University of Virginia Library

GEORGE LONG

Long Hall is named for George Long, one
of the original faculty members selected in
England by Francis Walker Gilmer, the
agent of the University of Virginia commissioned
by Thomas Jefferson. Long was
then a Don of Cambridge University. He
was but twenty-five years of age; but he had
already gained distinction, having been
elected to a Fellowship for which Thomas
Babington Macaulay had been an unsuccessful
candidate. At Virginia, Long was
the first Professor of Ancient Languages;
and though he held that position for only
three years, in a notable way he gave to that
School its reputation for sound scholarship
and vigorous instruction, for he was succeeded
by a student and admirer of his,
Gessner Harrison, who in his thirty-one
years as Professor ably maintained and extended
the solid distinction of the University's
courses in the Classics.

In 1828 Long was called back to be Professor
of Greek at the newly founded University

of London. In his short stay in
Charlottesville he adjusted himself remarkably
to life in Virginia. Jefferson was surprised
at first by Gilmer's selection of one
who was seemingly a boy Professor. But he
soon concluded that Long was "a most
sociable man, of fine understanding and
well qualified for his Department, and
acquiring esteem as fast as he became
known." He was popular with the students
(they dubbed him "Colonel"—perhaps
because of his short stature), and when he
contributed the first romance on the Lawn
by wooing and wedding Harriet Selden, a
sister of the wife of Proctor Brockenbrough,
there was perpetrated this student
couplet:
"Harriet wants but little here below,
But wants that little Long."

He drew by lot Pavilion V; and in addition
to his energetic teaching and his spirited
social life, he contributed the Greek section
to John Lewis's Tables of Comparative
Etymology and Analogous Formations,
and he collaborated with Robley Dunglison

in the preparation of an Introduction
to the Study of Grecian and Roman Geography,
both of which works were published
in 1828.

His three years in the United States
made a deep impression on him, as is
evidenced by his letters to his American
friends. In the Civil War he ardently
espoused the Southern side, and thereafter
he termed himself "an unreconstructed
rebel." In the second edition (1869) of
his translation of The Meditations of
Marcus Aurelius he included in a note a
warm tribute to General Robert E. Lee.

His later career in England fulfilled the
promise of his youth. After several years
(1828–1831) as Professor of Greek at the
University of London, he became Editor of
the Quarterly Journal of Education and he
edited twenty-nine volumes of the Penny
Cyclopaedia, a publication sponsored by
the Society for the Propagation of Useful
Knowledge. There was another period of
teaching (1842–1846), this time as Professor
of Latin at University College in London.

In 1849 he became Classical Lecturer at
Brighton College, then newly opened, and
for the next twenty or more years he contributed
largely to its considerable measure
of success. Meantime he was one of the
founders of the Royal Geographical Society,
and his works on Classical Geography
were standard for many years. He likewise
became a recognized authority on Roman
Law. His published translations included,
as has been mentioned, The Meditations of
Marcus Aurelius; and in view of the openness,
elevation, and integrity of his character,
it was said of George Long that no one
better exemplified "the good life" prescribed
in The Meditations. He was born
4 November 1800 in Poulton, Lancashire,
and died 10 August 1879 at Portfield,
Chichester.