Welsh Journals

Most of the nine chapters into which the narrative is divided bear appropriate and well chosen titles, such as 'Halcyon Days', 'Fin de Siecle' and 'The Years of Evolution'; but one doubts whether 'A Whiff of Cordite' is a fitting description of a chapter which, instead of being the short, snappy one a reader would expect, extends to exactly ninety pages. On the whole, this chapter provides a well-balanced account of the almost interminable wrangling which took place during the period 1875-96 about the future of the school, but it is a pity that the author has seen fit to assign to the views and pronouncements of the Rev. Dr. Hugo D. Harper as principal of Jesus College an authority almost equal to that of Holy Writ. The facts are that although Harper proved himself, by his success both at Cowbridge and Sherborne, to be one of the greatest headmasters of the nineteenth century, he did not cut a particularly good figure after he took over the reins at his former college. In the words of G. Hartwell Jones (A Celt looks at the World, pp. 35-36),' His (Harper's) motives were no doubt honourable, but his methods wrong-headed, and altogether his regime cannot be pronounced a success. A first-rate business man, with an insatiable appetite for administrative work even outside the college, avid of power, interfering and injudicious, he remained to the end a schoolmaster. He was too much the schoolmaster, too avid of power, too fond of interfering, in spite of his indubitable talents for business and administration; but criticism ceased when illness incapaci- tated him for active participation in college affairs. The duties of Principal then devolved upon Llewelyn Thomas He did not, like Harper, harangue his fellow-countrymen in the tone of an Archdeacon reprimand- ing black beetles. All therefore passed smoothly and pleasantly under his genial sway.' If Mr. Davies had been aware of these facts, he would hardly have set Harper upon so lofty a pedestal. The history is brought right down to the year 1966, and to it are added five appendices which greatly enhance the value of the book for readers whose chief interest lies in the pre-1800 period. Unfortunately, part of the diary of Daniel Walters which is printed in appendix 4 is based on an inferior text hurriedly transcribed by T. C. Evans (Cadrawd) for insertion in a National Eisteddfod essay. Among the manuscripts of David Jones of Wallington, there are two far more accurate copies of the lost original. It is also a pity that 'The Poetry of the Walters Brothers' printed in appendix 5 does not include the pieces which John, the elder brother, published at Oxford in 1780 under the title Poems with notes. Here and there throughout the volume, Mr. Davies provides valuable glimpses of life at the school during various periods of its history, and although some periods are far better documented than others, quite an adequate coverage has been achieved. One could wish, however, for better coverage of schoolboys who in later life brought honour to the school: William Morgan (the actuary who was headboy in the 1760s), Sir William Morris (the poet who followed Harper to Sherborne), Henry Owen (the