FROM   THE   LIBRARY   OF 
 
 REV.   LOUIS    FITZGERALD    BENSON,  D.  D. 
 
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 OF  THE 
 
 REV.    JOHN    KEBLE,    M.A. 
 
 LATE    VICAR    OF     HURSLEY. 
 BY  THE  RIGHT  HON. 
 
 SIR  J.  T.  COLERIDGE,  D.C.L. 
 
 ;  Te  mihi  junxerunt  nivei  sine  crimine  mores, 
 Simplicitasque  sagax,  ingenuusque  pudor  ; 
 
 Et  bene  nota  fides,  et  candor  frontis  honestse, 
 Et  studia  a  studiis  non  aliena  meis." 
 
 Joannes  Secundus. 
 
 JFtftf)  lEUttton. 
 
 OXFORD  and  LONDON : 
 
 JAMES   PARKER   AND   CO. 
 
 1880. 
 
 All  Rights  reserved. 
 
Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
 in  2013 
 
 http://archive.org/details/revjohnkOOcole 
 
■ 
 
 1870. 
 
[Dedication  to  the  First  Edition.] 
 
 TO 
 SIR   WILLIAM  HEATHCOTE,  BART. 
 
 My  dear  IIeathcote, 
 
 TN placing  your  name  at  the  head  of  this  Memoir,  I  fulfil 
 a  plain  and  pleasant  duty.     I  dedicate  it  to  a  favourite 
 pupil  of  John  Keble  ;   who  became  his  fast  friend;  and 
 was  his  only  patron. 
 
 I  wish  I  could  feel  secure  that  the  Memoir  docs  no  in- 
 justice to  his  memory.  Such  as  it  is  I  present  it  to  you,  as 
 floiving  at  least  from  a  grateful  heart.  To  him  I  owe  more 
 than  I  can  well  express;  and  among  the  greater  of  those 
 many  obligations  I  count  it  not  the  least,  that  for  so  many 
 years  I  have  been  able  to  call  myself  your  affe.ctio?iate  and 
 faith  Jul  friend, 
 
 J.  T.  COLERIDGE, 
 
 HEATH'S  COURT, 
 Dec.  26,  186S. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 TO   THE  FIRST   EDITION. 
 
 SO  much  time  has  elapsed  since  it  was  understood 
 that  I  had  commenced  the  work  which  I  now 
 publish,  and  in  itself  it  might  seem  to  have  required 
 so  little,  that  a  few  words  of  explanation  may  be 
 proper;  and  but  a  few  will  be  all  that  I  can  offer. 
 When  I  undertook  my  task,  some  of  my  best  friends 
 doubted  whether  I  had  still  strength  of  body  or  mind 
 sufficient  for  it.  Beginning  it  with  perhaps  too  much 
 eagerness  and  anxiety,  it  was  not  long  before  I  was 
 stopped  by  an  illness,  some  effects  of  which  have 
 never  wholly  left  me — one  of  them  has  been  the 
 inability,  sometimes,  to  work  at  all — and  always  to 
 do  so  for  more  than  a  short  period  of  time  from 
 day  to  day. 
 
 This  will  be  accepted,  I  hope,  as  an  excuse  for 
 delay ;  what  effects  the  same  circumstance  may  have 
 had  on  the  book  itself,  it  is  useless  for  me  to  con- 
 sider; no  explanation  will  cure  its  faults,  or  supply 
 its  short-comings :  though  I  hope  it  may  help  to 
 acquit  me  of  inconsiderateness  in  undertaking,  and 
 of  carelessness  in  executing  it. 
 
 b 
 
VI  PREFACE  TO  THE  FIRST  EDITION. 
 
 I  expressed  very  early,  and  I  believe  more  than 
 once,  what  I  now  desire  very  earnestly  to  repeat,  my 
 fear  that  in  printing  many  of  John  Keble's  letters  to 
 myself  I  might  lie  open  to  the  imputation  of  bring- 
 ing my  own  name  too  forward.  I  find  now  that  in 
 the  beginning  I  had  hardly  realised  the  extent  to 
 which  this  would  go ;  and  yet,  as  I  advanced,  I  knew 
 not  how  to  avoid  it.  I  could  not  think  it  right  to 
 alter  his  expressions,  perfectly  sincere  as  I  knew 
 them  to  be,  though  certainly  exaggerated.  The  truth 
 is,  he  was  so  humble,  and  at  the  same  time  so  loving 
 to  his  friends,  that  it  seemed  as  if  in  his  mind  all  the 
 weakness  and  imperfection  were  in  himself,  all  the 
 strength  and  goodness  in  them.  His  letters  must  be 
 read  with  this  thought  in  the  mind  of  the  reader. 
 
 It  may  be  said  that  I  might  not  only  to  some 
 extent  have  escaped  this  difficulty,  but  added  much 
 to  the  interest  of  my  Memoir,  if  I  had  made  more 
 use  of  his  letters  to  other  friends  and  less  of  those 
 to  myself.  There  is  much  truth  in  this  remark,  and 
 I  have  done  what  I  could  to  comply  with  it.  But  it 
 is  not  every  possessor  of  his  letters  to  whom  I  could 
 properly  apply.  Many  of  them  were  written  to  per- 
 sons on  their  own  troubles  and  difficulties,  and  such, 
 though  very  interesting,  the  holders  would  be  little 
 likely  to  give  me  for  publication,  and  certainly  I  could 
 not  ask  them. 
 
PREFACE  TO  THE  FIRST  EDITION.  vii 
 
 To  some  extent  I  trust  this  may  be  taken  for  an 
 answer,  without  more  specification ;  but  I  must  say 
 a  particular  word  as  to  one,  perhaps  his  dearest  and 
 most  honoured  friend,  who  will  be  in  every  one's 
 mind — Dr.  Pusey.  I  suppose  he  possesses  large 
 numbers  of  important  and  interesting  letters.  He 
 has  always  been  so  kind  to  me,  that  I  should  be 
 ungrateful  if  I  doubted  his  readiness  to  help  me — 
 indeed  to  volunteer  his  help,  wherever  he  felt  he 
 could  do  so  properly.  Yet  it  is  obvious  that  from 
 the  very  intimacy  which  subsisted  between  them, 
 combined  with  the  extreme  delicacy  of  the  subjects 
 to  which  their  correspondence  must  have  principally 
 related,  his  letters  might  be  just  such  as  he  would 
 think  it  improper  as  yet  to  make  public.  I  have 
 therefore  never  applied  to  him ;  and  for  reasons  not 
 exactly  the  same,  but  of  the  same  kind,  I  have  pur- 
 sued the  same  course  with  Dr.  Newman. 
 
 The  work  no  doubt  suffers  in  consequence. 
 
 Keble's  Letters  to  Hurrell  Froude  would  have 
 been  specially  interesting  ;  writing  to  this  pupil 
 first  and  friend  after,  whom  yet  he  always  loved 
 as  a  younger  brother,  he  would  have  been  presented 
 in  a  new  light.  Mr.  W.  Froude,  Hurrell's  repre- 
 sentative, was  ready  to  communicate  the  letters  if 
 they  could  be  found,  but  the  search  for  them  has 
 been  unsuccessful. 
 
Vlll  PREFACE  TO  THE   FIRST  EDITION. 
 
 The  help  which  I  have  received  has  come  from  so 
 many  persons,  that  I  am  compelled  to  ask  the  far 
 larger  number  to  accept  a  general,  but  most  hearty 
 expression  of  my  gratitude.  What  has  been  done 
 for  me  by  some  has  been  acknowledged,  or  will 
 appear,  in  the  work  itself ;  such  for  example  as 
 Mr.  Wilson.  Beside  much  specific  information,  he 
 placed  in  my  hands  a  great  many  letters  of  which 
 I  have  made  free  use. 
 
 But  it  would  be  wrong  if  I  did  not  specify  by 
 name  three  ladies,  who  may  yet  I  fear  think  it  an  ill- 
 return  for  their  kindness — Miss  Baker,  Miss  Maria 
 Trench,  and  Mrs.  Cooke  Trench — to  whom  I  must 
 add  the  Author  of  the  "  Daily  Readings."  I  was 
 very  desirous  of  giving  an  authentic  account  of 
 Keble  in  his  office  of  Pastor  of  Hursley  ;  and  if  I 
 have  succeeded  in  doing  so,  it  is  to  be  attributed  en- 
 tirely  to  the  communications  they  were  good  enough 
 to  make  to  me.     I  cannot  thank  them  too  warmly. 
 
 In  such  a  work  as  Keble's  Life  it  was  impossible, 
 at  least  I  have  found  it  so,  not  to  touch  on  many 
 matters  once  the  subject  of  hot  controversy.  When 
 I  began,  I  hoped  I  had  laid  down  for  myself  a  rule 
 by  which  I  might  escape  the  responsibilities  of  a 
 Church  Historian.  Perhaps  I  ought  to  have  fore- 
 seen how  impossible  it  would  become  in  the  progress 
 of  the  work  strictly  to  observe  that  rule.      I  am 
 
PREFACE   TO   THE  FIRST   EDITION.  ix 
 
 sensible  that  sometimes  I  have  not ;  and  in  conse- 
 quence I  may  possibly  have  given  pain  or  offence 
 to  excellent  persons  who  now  survive.  I  beg  such 
 to  believe  that  I  regret  this  very  much.  I  do  not 
 know  that  I  have  anywhere  questioned  the  motives 
 of  those  from  whose  judgments  I  have  been  com- 
 pelled to  differ;  and  if  I  impute  error  to  others, 
 I  am  not  so  unwise  as  to  suppose  that  I  may  not 
 have  fallen  into  it  myself. 
 
 J.  T.  C. 
 
 Heath's  Court, 
 Dec.  24,  1868. 
 
 I  OUGHT  not  to  part  from  this  work  without  one 
 word  upon  another  and  far  greater,  now  in  progress 
 at  Oxford,  designed  in  part  for  the  same  purpose  ; 
 I  speak  of  Keble  College.  It  is  indeed  a  great  con- 
 ception and  an  almost  unprecedented  memorial ;  but 
 it  is  more  than  a  mere  memorial,  (if  it  were  not, 
 Keble  would  have  shrunk  from  it,)  it  is  an  institution 
 dedicated  to  the  academical  education  of  numbers, 
 who  without  it  may  be  unable  to  obtain  that  in- 
 estimable advantage.  What  is  now  being  attempted 
 at  Oxford  in  another  way  testifies  to  the  need,  and 
 I  wish  it  every  success ;  but  I  still  venture  to  think 
 
X  PREFACE  TO  THE  FIRST  EDITION. 
 
 that  the  Collegiate  system  is  essential  to  the  com- 
 pleteness of  an  Oxford  training. 
 
 Our  undertaking,  however,  requires  very  much 
 larger  help  than  it  has  hitherto  received,  and  I 
 cannot  but  earnestly  press  this  consideration  on 
 all  who  feel  grateful  to  Keble,  and  would  be  glad 
 to  honour  his  memory;  and  also  on  all  who  desire 
 to  extend  Oxford  education  not  in  a  sectarian  or 
 illiberal,  but  truly  Christian  spirit,  to  a  large  class 
 much  desiring,  much  needing,  and,  without  this  help, 
 quite  unable  to  compass  it 
 
PREFACE 
 
 TO   THE  SECOND   EDITION. 
 
 SOON  after  the  death  of  John  Keble,  a  letter 
 was  written  to  his  nearest  and  dearest  surviving 
 relative,  by  one  who  knew  him  as  well  as  he  loved 
 him.     I  venture  to  print  the  following  extract : — 
 
 "  I  suppose  that  no  man  has  died  in  England  within  our 
 memory  who  has  been  so  dearly  loved,  and  whose  memory 
 will  be  had  in  such  tender  reverence  by  so  many  good  men. 
 It  will  be  long  before  many  will  cease  to  say  to  themselves 
 when  in  doubt,  'What  would  Keble  say  to  this?'  or  to  re- 
 mind themselves  of  his  ways  and  sayings ;  and  of  Hursley 
 as  it  was  in  his  time ;  and  of  all  that  made  his  judgment 
 a  law,  and  his  companionship  delightful.  However,  I 
 think  it  is  not  the  companionship  that  comes  most  into 
 the  mind  just  now.  What  I  think  remarkable,  was  not 
 how  many  people  loved  him,  or  how  much  they  loved  him, 
 but  that  everybody  seemed  to  love  him  with  the  very  best 
 kind  of  love  of  which  they  were  capable. 
 
 "  It  was  like  loving  goodness  itself;  you  felt  that  what 
 was  good  in  him  was  applying  itself  directly  and  bringing 
 into  life  all  that  was  best  in  you.  His  ready,  lively,  trans- 
 parent affection  seemed  as  if  it  was  the  very  spirit  of  love, 
 opening  out  upon  you,  and  calling  for  a  return,  such  as 
 you  could  give.  At  the  same  time  its  unsuspectingness 
 was  almost  alarming.  You  were  probably  too  near  to  him 
 to  know  that  singular  mixture  of  triumph  and  shame  which, 
 I  think,  he  caused  to  many  of  his  friends,  by  the  unreserved 
 
Xll  PREFACE   TO    THE   SECOND   EDITION. 
 
 affection  which  he  poured  out  upon  them,  on  the  faith  of 
 their  possessing  all  the  singleness  and  purity  of  heart  which 
 he  felt  in  himself.  But  it  was,  I  think,  very  common ;  and 
 I  believe  that  numbers  of  persons  were  continually  urged 
 forwards  by  a  kind  of  shame  at  feeling  themselves  so 
 much  behind  what  he  appeared  to  think  of  them. 
 
 "  His  influence  for  some  time  has  been  so  silent,  that 
 one  hardly  knows  what  his  loss  may  be  to  the  Church. 
 But  it  is  impossible  not  to  fear  that  many  people  will  be 
 liable  to  do  wild  or  angry  things,  when  they  are  relieved 
 from  that  silent  control  which  was  exercised  by  the  general 
 reverence  which  all  men  felt  for  him.  However,  that  is 
 in  Higher  Hands." 
 
 There  is  not  a  syllable  of  exaggeration  in  this 
 beautiful  extract ;  and  it  is  owing  to  the  general 
 feeling,  so  well  described  in  it,  that  I  find  myself 
 called  on  to  prepare  a  second  edition  of  this  book 
 very  long  before  I  had  any  expectation  of  such  a 
 call  being  made  on  me  ;  and  a  sense  of  this  has 
 naturally  made  me  more  anxious  to  correct  some 
 inaccuracies  which  had  crept  into  the  former  edition. 
 This  I  have  endeavoured  to  do. 
 
 But  beside  inaccuracies  as  to  facts,  friends  have 
 suggested  in  private,  and  critics  through  the  press 
 have  pointed  out,  what  seem  to  them  omissions,  or 
 faults  in  the  conception  of  the  work  as  well  as  in 
 the  execution.  In  some  respects  it  will  be  found, 
 I  hope,  that  attention  has  been  paid  to  such  re- 
 marks ;  and  where  it  has  not  been,  this  must  not 
 be  attributed  to  want  of  respect,  or  consideration. 
 This  indeed  would  have  been  unpardonable  in  me ; 
 
PREFACE   TO   THE   SECOND   EDITION.  xm 
 
 for  so  far  as  I  know,  I  have  been  treated  even  by 
 the  most  decided  of  my  critics  with  a  respect  and 
 kindness  which  I  wish  I  deserved,  and  for  which 
 I  feel  sincerely  grateful.  Sometimes,  however,  I 
 have  not  agreed  with  my  advisers,  sometimes  I  have 
 found  myself  unable  to  do  what  they  desired.  There 
 are  faults  I  suppose  in  every  work,  which  are  so 
 interwoven  with  the  main  web  that  they  cannot  be 
 removed  without  unravelling  the  whole  piece.  I  am 
 too  old  to  recast  the  work ;  and  I  desire  it  should 
 be  borne  in  mind,  that  from  the  beginning  I  ex- 
 pressly limited  myself  to  a  certain  part,  and  did  not 
 undertake  the  whole  of  Keble's  history. 
 
 I  must  now  mention  some  new  matter,  which  will 
 be  found  in  this  edition.  Since  the  issue  of  the 
 former,  two  parcels  of  letters  have  been  found,  the 
 one  to  Hurrell  Froude,  the  other  to  his  father, 
 the  Archdeacon  ;  they  were  found  singularly  enough 
 with  a  small  quantity  of  plate,  and  some  personal 
 jewels  of  little  value,  in  a  house  formerly  the  pro- 
 perty of  the  latter,  and  for  many  years  occupied  by 
 his  sister,  which  is  now  the  property  of  Mr.  William 
 Froude.  He  was  good  enough  to  place  them  un- 
 reservedly in  my  hands  ;  and  I  have  published  a 
 few,  which  will  be  found  in  their  proper  places.  All 
 are  written  in  the  same  spirit,  and  with  the  same 
 ability,  which  are  characteristic  of  the  letters  I  had 
 before  printed  ;  and  should  it  be  thought  right  to 
 publish  an  independent  selection  of  his  letters,  many 
 of  them  I  hope  will  be  found  in  it. 
 
xiv  PREFACE  TO  THE   SECOND  EDITION. 
 
 A  more  important  addition  will  be  found  in  the 
 Appendix,  which  I  have  annexed  to  this  volume. 
 This  mainly  consists  of  papers  from  which  I  made 
 extracts  in  my  concluding  chapter.  I  have  thought 
 it  better  now  on  many  accounts  to  print  them  at 
 length  ;  by  so  doing  I  am  aware  some  repetition  will 
 appear,  and  it  will  be  seen,  I  fear,  not  only  that  I 
 was  too  sparing,  but  also  that  I  was  injudicious  in 
 my  selection.  By  printing  them  as  I  now  do,  I  shall 
 give  a  more  adequate  view  of  the  inward  and  do- 
 mestic life  of  Keble,  the  want  of  which  has  justly 
 been  complained  of;  and  I  can  more  conveniently 
 place  the  purchasers  of  the  first  edition  on  a  footing 
 with  those  who  may  possess  themselves  of  the  second 
 as  copies  of  this  appendix  will  be  printed  separately 
 for  their  convenience, 
 
 J.  T.  C. 
 
 Heath's  Court, 
 April  24,  1869, 
 
PREFACE 
 
 TO  THE  THIRD   EDITION. 
 
 SINCE  the  publication  of  my  Second  Edition, 
 I  have  been  favoured  with  several  suggestions, 
 contributions,  and  proposed  amendments, — in  many 
 cases  coming  from  those  who  were  personally  un- 
 known to  me ;  in  all  proceeding  from  that  reverent 
 love  to  John  Keble,  and  respect  for  his  memory, 
 which  lead  so  many  to  regard  even  this  imperfect 
 biography  as,  in  some  sort,  a  national  property, 
 which  all  are  interested  in  making  as  perfect  as 
 they  can. 
 
 Feeling  this  very  strongly,  I  am  yet  not  the  less 
 obliged  personally;  and  if  I  have  unintentionally 
 omitted  to  make  my  acknowledgments  separately 
 to  each  one  to  whom  I  am  thus  indebted,  I  hope 
 this  will  not  be  attributed  to  anything  but  old  age 
 and  impaired  memory. 
 
 Some  of  these  communications  will  be  found  in 
 their  proper  places  in  this  edition,  —  others  have 
 been  passed  over,  not  because  they  were  under- 
 valued, but  because  to  introduce  them  properly 
 would  have  required  greater  alteration  in  the  text 
 than  I  feel  myself  now  at  liberty,  or  indeed  able, 
 to  make. 
 
 J.  T.  C 
 
 Heath's  Court, 
 Oct.,  1869. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 TO  THE  FOURTH  EDITION. 
 
 T)UBLISHING  a  Fourth  Edition  of  this  Memoir, 
 -*-  I  abstain,  as  when  publishing  the  last  pre- 
 ceding one,  from  any  material  corrections,  or  ad- 
 ditions. The  same  reasons  operate  on  my  mind 
 now,  as  then ;  and  I  may  add,  that  I  am  conscious 
 of  a  great  decrease  in  whatever  power  I  may  have 
 once  possessed,  to  execute  properly  any  alteration 
 I  might  desire  to  make. 
 
 Thus  much  I  say,  because  I  should  be  sorry  if 
 it  were  supposed  that  I  abstain  from  alterations, 
 because  I  think  none  in  themselves  desirable.  No 
 one,  I  believe,  is  more  sensible  than  I  am  of  the 
 faults  of  the  book,  both  in  conception  and  execu- 
 tion, nor  how  much  I  owe  to  the  indulgence  which 
 has  been  extended  to  it.  I  hope  that,  without 
 abusing  this  indulgence,  I  may  express  my  desire 
 for  a  continued  exhibition  of  it. 
 
 J.  T.  C. 
 
 Heath's  Court,  Ottery  St.  Mary, 
 April  22,  1874. 
 
I 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER   I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introduction. — Birth. — Boyhood I 
 
 CHAPTER  II. 
 Undergraduateship. — Corpus  Christi,  1806— 181 1         ...       9 
 
 CHAPTER  III. 
 
 John  Miller. — George  James  Cornish. — Charles  Dyson  .         .     22 
 
 CHAPTER  IV. 
 
 Final  Examination.  —  Election  at   Oriel.  —  University  Prizes. — 
 Sidmouth.— Ordinations. — First  Curacy 47 
 
 CHAPTER  V. 
 
 Tutorship  and  Second  Residence  at  Oriel. — Death  of  Mrs.  Keble. 
 — 1818— 1823 70 
 
 CHAPTER  VI. 
 
 Return  to  Fairford,  1823. — Southrop. — Pupils. — Hurrell  Froude.  — 
 "  Christian  Year" 108 
 
 CHAPTER  VII. 
 
 Hursley  Curacy.— Death  of  Mary  Ann  Keble. —Return  to  Fair- 
 ford. — 1825,  1826 130 
 
XVlll  CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER  VIII. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Return  to  Fairford. —Publication  of  "Christian  Year." — 1826, 
 1827 146 
 
 CHAPTER  IX. 
 
 Provostship  of  Oriel. — Edition  of  Hooker's  Works. — India-House 
 Examinations 1 75 
 
 CHAPTER  X. 
 
 Paignton. — Poetry  Professorship,  and  Lectures. — Assize  Sermon, 
 1833.— The  Tracts. —Death  of  Mr.  Keble.— 1835  .        .  205 
 
 CHAPTER  XI. 
 
 Coin  St.  Aldwyn. — Engagement  with  Miss  Clarke. — Acceptance 
 of  Hursley  Vicarage. — Marriage,  and  Settlement  at  Hursley. — 
 Visitation  Sermon. — Hurrell  Froude's  "Remains." — A.  Knox. — 
 Version  of  Psalms. — Creweian  Oration  and  Wordsworth. — 1839  233 
 
 CHAPTER  XII. 
 
 1840. — Library  of  the  Fathers. — Charles  Marriott. — Dr.  Arnold. — 
 Tract  90,  and  Subsequent  Proceedings 262 
 
 CHAPTER  XIII. 
 
 Otterbourne  Church  and  Parsonage. — Ampfield  Church  and  Par- 
 sonage.— Hursley  Parsonage. — "  Lyra  Innocentium." — Keble's 
 Resolution  as  to  the  English  Church. — "  Mother  out  of  Sight."  281 
 
 CHAPTER  XIV. 
 
 "Lyra  Innocentium."— Charles  Marriott's  College.— Gladstone 
 Contests 321 
 
CONTENTS.  xix 
 
 CHAPTER  XV. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Should  Keble  have  been  preferred  to  Dignity  in  the  Church  ? — 
 Tour  in  Wales,  and  Visit  to  Ireland,  1840. — Tour  in  Scotland, 
 1842. — Undertakes  to  Write  Life  of  Bishop  Wilson. — Visit  to 
 Isle  of  Man,  1849. — Marriages  with  Sister  of  Deceased  Wife, 
 1849.— Second  Visit  to  Man,  1852.— Trip  to  Skye,  1853  .        .  354 
 
 CHAPTER  XVI. 
 Death  of  W.  C.  Yonge,  1854.— Oxford  University  Reform  .         .381 
 
 CHAPTER  XVII. 
 
 1854,  Bishop  of  New  Zealand  at  Hursley. — Francis  George  Cole- 
 ridge's Death.— Visit  to  the  West. — The  Vineyard  and  Dart- 
 ington  Rectory. — Archdeacon  Wilberforce. — Service  for  Emi- 
 grants.— North  of  Devon. — Professor  Reed. — Decision  of  the 
 Denison  Case. — Tour  in  North  Wales. — Argument  on  the  Di- 
 vorce Bill. — Departure  of  Mr.  Young  and  Family. — 1857,  Tour 
 in  Switzerland. — Eucharistical  Adoration  ....  406 
 
 CHAPTER  XVIII. 
 
 1857,  Death  of  the  Rev.  J.  D.  Coleridge.— Building  of  School 
 Chapel  at  Pitt,  1858.— Death  of  Mrs.  T.  Keble,  Junior,  1858.— 
 Troubles  in  the  Scottish  Episcopal  Church. — Stay  at  Oxford, 
 I859-  —  Tour  to  the  North. — Visits  to  Edinburgh,  i860. — 
 Death  of  Elizabeth  Keble,  August,  i860. — Death  of  C.  Dyson. 
 — Visit  to  Devonshire. — Death  of  J.  Patteson,  1861  .         .         .   443 
 
 CHAPTER  XIX. 
 
 Keble's  Self-dissatisfaction,  and  Thoughts  of  Resignation. — Oxford 
 Local  Examinations. — Mrs.  Keble's  Alarming  Illness. — Move 
 to  Sea  View.  —  First  Visit  to  Penzance. — Bishop  Wilson's  Life 
 Completed. — Church   Discipline. — Court   of  Final   Appeal   in 
 
XX  CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Cases  of  Doctrine. — Bishop  of  Winchester's  Charge. — Com- 
 mentary on  the  Bible.— First  Stay  at  Penzance. — Return  to 
 Hursley. — Judgment  in  Long  v.  Bishop  of  Capetown. — First 
 Visit  to  Torquay  in  January,  1864. — Second  Stay  at  Penzance, 
 April,  1864 469 
 
 CHAPTER  XX. 
 
 Subscription  and  Oaths  of  the  Clergy. — Return  from  Penzance. — 
 Practice  as  to  Confirmations. — Paralytic  Seizure,  November, 
 1864. — Second  Visit  to  Torquay. — Removal  to  Penzance. — The 
 Colenso  Appeal. — Pastoral  Letter  to  the  Confirmed  at  Hursley. 
 — Visit  at  Heath's  Court,  May  10.— Return  to  Hursley. — Aboli- 
 tion of  Tests  at  Oxford. — Mrs.  Keble's  Severe  Illness. — Visit  of 
 Dr.  Pusey  and  Dr.  Newman 504 
 
 CHAPTER  XXI. 
 
 October  II,  1865,  Leave  Hursley,  and  go  to  Bournemouth. — 
 Letter  on  the  Ritual  Question. — His  Life  at  Bournemouth. — ■ 
 Illness. — Death,  March  29,  1866. — Burial  at  Hursley. — Re- 
 marks on  Person  and  Character. — Mrs.  Keble's  Death,  Burial, 
 Character 536 
 
MEMOIR 
 
 OF  THE 
 
 REV.   JOHN    KEBLE. 
 
 CHAPTER   I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. — BIRTH.— BOYHOOD. 
 
 IT  is  not  without  sincere  misgivings  that  I  com- 
 mence this  memoir.  My  sense  of  the  difficulty 
 of  writing  it  properly,  as  well  as  of  the  importance 
 that  it  should  be  written,  if  at  all,  fully,  delicately, 
 faithfully,  lovingly,  has  become  more  strong  the 
 more  I  have  had  occasion  to  consider  it  with  re- 
 ference to  myself.  I  will  not  affect  to  deny,  that  if 
 the  duty  had  been  cast  on  me  some  years  earlier, 
 there  were  personal  circumstances  which,  at  least 
 in  part,  might  have  seemed  to  recommend  me  for 
 the  performance  of  it — the  most  affectionate  inti- 
 macy, and  the  closest  communion  of  feelings  and 
 opinions,  the  possession  of  an  unbroken  correspond- 
 ence from  the  year  1811,  and  the  kind  confidence 
 with  which  the  representatives  of  deceased  friends 
 were  ready  to  confide  to  me  a  large  number  of  his 
 letters  ;  these  were  among  those  circumstances.    But 
 
 B 
 
Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 I  feel  now  that  my  great  age,  and  impaired  strength 
 of  mind,  as  well  as  body,  are  more  than  equivalent 
 disadvantages ;  indeed,  a  serious  illness  since  I  be- 
 gan to  prepare  for  my  work  has  added  much  weight 
 to  this  consideration.  Nor  can  I  forget  that  the 
 very  advantages  I  speak  of  have  a  tendency  to  mis- 
 lead me  in  the  composition,  and  to  disturb  the  pro- 
 portions of  my  work,  to  make  me  dwell  too  much 
 at  length  on  parts  exceedingly  interesting  to  my- 
 self, but  which  may  seem  of  less  importance  to 
 those,  a  great  proportion  probably  of  my  readers, 
 who  may  be  specially  desirous  to  know  of  the  part 
 which  John  Keble  took  in  the  different  measures 
 and  movements  of  our  times  in  Church  matters, 
 and  who  will  find  themselves  disappointed.  For 
 when  I  consented  to  the  request  made  to  me,  I  felt 
 that  I  was  not  in  any  way  competent  to  write  the 
 history  of  our  Church  for  the  last  forty  years,  which 
 yet  seemed  a  necessary  part  of  any  complete  ac- 
 count of  his  work  on  earth.  In  these  very  important 
 matters  my  narrative  will  be  deficient,  and  many  of 
 my  readers  will  be  disappointed. 
 
 Under  all  these  circumstances,  I  cannot  complain 
 if  I  am  asked  why  I  have  undertaken  to  write  at 
 all.  In  answer,  I  will  not  dwell  on  reasons  of  minor 
 and  in  themselves  perhaps  insufficient  importance. 
 The  truth  is,  that  I  was  requested  by  one  to  whom 
 at  the  time  it  was  almost  impossible  for  me  to  re- 
 fuse any  such   thing ;  and   the   performance   of  my 
 
Introduction, 
 
 promise,  in  so  far  as  I  am  able,  appears  to  me  now 
 in  the  light  of  a  sacred  duty. 
 
 My  readers,  however,  will  gather  from  what  I  have 
 said,  that  my  work  will  not  assume  to  be  a  com- 
 plete biography ;  indeed,  independently  of  the  rea- 
 sons which  apply  to  myself  personally,  it  seems  to 
 me  that  the  time  has  hardly  yet  arrived  when  this 
 could  be  done,  at  once  so  freely  and  so  dispas- 
 sionately as  it  ought  to  be,  if  done  at  all.  Some 
 one  will  be  found,  I  have  a  good  hope,  in  due  time 
 to  accomplish  this  more  important  task ;  to  whom 
 what  I  am  about  to  do  may  be  of  some  service. 
 The  George  Herbert  of  our  days  ought  not  in  the 
 end  to  be  left  without  his  own  Isaac  Walton. 
 
 I  must  still  farther,  however,  and  perhaps  in  jus- 
 tice to  myself,  warn  my  readers  that  they  are  about 
 to  enter  on  a  most  uneventful  story ;  few  persons 
 have  lived  so  long,  and  achieved  so  great  a  name, 
 about  whom  there  is  so  little  of  change  or  incident 
 to  record.  His  life  was  passed  in  his  father's  house, 
 in  his  college  rooms,  in  his  curacies,  or  in  his  vicarage, 
 in  occasional  Long- Vacation  rambles,  in  visits  to  the 
 sea-side  for  the  alleviation  of  sickness.  He  ear- 
 nestly avoided  publicity  ;  happily  for  himself  per- 
 haps, neither  the  Crown  nor  the  Church  thought  him 
 a  fit  subject  for  promotion,  which  I  need  not  say  he 
 never  solicited,  and  I  believe  would  have  declined. 
 Those  who  desire  to  read  an  exciting  story  will  do 
 well  to  close  this  book  at  once  ;  but  there  are  still 
 
Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 some,  I  believe,  who  either  out  of  personal  regard 
 or  grateful  veneration  may  desire  to  know  inti- 
 mately his  character,  the  manner  of  his  passage 
 through  life,  and  the  performance  of  his  duties ; 
 how  he  lived,  and  how  he  died.  As  well  as  I  can, 
 I  will  try  truly  and  simply  to  gratify  the  wishes  of 
 such  readers.  My  object  will  be  to  present  a  full 
 and  faithful  picture  of  his  character ;  faithful,  I  hope, 
 though  drawn  unquestionably  in  a  reverent  spirit, 
 and  with  a  loving  hand. 
 
 I  will  not  detain  my  readers  by  any  further  pre- 
 face, nor  will  I  consume  time  by  any  account  of 
 John  Keble's  family  pedigree  ;  it  was  a  matter  in 
 which  he  took  little  interest.  He  never,  that  I  re- 
 member, mentioned  to  me  the  name  of  any  one  of 
 his  ancestors,  except  that  of  Joseph  Keble,  of  whose 
 strange  taste  (as  it  seemed  to  him)  he  spoke  slight- 
 ingly, in  employing  himself  as  a  Law-reporter ;  he 
 did  not  know  at  the  time  the  importance  of  the 
 office,  nor  how  much  ability,  industry,  and  learning, 
 a  successful  discharge  of  it  implied.  Joseph  Keble 
 was  a  Reporter  of  the  decisions  of  what  is  now  styled 
 the  Court  of  Queen's  Bench  from  1660  to  1678  ;  he 
 did  not,  however,  possess  the  qualifications  of  a  good 
 one,  and  his  volumes  are  of  little  authority.  I  never 
 heard  Keble  speak  of  Joseph's  father,  Richard,  a  law- 
 yer of  greater  eminence.    Mr.  Foss,  in  his  careful  and 
 
Birth.  5 
 
 useful  book,  "The  History  of  the  Judges,"  records 
 of  him,  that  the  Parliament  made  him  a  Welch 
 Judge  in  1647,  a  Serjeant  in  1648,  and  one  of  the 
 Commissioners  of  the  Great  Seal  after  the  King's 
 execution,  together  with  Whitelocke  and  L'Isle.  I 
 do  not  know  the  precise  reasons,  but  it  is  perhaps 
 presumably  not  to  his  dishonour,  that  he  found 
 favour  neither  with  Cromwell  nor  Charles  II.  The 
 former  displaced  him  in  1654,  and  the  latter,  upon 
 his  Restoration,  excepted  him  from  the  Act  of  In- 
 demnity ;  perhaps  he  was  one  of  the  Regicide 
 Judges.  Probably  Keble  knew  nothing  of  these 
 circumstances,  and  if  he  had  known  them,  his 
 passionate  loyalty  for  the  memory  of  Charles  I. 
 would  have  prevented  his  dwelling  on  them  with 
 much  pleasure  or  interest. 
 
 John  Keble  was  born  on  St.  Mark's  Day,  1792, 
 at  Fairford  in  Gloucestershire.  I  saw  it  stated  by 
 a  correspondent  of  the  "  Guardian,"  that  he  had 
 represented  himself  on  one  occasion  to  have  been 
 born  in  Hampshire,  and  I  dare  say  he  may  have 
 expressed  himself  so  as  to  be  misunderstood  in 
 that  sense.  Among  the  many  letters,  with  the  use 
 of  which  I  have  been  favoured,  I  have  found  one 
 to  George  Cornish  in  which,  dating  from  Hursley, 
 he  speaks  of  a  visit  he  had  just  paid  with  his  ma- 
 ternal uncle  to  Ringwood,  "  to  see  his  mother  s 
 native  place."  The  passage  is  characteristic,  and 
 I  will  extract  it ;    the  silence  in   it  as  to  his   own 
 
Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 place  of  birth  would  be  almost  conclusive  if  there 
 were  any  real  doubt  about  it : — 
 
 "  As  I  hinted  before,  these  are  terrible  times,  and  I  have 
 just  been  laying  out  oceans  of  money  on  a  new  brown 
 jacket  for  my  boy  James,  not  to  mention  a  journey  which 
 I  took  last  Monday  and  Tuesday  thro'  Lyndhurst  and 
 Lymington  to  Ringwood,  in  order  to  see  my  Mother's 
 native  place  ;  to  be  sure  it  was  at  my  Uncle's  expense, 
 but  no  matter  for  that.  I  am  very  glad  I  went;  altho'  I 
 could  not  have  believed  all  memorials  could  have  vanished 
 in  so  short  a  time.  Of  the  Parsonage  where  she  lived, 
 not  one  stone  stands  upon  another,  and  there  is  but  one 
 person  in  the  place  who  recollects  her;  however,  Uncle 
 shewed  me  where  she  used  to  sit  in  Church,  and  that  was 
 well  worth  going  for.  Ringwood  is  a  much  nicer  place 
 than  I  had  expected ;  the  meadows  looked  so  beautifully 
 green  now  all  other  grass  is  brown,  and  the  alders,  cattle, 
 boats,  and  islets,  were  strewn  about  in  various  distances 
 under  a  hot  sun  and  thunder-cloud,  making  altogether 
 a  very  pretty  Flemish  landscape.  And  Lyndhurst  is  the 
 nicest  place,  in  the  middle  of  the  Forest.  I  think  Archery 
 meetings  there  would  be  very  nice  things,  but  not  half  so 
 nice  as  a  meeting  of  you  and  me — which,  that  it  may 
 happen  soon,  and  last  long,  is  the  sincere  wish  of  your 
 ever  affectionate  J.  K.,  Junr." 
 
 The  interest  he  thus  took  in  Ringwood,  and  his 
 own  settlement  in  Hursley,  might  well  make  him 
 call  himself  a  Hampshire  man,  a  phrase  easily  mis- 
 understood, but  there  is  no  doubt  that  he  was  a 
 Gloucestershire  man  by  birth.     He  was  the  second 
 
Boyhood. 
 
 child  and  eldest  son  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble  and 
 Sarah  Maule,  the  daughter  of  the  Incumbent  of 
 Ringwood  ;  three  sisters  and  one  brother,  now  the 
 only  survivor,  completed  the  family  circle.  A  few- 
 words  must  be  said  of  his  father.  He  was,  I  should 
 suppose,  a  good  scholar,  and  a  man  of  considerable 
 ability,  besides  that  he  was  a  clergyman  of  exem- 
 plary piety.  He  alone  educated  the  two  brothers 
 up  to  their  going  to  Oxford,  and  he  had  fitted  both 
 to  be  not  merely  successful  competitors  for  Scholar- 
 ships at  Corpus  Christi  College  at  unusually  early 
 ages,  but  to  enter  on  the  studies  of  the  University 
 with  credit  and  advantage.  John  Keble  always  spoke 
 and  wrote  of  him  with  singular  love  and  veneration. 
 I  think  I  scarcely  ever  received  a  letter  dated  from 
 Fairford  during  his  lifetime,  in  which  his  health  or 
 employments  were  not  mentioned,  or  some  remark 
 of  his  quoted ;  and  in  several  rather  important  in- 
 cidents in  the  son's  life  a  word,  even  a  look,  from  the 
 father  sufficed  to  determine  his  decision.  It  seemed 
 indeed  at  all  times  to  be  John  Keble's  main  object 
 to  consult  his  pleasure,  and  in  the  decline  of  his  life 
 to  give  him  help  and  comfort.  He  was  the  Vicar  of 
 Coin  St.  Aldwin's,  about  three  miles  from  Fairford ; 
 he  resided  at  Fairford  in  a  house  which  was  his  own 
 property.  He  lived  to  his  ninetieth  year,  taking  occa- 
 sionally a  part  of  the  Sunday  duty  to  within  a  very 
 few  months  of  his  death. 
 
 I  have  not  been  able  to  recover  any  noticeable 
 
8  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 anecdotes  of  John  Keble's  boyhood.  I  certainly 
 heard  when  we  were  Undergraduates  together,  that 
 his  father  had  never  compelled  him  to  study,  and 
 that  he  was  taught  only  when  he  liked  to  learn. 
 I  have  not  been  able  on  enquiry  now  to  verify  this 
 story,  yet  it  was  so  much  the  common  understand- 
 ing with  us  in  College,  that  I  do  not  doubt  it  was 
 substantially  true ;  and  however  unwise  as  a  general 
 rule,  it  may  not  have  answered  ill  with  such  a  boy. 
 Certain  it  is  that  his  proficiency  both  in  Latin  and 
 Greek,  and  in  Latin  composition,  at  fifteen,  would 
 have  done  credit  to  distinguished  boys  of  the  same 
 age  at  the  best  public  school.  One  little  circum- 
 stance I  think  worth  recording  before  I  pass  from 
 his  boyhood,  because  it  seems  to  furnish  proof  that 
 even  at  that  period  he  displayed  to  an  attentive  ob- 
 server the  same  character  for  which  he  was  so  re- 
 markable through  life.  One  of  his  Godfathers  was 
 Mr.  Stafford  Smith,  the  Rector  of  Fladbury.  Be- 
 tween the  two  families  there  seems  to  have  been 
 a  good  deal  of  intimacy,  and  he  saw  a  good  deal 
 of  his  godson ;  he  always  designated  him  by  the 
 title  of  John  the  Good. 
 
CHAPTER    II. 
 
 UNDERGRA.DUATESHIP. — CORPUS  CHRISTI, 
 1806—  I8l  I. 
 
 1\  /TR.  KEBLE  had  himself  been  a  Scholar  and 
 ■*-»-■-  Fellow  of  Corpus  Christi,  and  it  was  natural 
 that  he  should  desire  to  place  his  sons  at  the  same 
 college  ;  I  dare  say,  too,  that  the  value  of  the  scholar- 
 ship, it's  certainly  leading  to  a  fellowship,  and  the 
 good  preferment  which  the  College  offered,  were 
 not  without  their  weight  in  determining  his  choice. 
 Moreover,  he  seems  to  have  maintained  personal 
 relations  with  the  governing  members  of  the  house. 
 Accordingly,  he  had  trained  John  for  the  compe- 
 tition, and  a  vacancy  occurring,  he  went  with  him 
 to  Oxford  in  December,  1806.  I  do  not  know  what 
 opponents  John  Keble  had  to  encounter,  except  that 
 he  had  one  distinguished  Etonian51,  but  he  was  suc- 
 cessful ;  and  on  the  twelfth  of  that  month  was  elected 
 
 a  When  I  wrote  this,  I  could  not  recollect  with  certainty  the  name 
 of  the  schoolfellow  to  whom  I  allude,  but  through  the  kindness  of  one 
 of  his  surviving  sisters  I  now  know  that  it  was  James  Commeline,  and 
 I  am  glad  to  insert  it.  He  was  a  lad  of  whom  Dr.  Goodall  had  a  very 
 high  opinion,  and  we  all  entertained  great  expectations.  Not  succeed- 
 ing at  Corpus,  he  went  to  Cambridge,  and  was  in  due  time  elected 
 a  Fellow  of  St.  John's.  He  was  of  an  unambitious  spirit,  and  retiring 
 habits;  but,  as  I  learn,  he  fully  justified  the  anticipations  of  the  Head 
 Master,  becoming  a  singularly  accurate  and  tasteful  scholar.  It  may 
 be  interesting  to  some  to  know,  that  among  his  intimate  friends  and 
 correspondents  was  Elizabeth  Barrett,  whom  he  considered  the  best 
 Greek  scholar  he  knew. 
 
10  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 Scholar,  wanting  then  more  than  four  months  of  com- 
 pleting his  fifteenth  year. 
 
 It  is  a  coincidence  perhaps  worth  notice,  that  Ed- 
 ward Copleston,  afterwards  Provost  of  Oriel,  and 
 Bishop  of  Llandaff,  was  elected  at  about  the  same 
 age  a  Scholar  of  the  same  College,  having  been  edu- 
 cated also  by  his  father,  a  country  clergyman,  and 
 never  sent  to  any  school ;  like  Keble  also  in  this, 
 that  he  entered  Oxford  at  this  early  age,  a  youth 
 well  advanced  in  scholarship,  and  in  the  practice  of 
 easy  and  accurate  composition  ;  like  him,  too,  in  due 
 time  he  was  a  distinguished  Prize  Man,  and  one  of  the 
 few  who  stand  out  among  the  Poetry  Professors  of  the 
 University  in  remarkable  and  enduring  distinction. 
 
 In  a  chapter  which  I  was  allowed  to  contribute 
 to  the  deservedly  popular  "Life  of  Dr. Arnold"  by 
 the  Dean  of  Westminster,  I  observed  that  Arnold's 
 character  was  affected  not  so  much  by  the  autho- 
 rities of  the  College,  as  by  its  constitution  and  sys- 
 tem, and  by  the  residents  whom  it  was  his  fortune 
 to  associate  with  there  ;  and  that  I  should  hardly 
 do  justice  to  my  subject,  unless  I  stated  a  few  par- 
 ticulars, and  what  I  was  at  liberty  to  mention  as  to 
 the  latter.  This  applies  with  equal  truth  to  Keble, 
 and  I  venture,  therefore,  to  transfer  to  this  place 
 what  I  then  wrote,  and  the  rather  because  the 
 Corpus  of  their  day  is  now  a  thing  of  the  past,  not 
 remembered  by  many,  and  not  unworthy  of  com- 
 memoration : — 
 
Undergraduates  hip,  1 1 
 
 "  Corpus  is  a  very  small  establishment :  twenty  Fellows 
 and  twenty  Scholars,  with  four  Exhibitioners,  form  the  foun- 
 dation. No  independent  members  were  admitted  except 
 Gentlemen  Commoners,  and  they  were  limited  to  six.  Of 
 the  Scholars  several  were  Bachelors,  and  the  whole  number 
 of  Students  actually  under  College  tuition  seldom  exceeded 
 twenty.  But  the  Scholarships,  though  not  entirely  open, 
 were  yet  enough  so  to  admit  of  much  competition :  their 
 value,  and  still  more  the  commendable  strictness  and  im- 
 partiality with  which  the  examinations  were  conducted, 
 (qualities  at  that  time  more  rare  in  college  elections  than 
 now,)  insured  a  number  of  good  candidates  for  each  va- 
 cancy, and  we  boasted  a  more  than  proportionate  share  of 
 successful  competitors  for  University  honours.  It  had  been 
 generally  understood  (I  know  not  whether  the  statutes  pre- 
 scribe the  practice)  that  in  the  examinations  a  large  allow- 
 ance was  made  for  youth;  certain  it  was  that  we  had 
 many  very  young  candidates,  and  that  of  these  many,  re- 
 markable for  early  proficiency,  succeeded.  We  were  then 
 a  small  society,  the  members  rather  under  the  usual  age, 
 and  with  more  than  the  ordinary  proportion  of  ability  and 
 scholarship ;  our  mode  of  tuition  was  in  harmony  with 
 these  circumstances  :  not  by  private  lectures,  but  in  classes 
 of  such  a  size  as  excited  emulation,  and  made  us  careful 
 in  the  exact  and  neat  rendering  of  the  original ;  yet  not  so 
 numerous  as  to  prevent  individual  attention  on  the  Tutor's 
 part,  and  familiar  knowledge  of  each  pupil's  turn  and 
 talents.  In  addition  to  the  books  read  in  lecture,  the  Tutor 
 at  the  beginning  of  the  Term  settled  with  each  Student 
 upon  some  book  to  be  read  by  himself  in  private,  and  pre- 
 pared for  the  public  examination  at  the  end  of  Term  in 
 Hall ;  and  with  this  book  something  on  paper,  either  an 
 analysis  of  it,   or   remarks   upon  it,  was   expected  to  be 
 
12  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 produced,  which  ensured  that  the  book  should  really  have 
 been  read.  It  has  often  struck  me  since  that  the  whole 
 plan,  which  is  now,  I  believe,  in  common  use  in  the  Uni- 
 versity, was  well  devised  for  the  tuition  of  young  men  of 
 our  age.  We  were  not  entirely  set  free  from  the  leading- 
 strings  of  the  School :  accuracy  was  cared  for :  we  were 
 accustomed  to  viva  voce  rendering,  and  viva  voce  questions 
 and  answers  in  our  lecture-room,  before  an  audience  of 
 fellow-students,  whom  we  sufficiently  respected;  at  the 
 same  time,  the  additional  reading  trusted  to  ourselves  alone, 
 prepared  us  for  accurate  private  study,  and  for  our  final 
 exhibition  in  the  Schools. 
 
 "  One  result  of  all  these  circumstances  was,  that  we  lived 
 on  the  most  familiar  terms  with  each  other :  we  might  be, 
 indeed  we  were,  somewhat  boyish  in  manner,  and  in  the 
 liberties  which  we  took  with  each  other;  but  our  interest 
 in  literature,  ancient  and  modern,  and  in  all  the  stirring 
 matters  of  that  stirring  time  was  not  boyish — we  debated 
 the  classic  and  romantic  question,  we  discussed  poetry  and 
 history,  logic  and  philosophy ;  or  we  fought  over  the  Penin- 
 sular battles  and  the  continental  campaigns  with  the  energy 
 of  persons  interested  in  them.  Our  habits  were  inexpen- 
 sive and  temperate;  one  break-up  party  was  held  in  the 
 Junior  Common-room  at  the  end  of  each  Term,  in  which  we 
 indulged  our  genius  more  freely ;  and  our  merriment,  to  say 
 the  truth,  was  somewhat  exuberant  and  noisy ;  but  the  au- 
 thorities wisely  forebore  too  strict  an  enquiry  into  this. 
 
 "  It  was  one  of  the  happy  peculiarities  of  Corpus  that 
 the  Bachelor  Scholars  were  compelled  to  residence.  This 
 regulation,  seemingly  inconvenient,  but  most  wholesome 
 as  I  cannot  but  think  for  themselves,  and  now  unwisely 
 relaxed,  operated  very  beneficially  on  the  Undergraduates ; 
 with  the  best  and  the  most  advanced  of  these,  they  asso- 
 
Corpus  Christi,  1806.  13 
 
 ciated  very  usefully.  I  speak  here  with  grateful  and  affec- 
 tionate remembrance  of  the  privileges  which  I  enjoyed  in 
 this  way." 
 
 In  this  way,  I  may  now  add,  that  Keble  formed 
 one  of  the  closest  and  most  valuable  friendships  of 
 his  life. 
 
 Such  was  the  body  into  which  John  Keble  was 
 introduced  in  December,  1806,  a  mere  lad,  remark- 
 ably home-bred  and  home-keeping,  who  had  seen 
 as  little  of  "  men  and  cities,"  I  suppose,  as  a  lad  of 
 his  age  could  well  have  seen  ;  yet  ready  at  once  to 
 take  a  forward  place  in  the  studies,  and  become 
 a  well-accepted  member  in  the  society  of  the  col- 
 lege. He  was  in  truth  still  but  a  boy,  with  less  of 
 confidence,  and  knowledge  of  the  world,  than  would 
 be  found  commonly  in  boys  of  the  upper  part  of 
 the  fifth  form  in  any  of  our  Public  Schools.  Many 
 of  his  letters  to  his  sisters  and  brother,  written  soon 
 after  the  commencement  of  his  academic  life,  were 
 preserved,  and  have  been  entrusted  to  me  ;  they  are 
 the  simple  outpourings  of  an  affectionate,  home-loving, 
 and  clever  boy,  with  a  great  deal  moreover  of  that 
 joyous  fun  and  humour,  which  he  never  lost  entirely 
 even  in  the  most  anxious  years  of  his  life.  I  will 
 make  but  one  extract  from  the  very  first ;  it  is  curi- 
 ous that  he  should  have  commenced  by  a  trouble 
 in  being  too  late  for  chapel  on  his  first  Sunday 
 morning.  His  father,  it  seems,  was  an  old  friend  of 
 Dr.  Eveleigh,  then  the  Provost  of  Oriel ;  he  had  gone 
 
14  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 up,  as  I  have  said,  with  his  son  to  the  election,  and 
 the  two  were  entertained  at:  the  Oriel  Lodge.  Writing 
 to  his  eldest  sister,  Elizabeth,  he  says  : — 
 
 "  I  have  scarcely  begun  studying  yet  this  Term — however, 
 there  is  a  lecture  appointed  for  Friday  in  Mr.  Darnell's 
 room — it  will  be  however  in  a  play  of  Euripides,  which  I 
 have  before  read.  I  tell  you  this  for  the  edification  of 
 Jones  and  Thomas — I  hope  they  are  both  good  children, 
 and  behave  well  whilst  I  am  gone. 
 
 "I  had  almost  got  into  a  scrape  on  Sunday  morning, 
 when  we  were  all  to  be  in  Chapel.  I  slept  at  the  Provost's 
 that  night,  and  got  up  in  the  morning  with  the  intention  of 
 going  to  chapel — I  had  even  gone  to  my  room  to  wait  for 
 the  time  of  going — yet  after  all  I  was  too  late.  This  was 
 owing  to  my  having  mistaken  the  bell  at  Oriel,  which 
 goes  rather  later  than  Corpus,  for  the  latter.  I  was  quite 
 frightened  at  first,  when  I  found  I  was  not  in  time :  how- 
 ever, by  my  father's  mediation,  I  was  excused  by  the  Pre- 
 sident for  my  absence." 
 
 Oxford,  C.C.C.,  Jan.  20,  1807. 
 
 In  November,  1807,  I  find  him  writing  in  Latin 
 to  his  brother,  who  was  then  preparing  to  follow 
 his  steps,  and  contend  for  a  coming  vacancy  ; 
 he  writes  with  apparent  ease,  and,  so  far  as  I 
 can  judge,  correctly  and  elegantly  ;  and  he  had 
 then  nearly  finished  ^Eschylus  in  the  Lecture- 
 room.  He  was  very  fortunate  in  his  Tutor,  Mr. 
 Darnell,  the  late  Rector  of  Stanhope — a  man  of 
 excellent  taste  and  accurate  scholarship,  one  of 
 those  ornaments  of  Oxford,  whom   Bishop  Barring- 
 
Corpus  Christi,  1807.  1 5 
 
 ton  in  the  wise  exercise  of  his  great  patronage, 
 and  profiting  by  the  knowledge  of  the  University, 
 which  he  had  the  means  of  acquiring  from  his  resi- 
 dence at  Mongewell,  delighted  to  transplant  into 
 places  of  honour  and  profit  in  his  own  diocese  of 
 Durham.  Darnell  evidently  understood  and  appre- 
 ciated Keble,  and  cultivated  his  taste  with  care  ;  he 
 lived  to  be  proud  of  his  pupil,  and  on  some  occa- 
 sions in  after-life,  when  it  was  sought  to  do  him 
 honour,  testified  to  the  high  opinion  which  he  en- 
 tertained of  him. 
 
 In  the  spring  of  1808,  John  Keble  was  probably 
 preparing  to  compete  for  the  English  Verse  prize; 
 the  subject  was  "  Mahomet,"  and  he  was  not  suc- 
 cessful, the  prize  being  awarded  to  Mr.  Rolleston, 
 who  had  also  been  successful  in  the  preceding  year. 
 The  rule  had  not  then  been  made,  which  this  cir- 
 cumstance caused  to  be  laid  down,  that  no  once 
 successful  candidate  should  compete  for  the  same 
 prize  a  second  time ;  Keble  understood  that  had  it 
 then  existed,  the  prize  would  have  been  awarded  to 
 him.  Of  this  poem  I  find  an  extract  in  my  "  Silva," 
 but  I  will  not  insert  it  here,  for  it  would  give  a  wrong 
 impression  of  his  general  compositions  of  the  same 
 date  ;  it  was  evidently  written  after  the  style  of  Eng- 
 lish prize  poems  of  that  day,  brilliant  and  flowing, 
 but  with  no  great  originality  of  thought. 
 
 He  wrote  for  other  prizes  during  his  undergra- 
 duateship,   but  was    never  successful ;    it    is    evident 
 
1 6  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 from  his  letters  to  his  father,  who  was  in  his  entire 
 confidence  in  these,  as  in  all  other  matters,  and  to 
 whom  he  seems  to  have  submitted  all  he  wrote  for 
 his  criticism,  that  he  was  too  much  distracted  by  the 
 labour  necessary  for  preparing  to  try  for  the  First 
 Class  both  in  Classics  and  Mathematics ;  but  in  no- 
 thing was  the  difference  of  age  so  likely  to  stand  in 
 his  way  as  in  these  competitions.  I  had  the  good 
 fortune  once  to  be  successful  against  him,  but  I  was 
 two  years  his  senior,  and  had  had  the  advantage 
 of  six  years'  training  at  Eton. 
 
 I  was  myself  elected  a  Scholar  in  April,  1809. 
 I  found  Keble  in  his  third  year  highly  distinguished 
 in  the  senior  classes  of  the  college,  both  in  Classics 
 and  Mathematics.  Darnell  was  no  longer  Tutor, 
 nor  in  residence,  he  had  been  succeeded  by  George 
 Leigh  Cooke.  It  is  no  disparagement  of  this  excel- 
 lent man  to  say  that  he  was  not  equal  to  his  emi- 
 nent predecessor  in  scholarship  or  taste  ;  but  he  was 
 inferior  to  no  man  in  industry,  or  zeal,  good  common 
 sense,  patience,  and  excellent  temper,  to  all  which 
 he  joined  a  genuine  sense  of  humour,  and  delightful 
 simplicity  of  manner.  As  my  whole  undergraduate- 
 ship  was  passed  under  his  tuition,  and  as  I  owed 
 much  of  whatever  success  I  had  to  his  care,  I 
 should  be  ungrateful  if  I  missed  this  opportunity  of 
 expressing  the  gratitude  which  I  feel  towards  him. 
 He  has  long  passed  out  of  this  life,  and,  owing  to 
 my  election  to  a  Fellowship  at  another  college,  and 
 
Corpus  Chris ti,  1810-11.  17 
 
 my  early  departure  from  residence,  our  intercourse 
 was  only  occasional;  but  my  friendly  relations  with 
 my  old  Tutor  only  ceased  with  his  life.  For  what 
 remained  of  Keble's  preparation  for  the  Schools, 
 he  and  I  were  in  the  same  class,  and  he  found  in 
 Cooke  a  most  useful  Tutor,  sparing  no  pains  in 
 completing  the  work  which  Darnell  had  more  than 
 laid  the  foundation  of. 
 
 I  was  soon  upon  terms  of  familiarity  with  Keble, 
 which  rapidly  ripened  into  friendship.  We  became 
 correspondents  in  181 1.  We  lived  on  the  same 
 staircase,  he  in  a  garret  over  my  rooms.  I  see 
 now  his  seat  by  the  fireside,  and  a  cupboard  con- 
 veniently near ;  into  which  it  was  said  that  in  the 
 early  times,  when  he  had  hardly  courage  to  resolve  on 
 trying  for  the  First  Class  in  both  Schools,  he  would 
 convey  his  Principia  rather  rudely  and  hastily,  if 
 an  intruder  broke  in  upon  his  study  of  them  ;  which 
 he  pursued  at  that  time,  to  use  a  slang  term,  "  on  the 
 sly."  Although  I  was  so  much  inferior  to  him  in 
 many  respects,  and  so  much  his  junior  in  stand- 
 ing, yet  I  was  his  senior  in  age,  and  I  came  from 
 intimate  and  improving  intercourse  at  Eton  with 
 some  of  the  ablest  and  most  studious  boys  in  the 
 school,  and  I  was  able  at  least  to  appreciate  his 
 mind  and  acquirements.  We  saw  a  great  deal  of 
 each  other.  This  was  a  period  when  the  Lake 
 Poets,  as  they  were  called,  and  especially  Words- 
 worth  and    my   Uncle,   had   scarcely  any   place   in 
 
 c 
 
1 8  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 the  literature  of  the  country,  except  as  a  mark  for 
 the  satire  of  some  real  wits,  and  some  mis-named 
 critics  of  considerable  repute.  I  possessed,  the  gift  of 
 my  Uncle,  the  "  Lyrical  Ballads,"  and  "  Wordsworth's 
 Poems,"  (these  last  in  the  first  edition).  It  is  among 
 the  pleasant  recollections  of  my  life,  that  I  first 
 made  the  great  poet  known  to  Keble.  As  might 
 have  been  expected,  he  read  him  with  avidity ;  the 
 admiration  for  his  poetry,  which  he  conceived  in 
 youth,  never  waned  in  after  life ;  indeed,  when  he 
 came  to  know  the  man  it  was  augmented,  I  may  ra- 
 ther say  completed,  by  the  respect  and  regard  which 
 his  character  inspired.  It  was  hardly  possible  for 
 Keble  to  be  a  very  enthusiastic  admirer  of  any 
 poetry,  unless  he  had  at  least  conceived  a  good 
 opinion  of  the  writer.  I  may  say,  in  passing,  that 
 Wordsworth's  admiration  of  the  author  of  "  The  Chris- 
 tian Year,"  and  the  volume  itself,  was  in  after  life  very 
 warm  ;  there  were  few  of  the  many  tributes  which 
 he  received,  which  he  set  a  greater  value  on,  than 
 the  mention  made  of  him  by  Keble  in  the  Theatre 
 at  Oxford,  when  he  received  his  honorary  degree; 
 and  the  dedication  to  him  of  the  Prcelectiones. 
 
 In  1 8 10  and  1811  respectively,  George  J.  Cornish 
 and  Thomas  Arnold  were  elected  Scholars,  the  former 
 from  Westminster,  the  latter  from  Winchester.  I 
 think  neither  of  them  could  have  been  in  the  lecture- 
 room  with  Keble,  but  they  became  fully  accepted 
 members  of  our  society,  and  on  intimate  terms  with 
 
Corpus  Chris ti,  1809.  19 
 
 him.  Of  the  latter  I  surely  need  say  nothing  gene- 
 rally— nor  will  I  repeat  what  I  have  said  elsewhere 
 of  the  unhappy  interruption  of  his  intimate  inter- 
 course with  Keble ;  to  both  it  was  a  bitter  trial,  and 
 I  am  sure  that  in  neither  did  it  extinguish  the  ten- 
 derest  love  for  the  other.  Both  Cornish  and  Arnold 
 were  great  accessions  to  our  society.  I  must  yet  add 
 to  this  list  the  mention  of  six  others,  Noel  Thomas 
 Ellison,  afterwards  Fellow  and  Tutor  of  Balliol,  John 
 Tucker,  T.  Trevenen  Penrose,  John  Bartholomew, 
 William  Henry  Turner,  and  Charles  Dyson ;  the  first 
 of  these  was  elected  to  a  Durham  Scholarship  at  the 
 same  time  at  which  I  was  elected,  and  the  last  two 
 I  found  in  residence  as  Bachelors  when  I  joined  the 
 College  ;  of  Cornish  and  Dyson  it  will  be  part  of  my 
 plan  to  say  a  few  words  more  in  detail.  Tucker 
 and  Turner,  I  am  happy  to  say,  survive.  Of  Ellison 
 I  must  say  in  passing,  that  joined  to  considerable 
 talents,  he  had  an  originality  and  earnest  simplicity 
 of  manner  as  well  as  warmth  of  heart,  which  made 
 him  a  most  delightful  companion  and  loved  friend. 
 Balliol  men  will  never  forget  that  he  was  one  of  those 
 who,  succeeding  as  Tutor  to  the  late  Master,  carried 
 on  the  system  which  has  raised  that  College  to  its 
 present  eminence,  with  a  zeal,  and  genial  hearti- 
 ness, that  could  not  but  contribute  largely  to  its 
 success.  There  is  a  sonnet  among  Keble's  miscella- 
 neous poems,  written  on  a  visit  to  him  at  Huntspill, 
 which  at  once  testifies  to  Keble's  love  of  him,  and 
 
20  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 paints   with   a    single    felicitous   touch   the   winning 
 character  of  the  man. 
 
 Thus  I  have  named  a  few  of  those  who  formed 
 our  small  circle,  and  looking  back  through  the  me- 
 dium of  affection  and  regret,  seeing  everything  dis- 
 tance-mellowed and  softened,  perhaps  glorified,  I 
 may  exaggerate  our  activity  in  the  studies  of  the 
 place,  the  simplicity  and  ease  of  our  social  inter- 
 course, the  delights  of  our  walks,  and  the  intellec- 
 tual interest  of  our  earnest  talks  together.  I  may 
 exaggerate,  but  I  do  not  invent  ;  and  one  proof 
 I  think  is  this,  that  although  many  of  us  were  soon 
 scattered  to  fellowships  in  other  Colleges,  and  took 
 different  courses  in  life,  became  immersed  in  other 
 cares,  and  pursued  different  professions,  in  one 
 thing  we  all  agreed  —  our  hearty  love  and  prefer- 
 ence for  Corpus  Christi,  and  the  looking  back  with 
 unmixed  and  undiminishing  delight  on  the  days  we 
 passed  together  within  her  walls.  Keble  gave  ut- 
 terance to  his  feelings,  when  he  quitted  it,  in  the 
 following  lines,  which  can  have  no  more  appropriate 
 place  than  here  : — 
 
 "  How  soft,  how  silent,  has  the  stream  of  Time 
 Borne  me  unheeding  on,  since  first  I  dream'd 
 Of  Poetry  and  Glory  in  thy  shade, 
 Scene  of  my  earliest  harpings.     There,  if  oft, 
 (As  through  thy  courts  I  took  my  nightly  round, 
 Where  thy  embattled  line  of  shadows  hid 
 The  moon's  white  glimmerings)  on  my  charmed  ear, 
 
Corpus  Christi,  1811.  21 
 
 Have  swelled  of  thy  triumphant  minstrelsy 
 Some  few  faint  notes  :  if  one  exulting  chord 
 Of  my  touched  heart  has  thrill'd  in  unison, 
 Shall  I  not  cling  unto  thee  1     Shall  I  cast 
 No  strained  glance  on  my  adopted  home 
 Departing  ?    Seat  of  calm  delight,  farewell ! 
 Home  of  my  muse,  and  of  my  friends  !    I  ne'er 
 Shall  see  thee,  but  with  such  a  gush  of  soul 
 As  flows  from  him,  who  welcomes  some  dear  face 
 Lost  in  his  childhood — yet  not  lost  to  me 
 Art  thou ;  for  still  my  heart  exults  to  own  thee, 
 And  memory  still,  and  friendship  make  thee  mine." 
 June  27,  181 1. 
 
 The  insertion  of  these  verses  reminds  me  that 
 I  had  brought  from  Eton  the  practice  of  the  set  to 
 which  I  belonged,  of  keeping  each  a  "  Silva"  (as  we 
 ventured  to  call  it),  into  which  we  transcribed,  among 
 other  and  better  but  not  more  valued  things,  our  own 
 efforts  in  prose  and  verse.  Keble  and  Arnold  adopted 
 it,  and  to  this  may  be  owing  the  preservation  of  a 
 great  many  of  their  youthful  poems.  It  may  well 
 be  believed,  that  I  turn  over  those  yellow  pages 
 now  and  then  with  intense  interest ;  and  although, 
 no  doubt,  I  regard  the  compositions  with  too  much 
 partiality  for  a  critic,  yet  I  think  I  may  safely  say 
 that  they  bear  unanswerable  testimony  to  the  taste 
 and  scholarship,  as  well  as  the  original  ability,  of 
 some  at  least  of  the  students  of  that  day. 
 
CHAPTER   III. 
 
 JOHN  MILLER. — GEORGE  JAMES  CORNISH. — 
 CHARLES  DYSON. 
 
 IN  placing  these  three  names  at  the  head  of  this 
 chapter,  and  devoting  it  to  a  short  account  of 
 them,  I  am  not  unmindful  of  Cowper's  clever  warn- 
 ing against  framing  records  of  "names  of  little 
 note;"  nor  does  it  escape  me  that  I  may  seem  to 
 depart  from  my  proper  subject.  But  Keble's  cha- 
 racter through  life  was  but  a  strict  development  of 
 his  character  in  youth ;  and  his  early  friendships 
 were  among  the  more  powerful  agents  in  its  forma- 
 tion. His  disposition  was  social,  his  affections  very 
 warm,  breaking  through  the  restraint  of  his  natural 
 shyness ;  and  although  his  purity  of  spirit  secured 
 him  from  loving  any  one  wholly  unworthy  of  his 
 love,  yet  his  humility  was  so  great  that  he  was  apt 
 not  merely  to  undervalue  himself,  but  to  overvalue 
 whatever  there  was  of  good  or  great  in  those  whom 
 he  loved.  It  may  easily  be  understood,  therefore, 
 how  open  he  was  to  influences  from  his  friendships, 
 and  how  enduring  his  friendships  were. 
 
 I  think  it  well  on  these  grounds  to  select  the  three 
 of  all  whom  I  am  at  liberty  to  mention,  whom  he 
 seemed  to  me  to  love  most  dearly  among  his  asso- 
 
John  Miller.  23 
 
 dates  while  an  Undergraduate,  and  who  in  different 
 ways  and  degrees  most  influenced  his  habitual  way 
 of  thinking  and  feeling  in  after  life.  They  are  the 
 three  whose  names  I  have  prefixed  to  this  chapter. 
 
 John  Miller  was  not  a  Corpus  man,  but  of  Wor- 
 cester College,  and  in  what  way  Keble  first  became 
 acquainted  with  him,  I  cannot  now  state.  He  had 
 passed  his  examination,  and  been  placed  in  the 
 First  Class  in  Classics  a  year  before  I  came  to  Ox- 
 ford, and  I  think  I  met  him  for  the  first  time  in 
 the  year  18 10  in  the  Theatre.  He  had  gained  the  Ba- 
 chelor's Prize  then  newly  instituted  by  Lord  Grenville 
 for  Latin  Prose,  and  I  had  been  fortunate  enough  to 
 win  the  Undergraduate's  for  Latin  Verse.  Thence- 
 forward through  life  he  treated  me  with  the  greatest 
 kindness,  and  I  could  not  but  love  and  honour  him 
 more  and  more  the  longer  I  knew  him.  But  with 
 Keble  his  relations  were  more  close,  and  from  an 
 earlier  period ;  as  young  men  they  had  so  much  in 
 common,  in  their  habits,  and  characters,  and  in  their 
 simplicity  of  manner  and  original  humour,  that  when 
 thrown  together  they  could  not  well  escape  an  inti- 
 mate friendship ;  and  as  they  walked  on  in  the  path 
 of  that  profession  to  which  they  were  both  devoted, 
 there  was  on  almost  all  points  such  agreement  as 
 to  its  obligations,  and  the  manner  of  discharging 
 them,  as  well  as  to  the  various  questions  which 
 from  time  to  time  agitated  Churchmen,  that  the 
 early  friendship  could  not  but  endure  and  ripen  into 
 
24  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 the  closest  intimacy.  Keble,  indeed,  was  sure  to  re- 
 gard Miller  with  reverence,  and  he  always  spoke 
 and  wrote  of  him  with  that  feeling  on  his  mind  ; 
 but  this  did  not  prevent  them  from  genial  merri- 
 ment and  familiarity  when  they  met.  Those  were, 
 indeed,  white  days  to  Keble ;  here  and  there  through 
 his  correspondence  the  visits  of  Miller  to  Fairford, 
 or  their  meetings  elsewhere,  are  mentioned  with  real 
 delight.  It  is  thus  that  he  speaks  of  him  in  a 
 letter  to  Cornish,  dated  from  Fairford,  Sept.  22, 
 1818:— 
 
 "We  have  got  good  Miller  regularly  settled,  I  do  not 
 mean  married,  only  fifteen  miles  from  us,  in  one  of  the 
 prettiest  little  ravines  in  the  chalk  escarpment  beyond 
 Highworth,  nearly  in  a  line  from  us ;  and  the  church, 
 close  to  which  stands  his  parsonage,  is  a  pattern  of  neat- 
 ness; it  has,  moreover,  one  of  the  prettiest  Saxon  door- 
 ways I  ever  saw.  Tom  and  I  pilgrimed  it  over  there  the 
 other  day,  and  found  Hooker  and  his  father  and  sister  at 
 home,  but  thank  God  no  Joan  to  mar  the  quietness  of  the 
 family  party,  which  was  just  what  you  would  expect.  You 
 must  come  and  see  us  and  him.  I  assure  you  he  enquired 
 after  you  very  particularly.  What  a  book  his  is,  (he  al- 
 ludes to  the  Bampton  Lectures) ;  the  more  I  go  on  pon- 
 dering it,  the  more  light  it  seems  to  throw  on  every  sub- 
 ject, and  hardly  any  thing  else  that  I  take  up  that  does 
 not  put  me  in  mind  of  it.  If  I  must  jure  into  any  man's 
 verbs,  I  think  on  the  whole  it  would  be  his." 
 
 Miller,  like  Keble,  retired  early  from  Oxford  into 
 
John  Miller.  25 
 
 the  country,  and,  except  when  he  returned  at  inter- 
 vals at  the  request  of  his  College  to  assist  for  a  time 
 in  the  tuition,  he  passed  his  days  residing  with  his 
 father,  or  his  brother  and  sister,  devoted  to  the  duties 
 of  his  profession,  and  always  in  rural  parishes.  He  fell 
 asleep  in  1858,  after  a  short  illness,  in  his  seventy-first 
 year,  and  was  laid  by  the  side  of  his  brother,  in  his 
 own  quiet  churchyard,  lamented  not  least  by  those 
 among  whom  he  had  ministered  for  so  many  years ; 
 who,  (as  has  been  well  said  in  a  short  memoir  to 
 which  I  am  much  indebted,)  however  incompetent 
 to  form  a  judgment  of  him  in  other  respects,  were 
 fully  able  to  estimate  his  worth  as  a  "  Christian 
 minister,  a  neighbour,  and  a  man."  The  "  other  re- 
 spects" here  mentioned  refer  to  his  published  works ; 
 there  were  several  of  these,  the  most  important  the 
 Bampton  Lectures  for  18 17,  and  a  volume  of  Ser- 
 mons published  in  1830.  The  ordinary  fate  of  pub- 
 lished sermons  is  almost  proverbial,  and  I  fear  these 
 have  not  escaped  it ;  but  they  are  of  remarkable 
 merit,  and  I  am  sure  will  richly  repay  the  study  of 
 any  reader.  Both  have  received  testimonials  as  unsus- 
 picious as  they  are  valuable.  In  the  "  Life  and  Cor- 
 respondence of  Bishop  Jebb"  is  a  letter  from  him, 
 in  which  he  first  shortly  expresses  in  the  strongest 
 terms  the  general  impression  which  the  Lectures 
 had  made  on  him,  and  then  goes  through  a  long 
 and  minute  examination  of  them,  expressing  dif- 
 ferences of  opinion  as  to  several  particulars,  but  de- 
 
26  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 tracting  nothing  from  his  general   admiration.     Of 
 the  Sermons,  Robert  Southey  writes  : — 
 
 "  These  are,  in  the  true  sense  of  a  word  which  has  been 
 most  lamentably  misapplied,  Evangelical.  I  do  not  know 
 any  discourses  in  which  revealed  truths  and  divine  philo- 
 sophy are  brought  home  with  such  practical  effect  to  all 
 men.  They  have  the  rare  merit  of  being  at  the  same  time 
 thoroughly  intelligible,  thoroughly  religious,  thoroughly 
 discreet  \" 
 
 In  another  letter  he  says  of  them  : — 
 
 "  They  are  unlike  any  others  which  I  have  ever  read. 
 They  are  thoroughly  Christian  in  their  spirit,  and  philo- 
 sophical, comprehensible  by  the  plainest  understanding, 
 and  as  satisfactory  to  the  judgment  as  they  are  to  the 
 feelings  b." 
 
 These  are  testimonies  to  which  of  course  I  add 
 nothing  of  my  own ;  but  I  will  mention  two  other 
 small  but  very  interesting  publications  by  him,  "A 
 Christian  Guide  for  Plain  People,"  published  in  1820, 
 and  "  Things  after  Death,"  of  which  the  second  edi- 
 tion was  published  in  1854.  Of  the  former  of  these 
 two,  Keble  says  this  in  a  letter  to  me  of  April, 
 1820: — 
 
 "  Have  you  read  a  little  publication  of  Miller's  which  I 
 sent  to  James  Coleridge,  and  if  you  have,  how  do  you  like 
 it  ?    Miller  has  been  quite  unwell  since  he  wrote  it,  and  we 
 
 •  Souther's  "Life  and  Correspondence,"  voL  vi.  p.  90.        b  Ibid, 
 
John  Miller.  27 
 
 began  to  be  rather  alarmed  about  him ;  chiefly,  I  believe, 
 on  the  notion  that  he  was  too  good  to  live;  but  I  am 
 thankful  to  say  that  he  is  now  much  better.  Perhaps  you 
 do  not  know  that  he  is  in  part  returned  to  College,  as  he 
 comes  up  for  the  last  three  weeks  of  every  Term  to  Col- 
 lectionize.  And  from  this,  and  his  being  situated  within 
 fifteen  miles  of  us  in  the  country,  I  hope  to  see  more  and 
 more  of  him ;  and  if  I  am  not  very  much  the  better  for 
 doing  so,  I  know  whose  fault  it  must  be.  Lest  you  should 
 think  his  style  in  this  new  book  too  obscure  for  the  '  Plain 
 People,'  I  must  tell  you  that  he  made  Moliere's  experiment ; 
 for  he  gave  the  Sermons  to  his  servant,  quite  a  rustic  lad, 
 to  read  before  he  printed  them,  and  the  man  said  he  under- 
 stood them  all  except  the  fifth,  which  accordingly  M.  made 
 plainer,  till  the  youth  professed  himself  satisfied  with  it. 
 And  his  father,  the  Clerk  of  the  Parish,  had  given  the 
 greatest  proof  of  his  understanding  even  of  this  the  ob- 
 scurest part,  for  he  said  to  Miller,  *  O  yes,  Sir,  I  see  what 
 you  mean,  you  mean  such  and  such  people  (naming  them) 
 by  the  one  of  your  two  classes,  and  such  and  such  by  the 
 other.'  Now,  as  it  happened,  the  Sermons  were  written 
 while  M.  was  in  Herefordshire,  before  ever  he  had  set  his 
 eyes  on  the  said  people.  I  call  this  a  very  satisfactory 
 experiment,  quite  as  much  so  as  most  of  Sir  Humphrey 
 Davy's ;  and  it  seems  to  establish,  what  I  have  long  wished 
 to  believe,  and  am  now  almost  convinced  of,  viz.  that  poor 
 people,  generally  speaking,  have  much  greater  understanding 
 of  what  we  say  to  them,  than  most  of  us  are  apt  to  fancy ; 
 in  short,  that  ignorance  as  well  as  infidelity  comes  more 
 from  the  heart  than  from  the  head." 
 
 I  think  I  shall  be  forgiven  for  adding  what   he 
 
28  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 wrote  on  the  same  subject,  about  the  same  time, 
 to  Dyson,  who  was  then  an  incumbent  in  York- 
 shire : — 
 
 "  I  wish  I  could  send  you  a  little  book  which  Miller  has 
 just  published,  called  a  Christian  Guide  for  Plain  (not  ugly) 
 People.  It  seems  to  me  to  be  just  what  we  want;  but 
 Parker  apparently  does  not  think  well  of  its  sale,  as  he 
 has  only  printed  500  copies  of  it.  The  worst  of  it  is,  that 
 people  are  determined  beforehand  to  fancy  every  thing 
 Miller  writes  so  very  hard  to  understand.  Do  you  not 
 think  there  is  a  great  deal  of  laziness  in  that  kind  of  ob- 
 jection, urged  as  we  continually  hear  it  against  both  Di- 
 vinity and  Poetry  ?  Miller,  however,  has  done  more  than 
 most  men  to  secure  this  book"s  being  intelligible  to  those 
 for  whom  it  is  written,  for  he  made  his  servant  read  it,  like 
 Moliere  rehearsing  his  plays  to  the  old  woman,  and  altered 
 some  places  which  he  did  not  understand,  but  found  him 
 perfectly  up  to  the  general  drift  of  it.  I  wonder  whether 
 people  that  write  tracts  for  the  poor  generally  take  this 
 method ;  it  seems  mere  common  sense  for  them  to  do  so, 
 and  yet  one  can  hardly  think  they  do.  One  thing  is,  the 
 poor  certainly  understand  the  meaning  of  a  sentence  very 
 often  when  they  could  not  for  their  lives  explain  the  single 
 words  of  which  it  is  made  up ;  and  if  I  find  it  so  in  Glou- 
 cestershire, which  is  a  mere  Boeotia,  much  more,  I  ween,  do 
 you  in  Yorkshire,  which  is  so  famed  for  the  shrewdness  of 
 its  rustics." 
 
 This  was  the  man  between  whom  and  Keble  the 
 closest  communion  of  feelings  and  principles  existed. 
 They  were  strikingly  alike  in  the  warmth  of  their 
 
George  James  Cornish.  29 
 
 home  affections,  in  their  early  and  absolute  renun- 
 ciation of  the  honours  of  the  world,  in  their  devo- 
 tion to  their  profession  from  the  very  beginning, 
 and  always  in  the  most  quiet  and  humble  line  in 
 which  its  duties  could  be  presented  to  them ;  alike, 
 too,  in  this,  that  retired  as  were  their  lives,  their 
 interest  was  sensibly  alive  as  to  all  the  questions 
 which  from  time  to  time  arose  and  affected  the 
 Church  ;  upon  these  they  never  failed  to  take  counsel 
 together,  and  they  spared  no  pains  to  advance  what 
 they  deemed  her  true  interests. 
 
 I  had  known  Cornish,  who  was  born  at  Ottery 
 St.  Mary,  June  7,  1794,  from  his  childhood  well; 
 we  separated  as  boys,  he  for  Westminster,  and  I  for 
 Eton,  and  we  met  again  upon  his  election  as  Scholar 
 in  1810.  He  had  grown  to  be  a  young  man  of  very 
 gentlemanly  appearance,  with  somewhat  of  reserve, 
 and  what  might  almost  be  taken  for  haughtiness  in 
 his  manner;  this  was  in  reality  the  result  of  great 
 refinement  of  feeling  and  of  shyness.  No  one,  indeed, 
 had  less  of  haughtiness  in  his  nature ;  he  was  very 
 modest,  of  keen  sensibilities,  and  accurate  taste ; 
 and  these  rather  than  great  vigour,  or  power  of  sus- 
 tained application,  were  the  characteristics  of  his 
 intellect.  He  was  pure-hearted  as  a  child,  and  very 
 affectionate  ;  his  seeming  coldness  soon  yielded  to 
 the  kindness  of  his  reception  amongst  us ;  and  his 
 
30  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 geniality  with  a  kind  of  Cervantic  humour,  which 
 he  often  displayed  very  amusingly,  made  him  soon 
 a  great  favourite.  He  was  just  the  person  to  attract 
 Keble's  love ;  and  I  see  in  their  correspondence  to 
 the  end  of  his  life  the  tenderness  in  Keble  and 
 somewhat  of  the  manner  of  an  elder  brother  to- 
 wards him.  This  tenderness,  in  kind  as  well  as  in 
 degree,  extended  itself  to  the  other  members  of 
 his  family,  and  to  his  widow  and  children  after  his 
 death.  He  was  placed  in  the  First  Class  for  Clas- 
 sics at  the  Michaelmas  Examination  for  1813,  and 
 in  due  course  became  Fellow,  and  afterwards  Tutor 
 of  the  College ;  but  the  University  life  was  not  to 
 his  taste.  He,  too,  had  devoted  himself  to  pastoral 
 duty,  and  having  married  early,  he  retired  to  the 
 curacy  of  Salcombe,  near  to  Salcombe  Hill,  his 
 father's  house ;  he  dwelt  after  a  time  at  Packcombe, 
 a  sweet  secluded  cottage  in  the  hills  at  a  little  dis- 
 tance. But  he  was  not  a  man  to  be  overlooked, 
 and  at  Michaelmas,  1828,  he  was  collated  by  his  old 
 master,  Bishop  Carey,  to  the  united  Vicarages  of  Ken- 
 wyn  and  Kea,  a  large  and  important  Cure  in  Corn- 
 wall. Here  he  acquired  high  estimation  in  the  dio- 
 cese, and  was  clearly  marked  out  for  advancement ; 
 but  his  health,  never  strong,  and  too  severely  tried 
 by  losses  of  his  children,  and  by  family  afflictions, 
 gave  way,  and  he  died  in  the  prime  of  life,  Sept. 
 10,  1849,  dearly  loved,  highly  honoured,  and  tenderly 
 lamented. 
 
George  James  Cornish.  31 
 
 It  was  thus  that  Keble  wrote  respecting  his  illness 
 and  death  to  Dyson  : — 
 
 "  So  I  missed  seeing  him  once  more,  and  the  last  time 
 was  at  our  consecration.  It  is  such  a  comfort  to  me  to 
 think  of  him  here,  with  old  Tom,  Coleridge,  and  others. 
 About  him  it  seems  purely  selfish  to  grieve.  Yet  one  does 
 grieve  very  much ;  one  feels  that  this  world  can  never  be 
 the  same  without  him;  the  things  which  he  would  have 
 said,  or  thought,  on  different  occasions,  come  so  naturally 
 into  one's  mind 
 
 "  What  a  time  it  seems  since  we  have  met,  and  how  much 
 I  seem  to  have  to  say !  but  I  don't  like  saying  it  now,  be- 
 cause it  is  not  all  about  him." 
 
 Then  at  the  close  of  his  note,  he  adds  : — 
 
 "Private.  My  dear  Dyson,  do  ask  for  me  that  I  may 
 meet  him  again.  .  .  .  Ever  your  most  loving  J.  K." 
 
 The  reader  of  "  The  Christian  Year"  must  have 
 been  thankful  to  Keble  for  appending  to  the  stanzas 
 on  the  Twenty-first  Sunday  after  Trinity  the  exqui- 
 site little  poem  to  the  Redbreast.  It  is  by  Cornish. 
 He  was  one  of  the  band  of  friends  who  were  from 
 time  to  time  interchanging  amongst  each  other  their 
 compositions.  He  continued  to  write,  as  occasions 
 moved  him,  as  long  as  he  lived.  Upon  his  death, 
 at  the  request  of  his  parishioners,  a  volume  of  his 
 sermons  was  printed,  and  to  this,  by  the  desire  of 
 some  of  his  friends,  was  appended  a  selection  from 
 these  verses.  I  have  often  wished,  and  I  still  wish, 
 that  these  last  had  been  published  in  a  separate  small 
 
32  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 volume.  The  sermons  have  much  merit,  and  must 
 have  been  a  valued  and  appropriate  present  to  his 
 parishioners  ;  but,  as  commonly  happens  with  ser- 
 mons, their  circulation  was  not  large,  and  was  limited, 
 I  think,  to  a  single  edition.  Unfortunately  they 
 buried  the  poems,  which  deserve  another  fate,  un- 
 less I  am  deceived  by  my  love  for  the  author,  and 
 my  familiarity  with  some  of  the  scenes  and  persons 
 alluded  to  in  them.  I  own  I  can  never  read  several 
 of  them  without  being  much  affected,  and  I  do  not 
 think  I  am  in  error  when  I  say  that  they  are  so 
 tasteful  and  finished  in  composition,  so  imaginative, 
 so  true,  and  so  full  of  genuine  tenderness,  that  they 
 would  give  pleasure  to  a  larger  circle  if  they  were 
 more  generally  known.  I  do  not  wholly  despair  that 
 this  may  yet  be  done  ;  and  I  could  I  believe  add 
 some  which  might  well  have  a  place  among  them. 
 I  will  insert  a  specimen  conceived  in  the  same  spirit 
 as  the  lines  on  the  Redbreast. 
 
 Come  to  the  Woods. 
 
 When  the  hour  of  meeting's  nigh, 
 And  thy  heart  is  beating  high, 
 
 Come  to  the  woods,  the  woods,  lads. 
 And  if  the  boughs  are  ringing, 
 With  all  their  minstrels  singing, 
 Do  thou,  too,  rejoice, 
 And  utter  a  voice 
 More  glad- 
 
George  James  Cornish.  33 
 
 Or  if  on  Winter's  tide 
 
 Floats  Autumn's  wither'd  pride, 
 
 Come  to  the  woods,  the  woods,  lad. 
 Why  should  the  bard  be  dumb  % 
 'Tis  meet  that  thou  shouldst  come 
 Their  Spring  gifts  to  repay, 
 And  make  the  pale  day 
 Less  sad. 
 
 The  Poems  already  published  are  so  little  known, 
 I  fear,  that  I  will  venture  to  add  one  from  them : — 
 
 Dreams. 
 
 My  dearest  love,  to  whom  I  owe 
 
 That  I  am  whatsoe'er  I  be ; 
 Whose  sun-lit  eye,  in  hours  of  woe, 
 
 Has  bid  the  darkest  shadows  flee ; 
 Whose  steady  step  the  path  pursued, 
 That  from  afar  thy  wisdom  viewed  ; — 
 
 If  brightest  promise  disappear, 
 
 Joy  after  joy  perchance  decay, 
 I  still  can  dry  the  flowing  tear, 
 
 All  thankful  for  the  joys  that  stay ; 
 For  Mercy  and  eternal  Truth 
 Surely  have  followed  me  from  youth. 
 
 Only,  "  my  life's  celestial  sign," 
 
 Thy  presence  must  be  with  me  still ; 
 
 The  rest  I  freely  can  resign, 
 Obedient  to  the  Master's  will. 
 
 Not  thee  !  not  thee  !  my  anguished  heart, 
 
 Not  yet  from  thee  has  learnt  to  part. 
 D 
 
34  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 And  yet  Life's  fairest  hours  are  fled, 
 
 The  latter  sands  too  plainly  run ; 
 And  Time  his  early  snow  to  shed 
 
 Upon  our  brows  has  now  begun ; 
 And  swifter  does  the  torrent  flow, 
 Ere  yet  it  seek  the  gulf  below. 
 
 Hence,  idle  dreams  !  the  day  is  ours, 
 And  we  will  "  work  while  it  is  day," 
 
 And  consecrating  all  our  powers 
 To  God,  and,  living  as  we  pray, 
 
 In  calmness  wait  His  power  to  prove, 
 
 Whose  knowledge  but  subserves  His  love. 
 May,  1845. 
 
 I  might  have  hesitated  to  reprint  these  stanzas,  but 
 that  since  I  commenced  this  little  notice  of  the  hus- 
 band, the  wife  to  whom  they  are  addressed  has  been 
 called  to  her  rest.  I  am  at  liberty  now  to  say,  that 
 there  is  not  a  syllable  of  exaggeration  in  this  out- 
 pouring of  love  ;  it  is  but  justice  to  the  wife  from 
 the  husband,  who  had  tried  and  never  found  her 
 wanting.  His  was  a  nature  which  required  support, 
 and,  as  I  have  said,  he  was  severely  tried  ;  beyond 
 his  own  immediate  circle,  he  had  painful  sorrows; 
 within  it  he  lost  child  after  child;  and  though  he 
 bowed  in  Christian  submission  to  the  blows,  his  sen- 
 sitive nature  could  not  sustain  them  without  injury. 
 In  all  these  sorrows  she  was  his  earthly  stay  and 
 comfort.  He  died ;  and  what  she  had  been  to 
 him,  she  continued  to  be  to  her  children,  until  her 
 
Charles  Dyson.  35 
 
 strength  failed  under  the  seventy,  and  the  continu- 
 ance of  the  calls  made  on  it,  and  she  departed  in 
 peace.  She  was,  indeed,  what  in  one  of  his  poems 
 he  calls  her,  a  noble  woman. 
 
