THE LATE MR. BUSHE-FOX.
ITo THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR?')
Snt,—The notices of Mr. Loftus H. K. Bushe-Fox, the well-known oar, which have lately appeared, have been mainly concerned with the important positioe which he occupied in the rowing world, and the grievous loss which Cambridge rowing in particular has sustained by his death. But there are other aspects of his career which ought not to be lost sight of. Himself the great-grandson of a distinguished Irish Judge, he was a lawyer of considerable attainments who could always be relied upon for a sound opinion. For many years he lectured at Cambridge on Real Property and Torts to candidates for the Law Tripo3, and he held for some time the appointment of Secretary to the Special Board for Law. His legal knowledge was also of great service to his College. From the nature of the case, the management of College business is mainly in the hands of men whose training has been entirely academic, and if a governing body should be fortunate enough to include a lawyer among its members, his advice is often of the highest value. But even lawyers are sometimes pedants, and it is not every collegiate body that can command the kind of counsel which Bushe-Fox was able to give. He brought to bear upon problems of College adminis- tration, not only a capacity for simple and straightforward thinking (which a legal training sometimes enfeebles), but also the robust common- sense which characterizes the man of the world in the best sense of that much-misinterpreted expression. His colleagues always knew where they were with him, and into discussions that were getting tangled his intervention would come like a fresh breeze.
As a College tutor, also, he occupied a position that was entirely his own. In these days most College tutors are businesslike, sympathetic, and interested in their pupae' pursuits ; but with the best will in the world it is not easy for the non-athletic tutor to simulate the genuine athletic keenness, and if he does ho is at once found out by the acute observers with whom he is dealing. Here, however, was a man who was a real authority in the world of sport, and this gave to his counsel on all other matters an extraordinary weight with the young men to whom it was offered. The highest, and at the same time the rarest, endowment of a University teacher is the power of arousing and developing in the very ablest man a passion for t he things of the mind ; but this sometimes leads to a neglect of the average man. It was Bushe-Fox's special gift that he could arouse in the average man that sense of comradeship and corporate loyalty which is indispensable to a vigorous College life. and could develop in him a cheerful readiness to postpone private advantage to the general good. The Cambridge undergraduate has nowhere found a wiser counsellor or better friend. Ho is being mourned to-day, not alone by those in Cambridge who miss his cheery and reliable presence, but by Johnians all over the world, who cannot think that any one will ever be to their sons quite what " Bushey " was to them.
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