| 262 | MEMOIR OF REV. F. HODGSON |
The high-minded and accomplished Head-master of Eton, Dr. Hawtrey, fully entered into the spirit of the Provost’s plans for improvement, and responded to his appeal for assistance in the following cordial letter:—
My dear Provost,—I am delighted to find that in almost every
point which your letter touches upon we entirely agree. In many I have already
anticipated your views, in some I have been restrained as yet from doing so, only by
the veto of superior
| IMPROVEMENTS AT ETON. | 263 |
The first result of this alliance was the introduction of the teaching of modern languages, and the acceptance of Prince Albert’s offer of annual prizes for French, German, and Italian. The Provost secured the presence of Dr. Praetorius,1 a distinguished German scholar, at the first examinations, and Professor Smythe wrote with a view to the institution of similar examinations and prizes at Cambridge.
The Marquis Wellesley’s example in sending his bust to the college was followed, at the suggestion of the Provost, by the Duke of Wellington and several other eminent Etonians, whose interest in the school was increased by the impetus now given to enlightened education, as well as to more material progress. The Eton dinner this year (1840) commemorated the 400th anniversary of the foundation, and was very largely attended, the chair being occupied by Lord Denman in place of the Marquis
1 Librarian at Windsor Castle. |
| 264 | MEMOIR OF REV. F. HODGSON. |
Among the manifold avocations and distractions of the new office,
literary tastes were not forgotten, nor was private correspondence neglected. In April 1841
appeared the ‘Arundines Cami,’ a
collection of translations from English Poems into Greek and Latin verse, the grave and gay
thrown lightly together, to which copious contributions were made by the Provost of Eton,
who had also a large share in the selection and arrangement. Among the other contributors
were Lord Lyttelton, Dr.
Hawtrey, Dr. Kennedy, John Herman Merivale, Henry
Hallam, and Dr. Donaldson, and the
editor was the Rev. Henry (afterwards Archdeacon) Drury, eldest son of the ‘Harry
Drury’ so often mentioned in this book, and whose death in March of
this year was deeply lamented by his old friend and fellow-collegian, the Provost, and by
many other friends to whom his hearty and kindly nature had long endeared him. Hodgson visited him at Harrow more than once during his
last illness and administered the Sacrament to him just before his death in the presence of
| LETTER FROM THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE. | 265 |
In the spring of this year the Duke of Devonshire placed at the Provost’s disposal his house at Kemp Town, Brighton, of which he writes:—
I am in such good humour with my house at Kemp Town, because it suits you and Mrs. Hodgson, and does your health good.
The Duke adds with reference to Hodgson’s propensity for collecting pebbles on the sea-shore:—
You would go wild if you could see the pebbles polished which have coincidently arrived with your letter, picked up by me last summer near Havre. Now do call Wm. Baker.1 William, pray show the Dr.2 the polished pebble with a hole in it that is on one of the china trays in the library. That I picked up at Dieppe. The paintings are by Vigoreux, a Frenchman, and represent the presents made by the French King at the court of Japan. They are medallions of Japanese towns and princes. The presents were paintings mythological. I am intoxicated with the beauty of the country in spring, the
1 His servant. 2 The Duke always called the Provost Dr. Hodgson, though, as has been seen, he was B.D. |
| 266 | MEMOIR OF REV. F. HODGSON. |
You are by no means to leave Kemp Town, when you say; you must stay as long as it is agreeable to you to remain by the sea-side. If I should take it into my head to want to go to Brighton I should like so much to find you there, and I should have my bedroom and library as usual, and you would not be in the least disturbed. But such a plan of pleasure is not likely to be my lot. I am very glad for you all and for Lord Denman for Captain Denman’s 1 success. I wish
1 Mrs. Hodgson’s brother, the Hon. Joseph Denman, R.N., distinguished for his eminent services in the suppression of the slave trade, for many years captain of the Queen’s yacht, and, as admiral, commander-in-chief of the Pacific Station. |
| LETTER FROM MRS. ARKWRIGHT. | 267 |
Mrs. Robert Arkwright describes a tour on the Continent in a letter of which the Duke writes that it is the perfection of nature and truth. Mrs. A.’s, letter is dated Sutton, September 9.
