R,CHARD MONCKTON MILNES was born in the year - OUDL Home

Oxford in the 'Seventies 223the successful result a work of supererogation, redoundingto the repute and even to the consolation of the winner;for, although such prizes fall, as a rule, to men whosenames are to be found in the First Class of the HonourSchools, a University prize not infrequently attests themerit of a student, who has worked at a disadvantageunder the conditions of the normal examinations. Suchfreer exercises obviously leave more scope for specialability and individual preferences than the prescribedand congested programmes of the Honour Schools. Areassuring evidence of the value of such academic premiumsfor individual study and production may be seenin the permanent place, which some prize compositionshave taken in contemporary literature. The most notoriousinstance, James Bryce's Arnold Essay on The HolyRoman Empire, carries back to 1863. Albert Dicey's Onthe Privy Council, three years earlier, at least prefiguredhis standard works on the English Constitution. John A.Doyle on the eve of the 'seventies won the same prizewith an Essay on The English Colonies in America beforethe Declaration of Independence, which afterwards grewinto five volumes, the work of a life-time. The Chancellor'sPrize in 1863 for an English Essay on TheRenaissance was won by J. A. Symonds, the futurehistorian of The Renaissance in Italy, and author ofseveral cognate works. In 1871 the Chancellor's Prizewas offered for an Essay on The Universities of the MiddleAges, but the time was not ripe, and the prize was notawarded. The same subject, when repeated in 1883,evoked a response from Hastings Rashdall, which reappeared,twelve years later, expanded into three volumes,to become at once the standard authority upon the subject.In 1879 the Arnold Prize was appropriately takenby a grandson of Dr Arnold's with an essay on TheRoman System of Provincial Administration, which, when