Project Canterbury

Life of Robert Machray, Archbishop of Rupert's Land

By His Nephew, Robert Machray

Toronto: Macmillan, 1909.


Chapter III. At Sidney College, Cambridge (1851-1855)

SIDNEY SUSSEX COLLEGE, generally known as Sidney College, or, to Cambridge men, simply as "Sidney," intimately connected itself with two periods in the life of Robert Machray, both of them happy and fortunate. One period, the subject of this chapter, covers his undergraduate career, the Tripos in which he "went out," the taking of his degree, and his election to a Fellowship; the other, from 1858 to 1865, extends from the day he was summoned by the College authorities to become Dean of Sidney, a position which he combined with a large amount of clerical work outside his College duties, to the date of his elevation to the episcopate as Bishop of Rupert's Land. He ever had the greatest love for Sidney, knowing how very much he owed to the College--a debt he always acknowledged with affectionate gratitude, for it was there that, to use his own words, "the way was so kindly and providentially opened before me." But though before he had left Aberdeen he had been entered as a "pensioner" or ordinary undergraduate of Sidney, it was not to that College he went when he reached Cambridge on Monday, October 19, 1851; it was to St. Peter's College, and only a mistake as to dates prevented him, in all probability, from becoming a member of the latter, where, perchance, events might have taken a quite different turn.

Having determined to go up to Cambridge, and well aware that Cambridge. meant a comparatively heavy expenditure, his mind was preoccupied with the consideration of ways and means. Out of his £60 prize won at King's he deposited £15 as "caution money" with Sidney, this being the sum which the University of Cambridge exacts, as a kind of general security for College and other fees, from its pensioners. For the benefit of those who are not acquainted with the Cambridge system an explanation may here be interpolated. There were four classes of undergraduates: first, "noblemen" or peers, holding a privileged position by right of birth; second, "fellow-commoners," or students who acquire by purchase certain privileges, such as dining with the Fellows of their College instead of with the other undergraduates; third, "pensioners," or ordinary undergraduates in statu pupillari; and fourth, "sizars," who receive certain allowances from their College, on the ground of want of sufficient means, but to whom no stigma on that account is attached.

There are now a great many open Scholarships at every College for students entering the University, but at the time Robert Machray entered it there was only an open Sizarship at St. Peter's College, the value of which was probably about £40. A week before he left for Cambridge, Professor Fuller of King's, Aberdeen, told him of it, and advised him to try for it; the Professor gave him the subjects set for the examination for the Sizarship, both Classical and Mathematical, and said it began on Tuesday, October 20. During the week Machray read up the subjects as well as the short time at his disposal permitted, and having made the journey to Cambridge, reached St. Peter's about eleven o'clock on Monday morning.

He went at once to Mr. W. A. Porter, the gentle man mentioned in the preceding chapter, with whom he had been in correspondence, and had a long conversa tion with him, Mr. J. F. M'Lennan also being present. At length Mr. Porter went over to the rooms of the Tutor of St. Peter's--to return presently with the dispiriting news that the examination for the first day was already half over. However, Machray was forth with bundled into the room where the examination was being held, and he did what he could of the paper in the time. But in the evening Mr. Cocker, the Tutor, came across to Mr. Porter's quarters, and declared that Machray could not be accepted as a candidate unless entered as an undergraduate of St. Peter's. Mr. Porter thought that in the circumstances this was not advisable, so, after stopping the night at St. Peter's, Machray went on to Sidney.

Thus, as the Archbishop used to say, was he "saved from going to Peterhouse," by the inadvertence of Professor Fuller, who had given the wrong date for the examination; and thus, also, the question of finance remained unchanged. Having paid the caution money, Machray on entering the University had left out of his Mathematical Prize some £30 in cash, and there was available the loan from the Aberdeen Bank, which gave him another £100 or so. But he found good and appreciative friends in his College.

