Life and letters of Brooke Foss Westcott, D.D., D.C.L., sometime bishop of Durham;

Front matter

LJUS2 IV S'Z

4'^

BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE

Preface

By Canon Westcott

My brother kindly allows me to say a few words by way of preface to the Life which he has written as a tribute to a sacred memory. This I am very glad to do on many accounts. It enables me to voice the gratitude of my brothers and sisters to him for undertaking and carrying out what must always be a difficult, though it be a congenial task, the compiling of the memoirs of a father. It also enables me to explain why I did not take this duty on myself. It might have seemed to belong to me naturally as the eldest son, and so I could not help feeling. But my brother had comparative leisure, and I had none ; he had had experience in the paths of letters, and I had not ; so he gladly undertook work which to me would have surely proved a very serious burden, even had I been able to achieve it. And there is in it a certain fitness. The Lives of two of my father's dearest friends have been written by the " Arthurs " of their families, and now our " Arthur " has rendered a similar VOL. I A 2 viii LIFE OF BISHOP WESTCOTT

filial service to the memory of him who was their comrade in old days.

How his work will appear to other readers it is hard for me to tell. Whatever is written of our father must be seen by his children through a halo of hero-worship. I cannot but believe, however, that these few chapters, so simple and so direct, will convey a worthy impression even to those who did not know my father personally. About his earlier days he was very reticent. And so it has come about that we who knew him best have gathered fresh ideas of him whom we so revere from such records as were found when he had gone from us. For instance, those who met the teacher in after years would never have guessed he had passed through a struggle of grievous doubt — his faith was so serene, so obviously unshaken. We know now it was not always so, as these pages will disclose to those who care to read. And even our conceptions of the oneness of that life have been heightened and enhanced by what my brother has found and brought to light.

Of the work of the textual critic others must judge ; of the work of the theologian, the teacher, or the preacher it is hardly for his children to speak. What we treasure above all is the unspeakable heritage of a life which was daily lived before our eyes upon the loftiest plane of Christian principle. This it is (I hope and believe) which my brother's careful work of editing and selecting and explaining will tend to bring into prominence. His work will fall short of

PREFACE

IX success if it does not achieve this result. But I truly think it will. Devout people on the small scale are (thank God !) common enough. The life of every society is freshened and beautified by their simple faith and love. But my father's was a devotion on what may be truthfully called the very grandest scale. As such it was exposed to a certain misconstruction. " Unsound " or " shadowy " or " mystical " were terms often applied to him. There were even who doubted, through misunderstanding of the man, his fidelity to the very foundations of the Faith. But to all who came near to him the irresistible truth was certainly brought home, that here was a servant of Christ who served Him every day and all the day. He would often say of himself that there was inborn in him a spirit of " puritanism." By this he meant, of course, that the sense of life's intense seriousness was always with him. And so it was. Holidays he could hardly take ; he found no joy in them, and more especially so in later years. Expenditure on self was all but impossible. Sometimes the keen delight he took in the realisation of the fulness of family life would lead him to unbend ; yet seldom can one have lived who kept the bow of duty so assiduously strung. This intense earnestness was a help to very many while he lived ; and so it should be still, and doubtlessly it will be. I think also my brother has gone the very nearest way to bring this thing about. Without judgment or criticism, without word of praise or blame, he has faithfully tried to bring before the reader the

X LIFE OF BISHOP WESTCOTT

sketch of a striking life. It will appeal to whom it will appeal ! But I think they will not be few. At least it is an offering (in which we all would share) of real sonly devotion to the memory of a father who was worshipped by his children beyond the common.

F. B. WESTCOTT.

School House, Sherborne, 2Tfrd January 1903.

