corps as a 
 guard of honour), we shall return to the Senate 
 House and take the oath of alleofiance. The 
 Sergeant described the forms to be observed very 
 graphically : ' You faces right and left ; then you 
 takes the book in your four hinward ands, and 
 swears houtwardly.' 
 
 Have you ever seen our hall at Trinity during 
 feeding time ? If you have not, I will assist your 
 imagination. Fancy a vast hall, traversed length- 
 wise by narrow tables. Fancy these tables crowded 
 to excess with British youths in every stage of 
 
i86o] Undergraduate Years 29 
 
 starvation or repletion : some, with the stony look 
 of despairing hunger ; some, in whose faces despair 
 has not yet frozen boiling indignation ; some, whose 
 countenances express ungrateful content and the 
 peace that is engendered by unctuous pudding. 
 Between these tables, where haggard misery is the 
 neighbour of stolid fatness, fancy a dense tide of 
 slovenly men and dirty old women pushing, wrang- 
 ling, struggling for hacked and gory joints, upsetting 
 gravy, dropping dishes, always in a hurry, never 
 attending to one, but always going to everybody. If, 
 in addition to these efforts of imagination, you can 
 further portray to your fancy the personal appearance 
 of a leg of mutton, which has been carved in succes- 
 sion by three or four men, who have distinct and 
 antagonistic theories on that subject, you will have 
 a faint, a very faint and dim conception of Trinity, 
 its Hall. So, last Monday, a meeting was held of 
 some Trinity men (I was one of them), at which a 
 Petition was approved for presentation to Whewell 
 and the Senior Fellows, praying earnestly for a total 
 Reform : and we confidently look for a favourable 
 answer. 
 
 One effect which University life produces on my 
 mind, is the idealisation, almost, of life in the world 
 external to Cambridge : — I mean, that I look back 
 on life at home and in private society as on a dream ; 
 so totally unlike is it to anything we have here, living 
 entirely among ourselves, never seeing a lady's face, 
 and never associating w^ith people older than our- 
 selves. You have probably observed, by this time, 
 
30 Sir Richard J ebb [i860 
 
 that I am one of those hare-brained correspondents 
 who stick down their thoughts exactly as they 
 occur, and give a faithful picture of a disordered 
 mind : so I have no scruple in going on to say 
 that Garfitt is not likely to row at Putney this 
 year... ." 
 
 The petition in question was supposed at first to 
 have given much annoyance to the Master of Trinity, 
 Dr Whewell. He could not trust himself, he said, 
 to look at the names of the petitioners, as he should 
 certainly have an unpleasant feeling towards them 
 ever afterwards. The petition *' humbly showed that 
 the manner of serving dinner in Hall was disgusting: 
 and prayed, (i) that two dinners should be provided 
 daily, at different hours, in order to prevent too 
 great a crowd of men from dining at once : (2) that 
 a staff of men waiters should be organised, cleanly, 
 decently dressed, and efficient : (3) that any man 
 should be exempt from paying for dinner in Hall, 
 on giving previous notice of his intention to dine 
 elsewhere." The Master notwithstanding rumours 
 did take some action ; ''He allowed the Tutors to 
 receive testimony corroborating our statements, and 
 to suggest practicable reforms." 
 
 The Craven Scholarship was awarded on the 
 4th of March. J ebb had written to his father again 
 and again that they must not be disappointed if he 
 failed to get the prize. Such a failure would be no 
 disgrace, seeing that no one could expect to win 
 two University Scholarships in two consecutive 
 years. 
 
i86o] Undergraduate Years 31 
 
 ''March i^th, i860. 
 
 Dear Pappy, 
 
 If a telegram which I sent this morning 
 reached its destination, you know by this time that 
 I have got the Craven. The Second University 
 Scholarship (the Battie) is adjudged to a great friend 
 of mine, Cornish of King's, a third year man : so 
 nothing could be more satisfactory. 
 
 The Examiners were entirely unanimous, and 
 I have been told that I was far ahead of the rest. 
 It was known that the scholarships were coming out 
 yesterday, and, though morally certain that I should 
 not be successful, I felt uncomfortable as on the eve 
 of a disagreeable announcement. So a friend of 
 mine, Trevelyan, and I arranged to take a long ride, 
 and not return till dark to Cambridge. As we got 
 near home I felt rather uncomfortable ; I knew that 
 the moment I entered my room the truth would 
 appear, — in the event of my success, the table would 
 be covered with notes and cards, otherwise, it 
 would be a blank. As I mounted the stairs, I felt 
 a conviction that the table would be in statu quo, 
 with nothing on it. I walked in — there were notes 
 on the table. The first was from Lightfoot — * con- 
 gratulations.' Another from Clark, the Public Orator 
 — 'with congratulations'; but it was not till I caught 
 sight of a square piece of paper in the Vice-Chan- 
 cellor's hand, * Craven Scholar — Richard Claverhouse 
 J ebb of Trinity' — that my doubts and fears finally 
 vanished. 
 
3 2 Sir Richard J ebb [i860 
 
 The Craven is tenable for six years, value, about 
 ;^8o per annum. 
 
 Elwyn, whom I informed by telegram of the 
 event, seems very much delighted and tells me he 
 intends to 'announce the triumph publicly to the 
 School ' to-day ; and as ' triumphs ' mean ' half- 
 holidays,' the announcement will doubtless be well 
 received \ 
 
 The Little Go begins on Monday. I would far 
 rather go in for the most elaborate classical exami- 
 nation, than for the jumble of Paley's Evidences, 
 Arithmetic, Euclid, Statics, and Greek Testament 
 which is before us." 
 
 Charles Forster^ wrote a day or two later to 
 Mr Jebb : 
 
 " Dick as usual bears his honours remarkably well : 
 
 I was particularly struck by the intense burst of gratitude 
 he felt towards dear old Lightfoot, on getting the Craven, 
 for his use of the spur. So many men would have said, 
 ' What is the use of his bothering me, when, after all, I got 
 it safe enough.' 
 
 Lightfoot's feelings are mingled pleasure and regret ; 
 he said to Henry ^ with a half sigh, 'What can I find to 
 give that boy next .'' ' However, he consoled himself with 
 
 ^ In J 905 a member of the Sixth Form recalled the announce- 
 ment thus : — " I remember Elwyn bounding into the room with a 
 telegram in his hand : * Our Dick has got the Craven — half-holiday 
 for all.' " 
 
 ^ Son of the Rev. Charles Forster, who was for so many years 
 chaplain to Bishop Jebb. 
 
 ^ Henry Forster, son of the Rev. Charles Forster. He was at 
 Trinity, his brother at Jesus. 
 
i86o] Undergraduate Years 33 
 
 the reflection that the Degree was coming ; and meanwhile 
 we'll hope the Prize Exercises will keep Dick in training. 
 
 I am afraid Dick will never learn business habits ; I 
 don't know whether it is quite fair to tell on him, but he 
 was within an ace of losing his scholarship, by an oversight, 
 for he never put his name down on the candidates' list, 
 which is essential for those who wish to stand. Dick 
 declares he never heard of its existence. Luckily, how- 
 ever, Henry discovered the omission at the eleventh hour 
 and, finding it would not be forgery, put down Dick's 
 name, county, etc., etc., with all other requisites. I believe 
 the hour was literally eleven and the list went in at twelve, 
 so it was rather a close shave. Dick's worst enemies can't 
 accuse him of business habits, but no doubt he will learn 
 in time though I am afraid he will have to pay for the 
 lesson." 
 
 To Miss Susan Jebb. 
 
 " Trinity, 
 
 March 2t^th^ i860. 
 
 Fancy my feelings v^hen I awoke this 
 
 morning as the clock was striking — eight, surely, — 
 no ! nine at least — ten — eleven ! ! I 
 
 By a heartless feint of getting out of bed I 
 deceived my simple-minded gyp, who went away- 
 rejoicing. Then I got in again — and the conse- 
 quence is I am writing to you at twelve, noon 
 
 You are my Guardian Angel, my special pro- 
 vidence, my Proverbial Philosophy. Not only 
 had I never answered Mrs Miles' letter, but had 
 never thought of answering it. Is one to answer 
 
 J. M. 3 
 
54 ^^'^ Richai'd Jebb [i860 
 
 congratulations^ ? Well, the omission is atoned for : 
 let us trust it is not too late. 
 
 The Little Go is over. We repose in trembling 
 hope which to-morrow evening will convert into 
 joyful or mournful certainty. 
 
 If men with grievances ought to be happy, my 
 spirits may be expected to rise. I have got a 
 grievance. My Tutor, Joseph Barber Lightfoot, a 
 pigheaded though talented being, professes himself 
 unable to give me some long-expected rooms in Old 
 Court. In the meantime, an especially noisy man 
 has got the rooms above my present set, and what 
 makes it worse, the rooms under them as. well. In 
 the latter he means to locate his valet, and that 
 domestic will be summoned by a bell communicating 
 with the upper rooms, which bell the amiable Viscount 
 has had put up for his special convenience. The 
 pleasures of occupying the intermediate rooms will 
 now be obvious to the meanest capacity. Lightfoot 
 is a pig ! " 
 
 The Little Go was passed successfully — the only 
 examination in which he seems ever to have reckoned 
 on success — and on April 21st he was elected to 
 a Trinity Scholarship. 
 
 It is surprising that he should have done so well 
 in the examinations, for about this time he fell in 
 love. He had met the young lady while on a visit 
 to Miss J ebb and was at once strongly attracted. 
 All his plans and hopes began to centre in her — how 
 to arrange to meet her, what messages to send her 
 ^ On his winning the Craven Scholarship. 
 
i86o] Undergraduate Years 35 
 
 through Susan, in what way to interest her. Susan 
 must arrange to bring her to Cambridge for the 
 boat-race week ; and when this was settled, dinners, 
 picnics, balls, boating parties, were made into a pro- 
 gramme so that her every moment might be pleasantly 
 occupied. Letters were sent almost daily to the 
 much-enduring Susan, to consult about some change, 
 to explain some detail, to express some hope. And 
 then she did not come ! It is easy to understand 
 that the girl's mother would think it unwise to en- 
 courage the attentions of a young man not yet 
 nineteen whose reckless devotion would certainly 
 attract attention. But what lover was ever reasons- 
 able — and his was a nature to kick hard against the 
 pricks. 
 
 To Miss Susan Jebb. 
 
 "Trinity College, 
 
 May 26th, i860. 
 
 I often fear that my letters must weary you, 
 being almost entirely on one subject. Great de- 
 spondency comes upon me sometimes when I think 
 of all my past life. For years everything conspired 
 to make me think that Greek and Latin were the 
 end of existence. This miserable illusion disappeared 
 when I came up here, and yet I know that my pre- 
 tensions to any ability whatever rest solely on pro- 
 ficiency in these wretched Classics, which I now 
 almost detest. What I yearn for is a start in the 
 serious business of life, and emancipation from these 
 utterly barren studies — barren at least in respect of 
 all that is practically useful. 
 
 3—2 
 
36 Sir Richard J ebb [i860 
 
 Then I have learned to hate competition — to 
 long for some station in life with definite duties in 
 the performance of which I might find rest and 
 peace. It is fearful to wake from a long bright 
 dream — from years of hope and almost enthusiasm, 
 — and find oneself nought. Forgive me, dearest 
 Susan, for the selfishness of writing in this strain. 
 I am so utterly unhappy at times that I scarcely 
 know what I am saying. It is ungrateful to write to 
 a friend like you such dismal letters, but you are the 
 only one to whom I can pour out my feelings and it 
 is such a relief when one feels very miserable " 
 
 His unhappiness at this time arose partly from 
 uncertainty concerning a profession. To the young 
 undergraduate, the prospect of staying up as a don 
 offered no attractions. The yearning was already 
 on him to depart 
 
 " Into the world and wave of men," 
 
 to try his powers in a wider field. He wanted to 
 plunge at once into the business of life ; to make 
 money to secure independence ; to be in a position 
 to marry ; to have a home as the background for 
 his fight with the world. 
 
 There had been talk about his going into the 
 Church, but he shrank from pledging himself to its 
 service, unless impelled by the highest motives ; 
 and the claims of an eager vitality were clamouring 
 in his ears too insistently for self-abnegation. The 
 Law again, his grandfather's profession — but then 
 his grandfather had early come into a fortune and 
 
i86o] Undergraduate Years 2>7 
 
 could bide his time — would require years of waiting 
 for success ; and never anyone existed to whom 
 waiting was so irksome. His mother never dared 
 tell him as a child of any treat or expedition planned 
 for his pleasure until almost the moment of starting^ 
 or else there was no peace. "Isn't it time?" ''Isn't 
 it time now ? " would be his steady cry while his 
 little legs would race up and down stairs and through 
 the house to get some one or other to make him 
 ''quite ready," hours before it was necessary. A 
 third alternative was Engineering. A distant cousin, 
 Sir Joshua Jebb, had made a great success in this 
 profession. He and his wife Lady Amelia Jebb had 
 been very kind to the bright boy, and probably he 
 thought here was skilled advice at his disposal. 
 
 In October, i860, at the beginning of his third 
 year, he came up in better spirits. The vacation 
 had been very pleasant, the latter part of it spent at 
 a place he loved, Firbeck Hall in Yorkshire, the 
 country home of a distant cousin, Mrs Miles, whose 
 hospitality was always generous and pleasantly exer- 
 cised. Also, he had escaped in College from those 
 upper and nether millstones — the Viscount and his 
 valet — and was settling into fresh quarters. 
 
 To Miss Susan Jebb. 
 
 " Trinity, 
 
 October 22nd, i860. 
 
 I got up at 7.30 this morning, and up to the 
 present moment 3.45 p.m., have been incessantly 
 occupied with countless morsels of business — some 
 
38 Sir Richard J ebb [i860 
 
 connected with my removal to new diggings — some 
 with the First Trinity Boat Club — most with my 
 arrangements for work. 
 
 The latter are completed and I feel happy to 
 think of the invulnerable front which I shall op- 
 pose to the arrows of temptation. I am going 
 TO READ. But I have instituted a cottage Broad- 
 wood, hired by the term, to shed the soul of music 
 through the shrine of X. Y. and Z.... 5.30 p.m.: 
 Have been to Hall, have seen my coach, have got 
 good advice ; and now have still half an hour before 
 Chapel.... You shall hear about Firbeck.... On 
 the Monday after our arrival A.^ was expected. 
 Feeling that the climax of our lives was approaching, 
 that the hour was at hand when we should see the 
 great A. face to face, Emma and I went forth to 
 meet our destiny which was coming from Worksop 
 in the Whitechapel. It was cold, windy, and dark ; 
 so after struggling with the elements for the distance 
 of two miles, we turned back, expecting that the 
 Phenomenon would overtake us. However we 
 arrived at the cross-roads without having heard 
 wheels ; and then a dilemma arose. Would the 
 Great Unknown approach by the back or the front 
 way .'^ Adopting the former supposition, we turned 
 to the left instead of holding straight on. A low 
 hedge skirted both roads. We had not gone twenty 
 yards — a sound of wheels, and the Whitechapel 
 
 ^ A young relative of Mrs Miles had become engaged to A. 
 and this was his first introduction to the family. " Emma " was 
 the wife of the Rev. Henry Gladwyn Jebb, nephew of Mrs Miles. 
 
i86o] Undergraduate Years 39 
 
 apparent over the hedge of the other road, rapidly 
 nearing the cross-roads we were leaving ! They 
 might take the other road and not pass us at all. 
 To deliberate was to be lost ; we faced about — 
 crept stealthily but rapidly along the hedge, and 
 turned the corner, just as the great Affianced was 
 upon us. A moment of painfully intense expecta- 
 tion — one moment in which our senses were con- 
 centrated into sight — the flash of a white choker 
 whirled by — and we were left to reflect that we had 
 seen A. 
 
 Yet another vision flits across my memory. Lo, 
 it is evening ; — a party of four are playing whist. 
 One of them has revoked for the second time — is it 
 that young man whose disordered tie proclaims that 
 the spirit within is ill at ease ? It is. For as he 
 was playing, was not a waltz struck up in the hall ? 
 and did he not see around him lots of old buffers who 
 could not dance and might have played — impotent 
 himself to make the suggestion ? And did he not 
 hear Miss F. dancing with Miss C. ? And did not 
 hope deferred make him play ' shocking ' till the 
 music stopped and he had lost a dozen points ? — 
 Know, oh Susan, that having been wounded in my 
 most vulnerable feelings — having been chaffed about 
 my billiards — I have offered Emma to play her next 
 Christmas under circumstances the most trying. I 
 am to give her thirty out of fifty, to play with an 
 umbrella for a cue. Don't you think that is a sporting 
 offer ? Other notable reminiscences of our visit have 
 I none, save that Mr wants to be kept in 
 
40 Sir Richard J ebb [i860 
 
 order by some one equally gifted with a genius for 
 being disagreeable. 
 
 Your affectionate cousin, 
 
 Dick." 
 
 Jebb had from first coming up been interested in 
 the Cambridge Rifle Corps. The news he announces 
 in the next letter was most gratifying to him. 
 
 To Miss Susan Jebb. 
 
 ''October sisf, i860. 
 
 Two great distinctions have been conferred 
 
 on your undeserving cousin within the week. In 
 the first place I have been elected a member of the 
 A.D.C. (Amateur Dramatic Club) in a very pleasant 
 way. Last Wednesday the manager of the Club, a 
 friend of mine, came and said I had been already 
 elected, and that he was come to know if I was 
 willing to join.... The second piece of promotion 
 was still more unexpected. The votes of a majority 
 of my company have transformed Private Jebb, a 
 soldier of bad character and shocking ignorance, into 
 Ensign Jebb of the 4th Trinity Company of the 
 C.U.R.V., holding Her Majesty's commission, and 
 wearing a sword and other delights\..." 
 
 His first youthful fancy had, during the last year, 
 developed into an absorbing passion. The young 
 girl seems to have been kind enough to him. She 
 was a cousin of cousins of his, and, one way and 
 another, he was able to meet her with some frequency. 
 
 ' Later he became lieutenant — the highest rank he reached. 
 
i86i] Undergraduate Years 41 
 
 I doubt if she guessed the extent of his interest in 
 her, or took his devotion very seriously. He was 
 wretched at having nothing to offer, no income on 
 which he could propose an engagement. Though 
 still only nineteen, he did not seem young to himself. 
 There was nothing in his own feelings to tell him 
 they would be short-lived ; that at his age such 
 wounds heal quickly. I suppose some such ex- 
 perience of boyish love comes to most men ; — 
 
 "And some give thanks; and some blaspheme; 
 And most forget." 
 
 But Richard J ebb never took anything lightly ; 
 and, though this first strong stirring of his nature 
 steadied and made a man of him and was in the 
 long run an unmixed benefit, keeping him clear of 
 love affairs through the years when a man is most 
 apt to act rashly, the lesson was learnt at the price 
 of very real suffering. 
 
 To Miss Susan J ebb. 
 
 " Cambridge, 
 
 March 'znd^ 1861. 
 
 I am not happy: a feeling of loneliness 
 
 which cannot be expressed is upon me : and I am 
 conscious that the want of spirits, — and no efforts 
 can command them — is rapidly destroying the kind 
 of negative popularity I enjoyed before. It all is 
 intensely painful, but I bear it, having a faith which 
 it is difficult to express in words, but which some- 
 thing tells me is true, that all this will come right 
 
42 Sir Richard J ebb [1861 
 
 at last, and that, some day, I shall find rest and 
 sympathy and perhaps even affection. 
 
 Such strange and sorrowful longings rise in my 
 mind as day by day spring comes on. The fresh- 
 ness of the sunny breezy mornings brings back this 
 time a year ago, as if it was yesterday ; with gleams 
 of every feeling that belonged to that happy spring. 
 I remember that it is a whole year since we were 
 looking forward to Easter at Boston, and how the 
 current of my thoughts, through all this bright sunny 
 month, flowed to that exciting hope. I remember 
 my efforts, made easy by that inspiration, to be free 
 by the First of April — the eager happiness of the 
 last day — Sunday — before my departure : — and most 
 of all the sunny morning when E. and I met in the 
 drawing-room at Boston. Do you recollect our 
 drive with her in the afternoon — the first of so many 
 sunny afternoons — when you could not tell the way 
 home, and the rustic was indignant at being asked ? 
 As I look back on it, it seems incredible that, but 
 one short year ago, all these things were delightful 
 realities, so unspeakably different from any the future 
 now promises. 
 
 Ever your affectionate cousin, 
 
 Dick." 
 
 Outwardly his life in College went on as usual. 
 His diary, written for his cousin, is a record of 
 continual parties for breakfast, luncheon, and dinner, 
 often in his own rooms. Open it anywhere, it tells 
 the same story. 
 
i86i] Undergraduate Years 43 
 
 ''Feb. 2yth. After a morning passed in the 
 stereotyped way, I took a walk with Henniker — 
 one of the first acquaintances I made up here ; a 
 man I particularly admire.... We walked down to 
 the river and saw some very uninteresting boat 
 races. Kingsley was striding before us part of the 
 way. He is addicted to solitary constitutionals, 
 seemingly. Every line of his face and every move- 
 ment expresses vigour. Henniker dined with me, 
 and we went to the A.D.C., in which neither of us 
 has a part this evening. 
 
 Sat. March \st. Breakfasted with Sidgwick. 
 The talk was an argument about Church Rates. 
 Very good." 
 
 To Miss Susan Jebb. 
 
 ''April \oth, 1 86 1. 
 
 To-day my mother and I took a long walk. She 
 is an emphatic exception to the rule that sympathy 
 cannot exist between a young man and his family. 
 The experience of this last week during which I 
 have been very much in her society, has shown me 
 that she does possess with reference to me that 
 something which makes congeniality : although it 
 does not present itself but after much intimate 
 confidence. When this is given without reserve, 
 she becomes a very charming friend, and reveals 
 a depth of thought and practical wisdom and acute 
 feeling, which would never be suggested to a stranger 
 by the gaiety and naivete of her manner. 
 
 Did not my last letter leave us on the brink of a 
 
44 •5'/r Richard J ebb [1861 
 
 visitation from Mr J. ? That personage arrived, 
 favoured by that special Providence of bores which 
 invariably renders them whole and perfect unto their 
 friends. It never rains or looks like rain; Bradshaw 
 never lies ; trains never come to grief or are late ; 
 headaches, colds, sore-throats keep out of the way as 
 carefully as policemen. 
 
 Saturday afternoon my mother and I were de- 
 prived of what would have been a pleasant stroll 
 by the appearance of M. whom a half-holiday at 
 St Columba's had uncaged. This plain Christian 
 stayed to dinner, and greatly edified my father with 
 conversation which would do honour to any young 
 man; at least I thought so." 
 
 "Cambridge, 
 
 April 29//^, 1 86 1. 
 
 The days here drag their slow length through 
 cricket matches, novels, and whist, as if they were 
 trying how much ennui they could carry. On Friday 
 there was a meeting of the Whist Club in my rooms. 
 Including visitors we had three tables and the evening 
 went off very fairly. The next night, I took my turn 
 of receiving the ' Society ' and read a short essay on 
 the question ' Are the turns in the moral race-course 
 curves or angles ? ' That is, are moral changes 
 gradual or sudden ? It appears to me that from the 
 nature of character, depending as it does on the force 
 of habit, which in turn depends on an infinite series 
 of small actions and incidents, such changes must 
 always be gradual. It is true there are moments 
 
i86i] Undergraduate Years 45 
 
 of strong emotion, never forgotten, from which we 
 sometimes date a new era of our inner life. But 
 such may be merely vivid revelations of a change 
 begun, or in progress ; at any rate they cannot be 
 its consummation. For it is as difficult to conceive 
 the bent of a disposition altered by a single impulse, 
 as to conceive the direction of a branch's growth 
 altered by a single wrench. Some moments in the 
 progress of a moral change are doubtless more in- 
 fluential than the rest, but time alone can fulfil it 
 perfectly. 
 
 The Rifle Corps paraded to-day. We labour 
 under a singular disadvantage at present. Our 
 Colonel has become an author. Military education 
 is the theme which bore him into print. The two 
 phases of his life — soldier and undergraduate — have 
 suggested a combination of Army and University. 
 He proposes that the latter should become the 
 nursery of the former : establish military examina- 
 tions and award military fellowships. This would 
 be a very fine thing for the Army ; but it may be 
 doubted whether it would not be rather a bad thing 
 for the University. Government, it is said, smiles 
 on the great reformer ; in the meantime we are not 
 drilled quite so much as usual. The Inns of Court 
 men are coming down to drill with us on the i8th of 
 May ; and unless we make a stride, it will be a day 
 of rebuke...." 
 
 ''May d>th, 1861. 
 
 On Friday I again went to Newmarket to 
 see the ' Thousand/ or rather to see the motley 
 
46 Sir Richard J ebb [1861 
 
 specimens of the sporting world which these occasions 
 bring together. Betting men are certainly the 
 strangest species of the human race I have ever seen. 
 It is so odd to see that racing is their real business, 
 not their amusement, and to hear them plying their 
 trade with a serious eagerness which one associates 
 only with graver professions. Then, it is curious to 
 observe men in whom sharpness is preter-natu rally 
 developed : who scorn the dull common-places of 
 * fiats ' and express more in a syllable or a wink than 
 the rest of mankind do in a speech. In their pre- 
 sence, one feels a consciousness, bordering on the 
 sublime, of profound and unlimited mildness. Albeit, 
 the effect of the contrast is to make one hug one's 
 own verdant simplicity.... 
 
 On Saturday evening, the usual meeting of the 
 Society came off in Yates Thompson's rooms. The 
 question discussed referred to personal dignity: how 
 far it should be maintained ; and whether the present 
 age is deficient in dignity. It appears to me that 
 personal dignity consists of two parts : regard for 
 one's own rights and regard for other people's. In 
 an official capacity one must look especially to the 
 former ; in a private capacity especially to the latter. 
 For instance it would be undignified in the Head- 
 master of a school to play cricket with the boys in 
 play hour ; not because the mere act would demean 
 him, but because it would be an intrusion on them. 
 I defended the present age from the charge of being 
 less dignified because less ceremonious than the last. 
 The object of ceremony is to maintain reverence for 
 
i86i] Undergraduate Years 47 
 
 authority by appealing to the imagination. The last 
 century, in so far as it was less civilized than we are, 
 was more poetical ; and therefore the appeal to the 
 imagination was more successful than the appeal to 
 the understanding. Now it is no longer so. The 
 average intelligence is higher ; therefore it is less 
 necessary to appeal to the imagination by ceremonial 
 forms. It is the fashion to say that the literature of 
 the present day is too undignified. This seems to 
 me a most unfair way of putting it. Fifty years ago, 
 we were on quite different terms with our authors. 
 The acquaintance was of the most formal kind ; and 
 instead of talking, they preached to us. Now we 
 are more familiar and they can chaff us. But it 
 does not follow that they have lost any of their 
 dignity. 
 
 Yesterday we went over to Babraham, a place 
 about six miles from here, to see a cricket match. I 
 was looking at the match in peace and content, when 
 on turning round, I saw the Prince of Wales close 
 by. He asked when I had come up, and expressed 
 some faint surprise at hearing I had been in residence 
 all the term.... 
 
 The Boat Races begin this evening. This year, 
 for the first time, I shall enjoy the ease and dignity 
 of an amateur spectator. I am sorry that my Uni- 
 versity career must close without the accomplishment 
 of my once favourite dream — a reunion of friends to 
 see the Boat Races. Indeed I shall long be haunted 
 by many ungratified visions connected with this 
 place. I came up here too young and restless. But 
 
48 Sir Richard J ebb [1861 
 
 regrets do no good. One's business is with the 
 future, not with the past : though it is as impossible 
 to do away with its influence as to prevent a tree 
 from casting a shadow. 
 
 So you enjoyed Sydenham. The late evenings 
 in summer, when the gardens were deserted, used to 
 be delightful to my Londonized faculties. I used to 
 go over from Charterhouse to stroll about the solitary 
 walks, among the antediluvian monsters, nourishing 
 a youth sublime with many dreams which have never 
 come to pass ; but I did not know what was destined 
 then, and ignorance was real bliss. The busts of 
 celebrities which line the walks in the Palace, were 
 great favourites with me : but the Alhambra and the 
 Grecian Court were my Elysium. 
 
 Do you know the legend of Mr Marjoribanks 
 having first proposed to Fanny among the mam- 
 moths and crocodiles of Sydenham, and having 
 been refused^ ? 
 
 Are you going to see the Colleen Bawn? Uncle 
 Richard informed me the other day of a curious fact ; 
 viz., that my grandfather was the judge who tried 
 and passed sentence on the principal in the historical 
 transaction " 
 
 " Cambridge, 
 
 May 22nd, 1 86 1. 
 
 My last letter left the Boat Races at a crisis; 
 
 First Trinity having lost its place at the Head of the 
 
 ^ This decision, it is pleasant to know, was afterwards, in less 
 terrifying surroundings, reversed. 
 
i86i] Undergraduate Years 49 
 
 River on the sixth night, had failed to regain it on 
 the seventh. The final race on Thursday, the eighth 
 and last night, was expected with great curiosity in 
 both the boating and the betting world. Large 
 sums depended on the issue. A current report that, 
 on the seventh evening, First Trinity had abstained 
 from bumping Third Trinity on prudential grounds, 
 was not generally believed. It was remarked on the 
 other hand, that * First ' had rowed with more sus- 
 tained strength than their opponents, whose chances 
 of escape in the deciding race were thought to depend 
 mainly on their genius for 'spurting' at the right 
 moment. The evening was fine : I never saw such 
 a muster on the banks. * Grassy,' a corner of meadow 
 land jutting into the course, was crowded to the 
 water's edge with the nondescript vehicles hired by 
 University men for their friends. A few languid 
 swells on their 'camels,' a small minority of boating 
 men too lazy to run with the race, a sprinkling of un- 
 mistakeable townsmen carefully got up and smoking 
 questionable cigars, moved about among the carriages 
 and ' traps.' On the opposite bank, a slow stream of 
 many-coloured jerseys, denoting as many different 
 Clubs, interspersed with amateurs in mufti and 
 mighty Dons in blameless black, was setting towards 
 the start. As the time becomes short, the stream 
 has ceased to flow. A large group, assembled at 
 the angle of the towing-path corresponding to Grassy, 
 is prepared to take up the running from that point. 
 They are looking quietly towards a bend of the river 
 some fifty yards lower down. Round that bend the 
 
 J. M. 4 
 
50 Sir Richard J ebb \}'^^^ 
 
 boats will appear in five minutes more. It conceals 
 a crowd who, at this moment, are distributed at the 
 starting posts of the various boats, advising, helping, 
 encouraging, or obstructing. 
 
 A gun. ' First gun ! ' says a man at Grassy to 
 his neighbour, and takes out his watch. One minute 
 gone. Two gone. Half a minute left. Another 
 gun. ' Second gun ! ' say the men at Grassy. Talk- 
 ing dwindles to monosyllables, and the Corner is 
 stared out of countenance. Presently, some obscure 
 individual, who has been giving his whole mind to 
 his watch, starts into momentary greatness by 
 announcing ' Ten seconds left ' : and begins telling 
 them off, somewhat grudgingly, as if he had a strong 
 motive for economy in the fact that, while they last, 
 he is the Man of the period. He ceases — a pause — 
 a thrill — the gun. ' They're off.' From round the 
 corner, feeble and conventional cries of ' well started ' 
 or *well rowed,' by which the ear knows that there 
 is no excitement yet. Every eye is on the Corner. 
 In eight seconds, which seem a week, a pointed slip 
 of wood and a white jersey peep round. Third 
 Trinity swings into view — will First never come .'^ 
 Here are the striped jerseys : — they are gaining ; 
 but not much. Their long, hard, steady strokes 
 have an air of weariless strength, but look at Third 
 Trinity — all slighter men, but springing to their 
 short sharp strokes as if they were inspired incar- 
 nations of Pluck ; is the course long enough for 
 strength to gain forty feet on quicksilver ? 
 
 The rival crowds — now almost mingled by the 
 
i86i] Undergraduate Years 51 
 
 increasing proximity of their boats — roar along, 
 howling and raging with excitement. Grassy goes 
 raving mad. The interval is closing and closing, 
 surely and steadily as fate. Now for Ditton Corner, 
 — First Trinity will steer inside, and may bump. 
 They are going round — the nose of the pursuer is 
 thrust between its intended victim and the bank — 
 suddenly, it shoots onwards towards its prey — the 
 coxswain is going to take a shot ! an awful moment 
 — and darts past the stern of Third Trinity. He 
 has missed ! 
 
 Now they will escape. Off they go with 
 something like their hereditary * spurt.' But First 
 Trinity is tearing after them like a disappointed 
 Fury. The yells of the crowd are passionate with 
 the ecstasy of the crisis. But now a thrilling change 
 is coming over the great roar of voices. A moment 
 ago they expressed excitement — now, they are be- 
 ginning to express triumph. You rush on, out of 
 breath. The voices are more exultant every instant. 
 Suddenly — as they start up to the sky in one great 
 impulsive burst — your ear tells you that the crowd 
 has ceased running. First Trinity is Head of the 
 River ! 
 
 I had almost forgotten to mention the Volunteer 
 Review on Saturday. The Inns of Court Corps 
 came down about 350 strong, and were inspected 
 with us by Colonel M'Murdo. Parker's Piece, the 
 scene of operations, was fringed with a dense crowd 
 of carriages and people on foot, who seemed to be 
 as much alive to the ridiculous as the sublime in the 
 
 4—2 
 
5 2 Sir Richard J ebb [1861 
 
 pomp of war that they beheld. Two or three 
 colonels and generals and a sprinkling of gay volun- 
 teer specimens, made rather a showy thing of the 
 review, in which we secured the high praise of 
 almost equalling his nether Majesty's Own." 
 
 The long vacation of 1861 was passed chiefly in 
 Ireland. Jebb had intended to join a reading party 
 of his friends in County Mayo, but an unusually severe 
 attack of hay-fever made it desirable for him to keep 
 as much as possible within doors. 
 
 Early in October he went up to Cambridge, but 
 only to make arrangements for absence. Permission 
 had been given him to spend this term at Desmond, 
 Killiney, away from the distractions of University 
 life and societies. The Tripos was coming peri- 
 lously near ; and if he was to work in earnest for 
 it, this was his last chance. 
 
 To Miss Susan Jebb. 
 
 " Cambridge, 
 
 October 22nd. 
 
 I arrived here this evening, and hope to take my 
 departure on Thursday. My feelings at this moment 
 are precisely those which I used to experience on 
 returning to school ; namely, a vague impression that 
 everybody talks loud, and that everything smells 
 strongly of paint. There is a severe emptiness about 
 places intended for the occupation of the male sex 
 only, which probably causes these effects.... My reso- 
 lution to stay at home is quite in the style of Brutus 
 
i86i] Undergraduate Years 53 
 
 and Cato ; but it is a last chance. I have just been 
 hearing a dismal account of the reading party in 
 Mayo, which I was to have joined. The accommo- 
 dation was miserable, even for an Irish wilderness, 
 and though each of the studious epicures brought a 
 hamper from Fortnum and Mason's, the discomfort 
 was only less than the slowness. Fancy being penned 
 up in a porous cottage for a week of heavy rain at a 
 time, with nothing to do but read. Trevelyan, who 
 like Tancred's valet ' likes his meals regular,' was 
 eloquent on their siifferings " 
 
 He writes later from Killiney : '' The last event 
 was the opening of Mr Bell's church. Archbishop 
 Whately preached the opening sermon. The old 
 man shook with paralysis, while he was speaking 
 with the clear calm face, and the indescribable 
 self-possession that never fails a real master of 
 argument : it seemed as if his Mind had come 
 down by train to preach without noticing it had 
 not put on its best Body. 
 
 I am nothing but exemplary from morning till 
 night ; but it is truly refreshing to think what a new 
 leaf I will turn over when I have taken my degree " 
 
 " Killiney, 
 
 December 2^th^ 1861. 
 
 I came down this morning with a dim suspicion 
 that I was not in a holly-and-ivy frame of mind; 
 and found your letter. It really had the effect of 
 converting December 25 into Christmas-day. 
 
54 Sir Richard J ebb [1862 
 
 We keep up the old fashion of Christmas presents ; 
 and the twins are already armed cap a pie with toys 
 offensive and defensive, — if one may so class the 
 resources of the young unemployed. I gave them 
 fireworks, for two reasons. First, they are soon over ; 
 secondly, there is a chance of some one being blown 
 up, which is a warm Christmas feeling." 
 
 The next letter is written directly after the 
 examination for the Tripos, when, with brain tired 
 by the steady exertion of the previous months of 
 unremitting study, and by that of the examination 
 itself, he gave way to the utmost despondency. 
 
 '■^February 24M, 1862. 
 
 My Dear Susan, 
 
 Do not mention what I am going to tell 
 you. I want to save you some disappointment. I 
 have failed utterly in the Examination. I expected 
 something of the sort, but all has turned out worse 
 than I thought for. For myself I don't care — it 
 matters very little — but it makes me wretched to 
 think what a disappointment is in store for my 
 people. I have written to them, trying to prepare 
 them for it — and shall go home at once, and do all I 
 can to reconcile them to such a miserable result. 
 But it will be hard work — my father has an excessive 
 notion of University honours. 
 
 I feel sure that it is all over with me. I suppose 
 I shall go to India. This is paying with a vengeance 
 for three years' idleness at the time when life is most 
 
1862] Undergraduate Years 55 
 
 enjoyable.... Excuse this scrawl. I am hurried with 
 preparations for departure. 
 
 Your affectionate cousin, 
 
 R. C. Jebb." 
 
 When the list came out he was Senior Classic, 
 with a wide margin above the next man. But for 
 an unlucky mistake in translating some verses in a 
 different metre from the one prescribed, his total 
 would have been so high, one of the examiners told 
 him, that a line would have been drawn under his 
 name. 
 
 " I dare say you think I was shamming a little," 
 he writes to his mother, '* when I professed so much 
 despondency. I can only tell you that I was most 
 sincerely alarmed about my place, and am still entirely 
 at a loss to imagine how I came out so well." 
 
 He took his degree on the 27th of March, after 
 which he went on a round of visits to Firbeck Hall, 
 to Wickersley, to Boston, happy to be again among 
 so many affectionate relations, in the best of spirits 
 now that the incubus which had weighed so heavily 
 was removed. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 FELLOWSHIP AND COLLEGE WORK. 
 
 TOUR IN EGYPT. 
 
 1862— 1864. 
 
 The spring and summer were spent partly at 
 Harrow, whither he went to take up the duties of an 
 Assistant Master for one term, and partly abroad. 
 
 In the autumn he came up to Cambridge to 
 lecture under very unusual circumstances. After 
 such a degree it was natural that he should expect 
 to be elected a Fellow. But the Master and Senior 
 Fellows, in whose hands the election rested, rejected 
 him while taking a man of his own year, much 
 below him in academic distinction. No doubt they 
 thought him young enough to wait ; but to him it 
 seemed an injustice, even an affront. A good deal 
 of indignation was felt by some of the younger 
 Fellows, and at least one of the Seniors thought he 
 had good reason to feel hurt. " Romilly, one of the 
 Seniors," he writes to his mother on October ist 
 " (though not an examiner this time and personally 
 unknown to me), wrote me a very kind note, to-day, 
 
1862] Felloivship and College Work 57 
 
 in which he said, ' I was much surprised as well as 
 grieved that you were not elected this morning, as 
 all the University expected you would be ' (pretty 
 strong that for a Senior of Trinity )....Trevelyan is 
 justly indignant at their treatment of him. I doubt 
 if he will stand again \" 
 
 J ebb was very angry, with the anger of hurt 
 affection : he loved his College and she had snubbed 
 him. All kinds of ideas filled his head. If Trinity 
 would not have him, there were other Colleges where 
 he would be welcomed. He was barely twenty- 
 one and youth is rash ; his friends felt something 
 besides pure reason must be applied to the wound. 
 A scheme was formed whereby he might still come 
 up to his own College in the October term ; and it 
 was very nicely put. The Tutors of Trinity proposed 
 that he should lecture as a Scholar to a picked class 
 of men, offering him the salary of an assistant tutor. 
 This was not permitted by the Seniors, there being 
 no precedent for it ; but some arrangement must 
 have been found possible, for he writes to his 
 mother on November 2nd from Cambridge : 
 
 ''...My duties as a lecturer began on Thursday 
 and hitherto everything has gone smoothly. The 
 Seniors at first objected to my having the use of a 
 lecture room ; but have been induced to yield ; — much 
 to my satisfaction, as it brings out the singularity of 
 my position in strong relief." 
 
 ^ Sir George Trevelyan did not stand again, and Trinity never 
 enrolled his name in its list of Fellows. Many years later he was 
 chosen an Honorary Fellow of the College. 
 
58 Sir Richard Jebb [1862 
 
 To HIS Mother. 
 
 '^November id>th, 1862. 
 
 ...My life for the past fortnight has been far too 
 exemplary to be made amusing. Trevelyan gave a 
 farewell dinner last night. He goes down on the 
 26th and sails for India on the 4th. The Dons affect 
 to think him foolish for not waiting another year for 
 a Trinity Fellowship. His position in India will 
 not be so definite and official as that which the 
 Secretary to the Governor of Madras would have 
 held ; but it will be a rare opportunity for learning 
 habits of business/' 
 
 He had often attempted to keep a diary, but was 
 too much bored by the effort until the happy thought 
 occurred to him to include in his letters to Miss Susan 
 Jebb a daily record^ of his occupations. Where fancy 
 or wit had play, he could picture her smile or com- 
 ment, and writing for sympathetic eyes would be 
 amusing. The love affair by this time had dropped 
 out of sight. Hard work in the autumn of 1861, 
 by absorbing all his faculties, had perhaps given it 
 its death blow. There is no further mention of the 
 young lady except once a message sent through 
 Susan on the death of her father ; — '' I would wish 
 dear E. to know from you that she has the sympathy 
 of an old friend in her bereavement." The full con- 
 fidence and happiness in his friendship with Susan 
 continue. The letters to his cousin exhibit his wit 
 
 ^ He jestingly named this record " Footprints on the sands of 
 time, by a young man all sole." 
 
1862] Fellowship and College Work 59 
 
 in the form most natural to him, a combination of 
 pure fun and delicate irony. There is no ill-nature 
 or sarcasm ; unless when he was very angry his wit 
 was never caustic or bitter. 
 
 The lectures had gone off well, and at Christmas 
 he was again in Ireland. On December 22nd he 
 writes to Susan, who seems to have been remiss on 
 her part. 
 
 " KiLLINEY, 
 
 December 2 2nd^ 1862. 
 
 Dear Madam, 
 
 Considering the time you took to answer 
 my last letter I decided on rejecting your request 
 for a communication before I left the University of 
 Cambridge, though I had plenty of time to write, 
 and a good deal to say : and now, being in a desert 
 island, and having forgotten everything I ever knew 
 about anything, I sit down, not to amuse, but to 
 instruct you.... 
 
 Tiny and I are going to Killarney on the 29th, 
 In the meantime, I am going to take the twins and 
 Tye to the pantomime, and General Colomb and 
 Colonel and Mrs Mackenzie are going with us. Wait 
 till you are as old as I am, and you will like to see 
 young people amused. When I was in London I 
 went to the Westminster Play, which, as you probably 
 know, is always a Latin Play, from Terence or 
 Plautus. The thing I most admired was the ad- 
 mirable provision for applause, which is secured by 
 a standing army of 'gods.' The gods are town 
 boys. They stand on a plank at the top of a tier of 
 
6o Sir Richard J ebb [1863 
 
 seats. They are under the command of the god- 
 keeper, who has a cane ; and when the gods are to 
 signify their unbiassed approbation, the god-keeper 
 waves the cane ; and if the gods are not immediately 
 struck with the dramatic merits of what is going on, 
 they know why next morning. By that system of 
 double government which Is so fruitful of tyranny 
 but so admirable in its results, the god-keeper is 
 himself responsible for the acuteness of artistic feeling 
 shewn by the gods : and is not unfrequently thrashed 
 within an inch of his life, if the deities are obtuse. 
 
 I dined with Thackeray the other day, at his 
 house in Kensington Gardens ; and had a very 
 pleasant evening.... After dinner the whole party, 
 including two Miss Thackerays and another lady, 
 moved into his library where the men were allowed 
 to smoke cigars : then the lamps were turned down, 
 and we sat round a stove, and told ghost stories...." 
 
 The means found for restoring peace had proved 
 efficacious. He came up in the Lent term as usual, 
 took some pupils, did some College work, saw a 
 good deal of his friends, according to his wont, 
 and studied in the intervals. The " Footprints " 
 for his cousin are in the customary tone of playful 
 affection. 
 
 In February Miss Ada Bateman, the youngest 
 daughter in a family of intimate friends, whom he 
 met frequently at Firbeck Hall and often visited at 
 their own house, was to be married. He had been 
 asked to be one of the groomsmen — the number 
 
1863] Fellowship and College Work 61 
 
 was to be eight — and as it was the first time he had 
 ever held office at a wedding he anticipated a good 
 deal of pleasure from the occasion. He was to stay 
 for some days at West Leake, the home of the 
 Batemans ; other young people would be there ; 
 the conditions lent themselves to visions of gaiety. 
 His experiences produced a letter to Susan, who, 
 being in mourning, was kept away. 
 
 To Miss Susan Jebb. 
 
 " Cambridge, 
 
 February I'jth, 1863. 
 
 ...My arduous task is before me — to give 
 an account of the wedding to the hostess of a 
 bridesmaid. The prospect is disheartening ; I am 
 sure you must have heard the whole affair very well 
 described ; so I intend to confine myself to points 
 which a bridesmaid might possibly overlook. 
 
 (i) The hour at which Mr R. C. J. rose on 
 Thursday, the 12th. This gentleman got up at 8.30, 
 sorely against his will ; but he knew that he would 
 not get any breakfast if he was not downstairs at 
 9.30. The groomsmen were assembled in the house- 
 keeper's room ; the bridegroom wore that air of 
 desperate resignation common to persons in his 
 awful position, and feebly carved a ham for such 
 as could eat. Of the latter number was Mr R. C. J. ; 
 but he partook of brawn. ...Then we all smoked in 
 the garden, and wondered what the bridesmaids had 
 for breakfast, and why they took so long to get 
 themselves up. 
 
62 Sir Richard J ebb [1863 
 
 The dance on Thursday evening was pleasant 
 enough, but rather too crowded at first. I think I 
 enjoyed more than anything the walk on Friday 
 morning, over the Fox Hills, as they call them. 
 It was a lovely morning. 
 
 We were lonely, as you may imagine, after the 
 departures on Saturday. I walked back from the 
 station with the Miss Batemans, and they read out 
 for my benefit some of the congratulatory notes 
 received by that morning's post. A very indifferent 
 lot ! (Yours was one of them, I think.) Miss Abney 
 left the same afternoon ; and the Miss B.'s, seeing 
 what low spirits we were in, sent out Alfred B., 
 Miss Shewell, and me for a walk. I have a dim 
 recollection of talking about Indian jugglers, and 
 entirely coinciding with all Miss Shewell's views 
 about Central Africa, and Verbal Inspiration. Music 
 was the order of the evening. 
 
 At Cambridge some of my luggage was missing; 
 but the Inspector has telegraphed up and down the 
 line for it, and I expect to get it soon : and I scarcely 
 regret the temporary deprivation, as it was the 
 occasion of my overhearing a fine piece of irony. 
 
 Official (To Passenger in the Bottomless Pit 
 at the Cambridge station, vainly looking for his 
 luggage). 
 
 ' Well, Sir ? What have you come here for. 
 Sir?' 
 
 Passenger (bitterly). * To see a thing done slow.' 
 
 (Official collapses.) 
 
1863] Fellowship and College Work 63 
 
 My only apology for such an unconscionably 
 long letter Is that I am very busy, and ought to 
 have written a short one." 
 
 ^^ March 2nd^ 1863. 
 
 I am coming round to the belief that, if one keeps 
 a journal at all, it should be something more than a 
 diary of facts. The severity of my style in diary 
 keeping has become such that on reading over a 
 week of it, I find that the record has been most 
 successfully divested of all human associations, and 
 reads like an analysis of the weather. When 
 Macaulay was at Rome for the first time, Trevelyan 
 once told me, he kept a journal of wonderful 
 minuteness — meant of course for his strictly private 
 delectation — which was as carefully written as any- 
 thing he published. The objection to such an 
 attempt by a person leading an unexciting life, and 
 without much time for private reading, would be 
 that he would infallibly fall into the way of attribu- 
 ting a certain number of elevated feelings to himself 
 per diem for the sake of describing them ; nor, if he 
 thought the Wednesday sensations particularly fine, 
 would he perhaps abstain from shewing them to his 
 sister or cousin. On the whole I am resigned to 
 despairing of even the middle course, the hardest 
 of all, and acquiesce in the Meteorological Report. 
 
 On Saturday the ' Society ' met in my rooms, 
 and I read an Essay on a subject of my own 
 devising, ' Is Taste reducible to a science .-* ' My 
 
64 Sir Richard J ebb [1863 
 
 conclusion affirmed the question within limits ; and 
 a majority concurred. The Apostles certainly have 
 one peculiar facility for sifting general questions : 
 familiarity with each other's modes of thinking and 
 experiences allows much to be taken for granted, 
 and the kernel of the matter to be reached at 
 once " 
 
 On October 9th Jebb was elected to a Fellow- 
 ship at Trinity College, and was duly admitted a 
 day or two later, returning to Cambridge for that 
 purpose from a very pleasant visit to Mr Arthur 
 Strutt at Kingston. Mr Heathcote and Mr Currey 
 were also at Kingston, and the four friends were 
 glad to have an opportunity to complete their 
 plans for a tour in Egypt and Syria. 
 
 To Miss Susan Jebb. 
 
 "Cambridge, 
 
 October 2^th, 1863. 
 
 You will perhaps be curious to hear the pro- 
 gramme of this Eastern expedition. Currey and 
 Strutt have just gone to Rome, and will spend the 
 next month in Italy and Sicily. Heathcote and I 
 leave England by the P. & O. steamer on Decem- 
 ber 1 2th. At Malta we shall be joined by the 
 others and shall reach Alexandria about Christmas- 
 day. Allowing five days for the dragoman's pre- 
 parations, we propose to start up the Nile on 
 January ist, and to go as far as the first Cataract. 
 We shall reach Cairo on our return not later than 
 
1863] Tour in Egypt 65 
 
 February 15th, and start as soon as possible across 
 the desert. We hope to see Sinai, and to arrive at 
 Jerusalem about the middle of March. Here two 
 other members of the 'Tea Club,' Lord John Hervey 
 
 and Coore, will join us One month will enable 
 
 us to see something of Palestine, including, we hope, 
 Palmyra and Damascus. Then Constantinople ; then 
 Greece. About June ist we shall turn homeward." 
 
 The Eastern tour began auspiciously on Decem- 
 ber 1 2th, 1863. The weather was good, Jebb was 
 quite well at sea and much enjoyed the voyage. 
 At Malta, he and Mr Heathcote were joined by 
 Mr Strutt and Mr Currey, and the four proceeded 
 in the " Ceylon " to Alexandria, and thence by 
 train to Cairo. Here, or rather at Alexandria, their 
 dragoman mounted guard over their luggage, and 
 except paying him, they had no care whatever. He 
 contracted to provide them with everything requisite 
 for an expedition to the first Cataract, and to charge 
 them only £\. 5^. a head per day, he to pay all 
 backshish. While strolling in the streets of Cairo 
 they had several slight adventures. On one occasion 
 " We^ called on a real live Bey to whom Strutt had 
 an introduction ; and before we were admitted there 
 was an audible scuffle : it was the harem being 
 bundled upstairs. The Bey received us courteously ; 
 he was well-informed, enlightened, etc., and told us 
 a great deal about cotton, and something about flax, 
 but his enlightenment was nothing to his tobacco. 
 * Letter to his mother, January 5, 1864. 
 
 J. M. 5 
 
66 Sir Richard J ebb [1863 
 
 We sat on one divan and he on an opposite one ; he 
 did not clap his hands, but menials, who it is sweet 
 to think may have been slaves, did bring coffee and 
 presented long pipes, and we smoked the remarkable 
 fine mild Turkish of a real, live, palpable Osmanli. 
 Still, I bear him one grudge — he might have clapped 
 his hands ; and perhaps a person with some con- 
 sideration for others would have had slaves with 
 silver anklets. 
 
 One great peril encompasses the romantic traveller 
 at this point of his journey — it is an arduous task 
 to breast the tide of cockneyism which surges in 
 from Southampton, and with one's Herodotus and 
 Wilkinson between one's teeth to bear one's illusions 
 scatheless to the pillars of Karnak. You feel that 
 if you were only at Thebes — if you had but the 
 Memnon statue or a Colossus or so, or a few thou- 
 sand hawk-headed deities, you could bear up better. 
 
 I have bought a pipe which I think will astonish 
 you some fine morning in June. When I bought it, 
 I was distinctly picturing to myself how we should 
 go out after breakfast and sit in the iron chair in the 
 garden and talk heterodoxy. 
 
 How I long to hear from you! I think of you 
 all constantly. Ah, how I wish we were together 
 here ! I trust this is the last long separation, as it is 
 the first we have ever had. In spite of all the 
 variety of new things about me, I am very often as 
 homesick as a boy in his first week at school. It 
 seems so dreary to be divided from you all by so 
 many thousand miles. Explain to the darling 
 
1864] Tour in Egypt 67 
 
 people at Danesfort that this letter is for all of you. 
 Much as I wish to write a great many letters there 
 is not time." 
 
 Here at Cairo they saw the Great Pyramid for 
 the first time. 
 
 To HIS Mother. 
 
 ^^ January Zth^ 1864. 
 
 I shall never forget the moment when the 
 presence of the oldest monument in the world broke 
 upon us. You do not see it from the shore, but on 
 the second morning of our stay on board our boat, I 
 was taking a listless survey of the town and harbour, 
 when, suddenly, as my eye rested on the western 
 bank, there was the form so long familiar standing 
 up in awful reality against the speckless sky, the 
 same to my eye as when Abraham looked upon it 
 four thousand years ago. It is worth coming 3,000 
 miles to experience the sensation of awe, perhaps 
 momentary, which for that moment at least enables 
 one to conceive the inconceivable, as one stands face 
 to face with some unchanged witness of the primeval 
 world." 
 
 Their voyage up to the Cataract, which began on 
 January 9th, was marked by no untoward incidents, 
 and all explorations were left for the down journey. 
 Assouan was the end of the actual voyage, but, as 
 all travellers do, they went on to the Island of 
 Philae, taking the universal donkey for the seven 
 miles to be traversed from Assouan. 
 
68 Sir Richard J ebb [1864 
 
 To HIS Mother. 
 **As you round a slight bend in your path along 
 
 the eastern bank Philae is before you. There 
 
 is — or at least so I thought — something very grand 
 and beautiful in the scene that opens here ; the rocks 
 are even more picturesque in form and grouping, 
 the background bolder ; and the few palms and 
 partial verdure of the sacred island give a pleasant 
 resting place to the eye. Indeed, I was so engrossed 
 by the coup ctceily that it was a moment before I 
 observed the central wonder of the scene. From 
 the centre of Philae, of a pale brown against the 
 dark rugged background, rise the perfect and majestic 
 towers of an Egyptian temple — not our Western 
 notion of towers — but those massive piles, like 
 pyramids with their apex taken off, that stand on 
 each side of the gateway in the temples of ancient 
 Egypt, and were once approached through a long 
 avenue of Sphinxes. Somehow that first glimpse of 
 those two great towers, and the buildings behind 
 them, at a distance which quite disguised the ravages 
 of time, in a neighbourhood so unutterably wild, so 
 absolutely remote from all other associations of a 
 great and powerful civilisation — that first glimpse 
 probably brought me nearer to some dim realization 
 of Ancient Egypt than the less lonely splendours of 
 
 Luxor and Karnak could ever do I think one 
 
 of the facts which first struck me most was the 
 colossal size of the figures graven on the walls, 
 
 exterior and interior And, once for all, I must 
 
 state — for I cannot explain — the quite peculiar 
 
1864] Tour in Egypt 69 
 
 sensation which falls upon me from the awful 
 SILENCE of these huge gods and kings whose 
 mute significance was once so much more definite 
 
 than that of any picture or sculpture Never 
 
 before did I appreciate Shelley's epithet 
 
 * He lingered poring on Memorials 
 Of the world's youth, through the long burning day — 
 Gazed on those SPEECHLESS shapes '" 
 
 On their return down the Nile they were com- 
 pensated for not being able to sail by the as yet 
 unproved pleasure of temple-seeing. The first 
 temple they saw was Ombus, the place of crocodile- 
 worship, where a grand portico remains close to the 
 river. He writes to his mother in February : *' This 
 temple was sacred jointly to two deities, and so the 
 entablature above the great columns of the portico 
 exhibits two winged globes. When one has seen 
 these sweeping pinions widespread over the sublime 
 entrance of an Egyptian temple — and they are found 
 there always — one perceives that Isaiah seized a 
 most striking feature ifi their religious symbolism 
 when he describes Egypt as 'a land shadowing 
 with wings.' " 
 
 The tour was unfortunately cut short for him by 
 illness : on their return to Cairo he was laid up with 
 a mild attack of gastric fever, followed by jaundice. 
 It was the greatest disappointment to him not to 
 see Palestine, but his doctor discouraged the attempt 
 so strongly, that, as soon as he was well enough, 
 he started for home in the *' Syria" on March 30th, 
 
70 Sir Richard J ebb [1864 
 
 taking the long voyage to Southampton instead of 
 stopping at Marseilles, as he did not feel equal 
 to the railway journey through France. 
 
 After a month of the quiet life and health-giving 
 air of Killiney the jaundice left him, and gradually 
 he regained his usual health and spirits. 
 
 To HIS Sister. 
 
 " Desmond, 
 
 August 13//^, 1864. 
 My dearest Tye, 
 
 I am afraid I have not much to say. I 
 defy the author of the ' Polite Letter Writer ' to find 
 anything to say about any given fortnight at Killiney. 
 As you well know, we took a drive yesterday after- 
 noon, and, as you have long anticipated, Bobby and 
 Mama take another to-day. A letter came for you 
 from Olivia Finlay to-day, which Mama opened, as 
 she thought it might be a proposal for me, or some 
 such matter of business. I read it over her shoulder, 
 and can assure you that you are welcome to the 
 whole of the contents. We called at Stoneville the 
 other day. Mrs Pratt said that I looked more like 
 a cavalry officer than a fellow of Oxford ; and the 
 Colonel wanted to know if ancient Egyptian was still 
 much spoken on the Nile. Then we went on to 
 TalbotSj'Joneses, and Colombs, of whom the last only 
 were at home. 
 
 You will get this on your birthday. May they 
 go on accumulating, long, long after you have begun 
 to think accuracy unnecessary in counting them! 
 
1864] Letters 71 
 
 When, many years hence, you and I are keeping 
 house together, I shall, ever on this day, present 
 you with some elegant trifle, inscribed with the exact 
 date of your birth." 
 
 His sister had asked him to arrange a course of 
 reading for her. He answers in the character of an 
 elderly uncle, feeling amused that anyone should 
 consider him an authority. 
 
 To HIS Sister. 
 
 '■^ Septe7nber^ 1864. 
 
 My dear Child, 
 
 Nothing gives me more pleasure than to 
 be able to afford the benefit of such experience as I 
 have had to those whose youth renders education a 
 matter of paramount importance. You are kind 
 enough, in your last letter, to express a belief that 
 I have the power to render you such help ; and 
 pursuant to your wish, I write a few remarks which 
 seem suited to the extended scale on which you 
 purpose to pursue your studies. 
 
 In the first place, you cannot do better than make 
 reading the basis of your whole course of study. 
 But you must seek those works which are calculated 
 to expand and elevate the thoughts, not to depress 
 the intellectual faculties and cause you to degenerate 
 into a mere reader of fiction. Not that I would 
 discourage novel-reading as a whole, but I would 
 cautiously advise you to read no work of fiction 
 unless the name of the author guarantees its literary 
 and moral excellence. For example, the works of 
 
72 Sir Richard J ebb [1864 
 
 Scott, Dickens, or Thackeray, and the later works 
 of Bulwer, although varying In the principles they 
 inculcate, never lead us to refine upon human de- 
 ficiencies, or to mistake sentimentalism for feeling.... 
 
 Yours affectionately, 
 
 R. C. Jebb. 
 
 P.S. Will you tell me the name of the pianoforte 
 tuner at Kingstown ; or do you refuse ? Send a 
 single line, if you like, saying ' I decline for certain 
 reasons to communicate the name of this tuner,' and 
 I will respect your reserve without questioning your 
 motives. But do not, do not prolong this suspense." 
 
 "Cambridge, 
 
 Friday, October 31^/. 
 
 '* I had a walk with Sidgwick to-day, which I 
 enjoyed very much. He is one of the most agree- 
 able companions I know here. Mr Wood gave me 
 my music lesson as usual, and for the first time I got 
 kudos for the sonata of Beethoven's." 
 
 All through the diary the weather never fails to 
 be recorded, the beauty of the trees, the clouds, the 
 colouring of the seasons, almost every sunbeam 
 noted. 
 
 To HIS Mother. 
 
 "Trinity College, 
 
 December 6th, 1864. 
 
 I have just come in from a solitary walk. I 
 am not sure that I do not sometimes prefer my own 
 
1864] Letters 73 
 
 company to any that I can get — as far as walking is 
 concerned at least. There is something that I enjoy 
 very much in the frosty twilight of a December 
 afternoon. To-day everything was still and clear, 
 and the sunlight, with the afternoon shadows, was 
 
 beautiful I suppose that susceptibility to the 
 
 quieter beauties of nature is sometimes the com- 
 pensation for suppressed ardour and ambition in 
 vivid temperaments. I do not, somehow, associate 
 the kind of feeling that these things give me now 
 with my childhood, though a striking landscape 
 always impressed me intensely. Perhaps half the 
 charm of these calm winter scenes is their nameless 
 * regret ' — the ' divine despair ' that touches nearly 
 all impressible people now and then, but which has 
 no place in the mind of a child. I never ex- 
 perienced this vague sensation half so strongly as in 
 the Egyptian sunsets. Do you know, under the 
 strange spell that they threw over me, I more than 
 once caught a glimpse of some incident in my early 
 childhood, that had left no former vestige in my 
 memory ? When I said that I do not associate the 
 sensation itself with my earliest recollections, I did 
 not mean that the sensation does not often help me 
 to recall old times. It is of later growth itself; but 
 it is often the window through which I catch glimpses 
 of bygone years. I can tell you that I have begun 
 fairly to indulge in thinking about Christmas. I 
 shall continue to get up at seven o'clock, as it agrees 
 with me so well. Then I shall have an hour's 
 reading ; and as I suppose we shall both breakfast 
 
fy Sir Richard J ebb [1864 
 
 about nine, I shall be ready to come and read to 
 you afterwards till you begin to think of getting up, 
 and order me to ring your bell. Then I shall do 
 some reading ; and when you come downstairs we 
 will sit in the garden together 
 
 Next Tuesday! It is not far off now. The 
 notches on the Cambridge stick and Winchester 
 stick are nearly done, and in three days more the 
 Winchester and Cambridge stick will respectively 
 be cut\ 
 
 Butler has come up for one day only. I was 
 lucky to get nearly two hours of him. It is wonder- 
 ful how his freshness and vigour have survived the 
 ageing ordeal of a Headmaster's routine. His work 
 is very hard, and much of it very dull, but his 
 capacity of taking vivid interest in new books, new 
 questions, and old friends is unimpaired." 
 
 ^ His brother Heneage was at school at Winchester. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 DIARY AND LETTERS. PUBLIC ORATORSHIP. 
 1865— 1870. 
 
 The next few years are marked by no events of 
 an exceptional nature. Term succeeded term, and 
 vacation vacation ; time slipped by in University 
 life quickly and almost without notice. The " Diary" 
 letters, now addressed to his mother, are records of 
 lectures given, books read, reviews written for the 
 '' Saturday," to which he has become a weekly con- 
 tributor. He likes, indeed loves, some of his pupils, 
 who quickly become his friends, and does his best to 
 make them work ; and he never seems to have a 
 single meal alone. The old ''Tea Club" of his 
 undergraduate days, which was instituted by a group 
 who disliked four o'clock hall, had ended naturally 
 when most of its members went down, but other 
 clubs sprang up in its place. Next to the meetings 
 of the " Society," he found dining with the '' Con- 
 vivialists" (Rothschild, Flower, Kenyon) as their 
 guest at their weekly dinner parties most enjoy- 
 able. They seem to have gathered about them 
 almost everyone of interest in the University. It 
 was a very brilliant group in Trinity at that time 
 
76 Sir Richard J ebb [1865 
 
 that made the inner circle of J ebb's friends. Even 
 their amusements were an intellectual exercise : 
 acrostics were the fashion of the moment, and the 
 late Mr F. W. H. Myers is my authority for saying 
 that ''none were ever written Jebb could not solve." 
 March 20, 1865, he writes in the '* Diary" : '* I 
 am brimming over with triumph at this moment. 
 The Right Honourable Robert Lowe gave Roths- 
 child an acrostic for me as hard as he could make 
 it ; I have guessed it two hours after it came to 
 Cambridge. I wonder how quickly he will guess 
 the following of my composition. See if you can. 
 Mr Lowe is said to be wonderful at acrostics. 
 
 Tarn O'Shanter when hunted by imps in a pack 
 Had my second in front, and my first on his back ; 
 Now, if the O'Shanter had been but my whole, 
 He would, I presume, have shewn fight for his soul. 
 
 L 
 I never state unqualified opinions; 
 Why am I vexed by Satire and her minions ? 
 
 I'm a young lady mentioned by the Childe ; 
 But my prestige is singularly mild : 
 Gulnare, Medora, make profound sensations — 
 Pin chiefly known as having expectations. 
 
 HI. 
 
 When meetings gush, I thank their evening gun, 
 I'm still the sour minority of one. 
 
 It is a word of two syllables, ' my First and my 
 Second.'" (The answer is j^^;^/^;;^.) 
 
1865] Diary and Letters yy 
 
 Many pen portraits are given in the '' Diary" in 
 order that the home people may follow the record 
 more intelligently. 
 
 March 21st. "I had two or three people at 
 breakfast to-day : the Greek Professor, Mr Thomp- 
 son\ Sidgwick, Pollock, and Mr Aldis Wright. The 
 Greek Professor is no ordinary person. As a young 
 man he was wonderfully handsome, wonderfully 
 witty, in short a demigod of whom all things were 
 expected. He retains in his ashes the power of 
 saying better things than anybody in Cambridge, 
 and more of them, but always in a caustic vein now ; 
 of his good looks age and indigestion have left just 
 enough to help one to the belief that he must have 
 been a splendid looking young man ; of the brilliant 
 auguries of his old friends, alas, little has come : 
 ill-health has prevented him from doing anything 
 substantial." 
 
 Among Jebb's pupils and associates were men 
 of every variety of early experience. It interested 
 him to see how the surface, at any rate, was 
 smoothed and polished for those who from the first 
 had had what are called social advantages. 
 
 March 29M. '* The more I see of young men of 
 different ages and sets, the more I am struck with 
 the omnipotence of good society in educating a boy, 
 who is not positively unamiable to begin with. The 
 cleverest man I know talks incomparably worse than 
 Z., who, though a clever man, is a mere child in 
 
 ^ Afterwards Master of Trinity. 
 
78 Sir Richard J ebb [1865 
 
 age, mind, and ideas, compared with him. X. Y. is 
 another instance of the same thing. He is not 
 clever ; but he is one of the most charming men I 
 know. I think the secret is this. Nothing but con- 
 stant intercourse with one's fellow-creatures suffices 
 to keep before the mind a vivid perception of what 
 may or may not hurt another's feelings. A man who 
 has not much practice, and who lives by himself a 
 good deal, has a very inaccurate idea of what it is 
 polite to say.... From sheer bluntness of perception 
 he uses a turn of expression or a phrase which 
 wounds your little amour propre ; after which you 
 listen to him under a wet blanket and are bored." 
 
 With himself consideration for the feelings of 
 others was an instinct. The Headmaster of Charter- 
 house^ in a letter to me emphasises this trait : — 
 
 " I well remember the unobtrusive censure with which, 
 almost upon the sly, Jebb set his mark against the false 
 quantity or solecism, while at the other end of the verse he 
 discussed some delicacy of taste or of scholarship. In those 
 blithe careless days we rather smiled at the scruples of 
 courtesy, which seemed needless as they certainly were 
 unaccustomed; but things change complexion... and it is 
 best of all now to remember the Teacher, to whom the con- 
 viction of a boyish blunder seemed almost like trenching 
 on a discourtesy. In the world of scholarship he taught us 
 all good manners, and Attic seemliness became in him a 
 sort of inner spiritual force, that neither uttered nor ad- 
 mitted * one rude word.' " 
 
 April \st. " This has been such a lovely 
 day — real spring at last. Hervey and I had a de- 
 lightful long walk, which I enjoyed more than any 
 1 The Rev. Dr Rendell. 
 
1865] Diary and Letters 79 
 
 walk this term. He is one of the very pleasantest of 
 companions, and we have always a good deal to say, 
 and almost always one good argument at least. 
 Some people prefer the society of those with whom 
 they disagree on some subjects, inasmuch as differ- 
 ence of opinion promotes conversation ; for my part 
 I prefer people, even to talk to, whose views are the 
 same as my own. John Hervey and I think alike 
 on nearly all subjects, and I do not think I have ever 
 enjoyed conversations with persons of my own sex so 
 much as some that I have had with him." 
 
 April ^th. " The work of the term is over 
 at last. It has been a very long one, but pleasant 
 beyond my expectations ; indeed, if it has had a 
 fault at all, it is that there has been too much society 
 for a sober old bachelor and young don like myself. 
 By Thursday everyone will have gone down, and 
 there will be nothing to interfere with solitary 
 students. After so long a spell of rather uninterest- 
 ing work, relieved by constant dinner parties and 
 rubbers of whist, it will be rather satisfactory to have 
 a short interval of solitude for mental refreshment. 
 
 Dr Whewell has just lost his wife after a very 
 short illness. It is sad for the poor old man, who 
 was settling down for such a happy old age, and 
 beginning to rest on the honours which must hence- 
 forth be unshared. They say she was his first love. 
 If so, it is a curious instance of a disappointed man 
 achieving greatness, and eventually sharing it with 
 the first object of his affections. " 
 
8o Sir Richard Jebb [1866 
 
 November 21st. "I dined with Sidgwick last 
 night ; such a distinguished party — two Professors, 
 two Senior Wranglers, three Senior Classics, and 
 the Senior and Junior Dean. Professor Fawcett, the 
 blind M.P., asked me to take him for a walk to- 
 morrow. I am very glad to know him better." 
 
 February ijtk, 1866. ''John Hervey came back 
 and we had a long and delightful chat. He is a 
 friend in a thousand, and I don't think there could 
 be a better proof of it than that at the end of five 
 years I like him better than ever. 
 
 Ulick Bourke^ is now certain of rowing in the 
 boat race, and his place in the Eight will be No. 3. 
 The precarious position of the crew presumptive, 
 before the boat is definitely made up, is well illus- 
 trated by a fact he mentioned this morning. One 
 day, at the training breakfast, it was noticed with dis- 
 may by everyone that there were nine in the room : 
 no one could tell that the newcomer was not to sup- 
 plant him ! 
 
 At the meeting of the Examiners for the Craven 
 this afternoon, we knocked off all the seventy-two 
 candidates except four, among whom the competition 
 now lies. The election will take place on March 9th. 
 In the meantime each Examiner will have to mark 
 forty papers with great care. It seems to me that 
 in rewarding her Examiners merely with honour 
 our august Mother does not make such a bad 
 bargain." 
 
 ^ A cousin. 
 
i866] Diary and Letters 8i 
 
 February 22nd. ''At two o'clock attended at 
 the Senate House to vote in favour of the pro- 
 posed American Lectureship. My friend, H. Y. 
 Thompson, had made an offer to the University 
 of endowing a chair for a Lecturer to be sent over 
 biennially from Harvard University, U.S.A., with 
 the object of making us better acquainted with 
 American affairs in general. A narrow and bigoted 
 party in the University succeeded, unfortunately, in 
 raising the cry that Harvard is a seat of Socinianism, 
 and by mixing up the religious question with the 
 matter contrived to intimidate a number of men. 
 The proposal was rejected, though only by 105 votes 
 to 75-" 
 
 February 26th. " Myers is a man for whom I am 
 beginning to have admiration. He has great self- 
 command and earnestness of purpose. Having come 
 to the conclusion that the life he has been leading 
 is not the thing, he has devoted himself to self- 
 discipline, such as he believes suited to his own tem- 
 perament. He never goes anywhere. He gets up 
 at 6.30 and goes to bed at ten. His days are spent 
 in reading Fcce Homo, and thinking. All this may 
 seem morbid, and many people would laugh at it, but 
 for my part I respect and congratulate a man who 
 can do it. It shows that he has a strong interest 
 and that he is in earnest. The thing that puzzles 
 me in life is how people who have enough energy 
 left to be in earnest about anything can be unhappy. 
 And yet I do not think Myers is happy. For my 
 
 J. M. 6 
 
82 Sir Richard Jebb [1866 
 
 own part, I am never unhappy when I feel capable 
 of an effort : unhappiness and prostration are with 
 me synonymous." 
 
 To HIS Mother. 
 
 "Trinity College, 
 
 March 10th, 1866. 
 
 All is at last over ; our poor Master died about 
 two hours ago, very peacefully ; and a great still- 
 ness has settled down upon the College, where all 
 are thinking of the great man who has just passed 
 away from us, in the fulness of age and honours, and 
 within the walls where all his work was done and all 
 his long life spent. It is a pleasant thought to 
 me that uniform kindness and courtesy are my only 
 associations with the memory of one whom many 
 thought arrogant, but whom those who knew him 
 most and best, credited with a large and warm heart. 
 It seems such a short time since the stately old man, 
 too proud to struggle with his grief, followed his wife 
 to her grave, and went back to his lonely house ; and 
 I am sure that if last April he could have known that 
 the separation was but for a few months, the sorrow 
 that awed all who witnessed it would have been less 
 bitter. 
 
 Flower has been sitting with me : he brought the 
 news. Percy Hudson came in soon afterwards. Great 
 changes will soon come in the College ; and in a 
 body like ours, anxieties for the future necessarily 
 tread very closely on such an event as to-day's. 
 Expectation begins to point to Thompson, the Greek 
 
1 866] Diary and Letters 83 
 
 Professor ; but I am of opinion that Vaughan^ is a 
 far more likely man. It is no light matter to us 
 Fellows who is to reign over us, with so much power 
 for good or evil, during the best years of our lives." 
 
 March i6tk. '' ...The funeral of the Master 
 
 took place this morning There could not have 
 
 been less than seven hundred persons present. The 
 grave was opened in the floor of the ante-chapel, and 
 a platform for the choristers was raised on one side 
 of it. This part of the service was peculiarly touch- 
 ing, the familiar place being so closely associated 
 in the minds of all Trinity men with him who was 
 being laid in it. 
 
 I walked with Butler — a long walk — and dined in 
 hall. The Master-Presumptive, Professor Thomp- 
 son, came over and sat by me. I could not help 
 thinking as he sat there what an admirable successor 
 he would make to the great man whom we have lost. 
 Thompson is even now a strikingly handsome man 
 — tall, dignified, and with the air noble as emphatic- 
 ally as almost anyone I have ever seen." 
 
 March \%th. '' Lightfoot preached a funeral 
 sermon on the late Master this morning, and the 
 chapel was crowded to hear it. He took for his text 
 I Corinthians xv. 32, and dwelt on the special 
 stimulus to effort which, in a society like ours, is 
 supplied by a long line of intellectual ancestry. One 
 more great name, he added, had passed from the 
 
 ^ Dr Vaughan is said to have declined an offer of the 
 Mastership. 
 
 6—2 
 
84 Sir Richard J ebb [1866 
 
 ranks of the combatants to the ranks of the spec- 
 tators (alluding to the metaphor of his text, taken 
 from the combats of the amphitheatre) ; and 
 then he reviewed Whewell's position as a literary 
 man, passing on to his personal relations with our- 
 selves, touching very happily on an incident of 
 exactly a year ago, when, on this fifth Sunday in 
 Lent, the Master attended the service in the College 
 Chapel almost immediately after his wife's death, 
 and did not shrink ' to commit to our sympathies 
 the saddest of all sights — an old man's bereave- 
 ment and a strong man's tears.' " 
 
 April '^rd. " Missed my walk to-day, having 
 promised to do a good office for Gray by coming 
 to Chapel at three o'clock, and being present as 
 the necessary witness when he expounded the 
 catechism, according to an old College custom by 
 which that duty devolves on the Junior Dean at 
 this season. So we went together to the great 
 empty place, and he mounted the Dean's desk and 
 held forth while I played congregation." 
 
 To HIS Mother. 
 
 ''April i^th, 1866. 
 
 You ask me to give you my opinion of 
 
 Ecce Homo. Well, to begin with, I am satisfied 
 that the man is not a Unitarian. Two or three times 
 the doubt crossed me in the earlier chapters ; but, as 
 the plan of the book was developed, I was struck 
 rather by the calmness and confidence, not very 
 usual in the essayists of the day, with which the 
 
1 866] Diary and Letters 85 
 
 writer assumed orthodoxy. And in point of fact it 
 is precisely this assumption of the Divinity of Christ, 
 I mean, of course, this absence of allusion to the fact 
 as one to be discussed, which avowed disbelievers 
 like Huxley have in view when they call Ecce Homo 
 a feeble book. The very division of the subject 
 which the writer has adopted seems to me to an- 
 nounce his emphatic rejection of Unitarianism. If 
 the writer intimates that in Ecce Homo he has con- 
 sidered only one side of the subject ; if, in order to 
 render the survey complete, a companion work is 
 promised, what else can be its theme but ' Ecce 
 Deus ' ? 
 
 As to the value of the book as an aid to practical 
 religion, it appears to me to consist : (i) In its vivid 
 illustration of this position : how do men become, 
 for the most part, pure, generous, and humane ? By 
 personal, not by logical influences. (Chapter on the 
 nature of Christ's Society, I think.) (2) In the stress 
 laid on imitation of Christ as a result of enthusiastic 
 personal attachment to him. But this is a very bald 
 account of the matter ; nor, indeed, have I more than 
 skimmed the book." 
 
 Some years after this, when Professor Seeley 
 was staying with us at Glasgow, J ebb ventured to 
 ask him if he intended to bring out another study 
 of Christ. The answer, most unexpected, was to 
 the effect that he had fulfilled this intention already. 
 On being pressed for an explanation, he said that he 
 meant his Life of Stein ! His questioner's comment 
 on this, in telling it to the present Headmaster of 
 
86 Sir Richard Jebb [1866 
 
 Eton, was that if he had heard this statement 
 attributed to Seeley, he would have scouted it as 
 incredible. 
 
 Part of the long vacation was spent with Lord 
 John Hervey in a short tour along the banks of the 
 Loire. They had meant to include Brittany in the 
 trip, but after seeing Blois and Amboise and the 
 country in the neighbourhood, they were stopped 
 short at Tours by Lord John's becoming ill. The 
 attack, though sharp, yielded easily to rest and 
 treatment, but great weakness followed, and the 
 French physician ordained that for "■ ten days at 
 the less " they must stay where they were. The 
 letters show their spirits unaffected by this break 
 in their plans. 
 
 To HIS Mother. 
 
 " H6tel de l'Univers, 
 Tours, 
 
 September Afth^ 1866. 
 
 ...We are going on very satisfactorily here, and 
 I feel myself settling down into a provincial French- 
 man, and speculating as to when I shall next take a 
 run up to Paris to see the last new farce at the 
 Palais Royal, and get a new hat. Hervey and I 
 play picquet after dinner, which we always have at 
 7.15. We have got a very diminutive pack of 
 apricot-coloured cards, with rounded corners and 
 gilt edges, and printed names in the corner of the 
 court cards. The king of diamonds is David, and 
 the queen of spades, Sarah.... 
 
1 866] Diary and Letters 87 
 
 We have another unfaiHng source of amusement 
 in the garpon. He is a boy of about nineteen, I 
 should think, with very bright twinkling eyes, a low 
 forehead with the hair all down on one side, and a 
 most mischievous expression. Every now and then 
 it befalls him to be seized with perfect spasms of 
 laughter, perhaps in the middle of dinner, and he 
 has to retire, on some shallow pretence, in a convul- 
 sive state. One hears some choking inarticulate 
 sounds as he leaves the room, and by and by an 
 explosion in the distance. The uncertainty of these 
 attacks makes them rather exciting. It is a curious 
 coincidence, however, that they seem liable to follow 
 remarks addressed to him in French by me-, but this 
 is merely a singular symptom of his case, and throws 
 no light, of course, upon the causes at work. His 
 last serious attack came on at dinner yesterday. 
 He had put some unripe peaches on the table, and 
 Hervey remarked that they were dures comme poires, 
 when I added et vertes comme haricots (in playful 
 allusion to the haricots verts which appear regularly 
 in the carte du jour). The effect upon poor J acques 
 was instantaneous and appalling : he fled, purple 
 and suffocating, and we felt relieved for his life when 
 a loud report behind the door announced that the 
 paroxysm was past. Hervey, who is pardonably 
 proud of his skill in the language of the country, 
 was at first a little discomposed by this suppressed 
 derision, and talked seriously of the necessity of 
 remonstrating with Jacques. By degrees, however, 
 it became clear that this mysterious influence on 
 
88 Sir Richard J ebb [1866 
 
 the youth's disorder resided only in one of us ; and 
 now Hervey thinks him a very honest, amusing 
 fellow. As to my feelings towards the boy, this is 
 neither the time nor the place to speak of them. 
 
 I find that it was a mistake to call the cathedral 
 here St Martins ; it is St Gatiens, The famous old 
 cathedral of St Martin was destroyed at the Revo- 
 lution, after twelve centuries of renown, and nothing 
 remains of it but a pair of insignificant towers in an 
 obscure street. Wherever one goes in France, one 
 has reason to deplore the senseless and irreparable 
 havoc committed in the name of civil liberty. At 
 Orleans, for example, the democrats melted down, 
 to make cannon, a statue of Jeanne d'Arc erected 
 only a few years after her death, about 1435, it is 
 said. At Blois, they whitewashed all the fine old 
 rooms in the Castle ; but that folly has fortunately 
 been cancelled by the new decorations, and, indeed, 
 was nothing worse than vandalism. It was some- 
 thing worse than vandalism to destroy such a grand 
 old pile as St Martin's Cathedral. When one con- 
 siders the incalculable treasures of art throughout 
 France which the Revolution swept away, one sees 
 that it was one of the most tremendous blows 
 ever dealt at the continuity of human records. It 
 quite deserves to rank, in this point of view, 
 with the burning of the Alexandrian Library by 
 Omar. It destroyed a mass of memorials which 
 nothing can replace, and left gaps and blanks for 
 the antiquarians and historians of all ages to 
 regret." 
 
1 866] Diary and Letters 89 
 
 October 21st, '* I heard to-day of a most romantic 
 act of generous friendship, the more striking to 
 me as I actually know the parties. A Trinity 
 man was engaged to be married, but neither he 
 nor the lady had any money, and a long engage- 
 ment was before them. When lo, a College friend 
 of the Lothario's — an undergraduate at Magdalene 
 with ;^6ooo a year — comes forward and presents 
 him with ^10,000; on the strength of this the 
 young couple have been married. 
 
 November ist, 1866, will be illustrious in the 
 history of Trinity as the first day on which a late 
 dinner took place in the College hall. There is 
 actually to be a 'feast' at seven o'clock! One of the 
 very old dons, who had dined at four all his life, was 
 so much disgusted that he said in hall yesterday, let 
 them pay him his dividends in advance and he would 
 resign his fellowship ! * The framework of society 
 must be going to pieces.' '* 
 
 November iitk. '' Went for a walk with Pollock 
 to-day and we talked about Ritualism, one of the 
 great topics here at present. It is creditable to 
 the common-sense of our men that nothing corre- 
 sponding to the caricature of Ritualism at Oxford 
 has been attempted in Cambridge." 
 
 Jebb went to Dresden in the Christmas vacation 
 with a view to improving both his German and 
 music. Mr Cobb, a Fellow of Trinity, a man of 
 high musical attainments, was his companion, and 
 
90 Sir Richard J ebb [1866 
 
 together they estabHshed themselves in a very well 
 known pension, that of Fraulein Kretschner. The 
 house was so full that at first the friends shared one 
 room ; also, they had to dine with the children at a 
 side-table in a room behind the dining-room. '' By 
 and by we shall be promoted, and truly glad I shall 
 be. Our side-table is presided over by a most 
 amiable and excellent Fraulein Somebody, a great 
 friend of Fraulein Kretschner s, who helps her to do 
 the honours ; and this good lady hammers away at 
 me with her German till I am nearly wild and all 
 thoughts of food have become odious to me. ' Sehr 
 gut ' and * sehr schon ' and ' ja ' and * so ' will hardly 
 get the most skilful and economical listener through 
 dinner comfortably ; and when I attempt to con- 
 struct a remark on the strength of knowing some 
 one word, it is not always as intelligible as it de- 
 serves. However, Herr Schier (if indeed that is his 
 name) and I begin our studies at eight to-morrow 
 morning, and I shall take care that they are of a 
 practical character for the first few days ; else I shall 
 die of atrophy or of indigestion. No convict left for 
 execution ever heard the bell of Newgate begin to 
 toll with more despair than I hear the sounds that 
 knell forth breakfast or dinner^" 
 
 Lessons in German and music were taken daily, 
 and very soon he became at ease in the language. 
 Two Oxford men, *' Ridley, a Fellow of All Souls, 
 and Cookson," were staying in the same house, and 
 the three went together on Christmas Eve to hear 
 ^ Letter to his mother, December 20, 1866. 
 
