Yale University - Sheffield Scientific School Yearbook (New Haven, CT)

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376 HISTORY OF 1916 S. a charm not easily forgotten. More than most nien, he has the power of restoring the personality of the dead poet or prose writer, and making him live again in the text. In a day when reading aloud has become a lost art, or, what is worse, has been delivered over into the mouth of the elocutionist, his rich and dignined rendering of poetry has made a profound impression, even upon the most unpoetical. Since the retirement of Professor Lounsbury, he has conducted the Senior work in English literature for the Select Course with memorable success. In 'the Graduate School, his course in the development of English prose fiction was one of the pioneer courses in this field, and has been elected perhaps by more graduate students than any other single course in the department of English. Much scholarly and critical work in fiction has been done under his guidance and as a result of his inspiration. The new responsibilites which he is assuming this year are of great importance. The Yale Graduate School is the oldest in the country. It numbers among its graduates some of our most distinguished scholars and teachers. But while always eminent in the quality of its work, it has never yet been given the expan- sion and organization that it deserves. Financial difficulties, and various complications in the relation of this department to the older departments of the university, have always stood in the way. It is felt that now is the time to erect in Yale a graduate school second to none, and that Professor Cross is the man for the work. The Faculty of the Scientinc School wish him well in his task and are confident of his success. The Class of 1916 S., the last undergraduate class to come under his instruction, will give him their good wishes also, and will follow his later career with a personal interest in all that he may accomplish as writer, scholar, and dean. HENRY S. CANBY

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WILBUR Lucius Caoss The retirement of Professor Cross as head of the department of English in the Sheffield Scientific School to assume the dean- ship of the Yale Graduate School, removes from the School- though fortunately not from the University-one of the strongest men on our Faculty. The Sheff department of English has been fortunate in its traditions. It owes its establishment chieiiy to the late Thomas Raynesford Lounsbury, perhaps the most distin- guished scholar in the field of English that America has pos- sessed. Professor Cross began his career on the Yale Faculty as his assistant in 1894, was made professor in 1902, and suc- ceeded to the headship of the department in 1906.. In every way he has sustained the prestige that his predecessor brought to the School. Under his headship, the English department has increased from a personnel of four to eleven, and its courses have been notably strengthened and enlarged. His scholarly activity has also been of a high order. Begin- ning with his The Development of the English Novel, pub- lished in 1899, a book that is still standard in its field, his reputation as an able and authoritative writer was still further enhanced by his much praised 'fLife and Times of Sterne. At present he is engaged upon a life of Fielding which will take an equal rank among biographies of the great novelists. To the general public, Professor Cross is perhaps best known as the editor-in-chief of the Y ale Review. His admirable judg- ment and unceasing devotion to the difficult task of establishing a great magazine in a new field, have been the chief factors in the gratifying success of this review, which now is of national importance. Besides these major activities, Professor Cross has been deeply engaged in the improvement of college entrance requirements in English. He has been very iniiuential in the conduct of affairs in the Scientific School, and in addition to the personal editor- ship of many texts, among them the works of Lawrence Sterne and Professor Lounsburyis unfinished 'iLife and Times of Tennyson,'7 has been editor-in-chief of a standard set of the books required for entrance in English. As a teacher, Professor Cross will be remembered by many Sheif generations for an urbanity that has lent to his recitations

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