EDITOR'S NOTE

As my brother has explained the circumstances which caused the writing of this work to devolve on me, and has set forth the general character of my work, it only remains for me to express our gratitude to the many friends who have furthered our endeavour by their generous assistance. Some we would thank for the loan of letters written by my father, and for permission to make use of the same ; others for contributing valuable personal reminiscences. I mention no names, knowing that the help of all, whatever its amount, was in each case offered in the simple desire to do honour to the memory of one whom they loved. I have throughout been conscious that the advice given to me by my father when I was a boy ' is as appropriate now as then, but much of the putty which I have employed in this work has, I hope, been honest putty, serving a proper office in binding together the more solid matter supplied by others. It is perhaps unfortunate that the conventions of the press have required that the putty should be displayed in the larger type, xii LIFE OF BISHOP WESTCOTT

whereas the sound material furnished by my father and his friends is relegated for the most part to the smaller character ; but I do not hold myself responsible for that arrangement, and the judicious reader, after this fair warning, has the remedy in his own hands. It is a matter for congratulation that the smaller type portion of this work is so large, and it has been my aim, as far as possible, to let my father reveal himself.

I am also deeply conscious of the generous trust reposed in me by the other members of the family, especially by my elder brother, who, though far more competent than myself to discharge this filial duty, has fully acquiesced in his enforced withdrawal from the congenial task, and has contented himself with the humbler part of reading the proof and correcting obvious errors, leaving me, at what cost I know not, to do my work in my own way. I am also greatly indebted to Miss Cordeux for similar aid.

It seems right that I should add that, in reading through many thousands of letters written to my father (the rapid perusal of which, I cannot but remark, has wonderfully illustrated the reverent esteem in which so many held him), I have sometimes found a copy of his reply in his own or some other familiar handwriting. Such letters I have occasionally used.

Crayke Rectory, Conversion of St. Paul, 1903.

Chapter I Family And Boyhood

Birth and parentage — Some forefathers — School-days — His schoolboy Diary — Reminiscences of school friends — His tribute to his Master — Letters (1838-1844) . Page i

Chapter II

First impressions — Manner of life — First successes — Extracts from Diary — The Philological Society — Visit of the Queen and Prince Albert — Sunday School — More extracts from Diary — Triposes — Described by a contemporary — Letters (1845-1848) . 34

Chapter III Cambridge : Graduate Life

Reading party in Wales — Private pupils — Extracts from Diary — First visit to the Continent — Norrisian Essay — Ordination — Temporary work at Harrow — Candidature for Jersey College — Testimonials— Poetry- Letters (1848-1852) ...... 104 xiv LIFE OF BISHOP WESTCOTT

Chapter IV 1852-1861

School duties — Marriage — Tour in South of France — History of the Canon of the New 7estaine7it and other literary work — Visit to Dresden^ — Impressions of pictures — Reminiscences by Harrow pupils — The spirit of his work — Cambridge " Protest " — Cambridge sermons and literary work — Visit to "the home of his ancestors" — Agitation about Essays and Reviews — Visit to Oxford — The Hulsean Professorship — Letters Page 173

CHAPTER V HARROW {continued)

1862-1869

Visit to Tintern — The Bible in the Church — The Norrisian Professorship — Visit to Bishop Prince Lee — The Gospel of the Resurrection — La Salette — School teaching of Natural Science — Literary Essays — History of the English Bible — The Cosnobium — Farewell to Harrow — The Headmaster's impressions — Letters . 243

Chapter VI Peterborough

1869-1883

First impressions and sermons — Journey to Gersau — Essays on Cathedral Work — Direction of theological students — Nave services — Some favourite novels — Ecclesiastical Courts Commission — Some animal friends — Lecture on Monastic Life — Dictionary of Christian Antiquities and Origen — With his children — Resignation of canonry — The Revelation of the Father — Letters . . 301

CHAPTER VII A MINSTER MEMORY (Contributed by Precentor Phillips)

CONTENTS XV

Chapter VIII 1870-1890

Elected to Regius Professorship — His Lectures — The Religious Office of the Universities — The Preliminary Examination of candidates for Holy Orders — The Clergy Training School — The Cambridge University Church Society and Delhi Mission — The Eranus — The New Testament Revision — The Greek Testament — Governor of Harrow School — Fellow of King's College — His work on behalf of University Extension — The Cambridge Memorial on Church Reform — His portrait for the University — Closing testimonies — Letters Page 366

