r m LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN 01 EGO V LIFE AND LETTERS OF BENJAMIN JOWETT, M.A. HORACE HART, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF BENJAMIN JOWETT, M.A. MASTER OF BALLIOL COLLEGE, OXFORD BY EVELYN ABBOTT, M.A., LL.D. AND LEWIS CAMPBELL, M.A., LL.D. WITH PORTRAITS AND OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS IN TWO VOLUMES: VOL. I THIRD EDITION E. P. BUTTON AND CO. No. 31 WEST TWENTY THIRD STREET NEW YORK 1897 PREFACE "PEOFESSOE, JOWETT'S life naturally falls into two sections the period before the Mastership, and the Mastership. The first of these volumes contains the first period, and is the work of Professor Campbell ; in the second, I have written the story of the Mastership ; and I am responsible for the whole. The plan followed in both volumes is of course the same. A few letters have been worked into the narrative ; others, far too numerous to be used in such a manner, but of a personal character, have been appended to the chapters according to their dates, and thus form as it were illustrations of the text, giving in Jowett's own words his thoughts and feelings at the time 1 . In the second period the material was to some extent different from that in the first, for Jowett's personal memoranda became far more numerous as he grew older, and from these, as in some respects the truest record of his life, it was necessary to draw largely. The second volume is also somewhat more annalistic than 1 A number of very valuable Lansdowne, and others, could not letters on more general topics, to be included in the Life, and are Sir R. B. D. Morier, the Marquis of reserved for a separate volume. a 3 vi Preface the first ; after 1870 the course of Jowett's life was more equable ; the years are distinguished by the incidents which occur in them, but with the exception of the years 1882-1886, when he was Vice-Chancellor, they do not fall into well-defined sections. Our warmest thanks are due to Jowett's friends : first of all to those who have allowed us to see the letters which he wrote to them, and to make what use of them we wished l . These letters are among the most cherished possessions of their owners, but it was felt, and very truly, that without them, no account of Jowett's life would be in any sense complete. From others we have received most valuable reminiscences of the Master from the time that he went up to Balliol in 1836 to the last year of his life. The names of these friends will be found in the book, and I do not repeat them here because it is impossible to mention all, and any selection would be invidious. Others have supplied materials and given access to documents, without which no record could have been given of Jowett's family, or his own early life. We have also received important criticisms and suggestions, above all from our present Master, who has read the proof-sheets of both volumes. I hope that our work will not be found altogether unworthy of the subject of it, and that this presentation of Jowett's life may be acceptable to those with whom his memory is a ' light of other days.' When we entered on our task, we looked forward to much help and guidance from Lord Bowen, who was 1 It must be remembered that were burned in accordance with all the letters written to Jowett his testamentary directions. Preface vii greatly interested in the book. Had our work received his imprimatur we should have felt that we had at least satisfied a fastidious censor, and drawn a picture of Jowett, which was recognized as true by one who knew him well. Dis aliter visum. What we have lost by his lamented death, those will realize who remember how admirable were his judgement and taste. EVELYN ABBOTT. OXFOKD, January 7, 1897. PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. IN the reprint of the First Edition a few errata were corrected in the text of Vol. II, where it was possible to introduce corrections, and others were noted on slips. In this Second Edition some more corrections have been made, but they are very slight. E. A. April 29, 1897. CONTENTS CHAPTER I. BIRTH AND PARENTAGE. PAGE Jowetts of Manningham in Yorkshire The Master's great-grand- father, Henry Jowett, and his four sons The Evangelical move- ment Musical cultivation The Master's father and mother The Langhorne family The Jowetts at Camberwell Changes of position and circumstances The Master's sister Emily His brothers, Alfred and William Jowett 1-28 CHAPTER II. INFANCY AND BOYHOOD. 1817-1836. Early training and companionships Camberwell Blackheath Mitcham Entrance at St. Paul's School at the age of twelve Dr. Sleath and his methods School-fellows and school successes The Balliol Scholarship ' Apposition Day '. . . . 29-44 CHAPTER III. SCHOLAR AND FELLOW OF BALLIOL. 1836-1840. Early friendships at Oxford The Hertford Latin Scholarship A Balliol undergraduate sixty years since Reminiscences of surviving contemporaries The Master, Eichard Jenkyns, and the Tutors, Tait and Scott The Balliol Fellowship won by the under- graduate Scholar Work in private tuition Death of Ellen Jowett Graduation Letters to W. A. Greenhill 45-71 CHAPTER IV. FELLOW AND TUTOR OF BALLIOL. 1840-1846. W. G. Ward and A. P. Stanley Tract XC and the Thirty-nine Articles First foreign tour The Decade Assistant Tutorship Ordination The Paris libraries Appointment as Tutor (1842) X Contents PAGE College business With Stanley in Germany Hegel and Schelling Degradation of Ward Action of the ' Oxford Liberals ' Projected work on the New Testament Archdeacon Palmer's reminiscences Letters 72-124 CHAPTER V. TUTOKSHIP (continued). COMMENTAKY ON ST. PAUL. 1846-1850. Attachment of his pupils to him His interest in their works Hegel and Comte Lectures in Political Economy Plato at Oxford Paris in 1848 Conversation with Michelet, &c. Theological Essays Long Vacations The Oban reading party Alexander Ewing, Bishop of Argyll Notes on the Romans Death of William Jowett A pupil's record of conversations Letters . . 125-171 CHAPTER VI. UNIVERSITY AND CIVIL SEBVICE REFORM. 1846-1854. W. D. Christie, M.P. Sir J. Kay-Shuttleworth Roundell Palmer Goldwin Smith The University Commission East India Civil Service Examinations Lord Macaulay's Committee Letters on University Reform . 172-194 CHAPTER VII. TUTORIAL AND OTHER INTERESTS. 1850-1854. Widening social horizon Bunsen Sir C. Trevelyan Tennyson Tutorial methods Vacations Mr. W. L. Newman's reminis- cences ...... 195-225 CHAPTER VIII. THE EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. THE PROFESSORSHIP OF GREEK. 1854-1860. Position in Oxford and elsewhere Repulse for the Mastership Epistles of St. Paul Greek Professorship Vice-Chancellor Cotton Endowment withheld Work of the Chair Isolation Death of his brother Alfred and of his father Second edition of the Epistles Portrait by G. Richmond W. L. Newman's reminis- cences (continued) 226-258 CHAPTER IX. FRIENDS AND PUPILS. 1854-1860. Theological attitude Desultory studies Advice to young writers and preachers Society in Scotland and elsewhere Preparation of Essays and Reviews Publication of the volume Letters . 259-289 Contents xi CHAPTER X. 'ESSAYS AND REVIEWS.' 1860-1865. PAGE Essays and Reviews Panic in the religious world The Quarterly and Edinburgh Reviews Bishop Wilberforce Stanley at Oxford Dr. Pusey's attitude Bishop Colenso Prosecution of Williams and Wilson The Vice-Chancellor's Court Continued agitation for the Endowment of the Greek Chair E. Freeman and C. Elton Endowment of the Chair by Christ Church . . . 290-320 CHAPTER XI. TUTORIAL WORK. 1860-1865. Personal effects of controversy Extracts from correspondence Professorial and Tutorial work Letters from W. Pater and Professor G. G. Ramsay ' Colonization ' George Rankine Luke Society at Clifton and in Scotland Vacation parties Letters 321-374 CHAPTER XII. REFORMS AT BALLIOL. 