St Edmund Hall Magazine 1921-1922

Page 1

· oxFORD:

THE HOLYWELL PRESS, ALFRED STREET


ll Editors. 1921-22:

Editor, H. LIVESEY. Asst.-Editor, T . N. LLOYD.

1922- 2 3:

Editor, T . N. Asst.-Editor,

LLOYD.

J.

L. HrLL.

The block used for the small print of the Hall appearing on the cover is kindly lent by Mr. E. H. New, of 17 'Vorcester Place, Oxford, from whom the full-plate engraving may be obtained.


THE

JUXIOR

COI\IM0 :-.1

ROOM.


ST. EDMUND HALL MAGAZINE. Vol. I, No.3¡

DECEMBER,

1922.

DE PERSONIS ET REBUS AULARIBUS; DE MuNERIBUs.

I

T: was predicted in the last issue of the Magazine that the gift

of a pectoral cross to the Bishop of Carlisle from members of the Hall was to be followed bry that of an episcopal ring. At an informal gathering in the J.C.R. on the evening of Saturday, February 4th, the .presentation of a ring was made . . MJr. F .. E. Howard, who designed the pectoral cross, also designed . t.h e ring. It is thick, simple in treatment, bearing a round ,s apphire. . In these features it resembles a ring which once belonged to St. Edmund, and was later given to . the Abbey . of St. Alban. This ring is . now only known by the drawing and description which a manuscript of Matthew Paris contains. It is described by this chronicler, a great lover of fine craftsmanship, as bearing 'saiphirum jere rotundurri et coloris remissi.' There has been sent to Mrs. Williams animis ha.ud ingratis a volume of David Loggan's engravings of the University, Colleges and Halls, entitled ' Oxonia Illustrata,' in its original leather bind.ing. _Mrs. Williams has asked us to tell the donors of this present how .much she is touched by their kind thought of her . . 'It is a great possession,' she writes, ' and I am proud to have acquired it in such a way.'

OF BOOKS.

On the evening of Friday, February 17th, a meeting was held in the Dining Hall, when the Rev. P. E. T. Widdrington, on behalf of the Harold Buxton Trustees, presented ¡ to the Hall a collection of seventy books upon social and industrial questions. He explained that t~is Trust, of which he is one of the Trustees, was formed by Mr. Harold J. Buxton, who had -handed over his fortune with the object of fostering the study of social principles


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ST. EDMUND HALL MAGAZINE.

and institutions in the light of Christian idealS!. The gift to the library of the Hall was part of a scheme which the Trustees had started for the encouragement of such studies in colleges where a large number of the students were intending to become clergymen or schoolmasters. In a vigorous spee1ch Mr. \iViddrington urged that if a Christian solution of the problems which confront society was to be obtained, it was essential that those teachers of each ·generation who were members of the Church should know and understand what was being written on social subjects' by the leaders of different schoo·l s of thought. It is particularly gratifying that a former member of the Hall should be associated in ili.is important presentation to the new Library. We are interested to see that Mr. Widdrington is one of ' a group of Churchmen ' who have contributed to a volume, entitled T'he Ret'urn of Christendom! which has recently been published by Messrs. George Allen and Unwin. His essay is named 'The Return of the Kingdom of God.' There are nine essays in the book, a n introduction by Bisho~p Go·re, and an epilogue by Mlr. G. K. Chesterton. Bishop Gore claims for the essays that they are ' forcible and appealing.' Those who have met Mr. Widdrington during his visits to the Hall in recent years will be ready to concur with this opinion so far as he is concerned, and we recommend them to renew their acquaintance by reading his essay.

DE ALUMNIS.

Interesting additions have been made to the collection of engraved portraits and photographs of distinguished alumni in the dining-hall. Mr. E. Armstrong, Fellow of Queen's and formerly Pro~Provost, has presented a framed lithograph portrait of Canon Liddon (Vice-Principal, r859-7o); Mrs. Robert Morrell a framed photographic portrait of her brother, Dr. A. T. Lloyd, formerly Bish op of Newcastle-on-Tyne (m atriculated January 24th, r863); Mr. P. B. Scholes a framed photographic portrait of Sir John Stainer, D.Mus., Hon. D.C.L. (who was at the Hall r86r--64); Mr. C. B. Benson, of Yeorvil, a photographic enlargement from a miniature of his ancestor, Joseph Benson (matriculated March rsth, I769), President of the We!sleyan Conference I7g8~r8ro. The Bishop of Newcastle~n-J'yne (Vice-Principal r894---;1902) has fulfilled a promise extracted from him on the occasion of his visit on St. Edmund's Day last year, and presented a photograph of himself from which an enlargement has been made.


ST. EDMUND HALL MAGAZINE. The Vice-Principal has added ten more portraits of alumni to those which he has already collected:-Henry Airay, D.D. (matriculated March 29th, rsSo), Provost of Queen's; Henry Robinson, D.D. (Principal rs76--8r), Bishop of Carlisle-both these portraits are copies of the memorial brasses in the chapel of the Queen's College, painted in Indian ink by G. P. Harding, the portr¡a it painter, in r8or-Dr. Henry Caesar (D.D. from the Hall, 1595), Dean of Ely; Ludovico Petrucci (commoner of the Hall about r6J4), poet and soldier of fortune; John Newton (matriculated October 27th, r637), mathematician; John .Match, B.D. (Tutor and subsequently Vice-Principal, r664-r672), Vicar of Newcastle-upon-Tyne; John Kettlewell, M.A. (matriculated November IIth, r67o), Nonjuring divine; Sir Thomas Littleton, Bt. (matriculated April 2 rst, r66s), Speaker of the House of Commons and Treasurer of the Navy; Francis Cherry (matriculated April 6th, r682), a Nonjuror, 'the Idol of Berkshire'; Erasmus Middleton (matriculated June 4th, 1767), one of the six students expelled in r 768.

OF THE OLD LIBRARY.

Terminal CoHections1 are now heTd in the O]d Library ; and we believe that this setting well b'e comes these occasions. Some additions have been made to the collec+.ioa of books and papers relating to the Hall and former members of it. From the Rev. P. E. T. Widdrington: 'Priesthood Defended: A Sermon Occasioned by the Expulsion of Six Young Gentlemen from the University of Oxford for Praying, Reading and Expounding the Scriptures,' by the Shaver, John Macgowan. Stereotype Edition, London, rSrs. The last dated edition of this sermon noted in Canon Ollard's monograph is r8r3. From J. L. Hill: 'Reliquiae Hea.rniana.e': or the Remains of Thomas Hearne, M.A., of Edmund Hall, being extracts from his MSS . diaries, collected with a few notes, by Philip Bliss, Principal of St. M ary HaJll. 3 vols., 2nd! edition, enlarged. London, r869. From the Bishop of Carlisie: 'The Queen's College,' by Dr. J. R. Magmth. 2 vols. Oxford, 1921. From Mr. E. F. Salmon: A volume containing (r) The New Oxford Guide or, Companion through the University, &c, by a Gentleman of Oxford. sth edition, corrected and enlarged. Oxford, 1768. (2) A Pocket Companion for Oxford, &c. A new edition with additions. Oxford, 1756. (3) A Companion to the 1


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ST. EDMUND HALL MAGAZINE.

Guide, and a Guide to the Companion: being a complete supplement to all the accounts of Oxford hitherto published. London, no date. 'A Ser'mon preached at Greenwich before the Queenes Majes:tie, by the Reverende Father in God the Byshop of Chichester, the 14 day of March, I573· Imprinted[ at London, rs86.' Black Letter. Incomplete copy. Formerly in the possession of Dr. White Kennett (r66o-r728), a former Vice-Principal and afterwards Bishop of Peterborough, whose autograph, Wh. Kennett, it bears on the title page. A MS. in which, he has co]lected the passages in Wood';s 'Athena;e Oxonienses,' relating to former members of the Hall. From the Vice-Principal : ' Impartial Memorials of the Life and Writings of Thomas Hearne, Mi.A.,' by Several Hands:. London, 1736. 'The Guardian's Instruction or the Gentleman's. Romance.' Written for the Diversion and Service of the Gentry. London, r688. The author of this •s carce volume was Stephen Penton, B.D. (Principal r672-84). 'The: Works of Mr. John Oldham:, together with his Remains.' London, r684. The fir:stt coUected edition. OF THE ErcHTS WEEK CoNcERT.

A Concert was held in the Quadrangle on the e:venin:g of Saturday, May 27th. The large audience seemed to reflect the success of the fin'>t venture of the year before. The Quadran:g]'e at dusk on one of the best of May evenings formed a delightful setting for the programme which F. }. Buckle, as: the conductor, had prepared. The Concert opened with a Pianoforte Duet, by F. J. Buckl'e and C. Salmons (vVadham), who piayed the first movement of Moe:art's .Symphony in G minor. They gave the Minuet of the same Symphony after the interval. F. J. Buckle also played, in the second part, Schumann's Romance in F major. The songs: that were •s ung were well' known to the audience and well liked. P . Haines: (Queen's) sang Sidney Homer's 'Requiem' and 'King Henry's Song' (Sullivan), the latter being loudly en.c:o!fed ; T. J. C. Ford (Pembmke) sang ' Passing By ' (Purcell) and ' 0 Mistres:s Mine' (Quilter) ; R. E. Priestly :s ang 'Charming Chloe!' (Edward German) and 'W'h y does azure deck the sky? ' (Parry) with great spidt, and his encore, 'Roving in the Dew,' was we!] applauded. F. J. Buckle's pleasantly intellectual interpr'etation of the old' Englis:h ba.lla:d, ' Spring,' was


ST. EDMUND HALL MAGAZINE. happiLy rendered by G .. N. T .. Widdrington, R. E:. Priestly and C. A. Pla.xton in the form of a trio. The Madrigal Society sang ' How merrily we live ' (Michael Este) and ' It's oh ! to be a wild \V'ind ' (Elgar) in the first part and ' Summer is icumen in ' and 'Why do the ros:es' (R. de: Pearsall), and ]ater 'When Allana-dale went a-hunting ' in the second part. Great credit is due to them for their performance of the last madrigal, a most difficult one, almost from memory owing to the darkness. An instrumental trio had been arranged but felL through; almost at a moment's notice H. Turpin filled the gap and played two attractive violin solos!. Thet:e was an interval of fifteen minutes in. the middle of the progr'amme, when coffee and ices were handed round. The success of the concert was large]y due to the ener·gy and enthus,ias:m of F. J. Buckle, who not only took part in every item either as accompanist or as conductor, but also arranged everything extr'emely well for the comfort of the guests:.

OF

ExHIBITIONERS.

An examination beginning on Tuesday, July 4th, was: held for the purpose of filling up three exhibitions of the annual value of £4o. As a result of this examination the following elections were made :A. R. Clark, City of London School (Modem History). J. G. Coghl1in, Heath Grammar School, Halifax (Classics). G. A. Johnson, Christ',s: Hospital (Modem Languages).· At the same date an examination was held for the election of a Mus:ic Exhibitione1·, to act as organist in: the ChapeL The Exhibition is of the annual value of £4o. E. P. Brice, Huntingdon C9unty School, was dected. E. G. Price was elected to a vacant Exhibition. F., G. Marcham Has been made an honorary Exhibitione1·. At the beginning of the: Michaelmas: 'rem1, Exhibitioners made their first appearance in scholar's gowns. The Exhibition: Examination ferr 1923 will begin on Thur·s day, June z8th, at 9· 30 a.m. OF THE ScHooLs.

