stealth, in the last vacation, by one Freeman, a coach painter and a genius for painting naturally. The master was angry at it, and the painter would have given him the picture. He afterwards sold it to alderman Gifford, the cook of the college, who has it in his house; where I saw it and much admired it. Mr Freeman is a relation of mine, his uncle the coachmaker marrying my niece Pole." (Add. MS. 5832; p. 86.) Though Dr Smith has left behind him no marked impress of his personality, in either the college or the University, he appears to have been an excellent man of business, and thoroughly acquainted with the history of the college property. We have several MSS. in the Library (e.g. 621) full of notes, in his peculiar shaky hand, dealing with our income and estates in former times. His will, dated June 16, 1792, with a codicil of June 3, 1794, was proved (P. C. C.) June 27, 1795. He left £2000 to the Rev. John Porter, D.D., and his wife Mary (Dr Smith's niece); and £2000 to Margaret, widow of his late brother Joseph. To the college £200, the interest to be employed in increasing the income of the Wendy fellow. To the University, a piece of land in Smallwood, Cheshire, for the increase of the Lowndean professorship. His sister-in-law, Margaret Smith, executrix. Chronicle. 1764, Oct. 19. 'Agreed to purchase so much stock as will defray the expence of the window tax and plate tax.' 1764, Oct. 19. The master presented the college with a collection of medals, to be added to the collection bequeathed by Sir J. Burrough. 1765. The first reference occurs in our accounts to the papering of a college room. 1765, June 7. The master gave his picture, painted by Reynolds. 1765, Nov. 7. 1771, Oct. 9. room. 1776, May 9. 1780, Jan. 14. 'Agreed to give £20 towards the support of the Physic Garden.' The cook forbidden to send a dinner or supper to any undergraduate's Twenty guineas subscribed for the American clergy. Nineteen of the college feasts were suppressed. 1782. A very important addition to the capacity of future expansion was made by the purchase of the block of dwelling-houses at the south-eastern corner of our property, though they were not occupied until 1850. It was effected by the purchase, for £1800, of "the reversion of Mr Finch's estate." 1783. A gun (second-hand) was bought for W. Wollard, game-keeper at Shelford, £1. 11. 6'-the first reference to the preservation of game on a college estate. 1788, Feb. 18. £5.5.0 subscribed towards the abolition of the Slave Trade. 1789. The present drawers and cases were placed in the Treasury at a cost, for joiners' work, of £47. 17. 8. 1790. Coroner, for inquest on Mr Reeve, £2. 2. 0' (Vol. II. 72). 1791, Jan. 14. That no agrotat be granted in future except there be a certificate of the indisposition signed by a physician or college apothecary.' 1791. Stolen out of the mail on its way to Martin and Co., £15; in addition to £60 which had been paid by a college tenant. 1792, Oct. 31. That the stable and coach house in the master's garden be repaired in future at the college expense, the master resigning his stable in the backyard to the use of the fellows.' 1794. Subscription towards the internal defence of the kingdom, £31. 10. 0. 1795, May 6. 'That £20.7.1 be charged to the college as their share towards raising men for the navy.' RICHARD FISHER. Richard Fisher, -or Belward, as he was afterwards called,--twenty-eighth master (1795-1803), was a son of Richard Fisher, surgeon, of Long Stratton, Norfolk; and was born there. He was admitted as a sizar, Jan. 15, 1765; was a scholar of the college from Mich 1765 to Mich 1769: elected a junior fellow, Oct. 26, 1769; and senior Oct. 11, 1781. He was president of the college, 1790-95. He graduated B.A. in 1769, being 9th wrangler; M.A. 1772; and D.D. 1796, having been elected master, July 1, 1795. He was ordained deacon by the bishop of Norwich, Dec. 26, 1769; and priest by the Bishop of Peterborough, June 1772. He was presented to the living of Long Stratton, his native place, July 24, 1794; but resigned this in the following year, on becoming master. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society Feb. 11, 1790. In 1791 he took the name Belward. He died at Roydon, Norf., May 16, 1803, and was buried at Diss, May 24; where there is a monument to him and to his mother. His comparatively short rule in college has left, so far as known, no mark or tradition behind it. In his will he says, "As I have received many favours from my college, my desire is to make it some return..." He therefore bequeaths ten shares in the Grand Junction Canal: of the proceeds £2 to be paid annually to the college chest, and £2 to the bursar for the time being. The residue to Louisa Basham, daughter of Charles Basham, during her life: afterwards "as exhibitions to four students who are sizars, and natives of Norfolk, whom the master shall think most deserving." Should the total exceed £60 the surplus to be paid to the master for his own use. The provision as to sizars led to some difficulty. Mrs Roger Kitson (Louisa Basham) lived till 1842, by which time there were, and had long been, no sizars in the college. There is a note by Dr Chapman, master (Lease Book, p. 1127), stating that under these circumstances the exhibitions would be bestowed on poorer pensioners of the college who were natives of Norfolk. rooms. Chronicle. 