The history of Sidney has been admirably set forth by Mr. G. M. Edwards, its Tutor, in a book published in 1899. The College was founded in 1598 by Frances Sidney, wife of the Earl of Sussex, who was for a time the chief rival of Dudley, Earl of Leicester, for the favour of Elizabeth; she herself was a notable woman, and of a notable family; her nephew was the famous Sir Philip Sidney; her tomb is in Westminster Abbey. The present Visitor of Sidney, the Baron de l'Isle and Dudley, is a descendant of hers. As a college, Sidney has had its ups and downs; for the last few years it has been prosperous, with a marked increase in the number of its pensioners, but it has never got back to the place it enjoyed within forty years of its foundation: in 1630-1636 it had an average of 15- students, Eton and Westminster men among them; at present it has upwards of 90. In 1851, when Machray entered, there were 14 freshmen, an unusually large number for that time, being as many as there were in the other three years, taken together, of the undergraduate course.

The first Master or Head of Sidney was Dr. Montagu, brother of an Earl of Manchester, and afterwards Bishop of Bath and Wells, and many members of the Montagu family were educated at Sidney. Amongst the distinguished men who have passed through Sidney or been connected with the College are Thomas Fuller, the historian, a genuinely great man, who migrated from Queens' College to Sidney in 1629; Seth Ward, the famous Bishop of Salisbury; and William Wollaston, the author of Religion of Nature Delineated, a remarkable work which long enjoyed general popularity. But the chief of Sidney men was, and is, Oliver Cromwell, who became a fellow-commoner in i6i6, and of whom the best portrait in existence hangs in the Master's Lodge to-day. Owing to the death of his father, Cromwell was resident at Sidney only for a year, but no Sidney man ever forgets that the great Lord Protector belonged to his College: it is the crowning glory of Sidney.

The Master of Sidney in 1851 was the Rev. Robert Phelps, D.D., a brother of the once well-known tragedian. Originally a Trinity man, he had gone to Sidney as a lecturer, was made a Fellow and Tutor of the College in 1840, and was elected Master in 1843--a position he held till his death in 1890. The freshmen had little to do with him, and seldom saw him save at chapel, but from the start had a good deal to do with the Tutor, who had general charge of all the work going on in College; and perhaps also on occasion with the Dean, who was responsible for the discipline of the students within the College walls. The Tutor of Sidney at this time was the Rev. William Towler Kingsley, B.D., at present Rector of South Kelvington, Thirsk. Machray called on Mr. Kingsley, received some general directions as to lectures and College life, and was given a set of rooms on the second floor in Hall Court, that is, the court in which stands the College Hall, a large chamber used for several purposes, the chief of which is the dining together in the evening of the Fellows and the students--the Fellows at the "high table" at one end, and the undergraduates at lower tables in the body of the room. On taking possession of his rooms, Machray, according to custom, accepted at a valuation the furniture of their previous occupant, and at once settled down. Next he sallied into the town and ordered in supplies for breakfasts, luncheons, and teas, which the men have in their own quarters, and other necessary things.

Those first days must have seemed a little strange to him. At Aberdeen students did not reside in College, and there was practically no supervision of them by the University authorities; at Cambridge all students live in College or in rooms outside which have been specially licensed for that purpose, and all are more or less continuously under the vigilant eye of the University. At Aberdeen he had lived at home with his mother; here, he set up for himself; as it were. But he quickly fell in with the new order. The freshmen of his year had a table to themselves when dining in hall, one of the Scholars of a senior year being placed at its head; doubtless at first they looked shyly at one another, and ate their food in silence--Machray the shyest and most silent of them all. Lectures began next day, and to his great dismay Machray soon found himself but poorly prepared for Cambridge by Aberdeen; under Professor Tulloch he had got up only Euclid, Plane and Spherical Trigonometry, and Geometrical Conic Sections.

He had to begin the most elementary propositions in Algebra. In Mixed Mathematics, however, he was more forward, but had read only what was needed for the "first three days" of the Mathematical Tripos or Final Examination in "Honour Mathematics." At this period Cambridge concentrated her energies mainly on Mathematics; students were not allowed to go in for Honours in Classics unless they previously had taken either 1-jonours in Mathematics or a First Class in the "Poll" or examination for the ordinary degree. To take a First--to be a " Wrangler," as the Cambridge term named it--in the Mathematical Tripos was the great objective at Cambridge, ever held up before her students as the worthiest goal of effort and ambition. The Tripos was spread over a week or two, divided into the "first three days " and, after an interval, the "last five days," the subjects for the latter being more difficult than those for the former.