1 866] Diary and Letters 91 
 
 the midnight Mass at the Katholische Kirche, where 
 the music was magnificent. Mr Cobb and he 
 escaped on Christmas Day from the children and 
 the back-room, as the Americans who had hitherto 
 barred the way both at bed and board, had left. 
 '' Cobb and I will have separate rooms now," writes 
 J ebb in the diary. 
 
 He enjoyed his stay in Dresden extremely. The 
 wonderful music was a daily delight, and soon other 
 entertainments appear. On December 27th there is 
 a dance, and Messrs Ridley and Cookson and he 
 hold a consultation on the programme of dances. 
 They go to the opera on the off-nights when there 
 is no concert. Weber's opera, " Oberon," made a 
 deep impression. ** The scenery was beautiful ; the 
 overture magnificent," he writes to his mother on 
 December 29th. *' It is a most exquisite pleasure to 
 hear good music executed faultlessly. Every man in 
 the band is an artist of the very first order ; not a 
 few are celebrities. No wonder there is no such 
 orchestra in Europe. But though the music was 
 glorious, I had an equal treat in the acting of a lady 
 who had only a very small part, that of wife to the 
 Emir who bullied the lovers and wanted to marry 
 the princess. This part was played by Fraulein 
 Ulrich ; and I have no hesitation in saying that she 
 is the greatest genius, male or female, that it has 
 been my fortune to see on the stage : not great 
 praise, as it happens, and I would make it greater if 
 I could. When I add that she is decidedly very 
 pretty, you will justly conclude that as soon as Herr 
 
92 Sir Richard J ebb [1867 
 
 Schier and I have conjugated willen and sollen, I 
 shall ask her to accompany me to an island where 
 young women are never married to Turks — to my 
 free, my romantic England." 
 
 The party of Englishmen was increased by the 
 arrival of Mr Storr and Mr Shepard, friends he had 
 counted on meeting when the plan was made to 
 come abroad. They returned to England at the 
 end of January in time for Jebb to take up his usual 
 College and University work at Cambridge. 
 
 Early in 1867 his first book, a school edition of 
 the Electra of Sophocles, was published. '' The 
 plan of the series to which it belongs," he writes 
 to his father, ''excludes the thought of anything 
 ambitious, and of course there is no dclat to be 
 gained by an edition of this sort. But at the 
 same time one improves one's own scholarship and 
 has the satisfaction of hoping that the work may be 
 of practical service. I am revolving more than one 
 project for a book in a rather higher sense ; and 
 I am resolved that as soon as possible I shall settle 
 down to some serious literary labour.... The longer 
 one lives here, the more clear it becomes that some 
 strong intellectual interest is absolutely necessary in 
 order to prevent the drifting into monastic sloth and 
 becoming tired of the cloistral life." 
 
 This book deserves something more than this 
 rather slighting mention by the author. Mr J. D. 
 Duff, Fellow of Trinity, writes : — 
 
 " Jebb's editions of the Ajax and Electra of Sophocles 
 appeared in a series of commentaries published by Messrs 
 
1867] Diary and Letters 93 
 
 Rivington and called Catena Classicorum. Jebb's two 
 volumes were a revelation to the boys whose good fortune 
 it was to read them, and were only superseded by his own 
 larger editions of the same plays. They were quite unlike 
 any of the commentaries we had been in the habit of using; 
 and I think the most striking difference was that Jebb paid 
 respect to our own language and was not content to trans- 
 late noble Greek into barbarous English. Other guides of 
 our youth were less scrupulous. One distinguished scholar 
 translated some words from a famous chorus of Aeschylus 
 in this way : * there is present for me to feel the severe, the 
 very severe chill of a hostile public executioner.' Another 
 editor, of great and deserved distinction, offered this 
 English as an equivalent for a pathetic sentence in one 
 of Demosthenes' greatest speeches : * this woman in the 
 first instance merely quietly to drink and eat dessert they 
 tried to force, I should suppose.' One feels that Jebb 
 would rather have cut his hand off than written either sen- 
 tence ; and if the standard of translation is higher now, part 
 at least of the credit must be assigned to him. Boys who 
 used his books soon began to feel that Greek and English 
 were both noble languages, and that the true scholar must 
 learn to use both aright." 
 
 To HIS Father. 
 
 ^^ February gth^ 1867. 
 
 My Dearest Father, 
 
 We had a very pleasant party at the 
 Lodge last night. To begin with, the Poet Laureate, 
 Woolner, the sculptor, the Public Orator, Cope, 
 Munro, Sidgwick, and L It was really a party that 
 one might feel proud of having been asked to ; at 
 least I might, and did, very. Tennyson is exactly 
 
94 'S'^'r Richard J ebb [1867 
 
 like his photographs — I mean quite as shaggy. His 
 long black hair is very thin now ; he is bald on the 
 crown ; and it falls as from a tonsure about his ears. 
 He looks older than I should have expected ; his 
 accent is decidedly Lincolnshire, and this was one of 
 the things that rather surprised me. It is impossible 
 not to like him, and not to understand that he is 
 a man of genius. I do not mean to say that one 
 would have found it out from his talk to-night if one 
 did not know it before ; only, that given the fact of 
 his genius, his personality makes it more intelligible; 
 you see its workings. Tennyson had a tremendous 
 argument with Munro about a Latin passage. It 
 was great fun to see them." 
 
 February \^th, 1867. *' Another wet day. I 
 began after dinner to read the Life of St Theresa, 
 which Myers had lent me. It is striking, but de- 
 formed by instances of excessive weakness and 
 credulity : a highly nervous person in a morbid 
 state of mind is scarcely pleasant to read about. 
 Still there is a great deal that is noble ; and at any 
 rate the physical sufferings that she had to endure 
 were not imaginary. 
 
 Myers urges me to leave Cambridge and take 
 orders and duty in some very laborious parish. 
 He has a theory that Cambridge depraves me, 
 and that I shall never be good for anything until 
 I take some such step. He is distinctly a man of 
 genius, not merely talented ; but I am puzzled 
 when I try to anticipate what career he is likely 
 to choose." 
 
1867] Diary and Letters 95 
 
 March ytk, 1867. "This has been rather a 
 severe day's work for me, but it is over at last, or 
 nearly so. I took a lecture for Myers this morning, 
 and an extra hour's teaching is rather apt to be the 
 last straw on the back of that patient dromedary, a 
 tripos examiner. Cornish of Eton is up, and is 
 coming to tea with me to-night. He is a charming 
 man, and I am so glad to hear from all sides that his 
 wife is so nice.... I begin to find that I miss Lady 
 Francis Osborne terribly; it makes a great difference 
 not having a friend to whom one may talk as I could 
 to her. I think I never enjoyed a friendship more. 
 She is very charming and really beautiful, but it 
 is her gift of sympathy that makes her adorable \" 
 
 In August he joined a party (Mr G. O. Trevelyan, 
 Lord John Hervey, and Mr Arthur Humphreys) in 
 Wales at Festiniog, a small village perched on the 
 top of a hill, where they were completely secluded 
 from the outer world. ''The Penygwern Arms is very 
 well situated, looking on to Moellyn and the moun- 
 tains on that side of the vale. Nothing could be 
 more comfortable than our rooms.... In short we 
 have a house to ourselves for all purposes. I have 
 seen enough of the place already to feel sure that the 
 choice made is a good one. Trevelyan is working 
 away in his room ; Hervey is reading up India, 
 where he is going in September; and I have the 
 sitting-room to myself, not having yet settled down 
 
 ^ Lord Francis Osborne and his family had been living in 
 Cambridge for two years, and had recently moved into the 
 country. 
 
96 Sir Richard J ebb [1868 
 
 in my bed-room, which lacks a chest of drawers and 
 a table, and so I have given myself a holiday this 
 morning. Trevelyan's book is to be about Aristo- 
 phanes and old Greek life', and I think ought to be 
 very good. This afternoon we are going for a long 
 walk in the Beddgelert direction." 
 
 In 1868 a Classical Tripos Syndicate was ap- 
 pointed to consider reforms which a large party in 
 the University thought imperatively called for. J ebb, 
 though not a member of the Syndicate, was keenly 
 interested in the question, and did everything in his 
 power to help the side he had taken up after long 
 deliberation. He wrote a paper embodying his views 
 on the changes necessary, and was very happy to 
 find that two of his three points were finally adopted 
 by the Syndicate ; but it had been a long and 
 obstinate battle with ultra-conservatism, and the 
 victory of the reformers was by no means complete. 
 
 To HIS Mother. 
 
 "Oxford and Cambridge Club, 
 April 2ndy 1869. 
 
 I have just been reading the accounts of the 
 Diocesan Conferences in Ireland. What strikes me 
 most is the unpractical view of the situation which 
 seems to have been taken everywhere except in 
 Meath. The talk was generally of ' no surrender,' as 
 if it was a question of surrender when the Commons 
 
 ^ The pieces here mentioned were published in The Interludes 
 under the titles of "The Ladies in Parliament" and "An Ancient 
 Greek War." 
 
1869] Diary and Letters 97 
 
 have decided on disestablishment. What do they 
 expect? That the House of Lords will reverse 
 the decision of a majority of 118 in the Lower 
 House ? It can no more do that than I can. I am 
 really puzzled to understand how large meetings, of 
 the educated classes too, can be so childish. What- 
 ever the merits of the question may be, it is now 
 settled. The thing to do is to make as good terms 
 as possible." 
 
 On the 2nd of October it became known that 
 Mr W. G. Clark, the Public Orator of the University, 
 had resigned his office. Dr Lightfoot at once pro- 
 posed to J ebb that he should stand. As usual, he 
 himself thought he had very little chance, believing 
 that Mr Holmes, of St John's, another candidate 
 who had once acted for a few months as Mr Clark's 
 deputy, would from this fact possess a great advan- 
 tage in the election. Other friends, however, thought 
 J ebb's chances good ; and as soon as it was known 
 that Mr Burn, one of the Trinity tutors, would not 
 come forward, he called upon the Master, got his 
 approval of the candidature, and at once, on Octo- 
 ber 2 1 St, issued the printed circular announcing that 
 he was standing for the vacant office. In the be- 
 ginning three candidates were in the field, Mr Day 
 of Caius, Mr Holmes of St John's, R. C. Jebb. The 
 electing body is the Senate, that is, the whole num- 
 ber of M.A.'s whose names are on the Register of 
 the University. Of these there are many thousands; 
 and every member of this large constituency who 
 could be got at had to be canvassed, and persuaded 
 
 J. M. 7 
 
98 Sir Richard Jebb [1869 
 
 if possible to come to Cambridge on the day of 
 election and vote. This meant stirring times for 
 the candidates. Mr Day soon saw that he had no 
 chance and withdrew his name. This made it 
 certain that the other two candidates would now 
 go to the poll. 
 
 To HIS Mother. 
 
 "Oxford and Cambridge Club, 
 November -^^rd^ 1869. 
 
 I did not write to you while I was standing for 
 the Public Oratorship because the result was doubt- 
 ful to the very last, and I did not want you to be 
 disappointed. The overwhelming majority by which 
 I was elected was a triumph, not for me, but for 
 Trinity. If I had been of any other College I 
 should not have had a chance against Holmes. But 
 the whole of the powerful Trinity influence was set 
 in work for me ; men came up from all parts of the 
 country, not caring a straw whether Jones or Smith 
 was Public Orator, but determined to vote for the 
 College ticket ; and from London we got down a 
 special train with about 200 Cambridge barristers 
 and clergymen.... 
 
 The Public Orator is the spokesman of the Senate 
 on public occasions. He has the privilege of retain- 
 ing his fellowship and all emoluments upon marriage, 
 and receives a stipend of ^100 or ^150 a year. 
 The position is a high one at the University, and of 
 course very advantageous for a young man." 
 
1870] Diary and Letters 99 
 
 The new Public Orator made his ddbut in the 
 Senate House on the nth of November, scarcely- 
 more than a week after the election, when he 
 presented the Bishop of Bathurst for an honorary- 
 degree. This appointment to University office 
 made a great change in his prospects by giving 
 him the option of settling at Cambridge in a good 
 position, and life became simpler now that his line 
 of work was decided. 
 
 At the end of term he and Dr Lightfoot had 
 intended to go to Rome to see the opening of the 
 Oecumenical Council, but J ebb had lost too much 
 time over the election to be able to spare it from 
 work in the vacation. " I do not much regret having 
 missed it " ; he writes on the 8th of December, the 
 day of the opening ; " having never seen Rome be- 
 fore, I should not have cared to see it at a time 
 of so much bustle. And I think one would have 
 felt the contrast between the splendour of the 
 ceremonial and the really small significance of the 
 question at issue. It cannot greatly matter to the 
 history of the world whether the propositions before 
 the Council are affirmed or negatived." 
 
 To HIS Mother. 
 
 ^^ February i$th^ 1870. 
 
 I am dining to-night at King's to meet the 
 Greek Archbishop. I rather wish that his Grace 
 were at Hong Kong, for the trouble of learning 
 how to pronounce his language with some distant 
 
 7—2 
 
lOO Sir Richard J ebb [1870 
 
 approach to correctness is very great. You know 
 it has been settled that he is to be presented in 
 his own language ; and not only the Archbishop 
 but three of the members of his suite are to have 
 degrees ; I shall have to discourse in modern Greek 
 about all these gentlemen." 
 
 ''^February i^jth^ 1870. 
 
 My ordeal is over, and went off quite as well 
 as I could expect — but it was an ordeal. The 
 Doctors and officials escorted the Archbishop in 
 procession from the Art Schools. When we entered 
 the Senate House, it was densely crowded, to see 
 the Eastern Bishop in his robes — and a very grand 
 figure he certainly was. But my heart misgave me 
 when I saw the galleries crammed with under- 
 graduates, for I knew very well that the first word 
 of Greek would make them furious, and that there 
 would be an uproar. Sure enough they made a 
 diabolical noise at intervals all through my speech, 
 which lasted about eight minutes. It was not easy 
 to remember my new pronunciation in such an 
 uproar, but I had the satisfaction of learning that 
 the Archbishop had understood it all." 
 
 This was the beginning of his interest in 
 modern Greek. He continued the study, until he 
 could speak the language. Mr Duff writes : — 
 
 "Jebb spoke modern Greek with ease and fluency. I 
 remember being taken by the late H. A. J. Munro to 
 dine at the Oxford and Cambridge Club ; I was then an 
 undergraduate, and I believe it was in the summer of 
 1880. The next table to ours in the strangers' dining- 
 
1870] Diary and Letters 10 1 
 
 room was occupied by Jebb and a friend. They talked 
 continuously in a language which even Munro, who knew 
 many languages, at first failed to recognise. However, 
 as they were close beside us and not talking low, Munro 
 soon pronounced that the language was modern Greek. 
 I was struck, as I still remember, by the rapidity with 
 which Jebb spoke it. The evening paper showed that a 
 deputation of friends of Greece had been received that 
 day at Marlborough House. About that time a good 
 many protests were made against Disraeli's treatment 
 of the aspirations of Greece at the time of the last 
 European settlement ; and some may still remember the 
 verses which appeared in Punch : 
 
 The claims of Greece, the claims of Greece ! 
 Which Dilke declared and Rosebery rung, 
 But Dizzy in his Berlin peace 
 
 To the Greek Kalends coolly flung — 
 Eternal moonshine gilds them yet. 
 And moonshine's all they'll ever get." 
 
 May \<^th, 1870. "I have been spending the 
 morning in a somewhat odd employment — in writing 
 a Latin letter to my old friend and master, Bradshaw, 
 the University Librarian. He has presented the 
 Library with a magnificent collection of Irish 
 and other books, and I, in my official capacity, 
 have been ordered to write him a letter of thanks 
 in the name of the Senate. This production has 
 to be read in the Senate House and then sealed 
 with the University Seal. It is a nice pompous 
 old custom, is it not?" 
 
 May 20th, "■ I am reading Lothair for the 
 second time in order to relish the conversations, 
 
102 Sir Richard J ebb [1870 
 
 which are admirable. It is the most profoundly 
 cynical composition I ever read — with no exception. 
 I do not like it. It seems to me essentially ignoble ; 
 a tribute the more to that idolatry of rank and 
 money so baneful to society." 
 
 November \st, 1870. ''Westcott has just been 
 elected Regius Professor of Divinity by 15 votes 
 to 2. Lightfoot is of course extremely delighted, 
 and so will be, I think, everyone who knows what 
 Westcott is. Both in learning and personality, he 
 will be a great acquisition to the University." 
 
 In 1870 J ebb brought out an edition of the 
 Characters of Theophrastus with illustrative notes. 
 "' I sent off Theophrastus three days ago," he writes 
 to a friend. *' You will be amused I think by the 
 Eresian if you have not expected too much of him. 
 His real interest is this. Other writers, whose 
 name is legion, prove to us that the great, the 
 organic, lines of human nature are the same to-day, 
 yesterday, and for ever. Theophrastus is one of 
 the few who survive to remind us that the lighter 
 traits also of character are permanent and universal. 
 The bore of the Fourth Century B.C. is essentially 
 the bore of the Nineteenth Century a.d. Do not 
 be frightened by the occasional appearance of Greek 
 type in the notes at the end. The notes consist, 
 mainly, of translated extracts from old authors. 
 They are especially meant to be intelligible to 
 English readers. They aim at illustrating the life 
 of Ancient Hellas (as far as may be) in contem- 
 porary language." 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 LETTERS TO C. L. S. 
 
 1871 — 1872. 
 
 In the spring of 1871 R. C. Jebb met the lady 
 who afterwards became his wife. She was at the 
 time visiting a cousin in Cambridge, and on her 
 return to America early in August a correspondence 
 between them began in a rather unusual way. 
 He sent her as a parting present a book of photo- 
 graphs of all the places of interest she had seen 
 in Cambridge, and accompanied the gift with some 
 graceful and amusing verses. 
 
 This was the beginning of a correspondence 
 that gradually became regular and continued until 
 their marriage in 1874. 
 
 To C. L. S. 
 
 ^^ September i6th^ 187 1. 
 Nothing in your letter interested me so deeply 
 as your account of the meaning which you attach 
 to religion. Between the spirit of your view and 
 the spirit of mine there is an essential analogy. 
 It is this — that for me, just as for you, religion 
 almost excludes reasoning. I hold my Christianity 
 very much as you hold your belief in God. That 
 
1 04 Sir Richa rd J ebb [ 1 8 7 1 
 
 is, the Christian morality and the Christian hope 
 appear to me to be divinely adapted to the human 
 heart ; I accept them therefore as a divine reve- 
 lation, on the same ground that supports your faith 
 in a surrounding, protecting, disposing Power. But 
 though I have this definite and constantly evident 
 reason for my belief, I do not pretend or attempt 
 to analyse those details of Christianity which the 
 theological subtlety of centuries has formulated into 
 dogmas of which the very language is unintelligible, 
 without research, to minds of the present day. It 
 is clear to me that the original, the authentic 
 Christianity — the Christianity of the Apostles — was 
 something a great deal simpler and plainer than 
 the Christianity of any modern Church.... The two 
 grand points on which St Paul rested his Christianity 
 were these only : the fact of the Resurrection of 
 Christ and His personal character." 
 
 ' ' September 2 2 nd^ 1 8 7 1 . 
 
 Since I wrote that reason has little to do 
 
 with my faith, there have come into my mind some 
 words of a man whose company in such a case is 
 the more reassuring because he is a singularly acute 
 reasoner. Newman says in the Apologia : — * I am 
 far from denying that every article of the Christian 
 Creed, whether as held by Catholics or by Pro- 
 testants, is beset with intellectual difficulties ; and 
 it is a simple fact that, for myself, I cannot answer 
 those difficulties But . . . ten thousand difficulties 
 
1 871] Letters to C. L. S. 105 
 
 do not make one doubt, as I understand the subject; 
 
 difficulty and doubt are incommensurate Of all 
 
 points of faith the being of a God is, to my own 
 apprehension, encompassed with most difficulty, and 
 yet borne in upon our minds with most power.' 
 
 Between Newman's position — if I understand it 
 accurately — and my own there is a certain amount 
 of difference. He believes in the being of God 
 because his inner consciousness assures him that 
 God exists ; and he believes in Christianity, with 
 all the doctrines attached to it by Catholicism, 
 because the Church tells him that Christianity is 
 true. I believe both in the being of God and in 
 Christianity — with those doctrines attached to it 
 which I understand its first apostles to have held 
 — because my inner consciousness assures me that 
 God exists and that Christianity is true. He relies 
 partly on the witness of the inward need and partly 
 on an objective authority : I rely throughout on the 
 witness of the inward need. But this is a difference of 
 detail. With him, as with you, I agree in the main 
 principle that reason is not the arbiter of religion. 
 
 Now consider the last sentence which I quoted 
 from Newman, and with which I agree. To me, 
 as to him, it appears that, from the intellectual point 
 of view, no doctrine is surrounded with so much 
 difficulty as the Being of God. What you already 
 believe, because it is borne in upon you, is the 
 hardest thing of all to believe. What I believe — 
 also because it is borne in upon me — is, after the 
 other, a comparatively slight trial to the reason 
 
io6 Sir Richard J ebb [187 1 
 
 I never talk about these things ; and I have 
 never in my life written about them to anyone but 
 you. No one can feel more than I do how unfitting 
 it would be for me to preach to other people 
 
 Every time I find myself in the midst of fine 
 scenery, the thought comes back — Why is the taste 
 for scenery of such very recent development ? As 
 has been so often pointed out, the search for natural 
 beauty by travellers, and the effort to express it in 
 language, are not conspicuous, though they are of 
 course traceable, before the beginning of this century. 
 And if the ancient world is contrasted with the 
 modern world, one broad difference is, as a rule, 
 discernible. The ancients gave no place in their 
 imaginations to what Ruskin calls the Pathetic 
 Fallacy, — that is, to the conception of a sympathy 
 between external nature and the passing moods of 
 the human spirit. In the old world, human grief 
 and joy, human hope and despondency, did not 
 fancy any mysterious rapport between themselves 
 and Nature — did not go to her for comfort, or 
 hold with her any intimate communion. For 
 instance. Homer or Virgil would not have entered 
 into the innermost meaning of Wordsworth's Ode 
 on Intimations of Immortality ; where, after saying 
 that, for him, nothing can now bring back 
 
 * the hour 
 Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower,' 
 
 he goes on to affirm his faith in a 'primal sym- 
 pathy, which having been must ever be ' — and 
 ends triumphantly — 
 
1 871] Letters to C. L. S. 107 
 
 'And O, ye fountains, meadows, hills and groves, 
 Forebode not any severing of our loves ! 
 Yet in my heart of hearts I feel your might.' 
 
 For in these, from childhood to old age, he had 
 found an unbroken companionship, varying only 
 in mood. I have often thought that the contrast 
 between this tone and the tone of the old world 
 is well brought out in a beautiful and touching 
 scene of the Iliad. Helen is standing on the walls 
 of Troy, looking out on the Greek warriors whose 
 forms rush and dart through the battle on the 
 plain before the walls ; she recognises many whom 
 she had known, many who had wooed her, in past 
 years, in Greece ; but she looks in vain for her 
 own twin brothers, the glorious Dioscuri. She does 
 not know that, since she left home, they have died. 
 
 * But now in far Laced aemon 
 Earth, Earth, giver of life, had taken the Kings to her 
 arms,' 
 
 So, at the very moment when she entombs, Earth 
 is still, for Homer, only the * giver of life' — only 
 the passive mother of trees and plants. She offers 
 her cold embrace to the dead ; but no sense of the 
 mournfulness of death, no shiver of sympathy with 
 human loss, for an instant ruffles the sleekness of 
 her apathy, or disturbs her at her steady soulless 
 task. Man dies : and the flowers go on springing : 
 that is all. How differently would Wordsworth 
 have managed! How carefully, almost reverentially, 
 would he have abstained from calling Earth, at such 
 a time, the Giver of Life ! 
 
io8 Sir Richard J ebb [187 1 
 
 It Is difficult quite to account for this deep 
 difference between the old and the modern feeling 
 towards nature. Perhaps two main causes may be 
 traced. First, Christianity. From the time when 
 It prevailed over paganism and had rest from 
 without, Christianity has gone on developing In 
 the mind of Christian Europe a habit of pensive 
 meditation, more or less devotional, which had 
 nothing corresponding to It In the pagan mind, 
 and to which the repose of beautiful scenery Is 
 congenial. Next, civilisation. In the last century, 
 even, a journey Into the Scotch Highlands (for 
 Instance) was a perilous and excessively disagreeable 
 enterprise ; and people cannot go Into raptures when 
 they are wretchedly uncomfortable. Travelling has 
 now become safe, easy, and cheap. Then wealth 
 has increased ; the taste for the fine arts, which 
 depend on wealth as regards the area over which 
 they are popular, has been diffused ; and this taste 
 reacts on the taste for scenery. Hundreds of people 
 who would not think a landscape worth looking at 
 on Its own account are interested in It because It 
 reminds them of a clever water-colour which they 
 have at home." 
 
 " October 2^fh, 187 1. 
 
 Last night at the end of dinner I found myself 
 next Professor Seeley. Our talk, going from one 
 thing to another, happened to turn at last on the 
 curious neglect which some of the greatest English 
 
iSyi] Letters to C L. S. 109 
 
 poets experienced from their contemporaries. * No 
 country,' said Seeley, ' has three such wrongs to 
 answer for as the neglect in their own day of 
 Shakespeare, Milton, and Wordsworth.' I sug- 
 gested that Milton's case was of a kind distinct 
 from the other two, inasmuch as he is the only 
 one of the three who, so far as we know, was 
 greatly pained by the neglect. Wordsworth was 
 too much absorbed in external nature, and in the 
 deepest, most permanent things of human nature, 
 to feel greatly the indifference of a generation, 
 though that generation was his own ; while, as for 
 Shakespeare, one is always told that his single 
 ambition was to be able to go back and settle at 
 Stratford. The very wonder of his genius was its 
 almost passive, mirror-like receptivity ; other men's 
 natures were included and reflected in his ; why 
 should a creator of kings and cardinals and states- 
 men hanker after worldly greatness ? To a mind 
 so wide and calm, pleasures really congenial would 
 not have seemed less desirable because they were 
 homely. Seeley had a theory that it was as a 
 disappointed, world-wearied man that Shakespeare 
 retired to Stratford. If I believed that, he would 
 be to me the most unintelligible of all human 
 beings." 
 
 '■^November 21st, 187 1. 
 
 I send you to-day a translation from Aeschylus, 
 the poet of inflexible Destiny, as Sophocles is the 
 
no Sir Richard J ebb [ 1 8 7 1 
 
 poet of Reconciliation. It is the great Chorus of 
 the Furies — one of the sublimest of all his tragedies. 
 To the Greek mind the Furies represented the 
 stings of avenging conscience. The Furies are 
 spirits whom the curse of the wronged sets upon 
 the track of the wronger : they haunt him : they 
 drive him at last to some act by which his victim 
 is avenged. They were believed to watch in an 
 especial manner over the ties of kindred and to 
 punish any breach of them. 
 
 The party at the Adams' last night was very 
 
 pleasant I sat next to Mrs Adams which was 
 
 enough in itself to make the dinner pleasant 
 
 Professor Adams said a thing which seemed to me 
 so true, and which was deeply impressive as coming 
 from an eminent man of science. ' The problems 
 of the physical world,' he said, 'seem too hard 
 for man's mind at first : yet they can be made 
 out by trying ; they seem out of reach ; but they 
 can be reached by standing on tiptoe. Had the 
 system of the universe been constructed a little 
 differently, the ascertainment of its laws would 
 have been beyond us ; as it is, we seem to have 
 been given simple cases — examples just within our 
 comprehension, of laws which might have been 
 too complex for the grasp of the human intellect." 
 
 ^''December t^th, 1871. 
 
 In minor politics, civil or ecclesiastical, 
 
 there are two events to record : — first, the getting 
 
1 871] Letters to C. L. S. 11 1 
 
 up of a Memorial to Mr Gladstone for an Execu- 
 tive Commission with power to frame new Statutes 
 for the University in place of the mere Commission 
 of Inquiry into Revenues, etc., which he proposes. 
 
 The other event has been the formation here 
 
 of a branch of the Church Defence Institution. 
 The disestablishment of the Irish Church has caused 
 a feeling throughout England that the English 
 Church will go next, and will go soon. Such men 
 as Vaughan and Dr Alford were saying not long 
 ago that they would not give the establishment 
 ten years to live. This I believe to be an entire 
 miscalculation. There is a vast difference between 
 the two cases. The Church of Ireland had little 
 or no social influence. The Church of England 
 has enormous social influence. Hardly a man of 
 any position in England but has a brother, or a 
 son, or a cousin in orders ; and when Mr Miall 
 moved disestablishment in the House last spring, 
 the result of these personal relations was expressed 
 in the division. I totally disbelieve, then, in any 
 immediate danger to the establishment ; though it 
 seems probable that the tendency of the day to 
 regard religion more and more as a private concern, 
 to be settled by each individual for himself, will lead 
 to a universal separation of Church and State within, 
 perhaps, the next half-century. When I was asked 
 to join the Defence Association, I consented chiefly 
 from a belief that the establishment is a protection 
 for religious liberty in precisely the same sense that 
 the monarchy is a protection for political liberty. 
 
 of THE \ 
 
 ( UNIVERSITY j 
 
112 Sir Richard J ebb [187 1 
 
 If the monarchy were abolished, we should have 
 the tyranny of radicalism. If the Church were 
 disestablished, we should have the tyranny of 
 evangelicalism. The inaugural meeting of the 
 Institution went off well. The Bishop of Ely, 
 who presided, is not only a good man, but a 
 thoroughly sensible man too ; and he brought 
 out with tact as well as with truth the point which 
 in England it is still so hard to make people under- 
 stand — that religious questions are not political 
 questions." 
 
 " Trinity College, Cambridge, 
 December 22nd, 187 1. 
 
 Cambridge is well-nigh deserted ; its thousands 
 are scattered to a thousand Christmas hearths. 
 The October Term is over. From fortnight to fort- 
 night you have heard something of its growth, from 
 seed-time to harvest : will you accept now the 
 offering of the last gleanings ? 
 
 For the last ten days everybody here has been 
 anxious about the Prince of Wales. When I wrote 
 to you on Monday, Dec. 11, it seemed impossible 
 that he could live many hours : symptoms were said 
 to have appeared which must necessarily be fatal. 
 For two days more he was hanging between life 
 and death ; the first brighter news was on Thursday 
 morning. Everything in this interval depended on 
 his getting sleep ; and the first snatch of sleep 
 was the beginning of hope. Now he is steadily 
 
1 871] Letters to C. L. S. 113 
 
 recovering — with the chance, if he knows how to 
 use it, of becoming the most popular man in 
 England. By a pardonable confusion of ideas, 
 people are prone to regard the recovery of a well- 
 known person from a critical illness as an achieve- 
 ment — an affair which proves that he has something 
 in him. Death, when most dreaded, comes to be 
 personified ; and the convalescent appears in the 
 light of a victorious athlete. Altogether, I think 
 that Mr Fawcett's theory is likely to be disproved 
 by the result ; the prolongation of this life will 
 have prolonged indefinitely the life of the monarchy. 
 
 The Dante readings have been a great success. 
 Mr and Mrs Tovey^ and I form the class, with 
 Mrs Potts occasionally as audience. Mrs Tovey 
 pronounces Italian so remarkably well that it is a 
 pleasure to hear her read ; and, without having 
 studied Italian grammar, she seems able to solve 
 difficulties by intuition. We read and translate 
 stanzas in turn ; and I can assure you that we 
 criticise each other severely. Dante is like no other 
 poet ; but that which is distinctive of him may 
 be best understood by comparison, or rather con- 
 trast, with Milton. Milton in Paradise Lost, as 
 Dante in the Divine Comedy, has taken for his 
 scene a supernatural world. But Milton is ideal ; 
 Dante is real. Milton's images have a dim 
 mysterious grandeur ; Dante's images have an 
 intense, sometimes an almost prosaic, reality : he 
 has not imagined Heaven and Hell ; he has been 
 ^ A cousin of C. L. S. 
 
 J. M. 8 
 
1 1 4 Sir Richard J ebb [1871 
 
 there. He speaks like a traveller reporting what 
 his eyes have seen and his ears have heard and 
 his hands have handled. For instance, Milton 
 describes the colossal form of Satan — * floating 
 many a rood' — huge as the earthborn enemies of 
 Jove. Dante, when he sees the gigantic spectre 
 of Nimrod, says — 'the face seemed to me as long 
 and as broad as the ball of St Peter's at Rome ' ; 
 and — though the form was but half seen — ' three 
 tall Germans would in vain have attempted to 
 reach to his hair.' He is the most intense and 
 the most picturesque of all poets ; too intense and 
 too picturesque, even when he is threading the 
 paths of unearthly regions, to be mysterious. Has 
 he not seen — touched — spoken with — the angels 
 and the daemons ? They cannot have for him the 
 misty grandeur of Milton's Titan angels, 
 * Gabriel, Abdiel, 
 Starred from Jehovah's gorgeous armouries,' — 
 
 nor that dark majesty in which Milton has shrouded 
 the eternal rebellion of the fallen spirits. Amid 
 all horrors, Dante is ever the traveller ; ever 
 preserves a calm, sober power of accurate obser- 
 vation ; hence the marvellous impression of truth 
 which he creates. And how well he chose his 
 subject! His mind was by nature profoundly 
 sorrowful : in every line that he wrote appears the 
 asperity of pride struggling with misery. Beautiful 
 things are beautiful to him : but their brightness 
 becomes a certain mournful grandeur. His mind 
 was, in the words of Ezekiel, ' a land of darkness, 
 
1872] Letters to C. L. S. 115 
 
 as darkness itself, — and where the light was as 
 darkness.' The paths of his outer life lay through 
 deep shadows ; and he chose the shades as the 
 place of journeying for his spirit. 
 
 ' Follow his feet's appointed way ; — 
 
 But little light we find that clears 
 
 The darkness of his exiled years. 
 Follow his spirit's journey; — nay, 
 
 What fires are blent, what winds are blown 
 
 On paths his feet may tread alone ? ' " 
 
 ''^January 29//^, 1872. 
 
 When you come in this letter to some 
 
 opaque masses of reflection, do not at once pro- 
 nounce them ' dulness ' ; be euphemistic and call 
 them 'shading.' Verily, you shall have your 
 reward. The next fortnight promises to be a 
 period during which sound learning and Religious 
 Education — as the Calendar somewhat feebly de- 
 scribes the presiding influences of the place — will 
 be stimulated by divers worldly pleasures, before 
 entering on the meditative twilight of Lent 
 
 Do you know I have been trying to guess 
 your riddle — the riddle which you asked me out 
 of Realmak, by saying that it has set you thinking 
 what new power or faculty you would most like 
 to have, and then calmly adding — 'but I think I 
 won't tell you my choice.' Revenge is sweet ; and 
 I beg to observe that I am tolerably sure I have 
 guessed what power you would most like to acquire, 
 
 8—2 
 
Ii6 Sir Richard J ebb [1872 
 
 and that I have not the slightest intention of telling 
 
 you Talking of Realmah — do you remember a 
 
 passage in Sir Arthur's conversation with Mauleverer 
 — ' The best protest I ever knew made against 
 worldly success was by a small society of young 
 men at College,' etc. (Chapter XXIII). In my 
 last letter I told you how I met Helps at the 
 annual dinner of a Cambridge Society. It is this 
 very society that he is alluding to in Realmah ; 
 it is called the Apostles ; and his description of its 
 esoteric tone and spirit is literally true. If you 
 know In Memoriam you may perhaps recollect 
 the place (Stanza LXXXVI) where Tennyson de- 
 scribes revisiting Trinity after his friend's death, 
 and going to see the rooms which had been Arthur 
 Hallam's. It is this same Club that he speaks of 
 there : his name and Hallam's stand close to each 
 other on its books. I have always felt that nothing 
 ever did me more good than belonging to this 
 society — for there was something in its whole spirit, 
 and in the peculiar sort of intimacy among its 
 members which helped one, just at the critical time 
 of life, to resist common standards, to aim high 
 and to be independent. 
 
 I have just been having a long walk with 
 
 Fawcett, and on our way back we were met by 
 his wife. What energy that little lady has ; she 
 
 is in the best sense the woman of the future 
 
 The future of the world depends, in every large 
 question, on the higher education of women. The 
 commonplaces repeated in society of a certain tone 
 
1872] Letters to C, L. S. 117 
 
 — by the men with complacent contempt, by the 
 women with devout resignation, as if to believe 
 them were a part of religion — about woman's 
 ' sphere ' (which seems to mean vacancy) sicken 
 my very soul." 
 
 ^^ February 13M, 1872. 
 
 Cambridge has been very gay for the last 
 
 fortnight — and now I am going to give you a full 
 and particular account of the gaieties. In short, 
 this will be, distinctly and confessedly, a gossiping 
 letter. Do not Literature, Science, Art, and Politics 
 remain for our sustenance during the austere period 
 of Lent ? On Ash Wednesday, and for thirty-nine 
 days afterwards, I shall read the Times and the 
 Contemporary Review ; and on February 27th, pre- 
 cisely, I shall write you one of the most instructive 
 and improving letters which a lady could possibly 
 receive. As Horace says, however, it is sweet to 
 be foolish in season ; it is the season just now ; 
 
 and so you shall hear all about our little world 
 
 Following a Cambridge example, that of the great 
 Pepys, I shall throw the fortnight (or rather twelve 
 days) into the form of a diary — a form which has 
 two advantages : it allows of unlimited egotism ; 
 and it abolishes the need of connecting remarks 
 
 Friday, February 2nd, Commemoration Day at 
 Trinity — transferred from December 15 th on account 
 of the Prince's illness. Singular subject chosen by 
 the preacher for the day — the importance of powers 
 
ii8 Sir Richard J ebb [1872 
 
 of speech — which, with a pardonable professional 
 partiality, he appeared to regard as synonymous 
 with powers of preaching. He alluded darkly to 
 a historical Master of Trinity whose laudable 
 custom it was to write out his sermons four times 
 before delivery. (Wondered how the present 
 Master liked this panegyric.) — Large dinner-party 
 in hall. Speeches. A good speech made by a 
 countryman of yours, Rives, who was 5th Wrangler 
 this year ; a long one by the Astronomer Royal ; 
 and a lame one by the Master, who proposed the 
 Queen without saying a syllable about the Prince 
 
 Saturday, February i^rd. Dined with the Master 
 of St John's, Dr Bateson. Met in the room before 
 dinner a man whom I had not seen for ten years, 
 who is in the navy now, and who has suddenly 
 come up here as an undergraduate. Forbore to 
 remark that the world is small. Sat between Mrs 
 Bateson and Mrs Neville, the Master of Magdalene's 
 wife. Mrs N. is a very pleasant woman — fond of 
 society, and very decidedly averse to donnishness. 
 We had a most amusing talk — for we had not 
 met for some time, and had all our friends and 
 enemies, to say nothing of the affairs of Europe, 
 to discuss 
 
 Sunday, February ^tk. Dined with Mr and 
 Mrs Potts. Went to the Historical Society at 
 Mr Fawcett's at 9. The subject for discussion 
 was nominally De Tocqueville's Democracy in 
 America, Chapters VI, VH, VHI: but it came 
 
1872] Letters to C, L, S. 119 
 
 to turn mainly on the comparative advantages of 
 small and large states : this was too abstract for 
 Fawcett ; he went fast asleep, and his breathing 
 formed a sort of trombone accompaniment to the 
 dialogue between Mr Moulton and Mr Marshall. 
 
 Monday, Feh^uary ^tk. Took a long walk 
 with Dr Lightfoot — a man whom you would like 
 if you knew him. He is curiously shy, but in 
 the highest and best sense manly — physically, 
 morally, intellectually — and is a rather rare instance 
 in England of a man having refused a bishopric, 
 not because he was indolent or because his wife 
 told him to do so, but because he liked study 
 better. He is one of the few genuine students 
 I know, and in theology is one of our foremost 
 men. I was his pupil — on his 'side,' as we say — 
 at Trinity, and we have been close friends for 
 years now. There is nothing I enjoy more than 
 going with him to the Cumberland Lakes. He 
 knows every inch of the Lake Country and is a 
 good instance of ' that love for the very soil and 
 configuration of his country which almost always 
 implies high-heartedness ' — as Palgrave most truly 
 says in reference to Arthur Clough. Alone with 
 Lightfoot there, in that splendid country, talking, 
 in our long walks, about things we both really 
 care for, it has been possible sometimes to forget 
 the hard side of life, and to live for the time in 
 better things — in a region above the frost-line of 
 perpetual shams and misunderstandings. 
 
I20 Sir Richa7'd Jebb [1872 
 
 But I am becoming too grave for the Pepysian 
 style. Well, in the evening I went to the fort- 
 nightly dinner of a Society to which I belong — 
 Ferrers, Mr Fawcett, the Master of Emmanuel, 
 etc., etc., to the number of twelve, being the other 
 members. We met this time at Mr H.'s. I found 
 myself placed next Mrs H. She is a warm-hearted, 
 simple-minded Tory, who always reminds me of 
 Macaulay's description of that squirearchy which 
 formed the strength of Charles Ts army in the 
 Civil War. For example, she told me, without 
 the faintest consciousness of platitude, that she 
 thought it was not his collars, but his mind, which 
 constituted a gentleman. I began to hope that 
 there was something wrong with my collars, as 
 otherwise the remark could only be severe ; when 
 she relieved me by adding that she thought a 
 real lady was not always formed at a girls' school ; 
 and then I perceived that, as in some of the old 
 Greek writers, one clause of the antithesis had 
 been simply ornamental — the men had been men- 
 tioned only to bring the case of the ladies into 
 clearer relief. 
 
 Saturday, February loth. Dined with Dr and 
 Mrs Parkinson and met the Master of St Peter's 
 and Mrs Cookson, the Frosts, the Liveings, etc. I 
 had occasion to admire Dr C.'s talent, or rather 
 genius, for looking at the ceiling when embarrassing 
 subjects are started. It is the gift by which that 
 man has succeeded in life. Lord Lytton says that 
 
1872] Letters to C. L. S. 121 
 
 a man with manners needs only opportunity to be 
 great. But a man who understands surveying the 
 ceiling as Dr C. does, is better — he must be great. 
 Until the ceiling falls, nothing can embarrass him ; 
 and, after it fell, he would be found looking at the 
 sky — as if to divert attention from the recent crash — 
 among the very ruins 
 
 Monday, February i2tk (Yesterday). A Dante 
 reading in Panton Street^ at 2. Mrs Potts and 
 Mrs Adams came. We have now almost finished 
 the Inferno, — by May we shall have passed through 
 Purgatory into Paradise! I enjoy Dante, because he 
 is the great instance of a man having found, in a 
 purely ideal world, strength to grapple with real 
 troubles ; he was too proud, and too strong also, to 
 ask or find in imagination a mere refuge from them ; 
 but he came back from those wanderings in the 
 paths of Heaven and Hell really better armed for 
 the battle of his life ; and that is the true use of 
 poetry — the use which Carlyle does not understand, 
 and is the smaller and lower for not understanding." 
 
 •' Cambridge, 
 
 February 2'jth, 1872. 
 
 Your mention of Taine s Notes on England has 
 led me to read another little book of his, published 
 in 1864 — English Positivism ; and I was amused 
 to find there what seems to me to be a partial 
 
 ^ At Mr Duncan Tovey's house. 
 
122 Sir Richard J ebb [1872 
 
 explanation of the criticisms which you heard passed 
 upon him at Oxford. Taine begins by describing 
 his visit to an Oxford friend. He was struck with 
 their organisation of positive science, and also with 
 the absence of general ideas. * You have savants,' 
 he said to his host, ' but you have no thinkers ' ; and 
 then he gives his theory of the want. The authority 
 of orthodox religion takes the place, he thinks, in 
 England of a desire for research into principles. 
 ' Your God embarrasses you ' (voire Dieu vous gine), 
 quoth Taine to his English friend. 'He is the 
 supreme Cause; through respect to Him, you shrink 
 from reasoning upon causes. He is the most im- 
 portant Personage in England ; and I perceive that 
 He deserves to be so ; for He forms part of the 
 constitution ; He is the guardian of morality ; He is 
 the final arbitrator of all questions ; He replaces, 
 with advantage, the prefects and gendarmes with 
 which the peoples of the Continent are still en- 
 cumbered. At the same time, this high rank has 
 the inconvenience attending all official positions. It 
 produces a jargon, prejudices, and intolerance. See 
 here, quite close to us, poor Mr Max Mtiller. In 
 order to acclimatise Sanscrit studies here, he has 
 been forced to discover in the Vedas the adoration 
 of a moral God — that is to say, the religion of Paley 
 and of Addison.' 
 
 * What a regular Frenchman you are,' retorts the 
 Oxford man. 'You glance at a few facts — and 
 bound to a generalisation. Allow me to tell you that 
 we have thinkers — not so far from here, either' 
 
1872] Letters to C. L, S, 123 
 
 Then follows a Socratic dialogue, In which Taine 
 drives his friend to admitting that the one original 
 thinker of England is John Stuart Mill ; and that 
 Mill is original, not in any large conception, but in 
 method — by a better organisation of the philosophy 
 of experience. ' Mill moves step by step, somewhat 
 slowly, through a multitude of instances. He excels 
 in defining an idea— in disengaging a principle — in 
 recognising it under a host of different aspects — in 
 refuting, distinguishing, refining.' 
 
 The essay, which is mainly an analysis of Mill's 
 Logic, ends by comparing the place in philosophical 
 thought of Germany, England, and France. There 
 are two main bents of human thought — the practical 
 and the speculative. The first leads to the con- 
 sideration of nature as an assemblage of facts : the 
 second — as a system of laws. The first, employed 
 alone, is English, the second, German. If there is 
 a place between them, it is French. ' We French ' 
 (says M. Taine) ' have enlarged the English ideas 
 of the eighteenth century ; perhaps, in the nineteenth, 
 we shall give precision to the ideas of Germany.' Is 
 not the tranquil, ample self-complacency of that beau- 
 tifully characteristic of the Gallic mind ? 
 
 Now ; imagine what all this would be to the true 
 Oxonian ; to whom Oxford is, before all things, a 
 school of philosophy, a focus of original speculative 
 thought. To be told that there was no original 
 thought in England except Mill's positivism — and 
 Mill was never at Oxford ! ' Hence these tears ' : 
 hence 'poor' Taine. 
 
124 ^^^^ Richard J ebb [1872 
 
 When you have read his Notes on England, do 
 tell me what you think of them, and we will compare 
 our Notes on Taine. You have had all the oppor- 
 tunities of judging. French views of foreign society 
 are apt to be fantastic. A Frenchman is quick in 
 observing, and often proportionately hasty in drawing 
 large conclusions. Perhaps De Tocqueville is an 
 exception. I have the third New York edition of 
 his Democracy in America — and that is as old as 
 1839 — which looks as if he was approved in the 
 country of which he writes. At least he starts 
 with a clear apprehension of principles, whether his 
 particular applications of them are or are not accurate. 
 
 Have I ever told you of an institution called the 
 ' Ad Eundem ' Club '^. It met here yesterday ; and 
 I shall seize the opportunity to give you some 
 account of a society so peculiarly constructed. It 
 consists of twenty-eight members — fourteen Oxford 
 and fourteen Cambridge, not necessarily resident, but 
 necessarily at least /^i-/ members of the Universities. 
 These are always so chosen as to secure a political 
 element. In the present twenty-eight this element 
 is represented by four Members of Parliament, and 
 three other men who, though not in the House, are 
 more or less connected with politics : among them 
 Sir Henry Maine, formerly legal member of Council 
 at Calcutta, and now Professor of International Law 
 at Oxford. This variety of elements gives a special 
 interest to our meetings — which take place at Oxford, 
 Cambridge and in London turn about. Yesterday, 
 one of the chief topics of conversation was one which 
 
1872] Letters to C, L, S. 125 
 
 is sorely perplexing English politicians at present ; — 
 the question whether the use of intoxicating liquors 
 ought to be restrained by legislative interference. 
 One party, still a small one, is for restricting the 
 Liquor Traffic by a Permissive Bill : and a member 
 of our club, Mr George Trevelyan (M.P. for the 
 Border Burghs) is one of the leaders of this party ; 
 Mr Fawcett — also of our society — maintains on the 
 other hand that a Permissive Bill is something which 
 would almost justify armed resistance on the part of 
 the people. I was curious to hear how Trevelyan 
 would meet Fawcett's favourite argument against 
 the Bill, — viz., that it is unjust to exclude the poor 
 man from the public-house (perhaps his one refuge 
 from miserable lodgings), while the rich man has 
 his comfortable house and his dinner-parties. This 
 inequality may, of course, be illustrated with any 
 amount of rhetoric, and is the grand commonplace 
 of those who oppose the Bill. Trevelyan's answer 
 was that the demand for legislation comes from 
 below, not from above ; and that the poor cannot, 
 therefore, be treated as aggrieved by a measure 
 which they themselves invoke. This argument turns 
 upon a question of fact, which few people can be in 
 a position to decide at present. A General Election 
 in which the Permissive Bill was made a shibboleth 
 could alone test effectually the popularity which the 
 restrictive system is said to enjoy with the lower 
 classes. The Maine Law is, of course, a contested 
 precedent : the most different accounts of its operation 
 are given. For my own part, I cannot help doubting 
 
126 Sii^ Richard J ebb [1872 
 
 whether anything but the slow, sure remedy of 
 education will master this evil in England. The 
 individual liberty of the subject is, with us, dearly 
 prized and darkly understood ; a legislative measure 
 which could be represented, with any plausibility, as 
 threatening it, would have no chance. 
 
 The assassination of Lord Mayo has startled, as 
 well as shocked, this country; for there is a tendency, 
 justified less by the special facts than by their general 
 antecedents, to connect the crime with the recent 
 activity of the Mohammedan fanatics called Wahha- 
 bees. 
 
 Is it not singular that a reinvigoration of Mo- 
 hammedanism should have taken place at nearly the 
 same period as a reinvigoration of Catholicism '^. It 
 seems as if the human mind generally (putting ad- 
 vanced thinkers out of the question) had not yet 
 found any conception of religion more satisfactory 
 than a prophetism ; — than the belief in a God 
 interpreted to men by some one standing in a 
 relation more or less close to that God. And will 
 mankind, as a whole, ever prefer a different creed ? 
 I doubt it. A Theism is too cold for warm tempera- 
 ments and too abstract for slow brains. It will 
 always have its apostles ; but will it ever overspread 
 the earth "^ 
 
 Tuesday, February 2jtk. I went this morning to 
 the Thanksgiving Service at St Paul's for the re- 
 covery of the Prince of Wales. London was densely 
 crowded, and even yesterday evening, when I went 
 
1872] Letters to C. Z. S, 127 
 
 up, the line of procession from Buckingham Palace — 
 by Pall Mall, The Strand, Fleet Street, and Ludgate 
 Hill — was difficult of passage. Immense crowds of 
 sightseers were reconnoitring the ground, and pre- 
 paring themselves to enjoy to-night's illuminations 
 by inspecting the strange metallic anatomies destined 
 by and by to be clothed and glorified with shapes of 
 fire. Ticketholders were warned and implored by 
 the Times, the Police, and every oracle of earthly 
 wisdom, to be early at St Paul's ; and to judge from 
 the remarks which fell from the worthy Master of 
 Downing, with whom I came up in the train, I have 
 reason to believe that the rising sun, or, in its 
 absence, the earliest carpenter, saw the dim form of 
 that exemplary man in the lonely temple. The 
 service began on the Queen's arrival, at a few 
 minutes before one, and lasted just an hour. It is 
 supposed that there were about 12,000 people in the 
 cathedral. It was magnificent when the Te Deum, 
 with which the service began, burst forth under the 
 great dome, rolling strong waves of sound through 
 the aisles and transepts, till the whole vast church 
 was flooded with a sea of tumultuous music. The 
 Queen entered leaning on the arm of the Prince of 
 Wales.... There is such a thing as a sublimity of 
 numbers. As the Thanksgiving Service was really 
 hearty and sincere, its great scale made it, in a 
 manner, sublime. Is it not curious how a thought 
 or sentiment which for the individual, perhaps, has 
 no kindling power, can derive a sudden grandeur 
 from the consciousness that it is shared with a 
 
128 Sir Richard J ebb [1872 
 
 multitude of other minds ? The truth is, perhaps, 
 that the idea of greatness is unfamiliar to most of us 
 except in relation to number or size ; and, half un- 
 consciously, we apply this material standard in the 
 province of morals. A feeling which covers a 
 thousand square yards must, we perceive at once, 
 be a great feeling. And then, of course, there is a 
 certain electricity of concord. 
 
 In the crowd to-day one of the figures which 
 I was amused in observing was Mr Disraeli's. He 
 was clad in a garment which, I believe, he greatly 
 affects — a long white coat, designed, possibly, to 
 assist the curious eye in its search for him. He was 
 paying his wife, Lady Beaconsfield, a degree of 
 attention so unusual in public, and so very unusual 
 in church, as to suggest to the cynical observer that 
 it could scarcely always be maintained in the same 
 perfection under the accomplished gentleman's own 
 roof; but I promptly repressed this thought, as alto- 
 gether unfair to the courteous author of Coningsby. 
 Truly in this land of precedent, a statesman profits 
 by being fashionable — fashionable for his novels, or 
 his eccentricity, or his impudence — for something, 
 at any rate, which forms a brilliant contrast to that 
 grim, tremendous earnestness which we all so pro- 
 foundly admire, which rules, and bores, the British 
 mind. For every opera-glass which was bent on 
 Gladstone to-day in St Paul's, I am sure that a 
 dozen were turned on Dizzy." 
 
:872] Letters to C. L. S. 129 
 
 '* Cambridge, 
 
 March 12th, 1872. 
 
 Spring has come — almost rushed upon us — 
 
 ' with its golden lights, 
 With silken breezes and with spicy breaths, 
 With kindly wooings of white flowerets, 
 With welcome in a thousand violet eyes,' 
 
 as Heine says ; and all the place is bright and glad 
 under the bright skies. The hunting season is 
 nearly over, and the period of unpractical riding is 
 beginning. Now may young men in new, pale 
 gloves be seen going out on elderly horses, and a 
 few young men, in older gloves, on newer horses : 
 now is the turf by the roadside becoming brilliant all 
 the way to Madingley, to Ely, to Abington, to 
 Haslingfield : and Youth, cantering smoothly over 
 it, is fluently confidential to Age trotting at its side. 
 
 Now is that ancient river, the river Cam, alive 
 with boats and with many-coloured jerseys and with 
 crowds on the towing-path. Now are the streets and 
 gardens becoming once more brilliant by day — and 
 the College chapels, with their rolling organ-music, 
 by night — with the toilets of ladies — in short, every- 
 thing reminds one that the mediating Hours have 
 made up the winter quarrel between the Graces and 
 the Muses. 
 
 I heard of a dialogue the other day on the natural 
 beauties of Cambridgeshire : it was to this effect. 
 Aesthetic person: — 'Oh, that we had some moun- 
 
 j. M. 9 
 
1 30 Sir Richard J ebb [1872 
 
 tain-scenery here!' Practical and somewhat horsy- 
 person: — 'It is not everywhere that you can get 
 a '*tit up" over grass for ten miles wherever you 
 go.' This coarsely unsympathetic person was not 
 altogether wrong : and he might have added that 
 some of the villages in this neighbourhood are among 
 the prettiest in England — Madingley, for instance, 
 which is a subject such as Birket Foster, or any of 
 our water-colourists of his school, would paint well. 
 In May and June these little nooks, which one comes 
 on quite suddenly, are really lovely. Cambridge has 
 overcome the first austerity of Lent, which is, in 
 fact, singularly uncongenial to the local views of life. 
 Small dinner-parties, and concerts of varying size, 
 have been the order of the last fortnight ; offering 
 nothing which the historian can regard as satisfying 
 the dignity of history, yet agreeable at the time. 
 You shall have a few glimpses of this subdued 
 drama — too subdued to bear wholesale repetition 
 without scenery. 
 
 The Fitzwilliam has just been giving a rather 
 good concert. It was in the hall of Sidney, which 
 was quite full. The ' feature ' (as newspapers say) 
 of the programme was 'Placida, the Christian martyr' 
 — a cantata by a Mr Carter. The story belongs to 
 the reign of Nero. Placida, the daughter of Metellus, 
 a Roman magnate, has been converted to Christianity 
 by her own lady's maid — whom the author, with a 
 fine disregard for Lempriere, has been pleased to 
 call Bertha. The emperor has just been publishing 
 an edict against this new and sordid infidelity. 
 
1872] Letters to C, L. S, 131 
 
 Placlda, arrested while praying with slaves in the 
 catacombs, is adjured by her father to renounce her 
 infamous superstition ; — refuses — is condemned to the 
 beasts ; — but, on her way to the arena, swoons ; and 
 is saved from the final agony by a sudden and pain- 
 less death. This dramatic cantata was extremely 
 well sung. Mrs Edwin Clark (did you know her ?) 
 was Placida ; Mrs Dunn, Bertha ; Mr Borissow (a 
 Russian, the precentor of the Trinity Choir) sang the 
 part of Metellus ; and Nero was represented by a 
 vigorous young bass, who had the advantage of 
 looking tyrannical ; and whom it was agreeable to 
 observe joining in the chorus of Christians at the 
 end, as if the most difficult of sovereigns had been 
 converted." 
 
 "March 26th, 1872. 
 
 Have you ever considered the ethics of 
 
 locomotion ? As we were returning from the boat- 
 race Mr Jasper More told me this historical anecdote. 
 Mr Disraeli, after one of his best speeches, left the 
 House with Mr Montagu Corry. T was wondering' 
 (Mr Corry afterwards confessed) 'what a great orator 
 would talk about just after a successful speech ' — 
 'Corry,' said Mr Disraeli, 'do you know how to 
 get into a cab ? Very few men know. I was at 
 Vienna once when I was a young man, with Prince 
 Gortschakoff and another Englishman, a military 
 man who was there on the same business. A royal 
 carriage was sent to conduct us ; when we came to 
 
 9—2 
 
132 Sir Richard J ebb [1872 
 
 it, the Englishman walked straight up to it, and got 
 in with his back to the horses. Gortschakoff said to 
 me — '* That Is the politest thing I have ever seen an 
 Englishman do ! " ' 
 
 He was right. It is inconsiderate, and therefore 
 impolite, to occasion a needless embarrassment. No 
 persons are so tiresome as those who are possessed 
 by an indistinct idea that their first duty to their 
 neighbour is self-abasement — forgetting that their 
 first duty to that unexacting person Is simply not to 
 make him uncomfortable. 
 
 I shall leave Cambridge in a day or two ; indeed 
 I returned here chiefly for the purpose of concluding 
 a course of lectures on Milton's Areopagitica and 
 some of his minor poems which I have been giving 
 this term to a class of ladies. One of Milton's Italian 
 sonnets, which we have just been reading, strikes 
 me as good in its way ; it was written during his 
 tour In Italy In 1638-39, and is interesting as his 
 best attempt at the language. He was in love with 
 an Italian lady, one of whose charms appears to 
 have been her singing. This is a quite literal 
 translation in the same metre. 
 
 * As on a rough hill at brown evening-time 
 The shepherd maiden native to the air 
 Waters some drooping plantlet strange and rare, 
 Which scarce can bloom in the unwonted clime, 
 Far from the gentler skies which saw it spring ; — 
 So on my eager tongue which Love doth teach 
 Rises the new flower of an alien speech. 
 While thee, — thee gracious in thy pride, — I sing, 
 
1872] Letters to C. L. S. 133 
 
 By my good country-folk not understood, 
 And for the bright Thames change the Arno bright. 
 — Love willed ; and others' trial of his might 
 Taught me that Love can ever what he would. 
 Oh that my sluggish heart, my stubborn mind, 
 Were for the heavenly seed a soil as kind ! ' 
 
 Does not the true Puritan speak in that last 
 couplet ? Yet Milton surely could love with all his 
 heart. 
 
 The Ladies' College from Hitchin is going soon 
 to move to Girton, about two miles from here. A 
 meeting was held at Dr Kennedy's and attended by 
 some of the promoters from London. Miss Davies, 
 the chief of these, is both able and energetic. She 
 and Lady Stanley of Alderley advocated the wisdom 
 of giving a fete at Girton when the first stone of the 
 new building is laid in May. The College would 
 thus acquire a certain dclat. The ladies thought 
 it would be easy to procure the desirable princess 
 and the necessary bishop. Others, of whom I must 
 confess myself one, doubted whether the success of 
 the undertaking depended so much on Gunter and 
 Debrett as to make the fete worth the trouble." 
 
 ** Desmond, Killiney, 
 
 April 2yd^ 1872. 
 
 When I sent you last week a translation from 
 Schiller, I believed that I had guessed the poem 
 alluded to in your letter of March 26th. Hardly had 
 it gone, however, when I became tolerably sure that 
 
134 '^'zV Richard J ebb [1872 
 
 this was not the right one, and tolerably sure, too, 
 what is the right one. Shall I tell you how ? I 
 was reading your letter over again ; and though I 
 thought that my knowledge of it was already pretty 
 accurate — extending to the principal commas and 
 all the full stops — I found that certain inverted 
 commas had escaped my memory. You say of the 
 poem : — ' The idea was '* that longing for something 
 afar" which is common enough in poetry.' We have 
 two very popular historians in England — Mr Froude 
 the picturesque, and Mr Freeman the exact. Among 
 the many and grievous sins which the Exact is 
 constantly laying to the charge of the Picturesque, 
 one of the chief is the misuse of inverted commas. 
 Read any article on Mr Froude in the Saturday 
 Review — they are generally by Mr Freeman — and 
 the chances are you will find this accusation grimly 
 urged. Now I felt instinctively that you would not 
 
 misuse inverted commas The same mental 
 
 characteristic which lends its graceful rigour to your 
 criticisms of our British institutions would prevent 
 you from confounding quotation with paraphrase. 
 Your inverted commas might, I felt, be trusted. 
 They enclosed the words ' that longing for some- 
 thing afar.' A German word, or German words, 
 equivalent to these must, I inferred, be either the 
 title of the poem, or prominent in it. So I went 
 through Schiller again ; and in the Poems of the 
 Third Period I found one called Sehnsucht. Do 
 tell me if this guess is right. If it is, the discovery 
 ought to be gratifying to both of us. It presupposes, 
 
1872] Letters to C. L, S. 135 
 
 on your part, a gift denied to the historian of the six- 
 teenth century ; on mine, a correct inductive process 
 founded on your possession of that gift as premiss. 
 
 It is singular that in the search for your poem I 
 should have hit upon that which I sent you last 
 week — Die der schaffende Geist, etc. ; which 
 Schiller calls Die Grosse der Welt. That poem 
 and Sehnsucht so strikingly illustrate and com- 
 plete each other. They ought, indeed, to be read 
 together. Together they express a single idea — 
 the sphere and the conditions of rest for an ardent, 
 imaginative nature. 
 
 That rest can be found only by following the 
 highest aspirations — the desire, from the valley, for 
 the hills ; it demands some faith and some venture — 
 * Du musst glauben, du musst wagen ' — ' for the 
 gods give no pledge.' On the other hand the 
 search for this rest will be pushed beyond the point 
 at which it is really to be found, unless a certain 
 restraining spiritual tact detects the invisible line. 
 The finite cannot reach the infinite. For all human 
 nature, repose is compromise. No eager mind can 
 satisfy all longings, or expel every disturbing force. 
 The nearest approach to absolute peace possible for 
 it has been made, when, following its own highest 
 impulses, it has reached the point where incom- 
 patible bents of aspiration cross. 
 
 ' Steh ! du segelst umsonst — Unendlichkeit vor dir ! ' 
 ' Steh ! du segelst umsonst, Pilger, auch hinter mir ! ' 
 
 Senke nieder, 
 
 Adlergedank', dein Gefieder. 
 
136 Sir Richard J ebb [1872 
 
 I am glad you like Schiller better than Goethe. 
 So have I always done, and perhaps for the same 
 reasons. Goethe's mind was at once more powerful 
 and finer than Schiller's. But over all Goethe's 
 work there is the coldness and vagueness of moral 
 apathy; as his life proved, he was incapable of an 
 unselfish devotion ; he had one sovereign aim, which 
 he pursued to the exclusion of every other — the 
 crowning of ' the pyramid ' of his own culture. 
 Schiller was narrower, but he had moral earnest- 
 ness ; he was more intense, he was infinitely nobler, 
 and these things are worth more in a poet — might we 
 not say, in a man ? — than any genius for analysis." 
 
 " KiLLINEY, 
 
 May ^th, 1872. 
 
 So you are fairly charmed with Goethe \ When 
 you said — six weeks ago — that you liked Schiller 
 better, I thoroughly agreed ; but I knew, too, from 
 my own experience and that of others, that if you 
 had not already passed through the phase of admir- 
 ing Goethe, that phase, at least, was likely to come. 
 Attraction or repulsion — nothing between these is 
 possible under that imperious spell. What the author 
 of Ecce Homo says of moral development is quite as 
 true, I think, in regard to the epochs of our intel- 
 lectual life. Crises in the expansion of our ideas, 
 like crises in the formation of our characters, are 
 
 ^ His correspondent had been reading Dichtung und Wahrheit 
 and fell under the " daemonic " spell. 
 
1872] Letters to C. L, S. 137 
 
 more often determined by personal than by logical 
 influences. What kind of book is it, the reading of 
 which opens a distinct era in the life and growth of 
 one's thoughts ? Nearly always, a book which bears 
 the impress of a strong, daring, human personality. 
 One reads for the first time Mill's Logic or Mill's 
 Essay on Liberty : it fixes in the mind a number of 
 new truths, clear, precise, demonstrated as rigidly as 
 a mathematical theorem. The mental gain can be 
 accurately estimated. One is richer by such or such 
 a number of distinct perceptions. But the gain is 
 in knowledge, not in faculty. The perceptions thus 
 acquired have a value strictly limited by their own 
 definiteness. They belong to a province ; they have 
 no inherent virtue to illuminate, outside that pro- 
 vince, the whole field of external life — still less to light 
 up the dark corners of one's own nature. Again — 
 take a creative artist of the type most completely 
 represented by Shakespeare. In Shakespeare's 
 dramas the whole world is mirrored ; one has the 
 delight of recognising as faithful a great range of 
 portraits ; the imagination and the sense of beauty 
 are charmed as in a picture-gallery. But no electric 
 impulse is communicated which can carry the mind 
 forward to creative or analytic effort on its own 
 account ; the net gain is enjoyment, with perhaps 
 help to reflection — not a permanent deepening of 
 insight or enlargement of power. 
 
 The effect is altogether different when one is 
 brought into direct contact with a mind of original 
 force which is not merely interpretative but self- 
 
138 Sir Richard J ebb [1872 
 
 interpreting; which, in the act of explaining, stamps 
 itself on what it explains, and shows the phenomena 
 with which it deals not simply by but thi^ougk its own 
 light. The truths which such a mind can impart 
 differ from those conveyed by minds of the other 
 types as algebraic results differ from arithmetical. 
 The latter are concrete, the former universal : in the 
 one case one learns facts ; in the other case one 
 grasps methods applicable to all quantities what- 
 soever. Is not this a significant commentary on the 
 maxim that ' the proper study of mankind is man ' ? 
 The largest and most fruitful acquisitions which a 
 human mind can make are to be made by studying 
 not the inferences but the processes of another 
 mind. What is distinctive of Goethe's observ- 
 ing power is that he could look at himself from 
 without, while he looked at the outer world as from 
 its own centre. Hence his remarks on life are in a 
 wonderful measure free from the disturbance of self- 
 delusion ; one feels in them the intimate fidelity of 
 unexaggerated personal experience. 
 
 The other great secret of Goethe's fascination is 
 his absolute self-reliance. I have always thought 
 that the most striking proof of that was his feeling 
 about a future life. He believed in the immortality 
 of the soul on the general ground that Nature could 
 not afford the extinction of any vital principle. But 
 he refused to lean on this belief, or to discount it by 
 borrowing from it strength to go through the mortal 
 time. In this he was as much stronger than those 
 
1872] Letters to C, L. S. 139 
 
 who, like Mill or George Eliot, do their duty while 
 they disbelieve, as a man temperate in the use of 
 wine shows more real self-command than a total 
 abstainer." 
 
 '*/u/y 30M, 1872. 
 
 The heat of the weather in America seems to 
 have been even greater than the heat of a presiden- 
 tial election, though it would not have been exactly 
 a happy metaphor to say that it had thrown the 
 latter into the shade.... Well, what solace or advice 
 can I give you with your thermometer at 85° or 
 thereabouts? In spite of Shakespeare's remark that 
 it is vain to think of the frosty Caucasus with a view 
 to holding fire in one's hand, I should recommend 
 you to think of cool things. Think of 
 
 ' Daffodils 
 That come before the swallow dares and take 
 The winds of March with beauty ' — 
 
 Think of 
 
 * The moving waters at their priest-like task 
 Of pure ablution round earth's human shores ' — 
 
 and think — oh, think — of your having sent me just 
 two sheets of that odiously small and ladylike note 
 paper (may the years of Parkins and Gotto be 
 scanty) after six weeks. Rest on your sofa and we 
 will write to you — and if the reflections suggested 
 don't bring you a delicious sense of coolness, I can 
 only say that they ought." 
 
140 Sir Richard J ebb [187; 
 
 " Cambridge, 
 August^ 1872. 
 
 I was so delighted to get your letter last night. 
 I had just come back from one of those little dinner- 
 parties which often make a pleasant ending to one 
 of our breezy, bright August days, and there — the 
 first thing the light flashed upon — was your letter ! 
 There it lay, it did not vanish when it was looked 
 at ; it stayed where it was, quiet, palpable, divinely 
 self-possessed ; like one of those good gifts of the 
 gods which men used to find in the valleys and 
 woods, or on wild mountain paths, where Pan 
 or Hermes had passed ; like a good young man's 
 prosperity in the third volume ; like anything happy 
 which comes sudden and seldom into the hard world 
 of fact. And then this bright windfall allowed itself 
 to be touched — even to be read through, not once 
 only ; and how glad I was to find that you were 
 well, after all that dreadful heat, and to hear all 
 about your life at Erie, and the delightful Ger- 
 mans, and the ladies with limited conversational 
 resources 
 
 Have you looked at Victor Hugo's new book, 
 L'annde terrible, — the Year of the War .^^ It seems 
 to me, as far as I can judge, to contain some very 
 grand and some very tender poetry — so much I can 
 
 dimly feel What I like best in him, is always 
 
 something which expresses more or less simply a 
 definite human feeling — these lines for instance to a 
 
1872] Letters to C. L, S, 141 
 
 Trappist Brother, an old friend, in the Monastery 
 of La Meilleraye (it is almost a shame to translate 
 them) — 
 
 My brother — ah, the tempest has been strong ! 
 The furious wind that lashes us along 
 
 From rock to hidden rock 
 Swept, at our parting, the deep waters dark 
 With furrowing wing, and hurled upon thy bark 
 
 The billows' thunderous shock — 
 
 So that, for terror of that instant death, 
 
 To ease the boat that reeled to that fierce breath. 
 
 Which those waves yawned to merge, 
 Each in its turn, joy, freedom, fantasy, 
 Home — treasured things — last treasure, poesy — 
 
 Were cast into the surge ! 
 
 And now at last — lo, desolate, forlorn, 
 Where the waves go thou goest, patient, worn. 
 
 By whom no strand is trod : 
 Having in thy boat, dissevered by the gale 
 From ours, two things — thy compass and thy sail — 
 
 Thy soul— thy God ! " 
 
 " Cambridge, 
 December ^rd^ 1872. 
 
 When I came back to Trinity last night, I found 
 a note — from v^hom do you suppose ? — from Miss 
 Thackeray, dated the ' Bull Hotel ' and asking me 
 to dine there w^ith her and some friends the next 
 day. It was such a delightful party — the Fresh- 
 fields, Miss Ritchie, Mr Ritchie their brother, Mr 
 Hallam Tennyson, the poet's eldest son, who has 
 
142 Sir Richard J ebb [1872 
 
 just come up to Trinity, and Mr Henry Sidgwick. 
 Mr Tennyson was to have come but had a cold 
 and telegraphed at the last moment. We had 
 fun ; among other amusements, we marked some of 
 our common friends for (i) Appearance, (2) Heart, 
 (3) Intellect, (4) Manners, (5) Sense of Humour. The 
 worst of that game is that one can never forget 
 
 what happened to the inventor of the guillotine 
 
 You cannot think how charming Miss Thackeray 
 is ; it is the charm of a perfectly good heart and a 
 
 great wit enshrined in a lady 
 
 Have you read her Memoir of Sir Edwin 
 Landseer ? It is in the Cornhill. What strikes me 
 about it, as regards her, is the manner in which it 
 marks one trait of her vivid and innocent brightness 
 — her fairy-like way of viewing life. Read the part 
 about Landseer rouging the beauties for the Fancy 
 Ball. Over this, however, is gradually coming some- 
 what of her father's seriousness in social teaching." 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 CAMBRIDGE LIFE AND WORK. 
 1872 — 1874. 
 
 In 1872 R. C. Jebb had been appointed a tutor of 
 Trinity. In many ways the position was agreeable 
 to him. He Hked the bright friendHness of young 
 men, for some of whom he soon grew to have an 
 affection, and he knew enough of the heedless follies 
 of their age to give them more sympathy than 
 rebuke in their scrapes and troubles. Once, when 
 some men went so far as to stop a mailcart — fortu- 
 nately empty — remove the driver and take the reins 
 into their own hands — thereby bringing themselves 
 very much within the reach of the law ; when an 
 Official came down from London to make inquiries, 
 and terror filled their minds with visions of a 
 possible gaol and certainly irate parents — he suc- 
 ceeded in pacifying the stern instrument of the law ; 
 who even consented to stay and dine, and join in a 
 loving cup with the chief criminal, having discovered 
 the latter to be the son of an old friend. 
 
 But there were other duties belonging to a tutor s 
 office which no ingenuity could make agreeable to a 
 man whose nature abhorred accounts, and who felt 
 it almost an impertinence to watch over a pupils 
 
1 44 Sir Richard J ebb [1873 
 
 outlay, and check his kitchen expenses. After two 
 years of tutorial work, he resigned the position and 
 felt a great relief when disburdened of duties some 
 of which were so alien to his nature. 
 
 Early in 1873 he brought out a book of Trans- 
 lations into Greek and Latin verse which excited 
 the enthusiasm of his friends, and also brought 
 him a letter from Robert Browning whose Abt 
 Vogler was one of the poems translated. 
 
 "19 Warwick Crescent, W., 
 July 2,0th, 1873. 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 I am very grateful to you for your beautiful Book, 
 very proud of the Greek dress you make my poem wear so 
 prominently on its first page. I thank you indeed for 
 almost giving me the right to admire my own work, which 
 I shall henceforth associate with yours. 
 
 Robert Browning." 
 
 From Mr Frederic Myers. 
 
 ''May loth, 1873. 
 My Dear Jebb, 
 
 I have just been to the Education Office where 
 I found your splendid book, for which I ^\w^ you most 
 hearty thanks. I have been reading it aloud to myself 
 ever since, and have only time to scrawl this line to you 
 before the Saturday post goes out. I opened on the 
 Nativity Ode and was fascinated. I will back myself to 
 obtain as much pleasure from the words Non conferentum 
 
1873] Cambridge Life and Work 145 
 
 signa cohortiwn as any one else in England. Then I turned 
 to Abt Vogler which was like a solemn spectacle defiling 
 before my eyes — of course I have not yet mastered it, but 
 it is indeed noble. 
 
 I congratulate you on the production of a book which 
 I honestly do not believe that any one in the world could 
 match in its own line of scholarship etherealised into an 
 emotion and then crystallised into an enduring joy." 
 
 To C. L. S. 
 
 *' Trinity College, Cambridge, 
 February 11th, 1873. 
 
 I told you that Cambridge and Trinity had lost 
 their oldest resident — Adam Sedgvi^ick, our professor 
 of geology, and the founder, almost, of the science in 
 England, who died at the age of eighty-seven. The 
 memory of the famous old man, so much loved and 
 honoured here, has filled our thoughts more than 
 anything else since then : and if I dwell upon it at 
 what may seem great length in writing to one who 
 did not know him personally, it is because thus I 
 shall most truly place you in imagination among us. 
 He was buried in the Chapel of Trinity. No one 
 who saw that sight can forget it. 
 
 On Saturday the 3rd, at a quarter to eleven, the 
 officers of the University and the invited strangers 
 met at the Master's Lodge. The Fellows and 
 Undergraduates of Trinity met in the College Hall. 
 At eleven thirty, the procession set out from Sedg- 
 wick's rooms. The chief mourners, and the four 
 senior Fellows, walked with the bier. At the door 
 of the Master's Lodge they paused, and the company 
 
 J. M. 10 
 
146 Sir Richard J ebb [1873 
 
 which had met there fell In. First after the bier 
 came the Bishops of Norwich and Ely, — the peers 
 who had come, and the Deans of Ely and West- 
 minster. Then the Heads of Houses, — then I (as 
 Public Orator), — then the Professors and Doctors, 
 the Members of Council, the Members for the Uni- 
 versity in Parliament. The procession moved to the 
 foot of the Hall steps : then turned to the left, and 
 moved across the paved pathway which traverses the 
 Court in a line parallel with the Chapel. As the 
 last of those who had joined it at the Lodge came 
 up, another line, from the Hall, fell in behind them, 
 — viz., the Fellows, Undergraduates and ordinary 
 guests. The procession did not turn to the left 
 from the line parallel to the Chapel, by what would 
 have been the shortest way to the Chapel, so as 
 to pass the Fountain : but held on till the opposite 
 side of the Court was reached, and then turned 
 towards the Great Gateway. The train was so long 
 that the foremost had reached the Gate before the 
 last had left the Hall. As the bier passed the gate, 
 the Choir and the Clergy, headed by the Master, 
 advanced, white-robed and bare-headed, from the 
 Chapel ; the low, sweet chanting of the Choir, as 
 they drew nearer, singing ' I am the Resurrection 
 and the Life,' for the first time broke the stillness. 
 
 Imagine the scene at that moment. There was 
 snow on the ground, throwing into stronger relief 
 the long black line drawn across two whole sides of 
 that vast court : the bier was approaching the door 
 of the Chapel, now preceded by the Choir, who, as 
 
1873] Cambridge Life and Work 147 
 
 they met it, had turned — the anthem rising fuller 
 and fuller, — and all men thinking that here, at last, 
 was the last step of a journey begun in far-off times, 
 among faces and thoughts which for us were only 
 history — a journey made, through all those years, in 
 the strength of a single-hearted, fearless love of 
 truth, and of goodwill to all men — goodwill never 
 clouded to the very end by the lonely living on in a 
 world become half-strange. How we must all have 
 thought then of the bright words and looks we could 
 remember of his, and felt that, with our faces turned 
 towards his grave, we had our faces beginning to 
 turn away from the tradition of a whole age, — that 
 this was more than a parting from a great man, 
 more than a parting between two generations, — a 
 parting, for us, between an old time and a new. 
 
 Stanley preached at St Mary's the next day — 
 Sunday. The University Church was densely 
 crowded, — fuller, even, than the Sunday before. 
 People were sitting on the steps of the chancel. 
 All the University people were in mourning. The 
 Dean of Westminster took as his text — * Ye are the 
 salt of the earth — ye are the light of the world.' 
 He insisted on two things as cardinal in Christianity 
 — purity and light. He used a clever illustration of 
 the possible uses of obstructiveness and error — he 
 said that they were like the motes without which we 
 
 could not see the sunbeam At the end Stanley 
 
 showed how good old Sedgwick had exemplified his 
 text : and did it well. Yesterday I was talking to 
 the V.C. (Dr Cookson of St Peter's) about Sedgwick, 
 
148 Sir Richard Jebb [1873 
 
 and found that he thought him greater intellectually 
 than Whewell. More of the temperament, at least, 
 
 of genius he certainly had 
 
 To-night I am going to dine with the Committee 
 
 of my dearly beloved Pitt Club Our host this 
 
 evening is a very nice Eton boy who has just come 
 up to Trinity, Lord Stopford. It is so pleasant 
 now and then to have an opportunity of seeing in 
 this way some of the best undergraduates, not as a 
 * don,' but as the head of one of their own societies. 
 I am president now of two undergraduate clubs — 
 a distinction which I value most of all for this, that 
 nothing has ever helped me so much in my ad- 
 ministrative work here as the mutual goodwill kept 
 perpetually fresh by this intercourse." 
 
 Among the undergraduates of this time was 
 Sir Charles Villiers Stanford, whose great musical 
 gifts were even then well known. He writes to me 
 that, on applying to Jebb, as Head Lecturer, to be 
 excused from the College examination in 1873, he 
 got leave in the following couplet : 
 
 Quid tibi Musa neget ? trutinam lacrimosa parabit. 
 Si fugis examen, tollere Musa suam. 
 
 R. C. J. 
 
 Some years later Jebb borrowed from Sir Charles 
 Stanford a key of the Fellows' Garden and forgot 
 to return it ; when asked for it, he sent with it two 
 verses : 
 
 Clave quid ablata silvis excluditur Orpheus? 
 Ne domitum vates auferat ipse nemus. 
 
 R. C. J. 
 
873] Cambridge Life and Work 149 
 
 Letters to C. L. S. 
 
 " Trinity College, Cambridge, 
 
 February 25/y^, 1873. 
 
 Cambridge is generally most exemplary and in- 
 dustrious in amusing itself for the last fortnight or 
 three weeks before Lent. This year it has been 
 rather less so than usual. Since I wrote on the 
 nth, nothing very miraculous has happened: but 
 what has happened, you shall hear : the diary form 
 will be best this time. 
 
 Saturday, February \^th. An evening party at 
 Miss Clough's. Did you know that charming old 
 lady ? She has set up a sort of boarding-house for 
 ladies who come to attend the Cambridge Lectures 
 for Women : there are about six of them with her 
 now. She interests me, because she is Arthur 
 Clough's sister, and then because she is herself: he 
 and she must have been much alike. These evening 
 parties are always pleasant : the only drawback is 
 that she asks too many people, and rather over- 
 crowds the rooms at ' Merton Hall,' as their house 
 at the Backs is called. The male sex is generally 
 represented by the same select group of the faithful : 
 no heretic profanes the hearth 
 
 Sunday , February i6th. Mr William Morris, the 
 poet, dined in hall with his friend Mr Eric Magnusson, 
 the Icelander, who has worked with him at the Sagas. 
 
150 Sir Richard J ebb [1873 
 
 Mr Morris Is a rough, self-centred, passionate, odd, 
 almost wild, man. Mr Magnusson tells me that he 
 and Morris agree in thinking that the supreme joy 
 is to get away from all the restraints of conventional 
 life — to Iceland, say, or to Central Africa. I can 
 never quite believe in a man who tells you what a 
 charming child of nature he is, what agony it is to 
 him to have to dress like other people, and to use a 
 knife and fork, and to wind up his watch. 
 
 Monday, February lyth, Mr Paley — your friend 
 — read a paper at the Philosophical Society to show 
 that the Odyssey is a Solar Myth — an allegory of 
 the sun's journey from east to west — Ulysses being 
 the setting sun. It was a mass of that half-crazy 
 ingenuity in which comparative mythologists almost 
 rival the expounders of scriptural types. Penelope, 
 for instance, was made — what } — the Clouds, whose 
 night-work is taken down every morning by the sun. 
 This kind of puerility is to me intolerable and loath- 
 some. I could not restrain myself — I got up and 
 replied, and had the meeting with me — explained 
 the etymology of the name of Odysseus which all 
 the scientific philologers now accept, 'the Hater' — 
 an old heroic name from the majesty of anger, — a 
 very natural name in a rude time, not, as the old 
 people took it, from the anger of the gods with him — 
 and then dwelt, as far as needed, on the really con- 
 clusive argument against the solar notion — the strong 
 and varied and essentially human interest of the 
 Odyssey. An ingenious Irish author has already 
 
1873] Cambridge Life and Work 151 
 
 proved, in a jeu d esprit which deserves renown, 
 that Max Muller is the sun. The legend takes the 
 common form of a great teacher coming from the 
 East. As I suggested to our friend Paley, Columbus 
 is obviously the sun. It was splendid fun. The 
 Master of Sidney and Miss Phelps were there ; and 
 Miss Phelps and I discussed it further — (Oh seat of 
 learning !) — in a valse at the X.'s. 
 
 Tuesday, February i^tk. Dance at the X.'s. 
 Mrs X. introduced me to a lady who knew some 
 friends of mine. This lady is supposed to have 
 been destined — other projects failing — for our friend, 
 Dr Y. But where all human aid seemed more than 
 vain, Nature herself — in her own royal person — 
 has come to the aid of that much vexed mortal. 
 The wisdom of the serpent and the coolness of the 
 First Napoleon have added themselves spontaneously 
 to the original thorough goodness and amiability. 
 The adder of the psalmist might be said to have a 
 really good ear for music — to be really carefully 
 attentive when the charmer spoke or sang — com- 
 pared with Dr Y. It is no go " 
 
 ''April, 1873. 
 