The congratulations of the Hall am due to all those who passed the Schools: thlis yeat', especiaH'y to H. C. Sheatwan, who obtained one of the best firsts in his: School. J


ST. EDMUND HALL MA;GAZINE. 1\{ICHAELMAS TERM, 192!. Qni n:ullum Honorem ambiunt; D: H. C. Ingle, G. H. Sharpe. HILARY TERM, 1922. In Literis Graecis ei La,tinis, Class III : E. C. Lamb. Qui nullum honorem ambiunt; B2: G. Xavier. TRINITY 'f'ERM, 1922, In Scientia, NaturaU (Phys'.), C1as:s IV: J. Johnson. Shortened Honour's Cour'se (Chern.) ; C. E , Baldwin. -r, In Historia Moderna, Class I: H. C. Shearman. Class II: J. J. G. Walkinton. Class III : H. \V. Butterworth, J. F. A. Porter, G. N. T. Widdrington. In Sncra Theologia, Class II : E. L. Millen. Shortened Honours Cour'se : H. H. Vickers . In Literis .4nglicis, Class II: S. N. Godfrey: Class III: E. S. William s. Shortened Honours Course: T. D. Baxter,* R. J. Bluett, T. B. Cooper, R. , F. Hill, G. H. Tubbs. In Literis Modernis (Fr.), Class II: H. G. Lickes. Qui nu,llum honorem ambiuni; B1: H. C. Ingle. D: J. L. Jenkins. Diploma in Theology: T. G. M'oha,n ,* P'. C. Reddick,')(· F. McGowan, F. A. Smalley, R. B. White. Diploma in Anthropology: H. Livesey. ·*With Distinction.

DE PIETATE. H. L. Hustwayte revived an excellent old custom which used to be observed in the Hall in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, by pr'esenting a piece1of silver on becoming a graduate. He gave a large fod<:: of handsome rococo design, made in 18zo~r. A notable presentation, of silver was made to the Hall at the first J.C.R. Meeting of Michaelmas Term by member<s of the J. C. R. It consisted of six pieces in all, salt cella1·s, pepper and mustard pots, and repr'es:ents: the profit made from the tickets: sold for the Eights Vir eek Concert. The pieces are pleasing copies of George I silver and each one bears the ,inscription : ' Aulae Sti Edmundi d.d. Commensales, 1922.' They are now us:ed at the .second table in the Dining Hall. The thanks of the Hall are due for other presents! made by certain Aulares. The Rev. A. Sargent has given two glas:s


ST. EDMUND HALL MAGAZINE.

7

flower vase1s for use at the higlii table; H. B. Barrett a fram,ed engraving of the Hall and its benefactors, fmm Skelton's Oxoni~ Antiqua. Restaurata.; H. H. Vickers elevent volumes and E. T. H. • Godwin, four volumes on; theotogical ,s ubjects; J. L. Hill a copy of ' Reliquiae Hearnianae•/ by Dr. BliSis, in three volumes.

DE SCUTAGIO.

Some shields for the adornment of the Dining Hall have been designed by Mr. Harold S. Rogers. The arms of the Hall now figure on the wainscot behind the Principal's chair. At the other end of the hall the upper of the two panels above the buttery door bears a group of four ;s hields, arranged ,s ide by •s ide, showing from left to right the arms of the University, the proper a.rms1 of St. Edmund, the arms of the Abb ey of Os:enery and thO<s:e of the Que1en' s College, patrons of the Hall, one before and one after the Reformation. On the panel below: there runs the inscription ;

Si Edmundi dulcis anwr Te percellat, procul clamor Esto ac maes titia.. These verses are taken ft'om a hymn. composed by Cardinal \Viseman in honour of St. Edmund in r86o.

OF EARLY RISING.

The landladies of thos'e of us who have them are now required to make a note in their official diaries of the breakfast hour, whenever their lodger·s (thmugh some solar ~·r mental eclipse) postpone that meal Jate1: thart 8.30 a.m .. There is undoubtedly a m~r'C)' ill! this domestic roll-call.

OF

ANOTHER PLOT.

On · October r6th, the H all acquired from Magdalen College ' all tha t piece or parcel of land , containing 133 square yards or thereabouts, situate in the rear and forming part of the garden of the premises known as 48 High Street, in the City of Oxford . . . ' or, in other words, the upper portion of the: garden tha t lies between the cottage (once known as the Vice-Principal's Lodgings) and the Masonic Buildings. For the present, we understand, it will remain ' an eligible ~ite.' One day a discerning, deep-pursed benefactor may ·come to hear about it. Meanwhile, J


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ST. EDMUND HALL MAGAZINE.

this acquisition furnishes: a new chapter-heading in the history of the Hall buildings, if not as' yet a completed chapter. OF

A NEW APPOINTMENT.

The Principal has appointed the Rev. Ronald F. W. "Fletcher, B.A., to be Tutor and Chaplain of the Hall. Mr'. Fletcher was formerly Scholar of Lincoln College. He obtained a Second Class in the Hon. School of Mod. History in 1912, and a First Class in that of English Language and Literature in 1913. He wa& a Lecturer in History at St. David's College, Lampeter, 1914-15, Chaplain of Weymouth College 1915-16, Assistant-Master at Rugby School 1917-19. He is at present Vice-Principal of St. John's College, York. We shall look forward to wekoming him to the Hall when he comes into residence at the beginning of Trinity Term. OF

THE SMOKING CONCERT.

The Smoking Concert on December 7th was undoubtedly a success. Not only had all the talent of the Hall been c:ollected, but substantial outside assistance had been obtained in the evervarying shape of R. S. Smith, of Merton. As a general rule the performances were successful in inverse ratio to their seriousness. It must be confessed that two of the violin solos and at least three of the songs were very serious. An exception to the general rule must be made for the rendering of ' Oh, who will o'er the Downs,' which the Hall Madrigal Society sang delightfully, though rather conventionally. Smith, who was far the least serious of all the performers, was instantaneously successful with a song about his ancestors and William the Conqueror. Though it was difficult to understand why he should have been dressed up a,s a cross between a walrus and an admiral, he looked so distinguished that one could believe everything he liked to say of his family tree. At the conclusion of his first song ¡his reception wa~ frenzied, and it increased steadily throughout the evening. C. A. Plaxton sang vet"y pleasan:tiy a very pl~asant song, entitled 'The.. Abbot of Guise,' and A. A. Gordort aroused great enthusiasm in two French songs for female voices. He was dressed in an obviously Parisian mode of doubtful beauty, but indubitable antiquity. To make the illusion of his sex the more complete, the programme misprinted the title of his song 'Non Hom me.' He has a delightfully hermaphroditic voice and the change from an angular soprano to his good round bass note's never failed to draw


ST. EDMUND HALL MAGAZINE. the applause it merited. Follo"ving· him R. E. Priestly sang excellently a rather monotonous and sentootious version of ' Inv£ctus ' ; F. J. Williams a . sentimental and martial piece called ' My Old Shako.' It is the average general's two-volume memoir in a · four-verse song, and as such it is not successful. Things were becoming rather serious when Smith enlivened them immensely with an exhortation to his audience : Then never mind If things look glum, You're sure to find There's worse to come. A second violin solo by H. Turpin came next. He was encored and played the charming ' Gavotte in A ' from Mignon. R. E. Priestly suceessfully overcame great difficulties of enunciation in an exacting highwayman song. The Madrigal Society was1 not sO! good in the two...part songs, ' As Torrents in Summer ' and ' The Long Day Closes' as one had hoped after their performance of ' Oh, who will o'er the Dorwns.' There followed a delightful song on the inadvisability of disarmament by Smith, who gave as an encore a clever little sketch of a mother and her child in a 'bus. And with this a most successful concert closed. Between the Madrigal Society's performance and C. A. Plaxton's song, the Thomas Hearne Society presented 'W.u rzel Flummery,' by A. A. M!ilne. As an experiment it was commendable, as a performanee a little uncouth. F. G. Marcham as <> producer is to~erant. 'Wurzel Flummery' is a comedy, and the players made it a farce. F. J. Fish as Robert CraiSharw and M. A. Mitcheson as his wife burlesqued their parts all through the per- · forman.ce. Throughout, the good words of which the play is fuU, came out unnatura11y and as. though the characters were not aoeustomed to be brilliant. It was often very difficult to decide whether Fish was being parliamentary or had merely forgotten his part. A little staginess is quite in keeping with the character of Denis Clifton, and F. D. Walker provided it. He was: the most conscientious of the actors. A. A. Gordo'n was a trifle ' precious ' in his interpretation of Viola, but distinctly feminine. Richall"d Meriton is the centra~ character, and it is on him that the play depends for\ its main character interest. H. A. Blair made a coura:geous attempt to fulfil the possibilities of the part. In spite of his nervousness he was: distinctly the best of the performers, and at the end he negotiated the difficulties in. whieh the lack of a curtain: placed him with dignity if not with decision.


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ST. EDMUND HALL MAiGAZINE. ET DE CETERIS.

The Principal has been appointed a Curator of the Sheldonian Theatre and also of the Examination Schools. He preached the Commemoration Sermon in St. M:ary's on Sunday, June .?Sth. By a happy coincidence the ·Bishop of Carlisle was able to be present again at dinner in Hall on St. Edmund's Day (November r6th). On this occasion there were also present as guests the Rev. R. G. Plumptre (formerly Vice-Principal) and the Rev. L. Hodgson, Fellow of Magdale~ (formerly Vice-Principal). Congratulations are due to W. R. M. Chaplin for his long tri~l with the Trial Eights; to G. W. Knight for winning his board in the University Chess match against London University; to M'. Ahmad (Mid'dle Temple) on his call to the Bar in July; to E. C. Lan1b and the Hall upon the formation of a Rugby XV; to the founders of the John Oldham Society. The number of undergt-aduates in residence this Term is eighty, to which may be added nine graduates more or less in residence, making in all an approximate complement of eightynine. Mr. Fred Millar, the a rtist engraver, has: just finished a pleasing etching of the N.E. corner of the Quadr·a ngl'e. The edition will be limited and all copies will bear the stamp of the Fine Art ·Guild which guarantees that no more than the number declared will be printed: so proofs on India paper printed in colour at 3rs. 6d., 150 printed in colour at 2 rs., roo printed in monochrome at ws. 6d. Mr. Millar is a neighbour of ours, having his studio and _pr'int shop in Queen's Lane. Our first illustration gives a view of the J. G. R. as seen from the upper end. The photograph was taken by Mr. J. Soame, St. Aldate's. Our second illustration reproduces an engraving of John Oldham (matriculated June 17th, r67o), by J. T. Wedgwood, from a picture by Dobson, at one time in the W 'a lpole collection at Strawberry Hill.


ST. EDMUND HALL MAGAZINE.

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UT FAMA EST.

Concerning Aulares who have gone down since the ~ast issue . of the Magazine we have gleaned these particulars:The Rev. F. :!VfcGow::~n is a curate at St. Michael's and All ·Angels,_ Bournemouth. The Rev. P. B. Spriggs is a curate at St. John the Baptist's, Peterborough'. H. W. Butterworth and E. 0. Bennett are at Wells Theological College. W. J. Carter is at Manchester College. The Rev. C. Sampson is a curate at Chiddingstone, Kent. The Rev. G. P. Cooper is a curate at Hove. M. W. Gallop was a member of the Oxford Lacrosse Team that went ovct• this year to play in the United States and Canada. Having travelled thus far he decided to take up an appointment in the States. H. C. Shearman was prevailed upon to stand as a Labour Candidate for the Isle of Wight Division, his home constituency, at the General Election in November. As we have always understood that the Isle of vVight was more agreeable to leisure than to labour, we consider that he did well' to poll as many as 3,756 votes. M .. J. Soulsby is a master at the Oxford High School. The Rev. H. H. Vickers is a curate at St. John the Baptist's, Upperby, Cumberland. R. J. Bluett is taking a course in French at Grenoble University. The. Rev. T. D. C. He1·bert is a curate at St. Michael and All Angels, Bishopstone, Bristol. The Rev. H. L. Hustwayte is a cur·ate at St. Mary's, Bolsover, Derbyshire. H. C. Ingle, who read for his degree in his spare time, is stilt senior clerk at the Oxford Branch of the London County, Westminster and Parr's Bank. The Rev. A. R. Janes is a curate at Elm ton, Derbyshire. The Rev. P. T. Jefferson is rector of De Aar, Cape Province, S. Africa . H. G. Lickes is a master at Wellington Secondary School. The Rev. H. Livesey is a curate at St. Mary',s , Wigton, Cumberland. J. F. A. Porter is working in London on the business side of a group of trade journals,


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ST. EDMUND HALL MAGAZINE.