1795. Considerable alterations and additions were made in the Master's Lodge; which was extended backwards into the garden, by the building of the present dining and drawing The usual destructive element in the change unfortunately consisted in the removal of the turret staircase on the garden side of the old Lodge, in the building of which Dr Caius had taken so much interest (v. p. 50). It does not appear that this was in any way necessitated by the additions to the Lodge; as, according to Willis's plan (see also Loggan's engraving), the tower stood several feet to the south of the new buildings, and would have been a very picturesque object in the present view from the garden. At the same time much work was done on the kitchen1, stables, &c. The total cost was £4702. The architect was Mr Wilkins, of Norwich (v. II. 130). 1798. 'Agreed to give £210 voluntary contribution to Government.' 1798. 'Expences of cloathing and equipping three college servants as privates in the Cambridge Association, £21. 3. 0.' 1798. Mr Woollard, for candles on Lord Nelson's victory, 17. 3d. 1800. In this year our college, in common with four or five others, suffered from the attack of burglars. Our loss was very serious, amounting to 2000 oz. of plate, including several very valuable pieces (see under Plate). The first theft in our case was from the Combination room; after which Mr Wilkins, the architect, declared that he would construct an absolutely burglar-proof plate closet. In a few weeks this was found broken open, and most of the plate removed. Two persons were convicted of the crime, named Grimshaw and Kidman, the former of whom was executed, and the latter sentenced to transportation for life. The following entries refer to this incident, "Expences of Bowstreet officers in coming to Cambridge, upon the robbery of the plate, £27. 8. 0." "Other expences on the same account, £5. 15. 0." 1802, Oct. 26. 'To dispense with the 26 days' residence usually kept by junior fellows from Mr Smith (Vol. II. 125) he having been appointed superintendent of his parish in the present danger of invasion.' MARTIN DAVY. Martin Davy, twenty-ninth master (1803-39), was born in the old Hall, Ingoldisthorpe, Norfolk, Jan. 28, 1763; and was the youngest son of William Davy, Esq, of Ingoldisthorpe and Kilverstone. He was educated at Lynn school, under Mr Lloyd. Whilst still very young he became assistant to a practising chemist and apothecary at Yarmouth. He here showed a decided taste for classical study, which gained him an introduction to Dr Samuel Parr, at that time famous as Master of Norwich Grammar School. He became a favourite pupil, and subsequently a friend of Parr; whose portrait in our Hall was presented by Davy to the college. He then studied at Edinburgh, where he formed acquaintance with James Mackintosh, Robert Hall, and Henry Brougham; and became an active member in the medical debating society there. Through Parr's influence, who thought highly of his classical attainments, he entered our college in 1786; at the mature age, therefore, of 23. At Cambridge he kept up his classical reading, and, though never ranking as an accomplished scholar in the critical sense, he retained through life a keen interest in, and acquaintance with, ancient literature. He formed an early and lasting friendship with Porson, Dobree, and other scholars of his time, and was in frequent communication with them in after life. He was elected scholar Oct. 31, 1787, and graduated M. B. in 1792. elected directly into a senior fellowship, one of those on Dr Caius' medical foundation, Dec. 16, 1791; after which he returned for a time to Edinburgh, to complete his medical course and to graduate there. 1 The accounts are preserved in our Treasury (Box IV. 8); and being very minute give much information as to the nature and position of the buildings at the time. Before settling into medical practice in Cambridge, he travelled abroad for a time with Lord Ossulston, presumably as his tutor; obtaining from the college formal leave of absence, Ap. 13, 1796, in order to pursue his medical studies. He passed nearly two years at Rome and Naples, being in Italy at the time when the French were in occupation there. As a consequence of this stay the antiquities of Pæstum, Pompeii, and other Italian cities, were a permanent subject of interest and study to him throughout his life. In 1797 he graduated M.D. at Cambridge, and at once commenced a practice there, which soon became extensive. He always enjoyed a high reputation for his skill and success as a physician, particularly in respect of the treatment of the severer kinds of fever. He was elected master, May 31, 1803; having already, it is said, been a candidate eight years before, on the death of Dr Smith. He did not however abandon his practice in consequence, -except during his year of office as ViceChancellor, 1803-4,- until about 1811, in which year he took the degree of D.D. This abandonment of practice and change of profession are said to have been due to the influence of the lady to whom he was engaged, and who brought him a considerable fortune. She was Anne, daughter of William Stevenson, of 'Biana' (an old house near Eccleshall), Staffordshire. He married at St George's, Hanover Square, May 