 Gerald Balfour and I left Naples at 4 p.m. 
 
 on Sunday, April 20th. We said goodbye at the 
 station to our two friends, who went to spend four 
 days more at Capri, that island of the blest. Travel- 
 ling all night through the rugged scene of those 
 
152 Sir Richard J ebb [^873 
 
 Samnite wars so afflicting to the earlier years of 
 British youth, through a country which, as the 
 shades of night fell, seemed to bristle with unquiet 
 and avenging dates and with gaunt spectres of 
 consuls, who, to judge from their universal incapacity, 
 must have been chosen by the Senate of the time 
 simply in the educational interests of posterity, we 
 came out in the early morning on the fair, quiet 
 shore of the Adriatic, — with lovely Ancona tranquil 
 on its rocky seat in the sunshine beside the waves. 
 I should have so liked to stop there. At Bologna 
 we had about two hours to spare — the train from 
 Rome was late — and most of that time we spent 
 before the great picture in the gallery — Raphael's 
 picture of St Cecilia listening to the music of the 
 angels. She is the centre of a group. Before her 
 on the ground lie the instruments of the earthly 
 music, half-broken, unstrung ; they have fallen from 
 her hands and from the hands of the saints around 
 her : all are listening to the music of the heavenly 
 choir enthroned in the clouds above them. Cecilia 
 is made a rich, physically powerful being. This is 
 wise, else she could hardly have given the impression 
 of full happiness without excitement. St Paul is 
 leaning on his sword, with downcast eyes, listening 
 intently ; there is a folded paper in his hands — the 
 written revelation which must be silent in the 
 presence of the heavenly harmonies, — silent, too, 
 because fulfilled. St John and St Augustine are 
 listening too — but not quite silently, — in whispered 
 
1873] Cambridge Life and Work 153 
 
 conversation, because they are there to mark and 
 learn ; they are neither the voice which has spoken, 
 nor the voice which is being attuned through the 
 ear to speaking. The Magdalen is made openly 
 unsympathetic : I could have said, coarsely un- 
 sympathetic, did one not feel the artist's purpose : 
 this figure is meant to help us in feeling the delicate 
 scale of expression which discriminates the other 
 four — Cecilia — Paul — John — Augustine. It is a great 
 picture, — a picture which moves one like a great 
 
 poem, or like such music as it symbolises 
 
 Did I ever write to you about my friend Fred. 
 Myers, the author of a poem called *St Paul' which 
 had a good rdeal of success some years ago ? He 
 writes to^^teil me that he is coming here in three 
 weeks or so, with George Eliot. I send you the 
 ' Pindaric Ode ' in which he informs me of these 
 facts ; it will amuse you." 
 
 ^^ Pindaric Ode. 
 
 The ideas are here supplied: the Greek may be filled in 
 by the reader for himself. 
 
 Strophe. 
 Many the feasts, 
 Many the public and private companies of academic 
 
 men. 
 Some, as I have heard, in the Senate-house, and in the 
 
 chambers of wise men, some 
 Where the Orator in May 
 Crowned with red roses stands, and in his right hand high 
 
 he bears 
 
154 Sir Richard J ebb [1873 
 
 Foaming from Trinity Hall, spluttering within it with 
 
 the dew of soda-water, 
 The Cup, the silvern heirloom, the academic crown. 
 
 A ntistrophe. 
 Therefore in time 
 
 I to the Orator call, crying across the sedgy Cam, — 
 
 Bidding him take forth ivory tablets and write thereon 
 
 unforgotten words, — 
 Calling him to solemn feast, — 
 Saying, — after the boat-race on Monday the nineteenth 
 
 of May 
 There is supper in my brother's rooms, and the grace of 
 
 women, and I myself 
 Am there, and others also, whom gladly thou shalt see. 
 
 Epode. 
 Come then ! and yet again 
 Shortly another message shall fly to thee on the herald's 
 
 wand ; 
 For men say that there is a woman now, 
 Man-named, anonymous, known of all, George Eliot, 
 
 wiser than the wise, 
 Her too, methinks, my subtle net shall bear within the 
 
 academic wall : 
 Her too in season thou must see: and season comes 
 
 occasionally to the wise and the unwise, and not 
 
 even the very rich can reach the brazen heaven, 
 
 and a good many more reflections of the same kind." 
 
 "Trinity College, 
 Cambridge, 
 
 May 21 ih, 1873. 
 It would be most natural to begin by telling you 
 of the ordinary May Term doings, perhaps, but 
 
1873] Cambridge Life and Work 155 
 
 another subject is uppermost in my thoughts just 
 now, — an event in any life, and a large event in 
 mine. I have met 'George Eliot' (Mrs Lewes) 
 again, and found such great happiness in knowing 
 her better. Friendship is a word varying in large- 
 ness of sense with the largeness of the nature ; and 
 her friendship means a great deal. She and her 
 husband came to Cambridge for a few days with one 
 of my oldest friends, Mr Frederic Myers. I had 
 known Mrs Lewes before ; but acquaintanceship 
 sprang into friendship by one of those impulses 
 which cannot be explained except by some hidden 
 
 law asserting itself in a moment; one of the 
 
 things which brought our minds closest together 
 was a talk about criticism : I was saying (a propos 
 of Pater's essays on the Renaissance) that the 
 ' precious ' school seemed to be destroying every- 
 thing — their finesses and small affectations blinding 
 people's eyes to the great lineaments of the great 
 creative works, — blinding them to the mind which 
 speaks from these faces : — the creators, if they could 
 revive, would never know their own thoughts under 
 this veil of finikin yet thoroughly opaque ingenuities. 
 Her face lit up in a moment, and she said, * It is 
 such a comfort and a strength to hear you say that' — 
 and then she said why, so eloquently. I asked her 
 how Sophocles had influenced her : — (we had been 
 talking about him, and she had said that she first 
 came to know him through a small book of mine) : — 
 and her answer certainly startled me. Probably all 
 people, — or most people who have any inner life at 
 
156 Sii^ Richa rd Jebb [1873 
 
 all — sometimes write down things meant for no eye 
 but their own. Long ago I was putting down in this 
 way some things that had been passing through my 
 mind about Sophocles, and this among the rest, — 
 that George Eliot wa? the modern dramatist (in the 
 large sense) most like him, and that he had told 
 upon her work probably in the outlining of the first 
 emotions. Her answer to my question was — *in the 
 delineation of the great primitive emotions.' Verbally 
 this was an accident ; but hardly in substance. Of 
 
 course I did not tell her. But was it not curious ? 
 
 Her husband is very delightful: — he is accomplished, 
 and he has a good heart. What I admire in him is 
 his faithfulness in laying everything — knowledge, 
 social power, reputation, all, at his illustrious wife's 
 
 feet We went together to the Choral Festival at 
 
 King's, and as I was walking with her, I heard some 
 people whisper — 'Mr Lewes is here; but is she here.'^' 
 He was close behind, but I doubted whether he 
 had heard it. When we came out, he quoted it to 
 
 her 
 
 The Trinity ball was last night. It is not often 
 that a conversation with another man is the most 
 vivid impression one carries away from a ball. It 
 was so, however, with me last night. Did I ever 
 mention in my letters Hallam Tennyson, the poet's 
 
 son ? He is morally and socially cultivated, and 
 
 has that instinct of what will give the right sort of 
 pleasure, which generally comes only of kindliness 
 acting on a large social experience : in a very young 
 man it has a peculiar charm because it is a sure sign 
 
1873] Cambridge Life and Work 157 
 
 of unusual selflessness. For instance he gave me 
 some kind messages from his father in a way which 
 showed that he was not ashamed to own that he 
 thought them an honour : the average youth would 
 have thought that this would be bumptious, — and 
 would thereby have made a double mistake, — the 
 mistake of affecting to underrate his own father, and 
 the mistake of seeming to doubt the other person's 
 worth. It amused me to see that he had an almost 
 passionate admiration for Miss Thackeray — ' Annie' 
 as he called her. She is coming here, I find, this 
 week, and I have just been asked to a party at 
 Trinity Lodge, which I feel sure means that Alfred 
 Tennyson and Miss Thackeray are going to be 
 staying there ; but 1 cannot go, as the Adamses have 
 a party on the same day for the Bishop of Meath 
 and Mrs Butcher " 
 
 "Trinity College, 
 Cambridge, 
 
 June 10th, 1873. 
 
 As one passes, with years or months, out of 
 
 the phase in which mere acquaintanceship pleases by 
 glitter or even by change, — and the 'even' means a 
 stage which no one can quite dissociate from self- 
 contempt — one comes to long so for an inner life of 
 friendship. I had such a life as a boy, when the 
 friends whose minds had come to a glow at the same 
 time with my own were here : then they went away, 
 and the world has spoiled two or three of them, and 
 merged more, and death has taken away some of 
 
158 Sir Richard J ebb [1873 
 
 them ; but now, suddenly, and as if by a gift from 
 God who sees in secret, just in this last year a 
 second spring of friendship seems to have come. 
 I cannot understand it yet — within the last three 
 months, just when I seemed most desolate and felt 
 most certain that I must fight through life alone, a 
 
 group of noble friends has sprung up about me 
 
 I have felt sometimes as if this meant somehow the 
 nearness of death : I cannot in the least tell why. 
 Sometimes it is the real, if not the conventional, 
 sincerity to brave the conventional absurd. Do you 
 expect to hear of balls and concerts ? What is the 
 use of writing about them when you know that they 
 meant nothing for me except as possible incidents 
 which I should probably not use 1 One writes as 
 
 one feels moved — at least one ought so to write 
 
 In every type the strong elemental currents surge at 
 times fixed by the influence which rules that life, as 
 the moon rules the tides : and it is then that the life 
 is most itself, — asserts itself most from under the 
 death called habit. Ever since I can remember 
 anything, I had two desires, — for power, and for 
 love. The first, during my youth, absolutely sup- 
 planted the second. The question which puzzles me 
 now — not so much for me, rather as an abstract 
 question — concerns the first ; (the second I think 
 now absolutely insoluble for any individual, it depends 
 on such utterly unfathomable secrets) — am /, that is, 
 is the precise compound of strength and weakness 
 
 for which I stand, ever to have power .^^ Is this 
 
 inward assurance a trustworthy pledge of future 
 
1873] Cambridge Life and Work 159 
 
 power, or is It merely a self-delusion ? By the * in- 
 ward assurance ' I mean something quite definite, 
 though the phrase sounds rather vaguely majestic. 
 I mean that I sometimes see a face : if I could draw, 
 I could draw the face. We know so little the limit 
 between the so-called real and the so-called unreal, 
 that no one has a clear right to declare any such 
 thing an hallucination. The truth would probably 
 be that, where such an impression is exceptionally 
 clear, there is an anthropomoi^phic imagination — 
 allied to the old Greek imagination — of exceptional 
 vividness. This is probably the explanation in my 
 case. I am aware of a kinship, which can hardly be 
 fancied merely, between my mind and that particular 
 type of the Aryan mind. But then does this vision, 
 
 however explained, mean future power? 
 
 I dined a few days ago with Hallam Tennyson 
 to meet a small party of his friends : it was very 
 delightful, but it would take a ream, not a letter, to 
 describe. I wished you had been there." 
 
 "KiLLiNEY, Co. Dublin, 
 June 2^th, 1873. 
 
 My letter of June loth carried the history of the 
 May term to its natural conclusion. After the loth, 
 however, about a week of work still remained for the 
 College examiners, of whom this year it was my turn 
 to be chief. The Head Lecturer, as this official is 
 called, has to organise and conduct the examina- 
 tion, — and, as the crown of his genial labours, to 
 
i6o Sir Richard J ebb [1873 
 
 entertain his colleagues at dinner. The next day, if 
 he is alive, he is generally not sorry to retire into 
 what some book of my youth, talking of Cincinnatus, 
 elegantly called 'the ease of a private station.' This 
 time, however, I stayed on for two days, as some 
 friends of my mother's had come (rather late, indeed), 
 to see Cambridge, and it would have been base to 
 have shirked lionising them. Fortunately they cared 
 
 for pictures 
 
 Then, on June i8th, I went to the 'apostolic' 
 dinner at Richmond, — the annual meeting of the 
 Cambridge Society which you will associate with 
 ' Realmah.' Mr Fitzjames Stephen was president 
 this year — (perhaps you do not know his name : he 
 is our late Finance Minister at Calcutta, — a lawyer 
 
 and writer of amazing industry and vigour) 
 
 Sir Arthur Helps was not there this time, — but 
 Tom Taylor, the dramatist, was, — and Spedding, 
 Bacon's biographer, — and Lord Houghton, as amus- 
 ing as ever, and more decorous than usual. (All my 
 life I have shunned those insidious sentences, which 
 look so easy at starting, with 'as' and 'than.' Pardon 
 a 'first fault.') Now here I am at the seaside with 
 my own people, — that is, my father and mother and 
 a brother who has just taken his degree at Oxford — 
 Winchester prejudices having estranged the unhappy 
 youth from his elder (and wiser) brother's seat of 
 learning. This is a very pretty country, on the 
 borders between the counties of Dublin and Wick- 
 low, — well-wooded, and yet a true sea-place, — a 
 combination not very frequent in our islands 
 
1^73] Cambridge Life and Work i6i 
 
 My mother has that wonderful gift of sunshine in 
 her nature — the gift of perpetual youth, — only that, 
 unlike Tithonus, the possessor never asks the gods 
 to take it back ; perhaps because, unlike his perpetual 
 youth, it is a source of so much happiness to all 
 around that the owner knows there would be a 
 
 general protest against the gods resuming it 
 
 There is no such rest, when the nerves are over- 
 wrought for a time, as the society of a woman to 
 whom it is possible to speak with the certainty of 
 being understood. Men are sensitive to this influence 
 in very various degrees ; I feel it in a very high 
 degree. A few days of quiet here with my mother 
 form, for me, the sovereign restorative — reminding 
 me always of that phrase in the Second Part of 
 Faust about the necessarily and distinctively feminine 
 element in all that is spiritually highest — the untrans- 
 
 lateable 'ewig weibliche.' I don't think Bayard 
 
 Taylors 'woman-soul' comes anywhere near it: but 
 who could render it ? 
 
 One advantage In being just now on this side of 
 St George's Channel is that the Shah is on the other. 
 Never was lion so ruthlessly hunted as the Shah : 
 whom the Daily Telegraph, it is needless to say, 
 hailed as ' the successor of Darius ' — provoking the 
 inevitable protest of the Historically-minded Man, 
 Mr Freeman. England happened to be mentioned 
 in conversation to his Persian Majesty when he 
 was at Berlin, — and he Is said to have exclaimed, 
 with really superb diplomatic tact, if the story is 
 true — ' Angleterre ! Ah ! nuages — nuages ! ' As if 
 
 J. M. II 
 
1 62 Sir Richard J ebb [1873 
 
 clouds were the one idea he connected with these 
 
 islands 
 
 Do you remember, in Longfellow's ' Hyperion/ 
 the translation 
 
 ' Many a year is in its grave,' etc. 
 
 of Uhland's little poem ? An interesting (negative) 
 
 fact about the authorship of this translation has just 
 come to me through the kindness of a stranger. An 
 American gentleman, Mr Hayes, a Professor of 
 Greek in the States, though he does not tell me 
 where, wrote to me a few days ago from London 
 (he happened to have been reading a volume of 
 translations of mine) to tell me that this version is 
 not Longfellow's own, but appeared first in a number 
 of the British Quarterly for 1832. The notion that 
 the English lines were Longfellow's own had been 
 fixed in my mind by a thing trifling enough, but just 
 of that kind from which one often draws a half- 
 unconscious inference. In 1863 I met Thackeray 
 in London, and with his usual good-nature to old 
 Carthusians he asked me what I had been doing 
 lately — especially, what I had been translating? I 
 mentioned these lines, and I remember his saying 
 that he thought no original work of Longfellow's 
 was better " 
 
 *' Trinity College, 
 Cambridge, 
 
 July m, 1873. 
 
 You have perhaps seen in the newspapers 
 
 an account of the anti-confessional meeting at Exeter 
 
1873] Cambridge Life and Work 163 
 
 Hall. Nearly five hundred Anglican clergymen had 
 asked the Bishops to appoint confessors (meaning 
 auricular confession) throughout England. They 
 (the Bishops) had said, in their episcopal tongue, 
 that in fact they could not think of it. Then came 
 the meeting at Exeter Hall. Lord Shaftesbury 
 presided. All the persons present are reported as 
 having used the language of confident Protestantism; 
 that was of course ; but, for educated people, the 
 most grotesque incident was that the meeting actually 
 mistook a quotation (in English) from Michelet's 
 book published about 30 years ago in France, — 
 * Priests, Women, and Families' — for a pamphlet by a 
 contemporary English divine, and exclaimed * Who's 
 his Bishop ? ' — Auricular Confession is an absurd, 
 and evidently a dangerous superstition ; so, for that 
 matter, is all sacerdotalism ; and who, — knowing that 
 the spiritual good of Catholicism, — its appeal to the 
 devotional sentiment, — can be shared by aliens in 
 their sorest need, — would voluntarily put his reason 
 under the yoke ? " 
 
 ^^ July 20th, 1873. 
 
 When you were at Oxford, you heard of, if 
 
 you did not meet, Mr and Mrs Mark Pattison I 
 
 am staying with them here, but leave to-morrow. 
 Mr Pattison and I are members of a subcommittee 
 of four persons appointed to discuss certain proposals 
 for the organisation of academical study ; and he 
 invited me to come here for a conference on that 
 subject. He and his wife are both very interesting 
 
164 Sir Richard J ebb [1873 
 
 and very striking. His history is a singular, and, I 
 think, a touching one. Possessed of great subtlety 
 and equal honesty of intellect, he made theology his 
 study. He found gradually that there was no rest 
 for him there — nothing, no one spot of the whole 
 morass, on which he could plant a firm foot ; he 
 sickened of it, except as a mere discipline ; he fell 
 back on erudition ; and now he is a variously learned 
 man, saddened by a profound intellectual disappoint- 
 ment which has sharpened and refined faculties always 
 most delicate and keen — most of all, perhaps, on the 
 
 side of satire. His wife is difficult to describe 
 
 She is very clever : she has tenderness ; great courage ; 
 and an exquisite sense of humour. In manner, she 
 is inclined to be brusque, though, by that instinct 
 which women of a fine strain never lose under any 
 vagary, she never fails in perfect taste; she is joyous, 
 and affects a certain specially Oxford type of feminine 
 fastness, which it would take too long to define, 
 except by saying that it is based upon the jocose 
 ease of cultivated youths ; — she talks of art and 
 books and philosophies, — yet rather about them than 
 of them ; — but to any one who can clearly see her 
 
 whole nature in one view, she is most captivating 
 
 She knows the gloom that rests on her husband, and 
 she has resolved to be the sunshine of his life ; she 
 knows, too, that a man of such large and quick per- 
 ception can be amused only by what is socially 
 
 original Hullah, the musician, is staying here; 
 
 he is a very charming man, and his wife is nice. 
 This morning he and I went to the Christ Church 
 
1873] Cambridge Life and Work 165 
 
 service — which was hard and poor — and in the after- 
 noon to Magdalen — which was good musically. The 
 voluntary at the end was the 'Dead March in Saul' 
 Strange and sudden news had come : yesterday 
 (July 19th) the Bishop of Winchester (Wilberforce, 
 lately Bishop of Oxford) was riding in London with 
 Lord Granville, when he was thrown from his horse 
 and killed. It is a tragic end to a life which has 
 seen no adversity. All had been success — save, in 
 one instance, the frustration of a father's hopes for 
 a son. 
 
 We have just been sitting in the open air in the 
 court, under the starlight, and Mrs Pattison and I 
 have been smoking her particular cigarettes — made 
 for her in Paris by somebody. She is a connoisseur; 
 and explained the rather difficult art of preventing 
 these fragrant but fragile pastilles from untwisting 
 themselves. Then the Rector, Mr Hullah, and I 
 made a tour of starlit Oxford — very beautiful in this 
 dim, soft, transparent light — when one can think of 
 Oxford as indeed * whispering from her towers the 
 last spells of the middle age.' 
 
 To-morrow I go back to her northern, and 
 sterner, sister." 
 
 "Trinity College, 
 Cambridge, 
 
 November 2^th, 1873. 
 
 This letter shall be devoted to telling you our 
 Cambridge news of the last fortnight. We have 
 had so many other things to write of lately, that 
 
1 66 Sir Richard J ebb [1873 
 
 your Cambridge journal has been kept for you less 
 minutely than of yore. Call up the places and the 
 people now, and be with us again in imagination 
 
 On the 15th, the Humphrys had a dinner-party — 
 
 rather crowded I talked to Miss Grill. The 
 
 possessor of this somewhat disquieting name joins 
 the sentiment of life's most glowing and gushing 
 years to the experience of a period considerably more 
 advanced. Well do I remember taking her to dinner 
 once, and her saying, in the most unprovoked way, 
 while she was dining with apparently good appetite, 
 — * Mr Jebb, — do you think that women ever die 
 of a broken heart ? ' I was so terrified that I could 
 think of no answer but that ' perhaps other organs 
 may have something to do with it.' 
 
 Mr Tennyson has been here. He came up on 
 Saturday, the 15th, and stayed till Monday. On 
 Saturday I met him at his son Hallam's rooms, and 
 sat on his right hand at dinner. He talked very 
 pleasantly of the old Trinity days ; and in the evening 
 he read aloud to us ' Boadicea ' — ' The Grandmother' 
 
 — and the two ' Northern Farmers.' Mrs Cameron, 
 
 the artist-photographer, was here at the same time ; 
 and Mr Knowles, the Editor of the Contemporary 
 
 Review I like Hallam Tennyson thoroughly; he 
 
 has a beautiful nature ; and, now that I know him 
 well, I wish more than ever to know his mother. 
 Every one says that she is perfection. 
 
 Mr Vernon Harcourt is Solicitor General. I 
 went with him the other day to a dinner-party at 
 Grantchester, and when we came back he sat with 
 
1873] Cambridge Life and Work 167 
 
 me in my rooms talking for a long time. His 
 philosophy is the common philosophy of the man of 
 the world ; he is one of the able men who distinctly 
 pride themselves on being only men of the world, — 
 rejoicing in the advantage which their judgment 
 gives them over clever men who do not know life, 
 rather than ashamed of the cynicism which prevents 
 them from being on a level with the really noble 
 spirits. Still, Vernon Harcourt has the charm which 
 belongs to really good-natured cleverness. His 
 ambition is not legal but political ; and he has taken 
 his present post from political motives chiefly if not 
 solely. The Ministry, he thinks, will not last more 
 than six months. He would not care to be Chancellor ; 
 but I think he would like to be Minister of Justice, 
 if such an office ever came into existence, — the Chan- 
 cellor, minus his drudgery, and with more direct 
 
 political power 
 
 My friend Frederic Myers has been here. He 
 is interested in spiritualism at present ; and for the 
 first time in my life I assisted at a seance during his 
 
 visit The case in regard to 'spiritualism' is a 
 
 dilemma. Either it is deliberate imposition or it is 
 some agency at present unknown. The 'unconscious 
 muscular or cerebral action' theory may explain 
 moving or tilting of tables, but it will not explain 
 rapping. At present I incline to think that it is 
 deliberate imposture. But I have not evidence 
 enough for an induction. One of the spirits brought 
 this 'message' to M. : — 'Go to 15, King Street, 
 Chester, and you will see your future wife. She is 
 
1 68 Sir Richard J ebb [1873 
 
 Florence Martin, aged 22, — pretty, — the daughter 
 of G. R. Martin, lawyer.' Now, it appeared from 
 the Law List that a Mr G. H. Martin, a solicitor, 
 does live at Chester, — though where, the List says 
 not. Does not all this strongly suggest imposture ? 
 The spirit of a dead woman came to me, and said 
 her name was Margaret Banks. We had not known 
 each other, said the spirit ; but she had seen me 
 twice, — once in church at Liverpool, in 1865 ; again 
 at Dover in 1868. Now I was only once in my life 
 in church at Liverpool, viz., in August, 1 867 ; and I 
 asked the spirit if it knew who preached on that 
 occasion. (It was a man famous in Liverpool, — 
 Dr McNeile, Dean of Ripon.) It did not know, 
 and then it explained that it had only come in at the 
 end of the service, and met me in the porch ; which 
 seemed somewhat evasive. Obviously all this, at all 
 events, was imposture pure and simple. Then it 
 undertook to rap out the initial of a dead person of 
 whom I was thinking. (I was thinking of my sister 
 Fanny, who died in childhood.) It gave, first M ; 
 then W ; then it gave it up. Now, I shrewdly 
 suspect that M was a shot at Mill, and W a shot at 
 Whewell, the late Master of this College ; the two 
 dead persons whom the operator — a stupid man — 
 thought his best chances " 
 
 ^^ December 26ih, i2>'j ^. 
 
 Many, many happy Christmases and New Years. 
 Consider this as a supplement to my letter of Decem- 
 ber 16, not as one of the regular letters whose right 
 
1873] Cambridge Life and Work 169 
 
 to exist must not be prejudiced by supernumeraries. 
 Well, on December 17, I went to town to spend 
 two days with the Tennysons, and very delightful 
 days they were. I had long looked forward to 
 meeting Mrs Tennyson. 
 
 She is tall, slight, with the traces — they must be 
 called so now — of a sweet serene beauty ; she is as 
 stately as consists with a grace which has nothing 
 of rigour ; gentle, of perfect courtesy ; with a sym- 
 pathetic insight which makes those whom she admits 
 to the friend-circle feel at once at home by assuring 
 them of being understood. Two people, indepen- 
 dently of each other, described her to me by saying 
 that she was a chatelaine ; and the description is 
 really happy, expressing, as it does, something of 
 the sweet queenliness of a French mistress of the 
 manor of the old regime — helped by some quaint 
 felicity in her dress which would evaporate under 
 male analysis. I had more than one conversation 
 with her, and felt all her quiet power. If I had to 
 say what is distinctive of her, I should say, — the gift 
 of making one feel that goodness, intelligence, and 
 good breeding are a trinity of whom, in her, one can 
 worship the unity. 
 
 There was a dinner-party on Wednesday, — Miss 
 Thackeray, Mr Robert Browning, Professor Tyndall, 
 and — distinguishable among some merely fashion- 
 able people — Mr and Mrs George Howard. Mr 
 Howard is a man of mark. He is about thirty : he 
 is an enthusiast for painting, and has already had 
 a picture or two in the Academy ; and he is heir to 
 
170 Sir Richard J ebb [1873 
 
 the earldom of Carlisle. — At dinner I sat between 
 Miss Thackeray and Mr Robert Browning, and 
 very pleasant /, at least, found it. Afterwards there 
 was an evening party. The only people who greatly 
 interested me were Lecky and Hutton. The latter's 
 rather odd physiognomy has been cleverly described 
 by his lively enemy, Mr Vernon Harcourt, as some- 
 thing between a bull-dog's and a priest's. When I 
 saw it, I recognised the ingenuity of the description : 
 just those two elements are there, — corresponding, 
 moreover, to two leading mental characteristics, — 
 combativeness, and a rather feminine subtlety. Mrs 
 Tennyson told me the next day that Lecky is a 
 wonderfully erudite talker ; his reading has taken 
 him into all kinds of little-trodden paths ; and he 
 has a great memory. He has vowed, it is said, to 
 write no more books : — it is too much trouble ! 
 
 On the Thursday, Hallam and Lionel Tennyson 
 and I went to the Leslie Stephens' early — and 
 thence, with Miss Thackeray, to the Ritchies. With 
 a Ritchie detachment, we went to see Holman Hunt's 
 picture, ' The Shadow of Death.' You perhaps 
 know the subject — Our Lord, in a carpenter's 
 shop at Nazareth, just before the beginning of his 
 ministry, lifting up his arms, partly in weariness, 
 partly in prayer : they reflect the Shadow of the 
 Cross on the background behind him — startling 
 the Virgin, as she kneels gazing at the gifts of the 
 Eastern Kings, and dreaming of a temporal king- 
 dom for her Son. Through the open front of the 
 carpenter's shed are seen the hills of Nazareth, with 
 
1873] Cambridge Life and Work 171 
 
 a sky of cloudless brightness above them. One 
 thinks of 
 
 * the sinless years 
 That breathed beneath the Syrian blue.' 
 
 There is perhaps more of effort and dramatic elabo- 
 ration in the work than belongs to the supreme 
 masterpieces. But it is a great painting, and a lofty 
 poem. 
 
 That evening, some of our party of the day 
 before met again at a little dinner at the Leslie 
 Stephens' — Miss Thackeray, Mr Robert Browning, 
 Hallam Tennyson, &c. We were talking of English 
 words that had no rhymes, and after instancing 
 'silver,' 'month,' 'depth,' 'false' (which by the bye 
 has an old English rhyme, 'halse,' to embrace), Mr 
 Browning asked for a rhyme to rhinoceros — which 
 he presently supplied himself, as follows : — 
 
 ' Whenever you see a rhinoceros, 
 
 If a tree be in sight, 
 
 Climb quick, for his might 
 Is a match for the gods — he would toss Eros I ' 
 
 By the bye, if you read the review of my trans- 
 lations in the Fortnightly, you may have noticed 
 that Mr Myers disputes my way of taking the lines 
 in ' Abt Vogler ' 
 
 ' For one is assured at first, one scarce can say that he 
 feared,' etc. 
 
 Mr Browning volunteered to tell me that I had 
 interpreted the whole passage exactly as he had 
 meant it, and that the possibility of Mr M.'s version 
 
172 Sir Richard J ebb [^^74 
 
 had never even occurred to him. Oh that the shades 
 of the departed could sometimes be evoked to decide 
 points of the same kind ! The points which test 
 an accurate instinct are generally above the logical 
 sphere : they cannot be proved." 
 
 " KiLLARNEY, 
 
 January \(^th^ 1874. 
 
 It is just two years and four months since I was 
 writing to you from this house, in this very room — 
 in September, 1871. How well I remember sitting 
 at the open window here, looking out on the lake 
 and the hills, but seeing only you, and trying to call 
 up your life beyond the sea : then, when the letter 
 was written, I would not trust it to the post-bag, 
 but carried it into Killarney — and when it dropped 
 into the box, I felt as if I had parted from the last 
 confidant I had, and was to be absolutely alone for 
 the next fortnight. In those days it was an article 
 of faith with Jeannette^ and me, you know, that you 
 were coming back in the spring of 1872 ; we had 
 talked of it and written about it to each other until 
 we thought it as certain as that the nights would 
 grow shorter and the days brighter. If any one had 
 told me then, as I sat here, that in January, 1874, 
 you would still be beyond the sea, how my heart 
 would have sunk ! but if he could have added that 
 now I should be writing with this brightness on the 
 future, how it would have bounded ! That time 
 
 ^ Mrs Potts, a cousin of his wife. 
 
1874] Cambridge Life and Work 173 
 
 after you left us will never fade out of my memory ; 
 it is a part of my life by itself, full of secret experi- 
 ences unlike any that I have known : in fact it was 
 the beginning, though I hardly knew it clearly then, 
 
 of a new era in my character It was in this same 
 
 room that I read the first letter I ever had from you 
 after your return to America. I remember well 
 coming back from Kenmare, 20 miles from here, 
 one night in September, just In time for dinner, and 
 finding a letter addressed to me in my father's hand- 
 writing. The envelope contained a letter from you. 
 I could not trust myself to read it then. But I 
 thought that the people (there was a dinner-party) 
 would never go — and then how I rushed back to my 
 room, and read your letter — with exactly the feeling 
 one has in riding when one is coming to a doubtful 
 fence — the nerves strained, but steady. When I 
 had read it once, I read it again : and then I could 
 have said it word for word, by heart. You could 
 not tell, of course, but the effect of verbal interpre- 
 tation which became a habit with me in regard to 
 your letters — my only oracles — was at one time, 
 that is, until there was some hope, a source of in- 
 tense anxiety. Long after you had forgotten what 
 a phrase or a word might have conveyed, or even 
 that they had been written, I was analysing them. 
 I was perfectly conscious of the self-delusion involved 
 in all this : but your utterances were, after all, the 
 only light : the secret of my life was there some- 
 where : and it was natural to pore over them, — 
 though I was not intellectually unaware of the 
 
174 ^^^ Richard J ebb \}^^ 
 
 resemblance between myself and one of the old- 
 fashioned commentators on the Apocalypse. 
 
 Yesterday I took a long walk on a picturesque, 
 lonely road which winds along a hill overlooking 
 the Lakes and all their wooded islands, with the 
 bold ridge of hills beyond, serried with many a 
 ' gap ' hardly less picturesque than the famous ' Gap 
 of Dunloe' — in sight, too, of that old, wild moun- 
 tain-peak which is in more than one sense the crest 
 of our old friend the MacGillicuddy of the Reeks. 
 It so happens that this particular walk is associated 
 with two or three moments of my life, and I wished, 
 once more, to make it conscious of this last, happy 
 phase ; to be able to think, when I was far away, 
 that it knew this secret, as it had known so many 
 others of a rather solitary life...." 
 
 Degree Day in June of this year was more than 
 usually interesting. The honorary Degrees are 
 generally conferred by the Vice-Chancellor, but on 
 this occasion the Chancellor, the late Duke of Devon- 
 shire, was in his place in the Senate House. Men of 
 distinction, to the number of sixteen, were to receive 
 Degrees, and it was the duty of the Public Orator 
 to present each to the Chancellor, in a short Latin 
 speech expressing, in the politest words possible, 
 his great merits and special claim to the honour. 
 Even to learn by heart sixteen Latin speeches 
 demands no small effort of memory. That on this 
 occasion the Public Orator acquitted himself credit- 
 ably is shown by the letters he received. 
 
1874] Cambridge Life and Work 175 
 
 "Trinity Lodge, 
 
 June i^th, 1874. 
 
 Dear Mr Public Orator, 
 
 I have heard a desire universally expressed by 
 every one with whom I have conversed this evening, that 
 your addresses on the presentation of the Honorary Doctors 
 should be preserved. In this opinion I entirely concur, 
 and I sincerely hope that you will kindly consent to 
 permit their publication. 
 
 I am, dear Mr Public Orator, 
 Yours faithfully, 
 
 Devonshire." 
 
 From Prof. Freeman. 
 
 " Somerleaze, 
 
 June 19//^, 1874. 
 
 My Dear Jebb, 
 
 (You must let me begin so, as I do not mean 
 us two to be strangers.) I am delighted to hear that your 
 speeches are to be printed — I must have one to treasure 
 up. Everybody says just the same of your wonderful 
 effort that I do ; as regards myself, I can only say that, 
 if I had been called on to dictate my own praises, I should 
 have dictated something which, save in the elegance of the 
 Latin, would have been very like what you said. (N.B. I 
 once could write Latin, but I can't now, save Saturnian 
 rimes now and then.) I hope everybody else was as well 
 pleased. Scott^ thought his very fine, only he did not 
 understand it. 
 
 ^ Sir Gilbert Scott. 
 
176 Sir Richard J ebb [1874 
 
 We called on the great folks at Trinity Lodge before 
 we left, and they were so mild that I did not remind the 
 Master of his error in forgetting that, besides the Trinity 
 which nourished Thirlwall there is also a Trinity which 
 nourished Stubbs. But come and be my guest in hall 
 next Trinity Monday and you shall carry back a message. 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 Edward Freeman." 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 MARRIAGE. ELECTION TO GLASGOW CHAIR. IN- 
 AUGURAL ADDRESS. LETTERS BY REV. DR 
 DENNEY, AND MR R. P. G. WILLIAMSON, M.A. 
 VISIT TO ITALY AND GREECE. ILLNESS. 
 1874— 1878. 
 
 In July his correspondent was again in England, 
 and shortly after her arrival they became engaged to 
 be married. A few weeks later, on the 1 8th of August, 
 1874, Richard Claverhouse Jebb was married by 
 special licence in St Mary's Church, Ellesmere\ to 
 Caroline Lane, youngest daughter of the Rev. John 
 Reynolds, D. D., of Philadelphia, and widow of General 
 Adam J. Slemmer, Lieut. Col. 4th U.S. Infantry. Dr 
 Reynolds had been ordained in England and had, 
 on the death of his first wife, gone to America, where 
 he became rector of St John's Church, Evansburg, 
 Pennsylvania. He married in 1832 Eleanor Evans, 
 the youngest daughter of Owens Evans, Esq., a 
 large landowner in Montgomery County, and a man 
 of unusual ability and force of character. '' Squire " 
 Evans owned jointly with his cousin Oliver Evans 
 
 ^ The marriage took place from the Lyth, Mr George Jebb's 
 house in Shropshire, where Mr and Mrs Arthur Jebb were living. 
 
 J. M. 12 
 
178 Sir Richard J ebb [1874 
 
 (the well-known inventor) the first steam-mill built 
 in America — at Pittsburg, Penn. Moved by patriotism 
 he also built a factory in his village of Evansburg 
 for the manufacture of muskets, when the war with 
 Great Britain began in 181 2. He married his first 
 cousin Eleanor Lane. 
 
 To Mrs Arthur Jebb. 
 
 " KiLLARNEY, 
 
 August 28M, 1874. 
 
 Thank you very much for having ordered the 
 cake^ for Trinity : I have no doubt it will deserve 
 the epithet of the wizard stream on whose banks it 
 has been made : — 
 
 * The Dee by Britons long-y-gone 
 
 Cleped the Divine, that doth by Chester tend.' 
 
 Well — we have been going through a series of 
 festivities — Headley's, Killarney House, 5 o'clock 
 tea at Beaufort, dinner party at Danesfort, luncheon 
 ditto. To-night there is a dance at Southhill and 
 on Monday we are going to the Upper Lake with 
 
 Dick Herbert We go to Desmond — as at 
 
 present arranged — on Wednesday. C. is bearing 
 the strain upon her social energies wonderfully. 
 Just now she is playing piquet with Uncle Sam " 
 
 Early in October Jebb and his wife, after a few 
 weeks abroad, returned to Cambridge. We had 
 taken a furnished house, Petersfield, for six months, 
 
 ^ When a Fellow of Trinity married it was the custom for him 
 to send a cake to the Combination Room. 
 
1875] Marriage lyg 
 
 and for a more permanent home were thought fortu- 
 nate in being able to secure No. 3, St Peter's Terrace. 
 Houses in good position were by no means easy to 
 find in those days, when there were no married 
 Fellows to need them. 
 
 Hardly had we swept and garnished the St 
 Peter's Terrace house, collected our furniture in it, 
 and settled down comfortably, when a startling pro- 
 position came from Glasgow. Would Mr J ebb 
 stand for the Greek Chair in Glasgow University 
 which Dr Lushington was about to resign ? if he 
 decided to stand, his election was practically certain. 
 The decision was difficult. Work in Glasgow would 
 no doubt be heavy during the session ; but then 
 there was the glorious six months' vacation. And 
 the work in Cambridge was by no means light, when 
 he added to it that of examiner for London Uni- 
 versity, and of leader-writer in the Times, — the 
 latter work undertaken on his resigning the Trinity 
 Tutorship. On the other hand, Cambridge had 
 been his home for seventeen years. He loved every 
 stone in Trinity ; the Senate House spoke to him 
 as he passed of contests waged and victories won ; 
 almost every face he saw was familiar, and friends 
 met him at every turn. No wonder the decision 
 was long in coming. It was not till the 8th of June 
 that he announced his intention to stand for the 
 Scotch Chair. Even then he did not burn his ships. 
 His Alma Mater was very kind : she gave him a 
 year's leave of absence, permitting him to retain his 
 offices; so that if the work and climate in the North 
 
 12 — 2 
 
i8o Sir Richard J ebb [1875 
 
 proved too severe, he could come back happily to her 
 arms. What weighed the scale down for Glasgow 
 was that splendid annual six months' freedom from 
 all official duties. It seemed to him the best chance he 
 could ever have of doing good work in scholarship. 
 
 The election was on the 14th of July, and on the 
 afternoon of that day came a telegram from Sir 
 William Thomson (now Lord Kelvin) : — '' After 
 carefully considering testimonials the University 
 Court has unanimously elected you to the Greek 
 Chair." 
 
 To Miss Horsley. 
 
 "y«/y 20th, 1875. 
 
 I am very much pleased at the manner of my 
 election ; it was not only unanimous but very 
 cordial, quite belying the old story that Scotchmen 
 welcome none but Scotchmen to their University 
 Chairs, and assuring me that I shall be among 
 friends. The session is from November ist to 
 April 30th : but the work of the last month is com- 
 paratively light. Ten days' holiday at Christmas ; 
 four days at the end of January, and divers stray 
 holidays ; and then the splendid six months. 
 
 Now for present plans. To-day I meet C. at 
 Bletchley and take her to Liverpool. To-morrow 
 she sails for Philadelphia where she will be met on 
 landing by her own people. I am tied by London 
 University till August nth. Then I am going to 
 stay with my Glasgow predecessor Dr Lushington 
 in Kent for two or three days. Then, August i6th, 
 I think I shall come to Killiney. I must have clear 
 
1875] At Glasgow 181 
 
 seven weeks to finish my book (Attic Orators). 
 C. will be at Queenstown about September 20th. 
 Early in October we must go to Glasgow to see 
 about getting the house ready. Meanwhile I am 
 going there next week to be inducted." 
 
 The fates were kind : the ship made her voyage 
 safely and we were together again in England — 
 though not quite so early as the 20th of September. 
 It was hard to leave my mother on the other side, 
 and we arranged that I should remain with her 
 for another fortnight : we could go to Ireland at 
 Christmas. 
 
 The first week in October found us In Glasgow, 
 — with what work before us ! The new Professor 
 must get his books on their shelves and write his 
 opening address to be delivered on the 5th of 
 November : the new Professorin must bestir herself 
 to make a home with all speed in No. 5, the College, 
 the official residence of the Professor of Greek. 
 We meant to keep our house in Cambridge, as we 
 could not be homeless for six months, and no one at 
 Glasgow remains in the College after the session 
 has ended : so In addition to wall-papers, gas 
 brackets, and fire grates, new furniture had to be 
 collected. We were very happy In the novelty of 
 everything. We liked the big rooms at No. 5, and 
 we liked the view across the valley towards the 
 setting sun. We were very busy, but It was all 
 great fun. We were young and work troubled 
 neither of us. He was often called away from his 
 
1 82 Sir Richard J ebb [^^875 
 
 study to take a run across the Park to the place of 
 shops. Ideas concerning carpets and wall-papers 
 he had none, but he could listen and sympathise, 
 and he could — and always did — throw his influence 
 on the side of the pretty thing instead of the cheap 
 one. What money we spent and how little we cared 
 in those blithe days ! There is something in the big 
 town with the two rivers running through it and its 
 fine air, fresh from the sea — also the look it has 
 of great businesses that reach to the uttermost parts 
 of the earth — that exhilarates. We had our part 
 of it all to ourselves for a happy fortnight until the 
 College people began to come back, by which time 
 the address was finished and the house made habit- 
 able. We felt that both were our joint work, so 
 interested had each been in what the other was 
 doing. 
 
 And now we were ready for the next step. 
 Soon the College Court became filled with life. 
 Black gowns and red flitted across its spaces ; groups 
 of youths collected and scattered, and collected again ; 
 everywhere were heard greetings and welcomings. 
 Students crowded into the class-rooms to pay their 
 fees, to enroll their names and get their tickets. This 
 paying of fees direct from hand to hand was so 
 different from the Cambridge way of delicately inti- 
 mating that your honorarium had been credited to 
 your account in the bank, that as a new experience 
 it became interesting. He could not quite take the 
 fees — his helpful assistant Mr Murdoch undertook 
 to receive them while the Professor wrote out the 
 
1875] Inaugural Address 183 
 
 class tickets ; but he could bring back the tin box 
 under his gown when it was full and deposit it 
 at his wife's feet with the air of making her a 
 present. The present she liked best was her share 
 in the work. She was appointed chief clerk, whose 
 business it was to straighten out the notes in neat 
 parcels, to make the gold into small rouleaux, and to 
 count the silver — comparing the total with the lists. 
 Nobody knows till he tries it how hard it is not to 
 make mistakes in counting coin. It took the expe- 
 rience of several sessions before this particular clerk 
 could present her packages to the bank with the 
 certainty that their tally and hers would agree. 
 
 His inaugural address was given on the 5th of 
 November. That Greek still held its own was shown 
 by the applause given to the following passage : — 
 "What was the position of classical studies in i860, 
 the year roughly speaking when the old supremacy 
 of Classics and Mathematics as the subjects of higher 
 education began to be disputed, and what is the 
 position they hold in 1875? The tone adopted 
 towards these studies at the earlier date is perhaps 
 not inaptly symbolised by a well-known passage in 
 the great lyric poet of Greece. Jason comes back 
 to the kingdom of his fathers, and tells the usurper 
 that he may keep the flocks and herds, but that he 
 must give up the royal seat. Science in the first 
 eager assertion of a just claim, spoke in like accents 
 to the reigning Muse: — keep thy treasures but 
 resign thy throne. Now, however, if after an interval 
 of years which has allowed the public judgment to 
 
184 Sir Richard Jebb [1875 
 
 ripen, one was asked to describe the actual place of 
 classical studies in the educational opinion of the 
 country, I believe that a more homely illustration 
 would be more exact. It sometimes happens that 
 travellers on the Continent, who have long enjoyed 
 the exemptions of a privileged nationality, find that 
 the demand for passports has been revived. Com- 
 pliance with the demand is easy and they go on 
 their way in peace. Citizens of the classical com- 
 monwealth are now expected to show their passports 
 for the realm of Education. These are required to 
 prove that they have something to teach which is 
 worth knowing. 
 
 Let me state in a few words the grounds on 
 which this proof rests. First of all, let us consider 
 the precise meaning of the very natural wish that a 
 modern education should bear directly on the things 
 of modern life. It will be useful to remember the 
 distinction between these terms : information — know- 
 ledge — science — education. Information is the pro- 
 cess of shaping what was shapeless ; it may be used, 
 therefore, of anything which defines a notion pre- 
 viously vague. If I could learn by heart the contents 
 of the Post Office Directory, that would undoubtedly 
 be information. Knowledge is information digested 
 and made a complete, intelligible whole. Science is 
 knowledge extended, not merely to the systematic 
 arrangement of particulars, but to the comprehension 
 or illustration of laws. Education literally means 
 not bringing out, but bringing up. Mental education 
 is a training of the mind, whatever the instrument 
 
1875] Inaugural Address 185 
 
 may be by which it is trained. Now the memory 
 is developed earlier than our other faculties. Every 
 one admits that before information becomes know- 
 ledge in a young mind, that mind must be in 
 some measure educated. The result of overlooking 
 this fact has been vividly illustrated by a great 
 humorist. Paul Dombey at Dr Blimber's was taught 
 English, Latin, history, tables of all kinds, and 
 statistics. But whether twenty Romuluses make a 
 Remus, or hie, haec, hoc was Troy weight, or a verb 
 always agrees with an ancient Briton, or three times 
 four was Taurus — these were open questions with 
 him. How far can the process of training the mind 
 for its whole afterwork be advantageously united 
 with the process of storing the mind for its daily 
 need '^ One kind of knowledge may be more useful 
 than another for everyday life. On the other hand, 
 one kind of knowledge may be a better educational 
 instrument than another. How is the balance to be 
 struck ? Where, above all, is the line to be drawn 
 in the case of those on whom the cares of life fall 
 early ? The value of any given kind of knowledge 
 as an educational instrument depends practically on 
 the degree in which it satisfies two conditions : first, 
 that at an early stage it should employ the con- 
 structive and imaginative faculties of the learner ; 
 secondly, that it should be a subject in which the 
 results of work can be tested with sufficient accuracy 
 and by a method which is fair to all. Now it has 
 been universally admitted that at least one study, 
 by which these conditions are satisfied, is the study 
 
1 86 Sir Richard J ebb [1875 
 
 of language. It is enough to quote a single testi- 
 mony — that of Sir William Hamilton. * The study 
 of language/ he says, * if conducted upon rational 
 principles is one of the best exercises of an applied 
 logic' The study of literature, to which that of 
 language is the key, is the entering into the mind of 
 men eminent in thought and in power of expression. 
 That is why it is called humanising. It makes you 
 a more representative human being, because it gives 
 you a share in the best things that have been 
 thought and said by the best ones of our race " 
 
 Students at the Scotch Universities think little 
 about the social conditions that help in the forma- 
 tion of character ; they come up to work hard at the 
 studies which are the key to the professions they 
 mean to follow. Very quickly it was realised that 
 Professor Jebb meant to help them in this to the 
 extent of his power. There was no dawdling in the 
 Greek Classes, no pleasant chatting in the vague, 
 but real hard work. The quiet and order in the 
 room were absolute. The Rev. Dr Denney writes : 
 
 "There was great interest in the appointment of Dr 
 Lushington's successor, and Professor Jebb came to an 
 eager and keenly expectant audience. Audience is really 
 the proper word, not pupils or class, and there was a 
 moment's hesitation as to whether the new professor 
 would apprehend the situation. But the hesitation was 
 only for a moment. Perhaps Professor Jebb never 
 thoroughly liked or approved of it, but he promptly 
 made the best of it. He probably did more than any one 
 had done before him to transform his audience into a 
 
1875] An Appreciation 187 
 
 class. I have no hesitation in saying that he was by- 
 far the best teacher I ever knew, and that he made his 
 subject real and inspiring as few are able to do. The 
 first winter he was in Glasgow, besides reading Herodotus 
 and Thucydides at 8 in the morning, he lectured on 
 Sophocles, and further on in the Session on Aristophanes, 
 at 2 in the afternoon : that winter, I remember, he went 
 through the Antigone and the Birds. He gave a course 
 of lectures also on Greek Literature which were open 
 not only to members of his class and of the University 
 but to the public generally. This course which extended 
 to twelve lectures opened with great eclat. Distinguished 
 civic personages were present, as well as University 
 dignitaries who had no special relation to Greek. Their 
 zeal, however, was not equal to the demands which the 
 Professor made upon them, and the audiences soon came 
 to consist practically of the Greek Class. What im- 
 pressed the imperfectly prepared students who had to 
 do any work for Mr Jebb was the precision and finish 
 of all his work for them. Most of us had no idea of 
 what translation could be — whether from Greek into 
 English or from English into Greek. His renderings 
 of Sophocles, which have since become known to all the 
 world, came on us like a revelation. He not only did 
 the thing, but created an ideal for us by doing it. At 
 that time, I believe, he lectured every winter on Sophocles 
 and Aristophanes, and I never had the opportunity of 
 hearing him read (as he afterwards did) in Plato and 
 Aristotle. His interest, I should say, was in the poetry 
 and history rather than in the speculative thought of 
 Greece. He could not in any sense fraternise with his 
 pupils, the main interests of most of them being too 
 remote from his own, but he was most willing to help 
 those who sought his guidance in his own field. After 
 leaving the University I assisted him for some years in 
 
i88 Sir Richard J ebb [1875 
 
 examination work, and know how sincerely he was 
 interested in the progress of his men. In spite, however, 
 of the sense of distance which was never quite overcome — 
 or perhaps even because of it — he gave many of us an 
 idea from which we can never escape of what a scholar 
 can be. His professorship in Glasgow was a fortunate 
 episode in the history of the University and in the 
 intellectual life of many of its alumni \ and though we 
 could not grudge his return to Cambridge we felt that 
 it would be hard to find any one who could hope to fill 
 his place." 
 
 I have also been so fortunate as to receive from 
 Mr R. P. G. Williamson, another old Glasgow 
 student, some pages which fill out the picture. 
 
 " Professor Jebb came to Glasgow with little knowledge 
 of the ways of Scottish students or the methods of 
 teaching in vogue. But he quickly adapted himself to 
 the situation, and proved a most brilliant teacher. 
 
 His disciplinary powers were of the highest order: 
 not a sound was heard in his class-room other than the 
 voice of the reader or the subdued applause of the 
 students after one of his fine renderings. He was most 
 punctual himself and expected punctuality from his 
 students. Only once did I witness an attempt on the 
 part of a student to enter the room after the College 
 bell had ceased its inharmonious tolling. The daring 
 youth advanced a few steps, when he was arrested by 
 the professor's look of amazement and indignation. His 
 exit was quicker than his entrance. 
 
 Regularity, system, and method were marked features 
 of the professor's conduct of his classes. Every morning 
 at 8 o'clock the Senior Class was opened with the Collect, 
 ' Prevent us, O Lord, in all our doings,' followed by the 
 
1875] An Appreciation 189 
 
 Lord's prayer. Then came the formula, varying only 
 with the book that was being read and the particular 
 student addressed : ' We begin, this morning, gentlemen, 
 Herodotus, Book IX, page 64, section 23 : Mr Smith, 
 bench 12, will you begin, please?' I wish I could give 
 the cadence of these words ; it is clear enough in my 
 own ears, and every old student who reads this will recall 
 the well-known tones. 
 
 The words were spoken most precisely, slowly, and 
 distinctly, and the request to Mr Smith was given in a 
 gradually ascending pitch but in as gradual a diminuendo 
 of loudness so as not to alarm that gentleman unduly. 
 Mr Smith, it must be remembered, did not expect the 
 honour, for Jebb went through the class in such a way 
 that no one knew when he was to be invited to exhibit 
 his power of translation and his scholarship. After Smith 
 had got through his translation he was asked some 
 questions and then followed one of four judgments by 
 the professor. If he had done first-rate he received the 
 encomium, ' Thank you, Mr Smith ; very well ' (the last 
 two words in a gentle murmur of appreciation) ; if he 
 had done pretty well, he was greeted with, 'Thank you, 
 Mr Smith ' (the voice still genial) ; if his performance 
 was moderate, he escaped with the words, ' That will do, 
 Mr Smith' (the voice indicative of slight boredom), and 
 if he had muddled through, the awful sentence came, 
 as if from Olympus, ' Sit down, Mr Smith.' No one 
 who heard these unvarying judgments and the delicate 
 and deliberate shading of the tones of the voice in which 
 they were pronounced will ever forget them. 
 
 Professor J ebb's wit was pungent but never harsh 
 or caustic; we all got what we deserved and expected. 
 He did not, *as others use,' repeat his jokes from year 
 to year. A study of the note books of students of a 
 previous year revealed the stock-in-trade of some pro- 
 
190 Sir Richard J ebb [1875 
 
 fessors : Jebb's humour was always spontaneous and 
 suitable to the occasion. Perhaps his most famous in- 
 spiration of this kind was in connection with a little 
 accident that threatened the fabric of his class-room. The 
 class of Logic and Rhetoric under the kindly Borderer, 
 John Veitch, had its home in a room directly over that 
 of the Greek class. Veitch used often to wind up his 
 lecture with a quotation from a poet — generally Words- 
 worth. On one occasion, when his selection for quotation 
 was from a book of his own on the Border Ballads, his 
 students were moved to a patriotic fervour of applause ; 
 they stamped vehemently across the room and all down 
 the stairs. Professor Jebb, who hated noise, looked up 
 uneasily, then quietly remarked to his own class below: 
 "Gentlemen, I fear that my premises will not support 
 Professor Veitch's conclusions." 
 
 A very striking feature of the professor's teaching 
 was his almost merciless repetition of vital rules and 
 principles arising out of the grammatical structure of 
 the text. These rules were invariably given with the 
 same clear, steady, deliberate enunciation and in the 
 same words. Never was surprise or annoyance shown 
 at a student's forgetfulness : with hammer-like precision 
 the rule was recited, as if it was a new and delightful 
 discovery. I used to wonder how a man of such extra- 
 ordinary ability and attainments could descend to the 
 commonplaces of the language. I see now that he recog- 
 nised his function as a teacher and did the work at his 
 hand honestly and thoroughly ! ' When the subject of 
 the Infinitive is the same as the subject of the principal 
 verb, it is put in the Nominative case ' falls as distinctly 
 on my ear to-day as it did five and twenty years ago. 
 
 In the Middle Class one lecture was given weekly 
 on Modern Greek. An edition of Xenophon's Anabasis 
 was used with the original Greek on one page and the 
 
1875] An Appreciation 191 
 
 modern Greek version on the one opposite. Differences 
 in grammar and idiom were pointed out and the relation 
 between the Ancient and the Modern tongues explained. 
 Such treatment of the subject undoubtedly made the 
 * dead ' language vital. Composition was taught by- 
 means of printed extracts from authors like Macaulay, 
 Emerson, Bolingbroke, and Ruskin. Each student was 
 supplied with a copy and was expected to return a 
 finished version within the week. This was returned 
 with corrections and at the same time the professor's 
 own printed version was issued. 
 
 The most enjoyable class, however, was the Honours 
 one which was very highly appreciated not only by the 
 best students but by many of those who were but average. 
 No doubt the fact that in this class the professor did all 
 the work accounted to a certain extent for its popularity. 
 There was no oral examination. One could consequently 
 enter this class with a mind ' not over-exquisite to cast 
 the fashion of uncertain evil.' A general air of antici- 
 pation pervaded the room as the professor began his 
 prelection. Part of the course consisted of translation 
 with critical and exegetical comments, and part dealt 
 with topics associated with Greek literature and anti- 
 quities. It was the translation that drew some of us 
 who did not aspire to be exact scholars, but who felt 
 deeply the privilege we enjoyed of listening to the voice 
 of one who combined the utmost fidelity to the original 
 with a diction that was superb. The published trans- 
 lations of the tragedies of Sophocles afford adequate 
 testimony of his unparalleled power to those who were 
 not fortunate enough to hear him, but they lack the 
 charm which the melody and the cadence of the voice 
 that is now still gave them. The cloister-like quietude 
 of the room was often broken by the homely clatter of 
 feet — the way we young and raw lads had of expressing 
 
192 Sir Richard J ebb [}^1S 
 
 our humble and sincere appreciation. The spontaneity 
 and honesty of these tributes seemed to touch the reader, 
 although they were so slight compared with his world- 
 wide reputation. He gave us of his best : a smaller 
 man might have thought us hardly worth the trouble. 
 
 Professor Jebb's moral influence over the plastic minds 
 of his students was most powerful. His method, his 
 thoroughness, his patience, his persistence, his justness, 
 his nice sense of honour, his enthusiasm, his devotion 
 have left their mark on many men, far apart in time 
 and in place and in work, but united in a common 
 bond of affectionate regard for the memory of their old 
 master." 
 
 After these two most appreciative letters, it is 
 but fair to state the other side. A candid critic 
 in giving his strictly uncomplimentary views of all 
 the academic staff at Glasgow — he bore witness 
 in a series of pamphlets — described the Greek 
 Professor as striking terror into the hearts of many 
 students, the very spick-and-span look of his white 
 cuffs and shining boots, as he descended the steps 
 of his house at 8 a.m. every morning, tending to 
 this effect. His temper was described as short, 
 and there were bursts of it in the class that swept 
 the atmosphere like a storm. But even in this 
 paper the writer showed an underlying feeling of 
 respect for the Professor who worked harder than 
 his students. 
 
 Professor J ebb seldom attended the meetings of 
 the Senate, the governing body of the University. 
 The sin that stood first in his calendar was waste 
 of time, and at all meetings there is a proportion 
 
1875] Class Work 193 
 
 of irrelevancy and diffuseness. His own speaking 
 was so short and to the point that often when he 
 sat down there was a surprised pause, no one 
 being prepared for such an abrupt ending, or quite 
 ready to continue the discussion. He had no 
 sympathy with small economies : '' Surely men are 
 not addicted to excess in ink ! '* he exclaimed im- 
 patiently when the amount to be provided for an 
 examination was being discussed. But a really 
 stirring discussion had in him a delighted listener. 
 If he knew that an important subject was coming up 
 in the Senate and that the fight would be without 
 gloves, he always took pains to secure what he called 
 a front seat. 
 
 To Miss Horsley. 
 
 ^^ December ^th, 1875. 
 
 I have been so very busy that it has been 
 impossible to write. I send you a copy of my 
 address by this post for the Uncle. It has been 
 very well received in Scotland, even by those who 
 do not believe in Greek and Latin. The Greek 
 class is larger than it has been since Dr Sandford's 
 
 time So far, I decidedly like the students and 
 
 the work The work here is very hard but not 
 
 at all anxious. It wears the body more than the 
 mind, and could not well be done without good 
 health. No doubt it is a sort of slavery during 
 the week, but every Saturday is clear; — and then 
 it is only for six months. 
 
 J. M. 13 
 
194 »S'e> Richard J ebb [1876 
 
 I get up at 7, have tea at 7.30, take a class 
 from 8 to 9, breakfast at 9, take another class 
 from 10 to II, and a third from 2 to 3. As a 
 rule I have to work three or four more hours a 
 day preparing or looking over papers. Still, all 
 this is plain sailing, no worry or uncertainty about 
 it. I am very well and walked about ten miles 
 to-day without feeling any rheumatism. 
 
 Socially nothing can be pleasanter than our 
 position. Everybody has been most kind. C. 
 likes the place and has already made friends.'' 
 
 He seems to have gratified the Junior Class — 
 usually entrusted to the Assistant Greek Professor 
 — by introducing the custom of taking them himself 
 for one hour a week. 
 
 ''March i^thy 1876. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 It has been the custom for several years 
 for the Junior Greek Class to hold a social meeting 
 towards the close of each session and to take tea to- 
 gether. 
 
 At such gatherings the Assistant Greek Professor has 
 usually presided ; but this year, considering the great 
 interest you have taken in us since your appointment 
 as Professor, at a meeting of the members of the class 
 lately held, it was resolved to ask you to do us the 
 honour of occupying the chair at the meeting of the 
 Junior Greek Class, in the Washington Hotel, Sauchiehall 
 Street, on Tuesday evening, April 4th, at 7 o'clock. 
 
1876] Class Work 195 
 
 To save you the trouble of writing, a deputation will 
 wait upon you to-morrow (Tuesday) in your side room 
 immediately after dismissal of the Middle Greek Class. 
 
 Believe me, Dear Sir, 
 
 Yours with much respect, 
 
 William F. Somerville, 
 Secretary." 
 
 By a curious chance a description of this 
 meeting is found in a letter to Miss Horsley 
 written by a friend v^^hose son was a member of 
 the class. 
 
 "St Anne's, 
 
 April ph. 
 
 Dear Miss Horsley, 
 
 I cannot refrain from sending you the enclosed 
 from a letter from my second boy at Glasgow College, as I 
 am sure it will give you pleasure. There is a reference in 
 it to a stupid melee into which a body of the students got 
 with the police, when coming home from the theatre, in 
 regard to which some of the correspondents in the news- 
 papers took part against the * Gowns.' 
 
 * The conversazione of the Junior Greek Class was held 
 last Tuesday over which Professor Jebb presided. He 
 made some capital remarks about public opinion of the 
 University. He said the public judged the students by 
 the rows, etc., but about the real life of the University he 
 thought they knew very little, and he was doing them (the 
 public) no injustice when he said they cared very little. 
 He then went on saying it was our duty to do the utmost 
 
 for spreading knowledge When Troy fell the intelli- 
 
 13—2 
 
196 Sir Richard Jebb [1876 
 
 gence was carried by beacon from hill-top to hill-top — wc 
 must remember to make our studies respected — to stand 
 
 out from men who had not our privileges He made 
 
 himself very friendly during the evening. He had to go 
 before we finished, and when he was going out he received 
 a perfect ovation. The fellows stood up on their chairs 
 and literally yelled. They sang * For he's a jolly good 
 fellow.' He bowed his acknowledgments and went out " 
 
 The amount of professional and literary work 
 Jebb accomplished at this period of his life was 
 amazing. With all the heavy class work, he still 
 made time this winter to write occasional articles 
 for the TinieSy to correct the proofs of his Attic 
 Orators and to begin notes for an Introduction to 
 Homer. In February, 1876, The Attic Orators 
 from Antiphon to Isaeus was published. The 
 first reviews were favourable, but these were soon 
 followed by three others, two of them of considerable 
 length, in which the line of criticism was distinctly 
 hostile. They practically charged the author with 
 excessive adaptations without acknowledgment from 
 Dr Blass's work on the same subject. That opinions 
 as well as tastes do honestly differ Is beyond dispute. 
 These three reviewers could see no merit In Jebb 
 except perhaps diligence and a certain elegance. 
 To them he was a man without originality or ex- 
 ceptional ability. To this day, when they think of 
 him at all, it is doubtless with very genuine surprise 
 at the place he managed to win in the general 
 esteem. The charges of plagiarism and unacknow- 
 ledged obligations made him very unhappy ; and 
 
1876] The Attic Orators 197 
 
 when he was hurt, meek submission was not the 
 first idea that occurred to him. He could when 
 necessary put a thing aside, but he never forgot 
 that when time served it was there to be attended 
 to. In April he was kept busy with examinations 
 and all the work involved in the closing of the 
 Session. Then, on his return to Cambridge, the 
 question had to be finally settled — whether to stay 
 on at Glasgow or to return to his former positions 
 in his own College and University. The advantages 
 were so evenly balanced that it was not without 
 great hesitation the decision so important to himself 
 was made. This point settled, he turned to the 
 accusations of his reviewers. In the course he 
 took he had the support of one or two judgments 
 of weight. Dr Lightfoot wrote: **As a rule I 
 should say keep silence ; but this charge has, as 
 you say, a moral aspect, and therefore is a fit 
 subject for reply." Mr John Morley wrote to Mr 
 Sidney Colvin : "It seems to me this is exactly a 
 case — and such cases are of the rarest — when a 
 reply is proper and useful." 
 
 Encouraged by these opinions, J ebb permitted 
 himself to break silence. He wrote a pamphlet^ 
 answering, page by page, the statements made 
 against him ; and he added a letter from Dr Blass 
 which wholly acquitted him of using Dr Blass's 
 book without acknowledgment : — ** I have not found 
 a single instance in which Professor Jebb has 
 
 ^ In answer to the signed review: he took no notice of 
 those that were anonymous. 
 
198 Sir Richard Jebb [1876 
 
 adopted a conjecture of mine without expressly 
 mentioning me\" 
 
 Most visitors to Cambridge notice the fine 
 statue of Lord Macaulay, by Woolner, which stands 
 in the ante-chapel at Trinity. It has for companions 
 the statues of Newton, Bacon, Isaac Barrow, and 
 Dr Whewell. The inscription on the pedestal of the 
 statue was composed by Jebb in answer to the 
 following letter from the Master. 
 
 "Trinity Lodge, 
 
 May gth^ 1876. 
 My Dear Orator, 
 
 While we have you here we should like to 
 extract from you something by way of epitaph on 
 Macaulay. The base of Dr Whewell's statue is, you will 
 see, covered with epithets more or less appropriate ; for 
 these I am mainly responsible: but the perusal of 
 Trevelyan's "Memoir and Letters" indisposes me to attempt 
 doing the same by Macaulay, whose very various accom- 
 plishments would render it difficult to keep his epitaph 
 within reasonable limits. 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 W. H. Thompson." 
 
 ''October 17, 1876. 
 
 My Dear Professor, 
 
 A thousand thanks for the copies of your 
 inscription. All who have seen it and have given an 
 
 ' The matter practically ended here, though there followed a 
 "Reply" from his reviewer and a "Rejoinder to the Reply" from 
 Prof. Jebb. 
 
1876] Macaulay Inscription 199 
 
 opinion, think that your choice of topics is most happy and 
 that your Latinity, as might have been expected, is worthy 
 
 of the best Latinists One remark I hear is, that we 
 
 should Hke his connexion with, and attachment to, the 
 College rather more sharply accentuated. He really 
 loved the College, and naturally those of the Fellows 
 who knew this and him greatly valued the attachment 
 
 of such a man I have not yet heard Munro's opinion 
 
 which I expect to have great difficulty in extracting. 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 W. H. Thompson." 
 
 The inscription in its final form runs : 
 
 Thomae Babington Baroni Macaulay 
 
 historico doctrina fide vividis ingenii luminibus 
 
 praeclaro 
 
 qui primus annales ita scripsit 
 
 ut vera fictis libentius legerentur 
 
 oratori rebus copioso sententiis presso 
 
 animi motibus elato 
 
 qui cum otii studiis unice gauderet 
 
 numquam reipublicae defuit 
 
 sive India litteris et legibus emendanda 
 
 sive domi contra licentiam tuenda libertas 
 
 vocaret 
 
 poetae nihil humile spiranti 
 
 viro cui omnium admiratio minoris fuit quam 
 
 suorum amor 
 
 huius collegii olim socio 
 
 quod summa dum vixit pietate coluit 
 
 amici maerentes s . S . F . C. 
 
200 Sir Richard J ebb [1877 
 
 On his last visit to Cambridge, Mr Gladstone, 
 no mean judge of this kind of writing, pronounced 
 the inscription to be *' consummate." 
 
 We went abroad on June i6th for a delightful 
 three weeks' holiday in Central Italy. One of us 
 had never been in Italy, and to see it in summer 
 was to the other a fresh revelation of its beauty. 
 Our head quarters were at Perugia, whence we made 
 leisurely visits to Assisi and other places in the 
 neighbourhood. But the crowning pleasure of our 
 trip was a four days' tour among the hills. We 
 three — his friend Mr G. W. Balfour was with us — 
 started off gaily, early one morning, with brightly 
 harnessed horses, jingling with bells and inspired 
 by a most animated vetturino, to drive fifty miles 
 to Arezzo. We stopped at Cortona for the noon's 
 rest, and were invited into the kitchen by our 
 Italian host to choose our own luncheon. Then 
 on again in the delicious air and across the beautiful 
 country to Arezzo, where we arrived early enough 
 to see some of its treasures by daylight. The 
 next day, in the same perfect weather, we were 
 driven to Citta di Castello, crossing the Tiber at 
 Borgo San Sepolcro. The historic river on this 
 occasion was merely a shallow, almost stagnant 
 stream in the middle of a very visible bed of mud. 
 The third day's journey brought us to Gubbio — 
 a fine site under bold hills. We were so fortunate 
 as to be admitted, on sending in our cards, to 
 the Palace of the Marchese Brancaleoni, who was 
 the owner of a fine Titian. The Marchese himself 
 
1877] Perugia 201 
 
 was more interesting than any of his possessions. 
 He was a little man, very old, very tired, very 
 blase but with manners of remarkable distinction — 
 the finest I ever saw. It must have been rather 
 dreary to live up there among the mountains alone 
 with his three daughters, waiting for the end. 
 He had once been ambassador to England and 
 had married a sister (or a daughter) of John Cam 
 Hobhouse, Byron's lifelong friend. He showed us 
 a glass case full of mementoes of the poet which 
 she had held as treasures, and told us their histories. 
 Indeed he was very kind to us, and we felt real 
 regret at leaving him, and were pleased at his 
 asking us to send him our photographs. 
 
 Coming down the mountain from Gubbio to 
 Perugia we were caught in a drenching thunder- 
 storm, and then the Tiber showed its might. 
 Great floods of rushing water filled its bed from 
 bank to bank and torrents fell down to join it 
 from the mountain side. It was a grand scene 
 of nature opened to our sight, 
 
 August was spent in Cambridge and September 
 in Ireland, where notes were made for a Primer 
 of Greek Literature, a little book which was to 
 cost him more trouble than all his other books 
 put together — at least so he said when struggling 
 to compress so large a subject into such small 
 limits. 
 
 In October our ships were burnt, the Fellow- 
 ship and the Public Oratorship resigned ; and we 
 went to Glasgow, now to inhabit there for many 
 
202 Sir Richard J ebb [1877 
 
 winters. We were no longer strangers In a society 
 that grew increasingly enjoyable as its limits 
 widened. Many of our Sundays were passed in 
 country houses, amid beautiful scenery new to us, 
 and with agreeable companions. The Scotch pro- 
 fessor soon learns to value the labourer's day of 
 rest, and though his few holidays and Saturdays 
 were taken up with composing addresses and 
 making notes for speeches, which were asked 
 from him on every side, Sunday was always kept 
 free from work. 
 
 The College society was in itself a great resource 
 in the dark winter days. Shut in by the same gates, 
 able to get to each others' houses almost dry-shod in 
 all weathers, occupied with the same interests, — the 
 little group of families met almost daily, and lifelong 
 friends were made in those fourteen years. The 
 two who were his most frequent companions in his 
 walks and short trips into the country, Professor 
 Veitch and Professor Nichol, valued friends both, 
 died not long after we left Glasgow. The short 
 holidays were generally devoted to Killiney, though 
 sometimes only one of us could brave the journey, 
 which was rather terrible in rough weather. It meant 
 a night's crossing by steamer from Greenock to 
 Belfast, followed by a long railway journey from 
 Belfast to Dublin. 
 
 An alternative but longer route was by Chester 
 and Holyhead to Kingstown. The only time Jebb 
 went by it, the surprised porter at Glasgow failed to 
 grasp his intention and misdirected his luggage. A 
 
1877] Short Holidays 203 
 
 cry of distress was sent to his wife from Chester on 
 a sheet of paper adorned at the top with a sketch 
 of a lonely portmanteau leaning up against a barrow 
 on an empty platform. 
 
 (No date.) 
 To HIS Wife. 
 
 " This is too much. That footstool of fate, that 
 toy of tyranny, that sport of spiteful destiny, my 
 PORTMANTEAU, after being labelled and put into the 
 van at Glasgow was not in it when the train got to 
 Chester at 12.15 ^^st night. My luck is the greatest 
 phenomenon of our time. I instantly routed out of 
 his sleep the lost luggage office man, who tele- 
 graphed at once to Preston, Glasgow, and Crewe. 
 We are now going to try London. I mean to stay 
 here till it comes, and go on by the Irish Mail to- 
 night if the portmanteau turns up." 
 
 A letter followed the next day with a picture of 
 a fat and happy portmanteau now lying square on its 
 own base. 
 
 The classes were still larger this session not- 
 withstanding the presence of a Scotch University 
 Commission in Edinburgh and possible impending 
 changes. The organization of work in them was no 
 slight task. 
 
 Professor J ebb followed a method of his own 
 invention as exact as book-keeping, by which he 
 knew the number of each bench, the seat of every 
 student, the number of times each had been examined 
 
204 Sir Richard J ebb [1877 
 
 and how often he was absent. These books are a 
 marvel of neatness and detail. Without thorough 
 method it would have been impossible to keep the 
 class in order, and to make the students benefit by 
 his teaching. 
 
 This winter he was summoned to give evidence 
 before the University Commission on the require- 
 ments of Greek teaching in Glasgow University, 
 and on other points. Much had been done by the 
 Act of 1856, more by the action of the Universities 
 themselves, but the time had again come when, 
 especially under the head of finance, government 
 aid was greatly needed. In all the Scotch Uni- 
 versities attention was being given to the formation 
 of workable schemes to be put before the Commis- 
 sion, and the professors' time was much taken up 
 with meetings and discussions. 
 
 That happy moment, the end of the session, 
 came at last, and in May we were again in Cam- 
 bridge. We seem to have had an unusual succession 
 of visitors according to this note in the diary : — 
 ''June ijtk. Our first day alone since May 5th; 
 read my writing aloud to C. in the evening." 
 
 There was plenty awaiting him to do. The Primer 
 was crying aloud to be written ; an article on De- 
 mosthenes was to be finished for the Encyclopaedia 
 Britannica ; there were translations in Latin and 
 Greek prose and verse to prepare for a volume which 
 he had undertaken conjointly with Dr Jackson and 
 Mr W. E. Currey, for use in schools ; — and only ten 
 weeks in which to do it all if he was to make his first 
 
1877] Ischl 205 
 
 visit to America this autumn. He had looked for- 
 ward eagerly to this visit. Every evening, after the 
 day's work was read aloud, he would get out maps 
 and guidebooks and discuss lines of travel ; and we 
 would talk of all the points of interest he wished 
 especially to see, measuring out the time to be given 
 to each. But alas, there were many interruptions — 
 when do they fail .'* — and the literary work could not 
 be finished in the time appointed. Deep was his 
 disappointment at having to decide that this year he 
 could not go. While his wife went to see her mother, 
 he must betake himself to some place abroad where 
 he could be quiet and finish the work that hung on 
 hand so persistently. It was the Primer that was 
 the delinquent — such a tiny book to be so trouble- 
 some. In the end he carried it with him to Ischl, 
 whither he went in company with Mr Oscar Browning, 
 both intending to work steadily in that invigorating 
 atmosphere. 
 
 To HIS Wife. 
 
 " Ischl, 
 
 September 20//^, 1877. 
 
 Last week I first saw the arrival of the 
 
 steamer Ohio as having taken place on September 8th. 
 
 Soon now I shall have a letter The Lord Provost 
 
 of Glasgow wrote to me at Cambridge — how did he 
 get our address ? — asking us to dine to meet General 
 and Mrs Ulysses Grant on their visit to Glasgow 
 last week. He sent his kind regards to Mrs J ebb, 
 
2o6 Sir Richard J ebb [1877 
 
 and I said Mrs J ebb was not here or she would join 
 etc. You see I did not want to say the Atlantic 
 flowed between my wife and me — to the Lord 
 Provost. Yesterday I had a letter from Trevelyan 
 which I will quote : — ' To-day for the first time I 
 had a copy of the inscription on Macaulay's statue in 
 Trinity ; and I cannot help writing to tell you how 
 entirely satisfactory I think it, and how much I 
 admire the substance.' 
 
 Here I am working hard at that terrible Primer. 
 It is greatly improved and I hope will be out by 
 October 20th at latest. On the 30th of this month 
 we talk of going down the Danube to Vienna." 
 
 The voyage back from America was the worst 
 his wife had ever known. Storms raged incessantly, 
 rising almost to a hurricane in mid-ocean. The saloon 
 skylights were smashed by the heavy seas, the fires 
 in the cook's galley were extinguished and for two 
 days no food could be cooked. A sailor had to be 
 bribed — at the risk of his life he said — to go to the 
 ice-house for ice with which to make lemonade. The 
 worst of such a voyage is that not only is it very 
 uncomfortable — it is also very long. It was not till 
 the session had well begun that Professor J ebb 
 could write in his diary : ''November ytky 9.30 p.m. 
 Drove to Buchanan Street Station. There met C. 
 and brought her home." 
 
 Early in November we had the stirring experience 
 of an election. A new Lord Rector was to be chosen 
 to succeed Lord Beaconsfield, whose term had ex- 
 
1878] Diary 207 
 
 pired. Strict impartiality between the two parties 
 was secured by the election of Mr Gladstone amid 
 much enthusiasm and by large majorities in all the 
 four nations, — bodies into which the students are 
 divided according to the place of their birth. 
 
 On November 17th, he gave the opening address 
 to the Philomathic Debating Society in Edinburgh 
 in fulfilment of a promise made six months before. 
 
 After this we settled down to the usual occupa- 
 tions of the winter, of which a week of his diary gives 
 a very fair sample. 
 
 ''January 22nd, 1878. Classes. S. H. Butcher 
 left for London. Wrote to Master of Christ's, pro- 
 posing Sophocles to Syndics of Press. Went with 
 Caird to dine with Nichol to meet Swinburne. 
 He read his Sapphics and recited his parodies on 
 Coventry Patmore and Wordsworth. 
 
 January 2 \th. Classes 8 — 12. No Private Class 
 to-day, Ramsay having dispensed with his. Queen 
 Street 4.15 to Edinburgh to stay with the Sellars. 
 Principal Shairp — Professor of Poetry at Oxford — 
 came to dinner. Blackie, just about to go to Egypt, 
 in evening. 
 
 Monday y 28M. Holiday. Went to luncheon 
 with Mrs Graham Murray. Her son (Cambridge) 
 came in. Dinner party : Lord Deas, Lord Clark, 
 Dean of Faculty, etc. 
 
 Tuesday, 29M. Holiday for Candlemas. Edin- 
 burgh to Glasgow with C. Letter from Master 
 
2o8 Sir Richard J ebb [1878 
 
 of Christ's about Sophocles, accepting offer of edition 
 for Pitt Press. Answered. Dined at Aikenhead 
 House. 
 
 January 'ipth. Lightfoot comes. Classes 8, 10, 2. 
 Principal and Mrs Caird, Dr and Mrs M'Call 
 Anderson, Veitches to dinner to meet Lightfoot. 
 
 January 2)^st, Classes 8, 10, 2, Took Lightfoot 
 to see Cathedral and old College. Dr Donald 
 McLeod, Dr and Mrs Lee to meet him at dinner. 
 
 February \st. Lightfoot left at 1.45. Com- 
 posed and sent inscription for Medical Medal to 
 Dr McKendrick. Dined with Sir William and 
 Lady Thomson. 
 
 February \%th. First day when candles were 
 not needed at 8 a.m. when I came into the study." 
 
 This witness to the coming of brighter days was 
 marked invariably in the diary with a red pencil. 
 
 In May Jebb made his first visit to Greece, a 
 short one as he had to be in London on June 19th 
 for the dinner of the Apostles at Richmond, which 
 was to be held this year under his presidency. 
 
 To HIS Mother. 
 
 " Marseilles, 
 
 May ^th, 1878. 
 
 I am so far on my way to Greece, and I 
 
 start in about five hours by the steamer for Syra. 
 We shall take about four days to get there. Thence 
 one day's sailing will take me to Athens." 
 
 Athens was reached on the nth of May, and 
 
1878] Greece 209 
 
 after a fortnight there he visited Marathon, Thebes, 
 Corinth, Sparta, Olympia, and Patras, saiHng for 
 Corfu on the 9th of June. Three days — all he could 
 spare for the Eternal City — were spent in Rome on 
 the way back. Here he must have caught the 
 infection of illness, for scarcely had he reached 
 London on the morning of the i8th when he was 
 seized, while breakfasting at his club, with a shivering 
 fit. It was always difficult for him to change a plan 
 or break an engagement ; and his strong will made 
 him put aside physical discomfort, sometimes till 
 the breaking point was reached. He went out to 
 Richmond at once, ordered a room at the hotel 
 and stayed in bed, shivering under heavy blankets, 
 until it was time to dress, the next night, for the 
 dinner. Unable to touch food, he presided at the 
 long dinner, made the speech expected of the 
 President, and even walked in the gardens with 
 one or two friends till midnight. The next after- 
 noon he was just able to get home. " 111 — go to 
 bed " was the last entry in his diary for many weeks. 
 From the 20th of June to the 7th of August he lay 
 wasting with the fever, not suffering, sleeping most 
 of the time, but very dangerously ill. There was no 
 delirium, but at one time great anxiety was caused 
 by repeated haemorrhages. It was not until the 
 beginning of August that his doctors would permit 
 themselves to say, in their phrase, that he was 
 out of the wood. On the 13th, though his fingers 
 could hardly hold the pen, he wrote to his aunt, 
 Miss Horsley. 
 
 J. M. 14 
 
2IO Sir Richard J ebb [1878 
 
 "3, St Peter's Terrace. 
 I just write a line to tell you a little bit of news 
 that will interest you. To my great surprise, I 
 received this morning a letter from the Greek 
 Charge d'Affaires in London, informing me that 
 the King of Greece had conferred on me the Gold 
 Cross of the Saviour, and sending me the Insignia 
 therewith. The cross is very pretty — you shall see it 
 when we meet. Well, I am getting on pretty well, 
 but have had pain in the ribs the last two nights. 
 Dr Paget calls it neuralgia. Whatever it is, it has 
 made narcotics necessary. This keeps me back, but 
 the doctors say I must get away next Tuesday if I 
 can — and I am not unwilling." 
 
 The best sea air for him was at Killiney. 
 We did get away on the 20th, but the journey 
 was an anxious one to his wife. He disliked to 
 be watched too carefully, yet was so very weak 
 that once his knees bent and he almost fell, while 
 crossing the railway. After this, porters were em- 
 ployed to follow him wherever he went. At one 
 place the porter believed he was appointed to watch 
 a lunatic. When his unconscious charge came back 
 to the carriage, the porter whispered to his wife, in 
 an aside, ''He's there, ma'am, quite quiet like." 
 
 Once at Desmond recovery went on steadily. 
 In the diary of September ist he writes in a 
 hand that no longer trembles, *' Decidedly better. 
 C. and father went to Church. Wrote to Joseph 
 Mayor proposing paper for Contemporary, Made 
 notes on Statutes of German School." 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 ENGLISH SCHOOL AT ATHENS. HELLENIC SOCIETY. 
 
 VISIT TO PARIS. CHALLENGE BY DR BLACKIE. 
 
 VISIT TO VENICE. 
 
 1878— 1880. 
 
 The great need of extended facilities for the 
 study of classical archaeology at its source had been 
 long felt by classical students. No steps had been 
 taken for their provision, however, until Jebb went 
 to Athens in 1878, primarily to study the schools 
 of archaeology established there by other countries. 
 He came home convinced that England lagged far 
 behind France and Germany in appreciation of the 
 study of ancient life and art in its bearing on classical 
 scholarship. In other departments of archaeology 
 the English were by no means negligent. English 
 historians highly valued its discoveries within their 
 own borders and largely availed themselves of its 
 results ; and museums of local antiquities are to be 
 found in almost every town. Bible students appre- 
 ciated the assistance given to their studies by ex- 
 plorations in Palestine and found money and men 
 without stint for the excavations carried on in Bible 
 countries. But in regard to the study of ancient 
 
 14—2 
 
212 Sir Richard J ebb [1878 
 
 Greek and Roman life as revealed in contemporary 
 monuments there had been a singular apathy. J ebb 
 was determined to do his utmost to remove this 
 reproach, but the day he got back to England from 
 Greece the illness declared itself which laid him 
 aside for three months. This could not damp his 
 enthusiasm, but it materially shortened the time at 
 his disposal before work began in Glasgow. The only 
 steps he could take, he took. On September 19th 
 he wrote a letter from his sofa at Desmond to the 
 Times, in which he drew attention to the admirable 
 work done by France and Germany on Greek soil ; 
 to the perseverance which had enabled them to 
 bring temple after temple from its grave at Olympia, 
 and to make important discoveries at Delos. "If 
 English schools and Universities," he continued, 
 ** encourage students to read the life of the Greek 
 and Roman world in its monuments as well as in 
 its books, there will be no lack either of inclination 
 or of trained capacity for original work in Greece 
 and Italy, and Englishmen will take their due place 
 in a province of scientific research which has long 
 been left chiefly to the scholar on the Continent." 
 