My dear Mr.
Hodgson,—Our tour was most charming, so charming that I can
give you no idea of it. Much and often did I wish for you, who would have been
so worthy of all that nature and art poured out to overflowing. I was more
pleased with France than I expected. It is certainly a fine country, though its
natural beauties are not interesting; but there are some things in the South
well worth seeing. The Pont du Gard is most magnificent, and Nismes, with its
beautiful amphitheatre and many other interesting remains. Arles, too, and
Avignon, which has a peculiar charm of its own, though there is not much to see
in the town; but the situation is beautiful. We went from
| 268 | MEMOIR OF REV. F. HODGSON. |
| A TOUR ON THE CONTINENT. | 269 |
To pictures, with shame I confess it, I am quite insensible, except in three or four instances. The finest picture in the world is at Venice, and that I saw without the least emotion. The gallery at Bologna, too, I cared nothing about; in short, I have not that sense.
Italy, beautiful, beautiful Italy, I place first of all;
then the Tyrol; then Switzerland, beautiful but
| 270 | MEMOIR OF REV. F. HODGSON. |
I almost forgot to tell you that the book I send you is from the Island of San Lazaro at Venice, and was printed at the monastery there, which was a favourite spot of Lord Byron’s, and where he was instructed in the Armenian language by Father Paschal Ancher. I was sorry not to see him, but he was away for his health. Another brother showed us all over the convent and gardens, full of oleanders, large trees. The printing-offices are very large, and they appear to be very busy; the type, as you will see, is remarkably good. I know you will accept this poor offering as a sort of memento of Lord Byron, and as rather a curious book.
Have you read Horace
Twiss’s ‘Life of Lord Eldon?’ I think you would like it. It appears to
me well written, interesting, and very amusing; and he has given private
anecdotes and letters of WELLESLEY’S WILLOWS. 271
Lord Wellesley’s affectionate interest in Eton was manifested in many different ways. In February, 1842, he writes:—
I am anxious that my willow-grove should be planted this season, and called Wellesley’s willows. I would plant not less than a dozen. In that neighbourhood most of my verses were composed.
Ne quis sit lucus quo plus se jactet Apollo
. |
| 272 | MEMOIR OF REV. F. HODGSON. |
A few months later Lord Wellesley was buried in the college chapel.
Of nearly the same date is a letter from Henry Hallam, respecting the portrait of his son, Arthur, the subject of Mr. Tennyson’s ‘In Memoriam,’ which may be found interesting by those who value, as it deserves, that imperishable name.
My dear sir,—I have in my possession a picture of my
late son, painted for Dr. Keate by Sir
Martin Shee. It was returned to me by Dr.
K. after the loss that I sustained, partly for the purpose of
enabling Sir Francis Chantrey to execute
a bust, which he did with great skill and success. The picture was not restored
to Dr. Keate, he having expressed a wish that it should
continue with me. As I cannot help thinking that the ultimate destination of
such pictures, when they are persons worthy of the place, is the
Provost’s lodge, already so rich in monuments of art, and so abundant in
testimonies of Eton merit, I should be far more pleased that this picture of my
son—who, if his life had been prolonged, might have displayed the mature
fruits of talents which bore a very beautiful blossom, and excited the
admiration, as well as conciliated the friendship, of some now among the most
distinguished youth of England—should be VISIT OF ROGERS TO ETON. 273
The poet Rogers paid a visit to the Lodge in December 1842. On his departure the Provost wrote to him with reference to a recent conversation:—
It is with something like fear and trembling that one even approaches such an argument as that which you suggested last night. But I could not prevent my thoughts from recurring to the defect in Milton’s answer to the supposed difficulty of creation without the choice of the created; and I would venture to ask whether a less unsatisfactory answer may not be found in some such reflections as the following. First, that the blessing was conferred upon such easy conditions as we cannot imagine any being endowed with reason to have refused, could they have been previously proposed to him; and, secondly, when the blessing was
1 This picture is now in the Lodge at Eton. |
| 274 | MEMOIR OF REV. F. HODGSON. |
I am aware of the imperfect development of all this, but thought it less unbecoming than entire silence; and if I am mistaken in that opinion, still I am convinced you will not regard it as presumptuous. . . . . By the words ‘imperfect development,’ I mean that the difficulty of the permission of evil is not touched upon, nor the usual solution of that difficulty, namely, that you cannot even conceive the probation of a moral and intellectual being without such a permission, and upon the notion of a trial or probation the whole history of man, as given in the Bible, is founded; a notion corroborated by every day’s experience, and by the consciousness of every reasonable being.