1865-1870. Improved circumstances Reforms in Balliol and the University Effects of experience Characteristics Speculation and action Health impaired Mr. Robert Lowe The poet Browning Meeting with Mr. Gladstone Death of his mother Second series of Essays and Reviews Why never completed Scott made Dean of Rochester The Mastership in view 375-446 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PORTRAIT FROM CRAYON DRAWING BY Gr. RICHMOND, R.A. (1855) Frontispiece SKETCH OF A CONCERT IN THE HALL OF TRINITY HALL, CAMBRIDGE, GIVEN BY DR. JOSEPH JOWETT. (From a Contemporary Drawing) ... ... Page 7 FISHER'S BUILDING AND END OF 'RAT'S CASTLE,' BALLIOL COLLEGE. (Copied from a print in an old Oxford Guide) To face page 48 FACSIMILE OF EARLY HANDWRITING (1855) . To face page 236 THE OLD CHAPEL AND LIBRARY, BALLIOL COLLEGE (from the North-east End) To face page 248 BALLIOL COLLEGE BEFORE THE REBUILDING IN 1868 To face page 376 THE OLD HALL AND MASTER'S LIBRARY, BALLIOL COLLEGE. (After a sketch by Lady MarTcby) . . . To face page 408 LIFE OF BENJAMIN JOWETT CHAPTER I BIRTH AND PARENTAGE JOWETTS of Manningham in Yorkshire The Master's great- grandfather, Henry Jowett, and his four sons The Evangelical movement Musical cultivation The Master's father and mother The Langhorne family The Jowetts at Camberwell Changes of position and circumstances The Master's sister Emily His brothers, Alfred and William Jowett. BENJAMIN JOWETT was born in the parish of Camberwell, Surrey, on April 15, 1817, and died on October i, 1893. The following entry, headed 'On rising in life,' was found in one of the note-books in which it was for many years his practice to write down thoughts and observations : 'My ancestors lived at Manningham near Bradford, where they had land, part of which they sold in 1740. They were probably in the condition of yeomen. The Eeverend Dr. Joseph Jowett, Eegius Professor of Civil Law in the University of Cambridge, who died in 1813, was my great-uncle. He had a brother, Henry Jowett, Rector of Little Dunham in Norfolk, and another brother, John Jowett, a wool-stapler I believe, who had three sons, clergymen, the Reverend William Jowett, a Missionary among the Copts, the Reverend Joseph Jowett, Rector of Silk Willoughby, Lincolnshire, and the Reverend John Jowett, Rector of Hartfield.' VOL. I. B 2 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, i At the beginning of the eighteenth century, two Jowetts of Manningham l were doing business in London and York. Henry Jowett, of London, is described as a man of character and probity and a strict Churchman, who attended the week-day prayers at his parish church. His brother Benjamin, of York, counts likewise amongst the Master's ancestry, through an intermarriage of cousins to be mentioned by-and-by. This Henry Jowett, of Manningham and London, had a son Henry, the Master's great-grandfather. Henry Jowett, of Leeds and Camberwell, 1719-1801. He was born in London in 1719, and passed some ot his childhood at Whitby, where he conceived a passion for the sea. After one voyage, however, he was apprenticed by his father to a hat-manufacturer in London. While thus employed, he heard the preaching of Whitefield, and the impression was deep and permanent. "When his apprenticeship came to an end, he set up for himself as a skinner or furrier. In 1757 he removed with his young family to Leeds, where he remained till 1773. Here he formed two intimacies which had an important influence upon the life of his sons. William Hey, the well-known surgeon and Fellow of the Royal Society, not only shared the same religious impressions, which were then still comparatively rare, but was also an accomplished musician, and a student of great writers whom he loved to introduce to younger men ; and Henry Venn, who came to Huddersfield in 1789, helped to con- firm the spiritual work which Whiteneld had begun. 1 The Jowitts (formerly Jow- with the Jowetts of Manningham : etts), an old Quaker family in but in the period now under re- the neighbourhood of Leeds, if view there was no connexion traced far enough back, might between the branches, prove to have a common origin Four Generations 3 About two years after the death of his wife in 1771, Henry Jowett removed his place of business to London, and his home to Camberwell Green. He resided there until he died in 1801, having survived his eldest son, John, by one year. He is a dignified, patriarchal figure, of a strong, determined nature, profoundly imbued with genuine piety, ruling his house with authority, and bringing up his children and his grandchildren with vigilant care ' in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.' His sons in middle life still deferred to his authority, and prized his counsel, addressing him in their letters as 'Dear and honoured Sir.' His corre- spondence is marked by simple gravity of style, and while often expressed in the peculiar dialect of Methodism, has the ring of true affection, sagacity, consistent purpose, and resignation to the Divine Will. In early life he had owed much to Mr. Hill, a Nonconformist minister, and in his old age was inclined to Wesleyanism, react- ing not against the formalism, but the too pronounced Calvinism, of the parish clergyman '. There still remains 1 The following excerpt from minds, make it appear wearisome the manuscript record of his and gloomy. He usually in the granddaughter, Mrs. Elizabeth evenings read a whole chapter of" Pratt, is characteristic both of the the Bible with Matthew Henry's times and of the man : commentary ; which occupied so ' In the government of his much time that the children and family my grandfather was servants got sleepy and tired, thought to be strict. His children If the boys showed symptoms of greatly reverenced him ; yet it drowsiness, they were required to must be confessed that they often stand up, and their father would felt a degree of awe in his pre- occasionally ask them their sence which made them in their opinion of a sentiment or put boyish days rather shrink from some question which required his company. His family wor- them to have attended to the ship, too, was perhaps somewhat reading in order to answer it. calculated to exhibit religion in ... I shall never forget the an austere light, and, to young patriarchal benediction which he B 2 4 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, i in his handwriting a solemn form of self-dedication, signed, sealed, and doubtless executed, October 27, 1770, identical with that recommended in Doddridge's Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul, chap, xviii. 7. To the last he followed with keen interest the course of public affairs ; disliking the war with America, but rejoicing in Admiral Duncan's successes ; although he feared that they might unduly minister to national pride. Henry Jowett, of Camberwell, had four sons, John, Joseph, Benjamin (the Master's grandfather), and Henry ; and two daughters, Elizabeth, who died young, and Sarah, who lived to old age. The sons, except John, the eldest, who had been at St. Paul's School for a time before they left London 1 , attended the Leeds Grammar School, in company with John Venn, who lived with the Jowetts as one of the family. Joseph and Henry Jowett, as well as John Venn, proceeded to the University of Cambridge ; while Benjamin, like his eldest brother, John, was apprenticed to his father's business. As three of these men, his great-uncles, are mentioned by the Master himself, and as more is known of them than of his grandfather, it may be allowable to give a short account of each of them before proceeding in the main line. pronounced upon me and Mr. of God the Father, God the Son, Pratt, when we went to take and God the Holy Ghost might leave of him. He was sitting by rest upon us. He did this with the fireside in his dressing-gown much emotion, and I could with his night-cap and a large have imagined that it was the cocked hat on his head ; and patriarch Jacob blessing his pos- before we left him he raised him- terity.' self on his feet, feeble and totter- * According to the belief of ing as he was, and with a most his daughter, Mrs. E. Pratt ; but graceful air took his hat off his his name is not on the Register head, and prayed that the blessing of St. Paul's scholars. Four Generations 5 John Jowett, of Leeds and Newington Butts, 1743-1800. John liad been at work in his father's office from the time of going to Leeds, 1757, being then in his four- teenth year. But he continued his education through intercourse with William Hey, who read with him such works as Locke, Butler, Jonathan Edwards, &c., and conversed with him on theological subjects. The two friends often walked to Huddersfield together to listen to the preaching of Henry Venn. Mr. Hey, who was a student of thorough-bass and a lover of Corelli and other early composers, also encouraged his companion's love for music, and John learned to play the organ. John was already in partnership with his father, when in 1771, shortly after his marriage to Elizabeth Bankes, younger sister of Mrs. Hey, he removed to London, and opened a warehouse in Red Lion Court, Bermondsey. Here he was joined by his father and by his brother Benjamin. The business prospered after a while, and in 1790 John Jowett purchased the lease of a house and grounds at Newington, Surrey 1 , where he was often visited by his brothers from Cam- bridge and their friends ; and also by the ' worthy Mr. John Newton 2 ,' who is said to have designated John Jowett's household as par excellence ' the Christian family.' He was in fact a pillar of the Evangelical party in the Church, and his home was also a centre of musical culture. He died at the age of fifty-six in 1800. having shortly before assisted at the foundation of the Church Missionary Society. His profoundly religious 1 The proceeds of the Man- the last heiress, ningham estate had before this 2 This was in the later period been divided amongst the cou- of Mr. Newton's career, when he sins, by the will of Eleanor, was Rector of St. Mary Woolnoth. Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, i character, combined as it was with, persistent practical energy, gives him a just claim to prominent considera- tion in these preliminary pages. His ' enthusiasm,' as it would then have been termed, was tempered, in a remarkable degree, with candour and moderation. On his death-bed, he told his relatives who surrounded him that he felt ' not rapture, but peace.' ' The Scrip- tures speak of the Spirit bearing witness with our spirits, &c. I should like to feel that, but I am not anxious about it ; I leave the matter to God 1 .' 1 John had five sons, Henry, John, Joshua, Joseph, andWilliam, and two daughters, Elizabeth, who married the Rev. Josiah Pratt, and Hannah, who married Mr. Hudson. Three of the sons became beneficed clergymen, as appears in the Master's note-book above quoted : the most remark- able of these was William. He was twelfth wrangler at Cam- bridge in 1810, a Fellow of St. John's, and the first Cambridge graduate who volunteered for the foreign service of the Church Missionary Society. He ended his days in the rectory at Clapham Eise, where he suc- ceeded John Venn. He had some peculiar expedients for rousing the interest of a sleepy congrega- tion. ' And now I will read you a dispatch from a great com- mander at the seat of war : ' this prelude was followed by a quota- tion from the Book of Joshua. The reader will find more about him in the Dictionary of National Biography. Joseph, the Rector of Silk Willoughby, applied the musical skill which he inherited to the composition of hymn-tunes, which have been much appre- ciated by persons of religious feeling and fine taste. His Musae Solitariae, 'A. Collection of Original Melodies, adapted to various measures of Psalms and Hymns' (fourth edition, 1826), was much valued by James Martineau and used in his family and congrega- tion in connexion with his own selected hymns. John,the Rector of Hartfield, held for a time an evening lectureship at Clapham. It is quite possible that the Master of Balliol, when a boy, may have heard the preaching of more than one of these men, his cousins, during some of his visits to the Courthopes at Blackheath or the Langhornes at Clapham. Joshua appears to have opened a business in Liverpool before 1823 ; but he afterwards returned to London, where he set up as an ironmonger, and his home was again the centre of mu- sical reunions, similar to those at his father's house at Newing- Four Generations Joseph Jowett, of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, 1752-1813. Joseph. Jowett was a prominent figure in the Cambridge of his day, where he was Professor of Civil Law, and the main particulars of his life are clearly recorded in the Dictionary of National Biography l . The biographer of his grand-nephew may be permitted, however, to dwell, before passing from him, on some characteristic traits : (i) his persistence in companionship PEN AND INK SKETCH OF THE CONCERT GIVEN AT TRINITY HALL, CAMBRIDGE, JUNE 4, 1789. with his early friend, Isaac Milner, with whom he spent two hours twice every week in Term-time, until his death ; (2) the freshness of his interest in young men ; (3) the fearless promptitude (called by his friends ' pre- cipitancy') with which he promoted the foundation of ton Butts. Henry was for a time a partner in the furrier trade. 1 For some interesting details concerning him the reader may be referred to the Life of Isaac Milner, Dean of Carlisle. It ap- pears that the elegance of his Latinitv was much admired. 8 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, i the Cambridge Auxiliary Bible Society, supporting the efforts of the serious undergraduates, when even Isaac Milner recoiled before the fulminations of Doctor after- wards Bishop Marsh ; (4) as a minor feature, his keen interest in the progress of music. He sang ' alto l ' in concerts which he had organized, and which took place in the Combination Room, and on one occasion certainly June 4, 1789) in the Hall, of Trinity Hall. Henry Jowett, of Little Dunham, 1756-1830. Henry Jowett, after passing several years as Lecturer and Tutor at Magdalene College, Cambridge, succeeded his friend John Venn as Rector of Little Dunham, Norfolk, in 1792. He married Charlotte Iveson, of Leeds, and had eight children. His daughter Charlotte became Mrs. Whiting. A good many of his letters have been preserved. They exhibit him in a very interesting light, as a faithful pastor, a tutor of young men 2 , a keen lover of music, and an active and observant traveller. He assisted in starting the Norfolk branch of the Bible Society, and is known to have been the founder of the first of many Clerical Societies. He was a genial parish priest, who upon occasion, as at the Peace of 1814, knew how to organize a village festival, with dancing, &c. There is a touch of play- fulness in his letters to his sister Sarah, who kept house for him after he became a widower in 1809. He showed paternal interest not only in his own, but in his brothers' families. His life-long friendship with the Venns proves his warmth and constancy. 1 See below, p. n. James, who, when old enough for 2 See the Life of Henry Venn Cambridge, went to Trinity Hall Elliot (who was one of his pupils), because of Joseph Jowett. See chap. i. Another pupil was the Life of Fitzjames Stephen by James Stephen, afterwards Sir his brother, chap. i. 9 The Master's Grandfather 9 Benjamin Jowett, of Camberwell, 1754-1837. Benjamin, the third son of Henry of Leeds, was grand- father to the Master of Balliol. After leaving the Grammar School, he commenced business with his father in Leeds ; and when the family was settled in London, he became John's partner in the warehouse in Bermond- sey. In 1785 he married his cousin, Anne Jowett, of York, whose father is mentioned several times in letters of this period with a sort of respect, as ' Cousin Jowett V In right of this lady, who was his grandmother, the Master (then Professor Jowett) inherited, some eighty years after this, a property in Yorkshire 2 . She died in 1799, leaving five children, Elizabeth Maria, Benjamin, Josiah, and Henry. In a letter dated February 20, 1799, Henry Jowett the elder, now of Camberwell, and in his eightieth year, speaks feelingly of his son Benjamin's loss. Soon after his father's death, Benjamin married again, and had a daughter, Irene. He appears as a witness to the marriage of his son, the Master's father, in 1814. Nothing more is known of him until the year 1823, when the success of Joshua (John's third son), who had opened a business in Liverpool, seems to have induced Benjamin senior and his two youngest sons to migrate thither. They were accompanied by the elder daughters, Elizabeth and Maria. Benjamin senior remained in Liverpool until the spring of 1837. In March of that year he writes an affecting letter to his sister Sarah. It is the year of influenza, and the prevalence of illness has interfered with the progress of music. ' Nothing new has been produced of late.' At this time he must have been about eighty-two years old. He died very shortly after- wards, in April. 1837. 