THE LONDON QUARTERLY REVIEW. NO. CCXCI. FOR JULY, 1878. ART. I.-1. Platonis Euthydemus et Gorgias: recensuit, vertit, notasque suas adjecit Martinus Josephus Routh, A.M., 1784. 2. Tres breves Tractatus. Ab eodem, 1854. THREE-AND-TWENTY years have run their course since the grave closed over a venerable member of the University of Oxford, who, more than any other person within academic memory, formed a connecting link between the Present and the Past. In a place of such perpetual flux as Oxford, the stationary figures attract unusual attention. When a man has been seen to go in and out of the same college-portal for thirty or forty years, he gets reckoned as much a part of the place as the dome of the Radcliffe or the spire of St. Mary's. But here was one who had presided over a famous College long enough to admit 183 fellows, 234 demies, and 162 choristers. The interval which his single memory bridged over seemed fabulous. He was personally familiar with names which to every one else seemed to belong to history. William Penn's grandson had been his intimate friend. A contemporary of Addison (Dr. Theophilus Leigh, Master of Balliol) had pointed out to him the situation of AddiHe had seen Dr. Johnson, in his brown wig, scrambling up the steps of University College. A lady told him that her mother remembered seeing King Charles II. walking with his dogs round "the Parks" at Oxford (when the Parliament was held there during the plague in London); and, at the approach of the Heads of Houses, who tried to fall in with him, "dodging" by the cross path to the L-1 son's rooms. VOL. CXLVI. 6 He other side. (His Majesty's dogs, by the way, were highly offensive to the Heads.) It seemed no exaggeration when, in the dedication prefixed to a volume of Lectures, published in 1838, Dr. Newman described Martin Joseph Routh, D.D., President of Magdalen College,' as one who had been reserved to report to a forgetful generation what was the Theology of their fathers.' was every way a marvel. Spared to fulfil a century of years of honourable life, he enjoyed the use of his remarkable faculties to the very last. His memory was unimpaired; his eye was not dim.' More than that, he retained till his death his relish for those studies of which he had announced the first-fruits for publication in 1788. The sentiment of reverence with which he was regarded was not unmixed with wonder. had become an historical personage long before the time of his departure. When at last it became known that he had gone the way of all flesh, it was felt that with the President of Magdalen College had vanished such an amount of tradition as had probably never been centred in any single member of the University before. He No detailed memoir of this remarkable man has yet been attempted, and such a work is no longer likely to appear-which is to be regretted. Thirty years hence it will be impossible to produce any memoir of him at all: and the question we have ourselves often complainingly asked concerning other ancient worthies will be repeated concerning Dr. Routh :-Why did no one give us at least an outline of his history, describe his person, preserve a few specimens of his talk,-in short, leave us a sketch? Antiquarian Biography is at once the most laborious and the most unreadable | lie, President of St. John's College, Oxkind of writing. Bristling with dates, it ford, in 1660, who married a niece of never for an instant exhibits the man. We Archbishop Laud. Her first consin and would exchange all our Lives' of Shak- namesake died in giving birth to Richard speare for such an account of him as almost Heber, who represented the University of any of his friends could have furnished in a Oxford in Parliament from 1821 to 1826. single evening. Ben Jonson's incidental notice of his conversation is our one actual glimpse of the poet in society. In like manner, Dr. John Byrom's description of a scene at which Bishop Butler was present, is the only personal acquaintance we enjoy with the great philosophic divine of the last century. And this shall suffice in the way of apology for what follows. Not far from Beverley, in the East Rid ing, is a village which, early in the twelfth century, gave its name to the knightly family of Routhe or De Ruda, lords of the manor in 1192. A cross-legged warrior in Routh Church is supposed to represent Sir John de Routhe, who joined the Crusades in 1319. A brass within the chancel certainly commemorates his namesake who died in 1557 (strenuus vir Johannes Routh de Routh chevalier, et nobilis conthoralis ejus Domina Agnes'). The President's immediate ancestors resided at Thorpefield, a hamlet of Thirsk, where his grandfather was born. Peter Routh (1726-1802), a man of piety and learning (educated at Caius College, Cambridge, and instituted in 1753 to the consolidated rectories of St. Peter and St. Margaret, South Elmham, Suffolk), became the father of thirteen children (six sons and seven daughters), of whom the subject of this memoir was the eldest. I was born' (he says of himself) at St. Margaret's, South Elmham, in Suffolk, September 18th, 1755.' Strange to relate, although throughout the eighteenth century he kept his birthday on the 18th, he ever after kept it on the nineteenth day of September. Martin Joseph was named after his greatuncles and godfathers, the Rev. Martin Baylie, D.D., of Wicklewood, in Norfolk (his mother's maternal uncle), and the Rev. Joseph Bokenham, M.A., the learned Rector of Stoke Ash, who stood to him in the same relation on his father's side. Like the rest of his brothers and sisters, he was baptized immediately after his birth.