The Rev. F. C. L. Shaw is a curate: at St. CLement's, City Road, London, E.C. ]. ]. G. Walkinton is a master at Weymouth College. G. N. T. Widdrington is a master at St. Andrew's College, Toronto. . E. S. Williams is a master at the Diocesan Boys' High School, Rangoon. G. Xavier is at the Siamese Legation in Rome. Ci. E. Baldwin is a master at the Dover County School. A. C. Cooper is an Assistant Commissioner at Iloro, Abeokuta, S. Nigeria. T. B. Cooper is in business in London. S. N. Godfrey is a lecturer at .St. Paul's College, Cheltenham. The Rev. W. L. Guyler is a curate at St. Luke's, Camberwell. C. H. Ellis has been absent in Constantinople on Intelligence Service under the Foreign Office. _N ~ H. Mendis was called to the Bar in December, 1921, and has returned to Ceylon to practise as a barrister. T. D. Baxter, we understand, is at present a gentreman at leisure.

Since the last is,s ue of the Magazine the following Aulares have been ordained : Priests.-H. Palmer (Carlisle), P. T. Jefferson (Kimberley), F. N. Robathan (Lichfield), F. M. Beddow (Carlisle), L. R. McDermid (Durham), R. ]. Hall (London), G. P. Cooper (Chichester), C. Sampson (Rochester), A. E. Maund (Lincoln). Deacons. -G. P. Cooper (Chichester), C. Sampson (Canterbury), H. L. Hustwayte (Southwell), A. F . G. Christie (WincheSiter), P. H. Gabb (vVinchester), F. MaGowan (W'inchester), T. D. C. Herbert (Bristol), J. L. Jenkins (Chester), P. B. Spriggs (Pet~rborough), H. Livesey (Carlisle), H. H. Vickers (Carlisle), F. C. L. Shaw (London), C. V. Browne-Wilkinson (Southwell), W. L. Guyler (Southwark), F. J. Buckle (Carlisle), E. T. H. Godwin (Cadis:le), M. D. Grieve (Carlis:le), A. R. Jan es (Southwell).

• It will be noticed with approval that there have been. five more recruits for the Diocese of Carlisle during 1922. The latest comers are F. J. Buckle to St. John's, Workington, E. T. H. Godwin to A,spatria, and M. D. Grieve to St. Aidan's, Carlisle.


ST. EDMUND HALL MAGAZINE.

13

T. H. Espley, H. J. H orwood and H. B. \!Vater's have been1 back thi s a utumn on their first leave from West Africa. They looked very fit in spite of the t set se a nd the sand flies that bite and the governments that pinch. Congratulations: to the Rev. F. N. Robathan, who married Miss Renee \~ebb, da ug hter of the Vicar of Stretton, Staffs, on April' 26th. The R ev. D. Armytage has been appointed Vice-Principal of the Missionary College, Dorchester-on-Thames:, Capt. J. C. R owley, who is in the Army Educational Corps, is attached to the 1st Royal W'elsh Fusiliers, in W azlri stan., India . Capt. D. G. W. Davies, alis o in the A. E.G., is. attached to the 16th Queeh' s Lancers, at Luck no~·. Apart from those who have come up to take degrees the following have visited the Hall in the course of the year : The Rev. H. M. Crabbe, H. J. T. Day, the Rev. H. Palmer, the Rev, vV. A. Congdon, the Rev. A. B. Selwyn., the R ev. J. B. Wood, the R ev. A. Sargent, P. G. Welford, the Rev. L. C. Warner, D. J. Parsons:, the R ev. S. A. H oward , th e Rev. A. R. Janes, the Rev. H . Livesey, the R ev. Ernest H avergal, the R ev. Eustac ~ Havergal, R. N. Trye. vV. G. F. Dewar has been obliged to g1ve up the Indian vVoods and Forests Service owing to malaria, arid is now in, Inverness setting abo ut becoming a chartered accountant. The R ev. T. H. Croxall is hack in Oxford as curate at St. Atdate's.

PRINTS OF ST. EDMUND HALL. If the prints that can be collected of the Hall are not so numerous as those of most other collegiat e .buildings in Oxford, they a re nevertheless representative of the best work that has been done. by those artists a nd engravers who have illustrat ed Oxford architecture. For all practical purposes Oxford prints begin with the collection of views published by David Lo•g gan in' 1675. Thes·e fine engravings were noit emulated for srome time. After their pub-


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lication thet"e followed a century and a quarter in which no original work of merit was produced, and Oxford buildings were only illustrated in the University sheet almanacks a11d in guide books containing a, few uninspired. engravings o,f the principal views. Ackermann's History, with its splendid collection of aquatints, was the first: of a new series of illustrated books: on Oxford His-:tory and Topography whose vigorous existence was terminated when the camera d~splaced , the engraver and there began the more modern series of books illustrated by photographs of buildirigs or photo<graphs of drawings. In the last twent-y years a remarkable revival in engraving and etching has taken place: and thi ~ is reflected in the many separate prints: of Oxford views which have been issued. Except for the guide book period in the latter half of the eighteenth century, there is an interesting and fairly continuous' sequence of prints of the Hall from r675 dorwn to the present day. It is only in the guide: book publications of the eighteenth century that the Han buildings do not figure, and artistically that is no loss. The only difficulty in collecting these prints lies inl the fact that nearly aU of them were published in books and so cannot be bought separately unless the books are broken up by print sellers for the sake of the illustrations: which they contain. But in these days print sellers find that such dismemberment pays. The books, with the exception of one printed abroad, are not rare, but vary consider'ably in price. A complete Loggan fetches from £r4 to

£r9. Prints bought separately can be readily identified by the name of the engraver and by the size either of the plate mark or of the printed surface, on reference to the catalbgue which follows. I have taken pains to make this account of the prints of the Hall complete, but it ~s possible them aJ"e a few omiss:ions. There is no catalogue of Oxford prints, and the: assistance to be g·ained from the Bodleian and Hope Collections is1disappointing in thi s respect. r.

LoGGAN AND HIS CoPYISTS.

(a;) Oxonia1 Illustra,ta., by David Loggan, published in r675. A line engraving bearing the inscription, Aula, Sti. Edmundi. Engraver, David Loggan. Plate mark, 9i x r3! inches'. This print shows the exterior of the Hall as seen from the part of the Queen's College overlooking the entry. The unfinished wall on the left marks the slopeof the roof of the building on the north side: of the Quadrangle which for half its length was then roo fed over above the first floo·r and not above the second as now. On the


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right ha,rtd side of the entry is shown. the Principal's wdging with a double oriel window. The house on the extreme right, on the site of the entrance hall and dining room of the present Lodging, did not at that time form part of the Hall. The plate is dedicated to Sit Robert Clayt~n, a distinguished citize111 and sometime LDrd May01· of London, who was known to Loggan but had no connexian with the Hall. This print is generally found folded down the middle, but some earlier copies of O:xonia Illustrata., when it was still published cum p1'ivil'egio, were bound up with the engravings flat. (b) Oxonia lllustra.ta, published by John Bowles and Son, ' a t the sign of the Black Horse .in Com hill,' about i 73o-4o. A lineengraving entitled, 'Edmund Hall purcha sed by Queen's College fo·r the purposes of teaming, A.D. 1557.' Engraver unknown. Size of printed surface, z x 41 inches. This collection of thirty-five views of Oxford, ' with many academical habits,' was: published in the form of a large sheet, about the size of a single page of the Times, marked with lines between the views as though they were intended to be cut out. The views: are only roughly based on Logga.n's collection. In the print of the Hall it will be seen that the building is made to look neglected, owing to the omission of figures in the foreground, such as Loggan introduced. There are a few slight variations, in the architectural features: which may well be due to the inaccuracy of the copyist. (c) Oxonia Illustrata, printed by Gerrit Tielenburg in Amsterdam early in the eighteenth century. A print entitled, 'Le CoUege d'Edmund·Hall.' There is not a copy of this book in the British Museum Library nor in the Bodleian. In the only copy that I have seen the print of the Hall, with others, had been cut out. In the index, however, it is mentioned as appearing on page 9· (d) A similar type of line engraving entitled 'Le College d'Edmund-Hall a Oxford,' obviously cut out of a book, is not infrequently to be found in collections of prints. I have not been able tot trace .the book to which it belongs nor is it known in the Bodleian. The engraving is a more deliberate copy of wggan than Bowles', the figures being ingeniously changed from those of the original. The engraver has made slight architectural alterations, but he need not be: taken too seriously, since, according to his s:hadii1g, the sun stood in the north. In the top right hand corner there is usually printed p. 535· Plate mark, 5 x 6% inches.


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(e) The engraving, r (d), was reproduced on a smal.Fer scale by Skelton in his Oxonia Antiqua RestaruraJta. ' See 4 (e). 2.

WILLIAMS'

Oxonia Depicta.

(a) Oxonia. Depicta, published by WiHiam Williams in 1732-3. Two line engravings of the Hall on one plate. In the upper part is sllown a con.jeetural interior of the Quadrangle seen from the S. side and in the lower a conjectural completion of the front of the1 Hall. Plate mark, 15 x 18 inches. Williams' book was intended to exhibit his: plans: for the reconstruction or embellishment of some of the colleges and halls. The view of the interior of the Quadrangle bears little resemblance to the modern building and reflects a sombre classicism. The view of the front of the Hall shows the N. end built up to meet the; building which he proposed for the' N. side of the Quadrangle. The plate is dedicated to Henry Felton, Prin.cipaJI. 3r

THE

OxFORD

SHEET

AurANACK.

(a) The Atmanack for 1747 was devoted to the Hall and gave

a: view of the Quadrangle andportraits of founders and benefactors engraved in line ~n. one large plate, by George Vertue. Inscription: St. Edmund Hall.

P1ate mark, 19! x 17! inches.

The engraving of the Quadrangle, in the upper part of the plate is drawn from the S. side, showing the other three sides. In front is the N. side building which had recently been largely' reconstructed ; the Chapel and Hall stand equidistant on each side. The buildings are :s o badly drawn and are so inaccurate in many details that it is improbable that the engraver worked from an original drawing. Ini the lower half of the plate is an imaginary compos,i tion showing Queen Anne seated on a throne, with Dr. Mill kneeling aqd presenting to her a volume, probably his edition of the New Testan1ent in. Greek. On the right hand side stands Stephen Penton, Principal, holding a plan. of the Cpapel and Library, on the left Thomas Hearne. Against the wall on. each side of the 't hrone -are repres~nted busts and -portraits of sevelral benefactors.

(b) The whole plate was reproduced on. a .small scale by Skelton in his Oxonia Antiqua Restaurata;. See 4 (e). 4¡

TIIE ILLUSTRATED

HISTORIES,

BooKS

OF VIEWS AND GUIDE

BOOKS OF THE EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY.

(a) ' History o.f the University of Oxford,' published by Ackermann in r8r4. An aquatint of the interior of the Quadrangle.