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

Photogravure Portrait. From a Photograph by Goshawk,

Harrow, 1859 . Frontispiece

Ludlow Church. From a Pencil Sketch by B. F. Westcott

View from No. 7 Jesus Lane. From a Pencil Sketch by

The Great Court, Trinity College. From a Pencil Sketch

Peterborough Cathedral, from South-East. From a Pencil

Sketch by B. F. Westcott (Sept. 24, 1847) . . in

South -West Spire of Peterborough Cathedral. From a

Sketch by Canon Westcott . . -318

Gateway at Cambridge. From a Sketch by Professor

Westcott . . . . 425 xvii

Chapter I Family And Boyhood

Brooke Foss Westcott was born in Birmingham on the 1 2th January 1825, and was baptized in St. Philip's Church on February the 7th. His father, Frederick Brooke Westcott, was a man of a retiring disposition, and lived for the most part a quiet home life, being much devoted to scientific pursuits. He was an ardent geologist, but his more especial study was botany. He was for some years Hon. Secretary of the Birmingham Horticultural Society, and Lecturer on Botany and Vegetable Physiology at Sydenham College Medical School, Birmingham. He was also joint author with Mr. G. B. Knowles of The Floral Cabinet and Magazine of Exotic Botany, a work in three quarto volumes, which I have seen described as valuable and scarce. Mr. F. B. Westcott married Sarah, daughter of Mr. William Armitage, a much respected Birmingham manufacturer. The future bishop was their only surviving son.

My father was named after his grandfather, Brooke Foss Westcott, concerning whom there is little on record, save that he incurred his parents' displeasure by VOL. I B insisting on entering the army. The fact of his being an only son led his parents to oppose his military ardour. In punishment for this offence his mother left him -^500 only, on condition that he did " not come within twenty miles of London within one calendar month after " her decease. His mother's spinster sister, however, treated the soldier with greater generosity. Brooke Foss Westcott, on his retirement from the army, resided at Ludlow, and he and his wife are buried in Bromfield Churchyard. This Captain Westcott had an only sister, who married a French count. The sole issue of this marriage was a daughter, Celestine de Varreux, by whose request the cross of St. Louis bestowed on her father by the " martyred king " (Louis XVI.) was ultimately forwarded to my mother, and is now a treasured heirloom.

A more interesting personage was my father's greatgrandfather, Foss Westcott, who was a member of the Honourable East India Company's Madras establishment during the years 1 741-57. He appears to have been a man of considerable ability and independence of character. In 1749 he stood alone in objecting to the Tanjore expedition in favour of Sahaji Maharaja, and has recorded his autograph disapproval in the Consultations Book of the Government of Fort St. David in the following terms : —

I Dissent from the above Expedition, Because I am of Opinion that it is repugnant to my Hon'ble Masters' Interest.

Foss Westcott.

Herein, I take it, he showed his superior knowledge of affairs. In the same year he was appointed one of the two Commissaries to represent the Company in the treaty for the evacuation of the fort and town of Madras by the French. On this occasion he met in council the famous Frenchman Dupleix. Two years later he was sent out on an annexation expedition pure and simple, being entrusted with "' some small colours to hoist occasionally," whenever he could conveniently do so, to the exclusion of the French, and without the Nabob " taking any umbrage at it." This delicate service he executed with zeal and fidelity. For the next year or two, amid constant threatenings of French and " Morattas," he laboured at his investments, and " with all submission begged leave to differ " from the Council of Fort St. George on divers matters ; nor was he a whit dismayed at the prospect of a siege, when the best part of his garrison consisted of " about thirteen Europeans, all foreigners and deserters, amongst whom there is not one capable of levelling a gun or throwing a shell." On the plea of ill -health and urgent private affairs, he said farewell to India in 1757.

On arriving in England, Foss Westcott assumed, no doubt for sufficient reasons, a coat of arms appertaining to the Devonshire " Westcotts " or " Westcotes." He adopted, however, a slight difference, and invented for himself a new motto : Renovato Nomine. Herein we see that he was proud of having raised up an old family to a position of comparative wealth and prosperity. My father was the sole eponymous descendant of this Indian " nabob," and in reference to the new family motto, I have known him to remark playfully, as he surveyed his seven sons, that he had not been unfaithful thereto.