From his first term each student in Mathematics read and worked with a single eye to excelling in the Tripos; the College lectures were framed generally with this end in view; promising students, who could afford it, retained the services of a private tutor or "coach." Machray had no coach to help him, but Mr. Kingsley gave him some private lessons, and he worked hard all the time--with such good result that he was placed first in the First Class in Mathematics for his year in the College Christmas examinations, and to his equal surprise and delight was elected a Foundation Scholar, a distinction not usually conferred on a fresh man till after the examinations at the close of the first year's course in May. He was sworn in as Scholar on Lady Sidney's Day, December 17, 1851. On the evening of the same day there was a great dinner in Hall, and each undergraduate was presented with a pint bottle of sherry wherewith to celebrate the occasion; every man in College drank the health of the new Scholar. After dinner the men repaired to the rooms of one of the seniors where dessert and wine were laid out, and there was much rejoicing of a somewhat boyish and rather rowdy description, in the midst of which the leg of a chair was driven through the ceiling.

The new Scholar evidently was popular, though, from the narrowness of his means, he was not able to go in for those things which in College life make for popularity. From the beginning he resolutely set him self against all unnecessary expenses, denying himself beer and extras from the kitchens. On Sundays and Holy Days pudding was put on the table as part of the fare, but on other days it had to be "sized for," that is, being interpreted, it had to be ordered and paid for as an extra; there was a rule of the same kind with respect to soup. He also declined becoming a member of the College Boat Club, Cricket Club, and Football Club; when asked to join them he simply stated that he would very gladly be a member if he could afford it, but being forced to economise in every way, it was out of the question. The refusals were taken in good part, and he never saw any sign of having incurred odium for this cause, nor was ever any practical joke played on him because of it. As will be seen a little farther on, it rather counted for than against him; he remained on the best of terms with all the men.

He spent that Christmas Vacation in College: he was a poor traveller, and Aberdeen was a long way off. The only other undergraduates in residence were the "Questionists," or men preparing for the Tripos in January; he sat with them at table, and they kindly invited him to join them at wine after dinner. The first evening of this intercourse saw an amusing incident. Machray was offered a cigar; he said he did not smoke, and confessed that he did not know one end of a cigar from the other, whereupon it was cut for him. Not liking to refuse it, he solemnly proceeded to light it--but at the wrong end, and there was a great shout of laughter. He was offered another cigar, but meanwhile he had got back the power of saying No, and declined it. This was his only attempt upon tobacco in any form. For many years he had not a good word to say about smoking; but in later life he wrote that he had come to the "conclusion that while tobacco seems very harmful for boys and lads under twenty-one, yet after that age it appears to do no injury unless taken in great excess, and evidently affords much pleasure and solace." Perhaps the example and influence of his friend and neighbour, Bishop Whipple of Minnesota, who was a determined and inveterate cigar-smoker, had something to do with this change of opinion.

When the men returned to Sidney after the Christmas Vacation, Mr. Kingsley placed him, as Scholar, at the head of the freshmen's table, which he was supposed to keep in order, according to the immemorial traditions of the place. Amongst these traditions was the custom of fining men cider or other cups for all sorts of trivial offences, such as speaking two words in an unknown tongue, which meant every language save English, quoting Scripture, talking "shop" (speaking of College work), making a pun, and the like. The men of his table wished greater liberty, and told him so--there was something like a strike against his authority. Sympathising with them rather than other wise, he consulted Mr. Kingsley on this momentous question. The Tutor very sensibly replied that if the men agreed unanimously to have such fines, they might be continued; but if any student objected, he could not, as Tutor, support the Scholar in imposing them. On the other hand, if the Scholar fined a man for swearing or ungentlemanly behaviour, the College would uphold his decision. Machray reported the Tutor's words to his fellow-undergraduates, and it was immediately resolved that all the fines for trivial matters should be abolished for ever. His table probably got on quite well enough without them, for he had won the respect as well as the liking of the men. His chief companions were naturally men of his year, and he was particularly friendly with Alfred Whitlow and William Banham, both of whom became clergymen eventually. The only man he knew outside Sidney was M'Lennan of Trinity; but their views on most subjects were entirely different, and they did not see much of each other.

