Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 3.djvu/647

 had just been consecrated to the see of Peterborough, made Westcott one of his examining chaplains, and in 1869 appointed him to a residentiary canonry. The resignation of his mastership and large house at Harrow involved pecuniary sacrifice, but for two or three years past he had found school-work very wearing, and the canonry promised more leisure for literary work. Soon after leaving Harrow, however, Cambridge rather than Peterborough became his headquarters. In September 1870 the regius professorship of divinity at Cambridge became vacant through the resignation of Dr. Jeremie [q. v.]. Lightfoot, then Hulsean professor, refused to stand, and prevailed upon Westcott to do so, and used his great influence to secure the latter's election, which took place on 1 Nov. He retained his canonry till May 1883, but he resided at Peterborough only for three months in each long vacation. At Peterborough Westcott taught himself so to use his naturally weak voice as to make himself audible in a large building. In the architecture and history of the cathedral he took deep interest. Like his friend Benson, he cherished the hope that ancient ideals might be so adapted to modern conditions as to make the cathedrals of England a more potent influence for good in the life of the church and nation than they had long been. He wrote two articles on the subject in 'Macmillan's Magazine'; and an essay in the volume on Cathedrals edited by Dean Howson. He strove in various ways to increase the usefulness of his own cathedral both to the city and diocese. He gave courses of expositions and addresses at other than the usual times of service. He also took an active interest both in the regular choir and in the formation of a voluntary choir to assist at special services in the nave; and he arranged the Paragraph Psalter with a view to the rendering of the Psalms in a manner that would better bring out their meaning. During his summers at Peterborough some able young Oxford graduates came to read theology imder his guidance; one of them was Henry Scott Holland. When Westcott resumed as professor his connection with Cambridge, active change was in progress in the university. The abolition of tests finally passed in 1871 was a challenge to earnest churchmen to strive to guard in new ways the religious influences which they felt to be most precious. In his 'Religious Office of the Universities,' a volume of sermons and papers published in 1873, Westcott showed what a source of far-reaching influence the university ought in his view to be, notwithstanding its changed relation to the church. The arrangements for the encouragement of theological studies stood in great need of improvement, and in the movement for reform Westcott, as regius professor, took the lead. From time to time the lectures of particular professors had excited interest. But there was no concerted action among the professors or the colleges — in which indeed few theological lectures of much value were given — with a view to covering different branches of the subject. At the beginning of the Michaelmas term of 1871 the divinity professors for the first time issued a joint programme of their lectures. In 1871 it fell to the new regius professor to have a hand in framing fresh regulations for the B.D. and D.D. degrees, and the principal share in carrying them into effect and in raising the standard of attainment. He also bore a considerable part in drawing up the scheme for an honours examination in theology, held for the first time in 1874, by which the B.A. degree could be obtained and which was of wider scope than the existing theological examination, designed chiefly for candidates for orders. Again, he succeeded in establishing in 1873 the preliminary examination for holy orders, although it was not an examination under the management of the university. Far more important than any administrative measures was the influence of his teaching and his character. His full courses for the first three years were on periods of, or topics chosen from, early church history. In that subject he was personally interested, and there was as yet no professor of ecclesiastical history in the university, and no prominent lecturer engaged in teaching it in any of the colleges. From 1874-9 his principal courses were on Christian doctrine; subsequent themes were a book, or selected passages, of the New Testament. He also held once a week from the first a more informal evening class, in which for many years he commented on the Johannine writings. Somewhat excessive condensation in expression made him at times difficult to follow. He dwelt by preference on the widest aspects of truth, which are the most difficult to grasp. But his lectures gave evidence of painstaking inquiry after facts, careful analysis, and thoroughness in investigating the significations of words. Above all he succeeded in communicating to many hearers somewhat of his own