 I  have  felt  it  to  be  no  departure  from  my  main 
 object  to  dwell  for  a  little  while  on  the  memory  of 
 John  Miller  and  George  Cornish.  In  respect  of 
 Charles  Dyson,  I  may  say,  with  the  strictest  ac- 
 curacy, that  no  memoir  of  Keble,  however  short, 
 could  be  complete  which  omitted  to  give  some  idea 
 of  this  dear  friend.  Perhaps  no  man  of  equal  vir- 
 tue, sweetness,  cultivation,  and  ability,  ever  passed 
 through  life  so  little  known  beyond  the  circle  of  his 
 own  family  and  friends  ;  and  yet  I  think  no  man  was 
 ever  more  loved  and  revered  within  that  circle,  or 
 exercised  a  more  powerful  influence  over  the  minds 
 of  those  with  whom  he  was  intimate.  Keble  was 
 among  these ;  the  intimacy  commenced,  as  I  have 
 said,  at  Corpus,  and  continued  to  the  end  of  Dy- 
 son's life  unbroken ;  and  I  speak  with  substan- 
 tial accuracy  when  I  say  that  there  was  scarcely 
 a  step  which  he  took,  especially  in  matters  connected 
 with  his  profession,  or  the  Church,  to  which  he  did 
 not  make  Dyson  first  privy,  ask  his  co-operation,  if 
 the  thing  admitted  of  it,  and  always  seek,  if  he  did 
 not  always  follow,  his  advice.  The  extracts  from 
 the  correspondence,  which  I  shall  have  occasion  to 
 
36  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 make,  will  shew  this  in  numerous  instances.  It 
 may  suffice  now  to  say,  that  it  was  Dyson  very 
 mainly  who  overcame  his  reluctance  to  publish 
 "  The  Christian  Year,"  and  to  whom,  perhaps,  above 
 all  his  other  friends,  the  world  owes  that  great  gift 
 when  it  was  first  made. 
 
 Charles  Dyson  was  the  grandson  of  the  Jeremiah 
 Dyson  of  whom  Johnson  in  his  life  of  Akenside  re- 
 cords, that  the  poet  physician  "would  perhaps  have 
 been  reduced  to  great  exigencies,  but  that  Mr.  Dyson, 
 with  an  ardour  of  friendship  that  has  not  many  ex- 
 amples, allowed  him  three  hundred  pounds  a-year;" 
 munificence  indeed,  when  the  times  and  Mr.  Dyson's 
 own  means  are  considered.  Dyson  once  said  to  me, 
 "  My  grandfather  was  satyrized  by  Horace  Walpole, 
 but  he  was  a  noble  fellow ;  he  would  not  sell  the 
 places  at  the  table  of  the  House  of  Commons,  as 
 his  predecessors  always  did,  but  appointed  Hatsell 
 freely,  losing  ;£6,ooo  thereby,  and  Hatsell  in  con- 
 sequence appointed  my  father  freely."  His  son  Jere- 
 miah followed  his  steps  in  the  House,  and  finally 
 filled  the  same  post  there ;  and  it  was  intended  that 
 his  grandson,  of  whom  I  write,  should  pursue  the 
 same  course ;  but  this  from  the  most  generous  mo- 
 tives he  abandoned,  and  then  resolutely  and  earn- 
 estly devoted  himself  to  the  Church. 
 
 When  I  entered  the  College,  he  had  already  taken 
 his  Bachelor's  degree  ;  he  was,  however,  still  a  re- 
 gular  resident   according   to  the    College   rule,  and 
 
Charles  Dyson.  37 
 
 was  one  of  the  kindly  party  who  greeted  me  on  my 
 admission  into  the  Junior  Common-room.  Keble 
 and  he  were  already  on  friendly  terms,  and  I  was 
 happy  enough  to  be  soon  admitted  to  the  same 
 privilege.  Delicacy  of  constitution,  and  principle 
 equally  made  him  a  very  abstinent  man,  but  he 
 was  by  disposition  social ;  his  father's  position,  and 
 the  society  with  which  he  associated  at  his  home, 
 his  more  frequent  visits  to  London,  the  extent  and 
 variety  of  his  reading,  and  information,  might  have 
 made  him  much  regarded  by  us  who  were  younger, 
 and  had  seen  less  of  the  world  ;  but  he  added  to  all 
 these  advantages  such  sweetness  of  temper,  and  so 
 much  quiet  humour,  as  made  his  society  eagerly 
 coveted.  Drinking  tea  in  his  room,  two  or  three 
 of  us  at  a  time,  was  a  great  delight.  I  smile  when 
 I  remember  how  we  thought  of  his  tea  from  Twi- 
 nings,  and  his  wax  lights ;  luxuries  or  refinements 
 which  in  our  day,  or  at  least  in  our  College,  were 
 not  commonly  indulged  in.  He  was  very  fond  of 
 coming  out  late  at  night  and  pacing  up  and  down 
 our  little  quadrangle ;  many  and  many  a  happy  talk 
 have  Keble  and  I  had  with  him  in  this  way;  to 
 which,  I  think,  he  alludes  in  the  verses  which  I  just 
 now  quoted. 
 
 He  became  a  Fellow  of  the  College;  and  was 
 elected  Anglo-Saxon  Professor  in  18 12  ;  one  ad- 
 mirable lecture,  and  one  only,  he  delivered.  He 
 ought,  no  doubt,  to  have  done  more,  but  in  those 
 
38  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble, 
 
 days  the  duties  of  such  professorships  were  not  re- 
 garded as  they  now  are.  He  could  not  be  called  an 
 indolent  man,  for  he  was  always  rather  a  laborious 
 student ;  but  he  had  a  nice,  even  fastidious,  taste  in 
 composition,  and  he  was  very  conscientious  in  his 
 preparation  for  any  work,  a  severe  judge  of  his  own 
 performances,  and  never  thought  himself  fully  pre- 
 pared to  be  a  public  teacher.  He  ought  to  have 
 been  a  great  ecclesiastical  historian.  Keble  repeat- 
 edly urged  him  to  this,  and  he  commenced  his  pre- 
 parations, but  so  conscientiously  and  on  so  large 
 a  scale  that  the  days  of  health  and  vigour  passed 
 away  in  making  them  ;  and  when  his  pen  should 
 have  been  in  his  hand,  and  his  work  begun,  his  con- 
 stitution gave  signals  of  weakness,  and  his  strength 
 failed  him. 
 
 He  married  his  cousin,  and  retired  to  the  living 
 of  Nun  Burnholme,  in  Yorkshire,  to  which  he  had 
 been  collated  by  Archbishop  Harcourt,  a  friend  of 
 his  father's.  The  severity  of  the  climate  affected 
 Mrs.  Dyson's  health,  and  this  led  him  for  a  time  to 
 return  to  Oxford,  as  one  of  the  Chaplains  of  his 
 College.  T^e  libraries  of  the  University  and  its 
 society  no  doubt  contributed  to  this  choice.  He 
 exchanged  Nun  Burnholme  finally  for  Nazing,  in 
 Essex,  and  this  again  he  resigned  in  order  to  devote 
 himself  to  the  care  and  comfort  of  his  father,  who, 
 in  somewhat  declining  health,  had  become  a  second 
 time  a  widower,  and  was  then  residing  at  Petworth. 
 
Charles  Dyson.  39 
 
 There  were  family  circumstances  which  seemed  to 
 cast  this  duty  on  him  specially,  into  which  it  is  unne- 
 cessary for  me  to  enter ;  but  Dyson  had  his  scruples 
 as  to  the  resignation  of  his  living,  and  consulted 
 Keble  upon  it,  whose  answer  was,  "  All  I  can  say  is, 
 I  have  given  up  my  Curacy  in  order  to  take  charge 
 of  my  father  and  sister."  Dyson,  however,  was  con- 
 stantly at  the  service  of  the  neighbouring  clergy ; 
 and,  indeed,  for  a  part  of  the  time,  took  a  Curacy 
 near.  His  father  died  in  the  autumn  of  1835,  about 
 the  time  of  Keble's  marriage ;  and  I  insert  here  an 
 extract  from  the  letter  to  Dyson  and  Mrs.  Dyson, 
 in  which  he  acknowledges  their  congratulations  on 
 his  own  marriage,  and  expresses  his  condolence 
 on  Mr.  Dyson's  death.  This  letter  happens  to  con- 
 tain a  fuller  expression  of  his  judgment  on  the 
 resignation  of  his  living. 
 
 "High-street,  Southampton,  Nov.  5,  1835. 
 
 "  My  very  dear  Friends, 
 
 "  It  is  inexcusably  selfish  to  go  on  so  long  without  acknow- 
 ledging your  great  kindness  in  thinking  of  us  at  such  a  time 
 so  much  and  so  kindly,  and  without  assuring  you  that  we 
 have  not  been  unmindful  of  you  ;  though,  indeed,  it  was 
 a  good  while  before  we  heard  the  news  of  your  irreparable 
 loss,  for  we  had  no  letter  that  succeeded  in  overtaking  us 
 for  ten  days  after  our  flight  from  Gloucestershire.  It  is 
 a  strange  sort  of  feeling  that  one  has  in  thus  interchanging 
 congratulations  and  condolences,  and  the  perplexity  of  it, 
 if  it  were  not  for  that  end  to  which  we  trust  both  will  help 
 
40  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 in  guiding  us,  would  be  not  a  little  painful ;  as  it  is,  I  hope 
 we  may  say,  without  presumption,  that  even  to  our  half 
 blind  eyes  the  good  very  much  preponderates.  It  is  sweet 
 to  think  of  the  rich  reward  you  have  even  already  received, 
 for  coming  when  you  did  to  stay  where  you  did,  and  most 
 refreshing  to  hear  that  your  dear  sister  bears  this  second 
 great  trial  so  well, — a  blessing  which,  under  Providence, 
 you  may  surely  attribute  to  your  taking  the  step  you  did. 
 Seldom,  indeed,  I  should  think  (if  one  may  say  so  without 
 presumption),  is  approbation  of  living  man's  conduct  more 
 clearly  intimated.  What  you  say  of  looking  for  a  cure  in 
 Hampshire  (for  Elizabeth  has  sent  it  to  us),  quite  makes 
 one  ache  with  the  pleasant  fancy  (one  dares  not  nurse  it 
 into  a  hope)  of  your  coming  near  us." 
 
 Dyson  now  quitted  Petworth ;  he  was  anxious  to 
 resume  his  professional  duties  in  the  care  of  a  parish, 
 and  was  seeking  for  a  curacy,  when  the  late  Dowager 
 Lady  Mildmay,  who  had  been  a  family  friend,  pre- 
 sented him  to  the  rectory  of  Dogmersfield.  Thither 
 he  repaired.  At  his  own  expense  he  built  a  par 
 sonage,  for  he  would  not  impose  a  burthen  on  a 
 family  living  by  borrowing  the  money  for  the  pur- 
 pose ;  and  helped  his  sister,  who  thenceforth  resided 
 with  him,  in  building  a  new  parish  church.  Both 
 were  placed  in  situations  more  convenient  than  the 
 old  ones,  for  the  larger  and  poorer  part  of  his 
 parishioners.  At  Dogmersfield  he  resided  for  the 
 remainder  of  his  life.  My  readers  may  smile  at  my 
 stating  the  nicknames  he  bore  among  his  intimate 
 friends,  but  they  were  characteristic  of  the  man,  and 
 
Charles  Dyson.  41 
 
 will  re-appear,  it  may  be  often,  in  Keble's  letters.  At 
 Corpus  he  took  by  inheritance  from  his  grandfather 
 and  father  the  familiar  abbreviation  of  Jeremiah,  and 
 acquired  for  himself  the  title  of  the  Venerable  Bede ; 
 at  Dogmersfield  he  became  the  Simorg,  and  the  Rec- 
 tory was  of  course  his  Nest.  And  truly  it  was  a  nest, 
 in  which  the  doubtful  and  distressed  never  failed  to 
 find  comfort  and  counsel,  the  cheeriest  comfort,  the 
 wisest  counsel.  His  society  and  conversation  were 
 delightful ;  in  his  talk  such  a  happy  mixture  of  things 
 old  and  new,  enriched  with  so  much  anecdote  and 
 literature,  so  grave  and  so  charitable  on  serious  sub- 
 jects, and  on  all  so  seasoned  with  quiet  humour  in 
 the  manner.  Retiring  from  notice  and  unknown  to 
 the  world,  discharging  his  duties  in  the  quietest  and 
 most  peaceful  spirit,  he  was  yet  to  all  who  knew  him 
 an  object  of  loving  veneration.  Adventures  in  his  life 
 there  were  none  to  tell.  He  was  a  diligent  pastor, 
 an  earnest  student,  a  delightful  host ;  his  greatest 
 pleasure  beyond  what  these  things  implied  was  in 
 seeing  country  at  home  and  abroad.  As  soon  as  the 
 Continent  opened  in  18 14,  I  accompanied  him  part 
 way  in  a  tour  into  France,  Switzerland,  and  Italy,  with 
 two  brothers,  Nathanael  and  Noel  Ellison.  In  a  large 
 old  family  coach,  with  the  same  pair  of  horses  we 
 went  through  the  heart  of  France  with  great  delibera- 
 tion to  Lyons,  and  thence  up  the  Rhone  to  Geneva, — 
 happy  days  which  I  still  delight  to  think  on.  Keble 
 was  to  have  been  of  the  party,  but  was  prevented. 
 
42  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 Arnold  says  in  a  letter  to  me c,  "  I  saw  Dyson 
 the  other  day  in  Oxford  when  I  went  to  take  my 
 degree  of  B.D.,  and  he  and  his  wife  were  enough 
 to  freshen  one's  spirit  for  some  time  to  come,"  an 
 observation  strikingly  characteristic  of  the  effect  of 
 intercourse  with  him.  When  Keble  had  become  Vicar 
 of  Hursley,  Dyson  and  he  were  within  easy  distance 
 of  each  other  on  the  same  line  of  railway ;  the  one, 
 however,  had  many  engagements  at  home  and  abroad, 
 and  Mrs.  Keble's  health  required  his  close  attendance 
 on  her  often,  and  sometimes  for  long  periods ;  the 
 delicacy  of  the  other's  constitution  made  movements 
 from  home  not  easy  always  to  him  ;  yet  personally 
 or  by  letter  seldom  or  never  did  the  one  take  any 
 step  of  importance  without  seeking  counsel  at  the 
 hand  of  the  other,  and  every  now  and  then  they  had 
 joyous  and  remembered  meetings.  Numerous  was 
 the  band  which  gathered  round  Dyson's  grave  when 
 it  pleased  God  to  call  him  home.  I  well  remember 
 that  after  the  funeral  and  the  dispersion  of  the 
 general  body  of  attendants  on  it,  Keble  and  I 
 passed  the  afternoon  until  it  was  necessary  for  him 
 to  return  home,  strolling  together  in  the  fields  near 
 the  house  and  church,  conversing,  as  we  had  not 
 often  an  opportunity  to  do,  on  the  past  and  the 
 future. 
 
 The  last  time  I  saw  Dyson  was  toward  the  end  of 
 
 c  "Life,"  vol.  i.  p.  73. 
 
Charles  Dyson.  43 
 
 February,  i860.  I  found  him  altered  in  appearance, 
 feebler  in  body,  and  manifestly  declining.  Yet  the 
 approaches  to  death  were  so  soft  and  gentle,  and  he 
 contemplated  his  end  so  peacefully  and  hopefully, 
 that  it  was  not  a  painful  subject  to  talk  about,  and 
 we  talked  much  of  it.  Among  other  things  I  remem- 
 ber we  conversed  on  the  intermediate  state  and  the 
 condition  of  the  blessed.  I  asked  him,  "  When  your 
 mind  has  been  running  on  these  subjects,  have  you 
 ever  followed  the  thought  on  as  to  literature  or  in- 
 tellect ?  Will  Shakespeare  be  anything  there  beyond 
 humbler  men  ?"  He  said,  "  I  remember  years  ago 
 we  discussed  this  in  my  rooms  at  Corpus.  I  believe 
 I  was  for  some  superiority  for  cultivated  intellect, 
 but  I  think  now  it  is  the  affections  of  the  heart  that 
 will  be  the  test  of  superiority.  Many  a  humble  per- 
 son of  whom  we  know  nothing  now,  will  be  called  up 
 from  the  lowest  place  to  sit  down  on  high.  Abdiel 
 was  but  a  seraph,  yet  he  might  be  an  archangel." 
 "  But,"  I  said,  "  David's  Psalms,  merely  as  productions 
 of  the  intellect,  will  they  be  as  nothing  in  the  scale  ?" 
 "  Oh,"  he  answered,  "  we  know  that  such  as  he — 
 Prophets,  Apostles,  Saints — will  have  their  special 
 places."  "  We  must  still,"  I  said,  "  cultivate  our 
 talents,  of  course."  "  Of  course  we  must ;  but  you 
 know  the  affections,  our  circumstances,  our  opportu- 
 nities are  all  talents,  as  much  as  the  gifts  of  the  in- 
 tellect. No  doubt  there  will  be  disparities  ;  many  are 
 called,  few  chosen,  there  are  many  mansions." 
 
44  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 As  we  stood  by  his  mantelpiece  shortly  before  I 
 left  him,  he  pointed  out  some  old  family  drawings 
 and  little  relics  which  friends  had  brought  him  from 
 their  travels.  I  remember  a  fragment  of  rock  from 
 Sinai,  a  stone  from  Jordan,  a  bit  of  the  rocky  ground 
 of  the  pathway  from  Bethany  to  Jerusalem.  He  re- 
 marked how  in  looking  on  such  things,  and  recall- 
 ing the  scenes  of  his  boyhood  and  youth,  he  was 
 moved,  sometimes  almost  to  tears. 
 
 I  see  him  now  standing  at  the  door  as  I  left  him ; 
 with  a  smile  on  his  face,  and  in  his  old  playful  way 
 he  said,  "  Well,  Privy  Councillor,  good-bye  ;  thank 
 you  for  this.  I  cannot  tell  you  how  much  pleasure 
 you  have  given  me  by  this  visit." 
 
 So  we  parted,  for  this  life. 
 
 I  may,  and  I  probably  shall,  be  blamed  for  lingering 
 so  long  in  this  digression,  but  at  whatever  cost  I  must 
 yet  add  to  it.  I  cannot  but  in  some  sort  acknowledge, 
 though  I  can  never  pay,  to  my  friend  the  debt  I  owe 
 him.  He  was,  indeed,  my  friend,  and  when  he  was 
 a  friend,  he  was  the  best  of  friends.  How  he  dis- 
 charged that  duty  to  me  in  the  particulars,  as  from 
 time  to  time  the  calls  arose,  of  course  can  never  be 
 told  to  the  public,  but  it  will  not  be  forgotten  by  some 
 at  least  in  this  and  another  generation ;  and  I  am 
 persuaded  his  acts,  and  the  spirit  in  which  he  did 
 them,  are  written  for  him  in  that  memorial  where 
 alone  he  would  wish  them  to  appear.  In  the  various 
 trials  and  troubles  which  have  been  sent  to  me  in  no 
 
Charles  Dyson.  45 
 
 unusual  number  or  magnitude  in  the  course  of  a  long 
 life,  and  especially  during  my  early  struggles  in  my 
 profession,  he  was  my  never-failing  stay,  my  helper, 
 my  counsellor.  Childless  himself,  his  paternal  feel- 
 ings (tender  and  hearty  they  were)  flowed  out  on  my 
 children.  He  sometimes  could  and  did  more  than 
 fill  my  place.  In  sickness  or  in  health  his  house  was 
 to  them  a  home,  and  he  nothing  short  of  a  father ; 
 he  would  suspend  his  own  studies  without  reluctance 
 to  direct  theirs,  and  never  seemed  to  feel  their  pre- 
 sence a  disturbance  to  his  own  quiet.  How  they 
 gained  by  the  love  and  wisdom,  the  quiet  sympathy, 
 and  the  pleasant  humour,  which  did  not  enfeeble  dis- 
 cipline, but  made  its  presence  unfelt,  it  is  impossible 
 for  me  to  say  or  for  them  to  forget.  Pleasant,  in- 
 deed, it  is  for  me  to  feel  that  one  and  not  the  least 
 valuable  of  the  impressions  made  on  them  still  re- 
 mains fresh  and  strong  in  the  hearty  and  reverential 
 love  they  bear  to  his  memory.  Dogmersfield  is  still 
 to  them  in  recollection  a  home,  and  Uncle  Charles, 
 as  they  called  him,  a  revered  and  beloved  father. 
 The  surviving  member  of  that  household  must  for- 
 give me  if  I  cannot  keep  back  how  she  and  her 
 sister  contributed  to  the  charm,  which  even  now 
 makes  that  Simorg's  Nest  a  hallowed  place  in  the 
 recollections  of  us  all. 
 
 I  hope  I  may  be  forgiven  if  I  print  here  a  part  of 
 one  even  of  my  own  letters,  which  I  have  found  among 
 a  number  preserved  by  Keble,  and  returned  to  me 
 
46  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 by  his  brother.     It  is  in  remarkable  harmony  with 
 what  I  have  just  written. 
 
 "  My  dearest  John  Keble, — I  think  I  know  how  you 
 must  feel  the  blow  which  has  lighted  on  us  both  in  the  de- 
 parture of  our  most  dear  friend  at  Dogmersfield,  and  I 
 cannot  help  writing  a  line  to  you.  I  naturally  turn  to  the 
 last  survivor  of  the  Corpus  band  to  which  I  was  so  tenderly 
 united,  and  I  have  been  thinking  over  the  days  when, 
 rough  and  rude  as  I  was,  he  and  you  and  others  accepted 
 me  into  that  choice  little  circle.  I  have  been  thinking,  too, 
 how  ever  since,  on  occasion  after  occasion  when  I  have 
 wanted  the  advice,  or  the  comfort,  or  the  help  of  a  friend, 
 he  never  failed  me.  How  wise  and  good  he  was !  I  do 
 not  think  I  exaggerate  when  I  say  he  was  the  wisest  man 
 in  the  best  sense  I  have  ever  been  familiar  with,  and  yet 
 how  humble  and  how  simple !  In  his  happy  retirement, 
 with  no  countenance  from  great  people,  no  fame  in  the 
 world,  how  entirely  free  was  he  from  envy  or  repining ;  in- 
 deed, he  was  incapable  of  both ;  taking  a  lively  interest  in 
 the  important  matters  which  stirred  the  State  or  the  Church, 
 giving  out  his  words  of  wisdom  about  them,  but  not  desiring 
 to  be  taking  any  part  in  them.  How  often  have  I  thought 
 of  that  little  Nest  and  the  slender  tie  on  which  so  much 
 happiness,  and  the  exercise  of  so  much  goodness,  in  that 
 place,  hung,  and  now  that  tie  is  rent  asunder.  I  presume 
 you  and  I  shall  meet  at  his  grave." 
 
 His  saltern  accumulem  donis. 
 
CHAPTER    IV. 
 
 FINAL  EXAMINATION. — ELECTION  AT  ORIEL. — UNI- 
 VERSITY PRIZES.  —  SIDMOUTH.  —  ORDINATIONS. — 
 FIRST  CURACY. 
 
 KEBLE  passed  his  final  examination  in  Easter 
 Term,  1810,  and  was  placed  in  both  First  Classes. 
 Up  to  that  time  no  one  had  earned  this  distinction 
 but  Sir  Robert  Peel,  with  whose  examination  the 
 University  was  ringing  when  I  matriculated.  Keble's 
 youth,  and  what  seemed,  but  I  believe  only  seemed, 
 imperfect  preparation,  made  his  success  the  more  re- 
 markable. It  was  a  joy  to  us  personally  for  the  love 
 we  bore  him,  and  a  triumph,  too,  beyond  that  which 
 a  College  always  feels  for  distinction  won  by  one  of 
 its  members.  In  our  little  circle  we  had  known  that 
 he  had  doubted  whether  he  should  be  able  to  pre- 
 pare himself  in  both  lines,  and  some  of  that  doubt 
 had  perhaps  spread  amongst  us  as  to  the  result ;  but 
 both  his  tutors,  Brydges  the  Mathematical,  as  well  as 
 Cooke,  had  urged  him  on,  and  they  judged  his  powers 
 more  accurately  than  we.  I  now  see  from  his  letters 
 to  his  father  that  at  the  very  crisis  of  his  preparation 
 he  was  also  writing  both  for  the  Latin  and  English 
 Verse  Prizes.  I  was  not  aware  of  it  at  the  time.  He 
 knew,  I  dare  say,  that  I  was  competing  also,  and 
 
48  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 therefore  made  no  communication  to  me.  The  Eng- 
 lish Verses  I  have  never  seen ;  some  of  the  Latin 
 appear  in  his  correspondence  with  his  father,  sent  to 
 him  for  his  censure.  I  wish  I  could  have  recovered 
 the  letters  in  which  he  must  have  announced  to 
 his  father  his  success  and  his  disappointment,  they 
 would  surely  have  been  very  interesting.  All  his 
 letters  to  his  father  which  I  have  seen  are  in  the 
 affectionate  and  unpretending  spirit  of  a  boy,  open- 
 hearted  yet  deferential,  considerate  as  to  the  expense 
 he  was  occasioning,  and  shewing  a  strong  desire  to 
 relieve  him  from  it. 
 
 With  a  view  to  this  I  find  him  in  one  proposing  to 
 stand  for  a  Fellowship  at  Magdalen,  which  it  was 
 probable  some  circumstances  would  shortly  throw 
 open.  But  the  character  he  had  now  attained  put 
 an  end  to  any  scheme  of  this  kind,  by  opening  to  him 
 the  prospect  of  the  great  distinction  of  a  Fellowship 
 at  Oriel. 
 
 He  was  elected  a  Probationer  Fellow  there  on  the 
 20th  of  April,  181 1,  wanting  then  a  few  days  of  having 
 completed  his  nineteenth  year ;  and  took  his  place  at 
 the  High  Table  and  in  the  Senior  Common-room 
 among  that  body,  which  even  then  gave  the  tone  to 
 the  intellectual  pursuits  of  the  University,  and  which 
 within  a  few  years,  by  the  gradual  accession  of  re- 
 markable men,  was  to  acquire  name  and  celebrity 
 far  an$  wide,  and  to  originate  a  movement  of  which 
 the  effects  are  still  felt  through  every  part  of  the 
 
University  Prizes.  49 
 
 Church  of  England.  Whately  entered  it  with  him, 
 and  they  found  Copleston  and  Davison  in  the  lead 
 of  it.  I  well  remember  being  there  as  Keble's  guest, 
 and  being  struck  with  the  remarkable  deference  with 
 which  these  two  were  treated  ;  it  was  such  as  some- 
 what to  check  the  social  pleasure  of  the  party. 
 
 His  progress  was  now  rapid.  In  18 12  he  won  the 
 Prizes  for  both  the  Bachelor's  Essays,  the  English  on 
 Translation  from  Dead  Languages,  the  Latin  a  com- 
 parison of  Xenophon  and  Julius  Csesar  as  Military 
 Historians  of  Campaigns  in  which  they  had  been 
 themselves  engaged.  This  was  an  honour  at  that 
 time  unprecedented  ;  indeed,  the  Latin  Essay  Prize 
 had  only  been  founded  by  Lord  Grenville  in  18 10, 
 but  the  same  success  has  been  very  rarely  achieved 
 since ;  twice  only,  I  believe ;  and  in  one  of  those  in- 
 stances by  no  less  a  man  than  my  old  school-fellow 
 and  friend,  H.  H.  Milman,  the  late  Dean  of  St.  Paul's. 
 Lord  Grenville  on  all  these  occasions  testified  his 
 sense  of  "the  very  commendable  industry  and  ex- 
 ertion, as  well  as  of  the  merit  of  the  compositions," 
 by  a  present  of  valuable  books  beyond  the  regular 
 Prize,  which  was  a  sum  of  money.  In  one  of  his 
 letters,  from  which  I  shall  have  occasion  to  make  an 
 extract,  Keble  refers  to  his  Plutarch  very  amusingly. 
 
 Being  resident,  and  without  College  office,  he  soon 
 became  engaged  in  private  tuition,  and  in  the  Long 
 Vacation  of  18 13  a  small  party  of  pupils  gathered 
 round  him  at  Sidmouth,  where  he  rented  a  picturesque 
 
 E 
 
50  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 cottage  (Myrtle  Cottage)  out  of  the  town,  the  garden 
 being  bordered  by  the  Sid,  and  within  a  few  minutes 
 walk  of  the  sea.  This  was  the  property  of  Cornish's 
 father,  and  adjoining  to  the  Salcombe-hill  grounds, 
 where  the  Cornish  family,  a  numerous  and  bright 
 one  of  both  sexes,  resided.  He  had  seen  the  sea  for 
 the  first  time  at  Cowes  in  the  preceding  summer, 
 and  had  given  vent  to  his  feelings  in  some  beauti- 
 ful lines  ;  but  he  had  been  very  little  of  a  traveller, 
 and  the  beauties  even  of  this  comparatively  tame 
 part  of  Devonshire  struck  him  very  much.  Writing 
 to  an  old  pupil  (Mr.  Bliss)  he  says, — 
 
 "As  I  came  into  Devonshire  in  the  dark,  and  conse- 
 quently could  not  (though  very  quick-sighted)  see  a  great 
 deal  of  the  country,  I  was  not  a  little  delighted  on  waking 
 the  next  morning  to  find  myself  in  a  little  Paradise." 
 
 At  this  time  I  had  gone  through  my  examination, 
 and  was  passing  my  vacation  at  my  own  home  at 
 Ottery  St.  Mary.  The  foot-way  from  one  place  to 
 the  other  was  over  the  steep  ridge  which  divides  the 
 two  valleys  of  the  Sid  and  the  Otter,  the  distance  not 
 more  than  six  miles,  and  the  views  on  the  way  re- 
 markably beautiful.  It  was  a  delightful  walk,  and 
 the  frequent  intercourse  between  us  was  principally 
 kept  up  on  foot  over  the  hill.  At  the  termination 
 of  the  ridge  where  it  drops  down  with  a  steep  descent 
 into  the  Sidmouth  Gap,  are  the  remains  of  an  Armada 
 beacon,  according  to  the   tradition  of  the   country. 
 
Sidmouth,  5 1 
 
 These,  at  the  time  I  speak  of,  were  not,  as  now  they 
 are,  suffered  to  be  overgrown  and  hidden  by  a  planta- 
 tion of  firs.  There  on  the  short  green  turf  we  often 
 rested  and  enjoyed  a  view  which  for  beauty,  variety, 
 and  extent  is  not  easily  to  be  surpassed.  At  our  feet 
 was  spread  out  Harp  ford  -  wood  as  a  grand  carpet 
 laid  on  a  surface  here  and  there  deeply  indented, 
 and  beyond  lay  the  rich  and  wooded  valley  of  the 
 Otter ;  thence  the  ground  rises  in  successive  ranges 
 of  hills,  until  you  reach  the  higher  outlines  of  Dart- 
 moor. Down  deep  on  our  left  lay  Sidmouth  and  the 
 blue  sea  ;  this  sea-view  is  interrupted  by  the  bluff 
 and  wooded  landward  end  of  Peak -hill,  and  opens 
 again  beyond  this  to  a  wide  range  of  sea  and  sea- 
 coast,  down  to  and  beyond  the  Berry  Head,  the  west- 
 ernmost point  of  Torbay.  It  needs  not  to  be  said 
 how  Keble  enjoyed  this,  and  I  hope  I  may  be  ex- 
 cused for  borrowing  Wordsworth's  verse, — 
 
 "  We  talked  with  open  heart  and  tongue 
 Affectionate  and  true." 
 
 Those  who  have  never  known  Keble  familiarly  or 
 only  in  later  life,  will  scarcely  be  prepared  to  hear 
 with  how  quick  a  relish  he  entered  into  the  gaieties 
 of  Sidmouth.  At  this  time  Torquay  was  little  more 
 than  a  fishing  village,  and  Sidmouth,  though  a  small 
 place,  was  much  frequented  by  families  seeking  to 
 combine  the  pursuit  of  health  for  the  delicate,  with  that 
 of  amusement  for  the  strong.     It  was  consequently 
 
5  2  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 as  much  a  winter  watering-place  as  a  summer,  and 
 much  of  social  intercourse  was  maintained  all  through 
 the  winter.  No  one  was  better  received  than  Keble, 
 and  no  one,  I  may  add,  seemed  to  enjoy  more  heartily 
 the  morning  or  evening  parties,  the  concerts,  and 
 dances,  which  were  frequent ;  the  scenery  and  the 
 society  both  found  him  impressionable,  and  as  was 
 natural  they  had  their  effect  upon  his  poetical  powers  ; 
 he  composed  more  often  and  better  than  he  had  ever 
 done  before.  I  am  reminded  by  a  note  of  my  own 
 to  him  at  the  time  how  much  I  was  struck  with  this  ; 
 in  it  I  urged  him  to  cultivate  powers'  which  now 
 seemed  to  me  unquestionable,  and,  looking  after  so 
 many  years  with  the  colder  judgment  of  age  on  the 
 poems  he  then  produced,  I  see  no  reason  to  alter  my 
 opinion.  They  seem  to  me  to  promise  all  that  he 
 afterwards  performed.  I  will  insert  one  specimen 
 written  but  a  few  days  before  he  was  to  leave  Sid- 
 mouth,  and  addressed  "  Nunquam  auditurae  :" — 
 
 How  can  I  leave  thee  all  unsung, 
 
 While  my  heart  owns  thy  dear  control, 
 And  heaven  and  love  have  o'er  thee  flung 
 
 The  softest  moonlight  of  the  soul  1 
 Oh,  I  have  long'd  for  thee  to  call 
 Soft  Echo  from  the  West  Wind's  hall, 
 
 Some  notes  as  blithely  wild  to  seek, 
 As  the  wild  music  of  thy  voice, 
 As  the  wild  roses  that  rejoice 
 
 In  thine  eye's  sunshine,  on  thy  glowing  cheek. 
 
Sidmouth.  5  3 
 
 For  not  the  breath  of  mortal  praise 
 
 Thine  artless  beauty  dares  profane ; 
 For  thee  wild  nature  wakes  her  lays, 
 
 And  thy  soul  feels  the  blessed  strain. 
 The  song  that  breaks  the  grove's  repose, 
 The  shower-drop  nestling  in  the  rose, 
 
 The  brooklet's  morning  melody, 
 To  these  with  soft  and  solemn  tone 
 Thy  spirit  stirs  in  unison, 
 
 Owning  the  music  of  its  native  sky. 
 
 And  when  in  some  fair  golden  hour 
 
 Thy  heart-strings  shall  give  back  the  sigh, 
 
 Of  Love's  wild  harp,  no  earthly  bower 
 Shall  lend  such  hues  as  bloom  to  die. 
 
 But  earnest  of  the  eternal  spring, 
 
 Their  amarant  wreaths  shall  angels  bring ; 
 And  preluding  the  choir  of  heaven, 
 
 Soft  Eden  gales  shall  sweep  the  lyre, 
 
 And  starlike  points  of  guiltless  fire 
 From  God's  own  altar-flame  to  gem  thy  brow  be  given. 
 
 It  is  my  pride  that  I  can  deem, 
 
 Though  faintly,  of  that  being's  worth, 
 Who  to  the  All-gracious  mind  shall  seem 
 
 Meet  help  for  thee  in  heaven  and  earth. 
 Long  as  before  Life's  gale  I  drive, 
 Shall  holiest  hope  within  me  live, 
 
 Thee  fair,  thee  blessed  while  I  view ; 
 And  when  the  port  of  endless  rest 
 Receives  me,  may  my  soul  be  blest 
 
 With  everlasting  upward  gaze  on  you. 
 
 It  is  needless  surely  to  point  out  how  even  at  this 
 
54  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 early  period  of  his  life  what  might  have  been  a  mere 
 love-song  became  in  his  way  of  dealing  with  it  ele- 
 vated (perhaps  too  elevated)  and  holy  from  the  habi- 
 tual holiness  and  elevation  of  all  his  serious  thoughts. 
 
 Neither  his  employment  nor  the  attractions  of  Sid- 
 mouth,  however,  prevented  Keble  from  occasional 
 expeditions  into  the  country,  and  I  remember  well 
 that  he  and  one  of  his  pupils,  Mr.  Gaussen,  with  my- 
 self, under  the  guidance  of  my  father,  whose  good 
 taste  and  familiarity  with  the  country  made  him  the 
 best  of  guides,  rode  from  Sidmouth  to  and  through 
 the  north  of  Devon  and  the  adjoining  parts  of  Somer- 
 setshire. On  our  return  to  the  neighbourhood  of 
 Exeter  we  parted,  and  Keble  and  his  pupil  went  on 
 to  Plymouth  and  the  Tamar.  He  was  new  to  scenery 
 so  beautiful  or  romantic  as  that  which  he  went  through 
 in  the  course  of  this  tour.  It  delighted  him  at  the  time, 
 and  produced  a  permanent  impression  on  his  mind, 
 of  which  traces  may  be  seen  not  merely  in  his  corre- 
 spondence, but  in  his  poems.  He  left  Sidmouth  with 
 much  regret,  and  was  much  regretted  by  many  whom 
 he  left ;  by  none  perhaps  more  than  the  fine  family 
 of  his  landlord,  with  whom  he  contracted  abiding 
 intimacy ;  and  cemented  more  closely  the  friend- 
 ship already  subsisting  between  himself  and  George 
 Cornish. 
 
 Not  long  after  his  return  to  Oxford  in  December, 
 1 813,  on  the  proposition  of  Davison,  and  by  the  ad- 
 vice of  Copleston  and   his   father,  he  consented  to 
 
Examining  Master.  55 
 
 fill  the  office  of  Examining  Master  from  the  follow- 
 ing Michaelmas,  and  he  set  himself  diligently  to  pre- 
 pare for  the  work.  He  had  great  misgivings,  as 
 was  to  be  expected  in  one  at  once  so  young  and  so 
 modest ;  and  it  was  a  great  comfort  to  him  that 
 not  long  after  Cardwell,  two  or  three  years  his 
 senior,  was  joined  to  him  as  colleague ;  the  two 
 thoroughly  understood  each  other,  and  agreed  on 
 the  principles  which  should  govern  them.  There 
 was  no  need  for  his  apprehensions.  From  several 
 persons  examined  by  him,  I  have  heard  that  the 
 simplicity  and  kindness  of  his  manner,  his  thorough 
 acquaintance  with  the  matter  of  the  examination, 
 together  with  his  entire  freedom  from  desire  of  dis- 
 playing himself, — too  common  a  failing,  as  has  been 
 said,  of  examining  masters, — made  him  very  effec- 
 tive and  popular  in  the  Schools.  It  has  happened 
 to  me  more  than  once  to  meet  with  men  in  after 
 life  who  were  and  continued  personally  strangers 
 to  him,  but  who  had  carried  out  of  the  Schools 
 and  retained  through  life  a  loving  estimation  of  him 
 merely  from  his  examination  of  them. 
 
 It  was  during  his  preparation  for  the  office  that  I 
 find  in  his  letters  the  first  entry  on  a  subject  which 
 thenceforward  it  pleased  God  to  give  him  almost 
 constant  cause  to  dwell  on, — the  illness,  I  mean,  of 
 one  or  other  of  those  most  dear  to  him.  His  letters 
 to  me  in  the  spring  and  summer  of  18 14  mention 
 the  illnesses  of  two  of  his  sisters,  the  eldest  Eliza- 
 
 i 
 
56  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 beth,  Sarah  the  next  in  order  of  birth;  the  latter 
 was  carried  off  by  consumption  in  that  summer ; 
 and  it  must  be  interesting  to  see  even  at  this  early 
 period  how  definite  and  cheerful  were  his  convictions 
 in  regard  to  the  Intermediate  state  of  the  departed 
 Christian.     Thus  he  wrote  to  me  : — 
 
 "  Not  that  I  have  been  so  much  overwhelmed  by  what  I 
 have  lately  seen  and  heard  as  to  be  unable  to  write,  or  to 
 enter  into  common  subjects.  Indeed,  when  I  look  back, 
 I  wonder  at  my  own  hard-heartedness.  I  do  not  believe 
 there  has  been  one  day  since  my  dear  sister  was  given 
 over,  that  I  have  not  been  able  to  go  on  with  my  reading 
 as  usual.  Yet  I  do  not  think  it  is  insensibility,  that  I  have 
 been  able  to  divert  my  thoughts  from  her  so  much,  but 
 chiefly  because  I  had  suffered  so  much  from  suspense, 
 which  in  such  cases  always  leads  me  to  expect  and  imagine 
 worse  than  the  worst.  Another  thing  is,  that  I  cannot 
 even  now  persuade  myself  I  have  lost  her,  except  out  of 
 my  sight.  That  she  is  happy  I  have  (blessed  be  God  for 
 it !)  the  firmest  faith,  and  that  in  her  happiness  she  remem- 
 bers us,  whom  living  she  never  forgot,  I  fondly  persuade 
 myself.  Whenever  I  think  of  this,  (and  I  have  now  made 
 the  thought  habitual,)  it  checks  my  grief,  making  it  seem 
 altogether  selfish  and  unreasonable.  However  it  be,  I  con- 
 sider it  as  a  great  mercy  that  my  spirits  have  not  failed 
 me,  since  they  are  quite  wanted  in  the  family,  and  that 
 principally  on  Elizabeth's  account,  who  in  her  helpless 
 state  feels  the  loss  most  of  all,  and  has  besides  suffered 
 greatly  from  her  lameness  within  the  last  two  or  three 
 days.  Tom  does  admirably  well,  his  example  has  been  of 
 very  great  advantage  to  me. 
 
 "Fairford,  Saturday  Night,  July  2,  1814." 
 
Ordination.  5  7 
 
 About  the  same  time,  too,  that  he  was  first  dis- 
 charging the  duties  of  Examiner,  his  thoughts  were 
 much  occupied  about  his  Ordination ;  he  was  very 
 desirous  that  I  should  adopt  the  same  course  of  life 
 as  that  on  which  he  was  resolved  ;  he  thought  my 
 health,  which  indeed  at  the  time  seemed  delicate, 
 would  fail  in  the  profession  I  had  chosen  ;  but  his 
 principal  motive  was  of  a  higher  kind.  It  was  thus 
 he  wrote  of  that  to  which  he  pressed  me  in  March, 
 18 15.  After  setting  out  his  (very  exaggerated)  no- 
 tions of  what  personal  advancement  might  be  in 
 store  for  me  in  the  course  I  had  chosen,  he  says : — 
 
 "  I  feel  what  it  must  be  to  forego  the  possibility,  even 
 though  it  were  but  just  possible,  of  realizing  such  hopes 
 as  these  ;  nor  do  I  think  anything,  not  even  the  saving 
 health  and  life,  would  make  me  forego  them,  but  for 
 visions  far  more  brilliant  and  more  certain  too ;  more 
 brilliant  in  their  results,  inasmuch  as  the  salvation  of  one 
 soul  is  worth  more  than  the  framing  the  Magna  Charta  of 
 a  thousand  worlds  ;  more  certain  to  take  place,  since  temp- 
 tations are  fewer,  and  opportunities  everywhere  to  be 
 found.  Can  there  be  even  among  the  angels  a  higher  pri- 
 vilege that  we  can  form  an  idea  of,  than  the  power  of  con- 
 tributing to  the  everlasting  happiness  of  our  neighbour  to 
 be  especially  delegated  and  assigned  to  us  by  Almighty 
 God  ?  I  would  that  I  were  as  free  from  worldly  care  and 
 ambition,  as  the  thought  of  what  I  hope  will  be  my  high 
 calling  ought  to  make  me.  I  know  that  I  am  never  so  free 
 from  evil  thoughts  as  when  these  things  are  strongest  on 
 my  mind,  but  how  difficult  to  make  them  habitual ! " 
 
58  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 It  was  thus  he  wrote  in  March.  On  May  the  20th, 
 but  a  few  days  before  his  ordination,  he  poured  out 
 to  me  the  genuine  feelings  of  his  heart : — 
 
 "  You  ask  for  my  prayers,  be  assured  that  you  have  them  , 
 though  cold  and  worthless  as  they  are,  I  can  hardly  hope 
 that  they  can  do  you  good.  But  thanks  be  to  God,  there 
 is  One  who  can  make  our  worthless  offerings  available. 
 Pray  for  me,  too  ;  pray  earnestly,  my  dear,  my  best  friend, 
 that  He  would  give  me  His  grace,  that  I  may  not  be  alto- 
 gether unworthy  of  the  sacred  office  on  which  I  am,  rashly 
 I  fear,  even  now  entering;  but  that  some  souls  hereafter 
 may  have  cause  to  bless  me.  Pray  that  I  may  be  freed 
 from  vanity,  from  envy,  from  discontent,  from  impure  ima- 
 ginations ;  that  I  may  not  grow  weary,  nor  wander  in  heart 
 from  God's  service ;  that  I  may  not  be  judging  others  un- 
 charitably, nor  vainly  dreaming  how  they  will  judge  me,  at 
 the  very  moment  that  I  seem  most  religiously  and  most 
 charitably  employed.  Without  any  foolish  affectation  of  mo- 
 desty, I  can  truly  say  that  the  nearer  the  time  approaches, 
 the  more  strongly  I  feel  my  own  unfitness  and  unworthiness 
 for  the  ministry ;  yet  as  I  hope  it  is  not  such  but  that  it 
 may  be  removed  in  time  by  earnest  and  constant  use  of  the 
 means  of  grace,  I  do  not  think  it  needful  to  defer  my  Or- 
 dination ;  but  I  want  all  the  help  I  can  get  in  the  awful 
 and  difficult  preparation  ;  do  not  therefore  forget  me  in 
 your  prayers.  I  know,  indeed,  you  do  not  forget  me ;  but 
 make  especial  mention  of  me  at  this  season.  On  Sunday 
 next  I  hope  to  be  ordained,  and  on  Monday  I  go  to  Fair- 
 ford  for  the  summer,  having  engaged  myself  for  the  next  six 
 weeks  to  take  charge  of  two  small  parishes,  the  churches  of 
 which  are  as  near  as  Oriel  and  Corpus  Chapels,  about  four 
 miles  distance  from  Fairford." 
 
Ordinations.  59 
 
 He  was  ordained  Deacon  on  Trinity  Sunday,  1815, 
 and  Priest  on  Trinity  Sunday,  1 8 16,  both  by  the 
 Bishop  of  Oxford,  Dr.  William  Jackson  ;  and  in  July 
 of  the  latter  year,  writing  to  me  and  congratulating 
 me  on  an  event  which  was  the  prelude  to  the  greatest 
 happiness  of  my  life,  and  uttering  words  of  loving 
 advice,  which  I  look  back  on  now  with  deep  and 
 grateful  interest,  he  says  : — 
 
 "You  will  understand  all  I  mean  to  say,  and  cannot. 
 I  want  your  prayers,  too  ;  very  much  I  want  them,  for  every 
 day  I  feel  the  dangers  and  anxieties  of  my  profession  in- 
 crease upon  me.  Pray  for  me  that  I  may  not  pollute 
 God's  altar  with  irregular,  worldly-minded,  self-complacent 
 thoughts.  Pray  for  me  that  I  may  free  myself  from  all 
 pride,  all  ambition,  all  uncharitableness.  You  cannot  think 
 how  a  little  word  which  you  dropped  one  day,  the  last  we 
 met  together  at  Oxford,  struck  me,  and  how  it  has  abode 
 with  me  ever  since.  You  cautioned  me  against  Formalism  j 
 I  thought  it  hard  at  the  time,  but  now  I  know  you  had  too 
 good  reason.  Help  me  by  your  prayers,  your  advice,  if 
 any  occurs  to  you  j  and  your  reproof,  if  you  at  any  time 
 think  I  need  it,  to  get  rid  of  that  dangerous  habit." 
 
 Little  did  he  when  he  gave  vent  to  his  feelings  in 
 these  remarkable  passages,  suppose  they  would  ever 
 be  exposed  to  the  light  to  which  I  am  now  exposing 
 them,  but  I  cannot  believe  I  do  wrong  in  publishing 
 them ;  no  one  can  doubt  that  they  flowed  from  his 
 heart,  and  it  may  be  useful  to  many  a  young  man 
 under  similar  circumstances  to  see  this  living  picture 
 
60  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 of  what  Keble  felt  at  that  crisis  of  his  life.  I  have 
 more  fears  on  another  point,  and  yet  I  hope  I  may 
 be  forgiven  for  not  withholding  what  relates  to  my- 
 self only.  I  could  not  separate  these  parts  without 
 impairing  that  perfect  idea  of  him  which  the  whole 
 extracts  now  present ;  and  I  desire  any  one  reading 
 "  The  Christian  Year,"  and  the  "  Lyra,"  to  bear  this 
 passage  in  mind  when  so  engaged  with  them.  I 
 think  he  will  see  proof  again  and  again,  that  these 
 were  not  the  passing  feelings  of  moments  of  excite- 
 ment, but  ruling  principles  ever  present  and  ever 
 operative  on  his  mind. 
 
 How  little  probably  did  those  who  with  the  Bishop 
 laid  their  hands  on  Keble's  head,  dream  at  the  time 
 how  holy  a  spirit,  how  powerful  an  agent  for  good, 
 by  God's  blessing,  they  were  enrolling  among  the 
 ministers  of  the  Church.  On  himself  the  impres- 
 sions of  the  day  were  never  weakened.  Writing  in 
 June,  1827,  on  Trinity  Sunday,  to  George  Cornish, 
 he  says  : — 
 
 "  To-day  I  have  been  to  an  Ordination,  for  the  first  time 
 since  I  was  ordained  myself,  and  I  have  almost  made  a  vow- 
 to  be  present  at  one  every  year.  I  think  it  would  do  one 
 a  great  deal  of  good,  like  going  back  to  one's  native  air  after 
 tong  intervals." 
 
 I  must  not  anticipate,  but  I  may  mention  in  pass- 
 ing, that  curiously  enough  he  writes  in  the  same 
 letter :— 
 
First  Curacy.  61 
 
 "  To-morrow  I  correct  the  press  of  my  title-page,  which 
 I  need  not  tell  you  is  always  the  last  thing  done  in  a 
 book." 
 
 This  was  "  The  Christian  Year." 
 
 There  was  no  external  manifestation  of  extra- 
 ordinary or  exclusive  devotion  to  his  calling  in  this 
 commencement  of  his  ministry,  the  sole  charge  of 
 two  parishes,  East  Leach  and  Burthorpe,  small  and 
 contiguous,  for  six  weeks  in  the  Long-vacation  ;  nor 
 did  he  afterwards,  when  the  engagement  had  be- 
 come permanent,  think  it  necessary  to  give  up  his 
 Oxford  employments,  or  to  decline  the  College 
 Tutorship  when  called  on  to  take  it.  And  yet  I 
 doubt  not  that  they  were  well  provided  for,  and 
 that  scarcely  any  better  introduction  could  have 
 been  had  for  him  to  the  duties  to  which  he  had 
 devoted  himself.  He  had  his  father,  then  in  the 
 full  vigour  of  his  faculties,  for  his  assistant  and  his 
 guide.  It  was  a  peculiar  delight  to  him  to  place 
 himself  once  more  as  a  pupil  under  that  beloved 
 and  respected  guide ;  while  as  generally  a  resident 
 at  Oxford  he  had  probably  greater  advantages  for 
 the  large  and  well-considered  study  of  divinity,  which 
 he  now  entered  on. 
 
 I  subjoin  an  extract  from  a  letter  to  me  written 
 from  Oxford  in  November,  1815,  because  it  shews 
 not  merely  his  views  as  to  worldly  advancement, 
 but  also  how  early  he  took  up,  what   he  seems  to 
 
62  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 have  clung  to  through  life,  the  necessity  of  dis- 
 charging his  duties  as  son  and  brother  in  close  con- 
 nection with,  and  scarcely  in  subservience  to  those 
 of  his  profession.  He  was  never,  indeed,  called  on 
 to  make  absolutely  an  election  between  the  two ; 
 the  circumstances  were  always  such,  that  at  the 
 most  it  was  never  necessary  to  do  more  than 
 change  the  scene  of  his  professional  labours,  in 
 order  to  satisfy  also  family  claims  on  his  time  and 
 attention : — 
 
 "  I  have  a  great  deal  to  say  in  answer  to  your  first  letter, 
 in  which  you  urge  the  expediency  of  my  doing  something 
 to  secure  an  independency  if  I  should  wish  to  marry.  I 
 assure  you  that  you  quite  mistake  me,  if  you  suppose  that 
 I  disavow  entirely  all  feelings  of  ambition;  on  the  con- 
 trary, I  have  a  great  deal  of  it,  too  much,  I  think,  for  my 
 profession.  I  am  far  from  censuring  ambition  in  general ; 
 it  were  idle  to  blame  what  most  people  cannot  help  feel- 
 ing: but  I  think  I  see  clearly,  that  as  a  motive  to  my 
 clerical  exertions,  it  is  either  wrong  in  itself,  or  liable  every 
 moment  to  become  so,  and  therefore  I  am  sure  I  ought  to 
 keep  it  down  as  much  as  possible.  With  respect  to  my 
 making  some  progress  towards  a  maintenance,  I  have 
 thought  much  and  seriously  about  it.  I  do  not  see  any- 
 thing for  a  country  clergyman  to  do  in  that  way,  except 
 taking  pupils  :  that  I  cannot  do  at  home,  nor  should  I  like 
 as  yet  to  leave  my  father's  roof ;  but  if  Elizabeth's  health, 
 which  I  hardly  dare  hope,  should  go  on  to  improve,  I  think 
 something  may  be  done.  I  may  get  a  curacy,  and  take 
 a  house,  either  near  home,  or  if  the  sea  should  be  recom- 
 mended to  her,  near  the  coast ;  I  have  no  particular  re- 
 
First  Curacy.  63 
 
 pugnance  to  the  thing,  and  I  certainly  feel  that  there  is 
 a  great  deal  in  what  you  say.  I  do  not  know  what  my 
 own  prospects  are  ;  but  let  them  be  what  they  will,  it  is 
 certainly  right  and  just,  that  if  I  have  opportunity,  I  should 
 do  something  for  myself;  but  as  long  as  Elizabeth  con- 
 tinues so  helpless,  I  should  not  think  I  did  right  in  leaving 
 home  on  any  speculation.  Perhaps  when  Tom  leaves  Ox- 
 ford, which  he  will  probably  do  in  the  course  of  next  year, 
 we  may  contrive  some  gainful  grinding  scheme  between  us. 
 I  was  very  stationary  all  the  summer,  but  I  am  a  little 
 afraid  that  you  were  right  when  you  warned  me  against 
 indolence,  in  the  shape  of  low  spirits,  or  contentedness. 
 Yet  I  seemed  to  myself  almost  always  busy ;  but  when  I 
 look  back,  very  little  seems  done.  Making  sermons  took 
 up  a  good  part  of  the  time  ;  I  imposed  on  myself  a  law  of 
 writing  at  least  one  every  week  ;  and  then  our  school  at 
 Fairford  required  a  good  deal  of  visiting,  so  that  altogether 
 I  am  not  very  much  an  fait  in  Latin  and  Greek ;  but  my 
 nerves  are  more  steeled,  and  my  front  more  bronzed  of 
 late  months,  so  I  shall  bully  away  in  the  Schools  as  fear- 
 lessly as  ever." 
 
 I  do  not  attach  any  special  importance  to  the 
 extract  which  I  am  now  about  to  give  from  a  letter, 
 which  has  reached  me  through  the  kindness  of  Mr. 
 Arnott,  as  a  testimony  to  Keble's  work  in  his  new 
 sphere  of  duty ;  but  it  is  at  least  a  very  genuine 
 and  unsuspicious  one,  and  it  contains  an  anecdote 
 amusing  and  characteristic.  The  writer,  who  now 
 lives  in  Hertfordshire,  had  heard  of  the  photogra- 
 phical  Memoir  of  Keble,  and  was  permitted  to  see 
 the   photographs.     The   first   part   of  his  letter  ad- 
 
64  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 dressed  "to  the  gentleman  with  whom  I  had  an 
 interview  this  afternoon,"  relates  to  East  Leach  Church; 
 then  he  proceeds  thus  : — 
 
 "  I  well  remember  Mr.  John  Keble  coming  to  Eastleach 
 to  do  duty  when  the  Rev.  B.  Boyes,  through  age  and  in- 
 firmity, was  unable  to  do  it.  A  very  great  change  took 
 place  in  the  village;  he  commenced  a  Sunday-school  and 
 the  Church,  and  at  Bouthrop  (Burthorpe)  was  well  at- 
 tended. How  long  he  was  at  East  Leach  I  don't  know, 
 but  when  I  went  some  years  after,  the  Rev.  Cooper  lived 
 at  the  parsonage  at  Bouthrop,  and  did  duty  at  both 
 churches. 
 
 "  Mr.  Keble  used  to  ride  to  and  fro  from  Oxford,  and 
 on  Sunday  used  to  dine  at  a  cottager's,  for  which  he  paid, 
 and  used  to  charge  them  not  to  provide  anything  extra  for 
 him  ;  that  was  the  stipulation.  I  have  frequently  defended 
 his  character.  In  one  of  his  visits  the  person  had  some 
 potatoes  and  herring  for  dinner,  and  he  remarked  after 
 some  observations,  that  a  herring  relish'd  potatoes.  Then 
 some  one  raised  a  report  that  he  should  say  that  herring 
 and  potatoes  were  good  enough  for  any  one.  I  have  fre- 
 quently had  to  set  that  matter  right.  ...  A  sturdy  Baptist, 
 a  shoemaker,  used  to  attend  Bouthrop  Church,  stating, 
 as  a  reason,  he  there  heard  the  Gospel.  I  myself  have 
 much  to  be  thankful  for  on  account  of  Mr.  Keble's  min- 
 istrations." .... 
 
 In  a  postscript  he  adds,  "  Mr.  Keble  was  outside  the 
 church  what  he  professed  to  be  inside  it." 
 
 In  1 8 16,  in  the  autumn,  Keble  was  again  in  De- 
 vonshire, and  for  part  of  his  time  a  visitor  at  my 
 father's  house,  where  I  then  was.     I  have  no  recol- 
 
First  Curacy.  65 
 
 lection  of  any  particulars  of  the  visit,  and  certainly 
 none  of  that  which  formed  the  subject  in  part  of  the 
 letter,  from  which  I  subjoin  an  extract.  I  do  not 
 know  that  melancholy,  or  despondency  of  spirits, 
 was  remarkable  in  him  at  any  time,  certainly  not 
 in  later  life.  It  has  been  observed,  I  believe,  that 
 melancholy  is  a  common  attendant  on  poetic  genius, 
 and  good  reasons  may  be  given  why  it  should  be  so. 
 Keble,  however,  would  have  been  the  last  at  this 
 time  to  think  himself  entitled  to  it  as  a  poet ;  he 
 treats  it,  it  will  be  seen,  as  a  moral  fault,  against 
 which  it  was  his  duty  to  struggle.  I  have  no  doubt 
 he  did  so,  and  it  seemed  to  me  through  life  cha- 
 racteristic of  him  that  he  was  always  ready  to  ac- 
 cept with  a  grateful  heart  and  cheery  disposition 
 the  blessings  vouchsafed  him,  and  to  be  ready  to 
 meet  his  trials  with  unfeigned  resignation.  His  was 
 no  boding  spirit,  nor  did  he  make  sorrows  for  him- 
 self ;  but  no  one  can  doubt  that  the  statement  in 
 this  letter  was  a  true  account  of  what  he  really  felt, 
 and  a  very  interesting  disclosure  it  is.  It  must  be 
 added  that  the  loss  of  one  sister,  and  the  suffering 
 state  of  another,  weighed  naturally  upon  him,  and 
 the  more  because,  as  he  was  now  residing  at  Fairford, 
 the  absence  of  the  one,  and  the  trials  of  the  other, 
 were  presented  to  his  mind  more  constantly : — 
 
 "Fairford,  Oct.  9,  1816. 
 "  My  dearest  Friend, 
 
 "  This  is  to  greet  your  return  to  love,  law,  and  London, 
 and  to  thank  you  for  ten  of  the  happiest  days  I  have  spent 
 
 F 
 
66  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 for  many  years,  yet  those  not  half  so  happy  as  they  ought 
 to  have  been.  I  do  not  know  whether  you  find  it,  but  I 
 hardly  ever  part  from  those  that  I  love  much  and  seldom 
 see,  without  a  strong  feeling  of  dissatisfaction  with  myself, 
 and  feeling  that  I  have  by  no  means  made  the  most  of  my 
 time,  and  that  I  have  thrown  away  many  precious  oppor- 
 tunities for  some  of  the  greatest  enjoyments  of  life;  and 
 this  has  been  more  especially  the  case  since  our  domestic 
 distresses ;  they  have  furnished  me  with  too  good  an  excuse 
 for  indulging  a  certain  humour  calling  itself  melancholy, 
 but  I  am  afraid,  more  truly  entitled  proud  and  fantastic, 
 which  I  find  very  often  at  hand,  forbidding  me  to  enjoy 
 the  good  things,  and  pursue  the  generous  studies,  which 
 a  kind  Providence  throws  so  richly  in  my  way ;  then  the 
 hours  which  I  spend  alone,  owing  to  the  distance  of  my 
 Cure  from  home,  are  many,  and  I  have  indulged  myself  in 
 a  sad  trick  of  filling  them  up  with  melancholy  presages.  I 
 have  long  known  this  to  be  very  wrong,  but  I  never  felt  the 
 mischief  of  it  so  much  as  in  the  midst  of  your  happy  family 
 party.  I  felt  as  if  I  was  saddening  everybody,  and  thou- 
 sands and  thousands  of  resolutions  did  I  make  that  I  would 
 shake  off  this  selfish  remembrance  of  past  and  distant  cala- 
 mities, that  I  would  enjoy  myself  wherever  I  went.  I  trust 
 I  shall  be  able,  though  late,  to  accomplish  these  good  re- 
 solutions, but  it  will  be  a  long  and  steady  course  of  self- 
 discipline  alone,  grounded  upon  high  motives,  and  assisted 
 by  the  prayers,  advice,  and  example  of  my  relations  and 
 friends,  which  will  enable  me,  by  God's  blessing,  to  do  so. 
 And  to  whose  prayers,  advice,  and  example,  shall  I  have 
 recourse  so  unreservedly  as  to  yours.  My  dear  fellow  you 
 cannot  think  how  I  depend  on  you.  I  have  never  thought 
 of  you  in  my  blackest  dreams,  without  consolation  and 
 hope  ;  for  you,  as  you  know,  my  presages  were  never  me- 
 lancholy ;  and  now  I  am  endeavouring  to  brace  myself  up 
 
First  Curacy.  67 
 
 to  a  little  more  activity  and  cheerfulness,  nothing  upon 
 earth  animates  me  more  than  the  brightening  view  which 
 I  take  of  your  prospects.  May  they  never  be  clouded  by 
 calamity,  they  will  not  I  am  sure  by  wilful  melancholy,  as 
 mine  have  sometimes  been.  This  is  not  mock-modesty,  I 
 assure  you ;  it  is  the  plain  and  simple  truth,  and  I  tell  it 
 you  because  it  relieves  me  to  tell  it,  and  because  I  shall 
 expect  you  to  talk  to  me  sharply,  and  rouse  me  from  my 
 selfishness,  whenever  in  my  correspondence  or  conversation 
 you  discover  any  sign  of  it.  Certainly  I  have  no  hereditary 
 right  to  it ;  all  my  relations,  and  chiefly  she  who  has  suffered 
 most,  are  disposed  to  make  the  best  of  things ;  it  is  a  mor- 
 bid habit  of  my  own  contracting,  and  may,  and  shall,  by 
 God's  blessing,  be  cured.  It  must  be  so  for  the  comfort  of 
 all  whom  I  ought  to  make  happy,  and  still  more  for  my 
 own  happiness,  for  I  feel  more  and  more  every  day  that  I 
 cannot  be  quite  happy  alone,  and  certainly  if  I  am  a  hypo- 
 chondriac, I  cannot  be  happy  in  company.  And  so  ends 
 my  sentimentality,  and  so,  like  the  German  Baron  in  Gold- 
 smith, jumping  over  the  stools, 
 
 "'Sh'  apprens  d'etre  vif.'" 
 
 I  will  add  an  extract  from  another  letter  to  me, 
 dated  from  Fairford,  in  June,  18 17,  in  part  on  the 
 same  subject,  but  interesting  also  as  shewing  his 
 judgment  at  that  time  on  Jeremy  Taylor  and  Milton. 
 He  is  speaking  principally  of  the  prose  works  of  the 
 latter,  but  he  was  not  a  hearty  lover  of  his  poetry 
 even  in  later  life.  He  never  could  separate  the  work 
 from  the  author,  and  to  a  great  extent  they  are  in- 
 separable, but  there  is  danger  of  disparaging  good 
 poetry  on  account  of  a  supposed   bad  writer  of  it, 
 
68  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 and  even  more  perhaps  of  overvaluing  an  indifferent 
 work,  from  a  liking  and  high  estimation  of  the  au- 
 thor.    I  do  not  think  Keble  entirely  escaped  either 
 
 danger : — 
 
 "  Fairford, 
 June  2,  1817. 
 
 "  I  shall  be  inexcusable  if  I  do  not  get  into  a  habit  of 
 looking  at  the  bright  side  of  things,  and  shake  off  entirely 
 a  certain  perverse  pleasure,  in  which  perhaps  you  may  not 
 conceive  how  any  man  should  indulge  himself,  of  turning 
 over  in  my  thoughts  a  huge  heap  of  blessings,  to  find  one 
 or  two  real  or  fancied  evils  (which  after  all  are  sure  to  turn 
 out  goods)  buried  among  them. 
 
 "Next  to  the  books  which  it  is  my  duty  to  study,  I 
 find  none  so  useful  in  helping  me  to  considerations  of  this 
 kind,  as  your  and  my  friend  and  favourite  Jeremy  Taylor. 
 Though  I  have  been  long  acquainted  with  him,  I  never 
 read  his  '  Holy  Living  and  Dying'  regularly  till  this  spring, 
 and  I  cannot  tell  you  the  delight  it  has  given  me  ;  surely 
 that  book  is  enough  to  convert  any  infidel,  so  gentle  in 
 heart,  and  so  high  in  mind,  so  fervent  in  zeal,  and  so 
 charitable  in  judgment,  that  I  confess  I  do  not  know  any 
 other  author,  except  perhaps  Hooker,  (whose  subjects  are 
 so  different  that  they  will  hardly  bear  a  comparison,)  worthy 
 to  be  likened  to  him.  Spenser  I  think  comes  nearest  his 
 spirit  in  all  respects.  Milton  is  like  him  in  richness  and 
 depth,  but  in  morality  seems  to  me  as  far  below  him  as 
 pride  is  below  humility.  I  have  been  looking  into  some 
 of  his  prose  works  lately,  of  which,  I  am  ashamed  to  say, 
 I  was  and  am  grossly  ignorant ;  but  what  will  you  think  of 
 me,  when  I  own  to  you,  that  I  was  hardly  ever  so  shocked 
 and  mortified  in  my  life ;  perhaps  I  shall  make  some 
 amends  by  my  unbounded  admiration  of  many  passages; 
 
First  Curacy.  69 
 
 perhaps  you  will  attribute  it  all  to  cavalierish  and  episco- 
 palian prejudices,  but  certainly  I  shut  the  book  with  an 
 increased  veneration  for  his  abilities,  and  a  very  much 
 diminished  confidence  in  his  opinions,  and  affection  for 
 his  general  character.  But  I  must  try  to  get  rid  of  the 
 dislike,  and  lay  his  faults,  if  I  can,  upon  times  and  cir- 
 cumstances, and  not  upon  himself,  for  it  is  quite  uncom- 
 fortable to  think  of  such  a  man  as  from  some  places  I  was 
 inclined  to  do.  At  any  rate  it  must  be  a  most  impressive 
 warning  to  men  of  genius,  to  read,  as  they  often  may  I 
 think  in  his  Tracts,  one  sentence  written  as  if  an  angel 
 had  held  the  pen,  and  the  next,  (as  it  seemed  to  me,) 
 more  like  Cobbett's  style  than  any  other  I  know  of.  One 
 thing  rather  pleases  me,  (as  every  body  likes  to  be  con- 
 firmed in  his  old  prejudices,)  that  the  spirit  of  the  loyal 
 party  in  those  times  should  seem  so  much  more  candid 
 and  charitable  than  that  of  the  Puritans.  Where  will  you 
 find  in  Taylor,  or  Hammond,  or  Chillingworth,  or  Saunder- 
 son,  or  even  in  Clarendon,  such  a  gross,  puerile,  illiberal, 
 (not  to  say  dishonest)  invective,  as  Milton,  evidently,  ad 
 captandwn  vulgus,  has  put  into  his  Iconoclastes  against 
 K.  Charles's  Chaplains?  How  little  did  he  dream  that 
 Taylor's  name  would  go  down  to  posterity  side  by  side 
 with  his  own,  and  the  other  three  but  a  little  below  it. 
 "  But  enough  of  this  declamation." 
 
CHAPTER    V. 
 
 TUTORSHIP  AND  SECOND   RESIDENCE  AT  ORIEL. — 
 DEATH   OF   MRS.  KEBLE. — l8l8 — 1 823. 
 
 KEBLE,  having  served  as  Public  Examiner  in  the 
 Final  Schools,  had  after  a  short  interval  under- 
 taken the  duty  of  Examiner  in  the  Responsions. 
 This  last  wearied  him  a  good  deal,  and  when  it  was 
 performed,  early  in  1 8 17,  he  had  quitted  Oxford,  as 
 he  thought,  "  no  more  to  return  officially."  He  quitted 
 it  with  delight. 
 
 "  I  assure  you,"  he  wrote,  "  it  is  quite  a  relief  to  me  to 
 have  got  rid  of  my  Oxford  employment :  I  got  quite  tired 
 of  the  Little-Go,  and  more  so  of  that  prince  of  absurdities 
 "  Determining," — the  very  smell  of  the  Schools  sickened 
 me ;  and  I  am  now  free  to  give  myself  up  entirely  to  my 
 profession — my  dear  delightful  profession — which  I  grow 
 fonder  of  every  day ;  and  yet  every  day  proves  to  me  what 
 a  burden  it  is,  and  how  much  remains  to  be  done  before  I 
 can  be  at  all  fit  to  bear  it.  I  need  your  prayers,  and  trust 
 I  have  them  ;  I  do  assure  you  you  are  never  forgotten  in 
 mine." 
 
 Thus  he  wrote  in  March,  18 17.  Oxford,  however, 
 retained  a  strong  hold  on  his  affections,  and  he  was 
 not  yet  to  have  done  with  her. 
 
 "Though,"  says  he,  in  Nov.  18 17,  "I  am  so  near  to 
 Oxford,  and  have  such  regular  calls  there,  in  comparison 
 
Tutorship  at  Oriel,  71 
 
 of  yours,  I  can  yet  enter  completely  into  your  feelings 
 towards  the  place :  every  time  I  go  there,  I  feel  like  a 
 miser  looking  over  his  old  chests,  and  thinking  how  much 
 money  he  has  wasted  in  his  youth  ;  the  last  time  I  was 
 there,  in  particular,  I  had  the  temptation  very  strong  upon 
 me  to  stay  and  plunge  myself  into  the  walks,  libraries,  and 
 cathedral  services  for  a  year :  but  conscience  prevailed, 
 and  I  came  back  to  the  Cotswolds." 
 
 It  was  to  be  expected,  that  if  a  vacancy  should 
 occur  in  the  Tutorships  of  Oriel,  he  would  be  called 
 on  to  fill  it ;  and  although  it  would  be  an  interruption 
 to  the  scheme  of  life  which  he  had  laid  down  for  him- 
 self, it  was  pretty  clear  to  all  who  knew  him,  that 
 coming  in  the  shape  of  a  duty,  which  he  owed  to  the 
 College  as  Fellow,  he  would  scarcely  consider  him- 
 self at  liberty  to  decline  it.  At  the  same  time,  I  may 
 observe,  the  obligations  of  a  Fellow  to  his  College 
 were  not,  at  the  period  I  speak  of,  so  strictly  regarded 
 as  I  hope  and  believe  they  now  are.  Fellowships 
 were  often  sought  after,  and  obtained  by  very  con- 
 scientious men,  merely  as  distinctions  or  as  helps  to 
 the  pursuit  of  a  profession  elsewhere ;  and  indeed, 
 unless  a  Fellow  engaged  himself  in  tuition,  or  spe- 
 cially in  some  study,  for  which  residence  in  the  Uni- 
 versity was  desirable,  there  were  not  wanting  reasons 
 enough  in  a  great  many  instances,  to  apply  to  a  Fel- 
 low the  common  saying,  that  his  room  was  more 
 desirable  than  his  company ;  there  being  a  great  de- 
 mand for  the  former,  and  the  residence  of  an  unem- 
 
72  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 ployed  young  Fellow  being  often  of  little  advantage, 
 or  even  detrimental  to  the  discipline  of  the  Under- 
 graduates. 
 
 It  was  with  mixed  feelings,  however,  and  not  with- 
 out scruple,  that  Keble  gave  up  even  for  a  time  his 
 home  and  his  curacy ;  but  he  was  the  more  easily 
 reconciled  to  this,  as  it  was  arranged  that  his  brother 
 should  take  his  place  in  both,  and  he  also  looked 
 forward  to  passing  his  vacations  principally  at  Fair- 
 ford,  and  at  all  times  still  taking  part  in  the  duties 
 of  East  Leach.  I  find  it  stated  in  Mr.  Moor's  care- 
 fully prepared  memoir,  that  he  was  appointed  Col- 
 lege Tutor  in  Michaelmas  Term,  1818,  but  I  rather 
 think  it  was  very  late  in  18 17  that  he  was  applied  to 
 to  take  the  office ;  and  that  he  was  engaged  in  the 
 regular  discharge  of  its  duties  in  the  very  beginning 
 of  1818.  On  Jan.  29  of  that  year  he  writes  to  me 
 thus,  dating  from  Fairford,  and  the  letter  will  shew 
 in  part  the  feelings  which  actuated  him  in  accepting 
 the  office. 
 
 "I  am  afraid  you  think  me  quite  an  incorrigible  fellow 
 in  the  matter  of  correspondence :  but  to  confess  the  truth 
 I  purposely  kept  from  writing  to  you  as  long  as  I  hung  in 
 doubt  about  migrating  to  Oriel;  and  by  the  time  I  had 
 made  up  my  mind,  I  was  got  into  a  bad  habit  of  not 
 writing  ;  and  I  need  not  tell  such  a  philosopher  as  you  are, 
 how  hard  it  is  to  break  bad  habits.  I  would  not  ask  your 
 advice,  whether  I  should  turn  Tutor  or  no,  because  I  knew 
 beforehand  what  it  would  be,  and  I  was  afraid,  like  Noel, 
 
Tutorship  at  Oriel.  73 
 
 jf  being  convinced  by  your  sophistry.  However,  I  might 
 just  as  well  have  done  it,  and  then  made  a  merit  of  yield- 
 ing; as  I  have  done  to  my  friends  here  and  at  Oxford. 
 I  thought  at  first  it  would  be  a  very  uncomfortable  thing  to 
 me  to  give  up  my  Cure,  and  become  an  Academic  again ; 
 but  I  get  more  and  more  reconciled  to  it  every  day.  You 
 consider  Tuition  as  a  species  of  pastoral  care,  do  you  not? 
 otherwise  it  might  seem  questionable,  whether  a  clergyman 
 ought  to  leave  a  cure  of  souls  for  it.  And  yet  there  are 
 some  people  at  Oxford  who  seem  to  imagine  that  College 
 Tutors  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  morale.  If  I  thought 
 so,  I  would  never  undertake  the  office;  but  I  feel  some 
 difficulty  in  settling  with  myself  beforehand,  how  far  one 
 ought  to  carry  one's  interference  with  the  general  con- 
 duct of  a  pupil ;  probably  it  is  impossible  to  draw  a  pre- 
 cise line." 
 
 On  March  5,  18 18,  he  dates  from  Oriel,  and  writes 
 thus : — 
 
 "Here  I  am,  regularly  re-matriculated,  and  to  say  the 
 truth,  in  many  things  as  great  a  freshman  as  ever ;  I  would 
 not  have  believed  it  on  anything  less  than  experience,  how 
 much  difference  two  or  three  years'  absence  from  a  place 
 can  make  in  one's  knowledge  of  its  ways,  and  fitness  to 
 live  in  it.  But  now  it  is  no  longer  a  wonder  to  me  that 
 old  men  should  find  so  much  difficulty  in  accommodating 
 themselves  to  new  fashions,  or  that  they  should  have  so 
 little  sympathy  with  their  juniors.  In  both  these,  as  in 
 many  other  respects,  I  seem  to  have  found  myself  much 
 older  than  I  ought  to  be.  But  perhaps  I  shall  find  the 
 work  slide  more  easily  out  of  hand,  when  I  am  a  little  more 
 used  to  it 
 
74  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 "  You  would  have  been  delighted  to  have  walked  round 
 the  Meadow  the  other  day,  and  heard  old  Dyson  discussing 
 sundry  subjects  for  sermons,  with  which  he  means  to  edify 
 his  flock.  Now  he  has  taken  in  earnest  to  Divinity,  what 
 an  admirable  divine  he  will  make.  I,  of  course,  having  just 
 left  my  parish,  envy  every  man  who  is  just  going  to  his ; 
 exactly  as  when  I  go  back  to  it  again  (which  in  process  of 
 time  I  think  not  unlikely)  I  shall  envy  every  College  Tutor ; 
 — just  as  we  are  now  regretting  the  loss  of  Davison  here, 
 having  taken  so  little  pains  to  improve  his  presence  among 
 us.  However,  I  shall  not  have  done  with  East  Leach,  in 
 all  probability,  till  October,  and  then  Tom  will  take  to  it ; 
 so  that  they  will  rather  be  gainers  than  losers  on  the  whole 
 at  our  home  by  the  change,  for  I  shall  be  there  half  the 
 year,  and  Tom  the  whole  of  it. 
 
 "I  live  in  fear  and  dread  of  some  row  about  the  first 
 clock  or  the  second,  or  some  other  rebellion  of  ancient 
 standing,  rising  up  to  push  me  from  my  stool  of  office ;  in 
 vengeance  for  the  part  I  took  (by  your  instigation,  mind) 
 in  that  '  Great  Rebellion,'  which,  as  Arnold  says,  secured 
 the  liberty  of  the  subject  at  Corpus.  But  hitherto  they 
 have  all  behaved  remarkably  well.  I  am  going  to  live  in 
 Davison's  rooms,  just  opposite  Tucker  and  Cornish.  I  only 
 hope  I  shall  not  be  practicalized  to  death. 
 
 "  You  must  not  wonder  very  much,  if  you  see  me  come 
 up  to  London  to  buy  furniture  some  time  within  the  fort- 
 night. Pray  tell  your  hatter,  when  next  you  walk  through 
 St.  James'-street  or  the  Haymarket  (I  forget  which)  to  send 
 me  a  new  hat,  moderately  fashionable,  immediately,  as  the 
 old  shovel  to  which  Patteson  paid  so  much  respect,  was 
 quite  spoiled  by  the  snow  last  Sunday  week ;  and  I  am 
 afraid  my  pupils  will  mock  me,  if  they  see  me  in  a  bad  hat. 
 The  man  has  my  measure.', 
 
Tutorship  at  Oriel.  75 
 
 Again,  on  April  30,  1818,  he  writes  from  Oriel : — 
 
 "I  rejoiced  to  hear  of  your  second  pupil — who  is  he? 
 I  hope  another  Pennington  :  and  so  the  long  old  dusky 
 desk  is  after  all  of  some  use.  I  used  to  look  at  it  with  an 
 eye  of  commiseration,  as  I  do  sometimes  at  my  Plutarch, 
 with  this  inward  cogitation :  '  Oh  that  there  were  any 
 chance  of  thy  being  of  use  to  thy  owner.'" 
 
 This  refers  to  the  present  from  Lord  Grenville, 
 which  I  have  spoken  of  before :  and  when  he  speaks 
 of  his  fears  of  death  by  the  slow  process  of  practi- 
 calization,  those  who  are  not  familiar  with  Oxford 
 should  be  told,  that  the  front  of  Corpus  faces  the 
 side  of  Oriel  in  which  his  windows  were,  the  street 
 between  being  so  narrow  that  he  was  within  point 
 blank  range  of  a  pea-shooter  or  any  other  equally 
 manly  arm  of  offence  from  the  young  Tutors  of 
 Corpus. 
 
 "Well  here  I  am  settled  after  a  manner  in  Oriel,  and 
 very  comfortable  I  find  it — not  yet  quite  so  comfortable  as 
 my  home  and  curacy:  that  was  not  to  be  expected;  but 
 I  take  to  the  work,  and  to  the  solitude,  far  more  kindly 
 than  I  expected  I  should.  We  have  a  remarkably  good 
 gentlemanly  set,  especially  of  Gentlemen-Commoners.  None 
 of  them,  except  perhaps  one  or  two,  are  great  readers,  but 
 they  nearly  all  learn  their  lectures,  and  most  of  them  are 
 very  well  behaved.  Two  of  the  best  come  to  me  as  '  pe- 
 culiar grinder'  (I  must  have  a  little  slang,  though  Davison's 
 face  should  glare  on  me  from  the  opposite  pannel),  they  are 
 Baring,  one  of  the  banker's  sons,  and  Fremantle,  a  son  of 
 the  Admiral,  delightful   fellows  both;   and  what  does  me 
 
?6  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 more  good  than  anything,  we  get  up  and  set  to  work  at 
 six  in  the  morning ;  so  that  I  can  get  everything  done  and 
 get  out  for  exercise  at  one  o'clock." 
 
 I  have  not  stinted  myself  in  the  extracts  from  these 
 letters,  because  I  am  anxious  above  all  things  to  pre- 
 sent a  true  and  minute  picture  of  Keble  in  every 
 principal  stage  of  his  life ;  his  Tutorship  at  Oriel  was 
 one  of  these,  and  his  letters  are  artless  and  uncon- 
 scious paintings  of  himself  by  himself.  I  have  not 
 therefore  withdrawn  even  so  trifling  a  matter  as  his 
 playful  allusion  to  what  he  calls  the  "Great  Rebel- 
 lion," an  almost  incredibly  childish  dispute  which 
 we  of  the  first  class  at  Corpus  had  had  with  our 
 Tutor  respecting  the  time  at  which  we  were  to 
 commence  and  end  our  lecture.  Corpus  hours  were 
 regulated  by  the  Christ  Church  clocks,  of  which 
 there  were  two,  the  one  always  five  minutes  before 
 the  other ;  and  I  think  we  earnestly  contended  and 
 thought  that  we  ought  to  begin  by  the  later,  and  end 
 by  the  earlier,  thus  effecting  a  saving  of  ten  minutes 
 in  the  hour.  It  is  amusing  now  to  think  of  Keble 
 and  Arnold  engaged  in  this  conflict ;  we  were  indeed 
 merely  great  boys  in  heart,  though  nearly  all  of  us 
 about  soon  to  win  our  places  in  the  Schools  as  First 
 Class  men.  But  though  Arnold  was  pleased  to  de- 
 clare that  we  had  secured  the  liberty  of  the  subject, 
 the  love  of  historic  truth  compels  me  to  admit,  that 
 our  excellent  Tutor,  who  preserved  his  good  humour 
 
Tutorship  at  Oriel.  77 
 
 through  the  whole,  as  indeed  did  the  rebels  also, 
 obtained  the  substantial  victory,  enforced  the  stand- 
 ard imperial  measure  for  the  hour,  and  extracted 
 from  us  a  good  sixty  minutes'  attendance.  I  have  no 
 doubt,  however,  that  in  the  commencement  of  his 
 Tutorship,  Keble — young,  modest,  and  sensitive  as 
 he  was,  and  almost  a  stranger  in  his  College — really 
 felt  some  of  the  alarm  which  he  speaks  of.  But  this 
 must  have  soon  passed  off:  he  never  repented  of 
 the  time  which  he  spent  as  Tutor  at  Oriel ;  he  felt, 
 no  doubt,  that  though  for  the  time  he  was  diverted 
 from  the  main  plan  of  his  life,  and  to  a  certain  extent 
 lost  what  he  valued  so  dearly,  the  full  care  of  his 
 curacies  and  the  society  of  home,  he  was  yet  dis- 
 charging a  duty  which  he  owed  to  his  College ;  and 
 by  the  view  he  wisely  took  of  the  nature  of  that 
 duty,  as  indicated  in  these  extracts,  the  diversion, 
 temporary  only,  was  never  a  wide  one. 
 
 He  was  cast  too  on  happy  times  for  the  performance 
 of  it ;  Oriel  then  stood  incontestably  at  the  head  of 
 the  University ;  in  spite  of  some  constitutional  infir- 
 mities, Dr.  Copleston  was  an  admirable  Head,  accurate 
 in  his  scholarship,  correct  in  his  taste,  studious  in  the 
 acquisition  of  knowledge,  impartial  in  his  discipline, 
 and,  though  last  hardly  least,  liberal  in  his  hospitality. 
 He  was,  too,  at  this  time  in  full  vigour  and  activity 
 of  mind  and  spirits,  in  the  commencement  of  his 
 career  as  Provost,  and  entering  heartily  into  all  its 
 duties.     The  rigid  impartiality  and  good  sense  with 
 
78  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 which  the  elections  to  Fellowships  were  conducted, 
 had  succeeded  in  forming  a  very  remarkable  body 
 in  the  Common -Room.  No  undue  weight  in  the 
 competition  was  given  to  the  place  which  had  been 
 acquired  in  the  Class-paper,  a  matter  on  which  good 
 fortune  in  many  ways  has,  too  often  and  yet  un- 
 avoidably, great  influence ;  but  the  Electors  steadily 
 aimed  at  finding  out  the  candidate  in  whom  appeared 
 the  happiest  combination  of  scholarship,  intellect,  and 
 character,  and  the  whole  Examination  was  conducted 
 with  this  object  in  view. 
 
 Tutors  eminent  for  ability  and  acquirements  were 
 a  natural  consequence  of  all  this  ;  and  whatever  may 
 be  said  in  disparagement  of  the  wisdom  of  parents  in 
 regard  to  the  education  of  their  children,  I  believe  no 
 attraction  to  a  College  is  found  so  invariably  strong 
 as  a  staff  of  eminent  Tutors.  All  these  circumstances 
 made  Oriel  at  this  time  the  favourite  College,  espe- 
 cially, perhaps,  for  those  who  really  desired  to  pursue 
 the  studies  of  the  University  steadily.  The  applicants 
 for  admission  were  far  beyond  the  vacancies,  so  that 
 a  selection  might  be  made  from  among  them. 
 
 It  must  not  be  supposed  that  when  Keble  speaks 
 of  having  everything  done,  and  his  going  out  for  ex- 
 ercise at  one  o'clock,  his  labours  for  the  day  were 
 over  so  early ;  he  was  diligent  in  preparing  his  lec- 
 tures, and  complains  in  some  of  his  letters  that  he 
 had  no  time  for  his  own  private  reading.  He  at- 
 tached himself  affectionately  to  his  pupils,  and  many 
 
Tutorship  at  Oriel.  79 
 
 of  them  attached  themselves  with  equal  warmth  to 
 him.  His  manner  with  them  at  lecture  was  perfectly 
 simple  and  unpretending  ;  if  he  was  ignorant  and  un- 
 able to  answer  a  question  or  explain  a  difficulty,  there 
 was  no  attempt  at  concealment ;  nor  could  any  pupil 
 fail  to  see  that  his  well-doing  was  at  least  as  great  a 
 cause  of  happiness  to  his  Tutor  as  to  himself.  Mis- 
 behaviour or  idleness,  it  was  obvious,  gave  him  sincere 
 pain.  Intimacies,  of  course,  did  not  always  grow  up 
 from  the  intercourse  of  the  pupil  room,  or  they  might 
 afterwards  cease  from  separation  and  other  causes ; 
 but  some  lifelong  friendships 'were  so  made;  one  in 
 especial  may  be  mentioned  in  a  word  even  here. 
 Baring,  of  whom  he  speaks,  (the  second  Lord  Ash- 
 burton,)  introduced  Sir  William  Heathcote  to  him, 
 of  whom,  in  a  letter  to  me  in  1821,  he  speaks  as 
 "one  of  his  greatest  comforts  at  Oxford."  Heath- 
 cote read  with  him  at  extra  hours  (as  Baring  and 
 Fremantle,  the  present  Sir  Thomas,  had  done),  and 
 the  bond  which  united  them  was  never  loosened. 
 One  fruit,  as  is  well  known,  was  his  becoming  in 
 after  life  the  Vicar  of  Hursley,  a  circumstance  which, 
 in  more  ways  than  are  at  once  apparent,  influenced 
 and  coloured  the  remainder  of  his  days. 
 
 I  had  married  later  in  the  same  year  in  which  he 
 became  Tutor,  and  was  very  soon  plunged  into  the 
 anxieties  of  a  sick  house  and  the  early  struggles 
 of  a  difficult  profession.  Our  personal  intercourse, 
 therefore,  was  very  much  interrupted,  but  our  inti- 
 
8o  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 mate  correspondence  continued.  He  had  been  of 
 course  privy  to  my  engagement,  and  watched  its 
 progress  with  affectionate  interest ;  now  my  serious 
 anxieties  caused  his  letters  to  be  more  frequent,  and 
 to  overflow  not  only  with  affectionate  sympathy,  but 
 with  the  most  wholesome  consolations.  I  shall  be 
 excused  for  making  this  short  mention  of  my  own 
 affairs  in  order  to  introduce  one  or  two  of  his  letters 
 on  these  subjects  during  this  period  of  our  lives. 
 The  manner  in  which  he  speaks  of  me  must,  of  course, 
 be  set  down  to  the  warmth  of  his  feelings.  Once  for 
 all  I  may  say  this,  and  I  do  so  most  unfeignedly; 
 I  can  neither  omit  such  passages  where  they  occur, 
 nor  alter  them  ;  they  are  interwoven  with  the  con- 
 text, and  seem  to  me  necessary  not  more  to  the 
 accuracy  of  the  extracts  than  of  the  portrait  I  seek 
 to  give  of  the  writer.  He  dates  from  Oriel  on  De- 
 cember 6,  1818  : — 
 
 "  My  dearest  Friend, 
 
 "  Edward  gave  me  an  account  the  other  day,  which  dis- 
 tressed me  a  good  deal,  of  your  Mary's  health.  I  trust 
 Dyson's  more  favourable  report  will  be  confirmed ;  com- 
 fortable man  that  he  is,  he  always  brings  cheerfulness  with 
 him.  These  occasional  illnesses  were  what  we  reckoned 
 on,  and  therefore  we  must  not  be  alarmed  unreasonably 
 when  they  do  occur.  I  know,  however,  that  come  what 
 will,  you  and  she  are  provided  with  strength  and  comfort 
 beyond  what  I  can  imagine,  Only  bear  up,  and  you  will 
 soon,  very  soon,  have  to  rejoice.     I  confess  I  am  rather 
 
Tutorsliip  at  Oriel.  8 1 
 
 glad  that  you  have  so  much  business  upon  your  hands,  as 
 it  will  force  you  to  keep  up  your  spirits  and  take  care  of 
 yourself,  a  most  essential  duty  of  a  good  nurse.  Do  not 
 trouble  yourself  about  writing  to  me,  except  you  are  quite 
 in  the  humour  for  it.     I  shall  hear  of  you  many  ways. 
 
