SPECIAL ARTICLE. OXFORD MEMORIES

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 19854, 15 February 1930, Page 13

SPECIAL ARTICLE. OXFORD MEMORIES

I ™ PB,BB ■ ,

I ' [Vs G. M. LESIER J

111. , I leave the older Dons there V** . wh om I remember only "•'•Si 0» My fine day iu tho if # S^ termßyou might r AM fc° at p ulling up jniddle-aged men of ** tvpe, taking their exercise earnestness. These were & f ,nt Mariners," elderly Dons P strove to preserve their vigour by Strenuous KZ the river. The only one of I k»ve » definite memory-picture Provost of Queen's, rrarthy, thick-set man with Ew bead. and eminently fitted to over the barbaric annual feast ISfkentred round the Boar's Head of «***,. 1- T remember him, I see him f£L in s snbfusc flannel shirt. In "However, my memory may wrong gny rate he was just the sort jfiuenlar Christian who might be to take his pastime in grey over the way from Queen's was » Edmund's Hall, presided over by £ Moore, w g reat a eontrast to the SJt Maegrath as could be imagined. TZt something of his happy home i!L as he married a daughter of 7L>'r*} Mackenzie, my godfather. He STtJw quietest of men, almost deSiM the epithet gentle. A great w# jeholar, he seemed to me a git* of the Eenaissance, transSSSI into modern life; and his home me of that in which Sir fEs»rMore lived with his daughter, VifMjgt Eoper. the rare quality of humility, -Utfc I do not meet with often in these jwg, hit whieh distinguished many of Si «Mer of m y y outh - Bishop teateott had it in an eminent degree. STyeaw after I left Oxford I itoMfl /or A few days in the curious Sjiiiff palace of the Prince Bishops it Klhop' B Auckland, which the modern pfttr of Durham are still compelled iTiDMbit. I had just returned from and the Bishop, who was toady interested in social questions, MnJrt4 of me an account of the great pja v hich had for a time threatened tt»wwperity of the colony. I remem- I hrwl} how the attitude of the humble 1 amtar, 10 evidently genuine, left me j Uipo-tied, until a mild episcopal ffttjiiiiß restored me to confidence irf loquacity. . I remember, too, how Ihh aneonventional remark of mine at M«lfeop»l dinner-table caused one of fe ftotmeii to disgrace himself by Uh vent to a stifled but quite Hlfjtyn guffaw. But that is another jtey, I must get back to my oddities. Dots were two distinguished men in arthM whose oddness was emphasised tr ttdt dogs. Canon Bright, of Christ ShA. m eminent authority on EccleHistory, and, I think, on CanMi Uv, W| *hen seen alone, a longfay* untidy, absent minded Don. In £jt, »t Otffltd, there was .nothing reMita&le, Wfc#®! however, he walked •bittft, he WW always accompanied by lii dog. How thi? dog was a mastiff, and % uuu(t&taper ie a noble dog, and , eminently flnfKMwd. But the Can- , L oil's mastiff *U » thin, elderly mother o( man? autifß, moreover af•Met*4 wift frnff- fk e collocation of ties* tWQ;*Sg)Uett .spine and divine, vu imiii(ib{y eo«ic. It WW rptlfir % fashion in those daji if wtt pits' of gigafatic dogs. j Ote of tb« Balliol Dons, a man of sallow ( gis, 4rwjsfcig moustache, and sad as- j pwt, wiriftd pleasant ways of Oxford OWMMiy with two bloodhounds, f&eif pemfoait esrs, blood-shot eyes, and ttrwir eifiiiwsi gave them an indeKriblhk air of oejaneholy, in perfect kmblf wijh tin sphdued sadness of ttotr nuter. On the other hand there *«»#k«irfuldogß in plenty. The delightIs! so dear to the heart «f 9b JUwier, looked cheerful enough is they proudly paced beside the perulnlstar whieh enshrined the sons *»4 keir» of the ypnnger Dons. SfMMr of N.9W College was another •f ft# Beniw Dons, who offered points t» ttfl esricatnrUt In every way his fMMinet would have been ordinary, sot fsts decked that he should 5?? 411 slhino. But it was not as H «Wao fiwt ho earned notoriety, but g tjk eoiner, if not the originator, of jWtfWM. wa» 1 learned, indus- . %b|4-liesrted- pedagogue, with, I <■ ww, so wnbitjon for the linwlight; fw.WI fate whieh ordained that his "•JM should not be at all times the J*wy servant of his brain, imposed on ■ •■•tWiety unequalled by that of •9 Oxford man of his time. I believe •' Woe a f*«t that he once asked r® ®*o of his College to sing the J^ u^ t 'Kinkering Congs'their titles rf*®» out I very mueh doubt whether JMater proportion of the Spooner- ?? round the world, can M»k il* autlloT ' It is almost .PJW W a Spoonerism than to » WSjrJ® PajTatt, afterwards Sir V ®t. George's, Windsor, but £2*9" organist of Magdalen ColP bis appearance, or, rather, EJ? the elements of eccenPjW. Hirer was a fine skpll crowned thatch. He bad all the anvposed to eo with genius, a' legend in mv time that oecfi'.on in the mag.Sl?* cSBWon Room he crowned him•'wing cup, full and inmf'V&i?* * manifest detriment of .owning. He was a most remarkSJL'SSj His training of the Magiar^his superb organ play"*iriln!r ? College chapel a place »or all music-loving bouls. - eyery way he fostered in lei i 3L B ?l* , „ a taste for K°°d music, SSL/?* 1 . W.Mly beneficence rescued 2WSW«»t»I musicians from the World to which otherwise they condemned }~>y lsir Mnsicians of the greater •j re ® to .,llxe Piatti and Ludwig, ♦i—•_ _ tno great Joachim, gave iiu. the delightful even- ' Musical Club, which are °L®T memories. aiafcM. Club met, I think fort•delightful old panelled WE-EJto fifrt.floor of a shop in to enjoy chamber music. Small ind select body, and 1 very lucky to be elecHiMaSJ privileges. The fortunate wS? at many small tables lit and enjoyed the de*Sd. »2l- coffee and tobacco, Sa. w Wj listening to first-class PMe a fugitive contact with *hom the world counted Stainer, another musical ling.never met in my Oxford Attn him well in after °^? n ® D i°yed his kindly If Parratt had gepius, *3u2r 11 , an «*ceedingly well eultijJTrtf' , Bn d he did much for ' «3a»i A perhaps even in wtit? ? e ya® a hearty man, fond Bimmi things of this life, and m . sharing them with others. 0 ®. a P a charming person■ll J considerable musical ' gifts, * e x, We ":V nown specialist in I S»S? t an d was my teacher WT RWTleiing subject when, rather : St TkJ— e N Sphered as a student at B«K2! B r"iL HofPital. | n,.? * turn to the younger Dons !■«*«?» us who was oertainly