16, 1811. His married life only lasted a few months, as Mrs Davy died in the Lodge, aged thirty-three, Oct. 9, 1811. She was buried in the college chapel. He took holy orders in 1810; receiving letters dimissory from the Bishop of Ely to Bristol, for deacon's orders, Oct. 31, and for priest's orders, Dec. 8. He bore the character of an active and efficient manager of affairs, both in the University and in the college. He held the office of Vice-Chancellor in the Academic years, 1803--4, and 1827-8. On the former of these occasions he displayed what, if Gunning's account be true, can only be regarded as somewhat narrow professional prejudice. A son of Mr Thackeray, fellow of King's, who had practised as a surgeon for some years, desired to graduate as a physician, and for this purpose entered the University as a fellow-commoner at Emmanuel. After the requisite five years' residence as a student, and after having performed all the statutable requirements, he applied to be allowed to perform the customary Act. To his astonishment this was refused by the professor at the last moment, who maintained that the statute did not allow one who had been a surgeon thus to proceed to M.B. An interpretation of the statute was sought from the Heads, who, largely owing to the violent advocacy of Dr Davy, then Vice-Chancellor, supported the rejection. They gave the rather narrow decision that "no one can be admitted as a candidate who has been habitually engaged, within the time prescribed by the statute, in the practice of any trade or profession whatever." This new legislation,-for such it seems practically to have been-, passed in 1803, was rescinded in 1815. (Gunning, Reminiscences, 11. 191.) On most University matters he was a strong liberal; in fact, judged by the standard of his position as a master, he might be called a radical. For instance he was the only Head of a House, except Dr Lamb of Corpus, who signed the petition to Parliament, in 1834, for the abolition of religious tests in the University. Another signal instance (according to Gunning) was given by the fact that it was by his single vote in the Caput (March 21, 1806) that a proposal was rejected for appointing a syndicate to devise some monument to Mr Pitt. Dr Davy published a fly-sheet explaining his reasons, which he said applied rather to the method than the object of the proposal. It is preserved in the Grace book. He was a member of several learned societies, being elected to the Royal, June 18, 1801; and to that of the Antiquaries in 1812. He was also a member of the Linnæan Society. In 1827 he was appointed by the Crown to the valuable living of Cottenham, Cambs.; and made prebendary of Chichester, June 14, 1832; preferments which he held till his death. "He was a man of an acute mind, and had written a great deal on metaphysics and other literary subjects; but he directed in his will, and with almost his dying words earnestly requested, that his MSS. should be destroyed, which was done by boiling them in the great kitchen copper of the college. There is reason to believe that he had been sceptical up to middle age, and afterwards becoming a sincere believer he dreaded lest there should be some taint of his former opinions in his writings" (Pryme; Autobiography, p. 162). Rightly or wrongly the suspicion of heterodoxy clung to him through life. By the general testimony of those who knew him personally, he was a courteous and affable gentleman of the old school, extremely fond of society and of social and literary intercourse. He was a constant attendant at the meetings of the "Family" club, a social gathering of ancient standing, still existent and well known by name to most Cambridge men. In later years a serious deafness, which gradually increased, tended to exclude him from general society. Though learned and skilled in his own profession, his dominant tastes were classical. He had a splendid private library which, he used to boast, contained the two best editions of every classical author. Wide as was his correspondence with literary contemporaries, none of his letters seem to have got into print. Mr Thomas Kidd had intended to dedicate his edition of Horace to Davy, as he states in his dedication, and had actually printed it, but the intended compliment was declined. A short pamphlet by him was printed (F. 17. 19: Coll. Library), on Mr Fox's letter to Mr Grey upon the song of the nightingale. In the absence of any other literary production the following letter to Porson may be worth reproduction: Caius Coll. Sep. 6, 1808. My dear Profr I trust you will have the kindness to excuse my not answering your letter immediately, as I have been for two or three days much engaged in slaying partridges instead of patients. I shall be greatly obliged to you for Porphyrius de Antro Nympharum and the Aristænetus. The Apollodorus I have. These you may send by the Telegraph (coach) with Portus's Lexicon, and I will settle my pecuniary obligations when we meet. I wish you could procure for me the best edition of Philostratus, and also Nonnus's Dionysiaca, Hanov. 1610. I am desirous of good copies, if possible. Holl and I are of opinion that the type is quite large enough for your Aristophanes, but to decide the 1 The letter is in J. J. Smith's Collections, Vol. iv. (College Library). |