53
BALLIOL COLLEGE.
54
Scholarships were thrown open to public compe-
tition ; and in 1838 the clerical restriction upon
Fellowships was so far modified that any man might
be elected provided that he resigned at the time when
the Statutes called upon him to receive Holy Orders.
The Act of Parliament, which reformed alike the
University and the Colleges, was passed about the
time of Dr. Jenkyns' death. The Blundell Fellow-
ships were now thrown open, and the majority of the
Fellowships exempted from clerical obligations.
Under the Mastership of Robert Scott, who succeeded
Jenkyns, Mr. Jowett (who in turn became Master in
1870) was the leading member of the Tutorial body ;
and the system of the College was more and more
adapted to what are understood as liberal principles
of education. Among more recent institutions may
be noticed the policy of attracting selected students
for the Indian Civil Service, and of diversifying the
common pattern of College life by the admission as
members of the College of persons of various nation-
ality who desired only instruction in certain subjects,
and did not read for a degree. But the example of
Balliol was soon followed by other Colleges.
' Every College has its own ideal, and that of
Balliol has been by a steady policy adapted to the
modern spirit of work, employing the best materials
not so much for learning as an end in itself, as a
means towards practical success in life. In this field,
in the distinctions of the schools, of the courts, and
of public life, it has been seldom rivalled by any
other College. ' The College has excelled particularly
' in its practical men of affairs, diplomatists, judges,
members of parliament, civil service officials, college
tutors, and school-masters. At the present moment
it counts among former members no less than seven
of her Majesty's Judges, and seven Heads of Oxford
Colleges. But to show that another side of culture
has been represented at Balliol in the present reign,
we must not forget the band of Balliol poets, Arthur
Hugh Clough, Matthew Arnold, and Algernon Charles
Swinburne.'
The foregoing sketch is substantially abridged from a more comprehensive notice of this College by the same writer contained in The Colleges of Oxford, edited by the Rev. A. Clark (Methuen 1891), and passages quoted from it are placed between inverted commas.
REGINALD L. POOLE.
view «Y bekeblock, 1566. {Facsimile from Hearne.]