1 Henry Jowett, of York (son of was Sheriff of York in 1784-5. Benjamin, see p. 2), flax-dresser, 2 See p. 375. io Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, i The preceding narrative has carried the reader into the heart of English Methodism in its earlier stage. The names of Whitefield and Wesley, of Henry Venn, John Newton, Isaac Milner, Farish, Simeon, Robinson of Leicester, are as household words to all this family. The impression which the documents produce is irre- sistible that in the immediate followers of Wesley and Whitefield, personal religion was a very real thing. It was the mainspring of conduct, affecting all relationships, not in word only, but with power. Their theological attitude had its limitations, certainly : ' conversion ' meant separation from ' the world 1 ' ; but it contained a principle of expansion too. John Newton was not far from the kingdom of universal brotherhood when he wrote as follows in 1 800 : ' I pray the Lord to bless you and all who love His Name in Scotland, whether Kirk, Relief, Burghers, Antiburghers, Independents, Methodists, or by whatever name they choose to be called. Yea, if you know a Papist, who sincerely loves Jesus, and trusts in Him for salvation, give my love to him.' ' Christianity,' he says elsewhere, ' is not a system of doctrine, but a new creature V If the religion of the ' Clapham sect ' appeared to cast a sombre colouring over social inter- course, this apparent sadness was lightened and relieved in the case of many of them by the warmth of home affections and by their devotion to music. The scene at Newington Butts, where Mr. Latrobe of the Moravian brotherhood introduces Haydn and Mozart to the lovers of Handel, is suggestive of anything but gloom : 1 ' Come out from among them, tional Remarks, by the late Rev. and be ye separate,' is a text of John Newton, Rector of St. Mary which young converts thought Woolnoth, Lombard Street, Lon- with zeal and awe. don, 1809. 2 See Letters and Conversa- Religious Antecedents n 'They had discovered,' he says, 'the secret of making Home, the most pleasant place on earth. The young people were not restrained from following the so-called pleasures and amusements of the world by any coercive means, but rather encouraged to be attentive to whatever was innocently and profitably amusing. It was at home, however, that they found the greatest happiness, and love and peace and cheer- fulness reigned in their dwelling. ' What was my astonishment and delight, to find here a choir of vocal performers, the most perfect of its kind. The two daughters sang the treble ; Dr. Jowett *, the alto ; Keverend H. Jowett 2 and the father, the tenor ; the eldest son, Henry, the bass. They sang all Handel's Oratorios, or rather select portions of them, with great precision, and, by employing me at the harpsichord, as I was more accustomed to read scores than any other of the party, I became acquainted with the exquisite beauties of that inimitable and gigantic composer. All their voices were good, but Eliza's treble and Dr. Jowett's alto were, I may truly say, the sweetest and richest of their kind / have ever heard, either in public or private. When the doctor was not in town, we tried as well as we could to supply the alto in choruses, and could always perform in four parts 3 .' In the matter of education also, they were before their age. "When we find Mr. Hey, the surgeon at Leeds, sparing time from a laborious profession to read Locke and study thorough-bass with young John Jowett ; or when old Henry, the patriarch, wishes that his grandson could have gone to school with Cousin Marriott, ' who has profited so greatly by Mr. Penticross's tuition ' at Walling- ford ; or when Mr. Robinson, of Leicester, is carefully selected as an instructor for young Benjamin (the Master's father), these incidents are to be noted as instances, not of obscurantism, but of an expanding culture. 1 Joseph, the Professor of Civil 2 Henry of Little Dunham. Law. s Latrobe, Letters to his Children. 12 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, i Is it wonderful, considering such antecedents, that the Master should have delighted always in religious biographies that when most suspected of heresy, he should have heartily joined with private friends in singing simple hymns that to the sentimentalities of more recent hymnody he greatly preferred Dr. Watts' version of the ninetieth Psalm or that in his latest years he should have delighted in commemorating Richard Baxter and John "Wesley from the pulpit of "Westminster Abbey? When most convinced of the poverty and narrowness of the Evangelical school, and the inadequacy of its scientific and literary culture, he never failed to distinguish between its earlier and later phases. It seemed to him that its earlier spirituality had faded, and that an overgrowth of mingled cant and worldliness was stifling its vitality. There is considerable force in the following observa- tions of the Rev. W. H. Langhorne : ' In estimating the religious views of the late Master, those which he inherited should be taken into account ; and which had descended to him through four generations. By the time they reached him, much of what had been lively, vigorous, and real had become conventional and spirit- less. The salt had lost its savour and the religious " movement," as it has been called, was nearly spent 1 .' Benjamin Jowett, 1788-1859. Benjamin Jowett, son of Benjamin, and father of the Master of Balliol, was born at Camberwell in 1788. Beyond the fact already referred to, that after his mother's death, when he was about eleven years old, he 1 The Warden of Merton (the on High Churchmen, I never Hon. G. C. Brodrick) says : heard him speak unkindly or dis- 1 While I often heard him com- respectfully of the Evangelical nient harshly and even bitterly School.' The Master's Father and Mother 13 was sent to school with Mr. Robinson, of Leicester, nothing is known concerning the course of his education. His father's second marriage may have in some way interfered with it. That while retaining the impress of Evangelical pietism, his mind had been impelled towards some kind of literary ambition, is evident from the sequel. He joined his father's business, and at the time of his marriage in 1814 is designated as 'a furrier.' In the Directory for 1817, the firm at Red Lion Court, Ber- mondsey, is described as 'Benjamin Jowett and Son 1 ,' so that by this time he was in partnership with his father. When the latter removed his family to Liverpool in 1823, Benjamin junior seems to have remained in charge of the Bermondsey business, his cousin Henry, son of John, being in some way associated with him for a time. In 1825 the firm 'Benjamin Jowett and Sons, Furriers, Red Lion Court, Bermondsey,' occurs for the last time in the London Directory, and in the same year there appears the name of ' Benjamin Jowett Junior, Furrier, 10 George Yard, Lombard Street.' This entry is continued during the years 1826-1836. It would seem therefore that the furrier business lasted all this while, no doubt with 'fluctuations,' and it is probable that the removal from Bermondsey was caused by some depression 2 ; for 10 George Yard was the place of business of his brother- in-law, Mr. John Bryan Courthope, stationer, &c., with whom it is natural to suppose that Mr. Jowett took refuge, when 110 longer able to maintain the warehouse in Bermondsey. But he seems also to have ventured 1 Inthesameyear,inhissonBen- jamin Jowett, Peckham, Furrier.' jamin's Baptismal Register in the 2 It is right to bear in mind church of St. Giles, Camberwell, that 1826 was a time of great the father is described as 'Ben- commercial depression. 14 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, i upon a wholly different line of business. In the Directory for 1826 there appears for the first time the firm of 'Mills, Jowett, and Mills, Printers, Bolt Court, Fleet Street,' and this entry is continued until 1835 l . That the Jowett of this firm was the Master's father is proved by the form of his son Benjamin's nomination to St. Paul's School, dated June 4, 1829. Here the boy is described as ' son of Benjamin Jowitt (sic) of Bolt Court, Fleet Street, Printer.' The marriage of the Master's parents took place in 1814. He himself wrote as follows on February 24, 1893 2 > with reference to his mother's ancestry : ' My mother told me that her father, who died young, lived at or near Kirkby Lonsdale (KirTcby Stephen?