 He followed up this letter in the Times by a 
 more detailed article in the next number of the 
 Contemporary Review, in which he pointed out that 
 classical archaeology, if it was to advance, must be 
 made a paying subject at the Universities. As long 
 as philology and philosophy obtained all the honour 
 and all the rewards, archaeology must go to the 
 wall. Let the University authorities give it recogni- 
 
1878] Classical Archaeology 213 
 
 tion and recompense, and no branch of scholastic 
 study would attract more earnest students or evoke 
 greater enthusiasm. He then proceeded to develop 
 the scheme, already sketched in the Times letter, 
 for founding an English School of Archaeology 
 at Athens and Rome. His aim to arouse public 
 interest in archaeological research was successful, 
 but the time was unfavourable for an appeal either 
 to government or to private munificence for aid. 
 Government, if it had the will, had not the money 
 to spare for the institution of such schools, and 
 the depressed condition of trade and commerce 
 closed other sources. 
 
 The purse of charity had to be opened very 
 wide that winter of 1878-79. We went back to 
 Glasgow to find almost a reign of terror. The 
 City of Glasgow Bank had just failed and hardly 
 any business man could be certain that at some 
 point he might not be involved. If not himself a 
 shareholder, he might be a trustee for someone 
 who was ; or people who owed him money might 
 be ruined and unable to pay their debts. Even the 
 weather was more than usually gloomy. Snow and 
 fog were its chief features and the sun was never 
 seen ; — it was almost as if a god had withdrawn his 
 countenance from men. 
 
 "Thou direst Winter in a wintry clime 
 Since wives and maidens wept for stalwart men 
 Dashed on the fatal dream of Darien ! " 
 
 So Professor Nichol wrote in a sonnet published 
 in one of the newspapers. 
 
214 ^^^ Richard Jebb [1878 
 
 The classes were larger than ever — possibly 
 because there was less occupation to be found in 
 business. *' I do not think I ever found the work 
 so heavy as this year — the natural result of my 
 weakness," he wrote to his mother. The only 
 writing he attempted was on the subject most in his 
 thoughts — an article on Greece for the Encyclopaedia 
 Britannica and Progress in Greece for Macmillan s 
 Magazine, 
 
 When spring came, at least the winter was over. 
 People began to take heart and prepare for better 
 times. Jebb had the agreeable experience of 
 receiving an honorary degree from Edinburgh 
 University — the first of many such honours. 
 
 The students must have felt the struggle he made 
 against weakness, in doing his work for them that 
 session. It pleased him greatly when a deputation 
 asked him to receive from his classes an address 
 expressing their admiration and appreciation of his 
 labours. The function was held in the Greek Class 
 Room. Principal Caird took the chair ; there were 
 speeches and replies ; and through the whole pro- 
 ceedings a glow of genuine feeling was manifest. 
 
 Meanwhile his scheme for a British School at 
 Athens had to be put aside. — Not given up; he 
 never without positive pain gave up anything once 
 taken in hand. Tenacity and intensity were two of 
 the elements that went to the making of force of 
 character in him. But another scheme was in the 
 field, almost as likely as the School itself to conduce 
 
1879] Hellenic Society 215 
 
 to the object he had at heart, and much simpler to 
 set going, since the first expenses could be met by 
 yearly subscriptions from its members. Also later, 
 if successful, it might be of assistance to the School 
 which he meant should come some day. 
 
 The first suggestion of a Hellenic Society came 
 from Mr George A. Macmillan, in whom enthusiasm 
 for Greek studies had been kindled by a late visit to 
 Greece. In consultation with Mr John Gennadius, 
 Greek Charge d'Affaires, the idea occurred to him to 
 start a society in Great Britain on the lines of the 
 recently formed French Association pour T encourage- 
 ment des Etudes grecques. It was arranged that 
 scholars and persons interested in Greece should at 
 once be communicated with. 
 
 Professor J ebb sent a prompt response. 
 
 " Glasgow, 
 
 March i^th^ 1879. 
 
 Dear Macmillan, 
 
 I cordially approve of the idea of your 
 Hellenic Society, and shall be very happy to be 
 enrolled a member. There is but a single point 
 in your clear and interesting sketch of the project 
 on which I feel some doubt, and that is as to the 
 desirability of being subsidized by the Greek 
 Government. However that is a matter of detail. 
 There can be no doubt, I should think, that the 
 Society would be valuable in giving more unity to 
 
2i6 Sir Richard J ebb [1879 
 
 the endeavours and purposes of scattered workers, 
 and it would thus be doing in some measure what 
 the French School at Athens, as well as the other 
 Society you mention, does in France. 
 
 I shall be very glad to hear more when there 
 is anything to tell. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 R. C Jebb." 
 
 The welcome given to Mr Macmillan's proposal 
 was widespread, and put the success of the venture 
 beyond doubt. At the inaugural meeting held in 
 London on June i6th, when the chair was taken 
 by Mr C. F. Newton (afterwards Sir Charles 
 Newton), Keeper of Greek and Roman Antiquities 
 in the British Museum, the number of members 
 already amounted to 120. Fifty more were then 
 elected and a committee appointed to admit other 
 members ; and also to prepare a scheme of work to 
 be undertaken. The Society was very soon well 
 started. At a meeting on January 22nd, 1880, 
 Bishop Lightfoot was made President, Professor 
 Jebb one of the Vice-Presidents, and a general 
 Council appointed. 
 
 The next step was to arrange for the issue of a 
 Journal of Hellenic Studies, which from the beginning 
 had been contemplated as part of the scheme. Mr 
 George Macmillan, who was Honorary Secretary, 
 wrote on this subject to Professor Jebb, and received 
 the following answer. 
 
i88o] Hellenic Society Journal 217 
 
 ''March 26th, 1880. 
 
 Dear Macmillan, 
 
 I have been so much occupied for the 
 last few days that I could not write sooner in 
 answer to your letter regarding the editorship of 
 the Hellenic Society Journal. 
 
 As to the general question — how the difficulties 
 connected with the editing had best be met — I should 
 certainly suppose that it was very desirable, if not 
 necessary, to have a permanent working editor who 
 (assisted perhaps by a secretary or clerk) should 
 attend to the correspondence, and in general manage 
 the practical concerns of the Journal. This per- 
 manent working editor need not, however, be editor 
 in chief, in the sense that he should decide on the 
 insertion or rejection of articles or on points of 
 criticism. In this function he might be assisted by 
 a small editorial council, representing the principal 
 branches of the subject. 
 
 Suppose on the other hand that there were no 
 such working editor, but that a few members of the 
 Society made themselves responsible for the editing. 
 Then, unless one or more of them had a great deal 
 of leisure, it would be difficult to establish the 
 Journal as a regular periodical. The experience of the 
 Journal of Philology is a case in point. There the 
 editors are of the latter kind — receivers of articles, 
 empowered to criticise or reject. There is no one 
 whose business it is to see that a number is made 
 up by a given date, — to write contributions, — and 
 
2i8 Sir Richard J ebb [1880 
 
 generally to keep the thing alive. And the conse- 
 quent uncertainty and irregularity in the appearance 
 of the Journal has very seriously injured its cir- 
 culation. 
 
 The first question for us is — -could we offer any 
 sort of honorarium to a permanent working editor ? 
 Or, if not, could we find a scholar whose zeal and 
 whose leisure were adequate to undertaking what 
 must plainly be called the drudgery of the editing } 
 For my own part — and probably many or most of 
 us are in a somewhat similar case — I could not 
 undertake to do more than to advise on articles 
 relating to subjects with which I was conversant. 
 I have so much other work on hand, that if I added 
 to it the duties of editorship in any effective sense, 
 either the former or the latter must suffer — probably 
 both. So far however as such advising goes, I would 
 most willingly help as far as I could, always on the 
 condition that it did not involve a large corre- 
 spondence. The idea which was broached at a 
 committee meeting last summer and supported by 
 many members, might with advantage, perhaps, be 
 kept in view — that the Society might find at least one 
 field of activity in the photographing of important 
 Greek manuscripts. Do you think it practicable to 
 issue the first number by June or even July ? You 
 have better opportunities of judging, but I should 
 have doubted. If the photographing idea could be 
 brought into shape, and some manuscript done this 
 year, it would be a guarantee of activity and would at 
 the same time give a space for further consolidation 
 
1879] Visits to his Mother 219 
 
 of the Society and for the organising of an editorial 
 machinery. 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 R. C. Jebb." 
 
 To go back to 1879. When the session was over 
 J ebb went again to Ireland. Indeed it had now be- 
 come a rule for him to visit Killiney on the way 
 to England or Scotland every spring and autumn. 
 His mother's health was failing, and for the next 
 few years until her death, every plan gave way if 
 he thought she wished to see him. " I will come 
 and see you soon. You shall hear as soon as I can 
 fix the time." **You shall see me, please God, 
 before the end of October ; we will talk about many 
 things then." '* I can fix nothing at present about 
 coming over to you again, but I shall certainly see 
 you sometime before the Glasgow session begins ; 
 and you know that at any time I will come when 
 you want me." Such are the endings of almost 
 every letter to her from this time on. As she grew 
 weaker, his constant tender thought of her if possible 
 increased. 
 
 The move from Glasgow to Cambridge this 
 summer meant but a change, not a slackening, of 
 strenuous work. The intervening ten days at 
 Killiney were occupied with writing an article on 
 Greek Literature long promised to the Encyclopaedia 
 Britannica. Once in England, the affairs of the new 
 Renaissance which he had so much at heart absorbed 
 him. There were constant visits to town for com- 
 
220 Sir Richard J ebb [1879 
 
 mittee meetings of the Hellenic Society and the 
 Journal of Hellenic Studies. A letter from Professor 
 Newton explaining that Oxford would be happy to 
 consider any scheme he cared to submit, setting forth 
 the outlines of a project for sending students to 
 Greece, impelled him to give attention at once to 
 this point before the University authorities separated 
 for the long vacation. Altogether it was a season 
 much filled for him with scholastic *' public affairs," 
 rewarded however by valuable results. The late 
 Provost of Oriel said, 
 
 " It is a significant fact that, while the national Uni- 
 versities, in order to effect a slightly more beneficial 
 application of their great revenues, had to pass through 
 a crisis which employed some of their best energies for 
 years, a really important step in the progress of the higher 
 studies is the work of a voluntary association set on foot 
 by a small number of persons." 
 
 The only private literary work which one of that 
 small number could do this summer was a long 
 essay on the Speeches of Thucydides for Mr Evelyn 
 Abbott's Hellenica, and a review of Mr Froude's 
 Ccesar for the Edifiburgk. September was free of 
 interruptions and could be devoted to the making of 
 a volume of Selections from the Attic Orators which 
 was to be published as a school-book by Messrs 
 Macmillan. 
 
 It was high time to cry halt, if the '^patient 
 dromedary," as he called himself, was not to be too 
 jaded for the Glasgow session. Early in October 
 we folded our tents — that is to say packed our boxes 
 
Paris 221 
 
 and let our house — and silently stole away to Paris. 
 The collating of a manuscript there merely gave zest 
 to the enjoyment of his holiday. 
 
 To HIS Mother. 
 
 " Paris, 
 
 October ']th, 1879. 
 
 We arrived here on Saturday evening at 6.30 at 
 the apartment we had ordered. We are in a little 
 street off the Rue de Rivoli, in a small French 
 hotel, well known to English people, but very quiet 
 and altogether French in its ways. We have a 
 small sitting-room and two bedrooms, one on each 
 side of it, shut in by a door of our own, like a little 
 house. I go to the National Library every morning 
 to study a MS. I am collating. A room is reserved 
 for students, and there I sit from 1 1.30 till about 3 ; — 
 then we take a drive in the Bois and come back to 
 dinner at 6.30. Last night we saw Sarah Bernhardt 
 at the Fran^ais and we go again to-morrow to see 
 the same play." 
 
 Occasionally he would desert the Bibliotheque 
 and devote the whole day to what it pleased him to 
 call Madame's Fite. He would get the best horses 
 to be had at the remise — was it not Madame's f^le, 
 and could she protest!^ — for a long drive to St 
 Cloud or St Germain. We would see everything of 
 interest according to the guidebook, carefully studied 
 and noted beforehand — Madame must not be seen 
 walking about with a red book in her hand — and 
 we would have the most delightful little dinner 
 
2 22 Sir Richard J ebb [1880 
 
 imaginable; he would even order cigars for Madame, 
 and considerately smoke them himself. Then, when 
 tired of sitting under the trees, we would drive back 
 to Paris in the clear twilight. On all such occasions 
 his delight was as fresh as a boy's. It would be 
 impossible to imagine a more amusing companion. 
 It always pleased his fancy to make a play of any 
 little treat ; his eyes would brighten with a sidelong 
 glance peculiar to them when he said, '' This will be 
 a 'ploy.'" 
 
 In 1879-80 J ebb came back to Glasgow at peace 
 with all the world he thought — or would have thought 
 if he had given the matter consideration — when, on 
 opening the Scotsman one morning, a challenge met 
 his astonished eyes. '' Upon my word, this beats 
 cockfighting ! " he exclaimed, as he set to work to 
 write his answer, addressed not to the challenger 
 but to the Editor. 
 
 To THE Editor of the Scotsman. 
 
 "The College, Glasgow, 
 
 January 23/-^, 1880. 
 
 Sir, — I have read with some astonishment a 
 long letter addressed to Professor J ebb, Glasgow 
 University, beginning 'My dear Sir' and signed by 
 Professor Blackie, which appeared in the Scotsman 
 to-day. 
 
 Your readers will be surprised to hear that I 
 had never seen a word of this letter, or heard a 
 syllable of Professor Blackie's intention to write it, 
 until I saw it this morning in public print. 
 
i88o] Letter to Professor Blackie 223 
 
 Referring to a paper of mine on ' Modern Greek * 
 in its relation to the study of ' Classical Greek,' 
 which has lately appeared in the Panhellenic Annual^ 
 Professor Blackie says that I there defend ' a most 
 absurd and unreasonable practice ' by reasons * which 
 have neither scientific value nor practical signifi- 
 cance ' ; that I labour under ' a great confusion of 
 ideas ' ; and that English scholars generally ' make 
 a miserable boggle at the ghost of a difficulty.' 
 Finally, he challenges me to single combat before 
 some 'learned body,' with a view to ending 'the 
 empire of unreason.' 
 
 It is a high compliment, far higher than I deserve, 
 to suppose that the demolition of my views would 
 end ' the empire of unreason ' — a very flourishing 
 empire, as Professor Blackie's letter clearly shows. 
 But I must altogether decline to be drawn, without 
 my own consent, into a public controversy with 
 Professor Blackie, either in the columns of a news- 
 paper, or before a ' learned body.' I shall however 
 be most happy to defend my opinions against Pro- 
 fessor Blackie, so soon as he shall have proved his 
 right to be the champion of definite opinions opposed 
 to mine. At present I am not acquainted with any- 
 thing in Professor Blackie's published writings or 
 utterances which entitle him to claim this repre- 
 sentative character in regard to a definite method of 
 teaching. He has repeatedly said, in language of 
 remarkable strength, that the methods of English 
 Universities and schools are erroneous. But he has 
 never yet given us any distinct notion of that true 
 
2 24 ^^^ Richard J ebb [1880 
 
 method which Professor Blackie, and he alone, 
 possesses. The nearest approach to such an ex- 
 position was made last year. Professor Blackie 
 wrote a letter to the Pall Mall Gazette vehemently- 
 denouncing all existing methods of teaching Greek, 
 and promising to explain in a second letter how the 
 thing ought to be done. We were all on the tiptoe 
 of expectation. Now at last, we thought, a ray will 
 surely penetrate our darkness. 
 
 Alas for human hopes ; the second letter never 
 appeared ! And so to this day we do not know how 
 Professor Blackie teaches Greek, either ancient or 
 modern : we only hear rumours. But we can per- 
 ceive in our own purblind way, that this occult 
 method has one great merit : it is compatible with 
 large leisure. 
 
 A word, and I have done. Professor Blackie's 
 letter suggests that I have been ' following his lead ' 
 in endeavouring to connect the study of classical 
 Greek with that of modern Greek in the University 
 of Glasgow. I beg to state that I have not been 
 following Professor Blackie's ' lead ' for a simple 
 reason. Professor Blackie has spoken much of 
 modern Greek, but I was not aware that he had 
 ever attempted to teach it. 
 
 I am, etc., 
 
 R. C. Jebb." 
 
 Professor Blackie addressed his answer also to 
 the Editor, saying that it was not his intention to 
 
i88o] Modern Greece 225 
 
 trouble him with a detailed discussion of the per- 
 verse English system of reading Greek with Roman 
 accents. '* It will be time enough to do that when 
 my esteemed and accomplished brother Hellenist in 
 the West, or any other scholar eager for a classical 
 tilt, shall stand publicly forward as the declared 
 apologist of an abuse." At the same time he wrote 
 privately to Professor J ebb, apparently rather pleased 
 than otherwise at having put his challenge on record, 
 to say that he meant no offence. With the accept- 
 ance of this apology the matter ended. Dr Blackie 
 was an accomplished and amiable man, blessed with 
 a fortunate want of sensitiveness. 
 
 During the winter of 1880 Professor Jebb gave 
 two lectures before the Edinburgh Philosophical 
 Society, the object of which was to interest students 
 in Greece, and to induce them to visit the ancient 
 sites of Hellenic civilization. The lectures were 
 afterwards published in book form under the title 
 of Modern Greece. At the end of the session he 
 gave a course of lectures at Oxford, by request, 
 using the opportunity to collate some manuscripts 
 at the Bodleian Library. Not until June 23rd, was 
 he free to begin systematic work on the large edition 
 of Sophocles, his most important contribution to pure 
 scholarship. 
 
 On July 4th, he was elected a member of the 
 Dilettanti Society. 
 
 "This is a small private society of gentlemen" — to 
 quote a paragraph from its History — " which for more than 
 a century and a half has exercised an active influence in 
 
 J. M. 15 
 
2 26 Sir Richard J ebb [1880 
 
 matters connected with public taste and the fine arts in 
 this country ; and whose enterprise in the special field of 
 classical excavation and research has earned the grateful 
 recognition of scholars and the cultivated public throughout 
 Europe. There may be persons, outside the limited circle 
 of its members, who will feel some surprise on learning that 
 such a society exists ; that it was founded in the early years 
 of the reign of George II ; and has maintained its existence 
 with an unbroken record up to the present day. The in- 
 tentions of its founders (of whom the notorious Sir Francis 
 Dashwood was the chief) were purely social and convivial, 
 which is what makes its persistence so remarkable." 
 
 On August 14th, he heard for the first time of 
 another dining society. 
 
 From The Honourable Spencer Walpole. 
 
 " London, 
 
 August \2>th, 1880. 
 
 I don't know whether you ever heard of the Literary 
 Society. You will see it contains a goodly list of literary, 
 scientific, and distinguished Members ; and your humble 
 servant is and has been for many years the President of 
 
 it I have reason to know it would be very agreeable 
 
 to the Society if you would let me have the pleasure of 
 •proposing you to fill up the vacancy that has recently 
 occurred in the Honorary list. Honorary members are 
 selected from those who do not live in London 
 
 Yours ever very sincerely, 
 
 S. H. Walpole." 
 
 He was elected an Honorary Member in De- 
 cember. 
 
i88o] Elected to the AthenaeuTu 227 
 
 Yet another letter of slightly earlier date about 
 clubs ; from Mr Leslie Stephen. 
 
 ''July 1st, 1880. 
 
 I was at the Athenaeum Committee to-day to 
 
 which I have just been appointed. A book of yours 
 happened to be mentioned and suggested the remark to 
 
 some of the members that you ought to be elected 
 
 What was the value of Pheidippides' athletic performance 
 considered in the light of modern attainments in that line } 
 (You see what points attract a certain class of readers.) I 
 should think that some curious facts might be brought out 
 about ancient athleticism by such comparison if possible : 
 but I suppose it is all written somewhere out of my 
 knowledge. 
 
 Yours ever, 
 
 L. Stephen." 
 
 He was unanimously elected a member of the 
 Athenaeum by the Committee at their first meeting 
 in 1 88 1. The other tv^^o members elected v^ere 
 General Sir Frederick Roberts and Sir C. Wyville 
 Thomson. '' Fame may be built on the Greeks, — 
 wrested from the Afghans, — or dredged from the 
 deep sea: — but somehow attained it must be by 
 the novena quotannis corpora clarorum,'' wrote Mr 
 F. W. H. Myers in congratulating him. 
 
 In October a manuscript of Sophocles was again 
 the determining factor in our visit abroad. We started 
 for Venice on the 5th, taking the new route via 
 Vlissingen in Holland — thence through Cologne to 
 Mayence, where we stayed the night. Of all the 
 many journeys we took together, the next stages 
 
 15—2 
 
228 Sir Richard J ebb [1880 
 
 from Mayence on to Verona had place in our 
 memories as the most beautiful. All down the 
 valley of the Inn as far as Innsbruck, and over the 
 Brenner Pass into Italy, the magnificent autumn 
 colours held us spellbound. We had to agree 
 not to tell each other to look at anything, so con- 
 stant at first was the turning from side to side — 
 where all was equally enchanting. Just to lie back 
 on our cushions and gaze at the sunlit scene glorified 
 our common car into a heavenly chariot, 
 
 " Where even a God might gaze, and stand apart. 
 And feel a wondering rapture at the heart." 
 
 Travelling in such leisurely fashion, and stopping 
 when the spirit moved us, we reached Venice on the 
 9th. What an arrival that was ! To walk out of the 
 station and find oneself face to face with that sea 
 and sky, to step straight into a gondola and float 
 gently down past palace and dome until we came to 
 our hotel beyond the Ducal Palace :— surely we had 
 wandered into fairyland ! 
 
 As in Paris he spent an hour or two every morn- 
 ing in the Library, at the Ducal Palace, and in the 
 afternoons we went about in a gondola threading 
 the canals to churches and points of interest. We 
 were never in a hurry, having a fortnight to play 
 with. In the evenings we would go out again, often 
 on the Lagune to get the wide view by moonlight. 
 We came back from Italy by a different route, where 
 again the autumn colours were splendid — notably 
 between Modena and Culoz. It was a delightful 
 
i88o] Hellenic Journal 229 
 
 experience to look back upon in the dark winter 
 days at Glasgow. 
 
 The first volume of the Hellenic Journal was 
 published soon after our return. The press gave it 
 a cordial welcome, and the thoughtful reviews elicited 
 by its able articles were a good augury of perma- 
 nent success. There was much need of such a 
 Journal. Dr D. B. Monro told a story of a pamphlet 
 published years before by an eminent scholar in 
 which the author said : '* It is hardly credible that in 
 a country professing such a profound respect for what 
 is called a classical education, those who take an 
 interest in ancient literature, or even live by it, 
 should be absolutely destitute of any medium of com- 
 munication devoted to their special studies \" This 
 pamphlet fell into the hands of a German Professor 
 and excited his utmost astonishment. *' Denken Sie 
 nur, meine Herren," he said in a voice of emotion, 
 ** im Vaterland des Bentley's ! " 
 
 ^ The dearth was not quite so extreme. The Philological 
 Society, which began life in 1868 under the auspices of Professor 
 Cowell and R. C. Jebb, had a Journal of Philology ; and there 
 was also from 1873 ^^ Dublin Hermathena. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 SPRINGFIELD. BENTLEY. ATTACK ON GLASGOW 
 UNIVERSITY. THE TROAD. SCHOOL AT ATHENS. 
 
 1881— 1883. 
 
 One morning in February, on opening the news- 
 paper he saw the announcement that Dr Swainson 
 was made Master of Christ's College, Cambridge, a 
 fact specially interesting to us, inasmuch as Dr 
 Swainson lived in a house much more suited for 
 a summer residence than our own in St Peter's 
 Terrace. With the remark : ** Did grass grow under 
 the feet of the man of toil ? it did not " : he turned 
 to his writing-table and wrote straightway a telegram, 
 reply paid, asking for the refusal of the house. We 
 trembled until the reply came back in the affirmative. 
 The house was called Springfield, not from any 
 special relation it held to the pleasant season, but 
 because three springs existed in its grounds. One 
 of these had been led through the cellar and made 
 into a little well by the thoughtfulness of the late 
 occupier. *' So useful to cool your champagne," he 
 told us. 
 
 We took possession in July, and soon Spring- 
 field became as dear to him as Desmond and Danes- 
 fort had been. Some rooms were added later, the 
 
1 88 1 ] Spring Aeld 231 
 
 chief of which — the largest in the house — became 
 his study. It grew to be, as some rooms do, almost 
 a part of ourselves. He used often to say, " I love 
 my study " ; and that its bright look to him when he 
 entered it in the morning was like a living welcome. 
 I am glad to think he had the happiness of it for 
 so many as seventeen years. It was by a fortunate 
 chance that we built it soon after we bought the 
 lease. 
 
 On the 1st of July his beloved Aunt Tiny (Miss 
 Eglantyne Horsley) died. He felt deeply this first 
 break In the dear circle that had hedged him about 
 with love from the day of his birth. His aunt, Miss 
 Horsley, wrote, " I know you will come over if you 
 can to pay a last mark of respect to the dear one 
 who loved you so very very dearly." 
 
 He went to Ireland at once, not only for the 
 funeral but to comfort her. 
 
 To HIS Wife. 
 
 ''July ^th, 1881. 
 
 I have just come back from the funeral My 
 
 dearest mother broke down for a while but is now 
 composed and cheerful. We all feel that there can 
 be nothing of gloom in our memory of the pure and 
 beautiful life that has ceased on earth ; and that the 
 time ordered for its close was the best, when the 
 cloud had passed from the mind, leaving it in clear 
 possession of the simple faith that It had cherished 
 so truly through those long years, so that, weak and 
 suffering as she was, she could still meet the great 
 
232 Sir Richard J ebb [1881 
 
 change In the spirit of a little child. If ever a human 
 soul was prepared to enter a higher existence it was 
 hers. Those who knew her will have her memory 
 with them as a purifying and ennobling influence to 
 their lives' end." 
 
 Hardly had he returned to Cambridge after the 
 funeral when a severe attack of rheumatism accom- 
 panied by mental depression and great physical 
 lassitude prostrated him. He could not plan, he 
 could not write. Even the diary went without its 
 short daily line ; from the 9th of July till the 27th 
 of August its pages were blank. On the 24th of 
 August we went to Killiney hoping sea air might be 
 beneficial to him — his third visit since April. On 
 the 27th the diary was opened to record : — '* My 
 fortieth birthday, spent with Father and Mother and 
 C." Another attack of rheumatism laid him up for 
 a week, and then, at last, came the turn towards 
 health. Energy revived and he could take up work. 
 
 The task on hand was a book on Bentley for the 
 English Men of Letters series which Mr John 
 Morley was editing. He greatly enjoyed writing 
 this book, though the lesson it taught him was never 
 again to have part or lot in a series of any kind. It 
 is a sort of Procrustean bed. No matter how much 
 an author has to tell, his narrative must be cut off if 
 it grows beyond a certain length. Now, his writing 
 was never diffuse, and to compress what was already 
 compressed to the limit of artistic proportion, was 
 in his judgment, to spoil. 
 
i88i] Life of Bentley 233 
 
 All the same, his Bentley is a delightful book. 
 The great scholar was a man of masterful will — a 
 born tyrant. His determination to have his own way, 
 if not by fair means then by foul, was quite unweak- 
 ened by any consideration for the rights of others. 
 Moreover it was accompanied by great skill in using 
 the weaknesses of others to help him in the attain- 
 ment of his own ends. The mere study of such a 
 character was interesting to a man who loved force 
 and originality, even though it provoked, as it often 
 did, an indignation which was only tempered by a 
 sense of the ludicrous. Bentley's story is of fasci- 
 nating interest. If ever a man marched through 
 life militant and triumphant, he did, winning all along 
 the line, in his controversies with other scholars, in 
 his struggle for supremacy with the Fellows of his 
 College, in his encounters with the law of the land. 
 
 The fight with the Fellows of Trinity College, 
 which began almost with his appointment to the 
 Mastership, lasted through nearly the whole of his 
 tenure. The pages of the Bentley — compressed as 
 they are — yet contain a most vivid picture of Uni- 
 versity life at that time, and of the tyranny which 
 Masters of Colleges used to delight in. It seems 
 inconceivable, now, that, when Bentley was sentenced 
 to be deprived of the Mastership, he could evade 
 and finally overcome so plain a judgment, simply by 
 the terror his powerful personality inspired in the 
 only man who could legally execute the sentence. 
 The statute on which the judgment rested, prescribes 
 that the Master, if convicted by the Visitor, shall be 
 
234 ^^^ Richard J ebb [ 1 8 8 1 
 
 deprived by the agency of the Vice-Master. Rather 
 than embroil himself in endless litigation, the exist- 
 ing Vice-Master resigned his post. The appoint- 
 ment of his successor rested with Bentley, who put 
 in Dr Walker, one of his friends. The new Vice- 
 Master simply did nothing. ''In vain every resource 
 which ingenuity could suggest was employed to force 
 Dr Walker into executing the sentence. Three 
 different motions were made in the Court of King's 
 Bench ; first, for a writ to compel Dr Walker to act ; 
 next, for a writ to compel the Bishop of Ely to 
 compel Dr Walker to act ; then, for a writ to compel 
 the Bishop to do his own duty as General Visitor. 
 All in vain. The Court rejected the last of these 
 applications. It was a habit with Bentley to set the 
 candidates for scholarships to write on some theme 
 
 connected with his own fortunes Once, at a 
 
 pinch in his wars, he gave them from Homer ; — 
 * Despoil others but keep hands off Hector.' This 
 time the text he set the young composers was 
 from Terence : ' This is your plea now, — look you, 
 there are ups and downs in all things.'" It thrills 
 one's blood to see what an indomitable courage 
 filled the breast of that veteran fighter and what 
 resource! '*The strife begun in 1710 was only ended 
 in 1738, when many had died and all had aged. 
 Bentley at 78 remained master of the field — and of 
 the College." 
 
 Looking back on the war Professor J ebb asks, — 
 *' Who is to blame ? Dr Parr thought the College 
 wrong. De Quincey approves his opinion but goes 
 
i88i] Life of Bent ley 235 
 
 further. ' Even granting that Bentley was wrong,' 
 De Quincey says, * we ought to vote him right, for 
 by this means the current of one's sympathy with 
 an illustrious man is cleared of ugly obstructions.' 
 It is good to be in sympathy with an illustrious 
 man, but it is better to be just." Professor Jebb 
 decides against Bentley on both the legal and moral 
 issue. " Legally, after prolonged investigations by 
 lawyers, he was found guilty. Morally, the first 
 question is : — was Bentley obliged to break the 
 statute in order to keep some higher law? He 
 certainly was not. A further moral question 
 concerns the nature of his conduct towards the 
 
 Fellows There had been faults on both parts, 
 
 but it was Bentley's intolerable behaviour which 
 first forced the Fellows into an active defence of 
 the common interests." 
 
 The Bentley, though finished in October 1881, 
 was not published until April 1882. When printed it 
 was found to exceed by fifty pages the designated 
 number allowed for the series, and the author had to 
 find what time he could for pruning its excess during 
 the winter. 
 
 November 1881 was remarkable for its great 
 gales which continued throughout the early winter. 
 For the Universities it was also a month of storm 
 in another sense. The great prosperity of Glasgow 
 University, the ever climbing number of its students, 
 became intolerable to the schoolmasters. The Rector 
 of the High School, Edinburgh, gave a lecture 
 
236 Sir Richard J ebb [188 1 
 
 arraigning the Universities for their greediness, and 
 singled out Glasgow for attack by saying that boys 
 went thither direct from the Fifth Standard of the 
 schools. Professor Jack of Glasgow replied in the 
 Glasgow Herald and was answered in the Scotsman, 
 the editors of both papers taking part strongly 
 against the University. Professor Ramsay next 
 addressed a letter, afterwards published, to the 
 Rector of the High School, followed by a reply and 
 another rejoinder from Professor Ramsay. Principal 
 Tulloch of St Andrews publicly attacked the manage- 
 ment of the large Glasgow classes, which he described 
 as ''mobs of boys." Professor Ramsay entered into 
 a correspondence with him, in the course of which 
 the Principal lost his temper and denied that he 
 had said "boys"; thought, as well as he could 
 remember, the word used was '' lads " ; and when 
 asked to define lads, found the dictionary definition 
 wide. Well, it is an old story now, but it made that 
 winter a very lively one. They were doughty cham- 
 pions all, and the letters and speeches were full of 
 pith and moment, expressed with great frankness, — 
 exceeding good reading. 
 
 Professor J ebb took no part in the controversy 
 until his name was brought in by Principal Tulloch. 
 It was not natural for him to keep silence when his 
 friends were attacked and, perhaps, he was not 
 displeased at being forced into print. He wrote a 
 letter to the Editor of the Glasgow Herald dealing 
 with the whole subject, of which some extracts are 
 given here. 
 
1882] Attack on the Universities 237 
 
 " The College, Glasgow, 
 January ^th, 1882. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 I have taken no part in the controversy 
 
 on University reform. I find however attention 
 
 has been drawn to certain words of mine Since 
 
 these words have been pubHcly quoted, it appears 
 desirable that the views they indicate should be 
 clearly stated. 
 
 Principal Tulloch says to Professor Ramsay : — 
 * I have no doubt that both you and Professor J ebb 
 honestly believe in the advantages of large classes. 
 I am sorry that I cannot accept either of you, for 
 good reasons, as fair authorities on the subject.' 
 Principal Tulloch means that our pecuniary interests 
 are involved. It is sufficient to observe that no 
 scheme of University Reform has yet been pro- 
 pounded which does not contemplate a contingent 
 necessity for compensation. No scheme of reform 
 could justly do otherwise. So far as the present 
 occupants of the Chairs are concerned, a numerical 
 diminution of the classes could scarcely involve any 
 great difference in the Professors' emoluments, while 
 it would probably render their position more agree- 
 able in some other respects. One way in which it 
 would certainly conduce to their comfort would be 
 by protecting them against unworthy insinuations." 
 
 After saying that a fallacy pervaded the arguments 
 of the attacking party he continued : " No reasonable 
 person will suppose that I defend the Scottish Uni- 
 versities as if they differed from other human insti- 
 
238 Sh' Richard Jebb [1882 
 
 tutions In being perfect. I am equally far from 
 holding that they are even as good as they might be ; 
 and I believe that few persons can be more anxious 
 than I am to see them made better. I am endea- 
 vouring to explain what, in theory and practice, 
 they are, in order that we may stand on firm ground 
 in considering how they may be improved. They 
 have been shaped by the history and character of 
 the Scottish nation. Whatever may be done with 
 them now or at a later time, that history and that 
 character must still be, not dead records, but 
 living agencies, moulding the present, in each 
 successive phase, as they have moulded the past. 
 Legislation and expenditure could no more give 
 Scotland a German University than they could give 
 Great Britain a German Army. Do what you like 
 with the army, it will remain British : do what you 
 like with the Universities, they will remain in heart 
 and spirit Scottish. It is generally allowed, I 
 believe, that the Universities have done, and are 
 doing, useful work for the country. The present 
 controversy set out from the contention that the 
 work which they are doing is not the work of Uni- 
 versities but the work of schools, that consequently 
 the whole intellectual growth of Scotland has been 
 stunted ; and that hence Scotland has ceased to be a 
 mother of intellectual heroes. I am tempted to ask 
 — do the Universities really stand lower at this day, 
 relatively to the higher education elsewhere, than 
 they stood in the young days of Brewster and Car- 
 lyle ? Is not the occurrence of great genius always 
 
1882] Attack on the Universities 239 
 
 beyond human calculation ? Are there not living 
 Scotchmen, trained in Scotland, whose names will 
 seem very eminent when they are gone ? And is 
 there not in our time an influence specially adverse 
 to the apparent greatness of our contemporaries — 
 especially in the sphere of science and letters — I 
 mean the enormous volume of journalism, daily or 
 periodic, which by incessant dissipation of public 
 interest, dwarfs the single reputation — except those 
 of a few politicians ? But I pass these questions 
 by. The unqualified identification of the Scottish 
 Universities with schools contains an element of 
 exaggeration. 
 
 On the other hand there is an element of truth 
 in the complaint that the Scottish Universities are 
 mere schools. It resides in the fact that though we 
 can go as high as we please, we have to begin too 
 low down. This is the result of two general causes. 
 One is the natural desire of a highly intellectual 
 people for the best education within their reach. 
 The other is the insufficiency of the country's 
 material resources for the adequate gratification of 
 this natural desire 
 
 I have conclusive evidence from facts within 
 my own knowledge that by far the greater propor- 
 tion of the Scottish people could not enter the Uni- 
 versities at all, if the standard of University teaching 
 was suddenly so raised as to presuppose training of 
 the kind which is furnished at a good secondary 
 school. Scotland has not resources of secondary 
 education available for the nation at large. If, 
 
240 Sir Richard J ebb [1882 
 
 meanwhile, the Universities were artificially forced 
 up to a theoretical academic standard, the system of 
 Scottish education would be violently dislocated. A 
 chasm would be opened between the lower and the 
 higher instruction. For the great mass of the 
 people there would be no bridge across that gulf 
 We require academic development ; we must not be 
 hurried by clamour into what might arrest or destroy 
 it, academic revolution. 
 
 Meantime let us by all means have University 
 reform ; let that reform be animated by noble aspira- 
 tions ; but let us also remember that it must be 
 founded on existing facts." 
 
 The Editor of the Heraldh^g^xi his reply, which 
 appeared the next morning, with a story : " There is 
 a well-known scene in a play where a valiant Scot, 
 ranging over a battlefield in quest of the leader 
 whose fall would determine the day, is driven to 
 exclaim — ' Another King ! They grow like Hydra's 
 heads!' He had already settled with two or three 
 who bore the tokens of leadership, but meeting with 
 another in the same guise he found he had still all 
 
 his work before him Professor J ebb now takes up 
 
 the ground of the fallen heroes, but it would be 
 unfair to credit him with any consciousness of 
 leadership. He was dragged to the front by a 
 companion and placed where he finds he must bear 
 the brunt of the battle." 
 
 He was not a man to mind that, or indeed to 
 feel anything but pleasure in such a position, but 
 having said his say, he kept to his resolution not to 
 
1882] Visit to France 241 
 
 engage in a controversial correspondence. Many 
 responses were made to his letter, but he wrote no 
 more. 
 
 The controversy gradually died down and the 
 University was left in peace to continue its own 
 deliberations. Three long meetings of the Arts 
 Faculty resulted in agreement on the basis of a 
 scheme for Entrance Examinations, which were to 
 come into operation the next year. This scheme 
 was to be tentative and subject to future modifica- 
 tions — having regard to the imperfect state of se- 
 condary education. In November, 1883, Entrance 
 Examinations were finally established. These were 
 preparatory to the much larger University reforms 
 carried out under the Universities Commission of 
 1889. 
 
 After such a winter the change to sunny Italy 
 was delightful. We went to Florence in order that 
 he might collate a manuscript of Sophocles in the 
 Biblioteca Laurenzia7ia. We took a young American 
 niece with us, and found many friends either estab- 
 lished in Florence or visiting there, whom it was 
 pleasant to meet. The last traces of the rheumatic 
 attack vanished and Jebb was able to join in all 
 our various excursions and sight- seeing expeditions. 
 He was glad to meet several foreign scholars, and 
 was successful in making arrangements for the photo- 
 graphing of the manuscript of Sophocles which the 
 Hellenic Society wished to publish. 
 
 On June 2nd we turned our faces homewards. 
 The St Gothard route had been opened with much 
 
 J. M. 16 
 
242 »S/r Richard J ebb [1882 
 
 ceremony only the day before ; by taking it we not 
 only had the delight of its marvellous scenery, but 
 in addition the zest which a slight sense of danger 
 gives to the other attractions of travel. 
 
 After a summer of steady work on Sophocles, 
 Professor Jebb joined Professor and Mrs Goodwin 
 of Cambridge, Massachusetts, in a visit to the 
 Troad, impelled by a wish to see for himself the 
 remains of the seven cities, more or less, which 
 Dr Schliemann had uncovered at Hissarlik, and one 
 of which the explorer proclaimed to be the Troy 
 of Homer. Professor Jebb had small faith in his 
 accuracy and none at all in his theories. His own 
 knowledge of classical literature made him certain 
 that in many points Dr Schliemann was hopelessly 
 wrong. When I asked him if it was not rash to 
 assert so strongly a view that might be disproved by 
 further discoveries, he said, " You may trust me for 
 that : Homer's evidence about what Homer meant 
 can't be disproved." 
 
 To HIS Wife. 
 
 " Constantinople, 
 
 September, 1882. 
 
 We arrived yesterday morning at seven, and I 
 found your letters at the Poste Restante — to my 
 great satisfaction. We did a very hard day's sight- 
 seeing and I had not a moment to write. This 
 morning I am writing this before we start at 9 a.m. 
 on another day's exploring. Yesterday being Friday, 
 we drove to the gates of the Sultan's palace and saw 
 
1882] Constantinople 243 
 
 him ride forth to attend a mosque close by. He is 
 a careworn, used-up looking man of about thirty- 
 eight, with a black beard — rather handsome than 
 otherwise. His horse was quite as well worth seeing 
 — a splendid animal. Then we went to the dancing 
 dervishes — a mildly interesting sight. The Sultan 
 and the Turks generally are intensely disgusted with 
 the English victory in Egypt. The Turks were 
 almost to a man with Arabi. The Sultan is bitterly 
 hated in Constantinople, partly for his foreign policy, 
 partly for his system of espionage and his sentences 
 of banishment. He never dares to leave his palace, 
 within a park of fifty acres, except on Fridays, when 
 he goes a few yards to the Mosque. Five thousand 
 men guard him constantly. 
 
 We rowed across the Bosphorus yesterday to the 
 * Sweet Waters of Asia,' a stream with a large open 
 field near it where the people take coffee and disport 
 themselves. We stay till Wednesday — then to Troy. 
 So far everything has gone prosperously and very 
 pleasantly. I foresee that when we go to the Troad 
 the number of our party, one being a lady too, may 
 make the expedition in the wilder parts rather difficult. 
 With the two boys we shall be more like a nomad 
 tribe than anything else. However, both Goodwin 
 and his wife are resolute travellers and bent on seeing 
 everything." 
 
 The opinions Professor J ebb formed after seeing 
 the excavations were embodied in several articles 
 published in the Fortnightly, the Nineteenth Century, 
 
 16 — 2 
 
244 ►5'zV Richard J ebb [1882 
 
 and elsewhere. A good deal of feeling was excited 
 among those who agreed with Dr Schliemann in his 
 theories, and a rather prolonged controversy was the 
 result. The verdict of time, I am told, has not been 
 in favour of Dr Schliemann's conclusions. 
 
 Meanwhile, an event had happened in Scotland 
 which was a deep satisfaction to the Professor of 
 Greek in Glasgow. His very dear friend, Mr S. H. 
 Butcher (now M.P. for Cambridge University), had 
 been persuaded to stand for the Greek Chair at 
 Edinburgh, had been elected and come into residence. 
 It was a great thing to Professor J ebb to have for 
 his neighbour a scholar who stood on his own level, 
 and who was moreover bound to him by the closest 
 ties of sympathy and affectionate friendship. Many 
 times did I hear him say that winter, ** Thank heaven, 
 Butcher is in Edinburgh." 
 
 When the Glasgow session of 1883 ended we 
 went to London. Jebb thought the time had come 
 to make another effort for the belated School at 
 Athens. He had in 1882 brought the subject up at 
 a Council Meeting of the Hellenic Society, but that 
 Society was not then disposed to take action. A 
 suggestion indeed was made that the French School 
 should be asked to admit one or two English scholars 
 among its students. Jebb was opposed to this. 
 
 To Mr George Macmillan. 
 
 ^''December 12, 1882. 
 With regard to the proposal for having English 
 students admitted to the French School (or other 
 
1882] British School at Athens 245 
 
 foreign school), there could be no practical objection 
 to it, as a temporary arrangement, except, I think, 
 on these two grounds: (i) It would be scarcely a 
 worthy manner for England's first appearance at 
 Athens, and would bring into strong relief the com- 
 parative deadness of archaeological interest in this 
 country, the wealth of which is even exaggerated by 
 foreigners. (2) In so far as money was required for 
 the English students so admitted, it would rather 
 tend to draw on the sources of funds to which we 
 must look in the event of our attempting to establish 
 an English School. Men who had given a small 
 contribution towards the provisional scheme would 
 be less likely to give a large one afterwards : they 
 would have had enough of the subject. 
 
 It is a different question how far this scheme of 
 archaeological /xerot/cot in a foreign school would be 
 likely to work satisfactorily. Assuming, however, 
 that it would work smoothly, I should be disposed 
 to say : Make up your minds first whether you are 
 going to try for an English School now. If you are, 
 then drop the jneroi/cot scheme. If, on the other 
 hand, you come to the conclusion that the English 
 School must be put off indefinitely, or at least for 
 several years, then go in for the other plan as a 
 pis-aller. 
 
 My own belief is that by a really vigorous effort 
 we could get an English School started in (say) two 
 or three years from now. I should prefer, then, to 
 refrain from the other plan till such an effort had 
 been made, and had failed. 
 
246 Sir Richard J ebb [1883 
 
 It is most desirable, obviously, that the two 
 plans should not come before the Council as rivals, 
 dividing the support of those whose influence would 
 be most valuable. If the relation of the two plans 
 to each other is seen at all in such a light as I have 
 indicated, this will not be the case. I shall be greatly 
 interested in the result of the discussions, if you will 
 kindly send me a line." 
 
 This year he meant to take steps independently 
 of the Hellenic Society. He found an ally in the 
 newly appointed editor of the Fortnightly Review, 
 Mr Escott, who took up the scheme warmly and 
 agreed to make the Review a means of communication 
 between him and the public. In May he published 
 in its columns A Plea for a British School at Athens, 
 The article began with an anecdote from history, 
 " When Joshua Barnes was bringing out his edition 
 of Homer, he extorted the consent of Mrs Barnes 
 to the investment of her fortune in that work by 
 representing the Iliad as the composition of King 
 Solomon. Similarly the British taxpayer can be 
 induced to tolerate the application of public money 
 to researches, such as the exploration of Sinai or 
 Palestine, which can in any way be associated with 
 the Bible ; but there he draws the line. It is just 
 ten years since the Society of Antiquaries made an 
 application to the Exchequer asking that the tumuli 
 on the plain of Troy should be examined at the 
 public cost. Lord Sherbrooke replied that excava- 
 tions undertaken for the purpose of illustrating the 
 Iliad were not a proper object for the expenditure 
 
1883] British School at Athens 247 
 
 of public money ; asking pertinently : — * Is not the 
 literary enthusiasm of wealthy England equal to the 
 enterprise of exploring scenes which are ever re- 
 curring to the imagination of everyone who has 
 received a classical education?' and sincerely re- 
 gretting ' that the spirit of H erodes Atticus has 
 not descended to modern times.' 
 
 An interesting train of thought is suggested by 
 
 Lord Sherbrooke's regret What we seem to lack 
 
 is scarcely the spirit of H erodes Atticus — the spirit 
 of a generosity which flows in all the obvious and 
 popularly recognised channels — but rather a more 
 original and inventive instinct of munificence. In 
 the wide fields of science, learning, and art how 
 many great services — not the less great because the 
 multitude does not apprehend their full importance 
 — have their accomplishment indefinitely postponed, 
 simply for the want of a sum which one rich man 
 could easily provide from his annual income. The 
 desire of personal eminence having grown with the 
 diffusion of wealth, it certainly appears singular that 
 no aspirants are found for distinction of a kind which 
 would be really distinguished, and as nearly exempt 
 from sneers as any distinction can reasonably expect 
 to be. A man who gave ^20,000 to found a British 
 School of Classical Studies at Athens would have 
 secured a place of unique honour in the regard of all 
 for whom the study of the past has anywhere a charm 
 or a meaning, and would have perpetuated his name, 
 both at home and in Greece, by a living monument 
 of the most splendid and enduring kind." 
 
248 Sir Richard J ebb [1883 
 
 This article in the Fortnightly met with an im- 
 mediate response from many whose approval was 
 of the highest value. The Prince of Wales was 
 interested in the School, and expressed his willingness 
 to preside at a meeting to be held at Marlborough 
 House to discuss measures for its establishment. 
 Professor J ebb was granted an interview with His 
 Royal Highness, when the resolutions he had drawn 
 up were approved, together with the names of those 
 selected to propose and second them. The meeting, 
 held on the 25th of June, was singularly successful, 
 and the scheme was started with a list of subscrip- 
 tions amounting to over ^4000. But a sum more 
 like ;^20,ooo was needed, and Professor Jebb and 
 Mr Escott were appointed Honorary Secretaries, on 
 whom devolved the task of appealing for individual 
 subscriptions. 
 
 To HIS Mother. 
 
 ''July 2Sth, 1883 
 
 This is a little good-morning from your son. I 
 have been very busy for the last two days, writing 
 a paper for the Hellenic Society's Journal, and at- 
 tending to divers matters about the British School 
 at Athens. This morning's post brought me good 
 news. A despatch from the Greek Government has 
 been received at the Foreign Office in London saying 
 that they will give us the best site at their disposal 
 for our school. Now I must go to town for another 
 meeting concerning it. You will think that I do 
 
1883] British School at Athens 249 
 
 nothing else ; but all this fuss is only at starting the 
 project, and I have to do most of the work." 
 
 To HIS Mother. 
 
 ''July 26ih, 1883. 
 
 I got back to Cambridge by the last train yester- 
 day, and felt well satisfied with my day in London. 
 This morning I had a note from the Duke of 
 Devonshire, promising a handsome subscription to 
 the School. He is the Chancellor of Cambridge 
 University and on that account I am particularly 
 glad that he has subscribed. I do not much like 
 begging even for such an object as this, but as 
 Honorary Secretary I can do it more easily. 
 
 I am looking forward so, my darling, to being 
 with you next week. When I come over, I hope to 
 see Tyrrell about the School." 
 
 Not many more letters were to be written to his 
 mother. She had long been in failing health, but 
 her death was no less a bitter blow to her children. 
 She died on October 25, 1883, at the age of seventy- 
 two. Her whole family were with her at the last. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 VISIT TO AMERICA. PROFESSOR FAWCETT. DEATH 
 OF MR ROBERT JEBB. ROYAL ACADEMY. ODE 
 TO BOLOGNA. RESIGNATION OF GREEK CHAIR 
 IN GLASGOW. 
 
 1883— 1889. 
 
 Oedipus Tyrannus, the first volume of his large 
 edition of Sophocles, was published in December, 
 1883, and at once took its place as a book indis- 
 pensable to any serious student of Greek literature. 
 Its rapid sale was a sign that the Schools and 
 Universities gave it their approval. 
 
 Dr H. A. J. Munro wrote of the book : — 
 
 "There is a most lively interest taken in it here both 
 by young and old. Whatever your enemies may say or 
 do, they will not make anything of yours 'fall dead.' 
 I look on this book as the most important contribution 
 to Greek scholarship that has appeared in England for 
 many years." 
 
 Dr Jowett, Master of Balliol, wrote : — 
 
 "You have the advantage over X in perfect clearness 
 and grammatical accuracy ; these are qualities that are 
 everywhere appreciated. You may regard yourself as 
 almost at the beginning of a scholar's life, having great 
 Works in prospect, and unbounded influence over your 
 
1884] Oedipus Tyrannus 251 
 
 pupils. You may do more for Greek Scholarship than 
 anyone has done since Porson I hear the tutors com- 
 plaining that it will be no use lecturing on Oedipus 
 Tyrannus any more." 
 
 Certainly Professor J ebb was very happy in 
 his friends. From all sides came affectionate and 
 encouraging letters, ** worth," as he said, ''any number 
 of panegyrics or invectives in newspapers." 
 
 It was a great thing to get this piece of serious 
 work off his hands before the labours of the next 
 Glasgow session began ; though he had the interests 
 of classics too much at heart ever wholly to lay 
 aside the pen, even when wearied and jaded by 
 heavy routine work. This autumn his spare moments 
 were occupied in making a translation of Ajax for 
 the performance in Greek — the first of a long and 
 successful series — which was to take place in Cam- 
 bridge. 
 
 To Mrs Arthur J ebb. 
 
 ^'■February ^rd^ 1884. 
 
 The only interesting fact I have to tell you this 
 week is that we have decided to go to America in 
 June next, and to stay there about seven weeks. 
 I have been asked to give an address to the Phi 
 Beta Kappa Society at Harvard. It is a pity to miss 
 so good an opportunity of visiting America while 
 one is still in the prime of life. Then C. wanted 
 very much to go. I was unwilling to lose a summer's 
 work, but on the whole it seemed best to accept the 
 proposal ; and now that it is settled, I am glad of it. 
 
252 Sir Richard Jebb [1884 
 
 I have a secret to tell you, but it is a real secret 
 for the present. C. s eldest niece, Maud du Puy, is 
 engaged to be married to Professor George Darwin, 
 
 the very distinguished son of Charles Darwin 
 
 They are to live at Cambridge, which will be very 
 pleasant for C." 
 
 In the spring of 1884 he was elected cor- 
 responding member of the German Institute of 
 Archaeology, which honour, coming so soon after 
 the publication of his article on Homeric Troy in 
 the Fortnightly , gave him particular pleasure. When 
 the Glasgow session was ended, we hastened back 
 to Cambridge in order that he might be present at 
 the opening of the new museum of Archaeology 
 there — the existence of which was mainly owing to 
 the efforts of his friend, Mr Sidney Colvin. Then 
 on June 2nd we started for America. How happy 
 he was at the prospect of such a splendid holiday ! 
 To get off was always a struggle ; such a grand 
 clearing up of papers, such hurried answering of 
 belated correspondence, and correcting of last proofs ; 
 but everything was thrown off his mind, once the 
 door of the railway carriage closed on us. Every 
 device known to man was employed to secure the 
 carriage to ourselves. I can still see the air of 
 whimsical triumph with which he would settle back 
 in his seat when successful and out of danger, with 
 the train really moving. Of course stacks of news- 
 papers were bought, but he read them very little. 
 Too many things kept crowding into his mind to 
 
1884] Visit to America 253 
 
 say, now that at last the tension of hard work was 
 removed. Never quite the things other people would 
 say — always the outcome of a quaint originality and 
 delightful to his hearer. 
 
 The voyage to America in perfect June weather 
 was a pleasure trip in itself. Mr George Darwin 
 was with us, going over to be married to our niece. 
 Professor J ebb loved the sea, was an excellent sailor, 
 and enjoyed the little events that make up life on 
 board ship — the sighting of a whale, the play of the 
 porpoises, the ship's daily run. It was much to get 
 farther away with every mile from work and worry ; 
 and when a man is overworked and run down he 
 has a great power of doing nothing without being 
 bored. His essay for Harvard was already printed 
 and neatly packed away in his box in the hold — not 
 to be looked at again until he stood at the desk in 
 the Senate-room at Harvard. This was his first 
 engagement on our arrival in America; so after a 
 mere glimpse of his wife's family in Philadelphia we 
 went to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to fulfil it. Com- 
 mencement week at Harvard could not fail to be 
 full of interest, if only for the opportunity it gave to 
 meet so many distinguished men, living there, or 
 gathered there for the occasion. His speech — the 
 subject was Some Ancient Organs of Public Opinion 
 — was very well received and kindly noticed in the 
 newspapers ; he was given the Harvard Honorary 
 LL.D. degree the next day and, after those functions 
 were over, could resign himself to the pleasures of 
 social intercourse. We saw the greatest architect 
 
254 "^^^ Richard J ebb [1884 
 
 of his time, Mr Richardson, in his own studio ; we 
 heard the great preacher, Mr Phillips Brooks, in 
 his own pulpit ; we met many authors whose works 
 were already familiar to us. When the week was 
 over, we went with Professor and Mrs Goodwin to 
 Newport, Rhode Island, where for a few days we were 
 the guests of Miss Mason, one of its most charming 
 hostesses. Then other friends carried him off to 
 I know not what meetings and yachting trips, visits 
 to Bar Harbour, to the White Mountains, to the 
 Adirondacks, while I went to my mother in Erie, 
 Pennsylvania. He joined me there on the 21st of 
 July to be present at the event which brought all 
 the members of my family together, the marriage 
 of George Darwin to my niece, on July 22nd. 
 
 He was full of his late experiences, how he had 
 seen the sunrise on Mt Washington, had driven 
 on a " buckboard " here and there, to Otter Cliff, 
 Schooner Head, Porcupine Islands, Puffing Hole — 
 the names were a great joy to him — had seen from a 
 mountain top the contour of the island of Mt Desert 
 with a wide view of the mainland ; had above all 
 made many friends among his delightful travelling 
 companions. Nobody is ever shy with Americans; 
 and, when he was not shy, his real affectionateness 
 of disposition, his absence of self-assertion, his quick 
 response to little kindnesses, the readiness with 
 which he met friendliness by friendliness — perhaps 
 also the fact that he never blundered socially or 
 made awkward remarks, his own sensitiveness 
 making his instinct very sure concerning the sen- 
 
1884] Return from America 255 
 
 sitiveness of others — made strangers quickly feel 
 at home with him, many of them like him, and not 
 a few love him. 
 
 After some stay in Erie, he went with my 
 brother to Niagara, and later started on a longer 
 tour through the Lakes with my nephew William 
 Spencer. His diary is crammed with notes in finest 
 handwriting which show how much he was in- 
 terested in experiences so new to him. There is 
 even a glossary at the end of American words and 
 phrases. 
 
 But tout passe. On September 6th we were 
 again on board The Britannic with our thoughts 
 now all turning towards home. 
 
 To HIS Father. 
 
 "R. M.S. Britannic, 
 170 Miles off Queenstown. 
 
 Here we are again close to Queenstown where 
 we shall arrive about 4 a.m. to-morrow. I ought 
 to have written to you long ago, but was in such 
 a hurry of engagements in America to the last day, 
 that I did not. We meant to sail on August 28th, 
 but C. wished to wait another week, and I agreed. 
 C. and I are both flourishing and have had a 
 thoroughly enjoyable time — she calls it *a good 
 time.' I travelled about six thousand miles in 
 America and made the tour of the Great Lakes, 
 starting from Erie. I have been in twenty States 
 in the Union and bring many pleasant memories 
 back. Even at the very last we had a delightful 
 
256 Sir Richard J ebb [1884 
 
 week with friends on Shelter Island which I shall 
 not soon forget. I never enjoyed a holiday more." 
 
 The holiday had been quite long enough ; and 
 J ebb was eager to be at work again. An article 
 on Pindar for the Encyclopaedia was promised for 
 October ; the Hellenic Society Council and the 
 British School at Athens were awaiting his return 
 to hold their first autumn meetings ; letters had 
 been accumulating for three months which it would 
 take time to answer ; and, nearest of all to his 
 thoughts, the old father in Ireland must see his son. 
 He spent the anniversary of his mother's death at 
 Desmond, writing a life of Bentley for the Dictionary 
 of National Biography while there. 
 
 Hardly had the session begun in Glasgow when 
 news came that Professor Fawcett was dead. It 
 was a great shock. He had been elected Lord 
 Rector of the University and was to have given his 
 rectorial address in December — he and Mrs Fawcett 
 were to have been our guests for the occasion. 
 J ebb, who had known him well since undergraduate 
 days, and greatly admired his remarkable person- 
 ality, found it almost impossible to realise that all 
 that force and energy were no more. 
 
 On December 9th J ebb was unanimously chosen 
 to be President of the Glasgow Dialectic Society, 
 in succession to Dr Lushington. This election was 
 gratifying to him as another sign that the work he 
 was doing for them was appreciated by the students. 
 '' I have done my best," he wrote in the early days 
 
1884] His Judgment 257 
 
 of his Glasgow teaching. I think these words are 
 the key to the value of much that he did in life. 
 When he put down the pen after writing the last 
 lines of his commentary on the Oedipus Coloneus, 
 he said to me : — "Well, good or bad, it is the best 
 that I can do." He was compelled, alas, often to 
 ^ay, on finishing some speech or essay, *' I could 
 have made it better, if I had had more time " ; but 
 he did his best whenever it was possible. He 
 always said that he thought slowly. However this 
 may be — and perhaps the soberness and correctness 
 of his judgment arose from this deliberation — once 
 the judgment was reached he acted with force and 
 decision. And how often time has verified that 
 judgment. To recall only one case in College affairs, 
 a step was to be taken which not only involved 
 large financial responsibilities, but, once taken, could 
 not be retraced. He spoke very strongly at the 
 meeting of the Fellows, but the majority were 
 against him. At a later meeting this majority, 
 considering how small it was, decided not to pro- 
 ceed with the scheme. One of its members came 
 to him while he was sitting sorrowful at home — 
 for he loved Trinity and he believed this step would 
 be a great injury to her — and told him that it was 
 his speech and appeal that decided them not to 
 proceed. The scheme has never been revived, and 
 I think the soberer judgment of the College has 
 come round to his view. 
 
 How anxious he was to do his best, and how 
 conscientious even when small points were con- 
 
 J. M. 17 
 
258 Sir Richard J ebb [1884 
 
 cerned, this letter on a point in scholarship illustrates. 
 That it was written somewhat later does not affect 
 its significance in this respect. 
 
 To Mr Adam, Fellow and Tutor of Emmanuel College. 
 
 "2 Whitehall Court, 
 London, S.W., 
 
 May 3/-^ 1902. 
 Dear Mr Adam, 
 
 I have given my best thoughts to the 
 6 8ia iravToiv problem, and I am now satisfied that 
 the solution which I first suggested is untenable. 
 Therefore I should not like it to appear, and I 
 must, with regret, ask you to delete it. As you 
 know, I did not, when I first sent it, contemplate 
 its being printed. It is one of those cases in which 
 some quiet and sustained reflection is necessary (for 
 me, at any rate) ; and the circumstances precluded 
 me from that. 
 
 I regret the delay and trouble to you ; and I 
 venture to make a proposal to which I trust you 
 will not object. It is that you will allow me to 
 defray the cost of setting up in type, and removing, 
 my abortive suggestion. I should not feel quite 
 happy on any other condition. 
 
 I enclose my Sevrcpai ^povr&e^. By these I am 
 prepared to abide, — as a contribution to the dis- 
 cussion. 
 
 In case you wish to print these they are at your 
 service. But I can very easily understand that you 
 do not wish to incur further delay. 
 
1885] Dinner at Royal Academy 259 
 
 May I just add that the point in your own 
 explanation which does not quite satisfy me is your 
 analysis of 6 Sta irdvTOiv dycov? (I live, of course, 
 in a glass house ; but one should say what one feels.) 
 'to Sid nao-cov is the interval between the lowest note 
 of the octave and the highest: '' ih^ greatest in- 
 terval in the scale of one octave." So 6 8ta irdvTOiv 
 dyoiv is ** [the last and] greatest dyoivT ' Might it 
 not be said that, on this view, the sense should 
 be rather, ' the dyo^v which includes all the com- 
 petitors,' as TO 8ta iraa-i^v is the range which includes 
 all the notes of the octave ? 
 
 I have been very much interested in this small 
 but curious question. 
 
 Yours very sincerely, 
 
 R. C. Jebb." 
 
 In March, 1885, another of the tall cedars fell. 
 Dr H. A. J. Munro died in Rome, aged sixty-six, 
 after a short illness. Jebb could hardly realise Trinity 
 without that great-hearted man, whose sympathy 
 and encouragement had never failed him through 
 all their years of friendship, from his first coming 
 up as an undergraduate. 
 
 Just before the end of the session a letter came 
 from Sir Frederic Leigh ton asking Jebb to respond 
 for Literature at the coming Royal Academy dinner. 
 Any new experience pleased him and this was the 
 first time his presence had been requested at that 
 function. The speech he made was very short- 
 ly — 2 
 
26o Sir Richard J ebb [1885 
 
 he said (to me, not to them) that it was not for the 
 Hkes of him to take up the time of an assembly who 
 had been listening for hours to princes and cabinet 
 ministers, — but was spoken of in the newspapers as 
 a model of its kind. 
 
 To HIS Sister. 
 
 ''May zrd, 1885. 
 
 I was at the Royal Academy dinner last night. 
 To a rustic like myself, it was a very interesting 
 glimpse of the great world, for it was really a com- 
 plete view in miniature of male London Society. 
 Colvin and the waiters and I were almost the only 
 people who had not ribbons or collars or stars of 
 some sort. The pleasantest part of the affair was 
 walking about the galleries after dinner and seeing 
 the pictures with ample space — and with permission 
 to smoke — which however I forbore to use. Lord 
 Granville made the occasion especially remarkable 
 by giving us to understand there was going to be 
 peace. 
 
 P.S. I was rather bothered with rheumatism in 
 the neck, which is the direct result of poring over 
 books : a curious punishment of study." 
 
 We went as usual at the end of May to stay for a 
 week-end with Dr Jowett at Balliol. A fellow-guest 
 was that remarkable man and Christian, Dr Phillips 
 Brooks of Massachusetts (afterwards Bishop). We 
 persuaded him to stay a day or two with us when he 
 
1885] Death of Mr Robert Jebb 261 
 
 came to Cambridge (he was to preach there the next 
 Sunday) and to go with us to the boat races on 
 Saturday. He was a giant, and his presence in the 
 boat was to our rowers as if we had shipped a whale, 
 but inspired by his noble head and the remarkable 
 outlook of his fine eyes, they carried us safely 
 through. No undergraduate could have been more 
 interested in the race, or more amused by the 
 ** scrimmage " on the return, than was that great 
 light of the American Church. 
 
 Two more friends dear to Jebb were called to 
 join the majority this summer, Mr E. W. Blore 
 of Trinity who died on June 26th, and Mr Brad- 
 shaw of King's. And then came a greater loss to 
 us. His father died in August at the age of seventy- 
 seven. The world began to feel empty. His friend 
 Professor Tyrrell wrote : — 
 
 " I deeply feel for you, for I can well understand what a 
 loss you have sustained in him. To me personally it is a 
 sad thought that I shall never again feel the charm of that 
 kindly welcome which he always extended to me as a 
 friend of yours. In him has passed away a representative 
 type of Irish gentleman which I am sorry to say is be- 
 coming rarer and rarer." 
 
 It was well for his son that another home had 
 grown into his affections, for he felt the breaking-up 
 at Desmond keenly. Work was the best corrective 
 to sad thoughts. After finishing an article on Rhe- 
 toric for the Encyclopaedia Britannica, he turned to 
 the Oedipus Coloneus, which was finished and in the 
 
262 Sir Richard J ebb [1885 
 
 printers' hands in October 1885, though it was not 
 published till some months later. 
 
 Dr Verrall in an interesting review wrote : — 
 
 " Upon the appearance of the Oedipus Tyrannus we 
 spoke of this edition as definitive in the only applicable 
 sense, as making a distinct advance and bringing materials 
 which all future students would be careful to adopt. After 
 reading the Oedipus Coloneus we are inclined to say that 
 this praise was put too low. A classic like Sophocles will 
 be read by each generation from their own point of view 
 and illustrated by their own lights ; but though there 
 cannot be a final interpretation of such a work, there can 
 be, for a particular language, a permanent basis of inter- 
 pretation ; and such we think Professor Jebb will be found 
 to have furnished to the English students and expositors 
 of Sophocles." 
 
 A second edition of the Oedipus Tyrannus was 
 next taken in hand; and in January 1887 he 
 brought out a little book called Introduction to 
 Homer, which he wrote feeling the need of such a 
 book in his junior class. The price was I think half 
 what was usual for a school-book of the kind. The 
 first edition of 1500 copies was exhausted in a 
 month, and many editions have since been issued. 
 
 The letters to his sister are almost always in the 
 playful vein adopted in their young days, when life 
 was play. She had been staying with us, had given 
 him some letters to post, and wondered much at 
 receiving no answers. 
 
1887] British School at Athens 263 
 
 To HIS Sister. 
 
 " Springfield, 
 
 June \Zth, 1887. 
 
 There was once a thoughtful, careworn man, who 
 went to see his sister and her maid off by the train. 
 They were going to a junction on the L.N.W.R. 
 Just as the train was starting, his sister gave him 
 two letters to post. He did post them. But did he 
 
 do it immediately 1 Or did some time elapse? 
 
 One of them was to Lady M. Feilding, the other to 
 Emily Gilmore. They have, ages ago, been posted. 
 But I ask once more — were they posted immediately.-* 
 That man, on a certain day, at a certain hour, was 
 observed in a state bordering on distraction. He 
 had been looking in his coat pocket 
 
 Such a thing- (in spite of what his wife may say) 
 
 had never happened to him before or hardly 
 
 ever. But the fact was that he had looked in at the 
 Pitt Press, and his mind had been strongly pre- 
 occupied What happened to this man, and what 
 
 was the nature of the relations which subsequently 
 subsisted between him and his sister, shall be told in 
 our next number " 
 
 In July 1887 the British School at Athens, now 
 with a roof over its head and money enough for 
 bread and butter, and even a little jam in the shape 
 of a library, held its first annual meeting, with 
 Lord Carnarvon in the chair. It was a great satis- 
 faction to J ebb that this institution was at last fairly 
 started. 
 
264 Sir Richard J ebb [1888 
 
 In his later years J ebb was to be much occupied 
 with, the two subjects of politics and education ; and 
 in January 1888 he made a start in both directions — 
 on the 9th, when he attended a big political meeting 
 in Glasgow and proposed a vote of thanks to Sir 
 Henry James who was the chief speaker of the 
 evening; and on the 17th, when he addressed the 
 West of Scotland Teachers' Guild. 
 
 The unsettled state of Ireland made him anxious. 
 All his letters to his brother at this time are filled 
 with suggestions looking towards her pacification, 
 and with fears of the possible outcome of English 
 short-sightedness. He spoke often at Liberal 
 Unionist meetings during the winter. 
 
 To Professor Jebb. 
 
 ^^ January zd^th, 1888. 
 My Dear Sir, 
 
 We are having a political meeting in East 
 Kilbride on Friday evening the 3rd of February. Hozier, 
 the Member for South Lanarkshire, is to be present and 
 speak, and I am requested by the promoters to ask you to 
 honour us with your company. 
 
 I need not say how very much obliged we should be if 
 you will come and speak. A speech from you would, I 
 know, having heard your eloquent words at the Imperial 
 Union Club dinner, do us a great deal of good. 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 Walter C. Clark." 
 
 His friends in Ireland sent him many cases of 
 outrages, some of which he used in his speeches and 
 which were afterwards widely quoted. 
 
1 888] Bologna Festival 265 
 
 From the late Duke of Argyll. 
 
 " Inverary, 
 
 February \th^ 1888. 
 
 I have to speak at Cambridge next month and I am 
 anxious to have any fresh cases to give of the perfect harm- 
 lessness of the Land League as asserted by Lord Spencer. 
 He says that crime did once ' dog the steps ' of the League — 
 but it doesn't now. Anything more outrageous in the way 
 of assertion I have not seen. Some cases you mentioned 
 in your speech last year I made good use of, — can you 
 supply me with any more? Of course I shall suppress 
 names. Of course the cases are legion. 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 Argyll." 
 
 In February he v^as appointed one of the dele- 
 gates from Glasgow University to the University of 
 Bologna which was about to celebrate its Sooth 
 anniversary in June. In his daily walks he com- 
 posed an Ode in Greek in honour of the occasion, 
 and was rather surprised to realise later the impres- 
 sion made by this Ode both in Italy and among 
 scholars in England. The composition of it was 
 a pure pleasure, taking him into regions where his 
 mind delighted to dwell, and giving him a relief 
 from the daily round at his mill. 
 
 To the Rev. H. H. Jebb. 
 
 ''June 16th, 1888. 
 
 Just a line to say that I am all right. The 
 Bologna Festival was very brilliant, though the 
 arrangements were by no means perfect in detail. 
 
266 Sir Richard J ebb [1888 
 
 You will be glad to hear that I was among the 
 foreigners who received the laurea d'onore or 
 honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. Only a few of 
 the foreign delegates were honoured. The Univer- 
 sity of Bologna had intended to give honorary 
 degrees to all, but this was vetoed by the Govern- 
 ment, for what reason nobody knows. Moreover, 
 the Bolognese University authorities were not even 
 allowed to select the few on whom they were per- 
 mitted to confer the degree." 
 
 The University of Dublin honoured him with the 
 degree of Doctor of Laws on the 28th of June, and 
 on November 23rd, he was elected an Honorary 
 Fellow of his own College, Trinity, under the statute 
 which empowers the College to elect any person 
 especially distinguished for literary or scientific 
 merit. This was an honour he valued above all 
 others and enjoyed for the shortest time : before the 
 new calendar was printed he had become a Profes- 
 sorial Fellow. 
 
 For our life at Glasgow was now drawing to an 
 end. In April the Regius Professor of Greek at 
 Cambridge, the famous Dr Kennedy, died, full of 
 years and honours. This time there was no doubt 
 in Jebb's mind as to the course he should take ; none 
 the less the wrench would be great in leaving Glas- 
 gow. We had lived there fourteen winters, had 
 been warmly welcomed by its people, had shared its 
 interests and been given a part in its duties. The 
 position at Cambridge was far more favourable to 
 literary work, but he was doing good service in 
 
1889] Death of Dr Kennedy 267 
 
 Glasgow which it was hard to abandon. The 
 pecuniary sacrifice would be great ; but money 
 never entered into his considerations. Indeed to 
 take care of it was one of his difficulties all through 
 life. He hardly ever took coins out of his pocket 
 without some of them rolling away into space where 
 search — at least his perfunctory search — could not 
 find them. He never knew how much he had with 
 him, or counted his change at railway stations, or 
 suspected anyone of taking advantage of his care- 
 lessness. He seemed to have a dislike to looking 
 at what he called ''symbols," and would gaze ab- 
 stractedly anywhere except at what he was giving, 
 when paying porters or cabmen. On almost our 
 first railway journey together, an honest porter ran 
 after him at the Dublin station : '' I am sure, Sir, 
 you did not mean to give me this," he said, showing 
 a sovereign. It filled him with a sort of disgust 
 when less high-minded people — his wife to wit — 
 assumed the existence of dishonesty, and begged 
 him to keep his keys in his pocket, and not to 
 put his purse in the most conspicuous place on 
 his dressing-table when travelling. It is hard for 
 experience to overcome nature. Once at Athens, 
 when starting on an expedition, he left his port- 
 manteau to be packed by the hotel servant, with 
 directions to send it after him. In the portmanteau 
 was a copy of his Attic Orators, intended as a 
 present to a Greek friend whose name he had 
 written on the fly-leaf. This the patriotic porter 
 duly delivered, but it was the only part of the 
 
268 Sir Richard J ebb [] 
 
 contents of the portmanteau Professor J ebb ever 
 heard of again. 
 
 Glasgow was reluctant to let him go. 
 
 From Principal Caird. 
 
 ''May ist, 1889. 
 My Dear Jebb, 
 
 Will you forgive me for saying one word more 
 before you go ? It may not count for much, but I am 
 persuaded I say what many others feel, when I tell you 
 that I for one shall be very much grieved if the result of 
 your deliberations be that you are to leave us. I know 
 that you are doing noble work for us and for the higher 
 education in Scotland, and (forgive me for saying so) that 
 you are precisely the sort of man who can do it. I am 
 sure you won't think me capable of coarse flattery, but I 
 feel so deeply interested in this matter that I shall not 
 refrain from saying that with your rare combination of 
 solid and comprehensive learning with brilliant literary 
 faculty and the true artist's enthusiasm for his subject, you 
 can do more for this University and for the advancement 
 of classical learning in Scotland than any other man I 
 know. Be assured that, if you make up your mind to stay 
 with us, you have before you a career which is worthy of 
 your ambition. On the other hand, though I think your 
 withdrawal would be quite intelligible, yet may I not take 
 the liberty of suggesting that, other things being equal, it 
 is always better to go on with a work one has undertaken, 
 whatever the apparent obstacles, than to draw back ? 
 
 Yours ever, 
 
 J. Caird." 
 
 The wide recognition of the value of his work 
 in Scotland, though very gratifying, could not alter 
 
1889] Resignation of Glasgow Chair 269 
 
 his decision. It was impossible to carry on literary- 
 work together with his lectures, and he could not 
 do much of the former, with practically only four 
 months out of twelve at his disposal ; — for he must 
 come to Glasgow fresh from a holiday in the autumn, 
 and he must have a month's rest when the long six 
 months' task was done. If a change was to be 
 made, it was well that it should come while he was 
 still in the prime of life. 
 
 Returning to Cambridge on the 15th of May, 
 after a fortnight at Brighton, he found his new study 
 a great delight. " I never before had such a perfect 
 room to work in," he wrote to his brother. ''Alto- 
 gether the summer is beginning very pleasantly for 
 us. To-day I have to go to offer myself for the 
 Greek Professorship by appearing before the Council 
 of the Senate. They will appoint a time for a dis- 
 course to be read before them ; and the election will 
 be made at the end of the month." 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 ELECTED REGIUS PROFESSOR OF GREEK AT 
 CAMBRIDGE. REDE LECTURE. ELECTION TO 
 PARLIAMENT. FIRST SPEECH. 
 
 1889— 1894. 
 
 He was elected to the Greek chair at Cam- 
 bridge on the 27th of May, and shortly afterwards 
 to a Professorial Fellowship at Trinity College. 
 The transfer of duties became complete when his 
 resignation of the Glasgow chair was accepted in 
 June. But then came the pain of parting with old 
 friends and old interests, which was harder even than 
 he had foreboded. Who would be his successor ? 
 The next fortnight was devoted to answering letters 
 from possible candidates, and to giving what help 
 and information he could to one and another of the 
 electors who consulted him. His pen was very 
 busy about this time, for the many letters of con- 
 gratulations must also be acknowledged promptly. 
 He was particularly pleased with one received from 
 his old friend Dr Sidgwick. I give his answer here. 
 

 C/kl|Bl^iOQE 
 
 riyt^^ 
 
 /JUL /iirp^^^y ^ ^s-f^zvy^ /eo^ i^c^. 
 
^ ^^^'^L^ 2^/^ Ar^ 
 
1889] Letters •273 
 
 In May he also became President of the Hel- 
 lenic Society in succession to the Bishop of 
 Durham, whose lamented death had made the posi- 
 tion vacant. 
 
 To the Rev. H. H. Jebb. 
 
 " Cambridge, 
 
 June 16th, 1889. 
 
 I have been for some days in that lethargic state 
 to which hay-fever reduces its sufferers, but am 
 making an effort to settle down to steady work 
 again. The very considerable number of letters of 
 congratulation really kept me rather busy for several 
 days. I can see that I have chosen wisely though at 
 large cost. This is the right place for the second 
 half of life. Among the Glasgow letters that pleased 
 me most was one from the Roman Catholic Arch- 
 bishop. Indeed we both feel how many true friends 
 we have in Glasgow." 
 
 To the Rev. H. H. Jebb. 
 
 " Brighton, 
 
 October 5//^, 1889. 
 
 We came on here after a very pleasant visit to 
 the Tennysons. The poet, who was eighty in 
 August last, is wonderfully well : I had two walks 
 with him, and he seems to be as regular as ever in 
 taking exercise. He told me of his visit to Portugal 
 about 1859 with Palgrave. He recollects the elder 
 Hallam as having a broad brow and large luminous 
 
 J. M. 18 
 
274* ^^^ Richard J ebb [1890 
 
 eyes — a contentious man. Sydney Smith said of 
 him — ' There is Hallam, with his mouth full of 
 cabbage and contradiction.' Tennyson is going to 
 bring out a volume of poems next year. It will 
 interest you to know that one of them, Demeter, is 
 dedicated to me in three stanzas alluding to my 
 Pindaric Ode written for Bologna last year." 
 
 When October came, we both confessed it a 
 great relief not to have to make the usual move to 
 Scotland. J ebb quickly fell into the old ways of 
 work at Cambridge, the morning lectures, the habit 
 of Syndicate meetings, of scholarship examinations, 
 of frequent discussions about University affairs. 
 Then at the Christmas vacation — six weeks instead 
 of two — what a delightful change to be able to go 
 to Rome and Naples, to cheat the English winter 
 of its darkest month ! 
 
 In 1890 he was invited by the Vice-Chancellor 
 to give the Rede lecture for this year. The one 
 lecture required by the Trust is usually given at 
 the time when Cambridge is most full of visitors. 
 
 Although the notice was somewhat short, no one 
 — certainly not J ebb — could decline an invitation so 
 courteously and charmingly made. 
 
 "Trinity College, 
 
 May i)th^ 1890. 
 
 My Dear Jebb, 
 
 Can you possibly rescue an old friend from a 
 serious trouble and give the University a great delight? 
 Can you accept the Rede Lectureship for next month, say 
 
1 890] Rede Lecture 275 
 
 about June 12th? Of course if I had originally thought 
 
 of offering it this year to a man of your eminence, I should 
 have applied to you before applying to anyone, but I 
 looked, not unnaturally, outside Cambridge. You shall 
 
 hear the whole story Mr Lecky's answer only reached 
 
 me this afternoon. Will you — can you — take his place ? 
 You must have plenty of well-digested matter which, when 
 put into such form as you can put it, would delight as well 
 as instruct a University audience. I venture to hope — 
 though with what Burke calls ' trembling solicitude ' — that 
 you may not find it wholly impossible in the course of a 
 month to produce a work such as your own high conception 
 of work would approve. 
 
 Always affectionately yours, 
 
 H. Montagu Butler." 
 
 The result was an essay on Erasmus w^hich 
 answered adequately the purpose for which it was 
 written, to judge by the letters it elicited. The 
 Vice-Chancellor, who never failed in kindness and 
 appreciation, wrote : — 
 
 "Trinity Lodge, 
 
 June 11th, 1890. 
 My Dear Jebb, 
 
 I cannot help sending a few written lines to 
 express my warm sense of the value of your lecture, and 
 my delight that your generous compliance with my request 
 at that wretchedly short notice should have issued in 
 a manner so triumphant to yourself 'I think the very 
 best lecture I ever heard,' said Jowett to Liddon, and 
 Liddon was equally delighted. Apart from the admirable 
 form and style he was so much struck with the thorough- 
 
 18—2 
 
276 Sir Richard J ebb [1891 
 
 ness and fairness of your work. I believe he explained to 
 
 you that years ago he himself made a special study of 
 
 Erasmus. 
 
 Believe me, 
 
 Affectionately always, 
 
 H. Montagu Butler." 
 
 At the end of the year a request came to him 
 from the President of the Johns Hopkins University, 
 Baltimore, to give the '' Percy Turnbull " course of 
 lectures on Poetry at that University. Mr and Mrs 
 Lawrence Turnbull had endowed a lectureship in 
 poetry in memory of their son Percy who died in 
 1887. Eight lectures were expected, but they could 
 be given in a fortnight or three weeks, thus falling 
 easily into the period of the Cambridge Easter 
 vacation. J ebb was much attached to America and 
 It was a great pleasure to him to meet old friends 
 and make new ones across the Atlantic, so the In- 
 vitation was willingly accepted. The events of 1891 
 put the engagement In jeopardy but fortunately did 
 not compel him to break It. 
 
 In April 1891 he received an Honorary degree 
 from Glasgow University, and In June Oxford con- 
 ferred upon him her Honorary D.C.L. In company 
 with a group of very distinguished men ; an honour 
 highly valued. It seemed now as If no new distinc- 
 tion remained for him ; that he might for the rest of 
 his life devote himself to work ; write books ; give 
 addresses on education and scholastic subjects ; take 
 his share In University business and peacefully grow 
 old. But fortune had still other offerings In store. 
 
1 8 9 1 ] Parliament 277 
 
 We were sitting quietly at breakfast one morn- 
 ing at the Lyth — his sister's home in Shropshire — ■ 
 when the post brought him in a letter, a veritable 
 bolt from the blue. He looked thoughtful but said 
 nothing till breakfast was over, when he asked his 
 wife to come out on the terrace. It was one of the 
 many little rules he made for himself that she must 
 always be told first anything that concerned him. 
 '* I want to consult you " was a phrase very familiar 
 to her ears ; frequently changed to ** I want to 
 consult my government,*' when it was a question 
 of subscriptions or funds to be provided for any 
 purpose. 
 
 It was now a question of a new departure which 
 would greatly interfere with literary work. 
 
 From THE Master of Corpus Christi College. 
 
 "The Lodge, 
 
 September ^th^ 1891. 
 
 Dear Professor Jebb, 
 
 The subject of this note is one on which I wish 
 that I could have spoken to you, as I could have entered 
 on it more fully in conversation than I can in writing. 
 But time is of importance and I therefore venture to trouble 
 you with a letter. 
 
 It seems probable that the vacancy in the representation 
 of the University, caused by the death of Mr Raikes, will 
 be filled up as soon as term begins, if not sooner ; and it is 
 highly desirable that we should be prepared with a candi- 
 date when the Writ is issued. It is customary for a meet- 
 ing of residents to be held for considering the claims of 
 persons eligible for the seat, with a view of selecting one 
 
278 Sir Richard J ebb [1891 
 
 whose name shall be submitted to the constituency. At 
 such a meeting it is of course competent for anyone present 
 to mention the name of any possible candidate. 
 
