Old Friends at Cambridge and ElsewhereClark, John Willis
History
Old Friends at Cambridge and Elsewhere
Clark, John Willis
University of Cambridge -- History
He could grasp the bearings of a complicated question swiftly
and readily—disentangle it, so to speak, from all that was not strictly
essential to it—and while others were still talking about it, doubtful
how to act, he would commit to paper a draft of a report which was
commonly accepted by those present as exactly resuming the general sense
of the meeting. He was in favour of a wide enlargement of University
studies, especially in the scientific direction—a course which was
impossible without funds; but at the same time no man ever loved his
college more dearly than he did—no man held more closely to the old idea
of duty to the college as a corporation; and it may be added that no
Vice-Master ever dispensed the hospitality incidental to the office with
greater geniality.
We have dwelt on Mr Trotter’s University career at some length; but let
it not be supposed that he was immersed in the details of University
business to the exclusion of other subjects. Though modest and retiring
almost to a fault, his interests were wide, and his knowledge extensive
and accurate. He had no mean acquaintance with physical science, on
which he gave collegiate lectures; he spoke and read several modern
languages, and was familiar with their literature; he took great
interest in music; he travelled extensively, and had a singularly minute
knowledge of out-of-the-way parts of the Alps, and of the little visited
country towns of Italy, to which he was attracted partly by their
history, partly by their art-treasures. He wrote easily and clearly,
though he never cared to cultivate a particularly elegant style; and as
a speaker he was always forcible, and sometimes exceedingly happy in the
utterance of tersely-worded, epigrammatic sentences, which resumed much
thought in few words.
We have dwelt of necessity in these brief remarks almost exclusively on
Mr Trotter’s public career. But there was another side to his character.
He was a generous and warm-hearted friend, whose friendship was all the
more sincere because it was so quiet and undemonstrative. Few had the
rare privilege of his intimacy; but those few will never forget that
kindly face, that bright smile of welcome, that charity which found
excuses for everybody—that liberality which, while it eschewed
publicity, was always ready to help the deserving, whether it was a
cause or an individual.
_10 December, 1887._
RICHARD OKES.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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