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Matthew Fontaine Maury 



Hydrographer, Christian Philosopher, Exile 



[HERE is no hour within the life of Maury which 

 stands out with more symbolic grandeur, none more 

 pregnant in brief recital of his deeds and character, 

 none of more permanent significance than the one 

 here chosen as the Prologue of this chronicle. We 

 are indebted, for the preservation of these details, to the Diary of 

 Maury's daughter, Mrs. James R. Werth, who, as guest of the 

 Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University, was present when the 

 Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred upon her 

 father. 



It was in the early summer of 1868 that this degree was there 

 conferred upon four notable men : Thomas Wright, English An- 

 tiquarian and Translator of Egyptian Hieroglyphics for the Brit- 

 ish Museum; Max Muller, German Orientalist and Oxford Pro- 

 fessor of Sanskrit Literature; Alfred Tennyson, Poet Laureate 

 of England's Victorian era, and Matthew Fontaine Maury, Amer- 

 ican Author, Scientist, and Exile. 



In scholastic cap, and gown of crimson cloth, these diversely 

 gifted men might have sat as modern models for an immortal 

 canvas! Civilization, Genius, and Religion, in noble majesty, 

 seemed there enthroned in that centuries-old University in Cam- 

 bridge, the City of Refuge, in England, the Asylum of the Exile ! 

 Four wise men from out of the West here brought their gifts and 

 were here to receive from this great University the seal of her 

 approval. The ceremony was at once brilliant and impressive. 

 In accordance with immemorial custom, it was conducted through- 

 out in Latin, but the comprehensive oration of the Dean, in in- 

 troducing Maury, is here given in translation : 



"I present to you Matthew Fontaine Maury, who, while 

 serving in the American Navy, did not permit the keen edge of 



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