}, and that Langhorne the poet was her great -uncle ; she had no doubt of this. Also I remember her brother joking her about the member of their family who was executed for treason.' Isabella Jowett, nee Langhorne, born December 25, 1790; died October 16, 1869. Isabella was the daughter of Joseph Langhorne, who appears from the above statement to have been a nephew of John Langhorne, the Rector of Blagdon, the poet, and translator of Plutarch. Joseph is said to have been a Lancashire cotton merchant, who, after retiring from business, lived first at Walworth and then at Stockwell, in the neighbourhood of Camberwell. ' The member of their family who was executed for treason' is Richard Langhorne, the lawyer of King Charles II's reign, who fell a victim to the accusations of Titus Gates, for the 1 The volume of the Lancet " To the Rev. W. H. Langhorne. issued in 1826 bears the imprint acknowledging the latter's book of Mills, Jowett, and Mills. of Reminiscences. The Langhorne Family 15 alleged Popish Plot in 1679 J . Burnet 2 speaks of him as ' in all respects a very extraordinary man.' But the supposed connexion of Richard Langhorne with the Kirkby Stephen Langhornes is not clearly proved, unless a constant family tradition may be taken for proof. If the Jowetts of Leeds exemplify an important phase of English pietism, the Langhornes of Kirkby Stephen are fairly representative of the mental refinement, classical taste, and liberal culture, which has always characterized some portion of the clergy of the Church of England. Joseph Langhorne's son Henry was a banker in Buck- lersbury 3 , and about 1820 retired to Mitcham. He moved his family again to Clapham in 1829. Besides Isabella, there were two elder daughters, twins, both of whom have a place in this biography: Jane, married to John Bryan Courthope, above-mentioned, and Frances, married to the Rev. William Smith. There was frequent inter- course between the Jowetts and the Courthopes. In earlier days, while Mr. Courthope was successful in business, he dwelt in a handsome residence at Blackheath Hill. He afterwards removed his family to a smaller house in the same neighbourhood. He died in 1844. His wife had died in 1840, and they had lost many chil- dren. Mrs. Courthope retained her charm and youthful looks until very shortly before her death. She left behind her the impression of an active practical nature, which had a great influence on those surrounding her. 1 Further particulars about 3 The bankers were Brown, him may be found in the Dictio- Langhorne, and Brailsford. ' The nary of National Biography and firm suffered in the financial Granger's Biographical History of panic which followed the second England. American War. H. L. then 2 Burnet's History of my own started as an Insurance Broker.' Time, vol. ii. p. 259 of the (So writes Mr. C. Langhorne, of Edinburgh edition (1753). Corncliffe, Sydney, N.S.W.) 16 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, i The Rev. William Smith was Rector of Brandsby, in Yorkshire. He died in 1823. His widow, who was considerably younger than he was, survived him many years, during which she lived at Bath. She died in. 1835, leaving some house property in Bath to the Jowett family. Mr. and Mrs. Jowett appear to have spent the earlier years of their married life at Peckham, in the parish of Camberwell, where they formed a lasting friendship with the Channells l . There were nine children of the marriage, two of whom, Isabella and Francis, died in infancy. The others were Emily, Benjamin, Agnes, Alfred, Ellen, William, and Frederick. Emily and Ben- jamin were the only two who survived their parents, and passed the meridian of life. A change in the family history occurs in 1829, about the same time as young Benjamin's admission to St. Paul's School. Mrs. Smith, who was now alone at Bath, knowing that the Jowetts were in straitened circumstances, offered a home to her sister and the children. This was accepted on behalf of all but Ben- jamin, whose education was already provided for. ' The little fold at Bath 2 ' remained there after Mrs. Smith's death until 1841. The father went to and fro between Bath and London, while young Benjamin stayed in lodgings in the City. A journey to the West of England was in those days a matter of no small trouble and expense. Meanwhile Mr. Jowett's employments, if not very profitable, were strangely varied. He aspired to be a publisher's reader, and sought opportunities for 1 See below, p. 27. The late 3 Letter of Mr. Jowett to Baron Channell was then a boy Mrs. Irwin in December, 1838. of ten years old. ' The Little Fold at Bath' 17 dabbling in journalism, especially on questions of phi- lanthropy. Mr. "Wood, of Bradford (brother-in-law to Mr. Gathorne-Hardy, now Lord Cranbrook), the first person who seriously took up the question of Factory Legislation 1 , employed him as a writer, and it was probably through Mr. Wood's recommendation that he became known to Lord Ashley, afterwards Lord Shaftesbury. For several years he laboured at collecting statistics and in other ways promoting the great work which Lord Ashley had so much at heart. At this time he must have been a familiar figure in the lobby of the House of Commons. The following entry occurs in Lord Shaftesbury's Diary for August 24, 1840: 'Let no one ever despair of a good cause for want of coad- jutors ; let him persevere, persevere, persevere, and God will raise him up friends and assistants ! I have had, and still have, Jowett and Low ; they are matchless V In 1835 Mr. Jowett was consulted by Captain F. C. Irwin with regard to the publication of a work on Western Australia 3 . Captain, afterwards Colonel, Irwin always retained a high regard for Mr. Jowett, whom he used emphatically to describe as ' a Christian, a scholar, and a gentleman.' The acquaintance ripened into friendship, and before his return to his post of Commandant of the troops at the Swan River settlement, Major Irwin had married Mrs. Jowett's niece, Elizabeth Courthope. Mrs. Jowett, meanwhile, had been anxious about her son Benjamin's future, and appealed to several friends for counsel about his proceeding to the University. He was at the head of St. Paul's School, and in his nineteenth year, and himself desired to go to Trinity 1 Lif e of Lord Shaftesbury, vol. i. s Major Irwin's book was p. 143. published by Simpkin, Marshall 2 Ibid. p. 301. & Co. VOL. I. C i8 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP. \ College, Cambridge: but a Scholarship or some extraneous help was absolutely necessary 1 . Mr. J. Walker, now Rector of Great Billing, North- ampton, but in 1835 still resident Fellow and Tutor of Brasenose College, Oxford, replied to Mrs. "Wood, Mr. Gathorne-Hardy's sister, who inquired of him on Mrs. Jowett's behalf without mentioning the name, that it was near the time of examination for open Scholarships at Balliol, and that 'the said youth, if he was thought clever enough, might try for one of them.' This hint may have encouraged him to try at Balliol, but it can hardly have been necessary, as the Turners, intimate friends at Bath, had already their son John entered there, who would naturally be eager to second such a proposal. However this may have been, the Scholarship was gained. CadetsTiips for William and Alfred Jowett, 1842 and 1846. Benjamin's younger brothers, Alfred and "William, were educated at the Bath Grammar School ; where the most active teacher was Mr. James Pears 2 . The boys seem to have profited at school, and their after history may be briefly told. Both obtained Indian cadetships at the recommendation of Lord Ashley. William went out as Ensign in September, 1842, to Madras, and after doing excellent service as Quartermaster and interpreter to his regiment, died at Saugor, September n, 1850. 1 See p. 44. this time practically retired to * His father, the Head Master the living of Charlcombe which of the Grammar School, had by he held with the Head Mastership. Domestic Circumstances 19 Alfred, having qualified as surgeon, went out in Sep- tember, 1846, and after various services which became more than ever exacting in the year of the Mutiny, died at Banda, October 4, 1858. His brothers were probably in the Master's mind when he wrote after- wards to a cousin in India : ' I hope you know how to live and not die in India, which I believe to be greatly an art.' But for the great and solid happiness of Benjamin's election to the Balliol Fellowship in 1838, the later years at Bath must have passed heavily with Mrs. Jowett. Her husband's constant absence on business of uncertain profit ; the delicacy of her two younger daughters, of whom Agnes died in 1837 ; the weakness of Frederick, consequent on an accident in infancy, which arrested his education, and the anxiety about ways and means made more trying by her husband's absorption in that unproductive labour, the metrical version of the Psalms, which occupied him during the remainder of his life must have weighed upon her spirits, and induced a certain tone of depression which is noticeable in her letters. The younger daughter, Ellen, was already