 "  After  all,  these  anxieties  are  the  greatest  of  mercies ; 
 they  are,  I  verily  believe,  the  only  effectual  means  to  wean 
 us  from  our  idols.  We  may  make  good  resolutions,  and  do 
 much  towards  keeping  them,  but  there  is  something  so 
 subtle  and  insinuating  in  earthly  happiness  (and  the  more 
 so  in  proportion  to  its  innocence  and  purity),  that  one 
 such  pang,  or  misgiving,  as  leaves  a  lasting  impression  of  its 
 insecurity,  will  do  more  towards  lifting  our  hearts  where  they 
 ought  to  be,  than  all  that  most  of  us  could,  or  at  least  would, 
 do  for  ourselves.  At  least,  from  my  own  experience,  I  can 
 truly  say  that  I  know  I  ought  to  be  (I  am  afraid  I  am  not) 
 more  thankful  to  my  Lord  and  Master  for  His  fatherly 
 chastisements,  than  for  all  the  comforts  and  indulgences 
 He  has  aflorded  me.  My  dear  Coleridge,  do  not  imagine 
 because  I  write  in  this  strain  that  I  have  heard  any  very 
 discouraging  reports ;  but  I  have  found  so  much  comfort  in 
 some  late  instances  in  having  thoroughly  made  up  my  mind 
 to  the  worst  beforehand,  that  I  cannot  help  recommending 
 it  to  my  friends.  But  indeed  I  trust  that  your  good  and 
 happy  union  will  yet  continue  many,  many  years.  It  is 
 happy  for  you  that  I  have  it  not  in  my  power  to  ensure 
 it ;  for  it  would  certainly  be  done,  whether  for  the  better  or 
 the  worse  ;  but  I  can  pray  for  it,  and  that  I  will  with  my 
 best  endeavours,  and  so  will  they,  who  may  better  hope  to 
 be  heard,  all  your  good  and  kind  friends,  and  the  many 
 who  are  indebted  to  you  beyond  what  wealth  could  repay. 
 I  have  particularly  begged  that  Elizabeth  would  remember 
 you  both. 
 
 G 
 
82  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 "  My  dear  friend,  may  God  bless  you  for  Christ's  sake, 
 and  may  I  soon  see  you  again  all  well  and  happy.  I  shall 
 write  soon  I  hope  something  better  than  this  scrawl,  which 
 I  am  almost  afraid  to  send,  but  you  know  my  meaning. 
 Ever,  ever  yours,  J.  K." 
 
 It  will  be  well  to  conclude  this  personal  episode 
 without  interruption.  I  was  mercifully  spared  the 
 great  evil,  which  I  seemed  to  have  reason  to  fear, 
 when  he  wrote  the  last  letter;  and  in  July,  1819, 
 became  a  father,  and  some  months  of  great  happiness 
 followed  ;  but  in  April,  1820,  we  were  deprived  of  our 
 child.  Many  who  have  suffered  the  same  affliction, 
 the  loss  of  their  first  and  only  child,  will  know  how 
 bitterly  it  wounds  young  parents,  and  they  will  best 
 appreciate  the  letter  which  he  wrote  to  me  on  that 
 occasion,  and  will  thank  me,  I  believe,  for  inserting 
 it  here. 
 
 "  Oriel  College, 
 April  26,  1820. 
 
 "  My  dearest  Friend, 
 
 "  It  is  presumption  in  me,  I  know,  to  pretend  to  comfort 
 you  on  so  sad  an  occasion  as  this,  but  I  must  tell  you  truly 
 that  my  heart  bleeds  at  the  thought  of  your  loss,  though  I 
 know  it  is  absolutely  impossible  for  me  to  sympathize  with 
 you  under  it ;  but  you  have  better  comforters  who  do,  not 
 only  James  Coleridge  and  dear  John  Patteson,  but  a  more 
 effectual  one  than  either,  even  Him  who  'when  He  saw 
 a  dead  man  carried  out,  the  only  son  of  his  mother,  had 
 compassion  on  her.'     He  is  even  now  touched  with  a  feel- 
 
Tutorship  at  Oriel  83 
 
 ing  of  the  sorrow  of  heart  which  has  fallen  upon  you  and 
 your  dear  wife,  whom  God  bless,  confirm,  and  comfort  for 
 His  sake.  My  dear  friends,  think  as  little  as  you  can  of 
 yourselves,  but  think  of  the  blessed  infant  whom  you  pre- 
 sented so  few  days  ago  before  Christ  in  His  earthly  temple  ; 
 think  of  her  being  even  now  admitted  to  serve  Him  in  His 
 heavenly  temple  day  and  night,  and  knowing  and  praising 
 Him  infinitely  better  than  the  greatest  saint  on  earth  can 
 do  •  and  though  it  is  nothing  in  comparison  of  eternity,  yet 
 it  is  blessing  enough  to  assuage  your  grief,  which,  however 
 good  and  Christian,  must  confess  itself  to  be  but  earthly, 
 when  you  consider  that  your  darling  is  put  into  her  Saviour's 
 arms  so  many  years  before  the  time  that  most  of  His  ser- 
 vants are  admitted  there,  quite  safe,  quite  good,  quite  happy, 
 and,  I  dare  to  say  it,  overflowing  with  love  for  you  beyond 
 what  all  your  kindness  and  tenderness  could  have  made 
 her  comprehend  in  the  longest  life  that  parents  and  children 
 can  expect  to  enjoy  together  here.  And  although  David 
 said  his  child  could  not  return  to  him,  yet  since  we  are 
 taught  that  there  is  a  sympathy  between  Paradise  and  Earth, 
 at  least  between  the  saints  in  one  and  the  saints  in  the 
 other,  what  if  Christian  parents,  by  holy  living,  should  be 
 supposed  to  have  this  comfort  among  others,  that  their  lost 
 children  still  watch  over  them,  or  in  some  way  or  other 
 know  of  their  well-doing?  The  thought  is  not,  I  am  per- 
 suaded, unscriptural,  but  thank  God  you  have  no  need  of 
 it.  '  For  if  we  believe  that  Jesus  died  and  rose  again, 
 even  so  them  also  which  sleep  in  Jesus  will  God  bring 
 with  Him.'  You  need  not  look  farther  for  comfort  than 
 those  words.  May  He  in  whom  alone  we  can  know  com- 
 fort, make  them  and  all  other  consolations  which  His  Pro- 
 vidence has  in  store  for  you,  so  truly  comfortable  to  you, 
 that  you  shall  be  able  to  look  backward  even  to  this  sad 
 
84  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 time  with  humble  thankfulness  to  Him  for  helping  you  to 
 suffer  as  Christians ;  so  prays  from  the  bottom  of  his  heart, 
 "  Your  affectionate  friend, 
 
 "  J.  Keble. 
 
 "  If  it  will  be  any  comfort  to  you  at  all  for  me  to  come 
 up  for  a  day  or  two  I  shall  be  thankful,  and  can  do  it  with- 
 out inconvenience. 
 
 "  Tell  dear  Patteson  I  longed  to  write  to  him,  but  was 
 afraid  of  distressing  him,  not  knowing  till  I  came  back  here 
 how  graciously  he  is  upholden.  God  bless  him  and  you, 
 through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 
 
 The  message  in  the  postscript  to  my  dear  friend 
 John  Patteson,  between  whom  and  Keble  a  friendship 
 had  sprung  up,  had  reference  to  the  far  heavier  af- 
 fliction, which  but  a  little  before  had  befallen  him, 
 in  the  loss  of  his  wife. 
 
 To  return  from  this  personal  digression,  which  has 
 carried  me  out  of  the  order  of  events.  He  was  much 
 disturbed  in  the  summer  of  1819  in  the  comfortable 
 discharge  of  his  duties  as  Tutor,  by  the  alarming  ill- 
 ness of  his  brother,  on  whom,  as  I  have  said,  he  had 
 reckoned  to  supply  his  place  in  the  family  circle  and 
 in  his  parish.  Never  were  two  brothers  more  attached 
 to  each  other.  Of  the  younger,  now  the  only  sur- 
 vivor of  that  generation,  I  do  not  feel  at  liberty  to 
 say  more  than  that  from  his  great  modesty  and  re- 
 tiringness,  and  from  his  having  been  over-shadowed, 
 as  it  were,  by  his  brother's  great  reputation,  the  world 
 knows  much  less  of  him  than  in  justice  it  ought  to 
 
Tutorship  at  Oriel.  85 
 
 have  done.  In  May,  18 19,  a  severe  and  neglected 
 cold  appeared  to  have  settled  on  his  lungs.  Dr. 
 Bourne,  of  Oxford,  who  was  the  family  physician, 
 was  not  very  encouraging,  and  the  symptoms  did  not 
 for  some  time  abate  under  treatment.  Writing  to 
 Dyson  about  him,  Keble  mentions  that  there  had 
 been  a  negotiation  on  foot  for  his  becoming  one  of 
 the  Tutors  of  Corpus,  which  of  course  was  interrupted 
 by  this  illness.     He  says, — 
 
 "  I  was  afraid  this  might  have  annoyed  him  and  pressed 
 on  his  spirits,  but  I  am  glad  to  find  it  does  not.  He  is 
 perfectly  calm  and  placid,  wrapped  up  in  the  same  thoughts 
 which  I  verily  believe  have  long  taken  up  his  whole  mind, 
 for  I  know  he  does  not  expect  to  recover.  I  know  you 
 will  give  us  your  prayers,  my  dear  fellow. " 
 
 It  was  an  addition  to  Keble's  personal  trial  that  he 
 could  only  see  his  brother  from  week  to  week,  as  he 
 went  down  to  take  his  duty  for  him.  But  he  and 
 the  family  were  mercifully  spared  the  great  affliction 
 of  losing  him.  In  June  he  began  to  mend,  and  the 
 Long  Vacation  coming  on,  Keble  was  able  to  be  with 
 him,  and  regularly  supply  his  place  in  his  church. 
 All  this  he  communicated  of  course  to  me,  and  I 
 must  find  room  for  his  grateful  and  wise  reflections 
 on  the  event.  Writing  on  June  15,  1 8 19,  from  Oriel, 
 he  says, — 
 
 "  His  recovery,  amendment  I  should  say  (for  though  his 
 cough  is  much  abated  and  all  the  symptoms  far  milder,  the 
 
86  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 complaint  does  not  seem  yet  entirely  removed),  came  upon 
 me,  and  I  believe  upon  most  of  our  family,  almost  like 
 a  resurrection.  Without  saying  so  to  one  another,  I  fancy 
 we  had  almost  all  of  us  made  up  our  minds  to  the  parting ; 
 and  now  how  to  be  thankful  enough  for  so  great  a  mercy 
 as  his  being  spared  to  us  I  know  not.  The  near  prospect 
 of  so  great  a  loss  (humanly  speaking)  brought  home  to  me 
 a  lesson  which  I  have  before  now  preached  to  you,  and 
 shewed  me  how  little  used  I  was  to  practise  it  myself — 
 I  mean  the  duty  of  preparing  oneself,  by  constant  medita- 
 tion, for  all  the  worst  privations  that  can  befall  one  in  this 
 world.  My  dear  friend,  I  was  and  am  quite  ashamed  to 
 find  how  utterly  wanting  I  was  at  heart  in  what  I  have 
 been  so  long  teaching  others,  and  under  special  engage- 
 ments to  practise  myself.  However,  the  example  of  all 
 at  home,  and  particularly  that  of  Tom  himself,  who  took 
 everything  with  the  most  perfect  calmness,  did  me  a  good 
 deal  of  good,  and  I  wish  and  pray  every  day  that  all  this 
 may  not  be  lost  upon  me.  It  certainly  is,  when  we  con- 
 sider it  calmly,  and  in  any  other  case  but  our  own, — it  cer- 
 tainly is  no  more  than  plain  reason  and  common  sense  for 
 any  one,  who  believes  in  our  gracious  Master  and  His  pro- 
 mises, to  throw  his  whole  care,  both  for  himself  and  those 
 dearest  to  him,  wholly  and  entirely  upon  Him.  The  way 
 of  putting  the  thought  which  seemed  to  relieve  me  most 
 when  my  fears  were  at  worst,  and  I  was  most  tempted  to 
 set  my  heart  upon  Tom's  recovery,  was  this : — If  I  were 
 thoroughly  sure  of  his  being  restored  to  health  after  a  cer- 
 tain time,  I  should  be  most  content  and  thankful ;  now  in 
 fact  I  am  morally  sure  of  his  being  restored  to  infinitely 
 more  than  earthly  health,  though  I  do  not  exactly  know 
 the  time.  I  dwelt  upon  this  thought,  and  it  seemed  so 
 exactly  what  I  wanted,  that  I  have  just  put  it  down  for  the 
 
Tutorship  at  Oriel  Sy 
 
 chance  of  its  suggesting  something  to  you ;  though  I  well 
 know,  my  dear  friend,  that  your  griefs  are  beyond  the  skill 
 of  any  worldly  comforter,  yet  I  will  say  to  you,  '  Be  of 
 good  comfort  /  for  I  feel  that  I  have  a  right  to  do  it.  The 
 greatness  of  your  affliction,  borne  as  you  are  endeavouring 
 to  bear  it,  is  a  sure  pledge  and  proof  that  you  are  under 
 the  immediate  hand  of  Him  into  whose  hands  it  is  good 
 to  fall  because  His  mercies  are  great  You  may  apply  to 
 yourself,  or  if  you  are  afraid  of  that,  you  may  at  least  apply 
 to  the  dear  sufferer  for  whom  you  are  so  anxious,  all  those 
 great  and  glorious  promises  which  the  Scripture  holds  out 
 to  martyrs  and  confessors,  and  to  them  whose  souls  are  in 
 the  immediate  and  special  keeping  of  the  Redeemer.  What 
 would  one  not  give  to  be  quite  sure  of  this  1  and  I  verily 
 believe  there  is  nothing  which  comes  so  near  to  assuring 
 us  of  it  in  this  life  as  very  great  affliction  borne  Christianly 
 for  His  sake.  When  one  has  such  a  source  of  comfort  as 
 this,  it  is  superfluous,  at  least  it  would  be  but  for  our  frailty, 
 to  talk  of  earthly  friends ;  but  as  it  is,  the  prayers  and  good 
 wishes  of  so  many  servants  of  God  as  I  firmly  believe  inter- 
 cede for  you  and  your's  continually,  that  this  rod  may 
 either  be  speedily  removed,  or  felt  as  what  it  is  doubtless 
 meant  to  be,  a  blessing ;  here  is  another  source  of  consola- 
 tion which  may  now  and  then,  I  trust,  innocently  and  effec- 
 tually be  used  to  repress  that  feeling  of  desolation  which,  in 
 spite  of  piety  and  Christian  knowledge,  will  sometimes,  I 
 know  too  well,  intrude  itself.  But  you  have  your  comforts 
 in  yourself,  and  I  am  not  sure  whether  I  have  said  any- 
 thing to  the  purpose.  Would  that  my  prayers  for  you 
 could  make  up  for  the  deficiency  in  what  I  say  and  write 
 to  you." 
 
 In  July  it  was  still  doubtful  whether  the  Corpus 
 
88  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 scheme  for  his  brother  could  now  be  carried  into 
 effect,  but  they  were  in  hopes  it  might,  as  indeed  it 
 was  ;  and  after  discussing  this,  he  ends  a  letter  to  me, 
 of  July  7,  1 8 19,  thus  characteristically: — 
 
 "  As  for  myself,  worthy  Sir,  I  get  on  much  as  I  used  to 
 do,  always  having  a  great  load  of  things  to  do,  and  hardly 
 ever  finishing  any  thing.  Tom's  plans  of  tuition  have  set 
 us  upon  reading  together  rather  more  than  we  used  to  do, 
 which  I  find  a  great  comfort  and,  I  believe,  advantage; 
 one  thing  is  that,  in  reading  with  another,  one  cannot  stand 
 so  long  poring  over  a  passage,  doubting  whether  you  under- 
 stand it  or  no :  or  perhaps  but  half  thinking  of  it,  a  mode 
 of  wasting  time  of  which  I  profess  myself  very  guilty.  We 
 are  reading  over  the  Ethics  together,  and  I  propose  going 
 on  afterwards  to  compare  the  Stagyrite  with  Plato,  Butler, 
 Paley,  Smith,  and  others  who  have  written  more  or  less 
 systematically  on  the  subject.  I  wish  also  to  be  not  un- 
 mindful of  your  recommendation  to  acquaint  myself  better 
 with  Greek  criticism,  but  hardly  know  how  to  set  about  it. 
 I  am  reading  Sophocles  again,  and  marking  everything  that 
 strikes  me,  but  I  do  not  feel  any  improvement.  I  am  afraid 
 I  shall  always  be  <T<p6dpa  Tevrov  in  these  matters.  Luckily 
 we  have  got  one  man  in  Oriel  that  cries  '  whew'  at  a  false 
 quantity,  i.  e.  Tyler.  I  am  babbling  on,  and  not  telling  you 
 what  I  daresay  you  have  hardly  heard  yet,  that  George 
 Cornish  was  married  on  Saturday.  Tucker  and  I  took  him 
 as  far  as  Lichfield  on  his  way  into  Derbyshire,  in  doing 
 which  we  went  over  our  old  Warwickshire  tour ;  and  I  was 
 very  melancholy  at  the  thought  of  what  an  ass  I  then  made 
 of  myself;  so  to  keep  up  my  spirits  I  made  myself  twice  as 
 great  an  ass.  All  here,  Tom  especially,  desire  most  loving 
 congratulations.     Ever  most  affectionately  yours,  J.  K." 
 
Tutorship  at  Oriel.  89 
 
 His  letters  remind  me  that  in  1819  I  was  engaged 
 in  the  prosecution  of  some  of  those  libels,  which,  by 
 a  stimulating  mixture  of  profaneness  and  sedition 
 with  some  humour  and  ability,  obtained  great  circu- 
 lation at  that  period,  and  I  must  have  consulted  him 
 as  to  topics  for  the  opening  which  I  expected  to 
 devolve  on  me ;  the  trials  were  to  be  at  the  Quarter 
 Sessions :  a  part  of  his  advice  is  so  full  of  good  sense 
 and  so  characteristic,  that  I  insert  it  here :  he  dates 
 from  Fairford,  Oct.  12,  1819: — 
 
 "  Of  one  thing,  were  I  in  your  place,  I  should  be  par- 
 ticularly careful,  i.  e.  how  I  indulged  myself  too  far  in  pane- 
 gyrics on  things  as  they  are  ;  at  least  I  feel  that  were  I  on 
 a  jury,  I  should  be  much  more  likely  to  be  influenced  by 
 the  representations  of  a  man  who  seemed  to  see  and  de- 
 plore the  too  palpable  occasion  lent  by  the  conduct  of  too 
 many  Christians  and  loyalists  to  such  libels  as  these,  than 
 I  should  by  the  flaming  panegyrics  which  many  on  the 
 right  side  (e.  g.  the  '  Courier,'  and  sometimes  the  '  British 
 Critic')  are  continually  trumpeting  forth.  To  say  the  truth, 
 though  in  a  political  light  these  agitators  are  perhaps  as 
 bad  as  anything  can  well  be,  I  do  not  think  them  half 
 so  dangerous  enemies  to  religion,  i.  e.  to  the  souls  of  men, 
 as  wicked,  worldly-minded  Christians  are." 
 
 He  passed  his  Christmas  Vacation,  that  of  18 19 
 — 1820,  as  usual  at  Fairford,  and  I  have  seen  many 
 letters  which  passed  between  him  and  the  family  of 
 the  Curate  of  Fladbury,  Mr.  Pruen,  with  whom  he 
 had  become  intimate  in  the  course  of  his  visits  to  his 
 
90  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 Godfather  the  Rector.  These  shew  with  what  hearti- 
 ness he  joined  in  the  social  meetings  of  the  season, 
 kept  up  as  it  should  seem  very  genially  in  the  neigh- 
 bourhood. As  a  younger  man,  and  before  he  was  in 
 Holy  Orders,  no  one  enjoyed  a  dance  more  than  he ; 
 nor  did  he  think  it  now  at  all  unbecoming  to  take 
 his  part  in  those  which  in  truth  were  of  the  simplest 
 kind,  and  scarcely  more  than  family  reunions.  His 
 religion,  then  and  to  the  end,  was  cheerful,  as  was 
 his  natural  temperament ;  and  it  may  be  collected 
 from  his  letters  at  this  period  of  his  life  what  a  fa- 
 vourite he  was  with  young  and  old,  how  much  his 
 visits  were  courted,  and  his  friendship  valued.  I  men- 
 tion the  Pruen  family  as  an  instance ;  it  consisted  of 
 the  father  and  mother,  a  governess  as  I  collect,  and 
 a  numerous  family,  principally  girls  of  different  ages, 
 but  all  apparently  at  the  time  I  speak  of  in  the 
 school-room,  or,  as  to  one  or  two,  just  issuing  from 
 it.  Many  letters  passed  between  him  and  them,  full 
 of  merriment  and  fun,  queer  riddles,  familiar  poetry, 
 with  sometimes  graver  matters  insinuated  ;  I  do  not 
 publish  them,  and  yet  they  exhibit  in  a  lively  way 
 that  side  of  his  character,  well  known  indeed  to  those 
 who  were  intimate  with  him,  but  of  which  those  who 
 only  knew  him  at  a  distance,  or  by  his  writings,  or 
 later  in  life,  can  scarcely  be  aware.  Somehow,  as 
 life  advanced  on  both  sides,  and  graver  interests 
 absorbed  him,  the  intercourse  between  him  and  the 
 members  of  this  family  appears  to  have  ceased,  but 
 
Tutorship  at  Oriel.  9T 
 
 not  the  kindly  feeling.  It  was  when  he  was  at  Bourne- 
 mouth, in  the  last  illness  of  himself  and  Mrs.  Keble, 
 that  one  of  his  former  young  friends,  Margaret  Pruen, 
 who  had  married  and  I  believe  become  a  widow, 
 wrote  to  him  from  Torquay ;  I  do  not  know  the 
 subject  of  her  letter,  it  was  probably  to  inquire 
 about  his  health,  and  to  remind  him  of  old  times 
 and  old  feelings ;  I  cannot  forbear  to  print  the  an- 
 swer which  he  wrote :  the  writing  is  in  a  very  feeble 
 hand,  a  sad  contrast  to  the  firm  and  distinct  cha- 
 racter of  the  letters  from  which  I  have  hitherto  been 
 quoting :  it  may  seem  a  sad,  yet  it  is  a  very  soothing 
 
 close  to  the  correspondence  : — 
 
 "  Bournemouth, 
 Jan.  17,  1866. 
 "My  dear  Margaret, 
 "  For  why  should  I  not  speak  as  in  the  old  times  which 
 you  so  kindly  remember?  you  put  me  to  shame  by  your 
 kind,  long  letter,  long,  I  mean,  in  comparison  of  what  I  can 
 write ;  and  by  your  affectionate  remembrance  of  one  who 
 has  somehow  been  drawn  so  far  away  from  you  all.  It  is 
 too  good  of  you,  but  to  me  refreshing,  to  have  such  a  report 
 of  your  dear  sister  and  the  rest  who  are  left  you.  I  thank 
 you  for  it ;  and  all  of  you,  in  sight  and  out  of  sight,  I  thank, 
 for  your  constant  kindness  with  all  my  heart,  and  trust  to 
 be  remembered  by  you  at  this  time,  especially  then  when  we 
 all  wish  most  to  be  remembered.  For  my  dear  wife's  long 
 trial  of  illness  seems  now  to  be  approaching  its  end;  we  came 
 here  in  October,  being  obliged  to  go  somewhere,  and  she 
 feeling  herself  unequal  to  the  journey  further  west,  and  she 
 certainly  gains  no  strength  :  but  thanks  be  to  God,  as  far 
 as  health  allows,  she  is  bright  and  cheerful  as  ever,  and 
 
92  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 takes  all  her  old  interest  in  things.  I  send  her  kind  love 
 with  my  own.  I  cannot  write  more  at  present ;  except  that 
 I  am  very  sorry  to  hear  of  Henry's  painful  complaint,  and 
 not  a  little  ashamed  to  think  of  my  Godson,  and  how  I  have 
 neglected  him  all  this  time.  I  yet  hope  we  may  have  some 
 communication,  although  my  chance  of  it,  humanly  speak- 
 ing, is  fast  lessening :  however,  assure  him  of  my  constant 
 remembrance  of  him.  What  you  say  of  your  dear  Anne's 
 gentleness,  and  loving  simple  ways,  brings  her  back  to  me 
 as  I  could  wish,  and  so  does  the  place  about  Fladbury 
 churchyard. 
 
 "  God  grant  us  all,  how  unworthy  soever  some  of  us  may 
 now  feel  ourselves,  a  happy  meeting  in  the  end ! 
 
 "  I  am  always,  my  dear  friend, 
 "  Affectionately  yours, 
 
 "J.  Keble." 
 
 "  To  Mrs.  Billamore, 
 "6,  Scarborough-terrace,  Torquay. 
 
 It  was  at  the  Oxford  Commemoration  of  1820 
 that  Southey  revisited  the  University ;  he  had  at 
 that  time  effectively  overcome  the  prejudices  which 
 political  differences,  and  the  clever  hostility,  miscalled 
 criticism,  of  the  "Edinburgh  Review,"  and  it  must 
 be  confessed  some  of  his  own  peculiarities,  had  raised 
 against  his  literary  reputation.  His  merits  as  a  poet, 
 historian,  and  essayist,  were  now  fairly  appreciated, 
 and  the  many,  who  approached  him  at  all  nearly, 
 were  enthusiastic  in  the  admiration  of  the  purity  of 
 his  character,  and  the  generous  geniality  of  his  na- 
 ture. I  think  I  have  mentioned  elsewhere  that  I  had 
 been  the  means  of  making  him  known  as  a  writer 
 
Tutorship  at  Oriel.  93 
 
 to  Keble  in  the  early  days  of  our  friendship.  I  had 
 now  the  good  fortune  of  being  able  to  make  them 
 personally  known  to  each  other ;  Southey  was  much 
 pleased  with  Keble  :  writing  to  me  a  few  days  after 
 upon  another  matter  which  interested  us  all  three  very 
 deeply,  he  says  shortly :  "  All  that  Keble  says  upon 
 the  subject  is  full  of  kindness  and  right  feeling,  and 
 would  make  me  think  more  highly  of  the  writer  than 
 I  did  before,  if  that  had  been  easy."  Keble  wrote  of 
 him,  to  me  and  to  Dyson,  at  greater  length  ;  his  re- 
 marks in  both  are  striking,  and  I  will  subjoin  them 
 here : — 
 
 "  My  dear  John  Coleridge, 
 "  Many  thanks  to  you  for  this  new  and  great  kindness  of 
 making  me  acquainted  with  Southey  :  for  I  owe  it  entirely 
 to  you.  He  is  indeed  a  noble  and  delightful  character, 
 and  I  hope  to  be  the  better  all  my  life  for  what  I  have 
 seen  of  him  and  heard  from  him.  Luckily  for  me  (though 
 I  am  afraid  rather  irksomely  for  him)  he  has  hardly  any  ac- 
 quaintance resident  in  Oxford,  having  completely  out-lived 
 all  his  old  contemporaries,  so  that  I  had  a  good  deal  of 
 him  to  myself:  and  that  was  indeed  delightful.  Whatever 
 his  notions  may  have  been,  and  however  incautiously  he  may 
 have  sometimes  expressed  himself,  I  am  satisfied  his  notions 
 are  now  as  nearly  correct,  meaning  by  'correct,'  agree- 
 able to  my  own,  both  in  religion  and  politics,  as  almost 
 any  of  theirs  whom  one  most  loves  and  trusts  in.  The 
 only  thing  which  seems  to  me  wrong  in  them,  is  a  disposi- 
 tion which  I  sometimes  fancy  I  observe  in  him,  and  which 
 is  common  to  him  with  three-fourths  of  the  orthodox  men 
 in  the  kingdom,  to  confound  the  two  together :  I  mean,  to 
 
94  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 deal  politically  with  the  Church  and  religion.  His  recep- 
 tion in  the  Theatre  was  most  flattering :  not  one  of  all  the 
 party,  except  Lord  Hill,  received  anything  like  the  same 
 share  of  applause.  In  the  evening  he  had  an  invitation 
 from  the  College  to  dine  in  Balliol  Hall.  Reginald  Heber, 
 Miller,  and  Milman  were  there,  and  Noel  Ellison  was  de- 
 lightful :  I  have  never  seen  four  such  men  together  in  my 
 life  before.  Copleston  wanted  him  to  dine  with  him  on 
 Thursday,  but  he  was  obliged  to  leave  us,  to  my  sorrow, 
 and  left  a  most  excellent  name  behind  him,  for  his  kind 
 and  unassuming  manners,  with  every  one  who  had  been  in 
 his  company  for  five  minutes." 
 
 Writing  to  Dyson,  he  says  : — 
 
 "I  had  the  great  delight  this  last  Commemoration  of 
 being  introduced  to  the  two  public  characters,  whom  of  all 
 others  I  should  rather  wish  to  know,  Southey  and  Reginald 
 Heber.  I  liked  both  exceedingly,  but  Heber  decidedly 
 best:  he  is  so  remarkably  unaffected  in  his  manner;  I 
 watched  him  all  the  time  they  were  performing  '  Palestine1 
 in  the  Theatre,  and  he  did  not  attitudinize  in  the  least,  nor 
 seem  conscious  of  being  the  chief  character  in  the  room ; 
 and  then  his  style  of  conversation  is  so  particularly  kind 
 and  hearty.  Southey  has  a  good  deal  of  the  same  excel- 
 lencies ;  but  he  gives  you  the  idea  of  a  man  forbearing  to 
 display  himself,  Heber  of  one  into  whose  head  no  such 
 thing  ever  entered.  Nevertheless  Southey  quite  made  good 
 his  ground  in  my  favour,  more  completely  a  good  deal  than 
 I  had  expected.  He  is  now  an  orthodox  man,  and  the 
 faults  of  his  views  in  ecclesiastical  matters  are,  as  far  as 
 I  could  judge  from  what  he  said,  the  faults  into  which  such 
 persons  are  most  apt  to  fall — making  religion  too  much 
 a  matter  of  politics — and  the  like." 
 
Tutorship  at  Oriel.  95 
 
 Personal  comparisons  are  too  often  made  in  igno- 
 rance or  forgetfulness  of  the  differing  circumstances 
 under  which  individuals  present  themselves  for  con- 
 sideration, and  I  cannot  but  think  that  for  some  such 
 reasons  my  dear  friend,  in  this,  did  a  little  injustice 
 to  Robert  Southey.  Heber  was  then  comparatively 
 a  young  man,  quite  at  home  in  Oxford,  an  Oxonian  of 
 the  day,  in  a  position  perfectly  secure,  in  a  place  where 
 he  was  most  justly  and  universally  popular,  in  the  scene 
 of  all  his  successes  and  triumphs,  surrounded  by  the 
 friends  of  his  own  day — the  only  novel  circumstance  of 
 the  hour  was,  that  he  was  present  when  his  own  poem 
 was  performed  as  an  Oratorio,  in  the  place  where  he 
 but  a  few  years  before  had  recited  it  as  a  Prize :  it 
 would  be  undervaluing  so  good  and  great  a  man  to 
 think  there  was  anything  intoxicating  in  all  this,  any- 
 thing to  disturb  the  calmness  of  a  really  modest  man. 
 Southey  was  a  much  older  man,  an  Oxonian  of  a  day 
 long  past,  who  had  had  to  win  his  position  in  the 
 world,  fighting  his  way  step  by  step  against  opposi- 
 tion fair  and  unfair,  through  poverty  and  hardship, 
 in  spite  of  ridicule,  obloquy,  slander,  and  neglect — 
 slowly  he  had  gained  a  great  one  :  and  where  was  he 
 when  Keble  met  him  ?  at  Oxford,  which  had  been 
 no  scene  of  success  or  credit  to  him  as  a  student, 
 which  he  had  left  without  a  degree  in  youth,  where 
 he  found  no  contemporary  friend,  where  he  was  now 
 for  the  first  time  returning  in  mature  age,  to  receive 
 all  the  honour  it  could  bestow — at  the  susrjjestion  it 
 
g6  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 should  seem  of  the  very  party,  which  had  never 
 cheered  him  in  his  struggles,  nor  been  over  for- 
 ward to  greet  him  in  his  success.  Did  not  these 
 circumstances  tend  to  provoke  somewhat  of  self- 
 assertion  ?  did  they  not  moreover  irresistibly  sug- 
 gest recollections  and  thoughts  calculated  to  turn 
 his  thoughts  inwards,  and  to  raise  somewhat  dis- 
 turbing feelings  ?  When  I  asked  myself  this  question, 
 I  naturally  turned  to  his  letters ;  there  will  be  found 
 in  the  fifth  volume  of  his  son's  Memoirs  of  him,  two 
 letters,  one  a  playful  account  of  the  whole  visit  written 
 to  his  three  daughters,  the  other,  which  follows  imme- 
 diately, to  Neville  White  ;  they  are  at  pages  38  and  41. 
 There  will  be  seen,  by  the  last,  a  little  of  what  was 
 passing  in  his  mind  at  the  time.  I  know  that  the  first, 
 perhaps  in  general  the  abiding  and  not  unnatural,  im- 
 pression as  to  Southey  was  and  is,  that  he  was  a  vain 
 man  ;  like  the  great  Roman  Orator  and  Philosopher, 
 he  was  a  man  of  great  ability,  and  remarkable  in- 
 dustry, and  he  knew  it ;  he  knew  what  he  could  have 
 done,  if  he  had  been  blessed  with  more  independent 
 means,  and  he  knew  the  value  of  what  he  had  ac- 
 tually done  ;  and  it  is  neither  wonderful  nor  unpardon- 
 able, if  such  a  man,  when  critics  and  wits  have  been 
 for  years  sneering  at  him,  and  thwarting  his  efforts, 
 should  acquire  somewhat  of  a  habit  of  thinking  and 
 saying  what,  as  coming  from  himself,  seem  great 
 things  of  those  efforts  and  their  results.  One  thing 
 let  me  observe,  a  more  generous  soul  never  existed  ; 
 
Tutorship  at  Oriel.  97 
 
 generous  of  his  money  when  he  had  it,  generous 
 always  of  his  time  which  was  to  him  money,  yet 
 who  ever  heard  him  breathe  a  syllable  of  self- 
 applause  on  this  ? 
 
 I  must  add  the  short  passage,  which  I  spoke  of,  in 
 the  letter  to  Neville  White,  and  hope  to  be  forgiven 
 for  a  digression,  extorted  from  me  by  a  sense  of 
 justice,  not  less  than  by  sincere  gratitude  for  much 
 and  most  valuable  kindness  shewn  to  myself  when 
 I  needed  it  much. 
 
 "  My  visit  to  Oxford  brought  with  it  feelings  of  the  most 
 opposite  kind.  After  the  exhibition  in  the  Theatre,  and  the 
 collation  in  Brasenose  Hall  given  by  the  Vice-Chancellor, 
 I  went  alone  into  Christ  Church  walks,  where  I  had  not 
 been  for  six  and  twenty  years.  Of  the  friends  with  whom 
 I  used  to  walk  there,  many  (and  among  them  some  of  the 
 dearest)  were  in  their  graves.  I  was  then  inexperienced, 
 headstrong,  and  as  full  of  errors  as  of  youth  and  hope  and 
 ardour.  Through  the  mercy  of  God,  I  have  retained  the 
 whole  better  part  of  my  nature,  and  as  for  the  lapse  ot 
 years,  that  can  never  be  a  mournful  consideration  to  one 
 who  hopes  to  be  ready  for  a  better  world,  whenever  his 
 hour  may  come.     God  bless  you.  R.  S." 
 
 Through  life  a  tour  in  the  country  was  among 
 Keble's  most  pleasurable  indulgences,  and  his  posi- 
 tion at  Oriel  now  making  him  more  at  ease  in  his 
 circumstances,  he  seems  usually  to  have  devoted 
 a  part  of  the  Long  Vacation  to  a  ramble,  often  alone, 
 and  often  making  a  circuit  among  his  old  Oxford  in- 
 timates retired  into  the  country.     Thus  I  find  him  in 
 
 H 
 
gS  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble, 
 
 Worcestershire,  and  at  Lichfield  in  1 8 19,  in  the  sum- 
 mer. My  manuscript  copy  of  the  exquisite  stanzas 
 "on  a  monument  in  Lichfield  Cathedral"  is  dated 
 July  22,  1 8 19.  No  one  who  has  read  them  can 
 doubt  that  they  were  suggested  by  a  sight  of  the 
 monument,  and  probably  commenced  on  the  spot. 
 My  copy  I  may  say  has  but  a  few  verbal  differ- 
 ences from  the  copy  which  is  printed  in  "Church 
 Poetry,"  p.  301,  but  it  wants  one  stanza,  so  necessary 
 almost  to  the  completeness  of  the  Poem,  that  I  sup- 
 pose I  must  have  omitted  it  through  carelessness. 
 In  return,  mine  has  four  stanzas  at  the  close,  sepa- 
 rated by  a  few  crosses,  and  with  a  very  slight  varia- 
 tion in  the  metre;  these  are  addressed  to  himself. 
 The  variation  is  produced  by  lengthening  the  fourth 
 line  of  each  stanza,  and  is  not  a  very  happy  one  ;  and 
 judgment  was  shewn  in  printing  the  poem  without 
 them  ;  at  the  same  time,  they  are  characteristic  of  the 
 man,  and  represent,  I  have  no  doubt  accurately,  the 
 humble  application  to  himself,  which  he  would  make 
 on  such  an  object  before  him,  and  such  a  train  of 
 thought  as  he  had  indulged  in.  It  was  no  less  cha- 
 racteristic to  keep  from  the  public  this  application. 
 
 In  September,  1820,  he  made  a  longer  tour,  and 
 visited  Ellison  at  his  living  of  Whalton  in  North- 
 umberland, and  Davison  at  his  of  Washington  in  the 
 county  of  Durham ;  these  places  he  made  centres 
 for  riding  excursions  to  the  objects  of  interest  in  the 
 neighbourhood,   among   them    not    forgetting    Stan- 
 
Tutorship  at  Oriel.  99 
 
 hope,  the  residence  for  many  years  of  Bishop  Butler. 
 Then  coming  south,  he  visited  Dyson  at  Nunburn- 
 holme.  His  journey  homeward  he  shall  tell  himself, 
 as  he  described  it  in  a  letter  to  Dyson  from  Fair- 
 ford,  of  September  n,  1820. 
 
 "Perhaps  you  will  like  to  have  some  account  of  my 
 journey.  I  got  safe  home — that  you  know  from  the  date 
 of  this — and  you  know  from  Penrose  that  I  staid  at  Fled- 
 borough  by  the  way — but  you  do  not  know  that  I  waited 
 at  Hayton  half  an  hour  for  the  Coach ;  you  do  not  know 
 that  I  travelled  to  York  holding  a  drunken  sailor  by  the 
 button,  lest  he  should  tumble  off ;  and  you  cannot  possibly 
 have  the  least  idea  of  my  delight,  when  I  found  myself  in 
 the  Minster  at  sunset  that  most  gorgeous  evening;  no, 
 your  low  mind,  debased  by  immoderate  indulgence  in  Pock- 
 lington  biscuits  and  the  vulgar  smell  of  sweet-peas,  cannot 
 enter  into  pleasures  of  so  high  a  kind.  In  good  earn- 
 est I  reckoned  myself  particularly  fortunate  in  my  view 
 of  the  Minster :  I  spent  two  or  three  hours  there,  and 
 could  hardly  find  anything  to  damp  my  enjoyment.  My 
 coffee  house  companion  was  Sir  Thomas  Bernard's  l  Com- 
 forts of  Old  Age,'  a  very  proper  book  for  persons  of  a  cer- 
 tain time  of  life,  and  very  useful  to  me ;  as,  though  there 
 were  abundance  of  persons  in  the  room,  none  of  them 
 seemed  disposed  to  take  much  notice  of  me,  and  I  was  too 
 shy  (you  know  my  usual  amiable  diffidence)  to  make  the 
 first  advances.  The  night  journey  was  an  interchange  of 
 sleeping  and  grumbling,  with  a  little  sickliness  now  and 
 then,  by  way  of  variety,  on  the  part  of  some  of  my  fellow- 
 travelleresses.  So  you  may  believe  that  I  was  not  sorry 
 iwhen  it  was  light,  and  I  could  see  the  pleasant  country 
 to  the    north  of  Doncaster,  and  the  town  of  Doncaster 
 
1 00  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 itself,  at  the  elegance  of  which  I  was  quite  surprised.  But 
 it  was  still  pleasanter  to  enter  upon  the  rich  vale  of  Trent  • 
 and  pleasantest  of  all  to  discern  Penrose's  face,  half-grin- 
 ning, half-business-like,  waiting  for  me  in  a  gig,  at  the 
 place  and  time  appointed.  Right  glad  was  I  to  find  my- 
 self snug  under  another  parsonage  roof,  and  to  become 
 acquainted  with  his  family,  who  seem  as  well  suited  to 
 their  situation,  and  it  to  them,  as  any  group  I  ever  beheld. 
 I  cannot  conceive  how  Arnold  could  have  the  heart  to 
 disturb  such  a  family  party  by  taking  one  away.  I  find 
 by  a  letter  which  I  received  yesterday  from  Penrose,  that 
 he  has  been  paying  you  a  flying  visit.  For  this  I  take 
 some  credit  to  myself,  having  taken  some  pains  to  assure 
 him  how  glad  you  would  be  to  have  him  there.  He  main- 
 tains that  yours  is  a  more  retired  place  than  Fledborough  : 
 but  this  cannot  be,  because  you  know  there  is  a  road 
 through  Nunbumholme  to  Warter ;  whereas  you  have  heard 
 of  the  finger-post  'to  Fledborough  and  no  farther.'  Not 
 but  that  I  contrived  to  get  farther;  for.  under  Penrose's 
 able  steerage  I  made  my  way  to  Lincoln,  criticised  the 
 in-,  and  admired  the  out-side  of  the  Cathedral  as  busily 
 as  I  could  for  two  hours.  I  really  think,  on  the  whole 
 I  prefer  the  latter  to  that  at  York  ;  but  the  inside  architec- 
 ture will  not  bear  a  comparison ;  if  indeed  one  can  judge 
 fairly  of  it,  now  it  is  so  disfigured  by  yellow  wash,  and  plain 
 glass  where  painted  was  evidently  intended.  I  went  up  to 
 the  top  of  the  lantern  tower,  and  was  particularly  pleased 
 with  the  view  of  the  city,  with  its  profusion  of  ruins  scat- 
 tered about  it.  I  like  the  country  for  a  reason  more  sen- 
 timental than  picturesque — namely,  that  I  think  it  like  my 
 own.  Having  enjoyed  myself  for  exactly  a  week,  I  set  out 
 on  the  Friday  morning  by  the  mail  for  London,  and  got 
 into  the  Great  City  just  in  time  to  mount  a  Stroud  coach, 
 
Tutorship  at  Oriel.  101 
 
 which  set  me  down  at  papa's  door  about  six  in  the  after- 
 noon of  Saturday." 
 
 In  July,  1822,  he  made  a  tour  of  visits,  which  took 
 in  the  Millers  at  Bockleton  in  Worcestershire,  and  his 
 old  friend,  a  former  curate  of  Fairford,  Mr.  Richards, 
 then  residing  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Aberystwith. 
 Writing  to  Cornish  from  Malvern,  on  July  8,  which 
 he  said  he  had  reached,  being  on  a  voyage  of  dis- 
 covery, i.e.  searching  out  the  nearest  way  from  Fair- 
 ford  to  Bockleton,  he  continues  thus  : — 
 
 "  Malvern, 
 July  8,  1822. 
 "  I  wish  you  had  been  with  me  on  the  hill  just  now,  and 
 then  I  should  not  have  gone  to  sleep  in  a  sort  of  cave, 
 which  they  have  cut  out,  looking  all  over  Herefordshire, 
 with  a  telescope  in  my  hand,  reading  Spenser.  Do  you 
 know  the  '  Shepherd's  Calendar  ?'  I  think  you  did  not  use  to 
 know  it,  for  you  did  not  use  to  quote  it,  which  you  cer- 
 tainly would.  What  a  delightful  feel  it  is  to  sit  under  the 
 shelter  of  one  of  the  rocks  here,  and  hear  the  wind  sweep- 
 ing with  that  peculiar  kind  of  strong  moaning  sigh,  which 
 it  practises  on  the  bent  grass.  I  daresay  you  have  marked 
 it  100  times;  but  I  was  never  so  much  struck  with  it  as 
 this  evening.  And  what  an  air  of  sanctity  the  church  gives 
 to  the  place.  I  pick  out  spots  (luckily  the  trees  and  houses 
 are  so  grouped  that  there  are  a  good  many)  where  one 
 quite  loses  every  thing  smart  and  townish,  and  then  I  quite 
 enjoy  it;  more  I  think  now  than  when  I  was  here  before. 
 I  was  not  alone,  but  with  Rickards,  who  was  bent  on  visit- 
 ing rather  than  scenery,  and  in  love  besides;   and  when 
 
102  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 a  man  is  in  love,  you  know  he  is  a  terrible  touring  com- 
 panion to  all  the  world,  but  one." 
 To  G.  J.  C. 
 
 I  insert  this  extract  not  merely  for  the  amusing  con- 
 trast which  it  presents  between  the  Malvern  of  1822, 
 and  the  Malvern  of  1867,  but  for  the  passage  about 
 the  bent  grass,  which  is  reproduced  in  the  beautiful 
 verses  on  the  Twentieth  Sunday  after  Trinity,  which 
 Robertson  of  Brighton  liked  the  best  of  all  in  "  The 
 Christian  Year  "  : — 
 
 " .  .  .  .  The  fitful  sweep 
 Of  winds  across  the  steep, 
 Through  wither'd  bents — romantic  note  and  clear, 
 Meet  for  a  hermit's  ear." 
 
 In  these  years  there  is  no  doubt  that  he  was 
 gradually  composing  the  work,  and  these  solitary 
 tours  (for  he  seems  most  often  to  have  wandered  alone, 
 leaving  his  brother  to  take  his  place  at  home)  were 
 certainly  favourable  to  such  occupation.  The  dates 
 of  such  poems  of  "  The  Christian  Year"  as  I  have  in 
 my  manuscript  books,  are  in  1 8 19,  and  in  1822. 
 
 In  1 82 1  Keble  again  accepted  the  office  of  Ex- 
 amining Master,  and  continued  to  serve  until  the 
 Easter  of  1823  inclusive;  but  he  was  sighing  for 
 a  return  to  his  home  and  curacy. 
 
 "  We  here  at  Oxford,"  says  he  in  a  letter  in  the  spring  of 
 J823>  "g°  on  much  as  usual,  criticizing   sermons,  eating 
 
Resigns  Tutorship.  103 
 
 dinners,  and  laughing  at  Buckland  and  Shuttleworth.  I  feel 
 as  if  I  should  be  very  glad  to  get  away  to  some  country 
 curacy,  and  yet  I  distrust  my  own  powers  of  making  good 
 company  from  myself  too ;  but  really  a  man  ought  to  be 
 able  to  do  so,  and  one  should  hope  one  might  never  be 
 quite  too  old  to  learn  that  lesson." 
 
 Partly  I  suppose  from  this  feeling  he  appears  to 
 have  entertained  a  notion  about  this  time  of  ac- 
 cepting a  very  small  living  in  the  gift  of  the  Col- 
 lege, Coleby  in  Lincolnshire.  This,  however,  came  to 
 nothing,  and  the  living  was  ultimately  bestowed  on 
 his  and  my  friend  Trevenen  Penrose,  who  passed  the 
 remainder  of  his  life  there,  protracted  to  a  good  old 
 age,  in  the  most  exemplary  discharge  of  his  duty. 
 
 The  Tutorship,  however,  he  resigned  at  the  end 
 of  Hilary  Term  in  that  year,  and  the  death  of  his 
 mother  in  May  brought  his  residence  in  College 
 to  a  close  also ;  he  had  gone  down  to  Fairford  on 
 Saturday  in  each  week  as  usual,  and  each  time  found 
 her  decline  more  decided.  On  Saturday,  May  10,  on 
 his  arrival  he  found  her  so  much  worse,  that  it  was 
 clear  her  end  was  approaching,  and  she  died  very 
 early  on  Sunday  morning. 
 
 "I  found,"  says  he,  writing  to  me  on  the  13th,  "they 
 were  expecting  her  release  every  moment :  and  at  4  o'clock 
 on  Sunday  morning  I  may  literally  say  she  fell  asleep,  for 
 never  did  I  see  such  perfect,  such  dovelike  calmness — not 
 that  I  was  by  her  at  the  time.     Mary  Anne  was  the  only 
 
1 04  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 one  of  us  who  had  that  happiness,  for  she  had  had,  from 
 extreme  weakness,  two  or  three  nervous  or  hysterical  spasms 
 in  the  course  of  the  preceding  day,  and  it  was  judged  better 
 for  us  to  keep  at  a  distance  unless  she  asked  for  us.  I  lay 
 down  in  my  clothes  thinking  she  might  do  so,  but  she  did 
 not ;  so  the  last  time  I  spoke  to  her  was  last  Wednesday. 
 But  I  thought  I  never  saw  anything  so  like  an  angel  as  that 
 dear  Mary  Anne  when  she  waked  me  on  Sunday  morning 
 to  tell  me  that  mamma  was  just  gone  so  sweetly,  with 
 hardly  a  sigh.  One  is  apt  to  think  too  much  of  such 
 things,  which  are  but  trifles  after  all,  in  comparison  of  the 
 change  to  which  they  lead;  but,  upon  earth,  I  can  hardly 
 conceive  a  more  speaking  call  for  thankfulness  than  for 
 one's  dearest  relations  to  be  allowed  to  glide  in  such  a  way, 
 without  pain,  disturbance,  or  wandering  of  mind,  just  out 
 of  sight  into  Paradise.  You  will  pray  for  us,  my  dear 
 friend,  and  dear  Mrs.  Coleridge  will,  too,  that  we  may  be 
 something  like  thankful  enough  for  it :  duly  thankful  we 
 never  can  be.  .  .  .  As  they  were  all  so  well  at  Fairford,  it 
 was  judged  best  for  me  to  come  back  and  get  through  my 
 business  here." 
 
 Writing  from  Oriel  at  the  same  time  to  Dyson, 
 he  says : — 
 
 "  I  meet  with  so  much  kindness  here,  and  feel  so  certain, 
 thank  God,  of  their  being  comfortable  at  home,  that  it  is 
 not  at  all  irksome  to  me,  at  least  not  painfully  so,  as  I 
 should  have  fancied  it  beforehand  if  anyone  had  told  me. 
 As  far  as  I  can  judge,  the  only  real  bitterness  in  parting 
 from  dear  friends  is  having  to  recollect  how  much  one  has 
 failed  in  one's  duty  to  them;  but  it  will  not  do  to  talk 
 of  that." 
 
Death  of  Mrs.  Keble.  1 05 
 
 I  have  made  these  extracts  because  they  are  at 
 once  characteristic  and  instructive.  Mrs.  Keble  was 
 the  object  of  the  most  tender  affection  to  every 
 member  of  the  family,  and  to  no  one  of  it  more  so 
 than  to  her  son  ;  yet  he  not  only  writes  thus  of  his 
 father,  sister,  and  brother,  but  was  himself  able  to 
 leave  home  as  usual  on  Monday  morning,  and  go 
 through  his  work  in  the  Schools,  returning  only  on 
 Saturday  to  the  funeral.  The  truth  is  that  his  faith, 
 and  I  have  no  doubt  theirs,  was  sincere  and  practical ; 
 I  never  could  find  in  him,  when  he  lost  the  dearest 
 objects  on  earth,  any  sign  of  bittter  sorrow  as  without 
 hope ;  he  had  no  dread  of  death  for  the  good,  he 
 perfectly  realized  the  blessedness  of  the  change  for 
 them,  and  he  looked  forward  cheerfully  and  humbly 
 to  a  re-union.  It  was,  too,  a  part  of  his  practical 
 belief  that  even  now  the  separation  was  not  absolute ; 
 it  was  not  merely  in  poetry  that  he  expressed,  more 
 than  once,  this  cheering  thought.  It  appears  again 
 and  again  in  his  letters  at  different  periods  of  his  life. 
 Writing  of  a  deceased  sister  he  says, — 
 
 "  For  well  I  guess,  and  oft  my  spright 
 Holds  tearful  triumph  in  the  dream, 
 That  when  Religion's  holy  light 
 
 Guides  me  with  pure  and  placid  gleam ; — 
 
 "  When  I  do  good,  and  think  aright, 
 At  peace  with  man,  resigned  to  God, 
 Thou  look'st  on  me  with  eye  of  light, 
 Tasting  new  joy  in  joy's  abode. 
 
106  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 "  But  in  my  dark  and  evil  hour, 
 
 When  wan  despair  mine  eyelids  seals, 
 When  worldly  passions  round  me  lower, 
 And  all  the  man  corruption  feels ; 
 
 "  Thou  turnest  not  thine  eyes  below, 
 Or  clouds  of  glory  beam  between, 
 Lest  earthly  pangs  of  fear  or  woe 
 Upon  an  angel's  brow  be  seen." 
 
 It  was  thus  he  answered  the  difficulty  which 
 troubles  so  many  in  believing  that  departed  saints 
 retain  a  perception  of  the  goodness  and  happiness 
 of  those  whom  they  have  left  behind.  I  do  not  mean, 
 of  course,  that  he  had  shaped  this  out  to  his  own 
 mind  as  a  certain  truth  ;  but  I  have  no  doubt  that  he 
 believed,  so  as  practically  to  draw  consolation  from  it 
 under  bereavement,  that  the  blessed  in  the  interme- 
 diate state  retained  some  knowledge  of  things  on  earth, 
 some  interest  in  those  who  survived  ;  believing  this, 
 he  of  course  believed  that  Our  Father  would  have 
 His  way,  unknown  to  us,  perhaps  inconceivable  by 
 us,  of  so  regulating  that  knowledge,  that  though  it 
 might,  on  the  one  hand,  increase,  it  should  never  be 
 allowed,  on  the  other,  to  abate  their  blessedness ;  and 
 what  that  way  might  be,  he  would  not  even  shadow 
 out  to  himself  but  dimly,  and  as  it  were  sugges- 
 tively or  alternately.  Speaking  in  poetry  on  such 
 a  subject  he  would  feel  under  as  much  restraint  sub- 
 stantially as  if  he  were  writing  in  prose.     But  I  feel 
 
Death  of  Mrs.  Keble.  107 
 
 sure  that  he  thought  the  belief  warranted  and  not 
 unscriptural,  used  it  for  himself  as  consolatory,  and 
 did  not  scruple  to  recommend  it  to  others.  The 
 exquisite  poem  in  the  Lyra  Innocentium,  entitled 
 "  Bereavement, — Children's  Troubles,  8,"  expounds 
 it  very  touchingly. 
 
 Thus  ended  his   permanent   and  official  residence 
 at  Oxford. 
 
 . 
 
CHAPTER   VI. 
 
 RETURN   TO  FAIRFORD,    1 823. — SOUTHROP. — PUPILS. 
 — HURRELL  FROUDE. — "CHRISTIAN  YEAR." 
 
 KEBLE  had  now  been  one  of  the  Tutors  of  his 
 College  for  nearly  five  years,  and  had  a  second 
 time  served  the  office  of  Public  Examiner,  as  well 
 as  that  of  Master  of  the  Schools  once,  he  might 
 therefore  feel  justified  in  ceasing  to  be  a  Resident 
 Fellow,  returning  to  his  father  and  two  surviving 
 sisters,  and  resuming  the  charge  of  his  two  little 
 Curacies.  His  father's  health  and  strength  were  still 
 remarkable  for  his  great  age,  but  both  were  liable  to 
 sudden  changes,  and  his  spirits  and  sense  of  duty 
 led  him  frequently  to  undertake  more  personal  la- 
 bour at  Coin  than  was  prudent  for  him.  The  health, 
 too,  of  his  sisters  was  a  source  of  very  frequent  soli- 
 citude to  him ;  his  letters  again  and  again  testify  to 
 this.  The  pleasure  of  returning  to  his  home  was 
 greatly  augmented  by  its  combining  also  the  return 
 to  a  more  regular  discharge  of  his  professional  duties. 
 The  amount  of  these  he  now  added  to  by  accept- 
 ing the  Curacy  of  Southrop,  a  small  parish  very 
 near  to  Eastleach  and  Burthorpe,  as  well  as  to  Fair- 
 ford.  This  accumulation  of  cures,  indeed  the  whole 
 arrangement  in  regard  to  them  between  the  two 
 brothers,    seems    to    require    some    explanation,    to 
 
Return  to  Fair  ford,  1823.  109 
 
 those  especially  who  are  familiar  only  with  the 
 more  orderly  practice  of  the  present  day  ;  and  this 
 is  afforded  by  the  circumstances  ;  their  small  size 
 and  nearness  to  each  other,  their  slender  population, 
 their  miserably  poor  endowments,  and  their  want  of 
 attractiveness  generally  to  clergymen.  The  entire 
 population  of  the  three  did  not  exceed  a  thousand. 
 Eastleach  and  Burthorpe  churches  were  within  a 
 stone's  throw  of  each  other,  there  was  no  residence 
 except  at  Southrop.  The  undertaking  the  care  of 
 them  was  indeed  a  labour  of  love,  the  whole  receipts 
 exceeded  very  little  £100  a-year,  and  I  have  no 
 doubt  fell  short  considerably  of  what  was  expended 
 upon  them.  The  district  indeed,  if  I  may  judge 
 from  these  cures,  and  Coin  St.  Aldwyn's,  was  one  of 
 shamefully  scanty  endowments ;  the  value  of  that 
 being  only  £60  a-year.  These  circumstances  seem 
 to  have  interested  the  two  brothers,  who  took  to 
 them  as  charges  providentially  thrown  in  their  way 
 by  their  neighbourhood  to  Fairford ;  and  their  father 
 was  ready  at  all  times,  in  their  necessary  absences, 
 to  provide  for  the  calls  which  might  casually  arise. 
 
 Keble  had  now  bid  adieu  to  public  tuition  ;  his 
 pupils  at  Oriel  had  testified  to  their  sense  of  his 
 services  by  a  handsome  present  of  plate,  inscribed 
 JOHANNI  KEBLE  DISCIPULORUM  ORIELENSIUM  PIE- 
 TAS  MDCCCXXIII.  ;  and  I  observe  in  passing  as  cha- 
 racteristic of  the  degree  to  which  he  shrunk  from 
 all  exhibition,   that    intimate   as   I  was  with  him,  I 
 
I  io  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 not  only  never  saw  this  plate,  but  I  was  not  even 
 aware  of  the  fact  of  its  having  been  given  to  him, 
 until  I  found  it  stated  in  the  Memoir  to  which  I 
 have  more  than  once  before  expressed  my  obliga- 
 tions. I  know  not  whether  such  testimonials  are 
 now  common,  but  that  age  was  not  so  demonstra- 
 tive of  affection  or  gratitude  in  silver  and  gold  as 
 the  present,  and  at  that  time,  especially  after  a  ser- 
 vice of  so  few  years,  such  a  gift  was  very  unusual. 
 It  seems  to  shew  how  Keble  had  addressed  himself 
 successfully  to  the  hearts  as  well  as  the  intellects  of 
 his  pupils.  It  was  a  thing  to  be  proud  of ;  he  would 
 be  sure  to  think  it  was  undeserved,  and  therefore 
 perhaps  he  would  say  little  about  it  to  his  friends. 
 
 But  it  would  not  the  less  move  his  affections, 
 and  it  might  be  an  inducement  the  more  to  accept 
 the  Curacy  of  Southrop,  where  was  a  good  roomy 
 house.  To  this  village  several  of  his  pupils  followed 
 him  occasionally  for  long  visits;  some  received  into 
 the  house,  some  finding  lodgings  near :  among  these 
 I  may  name  Robert  Wilberforce,  Isaac  Williams, 
 Hurrell  Froude.  They  were  visitors  more  properly 
 than  pupils ;  at  least  he  would  accept  no  remunera- 
 tion from  them,  nor  would  he  allow  them  to  inter- 
 fere with  the  discharge  of  his  parochial  duties.  He 
 called  himself  an  idle  lounging  man,  and  he  had  at 
 all  times  a  desultory,  and  seemingly  irregular  way 
 of  working ;  but  when  these  occupations  are  con- 
 sidered, and  also  how  effectually  they  were  disposed 
 
Hurrell  Froude.  1 1 1 
 
 of,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  his  time  was  well 
 filled  up. 
 
 Of  Hurrell  Froude  Dr.  Newman  has  written,  "  He 
 was  a  pupil  of  Keble's,  formed  by  him,  and  in  turn 
 re-acting  upon  him."  This  sentence  is  followed  by 
 a  short  and  striking  account  of  this  extraordinary 
 man,  to  which  it  would  be  unwise  in  me  to  attempt 
 any  addition,  except  as  it  may  bear  on  the  object 
 of  this  memoir.  I  knew  him  from  a  child,  and  I 
 trace  in  the  somewhat  singular  composition  of  his 
 character  what  he  inherited  both  from  his  father 
 and  his  highly  gifted  mother ;  his  father,  whom 
 Keble  after  his  first  visit  to  Dartington  Parsonage 
 playfully  described  to  me  as  "very  amiable,  but 
 provokingly  intelligent,  one  quite  uncomfortable  to 
 think  of,  making  one  ashamed  of  going  gawking  as 
 one  is  wont  to  do  about  the  world,  without  under- 
 standing anything  one  sees  ;"  his  mother  very  beau- 
 tiful in  person,  and  delicate  in  constitution,  with 
 a  highly  expressive  countenance,  and  gifted  in  in- 
 tellect with  the  genius  and  imagination  which  his 
 father  failed  in.  Like  the  one  he  was  clever,  know- 
 ing, quick,  and  handy ;  like  the  other  he  was  sensi- 
 tive, intellectual,  imaginative.  He  came  to  Keble 
 full  of  respect  for  his  character ;  he  was  naturally 
 soon  won  by  his  arTectionateness  and  simplicity, 
 and  in  turn  he  was  just  the  young  man  in  whom 
 Keble  would  at  once  take  an  interest  and  delight 
 as   a  pupil ;   and   so   in   fact    it   was.      I   find   him 
 
1 1 2  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 again  and  again  in  Keble's  letters  spoken  of  in  the 
 most  loving  language,  yet  often  not  without  some 
 degree  of  anxiety  as  to  his  future  course  ;  he  saw 
 the  elements  of  danger  in  him,  how  liable  he  might 
 be  to  take  a  wrong  course,  or  be  misunderstood  even 
 when  taking  a  right  one ;  yet  his  hopes  largely  pre- 
 vailed ;  and  especially  I  remember  his  rejoicing  at 
 his  being  elected  Fellow  of  Oriel,  thinking  that  the 
 new  society  and  associations,  with  the  responsibilities 
 of  college  employment,  would  tend  to  keep  him  safe. 
 That  Keble  acted  on  him  (I  would  rather  use  that 
 term,  than  "formed,")  is  certain,  and  even  when, 
 in  the  later  years  of  his  short  life,  symptoms  of 
 coming  differences  in  opinion  may  be  traced  in  his 
 letters,  there  is  no  abatement  of  personal  love  and 
 reverence,  nor  indeed,  in  a  certain  sense,  of  his  feel- 
 ing the  weight  of  Keble's  influence ;  and  though  I 
 gather  from  these  that  there  was  more  entire  agree- 
 ment with  Dr.  Newman  as  to  action,  yet  it  seems  to 
 me  that  there  still  remained  a  closer  intimacy  and 
 more  filial  feeling  with  regard  to  Keble.  I  may  be 
 mistaken  in  this  ;  it  is  a  conclusion  I  have  come  to 
 from  reading  the  letters  in  that  strangely  interesting 
 book,  "The  Remains,"  and  inferring  from  them  the 
 nature  of  Keble's  letters  to  him,  which  I  very  much 
 regret  that  I  have  not  been  able  to  procure  a  sight  of. 
 
 I  have  not  altered  this  passage,  but  since  the 
 volume  was  printed  and  published,  a  number  of 
 these  letters  have  been  discovered,  (it  would  seem 
 
Hurrell  Froude.  113 
 
 by  a  strange  accident,)  and  placed  at  my  disposal 
 by  Mr.  William  Froude.  They  fully  justify  my  an- 
 ticipations as  to  their  value  and  interest ;  and  so  far 
 as  I  now  can,  I  shall  avail  myself  of  his  kind  per- 
 mission. 
 
 That  Hurrell  Froude  "  re-acted  on  Keble"  is  true 
 also,  I  have  no  doubt,  in  a  certain  sense;  it  could 
 scarcely  be  otherwise,  where  there  was  so  much 
 ability  and  affectionate  playfulness,  with  so  much 
 originality  on  one  side,  so  much  humility  on  the 
 other,  and  so  much  love  on  both.  It  would  be  idle 
 to  speculate  on  what  might  have  been,  when  the 
 hour  of  trial  came,  which  none  of  those  specially 
 engaged  probably  then  foresaw  ;  before  it  arrived, 
 Hurrell  Froude  had  sunk  under  the  constitutional 
 malady  against  which  he  struggled  for  four  years. 
 What  he  would  have  been,  and  what  he  would  have 
 done,  had  his  life  been  prolonged,  no  one  can  say  ; 
 it  would  be  unfair  to  judge  him  by  what  he  left 
 behind,  except  as  rich  grounds  of  promise.  This  I 
 believe  I  may  confidently  say,  that  those  who  knew 
 him  best  loved  him  the  most  dearly,  and  expected 
 the  most  from  him.  This  could  be  more  truly  said 
 of  no  one  of  these  than  of  Keble. 
 
 It  was  while  he  was  thus  engaged,  that  he  re- 
 ceived, I  believe  the  only,  offer  that  was  ever  made 
 him  of  a  dignity  in  the  Church.  Early  in  1824  it 
 was  determined  to  constitute  two  Dioceses  in  the 
 West  Indies,   and  William   Hart   Coleridge,  then   a 
 
 I 
 
1 14  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 Student  of  Christ  Church,  but  who  had  been  labour- 
 ing assiduously  as  Curate  in  a  large  London  parish, 
 St.  Andrew's,  Holborn,  was  selected  to  preside  over 
 that  of  Barbados  and  the  Leeward  Islands.  He  had 
 to  appoint  two  Archdeacons,  and  he  pressed  Keble 
 to  go  out  with  him  as  Archdeacon  of  Barbados  ;  the 
 endowment  was  a  liberal  one,  £2,000  a-year.  Keble 
 had  a  great  regard  and  esteem  for  the  young  Bishop, 
 whom  he  had  known  on  friendly  terms  at  Oxford, 
 and  who,  like  himself,  had  achieved  the  honour  of 
 a  Double  First  Class.  He  was  much  gratified  by 
 the  offer,  and,  as  he  says  in  writing  to  Dyson, 
 "  I  might  have  been  dazzled  by  it  ;"  but  about 
 a  month  before  it  was  made,  on  his  return  from 
 Oxford,  whither  he  had  gone  to  preach,  he  had 
 found  his  father  with  his  speech  considerably  af- 
 fected, and  with  other  symptoms  calculated  to  make 
 his  children  anxious  about  him. 
 
 "  This,"  he  says,  in  writing  to  me  on  March  2,  1824,  "as 
 you  may  suppose,  was  a  strong  ingredient  in  my  reasoning 
 with  myself  on  the  very  kind  and  too  partial  offer  which 
 W.  C.  made  me.  My  father  was  so  agitated  upon  one's 
 pressing  the  matter  in  the  least,  that  we  all  agreed  in  think- 
 ing I  could  not  have  done  otherwise  than  I  did,  without 
 very  serious  injury  to  his  health  in  its  present  state.  Under 
 all  the  circumstances,  this  left  me  of  course  no  choice,  and 
 I  always  think  that  is  the  greatest  comfort,  to  have  one's 
 way  plainly  marked  out.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  recol- 
 lection of  such  a  proposal  having  been  made  will  serve 
 a  little  to  startle  one  from  one's  idleness,  which  I  find  by 
 
Archdeaconry  of  Barbados,  115 
 
 sad  experience  is  likely  to  be  the  besetting  sin  of  country 
 parsons ;  and  not  the  least  instance  of  it  is  neglect  of  cor- 
 respondents and  distant  friends.  But  one  lives  on  every 
 day  in  hopes  of  mending,  and  I  suppose  one  must  not  de- 
 spair of  oneself  quite,  any  more  than  of  one's  parishioners." 
 
 This  would  seem  at  first  sight  another  instance 
 illustrating  the  cogency  on  Keble's  mind  of  filial 
 and  other  domestic  obligations  ;  but  it  is  right  to 
 shew,  from  a  letter  to  Dyson,  in  what  light  he  re- 
 garded this  particular  call.  It  was  not  in  his  opinion 
 a  case  in  which  domestic  and  professional  duties  came 
 at  all  into  comparison  or  conflict  with  each  other : — 
 
 "  Talking  of  Archdeacons,  what  do  you  think  ?  what  say 
 you  to  my  going  out  Archdeacon  to  Barbados  under  W. 
 Coleridge  :  would  you  advise  me  to  go  out,  or  not  ?  (N.B. 
 I  am  ripe  for  asking  advice).  But  do  you  remember  some 
 of  the  conversations  we  had  on  things  in  general,  when  we 
 last  met  at  Oxford  ?  I  have  often  thought  of  them  since  ; 
 indeed  I  may  say  the  subject  of  them  is  hardly  ever  out  of 
 my  mind  for  half  an  hour  together.  And  in  my  cogitations 
 on  this  matter,  I  thought  of  them  more  than  usual,  because 
 they  helped  to  confirm  me  in  the  resolution  I  knew  I  must 
 come  to.  Thinks  I  to  myself,  one  cannot  surely  think  of 
 a  W.  Indian  Archdeaconry  with  2,000  a-year,  &c,  &c,  as 
 a  sort  of  primitive  mission  to  which  everything  must  give 
 way.  In  short,  thinks  I  to  myself,  'tis  a  mere  political 
 thing,  and  I'm  sure  Dyson  would  say  the  same.  Never- 
 theless, I  do  not  say  I  should  not  have  been  dazzled  by  it, 
 if  my  father  had  not  been  so  decided  as  he  was  j  not  so 
 much  by  what  he  said,  as  by  his  looks  and  manner.  We 
 were  all  agreed  that  it  was  quite  out  of  the  question." 
 
1 1 6  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  JoJm  Keble. 
 
 My  cousin  was  influenced,  I  am  sure,  in  making 
 his  offer,  both  by  personal  regard,  and  a  sincere 
 desire  to  select  the  most  fitting  person  he  could 
 find  for  an  appointment  of  especial  importance  to 
 him  in  the  settlement  of  the  new  Diocese ;  but  I 
 believe  every  one  will  now  rejoice  that  Keble  de- 
 clined to  accept  it.  Had  he  gone  to  the  West 
 Indies,  and  retained  his  health,  I  have  no  doubt  he 
 would  have  discharged  the  duties  of  his  office  effec- 
 tively, and  wherever  he  was,  he  must  have  been  dis- 
 tinguished. "The  Christian  Year"  was  so  far  ad- 
 vanced at  this  time,  that  he  probably  would  have 
 completed  it;  indeed,  according  to  his  own  theory 
 of  poetry,  which  would  have  justified  its  truth  in  no 
 one  more  than  in  himself,  he  could  not  but  have 
 written  it,  and  we  should  have  had  it,  I  suppose, 
 with  a  large  infusion  of  tropical  lights  and  imagery, 
 very  striking  and  interesting.  He  would  have  finished 
 it  slowly  however,  and  very  probably,  being  in  some 
 sort  removed  from  the  influences  of  his  home  ad- 
 visers, he  would  have  left  it  unpublished  at  his 
 death,  according  to  his  original  intention.  But  at 
 a  distance  from  European  influences  and  friend- 
 ships, from  the  University,  and  the  succeeding  agi- 
 tations of  the  Church  in  England,  he  could  not 
 have  filled  the  useful  and  important  place  to  which 
 he  was  now  advancing ;  and  some  of  his  works,  such 
 for  example  as  the  Prczlectiones,  and  the  edition  of 
 Hooker,  we  should  certainly  have  lost.     Considera- 
 
The  Christian  Year'. 
 
 tions  of  this  kind  of  course  did  not  occur  to  his  mind, 
 nor  influence  his  determination  ;  apart  from  all  these, 
 however,  it  was  one  fully  justified. 
 
 It  was  early  in  the  following  year  (1825)  that 
 Keble's  letters  shew  him  beginning  to  contemplate 
 seriously  the  publication  of  "The  Christian  Year" — 
 silently,  or  only  with  communications  to  his  home 
 circle  and  some  very  few  others,  poem  had  been  added 
 to  poem  ;  but  his  notion  did  not  as  yet  go  beyond 
 a  posthumous  publication  at  most,  when  he  had 
 given  the  work  as  much  perfection  as  he  should  be 
 capable  of  giving  it.  I  think  at  that  time  he  would 
 have  shrunk  a  good  deal  from  publishing  anything — 
 there  was  not,  it  may  be  remembered,  the  same  prone- 
 ness  "to  rush  into  print"  which  characterizes  the  pre- 
 sent time — but  with  regard  to  poems  of  a  religious 
 character,  and  which  affected  the  Church,  he  would, 
 of  course,  feel  a  greater  scruple  about  publication. 
 Happily  all  his  friends  were  against  him — yielding 
 by  inches,  and  delaying,  even  when  the  resolution 
 was  taken,  to  accomplish  it,  the  step  was  however 
 ultimately  accomplished.  In  regard  to  such  a  work, 
 even  these  preliminary  stages  it  may  be  interesting 
 to  observe. 
 
 March  5,  1825,  he  writes  to  me  from  Fairford  : — 
 
 "  Now  they  are  all  gone  to  bed,  I  will  tell  you  a  secret ; 
 which  is  that  after  all  my  backwardness  (which  I  suppose 
 was  chiefly  affectation)  on  such  subjects,  I  am  in  a  fair  way 
 to  commence  author — '  only  think,'  as  Ellison  says — Mr. 
 Jeremiah  Dyson,  whose  opinion  on  such  a  matter  I  take  to 
 
1 1 8  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 be  as  safe  as  anybody's  can  be,  strongly  recommends  me 
 to  publish  some  of  the  hymns  you  wot  of.  It  is  against 
 my  original  plan,  which  was  to  complete  the  series  if  I 
 could,  go  on  improving  it  all  my  life,  and  leave  it  to  come 
 out,  if  judged  useful,  when  I  shall  be  fairly  out  of  the  way; 
 and  this  is  still  my  favourite  plan — only  I  am  afraid  I  am 
 in  a  way  of  being  persuaded  out  of  it.  Do  give  me  your 
 considerate,  and  not  partial  opinion,  which  way  would 
 answer  best — for  indeed  the  matter  is  too  serious  to  bandy 
 compliments  upon — that  is  to  say,  if  it  is  worth  thinking  of 
 at  all." 
 
 As  to  this  notion  of  posthumous  publication,  I  do 
 not  remember  that  he  ever  mentioned,  or  was  in  any 
 way  influenced  by  the  circumstance,  that  George 
 Herbert  had  formed  the  same  resolution,  and  acted 
 upon  it,  in  regard  to  the  publication  of  the  "  Temple." 
 It  is  certainly  at  least  a  curious  coincidence,  that  in 
 respect  of  two  Poets,  and  two  works  so  often  com- 
 pared together,  and  so  standing  apart  by  themselves, 
 as  it  were,  in  our  literature,  the  same  unusual  resolution 
 should  have  been  formed.  Keble  would  never  have 
 thought  of  placing  himself  in  comparison  with  Her- 
 bert, of  whose  poems  he  was  a  great  admirer  :  yet  he 
 could  hardly  have  been  ignorant  of  the  fact,  and  he 
 might  have  been  moved,  even  unconsciously,  to  follow 
 the  example  of  so  holy  a  man. 
 
 To  Dyson  he  writes  on  the  1st  of  April,  1825  : — 
 
 "  I  am  very  much  obliged  to  you  for  your  kind  intentions 
 with  regard  to  the  MS.  I  shall  certainly  pump  you  for 
 more   criticism,   whether   anything   come   of  the   printing 
 
"  The  Christian  Year?  119 
 
 scheme  or  no.  The  more  I  think  of  it,  the  more  my  fancy 
 would  lead  me  to  wait  till  it  might  be  posthumous.  But 
 I  must  see  what  Johnny  Davison  says — I  have  sent  him 
 most  of  them — leaving  out  some  which  I  think  paltry,  and 
 others,  which  come,  as  it  were,  too  near  home  for  me  to 
 like  to  shew  them  much — some  also  on  account  of  their 
 going  rather  more  than  might  be  approved  of  upon  that 
 notion  of  decay  in  the  Church,  which  you  know  I  have  for 
 some  time  entertained.  It  seemed  to  me  that  this  had  better 
 be  established  in  prose  first ;  without  something  of  that  sort, 
 the  hymns  of  which  I  speak  would  be  hardly  intelligible  to 
 most  readers." 
 
 To  me  he  wrote  in  July  : — 
 
 "With  regard  to  my  other  little  literary  project  I  have 
 adjourned  it  nominally  till  February — but  I  am  in  hopes 
 I  shall  have  quite  persuaded  my  persuaders  to  let  it  stand 
 over  sine  die,  by  the  time  February  comes." 
 
 Writing  to  Cornish,  in  August  of  the  same  year, 
 from  Southrop,  he  says  : — 
 
 "Thank  you  fifty  times  for  your  nice  little  hint  about 
 keeping  back  my  MSS.  for  a  good  long  while.  I  am  quite 
 sure  you  are  right ;  and  now  there  is  less  occasion  to  be 
 in  a  hurry,  as  Tucker  says  the  Scotch  Book,  which  had 
 pirated  one  of  them,  is  come  to  another  edition  in  which 
 it's  left  out." 
 
 Cornish,  I  have  no  doubt,  thought  there  was  still 
 much  to  do  in  the  way  of  correction,  both  as  to 
 clearness  of  expression  and  smoothness  in  the  mea- 
 sures,  and   this   agreed   entirely   with   Keble's   own 
 
1 20  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 opinion ;  and  although  he  went  on  with  his  prepa- 
 rations, the  advice  remained  impressed  upon  his 
 mind  : — 
 
 "  I  am  just  now,"  says  he  in  September  of  the  same  year, 
 writing  from  Fladbury  to  Dyson,  "making  up  another 
 packet  of  hymns  for  Davison's  revisal :  and  am  coming  to 
 a  sound  and  judicious  resolution  against  publishing,  for 
 a  good  while  yet  at  least." 
 
 What  was  Mr.  Davison's  advice,  I  have  not  the 
 means  of  ascertaining  precisely ;  from  the  general 
 constitution  of  his  mind  I  should  expect  that  al- 
 though his  criticism  in  detail  would  be  minute  and 
 severe,  and  his  advice  in  favour  of  great  deliberation, 
 yet  he  would  look  through  all  questions  of  detail  to 
 the  substantial  merits,  and  the  great  importance  of 
 the  work  in  a  religious  point  of  view ;  and  therefore 
 be  against  long  delay.  It  is  clear,  I  think,  that  with 
 Keble  left  alone,  a  degree  of  caution  which  we  may 
 now  safely  pronounce  exaggerated  would  have  pre- 
 vailed ;  this  would  have  been  dictated  by  his  hu- 
 mility, which  underrated  the  merit  of  everything  he 
 did,  and  perhaps,  even  in  this  instance,  more  by  his 
 sense  of  the  responsibility  of  a  work,  which  sought 
 to  influence  in  some  sort  the  religious  belief  and 
 practice  of  his  readers. 
 
 On  the  26th  of  September  in  the  same  year  he 
 writes  about  "the  verses"  to  Froude ;  and  I  the  ra- 
 ther print  what  follows,  because  I  notice  in  it  the 
 
The  Theory  of  Poetry.  121 
 
 first  indication  of  the  theory  of  Poetry,  which  he  laid 
 down  formally  afterwards  in  his  Prcelectiones. 
 
 "  Lenham,  near  Maidstone, 
 26  Sept\y  1825. 
 "  My  dear  Fellow, 
 
 "As  Tyler  begins,  when  he  is  in  a  jolly  mood,  these  are 
 to  thank  you  very  much  for  the  trouble  you  have  taken 
 about  them  there  things  of  mine,  and  still  more  for  your 
 telling  me  exactly  what  you  think  about  them;  for  wch  I 
 shall  hold  you  in  greater  honour  as  long  as  I  live.  For 
 to  say  the  truth,  I  look  upon  thorough  honesty  in  this  kind 
 to  be  a  rare  thing  in  critic-land.  I  am  not  so  partial  to  my 
 own  crockery,  as  not  to  be  myself  aware  of  the  want  of 
 poetical  depth,  and  fervour,  wch  disqualifies  many  or  most 
 of  them  from  being  of  much  use  to  imaginative  people ; 
 but  if  they  only  serve  as  helps  to  the  memory  of  plain, 
 good  sort  of  people,  that  is  in  my  mind  use  enough ;  pro- 
 vided they  do  no  harm  by  being  untrue  or  obtrusive,  of  wch 
 last  I  am  a  little  afraid.  At  any  rate  I  mean  to  take  plenty 
 of  time,  to  make  out  the  ecclesiastical  year,  if  I  can,  before 
 I  publish  •  and  I  feel  as  if  this  would  take  up  my  life.  It 
 would  be  a  great  delight  to  do  something,  wch  might  be 
 of  use  to  the  sort  of  persons  you  mention  :  but  that  must 
 be  left  for  some  one  who  can  do  it — and  probably  whenever 
 it  is  done,  it  will  be  done  by  somebody  who  never  thought 
 of  it  himself,  but  merely  wrote  to  relieve  his  own  mind.  In- 
 deed, that  was  the  original  purpose  of  what  you  have  seen, 
 and  so  far  it  has  proved  very  useful ;  but  there  is  no  making 
 a  silk  purse  out  of  a  sow's  ear — a  foolish  figure,  but  fare- 
 well that. 
 
 "  I  am  here  on  a  week's  visit  to  Tucker,  before  I  enter 
 on  my  new  cure  at  Hursley." 
 
122  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 There  is  a  passage  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Pruen,  which, 
 though  written  after  the  publication  of  the  book,  sug- 
 gests an  additional  reason  for  the  previous  delay,  and 
 I  feel  sure  this  had  operated  strongly  in  Keble's  mind  ; 
 a  reason  which 'I  also  believe  caused  in  him  all  through 
 life  a  feeling  of  sadness  and  dissatisfaction  in  regard 
 to  the  book,  increased  rather  than  diminished  by  its 
 popularity.  I  will  insert  the  passage  here,  as  it  is 
 necessary  to  complete  the  account  of  the  motives 
 which  made  him  averse  to  publication,  but  some  re- 
 marks which  it  suggests  will  find  a  more  proper 
 place  hereafter. 
 
 "  I  had  long  ago  considered  about  printing  '  the  Dedica- 
 tion '  you  speak  of :  but  somehow  or  other  (though  Davi- 
 son recommended  it)  I  could  not  bring  myself  to  it ;  it 
 seemed  too  much  like  printing  one's  own  private  confes- 
 sions :  and  so  to  be  sure  is  half  the  book ;  and  many  times, 
 when  I  consider  what  my  friends  would  think  of  me  if  I 
 were  to  print  the  other  nine-tenths  of  my  thoughts,  I  really 
 feel  quite  ashamed  of  having  printed  the  book  at  all :  for 
 though  I  am  not  blind  enough  to  see  all  the  good  in  it  that 
 you  do,  I  am  well  aware  there  is  quite  good  enough  to 
 make  it  on  the  whole  a  considerable  fib  on  my  part.  But 
 this  will  not  do  to  talk  and  laugh  about." 
 
 Keble's  attention  was,  however,  now  much  engaged 
 upon  a  step  which  has  always  seemed  to  me  most 
 important  in  respect  to  himself,  namely,  the  quitting 
 the  retirement  of  Fairford  and  his  little  Gloucester- 
 shire Cures,  and  coming  more  into  the  sunshine  as 
 
Hursley  Ctiracy.  123 
 
 the  Curate  of  Hursley,  with  the  sole  charge  of  that 
 parish. 
 
 Hursley  is  a  Vicarage  united  to  the  Rectory  of 
 Otterbourne,  and  the  Incumbent  at  the  time  I  am 
 speaking  of  was  Archdeacon  Heathcote,  uncle  to 
 Keble's  old  pupil,  Sir  William  Heathcote;  he  resided 
 at  Winchester,  there  being  at  that  time  no  residence 
 either  in  the  Rectory  or  the  Vicarage  ;  he  took  charge 
 himself  of  the  former,  and  had  a  Curate  for  the  lat- 
 ter ;  this  curacy  became  vacant,  and  on  Sir  William's 
 recommendation  it  was  offered  to  Keble,  and  ac- 
 cepted by  him  in  the  spring  of  1825,  to  be  entered 
 on  at  Michaelmas.  In  the  mean  time  Sir  William 
 had  found  an  unfinished  house,  which  stood  between 
 the  Church  and  his  own  Park  gates,  which  he  set 
 himself  to  work  to  finish,  and  Keble,  wTith  the  full 
 consent  of  his  father  and  sisters,  made  his  arrange- 
 ments for  the  change.  The  house  would  not  be 
 finished,  probably,  when  Michaelmas  came,  but 
 Keble  was  to  take  up  his  abode  temporarily  with 
 Sir  William  at  his  mansion. 
 
 This  was  among  the  first  acts  of  Sir  William  on 
 succeeding  to  the  property,  and  it  is  one  on  which 
 I  may  venture  to  say  he  has  reason  especially  to 
 congratulate  himself,  both  in  itself,  and  in  the  train 
 of  consequences  which  flowed  from  it.  Some  of 
 these  probably  were  contemplated  by  no  one  ;  and 
 perhaps  at  the  moment  little  more  was  in  his  mind 
 than  the  giving  pleasure  to  Keble,  while  he  pro- 
 cured for  the   parish   in  which  he   resided   so    good 
 
1 24  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 and  able  a  minister,  and  for  himself  the  close  neigh- 
 bourhood of  so  dear  a  friend,  and  so  wise  an  ad- 
 viser. Yet  I  think  it  must  have  been  obvious  to 
 him  that  the  time  had  arrived  when  it  was  fitting 
 that  Keble,  who  had  renounced  the  academical 
 course,  and  was  so  singularly  averse  to  any  ambi- 
 tious speculations,  should  be  called  on  to  labour  in 
 a  larger  field,  and  exercise  his  personal  influence 
 more  widely  than  it  was  open  for  him  to  do  at 
 Fairford.  Perhaps  no  place,  and  no  circumstances, 
 could  be  more  favourable  than  Hursley,  and  those 
 which  attended  the  change  when  it  was  made. 
 Keble,  indeed,  would  have  said,  and  in  strictness 
 truly  said,  that  no  sphere  was  so  narrow,  but  that 
 a  good  man's  energies  might  be  fully  and  worthily 
 exercised  in  the  ministry  there ;  and  he  would  have 
 repelled  the  notion  that  he  had  gifts  which  ought 
 to  be  developed  and  displayed  in  the  charge  of 
 a  more  varied,  and  more  educated  population  than 
 that  of  his  Gloucestershire  villages.  Still  there  are 
 to  be  desired  in  this  as  in  other  things,  where  it  can 
 be  had,  a  fitness  and  proportion  between  the  clergy- 
 man and  his  cure.  Qualifications  may  be  in  danger 
 of  slumbering  useless  in  one  place,  which  find  full 
 scope  and  motive  for  development  and  exercise  in 
 another. 
 
 But  independently  of  this  higher  consideration, 
 there  were  pleasure  and  usefulness  in  what  was  to 
 be  around  him  at  Hursley,  of  a  kind  which  did  not 
 exist  at  Fairford  ;  the  vicinity  of  Winchester  Cathe- 
 
Hursley  Qtracy.  125 
 
 dral,  the  College,  and  School :  Robert  Barter  was 
 not  then  indeed  the  Warden  of  the  one,  nor  Dr.  Mo- 
 berly  Head  Master  of  the  other,  with  both  of  whom 
 he  was  afterwards  to  be  on  the  most  friendly  terms. 
 The  society  of  Hursley  itself,  however,  and  its  neigh- 
 bourhood, and  especially  that  which  would,  of  course, 
 gather  from  time  to  time  at  Hursley  Park ;  the  re- 
 newal of  his  familiar  intercourse  with  his  favourite 
 old  pupil ;  the  character  of  the  country  around  him, 
 dry  and  healthy,  a  pleasant  interchange  of  breezy 
 down  and  picturesque  woodland,  hill  and  valley, 
 the  New  Forest,  Southampton,  and  the  sea  at  a  con- 
 venient distance  ;  these  are  some  of  the  circumstances 
 to  which  I  allude. 
 
 Keble  was  not  insensible  to  these  attractions,  still 
 it  was  a  call  on  him  which  might  seem  to  break  in 
 upon  the  discharge  of  what  he  had  always  con- 
 sidered among  the  first,  if  not  the  very  first,  of  his 
 duties,  and  he  naturally  hesitated  to  accept  the  offer. 
 
 I  cannot  do  better  than  insert  here  the  two  letters, 
 addressed  to  Sir  William  Heathcote,  in  the  first  of 
 which  he  expresses  his  doubts,  and  in  the  second 
 his  acceptance  of  the  offer ;  the  kindness  of  spirit  in 
 which  that  had  been  conceived  and  made  may  be  in- 
 ferred from  the  answers  : — 
 
 "  Southrop, 
 March  14,  1825. 
 "  My  dear  and  kind  Friend, 
 "I  am  afraid  you  will  think  me  very  childish  after  so 
 
126  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 many  days'  consideration  of  your  too  kind  offer,  to  be  still 
 asking  for  more  time,  and  yet  so  it  is.  I  feel  very  strongly 
 the  value  and  the  blessing  of  such  a  place  as  you  offer  me 
 in  your  esteem  and  confidence;  although  I  cannot  help 
 shrinking  from  the  increased  responsibility  which  such  a 
 change  in  my  station  would  impose  upon  me;  and  then 
 to  leave  my  father  and  sisters,  even  for  the  distance  of 
 one  long  day's  journey,  is  a  step  not  to  be  resolved  upon 
 without  a  good  deal  of  rather  intense  consideration,  under 
 our  circumstances  ;  the  circumstances,  I  mean,  of  my  father's 
 age,  and  my  eldest  sister's  health.  If  it  were  not  for  this,  I 
 believe  I  should  without  further  delay  have  closed  with 
 your  proposal,  the  friendliness  and  piety  of  which  I  do  in- 
 deed most  deeply  feel ;  and  whatever  be  the  issue,  shall 
 always  be  most  thankful  to  have  received  such  a  letter. 
 Yet  I  feel  so  many  doubts  as  to  my  own  fitness  for  a  charge 
 in  many  respects  different  from  my  present  one,  that  I  am 
 satisfied  it  is  best  for  me  to  have  such  a  family  difficulty  as 
 this  to  hinder  me  from  deciding  too  suddenly.  Could  you, 
 then,  and  could  the  Archdeacon,  (to  whom  please  to  offer 
 my  very  sincere  acknowledgments,)  allow  me  without  in- 
 convenience a  week  or  ten  days  more,  from  the  time  you 
 receive  this  ?  In  the  course  of  that  time,  I  think  I  shall  be 
 able  to  satisfy  my  mind  more  thoroughly  than  I  can  just 
 now,  as  to  what  I  ought  to  do.  Do  not  think  me  cold  and 
 ungrateful,  for  indeed  I  am  not  so,  though  much  weaker 
 and  less  resolute  in  my  duty  than  I  fear  you  imagine  me. 
 And  if  you  had  rather  have  my  answer  sooner,  pray  do  not 
 scruple  to  tell  me  so.  My  best  regards,  if  you  please,  to 
 your  Mother  and  Aunt,  and  Mr.  Lovell,  and  believe  me, 
 "  Your  very  grateful  and  aft te  Friend, 
 "John  Keble,  JuNr." 
 
