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

1817-1836]

At St. Paul's School

35

heart was at that time far more cultivated than it is
now, both at school and in enlightened homes. One of
his latest recollections was that he and Emily had once
tried who could first commit to memory a thousand lines
of Virgil. Before he left St. Paul's he could repeat
the greater part of Virgil and Sophocles, probably also
the Trilogy and Prometheus of Aeschylus. He never
regretted this, although he sometimes wished that the
same attention had been given to English literature.
But he had more of English verse at his command
than is at all common nowadays, and could recite long
passages from his favourite authors. His intimate
familiarity with Shakespeare came later.
The teaching at St. Paul's appears to have been well
adapted, if not to produce the extreme accuracy of verbal
scholarship for which (some years after this) other great
schools were famous, at least to imbue the minds of boys
with a genuine love of literature. And one method
was in use, that of retranslating from English into the
original Latin or Greek, in which Jowett himself always
firmly believed.
A characteristic anecdote is told of his early school life.
A statute of the foundation, by which a boy who had
been absent more than a certain number of days forfeited his place in the school, was about to be revived.
A comrade of Benjamin's was running dangerously near
the limit, and was supposed to be unaware of the declared
intention to put the rule in force. At this boy's home
in some far-lying suburb, the bell was rung late at night,
and a small figure was found on the doorstep. It was
little Benjamin, who had walked for many miles to
warn his friend of the danger he was incurring.
The following reminiscences contributed by persons
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