Born in London, and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he took the Bell scholarship, and afterwards a fellowship. Shortly after his ordination he became curate of Ampton, and in 1835 he was presented with the living of Wymeswold. In 1841 he became Hulsean Lecturer at Cambridge, and was from 1835 to 1857 officiating minister of Quebec Street Chapel. In the latter year he succeeded Dean Lyall to the deanery of Canterbury, which he held till his death. He was the first editor of “The Contemporary Review,” and is best known by his edition of the Greek Testament, which appeared in five volumes between 1841 and 1861. His poetical works are “Poems and Poetical Fragments,” 1831; “The School of the Heart, and other Poems,” 1835.

Personal

  If I might be permitted to point out a fault in the well-nigh perfect character of our departed friend, a fault, indeed, which was but a virtue carried to excess, I would say it consisted in his habitual forgetfulness of a precept contained in those very New Testament Scriptures which were so familiar to his mind—a precept, too, which fell from the lips of Christ Himself, whom he so endearingly loved and served, when He said to His disciples of old, and says to His disciples still, “Come ye yourselves apart, and rest awhile.” So averse was the departed Dean to all idleness, either in spiritual or temporal things, that in very truth he seemed to be, and I believe really was, incapable of resting.

  Throughout his course at Cambridge many of the same qualities which marked his after-life were conspicuous: simplicity and purity of character; affection both warm and lasting; quick sensibility; unusual powers of acquiring and reproducing knowledge; much freshness of thought, combined with singular felicity of expression whether in speech or in writing; not a little of that undefinable something which distinguishes the man of genius from the merely clever or able man. His versatility was wonderful. Outdone by many of his competitors in each department, he could do more things very well than any of them, and succeeded accordingly. His father’s early care and prayers had not been in vain. His inner life was always that of a truly religious man, and his outer life morally blameless.

  Meeting you here to-day as the Cathedral body, can I forget the great loss which this church sustained scarcely two years ago? When I speak of Dean Alford, I remember that he was my friend, and therefore as his friend, I mourn his departure. But no feelings of mere personal regret need mingle on such an occasion with our regrets. Those who knew him in his public capacity, the crowds who heard him in London, the large numbers who came to this Cathedral, to hear him speak from the pulpit, the vast number of persons throughout the whole of England to whom his ample stores of learning opened an access to knowledge which they would not otherwise have attained, all attest his worth. The zeal with which he applied himself during the years when he was Dean of Canterbury to make this Cathedral in all respects what he desired it should be—a church to the glory of God, and the good of man; that peculiar position which he occupied, and which I may say almost he alone in the Church of England, in reference to the great nonconforming communities;—these things prevent us from forgetting this day the loss which the Church of England has sustained.

  No one who lived with him could fail to be struck by his extreme quickness in observation, thought, and action. He was the first to notice any alteration, for instance, in the furniture of a room, or in the appearance of any person whom he met frequently, the first to read any inscription by the roadside. The gradual developments in the growth of plants in the garden, the changes of the sky seemed to chronicle themselves in his mind as soon as they occurred. Although on public occasions, as when he was in the pulpit, his utterance was measured and deliberate; yet, when he was quite at ease in his family circle, there was something unusual in the rapidity as well as vivacity with which he would follow up a train of thought to its conclusion, or would recall one after another recollections of his early days or travels.

  He was a man of various accomplishments. He composed pieces for the piano and organ and vocal music; he both sang and played himself. He had considerable mechanical skill, and he carved in wood. He also was a water-colour painter. A book which he wrote about the Riviera with coloured lithographs from water-colour drawings of his own, was one of his last publications. His religious development was precocious. At ten years old he wrote a short sermon. At fifteen he wrote a long and serious letter to his cousin (afterwards his wife), who was then about to be confirmed. From his earliest days he had looked forward to ordination, and his letters and journals show that this purpose was always before him. When ordained he threw himself earnestly into the work of his parish, where he built schools and restored the church in a manner which at that time was quite uncommon. He had great facility in preaching, and adopted various styles, from the serious treatise to the extempore address, in all of which he was successful, his clear baritone voice aiding a good delivery.

  Henry Alford’s habit was to rise at six, light his own fire in his study, and work there till one o’clock. One hour before breakfast was given to composing his sermons, and the rest of the morning to the Greek Testament. In the afternoon he visited amongst the poor inhabitants of his district, though the principal care of them devolved upon his curate. Evenings passed at home were spent in reading aloud to his family, and few read so well or effectively. His morning sermons were carefully written, and six volumes of these Quebec Sermons were published; but his afternoon sermons were extempore. Reading any of the sermons, however, is not what hearing them was. He had the manner and the voice which gave at once a solemnity and an interest to all he said; his hearers knew that he felt all he was saying to the uttermost, and his rich stores of knowledge of theology and literature of every kind made him especially acceptable to the cultivated classes who formed the main portion of his congregation…. He was enthusiastically fond of music, and looked upon it as the expression of poetic thought. Often hasty, he was always generous; and though often ruffled by slight annoyances, he could bear any great trial with more than patient—with happy resignation.

General

  His “School of the Heart” is an “Excursion” in a minor key. It is in a vein of high religious feeling and attachment to the English church, of which Mr. Alford is a clergyman. It is such poetry as Goldsmith’s pure-hearted vicar would not have objected to.

  Of all the more intellectual ecclesiastics of our time, he was the most active and indefatigable workman. His study was literally an officina librorum. The handicraft which he possessed in so many other branches—mechanical, artistical, musical—reached its culminating point in his literary achievements. Others, no doubt, have written, in our time, more profoundly, more eloquently, more philosophically, but we doubt whether any of his ecclesiastical contemporaries rivalled Henry Alford in the amount of genuine labour undertaken. Many objections, both general and in detail, may be brought against his edition of the Greek Testament. But its great merit is, that it was done at all; and, being done, although far from reaching the ideal of such a work, and inferior in execution and conception to that which is displayed in particular portions of the Sacred Writings as edited by others, it remains, confessedly, the best that exists in English of the whole volume of the New Testament. To have done this, at once elevated its author to a high rank amongst the religious teachers of his country.

  He has written a few sweet lyrics that may preserve his name.

  His Greek Testament and other biblical works constitute his chief claim to gratitude and fame…. The list of his works, with a short statement of their subjects, occupies an appendix to his “Life” of 15 pages 8vo. They comprise 48 volumes, some of which are slight, but others, like the Poems and the Greek Testament, exceedingly laborious; 104 articles in reviews, and 21 short separate pieces, hymns, sermons, or tracts.

  We may note, however, the valuable work of Dean Alford in his edition of the Greek New Testament in which the text has been carefully revised by the aid of all the new lights attainable. Dean Alford was a man of great accomplishments and culture, the author of several poetical and other works of a lighter description in his earlier years. His name, however, will be chiefly associated with this work, to which he dedicated a considerable portion of his life. Its publication was begun in 1841, and not completed till 1861. Much of what is called the new school of criticism did not exist when this work was begun, and even at the conclusion of his twenty years’ labour, had been but little discussed in England, but there is no more careful edition of the text of the Gospels upon which all questions and discussions must be founded.

  Dean Alford’s general poems were never popular, nor do they possess the qualities which secure the “audience fit, though few,” which is the consolation of so many who miss wider recognition. His translations show the scholar rather than the poet, and his other poems lack originality of thought and poetic felicity of diction.