Hursley  Curacy,  127 
 
 "  Fairford,     „ 
 
 .,__  _  "March  29,  1825. 
 
 "  My  dear  Friend,  y         J 
 
 "  Having  considered  everything  well  over  '  one,  two,  tree 
 time,'  and  having  examined,  and  cross-examined,  indivi- 
 dually and  collectively,  the  several  members  of  this  my 
 Privy  Council,  I  need  not  keep  you,  or  the  rest  of  my 
 kind  friends  at  Hursley  and  Winchester  any  longer  in  sus- 
 pense. I  thankfully  accept  your  kind  offer,  and  only  hope 
 that  I  may  not  prove  unworthy  of  it.  What  I  propose  is, 
 if  you  can  conveniently  receive  me,  to  give  up  Southrop  to 
 my  brother  about  the  latter  end  of  August,  or  beginning  of 
 September,  and  then  undertake  Hursley  immediately.  By 
 that  time  the  house  might,  I  should  think,  be  floored,  plas- 
 tered, white-washed,  painted,  and  I  should  think  papered ; 
 so  that  the  main  operations  left  would  be  to  lay  out  the 
 garden,  and  lay  in  the  furniture,  both  of  which  I  could 
 superintend  at  my  leisure.  And  there  is  this  advantage  in 
 coming  while  things  are  still  rather  unfinished ;  that  if  upon 
 trial  I  should  find  myself  more  homesick  than  I  expect  to 
 be,  it  would  be  less  of  an  undertaking  to  transport  myself 
 home  again ;  or  suppose  my  father  or  eldest  sister,  when  it 
 comes  to  the  point,  should  find  it  more  essential  to  their 
 comfort  to  have  me  with  them,  than  it  now  seems,  as  there 
 is  no  answering  for  the  wishes  of  invalids,  or  in  many  other 
 supposable  cases,  it  may  turn  out  a  great  convenience  to  be 
 a  little  unsettled  at  first.  But  I  will  not  anticipate  anything 
 to  disturb  so  comfortable  an  arrangement  as  we  all  think  it. 
 My  chief  care  now  must  be  to  endeavour,  by  God's  bless- 
 ing, that  you  may  never  have  occasion  to  repent  of  your 
 confidence  in  me.  My  father  and  sisters  give  me  good 
 hopes  of  paying  me  long  and  frequent  visits,  but  I  must 
 endeavour  not  to  build  much  on  that.     I  know  my  best 
 
128  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 and  wisest  way  will  be  to  make  my  parish,  wherever  I  am 
 called,  as  entirely  my  home  as  possible,  and  to  take  all 
 one  sees  of  friends  and  relations  as  something  roabu  kq\  m. 
 I  have  been  a  little  spoiled  in  this  respect  by  the  privilege 
 of  staying  with  my  first  and  best  friends  so  long;  but  I 
 trust  I  am  not  too  old  to  mend.  At  all  events,  I  should 
 like  to  make  the  trial."  .... 
 
 Upon  this  footing  the  arrangement  was  made ; 
 I  may  seem  to  have  been  very  diffuse  on  a  matter 
 commonly  so  ordinary  as  the  acceptance  of  a  Curacy  ; 
 but  it  is  obvious  from  the  letters  I  have  just  inserted, 
 that  Sir  William's  offer  was  not  an  ordinary  one,  nor 
 couched  in  ordinary  language;  and  I  have  already 
 stated  my  reasons  for  thinking  that  the  change 
 which  this  move  made  in  Keble's  habits  of  life,  in 
 the  society  in  which  he  moved,  and  in  the  exercise 
 of  his  professional  duties,  was  most  important ;  it 
 was  very  happily  timed  too,  and  the  acceptance  met 
 with  the  hearty  concurrence  of  the  Privy  Council  to 
 which  the  letters  refer.  His  father,  indeed,  was  sure 
 to  consider  the  question  with  good  sense,  and  entire 
 freedom  from  selfish  bias,  and  the  conclusion  was 
 certain. 
 
 This  resolution  put  an  end,  I  believe,  to  Keble's 
 any  longer  acting  as  Tutor  to  any  one  ;  and  it  pre- 
 vented his  accepting  one  pupil,  then  a  lad  between 
 Harrow  and  Oxford,  whom  at  the  request  of  his 
 father  I  had  earnestly  pressed  on  him  to  take  charge 
 of — Arthur  Acland.    I  can  hardly  conceive  one  who 
 
Hursley  Curacy.  129 
 
 would  have  been  more  congenial  to  him.  But  it 
 could  not  then  be  arranged  ;  however,  this  did  not 
 prevent  the  formation  of  a  friendship  between  them 
 in  after  life,  and  it  was  pleasant  to  me  to  know  on 
 good  information,  that  under  the  great  affliction  of 
 his  life,  which  indeed  did  not  very  long  precede  his 
 own  death,  Arthur  Troyte,  as  he  had  become,  sought 
 the  vicarage  at  Hursley,  and  found  substantial  con- 
 solation in  the  sympathy  which  Keble  manifested, 
 and  the  advice  he  gave. 
 
CHAPTER    VII. 
 
 HURSLEY  CURACY.— DEATH  OF  MARY  ANN  KEBLE. — 
 RETURN  TO  FAIRFORD. — 1 825 — 1 826. 
 
 IN  the  lives  of  most  men  there  is  a  period  which 
 one  would  characterize,  if  not  as  the  most  happy, 
 yet  the  brightest,  and  most  sunshiny;  when  their 
 hopes  are  most  cheerful,  their  cares  lightest,  their 
 sense  of  enjoyment  most  lively.  The  year  which 
 Keble  passed  as  Curate  of  Hursley  I  should  cha- 
 racterize as  that  period  in  his  life ;  it  was  scarcely 
 a  year,  before  he  was  re-called  to  Fairford  by  an 
 event  which,  with  all  his  habitual  resignation,  was 
 yet  one  of  the  most  afflicting  trials  he  had  ever 
 been  submitted  to.     But  of  this  by-and-by. 
 
 It  had  been  arranged,  as  I  have  intimated,  that 
 Thomas  Keble  should  take  to  the  Curacies,  and  to 
 the  Parsonage  at  Southrop,  on  his  leaving  it.  This 
 was  the  more  agreeable,  as  he  had  not  long  before, 
 to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  the  family,  and  not  least 
 to  that  of  Keble,  married  a  lady,  whose  sister  after- 
 wards became  Keble's  own  wife.  Before  Keble  settled 
 at  Hursley,  he  visited  two  or  three  of  his  old  friends, 
 and  took  Ellison's  duty  at  Huntspill  for  a  week  or 
 two,  and  on  the  first  Sunday  of  October,  1825,  com- 
 menced the  discharge  of  his  duties  as  Curate. 
 
Hursley  Curacy,  131 
 
 Writing  to  me  not  long  before  he  started  from 
 home,  he  says  : — 
 
 "  You  would  laugh  if  you  could  look  into  me,  and  read 
 all  the  pretty  schemes  of  reform  which  course  one  another 
 over  my  still  childish  brain.  I  am  to  be  so  regular,  so 
 industrious,  so  punctual,  such  an  early  riser,  &c,  &c,  &c, 
 and  all  to  be  learned,  or  rather  picked  up  on  Salisbury 
 Plain,  in  the  space  of  sixty-five  miles  from  this  home  to  my 
 new  one." 
 
 On  the  day  of  what  he  called  "reading  himself 
 in  to  his  new  diocese,"  he  wrote  to  me  in  high  spirits  ; 
 he  had  found  his  house  unfinished,  and  was  residing 
 with  Sir  William  at  Hursley  Park  ;  this,  too,  might  be 
 called  the  bright  period  of  Sir  William's  life ;  he  had 
 not  long  entered  on  his  career ;  his  marriage  was 
 in  prospect  before  him,  and  his  election  as  Knight 
 of  the  Shire.  Keble  writes  in  the  fulness  of  his 
 heart,  how  "  very  very  friendly"  he  was  to  him,  and 
 how  "  much  more  comfortable  and  more  at  home  he 
 was  than  he  ever  thought  he  should  be  so  soon,  un- 
 Fairfordized  as  he  was."  He  likes  his  village,  his 
 home,  his  church  tower,  (I  note  his  expressive  silence 
 as  to  his  church,)  and  he  sums  up  a  string  of  likings, 
 with  the  remark,  that  "here  is  a  good  store  to  set 
 against  the  uncomfortable  circumstances  which  are 
 sure  to  come  by-and-by."  His  accounts  from  home, 
 too,  were  bright : — 
 
 "  Elizabeth's  headaches  are  mending,  and  my  Father  is 
 as  brisk  as  a  bee ;  he  has  not  flagged  a  moment  about  my 
 
132  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 departure,  and  when  he  keeps  up  himself,  he  keeps  us  all 
 up  with  him." 
 
 He  had  come  into  the  parish  with  the  best  of  re- 
 commendations, and  was  most  kindly  received ;  he 
 soon  made  his  own  way  good,  both  socially  and  as 
 the  pastor  of  the  flock  ;  hints  disclosing  his  industry 
 in  this  last  respect  appear  from  time  to  time  in  his 
 correspondence.  Beside  these,  there  was  the  Parson- 
 age to  be  finished,  and  the  garden,  an  especial  ob- 
 ject of  interest,  and  the  pleasure-ground,  to  be  laid 
 out  and  planted  ;  the  first  of  these  lies  between 
 the  house  and  churchyard  on  the  side  of  the  house 
 which  faces  the  tower  and  west  end  of  the  Church, 
 the  latter  slopes  away  very  prettily  from  the  back 
 front,  and  is  flanked  on  the  west  by  the  Park  pales, 
 and  some  fine  old  elms.  The  house  itself  is  rather 
 picturesque  than  handsome,  not  commonplace,  not 
 too  large,  yet  sufficiently  commodious. 
 
 Keble's  old  friends  were  not  slow  to  visit  him  in 
 his  new  abode ;  and  this  was  one  of  his  greatest 
 pleasures  ;  among  them  very  early  was  Arnold.  He 
 says  : — 
 
 "  I  have  tried  the  cozie  powers  of  the  Hursley  air  not 
 only  with  Mary  Anne,  who  has  paid  me  a  visit  of  five 
 weeks  ending  the  9th  Jany.,  but  also  with  Tom  Arnold, 
 who  ran  down  here  like  a  good  neighbour,  and  surveyed 
 the  premises  and  the  neighbourhood  presently  after  Christ- 
 mas.    How  very  unaltered  he  is,  and  how  very  comfortable 
 
Hursley  Curacy. 
 
 and  contented  ;  he  is  one  of  the  persons  whom  it  does  one 
 good  to  think  of  when  I  am  in  a  grumbling  vein." 
 
 Arnold  was  at  this  time  residing  with  pupils  at 
 Laleham,  with  the  spirits  and  hopefulness  of  boy- 
 hood, or  youth,  and  the  activity  and  brightness  of 
 early  manhood  ;  and,  as  Keble  says,  quite  unaltered 
 in  manner  from  what  we  had  known  him  at  Oxford. 
 He  had  brought  with  him  the  opening  of  an  Essay 
 on  Schools  and  Universities,  intended  for  a  Review. 
 Keble  says  "  the  covering  of  the  jar  is  so  very 
 sweet  and  luscious,  that  I  suspect  there  must  be 
 something  terribly  bitter  below ;  but  he  only  cackles 
 and  crows  at  anything  anybody  can  say  to  him." 
 Few  survive  who  can  remember  how  to  the  life  this 
 paints  him  in  his  merry  defiant  moods  in  his  younger 
 days.  I  may  add  that  he  had  sent  me  in  a  letter 
 an  analysis  of  what  he  intended  to  say ;  it  is  so  full, 
 and  able,  that  I  cannot  but  wish  it  had  been  selected 
 for  publication  in  his  Life. 
 
 Tucker,  John  Awdry,  and  Charles  Plumer,  the 
 two  latter  at  that  time  brother  Fellows  with  him 
 of  Oriel,  also  came  to  him  ;  it  was  scarcely  a  de- 
 viation for  me  when  on  my  Circuit,  in  passing  from 
 Winchester  to  Salisbury,  to  go  by  Hursley,  and  I 
 visited  him  in  this  way  both  in  the  spring  and 
 summer.  Upon  the  latter  occasion  I  was  taking 
 my  two  elder  boys  into  Devonshire,  and  they  were 
 received  by  him  during  the  Winchester  Assizes.    At 
 
134  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 the  end  of  these  I  went  there  and  took  them  on 
 with  me.  I  found  him  with  his  father  and  two 
 sisters  in  high  spirits,  and  all  four  had  concurred  in 
 making  the  little  ones  happy;  they  on  their  part 
 had  not  been  slow  in  becoming  familiar  with  Keble, 
 and  accepting  him  as  their  playmate ;  and  so  their 
 fondness  for  him  commenced,  which,  combined  with 
 the  profoundest  respect  as  years  advanced,  conti- 
 nued unabated  to  his  death.  Love  for  children,  a 
 full  understanding  of  their  natures,  and  the  power 
 of  entering  into  all  their  ways  and  wishes,  and  in- 
 terpreting their  thoughts,  were  properties  he  pos- 
 sessed even  then  in  a  very  high  degree. 
 
 I  have  said  I  found  his  father  and  sisters  with 
 him ;  this  was  a  realization  of  the  expectations  held 
 out  to  him  before  he  left  Fairford.  Mary  Anne,  as 
 has  been  stated,  had  fulfilled  a  promise  she  had 
 made  for  herself,  on  which  he  counted  much,  and 
 had  stayed  for  five  weeks  with  him  in  the  pre- 
 ceding December  and  January.  When  I  had  pro- 
 posed sending  my  young  ones  to  him,  I  had  sup- 
 posed him  alone,  and  should  hardly  have  thought 
 of  sending  him  such  intruders,  if  I  had  known  who 
 were  with  him ;  but  Mr.  Keble  and  the  sisters  both 
 concurred  in  wishing  them  to  come.  In  announc- 
 ing this  to  me,  he  says  : — 
 
 "  You  may  imagine  the  pleasure  it  is  to  have  my  Father 
 and  Sisters  here;  my  Father  so  remarkably  well,  and  so 
 beautifully  cheerful ;  he  enjoys  the  place  much  more  than 
 
Hursley  Curacy.  135 
 
 I  had  expected,  and  will  not  allow  that  he  sleeps  at  all  the 
 worse  for  being  out  of  his  own  bed.  Elizabeth  was  rather 
 knocked  up  with  the  journey,  not  at  first,  but  after  a  day 
 or  two ;  however,  now  she  is  looking  up  again,  and  enjoys 
 our  woodland  drives  mightily.  In  short,  they  all  seem  as 
 natural  almost  as  at  Fairford ;  and  the  place  being  left  in 
 dishabille  longer  than  it  ought,  is  no  great  disadvantage,  for 
 it  will  have  all  the  benefit  of  their  suggestions ;  and  I  don't 
 despair  of  its  being  quite  a  show  parsonage  by  the  time 
 Johnny's  eldest  grandson  goes  his  first  Circuit.  You  will 
 come  the  end  of  next  week,  and  give  us  the  benefit  of  your 
 advice,  there's  a  good  fellow." 
 
 He  little  thought  in  how  short  a  time  compara- 
 tively, and  in  how  different  a  sense,  he  would  make 
 the  vicarage  a  show  parsonage. 
 
 He  and  I  were  to  dine  with  Sir  William,  and  after 
 we  had  set  the  home  party  down  to  their  earlier 
 dinner,  we  took  a  long  walk  in  the  Park,  and,  I  re- 
 member, explored  the  remains  of  the  old  Merdon 
 Castle,  which  stands  in  it.  Such  pleasures  were  now 
 of  rare  occurrence  to  me,  and  the  walk  lives  in  my 
 memory. 
 
 I  dwell  on  this  passage  in  Keble's  life  with  minute- 
 ness, and  with  the  more  interest,  at  least  to  myself, 
 from  the  sad  close  of  it  which  so  soon  followed. 
 The  family  visit  terminated,  Mr.  Keble  and  the  two 
 sisters  returned  to  Fairford.  In  a  letter  which  I 
 have  seen,  written  some  years  before  to  Mrs.  Pruen, 
 in  which  he  spoke  of  intending  to  introduce  a  young 
 lady  to  her,  he  says,  "not  my  wife  Elizabeth,  but 
 
136  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 my  sweetheart  Mary  Anne."  These  words  very  hap- 
 pily and  truly  describe  the  shadow  of  difference 
 in  his  feeling  towards  the  two  sisters  ;  both  have 
 long  passed  away,  and  I  may  speak  of  them  without 
 reserve  ;  while  they  were  so  identified  with  Keble, 
 that  those  who  read  about  him  ought  to  know  some- 
 thing of  them.  Elizabeth,  the  elder  by  several  years, 
 was  almost  a  constant  invalide ;  her  complaint  had 
 rendered  an  operation  necessary,  which  made  her 
 lame,  and  she  was  seldom  free  from  suffering.  Her 
 cheerful  patience,  her  unselfishness,  her  strong  good 
 sense,  her  sweetness,  and  her  piety,  mixed  up  a  large 
 portion  of  reverence  for  her  with  the  love  which  he 
 bore  towards  her.  Nor  was  this  without  reason ;  in 
 my  note  made  at  the  time  of  this  visit,  and  which 
 I  print  because  it  was  made  at  the  time,  and  only 
 for  my  own  eyes,  I  see  I  say  of  her,  "  Miss  Keble 
 was  with  him,  looking  very  delicate  ;  she  had  evi- 
 dently suffered  much  from  the  hot  weather,  and 
 looked  less  pretty  than  she  used,  but  there  is  an 
 almost  angelic  sweetness  about  her  manner,  and  ex- 
 pression of  countenance."  Mary  Anne  was  younger  ; 
 though  not  strong,  yet  having  better  health,  and 
 brighter  spirits,  smarter  in  speech,  and  more  light- 
 hearted,  entering  into  all  his  drolleries,  and  answer- 
 ing them,  walking  with  him,  riding  with  him  ;  he 
 constantly  sporting  with  her,  seldom  addressing  her 
 but  by  some  fond  diminutive  nick-name ;  and  in  his 
 letters  to  her  constantly  sliding  into  odd  rhymes,  or 
 
Death  of  Mary  Anne  Kcble. 
 
 droll  puns ;  yet  with  all  this  he  had  the  fullest  sense 
 of  the  sterling  qualities  of  head  and  heart,  which  she 
 possessed.  It  would  have  been,  I  suppose,  impos- 
 sible to  say  which  he  loved  most  tenderly,  "  the  wife, 
 or  the  sweetheart." 
 
 It  was  the  unexpected  death  of  this  dear  sister 
 which  he  communicated  to  me  in  the  following 
 letter  :— 
 
 "  Fairford, 
 Sept.  25,  1826. 
 "  My  very  dear  Friend, 
 
 "  I  cannot  help  hoping  you  may  in  some  way  or  other 
 be  a  little  prepared  for  what  I  have  to  communicate — 
 a  most  trying  visitation  of  God's  Providence,  particularly 
 to  my  father  and  Elizabeth, — yet  accompanied,  as  always, 
 with  many,  very  many  circumstances  of  great  comfort  and 
 relief.  I  was  summoned  from  Hursley  the  morning  Henry 
 Coleridge  left  me,  by  an  account  of  dearest  Mary  Anne's 
 being  alarmingly  ill ;  when  I  came  here,  I  found  she  had 
 been  in  a  state  of  delirium  ever  since  Sunday  night ;  and 
 this  continued,  with  very  slight  abatement,  till  last  Wed- 
 nesday morning  about  two  o'clock,  when  she  was  quiet  for 
 about  two  hours,  and  then,  seemingly  without  pain,  fell  into 
 her  last  sleep,  fairly  worn  down  by  the  violence  of  the 
 attack.  Dear  soul,  I  really  do  not  think  it  at  all  presump- 
 tuous to  rejoice  in  the  contemplation  of  her  present  state. 
 Sudden  as  her  death  was  to  herself,  she  was,  I  firmly  be- 
 lieve, entirely  prepared  for  it.  Her  spirits  had  been  rather 
 affected  of  late,  and  she  sometimes  appeared  to  anticipate 
 something;  but  the  only  effect  this  had  on  her  was  to 
 make  her  more  cheerful  and  resigned  in  everything,  and 
 kinder  to  everybody.    The  more  coolly  I  think  of  her,  now 
 
138  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 the  first  shock  is  over,  the  more  does  this  comfort  grow 
 upon  me ;  and  if  it  were  not  for  my  father  and  Elizabeth, 
 I  think  I  should  feel  an  unmixed  though  melancholy  plea- 
 sure in  thinking  of  her.  To  them,  as  you  may  well  con- 
 ceive, the  separation  is  painfully  trying :  humanly  speaking, 
 irreparable ;  but  the  Almighty  has  mercies  in  store  which 
 we  know  not  of,  and  they  are  both  so  calm  and  patient, — 
 my  Father  even  cheerful, — that  I  cannot,  upon  considera- 
 tion, be  uncomfortable  about  them  either.  My  brother 
 and  Bessie  are  with  us,  and  are  the  greatest  support  to 
 one  another,  and  to  us ;  and  the  baby  is  like  a  little  angel 
 sent  among  us  to  shine  in  an  overclouded  place.  Then  we 
 have  our  Bibles  and  Prayer-books  at  hand,  and  are  sure  of 
 the  affectionate  sympathy  of  many  dear  friends,  you  my 
 dear  Coleridge  particularly ;  never  shall  we  forget  the  very 
 brotherly  letter  you  sent  us  the  last  time  we  were  in  dis- 
 tress, when  we  had  just  parted  from  my  mother.  I  was 
 very  glad  of  your  letter  by  Henry,  and  of  the  cheering  ac- 
 count he  brought  of  your  family ;  the  blessing  of  God  be 
 upon  them  all.  Remember  us  in  your  prayers, — me  par- 
 ticularly, that  I  may  make  a  better  use  of  this  than  I  have 
 done  of  other  visitations.  And  when  you  write  to  Ottery, 
 will  you  let  Frank  and  Henry  know  how  things  are,  with 
 my  kindest  regards.  I  promised  to  write,  but  perhaps  he 
 will  excuse  that  at  present. 
 
 "  Your  very  affectionate  Friend, 
 
 "  John  Keble,  JunV 
 
 He  wrote  about  the  same  time  on  the  same  oc- 
 casion to  Froude,  and  even  had  the  letter  been 
 confined  to  this,  it  is  so  exquisite  in  thought  and 
 expression,  that  I  could  not  have  withheld  it  from 
 
Death  of  Mary  Anne  Keble.  139 
 
 my  readers ;  but  they  will  see  that  it  has  a  cha- 
 racter of  its  own  ;  tenderly,  and  delicately,  and  very 
 wisely,  the  former  tutor  suggests  to  the  pupil,  now 
 become  the  young  friend,  how  to  deal  with  infir- 
 mities in  temper,  or  spirits,  to  which  he  thought 
 him  constitutionally  liable.  I  therefore  give  the 
 whole  letter,  and  for  the  same  reason  I  subjoin  an 
 extract  from  another  written  later  in  the  same 
 year : — 
 
 "  I  am  now  in  the  midst  of  preparations  to  quit  Hursley, 
 and  return  to  live  at  Fairford  as  early  as  I  can  next  week ; 
 I  therefore  am  afraid  I  shall  not  be  able  to  write  much  to 
 the  purpose,  but  something  I  must  rate  in  answer  to  yours, 
 which  was  forwarded  from  home  with  a  very  comfortable 
 account  of  matters  there,  and  reached  me  this  morning. 
 I  knew  you  would  be  very  sorry  when  you  heard  of  what 
 has  come  upon  us,  and  I  feel  that  I  can  write  freely  to  you 
 about  it ;  but  I  cannot  half  describe  to  you  the  depth  and 
 intensity,  at  least  as  it  seemed  to  me,  of  my  thoughts  and 
 feelings  during  Mary  Anne's  illness  and  for  some  time  since. 
 Certainly  no  loss  could  be  so  great,  humanly  speaking,  to 
 Elisabeth  and  my  Father ;  but  they  are  both  such  sort  of 
 people,  that  I  have  long  been  used  to  consider  everything 
 that  happens  to  them  as  a  certain  good :  and  there  was 
 nothing  bitter  in  my  grief  as  far  as  they  were  concerned ; 
 much  less  in  thinking  of  Mary  Anne  herself;  but  the  real 
 bitterness  was  when  I  thought  of  many  things  in  which 
 I  have  been  far  less  kind  to  her  than  I  ought  to  have  been. 
 Somehow  or  other  I  have  for  years  been  accustomed  to 
 talk  to  her  far  more  freely  than  to  anybody  else  in  the 
 world,  though  of  course  there  were  two  or  three  whom 
 
140  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 I  loved  quite  as  well.  But  it  has  so  happened  that  when- 
 ever I  was  moody  or  fretful,  she  has  had  to  bear  with  me 
 more  than  any  one,  and  if  I  chose  I  could  sit  down  and 
 torment  myself  by  the  hour  with  the  thought  of  it.  This 
 is  the  only  feeling  of  real  bitterness  that  I  have  on  the 
 subject,  but  I  know  it  is  wrong  to  indulge  it,  and  I  trust 
 soon  to  get  over  it  entirely ;  indeed,  I  seem  to  have  done 
 so  already,  only  I  feel  one  cannot  in  any  way  depend  upon 
 one's  self.  I  am  certain  no  person  who  believes  in  the 
 Atonement  ought  to  indulge  in  bitter  remorse,  and  there- 
 fore, by  God's  blessing,  I  don't  mean  to  be  uncomfortable 
 if  I  can  help  it,  even  in  the  thought  of  my  past  faults. 
 I  have  been  so  too  much  already,  and  it  only  seems  to 
 make  one  lazy  and  weaken  one's  own  hands  and  one's 
 friends'.  If  you  please,  therefore,  don't  let  us  encourage 
 one  another  in  melancholy  any  more;  but  let  us  always 
 resolutely  look  to  the  bright  side  of  things,  and  among 
 other  helps  to  be  quiet,  let  us  always  talk  as  freely  to  one 
 another  as  we  do  now  ;  for  nothing  relieves  one  so  much 
 as  making  a  clean  breast.  I  never  was  so  much  impressed 
 with  the  value  and  excellency  of  cheerfulness  as  a  Christian 
 virtue  as  I  have  been  since  M.  A.'s  death.  The  remem- 
 brance of  her  peculiar  cheerfulness  (for  she  had  more  of 
 it  than  any  of  us,  except,  perhaps,  my  Father)  goes  so  far 
 towards  keeping  us  all  up,  especially  Elisabeth.  We  keep 
 thinking  how  vexed  she  would  be  to  see  us  annoying  our- 
 selves about  her;  and  how  she  always  wanted  everybody 
 to  live  in  sunshine;  and  it  quite  makes  us  ashamed  and 
 afraid  to  feel  desolate.  You  may  easily  imagine  what 
 a  support  this  is  to  Elisabeth,  whose  thoughts,  both  from 
 her  temper  and  circumstances,  are  more  entirely  fixed  on 
 M.  A.  than  either  of  ours  can  be.  Of  course,  she  must  feel 
 like  a  widow,  but  I  trust  not  as  a  desolate  one  :  certainly 
 
Death  of  Mary  Anne  Keble.  141 
 
 she  seems  alive  to  every  comfort,  and  her  prevalent  feeling 
 is  one  of  deep  thankfulness  for  the  assurance  of  M.  A.'s 
 happiness.  As  to  my  Father,  he  really  seems  to  have  re- 
 covered his  ordinary  cheerfulness :  now  and  then  he  is 
 overcome,  but  tears  relieve  him,  and  he  goes  on  comfortably 
 again.  I  am  going  to  be  his  curate  at  Coin,  where  I  hope 
 we  shall  yet  have  many  a  comfortable  discourse,  and  not 
 find  it  necessary  to  ramble  so  far  as  the  Wye  in  search  of 
 'great  rocks'  to  shelter  us.  I  don't  mean  that  I  am  to 
 live  at  Coin,  but  at  Fairford.  Betty  goes  to  Coin.  I  like 
 your  plans  of  reading,  but  don't  be  disheartened  if  you  seem 
 to  do  little ;  only  I  would  not  indulge  reveries.  As  you 
 speak  of  good  books,  do  look  at  the  Life  of  Mr.  Bonnell 
 if  it  comes  in  your  way.  It  is  in  the  list  of  the  Christian 
 Knowledge  Society,  and  Hawkins  I  know  can  lend  it  you. 
 See  p.  153.  There  is  a  passage  which  I  have  found  useful, 
 and  I  suspect  you  may  too.  You  cannot  think  how  often 
 you  come  into  my  mind,  especially  now  I  am  endeavouring 
 to  train  myself  to  a  more  thorough  content  and  cheerfulness 
 than  I  have  ever  yet  practised.  For  I  fancy  that  you  and 
 I  require  in  some  respects  the  same  sort  of  training.  At 
 any  rate  I  know  too  well  what  passes  in  my  own  mind,  to 
 think  anything  contemptible  in  you.  Now  I  think  this  is 
 enough  about  ourselves,  for  I  hold  it  to  be  a  selfish  and 
 dangerous  sort  of  thing  for  people  to  be  always  turning 
 their  eyes  inward.  But  don't  let  this  hinder  you  from 
 writing  always  as  freely  of  what  is  uppermost  as  you  do 
 now ;  only  please  not  to  let  your  own  faults,  nor  anything 
 uncomfortable,  be  often  uppermost.  As  I  said  before,  I 
 am  sure  it  is  not  natural  it  should  be  so  in  those  for  whom 
 Christ  died. 
 
 "This  lesson  I  have  learned  of  dear  Mary  Anne,  and 
 I  hope  not  to  forget  it,  but  to  have  it  perfect  by  the  time 
 
142  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 I  see  her  again,  and  if  I  can  get  you  to  learn  it  too,  so 
 much  the  better  for  us  all.  She  often  used  to  speak  of 
 you,  and  I  dare  say  to  pray  for  you,  for  she  fancied  you 
 not  quite  comfortable,  and  she  had  a  great  feeling  for  that 
 sort  of  discomfort. 
 
 "  God  bless  you  now,  my  dear  friend.  Let  me  hear  from 
 you  as  often  as  it  seems  to  do  you  any  good — and  don't 
 mind  what  you  write.  Mention  how  your  sister  is — I  have 
 heard  nothing  of  her  for  a  long  time.  Ever  and  ever  yours, 
 J.  K.,  Junr." 
 
 "2d.Dec\,  1826. 
 
 "So  much  for  myself,  and  now  you.  I  am  bound  to 
 thank  you  over  and  over  again  for  your  last  letter,  it  was 
 and  is  a  real  comfort  to  me,  for  I  am  tolerably  sure  you 
 are  in  the  right  way,  only  don't  dwell  too  much  upon 
 whatever  may  have  been  wrong;  to  some  minds  it  may 
 be  necessary,  but  not  to  those  who  are  in  danger  of  be- 
 coming indolent  by  too  much  thinking  about  themselves. 
 And  when  you  find  yourself,  as  I  daresay  you  sometimes 
 do,  overpowered  as  it  were  by  melancholy,  the  best  way 
 is  to  go  out,  and  do  something  kind  to  somebody  or  other. 
 Objects,  either  rich  or  poor,  will  generally  present  them- 
 selves in  the  hour  of  need  to  those  who  look  for  them  in 
 earnest,  although  Oxford  is  not  perhaps  the  most  con- 
 venient place  to  find  them  in.  However,  there  they  surely 
 are,  if  you  will  take  the  trouble  of  looking  for  them ;  and 
 perhaps  that  very  trouble  is  in  some  sort  an  advantage  in 
 driving  away  a  moody  fit,  although  I  always  reckon  it 
 a  great  privilege  of  a  country  Parson,  that  his  resources 
 in  this  way  lie  close  to  his  own  door.  Writing,  too,  I  have 
 known  in  many  cases  a  very  great  relief;  but  I  almost 
 doubt  the  expediency  of  preserving  journals,  at  least  of 
 
Death  of  Mary  Anne  Keble.  143 
 
 looking  much  back  upon  them :  if  one  could  summon 
 resolution  to  do  so,  I  fancy  the  best  way  would  be  to 
 write  on  till  one  was  a  little  unburthened,  and  then  put 
 one's  confessions  in  the  fire.  But  in  all  these  things,  of 
 course,  no  one  can  judge  for  his  neighbour.  And  what- 
 ever you  do,  don't  throw  your  confessions  to  me  in  the 
 fire,  for  it  does  my  heart  good  to  receive  them ;  it  makes 
 me  hope  that  I  am  sometimes  useful,  which  is  a  sensation 
 I  don't  very  often  experience." 
 
 It  was  in  the  spring  of  1827,  (March  5  is  the  date 
 it  bore,)  that  Keble  wrote  the  poem  entitled  "  Burial 
 of  the  Dead,"  which  is  printed,  No.  50,  in  the  Lyra 
 Apostolica.  I  hardly  know  whether  I  should  not 
 assign  it  the  first  place  in  all  the  poetry  he  has  left 
 behind  him,  for  its  beautiful  rhythm,  and  most  appro- 
 priate measure,  the  finish  of  its  language,  but  above 
 all  these,  for  its  richness,  simplicity,  and  pathos. 
 Its  charm  is  increased  by  knowing  that  it  was  Mary 
 Anne's  funeral  which  it  dwells  on ;  this  gives  a 
 reality  and  tenderness  to  such  expressions  as  "  cheer- 
 ing whispers  like  thine  own."  Here,  too,  we  find 
 what  again  and  again,  indeed  almost  uniformly,  is 
 to  be  found,  when  he  wrote  in  verse  or  prose  on 
 such  subjects,  the  expression  of  his  belief  in  the 
 communion  of  the  departed  spirits  of  the  blest  with 
 the  sorrowing  survivors  : — 
 
 "  The  deep  knell  dying  down,  the  mourners  pause, 
 Waiting  their  Saviour's  welcome  at  the  gate : 
 Sure  with  the  words  of  heaven 
 Thy  spirit  met  us  there, 
 
144  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 "  And  sought  with  us  along  th'  accustom'd  way 
 The  hallow'd  porch,  and  entering  in  beheld 
 The  pageant  of  sad  joy 
 So  dear  to  Faith  and  Hope." 
 
 I  can  hardly  suggest  why  he  wrote  "  brother"  for 
 "sister"  in  the  stanza  towards  the  close,  perhaps  it 
 might  be  consideration  for  those  who  would  first 
 see  the  poem,  whom  he  would  not  touch  too  closely, 
 or  it  might  be  from  his  habitual  shrinking  from 
 putting  himself,  or  his  own  special  sorrow  before 
 the  public  eye,  that  he  would  generalize  this  most 
 touching  incident  in  the  poem.  I  mention  the  cir- 
 cumstance, however,  as  it  might  raise  a  doubt  as 
 to  the  occasion  of  the  poem,  for  which  there  is  no 
 foundation. 
 
 The  poem  immediately  preceding  in  the  same 
 volume  is  by  Keble  also,  both  bear  the  title  of  Be- 
 reavement; judging  only  from  internal  evidence,  I 
 should  say  this  was  also  occasioned  by  the  same 
 affliction ;  it  is  most  touching,  but  the  strain  of 
 thought  which  makes  it  so  interesting  to  those  who 
 know,  or  are  studying  Keble's  nature,  removes  it 
 from  the  province  of  criticism. 
 
 This  event,  as  might  be  expected,  recalled  Keble 
 from  Hursley ;  he  could  no  longer  separate  himself 
 from  his  father  and  only  surviving  sister,  and  though 
 he  would  have  preferred,  I  think,  their  joining  him 
 at  Hursley,  yet  he  found  this  impossible. 
 
 "  Many  persons  (he  wrote  to  me)  in  my  Father's  place 
 
Return  to  Fairford.  145 
 
 would  rather  perhaps  have  moved  to  me,  but  with  his  turn 
 of  mind  it  is  quite  out  of  the  question.  I  really  think  if 
 he  had  brought  himself  to  it,  it  would  most  likely  shorten 
 his  life." 
 
 Circumstances  prevented  his  brother,  now  a  family- 
 man,  from  coming  to  reside  at  Fairford  ;  indeed,  could 
 that  have  been  arranged,  it  would  scarcely,  I  think, 
 have  satisfied  Keble's  loving  heart.  So  he  made  a 
 short  visit  to  superintend  the  removal  of  his  books 
 and  other  matters  to  Fairford,  and  as  Hursley,  for- 
 tunately, could  be  provided  for  without  much  incon- 
 venience, before  the  end  of  October  he  was  again 
 settled  under  his  father's  roof,  and  thus  sadly  and 
 unexpectedly  ended  this  pleasant  episode  in  his  life, 
 his  charge  of  Hursley  as  Curate. 
 
CHAPTER   VIII. 
 
 RETURN   TO   FAIRFORD. — PUBLICATION   OF  THE 
 "  CHRISTIAN  YEAR." — 1 826,  1827. 
 
 KEBLE  returned  to  a  home  sadly  changed  by 
 the  death  of  his  sister.  I  do  not  think  that  in 
 the  course  of  his  life  he  sustained  any  loss  which  he 
 felt  more  acutely ;  beyond  the  privation  to  himself 
 in  the  death  of  a  sister  so  loved,  a  companion  at  once 
 so  bright  and  lively,  so  sensible  and  good,  he  could 
 not  but  be  affected  by  the  blow  to  his  father,  and 
 even  more  his  invalide  and  suffering  sister,  now  left 
 alone.  Dyson,  who  visited  at  Fairford  more  often 
 than  I  did,  and  knew  Mary  Anne  more  familiarly, 
 wrote  to  me  at  the  time,  and  I  transcribe  a  part  of 
 his  letter,  as  in  a  few  words  he  does  her  so  much 
 more  justice  than  I  have  been  able  to  do  in  many  : — 
 
 "  Oh,  Coleridge,  what  a  sad  blow  to  her  family,  the  loss 
 of  Mary  Anne  Keble ;  poor  I  must  not  call  her  after  the 
 common  usage,  since  she  has  so  infinitely  the  advantage  of 
 all  left  behind.  John  Keble  sent  me  word  of  her  loss  soon 
 after  it  happened,  and  gave,  as  far  as  could  be  given  so 
 early  after  the  blow,  a  comfortable  account  of  his  father 
 and  sister ;  and  to  be  sure,  if  the  truest  piety,  and  most 
 practical  submission  can  give  any  comfort  under  such  a 
 loss,  they  will  have  it,  and  I  dare  to  say,  will  perhaps  at 
 first  feel  it  less,  than  their  immediate  friends  will  for  them. 
 
Return  to  Fair  ford.  147 
 
 But  when  I  think  what  a  loveable  being  she  was  in  herself, 
 what  an  affectionate,  gentle,  guileless,  and  truly  simple 
 heart  she  had,  and  how  little  the  cares  and  affection  of 
 the  best  and  tenderest  men  can  supply  the  unwearying, 
 assiduous,  self-denying,  attachment  of  a  daughter  and  sister, 
 I  must  be  apprehensive  of  the  effect  upon  her  father  and 
 Elizabeth  from  such  a  loss,  a  loss  to  be  perceived  not  in 
 one  stunning  blow,  and  all  is  over,  but  to  be  felt  daily 
 and  hourly ;  I  hope,  however,  and  I  pray  for  the  best  for 
 them." 
 
 This  was  written  early  in  October,  1826.  The 
 letters  which  both  Dyson  and  I  received  in  the  fol- 
 lowing months  shew  that  any  apprehension  of  per- 
 manent depression  of  spirits  would  have  been  ground- 
 less ;  all  three  of  the  survivors  were  strong  in  their 
 common  faith,  and  the  picture  which  Keble  draws 
 of  his  aged  father  and  sister,  and  unconsciously  of 
 himself,  under  this  visitation  is  most  cheering  and 
 instructive. 
 
 He  says  to  Dyson  early  in  November : — 
 
 "Amongst  all  the  friendly  letters  we  received,  your's 
 seemed  one  of  the  most  valuable,  because  you  both  of 
 you  understood  dearest  Mary  Anne  so  well,  and  loved  her 
 so  truly.  Whenever  we  meet  or  hear  from  you,  it  will 
 seem  something  of  an  approach  to  her,  and  do  not  fear 
 but  by  the  blessing  of  God  our  meetings  may  be  cheerful 
 and  happy  enough.  I  am  sure  you  would  think  so,  if  you 
 could  see  how  very  comfortable  both  my  father  and  Eliza- 
 beth are,  and  how  unaffectedly  they  enter  into  the  spirit  of 
 everything  that  is  going  on  around  them.     Indeed,  I  don't 
 
148  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble, 
 
 think  you  would  see  any  difference  in  my  father,  and  I  am 
 not  sure  that  you  would  in  Elizabeth." 
 
 It  was  an  additional  trial  to  the  former  during 
 this  winter,  that  his  increasing  weakness  prevented 
 him  from  discharging  his  duties  at  Coin  personally, 
 to  which  Keble  alludes  in  writing  to  me  on  the  22nd 
 of  January,  1827  : — 
 
 "  You  would  like  to  see  my  father,  how  very  quietly  he 
 takes  his  suspension  from  clerical  duties,  which  I  used 
 always  to  fear  would  be  too  sharp  a  trial  for  him  whenever 
 it  took  place.  But  it  really  does  not  seem  to  vex  him  at 
 all.  He  stays  at  home,  and  is  quite  contented  and  cheer- 
 ful, in  the  office,  as  he  says,  of  Chaplain  to  Elizabeth. 
 And  Elizabeth's  great  delight  is  to  do  all  the  things  that 
 Mary  Anne  used  to  do,  and  fancy  her  only  gone  away  for 
 a  short  visit  to  a  place  where  she  is  very  happy,  and  soon 
 to  shew  herself  again ;  if  one  may  call  it  fancy,  which  one 
 verily  believes  to  be  the  real  truth." 
 
 He  speaks  of  himself  as — 
 
 "  Having  swung  comfortably  back  to  his  old  moorings, 
 and  certainly,"  says  he,  "  it  is  more  comfortable  to  have  some 
 one  to  say  '  good  bye'  to  every  night,  and  not  to  have  to  eat 
 and  drink,  and  talk  by  oneself,  only  it  remains  to  be  proved 
 whether  one  who  has  been  usually  very  idle,  when  he  had 
 a  good  deal  to  do,  will  suddenly  turn  industrious,  when  his 
 sphere  of  action  is  so  much  diminished.  Certainly  the 
 days  do  not  seem  long,  or  irksome,  but  I  am  afraid  that 
 is  a  very  equivocal  sign  of  industry." 
 
 But  he  was  not  idle ;   he  was  now  supplying  his 
 
Return  to  Fair  ford.  149 
 
 father's  place  at  Coin  entirely,  and  as  Coin  was 
 three  miles  off,  it  occupied  more  of  his  time  than 
 if  he  had  been  strictly  resident.  Moreover,  that  tax 
 was  now  beginning  to  be  imposed  upon  him,  which 
 in  after  life  became  very  burthensome,  the  answering 
 the  letters  of  those  who  consulted  him  in  their  re- 
 ligious doubts  and  difficulties.  This,  it  is  well  known, 
 is  the  lot  of  many  distinguished  persons ;  but  it  is 
 remarkable  that  it  should  have  commenced  with 
 him  at  a  time  when  he  would  have  seemed  to  be 
 so  little  known. 
 
 In  the  same  letter,  from  which  my  last  extract 
 was  made,  he  tells  me  that  he  had  gone  "through 
 every  word  of  an  immense  bundle  of  papers,"  the 
 remains  of  a  deceased  convert  from  Quakerism,  with 
 a  view  to  advising  whether  they  should  be  published 
 or  not.  He  asks  for  information  on  the  question 
 whether  the  present  Quakers  maintained  the  opinions 
 of  George  Fox  and  Co. ;  on  which  the  answer  in  that 
 case  seemed  to  him  to  turn.  Again,  and  about  the 
 same  time,  Cornish  had  consulted  him  on  the  con- 
 scientious difficulties  of  a  young  lady ;  and  his  an- 
 swer is  so  sensible,  that  I  cannot  forbear  transcribing 
 it;  many  persons,  I  believe,  are  occasionally  in  the 
 condition  of  the  young  lady ;  who  may  perhaps 
 profit  by  the  advice  : — 
 
 "  I  am  clearly  of  opinion  the  young  lady  should  discon- 
 tinue these  observances  which  seem  to  fret  and  distract  her 
 so  much.     It  seems  like  Fasting,  which  no  one  is  tied  to, 
 
150  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 even  by  the  laws  of  the  Church,  when  it  is  bona  fide  against 
 their  health :  much  less  by  any  rule  they  can  set  them- 
 selves. Clearly  this  is  a  case  of  melancholy  from  bodily 
 constitution,  and  the  person  should  be  recommended  to 
 avoid  all  vows  and  singularities  of  every  kind,  as  mere 
 snares.  I  seem  to  be  speaking  so  positively  about  what 
 I  must  be  ignorant  of,  that  I  am  afraid  my  opinion  is  worth 
 even  less  than  usual :  but  supposing  the  representation  in 
 your  friend's  letter  to  be  correct,  and  Jeremy  Taylor  right 
 in  his  Ductor  Dubitantium,  touching  the  management  of 
 a  scrupulous  conscience,  (p.  158  et  seqq.,)  I  don't  think 
 I  can  be  very  wide  of  the  mark ;  besides  you  have  given 
 me  a  pretty  broad  hint  in  what  way  you  mean  to  proceed, 
 and  wish  to  be  advised.  At  any  rate  a  person  of  this  tem- 
 perament should  be  cautioned,  as  matter  of  duty,  to  refrain 
 from  binding  herself  by  anything  like  voluntary  vows  in 
 future;  it  is  a  mere  snare,  and  should  be  repressed  like 
 any  other  temptation.  If  she  cannot  be  quite  satisfied,  (as 
 at  times  I  suppose  she  will  not,)  with  having  broken  through 
 her  own  rule  in  this  instance,  why  cannot  she  add  one  sen- 
 tence to  her  morning  or  evening  devotions,  relating  to  this 
 particular  subject ;  this,  if  made  habitual,  would,  as  it  seems 
 to  me,  answer  all  purposes ;  but  she  must  not  be  fanciful, 
 and  imagine  one's  prayers  do  no  good  if  one  is  uncom- 
 fortable all  the  time.  I  am  sure  it  would  be  bad  enough 
 with  some  of  us,  if  we  let  present  comfort  come  into  our 
 calculations  on  that  matter. 
 1 '  Fairford,  April  28,  1 82  7. " 
 
 These  are  but  instances ;  he  was  busy  too  in  his 
 theological  reading,  and  acquiring  that  intimate  know- 
 ledge of  the  Fathers,  which  had  such  a  marked  in- 
 fluence on  his  theological  feeling,  if  I  may  use  that 
 
Return  to  Fair  ford.  151 
 
 term,  and  the  habitual  train  of  his  thoughts  on  any- 
 religious  question.  He  was  examining  too,  with  an 
 interest  awakened  by  the  times,  the  foundation  and 
 the  limits  of  the  alliance  of  Church  and  State,  spe- 
 cially of  the  right  of  the  latter  to  interfere  with  the 
 former  in  matters  purely  ecclesiastical.  In  the  letter 
 dated  June  22,  1827,  in  which  he  mentions  the  pub- 
 lication of  "The  Christian  Year,"  he  goes  on  to  a 
 consideration  which  seems  to  me  very  interesting, 
 and  which  I  know  not  whether  any  other  writer 
 has  ever  noticed  or  enlarged  on.  It  was  clearly  an 
 original  thought  to  Keble  : — 
 
 "  The  speculation,"  says  he,  "  I  referred  to  in  a  former 
 letter,  and  on  which  you  desired  more  explanation,  was 
 this.  It  seems  clear  to  me,  on  reading  over  the  Old  Testa- 
 ment, that  the  example  of  the  Jews  as  a  nation,  is  there 
 held  out  in  such  a  way  as  to  regulate  and  correct  the  re- 
 ligious conduct  of  us  Christians  as  individuals.  The  cove- 
 nant with  them  collectively  was  a  type  of  that  made  with  us 
 separately ;  and  the  faults  into  which  they  fell  analogous  to 
 what  may  be  expected,  and  to  what  we  really  experience,  in 
 our  own  private  dealings  with  the  Almighty ;  this,  I  suppose, 
 is  what  makes  the  Old  Testament,  as  a  whole,  so  useful  to 
 be  considered  by  every  Christian ;  and  in  this  I  persuade 
 myself  that  I  see  a  strong  auxiliary  evidence  of  the  truth  of 
 both  dispensations,  as  well  as  divers  other  useful  corollaries, 
 if  I  could  but  develope  them ;  but  it  will  take  a  great  deal 
 of  reading,  thinking,  and  writing,  to  make  out  the  matter 
 properly  and  usefully,  and  I  have  only,  as  it  were,  begun  to 
 think  about  it.     I  mention  it  to  you,  that  you  may  tell  me 
 
1 5  2  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 if  it  seems  absurd  at  first  sight,  or  sufficiently  done  already. 
 I  should  like,  if  I  could,  to  turn  my  hours  to  some  account ; 
 but  long  habits  of  idleness  are  not  got  over  in  a  moment. 
 I  have  been  to  Oxford  once  or  twice  lately,  and  it  makes 
 one  quite  fidgetty  to  see  what  a  bustle  and  business  every 
 one  is  always  in.  I  had  half  a  mind  to  go  to  Bishop  Lloyd 
 and  ask  him  to  set  me  some  task." 
 
 He  had  a  great  regard  and  respect  for  that  good, 
 and  able,  and  original  man,  and  he  thought  his  ser- 
 vices as  Divinity  Professor,  especially  the  private 
 Lectures  which  he  instituted,  extremely  valuable. 
 The  Bishop  also  was  very  fond  of  him. 
 
 Although  Keble  speaks  of  his  idleness,  which  in- 
 deed he  was  fond  of  doing,  the  preceding  months  of 
 the  year  had  brought  about  the  completion,  and 
 finished  the  printing  of  "  The  Christian  Year."  Pur- 
 suing my  plan  of  giving  all  details  which  seem  to 
 me  at  all  interesting  in  respect  of  this  great  work, 
 I  must  go  back  a  little  in  my  narrative  and  my  ex- 
 tracts from  his  letters.  In  the  beginning  of  February 
 he  acknowledges  to  me  the  return  of  some  part  of 
 the  manuscript  which  had  been  under  my  hands ; 
 he  does  this  with  his  usual  overflowing  kindness,  and 
 I  could  hardly  transcribe  the  passage,  if  I  had  not 
 to  qualify  it  by  adding,  that  I  believe  after  all  he 
 rejected,  and  with  good  reason,  a  very  large  pro- 
 portion of  my  suggestions.  The  passage,  moreover, 
 adds  a  fact  worth  preserving  as  to  the  adviser  to 
 whom  we  owe  the  beautiful  Verses  on  the  "Occa- 
 
Publication  of"  The  Christian  Year."  153 
 
 sional  Services,"  which,  curiously  enough,  seem  not 
 to  have  formed  part  of  his  original  plan  : — 
 
 "  Now  I  must  thank  you  with  all  my  might  for  the  very 
 kind  trouble  you  have  taken  about  my  concerns  ;  you  have 
 set  to  work  like  a  true  friend,  and  I  shall  always  love  you 
 the  better  for  it,  only  I  am  afraid  you  have  been  taking 
 a  good  deal  more  trouble  than  the  affair  was  worth.  I  have 
 set  myself  at  work  rather  hardish  to  revise  the  MS.,  and 
 have  made  a  good  many  corrections,  one  or  two  I  hope  to 
 re-write  entirely ;  and  I  also  want  to  add  something  on 
 each  of  the  '  Occasional  Services,'  in  pursuance  of  a  hint 
 I  had  from  Davison.  I  have  done  a  few  stanzas  for  the 
 Communion,  and  if  I  have  a  good  spring-flow  of  rhyme,  I 
 hope  to  be  ready  with  the  others,  as  far  as  the  Commina- 
 tion,  in  a  month  or  six  weeks,  and  then  I  purpose  to  go  up 
 to  Oxford,  and  print  without  delay.  I  had  wished  to  put  it 
 off  for  a  year  for  the  sake  of  the  vignettes,  but  my  father 
 seems  really  anxious  to  have  it  done  without  loss  of  time, 
 and  I  think  one  should  be  uncomfortable,  if  one  did  not 
 try  one's  best  to  meet  his  wishes ;  at  the  same  time,  I  am 
 quite  aware  of  the  defects  you  mention,  and  will  do  my 
 best  to  mend  them.  I  shall,  however,  be  the  more  easy  in 
 not  sending  the  rest  of  the  MS.  to  you,  as  most  of  the  pas- 
 sages you  have  marked  were  places  which  I  was  before  dis- 
 satisfied with,  and  wished  to  alter;  in  some  few  you  have 
 not  caught  my  meaning,  as  I  believe,  through  hurry,  and 
 in  some  I  differ  in  grammar  or  taste ;  but  on  the  whole,  I 
 am  exactly  of  your  mind,  and  I  hope  to  be  a  tolerable 
 substitute  for  you  in  the  office  of  criticising  the  rest.  My 
 theological  plans,  about  which  you  enquire,  are  hardly 
 plans  enough  to  be  stated  on  paper  ;  they  are  mere  schemes 
 floating  loosely  in  my  head.     But  when  I  have  done  this 
 
154  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 job,  and  read  one  or  two  more  of  the  Fathers,  I  hope  to 
 tell  myself  something  more  clearly  about  it.  Farewell,  my 
 most  dear  friend. 
 
 "Fairford,  Feb?  9,  1827." 
 
 The  natural  wish  of  his  aged  father  to  see  the 
 work  published  before  he  died,  made  it  now  to  him 
 an  imperative  duty  to  delay  no  longer  ;  from  this 
 time  he  neither  hesitated  nor  flagged  in  the  prose- 
 cution of  the  work.  His  mention  of  vignettes  had 
 reference  to  a  scheme,  which  he  rather  favoured  at 
 this  time,  of  illustrating  the  book,  with  the  help  of 
 some  accomplished  lady  friends.  Several  vignettes, 
 as  he  calls  them,  were  indeed  drawn ;  but  he  aban- 
 doned this  idea,  which  Cornish  dissuaded  him  from  ; 
 and  thenceforward  he  always  opposed  anything  of  the 
 kind,  though  it  was  more  than  once  pressed  on  him. 
 I  rather  think  he  did  not  abide  by  the  prudent  re- 
 solution he  announces  of  sending  no  more  of  the  MS. 
 to  me  for  my  criticism,  for  I  possess  a  later  and  de- 
 tailed acknowledgment,  in  which  I  was  more  sur- 
 prised than  pleased,  to  find  that  I  had  actually  re- 
 commended the  suppression  entirely  of  the  verses 
 on  the  Tenth  Sunday  after  Trinity.  He  meets  this 
 very  simply  with  the  remark,  that  it  was  a  special 
 favourite  with  some  others  of  his  critics. 
 
 On  the  22nd  of  June,  1827,  he  announced  to  me 
 that  my  copy  of  "The  Christian  Year"  was  on  the 
 road  from  Oxford,  and  on  the  next  day  I  received 
 it.     His  announcement  was   short   and  simple,  and 
 
Publication  of"  The  Christian  Year?         155 
 
 without  comment,  and  then  he  passed  on,  as  he 
 said,  "  to  more  interesting  affairs."  I  am  certain 
 that  he  had  not  the  slightest  idea  at  the  time  how- 
 important  was  the  gift  he  had  made  to  the  world, 
 nor  how  decisive  a  step  he  had  taken  in  respect  of 
 his  own  character  and  reputation.  We  who  had 
 watched  the  work  from  the  beginning  were  some- 
 what more  enlightened,  perhaps  ;  but  we  had  not, 
 I  think,  fully  comprehended  the  importance  of  the 
 volume ;  we  had,  indeed,  a  very  high  opinion  of  it ; 
 we  thought  it  would  gradually  win  its  way,  and  would 
 exercise  a  great  influence  on  its  readers,  but  we  were 
 none  of  us  prepared  for  its  immediate  success,  still 
 less  for  such  a  success  as  befel  it.  I  have  lying 
 before  me  Mr.  J.  H.  Parkers  summary  of  the  ac- 
 count from  the  beginning  to  January,  1854;  in  this 
 period  of  less  than  twenty-six  years  I  find  108,000 
 copies  were  issued  in  forty-three  editions.  The  sale 
 of  the  work  never  flagged  through  the  remainder  of 
 his  life ;  and  in  the  Memoir  of  Mr.  Moor,  to  which 
 I  have  so  often  referred,  a  statement  is  made  (espe- 
 cially remarkable  considering  a  circumstance  to  which 
 1  I  must  advert  presently),  that  in  the  nine  months  im- 
 \  mediately  following  his  death  seven  editions  were 
 issued  of  11,000  copies. 
 
 After  what  I  have  said  above  of  my  critical  suc- 
 
 i  cess  in  regard  to  this  work  in  the  prime  of  my  life, 
 
 ;  I  should  be  very  unwise  if  in   advanced  old  age  I 
 
 were  to  venture  on  an  elaborate  criticism  of  it  here. 
 
 i 
 
156  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 Indeed,  it  seems  to  me  hardly  the  fit  subject  for 
 mere  literary  criticism  as  a  volume  of  poetry.  What- 
 ever can  be  desired  of  that  kind,  however,  has  been 
 admirably  done  already  by  Professor  Shairp,  of  St. 
 Andrews,  in  an  "  Essay  on  the  Author  of  the  Chris- 
 tian Year,"  published  at  Edinburgh  in  1866,  and 
 those  of  my  readers  who  shall  be  induced  by  this 
 notice  to  read  that  masterly  little  book,  will  thank 
 me,  I  am  sure,  for  having  referred  them  to  it. 
 
 Yet  the  publication  of  "  The  Christian  Year"  was 
 such  an  event  in  Keble's  life,  and  the  work  itself  so 
 interesting  and  important,  that  I  venture  to  set  down, 
 not  with  any  system  or  order,  what  are  rather  my 
 personal  experiences  in  the  reading  it,  than  anything 
 like  regular  criticism  upon  it.  This  may,  perhaps, 
 be  the  way  in  which  my  remarks  may  be  most  use- 
 ful, especially  to  young  persons.  I  will  say,  then, 
 that  it  is  one  of  those  volumes  of  poetry  which  no 
 one  should  take  up  to  read  through  at  once,  or  as 
 a  continued  study ;  few  volumes  even  of  miscel- 
 laneous poetry  will  bear  this ;  but  the  very  design 
 of  a  The  Christian  Year"  protests  against  it ;  it  was 
 meant,  and  should  be  taken,  as  an  accompaniment 
 to  the  services  of  the  Prayer-book.  It  will  be  found 
 to  have  a  special  significance,  if  read  as  such ;  and 
 for  this  mode  of  study  and  meditation,  it  is  particu- 
 larly fitted  by  two  among  other  qualities.  The  first 
 that  it  is  so  wonderfully  Scriptural.  Keble's  mind 
 was  by  long,  and  patient,  and  affectionate  study  of 
 
Publication  of"  The  Christian  Year!'         157 
 
 Scripture,  so  imbued  with  it,  that  its  language,  its 
 train  of  thought,  its  mode  of  reasoning,  seem  to  flow 
 out  into  his  poetry,  almost,  one  should  think,  un- 
 consciously to  himself.  They  are  always  there,  yet 
 never  intruded.  Many  times,  I  may  say  for  myself, 
 the  meaning  of  what  had  been  an  obscure  passage 
 in  Holy  Writ,  or  the  true  character  and  teaching  of 
 an  incident,  has  flashed  on  me  in  reading  the  verses, 
 of  which  it  has  been  made  the  text  for  the  day's  me- 
 ditation. I  have  heard  of  a  clergyman  in  a  rural 
 parish  in  Worcestershire  who  was  in  the  habit  of 
 reading,  and  explaining  from  the  pulpit,  in  lieu  of 
 an  afternoon  sermon,  the  poem  for  the  Sunday ;  and 
 I  have  no  doubt  such  a  practice,  with  proper  com- 
 ments, might  be  pursued  with  very  good  effect.  It 
 has  often  struck  me,  what  an  excellent  skeleton  of 
 a  sermon  this  or  that  poem  suggests.  The  second 
 quality  I  would  notice,  is  its  almost  inexhaustible 
 novelty ;  whether  this  be  owing  to  the  depth  of  the 
 thought,  the  pregnancy  of  the  language,  or,  as  severer 
 critics  have  said,  to  the  imperfect  expression  of  the 
 thought,  or  to  all  combined,  I  will  not  undertake  to 
 decide ;  but  speaking  generally,  I  should  say,  read  it 
 as  often  as  you  will,  you  will  find  it  on  each  perusal 
 to  contain  or  to  suggest  some  new  matter  for  reflec- 
 tion. Take  it  up  when  you  will,  you  are  never  likely 
 to  skim  through  a  poem,  as  one  sometimes  does  with 
 what  is  familiar,  however  one  may  admire  it ;  some 
 
158  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 thought  seemingly  new  will  arrest  your  attention, 
 make  you  pause,  and  set  you  upon  consideration. 
 This  is  surely  a  great  merit  in  a  volume  of  poems 
 intended  to  serve  in  the  way  of  a  manual. 
 
 I  would  further  suggest  to  a  new  reader  of  the 
 book,  to  remark  on  the  vivid  accuracy  of  Keble's 
 descriptions  of  natural  incidents  or  objects.  I  think 
 Dr.  Stanley  has  somewhere  observed  on  this  merit 
 in  Keble's  poetry  in  regard  to  what  he  had  never 
 seen,  the  scenery  of  the  East,  and  specially  of  the 
 Holy  Land  ;  but  we  may  all  of  us  judge  of  it  gene- 
 rally in  regard  to  our  own  country.  He  was  short- 
 sighted, and  though  he  was  fond  of  simple  music, 
 he  had  not  a  keen  or  accurate  ear  for  it.  He  com- 
 plains in  a  well-known  passage  of  the  dulness  ol 
 his  hearing  to  apprehend  the  full  beauty  of  har- 
 monious sounds ;  yet  whether  as  to  objects  of  sight 
 or  sound,  his  numberless  descriptions  are  accurate, 
 not  only  in  the  general,  but  in  the  slightest  and 
 most  delicate  features :  he  seems  to  have  observed 
 them  all,  as  true  poets  are  sure  to  do,  with  a  lover- 
 like, and  yet  a  discriminating  interest ;  and  his  lan- 
 guage is  never  more  definite  and  distinct  than  in 
 these  passages.  It  is  hard  to  forbear,  but  I  must 
 not  indulge  myself  in  citations.  There  is  still  an- 
 other circumstance,  which  I  have  always  been  struck 
 with,  the  happiness  with  which  he  spiritualizes  all 
 that  he  describes  of  natural  scenery,  and  how  con- 
 
Publication  of"  The  Christian  Year"         159 
 
 stantly  he  deals  with  it  in  this  way ;  one  stanza  I 
 cite,  not  so  much  as  an  instance,  but  as  illustrating 
 my  meaning  : — 
 
 "  He  whose  heart  will  bound  to  mark 
 The  full  bright  burst  of  summer  morn, 
 Loves  too  each  little  dewy  spark 
 
 By  leaf  or  flow'ret  worn  : 
 Cheap  forms,  and  common  hues,  'tis  true, 
 Through  the  bright  shower-drop  meet  his  view ; 
 The  colouring  may  be  of  this  earth ; 
 The  lustre  comes  of  heavenly  birth" 
 
 Second  Sunday  after  Trinity. 
 
 I  am  not  now  unfolding  the  beauties,  or  passing 
 judgment  on  the  faults,  of  this  wonderful  book  ;  its 
 great,  and  rapid,  and  not  less  its  enduring  success, 
 it  is  not  at  first  sight  easy  to  account  for  ;  it  cer- 
 tainly cannot  be  ascribed  to  its  addressing  especially 
 any  one  party  in  the  Church  ;  although  the  opinions 
 of  the  author,  whoever  he  might  be,  were  declared 
 throughout  with  sufficient  distinctness,  yet  the  book 
 found  favour  equally  with  all  ;  it  did  not  rest  in 
 the  beginning  on  the  great  name  of  its  author ;  for 
 some  time  its  author  was  not  known,  and  had  it 
 been,  he  had  earned  no  reputation  in  the  world  at 
 large  which  could  have  procured  him  such  a  host 
 of  readers.  When  it  ceased  to  be  anonymous  in 
 substance,  party  heat  in  the  Church,  and  the  very 
 distinction  he  had  earned,  might,  one  would  have 
 thought,    have    diminished    its    general    acceptance. 
 
160  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 I  have  no  reason  to  believe  that  it  has,  even  to  the 
 present  time. 
 
 It  is  natural  to  ask  to  what  cause  especially  is 
 this  exceptional  success  to  be  attributed,  and  will  it 
 still  continue  ?  I  trust  that  an  affirmative  answer  to 
 the  latter  question  may  be  given,  founded  on  what 
 I  believe  to  be  the  true  answer  to  the  first.  Of 
 course  the  general  success  must  be  in  a  great  mea- 
 sure attributed  to  the  general  merits  of  the  execu- 
 tion ;  without  the  intrinsic  beauty  of  the  poetry,  no 
 success,  or  a  very  incomplete  one,  could  have  been 
 obtained  by  the  greatest  excellence  in  the  design; 
 and,  again,  but  for  this  last,  the  mere  beauty  of  the 
 poetry  would,  I  think,  after  a  while,  have  only  placed 
 the  book  on  the  library  shelf  with  other  volumes  of 
 beautiful  poems  in  the  language,  a  classic  acknow- 
 ledged and  little  read,  exercising  no  daily  and  per- 
 manent influence.  Now,  as  we  know,  a  library  book, 
 or  a  book  of  the  house,  is  just  what  it  is  not ;  it 
 is  rather  a  book  of  each  person,  and  each  room  in 
 the  house.  The  design  of  it  is  very  simply  stated 
 in  the  Preface.  Keble  wished  to  help  towards  the 
 establishment  of  "  a  sober  standard  of  feeling  in  mat- 
 ters of  practical  religion,"  and  this  by  a  work  in 
 close  harmony  with,  and  constant  reference  to,  our 
 Liturgy.  In  his  title-page  his  motto  is,  "  In  quiet- 
 ness and  in  confidence  shall  be  your  strength."  But 
 this  object,  and  this  mode  of  obtaining  it,  both  im- 
 ply an  appeal  to  a  feeling,  I  believe,  the  most  com- 
 
Publication  of °"  The  Christian  Year"  161 
 
 mon  and  abiding  in  the  heart  of  man,  wherever  ab- 
 sorbing worldliness  or  inveterate  habits  of  vice  have 
 not  overpowered  it  ;  I  mean  the  religious  and  de- 
 votional sentiment.  This  may  seem  too  flattering 
 an  estimate  of  the  human  heart,  but  it  must  be  re- 
 membered, I  do  not  speak  of  practice  ;  I  do  not 
 speak  even  of  sentiment,  that  necessarily  results  in 
 a  good  life  ;  but  of  sentiment  and  feeling  merely.  So 
 limited,  I  believe  the  proposition  to  be  true.  How 
 much  of  the  pleasure  we  all  take  in  works  of  fic- 
 tion is  owing  to  the  existence  of  this  feeling  in  our 
 hearts.  Those  who  shrink  from  the  trials  which 
 religion  may  impose,  and  those  who  feel  willing  to 
 undergo  them,  equally  find  their  hearts  excited  by 
 the  lively  picture  of  suffering,  or  triumphant  virtue, 
 though  with  regard  to  the  former  some  bitterness  may 
 mingle  with  the  sweet  ;  and  these  two  classes  make 
 up  the  bulk  of  those  who  read.  On  the  other  hand, 
 speaking  generally,  how  cold  are  we  in  comparison 
 to  the  story  which  tells  us  of  the  labours  of  intellect, 
 the  perseverance  or  ingenuity  of  the  discoverer,  the 
 intrigues  of  the  politician.  And  is  not  this  because 
 the  former  takes  us  more  out  of  what  is  purely 
 selfish,  and  brings  us  more  close  to  what  is  religious 
 in  our  nature  ?  Now  to  this  feeling  in  the  human 
 heart  "  The  Christian  Year"  makes  unceasing  appeal, 
 with  a  voice  so  earnest,  so  manifestly  sincere,  so  sad 
 in  its  hopefulness,  so  unpretending  as  to  the  speaker, 
 yet  so   authoritative   and  confident  as  to  the  cause 
 
 M 
 
1 62  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 and  the  subject,  that  for  the  time  it  is  commonly 
 irresistible ;  and  to  be  so  moved,  as  it  is  among  the 
 purest,  so  unquestionably  it  is  among  the  highest  of 
 the  pleasures  which  we  are  capable  of  enjoying. 
 
 This  is  an  argument  which  I  know  must  depend 
 for  its  acceptance  mainly  on  the  inward  conscious- 
 ness and  feelings  of  those  to  whom  it  may  be  ad- 
 dressed. And  therefore  I  would  ask  any  reader 
 gifted  with  an  ordinary  degree  of  poetical  feeling, 
 what  has  been  the  effect  of  reading  the  verses  for 
 the  day  in  "The  Christian  Year"  under  favourable 
 circumstances  of  quiet  and  leisure  ?  I  apprehend  that 
 although  immediately  on  the  perusal,  the  thoughts 
 which  it  occasions  will  vary  much  with  the  past  con- 
 duct of  the  individual,  in  the  end  he  will  find  he 
 has  passed  very  much  into  that  state  of  feeling  in 
 regard  to  himself,  which  his  conscience  approves,  and 
 towards  his  fellow-creatures  and  his  Maker  that  in 
 which  he  would  desire  to  be  ;  he  will  feel  soberly 
 hopeful  as  to  himself;  loving,  grateful,  and  reveren- 
 tial towards  his  Maker.  And  is  not  this  the  greatest 
 happiness  we  can  expect  in  this  life.  On  these 
 grounds  I  explain  the  Volume's  exceptional  and 
 continued  success,  and  I  hope  with  great  confidence 
 for  its  indefinite  enduring.  It  would  lead  me  too  far 
 afield,  if  I  compared  its  prospects  on  these  grounds 
 with  Herbert's  poems,  which,  however  justly  admired, 
 and  still  studied  by  some,  have  certainly  lost  much 
 of  their  general  popularity.     In  truth  the  two  men 
 
Publication  of <l  The  Christian  Year."  163 
 
 were  more  alike  than  their  works,  and  what  I  have 
 said  may  be  true  of  "The  Christian  Year,"  and  yet 
 could  not  be  truly  said  of  "The  Church." 
 
 Keble  would  not  have  assented  to  these  conclu- 
 sions :  as  Wilkes  is  reported  to  have  said  he  was 
 no  Wilkite,  so  Keble  certainly  was  not  a  "  Christian 
 Year"  man.  Of  course  I  do  not  suppose  that  he 
 could  think,  or  would  profess,  that  it  had  no  merits ; 
 like  other  modest  men  in  regard  to  their  own  com- 
 positions, he  thought  these  over-rated  ;  and  his  taste 
 and  judgment  made  him  very  conscious  of  its  faults 
 in  execution  and  finish  ;  but  this  does  not  ade- 
 quately explain  the  position  of  his  mind  with  re- 
 gard to  it ;  it  is  strange,  but  it  is  certain  that  he 
 always  spoke  of  it,  and  that  was  seldom,  with 
 something  of  sadness  and  dissatisfaction.  I  do  not 
 think  he  often  read  it.  There  were  reasons  for 
 this  deeper  than  causes  merely  critical,  and  they 
 are  worth  considering ;  the  poems  unavoidably  paint 
 Keble's  own  heart ;  they  flowed  out  from  it  upon 
 subjects  which  lay  deepest  and  nearest  to  it,  and 
 no  one  can  read  them  without  believing  all  things 
 good  of  the  author.  Keble  felt  this ;  he  knew  what 
 the  picture  displayed  ;  he  knew  it  would  be  taken 
 for  a  faithful  likeness ;  he  did  not  indeed  fear  the 
 charge  of  self-display,  but  he  thought  the  picture 
 not  true  ;  he  asked  himself,  was  he  then  right  in 
 exhibiting  it  ?  and  the  good  opinion  of  the  world, 
 on  which  he  knew  a  woe  had  been  pronounced,  was 
 
1 64  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 to  him  with  this  impression  a  cause  of  real  sorrow. 
 In  his  poem  on  the  "  Danger  of  Praise,"  in  the  Lyra 
 
 Innocentium,  he  says  : — 
 
 "  And  ah  !  to  him  what  tenfold  woe, 
 Who  hides  so  well  his  sin, 
 Through  earth  he  seems  a  saint  to  go, 
 Yet  dies  impure  within." 
 
 I  have  no  doubt  he  had  reference  here  to  himself. 
 Praise  was  at  all  times  really  painful  to  him.  In 
 writing  to  him  on  his  mother's  death  I  had  used 
 language,  the  particulars  of  which  I  do  not  recol- 
 lect— but  I  spoke  of  him  and  his  discharge  of  filial 
 duties  as  I  sincerely  felt.  Dyson,  it  appears,  and 
 some  others  in  their  letters  of  consolation,  had  written 
 in  the  same  strain — in  his  answer  to  me,  he  says : — 
 
 "  I  am  afraid  I  shall  be  able  only  to  send  you  an  unsatis 
 factory  hurried  sort  of  letter,  but  I  would  rather  do  so,  thar 
 let  time  run  on,  as  I  have  done  so  often  before,  without 
 thanking  you  as  I  do  from  my  heart  for  your  kind  consoling 
 letter ;  kind  in  all  respects  except  some  partial  expressions 
 such  as  I  would  beg  it  of  you  as  a  kindness  to  forbear ;  the} 
 please  me  so  well  at  first,  that  I  am  quite  sure  they  are  best 
 not  thrown  in  my  way ;  and  when  I  come  to  look  at  them 
 or  think  of  them  afterwards,  they  seem,  as  it  were,  to  spoil 
 the  rest  of  the  letter  :  if  you  please,  therefore,  do  not  send 
 me  any  more  of  them." 
 
 To  Dyson  he  says — 
 
 "Your  kind  letter  came  to  me  at  Oxford  at  a  moment 
 when  I  needed  it,  and  proved,  I  assure  you,  a  real  comfort 
 
Publication  of li  The  Christian  Year!'         165 
 
 to  me  ;  indeed,  I  fear  I  was  more  delighted  than  I  ought, 
 both  with  your  letter  and  2  or  3  others  which  I  received 
 at  the  same  time  ;  for  it  is  humiliating  to  see,  on  reading 
 them  over,  how  much  undeserved  credit  one's  friends  give 
 one.     But  this  will  not  bear  talking  about." 
 
 It  was  the  one  subject  on  which  ever  after  I  was 
 obliged  in  writing  to  him  to  be  very  guarded  in  my 
 language,  even  when  I  wrote  on  occasions  which 
 had  excited  my  feelings  of  admiration  strongly  ;  for 
 though  he  could  not  write  otherwise  than  gently  and 
 affectionately,  I  felt  sure  I  had  given  him  pain. 
 
 I  have  already  printed  an  extract  from  his  letter 
 to  Mr.  Pruen  respecting  the  Dedication.  That  is 
 now  very  properly  printed,  I  believe,  in  the  Editions 
 which  have  issued  since  his  death,  but  he  never 
 would  print  it  during  his  life.  I  remember  when,  in 
 1858,  he  allowed  Mr.  Parker  to  publish  a  handsome 
 Edition  in  small  folio,  I  suggested,  or,  rather,  asked 
 his  permission  for  the  printing  it  ;  he  would  not  ab- 
 solutely deny  me,  but  he  yielded  in  language  mani- 
 festing so  clearly  his  unwillingness,  that  it  would 
 have  been  unkind  to  act  on  it,  and  I  forbore. 
 
 In  all  this  he  was  perfectly  sincere,  nor  can  I  think 
 his  feeling  morbid,  or  unreasonable,  though  it  may 
 have  been,  indeed  was  in  my  judgment,  exaggerated. 
 The  more  pure  and  holy  a  man  is,  the  more  odious 
 will  sin  be  to  him  ;  and  beside  this,  the  more  en- 
 tirely will  he  refer  every  successful  resistance  to 
 temptation,  every  good  thought,   all  continuance  in 
 
1 66  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 purity  to  the  special  favour  of  God,  and  feel  that  it 
 calls  on  him  for  a  more  lively  gratitude  than  com- 
 mon ;  so  that  every  declension,  through  human  in- 
 firmity unavoidable,  will  come  to  his  conscience  em- 
 bittered with  the  sense  of  special  ingratitude ;  sin  in 
 one  who  feels  himself  so  favoured  will  seem  double 
 sin.  This,  I  think,  is  the  explanation  of  the  decla- 
 ration of  St.  Paul  respecting  himself,  which  I  have 
 always  looked  on  as  perfectly  sincere.  I  am  not 
 comparing  Keble,  of  course,  with  the  great  Apostle, 
 but  the  same  principle  of  judgment  applies  to  both, 
 indeed,  to  all  good  men  ;  and  when  they  say  such 
 things  of  themselves,  though  we  may  think  them  too 
 severe  in  their  judgments,  we  should  acquit  them  of 
 insincerity,  and  the  miserable  weakness  of  seeking 
 for  compliments. 
 
 Keble  always  published  "The  Christian  Year" 
 anonymously  :  at  first  the  secret  of  authorship  was 
 tolerably  well  kept,  but  it  was  a  prisoner  committed 
 to  the  custody  of  too  many  not  to  escape  soon  ; 
 however  he  availed  himself  always  of  the  masque 
 as  he  pleased,  and  sometimes  he  played  with  it 
 amusingly  enough.  Not  long  after  the  publication, 
 an  old  pupil,  Mr.  Bliss,  in  writing  to  him,  mentioned 
 the  work,  with  some  speculation  as  to  the  author; 
 it  might  be,  intending  only  to  sound  him  ;  he  an- 
 swers, however : — 
 
 "  I  have  seen  the  little  book  you  mention,  and  I  think 
 I  have  heard  it  was  written  by  an  Oriel  man.     I  have  no 
 
Publication  of"  The  Christian  Year!'         167 
 
 wish  to  detract  from  its  merit,  but  I  can't  say  I  am  much  in 
 expectation  of  its  cutting  out  our  friend  George  Herbert." 
 
 I  add,  mainly  for  another  reason,  two  notes  writ- 
 ten to  a  dignitary  of  the  Church  long  after,  who  had 
 questioned  him  as  to  the  use  of  the  word  "wilder- 
 ing  "  in  the  verses  on  the  Fifth  Sunday  in  Lent : — 
 
 "  Ye,  too,  who  tend  Christ's  wildering  flock," 
 
 He  says  in  answer  : — 
 
 "  My  Dear , 
 
 "It  is  very  little  use  being  anonymous,  if  one  is  to 
 answer  for  the  sense,  or  nonsense  of  all  one  writes  just 
 the  same. 
 
 "But  do  you  not  think  that  such  a  passage  as  Ezekiel 
 xxxiv.  12,  in  the  Bible,  and  the  mention  of  'Christ's  sheep 
 that  are  scattered  abroad'  in  the  Ordination  Service,  joined 
 with  the  present  state  of  Christendom,  is  enough  to  justify 
 and  explain  the  word  ? 
 
 "  You  know  the  '  C.  Y.'  (as  far  as  I  remember  it)  every 
 where  supposes  the  Church  to  be  in  a  state  of  decay. 
 "  Ever  my  dear  friend, 
 
 "  affect17  yours, 
 
 "J.  Keble." 
 
 To  this  there  was  a  reply  which  I  have  not  seen, 
 and  to  that  this  rejoinder  : — 
 
 "  Brooking  near  Totness, 
 April  15,  1858. 
 "  My  Dear , 
 
 "  As  a  proof  that  my  conscience  is  not  quite  gone,  I  had 
 really  put  your  letter  up  to   be   answered  among  others 
 
1 68  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 when  I  left  home  for  this  place,  and  I  now  return  its  in- 
 closures  with  many  thanks.  It  is  very  pleasant  to  find  so 
 much  sympathy  with  one's  own  travelling  thoughts,  such  as 
 they  were  in  times  past,  or  rather  such  as  one  wished  them 
 to  be. 
 
 "  With  respect  to  the  word  which  gave  occasion  to  our 
 little  correspondence,  I  find  that  according  to  Johnson 
 there  is  or  was  such  word  as  '  wildering '  or  'to  wilder ' — 
 only  unluckily  for  me  it  is  a  verb  active — the  same  as 
 to  '  bewilder.'  So  it  must  be  considered  an  error,  and 
 '  wandering '  or  some  such  word  must  be  kindly  substituted 
 for  it.     I  find  it  unluckily  in  the  Oxford  '  Psalter '  also. 
 
 "  I  am  always, 
 
 "  My  dear , 
 
 "  Affect*  your's, 
 "  J.  Keble." 
 
 It  occurs  in  other  parts  of  the  book. 
 
 In  spite  of  his  concluding  sentence  it  will  be  found, 
 I  believe,  that  the  word  "  wildering  "  remained  in  all 
 the  editions  published  in  his  lifetime,  and  the  line 
 remains  unaltered  still.  It  happened  to  me  more  than 
 once  to  point  out  some  inaccuracy  of  language,  or 
 metre,  admitting  easily  of  correction ;  he  used  to 
 answer  not  unkindly,  but  coldly,  and  intimated  in 
 effect  that  it  was  not  worth  while  to  alter  it.  This 
 was  the  result,  in  great  measure,  of  the  feeling  which 
 he  had  grown  to  entertain  towards  the  book,  as 
 well  as  of  his  constant  occupation  and  the  habit  of 
 procrastination,  which,  of  course,  did  not  decrease 
 with  years.  He  seemed  to  me  not  unconscious  of 
 the  merits  of  the  book,  or  of  its  probable  usefulness ; 
 
Publication  of"  The  Christian  Year"  169 
 
 but  as  if  he  half  wished  to  disconnect  himself  from 
 it,  and  as  if  he  would  rather  it  had  been  the  work  of 
 some  one  else  than  himself.  I  have  accounted  for 
 this,  which  seems  so  strange,  as  well  as  I  can. 
 
 In  the  first  two  editions,  there  were  no  verses  on 
 what  are  called  the  State  Services  ;  he  did  not  regard 
 them  as  an  integral  part  of  the  Common  Prayer-book, 
 and  I  cannot  now  recall  why  he  was  induced  to  write 
 upon  them.  In  the  verses  on  the  "  Gunpowder  Trea- 
 son" he  wrote  a  stanza,  which  on  the  first  reading 
 might  certainly  lead  one  to  suppose  that  he  denied 
 the  Presence  of  our  Lord's  Body  in  the  Elements  after 
 consecration.  Nobody,  however,  who  knew  his  opi- 
 nions on  this  subject,  (and  they  were  expressed  openly 
 again  and  again  in  public,  and  in  private,  and  in  print, 
 with  earnestness  and  uniformity,)  could  believe  that  he 
 intended  to  be  so  understood  ;  and  when  challenged 
 on  the  subject,  he  always  maintained  that  his  lan- 
 guage was  misunderstood,  and  that  any  writer  whose 
 sentiments  were  unquestionably  known  should  in  jus- 
 tice have  his  language  interpreted  according  to  those 
 sentiments,  where  the  meaning  was  not  necessarily 
 opposed  to  them.  He  pointed  out  that  the  omission 
 of  the  word  "  only"  after  the  expression  "  not  in  the 
 hands,"  raised  the  whole  difficulty,  and  for  that  short 
 way  of  speaking  he  referred  to  passages  in  Scrip- 
 ture, which  are  numerous,  as  authority.  The  matter 
 was  mentioned  to  him  several  times,  but  he  de- 
 clined to  make  any  alteration.     Some  weeks  before 
 
1 70  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 his  death,  however,  a  member  of  the  Upper  House 
 of  Convocation,  addressing  it,  quoted  the  lines  with 
 approbation  in  the  sense  most  commonly  attributed 
 to  them ;  this  he  thought  entirely  altered  the  case, 
 and  ought  to  prevent  him  from  any  longer  over- 
 looking or  acquiescing  in  the  misinterpretation,  and 
 he  determined  therefore  to  accept  an  alteration  which 
 had  been  before  suggested  by  a  friend ;  he  at  once 
 directed  that  when  a  new  edition  should  be  called 
 for,  this  should  be  substituted  for  the  old  reading, 
 with  a  note,  the  substance  of  which  he  dictated. 
 At  the  time  he  did  this,  there  was  no  illness  upon 
 him  which  apparently  threatened  his  life ;  a  fortnight 
 later,  in  a  note  to  me  about  Mrs.  Keble's  state,  he 
 says,  "  As  for  myself,  I  eat,  drink,  and  sleep  heartily, 
 so  you  need  be  in  no  care  about  me  so  far."  His 
 anxiety  was  entirely  about  her,  and  both  contem- 
 plated that  he  would  be  the  survivor.  It  pleased 
 God  that  he  should  die  first.  She  to  whom  he  be- 
 queathed the  copyright,  naturally  felt  bound  by  the 
 injunction ;  and  when  she  bequeathed  the  copyright 
 to  her  nephew,  she  imposed  it  on  him, — this  direction 
 he  of  course  obeyed. 
 
 It  cannot  be  doubted,  on  these  facts,  that  the 
 alteration  was  Keble's  own  as  much  as  if  he  had 
 written  it  himself  years  before,  and  that  neither  Mrs. 
 Keble,  or  her  nephew,  could  properly  exercise  any 
 discretion  in  the  matter.  It  would  have  seemed  a 
 matter  of  course  for  the  latter  to  make  it ;  and  in- 
 
Publication  of  "  The  Christian  Year."         1 7 1 
 
 deed,  when  thus  explained,  to  be  of  little  importance 
 in  itself.  Keble's  belief,  it  must  be  remembered,  had 
 been  long  and  generally  known ;  no  one  could  have 
 cited  him  as  an  authority  for  the  doctrine  which  the 
 words  were  supposed  to  convey  ;  and  it  is  difficult  to 
 understand  how  any  one,  knowing  his  belief,  could 
 desire  to  circulate  as  his  any  verses,  with  the  inten- 
 tion thereby  of  conveying  something  entirely  contrary 
 to  it,  and  acquiring  thereby  his  authority  for  that 
 which  he  neither  thought  nor  believed.  I  must  not 
 be  understood  as  making  any  insinuation  of  this  kind 
 in  regard  to  the  Right  Reverend  Bishop,  who,  citing 
 the  verse  to  grace  the  peroration  of  a  speech,  cer- 
 tainly was,  in  fact,  the  immediate  occasion  of  the 
 alteration.  Nor,  indeed,  do  I  make  any  imputation 
 against  any  individual,  or  any  Body ;  what  was  said 
 and  done  in  consequence — though  I  cannot  approve 
 it — was,  I  doubt  not,  done  upon  grounds  which  seemed 
 justifiable  to  the  doers. 
 
 To  one  who  is  familiar  with  Keble's  diction  in 
 "The  Christian  Year,"  there  is  no  difficulty  in  un- 
 derstanding how  an  ambiguity  of  expression  might 
 occur ;  and  to  one  who  knew  him  long  and  well, 
 there  is  equally  no  difficulty  in  understanding  either 
 why  the  alteration  was  not  made  before,  or  why  it 
 was  directed  to  be  made  at  the  time  it  was  made. 
 I  do  not  think  it  was  a  happy  one ;  but  that  the 
 direction  was  given  under  improper  pressure  at  a 
 time  when  his  judgment  was  obscured,  or  his  power 
 of  maintaining  his  own  opinion  enfeebled  (and  both 
 
172  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 have  been  insinuated,)  I  am  concerned  strongly  to 
 deny ;  and  those  who  impute  that,  I  hope  have  not 
 considered  how  grave  an  imputation  they  cast  on 
 his  widow  and  her  nephew,  who  must  have  known 
 if  such  had  taken  place.  But  there  is  the  most 
 abundant  evidence  that  this  subject  was  perfectly 
 familiar  to  Keble,  and  had  been  on  his  mind  for 
 years.  By  the  kindness  of  a  neighbouring  clergy- 
 man, the  Rev.  Samuel  Walker,  who  had  written  to 
 him  in  February,  1863,  I  am  able  to  print  the 
 material  part  of  a  letter,  which  sets  this  at  rest : — 
 
 "  My  dear  Sir, 
 
 "  I  am  obliged  by  your  kind  suggestion  regarding  the 
 passage  in  the  '  Christian  Year.'  For  many  years  it  has 
 been  a  matter  which  I  have  thought  of  at  odd  times,  and 
 you  will  find  in  my  dear  friend  Hurrell  Froude's  '  Remains' 
 that  complaints  were  made  of  it  near  thirty  years  ago.  I 
 thought  of  an  alteration,  but  other  friends  over-ruled  it. 
 Nor  am  I  at  present  disposed  to  make  any.  Your's,  I  fear, 
 would  hardly  come  up  to  what  is  wanted  in  the  way  of 
 doctrine.  In  a  Note  to  the  Preface  of  the  Second  Edition 
 of  a  book  of  mine,  which  nobody  reads,  on  '  Eucharistical 
 Adoration,'  I  have  given  my  own  commentary  on  it :  that 
 it  is  to  be  understood,  "  Not  in  the  hands  only?  as  against 
 a  carnal  presence — vide  S.  John  vi.  63  ;  and  the  same  idiom 
 recurs  elsewhere. 
 
 "  I  have  been  shewn  a  passage  in  St.  Bernard,  but  cannot 
 now  recall  it,  which  seemed  to  me  to  justify  the  expression. 
 
 "  Do  you  not  think  that  if  it  can  be  justified,  it  had  best 
 be  retained,  were  it  only  to  help  in  shewing,  that  such  say- 
 ings do  not  necessarily  bear  such  a  meaning,  and  must  be 
 
Publication  of"  The  Christian  Year!'         173 
 
 interpreted  consistently  with  the  writer's  sentiments  known 
 unquestionably  in  other  ways  ?" 
 
 Thus  he  wrote  more  than  three  years  before  his 
 death,  and  thus  he  could  not  have  written,  had  he 
 intended  to  teach  what  those,  who  quarrelled  with 
 the  alteration,  desired  he  should  be  understood  to 
 have  taught. 
 
 There  is  a  story  recorded  by  Isaac  Walton,  regard- 
 ing George  Herbert's  "  Temple,"  which  is  very  ap- 
 posite, and  I  will  close  what  I  have  felt  compelled  to 
 say  on  this  painful  matter,  with  repeating  it.  It  is 
 well  known  that  in  his  last  illness  George  Herbert 
 committed  the  manuscript  to  the  care  of  his  friend 
 Nicholas  Ferrar,  desiring  him  to  publish  it  or  burn  it, 
 according  as  he  should  think  "it  might  turn  to  the 
 advantage  of  any  dejected  poor  soul,"  or  not. 
 
 Mr.  Ferrar,  it  is  said,  found  that  "  there  was  in  it 
 the  picture  of  a  divine  soul  in  every  page,  and  that 
 the  whole  book  was  such  a  harmony  of  holy  pas- 
 sions, as  would  enrich  the  world  with  pleasure  and 
 piety :"  he  proceeded  accordingly  to  publish. 
 