young but was not exactly a Don, the Rev. Angel-Smith, Precentor of Magdalene. He was a most beautiful young man. His features, his complexion, his hair, his moustache were perfection, according to the standards of the time. He. dressed with the discrete smartness of an eighteenth century abbe. In addition to a lovely tenor voice, he possessed all the airs and graces which are appropriate to one who moves in ladies' boudoirs, and, to cap all, his name was Angel-Smith. I used to meet him at the Musical Society, and never ceased to wonder at the completeness of his type. Of the younger Dons I do not know that lam qualified to speak. They had the whole University to pick -from in choosing the youths who were worth cultivating, and I am afraid that I very easily escaped the meshes pf their net. Their ambition was to establish a liaison between the literary and dramatic worlds of London and academic Oxford, and in carrying it out they conferred great benefits on the University. W. L. Courtney was perhaps the most typical as well as the most _ distinguished of the younger generation. He was a tall, handsome man of the heavy4ragpon type, affable in manner, quite sufficiently conscious of his undoubted merits. He knew many celebrities of the great world, and with his charming first wife was always glad to welcome them to the delightful Oxford world in which he lived. Bright undergraduates who shared his literary and dramatic enthusiasm owed much to the fact that at his house they made the acquaintance of people who in their way were making history. Later on Courtney deserted Oxford for London, where he became Editor of the "Contemporary. Courtney was so typical of the best typo of modern Don that I am tempted to leave him in splendid isolation. The interesting and amusing letters of the late Sir Walter Raleigh afford ample evidence that the work of men like Courtney, in joining the intellectual world of Oxford with that of London, has been carried to lengths undreamed of fifty years ago. It has already, I believe, beeome a question whether Oxford life has not lost something of both its charm and its value through the invasion of its elaustral calm by metropolitan and even cosmopolitan migrants. , _ Of all the Dons of whom I had knowledge, direct or indirect, Creighton o£ Merton College was, I think, the most helpful to undergraduates, and the most capable of inspiring them with high Weals. He had left Oxford before my time; but I knew him later, when as Bishop of London he had submerged Ms delightful gifts under what ha called the flow and fidget of a modern Bishop's life.