Even in the Schools these scraps of Greek lapidary's work seem
beautiful to us, in their sober and cheerful acceptance of life and
death. We hope, in Oxford, that the study of ancient art, as well as
of ancient literature, may soon be made possible. These tangible
relics of the past bring us very near to the heart and the life of
Greece, and waken a kindly enthusiasm in every one who approaches
them. In Humphrey Prideaux's letters there is not a trace of any
such feeling. He does his business, but it is hack-work. In this he
differs from the modern student, but in his caustic description of
the rude and witless society of the place he is modern enough. In
his letters to his friend, John Ellis, of the State Paper Office, it
is plain that Prideaux wants to get preferment. His taste and his
ambition alike made him detest the heavy, beer-drinking doctors, the
fast "All Souls gentlemen," and the fossils of stupidity who are
always plentifully imbedded in the soil of University life.
Fellowships were then sold, at Magdalen and New, when they were not
given by favour. Prideaux grumbles (July 28th, 1674) at the laxness
of the Commissioners, who should have exposed this abuse: "In town,
one of their inquirys is whether any of the scholars weare pantaloons
or periwigues, or keep dogs." The great dispute about dogs, which
raged at a later date in University College, had already begun to
disturb dons and undergraduates.
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