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Drawn by F. Pugin, engraved by J. Hill. Inscription: St. Edmund's Hall. Plate mark, % X si inches. This book contains one of the finest series of aquatints ever published and has an added interes t in the fact that according to tradition the prints were touched up in water colours by French refugees. The engraving of the Hall was drawn from inside the entry ¡looking east. Except for . the arrangement of the dormer! windows the buildings do not differ front their present condition, but the appearance of the Quadrangle is changed by the presence of trees and shrubs onl the fringe of the lawn. The beauty of the engraving is greater to,.day than w hen. it was first printed, for time has gi"en the colours a mellow tone which harmonises well with the quiet s:implicity of the drawing. A few prints in black ink were made from this plate, but they are very rare.

(b)" W. M '. Wade's 'w:a lks in Oxford,' publish ed in r8r7 and subsequently re-issued. . A line engraving of the: interior of the Quadrangle as seen from . inside the entry looking east. Drawn and engraved by J. and H. S. Storer and entitled: St. Edmund Hall. Plate mark, 61 x 4i inches. The view in this print is very similar to that in Ackertnann' s aquatint, but the figures have been altered, and there is also to be seen a lamp on the wall, to the right of the Chapel door. (c) R. Lascelles' 'University and City of Oxford,' published in rR2r, contains the same print as 4 (b).

(d) Munday and Slatter's 'Views: of Oxford,' published in r8z r. An etching of the front o.f the Hall drawn from the south end of Queen's Lane. The plate is drawn and etched by J. and H. S. Storer and entitled : St. Edmund Hall. Plate mark, 3i x 4i inches. The mosrt: striking at¡chitectural difference to be seen in this print is th~t the Principal's Lodging has been enlarged to its present extent, but the added part is only one storey high. (e) Oxonicv Antiqua. Restaura1ta,, published by J. Skelton in r823. Two reproductions of earlier prints o.f the H aU on one plate. The upper view is a copy of the: print described under r (d), but here entitled : ' A view of the Front of St. Edmund H a!J, taken about r67o.' The lower copy is of the whole plate o.f Vertue's engraving in th e Oxford Sheet Almanack for 1747, described under 3 (a~) . Plate mark, r ri x Bi inches1. The best impression of this print is that on India paper in the large paper edition.


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(f) ' A Topographical and Historical Description of Oxford,' by N. \iVhittock, published in 1829, contains a badly executed lithograph of part of the Quadrangle as seen from the bottom of No. 4 Staircase, looking west. Lithographer', N. Whittock. Title : St. Edmund Hall. Printed surface, 5~ x 7* inches. The view of this print is unique and shows Link Buildings, an ungainly structure on the south side of the Quadrangle, next to the Pripcipal' s1 Lodging, since demolished except for the ground floor. At this date Link Buildings were no longer occupied by the Hall; as: they had been formerly on lease ft~om Magdalen College. Shrubs and trees, as in the prints; of Ackerman and Wade are depicted on the fringe of the lawn. The drawing and printing of this lithograph are both very bad. (g) Whittock's 'Microcosm, of Oxford,' published in 1830, contains the same print much more carefully drawn and printed. Although details in the trees and shrubs have been altered here and there, the print was probably made from the :same :s:ton,e. (h) ' Oxford Delineated,' published by]. :WhesStell and T. Bartlett in 1832. A line engraving of the front of the BaH as seen from near theW. door of St. Peter's Church, looking south. The print is entitled: St. Edmund Hall. Drawn and engraved by J. Whessell. Plate mark, d x 6 inches. The architectural features are the same in thiSI print as in Munday and Slatter' s1 etching. In the foreground at~e two horses and a cart.

(i) ] . K. Ingram's ' Memorials of Oxford,' published in 1837 .. A line engraving of the exterior of the Hall as seen from the south end of Queen's Lane. Drawn. by F. Mackenzie and engraved by J. Le Keux. The print is entitled: St. Edmund HaH. Plate mark, si X 7 inches. In this print the new part of the Principal's Lodging is: raised another storey. A funeral procession is :s hown about to enter St. Peter' s1Churchyard. (j) In the text of the article on the Hall, in Ingram 's 'Memorials,' there is: a poor little woodcut, by 0. Jewitt¡, of the E. end of the Quadrangle as seen from inside the entry. The view is sometimes described as ' The Chapel, Libtary, &c.,' or as ' The Chapel, &c., A.D. 1682.' (k) 'Illustrations: of Oxfm-d,' by J. Ryman, published in 1839¡ A line engraving of the exterior of the Hall as seen. from the south end of Queen':sl Lane. Engtaved by G. Hollis and entitled : St. Edmund HalL Plate mark, 7TI x 9i inches.


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The architectural features in this print are the same as: those shown in Ingram' s' Memorials.'

MoDERN PRINTS.

(a) M'r. E. H. New's 'New Loggan series of Oxfordi views.' A print of the Hall. Engraved by E. H. New, photo engraved by Emery Walker: published in I92o. This print bears the title: St. Edmund Hall, Oxfot·d, followed by a brief historicaF description. Plat~ mark, Is x I 2~ inches. This print gives a view of the exterior of the Hall and the eastern half of the Quadrangle as seen from the top of Queen's CoHege, and is almost a bird's""eye view of the whole building. The presence of creepers on the Chapel and Library is the only feature which has disappeared to-day. The plate is dedicated to the Rev. the Principal and the Tutors of thet Hall. (b) Mr. F. Millar published in I922 an etching of the northeastern corner of the Quadr·a ngle as: seen from in side the entry. Plate mark, 7~ x s~ inches. so proofs on India paper in colour, ISO in colour, Ioo in: monochrome. F. G. MARCHAM.

JOHN OLDHAM. (MATRIC: jUNE 17, 1670). If all the judgments passed on John Oldham in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were to be credited one would imagine he was a little lower, a very little lower, than Shakespeare. His contemporaries would have him possessed, not only of all the Talents, but of all the Virtues. One exclaims : ' Adieu thou modest Type of perfect Man ' ; and another confides to the world the -opinion -that, ' Angels never tarry long on earth.' Oldham died at the age of thirty. His poetic talents were celebrated ever. more enthusiastically than his personal virtues. Andrew's declares him: ' Virgil in Judgment, Ovid in Delight, An easier Thought with a M eonian F1ight; Horace in Sweetness, Ju.venal in Rage And '--slightly irrelevantly-' even Biblis must each Heart engage.'

These enthusiasms appear to the present generation excessive ; not only beca use the topieal interest which! appealed so strongly to his own generation has almost completely vanished; not


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only because the Heroic couplet and all the poetical arts and craftinesses connected with the Classicists have sunk into disrepute; but because~a nd it is the most important reason-the form of Elegy in vogue in the seventeenth century is in vogue no longer. One can .now die without the risk of becom ing an angel. Then, when a man of any merit or position died, from hi s ashes there ·rose a .strange and perfect bird : a n angel, if a ma n of position; if a man of merit, a phoenix . Biographers still look on the bright side of t heir hero, but they now translate their motto: 'About the Dead, no iH' ; in Oldham 's time they transla ted it : ' If the dead was of your own P arty in Politics and R eligion, he had every virtue a man can have.' But, emerging from all the hyperboles of writers who ' greet him in a Panegyrick strain,' two characteristics seem to be above suspicion : his modesty and hi s desire for independence. They are all in a t ale. Andrews gives him this: character,, and it is echoed everywhere: ' Just in his· Praises, and what most desire, Wou'd flatter none for Greatness, Love or Hire; Humble, though courted, and what's rare t9 see , Of wondrous Worth, yet wondrous Modesty. So far from O stentation he didi seem, That he was meanest in his own Esteem.' His desire for independence is appa rent everywhere in the story of his life. It was thi s that made him ' take up with a mean Salary as Usher of the Charity -Scho ol' at Croydon; this made him study Physic ; for this he refused the Earl of Kingston' s: offer to make him his chaplain . Hi s opinions of a chaplaincy a re given in a ' Satire to a Friend,' which contains the characteristic lines : · ' Let others, who such Meannes.ses can brook, Strike countenance to ev' ry great Man's Look: Let those that h ave a Mind, turn Slaves to Eat And live contented by another's Plate ; , I rate my Freedom higher, nor will I, For F.o od and R aim ent truck my Liberty I'll rather chu se to st arve at large, th an be The gaudiest Vassal of DEPENDE NCY.' Of his personal appearance hi s Panegyrists tactfull'y say nothing . The following description , taken from the introduction to the 1722 edition of his works, bears the impression of truth : it is, at any rate, not too good to be trustworthy .


JOH:J( OLVHui:M r653-r683


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' Mr. Slater, a Bookseller now at Eton, who served his Afl"' prentiship at Oxford, assured us he knew Him well, and was often happy in his Company. He said, his Stature was Tall, the Make of his Body very thin, his Face long, his Nose prominent, his Aspect unpromising, but Satire was in his Eye.' And yet Mr. Slater was often happy in his company. It may be that he was alteady ' the perfect Votary of the Bottle,' as his editor elegantly calls him. At any rate, drunk or sober, he is. said to have been always a witty conversationalist and a good companion, Among the many writers of Elegies and Commendatory Verses, whose business it was to shroud the departed in hyperboles, Otdham himself is not the least hyperbolic. None of the people he chooses to celebrate dies from any natural disorder or decay. Earth has always grown unworthy, and heaven jealous, of them. The wages of excessive virtue is Death, for Heaven can .s pare them no longer. The only anxiety he ever expresses about their chances in a¡ future existence is that he is afraid that their perfect natures will be sullied by the compar'atiyeJ impurities of heaven . He finds it difficult to account for the recovery of ' Madam L. E.,' but suspects that Death and Fate were overcome by her charms, and that Heaven had spared her, knowing that it could never repeat so elegant a performance as her creation. His Elegies are, with one exception, without any particular merit. The exaggerations and the close resemblance of all thes.e perfect characters make any personal interest. impossible, and they have neither the wit nor the brevity to make them successful in the purely artificial style of complimentary verse. Though in all Oldham's Elegies there are brilliant couplets here and there, and memorable phrases, they are, with the exception of the Pindaric Ode to Charles Moorwent, without any real interest or distinction. The only difference between them and the Satires upon the Jesuits is that, instead of Vices, Virtues are heaped remorselessly one on the other. The atmosphere of exaggerated gloom is the same. One cannot but be glad that he was not, as he wished, 'all Eyes To flow in liquid Elegies.' The Ode to Charles Morwent, a contemporary of Oldham at St. Edmund Hall, is wholly different from the rest of his Elegies. It is too long and diffuse lo permit him to make use of his favourite artifice of piling line upon line until he comes to an


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artificial climax. There is much more true feding in it, and much more ingenuity. It contains not only passages as ingenious as ' Those: marks of Death which did its: surface stain N orw hallow, not profane. Each Spot does to a Ruby turn; What soil'd but now, would now adorn. Those Asterisks plac'd in the Margin of thy Skin Point out the nobler Soul that dwelt ':-'ithin; Thy lesser, like the greate'r World appears All over bright, all over stuck with Stars,___ ' not only this pretty compliment to a friend and the smallpox, but the famous passage, perhaps the most beautiful that Oldham ever wrote: ' Thy Soul within such silent Pomp did keep, As if Humanity were lull' d asleep. So gentle was thy Pilgrimage beneath, Time's unheard Feet s.c:arce make less Noise, Or the soft Journey which a Planet goes. Life seem'd all calm as its last Breath. A still Tranquillity 's o husht thy Breast As if some Halcyon were its guest, And there had built her Nest; It hardly now enjoys a gr'eater Rest.' It was in part Morwen:t's death that induced Oldham to accept the position of Usher in the: Croydon Charity-School. While at Croydon the Earls of Rochester and of Dorset, Sir Charles Sedley, ' and other Persons of Distinction,' visited him on the strength and obscenity of some poems: of his which they had read in manuscript. It is probable that at this meeting Oldham made his opinion of Dependency quite clear to his noble visitors, for they do not seem to have done anything to rescue him from an employment so little suited to a man of his spirit and abilities:, and not until he came to London, independent, living on the money he hadi made as Tutor to the families of Sir Edward Thurland and of Sir William Hickes, did he again come under the notice of the Earl of Rochester. Cultivated by Rochester and ' most affectionately carressed ' by the Earl of Kingston; a friend of Dryden and of Gould; Oldham for a time entered fuHy into the brilliant and dissipated London life. At first he seems to have entered gladly into the spirit of this life:. He could drink with the best, and write bawdy poet;ns with the worst. The admirable restraint of the Satires upon the Jesuits is quite absent from his work


