RICHARD COPLEY CHRISTIE.* A NEW departure in academical politics has
seldom been better justified by its results than was the Oxford School of Law and Modern History by its first class-list. Of the two candidates who obtained the highest distinction, one was the subject of this Memoir, and he, but for the opening thus given to his special tastes and powers, would probably have left the University with nothing more than an ordinary degree. He had never received the training which was requisite for success in the classical schools, and he had no taste for mathematics. We may well believe that he would have risen sooner or later to his proper place; but it was an immense advantage to get the early start which his University honours secured for him. Henry Hallam, who had been persuaded to take the office of examiner by way of giving the new School a good start—he was in his seventy-seventh year —was much struck by the young man's work, and was probably the means of his election to a Professorship at Owens College, Manchester, within a few weeks of the appearance of the class- list. In these days of specialising it is curious to read that the subjects which Christie began by professing—at twenty-three— were Political Economy, Commerc ial Science, and History, in the last being included the two provinces of ancient and modern, and that a little later Law and Jurisprudence were added. These posts he resigned as other occupations and duties increased upon him, resigning the Chair of Political Economy to Stanley Jevons, that of History to A. W. Ward, and that of Law to James Bryce. As Dr. Shaw well remarks, "it is surely given to few men to have three such successors." As one of these successors puts it in the Dictionary of National Biography, "the subjects originally committed to him are now taught by five professors and as many lecturers and assistant-lecturers." The subject to which his heart was by preference given was certainly history. For the teaching of this he prepared himself with special care. His ideals were set forth in an early inaugural lecture (delivered in October, 1854). This is not included in the volume now before us. Doubtless the editor has acted wisely. But what might seem commonplace now was then quite outside the usual routine, The writer of this review read the lecture on its first publica- tion, and retains a vivid recollection of its novelty and breadth of view.
In 1857 Christie was called to the Bar. He practised in the Chancery Court of Lancashire, an institution known to most of us by the presence of its titular head in the Government, where be is supposed to make himself useful as a man-of-all-work. It is, however, a Court of much local importance, and it means not a little that Christie soon rose to be leader of the Chancery Bar. He had, it should be said, the advantage of a singularly pleasing manner and address. In his demeanour and in his standard of profes- sional conduct he was all that could be wished. In 1871 Bishop Fraser of Manchester offered him the Chancellorship of the Diocese,—an appointment which the Bishop's prede- cessor, Dr. Prince Lee, would have bestowed in the same way had opportunity offered. This office he held for twenty- two years, winning golden opinions from all with whom he had to do. No decision of his during this period was upset, or even appealed against. Dr. Shaw says much, but not too much, of the interest which Christie took in this part of his work, and in all the questions of Church policy to which it introduced him. That he was no partisan it is scarcely necessary to say. Partisanship was wholly alien to his habits of thought. His judgments given as Chancellor
• Soleciod Esnays and rapers of &chard Copley Christie. Edited, with a ICemoir. by William A. Shaw, Litt.D. Louden : Louglaaaa and Co. [126.1 re various applications for faculties illustrate this charac- teristic. (It is strange to read in one of them that an objection was made to the use of a church as a place for private prayer.) But it would be a mistake to suppose that Christie had not a strong feeling for liberty of thought, and a great aversion to ecclesiastical systems which dis- countenance it. No one can read a chapter of his opus magnum," Etienne Dolet," without seeing it. He saw his ideal, it is true, in Erasmus rather than in Luther; but to reaction and obscurantism he was a determined foe.
Christie finally gave up his professorial work in 1866, and retired from the Bar in 1877. In his biography the period between 1857 and 1880 is wholly blank. But he had been busy during at least the later years with the book men- tioned above (of which he brought out a second edition a few months before his death). Our opinion of this work it is needless to repeat. The class to which it appeals is, of course, limited. But any reader who has the knowledge that is required to appreciate it will not fail to rank it high among biographies. His other books were contributions to the publications of the Chetham Society or of a kindred kind. The rest of his literary work included articles and reviews in various periodicals, magazines, and journals ; among the last we are proud to include the Spectator, to which he was a contributor during the period 1883-94. The last effort of his pen was a paper in The Transactions of the Biblio- graphical Society on a curious fraud of the early days of printing,—a counterfeit of the "Aldine Edition" of the works of Politian, bearing on its title-page the imprint of Florence, but really brought out at Brescia. This lets us see what was Christie's recreation. He was a collector, and a collector who brought to his task a rare amount of knowledge. His library, though not very large—it numbered between seven thousand and eight thousand volumes—was curious and valuable. It was rich, as might be gathered from what has been said above, in " Aldines," genuine and counterfeit, in editiones principes of the classics, and in other bibliographical treasures. The author most numerously represented was Horace. Of editions, translations, and Horatian literature in general, he possessed eight hundred volumes. The British Museum in 1885 possessed one hundred and four complete fifteenth and sixteenth century editions of the poet; of these Christie counted in his library seventy-seven; but he had also fifty- nine editions which were not in the Museum.
So far we have had the record of a life full and active, but not exceptionally varied; the story of a man of learning, versed also in law, and occupying his leisure with reading and collecting. But there is something else to be added. At one period of his life Christie had for a near neighbour Sir Joseph Whitworth, and he was left one of the residuary legatees of Sir Joseph's will, charged, along with his colleagues, with a trust of a very vague character for the benefit of the places, notably Manchester, where the wealth thus bequeathed had been acquired. This again, though exceptional, might possibly be paralleled in other lives. But what probably stands almost alone in the history of learning is that Christie became, and continued to be for some years, the chairman of the Whitworth Arms Company. His biographer says little about this subject, and the writer of this review is not in a position to add anything of his own knowledge, except, indeed, that he gathered from Christie's own language on the subject that he was no roi faimiant ; that he took a lively interest in the operations of the Company, and had a share of some importance in its management. It is needless here to detail the operations of the trust. Much was done for Openshaw, where the Whitworth works were situated, and for Manchester. His chairmanship ended with the amalgamation, largely promoted by himself, of the Whitworth with the Armstrong Company. The more immediate objects of the testator it was sought to attain by the Whitworth Institute and the Whitworth Scholarships. All this action was greatly modified by the part taken by the County Councils in the furthering of technical education. In 1896, after the death of Lady Whitworth, the legatees resolved to divide the remaining funds into portions which each was to deal with at his discretion. Christie devoted his share to Owens College, a large portion being expended on the addition to the College buiiclipp Of WhitworthILa1l, thus addiuithe opportuhiby of a common social life to the other advantages of an academical foundation. It must not be supposed, however, that it was only out of these trust funds that Christie enriched the College. He presented it with a library, built and furnished at the cost of more than twenty thousand pounds. To this he bequeathed the more valuable portion of his books, and these, thanks to the generosity of his widow, are already housed in the chamber specially prepared for them. Owens College was of timely service to the young man who found there his first opportunities of work, but it has received truly magnificent tips:rriptes, the return for nurture which the most loyal and generous of sons made to his adopting mother.
We purposely omit all criticism of the articles and essays to which the Memoir serves as an introduction. It will suffice to say that, one and all, they are the careful expression of fastidious taste and accurate knowledge. We must not forget one word of recognition for the sympathetic, we may say affectionate, record which Dr. Shaw has given of the life and work of his old teacher.
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