2"'i S. VI. 133., July 17. '58.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



43 



pleted. So indefatigable was the young poet in 

 the pursuit of his studies, that he soon attained 

 the degree of Bachelor of Civil Law, and in 1773 

 was elected Fellow of his college. We hear much 

 in these days of Civil Service Commissions, and 

 Competitive Examinations, of the difficulties which 

 used to present themselves to the advancement of 

 men of genius in former times ; but I very much 

 doubt if the present much-vaunted system will not 

 introduce more mediocrity of intellect into high 

 places than ever found its way to them under the 

 old arrangement. The number of the alumni of 

 Winchester School from the date of its foundation 

 in 1387 to the present day, who have risen to 

 eminence by the unaided force of their own 

 talents and perseverance, forbids the notion 

 that our ancestors were as destitute of oppor- 

 tunities of self-advancement as modern theorists 

 would have us believe. That the times were less 

 favourable to that glib mediocrity, that parrot- 

 like exhibition of artificially-acquired knowledge 

 with which the modern aspirant is crammed for a 

 particular object, can hardly be disputed. In the 

 instance in question, the poor carpenter's son be- 

 came the Professor of Poetry, and afterwards the 

 Public Orator of the University to which the hand 

 of charity had conducted him ; having adorned 

 our literature by one of the most admirable de- 

 scriptive poems which has been produced in our 

 time. After filling the post of college tutor for 

 several years with ability and success, a sermon 

 preached by Mr. Crowe before the University in 

 1781 produced so strong an impression in his 

 favour that he was presented in the following year 

 to the valuable rectory of Alton Barnes, which he 

 continued to hold until his death. On the resig- 

 nation of Doctor Bandinell in 1784, Mr. Crowe 

 was appointed Public Orator of the University ; 

 and long before his death, held church preferment 

 which yielded him (so Mr. Moore affirms on his 

 authority), an income of more than lOOOZ. per 

 annum. 



In 1786 Mr. Crowe published his " excellent 

 loco-descriptive poem," as Wordsworth calls it, 

 Lewesdon Hill. The locality from which it de- 

 rives its title is situated in the western part 

 of Dorsetshire, and overlooks the whole coun- 

 try between it and the sea. To the top of this 

 hill the author describes himself as walking on 

 a morning of the month of May ; and the poeti- 

 cal reader who may happen to possess the' re- 

 (juisite amount of faith, is expected to believe 

 that the various scenes which it commands were 

 reviewed and described on such a morning be- 

 fore breakfast. This poem has been characterised 

 by competent judges as one of the best examples 

 of descriptive blank verse which has been produced 

 in modern times. In the same year Mr. Crowe 

 published the Creweian Oration which he had 

 delivered to the University on' the centenary of 



the Revolution. In 1802 he edited the poetry of 

 his friend and schoolfellow William Collins ; but 

 the book, shabbily printed and carelessly edited, 

 added little to what was already known of Col- 

 lins, and nothing to the fame of either the poet 

 or his editor. In 1812 Mr. Crowe published, in 

 conjunction with Mr. Caldecott, annotated edi- 

 tions of " Hamlet" and " As you Like it," as a 

 specimen of a projected edition of Shakspeare; 

 but was not encouraged by its reception to carry 

 out his project. He was in fact deficient in the 

 patient industry which is an indispensable quali- 

 fication for the efficient performance of such a 

 task. He continued until a short time before 

 his death to' deliver the Creweian Oration, al- 

 ternately with the Professor of Poetry, at the 

 Commemoration Festivals ; and his remarkable 

 appearance in the rostrum, and the sonorous enun- 

 ciation of his carefully balanced periods, invested 

 bis performances with no ordinary interest ; whilst 

 the eccentricity of his costume, and his utter 

 disregard of all conventional usages, rendered 

 him an object of curiosity wherever he presented 

 himself. His habits of economy and contempt of 

 personal indulgence were such, that he usually 

 performed his journeys from Alton-Barnes to Ox- 

 ford and back again on foot. On such occasions, 

 during the summer season, he would often be en- 

 countered pressing forward with rapid and vigor- 

 ous strides, with his coat thrown across his stick, 

 and his hat in his hand, philosophically indifferent 

 to the sensation which such an exhibition was cal- 

 culated to excite. For the last two years of hi.s 

 life, however, he resided under medical advice at 

 Bath, where he died, after a short illness, on 

 February 29, 1829. His latest publication was a 

 T'reatise on English Versification, which may be 

 safely recommended as the best work of its kind 

 extant. Moore tells us in his Diary that Crowe 

 married the daughter of a fruiterer at Oxford, by 

 whom he had several children, and that he con- 

 tinued, in spite of the college statutes, to hold 

 his fellowship notwithstanding ; but how this was 

 managed I am wholly unable to expUiin. Should 

 modern reformers succeed in removing the mar- 

 riage disqualification for holding such appoint- 

 ments, the chances of fellowships for celibataires 

 will, I fear, be materially diminished. A. A. W. 



JUNIUS-IANA. 



Junius and Sir Philip Francis : — 



[Valuable and important as have been the various arti- 

 cles on tlie authorship of the celebrated Letters nf Junius 

 whicli have from time to time afpeared in The Athe- 

 nccum, none have been more so than one entitled " I'bilip 

 Francis and Pope Gant;anelli in 1772," which appeared 

 in that journal on the Hth of .Tanuary last; and in wlii'li 

 is "published the letter to Dr. Campbell describing Fran- 

 cis's two hours' interview with PopeGunganelli in 1772 — 



