Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 2.djvu/388

 containing the fragments. To the Greek text are added a translation into English prose, critical notes upon the text, and a commentary. In the first two plays the critical notes were written in Latin; it was in deference to an appeal from Matthew Arnold that English was used for this purpose in the later volumes.

A man of affairs as well as a scholar, Jebb helped to shape and to start upon its career the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies in 1879. He was one of the originators of the society and one of its most active members; he made important contributions to the Journal issued by the society. Similarly, to Jebb more than to any other man the British School of Archæology at Athens owes its existence. Since his visit to Greece in 1878 he kept urging upon the British public the duty of doing what had already been done by France and Germany. In 1887 his ideal was realised, and the British School at Athens entered on its career of excavation and discovery. Lastly, he took a leading part in the meetings and discussions which ultimately led to the formation of the British Academy. When the Academy received its charter of incorporation in 1902, Jebb was one of the original fellows.

Although he was very shy in manner, Jebb's friends and admirers included the leading men of letters of his time, and with Tennyson, whom he had gratified by a review of 'Harold' in 'The Times' (18 Oct. 1876), he formed a close intimacy. He stayed with the poet at Aldworth, and wrote admiringly of Tennyson's work in T. H. Ward's 'English Poets' (vol. iv. 1894). His own literary eminence and public services were fittingly recognised. In 1888 he was elected an honorary fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. He was made hon. LL.D. of Edinburgh in 1879; hon. Litt.D. of Cambridge in 1885; hon. LL.D. of Dublin and hon. Ph.D. of Bologna in 1888; and hon. D.C.L. of Oxford in 1891. He was a fellow of London University, appointed by the crown in 1897, and a corresponding member of the German Institute of Archæology. In 1898 the Royal Academy elected him to fill Gladstone's place as their professor of ancient history; in 1903 he was elected a trustee of the British Museum in succession to Lord Acton. In 1900 he accepted the honour of knighthood, which he had declined three years earlier. Lastly, in 1905 he received the distinction of the Order of Merit.

When the British Association met at Cambridge in 1904 Jebb became a member, and was elected a vice-president of the section of education. He was chosen president of the section for the following year, when the association met in South Africa. He reached Capetown on 15 Aug. 1905. His address on education, delivered in Capetown, was so successful that he had to repeat it at Johannesburg. The travelling, sightseeing, and general business of the next month was arduous and overtaxed his strength. Soon after reaching England on 19 Oct. his health failed, and he died at Springfield, his house in Cambridge, on 9 December 1905. On 13 Dec. he was buried in St. Giles's cemetery at Cambridge after a funeral service in the chapel of Trinity College. He left no family.

A portrait of Jebb, painted by Sir George Reid in 1903, hangs in the Hall of Trinity College. It is a faithful likeness; but the sitter was suffering at the time from hay-fever, and the expression is consequently harassed.

Jebb was married on 18 Aug. 1874, at Ellesmere in Shropshire, to Caroline Lane, daughter of the Rev. John Reynolds, D.D., of Philadelphia and widow of General Slemmer of the United States army. Lady Jebb survived her husband. To her the edition of Sophocles was dedicated: Jebb wrote that his work had owed more to her sympathy than to any other aid.

Sir John Sandys re-edited Jebb's 'Characters of Theophrastus' in 1909, and prepared for the press in the same year the translation of Aristotle's 'Rhetoric' which was left unpublished at Jebb's death. Lady Jebb issued in 1907 a selection from his 'Essays and Addresses' as well as his 'Life and Letters.' Jebb was a leading contributor to the 9th edition of the 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' He wrote for this Dictionary the articles on Bentley and Porson, and for the 'Cambridge Modern History' (vol. i. 1902) a brilliant chapter on 'The Classical Renaissance.'

Never idle, Jebb worked faster than other men, and few accomplished more. He took little exercise, although in later life he rode a tricycle, and he occasionally fished. He wrote a beautiful hand, clear and large; in working for the press he preferred pencil to pen and ink. While he did many things well he was far more distinguished as a scholar and man of letters than as a politician and public speaker; and his reputation will depend chiefly upon his edition of 'Sophocles,' which is the most completely satisfactory commentary on a classical author that has been written in the English language. Though each volume