In his constructive fancy he had known no ordinary limits. ‘I would annex the planets if I could.’[6] He had measured by more than the span of a single life or a few generations; he had built for to-morrow as well as for to-day. ‘I find I am human, but should like to live after my death.’[7] He frequently wished ‘that he might return to earth to see how his ideas were prospering, and what was being done with the fortune which he had dedicated to the service of posterity’. His Will expresses in concrete form what were his purposes and what the plans which he left as a sacred Trust to the care and guardianship of his chosen friends.
CHAPTER II
THE SIXTH AND LAST WILL OF CECIL JOHN RHODES
The Will is arranged in forty-two clauses, followed by four codicils. As it is the intention here to deal only with those provisions which bear directly upon the Rhodes Scholarships or Oxford, it would seem natural to omit all other articles; but, for the sake of giving a comprehensive view of this remarkable document, it has seemed preferable to follow the regular order of the clauses, inserting summaries of those which are irrelevant to our subject.
The quotations in the following pages are made from a copy (in the Bodleian Library, Oxford) of the full text of the Will as published by Hollams, Sons, Coward and Hawksley.
Thick Clarendon type has been used to indicate exact quotation of the text, while the use of ordinary type enclosed in [ ]s indicates summarizing or abridgement.
Transcriber’s Note: The words ‘Thick Clarendon type’ will appear in the ‘Clarendon Bold’ font if you have it. If they don’t look any different from the rest of the paragraph, consider installing that font to get the full experience!
The designation of the clauses or articles by Arabic numerals is exactly as they occur in the text. The Roman numerals have been arbitrarily inserted to indicate topical divisions.[8]