 Now, I have long felt that it may be desirable for us to 
 have as representative of this University men whose claims 
 are not political but academical, not men who already 
 represent (or might represent) constituencies of another 
 kind, who are unacquainted with the life and needs of the 
 University, and whose election by us might be used as an 
 argument for disfranchising the Universities. May I say 
 that among possible candidates of this kind you have 
 seemed to me likely to be acceptable to our constituency 
 if you consent to be brought forward. The suggestion has 
 been favourably entertained by several influential residents 
 to whom it was made in a private conversation. It seems 
 that steps must be taken at once to find a candidate for 
 the present vacancy, and I should be very glad if you would 
 allow me to mention your name at a meeting which will 
 probably be held for the purpose early next week 
 
 I will only add that I shall be deeply grateful if you 
 can comply with my request. 
 
 Yours very sincerely, 
 
 E. H. Perowne." 
 
 At first it was difficult to entertain an idea so 
 novel. Parliament would absorb a great deal of 
 time, and it would necessarily turn his thoughts away 
 from literary work and into new channels. But, 
 gradually, as he discussed the proposal, the vista 
 opened out began to appeal to his imagination. His 
 fingers went up to his moustache as they always did 
 when his brain worked quickly, he walked more 
 rapidly and became silent. His wife had no wish to 
 
1 89 1 Election as Member 279 
 
 influence him either way, so up and down he paced 
 for half an hour, till he made up his mind. '' Upon 
 my word, C," he exclaimed, '' I think I'll accept. 
 After all, it's not a life sentence. I can come out 
 when I like." 
 
 The nomination was made on the 6th of October, 
 and on the loth Jebb was returned unopposed. '* An 
 Amurath an Amurath succeeds," said the Times, in 
 allusion to the fact that Sir George Stokes was the 
 other representative of the University. "One of 
 the most distinguished Cambridge mathematicians is 
 followed by the most finished classical scholar that 
 Cambridge or perhaps Great Britain possesses." 
 
 A vote on another subject took place in the 
 Senate House this same month with a result very 
 much to his mind. The proposal that a Syndicate 
 should be appointed to inquire whether Greek 
 should be retained in the Previous Examination was 
 defeated by 525 non-placets to 185 placets. The 
 victory was so crushing that the scientific men began 
 to consider an alternative • scheme — whether men 
 who did not wish to qualify for the B. A. degree might 
 not be given simply a degree in science. The suc- 
 cess of such a scheme, it was decided, depended 
 largely on the tests of a general education which might 
 be demanded under it from students of science. The 
 matter is still under consideration in this year 1907. 
 
 Professor Jebb took the oath as Member when 
 Parliament met on the 9th of February 1892. He 
 was introduced at the bar of the House by Sir 
 Richard Webster (now Lord Alverstone) and the 
 
28o Sir Richard J ebb [1892 
 
 late Sir George Stokes, both old friends. He could 
 not feel strange in his new surroundings when at 
 every turn he met some face familiar to him from 
 undergraduate days, and received so many friendly 
 welcomes. The session bade fair to be a quiet one. 
 The Government had now been in power for six 
 years ; it would hardly introduce any great measure 
 with a dissolution so near. He was able to get 
 away a week or two before the Easter recess and 
 take ship for America, where he had agreed to give 
 a course of lectures at the Johns Hopkins University. 
 Short as it was, this second visit across the sea com- 
 peted with the first in interest. Already he knew 
 the President of the University and several of the 
 Professors, whom it was a great pleasure to meet 
 again. Society in Baltimore was very kind to him ; 
 the climate, at its best in Maryland and Virginia in 
 that lovely month of April, was in itself a joy. 
 Large and enthusiastic audiences attended his lec- 
 tures on poetry. He came back almost convinced 
 that, of all the places he knew, Baltimore was the 
 pleasantest to live in. I think the glamour of the 
 golden spring was still about him. 
 
 When Parliament met after the Easter recess, he 
 was able to make his maiden speech on a subject of 
 which every detail was familiar to him — the Scot- 
 tish University Ordinances Bill. In reporting the 
 debate the Scotsman said, ^' The fate of the case 
 presented in both Houses on Tuesday for alteration 
 or change in the Scottish University Ordinances, 
 was decided much according to the merits of the 
 
1892] Dissolution of Parliament 281 
 
 method of presentation. In the lower House the 
 whole subsequent debate rolled round the lines of 
 Professor Jebb's speech." 
 
 So that was well over. He had been vaguely 
 nervous about his first speech, but as the subject was 
 one on which it was quite natural for him to address 
 the House, the nervous feeling quickly vanished. 
 He told his wife that soon he almost forgot he 
 was speaking to other than his customary academic 
 audience. 
 
 Meanwhile the dissolution of Parliament had 
 been announced for the 28th. Jebb took no steps 
 towards his re-election ; he said, '* in a University 
 constituency you must wait till you are asked." 
 The invitation came on June 22nd, and etiquette 
 now permitted him to issue his address. 
 
 The election was on the 4th of July when he 
 and Sir John Gorst were duly returned to represent 
 the University in Parliament, Sir John in succession 
 to Sir George Stokes who had retired on account 
 of his advanced age. Jebb was asked, about this 
 time, to become a member of the Scottish Uni- 
 versity Commission, to fill the place vacated by 
 Lord Sandford, an honour he was compelled to 
 decline. 
 
 The next few weeks were devoted to steady 
 work on the Electra of Sophocles, which was reluc- 
 tantly put aside when the new Parliament met on 
 August 8th. The Liberals were now in power and 
 Mr Gladstone Prime Minister. 
 
282 Sir Richard J ebb [1892 
 
 To HIS Wife. 
 
 " House of Commons, 
 
 August ^th, 1892. 
 
 At 1.20 I was in the House and was duly sworn 
 
 in The proposer and seconder of the Address 
 
 made their speeches ; Mr Asquith, the mover of the 
 amendment, was very good ; Mr Burt, the miners' 
 member, gave the impression of honesty ; but the 
 speech of the day, or evening, was John Redmond's 
 the ParnelHte leader, who made it perfectly clear 
 that he will give the Gladstonians no quarter if they 
 fail to satisfy the demands which he clearly defined. 
 This afternoon I secured a place exactly opposite 
 Mr Gladstone, knowing that he was going to speak 
 early. At 3.30 he rose and spoke for an hour and a 
 half. It was a very able speech in his peculiar way, 
 and of course left us as wise as we were before, 
 except that he applied the words ' full and effectual ' 
 to the measure of Home Rule which he means to 
 grant if he can. Then Balfour spoke for about an 
 hour with admirable force." 
 
 On March 15th, 1893, the University Extension 
 Society held its meeting in the Egyptian Hall at the 
 Mansion House and Professor Jebb gave the annual 
 address. The Journal of the Society says that the 
 occasion marked an epoch in the history of univer- 
 sity extension. "Not that anything was then said 
 or done which inaugurated a new departure either 
 in matter or in form, but that the principle that 
 inspired the work was emphasised in an eminently 
 striking manner. A body of students which taxed 
 
^^s] University Extension Lecture 283 
 
 the capacities of the spacious Hall listened with the 
 keenest interest and appreciation while the foremost 
 scholar in England urged the paramount importance 
 of an essentially unremunerative branch of learning. 
 There was probably not one person present who 
 could indulge the slightest expectation of bettering 
 his or her worldly position by the fullest adoption of 
 Professor Jebb's earnest commendation of the study 
 which has made his name famous throughout Europe. 
 It is most gratifying to know that there un- 
 doubtedly exists among extension students a genuine 
 recognition of this nobler element in educational 
 enterprise." This lecture on Greek Literature and 
 Modern Life attracted much notice, and was the 
 occasion of a good deal of discussion in the Spectator 
 and other journals. 
 
 In March Jebb had been asked by the Archbishop 
 of Canterbury to attend and speak at a meeting of 
 Churchmen organised for the purpose of expressing 
 the Church opinion on a Bill, then before the House, 
 which was avowedly the first step towards Disesta- 
 blishment. In his answer he made some suggestions 
 concerning the arrangements of the meeting, and 
 proposed that there should be a preconcerted line of 
 speaking and division of subjects. The Archbishop 
 thought this a good idea, if it could be carried out, 
 and sent Jebb a list of the speakers, asking for further 
 suggestions. 
 
 A mighty gathering met in the Albert Hall on 
 the 1 6th of May, surpassing even the hopes of its 
 organisers and filling its vast space to the roof. The 
 
284 Sir Richard J ebb [1893 
 
 two Archbishops were there, most of the Bishops, 
 and a great crowd of distinguished laymen. The 
 list of speakers was long, and the division of subjects 
 proved to be a wise step, as thus every point was 
 dwelt upon. The Times said that " people who can 
 find no trace of argument In the speeches would find 
 it rather difficult to reply to only two of them, say to 
 Lord Selbourne's and Professor J ebb's." J ebb took 
 for his subject the Characteristic Qualities and Recu- 
 perative Power of the National Church. 
 
 The next week, on May 24th, he was called 
 upon to speak at a meeting in Cambridge against 
 the Home Rule Bill, again before a large and en- 
 thusiastic audience. Then at the end of July he 
 delivered the inaugural address at a meeting of local 
 lecturers in connection with the University Extension 
 Scheme. Upwards of six hundred students had col- 
 lected at Cambridge for a month's study. His subject 
 was The Work of the Universities for the Nation^. 
 
 Small time was there for his own literary work 
 this year. It was only by the most strenuous effort 
 that another volume of his edition of Sophocles was 
 finished. And yet he had never done so much work 
 in his life, hard as he had worked hitherto, as In 
 these years of public duties and demands. Claims 
 of every kind were made upon him, and he always 
 gave his best — If possible — which meant some 
 thought, some time devoted to each occasion. 
 
 It was our habit to take a house in town for 
 three months after Easter, and then for him to pair 
 ^ Published in Essays and Addresses, 1907. 
 
1893] Looking for a House 285 
 
 when possible during the remainder of the session, 
 keeping himself free to vote on any Important 
 measure. He could also, by arrangement with the 
 Whips, stay down unpaired. Cambridge Is so near 
 London that It was easy for him, when summoned 
 by telegraph, to be at the House In time to vote 
 the same evening. 
 
 In August, he seems to have undertaken to look 
 at a house we had heard might be let the next year. 
 He was very shy about it, as he always was In 
 making any practical arrangements. 
 
 To HIS Wife. 
 
 ** United Service Club, 
 
 Pall Mall, S.W., 
 
 Aug. 10th, 1893. 
 
 From the heading of this paper you might natu- 
 rally infer that my military qualities had at last been 
 recognised and that the War Office had made me 
 an honorary Colonel, and this Club an honorary 
 member. This Is not the fact, however : it is only 
 that the Athenaeum Is having Its autumn cleaning, 
 and they have taken us in here. The first person 
 I saw was S., who, with his usual tact, remarked in 
 a stentorian voice, ' Out of our element here ! ' — in 
 a room full of warriors and sailors, tempered by a 
 few parsons from over the way. 
 
 Well : I have been to see the Canon's house. 
 I should never get on as a swell mobsman, or clerical 
 burglar. A young woman showed me the place ; 
 
286 Sir Richard J ebb [1893 
 
 and the door being open, I asked for Mrs Hardy. 
 She was Mrs Hardy. Then I explained my busi- 
 ness ; and I shall not easily forget the profound 
 suspicion that appeared on her expressive features. 
 I felt, myself, that it was thoroughly deserved. 
 Luckily the Canon was at home, and I asked to 
 see him. Just then he came out. Gentlemanlike old 
 man ; small features and small voice ; very pleasant 
 and courteous. The house is simply charming, and 
 might be in the country. It looks out on a beautiful 
 garden, but it is hidden away at the end of the 
 cloister ; the approach is dark and sepulchral. The 
 Canon thinks that they could let it for May and 
 June, if we wished. He is free to choose his months 
 of residence, and where his living is, is his real 
 home, he said. Altogether, the thing is well worth 
 considering. I explained to him that it was not 
 for the likes of me to settle anything. Then we 
 strolled into the Abbey, and I saw the window 
 which they are going to make a memorial window 
 to Lowell." 
 
 In October, 1893, the academic and even a 
 wider world suffered a great loss in the death of 
 Dr Jowett, the Master of Balliol. To quote the 
 President of Magdalen, Mr Herbert Warren, " He 
 was in all things a man full of public spirit, high- 
 souled, thinking himself worthy of great ends, and 
 proving worthy of them ; a singular and potent indi- 
 viduality in his day and generation." No one, not 
 even the humblest who came into his presence, could 
 fail to realise his remarkable personality. Every 
 
1893] Death of Dr Jowett 287 
 
 conversation it was my good fortune to have with 
 him is fresh in my memory. One day I happened 
 to say it was difficult to know what made for in- 
 fluence in a University society. It was not wealth, 
 for the people whose society was most sought had 
 very small incomes and entertained most simply ; 
 it was not rank, for no questions were asked who 
 anybody was ; it was not even intellect ; when X. 
 for instance, who had written a very remarkable 
 book, took me in to dinner, I did not feel elated. 
 "What influences in a University society is what 
 influences all the world over," was his answer, — 
 " force of character." Cant and pretension were 
 abhorrent to him. Another time when I quoted, 
 as he thought pretentiously, that '* character is 
 destiny," he answered, '*Ah! that is too deep for 
 me." I laughed, for his snubs never hurt, and said, 
 " I mean, being what I am, I must do what I do." 
 He laughed then too, and began a most interesting 
 talk about the effect of environment and education 
 on character. 
 
 Two years before his death he had a very serious 
 illness and was told that he was dying. " I lay 
 there," he said to me afterwards, '' waiting for the 
 end in perfect content. I felt no wish to have it 
 otherwise. What surprised me was that when, most 
 unexpectedly, a turn for the better came and I got 
 up and about again, I was distinctly glad, glad as 
 I had hardly ever been before." He told an intimate 
 friend that the two years of life that came after were 
 the happiest years of his life. 
 
288 Sir Richard J ebb [1894 
 
 His friendship was a great possession. Professor 
 Jebb cherished its memory as among the best things 
 it had been given him to know. 
 
 In November, Jebb was again elected a Member 
 of the Governing Body of Charterhouse, the former 
 appointment having lapsed when residence at 
 Glasgow made it difficult for him to attend the 
 meetings. He was pleased to have the connection 
 with his old school restored, and deferred a trip 
 abroad in order that he might be present at the 
 dinner on ''Founder's Day," December 12th. 
 
 In February, 1894, he was asked if he would 
 allow his name to be among those to be submitted 
 to the Queen as members of a proposed Royal 
 Commission on Secondary Education. It was high 
 time that something should be done to bring order 
 out of what was described, in Mr Goschen's historic 
 words, as *' a chaos of areas, a chaos of rates, and 
 a chaos of authorities," and this Commission was 
 the first step taken. 
 
 When the list of Commissioners was published 
 with Mr Bryce as chairman, the selection of the 
 Government met with general approval. The first 
 meeting was held on March i6th, and meetings were 
 regularly held twice a week (except in vacation), 
 from April loth until the end of the year. The 
 diary records the 59th meeting on December 12th. 
 The Headmaster of Eton, Mr Lyttelton, has most 
 kindly sent me some recollections of the part taken 
 by Professor Jebb in the work of the Commission. 
 
1894] Report on Education 289 
 
 He writes : 
 
 "Once while the Commission was discussing the various 
 articles contributed by different members, an incident oc- 
 curred which showed Jebb's unerring perception in language. 
 One of the members, who displayed something approaching 
 to pugnacity in defending his own phrases, had written of 
 the teachers of England as a * highly trained and intelligent 
 set of men/ Someone took exception to the expression as 
 being patronising ; but as the author of it showed no sort 
 of indication of surrender, we were in rather a difficulty, 
 when Jebb whispered to his neighbour, ' The adjectives 
 would be very appropriate if applied to elephants.' This 
 saying was at once reported and settled the question. The 
 sentence was modified without a word of protest from the 
 author. 
 
 Whatever Jebb undertook to do was perfectly done. 
 This faculty was exemplified in the report of the Bryce 
 Commission on Secondary Education in 1893. He was 
 entrusted with the task of writing Part I. of the Report 
 volume, and, whereas the contributions of others were 
 subjected to prolonged criticism and much alteration, 
 J ebb's work was so accurate in substance and artistic in 
 form that it was accepted at once, no one having more 
 than trifling suggestions to offer. Probably no written 
 work of his shows, more distinctly than this Report, the 
 severe self-restraint and absence of display which I think 
 would have characterised all his literary output, even if his 
 instinct had not been confirmed by his Greek training. 
 
 He once consulted my opinion on some questions of 
 English composition, in connexion I think with the 
 address sent by Cambridge to the Queen in 1897. Our 
 brief conversation was to me an education in art, and a 
 revelation of his superb aesthetic taste in language." 
 
 J. M. 19 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE WELSH CHURCH DISESTABLISHMENT BILL. 
 SPEECH. ILLNESS. 
 
 1894 — 1896. 
 
 In April, 1894, Mr Asquith introduced a Bill 
 *'to terminate the establishment of the Church of 
 England in Wales and Monmouthshire, and to make 
 provision in respect of the temporalities thereof." 
 The debate in the House upon this Bill was long 
 and earnest. The speech Jebb made in defence of 
 the establishment is so characteristic of his style 
 of speaking; — it also explains the situation so 
 clearly, that perhaps my readers will forgive me if 
 I include it here. 
 
 " In asking the indulgence of the House for a few minutes 
 only, my aim is less to criticise details than to consider 
 certain large aspects of the question which this Bill brings 
 before us. Vital as the measure is to the highest interests 
 of Wales, — far-reaching as must be its ulterior conse- 
 quences, should it pass into law, for the Principality, — it is 
 not of less import, and its consequences will not be less 
 extensive or less serious, for England as a whole. It is not 
 merely the first step towards the disestablishment and dis- 
 endowment of the Church of England, but actually the first 
 
1894] speech on Welsh Disestablishment Bill 291 
 
 instalment of such a measure. Every member of the 
 Church of England is therefore entitled to participate in 
 this discussion, even although (as is my own case) he is 
 ignorant of the Welsh language, and has no such know- 
 ledge of Wales as may be acquired by residence. The 
 principle affirmed as justifying the introduction of the Bill 
 has been stated with the utmost frankness and clearness by 
 the Home Secretary. It is simply that at the last general 
 election Wales sent to this House a large majority of 
 members in favour of such a Bill. But Wales has not yet 
 a separate Parliament ; and it is the duty of every member 
 of this Imperial Assembly to consider this and every 
 question from the point of view of what is best for the 
 whole kingdom. The figures 31 to 3 are not claimed as 
 representing the proportionate number of electors in Wales 
 who voted for or against disestablishment. So long as a 
 religious census is refused, we lack the primary and most 
 essential document for the investigation of this aspect of 
 the matter. No doubt the Church question was a pro- 
 minent question — I should be ready to assume that it was 
 the most prominent — at many elections in Wales ; but did 
 no other issues, such as Home Rule for Ireland, contribute 
 to the result ? And as to the Church issue itself, on what 
 grounds was it placed at the elections? Was there no 
 appeal to political motives, to selfish cupidity, or to sec- 
 tarian animosity? And now a local verdict, clouded with 
 all these ambiguities, is made the plea for commencing the 
 destruction of a national institution. 
 
 Let us remember the nature of that national institution. 
 In the discussion of this Bill, more has been heard of en- 
 dowment than of establishment ; the Church has been 
 considered, though not exclusively, yet chiefly, as a number 
 of ecclesiastical corporations, sole or aggregate, which 
 severally hold property. Establishment, so far as it has 
 been touched upon in these debates, has been regarded 
 
 19 — 2 
 
292 Sir Richard J ebb [1894 
 
 mainly under the aspect of privilege. When the Home 
 Secretary introduced the Suspensory Bill last year, he 
 spoke of the privileges appertaining to the status of estab- 
 lishment — a phrase correct in itself, but corresponding with 
 an inaccurate conception in the popular mind. The ' estab- 
 lishment ' of the Church is often spoken of as if it meant 
 that once upon a time the State had singled out this re- 
 ligious denomination from among other denominations, — 
 had set it up, — and had attributed to it, by means of certain 
 privileges, a higher spiritual rank than that which was 
 accorded to the others. The House is aware, however, 
 that the State never did anything of the kind. The word 
 * establish ' does not mean only * to set up ' ; it means also 
 'to settle,' 'to confirm in rights,' 'to ratify.' In this sense 
 it occurs in the Statute of Provisors, where Parliament is 
 described as having ' ordered and established ' such or 
 such a thing ; in the Acts of Uniformity of the sixteenth 
 century, with reference to the Liturgy of the Church and to 
 the Book of Common Prayer ; and in the Act of Union 
 between England and Scotland, with reference to the 
 ' Protestant religion ' in England and the Presbyterian 
 Church of Scotland respectively. Those relations between 
 the Church of England and the State, which collectively 
 are described as ' establishment,' derive their origin from a 
 time when the Church had as yet no spiritual competitor. 
 The Church possessed great power, which was liable to be 
 affected by foreign influence ; and the State thought it 
 prudent, as a matter of public policy, to take from the 
 Church certain securities against possible excesses of un- 
 controlled ecclesiastical authority. It was then enacted 
 that the ecclesiastical Law and Courts should become part 
 of the public law of the realm. By coming within the 
 framework of the State, the Church gained a new sanction 
 for its law, but it also gave up something. The primary 
 characteristic of this alliance between Church and State 
 
1894] speech on Welsh Disestablishment Bill 293 
 
 was not the bestowal of privileges upon the Church by the 
 State, but rather the imposition by the State upon the 
 Church of certain limitations. We have heard a good deal 
 about religious equality ; but I would venture to remind 
 the House that there is a thing still more important than 
 that — a condition precedent to it — and that is religious 
 liberty. It may fairly be claimed for the Anglican Church, 
 and will not be denied even by those who are least friendly 
 to her, if only they are unprejudiced, that, regulated as she 
 has been by her relations with the State, and strengthened 
 thereby in a temper of moderation, she has been throughout 
 the centuries the greatest bulwark against spiritual tyranny, 
 and has afforded the best safeguard of religious freedom. 
 If we seek a contrast, need we look further than to some of 
 the provisions in Mr Gee's now celebrated scheme, or to the 
 spirit which animated a speech to which we have listened 
 this afternoon t 
 
 I ask leave now to say a few words on the existing 
 situation in Wales. I shall not attempt on the present 
 occasion to go into the details of statistics, but shall refer 
 only to some general features of the case. The most im- 
 portant fact concerning the Established Church in Wales is 
 the well-known one that in the course of this century she 
 has experienced a great revival of activity, and that her 
 progress in this respect continues. This is, indeed, admitted 
 on all hands. I am content to quote one out of many 
 Nonconformist testimonies. On November 20, 1883, a 
 Conference on disestablishment was held at Carnarvon, 
 when a Dissenting minister read a paper, afterwards pub- 
 lished by the Liberation Society. He fully and fairly 
 recognised the renewal of energy in the Church. He then 
 said : ' I know that this revived activity in the Church is 
 taken by some as an argument why we should leave the 
 Church alone, and allow it to go on doing good ; but I ' — 
 he added with great frankness — 'but I take the argument 
 
294 -^^^ Richard J ebb [1894 
 
 to be quite the reverse.' Would it be possible to find 
 better confirmation of a remark made on Thursday last 
 from this side of the House, that the present moment had 
 been chosen for the attack, because it was seen that the 
 Church was so rapidly gaining ground? In view of this 
 progressive activity, why should it be beyond hope that the 
 Church in Wales should gradually win back some at least 
 of those who are now estranged from her, and establish 
 with the rest a satisfactory modus vivendit So natural is 
 such a hope, that supporters of this or a similar measure 
 have more than once felt constrained to notice it in this 
 House; — it was referred to by Mr Watkin Williams in 
 1870, and last year by the Hon. Gentleman who then sat 
 for Montgomeryshire [Lord Rendel] ;— but in each case the 
 answer given was the same : it was summed up in the 
 words * Too late.' ' Too late ' is a sorrowful answer, when 
 the question is one of reconciliation between different 
 Christian denominations ; and I decline to accept those 
 words as a final reply to such a question, without, at all 
 events, further examination. My first reason for refusing 
 to abandon the hope to which I have referred arises from 
 the history of Nonconformity in Wales. I shall not adduce 
 any recondite facts, but merely such elementary facts as are 
 well-known, or can be learned from books accessible to all. 
 What was the origin of Welsh Nonconformity? The 
 Right Hon. Baronet, the Member for East Denbighshire 
 (Sir George Osborne Morgan), once said in this House that 
 the cause of Welsh Dissent could be summed up in two 
 words, ' English Bishops ' : and, rightly understood, that 
 statement is quite true, though it requires to be supple- 
 mented. Under the Tudors and Stuarts, when forty-four 
 Welshmen in succession occupied sees in Wales, the Welsh 
 people were well affected towards the Church. The change 
 dated from the Revolution. Then began the policy of 
 filling the Welsh sees with Englishmen, who not only were 
 
1894] speech on Welsh Disestablishment Bill 295 
 
 ignorant of the Welsh language, but seldom had much 
 sympathy with Welsh traditions. That was the cause 
 which first estranged the Welsh people from the Church. 
 But there was also another cause — the extreme poverty of 
 the Church in Wales during the eighteenth century. A 
 writer in the Quarterly Review for January, 1890, states 
 that in the year 1720 there were in the diocese of St David's 
 no fewer than 233 livings of less value than £^0 a year, and 
 154 of these were worth less than ;^30 a year. This penury 
 necessarily crippled the work of the Church, and bred dis- 
 content. Along with these things came that torpor and 
 apathy which unhappily was not peculiar at that period to 
 the Church in Wales, but affected, more or less, the entire 
 Church of England. It was under these circumstances that 
 the old Welsh Methodism took its rise. That movement 
 was begun by Welsh Churchmen ; it arose within the 
 Church ; it remained within the Church ; and it was always 
 entirely friendly to the Church. In proof of that, it is 
 enough to recall one or two of the names which to this day 
 are household words in Wales. Daniel Rowlands lived and 
 died a Churchman ; so did Griffith Jones, the father, as he 
 has been called, of national education in Wales, and the 
 originator of the itinerant ministry ; so did Howell Harris, 
 the great lay preacher, who is buried, if I remember right, 
 near the altar of the Church of Talgarth — by his own 
 desire, because it was at the rails of that altar, he said, that 
 he had first experienced a sense of his own shortcomings. 
 Meanwhile, what was the position of Welsh Dissent? 
 During the eighteenth century, Welsh Dissent, as distin- 
 guished from Welsh Methodism, was confined to small 
 numbers of three denominations — Baptists, Independents 
 and Presbyterians. Early in the present century (in 181 1) 
 came the great separation of Nonconformists from the 
 Church in Wales ; but that separation was not associated 
 on the part of the Nonconformists with any such tone; or 
 
296 Sir Richard J ebb [1894 
 
 attitude towards the Church as we unfortunately now see in 
 some Hon. Gentlemen opposite. Thomas Charles of Bala, 
 who left the Church, retained, to his death in 18 14, a strong 
 affection for it. In 1834 the Methodists held a meeting at 
 Bala, which was attended by some 500 preachers and elders 
 from various parts of Wales. At this meeting a recom- 
 mendation was proposed by a Methodist from Anglesea, 
 and seconded by another from Pembrokeshire, which con- 
 tained these words : — 
 
 * That we deeply lament the nature of that agitation, 
 now so prevalent in this kingdom, and which avowedly has 
 for its object the severing of the National Church from the 
 State, and other changes in ecclesiastical affairs. We 
 therefore are of opinion that it pertains not unto us to 
 interfere in such matters ; and we strenuously enjoin upon 
 every member of our connexion to meddle not with them 
 that are given to change.' 
 
 I will add only one other illustration, which brings us to 
 a still later date — the testimony of a witness who ought to 
 carry weight with Hon. Gentlemen opposite, for he was in 
 politics a strong Liberal ; in his early life he had suffered 
 for his sympathy with Dissenters, in the matter of tests at 
 the Universities ; he was one of the most eminent men who 
 ever occupied the See of St David's; he had acquired, I 
 believe, some knowledge of the Welsh language, and he 
 certainly felt a deep interest in the Welsh people — I mean, 
 of course, the scholar and historian, Connop Thirlwall. In 
 June, 1869, he gave his vote in another place for the second 
 reading of the Irish Church Bill, and prefaced that vote by 
 a speech in which he incidentally touched on the alleged 
 analogy between the case of Ireland and the case of Wales. 
 He observed that in Wales Nonconformists were not divided, 
 on any essential matter, from Churchmen, in a greater de- 
 gree than some Churchmen were divided from others. I 
 quote this remark for one purpose onlyj it shows that 
 
1894] speech on Welsh Disestablishment Bill 297 
 
 Thirlwall, a man of singular candour, was wholly un- 
 conscious, in 1869, of any general hostility or bitterness 
 towards the Church on the part of Nonconformists in 
 Wales. The phrase, ' alien Church,' as applied to the 
 Church in Wales, is, in truth, of very recent coinage. I can 
 give the House a convincing proof of that. When Mr 
 Watkin Williams, in 1870, introduced his Motion for dis- 
 establishment in Wales, he used these words : — 
 
 ' The Church Establishment in Wales is an ancient and 
 venerable institution. It is not, like the Church in Ireland, 
 an alien Church, thrust upon the people by a conqueror 
 and an oppressor. It is not, I think I am right in saying, 
 regarded by the people with any feelings of hostility. In- 
 deed, in many cases, it is regarded with feelings of venera- 
 tion and affection.' 
 
 When the Right Hon. Baronet, the Member for East 
 Denbighshire (Sir G. Osborne Morgan), employed the 
 phrase ' alien Church ' the other evening, he did not con- 
 fine it to the historical sense of ' alien,' as denoting a 
 Church of foreign origin, but also spoke of the Church as 
 fundamentally foreign to the character and temper of the 
 Welsh people ; it was too ' cold ' and ' formal ' for them. 
 In other words, he used the term 'alien' so as to include 
 the sense of ' uncongenial' Those words, I confess, rang 
 strangely in my ears. I could not help wondering whether 
 the Right Hon. Gentleman remembered how, in the last 
 century, great congregations flocked together in Wales, 
 from the mouth of the Conway to the mouth of the Wye — 
 and to hear whom "> To hear the founders and leaders of 
 the old Welsh Methodism — clergymen of the Church of 
 England, who used the Anglican Liturgy. It is recorded 
 that the impressive voice of Daniel Rowlands was never 
 heard with greater effect than when he recited the Litany 
 of the Church : and by how many gravesides in Wales have 
 not Welsh hearts been touched and Welsh sorrow soothed 
 
298 Sir Richard J ebb [1894 
 
 by that most tender and pathetic of all religious formularies, 
 the ritual which this ' cold and formal ' Church has ap- 
 pointed for the burial of the dead ? Then can hon. 
 members opposite forget one signal benefit with which this 
 * alien Church ' must be perpetually associated in the minds 
 of Welshmen? They are justly proud of their native 
 language ; they regard it as a principal symbol of their 
 nationality. The first complete version of the Scriptures 
 in Welsh was brought out in 1588 by a clergyman of the 
 Church of England, William Morgan, afterwards Bishop of 
 St Asaph, who revised Salesbury's Welsh version of the 
 New Testament, and prefixed to it his own translation of 
 the Old. This work was produced under the auspices of 
 the then Archbishop of Canterbury. And when, a genera- 
 tion later (in 1620), a revised edition of Morgan's Bible — 
 that which is still, I believe, in general use — appeared, by 
 whose aid was it brought out ? By that of Parry, Morgan's 
 successor in the See of St Asaph, and Dr John Davies, 
 Rector of Mallwyd in Merionethshire. A Welsh scholar 
 has described this version as 'the book which fixed the 
 Welsh language, and is to all practical purposes the 
 dictionary of the Welsh people.' Thus, at a moment when 
 this language, rightly dear to Welshmen, was drooping and 
 ready to perish, it was enshrined in its noblest literary 
 monument by the action of that ancient Mother, that so- 
 called ' alien Church,' against which, of recent days, it has 
 too often been uplifted in reproach and calumny. Now I 
 would say a word on a topic already touched on by my 
 Right Hon. Friend the Leader of the Opposition (Mr A. J. 
 Balfour). The Home Secretary, in his lucid explanation of 
 the arrangements proposed with regard to the four Cathe- 
 drals in Wales, stated that, in the opinion of the Government, 
 they ' ought to be treated as national monuments.' I must 
 own that the phrase astonished me. The Cathedrals have 
 never been used, and were never intended, for any other 
 
1894] speech on Welsh Disestablishment Bill 299 
 
 purpose than the worship of the Church of England. If the 
 Church in Wales is not a national but an alien Church, how- 
 can these monuments, the Cathedrals, be * national ' ? Or 
 if the meaning is that, when transferred to the new triumvi- 
 rate, they will become national, why then ' monuments ' ? 
 
 I have now given one reason for the hope and the belief 
 that a better understanding between Nonconformists and 
 Churchmen in Wales is not so impossible as is assumed by 
 Hon. Gentlemen opposite, — that reason, namely, which is 
 suggested by the history of Welsh Nonconformity. My 
 other reason is based upon the temper and tradition of the 
 Anglican Church. The Church of England has had its 
 shortcomings and failings, but at almost every period of its 
 history it has known how to conciliate and attract ; it has 
 been an influence tending to soften the sharper conflicts of 
 interests, to harmonise differences, to mitigate the causes of 
 social strife, and to bring people of various classes and 
 divergent opinions into relations of mutual goodwill, or at 
 least of mutual forbearance. Look at the older and greater 
 of the Nonconformist bodies in England at this day ; their 
 tendency is not in the direction of a wider separation in 
 feeling from the Church ; it is rather the reverse. Why 
 should the same influence be doomed to perpetual sterility 
 in Wales, and in Wales alone.-* If I were a Welshman, 
 there is nothing that I should be more sorry to say, or to 
 hear said, of my country, than that it was the only part of 
 the United Kingdom where the conduct of the people was 
 inaccessible to an agency of conciliation, and where their 
 ears were for ever sealed against a message of peace. 
 
 Suppose this Bill becomes an Act, and the Church in 
 Wales is disestablished and disendowed ; in Wales the 
 consequences will fall most heavily on the poor. I have 
 not uttered a syllable in disparagement of Nonconformist 
 ministration ; but it is recognised, I believe, by many 
 earnest Nonconformists that the Church in Wales, through 
 
300 Sh^ Richard J ebb [1894 
 
 its parochial system, has been enabled to do a work which 
 it was not in their own power to do. If this Bill passes 
 into law, the possibilities of such parochial work will be 
 greatly circumscribed ; and the poor will be the chief 
 sufferers. Again, the partial diversion to educational pur- 
 poses of funds taken from the Church will not compensate 
 the poorest classes in Wales for the extinction or disable- 
 ment of the Church Voluntary Schools ; in the diocese of 
 Llandaff alone there are now 30,000 children at those 
 schools. Then turn from Wales to England at large, and 
 consider what the effect will be, if the principle of this Bill 
 should be embodied in law. Every diocese not already 
 disestablished and disendowed will thenceforth exist at the 
 mercy of local agitation. It will only be necessary to 
 show, or to allege, that in Cornwall or Yorkshire a local 
 majority exists against the Established Church, and the 
 diocese concerned must go. The Right Hon. Baronet, the 
 Member for East Denbighshire, said in 1870 : — 
 
 ' I do not like this long agony of piecemeal dis- 
 establishment. It is like putting a man to death by 
 tearing him limb from limb.' 
 
 Yes, it is like that — but with a difference. In ancient 
 and in modern times we hear of men being slowly hacked 
 to pieces ; but that was not after a mere condemnation of a 
 leg or an arm ; it was after some sort of trial held, and 
 some sort of judgment passed, on the person who was to be 
 dismembered. I thank the House for the patience with 
 which it has heard me — especially I thank those Hon. 
 Gentlemen representing Wales from whom I differ so com- 
 pletely on this question ; no word has fallen from me, I 
 trust, which could embitter this great controversy : but I 
 contend that, before this Bill pass into law, we who oppose 
 it are entitled to ask that the Government should take the 
 collective sense of the country upon the fate of the Church 
 as a whole." 
 
1894] Church Defence Meetings 301 
 
 The Bill did not pass. Three important measures 
 which the Government were bound to press stood 
 in front of it. Its supporters were compelled to 
 wait in expectation of better fortune next time. 
 
 On May 12th, Professor Jebb presided at an 
 influential meeting in Cambridge and spoke again 
 on the same subject; also on the i8th at a meeting 
 of the University Church Defence Society of which 
 he was President. On the 29th in response to an 
 invitation from the Archbishop of Canterbury he 
 joined a small committee formed by Dr Benson to 
 consider and advise upon the steps to be taken to 
 meet this Welsh Disestablishment Bill. *' Although 
 it may come to nothing," said the Archbishop, *'we 
 are not in the same position as before its formulation, 
 and I think we ought to see our way to affecting 
 opinion in the other direction by using it as a text." 
 
 The Church was much stirred by the attack on 
 her position, and all over the country this summer 
 meetings were held, at many of which Jebb was 
 asked to speak. The points he most dwelt on in 
 his speeches were these — that the benefits of the 
 Established Church were not confined to her own 
 members ; that she was not endowed by the State 
 but by the liberality of her own children ; and that 
 she was the especial heritage of the poorer classes. 
 
 The next time he had occasion to speak in the 
 House was on the Cambridge Corporation Bill, on 
 May 4th. It was a measure which settled many 
 controversies between the town and the University ; 
 and his constituents were very anxious that it should 
 
302 Sir Richard J ebb [1894 
 
 pass as it stood. The Bill had come before a Com- 
 mittee of the House as unopposed, but considerable 
 opposition arose when the order for the Third 
 Reading was discussed. However at the division 
 the House declared for the Third Reading and the 
 Bill finally became law. The Mayor of Cambridge 
 thanked Professor J ebb for the help he had given 
 in piloting the Bill through its last stages. 
 
 It grieved him that the output of his literary 
 work was so slight, but when it is realized that he 
 lectured steadily through the October and Lent 
 Terms and fulfilled all the other duties of Regius 
 Professor of Greek, in addition to parliamentary and 
 public engagements, the wonder is that so much was 
 done. In the beginning of the year 1894 he wrote 
 an Essay on Lord Tennyson for Mr T. Humphry 
 Ward's English Poets and the Introduction for his 
 Electra, as well as an appendix and full index. 
 After Parliament began and the many Committees 
 — Church, Education, and Classical — started their 
 regular meetings, what time was spared from these 
 was given to composing speeches and addresses in 
 answer to requests from constituents. Not till the 
 end of July could he put pen to paper in the work 
 he loved. I can almost hear the sigh of satisfaction 
 with which he wrote in his diary on Saturday, July 
 28th : '* Ajax, crit. notes 1-20. Ajax Com. i — 5 " ; 
 and feel the pang of another entry on August 14th : 
 '' During this week suspended my work on Ajax, in 
 order to write on the Educational Power of Journal- 
 ism for the Institute of Journalists." The Institute 
 
1894] Death of Arthur J ebb 303 
 
 met in Cambridge this summer, and the article was 
 an address to be given to them in the Hall of 
 Trinity on their first evening. 
 
 The Christmas vacation was devoted to reading 
 reports of the Assistant Commissioners and making 
 notes for his own report, Part I. of the Report of 
 the Secondary Education Commission. 
 
 On December 6th the diary records a great loss 
 for us and the many who knew and loved Arthur 
 Trevor Jebb. ''Got up at 7.30 to work at lecture. 
 At 9.30 C. sent for me. Telegram to say that 
 Arthur was dead." His sister's husband had died 
 of pneumonia at the comparatively early age of 
 fifty-five. Mr Stanley Leighton, M.P., in speaking 
 at a meeting in Ellesmere prefaced his remarks by 
 a reference to this loss. 
 
 "A voice that I had hoped to hear to-night is silent 
 now for ever, and we have lost a councillor and friend, who 
 brought to the occupations of our country life, to business, 
 and to amusement, an intellectual flavour, and an interesting 
 individuality, which we shall sorely miss. His criticism 
 was as kindly as it was keen. Arthur Jebb and I were 
 educated at the same Oxford College of Balliol, and in 
 early manhood were influenced by the same stimulating 
 mental and moral forces. We did not always think alike 
 but we always knew how to respect each other. 
 
 *A fugitive and gracious light he sought, 
 Shy to illumine; and we seek it too. 
 
 This does not come with houses or with gold. 
 With place, with honour, and a flattering crew; 
 
 'Tis not in the world's market bought and sold.' 
 
304 Sir Richard J ebb [1895 
 
 When we leave our home for the last time, may our record 
 be blameless as his. A legacy to us his life-work has 
 bequeathed, to discuss with candour difficult problems, and 
 to use courtesy to our fellows in controversy." 
 
 At the first meeting of the Hellenic Society in 
 1895, its President paid a fitting tribute to the 
 memory of the late Sir Charles Nev^ton, vi^ho had 
 been one of the Society's principal founders, and 
 whose death had occurred since the last meeting. 
 After sketching the chief events of Newton's life, 
 J ebb dwelt upon what he had done for archaeology : 
 *' His many honours, academic or public, were prized 
 by him in proportion as he took them to be recog- 
 nitions, not merely of eminence generally but of 
 success in the precise aims he had set before himself. 
 The chief source of satisfaction to him in his later 
 years was to think that classical archaeology had 
 gained so much ground in England and that he had 
 helped it forward; but this feeling was deeply tinged 
 with melancholy ; he thought of himself as the leader 
 through the wilderness who was not to enter the 
 promised land. There are minds perhaps in which 
 a lifelong conversation with the past so confirms the 
 habit of retrospect that the difficulties of earlier 
 years always loom large even after later successes ; 
 so at least it seemed to be with him. But to others 
 it will appear that however distant the point gained 
 in his lifetime may have been from his ideal, still 
 the cause to which he rendered such abundant 
 service was already gained before he died." 
 
1895] speeches in Parliament 305 
 
 Professor J ebb was elected a member of the 
 Council of the Society of Antiquaries on February 
 14th. 
 
 In February the Scotch University Commission 
 Ordinances were again the subject of debate. Jebb 
 spoke on the 28th, and was told that his speech had 
 won several votes for his side. A friend in Edinburgh 
 wrote : 
 
 " From three different sources I heard to-day of your 
 speech as the feature of the debate. One of my corre- 
 spondents writes — * Jebb made a lovely speech, putting his 
 points with the most beautiful delicacy and precision.' We 
 owe you a world of thanks, and not now for the first time.'* 
 
 The vote went against the Government by a 
 good majority. 
 
 When the Welsh Church Disestablishment Bill 
 came up for the second reading in March, Jebb 
 again made one of his characteristic speeches. One 
 point he dwelt on was the exact meaning of a word 
 frequently used in the debate. 
 
 " Having followed these debates with great care, he 
 thought that the word 'nation' had been used in two 
 different senses, and that for the purpose of the present 
 argument it was of the highest importance to distinguish 
 between them. ' Nation ' in the primary sense referred 
 to the origin of a people ; it was equivalent to ' race.' No 
 well-informed person would deny that Wales contained the 
 elements of a separate nationality, and that the marks of a 
 separate nationality belonged to the majority of persons 
 who now inhabit Wales. Those marks were — descent from 
 that ancient Celtic race who were the earliest inhabitants 
 of this island, the history and the geographical conditions 
 J. M. 20 
 
3o6 Sir Richard J ebb [1895 
 
 of Wales having contributed to preserve a continuous strain 
 of British blood ; a distinct character, and, to some extent, 
 a distinct physical type ; a language which, though not 
 spoken by all who call themselves Welsh, was regarded by 
 all with a just pride and affection ; a considerable body 
 of distinctive customs and traditions. The great Puritan 
 poet of the Commonwealth had described the Welsh as 
 *An old and haughty people, proud in arms'; though when 
 he said ' proud in arms,' Milton probably did not contem- 
 plate such a warfare as was now being waged. But * nation ' 
 had also a political sense, relative to unity of government 
 and allegiance ; as, for example, when the High Court of 
 Parliament was called 'the great Council of the nation.' 
 It was in this sense that the Church was national, because 
 it held a special relation to the State, not because its 
 members were all, by descent, of one stock. But the 
 argument from nationality, as used in these debates, had 
 implied that the Welsh were a separate nation, not only 
 in the racial sense, but in the political sense also — that was 
 to say, that they had a right to deal with an institution 
 common to England and Wales as if its fate could be 
 determined by Wales alone\" 
 
 Life was very full for him at this time. Work 
 was incessant, but none of it was slave's work. He 
 was keenly interested in its every aspect. That 
 illness should suddenly prostrate him when all his 
 energies were in such full exercise was a hard 
 fortune. On June 6th the diary records : '' British 
 School at Athens meeting. To-day caught the chill 
 with which my long illness began." 
 
 He went to Farringford on the 7th notwith- 
 standing, hoping benefit would come from the sea 
 * Hansard's Parliamentary Reports. 
 
1895] Illness 307 
 
 air, but was forced to take to his bed on arriving. 
 He never forgot the devoted care Lady Tennyson 
 gave him. 
 
 To THE President of Magdalen. 
 
 "Ashley Gardens, 
 
 June i^thy 1895. 
 
 Please excuse my writing in pencil. I am con- 
 fined to bed with rheumatism On Monday I 
 
 was just able to travel up to London from Farring- 
 ford, being forced to go to Cambridge on Tuesday 
 for a meeting of examiners. On Tuesday evening, 
 when I got back here, I was worse and have been 
 in bed (except for an hour or two daily) since then. 
 My doctor at first gave me hopes of being able to 
 go to Oxford to-morrow ; but my progress is slow ; 
 and this evening it was clear that the thing was 
 impossible. There seems to be a fate against my 
 bringing my wife to Magdalen. She is as much 
 dissatisfied as I am, but there is no help for it. 
 Illness could have come at no more unfortunate 
 time, for besides the visit to Oxford, there are 
 engagements on Monday at the House of Commons 
 and elsewhere, which I may very likely have to 
 break. I was looking forward to having a good 
 talk with you about many things. 
 
 I am to be sent to Switzerland or some place of 
 the kind in July, I believe. It is hard to realize 
 that there are moments when the only sound 
 economy of time is to be idle for a while. I am 
 afraid I have reached such a moment...." 
 
 20 — 2 
 
3o8 Sir Richard J ebb [1895 
 
 On Tuesday, the i8th, he insisted on going 
 down to the House to move an amendment on 
 the Welsh Bill with a view to preserving the four 
 cathedrals to the Welsh Church. He made a speech 
 recommending the amendment to the consideration 
 of Mr Asquith, and had the great satisfaction, after 
 a long debate, of its being accepted. Many letters 
 of thanks and congratulation came to him on the 
 success of this amendment. 
 
 Diary y Wednesday, June \(^th. "Went to Com- 
 mission, but w^as suffering so much from acute 
 rheumatism that I had to leave at noon." He 
 fretted very much at not being able to get to the 
 House the next day, which proved to be the last 
 day of the Welsh Bill in Committee. 
 
 A crisis was approaching for the Liberal Govern- 
 ment. They were defeated on the 21st by a 
 majority of seven on an amendment moved by 
 Mr Brodrick. On Monday the resignation of Lord 
 Rosebery's Ministry was formally announced by 
 Sir William Harcourt, and on Wednesday Lord 
 Salisbury accepted office. The dissolution came 
 directly after. 
 
 J ebb was well enough to be present at a large 
 meeting of the British School at Athens on July 9th. 
 The meeting assembled in St James's Palace in 
 response to an invitation from the Prince of Wales 
 (now King Edward), who graciously took the chair. 
 Of course money was urgently wanted — it is wanted 
 still — but the speeches showed that in the course 
 of its nine years of existence the School, though 
 
1895] Re-election to Parliament 309 
 
 contending with difficulties, had pursued the aims, 
 and had in no small measure fulfilled the hopes, which 
 were set before it at its inception. '' Unfortunately, 
 for want of funds, it could do little in the way of 
 exploration," said Mr Egerton, the British Minister 
 at Athens, " and in this respect it was not flattering 
 to our national pride to mark the contrast with the 
 activity of other schools." 
 
 On the 13th of July, Jebb, having been duly 
 invited according to University etiquette to permit 
 himself to be nominated, was for the third time 
 elected, together with Sir John Gorst, to represent 
 the University in Parliament. 
 
 Meanwhile the rheumatic attack which had been 
 checked, not cured, returned with severity. After 
 sending off Part I. of the Secondary Education 
 Report now finally revised, he went to Aix-les-Bains 
 for the remainder of the summer. This illness left 
 him very much changed in appearance — not in the 
 face, for that seemed to grow finer with every year 
 of life — but in figure he was never straight again. 
 The attack permanently stiffened one shoulder and 
 produced a slight contraction on that side, which 
 made walking for any considerable distance un- 
 comfortable. In the course of his walks, which 
 had hitherto been one of his chief pleasures, he had 
 composed many of his Greek and Latin translations, 
 as well as the Greek Ode for Bologna, and most of 
 the inscriptions that were so frequently demanded 
 of him. Mr William Clark remembers Professor 
 
3IO Sir Richard J ebb [1895 
 
 Jebb telling him that he had translated almost the 
 whole of Abt Vogler in one long solitary walk, 
 without a book. " I don't think I could believe 
 this," adds the Headmaster of Eton, to whom the 
 recollection was told, ''of any other man that ever 
 lived." 
 
 Some other method of exercise had to be found. 
 Riding, one of the pleasures of his Glasgow days, 
 was tried and proved as little suitable as walking. 
 Then he was advised to get a tricycle, and here to 
 our delight was found the perfect means. He could 
 cycle for long distances with ease and enjoyment. 
 He grew very fond of the exercise and would often 
 join our cycling parties when we went far afield to 
 see some church or point of interest. His health 
 greatly benefited by so much fresh air in cheerful 
 company. An account was carefully kept in his 
 diary of each day's run and the month's total. At 
 the end of the year the numbers were compared with 
 those of the year before, and he was slightly un- 
 happy unless the latest year was the winner in the 
 competition. 
 
 The baths at Aix were of benefit to him ; and a 
 quiet September at home, of which the mornings 
 were devoted to Ajax and the evenings to cycling, 
 completed the cure. When term began he was able 
 to do his University work and fulfil all engagements 
 with no sense of strain. He had accepted the 
 Presidency of the Teachers' Guild for 1896, and his 
 first duty in the New Year was to give an address 
 at the annual conference in January. In search of 
 
1896] Letter from Scotland 311 
 
 a subject he consulted an old friend, Dr Storr, who 
 wrote : 
 
 " I do not think you could improve upon the old but 
 ever new theme of the * Humanities.' You need have 
 no fear of the scientists. All who are teachers and not 
 fanatics will acknowledge with Huxley that literature must 
 form the common basis and — to the end — a main ingredient 
 of character. What I hope you will see your way to do is 
 to treat the subject in relation to the Guild, i.e., to talk of 
 the Humanities in connexion with democracy. We are a 
 democratic body, embracing all sorts and conditions of 
 men and women ; I should like you to bring out how 
 literature and not science is the connecting link between 
 the different grades." 
 
 On March i6th Jebb spoke at the Mansion 
 House on behalf of the East London Church Fund, 
 at the request of Dr G. F. Browne, then Bishop of 
 Stepney. Oddly enough, this little speech is men- 
 tioned in a letter from an old Scotch student, now 
 a Scotch minister. After asking an inscription for a 
 service of church plate, the writer continues : 
 
 " I don't know whether I have been guilty of presump- 
 tion in this matter. I passed through the Greek Class of 
 1882-83, ^i^d I cannot help feeling that I stand related to 
 you in a different way from those who never did so. 
 
 You probably have no idea how closely everything 
 connected with your name is followed with keenest interest 
 in many manses in Scotland. The only speeches in Parlia- 
 ment that are read greedily, with the complaint that there 
 are not more of them, are those by you. Just lately a stray 
 copy of the Church Times came into the house where I am 
 staying, and the first thing read in it was a short speech by 
 
312 Sir Richard J ebb [1896 
 
 you at the Bishop of Stepney's meeting. Mr Froude speaks 
 somewhere of Carlyle's influence over him as being more 
 than everything else : whatever he wrote he penned with 
 Carlyle's judgment before him. I may say the same of 
 your influence over my own mind. My experience is not 
 singular in this ; I have heard it expressed very strongly 
 by many others who have been as fortunate as myself in 
 coming through the Greek class in the years they did. 
 
 I remain, 
 
 Yours most respectfully, 
 
 John C. Walker." 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 CONFERENCE ON SECONDARY EDUCATION. VISIT 
 TO THE RIVIERA. VOLUNTARY SCHOOLS' 
 GRANT BILL. SIR JOHN GORST'S EDUCATION 
 BILL. BURIAL GROUNDS COMMITTEE. 
 
 1896— 1898. 
 
 The new Parliament met on February 13th, 1896, 
 with Lord Salisbury as Prime Minister. On the 31st 
 of March, Sir John Gorst, Vice-President of the 
 Committee of Council on Education, introduced an 
 Education Bill in a lucid and able speech. It 
 found many friends among the organizations devoted 
 to education. The National Union of Teachers 
 gave it almost unqualified approval, and indulged 
 in prophecies of the good that would follow its 
 adoption. 
 
 The fate of the Bill is an old story now. It 
 failed then as other Education Bills have failed since. 
 To attempt to explain its provisions here would be 
 needless, but something must be said of it as part 
 of the parliamentary life of Richard Jebb. Keenly 
 interested in its success, he spoke on both the first 
 and second readings, the second speech being held 
 
314 Sir Richard J ebb [1896 
 
 by some to be the finest he had yet delivered in the 
 House. It was described as a " masterly vindica- 
 tion of the principle and scheme of the Bill — all the 
 more weighty and effective because conjoint with a 
 considerable amount of trenchant and independent 
 criticism of questions of detail." Mr Haldane, who 
 rose when J ebb sat down, said, 
 
 "The House had listened to two speeches from the 
 benches behind the Government, both of them by remark- 
 able men*, both of them characterised by unusual felicity 
 of diction and both in defence of the Bill, though in different 
 ways. The speech to which they had just listened was that 
 of an honourable member who represented a University 
 constituency — the very hotbed of the old Toryism — but it 
 was one which might have been made by an Old Liberal." 
 
 Diary, June 22nd. *' Mr Balfour announced in 
 the House that the Bill was withdrawn. He moved 
 * that Mr Lowther do now leave the chain' Debate 
 closed at 9.45 p.m. The Education Bill was dead." 
 
 During the Whitsuntide holidays, J ebb was again 
 laid aside by an attack of iritis. This affection, 
 attributed by the doctors to the rheumatic habit, had 
 in his case a cause much more simple — namely the 
 effect on the eyes of cycling in high winds and rough 
 weather. When he protected the eyes, the attacks 
 ceased altogether and we were relieved from a great 
 anxiety. His eyes were really unusually strong and 
 serviceable. It was a diversion in his illness to 
 receive a letter which had nothing to do with either 
 work or worry. 
 
 ^ Sir Edward Clarke made the other speech. 
 
1896] Election to 'The Club' 315 
 
 From Sir M. E. Grant Duff. 
 
 '''■June lothj 1896. 
 
 Dear Jebb, 
 
 You will have received, I suppose, ere this reaches 
 you, the announcement of your election as member of The 
 Club in the quaint old form suggested by Gibbon, and 
 which is always despatched by the chairman of the night... 
 I was sorry to hear last night from Acton that you were 
 suffering from your eyes. I am selfish enough to hope that 
 your trouble will not prevent you and Mrs Jebb from being 
 at Magdalen with the Warrens on the 13th. I am going 
 there with my daughter, and have been told that we may 
 expect to meet you. 
 
 Yours very sincerely, 
 
 M. E. Grant Duff." 
 
 This Society has a distinguished history. It was 
 founded as a dining club by Sir Joshua Reynolds 
 and Dr Johnson In 1764. The names of Its original 
 members are familiar to us as household words, and 
 at the present day It perhaps stands first among 
 societies of Its kind In London. It possesses two 
 portraits of its founders: one of Sir Joshua presented 
 by his niece, the Marchioness of Thomond ; and one 
 of Dr Johnson, a copy of the Peel portrait in the 
 National Gallery. The total number of members 
 down to 1896 was only two hundred and two. 
 
 In August he permitted himself a short holiday, 
 and we went to stay for a week at Cromer with our 
 friend, Mrs Locker Lampson. It was delightful to 
 see how completely for the time he forgot the 
 existence of such things as Committees and Bills, 
 and even Greek texts ; how he shared In all the 
 
3i6 Sir Richard J ebb [1896 
 
 amusements of the large house-party, the expedi- 
 tions by day, the bright talk, the music, the games 
 in the evenings, and was even one of the chief actors 
 in the charades — wisely taking the benefit of a com- 
 plete rest from his ordinary occupations. 
 
 In October he was elected a Member of the 
 Council of the Senate, his name being on the lists 
 of both academical parties. The meetings of the 
 Council are held on Monday morning, which made 
 it possible for him to attend them and yet be in 
 town in time for the House of Commons. He also 
 became chairman of the Joint Committee of Associa- 
 tions interested in Secondary Education. 
 
 On the nth of November he went to London to 
 attend the special Committee on the Benefices Bill, 
 who were to receive a deputation from the Church 
 Reform League. He had often been on deputa- 
 tions, but this was the first time it fell to his lot to 
 receive one. He came down by the last train, gave 
 a lecture at noon the next day in his class-room, 
 had luncheon in his brougham — his wife like the 
 wives of other labouring men brought it to him — 
 and caught the 1.23 train back to London, where 
 his presence was due at a meeting of an educational 
 committee which met on two consecutive days in 
 every fortnight. Never had he known an autumn 
 so full of engagements, both at Cambridge and 
 London. 
 
 But Christmas was coming. He attended a 
 Committee on the 9th of December, and on the loth 
 
1896] Monte Carlo 317 
 
 we crossed the Channel. From this year dates our 
 custom of spending the Christmas vacation always at 
 one place. On the hillside above Monte Carlo we 
 found a hotel that exactly suited us, sheltered by the 
 mountain on three sides, with the sunny Mediter- 
 ranean on the one exposed side. He felt that here, 
 if anywhere, was an escape from the chills that 
 brought on rheumatism. We chose rooms on the 
 steep side of the hotel, facing south and furnished 
 with French windows opening out on a large marble 
 portico with broad marble steps — a specially de- 
 signed burglar's staircase he called it — leading down 
 through a garden filled with orange-trees and roses 
 to a gate which opened directly on the road. We 
 could go and come unseen by the array of porters 
 and boys in gilt buttons who always spring to atten- 
 tion when anyone passes through the front entrance 
 of a foreign hotel. Even such a little thing made 
 a great difference in his comfort. The attack of 
 rheumatism which had caused us to leave Nice and 
 seek a more sheltered spot was rapidly disappearing 
 when he wrote to his sister. 
 
 "H6tel Prince de Galles, 
 
 PRES D'UNE MONTAGNE, 
 
 /(? 31 Dec.^ 1896. 
 Ma tres-chere sgeur, 
 
 Quand je serai de re tour en Angleterre, 
 je vous enverrai ma contribution pour notre cher 
 indigent. En ce moment, ma tres-chere soeur, je me 
 trouve dans un etat de pauvrete si penible que je 
 
3i8 Sir Richard J ebb [1896 
 
 ne puis pas le faire — du tout, du tout, du tout ! 
 Vous ne voudriez pas, je le crois bien, me livrer aux 
 petits soins de radministration monegasque. 
 
 Recevez nos voeux les plus chaleureux pour le 
 jour de Tan — vous et vos chers enfans. Mon neveu 
 ma ecrlt de lettres charmantes, que je garde dans 
 mon livre de ' Servanda.' Je souffre du rhumatisme, 
 et j'emploie depuis mardi les services d'un masseur 
 suedois, qui me fait pousser les cris d'un pore trans- 
 fixe. Alors, quand le suedois est parti, Mde. ma 
 femme, qui occupe la chambre voisine, se presente a 
 la porte, et m'accable d'injures pour mon peu de 
 heroisme. Elle me raconte Thistoire du jeune 
 homme de Sparte, qui portait le renard sous son 
 manteau. Mais que voulez-vous ? Moi, je n'appar- 
 tiens pas a Sparte ; je suis d'Athenes. 
 
 Nous comptons de quitter cet endroit charmant 
 samedi le 15 Janvier. Ici se trouvent a present le 
 Speaker, le Chief Justice, et tout ce qu'il y a de plus 
 respectable ; rien ne nous manque qu'un archeveque. 
 Ta belle-sceur te salue et tes enfans. 
 
 Ton frere devoue, 
 
 Richard." 
 
 He called the hotel our ** Villa on the Riviera" 
 and always looked forward with pleasure to the 
 weeks to be spent there. A vivid picture comes to 
 me now of his gay spirits when the journey was over 
 and we took possession of our accustomed rooms. 
 " What is the first thing we do '^. We unpack. 
 Allons ! " he would say. The habit of a pleasure 
 
1897] Monte Carlo 319 
 
 was to him one of the most delightful things about 
 It. We always followed as exactly as possible the 
 routine of the year before. We knew the first walk 
 we would take in the morning, the particular cafd 
 that would have the privilege of giving us tea after 
 our first concert, the newspapers we would order. 
 Even our arrangement with the hotel went on year 
 after year with no fresh word said. In our walks one 
 villa had struck us as particularly suited to our tastes, 
 and we decided to buy it when we were old and he 
 had resigned his Professorship. So it was another 
 custom, early in our visit, to go past the villa and 
 inspect It closely, to see if it was occupied or empty, 
 and if the garden was still trim and well kept. It 
 stood high on the hill and was easily seen from the 
 windows of the railway carriage. On our return 
 journey we always looked up over the olive trees 
 to catch a last glimpse of It and to bid It good-bye. 
 
 Professor J ebb spoke in the House on the 
 Voluntary Schools' Grant Bill in February 1897. 
 The speech attracted considerable notice at the time, 
 and called forth a bit of his parliamentary biography. 
 The Daily Telegraph said : 
 
 "Professor Jebb entered the House at a rather late period 
 of life. He remained silent and in the background for 
 some time, but one night he got up in an empty House and 
 delivered a speech on Scotch Universities' Ordinances. 
 The papers made no report of it and three fourths of the 
 Members never heard a word of it ; but if a man makes 
 a good speech, it gets around pretty quickly. The few- 
 people who heard him were immensely struck with his 
 
320 Sir Richard J ebb [1897 
 
 speech, and, from that time, his reputation was made. 
 Last night he delivered the ablest defence of the Govern- 
 ment, slightly academic in tone, but clear, bold, and with 
 the blessed gift of originality of thought and eloquence of 
 language." 
 
 Mr Balfour alluded to this speech later in the 
 Debate. 
 
 " My hon. friend the Member for Cambridge University 
 who spoke on the first night of the introduction of the Bill 
 put the whole argument in a nutshell when he reminded 
 the House that the contribution from the rates (for Volun- 
 tary Schools) was a good reason for giving ratepayers 
 control, and that contributions from taxes was a good 
 reason for giving the representatives of taxpayers control, 
 but that contributions from taxes gave no right to the rate- 
 payers, and contributions from the rates gave no right to 
 the general taxpayers." 
 
 Jebb spoke again in the discussion on the second 
 reading of the Bill on February i6th. The reading 
 was carried by a large majority. Certainly this 
 session there vi^ere no grounds for the accusation 
 so often brought against him that he spoke too 
 seldom in the House. He spoke at some length 
 in favour of the Women's Suffrage Bill, brought in 
 by Mr Faithfull Begg on February 3rd. 
 
 To HIS Wife. 
 
 ^^ March 16, 1897. 
 
 You will have seen that I am reported in the 
 Times leader to-day as having intervened effectively 
 in the debate last night. The question was whether 
 
1897] In the Lobby 321 
 
 Teachers in Voluntary Schools should be put on 
 the new Associations. Courtney went against the 
 Government as usual, urging that they should be put 
 on, to our inconvenience. Hobhouse backed him 
 up. This was too much for your Ancient, who 
 came to the rescue. But the most interesting thing 
 happened in the lobby at the division. A. and B. 
 taunted me with having contradicted Balfour, because 
 I said that the only function of the Associations 
 under the Bill was to advise the Department about 
 distributing the grant, whereas Balfour (they alleged) 
 had said that the Associations were to have other 
 educational functions also. Of course I knew I had 
 not contradicted Balfour's view ; for what Balfour 
 and I had both said (in the previous debates) was 
 merely that the Associations would indirectly tend to 
 educational efficiency and zeal by bringing the 
 managers together and leading them to compare 
 notes about their schools, and to take common coun- 
 sel and action. But I thought I would ask Balfour 
 himself in the lobby. So I said (in effect) to him : 
 * Are you conscious of any conflict between our 
 views ?' His answer was remarkable and gave me 
 extreme pleasure. He replied : — * Absolutely not : 
 you have seen eye to eye with me all through about 
 this, so much so, that on the first night, when you 
 spoke, I said to someone on the Treasury Bench, 
 ** he must have seen the Bill before " : had you seen 
 it?' I said, * No.' And then he went on: — * It 
 is a great satisfaction to me, as my statement was 
 found fault with as wanting in clearness.' " 
 
 J. M. 21 
 
322 Sir Richard J ebb [1897 
 
 To HIS Wife. 
 
 "House of Commons, 
 
 March iZth, 1897. 
 
 You may have seen that I have said a few words 
 again yesterday. I am reported verbatim. The 
 reason I spoke was that Hobhouse, Gray, Courtney, 
 and Lord Cranborne were all urging the amendment 
 from our side against the Government and I wanted 
 
 to redress the balance a little We were asked to 
 
 the Hicks Beach's evening party but I could not 
 go because my toast at the Irish dinner came last 
 and I got away only at 1 1 . 30. I did adequately in 
 my little speech there — no more. 
 
 Yesterday Lord Stanley came to me in the 
 House and said that I was wanted to go down to 
 Manchester and speak at a large meeting about the 
 Education Bill, as Sir H. Fowler's speech some 
 days before had done mischief. I took till to-day to 
 consider. Gorst strongly advises me to go. He 
 thinks it is an opportunity to help. I wish I had 
 you here to consult. I don't think I could exist here 
 long without you. Don't come up on Thursday 
 evening, though, if you feel Mike staying,' as you 
 would say. The Ancient will understand and he 
 does not want to spoil his wife's outing." 
 
 Considerable friction had existed for some time 
 between members of the clergy and dissenting bodies 
 concerning burial rites in the parish churchyards. 
 It was thought that if a Committee were appointed 
 with full powers to take evidence and enquire into 
 
1897] Chairman of Burials Committee 323 
 
 the facts and also the law of the subject, they might 
 arrive at a reasonable settlement acceptable to both 
 parties in the House. Lord Cranborne (now Lord 
 Salisbury) wrote pressing J ebb to be Chairman of 
 this Select Committee. 
 
 " Now comes the naming of the members and, most 
 important of all, the Chairman. In this important position 
 we want not only a man of distinction but a friend, and a 
 man of courage without being a firebrand. As you fulfil 
 these most difficult conditions, may I beg you to accept 
 the post. I have full powers to act. Now please do 1 " 
 
 J ebb was glad to be of use, and willingly accepted 
 the position. 
 
 In July when the Queen completed sixty years 
 of her reign, the Universities presented addresses 
 of congratulation to Her Majesty. That from 
 Cambridge was first drafted by Professor J ebb, and 
 then submitted to the Master of Trinity for criticism ; 
 the final form was determined upon by Jebb. 
 
 A statutory Commission was appointed this sum- 
 mer by the Government to make recommendations 
 with respect to the reconstitution of the University 
 of London. Lord Davy was appointed Chairman 
 and Professor Jebb one of the Commissioners. He 
 was already a Fellow of the University and took 
 much interest in the new scheme. 
 
 In August he was free to turn again for a time 
 to scholarship. He was eager to study the newly 
 discovered fragments of the Greek poet Bacchylides, 
 sent to him by Mr Kenyon of the British Museum, 
 
 21 — 2 
 
324 Sir Richard J ebb [1897 
 
 who was preparing them for publication. When 
 the fragments were put together, the manuscript was 
 so full of gaps that it presented a series of riddles 
 for an acute mind to solve, rather than poems to be 
 enjoyed; and J ebb always liked thinking out riddles. 
 He also had in hand new editions of the first two 
 volumes of his Sophocles, and an introduction to the 
 Greek Text of that author which he was preparing 
 for publication. 
 
 Of our week-end visits this summer that to 
 Somerhill, once the home of Horace Walpole and 
 now the residence of Mr d'Avigdor Goldsmid, was 
 particularly interesting. It was the hop-picking 
 season, and our host took us to the fields where men, 
 women, and children were gathering the graceful 
 clusters into huge baskets, and then to the machine- 
 house where the remorseless machinery was crush- 
 ing their airy beauty into solid masses of mere 
 material. Professor J ebb, who had never before 
 been among hop vines, spent every disengaged 
 moment in the fields, watching the workers with 
 eyes which saw the poetry even more than the 
 drudgery of their task. 
 
 When evening came and we were all commanded 
 to write Acrostics, his was suggested by the day's 
 experience. 
 
 " While life is in my First ! what beauty decks -\ 
 
 That slender shape ! But death transforms the life 
 
 To power which cheers or darkens, builds or wrecks, 
 Makes rich or poor, gives strength, peace, weakness, 
 strife. 
 
1898] An Acrostic 325 
 
 In days gone by, my Second lent her name 
 
 To one whose daughter all the years shall bless. 
 
 My First adorns my Second's crown of fame ; 
 My First completes my Second's loveliness." 
 Lights. 
 
 1. A being, this, whose dignity 
 
 Hangs on the number of his feet : 
 With two, he is a wretched drudge ; 
 With four, smart, valuable and fleet. 
 
 2. Athletes and bathers used to think me good ; 
 And still I can supply both light and food. 
 
 3. Fierce tribesman of the hills, a clear, stern voice 
 Calls thee : Be friend or foe, but make thy choice. 
 
 4. A mighty master bore his people's name, 
 And linked that people's glory with his fame. 
 
 It was a curious accident that when he chanced 
 this same evening to open a book on the drawing- 
 room table, the Letters of William Cory, the first 
 words his eye fell upon were these : 
 
 ''May 12th, 1886. 
 
 I find I can teach much better than I could twenty or 
 thirty years ago, partly because I have, by reading, learnt 
 inore English and have profited by the wonderful supe- 
 riority of the J ebb race of scholars to those of my own day." 
 
 In the beginning of 1898 a good deal of his time 
 was taken up by classical affairs in the University 
 and in particular by the reform of the Classical 
 Tripos. He had presided at a last meeting of the 
 Classical Tripos Committee in October 1897 when 
 
326 Sir Richard J ebb [1898 
 
 the Report was signed. This Report was now 
 submitted to the Classical Board for consideration 
 by that larger body. The meetings were many and 
 long. That on March ist, says the Diary, lasted 
 from 2.15 p.m. to 5.15. As Jebb had to be in 
 London that night, this note is probably the expres- 
 sion of some impatience. 
 
 He was now a member also of the Standing Com- 
 mittee on Law, one of sixteen additional members 
 put on when the two Benefices Bills were referred 
 to this Committee. He was present at the first 
 meeting for the discussion of these Bills on March 
 15th. Thereafter meetings were held twice a week, 
 from noon until the House met in the afternoon. 
 
 Education was still before the House. His first 
 speech in 1898 was to second a motion of Sir John 
 Lubbock proposing to assimilate the English Edu- 
 cation Code in some respects to that adopted in 
 Scotland, where the elementary schools seem to 
 produce better results than in England. Sir John 
 Gorst opposed the motion, explaining that in 
 Scotland these schools had older children and better 
 teachers. After a long discussion the motion was 
 withdrawn. Jebb also spoke at a meeting of the 
 Church Defence Committee on March 29th, to 
 second the first resolution proposed by Lord 
 Cranbrook. This resolution assured the Govern- 
 ment of the hearty support of the Committee, 
 in its determination to pass the Benefices Bill 
 into law. In ending his speech, he drew attention 
 to the fact that the first Benefices Bill was intro- 
 
1898] Benefices Bill 327 
 
 duced by a private member, Mr Lyttelton. Certain 
 modifications of the Government measure were in- 
 corporated into it from Mr Lyttelton's Bill, though 
 not of such a character as in any way to alter its 
 scope or general nature. "I advert to this fact," he 
 added, '' because I think it is fair to remember that 
 the efforts of private members, mostly members of the 
 Church Parliamentary Party, for several years back, 
 have not been wasted — the efforts they have devoted 
 to bringing this subject forward. I can say that, 
 because I am not one who has borne any leading part 
 in those endeavours, although I have always most 
 strenuously supported them. You may remember 
 that in 1896 a private Bill on Church Benefices was 
 brought in by Lord Cranborne. It passed success- 
 fully through the Standing Committee on Law ; we 
 thought it had almost entered harbour, but it was 
 lost on the report stage in the House of Commons. 
 Happily, this year, it is a Government Bill which 
 will come to the trial of the report stage in the 
 House, and there should be little doubt that it will 
 be passed into law." 
 
 The Easter vacation was spent by J ebb at Cam- 
 bridge in a persistent struggle against an attack of 
 rheumatism which he sought to cure by cycling. The 
 remedy was painful, but he was of the stuff that 
 makes martyrs. '' C. and I cycled round Grant- 
 chester, very painful," says the diary of April 7th, 
 and on the 8th, ** C. and I cycled on Barton road. 
 My rheumatism, though still bad, was not quite so 
 bad as yesterday." At first the exercise seemed to 
 
328 Sir Richard J ebb [1898 
 
 promise a cure ; but when rain came later, the record 
 is *' rheumatism worse again to-day — a disappoint- 
 ment after the late improvement. Cycled again 
 with C. but in great discomfort from pain in left 
 side." Recovery, though slow, came before Parlia- 
 ment required his presence in town. 
 
 The Burial Grounds Committee, which had been 
 appointed at the end of the last session, met for the 
 first time on April 26th. Professor J ebb was elected 
 chairman and other preliminaries were settled. 
 Many meetings were held, the last being on July 
 27th, when the report was signed. How the Bill 
 fared is told by Mr Carvell Williams in a letter 
 written in 1905. 
 
 To THE Editor of the Times. 
 
 ^^ December iph. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 I should like to bear my testimony in your 
 columns to the conciliatory spirit manifested by the late 
 Sir Richard Jebb in the conduct of the inquiry in 1898 
 into the alleged grievances of Nonconformists arising out 
 of the operation of the Burial Acts. Under his courteous 
 chairmanship it was possible to collect a large amount of 
 evidence of so conclusive a character that Mr Jebb — he 
 was not Sir Richard then — drafted the report, much to 
 my surprise, in such a way that its statements and pro- 
 posals could be assented to by the Church and Conservative 
 and the Nonconformist sections of the committee. 
 
 Subsequently the late Government brought in a Bill 
 which adopted in their entirety the committee's recom- 
 mendations, which was carried without opposition. Since 
 it came into operation in 1900 there has been a marked 
 
1898] Letter from Mr C. Williams 329 
 
 diminution of the difficulties previously experienced in 
 providing new cemeteries ; and when the vested interests 
 respected by the Act have died out there will be a further 
 abolition of clerical burial fees in cemeteries, ministers of 
 all sorts being paid only for services actually rendered. 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 J. Carvell Williams." 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 DEATH OF MR GLADSTONE. SPEECH ON THE 
 RATING OF CLERGYMEN. LETTERS. ROMANES 
 LECTURE. WAR. CONSULTATION'S COMMITTEE. 
 KNIGHTHOOD. 
 
 1898 — 1900. 
 
 On May 1 9th a great light went out. Mr Gladstone 
 died at Hawarden in his 89th year. The House 
 adjourned that day in respect to his memory. The 
 next day a motion was passed for a public funeral 
 and a monument in Westminster Abbey. 
 
 To HIS Wife. 
 
 " Oxford and Cambridge Club, 
 May 28M, 1898. 
 
 Behold! I enclose certain cards and also an 
 
 invitation from the X.'s for Monday, when we are 
 engaged to dine with the Priestleys : so I have 
 written (not on Club paper but on yours and in a 
 ladylike hand) and declined the X.'s. Don't you 
 bless me '^. 
 
 Went to Westminster Hall : very impressive in 
 its simplicity : stayed over an hour, watching the 
 
1898] Financial Grievance of Clergy 331 
 
 crowd. Coming back I was stopped by the Marquis 
 
 of in a pot hat and smoking a cigar, who asked 
 
 me about it, and remarked that he thought Lord 
 Salisbury had said the right thing about ' the great 
 Christian Man' — * because, if he had said more, it 
 would have looked like humbug.' Simple, but true 
 and sound criticism. I thought it very characteristic 
 of the better side of the English of his class." 
 
 On June 6th the second reading of the 
 Finance Bill came up for discussion in the House, 
 and J ebb spoke earnestly of the serious injustice 
 suffered by the clergy under the present system 
 of rating, considering the great fall in the value 
 of tithe. ''Not until it was disproved that the 
 clergy suffered under an exceptional grievance, such 
 as was suffered by no other branch of the com- 
 munity, could it be denied that it was their right to 
 come to that House and ask for the redress of a 
 great wrong. The clergy did not come in forma 
 pauperis. They asked for their bare rights as citizens 
 — and nothing more. The wholly exceptional burdens 
 under which they laboured must interfere with their 
 opportunities and with the power of discharging their 
 duties. They must also interfere with their energy." 
 He spoke strongly of the difficulty of finding able 
 men willing to enter a profession so overburdened. 
 "Clergymen cannot afford to send their sons to the 
 University so commonly as in former days, nor, when 
 they did come up, could the sons afford to choose 
 their father's profession." 
 
332 Sir Richard J ebb [1898 
 
 The London University Bill was carried on June 
 15th without a division. Jebb was precluded from 
 speaking on it, as he was one of the members of 
 the Commission to be appointed. The Times said : 
 
 "It would have been gratifying to hear Mr Jebb's vindi- 
 cation of a Bill which he approves so heartily that he has 
 undertaken the arduous though unpaid duty of framing the 
 system under which it is to be carried out in detail." 
 
 On the 20th he was one of a number of members 
 of Parliament who went to Portsmouth on a visit of 
 inspection to the dockyard ; he much enjoyed this 
 experience. 
 
 To HIS Wife. 
 
 ''June 20th, 1898. 
 
 Went to Portsmouth and saw everything; 
 
 fully qualified to command modern warship. Awful 
 hay-fever in train on Sunday, — and to-day too : it 
 was the one drawback to my pleasure in the trip. 
 What a plague it is; last year I had hardly anything 
 of it. 
 
 The Benefices Bill drags its weary length along. 
 I was paired till 9 p.m. and have already had one 
 division this evening : will have more 
 
 Your most affectionate 
 
 R. C. Jebb, R.N." 
 
 To HIS Wife. 
 
 *'July 12th, 1898. 
 
 After a long day of toil, I am going to indulge 
 myself in the luxury of writing to my wife. I went 
 
1898] Meeting at Toynbee Hall 333 
 
 yesterday evening after an early dinner at the House 
 to Toynbee Hall by the Underground, arriving 
 there at 7.40. There was a large drawing-room 
 meeting of representative people interested in the 
 Pupil Teacher question, — including Mr McCarthy, 
 the Chairman of the Birmingham School Board. I 
 did not make an opening speech, but only a few 
 short remarks — as the time was so short — and then 
 turned on the first speaker, Mr Ernest Gray, M. P. 
 (Johnny's friend). About five or six other people 
 spoke, and we finished soon after ten o'clock. Be- 
 fore leaving Toynbee Hall — in fact while talking to 
 Mr McCarthy — I realised the awful fact that I 
 had NOT GOT MY LATCHKEY. And I had to go 
 back to the House till 12 ! When released from my 
 duties there, I hurried to Sloane Street, where I 
 arrived at 12.15. Knocked and rang. No answer. 
 Knocked and rang again. At length Hanksius ap- 
 peared in deshabille, and I made my excuses for 
 having called him up. He was angelic, and this 
 morning gave me another latchkey — for mine was 
 not to be found. 
 
 I went to my Committee this morning. We sat 
 from 12 till 4, with 20 minutes for luncheon, and 
 agreed on a good many points for the Report. — Then 
 I had to write out a long revised memorandum on 
 those points for the printers, which took me till about 
 5.45. Then went (after a division) to the House of 
 Lords, and was in time to hear the Duke defend 
 Johnny. (I was in the Commons' gallery.) It was 
 admirably done — loyal, chivalrous, generous, and all 
 
334 ^^^ Richard J ebb [1898 
 
 this without concealing his disapproval of what Gorst 
 had said (quoting from an Inspector) against squires 
 and parsons. Then Lord Londonderry got up, 
 and, after congratulating Johnny on having such a 
 defender, pitched into him with great severity. I 
 heard the noble Marquis say to a friend as he left 
 the House that the onslaught on Voluntary Schools 
 had * made his blood boil.' Next came Lord Halifax 
 with a few words, and Lord Kimberley finished the 
 debate. All this time Johnny (by his right as a Privy 
 Councillor) was on the steps of the throne, — at first 
 standing, afterwards sitting. I saw 'Toby, M.P.' 
 who writes the Punch letter, in the gallery, watching 
 him. It was a very interesting, almost a dramatic 
 scene. The net result of it will be to make the 
 whole affair seem bigger. The House of Lords was 
 crowded, at the bar and in the Commons' gallery, 
 with visitors from the other chamber, and there were 
 many ladies. The papers will have leading articles. 
 But I think Johnny is all right: though there will be 
 a great deal of talk. 
 
 Balfour came and sat down by me in the Tea 
 Room yesterday, and talked in a very cordial 
 way. He certainly is gifted with a great charm of 
 manner. 
 
 To-morrow I go with Boscawen to Tunbridge 
 Wells, to stay the night. I have got all the bones 
 for my speech. 
 
 The Report will, I see, be a heavy job. They 
 have settled now that I am to present it on Monday, 
 the 25th : some of them could not come on Friday, 
 
1898] Meeting at Charterhouse 335 
 
 the 22nd. That means that I shall not be free 
 before July 31st." 
 
 To HIS Wife. 
 
 ''July 22nd, 1898. 
 
 I was so glad to get your letter this morning. I, 
 too, had a hard day yesterday. At first I had meant 
 to give up going to Godalming for the meeting of 
 the Charterhouse General Board, but in the morning 
 I determined to go, as I had sent off the first part 
 of my Report to the printers on Wednesday after- 
 noon, and could not finish the rest until a meeting 
 of the Church members of the Committee had been 
 held, which was fixed for 5.30 p.m. yesterday. So 
 I went by the 10.15 a.m. train from Waterloo to 
 Godalming, and got there at 11.55. The General 
 Board met at 12.15. Haig Brown was in the chair, 
 and Rendall, the new Headmaster, was there. After 
 lunching with the Kendalls (she is nice), I returned to 
 town with another Governor, Lord Rollo — a pleasant 
 elderly gentleman, once at Trinity, who had been 
 everywhere on the Riviera apparently, except at the 
 'Mountain,' which we never mentioned. The train 
 was only about half an hour late, which is good for the 
 South Western, and I was at the House by 5. After 
 tea, we had our meeting at 5.30, — Lord Cranborne in 
 the chair, — and decided on the scheme for commuting 
 ecclesiastical fees in cemeteries which we are to 
 support. Then I went to my secluded gallery (in 
 which I am now writing), and worked at my Report 
 from 7 till 11.30 (after tea and toast, for I knew 
 
33^ Sir Richard J ebb [1898 
 
 that dinner would make me too dyspeptic, and I 
 had practically dined at luncheon). My work was 
 frequently interrupted by divisions, but fortunately 
 we were usually Noes, and from the No lobby you 
 can get into my gallery directly you have passed the 
 tellers, without waiting for 'Unlock.' At 11.30 I 
 had sent off my ms. (the last batch) in a registered 
 letter to the printers, and went to the smoking room, 
 where I had a cigar, and met my dear old Scotch 
 friends X. came to talk to me. He said one thing 
 that interested me. The Government want to bring 
 in a Bill for a Roman Catholic University for Ireland, 
 but would be glad (X. thought) if private members 
 of some standing would give them a lead ; and X. 
 proposed that he, Courtney, I, and perhaps one or 
 two others, should bring in such a Bill. We should 
 be assured of Balfour's support. We are to talk 
 about it in the autumn. I like the idea. 
 
 I have been working all the morning at correcting 
 my proofs, and have sent off the first batch. More 
 will come this evening, but I can dine all right 
 to-day." 
 
 '' Tuesday, July 26th, 1898. 
 
 I was so glad to get your letter this morning, 
 and I wrote at once to Lord Walslngham, to say 
 that we should be delighted to see him from August 
 23rd to 26th. 
 
 My report was very well received by both sides: 
 Indeed, I am very much gratified by the cordial things 
 ' An alias for whisky and soda. 
 
1898] Burials Bill Committee 337 
 
 that have been said to me by Nonconformists and 
 Churchpeople alike. The publication of the summary 
 of our recommendations in the Times to-day was a 
 piece of sharp practice on the part of their lobby 
 correspondent, who must have obtained possession 
 of the document, with * Private and Confidential' 
 printed on it. Indignation is felt by our Committee 
 as a whole, but we fear that some member of the 
 body may have been indiscreet ; it is improbable that 
 the printers are to blame. Other Committees have 
 suffered from the same cause, and the notice of the 
 House has often been drawn to it, but no way of 
 preventing the evil has been discovered. C. moved, 
 to-day, an addition to the Report which caused the 
 first division that has occurred ; but there was no 
 possibility of preventing it. We (the Churchmen 
 on the Committee) would have been in a difficulty if 
 we had resisted him, as he is our leader in the House. 
 I did what I could to avert the division, but in vain, 
 though I was supported by the real feeling of our 
 majority. To-morrow we meet (probably for the 
 last time), to settle the question about fees and com- 
 pensation. This is the real crux, and on this it is 
 impracticable to obtain unanimity. Still, as no minority 
 report has been presented, our report will go to the 
 House as unanimous, and the division of feeling on 
 certain points will be formally expressed only when 
 the Government bring in a Bill on our report next 
 year. On the whole, I look back with satisfaction 
 on this piece of work. Both sides have expressed 
 to me in warm terms their appreciation of my work 
 
 J. M. 22 
 
338 Sir Richard J ebb [1898 
 
 as chairman, and I have the satisfaction of thinking 
 that I have contributed to the harmonious working 
 of our committee, and to the arrival at a result which 
 will go far towards settling a burning question. 
 