* His mother, Mary, daughter of Mr. Robert Reynolds of Harleston, was the granddaughter of Mr. Christopher Baylie, of the same place, a descendant from Dr. Richard Bay *One of Peter Routh's children was baptized on the fifth day; two on the fourth; four (Martin being of the number) on the third day; one on the second day; three on the first day after birth. Re When clected to the headship of his college in 1791, it appears, from some memoranda in his hand (written on the back of a letter of congratulation), that the event set him on recalling the dates of the chief incidents in his thirty-six previous years of life. The second entry is: 1758. moved to Beccles.' So that Peter Routh transferred his family thither when Martin. was but three years old; and at Beccles eight out of nine brothers and sisters born subsequently to 1758 were baptized. The reason of this change of residence does not appear; for Peter Routh only held the liv. ing of Beccles for old Bence' (as the Rev. Bence Sparrow was familiarly called) from 1764 to 1774; and it was not till the lastnamed year that he became master of the Beccles School. At Beccles, at all events, Martin spent all his studious boyhood, being educated by his learned father until he was nearly fifteen years of age (1770), when he went up to Oxford, and became (31st of May) a commoner of Queen's College : the Provost at that time being Dr. Thomas Fothergill, who in 1773-4 was Vice-Chancellor. Oxford a hundred and eight years ago! What a different place it must have been! The boy of fifteen, weary of his long journey by execrable roads rendered perilous by highwaymen, at last to his delight catches sight of Magdalen tower, and is convinced that he has indeed reached Oxford. is May, and all is beautiful. He comes rolling over old Magdalen Bridge (a crazy structure which fell down in 1772); looks up with awe as he enters the city by the ancient gate which spans the High Street (East Gate,' demolished in 1771), and finally alights from the 'flying machine' (as the stage-coach of those days was called) at John Kemp's, over against Queen's College,' i.e., at the Angel Tavern, where coffee was first tasted in Oxford in 1650. President Routh could never effectually disentangle himself from the memory of the days when he first made acquaintance with Oxford. Sir,' said one of the tutors in 1850, or thereabouts, Mr. Such-an-one has only just made his appearance in college' (he came out of Suffolk, and a fortnight of the October term had elapsed); I suppose you will send him down? Ah, sir,' said the old man thoughtfully, the roads in Suffolk-the roads, sir-are 6 เ very bad at this time of the year.' To return to the Oxford of May 1770, 6 (which had come to be called 'Hertford College,' and which resumed its title yesterday after its disuse for fifty years) had no street front; and where Canterbury Quad' now stands there were yet to be seen traces of the ancient college of which Wickliffe is said to have been warden, and Sir Thomas More a member. St. Peter's Vicarage still occupied the north-east angle of St. Peter's Churchyard,-where its site is commemorated by an inscription from the President's pen. It was but fifteen years since, that on St. John Baptist's day the last sermon had been preached in the open air from the stone pulpit in front of Magdalen College Chapel (and a pleasant sight it was) the Vice-Chancellor, proctors, and masters occupying seats in the quadrangle; the walls being adorned with green boughs and flowers, the ground covered with rushes and grass; and all in order to create the illusion that the preaching resembled that of John the Baptist in the wilderness. '* 6 The University life of 1770 presented even a greater contrast. The undergraduates rose early, but spent their days in idleness. Practically, the colleges were without discipline. Tutors gave no lectures. It is difficult to divine how a studiously-disposed youth was to learn anything. 'I should like to read some Greek,' said John Miller of Worcester to his tutor, some thirty years later. you want to read?' 'Some Sophocles.' 'Well, and what do Then come to-morrow morning at nine o'clock.' He went, and read a hundred lines: but could never again effect an entrance. This state of things was effectually remedied by the Examination Statute and by the publication of the class-list; but neither came into effect till the year 1801. The dinner-hour was 2; and for an hour previous, the impatient shout of Tonsor! tonsor!' was to be heard from every casement. The study, or inner room, was reserved for the powdering.' Blue coats studded with bright buttons, shorts and buckles, was the established costume. A passage from Scripture was read during dinner. At 8, all supped on broiled bones and beer. There was not to be seen till long after a carpet in a single Oxford common-room what need to add that undergraduates were without carpets? The dons' frequented some adjoining