 "  And  this,"  says  Walton,  "  ought  to  be  noted,  that 
 when  Mr.  Ferrar  sent  this  book  to  Cambridge  to  be 
 licensed  for  the  press,  the  Vice-Chancellor  would  by 
 no  means  allow  of  the  two  so  much  noted  verses — 
 "  Religion  stands  a  tip-toe  in  our  land, 
 Ready  to  pass  to  the  American  strand," 
 to  be  printed. 
 
 No  doubt  the  Vice-Chancellor  thought  them  untrue 
 
1 74  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 in  fact,  and  likely  to  be  injurious  to  the  Church  ; 
 which  at  that  time  many  might  see  reason  for  be- 
 lieving. Nicholas  Ferrar,  however,  felt  that  he  had 
 no  power  to  enter  into  such  considerations,  and  the 
 controversy  finally  ended  thus :  "  The  Vice-Chan- 
 cellor said,  I  knew  Mr.  Herbert  well,  and  know  that 
 he  had  many  heavenly  speculations,  and  was  a  divine 
 poet ;  but  I  hope  the  world  will  not  take  him  to 
 be  an  inspired  prophet,  and  therefore  I  license  the 
 whole  book." 
 
 Nicholas  Ferrar  discharged  a  plain  duty  conscien- 
 tiously, and  the  Vice-Chancellor  acted  with  great 
 good  sense. 
 
CHAPTER    IX. 
 
 PROVOSTSHIP   OF   ORIEL. — EDITION   OF   HOOKER'S 
 WORKS. — INDIA-HOUSE   EXAMINATIONS. 
 
 KEBLE  was  called  on  as  early  as  the  fall  of  the 
 year   1827  to  prepare  "The   Christian  Year" 
 for  a  second  edition  ; — 
 
 "  But,"  he  says,  writing  to  me  in  September,  "  I  own  I  am 
 a  little  heartless  about  correcting ;  if  things  don't  come  of 
 themselves,  I  very  seldom  find  they  come  upon  my  calling 
 for  them.  Moreover,  having  done  admiring  the  print  and 
 paper,  I  find  my  own  defects  staring  me  more  and  more  in 
 the  face  as  I  read ;  so  it  is  to  be  feared  I  shall  not  do  much 
 for  one  while." 
 
 In  answer  I  pressed  him  : — 
 
 "  Pray  let  no  taedium  or  laziness  prevent  you  from  buck- 
 ling yourself  up  to  the  task  with  an  ardent  spirit ;  they  are 
 so  good,  and  may  do  so  much,  that  it  is  a  duty  to  make 
 them  as  perfect  as  possible  \  the  fault  is  obscurity  of  ex- 
 pression, here  and  there,  and  inadequacy  in  other  places." 
 
 And  then  I  went  on  into  some  particulars,  but  to 
 borrow  Wordsworth's  words  : — 
 
 "  'Twas  throwing  words  away  ;  for  still 
 The  wayward  bard  would  have  his  will." 
 
 But  now  came  an  event  which  occupied  his  atten- 
 
176  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 tion  considerably  for  a  short  while.  Dr.  Copleston  was 
 raised  to  the  Bench  as  Bishop  of  LlandafT,  and  at  the 
 same  time  appointed  to  the  Deanery  of  St.  Paul's  ;  he 
 had  been  Dean  of  Chester,  and  held  that  office  with 
 the  Provostship,  a  not  unusual  thing  at  that  time.  In- 
 deed, there  were  shortly  before  two  instances  at  Ox- 
 ford, of  Heads  of  Houses  remaining  such  as  Bishops. 
 But  with  Dr.  Copleston  this  was  quite  out  of  the 
 question.  Of  course  Keble's  friends  were  anxious 
 to  see  him  at  the  Head  of  Oriel,  and  I  find  both  Dy- 
 son and  I  wrote  to  him  ;  how  Dyson  expressed  him- 
 self I  do  not  know,  but  I  must  have  written  un- 
 guardedly and  one-sidedly.  He  answered  me  thus, 
 after  playing  a  little  with  the  supposition  that  there 
 might  after  all  be  no  vacancy  : — 
 
 "  Fairford, 
 Dec.  3,  1827. 
 
 "  To  say  the  truth,  I  should  not  at  all  choose,  just  at 
 present,  to  have  to  make  up  my  mind  on  the  matter  you 
 propose  to  me  ;  a  thousand  things  would  come  in,  of  which 
 no  one  but  myself  can  possibly  judge,  and  which  would 
 make  it  rather  a  perplexing  case  to  me.  I  am  not  so  in- 
 sensible to  ambition,  and  that  sort  of  thing,  as  you  seem  to 
 think  me  ;  and  many  such  letters  as  your  last  would,  I  am 
 afraid,  help  to  make  me  more  or  less  uncomfortable  in  re- 
 tirement; however,  in  my  cool  and  deliberate  judgment, 
 which  I  am  sure  I  am  now  exerting,  this  first  Monday  in 
 Advent,  1827,  I  must  protest  against  the  doctrine,  that 
 a  man  may  not  be  as  truly  and  thoroughly  useful  in  such 
 a  situation  as  I  am  now  in,  or  in  any  other  which  Pro- 
 
Provostship  of  Oriel.  177 
 
 vidence  may  put  him  into,  as  if  he  moved  in  a  command- 
 ing sphere,  and  were  what  the  world  calls  an  influential 
 character.  I  hope,  therefore,  if  there  is  a  vacancy,  and  the 
 Fellows  propose  it  to  me,  that  I  shall  be  able  to  see  my 
 way  clearly,  and  come  to  a  right  decision  •  at  present  I 
 really  do  not  know  what  I  should  answer,  and  I  repeat  it 
 again,  that  nobody  can  judge  for  me.  At  any  rate,  if  you 
 please  do  not  mention  my  name  as  connected  with  this 
 subject  till  you  are  sure  there  is  a  vacancy.  It  must  be 
 very  unpleasant  to  Copleston,  if  he  should  hear  of  it ;  and 
 I  know  the  temper  of  Oriel  well  enough  to  be  sure  that  any 
 interference,  even  of  the  most  friendly  and  delicate  kind, 
 would  not  be  well  received  there.  And  now  having,  I 
 trust,  set  myself  up  by  this  last  sentence  in  your  honour's 
 opinion  as  a  diplomatic  man,  and  a  man  of  the  world,  I 
 must  thank  you  for  your  answer  to  my  case." 
 
 "  Fairford, 
 Jan.  14,  1828. 
 "  My  dear  old  Dyson, 
 "  I  have  been  looking  to-day  at  your  letter  touching  the 
 Provostship,  and  have  condemned  myself  of  great  ungra- 
 ciousness in  not  having  answered  it  sooner.  You  will 
 have  heard,  I  dare  say,  before  now,  how  the  matter  is 
 settled ;  before  I  heard  from  you,  I  had  consented  to  be 
 voted  for,  but  finding  there  was  great  difference  of  opinion, 
 (all,  however,  in  a  friendly  way,)  and  that  I  was  very  likely, 
 I  may  say  almost  sure,  to  be  left  in  a  minority,  and  feeling 
 moreover  that  a  Headship  at  Oxford,  though  no  doubt  a 
 comfortable  respectable  concern,  would  by  no  means  realise 
 my  beau  ideal  of  life,  and  most  especially  feeling  that  Haw- 
 kins would  come  to  the  work  quite  free  and  disengaged, 
 while  I  should  be  every  moment  hankering  after  Fairford, 
 
 N 
 
178  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 Bisley,  or  some  such  place, — all  these  things  considered,  I 
 determined  within  a  few  days  of  the  receipt  of  your  letter, 
 to  abandon  all  thought  of  the  offer,  and  wrote  to  my  par- 
 tizans,  if  I  may  call  them  so,  accordingly.  And  I  have  not 
 as  yet  begun  to  repent  of  doing  so  ;  indeed,  the  more  I 
 consider  the  affair,  the  more  I  am  sure  it  was  right ;  and 
 I  am  very  glad  you  agree  with  me  in  thinking  so,  for  I  am 
 quite  sure  you  do.  All  here,  and  at  Bisley,  take  just  the 
 same  view  of  the  matter  as  I  do ;  and  so  'tis  all  just  as  it 
 should  be." 
 
 It  was  not,  of  course,  with  out-college  men  mainly 
 that  he  corresponded  on  this  subject.  Froude,  it 
 seems,  was  the  first  who  communicated  to  him  the 
 Bishop's  resignation.     Keble  says : — 
 
 "  I  must  beg  a  few  days  for  consideration  before  I 
 answer  positively ;  I  feel  Hawkins's  claim  to  be  a  very 
 strong  one,  and  almost  doubt  whether  it  is  right  for  any- 
 body in  the  world  to  be  set  up,  when  his  inclinations 
 are  known." 
 
 And  he  closes  this  letter  with  a  playful  message : — 
 
 "My  very  kind  love  to  old  Hawkins,  and  tell  him  I 
 think  we  had  better  put  the  Provostship  in  commission; 
 Tyler  take  the  red  gown,  Hawkins  the  work,  and  I  the 
 play.     Qu'en  pensez  vous  ?" 
 
 Before,  however,  the  end  of  1827  he  had  made  up 
 his  mind  ;  and  he  writes  thus  to  Froude  : — 
 
 "  Fairford,  St.  John's  Day. 
 "Since  you  went  away  I  have  been  endeavouring  (for 
 without  any  proem,  I  think  fit  to  enter  at  once  into  the 
 
Provostship  of  Oriel.  179 
 
 selfish  part  of  this  letter)  to  look  this  matter  of  the  Provost- 
 ship  clearly  in  the  face,  and  find  out  exactly  what  I  had 
 best  do :  all  being  brought  into  a  sum,  to  the  best  of  my 
 poor  judgment,  I  think  I  must,  with  all  possible  love  and 
 thanks  to  you  and  others  who  think  as  you  do,  decline  it 
 altogether.  I  don't  act  thus  quite  upon  public  grounds ; 
 for  to  say  the  plain  truth,  as  far  as  I  can  fancy  myself 
 judging  impartially  in  such  a  matter,  I  can  make  out  but 
 very  little  difference  between  H.  and  myself  in  positive 
 fitness  for  the  thing;  in  some  respects  I  look  on  each  of 
 us  as  fitter  than  the  other.  But  I  have  great  doubts  whe- 
 ther I  should  be  so  comfortable  there  as  I  am  now;  and 
 I  don't  suppose  he  has  any  doubt  at  all.  I  have  calls,  as 
 you  know,  elsewhere  of  a  more  pressing  nature  than  he. 
 I  don't  fancy  College  a  pleasant  place  for  one's  father 
 and  sister  to  visit  one  at,  &c,  &c,  &c.  Now  although 
 these  objections  might  all  give  way,  and  ought  to  do  so, 
 if  one's  College  absolutely  called  upon  one  as  the  only 
 person,  they  come  in  with  what  I  feel  to  be  decisive  force, 
 when  there  is  a  difference  of  opinion  to  encourage  one's 
 natural  wish  of  getting  over  things  as  quietly  as  possible. 
 In  case  any  sort  of  unpleasant  feeling  should  arise,  one 
 should  immediately  say,  'now  this  is  my  fault;'  and  in 
 a  College,  and  among  clergymen,  a  great  deal  should 
 surely  be  given  up  to  ensure  freedom  from  factions  and 
 envy.  And  'after  all  our  superior  advantages,  Fellows 
 of  Oriel  are  but  men,'  and  Provosts  in  esse  or  in  posse,  not 
 many  degrees  superior  in  the  scale  of  existence. 
 
 "  Therefore,  my  dear  fellow,  don't  think  of  me  any  more, 
 but  let  good  old  Hawkins  walk  over  the  course ;  and  what 
 I  say  to  you,  I  mean  to  say  to  him,  to  Plumer,  and  perhaps 
 one  or  two  more,  by  to-morrow's  post.  And  I  feel  myself 
 safe  in  this  resolution,  which  I  should  not  by  any  means 
 
1 80  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  JoJin  Keble. 
 
 in  the  opposite  one.  For  indeed  I  don't  imagine  my  con- 
 stitution at  all  charmed  against  the  Oxford  epidemic,  rather 
 I  should  say,  the  Doctorial  epidemic  everywhere,  if  you 
 know  what  that  is." 
 
 The  kindly  feeling  these  extracts  express  towards 
 Dr.  Hawkins  was,  I  am  sure,  returned  on  his  part ; 
 and  pleasant  indeed  it  is  to  see  a  College  Election, 
 which  is  commonly  so  exciting,  conducted  between 
 those,  who  might  be  considered  opposing  candidates, 
 in  so  amiable  a  spirit. 
 
 Keble  wrote  to  me  after  the  election  was  over, 
 on  the  nth  of  February,  1828,  from  Fairford.  His 
 letter  commences  with  affectionate  expressions  of 
 sympathy  at  two  family  losses,  with  which  we  had 
 been  visited  : — 
 
 "  In  both  cases  I  know  you  have  the  best  of  consolations 
 in  remembering  the  kindness  and  goodness  of  those  who 
 are  gone.  It  is  a  topic  of  comfort,  that  one  feels  more  and 
 more,  the  longer  one  considers  it,  to  be  quite  inexhaustible. 
 I  dare  say  you  were  as  glad  as  I  was  to  meet  once  again 
 the  good  old  Dyson,  as  fresh  and  as  cordial  as  ever.  It 
 was  an  unexpected  delight,  when  I  went  up  to  Oxford  to 
 the  Oriel  election,  to  get  a  thorough  coze  with  him.  How 
 comfortable  he  seems  in  his  work  of  coin-inspecting  and 
 date-hunting;  and  is  it  not  rather  a  rare  piece  of  philo- 
 sophy, that  he  should  take  pleasure  in  the  very  expectation 
 of  finding  his  work  too  great  for  him  ever  to  finish.  By 
 this  time  I  conclude  his  wife  has  joined  him  again ;  and 
 perhaps  I  may  run  up  and  spend  a  day  or  two  with  them, 
 when  Noel  Ellison  is  there,  he  having  promised  to  take 
 them  in  his  way  from  the  North  to  Huntspill. 
 
Provosts  hip  of  Oriel.  I S I 
 
 "  I  hope  you  don't  think  I  did  wrong  in  the  Oriel  affair. 
 If  there  had  been  anything  like  an  unanimous  call  of  the 
 Fellows,  I  certainly  should  have  thought  it  right  to  go; 
 although  I  am  not  at  all  clear  that  the  change  would  have 
 been  for  my  comfort.  As  things  were,  I  felt  that  I  was 
 taking  the  safe  side  in  declining  all  thoughts  of  the  thing ; 
 it  was  not  a  clear  call,  and  I  hold  it  under  such  circum- 
 stances always  best  to  let  well  alone.  I  do  not  deny  that 
 it  might  perhaps  be  more  comfortable  for  me  to  have  fuller 
 employment  than  I  have,  yet  there  must  surely  be  enough 
 for  one  to  do,  if  one  had  but  a  little  regular  industry,  and 
 common  sense.  For  instance,  one's  time  would  be  well 
 spent  in  making  a  sort  of  analytical  index  for  the  next 
 edition  of  the  Ethics,  or  the  Ecclesiastical  Polity,  or  Bishop 
 Butler ;  therefore  I  have  made  up  my  mind  to  leave  off  com- 
 plaining of  want  of  work,  and  to  keep  contented  with  my 
 Father  and  Elizabeth,  until  I  have,  as  I  said,  a  clear  call 
 elsewhere." 
 
 These  letters  shew  distinctly  under  what  influences 
 Keble  acted  in  respect  of  the  Headship  of  his  Col- 
 lege ;  had  there  been  no  difference  of  opinion  among 
 the  Fellows,  he  would  have  obeyed  their  call,  and 
 been,  I  am  sure,  gratified  by  it  ;  he  would  have 
 felt  it  a  duty ;  and  he  was  besides  very  fond  of 
 Oxford,  of  literary  society,  and  of  young  men ;  but 
 he  would  have  gone  there  with  some  misgivings,  and 
 I  can  hardly  think  without  some  forebodings.  Within 
 his  College,  as  the  father  and  friend  and  pastor,  in 
 some  sense,  of  his  Fellows  and  the  Students,  I  sup- 
 pose no  one  could  have  excelled  him.     In  these  re- 
 
1 82  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 spects  I  still  think  we  were  right  in  pressing  him  to 
 entertain  the  notion  heartily,  and  to  let  his  inclina- 
 tions become  known  at  once,  and  decidedly.  We 
 were  fond  enough  of  him  to  think  that  in  these  re- 
 spects, without  any  formality,  or  pretentiousness, 
 which  might  provoke  opposition,  or  ridicule,  he 
 would  exhibit  a  sort  of  model  to  the  University, 
 and  contribute  to  make  a  great  change  for  the 
 better  in  its  tone  and  manners.  But  the  duties  of 
 the  Head  of  a  House  in  those  days,  even  more  than 
 now,  extended  beyond  the  walls  of  his  College ;  and 
 already  there  were  symptoms,  which  could  hardly 
 have  escaped  his  penetration,  of  the  troubles  and 
 hot  disputes  which  not  long  after  began  to  agitate 
 the  University,  and  not  least  the  Governing  Body, 
 of  which  he  would  have  been  a  member.  In  these 
 it  is  too  clear  now  that  he  would  have  been  in  a 
 minority,  and  perhaps  the  very  reputation  and  per- 
 sonal influence  which  I  will  suppose  him  to  have 
 acquired,  as  well  as  his  great  ability,  might  have 
 made  his  position  only  the  more  painful  to  one  of 
 his  sensitive  nature.  Looking  back  on  this  passage 
 of  his  life,  I  cannot  but  recognise  his  non-election 
 as  one  of  those  disappointments,  (how  frequent  they 
 are,)  which  one  comes  to  regard  as  special  blessings ; 
 disappointment  I  am  bound  to  say  as  to  this,  to  us 
 rather  than  to  himself. 
 
 In  the  June  following  he  visited   me  in  London, 
 and  I  am  tempted  to  make  an  extract  or  two  from 
 
A  mold —  Churton.  1 8 3 
 
 the  first  letter  I  had  from  him  after  he  had  left  me ; 
 this  was  not  until  August  21,  1828  : — 
 
 "What  a  shame;  it  is  the  2i8t  August,  and  I  have  not 
 written  to  thank  you  for  the  pleasant  days  you  gave  me 
 the  beginning  of  June,  for  indeed  I  don't  know  when  I 
 have  enjoyed  anything  so  much  as  my  visit  to  you ;  it  is 
 a  peculiar  delight  to  find  anything  so  domestic  and  com- 
 fortable, so  much  like  a  country  parsonage,  as  your  house 
 in  the  middle  of  Law  and  London.  I  know  we  Curates 
 ought  to  enjoy  ourselves  a  great  deal  more  than  we  do ; 
 but,  as  it  is,  we  are  a  sad  grumbling  race,  and  I  doubt 
 whether  f  of  us  get  as  much  pleasure  from  the  trees  and 
 shrubs  we  live  always  amongst,  as  you  do  from  the  snatch 
 you  get  in  your  Square  for  J  an  hour  before  dinner  when 
 you  come  home  from  chambers 
 
 "  I  heard  yesterday  from  Arnold,  who  seems  to  be  fast 
 taking  root  at  Rugby,  and  will  soon  fill  the  school  I  dare 
 say.  I  only  hope  he  will  not  teach  them  his  own  notions 
 of  right  and  wrong  in  politics.  He  says  you  have  got  some 
 of  his  Thucydides ;  don't  sit  up  at  night  correcting  it,  when 
 you  ought  to  be  asleep.  I  charge  you,  rather  send  it  to 
 me,  if  you  find  it  an  incumbrance,  without  minding  what 
 the  book  may  lose  (or  gain)  by  the  difference  between  us. 
 I  very  much  admire  the  sort  of  cheerful,  straight-forward 
 way,  in  which  Tommy  sets  out  on  his  new  career.  I  am 
 sure  he  is  right,  and  much  to  be  imitated  in  that,  what- 
 ever he  may  be  in  his  notions  about  some  matters." 
 
 "  Poor  Churton,  about  whom  I  was  so  anxious  when  I 
 visited  you,  gets  rapidly  worse,  and  all  hope  is  given  up. 
 He  will  be  a  great  and  irreparable  loss  to  his  family  and 
 friends ;  but  I  never  knew  any  one  whom  one  could  trust 
 on  a  death-bed,  humanly  speaking,  with  more  confidence, 
 
1 84  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 that  all  would  turn  out  well.  The  only  uncomfortable 
 thing  is,  that  his  case,  (I  am  much  afraid,)  was  mistaken  ; 
 and  he  was  sent  to  Brighton  at  a  time  when  it  was  pro- 
 bably one  of  the  worst  things  he  could  do  to  go  there. 
 However,  I  do  not  know  why  one  should  be  vexed  at 
 a  mistake  of  this  kind,  more  than  at  other  circum- 
 stances, in  a  friend's  illness.  It  is  setting  up  for  more 
 infallibility  than  we  have  any  right  to." 
 
 In  the  September  of  this  year,  1828,  he  went  to 
 Lyme,  and  I  mention  this,  because  this  was  the  first 
 occasion  on  which  I  find  the  name  of  his  future  wife 
 introduced  into  his  correspondence.  He  went  "to 
 convoy  her  and  her  mother"  for  her  health  : — 
 
 "  She  had  been  but  drooping,"  he  says,  "  ever  since  the 
 Spring,  and  I  was  not  sorry  myself  for  a  bit  of  an  excuse 
 to  smell,  taste,  see,  and  hear  my  dear  friend  the  sea,  whom 
 I  seem  to  like  better  and  better  every  year  of  my  life.  I 
 staid  three  Sundays,  and  only  came  home  Saturday  week. 
 
 I  should  very  much  like  to  have  gone  on  when  I 
 
 was  so  far  West ;  but  I  made  a  kind  of  vow  to  stay  quietly, 
 bathe,  write,  and  read,  the  first  of  which  good  resolutions 
 I  performed  much  more  accurately  than  either  of  the  others, 
 to  the  great  strengthening  of  my  nerves,  and  damage  of  my 
 complexion.  The  Clark es  are  not  yet  come  home,  but 
 Charlotte  seemed  much  mended  when  I  left  them ;  and  we 
 are  in  good  hope  she  will  now  be  as  well  as  ever  again  ; 
 she  is  never  a  very  strong  body.  Lyme  is  a  beautiful  bit 
 of  coast  to  my  fancy,  one  can  hardly  imagine  oneself  so 
 near  your  red  cliffs  at  Sidmouth,  the  colouring,  form,  and 
 everything  is  so  very  different.  What  most  strikes  me  in 
 all  these  little  absences  of  mine,  is  the  amazing  rate  at 
 
Mr.  Peel,  and  the  Oxford  Election.  185 
 
 which  Puritanism  seems  to  be  getting  on  all  over  the  king- 
 dom ;  if  I  may  judge  from  what  I  heard  in  church  and  out, 
 the  old-fashioned  way  of  Divinity  is  quite  the  exception, 
 not  the  rule,  in  that  district." 
 
 This  intimation  of  an  unfavourable  opinion  in  re- 
 gard to  the  Party  in  the  Church,  which  was  then 
 fighting  its  way  upwards  to  what  I  suppose  it  must 
 be  admitted  that  it  has  now  attained,  a  more  than 
 equal  share  in  numbers  and  influence,  was  not  now 
 made  for  the  first  time ;  his  convictions  on  this  sub- 
 ject were  very  deep-seated  in  his  mind,  and  were 
 occasioned  by  no  personal,  or  political  feelings  ;  but 
 by  a  conviction  that  it  was  in  error  on  some  points 
 of  belief,  which  to  him  were  cardinal ;  and  moreover 
 that  it  was  in  its  effects  adverse  to  that  quietness 
 of  spirit,  humility  and  charity,  which  were  to  him 
 above  all  price.  I  need  not  say  that  these  differ- 
 ences created  in  him  no  unkind  feeling  towards 
 any  individual,  nor  any  insensibility  to  Christian 
 graces,  wherever  he  found  them. 
 
 The  close  of  the  year  1828,  and  the  beginning  of 
 1829,  were  agitated,  it  may  be  remembered,  by  the 
 vehement  discussions  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Ques- 
 tion. Mr.  Peel's  change  of  opinion  on  that  subject, 
 his  voluntary  resignation  of  his  seat  for  the  Univer- 
 sity of  Oxford,  and  then  allowing  himself  to  be  pro- 
 posed for  re-election,  produced  a  violent  division  of 
 l  parties  there.  I  am  not  going  into  these  matters  now, 
 1  and  I  only  mention  them  as  they  bear  personally  on 
 
 * 
 
I S6  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 Keble.  He  had  been  brought  up  in,  and  cherished 
 from  conviction,  opinions  hostile  to  the  proposed 
 concessions,  and  he  was  moreover  one  of  that  nu- 
 merous body  of  men  who  thought  it  would  be  a 
 degradation  to  the  University  to  return  Mr.  Peel, 
 "being  in  office  especially,"  after  what  had  happened. 
 I  had  been  brought  up  as  he  had,  and  had  not  then 
 changed  my  convictions  on  the  question,  but  I  dif- 
 fered with  him  in  the  conclusion  he  drew  as  to  the 
 seat.  I  thought  Mr.  Peel  unquestionably  the  best  man 
 we  could  elect,  and  that  having  changed  his  mind, 
 as  it  was  fair  to  presume,  from  a  knowledge  of  facts, 
 which  we  had  not,  and  a  sense  of  necessity,  of  which 
 we  could  be  no  judges,  there  was  nothing  in  his  con- 
 duct to  warrant  our  rejection  of  him.  While  for  the 
 University  I  thought,  (as  I  should  for  individuals,) 
 it  would  be  wise  and  manly  to  face  the  groundless 
 imputation  of  time-serving  rather  than  dismiss  the 
 tried  and  most  efficient  servant  for  doing  what  he 
 believed  to  be  his  duty.  So  I  resolved  to  vote  for 
 Mr.  Peel,  and  I  would  not  decline  to  be  on  his  Com- 
 mittee. My  dear  friend  was  very  much  distressed ; 
 he  wrote  shortly,  and  with  some  heat,  and  evidently 
 in  a  wounded  spirit.  It  must  be  remembered  that 
 on  all  such  questions  his  opinions  were  "stuff  of 
 the  conscience."  How  I  answered  him  I  do  not  re- 
 member ;  but  we  met  at  the  election  on  opposite 
 sides  with  perfect  cordiality,  and  his  letters  resumed 
 immediately  their   old   affectionate   tone.      Not,  in- 
 
Vicarage  of  Hursley  offered  and  declined.      1 87 
 
 deed,   that    he    changed    his   opinions.     Writing   to 
 Froude,  in  March,  1829,  he  says : — 
 
 "As  touching  politics,  I  am  in  the  same  mind  that  I 
 always  was,  that  we  could  not  do  otherwise  than  we  did 
 in  the  Election.  But  I  am  quite  satisfied  of  Peel's  good 
 intentions,  though  I  cannot  acquit  him  of  weakness  in  giving 
 way  for  the  reasons  he  states.  Yet  I  give  him  credit  now 
 for  no  ordinary  virtue  in  keeping  his  place,  when  he  had 
 given  way.  The  upshot  is,  that  I  think  well  of  him,  and 
 ill  of  his  measures ;  and  that  I  have  very  little  hope  of 
 his  ever  recovering  the  confidence  of  the  Tories  again." 
 
 Towards  the  close  of  the  year  1829,  Archdeacon 
 Heathcote  died,  and  Sir  William  offered  Keble  the 
 living ;  it  was  a  great  temptation  to  him  ;  the  cir- 
 cumstances, and  the  manner  of  the  offer  touched  his 
 heart ;  he  was  fond  of  the  place,  and  the  people,  and 
 affectionately  attached  to,  and  in  point  of  opinions, 
 in  entire  agreement  with,  the  Patron.  Writing  to 
 me,  he  says  : — 
 
 "Another  old  friend  I  have  lost,  Archdeacon  Heath- 
 cote, of  whom  I  knew  less,  but  have  every  reason  to  think 
 highly ;  indeed,  to  reproach  myself  for  not  having  thought 
 highly  enough  of  him  whilst  he  lived,  now  I  know  with 
 what  grievous  bodily  pain  he  had  to  struggle  in  order  to 
 maintain  that  composure  of  his.  I  was  at  Hursley  a  fort- 
 night ago,  considering  and  devising  whether  or  how  to 
 accept  the  Vicarage  which  was  most  kindly  offered  me; 
 but  after  a  good  deal  of  doubt,  and  some  anxiety,  I  have 
 written  to  decline  it  finally.     I  like  Heathcote  as  well  as 
 
1 88  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 ever,  and  am  quite  sure  he  will  put  it  in  good  hands.  I 
 thought  of  Johnny  and  Henry,  and  our  reclinings  and 
 wheelings  under  the  large  elms,  now  (most  of  them)  no 
 more.  I  have  accepted  a  Nomination  as  Examiner  at  the 
 India  House,  mainly  in  hope  of  getting  a  visit  to  you,  and 
 now  the  rogues  have  fixed  it  to  the  31st  March,  when  I 
 fear  you  will  be  away.  But  if  we  live  till  November,  per- 
 haps we  may  make  it  up." 
 
 Thus  he  seemed  to  have  extinguished  all  hope  of 
 his  ever  becoming  Vicar  of  Hursley,  because  he 
 would  not  quit  the  care  of  his  father ;  in  his  place 
 the  Archdeacon's  son  was  presented,  the  Rev.  Gil- 
 bert Wall  Heathcote,  a  man  much  younger  than 
 himself;  he  was  presented  absolutely,  and  there  was 
 no  reason  to  anticipate  another  opportunity  of  bring- 
 ing Keble  there. 
 
 The  India  House  Examinations,  of  which  he  speaks, 
 were  instituted  under  an  Act  of  Parliament  passed  in 
 1826,  (the  7  G.  IV.  c.  56,)  with  the  object  of  supplying 
 more  Civil  servants  for  the  East  India  Company  than 
 Haileybury  was  found  able  to  educate.  Oxford  and 
 Cambridge  were  to  nominate  each  two  Examiners, 
 who  should  examine  candidates  at  the  India  House 
 in  March  and  October  in  each  year,  and  Keble 
 acted  in  this  capacity  for  the  years  1830  and  1 83 1 ; 
 in  the  former  year  I  find  among  his  colleagues  the 
 name  of  the  present  Bishop  of  St.  David's.  It  seems 
 to  have  been  an  office  which  the  Universities  filled 
 with   men   among   the  most   distinguished   of  their 
 
India  House  Examinations.  189 
 
 members,  and  to  which  such  men  were  well  pleased 
 to  be  appointed.  The  present  Bishops  of  St.  Asaph 
 and  Llandaff,  were  among  them.  The  appointment 
 of  Keble  was  a  matter  of  considerable  interest  to 
 me,  in  the  hope  it  gave  me  of  seeing  him  more  often 
 in  London. 
 
 His  letters  were  somewhat  less  frequent  at  this 
 period,  but  when  he  wrote,  it  was  in  a  light-hearted, 
 affectionate  strain,  as  usual.  Thus  he  begins  to  me 
 on  one  occasion  : — 
 
 "My  dear  Friend, — 'What  unknown  correspondent  is 
 this.'  say  you  to  Mrs.  J;  T.  C,  before  you  break  the  seal. 
 1  Oh,'  says  she,  '  I  think  I  have  an  indistinct  remembrance 
 of  the  hand.  Do  break  it  open  and  see.'  'Well,  I  have, 
 and  he  calls  me  "  dear  friend  ;"  let's  look  to  the  end  of  the 
 letter.  Oh,  Keble  :  aye,  I  think  I  do  remember  such  a 
 name,  but  the  creature  used  me  so  ill  in  not  answering 
 my  friendly  enquiries  for  half  a  year  together,  or  more, 
 that  I  am  almost  inclined  to  have  nothing  more  to  do 
 with  him.'  All  this,  and  if  there  be  aught  worse  which 
 peremptory .  justice  may  dictate,  I  humbly  acknowledge 
 myself  to  have  deserved  at  your  Worship's  hands,  for  I 
 really  have  no  excuse.  Our  health,  thanks  to  our  constant 
 Preserver,  has  continued  as  usual." 
 
 Then  he  goes  on  to  tell  me  of  his  family,  and 
 a  visit  he  had  been  paying  at  his  brother's : — 
 
 "  Tom,"  says  he,  "  and  I  set  to  work  and  gave  little  Tom 
 a  regular  lecture  in  Toryism  and  High-Churchmanship 
 in  a  large  folio  Clarendon  with  prints ;  he  snaps  at  all  the 
 Roundheads,  and  kisses  all  the  Cavaliers;  moreover,  he 
 has  a  great  opinion  of  Edward  VI.,  but  is  a  little  perplexed 
 
190  Memoir  of 'the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 to  know  whether  Popery  is  dead  or  no.  As  for  his  sister, 
 she  is  all  fat  and  fun,  and  does  not  trouble  herself  with 
 Politics  yet.  And  yet  for  all  these  good  things,  I  have 
 been  too  cross  and  lazy  to  write  a  friendly  line  to  my  kind 
 host  and  hostess  and  Godchild,  and  all  in  whom  I  am  in- 
 terested in  Torrington  Square ;  but  I  am  really  ashamed, 
 so  do  not  be  too  hard  upon  me." 
 
 According  to  his  promise,  he  came  to  us  in  Oc- 
 tober for  the  India  House  Examinations.  He  talked, 
 as  he  had  written,  in  great  admiration  of  Miller's 
 new  volume  of  sermons ;  and  those  who  are  de- 
 sirous of  following  his  judgment  in  such  matters 
 may  like  to  be  told  that  his  favourite  sermons  were 
 three,  those  against  judging  by  comparisons,  on 
 Family  Worship,  and  on  the  fiftieth  Psalm  ;  these 
 he  was  desirous  of  reprinting  in  a  cheaper  form  for 
 the  use  of  the  poor. 
 
 This,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  the  winter  re- 
 markable for  the  formidable  agrarian  riots  in  the 
 Western  counties.  He  had  now  been  for  years  an 
 attentive  and  honest  observer  of  the  condition  of  the 
 labouring  classes,  and  their  feelings.  I  was  one 
 of  the  Counsel  for  the  Crown  who  attended  the 
 Special  Commission  into  Wiltshire,  and  had  written 
 to  him  my  impressions  from  Salisbury.  I  will  not 
 give  the  whole  of  his  answer,  but  it  is  worth  while 
 to  extract  a  portion  : — 
 
 "  We  have  been  very  much  taken  up  ever  since  the  end 
 of  November  with  talking  and  thinking  of  the  tumults  afore- 
 
Improvement  of  tlie  Condition  of  the  Poor.      191 
 
 said.  I  am  not  inclined  so  much  as  you  are,  I  think,  to 
 lay  the  blame  of  them  on  the  farmers  j  no  doubt  their  in- 
 solence in  many  cases,  and  their  extortion  in  some,  has 
 aggravated  the  tendency  to  riot ;  but  I  am  more  and  more 
 satisfied  that  old  Malthus,  hard  and  vulgar  as  he  is  in  many 
 things,  and  much  as  my  father  and  Southey  taught  me  to 
 dislike  him,  has  hit  the  right  nail  on  the  head ;  and  that 
 something  of  this  sort  sooner  or  later  was  the  infallible  fruit 
 of  the  43rd  Eliz." 
 
 He  was  against  all  arbitrary  or  extorted  increase 
 of  wages  beyond  what  the  fair  market  price  of  pro- 
 duce would  enable  the  farmers  to  pay ;  and  relied 
 for  improvement  in  the  condition  of  the  labourers 
 on  a  gradual  emigration,  accompanied  by  a  gradual 
 repeal  of  the  Poor  Laws  as  regarded  able-bodied 
 men  and  children. 
 
 It  will  be  seen  how  much  this  agrees  in  substance 
 with  what  not  long  after  was  actually  done,  and  no 
 doubt  with  good  effect  ;  but  I  cite  the  passage 
 rather  for  the  sake  of  shewing  how  he  could  cast 
 aside  in  the  pursuit  of  truth  a  very  strong  prejudice 
 — and  few  could  have  a  stronger  than  he  had  against 
 Malthus.  His  was  exactly  the  mind,  which  turned 
 with  something  like  disgust  at  one  or  two  of  the 
 leading  positions  of  that  writer's  celebrated  work. 
 He  was  very  intent  upon  this  matter,  and  I  find 
 a  letter  to  Dyson,  from  which  I  shall  have  to  make 
 an  extract  immediately,  is  written  on  the  blank  leaf 
 of  a  printed   sketch   of  his  "  Plan    for   the    Gradual 
 
192  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 Amendment  of  the  System  of  Parochial  Relief  in  the 
 Southern  Counties  of  England  ;"  the  principle  of  his 
 scheme  was  the  promotion  of  emigration,  and  the 
 means  were  mainly  the  empowering  of  parishes  to 
 borrow  money  on  the  rates  ;  but  I  notice  that  he 
 had  not  overlooked,  what,  in  legislation  on  such 
 matters  as  relief  of  the  poor,  and  the  education  of 
 their  children,  seems  too  commonly  forgotten,  the 
 broad  distinction  between  the  South  and  North  of 
 England. 
 
 The  letter  to  which  I  have  just  referred  relates  to 
 a  totally  different  subject.  My  readers  will  remem- 
 ber a  letter  written  at  the  close  of  the  discussion 
 about  the  Provostship  of  Oriel,  in  which,  among  other 
 possible  and  proper  employments  for  his  time,  Keble 
 spoke  of  the  preparation  of  an  Analytical  Index  to 
 the  "Ecclesiastical  Polity;"  he  was  now  called  on 
 to  undertake  the  more  worthy  employment  of  editing 
 for  the  Clarendon  Press  a  new  edition  of  the  great 
 work  itself.  What  he  did  upon  this  call,  and  how 
 he  did  it,  are  now  well  known  ;  but  in  such  a  matter 
 I  think  it  will  be  interesting  to  follow  his  course  by 
 steps,  and  to  see  how,  from  a  very  inadequate  con- 
 ception on  the  part  of  the  Delegates  in  the  first  in- 
 stance, he  was  enabled  to  work  out  to  a  great  ex- 
 tent his  own  views,  and  to  vindicate  both  the  book 
 itself  and  the  author  from  much  ill-usage  and  mis- 
 conception. 
 
 Keble  had  been  an  enthusiast  about  Hooker  from 
 
Edition  of  Hooker  s  Works.  1 93 
 
 his  early  youth  ;  the  great  man's  connection  with 
 Corpus,  and  the  relics  relating  to  him,  preserved  in 
 our  Archives,  (as  a  certain  special  portion  of  the 
 Library  was  called,)  with  which  Keble  and  his  brother 
 as  early  as  18 16  had  busied  themselves,  helped  to  in- 
 crease this  feeling  ;  partly  it  was  what  may  be  called 
 political  ;  partly,  and  I  think  for  the  greater  part,  it 
 was  religious  :  if  he  could  have  been  bitter  in  any- 
 thing, it  would  have  been  in  his  condemnation  of  the 
 old  Puritanical  spirit,  which  seemed  to  him  alien  from 
 the  better  spirit  of  the  Church  of  England,  as  he 
 shaped  her  to  his  own  imagination.  The  pilgrimage 
 to  Hooker's  grave  with  Tucker  was  among  his  youth- 
 ful indulgences;  and  he  wrote,  in  18 17,  standing  by 
 it  in  a  silent  shower,  that  beautiful  sonnet,  which  will 
 be  found  among  his  early  poems.  The  editions  ex- 
 tant of  the  works  were  quite  unworthy  of  them,  in- 
 accurate in  the  text,  and  inconvenient  in  the  use  ; 
 moreover,  he  had  reason  to  believe,  on  better  than 
 the  common  evidence,  that  they  were,  as  to  im- 
 portant parts,  very  corrupted.  I  have  no  doubt  it 
 was  a  delight  to  him  to  be  invited  by  the  Delegates 
 of  the  Press,  through  Cardwell,  one  of  them,  to  un- 
 dertake the  office  of  Editor. 
 
 On  Dec.  18,  1830,  he  writes  to  Dyson  thus : — 
 
 "  I  heard  from  Cardwell  the  other  day  that  a  new  edition 
 of  Hooker  is  in  contemplation  at  the  Clarendon,  and  he 
 wants  me  to  undertake  it ;  I  don't  very  well  know  what 
 such  an  undertaking  implies ;  but  he  says  it  will  be  a  mere 
 
 O 
 
194  Memoir,  of  the  Rev.  Jo  Jin  Keble. 
 
 reprint,  he  thinks,  if  I  decline  it :  so  I  think  of  trying  it,  if 
 I  can  get  you  and  Tom  to  help ;  or  rather  I  should  like  for 
 you,  most  venerable,  to  be  the  editor,  and  for  Tom  and  me 
 to  be  under-strappers ;  and  if  you  will  allow  me,  I  will  pro- 
 pose this  to  Cardwell.  At  any  rate,  I  wish  you  would  give 
 me  your  opinion  as  to  what  is  wanted  for  a  good  edition  of 
 Hooker,  and  then  I  shall  be  able  to  judge  whether  I  can 
 decently  undertake  it.  I  am  still  in  abeyance  about  the 
 Psalms,  and  waiting  for  a  good  opportunity  of  communi- 
 cating with  the  Archbishop,  or  rather,  I  should  say,  I  shrink 
 from  writing  to  him,  because  I  feel  sure  that  in  his  extreme 
 caution  he  would  damp  my  project  at  once.  However, 
 I  suppose  I  shall  take  courage  some  day.  We  are  full  just 
 now  of  political,  or  rather  rural  economy ;  and  emigration 
 seems  the  order  of  the  day  among  us.  I  have  got  a  little 
 scheme  with  regard  to  that,  which  I  should  like  much  to 
 have  your  opinion  on.  In  short,  there  is  no  end  of  the 
 things  I  have  to  talk  over  with  you  ;  indeed,  how  should  it 
 be  otherwise  in  these  times  with  two  such  great  politicians. 
 I  was  much  amused  at  Oxford  to  hear  the  old  Liberals 
 talking  rank  Jacobitism  the  other  day.  L L ,  I  un- 
 derstand, wishes  for  a  military  government.  And  to  con- 
 clude, be  the  constitution  what  it  may,  you  are  hereby 
 wished  a  merry  Christmas  and  a  happy  New  Year,  and 
 may  it  not  pass  away  without  our  exchanging  visits.  And 
 so  we  all  rest  your's  and  your  Lady's  very  affectionates, 
 
 "  The  Kebles." 
 
 He  writes  again  to  Dyson  on  the  1 8th  of  January, 
 1 83 1,  very  shortly  : — 
 
 "  The  purport  of  this  is  rather  to  ask  you,  bona  Jide,  will 
 you  help  me  about  Hooker?  And  if  you  won't,  will  you 
 
Edition  of  Hooker  s  Works.  195 
 
 give  me  a  little  hint  or  two,  what  one  had  best  do  ?  You 
 see  I  have  accepted  Cardwell's  proposal,  thinking  I  could 
 not  do  worse  than  nothing,  and  he  said  the  choice  was 
 between  us  two — me  and  nothing.  The  smallest  donation 
 in  the  way  of  advice,  &c,  will  be  thankfully  received. 
 I  must  be  ready  with  a  proposal  to  lay  before  the  Dele- 
 gates by  the  end  of  this  month,  when  I  go  to  Oxford  to 
 preach ;  verbum  sat  sapienti." 
 
 I  do  not  know  what  answer  Dyson  had  sent  him 
 to  the  first  of  these  two  letters  ;  but  it  is  clear  from 
 that  which  now  follows,  that  to  the  second  he  had 
 sent  one  full  and  well  considered.  And  it  is  satis- 
 factory to  know  that  in  the  end  both  the  haste  and 
 the  scruples  of  the  Delegates  were  overcome,  and 
 Keble  was  allowed  to  pursue  his  own  course,  and 
 produce  an  edition  worthy  of  the  subject-matter, 
 and  of  all  the  parties  concerned  in  the  publication. 
 
 "Feb.  io,  1831. 
 "My  dear  Dyson, 
 "  Many  thanks  for  your  welcome  letter  of  '  Advice  to  a 
 Middle  aged  Editor,'  full  of  most  useful  hints,  and  many 
 more  thanks  for  your  kind  offer  of  assistance.  I  drew  up 
 a  proposal  which  Cardwell  laid  before  Messrs  the  Delegates 
 (a  most  disagreeable  word,  for  it  puts  one  in  mind  of  Paris, 
 Poland,  Brussels,  Ireland,  and  everything  that's  whiggish 
 and  disagreeable),  and  being  constructed  in  a  great  measure 
 from  your  hints  and  Tom's,  it  was  for  the  most  part  ap- 
 proved ;  but  they  are  in  a  hurry  to  get  out  the  book,  some 
 varlet  of  a  dissenting  edition  being  now  in  possession  of 
 the  public  ear,  with  notes  about  as  apt  for  Hooker  as 
 Voltaire's  are  for  Pascal  :    for  which  reason  they  demur 
 
196  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 to  the  enquiry  into  the  genuineness  of  the  last  three  books, 
 which  they  think  would  take  up  too  much  time ;  and  this 
 I  mind  the  less,  as  I  am  not  sanguine  in  expecting  to  make 
 anything  out  on  the  subject.  Moreover,  whoever  ventures 
 to  question  the  said  genuineness  must  be  prepared  to  do 
 mortal  battle  with  Henry  Hallam,  Esq.,  of  Constitutiono- 
 Middle-Ageo  celebrity;  who  I  find  fancies  he  has  settled 
 the  matter  in  one  round  sentence.  And  this  I  take  to  be 
 one  reason  why  those  cautious  mortals  decline  the  subject ; 
 though  they  say  nothing  about  it.  If  one  could  make  out 
 anything,  it  might  come  in  an  additional  volume,  with 
 a  thorough  good  index ;  which,  as  things  are,  is  more  than 
 they  must  expect.  Now  the  drift  of  all  this  is,  to  tell  you 
 how  much  you  will  help  me  if  you  will  only  put  down  any 
 historical  matter  which  strikes  you  as  useful  to  illustrate 
 any  passage.  I  say  'historical,'  because  I  think  that  is 
 what  you  will  like  best :  but  contributions  in  any  other 
 kind  will  be  most  thankfully  received.  Tom  has  begun 
 an  index  to  the  Scripture  quotations,  and  I  am  correcting 
 the  text,  and  verifying  quotations  as  far  as  I  have  the 
 means  of  doing  here ;  also  dividing  the  whole  into  para- 
 graphs ;  this  Tom  has  done  long  ago ;  and  if  we  agree  we 
 shall  think  ourselves  correct.  As  to  *  the  Christian  Letter 
 of  certain  English  Protestants,  with  Hooker's  MS.  Notes,' 
 which  you  wrongfully  detain  from  Tom,  and  about  which 
 you  keep  such  a  determined  Old  Bailey  sort  of  silence  in 
 your  last  epistle  to  me,  I  am  disposed  to  think  the  best 
 way  will  be  to  embody  the  valuable  part  of  the  said  notes 
 in  our  lower  margin,  as  occasion  may  require.  I  quite 
 agree  with  you  on  the  desirableness  of  a  general  view  of 
 the  Writers  and  Books  against  which  Hooker  had  to  write 
 (and  perhaps  of  those  who  preceded  and  immediately  fol- 
 lowed  him  in  the   controversy,  Whitgift,   Bridges,  Covel, 
 
Edition  of  Hooker's  Works.  197 
 
 Bancroft,  &c),  but  will  you  write  it  for  us  ?  I  much  fear 
 it  will  be  beyond  our  calibre.  Well  now,  my  dear  Mrs. 
 Dyson,  I  think  you  must  be  perfectly  satisfied  with  the 
 quantity  of  work  we  have  assigned  to  that  lazy  Vicar  of 
 yours.  I  am  not  without  hopes  that  the  mere  anticipation 
 may  serve  as  a  saline  draught  to  drive  away  his  cold,  and 
 clear  his  head ;  but  we  shall  be  glad  anyhow  to  know  how 
 he  is  going  on." 
 
 I  perceive  towards  the  close  of  the  same  letter 
 he  indicates  in  a  playful  yet  determined  word  his 
 opinion  upon  the  holding  a  living  on  the  term  of 
 resigning  it  in  favour  of  another — an  opinion  he  had 
 probably  derived  from  Bishop  Wilson,  a  great  au- 
 thority with  him  at  all  times, — and  I  will  insert  it 
 in  a  parenthesis,  though  foreign  to  the  present  mat- 
 ter. He  says,  "  I  hear  that  Noel  has  been  accept- 
 ing a  living  to  hold ;  please  to  bite  him  well  when 
 ysu  write,  there's  a  good  Jerry." 
 
 From  this  time  he  was  fairly  engaged  on  the 
 work  ;  what  assistance  he  received  from  Dyson  from 
 time  to  time  I  am  not  able  to  state  specifically, 
 though  I  do  not  doubt  it  was  very  valuable  ;  but  it 
 is  certain  that  from  his  brother,  whose  zeal  in  the 
 matter  was  equal  to  his  own,  he  received  much,  and 
 important.  But  it  was  a  work  of  years.  The  pub- 
 lication was  not  until  1836;  and  this  could  scarcely 
 be  otherwise,  considering  the  absolute  necessity  he 
 was  under  of  frequent  reference  to  public  libraries, 
 and  the  difficulty  he  experienced  in  leaving  home 
 for  the   purpose  :   this   he   never   liked   to   do,   and 
 
198  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 scarcely  ever  did,  unless  his  brother,  or  some  inti- 
 mate friend  of  his  sister's,  could  take  his  place  during 
 his  absence. 
 
 In  the  letter  from  which  I  have  last  extracted,  he 
 makes  a  free  and  playful  allusion  to  Mr.  Hallam,  who 
 had  pronounced  a  clear  opinion  in  favour  of  the 
 authenticity  of  the  three  last  books  as  we  have  them. 
 It  will  be  seen  by  Keble's  Preface,  that  at  last  in 
 substance,  though  not  professedly,  he  did  not  shrink 
 from  "the  mortal  battle,"  which  he  speaks  of,  with 
 that  great  authority.  He  was  in  possession  of  evi- 
 dence, in  particular  as  to  the  sixth  book,  which 
 Mr.  Hallam,  it  is  clear,  had  never  seen,  and  which 
 was  really  all  but  demonstrative.  To  this,  indeed, 
 he  yielded  in  later  editions  of  his  History.  I  must 
 refer  to  Keble's  Preface  for  a  full  account  of  this  evi- 
 dence, but  this  part  of  it  may  be  shortly  stated  thus : 
 — Hooker  had  sent  the  Sixth  Book  in  manuscript 
 to  Cranmer  and  Sandys  for  their  criticisms  ;  they 
 made  and  returned  them ;  these  shewed,  both  by 
 the  catch-words  prefixed  to  nearly  all  the  notes, 
 and  by  their  own  tenor,  that  they  were  written  upon 
 a  text  different  in  itself,  and  on  a  different  subject 
 from  the  Sixth  Book  as  we  have  it.  But  the  con- 
 troversy, if  so  it  may  be  called,  furnishes  an  instance 
 how  dangerous  it  is  to  rely  in  matters  of  this  sort  on 
 conclusions  drawn  from  intrinsic  evidence  only.  Mr. 
 Hallam  says,  "The  intrinsic  evidence  arising  from  the 
 work  itself,  on  which  in  this  branch  of  criticism  I  am 
 
Edition  of  Hooker's  Works.  199 
 
 apt  chiefly  to  rely,  seems  altogether  to  repel  every  sus- 
 picion a."  Keble,  to  the  credit  of  his  critical  acumen 
 be  it  said,  before  he  had  seen  the  document  to  which 
 I  refer,  "  had  always  suspected"  that  other  papers, 
 which  Hooker  had  left  behind  him,  had  been  sub- 
 stituted for  the  genuine  Sixth  Book  ;  "  seeing  it  is  so 
 little  to  the  purpose,  the  last  fault  with  which  one 
 should  suspect  anything  of  his  to  be  chargeable." 
 
 It  will  be  worth  while  to  trace  him  in  his  progress 
 in  this  important  work  from  his  letters. 
 
 As  early  as  July  6,  1831,  writing  to  me  from 
 Fairford,  after  describing  the  difficulty  under  which 
 he  laboured  as  to  leaving  home,  he  communicates 
 to  me  the  discovery  of  the  document  I  allude  to 
 above : — 
 
 "I  have  met  with  one  thing  in  C.C.C.  Library,  which 
 has  proved  to  be  more  interesting  than  I  expected,  viz. 
 some  notes  by  Hooker's  friends,  Cranmer  and  Sandys,  on 
 the  MS.  6th  Book  of  the  E.  Polity,  which  he  had  sent  to 
 them  to  criticize.  They  are  many  of  them  merely  verbal, 
 but  even  those  have  their  interest,  not  merely  as  reliques, 
 but  also  from  the  sort  of  light  they  throw  on  the  tempers  of 
 the  three  friends,  and  the  terms  on  which  they  mutually 
 were.  But  some  few  of  them  are  full  of  matter  and  very 
 sensible,  and  they  prove  to  demonstration,  I  think,  that  the 
 6th  Book,  as  we  have  it,  is  by  no  means  R.  H.'s ;  at  least,  if 
 it  be  his,  it  is  a  mere  collection  from  other  papers,  which 
 he  may  have  left,  substituted  for  the  genuine  6th  Book.  This 
 I  have  always  suspected,  seeing  it  is  so  little  to  the  pur- 
 
 »  Constitutional  History,  vol.  i.  ch.  iv.  p.  237,  1st  edit. 
 
200  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 pose,  the  last  fault  with  which  one  should  suspect  anything 
 of  his  to  be  chargeable  :  and  to  my  mind  these  papers  en- 
 tirely prove  it." 
 
 On  Oct.  29,  1832,  writing  to  Dyson,  he  says  : — 
 
 "  Did  I  tell  you  that  Cotton  (of  Ch.  Ch.)  is  collating  the 
 Hooker  MSS.  in  Dublin  Coll.,  and  pronounces  them  very 
 valuable  ?  Have  you  any  friend  in  London  who  could  help 
 me  at  the  State  Paper  Office  ?  I  think  it  possible  there  may 
 be  some  correspondence  about  the  latter  years  of  Q.  Eliz., 
 which  may  throw  light  on  the  history  of  the  book.  Also 
 how  am  I  to  find  out  what  became  of  Lord  Conway's 
 Library,  or  Bp.  Andrewes',  or  any  other  of  the  Libraries, 
 which  Isaak  Walton  mentions  as  having  contained  copies 
 of  the  missing  books.  In  consequence  of  Cotton's  state- 
 ments, the  Delegates  have  allowed  an  indefinite  time  to 
 go  on  with  Hooker ;  which  is  very  convenient,  as  I  have 
 only  bits  and  snatches  of  time  to  employ  on  it." 
 
 In  December,  1832,  writing  to  Cornish,  he  says  : — 
 
 "  I  don't  seem  able  to  tell  you  much  of  our  old  friends. 
 Our  very  old  friend  Dick  Hooker  grows  more  slowly  than 
 one  could  have  expected  ;  the  fault  whereof  I  am  willing 
 to  throw  not  so  much  on  my  own  indolence  as  on  Tom's 
 occupations,  which  hinder  him  from  coming  here,  and 
 therefore  hinder  me  from  going  to  Oxford,  and  I  am  now 
 at  a  point  where  I  cannot  get  on  without  libraries." 
 
 On  Dec.  3,  1834,  he  writes  to  me  from  Fairford  : — 
 
 "  As  for  Hooker  he  plods  on,  rather  slow  than  sure  :  we 
 are  just  now  at  the  Athanasian  Creed,  i.e.  not  half  through 
 the  2nd  volume.     It  would  be  pleasant  work  if  one  had  the 
 
Edition  of  Hooker  s  Works.  20 1 
 
 command  of  libraries,  but  as  I  have  been  forced  to  do  it 
 by  fits  and  snatches,  it  is  anything  but  satisfactory." 
 
 In  January,  1835,  writing  to  Cornish,  he  says  : — 
 
 "  My  friend  Dick  H.  gets  on  much  more  slowly  than  I 
 could  wish.  I  am  only  as  yet  in  the  part  about  Baptism,  in 
 Book  V. ;  and  let  me  advise  you,  as  a  friend,  not  to  under- 
 take editing  Hooker,  till  you  have  read  a  good  lot  of  the 
 Fathers." 
 
 In  August,  1835,  writing  to  Froude,  he  says  : — 
 
 "  As  for  myself  I  am  now  all  through  Hooker,  except 
 about  \  a  dozen  references  in  some  of  the  Opuscula,  and 
 must  begin  forthwith  to  discuss  the  Prelim.  Dissertation, 
 in  which  N.  says  I  must  give  a  view  of  Hooker's  views. 
 But  this  will  go  terribly  against  the  grain;  and,  indeed, 
 I  sometimes  feel  as  though  I  were  utterly  incapable  of 
 it.  Such  is  my  feeling  this  very  evening,  owing  in  part, 
 I  imagine,  to  the  oppressive  drought  and  heat  of  the  day : 
 but  I  must  set  doggedly  to  work,  if  I  can,  to-morrow.  I 
 am  more  and  more  satisfied  that  Richard  was  in  most 
 things  a  middle  term  between  Laud  and  Cranmer,  but 
 nearer  the  former;  and  also  that  he  was  in  a  transition 
 state  when  he  was  taken  from  us ;  and  there  is  no  saying 
 how  much  nearer  he  might  have  got  to  Laud,  if  he  had 
 lived  twenty  years  longer.  His  notion  of  Regal,  or  rather 
 State,  power  would  rather  have  stood  in  the  way,  and  so 
 perhaps  would  his  dislike  to  anything  approaching  to  Jus- 
 tification by  inherent  grace.  But  in  the  great  point  of  the 
 Sacraments,  as  I  conceive,  he  was  almost  or  entirely  with 
 us;  if  such  an  expression  be  not  ludicrously  presumptuous. " 
 
 In  Sept.  1835,  he  writes  from  Oriel  to  Dyson  : — 
 
 "  I  have  been  plodding  on  with  Hooker,  and  have  at 
 
202  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 last,  after  a  sort,  finished  the  notes,  and  begun  the  Editor's 
 Preface,  in  which  I  am  now  got  to  the  eighth  Book,  and 
 therefore  shall  soon,  I  hope,  have  finished  the  critical  part 
 of  it ;  but  I  am  doubting  whether  or  not  to  attempt  a  theo- 
 logical part,  i.e.  a  kind  of  precis  of  Hooker's  views  on  the 
 great  subjects;  after  the  manner  of  those  which  the  Bene- 
 dictine Editors,  I  believe,  adopt  in  their  edition  of  the 
 Fathers.  Newman  says  I  ought  to  add  something  of  this 
 sort ;  I  doubt  both  my  ability  and  my  leisure,  but  one  can 
 but  try ;  and  it  is  a  satisfaction  to  think,  that  if  the  trial 
 fails,  it  is  but  putting  so  much  of  the  MS.  into  the  fire, 
 and  the  rest  will  do." 
 
 Finally,  on  March  17,  1836,  he  tells  Dyson  : — 
 
 "  I  have  this  day  sent  my  last  sheet  of  the  Hooker  Pre- 
 face to  the  press,  i.e.  the  correction  of  it,  so  that  nothing 
 remains  but  the  index,  which  will  take  a  few  days  lick- 
 ing into  shape  ;  the  matter  of  it  is  all  ready  :  wish  me  joy 
 of  this,  although  I  expect  to  be  pelted  with  plenty  of 
 hot  water,  for  certain  views  which  I  have  given  in  the 
 Preface." 
 
 I  have  thought  it  well  to  be  thus  minute  as  to 
 his  progress  in  this  labour,  and  the  difficulties  which 
 beset  it.  Its  importance  to  the  Church  of  England 
 can  scarcely  be  over-estimated.  All  will  agree,  I 
 presume,  in  the  advantage  of  having  the  text  of 
 this  great  work  diligently  collated  with  the  best  edi- 
 tions, briefly  and  carefully  annotated,  with  a  verifi- 
 cation of  the  references,  and  made  more  conveniently 
 readable  by  the  breaking  it  up  into  numbered  para- 
 graphs and  sections,  with  a  running  title  of  the  chief 
 
Edition  of  Hooker's  Works.  203 
 
 topics.  No  Father  of  the  English  Church  has  now 
 had  more  justice  done  to  him  in  all  these  respects 
 and  no  one,  I  believe,  more  needed  it,  none  more 
 highly  deserved  it. 
 
 But  it  would  have  been  discreditable  to  the  Uni- 
 versity, if  the  Delegates,  when  they  were  reprinting 
 Hooker,  had  limited  the  Editor,  as  it  will  have  been 
 seen  was  at  first  proposed,  either  as  to  the  extent 
 of  his  labours,  or  the  time  within  which  they  were 
 to  be  accomplished.  They  made  an  excellent  choice 
 of  their  editor ;  and  although,  it  must  be  admitted, 
 he  tried  their  patience  considerably,  they  made  allow- 
 ance for  his  difficulties,  and  never  withdrew  their 
 confidence.  In  a  series  of  English  Classics  which 
 they  are  now  printing,  the  first  book  of  the  "  Eccle- 
 siastical Polity"  is  rightly  included,  and  I  have  had 
 the  pleasure  of  reading  the  masterly  Introduction 
 of  the  editor,  Mr.  Church  :  it  seems  clear  from  this 
 that  the  lapse  of  thirty  years  has  brought  to  light 
 little,  if  any,  new  matter,  and  detected  Keble  in 
 no  substantial  error.  His  edition,  the  Clarendon 
 Edition,  still  remains,  and  probably  will  remain 
 the  standard  one  ;    and   this  is  a  distinction  which 
 
 !    Oxford  cannot  lightly  afford  to  lose   in   regard   to 
 
 ■.    the  works  of  her  great  son. 
 
 It  has  been  seen  how  Keble  speaks  of  his  Preface  ; 
 
 \  when  one  considers  the  difficulties  under  which  he 
 wrote  it,  it  is  a  really  astonishing  work  ;  and  it  shews 
 
 i  how   much   knowledge,    and    in    how   many  various 
 
 ,1 
 
204  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 ways,  he  had  not  merely  acquired,  but  assimilated 
 and  made  his  own.  It  was  not  to  be  expected  that 
 in  one  part  of  it  he  would  please  all  parties  in  our 
 unhappily  divided  Church ;  and  it  would  be  pre- 
 sumptuous in  an  ignorant  person,  as  in  these  respects 
 I  am,  to  pronounce  a  judgment  on  the  controversies 
 he  dealt  with,  or  his  account  of  the  agents  and  move- 
 ments in  it.  But  looking  on  it  only  as  a  narrative, 
 and  as  a  piece  of  reasoning,  I  cannot  suppress  the 
 feeling  of  satisfaction  I  have  as  an  old  Scholar  of 
 Corpus,  that  it  fell  to  the  lot  of  another  Scholar 
 of  the  same  House  to  do  this  act  of  justice  to  the 
 greatest  name  upon  our  list,  and  that  he  was  en- 
 abled to  do  it  so  consummately. 
 
CHAPTER    X. 
 
 PAIGNTON. — POETRY  PROFESSORSHIP,  AND  LEC- 
 TURES.— ASSIZE  SERMON,  1 833. — THE  TRACTS. — 
 DEATH  OF  MR.  KEBLE. — 1 835. 
 
 HAVE  thought  it  better  to  set  down  in  one 
 -■"  place  all  that  it  seemed  desirable  for  me  to 
 state  in  regard  to  the  Edition  of  Hooker's  works, 
 and  in  so  doing,  I  have  necessarily  departed  from 
 the  order  of  time  in  my  general  narrative ;  to  this  I 
 now  return. 
 
 I  am  entirely  indebted  to  the  Memoir  to  which  I 
 have  so  often  referred,  for  my  knowledge  of  the  par- 
 ticulars of  the  incident  which  I  am  about  first  to 
 speak  of,  and  I  take  the  liberty  of  transcribing  the 
 passage  a.     Mr.  Moor  says  : — 
 
 "In  the  year  1831,  when  Mr.  Keble  was  living  with  his 
 father  at  Fairford,  the  present  Lord  Bishop  of  Exeter  of- 
 fered to  him  the  valuable  and  important  living  of  Paignton 
 in  Devonshire,  considering  him  even  then  to  be  'the  most 
 eminently  good  man  in  the  Church,'  as  his  Lordship  has 
 
 a  I  may  state  here  that  this  Memoir  is  not,  I  believe,  printed  sepa- 
 rately, but  is  included  with  other  matters  in  a  handsome  volume  pub- 
 lished by  Mr.  Savage  at  Winchester,  entitled  "The  Birth-place,  Home, 
 Churches,  and  other  places  connected  with  the  Author  of  *  The  Chris- 
 tian Year/  illustrated  in  Thirty-two  Photographs."    2nd.  Ed.  1867. 
 
2o6  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 kindly  informed  the  writer  of  this  Memoir;  adding  that 
 'the  conscientious  scruple  of  the  Patron,  who  had  pur- 
 chased that  presentation,  and  who  felt  doubtful  of  the 
 propriety  of  his  acquiring  Church  patronage  by  such  pur- 
 chase,' made  him  feel  it  his  '  duty  to  use  the  utmost  cau- 
 tion in  selecting  a  person  to  fill  it.' " 
 
 Nothing  could  be  more  flattering  than  this  offer, 
 but  the  circumstances  I  have  already  stated,  of 
 which  it  is  to  be  presumed  the  Bishop  at  the  time 
 was  not  aware,  of  course  made  the  acceptance  of  it 
 out  of  the  question.  In  after  life,  when  a  warmer 
 climate  than  that  of  Hursley,  and  close  vicinity  to 
 the  sea  became  necessary  for  Mrs.  Keble's  health, 
 and  very  useful  for  his  own,  a  residence  on  the  shores 
 of  Torbay  might  have  been  very  beneficial ;  but  it 
 is  still  impossible  to  regret  that  he  could  not  accept 
 Paignton. 
 
 In  the  same  year  he  was  without  any  opposition 
 placed  in  the  vacant  chair  of  the  Poetry  Professorship. 
 This  is  usually  held  by  two  successive  elections  for 
 ten  years,  and  when  it  was  vacant  in  1 821,  his  friends 
 were  very  anxious  that  he  should  be  elected,  nor 
 was  he  indisposed  to  it ;  but  as  soon  as  he  heard 
 of  the  intention  of  the  late  Dean  of  St.  Paul's  to 
 become  a  candidate,  he  would  not  permit  his  claim 
 to  be  pressed.  It  would  have  been  difficult  to  per- 
 suade him  to  be  a  candidate  in  any  contested  elec- 
 tion ;  but  Milman  and  he  were  on  very  friendly 
 terms,  and  Keble  felt  that  his  talents,  acquirements, 
 
Paignton. — Poetry  Professorship  207 
 
 and  distinction,  entitled  him  to  any  honour  of  that 
 kind  which  the  University  could  confer. 
 
 Keble  now  was  not  without  scruples  as  to  his  own 
 qualifications  for  the  office,  and  the  passage  I  am 
 about  presently  to  cite  from  one  of  his  letters  seems 
 to  shew  that  a  chance  expression  of  mine,  favouring, 
 I  fancy,  his  own  disposition  to  undervalue  himself, 
 may  have  contributed  to  create,  or  increase  these 
 scruples.  However  they  were  wisely  overcome.  In 
 December,  183 1,  dating  from  Fairford,  he  says  to 
 me: — 
 
 "I  am  not  very  particularly  sanguine  about  this  Profes- 
 sorship, to  which  my  friends  have  been  so  kind  as  to  nomi- 
 nate me  j  I  feel  as  if  the  Latin  wouldn't  come ;  and  what 
 is  worse,  I  have  not  yet  come  to  any  resolution  on  the  sub- 
 ject to  lecture  on ;  if  anything  occurs  to  you,  the  smallest 
 donation  will  be  thankfully  received.  I  imagine  I  don't 
 begin  '  till  when  I  please  in  Lent  Term.' " 
 
 It  was  perfectly  well  known  when  his  predecessor's 
 term  of  office  would  expire,  but  it  should  seem  that 
 Keble  had  thought  so  little  of  the  succession,  as  to 
 be  still  at  sea  as  to  the  subject  on  which  he  would 
 lecture,  if  elected.  However  he  must  have  made  up 
 his  mind  without  much  delay,  as  he  delivered  his 
 first  lecture  in  February,  1832,  and  on  the  13th  of 
 that  month,  in  the  letter  to  which  I  have  already 
 alluded,  he  gave  me  this  account  of  his  design  for 
 the  whole  course  : — 
 
 "  I  was  at  Oxford  the  beginning  of  this  week  '  reading 
 
 > 
 
208  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 in,' — it  is  uphill  work  to  me,  and  you  never  said  a  much 
 truer  thing  than  when  you  told  Tom  I  was  ten  years  too 
 old  for  the  task.  However,  I  must  do  my  best  now.  My 
 notion  is,  to  consider  Poetry  as  a  vent  for  overcharged  feel- 
 ings, or  a  full  imagination,  and  so  account  for  the  various 
 classes  into  which  Poets  naturally  fall,  by  reference  to  the 
 various  objects  which  are  apt  to  fill  and  overpower  the 
 mind,  so  as  to  require  a  sort  of  relief.  Then  there  will 
 come  in  a  grand  distinction  between  what  I  call  Primary 
 and  Secondary  Poets  ;  the  first  poetising  for  their  own  relief, 
 the  second  for  any  other  reason.  Then  I  shall  pao-avlCe, 
 one  after  another,  each  of  the  great  Ancients,  whom  in 
 my  Royal  Authority  I  think  worthy  of  the  name  of  a  Pri- 
 mary Poet,  and  shew  what  class  he  belongs  to,  and  what 
 sort  of  a  person  I  take  him  to  have  been.  From  which 
 will  arise  certain  conclusions  as  to  the  degree  in  which 
 the  interest  of  poetry  depends  on  the  character  of  the 
 writer,  as  shewn  in  his  works ;  and,  again,  as  to  the  rela- 
 tion between  this  art,  and  practical  goodness,  moral  and 
 religious.  In  the  whole  affair,  I  think  I  have  hit  on  the 
 truth,  and  I  expect  to  interest  myself;  but  there  my  ex- 
 pectations pretty  nearly  terminate ;  and  as  to  Latin,  it  will 
 be  dyanrjTov,  if  I  do  not  disgrace  myself.  However,  I  do 
 not  like  the  notion  of  making  it  English,  even  if  the  Doc- 
 tors would  allow  it ;  because  of  the  moral  certainty  of  a  large 
 importation  of  trash,  which  ought  not  to  be  on  the  Univer- 
 sity account;  and  also  because  I  think  Latin  would  suffer 
 more  than  Poetry  would  gain." 
 
 I  venture  here  to  remind  my  readers  of  the  letter 
 to  Froude  of  September,  1825,  from  which  I  have 
 made  an  extract,  in  which  he  speaks  of  "  The  Chris- 
 tian Year,"  and  glancing  at  this  Theory  of  Poetry, 
 
Poetry  Professorship.  209 
 
 shews  that  it  was  not  only  then  in  his  mind,  but  that, 
 in  fact,  that  Collection  of  Poems  had  grown  up  under 
 its  influence. 
 
 In  May,  1832,  writing  to  me  from  Fairford,  he 
 says ' — 
 
 "  My  Lectures  have  hindered  me  sadly  in  my  Hooker, 
 neither  thoughts  nor  words  will  come  neatly  as  I  wish. 
 But  I  am  more  and  more  satisfied  that  my  theory  in  itself, 
 as  far  as  it  goes,  (for  it  is  not  so  absurd  as  to  pretend  to 
 explain  all  phenomena,)  is  a  good,  and  useful,  and  true  one. 
 The  point  I  am  now  upon  is  making  out  what  people 
 mean  when  they  talk  of  the  Poetry  of  Painting,  of  Music, 
 of  Sculpture,  &c.  j  if  you  know  of  any  good  book  on  the 
 subject,  it  will  be  a  charity  to  mention  it.  But  after  all,  I 
 believe  the  best  way,  especially  in  Latin,  is  to  make  the 
 most  one  can  of  some  one  or  two  popular  examples." 
 
 Since  I  undertook  the  task  I  have  in  hand,  I 
 have  thought  it  right  to  refresh  my  memory  as  to 
 the  Prcelectiones,  and  have  read  them  through  again 
 with  attention.  I  must  say,  in  the  first  place,  that 
 I  entirely  retract  the  observation  that  he  was  ten 
 years  too  old  when  he  was  elected  to  the  Professor- 
 ship ;  he  was  not  in  my  opinion  a  day  too  old.  I 
 presume  I  must  have  been  thinking  principally  of 
 the  Latinity,  and  no  doubt  the  ten  years'  disuse 
 added  much  to  the  difficulty  of  which  he  complains, 
 and  the  danger  which  he  feared.  I  will  not  presume 
 ;  to  pass  the  judgment  of  a  scholar  on  his  Latinity, 
 but  I  may  venture  to  say  that  while  there  is  no  af- 
 fectation of  Ciceronianism,  nay,  while  you  sensibly 
 miss  the    inimitable   rhythm    and    roundness   of  the 
 
210  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 great  Master's  periods,  Keble  seems  to  me  almost 
 always  to  have  what  is  after  all  of  the  highest  value, 
 a  sufficient  command  of  the  instrument  he  is  using. 
 The  common  failing  of  modern  Latinists,  those  es- 
 pecially who  covet  most  to  be  Ciceronians,  is  that 
 they  trim  their  conceptions,  and  limit  their  thoughts 
 to  suit  their  powers  of  expression  ;  they  do  not  so 
 much  write  what  they  think  in  all  its  extent,  as  set 
 down  what  they  can  find  apt  clothing  for  in  Cice- 
 ronian language ;  as  if  one  should  omit  the  opera- 
 tions of  the  artillery  in  describing  a  modern  fight,  be- 
 cause Cicero  supplied  no  word  for  a  cannon.  Keble 
 never  falls  into  this  error;  he  always  says,  and  with 
 sufficient  clearness  too,  what  he  wishes  to  say,  and 
 never  leaves  anything  unsaid  from  want  of  words 
 to  express  it  in.  But,  passing  from  the  language  to 
 the  matter,  the  subject  he  chose  demanded  a  full- 
 grown  man  for  its  exponent,  one  who  could  bring 
 forth  "things  new  and  old"  from  his  storehouse, 
 and  who  without  presumption  might  claim  to  speak 
 with  authority.  The  ten  years  of  interval  between 
 the  two  Elections  had  been  to  him  years  of  mental 
 enrichment,  ripening,  and  consolidation  ;  yet  had  not 
 diminished,  perhaps  increased,  his  conscientious  con- 
 sideration of  what  he  might  say,  and  the  modesty 
 which  was  an  inseparable  part  of  his  whole  nature. 
 They  had  been  years  too  of  considerable  progress 
 and  activity  generally  in  poetic  and  artistic  studies ; 
 in  this  he  had  participated,  and  he  had  seen  more 
 of  nature,   and   studied   her   intensely   with  a  true 
 
Poetry  Professorship.  2 1 1 
 
 poet's  feeling.  Moreover  attentive  readers  will  not 
 fail  to  perceive  that  all  through  his  analyses  of  poems 
 and  his  criticisms,  and  especially  through  the  hor- 
 tatory parts  of  the  Lectures,  there  run  the  golden 
 threads  of  a  religious  spirit;  never  obtrusively,  never 
 patchily  manifested,  but  uniformly,  and  as  it  were 
 imperceptibly  shedding  a  mellowness  and  glow  of 
 colour  over  the  whole  texture.  Certainly  he  had 
 the  feeling,  which  was  the  source  of  this,  in  1 82 1 
 equally  as  in  1831  ;  but  I  think  it  came  out  with 
 more  grace,  consistence,  and  power,  with  the  years 
 added  to  his  course.  Such  a  man,  especially  one  so 
 diffident  of  himself,  would  be  able  to  say  at  the 
 latter  age  what  he  might  perhaps  have  shrunk  from 
 saying,  or  said  with  less  authority  at  the  former. 
 
 The  late  Professor,  Mr.  Arnold,  with  somewhat  of 
 hereditary  boldness,  cast  off  the  yoke  of  a  foreign 
 language,  and  defied  Keble's  prophecy,  which  for 
 himself  he  might  safely  do  ;  and  he  came  to  the  office 
 in  a  different  state  of  the  public  mind,  and  under  an 
 altered  constitution  of  the  University. 
 
 I  may,  however,  freely  express  my  hope  that 
 his  successors  will  revert  to  the  ancient  practice  of 
 selecting  a  subject,  and  giving  a  course  upon  it, 
 which  shall  form  an  entire  and  complete  work.  It 
 seems  to  me  to  let  down  the  office,  and  to  be  a 
 great  temptation  to  clever  and  ready  men,  who  may 
 shrink  from  sustained  labour,  and  the  mental  effort 
 of  grasping  all  parts  of  a  great  subject,  to  make 
 the  Terminal   Lectures   opportunities  for  delivering 
 
 i 
 
2 1 2  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 merely  brilliant  essays,  which  find  their  not  inap- 
 propriate future  in  fashionable  Serials.  The  Poetry 
 Professorship  is  a  great  office,  and  ought  to  exercise 
 a  sensible  influence  on  the  national  taste.  Great 
 subjects  will  never  be  wanting,  at  least,  we  have 
 at  present  a  long  list  of  such  unexhausted.  Chaucer, 
 and  the  early  English  Poets, — Shakespere,  and  the 
 Elizabethan  Dramatists, — Spenser,  Milton,  Dryden, 
 and  Pope, — Wordsworth — occur  at  once.  And  if 
 our  own  poets  failed,  the  great  Italian  and  German 
 masters  might  be  taken  up.  These,  and  such  as 
 these,  are  noble  subjects,  which  would  tax  the  intel- 
 lect, the  learning,  and  the  industry  of  great  minds. 
 Thoroughly  to  inform  the  English  mind  on  these, 
 and  to  educate  its  taste  in  regard  to  such  models, 
 would  be  not  merely  to  reflect  credit  on  the  Uni- 
 versity, but  to  confer  wide  and  lasting  benefit  on 
 the  nation. 
 
 Whether  Keble  could  have  done  as  Mr.  Arnold 
 did,  without  permission  of  the  governing  body,  and 
 if  that  were  necessary,  whether  he  would  have  ob- 
 tained it,  I  do  not  know ;  but  I  do  regret  extremely 
 that  the  Lectures  were  not  originally  composed  in 
 English  ;  and  it  is  a  great  gain  that,  as  I  presume, 
 all  future  Professors  will  follow  Mr.  Arnold's  ex- 
 ample in  this  respect.  We  boast  nationally  of  our 
 Scholarship,  and  there  is  no  doubt  for  a  Scholar 
 much  pleasure  in  composing,  and  not  a  little  in 
 reading  good  modern  Latin  ;  but  after  all  to  write 
 in    Latin   is   to  write   for  readers  comparatively  so 
 
Poetry  Professorship.  213 
 
 few,  that  when  we  do  so,  we  may  be  said  almost  to 
 seal  up  our  thoughts  from  the  public.  But  the  Pro- 
 fessor of  Poetry  at  Oxford  has  a  duty  of  a  popular 
 character ;  he  has  not  indeed  to  make  poets,  or  even 
 scholars,  but  to  improve  poetical  taste,  to  regulate 
 critical  judgment,  to  enlarge  and  systematize  know- 
 ledge as  to  the  great  poems  of  the  world,  and  all 
 this  demands  the  freedom  of  a  native  language  both 
 for  the  lecturer,  the  audience,  and  readers.  Mr. 
 Gladstone  has  happily  characterized  the  Prcelectiones 
 in  one  point  of  view,  when  he  calls  the  course  a  "re- 
 fined work,"  and  he  has  truly  said  that  it  "  criticises 
 the  Homeric  Poems  in  the  spirit  of  a  bard,  setting 
 an  early  example,  at  least  to  England,  of  elevating 
 the  tone  of  Homeric  study  V  One  regrets  to  think 
 that  such  a  book  on  such  a  subject  should  not  be 
 accessible,  without  difficulty  as  to  the  language,  to 
 every  educated  woman  as  well  as  man. 
 
 It  may  be  said,  Why  not  translate  it  ?  a  question 
 natural  enough  to  be  asked,  before  one  has  con- 
 sidered the  difficulty  of  making  any  Latin  book 
 into  an  original,  idiomatic  English  book,  enhanced 
 in  the  present  instance  by  the  vast  number  of  cita- 
 tions, of  which  translations  would  have  to  be  made 
 or  found.  Yet  the  purpose  was  floating  for  a  long 
 jtime  in  Keble's  mind,  and  if  any  one  could  do 
 such  a  work  successfully,  it  would  be  the  author  of 
 ie  original,  as  he  might  properly  indulge  in  mo- 
 ifications   or  alterations    not  allowable    to   a   third 
 
 b  Homer,  vol.  iii.  p.  374. 
 
2 14  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 person.  More  than  once  I  believe  I  was  myself 
 tempted  by  my  fondness  for  the  work,  and  my  opi- 
 nion of  its  possible  usefulness  in  an  English  dress, 
 to  offer  my  services  ;  he  answered  me  thus  on  July  5, 
 1844:— 
 
 "  I  never  thanked  you  for  your  partial  pat  on  the  back 
 touching  the  Pr(Blectio?ies.  I  have  sometimes  thought  whe- 
 ther any  kind  of  translation  or  adaptation  might  be  useful, 
 though  of  course  no  such  vision  ever  crossed  my  mind  as  one 
 of  Her  Majesty's  Puisne  Judges  engaged  in  such  an  opera- 
 tion. If  it  took  no  time,  I  should  like  to  substitute  modem 
 examples  for  the  Greek  and  Latin." 
 
 This  substitution  might  have  been  effected ;  and 
 very  usefully,  where  the  example  is  used  only  to 
 illustrate  some  general  position  in  the  text ;  but  in 
 far  the  greater  number,  where  the  Greek  or  Latin 
 Poem  is  the  special  subject  of  remark,  that  and  the 
 example  are  necessarily  so  wedded  together,  that 
 it  would  have  been  impracticable.  However,  the 
 notion  was  not  wholly  abandoned,  and  in  March, 
 1847,  in  answer  to  some  proposition  from  me,  he 
 writes  thus  : — 
 
 "  I  am  really  sorry  not  to  have  thanked  you  sooner  for 
 your  kind  thought  about  the  Frcelectiones ;  but  I  would  not 
 for  a  very  great  deal  have  your  energies  and  scanty  leisure 
 wasted  on  anything  so  very  unworthy.  If  they  are  at  all 
 likely  to  do  any  good  in  English,  it  must  be,  I  think,  by 
 some  reform  more  radical  than  any  translation  ;  and  if  I 
 were  industrious  enough  ever  to  have  a  little  leisure,  I 
 should  encourage  a  thought,  which  has   sometimes  come 
 
Poetry  Professorship.  2 1 5 
 
 into  my  mind,  of  Anglicizing  the  substance  of  the  poor 
 book  in  a  kind  of  dialogues,  which  might  be  touched  up 
 with  a  little  scenery,  and  made  semi-dramatic.  But  it 
 would  take  a  good  deal  of  time  and  trouble,  especially  as 
 I  suppose  modern  examples  must  be  substituted  in  many 
 cases  for  the  classical  ones ;  and  then  it  will  be  matter  of 
 many  a  weary  chase  to  hunt  out  the  fugitive  glimmer  of 
 a  meaning,  which  may  or  may  not  be  lurking  in  the 
 folds  of  a  long  Latin  sentence.  What  a  prose  I  am  get- 
 ting into." 
 
 One  cannot  but  regret  that  he  never  found  time 
 to  carry  into  effect  this  last  idea,  suggested  to  him 
 probably  by  Southey's  Colloquies.  It  is  easy  to 
 see  how  the  work  would  have  lent  itself  to  lively 
 discussion  in  dialogue.  He  was  powerful  in  local 
 descriptions  in  prose  and  verse,  and  at  this  period 
 of  his  life  he  had  seen  a  great  deal  of  beautiful 
 country ;  but  even  if  he  had  confined  himself  to  the 
 scenery  at  and  about  Hursley,  with  every  nook  and 
 alley  of  which  he  was  familiar,  he  would  have  found 
 scenes  enough  for  his  purpose,  which  he  would  have 
 stamped  thenceforward  with  indelible  associations. 
 
 Will  my  readers  forgive  me  if,  upon  a  favourite 
 subject,  I  venture  to  add  an  extract  from  my  answer 
 to  his  last  letter,  which  I  have  found  among  my  re- 
 turned letters : — 
 
 "  If  you  can  accomplish  your  design  with  the  Lectures, 
 it  will  be  indeed  excellent;  and  now  you  have  surmised 
 such  a  thing,  I  shall  not  let  you  rest  without  putting  it  in 
 
2 1 6  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 execution.  But  I  think  you  will  not  only  incur  unnecessary 
 labour,  but  very  much  impair  the  general  utility  of  the 
 book,  and  also  interfere  with  its  peculiar  character,  by 
 seeking  for  modern  instances.  How  can  you  sponge  out 
 Homer,  Achilles,  &c,  without  making  it  a  new  work,  and 
 at  the  same  time  destroying  the  happy  peculiarity  which 
 your  book  would  have  of  at  once  teaching  a  true  and  novel 
 theory  of  Poetry,  and  illustrating  it  from  the  Classic  Poets. 
 Sprinkle  here  and  there,  if  you  will,  modern  examples, 
 without  confining  yourself  to  English  poetry  for  them,  but 
 make  your  present  instances  the  staple;  print  the  originals 
 with  translations,  which  last  I  should  without  scruple  adapt 
 from  the  best  I  could  find,  altering  wherever  I  liked,  so  as 
 to  make  them  reflect  the  very  matter,  for  which  I  had 
 selected  the  originals.  And  as  the  passages  are  not  very 
 long,  this  would  not  be  so  troublesome  as  it  might  seem ; 
 and  you  would  do  them  in  your  walks,  and  at  all  odd 
 times.  In  this  way  your  argument  and  stuff  being  already 
 provided,  I  think  you  would  find  the  work  not  very  labo- 
 rious, and  full  of  interest.  Your  scheme  of  dialogue  and 
 scenery  is  excellent ;  it  is  long  since  I  read  Southey's  Col- 
 loquies, but  I  remember  how  the  framing  of  the  pictures 
 there  interested  me.  Euge-macte. 
 "March  5,  1847." 
 
 It  was  not  to  be ;  singularly  enough  the  subject 
 was  renewed  so  late  as  January,  1866,  when  he 
 was  at  Bournemouth,  by  an  offer  made  to  him  by 
 a  gentleman  who  was  a  stranger  to  him.  He  con- 
 sulted me  about  it,  and  reminded  me  of  what  had 
 passed  between  us  on  the  subject  many  years  be- 
 fore, and  asked  if  I  still  retained  my  former  notion 
 
Poetry  Professorship.  2iy 
 
 of  undertaking  it  myself ;  but  the  time  for  such  things 
 with  me  had  passed  away. 
 
 No  short  analysis  of  the  work,  (and  a  very  short 
 one  only  would  be  suitable  here,)  would  give  so  true 
 an  account  in  general  of  its  plan,  as  that  which  I 
 have  already  cited  from  his  own  letter. 
 
 The  peroration  of  the  series  so  illustrates  the  spi- 
 rit of  the  whole,  that  I  am  tempted  to  give  it,  and 
 "done  into  English;"  though  I  fear  this  may  prove 
 too  clearly  the  justice  of  Keble's  reluctance  to  en- 
 trust me  as  his  translator.  Something  grandiose 
 must  be  allowed  for  in  a  peroration. 
 
 "  This  would  I  desire  most  earnestly  to  deliver  and  com- 
 mend to  the  thoughts  of  our  young  men,  that  it  will  be 
 well  with  the  pursuit  of  Poetry  so  long  only  as  her  lovers 
 shall  remember  that  she  is  a  gift  vouchsafed  to  man,  to 
 minister  as  a  specially  honourable  handmaid  to  true  piety ; 
 so  that  they  should  serve  her,  not  in  word,  but  in  deed  and 
 in  truth,  with  all  reverence,  constancy,  chasteness  of  spirit. 
 On  these,  indeed,  will  depend  entirely  the  hope,  which  at 
 length  we  dare  conceive  for  the  future,  that  that  grander  and 
 loftier  voice  of  Poetry,  which  now  for  several  years  hath 
 been  heard  among  us,  shall  have  good  end  and  issue, 
 through  the  happy  increase  of  those  studies  which  are 
 peculiarly  and  properly  termed  Divine. 
 
 "  May  God,  Best  and  Greatest,  vouchsafe  that  if  He  shall 
 haply  have  ordained  for  us  so  great  a  blessing,  it  may  not 
 in  the  very  smallest  particular  fail,  and  be  of  none  effect 
 through  the  fault  of  any  one  of  us." 
 
 < 
 
 I  have  noticed  in  passing  the  interest  which  Keble 
 
2 1 8  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 took  in  public  affairs,  as  they  concerned  the  labour- 
 ing classes  ;  his  faith,  for  so  I  must  call  it,  as  regarded 
 the  Church,  and  his  opinions  in  respect  of  the  two 
 parties  which  have  divided  her  ever  since  the  Re- 
 formation, have  also  appeared  incidentally  in  the 
 course  of  my  narrative.  With  him  these  interests 
 were  living  realities :  gentle  as  he  was  by  nature, 
 and  loving-hearted  to  individuals,  he  was  very  sen- 
 sitive in  regard  to  them,  and  it  was  not  in  his  na- 
 ture, nor  according  to  his  conscience,  to  be  inactive 
 when  he  felt  deeply.  He  was  appointed  by  the 
 Vice-Chancellor  to  preach  the  Summer  Assize  Ser- 
 mon at  Oxford  in  1833  ;  he  was  glad  of  the  oppor- 
 tunity, and  he  published  his  sermon  with  the  title 
 of  National  Apostasy,  his  text  being  the  noble  de- 
 claration of  Samuel  as  to  the  course  which  he  will 
 continue  to  pursue  in  regard  to  his  countrymen, 
 when  they  insisted  on  renouncing  their  Theocracy, 
 and  on  being  governed  by  a  king,  as  the  Gentiles 
 were.  Among  other  things  the  measures  then  in 
 progress  in  regard  to  the  Irish  Protestant  Church, 
 which  had  ended  before  the  publication  of  the  Ser- 
 mon in  what  I  scarcely  think  he  accurately  termed 
 the  suppression  of  ten  bishoprics,  moved  him  very 
 deeply  ;  and  his  Sermon,  though  the  language  is 
 measured,  and  the  recommendations,  such  as  most 
 Churchmen  would  approve  of,  is  evidently  written 
 under  deep  though  suppressed  emotion  of  heart. 
 I  may  state  while  I  am  noticing  this  Sermon,  that 
 
Assize  Sermon,  1833.  219 
 
 in  it  he  lays  down  as  the  ground  on  which  he  thinks 
 the  events  in  Jewish  history  applicable  to  Christian 
 teaching,  the  principle  which  my  readers  will  re- 
 member him  to  have  stated  in  a  letter  I  have  before 
 extracted  from.  He  says,  "As  regards  reward  and 
 punishment,  God  dealt  formerly  with  the  Jewish 
 people  in  a  manner  analogous  to  that  in  which  He 
 deals  now,  not  so  much  with  Christian  nations,  as 
 with  the  souls  of  individual  Christians." 
 
