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The Pembroke County Guardian and Cardigan Reporter

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"UNREST IN THE COUNTY.

FAIRS AND MARKETS.

COUNTY NOTES. .-

COODWICK CAPTAIN DROWNED.

FISHCUARD.I

COODWICK.

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WILLIAM PEREGRINE PROPERT,…

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WILLIAM PEREGRINE PROPERT, L.L.D., MUS. BAC., J.P. It is with profound regret that we have to record the dea. h of Dr. William Peregrine Propert, of St. Davids, which took place on Wednesday at 7.45 a regret that will be shared not only by all our readers but by a far wider public than that contained w',Lh-n the geographical boundaries of our own county of Pembroke; his intellectual and moral in- fluence radiates to-day io almost every corner of the world, and touches even such distant countries az Japan, come of whose sons he educated, when that nation was beginning to awaken in:o that marvellous activity which has been such a revelation to Western civili- zation. As we wrote in the biographical sketch of 'he deceased scholar and philoso- pher, which we published in the earlier part of this year, "the quiet researches of such men as Dr. Propert have their far reaching effect upon all nations and for generations to come." The irreparable loss which his death creates in our midst will fall first of a.11 upon the inner circle of his own family and upon the inhabitants of the city of St. Davids, a community with which he came into daily contact over a long course of years, and for which he acted as trusted adviser and friend, in the h'èest and best sense of the words, and where he formed a link with the history and traditions of the past which can never be replaced. Secondly, the loss will fall upon that wider and more dis- tant circle of old pupils and friends who, though widely separated by various duties and positions, are yet bound to him by those ties of deepest affection and respect which the true teacher unconsciously produces, and which neither time nor distance have any power to obliterate. During his last illness some of these travelled great distances in the hope of seeing him once again, and of hear- ing but a few words from the lips of the master they loved so well. Deep and abiding affection was the characteristic feeling 'which he produced in the hearts of those whom he taught and who came, under his direct influence. During the whole of his peaceful and stu- dious life at St. Davids he was closely con- nected with the Cathedral Church, and al- though from time to time associated with men of ripe scholarship and attainments, the capitular body was never adorned by a more brilliant intellect than his. At heart he was a true lover of nature, and his mind leaned strongly towards scientific research, yet he was a classical scholar and theologian of wide knowledge and of first rate ability. To this store of learning we must add a profound knowledge of Roman and English law. In 1875 he was admi-Tced to the degree of Doctor of Law at the University of Cambridge. But this already full list does not by any means exhaust the range of his intellectual attain- ments, for it was as a musician he was best known in early life. As a very young man he took his degree in Arts and Music at the University of Oxford; he was in facr the first student in the whole country to take advantage of this privilege of a combined degree. His example was followed by Sir Frederick Gore Ousley and Sir John Stainer, these three remaining for some years the only graduates in Arts and Music. From Oxford he migrated to the sister University of Cambridge, where he proceeded ad eandem to the musical degree, and quickly gained the friendship of Thomas Attwood Walmisly, the well known composer. Here in addition to music he studied theology, law, Classics, and mathematics, and thus laid the founda- tion of that erudition which was the charac- teristic of his industrious life, mainly 'Spent in educational work in the remote peaceful- ness of St. Davids. At this time he gave public lectures upon music, and showed at a time when it was little apprehended, that it was one of the highest branches of the arts. In his endeavours to promote musical education he became associated with Sir Sebastian Westley, Sir George Elvey, Dr. French-Flowers, Dr. Corfe, and others. The fact that he accomplished all this practically unaided and before the modern educational movement had begun, throws some light upon the thoroughness of his methods and upon the patience and perseverance which charac- terised him. We have already remarked that his mind leaned strongly in the direction of scientific research; this tendency exhibited itself later in life in his pursuit of botany, geology, and oology, and above all in those meteoro- logical observataions which he carried on with such care and regularity for upwards of 25 years. A distinguished member of the Royal Society remarked to the present writer that Dr. Propert was the best and most accurate observer in the United Kingdom. His nie at St. Davids during the period of its highest activity was varied by frequent visits to London, where he took part on Examination Boards, and where he came into contact with some of the leading educationalists and men of science of the day, andi always with the result that he left an impression of sincerity and thoroughness upon those wiih whom he was associated. In estimating the value of such a life as this if we look at it merely from a worldy point of view, we may be tempted to under- estimate it; true, there was his brilliant in- tellect, but with it a wonderful humility and an utter absence of self-assertion and personal ambition, qualities which in these vulgar days of self-advertisement often give a fictious value to a man's work in the public eye. He was content to remain unknown, to do his duty in quiet places; there was no straining after some great achievement, no effort to carve out a fortune, for he was in no sense a materialist. His supreme pleasures lay in the intellectual and spiritual plane, and there was none of that passion for power which sometimes dominates and even intoxicates men of high mental attain- ments, and often leads them into devious and doubtful courses. He never sought re- cognition or promotion, and always impressed upon his pupils that the only right path to putrsue was that of duty, however difficult it might appear; the road to worldy success might be brighter and easier, but it must be forsaken if it contravened the great spiri- tual laws of right and wrong. This was the philosophy which underlay his reason- ing and dominated the whole course of his work and life. If, therefore, we look at. his career from the moral point of view and mea- sure the forces which he revealed in his life and brought into play, the characters which he moulded for abiding good, we have no hesitation in pronouncing William Peregrine Propert a truly great man, for the intellectual and moral influences of his work are such as defy destruction, and which do not pass away with his earthh life. It would have been fitting that one w)¡eEI? life was so pure and spotless in all its relations should have found a last resting place within the pre- cincts of that old Cathedral with which his connection was iso intimate and life-long. Such a proposal would have met, we believe, with universal approval. The funeral takes place "on Monday at 2.30.