Augustus John Cuthbert Hare

“ Lady Jones sent Hare to Winchester as a commoner in 1804, and he went into college at election 1806. Weak health prevented his especially distinguishing himself, but in 1810 he was elected to a vacancy at New College. With his school-friends he established one of the first Oxford debating clubs, 'The Attic Society,' which supplied his chief interest at college. Lady Jones wished him to qualify himself for the rich family living of Hurstmonceaux by taking orders, and he incurred her extreme displeasure by the repugnance he felt to such a step. ”

“ In 1839 Hare delivered his sermons on the 'Victory of Faith' before the university of Cambridge as select preacher. Their prodigious length prevented their being appreciated when they were preached, and provoked such obtrusive symptoms of impatience that his friends got up a petition for their publication to efface the discourtesy from his recollection. Hare intended to have illustrated these sermons with a copious collection of notes, such as were appended to his next course, on the 'Mission of the Comforter,' preached in 1840. ”

“ Hare do come to us, and he do sit by the bed and hold our hands, and he do growl a little, but he do say nowt.'
His sermons were equally over the heads of his congregation, who used to say: 'Mr. Hare, he be not a good winter parson,' which meant that he kept them so long in church that they could not get home before dark. Hare generally preached for an hour to a nodding audience. But a few of his sermons which had an especial local application were valued accordingly.
Apart from parochial duties nothing could be happier than Hare's life at Hurstmonceaux. ”

“ On Easter Sunday, 1806, Georgiana Hare-Naylor died at Lausanne, leaving her children to the care of Lady Jones.
After his wife's death Hare-Naylor could never bear to return to Hurstmonceaux, and in 1807 he sold the estate. In the same year he married again a connection of his first wife, by whom he became the father of two sons and a daughter, subsequently the second wife of Frederick Denison Maurice [q. v.] In April 1815 he died, after a lingering illness, at Tours, and was buried beneath the altar of Hurstmonceaux Church. ”

“ In return, he was often loved,frequently detested, but never ignored. His acquaintance with English literature was extraordinary, and his knowledge of German probably unique for an undergraduate. He gave himself up with passionate delight to his classical studies; but his dislike of mathematics prevented him from qualifying to compete for the chancellor's medal. He was elected to a Trinity fellowship in October 1818.
After a winter passed with Francis Hare in Italy, he was persuaded by his elder brother to study the law, and took chambers in Hare Court, Temple. ”

“ Julius was the favourite brother of Francis, though the whole four were, as Landor called them, 'the most brotherly of brothers.' In 1812 Julius was sent to Trinity College, Cambridge.
Hare went up to Cambridge with a high school reputation both for classics and mathematics. Sedgwick, already a college tutor, made a friend of him, and Whewell and Kenelm Digby were his intimate companions. ”

“ In his tiny parish, isolated in the corn-plains at the foot of the Wiltshire downs, he spent the next four years as the loving father and friend of his people. He was absolutely unselfish and devoted to his duties. It seemed part of his nature to consider others before himself. ”

“ While visiting his paternal estates near Faversham, Hare became acquainted with Joseph Alston of Edwardstone, Suffolk, whose eldest daughter, Mary Margaret, became his second wife in April 1728, and brought him a large fortune in the estates of Newhouse in Suffolk, the ancient manor of Hos-Tendis, near Skulthorpe in Norfolk, and the Vatche, near Chalfont St. ”

“ The Hare-Naylors therefore set off for England, leaving three of their children in the care of Clotilda Tambroni and Father Emmanuele Aponte, an old Spanish priest, and appointing the famous Mezzofanti tutor of their eldest son, who at eleven years old learnt to read the deepest Greek books, and to write Greek epigrams upon his step-grandmother. ”

“ His mother died when he was a child, and his father married secondly Miss Henrietta Henckell, who sold the family properties in Norfolk, Suffolk, and Hampshire to pay for her constant extravagance, and eventually persuaded her husband to consent to the demolition of Hurstmonceaux Castle, that she might build a modern house, which could be settled upon her own children. ”

“ Another son, Robert, was father of Francis Hare-Naylor [q. v.] , and a third, Richard, was father of James Hare [q. v.]
Hare was a prolific author. He had been an old friend of Bentley, to whom he addressed in 1713 'the clergyman's thanks to Phileleutherus' (Bentley's pseudonym in the controversy with Anthony Collins [q. v.] ) . They were estranged perhaps by Hare's support of John Colbatch [q. v.] In 1724 Hare published an edition of 'Terence,' founded upon that of Faërnius, and with notes founded partly on previous communications from Bentley, who had intended to publish an edition himself. ”

“ Bentley, vexed at this anticipation, published his own edition with notes, bitterly attacking Hare, and soon after issued an edition of 'Phædrus,' in order to anticipate a proposed edition by Hare. Hare retaliated with great bitterness in an 'Epistola Critica' in 1727, addressed to Bland, head-master of Eton, exposing many errors in his rival's hasty edition (see Monk's Bentley, i. 348, ii. 219-32, 234, 235; Gent. Mag. 1779, pp. 547-548) . Hare's Latin scholarship has been praised by Parr and by Bishop Monk, Bentley's biographer. ”

“ He graduated B.A. in 1692, M.A. in 1696, and D.D. in 1708. At Cambridge he was tutor of (Sir) Robert Walpole and of Marlborough's son, the Marquis of Blandford, who died in his college on 20 Feb. 1702-3. ”