The sun., 1900-07-22

imagine. rather Conservative than Liberal.
IL he had not fallen under Liberal influences
a. q Young man. he held from the bottom Of
his soul that distinction Of any kind was To bs
allowed free play, and not only tolerated but
recognized He was the friend OF Blanco
White to the last. after Whately and every
other clergyman hnd thrown him over. flo
warmly admired Hurrell Froude. whom he
placed In private conversation above any Of
the High Church leaders and having been di-
vided from Newman by party eKigences lie
contrived 10 be reconctled, and went TO visit
him at Oscott He stood manfully by Hampden
In public when the whole clerical world assaied
him, while he is reported 10 have told tho
Premier In private that his selection of Hampden
for bishopric had been most Improper one.
When Clough resigned hts fellowship on the
ground that he had gone over TO Unitarianism.
DR.. Hawkins eutreated him not TO sacrifice his
prospects I'LL he had thought his convictions
over and was satisfied OF their soundness. Ia
politics, the Provost voted for Mr.. Gladstone
to the last holding that the constituency had
no right to dictate opinions to man OF pre-
eminent merit II will be noticed that the
Provost was lareer-sopled than the Oxford don
OF popular Imagination IA conceived. As was
only natural 10 80 strong a man. he had the
courage, OF his opinions, and was resolute
asserter OF his authority. Your Provost. said
an oxford tutor TO me once. would make him
self obeyed II he were on his deathbed. To
complete the picture we are assured that Haw.
kns was a man OF genuine kindness and un.
obtrusive piety.
Pearson expresses the hope that II may be
impossible for the coming generation TO under.
stand the badness OF the Oxford teaching in
his day. Although the High Church move
ment was rapidly dying out enough Of II re.
mained TO lcaven good deal OF the instruction
given The purely secular part OF the curric-
ulum was almost entirely on the classical side.
II Is true that what the outside world knows
a. classical frstis really first In the "Hunaner
Literature" and Includes a smattering Of an
dent history and OF science 80 called Tho
science. however. had nothing 10 do with the
discoveries Of Newton. and Davy. and Clerk
Maxwell. but meant logic and metaphysics on
the Hines Of the seventeenth century. Il have"
says Pearson. some right TO critlcise. for I was
passionately fond Of these studies and agree
with DR.. Arnold that they constituted the back
bone Of Oxford men. Still, think 1t was
radically wrong that our text book in logic for
the schools was a miserable compilation by
Aidrch, which was an epitome Of almost every
possible blunder. II was as II geography were
explaining now and then what results had been
superseded by modern science. SO. again.
with philosophy. We learned the Ethics Of
Aristotle almost by heart and II was worth
doing. but scarcely q tutor could do anything
more than comment on the text, or give us tho
notes OF one or two English-or il might be
German commentators. The Scotch school,
the school Of Kant, were practically unknown
quantities. except, II may be. at Balliol, or TO
those who-like Lord Carnarvon-were able TO
retain Dean then Mr. Mansel as a private tutor.
Nevertheless. the worst result Of the oxford
teaching was not so much even Its fragrant in
adequacy as that II had a superficial COM
pleteness. from the skill with which clever
men. const antly grinding at II, had reduced Il
into form. To have left Oxford hungering
for real knowledge would have been beneficial:
to leave it-as most Of us did-thoroughly self
complacent. and believing that the university
had taught US very nearly the last word In
philosophy. was unmixedly mischievous. Ths
history teaching. though less pretentous,
was on rather sounder lines. because Grots
and Thirlwall. and even Niebuhr. transmitted
through Arnold, supplemented our studies In
Thucydides and Lvy With greater life and
completeness than our philosophical teachers
put into Plato and Aristotle"
EVERY RenerduOn ~ u COH680 mas ltS SpeC1n0
character. and the ono that Pearson knew
at Oriel was distinctly clever and Bohemian.
Lacking guidance and stimulus from the coll
leee staff. 1t threw itself upon English literature.
Emerson and Carlyle. Nil and Grote Tennyson
and Keats. 1t was q pleasant theory OF the
college that all Its inmates knew one another.
and. as a matter Of fact the breakfasts and
wines at which they we're continually meeting,
though, OF course. not predominantly INTEL
lectlal were so TO a considerable extent Pear
son thinks that some OF the ablest OF the NUM-
Der might have done almost anything II they
had chosen TO work. "One, a man OF great
rhetorical powers. and with a rare gift for
knowing q few books well. deliberately de-
cided not TO read for the schools because hs
could not be sure Of first class. and believed
that to get a second, would injure him at the
bar His university distinction was confined
TO speeches ct the Union. OF which he was
President. and he unfortunately did not live
to realize the hopes his friends had formed
for him by success In the law courts An.
other OF my contemporaries, the most original
and suggestive Of all our number. miscarried
partly through Incidence and partly through
aiming at uanscendental perfection. The in-
dolence showed itself In irregular hours; and
the fact that his rooms were the pleasantest
social meeting place for the literary set un-
doubtedly contributed to delay their owners
preparation for tho schools. When, how
ever, he took 1t UP In earnest he was victim
OF his own ideal. He spent whole term over
q play OF Eschylus. knowing it at the end
Prof Conngton declared-more thoroughly
than Conington himself. But as he necessarily
had only mastered about fiftieth OF his work
for Greats, the effort after heroic perfection
ended at last In a simple pass Finally, a pos
| sible student OF rare promise buried himself
In commerce ! do not believe either OF these
compar alive failures would have happened
at Ballio where the tutors directed the under.
graduates with supreme efficiency. and OBJ
tained almost complete obedience from all but
the very fast"
What were the diversions OF undergraduates
at Orsl fifty years ago? In Pearson's day
the dons as rule were wise enough to see that
young men must have some amusement and
were only solicitous that they should work olI
their steam harmlessly Billiards were pro-
scnbed for the following reason: The game Il
90 fascinating as to absorb an exIavagant
amount Of time, and It's Accomplishments,
smoking. drinking and betting, are scarcely
Of educational value" Hunting was com.
monty objected to as expensive and esinter.