tavern or coffee-house. Mr. Wyatt's premises in. High Street (known at that time as Tom's Coffee House ') were the favourite resort of seniors and juniors alike. The undergradu *Jones' 'Life of Horne,' prefixed to his Works,' vol. i. p. 117. Pointer's 'Oxoniensis Academia, p. 66. Peshall, ad fin. p. 31. Es ates drank and smoked in the front room | pected, which the University had at that below, as well as in the large room overhead time to offer. Dr. Benjamin Wheeler, Rewhich looks down on the street. The older gius Professor of Divinity in 1776, was a men, the choice spirits of the University, fellow of the College (my learned friend, formed themselves into a club which met in Dr. Wheeler,' as Dr. Johnson calls him); a small inner apartment on the ground-floor and Dr. John Burrough was his tutor. (remembered as the House of Lords'), pecially is it to be considered that young where they also regaled themselves with Routh now lived under the eye of Dr. pipes, beer and wine. The ballot boxes of Horne, who was still engaged on his Comthe club are preserved, and the ancient mentary on the Psalms. It is impossible to Chippendale chairs (thanks to the taste of avoid suspecting that the character and the their present owner) still stand against the pursuits of this admirable person materially walls. Drunkenness was, unquestionably, tended to confirm in Martin Joseph Routh at that time the prevailing vice of Oxford. that taste for sacred learning which was Irreligion reigned; not unrebuked, indeed, destined afterwards to bear such remarkable yet not frowned down, either. It would be fruits. He listened to Horne's sermons in only too easy to produce anecdotes in illus- the College Chapel and at St. Mary's; and tration of both statements. Should it not be at the President's lodgings met every one remembered, when such discreditable details who at that time was most distinguished in are brought before our notice, that our Uni- or out of the University for learning, abilversities perforce at all times reflect the ity, or goodness. manners and spirit of the age; and that it is unreasonable to isolate the Oxford of 1770 from the England of the same period? The latter part of the eighteenth century was a coarse time everywhere; and the low standard which prevailed in Church matters outside the University is but too notorious. Only because her lofty traditions and rare opportunities set her on a pinnacle apart, does the Oxford of those days occasion astonishment and displeasure. 6 The youth (for we are speaking of a boy of sixteen) had already established the practice of returning to Beccles once a year, and spending some part of the summer vacation under his parents' roof. This annual visit went on till 1792. On such occasions it is remembered that he sometimes acted as the assistant or substitute of his father in the school-room, where his presence was always welcomed by the pupils, on account of his urbane manner and the happy ease with which he communicated information.'* 1774 (February 5th) he took his B.A. degree and it was intended that he should at once go down.' The interval before he could be ordained was to have been passed at Beccles. His father had a large family to provide for two children had been born to him since Martin had gone up to Oxford in 1770; and the expenses of an University education already pressed somewhat heavily on the domestic exchequer. In 'I hope by this time you have passed the pig-market,' writes the anxious parent (Feb. 4th, 1774), indulging in an allusion which will be intelligible at least to Oxford men. Then follow directions as to what the son was to do with his effects before his departure: Such was the state of things when young Routh became a commoner of Queens'. Jacobite sentiments he found universally prevalent, and he espoused them the more readily because they fell in with the traditions of his family. He was remarkable even as a boy. I like that little fellow in blue stockings,' said the second Earl Temple (afterwards Marquis of Buckingham), with whom Routh used to argue, when he met him in a friend's rooms. (I suppose,' remarked the President, at the end of eighty years, they weren't. very tasty.') But the topic of the hour was the Act of Parliament which had been just obtained for the improvement of the city,-an Act which in a few years effectually transformed ancient into modern Oxford. Meanwhile Dr. George Horne and Dr. Thomas Randolph were pointed out as the most conspicuous divines in the University; Dr. Kennicott as the most famous Hebraist; 'Tom Warton as the most brilliant wit. In the very next year young Routh migrated from Queens' to Magdalen. The record survives in his own writing: 1771, July 24th. I was elected a Demy of Magdalen, on the nomination of the President, Dr. Horne.' And now he came under im- *The Fauconberge Memorial' (privately proved influences-the best, it may be sus-printed), 1849, p. 37. 