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Clough came into residence at Oxford in 1838, we believe. Many who were personally unacquainted with him heard much about his remarkable powers, either from other Rugboeans, or from his associates at Balliol. His friends used, not unnaturally, to compare him with his distinguished schoolfellow, whose words have just been quoted, and the general opinion seemed to be, that, though inferior to Arthur Stanley in power of combination, and in ready reproduction of his stores, he was superior to that brilliant scholar in actual originality. But the high estimate formed concerning him by those who knew him well, was obliged to rest in great measure upon trust. It was true that a scholarship at Balliol was in itself one of the highest, if not the very highest, prize that an undergraduate could win and wear; and it was reported that one of the Fellows of that College had kept the essay which Clough wrote, interleaved it, and made notes upon its various paragraphs. But in subsequent academical contests, Clough was less fortunate. He was believed to have written for the Newdigate prize poem, without success. His eminent schoolfellow carried off a series of prizes, such as has seldom fallen to the lot of any university student before or since, the Ireland scholarship, the Newdigate, and three University essays; but Clough did not attain any of these successes, and at the final examination was not ranked in the first class.

Now we believe that few honours are more fairly bestowed than those at Oxford: but mistakes of course will occasionally occur; and even where there is no mistake, it is impossible to regard the adjudication then made as being in anywise a final one. Of two men, A and B, who appear respectively in the first and second class, B may have been the less industrious, and by subsequent zeal reverse their relative position; especially if, as sometimes happens, A is disposed to recline upon what he has achieved. Or, again (and this is a very common case), B has had the misfortune to be so imperfectly trained, that such labour as can be compressed into an undergraduate's existence is unable to win for him the position to which his talents entitle him. Or, once more, as Professor Goldwin Smith has observed, examination must be allowed to be a somewhat coarse test of true merit and proficiency. There will always be some who have acquired a kind of knack of so displaying their goods in the shop windows, as to convey the impression of larger stores than they in reality possess; while others, far more richly endowed, are somewhat deficient in the art of producing their goods, as it

inscribed to the heroes of the game, as known in the days of the writer, and among them Clough's name stands conspicuous.

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were, to order, and at a moment's notice. It is a great glory to the remarkable society which has numbered among its Fellows the names of Keble, Davison, Whately, Hampden, Arnold, Pusey, Sir C. Grey, Sir J. Awdry, and many more, that it seems to have discovered the art of forming a real judgment on the intellectual power displayed by the candidates who have sought admission into its circle. In the case of Dr. Newman, of Mr. Clough, of Mr. Arnold, of Mr. Burgon, of Sir A. Grant, Oriel set the class-list at defiance, and. how completely has the verdict of that college been ratified.

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As, then, Clough did not possess the particular kind of ability which wins many academical prizes (with the very important exception of the Balliol Scholarship and Oriel Fellowship), those who were not intimately acquainted with him, were obliged to take something upon faith, especially before his election at Oriel. Nor, perhaps, at the first glance, did his appearance suggest the presence of such powers as he really possessed. The editor of Macmillan's Magazine describes him, not, we think, unfairly, as a man of very shy demeanour, of 'largish build about the head and shoulders, with a bland and rather indolent look, and a noticeable want of alertness in his 6 movements.' But the forehead was a very noble one. A friend of the writer, who paid particular attention to such matters, used to consider that there was none finer in Oxford, and that was saying much, as the Oxford of 1838-1848 (the term of Clough's residence), was by no means deficient in the outward indications of intellect. There existed, however, one arena which, though very limited, afforded some opportunity for a display of Clough's powers to several who were not within the immediate circle of his friends. About 1840, if we are not mistaken, there was formed a small society for discussion, which from its being orginally limited to ten members, was called the Decade. It was afterwards enlarged, and one (if not more) of those admitted, when he looked around on those by whom he sat, might well feel with Ivanhoe that he was a young knight 'of lesser renown and lower rank, assumed into that honourable company, less to aid their enterprise, than to make up their number.' Considering, however, that the Decade did not last above ten or twelve years, and that the entire number of its members from first to last was probably under thirty, a fair share of influence and celebrity has certainly fallen to the lot of those who composed it.' Two won for themselves

1 Two jeux de mots in connexion with the Society may possibly amuse the reader. On the occasion of one of its earliest meetings, a scout rushed into the rooms of a member of Exeter College, saying that a gentleman was on the

an honourable place in the House of Commons, one is the eminently successful governor of a far-away colony, one became head of an English theological college, several have been tutors of leading colleges in Oxford, four are at this moment professors in that university, and professors (we may add) who have made themselves felt far beyond the usual circle of academic influences. Considered as a training-school for public speaking, the Decade was decidedly inferior to the general debating society known as the Union.' But the smaller assembly had the advantage of being able to handle more recondite subjects than would have been suitable for the atmosphere of the more numerous one; and its members enjoyed the advantage of listening to several rising men who never addressed the Union.' Here, as elsewhere, there needed something to break through Clough's natural shyness and reserve of manner. But occasions did arise when these impediments to the development and display of his fine powers were scattered to the winds; and at such times it was the opinion of some who were no mean judges, that in that brilliant coterie he fairly proved his right to the very first and highest place.

We do not pretend to have enjoyed many opportunities of hearing Clough speak; but we did hear enough to make us believe that the above verdict was not far from the truth. Two great manifestations of his loftiness of tone and force of argument we can more especially call to mind; and after the lapse of more than sixteen years there can, we trust, be no indecorum in dwelling upon then for a few moments.

