The Life and Times of John Wilkins. By R. A.
Wright Henderson. (W. Blackwood and Sons. 5s. net.)—The Warden of Wadham College, Oxford, pays a just tribute to a far-away predecessor in office. John Wilkins was something of an oppor- tunist. It is sufficient to say that he was Warden of Wadham for eleven years under the Commonwealth and Bishop of Chester for four under Charles II. In theory such men stand self-condemned; yet they may be very useful people in their generation. John Busby did good service to Westminster School during the fifty- five years' tenure which lasted from 1640 to 1695. So did John Wilkins to his country. Wadham prospered under his reign. "In the ten complete years of his Wardenship the average of admissions was thirty " ; and this number was largely made up of the sons of "Cavaliers and Malignants." Who can doubt that it was a good thing that some home should be found for this class? Wilkins was as tolerant to them as he was afterwards tolerant to Dissenters when the wheel took another turn, and to be tolerant to any purpose you must have power. And this too was for the good of England. "While you," said Wilkins to Bishop Cosin, a man of a different temper, "are for setting the top on the peaked end and downwards, you won't be able to keep it up any longer than you keep whipping and scourging, whereas I am for setting the broad end downwards, and so 'twill stand of itself." Possibly eosin retorted that this was the way for which the top was meant; but the "whipping and scourging" was a good hit. Another good thing with which Wilkins is to be credited is his encouragement of science. He was no mean proficient in it, and he fostered what may be called the Oxford branch of the Royal Society. His first book, published when he was twenty- four, was astronomical, a speculation on the habitability of the moon,—in a third edition he imagined a voyage thither. (Is there not some confusion in the statement about Robert Pattoek? What this gentleman published was "The Life and Adventures of Peter Wilkins.")
Previous page