 On Thursday I go to Croydon to stay with 
 Brodie for the night ; on Friday morning I give his 
 prizes, and on that afternoon return to London." 
 
 To HIS Wife. 
 
 ''July 27//^, 1898. 
 
 It is a relieved and more or less cheerful Ancient 
 who writes to you. We actually finished our Re- 
 port this morning, at the third sitting, and at 1.15 
 p.m. (we met at 1 1) our labours were over! At the 
 end, a vote of thanks to me was moved by a Non- 
 conformist, seconded by a Churchman, supported by 
 others on both sides, and carried unanimously. I 
 was praised for my draft report, — for my 'suavity 
 and impartiality' In the Chair, and for other qualities 
 too familiar to my wife to require recapitulation in 
 this place. Aweel. I then went over the corrections 
 etc. with the Clerk (a process which I have performed 
 daily), and then the Clerk furnished me, after the 
 quaint custom of the House, with a 'dummy' Report, 
 — simply a blank sheet of paper, folded, endorsed 
 'Report' &c., and tied with a green ribbon. This I 
 handed in to the Clerk at the Table ; that is 'pre- 
 senting' the Report to the House. The real Report, 
 as finally passed, will be circulated next week. It 
 will cause lively interest in funereal circles through- 
 out the country. So my labours are ended. Every- 
 
1898] Church Congress 339 
 
 body says that there never was a committee on such 
 a controversial subject whose proceedings from first 
 to last were so entirely harmonious. Probably I 
 may have the chance of other such jobs in the future. 
 I feel much more interest in the House since I have 
 had this work to do, because it is not like making an 
 ephemeral little speech ; you feel that you are doing 
 some solid work which is practically useful, and which 
 will stand on record. 
 
 The Archbishop of Canterbury has asked me to 
 be one of two members of the House of Commons 
 who, with two peers, are to serve on an Educational 
 Committee of the National Society about pupil 
 teachers. It will not meet till the end of October, 
 and as I already know the subject in outline (it was 
 the subject of the meeting at Toynbee Hall), it will 
 not give me much trouble." 
 
 Professor Jebb's name was on the list of speakers 
 at the Church Congress which was to meet this year 
 at Bradford at the end of September. His accept- 
 ance of the invitation had been conditional ; but letters 
 came to him from the Bishop of Ripon and others 
 urging him to come : — ** As a matter of fact we are 
 not sure of either Lord Shaftesbury or Mr Gerald 
 Balfour and we really regard you as our chief 
 speaker on the subject. Please — please — do not fail 
 us," wrote the Bishop — and he could not find it in 
 his heart to refuse. The Diary of September 22nd 
 says : *' No time for cycling to-day. First day I 
 have missed since August 8th. Worked all day at 
 
 22 — 2 
 
340 Sir Richard J ebb [1898 
 
 writing address for Bradford." The Congress was 
 not till the 29th, but we intended, while in the 
 North and before the Congress, to go to Wallington, 
 the Northumberland seat of his old friend Sir George 
 Trevelyan, whom he had long wished to visit. The 
 subject of his address was "Our Imperial Policy." 
 It is much too long to give even in epitome, 
 but the first paragraph may perhaps interest the 
 reader. 
 
 " It has been said by an able writer that the national 
 virtues of the Anglo-Saxon have their mainspring in a 
 sense of duty, as those of the Frenchman in a power of 
 sympathy. The Englishman is perhaps rather apt to be 
 unsympathetic and unappreciative ; but he is resolute in 
 pursuing the course which he believes to be right. I have 
 sometimes thought that a good imaginary dialogue on 
 Colonisation might be furnished by a conversation between 
 two persons who, knowing the English and the French 
 type of character, are discussing (at some bygone period) 
 which of the two is the more likely to succeed in colonial 
 enterprise and in the work of governing alien races. How 
 plausible it would have seemed to predict that the greater 
 success would inevitably fall to the more sympathetic 
 character, to that expansive genius which can seize and 
 expound foreign ideas, — especially when joined, as it is 
 in the French, to a briUiant courage and to a gift for 
 logical organisation. The Anglo-Saxon, it might have 
 been urged, would fail, through his unsympathetic nature, 
 in understanding or conciliating those among whom he 
 settled or whom he strove to rule. Experience has shown, 
 however, that the Anglo-Saxon qualities do very well for 
 Colonial and Imperial purposes. The truth is that the 
 elementary functions of Government, especially that of 
 
1898] speech at Church Congress 341 
 
 protecting life and property, are far the most generally- 
 important to the governed. Most people care more about 
 having reasonable security against being robbed or murdered 
 than about meeting with a graceful appreciation of their 
 finer gifts. The Englishman has succeeded by dint of his 
 dogged resolve to maintain law and order, and to see justice 
 done, wherever he undertakes to govern. And it is quite in 
 keeping with the earnestness of the English character, that, 
 in our earliest colonising days, such enterprise was regu- 
 larly associated with the idea of enlarging the bounds of 
 Christendom. This is expressly recognised, for instance, in 
 the charters given to Sir Humphrey Gilbert and Sir Walter 
 Raleigh. When Barbados was granted in 1627 to Lord 
 Carlisle, the charter stated that this was done, not only 
 for the purpose of 'enlarging his Majesty's dominions,' 
 but also for that of * propagating the Christian faith,' Yet 
 it is natural, — indeed, it was inevitable — that a sense of the 
 moral responsibilities which Empire imposes should have 
 come to Englishmen only by degrees, — after the first rough 
 work of planting colonies and building up power had been 
 done. Only then, when Englishmen surveyed the result 
 from a central point of view, could they adequately realise 
 the duties which such a heritage involves." 
 
 In November he accepted another invitation to 
 give an address. 
 
 To THE President, Magdalen College, Oxford. 
 
 "Nov. 22nd, 1898. 
 
 Many thanks for your letter. I feel greatly 
 honoured by the Vice-Chancellor's kind invita- 
 tion to give the Romanes Lecture, but I tremble 
 a little v^hen I think of predecessors and critics, 
 friendly though I am sure the latter will be. I have 
 
342 Sir Richard J ebb [1898 
 
 been reading Gladstone's Romanes Lecture. The 
 subject was too vast, but the ability and industry 
 shown in it are truly marvellous, when one re- 
 members the time at which he wrote. I was struck 
 by his perfect and chivalrous courtesy to the sister 
 University. ' O si sic omnia.' 
 
 The London University Commission is just be- 
 ginning its sittings — and — as you may suppose — 
 I have no superabundance of leisure just now. 
 Among other things a movement is going on here 
 for modifying our Classical Tripos : it will possibly 
 reach some definite result next term. I hear that 
 at Oxford something of the same kind (or at least 
 in regard to the same studies) has been mooted, but 
 that no action has yet been taken. 
 
 I have an article in the Quarterly Review for 
 October on the Catalogue of Printed Books in the 
 British Museum, a vox clamantis in deserto — uttered 
 on behalf of some men of letters who have the idea 
 of reprinting very much at heart. Of course I knew 
 from the first that it w^as a forlorn cause ; but there 
 seemed to be no harm in stating it." 
 
 Many things came to an end on December 9th, 
 Full Term among the rest. The Diary says : 
 " Finished the first draft of article on Greek Litera- 
 ture for Greek Aids and took MS. to Press. Finished 
 redrafting of the Regulations for Classical Tripos. 
 Went to Pitt Press Syndicate at 2.30 p.m., and at 
 5 p.m. to Commemoration Service in Trinity Chapel. 
 Day ended with commemoration dinner in Hall." 
 
1 898] Election to Professorship of Royal Academy 343 
 
 The next day we started on our journey to the 
 Riviera. The first letter forwarded to him after 
 our arrival at ** The Villa" was very gratifying. 
 Honorary degrees had long ceased to be exciting, 
 but to be made Professor of Ancient History at the 
 Royal Academy of Arts was of quite another colour. 
 The distinction gave all the more pleasure for being 
 so entirely unexpected. It involved neither emolu- 
 ments nor duties and did involve several privileges. 
 
 "Royal Academy, 
 
 December i^th^ 1898. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 I have the honour to inform you that at a 
 meeting held on the 5th inst, your name was submitted by 
 the President to fill the office of Honorary Professor of 
 Ancient History rendered vacant by the death of the Right 
 Honourable William Ewart Gladstone, and was unani- 
 mously approved. 
 
 I am, Sir, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 Fred. A. Eaton, 
 
 Secretary." 
 
 There are only four honorary members of the 
 Royal Academy, namely, a Secretary for Foreign 
 Correspondence, an Antiquary, a Professor of Ancient 
 Literature, and a Professor of Ancient History. 
 The first Professor of Ancient History was Oliver 
 Goldsmith, who said, on being appointed, that it 
 was like giving a man lace ruffles when he had no 
 shirt. The second was Gibbon. 
 
344 '^'/r Richard J ebb [1899 
 
 Early in 1899 London University received its 
 new charter, and in February *' Victoria, by the Grace 
 of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and 
 Ireland, Queen, etc.," appointed "her Trusty and 
 
 Well-beloved Richard Claverhouse Jebb to be 
 
 a Fellow" in it. 
 
 Two important Conferences were held in Cam- 
 bridge in April. He took the Chair and spoke at 
 the first — on the Church's Mission — in response to 
 a request from his friend Canon Armitage Robinson 
 (now Dean of Westminster). 
 
 "Christ's College, 
 
 February i^jth^ 1899. 
 My Dear Dr Jebb, 
 
 May I ask you kindly to consider whether we 
 might hope that you would speak at the opening of the 
 Conference referred to in the enclosed paper ? 
 
 I have been largely responsible for the selection of the 
 subject, and I am very desirous that the imperial side of 
 the Church's Mission work should obtain adequate recogni- 
 tion. 
 
 I know that every one looks to you to help them, and 
 I am most unwilling to add to your burdens. But we do 
 want to have your voice to give a breadth to the treatment 
 of this subject at the outset." 
 
 He felt himself in duty bound to take an active 
 part in the second Conference, that of the National 
 Union of Teachers. A member thus described the 
 impression he made while speaking : 
 
 " Professor Jebb is a man of unruffled calm ; dignified 
 without hauteur or pose ; refined, without the least trace of 
 
1899] Deputation to the Archbishops 345 
 
 the 'superior-person' element; he wins respect immediately, 
 and one feels that there stands before the Conference 
 a scholarly man, a man of distinction, a University man of 
 the very best type. His enunciation is clear and leisurely ; 
 one hears nothing but the purest English, no rhetoric, 
 nothing but what is in the very best taste, and the whole is 
 illumined by a delicate humour.... He concluded his speech 
 by a plea for recognition on the part of the teacher of his 
 patriotic function." 
 
 We had found some difficulty in making comfort- 
 able arrangements for our stay in town, now that our 
 week-ends were spent in Cambridge and our servants 
 remained there. This year we leased and furnished 
 a flat in Whitehall Court. 
 
 To HIS Wife. 
 
 '■^ May ist^ 1899. 
 
 I was so glad to get your letter this morning. 
 When you come back on Wednesday, we will dine 
 together either at Whitehall Court or at your club — 
 for I have written and excused myself from the 
 Clothworkers' dinner. Then I can go quietly on to 
 the Royal Society about 9.15. 
 
 I went with the small deputation to the Arch- 
 bishops this morning. It was really very pleasant 
 and interesting. There were only about twelve of 
 us. We stood or sat before their two Graces, each 
 of whom spoke — characteristically and well. York 
 was better than Canterbury, / thought. Lord 
 Ashcombe drove me back to Westminster, and then 
 I went home to the flat, and stayed there till I came 
 to the House at 3.15 1 shall dine at the Literary 
 
34^ Sir Richard J ebb [1899 
 
 Society, having got a pair, and return to the House 
 afterwards. 
 
 To-morrow I have to go to a Church meeting 
 (E. Lyttelton asked me) at 2, and then to the 
 London University Commission. In the evening 
 there is the Club (Lord Wolseley), but I am not 
 sure yet whether I shall go. 
 
 Do you know, I go on liking the flat very much. 
 I don't think we have ever been more comfortable." 
 
 On the 7th of June we went to Oxford for the 
 Romanes Lecture. His subject was Humanism in 
 Education. The theme began with an account of 
 the Italian Renaissance, and in the course of the 
 address he told the following very beautiful story in 
 illustration of the value of Humanism in training 
 statesmen. ''In 1762, at the end of the Seven 
 Years' War, Robert Wood — he himself tells the 
 story in his ' Essay on the Original Genius of 
 Homer' — being then an Under-Secretary of State 
 took the preliminary articles of the Treaty of Paris 
 to the President of the Council, Lord Granville ; who 
 was ill, and had indeed but a few days to live. See- 
 ing what his condition was. Wood proposed to 
 withdraw ; but the Statesman replied that it could 
 not prolong his life to neglect his duty, and then 
 quoted in Greek from the Iliad the words of Sarpe- 
 don to Glaucus : ' Ah, friend, if once escaped from 
 this battle, we were ever to be ageless and immortal, 
 I would not myself fight in the foremost ranks, nor 
 would I send thee into the war that giveth men 
 renown ; but now — since ten thousand fates of death 
 
1899] Prizegiving at St Olaves 347 
 
 beset us every way, and these no mortal may escape 
 nor avoid — now let us go forward' * He repeated 
 the last word to/xei', several times,' says Wood, ' with 
 calm and determined resignation, and then, after 
 a pause, asked to hear the treaty read.' " 
 
 This same month Jebb was appointed a Member 
 of the Standing Committee on Law in respect of the 
 Board of Education Bill, which had come down from 
 the Lords. He was active both in proposing amend- 
 ments in committee and in speaking in favour of the 
 Bill in the House. He spoke at length on the 26th 
 at the second reading and, more briefly, several 
 times as different points arose in debate. The pro- 
 gress of the Bill was so slow that he began to despair 
 of its ever getting to the Report stage. 
 
 On July 27th he gave the prizes at St Olave's 
 School, Southwark. Anything historical appealed 
 to him, and he watched with interest the presenta- 
 tion to the Warden of a bunch of red roses ; 
 St Olave's had been endowed in 1656 with sixteen 
 acres of land in Horsleydown to be held for 
 500 years, for a yearly rent of a red rose — this 
 bunch of roses was the rent. 
 
 To HIS Wife. 
 
 ''House of Commons, 
 July 2'jth. 
 
 My function went off very well, and I really found 
 it interesting. 
 
 First, I went to the old Church of St Olave's in 
 Southwark, and heard the Master of the Temple 
 
348 Sir Richard J ebb [1899 
 
 (AInger) preach. Then we all walked to the School : 
 I gave the prizes ; then made a speech (successful) ; 
 then the boys did some acting and reciting ; and the 
 affair ended at 5.30 p.m. 
 
 On returning to the House, I found Anson very 
 anxious about the Education Bill. They do not 
 know when it will be taken ; perhaps Monday next 
 — perhaps Tuesday (the day when I have to go to 
 Chigwell School in Essex). There is a dire rumour 
 that the Government may drop it altogether. If 
 they do, it will be a great mistake. Gorst talked to 
 me about the Duke's answer to Lord Morley. The 
 Duke said there were to be three Assistant Secre- 
 taries ; Gorst wants only two 
 
 I think I shall have to stay here to-morrow for 
 the Transvaal debate. In any case I shall of course 
 come home on Saturday morning. 
 
 I am disheartened about the Education Bill, and 
 do not know when I shall be released from attend- 
 ance at the House. I may have to stay till Thursday 
 next, or even to go up on Monday, August 7th." 
 
 His forecast was too pessimistic. The Bill was 
 read a third time on August ist. 
 
 In September we spent a most interesting week 
 at Skibo Castle as the guests of that remarkable man, 
 Mr Andrew Carnegie. The part of his new property 
 that appealed to him most at that time was his 
 salmon river. *' Talk about owning twenty thousand 
 acres," he said in effect. " You can't see them, 
 you can't walk over them, you can't realise your 
 
1899] Visits in Scotland 349 
 
 ownership. The imagination can hardly grasp the 
 difference between twenty thousand and one thou- 
 sand — except as mere figures. But it can take in, 
 and please itself with, the possession of this leaping, 
 rushing stream." From Skibo we went to Sir 
 Robert and Lady Finlay at Nairn for a fortnight, 
 where one of us tried most perseveringly but in 
 vain to learn golf. He came back from Scotland 
 refreshed for the work and engagements of the 
 October Term. 
 
 War with the Transvaal broke out in October 
 1899, 3-^<^ ^11 other interests paled before the one 
 great interest — success for our arms. But home 
 affairs must still go on, and Parliament must give 
 time to the usual business of the country, though 
 the thoughts of all Englishmen were across the 
 Equator. The London University Commission re- 
 commenced its regular meetings after the Long 
 Vacation, and so did the many other Committees of 
 which J ebb was a member. Parliament assembled 
 on the 19th of October, and Mr Chamberlain made 
 his famous speech, which lasted two hours and forty 
 minutes, in defence of the Government's policy in 
 the Transvaal. 
 
 In the autumn a meeting of the whole University 
 was held in the rooms of the Union Society at 
 Cambridge. J ebb spoke, among others, in favour 
 of a War Fund to be raised in aid of the soldiers' 
 and sailors' families ; the resolution was carried with 
 acclamation. 
 
350 Sir Richard J ebb [1899 
 
 A deputation, of which Professor J ebb was 
 spokesman, waited upon the Home Secretary on 
 October 23rd, to urge the introduction during the 
 next session of a Government Bill to settle the 
 questions dealt with by the Select Committee on 
 Burial Grounds. It was in one respect unique in 
 character, for Churchmen and Nonconformists, Con- 
 servatives and Liberals, were represented upon it. 
 The unexpected harmony that had prevailed in 
 J ebb's Committee had its counterpart at the inter- 
 view. Sir M. White Ridley responded that he had 
 already had a Bill prepared on the lines of the 
 Committee's Report, and that he would do his best 
 to have it included in the programme of the coming 
 session. He said that, upon a difficult subject which 
 naturally carried strong feelings on both sides of it, 
 there had seldom been a Committee which did more 
 honest work, and, on the whole, came to a compro- 
 mise which was so likely to last. 
 
 At the end of the year, in answer to a com- 
 munication from Sir Michael Foster, Secretary of 
 the Royal Society, an informal meeting was held in 
 J ebb's study at Springfield to discuss the formation 
 of a British Academy. At this first meeting there 
 were present only the late Lord Acton, the late 
 Dr Sidgwick, and himself. The communication 
 from the Royal Society was to the effect, that if, as 
 was contemplated, an International Association of 
 Academies was formed, there was no Society in 
 England that could claim admission as representing 
 
I poo] British Academy projected 351 
 
 the subjects embraced in the Literary Section. (The 
 International Association was to consist of two 
 sections, one devoted to Natural Science, and the 
 other to Literature, Antiquities, and Philosophy.) 
 As matters stood, while all other countries would be 
 represented on the two sections, the United Kingdom 
 would only be represented on the Scientific Section. 
 It was not for the Royal Society to suggest a remedy, 
 but they wished to make the facts known to eminent 
 representatives of the branches of knowledge in- 
 cluded in the Literary Section. 
 
 The small meeting decided to call a larger meet- 
 ing in London for further discussion of the matter. 
 Such a meeting was held on the 14th of December 
 in the Society of Antiquaries' rooms, and many dis- 
 tinguished men were present. A vote was carried 
 in favour of making an attempt to form an Academy 
 which should represent History, Philology, and 
 Moral and Political Science. There for the present 
 the matter rested. 
 
 The London University Commissioners, after 
 many sittings, laid the statutes they had framed for 
 that University before the Houses of Parliament 
 in February 1900. J ebb had taken an active part 
 in framing these, both as Commissioner and as 
 Fellow of the University, and was well pleased 
 when the last stage was reached. Another Bill 
 in which he was concerned came up before the 
 House for second reading on April 30th, and was 
 read without a division — the belated Burials Bill. 
 J ebb said a few words in recommending the Bill to 
 
352 Sir Richard J ebb [1900 
 
 the House. He spoke at much greater length on 
 the 3rd of May, when he opened the debate on 
 the new Education Code by moving a resolution 
 in which approval was expressed of the proposals 
 contained in the Code for day-schools, and in the 
 Minute of the Board of Education. He vindicated 
 the principle of the *' block grant" as against the 
 other principle of special grants for special subjects. 
 " To pack together snippets of knowledge," he said, 
 **on the most lucrative plan is not to give the people 
 
 education in any real sense Henceforth the grant 
 
 will be determined by the educational work of the 
 school and the intelligence of the teaching." There 
 was no real opposition to the motion, and it was 
 carried nem. con. at midnight. 
 
 Professor J ebb's name was included in the list of 
 Honours which appeared on the Queen s birthday. 
 A little history is attached to his acceptance of 
 knighthood in 1900. Three years earlier he had 
 received this letter. 
 
 From Professor (now Sir George) Darwin. 
 
 ''May 24, 1897. 
 My Dear Jebb, 
 
 Liveing has been here just now with the 
 inquiry as to whether you would accept a knighthood, and 
 I undertook to write to you on the subject. The Duke of 
 Devonshire is bringing your name forward for that or some 
 other honour. Liveing gathers that a baronetcy has been 
 suggested to Lord Salisbury but has no information as to 
 whether it will be offered. The Master of Magdalene has 
 written personally to the Duke on the matter." 
 
I poo] Knighthood 353 
 
 Knighthood was respectfully declined. Jebb 
 would have accepted a baronetcy for a reason 
 peculiar to himself. When Dr Jebb, the famous 
 physician, was made a baronet, George the Third 
 offered to include the name of his heir in the patent. 
 Judge Jebb — then a mere lad — when consulted, 
 demurred. He had his own way to make and to 
 be heir to a baronetcy with only a small fortune 
 attached would hamper him. " But for this de- 
 cision," said his grandson in discussing the question 
 with me, '' I should now be the fourth baronet. 
 No, I won't be a knight." 
 
 But three years later the Master of Corpus, 
 Dr Perowne, who had originally asked him to be- 
 come a candidate for the University representation 
 in Parliament, and had always been one of his 
 staunchest friends and supporters, sought an inter- 
 view with him. To his great surprise he found 
 that the Master had been much disappointed at his 
 declining knighthood in 1897. Dr Perowne thought 
 it becoming that the Member for Cambridge should 
 be distinguished by some honour ; and he intimated 
 that other influential constituents shared this view. 
 Jebb answered that if he had known at the time 
 that such feeling existed, he would have acted 
 differently. When the honour was offered again in 
 1900, it was at once accepted. 
 
 The first letter of congratulation received was 
 from the Vice-Chancellor. The paragraph with 
 which it ended bore out Dr Perowne's assertion on 
 which Jebb had acted, that his acceptance of knight- 
 
 J. M. 23 
 
354 ^^'^ Richard J ebb [1900 
 
 hood would please his constituents. *' We rejoice," 
 said the Vice-Chancellor, '' not only for your sake but 
 also because the University may be allowed to claim 
 some share in a compliment paid to one of its most 
 distinguished members and its Representative in 
 Parliament." He was dubbed by the Queen at 
 Windsor on June 30. He conceived a very tender 
 and reverent feeling for the gracious Lady who had 
 been on the throne through the whole of his life ; 
 the honour gained a value in his eyes when received 
 from her hands. From Windsor he came on to 
 Fulham Palace for what proved to be our last visit 
 to the Bishop of London and Mrs Creighton. 
 Before the spring came again that eminent man 
 had passed ''from the ranks of the combatants to 
 those of the spectators." 
 
 An Order in Council, constituting a permanent 
 Consultative Committee to the Board of Education, 
 was laid before both Houses in June. Early in July 
 the Members of this Committee to the number of 
 eighteen were appointed. The country received 
 some of the nominations with scant approval. Sir 
 R. C. J ebb and Dr Gow of Westminster were among 
 the few names supposed to possess the confidence of 
 the schoolmasters — at least so said one of their cir- 
 culars. A meeting was held at the College of 
 Preceptors to consider the possibility of establishing 
 a Federal Educational Council, and many hard 
 things were said of the lack of enthusiasm in matters 
 educational on the part of the Government. "As to 
 the promised Consultative Committee," Mr Yoxali 
 
ipoo] Parliamentary Business 355 
 
 said, "teachers would renounce it altogether — the 
 members would not be representative." 
 
 By request — it was rather out of his own line — 
 Jebb introduced a Bill to amend the Medical Acts. 
 Hitherto there had been only one measure of punish- 
 ment for delinquents — erasure from the medical 
 register. The Council desired power to vary the 
 punishment according to the misconduct. He also 
 introduced Lord Monks well's Copyright Bill which 
 had come down from the Lords, though with small 
 hope that the Bill could be dealt with so late in the 
 session. Convocation also wished for power to 
 reform their constitution, and before he left town he 
 introduced their Bill. Then, having finished his 
 business in the House, he paired for the remainder 
 of the session. 
 
 To such base uses do men come that he was 
 asked to furnish notes for an election poster — which 
 he did quite cheerfully. After reading to his wife 
 this rousing appeal ''to the Electors," he turned the 
 same hour, with the feeling of having come to his 
 own again, to the writing of a lecture on Macaulay 
 for the University Extension students, whose 
 annual meeting was to be held in Cambridge in 
 August. 
 
 In July he went to Paris to attend the Congress 
 of Higher Education as the representative of the 
 Cambridge Syndicate. He began the chief work of 
 the first day, after the election of officers, by giving 
 abrief history of the extension movement in England. 
 As he stood there with his beautiful face and singular 
 
 23—2 
 
356 Sir Richard J ebb [1900 
 
 refinement, speaking in his clear melodious voice, 
 not an Englishman was present who did not feel 
 proud of him — so said Mr Hartog, another repre- 
 sentative, in describing the scene. 
 
 The Macaulay lecture was successful. Mr R. D. 
 Roberts, the Secretary for the Lectures, wrote: ''We 
 are immensely indebted to you for what I have heard 
 described as the 'great lecture of the Meeting.' 
 There is a strong desire that it should be pub- 
 lished " : — as indeed he knew, for application had 
 come to him from three publishers. It was brought 
 out in book form by the Pitt Press. 
 
 On August 28th Professor Henry Sidgwick died, 
 and thus there was broken for J ebb an almost life- 
 long friendship. Cambridge never seemed quite the 
 same to him again, when it was no longer possible 
 *'to consult Sidgwick," or to be cheered by that 
 delightful mind. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 RE-ELECTION. DEATH OF THE QUEEN. DEPUTA- 
 TION TO MR BALFOUR. IRISH UNIVERSITY 
 COMMISSION. 
 
 1900 — 1901. 
 
 The dissolution of Parliament came on Sep- 
 tember 25th. Sir John Gorst and Sir Richard Jebb 
 were re-elected on October ist, their '* Address to 
 their Constituents " and their thanks ** for the high 
 honour conferred upon them " appearing in the same 
 number of the Cambridge University Reporter : so 
 quickly was everything done. In November Jebb 
 was also re-elected member of the Council of the 
 Senate, his name being on the tickets of both 
 academical parties. 
 
 The new year began with another loss for us, 
 when Dr Sidgwick's very dear friend, Mr F. W. H. 
 Myers, followed him to the shades. He died at 
 Rome in January after a long illness. 
 
 The Queen died on January 22nd, 1901, in the 
 82nd year of her age and the 64th of her reign. 
 The Vice-Chancellor wrote to Sir Richard on the 
 29th, *'to say formally that I am trusting to you to 
 prepare the address of condolence and congratulation 
 
35^ Sir Richard J ebb [1901 
 
 which the Council agreed yesterday to propose 
 
 You may be glad to be reminded that the Addresses 
 for many years back are preserved in Cooper's 
 Annals. I have certified this as far as George I." 
 The address ran as follows : 
 
 ''TO THE KING'S MOST EXCELLENT 
 MAJESTY. 
 
 May it please Your Majesty, 
 
 We, Your Majesty's most dutiful sub- 
 jects, the Chancellor, Masters, and Scholars of the 
 University of Cambridge, humbly approach Your 
 Royal Presence, to offer the expression of our deep 
 sympathy with the great sorrow which has befallen 
 Your Majesty and the British Empire. In common 
 with all our fellow-subjects, we mourn the beloved 
 Queen, whose lofty example of devotion to duty, and 
 whose great qualities of character and heart, had won 
 for Her, in a supreme degree, the universal rever- 
 ence and affection of Her people. To the personal 
 influence of the Sovereign it was largely due that the 
 changes, political and social, which occurred under 
 Her reign were effected in tranquillity, and that the 
 progressive expansion of Her dominions was not 
 accompanied by any weakening of unity. Her 
 profound knowledge of affairs, Her singular sagacity 
 in difficult questions of government and legislation, 
 the wonderful sureness and delicacy of Her judgment, 
 have constantly been attested by the Statesmen who 
 were called to Her counsels. They alone could 
 
ipoi] Address to the King 359 
 
 measure the whole extent of our debt to Her personal 
 care and wisdom. But all can estimate the vast 
 accession of strength which the nation derived from 
 the devotion which She inspired, a devotion which 
 was the fairest pillar of our State and the dearest 
 bond of a world-wide Empire. By the virtues and 
 the graces of Her own high nature the Queen 
 elevated Her people. While She was the ideal of 
 a constitutional Ruler, She was also a pattern of pure 
 and generous womanhood, one whose simple charm 
 came home to the humblest, touching them with 
 a sense of human kinship in the deepest needs of 
 human life. Her reign has been an age in which 
 every kind of good work or worthy effort has been 
 fostered by the favour of the Sovereign, and has 
 been lifted to a higher level by such encouragement 
 as only the Sovereign could bestow. With deep 
 thankfulness we recognise that this great reign, 
 which marks an era for our country, has been the 
 most beneficent in its annals ; and, in the hour of 
 bereavement, we reverently acknowledge those in- 
 calculable blessings to the Empire and to mankind 
 which will be associated for all time to come with 
 the name and the memory of Queen Victoria. 
 
 In offering to Your Majesty the humble expres- 
 sion of our condolence on this solemn occasion, we 
 beg leave also to tender our respectful congratula- 
 tions on Your Majesty's accession to the Throne of 
 Your Ancestors, and to assure You of our loyal 
 attachment to Your Majesty's Person. The heart- 
 felt good wishes which greet the commencement of 
 
360 Sir Richard J ebb [1901 
 
 Your Majesty's reign are nowhere more earnest 
 than in the ancient University of which Your 
 Majesty is a Member, over which the Illustrious 
 Prince, Your Majesty's Father, once presided, and 
 which is bound by so many ties of affection, gratitude 
 and sympathy to Your Majesty and Your Royal 
 House. We humbly pray that, under the blessing 
 of Divine Providence, Your Gracious Majesty may 
 long reign in the hearts of a free, contented, and 
 united people, whose love is the heritage of Your 
 Throne ; and that, amidst the duties and cares of 
 Your exalted station, Your Majesty and Your 
 august Consort may be attended by every happiness 
 which the devotion of Your subjects could desire." 
 
 Sir Richard also wrote similar addresses for the 
 Hellenic and other Societies. 
 
 At a meeting of the Church Parliamentary Com- 
 mittee in February, 1901, he was elected chairman 
 in succession to Lord Cranborne, who announced 
 his resignation on taking office in the Government. 
 He was also appointed a member of the Royal 
 Commission on Irish University Education recently 
 authorised by Parliament. He accepted with reluctance 
 and only after much pressure. How time was to be 
 found to attend the meetings, he could not divine. 
 
 After a winter of hard thinkinof and strenuous 
 work it was a relief to put everything aside and go 
 to Glasgow to take part in the ninth Jubilee of 
 Glasgow University. Of course during the week of 
 the function there were banquets and celebrations at 
 
ipoi] Glasgow University Jubilee 361 
 
 which he had to speak, but all was delightfully gay 
 and amusing. Our hosts, Mr and Mrs MacGeorge, 
 were old friends with whom it was a pleasure to stay, 
 and our fellow-guests, the late Lord Dufferin and 
 Lord Glasgow, made a perfect house-party. Sir 
 Richard wrote some Greek elegiacs in honour of the 
 occasion, and some other Greek verses for the "Muster 
 Roll of Angus,'* a volume meant to be a tribute from 
 the County to the University and, at the same time, 
 a memorial of the soldiers who went from Forfar- 
 shire to South Africa. 
 
 One of his first duties after returning to London 
 was to preside at a meeting of the Modern Languages 
 Association held in the Queen's Hall to urge the 
 necessity of giving the study of modern languages a 
 more prominent position at the seats of education. 
 
 To HIS Wife. 
 
 ^^June 26th, 1 90 1. 
 
 The feeling among statesmen is that they wish 
 to goodness it was Saturday. Well, the Modern 
 Languages business is over — a long, but rather in- 
 teresting affair it was, from 3 to 5.15. My address 
 was, I think, successful in its own way. Then there 
 was Sir Hubert Jerningham, a diplomat and Colonial 
 Governor, who spoke English, but told us stories 
 in the most perfect French, with mimicry : he was 
 educated in Paris and speaks the language even 
 better than others. And there were other more or 
 less interesting speakers. To-morrow is the Hellenic 
 Society's meeting and on Friday there is the meeting 
 
362 Sir Richard J ebb [1901 
 
 about the Academy — and then — Saturday. I wish 
 you could see to-day's Westminster Gazette : a picture 
 of the Duke (as a schoolboy) followed by Gorst, 
 saying to 'Clara' (Arthur Balfour) — 'Stop! that's my 
 kitten — if you drown it, there will be an awful row.' 
 But the kitten, I suspect, is doomed. We shall hear 
 on Friday. 
 
 What am I to do to-night? I do not know. 
 The line of least resistance is to dine here — or 
 perhaps at the Albemarle — and go to bed at 9.30 or 
 10 p.m. If some one would give me a ^-(?^<^ place at 
 a good play, I should not object; but the theatres I 
 most affect are bound to be full, and probably hot." 
 
 To HIS Wife. 
 
 ^'June 2']th, 1 90 1. 
 
 I have had an interesting day. In the Times 
 this morning, I saw an announcement that Anson, 
 Lockwood, and Whitmore had arranged for a depu- 
 tation to Balfour, about the Education Bill, at 5.30 
 p.m.: and I knew that I must go to it. But the 
 annual meeting of the Hellenic Society, at which 
 I had to preside, was at 5 p.m. So I arranged 
 with G. Macmillan that I should speak for a few 
 minutes at the beginning of that meeting, and then 
 get away. I did so, and all went off well. Then I 
 returned to the House, where I found that it had 
 been arranged that I was to be the spokesman of the 
 deputation — a very large one — to Balfour. Some 
 
ipoi] Deputation to Mr Balfour 363 
 
 private business having delayed Questions, — of 
 which there were 95 — it was not 5.30, but 6.15, 
 when Balfour received us. The meeting was in 
 the Grand Committee Room. About 50 or 60 
 Unionist Members were present. Whitmore rose 
 first, and said that I would state the object of the 
 Deputation. Before I could rise, Sir S. Hoare got 
 up, quickly followed by Charles Dalrymple, to object 
 to the presence of the Press. But the meeting was 
 evidently in favour of the reporters being there, and 
 they stayed. Then I spoke — very briefly, as we had 
 come, not to talk, but to give Balfour an opportunity 
 of making an announcement. I said, in effect, that 
 the merits of the Bill, as conducing to a better system 
 of secondary education, had been generally recog- 
 nised. We should be glad if it could be passed this 
 session. But we saw the serious difficulties in regard 
 to time. If the Government thought these insuper- 
 able, then we submitted two points. First, that 
 in any short temporary Bill passed to meet the 
 Cockerton difficulty, the School Boards must not be 
 re-instated in the position which they occupied before 
 the Cockerton judgment. We did not desire to see 
 them made the permanent Local Authorities for 
 Secondary Education. Secondly, we hoped that the 
 Government could see their way to promise, at least 
 conditionally, the early introduction of an education 
 bill next year. 
 
 Balfour then made the speech which you will 
 doubtless find verbatim in the Times, Anson, Talbot, 
 and some others afterwards said a few words. 
 
364 Sir Richard J ebb [1901 
 
 Balfour was going to sit down without saying a 
 syllable on my second point — legislation next year — 
 remarking that he thought he had now ' dealt with 
 all the points,' — when Lord Percy, who was next me, 
 got up and drew his attention to the omission. How 
 curious that a Minister, on the edge of a crisis, should 
 forget such a vital point, which had been urged on 
 him, too, five minutes before!" 
 
 Education Bill No. 2 on the lines suggested at 
 the meeting was at once introduced by Sir John 
 Gorst and passed the first reading without difificulty. 
 At the second reading J ebb spoke in its defence at 
 some length. He said: ''some persons who pleaded 
 for the education ladder urged that continuity was 
 desirable. Yes, but, In education, continuity meant 
 progress, and the continuity which these persons 
 approved meant marking time. Nothing could be 
 educationally worse for a clever pupil than to stay 
 on at a school of which he had nearly reached the 
 top. What he needed was to go to a school in which 
 he would receive a fresh stimulus, where he would 
 compete with pupils who knew more than he did." 
 
 To HIS Wife. 
 
 "House of Commons, 
 
 July 2>th, 1 90 1. 
 
 Speech just over. Well received. Left out part 
 (by forgetfulness). Was It not just my luck that 
 Professor Seymour sent In his card to me at the 
 moment when I was waiting for the man before me 
 
1 90 1 Obstruction in Parliament 365 
 
 to finish — when I was, in fact, on the bound — and so 
 of course I could not go out. And now he is gone, 
 leaving no address! 
 
 July ^th. 
 Report of speech very bad — greatly abridged — 
 language changed — speech spoilt. But a hundred 
 years hence what will it signify? We shall get the 
 second reading to-night. The third reading will not 
 be till the week after next; but I hope to get paired 
 not later than July 25th." 
 
 " House of Commons, 
 
 July 16th, 1 90 1. 
 
 Yesterday was wholly wasted in the House, 
 owing to the absence of the Chairman of Com- 
 mittees (Mr J. W. Lowther), who is laid up with 
 gout. A deputy Chairman cannot put a motion for 
 closure, and so the Opposition, under Stuart Wortley's 
 presidency as deputy Chairman, simply revelled in 
 obstruction at their own sweet will. We had a 
 rdchauffd of the second reading debate, and did not 
 get a division on the first amendment. This means 
 that everything is delayed a week. Next Monday 
 and Tuesday will be devoted to the Committee on 
 the Bill — nothing more being attempted this week. 
 It is expected that Lowther will be back by Monday: 
 if he is not, then there will be further delay. The 
 third reading will not be taken till July 31st. 
 
 I am sorely tempted to come down to Cambridge 
 for Thursday and Friday, but in view of my Friday 
 engagements I hesitate. 
 
366 Sir Richard J ebb [1901 
 
 I trust the luncheon went off successfully, and 
 that the garden party will be a success. 
 
 P.S. Anson took me, rather against my inclina- 
 tion, to another interview with Balfour last night. 
 Of this I will tell you more when we meet." 
 
 The Education Bill got into the Committee stage 
 on July 23rd. Mr Mather proposed an amendment 
 which would put more work on the Education 
 Board, and J ebb joined in the debate to point out 
 that the Board could not possibly perform the work 
 it was proposed to delegate to them. At the end of 
 the debate the Bill was reported to the House with- 
 out amendments. 
 
 From THE Chancellor of the Exchequer. 
 
 '■''August 16th, 1 90 1. 
 Dear Sir Richard, 
 
 It has been suggested to me that you would be 
 kind enough to help me with a Latin translation of the 
 King's new title to be placed in abbreviated form on the 
 new coinage. The full title is 'Edward VII. by the Grace 
 of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and 
 Ireland (and of all the British Dominions beyond the 
 seas), King, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India' : the 
 part in brackets being new. The old part, in the abbre- 
 viated Latin legend, runs ' Edvardus VII. D. G. Britt: 
 Rex F. D. Ind: Imp:' What I want is to indicate the 
 new title, as shortly as possible, between the words ' Britt' 
 and * Rex.' And I don't like repeating the * Britt.' 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 M. E. Hicks Beach." 
 
ipoi] Inscription for the Coinage 367 
 
 *' Springfield, Cambridge, 
 
 August iph, 1 90 1. 
 Dear Sir Michael, 
 
 The difficulty of representing the new 
 addition to the Royal title in an inscription for the 
 new coinage arises chiefly from the great brevity 
 which is necessary. 
 
 The simplest and neatest way of doing it would 
 be by merely inserting the word omnium after Britt. 
 We do not, it is true, speak of ' all the Britains,' but 
 it does not necessarily follow that Britanniarum 
 omnium Rex would not be permissible in a Latin 
 inscription on a coin. 
 
 Another way of expressing the idea would be by 
 adding after Britt. et coloniarum. The word colo- 
 niae would cover, I suppose, all ' British dominions 
 beyond the seas,' since in all of them settlements of 
 emigrants from Great Britain have taken place. But 
 exception might possibly be taken to the use of the 
 word, on the ground that it suggests a relation of 
 dependence on the mother-country in a way which 
 the phrase ' British Dominions ' does not do. It 
 might also, perhaps, be objected that the addition of 
 twelve letters (et coloniarum) is larger than could 
 easily be managed on the coin. An abridgment, et 
 colon., would be possible, but perhaps not sufficiently 
 clear. 
 
 It had also occurred to me that, omitting Britt., 
 one might insert orbis Britannici, which would 
 include both the United Kingdom and the dominions 
 beyond the seas : but, though this is rather attractive 
 
368 Sir Richard J ebb [ 1 9° i 
 
 from a literary point of view, it is liable to the fatal 
 objection that some of our neighbours might per- 
 versely translate it, ' the world, — which belongs to 
 the British.' 
 
 On the whole, I incline to my first suggestion 
 {pmniwn). If I can think of anything better, I will 
 write again. It is really a very difficult point. 
 Believe me, 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 R. C. Jebb." 
 
 The first suggestion was adopted. 
 
 Sir Richard Jebb completed sixty years of life on 
 August 27. An old friend, the late Dr Robertson, 
 wrote congratulations in a charming letter. 
 
 '* Whittlesford Vicarage, 
 Cambridge, 
 
 August 27^/z, 1 90 1. 
 My Dear Jebb, 
 
 It was with regret that I gathered from Arthur 
 Sidgwick in a flying visit to us on Friday that your last 
 weeks had not been good ones. And to-day I note in a 
 paper that this is your birthday. I am glad to see the sun 
 at this moment struggling back again, with good omen I 
 trust. Anyhow there are not many men whose sixty years 
 of fine gifts so nobly and strenuously used have been more 
 enviable. But that you should not be let off from the 
 pains and penalties that ought to be visited only on some 
 of us wastrels, is one of the big mysteries that we await. 
 Meanwhile Harre getrost ! 
 
 Yours ever, 
 
 James Robertson." 
 
Tpoi] Sittings of Commission at Dublin 369 
 
 The Irish University Commission met in DubHn 
 and held its first sitting there on the 19th of Sep- 
 tember. 
 
 To HIS Wife. 
 
 " Shelbourne Hotel, 
 September i<)th, 1901. 
 
 I have not had one moment all day, what with 
 people taking me off to luncheon and tea, and then 
 the sittings of the Commission. We sat from 1 1 to i 
 and from 2 to about 5 to-day, and it was certainly 
 extremely interesting, especially in the afternoon, 
 when the Roman Catholic Bishop of Limerick gave 
 evidence. He made a deep impression by the 
 remarkable ability of his statement. He is a man 
 who would have made a figure in public life. We 
 all felt that he had thrown new and valuable light 
 
 on the question I am very comfortable at the 
 
 * Shelbourne ' : good room : four other Commis- 
 sioners staying here (Lord Robertson, Butcher, 
 Ewing, and Lorraine Smith). We have a sitting- 
 room together where we can talk things over. It is 
 rather too bi*g and magnificent for homely comfort, 
 but that is its only fault. Observe coronet above : 
 (Lord Shelbourne) : truly British. I point this out, 
 for fear you should think that I had received an 
 Irish peerage on landing at the North Wall 
 yesterday, and had hurried up the stationers to 
 make me a monogram." 
 
 J. M. 24 
 
3 7 o Sir Richard J ebb \}9^^ 
 
 ' ' September 27//^, 1 90 1 , 
 
 We have made great progress with our work 
 and have gained much insight into the main condi- 
 tions of the problem ; but the question we are study- 
 ing is most difficuh and I scarcely hope for an early 
 solution. When we stop taking evidence to-morrow, 
 we shall have examined about twenty witnesses of 
 
 various kinds, some of them very thoroughly 
 
 On the whole, this visit has been much what I ex- 
 pected, except that the work has been rather harder. 
 There is a feeling of melancholy for me about Dublin 
 I find it hard to shake off. It was the place I lived 
 in in early childhood ; the earliest consecutive memo- 
 ries I have are linked with certain parts of Dublin 
 and the neighbourhood. And now all my people 
 are gone, my old home has ceased to exist, and I 
 myself am sixty years old. I shall be glad to get 
 away. I am happiest at home." 
 
 Full Term began on October nth. On the 
 25th the British School at Athens held its yearly 
 meeting at which J ebb presided. Early in Novem- 
 ber he opened an important discussion on "The 
 Educational Policy of the Unionist Party" at a dinner 
 of the United Club in London. His address was 
 afterwards printed by request. In December the 
 Irish University Commission absorbed a week of 
 our Christmas vacation but, as if in compensation, 
 the weather on the Riviera had never been more 
 brilliant. On the last day of the year the diary 
 
ipot] On the Riviera 371 
 
 records : '* C. and I went by train to Mentone : we 
 walked from Mentone along Boulevard du Midi 
 to Cap Martin : a most beautiful walk by the sea 
 which we greatly enjoyed. Found Sir William 
 Anson at Grand Hotel. Met him and Miss Anson 
 again at Concert. A happy day." 
 
 24 — -2 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 BRITISH ACADEMY. EDUCATION BILL. TERCEN- 
 TENARY OF BODLEIAN LIBRARY. TRUSTEE OF 
 BRITISH MUSEUM. MEMORIAL CLOISTER AT 
 CHARTERHOUSE. 
 
 1902 — 1903. 
 
 The attempt to form an Academy which the 
 meeting of 1899 had resolved upon was quietly- 
 pursued. In January, 1902, a petition for incor- 
 poration was presented to the King on behalf of The 
 British Academy for the Promotion of Historical^ 
 Philosophical, and Philological Studies. The list of 
 names attached to the petition could not well have 
 been more remarkable, and the Times greeted the 
 proposal as a ''great advance in the organization of 
 knowledge in Great Britain." A charter was granted 
 in the course of the year, Lord Reay accepted the 
 position of President, a council of fifteen was elected, 
 of whom J ebb was one, and the Academy was 
 started. In a beautiful tribute paid to the memory 
 of Sir Richard Jebb at the first meeting after his 
 death, Lord Reay said : 
 
 " Those who are even but slightly acquainted with the 
 first beginnings of the movement which culminated in the 
 
1902] British Academy '^^'j^^ 
 
 foundation of the Academy must know how great a part 
 Sir Richard Jebb took in the work at that critical period. 
 He was firmly convinced that a great future was in store 
 for the Academy. He took a leading part in overcoming 
 the difficulties that beset an institution at the outset of its 
 career. He was never discouraged, and was always ready 
 to grapple with the problems that confronted us.... His spirit 
 is with us still." 
 
 On the 2 1 St, Sir Richard received the following 
 letter from Earl Spencer : 
 
 " I may have the pleasure of meeting you at the Club 
 to-night, but I think it better to write to you on a matter of 
 educational importance. You probably have noticed that 
 on the invitation of University College, Liverpool, one of 
 the constituent Colleges of Victoria University, there is a 
 movement in each of the three constituent Colleges, at 
 Manchester, Liverpool, and Leeds, for dissolving that Uni- 
 versity As Chancellor of the Victoria University I was 
 
 asked to settle the constitution of a Committee to be 
 appointed to advise the Court of the University as to how 
 
 the change is best to be carried out I propose that 
 
 each College should appoint three members to this Com- 
 mittee, and it was decided that I as Chancellor should 
 appoint the same number. I therefore have to select three. 
 I notice that you are a member of the Court of the 
 University and I venture to approach you to ask you to 
 allow me to name you as one of my three nominees. I 
 attach great moment to your being one, for, besides many 
 high qualifications, you are independent of either of the 
 three Colleges, and having unrivalled experience in Uni- 
 versity questions, your presence on the Committee would 
 be invaluable. May I therefore urge you to agree to my 
 proposal. I tried to see you in the House yesterday and 
 may again seek for you in that body " 
 
374 ^^^ Richard J ebb [1902 
 
 Sir Richard was compelled to decline the ap- 
 pointment, not having time or strength for fresh 
 duties ; but when a second most courteous letter 
 came from Lord Spencer, asking still to be allowed 
 to choose him as one of his nominees, even if he could 
 rarely be present at the meetings, he was glad to 
 accede to the request. 
 
 Meanwhile, his thoughts were much given to 
 the forthcoming Education Bill. At a large meeting 
 in Cambridge in January he spoke at length on 
 national education as he saw it, his words being 
 received with much enthusiasm. 
 
 On March 24th Mr Balfour brought in an Edu- 
 cation Bill, ** dealing not merely with secondary 
 education or with primary education in their isolation, 
 but dealing with both in one measure and with the 
 view to their better co-ordination." The new Bill 
 was both comprehensive and conciliatory, the scheme 
 it contained was excellent, but unfortunately one 
 clause might make all the others nugatory. The 
 new local authority was left at liberty to accept or 
 decline the charge of elementary education, in which 
 latter case control would remain in the hands of the 
 old authority. In his speech on the first reading Sir 
 Richard Jebb dwelt very strongly on this permissive 
 clause. " Let me touch upon the state of things 
 that will arise when the new local authority does not 
 accept the permissive clause. I ask the House, is it 
 easy to conceive anything more invidious or more 
 irritating than the local contrasts which will then 
 arise perhaps within the borders of a single county } 
 
1902] speeches on the Education Bill 375 
 
 As to the complexity of educational rating areas in 
 
 that county, it will be bewildering I will end by 
 
 once more entreating the Government to reconsider 
 their permissive clause, and to make it not optional 
 but obligatory for every local authority to take over 
 both elementary and secondary education. Samuel 
 Johnson said that 'when a man is all wrong it is from 
 want of sense, but when he is half wrong it may be 
 from want of spirit.' I do not presume to apply the 
 second half of that maxim to the Government Bill ; 
 but I do venture to say that this is a case where the 
 bolder and simpler course would also be the wiser." 
 There was a general consensus of opinion on this 
 one point in a Bill otherwise so satisfactory to the 
 party. At a meeting of Unionist members in April 
 at which Jebb presided, it was decided to present to 
 the Government a memorial expressing warm ap- 
 proval of the Bill in its general scope and urging 
 them to take the second reading at an early date. 
 The second reading was taken on the 3rd of 
 May. Jebb spoke again, beginning his speech by 
 adroitly turning a simile Mr Bryce had used into a 
 compliment. '* The right honourable member com- 
 pared the Government to a Cyclops, meaning no 
 doubt that whatever might be the condition of the 
 Opposition, his Majesty's Government saw with a 
 single eye." He then proceeded to deal gravely 
 with the subject. In thanking him for his speech a 
 member of the Government wrote : — '' It is a great 
 thing to start well, and your speech took the talk 
 into a high realm, and others stayed where you had 
 
376 Sir Richard J ebb [1902 
 
 led them." The second reading was carried by a 
 large majority on May 8th. J ebb could not wait to 
 vote and was compelled to pair, having to journey to 
 Wales on that day. He had been appointed a 
 delegate from Cambridge University to be present 
 at the installation of the Prince of Wales as Chan- 
 cellor of the Welsh University at Carnarvon. The 
 ceremony was interesting. The Constable of Car- 
 narvon Castle presented the keys of the Castle to his 
 Royal Highness who in accepting them made an 
 allusion to **my first visit to Wales as its Prince." 
 When the keys had been formally accepted and 
 returned, the new Chancellor proceeded to confer 
 the honorary degrees, the delegate from Cambridge 
 University being among the number honoured. Sir 
 Richard brought away a sincere admiration for the 
 grace and charm of the Princess of Wales. 
 
 At the end of May he went to Manchester to 
 attend an important meeting of the Court of Victoria 
 University, then occupied in dividing itself into its 
 constituent parts, and to present the report of the 
 special committee of which he was chairman. His 
 explanation of the recommendations in the repc^rt did 
 much to make them acceptable to the larger body. 
 A small difficulty was raised about the name Victoria 
 which each University wished to keep. Sir Richard 
 thought this would not occasion any confusion. ''If 
 the title of Victoria was common to all three Univer- 
 sities, it was probable that in practice it would not be 
 used by any of them." It seems that this prognostic 
 is likely to be realised. 
 
1902] Bodleian Tercentenary 377 
 
 In June came the illness of the King, almost on 
 the eve of the day appointed for the Coronation. 
 Until his Majesty was out of danger, nothing was 
 talked of, hardly thought of, except the grave peril 
 that hung over the nation — which mercifully did not 
 fall. The King made a steady and wonderfully rapid 
 recovery, and perhaps had never looked better than 
 on the day he was crowned — August 9th, 1902. 
 
 An event of great interest to scholars took place 
 in October when the Bodleian tercentenary was 
 celebrated in Oxford. The toast assigned to Sir 
 Richard was '' The Pious Memory of Sir Thomas 
 Bodley " ; and here is the speech he made. 
 
 " In this festival the memory of Thomas Bodley receives 
 a tribute such as he himself, it may well be believed, would 
 have most prized. For it is a proof that the great purpose 
 to which he devoted the last part of his life has been 
 fulfilled with a completeness which not even he himself 
 could have foreseen. Three hundred years have passed, 
 and the Library which he restored enjoys a unique fame. 
 
 It is not only that its treasures of every kind have 
 grown in a manner which the Founder's most sanguine 
 hopes could scarcely have forecast. It is not only that 
 wherever in the world learning and letters are honoured 
 that great institution is renowned, and that it is frequented 
 by the scholars of every land. Besides all this, the place 
 has an atmosphere, a charm, an indwelling genius of its 
 own. To us, visitors and guests, who have so lately been 
 received within its precincts, has it not been given to feel 
 some part at least of that which is so deeply felt by all 
 sons of Oxford, — that the great Library embodies, in one 
 aspect, the inmost spirit of the University itself; — that 
 there, if anywhere in the world, a halo of poetry and of 
 
378 Sir Richard J ebb [1902 
 
 romance is thrown about the labours of the student ; and 
 that there, 'secluded from all worldly noise/ the sur- 
 roundings themselves add something indefinable, and at 
 the same time inestimable, to a scholar's converse with 
 the thought and imagination of the past ? 
 
 Nor is the Founder's connection with that wonderful 
 place only such as is expressed by the name of Founder. 
 His presence dwells in it ; his purposes still govern it; the 
 rules which he made for it are still loyally observed ; the 
 very adjective Bodleian is, I believe, not more than a 
 hundred years old in general currency ; for two centuries, 
 the regular designation was 'Bodley's' Library; it is in 
 the keeping of Bodley's Librarian ; nay, Oxford men, I 
 think, are wont to speak of the Library itself as ' Bodley.' 
 
 No other Library of comparable rank has ever been, in 
 the same sense, the creation of one man. 
 
 To-day, when, with pious gratitude, the sons of Oxford 
 and her guests unite in turning their thoughts back to the 
 days when this immeasurable benefit was conferred upon 
 learning, there are perhaps two moments above all others 
 on which our recollection dwells. 
 
 We think, first, of the time when Bodley, a youth of 
 sixteen, came from Geneva to Oxford. At Geneva, this 
 Devonshire lad, whose father had sought refuge there from 
 the troublous days in England, had seen and heard men 
 whose names stood high in various kinds of learning. He 
 had heard Beroaldus lecture on Greek, and had read 
 Homer with Robert Constantine ; he had heard Beza and 
 Calvin teach Theology. In 1560 he came to Oxford, and 
 entered at Magdalen. Ten years had then passed since the 
 Commissioners had effected the ruin of Duke Humphrey's 
 Library. Signs of that ruin were around him. As the 
 historian of the Bodleian has said, his stationer may have 
 sold him books bound in fragments of manuscripts ; the 
 tailor who measured him for his sad-coloured doublet may 
 
1902] speech at the Bodleian Tercentenary 379 
 
 have used in doing so a strip of parchment brilliant with 
 gold, that had been condemned as Popish, or covered with 
 strange Greek symbols that passed for unlawful incan- 
 tations. Is it not easy to conceive the lasting impression 
 which would be left on the mind of a studious and eager 
 youth, when he found that the books, and the very book- 
 shelves, had disappeared from their ancient Oxford home ? 
 The sense of all this must have been one of his motives 
 when, as a Fellow of Merton, he undertook to lecture on 
 Greek — at first without official recognition — in the hall of 
 his College — the College in whose Chapel his remains rest. 
 
 Then, after sixteen years at Oxford, came that middle 
 period of his life which saw him at the Court of Elizabeth, 
 — presently engaged in diplomatic missions abroad — and 
 finally, for some nine years, English Resident in the United 
 Provinces. He was recalled by his own wish to England 
 in 1596, and resolved to retire from public life. 
 
 And now occurs the second moment which must be in 
 our thoughts to-day, — when, in his own famous phrase, 
 written a few years later, he concluded ' to set up his staff 
 at the Library door in Oxon ' ; convinced that he could not 
 better serve his country than by restoring that place, then 
 desolate, to the use of students. 
 
 How vivid are the words in which he describes the zeal 
 which he had contrived to infuse into the many influential 
 friends from whom he now sought gifts of books for his 
 Library ! * Every man,' he says, ' bethinks him how by 
 some good book or other he may be written in the scroll of 
 benefactors.' That scroll, which has been receiving in- 
 cessant additions during three centuries, is now indeed a 
 long and varied record. And every gift which it records 
 has reniained under the inflexible rule laid down by the 
 Founder, that no book shall ever be removed from the 
 Library. Well did Bodley know how in the time before 
 his own, Duke Humphrey's library had suffered from the 
 
380 Sir Richard J ebb [1902 
 
 practice of lending books. The rule which Bodley laid 
 down brings before us his practical sagacity, and his strong 
 will : it was to be a rule without exception. We have all 
 heard of the severe test to which, in two celebrated in- 
 stances, that rule was put in the next generation. Charles I, 
 when at Oxford in 1645, wished to read D'Aubigne's 
 Universal History, and sent an order for it to the Library, 
 signed by the Vice-Chancellor : the Librarian, John Rous, 
 went to the King, showed him the Statutes which the 
 Librarian had sworn to obey ; and the King withdrew his 
 request, saying, * It was fit that the will and statutes of 
 the pious Founder should be religiously observed,* The 
 next Librarian, Thomas Barlow, made a similar reply to 
 the Protector, who wished to take out a manuscript for 
 the use of an ambassador ; and Cromwell yielded with a 
 like propriety of feeling. 
 
 Nor can we forget, in rendering our tribute to Bodley's 
 memory, that signal proof of his diplomatic powers which 
 was given when he secured for his Library a privilege then 
 without parallel. It was in 161 1 that he obtained from the 
 Stationers' Company an agreement that a copy of every 
 book entered at their Hall should be sent to the Library at 
 Oxford. More than half a century elapsed before any 
 other Library in the kingdom acquired a similar right. 
 
 It is a strong personality that comes before us, when we 
 try to see Thomas Bodley as he lived ; a man of affairs, 
 even more than a friend of study ; a patriotic man, ener- 
 getic, farseeing ; ambitious, in worthy w^ays ; not indifferent 
 to applause, but resolved that it should be honestly earned ; 
 moved by a deep affection for learning and for Oxford, 
 which had their roots in his early years : a man who, having 
 formed a noble design, knew how to put it into act, and 
 how to make its effects enduring. 
 
 He wrought for Oxford and for England first, but also 
 for the world-wide republic of letters. And to-day, in his 
 
1902] Education Bill 381 
 
 own illustrious University, representatives of that cosmo- 
 politan brotherhood salute his memory. 
 
 The beautiful ceiling of the Bodleian exhibits a well- 
 merited honour which Oxford granted to Bodley, — that his 
 coat of arms should be augmented by the three ducal 
 crowns of the University shield. And when that honour 
 was bestowed, the University assigned to him this motto, 
 Quarta perennis erit^ * the fourth crown shall be im- 
 perishable.' It may be that they who gave that motto 
 were thinking of no earthly reward ; but if we may venture 
 to apply it to the place which Bodley's memory holds, and 
 must ever hold, among men, may we not say that the omen 
 of the legend has indeed been fulfilled } He has won the 
 unfading crown of an immense gratitude, which knows no 
 limit of country or of age. We are here to attest it. And 
 may we not imagine, as present with us in spirit to-night, 
 those who in past generations, amidst the influences of 
 Oxford, have known what the poet Daniel called that 
 * exquisite and most rare monument,' her great Library ; 
 have loved it, have worked in it and for it, and have 
 cherished with loyal gratitude, as we do in our day, the 
 pious memory of the Founder ? 
 
 To that memory I now ask you to drink in silence." 
 
 Parliament assembled on October i6th, an autumn 
 session having become necessary to pass the Educa- 
 tion Bill through its remaining stages. In his speech 
 on the third reading, Sir Richard Jebb again began 
 in lighter vein with a quotation from the leader of 
 the Opposition, before proceeding to serious argu- 
 ment: ''Referring to the Kenyon-Slaney clause, after 
 enumerating the various educational agencies under 
 the Bill, the right hon. gentleman said — ' But vi^e 
 have not yet exhausted the starry firmament. We 
 
382 Sir Richard J ebb [1902 
 
 discover by its disturbing influence rather than by- 
 actual vision another mighty element, as the old and 
 watchful astronomer recognised the planet Neptune 
 by its influence on other heavenly bodies before it 
 came within reach of his telescope/ That unseen 
 power was of course the Bishop," said Jebb. "• I 
 venture to think there is one difference between 
 the astronomical discovery made by the right hon. 
 gentleman and that of Neptune. The actual priority 
 of discovery in the latter case was due to a young 
 man afterwards famous as Professor Adams, but 
 the planet was discovered almost simultaneously 
 by the French astronomer Leverrier. The glory 
 of the new discovery is not shared by the right 
 hon. gentleman with any competitor ; it belongs 
 exclusively to himself. How he calculates the de- 
 flecting influence of an invisible Bishop on the orbit 
 of a County Councillor I cannot pretend to say ; but 
 so far as I have observed the movements of those 
 terrestrial bodies, I have not seen that they are 
 particularly attracted by the ecclesiastical planet." 
 He then tried to explain the broad effects of the Bill 
 on education. After a long debate, the Bill passed 
 the third reading on December 3rd. The eight 
 months' struggle was over. 
 
 Jebb had been keenly interested in securing the 
 presence of women on the education committees, 
 and had in November written to the Times urging 
 this point again. 
 
1902] Women on Education Committees 383 
 
 To the Editor of the Times. 
 
 '* Sir, 
 
 As, to my great regret, I cannot be at the 
 House of Commons to-day, would you allow me to 
 say that otherwise I should have hoped to move an 
 amendment which stands in my name on the paper, 
 with a view to securing the presence of women on 
 the education committees of the local authorities ? 
 Under the Bill as it stands women are eligible for 
 appointment to those committees ; but it is most 
 desirable that every scheme made under Clause 12 
 should expressly provide for the inclusion of women. 
 In 1900, out of 115 county and county borough 
 councils, only some twenty had co-opted women on 
 to their technical instruction committees. The new 
 local authorities for education will doubtless, in many 
 or most cases, be fully alive to the vital importance 
 of placing women on the committees ; but it is not 
 impossible that there should be exceptions to that 
 rule ; and against such exceptions it is needful to 
 guard. During more than thirty years women have 
 done admirable work both for elementary and for 
 secondary education. Women were members of the 
 Royal Commission on Secondary Education ap- 
 pointed in 1893. Women are now members of the 
 Consultative Committee of the Board of Education. 
 All who have been their colleagues on those or 
 similar bodies can attest the high value of their 
 assistance. In constantly increasing numbers women 
 are studying the principles and methods of education 
 both at home and abroad, and are devoting practical 
 
384 Sir Richard J ebb [1902 
 
 energy to raising the standard of female education 
 in the country. The extraordinary advance made 
 in this respect during the past generation is shown 
 by the success of women at the Universities, in the 
 professions, and in business. It can no longer be 
 supposed that in any district the local authorities 
 would have difficulty in finding women qualified and 
 willing to serve on the education committees. To 
 secure their co-operation is an object of the very 
 first national importance. 
 
 I am. Sir, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 R. C. J EBB. 
 
 Cambridge, Nov. 7." 
 
 Just before leaving England in December, he 
 was gratified by receiving a memorial signed by 
 some of the ablest women in England thanking 
 him for this service. 
 
 In March, 1903, this telegram came from the 
 Prime Minister : '' I have just proposed you as a 
 Trustee of the British Museum and you have been 
 unanimously elected." The vacancy had been 
 created by the death of Lord Acton, to succeed 
 whom was in Jebb's eyes an additional distinction. 
 Dr Garnett wrote : 
 
 " No more appropriate successor to Lord Acton could 
 have been found, and I trust that you will find it in your 
 power to perform more for the Institution than could be 
 effected by Lord Acton who was so much out of England. 
 You have already striven to benefit the Museum by 
 
1902] Portrait painted for Trinity College 385 
 
 your excellent Quarterly article on the catalogue and will 
 find many other subjects to which your attention may be 
 directed with advantage." 
 
 This appointment was peculiarly agreeable to his 
 tastes, the British Museum a place of all others he 
 could understand and appreciate : and when, shortly 
 after, he was elected a member of the Standing 
 Committee, its meetings were always considered a 
 prior engagement. He had happily more free time 
 now that no subject was before the House to make 
 his close attendance necessary. He had to bring in 
 one Bill, the Addenbrooke's Hospital Bill. To his 
 surprise many objections were made to a measure 
 apparently simple, which caused delay and gave 
 trouble. He asked an Irish Member why he put 
 obstacles in its way. ''You had better talk to my 
 leader" was the enigmatical answer. However, the 
 Bill reached harbour at last, and, after passing through 
 the Upper House, became law. 
 
 To go back a little. In November, 1902, this 
 kind letter had come from the Master of Trinity. 
 
 "Trinity Lodge, 
 
 November^ 1902. 
 My Dear Lady Jebb, 
 
 I have a piece of good news for you, if it has not 
 already reached your ears. We have just had a well- 
 attended meeting in the Lodge at which it was resolved 
 with great heartiness to place a portrait of your husband 
 
 in our College Hall The favourers of the plan will not 
 
 be confined to Trinity, though it originates in the walls, 
 J. M. 25 
 
386 Sir Richard J ebb [1903 
 
 to the glory of which the great scholar has so powerfully 
 contributed. Not that we are at all disposed to forget the 
 statesman in the scholar or either of them in the dear 
 friend." 
 
 Sir George Reid, at that time President of the 
 Scottish Academy, consented to paint the portrait, 
 and the first two sittings were given in Edinburgh 
 before we went to Rome to be present at a Congress 
 of Historical Studies which assembled there in April. 
 Sir Richard had been appointed a delegate to repre- 
 sent Cambridge University, the British Academy, 
 and the Hellenic Society. It was not one of our 
 happy journeys. All the world was going in the same 
 direction ; the trains were crowded, the heat and dust 
 intolerable, the carriages uncomfortable. Even the 
 St Gothard route, by which we had travelled once 
 as on a journey through Paradise, lost all charm 
 when a party of school girls rushed up and down 
 the corridors, trying to secure a favourable view 
 from the windows by leaning across the seated 
 passengers. 
 
 Hardly had we arrived in Rome and settled down 
 at our hotel when a strike broke out among the 
 men who had to do with locomotion. Not a cab or 
 carriage of any kind could be had, and for two dread- 
 ful days scarcely an electric tram. Never before had 
 Sir Richard been persuaded to use either trams or 
 omnibuses — he had only one objection to them, he 
 said, that he particularly disliked being pressed into 
 a squalid object by strangers — but here even this 
 small prejudice had to be sacrificed. Despite these 
 
T903] Visit to Rome 387 
 
 flies in our amber we spent a delightful fortnight in 
 Rome. The Congress was naturally the centre of 
 interest, but there were excursions to Tivoli and 
 elsewhere by train, in company with American 
 friends whom we had not often the chance of seeing ; 
 there were lectures in the newly excavated Forum ; 
 there was the Coliseum by moonlight, and one night 
 illuminated — there was always Rome ! 
 
 On our way back to England we stopped over 
 Easter Sunday at Milan, and saw the Easter cere- 
 monies in the Cathedral. We had expected these 
 to be more impressive. The absence of peace about 
 them hindered for us the devotional feeling. The 
 frequent robing and disrobing of the Archbishop, the 
 continual going and coming of about fifty monks in 
 brown stuff robes, which to our ignorance seemed 
 without object, the flapping of their loose slippers as 
 they shuffled about on the stone floors, checked our 
 reverent participation in what no doubt to the in- 
 structed Catholic was extreme devotion. England 
 seemed especially cool and clean and sweet when 
 we returned to it in May. 
 
 In July we went to Charterhouse to be present 
 at the inauguration of the Memorial Cloister, and 
 the unveiling of the tablet which recorded the 
 purpose of the Memorial and the names of those 
 Carthusians who had fallen in the recent war ; at 
 the same time a monument which Lord Alverstone 
 had erected in memory of his son was also to be 
 unveiled. In his invitation to Sir Richard the 
 Headmaster wrote : 
 
 25—2 
 
388 Sir Richard J ebb [1903 
 
 " The Archbishop of Canterbury, as chairman of the 
 General Board, will be here to perform the ceremony, but 
 particularly hopes that the central responsibility of speak- 
 ing will not be thrown upon him. I think of one speech 
 only, apart from the Archbishop's words, and do hope you 
 will prevail upon yourself to pronounce the Epitaphius. 
 General Baden Powell will be with us but will not speak. 
 Lord Alverstone under the circumstances will be inappro- 
 priate. I should like you to be responsible for all that 
 needs saying of the Epideictic kind. There will I expect 
 be a large though certainly an appreciative audience, for we 
 ask all old Carthusians and the subscribers exceed a thou- 
 sand." 
 
 The celebration v^as in the open air, and the 
 speeches on such a subject seemed to gain in effect 
 by the perfect peace and calm of the beautiful day 
 and place. 
 
 Sir Richard spoke as follows : 
 
 " KoKKicTTOv epavov Trpoteirro. 
 
 It is as an Old Carthusian that I have been asked 
 to speak a fev^ vi^ords to-day. After the ceremonies, 
 so impressive in their simplicity, v^hich have just been 
 performed, and after the strains of the antiphon to 
 which we have listened, I feel, as you will feel, that 
 the simplest words are best in unison with what is 
 in all our hearts. All Carthusians are proud of the 
 share taken by their schoolfellows in the toils and 
 sufferings, in the dangers and in the triumphs of that 
 great struggle in South Africa, by which the 
 resources of our Empire and the qualities of our race 
 were put to a trial severer than any which they had 
 
1903] speech at Charterhouse 389 
 
 known for several generations. The total number 
 of Old Carthusians engaged in the war was, I believe, 
 about 500. They belonged to various branches of 
 the British forces, and occupied diverse positions : 
 some held important commands ; there were other 
 cases like that of a young Carthusian soldier who was 
 serving in the ranks of a cavalry regiment when he 
 was killed in action, only a few days before the news 
 came — news which was never to meet his eyes — 
 that he had received a commission. From that great 
 Carthusian muster-roll it would not be difficult to 
 select names of exceptional distinction ; such names 
 rise in my thoughts at this moment — they almost 
 come to my lips : and yet I feel that the spirit of our 
 commemoration to-day — its distinctive and essential 
 meaning — are such as should rather dissuade us from 
 any attempt at selection. The tribute which we 
 now render is collective, and in that fact resides 
 its highest significance. The records of individual 
 prowess are indeed preserved by us with pride ; they 
 are dear to all Carthusians ; but the festival which 
 we are now keeping has a place apart in our calen- 
 dar : to-day our thoughts are turned, not to the most 
 successful and the most illustrious alone, but to all 
 Carthusians who served their country in the field. 
 
 It is the indwelling spirit of a great and ancient 
 school which gives unity to this celebration. A 
 stranger to the public schools of England might find 
 it hard to realise the full sense in which this is true. 
 But all public school men know what it means. The 
 attachment to one's old school is not merely a matter 
 
390 Sir Richard J ebb [1903 
 
 of sentiment ; a sentiment indeed there is, a strong 
 and healthy one ; but there is also much more : there 
 is our knowledge that the school-world, and all that 
 we learned in it — not only, perhaps even not chiefly, 
 from b9oks — the habits and associations formed, the 
 friendships enjoyed — went far towards moulding our 
 characters, and thereby towards shaping our after- 
 lives. Our school is a country within the fatherland ; 
 membership of it is an intimate franchise : few boys 
 can ever have passed through such a school without 
 in some measure appreciating the rights of that 
 unique citizenship, and in some degree responding to 
 its duties. For no one, probably, is the public 
 school life better than for him who is destined to the 
 profession of arms. At school he can learn, not by 
 a mechanical or rigid routine, but in a large and 
 liberal sense, the two supreme functions of the 
 soldier — to obey and to command. If one should 
 try to sum up the public school spirit in a single 
 word, that word would be 'loyalty.' 
 
 There were occasions in the ancient world when 
 a city paid collective honours to her sons who had 
 fallen in battle. But the honours which our Car- 
 thusian city renders in this fair place to-day differ 
 in one signal respect from any which Athens 
 bestowed in the Outer Cerameicus. This Cloister — 
 of which the first stone was laid by our renowned 
 schoolfellow, Major-General Baden-Powell — is dedi- 
 cated alike to the dead and to the living. A time 
 must come with years when those arches can no 
 longer re-echo the footfall of any man who bore arms 
 
1903] speech at Charterhouse 391 
 
 in the great African War ; when the heart-aches 
 which that war caused shall long have been lulled to 
 rest, when the glories which it bequeathed shall long 
 have been heirlooms ; and when, as we may hope, 
 the good seed which is even now being sown on the 
 distant veldt shall have come to the fulness of flower 
 and fruit. The Cloister which has been opened to- 
 day will remain to tell the Carthusians of that time 
 that on this tranquil and hallowed spot, where brave 
 lives have their record, the shadow of death never 
 fell as a dividing line ; and that those who established 
 this memorial, in days when the great war was 
 recent, knew no distinction between the man who 
 took his life in his hands for his country, and the 
 man who was called upon to lay it down. 
 
 There is another Carthusian cloister in London, 
 which some of us knew long ago — a cloister fraught 
 with memories of old times, though not with such 
 associations as these. That fact may remind us how 
 completely the unity of Carthusian feeling, which is 
 so marked to-day, has survived the change of abode. 
 We have present with us here the honoured leader of 
 the migration, the first Headmaster of the school in 
 its new seat : to-day he sees a fresh proof, if any were 
 wanted, that, though there have been two Carthusian 
 homes, there is but one Carthusian brotherhood. In 
 the long annals of our school there are names not 
 a few of men who have done good work in Church 
 and State, in the professions, in the pursuits of litera- 
 ture, of the sciences and of the arts. But there are 
 times of stress, such as those through which our 
 
392 Sir Richard J ebb [1903 
 
 country lately passed, when the supreme necessity is 
 for the service of the soldier. Truth — that truth of 
 purpose which must animate all high effort — then 
 makes her simplest and sternest claim upon devotion. 
 It is then that we understand the words of the poet, 
 speaking of the quest for truth in its relation to 
 patriotism : — 
 
 * Many in sad faith sought for her, 
 Many with crossed hands sighed for her; 
 But these our brothers wrought for her, 
 At life's dear peril fought for her, 
 So loved her that they died for her. 
 ***** 
 
 They followed her and found her, 
 Where all may hope to find, 
 Not in the ashes of the burnt-out mind, 
 
 But beautiful, with danger's sweetness round her.' 
 
 This is our feeling to-day, when we honour our 
 Carthusian soldiers, the living and the departed. 
 May the old school continue to flourish ! May it 
 produce, in the future as in the past, good men and 
 true, loyal subjects of their Sovereign, trusted ser- 
 vants of the State, steadfast champions of the nation 
 and the Empire at its need, faithful guardians of our 
 ancient tradition, worthy inheritors of the Carthusian 
 name ! " 
 
 His portrait painted for Trinity by Sir George 
 Reid was finished in July. It was unfortunate that 
 the only time when both artist and subject could be 
 together in London was during the season when hay- 
 
1903] Letter from Dr Headlain 393 
 
 fever was rife — a scourge from which Sir Richard 
 always suffered with severity, and which altered for 
 a time both eyes and features. Sir George Reid 
 tried hard to keep its traces out of the picture, but 
 he had to paint what he saw, with the result that the 
 portrait, otherwise fine and noble, has a look of 
 distress not at all characteristic of its subject when 
 in normal health. 
 
 For the remainder of the summer except when 
 giving away prizes and making speeches at Bangor, 
 Durham and elsewhere, he was occupied with his 
 own special work. In July he received from the 
 Greek Minister in London the diploma and insignia 
 of Commander of the Order of the Saviour, and 
 returned, in accordance with regulations, the Order 
 of the Gold Cross which he had held since 1878. 
 
 Among the mass of letters which made up his 
 daily correspondence, asking favours of one kind or 
 another — to open a school, to give away prizes, 
 to deliver addresses, to join a Balkan Committee, 
 to pronounce for or against fiscal reform — it was 
 delightful to receive one of a totally different nature. 
 He brought it to his wife for the pleasure he always 
 had in sharing any good thing with her. 
 
 From Walter Headlam, Esq., LittD. 
 
 " King's College, Cambridge. 
 
 September 2^th, 1903. 
 
 I never differ from your deliberate opinions without 
 grave misgiving, and to my great satisfaction I find myself 
 coming round to your opinion of the value of Composition. 
 By severe reasoning I got to the point that Knowledge and 
 
394 ^^'^ Richard J ebb [1903 
 
 Taste are the Swa/txt?, and Composition the evepyeia. Then 
 says the advocate of Composition, ' Very well ; I want the 
 evepyeia for a test of the hvvafjn^ ' : and there I'm posed. I 
 cast about to think of people who possessed the hvvafiL<; 
 without being able to translate it into evepyeia, and unless 
 you can supply me with examples I am bound to change 
 my view. If he had been required to do it, Cobet could 
 have written Attic Prose, and Porson Attic Comedy, and 
 Bentley in the manner of Callimachus to some extent; and 
 any one in any style that he commands ; so far as he 
 has mastered it The ivipyeca may be sometimes more or 
 less unconscious ; and I certainly don't think that constant 
 exercise of it is necessary ; and. Classics being a house with 
 many mansions, pupils can appreciate much and scholars can 
 do plenty of good work without this special power over the 
 language ; but I think those things will do no harm to say 
 so long as I vote with the Government on the main point. 
 I shall have to write the whole thing again a third time, 
 but that will be a lighter labour in my joy at having found 
 salvation." 
 
 In November the Master of Trinity wrote to 
 announce the hanging of the portrait. 
 
 "Trinity Lodge, Cambridge, 
 
 November ^th, 1903. 
 
 I hope you will like your final resting-place in the 
 Hall. The Memorials Committee, to whom its position 
 was referred, met to-day, and we agreed in giving you 
 a central place on the same side of the Room as that 
 occupied by Cayley, Clerk Maxwell, Michael Foster and 
 Henry Sidgwick. They would all be proud to welcome 
 you, and you will feel at home amid such ' a band of 
 brothers.' The Portrait will be a joy and a pride for long 
 years to come." 
 
1903] Fiscal Reform 395 
 
 Mr Chamberlain had now made his manifesto on 
 Fiscal Reform, and the country was seething with 
 the new ideas presented to it — new at least in 
 England where Protection had had no foothold for 
 more than half a century. At a meeting in the 
 Guildhall at Cambridge in November, which was 
 addressed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr 
 Austen Chamberlain, Sir Richard J ebb seconded a 
 vote of thanks to the speaker. Finding his position 
 misunderstood by some of his hearers, he wrote to 
 the Editor of the Cambridge Chronicle. 
 
 "Sir, 
 
 At the meeting in the Guildhall which 
 was addressed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
 on Nov. 26, I seconded, in a short speech, the 
 Resolution which was then moved and adopted. 
 The purport of that Resolution was to express un- 
 abated confidence in His Majesty's Government, 
 and to endorse the policy announced by the Prime 
 Minister in his speeches at Sheffield and Bristol. 
 Some errors have crept into certain passages in your 
 report of my brief remarks ; and I should be obliged 
 if you would permit me to correct them. Refer- 
 ring to the policy stated by the Prime Minister, I 
 said : — 
 
 ' That policy is accepted by such a man as Sir 
 Michael Hicks Beach, a distinguished ex-Chancellor 
 of the Exchequer, an eminent economist and finan- 
 cier, who has always been, and is now, a Free 
 Trader. A temperate and prudent use of such 
 
 •^ OF THE ^ 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF y 
 
39^ Sir Richard J ebb [^903 
 
 negotiation as that policy contemplates would not 
 tend, in his opinion, — and in the opinion of many- 
 others who have studied the question, though few 
 can bring to it such knowledge and experience as 
 his, — would not tend to set up a system of protection 
 in this country ; it would rather tend to discourage 
 aggressive protectionism abroad, and so to secure 
 great advantages for us by expanding the freedom 
 of trade. On the other hand, the essential aims and 
 principles of Free Trade (as distinguished from its 
 formulas) may happen to be obstructed rather than 
 promoted by a rigid adherence to the letter of doc- 
 trines formulated a long time ago. In the course of 
 the last fifty years, and more especially in the latter 
 part of that period, many conditions of industry and 
 commerce have been completely transformed.' With 
 regard to the Prime Minister's claim on the confi- 
 dence of Unionists, I added : — * We should give 
 credit to him and to his Government for discretion, 
 for patriotism, for knowledge of the elementary con- 
 ditions on which the welfare of the country and the 
 Empire will continue to depend. We should also 
 cultivate a sense of proportion in politics, remem- 
 bering how much easier it is to break up a great 
 
 political party than to reunite it What is needed 
 
 just now is a little patience, reasonable trust in our 
 leaders, tolerance for varying shades of fiscal ortho- 
 doxy, and steadfast adherence to those broader 
 principles of political faith on which party loyalty 
 must ultimately rest. Let us who are Unionists 
 remember, each and all of us, the great responsibility 
 
1903] Letter on Fiscal Reform 397 
 
 which Hes upon us at this juncture : let us strive to 
 maintain the solidarity, and to preserve the power 
 for national good, of the great historic party to which 
 we belong.' 
 
 I am. Sir, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 R. C Jebb." 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 LETTERS. ORDER OF MERIT. DEFEAT OF 
 GOVERNMENT. 
 
 1904— 1905. 
 
 In 1904 Jebb came back from the Riviera in 
 time to be present at a meeting of the Trinity 
 College Mission at Camberwell on the 14th of 
 January. ''Expedition to Camberwell a success" 
 he wrote to his wife. " Stewart called for me and 
 we drove to Trinity Mission — in the heart of dreary 
 London. At supper sat between the Warden and a 
 very intelligent young milkman, whom I found agree- 
 able and interesting. Talking of women's wages, he 
 said a sister of his was once employed in a shop 
 where she had to attend every day from 8.30 a.m. 
 to 7 p.m. (half hour for dinner and another for tea) ; 
 no holidays except paid for ; wages thirteen shillings 
 a week!!! My little speech was all right. Weather 
 fairly bright: white frost this morning; cold, but not 
 too cold. Barometer 'Set Fair': but ban's notion 
 of 'Fair' is sometimes peculiar." (His wife had re- 
 mained abroad for a fortnight longer and had asked 
 for reports of the weather in order to fix the time 
 of her return.) 
 
1904] British Academy 399 
 
 The International Association of Academies met 
 in London in May, and happily the new British 
 Academy had now received its charter and was 
 ready to take its share in the many functions which 
 followed. The first meeting was held in the rooms 
 of the Royal Society, and Sir Michael Foster, 
 K.C.B., was elected President. Jebb brought for- 
 ward a proposition of the British Academy — "that 
 the International Association approves of a project 
 for constructing a new Thesaurus of Ancient Greek.' 
 This evoked an interesting discussion and was carried 
 unanimously. He was one of a Committee appointed 
 to inquire as to means, methods, and general initial 
 considerations. The Association visited Cambridge, 
 and we had the pleasure of a short visit from Professor 
 Theodor Gomperz, the delegate from Vienna, and his 
 wife — which to one of us at least was the pleasantest 
 event of the meeting. In writing from Oxford to tell 
 Sir Richard that the ''Thesaurus" Committee had 
 appointed him, Jebb, their President, Herr Gomperz 
 added, ''As to the question which is finest, Oxford 
 or Cambridge, I should like to have the English say 
 what Goethe said when asked whether he or Schiller 
 were the superior: 'Sie sollten froh sein, zwei solche 
 Kerle zu haben.'" 
 