Foss Westcott married twice. From his first wife, Anne Pye, whom he married in Madras,^ was descended George Foss Westcott, who at one time commanded a company of the 77th Foot in India, and served in

1 Mrs. Ann Wescott (sic) is buried in Madras, as is also her son George Westcott of tlie Madras Civil Service.

the Peninsula and at the battle of Waterloo. Major Westcott, as we have usually called this distant cousin of ours, was a man of very strong religious feeling. This is of interest, because my father's immediate ancestry and home surroundings do not satisfactorily account for his intensely religious temperament, which must have been in some degree inherited. Writing to my grandfather in 1848, Major Westcott says : " I am interested in my young cousin's success. . . . But what are all the attainments the human intellect can arrive at, compared with the one thing needful ? I pray the Lord that you may each and all have but this one object in view. ... I do hope my young cousin's fine and gifted intellect is turned to the study of Scripture.'' Surely the good old soldier's prayers were not in vain. His gifted young cousin did indeed search the Scriptures, and by prayerful study was enabled to interpret them for his own and others' needs in no ordinary measure.

Foss Westcott's second wife, from whom we are descended, was Mary Gallant, whose mother's maiden name had been Martha Brooke. With this lady one line of the Brooke family expired, and my grandfather had the satisfaction of being demonstrated to be one of the four co-heirs of a Joseph Brooke, who is said to have distinguished himself on the Royalist side in the Civil War. Such is the origin of the name Brooke in our family. It has been borne amongst us for five generations now. Whence the name Foss is derived is a matter that no one yet appears to have considered.

Foss Westcott was buried at Cobham in Kent. His hatchment was placed over the chancel arch, and there are mural tablets in the church, erected in memory of him and his first wife.

My father's first tutor was the Rev. Theodore Short,

I FAMILY AND BOYHOOD s

curate of Erdington, a village near Birmingham, in which his earliest years were spent. When my father last visited Erdington he lamented that almost all the landmarks of his childhood's memory had disappeared. Though the house in which he lived has been demolished, his memory is still cherished in the family of his nurse Jemima Allen (Mrs. Barlow), " who taught the future bishop his letters and first little words." ^ In 1837, when he was twelve years old, he began to attend King Edward VI.'s School in Birmingham. At the age of fourteen he had reached the highest form in the school, and was under the immediate care of the headmaster, Mr. Prince Lee, afterwards the first Bishop of Manchester. Mr. Lee thus reports of him in that year (1839): "Very industrious, persevering, and attentive. General reading very good. Deserves much praise.'' In his first Latin dictionary my father has preserved a record of his school, and indeed of his whole career ; for the first entry is "Easter, 1837, Mr. Gedge's, 1st," and the last is "Durham, 1889."

In his early boyhood the young Westcott led a somewhat lonely life. His only sister was twelve years younger than himself. He himself, in his Cambridge days, remarked on this loneliness : " I had no elder brother to obey ; no younger brother to please. I had no companions, no friends ; and though I thankfully acknowledge that thus I avoided many dangers and temptations, yet consequently I was as proud and overbearing as a little fellow well could be, and many a struggle it costs me even now to gain that temper which is best learnt by the self-denials of home." But for all that he is described by one ^ who occasionally

' Erdington Parish Magazine, August 1901. 2 Mr. W. Tait, of Bromley, Kent.

met him in his Christmas holidays spent at Ashby-dela-Zouch as being a high-spirited and enterprising boy, who manufactured fireworks wherewith to startle his young girl cousins, and delighted in firing off an elderly pistol with the same intent.

