J.W. MACKAIL

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24814, 2 March 1946, Page 5

J.W. MACKAIL

n—* h d .® ath of Dr - J W. Mackall, last m ? e .' sna PP«d one of the remaining T en the P res ent and the perrenascen^l nlnet<!cnth century English renascence—a movement which far ? e V 52?‘ ea %. ‘hh bounds of art and le“ r s~ ln w hich William Morris was the thlnrif M^rr- a, i. kail himsel£ had somereaching h/ah breadth and vers atllity. lich lolL. as hl J h an eminence in EngscholaT?hin a £ d . cri . ticiam “in classic!) Urburv a ,f ew graduat « of Cano h f’ S fSJi°ffi e -ffli‘te? f Gu M «.- “ Bute^in" MackS “1 vereit^ r a n A d Ca^ e to J d lidb 1 idb ?*- with the Wamer n E xh ibition tO aVoxthed Craven’” frl ho rf nours fell to him: i r ,Y en * Ireland, and Hertford 1 aai°l arS Ji llps ' tbe Prize in nmo a ? d a J ® alli ° 1 Fellowship A volume of undergraduate verse “Love in MackaH’ th ® J oint Product of At ,1 d °J hls Oxford friends At 25 he abandoned Oxford for n Board'" n r h vd Dep , artment ' - later the Education. He served the fun Civil Service term of 35 years ? busy 'iterary life with his Official work in Whitehall. In 1906 he nsfoS? POIP > te ? professor of Poetry at The course of Mackall's personal life was decisively changed in 1888 by his marriage to Margaret Burne-Jones, only daughter of the painter and rousm.of Rudyard Kipling and Stanley Baldwin Thenceforward he belonged to the Morris-Burne-Jones circle and

on the death of William Morris in 1894 he undertook the writing of his life. Not a few among the poet-craftsman's Socialist colleagues thought the choice of Mackail was a mistake. .Their opinion was that the real man would not emerge from under the language of an academic author. The book, however, completely belied all such fears. The “Life" of William Morris is as sound an example of English biography as the eighteen-nineties produced. Mackail was a founder member of the Classical Association and president in 1922, and he was equally devoted to the English Association. He was an untiring champion of classical education. and when in 1923 a tour in Australia afforded him an exceptional opportunity he delivered a lecture on the value of Latin literature which in substance and style could not have been surpassed. His prose translations of Virgil and the Greek Anthology are of supreme excellence. His short survey of Latin literature written 50 years ago has lost nothing of its value. His Oxford professorship yielded three volumes of delightful lectures. He received many honorary degrees, and in 1924 the Royal Academy appointed him Professor of Ancient Literature. The w’hole classical world applauded when the Order of Merit was bestowed upon him in 1935. Rflackail was a veteran of distinguished presence and manner. On the platform he was natural and most persuasive. In any company he stood out as an ideal snokesman of his race and its, traditional culture. He was the father of Denis Mackail and Mrs Angela Thirkell.