PREFACE. THE subject of this memoir was in no sense, except in so far as was inseparable from his official position, a public man. During life he rather courted obscurity, and his name is but little known, except to scholars, beyond the precincts of his own university. He never led a party, he founded no school, he never wrote a book. His life was spent in quiet study and self-denying labour, sweetened not by fame, but by the companionship of friends and the consciousness of many-sided utility. Under such circumstances his influence could not be very widely felt, but within his own circle it was deep and permanent. Over those with whom he came much in contact, over many whose hand he touched but once or twice, his intense individuality, with its strange blending of strength and tenderness, of frankness and sensibility, of human affection and scientific enthusiasm, exercised an irresistible fascination. Nor was his example as a scholar less attractive than his character as a man. The width and exactitude of his knowledge, the thoroughness of his research, his elevation of science above all thought of self, his respect for genuine study in all branches however remote from his own, gave to many students a new ideal and a stimulus all the more potent because it was suggested rather than enforced. It is this rare and admir able combination of qualities which it has been my principal object to portray. The life of such a man may, it is hoped, be interesting, not only to his friends, but to students of character and lovers of learning to whom he was personally unknown. Of his literary work I speak with great diffidence. The quantity and quality of that work are but little known, partly because of its abstruseness, but chiefly because so much of it lies half concealed in books which others have given to the world. The help which he so ungrudgingly gave is acknowledged in many grateful prefaces and recorded in many learned notes, but such indications attract little attention, and the original worker is easily forgotten or ignored. It is due to Henry Bradshaw's memory that the abundance of his self-sacrifice in this respect should be fully recorded. I have not attempted to criticise his conclusions and discoveries, or to estimate his position as a man of letters and science, for to do so would require a fund of special knowledge to which I can make no pretence. I have only endeavoured to give some account of the results which he attained, of the methods which he employed, and of the spirit in which he worked. I cannot but be conscious how imperfectly I have discharged my task. Those who felt the charm of Henry Bradshaw's personal presence will most easily understand the difficulty of presenting to those who did not know him an adequate portrait of his character. Those who are nearest him in learning will most readily condone my inability to follow him through the intricacies of the many subjects which he made his own. To his friends, who have helped me in the production of this book, I tender my hearty thanks. Such as it is, it could not have been pro duced without their aid. They are too numerous to be mentioned here by name; they will, I trust, recognise their own impressions in many of the following pages. I must, however, acknowledge my special indebtedness to the Rev. H. R. Luard, D.D., who read over and corrected the earlier chapters; to the Rev. Christopher Wordsworth, who did a similar service for Chapter IX; to Professor Herkomer, for the portrait which forms the frontispiece to this book; to Mr G. I. F. Tupper, for the facsimile of a letter; and to Mr Alfred Rogers, assistant in the University Library, who gave me much help in various ways. I have only to add that I should have incorporated more of Henry Bradshaw's letters and unpublished work in this memoir, but for two reasons. In the first place, such an addition would have enlarged the volume to an excessive bulk; and, in the second, a collective edition of his published papers will shortly be issued, to which it is hoped that a volume of his letters on scientific and literary subjects. may subsequently be added. G. W. PROTHERO. CAMBRIDGE, November 1, 1888. |