3 JUNE 1905, Page 14

COBBE.

rTo THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR,"' SIR,-I venture to send you the enclosed, asking you to do us the great kindness of publishing it in your valuable paper.

"With the idea of commemorating the work of the late Miss Frances Power Cobbe in those fields of religious thought where she was a helpful and inspiring guide to many men and women of our time, a Committee has been formed to collect a fund and found a Memorial Prize.

Miss Cobbe's writings on religion were devoted to the preaching of that Natural Religion which is embodied in every form of creed. All those who recognise a Divine life and order in the world may join in honouring her name. The evidence of a Divine Will and purpose in Nature and in man, the testimonies of conscience and experience to the realities of the spiritual life ; it is on these great matters that her books turn, and through two generations of English people she did much to deepen faith and to uphold the standard of truth.

The Committee aim at the collection of a fund sufficient to supply an annual Prize, open to all students and members under six years' standing, in the colleges for women at Oxford and Cambridge ; University College and Bedford College, London ; Trinity College and Alexandra College, Dublin ; the list to be extended should the funds at the disposal of the Committee permit the widening of the scheme. The fund would be invested in the names of Trustees, who should from time to time appoint examiners and fix appropriate subjects, and specify the conditions of examination. The Prize to be offered every two or three years for the best essay on any subject, ethical, psychological, or philo- sophical, bearing on the evidence of Natural Religion.

Such a Prize open to such candidates would, the Committee believe, be an appropriate means of continuing the work, as well as perpetuating the memory, of a representative woman, dis- tinguished for her wise advocacy of the rights of women to equal treatment in higher education, as well as in the broad field of civic life.

(Signed) CONSTANCE HAI-mums, hon. Secretary and Treasurer; MARY H. L. BUNTING; MILLICENT GARRETT FAWCEIT; ANNE THACKERAY RI•I`CRIE; MARY A. WARD; G. W. KITCRIN, D.D., F.S.A., Deanery, Durham, Warden of the University, Durham ; J. W. LEIGH, Dean of Hereford; Basin Wnasaroacs, Archdeacon of Westminster; Lutes DRUMMOND, Principal of Manchester College, Oxford ; J. ESTLIN CARPENTER, Case Lecturer, Comparative Religion, Manchester College, Oxford ; Jon N VERSCHOTLE.

Donations will be received by the Lady Battersea, Surrey House, Marble Arch, London, W.; London Joint Stock Bank, Limited, Princes Street, London, E.C. Cheques and postal orders to be crossed 'London Joint Stock Bank, Limited.' .2182 has already been promised to carry out the above objects."