| LETTER FROM ROGERS. LIFE AT ETON. | 275 |
On the occasion of this visit the poet left his walking-stick behind him, and thus acknowledged its restoration:—
I am sorry to have encumbered you with any of my property. Dr. Franklin left his cane to Washington. ‘If it were a sceptre,’ says he, ‘he would have merited it, and would become it.’ I would not leave you mine, for it would be unworthy of your acceptance; and, were it a sceptre, I know you would not accept it. . . . . What can I say in answer to such a letter as yours? I can only thank you from my heart, and say God bless you and yours now and for ever.
Such visits as these must have added materially to the pleasure of residence at the Lodge, itself a beautiful and most interesting old house, its walls covered with pictures of distinguished Etonians. His ‘Hours of Idleness’ there, which were not really more frequent than Byron’s, are thus described by the Provost himself:—
|
There would he walk, not lonely tho’ alone,
Call back the shadows of his pleasures flown,
While oft their portraits to his pensive eye
Reviv’d the memory of his friends gone by.
|
In the study was a bust of Byron by
Thorwaldsen,
| 276 | MEMOIR OF REV. F. HODGSON. |
Do you remember a picture you disapproved of in an ante-room downstairs here? It is gone; but why I mention it is that the frame, a beautiful one, was preserved, and, being divided, surrounds no less dear a man than the Provost of Eton.
Hodgson’s bust of Byron by Thorwaldsen, was taken at Rome at the same time as the celebrated statue, at present in Trinity College, Cambridge. This statue was now on view in London—a fact of which Mrs. Leigh apprised the Provost in the following letter:—
Dear Mr. Hodgson,—I have reproached myself for not telling you, what perhaps by this time you have otherwise heard, that the statue, Thorwaldsen’s, is now to be seen at 14, South Audley Street, at Sir R. Westmacott’s, who is making a pedestal preparatory to its being placed in Trinity College,
1 This picture is now at Hardwicke. |
| STATUE OF BYRON. BYRON ON SCULPTURE. | 277 |
P.S. I forgot to say, I have seen the statue and have seen nothing so satisfactory as to resemblance since I saw the original. The fact is, one sees the head and face in every point of view. . . . . I do become very superannuating, and always think of poor B.’s horror of ‘withering at top first,’ not from the same superabundance of brains, but wear and tear of the few that I possess. . . . . But you do and always will sympathise in my troubles for the sake of him, who is gone.
The insertion here of some fragmentary remarks by Lord Byron on the subject of sculpture may not be considered
inappropriate. ‘Sculpture, the noblest of the arts, because the noblest imitation
of man’s
| 278 | MEMOIR OF REV. F. HODGSON. |
But it is time to revert to the more official occupations of the Provost of Eton. Very soon after his accession to office, Provost Hodgson revived an old custom, which had long lapsed into disuse, of making periodical visitations or progresses, as they were termed in the Eton Statutes, for the purpose of inspecting the various properties of the college in different parts of the country, of duly estimating the increasing value of estates, of providing for the proper repair of churches, and the fitting administration of ecclesiastical functions in all Eton parishes. The advantages of recommencing such a salutary practice are too obvious to need comment.
