TALBOT1097

Stamford.
July 8^th 1823

Dear Talbot,

I have indeed been behaving somewhat amiss of late, but I only received a copy of the Porson prize ¹ yesterday morning from Perry. The author is M^r - Kennedy, and proh tempora, inversi q: mores! ² - a Johnian, a Johnian & Barham³ still in the field!!

Have you heard that Dobree⁴ has succeeded to the chair of Porson?⁵ Old Greenwood⁶ found a letter from an old Greek Professor of Queen Mary's days, in which that learned Theban says that, on being created D.D, he was obliged to obtain special permission to enable him to keep his professorship: so D^r Monk⁷ made a precipitate retreat from the chair. Dobree is said to have made a splendid inaugural speech, dwelling much as you may suppose, on the immortal Porson; whereas Monk, he observed, was 'variis negotiis districtus', ⁸ and therefore unable to advance the blessed cause of 'Greek letters all over the world.'

The Master ⁹ has carried his building scheme, and has sent begging circulars to all members of the Royal & Religious Foundation: there is a printed form - then a few lines from the master; and then a few, more familiar & earnest, from Whewell, ¹⁰ signed 'Tutor', so I conclude that Johnny Brown ¹¹ is tutorially defunct. Whewell's second Volume ¹² is quite new, and spoken of very highly at Cambridge. Coddington ¹³ says, "that I may defer Optics for the present, as he intends to enlighten the world on that subject in about a month" - Higman ¹⁴ has 5 men in the first class; one of them moreover, was the first man in it; moreover too he had the two first men in the second. I spent a few days in Cambridge last May, and found all the men hard at work. I had been but idle at Liverpool, and suffered the same kind of punishment at Cambridge, that the poor wretches do in Dant[e's]¹⁵ Purgatory, where the sinners in each sort are tormente[d] by voices singing out on all sides the names and de[illegible] of those who have been most famous for the opposite virtues - [text missing] could hear nothing but the din of preparation, and every knot of men seemed to me to be discussing the chances of the different candidates. There are now 5 vacancies; Amos ¹⁶ superannuated, Spencer & Lambert ¹⁷ dead; Hustler ¹⁸ married, and Bird ¹⁹ going to be married. To give us confidence, he has neglected to take his M.A. degree; so his fellowship is absolutely vacant. Ollivant ²⁰ has walked over the course for the first Essay: neither Barnes nor I could spare time, or, to say truth had much inclination. Key ²¹ prayed me to conceal the real state of things from you: he was going to begin to read very hard at Mathematics. Rawlinson was a great favourite - quod Dii avertant. ²²

Y^r sincere Friend
T. K. Arnold

Shakspeare [sic]. Henry 8^th Act 5. Scene 4^th
'This royal infant' - 'And so stand fixed'.
[here translated into 34 lines of Greek verse]

W. H. F. Talbot Esq.
Poste Restante,
Milan
Varese ²³
con Libro ²⁴