EULOGY OF DR. EVELEIGH. 63 its design, and, I may add, beneficial above all others in its execution the reformed system of examination for degrees, in which it is well known he was mainly instrumental, and to which he devoted a great part of his time and thoughts when the plan was first proposed. Of all who are now present, I believe I am best able to say how anxious he was for its adoption, and what pains he took to overcome the inertness and prejudices of many who were adverse to its introduction. Nay, there is one circumstance, of which few persons living besides myself are aware, and which proves, beyond a doubt, not only how sincerely his hand and heart were engaged in that business, but that he may be regarded (if any single man may) as the author and prime mover of that undertaking. The circumstance which I allude to is one which, at that time, he imparted to me under injunctions of secresy, but which nothing forbids me, in the present state of things, to reveal. After having seen many attempts at succeeding by mere argument and remonstrance quite fruitless, and when he almost despaired of effecting anything by that method, he had drawn the outline of a new plan, which he meant to submit to some leading persons in this place, and which he communicated to me in private. It contained an offer, on his own part, of a benefaction larger even than that which he has since conferred on this college, for the purpose of providing rewards and honours for the most distinguished candidates, if the university would consent to a reform of the whole system of examinations. The offer was declined; but from that moment the work was taken zealously in hand, and if any individual can with propriety be named as its author, to him, I firmly believe, is that praise justly due.' It remained to supply that place which had been so worthily filled, and the entire unanimity with which that was done appears most satisfactorily in the following requisition, presented to Mr.Copleston, 20th December, 1814: 'TO THE REV. EDWARD COPLESTON. 'The undersigned fellows of the college, in discharge of the solemn duty imposed upon them by their recent public loss, are induced, by their regard to your distinguished qualifications for such a trust, to request you will allow yourself to be put in nomination by them as their provost, and to accept their cordial and unanimous suffrages to that effect. (Signed) Edward Holwell. Richard Whately. James Endell Tyler. William Brudenell Barter. Edward Miles Rudd. John Keble. R. Boardman. Willingham Franklyn. Edward Hawkins. 'N.B.-One fellowship was vacant, and the Rev. T. Davis absent, the whole number being eighteen.' Without the walls of the college it was a matter of acclamation. 'On no occasion within my remembrance (says one of the fellows in a letter to Mr. Copleston's father) has there been so marked a concurrence of opinion in the university at large.' A diploma degree of D.D. crowned this academical triumph. And of this high distinction the same friend, whose words I have just quoted, writes thus in the same letter: 'Our provost was this morning created D.D. by diploma. The honour is, as you know, the highest the university can bestow; and it is only because it is the highest that the members of convocation have made him an acknowledgment for past services worthy of his acceptance.' How highly valued this honour was by Dr. Copleston himself will best appear from what he writes to his old college friend, the Rev. W. N. Darnell. Let me, however, first give the congratulatory letter of Mr. Darnell himself, which deserves a place, were it only for the happy quotation which it contains: My dear Copleston, Durham, Dec. 27, 1814. I need scarcely tell you that I sincerely rejoice in your elevation to the provostship. It is a delightful thing to me to see you placed by acclamation in the vacant chair, and to know that you have the satisfaction of being your own patron, after having been so long neglected. You have treated me very ill about your shade, which you promised me, knowing all the time that I am curious in shades. I must repeat my instructions-that it is to be on cardall black, without an eyelash, for the eyelash is never seen in profile, and may be sent to me in a frank, 'Omnibus umbra locis adero' till you fulfil your promise. Ever sincerely yours, W. N. D. The answer was as follows: Oriel College, Jan. 27, 1815. My dear Darnell, Your reproaches and menaces have at length driven me to the extremity of sitting for my profile. It is taken on card, all in black, without an eyelash—strictly, therefore, according to your injunctions. Still, the performance appears to me execrable; nor can I believe that the resemblance is striking. If you are dissatisfied, blame F the artist, for I sat perfectly still and patient. You are burdened with double postage because I have no franker at hand, and know not when I may have one. Thus I fear you will be a loser in every sense; but the thing is not worth more words. I have been passing a most happy fortnight among my friends at Exeter, where you are remembered with great interest. My father and mother are both surprisingly well, and have their full share of enjoyment in the great good fortune which has fallen upon me. To this a recent addition has been made, which you would never guess if left to yourself, and which, in its effect on my mind, has, I confess, far surpassed the election to the headship, because the one was an object to which I might naturally look forward, but the other was placed not only beyond the bounds of probability, but even of my own most flattering imagination. At the proposal of the president of C. C. C., the degree of D.D. was yesterday conferred on me by diploma; the instrument has just been presented to me by the Vice-Chancellor, and it is drawn up in terms which can never be repeated by my own pen. It was granted unanimously, and in a very full house, so that I have at least a proof that my conduct in convocation (though often unwelcome to the prevailing powers) yet has not prejudiced them against me, or made them think me a dangerous or unworthy member. How happy it will make me if I can ever receive you and Mrs. Darnell as my guests I need not say. Let me at least hope that you will one day or other revisit Oxford. Believe me ever, my dear Darnell, Yours most sincerely, E. COPLESTON. Out of a multitude of congratulatory letters, I select the two following: My dear Sir, CONGRATULATORY LETTERS. Dropmore, Dec. 23, 1814. 67 Though I had no doubt of the result of the election at Oriel, yet it gives me the greatest pleasure to learn that it has passed in a manner so gratifying to yourself and so honourable to the electors, who have conferred a great benefit on the college and on the university, both in the thing itself and the manner of doing it. I am well aware that we must not hope to see you here or in town just now; I shall be truly happy to express to you in person the congratulations of one, who yields to none of your friends in the pleasure he feels on this occasion. My dear Provost, I am, most truly yours, Seymour Street, Bath, Dec. 25, 1814. I congratulate you on having Oriel, and Oriel on having you; and both especially on the manner in which this good event has been effected, as I learn by a few hasty lines from Tyler, whose worthy heart seems to have trickled through his pen as he wrote. The Christian unity of your society I have ever considered with delight, and I trust with edification not less than that which I could not fail to derive from the conversation of those, whom I felt to be my superiors in every endowment and acquirement. I rejoice that the occasion is afforded to you of continuing to foster that harmony which has been manifested in the late acclamation superseding election. With sincere prayers for your long continued enjoyment of the love of your society, and for the prosperity of the society under your auspices, Believe me, Your obliged and sincere friend, Dr. Copleston had been a householder somewhat more than a year, when he expressed the following |