At Eton itself no time was lost in bringing to a successful issue those
plans of improvement and addition to the college buildings, to which allusion has already
been made. Under the chairmanship of the late Lord
Lyttelton, and through the indefatigable exertions of Mr. J. L. Dampier, as secretary, the Committee of
Improvement were soon in a position
| NEW BUILDINGS AT ETON. ROYAL VISITS. | 279 |
A few weeks before this ceremony Eton had been honoured, on the occasion of Montem, by the Queen and the Prince Consort, who again visited Eton in October of this year, accompanied by Louis Philippe. The frequency of these Royal visits made it necessary to establish a regular scale by which the granting of holidays on such occasions should be determined, and it was arranged that foreigners of distinction should be entitled to ask for a day’s holiday, except in the case of a sovereign, who might ask for a week.
Amidst these purely collegiate matters wider interests were not
disregarded. In 1845 an immense benefit was conferred upon the whole community at Eton by
the establishment of a thoroughly efficient system of drainage, at a cost of about
£4,000. The engineer who was employed to report upon the efficiency of these works
concludes his statement by a just tribute to the liberal and comprehensive spirit which had
actuated the Provost in his design. ‘Looking at the consequences in a more
extended view,’ says the engineer, ‘it is certain that your example will
| 280 | MEMOIR OF REV. F. HODGSON. |
About the same time a sanatorium was built for cases of infectious illness; and when the rival railways, the Great Western and the South Western, proposed to lay down lines to Windsor, great care was taken to prevent too close proximity to the sanatorium, or any other such encroachment upon college property as was likely to prove injurious.
The restoration of the collegiate church was another reform effected by
Provost Hodgson at Eton. This was begun by the
removal of the grotesque and unsightly wooden reredos, which defaced the east end. A
proposal by an advanced churchman of the new Oxford school for the elaborate decoration of
this wall was negatived by the Provost, who was of opinion that any such (at that time
unprecedented) innovation would excite too much contentious controversy as to counteract
any benefit which might indirectly arise from the contemplation of a gorgeous
ornamentation. It is probable that he also disapproved of the proposed design from a purely
aesthetic
| THE COLLEGIATE CHURCH AT ETON. | 281 |
On the best method of warming the chapel the Provost profited by the
experienced advice of Sir Joseph Paxton, the
talented originator of the great conservatories at Chatsworth, on the model of which the
Crystal Palace was constructed. A cemetery and chapel were established in the immediate
neighbour-
| 282 | MEMOIR OF REV. F. HODGSON. |
The addition to the college buildings was completed in 1846, and proved of the greatest permanent benefit to the whole school.
Without dwelling in detail upon the previous discomforts and abuses which disgraced the foundation, it is sufficient to point out that in one year there were only forty boys in college where the founder had intended provision to be made for seventy; and that as soon as the nomination system had been abolished, the entrance, intermediate, and final examinations made realities, and the material improvements made known, there were sixty candidates for one vacancy.
The historian1 of Eton, already mentioned, thus enumerates some of the advantages now obtained by the college, but which, before Provost Hodgson’s tenure of office, were conspicuous by their absence:—
A proper staff of servants was engaged to do all the menial work, under the eye of the matron; the
| IMPROVEMENTS IN COLLEGE. | 283 |
Eton scholarship received a renewed impetus by the employment at this
period of distinguished examiners, such, for instance, as Mr.
Creasy and Mr.
| 284 | MEMOIR OF REV. F. HODGSON. |
The origin of Eton Montem is lost in obscurity. It was probably a
religious procession to some shrine of the Virgin or other saint in the vicinity of Eton.
The character of the boy bishop, well known to those conversant with popular antiquities,
formed at one period a part of the ceremony; and continued to a comparatively late era to
be remembered in the mock representation of the parson and his clerk. This was very
properly abolished at the special request of Queen
Charlotte. But enough egregious folly was still inseparably connected with
the festival to provoke the indignant condemnation of all sensible men. Besides the absurd
procession of the school in grotesque costumes of the most motley description, besides the
authorised begging of alms by some of the Collegers in the character of highwaymen, there
was also to be deplored the extravagant expenditure of money thus rapidly accumulated,
which was squandered in reckless dissipation. Habits of debt
| ABOLITION OF MONTEM. | 285 |
|
Then, Fancy, fill thy dream
With harpies hovering round the rich to seize
Whate’er Imprudence yields to hours like these:
While tradesmen, tavern-keepers, watchful wait,
And credit-giving knaves prepare their bait
With proffer’d luxuries, that a youthful life
May toil to pay for with laborious strife,
While thoughtless of the wrongs she works below,
Wild Folly claps her hands above the show;
Shouts, as her mimic soldiers pace their way,
And waves her flag on Punch’s holiday.
