Other editions of book With the King at Oxford

My father was the son of a gentleman of Oxfordshire that had asmall estate near to the town of Eynsham, in that county. The monksof Eynsham Priory had the land aforetime and ‘twas said that here,as elsewhere, there was a curse upon such as held for their own usesthat which had been dedicated to God‘s service. How this may be Iknow not, though there are notable instances—as, to wit, theRussells—in which no visible curse has fallen on the holders of suchgoods; but it is certain that my father‘s forbears wasted their estategrievously. Being but the third son, he had scarce, in any case,tarried at home; but, matters being as they were, the emptiness of thefamily purse drove him out betimes into the world. Being of goodbirth and breeding he got, without much ado, a place about theCourt, which was not, however, much to his liking. I have heard himsay—and this, though, as will be seen hereafter, he was a great loverof monarchy—that, between a weak king and villainous courtiers,Whitehall was no place for an honest gentleman. Robert Carr, thatwas afterwards Earl of Somerset, he liked little, and George Villiers,Duke of Buckingham, he liked yet less, being, as he was wont to say,by so much a greater villain than Somerset as a duke is greater thanan earl. He was right glad, therefore, to leave the “sunshine of theRoyal presence;“ for so did men speak of the Court in thehyperbolical language of those times, even for so dismal andoutlandish a part as Ireland. But I know not whether he did not wishhimself back, for of Ireland he would never afterwards speak withany measure of patience, declaring that he knew not which were theworse, the greediness and cruelty of the English conquerors, or thesavagery and unreason of the native people...

Alfred John Church (1829-1912) was an English classical scholar. He was born in London and was educated at King’s College London, and Lincoln College, Oxford, he took holy orders and was an assistant-master at Merchant Taylors’ School for many years. From 1880 until 1888 he was professor of Latin at University College, London. While at University College in partnership with William Jackson Brodribb, he translated Tacitus and edited Pliny’s Letters (Epistulae). Church also wrote a number of stories in English re-telling of classical tales and legends for young people (Stories from Virgil, Stories from Homer, etc. ). He also wrote much Latin and English verse, and in 1908 published his Memories of Men and Books. Other works include: Stories of the Magicians (1887), The Count of the Saxon Shore; or, The Villa in Vectis (with Ruth Putnam) (1888), Heroes of Chivalry and Romance (1898), Stories of Charlemagne (1902), The Crown of Pine (1906) and With the King at Oxford (1909).

My father was the son of a gentleman of Oxfordshire that had asmall estate near to the town of Eynsham, in that county. The monksof Eynsham Priory had the land aforetime and ‘twas said that here,as elsewhere, there was a curse upon such as held for their own usesthat which had been dedicated to God‘s service. How this may be Iknow not, though there are notable instances—as, to wit, theRussells—in which no visible curse has fallen on the holders of suchgoods; but it is certain that my father‘s forbears wasted their estategrievously. Being but the third son, he had scarce, in any case,tarried at home; but, matters being as they were, the emptiness of thefamily purse drove him out betimes into the world. Being of goodbirth and breeding he got, without much ado, a place about theCourt, which was not, however, much to his liking. I have heard himsay—and this, though, as will be seen hereafter, he was a great loverof monarchy—that, between a weak king and villainous courtiers,Whitehall was no place for an honest gentleman. Robert Carr, thatwas afterwards Earl of Somerset, he liked little, and George Villiers,Duke of Buckingham, he liked yet less, being, as he was wont to say,by so much a greater villain than Somerset as a duke is greater thanan earl. He was right glad, therefore, to leave the “sunshine of theRoyal presence;“ for so did men speak of the Court in thehyperbolical language of those times, even for so dismal andoutlandish a part as Ireland. But I know not whether he did not wishhimself back, for of Ireland he would never afterwards speak withany measure of patience, declaring that he knew not which were theworse, the greediness and cruelty of the English conquerors, or thesavagery and unreason of the native people...