Item 15 - Letter from Henry Sidgwick to Mary "Minnie" Benson

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Wishes that he could drop in on her, 'like William can, and see the [ ] lodge' for himself. Reports that their mother, 'after an ominous silence', sent him 'a laudatory but vague sentence about her.' Claims that he is 'a Galley Slave' that term, with a lecture at nine o'clock on Monday morning. Reports that he saw [Henry Weston] Eve the other day, 'but he looked more like Cambridge than Wellington College.' Reports that he has nearly got through the Old Testament, and shall have done all but Ezekiel by the time he goes down. Claims that the finest passages of the translation [from Hebrew to English] 'are destroyed by the barbarous fidelity of a ruthless German commentator.'

Reports that they have been having 'a violent university contest', and refers to Joe Mayor, who has lost his professorship [of political economy] by ten votes. Claims that the 'Bald-headed People in the university are confounded to find that the young men have elected a blind Radical [Henry Fawcett]'. States that he voted against Joe, 'purely on public grounds'. Announces that he is to dine with the Master on Monday, and is sure that he shall meet Miss Grote [Mayor's fiancée?] there.

Reports that Arthur is not well, and is 'plagued with the grandfather of all boils' on his finger. Reports that he saw Henry Bramley that day, and wonders whether he himself 'shall ever have so big a beard.' States that Oriental Studies 'are at a standstill [in Cambridge University] as [their] Hebrew Professor [Thomas Jarrett] is temporarily insane, and there is no one who can teach Hebrew or Sanscrit', and that besides him they have 'an Arabic Reader who never lectures except to at least two undergraduates...'

Asks her if she has seen any literature. Reports that there is 'a poetess who calls herself "Jean Ingelow" who is estimable', and that the 'Reviews have discovered that Woolners Poem [My Beautful Lady] is a swan', and does not think it 'a goose' himself. Asks how the house is getting on, and asks after Edward. Inquires as to whether the boys say the beer is bitter.

Part transcription in Sidgwick, Arthur, and Sidgwick, E. M, 'Henry Sidgwick'. London: Macmillan, 1906, p 103.