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of this time~. He reverted to the sensuousness of his early poem, 'The Dream,' where obs·c enity is its own reward. The few pas... sages in the Satires upon the Jesuits which would offend the present middle-class taste are not included for any beauty which the author imagined them to possess. They are lists of crimes whi.c h the author· really thought the Jesuits had committed or might commit, and, as such, they could he no more left out, and are no more censurable, than corresponding passages in Leviticus. But for these later poems there is· no excuse except that his: head was momentarily turned by the novelty of the London life, and the change from the drudgery of a tutorship. There is no other excuse fo.r half the odes. written at this period, or for half the translations. There is nothing to be said for his pmse ' Character of an Ugly Old Priest,' except th~t it probably was not intended as a caricature of his: father as some of his critics have maintained. Rochester, when. three-quarters dead from the effects of wine and sensuality, had made a belated reformation, and had died repentant. Oldham, who had been merely inoculated with vice, made a similar reformation in miniature'. It was a very complete, and a very self-conscious, affair. In ' A SundayThought in Sickness,' a prose composition of some merit, he admits; that he has .s jnned much, but it is all the time as though he were hoping that the Omnipotent would contradict him. (There is, there is a, He11,' he assures his readers, (and damned Fiends, and a never-dying vVorm, and that Sceptick that doubts of it, may find 'em all within my single Breast.' Through all his: lamentations he hears the phrase, ' When the wicked man turneth-,' and at the end he breaks into verse and, .summing up carefully, can ptonounce' judgment in his' own favour. 'An AngelPost comes hast'ning down.' His sins!, apparently, did not weigh heavily on his conscience. He writes to a friend : ' I find I retain all the briskness, airiness, and gaiety I had, but purged from the dross and the lust of debauchery ; and am as merry as ever, though not so mad.' As penance, however, he wrote a recantation of his 'Satire against Vertue' to which some, wholly mistakenly, had taken offence. The 'Satire against Vertue' is the most ,sincerely religious poem Oldham ever wrote. It is a: caricature of the folly of Immorality. It is a· burlesque in the .s:tyle, 'Vertue! thou · solemn grave impertinence Abhorr'd by all the Men of Wit, and Sense.'


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And all the solemn and grave men ; all who felt they could Jay no claim to the attributes of wit and sense; and those who had, apparently, got no further with the poem than the title¡; pronounced it a piece ofblasphemy. To satisfy these, and to satisfy his own conscience, Oldham wrote the ' Counterpart to the Satire against Vertue.' One might be tempted to think that in parts it, too, is burlesque : a burlesque of the conventional hymn writer: 'Blest Vertue! whose Almighty Power Does to our fallen Race restore All that in Paradise we lost, and more- ' Yet it was on this piece of piety that an. editor of his poems mainly based his attack on Anthony a Wood. Wood had called Oldham a' Mad, Ranting, Blasphemous, and Debauched Writer,' because he wrote the ' Satire against _Vertue.' Oldham's editor retaliated courageously and finished strongly by dedaring that ' for this unjust Treatment of Mr. Oldham, we think, among the Impartial Part of Mankind, that neither the Writings, or Name of Anthony a Wood, ought ever to be men-tioned but with the utmost contempt.' Whatever Anthony a Wood likes to say about him matters no !TIOre, for Oldham reformed and spent his time chiefly in the virtuous and remunerative exercis:ei of ' lashing the age.' Most of his satires dealt with the customs and abuses of London life. There is 'a Satyr .touching Nobility, out of Monsieur Boileau'; 'A Satyr in imitation of the third of Juvenal' containing a complete list of advantages1 of Country over Town; and innumerable satires on the London population for their neglect of the Arts and particularly for their neglect of Poetry. It is a complete crus:ade. Though he consistently abused them, his1 readers, became more and more appreciative of him. There was something in Oldham's satires which made them very different from . those of any tha:t had preceded him. It is difficult to believe Robert Bell when he says of Oldham : ' HeJ is not one of thoSle writers who advanced the art of Poetry.' His satires are a distinct advance on any of the loosely constructed diatribes which they succeeded. There is in them a unity not found before: a unity both of thought and atmosphere. His most considerable work, The Satires upon the Jesuits:, is a sequence of four satires: each with: a special plbt and motive of its own ; each an attempt to form a complete whole~ And in this, though there ¡ are a few inconsistencies; a few passages as much out of cllaracter as Loyola's lament that ' the


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, mighty Julian ' failed to destroy all Christianity, Jesuits apparently included; in this, in the main, they succeed. His satires are much more successful than the rest of his: poems:. The con, centration of his: passion finds a much more adequate: outlet here ; and his strange and unC'outh rhymes, the barren unmusicalness of his verse, the three-legged rhythm of his Jines, are much Jes.s harrowing in a Satire than in an Elegy for instance. The roughness of his verse and the impression of extreme has:te are ~o:t incongruous with the energy and fierce indignation of his feelings against the Jesuits and against the inane London society. Here the crafty Alexandrine creeps in less unwelcomely ; here one can tolerate rhymes like deed-red-died, and mist-breast-priest, and can even pardon the man who can pronounce a word aga.in, spell it agen, and rhyme it with sin. For here there is a strength and sincerity unsurpassed by any of his better known contemporaries, for which one can, forgive him if he cannot in the indignation of the moment, like Dryden, always keep his head and his ear, <)r cannot always keep his feet like Pope. Strength and sincerity are the two main characteristics of his style, and a vast ingenuity in finding images. They are not often the kind of images that this romantically trained generation would recognise as poetical. They are: the product of Fancy-though it is too airy a word rightly to express Oldham's fierce imagery -more often than of Imagination; intellectual images more often than visual. Though he has images as distinctly Romantic as : ' I saw, methought, a lonely Privacy, Remote alike from man's, and Heaven's Eye, Girt with the covert of a shady Grove Dark as my thoughts, and secret as my Love : Hard by a Stream did with that softness creep As 'twere: by its own murmurs husht asleep.' and though he has lines as imaginative as ' So Stat¡s contracted in a Diamond shine,' they are the exception. Far more common are ingenuities like ' So heretofore were the first Lovers laid On the same Turf of which themselves were made.' Even when he is translating the Hymn of the worthy St. Amb.rose he cannot res:i st a conceit like ' Thy self didst die to be our glorious Bail From Death's Arrests, and the eternal Flaming Jail: Thy self thou gav'st' th' inestimable Price, To PJ.Jrchase and Redeem our morgag'd Heaven and Happiness.'


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From thiSI quotation it wil1 be seen that even in his tranSila:tions; he did not forget his love of independence. His contemporaries quite understood the art of anglicising their translations of the Classics; but once dressed up in English garb their ingenious translators refused to recognise them, and mistook the translations for their own original work. One cannot realise how natural this mistake must have been until one has read some of their translations. Oldham, himself, disapproved very strongly of this plagiarism and is always most scrupulous in acknowledging the source from which he has drawn an idea. Though he surrounded all his translations with an English atmosphere, giving them a topical interest, the possibility of which previous writers had neglected, the spirit of the original is nearly always unmolested. He is at times, however, ill-advised in his choice of subjects. He could deal successfully with Ovid's Arnores, and his ttanslations of Horace, Juvenal and Boileau are swift and written in terse unforced English; but his struggles with .the Bible, with the Lament of David and with the Psalms, are neither swift nor natural. ,.They were swifter than eagles ' becomes 'As Parent-Eagles, summon'd by their Infants cries When some rude hands would make a Prize, Hasten to Relief, and with their Wings: out-fly their eyes; So .s wift did they their speedy SIUccour bear, So swift the bold AggressorS! seize, So swift attack, so swift pursue the vanquish' d enemies.' The vanquished enemies should have hadi plenty of time to escape. But this circular· method of approach is not customary in most of his Translations and Satires. Though he never hesitates to add image to image ; and though each poem is a series of parallel ideas, each idea a series: of parallel images; the effect is not laboured. The reader does not, as in this quotation., pause to wonder· if he is within breathing distance of the end, or if there is an end at all. Idea follows idea, and image after image fits into its: place without burdening the poem. By the continual change of thought the interest is never allowed to fade, the tension never allowed to slacken ; the atmosphere of gloom remains unrelieved; and Oldham's indignation can never smoulder into mere disapproval. But he is not a great poet. More than indignati<?n is needed for that : there must be sorrow and joy sprung from the recognition of what is beautiful on the earth, not merely anger at ·what is: ugly. Indignation and anger do' not make ::lJ


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great poet, but they make a great satirist, and th at i·s what they did for John Oldham. J. L. HILL.

EARLY RELATIONS BETV"/EEN THE HALL AND QUEEN'S. We of St. Edmund Hall, as relatives-in-law, are privileged to welcome the recent publication of the History of the Queen's College as something of a family event. To the Provost we should express our admiration for the substantial memorial which he has rai sed to the past history of hi s College, and our gratitude for the gain which it brings us in new kno-w ledge of that of the Hall. The link which has existed for so long between the two neighbouring societies is an historic and honourable one; and the Provost's book now makes it po•ssible for us to trace in some detail the growth of the connexion. The rise on the oppos~te side of the lane of a Collegiate Hall, adequately endowed and having a queen for its nursing-mother, cannot have left the scholars of St. Edmund Hall unaffected. In 1340, Robert Eglesfield began buying tenements in the parish of St. Peter in the East to provide a site for his foundation. A row of shops facing the Hall was bought up in the course of the following year. There is an express: reference to the Hall four years later in a conveyance in which ' the Master and brethren of the Hospital of St. John without the walls of Oxford granted to the Provost and scholars of ·t he HaH of the Queen's scholars two shops in the parish of St. Peter in the East measu1"ing 43 feet in length and 22 feet in breadth situated near by the gateway of the aforesaid Hall and opposite St. Edmund Hall on the east side and adjoining the cemetery of the aforesaid church.' . Other property in the vicinity was a lso purchased ; and a·s the different buildings for the Queen's scholars were erected' it must have become evident to those of St. Edmund that they were neigh bours to an influential newcomer. The first personal link between the Hall and Queen's which the Provost · has noted belb ngs to the early years of the next century. Henry Romworth, who was Principal in 1399, appears as a Fellow of Queen' s between. 1403 and 1406. As the next Principal, Henry Bermingdon, or Bermingham, is not known to have been in office before 1408, the Provost conjectures that Romworth ' may have been principal and fellow at the same


