The sun., 1907-12-22

soin harvard a-.l His Tlmsa.

HENRY q. SHELLEY little. Brown a Col.
Until quite recent y the efOunder Of Americas q
first seat of learning was one OF the most
RhsdOWy figures in the history OF the TO-
public. In the phrase Of James Russell
Lowell, he wss scarce more than a name.
and another but earlier writer said that
John Harvard seems to DO the 'MelOhis-
edec' Of the first age OF the Colony OF
Massachusetts. for he is known to I'm only
as a priest Of the Most High God and a.
one who gave gifts" The same writer
wns justified at the time in adding $50 far
Rs any certified faCts concerning his lineage
Ov oiruuustapces have been presented 70
0s, ne 10 without father. without mother,
without descent. having neither beginning
Of days nor a known resting place for his
mortal dust" The author OF the book
before us points out that this paIIcity OF
knowledge about John Harvard could not
be charged to a lack Of zeal on the part
Of the industrious genealogists for whom
New England has long been famous. So
far hack IA 1912 James Savage offered a
reward OF $500 for five lines of information
about John Harvard in any capacity. public
or private No one could then claim the
prize. but II the offer still held good there
would be many applicants for the reward
To decide, however. as to the person to
whom the prize OIL Rht to fall would be
difficult. for IL would involve an attempt
20 determine to whom belongs the credit
Of being the irst discoveTer OF John Har-
wards baptismal entry in the archives Of
Saint Saviour's Church. Southwark. Lon
don. Without entering into that CON
troversy. Mr.. Shelley Acknowledges a debt
Of personal gratitude for much assiduous
research 10 William Rendls and Henry +.
Waters, whose Iabors, he says. have made
this book possible.
We pass over ths first chapter OF the vol
ume. which deals with the political, social
and religious environment into which the
subject of this biography was born. II
seems that three years before the end Of
the sixteenth century a young man named
Robert Harvard had established himself IN
business as a butcher In a shop In High
street, Southwark. London Prior to his
appearance as a tradesman the life Of
Robert Harvard is a blank. His fathers
Christian name and occupation. his birth
place and the date Of his birth are at present
unknown. That prosperity was not long
In waiting upon the efforts OF the young
tradeaman is a fair inference from the fact
that in June. 1900. he increased his liabilities
by marrying. His choice Of a partner fell
upon one Barbara Design. who has left no
memorial Of her short life except a few
dates in the records Of st. Saviour's Church.
In the autumn of 1908. when London had a
visitation Of the plague so serious that the
Globe Theatre near by had to be closed. the
young wife Of Robert Harvard was one Of
the victims. year and half later Robert
H... IL liz.
Young woman whose home was in a quiet
country town-Katherine Rogers Of Strst-
ford-on-Avon. Mr.. Shelley has found some
circumstantial evidence in favor Of the
theory that Robert Harvard's introduction
to Katherine Rogers was effected by no less
q person than William Shakespeare. but this
we pass over. as there is no actual doou-
mentary proof to this effect. At the flrst
glance. too. it would seem improbable that
q Puritan-which Robert Harvard, like his
son. was-would have made the aoquaint-
snce Of a play actor" but some facts ad-
duOed by Mr.. Shelley indicate that the
young butcher was by no means a biRot.
No trace Of the peculiar phraseology Of the
strict Puritan can be detected in his WILL
nor did any Of his seven children receive a
distinctively Biblical name.
Robert Harvard was at least ttwenty-nine-
the date Of his birth, az we have said. Is
uncertain when on April 3, 1905. he married
Katherine Rogers. not yet one and twenty,
in Holy Trinity Church. Stratford. close
beside the spot where eleven years later
the body Of William Shakespeare was to be
laid To rest. Their first child. Robert, was
baptized on September 20, 1905. and fourteen
months afterward the following entry was
made in the baptismal records Of st. Saw
iour's Church. Southwark: 1907, Nov. 20,
John Harvey. s. lsonl Of Robt., a butcher"
II will. of course, be observed that the name
given to the infant is not Harvard, but
Harvey; but it appears that in parish rec
ords OF the time the name which can be
proved to have been meant for Harvard was
variously spelled a. Harvey" -Harvye,-
SHervy." ~Harwar, Harvard" ;" aHervard"
and Harvard
II is not definitely known where John
Harvard received his early education. but
our author is doubtless right in holding
that IL was at the st. SaviOur's Grammar
School. Of which his father, Robert Har-
ward. was a governor. The master Of this
school had to he n master Of arts. skilled
In Latin and mathematics and thorOuG Ghly
competent to teach Greek and the r1ldiments
OF Hebrew ~ well as grammar. oratory
and poetry. His salary was twenty pounds
a year. and although this looks meagrs to
modern eyes IL was twice as much a. was
allotted half a century before to the head
master OF EtOn. We know what the school
hours were at such an institution. In the
winter months the pupil had TO he at his
desk by seven O'Clock in the morning, but
at eleven lessons were suspended for din
ner, TO be resumed again at one. and to be
continued till Ave During the summer
months the grammar school day extended
70 ten hours; that il, from six to eleven in the
forenoon. and then from one to ak. For
recreation out Of school hours the boys
might leap or run or wTestle or shoot with
long bows or play chess. There would
be two breaks in their school year. On
one Of these occasions they would be
marched of to hear the orations at the cleo
tion days Of the Merchant Taylors and
Westminster Schools; there was also an
annual weeks holiday in the month OF
September.
In the Rtlnmer Of IR2S OpdoD arDar;