'This I mention' (proceeds the writer), ' on the supposition of your not having a very near prospect of returning to college, which must be the case unless somewhat approaching to a maintenance could be contrived for you there; since, as you must be aware, your education hitherto has been full as much as my circumstances will allow of. The particulars now occurring for the refreshment of your memory are all your clothes, linen, sheets, and table linen, spoons, and such books as you think may be useful, if Wormall should become your pupil, in the use of the globes and a smattering of astronomy. .. Whether you will have heard the bad news from London, I cannot tell; but, by a letter from Kelsale on Wednesday, we are informed of the death of Mrs. Heber, who was brought to bed of a son, heir to an entailed estate of 1500l. per annum, on old Christmas Day.' His election to a fellowship at Magdalen (July 25th, 1775) determined Routh's subsequent career. He undertook two pupils -one of whom (Edward South Thurlow) was a nephew of the Lord Chancellor and of the Bishop; Granville Penn was the other. And now Routh gave himself up to study. He proceeded M.A. in 1776; was appointed College Librarian in 1781; and, in 1784 and 1785, Junior Dean of Arts, enjoying the satisfaction in the latter year of seeing his brother (Samuel) admitted Demy. He had already been elected Proctor,* in which capacity he was present at an entertainment given to George III., who, with Queen Charlotte, visited the University about this time. The first symptoms of the King's subsequent malady had not yet appeared but Routh, in describing the scene, while he did full justice to the intelligence and activity which marked the King's face and conversation (he sat opposite to him), dwelt on the restlessness of his eye and manner, which was afterwards but too easily explained. It was the belief of Mrs. Routh, on being interrogated in her widowhood on the sub. ject, that when her dear man' first went to Oxford, he interchanged letters with his father weekly. The impression may have resulted from the very active correspondence which certainly went on, as long as life lasted, between Peter Routh at Beccles and his son at Magdalen. A mere scantling of the father's letters survive; but they betoken a good and thoughtful person: grave, yet always cheerful; affectionate, and with an occasional dash of quiet humour. Between the two there evidently prevailed entire unity of sentiment. Peter Routh keeps Martin' informed of what is passing in his neighbourhood; tells him the rumours which from time to time reach remote Suffolk; and relieves his parental anxiety by communicating the concerns of their own immediate circle. The son, in return, chronicles his pursuits and occupations, which are, in fact, his studies; and until long after he is thirty years of age 1784, April. I was elected Senior Proctor of the University in my twenty-ninth year. MS. note. throughout his father's life, in short-submits his compositions as deferentially to his judgment as when he was a boy of fifteen. I do not recollect' (he wrote in 1791, with reference to his dedication of the 'Reliquiæ' to the Bishops of the Scottish Church) that I was indebted for any alteration of the original dedication I sent my father, except in two instances. I adopted the words non nisi precarium, and the fine sentence, et ipsi emineatis in principibus Juda.' It is with reference to the speech which, in pursuance of ancient custom, Martin had to deliver at the expiration of his Proctorship, that his father sends him the following shrewd remarks (April 3d, 1786) on writing a speech for delivery : In regard to the part of your speech transcribed in your last, I have to remark that upon revising it you must pay a particular attention to your own manner of speaking, and how the periods run off your own tongue; and that probably where you find an obstruction it will arise from the feet not being sufficiently varied, or the same endings or cases following close upon each other. A little change, I think, would improve a clause which struck me for the last reason, viz. "Si animos ex desidi improbaque muneris mei executione graviori ictu," &c. sative, and think of a better word than exeAlter this, if you please, to per and the accucutio. Again, change some words which occur too often in so short a composition, as Orator, Oratio, and munus. After cum, which you begin with, the subjunctive should follow, according to classical usage, even where the sense is positive and without contingency. Not but I believe there are instances to the contrary.' At the end of a fortnight, the father enters into minuter criticism, and discovers excellent scholarship. But the correspondence is not by any means always of this severe type. Father and son wrote about books, because learning was with both a passion; and about divinity, because it was evidently uppermost in the heart of either. As a rule, however, these letters have a purely home flavour; and sometimes, when Martin lets out incidentally what a very studious life he is leading, he draws down on himself affectionate rebuke. It may be grown trite by repetition, and I shall not render it more irksome by prolixity :-Air and exercise, and, above all, the cold bath is what you must pluck up resolution to make use of.' The hint was not thrown away. A showerbath continued to be a part of the President's bed-room furniture till the day of his death. 'I am glad you find more entertainment in Tertullian than I am afraid I could do myself. All I know of him is from quotations, very frequently met with, which have seldom failed |