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time.' John Derley, Darley or Derling, B.D., Principal, 1414 to 1434, . appears as a Fellow of Queen's between 1421 and 1431, resigning or being expelled from hiSI fellowship on April 12th in the latter year. The Provost bas not found any conm;xion between the College and the five Principals who followed after Derley, but notes that Thomas: Cawse, who was admitted to the principalship in I 501, was: a Fellow of Queen's ' at some . date between 1494 and 1503.' From this time onwards the association of Queen's, men with the principalship of the Hall became the rule. \Villiam Patyn'son, Principal in 1502, and Christopher Fallowfield, in 1505, were both: Fellows between 1503 and 1517. John Pyttys, Principal in 1507, a Magdalen. man, is the exception; after him the line was: resumed ; John Cuthbertson, Principal in 1520, was a Feilorvv in 1519, and his successor in 1528, Myles Bratbwayte, although not known to• have been a Fellow, is described by the Provost as ' certainly from his name a Queen's man.' vVilliam Robertson, Principal, I 530, OtteweU Toppyng, 1537, Thomas Peyrson, 1540, and Ralph Rudd, 1546, were all Fellows of Queen's before they came to the Hall. This succession of Queen's men to the principalship provides a sufficient reason why the College should have exhibited some interest in the disposal of the Hall when the Abbey of Oseney which had owned it since 1269 came to be dissolved. The Abbey was surrendered to the King in November, 1539. The Hall together with other conventual property passed to the royal foundation of the King's College, which supplanted that of the Cardinal. That Queen's took some sort of action at this time can be proved from evidence that the Provost has: collected. He cites a statement of Anthony Wood to the effect that Ottewell Toppyng ' gave securities for the rent to Queen's College, because they had some years since become tenants of the Hall.' Wood gave no authority for this statement, but it is corroborated by an entry in the University Register recording that on September 2 I, 1540, Thomas Peyrson on his ptes:entation produced two securities for the payment, of the yearly r·e nt of 36 shillings and 8 pence due to the Provost and FeUows. No less significant is the statement ·which precedes it : ' Ther'e came Master Thomas Peyrson fellow of the Queen'S! College asserting that he had been elected by the provost of his College and all the feHows1in whom. such auth6rity resides to be principal of Edmund Hall situate har'd by the same College: and sought admission to the same principalship according to the for·rri. and order of the statutes. of the University.' Here we have evidence clear eno1.1gh of Queen's formally nominating


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to the principalship, and of the acquiescence of the l)ni~e~sity in this procedure; but the exact circumstances in which this official connexion between the two .societies came about still remain obscure. It seems safe, however, to conclude that at this time Queen's had both a collegiate and a proprietary right of some kind touching the Hall. Iri view of subsequent events it was as well that thi s relationship already existed. In I 545 the King's College was dissolved to be replaced in the following year by a new royal foundation, ·Christ Church. On November 22, I546, a conveyance of the Hall was granted by the King to John BeHowe and Robert Bygotte, who, in their turn, on December I2, transferr·e d the property to William Burnell. Even though these conveyances did not interrupt the academical life of the Hall, it is not altog·ether surprising that the Hall should prove to have been at this. time in a very poor way. In 1552 it was returned as consisting of 'Mr. Pryncipall,' Mr. Rockwoode, six students and a ma nciple; whereas in the same return the numbers of the other Halls are for New Inn 49, Hart Hall 45, Broadgates Hall 4 I, St. Alban Hall 38, and Magdalen Hall 35· But contemporary events in Church and State affected the Hall in more ways than one. Ralph Rudel, vvho was admitted Principal in I546, came to the Hall on his expulsion from Queen's, having been involved with others in a dispute with the Provos:t , Vl iHiam Denys, or Denyson. Differences in the troubl~d region of politics and religion seem to have been at the bottom of a quarrel which gathered heat with Rudel's removal to the Hall. Early in Mary's reign Rudel accused Denyson of having favoured the cause of Lady Jane Grey. To this charge Denyson retorted that Rudel had been ' r eady to stir sedition iri the College, rema ining nigh to the same, making him s:elf a pri.ncipal of a hall called Edmund Hall, wherein neither learning nor lesson is frequented, contrary to the laws of the realm for his non-residence from his two benefices:, associated with another beneficed man whose nan1e is Tho: Ru.c wodde, whose learning and living is known to be very evil!.' But Deny son had already cir'Cumvented Rudel in a.nother way; o:n February 2, I553, he purchased the freehold of the: Hall from Burnell for £2o, and on July 28, 1557, conveyed it to his College. It now remained for Denyson to obtain the sanction. of the University fer the measure of control which he wished his College to exercise over the Hall.. This was a matter about which he might have expected to find the University jea lous for its Aularian privileges, but there is no report of any opposition having been offered.. On Jan. 28, I 558, ' it pleased the venerable


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ST. EDMUND HALL MAGAZINE.

Convo¡cation to give the Head of the Queen's -College authority under the seal of the University to nominate and elect the Head of St. Edmund Hall to be approved by the Commissary for the time being under conditions to be laid down by the Lesser Congregation . ' These conditions are embodied in a Composition between the University and the College which was made in Congregation on :March: r, in the following year. The full text of this Composition is not given in the Provost's History, but it is to be found in a paper which was written by Prof. A. C. Clark and privately printed some years: ago ' in view of ques:tions which have arisen concerning St. Edmund Hall.' On the part of the College it is ciaimed that they had acquired the HaLl ' for themselves and their successors: for ever not without great charges and expense . . . . gravely fearing lest the aforesaid Hall injuria temporis should be destroyed m converted to uses not agreeable with good learning,' and that they were ready to promise that ' henceforth for ever they will preserve the aforesaid Hall and will preserve it to literary uses,' if they should be; allowed ' from time to time on their own authority to elect, nominate and present to the Chancellor of the University of Oxford for the time being or in his absence to his commissary someone to be principal who employs himself sedulously in training young men in virtue and learning.' The instrument then records that, in consideration of ' the: just requisitions of the aforesaid Provost, Fellows- and Scholars,' the University grants this right of appointment, 'any statute or custom of the aforesaid University not>yithstanding,' and concludes with the proviso that on presentation to the Chancellor principals-elect should make such payment as those of other Halls were accustomed to make on such occasions, and that the Chancellor or his commissary should have the same right of visitation as he had in other Halls. In the .circumstances this Composition secured for both societies a satisfactory settlement of their academical relationship. By it Queen's was confirmed in the exercise of a privilege, which, if judiciously employed, would prevent the Hall from becoming again the outpost of a College faction; while the Hall was saved from the threat of extinction which had haunted it since the disso¡lution o.f Oseney Abbey, and was given a new lease of life without loss: of its separate identity. Denyson just lived long enough to see his scheme completed, dying a few weeks: afterwards (March 24). The Provost is not able to tell us whether his: predecessor took steps to eject Rudd from the principalship as he had done from his fellowship. It does: not. appear when Rudd ceased to be


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Principal. It is not until 1564 that we meet with a new Principal, John Lancastet·, a Queen's man, admitted on February 26, as the College's nominee. In rs68 Lancaster was appointed Archbishop of Armagh, and in the following year the College nominated Nicholas Cooke to succeed him. Anthony Wood, in his History and Antiquities of the University, omitted Lancaster's principalship, but in recording the preferment of Cooke remarked that the Hall' had been void of Scholars several years before.' Wood g·ave no evidence for this statement, and vvas very apt to g loss over the silences of history in this way; nevertheless, we have Denyson's description of the rule of Rudd and Rucwodde and the record of the paucity of residents in 1552. Perhaps we shall never know exactly how near the Hall was to being converted ' in ttsus non itc~ accommodos bonis litteris'; but that the grave fears of its good neighbour were well founded th ere can be no doubt.

A. B. E.

SOCIETIES, 1921-2. THE GUILD. President,

192 r-22 :

T. _W .

rgc2-23: A.

GILBERT .

MACLEOD MuRRAY.

The Guild was inaugurated in 1\1.ichaelmas Term, 192 r. Certain members of the Hall had suggested the formation of a Society for promoting interest in matters of faith and worship, to• be open to all Christians in the Hall. ·o ne of the chief objects has been to co>-ordinate within the HaJJ! the functions of the 0. U.C.U. and the O.S.C. U. The experiment of the first year has justified the formation of the Society. All the meetings, and the Guild Service, which is held terminally, have been wen attended. The Principal gave the address at .the first meeting, and subsequent mee-tings were addr-essed by Dr. Selbie, who spoke on 'God and my neighbour ' ; Fr. Leslie Walker, S.J., on 'Psychology and Religion'; and the: Rev. M. R. Carpenter Garnier, M.A., wno ;s poke on 'Prayer.' The last speaker was invited to come again in the Hilary Term, 1922, and address: the Guild on the subject of 'Meditation.' T.W.G.


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THE DEBATING SOCIETY . . MICHAELMAS'

President:

E. S..

\VILLIAMS.

Han. Secretary: F. G.

F.

G.

Han. Secretary:

MARCHAM; F.

Vice-President:

MARCHAM;

HILARY,

President:

B.

I 92 I.

Treasurer:

J.

JOHNSON.

J. F. A.

PoRTER.

I922.

Vice-President:

F.

Treasurer':

R.

WALKER;

J.

FISH;

PHILLIPS.

If an inquiry into the true state of Q.x ford Debating Societies were held to-day, it would reveal a lamentable position. Not only are College Debating Societies badly supported-an average attendance of twenty is usual-but the quality of debates is poor alike at the Union and in the smaller societies. The average attendance at Hall Debates was thirty, so on the question o.f numbers there iSI no cause to despair, but the debating, on the whole, was not good, due to the unsuitable subjects chosen for debate and lack of preparation by most speakers. The first difficulty is common and seems almost insoluble, for those vaguer questions of general culture on which speakers talk more freely are soon exhausted, and political questions can rarely be capably discussed without a wide knowledge of contemporary events. But the situation would be greatly improved if the first four speakers took more care in preparing their speeches and so gave debates a stability lacking throughout the last two years, An outstanding feature of public business was the general eagernesS' to debate throughout the winter terms, the Freshmen coming into theit" own in Hilary Term, when they almost mono... polised the debates. In private business the Society appeared more at home and passed the usual crop of impossible motions with equanimity. F. D. Walker introduced us to a new system of writing and reading the Minutes of the Lasrt Meeting, -whereby they became a weekly commentary on personalities:. There has been formed recently a Federation of College Debating Societies which promises to revolutionise inter-collegiate debating. For the present the Debating Society continues to fill its indefinable place in Hall _ life and refuses to take itself too seriously.

F.G.M.


33

ST. EDMUND HALL MAGAZINE.

THE ESSAY SOCIETY.

Yresident,

1921-22: 1922-23 :

H. C.

SHEARMAN.

T'. N.

LLOYD.

The Essay Society has lost nothing of its prestige, and is. able to give a satisfactory account of itself. At the first meeting of the Hilary Term, 1922, J. J. G. vValkinton read a paper on 'The Referendum.' The paper wa s provocative and nothing short of a referendum could have settled the many issues raised by it. H. C. Shearman next read a sympathetic paper on ' Francis Thompson.' At the following meeting, F. G: Marcham introduced the Society to Benvenuto Cellini. The Society quickly succumbed to the allurement of this perilous craftsman. Mr. Janko Lavrin, Lecturer in Russian at the University of Nottingham, presented at the last meeting a penetrating study of ' Dostoievsky.' In M:ichaelmas Term, H. A. Barnes-Lawrence read an instructive paper on ' Vitamins,' which seemed to provide the right food for d~scussion. At the next meeting the President confessed himself to be an admirer of Thomas Hardy's novels. T.N. L. THE MADRIGAL SOCIETY.

Conductor,

1921-22: 1922-23 :

F. T.

J.

BucKLE.

w.

GILBERT.

The . weekly rehearsal of Madrigals has been kept . up · and much new music chosen chiefly from the Elizabethan period of Madrigal composers has ·been· sung. An Eights' \Veek Concert was given in the Quadrangle under the auspices of the Society. F. J. B. THE THOMAS HEARNE SOCIETY, · MICIIAELMAS,

President: F. D.

WALKER;

1921.

Secretary: G.

SAYLE.

Hr_LARY, 1922.

President: F. G.

l\1.ARCHAM;

Secretary: E. C.