 We  have  long  as  a  Nation  passed  by  Keble's  prin- 
 ciples in  these  matters,  and  I  am  not  about  uselessly 
 to  re-agitate  them,  but  I  have  made  this  particular 
 mention  of  the  Sermon,  because  out  of  the  same 
 feelings,  and  about  the  same  time,  arose  that  con- 
 certed and  systematic  course  of  action,  of  which  the 
 first-fruits  were  the  celebrated  Tracts.  Dr.  Newman 
 says  in  his  Apologia,  that  he  has  ever  considered  and 
 kept  the  day  of  the  publication  of  the  Sermon  as  the 
 start  of  the  religious  movement  of  1833. 
 
 I  have  prepared  my  readers  not  to  expect  in  this 
 memoir  the  history  of  that  movement.  But  one  who 
 ought  to  know,  has  said  in  regard  to  it,  that  John 
 Keble  was  its  true  and  primary  author,  and  I  shall 
 therefore  supply  such  personal  and  incidental  men- 
 tion of  it  as  my  means  enable  me. 
 
 Writing  to  Dyson  on  the  26th  of  August,  1833, 
 very  shortly  after  the  preaching  and  publication  of 
 the  Sermon,  he  says  : — 
 
 "  If  I  had  not  hoped  to  see  you  so  soon,  I  should  have 
 
220  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 sent  you,  I  think,  what  I  now  reserve  for  you,  if  you  will 
 accept  it,  a  sermon  which  I  have  ventured  to  preach  and 
 publish ;  and  at  the  same  time  I  should  have  asked  you, 
 What  think  you  of  a  kind  of  association  (as  quiet  and  un- 
 pretending as  may  be,  if  possible  even  without  a  name)  for 
 the  promotion  of  these  two  objects?  first,  the  circulation  of 
 primitive  notions  regarding  the  Apostolical  Succession,  &c; 
 and  secondly  the  protection  of  the  Prayer-book  against  pro- 
 fane innovation.  We  have  as  yet  only  written  round  to 
 a  very  few  intimate  friends,  Davison,  Ogilvie,  Tom,  &c, 
 and  as  far  as  they  have  answered  me  yet,  they  seem  to 
 think  it  may  do  good.  To  give  you  a  notion  of  the  kind 
 of  thing,  the  first  Tract  we  propose  to  print  will  be  a  Penny 
 account  of  the  martyrdom  of  St.  Ignatius,  with  extracts  from 
 his  Epistles.     Pray  do  not  blow  on  it  as  being  all  Ultra." 
 
 In  the  same  month,  and  a  few  days  earlier,  writing 
 to  his  father's  old  friend,  Mr.  Richards,  he  says : — 
 
 "  Some  of  my  friends  at  Oxford,  persons  worthy  of  much 
 confidence,  are  wishing  for  a  kind  of  association,  to  circu- 
 late right  notions  on  the  Apostolical  Succession,  and  also 
 for  the  defence  of  the  Prayer-book  against  any  sort  of  pro- 
 fane innovation,  which  seems  too  likely  to  be  attempted. 
 Might  we  hope  for  your  countenance  and  support  if  such 
 a  thing  should  be  set  on  foot  ?  Isaac  Williams,  I  think,  has 
 been  written  to,  and  can  give  you  all  particulars  about  it. 
 I  cannot  help  hoping  that  there  is  still  a  good  deal  of 
 cordial  Church  feeling  about  the  country,  which  it  is  very 
 desirable  to  encourage  in  a  quiet  way,  and  to  get  people  to 
 dwell  on  it  a  little  more." 
 
 In  October,  1833,  writing  to  me,  he  says  : — 
 
 66  Dyson   and   I   had  a  great  deal   of  talk   on  a  plan 
 
The  Tracts.  221 
 
 which  he  may  have  mentioned  to  you,  and  which  at  any 
 rate  I  must, — the  more  boldly  as  you  speak  so  kindly  of  the 
 tone  and  temper  of  the  sermon  I  sent  you.  Considering 
 the  helpless  state  of  the  Church  in  England,  and  the  very 
 inadequate  ideas  entertained  by  most  of  her  children,  lay 
 and  clerical,  of  her  claims  on  their  allegiance,  certain  inti- 
 mate friends  of  mine  at  Oxford  have  drawn  up  a  paper  or 
 two,  of  which  I  hope  you  will  in  a  day  or  two  receive  cer- 
 tain copies  through  the  Parson  of  Plymtree,  who  has  pro- 
 mised to  convey  them  so  far.  Now  if  you  approve  and 
 would  like  to  assist  us,  give  me  one  line  to  say  so  within 
 this  fortnight ;  and  put  down  and  send  me  at  your  leisure 
 any  memoranda  that  may  occur  to  you  of  the  best  and  most 
 effectual  way  of  proceeding,  e.g.  on  what  subjects  tracts 
 may  be  usefully  provided,  either  for  the  clergy  or  the  laity, 
 what  you  hear  said  against  us  that  you  think  deserves 
 notice,  in  the  way  either  of  amendment  or  justification, 
 whom  you  think  we  might  serviceably  apply  to,"  &c. 
 
 Such  was  the  original  design  of  the  small  knot  of 
 zealous  Churchmen,  who  projected  this  celebrated 
 series  of  Tracts. 
 
 It  is  impossible  to  impute  disloyalty,  or  a  mis- 
 chievous intention  concealed  under  the  avowed  de- 
 sign, or  in  the  means  adopted  to  promote  it ;  those 
 who  will  read  in  Dr.  Newman's  Apologia  the  names 
 of  the  parties  concerned,  will  never,  I  am  persuaded, 
 think  that  the  real  object  or  means  were  other  than 
 those  avowed.  Names  more  free  from  question  as 
 to  their  general  honesty,  and  their  unquestionable 
 loyalty  to  the  Church  of  England,  could  scarcely  be 
 found.     Still  both  imprudence  in  the  execution,  and 
 
222  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 an  advance  upon  the  original  purpose  are  possible ; 
 matters  to  be  considered  hereafter.  For  myself,  I 
 had  not,  or  fancied  I  had  not,  leisure  at  the  time  to 
 read  many  of  the  Tracts  as  they  came  out,  nor  have 
 I  read  them  at  any  time  since ;  a  predicament  in 
 which  I  believe  to  stand  a  large  number  of  those 
 who  have  borne  the  name  of  Tractarians,  as  well  as 
 of  those  who  have  objected  to  them  as  mischievous. 
 From  the  letters  I  have  seen,  I  find  that  the  bishops 
 were  not  invited  to  sanction,  or  interfere  in  the  move- 
 ment in  the  way  of  regulation  ;  good  reasons  may  be 
 assigned  for  this  resolution,  beyond  the  caution  of 
 one  individual,  from  which  however  I  believe  it  pro- 
 ceeded ;  although  Keble,  I  think,  would  simply  and 
 heartily  have  invoked  the  countenance  and  influence 
 of  the  Fathers  of  the  Church ;  from  similar  motives 
 a  too  careful  or  rather  a  formal  organization  was 
 avoided,  and  this  perhaps,  under  the  circumstances, 
 was  to  be  regretted  ;  when  every  move  would  be 
 so  vigilantly  watched,  and  when  a  false  move  might 
 be  so  prejudicial. 
 
 It  is,  in  my  opinion,  mere  prejudice  to  deny  that 
 the  cause  of  true  religion,  and  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
 land, reaped  great  advantages  from  the  circulation  of 
 the  Tracts  ;  one  must  have  been  a  quiet  and  attentive 
 observer  of  the  state  of  the  parochial  clergy,  and  of 
 the  English  Church  generally  before  they  issued,  to  be 
 a  competent  judge  of  this.  Making  every  allowance 
 for  exaggeration,  the  change  for  the  better  is  great, 
 
The  Tracts.  223 
 
 and  to  be  observed  not  so  much  in  bright  instances 
 here  and  there,  as  in  the  general  tone  of  feeling  and 
 conduct,  in  the  higher  appreciation  of  what  the  pro- 
 fession requires  of  its  members,  and  the  larger  and 
 more  distinct  acknowledgment  of  duty.  In  these 
 respects  I  think  it  may  be  said,  comparing  the  two 
 periods,  that  the  rule  has  become  the  exception,  the 
 exception  the  rule.  But  it  will  be  equally  prejudice, 
 as  it  seems  to  me,  to  deny  that  incidentally  some 
 evil  flowed  from  them.  I  remember  on  occasion  of 
 some  early  secessions  to  Rome,  it  was  reported  to 
 have  been  said  by  Dr.  Pusey,  that  however  much 
 he  regretted  it,  he  could  not  deny  that  some  were 
 to  be  anticipated, — it  was  a  sensible  remark,  if  I 
 may  be  allowed  to  say  so.  The  Tracts  came  at  a 
 time  when  we  were  (speaking  of  the  generality  both 
 lay  and  clerical)  wholly  untrained  in  dogmatic  the- 
 ology, wholly  unversed  in  the  questions  which  lay 
 between  the  Roman  and  the  English  branches  of 
 Christ's  Church.  Elderly  men  will  remember  the 
 time,  when  for  students  to  go  into  the  controversy 
 with  Rome  was  thought  nearly  superfluous,  and  for 
 clergymen  to  preach  on  it  a  mere  waste  of  time. 
 The  Tracts  stirred  this  tranquil,  perhaps  stagnant, 
 lake ;  and  the  stir  of  men's  minds,  especially  among 
 the  younger  and  more  ardent,  naturally  produced 
 enquiry,  under  circumstances  not  at  all  favourable 
 to  a  just  result ;  the  imperfect  practice,  and  the 
 theory  in  some  instances  not  strictly  logical  or  com- 
 
224  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  Jolm  Keble. 
 
 plete  of  our  Church,  were  arraigned  without  that 
 diffident  reverence,  or  that  due  allowance  for  cir- 
 cumstances, which  might  have  been  reasonably  ex- 
 pected ;  and  there  was  the  crowning  fallacy,  "  if  not 
 England,  then  Rome  ;"  on  behalf  of  which  latter 
 every  assumption  was  made. 
 
 I  am  far  from  saying  that  this  explains  every  in- 
 stance of  secession  ;  certainly,  as  at  the  Reformation 
 great  men  of  unimpeachable  holiness,  vast  learning, 
 and  powerful  intellect,  remained  with  Rome,  so  now 
 some  few  of  whom  no  less  can  be  said  went  to  her : 
 such  is  the  character  of  the  controversy  in  which 
 Bellarmine  and  Andrewes  are  opposed  champions, 
 that  this  must  in  all  time  be  expected. 
 
 But  after  all,  and  now  that  one  can  look  back  in 
 comparative  calm  on  the  movement,  I  believe  that 
 its  general  effect  on  the  Church,  in  its  clergy  as  well 
 as  laity,  often  to  be  seen  operating  on  those  who  are 
 least  conscious  of  it,  and  least  willing  to  acknow- 
 ledge it,  must  be  pronounced  a  subject  for  the  deep- 
 est gratitude  to  its  Great  Head. 
 
 Keble's  direct  contributions  to  the  Tracts  were  few  ; 
 in  a  list  of  his  writings  to  be  seen  in  Mr.  Savage's  work, 
 p.  52,  four  Tracts  only  are  set  down  as  his,  Nos.  4,  13, 
 40,  89°,  and  I  am  not  aware  that  to  anything  in  either 
 could  objection  be  made  by  any  critic  with  ordinary 
 
 c  To  these  I  find  now  on  the  best  authority  ought  to  be  added, 
 Nos.  52,  54,  57,  60,  four  Sermons  on  four  Saints'  Days.  These  on 
 the  same  authority  were  to  have  been  parts  of  a  course. 
 
The  Tracts.  225 
 
 pretensions  to  Churchmanship.  The  series  is  now 
 unwisely  and  undeservedly  consigned  to  such  entire 
 oblivion,  that  it  may  be  as  well  to  state  shortly  the 
 subjects  of  these  four.  No.  4,  is  an  argument  in 
 the  manner  of  Butler,  Keble's  favourite  mode  of  rea- 
 soning, to  shew  that  adherence  to  the  Apostolical 
 Succession  is  the  safest  course.  No.  13,  is  on  the 
 Principle  which  regulated  the  Selection  of  the  Sun- 
 day Lessons.  I  think  he  owed  the  original  suggestion 
 of  this  to  Miller,  as  I  find  him  stating  it  in  one  of  his 
 letters,  in  which  he  speaks  of  a  visit  from  Miller,  and 
 the  conversations  they  had  had  together.  At  the  pre- 
 sent time  the  Lectionary  of  the  Prayer-book  is  coming 
 it  is  said  under  the  revision  of  a  Royal  Commission, 
 and  it  may  therefore  not  be  wrong  respectfully  to  urge 
 his  caution ;  that  before  fault  is  found  with  the  pre- 
 sent selection,  those  who  alter  it  "  ought  to  be  toler- 
 ably certain  that  they  understand  the  principle  on 
 which  the  Lessons  in  general  were  selected."  It  is 
 to  be  observed  that  he  is  speaking  only  of  the  Sun- 
 day Lessons  ;  and  as  to  the  First  Lessons,  his  theory 
 is  an  application  of  that  which  I  have  mentioned  be- 
 fore as  a  favourite  one  with  him,  (( that  the  arrangers 
 desired  to  exhibit  God's  former  dealings  with  His 
 chosen  people  collectively,  and  the  return  made  by 
 them  to  God,  in  such  manner  as  might  best  illustrate 
 His  dealing  with  each  individual  chosen  now  to  be 
 in  His  Church,  and  the  snares  and  temptations  most 
 apt  to  beset  us  as  Christians."  This  was  an  argu- 
 ment which  of  course  was   applicable   only  to   the 
 
 Q 
 
226  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 First  Lessons  on  Sundays ;  but  he  fails  not  to  assign 
 ingenious  reasons  for  there  being  no  selection  for  the 
 Second  Lessons ;  one  of  the  advantages  which  he 
 finds  in  this  is,  "that  it  presents  the  Old  and  New 
 Scriptures  in  endless  variety  of  mutual  combinations, 
 the  more  striking  because  they  are  unforeseen,  and 
 in  a  certain  sense  casual."  "  The  thought,"  he  goes 
 on  to  say,  "is  happily  expressed  by  Herbert,  thus 
 addressing  Holy  Scripture  : — 
 
 " '  O  that  I  knew  how  all  thy  lights  combine 
 And  the  configurations  of  their  glory : 
 Seeing  not  only  how  each  verse  doth  shine 
 But  all  the  constellations  of  the  story.' " 
 
 He  had  referred  to  this  stanza  in  the  letter  to  which 
 I  have  just  alluded.  It  will  interest  those  who  should 
 be  induced  to  read  this  Tract,  to  collect  from  it  in- 
 directly, how  diffused  and  how  earnest  at  the  same 
 time  was  the  attention  which  he  gave  to  every  part, 
 the  most  ordinary  as  well  as  the  most  rarely  recur- 
 ring, of  his  duty. 
 
 In  the  Tracts  are  several  entitled  "Richard  Nel- 
 son ;"  these  are  dialogues,  in  which  a  mason  by  that 
 name  bears  a  principal  part  with  the  clergyman  of 
 his  parish  on  different  religious  questions  then  much 
 agitated ;  they  are  very  pleasantly  written,  and  af- 
 ford good  specimens  of  the  manner  in  which  in- 
 formation on  grave  subjects  may  successfully  be 
 conveyed  to  the  middle  classes  of  our  people.  The 
 subject  of  No.  40  is  the   marriage  of  Nelson's  ne- 
 
The  Tracts.  227 
 
 phew  and  godson,  whose  father  is  dead,  to  a  young 
 woman  who  has  not  been  baptized,  and  of  course  is 
 not  a  member  of  our  Church.  Nelson  is  much  op- 
 posed to  this  as  well  as  the  clergyman ;  the  argu- 
 ment, therefore,  is  not  a  contentious  one,  and  to 
 the  spirit  of  the  present  day  it  would  seem  to  re- 
 late to  a  very  old-world  matter;  yet  I  will  own  it 
 has  interested  me  in  reading  it  over  again,  and  it 
 can  never  be  out  of  season,  I  suppose,  to  read  what 
 tends  to  elevate  and  sanctify  that  which  the  Church 
 calls  the  state  of  Holy  Matrimony. 
 
 One  of  the  points  in  which  Arnold  and  Keble 
 differed  very  widely  was  in  their  general  estimation 
 of  the  Fathers.  It  was  not  unnatural  that  Arnold 
 should  have  a  quick  eye  for  occasional  looseness  in 
 argument,  and  the  absence  of  that  critical  judgment 
 in  history  which  may  almost  be  said  to  have  only 
 come  into  being  since  the  death  of  the  latest  on 
 the  roll.  But  Arnold  had  not  (indeed  how  should  he 
 have  acquired  ?)  the  extensive  knowledge  of  them 
 which  Keble  had,  and  he  was  scarcely  competent  to 
 set  a  due  estimate  on  the  scriptural  feeling,  and 
 habit  of  reasoning  for  which  they  are  remarkable, 
 or  the  weight  of  their  direct,  and  perhaps  even  more 
 their  indirect,  testimony  on  the  belief  and  practice 
 
 jpf  the  early  Church.     Keble  had  had  time,  which 
 
 Arnold  with  all  his  wonderful  industry  and  quickness 
 
 )f  apprehension  had  not,  for  a  general  and  very  con- 
 
 iderate  study  of  them  ;  it  had  been  his  duty  as  the 
 
 :    ditor  of  Hooker  to  deepen  that  study,  and  while 
 
228  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 perhaps  he  might  a  little  underrate  the  importance  of 
 those  defects  on  which  Arnold  insisted,  he  dwelt  with 
 just  admiration  and  gratitude  on  their  merits.  His 
 was  a  nature,  too,  in  this  respect  directly  opposed 
 to  Arnold's,  and  he  loved  the  study,  which  Arnold 
 perhaps  too  much  despised. 
 
 No.  89  was  the  result  of  this,  an  Essay  on  the 
 Mysticism  attributed  to  the  Early  Fathers  of  the 
 Church,  and  I  cannot  but  regret  that  it  remains  a 
 fragment  only. 
 
 Such  were  Keble's  direct  contributions  to  the 
 Tracts,  which  I  have  thought  it  right  to  mention  in 
 detail ;  but  it  is  not  to  be  doubted  that  his  interfer- 
 ence in  regard  to  them  went  much  further,  not 
 merely  in  suggesting  subjects,  and  reviewing  the 
 essays  of  others,  but  in  personal  influence  elsewhere 
 than  in  Oxford,  in  procuring  contributions,  and  ex- 
 tending the  circulation ;  this,  however,  it  will  be 
 more  in  order  to  notice  when  I  come  to  the  period 
 of  the  abrupt  termination  of  the  series  in  1841. 
 
 He  seems  to  have  been  fully  occupied  between  1 
 home  and  Oxford  during  the  year  1834,  —  with 
 Hooker,  and  his  Lectures,  and  the  other  duties  of 
 the  Professorship ;  he  was  also  at  this  time  busy  with 
 the  version  of  the  Psalms,  of  which  I  delay  to  speak 
 until  its  completion.  Towards  the  close  of  the  year 
 it  was  evident  that  the  object  of  his  tender  care  for 
 so  many  years  was  about  to  be  removed  from  him  ; 
 his  father's  infirmities  had  compelled  him  to  take  to 
 his  bed  in  November : — 
 
Death  of  Rev.  J.  Kebtis  Father.  229 
 
 "  For  a  bed-ridden  person  of  89"  (he  writes  to  me  on  the 
 3rd  of  December)  "he  is  I  trust  no  very  great  sufferer ;  he 
 has  infirmities,  which  give  him  often  a  good  deal  of  pain 
 and  distress,  but  he  sleeps  a  good  deal ;  his  appetite  is 
 tolerable,  and  he  seems  to  have  no  thought  but  that  which 
 one  would  wish  to  be  taken  up  with.  Elisabeth  has  been 
 able  to  do  much  for  him." 
 
 Elisabeth,  writing  to  a  friend,  says  : — 
 
 "We  have  every  comfort  in  seeing,  and  you  will  have 
 the  same  in  hearing,  that  the  same  peace  of  mind  and  trust 
 in  God  still  attend  him  in  the  near  approach  of  death,  as 
 have  been  his  comfort  through  life ;  he  sleeps  a  great  deal, 
 and  wakes  to  repeat  prayers  and  psalms,  and  it  seems  to 
 us  who  stand  by,  that  he  is  only  uncomfortable  when  his 
 attention  is  called  away  from  that  happy  world  towards 
 which  we  trust  he  is  approaching." 
 
 To  Mr.  Richards  Keble  writes : — 
 
 "  Whether  wandering  (which  is  the  case  occasionally)  or 
 collected,  I  may  almost  say  that  what  comes  out  of  his  lips 
 is  one  continued  prayer." 
 
 The  venerable  patriarch  fell  asleep  on  the  24th  of 
 January,  1835,  closing  his  blameless  life  in  peace, 
 with  his  family  and  faithful  servants  all  around 
 him : — 
 
 "  His  memory  for  prayers  and  psalms,"  says  Keble,  "  did 
 not  desert  him  all  through  his  illness,  and  it  was  remarkable 
 how  he  made  out  the  prayer,  when  he  could  not  exactly 
 remember  it,  by  adding  the  words  of  some  other  prayer, 
 hardly  ever  becoming  incoherent,  and  always  in  the  same 
 clear  silver  voice." 
 
230  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 As  on  all  the  preceding  occasions,  so  on  this,  the 
 survivors  accepted  the  bereavement  with  the  cheerful 
 resignation  of  real  Christians ;  they  found  comfort  in 
 all  the  circumstances  of  the  illness,  and  the  departure. 
 Yet  on  John  Keble,  and  Elizabeth  especially,  the 
 blow  was  heavy  ;  to  them  their  father  had  long  been 
 the  object  of  tenderest  care  ;  their  ardent  love  for  him 
 (no  distinction  can  be  made  between  the  two)  had 
 a  mixture  in  it  of  filial  pride,  and  veneration  for  his 
 great  qualities  of  head  and  heart ;  the  feeling  natu- 
 rally descended  to  smaller  matters, — John  delights 
 to  speak  of  "his  silver  voice,"  "the  clear  and  pecu- 
 liar tones  of  his  voice,"  and  how  in  advanced  old  age 
 the  flock  at  Coin  admired  his  manner  still  of  per- 
 forming the  duty  ;  and  now  they  two  were  bereft  of 
 that  object,  and  alone. 
 
 Yet  as  at  his  mother's  death  all  his  usual  cheerful- 
 ness and  readiness  for  duty  were  what  the  standers 
 by  would  have  noticed.  My  readers  will  see  no  in- 
 consistency in  this :  an  incident  has  come  to  my 
 knowledge  since  I  spoke  of  his  mother's  death,  which 
 is  worth  introducing  here  ;  it  was  told  me  by  one  who 
 was  present  when  it  occurred.  Keble  returned,  it 
 will  be  remembered,  from  his  mother's  death-bed  to 
 the  Schools  at  Oxford,  and  continued  in  the  dis- 
 charge of  his  duty  as  Examining  Master  through  the 
 week  until  the  day  of  her  funeral.  A  young  man 
 had  given  in  among  his  books  some  plays  of  Euri- 
 pides, including   the  Alcestis.     Keble  happened   to 
 
Alcestis.  231 
 
 be  conducting  his  examination ;  and  whether  inad- 
 vertently, or,  as  we  sometimes  do,  humouring  the 
 sorrow  at  his  heart,  had  set  him  on  at  the  part,  (ver. 
 395  et  seqq.)  in  which  she  dies  in  the  presence  of 
 her  husband  Admetus,  her  son  Eumelus,  and  his 
 sister.  Much  of  the  tenderness  and  pathos  of  the 
 passage  arise  from  the  wonderful  simplicity  of  the 
 language,  which  it  is  almost  impossible  to  reproduce 
 in  a  translation  ;  but  I  think  my  readers  will  be  glad 
 to  see  the  passages  in  a  rendering,  which  my  son, 
 Sir  John  Duke  Coleridge,  has  been  good  enough  to 
 supply  me  with  : — 
 
 Admetus,  Alcestis,  Chorus,  Eumelus. 
 
 Admetus.  Turn  thy  face  hither ;  leave  not  thy  children  so. 
 Alcestis.  Not  with  my  will ;  yet  fare  ye  well,  my  babes. 
 Adm.  Look,  look  upon  them  ! 
 
 Alc  I  am  nothing  now, 
 Adm.  What  ?  goest  thou  ? 
 
 Alc.  Farewell. 
 
 Adm.  Let  me  die  too  1 
 
 Chorus.  Thy  wife  hath  past  away,  she  is  no  more. 
 
 Eum.  Ah,  for  my  fate  !    To  shades  below, 
 My  father,  see  my  mother  go  ! 
 She  is  no  more  beneath  the  sun, 
 Leaving  me  here  my  race  to  run, 
 An  orphan  boy,  till  life  be  done ; 
 Ah,  see  her  stiffening  eyelids  ! 
 Look  at  her  nerveless  hands  ! 
 Hear  me,  oh  hear,  sweet  mother, 
 The  child  who  o'er  thee  stands. 
 
232  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 I  call  to  thee,  my  mother,  yea,  I  call ; 
 A  callow  nestling  on  thy  lips  I  fall. 
 Adm.  She  hears  thee  not,  nor  sees  thee  ;  thus  am  I 
 
 And  ye  two  smitten  down  with  heaviest  sorrow. 
 Eum.  Ah,  father !  I  am  left  alone, 
 
 So  young,  forlorn  of  mother's  care, 
 The  harsh  things  of  the  world  to  bear ; 
 Thou,  maiden,  too  my  lot  must  share, 
 My  sister !  for  her  love  is  gone. 
 Father !  all  vain 
 The  nuptial  strain ; 
 In  vain  her  bridegroom  didst  thou  stand, 
 Hoping  in  vain  that  hand  in  hand, 
 With  her  thou  might'st  attain  old  age, 
 The  bourne  of  earthly  pilgrimage. 
 For,  she  first  withering,  in  her  swift  decay 
 The  whole  house  perished  as  she  past  away. 
 
 Keble,  as  was  then  usual,  was  standing ;  he  heard 
 the  passage  out  with  fixed  attention,  and  unchanged 
 countenance,  then  dropped  on  his  chair,  and  burying 
 his  face  in  his  hands  on  the  table,  remained  for  some 
 time  silent,  overcome  with  emotion. 
 
CHAPTER   XL 
 
 COLN  ST.  ALDWYN.  —  ENGAGEMENT  WITH  MISS 
 CLARKE. — ACCEPTANCE  OF  HURSLEY  VICARAGE. 
 — MARRIAGE,  AND  SETTLEMENT  AT  HURSLEY. — 
 VISITATION  SERMON.  —  HURRELL  FROUDE'S  RE- 
 MAINS.— A.  KNOX. — VERSION  OF  PSALMS. — CREWE- 
 IAN  ORATION  AND  WORDSWORTH. —  1 839. 
 
 KEBLE  and  his  sister  had  cast  in  their  lot  toge- 
 ther, and  were  now  left  with  the  world  before 
 them.  I  do  not  know  what  the  disposition  of  the 
 family  property  was,  but  no  thought  seems  to  have 
 occurred  to  them  of  continuing  at  Fairford.  One 
 discomfort  there  had  been  during  all  his  long  re- 
 sidence there,  felt  even  while  his  father  and  mother 
 lived,  and  important  enough  to  have  decided  him 
 now  of  itself  against  choosing  it  as  his  residence 
 when  his  choice  was  free ;  the  views  of  the  Incum- 
 bent in  Church  matters  were  of  the  kind  to  which 
 he  was  very  averse,  and  he  felt  that  between  him- 
 self and  this  gentleman  there  could  be  no  cordial 
 co-operation.  Most  of  us,  I  suppose,  would  feel  such 
 a  circumstance  to  be  one  which  would  mar  the  per- 
 fect enjoyment  of  any  residence,  however  delightful 
 ;in  itself,  or  endeared  to  us  by  circumstances ;  with 
 one  who  felt  so  strongly  on  these  points  as  he  did, 
 it  would  be  conclusive. 
 
234  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 But  with  both  the  brother  and  sister  Coin  St.  Ald- 
 wyn  had  always  been  the  favourite  residence  ;  it  was 
 a  great  delight  to  them  when  the  family  moved,  as 
 they  sometimes  did,  for  a  fortnight  or  three  weeks  to 
 the  Cottage  Parsonage  at  Coin.  I  do  not  remember 
 ever  to  have  seen  the  place,  but  the  photographs, 
 three  in  number,  devoted  to  it  in  Mr.  Savage's  work, 
 create  a  favourable  impression  of  the  church,  and  of 
 the  river  scenery.  Keble  delighted  in  walking  on 
 the  banks  of  rivers,  and  no  features  or  incidents  of 
 natural  scenery  does  he  describe  in  poetry  more 
 faithfully  and  imaginatively  than  those  with  which 
 rivers,  and  their  banks,  the  flow  of  their  waters,  their 
 flowers,  and  their  trees  abound.  In  the  chapter 
 which  these  photographs  illustrate  are  some  cita- 
 tions from  "The  Christian  Year"  and  the  Lyra  In* 
 nocentiutn,  which  the  writer  seeks  to  trace  to  the 
 Coin.  It  is  probable  that  he  does  so  correctly ;  the 
 whole  chapter  is  interesting.  Keble  had  a  special, 
 a  sort  of  filial  fondness  for  this  river.  Writing  to 
 his  brother  in  June,  1815,  on  his  return  from  some 
 summer  expedition,  he  says  : — 
 
 "  I  got  to  Bibury  about  J  p.  6,  and  walked  leisurely  home, 
 and  really  some  of  the  spots  which  I  passed  on  our  jolly 
 river  Coin  are  quite  beautiful  enough  to  recompence  one  for 
 a  much  longer  walk." 
 
 I  was  not  surprised  to  see  him  date  from  Coin  St. 
 Aldwyn's  soon  after  his  father's  death.     I  had  hoped 
 
Co  hi  St.  Aldwyn.  235 
 
 to  meet  him  at  Oxford  on  my  first  Circuit  as  Judge ; 
 he  says : — 
 
 "  Very  much  disappointed  am  I  that  I  cannot  have  the 
 pleasure  of  meeting  you  at  Oxford  this  week.  I  fixed  my 
 Lecture  on  purpose  for  last  Tuesday,  intending  to  stay  all 
 the  week,  but  I  had  quite  forgotten  that  it  was  the  first 
 week  in  Lent,  when  I  could  not  well  be  absent  from  the 
 parish ;  so  I  was  obliged  to  mount  my  horse  and  ride  home 
 on  Tuesday  evening.  After  all,  I  imagine  I  should  only 
 have  had  very  scanty  fits  and  snatches  of  you,  and  that  I 
 shall  be  better  off  on  the  whole  by  considering  this  disap- 
 pointment as  a  good  excuse  for  coming  up  to  London  and 
 spending  a  few  days  with  you,  and  the  Museum,  some  time 
 after  the  Circuit  is  over.  At  present  I  cannot  look  forward 
 with  any  great  certainty  to  my  own  movements,  for  this 
 vicarage  is  not  yet  disposed  of,  and  I  do  not  like  leaving 
 the  people  till  they  have  some  one  to  take  care  of  them. 
 It  will  be  with  a  heavy  heart  most  likely  when  I  do  go 
 
 "I  think  it  likely  that  I  shall  continue  bobbing  back- 
 wards and  forwards  between  Oxford  and  this  place  till 
 after  Easter,  and  then  probably  come  to  Oxford  for  the 
 whole  Term  to  look  after  my  professional  duties,  and,  as 
 I  hope,  put  Hooker  fairly  out  of  hand.  Eliz.  by  that 
 time,  I  dare  say,  will  be  reconciled  to  moving  on  Bisley 
 for  a  while." 
 
 They  did  not  in  fact  leave  the  little  vicarage 
 until  June,  and  left  it  with  much  regret ;  it  was  like 
 a  second  loss  of  their  father  to  quit  for  ever  the 
 home  and  the  church,  where  the  recollections  of 
 him  from  their  earliest  childhood  were  so  deeply 
 mpressed,  where  they  might  still  seem  to  see  his 
 /enerable  countenance,  and  hear  the  clear  tones  of 
 
236  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 his  silver  voice  in  the  discharge  of  his  duty.  I  need 
 not  say  that  the  day  of  their  departure  was  a  sad 
 one  for  the  villagers  ;  far  the  greater  number  of  them 
 had  grown  up  under  the  care  of  the  old  man ;  his 
 children  had  always  identified  themselves  with  him 
 in  visiting  and  loving  carefulness  for  the  sick  and 
 poor;  these,  and  cordial  assistance  in  the  schools, 
 and  latterly  Keble's  ministrations  there,  had  endeared 
 them  to  the  whole  population. 
 
 They  returned  to  Fairford  to  prepare  for  their 
 final  departure,  and  about  the  same  time  two  events 
 occurred,  which  determined  the  course  of  his  whole 
 future  life  ;  his  engagement  with  Miss  Charlotte 
 Clarke,  and  his  acceptance  of  the  Vicarage  of  Hursley, 
 again  offered  to  him  by  Sir  William  Heathcote.  The 
 engagement,  indeed,  had  been  made  some  years  be- 
 fore. None  could  be  more  natural  :  they  had  known 
 each  other  well  from  childhood  ;  their  parents  were 
 old  and  intimate  friends,  and  the  marriage  of  the 
 sister  of  the  one  with  the  brother  of  the  other  must 
 have  added  to  the  familiarity  of  their  intercourse. 
 At  first  sight  the  only  wonder  would  be  that  the 
 announcement  and  fulfilment  should  have  been  so 
 long  delayed  ;  but,  on  the  one  hand,  Mrs.  Clarke, 
 a  widow,  was  loath  to  part  with  her  daughter,  and 
 Keble,  on  the  other,  was  very  unwilling  to  leave  his 
 father,  and  so  from  year  to  year  the  marriage  was 
 delayed. 
 
 Perhaps  it  might  have  been  expected  that  his  very 
 intimate  friends  would  have  been  let  into  his  secret 
 
Engagement  with  Miss  Clarke.  237 
 
 earlier.  His  communications,  when  at  last  they  came, 
 to  Cornish,  to  Dyson,  and  myself,  were  characteristic  ; 
 and  when  I  read  them  over  now,  I  cannot  help  ic- 
 calling  to  mind  his  exquisite  verses  on  the  Fourth 
 Sunday  in  Lent : — 
 
 "  But  there's  a  sweeter  flower  than  e'er 
 Blush'd  on  the  rosy  spray — 
 A  brighter  star,  a  richer  bloom 
 Than  e'er  did  western  heaven  illume 
 At  close  of  summer  day. 
 
 "  'Tis  Love,  the  last  best  gift  of  Heaven ; 
 Love,  gentle,  holy,  pure  \ 
 But  tenderer  than  a  dove's  soft  eye, 
 The  searching  sun,  the  open  sky, 
 She  never  could  endure." 
 
 To  me  he  said,  writing  on  the  4th  of  May : — 
 
 "  As  for  me,  I  don't  like  talking  of  such  reports  so  soon 
 after  our  great  loss,  but  surely  you  have  a  right  to  know 
 all  about  me,  and  I  will  not  affect  to  deny  that  I  hope 
 they  may  prove  true  in  time ;  but  I  am  sorry  to  say  that 
 I  cannot  speak  highly  of  the  health  of  the  dear  person  in 
 question,  and  that  alone  is  a  reason  for  not  talking  much 
 about  things." 
 
 To  Cornish,  from  Fairford  on  the  12th  of  June,  he 
 writes  in  the  same  way  : — 
 
 "  I  dare  say  Hubert  has  told  you  about  me,  and  there- 
 fore I  am  not  going  to  make  a  regular  announcement,  but 
 only  to  beg  your  blessing  as  young  people  ought  on  such 
 an  occasion ;  but  so  shortly  after  my  dear  Father's  death, 
 
238  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 I  do  not  much  love  being  forward  in  telling  my  friends 
 about  things,  and  this  I  hope  you  will  take  as  a  receipt 
 in  full  for  all  apologies  due  from  me  on  the  score  of  un- 
 friendly silence." 
 
 I  give  the  letter  to  Dyson  in  full : — 
 
 "  Fairford, 
 "Jane  12,  1835. 
 "  My  dear  Dyson, 
 
 "  I  must  allow,  without  any  violent  exertion  of  humility, 
 that  Mrs.  Dyson,  this  time,  has  some  ground  of  complaint 
 in  respect  of  the  word  '  soon.'  And  yet,  considering  how 
 wonderfully  quick  the  weeks  and  months  move  when  once 
 folk  are  got  to  our  time  of  life,  I  hope  she  will  make  al- 
 lowances. But  as  touching  the  news,  (if  uncertain  futurities 
 can  be  called  news,)  which  Sir  John  communicated  to  you, 
 I  am  not  going  to  be  coy,  nor  to  argue  against  the  propriety 
 of  such  things,  as  a  friend  of  mine  did  in  Yorkshire  some 
 years  ago ;  but  only  to  say  that  whereas  it  is  a  project  of 
 some  standing,  I  hope  you  will  not  think  it  any  unkind- 
 ness  that  nothing  was  said  to  you  before ;  for  surely,  if  any 
 one  out  of  the  family,  you  and  Mrs.  D.  have  a  right  to  be 
 told  of  things  ;  but  you  see  it  was  all  so  very  uncertain  and 
 contingent,  and  seemed  somehow  so  made  to  depend  on 
 what  of  course  we  did  not  like  to  think  of,  that  one  could 
 hardly  say  it  had  assumed  the  shape  of  a  project;  and 
 since  my  Father's  departure  the  time  has  been  full  short 
 for  talking  of  such  things ;  and  I  dare  say  you  will  agree 
 with  me  that  few  things  not  immoral  are  more  disagreeable 
 than  the  hurry  people  now-a-days  are  generally  in  to  get 
 out  of  the  house  of  mourning.  Well,  now  hoping  I  am 
 forgiven,  I  proceed  with  the  plans   and   projects.     First 
 
Engagement  with  Miss  Clarke.  239 
 
 comes  the   melancholy  reality  that  we  are  finally  parted 
 from  dear  little  Coin. 
 
 "I  think  Elisabeth  has  behaved  very  well  considering; 
 but  what  with  the  hot  weather,  what  with  the  packing  up, 
 and  what  with  the  people  coming  in  to  say  good-bye  one 
 after  another,  the  two  or  three  days  last  past  have  been 
 very  trying  to  her,  and  I  shall  be  rather  glad  to-morrow 
 evening  to  think  of  her  safely  landed  at  Bisley.  Our 
 nephew  has  been  with  us  all  the  time,  and  has  been  of  the 
 greatest  use  to  her  as  well  as  enjoyment.  When  she  starts 
 West,  I  start  East,  having  to  visit  Oxford  for  as  long  a  spell 
 as  I  can,  to  finish  my  Term's  work,  and  break  the  back  of 
 the  3rd  vol.  of  R.  H.,  which  is  now  in  the  press.  At  Michael- 
 mas I  have  engaged  at  last  to  accept  the  Vicarage  of  Hurs- 
 ley,  which  Gilbert  Heathcote  is  desirous  of  vacating.  This 
 house  will  probably  be  let  to  Cornwall,  who,  as  you  may 
 remember,  is  our  Doctor  at  Fairford,  for  a  term  of  years. 
 He  wishes  for  it,  and  I  suppose  there  is  no  person  at  all 
 likely  to  seek  it  whom  my  Father,  if  we  could  ask  him, 
 would  more  desire  to  have  here.  Dearest  E.  will  spend 
 her  time  between  me  and  Tom.  My  notion  is  Hursley  in 
 the  winter  for  her,  and  Bisley  in  the  summer.  The  distance 
 is  the  great  objection * 
 
 Mr.  Heathcote's  health  had  failed  very  seriously 
 at  Hursley,  and  he  was  desirous  of  resigning  the 
 living.  Sir  William  again  and  immediately  offered  it 
 to  Keble,  who  agreed  to  accept  it,  and  it  was  ar- 
 ranged that  he  should  come  to  it  at  the  Michael- 
 mas following  ;  he  was  not  in  fact  instituted  until 
 March  9,  1836.  It  is  at  least  a  remarkable  circum- 
 stance, that  Keble  should  have  become  the  Incum- 
 
240  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 bent  of  Hursley  after  the  circumstances  which  have 
 been  stated  ;  he  had  obeyed  the  calls  of  a  sacred 
 duty  ;  these  were  now  satisfied,  and  the  vacancy 
 was  announced  exactly  at  the  time  when,  with  the 
 prospect  of  marriage  before  him,  he  must  have  been 
 considering  where  he  should  settle  down  as  a  mar- 
 ried man.  And  I  believe  that  even  with  the  ob- 
 jection to  which  he  alludes  at  the  close  of  my  last 
 extract  from  his  letter  to  Dyson,  (the  distance  from 
 Hursley  to  Bisley,  not  great  in  itself,  but  incon- 
 venient in  days  when  there  were  no  railways,  to  two 
 busy  clergymen,  with  not  overflowing  means,)  Hurs- 
 ley was,  of  all  the  incumbencies  he  had  known  of,  the 
 one  he  would  have  most  delighted  to  be  placed  in. 
 
 The  marriage  took  place  at  Bisley  on  the  ioth 
 of  October,  1835,  and  the  newly-married  couple 
 went  to  Southampton,  where  they  remained,  I  be- 
 lieve, until  they  took  possession  of  the  parsonage 
 at  Hursley.  Southampton  was  convenient  from  its 
 vicinity,  and  it  was  thought  favourable  for  Mrs. 
 Keble' s  health.  Keble,  it  will  be  remembered,  had 
 mentioned  in  his  announcement  to  me  the  delicacy 
 of  her  health;  this  reason  always  for  care,  and  too 
 frequently  for  anxiety,  was  in  operation  from  the 
 very  commencement  of  their  married  life,  and  con- 
 tinued until  its  close.  It  did  not  find  him  unpre- 
 pared. It  is  remarkable  that  so  early  as  the  year 
 1 8 16,  when  I  had,  I  presume,  mentioned  in  writing 
 to   him  the  delicacy  of  health    of  the  young   lady 
 
Marriage,  and  Settlement  at  Hursley.         241 
 
 to  whom  I  was  engaged  to  be  married,  he  wrote 
 thus  in  answer ;  and  had  I  shewn  him  his  letter 
 in  1835,  or  indeed  at  any  later  and  less  romantic 
 period  of  his  life,  I  feel  sure  he  would  have  ad- 
 hered to  every  word  in  it,  and  applied  it  to  his  own 
 feelings  : — 
 
 "  One  part  of  your  letter  did  indeed  make  me  very  sorry, 
 it  is  that  where  you  speak  of  Miss  B.'s  state  of  health.  I 
 think  I  can  enter  into  your  feelings  on  that  subject ;  I  have 
 often  thought  why  it  is  that  illness  attaches  us  more  to  peo- 
 ple whom  we  love,  and  though  I  cannot  analyse  it,  I  feel 
 that  it  is  both  a  merciful  and  trying  dispensation  :  merciful, 
 because  it  makes  us  more  useful  to  them,  and  attracts  us 
 towards  another  world ;  trying,  even  to  heart-breaking,  be- 
 cause it  gets  stronger  as  hope  gets  less.  But  I  would  not 
 advise  any  man  to  encourage  it  who  has  not  an  habitual 
 sense  of  religion,  and  dependence  upon  God.  I  have  often 
 thought  how  miserable  it  must  have  been  to  heathens  to 
 lose  a  relation,  and  it  must  be  still  worse,  methinks,  to 
 heathenish  Christians.  But  since  we  are  Christians,  I  do 
 not  think  the  chance,  or  even  the  moral  certainty  of  ill 
 health  should  be  considered  as  an  objection  to  a  marriage 
 well  considered  in  other  respects. 
 "Jan^g,  1816." 
 
 Keble  had   abundant    opportunity  of  testing   the 
 soundness   of  this   opinion  in  his  own   married   life. 
 |lA.s  he  seldom  wrote  a  letter  to  me  before  his  mar- 
 riage which  did  not  contain  some  words  about  the 
 farying  health  of  his  parents,  or  sisters  ;  so  during 
 
 R 
 
242  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 his  after  life  there  was  seldom  one  in  which  that  of 
 his  wife  was  not  an  important  topic.  Beside  all 
 other  comforts,  one  he  had  in  a  remarkable  degree, 
 in  the  patience,  good  spirits,  and  energy  of  Mrs. 
 Keble ;  she  bore  very  trying  and  long  sicknesses 
 not  merely  with  cheerful  resignation,  but  with  bright 
 spirits,  and  when  one  would  have  thought  her  unfit 
 for  anything  but  rest  on  her  sofa,  she  would  be  up 
 and  at  work  in  or  for  the  parish  almost  as  if  she  had 
 been  in  strength  and  health.  It  may  give  some  little 
 notion  of  her  in  the  early  part  of  her  married  life, 
 if  I  extract  parts  of  a  letter  from  her  to  Elisabeth 
 Keble,  then  at  Bisley.  It  is  dated  from  Hursley, 
 March  9,  1836:— 
 
 "  My  dear  ELizth, 
 "  Every  now  and  then,  when  I  propose  to  a  gentleman 
 to  write  a  little  scrap  to  you,  he  says  he  is  going  to  send 
 you  a  whole  letter;  but  as  even  poor  Hooker's  departure 
 doesn't  seem  to  have  made  a  gap  in  his  occupations,  I 
 dare  say  this  intended  letter  will  be  some  time  before 
 it  reaches  Bisley,  so  I  must  say  6  words  to  you  in  this. 
 I  dare  say  you  are  thinking  as  much  about  Oxford  as 
 we  are." 
 
 This  was  the  period  of  the  agitation  which  existed 
 there  on  the  appointment  of  Dr.  Hampden  to  the 
 Regius  Professorship  of  Divinity  : — 
 
 "Some  of  the  clergy  about  here  seem  to  take  a  real 
 interest  in  the  subject,  but  those  at  Winton  are  not  easily 
 moved  ;  at  least,  I  suppose  those  who  are  much  influenced 
 
Settlement  at  Hnrsley.  243 
 
 by  the  Bishop  do  not  feel  very  sure  of  his  concurrence  ;  but 
 perhaps,  as  Mr.  Newman  says,  the  example  of  Bath  and 
 Bristol  and  other  places  may  give  them  courage;  and  if 
 the  Bishop  knew  that  the  Archbishop  really  wished  for 
 such  support,  I  should  hope  he  would  sanction  it.  John 
 is  gone  to  meet  him  to-day,  and  I  dare  say  he  will  have 
 some  talk  about  it. 
 
 "  I  do  not  at  all  like  the  thoughts  of  letting  him  go 
 again  by  himself  to  Oxford,  but  I  suppose  it  must  be  this 
 time ;  and  to  comfort  myself,  I  have  been  thinking  that 
 it  would  be  very  nice,  (if  nothing  prevents,)  to  be  there 
 with  him  when  the  Prize  time  comes;  he  must  be  there 
 longer  then  ;  and  if  you  could  get  your  visit  to  the  Ed- 
 wards' over,  and  meet  us  at  Oxford,  and  come  back  with 
 us,  I  think  it  would  do  beautifully.  I'm  afraid  the  poor 
 Lecture  is  rather  behindhand.  There  have  been  so  many 
 things  just  lately  to  take  his  thoughts  another  way ;  but 
 after  the  last,  which  was  only  just  finished  in  time  to  be 
 i  preached,  and  yet  turned  out  so  well,  I  shall  not  be  much 
 in  a  fidget.  The  chief  vexation  is  that  one  can't  help  him 
 at  all. 
 
 "  By  the  end  of  this  month  I  think  we  shall  begin  to 
 look  very  pretty  here.  Even  now  there  is  a  delicate  tinge 
 of  green  coming  over  the  underwood  and  hedges,  as  I  see 
 when  I  take  my  walk  up  and  down  the  south  end  of  the 
 Terrace.  All  that  we  have  done  as  yet  is  the  walk  under 
 the  trees,  which  Churcher  was  gravelling  yesterday,  and 
 which  I  hope  will  be  in  good  order  by  the  time  you  come. 
 j\Ve  have  plans  in  our  head  about  making  flower-beds,  and 
 putting  in  some  shrubs,  but  the  ground  is  too  wet  to  do 
 
 mything. 
 "  The  daily  service  goes  on  very  quietly  and  comfortably ; 
 
 •rhe  number  of  persons  continues  about  the  same ;  but  to 
 
244  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 have  this  daily  sacrifice  at  all  seems  every  day  to  be  more 
 valuable.  I  shall  be  very  glad  for  poor  Mr.  Newman  to 
 have  the  comfort  of  John's  being  in  Oxford.  He  seems 
 very  much  to  need  it ;  and  nobody,  I  suppose,  can  so  en- 
 tirely sympathize  with  him  both  in  his  distress  for  the  loss, 
 and  also  in  the  views  and  opinions  which  knit  them  all 
 three  together.  I  can't  help  thinking,  at  least  one  doesn't 
 know,  but  that  Mr.  Froude  may  in  some  way  or  other  be  of 
 more  service  now,  than  if  he  had  been  kept  here  longer. 
 
 "  Mr.  Wilson  seems  to  set  in  to  his  work  with  very  good 
 heart,  though  Mr.  N orris  of  Hackney  tried  to  frighten  him 
 by  saying,  '  Do  you  know  what  you  are  going  to  undertake 
 — daily  services,  &c.  ?'  He  has  been  a  good  deal  about 
 the  parish,  but  he  can't  do  much  in  the  way  of  reading  or 
 writing  on  account  of  his  eyes.  My  best  love  to  the  chil- 
 dren, dear.  I  shall  leave  the  outside  for  another  hand. 
 "Dear  Elizabeth, 
 
 "  Your  affectte  sister,  C.  K." 
 
 Then  John,  later  in  the  day,  has  taken  up  the  pen 
 and  says  : — 
 
 "  Charlotte  has  just  wakened  me  out  of  an  afternoon's 
 nap  to  say  I  must  write  a  line  to  you  dearest  Eliz.,  and  I 
 say  I  have  nothing  worth  writing,  but  it  may  be  good  to 
 have  her  favourable  account  of  herself  confirmed,  for  she  is 
 certainly  better  and  stronger  than  she  was.  . .  . 
 
 "  I  most  wish  my  lecture  was  done,  it  makes  me  feel  so 
 stupid.     Your  lovingest,  J.  K." 
 
 Let  it  not  be  supposed  (I  add  in  a  parenthesis) 
 that  my  old  friend  Mr.  Norris  was  averse  from  daily 
 services,  which  from  the  time  he  had  a  Church  of  his 
 own  he  constantly  celebrated. 
 
Settlement  at  Hursley.  245 
 
 It  is  not  waste  of  time  thus  to  make  my  readers 
 acquainted  with  the  person  whom  Keble  had  chosen 
 for  the  partner  of  his  life  ;  his  was  a  nature  which 
 delighted  in  sympathy  and  intimate  communion  ; 
 he  had  chosen  well.  Mrs.  Keble,  without  going  out 
 of  her  subordinate  place,  and  in  spite  of  her  delicate 
 health,  was  his  very  helpful  and  affectionate  fellow- 
 worker,  comforter,  and  support  to  the  end  of  his 
 days.  I  need  not  point  out  the  features  of  her  cha- 
 racter in  this  picture  so  unconsciously  drawn  of  her- 
 self by  herself,  but  I  will  add  a  testimony  to  myself 
 from  Dyson,  who  says,  writing  to  me  in  October, 
 1S36  :— 
 
 "At  the  end  of  August  we  paid  a  visit  to   Keble  at 
 
 Hursley,   where  he  has   a  pretty  home  and  garden,   and 
 
 a  charming  wife,  not  omitting  a  most  excellent  Squire ; 
 
 so  that  our  dear  friend  has  many  happy  appliances  about 
 
 him  with  only  one  great  drawback,  the  delicate  state  of 
 
 his  wife's  health.     I  find  he  has  advanced  higher  up  the 
 
 hill  of  Ecclesiastical   Orthodoxy  than   I   have  reached  as 
 
 yet.     I   require  more  time,  being  of  a  sluggish  constitu- 
 
 !  tion  of  mind  and  body.     If  I  had   the   same   purity  and 
 
 i  singleness  of  spirit,  and  something  of  the   same  depth  of 
 
 1  thought  and  feeling,  as  he  happily  has,  perhaps  I  should 
 
 strive  more  to  keep  up  with  him." 
 
 Again  he  says  in  February,  1837  : — 
 
 "  Also  I  have  a  letter  from  J.  Keble,  who  says  his  wife 
 
 has  been  attacked  by  the  Influenza,  which  has  thrown  her 
 
 :  1  back  much,  bringing  on  her  cough,  &c.     This  I  grieve  to 
 
246  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 hear,  being  anxious  about  her  both  on  her  account  and  his. 
 For  bating  her  ill  health,  I  do  not  know  that  our  dear 
 friend  could  have  been  more  happy  in  his  choice  in  all 
 respects.  And  indeed  this  thorn  in  the  side  of  ill-health 
 has  little  venom  in  it,  from  her  sweetness  of  temper  and 
 patience  ;  and  may  be  wanting  as  a  trial  to  make  him 
 more  perfect." 
 
 In  the  autumn  of  the  year  1836,  Keble  was  called 
 on  (I  suppose  as  the  junior  Incumbent)  to  preach 
 in  Winchester  Cathedral  the  Visitation  Sermon,  be- 
 fore Chancellor  Dealtry  and  the  clergy  of  the  Arch- 
 deaconry ;  his  subject  was  "  Primitive  Tradition  re- 
 cognised in  Holy  Scripture;"  it  was  published  "in 
 deference  to  the  wish"  of  his  audience,  and  was  after- 
 wards included  in  a  volume  of  Academical  and  Oc- 
 casional Sermons,  which  he  published  at  a  later 
 period.  But  it  had  reached  a  third  edition  before 
 that,  and  he  had  then  subjoined  to  it  an  Appendix, 
 and  also  a  reprint  of  the  seventy-eighth  Tract  for 
 the  Times,  being  principally  a  Catena  Patrum  col- 
 lected as  authority  for  the  view  he  had  taken.  The 
 sermon  seems  to  me  to  put  the  important  matter 
 of  the  true  and  allowed  authority  of  Tradition  in 
 the  right  light,  and  to  have  been  a  very  seasonable 
 contribution  to  our  theological  libraries.  For  him- 
 self he  said  to  me  : — 
 
 "lam  glad  you  do  not  think  I  have  gone  too  far  in  the 
 view  I  have  taken  of  Tradition.  It  appears  to  me  such 
 plain  hum-drum  common  sense,  that  I  am  sure  no  one  would 
 
Visitation  Sermon.  247 
 
 think  of  urging  such  a  truism,  if  Romanism  had  not  brought 
 it  into  discredit." 
 
 Cornish,  through  his  brother  Hubert,  had  inti- 
 mated a  doubt  as  to  the  correctness  of  his  view  of 
 Tradition,  in  answer  to  which  he  says  : — 
 
 "  Hubert  (who  is  a  good  fellow)  says  I  am  to  tell  you 
 the  meaning  of  Tradition,  and  reconcile  myself  with  my 
 Master,  Hooker :  to  which  I  answer  first  he  is  not  my 
 Master,  as  I  have  dared  to  differ  from  him  widely  in  my 
 Preface;  and  secondly,  if  you  compare  what  he  says  in 
 B.  i.  c.  13,  about  Tradition,  with  the  place  in  B.  v.  about 
 the  Tradition  of  the  Cross,  you  will  see  that  he  does  not 
 deny  the  principle,  that  ^"you  could  make  out  such  things 
 to  be  Traditions,  you  ought  to  receive  them,  but  only  the 
 fact  that  such  things  are  Traditions.  In  the  fact  I  am  at 
 issue  with  him,  and  so  (among  others)  is  St.  Basil ;  who 
 says  some  of  the  chiefest  and  most  universal  rules  of 
 Christian  worship  are  known  by  Tradition  only  without 
 Scripture." 
 
 I  make  a  further  extract  from  the  same  letter, 
 which  presents  a  pleasant  picture  of  the  life  at  the 
 Vicarage  at  this  time,  and  adds  an  interesting  inci- 
 dent or  two  on  other  matters.  Dr.  Newman  will  ex- 
 cuse, I  think,  my  introduction  of  what  relates  to  him. 
 The  letter  is  dated  Oct.  16,  1837  :— 
 
 "  My  wife,  I  am  thankful  to  say,  continues  on  the  whole 
 a  little  stronger  than  she  used  to  be  at  Cirencester  ;  but 
 the  autumn  makes  itself  felt  a  little  both  by  her  and  the 
 trees,  gently  as  it  is  coming  on.     Elisabeth  is  with  us,  very 
 
248  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Kcble. 
 
 comfortably  well,  keeping  up  our  spirits  on  the  departure 
 of  my  brother  and  sister  and  their  three  daughters,  after 
 a  visit  of  a  full  month,  the  first  they  have  ever  paid  us. 
 It  answered  remarkably  well,  all  parties  enjoying  them- 
 selves ;  and  Tom  seeming  quite  set  up  after  his  trying 
 campaign  with  the  Beggars  and  Guardians  right  hand  and 
 left  at  Bisley.  Newman  came  among  us  for  a  week  when 
 we  were  all  together:  I  wish  you  could  meet  him  here 
 some  day ;  I  think  you  will  find  that  his  demeanour  answers 
 reasonably  well  to  the  impression  made  by  his  writings 
 and  preachings.  He  has  now  in  hand  a  work  on  Justifica- 
 tion, of  which  I  have  seen  a  very  little  ;  those  who  know 
 more  of  it,  say  that  it  is  as  striking  or  more  so  than  any 
 thing  he  has  yet  put  out.  While  he  was  here  we  were 
 very  busy  correcting  some  sheets  of  the  '  Remains'  of  dear 
 H.  Froude,  which  N.  is  bringing  out :  if  my  partiality  does 
 not  deceive  me,  it  will  be  a  most  original  and  interesting 
 book.  His  Journal  has  taught  me  things  concerning  him, 
 which  I  never  suspected  myself,  as  to  the  degree  of  self- 
 denial  which  he  was  practising  when  I  was  most  intimate 
 with  him.  This  encourages  one  to  think  that  there  may 
 be  many  such,  whom  one  dreams  not  of.  ...  I  sent  New- 
 man what  you  said  concerning  Oxford  Statutes,  and  found 
 that  he  had  been  turning  his  mind  to  the  subject;  he  has 
 made  a  copy  of  the  Oriel  Statutes,  and  finds  only  two  things 
 which  are  not  in  substance  (he  thinks)  observed ;  the  Pro- 
 vost living  with  the  Fellows,  and  the  Fellows  residing. 
 This  excepts  of  course  the  great  deviation  common  to  all 
 the  Catholic  Foundations :  the  cessation,  i.e.  of  Prayer  for 
 the  Founders ;  of  which  the  more  I  think  of  it,  the  more 
 I  regret  it,  as  a  most  lamentable  concession  to  Ultra  Protes- 
 tant fears  and  jealousies;  nor  do  I  think  we  shall  ever  be 
 quite  right  till  it  is  restored.      In  the  meantime  I  am  for 
 
Settlement  at  Hursley.  249 
 
 holding  back  as  much  as  possible  from  all  State  inter- 
 ference; my  notion  of  the  Constitution  (of  course  under 
 your  correction)  being  that  all  such  foundations  ought  only 
 to  be  controllable  by  Chancery,  and  that  Parliament  has 
 nothing  to  do  with  them." 
 
 A  notion,  I  may  subjoin,  in  which  he  was  soon 
 to  be  somewhat  rudely  corrected  ;  he  lived  to  see 
 the  principle  insisted  on  that  the  Universities  and 
 their  Colleges  were  National  property,  and  the  con- 
 sequence followed  of  course  that  it  was  within  the 
 competence  of  Parliament  to  regulate  their  Govern- 
 ment. And  these  principles  established,  I  think  he 
 would  have  admitted  that  on  the  whole  they  were  re- 
 spectfully and  moderately  dealt  with  by  the  Oxford 
 University  Act  of  1854,  and  the  Executive  Commis- 
 sion appointed  by  it.  He  certainly  had  no  reason  to 
 cling  with  regret  to  the  Government  of  the  Hebdoma- 
 dal Board.  It  is  easy  to  form  an  opinion  as  to  what 
 he  would  have  thought  of  the  measure  apparently 
 in  contemplation  at  the  time  I  write.  On  questions 
 of  this  kind  especially  his  principles  were  uncom- 
 promising; if  a  measure  offended  against  what  he 
 thought  honest,  or  violated  what  he  thought  sacred, 
 good  motives  in  the  framers  he  would  not  admit 
 as  palliatives ;  nor  would  he  be  comforted  by  an 
 opinion  of  mine  that  measures  mischievous  in  their 
 logical  consequences  were  never  in  the  result  so 
 mischievous,  or  beneficial  measures  so  beneficial,  as 
 
 J 
 
250  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 had  been  foretold.      So  he  writes   playfully  to    me 
 at  an  earlier  time  : — 
 
 "  Hurrell  Froude  and  I  took  into  our  consideration  your 
 opinion  that  '  there  are  good  men  of  all  parties/  and 
 agreed  that  it  is  a  bad  doctrine  for  these  days;  the  time 
 being  come  in  which,  according  to  John  Miller,  '  scoundrels 
 must  be  called  scoundrels  ;'  and  moreover  we  have  stig- 
 matized the  said  opinion  by  the  name  of  the  Coleridge 
 Heresy.     So  hold  it  any  longer  at  your  peril." 
 
 I  think  it  fair  to  set  down  these  which  were  in 
 truth  formed  opinions,  and  not  random  sayings  ; 
 but  it  would  be  most  unfair,  if  one  concluded  from 
 them,  written  or  spoken  in  the  freedom  of  friendly 
 intercourse,  that  there  was  anything  sour  in  his  spirit, 
 or  harsh  or  narrow  in  his  practice  ;  when  you  dis- 
 cussed any  of  these  things  with  him,  the  discussion 
 was  pretty  sure  to  end,  not  indeed  with  any  insin- 
 cere concession  of  what  he  thought  right  and  true, 
 but  in  consideration  for  individuals,  and  deprecia- 
 tion of  himself. 
 
 I  give,  from  a  letter  to  myself,  dated  Hursley, 
 Oct.  23,  1838,  an  extract  more  considered,  and  not 
 unimportant.  I  had  been  reading  Alexander  Knox's 
 Remains,  and  been  much  struck  by  them,  and  men- 
 tioned them  to  him.  He  says  in  the  course  of  a  long 
 letter,  (and  I  desire  to  draw  attention  to  the  close 
 of  the  extract)  : — 
 
 "  As  touching  Mr.  Knox,  whom  you  have  been  reading, 
 I  admire  him  very  much  in  some  respects,  and  think  he 
 
A  lexander  Knox.  251 
 
 did  the  world  great  service  by  his  '  Treatise  on  the  Eucha- 
 rist ;'  but  I  cannot  admit  his  symbolizing  with  Methodists 
 to  be  at  all  Catholic  \  quite  the  contrary,  for  Catholic 
 means,  'according  to  the  rule  of  the  whole  uncorrupt 
 Church  from  the  beginning ;'  and  Mr.  Knox's  admiration 
 of  Wesley  and  Co.,  was  founded  first  on  his  own  private 
 personal  experience,  and  then  justified  by  his  own  private 
 personal  interpretation  of  Church  History.  Surely  it  was 
 a  great  fallacy  of  his,  that  where  he  saw  the  good  effect  of 
 a  thing,  the  thing  itself  is  to  be  approved.  You  know  how 
 it  issued  in  the  case  of  his  friend  Mr.  Forster,  that  he 
 made  out  Mahometanism  to  be  a  kind  of  Divine  dispensa- 
 tion :  and  in  itself  surely  it  is  rather  an  arrogant  position  in 
 which  Mr.  K.  delighted  to  imagine  himself,  as  one  on  the  top 
 of  a  high  hill,  seeing  which  way  different  schools  tend — (the 
 school  of  Primitive  Antiquity  being  but  one  among  many,) 
 and  passing  judgment  upon  each  how  far  it  is  right,  and 
 how  well  it  suited  its  time — himself  superior  to  all,  exercis- 
 ing a  royal  right  of  eclecticism  over  all.  It  does  not  seem 
 to  me  to  accord  very  well  with  the  notion  of  a  faith  '  once 
 for  all  delivered  to  the  saints.'  I  speak  the  more  feelingly 
 because  I  know  I  was  myself  inclined  to  eclecticism  at  one 
 time ;  and  if  it  had  not  been  for  my  father  and  my  brother, 
 where  I  should  have  been  now,  who  can  say?" 
 
 If  it  should  seem  to  any  enthusiastic  admirer  of 
 Alexander  Knox  (and  although  I  believe  he  is  much 
 less  read  now  than  he  deserves,  there  may  be  many 
 still,)  that  Keble  speaks  with  too  great  freedom  of 
 one  so  justly  remarkable  as  he  was,  it  should  be  re- 
 membered that  he  was  writing  to  me  whom  he  was 
 perfectly  entitled  to  advise  on  such  a  subject,  with 
 
252  Memoir  of  tlie  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 the  freedom  and  unreservedness  of  friendly  corre- 
 spondence. It  was  therefore  natural  to  pass  by  the 
 qualifications  which  he  might  have  thought  it  right 
 to  express  under  other  circumstances. 
 
 My  readers  will  have  observed  how  Keble  writes 
 respecting  Hurrell  Froude  and  his  "  Remains  ;"  his 
 death  was  a  heavy  blow  to  him,  and  no  wonder  ; 
 those  who  knew  him,  but  were  not  on  terms  of  in- 
 timacy, could  not  but  regard  mournfully  the  end  of 
 one  so  accomplished,  so  gifted,  so  good,  and  so  pure  ; 
 a  man  of  such  remarkable  promise,  worn  out  in  the 
 very  prime  of  life  by  slow  and  wasting  and  long 
 hopeless  disease.  But  it  was  much  more  than  this 
 with  Keble — they  were  more  like  elder  and  younger 
 brothers  ;  reverence  in  some  sort  sanctified  Froude's 
 love  for  Keble,  and  moderated  the  sallies  of  his  some- 
 what too  quick  and  defiant  temper,  and  imparted 
 a  special  diffidence  to  his  opposition  in  their  occa- 
 sional controversies  with  each  other ;  while  a  sort  of 
 paternal  fondness  in  Keble  gave  unusual  tenderness 
 to  his  friendship  for  Froude,  and  exaggerated  perhaps 
 his  admiration  for  his  undoubted  gifts  of  head  and 
 heart.  And  these  were  greater  than  mere  acquaint- 
 ances would  be  aware  of;  for  he  did  not  present  the 
 best  aspects  of  himself  to  common  observation. 
 
 I  must  say  a  word  upon  the  book  :  it  was  published 
 in  1838  and  1839  m  two  Parts,  and  to  each  is  prefixed 
 a  well-considered  and  able  preface,  written  by  Keble  ; 
 with  the  exception  however  as  to  the  second  of  a  few 
 
Hurrcll Fronde 's  " Remains"  253 
 
 formal  lines  at  the  close,  but  as  to  the  first,  of  the 
 portion  from  p.  ix.  to  p.  xv.  This  last  vindicates 
 Froude  from  the  imputation  of  Romanism,  in  the 
 sense  either  of  favouring  the  Roman  Catholic  Church, 
 or  of  being  disloyal  in  any  true  sense  to  the  Angli- 
 can, by  citations  from  the  "Remains"  themselves. 
 These  excepted  parts  are,  as  I  now  learn,  by  Dr. 
 Newman,  who  was  the  publisher  of  the  work  ;  Keble, 
 however,  shared  largely  in  the  preparation,  and 
 insisted  on  partaking  of  the  responsibility.  I  had 
 the  misfortune  of  giving  him  pain,  not  only  by  dif- 
 fering from  him  on  the  subject ;  but,  owing  to  mis- 
 information, or  misapprehension  on  my  part,  by  what 
 turned  out  to  be  a  fruitless  and  ill-timed  interference 
 to  prevent  the  publication.  I  need  not  now  explain 
 how  this  arose ;  but  I  must  confess  that  my  opinion 
 remains  unchanged.  It  is  a  deeply  interesting  book, 
 not  only  perfectly  harmless  now,  but  capable  of  in- 
 structing and  improving  those  who  will  read  it 
 calmly  and  considerately ;  still  I  think  that  it  was 
 calculated  at  the  time  to  throw  unnecessary  difficul- 
 ties in  the  way  of  the  Movement ;  that  it  tended  to 
 prevent  a  fair  consideration  of  what  the  movers  were 
 attempting,  to  excite  passion,  and  to  encourage  a 
 scoffing  spirit  against  them.  Some  part  of  the  anger 
 and  bitterness  with  which  the  Ninetieth  Tract  was 
 afterwards  received,  may  fairly  be  traced  to  the  feel- 
 ing created,  unjustly  indeed,  yet  not  unnaturally,  by 
 the  publication  of  the  "  Remains ;"  the  one  seemed 
 
254  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 to  be  the  result  of  the  other :  and  the  sequence  of 
 the  two  was  held  to  shew  a  deliberate  hostility 
 to  the  Anglican,  and  an  undue  preference  of  the 
 Roman  Church. 
 
 I  think  I  shall  do  well  before  I  quit  this  subject, 
 if  I  insert  here  an  extract  from  a  letter  written  to  me 
 by  Archdeacon  Froude,  in  answer  to  one,  in  which 
 I  had  explained  under  what  impressions  I  had  ven- 
 tured to  interfere  with  him  as  I  had  done  in  respect 
 to  the  publication.  It  is  at  once  so  kind,  candid,  and 
 just,  and  the  subject  as  regards  Hurrell  Froude  so 
 important,  that  it  ought  to  see  the  light : — 
 
 "  Dartington  Parsonage, 
 March  26,  1838. 
 
 "  My  dear  Sir  John  Coleridge, 
 "  I  can  assure  you  with  the  most  perfect  sincerity,  that 
 your  observations  on  the  late  publication  were  received  by 
 me  as  you  meant  they  should  be.  That  I  have  not  ac- 
 knowledged them  before,  has  arisen  in  great  measure  from 
 the  fact  of  their  not  having  reached  me  till  four  days  ago. 
 I  had  never  seen  the  proof-sheets,  nor  had  I  known  more 
 of  the  contents  than  what  I  picked  up  from  the  Jany.  No. 
 of  the  '  Brit.  Critic'  The  manuscripts  supplied  by  me  were 
 the  journal,  and  a  small  portion  of  the  letters.  To  what 
 extent  they  would  be  used  I  was  not  at  all  aware.  But 
 I  gave  my  full  consent  to  the  publication  of  all  or  any 
 part,  and  therefore  I  know  that  the  whole  responsibility 
 rests  with  me.  The  preface,  written  either  by  Mr.  Keble 
 or  Mr.  Newman,  will  best  explain  the  views  of  the  editors. 
 The  warm  affection  they  both  felt  for  dear  H.,  and  their 
 
L  etter  of  A  rchdeacon  Fronde.  255 
 
 acquiescence  in  most  of  his  views,  may  doubtless  have  led 
 them  to  overrate  the  fragments  now  given  to  the  public. 
 
 "  The  journal  I  sent,  as  presenting  a  lively  picture  of 
 a  mind  daily  struggling  with  a  natural  infirmity  of  temper. 
 The  strict  scrutiny  to  which  he  subjected  all  his  thoughts 
 and  actions,  the  unsparing  severity  of  his  self-examinations 
 and  earnest  endeavours  to  correct  what  he  found  amiss, 
 were  certainly  most  interesting  features  in  his  character, 
 but  possibly  might  have  been  better  kept  out  of  sight 
 Of  his  opinions  on  theological  points  I  really  am  not 
 qualified  to  speak ;  knowing  as  matters  of  history  that 
 many  of  those  who  took  a  leading  part  in  the  Reformation 
 were  actuated  by  very  questionable  principles,  and  that 
 others  were  carried  away  by  the  spirit  of  the  times  to  de- 
 stroy much  that  should  have  been  spared,  I  daresay  he 
 was  often  tempted  to  use  stronger  expressions  on  that 
 subject,  than  his  real  feelings  would  have  warranted.  A 
 departure  from  some  of  the  practices  of  the  early  Chris- 
 tians observed  by  the  Roman  Church,  and  the  neglect  of 
 ordinances  prescribed  by  our  own  ritual,  I  have  often 
 heard  him  condemn  in  strong  terms;  but  neither  abroad 
 nor  at  home  did  I  ever  know  him  to  be  the  apologist  of 
 the  Papal  Church,  much  less  hold  it  up  to  approbation, 
 except  for  its  zeal  and  unity.  His  professed  aim  was  to 
 follow,  as  closely  as  authorities  could  guide  him,  the  prac- 
 tice of  the  early  Christian  Church.  In  our  own,  Bishop 
 Bull  and  the  Non-jurors  were,  I  think,  the  patterns  he 
 proposed  to  himself  for  everything  that  was  noble  and  dis- 
 interested in  temporal,  and  sound  in  doctrinal,  matters : 
 but  I  feel  I  am  quite  unable  to  explain  or  defend  the 
 notions  he  had  formed  on  these  important  subjects." 
 
 It  was    in   May,   1839,  that    Keble   published   his 
 
256  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Kehle. 
 
 metrical  version  of  the  Psalms ;  he  had  prepared 
 this  some  time  before,  and  it  lay  among  his  papers  i 
 until  an  intimation  reached  him  that  the  Bishop  of 
 Oxford  (Dr.  Bagot)  would,  if  it  were  published,  license 
 it  formally  for  use  in  his  diocese.  A  sanction  of 
 this  sort  he  particularly  desired  ;  he  had  determined 
 not  to  publish  it  under  his  own  name ;  and  now 
 having  this  encouragement  from  the  Bishop,  under 
 whom,  in  a  certain  sense,  he  considered  himself  to 
 be  as  an  Oxford  Professor,  and  being  also  more 
 directly  related  to  the  Bishop  of  Winchester  as  Vicar 
 of  Hursley,  he  was  desirous  of  the  same  sanction 
 from  him  also,  and  to  be  allowed  to  call  the  work 
 the  "  Winchester  and  Oxford  Psalter."  He  accord- 
 ingly applied,  and  some  delay  occurring  in  the  re- 
 ceipt of  an  answer,  he  became  apprehensive  that  he 
 might  have  done  what  was  wrong  in  making  the  ap- 
 plication. By  his  desire  I  wrote  to  the  Bishop,  my 
 old  and  intimate  friend.  I  speak  from  recollection 
 now  only ;  but  I  think  the  delay  might  have  been  in 
 part  occasioned  by  his  disappointment  at  the  execu- 
 tion of  the  work,  and  his  consequent  unwillingness 
 to  connect  himself  with  it  so  closely  as  he  might 
 seem  to  do,  if  he  formally  licensed  its  use  in  his 
 diocese.  He  had,  however,  another  ground  ;  for  it 
 seemed  to  him,  at  least,  very  doubtful  whether  he 
 had  any  authority  as  diocesan  to  issue  such  a  licence  : 
 and  he  accordingly  contented  himself  with  leaving 
 Keble  and  any  other  incumbents  in  the  diocese  at 
 
*  Oxford  Psalter!9  257 
 
 liberty  to  use  it  at  their  own  discretion  without  lfs 
 inquiry  or  interference. 
 
 Keble  was  content  with  this,  and  the  version  was 
 published,  with  a  dedication  to  the  Bishop  of  Oxford. 
 
 Writing  to  me  on  May  1,  1839,  he  says  : — 
 
 "  I  do  not  the  least  wonder  at  the  Bishop's  or  any  one 
 else  feeling  disappointed  at  the  execution  of  the  work. 
 I  am  sure  I  should  be  so  most  exceedingly,  if  I  could 
 come  to  it  as  a  reader.  The  truth  is,  I  really  believe  it 
 impossible,  and  intended  to  be  so,  for  reasons  which  I 
 shall  endeavour  to  explain  in  the  Preface,  if  the  book  ever 
 comes  out." 
 
 Accordingly  in  the  Preface  he  says  : — 
 
 "  The  Version  was  undertaken  in  the  first  instance  with 
 a  serious  apprehension,  which  has  since  grown  into  a  full 
 conviction,  that  the  thing  attempted  is,  strictly  speaking, 
 impossible" 
 
 This  Preface  is  well  worth  reading,  in  which  he 
 ^ives  the  reasons  at  length  for  this  assertion.  Arch- 
 bishop Howley  is  said  to  have  pronounced,  with  his 
 Deculiar  neatness  of  expression,  a  criticism  at  once 
 conclusive,  and  yet  personally  flattering:  "Mr.  Keble's 
 work  has  demonstrated  the  truth  of  his  position." 
 
 The  general  substitution  of  hymns  in  the  Church, 
 service  for  metrical  versions  of  the  Psalms  might 
 lave  been  alone  conclusive  against  the  general  in- 
 troduction of  this  version  into  our  parish  churches. 
 But  I  think  in  the  remark  which  I  have  cited  from 
 
 S 
 
258  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 Keble's  letter  a  fallacy  exists,  which  has  operated 
 unfairly  on  the  general  opinion  as  to  the  work  ;  he 
 says,  "  I  should  have  been  exceedingly  disappointed 
 myself  if  I  could  come  to  it  as  a  reader"  Now  it 
 seems  to  me  that  a  version  of  the  Psalms  should 
 never  be  considered  as  a  book  of  poetry  to  be  read, 
 but  as  a  collection  of  hymns,  or  sacred  songs  to  be 
 sung  congregationally ;  and  after  satisfaction  as  to 
 its  faithfulness,  the  only  question  is  whether  it  is 
 that  which  lends  itself  to  effective  and  harmonious 
 congregational  singing.  It  must  be  familiar  to  all 
 of  us  how  in  some  of  our  grandest  oratorios  we  lose 
 all  sense  of  the  tameness  or  poverty  of  the  verse 
 where  it  fits  itself  well  to  noble  music.  He  who 
 versifies  the  Psalms,  therefore,  for  choral  singing, 
 should  have  some  musical  science,  and  much  musical 
 taste.  Keble  was  not  well  qualified  in  these  respects, 
 nor  am  I  competent  to  say  how  far  he  has  succeeded. 
 But  I  have  confidence  in  his  version  being  faithful, 
 and  I  think  I  find  it  useful  to  refer  to  when  I  want 
 to  extract  the  meaning  of  an  expression  in  our  autho- 
 rized versions,  or  to  trace  the  sequence  of  the  argu- 
 ment. I  trust  the  version  will  not  be  omitted,  though 
 I  suppose  it  may  not  be  largely  read,  in  the  com- 
 plete collection  of  Keble's  "  Poetical  Works,"  which 
 is  promised  us. 
 
 This  year  it  was  Keble's  turn  as  Poetry  Professor 
 to  deliver  the  Creweian  Oration  at  the  Oxford  Com- 
 memoration ;    and  among  the  select  few  on  whom 
 
Creweian  Oration.  259 
 
 it  was  proposed  to  confer  honorary  degrees  was 
 William  Wordsworth.  The  Poetry  Professor  and  the 
 Public  Orator  deliver  this  Oration  in  alternate  years, 
 but  it  is  the  duty  of  neither,  as  such,  to  present  for 
 their  degrees  those  distinguished  persons  on  whom 
 they  are  to  be  conferred.  I  believe  this  office  is 
 always  performed  by  the  Regius  Professor  of  Civil 
 Law ;  and  certainly  Keble  did  not  present  the  Poet 
 on  the  occasion  in  question ;  as  Dr.  Wordsworth 
 (who,  being  a  Cambridge  man,  may  well  be  excused 
 for  inaccuracy  in  such  a  matter  at  Oxford)  states 
 in  his  life.  But  Keble  would  know  of  the  intention 
 to  confer  the  degree,  and  it  would  be  easy  enough 
 to  introduce  the  incident  into  the  speech  which  he 
 had  to  deliver;  having  the  manuscript  before  me, 
 I  see  that  the  passage  originally  formed  part  of  it. 
 He  would  gladly  embrace  the  opportunity  of  pay- 
 ing him  honour;  he  had  been  for  many  years  an 
 enthusiast  in  his  admiration  of  the  man  and  the 
 poet;  though  I  believe  he  was  first  introduced  to 
 him  personally  at  this  Commemoration,  by  the  Rev. 
 F.  A.  Faber,  at  whose  rooms  in  Magdalen  College 
 he  met  him  by  invitation.  The  Oration  com- 
 mences with  pointing  out  a  close  analogy  between 
 the  Church  and  the  University  as  institutions,  and 
 after  tracing  this  out  in  several  particulars,  notices 
 ia.  supposed  and  very  important  failure  of  the  ana- 
 logy in  respect  to  the  poorer  classes,  to  whom  the 
 pates  of  the  latter  are  not  practically  open,  nor  in- 
 
260  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 struction  afforded.  This  failure  the  orator  then  pro- 
 ceeds to  explain  and  neutralize  so  far  as  he  is 
 able,  and  towards  the  close  he  is  brought  in  very 
 natural  course  to  the  passage  in  question :  Dr. 
 Wordsworth  has  printed  it  in  the  original.  I  am 
 tempted  to  add  a  poor  but  tolerably  faithful  trans- 
 lation : — 
 
 "  On  this  also  I  might  insist,  that  the  University,  and  so 
 Letters  themselves,  cannot  well  be  without  that  austere  and 
 solid  sweetness,  with  which  youth  well  and  wisely  spent  in 
 poverty  is  wont  to  flavour  those  who  are  submitted  to  its 
 training.  But  I  judged,  Gentlemen  of  the  University,  that 
 I  should  satisfy,  and  more  than  satisfy,  what  this  topic  de- 
 mands, if  only  I  should  recall  to  your  recollection  him, 
 (specially  now  as  in  this  honourable  circle  which  surrounds 
 me  he  is  himself  present,)  who  of  all  poets,  and  above  all 
 has  exhibited  the  manners,  the  pursuits,  and  the  feelings, 
 religious  and  traditional,  of  the  poor, — I  will  not  say  in 
 a  favourable  light  merely,  but  in  a  light  which  glows  with 
 the  rays  of  heaven.  To  his  poetry,  therefore,  they  should, 
 I  think,  be  now  referred,  who  sincerely  desire  to  under- 
 stand and  feel  that  secret  harmonious  intimacy  which  ex- 
 ists between  honourable  Poverty,  and  the  severer  Muses, 
 sublime  Philosophy,  yea,  even  our  most  holy  Religion." 
 
 Wordsworth  was  exceedingly  gratified  by  this  un- 
 expected tribute,  which  was  received  in  the  crowded 
 Theatre  with  hearty  and  general  applause,  according 
 well  with  the  universal  shout  with  which  his  name 
 was  received,  when  announced  by  the  Professor  in 
 presenting  him. 
 
Creweian  Oration.  261 
 
 Dr.  Wordsworth  well  remarks  : — 
 
 "  What  a  contrast  was  this  to  the  reception  which,  a  few 
 years  before,  Mr.  Wordsworth  had  experienced  from  the 
 most  celebrated  critics  of  England,  and  from  the  literary 
 world  at  large." 
 
 When  the  Prcelectiones  were  concluded  and  pub- 
 lished, Keble  sealed  his  testimony  by  dedicating 
 the  volume  to  Wordsworth,  with  an  inscription  very 
 beautiful  in  itself,  and  peculiarly  gratifying  to  the 
 Poet,  as  describing  very  correctly  what  it  had  been 
 his  object,  as  a  Poet,  to  accomplish  by  his  writings. 
 
CHAPTER   XII. 
 
 184O. — LIBRARY  OF  THE  FATHERS. — CHARLES  MAR- 
 RIOTT.—  DR.  ARNOLD. — TRACT  90,  AND  SUBSE- 
 QUENT PROCEEDINGS. 
 
 PERHAPS  I  ought  to  have  mentioned  earlier 
 an  undertaking  in  which  Keble  began  to  be 
 engaged  as  early  as  1838,  and  to  which  he  attached 
 much  importance,  the  Library  of  the  Fathers.  It 
 was  this,  I  think,  which  first  brought  publicly  into 
 connection  the  three  names  which  for  a  long  time 
 thenceforward,  through  good  report  and  evil  report, 
 were  intimately  associated  together, — those  of  Pusey, 
 Keble,  and  Newman  ;  two  of  them  still  survive,  of 
 whom  it  is  no  part  of  my  present  duty,  and  might 
 be  a  breach  of  another,  to  say  more  than  what  is 
 inseparably  connected  with  my  memoir  of  the  de- 
 ceased. All  three  were  of  the  same  College,  and 
 though  of  different  standings,  had  been  brother  Fel- 
 lows ;  they  were  specially  bound  together  by  a  com- 
 mon zeal  for  the  Church  of  England,  and  a  general 
 agreement  of  belief  and  opinions. 
 
 The  undertaking  just  mentioned  was  one  fruit  of 
 this  zeal  and  agreement  ;  they  proposed  to  edit 
 translations  of  the  whole  or  of  selected  works  of 
 certain  of  the  Fathers  who  had  flourished  previously 
 to  the  division  of  Christendom  into  East  and  West, 
 
Library  of  the  Fathers.  263 
 
 and  also  in  certain  cases  of  the  original  texts.  They 
 constituted  themselves  editors,  and  made  themselves 
 responsible  for  the  selection  of  the  works,  and  the 
 faithfulness  of  the  translations,  and  it  must  be  add- 
 ed, for  the  general  management  of  the  whole  publi- 
 cation ;  but  they  relied  for  the  execution  of  the  parts 
 on  the  help  of  a  considerable  number  of  gentlemen, 
 whose  names  appeared  either  in  the  prospectus,  or 
 in  the  course  of  the  issue,  many  of  them  men  of 
 mark,  and  well  known  in  both  Universities.  They 
 themselves  declined  all  pecuniary  profit. 
 
 It  is  an  impediment  to  the  success  of  all  such 
 undertakings  almost  inseparable  from  them,  the  ob- 
 vious risk  that  what  requires  so  many  hands,  and 
 so  much  time,  will  never  be  carried  on  to  completion  ; 
 the  Editors  sought  to  extenuate  this  as  much  as 
 possible  by  allowing  subscriptions  for  separate  works, 
 and  by  making  these  separate  works  of  convenient 
 and  inexpensive  magnitude.  But  they  could  not 
 foresee,  or  provide  against  the  calamity  of  losing  the 
 services  of  one  of  the  most  active  and  able  of  their 
 own  number ;  or  the  troubles  and  differences  which 
 were  before  long  to  divide  the  University, — and  the 
 Library  still  remains  incomplete, — a  disappointment 
 to  those  interested  in  possessing  it ;  yet  it  is  still  for 
 use  very  valuable  to  any  one  who  wishes  to  read,  or 
 consult,  some  of  the  most  important  of  the  Fathers, 
 especially  I  mention  Chrysostom  and  Augustine,  in 
 the  course  of  his  study  of  the  Scriptures.  It  was 
 scarcely   to   be   expected    that    the    translations   in 
 
264  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 general,  though  they  might  faithfully  render  the 
 opinions  and  arguments  of  Augustine  and  Chryso- 
 stom,  should  give  us  to  the  life  the  short,  close, 
 epigrammatic  manner  of  the  former,  or  the  luxuriant 
 eloquence  of  the  latter.  Keble  was  conscious  of  this ; 
 in  a  letter  to  me  he  says  : — 
 
 "  Have  you  looked  into  any  of  our  volumes  of  the  Fa- 
 thers ?  I  am  just  finishing  the  Revisal  of  S.  Chrysostom 
 on  the  Ist  Corinthians,  which  is  hardish  work.  I  fear  we 
 are  too  literal,  but  it  is  the  best  extreme." 
 
 To  which  opinion  I  think  all  would  subscribe. 
 
 The  loss  of  one  of  their  own  number,  to  which  I 
 have  alluded,  was  supplied  by  them  as  well  as  they 
 were  able  by  the  accession  of  Charles  Marriott,  also 
 a  Fellow  of  Oriel.  I  recall  the  name  of  a  man  justly 
 dear  to  many,  and  too  early  taken  from  us ;  a  man 
 of  great  learning  and  ability,  but  more  remarkable 
 for  his  rare  simplicity,  zeal,  and  purity,  of  a  charity 
 in  one  sense  bounded  only  by  his  means,  in  another 
 and  higher  unbounded.  He  died  in  the  prime  of 
 life,  still  a  Fellow. 
 
 Keble  was  greatly  interested  in  this  undertaking, 
 as  might  be  supposed,  but,  judging  only  from  the 
 initials  affixed  to  the  Prefaces,  (some  of  which  I 
 may  observe  in  passing  have  a  considerable  inde- 
 pendent value,)  he  does  not  appear  to  have  taken 
 a  very  active  part  in  it,  compared  with  Mr.  Newman, 
 so  long  as  he  remained  one  of  the  body  ;  or  Dr.  Pusey, 
 who  laboured  throughout  with  his  accustomed  in- 
 
Library  of  the  Fathers.  265 
 
 dustry.  His  most  important  contribution,  however, 
 has  not  yet  appeared,  a  translation  of  S.  Irenseus ; 
 which,  I  am  told,  is  now  being  carried  through  the 
 press  by  Mr.  Liddon. 
 
 In  the  course  of  1839  Cornish  had  been  making 
 a  tour  in  different  parts  of  England,  and  among 
 other  friends  had  visited  Arnold  at  Foxhow.  He 
 must  have  written  to  Keble  mentioning  this.  Keble 
 answers  him  on  "  Old  Christmas  Day,  as  the  folks 
 call  it,"  1840:— 
 
 "  I  am  glad  of  your  account  of  Arnold,  which  quite  agrees 
 with  what  I  had  been  led  to  hope.  His  feelings  seem  much 
 mitigated  towards  his  old  friends;  but  I  wish  I  could  see 
 some  fair  sign  of  his  taking  a  better  view  of  great  questions. 
 In  consequence  of  your  letter  I  wrote  a  line  to  him  to-day, 
 with  a  proof  leaf  of  a  new  Tract  for  the  Times,  in  which  it 
 came  in  somehow  to  find  fault  with  some  of  his  specula- 
 tions. How  he  will  take  it  I  don't  know,  but  it  seemed 
 to  me  kinder  that  I  should  let  him  know,  than  that  he 
 I  should  light  upon  it  in  print  without  notice.  It  does  not 
 name  him,  nor  is  it,  I  hope,  very  severe." 
 
 On  St.  Mark's  Day  following  he  had  to  write 
 again  to  Cornish  upon  the  death  of  his  youngest 
 sister,  an  event  which  for  particular  reasons  moved 
 him  very  tenderly ;  in  the  course  of  his  note  he 
 says  : — 
 
 "  One  surely  feels  more  and  more  the  privilege  of  being 
 allowed  to  remember  one's  departed  friends  in  private 
 prayer,  and  secretly  at  the  altar." 
 
266  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 And  at  the  close  he  adds  : — 
 
 "  I  have  had  a  very  kind  and  comfortable  Easter  Letter 
 from  Arnold." 
 
 I  find  in  a  letter  from  Arnold  to  me,  written  soon 
 after,  the  following  passage  : — 
 
 "I  have  heard  from  old  Keble,  to  whom  I  could  not 
 help  writing  in  the  hope  of  getting  some  friendly  commu- 
 nication with  him  once  again.  And  his  answer  was  such 
 as  to  make  me  heartily  glad  that  I  had  written  to  him." 
 
