WILLIAM BODHAM DONNE - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 11/26/1849 - HFSID 304562

WILLIAM BODHAM DONNE
The English scholar writes a glowing recommendation for a headmaster candidate.
Autograph Letter signed: "William Bodham Donne", 3 pages, 7x8½. Bury St. Edmunds [Suffolk, England], 1849 November 26. To "My Lords & Gentlemen", in full: "The Rev. I. W. Donaldson, D. D., having announced himself a candidate for the Head Mastership of Rugby School, I beg permission to offer the following Testimonial for your consideration. As my opportunities have been favorable for observing and testing the scholastic system and disciplineship of King Edward's School, Bury St. Edmunds, I trust that my own obscurity will be prejudicial neither to the evidence which I adduce, nor to the very distinguished Scholar whom I would recommend. It would indeed be presumption in me to speak of Dr. Donaldosn's scholastic and philological attainments. The University of Cambridge and his various published works attest them. I merely wish to speak of matters of fact which have come under my personal observation. I have resided in Bury more than three years, principally on account of the advantages afforded me by the Grammar School during that period. I have placed my three sons under Dr. Donaldson's charge, and, out of school hours & concurrently with School arrangements, have myself acted as their Private Tutor. My experience, thus acquired, enables me to state that Dr. Donaldson's skill in imparting knowledge is second only to his power of acquiring it; that his devotion to the general and intellectual interests of his Pupils is unvaried; and that while he strictly enforces the classical & theological studies prescribed by the Statutes or sanctioned by the practice of his predecessors, he is equally anxious to encourage the pursuit of Mathematics & Modern Literature. As a resident in the Town with sons boarding at home, I am not well qualified to speak of the economy of Dr. Donaldson's record, as those gentlemen are whose sons are boarders as well as pupils. But I have invariably heard his discipline and domestic management commended; and I can from personal acquaintance with many of his boarders, bear testimony to their propriety of conduct and gentlemanly demeanor. Should your choice fall upon Dr. Donaldson, I am persuaded, from my knowledge of his character, that he will transfer to Rugby the qualities which have marked his career at Burg and which have raised King Edwards Grammar School to the present position from the temporary depression in which he found it. I have the honor to be, My Lords & Gentlemen, Your very humble & obedient servant". William Bodham Donne (1807-1882), a direct descendent of poet John Donne, was an English scholar whose published works ranged from theatre (Upon the Drama, a collection of his journal articles, 1857) to history (editor of the Letters of King George III to Lord North, 1867). He contributed translations of Euripides and Tacitus to classical anthologies. Donne declined the editorship of the Edinburgh Review in 1852, on the grounds that his retiring lifestyle left him unaware of public opinion, but that same year he became head of the London Library. In 1857, he became Examiner of Plays under the Lord Chamberlain, responsible for licensing theatrical productions, holding that office until 1874. Donne had grown up in Bury St. Edmunds, himself attending the grammar school there. As he states in his letter, he moved back there in 1846 in order to enroll his sons in the Bury St Edwards School. The Rugby School in Warwickshire is an even more prestigious school, the place where the sport of that name was invented in 1823, and the site of the popular novel (and movie) Tom Brown's School Days. One horizontal and two vertical folds. Lightly creased. Lightly worn. Otherwise, fine condition.