SOURCE: "Frederic William Maitland," in The English Historical Review, Vol. XXII, No. 86, April, 1907, pp. 280-89.

In the following obituary tribute, Vinogradoff provides a personal retrospective of Maitland's life and work.

A Greek myth tells us of a king at whose touch all objects, however homely, were turned into gold. We do not see such transformations nowadays, but we know another king at whose touch every living being, however noble, is turned into dust. King Death has touched with his wand one of the most subtle and profound thinkers of our time, and stores of patiently accumulated knowledge, marvellous designs of a creative intellect have disappeared for ever from this world of ours. The best thing we have to do is to look for moral support to the example of the fallen champion, to his indomitable energy and absorbing devotion to his task through a life of pains and...