LAMB.

: The Society was founded in Mich. Term, 1921, as the outcome of a vague desire among some ·m embers of the Hall to read plays, but all hick of definition was quickly dispelled by a written constitution laying down rules with a practical firmnes s which com-


34

S!. EDMUND BALL MAGAZlNE.

manded respect. Meetings were held every Saturday afternoon in the winter terms and were devoted to tea and the reading of modern plays. The demarids of space made it necessary to limit membership to ten. The Society, having forgotten its constitution, settled down tl:). the new form of entertainment with surprising ease and great enjoyment, and readily undertook the impersonation of characters: of all ages and both sexes. Towards: the end of Hilary Term, 1922, it was felt that a broader construction could be placed ori its interest in drama and more permanent :value gained from its reading experience. It was therefore decided' to attempt the production of a s,hort play before the end of the. year and also to make: it a condition of membership that each member writes a one-act play annually. During the first year the Society · has read mainly from the works of Galsworthy, Shaw, Pinero and ; Milne. F.G.M. THE JOHN OLDHAM SOGIE1W. 1921-22.

President: G. H.

TUBBS;

Secretaries:

B. BARBER,

T. N.

LLOYD.

1922-23.

President: T. N.

LLOYD;

Secretary: . v. vV.

MILES.

The spirits of those past and distinguished members of the Hall who belonged to the literary craft will never point lean and accusing fingers at the p·resent generation of undergraduates for allowing their names to be smothered in the dust of time. Among otner resuscitations, John Oldham once more appears: in our midst, more :vigorous, we believe, than when he fed the fire of the Popish Plot madness: by writing satires. He helps to embody what is now considered to be one of the ' permanent ' societies. of the Hall. But you would know what we do? That, of course, is of little moment. Like most societies, we refuse to submit too completely to hard and fast rules, and · when we are not engaged in facetia.e, we read plays, and sometimes prose. So far we have found' most of our enjoyment amongst the Elizabethans ; though Henrik Ibsen and Sir James' Barrie have had a sympathetic hearing. There are1 points of kinship between the John Oldham Society and the senior society of the kind. These, however, have not resulted in conflict, and, for our part, we are able to forecast a flourishing state in the future. T.N.L.


S1': . "EDMUND . HALL 'M AGAZINE.

35

THE CHESS CLUB. Secretary,

1921-22 :.

F. J.

1922-23:

F.

c.

B ucKLE . BAZETT-} ONES.

The Club continued to take part· in the Inter-Collegiate Shield Competition with no small success, again securing third place. Our most enterprising game was played on eight boards again st Queen's and resulted in a victory for th e Hall ; the deciding game was on the third board which was won for us by a brilliant sacrifice. This Term the team was strengthened . by the addition of G. W. Knight and C. Lummis, the former being wanted for the Univ ersity Chess Club, the latter not losing a single game. There was no H all Tournament this Term, but we hope to revive this contest.

F. C. B-J.

SPORTS CLUBS, 1921-2. THE BOAT CLUB. 1921-22.

Captain :

J. J.

G.

\VALKINTON;

S ecreta.ry : E. 0.

BENNETT .

1922-23.

Ca:pta.in:

~' -

R . M.

CHAPLIN;

Secretary : H . A.

BLAIR.

. llv 3£ KaL avTot (3&vr£<; €-rri KArjt(H Ka(li:,ov . . tf~<; o' i'6p.£VOt 7!'0At~V d.A.a TV7!'TO~ f.{m·/.w"i<;.

In Michaelmas: Term, 192r, the Junior Clinker Fours were revived by the O.U.B .C. and the H all put on a four, which was remarkable chiefly for its weight, consisting of : Bow. C. Lummi s. 2. N. B. Trenham. 3· ]. L. Hill. Str. H. A. Bla ir. Cox. vV. Hindle. None of these meri had rowed before, and it was chiefly thi s that was responsible for their defeat by Christ Church, the eventual winners. ·Apart from the crew there were four M·a wdesley crews, and some good racing t ook place. The winnet·s were long and


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36

s teady and were stroked well by Trendell, though perhaps their style was not all that could be desired. The crew was:Bow. C. A. Plaxton. 2. F. Bazett-Jones. 3· E. G. Price. Str. A. McD .. Trendell. Cox. C. F. Latham.

c:

The general Mawdesley standard this year was considered to be higher than usual and people were very optimistic for Torpids, but though we managed to catch Lincoln II, our performance on the other five nights was disappointing. • A. T. Wilder (Merton) coached us, and we improved tremendously under him, but on looking back iLseems q1,1ii:e. clear that we w·ere overtrained, and, by the erid of six da)'s' racing, very" stale. CHARACTERS OF THE TORPID. C. A. PLAXTON, I I. I. He had done some rowing before he came up, ~t Magdalen College School, and acquired a neat style, but was always slow with his leg-work, chiefly orwing to unsteadiness forward. His time at bow was: good, and he improved considerabl.y during the races.

Bo~.

2.

A. McD. TREND ELL, I 1.9. He was very muscul'ar in his: arms and shoulders:, and extraordinarily short in his legs:, and consequently found it very difficult to keep with the rest of the crew dudng a long row, especially as the crew as a whole were long in the water and steady ; if he could manage to row without tying himself into knots he would be a useful man in any boat as he can always be relied upon to• shove every ounce1 of weight he possesses.

3· T. B. CooPER, I I .o. ' Hail to thee, blithe spirit, Oar thou never wertThat from '3,'-or near itSwearest forth thy heart In profuse strains:. of unpremeditated art.' Absolutely the hardest worker in the whole boat. 4· N . B. TRENHAM, I2·3· Most of what haSI been said about '2' applies to him also. He · was unsteady forward, and very inclined to lose his head during the races:; but there can be no doubt as to his: 'e agerness to · improve and he1 worked like a trooper all through training and during the races.


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37

5路 C. LuMMIS, r2.o. The casual observer on the bank would have said that he was the best oar in the boat, but his performance in the races was disappointing. His leg-work was slow, and his time was not all that it might have been. With careful coaching he will improve. 6. H. A. BLAIR, I r.6. He was far too conscientious about his form,-it is a gooo fault,-but it made him worry absurdly about each fresh thing that was to.Jd him, with the result that the others were temporarily excluded. Experience will cure this, and when he has learnt to be more optimistic, and steadier forward, he will be good. He works tremendously hard, and had a very difficult position-at ' 6 '--in :rorpids; this and his extraordinary capacity for worrying over details ma.k e one wonder th.at his performance was as good 路as it undoubtedly was. 7路 E. G. PRICE, ro. 10. Until about a week before Torpids he was not good. His recovery and beginning were both in~ clined to: be slorvenly and his leg-work was onl'y moderate. Suddenly, however, he improved out of all recognition, and during the actual races was most effective. His time was not very brilliant, but he backed up ' stroke,' and as ' 7 ' rowed very well. Stroke. W. R. M. CHAPLIN, 12.7. He came up with some rowing experieb..ce, and was therefore put stroke-the last place in the boat that he was suited for. He was: longer in the water, and heavier than anyone else, and this, added to his efforts to get the crew l'ong and steady together (which were to some extent successful), made him over-reach forward, and also made him wash out in a long row. Cox.

c. F., LATHAM, 8. 13. In practices he always seemed afraid of letting hi~1seif go, and his steeri~g was . erratic; 路. hut in the races . he suddenly gained complete confidence .in himself and in the crew, and his steering was excellent:

On the firsrt: night we bumped Lincoln II half-way along the Green Bank. Wegait1ed noticeably between Weir's Bridge and the Stone, probably owing to the fact that we were heavier, and as a matter of fact. we ought to have caught them earlier than we did. The second night we chased Worcester II, b~t they made th~ir bump before we had gained much. On _ the. third. night we were gaining on Christ Church III when>_we caught a crab, and orily managed to get away from Lincoln II by the skin of


38

ST. EDMUND HALL MAGAZINE.

our ·tedh. On the last three nights: we got gradually worse, and never looked ' like catching them. Eights: were mu.c h the same tale- though it must he admitted that we had ve•r y bad luck during the races..,--and perhaps again 'Ye suff~red from over training. It is a fact that in practices both for Torpids and Eights: we did considerably faster t,imes than in -the' races:. CHARACTERS OF THE EIGHT.

Bow. T. B. CooPER, IO. rz. Improved tremendously on his Torpids: form ; though he. was: never very pt·etty' he worked like a nigger and kept us in unfailing good spirits all the time. 2. G. N. T. WmDRINGTON, 10. rz. There is not much to be said about him. He was: very slow with his: legs:, and his time was not good ; also he was obviously unable to stay the course. 3· E. G. PRICE, ro.g. His ~liding forward was apt to be unsteady, and consequently his beginning was liable to be ' a circumstance over which he had no control,' hut he improved this considerably, and wh~n he was put back to ' 3 .' from '7,' he had less to worry about in the boat, and con~equently his: rowing became better and better. His: control, or lack of control, over his slide was his weak point, but .considering his weight be was: ~as:ily the most useful man of the bow oars. 4· E. 0. BENNETT, ro. rz. If he had realised that he was not so good, he might have been better. As it was:, his performance was disappointing, though he worked his: hardest. 5· C. LuMMrs, r2.3. His: finish was, and still is:, very weak, and he never mastered the principles of driving his bo:dy over with his legs:, consequently he hardly rowed a rz-stone bl'ade. His general style improved greatly in Eights, however, and when he learns: to row his weight he wiH be better. 6. H. A. BLAIR, r r. 5· His shoulder work was: very cl'ums:y, and his finish weak, owing to a tendency to shoot his slide. He gives the impression that he is always preparing for some colossal effort, and one presumes it is his ' beginning,' but to see his ' beginning,' is to -be disappointed: If he could only loosen his shoulders and arms:, he would be much more useful than he is: at present. 7· J: J. G. WALKINTON, 10.4. His rowing was always: very like a: dog tugging at a rope-all four paws planted firmly on ·something, and grim determination written all' over him. He


ST. EDMUND HALL MAGAZINE.

39

was very apt to shoot his slide away, but worked tremendously hard, and considering ·his weight, was far the most effective oar in the boat. His time-keeping was excellent, and he backed up stroke splendidly. Stroke. w. R. M. CHAPLiN, I;:·3· His' beginning, was nothing more than an enormous ' hoick ' with his shoulders, which made it very difficult for the crew to follow him ; and this accounted for the fact that as a crew we were seldom really together. Cox. H. G. LICKES, 8. I I. His command of the English language was amazing, but he was terribly ·heavy-handed. If he could only nave learnt to give a boat a chance, he would ·have been a good cox. His steering, · how·ever, during the races was good. On the first night we rowed! over; Magdalen III bumped Jesus m front of us. On. the second night we ought to have bumped Jesus ; if stroke had been able to raise a spurt down the barges we might have caught them, but we paid the _penalty for this mistake by being bumped the next night by Queen's II, and the next night by vVadha;m II. On the Tuesday night there was a bump in front of and behind us ; and on the last night we had the extraordinary piece of bad luck to break our rudder lines when we were gaining well on Jesus ; this made us easy prey for Merton II. The: Plumptre Fours were rowed a week after Eights. ' A' Crew, consisting of bow, ' 6, '7 ' and ' 4 ' of the Eight, coxed by Lickes', won easily. At the beginning ·of the present Miehaelmas Term we decided to change the Plumptre Fours from the end of the Summer Term to the end of this Term ; and also we decided that they should be rowed on fixed seats, instead of slides, as had been done previously. This was done to give th'e Eightsmen some regular ro>Wing to do this Term, and al'so to have an. opportunity to see prospective Torpids men in ' racing trim,' in light boats. In view of this alteration, the Mawdesley Fours were rowed by Freshmen only; and we only had three crews." The winning crew : Bow. F. W. Benton. 2. D. E. Havergal. 3· J. F. Bleasdale. Str. G. A. Johnson. Cox. A. G. Corlett.