The following reminiscences of my father's boyhood are supplied by various of his school contemporaries :^ —

" Young Westcott " was " a shy, nervous, thoughtful boy from the first," "seldom, if ever, joining in any games." He had a " sweet, patient, eager face '' ; " an intensity and keenness of look"; "a habit of shading his eyes with one hand while he thought " ; "a quick and eager walk, with head bent forward ; his smile, wonderfully winning then, as now " ; was " devoted to work, and, in consequence, once fainted in school." He was also noted for the " authoritative decision " of his answers in class ; and for his conversation out of school about things " which very few schoolboys talk about — points of theology, problems of morality, and the ethics of politics." It was often his duty to take the " Absence Book " round to the different masters, and Mr. Gedge (the second master) would take the opportunity of asking the boy's opinion on some passages in the Greek play or Herodotus which his own class was reading. Westcott was also proficient in drawing, and his "beautiful, finely-outlined sketches" are still remembered.

His younger schoolfellows regarded him with a certain awe as one altogether above themselves, and his influence over them was as good as it was great. Thus, one writes : " One of the chief features of his school life was his reverence. To see his pained face when any wrong or rash word was spoken was a lesson."

1 They were collected by a writer in The Rock from Edgbastonia (April

And another : " The beauty of his character shone out from him, and one felt his moral goodness in his presence." And a third : " An atmosphere of light and purity surrounded him, and his smile and kindness and courtesy, which was real and constant to any small boy who had to deal with him, only made us feel that it would be unbearable to rouse his anger or even disapproval."

As a boy my father took the keenest interest in the Chartist movement, and the effect then produced upon his youthful imagination by the popular presentation of the sufferings of the masses never faded. His diary shows how he deserted his meals to be present at various stirring scenes, and in particular to listen to the oratory of " the great agitator," presumably Feargus O'Connor himself He would often in later years speak of these early impressions, which served in no small degree to keep alive his intense hatred of every form of injustice and oppression. He even later disapproved of his father's fishing excursions, because his sympathies were so entirely on the side of the fish. On one occasion, being then a little boy, he was carrying the fish-basket, when his father put a live fish into it, and late in life he used to declare that he could still feel the struggles of that fish against his back.

While still a schoolboy Westcott became acquainted with his future wife. The story of their first acqaintance as related by my mother is somewhat to this effect : — One day as he {i.e. my father) was coming home from school he saw a little boy being knocked about by a big street boy. Although the big boy was several sizes larger than himself, he immediately flew to the rescue of the little boy, and by the vigour of his onslaught altogether routed the bully and delivered the little fellow. In gratitude to his champion the liberated lad, whose name was Thomas Middlemore Whittard,^ took him to his home and introduced him to his people. My mother, whose name was Sarah Louisa Whittard, was the eldest of three sisters.^ She afterwards, at the time of her confirmation, at my father's request, took the name of Mary in addition. During the year 1842 my father, being then sixteen years old, kept a diary, in which there is frequent mention of my mother under the symbol $.* The following are some extracts from this his earliest diary : —

dth January 1842. — At home all day. Began Italian. Quite the finest modern language.

13^/2 February (Sunday). — Mr. Lee advances doctrine of Baptismal Regeneration.

18M March. — Mr. Lee rants against everybody, and then praises them. Fie, sir, fie !

T-i^ih April. — This day I am seized with a poetic fit, and at one sitting write 130 English verses on the Isles of Peace ! <E> catches me in the middle !

1 1th May. — Plan our magazine.

2T,rd May. — Great discussion with Evans about our magazine. Get the proofs of the prospectus.

<^th August. — Began "History of School."

\lth August. — Go to school again. Riots are all the talk. Great prophecies for Tuesday.

■12nd August — Riots to be to-day. Dine on two biscuits. Run out with $ in the evening.

\st September. — The great day of the year — #'s birthday.

2,rd September. — Get an editor's copy of the magazine and

1 The Rev. T. M. Middlemore-Whithard is now living in retirement at Exmouth. He was formerly Professor of English Literature in Victoria College, Jersey (1852-1863), and Headmaster of the Junior Department of Cheltenham College (1863-1885).

^ The second sister, Jane Elizabeth, married Mr. D. Phillimore ; the youngest, Mary Caroline, married the Rev. J. C. Whitley, the present Bishop of Chhota Nagpur.

3 Presumably the initial letter of ^Ckr&T-r] - Dearest. The corresponding symbol for my father was fi.

tantalise every one with the dedication and preface. Walk to the Botanical Gardens with <i>.