 In  the  summer  of  this  year  Mrs.  Keble,  who  had 
 again  been  very  unwell,  was  so  far  recovered  as  to 
 be  able  to  accompany  him  in  a  tour  which  he  made 
 in  North  Wales ;  it  was  made  indeed  in  great  mea- 
 sure to  give  her  change  of  scene  and  sea  air,  her 
 great  specific.  He  wrote  to  me  from  Barmouth, 
 where  they  were  halting  in  a  lodging  on  the  level 
 of  the  sea,  and  with  great  convenience  for  boating, 
 the  best  of  exercises  for  her.  He  was  at  the  time 
 helping  Mrs.  Davison,  then  a  widow,  in  publishing 
 the  scattered  opuscula  of  her  deceased  husband,  and 
 he  wrote  to  me  for  some  help.  This  subject  was 
 renewed  in  a  letter  which  I  received  from  him  early 
 in  December  of  the  same  year,  from  which  I  must 
 make  some  extracts  on  two  or  three  different  sub- 
 jects. Mrs.  Keble  had  again  become  ill,  and  was 
 very  slowly  recovering  when  he  wrote.  After  de- 
 scribing this  illness,  he  goes  on  : — 
 
 "  I  was  thinking  of  writing  to  you  when  your  letter  came, 
 
A  mold  and  Keble.  267 
 
 for  Heathcote  told  me  he  had  heard  not  a  good  account 
 of  Mary." 
 
 She  was  his  godchild,  and  he  seldom  failed  to  men- 
 tion her  with  affectionate  interest  in  his  letters  : — 
 
 "  He  did  not  say  any  thing  of  your  wife  being  unwell.  I 
 trust  both  are  now  better,  and  that  you  are  yourself  enabled 
 to  nurse  your  winter  cough  a  little.  I  expected  to  hear  you 
 were  at  Oxford,  from  what  John  said,  when  I  just  hailed 
 him  there ;  and  I  very  much  regretted  at  the  time  that  I 
 had  not  paid  my  visit  one  week  later ;  it  would  have  been 
 a  great  and  peculiar  pleasure  to  walk  about  with  you,  and 
 gaze  on  some  of  the  old  places.  I  missed  seeing  M.  Arnold, 
 (who  was  also  his  godchild,)  but  had  a  very  kind  note  from 
 him,  in  answer  to  one  that  I  sent.  I  live  in  hopes  of  coming 
 into  full  communication  with  Rugby  again  one  of  these  days. 
 As  to  dear  old  Dyson,  I  hear  from  him  to-day  an  improved 
 account,  both  of  himself  and  of  his  two  wives. 
 
 "I  am  rather  busy  just  now,  having  sent  a  bundle  of 
 papers  to  the  Tract  Press  on  the  Mysticism  of  the  Fathers, 
 a  subject  on  which  I  feel  that  I  can  only  just  make  a  be- 
 ginning ;  but  if  one  can  draw  attention,  I  shall  be  satisfied. 
 Moreover,  we  are  just  putting  the  last  hand  to  the  volume 
 of  Davison's  '  Remains.'  (By-the-bye,  I  never  thanked  you 
 for  your  kindness  in  that  matter.)  I  am  just  now  puzzling 
 myself  how,  in  the  quietest  and  best  way,  to  counteract  the 
 ill  and  false  impression  which  the  Bishop  of  Llandaff  and 
 poor  Lord  Dudley  have  been  spreading  abroad  concerning 
 :  his  conversation.     Mr.  Markland  kindly  got  Murray's  leave 
 
 j|  to  reprint  the  articles  from  the  Q.  R.,  and  he  has  also  pro- 
 ;  cured  the  suppression  of  the  unworthy  sentences  in  the  new 
 
 '  j  Edition  of  Lord  Dudley's  Letters.  ...  I  love  to  think  of 
 I  your  little  Church,  and  it  shall  go  hard,  but  I  offer  a  small 
 
 . 
 
268  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 trifle,  (I  fear  very  small,)  to  it,  but  I  shall  know  better  after 
 Christmas." 
 
 It  is  not  material  now  to  ascertain  what  "the  un- 
 worthy sentences"  were  to  which  Keble  refers,  but 
 they  undoubtedly  had  given  Mrs.  Davison  much 
 pain,  and  he  was  very  sensitive  in  regard  to  Davison. 
 There  certainly  was  in  Davison's  manner  and  talk 
 something  not  exactly  finical,  yet  over  precise,  and 
 constrained,  something  of  a  want  of  ease  and  natu- 
 ralness, which,  in  the  freedom  of  private  correspond- 
 ence, might  provoke  a  sarcastic  remark  from  Lord 
 Dudley ;  and  there  was  a  difference  moreover  in  the 
 natures  of  Davison  and  the  Bishop,  which  might 
 make  the  latter,  good-natured  as  he  was,  and  cer- 
 tainly esteeming  the  former  highly,  somewhat  less 
 careful  than  he  might  have  been  in  regard  to  such 
 passages  as  Keble  regretted. 
 
 My  principal  object,  however,  in  printing  these 
 extracts,  was  to  give  my  readers  a  glimpse  in  pass- 
 ing of  the  real  state  of  feeling  which  existed  be- 
 tween my  two  dear  friends ;  both  of  whom  in  a  true 
 sense  I  may  call  great  men. 
 
 There  is  a  very  interesting  letter  from  Arnold  to 
 myself,  printed  in  the  second  volume  of  his  Life  by 
 Dr.  Stanley,  which,  in  tracing  the  formation  of  his 
 opinions  and  character,  shews  what  they  were  during 
 the  greater  part  of  his  residence  at  Oxford  ;  then 
 and  there  it  was  that  the  intimate  friendship  be- 
 tween  him   and   Keble   commenced ;   and  this   ex- 
 
A  mold  and  Keble.  269 
 
 plains  what  might  seem  at  first  a  difficulty,  how 
 they  became  so  closely  united.  Radical  differences 
 of  opinion  subsequently  arising  upon  subjects  which 
 each  held  to  be  of  vital  importance,  had  interrupted 
 their  intimate  intercourse,  and  that  intercourse  had 
 been  too  intimate,  and  their  love  for  each  other  too 
 deep,  to  admit  of  their  putting  themselves  on  the 
 footing  of  mere  friendly  acquaintance.  It  was  to 
 be  expected,  too,  that  as  each  advanced,  (and  each 
 certainly  did  advance,)  farther  and  farther  in  his 
 own  line,  the  difference  between  them  would  be- 
 come wider,  and  the  condemnation,  by  each,  of  the 
 other's  opinions,  more  intense.  If  Keble's  language 
 respecting  Arnold  had  been  occasionally  stronger 
 than  that  of  Arnold  respecting  Keble,  (and  I  really 
 do  not  think  it  was,)  it  would  have  been  no  more 
 than  was  to  be  expected  ;  for  in  his  view  the  differ- 
 ence was  on  things  sacred,  his  nature  was  very  sen- 
 sitive, and  his  attention  was  not,  like  Arnold's,  oc- 
 cupied on  a  variety  of  subjects,  a  circumstance  of 
 course  tending  to  diminish  its  intensity  on  any 
 one.  But  all  the  time  in  the  hearts  of  both  the 
 -early  love  remained  ineradicable;  these  extracts  are 
 little  indications  of  that,  of  which  I  can  speak  be- 
 side from  personal  knowledge  ;  and  I  feel  sure  that 
 had  it  not  pleased  God  to  take  one  away  in  the 
 very  prime  of  his  life,  they  would  have  learned  to 
 •.00k  through  their  differences,  and  to  have  set 
 igainst  each  other's  supposed  errors  that  greatness 
 
270  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 of  mind,  goodness  of  intention,  and  loving-hearted- 
 ness  which  they  could  not  but  recognise  in  each 
 other ;  each  might  have  admitted  a  salutary  dis- 
 trust of  his  own  very  strong  opinions,  and  indulged 
 finally  in  what  both  so  longed  for,  their  old  affec- 
 tion for  and  admiration  of  each  other.  If  this  be 
 a  piece  of  what  Keble  and  Froude  called  the  Cole- 
 ridge Heresy,  I  hope  it  will  be  forgiven. 
 
 It  appears  in  the  course  of  these  extracts  that 
 Keble  was  not  in  1840  at  all  contemplating  what 
 was  so  soon  to  burst  out  at  Oxford  in  respect  of 
 the  Tracts.  He  was  evidently  intending  to  finish 
 the  essay  which  he  had  commenced  in  the  89th, 
 when  the  publication  of  the  celebrated  90th  brought 
 the  whole  series  to  an  abrupt  termination.  The  part 
 which  Keble  took  as  to  the  tract  itself,  and  the  pro- 
 ceedings which  followed,  make  it  unfitting  for  me, 
 however  much  I  might  wish  it,  wholly  to  pass  over 
 these  transactions  in  silence. 
 
 The  Tract  is  dated  "  The  Feast  of  the  Conversion 
 of  S.  Paul,  1 841;"  shortly  after  appeared  what  has 
 since  been  called  the  Letter  of  the  Four  Tutors 
 reflecting  upon  it,  addressed  to  the  Editor  of  the 
 Tracts  for  the  Times,  and  requesting  him  to  make 
 known  the  name  of  the  writer  of  the  Tract.  Mr. 
 Newman  answered  them  at  once,  and  his  letter  pro- 
 fessed at  least  to  remove  one  principal  ground  on 
 which  the  censure  in  their's  was  rested  ;  he  also 
 commenced  immediately  the  preparation  of  a  Letter 
 
Tract  90.  271 
 
 to  Dr.  Jelf,  in  explanation  and  justification  of  the 
 Tract.  But  both  of  these  measures  might  for  any- 
 immediate  purpose  have  been  spared,  so  rapid  were 
 the  proceedings  of  the  Hebdomadal  Board.  The 
 Letter  of  the  Tutors  was  published,  I  believe,  on 
 a  Monday  ;  it  was  laid  before  the  Board,  with  the 
 Tract,  on  Wednesday ;  a  censure  was  agreed  to  on 
 the  Friday,  and  on  the  following  Monday  in  form 
 pronounced  and  published.  In  the  meantime  Ke- 
 ble  had  communicated  to  the  Vice-Chancellor  that 
 he  was  responsible  for  the  Tract,  having  seen  it  in 
 type,  agreed  to  it,  and  desired  it  to  be  published. 
 Dr.  Pusey  had  written  to  the  same  effect.  Mr.  New- 
 man had  applied  for  a  delay  of  twelve  hours,  that 
 he  might  complete  the  defence  he  was  preparing  in 
 his  Letter  to  Dr.  Jelf;  which  in  point  of  fact  issued 
 from  the  press  on  the  Tuesday,  the  very  day  after 
 the  publication  of  the  censure. 
 
 These  are  the  facts  relating  to  the  Tutors'  Letter, 
 and  the  censure  of  the  Hebdomadal  Board  ;  but  it 
 will  be  convenient  for  the  right  understanding  of 
 their  character,  and  the  part  which  Keble  took,  if 
 at  the  cost  of  anticipating  events  I  add  a  few  more 
 particulars.  Keble,  as  I  have  said,  had  at  once,  and 
 before  the  censure  was  determined  on,  communicated 
 ito  the  Vice-Chancellor,  that  he  held  himself  to  be 
 a  sharer  in  the  responsibility  for  publishing  the 
 iTract ;  and  he  was  by  no  means  satisfied  that  the 
 |whole  blame,  whether  deserved  or  not,  should  rest 
 
 , 
 
Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 on  Mr.  Newman's  shoulders.  He  accordingly  pre- 
 pared and  sent  to  me  a  letter,  with  a  request  which 
 it  may  be  as  well  to  give  in  his  own  words  : — 
 
 "  HURSLEY, 
 
 E.  Tuesday,  1841. 
 
 "  I  am  going  to  make  a  request,  quite  depending  on 
 your  declining  it,  if  it  is  unpleasant  to  you,  with  or  with- 
 out giving  any  reason.  It  is  that  you  will  let  your  name 
 be  inserted  in  the  blank  of  the  title-page  of  the  pamphlet 
 whereof  I  send  you  a  proof.  You  will  see  that  it  is  not  to 
 be  published,  but  only  printed,  and  some  copies  sent  to 
 
 those  whom  it  is  most  supposed  to  concern You  see 
 
 I  am  a  good  deal  concerned  in  this  matter,  and  have  all 
 along  felt  as  if  I  was  doing  wrong  in  not  taking  my  share 
 of  the  annoyance ;  and  I  thought  if  one  could  calmly  put 
 one's  case  before  Archdeacons,  and  those  sort  of  people, 
 which  this  mode  of  printing  without  publishing  enables 
 one  to  do,  some  might  be  less  likely  to  commit  themselves 
 to  what  they  would  be  sorry  for  by  and  by." 
 
 I  did  not  agree  in  all  respects  with  the  course 
 which  had  been  pursued ;  nor  indeed  had  I  know- 
 ledge enough  of  the  whole  series  of  the  Tracts  to 
 pronounce  an  opinion  upon  them.  But  I  did  not 
 think  either  of  these  circumstances  sufficient  to  war- 
 rant me  in  refusing  Keble's  request ;  the  granting 
 such  a  request  does  not  seem  to  me  to  import  en- 
 tire assent  to  all  which  the  letter  may  contain.  Ac- 
 cordingly, the  Letter  was  printed  addressed  to  my- 
 self, and  although  not  published  until  1865,  or  1866, 
 it  was  largely  distributed  in  the  course  of  the  con- 
 
Tract  90.  273 
 
 flicts  which  disturbed  the  University  in  the  three  or 
 four  years  immediately  following  the  printing. 
 
 After  stating  as  one  motive  for  writing  it,  the  per- 
 sonal one,  "that  he  is  himself  responsible,  as  far  as 
 any  one  besides  the  actual  writer  can  be,  for  the 
 Tract  on  which  so  severe  a  condemnation  has  lately 
 been  pronounced  by  the  Heads  of  Houses  at  Ox- 
 ford, having  seen  it  in  proof  and  strongly  recom- 
 mended its  publication,"  Keble  goes  on  to  men- 
 tion a  few  instances,  as  examples  only,  of  the  need 
 there  was  for  some  explanation  of  expressions  in 
 certain  of  the  Articles ;  and  then  in  the  two  follow- 
 ing paragraphs  he  states  what  he  took  to  be  the 
 object  and  justification  of  the  Tract : — 
 
 "  On  all  these  and  similar  points  explanations  had  been 
 given  in  various  works,  and  it  seemed  desirable  to  collect 
 them  in  one  as  a  kind  of  manual  to  assist  in  what  was  be- 
 lieved to  be  the  true  legitimate  catholic  exposition  of  the 
 Articles,  whereby  the  scruples  which  were  known  to  exist, 
 land  other  similar  ones,  which  may  be  expected  to  arise 
 from  time  to  time,  in  the  interpretation  of  them  as  of  other 
 formularies,  might  be  removed,  or  allayed,  and  our  adhe- 
 rence to  primitive  antiquity,  so  far,  thoroughly  reconciled 
 vvith  our  allegiance  to  the  Anglican  Church. 
 
 "  Looking  in  another  direction,  one  seemed  to  perceive 
 I  in  additional  call  for  some  brief  and  popular  treatise  to 
 he  same  effect.     From  various  quarters  the  cry  of  insin- 
 •  verity  has  been  of  late  more  and  more  loudly  raised  against 
 hose,  who,  subscribing  these  Articles,  professed  uncom- 
 promising reverence  for  the  Ancient  Church;  and  it  was 
 
 T 
 
274  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 supposed  neither  unreasonable  nor  uncharitable  to  put 
 within  the  reach  of  persons  who  might  find  something 
 plausible  in  such  an  outcry,  the  true  account  of  the  several 
 points  of  detail,  which  at  first  sight  would  naturally  tell  in 
 its  favour." 
 
 The  whole  letter  is  carefully  and  ably  written, 
 very  temperate  in  language,  and  charitable  in  spirit, 
 its  argument  more  easily  brushed  away  with  a  con- 
 temptuous word,  than  answered  point  by  point.  It 
 was,  I  believe,  pretty  largely  circulated,  though  with 
 little  immediate  success  ;  three  or  four  years,  dreary 
 years  as  regarded  Oxford,  of  repeated  conflicts  en- 
 sued, in  which  those  whom,  for  want  of  a  better 
 name,  I  call  the  High  Church  Party,  fared  but  ill 
 against  the  bitter  hostility  and  concentrated  vigour 
 of  their  opponents.  Among  other  fields,  on  which 
 the  battle  was  fought,  was  the  Poetry  Professorship, 
 the  chair  of  which,  in  1841,  Keble  ceased  to  fill,  and 
 was  extremely  anxious  that  his  friend  the  late  Isaac 
 Williams  should  succeed  to  it.  In  more  peaceful 
 times  it  would  have  seemed  a  matter  of  course  to 
 elect  him,  at  least  as  against  his  successful  opponent ; 
 but  he  was  known  or  believed  to  have  contributed  to 
 the  Tracts,  and  the  prejudice  created  by  this  circum- 
 stance prevailed.  At  length  the  contest  was  in  some 
 sort  brought  to  a  head  by  the  announcement  of  an 
 intention  on  the  part  of  the  Hebdomadal  Board  to 
 submit  to  Convocation  a  new  test  as  to  the  XXXIX 
 Articles,  in  the  form  of  a  declaration  to  be  made 
 
Tract  90. 
 
 ■/> 
 
 before  subscription,  of  the  sense  in  which  the  sub- 
 scriber was  about  to  make  it ;  strange  to  say  this 
 was  to  be  the  sense  in  which  he  should  believe 
 them  to  have  been  originally  published,  and  to  be 
 now  proposed ;  the  identity  of  the  two  being,  I  sup- 
 pose, in  all  cases  assumed.  Upon  this  issue  the 
 numbers  on  either  side  were  preparing  to  be  mus- 
 tered ;  and  whether  the  objections  appeared  on  con- 
 sideration to  be  too  many,  and  too  serious,  or  the 
 prospects  of  success  too  uncertain,  this  was  sud- 
 denly withdrawn  ;  and  not  long  afterward,  with  only 
 eight  days'  notice,  a  statute  was  propounded  to  Con- 
 vocation in  substance,  if  not  in  terms,  the  same  as 
 the  Censure  of  1841,  including  however  the  defenders 
 as  well  as  the  authors  of  Tract  90.  An  eye-witness 
 has  described  to  me  the  scene  which  the  Theatre  dis- 
 played, where,  by  reason  of  the  numbers  assembled, 
 the  Convocation  was  held,  when  the  sense  of  the 
 House  was  to  be  taken.  The  great  area  and  the  gal- 
 lery were  crowded,  those  who  filled  them  much  ex- 
 cited, yet  all  in  suspense  ;  for  a  rumour  had  spread 
 abroad  that  the  Proctors  might  perhaps  intercede  by 
 a  veto  ;  but  few,  if  any,  knew  what  their  intention  really 
 was.  The  Placctne  vobis  was  at  length  put,  and  then 
 in  a  still  silence  which  at  once  pervaded  the  whole  as- 
 sembly these  two  officers  rose  from  their  seats,  and  the 
 Senior  declared  Nobis  Procnratoribns  non  placet.  And 
 so  the  test  fell ;  the  Proctors,  who  had  wisely  exer- 
 cised their  prerogative  power,  quitted  office  in  a  few 
 
276  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 weeks,  and  the  measure  might  have  been  renewed ; 
 but  counsels  more  wise  and  perhaps  more  generous 
 prevailed  ;  and  happily  it  was  heard  of  no  more. 
 
 This  narrative  of  the  leading  facts,  as  relating  to 
 Keble,  has  run  to  greater  length  than  I  anticipated, 
 but  it  will  still  be  proper  to  subjoin  one  or  two 
 general  remarks.  It  was  Mr.  Benson,  who  had 
 preached  and  afterwards  published  some  able  ser- 
 mons on  the  controversy,  in  the  Temple  Church, 
 who  gave  the  authors  and  favourers  of  the  Tracts 
 the  perfectly  inoffensive  name  of  Tractarians.  In 
 the  sense  of  entire  agreement  with  them  I  never 
 was  a  Tractarian  ;  but  I  have  already  said  how 
 much  upon  the  whole  I  think  we  owe  to  them  ; 
 what  I  now  proceed  to  say  will  be  found,  I  hope,  if 
 not  entirely  agreeable  to  either  party,  yet  not  par- 
 tial, nor  such  as  ought  justly  to  give  offence. 
 
 There  is  no  evidence  of  indirect  motive,  or  want 
 of  perfect  honesty  of  purpose,  in  either  party  in  the 
 commencement  of  the  dispute.  From  the  beginning 
 to  the  end  the  Editors  seem  to  me  to  have  been 
 actuated  by  the  purest  principles  ;  they  were  la- 
 bouring, as  they  believed,  in  support  of  the  Church 
 to  which  they  belonged  ;  they  sought  to  elevate  and 
 purify  the  principles  and  practices  of  her  children, 
 clerical  and  lay ;  of  course  according  to  their  belief 
 of  what  those,  rightly  understood,  were  and  should 
 be,  —  but  still  in  perfect  loyalty  to  her.  But  this 
 necessarily  called  on  them  to  pursue  a  course  which 
 
Tract  90.  2jj 
 
 must  wound  the  honest  and  sound  convictions  of 
 many,  and  the  strong  prejudices  of  more,  and  which 
 must  condemn  the  indefensible  habits  and  practices 
 of  not  a  few ;  they  were  therefore  bound  to  ex- 
 ercise in  an  especial  degree  the  virtue  of  Christian 
 prudence,  if  only  as  a  necessary  condition  of  suc- 
 cess. I  own  I  think  that  the  90th  Tract,  (to  go  no 
 farther,)  failed  in  this  respect  ;  and  that  what  en- 
 sued upon  it  might  to  some  extent  have  been  fore- 
 seen. It  is  true  that  there  is  much  justice  and  much 
 reasoning  not  easily  answered  in  the  defences  and 
 explanations  which  were  then  and  have  been  more 
 recently  put  forth  in  its  behalf;  but  it  must  be  re- 
 membered that  it  came  after  a  number  of  essays, 
 some  at  least,  probably  not  a  few,  of  which  had 
 tended  to  give  offence  and  excite  suspicion.  And  it 
 is  strange  that  it  should  have  been  apparently  for- 
 gotten that  the  feeling  which  it  was  likely  to  rouse, 
 was  just  that  of  which  the  English  mind  is  most 
 acutely  susceptible,  and  under  which,  when  excited, 
 it  is  most  indiscriminate  and  bitter.  It  is  true  that 
 it  is  a  prejudice,  and  for  Anglicans  especially  the 
 silliest  and  most  suicidal  prejudice,  to  confound  the 
 Ancient  Church  with  the  Roman  Catholic ;  Keble 
 read  the  Tract,  as  it  was  written,  with  other  lights, 
 and  after  a  long  education  of  the  mind  to  discri- 
 minate between  the  two  ;  but  it  was  not  to  be  pub- 
 lished for  such  as  he ;  and  when  it  came  before  pre- 
 judiced or  careless  minds,  it  was  calculated  to  create 
 the  impression  that  after  all  the  object  of  the  writer 
 
278  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 was  to  lead  men  unawares  to  Romanism  ;  and  they 
 who  thought  this  would  naturally  think  him  dis- 
 honest ;  while  men  neither  prejudiced  nor  careless 
 might  fairly  object  to  a  publication  which  they  be- 
 lieved to  have  that  tendency,  though,  strictly  speak- 
 ing, not  by  his  intention.  It  is  not  of  course  for  me 
 to  say  how  it  might  have  been  written,  and  when 
 I  consider  from  what  a  clear  thinker  and  perfect 
 master  of  language  it  proceeded,  I  do  not  acquit 
 myself  of  presumption  in  venturing  to  express  my 
 opinion  that,  with  proper  guards  and  limitations 
 carefully  and  avowedly  set  forth,  the  legitimate  end 
 might  have  been  gained,  a  useful  element  imported 
 into  our  theology,  and  the  great  offence  which  it 
 gave  avoided.  If  this  were  impossible,  the  serious 
 question  arises,  should  the  Tract  ever  have  been 
 issued  ? 
 
 To  this  extent,  then,  the  Editors  seem  to  me  to 
 have  been  blameable ;  they  had  made  what  lawyers 
 would  call  at  least  a  primd  facie  case  against  them- 
 selves ;  but  were  they  treated  properly  ?  that  is,  with 
 strict  justice ;  even  if  a  tender  consideration  was  not 
 to  be  had  for  them  ? 
 
 I  consider  the  Letter  of  the  Four  Tutors  as  of  no 
 other  weight  than  as  the  accusation  ;  or,  to  speak 
 again  in  the  language  of  a  lawyer,  the  indictment 
 preferred  by  four  individuals,  acting  unofficially,  but 
 holding  such  offices  in  their  Colleges  as  justified 
 their  interference.  The  Hebdomadal  Board  was  sub- 
 stantially a  Court  before  which  this  indictment  was 
 
Tract  90.  279 
 
 brought  for  trial.  We  all  know  to  what  any  person 
 accused  before  any  judge  is  entitled ;  to  all  this  the 
 Editors  were  of  course  entitled.  Here,  when  the  Let- 
 ter and  the  Tract  were  laid  before  the  Board,  it  had 
 both  the  charge  and  the  evidence  offered  in  support 
 of  it,  and  no  more.  It  may  be  taken  that  it  was 
 not  the  usual  course  in  such  a  case  to  summon  the 
 party,  or  even  to  give  him  any  notice  of  what  was  im- 
 pending, and  therefore,  however  strange  such  a  prac- 
 tice may  be,  it  cannot  fairly  be  said  that  any  espe- 
 cial unfairness  is  to  be  complained  of  for  the  want 
 of  these.  But  the  Board  knew  and  were  indeed  di- 
 rectly informed  that  three  individuals,  among  the 
 most  eminent  in  the  University,  and  most  blame- 
 less in  character,  were  substantially  the  persons  to 
 be  affected  by  their  decree  ;  nor  could  the  Board 
 be  ignorant  how  heavy  was  the  blow  which  it  pro- 
 posed to  strike  by  its  sentence.  The  barest  jus- 
 tice therefore  required,  that  if  any  one  of  them  de- 
 sired to  be  heard  in  explanation  or  mitigation  of 
 the  charge,  reasonable  time  should  have  been  af- 
 forded for  the  purpose ;  the  more  plain  the  case,  the 
 stronger  seemingly  the  evidence,  the  more  impera- 
 tive in  a  judicial  proceeding  was  this  duty.  One  can 
 hardly  believe  that  five  days  only  elapsed  from  the 
 commencement  of  the  proceeding  to  the  publication 
 of  the  sentence  ;  and  twelve  hours  of  delay  were 
 respectfully  solicited  for  the  defence  and  refused  ; 
 on  the  sixth  day  the  defence  appeared.    It  is  obvi- 
 
280  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 ously  quite  immaterial  to  consider  whether  that  de- 
 fence would  have  availed,  or  ought  to  have  availed  ; 
 a  judgment  so  pronounced  could  have  no  moral 
 weight.  The  members  of  the  Board  must  have 
 been  familiar  with  and  should  have  remembered  the 
 weighty  lines  of  the  Roman  Tragedian  : — 
 
 "  Qui  statuit  aliquid  parte  inaudita  altera, 
 ^Equum  licet  statuerit,  haud  sequus  fait." 
 
 But  from  judges  they  had  unfortunately  made 
 themselves  parties ;  and  it  was  impossible  after  this 
 that  in  the  course  of  the  subsequent  proceedings 
 in  the  progress  of  the  controversy,  they  could  be 
 looked  up  to  as  just  or  impartial.  In  proportion 
 to  the  goodness  of  their  cause,  (and  no  doubt  they 
 believed  it  to  be  good,)  it  was  a  great  opportunity 
 lost.  The  subsequently  proposed  statute  was  a  fit- 
 ting sequel,  the  same  indecent  haste  prevailed,  and 
 the  strong  measure  of  the  veto  was  provoked  and 
 justified. 
 
 It  has  been  said  that  the  proceeding  was  not  judi- 
 cial, that  the  sentence  was  against  no  person ;  this 
 seems  to  me  mere  trifling  with  common  sense  ;  they 
 who  pronounced  it  must  have  known  that  through 
 the  Tract  they  were  striking  at  the  author  and  de- 
 fenders ;  and  that  it  was  only  as  it  affected  them 
 the  sentence  could  have  any  meaning  or  weight. 
 The  consequences  of  it  were  indeed  weighty,  but 
 with  these  I  have  now  no  concern. 
 
CHAPTER   XIII. 
 
 OTTERBOURNE  CHURCH  AND  PARSONAGE.  —  AMP- 
 FIELD  CHURCH  AND  PARSONAGE. — HURSLEY  PAR- 
 SONAGE.— "LYRA  INNOCENTIUM." — KEBLE'S  RESO- 
 LUTION AS  TO  THE  ENGLISH  CHURCH. — "  MOTHER 
 OUT  OF  SIGHT." 
 
 IT  is  pleasant  to  come  back  for  a  while  from  the 
 troubled  scene  at  Oxford  to  the  quiet  of  Hursley, 
 a  quiet  which  however  was  full  of  hope  and  activity. 
 I  have  already  given  a  general  account  of  what  the 
 benefice,  which  Keble  was  now  the  incumbent  of, 
 consisted.  The  Vicarage  of  Hursley  is  of  large  ex- 
 tent, including  several  hamlets,  and  having  a  scat- 
 tered population.  Otterbourne  is  less  in  size  and  po- 
 pulation, but  its  population  also  is  scattered,  and  for 
 the  most  part  living  at  a  distance  from  the  church, 
 which  was  far  too  small  for  its  numbers.  When 
 Keble  entered  on  his  charge,  he  found  the  inha- 
 bitants of  Otterbourne  busy  in  endeavouring  to  add 
 to  it  an  aisle  ;  the  Bishop  had  recommended  them 
 to  wait  until  the  new  Rector  had  been  instituted, 
 and  they  had  done  so.  When  the  matter  came  be- 
 fore him,  their  views  had  enlarged,  and  in  con- 
 sideration of  the  great  inconvenience  of  the  situa- 
 tion, aggravated  now  by  the  Railway  having  been 
 
282  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 carried  near  to  it,  they  desired,  and  he  with  some 
 regret  acceded  to,  the  erection  of  a  new  church  on 
 a  more  convenient  site ;  he  was  unwilling  to  sepa- 
 rate the  church  and  churchyard,  from  a  feeling  which 
 one  cannot  but  sympathize  with ;  but  he  yielded  to 
 the  general  wish,  preserving,  however,  the  old  chancel 
 for  the  performance  of  the  Burial  Service.  He  con- 
 tributed £400  towards  the  erection  of  the  new  church, 
 on  a  site  which  was  given  for  the  purpose  by  the 
 President  and  Fellows  of  Magdalen  College,  Oxford, 
 who  are  landholders  in  the  parish. 
 
 Keble  had  the  good  fortune  to  find  among  the  re- 
 sidents in  Otterbourne  a  relation  of  mine,  William 
 Crawley  Yonge,  who  having  served  in  the  Peninsula 
 and  at  Waterloo  in  the  distinguished  52nd,  had  re- 
 tired from  the  army  upon  his  marriage  at  the  re- 
 establishment  of  the  general  peace  ;  though  a  Light 
 Infantry  officer  only,  he  had  been  a  diligent  student 
 of  military  engineering,  and  had  made  himself  a  good 
 military  draughtsman.  He  became  Keble's  archi- 
 tect :  for  his  designs  he  had  recourse  to  the  great 
 examples  at  Winchester,  and  in  its  neighbourhood, 
 and  worked  out  his  drawings  with  infinite  care  and 
 patience ;  he  brought  his  stone  from  Caen,  at  that 
 time  a  rather  unusual  thing  ;  was  acute  and  intel- 
 ligent in  making  his  contracts,  and  vigilant  in  see- 
 ing to  their  faithful  execution.  The  result  was  a 
 church  not  without  its  faults,  and  thirty  years  ago 
 few  churches  were   built  without  them,  (not   many 
 
u 
 
 a, 
 
 a 
 < 
 
Otterbonrne  Church.  283 
 
 indeed  now,)  but  effective  in  its  architectural  cha- 
 racter, and  on  the  whole,  with  reference  to  its  date, 
 convenient  in  its  arrangements.  Keble  of  course 
 considered  a  parsonage  necessary  to  complete  his 
 designs  for  the  parish  ;  accordingly  he  purchased 
 a  site,  and,  with  the  same  help  from  the  same  archi- 
 tect, erected  a  handsome  and  commodious  residence 
 for  the  Curate  whom  he  placed  there  ;  these  last 
 measures  were  at  his  sole  expense. 
 
 While  the  Otterbourne  Church  was  in  course  of 
 erection,  Sir  William  Heathcote  was  busy  in  pre- 
 paring for  building,  entirely  at  his  own  expense, 
 a  second  church  in  Hursley  parish,  at  Ampfield  ; 
 and  this  was  also  undertaken  and  executed  by  the 
 same  volunteer  architect,  with  at  least  equal  suc- 
 cess. I  take  pleasure  in  recording  these  labours 
 of  the  retired  soldier,  performed  at  a  time  when 
 regularly  trained  architects  were  not  so  numerous 
 as  now,  and  when  the  principles  of  architecture,  and 
 their  application,  were  comparatively  little  studied. 
 The  works  too  were  performed  without  ostentation, 
 and  with  most  commendable  patience  and  zeal.  I 
 should  add  that  in  respect  of  both  these  churches, 
 W.  C.  Yonge  was  assisted  as  to  some  details  by 
 Mr.  Carter,  now  deceased,  then  an  architect  residing 
 at  Winchester. 
 
 The  situation  of  Ampfield  Church  is  very  beau- 
 tiful, and  that  of  the  churchyard  remarkably  so, 
 sheltered  on  the  north  and  east  by  wood  and  wood- 
 
284  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 land,  open  on  the  south  and  west,  and  commanding 
 a  beautiful  and  extensive  view ;  flourishing  ever- 
 greens adorn  it ;  the  road  from  Winchester  to  Rom- 
 sey  runs  by  the  open  side,  which  gives  a  special  ap- 
 propriateness to  a  fountain  surmounted  by  a  cross, 
 which  is  close  to  one  of  the  entrances  to  the  church- 
 yard ;  it  bears  the  inscription  following : — 
 
 "While  cooling  waters  here  ye  drink, 
 Rest  not  your  thoughts  below ; 
 Look  to  the  sacred  sign,  and  think 
 
 Whence  living  waters  flow ; 
 Then  fearlessly  advance  by  night  or  day, 
 The  holy  Cross  stands  guardian  of  your  way.'' 
 
 Many  years  have  passed  since  I  stood  on  this 
 spot,  but  I  remember  well,  that  even  with  the  close 
 neighbourhood  of  a  turnpike  road,  the  prevailing 
 character  of  the  whole  scene  was  one  of  solemn 
 rest,  and  almost  seclusion ;  the  dark  background  of 
 foliage  perhaps  helps  to  produce  this  effect. 
 
 A  very  short  inscription  on  the  basin  into  which 
 the  water  pours,  in  German  character,  and  German 
 words,  headed  with  the  initials  of  three  names,  hardly 
 serves  to  convey  information  to  the  common  way- 
 faring man,  that  it  was  placed  there  in  memory 
 of  a  holy  fountain  seen  by  the  three  friends  when 
 on  a  tour  together  in  the  Tyrol.  One  of  these  three, 
 Lady  Heathcote,  for  I  will  take  leave  to  add  her 
 name,  furnished  the  inscription  which  I  have  printed 
 above. 
 
Fountain   at  Ampfield. 
 
Ampfield  Church.  285 
 
 Mr.  Savage,  from  whose  work  I  have  freely  re- 
 freshed my  memory,  mentions  the  placing  in  the 
 church  of  a  stained  -  glass  window  in  memory  of 
 John  Keble ;  it  is  the  gift  of  the  parishioners,  and 
 records  their  grateful  remembrance  of  his  services ; 
 the  design  was  given  by  Mr.  Butterfield,  and  £25 
 out  of  £33,  the  cost  of  the  window,  were  returned 
 by  Mr.  Wailes  to  the  Keble  College  Fund.  These 
 are,  it  may  be,  little  facts,  but  I  do  not  like  to  pass 
 them  over  in  silence. 
 
 The  building  of  Ampfield  Church,  and  the  con- 
 stitution of  a  separate  district  for  it,  relieved  Keble 
 from  a  considerable  part  of  his  burthen,  the  whole  of 
 which  was  too  heavy  to  be  borne  by  a  single  pastor ; 
 and  he  no  doubt  gladly  consented,  by  the  apportion- 
 ment of  part  of  the  rent-charge  of  the  Vicarage,  to 
 lay  the  foundation  of  an  endowment  for  the  new 
 district.  This  was  completed  by  a  grant  made  from 
 the  Great  Tithes  by  the  Dean  and  Chapter  of  Win- 
 chester, and  a  fund  subscribed  by  the  parishioners ; 
 to  which  a  single  individual,  Mr.  White,  of  Ampfield 
 House,  contributed  ^"500.  Sir  William  Heathcote 
 gave  a  pleasant  parsonage  and  field,  and  Mr.  Wil- 
 son, Keble's  first  Curate,  became  the  first  Perpetual 
 Curate  of  the  new  district. 
 
 I  may  add  here  that  Sir  William  had  also  before 
 this  conveyed  to  the  Vicar  of  Hursley,  as  the  Vicar- 
 age, the  house,  which  he  had  in  the  beginning  oc- 
 cupied only  as  tenant. 
 
286  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  JoJin  Keble. 
 
 The  particulars  of  this  narrative  are  surely  plea- 
 sant to  think  upon  ;  it  was  in  this  spirit,  I  con- 
 ceive, that  our  Parochial  System  first  took  its  be- 
 ginning ;  a  liberal  landholder,  a  zealous  tenantry, 
 an  earnest  Priest,  all  concurring  to  raise  in  a  cer- 
 tain district  the  first  daughter  church  to  the  great 
 cathedral  mother;  and  the  system  itself  furnishing 
 facilities,  as  time  passed  on,  and  the  population, 
 cultivation  of  the  land,  and  wealth  increased,  for 
 subdivisions  to  be  made,  and  new  daughter  churches 
 to  spring  up.  Such  a  system,  so  favourable  for  the 
 maintenance  and  growth  of  religious  feelings  and 
 practices,  we  should  surely  cling  to ;  where  it  is  pos- 
 sible, as  in  the  country  it  generally  is,  even  in  its  de- 
 tails ;  and  where  not  so,  as  may  be  the  case  in  our 
 overgrown  towns  and  cities,  in  that  which  is  more 
 important,  its  principles. 
 
 The  erection  of  these  two  churches  in  his  cure  was 
 matter  of  deep  joy  and  gratitude  to  Keble.  The 
 remainder  of  his  scattered  flock,  with  an  exception 
 as  to  a  hamlet  called  Pitt,  which  was  provided  for 
 afterwards,  was  now  within  more  easy  distance  of 
 Hursley  Church ;  but  their  erection  naturally  turned 
 his  thoughts  more  actively  towards  that  church  which 
 was  daily  under  his  eye.  It  was,  according  to  the 
 fashion  of  many  in  Hampshire,  of  brick,  well  and 
 solidly  constructed,  and  it  was  in  good  substantial 
 repair.  It  had  been  built  by  Sir  William's  great 
 grandfather  towards  the  end  of  George  the  Second's 
 
Hursley  Church.  287 
 
 reign,  probably  on  the  site  where  one  of  stone  had 
 stood  before,  for  it  was  attached  at  the  west  end 
 to  a  massive  tower  of  flint  and  hewn  stone,  sur- 
 mounted by  a  brick  parapet  ;  it  was  arranged  and 
 furnished  within  after  the  fashion  of  the  eighteenth 
 century.  Within  and  without  the  whole  was  pain- 
 fully unsatisfactory  to  Keble.  It  may  be  remem- 
 bered how,  in  a  letter  from  him  on  his  first  coming 
 to  Hursley  as  Curate,  when  he  enumerated  the  ob- 
 jects which  he  found  there  to  his  liking,  he  men- 
 tions the  tower,  and  is  silent  as  to  the  church.  He 
 was  at  the  time  fresh  from  the  noble  church  at  Fair- 
 ford  ;  but  the  feeling  grew  on  him  ;  nothing  that 
 was  appropriate  could  be  to  his  mind  too  beautiful 
 or  rich  for  God's  house.  I  find  him,  in  a  letter  to 
 Cornish,  dated  Oct.  19,  1846,  writing  thus: — 
 
 "  We  are  stirring  about  our  church,  under  the  patronage 
 of  the  Venerable  Bede,  and  next  spring  I  trust  we  shall 
 really  go  to  work ;  you  must  come  and  see  the  plans  first, 
 or  else  hereafter  for  ever  hold  your  peace,  in  respect  of 
 alleging  impediments.  One  feels  that  one's  advanced  age 
 has  not  rendered  one  fitter  to  set  about  such  works ;  but 
 really  the  irreverence  and  other  mischiefs  caused  by  the 
 present  state  of  Hursley  Church  seem  to  leave  one  no 
 choice." 
 
 Two  or  three  subjects  of  course  engrossed  his  at- 
 tention at  once  in  consequence  of  his  resolving  upon 
 this  undertaking,  and  it  will  be  better  for  me  to  follow 
 him  throughout  in   regard  to  these,   postponing  for 
 
288  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Kehle. 
 
 the  time  other  matters  which  I  shall  have  to  men- 
 tion, and  which  occurred  before  and  during  the  pro- 
 secution. Scarcely  anything  seemed  to  him  of  more 
 importance  ;  and  his  frequent  letters  to  Dyson,  shew 
 that  he  spared  neither  money,  nor  time,  nor  thought, 
 nor  bodily  labour,  in  doing  as  well  as  he  could  what 
 he  had  set  about. 
 
 He  was  first  to  determine  as  to  an  architect :  was 
 he  to  call  on  William  Yonge  to  do  for  Hursley  what 
 he  had  done  for  Otterbourne  and  Ampfield  ?  As 
 to  this  he  might  have  felt  some  little  delicacy,  but 
 William  Yonge  at  once  removed  it ;  he  not  only 
 cordially  concurred  in  the  desire  to  employ  a  pro- 
 fessional architect,  but  advised  it  strongly  in  con- 
 sideration of  the  much  more  varied  and  complicated 
 work  now  to  be  done.  Keble  accordingly  wrote  to 
 Mr.  Harrison,  of  whom  he  had  heard  well  "  from 
 various  quarters  independent  of  each  other,"  and 
 who  was  beside  a  relation  of  his  old  friend  of  the 
 same  name,  the  Archdeacon  of  Maidstone.  He  ac- 
 cordingly became  the  architect. 
 
 The  procuring  tenders,  and  contracting  with  build- 
 ers, were  matters  to  come  on  subsequently;  but  at 
 once,  of  course,  he  was  to  consider  his  funds.  He 
 had  determined  to  meet  himself  the  whole  ex- 
 pense of  the  building,  and  it  was  clear,  without  wait- 
 ing for  specification  or  estimate,  that  the  money 
 at  his  own  disposal  would  be  inadequate  ;  it  oc- 
 curred   to    him    at   first   to    sell    the    copyright    of 
 
 . 
 
Hursley  Church.  289 
 
 "  The  Christian  Year."  As  soon  as  two  or  three 
 of  his  intimate  friends  heard  of  this,  we  opposed 
 it  very  strongly.  We  had  a  strong  opinion  as  to 
 the  great  pecuniary  value  of  the  copyright,  and 
 thought  it  very  unlikely  that  any  publisher  look- 
 ing on  it  as  a  mere  trade  speculation,  would  be 
 likely  to  offer  a  full  equivalent ;  but  we  thought 
 further,  that  it  was  exactly  the  kind  of  work  which 
 ought  to  remain  as  long  as  possible  in  the  Author's 
 own  hands,  and  under  his  own  control.  Three  of 
 us,  therefore,  Dyson,  Patteson,  and  myself,  proposed 
 to  supply  him  with  money  as  he  should  want  it  for 
 the  building ;  "  The  Christian  Year"  to  be  our  secu- 
 rity. There  was  no  thought  or  talk  of  any  legal 
 !  security  by  assignment  to  us  ;  but  I  was  to  arrange 
 !  the  terms  for  each  edition  as  it  should  be  called  for, 
 and  to  receive  the  price.  No  doubt  this  was  a  con- 
 ,  venience  to  Keble,  and  set  his  mind  free  from  all 
 anxiety ;  but  it  was  no  inconvenience  to  us,  nor  ulti- 
 mate loss.  Keble  sacrificed  for  the  time  the  income 
 he  had  used  to  derive  from  this  source,  but  he  never 
 lost  the  ownership  of  the  book,  while  it  was  nomi- 
 nally in  our  hands  ;  and  the  beneficial  property  re- 
 turned to  him,  when  the  account  was  cleared,  to  be 
 the  means  in  his  hands  of  supplying  comforts  which 
 age  and  infirmity  might  make  necessaries,  and  of 
 feeding  that  stream  of  bounty  which  was  constantly 
 flowing  from  him.  So  much  has  been  said  of  this 
 arrangement,    and   sometimes   with  so   much   exag- 
 
 U 
 
290  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 geration,  that  it   seemed  to  me  right  to  state   the 
 simple  truth  regarding  it. 
 
 I  do  not  know  what  funds  Keble  had  at  his  dis- 
 posal beyond  the  yearly  proceeds  of  "  The  Chris- 
 tian Year,"  but  it  was  certain  that  some  further 
 addition  would  still  be  desirable ;  to  this  we  owe 
 the  completion  and  publication  at  that  time  of  the 
 Lyra  Innocentium:  On  the  26th  of  May,  1845,  ne 
 wrote  to  me  thus  from  Hursley  Vicarage  : — 
 
 "  I  have  got  a  scheme  for  raising  money  for  the  Church, 
 in  which  perhaps  you  can  help  me;  (perhaps  the  Dysons 
 may  have  mentioned  it  to  you ;)  to  publish  a  set  of  things 
 which  have  been  accumulating  for  the  last  3  or  4  years, 
 under  the  title  of '  Lyra  Lnnocentiuni,  or  Thoughts  in  Verse 
 on  the  Sayings  and  Doings  of  Little  Children,  and  the  Re- 
 velations of  God's  Will  concerning  them,'  or  something  to 
 that  effect.  As  far  as  I  can  judge,  it  may  stand  as  fair 
 a  chance  of  being  profitable  as  its  predecessor.  Will  it 
 be  asking  too  much  of  my  kind  Committee  Men  to  sug- 
 gest that  they  should  make  the  bargain  for  me  with  Parker, 
 if  they  approve  it.  I  could  wish  to  stipulate  that  Mozley 
 of  Derby  should  be  the  Printer.  It  will  be  nearly,  but  not 
 perhaps  quite  as  big  as  the  C.  Y.,  and  will  admit,  I  think, 
 more  easily  of  illustration  by  the  pencil.  It  has  been  a 
 great  comfort  to  me  in  the  desolating  anxiety  of  the  last 
 2  years,  and  I  wish  I  could  settle  at  once  to  some  other 
 such  task." 
 
 The  sorrows  and  troubles  to  which  he  refers  under 
 the  touching  term  of  "desolating  anxiety,"  I  have 
 already  in  part  stated  ;  but  he  also  included  that  of 
 which  he  had  now  the  certain  prospect  before  him, 
 
 __ 
 
" Lyra  Innocentiurn"  291 
 
 the  loss  from  our  Church  of  that  most  dear  and 
 honoured  friend,  with  whom  for  so  many  years  he 
 "had  taken  sweet  counsel,  and  walked  in  the  house 
 of  God,"  heart  to  heart  and  mind  to  mind  locked 
 closely.  This  was  the  sorrow  of  his  life,  from  which 
 I  think  he  never  wholly  recovered. 
 He  goes  on  : — 
 
 "  I  can  already  judge  a  little  of  the  perplexity  and  dis- 
 tress which  will  ensue.  Did  I  tell  you  that  Pusey  wrote 
 some  time  since  to  ask  whether  one  could  think  of  any- 
 thing to  be  done  by  way  of  preparation  for  the  blow.  Does 
 anything  occur  to  you  ?  I  wish  P.  himself,  Moberly,  Mar- 
 riott, and  Manning,  &c,  to  apply  themselves  to  the  study 
 of  the  controversy,  for  I  am  sure  there  will  be  great  need 
 of  them." 
 
 I  shall  have  occasion  soon  to  enter  more  into 
 Keble's  own  thoughts  on  this  matter.  I  pursue  at 
 present  the  subject  of  the  Lyra. 
 
 Specimens  were  sent  very  soon  after  both  to  Dy- 
 son, (or  I  should  rather  say  to  the  Dysons,  for  the 
 ladies  there  were  always  most  properly  included  in 
 the  council,)  and  to  myself.  We  all  agreed  in  our 
 admiration  of  them,  and  also  in  the  token  they 
 gave  that  Keble  had  advanced  considerably  in  his 
 religious  opinions.  On  grounds  partly  of  actual 
 disagreement,  and  partly  of  the  imprudence,  at  all 
 1  events,  of  publishing  them  at  that  critical  time,  we 
 objected  to  the  insertion  of  two  or  three  of  the 
 poems.     There  was  one  especially,  perhaps  the  most 
 
292  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 beautiful  of  the  whole,  upon  which  we  wrote  to  him, 
 after  I  had  been  to  Dogmersfield  to  confer  upon  it. 
 This  poem,  as  commonly  happens  in  such  a  case, 
 has  been  much  talked  of,  and  has  been  seen  by- 
 many  people ;  and  it  seems  to  me  both  just  to  Ke- 
 ble's  memory,  and  a  part  of  the  duty  of  an  honest 
 biographer,  to  publish  it  now  at  a  time,  when,  even 
 if  it  might  have  been  harmful  originally,  it  can  do  no 
 harm,  and  may  help  to  establish  that  legitimate,  and 
 as  I  believe,  Scriptural  reverence  which  is  due  to  the 
 object  of  it.     He  wrote  to  me  respecting  it  thus  : — 
 
 "H.  V.,  18  June,  1845. 
 "  My  dear  Coleridge, 
 
 "  You  may  believe  that  as  far  as  trade  is  concerned,  your 
 opinion  and  Dyson's  is  very  welcome  to  me,  and  I  am  quite 
 willing  to  make  the  bargain  with  Parker  which  you  think 
 equitable.  I  of  course  rather  expected  that  some  would 
 demur  to  the  things  which  you  mention,  and  indeed  I  se- 
 lected on  purpose  the  three  which  I  thought  most  likely 
 to  attract  such  objections  as  part  of  the  specimen.  But  to 
 say  the  truth,  I  did  not  expect  that  Mrs.  and  Miss  Dyson 
 would  have  objected  on  their  own  account ;  and  it  makes 
 me  even  sadder  than  I  was  before,  as  shewing  how  very 
 very  far  even  the  purest  specimens  of  the  English  Church 
 are  from  the  Whole  Church  everywhere  else.  You  see 
 when  I  recommend  the  Ave,  I  mean  merely  the  Scrip- 
 tural part ;  but  if  such  persons  have  this  feeling,  I  suppose 
 even  this  must  be  given  up.     With  regard  to  the  verse 
 
 '  He  calls  thee  Mother  evermore ;' 
 if  the  Gospel  is  His  word,  and  if  the  Gospel  calls  her  His 
 
"  Lyra  Innocentium?  293 
 
 Mother,  and  if  the  doctrinal  decisions  of  the  Whole  Church 
 are  His  words,  and  if  they  call  her  eeoTonos,  how  can  it  be 
 other  than  true,  and  so  true,  that  to  deny  or  doubt  it  is 
 touching  a  very  vital  part  of  the  Faith.  Indeed,  when  I 
 think  of  it,  I  am  sure  I  must  misunderstand  your  objec- 
 tion ;  would  it  be  removed  if  the  word  *  owns'  were  put 
 for  'calls.'  This,  however,  I  only  ask  for  my  own  satis- 
 faction, for  I  see  that  it  is  quite  impossible  to  print  those 
 verses  in  the  face  of  such  a  feeling  as  you  express  on  the 
 part  of  the  Dysons,  and  I  cannot  see  my  way  to  any  de- 
 cent abridgement  or  modification.  I  have  made  up  my 
 mind  also  to  the  omission  of  the  other  two.  I  only  wish 
 I  had  some  good  substitutes. 
 
 "  No  doubt  there  would  be  the  difference  in  tone  which 
 you  take  notice  of  between  this  and  the  former  book,  for 
 when  I  wrote  that,  I  did  not  understand,  (to  mention  no 
 more  points,)  either  the  doctrine  of  Repentance,  or  that  of 
 the  Holy  Eucharist,  as  held  e.g.  by  Bp.  Ken  ;  nor  that  of 
 Justification  :  and  such  points  as  those  must  surely  make 
 a  great  difference.  But  may  it  please  God  to  preserve  me 
 from  writing  as  unreally  and  as  deceitfully  as  I  did  then  ; 
 and  if  I  could  tell  you  the  whole  of  my  shameful  history, 
 you  would  join  with  all  your  heart  in  this  prayer.  Pray  do 
 so,  dear  friend,  for  indeed  there  is  great  need. 
 
 "  But  not  now  to  talk  of  myself ;  if  the  verses  are  less 
 comfortable,  perhaps  they  may  be  of  more  use  as  making 
 their  readers,  the  younger  ones  especially,  familiar  with 
 some  of  the  great  truths ;  and  I  suppose  I  had  some  fancy 
 of  this  kind  in  the  one  which  you  so  much  doubt  about. 
 If  we  come  when  we  hope,  we  will  bring  up  the  whole 
 batch,  and  you  will  be  better  able  to  judge. 
 
 "  In  the  Lifting  up  to  the  Cross,  (which  was  suggested 
 by  a  drawing  of  Miss  T.'s,  taken  from  the  life,)  the  '  be- 
 
294  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Kebte. 
 
 lieving  Isle,'  is  Ireland;  the  scene  should  have  been  Bel- 
 gium, but  I  ma.de  it  Italy  by  mistake. 
 
 "  I  thought  that  case  of  Simeon  was  an  illustration  of 
 the  principle  I  was  laying  down,  that  great  spiritual  favours 
 must  expect  to  be  accompanied  with  suffering ;  and  I  sup- 
 pose death  is  in  itself  so  awful  a  thing  as  to  warrant  the  ex- 
 pression, *  deep  agony.'   But  this  might  be  easily  changed." 
 
 Then,  after  writing  on  entirely  different  matters, 
 he  adds  these  very  touching  words  : — 
 
 "  I  am  sure  I  ought  quite  to  share  in  your  feeling,  that 
 it  is  not  for  those  to  be  judging  between  different  Churches 
 who  have  made  such  ill  use,  as  I  for  one  have,  of  present 
 helps  to  holiness.  (This  is  not  humility,  mock  or  real,  but 
 plain  and  sad  truth,  as  you  would  say,  if  you  knew  all.) 
 And  with  this  thought  I  suppose  I  should  content  myself, 
 if  a  Layman,  as  far  as  controversy  is  concerned ;  but  it 
 keeps  coming  unpleasantly  before  me  that  this  is  hardly 
 consistent  with  the  Priest's  office  ;  and  especially  when,  as 
 sometimes  happens,  I  am  asked  for  advice,  then  indeed  I 
 have  had  to  think  of  the  blind  leading  the  blind.  And  yet 
 I  suppose  I  am  not  really  uncomfortable,  I  eat,  drink,  and 
 sleep,  as  if  nothing  was  the  matter. 
 
 "  I  hope  Charlotte  is  rather  better ;  with  all  love,  again 
 your's  ever  dearest  friend, 
 
 "J.  K." 
 
 It  will  scarcely  be  supposed  that  I  publish  a  let- 
 ter, however  deeply  interesting  in  itself,  so  liable 
 to  misconstruction,  without  much  consideration.  I 
 am  to  represent  my  friend  for  good  and  for  evil 
 truly,  if  I  undertake  to  write  his  life  at  all.      This 
 
"Lyra  Innocentiunt?  295 
 
 is  a  part,  and  sometimes  a  painful  part,  of  the  com- 
 pact which  a  biographer  makes  with  the  public,  when 
 he  undertakes  to  write  a  life.  Keble  I  am  sure 
 needs  no  panegyric  at  the  expense  of  truth,  nor  do 
 I  think  that  when  what  he  says  of  himself  in  this 
 letter  is  fairly  considered,  it  will  be  found  that  he 
 needs  an  apologist.  He  writes  indeed  bitter  things 
 against  himself,  we  are  bound  to  believe  sincerely, 
 and  I  am  sure  without  any  intentional  exaggera- 
 tion ;  but  I  am  as  certain  as  I  can  be  in  a  matter 
 which  does  not  admit  of  demonstrative  evidence, 
 that  there  is  all  that  exaggeration,  which  is,  I  may 
 say,  the  natural  growth  of  remarkable  purity  of 
 heart,  and  the  most  unusual  humility.  Something  I 
 have  said  on  this  subject  before,  which  I  need  not 
 repeat :  but  this  I  must  add,  that  had  there  been 
 any  reasonable  foundation  for  the  language  which 
 Keble  uses  in  regard  to  himself,  he  ought  to  have 
 added  something  more  to  it  to  make  it  the  whole 
 truth ;  he  ought  indeed  to  have  spoken  of  himself 
 as  also  the  most  consummate  of  hypocrites.  I  say 
 this  not  with  reference  to  the  world  in  general,  but 
 he  and  I  lived  on  terms  of  such  entire  intimacy,  that 
 if  there  were  any  foundation  for  his  strong  expres- 
 sions, nothing  but  the  most  artful  and  systematic 
 hypocrisy  could  have  prevented  my  knowing  some- 
 thing of  it ;  yet  on  me  he  has  left,  and  he  must 
 have  known  that  he  was  leaving,  the  deepest  and 
 simplest  impression  of  the  most  spotless  purity  in 
 
296  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 words,  thoughts,  impulses,  and  acts  from  youth  to 
 old  age,  of  any  human  being  I  have  ever  seen  or 
 known  of.  How  I  answered  this  part  of  his  letter  at 
 the  time,  I  do  not  now  recollect ;  probably  I  passed 
 it  by  in  silence,  for  I  had  long  learned  that  he  took 
 nothing  so  ill  as  words  of  praise,  or  vindication  of 
 himself  from  himself. 
 
 I  rather  fear  that  I  have  been  induced  by  the  re- 
 markable intensity  of  his  language  to  say  more  on 
 this  subject  than  was  needful.  It  is,  indeed,  an 
 awful  consideration  that  such  a  man  should  be  able 
 to  write  of  himself  sincerely  in  such  language.  We 
 are  not  often  allowed  to  see  into  the  inward  thoughts 
 of  holy  men  respecting  themselves,  and  surely  when 
 we  are,  it  should  not  lead  us  to  think  ill  of  them, 
 but  should  serve  to  rouse  us  out  of  our  own  easy 
 goings  on.  Let  my  readers  turn  to  the  strong  lan- 
 guage of  the  Private  Devotions  of  Bishop  Andrewes, 
 said  to  have  been  printed  from  a  manuscript  wet 
 with  his  frequent  tears ;  no  one  can  doubt  their  sin- 
 cerity, yet  no  one  ought  to  doubt  the  purity  of  his 
 spirit,  or  the  holiness  of  his  life. 
 
 Now  I  pass  to  the  other  matter  discussed  in  the 
 letter,  or  rather  suggested  by  it.  Here,  again,  allow- 
 ance must  be  made  for  the  same  humility  which  ex- 
 tended to  his  notions  of  himself  intellectually,  and 
 in  regard  of  his  acquirements  and  knowledge,  as 
 well  as  to  all  his  considerations  of  himself  morally. 
 In  truth  he  had  been  a  more  than  commonly  well- 
 
Religious  Difficulties.  297 
 
 grounded  student  in  theology ;  his  reading  was 
 extensive,  and  his  recollection  very  accurate  ;  and 
 although  circumstances  had  for  some  years  directed 
 his  attention  more  to  the  divisions  in  the  Reformed 
 Church,  than  to  the  great  controversy  between  Rome 
 and  the  Reformation,  he  was  by  no  means  ignorant 
 in  this.  I  believe  his  position  to  have  been  of  this 
 sort.  All  his  associations,  early  and  late,  were  with 
 the  Church  of  his  Fathers  ;  the  loyal  and  affec- 
 tionate language  in  respect  of  her  to  be  found  every- 
 where in  "  The  Christian  Year"  was  not  merely  po- 
 etical, it  was  sincere.  But  he  had  grown  up  in  the 
 High  Church  School,  and  as  a  High  Churchman 
 naturally  will  do,  he  looked  upwards  through  the 
 Reformation  to  the  Primitive  and  the  Undivided 
 Church  ;  he  loved  his  own  Branch  as,  on  the  whole, 
 a  faithful  representative  on  earth  of  that  Church  ; 
 the  more  truly  and  exactly  she  represented  it,  the 
 more  did  he  think  her  excellent,  and  to  be  loved  ; 
 the  more  she  admitted  what  he  called  Puritanical 
 Doctrines  or  Practices,  the  less  loyal  and  dutiful 
 could  he  be.  Coin  and  his  father  on  the  one  hand, 
 Fairford  and  its  incumbent  on  the  other,  were  ever  in 
 his  recollection  ;  and  he  saw  with  the  greatest  grief 
 the  uprising  and  growth  of  the  latter  school,  from 
 a  state  in  which  it  might  be  thought  to  have  needed 
 greater  tolerance  than  it  received,  into  equality  first, 
 and  then  predominance,  not  always  used  with  per- 
 fect charity  or  fairness.     Again,  he  was  troubled  with 
 
298  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 the  entire  want  of  discipline  in  the  Church ;  and  it 
 seemed  to  him,  from  his  own  experience  as  a  Pastor, 
 that  this,  coupled  with  the  disuse  of  Confession,  left 
 him  without  the  means  of  acquiring  a  proper  know- 
 ledge of  the  condition  of  his  flock,  and  without  power 
 of  enforcing  upon  them  amendment  of  life.  He  was 
 moreover  much  dissatisfied  not  only  with  some  of 
 the  decisions,  but  with  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Final 
 Court  of  Appeal ;  did  its  decrees  respecting  Sacra- 
 ments bind  the  Church  ?  had  She  the  means  of  pro- 
 testing against  them,  and  did  She  by  her  silence 
 acquiesce  in  them  ? 
 
 These  were  troubles  on  one  side ;  on  the  other  he 
 could  not  but  know  of  the  doubts,  in  favour  of  Rome, 
 which  were  arising  in  the  heart  and  head  of  one 
 whom  perhaps  of  all  his  intimate  friends  he  most 
 loved,  and  leaned  on  in  such  matters ;  doubts  the 
 more  perplexing  to  him,  because  he  knew  they  were 
 not  invited  wantonly,  and  yet  continued  to  increase 
 in  strength,  until  they  issued,  to  use  that  friend's 
 own  language,  in  "a  strong  intellectual  conviction 
 that  the  Roman  Catholic  System  and  Christianity 
 were  convertible  terms."  There  may  be  many,  not 
 perhaps  those  who  have  read  or  thought  most  deeply 
 on  the  controversy,  who  can  see  in  all  this  no  reason- 
 able, or  even  excusable  grounds  for  doubt,  or  trouble 
 of  mind.  Keble,  however,  was  not  one  of  those  ;  he 
 had  both  ;  and  it  is  matter  for  the  deepest  grati- 
 tude that  he  was  supported  under  them,  and  guided 
 
Religious  Difficulties.  299 
 
 safely  through  them.  The  process  through  which  he 
 passed  may  be  traced  in  his  letters  which  lie  before 
 me.  In  the  first  place,  and  from  the  beginning  to 
 the  end,  he  had  a  deep  conviction  that,  let  what 
 would  happen  in  England,  there  was  that  in  Rome 
 to  which  he  could  not  reconcile  his  belief : — 
 
 "I  cannot  go  to  Rome,"  he  wrote  to  me  in  1841,  "till 
 Rome  be  much  changed  indeed ;  but  I  may  be  driven  out 
 of  the  English  Church,  should  that  adopt  the  present  set 
 of  Charges  and  Programmes ;  and  many  will,  I  fear,  not 
 be  content  to  be  nowhere,  as  I  should  feel  it  my  duty  to 
 try  to  be." 
 
 And,  again,  in  the  same  year  he  writes  : — 
 
 "  As  to  Rome,  I  thought  I  had  said  in  my  letter  to  you, 
 that  come  what  will,  it  would  be  impossible  [twice  under- 
 scored] for  me  to  join  it  until  it  is  other  than  at  present ; 
 Archbishop  Laud's  saying  as  I  think ;  and  I  suppose  you 
 would  not  yourself  say,  that  if  Rome  altered  her  terms  of 
 communion  to  a  certain  extent,  such  communion  ought  not 
 to  be  sought.  The  contingency  that  I  contemplate,  a  very 
 dreary  one,  but  such  an  one  as  I,  ought  not  to  think  it 
 strange  if  I  incur  it,  is,  not  going  to  Rome,  but  being  driven 
 out  of  all  communion  whatever.  I  cannot  hide  it  from 
 myself  that  two  Prelates  have  distinctly  denied  an  article 
 of  the  Apostles'  Creed,  the  H.  C.  Ch. ;  and  that  while  no 
 notice  is  taken  of  them,  attempts  are  being  made  in  Oxford, 
 and  in  many  Dioceses  at  once,  to  enforce  a  view  equivalent 
 to  theirs ;  which  view,  if  it  were  adopted,  would  drive  me, 
 and,  as  I  suppose,  all  Catholic  Christians,  out  of  Commu- 
 nion. If  I  were  like  some  whom  I  could  name,  I  suppose 
 I  should  look  at  this  more  calmly,  but  it  would  take  a  long 
 
300  Memoir  of  tlie  Rev.  JoJm  Keble. 
 
 time  to  prepare  me  as  they  are  prepared.  Pray  think  of 
 me  as  kindly  as  you  can,  and  do  not  forget  me  when  and 
 where  you  know  one  would  most  wish  to  be  remembered." 
 
 In  this  state  of  mind  he  continued  for  some 
 time  :  it  is  indicated  in  the  touching  passage  I  now 
 extract  from  a  letter  to  me  in  June,  1843.  This 
 had  been  a  year  of  trial  for  myself,  and  I  reluct- 
 antly pass  over  the  touching  and  affectionate  lan- 
 guage in  which  he  consoled  me  under  great  sorrow ; 
 but  I  will  not  interrupt  the  present  consideration  by 
 anything  personal  to  myself: — 
 
 "  What  a  comfort,"  says  he  to  me,  "  in  your  late  deep 
 affliction,  must  it  have  been  to  be  so  sure  as  you  all  are 
 of  sympathizing  entirely  one  with  another;  and  by  this 
 time  I  hope  the  bitterness  has  passed  away  with  you  all. 
 Of  course  I  cannot  tell  how  a  parent  feels,  but  it  seems  to 
 me  that  the  unsettled  state  of  our  Church  tends  to  make 
 me  think  more  of  the  joy  and  comfort  of  those  who  are  in 
 peace  out  of  sight ;  and  as  things  get  more  perplexing,  I 
 keep  saying  to  myself,  it  ought  to  make  me  more  charitable, 
 and  then  the  next  minute  I  go  away  and  rail  at  those  un- 
 happy .  . .  without  mercy.  I  suppose  we  all  want  to  learn 
 how  to  act,  when  in  doubt  ourselves,  and  how  to  make  al- 
 lowance for  others  who  feel  certain  when  we  are  doubtful." 
 
 Again,  in  October  of  the  same  year,  he  writes 
 to  me : — 
 
 "  I  suppose  from  some  part  of  your  letter  that  you  have 
 been  told  of  my  speaking  to  friends  occasionally,  as  if  I  was 
 
Religious  Difficulties.  301 
 
 perplexed  about  continuing  where  I  am.  My  perplexity  is 
 rather  what  to  say  to  others,  who  may  ask  my  advice,  than 
 how  to  act  myself.  Few  persons  have  a  stronger  feeling 
 than  I  of  the  duty  of  continuing  where  one's  lot  is  cast ; 
 except  where  the  call  to  go  elsewhere  is  very  plain.  It 
 may  be  that  I  do  not  see  my  way  clearly  in  the  contro- 
 versy between  us  and  Rome  ;  but  as  long  as  I  was  in 
 doubt,  and  perhaps  a  good  deal  longer  than  I  might  seem 
 to  myself  in  speculation  to  be  so,  I  should  think  it  my 
 duty  to  stay  where  I  am.  Nothing  could  justify  one's 
 quitting  one's  Communion,  except  a  long,  deliberate,  un- 
 willing conviction,  forced  on  one's  heart  and  conscience, 
 as  well  as  intellect,  that  it  was  incurably  fallen  from  being 
 a  Church.  No  private  judgment  of  the  comparative  per- 
 fection of  another  Church,  did  such  exist,  would  at  all 
 justify  such  a  change.  This,  as  far  as  I  understand  my- 
 self, is  my  present  judgment  in  this  awful  matter ;  but, 
 believe  me,  my  dearest  friend,  I  want  prayer  and  help 
 quite  as  much  as  N.,  though  for  very  different  reasons." 
 
 On  St.  John's  Day  in  the  same  year  he  writes 
 to  me : — 
 
 "  You  will  find  a  good  deal  of  my  feelings  in  an  article 
 which  has  been  reprinted  from  the  '  Christian  Remem- 
 brancer,' I  mean  especially  when  that  speaks  of  the  prac- 
 tical failure  of  the  English  Church,  which  I  feel  more  and 
 more  deeply  every  day  j  chiefly  in  that  I  find  myself  more 
 and  more  oppressed  with  the  consciousness  of  my  own 
 ignorance,  and  how  blindly  I  go  about  the  Parish,  not 
 knowing  what  men  are  really  doing;  and  whenever  I  do 
 make  any  discoveries,  they  disclose  a  fearful  state  of  things  ; 
 and  even  when  there  is  some  seriousness,  of  respect  and 
 
302  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 confidence  towards  the  Priest  as  such  there  is  none,  or 
 next  to  none.  In  short,  our  one  great  grievance  is  the 
 neglect  of  Confession.  Until  we  can  begin  to  revive  that, 
 we  shall  not  have  the  due  severity  in  our  religion;  and 
 without  a  severe  religion,  I  fear  our  Church  will  practi- 
 cally fail." 
 
 He  pursues  the  same  subject  in  a  letter  dated  on 
 the  Purification,  1844: — 
 
 "Another  reason  for  my  being  a  worse  correspondent 
 than  usual,  is  that  somehow  or  another  the  Parish  takes 
 up  more  and  more  time ;  as  one  gets  more  acquainted  with 
 the  people,  more  and  more  things  occur,  which  make  me 
 think  a  visit  worth  while.  This  is  a  reason  for  which  I 
 ought  to  be  very  thankful,  though  it  is  sad  to  think  after 
 all  how  very  little  one  knows  of  one's  people.  We  go  on 
 working  in  the  dark,  and  in  the  dark  it  will  be,  until  the 
 rule  of  systematic  Confession  is  revived  in  our  Church. 
 This  is  one  of  the  things  which  make  persons  like  Mr. 
 Gladstone,  however  competent  in  most  respects,  yet  on 
 the  whole  incompetent  judges  of  the  real  working  of  our 
 English  System.  They  do  not,  they  cannot,  unless  they 
 were  tried  as  we  are,  form  an  adequate  notion,  how  ab- 
 solutely we  are  in  our  parishes  like  people  whose  lantern 
 has  blown  out,  and  who  are  feeling  their  way,  and  con- 
 tinually stepping  in  puddles  and  splotches  of  mud,  which 
 they  think  are  dry  stones.  Then  the  tradition  which  goes 
 by  the  name  of  Justification  by  Faith,  and  which  in  reality 
 means,  that  one  who  has  sinned,  and  is  sorry  for  it,  is  as 
 if  he  had  not  sinned,  blights  and  benumbs  one  in  every 
 limb,  in  trying  to  make  people  aware  of  their  real  state. 
 These  are  the  sort  of  things,  and  not  the  want  of  handsome 
 
Religious  Difficulties.  303 
 
 Churches,  and  respect  for  Church  Authority,  and  such  like 
 comparatively  external  points,  which  make  me  at  times  feel 
 so  disheartened  about  our  System  altogether,  and  cause 
 a  suspicion. against  one's  will,  that  the  life  is  gone,  or  going 
 out  of  it.  And  this  is  why  I  so  deprecate  the  word  and 
 the  idea  of  Protestantism,  because  it  seems  inseparable  to 
 me  from  '  Every  man  his  own  absolver,'  that  is  in  other 
 words  the  same  as  Peace  where  there  is  no  Peace,  and 
 mere  shadows  of  Repentance.  And  this  objection  is  over 
 and  above  the  great  doctrinal  grounds,  which,  I  see,  are 
 pretty  well  stated  by  some  one  in  the  'English  Church- 
 man' of  this  week.  But  enough  of  this  which  I  inflict  on 
 you,  because  I  think  I  made  some  such  promise,  and  which 
 I  know  is  too  vague  and  common-place  to  be  worth  writing 
 down,  only  I  seemed  to  feel  it  at  the  moment." 
 
 On  the  31st  of  December  in  this  year  he  wrote  to 
 me  a  New  Year's  Eve  letter,  much  of  it  on  the  same 
 subject,  but  I  do  not  like  to  omit  other  parts  so  full 
 of  affection,  and  so  characteristic  of  him  : — 
 
 "  My  very  dear  Coleridge, 
 
 "  I  must  write  you  a  line  on  this  New  Year's  Eve,  though 
 you  will  not  get  it  to-morrow ;  but  you  will  have  our  best 
 wishes,  one  and  all  of  you,  just  the  same.  Among  many 
 blessings  most  undeserved,  and  enough  to  make  one  sink 
 in  amazement,  if  one's  heart  was  not  so  much  harder  than 
 it  ought  to  be,  which  come  crowding  on  one's  memory  at 
 such  a  time,  I  seem  this  year  particularly  to  feel,  that  surely 
 nobody  ever  had  so  many  kind  affectionate  letters  as  I  have 
 this  year  received,  and  especially  from  Montague  Place  and 
 Ottery ;  and  one's  neglect  of  them,  I  fear,  is  a  faint  sample 
 
304  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 of  how  one  stands  for  thankfulness  in  a  Higher  Quarter. 
 Well,  as  poor  old  Latimer  used  to  say,  God  mend  all. 
 Now  I  must  touch  on  one  or  two  things  in  your  late  let- 
 ters. First,  on  that  which  seems  to  be  nearly  heaviest  on 
 your  heart,  as  it  has  long  been  on  mine,  the  danger  we  are 
 
 in  of  losing  dear from  our  branch  of  the  Church.     I 
 
 wish  I  could  say  that  my  sense  of  it  at  all  abates ;  but  my 
 comforts  (some  of  them)  are  these  ;  with  regard  to  him, 
 really  whatever  happens,  I  believe  him  so  pure-minded  and 
 self-denying,  and  so  on  the  watch  against  intellectual  pride, 
 and  other  such  temptations,  that  I  shall  think  he  probably 
 does  right  for  himself  whatever  he  does.  Yet  with  regard 
 to  the  Church  of  England,  I  cannot  but  think,  that  if  it 
 were  the  duty  of  ordinary  persons  to  leave  her,  the  marks 
 of  reality  would  be  more  decidedly  wanting,  so  that  persons 
 like  some  whom  we  know  would  not  be  left  in  undoubting 
 adherence  to  her.  Intellectually  I  fear  I  should  be  myself 
 in  a  state  of  doubt,  were  I  to  give  my  mind  to  that  con- 
 troversy, but  such  doubt  as,  according  to  the  principles  of 
 Butler,  would  make  it  my  duty  to  stay  where  I  am.  This 
 being  so,  however,  I  suppose  it  is  one's  duty  to  long  for 
 and  aim  at  a  kind  of  neutrality  in  one's  judgment  and  de- 
 meanour towards  Rome  ;  and  this  I  imagine  to  be  really 
 consistent  with  the  English  system,  and  by  all  accounts  in- 
 tended by  Q.  Elizabeth's  Government  for  the  first  thirteen 
 years.  Then  I  seem  to  myself  to  see  Scripture  authority 
 for  this,  both  in  the  O.  T.  in  respect  of  the  relations  be- 
 tween the  Ten  Tribes  and  the  Two,  and  in  the  N.  T.  in 
 Our  Lord's  often-quoted  aphorism,  '  Forbid  him  not,  for  he 
 that  is  not  against  us  is  for  us.'  You  know  it  is  often  ap- 
 plied to  Dissenters,  but  surely  it  applies  a  fortiori  to  other 
 branches  of  the  Church.  Now  how  this  view  would  act  is 
 a  great  question.     I  fear  it  is  unreal,  but  if  real,  it  seems  to 
 
Religious  Difficulties.  305 
 
 me  most  consoling,  and  as  if  it  would  help  one  to  see  one's 
 way  both  in  Ward's  matter,  and  a  good  many  more." 
 
 Keble  and  Mrs.  Keble  visited  us  in  Montague 
 Place  in  June,  and  at  Heath's  Court  in  September, 
 1845  ;  we  had  of  course  some  talk,  and  some  dif- 
 ferences on  religious  questions,  but  on  neither  oc- 
 casion could  I  perceive  anything  which  indicated 
 any  danger  of  his  secession  from  the  English  Church. 
 The  first  visit  was  at  the  time  when  the  controversy 
 was  going  on  between  us  as  to  the  Poem  which 
 Dyson  and  I  desired  to  keep  out  of  the  Lyra  ;  and 
 of  course  much  of  our  talk  was  respecting  the  honour 
 due  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  which  it  seemed  to  me  he 
 was  desirous  of  raising  as  much  too  high  as  many 
 among  us  were  of  reducing  it  too  low.  I  remember 
 I  was  fresh  from  a  talk  with  my  dear  relative  Sara 
 Coleridge,  who  would  not  admit  there  was  any  evi- 
 dence to  warrant  our  holding  her  to  be  even  a  saint, 
 that  is,  no  clear  evidence  that  she  was  even  remark- 
 ably holy  in  her  life.  In  this  I  thought  her,  I  may 
 say,  outrageously  wrong ;  but  Keble,  who  was  as 
 clear  as  I  could  desire  from  thinking  her  an  object 
 of  worship,  still  would  have  been  glad  to  go  farther 
 than  our  Church  has  deemed  safe  in  the  honour  to 
 be  paid  to  her.  With  him  the  Primitive  Church 
 gave  the  rule,  and  he  allowed  great  weight  to  clear 
 ancient  tradition  in  ascertaining  what  she  held.  I 
 have  before  me  my  notes  made  at  the  time  of  our 
 
 X 
 
306  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 talks  on  both  occasions,  and  I  see  how  I  was  struck 
 with  the  kindness  with  which  he  received  even  re- 
 buke when  he  had  seemed  to  me  to  speak  with  too 
 much  severity,  as  well  as  with  his  sweet  humility, 
 and  his  deeply  reverential  manner,  lowering  the  tone 
 of  his  voice,  when  he  spoke  on  these  religious  ques- 
 tions. On  both  occasions  he  parted  from  me  leaving 
 me  in  full  confidence  as  to  his  loyal  adherence  to 
 our  Church. 
 
 This  last  visit  was  paid  to  us  when  they  were  re- 
 turning from  a  tour  which  they,  together  with  a  party 
 from  the  Bisley  Parsonage,  had  been  making  in  Corn- 
 wall, and  although  some  of  them  had  been  unwell  at 
 Bude,  yet  on  the  whole  it  seemed  to  have  been  a  re- 
 storative to  all  of  them.  Mrs.  Keble  especially  had 
 nearly  reached  Hursley  in  better  health  apparently, 
 and  with  more  than  her  usual  strength.  But  imme- 
 diately after,  Mr.  T.  Keble  at  Bisley,  and  she  at 
 Hursley,  were  attacked  with  very  severe  and  alarm- 
 ing illness  ;  the  danger  at  Hursley  seemed  so  great 
 and  imminent  that  a  physician  was  summoned  from 
 London  twice,  and  he  (it  was  the  late  Dr.  Southey) 
 kindly  volunteered  a  third  visit,  on  pretence,  as  Keble 
 said,  of  paying  a  visit  at  the  Park.  It  will  be  seen 
 why  I  mention  this  illness,  its  bearing  namely  on 
 my  present  topic.  It  was  just  as  the  agony  of  this 
 trial  was  passing  away,  that  the  news  reached  him 
 from  Oxford  of  that  having  actually  been  done  by 
 his  most  dear  friend,  which  had  so  long  been  im- 
 
Religions  Difficulties.  307 
 
 pending.  He  speaks  thus  of  both  trials  in  writing 
 to  me  and  to  Dyson.  Thus  he  expresses  himself 
 on  September  27,  1845  : — 
 
 "  My  dear  Coleridge, 
 
 "  Since  I  wrote  we  have  had  some  fearful  ups  and  downs. 
 She  was  nearer  sinking  on  Saturday  than  ever  I  knew  her. 
 So  much  so  that  she  took  regular  leave  of  us,  and  such 
 things  as  she  said  and  looked,  my  dear  friend  ;  you  must 
 really  pray  that  they  may  not  be  thrown  away  upon  me. 
 You  see  the  feeble  frame  exhausted  by  intense  pain  seemed 
 unable  to  resume  its  functions,  and  we  feared  she  would 
 sink  of  mere  exhaustion  ;  in  our  distress  we  telegraphed 
 Dr.  Southey  a  second  time  from  London,  and  by  the 
 time  he  came  she  was  beginning  a  little  to  revive ;  she 
 had  received  the  H.  C,  and  sent  directions  and  messages 
 to  different  friends,  but  it  pleased  God  that  she  should,  for 
 the  time  at  least,  be  brought  back  from  the  very  gates  of 
 Paradise.  During  the  night,  and  through  Sunday,  and  the 
 first  part  of  yesterday,  she  was  reviving ;  but  just  after  Dr.  S. 
 went  away  yesterday,  about  noon,  she  seemed  sinking  away 
 again,  and  the  alarm  returned 
 
 "  The  friendliness  of  the  Heathcotes  is  unspeakable,  and 
 all  the  people  about  are  very  kind. 
 
 "  It  is  remarkable  that  at  Bisley  they  are  quite  as  anxious 
 as  we  are,  Tom  having  been  very  seriously  ill  ever  since  he 
 went  away,  but  he  too  has  now  I  trust  only  debility  to  con- 
 tend with,  of  that  however  far  too  much.  On  the  whole  it 
 is  a  sore  season  with  us,  and  you  and  other  dear  friends 
 must  help  us." 
 
 Another  letter  followed  of  much  the  same  doubt- 
 ful character,    and    then    on  October   16,   he   wrote 
 
308  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 communicating  more  confirmed  advances  towards  re- 
 covery as  to  both  the  sick  ones,  and  he  continued 
 thus : — 
 
 "  These  are  great  mercies,  indeed,  and  most  mercifully 
 are  they  given,  as  if  on  purpose  to  keep  one's  heart  from 
 quite  breaking  at  the  bad  news  from  Oxford.  I  thought  I 
 was  quite  prepared  for  it,  but  it  came  on  me  like  a  thunder- 
 bolt at  last  j  I  had  not  expected  it  so  soon,  and  I  clung  to 
 the  respite  of  a  few  weeks  or  months.  And  yet,  though  I 
 talk  in  this  tragical  way,  I  go  on  eating,  drinking,  and  sleep- 
 ing, just  as  if  nothing  had  happened,  or  was  happening.  It 
 is  my  reason  that  tells  me  how  low  I  ought  to  live,  my 
 whole  self  keeps  as  hard  and  as  cold  as  ever.  It  has  been 
 a  sort  of  relief  to  write  to  ,  and  tell  him  how  un- 
 changed I  hope  to  be  both  toward  him  and  the  Church 
 of  England ;  but  sometimes  I  feel  as  if  I  could  do  nothing 
 but  sit  astonied  for  the  rest  of  my  life." 
 
 To  Dyson  he  wrote  on  the  1 2th  of  October: — 
 
 "  But  what  shall  I  say  to  the  Oxford  news,  so  long  ex- 
 pected, yet  it  came  like  a  thunderbolt  at  last.  One  can 
 but  be  still  and  pray ;  I  scarce  know  anything  else  that 
 can  be  done.  I  have  written  to  him  to  express  as  well  as 
 I  could  two  feelings,  one,  continued  love  and  affection  to- 
 wards him,  the  other,  that  every  day  things  are  happening, 
 especially  in  our  two  sick  rooms,  which  make  it  more  and 
 more  impossible  for  me  to  do  as  he  has  done;  it  would 
 seem  like  impiety  to  reject  such  warnings  as  have  been 
 sent  to  me  in  that  manner ;  I  mean  things  which  dear  C. 
 said  at  a  moment  when  she  thought  herself  dying.  I  have 
 some  fear  whether himself  will  not  be  unsettled  again 
 
Religions  Difficulties.  309 
 
 before  long.  He  wrote  now  to to  announce  his  pro- 
 fession, and  the  tone  of  the  note  seemed  to  me  a  little  ex- 
 cited. God  bless  him  wherever,  and  with  whomsoever 
 he  is.     Ever  your  affte,  J.  K." 
 
 There  remain  but  a  few  general  words  to  be  said 
 to  complete  this  part  of  my  subject.  Keble's  course 
 was  henceforth  clearly  laid  down  in  his  own  mind 
 for  his  own  guidance  ;  and,  as  far  as  regarded  him- 
 self, he  would  have  abstained  from  the  controversy 
 entirely.  When  Dr.  Newman's  "  Essay  on  the  Deve- 
 lopment of  the  Christian  Doctrine"  was  sent  to  him, 
 I  presume  from  the  author,  he  declined  to  read  it ; 
 and,  having  done  so,  when  Dr.  Moberly  sent  him 
 his  "  Sermons  on  the  Sayings  of  the  Forty  Days" 
 with  a  Preface  containing  Strictures  on  that  Book, 
 he  equally  declined  to  read  that.  But  what  he  would 
 not  do  for  himself,  he  could  not  refuse  to  do  for 
 others.  There  were  some,  who,  either  in  their  own 
 perplexity  applied  to  him  for  counsel,  or  who  chal- 
 lenged him,  having  themselves  taken,  or  resolved 
 to  take  the  step  of  secession,  on  his  own  resolution. 
 He  might  perhaps  have  declined  to  answer,  but  it 
 was  not  in  his  nature  to  do  so,  and  in  order  to  do 
 this  properly,  he  read  the  book ;  and  with  the  same 
 result.  Some  of  these  papers  are  before  me,  and 
 testify  to  the  care  and  candour  with  which  he  con- 
 sidered the  questions  he  had  to  answer. 
 
 Some  there  are  undoubtedly,  I  believe  not  many, 
 who  have    carefully  and    honestly  sounded   all   the 
 
3  io  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 depths  and  the  shallows  of  this  great  controversy, 
 have  ascertained  the  bearing  and  the  importance  of 
 the  rocks  bare  or  hidden  on  either  side,  and  have 
 come  out  with  their  minds  in  a  clear  undoubting 
 conviction  as  to  the  haven  in  which  alone  the  truth, 
 the  whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth,  is  to  be 
 found  ;  whichever  be  the  port  in  which  they  are  an- 
 chored, they  are  without  a  scruple,  and  feel  con- 
 scientiously that  they  may  venture  to  act  as  pilots 
 to  others.  Some,  again,  there  are,  many  more  I 
 trust  in  number,  and  I  cannot  but  think  more 
 happy,  and  quite  as  safe,  who  have  never  enquired 
 at  all,  because  they  have  thought  the  controversy 
 either  unnecessary,  or  beyond  their  reach  ;  who  have 
 been  content  to  accept  the  creed  in  which  they  were 
 brought  up,  and  their  parents  before  them  ;  and 
 striven  only  to  walk  humbly,  and  truly,  according 
 to  its  teaching.  Some,  again,  there  are,  and  cer- 
 tainly I  knew  some  remarkable  instances  at  the 
 time  to  which  I  refer,  persons  of  timorous,  scru- 
 pulous, even  captious  natures,  easily  offended,  and 
 impatient  of  a  doubt.  It  cannot  be  denied,  that 
 for  such  persons  many  stumbling-blocks  were  raised 
 at  this  time,  and  to  be  free  from  the  difficulties 
 which  then  were  pressing  on  them  too  often  seemed 
 to  be  the  only  object  of  such  persons.  They  re- 
 versed Hamlet's  rule, — rather  than  bear  the  ills  they 
 knew,  they  would  fly  to  others  that  they  knew  not 
 of.    My  quarrel  with  some  of  these  was,  that  being 
 
Religions  Difficulties.  3 1 1 
 
 hopelessly,  often  avowedly,  incompetent  as  guides, 
 they  yet  could  not  refrain  from  troubling  those  who 
 were  at  peace  in  their  own  course. 
 
 Keble  belonged  to  no  one  of  these  classes  ;  he 
 thought  the  controversy  of  great  importance  ;  he 
 was  in  a  general  way  sufficiently  instructed  in  it, 
 perhaps  enough  so  to  warrant  him  in  believing, 
 that  even  after  more  enquiry,  he  should  be  unable 
 intellectually  to  find  on  either  side  the  truth,  the 
 whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth.  Then  he 
 thought,  and  the  thought  was  congenial  to  his  hum- 
 ble, tender  nature,  that  the  true  question  for  himself 
 was,  Shall  I  be  safe  where  I  am  ?  this  allowed  him 
 to  admit  all  moral  arguments  into  the  enquiry.  Was 
 he  to  affirm  that  so  many  great  and  good  men, 
 whose  writings  had  been  his  study,  whose  charac- 
 ters the  objects  of  his  love  and  admiration  through 
 life ;  or  that  his  father,  his  mother,  his  sisters,  all  as 
 he  believed  saints  in  heaven ;  had  lived  and  died  out 
 of  the  Church  of  Christ  ?  There  may  be  some  who  may 
 smile,  not  one  I  hope  who  will  sneer,  at  what  he 
 writes  of  those  which  he  believed  to  be  the  parting 
 looks  and  words  of  his  wife,  when  her  pure  spirit 
 seemed  to  him  to  be  as  it  were  in  sight  of  Paradise. 
 These  may  have  no  place  in  a  strictly  theological 
 argument  ;  yet  I  shall  not  shrink  from  saying  that 
 in  my  opinion,  considering  what  was  the  object  he 
 proposed  to  himself,  he  acted  rightly,  even  in  a  judi- 
 cial sense,  in  giving  great  weight  to  such  an  incident. 
 
312  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 They  were  in  effect  the  same  as  the  dying  words 
 of  her  who  had  been  for  years  his  true  and  fond 
 partner  and  helpmate,  his  counsellor  in  all  his  pas- 
 toral labours  and  troubles,  who  knew  better  than 
 any  one  the  worth  of  his  work  in  the  sphere  in 
 which  God  had  placed  him,  and  who  at  that  try- 
 ing, perhaps  enlightening,  moment  was  testifying  in 
 a  very  conclusive  manner,  that  to  her,  at  least, 
 there  was  comfort  and  a  blessed  hope  in  the  creed 
 to  which  she  besought  him  to  cling.  These  are 
 circumstances,  which  as  motives  to  conduct  may 
 properly  have  their  weight,  which  yet  do  not  come 
 into  the  category  of  strict  proof;  and  I  for  one 
 should  not  estimate  as  of  no  value  the  conviction 
 which  fastened  on  the  mind,  I  admit  in  some  mea- 
 sure through  the  feelings,  and  it  may  be  the  experi- 
 ences, of  such  a  man  as  John  Keble. 
 
