And God's great pity for the world of men,

Dwell in those eyes. The Son of God finds rest
Within those sheltering arms, not less divine
Because so human in the loveliness

Of childhood's morning. O sad heart of man!
To whom God's ways are dark, a human love
Binds earth to Heaven, and links God's life to thine,

So the brief summer days of life went by.

Rome's noblest owned him friend. New honours brought
Congenial tasks. Art's labours should restore
The ruined splendour of the ancient days,
And make Rome worthy of herself again :*
So Raphael dreamed.

He loved the world of men,

The crowds, the busy streets through which the tide Of energy and service ebbed and flowed.

In solitude and silence others find

A fuller inspiration, that awakes

Within the lonely splendour of deep hearts

Where like the rocks around some mountain pool
The great world darkly lies reflected. These
Give sense of greatness to the things they do,
And awe men's souls. But Raphael's labours brought
A softer message; men looked up and smiled
Knowing him one with them, for he had lived
A human life that loved the sunlight best.

Years passed. Bare walls transformed by Raphael's

art

Glow in all forms of beauty. Other hands

Fulfilled his plans; men loved to share his toils,
And catch the inspiration that transformed,
As with the touch of some magician's wand,
Earth's common things to grace and loveliness.

Raphael was made Architect of St Peter's in 1514; he also superintended researches among the ruins of Rome.

He sought for beauty as the miner seeks

His glittering treasures, caught from many a face
Its charm, and dreamed that Art might thus restore
Earth's lost ideal of beauty, gathering up
Broken half lights into one perfect whole.*

Love smiled upon his labours. Days of toil
Were brightened by the glow of love-lit eyes
That woke within his heart a gift of song
Unfelt before. Art grudged not to her child
A human love that made life's service sweet,
And crowned her gift of gladness with new joy.
Yet through the gladness of the world there sounds
Life's undertone of sorrow, as man's need
Cries to a silent Heaven and cannot rest.

So Art's last message in his hands should be
Of Him who heals the broken hearts of men,
Calming life's sorrows with the peace of Heaven.†

Below, the anguish of a father's love,

The cries of many voices, mute appeal

Of outstretched hands; weak hearts and faith grown dim

O faithless generation! though a cloud

Conceal Him from dazed eyes upon the brow
Of that lone hill, though jealous Heaven restore
For this one hour earth's noblest saints of old,
Not less the cry of man's imperious need

Can touch that heart; nor less His word hath power
To comfort and to heal.

They have grown dim

The picture and the message; both are seen

Spoiled of their beauty by unskilful hands

That marred them by false zeal.‡ Can Art restore

* See letter of Raphael to Count Castiglione on his "Galatea."

+ His last picture, the "Transfiguration."

Giulio Romano is said to have completed the picture, and injured it by the use of lampblack in his colours.

Its beauty to the darkened scene to-day,

Or give to doubting hearts the power to read
Raphael's last message to the souls of men?

His art's last message! Better thus to die,
Before the vigour of full manhood feels

The chilling touch of age, or palsied hands
Forget their ancient skill; ere they are gone
Whose love gave life its gladness, and the world
Hath crowned the art of others with its praise;
Before from sunlit summits life slopes down
Through gradual shade and silence to the grave.
Art still has power to move the hearts of men,
Revealing Truth through beauty. Let her serve
Not fickle fashions of the changing hour,

But that Eternal Truth that cannot change-
God manifested to the sons of men!

J. H. B. MASTERMAN.

HANKS to the kindness of the Rev W. R. Tate, Vicar of Walpole, Halesworth, I am able to give some account of a little manuscript book kept by one John Gibson, a member of our College in the time of King Charles the Second.

I. THE MANUSCRIPT.

The book, which measures some five inches by three, was once bound in brown leather, but its cover is now gone. It contains first a series of letters sent by Gibson to various relatives and friends (1668) and transcribed by himself for his own use; next accounts of his receipts and disbursements (1667-1671); next a series of nine letters (1667-1669) addressed to Mr Tate, an ancestor of the present possessor, and lastly a short piece of a religious character headed 'Of ye Divine Power.' All the letters are dated from St John's, where during the years in question the writer was an undergraduate. The handwriting is extremely clear and good.

With regard to John Gibson the College Admission Book gives us the following information under the year 1667.

"John Gibson born at Habtun [note by Prof. Mayor: Little and Great Habtun, on the Derwent, S. of

Pickering], Yorkshire, son of John Gibson, husbandman (agricolae) deceased: school Pocklington (Mr Ellyson) for one year; admitted pensioner, tutor and surety Mr Watson,' 13 April, æt 17.”

In November 1667, during his first term of residence, Gibson was elected to a Dowman Scholarship and a Hare Exhibition," but he appears, even after this, to have been poorly off.

From the Graduati Cantabrigienses we learn that he graduated B.A. in 167f and M.A. 1674.

The next mention of his name is in the records of Ordinations in the York Diocesan Registry. Among those ordained deacon by Archbishop Richard Sterne in the chapel of Bishopsthorpe on 18 June 1671 was "Johēs Gibson Coll. Divi Johs Cant. A.B." Further we find that he was ordained priest in the same place by the same Archbishop on 22 Sept. 1672. The entry is "Johnes Gibson, Coll: Divi Jo: C., A.B." It will be seen that Gibson was ordained-as was not uncommon― before attaining the canonical age.

After receiving priest's orders, Gibson was instituted* to Thorp Arch, Yorks, 2 Jan. 167; to South Kirkby, Yorks, 25 May 1675; and to Folkton, Yorks, 8 Sept. 1718; vacating all three livings by his death in Dec. 1727. The South Kirkby register for that year, which the present vicar has kindly consulted for me, contains the entry "Dec. 15, John Gibson, Vicar of South Kirkby, buried."

But a line which I lighted on in John Hobson's

I Thomas Watson. Mayor-Baker 275, 697, &c. Born at Hull. Ad mitted at St John's 1655. Fellow 1660. Bishop of St David's 1687. He was deprived of his see on a charge of simony which Baker considered merely factious. A Jacobite and High Churchman.

* See the 1st Letter to Mr Tate' below.

Acting on a suggestion of Dr Venn, I applied to Mr Hudson, the Diocesan Registrar, York, who kindly searched the records and supplied me with an important link in Gibson's biography.

For this information I am indebted to that indefatigable antiquary, Mr Joseph Foster.

VOL. XVII.

KK