Mark Pattison (10 October 1813 – 30 July 1884) was an English author and a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

priest. He served as Rector of Lincoln College,

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

Life

He was the son of the rector of Hauxwell,

North Riding of Yorkshire The North Riding of Yorkshire was a subdivision of Yorkshire, England, alongside York, the East Riding and West Riding. The riding's highest point was at Mickle Fell at . From the Restoration it was used as a lieutenancy area, having b ...

, and was privately educated by his father, Mark James Pattison. His sister was Dorothy Wyndlow Pattison (" Sister Dora"). In 1832, he matriculated at

Oriel College, Oxford Oriel College () is Colleges of the University of Oxford, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford (a title for ...

, where he took his B.A. degree in 1836 with second-class honours. After other attempts to obtain a fellowship, he was elected in 1839 to a Yorkshire fellowship at

Lincoln College, Oxford Lincoln College (formally, The College of the Blessed Mary and All Saints, Lincoln) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Lincoln was founded in 1427 by Richard Flemin ...

, an anti- Puseyite College. Pattison was at this time a Puseyite, and greatly under the influence of

John Henry Newman John Henry Newman (21 February 1801 – 11 August 1890) was an English Catholic theologian, academic, philosopher, historian, writer, and poet. He was previously an Anglican priest and after his conversion became a cardinal. He was an ...

, for whom he worked, helping in the translation of

Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas ( ; ; – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican Order, Dominican friar and Catholic priest, priest, the foremost Scholasticism, Scholastic thinker, as well as one of the most influential philosophers and theologians in the W ...

's ''Catena Aurea'', and writing in the ''

British Critic The ''British Critic: A New Review'' was a quarterly publication, established in 1793 as a conservative and high-church review journal riding the tide of British reaction against the French Revolution. The headquarters was in London. The journa ...

'' and '' Christian Remembrancer''. He was ordained a priest in 1843, and in the same year became tutor of Lincoln College, where he rapidly made a reputation as a clear and stimulating teacher and as a sympathetic friend of youth. The management of the college was practically in his hands, and his reputation as a scholar became high in the university. In 1851 the rectorship of Lincoln became vacant, and it seemed certain that Pattison would be elected, but he was edged out. The disappointment was acute and his health suffered. In 1855, he resigned the tutorship, travelled to Germany to investigate Continental systems of education, and began his researches into the lives of the philologist

Isaac Casaubon Isaac Casaubon (; ; 18 February 1559 – 1 July 1614) was a classical scholar and philologist, first in France and then later in England. His son Méric Casaubon was also a classical scholar. Life Early life He was born in Geneva to two F ...

and the historian Joseph Justus Scaliger, which occupied the remainder of his life. In 1861, he was at last elected rector of Lincoln College in

, marrying in the same year Emily Francis Strong (afterwards Lady Dilke). As rector, he contributed largely to various reviews on literary subjects, and took a considerable interest in social science, even presiding over a section at a congress in 1876. However, he avoided the routine of university business, and refused the vice-chancellorship. But while living the life of a student, he was fond of society, and especially of the society of women. In later life he formed a close friendship with Meta Bradley, a young woman 40 years his junior. On his death he left her £5,000, much to his wife's displeasure. Pattison died at

Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and civil parish in the North Yorkshire District, district and North Yorkshire, county of North Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist de ...

, Yorkshire. His biography of

appeared in 1875; he also wrote about

John Milton John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet, polemicist, and civil servant. His 1667 epic poem ''Paradise Lost'' was written in blank verse and included 12 books, written in a time of immense religious flux and politic ...

in Macmillan's " English Men of Letters" series in 1879. The late nineteenth-century English author

George Gissing George Robert Gissing ( ; 22 November 1857 – 28 December 1903) was an English novelist, who published 23 novels between 1880 and 1903. In the 1890s he was considered one of the three greatest novelists in England, and by the 1940s he had been ...

wrote in his diary in 1891 that he "was astonished to find he biography of Casaubonon the shelves" of a

circulating library A circulating library (also known as lending libraries and rental libraries) lent books to subscribers, and was first and foremost a business venture. The intention was to profit from lending books to the public for a fee. Overview Circulating li ...

in the small north Somerset seaside resort of

Clevedon Clevedon (, ) is a seaside town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the unitary authority of North Somerset, England. It recorded a parish population of 21,281 in the United Kingdom Census 2011, estimated at 21,442 in 2019. It lies ...

. The 18th century, alike in its literature and its theology, was a favourite study, as is illustrated by his contribution (''Tendencies of Religious Thought in England'', 1688–1750) to the once famous ''

Essays and Reviews ''Essays and Reviews'', published by John William Parker in March 1860, is a Broad church, broad-church volume of seven essays on Christianity. The topics covered the biblical research of the German critics, the evidence for Christianity, religio ...

'' (1860), and by his edition of

Pope The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

's ''Essay on Man'' (1869), etc. His ''Sermons and Collected Essays'', edited by

Henry Nettleship Henry Nettleship (5 May 1839 – 10 July 1893) was an English classical scholar. Life Nettleship was born at Kettering, and was educated at Lancing College, Durham School and Charterhouse schools, and gained a scholarship for entry to Corpus Chr ...

, were published posthumously (1889), as well as the ''Memoirs'' (1885), an autobiography deeply tinged with melancholy and bitterness. His projected ''Life'' of Scaliger was never finished. His extensive personal archive—comprising 63 archival boxes and including diaries, correspondence, journals, sermons and working papers, including material relating to Scaliger, Pierre-Daniel Huet and Claude Saumaise—is held in Bodleian Archives & Manuscripts, the

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1602 by Sir Thomas Bodley, it is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second-largest library in ...

, Oxford (MSS. Pattison 7*, 79-144).

Publications

* (1845)
''Stephen Langton. Archbishop of Canterbury''
* (1845)
''St. Edmund. Archbishop of Canterbury''
* (1855).
Oxford Studies.
In: ''Oxford Essays.'' * (1859). ''Report on Elementary Education in Protestant Germany.'' * (1860).
Tendencies of Religious Thought in England, 1688–1750.
In: ''Essays and Reviews.'' * (1868). ''Suggestions on Academical Organisation.'' * (1875)
''Isaac Casaubon, 1559–1614.''
* (1876).
Review of the Situation.
In: ''Essays on the Endowment of Research.'' * (1879). ''Milton.'
1911 reprint of 1879 1st edition
* (1885)
''Memoirs.''
* (1885). ''Sermons.'' * (1889)
''Essays.''
ref> (Collected and arranged by

) * (1949). ''The Estiennes.'' Selected articles * (1875)
"Milton,"
''Macmillan's Magazine.'' * (1876)
"Philosophy at Oxford,"
''Mind''. * (1877)
"The Age of Reason,"
''The Fortnightly Review.'' * (1877)
"Books and Critics,"
''The Fortnightly Review.'' * (1880). "Middle-class Education," ''New Quarterly Magazine.'' * (1880). "Industrial Shortcomings," ''The Fortnightly Review.'' * (1881)
"The Thing That Might Be,"
''The North American Review.'' * (1881)
"Etienne Dolet,"
''The Fortnightly Review.'' * (1882). "What is College?," ''The Journal of Education.''

References

Attribution

Sources

* Green, V.H.H. (1985). ''Love in a Cool Climate: Letters f Mark Pattison and Meta Bradley''. Oxford University Press. * Jones, H.S. (2007). ''Intellect and Character in Victorian England: Mark Pattison and the Invention of the Don.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. * Sparrow, John (1967). ''Mark Pattison and the Idea of a University.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

External links

* * *
Works by Mark Pattison
at

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