FOOTPRINTS OF FAMOUS MEN*.

HE College owes a heavy debt of gratitude to Mr G. C. Moore Smith. for his laborious investigations into its honourable past. It is an open secret that he was led to attempt the task, the successful completion of which the Eagle commemorates in the present article, by a study of the vexed question of the position of Wordsworth's rooms. The result of his researches was the dissipation of the sacred associations, which, twenty years ago, clung to F3 First Court (thriving prodigiously upon the legend W. W. inscribed upon a pane of late 19th century glass by the unveracious hand of some budding humorist), and the final award of the disputed honours to the jam cupboard, officially known in the Tutors' books as F 2. But scarcely was the injustice of half-a-century redressed for F 2, when the Steward laid his fell hand upon it, and it was swallowed up in the advance of the Kitchens' Department.

The grim wolf, with privy paw,

Daily devours apace, and nothing said.

From this investigation Mr Moore Smith turned to wider fields, and the result of an immense amount of patriotic labour now lies before us.

* Lists of Past Occupants of Rooms in St. John's College. Compiled by G. C. Moore Smith M.A., late Scholar of the College, and published by the Editors of the Eagle Magazine. Cambridge: E. Johnson. March 1895. One Shilling.

The first impression produced on the reader's mind by an inspection of this interesting material for history is that our fathers were content with a very small valuation, and that the gains of the Appraiser of the 17th century were incommensurate with the greatness of the historical period to which he belonged. The writer finds that an inventory of 1632 credits his old rooms with no furniture more desirable than three shelves, one long a desk, table, a "lege to ye window," a "cubbart," designed for the Huz and Buz of the period, and "a massy forme," whereon the exhausted student might repose. It is true that the inventory is eked out with such items as door-handles, keys, and "a dore to ye coals house," but these are poor substitutes for the mantel borders and pipe racks of modern civilization. And apparently a Fellow and three Undergraduates were thrust into these apartments, with a lock and key a piece, and two "cubbarts" between them. One of these pampered beings had "new glass" in his window and a loft to ly in." On this the compiler solemnly remarks— "with such arrangements throughout it would be possible for the College to contain a great number of students."

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His readers will agree with our author that it is very unfortunate that the earlier records of the staircases were not better kept. It was usual for Tutors to treat their books as their own private property, and thus these have in almost every case disappeared into oblivion with their proprietors. The consequence of this is that great gaps occur in the dynasties, and in very few cases is it possible to discover who was occupying particular rooms earlier than the beginning of the present century. Unless there are traditions which it was not in Mr Moore Smith's plan to embody in his book, we know nothing of the whereabouts of great men earlier than Wordworth's time. At Christ's, on the other hand, the rooms where the Lady Margaret lived are said to be structurally just as she left them. They now form part of the Master's Lodge.

The first three staircases of the First Court (A, B, and C) appear to have been singularly undistinguished. The only point of special interest is the occurrence of the name Marsden on B 3, somewhere between 1829 and 1842. J. F. Marsden also occurs on D 3 in 1859. But, singularly enough, though no less than three of the literary Marsdens were Johnians, it is not the names of these that occur in Mr Moore Smith's lists. John Buxton Marsden, the author of the History of the Puritans, was admitted Sizar in 1823, and took his B.A. in 1827. John Howard Marsden, the antiquary, was a Scholar in 1822, and took a College living (Great Oakley) in 1840; he was Bell Scholar, Seatonian Prizeman, Hulsean Lecturer, and the first Disney Professor of Archæology. Samuel Marsden, the friend of Simeon and the apostle of New Zealand, was also a Johnian, although he belonged to rather an earlier period.