Towards the end of the College year Machray suffered a great deal of anxiety with regard to his finances. The Foundation Scholarship, to which he had been elected at Christmas, was worth only one shilling a day while its holder was actually in residence in the College; if he resided every day of the year, it was worth about £18, and at the most he resided not quite half a year in all. So this Scholarship helped him very little. And meanwhile the drain on his slender resources had been constant, and by May of that year the fear grew upon him that they would be insufficient. He had much correspondence with Dr. M'Intosh about funds, which was of a very harrowing nature. Dr. M'Intosh was always kind in his letters, and full of praises of what Machray was doing, but he left him in his difficulties. However, the May Exams. came on, and were passed successfully before the financial crisis became too acute.

In these examinations he took the First Mathematical Prize in his own year, and the Second Classical Prize competed for by men of his and. of the second year. He was First in Divinity for the whole College, and was bracketed First for the Latin Theme with Edward Gilbert Highton. Mr. Highton, who subsequently became a barrister, for many years coached the Westminster scholars for their yearly Play--till Dr. Rutherford, Head Master after Dr. Scott, suddenly and rather discourteously dispensed with his services, saying he did not think it becoming for Westminster boys to be trained for their Play by a Marlborough man! Consequent upon the examinations, Machray and his friend Whitlow were elected Taylor Exhibitioners. [These exhibitions were founded by Samuel Taylor of Dudley, a graduate of Sidney, in 1732, by a valuable bequest to the College of certain lands and houses.] This gave him £60 a year, in addition to the sum received from his Scholarship, and, at any rate for the time being, lessened his fears of a financial collapse. By this time he had completely won the friendship and confidence of Mr. Kingsley, the Tutor, who spoke encouragingly of his ultimate success. Mr. Kingsley went farther, for he gave Machray a private tutor or coach for the ensuing Long Vacation, Mr. Scott of Sidney, which was equivalent to a present of £15. He spent the last six weeks of the "Long" in Aberdeen, and then arranged for the extension of the loan from the local Bank, the amount being increased from £100 to £130. Thus he was able to continue his undergraduate career at Cambridge; but for at least another year his financial position was little short of desperate.

Having made such provision as was possible, he entered on his second year at Sidney in October 1852. The entry of freshmen to the College in that October was about the same as in the preceding year; amongst them was a student who afterwards became one of his greatest friends, John Clough Williams-Ellis, but at first their acquaintance was slight. [Third Wrangler, 1856; Fellow and Tutor of Sidney, 1859-76; Vicar of Madingley, 1865-76; Rector of Gayton, Northamptonshire, 1876-89.] In addition to work for the Mathematical Tripos, he began to read for the Classical Tripos by the advice of Mr. John Roberts of Magdalene College, who lectured in Classics at Sidney; but after a couple of terms, finding that he could make no progress in verse composition by himself--he could not afford a classical "coach"--he abandoned the attempt, as did his friend Alfred Whitlow. Whitlow had also been persuaded to read for the Classical Tripos by Mr. Roberts at the same time as Machray, and the two young men got up their work together. One result of their friendship was the formation of the "Dudleian Society" in Sidney.

While in Aberdeen Machray had heard from Whitlow that he had been very ill, and that he had had serious thoughts about religion. Previous to this Machray had agreed in the "Long" to join two of his fellow-undergraduates, William Banham and George Buistrode, in writing sermons; but Buistrode that term migrated to Emmanuel College and dropped out. Machray and Whitlow now joined Banham, and with one or two other students of a religious turn of mind began the "Dudleian," which lasted in Sidney for something like twenty years. They met in each other's rooms every Sunday evening after Evening Service in the churches of the town was over, and one of them preached a sermon which he had composed, while the others made notes upon it and criticised it with great freedom.