drooping, and died shortly afterwards (1839) at Tenby, whither they had removed for a time on her account. She was deeply mourned, especially by John Turner, who was attached to her, and afterwards called his eldest child by her name. If we except the promise of the cadetships which were due to the connexion with Lord Ashley, the father's prospect of improving the fortunes of his household was not encouraging. His philanthropic employments, his leader-writing, his advice to authors, and other ' incidental C 2 20 Life of Benjamin Jowett CHAP, i work/ such as the Secretaryship of the Church Exten- sion Society, had all given way before the fascination of the metrical Psalter. In 1841 Mrs. Jowett and Emily returned from Bath to Blackheath with Alfred and William l , whose Indian careers were now in prospect, and towards the end of 1842 removed to Teignmouth. By this time William was in India, and Alfred must have been ' walking the Hospitals' in London. In 1846 (Alfred also being now in India) the home trio, father, mother, and surviving daughter, took up their abode in a neatly furnished apartment on the fifth floor of a house in the Rue Madeleine in Paris, spending the summer months mostly at St. Germains or Fontainebleau. In 1848 they were driven by fear of the Revolution to sojourn for a while at Bonn and Aix-la-Chapelle. But they soon returned to their old quarters, and in 1850 were visited there by Mr. F. T. Palgrave, who has thus recorded his impressions : ' Mr. Jowett had some theories upon Milton's rules of versification, in which he took great interest, and tried to set them forth for me. He looked like a man rather past middle age, and had the manner, more easily recognized than denned, of one who had not been successful in his profession. . . . The mother (venerated as much by Jowett as the father) was a pale, white, graciously dignified lady of about her husband's age ; her voice, her features, her bearing, wore the air of a long, perfect, uncomplaining resigna- tion 2 . The sister, apparently rather younger than the Master, was also of a thoughtful cast of mind. She had a true feeling for music, and used to play for me, when I called, several 1 During this brief sojourn Mammas, fell to talking about at Blackheath, Lord Lingen's their sons at Oxford.' mother, in visiting her sister, 2 This was the year in which Mrs. Rea, met Mrs. Jowett, 'and William and Frederick died, the two, after the manner of Mrs. Jowett 21 little pieces, which she kindly copied in a writing fine and clear, much akin to her brother's.' In removing to Paris they appear to have been guided by the advice of Benjamin, who had already begun to contribute largely towards the support of his mother and sister. In this action, after a few years, he was nobly seconded by the sons in India, who before 1850 had arranged to remit considerable sums out of their pay, to lighten the burden which 'their brother had so long borne.' After the death of William Jowett in 1850, quickly followed by that of poor Frederick, who had been left in England under proper care, Mrs. Jowett's letters to Alfred in India have a somewhat plaintive tone, but they also evince a noble calmness of resignation and a loving spirit of conciliation. The conditions of the little house- hold were made more difficult by the step which Emily took about this time, in being received into the Roman Catholic Communion. This was due to the influence of their most intimate acquaintances in Paris, the Cruick- shanks, who were friends of long standing and neighbours in the same house. Helen Cruickshank and Emily were fast friends, and Helen's brother was a priest, having joined the Roman Catholic Church while still a youth. Mrs. Jowett partly sympathized with Emily; she had found comfort for herself in Bossuet and Fenelon 1 ; and her letters to her son Alfred show some indication of what was passing in her mind. The father no doubt 1 Jowett wrote to A. P. Stanley time I told Mrs. Stanley I had in 1856 : ' If you go over to reason to think she would be- St. Germains, my mother would, come a Roman Catholic, but that I think, like to see you. . . . She phase has passed away with her, is much worn with care and years, ending in universal charity to and I cannot expect that she all the world.' should live much longer. At one 22 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, i remonstrated, but, absorbed in his unprofitable task, seems to have left his wife and daughter very much to themselves. He would shut himself up in his study, even in the evenings, which had heretofore been en- livened with Emily's exquisite playing on the piano. In early days she had been used to accompany her father, who had a fine bass voice. So things continued for some years; but prices rose under the Empire, and living in Paris became more difficult. The metrical Psalter, too, was approaching completion. At last, in 1856, the 'trio' are found at Dover for a while. Here Mrs. Jowett's letters reveal fresh uncertainties, and speculations about trying Germany again. But before the spring, all shadows had cleared away, and the wish of the mother's heart was gratified by their returning to their former lodgings at Tenby. Emily shrank from the scene of old sorrows, but Mrs. Jowett found comfort in being there, in the house of Mrs. Lewis, who had known and been kind to her daughter Ellen. She was again much alone, through the temporary absence of Emily, in attendance on her friend, Miss Cruickshank. Mr. Jowett meanwhile re- newed his friendship with the Laws of Kenniiigton 1 , the Channells, and Dr. Blundell (who gave him an annuity of .40), and at last he published anonymously, with Samuel Bagster and Sons, A New Metrical Translation of the Book of Psalms 2 . In 1857, the year of the Indian Mutiny, deep anxiety was naturally felt on Alfred's account. He sent his usual remittance in that year, but died in October of the year following. His father survived him by only six 1 See Mr. F. Law's account on notion of chanting common p. 27. English metres. Mr. Jowett had 2 The work is by no means learned enough Hebrew to make contemptible, although doomed elaborate use of English Coin- to failure by the impracticable mentaries on the original Text. His Father's Character 23 months, and was buried at Tenby in March, 1859. The inscription on his tombstone is probably from the hand of his son : 'He was greatly beloved for his simple and disinterested character.' In one sense it may be said of him that he was too disinterested. He cared nearly as much for the things of others as for his own. When Sir W. Channell was made a judge, he was hardly less rejoiced, and certainly much less surprised, than he would have been if Benjamin had been made a bishop. He seems to have worked most effectively when he was labouring on behalf of some one else. While he inherited, even to overflowing, the traditions of Methodism, he managed to combine them with a kindly and intelligent outlook upon the world at large. But his mind was like an eye which cannot be focussed upon nearer objects. His letters to Australia are pamphlets on the treatment of Aborigines. Those to India during the Mutiny are full of just re- flections on the situation the views are excellent, if they were not aimed from so far off and they are not without a family likeness to many passages in his son's private letters in which he expatiates on home and foreign politics from a speculative point of view. Emily speaks of her father with real affection, but complains that he has so little power of understanding others or of being understood. Too pliable where firm- ness was required, he was persistent even to obstinacy in unpractical ways : a precisian in unimportant matters, but without much real power of command. He seems always to have been too little demonstrative at home. His children hardly saw the best side of his nature : and the effect of this reserve upon his son Benjamin is not to be ignored. An unchecked flow of love and confidence, 24 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, i and the frank expression of a just pride in the achieve- ments of his son, might have given a different turn to some aspects of that son's after-life. Though he was passionately fond of music, his daughter's playing drew from him no praise. While affectionately solicitous for his children's highest welfare, as he conceived it, he was superstitiously afraid of exciting their vanity by open encouragement. The Master, in later life, spoke of his father as having been ' one of the most innocent of men.' Mr. F. Law, who remembers him well, says, 'He was a lovable old man. I never heard him say a harsh word of any one.' After her husband's death. Mrs. Jowett with her daughter Emily resided at Torquay, where she was soothed and consoled for her past trials by the devotion of her two surviving children. She died there October 16, 1869, only a few months before it became a certainty that her son was to be the Master of Balliol. Those who knew her during these years describe her as a dignified and gracious lady of the old school 1 . Her alabaster complexion, touched with shell-pink, was often suffused with a girlish blush at some casual surprise. Her simple black dress, with a white shawl, and a white drawn satin bonnet, setting off her slim upright figure, made a beautiful picture of refined old age. Her manner retained much of its early charm, for young as well as for old, and she was a favourite with children. She would not be photographed, and never sat for her picture although her son desired it. Her niece, Henry Lang- horne's daughter, has spoken of her as she was in early days, describing her as 'gentle, sweet, highly educated in every way, and so devotedly attached to her children that she sacrificed everything for their sakes, being so 1 This is the impression of Lady Lingen, who saw her at Torquay. His Sister Emily 25 constantly with them that it was not easy to see her.' Another hint of the impression which she made on those nearest to her is afforded by a letter of Mr. Courthope's. after his wife's death, to his daughter Elizabeth Irwin in Australia, May 10, 1840 : ' I feel much the absence of your dear Aunt Bella, so cheerful and affectionate, with sweet feminine person and mind. I fear that while supporting and consoling others, she had tired herself too much. I never felt more the distance between us. Dear Ben is an excellent fellow, so fond of her and so kind to his beloved mother, it is gratifying to see it.' "With all this softness and amiability she was not without a touch of womanly pride. On the whole she well deserves Queen Katharine's praise of ' a great patience ' ; having borne the vicissitudes of a chequered lot with meekness and dignity. Emily survived her mother thirteen years. She lived quietly, kept up her accomplishment in music, and saw her brother from time to time, visiting him more than once at Balliol. She suffered from a stroke of paralysis in 1880, and spent her remaining time with her cousins the Irwins at Clifton, in whose house she died in 1882 J . She was devoted to her family, above all to her mother, from whom she was never separated for long together, and when her brothers went to India she parted with her share of Mrs. Smith's bequest, in order to furnish them forth. She was exquisitely refined, but shy and diffident, above all in the presence of her brother, under whom her ' genius was subdued.' It is said that she could not do herself justice even in playing the piano before him ; and when her cousins were inclined to mock at the pomposity of some Oxford personage, she mustered courage to reply, ' My brother has a high opinion of him.' 1 Mrs. Irwin had died in May of the same year. 26 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, i In hours of gloom and misunderstanding she loved to dwell on the earlier days of free and joyous intercourse, which could never be recalled. An impression long prevailed at Oxford that Jowett had no family ties. It used to be jestingly said that he was like Melchizedec, 'without father, without mother, without descent.' "When one of the Irwin cousins who was in business at Madras declared his relationship, the Governor, an old Balliol man, professed to regard him as a prodigy : ' I thought he had no relatives V Mr. F. T. Palgrave was almost equally surprised when, on Jowett's invitation, he was introduced (as above mentioned) to the little family party in the Rue Madeleine in the summer of 1850. The mistake was due to the profound silence in which Jowett habitually buried what was personal to himself. Only at rare moments of intimate converse, under some exceptional stress of feeling, the veil was lifted, and disclosed the treasures within. Still less could it be divined that in later years his thoughts were occupied with his own family. And yet to more than 1 This impression appears to stories of his childhood how have been shared even by Arthur deeply historical he then was, Stanley until, at Jowett's own re- studying Rollin's Ancient History, quest, he paid a visit to the little well versed in Assyrian dynasties, menage at St. Germains in March, standing longin silent contempla- 1856. He wrote to (Canon) Hugh tion of a " Stream of Time " sus- Pearson: ' On Saturday last I went pended in his little bedroom. . . . to St. Germains, and saw the Deeply musical also, he listens parents of Melchizedec ! a truly with pleasure to Beethoven played antique and venerable pair, each by his sister, while at work, and bearing a slight resemblance to even proposes correction s.'Let- the son, each with some of the ters of Dean Stanley, p. 248. This qualities in him concentrated; visit of Stanley's took place a short very kind and rapt in interest con- time before the parents' return to cerning him, relating singular England. Mr. F. Law's Reminiscences 27 one friend who suffered from bereavement after speaking of those of his kindred whom he had lost- he wrote: ' I do not expect to see them again, but I am always thinking about them.' Mr. F. Law, whose father and the Master's father were friends, as mentioned above, has favoured us with the following reminiscences : ' My mother's family had been on very intimate terms with the family of the late Master, from the early part of the century 1 . There was not much difference in the ages of the children, and the two daughters Ellen and Emily Jowett were amongst my mother's greatest friends ; the friendship continued after my mother's marriage, and until death put an end to it. ' My earliest distinct recollections of the Jowetts date back to 1841, when we were living at Blackheath. Mr. and Mrs. Jowett, with their surviving daughter Emily and their younger sons, came to live near us, Mrs. Jowett was not a strong woman ; in fact, during the rest of her life she was always delicate, requiring constant care, and she did not go out much ; but Mr. Jowett or some of his children came to our house several times a week, and in the course of our daily walks we were frequently taken to see Mr. and Mrs. Jowett. Mr. Jowett was not then in business. Ben was settled at Oxford, and Alfred and William were working for their future careers in life. ' Mr. Jowett was tall and carried himself well, and as he had a large face and head, with a quantity of white hair, which was worn longer than is usual at the present day, he was conspicuous in a room. His face was entirely shaven. When I first remember him, he invariably dressed in black, and usually wore a dress coat, and, until his latter days, 1 This must have been during Peckham Lane. Mrs. Law was a the Jowetts' early married life at younger sister of the late Barou Peckham, where the Channells Channell. also lived, at the corner of 28 Life of Benjamin J owe ft he very rarely put on a great-coat, whatever the weather might be. He was still active and fond of walking, and took his constitutional with great regularity till age interfered with his doing so. Though not a teetotaler, he was most temperate as regards stimulants. On general subjects he was a well-informed man, and had an extensive knowledge of the English Poets. I do not remember his showing any acquaintance with foreign authors. Still he certainly knew the French language, in which he could converse fluently, although his accent, I imagine, was very English. From time to time he would write a few hymns, and paraphrases of portions of Scripture, and sometimes set them to music ; but, so far as I can recall, his translation of the Psalms was the only thing he published. His handwriting was some- what cramped, and the formation of his letters small and not regular, though he gave much time to his pen. 