Oxford (England) -- Description and travel; University of Oxford
On the extreme right is the entrance to the Hall, running east, the
direction in which we are looking. In this Quadrangle formerly
stood a metal group of Samson slaying the lion, which, it is to be
regretted, has been removed. It served to give scale to the
Quadrangle.
]
literature without Lucretius, or a wine-glass of cold water.
When I look back and see him, more military than ecclesiastical (except
for a snuffle) in his doctorial scarlet, I think that it was partly his
brow that was his power. It was a calm, ample, antique brow. In the
ancient world the brow made the man and the god. It was as divine as
ægis or thunder or eagle. It was more magisterial than the fasces. It
commanded the Consulate and troubled the dominion of Persia and cast
down the power of Hannibal. The brow of Jupiter--of Plato--of
Augustus--was a hill of majesty equal with Olympus. The history of old
sculpture is an _Ave!_ to the brow. Now the soul has descended to the
eyes. In politics, war, literature, above all in finance, victory is
with the eyes. The old man had the godlike span of curving bone; but his
eyes slept. It was his good fortune and Oxford’s honour that he ruled an
Oxford college.
IV
Among the younger men is one who spent perhaps a year in trying to
combine high living and high thinking; then made a compromise by
dropping the high thinking; and at last, perhaps as the result of some
solemn intervention, became ascetic. He is a friend of authors and
potentates. He understands a bishop, and takes a kindly interest in
east-enders, so long as they are in Oxford. His aspect is grave and
calm, since life, in losing half its vices, has lost all its charm. Like
fine cutlery, his manners lack nothing but originality; he has a good
taste in flowers, and can even arrange them. Nor is the taste in books
limited by his connoisseurship in binding. He is a free and fearless
reader, yet careful in the choice of books to be left on the table. If
style were finish, his writing would be famous; but his beautiful style
is always subordinated to a really beautiful handwriting. His originally
dilettante interest in palæography has lured him into some genuine
research among old manuscripts. His lectures are therefore fresh,
thoughtful, and perfect in gesture, delivery, and composition. I seem to
behold Virgil himself at the end of one of his descants, or Politian at
least. If he had not more love of the applause of his most graceful
pupils than of the learned world, he might be renowned. But he is
content to be three-quarters of a specialist in history and more than
one of the arts, and to be a lodestar to the ladies of his audience.
Perhaps only they can do him justice.
V
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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