During this October Term Machray made another warm friend in Elmitt Browne, the present Vicar of St. Jude's, Kingston-on-Hull, in the diocese of York; it was Browne's first term, and his rooms were next Machray's, and the two were much together. Before going down for the Christmas Vacation, Browne asked Machray to accompany him on a small expedition which provided them with a good deal of amusement. Browne had received his bill for the term from Mr. Kingsley, the Tutor, and not understanding some of its items) particularly the charges for the quarter before he had come into residence in the College, had asked Mr. Kingsley for an explanation. The Tutor told him that the bill was a complicated affair, and that his best course was to go to the College Buttery and interview the official in charge of it, who would be able to give him the information he desired.

Browne invited Machray to go with him to the Buttery, where they saw the official, who was politely requested by Browne to say why such and such items appeared on his bill for the quarter before he had put in an appearance at Sidney--when, in point of fact, he had never been near Cambridge at all. "Oh," replied the official, with an air of urbane inquiry, "but was not your name, sir, on the 'College Boards'?" Browne admitted that this was the case, for he had been entered as an undergraduate on the Boards or books of Sidney at the beginning of the quarter in question. "Then," said the man tranquilly but triumphantly, "that's it. You see, sir, as soon as a gentleman has his name on the Boards he begins to accumulate expenses." That settled the matter. Browne, however, thirsted for more information, and next looked over a long page in the bill for the October Term, with fourpence down daily for the "butler." Pointing to the page Browne asked, "Who is the butler?" He had been unaware of the services rendered him by the butler. The official made him a magnificent bow and said simply, "I am the butler, sir!" And Browne said no more. The bill had to be accepted in its entirety and paid, and there was an end of it!

With the exception of a few days passed in London with John M'Lean, his King's College comrade, he spent the Christmas Vacation in College, going on with his work. These days were saddened by the death of Dr. M'Intosh of Aberdeen, a noble-hearted man, deeply deplored by many whom he had silently helped in their difficulties. His death, too, had a prejudicial effect on Machray's financial position, and he heard from Aberdeen that he must look for no further assistance from that quarter. His situation was now very difficult. Without more funds than were at his command he could not go on. He pondered and seriously considered the outlook, and finally came to a wise conclusion, which was to lay the whole matter before Mr. Kingsley, the Tutor. Mr. Kingsley had already shown himself friendly, and knew that Machray was doing good work and shaping well for the Tripos. At Christmas he had been First in the College examinations in Mathematics and had taken First Classes in the "Little Go," as the University examination previous to the Tripos is popularly called. When Machray told the Tutor how he stood, he found him most sympathetic and helpful. Mr. Kingsley begged him not to distress himself as the means would be provided in one way or another. The Tutor began by remitting the whole of Machray's College fees, and then obtained a grant of £20 a year for him from the Clergy Education Society of Cambridge, which was continued until he graduated. He promised that if Machray's position in the following May examinations warranted it he would see that the College would recognise it in a substantial manner; and as the position did warrant it, the College came forward handsomely In these examination, Machray was First in Mathematics in his year, First in Divinity for the whole College, and First Class in Classics in his year. The College added a gratuity of £30 to his Taylor Exhibition of £60, and made him Micklethwaite Scholar. Counting in the value of the fees remitted, the College now gave him about £150 a year, which, with the grant of £20 mentioned above, made up an income of some £170. His difficulties, therefore, were over, though he still had to practise the greatest economy nor was his income sufficiently large to enable him to read with a coach--that would have been £30 or £40 additional expense yearly--though the assistance of a coach was well-nigh indispensable to a student at Cambridge who wished to be a high Wrangler.

Machray's appearance at this period of his life is thus described by Mr. J. C. Williams-Ellis (see p. 48):

My first clear recollection of seeing the future great Archbishop of Rupert's Land, and my dearest friend for half a century, was curious and has indelibly imprinted itself on my mind. It took place in this wise. I went up as a freshman to Sidney Sussex College in 1852. The College was very small in numbers, but, strangely enough, amongst its undergraduates were the Captain of the 'Varsity boat, Edward Hawley, and the Stroke, William Simson Longmore, the former being President and the latter Treasurer of the C.U.B.C. (Cam bridge University Boat Club). By their energy Sidney rose in ten successive boat races from the twentieth to the tenth place on the river, although there was a joke among boating men that we had only

Eight men to row and one to steer,
One to start, and one to cheer.

