The life and letters of Benjamin Jowett, M. A., master of Balliol college, Oxford.

378

Life of Benjamin Jowett

[CHAP. XII

the country comes to the University. This scheme is intended
to draw from a new class, and with this object I should propose
that the subjects of examination be not confined to Latin and
Greek, but embrace physical science, mathematics, &c. The
great difficulty in working it out is the present state of the
Grammar schools.
'I think that this College in five or six years' time would be
able to give ~6oo a year towards such a scheme. But a large
outlay would be required for the building and the Exhibitions.
I should hope to raise this by subscription.'
This scheme was carried in College meeting without
a division, and it was agreed also to petition the Hebdomadal Council to pass a Statute giving the necessary
permission to lodge out 1. Meanwhile, in pursuance of the
main object, the long since thought of plan of a Balliol
Hall was carried into effect: suitable premises were
rented in St. Giles', and the young institution was placed
under the charge of Mr. T. H. Green, a lay Fellow of
Balliol already much respected in Oxford as a philosophical teacher and thinker. He had friends amongst the
Nonconformists, and had done excellent public service
as a member of the Schools Inquiry Commission of
1862. Jowett wrote to H. H. Lancaster:
'At this College we are going to try a small scheme of
University Extension: e.g. men to lodge out and pay no
College fees, receiving education gratuitously; and we hope also
to supplement this by Exhibitions.'
The Hall was still maintained, and proved a valuable
aid, although in i868 it became less essential, through
the success of a larger scheme. For plans of University
Reform were again rife in Parliament and in Oxford. The
relation of the Colleges to the University was much dis1 From a leaflet entitled The ' originated in a request addressed
Hebdomadal Council and the Lodg- to the Hebdomadal Council by
ing Statute, Dec. 6, I867, it appears Balliol College at the end of
that the proposed Statute had October, I866.' Cf. vol. ii. p. I26.