Frederick William Maitland, Downing Professor of the Laws of England: A Biographical SketchFisher, H. A. L. (Herbert Albert Laurens)
History
Frederick William Maitland, Downing Professor of the Laws of England: A Biographical Sketch
Fisher, H. A. L. (Herbert Albert Laurens)
Maitland, Frederic William, 1850-1906
The Chair of the Laws of England carried with it a Fellowship and
an official house at Downing. The College, standing apart from
"the sights" of Cambridge and possessing neither antiquarian nor
architectural interest, is probably neglected even by the most
conscientious of our foreign visitors. Yet during Maitland's tenure
of the Downing Chair distinguished jurists from many distant parts,
from America, Germany, Austria, France, found their way "through the
inconspicuous gateway opening off the main business street" into the
spacious quadrangle, with its pleasant grove of lime and elm, and its
two rows of late Georgian buildings fronting one another across the
grass. One of these guests has recorded his impressions. "About the
middle of the row on the western side Maitland had his house. His
study was a plain square room, not entirely given up to law or history
and not overcrowded with folios. Yet every book on the shelves had
evidently been chosen; there was no useless pedantic lumber. One gained
at once an impression of refined taste and sure critical judgment. The
workshop mirrored the worker. The view from the study window was that
of the open lawn and the monotonous row of houses opposite. But on the
western side the house was set right into the thicket. Here every sort
of English songster seemed to have its nest[20]."
Maitland at least was well content. He loved Cambridge, every stone
of it, and prized its friendships. There were Henry Sidgwick, his old
master in philosophy; and A. W. Verrall, an exact equal in University
standing, who had become intimate with him at Trinity, had shared his
chambers at Lincoln's Inn but had abandoned the law for the Greek and
Latin Classics; there were C. S. Kenny, a friend of undergraduate days,
a Union orator and a criminal lawyer; and G. W. Prothero, who bore most
of the weight of the historical teaching in the University; and Henry
Jackson, who long afterwards succeeded Jebb in the Chair of Greek; and
R. T. Wright, the Secretary to the University Press. For Dr Alex Hill,
the Master of Downing, Maitland soon came to entertain feelings of
affectionate admiration. Nor was his power of making friends limited to
men of his own age. His directness of manner, his simplicity and humour
at once secured him the confidence and respect of younger men, and he
rapidly made his name as one of the most inspiring teachers in the
University, giving to the student, in Mr Whittaker's eloquent words,
"a sense of the importance, of the magnificence, of the splendour of
the study in which he was engaged, so that it was impossible at any
time thereafter for one of his pupils to regard the law merely as a
means of livelihood[21]." His method of lecturing, like everything else
he did, was quite individual. The lecture was carefully written and
read in a slow distinct impressive voice to the audience, so slowly
that it was possible to take very full notes, and yet with such a rare
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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