Well, there happened to be a great flood in the Cam--so great that the whole of Midsummer Common was one big lake--and it was decided to row the College Fours on the common instead of on the river. Hawley managed to get together four four-oars, but when we were ready it was found that one of the boats had no coxswain. Whether the coxswain had fallen out or how it happened I do not now remember, but Hawley was equal to the occasion. He had noticed a very tall, thin figure in college cap and gown viewing the proceedings near Jesus College--this was Machray. How Hawley persuaded him to take his place as coxswain I do not know, but he did, though Machray had probably never been in a boat before. The sight of that tall, thin figure in full academical costume steering a racing four was overpowering! Had the boats been like the present outriggers, we must all have been upset by laughing.

Machray did not belong to the College Boat Club, not from any want of sociability, but because his means were limited, though the numerous scholarships and exhibitions he won enabled him to pay all his College expenses. With another man this, at that time, would have been a fatal bar in the estimation of his fellow-undergraduates. But in spite of this Machray was liked and respected by all. Owing to his not joining in any of our games, I knew but little of him as a student. Athletic sports had no charms for him. After he became Dean of Sidney, and I conversed with him about cricket, football, fives, or tennis, he used to speak of them all indifferently as "playing ball"!

In the same year, 1852-53, of which Mr. Williams-Ellis speaks, Machray had a pleasant evidence that his abstention from joining the Boat Club had created no feeling against him. The men were divided into two cliques, and there were two Boat Clubs, the Sidney and the Dudley; it became realised that the College was far too small to support two clubs of the same kind, and it was resolved to hold a general meeting of the two clubs to try to form a union between them. The question was, Who was to preside? Machray was the only man who was a member of neither. At first it was proposed that a Fellow should be asked to preside over the gathering, but on Machray's name being mentioned it was immediately decided that he should be chairman. A deputation waited on him, and he consented to act, which he did to the satisfaction of all concerned. This was the only occasion on which he was ever present at a Boat Club meeting. After he became a Fellow he joined all the College Clubs, but he never attended any of their meetings.

Also in this year he was confirmed, becoming definitely a member of the Church of England. Before he had left Aberdeen for Cambridge, he had sometimes gone to Service in St. Paul's Episcopal Church, and made no secret of his intention of ceasing to be a Presbyterian; he had told his mother of his desire to become a clergyman of the Anglican Church. Before going down at Christmas 1852, he had had a conversation with the Rev. George Maddison, after wards Archdeacon Maddison, Vicar of All Saints', the parish in which Sidney is included, and whose church he regularly attended, regarding Confirmation. Early in the following year Mr. Maddison arranged for his being presented to the Bishop of Ely by the Rev. Mr. Selwyn, a county Incumbent, for the rite, and in due time he was confirmed by the Bishop in Mr. Selwyn's church.

The College year 1853-54 passed by unmarked by any outstanding incident except one, which was somewhat remarkable in the light of later events. Some time during this period he was present at a missionary meeting--the only meeting of the kind he took any part in while an undergraduate--held in the rooms of Mr. Nicholson, a Fellow of Emmanuel College, when an address was given by Archdeacon Hunter of Rupert's Land. Up to that time he must have had the dimmest of notions as to what was meant by Rupert's Land, and certainly never dreamt how much it was to mean to him in the future. Both at the Christmas and May examinations he took the highest place in Mathematics, and great expectations were formed of the position he would gain in the Tripos; he also took Firsts in Divinity and in the English Essay; he no longer went in for Classics, most of his time now being occupied with reading for the Tripos. He continued to be a leading member of the Dudleian Society, which had grown very much.