'He was very fond of sacred music, caring little about secular I do not remember his voice until it was failing him ; it must have been a powerful and deep bass in its prime- and he was never happier than when he could get some one to accompany him in the songs from Handel's and Mendelssohn's Oratorios, to which he would sing by the hour, without seeming to tire. He himself only touched the piano when none of the ladies were at hand to accompany him. ' Though not devoid of imagination and sentiment, Mr. Jowett had not much originality of thought, and was by no means inclined to develope any new theories, whether in reference to religious or secular matters. ' Upon political matters, his views were strongly Conservative. He was a very regular attendant at Divine Service, and a good Churchman according to his own belief as one of the old Orthodox School of thinkers. He did not obtrude his opinions upon others ; but, proud as he was, and he was very proud of his son's success at Balliol, his most intimate friends under- stood that he entirely dissented from and deeply regretted his son's convictions upon these points.' CHAPTER II INFANCY AND BOYHOOD. 1817-1836 EARLY training and companionships Camberwell Blackheath Mitcham -Entrance at St. Paul's School at the age of twelve Dr. Sleath and his methods School-fellows and school successes The Ballioi Scholarship ' Apposition Day.' T?B/OH the preceding survey of two hundred years -* we return to the second decade of this century, and to the child Benjamin. He, who all his life was the friend of children, must have had a happy child- hood ; but few traces of it can be recovered now. There is a family rumour or tradition that he was brought up by two maiden aunts, but if there is any foundation for this, it must be extremely slight. Mrs. Jowett was never very strong, and in the years from 1820-1823 her maternal cares may have been largely engrossed by little Frank, who died at four years old. Benjamin was then a child of five or six, and would be often at his grand- father's, much petted by his father's sisters, Elizabeth and Maria, after the grave and solemn manner of that household. Their cousin, Mrs. "Whiting (Henry of Little Dunham's daughter), was often heard to remark on the docility and gentleness of the child. But this state of things ceased, as we know, in 1823, when the old home at Camberwell Green was broken 30 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, n up for the removal to Liverpool 1 . In the years which followed it is unlikely that the boy owed much to any one except his mother. No doubt there were visits to his uncle Henry Langhorne at Mitcham, whose good looks he was supposed to inherit, and to the Courthopes' house at Blackheath Hill. There he was seen by some who long remembered it, 'a bright and merry child, running about on Blackheath Common.' An early recol- lection, which came back to him in his last years, although of trivial import, may be touched in passing. He re- membered that when a child, he had been made to stand upon the table after dinner and to repeat poetry for the entertainment of the guests. At Mitcham, as the years went on, he also received some of his earlier lessons in Latin and Greek from the tutor who was employed in teaching his cousins. Miss Lang- horne (H. Langhorne's daughter) writes : ' He was a pale, delicate-looking boy, of unusual mental precocity, and he learned for a while with my brothers' tutor. Mr. Richardson. I have heard them say that they had no chance against him in their Greek lessons.' At other times it is said that his father used to instruct him 2 . The visits to Blackheath Hill were of a more holiday kind ; but sometimes, while the other children were at play, young Benjamin would be stretched upon the hearth-rug with Pope's Homer or a volume of Rollin's Ancient History. If there were bright memories associated with those early playmates, there were also sad ones. Four of the Courthope cousins, Jane, Fanny, Emma, and Harriet, died before reaching the age of twenty-five. Emma 1 p. 9. hithe, who told it to her grandson, 2 The authority for this is Mrs. the Rev. R. B. Gardiner, now a Thomas Courthope, of Rother- master at St. Paul's School. 1817-1836] Infancy and Boyhood 31 and Harriet were of an age to be companions of Emily and Benjamin. They were accomplished young women, with a great natural gift for drawing. Sidney Court- hope, nearly of the same age with Benjamin, early became an invalid. He died shortly after his father, in 1845. His cousin Benjamin was very attentive to him during his illness. Speaking of the years after 1826, when Henry Lang- horne had removed to Clapham, Miss Langhorne says : ' It was customary for Benjamin to shut himself up with his sister Emily in a room with their books, where they spent hours in close study together.' Emily was a good Latin scholar. It is obvious, from the previous chapter, that the family life, though attended with some degree of religious severity, was cheered with graceful music, with the com- panionship of books, and an atmosphere of liberal culture. The force of home impressions appears in the delicate and characteristic handwriting which Jowett long retained in spite of school exercises, University essays, and other causes usually destructive of such an accomplishment. This was evidently learned from his mother, who wrote the finest of 'Italian' hands, and as late as 1844 his writing closely resembled that of his sister *. The poet most in favour with that household, as with others of a similar type, was naturally "William Cowper. When a lady who met Jowett at C. Bowen's 2 house in Chester Square (at some time in the seventies) happened to quote Cowper, he said, ' I was brought up on Cowper ' ; and they continued for good part of an hour repeating familiar lines without exhausting either's repertory. 1 It appears, however, that Mr. ticular about the neatness of Bean, his master during his first exercises, year at St. Paul's, was very par- 2 Lord Bowen. 32 Life of Benjamin Jowett [CHAP, n St. Paul's School, 1829-1836. Jowett was admitted into St. Paul's School June 16, 1829, on the nomination of Thomas Osborne of the Mercers' Company, Surveyor-Accountant of St. Paul's School, who is said to have been an engraver and printer at 72 Lombard Street. Benjamin was now twelve years old, and in consequence missed some advantages which would have been secured by entering two years earlier. His previous education, whatever it was, must have been fairly efficient, for he was placed high on entrance, and rose rapidly in the school. There were eight forms then as now, and he was entered in the sixth, where he remained only for one year. The High Master at this time was Dr. John Sleath, of Wadham College, Oxford. He held the post from 1814-1837, and during that time gained much credit for the school, which was not then regarded at the Universities as on a level with the great public schools. He used to say, ' I do not profess to be a good scholar, but I make my scholars polish one another V The ' Sur-master ' was a Mr. "W. A. C. Durham (commonly called ' "Whack Durham '), but Jowett never came under him, as the sixth were taught by Dr. Sleath's assistant, Mr. John Phillips Bean. The hours of school-work in those days were from seven or eight to eleven or twelve in the morning, and from two to four in the afternoon three days a week. In the interval Benjamin, who had his own separate lodging (it was a lonely boy- hood), used to be taken by his father to dine at some literary chop-house, such as 'The Cheshire Cheese.' The habitues of the place were embarrassed by the presence 1 In this boast lie was more others. Sleath had been private than justified, having amongst his tutor to Walter Savage Landor former pupils such men as Prince when a boy at Rugby. Lee, Canon Blakesley, and many 1817-1836] At St. Paul's School 33 of the boy, the more so as the father would 'put him through his facings ' in their hearing. There is a tradition that at first coming to school young Jowett was more distinguished in Mathematics than in Classics (there was little mathematical teaching then in St. Paul's), but he must have made marked progress in Greek studies before 1833, in which year several of his Greek exercises were copied into the school album or 'playbook,' entitled Musae Paulinae, where they are still preserved 1 . They are not without school-boy errors (which to the credit of the authorities remain uncorrected), but they already show a fine sense of literary form, and a true feeling for Greek tragedy ; and as they are not translations, but original compositions on set themes, they evince no little resource and dexterity in a boy of sixteen. The following epigram in elegiacs the other exercises are all in iambics may be quoted as a sample of his youthful invention : In Mercurii Imaginem. <>io9, e KO.KO5 e fir) (TV, KA.O7T6VS TTCp 1