 On the 5th of July the Hellenic Society celebrated 
 its 25th anniversary. Of 112 original members only 
 twenty-seven were now living — and these might well 
 feel a thrill of satisfaction in telling and hearing of 
 the valuable work the Society had accomplished in 
 its first quarter of a century. The very large meeting 
 
400 Sir Richard J ebb [1904 
 
 was a real success, and Sir Richard's address as 
 President was well received. 
 
 Among the honorary members present was 
 Professor Gildersleeve of Baltimore. He and 
 Mrs Gildersleeve were making some short stay in 
 London, and the following letters tell chiefly of 
 Sir Richard's efforts to see as much of them as 
 possible in such a short time. 
 
 To HIS Wife. 
 
 "House of Commons, 
 
 July ^th, 1904. 
 As to the Gildersleeves, I feel that three 'courses 
 are open to the embarrassed General.' (i) To 
 get them to come down from Saturday to Monday. 
 Objection: the house will be full with our other 
 guests. (2) To ask them to the Albemarle to dinner. 
 (3) To ask them to tea on the Terrace and dinner 
 in the House. Whatever it is to be, it must be done 
 quickly. If you would wire your advice fully, I 
 would repay you on my return. 
 
 July ytk. All went well yesterday. The 
 Gildersleeves dined with me (alone) at Albemarle. 
 The dinner was fair — some things good — though I 
 have known it better. Then we drove to the House. 
 Just as I had shown them Westminster Hall and we 
 had entered St Stephen's Hall, a division sounded 
 and I had to rush. When I came back we went 
 into the members' lobby and let Mrs Gildersleeve 
 'peep.' Then we moved towards the Terrace. An- 
 other division : had to leave guests in Library lobby. 
 
1904] In the House 40 j 
 
 Terrace at last. Here came the real success of the 
 evening. I had asked Sir R. Finlay to dinner and 
 he had told me he was dining at the House with his 
 wife, and so I then asked him if they would both 
 join us on the Terrace. And they both did. And 
 they were so very nice. Lady Finlay was going to 
 Mrs Gully's Gallery. Through Sir R. she somehow 
 managed to get leave to bring Mrs Gildersleeve also. 
 Was not that nice of her? So up they went, Finlay 
 taking them while I kept Gildersleeve company on 
 the Terrace. But in five minutes a division came — 
 or rather a series of divisions. The House was a 
 perfect bear-garden on account of the closure at 
 1 1 p.m. Mrs Gildersleeve had an exciting evening 
 for seeing the place. It was 12.15 before Finlay 
 and I could go for the ladies. 
 
 July 20th, 1904, 3 p.m. 
 
 This is Wednesday to the multitude : to the 
 M.P. it is still Tuesday. The sitting of the House 
 which began at 2 p.m. yesterday has lasted all through 
 the night, and is still going on. It is the Committee 
 on the Budget. When it is finished, we are to go 
 away, and there is to be no Wednesday at all. 
 That consummation will be reached before 7.30, 
 they say 
 
 Went to Reid for last time. Picture not quite 
 so good (I think) as it was at one moment. I pleaded 
 for lightening of that line on my face which you 
 
 J. M. 26 
 
402 Sir Richard J ebb [1904 
 
 unkindly say expresses impatience of fellow-creatures, 
 and he consented, only saying 'that in nature it was 
 much more strongly marked.' Wish he had made 
 me a more cheerful and spirited-looking chappy. 
 Aweel. Picture to come to Springfield in about 
 10 days 
 
 I half thought of going down to-night, but thought, 
 that on the whole, to-morrow morning would be more 
 comfortable, both for household, and for another — 
 whose convenience is, however, a secondary con- 
 sideration. 
 
 This prolonged heat has enfeebled me. I should 
 like to have my yacht waiting for me at Southampton, 
 i.e., if my wife was coming too — but she would not" 
 [she was too bad a sailor]. 
 
 ''Saturday's Times will be interesting. The Duke 
 is to ask Lord Lansdowne how far the Government 
 intend to support preferential tariffs and impose 
 taxes on food. It is high time something was done. 
 I wonder what Sir Michael Hicks Beach thinks. 
 He is retiring at the end of this Parliament, and 
 leaves no one behind him who is capable of taking 
 his place as a leader of the Conservative Free- 
 traders, who support Balfour's Sheffield programme, 
 but will not go further. For a University member 
 like myself — at Cambridge at least — the sound 
 policy is to say nothing about the fiscal question 
 at present, but to stand simply as a loyal supporter 
 of Mr Balfour's Government." 
 
1904] Fiscal Debate in the Lords 403 
 
 To HIS Wife (at Newton, Nairn). 
 
 " Springfield, Cambridge, 
 Saturday, July 2 7,rd, 1904. 
 
 So the 'Malacca' affair is going to be settled 
 peacefully. You will have noticed the calm tone 
 of the letters from Springfield during the last two 
 days: that was because an experienced politician 
 knew that it was all right. Have been reading 
 debate in Lords yesterday ( Times of Saturday). The 
 Duke's speech was clear, strong, and to the point. 
 It is just what one wanted said. Lord Lansdowne's 
 answer struck me as very unsatisfactory. But at 
 least he declared that the Government, as such, 
 is opposed to preferential tariffs and taxation of 
 
 food On Monday (I see) there is to be a meeting 
 
 of Unionist Freetraders in a Committee Room at 
 the House. They are to consider, among other 
 things, what they are to do about the Vote of 
 Censure in the House on August i 
 
 Yesterday, I wrote my letter to Sir Arthur Godley, 
 about the Cambridge view of the India Office's 
 proposal as to the age limit of candidates, and then 
 posted it ; and 'triked' round by Grantchester 
 
 As the post here goes out only at 8 p.m. on 
 Sunday, this will be my last letter. Please give my 
 kindest regards to Lady Finlay. 
 
 P.S. If any Emporium should be visited by 
 Madame on Tuesday, it may be mentioned that 
 PENKNIFE, in its present condition, is a standing 
 menace to life and property, especially to waistcoat 
 pockets." 
 
 26 — 2 
 
404 Sir Richard J ebb [1904 
 
 Everything now pointed to a General Election, 
 and constituencies were asking their candidates to 
 define their position, especially with reference to the 
 new propaganda. In answer to a question on this 
 point Sir Richard wrote to the President of the 
 Cambridge University Free Trade Association. 
 
 To THE Hon. Arthur Elliot. 
 
 "Springfield, Cambridge, 
 
 August ^th^ 1904. 
 
 My Dear Elliot, 
 
 ...I am, and have always been, a Free Trader. 
 I am opposed to Protection. I am also a Conserva- 
 tive, and a supporter of Mr Balfour's administration. 
 Since I have been in the House of Commons, I have 
 always supported the Unionist Government, which 
 I was returned to support. 
 
 I do not think it desirable to join the Cambridge 
 University Free Trade Association. 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 R. C. J EBB." 
 
 On August 17th the British Association met at 
 Cambridge. The attendance of members was very 
 large. Was not the Prime Minister of England the 
 President of the year, and would not his address most 
 certainly be interesting 1 And would many of the 
 members ever have again so good an opportunity of 
 seeing and hearing him ? Besides, Is not Cambridge 
 
1904] Letter from Dr Butler 405 
 
 a charming place to spend a week in ? Sir Richard 
 Jebb joined the Association and was elected a Vice- 
 President of the Education Section. This led to 
 his being chosen President of the section for the 
 next year and to his going to South Africa in 1905. 
 
 In October he retired from the Consultative 
 Committee of the Board of Education, and was at 
 once reappointed by the President to serve for 
 another term of six years. In the same month he 
 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Numismatic 
 Society. 
 
 The subscribers had offered to his wife a replica 
 of the portrait of Sir Richard Jebb which they had 
 presented to Trinity. The Master sent the following 
 letter to announce the arrival of this replica. 
 
 " Trinity Lodge, Cambridge, 
 
 October I'jth, 1904. 
 
 My Dear Lady Jebb, 
 
 On behalf of the friends who subscribed to 
 the portrait of your husband, which now hangs in our 
 College Hall, I have the very pleasant duty of requesting 
 your kind acceptance of the second picture also painted by 
 Sir George Reid. Long may it hold a conspicuous place 
 on the wall of one of your rooms, and long may at least 
 four living eyes be permitted to see in it the warm regard 
 and respect in which the original was held by all who 
 knew him 
 
 Yours very sincerely, 
 
 H. Montagu Butler." 
 
4o6 Sir Richard J ebb [1905 
 
 This autumn Greek was again put on its trial at 
 both Oxford and Cambridge. Oxford disposed of 
 the case in favour of Greek in an afternoon's sitting, 
 but in the Senate House at Cambridge the discussion 
 of the first report of the Syndicate lasted two days — 
 and the decision was adjourned till the following week. 
 It was in the end the same as that of Oxford. The 
 chief Counsel for the defence was as usual the Regius 
 Professor of Greek. One of the points he made was 
 that it was obviously desirable that the two Univer- 
 sities should, as far as possible, act together. ''If 
 however one of the two older Universities retains 
 Greek to a larger extent than the other, the one 
 that so retains it will become par excellence the 
 University of the ablest literary boys. Let members 
 of the Senate weigh that consideration." 
 
 I n J anuary, 1 905 , J ebb found himself in a difficulty. 
 There was to be a meeting of the Church Emergency 
 League in the Guildhall on the i6th, and his name 
 was on the notices issued as seconder of a resolution, 
 which he had not seen and with which he was not 
 in agreement. 
 
 To HIS Wife. 
 
 ^^ January I'jth, 1905. 
 
 Well, the meeting is over. I wrote a short 
 
 speech, knowing that care was necessary Dr 
 
 Chase presided, the Bishop of Ely being unable to 
 come. Gorst moved the resolution in a speech more 
 
1905] Meeting of Chtirch Emergency League 407 
 
 or less amusing. Of course he was cheered by the 
 fighting parsons. Then Canon Russell got up to 
 second. When he rose instead of me, inquiring and 
 gloomy eyes were turned on me. Russell made a 
 good speech from the fighting point of view. Then 
 my turn came. His reference to me obliged me to 
 begin by a brief statement of the facts. I said I 
 was in full sympathy with their object ; that I wished 
 the managers to retain independence in the conduct 
 and control of religious instruction, and that it was 
 the spirit of the Act of 1902 to reserve it to them, 
 while giving control of the secular instruction to the 
 local authority. I then explained why the terms of 
 the resolution did not accurately describe the essence 
 of the situation. The Board of Education in its 
 circular of July does nothing new ; it merely recog- 
 nises the rule which has existed since 1870 that 
 attendance at Church shall not count as attendance 
 at school, except with the acquiescence of the Local 
 Authority. I went on to advocate the policy recom- 
 mended by the Council of the National Society with 
 the Archbishop at its head, — a policy of peace rather 
 than war. They heard me very patiently — though of 
 course there were some derisive interruptions — and 
 at the end there was even applause. From what 
 several men said to me afterwards I hope that I 
 have done a little good. So ended my appearance 
 as Balaam on the ' Emergency ' platform. The 
 report of my speech in to-day's Times is condensed 
 beyond recognition, though I gave them my notes. 
 Aweel. 
 
4o8 Sii" Richard J ebb [1905 
 
 Ja7iuary i()th, 1905. 
 
 I am just off by train to London for deputa- 
 tion to Brodrick. The India Office proposes to 
 establish a School of Forestry at Oxford ; whereas 
 we want it to be at Cambridge. Hitherto, it has 
 been at the Indian Engineering College. Deputa- 
 tion no good but right thing to do. Day lost — 
 that's all. When I come back I shall have tea and 
 work from 7 to 9 Yesterday X. wrote apologe- 
 tically to say that he was coming out with an 
 anti-Greek letter in next Cambridge Review, and 
 asking me to dine at St John's as a sort of propitia- 
 tory offering. Declined the dinner while re-assur- 
 ing him as to my unaltered sentiments of regard. 
 Horace Darwin called yesterday; he wanted me to 
 come to a Free Trade Meeting on the 27th when 
 Goschen is to speak with Arthur Elliot in chair. 
 Told him frankly I should not object, only I had to 
 consult feelings on other side. Didn't want to rile 
 them just now. He quite saw it. This week will 
 be very busy. Three meetings with speeches here, 
 — viz. Library Appeal, Church Defence, and address 
 to Mayor. Also an afternoon in London at Aca- 
 demy. I can hardly get two consecutive hours to 
 myself except on Sundays. 
 
 I enclose a letter from ' Lady Help.' I should 
 say No. I don't want a Lady-parlourmaid. She 
 would be a nuisance. If you could find an im- 
 pecunious Earl who would come and shave me 
 every morning for a modest remuneration — that 
 would be different." 
 
1905] University Carlton Club 409 
 
 To HIS Wife. 
 
 "Springfield, 
 
 January 227id, 1905. 
 
 Such a nice letter has come from Miss Pen- 
 rose thanking me for the Greek verses in memory of 
 her father. They are for the tablet to be set up in 
 the Penrose Memorial Library attached to the School 
 
 at Athens What a day I have had! one piece 
 
 of work after another. In the evening I went to 
 preside over a meeting of undergraduates at the 
 Carlton Club which they are refounding on a new 
 basis. It was well for them to have an experienced 
 chairman, for they were helpless as to procedure, 
 and it was rather funny. I managed to keep them 
 to the successive points by taking votes by show of 
 hands ; and we finished in about an hour and a 
 quarter, when they gave me a cordial vote of thanks. 
 The young man who got the thing up, a nice under- 
 graduate of Trinity, was going to be President of 
 the new club, and seemed to have settled the whole 
 constitution off his own bat or along with a few 
 cronies. The other young men modestly asked 
 questions, but he was equal to them all, and the 
 oligarchy (or autocracy) simply had everything its 
 own way. It was charming. 
 
 Give your niece my love and tell her that the 
 postal symbol which she placed on her valued epistle 
 was Helvetian, or, as the herd says, Swiss. It is not 
 recognised in the Alpes Maritimes ; and the minion 
 of a tyrannical government, the postman, made the 
 
4IO Sir Richard J ebb [1905 
 
 parlourmaid pay five pence for that letter. It was 
 ridiculously cheap at the price ; but I mention it 
 because, when you come back, my financial position 
 may be deemed disappointing ; and I wish all my 
 outlays to be recorded." 
 
 " Springfield, 
 
 January 2Zth, 1905. 
 
 I have just come back from the Mayor meeting 
 at St John's. This is Mayor's eightieth birth- 
 day, and we met to present him with a Latin 
 address, numerously signed. Sandys moved that I 
 take the chair. About seventy or eighty people 
 were present, — scholars. Then I spoke for about 
 six or seven minutes, and the Master of Trinity 
 followed. After that, I read the Latin address, 
 and presented it to Mayor. Then came the really 
 interesting part. The fine old man got up, and 
 began with a speech in Latin, after which he passed 
 into English. It was characteristic of his non- 
 egotism that he seemed to forget the occasion, and 
 launched out into a discursive speech on all his 
 favourite hobbles in scholarship. Illustrated with a 
 wealth of learning. His memory is still prodigious. 
 As to vigour and spirit, he might be forty. There 
 was one quaint circumstance. The gallery at 
 St John's can be lighted only by candles, and the 
 only candles near us were on the reporters' table. 
 Every now and then Mayor asked for a light to 
 read his notes, and I had to take the massive 
 candelabrum which stood behind me on the reporters' 
 
1905] Professor Mayors 80th Bu^thday 411 
 
 table, and place it on another table in front of us. 
 It seemed as if Mayor might go on for ever, but 
 it was all interesting and characteristic. He must 
 have spoken for at least forty minutes. Then there 
 were votes of thanks, etc., and we got away at 5.45, 
 having been there since 4. 
 
 It was a memorable meeting, and it was a real 
 pleasure to see how genuine the reverence for 
 Mayor's character is, and how warm the personal 
 regard for him, — not to speak of the admiration for 
 his wide and deep learning. — This is the last of my 
 speeches for the present. I have had a series of 
 them since my return." 
 
 On February 25th, the Cambridge University 
 Amateur Dramatic Club celebrated its jubilee by 
 giving a dinner at the Guildhall. Sir Frank Burnand, 
 its founder, was the guest of the evening, and among 
 the older members present were many distinguished 
 men, one of whom, Mr J. W. Lowther, now Speaker, 
 took the chair. J ebb proposed the toast of ''Actors 
 past and present," and wrote the Epilogue recited at 
 the end of the evening. Some extracts from it follow : 
 
 " Stay yet a moment, friends ; dissolve not yet 
 The charm which dreams of other days beget : 
 One moment more, beneath that gentle pow'r, 
 Indulge the genius of the place and hour ! 
 
 Yes, fifty years have fled, since Drama's reign, 
 Once known in storied hall and stately fane, 
 Once linked with solemn revels of the gown. 
 Rose to new life in Granta's ancient town : 
 Drama returned, — less classic than of yore, 
 "Child of the time, and modern to the core 
 
412 Sir Richard J ebb [1905 
 
 Lo, we salute our founder on the scene 
 Where still the laurels of his youth are green, 
 And bid BuRNAND recall that happy thought 
 By which the A.D.C. to birth was brought ! 
 
 '^ ^ % % 'ifc ^ 
 
 O for the skill to trace from page to page, 
 Through years gone by, the annals of our stage; 
 To hail those sprightly authors of our choice 
 In whom the lighter Muse has found a voice. 
 » * « « « « 
 
 But who shall render justice to that line 
 Of actors whom our chronicles enshrine? — 
 Our favourites of the old time and the new, 
 Some with us still, some pass'd beyond our view, — 
 Whose varied gifts, embracing all the spheres 
 Betwixt the springs of laughter and of tears. 
 Gained on our stage those plaudits, doubly sweet. 
 Where joy in art and joy of friendship meet. 
 Whether in greater parts they bore the stress, 
 Or helped with care and spirit in the less. 
 Who would choose names from such a brilliant roll? 
 We bring our grateful tribute to the whole. 
 
 O friends and guests! To-morrow's cold grey light 
 Will spare, perchance, some vision of to-night, 
 Some vestige of those hours which gathered here 
 Comrades well-tried in many a vanished year. 
 Drawn once again within that magic ring 
 Where breathe the memories of the golden spring. 
 ****** 
 
 O may one loyal aim, through times to be. 
 Still knit the brethren of the A.D.C, 
 Humour with pathos mingle, grace with fire, 
 Bid ease with force, and wit with sense conspire! 
 Hail to our founder, ere the curtain fall; 
 Thanks to our Chairman, and good-night to all ! " 
 
1 905 J The Order of Merit 413 
 
 We went up to town as was our custom for the 
 three months after Easter. On June 22nd we were 
 preparing to go out to dinner when a letter came 
 bearing outward signs of its contents. Sir Richard 
 on entering the drawing-room saw it, and had just 
 time to grasp its contents when his wife's step was 
 heard on the stairs. *' Hullo ! " he called out, "they 
 are going to give me the Order of Merit. Lord 
 Knollys says that he is commanded by the King to 
 inform me that on the occasion of his Majesty's 
 official birthday he has much satisfaction in con- 
 ferring it upon me, 'in recognition of the great 
 services you have rendered to literature.' " This 
 was an honour which he valued most highly. Part 
 of his pleasure in it was the surprise — no whisper 
 had reached him of any such intention. It dropped 
 down like a good gift from the gods. He liked 
 its coming direct from the King, and as he never 
 discovered who had first moved in the matter, he 
 was entitled to indulge his fancy. The next day on 
 meeting Mr John Morley, he said, *' I think I am 
 right in believing I am indebted to your good 
 offices." '' No," said Mr Morley, *' I admit that the 
 King consulted me, but it was his Majesty who men- 
 tioned your name to me, not I to him." 
 
 The Order, which was instituted in 1902, has 
 I believe now only sixteen members. Lord Reay, in 
 his address at the annual meeting of the British 
 Academy on July 5, alluded 
 
 " in particular to the honour conferred on Sir Richard 
 Jebb of the Order of Merit. To Professor Jebb the 
 
414 ►^^^ Richard J ebb [1905 
 
 Academy was deeply indebted for the services he rendered 
 in its formation, and the encouragement he afforded in 
 face of prophecies of failure. The Academy was itself 
 honoured in this recognition of Sir R. Jebb's services to 
 letters." 
 
 Early in July there came a delightful letter from 
 Professor Michaelis, of Strassburg, acknowledging 
 Sir Richard's congratulations on his 70th birthday. 
 J ebb had drafted a Latin address which was sent to 
 Herr Michaelis from the Hellenic Society and 
 formally acknowledged in Latin to that body. 
 
 " Strassburg, 
 
 July 6th, 1905. 
 
 Dear Sir Richard, 
 
 I have just despatched to Mr Macmillan my 
 reply to the splendid address the Society has honoured 
 me with, and I trust he will give you notice of it ; now 
 I come to thank you personally for your kind letter of 
 June 20th containing your personal congratulations. I feel 
 always extremely satisfied seeing that my old relations 
 with England are not entirely gone. It is so long I have 
 not been in England ; a new generation is now living 
 and studying there ; I feel to be a stranger in a country 
 with which once I was so closely connected. If your 
 address gives me the impression of being not entirely 
 forgotten beyond the Channel, I know very well to whom 
 I owe that feeling, and I am the more obliged to you 
 for having seized this occasion of reminding me of those 
 old associations with England." 
 
1905] Defeat of the Government 415 
 
 An event long expected happened at last in the 
 House of Commons at midnight on the 21st. The 
 Government was defeated by a majority of four : — > 
 Ayes 200, Noes 196. 
 
 71? HIS Wife. 
 
 "The Athenaeum, 
 
 July 21st, 1905. 
 
 I was in the fateful division last night, I am 
 
 glad to say : — to have missed that would have been 
 serious. Our whip yesterday morning warned us 
 expressly about the evening. Before dinner the 
 house wore a deserted aspect on our side ; indeed 
 the Irish had it almost to themselves. There was 
 no symptom of their wishing to divide, but, as Red- 
 mond had moved a reduction of Walter Long's salary 
 (which was the peg on which the whole debate hung), 
 it was obvious that a division was probable at 1 2, if 
 not earlier. There was really no excuse whatever 
 for the absence of about 1 50 of our party, especially 
 after the urgent appeal made on Tuesday at the 
 Foreign Office by Balfour, who dwelt precisely on 
 this very danger — that of some casual defeat on 
 a minor issue. 
 
 At 12 to-day the House met in a state of ex- 
 pectancy. The Opposition declined to challenge 
 a division as we were present in full strength, people 
 having been whipped by telegram. We got away in 
 half-an-hour ! 
 
 The question is now, what will Balfour say on 
 Monday ? 
 
41 6 Sir Richard J ebb [1905 
 
 Three courses are possible : 
 
 (i) To resign and dissolve now. 
 
 (2) To ignore the accident and submit the vote 
 for the Irish Secretary's salary again to the House — 
 there are plenty of precedents for such a course — 
 finish the session, and dissolve this aiUumn. 
 
 (3) Ditto, but do not dissolve till next year. 
 This third course is that which the majority of the 
 
 Unionist party seems to favour. But Cripps favours 
 number (2), and he may be taken as a typical Cham- 
 berlainite. At any rate there is a strong feeling 
 against (i). 
 
 Most people seem to think that there will now be 
 no Redistribution Bill next year. But I do not quite 
 see why. The defeat yesterday was really a piece of 
 carelessness (inexcusable, no doubt) ; it does not 
 mean that the party is less ready to support the 
 Government." 
 
 ^''July 22ndj 1905. 
 
 I duly attended the British Museum Meeting 
 
 in Cromwell Road this morning. John Morley told 
 me that he believed the Government were still un- 
 decided : — he had met some Cabinet Ministers at 
 dinner the night before, after the Cabinet. But 
 I have not the least doubt that what the Times says 
 this morning is true, and that they have decided not 
 to resign now. Indeed my whip for Monday says 
 there will be a division early on that afternoon. 
 This can only mean that the Government will pro- 
 pose to rescind the vote of Thursday night, by which 
 
1905] Probable Date of DissohUion 417 
 
 ^100 was cut off the vote for the Irish Land Com- 
 mission, 
 
 What I wonder is whether the Times is also right 
 in saying that Balfour will not give any indication of 
 the date of the dissolution. John Morley remarked 
 to me that the Government could not now face 
 Parliament next session with a big Bill like Redis- 
 tribution, and would probably dissolve in January. 
 But, if they get over the accident of Thursday night 
 without resigning or dissolving, there is no reason 
 why they should not go on as if the accident had not 
 occurred." 
 
 ;. M. 27 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 VISIT TO SOUTH AFRICA. LAST ILLNESS. 
 1905. 
 
 Every spare moment through the winter was 
 devoted to his edition of BacchyHdes. The book 
 had been long in hand, and he feh bound to finish 
 it before saiHng for South Africa. The British 
 Association was to meet this year at Capetown, and 
 he was going out to preside over the education 
 section. By the end of May the book was ready 
 for publication. He then turned to his next task, 
 which was the writing of an address to be given at 
 the opening of his section on the i6th of August. 
 This was soon finished and the manuscript was 
 packed away, not to be unfolded again until the 
 Association had landed at Cape Colony. The last 
 fortnight before sailing he gave to the thorough 
 sifting of all the papers and manuscripts in his study, 
 almost as if his spirit had received the message — 
 ''set thy house in order," and as if he had a pre- 
 sentiment that this was the last opportunity. Every 
 paper was labelled, dated, and arranged in the drawer 
 assigned to it, with the extraordinary neatness and 
 method so characteristic of him. 
 
1905] At Sea 419 
 
 The British Association sailed for South Africa 
 on the 29th of July. Sir Richard's first letter to his 
 wife was written from the ship while still in harbour. 
 
 "The Saxon, 
 
 July 2gth, 1905. 
 
 Journey prosperous so far. Luggage all in cabin. 
 Cabin satisfactory, but not so palatial as fancy painted. 
 Provost ahead of me" [the cabin was shared with 
 Dr Traill, the Provost of Trinity College, Dublin]. 
 ** Lots of nice people on board : lunched beside 
 Freshfield: Lord Rosse opposite: every one friendly 
 and cordial : weather fine. Only six places for 
 writing letters here. People stand looking on till 
 
 one has done Therefore excuse haste. We sail 
 
 between four and five." 
 
 ''At Sea, 
 
 August 1st, 1905. 
 
 All has gone well so far. We have had wonderful 
 weather — sea smooth, sky bright, atmosphere clear. 
 
 I am called by a steward at 6.30 a.m., who 
 
 brings me a cup of tea and a biscuit. Then I don 
 that delightful dressing gown (it was wise of you to 
 advise my bringing it) and go forth in quest of a 
 bath. There are many baths, but most of them at 
 some distance from number 12. 
 
 To-morrow early we shall be at Madeira, 
 
 where we have about five hours. It is proposed that 
 we should go ashore, breakfast on top of a hill, — 
 and shoot down 2000 feet m six minutes on a sort 
 
 27 — 2 
 
420 Sir Richard J ebb [1905 
 
 of tray piloted by Portuguese attendants. After 
 
 Madeira we do not stop before the Cape I feel 
 
 that this life on board, the weather being so glorious, 
 is most healthful. The delight of a bath in tepid 
 sea-water at 6.30 a.m., is indescribable; and then 
 suck air. The only defect in the arrangements is 
 the scantiness of space for letter writing in this 
 writing room. I had to wait a long time this morning, 
 though I was here at 7.30, to get this place. Forsyth, 
 who always finds out everything, says that there is 
 a writing table locked up against the wall in every 
 cabin, with an ink-pot. I am going to investigate. 
 Ink is the one thing needful. 
 
 Yesterday two whales are said to have been seen, 
 
 but this I take on faith I finish up on this Saxon 
 
 sheet to show the style of the stationery" [very flam- 
 boyant : a blue flag crossed with orange diagonals, 
 and large letters for Line and ship] ''and to give some 
 idea of the self-denial represented by the first two 
 sheets of my letter." [He had been provided with 
 reams of thin writing paper.] 'Tt is a triumph for 
 you to have developed in me that consistent economy 
 by which I am now distinguished. But it will have 
 to be considered in future letters (Foreign en- 
 velope too squalid — I cannot do it)." 
 
 The voyage remained pleasant to the end. 
 Lectures were often given in the morning for those 
 who wished to improve their minds, while physical 
 development was promoted by the ship's "sports," 
 which he described as very spirited and amusing. 
 "To-night there is to be a fancy ball. It occurred 
 
1905] Arrival at Capetown 421 
 
 to me, remembering Alma Tadema's picture of some 
 years ago, that robed in my dressing-gown I might 
 appear as 'Caracalla coming from the bath,' but as 
 even with a label the allusion might not have been 
 seized, I shall content myself with personating a 
 spectator." 
 
 The Association reached Capetown on the 15th of 
 August. The Governor of Cape Colony, Sir Walter 
 Hely Hutchinson, sent an aide-de-camp on board to 
 meet his guests — Lord Rosse, his son, and Sir Richard 
 J ebb — and very soon they were comfortably installed 
 at Government House. The small luggage was 
 forthcoming, but after its habit Sir Richard's port- 
 manteau went astray, and its owner was very anxious. 
 '* Rushed off to meeting of my Committee, after 
 luncheon, and came back to find trunk arrived — 
 oh joy! I have a splendid large room with a big 
 open verandah and arm chairs, where I indulged in 
 a cigar to celebrate its arrival." 
 
 "Government House, 
 
 Saturday, August i()th. 
 
 I have not had a moment to myself since I arrived 
 on Tuesday morning, and am now writing against 
 time in the few minutes left before going on board 
 ship to sail for Durban in Natal. All has gone well. 
 My address extremely well received. No time to 
 describe drives, parties, etc. I was one of four 
 Englishmen who received Honorary Degrees from 
 the Cape University on Thursday.... The Governor's 
 
42 2 Sir Richard J ebb [1905 
 
 kindness and hospitality have been simply boundless; 
 never had I a more genial or perfect host than 
 Sir W. Hely Hutchinson. I had a delightful motor 
 drive of three hours with him to-day." 
 
 " BuLAWAYO, Rhodesia, September 11th. 
 
 We are on the point of starting for the Victoria 
 Falls at Zambesi. On Thursday we return from 
 the Falls and go on to Beira on the East Coast, 
 from which place we sail on September 17 for home. 
 There is no time to describe. I am well and 
 have been so all through. All has gone smoothly. 
 My address^ at Johannesburg was a real success. 
 So large was the number who wished to hear it that 
 we had to move from the room assigned to us to a 
 large hall in the town, where I had an audience of 
 six or seven hundred. The stay with the Selbornes 
 was very pleasant. Will tell you everything when I 
 get home. It has all been pleasant and most in- 
 teresting — but the pace!! It has also been very 
 tiring ; no rest from travelling and sightseeing ; 
 It would have killed you." 
 
 Mrs John Hopkinson, who was very kind to 
 him during the whole trip, and very thoughtful of 
 his comfort, writes to me : — 
 
 ^ "Professor Jebb's address constitutes one of the most striking 
 addresses ever made on the subject of education. Those who 
 
 heard it have expressed the conviction that its delivery alone 
 
 would have justified the meeting of the Education Section at 
 Johannesburg." British Association, South Africa, by Principal 
 H. S. Hele Shaw. 
 
^9^b] Illness on Return to England 423 
 
 " In the records of my diary everywhere stands out the 
 inspiring, kindest presence of Sir Richard Jebb. As I left 
 the Saxon, the remark, * I shall read my Address on Edu- 
 cation on Tuesday at 10 a.m., Section L ; perhaps you will 
 come,' made me keep that hour clear, in all the hurly-burly 
 of the Cape Town days. Our small band assembled on 
 that morning to have the greatest treat of the journey — 
 that luminous inspiring address, which to South Africa 
 was priceless. And the little band were faithful apostles, 
 for so much was said by each one of the beauty and charm 
 of thought and diction that, as you know, there was a 
 glorious repetition at Johannesburg to which hundreds 
 thronged. And later again I have a little picture of our 
 coming out of the sunny little graveyard on the summit of 
 Wagon Hill at Ladysmith. Sir Richard turned as we passed 
 by and said, * Look — thirteen young heroes under these 
 fair white crosses — all under twenty-six. They died for 
 England on that morning, January 6th, 1900.' And then he 
 read the following touching inscription : ' Tell England, 
 ye who pass this monument, that we, who died serving her, 
 rest here content.' " 
 
 Those members of the Association, who returned 
 by the east coast, were delayed at Suez by obstruc- 
 tions in the Canal and only reached England on the 
 19th of October. Sir Richard was ill when he came 
 home. What we thought to be the effect of sunburn, 
 the unusually bright eyes and flushed face, must have 
 meant fever even then. He was more silent than 
 was his custom, and talk seemed an effort. "" I will 
 tell you everything when I have more time " he 
 would say, when asked questions about South Africa: 
 *'we will read my notes together in the evenings." 
 
424 Si7' Richm^d Jebb [1905 
 
 But no evening came when he was not too tired 
 with the day's work for consecutive talk. He was 
 urged to see a doctor, but persisted in his belief that 
 nothing ailed him except dyspepsia and the lassitude 
 natural after so much nervous strain. He spoke at 
 the Mansion House for the South African Education 
 Fund on Monday the 13th of November, attended 
 all the usual committees, and gave the usual lectures 
 that week. Returning from a lecture on Friday he 
 was seized with a severe chill followed later by high 
 fever. I think that he was glad to give up and go 
 to bed — that even his strong endurance had reached 
 breaking-point. He never saw his study again. 
 The illness grew steadily worse ; there was no 
 delirium, his mind remaining perfectly clear and 
 conscious to the very end, nor was there positive 
 pain, though great discomfort was caused by the 
 high fever and the pressure of a large internal 
 abscess. He never complained, he hardly spoke 
 at all in the three weeks after he took to his bed ; 
 and on the afternoon of December 9 he died as 
 peacefully as a child falls asleep. 
 
 " Farewell : the voice that called the Theban King, 
 
 This night, rich dowered soul, hath called on thee : 
 Thou through the unknown ways art travelling 
 
 To some fair life of ampler lore to be. 
 There what high shades shall greet thee ! Chiefest He, 
 
 Whose song through thy fit spirit flowed like wine. 
 Borne from the Mount that by the stoned sea 
 
 Lifts to the light Athene's maiden-shrined" 
 
 ^ By Mr Ernest Myers, December 9th, 1905. 
 
1905] Death and Burial 425 
 
 Sir Richard Jebb was buried in St Giles' Ceme- 
 tery on the 13th of December. The funeral cortege 
 met in Trinity College at 2.30 p.m., and the first part 
 of the service was held in the chapel. The pall- 
 bearers were Lord Reay, Lord Battersea, Sir William 
 Anson, Sir John Gorst, Mr Augustine Birrell, the 
 Provost of King's College, Mr S. H. Butcher and 
 Mr Aldis Wright. The officiating clergy were the 
 Master of Trinity, the Bishop of Ely, the Head- 
 master of Charterhouse, the two Deans and the 
 Precentor of Trinity. It was a most touching 
 moment in the ceremony when, after the service in 
 chapel, his body passed for the last time through the 
 Great Gate of Trinity. A pause was made, while 
 the choir sang the Nunc Dimittis and the Master 
 and Fellows ranged on each side of the long gate- 
 way seemed to bid a last goodbye from the great 
 College to her son. 
 
 The Headmaster of Charterhouse wrote : 
 
 "Everything — the historic courts, the quiet December 
 greys, the long ranks of mourners so representative of 
 England's choicest intellectual hopes and aims, the simple 
 pageantry of academic gowns, the collegiate chant and 
 anthem, the dignity, the restraint, the reverence for the 
 dead — all seemed as it should be." 
 
426 Sir Richard J ebb [1905 
 
 The College has placed a brass tablet to his 
 memory in the ante-chapel, with this inscription 
 written by the Master, Dr Butler : 
 
 RICARDO CLAVERHOUSE JEBB 
 
 EQ. AUR., CM., LITT.D. 
 
 HUlUS COLLEGII SOCIO OLIM TUTORI 
 
 LINGUAE GRAECAE PER XVI ANNOS PROFESSORI REGIO 
 
 ACADEMIAE SUFFRAGIIS IN SEN. BRIT. QUATER ELECTO 
 
 LITTERARUM ET HUMANITATIS ORNAMENTO ET VINDICI 
 
 SOPHOCLIS SUI INTERPRET! EXQUISITISSIMO 
 
 IN CURIA ET CONTIONIBUS ELOQUENTI 
 
 AD VARIA VITAE MUNERA 
 
 VEL ACADEMICA VEL CIVILIA UNICE IDONEO 
 
 HANG TABULAM DICAVIT COLLEGIUM 
 
 CARITATIS DESIDERII ADMIRATIONIS TESTIMONIUM 
 
 NAT. A.D. VI KAL. SEPT. A.S. MDCCCXLI. OB. A.D. Ill ID. DEC. A.S. MCMV. 
 
THE SCHOLAR AND CRITIC 
 
 BY 
 A. W. VERRALL 
 
THE SCHOLAR AND CRITIC. 
 
 It is thought desirable that this volume should 
 comprise some notice of Sir Richard Jebb as a writer 
 and critic, some attempt to appreciate his specialty 
 as a scholar. This I have been invited to supply; 
 and though I feel that the task is, in its own nature, 
 and apart from personal competence, not merely 
 difficult but truly impossible, I comply without 
 hesitation, in the confidence that every reader, in 
 proportion to his own capacity, will be quick to 
 perceive the difficulty and to make the necessary 
 allowance. 
 
 Sensibility, subtlety, delicacy, economy, reserve — 
 these were, as I apprehend, the essential qualities of 
 Jebb's mind, and the foundation of his skill in ex- 
 pression. His central achievement, the edition of 
 Sophocles, owes its success, and the general recog- 
 nition of its singular importance, to the happy 
 application of these qualities, and a natural harmony 
 between the expositor and the poet. Fineness of 
 stroke, the dislike of crudity, violence, and emphasis, 
 an ever-present perception that what is most worth 
 saying cannot — such is language — be said, but must. 
 
430 Sir Richard J ebb 
 
 if it is to come with true force, be hinted and 
 suggested, all these are principles common to the 
 dramatist and the annotator. We have Sophocles 
 illuminated by Addison. 
 
 But how shall this method of art be itself set 
 forth in detail, without destruction of the quality? 
 To exhibit the strokes, to blacken the touches, is 
 precisely to undo the work. It is their merit that 
 they just, and only just, make themselves seen, and 
 tell, with true proportion, in the general effect. How, 
 without injury, shall they be pointed out ? Those 
 who best appreciate a fine paper from the Spectator 
 will least admit that its merit, if not perceived, can 
 be made perceptible by stressing the points. To 
 stress is to break them. An analysis of such work 
 stands in the dilemma of appearing either obvious 
 or exaggerated according to the perceptiveness of 
 the reader ; and while it is scarcely possible to avoid 
 both charges, it is quite easy to incur both at once. 
 
 One thing is clear : that, in the case of Jebb, no 
 method of enumeration, no mere catalogue of works, 
 however ample in description, would bring us any 
 nearer to the heart of the matter. It would be 
 certainly ineffective and probably uninteresting. So 
 at least I think, and accordingly I shall not proceed 
 in this way. A descriptive list would indeed display 
 his industry, his ample range of interests and infor- 
 mation. But these qualities, however meritorious, 
 are not distinctive. My purpose is to disengage, if 
 possible, the radical virtues, which make the edition 
 of Sophocles so comfortable and so fortifying to the 
 
The Scholar and Critic 431 
 
 literary taste. For this purpose the * Sophocles ' 
 itself, with perhaps some illustration from the 
 ' Bacchylides/ is material more than sufficient. We 
 shall have enough with one or two plays. 
 
 I select first the PhilocteteSy because I have my- 
 self heard Jebb express, or, to speak more exactly, 
 come near to accepting, the opinion which he cites 
 in an early essay on ^ The Genius of Sophocles,' that 
 this play is the poet's masterpiece. I add the 
 Trachiniae, because on the contrary it is most liable 
 to objection, and offers most matter for debate. From 
 these three books, the Philocfetes, the Trachiniae, 
 and the edition of Bacchylides, the whole case may 
 be demonstrated, so far as it admits of demonstra- 
 tion ; and I shall hardly go beyond them. But, as 
 the author's own compositions in Greek and Latin, 
 especially in Greek, illustrate his mind from a 
 different side, I shall add some criticism upon the 
 very remarkable collection, of which, since his death, 
 we have had a second and somewhat enlarged edition. 
 Premising then, once more, that to expound the 
 specialty of Jebb is a paradoxical task, in which 
 the utmost measure of success will be to prompt 
 the better reflexions of the reader, we will make first 
 some observations upon his edition of the Philoctetes. 
 
 None will deny that the book is, to an extra- 
 ordinary degree, comfortable to the literary taste. 
 We never feel a jar. Though the whole is filled 
 with debate, though at every step the path must be 
 found between masses of controversy, and hedged 
 against actual or probable errors, though the ex- 
 
432 Sir Richard J ebb 
 
 positor luxuriates in distinctions, and is, if anything, 
 only too anxious to leave no opening unguarded, yet 
 throughout there is a certain serenity, which leaves 
 us always, after discussion, in a mood not unfit for 
 applying the result to the enjoyment of harmonious 
 art. Nor is this serenity, this smoothness, attained 
 at the expense of decision and definiteness in the 
 view. Almost never are we left without the help of 
 a positive opinion ; in the facing of doubts there is 
 often the extreme of hardihood. Yet hardly ever 
 are we sensible of a prick or an edge. The im- 
 portance of this negative quality, and the difficulty 
 of attaining it in the conditions, those will best know 
 who have ever attempted any similar work ; but 
 every one feels the effect, and is more or less 
 consciously grateful. And if we seek the cause, the 
 chief contributory seems to be an ever sensitive 
 delicacy, a reserve and economy in expression. 
 Nothing is obtruded. The greater the import of a 
 proposition, the stronger the emotion which Jebb 
 desires to convey, the more severely will he abstain 
 from thrusting it upon us, the more will he strive to 
 secure that, in the last resort, the student himself 
 shall take the thing, and shall not have it put into 
 his hands. 
 
 Let me try to show what I mean by an instance 
 vital, in fact and in the view of Jebb, to the con- 
 ception of the Philoctetes. This tragedy turns upon 
 a prolonged agony of physical pain, which has 
 extended over many years and is forced upon our 
 consciousness, as spectators, by horrible paroxysms. 
 
The Scholar and Critic 433 
 
 exhibited with unflinching reaHty upon the stage. 
 To bring such a theme within the Hmits of absolute 
 aesthetic satisfaction, to compensate the hideous and 
 revolting side of it, was a thing immensely difficult, 
 though desirable, as an artistic triumph, in proportion 
 to the difficulty. The torment of Philoctetes, the 
 ten years of lonely and terrible suffering, is just one 
 of those possibilities in life, which turn imagination 
 to darkness, and have seemed, as Sophocles him- 
 self points out^ to justify the conception of a Hell. 
 In the presence of such a thing, the facile assumption 
 of a providential purpose in the suffering, some large 
 design, external to the sufferer, to which the agony 
 is alleged to contribute, does not content, will never 
 content, the emotional demand of average humanity 
 when it is thoroughly alive to the facts I Not Troy 
 nor this whole world, it seems, could properly pay an 
 innocent Philoctetes for tortures which no explana- 
 tion can prove to have been really necessary to a 
 good end. Without some outlook beyond this life, 
 a Philoctetes, painted as Sophocles paints him, is a 
 figure beyond the limits of aesthetic harmony. So 
 at least Sophocles would seem to have thought ; 
 for, as a background and relief to the picture, he has 
 painted, with softer touches, the Hellenic symbol of 
 immortal hope, the figure of Heracles, triumphantly 
 raised from his pyre upon Mount Oeta to the bliss 
 of Heaven. The actual appearance of this deity at 
 the close is only the consummation of a process, 
 
 1 V. 680. 
 
 ^ See vv. 191 ff., 1325 ff., and the sequel in each case. 
 
 J. M. 28 
 
434 ^^'^ Richard J ebb 
 
 persistent throughout the drama, by which our 
 attention is constantly directed to him and to all 
 that he represented. The association of ideas is 
 natural, for Philoctetes was a native of the land 
 from which Heracles ascended, and had himself 
 kindled the pyre of triumph. But the skill with 
 which Sophocles has used the association, the 
 delicate and unobtrusive tact by which the thought 
 of an infinite compensation is insinuated without un- 
 warrantable emphasis, is undoubtedly one principal 
 factor in the tragic achievement. 
 
 Now the Greek audience of Sophocles were 
 properly prepared for this artistic operation. The 
 religious or legendary data were native to them, 
 and could be revived in memory by a touch ; the 
 solemn scenery, amid which the ascending hero 
 passed to his reward, was familiar to the minds, if not 
 the eyes, of them all. But the modern reader will 
 come to the play, more probably than not, without 
 any such natural preparation — unable therefore, with- 
 out aid, to respond to Sophocles in a matter of 
 essential moment. Here then is an opportunity and 
 a duty for the commentator. But there is also a 
 difficulty. 
 
 To perceive the duty was perhaps not hard, or 
 not specially characteristic of J ebb. How clearly he 
 perceived it, how strongly, as poet sympathizing 
 with poet, he felt the significance of the Heraclean 
 symbolism to the scheme of Sophocles, is visible 
 throughout, nowhere perhaps better than when, 
 using boldly the requirements of a defective text, 
 
The Scholar and Critic 435 
 
 he fills up, with happy touch, the last verse of the 
 principal Chorus — ''where, above Oeta's heights, 
 the lord of the brazen shield^ drew near to the gods, 
 amid the splendour of the lightnings [of his sire] " — 
 
 TTkddei irarpo^ Oeico irvpl Tra/Ac^a?;?, Otra? virkp 6)(6ojv^. 
 
 The word Trarpo?, 'of his sire', is the editor's substi- 
 tute for an unmetrical and unintelligible Trdcn. It 
 may or may not be what Sophocles wrote ; but the 
 allusion to Zeus, the hero's divine parent, completes 
 the religious thought, and is in perfect harmony 
 with the intent of the passage and its bearing upon 
 the play. 
 
 However, in all this, in seeing the opportunity 
 and duty of the commentator to bring out, for the 
 aid of a modern reader, the Heraclean element in the 
 story, there is perhaps, as we said, nothing above 
 common apprehension and due fidelity, nothing 
 peculiar to Jebb. But what does appear proper to 
 J ebb, what distinguishes his treatment, is his manner 
 of meeting not only the duty but the difficulty. For 
 the Heraclean background in the Philoctetes, how- 
 ever important, is after all only a background. The 
 legend of the ascension, with its hint of immortal 
 hope, is but touched in. Its bearing upon the effect 
 of the piece, however apparent to critical reflexion, 
 is never emphasized, or even made explicit. And 
 those who are acquainted with the state of religious 
 
 ^ Heracles. 
 ' V, 726. 
 
 28—2 
 
43 6 Si^ Richard J ebb 
 
 belief In the age of Sophocles, and with the relation 
 of his art to that belief, will, I am sure, feel and 
 admit, that we should distort and injure the 
 Sophoclean balance, we should misrepresent him, 
 if we converted the consolatory suggestion into 
 anything more explicit than it is in the text. Here 
 then is the difficulty for the expositor, how to make 
 perceptible, to unprepared minds, what, if he would 
 be faithful to his author, he must not emphasize, or 
 even expressly assert. 
 
 J ebb's Introduction to the play opens thus, the 
 whole, as I need hardly say, being printed in one 
 type :— 
 
 On the eastern coast of Greece, just north of Thermo- 
 pylae, lies a region which in ancient times was called Malis, 
 
 * the sheep land.' This was the country of Philoctetes, — the 
 home to which, in the play of Sophocles, his thoughts are 
 constantly turning. // will be well to form some idea of its 
 chief features and associations. 
 
 Pindus, the spine of northern Greece, terminates at the 
 south in Typhrestus, a great pyramidal height, from which 
 two mountain-ranges branch out towards the eastern sea. 
 One of these is Othrys, which skirts the southern border of 
 Thessaly; the other, south of it, is Oeta, which, like Malis, 
 takes its name from its pastures. The deep and broad 
 depression between them is the fertile valley of the 
 Spercheius (the 'hurrying' or * vehement') — which rises at 
 the foot of Typhrestus, and flows into the Malian Gulf... 
 Precipitous cliffs are thrown forward from this part of 
 the Oetaean range These cliffs were called of old the 
 
 * Trachinian Rocks.' Trachis, * the city of the crags,' stood 
 on a rocky spur beneath them, a little north of the point 
 where they are cleft by the magnificent gorge of the 
 
The Scholar and Critic 437 
 
 Asopus, — that steep ravine by which Hydarnes led his 
 Persians up through the mozmtaifi oak-zuoods, on the night 
 
 before he surprised Leonidas Just opposite the entrance of 
 
 the Gulf, the bold north-west promontory of Euboea, once 
 called Cape Caeneum, runs out towards the mainland. 
 There was a peculiar fitness in the phrase of Sophocles, 
 when he described this district, with its varied scenery, as 
 *the haunt of Malian Nymphs^' those beings of the forest 
 and the river, of the hills and the sea. 
 
 It was in this region that legend placed the last deeds of 
 Heracles, and his death, or rather his passage from earth to 
 Olympus. After taking Oechalia in Euboea, he was sacri- 
 ficing on Cape Caeneum when the fatal robe did its work. 
 He was carried to his home in Trachis ; and then he com- 
 manded that he should be borne to the top of Mount Oeta, 
 sacred to Zeus, and burnt alive. He was obeyed ; as the 
 flames arose on the mountain, they were answered from 
 heaven by the blaze of lightning and the roll of thunder ; 
 and by that sign his companions knew that the spirit of 
 the great warrior had been welcomed to the home of his 
 immortal father. Somewhere in the wilds of those lonely 
 summits tradition showed the sacred spot known as 'the 
 Pyre'; arid once, at least, in later days a Roman Consid^ 
 turning aside from a victorious progress, went tip to visit the 
 solemfi place where the most Roman of Greek heroes had 
 received the supreme reward of fortitude'^. 
 
 Nov^ any one can see that this is pleasant, easy 
 reading. Any student of English v^ill be av^are, 
 more or less, that it has a style of extreme rarity, a 
 style of the Addisonian class, which, by the severest 
 economy, by delicacy of management, attains the 
 effect, without the cumber, of wealth. It is all alive 
 
 ^ e/. 725 [near the end of the principal Chorus, above quoted]. 
 2 Livy, 36. 30. 
 
43^ Sir Richard J ebb 
 
 with poetry and feeling, intense in proportion to the 
 reticence. A professional writer might further 
 suspect, what was certainly true of Jebb, as it was 
 generally of Addison, that the ease of composition 
 was not only apparent, but real ; and that, the 
 material once mastered and the view chosen, these 
 liquid sentences, with all their eddies and flashes of 
 suggestion, flowed fast from the pen. The labour 
 was done before, in a long and brooding preparation 
 of years rather than hours. 
 
 But what is not so readily apparent, what may 
 perhaps without offence be indicated, is that by this 
 method and style, and only by this, could be solved 
 the problem offered by the Philoctetes to the modern 
 expositor, — how to suggest (as Sophocles does), with- 
 out saying (since Sophocles would not), that the 
 vision of Mount Oeta, seen at intervals in the 
 distance of his picture, stands for a symbol of the 
 common hope, and is, in this relation, vitally sig- 
 nificant. What we get from the editor, in the way 
 of preparation, is exactly what to the audience of 
 Sophocles was given by native circumstance — the 
 chance, that is to say, of comprehending this aspect 
 of the play, if and so far as we have an eye for it. 
 By emphasis, by weight of assertion, the chance of 
 comprehension might, no doubt, be converted into a 
 certainty, but the effect would no longer be the 
 Sophoclean effect. To rub a delicate fruit is a sure, 
 but not a good way of showing that it had a bloom. 
 And for this same reason, I shall here leave Jebb's 
 exordium to the appreciation of the reader. 
 
The Scholar and Critic 439 
 
 In the Introduction to the Trachiniae, we might 
 cite, for the same merit, the pages on the character of 
 Deianira\ They deserve the best praise which the 
 case admits ; they speak not intolerably about things 
 which, were it possible, should be expounded by 
 silence ; they suggest this to the student, and no- 
 thing more can be done for him. But I prefer to 
 take a different example, different and yet radically 
 similar, because it depends for its effect upon the 
 same habit of economy and reticence. 
 
 The text of Sophocles, from his habit of passing 
 lightly, of hinting and not stressing his point, is 
 peculiarly exposed to the hunter of interpolations. 
 Nothing is easier than to find verses or couplets, 
 which can be pulled away without any resistance per- 
 ceptible to the common finger. In the last century 
 this game was played wnth such perseverance, that 
 almost any extensive passage had been by some one 
 somewhere adorned with a bracket. To Jebb the 
 whole business seemed, as it is, fallacious and dull. 
 His commentary, especially the small print of the 
 apparatus criticus, is dotted with remarks like this^: 
 " These two verses are rejected by (So-and-so) with 
 (Somebody's) approval, who pronounces the second 
 of them 'quite unworthy of an intelligent poet'." 
 And below, in the explanatory note, will be half-a- 
 dozen words of conclusive interpretation. Now the 
 Trachiniae, for reasons obvious to those acquainted 
 with its style, presents to excisers a specially accom- 
 
 ^ pp. xxxi ff. 
 ' Fhiioct 13. 
 
440 Sir Richard J ebb 
 
 modating field. It was observed by Jebb that, in 
 this play, the total of their spoils would amount to 
 something near one-tenth of the text ; and he had 
 the happy thought to exhibit this fact by way of a 
 warning^ One ' clear case ' of interpolation he 
 acknowledges, and one probable; references to all 
 the rest, which had been alleged, he subjoins in a 
 portentous block. His feelings break out on this 
 occasion in plain sarcasm, — a tone almost prohibited 
 in his writing, and impressive in proportion : 
 
 Besides these verses, many others — not fewer than about 
 1 20 in all — have been suspected or rejected by various 
 commentators ; often, apparently, on the general ground 
 
 that anything is suspicious which is not indispensable 
 
 It is to be regretted when a habit of mind such as might 
 be fostered by the habitual composition of telegrams is 
 applied to the textual criticism of poetry — or, indeed, of 
 prose. Yet it is right that students should have notice as 
 to what verses of the play have been suspected or con- 
 demned by scholars of mark. I cannot vouch for the 
 completeness of the following * black list/ but I believe 
 that it is nearly complete. 
 
 But what is here characteristic of Jebb, is not 
 the sarcasm. It is the suppression of the intended 
 inference, and the turn of the sentence Yet it is 
 right.,., by which that inference seems to be rather 
 deprecated than enforced. Jebb's meaning here, his 
 personal opinion, undoubtedly is, that the catalogue 
 is a reductio ad absurdtim of the method which has 
 furnished the materials, and that it almost disproves 
 
 ^ Track. Introd. p. lii. 
 
The Scholar and Critic 441 
 
 every item. Most writers would have said so plainly; 
 and that way would have manifest advantages. But 
 the cautious and suggestive understatement, pre- 
 ferred by J ebb, is the way which should be preferred 
 by an Attic wit, by a writer naturally fitted to under- 
 stand the linguistic art of Athens, and, above all, of 
 Sophocles. 
 
 And now, with these two preparatory examples 
 in mind, let us see the commentator directly at 
 work upon a critical passage. The speech, in which 
 Philoctetes describes his sufferings after and since he 
 was left alone in the misery of his maimed condition, 
 is a cornerstone of the play, and a touchstone of 
 sympathetic interpretation. We will take from it the 
 piece, which Jebb renders thus^ : — 
 
 So time went on for me, season by season ; and, alone 
 in this narrow house, I was fain to meet each want by mine 
 own service. For hunger's needs this bow provided, bring- 
 ing down the winged doves ; and, whatever my string-sped 
 shaft might strike, I, hapless one, would crawl to it myself, 
 trailing my wretched foot just so far ; or if, again, water 
 had to be fetched, — or if (when the frost was out, perchance, 
 as oft in winter) a bit of fire-wood had to be broken, — I 
 would creep forth, poor wretch, and manage it. Then fire 
 would be lacking ; but by rubbing stone on stone I would 
 at last draw forth the hidden spark ; and this it is that 
 keeps life in me from day to day. Indeed, a roof over my 
 head, and fire therewith, gives all that I want — save release 
 from my disease. 
 
 6 yAv yji6vo% St) 8t(x y^povov irpov^aive /xoi, 
 KaSei TL ySata TjjS* viro aTeyrj ^jlovov 
 hiaKoveia-Bai' yaarpi ixkv ra cnjfJL(l)opa 
 
 "■ Philoci. 285. 
 
442 Sir Richard J ebb 
 
 To^ov rdS' i^rjvpLCTKe, rag VTronTdpovs 
 /3dkXov TreXetas* Trpos Se tovO\ o jjlol /3dkoL 
 vevpoaTrahrj*; drpaKTO<;, avros ap raXa? 
 
 €lXv6fJb7]V, SvCTTTJl'OV i^ekKOJV TToStt 
 
 7r/)09 TOVT dv el t eSet tl /cat ttotov Xa^eiv, 
 KaC TTOv irdyov -^vOePTO^;, oTa ^et/iart, 
 ^v\ov TL Opavcrai, ravT dv i^ipTTCov rdkas 
 ifjurj^apcjix-qv' elra TTvp av ov iraprji/, 
 dX)C iv ireTpoLcri Trirpov iKTpificoif /xdXi9 
 €(f>rjp* dcjyavTov <^a)9, o /cat (Tco^ei fx det. 
 OLKOvixevrj yap ovv crreyy] 7Tvpo<; /xera 
 TrdvT €KTTopit,eL ttKtjv to jJirj vocrelv e/xe. 
 
 Now, about the many small points in which this 
 passage, with all its simplicity, has, by lapse of time 
 and other causes, become open to some doubt upon 
 the exact sense, we need not here say anything, 
 except that Jebb seems to leave none untouched, 
 and is, if anything, only too full. But when ex- 
 planation is done, there remains the vital matter for 
 the student. When he understands the passage, is 
 he kindled by its passion, and soothed by its dignity? 
 If not, Sophocles can do nothing for him, and his 
 time is wasted. Yet the negative chance, the chance 
 that full understanding may leave in the mind a 
 perfect blindness to what is here essentially valuable, 
 is not at all unlikely ; as appears from the fact, that 
 a very acute observer and reasoner, deeply read in 
 Sophocles and in Greek generally, proposed to im- 
 prove the composition by eliminating the verse 
 /cat TTOV irdyov ^6evTO<^, ota ^et/xaTt\ 
 
 Writing ^vXov re in the next verse. 
 
The Scholar and Critic 443 
 
 The one thing, then, of ultimate importance to us as 
 students is to make such a conjecture as this im- 
 possible to us, — to make us capable of perceiving that 
 iTojyov ■)(yQkv7o% is just one of those stars of speech, 
 by which the simple tale is lighted up, and without 
 which it would not be Sophocles. But this again is 
 the sort of thing which will not bear plain saying, 
 not at all events through the medium of a book. 
 My reader, I imagine, is ill-pleased when he reads 
 it here, perhaps even, because he reads it, incredulous. 
 Such are the straits, which too often make commen- 
 tary impotent. Now let us hear J ebb : — 
 
 iraYov x^^^'vTos : cp. Trachiuiae 853 ick-)(yTai voao^, 'hath 
 spread abroad ' (through his frame). Attius, Prometheus 
 fr. I profusus gelus. Psalm cxlvii. 16 : * He giveth snow 
 like wool : he scattereth the hoar-frost Hke ashes. He 
 casteth forth his ice Hke morsels.' — ... — Nauck would 
 delete this verse, because it is unreasonable that the hero 
 should delay providing himself with firewood until the frost 
 has set in. — |vXov n. Lemnos is now almost devoid of wood, 
 save for a few plane-trees in the water-courses, and a little 
 undergrowth. 
 
 One is ashamed to expound the art of this, which 
 would normally be read, and should be read, without 
 arrest and almost without notice. But every touch 
 tells : the Biblical illustration — a thing rare in J ebb, 
 saved, like all powerful instruments, for a fit place ; 
 the bit of irony ; and above all, the last paragraph, 
 which itself is poetry, and, like all poetry, is beyond 
 analysis. The sum is this : a reader of the note has 
 the best chance, that any one can help him to, of 
 
444 ^^^ Richard J ebb 
 
 seeing why and how the passage of Sophocles is 
 lovely. If, with this note, he does not see it, he 
 never would. And what more could one say for a 
 commentary } 
 
 At the end of our citation from the text occurs 
 one of those linguistic subtleties, those minute, but 
 pregnant, deviations from common form, in which all 
 Athenians delighted, Sophocles not less than any, 
 and which, in the state of our textual tradition, 
 became matter of doubt and dispute : — 
 
 A roof over my head, and fire therewith, gives all that I 
 want — save release from my disease. 
 
 OLKovfjiepr} yap ovj/ cTTeyrj TTvpos fxira 
 irdvT eKTTopit^eL ttXtjv to fxrj vocreiv ifxe. 
 
 That the purpose of this emphasis on the pronoun 
 {ifjL€, not fjie) is not, to the modern mind, evident, 
 appears from a row of conjectural substitutes. J ebb 
 writes : 
 
 €>€ has been suspected. But it serves to qualify the 
 general sentiment by a reference to his special circum- 
 stances : — ' shelter and fire give all that a man needs — 
 except, in mj/ case, health.' 
 
 Whether we accept this or not (I do so myself with- 
 out hesitation), it is manifestly the remark of a very 
 clear and penetrating mind, a mind peculiarly fitted 
 to follow the flexions of Attic speech. 
 
 Certainty in such matters is often not now to be 
 had ; and the point is inevitably reached where such 
 an expositor as Jebb, pursuing the turns of such a 
 composer as Sophocles, will be charged plausibly, if 
 
The Scholar and Critic 445 
 
 not justly, with cutting too fine. Such a case is 
 presented by the opening of our passage. J ebb, it 
 will be seen, renders 
 
 6 [kkv yj)6vo% Srj Sta -^povov irpov^aive fJuoL 
 
 into ' So time went on for me, season by season,' and 
 compares, very appropriately at all events in respect 
 of the matter, these lines from Enoch Arden : 
 
 Thus over Enoch's early-silvering head 
 
 The sunny and rainy seasons came and went, 
 
 Year after year. 
 
 The explanation, by which this version is supported, 
 will seem to some ' more elaborate than is necessary^'; 
 and this (let us note) it may be, even if nevertheless 
 it is right. I venture no opinion, but will call 
 attention in passing to Jebb's firm and just defence 
 of the verse against the suspicion, much supported, 
 of clerical error, '' The text " he says " has been 
 boldly altered,... to get rid of Sta ^ovov : but the 
 iteration itself is a proof of soundness," This is 
 surely true ; and by such neat, decisive strokes J ebb 
 will constantly limit those doubts which he may not 
 altogether remove. 
 
 Indeed, whatever doubts may remain, there is no 
 difference of opinion as to the general soundness, as 
 well as subtlety, of Jebb, in discriminating the shade 
 of a given expression from approximate equivalents. 
 It is the most obvious of his gifts, and perhaps the 
 
 ^ So Professor L. Campbell, Paralipomena Sophoclea (p. 203). 
 He prefers ' Well, after a time, I found the time advancing.' Note 
 however the position of the words 8ia yjiovov. 
 
44^ Sir Richard J ebb 
 
 most indispensable to the exposition of his favourite 
 poet. Never does he sink into the algebraic method 
 of interpreting language, as if it consisted of inter- 
 changeable varieties, or forget that, for the purpose 
 of art, no two expressions can be absolutely and 
 indifferently equal. To be weeded of this error is 
 the benefit most easily and certainly procurable 
 from a course of Jebb. Examples abound, and, to 
 represent him fairly, must be given in some fulness. 
 In making a selection, I have not ascertained or 
 considered, whether J ebb's view is original or 
 adopted — which is not the point. I believe how- 
 ever that in most cases the substance of his remarks 
 is his own, as well as the form. 
 
 '* Thou must beguile the mind of Philoctetes by 
 a story told in thy converse with him," says Odysseus 
 to Neoptolemus\ and uses an irregular syntax — 
 
 xfjv^rjT/ OTTW? XoyoLOTLv eic/cXei//ei9 Xeycov — 
 
 of which two other examples (one Sophoclean) are 
 extant. Some have proposed to correct the irre- 
 gularity, others, with more discretion, to admit it. 
 Neither way comes to the point, which is, that if, as 
 would appear, the variation commended itself to 
 Sophocles, it had presumably some distinction of 
 colour, which distinction, Jebb sees, is the thing to be 
 fixed. *' In [all the three examples] the construction 
 is used by an elder, or superior, in giving a precept 
 of conduct. The admonitory tone thus associated 
 
 ' FM. 54. 
 
The Scholar and Critic 447 
 
 with the formula confirms the text." The basis of 
 induction is narrow, and possibly uncertain ; but this 
 is the spirit in which grammar should be handled, 
 and the only way of making it fruitful. And see in 
 the same note, for a specimen, both instructive and 
 amusing, of the difficulties inherent in a language so 
 remote from us and so subtle as Attic Greek, the 
 discussion of the word Xiyoiv. Of four interpreta- 
 tions J ebb disallows only one, though as usual he is 
 decisive in preference, and seems, as usual, to be 
 right. 
 
 The same principle, applied to a peculiarity not 
 of syntax but of vocabulary, is seen in the following 
 case\ which might be multiplied almost without 
 limit. Neoptolemus, having convinced the seducer 
 Ulysses of his determination to restore what they 
 have stolen to the true owner, dismisses him thus : 
 " Thou hast come to thy senses ; and if thou art 
 thus prudent henceforth, perchance thou mayst keep 
 clear of trouble " — 
 
 iaco(j)p6vr)o'a<;' Kav to. \oi(f> ovrco (f^povrj^;, 
 icrco<; av Ikto^ KkaviiaTOiv e)(oi<; noSa. 
 
 What shall we say of this mixed metaphor, "Thou 
 mayst keep foot out of weeping" ? Note it merely 
 for an oddity, or impugn it as an error V Neither, 
 if we would appreciate Sophocles. 
 
 KXavji,aT«v : cp. Ant. 93 1 rolacv dyovo-iv \ KXavfiaO^ 
 vTrdp^ec. The familiar use of Kkaiwv in threats {ib, 754) 
 
 1 Phil. 1259. 
 
 * Hartung conjectured Tryj/xdroiv. 
 
44 8 Sir Richard J ebb 
 
 made it natural to use the substantive as = ' troubles ' : 
 hence the confusion of metaphor would not be felt. For 
 like phrases with iroSa, see on Ant. 619. 
 
 That is to say, two streams of colloquial phraseology 
 here flow together ; two metaphors, each, as a meta- 
 phor, all but killed by much use, produce by fusion 
 a point of colour ; and, where tttj jjlcitcjv would have 
 been commonplace, KXavixdrcov gives the touch of 
 life. In the references, the reader, if he pleases, can 
 retrace the history. 
 
 So also when Sophocles writes 
 
 a modern reader will be apt to feel, clearly or 
 obscurely, that the reduplication of Kevrfv, empty, by 
 dvdpcoTTcov 8t;)(a, withotU men (in it), is a mere negli- 
 gence or, at best, a technical trick, not really made 
 any more agreeable when it has been labelled as 
 poetical. A set of parallel passages, proving that 
 Greek and Latin writers not unfrequently did such 
 things, does not help him at all. He perhaps knows 
 that they did, and wishes that they did not, since he 
 does not perceive, if he were to speak his mind, any 
 better reason for such superfluity than the filling of 
 the verse. Even those, who may see more, will 
 often tell him no more, because, in such matters, to 
 see is one thing, but to say is quite another, and 
 harder. What he wants will be this : 
 
 opco. Neoptolemus, mounting the rocks, has now just 
 reached the mouth of the cave, kcvi^v is made more explicit 
 
 ^ Fhil. 31. 
 
The Scholar and Critic 449 
 
 by avepwirwv 8£xa : ' empty, — yes, there is no man there.' 
 Such iteration is natural when the mind confirms itself in 
 a first impression, or dwells on a striking thought ; so Verg. 
 Aen. /\.. 588 vactios sensit sine remige porttis ('empty, — no 
 rower there'); Ai. 464 'yvfivov ^avevra rwv dpiareLwv 
 arep ' (when I return) ungraced, — aye, without the meed of 
 valour'. 
 
 This is something more than an explanation of the 
 passage, more even than a general precept about 
 Greek or Latin. It is a light on the nature of 
 language and the method of art. 
 
 More important still is another application of the 
 same principle — that an irregularity in language 
 should signify, and, if you can trust your author, 
 will signify, some corresponding peculiarity of 
 thought, some special colour of circumstance or 
 insinuation : I mean, where the controlling force 
 lies behind the words, in the mind of the speaker, 
 which mind he would fain both express and conceal. 
 So Philoctetes expresses his confidence in Neopto- 
 lemus, promising to put into the young man's hands 
 his fatal and coveted weapon^: *'The bow shall be 
 thine, to handle, and to return to the hand that gave 
 it; thou shalt be able to vaunt that... thou alone 
 hast touched it." This reads not quite smoothly in 
 English, and more disjointed still is the Greek : 
 
 TrapicTTai ravToi oroi kol Oiyydveiv 
 Kol hovTi hovvai Kd^enev^aaOai ^poTcov 
 dperrj^ e/cart twz^S' CTrti/zavcrat jxovov. 
 
 1 Fhil, 667. 
 J. M. 29 
 
45 o Sir Richard J ebb 
 
 Beyond this perception, that the run of the words is 
 odd, and that the oddness can be located in the 
 clause Koi hovTi Sowat, — beyond this most of us will 
 not go without help, as appears by a string of pro- 
 posals (with very good names to them) for correcting 
 the recalcitrant words. Nevertheless 
 
 These words are not only genuine, but mark a delicate 
 turn of phrase. Instead of saying, ' You shall be allowed 
 to handle the bow, on condition of returning it,' he says, 
 ' You shall be allowed to handle the bow and to return it.' 
 ...The condition which qualifies the boon is thus lightly 
 and courteously hinted, — being inserted between the words 
 {Oi'yydveiv, Ka^eTrev^aaOat) which express the privileges 
 conceded. 
 
 Observations of this kind, fine, exact, and satisfying, 
 may be picked from almost any page. 
 
 I turn aside here to indicate, in the immediate 
 context of the passage last cited, a case in which 
 J ebb does not, in my judgment, exhaust his problem, 
 though he does conclusively settle the points which 
 he raises. It is due to him to exhibit at least one 
 such case, for, as a proof of sound quality, nothing Is 
 better. The speech of Phlloctetes, consenting to put 
 the bow in the hand of Neoptolemus (see above), 
 continues and concludes In the mss. thus : 
 
 ...TcovS* iTTixjjavaaL [xovop* 
 evepyerajp yap KavTOS avT iKT7)(TdiJi'qv. 
 [ov/c a^OofJbai a IScov re Kal Xaficop (jyikov 
 ocTTts yap ev Spav ev iraOcov iTrLorTarai, 
 iravTos yivoiT av KTijfxaros Kpeicrcrcov <^iXo9.] 
 NE. ^(opols ap elo-o). 
 
The Scholar and Critic 451 
 
 Now the sentiment, that '* whoever knows how to 
 render benefit for benefit must prove a fi-iend above 
 price," has no point here, if addressed by Philoctetes 
 to Neoptolemus, who, having received no benefit, 
 has not rendered any. The text therefore must be 
 in some way faulty. Two remedies had been pro- 
 posed : ( I ) to transfer the bracketed verses to 
 Neoptolemus, (2) to omit them altogether. Upon 
 this state of the question, J ebb remarks, that, if 
 the verses are rejected, then Neoptolemus deigns 
 no reply to the gracious and cordial speech of 
 Philoctetes, including the offer to entrust him with 
 the bow, beyond the bare yoipoi% av etcrw, " Go in, 
 I pray thee," which alone is assigned to him by the 
 Mss. He ignores the offer, that is to say, altogether. 
 J ebb thinks this dramatically intolerable, as surely 
 it is. He also explains correctly what the verses 
 mean in the mouth of Neoptolemus : — " I am not 
 sorry that chance drove me to Lemnos, and thus 
 enabled me to gain your friendship. One who is 
 ready to requite a benefit (viz., conveyance to 
 Greece) by such a kindness as this (the promised 
 loan of the bow), must indeed prove to be a price- 
 less friend." 
 
 So far I see no objection. J ebb has done here 
 what, at the least, he always does. He has cleared 
 the position ; he has fixed a base and limit of 
 possible departure. But has he proved that ''the 
 three verses are clearly genuine " ? What he has 
 shown is, strictly, that, if Neoptolemus does not 
 acknowledge the offer of Philoctetes by the im- 
 
 29 — 2 
 
452 Sir Richard J ebb 
 
 pugned verses, then he must acknowledge it other- 
 wise. Omission of the verses, that is to say, is not 
 admissible as a complete remedy. I still believe 
 that the verses are spurious. In the mouth of 
 Neoptolemus (for whom they were undoubtedly 
 written) they have indeed meaning, as Jebb explains; 
 but they are (I think) pompous and inappropriate'. 
 The offer of Philoctetes, to deliver the bow to 
 Neoptolemus for a moment, merely that he may 
 'handle ' it, may ' touch ' it, and then return it to the 
 owner, — surely this piece of courtesy is not well 
 described as * a benefit,' a reward for the service of 
 conveying Philoctetes to his home. And further, 
 why should the offer of Philoctetes be left unper- 
 formed ? Neoptolemus has asked merely to have 
 the bow in his hands and to pay his respects to itl 
 He is told that he may. Then why should he not ? 
 It appears necessary to the natural effect of the 
 scene that the thing should be done, that, when 
 Philoctetes has spoken, he should act upon his offer, 
 by delivering the bow, which Neoptolemus, after 
 expressing his pretended satisfaction by kissing it, 
 or such other reverent gesture as may be appropriate, 
 will of course reverently restore, as he was bidden, 
 to Philoctetes. But if this, or something like this, 
 here passes between the speech of Philoctetes and 
 the ''Go in, I pray thee" of Neoptolemus, there is 
 
 ^ So also, as I understand, Professor Campbell {Paralipomena 
 p. 21 1) — "It must be allowed that Neoptolemus is 'daubing it' 
 rather far." 
 
 * V. 657, V. 660. 
 
The Scholar and Critic 453 
 
 no need and no room for any words on the subject 
 from the young man. Words would only spoil the 
 significant action. We may thus satisfy the instinct 
 of those many scholars (five are cited by J ebb) who 
 mislike the three verses, and yet we shall not infringe 
 the requirement of Jebb, that the offer of Philoctetes 
 must not pass without notice. The verses will have 
 been inserted to fill an apparent lacuna, produced by 
 the absence of stage-directions. They will have 
 drifted (in the mss.) from Neoptolemus to Philoctetes, 
 because, as is natural in a patchwork, they do not 
 really fit either. But be this suggestion right or 
 wrong, — I put it forward not at all for its own sake, 
 and will suppose that others can see something better, 
 — what I would point out is, that Jebb here closes 
 decisively some ways of going wrong, and places 
 us, at all events, in the right position from which to 
 move, if move we will. 
 
 This clearness of view, with a keen and imper- 
 turbable sense for the less obvious relations between 
 words and thought, fitted him admirably for the 
 interpretation of drama. For a good example, see 
 the exclamation of Neoptolemus \ when he forces 
 himself to the uncongenial work of fraud : ' Come 
 what may, I'll do it, and cast off all shame' (Trdcrav 
 alcrxyj^W ac^ets). To complain, with some, that so 
 complete a change of mind is abrupt and unnatural, 
 is to confuse form and substance — an error only too 
 easy for a commentator, intent for the moment upon 
 the phrase before him. "He will do the deed," 
 ' Phil. 120. 
 
454 ^^^ Richard J ebb 
 
 writes J ebb, " but there is still a sense of oXcryyvy], 
 which it costs an effort to shake off. These are the 
 words of one who may yet feel remorse." Just so ; 
 there is no more to be said\ 
 
 Often of course a trenchant decision would be a 
 misrepresentation ; and it is not the least of Jebb's 
 merits, that his opinion and arguments are given, in 
 such cases, exactly for what they are worth. Was 
 it possible, in the Greek of Sophocles, to express 
 *' Thou art not departing from thy sire's example" 
 by ovh\v e^o) tov (j)VT€vcravro<; crv ye Spas^ ? Could a 
 place be said o-vfXfjyepeo-Oai OvrjcrKovri, in the sense 
 of being ' fit ' to die in^ } These, and other such 
 questions without number, are matters of feeling, 
 which for decision demand a native, and a native 
 highly trained. Jebb's treatment of them has these 
 constant qualities, that he determines exactly the 
 conditions of choice, reducing to reason all, to the 
 last shade, that can be so reduced, and pretending 
 no more. 
 
 It is often manifest that he himself felt, and not 
 without internal justification, much more assurance 
 than he could ground upon logic ; and he had an 
 enviable power of implying this without improper 
 emphasis. But no one could be more free from the 
 
 ^ For the same reason, unfailing clearness, Jebb is excellent 
 in the classification of syntactical forms. See the notes on w? 
 TttVT* cTTto-Ttu Sptofxcva (P/ll7. 567) and ivrvx^iv or ai/ rvx^lv (/%/'/. 
 1329). In these, and hundreds of places, whether he settles the 
 matter or no, he eliminates confusion with incomparable dexterity. 
 
 ' Phil 904. 
 
 » Phil. 1085. 
 
The Scholar" and Critic 455 
 
 vice of brazening, and from the temptation to fortify 
 a weak point by 'abusing the adversary's counsel.' 
 His strict courtesy, his reticence in reticendis, is only 
 the more appreciable, because rarely, here and there, 
 just once in a way, a little cry reveals his inner 
 impatience : — 
 
 ** Such as the time needs, such am I," says 
 Odysseus \ "Where the question is of just men and 
 good, thou wilt find no man more scrupulous." 
 
 cv ya/3 TOLOvTcov Set, tolovt6<; eljx iyco. 
 
 Upon this J ebb remarks, with his usual precision : 
 
 TotovTwv, ' such or such ' a man, — * any given kind ' of 
 person : — euphemistic for BoXlcov, or the like. Such a 
 colloquial use of TOLovTo<i seems quite intelligible, since it 
 could be interpreted by an expressive tone of the voice, or 
 by a slight gesture. (Not, ' such as thou hast described.') 
 
 This is right — if we so see it ; and argument can 
 help no further. But what should be done, in view 
 of the fact that, in an important edition, tolovtcov 
 was changed to iravovpyajv, ''where wickedness is 
 wanted, wicked I am"? J ebb's practice is to record 
 such things, when the case demands, and to pass on. 
 But here, for once, his tone is sharp : " It would 
 be grievous" he adds "to change tolovtcjv into 
 Travovpycov." So it would ; and we get a salutary 
 shock, a useful caution against rough handling. But 
 such an effect rewards only the severest economy ; 
 and you may read a hundred pages of J ebb without 
 finding anything similar. 
 
 1 F/u7. 1049. 
 
456 Sir Richard J ebb 
 
 Indeed, in his oreneral treatment of controversial 
 matter, in his desire to exhibit, not only what ought 
 now to be said upon the subject, but, if possible, all 
 that has been worthily and helpfully said, he is only 
 too scrupulous and insatiable. His passion for 
 completeness, his desire not to suppress an aid, are 
 chief causes of the only fault which, apart from 
 details, may be alleged against the commentary on 
 Sophocles, — that sometimes, not often, it might be 
 shortened without practical loss. Wordy he never 
 is; terse he is often, to the despair of imitation; and 
 where he gives more than the student of Sophocles, 
 as such, actually wants, it is most commonly because 
 he insists on marking the imperfect contribution of 
 a predecessor. It should be observed that, even in 
 these cases, the presentation of the development is 
 in itself valuable, as illustrating method and the 
 growth of opinion. And indeed, where such matter 
 is given in an appendix, we have more reason to be 
 grateful than to complain. But in the footnotes it 
 is occasionally burdensome. I will give one example, 
 not, I think, uninteresting. 
 
 The last decisive moment in the plot of the 
 Philodetes, the final victory of honesty, is reached 
 when Neoptolemus, unable to convince Philoctetes 
 upon the question of his voluntary submission to 
 destiny and removal to Troy, declares nevertheless 
 his own adherence to his promise, — that he would 
 convey the hero, if he wished, to his home in Malis. 
 '' Ne, If thou wilt, let us be going. 
 Ph. O generous word!" 
 
The Scholar and Critic 457 
 
 NE. ei So/cei, (jrCiyoiy^^v. <S>I. c3 yevvolov elpr)KOt)<; 
 
 ^ 1 
 
 Now in this verse, and in those which follow, the 
 change in the situation and movement is marked, 
 after the artful manner of Greek tragedy, by a 
 change of form, the substitution of the long trochaic 
 metre for the common iambic. But this verse, the 
 first in the new metre, is irregular, because practice 
 required that the centre of the verse, the end of 
 the fourth foot, should be marked by a division 
 between words, whereas here it occurs within a 
 single word (co yevv-aiov). The irregularity is in- 
 tentional and valuable, as it enforces the pause at 
 aret^coixev, and adds strength to the exclamation 
 which follows. This effect, the explanation of which 
 was the work partly of Porson, partly of Hermann, 
 had doubtless been/"^// before, though not technically 
 comprehended, by many ; and, for practical purposes, 
 it might be dismissed in a couple of sentences. If 
 Jebb s notes on it, the critical and the explanatory, 
 are (as may be thought) too elaborate for the im- 
 portance of the matter, the cause is plainly his wish 
 to reward exactly the deserts of all concerned in the 
 evolution of the true view, and particularly to do 
 justice to Porson. 
 
 And for once that he is too ample, he is twenty 
 times admirable in compression. Take for a specimen 
 a note from the Trachmiae': 
 
 aXX' olcrSa yikv hr] koX ra tt}? ^ei/r)^ opcov 
 TrpocrSeyfjLaTy avTrjv ojq iSe^dixrjv t^tXo)?. 
 
 ^ /y«7. 1402. ^ V. 62^]. 
 
45 S Sir Richard J ebb 
 
 *'And then thou hast seen the greeting given to the 
 stranger maiden — thou knowest how I welcomed 
 her." The mss. vary between avrrjv and avrijv 6\ 
 Here is the statement by which Jebb not only settles 
 this doubt, which has produced a long course of 
 misadventures, but also illuminates the principles 
 of Greek : 
 
 I read avTijv (with A), not avrr'/v 0' (with L), for these 
 reasons. — (i) It is clear that avrrjv means merely earn, not 
 ipsam. We cannot distinguish to. ti]s %kv^% irpoo-ScYjiaTa, as 
 meaning the welcome of lole along zuith the other captives, 
 from a special welcom.e given to lole personally. (2) avrrjVy 
 although unemphatic, has a position which would usually 
 give emphasis. But this is excused by the fact that the 
 whole clause, avTTjv cSs cSeganT^v <|)£X«s, depends on olcrea, being 
 merely epexegetic of rd ttjs iiv(\% irpoo-StYfiaTa (instead of ola 
 iyevero or the like). The chief stress falls on <j>£X«s. (3) If, 
 however, we had avTtfv e*, then the sentence would lose that 
 compact unity which justifies the place of the pronoun. 
 And so avTr)i> 6' would naturally seem to mean ipsam — 
 raising the objection noticed above (i). The insertion of 9* 
 may easily have arisen from a notion that the second 
 clause required a link with the first. 
 
 From the Trackiniae, which, in its varied and 
 elaborate style, offers special opportunities for the 
 sense of poetical discrimination, I will take some 
 further specimens of Jebb's characteristic faculty, 
 the reference of linguistic variety to the subtleties of 
 thought which determine it. Again and again he 
 will show, at a stroke, not merely that a peculiar 
 phrase is possible, but why it is wanted. The 
 examples will be different in kind, as dealing with 
 
The Scholar and Critic 459 
 
 vocabulary, or grammar, or other matter. But in 
 all will be seen a like penetration, the same neat 
 cutting to the quick. Be it remembered, that in all 
 or most of these cases, the knot, which we see 
 loosed, has been pulled and tangled to distraction, 
 though the solution (Jebb is the last to forget this) 
 may nevertheless be largely due to the failures. 
 
 "• Let me hear thy name," says Deianeira to lole, 
 **from thine own mouth. It is indeed distressing not 
 to know thy name " — 
 
 . . . CTret 
 KoX ^Vfi(f>opoi TOL firj elSevai ere y 17x19 eP. 
 
 She is deeply interested by the captive, and anxious 
 to know her story, in order to offer her formal 
 sympathy. On fv^(^o/oa, where many have stumbled, 
 Jebb remarks, that the use of it here is a subtlety 
 of art, which 
 
 depends on the different shades of meaning possible for 
 the word. When Deianeira at last learns all, that knowledge 
 is to her a ^vfMcpopd in the gravest sense: she knows that, in 
 lole, she has received a Trrffiovijv v-jroareyov (376). But 
 here she is courteously using ^vficpopd in the milder sense 
 which it could also bear, — * a matter of deep regret,' — 
 
 which sense he illustrates, and surely stops all 
 question. 
 
 ** Let my wife but come to me," cries Heracles 
 in his agony, **and she shall learn to proclaim this 
 message unto all, that in my death, as in my life, I 
 chastised the wicked " — 
 
 Kol t,(x)v KaKovs ye kol Oavcov iTeLcroifjirjv^, 
 "■ Tr. 320. "^ Tr. iiii. 
 