His acquaintance in the University had by this time greatly increased, amongst his friends being Maxwell, afterwards so distinguished as Professor Maxwell, Fellow of Trinity; and Mr. P. Mason, Head Master of the Cambridge Grammar School, who had been a Second Wrangler; as well as Mr. Mason's son, a distinguished Hebrew scholar, the Rev. Peter Mason, Fellow and President of St. John's College. During the "Long" of 1854 he went to Scotland for six weeks, and then returned to Cambridge to read for the Tripos with Mr. Scott, the Mathematical Lecturer of Sidney, and to revise old work. The Tripos was now only six months away, and he read very hard. During the October Term 1854 he worked incessantly--far too much indeed, for he wore himself out, and suffered greatly from insomnia, which was largely induced by strain; for long after the Tripos he was able to get but little sleep. His chief fear was that he would disappoint the expectations that had been formed of him.

The Tripos came off in January 1855, and when the results were published Machray was 34th Wrangler and his friend Whitlow 42nd in a very large year; as it had been confidently anticipated that he would be a high Wrangler, his comparatively low position in the First Class was considered the greatest failure of the Tripos. But he himself had not looked for such marked success as others had prophesied from his appearance in the College examinations, which had always been excellent. He had done a large amount of book-work, but in many branches of Mathematics he had had to begin at the very beginning at Cam bridge; the Aberdeen Mathematical prizemen who followed him came up with much better training for the Triposes. When he was a Fellow he entertained no fewer than three Aberdeen men on one St. Andrew's Day at breakfast or wine who had been Senior Wranglers within five years--Mr. Slesser of Queens'; Mr. Stirling of Trinity, afterwards Lord Justice of Appeal; and Mr. Barker of Trinity, afterwards Professor in a Midland University.

Another reason for his comparative failure was that he had to give too special attention to the College work, as it was necessary for him to secure as much financial assistance as he possibly could. But the worst was that he had little time for Problems, particularly in the higher subjects. Perhaps it was be cause he was worn out, but in this final examination he lost places by some twelve misapprehensions of the questions set, though he was generally very accurate in his work. His inability to afford a coach also told against him. Yet his place in the Tripos was not in itself a bad one; it was exactly the same place that Mr. Kingsley himself had occupied in his Tripos. Notwithstanding the fact that he had disappointed the College authorities, he was shown great kindness by Mr. Kingsley, who, learning that he was much run down, insisted on sending him a dozen of port.

Having "proceeded" to his degree of B.A., he heard from Mr. Kingsley that a vacant Foundation Fellowship and a Blundell Fellowship were to be filled early in the following May by competitive examination, and Mr. Kingsley gave him the subjects for it, saying at the same time that he had hoped Machray's place in the Tripos would have set his election to a Fellowship beyond peradventure. The subjects were Mathematics, the Aeneid, the Ethics and Rhetoric of Aristotle, portions of Genesis and the Psalms in Hebrew, and the writing of a Latin Theme, and though he was not sanguine of success, he prepared for the examination as if he were. He also began reading for the Moral Science Tripos with Whitlow; but having applied for a tutorship which he saw advertised, and having got it, he left Cambridge and dropped the Tripos. It was a happy home to which he went--that of the Rev. Samuel Adams, Vicar of Bagworth with Thornton in Leicestershire; two sons of Mr. Adams and two other boys were his pupils, but as their lessons occupied only four hours each day, there was plenty of time left for reading up the Fellowship subjects.

That examination soon came round. There was but one other competitor for the Foundation Fellow ship, a gentleman, as it chanced, who was not a Sidney man. The examination was, with the exception of the Latin Theme, nearly all viva voce, and now in much better health, he did himself greater justice than in the Tripos, and was elected Fellow. After he was "admitted" to the Fellowship, he was taken by Mr. Kingsley to St. Catharine's College Lodge to see its Master, Dr. Philpot, then Vice-Chancellor of the University, and either then or about to be Bishop of Worcester. Machray was introduced, and signed his name in a book. In the evening, at dinner in hall, he took his place at the Fellows' table, and felt very happy. The way before him was straight enough now, for a Fellowship gave a "title" for Orders which any Bishop would accept. Next day he returned to Thornton Vicarage, where he was cordially welcomed and congratulated, and there he spent with his pupils the greater part of the summer of 1855, preparing at the same time for Ordination.


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