<,th September. — The day of publication. Quite a rush. Pohce wanted — a perfect riot. 230 copies disposed of.

22nd September. — The Society of Arts open to-day— magnificent pictures. Dine nowhere. Have tea at home.

^th October. — Our second publishing day. A very good sale. Better than last at present.

2^th October. — Go to give <i> her drawing lesson (to do which I give up two other important engagements, willingly), and do not even see her.

N.B. — Not very pleasant. Am going to the Red Indians.

lyi'/z November. — Evans in doubt about the Balliol. I am booked for Exeter.^

20th December. — Prizes given out. I certainly get my share. In evening I go with Tom ^ to the wizard ; but he dares not perform before us. We go to Society of Artists.

T,\st December. — Am quite desperate and read 300 lines of the Philoctetes before breakfast. Finish it in afternoon and am now intending to enjoy myself and see 4'. So may it be.

Sd^a TO) Qiii.

In the diary, as quoted above, mention is made of the magazine. This was the school magazine, of which my father, with two of his chief school friends, Evans ^ and Purton,^ was joint editor. No. i of King Edward the Sixth's Magazine contains as its first article " A brief History of King Edward's School, Birmingham." This being my father's first printed essay, I venture to reproduce its opening paragraph, as a sample of his earliest literary style : —

^ He afterwards gave up Exeter, Oxford, in favour of Trinity, Cambridge. Evans also vfent to Trinity.

= T. M.-Whithard.

^ Craven University Scholar, Senior Classic, 1847, and afterwards Headmaster of the school at Birmingham.

* J. S. Purton was afterwards Tutor and Master of St. Catherine's College, Cambridge, and rector of Chetton, Bridgnorth.

lo LIFE OF BISHOP WESTCOTT chap.

A sketch of the history of our Royal Foundation cannot be unacceptable to those scholars who are at present enjoying the advantages it offers ; while others who have entered on a wider field of action must still feel an interest in the institution which fostered their hterary ardour at its first dawn. The expressions of regret we often hear from those who leave us sufficiently prove the latter assertion, without enlarging on the ardent friendships, zealous studies, and boisterous amusements, the very recollection of which seems to cast a spell around the name of school, and render " each dimdiscovered scene " joyous with pleasing associations.

As head of the school Westcott once had the honour of reading a Latin address of welcome to the Prince Consort, in which the usual petition for a holiday was embodied. The Prince smiled and bowed, but said nothing about the holiday. Not to be beaten, young Westcott rushed to his room, wrote out the address in English, and again presented it to the Prince. So the boys got their holiday. In speaking to the boys of Durham School in 1890, my father recalled this episode, a propos of their Latin address to him.

The diary was spasmodically resumed in 1844, and I make therefrom a few more extracts : —

dth January. — In the afternoon <l> comes down to give me my music lesson, but I am not a very apt pupil.

2 ^th January. — How strange things will happen ! Go out a ride to-day, and where do I go in fox-hunting ! and yet break no limb, nay, do not even tumble at all.

yd February. — $ has been pretty industrious and draws very well — quite astonishes me, and I determine that wonders will never cease, which is further proved by my reading mathematics.

(ith March. — Go to have a view of the great agitator — a very clownish fellow he is too — and he makes me go without my dinner, though "angels delight to hear him," as Mr. MacDonnell said.

I FAMILY AND BOYHOOD ii

2']th April. — Go to cricket again to-day. ist class against the school — beaten — but not in one innings.

j^th May (Saturday). — Recollections of the week dismal. Mr. Lee ill — nothing but mathematics and composition. I become a member of Trinity; "Felix faustumque sit."

The Rev. T. M. Middlemore-Whithard, my mother's brother, has kindly furnished the following interesting recollections of my father's school-days : —

" I cannot recall the exact time and occasion of my first acquaintance with Brooke Foss Westcott. Although three years and ten months his junior, I had entered King Edward's School before he joined it, and just before it was removed from the ' Shakespeare Rooms ' facing Bennet's Hill to the new buildings.