460 Sir Richard Jebb 
 
 The ye, says Jebb, Is very expressive : 
 
 It means, ' when gtdlt is to be chastised, I am strong 
 even in weakness, — even unto death.' 
 
 '' Of course," w^e say. Yet a critic of the first rank 
 proposed to write KaKovpyov<;. 
 
 Heracles (to Hyllus) : "Thou must consent and 
 help with a good grace, as one who hath learned 
 that best of laws, obedience to a sire." — 
 
 Set a ... avTov eiKaOovra a-vjXTTpdcrcreiVy vo^jlov 
 KaWiCTTOv i^evpoPTa, ireidap^eiv iraTpi^, 
 
 The word i^evpovra Is not what would occur to the 
 ordinary composer ; hence conjectures, i^opdovvra, 
 i^aipovray and so on. But 
 
 i^evpovra is illustrated by the words avrov elKaOovra. 
 He is not to wait until this law has been brought home to 
 his mind by a rebuke. He is to ' find it out ' in the light of 
 his own reason ; 
 
 and it is shown that, in fact, evpia-K^iv * often ex- 
 presses the result of reflection.' 
 
 Deianeira, In innocent anticipation, describes 
 Heracles, clad in the fatal robe of sacrifice, as 'newly 
 radiant at the altar In a ^tew garb' — 
 
 OvTTJpa KaLv^ Kaivov eV TreTrXaj/xart^. 
 
 The repetition Is a common idiom for emphasis; but, 
 adds Jebb with poetic Insight, It has here a further 
 motive, as pointing to the unforeseen catastrophe : 
 
 It is a touch of tragic irony.... For BvTrjp Kaivov could 
 mean * a sacrificer of a novel kind,' — 
 
 ' Tr. 1178. ' Tr. 613. 
 
The Scholar and Critic 461 
 
 which fact, and the sinister sense of /caii^d?, he 
 proves by illustration. Yet it had been proposed to 
 substitute kK^ivco kX€lv6p, ' glorious and gloriously 
 attired.' 
 
 When ''to prate with the brainsick befits not a 
 sane man " is expressed in the form — . 
 
 TO yap 
 vocTovvri Xrjpelv avSpo<; ov)(l o'(o(j)povo^^, 
 
 every one perceives in voctovptl, the simple dative, 
 a departure from ordinary grammar. To make this 
 acceptable — and a rain of conjectures has proved 
 the peril of alteration — we must learn what poetical 
 purpose it serves, what is the shade of colour by 
 which it differs from tt/jo? vocrovvra. To this, the 
 true point, J ebb instantly proceeds : 
 
 The dative follows the analogy, partly of StaXiyeaOal 
 TLVi, but more especially of (faXovec/celv tivl, crracnd^eLv rcvl: 
 the notion is 'to hold a silly controversy with a madman.' 
 Cp. the schol. ox) yap (piXovei/CTjaco Trpb^; avrov. 
 
 So again, he will not let us suppose, that, in 
 
 opm Be fx epyoT/ Seivoi' i^eipyaa-fxeur)]/^, 
 
 the use of the accusative, instead of the common 
 nominative, is merely a convenience, which we have 
 done with, when we have registered it as exceptional. 
 
 The examples are of two kinds, (i) Most often there 
 is a contrast of persons ; £/. 65.... (2) Sometimes, as here, 
 ...the effect is merely to give a certain objectivity : El. 470 
 iriKpav I hoKd fie irelpav njvSe roX/juTjcretv ere. ... This is 
 
 ' Tr. 434. 
 ' Tr. 706. 
 
462 Sir Richard Jedd 
 
 especially fitting when the speaker is in an evil plight, and 
 means that he can see himself as others see him. 
 
 Nothing seems more obvious. Yet nothing is 
 more difificult to sustain than this sure touch upon 
 the nerves of the language, or more rare than the 
 power to be at once so minute in distinction and 
 so simple in expressing it. 
 
 Again and again it enables Jebb to see, and to 
 bring out, points of value in the phrasing, which 
 would escape the majority even of practised readers. 
 Deianeira was told (she says) by the Centaur, to 
 keep his supposed love-charm in a secret place, 
 always remote from fire and sun, *' until I should 
 apply it, newly spread, where I wished " — 
 
 €0)9 viv dpTi^pLCTTov ay3/xdcratju,t 7rou\ 
 
 Whereupon Jebb : 
 
 irov: neither Nessus (575) nor she herself had ever 
 thought of the charm being used on any one except 
 Heracles. But, as she shrank from naming Eurystheus 
 (35), so, at this moment, she shrinks from naming the man 
 whom she loves. 
 
 Remarks of this kind, which abound, are what I 
 had chiefly in view when I said, that Sophocles is 
 here interpreted by an Addison. It appears, I hope, 
 that this is at all events not an over-statement. 
 
 We might prolong the exemplification indefinitely, 
 and still it would not be adequate. Many expositions, 
 especially upon points of syntax, however good in 
 their place, cannot fairly be presented in detachment 
 
 ^ Tr. 687. 
 
The Scholar and Critic 463 
 
 and under the present conditions. I must be content 
 to mention, without citing, the notes on Trachiniae 
 438, 463 (ivTaKeiTj tS ^tXeti^), a model of scientific 
 skill directed by sympathetic Intuition, 468, 547 
 (disputable, but in my opinion right), 562 (tov 
 TraTpcoop (jToXov : see particularly the remarks on the 
 'dramatic fitness'), and 584 (equally subtle and true). 
 But I cannot refrain from quoting In full the 
 note on Trachiniae 494 ff. The moment is a crisis 
 in the development of the drama. Delaneira has 
 just formed in her own mind the fatal plan, shortly 
 after revealed, to attempt the recovery of her un- 
 faithful husband by a charm. She will send it by 
 the hands of his own messenger, to whom she speaks 
 as follows : — " But let us go into the house, that thou 
 mayest receive my messages; and, since gifts should 
 be meetly recompensed with gifts, — that thou mayest 
 take these also. It is not right that thou shouldest 
 go back with empty hands, after coming with such a 
 goodly train." — 
 
 dX.X' etcro) crriyq^; 
 )(0)pa)iJL€V, ot)9 Xoycov t hrKnoka,'^ <^ipri^, 
 a T avTL Scopcjv Scopa ■)(^pr) irpoo-apixocraty 
 Kal ravT ayrjs' Kevov yap ov 8t/cata ere 
 yoipeiv, 7rpocrek96v0* c5Se orvv ttoXXw crroXw. 
 
 That the word irpoa-apixoo-ai has a somewhat artificial 
 effect, one may easily perceive ; but that the choice 
 of it is dictated by anything beyond technical con- 
 venience, I, for one, should certainly not have sus- 
 pected. It would pass, with ninety-nine readers in 
 a hundred — and with the hundredth too, for a fair 
 
464 Sir Richard J ebb 
 
 specimen of tragic diction, for a variation, fairly 
 appropriate, chosen to mark poetry as something 
 different from prose. Whether this is all the effect 
 that Sophocles intended, or all that a native hearer 
 would have felt, the reader must decide after 
 perusing this comment : 
 
 irpoo-ofjioo-ai, literally 'adjust'; Le., 'give in fitting recom- 
 pense/ But Deianeira's choice of the word has been 
 influenced by her secret thought, — already turned towards 
 the philtre which she would apply to Heracles : cp. 687 
 eo)? vLv apTiy^piaTov apixoaaLfxi irov. And at the same time 
 the word is unconsciously ominous (cp. 767 7r/Do<77rTucro-€Tai^). 
 
 This is the first mention of the fateful gift. An un- 
 obtrusive significance is given to it by two traits of ex- 
 pression, (i) ^oipa is drawn into the relative clause,... and 
 resumed, with a light emphasis, in koI ravr: cp. Pki/. 1247^ 
 (2) A pause follows the second foot of the verse (ayr}<;). 
 
 It would be needless to tell any one, versed in 
 the classics and their expositors, that this is by Jebb. 
 There are no such notes, none exactly such, in any 
 commentaries that I know of, except his. Such 
 points go, for the most part, unobserved, and, when 
 observed, are seldom expounded, because they are so 
 hard of definition. And it is true, as Jebb was well 
 aware, that such points will hardly bear explanation ; 
 if they are not seen, they must be partly lost. Hence 
 the lightness and suspense of his touch, a sort of 
 colourless language, which sometimes eludes and 
 defeats the unwary. But thus only may the thing 
 
 ^ Said of the poisoned robe, when it /o/ds itself, like a fitting 
 garment, to the flesh. 
 
 ^ Where, as here, the trait serves to mark a dramatic crisis. 
 
The Scholar and Critic 465 
 
 be done at all ; and so often and so far as we appre- 
 hend it, we get a lesson beyond price in the essence 
 of literary art. 
 
 Of Jebb as a textual critic, a manipulator of 
 readings, this is not the place to speak at any length. 
 It is enough to say that he understood the principles 
 thoroughly, and his judgment was sound. In the 
 fascinating art of conjecture he deserves, at any rate, 
 what is perhaps the chief praise in this kind — that he 
 did no mischief. It will be hard to find a place, in 
 which he has meddled with a text certainly defen- 
 sible. His greatest success, I think, is in places 
 properly called ' hopeless ', where evidence fails and 
 the way is open for free supplement. I have referred 
 above^ to the admirable naTpos (for 7rao-i) in Phi/- 
 octetes 729. The word of Sophocles, whatever it was, 
 can hardly have been more illuminating in the place. 
 So in Phil. 1092, though no one can pretend con- 
 fidence, any more than Jebb does, that, for eW 
 aWepos avo), we ought to accept TreXeiat 8' av(o as the 
 demonstrable words of Sophocles, we can neverthe- 
 less say for the suggestion, that it would be absolutely 
 satisfactory, if it were certified. There is hardly one 
 other, in the very interesting catalogue supplied by 
 the Appendix to the passage, of which one would 
 say just this, though in point of ingenuity some 
 surpass the proposal of Jebb. And his conjectures, 
 whatever their value, are given fairly for what they 
 are worth ; he is not the dupe of his own cleverness. 
 To that of others he is, I think, sometimes, though 
 
 ' P- 435- 
 J. M. 30 
 
466 Sir Richard J ebb 
 
 rarely, too favourable. '' Surely," cries Philoctetes 
 to his lost bow, '' Surely, if thou canst feel, thou 
 seest with pity that the comrade (?) of Heracles is 
 now to use thee nevermore ! " 
 
 J] TTov iXeivop opa^, ^pivas eu rti^a? 
 
 €xet9> Toif ^ JlpaKkcLoi^ 
 
 a6\iov (x)hi croL 
 
 ovK€TL ')(^p7)cr6fJLevov TO ixedvcTTepov^. 
 
 For a6\iov here, apOynov (Erfurdt) seemed to J ebb 
 ' a certain correction '. I doubt if he would have 
 thought so, had the surmise occurred first to himselP. 
 His substitution of kaxfyrjfjia for XvTTT/fta in Tra- 
 chiniae 554, 
 
 Tj o e^o), (piKaL, 
 XvTTjpiov Xco(f>r)fJLay rrjS* vyuv (fypdcrco, 
 
 '' I will tell you, friends, the way by which I hope 
 to find deliverance and relief'' has almost every 
 merit and justification that a conjecture can have, 
 and fairly deserves to be propounded with the 
 assurance, 'I believe that Sophocles wrote. ..'I And 
 
 1 Phil. 1 130. 
 
 - It is supposed to be a poetical variation for ^iKov or ^kvov 
 {friend)^ but I agree with Professor Campbell in thinking it 
 strange. I suspect that the text, though bold, is sound ; roV 
 *Hpa/cA.€iov, the Heraclean (one), means here 'the friend of 
 Heracles', as in a suitable context it might mean 'the son of 
 Heracles ' ; aOkiov is part of the predicate. But the general 
 judgment declares the place corrupt. 
 
 ^ By this I do not mean that it is certain. Others {e.g. 
 Campbell's voruxa) may well be right. The supposed ' certainty ' 
 of a conjectural reading is generally a delusion, arising from 
 imperfect appreciation of possibilities. 
 
The Scholar and Critic 467 
 
 it is evident that his confidence was not really less 
 in the case of the phrase (7>. 869) 
 
 0)9 t ajr\Sy]% f ^^^ crvi'oxppvcoiJidvr) 
 Xcopel— 
 
 which, as he says, cannot be right. " Surely," he 
 continues, " drj67j<; was merely a corruption of oi{y)r)' 
 6t]<;, which does not seem to occur, but which is as 
 correct as evy7)9i]<; or TroXvyqdijs.'' He scrupled to 
 put it in the text ; but in the Introduction (p. liv) 
 seems near to regretting his abstinence. The regret 
 is instructive, and the scruple characteristic. 
 
 For, like most men of acute artistic sensibility, 
 he had a strong respect for convention and tradition, 
 a prejudice in favour of custom for its own sake\ 
 Because he loved and seized upon the subtlest 
 departure from the commonplace, and delighted in 
 tracing it to the obscure motive, for this very reason 
 he disliked a freak. He would not readily admit 
 for fact a phenomenon altogether without parallel, 
 and was perhaps only too ready to class the un- 
 provable with the impossible. In a lyrical passage 
 of the Philoctetes'^, the mss. present us with lines — 
 
 Trapov (l)povrja'aL, 
 Tov \(povo<s SaifJiOT/os elkov to kolklov alveiv — 
 
 which can be scanned only by assuming that \(^ovo^ 
 has the quantities ^^ -^ and that &> within a word is 
 
 ^ He could not speak of Euripides without pain in his voice, 
 and seldom, without necessity, spoke at all. He had no strong 
 desire, I think, to comprehend such a person. 
 
 * V. 1099. 
 
 30—2 
 
468 Sii'- Richard J ebb 
 
 here treated like an &> final, being abbreviated before 
 the following vowel. Parallels, not adequate, have 
 been adduced for this. Jebb disposes of them justly, 
 and takes for granted that, this done, the case is at 
 an end. The bare chance that Sophocles did here 
 what strictly he should not have done, or again, the 
 bare chance that he had reasons for doing it, which, 
 with our materials, are no longer discoverable, — in 
 these directions Jebb would refuse to look, rightly 
 perhaps, certainly with a solid preference for the 
 measurable and the safe. 
 
 This is not the temper of the discoverer ; nor is 
 it by discoveries, in the common sense of the word, 
 that Jebb is to be classed. Original he was to a 
 very high degree, but not in that kind of originality 
 which elicits a shock either of disapprobation or of 
 assent. It is easy to cite from him single remarks, 
 six words, it may be, or a mere reference, w^hich, 
 otherwise handled, would have made an eloquent 
 paragraph or a striking essay. When Philoctetes is 
 deprived, apparently for ever, of his sole defence 
 against starvation, turning to the cave in w^hich he 
 has lived so long and so miserably, and is now, as it 
 seems, to die, he salutes it with the bitter cry: '' Thou 
 hollow of the caverned rock, now hot, now icy cold, 
 — so, then, I am never to leave thee " : 
 
 c5 KOL\a<s Trerpas yvakov 
 
 OepjJLOp /cat 7raycTci>8e9^.. 
 
 *' Contrast this " says a laconic note " with the 
 
 description by Odysseus " — who, viewing the place 
 
 1 FM. 1083. 
 
The Scholar and Critic 469 
 
 (if we may say so) like a tourist, finds it excellent for 
 comfort in all weathers!^ If this note, and a dozen 
 other such, scattered over the whole commentary, 
 had been put picturesquely together, they would 
 have had the air of a discovery by the editor. But 
 a reader, who does not miss them, will like them 
 better, and will profit not less, because the discovery 
 seems to be made by himself. 
 
 A distaste for strangeness, a respect for boun- 
 daries, will be serviceable in proportion to the 
 intrinsic value of established presumptions. The 
 exposition of Sophocles gave to Jebb just the field 
 which suited his genius. The main lines of the 
 subject are well fixed and rightly fixed. Few fun- 
 damental questions are open, or could probably be 
 opened with any advantage. On the other hand, 
 there is no degree of exactness, which Sophocles 
 does not fairly invite and reward. 
 
 Not that Jebb neglects or misses the large 
 aspects. I have already observed the breadth and 
 fidelity with which, in the Introduction to the Phil- 
 octetes, the main lines of the composition are indi- 
 cated. Not inferior, as a whole, is the Introduction 
 to the Trachiniae. I would refer especially to the 
 pages^ in which, by dexterous approaches and care- 
 ful balance, we are shown precisely in what sense 
 and for what reasons the Trachiniae, measured by 
 the standard of Sophocles, lacks the roundness, har- 
 mony, and completion, which are his characteristics, 
 — what meaning we must give to the phrase * want 
 ^ w. 17 fF. * xxxv-xlii. 
 
470 Sir Richard J ebb 
 
 of unity', If we are to apply it at all to this play. 
 This discussion can neither be presented here entire 
 nor fairly exhibited by extracts. We must be content 
 to signalize a by-stroke of sympathetic delicacy. 
 The character of Hyllus — the son of Heracles who, 
 by his father s command, bears him alive to the pyre, 
 and who, obeying a still harder injunction, takes to 
 himself for wife, in the person of lole, the very cause 
 of his father's death — is described in a paragraph 
 of disciplined eloquence, which culminates in these 
 sentences^ : 
 
 Thus, under the dark shadow, pierced by no ray from 
 above, which rests upon the close of the drama, this thrice- 
 tried son calls the gods to witness that his own will has 
 been overruled. With bitter anguish in his heart, he sees 
 his father abandoned, as men must deem, by heaven; he is 
 no longer the buoyant youth of the opening scene, but a 
 man who must now take up the burden of a great inheri- 
 tance, that Hyllus whom a grave and warlike race were to 
 honour as the father of their kings, the ancestor of the 
 Dorian Heracleidae. 
 
 This is undoubtedly the colour in which the 
 dramatist desired to present the legendary relation 
 of Hyllus and lole to their supposed descendants in 
 the Greek world. And, like the Heraclean aspect 
 of the Philoctetes, it is touched by the editor with 
 firm decision, yet not over-touched. But to appre- 
 ciate fully his judgment in disposing his material, 
 we should turn from this paragraph to the note on 
 the final injunction of Heracles — Trpocrdov 8a/xa/)ra, 
 
 ^ p. xxxix. 
 
The Scholar and Critic 471 
 
 ''Take this woman to be thy wife\" There we 
 learn — what, as matter of history, is possibly true 
 — that the transference of lole from Heracles to his 
 son, however skilfully it is handled, was neverthe- 
 less primarily an expedient, a somewhat hazardous 
 and embarrassing expedient, to reconcile certain data 
 of legend with the requirements of dramatic inven- 
 tion ; ''it was rendered indispensable by the plot/' Of 
 course it is not the intention of Sophocles that we 
 should feel this constraint as readers of the play ; 
 nor on the whole do we feel it ; and still less should ' 
 we feel it as spectators. With justice, therefore, Jebb 
 sets the widest possible interval between his picture 
 of the Sophoclean incident, and his historical expla- 
 nation of its origin, and, as far as truth permits, duly 
 protects the picture against inopportune disturbance. 
 Less satisfactory perhaps are his remarks on the 
 neglect, in the Trachiniae, of the so-called rule re- 
 specting the 'unity of time'\ Much indeed in this 
 paragraph is true, — for example, that " amid the ex- 
 citement, the alternations of hope and fear, which 
 pervade this play, the action hastens forward in a 
 manner which leaves us no leisure to remark the feats 
 of travelling performed by Hyllus and by LIchas." 
 Nevertheless, the whole statement seems to repose 
 on conceptions which, though current, are confused 
 and confusing. 
 
 Hyllus goes to Euboea, witnesses the sacrifice there, 
 and returns to Trachis, in a space of time measured by 
 less than 700 lines. 
 
 ' z;. 1224. ^ p. xlii. 
 
472 Sir Richard J ebb 
 
 If that were all, there would be nothing to criticize. 
 700 lines, or 7 lines, or no lines at all, but a bare 
 interval, may, with perfect propriety, stand for any 
 space of time whatever, provided that the lapse to 
 be supposed is sufficiently and consistently indicated. 
 Nor in fact does the Ti^achiniae exhibit any incon- 
 sistency, any internal inconsistency, in the time- 
 indications ; and we learn nothing from the state- 
 ment, however familiar, that "in this play *the unity 
 of time ' has been disregarded with exceptional bold- 
 ness " — for this formula covers different meanings. 
 What Sophocles has here disregarded is simply the 
 exact topography of the region where his scene 
 passes. He chooses, for the convenience of his plot, 
 to write, throughout and consistently, as if Cape Cae- 
 neum were much nearer to the territory of Trachis 
 than it is, — say, five miles off instead of nearer 
 twenty. It may be inferred (and there is nothing 
 surprising in the inference), that his audience and 
 readers generally were not likely (or so he thought) 
 to realize the actual facts in such a way as to be 
 disturbed, in their enjoyment of his picture, by the 
 geographical names. Such licences, common in all 
 ages, are matter of practical judgment, not of artistic 
 theory ; and the ' unity of time' is in this connexion, 
 as always in reference to Greek literature, a futile 
 invention. J ebb is embarrassed here by conventional 
 terms, which perhaps he had not strictly examined. 
 For the practical effect of this drama, the matter is, 
 as he truly says, " not a point of importance." And 
 in these circumstances, no one was less likely than 
 
The Scholar and Critic 473 
 
 he to raise a large problem, which might not in- 
 conveniently sleep. 
 
 Here, with a profound sense of inadequacy in 
 my treatment, I must quit the edition of Sophocles. 
 What I have offered is not a description ; otherwise 
 it were idle to concentrate our attention on two 
 plays. My hope is to have exhibited, by a few 
 examples carefully chosen from a prescribed space, 
 the intimate and essential quality of the work, the 
 touch of individual genius by which it is distinguished 
 from other good work generally similar. As for the 
 common epithets of scholarly praise, you would 
 hardly find one, which might not warrantably be 
 bestowed on this vast monument of learning and 
 industry. But Jebb deserved, if ever any man did, 
 the true reward of the artist, not to be praised 
 otherwise than with exactness and propriety. And 
 though no eulogy could be too high for him, it is, I 
 feel, beyond me, to frame any which is not too gross. 
 
 Next among his works to the 'Sophocles', in per- 
 manent fame and utility, we should place, I suppose, 
 his edition of the newly discovered lyrics of Bac- 
 chylides. Judged indeed merely by the ordinary 
 standard, as a piece of literary and historical research, 
 faithfully finished to the last detail, this book is not, 
 I consider, at all inferior to the ' Sophocles ' itself. 
 Rather, perhaps, the number of problems, the constant 
 pressure of uncertainty, the doubtful limits of the dis- 
 coverable, bring out more strongly than ever Jebb s 
 thoroughness, and his skill in the management of 
 material. But what is wanting, inevitably, is the 
 
474 ^^^ Richard J ebb 
 
 charm of the subject, and the loving enthusiasm of 
 the student. The disinterred pieces of Bacchylides 
 are a precious addition to a miserably defective 
 chapter in the history of literature ; one or two of 
 them are notable works of art ; but, if they were 
 modern and familiar, five pages, instead of five 
 hundred, would be enough to bestow upon them. 
 **One does wish," as I heard J ebb say, with a sigh, 
 in the midst of his labour, ''that the man were just a 
 little better." Moreover, for practical purposes, the 
 theme requires a bolder and more emphatic dis- 
 crimination than Jebb's conscience and taste would 
 permit. For practical purposes, the reader should 
 be sent straight to Poem xvii ( Theseus), which Is first- 
 rate work In a modest way, then to xvi ( Youths and 
 Maidens), then to some marked passages elsewhere; 
 after which, he may go as he pleases. But no such 
 rude finger-posts will he find in Jebb. 
 
 Nevertheless, for the scholar, as an ordered col- 
 lection of all available Information on the subject, the 
 book is invaluable. In the archaeology of poetry, 
 in the traditional colour of phrases and epithets, Jebb 
 was always deeply versed and interested. Specimens 
 of this kind appear often In the 'Sophocles', perfect 
 in precision and finish, perhaps only too elaborate 
 for the literary occasion \ And the 'Bacchylides' 
 is everywhere rich In the like. Moreover, the de- 
 ficiencies of the tattered ms. give Jebb excellent 
 
 ' See for instance the note on Biol cVoi/^ioi {Philoctetes 1040), 
 and on Heracles 6 xa^'^ao-'r-t? {ib. 728), and in the 'Bacchylides', 
 the discussion oi y\(si^avyy]v (Deianeira) on p. 473. 
 
The Scholar'- and Critic 475 
 
 opportunities for the supplementary invention, the 
 fine use of poetic faculty, which, as we said above, 
 was his happiest exercise in textual criticism. 
 Whether the remnants of Ode in 72 ff. should 
 really be so completed, as to make of the letters 
 fiakeaL an allusion to the Greek Cape of Storms — 
 
 iir e^Jt'os ii^d^JLepov a[Ti//' 1170-1 — 
 
 Jebb (p. 461) is careful not to determine. But his 
 lines put a saving touch of colour into the passage, — 
 and Bacchylides (one would say) can hardly have 
 done better. 
 
 Subtleties in Bacchylides, for the best of reasons, 
 Jebb does not show us. The strongest points in 
 the volume, or the most characteristic of the editor, 
 are those criticisms in which, with infinite precaution 
 against crudeness or disrespect, he shows not only 
 that in fact 'the nightingale of Ceos' is a singer of 
 no great compass — any one can see that — but also 
 just why and where the note fails. Take for ex- 
 ample a portion of the interview in Hades between 
 Heracles and the ghost of Meleager^ — not the least 
 beautiful episode, some might say the most beautiful, 
 in the extant poems: 
 
 ** 'Tis said that then, and then alone, tears came 
 to the eyes of Amphitryon's intrepid son, in pity for 
 the ill-fated hero's doom ; and he answered him with 
 such words as these : It were best for mortals that 
 they had never been born,,.'' 
 
 ' V. 155. 
 
476 Sir Richard J ebb 
 
 ^cl(t\v aSeLcrilBoav 
 
 'Afji(f)LTpv(x)voq TToiSa fiovvov Sr) Tore 
 riy^ai ^\i<f)apov, TaXairevOeo^; 
 
 TTOTfJiov oiKTipovra (fxoTO*;' 
 
 /cat VLV dfX€Lfi6fJi€vo<; 
 
 ToV ec^a* OvaroiG'L p^rj <^vvai <f)ipio'TOv.,, 
 
 On the last four words J ebb remarks, of course, that 
 they are the first half of the familiar maxim, made 
 famous by Theognis, Sophocles, and others, which 
 further said, that next best was to die as soo7i as one 
 might. Then he continues thus: 
 
 This passage illustrates the pathetic power of Bacchy- 
 lides. It is impressive, indeed, that this should be said 
 by Heracles ' the unconquered.' Yet a subtler poet would 
 scarcely have made him say it here, within the gates of 
 Hades, to Meleager, whose fate he pities. For the first part 
 of the adage... inevitably suggests that other which is not 
 
 spoken Contrast the manner in which the whole jvco/jltj 
 
 is introduced by Sophocles (O. C. 1225 ff.). As uttered by 
 the men of Colonus, it is not only a comment on the trials 
 of Oedipus, but also a thought which turns the mind 
 towards his approaching release. 
 
 The sympathetic Heracles concluded his speech, 
 according to Bacchylides, thus: "But, seeing that 
 these laments avail not, a man should speak of that 
 which he can hope to accomplish. In the halls of 
 the warrior Oeneus is there a maiden among his 
 daughters like in form to thee.'^" — like, that is, to 
 Meleager, the ghost. ''Fain were I to make her 
 my queenly bride." — 
 
The Scholar and Critic 477 
 
 aAA ov yap rt? ecrnv 
 7rpd^L<; raSe iJLvpoiLivoi<^, 
 
 ^py] K€ivo \ey€Lv otl kol fxeXkei reXelp. 
 rj pa rt9 iv fieydpOL^ 
 
 OLvrjo<; dprj'L(f)iXov 
 eariv dSjjLiJTa Ovydrpcov, 
 
 croL (^vav dXty/cta; 
 rdv Kev Xmapdv idiXoyv BeiyLav aKOiTiv. 
 
 Here Jebb puts criticism in an appendix. 
 
 We have the 'BacchyHdes'; and, partly perhaps 
 for this reason, we have not the 'Pindar', which some 
 day, if days had been more, Jebb would have given. 
 We cannot have everything ; ov tls npd^Ls raSe 
 fjivpofievoL^. And there is the essay on Pindar in the 
 Journal of Hellenic Studies^, which, with that on 
 'The Speeches of Thucydides'^ I should put next 
 in value after the two great editions. Here is a pene- 
 trating and characteristic remark from the ' Pindar 'I 
 In discussing the poet's peculiar treatment of meta- 
 phor, we come naturally to the too famous whetstone 
 of Olymp. vi. 82, which, says Pindar, as a thought upon 
 his lips, ''woos my willing soul with the spirit of fair- 
 flowing strains": ho^av e^co tlv iwl yXwcraa aKOPas 
 Xtyupa?, and so on. '' There is a general principle," 
 observes Jebb, 
 
 which ought, I think, to be clearly perceived. Most 
 Indo-European nouns expressed some one obvious and 
 
 ^ Reprinted in Essays and Addresses^ P- 4i- 
 
 ^ Originally in Hellenica^ reprinted in Essays and Addresses^ 
 
 P- 359- 
 
 ^ Essays and Addresses, p. 83. 
 
47^ Sir Richard J ebb 
 
 characteristic quality of the object which they denoted : 
 e.g. vav<; is " the swimmer," Bpv<i " the thing which is cleft," 
 etc. Similarly, aKovr] is the sharpener, Kparrjp is the mixer, 
 etc. A Greek who called a thought an aKovr) was thus 
 using a less startling image than we should use in calling 
 
 it a whetstone And such phrases are less audacious in 
 
 proportion as they are old, i.e. near to the time when the 
 language was still freshly conscious of the primary sense. 
 
 Whether this be a sufficient defence for Pindar or 
 no — Jebb does not say so, — the principle ought 
 indeed, as he says, to be clearly perceived, and easily 
 may escape notice. 
 
 I pass over, with this slight indication, a great 
 mass of useful but subordinate work, and come to 
 the last part of my programme, some remarks on 
 Jebb's compositions In Greek and Latin. " What 
 have you done," said a man of science, " when and if 
 you have made a piece of Greek verse, which, for 
 anything that we see, might have been written by 
 a contemporary of the classics "^ What does It 
 signify .'^ " Not very much, perhaps, to knowledge ; 
 yet not nothing either, when the thing Is done as by 
 Jebb. One might lecture long on the fundamental 
 affinity of all great poetry throughout the ages, on 
 the Immense proportion which the common proper- 
 ties bear, In point of mass, to the temporary or 
 personal variations, without producing as much con- 
 viction as Jebb produces, by translating Wordsworth's 
 'Intimations of Immortality', the whole ode, from 
 beginning to end, into Greek hexameters. The 
 stately and unbroken rhythm gives Indeed a different 
 
The Scholar and Critic 479 
 
 effect from the subtly varied stanzas of the original, 
 but it is not less appropriate to the philosophic 
 attitude, and every thought flows into the ancient 
 language like bullion into a flawless mould. 
 
 '* See, at his feet, some little plan or chart, 
 Some fragment from his dream of human life." 
 
 TjvCSe Sdkrtop ol tl napal ttoctIt^ rje tl 7rXacr/ia, 
 helyfia ^iov rov t avTos ovupoirokoiv VTreypaxjjev. 
 
 "Thou, over whom thy Immortality 
 Broods like the day, a Master o'er a Slave, 
 A presence which is not to be put by." 
 
 creto yap d6dvaTO<s Saificov 'TTrepiovos avyal^ 
 Tcro9 virepKpefjiaTaL, ^SacrtXeu? 6' ws Otjtos dvdcrcroiv 
 rjV€Kio}<; re irdpecrTL kol ovk iOeXei irapecoarOai. 
 
 '* My heart is at your festival. 
 My head hath its coronal, 
 The fulness of your bliss, I feel — I feel it all." 
 
 TrdpecfJiL 8e /cauro? ioprrj^ 
 ocrcrov ofiocj^poveeLv ye, Kop.dq r dyeSrjaa koI avTos 
 pAjpC latvofxevo^; /i-era fxvpC laivofJiivoLcnv. 
 
 " Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears." 
 Kpicrcrova /cat SaKpvcov /xeXeSi^/AaTa ^vcraoSojJieveLi'. 
 
 This fineness of touch, this sure dexterity and 
 exact comprehension, belong to every piece in the 
 volume. That the task is always so well chosen 
 would be too much to say ; and in one instance 
 
480 Sir Richard J ebb 
 
 I think the choice unfortunate^ The tragic metres 
 are handled, needless to say, with mastery, and the 
 effect, where the matter is within compass, Is un- 
 failingly delightful. 
 
 " But when I met 
 Merlin, and asked him If these things were truth — 
 The shining dragon and the naked child 
 Descending in the glory of the seas — 
 He laughed as is his wont, and answered me 
 In riddling triplets of old time, and said : 
 
 Rain, rain, and sun! a rainbow on the lea! 
 And triUh is this to 7ne, and that to thee ; 
 And truth or clothed or naked let it be, 
 
 Rain^ sun, and rain ! and the free blossom blows. 
 Sun, rain, and sun ! and where is he who knows f 
 From the great deep to the great deep he goes.'' 
 
 iyo) 8e TO) KaX^a^rt avuTv^ovcr* ore 
 el raur' ctt^tu/x' etre TrXaor' di/r}p6fjLr)Vt 
 Kekaat daXdcrcrrjq Tra/xc^aoi)? 7r€pLcrT€(f)€s 
 yvixvov SpaKOVTL ^vv TravaioXo) ^pi(f)0<^j 
 yeK(x)v TO S77 ^vi^r)de<; duT€cj)0ey^aTO 
 alvLyfJLaTOt)Sei<s /cat 7raXaL(f>dT0vs crrt^a?* 
 rr)0€ fX€P avyo)v ryoe o air ofMfSpojp 
 /ce^urai noXv-^povs T/>tS in dypol^' 
 
 ^ Milton's Hymn on the Nativity, represented by a Latin 
 Alcaic poem of more than 200 lines. The length serves to excuse 
 some ' cutting ', and not a few roughnesses. " Regem fatebantur 
 venire | ^ra metu pavefacta regum" is scarcely to be taken with 
 content for " And kings sat still with awful eye, As if they surely 
 knew their sovran Lord was by." 
 
The Scholar and Critic 481 
 
 ccrri S' dXrjdes tovto fiev rjixlv, 
 vyuv S' erepov cra<^e9 ovv ecTTO), 
 
 KeKaXvfJLjjievov eir cLKoXvirTov. 
 rj8v iikv ofji/SpoLS 178 V S' eV eiXrf 
 KakvKdiv avdel ydvo<; auro^ves* 
 TLS Se Sieyvco hvo^ip elXuKpLvcov 
 
 KevOficoT^os eSefaro k€vOijl(op. 
 
 In Latin, J ebb's skill as a manipulator of language 
 is not less than in Greek, though some might per- 
 haps say of him, as a Latin poet, what Cicero, with 
 his Roman sensorium, said of the best Athenian 
 oratory, that somehow ' non implet aures.' Possibly 
 he is, in a certain way, a little too Augustan — if that 
 is intelligible. But if there are, or can be, any 
 Horatian lyrics except those of Horace, an English- 
 man would claim the title for J ebb's renderings from 
 In Memoriam — ' Dost thou look back on what hath 
 been...', as Alcaics, or, still better, 'Witch-elms that 
 counterchange the floor...', in the prevalent metre 
 of the Epodes : — 
 
 " O bliss, when all in circle drawn 
 
 About him, heart and ear were fed 
 To hear him, as he lay and read 
 The Tuscan poets on the lawn." 
 
 '* O quom beati cingeremus Laelium 
 stratum in virenti caespite, 
 quam cordibus vox, quam placebat auribus, 
 vates legentis Atticos ! " 
 
 J. M. 31 
 
482 Sir Richard J ebb 
 
 And miraculous, to the degree of illusion, is this 
 transformation of Keats : 
 
 ...'^Ah! would 'twere so with many 
 A gentle girl and boy ! 
 But were there ever any 
 Writhed not at passed joy ? 
 To know the change and feel it, 
 When there is none to heal it, 
 Nor numbed sense to steal it — 
 Was never said in rhyme." 
 
 ''virgines o si iuvenesque nuper 
 fervidi Lethen biberent eandem ! 
 sed quis angori moderetur orbus 
 
 deliciarum ? 
 ' unde quo veni ? ' dolor ingementis, 
 nulla quem vincit medicina, nullus 
 decipit torpor, quibus exprimatur 
 
 carmina quaerit." 
 
 In such a mirror, as in St Mary's Lake, the poetry 
 ' floats double, swan and shadow' ; and we fancy, un- 
 reproved, that Apollo of the Palatine may hear again 
 the music of his sacred birds from the dust-strewn 
 mere which remembers the temple of Delos. 
 
 Most famous of Jebb's compositions, and in 
 some respects justly so, are the imitations of Pindar, 
 of which the first known was the translation of 
 Browning's *Abt Vogler' into the metres of the 
 Fourth Pythian, the opening piece in the original 
 collection of 1873. The very conception of such an 
 
The Scholar and Critic 483 
 
 experiment, both matter and manner, strikes the 
 'classical man' with a sense of awe. Yet the promise 
 is kept: — 
 
 ''But here is the finger of God, a flash of the will 
 that can. 
 Existent behind all laws, that made them, and, 
 lo, they are! 
 And I know not if, save in this, such gift be 
 allowed to man. 
 That out of three sounds he frame, not a fourth 
 sound, but a star." 
 
 vvv 8e SaifJicov i^eKoiKvipe ^iav, 
 
 aaTpanav cSg, TravTonopov KpaSia^, Oecrfxcov Kvei^ioiov 
 
 T€KTov^ apLTTpeTrecov 
 TTOV yap i^rjv aWo ^poTols tl tol6pS\ olov /ctuttovs 
 
 rpels crvfJiTrXdcravTL 
 fxr) TerpaTOP ktvttov dkka creXa? 7rdix<^\eKrov alpeiv ; 
 
 One would like to propound this to Pindar, in return 
 for some problems of his. But however he might 
 understand it, to us it is a revelation, deepening, by 
 the sense of affinity in difference, our comprehension 
 both of English poetry and of Greek. 
 
 It is an instructive fact, and deserving mention as 
 such, that, though the versification of this celebrated 
 piece is almost invariably melodious, and often (as 
 in the second line of the citation) magnificent, it is 
 not always perfectly faithful to the Pindaric model 
 proposed. Thus the 3rd line of the ist anti- 
 strophe, 
 
 cus e/cacTTOt avfJiTTOveov, cnropdSap cir' IkaSop, TTpoOvfiOL, 
 
 31—2 
 
484 Sir Richard J ebb 
 
 however satisfactory in itself, is not identical in 
 rhythm, as it should be, with its strophic pair: 
 
 7rp6(nro)C opaaL^ (jiOeyfiad* erot/xa OiyoyVy ws hanxovoiv 
 oparei/ iroravav — 
 
 having no equivalent for the two long syllables of 
 opaev. Three similar discrepancies occur elsewhere \ 
 They must be mere oversights; for Jebb, who applied 
 to the lyrics of Attic tragedy canons of responsion 
 perhaps stricter than our evidence proves^, is not 
 at all likely to have departed intentionally from the 
 severity of Pindar. The truth is, that, without the 
 musical accompaniment, Oecrfxcov Kvecjialop TeKTova, 
 the choric strophd has no sensible limits. Pindar is 
 for us, as he was for Horace, 'unmeasured'; and, 
 so long as a line ran well, not even Jebb could say, 
 without counting, whether it had, or had not, the 
 proper number of syllables. But I hasten to add 
 that, so far as I have observed, there are no flaws, 
 even of this innocent sort, in the beautiful ode, a 
 marvel of invention and grace, which he composed, 
 as ambassador from the University of Glasgow, for 
 the Sooth anniversary of the University of Bologna. 
 Upon the model of Bologna the Scottish corporation 
 was constituted in a.d. 1450 by Pope Nicholas V. 
 
 ^ Epod. 2, V. 4 Tis K€i/ , Sir. 3, v. 7 o-vv Svoiv , Str. 4, v. 3 
 
 ov y* ttTra^. . . ., are imperfect lines. There are discrepancies also 
 in 'The Reign of Youth' (added in the 2nd edition, p. 275). 
 See for instance the penultimate verse of the first strophe ttvci 8* 
 aKpat<^v€9..., where the word ar^os gives one long syllable too 
 much. 
 
 * e.g. Phil. 1094. The dactyl ou yap It is conceivably right. 
 
The Scholar and C^ntic 485 
 
 "Go on then," says the poet, in his final salutation, 
 to the academic Mother, ''Go on then, Thou, to the 
 Muses dear, in these summits of high praise! For, 
 as kind children keep for ever green the memory of 
 a parent, best flower of reverent hearts, such pious 
 guerdon have thy colonists dedicated to Thee, 
 from whom they came. And such is this song from 
 Scotland, prosperously sent over sea from home to 
 home, from the far stream of Clyde to a Senate of 
 Italy. It was the Wind of the North, they say, 
 that rapt Erechtheus' daughter from the City of the 
 Violet Crown, and the banks of fair Ilissus where 
 she played." — 
 
 ^aOi oijy MoicraLcri <^t\a, fjLeydXcjp ratcrS* ii/ Kopv(^(uaLv 
 
 iiraivoiV 
 Tratcri yap oj? wapa KeSvols a<^0iTO^ 
 ov KaTa^vWopoel 
 TOKecou jxvdfjLaj (jypevcjp 
 dvOos alSoLecTTaTov, 
 
 TOLOT/Se tIv evcre^es dyfcetrat yepa^ 
 
 IxaTpoTToXeL Trap* dTTOiKOiv ota Ka\7)86vLOP 
 
 /cat roS' virelp dka Tre/xTrerai fxeXos, 
 
 OLKoOev oLKaS* iirovpop 
 
 TrjXeTTopoi airo KXwra? Irakov es Trpxrraveiov 
 
 ^avTi 8e KOI Bopeav loa'T€(f)dv(ov dir *A6avdv dprrdo-aL 
 
 TOLV ^FipexOrjiha, KaWipoov 
 
 Trait,ovcrav 'iXioro-ov ireka^. 
 
 With this melodious and pregnant sentence the 
 poet's readers may themselves most aptly sum and 
 
486 Sir Richard Jed b 
 
 conclude their opinion on a book, to which, in this 
 province of art, one will hardly find an equal. 
 
 I have now completed my plan, and, discarding 
 criticism, will take leave to add but a few words of a 
 more personal bearing. It is not without reflexion 
 that I have repeatedly coupled the name of Jebb 
 with that of Addison. Unless I mistake, there is 
 a real similarity of genius and type. Again and 
 again, watching and listening to Jebb in the lecture- 
 room, in society, or alone with him, was I reminded 
 of the traits attributed by tradition to the author of 
 the vision of Mirzah\ The veil of reserve and the 
 sudden glow, the sensibility, the cover of outward 
 patience, the hint and the hesitation, and above all, 
 the side-glance of the eye, demure and humorous, — 
 all must have noted these, who had any intercourse 
 with Jebb. Not many years since, I attended, for 
 the purpose of certain teaching, in which I was acting 
 as his coadjutor, some courses of lectures which he 
 gave in Cambridge, as Professor, on the history of 
 Greek Literature. Apart from the direct profit, it 
 was an exquisite feast of observation. The class 
 was large, and consisted almost entirely of young 
 students. The lectures, designed to cover nearly the 
 whole subject in four terms, were models of pro- 
 portional compression ; and though of course they 
 proceeded mainly upon familiar lines, they were full 
 of slight but significant touches of differentiation or 
 correction. It was a lesson in itself, to follow the 
 management of voice and feature, with which these 
 ^ Spectator^ no. 159. 
 
The Scholar and Critic 487 
 
 were submitted to an audience, whose convictions, 
 for the most part, were not easily to be disturbed, or 
 indeed to be found. Better still was it, to have 
 J ebb upon the hearth, and to propound — as was not 
 difficult — some view which he would scruple to pass. 
 Looking back on many such hours, it is something, 
 that at least one has not to lay to oneself the re- 
 proach of Ajax: ''They know not the good they 
 have, until it be dashed from their hands." Now 
 from the portrait, silent upon the wall, we turn to 
 the speaking page. 
 
 A. W. V. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Acrostics, 76, 324, 325 
 "Ad Eundem" Club, 124 
 Adams, Professor, no 
 Addenbrooke's Hospital Bill, 385 
 Aeschylus, translation from, 109, 
 
 no 
 Amateur Dramatic Club, 40 ; 
 
 Jubilee celebration of, 411 
 American Lectureship, 81 
 Anson, Sir William, 362, 366, 371 
 "Apostles" Society, 22, 116, 160, 
 
 209 
 
 Archaeology, Classical, 2n fF. ; 
 
 opening of new museum of, 
 
 at Cambridge, 252 ; see also 
 
 Athens 
 
 Argyll, Duke of, letter from, 265 
 
 Asquith, Mr, Welsh Disestabhsh- 
 
 ment Bill of, 290 
 Athenaeum Club, 227 
 Athens, proposal for founding 
 British School at, 2n ff., 
 244 fF. ; article on, in Fort- 
 nightly Review^ 246 ff. ; fund 
 started for, 248 ; site given by 
 the Greek Government, 248 ; 
 first annual meeting of, 263 ; 
 large meeting of, in St James's 
 Palace, 308, 309 ; annual meet- 
 ing of, 370 
 Attic Orators fro7n Antiphon to 
 Isaeus^ publication of, 196 
 
 Bacchylides, newly found frag- 
 ments of, 323, 324 ; Jebb's 
 edition of, 418, 473 
 
 Bateman, Miss Ada, marriage 
 of, 60, 61 
 
 Beach, M. E. Hicks, Chancellor 
 of the Exchequer, letter from, 
 on the inscription for the 
 Coinage, 366 
 
 Begg, Faithfull, Women's Suf- 
 frage Bill of, 320 
 
 Benefices Bills, 316, 326, 327, 
 
 331, 332 
 
 Bentley, Jebb's book on, 232 ff. 
 
 Blackie, Professor, challenge of, 
 in the Scotsman^ 222 ff. 
 
 Blass, Dr, 196, 197 
 
 Blore, E. W., death of, 261 
 
 Board of Education, Consultative 
 Committee of the, 354 
 
 Board of Education Bill, 347, 
 348 
 
 Boat Races, 47 ff. 
 
 Bodleian Tercentenary, y]'] ff. 
 
 Bologna University, 800th anni- 
 versary of, 265 
 
 Botham, Mary, 8 
 
 Bourke, Frances Emma, 8 
 
 Bourke, Sir Richard, of Thorn- 
 fields, County Limerick, 8 
 
 Bradshaw, Mr, of King's College, 
 death of, 261 
 
 Brancaleoni, Marchese, 200, 201 
 
 British Academy, meetings to 
 consider the formation of, 350, 
 351 ; charter granted, 372 ; 
 takes its part in the proceed- 
 ings of the International Asso- 
 ciation of Academies, 399 
 
 31—5 
 
490 
 
 Index 
 
 British Association meeting at 
 Cambridge, 404, 405 ; meeting 
 at Capetown, 421 
 
 British Museum, Jebb appointed 
 Trustee of, 384, 385 
 
 British School at Athens, see 
 Athens 
 
 Brooks, Dr (Bishop) Phillips, 
 260, 261 
 
 Browning, O., 205 
 
 Browning, Robert, letter from, 
 on J ebb's book of Transla- 
 tions, 144; rhyming of, 171 
 
 Burial Grounds Committee ap- 
 pointed, 322, 323 ; report of, 
 
 Zl^^ 337 
 
 Burke, Edmund, 8 
 
 Burnand, Sir Frank, at the Ama- 
 teur Dramatic Club Jubilee, 41 1 
 
 Butcher, S. H., elected to the 
 Greek Chair at Edinburgh, 244 
 
 Butler, H. Montagu, letters 
 from, on the Rede Lecture, 
 274 ff.; letters from, on J ebb's 
 portrait, 385, 386, 394, 405 ; 
 writes an inscription for me- 
 morial tablet to Jebb, 426 
 
 Caird, Principal J., letter from, 
 
 on Jebb's leaving Glasgow, 268 
 Cambridge Corporation Bill, 301, 
 
 302 
 Cambridge Rifle Corps, 40, 45, 51 
 Carlton Club, 409 
 Carnarvon, Welsh University at, 
 
 376 
 Carnegie, Andrew, 348 
 Catholicism, reinvigoration of, 
 
 126 
 Charterhouse, 16 ff. ; inaugura- 
 tion of the Memorial Cloister 
 
 at, 387 ff. 
 Church Defence Institution, iii 
 Church Emergency League, 
 
 meeting of, at Cambridge, 406, 
 
 407 
 Church Reform League, 316 
 Clark, Walter C, letter from, 264 
 Clark, W. G., Public Orator, 97 
 Classical Archaeology, proposal 
 
 to found School of, 2 1 1 ff. ; see 
 
 also Athens 
 
 Classical Tripos, reform of the, 
 325 ; Regulations for, 342 
 
 Coinage, letter on the inscription 
 for the, 367, 368 
 
 Convocation, Bill to reform con- 
 stitution of, 355 
 
 Cornish, Mr F. Warre (Vice- 
 Provost of Eton), 20 
 
 Cranborne, Lord (Lord Salisbury), 
 letter from, 323 
 
 Craven Scholarship, 27, 28, 30 ff. 
 
 Dante contrasted with Milton, 
 113, 114; a Dante reading, 121 
 
 Darwin, Professor George, 252, 
 253 ; marriage of, 254 ; letter 
 from, 352 
 
 De Tocqueville, De7nocracy in 
 Atnerica^ 124 
 
 de Witt, Amelia, 2 
 
 de Witt, Cornelius, 2 
 
 de Witt, Jacob, 2 
 
 de Witt, John, 2 
 
 Denney, Rev. Dr, on Jebb's 
 work at Glasgow, 186 ff. 
 
 Devonshire, Duke of, 175, 249, ^^,2)3 
 
 Dilettanti Society, 225, 226 
 
 Disestablishment, see Welsh Dis- 
 establishment Bill 
 
 Disraeli, 128, 131 
 
 Duff, J. D., on the editions of 
 Sophocles' Ajax and Electra, 
 92, 93 ; on Jebb's knowledge 
 of modern Greek, 100, loi 
 
 Duff, Sir M. E. Grant, letter 
 from, 315 
 
 Eastern tour, 64 ff. 
 
 Eaton, Fred. A., letter from, 343 
 
 Ecce Homo, Jebb's opinion of, 
 84, 85 
 
 Education Bill, Sir John Gorst's, 
 313, 314 ; Mr Balfour's, 362 ff., 
 374, 38 1,. 382 
 
 Edward, King, illness of, yj7 
 
 Eliot, George (Mrs Lewes), 155, 
 156 
 
 Erasmus, Jebb's essay on. for 
 the Rede Lecture, 275, 276 
 
 Escott, Mr, editor of the Fort- 
 nightly Review, 246, 248 
 
 Eton, Vice-Provost of (Mr F. 
 
Index 
 
 491 
 
 Warre Cornish), description of 
 Jebb at Cambridge, 20, 21 
 
 Evans, Eleanor, 177 
 
 Evans, Owen, 177, 178 
 
 Fawcett, Professor, 80, 116, 118, 
 119, 125 ; death of, 256 
 
 Finlay, Jane Louisa, 6, 7 
 
 Finlay, John, 6 
 
 Finlay, Sir Robert, 401 
 
 Firbeck Hall, Yorkshire, i^, 38, 55 
 
 Fiscal Reform, J ebb's letter on, 
 395 ff. ; debate in the Lords, 403 
 
 Forestry, School of, 408 
 
 Forster, Alicia, 3 
 
 Forster, Charles, son of the Rev. 
 Charles Forster, 32, 33 
 
 Forster, Rev. Charles, Life of 
 Bishop febb^ 7 
 
 Foster, Sir Michael, 350 
 
 Freeman, Professor Edward, let- 
 ter from, 175 
 
 Garnett, Dr, letter from, 384, 385 
 
 Gennadius, John, Greek Charge 
 d' Affaires, 215 
 
 German Institute of Archaeo- 
 logy, 252 
 
 Gildersleeve, Professor, of Balti- 
 more, 400 
 
 Gilliver, Elizabeth, 2 
 
 Gilliver, Richard, 2 
 
 Girton College, 133 
 
 Gladstone, Mr, elected Lord 
 Rector of Glasgow University, 
 207 ; death of, 330 
 
 Glasgow, failure of City of Glas- 
 gow Bank, 213 ; Dialectic 
 Society, 256 
 
 Glasgow University, Jebb's ap- 
 pointment to the Greek Chair 
 at, 179, 180 ; attack on, by the 
 schoolmasters, 235 ff. ; ninth 
 Jubilee of, 360, 361 
 
 Glenbervie, Lord, Irish Secre- 
 tary, 4 
 
 Goethe contrasted with Schiller, 
 136; remarks on, 138 
 
 Gold Cross of the Saviour con- 
 ferred on Jebb by the King of 
 Greece, 210 
 
 Gomperz, Professor Theodor, 399 
 
 Gorst, Sir John, elected to Par- 
 liament, 281; re-election, 309; 
 introduces an Education Bill, 
 313; re-elected to Parliament, 
 357 ; introduces Education Bill 
 No. 2, 364 
 
 Greece, Jebb's first visit to, 208, 
 209 
 
 Harcourt, Vernon, Solicitor- 
 General, 166, 167 
 
 Hare, Rev. Dr, 4, 5 
 
 Harvard, Phi Beta Kappa 
 Society, 251 
 
 Hayes, Mr, Professor of Greek 
 in the United States, 162 
 
 Headlam, Dr Walter, letter from, 
 
 393, 394 . 
 Hellenic Society, formation of 
 
 the, 215 ff. ; Jebb becomes 
 
 President of, 273 ; celebration 
 
 of its 25th anniversary, 399, 
 
 400 ; sends Latin address to 
 
 Professor Michaelis on his 70th 
 
 birthday, 414 
 Helps, Sir Arthur, Reaimah, 115, 
 
 116, 160 
 Hervey, Lord John, 86, 87, 95 
 Higher Education, Congress of, 
 
 at Paris, 355 
 Historical Studies, Congress of, 
 
 at Rome, 386, 387 
 Homer's Iliad, 107 
 Hopkinson, Mrs John, letter 
 
 from, 423 
 Horsley, Eglantyne, 8, 9 ; death 
 
 of, 231 
 Horsley, Emily Harriet, 7, 8 
 Horsley, Frances Emma ("Aunt 
 
 Fanny"), 8, 9, 10 
 Horsley, John, Rector of Thor- 
 
 ley, 8 
 Horsley, Rev. Heneage, Dean of 
 
 Brechin, i, 7, 8 
 Horsley, Samuel (" Uncle Sam "), 
 
 8, 12 
 Horsley, Samuel, Bishop of St 
 
 Asaph's, 7, 8 
 Horsley family, 7, 8 
 Howard, George, 169, 170 
 Hugo, Victor, Lannie terrible, 
 
 140, 141 
 
492 
 
 Index 
 
 Hullah, Mr, 164, 165 
 Humphreys, Mr Arthur, 95 
 Hunt, Holman, description of 
 
 his "The Shadow of Death," 
 
 170, 171 
 Hutchinson, Sir W. Hely, 
 
 Governor of Cape Colony, 
 
 421, 422 
 
 International Association of 
 Academies, 350, 351, 399 
 
 Irish Tithes Commutation Bill, 5 
 
 Irish University Education, Royal 
 Commission on, 360, 369, 370 
 
 Ischl, visit to, 205 
 
 Italy, Central, visit to, 200, 201 
 
 Jebb, Arthur Trevor, 12 n. ; death 
 
 of> 303 
 
 Jebb, Dr John, i, i n., 2, 3 
 
 Jebb, Eglantyne (Mrs Arthur 
 Jebb), II, 12, 12 n. 
 
 Jebb, John, Bishop of Limerick, 3 ff. 
 
 Jebb, John, Rector of Peterstow, 7 
 
 Jebb, Lady Amelia, 37 
 
 Jebb, Miss Susan, 26 
 
 Jebb, Mrs John, i n. 
 
 Jebb, Richard, son of Ur John 
 Jebb, 4 fif. 
 
 Jebb, Richard, son of Samuel 
 Jebb, 3 
 
 Jebb, Richard, Vicar-General in 
 the Isle of Man, 7 
 
 Jebb, Richard Claverhouse : 
 birth, i; family history, i — 8; 
 the Dublin home, 9ff. ; his first 
 letter, 11 ; the new home at 
 Killiney, 12 ; has lessons from 
 his father, 13 ; goes to St 
 Columba's College, Rathfarn- 
 ham, 14 ; his rapid progress, 
 15 ; receives the school prize, 
 15; Rev. W. Tuckwell's descrip- 
 tion of him as a boy, 16; 
 leaves St Columba's and goes 
 to Charterhouse, 16 ; leaves 
 Charterhouse, 18 ; receives a 
 prize for theological essay, one 
 for mathematics, and medals 
 for Latin prose and Greek verse, 
 19 ; Charterhouse's last message, 
 19 ; goes up to Cambridge, 20 ; 
 
 elected an " Apostle," 22 ; wins 
 the Porson Scholarship, 25 ; is 
 awarded the Craven Scholar- 
 ship, 30 ; passes the Little-Go, 
 and is elected to a Trinity 
 Scholarship, 34 ; his first love, 
 34, 35, 40, 41 ; question as to a 
 profession, 36 ; his interest in 
 the Cambridge Rifle Corps, 40; 
 is elected a member of the 
 Amateur Dramatic Club, 40 ; 
 reads an essay to the "Society," 
 44 ; describes the Cambridge 
 Boat Races, 48 ff. ; Tripos Ex- 
 amination, 54, 55 ; Senior 
 Classic, 55 ; takes his degree, 
 55 ; Assistant Master at Harrow, 
 56 ; lectures at Cambridge, 56, 
 57 ; reads an essay to the 
 " Society," 63 ; elected to a 
 Fellowship at Trinity College, 
 64 ; arrangements for an East- 
 ern tour, 64 ; visits Alexandria 
 and Cairo, 65 ; the Great Pyra- 
 mid, the first Cataract, Assouan, 
 and the Island of Philae, 67 ; 
 illness of, 69 ; weekly con- 
 tributor to the " Saturday," 75 ; 
 solution and composition of 
 acrostics, 76; his consideration 
 for the feelings of others, 78 ; 
 his opinion of Ecce Hovw^ 84, 
 85 ; tour on the Loire, 86 ff. ; 
 talk on Ritualism, 89 ; spends 
 a vacation in Dresden, 89 ff. ; 
 publishes his first book, the 
 Electra of Sophocles, 92 ; de- 
 scription of Tennyson, 94 ; stays 
 at Festiniog in Wales, 95 ; his 
 paper on changes in the Classi- 
 cal Tripos, 96 ; becomes a 
 candidate for the office of 
 Public Orator, 97 ; and is 
 elected, 98 ; delivers a speech 
 in modern Greek, \oo : pub- 
 lishes Characters of Theophras- 
 tus^ 102 ; correspondence with 
 his future wife, 103 ff. ; views on 
 religion, 102 ff. ; and on dis- 
 establishment, III, 112; at- 
 tends Thanksgiving Service for 
 the recovery of the Prince of 
 
Index 
 
 493 
 
 Wales, I26ff. ; lectures on Mil: 
 ton, 132 ; letter on Schiller, 
 133 fif. ; appointed Tutor of 
 Trinity College, 143 ; resigns 
 the office, 144 ; publishes a 
 book of Translations, 144 ; 
 visit to Italy, 151, 152 ; meets 
 George Eliot, 155, 156; assists 
 at a spiritualistic seance, 167 ; 
 views on spiritualism, 167, 168; 
 pays a visit to the Tennysons, 
 169; at Killarney, 172 ff.; six- 
 teen Latin speeches at con- 
 ferring of honorary Degrees, 
 174, 175 ; marriage, 177 ; home 
 in St Peter's Terrace, Cam- 
 bridge, 179 ; elected to the 
 Greek Chair at Glasgow Uni- 
 versity, 180 ; moves to Glas- 
 gow, 181 ; inaugural address, 
 1 83 fif. ; presides at social meet- 
 ing of Junior Greek Class, 195, 
 196 ; publishes his Attic Ora- 
 tors^ 196 ; writes the inscrip- 
 tion for Macaulay's statue in 
 Trinity College Chapel, 198, 
 199 ; visit to Central Italy, 
 200 ; prepares a Primer of 
 Greek Literature, 201 ; resigns 
 his Fellowship and the Public 
 Oratorship, 201 ; stay at Ischl, 
 205 ; work at the Primer, 
 204 fif. ; first visit to Greece, 
 208, 209 ; presides at the din- 
 ner of the " Apostles," 209 ; 
 seized with illness, 209; the 
 Gold Cross of the Saviour 
 conferred upon, by the King 
 of Greece, 210 ; scheme for 
 founding an English School of 
 Archaeology at Athens and 
 Rome, 212, 213 ; receives an 
 honorary Degree at Edinburgh 
 University, 214 ; letter on the 
 formation of the Hellenic So- 
 ciety, 215 ; Vice-President of 
 the Hellenic Society, 216; let- 
 ter on the editorship of the 
 Journal of Helle7iic Studies^ 
 217, 218 ; Selections from the 
 Attic Orators, 220 ; visit to 
 Paris, 221, 222 ; Professor 
 
 Blackie's challenge to, in the 
 Scotsman, and J ebb's reply, 
 222 fif. ; lectures before the 
 Edinburgh Philosophical So- 
 ciety, 225 ; and at Oxford, 225; 
 elected a member of the Dilet- 
 tanti Society, 225 ; elected an 
 honorary member of the 
 Literary Society, 226 ; elected 
 a member of the Athenaeum, 
 227 ; visit to Venice, 228 ; 
 takes possession of Springfield, 
 230 ; illness of, 232 ; works at 
 his book on Bentley, 232, 233 ; 
 takes part in the controversy 
 on University reform, 237 fif. ; 
 visit to Florence, 241 ; visit to 
 the Troad, 242, 243 ; letter on 
 the proposed School at Athens, 
 244 fif. ; Fortfiightly Reviezv 
 article, 246, 247 : interview with 
 the Prince of Wales, 248 ; his 
 mother's death, 249 ; first 
 volume of his large edition of 
 Sophocles {Oedipus Tyr annus) 
 published, 250, 251 ; work at 
 a translation of Ajax, 251 ; 
 invited to address the Harvard 
 Phi Beta Kappa Society, 251 ; 
 elected corresponding member 
 of the German Institute of 
 Archaeology, 252 ; voyage to 
 America, 253 ; delivers his ad- 
 dress at Harvard, 253 ; receives 
 the Harvard honorary Degree 
 of LL.D., 253 ; elected Presi- 
 dent of the Glasgow Dialectic 
 Society, 256 ; speech at the 
 Royal Academy dinner, 259, 
 
 260 ; death of his father, 261 ; 
 the Oedipus Coloneus finished, 
 
 261 ; work on a second edition 
 of Oedipus Tyrannus, 262 ; 
 publishes his bitroduction to 
 Homer, 262 ; speaks at a politi- 
 cal meeting at Glasgow, 264 ; 
 addresses the West of Scotland 
 Teachers' Guild, 264 ; is ap- 
 pointed a delegate to the 800th 
 anniversary of Bologna Uni- 
 versity, 265 ; composes a Greek 
 Ode on the occasion, 265 ; 
 
494 
 
 Index 
 
 receives an honorary Degree of 
 Doctor of Laws at Bologna 
 and at Dublin University, and 
 is elected an Honorary Fellow 
 of Trinity College, 266 ; depar- 
 ture from Glasgow, 266 ff. ; 
 offers himself for the Greek 
 Professorship, 269 ; elected to 
 the Greek Chair, and to a 
 Professorial Fellowship at Tri- 
 nity College, 270 ; letter to Dr 
 Sidgwick, 271, 272 ; becomes 
 President of the Hellenic So- 
 ciety, 273 ; visit to the Tenny- 
 sons, 273 ; invited to become 
 Rede Lecturer, 274 ; his essay 
 on Erasmus for the Rede Lec- 
 ture, 275 ; is asked to give the 
 " Percy TurnbuU " lectures at 
 the Johns Hopkins University, 
 276 ; receives an honorary 
 Degree from Glasgow Univer- 
 sity, and an honorary De- 
 gree of D.C.L. from Oxford, 
 276 ; invited to become a can- 
 didate for Parliament, 277, 
 278 ; is nominated and re- 
 turned, 279 ; second visit to 
 America, 280 ; maiden speech 
 in Parliament, 280 ; re-elected 
 to Parliament, 281 ; work on 
 the Electra, 281 ; addresses 
 the University Extension So- 
 ciety, 282 ; speaks at the 
 Albert Hall on the Character- 
 istic Qualities and Recuperative 
 Power of the National Churchy 
 283, 284 ; addresses a meeting 
 at Cambridge against the 
 Home Rule Bill, 284 ; delivers 
 the inaugural address at meet- 
 ing of Local Lecturers, 284 ; 
 finishes another volume of his 
 Sophocles, 284 ; elected a 
 member of the Governing Body 
 of Charterhouse, 288 ; is ap- 
 pointed a member of the Royal 
 Commission on Secondary 
 Education, 288, 289 ; speech 
 in the debate on Mr Asquith's 
 Welsh Disestablishment Bill, 
 290 ff. ; other speeches on the 
 
 same subject, 301 ; speaks in 
 the House on the Cambridge 
 Corporation Bill, 301, 302 ; his 
 essay on Lord Tennyson for 
 Mr T. Humphry Ward's Eng- 
 lish Poets^ 302 ; work on Ajax^ 
 302 ; writes a paper for the 
 Institute of Journalists, 302 ; 
 elected a member of the Coun- 
 cil of the Society of Anti- 
 quaries, 305 ; speeches in the 
 debate on the Scotch Univer- 
 sity Commission Ordinances, 
 and on the Welsh Church 
 Disestablishment Bill, 305 ; 
 long illness of, 306 ; moves an 
 amendment on the Welsh Bill, 
 308 ; attends meeting of the 
 British School at Athens in St 
 James's Palace, 308, 309 ; re- 
 election to Parliament, 309 ; 
 severe attack of illness, 309 ; 
 goes to Aix-les- Bains, 309 ; 
 becomes President of the 
 Teachers' Guild, 310 ; address 
 at the annual conference of the 
 Guild, 310, 311 ; speaks on 
 behalf of the East London 
 Church Fund, 311, 312; sup- 
 ports Sir John Gorst's Educa- 
 tion Bill, 313, 314 ; is elected 
 a member of The Club^ 3^5 ; 
 elected a member of the Coun- 
 cil of the Senate, 316 ; becomes 
 chairman of the Joint Com- 
 mittee of Associations in- 
 terested in Secondary Educa- 
 tion, 316 ; receives a deputation 
 of the Church Reform League, 
 316 ; spends Christmas vaca- 
 tion at Monte Carlo, 317 ff.; 
 speech on the Voluntary 
 Schools' Grant Bill, 319, 320; 
 supports the Women's Suffrage 
 Bill, 320 ; chairman of Burials 
 Committee, 323 ; drafts an 
 address to the Queen, 323 ; ap- 
 pointed a member of the Lon- 
 don University Commission, 
 323 ; work on Sophocles, 324 ; 
 visit to Somerhill, 324 ; 
 member of the Standing Com- 
 
Index 
 
 495 
 
 mittee on Law, 326 ; speaks at 
 a meeting of Church Defence 
 Committee, 326, 327 ; speech 
 on the Finance Bill, 331 ; visit 
 to Portsmouth dockyard, 332 ; 
 attends meeting at Toynbee 
 Hall, 333 ; is present at meet- 
 ing of the Charterhouse 
 General Board, 335 ; becomes 
 a member of an Educational 
 Committee of the National 
 Society, 339 ; speaks at the 
 Church Congress at Bradford, 
 339 ff. ; invited to give the 
 Romanes Lecture, 341 ; article 
 on Greek Literature for Greek 
 Aids, 342 ; made Professor of 
 Ancient History at the Royal 
 Academy of Arts, 343 ; ap- 
 pointed Fellow in London 
 University, 344 ; speaks at a 
 Conference on the Church's 
 Mission, 344 ; and at that of the 
 National Union of Teachers, 
 
 344 ; leases a flat at Whitehall 
 Court, 345 ; a member of a 
 deputation to the Archbishops, 
 
 345 ; delivers the Romanes 
 Lecture, 346 ; speaks in favour 
 of the Board of Education 
 Bill, 347 ; presents the prizes 
 at St Olave's School, 347, 348 ; 
 visit to Mr Andrew Carnegie, 
 348 ; speaks at the Union So- 
 ciety in favour of a War Fund, 
 349 ; a member of a deputation 
 to the Home Secretary, 350 ; 
 present at a meeting concern- 
 ing the formation of a British 
 Academy, 350 ; speaks on the 
 Burials Bill, 35 1 ; opens debate 
 on the new Education Code, 
 352 ; knighthood, 352 ff. ; a 
 member of the Consultative 
 Committee to the Board of 
 Education, 354 ; introduces a 
 Bill to amend the Medical 
 Acts, Lord Monkswell's Copy- 
 right Bill, and a Bill for reform- 
 ing the constitution of Convo- 
 cation, 355 ; furnishes notes 
 for an election poster, 355 ; 
 
 composes a lecture on Mac- 
 aulay, 355, 356; attends the 
 Congress of Higher Education 
 at Paris, 355 ; re-elected to 
 Parliament, 357 ; re-elected 
 member of the Council of the 
 Senate, 357 ; on the death of 
 the Queen, writes addresses of 
 condolence and congratulation, 
 357 ff. ; elected chairman of 
 the Church Parliamentary 
 Committee, 360 ; appointed a 
 member of the Royal Com- 
 mission on Irish University 
 Education, 360 ; takes part in 
 the ninth Jubilee of Glasgow 
 University, 360, 361 ; composes 
 some Greek elegiacs for the 
 occasion, and some other 
 Greek verses for the "Muster 
 Roll of Angus," 361 ; presides 
 at a meeting of the Modern 
 Languages Association, 361 ; 
 speaks at the Hellenic Society 
 annual meeting, 362 ; a mem- 
 ber of a deputation to Mr 
 Balfour about the Education 
 Bill, 362 ff. ; speech on the 
 Bill, 364, 365 ; letter on the 
 inscription for the Coinage, 
 367, 368 ; attends the meetings 
 of the Irish University Com- 
 mission, 369, 370 ; presides at 
 the British School at Athens 
 meeting, 370 ; address on 
 " The Educational Policy of 
 the Unionist Party," 370 ; on 
 the Riviera, 370, 371 ; a mem- 
 ber of the Council of the 
 British Academy, 372 ; a 
 member of the Victoria Uni- 
 versity Committee, 374 ; speaks 
 on national education, 374 ; 
 speeches on Mr Balfour's Edu- 
 cation Bill, 374 ff. ; at the in- 
 stallation of the Prince of 
 Wales as Chancellor of the 
 Welsh University at Carnar- 
 von, 376 ; there receives an 
 honorary Degree, 376 ; attends 
 meeting of the Court of Vic- 
 toria University at Manchester, 
 
496 
 
 Index 
 
 yjd ; speech at the Bodleian 
 Tercentenary, 377 ff. ; speaks 
 on the third reading of the 
 Education Bill, 381, 382; letter 
 on securing the presence of 
 women on Education Com- 
 mittees, 383, 384 ; elected a 
 Trustee of the British Museum, 
 384 ; elected a member of the 
 Standing Committee, 385 ; in- 
 troduces the Addenbrooke's 
 Hospital Bill, 385 ; portrait of, to 
 be painted for Trinity College, 
 
 385, 386 ; attends a Congress 
 of Historical Studies at Rome, 
 
 386, 387; stays at Milan, 387; 
 goes to the inauguration of the 
 Memorial Cloister at Charter- 
 house, 387; speech at, 388 fif.; 
 portrait painted by Sir George 
 Reid for Trinity College, 392, 
 393 ; receives the diploma and 
 insignia of Commander of the 
 Order of the Saviour, 393; 
 letter on Fiscal Reform, 395 ff. ; 
 is present at a meeting of 
 Trinity College Mission at 
 Camberwell, 398 ; attends the 
 meeting of the International 
 Association of Academies, 399; 
 address at the 25th anniversary 
 of the Hellenic Society, 400 ; 
 letter to Hon. Arthur Elliot, on 
 Free Trade, 404; elected Vice- 
 President of the Education 
 Section of the British Associa- 
 tion, 405 ; elected Fellow of 
 the Royal Numismatic Society, 
 405 ; speaks in defence of the 
 Greek Cjuestion at Cambridge, 
 406 ; speech at a Church Emer- 
 gency League meeting, 406, 
 407 ; presides at a meeting of 
 the Carlton Club, 409; takes 
 the chair at Professor Mayor's 
 birthday meeting at St John's, 
 
 410, 411; writes an Epilogue 
 for the Jubilee celebration of 
 the Amateur Dramatic Club, 
 
 411, 412; Order of Merit con- 
 ferred upon, 413; drafts Latin 
 address for Professor Mi- 
 
 chaelis' 70th birthday, 414; let- 
 ter on the defeat of the Govern- 
 ment, 415, 416; work at his 
 edition of Bacchylides, 418 ; 
 writes his address for the 
 British Association meeting at 
 Capetown, 418 ; sails for South 
 Africa, 419; arrival at Capetown, 
 421 ; receives honorary Degree 
 from the Cape University, 421 ; 
 address at Johannesburg, 422 ; 
 illness of, on returning from 
 South Africa, 423, 424; speaks 
 at the Mansion House, 424 ; 
 death and burial of, 424, 425; 
 verse on, by Ernest Myers, 
 425 ; inscription to, in Trinity 
 College Chapel, 426 
 
 J ebb, Robert, father of Richard 
 Claverhouse J ebb, 7, 9; death 
 of, 261 
 
 Jebb, Samuel, 2, 3 
 
 Jebb, Sir Joshua, 37 
 
 Jebb, Sir Richard, Bart., Phy- 
 sician to George III, 2, 4 
 
 Jebbs of WoodboroLigh, Notting- 
 hamshire, I 
 
 Johns Hopkins University, 276 
 
 Johnson, Dr, dining club founded 
 by, 315 
 
 Joicrnal of Hellemc Studies^ pro- 
 posal to issue, 216 ff.; first 
 volume published, 229 
 
 Journalists, Institute of, meets at 
 Cambridge, 302 
 
 Jowett, Dr, Master of Balliol 
 College, on Jebb's edition of 
 Oedipus Tyrannus^ 250, 251 ; 
 death of, 2*86, 287 
 
 Kelvin, Lord (Sir William Thom- 
 son), 180 
 
 Kennedy, Dr, Regius Professor 
 of Greek, death of, 266 
 
 Killarney, 172 ff. 
 
 Kretschner, Fraulein, pension of, 
 90 
 
 Leighton, Stanley, M.P., on the 
 death of Arthur Trevor J ebb, 303 
 
 Lewes, Mrs (George Eliot), 155, 
 156 
 
Index 
 
 497 
 
 Lightfoot, Dr, Bishop of Durham, 
 20, 25, 34 ; funeral sermon on 
 Dr Whewell, Master of Trinity, 
 %% 84; Jebb's friendship with, 
 119; death of, 273 
 
 Lincolnshire, Fens of, drained by 
 Jacob de Witt, 2 
 
 Liquor Traffic, views on, 125, 126 
 
 Literary Society, 226 
 
 Little-Go, 32, 34 
 
 London, IBishop of (Dr Creighton), 
 death of, 354 
 
 London University, Commission 
 appointed to consider the re- 
 constitution of, 323 ; London 
 University Bill carried, 332 ; 
 statutes of, 351 
 
 Longfellow, Hyperion^ 162 
 
 Lushington, Dr, 179, 180 
 
 Lyttelton, Mr, Headmaster of 
 Eton, recollections of, on Jebb's 
 work on the Commission on 
 Secondary Education, 289 
 
 Macaulay, Lord, inscription for 
 his statue composed by Jebb, 
 198, 199 
 
 Macmillan, George A., 215 fF. 
 
 Mayo, Lord, assassination of, 126 
 
 Mayor, Professor, meeting at 
 St John's in honour of, 410, 411 
 
 Medical Acts, Bill to amend, 355 
 
 Michaelis, Professor, letter from, 
 414 
 
 Mill, John Stuart, 123 
 
 Milton contrasted with Dante, 
 113, 114; translation of an 
 Italian sonnet of, 132, 133 
 
 Modern Languages Association, 
 
 Mohammedanism, reinvigoration 
 
 of, 126 
 Monkswell, Lord, Copyright Bill 
 
 of, 355 
 Monro, Dr D. B., 229 
 Monte Carlo, 317 ff. 
 Morris, William, 149, 150 
 Munro, Dr H. A. J., on Jebb's 
 
 edition of Oedipus Tyrannus^ 
 
 250; death of, 259 
 Myers, Ernest, verse by, on Jebb's 
 
 death, 425 
 
 Myers, F. W. H., 76, 81 ; letter 
 from, on Jebb's book of Trans- 
 lations, 144, 145; "Pindaric 
 Ode" of, 153, 154; interest in 
 spiritualism, 167; review by, 
 171 ; death of, 357 
 
 Newman's Apologia^ 104, 105 
 
 Newton, C. F. (Sir Charles New- 
 ton), Keeper of Greek and Ro- 
 man Antiquities in the British 
 Museum, 216; death of, 304 
 
 Newton, Professor, of Oxford, 
 letter from, 220 
 
 Nichol, Professor, 202; sonnet 
 by, 213 
 
 Nichols, Mr, Literary Anecdotes^ i 
 
 Odysseus, etymology of the name 
 
 of, 150 
 Order of Merit, 413 
 Osborne, Lord and Lady Francis, 
 
 95, 95 n. 
 
 Pattison, Mr and Mrs Mark, 163 ff. 
 
 Perceval, Charles Spencer, 25 
 
 Perowne, Dr E. H., Master of 
 Corpus Christi College, letter 
 from, asking Jebb to stand for 
 Parliament, 277, 278 ; inter- 
 view with Jebb as to accepting 
 knighthood, 353 
 
 Perugia, visit to, 200, 201 
 
 Phi Beta Kappa Society, Har- 
 vard, 251 
 
 Philae, 67, 68 
 
 Philomathic Debating Society, 
 Edinburgh, Jebb's address to 
 the, 207 
 
 " Placida, the Christian martyr," 
 a dramatic cantata, 130, 131 
 
 Porson Scholarship, 25 
 
 Prizes, 19 
 
 Public Oratorship, 97 ff. 
 
 Raphael's picture of St Cecilia, 
 description of, 152, 153 
 
 Reay, Lord, President of the 
 British Academy, 372 ; tribute 
 of, to the memory of Jebb, 372, 
 373; alludes to the Order of 
 Merit, 413, 4I4 
 
498 
 
 Index 
 
 Rede Lecturer, Jebb appointed, 
 
 274 ff.. 
 Reid, Sir George, President of 
 
 the Scottish Academy, portrait 
 
 of Jebb painted by, 386, 392, 
 
 393, 401, 402, 405 
 Rendell, Rev. Dr (Headmaster 
 
 of Charterhouse), 78 
 Reynolds, Caroline Lane, mar- 
 riage of, 177 
 Reynolds, Dr John, 177 
 Reynolds, Sir Joshua, dining club 
 
 founded by, 315 
 Ritualism, 89 
 Roberts, General Sir Frederick, 
 
 227 
 Roberts, R. D., on Jebb's lecture 
 
 on Macaulay, 356 
 Robertson, Dr James, letter from, 
 
 368 
 Robinson, Canon Armitage (Dean 
 
 of Westminster), letter from, 344 
 Romanes Lecture, 341 
 
 St Asaph's, Bishop of, see Horsley, 
 
 Samuel 
 St Columba's College, Rathfarn- 
 
 ham, 14 
 St Martin's Cathedral, Tours, 88 
 St Olave's School, Southwark, 
 
 347 
 
 Schiller, remarks on, 133 ff. ; con- 
 trasted with Goethe, 136 
 
 Schliemann, Dr, 242, 244 
 
 Scotsman^ challenge of Professor 
 Blackie in, 222 ff. 
 
 Scottish Universities, controversy 
 on reform of, 235 ff. 
 
 Scottish University Ordinances 
 Bill, 280, 305 
 
 Secondary Education, Royal Com- 
 mission on, 288, 289 ; Report of, 
 
 303, 309 
 Sedgwick, Adam, Professor of 
 Geology, death and funeral of, 
 
 145 ff- 
 
 Seeley, Professor, 85, 108, 109 
 
 Selborne, Lord, 8 
 
 Shaw, Principal H. S,, note on 
 Jebb's address at Johannes- 
 burg, 423 n. 
 
 Sherard, Lady Dorothy, i n. 
 
 Sidgwick, Professor Henry, death 
 of, 356 
 
 Sophocles' Ajax and Electra^ 
 school editions of, 92, 93 ; first 
 volume of large edition {Oedipus 
 Tyrannus) published, 250, 251 ; 
 the Oedipus Coloneus finished, 
 261 ; second edition of the Oe- 
 dipus Tyrannus, 262, and Sup- 
 plement, 427 
 
 Spencer, Earl, letter from, on the 
 Victoria University, 373 
 
 Spiritualism, Jebb's views on, 167, 
 168 
 
 Springfield, 230, 231 
 
 Stanford, Sir Charles Villiers, 148 
 
 Stanley, Dean, of Westminster, 
 preaches funeral sermon on 
 Professor Adam Sedgwick, 147 
 
 Stanley, Mary, 3 
 
 Stanley, William, 3 
 
 Stephen, Leslie, letter from, 227 
 
 Stokes, Sir George, 279, 280 
 
 Storr, Dr, letter from, 311 
 
 Swainson, Dr, Master of Christ's 
 College, 230 
 
 Taine, English Positivism, 1 2 1 ff. 
 Teachers, National Union of, 313, 
 
 344 
 Tennyson, Hallam, 156, 157, 166, 
 
 Tennyson, Jebb's description of, 
 94 ; In Memo7'iam, 116; at 
 Cambridge, 166 ; Jebb's visit to, 
 169; Mrs Tennyson described, 
 1 69 ; Tennyson's Deineter dedi- 
 cated to Jebb, 274 
 
 Thackeray, Miss, 141, 142 
 
 Theophrastus, Jebb's edition of, 
 102 
 
 Thompson, H. Y,, offers an Ameri- 
 can Lectureship to the Univer- 
 sity, 81 
 
 Thompson, Professor W. H., Mas- 
 ter of Trinity, 82, 83; letters 
 from, in connexion with the in- 
 scription for Macaulay's statue, 
 198, 199 
 
 Thomson, Sir C. Wyville, 227 
 
 Thomson, Sir William (Lord Kel- 
 vin), 1 80 
 
Index 
 
 499 
 
 Torkington, Rev. John, i n. 
 
 Transvaal War, 349 
 
 Trevelyan, Sir George, 57, 57 n., 
 58, 95, 96, 125, 206 
 
 Trinity College Mission at Cam- 
 berwell, 398 
 
 Tuckwell, Rev. W., 15, 16 
 
 Turnbull, Mr and Mrs Lawrence, 
 lectureship in poetry at the 
 Johns Hopkins University en- 
 dowed by, 276 
 
 Tyrrell, Professor, letter from, on 
 the death of J ebb's father, 261 
 
 University Extension Society, 
 Jebb's address to the, 282, 283 ; 
 lecture by Jebb on Macaulay 
 dehvered to the, 356 
 
 Vaughan, Dr, 83, 83 n. 
 Veitch, Professor, 202 
 Verrall, Dr, on Jebb's interpre- 
 tation of Sophocles, 262, and 
 Supplement, 427 
 Victoria, Queen, death of, 357 
 Victoria University, 373, 376 
 Voluntary Schools' Grant Bill, 
 319, 320 
 
 Wahhabees, 126 
 
 Wales, Prince of, installation of, 
 as Chancellor of the Welsh 
 University at Carnarvon, 376 
 
 Wales, Prince of (King Edward), 
 illness and recovery of, 112, 
 113; Thanksgiving Service for 
 
 recovery of, 126 ff. ; interest 
 of, in establishing the British 
 School at Athens, 248 ; presides 
 at meeting of the School in St 
 James's Palace, 308 
 
 Walker, John C, letter from, 311, 
 312 
 
 Walpole, the Rt Honourable 
 Spencer, letter from, 226 
 
 Ward, T. Humphry, English 
 Poets, 302 
 
 Warren, Herbert, President of 
 Magdalen College, letters to, 
 
 307, 341 
 
 Welsh Disestablishment Bill, 
 Jebb's speeches on the, 290 ff., 
 305, 306, 308 
 
 Westcott elected Regius Professor 
 of Divinity, 102 
 
 Westminster Play, 59 
 
 Whewell, Dr, Master of Trinity 
 College, 29, 30, 79; death of, 
 82 ; funeral of, 83 
 
 Wilberforce, Bishop of Win- 
 chester, death of, 165 
 
 Williams, J. Carvell, letter from, 
 328, 329 
 
 Williamson, R. P. G., on Jebb's 
 work at Glasgow, 188 ff. 
 
 Winter of 1878-9, severity of, 213 
 
 Women on Education Commit- 
 tees, letter on, 383, 384 
 
 Women's Suffrage Bill, 320 
 
 Woodborough, J ebbs of, i 
 
 Wordsworth, Ode on Inthnatio7is 
 of Im?nortality, 106, 107 
 
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