40

ST. EDMUND HALL MAGAZINE.

was . the heaviest, and they were better together than the others, consequently they won fairly easily. The Plumptre'<S' were mwed on were won by ' C ' Crew : Bow. J. W. 2. T. H. 3¡ R. L. Str. H. A. Cox. F. B.

No~ember zgth and 3oth, and

Blair. Horsfield. Hill. Blair. Wesley.

They were well together, and light, moreover they all pulled their weight (always an advantage). In their first race they were nearly beaten, and deserved to be, too; they were too short in the water, and were ' bucketing ' badly, but thanks to their stroke, they just managed to get home first. In the final they rowed much better, were longer and steadier, and there was. not much doubt about the result after the Boathouse. In looking back this Term, specialty at the Plumptre's; I feel bound to mention the enormous. improvement in Pl'axton, TrendeU and Sayle, as oarsmen, and the very promising standard of racing powers shown by the strokes of the Plumptre's-particl.Jlarly Price. W.R.M.C.

CRICKET CLUB. Ca.ptain: W. R. Secretary : R.

}AMES.

PHILLIPS.

With the loss of five. of last year's team, and with little talent among the Freshmen, we had small hope of doing as well as the team of last year. The record of the team was: lost, . 2 ; drawn, r 1.

Games played, 14; won, r ;

The play during the first half of the season-especialiy in the cup ties~was fairly good, and it was only late in the Term that the eleven showed unmistakable . signs of weakness. Our illsuccess must be largely attributed to poor batting; though the fidding was never good, and the bowling, on occasions, ¡was distinctly mediocre.


ST. EDMUND HALL MAGAZINE. The' season opened with a match against Keble ' A,' which was lost by twelve runs. ;;:c ores: S.E. H., so; Keble 'A,' 6z. On May 6th, we defeated Abingdon. Scores : Abi-n gdon, 92 ; S.E.H., 152 for 9· W . R. James batted well and scored 69 (not out).

_ A match with Pembroke was drawn. for 4 (declared); S.E.H. , 68 for 7·

Scores: Pembroke, 134

Ashhurst Hospital defeated us by 174-roi (E. R . L. Ward, 41). The match was lost mainly through bad judg ment in running between the wickets. 1

_The first o~ the cup-ties was played against Lincoln. Scores : Lincoln, r68 and 140 for I (declared); S.E.H., 139 and 61. W. R. James again gave a good display, obtaining 65 runs in the first innings. Apart from the first two or three batsmen the batting was feeble . The next cup-tie, with Jesus College, was again lost, chiefly through the inabi}ity to get runs. Scores: Jesus, II7 and 149 for 9; S. E. H . , 68 and 47· (H. H. Vickers, 5 for 46 and 4 for zo; \V. R. James, 5 for 38.). The Hall did well in the next cup-tie, against Brasenose, to dismiss seven of their opponents for 146. E. R. L. Ward bowled well, and made 3 I run.s1. The last cup-tie was against St. John's (II6 for 6). We were dismissed for 57 (E . R. L. Ward, zz). Perhaps the only other match worthy of mention was that against Shipton-under-Wychw()()(). Although defeated, the tean1 had a most enjoyable day. Scores: Shipton, I86; i).E.H., 91. In the course of the season E. R. L. Ward scored 274 runs, with an average of I7; W. R. James, z6o runs, average, I6.zs . In bO'Wling, E. R . L. Ward obtained 29 wickets, with an average of 13 runs per wicket; w. R. Jamesl, I6 wickets, average, 13.4; H., H. Vickers, 27, ave-rage, rj.9; R. Phillips, zo, average, 14.!. Colours were awarded to R. Phillips, V. W. Miles and B. Barber.

R. P.


42

ST.

EDMUND HALL MAGAZINE.

RUGBY FOOTBALL CLUB.

Capta.in : E. C. LAMB. Secretary: A. B. HoDGSON. vVe are abl'e to report the formation of a ' Rugger ' Club this year. This-as far as can be discovered from extant records--is quite a new venture. vVith the increasing numbers in the Hall, the old obstacle-the insufficiency of men- has vanished, and it is now comparatively easy to provide representatives for all sports. A beginning was made in Hilary Term when a few practices were held, and tht·ee fixtures were arranged. Two of these were scratched owing to the unkindness of the weather. The thira game, agains:t Queen's II, was: won by nine points to eight. For the Michaelmas Term fourteen Is:t XV fixtures have been arranged with the ' A ' and 2nd XV's of other colleges. The colours adopted are maroon vests with amber collars, and maroon stockings with amber tops. There is nothing in these colour·s which strikes the eye with unpleasant force. They give the team an air of quiet determination which is good to see. E. C. L.

ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL CLUB. 1921-22.

Captain:

H. G. LICKES;

Secretary:

]. JoHNsoN .

19·22-23·

Captain: J. JoHNSON; Secretary 1 _B . BARBER. In Michaelmas Term, 1922, we commenced sixth in Division II. During! the Term ·we played 16 matches, of which we won 10, drew 1, and lost 5· We scored 62 goals,· while only 16 were scored by our opponents, and of 32 possible points we obtained 23. At the end of the Term H. B. Vickers resigned the captaincy and the Hon. Secretary, H. G. Lickes, was elected for Hilary Term, and J. Johnson Hon. Secretary. In Hilary Term we found ourselves drawn against Merton in the first round of the cup ties. We met them on their ground on Febmary 3rd and in a hard and fast game we drew (1-1).


ST. EDMUND HALL MAGAZINE.

43

The replay took place on our ground on Feb. 8th, and thi51 time, after an even harder game, we won (2-r). In the second round we met Worcester on our g round on February 14th. They won (o-r). Throughout the season the outstanding feature was the good work done by the defence, who were rarely found to fail at critical times. Colours have been awarded to B. Barber, V. W. Miles, G. N. T. VJiddr"ington and E. R. L. Ward.

].].

HOCKEY CLUB. l\{ICHAELMAS,

Captain-F. G.

MARCHAM.

I 92 I.

Han. Sec.-E. S.

WILLIAMS.

HILARY, 1922.

Captain-E. S.

\NrLLIAMS.

Eon. Sec.-A. R.

MoRRIS

The season 1921-22 was almost disastrous for the Hockey Club, which had great difficulty in keeping together in the face of heavy demands on eligible men by the River and other sports. The weather also proved a hindrance, for at first the ground was too soft and later it became too hard. However, a team was maintained and kept many fixtures, but ¡with a series of defeats almost unbroken. The most promising feature of the season was the support given by Freshmen, who seem likely to provide a sound nucleus. for the next team. Colours were awarded to G. N. T. Wicfdrington and R. E. Priestly.

F.G.M.

SW.IMl\HNG CLUB.

Captain: 1921-22,

T. VI.

GILBERT.

1922-23, C.

LUMMIS.

In Trinity Term the Swimming Club, after many years of inactivity, demonstrated quite vigorously that it was by no means extinct. In spite of many difficulties, due to the¡ fact that our expert swimmers are also expert oarsmen, two members cif the Hall entered for the Freshmen's Fifty Yards; Race. H. A . Blair distinguished himself by reaching the final, after he had


44

ST. EDMUND HALL MAGAZINE.

made two journeys to Iffiey with the Eight-a distinctly creditable performance. The most popular event of the Term, however, was the race for the ' E. J. Mathers' Swimming Cup, which had not been competed for since 1914. This race was con tested in the river over a course of half-a-mile, the competitors swimming down-stream to the Hall Barge. There were ten competitors, all of whom finished the course. The winner. C. Lummis, won by twenty-five yards from H. A. Blair. Swimming colours have been awarded to the two last-named. T.W.G. LAWN TENNIS CLUB .

Captain- A. P.

KINGSLEY.

S ecret"a¡r y-J. L.

HILL.

Ten matches were arranged, but owing to inclement weather, two of these were scratched. The following represented the Hall :-H. A. BarnesLawrence, E. A. Lobo, \V. R. M. Chaplin , E. G. Price, M. M: Knappen, J. L. Hill and A. P. Kingsley. The Hall Doubles Tournament ended by G. \V. Knight and A. P. Kingsley defeating M. M. Knappen and E. A. Lobo.

J. L. Hill was awarded colours and elected captain for the next season. A.P.K.

DEGREES CONFERRED. January 26th, 1922. - B.A. : E. S. Woodley. February r8th. -B.A. : B. C. \V. Johnson, H. C. Robertson. March 9th.-B. A. : P. G. Welford. May 27th.-M.A.: C. W. Fullmer. July 7th.-B.A. : H. C. Ingle. August 8th.-B.A. : C. E. Baldwin, R. F. Hill, J. Johnson, D. ] . . Parsons. October 19th.-B.A. : H. Vl. Butterworth, E. L. Millen, ]. F. A. ¡ Porter. November r8th.-B.A. : S. N. Godfrey. November 3oth.-M.A. : J. Boultbee. B.A. : T. D. Baxter, H. H. Vickers. December r6th.-B.A. : W ', G. F. Qewar.


ST. EDMUND HALL MAGAZINE.

MATRICULATIONS, 1922. LENT TERM.

Commoners: J. B. C. Hordern (Merchant Taylor's School). , W. F. Ingram-Cotton (St. Joseph's College, Darjeeling.)..,. TRINITY TERM.

Commoner: T. H. Horsfield (King's School, \iVorcester). MrcHAELMAS TERM.

Exhibitioners: A. R. Clark (City of London School). J. G. Cogplin (Heath Grammar School, Halifax). G. A. Johnson (Christ's Hospital). Commoners: L. O'S. Beere (Dean Close School, Cheltenham). F. W. Benton (Rugby Lower School). J. W. Blair (Berkhamsted School). J. F. Bleasdale (Lancing College). W. H. M. Branston (Stamford Grammar School). E. P . Brice (Huntingdon County School) . F. Buchanan (St. Edward's School). G. V. Carlin (Nottingham High School). A. C. Corlett (Worksop College). F. W. L. Evans (King's School, Bruton). C. N. Harpur (Rossall School). L. N. Harvey (King Edward VI School, Southampton). D. E. Havergal (Bishop's Stortford College). R. L. RiTl (St. Augustine's College, Canterbury). J. F. Hopkinson (St. Edward's School). M. M. Martin (Ordination Test School, Knutsford). B. P. Mohan (Ordination Test School, Knutsford). R. R. Nattrass (Lancing College). D. S. P. Noakes (St. Lawrence College, Ramsgate). E. G. Rowe (Chatham House School·, Ramsgate). H. W. Taylor (Stamford Grammar School). H. A. Triffitt (Bradford Technical College). F. B. Wesley (Stamford Grammar School). F. J. Williams (Cheltenham College:).

45


ST. EDMUND HALL MAGAZINE.

46

ST. EDMUND HAUL MAGAZINE. The price of the Magazine is reduced to 3/- each copy. Copies of the two previous issues can be obtained for the same price. It is possible to compound for the sum of two guineas; those subscribers who have not done so can thereby save themselves andl us the inconvenience of small transactions every yea r. Cheques should be drawn to the Senior Treasurer, St. Edmund Hall Magazine.

EPILOGUE. Lecto¡ribus A ularibus, valete. If you have found this Mag a-. zine light, it is your wisdom perhaps that might have weightened it; if, peradventure, you have found it heavy, then is it not your wit that could have lightened it? Remember, we look to )rou to make provision wherefrom we may weave you a good garland that will help to keep the memory of the Hall perennially green. THE EDITORS.

December,

1922 .

Printed at the Holywell Press, Oxford.


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