|
Having long entertained an opinion that these evils were irremediable by
any measures short of the total abolition of the custom, it was with great satisfaction
that the Provost received in October, 1846, an appeal from the Head and Lower-master,
supported by a majority of the assistants, in favour of its immediate discontinuance. For
being assured that the popularity of Montem was so general and enthusiastic that any
premature exercise of authority in the
| 286 | MEMOIR OF REV. F. HODGSON. |
| ABOLITION OF MONTEM. | 287 |
But for many years Montem had been honoured by the presence of Royalty, and, as a matter of courtesy, the Provost thought it right to intimate to Her Majesty that, finding the evils attendant upon Montem to be irremediable, he had decided to abolish it, and was anxious to hear that such a step would not meet with the disapproval of the Queen and the Prince Consort. This communication was made through Mr. Anson, the Prince’s secretary, who, on November 12th, wrote that he had laid before the Queen all the reasons which the Provost had adduced for the abolition of Montem, that there existed in the Queen’s mind a very strong reluctance to giving her assent to it, but that she should like to see its abuses removed without its entire suppression.
The Provost answered as follows:—
With every grateful and loyal feeling, and more especially with a
deep sense of the interest shown in the welfare of Eton, I am so thoroughly convinced
by
| 288 | MEMOIR OF REV. F. HODGSON. |
He then proceeded to explain the strongly expressed views of the Head and Lower-master on the subject, and concluded by saying:—
I have anxiously weighed all the difficulties of the case, and am far from insensible to the reasons which have been so graciously adduced with reference to old Eton associations, for the preservation of the custom. But the conviction that many of its abuses are incurable, overpowers the strongest motive that I could have for ceasing to advocate its abolition.
The answer to this was that although the Royal feeling in favour of this
ancient custom remained the same, yet that the Queen would not interfere with those best
able to judge of the influence of Montem upon the school in that which they considered to
be the conscientious discharge of their duty. The
| ABOLITION OF MONTEM. | 289 |
Beyond the walls of Eton various opinions were expressed; many, whose names commanded respect, wrote to thank the Provost personally for his decision; of others, who did not speak or write, it was aptly remarked, ‘quum tacent clamant.’ The Press, also, made its remarks, and many were very erroneous from the impossibility of any one, except those who were in authority at Eton, knowing the exact circumstances of the case. In March, 1847, the year in which, in the ordinary course, Montem would have been celebrated, a meeting of its supporters was held in London, and an attempt was made to overthrow the decision, and to interfere with the authority of the Provost. Many assertions were made at this meeting which untruly represented the real state of the case, and it was altogether of a character more calculated to damage than promote any cause whatever. A proposal was made to address the Crown, but this was not carried into effect; Montem was finally abolished on June 6, 1847, and an old Etonian wrote to the Provost, remarking that—
The Titans of Cockspur Street might as well attempt to pull down Windsor Castle as to raise up another Montem.
| 290 | MEMOIR OF REV. F. HODGSON. |
Another writes:—
I cannot but admire your manliness in resisting an external pressure to defeat your sensible decision, which, I am sure, has obtained the approbation of a large portion of Etonians.
A neighbouring magistrate bore testimony to the improvement likely to be effected by the abolition in the morality, peace, and good order of the neighbourhood. Bishop Wilberforce, the Diocesan, wrote:—
The consciousness of high motive and, I doubt not, the issue of your Montem struggle, will far more, I am sure, than repay you for a little contumelious usage.
You must incur some unpopularity by every reform, but the abolition of Montem is a great and real one.
The improvements thus effected during the twelve years of Hodgson’s Provostship received due recognition from
the Public School Commissioners in 1864, and were not confined to the sphere of their more
immediate operation. The example set by Eton
| REFORM AT ETON. | 291 |
| ≪ PREV | NEXT ≫ |
