Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 1.djvu/173

 his eldest brother had been captain. After the closing of the school, Besant was at home again for eighteen months, and in 1851 went to Stockwell grammar school, which was affiliated to King's College, London. While there he made, on half-holidays, short excursions into the City, studying its streets and buildings and developing a love of London archaeology and history which absorbed him in later life. Having spent three terms at King's College, London (1854-5), where Dean Wace and Canon Ainger [q. v. Suppl. II] were among his contemporaries, he matriculated at Christ's College, Cambridge, in 1856. At Christ's his undergraduate friends included his seniors, Charles Stuart Calverley, W. W. Skeat, (Sir) Walter Joseph Sendall [q. v. Suppl. II], and (Sir) John Robert Seeley, as well as John Peile [q. v. Suppl. II], who was of his own age. He was bracketed with Calverley for the gold medal for English essay at Christ's in 1856, and won the prize offered by Calverley for an examination in the 'Pickwick Papers' at Christmas 1857, Skeat being second. After graduating B.A. as 18th wrangler in 1859, Besant gained the special bachelor's theological prize, made some unsuccessful attempts at journalism in London, and then was appointed a mathematical master of Leamington College, with the intention of taking holy orders and becoming chaplain there. In 1860 he enjoyed a first experience of continental travel, on a walking tour in Tyrol with Calverley, Peile, and Samuel Walton. Rejecting thoughts of holy orders, he accepted in 1861 the senior professorship at the Royal College, Mauritius. Among his colleagues was Frederick Guthrie, F.R.S., with whom he was on very intimate terms until Guthrie' s death in 1886. Friends on the island also numbered Charles Meldrum [q. v. Suppl. II], whom he succeeded at the college, and James Dykes Campbell [q. v. Suppl. I]. He proceeded M.A. at Cambridge in 1863. His vacations were devoted to the study of French, both old and modern, and to essay writing. At the end of six and a half years he was offered the rectorship of the college, but he refused it on the ground of ill-health. He finally left Mauritius for England in June 1867, visiting Cape Town and St. Helena on his way home.

Thereupon Besant settled in London with a view to a literary career. Next year he was engaged to write leading articles on social topics in the 'Daily News,' and published 'Early French Poetry,' his first book, the fruit of recreations in Mauritius. Though loosely constructed, the work presents much valuable information in a readable style. Encouraged by the book's reception, he contributed articles on French literature to the 'British Quarterly Review' and the 'Daily News,' besides a paper on 'Rabelais' to 'Macmillan's Magazine' (1871). These were collected in 'The French Humourists from the Twelfth to the Nineteenth Century' (1873). Later French studies were 'Montaigne' (1875) ; 'Rabelais' (in Blackwood's foreign classics, 1879 ; new edit. 1885) ; 'Gaspard de Coligny' (1879 ; new edit. 1894, in the 'New Plutarch' series of biographies, of which Besant was general editor 1879-81) ; and 'Readings in Rabelais' (1883). He was author also of 'A Book of French : Grammatical Exercises, History of the Language' (12mo, 1877). Besant especially helped to popularise Rabelais in England. Joining the Savile Club in 1873, he formed in 1879, chiefly among its members, a Rabelais Club for the discussion of Rabelais's work. The club lasted ten years, and to its three volumes of 'Recreations' (3 vols. 1881-8) Besant was a frequent contributor.

Meanwhile Besant identified himself with other interests. In June 1868 he became secretary of the Palestine Exploration Fund, a society founded in 1864 for the systematic exploration of Palestine. The salary was 200l. a year, afterwards raised to 300Z. Besant held the office till 1886, when pressure of literary work compelled his retirement; but he remained honorary secretary till his death. He devoted his pen to the interests of the fund with characteristic energy. In collaboration with E. H. Palmer [q. v.], professor of Arabic at Cambridge, with whom in his secretarial capacity he grew intimate, he wrote in 1871 'Jerusalem : the City of Herod and Saladin' (4th edit. 1899; fine paper edit. 1908), and he edited the 'Survey of Western Palestine' (1881). On Palmer's death in 1882 Besant wrote a sympathetic but uncritical 'Life' of him. He also gave an account of the society's activities in 'Twenty-one Years' Work, 1865-86' (1886), which was revised in 'Thirty Years' Work, 1865-95' (1895). Of the subsidiary Palestine Pilgrims Text Society for the translation of narratives of ancient pilgrimages in Palestine, which was founded in 1884 with Sir Charles Wilson as director, Besant was likewise secretary.

An accident diverted Besant's energy to novel writing. He sent early in 1869 an article on the Island of Reunion, which