The rest of the First Court is pervaded by more inspiring traditions. D I was, for a time, the home of Adams, though later, in 1863, F1 Second Court claimed him for a term, and he afterwards occupied A 9 New Court. E staircase is associated with the name of E. W. Bowling, the "Arculus" of the Eagle, who occupied E in 1862; in 1862; also with Dean Merivale of Ely (E 2), whose loss we still mourn; and Dean Ramsay (E 4, 1813), the genial author of Reminiscences of Scottish Life and Character. From this point there are no more particular stars until we come to Wordsworth's staircase, where are to be found, besides the poet, Laurence Peel, the author of A Life of Sir Robert Peel (F 2, 1817); the late Professor Paley, Editor of innumerable texts (F 4, circ. 1832); Archdeacon Wilson (F 4, 1855); and Chancellor Dibdin (F 4, 1869). With the doubtful exception of C Second Court, F First Court stands out prominently as a nursery of eminent men. Nor does it scorn what Mr William Morris would call "outland men." F 3 acknowledged, in 1873, the name of D. Y. Kikuchi, of Japanese

celebrity, and 1892 saw P. H. J. Rustomjee in occupation of the same set.

The remaining four staircases of the First Court (G, H, I, and K) all have associations of some importance, and it must be admitted that, on the whole, the First Court carries off the palm for evenly-distributed eminence. In G 3, under date 1814, we find the name, better known twenty years ago than it is to-day, of Professor Henslow, the intimate friend of Adam Sedgwick, at first Professor of Mineralogy, and then, for the remainder of his life, Professor of Botany in this University. It is notable that Cambridge Professors of Botany have been a long-lived race. In the last century Professor Martyn, of Emmanuel, held the chair for nearly 30 years; his son, Thomas Martyn, of Sidney, succeeded him, and held it for 63 years; Henslow then occupied it for 36 years; and the distinguished Johnian who now holds it has already held it for 34 years. There have only been five elections since the chair was founded in 1724. During exactly the same period there have been ten Professors of History and thirteen of Arabic. The rooms which Henslow held in 1814 received a different kind of consecration in 1868 from the immortal Goldie, the Achilles of Cambridge rowing, in whose prosaic existence to-day as a barrister in town it is increasingly difficult to believe. The same staircase nurtured Archdeacon Sheringham (G4), and Father Bridgett (G 6), one of the new school of Roman Catholic historians, whose College traditions have been sufficiently strong to lead him to select as one of the subjects of his investigations, "The Life of the Blessed John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester." H also takes rank as an important staircase, for on H 6, in 1830, kept George Augustus Selwyn of famous memory, for 26 years Bishop of New Zealand, and afterwards Bishop of Lichfield, the father of the present Master of the College that bears his name. The striking portrait of him, by Richmond, in the Combination

Room is one of the precious possessions of the College. Staircase I produced two Masters of the College"Algebra" Wood (migrated from O Second Court), the author, according to tradition, of the reform which abolished the menial duties and social disabilities of Sizars, whose statue stands in the antechapel; and Mr. Tatham, who succeeded him as Master in 1839. Staircase I has also other associations no less dignified. In 1816 J. J. Blunt, the Historian, Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity, kept on I3; his History of the Reformation-not to be confused with the much more elaborate work of a later writer of the same nameis still suggestive and stimulating enough to be worth reading for those historical students who poke about in odd corners of the College Library. In I4 A, at some date unknown, Lord Palmerston resided, and a little later the Hon J. R. Townshend, afterwards Earl Sydney, while I 4 B contains a name that might be that of the hero of a moral tale of the last century-Prince George of Radili. The rest of the First Court is the abode of mediocrity, except where we identify in K1 the rooms where Professor J. B. Mayor lived, and Henry Kirke White the poet is said to have died.

The Second Court has a good many distinguished names connected with it, but on the whole its occupants seem to have scarcely as much reason to be proud of their predecessors as in the older Court. In C 2, besides Professor Marshall, Samuel Butler, the descendant of the author of the Analogy, and himself the author of Erewhon once lived, C 4 has an aristocratic tradition; we note the names of a Duke of Buccleugh; Hon G. A. Brodrick, afterwards Viscount Midleton, a descendant of one of the active Irish supporters of William of Orange; Lord Burghley, afterwards Marquis of Exeter; and Hon W. W. Clive, presumably a scion of the house to which the founder of our Empire in India belonged. E staircase has associations of some interest. The late Bishop of Hereford,