Life and Works of Henry King. 233 



been conspicuously successful in academic pursuits, in one lield at 

 least, for two of his younger brothers attained an honor which he did 

 not achieve : John, who entered Christ Church and took all four 

 degrees at the same time with him, became Public Orator of the Uni- 

 versity in 1622,^ and was succeeded in that position by Phihp, the 

 youngest brother, in 1625.2 Mention of this small failure seems to 

 have been avoided by Henry King's biographers, but its statement, 

 where facts are so scarce at best, seems worth while inasmuch as it 

 casts little discredit and considerable light upon his development 

 at this time. 



"When he was young he delighted much in the studies of music 

 and poetry," says Wood, "which, with his wit and fancy, made his 

 conversation much accepted" ;^ and "The Publishers" of his volume 

 of poems, in their prefatory remarks, also call those productions 

 "Juvenilia (most of them the issues of [his] youthful Muse)." This 

 account of Henry King's youth, therefore, seems to be reliable enough ; 

 and certainly, blitheness of heart and verse was but natural in a 

 young man with so fair a prospect in life opening before him. For 

 it must not be forgotten that while he was a student at Christ Church 

 his father was Dean of that College and Vice-Chancellor (i. e., actually 

 president, for the Chancellor was merely an honorary officer) of the 

 University, and then became Bishop of London with still greater 

 opportunities to ensure a successful career for his son. This brighter, 

 happier side of Henry King's nature is the more pleasant to contem- 

 plate, in view of the absence of any such graces in most of his pub- 

 lished work; but perhaps the very gaiety of his life at this time may 

 help to account for his failure to be elected Public Orator.* 



Though, as will presently be seen. King's residence at Oxford must 

 have terminated shortly after his taking his Master's degree, and 

 though his private affairs and his ecclesiastical duties might well have 

 occupied all his thoughts and leisure, he did not forget his Alma Mater 

 but loyally rallied his poetical powers to her aid when a humiliating 

 misfortune befell her. The jealous rivalry between Oxford and 



^ "Alum. West.," p. 78. 



2 Hannah, xcvi; "Fasti Oxon.," II, 89, and cf. note 4, inf. 



3 "Athen. Oxon.," Ill, 839; based on Fuller's "Worthies of Bucks," ed, 

 Nuttall, 1840, I, p. 202. 



* Nichols, op. cit., IV, 1109, has this footnote: "He [Phil. Kinge] became 

 Orator of the University (as his brother Henry, of whom in p. 1051, had 

 been) ; " but on p. 105 1 and p. 930 (to which it in turn refers), the Public 

 Orator is correctly given as John King. 



