The new Master of Christ's seems to have absconded to
America on the very day of his election—not solely, I imagine, to avoid the embarrassment of congratulations. Canon Raven might have had an academic or an ecclesiasti- cal career—not that the two are mutually exclusive—and he has evidently chosen the former. A leading Churchman, discussing the Bishop of London's retirement, said that if he had his way he would make the present Dean, Dr. Matthews, Bishop, and Canon Raven Dean ; but as there is not the smallest prospect of his having his way, the Regius Professor of Divinity (for Canon Raven is that among other things) is no doubt well advised to enter the dignified rank of Heads of Houses. At 53 he has far doser contacts with undergraduates than the great majority of his predecessors in the Regius Professorship, and it is something of a tribute to his personality that the prominent part he plays in the Peace Pledge Union has in no way diminished his influence or popularity at Cambridge. As befits his name, he is a particularly ardent ornithologist.
Previous page