One of these discussions arose out of a motion to the effect 'that Alfred Tennyson is the greatest English poet of the age. This was brought forward by a gentleman of elegant and highly cultivated taste, whose growing influence in parliament and in the

press was destined to be cut short by death at a still earlier period of life than was allotted to Clough. It had, we believe, been expected that a counter-claim on behalf of William Wordsworth would be urged by a member bearing a name associated with the Lake country, as well as with Rugby; and who has since proved a special right to have an opinion on such matters. But owing to the accidental absence of this gentleman, the task

staircase, who wanted to know where would be the meeting of the Decayed for that evening. The person applied to playfully remarked to a friend, that this misplaced accentuation augured ill for the permanence of the Society. Another member of the last-named college, who was disappointed at the kind of discussions carried on at the Society's meetings, said that had he known how dull it was—

πολλαί κεν δεκάδες δευοίατο οινοχόοιο ;

the felicity of this application of Agamemnon's speech (II. ii. 128), lying in the circumstance that the concluding word was a translation of the speaker's name. NO. CXIX.-N.S.

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was undertaken by Clough. It would not be fair to record Clough's judgment upon the present Laureate, nor the grounds on which he avowed his preference for Mr. Tennyson's predecessor; especially when we consider that neither In Memoriam the 'Idylls of the King' had as yet been published. But the address he then made was in every respect well calculated to establish the truth of all that his intimate friends maintained concerning him. It was characteristic of the speaker, that, just after his opening sentences, he observed the entrance of two or three who had arrived too late for the speech of the mover. For the benefit of those members who have just joined us,' said Clough, I will briefly recapitulate the case that has been alleged on behalf of Tennyson.' He then proceeded, with much terseness and admirable fairness, to give a short summary of the speech of his gifted opponent.

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The other occasion was of a different character. A motion was proposed to the effect, that the State ought to make some formal recognition of the growing power of the manufacturing interest.' This gave an opening for the expression of some of Clough's strongest and most vehement convictions. In a speech, which electrified some even of those among his audience who were by no means ultra-Conservative, he gave vent to his feelings about the claims of the poor, the duties incumbent upon holders of property, and such like topics. Our recollections of Clough's attitude in this debate enable us thoroughly to understand and appreciate the following portion of Canon's Stanley's letter:

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Some traits return, now that he is gone, which stamp his image on the mind with a peculiar force. One trait which he shared with Arnold, but from an entirely independent and 'spontaneous source, and in a degree even more intense, was his sympathy with the sufferings and the claims of the poorer and humbler classes of the community. This, at one period, may have led him into an excessive regard for the more democratic and socialist tendencies of opinion, both here and in France. Many letters, partly playful, partly serious, exist, describing with truly dramatic power, and at the same time generous enthusiasm, his impressions of Paris in 1848 and of Rome in 1849. But this, or at least the outward expression of this, passed away, under the disappointment, which I believe 'that he felt (somewhat akin to that of the Reformers of the 'last century), on the futile issue of that of blasted revolutions. Still the feeling itself was permanent, and one which, even to those who could not enter into it, was touching and edifying in the highest degree. A record of it remains in a striking pamphlet (now probably very scarce), which he pub

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'lished at Oxford, on the Irish famine in 1847, in which (to use 'his own words):

'The graces and splendours of composition were thoughts far less present to his mind than Irish poor men's miseries, English poor men's hardships, and (addressing himself to the youth of Oxford) your unthinking indifference. Shocking enough the first and the second, almost more shocking the third. . . . There is one thing about which you must not do as you please. You must not insult God and man alike with the spectacle of your sublime indifference. The angels of heaven, one might believe, as they pass above those devoted shores, in gazing on that ordained destruction, let fall untasted from their immortal lips the morsel of ambrosia sustenance. If we, as they, were nurtured on other food than our brothers if no gift of ours could allay those pangs of famine, still methinks this undisturbed, unrestrained fruition were not wholly free of guilt. How much more, when every crumb we touch is abstracted from that common stock, which, in the Eternal Registers, is set down, I fear, as scarcely less theirs than ours.'

The great lesson which Clough seemed anxious, in his speech as in the above pamphlet, to impress upon others was, that (to use his own words so far as we can remember them) the possession of wealth or station was a call, not to self-indulgence, but to self-denial.' And if this teaching was combined with an amount of socialism with which we are unable to sympathise, it must be borne in mind that there was little peril in that direction to be apprehended among those whom he addressed. The temptation both among academic authorities and undergraduates would generally lie entirely the other way. On one ground,

indeed, there might be room for more dread of Mr. Clough's Chartism than that of most people. There were some young men of his standing who took up language like that of Mr. Feargus O'Connor as a pastime, and nothing more. In some cases they might be seen to combine with their democratic speech a more than ordinary appreciation of the attentions of persons of high social standing. But no one who had the very slightest acquaintance with Clough could suppose that he would ever condescend to such trifling as this.

The debates to which we have just referred were calculated to elicit Clough's sentiments in the field of modern politics and literature. His acquaintance with Greek history is, to some extent, exhibited by his contributions to Dr. Smith's 'Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography.' Without any wish to enter into invidious comparisons, we may point to such articles as those on Agesilaus, Cleomenes I., Demosthenes the general, and Cleon, as among the very best of their kind in that valuable work. It is somewhat singular to find that our author, despite his democratic tendencies, by no means anticipates Mr. Grote in his attempts to whitewash the celebrated Athenian demagogue.

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