A DISTINGUISHED SCHOLAR.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 183, 28 April 1908, Page 4

A DISTINGUISHED SCHOLAR.

By the doa,tli of Dr. Gets-go Pope, Teacher of Tamil and Telugu in tlae' -University, ;oxford'haslost the oldest; moinber.of ■ its.teaching body, and one of; its 'most genuine and self-forgetful scholars. Bo?jn in 1820 of Wcsloyan parents, he. went <>ut/ to' liidia-. at. eighteen as .a probationer, tor the Wesleyan ministry/, After, a. short period' of Work- ;jn Madras,, however,: lie. sought ordination .in tho Church ,of . England, fiud'i worked from ,1841. till 1849 as a;missioiui-y in TOinev'elly, 1-lore, and ©specially-in tiie Sawyerpuram Missionary Institution.. of) vrJiicli ho was the founder, he did what;lie hiiisself.regarded.as his best and most lasting, work.: Moro .thaii. fifty of his pupils, becamo ljative clergymen, and the,'-" Pope',-Memorial, Hall, and Library ,at Sawyerpuram was erected im gratitude ; itor his training and, iriflueiice.' . -After.,forty, years in India Dr.' Pope, (ho .was, £;i veil the Lambeth ~ Degree in 18G4,- F:.; IXMaurica' and Bishop , AVilberforce : sighing ■,thc. : testamurV came, in',lßßs, to- Oxford, .where' .hp. spent: twenty r two'happy. pears as'T<i\che'r; of Tamil; and, Telugu, aria, Chaplain of Balliol. - His connection with B.alliol, rriaintELiiijed :t-ill wit-h----in a f-ety : !yearsof. his .death,: iras a great happiness: to' him; while as a teacher■ he died, ' as. lie lmd . always./wirjh'ed',.to do, in harness,taking his, last!pupal' Only , a .week' before his "death.' ','..'As :-i Write nr.. on the,' language,: literature; arid thought Dr. Pope . stands alone.' '. His first -Tamil Ybpok .was published : in'-1842, and in 1906,,% proposed -to tlie Clarendon .'Press the .publication of the work which wis-to be. his-last/ and greatest!,. He leaves behind him <1 ' very'; largo ; amount of' published work'. ; For its. excellence ' the, Asiatic, Society's gold-medal is; sufficient-testir mony,' and it .was a great sorrow to, him/that he''could not live'.to see , tho. publication of '.tho great. .Tamil, ivliicli 1 he hail ■amassed' such.stores of-material., Those.- who liiiew Dr.; Pope in; Oxford knew that an hour ■with'-hini' was a privilege wortli haying.! ;Ho knew,-, niany, languages was as.familiar with Danto' alid Petrarch as with his own-Tamil, and. olio would' find him in; his;. Spare 'moments always enjoying ■ thing- worthy, of . 'a ;greatscholars!leisure:; 1 With poetry—especially that of Browning, of yhom,.he :•was '.a/personal .friemlf-^ahd.-•'.with philosophy !.(especially .that of-Hegel),,lie!,was perfectly; happy. and at, hOme. He loved the .best-, things and loved 'to talk .-.of! them/;' ■ho ' had tile. chahn /,,of old ; age. to-' perfection," and not that/of bld;agb !bnly;. but, also that of a deep' and contemplative! mind,-:a tender lieart, and a: rare sweetness and humour.-,;. 'Above! all : he .was; and! one felt him to'be;; a worshipper at the tinner ;shririo ;;he. was a, mystic, of the school of Stt't Johiy/and all .his; work and/ interests _ were : held'/together! by i a /pro}-found-conviction:- that , there is! a;, Catholicism' | of the spirit in which East and West are one. —'( Tho Guardian "