 In  the  course  of  these  later  pages  Keble  has 
 spoken  of  Confession,  against  which  the  general 
 opinion,  perhaps  even  more  the  general  feeling,  is 
 so  strong,  that  I  can  scarcely  avoid  saying  a  few 
 words  to  prevent  a  misimpression  as  to  himself.  It 
 must  be  remembered  that  he  was  not  so  much 
 propounding  a  system,  as  stating  his  own  expe- 
 rience in  his  own  parish.  The  parish  was  a  country 
 one,  not  over-sized,  and  the  circumstances,  at  least 
 as  favourable  to  the  effectual  discharge  of  pastoral 
 duty  as  ordinarily  occur  to  any  incumbent.  He 
 was,  indeed,  painfully  sensitive  to  the  existence  of 
 
Religions  Difficulties.  313 
 
 sinfulness,  but  he  was  not  a  severe  man,  nor  of  re- 
 pulsive manners  ;  on  the  contrary,  his  singular  hu- 
 mility and  tenderness,  with  his  great  simplicity  of 
 address,  made  him  as  well  fitted  as  most  men  to 
 attract  the  confidence  of  the  closest  natures,  and  to 
 dispel  the  fears  of  the  most  timorous.  "Yet,"  he 
 says,  "after  all  my  care  I  am,  in  fact,  in  darkness 
 as  to  the  moral  and  religious  condition  of  my  peo- 
 ple, and  I  am  so  for  want  of  being  able  to  use  the 
 arm  of  Confession."  No  thoughtful  opponent  will 
 meet  this  merely  with  scorn  or  indignation  ;  on 
 the  contrary,  unless  Keble  exaggerates  the  incon- 
 venience he  complains  of,  a  modest  man  would  be 
 led  to  doubt  whether  he  himself  was  living  in  so 
 much  light  as  to  his  own  parish,  as  he  had  before 
 perhaps  imagined ;  and  he  might  not  improbably 
 join,  at  least,  in  Keble's  regret,  however  great  the 
 countervailing  evils  of  introducing  Confession  gene- 
 rally might  be  admitted  to  be.  He  might  not  in 
 the  end  agree  with  him  on  the  whole,  but  he  would 
 still  have  somewhat  of  a  fellow-feeling  for  him  in  his 
 avowed  difficulty. 
 
 I  own  I  thought  Keble  did.  unintentionally  exag- 
 gerate his  difficulties.  I  told  him  so,  and  that  I  sup- 
 posed a  clergyman,  whose  cure  was  of  the  manage- 
 able size  of  Hursley,  need  not  and  would  not  be  so 
 ignorant  of  the  spiritual  condition  of  his  people,  as 
 he  professed  himself  to  be,  if  he  brought  to  his  task 
 
314  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 the  requisite  intelligence,  industry,  kindness  and  de- 
 votion ;  and  that  if  he  did  not,  it  was  clear  he  ought 
 not  to  be  trusted  with  the  delicate  and  difficult 
 duty  of  taking  confessions.  I  trusted  he  would  gra- 
 dually find  the  light  dawn  on  him.  In  a  subse- 
 quent letter,  written  in  1847,  he  spoke  more  cheer- 
 fully :— 
 
 "  The  Building,"  says  he,  speaking  of  the  church,  "  goes 
 on  and  gives  satisfaction  ;  and  what  is  a  greater  comfort,  I 
 think  the  Parish  is  altogether  in  a  more  hopeful  state.  We 
 have  just  had  a  Confirmation,  and  the  young  people  seemed 
 more  in  earnest ;  and  Peter  Young  is  more  and  more  ap- 
 preciated." 
 
 He  speaks  here  of  his  excellent  Curate,  and,  as 
 might  be  expected  from  him,  seems  inclined  to  at- 
 tribute more  of  the  improvement  he  is  thankful  for 
 to  him  than  to  himself. 
 
 I  rather  think  that  feeling  the  introduction  of 
 Confession  as  a  general,  or  compulsory  rule,  to  be 
 hopeless,  he  did  not  then  enter  into  the  considera- 
 tion of  the  evils,  which  even  under  the  wisest  ad- 
 ministration of  it,  seem  almost  inseparable  from  it, 
 or  of  the  abuse  to  which  it  is  so  singularly  liable. 
 Perhaps,  too,  he  did  not  heed  this  practical  objec- 
 tion, that  it  would  be  impossible  to  make  every 
 incumbent,  as  such,  confessor  of  his  parishioners; 
 and  that  wherever  a  stranger  took  that  office,  as  all 
 he  knew  would  be  under  the   seal  of  secrecy,  the 
 
Religions  Difficulties.  3 1 5 
 
 incumbent  would  remain  in  the  same  ignorance  in 
 the  discharge  of  his  pastoral  duty  as  before.  If 
 these  matters  had  been  fully  considered,  he  would 
 perhaps  have  admitted  that  the  question  was  one 
 of  so  great  difficulty,  that  it  might  be  wise  to  ac- 
 cept the  present  rule,  which  allows  Confession  as 
 a  voluntary  act,  and  does  not  make  it  a  part  of  the 
 ordinary  discipline  of  the  Church.  On  this  he  him- 
 self acted  habitually  ;  he  found  it  in  his  own  case 
 a  comfort  and  guide,  and  resorted  to  it ;  and  when 
 he  was  desired,  he  did  not  refuse  to  use  it  as  such 
 to  others. 
 
 I  will  now  subjoin  the  poem  which  has  led  me 
 into  so  long  a  digression.  I  might  have  omitted  it, 
 because  I  have  good  reason  for  expecting  that  it 
 will  be  included  in  the  promised  publication  of  his 
 poems,  but  it  is  so  important,  rightly  considered, 
 to  a  full  acquaintance  with  his  opinions,  that  I 
 think  it  better  to  give  it  a  place  here  also.  In 
 August,  1844,  the  Keble  family  had  made  what 
 Keble  calls  "  a  rather  ambitious  ramble,"  reaching 
 as  far  north  as  Fort  William,  and  among  other  ex- 
 cursions, says  he,  "  young  Tom  and  I  climbed  Ben 
 Nevis,  much  to  the  aching  of  my  old  muscles,  but 
 to  the  great  satisfaction  of  my  mind."  It  was  in 
 this  tour  the  incident  occurred,  which  is  mentioned 
 in  the  commencement  of  the  poem.  A  lady,  writing 
 upon  good  authority,  has  informed  me  that  in  the 
 
3 1 6  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 course  of  it  he  was  the  guest  of  Mr.  Stuart  in  the 
 Highlands.  Dugald,  the  host's  son,  came  suddenly 
 into  the  room  where  he  was,  and  looking  all  about 
 him,  sorrowfully  exclaimed,  "  My  mother  is  not  here." 
 He  was  much  touched  by  the  incident,  and  wrote  on 
 the  occasion  that  which  follows  :  which  first  bore  the 
 title,  "The  Annunciation,"  S.John  xix.  2J. 
 
 Mother  out  of  Sight. 
 
 "  Saw  ye  the  bright-eyed  stately  child, 
 With  sunny  locks  so  soft  and  wild, 
 How  in  a  moment  round  the  room 
 His  keen  eye  glanced,  then  into  gloom 
 Retired,  as  they  who  suffer  wrong, 
 Where  most  assured  they  look  and  long ; 
 Heard  ye  the  quick  appeal,  half  in  dim  fear 
 In  anger  half,  '  My  mother  is  not  here.' 
 
 2. 
 
 "  Perchance  some  burthened  heart  was  nigh, 
 To  echo  back  that  yearning  cry 
 In  deeper  chords,  than  may  be  known 
 To  the  dull  outward  ear  alone. 
 What  if  our  English  air  be  stirr'd 
 With  sighs  from  saintly  bosoms  heard, 
 Or  penitents  to  leaning  angels  dear, — 
 *  Our  own,  our  only  Mother  is  not  here/ 
 
Mother  out  of  Sight.  3 1 7 
 
 3- 
 
 "  The  murmurings  of  that  boyish  heart, 
 They  hush  with  many  a  fostering  art : 
 '  Soon  o'er  the  islands  of  the  West, 
 The  weary  sun  shall  sink  to  rest ; 
 The  rose  tints  fade,  that  gradual  now 
 Are  climbing  Ben-y-Vear's  green  brow; 
 Soon  o'er  the  Loch  the  twilight  stars  will  peer, 
 Then  shalt  thou  feel  thy  soul's  desire  is  here.' 
 
 4- 
 
 "  Lightly  they  soothe  the  fair  fond  boy ; 
 Nor  is  there  not  a  hope  and  joy 
 For  spirits  that  half-orphan'd  roam, 
 Forlorn  in  their  far  island  home ; 
 Oft  as  in  penance  lowly  bow'd, 
 Prayer  like  a  gentle  evening  cloud 
 Enfolds  them,  through  the  mists  they  seem  to  trace 
 By  shadowy  gleams  a  Royal  Mother's  face. 
 
 5- 
 "  The  Holy  Church  is  at  their  side, 
 Not  in  her  robes  a  glorious  bride  ; 
 As  Sister  named  of  Meicy  mild, 
 At  midnight  by  a  fever'd  child, 
 Might  watch,  and  to  the  dim  eye  seem 
 A  white-robed  angel  in  a  dream  j 
 Such  may  the  presence  of  the  Spouse  appear, 
 To  tender  trembling  hearts,  so  faint,  so  dear. 
 
3 1 8  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 6. 
 
 "  The  Babe  for  that  sweet  Vision's  sake, 
 Courts  longer  trance,  afraid  to  wake ; 
 And  we  for  love  would  fain  lie  still, 
 Though  in  dim  faith,  if  so  He  will. 
 And  wills  He  not  ?  are  not  His  signs 
 Around  us  oft  as  day  declines  ? 
 Fails  He  to  bless  or  home  or  choral  throng, 
 Where  true  hearts  breathe  His  Mother's  evensong? 
 
 7- 
 
 "  Mother  of  God,  O  not  in  vain, 
 
 We  learn'd  of  old  thy  lowly  strain ; 
 
 Fain  in  thy  shadow  would  we  rest, 
 
 And  kneel  with  thee,  and  call  thee  blest. 
 
 With  thee  would  magnify  the  Lord, 
 
 And  if  thou  art  not  here  adored, 
 Yet  seek  we  day  by  day  the  love  and  fear 
 Which  brings  thee  with  all  saints  near  and  more  near. 
 
 8. 
 
 "  What  glory  thou  above  hast  won, 
 By  special  grace  of  thy  dear  Son, 
 We  see  not  yet,  nor  dare  espy 
 Thy  crowned  form  with  open  eye. 
 Rather  beside  the  manger  meek, 
 Thee  bending  with  veiled  brow  we  seek  ; 
 Or  where  the  angel  in  the  Thrice  Great  Name 
 Hailed  thee,  and  Jesus  to  thy  bosom  came. 
 
Mother  out  of  Sight.  3 19 
 
 9- 
 
 "  Yearly  since  then  with  bitterer  cry 
 Man  hath  assail'd  the  throne  on  high, 
 And  Sin  and  Hate  more  fiercely  striven 
 To  mar  the  league  'twixt  Earth  and  Heaven. 
 But  the  dread  tie  that  pardoning  hour, 
 Made  fast  in  Mary's  awful  bower, 
 
 Hath  mightier  prov'd  to  bind  than  we  to  break ; 
 
 None  may  that  work  undo,  that  Flesh  unmake. 
 
 10. 
 
 "  Thenceforth,  whom  thousand  worlds  adore, 
 He  calls  thee  Mother  evermore ; 
 Angel  nor  Saint  His  face  may  see 
 Apart  from  what  He  took  of  thee  ; 
 How  may  we  choose  but  name  thy  Name, 
 Echoing  below  their  high  acclaim 
 In  Holy  Creeds  ?  since  earthly  song  and  prayer 
 Must  keep  faint  time  to  the  dread  Anthems  there. 
 
 11. 
 
 "  How  but  in  love  on  thine  own  days, 
 Thou  blissful  One,  upon  thee  gaze  ? 
 Nay  every  day,  each  suppliant  hour, 
 Whene'er  we  kneel,  in  aisle  or  bower, 
 Thy  glories  we  may  greet  unblam'd, 
 Nor  shun  the  lay  by  Seraphs  framed. 
 Hail  Mary  full  of  grace  !    O  welcome  sweet, 
 Which  daily  in  all  lands  all  Saints  repeat  ; 
 
320  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 12. 
 
 "  Fair  greeting  with  our  Matin  vows, 
 Paid  duly  to  th'  Enthroned  Spouse, 
 His  Church  and  Bride,  here  and  on  high, 
 Figured  in  her  deep  purity. 
 Who  born  of  Eve,  high  Mercy  won, 
 To  bear  and  nurse  the  Eternal  Son. 
 O  awful  Station  to  no  Seraph  given, 
 On  this  side  touching  Sin,  on  th'  other  Heaven. 
 
 13- 
 
 "  Therefore,  as  kneeling  day  by  day, 
 We  to  Our  Father  duteous  pray  ; 
 So  unforbidden  we  may  speak, 
 An  Ave  to  Christ's  Mother  meek. 
 (As  children  with  *  good-morrow'  come, 
 To  Elders  in  some  happy  home,) 
 Inviting  so  the  Saintly  Host  above, 
 With  our  unworthiness  to  pray  in  love. 
 
 14. 
 
 "  To  pray  with  us,  and  gently  bear, 
 Our  falterings  in  the  pure  bright  air ; 
 But  strive  we  pure  and  bright  to  be 
 In  spirit, — else  how  vain  of  thee, 
 Our  earnest  dreamings,  awful  Bride ! 
 Feel  we  the  sword  that  pierc'd  Thy  side ; 
 Thy  spotless  lily  flower,  so  clear  of  hue, 
 Shrinks  from  the  breath  impure,  the  tongue  untrue.' 
 
CHAPTER   XIV. 
 
 "LYRA  INNOCENTIUM." — CHARLES   MARRIOTT'S 
 COLLEGE. — GLADSTONE   CONTESTS. 
 
 I  COMMENCED  what  I  shall  have  to  say  re- 
 specting the  Lyra  Innocentiwm  in  the  preceding 
 chapter,  but  the  part  which  Dyson  and  I  myself 
 took  as  to  two  or  three  of  the  poems  intended  to 
 form  part  of  it,  led  me  to  enter  at  once  into  an 
 account  of  the  difficulties  which  passed  through  Ke- 
 ble's  mind  on  the  great  religious  question  of  that 
 day,  and  to  their  final  settlement.  It  seemed  to 
 me  better  to  dispose  of  these  at  once,  and  now  re- 
 turn to  the  volume  itself,  which  Keble  begged  our 
 criticisms  upon,  and  which  we  passed  to  the  pub- 
 lisher. The  volume  appeared  in  April,  1846.  The 
 title,  which  has  since  been  frequently  used  with  dif- 
 ferent additions,  was  not  common  then,  and  probably 
 was  suggested  by  the  Lyra  Apostolica,  to  which  he 
 had  contributed  many  poems.  I  may  as  well  state 
 here,  though  out  of  place,  the  little  fact,  that  the 
 title  of  his  great  work  was  taken  from  the  fourth 
 Sermon  in  John  Miller's  "  Christian  Guide  ;"  he  asked 
 his  permission  for  this,  which  was  of  course  readily 
 accorded.  Certainly  it  was  an  excellent  title  for 
 such  a  work. 
 
 v 
 
322  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 On  the  present  occasion  he  did  publish  his  dedi- 
 cation at  once,  bearing  date  February  in  that  year. 
 Some  people  think  the  Lyra  has  a  dry  and  hard 
 character ;  the  dedication,  at  least,  is  free  from  this 
 defect ;  to  me  it  was  perhaps  the  more  touching 
 because  I  knew  how  faithful  a  picture  it  presented, 
 at  once  painful  and  soothing,  of  the  troubles  of  mind 
 which  he  had  gone  through,  and  of  the  humble  and 
 devotional  spirit  which  was  vouchsafed  to  him  to 
 shed  its  peace  on  him,  at  least  on  this  point  for 
 the  remainder  of  his  life. 
 
 Keble's  fame,  the  just  claim  which  he  has  to  the 
 admiration  and  gratitude  of  his  countrymen,  indeed 
 of  the  inhabitants  of  all  lands  where  English  is 
 spoken,  must  rest  upon  his  sacred  poetry.  He  wrote, 
 indeed,  many  things  in  prose,  of  great  value,  and 
 which  alone  might  have  earned  him  reputation,  yet 
 it  would  have  been  such  only  as  would  have  classed 
 him  among  many  other  excellent  writers.  But  "  The 
 Christian  Year"  is  generally  admitted,  and  I  think 
 justly,  to  have  placed  him  alone,  far  above  all  our 
 other  sacred  poets  ;  to  have  made  him  in  truth  the 
 sacred  poet  of  the  nation. 
 
 I  do  not  expect  a  general  agreement  in  opinion 
 with  me,  when  I  say  that  the  Lyra  Innocentium,  if 
 not  equal  to  "  The  Christian  Year,"  as  a  whole,  is 
 at  least  more  than  equal  in  some  parts,  and  on  the 
 whole  worthy  of  its  author.  Though  very  successful 
 in  comparison  with  the  generality  of  such  works,  it 
 
Lyra  Innocentium.  323 
 
 has  not  had  a  circulation  at  all  proportionate  to 
 that  of  "  The  Christian  Year  ;"  it  has  not  become 
 a  manual  in  general  use,  and  has  not  consequently 
 been  studied,  and  is  not  known  in  the  same  degree. 
 I  may  therefore  be  excused  a  few  words  upon  it. 
 
 A  dear  young  friend  of  mine,  a  happy  young 
 mother,  writing  to  me  from  New  Zealand,  calls  it 
 a  mother's  book,  and  most  justly  ;  it  has  suffered, 
 I  think,  by  being  considered  a  book  for  children, 
 properly  it  is  one  about  children.  The  title-page 
 says  it  is  "  on  children,  their  ways  and  privileges." 
 It  begins  with  their  baptism,  (and  the  Author's  be^ 
 lief  as  to  that  sacrament  gives  a  specific  character 
 to  the  whole,)  it  follows  them  through  their  cradle 
 life,  and  infancy,  their  childhood  sports,  troubles, 
 encouragements,  and  warnings;  it  unfolds  the  les- 
 sons which  nature,  and  the  lessons  which  grace 
 teaches  them ;  it  dwells  on  their  sicknesses,  their 
 deaths.  No  one,  perhaps,  but  a  parent,  can  fully 
 enter  into  all  parts  of  it,  and  yet  he  who  wrote  it 
 did  not  marry  young,  and  was  never  a  father.  It 
 is  matter  of  wonder  how  one  so  circumstanced  could 
 ever  have  known  enough  of  children  from  infancy 
 to  have  written  such  a  volume,  yet  I  am  persuaded 
 that  the  more  one  has  seen  of  them,  the  more  will 
 !the  life-like  truth  of  the  painting  strike  one.  It  will 
 inaturally  be  asked  where  and  how  did  he  acquire  his 
 knowledge.  First,  and  above  all,  I  think  from  his  in- 
 cnse  love  for  children,  and  from  his  feeling  about  them, 
 
324  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 in  which  the  heartiest  tenderness  was  mingled  with 
 something  amounting  almost  to  reverence.  A  newly- 
 baptized  child  was  to  him  an  emblem  of  the  most 
 spotless  purity  of  which  human  nature  here  below 
 is  capable.  I  never  shall  forget  being  present  once 
 as  godfather,  when  he  baptized  a  child  of  Sir  Wil- 
 liam Heathcote's.  The  child,  after  he  had  admi- 
 nistered the  sacrament,  lay  in  his  arms  so  still  and 
 sweet,  one  might  believe  it  conscious  of  the  blessing 
 it  had  received.  Keble  held  it  in  his  arms  some 
 little  time,  looking  on  it  with  an  inexpressible  look 
 of  delight  and  love,  a  tear  was  in  his  eye,  and  he 
 seemed  loth  to  part  with  it  again  to  its  godmother. 
 In  1858  that  dear  child  died,  and  I  will  not  keep 
 back  the  letter  which  he  wrote  to  Miss  Baker,  his 
 governess,  who  was  in  deep  distress  for  the  loss  of 
 him  ;  it  testifies  so  strikingly  and  touchingly  to  the 
 love  and  feeling  I  have  been  speaking  of: — 
 
 "  HlJRSLEY, 
 
 14  June,  1858. 
 "  My  dear , 
 
 "  I  must  write  a  line,  tho'  I  know  what  poor  help  one 
 can  give  in  such  mournful  trials  as  this;  for  I  have  been 
 thinking  of  you  almost  as  much  as  of  his  parents  ever  since 
 I  heard  of  it ;  and  if  it  seems  so  sad  to  me  to  think  of  not 
 seeing  him  any  more  with  his  dear  quiet  little  ways  going 
 in  and  out  with  you  (he  alludes  here,  I  believe,  to  the  daily 
 morning  service) ;  how  much  severer  must  it  be  to  your 
 affectionate  heart.     But  He  who  pours  the  love  into  the 
 
Lyra  Innocentium.  325 
 
 heart,  has  ways  of  His  own  to  make  the  sorrow  that  comes 
 with  it  tolerable.  I  make  no  question,  dear  Friend,  but 
 that  you  feel  this  already  very  much.  From  what  Sir 
 William  told  me  in  Saturday's  note,  there  was  a  treasure 
 of  comfortable  and  happy  thoughts  and  memories  which 
 dear  little  Godfrey  was  permitted  to  leave  to  you  all,  when 
 he  was  just  going, — a  treasure  for  you  to  make  much  of  as 
 long  as  you  live.  AVhatever  happens  you  will  always  be 
 able  to  say  in  humble  thankfulness,  '  By  God's  mercy  I  have 
 been  permitted  to  help  in  rearing  one  plant  at  least,  which  is 
 now  blooming  for  ever  in  Paradise,  and  I  am  sure  (if  there 
 is  remembrance,  and  who  can  doubt  it)  of  being  remembered 
 
 by  one  at  least  who  is  there.'     My  dear  ,  encourage 
 
 these  soothing  thoughts,  if  they  come  to  you ;  for  surely 
 they  are  the  truest  thoughts ;  but  if  you  cannot  quite  enter 
 into  the  comfort  of  them  as  yet,  be  not  too  much  disheart- 
 ened, bear  the  dreariness  bravely  for  His  sake,  and  for  the 
 dear  child's  sake,  who  is  now  in  such  sweet  rest.  Do  not 
 trouble  to  write,  but 
 
 "  Believe  me  always, 
 
 "  Your  loving  friend, 
 "J.  K." 
 
 When  in  the  volume  he  speaks  to  the  good  child 
 of  its  blessings,  or  to  the  froward  one  in  blame, 
 he  constantly  recurs  to  its  baptism  to  think  upon,  to 
 be  grateful  for,  and  to  be  warned  by.  Those  who 
 differ  with  him  in  his  doctrine  may  yet  admire  the 
 beautiful  illustration  of  it  in  the  poem  entitled, 
 "  Guardian  Angels,"  in  which  he  sees  in  a  dream 
 infants  brought  by  their  angels  to  the  fount : — 
 
326  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 "  There  one  moment  lay  immersed, 
 Each  bright  form,  and  ere  it  rose, 
 Rose  regenerate,  light  would  burst 
 
 From  where  golden  morning  glows, 
 With  a  sudden,  silent  thrill, 
 Over  that  mysterious  rill ; 
 Ne'er  so  bright,  so  gentle,  sweep 
 Lightnings  o'er  the  summer  deep. 
 
 "  In  a  moment  came  that  ray, 
 
 Came,  but  went  not ;  every  sprite 
 Through  its  veil  of  mortal  clay, 
 
 Now  is  drench'd  in  quickening  light ; 
 Light,  wherewith  the  seraphs  burn, 
 Light,  that  to  itself  would  turn, 
 Whatsoe'er  of  earth  and  shame 
 Mars  e'en  now  the  new-born  frame." 
 
 Holy  Baptism,  Poem  3. 
 
 Then  there  were  his  brother's  nursery,  the  chil- 
 dren at  the  park,  the  large  fine  family  of  his  neigh- 
 bour, Dr.  Moberly,  his  own  school,  where  he  was 
 a  very  frequent  teacher,  his  cottage  visits,  the  num- 
 berless opportunities  which  presented  themselves  to 
 him  in  his  rambles  from  hamlet  to  hamlet,  and  all 
 these  presented  to  that  receptive  spirit,  and  faithful 
 memory,  inseparable  from  the  true  poetic  nature. 
 These  may  well  be  thought  sometimes  to  have 
 created,  sometimes  authenticated,  sources  of  infor- 
 mation, and  subjects  for  meditation,  which  would  es- 
 cape ordinary  perceptions.     From  internal  evidence, 
 
Lyra  Innocentium.  327 
 
 where  direct  is  wanting,  and  there  is  direct  evidence 
 in  very  numerous  instances,  I  believe  that  had  we 
 the  means  of  tracing,  we  should  find  at  least  a  foun- 
 dation in  fact  for  every  one  of  the  poems,  which  pro- 
 fesses to  narrate,  or  comment  on  an  incident. 
 
 I  have  no  doubt  he  wrote  to  me  the  simple  truth, 
 when  he  spoke  of  the  comfort  he  had  received  in 
 his  anxieties  from  the  composition  of  these  poems ; 
 the  thoughts  which  they  suggested  took  him  out  of 
 himself,  away  from  his  doubts  and  cares ;  he  was  en- 
 gaged in  what  was  most  delightful  to  him  when  play- 
 ing with  children,  teaching  them,  or  warning  others 
 by  what  they  taught  himself.  And  he  was  seldom 
 more  picturesque  in  his  language  than  when  he  had 
 one  of  these  subjects  in  hand  ;  what  pictures  does 
 he  give  us  for  example  in  this  stanza  of  "  Children's 
 Thankfulness  :" — 
 
 "  Why  so  stately,  maiden  fair, 
 Rising  in  thy  nurse's  arms, 
 With  that  condescending  air, 
 
 Gathering  up  thy  queenly  charms  ; 
 Like  some  gorgeous  Indian  bird, 
 Which,  when  at  eve  the  balmy  copse  is  stirr'd, 
 
 Turns  the  glowing  neck  to  chide 
 Th'  irreverent  foot-fall,  then  makes  haste  to  hide 
 
 Again  its  lustre  deep, 
 Under  the  purple  wing,  best  home  of  downy  sleep." 
 
 It  seems  to  me  that  not  a  word  could  be  altered 
 in  this,  except,  if  indeed  it  be  not  too  minute  cri- 
 
328  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 ticism  to  remark,  that  the  bird's  makitig  haste  to 
 hide  rather  breaks  the  repose  of  the  remainder  of 
 the  picture,  and  is  in  itself  perhaps  not  quite  true 
 to  nature.  Then,  after  following  the  subject  through 
 some  stanzas,  he  lifts  it  up,  which  he  seldom  failed 
 to  do  in  his  application,  in  the  last  stanza  : — 
 
 "  Save  our  blessings,  Master,  save 
 From  the  blight  of  thankless  eye ; 
 Teach  us  for  all  joys  to  crave 
 Benediction  pure  and  high ; 
 Own  them  given,  endure  them  gone, 
 Shrink  from  their  hardening  touch,  yet  prize  them  won. 
 
 Prize  them  as  rich  odours,  meet 
 For  love  to  lavish  on  His  sacred  feet. 
 
 Prize  them  as  sparkles  bright, 
 Of  heavenly  dew  from  yon  o'erflowing  well  of  light." 
 
 Sometimes  the  poems  are  exquisitely  pathetic ; 
 there  are  few  to  be  met  with  anywhere  more  so 
 than  the  two  entitled,  "  Bereavement"  and  "  Fire," 
 both  founded  on  facts.  Mr.  Eddis  has  found  in  the 
 former  subjects  for  two  pictures,  of  which  the  en- 
 gravings are  well  known.  The  Poet  meets  two  sis- 
 ters in  the  joyous  flower-time  of  April,  the  elder 
 leading  the  younger : — 
 
 "  One  a  bright  bud,  and  one  might  seem 
 A  sister  flower  half-blown, 
 Full  joyous  on  their  loving  dream 
 The  sky  of  April  shone." 
 
Lyra  Innocentium.  329 
 
 He  meets  them  again  on  a  chill  and  damp  Sun- 
 day evening  in  autumn,  but  the  elder  is  following 
 the  younger  to  her  grave  ;  the  motto  to  the  poem 
 is,  "The  Lord  gave  Job  twice  as  much  as  he  had 
 before,"  and  so  he  cheers  the  mourner  with  his 
 favourite  idea  of  communion  with  the  departed 
 spirit : — 
 
 "  What  if  henceforth  by  heaven's  decree, 
 She  leave  thee  not  alone, 
 But  in  her  turn  prove  guide  to  thee, 
 In  ways  to  angels  known. 
 
 "  O  yield  thee  to  her  whisperings  sweet ; 
 Away  with  thoughts  of  gloom  ! 
 In  love  the  loving  spirits  greet, 
 Who  wait  to  bless  her  tomb. 
 
 "  In  loving  hope  with  her  unseen, 
 Walk  as  in  hallowed  air ; 
 When  foes  are  strong,  and  trials  keen, 
 Think,  «  what  if  she  be  there.'  " 
 
 The  most  delicate  and  ideal  artist  need  not  take 
 it  amiss  to  be  told  that  this  last  was  hardly  a  sub- 
 ject for  his  art. 
 
 But  I  forget,  while  I  indulge  myself,  that  I  am 
 speaking  of  a  volume  which  has  been  in  many 
 hands  for  more  than  twenty  years,  and  I  must  not 
 pursue  this  farther ;  at  the  same  time  I  should  add 
 that  in  some  of  the  poems  Keble  appears  to  me  to 
 
330  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 have  struck  a  higher  note  than  he  ever  reached  in 
 "  The  Christian  Year."  I  instance  the  "  Lifting  up  to 
 the  Cross,"  "Church  Bells,"  "Easter  Day,"  "The 
 Waterfall,"  and  "The  Starry  Heavens."  Perhaps  in 
 some  measure  from  Church  associations  he  was  spe- 
 cially fond  of  the  music  of  church  bells  in  chiming. 
 After  a  visit  to  us  in  October,  1844,  he  writes : — 
 
 "  I  wish  I  had  a  better  ear,  and  truer  memory  for  sounds, 
 that  I  might  recall  the  church  bells  of  St.  Mary  Ottery,  the 
 one  deep  tenor  at  7  J,  and  then  the  chimes  at  \  to  8." 
 
 Eight  o'clock  was  the  hour  of  our  daily  service  in 
 the  morning. 
 
 In  the  course  of  our  correspondence  on  the  sub- 
 ject of  the  poems  which  Dyson  and  I  had  recom- 
 mended him  to  withhold  for  the  present,  I  had 
 collected  that  he  was  rather  in  want  of  others  to 
 supply  their  place,  and  I  first  suggested  to  him 
 a  passage  from  St.  Augustine's  Confessions :  "  Post 
 et  ridere  csepi,  dormiens  primo,  deinde  vigilans," 
 and  as  he  did  not  seem  disposed  to  write  on  it,  I 
 ventured  to  do  so  myself,  and  he  very  kindly  gave 
 the  stanzas  a  place  among  the  Cradle  Songs ;  alter- 
 ing, however,  my  first  stanza,  in  which  he  thought 
 I  had  misunderstood  my  text,  and  I  dare  say  I 
 had  obscurely  expressed  myself  so  as  to  warrant 
 him. 
 
 "  St.  Augustine,"  says  he,  "  seems  to  me  to  speak  not  of 
 a  smile  in  the  first  sleep,  but  of  the  first  smile  being  in 
 
Lyra  Innocentium.  331 
 
 sleep,  which  is  a  different,  and  a  deeper,  and  as  those  who 
 have  experience  tell  me,  a  truer  idea." 
 
 I  afterwards  suggested  to  him  another  subject 
 from  the  Confessions  ;  the  passage  is  to  be  found  in 
 the  8th  Book,  ii.  6  and  7,  in  which  an  analogy  is 
 drawn  between  the  lost  sheep,  the  piece  of  silver, 
 the  prodigal  son,  and,  among  other  things,  the  dear 
 one  of  the  house  recovered  from  sickness.  "  It 
 strikes  me,"  I  said,  "that  a  child  after  sickness,  in 
 the  garden,  pale  and  feeble,  yet  the  object  of  pecu- 
 liar joy  and  attentions  from  brothers,  sisters,  mo- 
 ther, &c,  though  less  bright  and  beautiful  than  any 
 of  the  circle,  with  the  same  application,  might  suit 
 your  purpose  well."  This  hint  pleased  him,  and  he 
 wrote  the  beautiful  poem  of  "  Languor"  upon  it.  I 
 mention  my  own  suggestion,  for  it  may  be  worth 
 seeing  out  of  how  scanty  and  rude  materials  he  con- 
 structed so  beautiful  and  so  entirely  original  a  poem. 
 
 And  now  I  must  leave  a  subject  on  which  I  have 
 indulged  my  own  feelings  too  long ;  but  I  am  really 
 desirous  of  obtaining  for  the  Lyra  the  position  which 
 I  think  it  deserves.  Let  me  add  my  advice  to  young 
 persons  to  read  it  at  all  events  as  I  have  recom- 
 mended "  The  Christian  Year"  to  be  read.  Although 
 in  the  beginning  Keble  did  not  write  it  with  refer- 
 ence to  the  course  of  our  Prayer-book,  yet  even  in 
 the  first  edition  he  appropriated  certain  poems  to 
 certain  days,  and  he  subsequently  carried  that  idea 
 out  through  them  all.     It  will  be  found,  I  believe, 
 
332  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 that  we  shall  appreciate  them  more  justly,  and  enjoy 
 them  more,  and  learn  more  from  them,  if  we  follow 
 the  author's  guidance  as  our  rule  for  reading  them. 
 
 I  forget  how  Keble  had  learned  that  I  thought  of 
 preparing  a  review  of  the  Lyra,  and  offering  it  to 
 the  "Quarterly."  He  wrote  to  me  on  this  so  cha- 
 racteristic a  note,  that  it  is  worth  inserting  here : — 
 
 "  As  to  the  Review,  I  wish  you  to  be  entirely  guided 
 by  your  feelings  while  you  are  doing  it.  I  mean  if  you  get 
 into  a  glow  as  you  are  about  it,  and  are  conscious  that  you 
 are  doing  it  well,  go  on  with  it,  and  don't  spare  me  ;  I 
 shall  get  a  deal  more  credit  by  discriminating  praise,  than 
 by  a  mere  out-pouring  of  friendship.  I  must  make  one 
 bargain  with  you ;  pray  don't  say  a  word  about  me  except 
 as  a  writer.  I  feel  so  painfully  more  and  more  the  deceit- 
 fulness  of  the  C.  Y.  especially,  that  I  must  beg  this  of  you ; 
 though  I  dare  say  your  own  discretion  would  tell  you  the 
 same  in  a  general  way,  yet  a  word  might  escape  you  here 
 and  there,  were  you  not  under  special  caution." 
 
 There  are  some  few  still  living,  and  among  them 
 one  very  eminent  man,  who  may  remember  the  for- 
 mation of  something  like  a  brotherhood,  though 
 adopting  no  such  name,  to  assist  the  members  in 
 the  regular  discharge  of  their  private  religious  duties. 
 I  mention  it  now,  because  it  was  in  the  latter  part 
 of  this  year,  1845,  tnat  Keble  was  applied  to  to 
 draw  up,  or  correct,  I  forget  which,  a  little  code  of 
 rules  for  its  guidance.  I  mention  the  incident  as 
 an  instance   of  the   manner  in  which  his  help  was 
 
Charles  Marriott's  College.  333 
 
 sought  and  rendered  on  many  occasions,  quite  be- 
 yond his  ordinary  duties.  He  had  lost  his  own  copy, 
 and  asked  me  for  mine,  which  he  soon  returned  with 
 this  note : — 
 
 "Dec.  1,  1845. 
 "  Many  thanks  for  the  papers,  which  I  have  copied.  I 
 don't  wonder  at  your  finding  great  difficulty  in  acting  on 
 them,  placed  as  you  are.  I,  who  have,  so  to  say,  every 
 advantage,  do  not,  I  fear,  realize  any  one  of  them.  Still 
 I  think  it  is  good  to  have  them  in  one's  desk,  and  in  one's 
 mind,  as  tokens  of  what  one  wishes  and  hopes,  and  as 
 helps  towards  something  better  than  the  present." 
 
 This  short  notice  may  recall  to  the  minds  of  some 
 few,  times  and  thoughts  long  passed  away  from  their 
 recollection  ;  the  thoughts,  I  trust,  will  not  have  lost 
 their  influence,  but  I  hope  they  will  remember  not 
 merely  the  great  simplicity  and  kindness  with  which 
 Keble  dealt  with  us,  but  the  profound  reverence 
 which  at  that  comparatively  early  period  we  all  felt 
 for  him. 
 
 It  was  about  this  time  that  Keble's  attention  was 
 drawn  to  a  scheme  of  his  friend  Charles  Marriott 
 for  the  establishment  somewhere  of  what  was  com- 
 monly called  among  the  favourers  of  it  a  Poor 
 Man's  College,  the  object  being  to  train  for  Holy 
 Orders  the  sons  of  parents  who  were  unable  to  meet 
 the  expense  of  educating  them  at  the  Universities. 
 He  was  very  anxious  for  the  success  of  such  a  scheme, 
 and  he  considered  attentively  two  preliminary  ques- 
 
334  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 tions,  how  to  meet  the  expense,  and  where  to  place 
 the  institution.  As  to  the  first,  it  so  happened  that 
 Mr.  Hope's  munificent  intentions  as  to  a  Missionary 
 Training  College  were  then  announced,  but  not  car- 
 ried into  effect,  and  Keble  was  anxious  that  the  two 
 foundations  should  be  consolidated.  He  pointed  out 
 how  economy  as  to  both  might  so  be  effected,  and 
 a  greater  breadth,  and  importance,  and  perhaps  effi- 
 ciency, thereby  given  to  both.  I  cannot  now  say  on 
 what  grounds  this  advice,  which  seems  so  reason- 
 able, was  rejected.  As  to  the  second,  he  felt  the 
 difficulties  which  might  arise  in  placing  it  at  Ox- 
 ford, both  as  to  its  inception  and  its  position  after 
 establishment.  He  had  too,  as  may  well  be  sup- 
 posed, not  a  very  strong  confidence  in  the  spirit 
 with  which  the  governing  body  might  regard  it ;  still 
 he  was  decidedly  for  Oxford  : — 
 
 "  I  stick,"  he  wrote  to  me,  "  to  my  old  mumpsimus,  that 
 where  you  can  get  it,  istmost  independent,  and  2nd  worked 
 by  the  best  men,  there  it  will  answer  best,  and  I  am  sure 
 Oxford,  if  you  can  get  it  there,  (which  is  surely  worth  trying,) 
 has  both  these  qualities." 
 
 This  opinion  prevailed,  and  the  devoted  founder 
 actually  purchased  a  site,  not  I  think  very  wisely, 
 at  the  top  of  Headington  Hill,  near  to  the  spot 
 well  known  to  Oxford  men,  where  stands,  or  stood 
 at  least,  Joe  Pullen's  Tree.  But  in  spite  of  his  own 
 great  liberality,  and  that  of  others,  Marriott's  scheme 
 
St.  Aligns  tine's  Missionary  College.  335 
 
 failed  for  want  of  funds.  And  this  I  cannot  now 
 much  regret,  for  two  reasons  ;  because  it  seems  to 
 me  to  have  been  a  mistake  to  limit  it  to  students 
 for  the  Church  only ;  but  even  more  because  that 
 failure  left  the  ground  open  for  a  larger,  and  for 
 what  promises,  with  God's  blessing,  to  be  a  much 
 more  liberal  and  useful  institution,  the  Keble  Col- 
 lege now  in  progress.  It  was  right  to  notice  this 
 effort,  however,  because  it  enables  me  to  put  out  of 
 doubt,  that  if  any  public  tribute  were  to  be  made 
 to  his  memory,  (of  which,  however,  he  would  un- 
 doubtedly have  thought  himself  wholly  unworthy,) 
 the  institution  I  speak  of  is  one  which,  it  may  be 
 presumed,  would  have  been  exactly  according  to 
 his  wish. 
 
 Keble  had  taken  a  very  lively  interest  in  the 
 foundation  of  St.  Augustine's  Missionary  College  at 
 Canterbury, — a  good  work  for  which  we  are  very 
 mainly  indebted  to  the  munificence  of  Beresford  Hope. 
 The  consecration  of  the  Chapel  took  place  on  the 
 last  day  of  June,  1848,  and  Keble  was  one  of  those 
 who  attended  it.  The  gathering  was  a  very  nume- 
 rous and  remarkable  one,  exceeding  considerably  the 
 capability  of  the  Chapel  to  receive  it.  It  was  thought 
 necessary  to  limit  the  admission  to  those  who  had 
 been  invited  to  be  present.  This  gave  occasion  to 
 a  remarkable  demonstration  of  the  love  and  respect 
 entertained  for  Keble,  of  which  I  have  been  reminded 
 by  Canon  Venables.     I   extract  from  his  letter  the 
 
336  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 following  lively  account,  which  I  cannot  mend,  and 
 therefore  insert  it,  premising  that  we  had  been  de- 
 sired to  assemble  in  the  Hall,  a  list  of  our  names 
 had  been  prepared,  and  this  was  read  out,  name 
 by  name : — 
 
 "  Each  person,  as  his  name  was  called,  came  forward, 
 and  proceeded  to  take  his  place  in  the  chapel.  You  will 
 doubtless  remember  what  a  pleasant  gathering  that  was; 
 how  old  friends,  who  had  not  met  for  years,  were  brought 
 together,  and  what  a  loud  buzz  of  cheerful  conversation 
 arose ;  as  name  after  name  was  read  out  people  would  look 
 up,  especially  if  it  was  that  of  any  one  distinguished  in  the 
 ecclesiastical  world, — but  the  conversation  went  on  un- 
 checked. In  due  course  the  name  of  '  the  Rev.  John 
 Keble'  was  called,  and  in  a  moment  there  was  a  deep 
 silence,  a  silence  more  impressive  than  the  loudest  burst 
 of  applause.  Every  one  instinctively  drew  back  to  allow 
 free  space  for  Keble  to  walk  down  the  hall;  though  all, 
 especially  those  who,  like  myself,  had  never  seen  the 
 author  of  the  '  Christian  Year, '  were  eagerly  bending 
 forward  to  catch  sight  of  one  to  whom  we  owed  so  much. 
 In  the  midst  of  this  hush,  through  the  centre  of  the  open 
 space,  rather  shyly  and  awkwardly  I  thought,  as  was  not 
 altogether  unnatural,  Keble  rapidly  passed,  almost  dis- 
 concerted, certainly  surprised ;  and  seemingly  not  well 
 pleased  to  find  himself  the  chief  object  of  attraction  in  an 
 assemblage  which  comprised  so  many  of  the  noblest  and 
 greatest  among  the  sons  and  servants  of  the  Church.  The 
 contrast  between  his  quiet  unpretending  form,  and  the 
 almost  awful  respect  with  which,  with  so  spontaneous  an 
 impulse,  he  was  received,  made  a  deep  impression  on  me." 
 
Visit  to  St.  B  re  lades,  Jersey.  2>Z7 
 
 Mrs.  Keble's  severe  illness  made  a  change  of  air 
 and  scene  expedient  for  her  more  early  in  this 
 year,  1846,  than  usual,  in  order  to  perfect  her  re- 
 covery, and  in  the  latter  part  of  May  they  moved 
 to  St.  Brelade's  in  Jersey,  and  remained  there  un- 
 til towards  the  end  of  June.  He  seems  to  have 
 thoroughly  enjoyed  this  little  place ;  I  had  several 
 letters  from  him  while  there,  and  he  wrote  of  it 
 always  with  great  delight.  I  had  been  obliged  by 
 ill-health  to  give  up  my  attendance  in  court  for 
 a  Term,  and  I  was  sent  to  Brighton  by  my  friend, 
 Dr.  Latham. 
 
 "  I  wish,"  he  writes,  i(  you  could  be  with  us  instead  of 
 Brighton,  and  see  this  gem  of  a  little  bay,  filled  at  high 
 water  with  the  bluest  possible  sea,  and  at  low  water  half- 
 way with  the  finest  clear  sand.  On  the  right  a  most  grace- 
 ful ridge  of  pinnacled  rocks,  seeming  to  reach  half-across 
 it ;  and  on  the  bank  between  us  and  it  a  curious  though 
 not  very  beautiful  Church,  the  water  in  high  tides  washing 
 the  Churchyard-wall;  with  just  trees  enough  to  make  a 
 frame,  both  to  right  and  left ;  a  rock  or  two,  and  a  vessel 
 or  two,  in  the  middle;  on  the  left  a  bold  rocky  point, 
 and  part  of  the  sweep  of  a  scolloped  bay.  This  for  the 
 outside ;  and  on  the  inside,  Mrs.  Keble  writing  away  and 
 professing,  (after  an  early  rising  and  steam  voyage,  a  drive, 
 and  two  walks,)  that  she  is  better  able  to  draw  her  breath 
 than  she  has  been  for  a  long  time,  so  that  by  the  blessing 
 of  God  I  hope  we  have  found  a  place  which  will  really  do 
 her  good." 
 
 To  be  near  the  sea,  or  on  it,  was  always  restora- 
 z 
 
338  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 tive  to  her ;  in  a  few  days  after  their  arrival,  they 
 sailed  to  St.  Helier's  to  meet  Dyson,  who  paid  them 
 a  visit  from  Southampton  ;  the  sea  was  to  him  for 
 many  years  what  it  was  to  Mrs.  Keble  ;  and  the 
 meeting  would  make  it,  no  doubt,  more  cheering 
 and  beneficial  to  all  three. 
 Again,  he  says  : — 
 
 "  This  coast  has  really  a  store  of  beauties,  which  it  would 
 take  one  a  long  while  to  tire  of;  I  tell  you  this^r  a  secret, 
 for  I  should  be  very  sorry  to  get  it  much  belauded  among 
 the  fashionable  people  in  England;  it  would  be  so  soon 
 spoiled,  if  the  pleasure-hunters  got  hold  of  it.  How  long 
 we  shall  stay  I  don't  know,  but  I  shall  be  glad  to  wait 
 till  Charlotte  has  left  off  coughing;  only  one  does  get 
 into  such  intolerable  acquiescence  with  one's  usual  habits 
 of  idleness." 
 
 They  made  a  short  excursion  to  France  while 
 at  St.  Brelade's,  and  saw  Coutance,  and  soon  after 
 returned  home.  Parting  from  it  so  lovingly,  one 
 would  not  have  expected  that  they  would  never 
 revisit  it ;  but  so  I  believe  it  was.  On  St.  Matthew's 
 Day  he  writes  to  me  in  thankful  commemoration  of 
 God's  mercy  in  having  spared  so  many  of  those 
 most  dear  to  him  in  the  course  of  the  preceding 
 twelve  months.  The  day  before  that  festival  in  the 
 preceding  year,  1845,  he  had  returned  home  from 
 his  tour  in  Cornwall  and  Devon,  and  his  wife's  long 
 and  dangerous  illness  had  commenced  ;  his  brother's 
 also  —  and   he  had  besides  been   in  much  anxiety 
 
Restoration  of  Hursley  Church.  339 
 
 about  Dr.  Pusey,  Isaac  Williams,  and  myself — all  were 
 now  in  apparently  comfortable  health  ;  all  are  spe- 
 cially and  affectionately  enumerated  in  a  letter  to 
 me.  On  Michaelmas  Day  his  brother  had  a  con- 
 secration of  an  additional  church  in  his  parish,  which 
 Keble  was  able  to  be  present  at  ;  and  we  had  that 
 of  "  the  little  church"  in  our  parish  ;  he  had  been 
 much  interested  in  our  work,  and  contributed  to  our 
 funds.  We  were  commencing  also  the  restoration 
 of  our  venerable  Priory  Church  ;  and  pressed  as  he 
 was  to  provide  for  his  own  undertaking,  he  insisted 
 on  throwing  back,  as  he  called  it,  a  " '  score  of  pounds, 
 towards  your  far  more  beautiful  work  ;'  but  I  fear 
 there  is  no  chance  of  our  being  able  to  afford  more, 
 consistently  with  our  plan  of  devoting  'all  profits  of 
 trade'  to  the  work  here."  It  conduced  to  the  cheer- 
 fulness with  which  he  ended  this  year,  that  there 
 were  *  symptoms  now  of  his  church  work  beginning." 
 Materials  were  being  collected  on  the  spot  ;  it  was 
 found  that  much,  if  not  all  the  main  walls  of  the 
 old  church,  so  far  as  the  proportions  agreed,  would 
 only  require  to  be  cased,  so  well  and  solidly  had  they 
 been  built ;  and  an  alarm  about  the  foundations  had 
 turned  out  to  be  groundless. 
 
 Yet  he  opened  the  year  1847  in  language  of  the 
 deepest  humiliation  —  language  of  the  kind  which 
 I  have  given  specimens  of  before,  but  of  which  I 
 cannot  withhold  another.  My  readers  will,  I  feel  as- 
 sured, not  misunderstand  the  unintentional  exaggera- 
 
340  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 tion  of  it ;  and  it  must  surely  be  useful  for  many 
 of  us,  going  on  in  our  easy  ways,  to  see  with  what 
 deep  humility  such  a  man  regarded  his  own  inward 
 condition.  It  may  serve  to  damp  the  self-applause 
 of  some,  and  awaken  the  slumbrous  state  of  con- 
 science in  which  too  many  of  us  habitually  live. 
 
 "  Well  can  I  understand  from  what  I  see  in  others,  and 
 a  great  deal  too  well  from  myself,  the  heart-deep  truth  of 
 every  word  you  say  on  the  matter  of  those  sermons  of 
 Pusey's  on  'Sin  and  Love:'  they  are  two  great  depths; 
 too  deep,  by  far,  for  our  sounding.  I  suppose  our  safest 
 prayer  would  be,  that  we  may  be  led  gradually  on  to  the 
 perception  of  where  we  are  in  respect  both  of  one  and  the 
 other,  and  not  permitted  to  dwell  on  either  exclusively. 
 For  myself,  my  inward  history  is  a  most  shameful  and 
 miserable  one — really  quite  different  from  what  you  and 
 others  imagine  ;  so  that  I  am  quite  sure,  if  you  knew  it, 
 you  would  be  startled  at  the  thought  of  coming  to  such  an 
 adviser ;  so  long  and  so  late  has  the  misery  been ;  and  it 
 ought  to  be  a  bitter  penance  to  me  to  be  so  consulted. 
 But  I  believe  that  I  have  sinned  betore  now,  in  drawing 
 back  on  such  occasions,  and  I  hope  never  to  do  so  again  ; 
 use  me,  therefore,  dear  friend,  such  as  I  am,  if  I  can  be  of 
 any  use  to  you  at  any  time  ;  but  pray  for  me,  bond  fide,  that 
 I  may  be  contrite,  for  that  is  what  I  really  need." 
 
 Early  in  the  summer  of  1847,  Keble  collected  and 
 published  a  volume  of  "Academical  and  Occasional 
 Sermons  ;"  although  he  contributed  many  sermons 
 to  other  collections,  and  printed  now  and  then  some 
 which  he   had  preached   for  special  purposes,  this 
 
Academical  and  Occasional  Sermons.  341 
 
 I  think,  was  the  only  volume  which  he  ever  pub- 
 lished. Among  other  important  and  remarkable  ser- 
 mons, this  volume  contains  that  on  Tradition,  which 
 it  seems  to  me  ought  to  be  in  every  clergyman's 
 library ;  which,  indeed,  few  laymen  would  not  find 
 their  account  in  reading.  But  Keble's  special  pur- 
 pose in  the  publication  was  to  quiet  uneasy  minds 
 in  regard  to  their  position  in  the  English  Church. 
 And  for  this  purpose  he  prefixed  a  preface  of  some 
 length,  prepared  with  much  care. 
 He  writes  to  me  on  March  4  : — 
 
 "  I  have  been,  and  am  trying,  to  draw  up  a  kind  of  view 
 on  the  present  position  of  English  Churchmen,  to  answer, 
 if  it  may  be,  the  purpose  which  Dodsworth  talked  about 
 that  day  at  your  house.  Perhaps  I  may  send  it  you  when 
 it  is  in  some  sort  ended.  The  form  of  it  would  be  a  pre- 
 face to  some  sermons." 
 
 In  the  Holy  Week  following,  he  says  : — 
 
 "  What  I  could,  I  have  written  on  the  R.  C.  Controversy, 
 and  the  IMS.  is  now  in  Moberly's  hand  for  him  to  decide 
 whether  it  be  worth  printing ;  if  he  says  yes,  I  think  of 
 sending  it  to  you  and  a  few  more  in  proof,  to  be  criticized, 
 while  the  Sermons  themselves,  to  which  it  professes  to  be 
 a  preface,  are  printing." 
 
 On  April  23,  he  writes  : — 
 
 "  Moberly  has  said  imprimatur  to  my  papers  for  a  pre- 
 face, but  I  have  not  yet  been  able  to  satisfy  myself  about 
 the  Sermons  which  are  to  make  up  the  volume.     One  after 
 
342  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 another,  on  which  I  once  plumed  myself,  seems  such  stuff 
 when  I  come  to  look  over  it." 
 
 Accordingly  the  proofs  were  sent  to  me,  and  I 
 ventured  to  say  on  them  what  then  occurred  to  me ; 
 it  is  worth  seeing  in  what  spirit  he  received  sugges- 
 tions. He  and  Mrs.  Keble  had  been  with  us  in 
 London  in  June  ;  on  the  30th  he  says  : — 
 
 "  Perhaps  you  will  be  able  to  send  those  papers  with  the 
 shoemaker's  parcel ;  I  mean  to  add  something  to  the  effect 
 that  I  take  on  purpose  lower  ground  than  might  perhaps  be 
 taken.  I  want  to  shew  that  waiving  all  the  special  points 
 at  issue  between  the  two  Churches,  a  dutiful  person  ought 
 to  stay  where  he  is  ;  whichever  of  the  two  is  right  on  those 
 points.  I  reserve  the  question  of  the  Articles  and  Clerical 
 Communion,  about  which  I  still  think  I  was  substantially 
 right  in  my  unpublished  letter  to  you." 
 
 On  October  25,  when  he  had  received  my  com- 
 ments, he  writes  : — 
 
 "  Now  thank  you  at  least  5  times  for  the  5  sheets  which 
 you  have  looked  over  for  me.  I  have  used  all  your  sug- 
 gestions, I  believe,  but  one,  that  of  enlarging  the  part  of 
 the  argument,  where  it  is  maintained  that  the  distinctive 
 Roman  tenets  are  none  of  them  recommended  by  the  same 
 overwhelming  proof  as  our  common  Christianity.  It  would 
 have  delayed  me  too  long  to  have  verified  and  exemplified 
 this ;  and  you  know  the  whole  tenour  of  the  preface  is 
 merely  to  suggest  arguments,  not  to  carry  them  out.  It 
 is  all  printed  that  you  saw  in  M.S.,  and  a  little  more;  but 
 the  eye  gets  over  it  so  much  more  quickly  in  reading  it  in 
 type,  that  it  seemed  to  you  less.     Of  course  it  might  be 
 
Academical  and  Occasional  Sermons.  343 
 
 greatly  enlarged ;  but  I  had  not  the  *  time  now,  it  being  an 
 object  on  several  accounts  to  get  it  out  without  delay;  and 
 if  I  had  ever  so  much  leisure,  I  think  I  should  still  wish  the 
 job  in  the  hands  of  somebody  of  more  learning  and  dialectic 
 skill.  In  such  hands  I  really  think  it  might  be  made  a  good 
 deal  of ;  at  least,  the  more  I  think  of  it,  the  more  substance 
 there  appears  to  me  in  it — but  of  course  it  will  attract  in- 
 tense scorn  from  opposite  parties.  I  believe  I  have  quali- 
 fied the  2  or  3  passages  which  you  were  most  afraid  of." 
 
 The  volume,  when  published,  had  not  perhaps  all 
 the  success  which  it  deserved  ;  it  passed,  however,  to 
 a  second  edition,  and  I  am  informed  that  it  is  now 
 being  asked  for  a  good  deal.  Both  these  facts  may 
 well  be  accounted  for  :  the  Preface  was  addressed 
 to  neither  party  in  the  controversy  then  raging  ;  and 
 it  was  natural  that  neither  should  find  satisfaction 
 in  it,  the  Romanizers  on  the  one  hand,  or  the  un- 
 doubting  and  vehement  Protestants  on  the  other. 
 The  argument  framed  on  the  Butlerian  model  pur- 
 posely took  low  ground,  and  this  itself  was  of  course 
 a  cause  of  offence,  as  it  has  been  with  many  men  in 
 regard  to  the  model  itself.  It  was  assumed  that 
 Keble's  own  convictions  rested  on  these  and  none 
 other,  and  the  concessions  made  by  supposition  and 
 for  the  sake  of  argument  were  taken  for  real  ad- 
 missions. Now  that  the  heat  of  controversy  is  some- 
 what lulled  (I  wish  it  were  more  so),  the  argument 
 may  be  read  and  fairly  judged  on  its  own  hypo- 
 thesis.    It  seems  to  me  a  very  valuable  contribution 
 
344  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 to  our  theology.  Every  composition  is  fairly  liable  to 
 criticism,  both  in  regard  to  its  design  and  to  its  exe- 
 cution, but  the  latter  must  be  judged  with  reference 
 to  the  former.  Keble's  special  design  was  neither 
 to  re-convert  those  who  had  already  seceded,  nor 
 to  defend  the  English  Church  generally  against  the 
 Romanist  controversialist.  His  object  was  to  quiet 
 the  minds  of  those,  (and  no  one  knew  better  than  he 
 how  many  they  were,  nor  how  worthy  of  care  and 
 comfort,)  who  in  heart  desired  to  be  true  and  loyal 
 to  the  Church  of  their  Fathers,  but  in  whose  minds 
 uneasiness  had  been  excited,  either  by  the  example 
 or  the  publications  of  seceders,  or  by  scruples  which 
 circumstances  at  the  time  had  given  occasion  for, 
 and  which  they  were  unable  to  satisfy  for  them- 
 selves. This  seems  to  me,  at  least,  to  have  been 
 a  definite,  and  a  very  sufficient  object.  Some  may 
 wish  that  he  had  attempted  more.  Keble  had  a 
 just,  and  no  more  than  a  just  opinion  of  the  im- 
 portance and  difficulty  of  such  a  work :  he  did  not 
 think  himself  equal  to  dealing  with  the  whole  ques- 
 tion commensurately  with  these ;  and  he  certainly 
 would  have  shrunk  with  something  like  indigna- 
 tion from  attempting  so  to  deal  with  it  in  a  preface 
 or  a  pamphlet. 
 
 I  must  leave  the  execution  of  his  design  to  the 
 consideration  of  those  who  will  now  read  the  Preface 
 candidly  as  a  piece  of  Butlerian  argument.  One 
 thing,  I  hope,  we  shall  all  be  pleased  with,  his  con- 
 
The  Gladstone  Contests.  345 
 
 elusion  in  a  strain  not  very  usual  for  a  controversial 
 pamphlet,  but  very  characteristic  of  himself : — 
 
 "  May  one  be  permitted  (though  most  unworthy)  to  offer 
 one  concluding  suggestion,  which  will  surely  be  taken  in 
 good  part  by  all  kind  readers  of  whatever  section  of  the 
 Church  1  It  is  this ;  that  at  one  time  or  another  in  our  daily 
 devotions,  we  should  offer  up  Our  Lord's  Prayer,  as  a  prayer 
 in  special  for  Church  union  :  if  so  be  He  may  graciously 
 accept  it,  remembering  His  Own  Eucharistical  petition, 
 "  That  they  may  be  One  as  we  are." 
 
 This  is  followed  by  the  Lord's  Prayer,  broken  up 
 into  its  several  petitions,  with  an  application  of  each 
 to  the  special  purpose. 
 
 His  letters  at  this  time  remind  me  that  in  this 
 year,  1847,  the  Gladstone  contests  for  the  representa- 
 tion of  the  University  in  Parliament  commenced. 
 In  these  he  took  a  very  lively  interest,  perhaps  this 
 was  to  be  expected  in  the  beginning  ;  his  own  prin- 
 ciples found  a  more  exact  representative  in  Mr.  Glad- 
 stone than  in  his  opponent ;  and  he  had  a  much 
 higher  opinion  of  him  in  his  private  capacity.  But 
 the  interest  continued  unabated  to  Mr.  Gladstone's 
 only  and  final  defeat  in  1865.  Compared  with  his 
 successive  opponents,  Keble  always  thought  there 
 was  no  ground  for  hesitation  ;  he  was  always  in  his 
 opinion  the  best  and  most  creditable  representative 
 of  the  University.  Even  when,  as  sometimes  hap- 
 pened, he  might  not  have  been  prepared  to  follow 
 him  in  what  he  had  said  or  done,  he  still  thought 
 
346  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 that  there  being  no  reason  to  doubt  the  honesty  and 
 singleness  of  his  intentions,  it  was  unjust  and  unwise 
 in  a  private  man  to  withdraw  his  support  of  a  repre- 
 sentative, because  his  judgment,  probably  more  in- 
 formed, and  guided  by  a  better  appreciation  of  dif- 
 ficulties, differed  from  his  own.  All  through  the  series 
 of  contests  his  support  was  given  heartily,  I  may  say 
 affectionately  and  actively;  in  the  contest  of  1852, 
 he  wrote  to  Sir  Brook  W.  Bridges,  who  was,  I  believe, 
 Chairman  of  Dr.  Marsham's  London  Committee,  and 
 an  old  pupil  of  his  own  at  Oriel,  a  letter  "  On  the  Re- 
 presentation of  the  University  of  Oxford,"  which  is 
 probably  now  forgotten.  Keble,  however,  does  not 
 use  merely  occasional  arguments  on  an  occasional 
 subject ;  this  letter  shews  the  principles  on  which 
 he  thought  it  right  then  to  continue  his  support  to 
 Mr.  Gladstone,  and  on  which  in  substance  he  acted 
 to  the  end.  His  support  was,  I  need  not  say,  very 
 influential  on  many  minds.  The  issue  of  the  contest 
 in  1865  he  deeply  lamented. 
 
 I  have  made  an  extract  from  a  letter  written 
 towards  the  close  of  1846,  in  which  he  speaks  of  his 
 *  church  work  really  beginning  ;"  this  was  steadily 
 pursued  all  through  1847,  and  until  October,  1848, 
 when  the  church  was  reconsecrated. 
 
 Writing  to  Cornish,  he  says  : — 
 
 "If.  K,  June  30,  1847. 
 "As  for  ourselves,  we  jog  on  comfortably  enough,  far 
 more  so  than  one  of  us  deserves :  and  just  now  the  days 
 
Restoration  of  Hursley  Church.  347 
 
 are  made  very  short  by  the  pleasure  of  watching  our  new 
 church,  how  it  gradually  gets  on,  encasing  the  old  one. 
 I  don't  know  whether  you  would  like  it ;  I  do,  as  far  as  it 
 has  gone,  very  much." 
 
 It  was  found,  wherever  the  old  and  new  buildings 
 coincided,  that  the  old  walls  were  so  well  built,  that 
 they  would  need  only  to  be  cased  in  stone ;  where- 
 ever  it  was  necessary  to  build  anew,  from  the  differ- 
 ence in  size  or  design,  the  village  masons,  under 
 proper  direction,  laid  in  the  foundations.  About 
 Easter,  1847,  he  made  his  contract  with  Messrs.  Locke 
 and  Nesham,  "for  £3,380,  exclusive  of  these  founda- 
 tions, the  seats,  and  other  fittings,  most  of  the  flooring 
 and  windows."  And  he  roughly  estimated  these  at 
 £1,200  more.  Had  he  completed  his  design  for  the 
 windows,  and  been  at  the  sole  cost,  he  must  have 
 provided  a  much  larger  sum  than  that  for  this  last 
 item  alone.  For  his  mind  turned  with  the  fondness 
 of  old  associations  to  the  numerous  and  costly  win- 
 dows of  Fairford  Church  ;  he  did  not  indeed  desire 
 strictly  to  copy  them,  the  different  sizes  and  cha- 
 racters of  the  two  churches  forbidding  that ;  but 
 he  wished  to  fill  all  the  windows  at  Hursley  with 
 a  connected  series,  according  to  the  general  design 
 of  that  at  Fairford.  His  idea  was  to  carry  a  kind 
 of  sacred  history  all  round  the  church  from  the 
 Fall  to  the  Day  of  Judgment. 
 
 His  design  was  in  due  time,  not  exactly,  but  in 
 some   sort,   completed  ;   and   only   a   comparatively 
 
348  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 small  portion  of  the  expense  fell  on  him.  Mrs.  Heath- 
 cote  presented  one  large  quasi-transeptal  window ; 
 Sir  William  and  Lady  Heathcote  the  other ;  Lady 
 Lothian  and  Lady  Bath,  each  contributed  a  window ; 
 two  I  think  were  provided  out  of  an  overflowing 
 offertory  on  the  day  of  consecration  ;  and  it  having 
 occurred  to  some  of  his  friends  that  this  was  a  season- 
 able opportunity,  and  a  right  mode  of  testifying  their 
 love  for  him,  and  admiration  of  his  character,  a  sub- 
 scription was  raised,  and  applied  towards  completing 
 what  should  remain.  The  management  of  this  fund 
 financially  devolved  on  me,  and  I  regret  that  I  long 
 ago  destroyed  or  lost  all  the  accounts  and  papers 
 relating  to  it ;  but  among  my  own  letters  returned 
 to  me  I  have  found  one,  which  enables  me  to  state 
 that  although  the  subscribers  were  numerous,  and 
 the  sum  raised  large,  it  did  not  suffice  for  the  whole 
 expense  ;  and  that  I  applied,  with  his  sanction,  part 
 of  the  monies  paid  to  me  by  his  publisher  from 
 time  to  time,  to  make  up  the  deficiency.  As  the 
 windows  would  require  to  be  paid  for  one  or  two 
 at  a  time,  and  sometimes  at  considerable  intervals, 
 I  took  on  me  to  advance  him  portions  of  this  fund, 
 as  money  was  needed  for  the  church.  It  was  ar- 
 ranged that  for  these  advances  he  was  to  pay  in- 
 terest ;  but  as  he  had  himself  to  supplement  the 
 fund,  that  arrangement  of  course  fell  to  the  ground. 
 Keble  was  extremely  touched  and  gratified  by  this 
 testimony  from  his  friends.    He  took  great  pains  and 
 
Restoration  of  Hursley  Church.  349 
 
 interest  in  the  designs  first,  and  in  the  execution 
 afterwards  ;  and  I  mention  with  pleasure  the  friendly 
 part  which  artists  and  professional  men  took  in  the 
 matter  out  of  respect  to  him  ;  Mr.  Dyce  volunteered 
 help  as  to  designs,  and  much  correspondence  took 
 place  between  the  two  on  the  subject ;  a  more  learned 
 and  tasteful  assistant  he  could  scarcely  have  had  ; 
 Mr.  Copley  Fielding  was  a  contributor ;  Mr.  Rich- 
 mond also ;  but  eventually  he  had  the  good  fortune 
 to  secure  the  direction  and  inspection  of  Mr.  Butter- 
 field,  a  candid  but  severe  judge,  who,  I  remember, 
 was  not  satisfied  in  respect  of  the  east  window,  until 
 the  third  essay  had  been  made ;  two,  which  were 
 finished  and  placed,  were  removed  wholly  or  in  part 
 to  make  way  for  it.  It  is  but  justice  to  Mr.  Wailes, 
 who,  I  think,  executed  all  the  windows,  to  say  that  he 
 submitted  to  his  judgment  with  perfect  good  temper. 
 The  first  stone  had  been  laid  on  May  20,  1847; 
 the  consecration,  as  I  have  stated,  was  on  Oct.  24, 
 1848.  I  had  the  happiness  to  be  present  at  it  with 
 my  brother  Patteson ;  and  I  met  a  large  assemblage 
 of  common  friends,  many  whom  I  had  not  seen 
 for  many  years,  some  whom  I  saw  then  for  the  last 
 time ;  in  the  retrospect  of  such  meetings  there  is 
 usually,  I  think,  more  of  sober  pleasure  than  of 
 sorrow.  The  numbers  who  assembled  at  an  early 
 service  in  the  Barn  which  had  been  used  as  a  tem- 
 porary church,  and  afterwards  at  the  church  itself, 
 were  large  ;   and  in  my  memorandum,  made  at  the 
 
3  5  o  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 time,  I  perceive  that  I  noted  with  pleasure  the  due 
 proportion  of  smock-frocks  among  the  congrega- 
 tion. Our  only  drawback,  and  a  serious  one  it  was, 
 was  the  ill-health  and  suffering  looks  of  Sir  William, 
 who,  however,  although  unable  to  go  through  all 
 the  services  and  fatigues  of  the  day,  opened  his  house 
 to  a  very  large  number  of  the  guests,  and  entered 
 into  the  feeling  of  the  day  heartily.  In  the  memo- 
 randum to  which  I  have  already  referred,  I  see  I  note 
 "  the  sweet  state  of  humble  happy  thankfulness"  in 
 which  Keble  and  his  wife  appeared  to  be  ;  it  was 
 happiness  to  him  to  see  assembled  at  the  Vicarage, 
 which  was  full  to  overflowing,  so  many  whom  he 
 dearly  loved,  and  who  so  cordially  sympathized  with 
 him  ;  but  it  was,  as  I  called  it  truly,  "  humble  and 
 happy  thankfulness,"  with  which  he  regarded  the 
 completion  of  his  long-cherished,  long-laboured  de- 
 sign— the  erection  of  a  church  according  to  his  means, 
 suitable  for  the  worship  of  God,  and  in  advancement 
 of  the  best  interests  of  his  parishioners.  The  money, 
 a  large  sum  for  him,  nearly,  if  not  quite,  double 
 the  amount  specified  in  the  first  limited  contract, 
 was  perhaps  the  least  part  of  what  it  had  cost  him ; 
 everything,  from  the  first  materials  to  the  last  finish 
 even  of  the  minutest  article  in  the  ornamentation, 
 had  his  personal  care  bestowed  on  it.  I  remember 
 specially  admiring  the  aptness  of  the  several  texts 
 with  which  the  steps  from  the  entrance  of  the  church 
 to  the  altar  were  faced ;  and  the  same  attention  to 
 
Restoration  of  Hursley  Church.  351 
 
 fitness  was  to  be  observed  in  every  part  of  the 
 church.  There  was  no  stained  glass  in  the  win- 
 dows then,  but,  as  I  noticed  at  the  time,  we 
 scarcely  missed  it.  It  is  but  just  to  say  that  Mrs. 
 Keble  participated  most  heartily  in  his  care  first, 
 and  delight  afterwards,  and  was,  in  heart  at  least, 
 a  willing  contributor  to  the  expense  incurred. 
 
 The  completion  of  the  tower,  and  the  addition  of 
 a  beautiful  spire,  were  subsequently  accomplished 
 by  Sir  William  ;  and  I  scarcely  know  any  parish 
 church  where  the  spire  is  so  beautiful  an  object 
 from  so  many  points  as  this.  Keble,  at  the  request 
 of  the  builder,  mounted  to  the  summit,  and  with  his 
 own  hand  placed  the  last  stone  on  it,  when  that 
 finishing  act  was  to  be  done,  not,  as  he  told  my  in- 
 formant, without  fear  of  a  fall. 
 
 He  was  happy  and  thankful.  But  it  was  during 
 the  progress  of  the  work  that  the  state  of  affairs  in 
 the  Church  weighed  heavily  on  his  spirits ;  he  says, 
 writing  to  me  in  May  about  his  building : — 
 
 "Meantime  I  try  to  make  up  my  mind  to  that  which 
 seems  to  me,  considering  all  things,  every  day  more  and 
 more  likely,  viz.  that  I  shall  not  myself  ever  do  duty  in 
 that  church ;  at  least,  so  it  seems  to  be  agreed  by  those 
 who  are  at  present  in  authority,  and  nobody  speaks  a  word 
 against  it.  Nevertheless,  I  suppose  it  is  one's  duty  to  go 
 on  just  as  if  all  were  encouraging.  I  know,  at  least,  whose 
 fault  it  chiefly  is,  if  one  could  but  have  the  heart  so  to 
 
352  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 take  it :    and  that  I  hope  one's  friends  will  be  so  good 
 as  to  ask  for  one.     But  enough  of  that," 
 
 This  was  the  year  in  which  Dr.  Hampden  was 
 placed  as  Bishop  in  the  See  of  Hereford.  Keble 
 and  he  had  been  brother  fellows  of  Oriel,  and  per- 
 sonally he  had  a  great  regard  for  him.  It  was, 
 therefore,  a  painful  duty  to  him  to  take  part  in  the 
 proceedings  which  were  instituted  to  prevent  his 
 Confirmation  ;  abortive  they  were ;  but  they  had  the 
 effect,  at  all  events,  of  calling  attention  to  the  need- 
 less and  shockingly  profane  mockery  which  the  law 
 enforces  in  the  election  and  confirmation  of  bishops ; 
 and  it  may  be  hoped,  that  some  day  it  will  turn 
 out  that  in  this  respect,  at  least,  those  proceedings 
 were  not  wholly  useless. 
 
 Keble's  apprehensions,  however,  it  must  be  ad- 
 mitted, were  exaggerated,  not  only  for  himself,  but 
 for  the  Church.  He  was  not  only  able  to  remain 
 the  Incumbent  of  Hursley  to  his  death,  with  the 
 good  assent,  I  believe,  even  of  those  who  differed 
 from  him  most  widely  in  opinions  ;  but  the  Church 
 of  England  has  maintained,  I  will  not  say  the  posi- 
 tion which  he  thought  she  ought  to  hold,  and  those 
 who  think  with  him  desire  she  should,  but  one  at 
 least  as  near  to  it,  as  he  had  seen  her  in  possession 
 of  at  any  time  in  his  life. 
 
 For  himself  personally,  he  was  an  object  of  general 
 
Accident  at  WincJiestcr.  353 
 
 love  and  admiration,  without  respect  to  any  religious 
 differences.  And  this  was  strikingly  manifested  on 
 occasion  of  an  accident  which  befel  him  in  the  Close 
 at  Winchester  in  November,  1847.  He  always  spoke 
 of  the  exceeding  kindness  then  shewn  to  him,  espe- 
 cially I  think  by  Canon  Woodrooffe,  but  generally  by 
 the  residents  there.  He  was  driving  with  Mr.  Rogers, 
 a  brother  of  Sir  F.  Rogers,  and,  as  he  says,  "  by  a 
 very  foolish  piece  of  carelessness"  of  his  own,  the 
 carriage  was  run  away  with,  and  both  of  them 
 thrown  out.  It  was  owing,  he  says,  "  to  a  very 
 merciful  Providence,"  that  they  escaped  with  their 
 lives.  He  was  laid  up  for  a  short  time,  but  no  ma- 
 terial injury  was  in  the  end  sustained  by  either. 
 
 &a 
 
CHAPTER    XV. 
 
 SHOULD  KEBLE  HAVE  BEEN  PREFERRED  TO  DIG- 
 NITY IN  THE  CHURCH. — TOUR  IN  WALES,  AND 
 VISIT  TO  IRELAND,  1840. — TOUR  IN  SCOTLAND, 
 1842. — UNDERTAKES  TO  WRITE  LIFE  OF  BISHOP 
 WILSON. — VISIT  TO  ISLE  OF  MAN,  1 849. — MAR- 
 RIAGES WITH  SISTER  OF  DECEASED  WIFE,  1 849. 
 — SECOND  VISIT  TO  MAN,  1 85 2. — TRIP  TO  SKYE, 
 1353. 
 
 I  HAVE  ventured  to  intimate  an  opinion  at  the 
 close  of  the  preceding  chapter  that  Keble  some- 
 times allowed  himself  to  indulge  too  much  in  what 
 might  almost  be  called  a  querulous  foreboding  as 
 to  the  Church  of  England,  and  the  utterances  of 
 a  severe  spirit  against  the  proceedings  of  the  autho- 
 rities both  in  Church  and  State  in  regard  to  mea- 
 sures affecting  Her ;  and  that  in  the  intensity  and 
 single-mindedness  with  which  he  pursued  a  principle, 
 he  scarcely  made  due  allowance  for  the  difficulties 
 which  beset  those  in  high  places.  It  will  be  under- 
 stood, I  hope,  or  injustice  would  be  done  him,  that 
 this  mode  of  thinking  and  speaking  was  by  no  means 
 extended  to  persons  ;  if  in  a  moment  of  irritation  he 
 said  or  wrote  anything  "  scornful,"  (as  he  called  it,) 
 of  any  one,  he  would  be  seriously  angry  with  him- 
 
Keble  not  Promoted.  355 
 
 self,  and  add  probably  some  severe  term  of  general 
 self-condemnation. 
 
 I  have  mentioned  the  intensity  of  his  spirit  as  one 
 cause  of  what  I  remark  on,  and  I  may  add  that  as 
 years  passed  on,  the  authority  of  his  character  so 
 deepened,  and  the  greater  part  of  those  with  whom 
 he  lived,  and  of  whom  he  saw  most,  had  such  a  re- 
 verence for  him,  that  his  opinions  were  seldom  can- 
 vassed with  that  freedom  in  conversation  with  him- 
 self which  is  good  for  the  wisest  of  men.  For 
 myself  I  liked,  I  confess,  to  express  my  occasional 
 oppositions  to  him  in  my  correspondence,  rather 
 than  in  conversation ;  I  could  do  so  more  freely, 
 although  I  always  felt  not  merely  the  superiority 
 of  his  intellect,  but  of  his  knowledge  on  most  of  the 
 subjects  we  discussed.  But  I  remember  conversing 
 with  Dyson  on  some  matter,  "  Synods"  I  believe, 
 on  which  Keble  and  I  had  differed.  He  happened 
 to  agree  with  me,  "  But  then,"  said  he,  "  when  Keble 
 is  with  me  discussing  such  things,  he  is  so  earnest, 
 and  I  have  such  a  feeling,  that  one  with  so  much 
 holiness,  as  well  as  learning  and  ability,  must  be 
 right,  that  I  succumb  at  the  time  to  arguments 
 and  assertions,  which,  when  I  think  them  over  after- 
 wards, do  not  always  satisfy  my  reason,  or  my  ac- 
 quaintance with  history."  And  then  adverting  to 
 the  subject  of  discussion,  in  reference  to  Keble's 
 argument,  he  added,  what  I  have  recollected  ever 
 since,    u  In   such    matters   we   ought    not  to   be  fet- 
 
3 $6  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 tered  by  the  forms  and  precedents  of  antiquity,  but 
 should  look  to  the  spirit  and  to  the  circumstances 
 of  respective  ages  ;  never  losing  sight  of  these  latter, 
 making  them  indeed  our  pole-star,  but  dealing  re- 
 spectfully, yet  not  servilely,  with  the  forms." 
 
 No  one,  moreover,  could  be  more  hearty,  or  hum- 
 ble in  his  expressions  of  thankfulness  for  personal 
 kindness,  or  of  commendation,  where  any  measure 
 seemed  to  him  taken  wisely,  or  pursued  in  a  right 
 spirit,  even  by  those  from  whom  he  very  commonly 
 differed  in  judgment. 
 
 But  I  should  not  write  sincerely,  if  I  did  not  say 
 that  there  were  some  things  said  and  done  which 
 might  well  wound  him  in  the  tenderest  part.  "  The 
 sorrow  of  his  life,"  as  I  have  called  it,  the  loss, 
 namely,  to  the  Church,  and  to  himself,  of  his  dearest 
 friend,  he  attributed  in  good  measure,  and  I  think 
 with  too  much  justice,  to  the  conduct  systematically 
 pursued  towards  him  ;  and  it  was  but  an  embitter- 
 ment  when  men  with  much  coarseness  and  little 
 wisdom  of  spirit  pointed  to  the  result  as  a  justifi- 
 cation of  their  course  of  conduct.  And  this  was 
 not  uncommonly  done  by  those  who  seemed  little 
 able  to  trace  the  complex  motives  which  often 
 operate  to  produce  human  actions,  sometimes  even 
 without  the  consciousness  of  the  doers  of  them.  This, 
 however,  is  a  subject  on  which  I  can  do  no  more  than 
 touch  for  obvious  reasons. 
 
 Beyond    this,   however,   which   wounded    him    so 
 
Keble  not  Promoted.  357 
 
 deeply,  it  must  be  remembered  that  he  thought 
 sincerely  that  vital  doctrines  of  the  Faith,  and  the 
 Catholicity  of  the  Church  were,  at  least,  endangered 
 more  than  once  by  things  allowed,  or  sanctioned 
 by,  sometimes  even  directly  proceeding  from,  those 
 in  Her  high  places.  No  interests  were  dearer  to 
 him  than  those  involved  ;  he  might  be  wrong  in  his 
 opinions,  but  he  had,  at  least,  a  right  to  hold  and 
 to  express  them  ;  for  no  one  could  impute  that  he 
 took  them  up  hastily ;  or  that  he  had  not  thought 
 and  read  deeply  on  the  subjects  to  which  they  re- 
 lated ;  or  that  he  had  any  but  the  purest  motives 
 in  his  advocacy  of  them. 
 
 Dignities  in  the  Church,  I  think,  never  entered 
 into  his  contemplation  for  himself.  I  cannot  re- 
 collect in  all  our  correspondence,  or  in  our  most 
 intimate  conversations,  a  single  expression  which 
 pointed  that  way ;  and  I  believe  that,  if  they  had 
 been  offered,  they  would  have  been  declined.  1 
 have,  perhaps,  no  right  to  express  an  opinion  on 
 this  subject,  except  to  say  in  fairness  that  it  must 
 have  been  so  gratifying,  and  obviously  so  popular 
 a  thing  to  exercise  the  power  of  patronage  in  his 
 promotion,  that  independently  of  all  personal  con- 
 siderations, a  strong  presumption  arises  that  the  ab- 
 staining from  it,  whether  wise  or  not,  was  strictly  con- 
 scientious. Yet  I  cannot  but  believe  that  it  would 
 have  been  good  for  Keble,  good  for  both  parties 
 in  the  Church,  and  what  is  more  to  the  purpose, 
 have  conduced  to  the  holding  of  opinions  with  more 
 
3$$  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 charity,  if  honours  had  been  offered  to  and  accepted 
 by  him.  A  long  experience  confirms  me  in  think- 
 ing that  where  persons  oppose  each  other  honestly, 
 however  decidedly,  in  belief  or  opinion,  the  cause  of 
 truth,  which  commonly  lies  between  both,  and  of 
 charity,  without  which  even  truth  itself  can  scarcely 
 be  maintained  truly,  is  greatly  served  by  the  neces- 
 sities, the  softening  and  enlightening  necessities,  of 
 personal  and  official  communion.  Rarely,  indeed, 
 do  fallible  men  hold  the  truth  without  some  ad- 
 mixture of  error,  and  even  where  they  hold  to  that 
 which  is  error  in  the  main,  commonly  this  is  miti- 
 gated, morally  at  least  to  the  individual,  by  some 
 infusion  of  truth  in  particulars.  Moreover,  in  the  re- 
 ligious differences  of  Christians  there  must  be  much, 
 and  of  importance  too,  which  is  common  ground  ; 
 and  where  honest  men  are  compelled  by  their  posi- 
 tion to  act  together  in  some  common  duty,  or  with 
 regard  to  some  common  interests,  this  ground  be- 
 comes more  apparent,  and  is  estimated  more  justly 
 as  to  its  importance.  These  are  general  considera- 
 tions ;  but  in  regard  to  Keble  it  is  not  the  over- 
 weening fondness  of  friendship,  I  feel  sure,  which 
 makes  me  say  that  there  were  exceptional  consi- 
 derations also  which  ought  not  to  have  been  with- 
 out weight;  as  his  was  a  nature  so  humble,  and 
 so  loving,  that  personal  influences  would  have  spe- 
 cially touched  and  softened  his  heart,  so  were  his 
 claims  and  merits  so  undeniable,  and  so  remarkable, 
 that  to  pass  him  over  was  in  effect  not  merely  to 
 
Keble  and  his  Ctirate.  359 
 
 ignore  them,  but  to  imply  in  some  measure  a  con- 
 demnation of  him. 
 
 I  have  mentioned  that  Mr.  Wilson,  the  first  In- 
 cumbent at  Ampfield,  was  the  first  Curate  of  Ke- 
 ble's appointment  at  Hursley.  This  connection  was 
 the  commencement  of  an  intimate  friendship  be- 
 tween them  which  ended  only  with  Keble's  life. 
 Mr.  Wilson  has  been  kind  enough  to  furnish  me 
 with  many  of  Keble's  letters,  which,  among  other 
 things,  uniformly  disclose  the  delightful  footing  on 
 which  the  Vicar  and  Curate  stood  towards  each 
 other.  The  first  letter  in  which  the  Curacy  is  of- 
 fered, gives  the  tone  to  all  that  follow ;  at  that 
 time  Mr.  Wilson  was  comparatively  a  stranger ;  but 
 nothing  can  be  more  open,  or  considerate,  or  kind  ; 
 and  the  series  shews  how  pleasant  that  relation 
 may  be  made  to  the  parties,  how  instructive  to 
 the  younger,  how  beneficial  to  the  parish.  When- 
 ever Keble  was  absent,  he  received  minute  accounts 
 of  everything  which  occurred  in  the  parish,  of  im- 
 portance for  him  to  know,  and  especially  of  every 
 sick,  or  offending  parishioner.  It  is  obvious  from 
 his  answers  that  he  maintained  not  merely  the  in- 
 terest, which  was  of  course  with  him,  but  such 
 a  knowledge  in  detail  of  all  that  required  his  ad- 
 vice, or  interference,  that  he  might  almost  be  said  to 
 be  present  in  directing  or  sanctioning  whatever  it 
 might  be  necessary  to  do.  I  reserve  some  parti- 
 culars  as   to    this    matter  for  a  later  stage    in    my 
 
360  Memoir  of  the  Rev,  John  Keble. 
 
 work,  but  I  mention  these  letters  now,  because  hav- 
 ing anticipated  events  in  order  to  complete  at  once 
 what  I  had  to  say  respecting  the  new  church,  I 
 go  back  and  shall  be  indebted  to  them  for  some 
 facts  which  seem  worth  mentioning,  especially  as 
 Keble  will  be  himself  for  the  most  part  the  nar- 
 rator of  them. 
 
 He  did  not  willingly  take  leave  of  absence  from 
 Hursley,  but  there  were  few  years  from  about  the 
 period  of  his  life  at  which  I  am  now  arrived,  in 
 which  Mrs.  Keble's  delicate  health,  and  indications 
 of  lassitude  or  weakness,  rather  than  absolute  failure 
 in  his  own,  did  not  make  a  change  of  air  and  scene 
 for  her,  with  relaxation  from  his  work  for  himself 
 desirable,  if  not  necessary ;  and  so  he  commonly 
 left  home  for  some  few  weeks  in  the  summer;  and 
 this  I  think  he  would  scarcely  have  consented  to, 
 unless  he  had  felt  perfect  confidence  in  the  substi- 
 tute, upon  whom  the  care  of  the  parish  devolved  in 
 his  absence. 
 
 Perhaps  I  have  mentioned  before,  that  in  1840,  he 
 was  in  North  Wales,  and  stayed  some  days  at  Bar- 
 mouth. Thence  he  made  his  way  by  Harlech  to 
 Tan-y-bwlch,  and  so  by  Bedd-gelert  to  Llanberis, 
 Carnarvon,  and  Beaumaris.  From  this  last  place 
 he  writes  to  Mr.  Wilson.  He  passed  a  Sunday  at 
 Llanberis,  and  describes  it  thus.  So  many  years 
 have  elapsed,  and  matters,  I  dare  say,  are  now  so 
 much  mended,  that  I  may  print  the  account  with- 
 
Tour  in  Wales.  361 
 
 out  fear  of  giving  pain  to  any  one.      The   date  is 
 August  19,  1840: — 
 
 "  This  implies  our  being  at  home  by  Sunday,  the  14th 
 Sept",  at  the  very  farthest.  It  is  an  unconscionably  long 
 absence,  but  if  it  really  sets  up  my  wife  with  tolerably  good 
 health  against  the  winter,  it  is  perhaps  one's  duty  to  stay 
 out  even  that  long  time.  And  I  cannot  but  say  it  is  very 
 pleasant.  I  enjoy  Wales  and  the  Welch,  the  mountains, 
 and  shores,  and  waterfalls,  of  all  things  ;  but  I  am  afraid  I 
 shall  come  home  without  going  up  either  of  the  great  moun- 
 tains. And  I  have  an  unpleasant  feeling  that  my  time 
 passes  away  very  quick  in  proportion  to  the  work  I  do  ; 
 there  is  always  some  wonderment  or  other  to  hinder  either 
 reading,  writing,  or  thinking,  and  yet  one  feels  that  such 
 objects  as  Snowdon,  whether  far  or  near,  ought  to  make 
 one  think  to  the  best  purpose.  One  thing  I  really  imagine 
 one  does  learn  by  travelling  in  Wales,  and  that  is  to  realize 
 in  earnest  the  present  condition  of  the  Church  in  G.  Britain. 
 E.g.  last  Sunday  we  were  staying  at  the  nearest  good  Inn 
 we  could  find  to  Snowdon,  and  we  found,  that  in  the  Parish 
 Church  (of  Llanberis),  there  was  but  one  service,  varying 
 in  time  from  n£  to  1^,  the  Clergyman  living  6  miles  off, 
 and  no  one  knowing  which  the  hour  would  be,  the  parish 
 perhaps  15  miles  long.  So  we  went  at  11,  that  we  might 
 have  plenty  of  time  to  look  about  us.  When  we  got  there, 
 we  sent  our  car  away,  and  wandered  a  little  up  the  glen, 
 which,  as  I  dare  say  you  know,  is  most  romantic,  till  we 
 heard  the  Church  Bell.  We  hastened  back  and  found  that 
 in  the  Church  was  going  on,  not  service,  but  a  sort  of  school 
 of  adult  Welchmen,  and  some  children,  who  seemed  to  be 
 learning  to  read,  and  saying  a  sort  of  catechism  to  a  man 
 whom  I  much  suspected  of  acting  sometimes  as  Teacher  in 
 
362  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 a  different  sort  of  place  about  200  yards  from  the  Church, 
 it  was  all  Welch.  However,  we  went  in,  partly  for  shelter, 
 as  it  begun  to  be  cold  and  drizzling,  and  the  people  seemed 
 very  little  put  out  by  our  being  there.  After  a  time  they 
 had  finished  their  work,  and  went  home,  I  suppose,  to 
 dinner,  the  man  first  saying  a  prayer  in  Welch,  with  seem- 
 ingly much  grave  devotion.  We  were  left  in  the  Church 
 alone,  and  so  had  time  to  read  the  best  part  of  the  service 
 together  in  English,  during  the  latter  part  of  which  some 
 children  were  watching  us,  but  behaved  very  well.  At  last, 
 a  good  deal  after  one  o'clock  came  the  Parson,  put  us  into 
 a  pew,  and  the  regular  service  proceeded.  There  were  but 
 few  persons,  and  the  singing  was  much  inferior  to  what  we 
 have  generally  heard  in  Welch  Churches,  but  all  was  to 
 the  ear  very  unaffected  and  solemn ;  and  to  the  eye  also, 
 except  the  extreme  dirt  and  negligence  of  the  old  Church, 
 and  all  its  appointments ;  it  is  very  old,  standing  a  far  better 
 chance,  I  imagine,  of  belonging  to  the  7th  Century,  than 
 most  of  those  whereof  our  friend  S did  so  vaunt  him- 
 self;  and  it  is  a  very  handsome  plan  of  a  church,  a  long 
 nave  with  a  triple  Chancel,  and  a  large  and  old  font  at  the 
 West  End  ;  the  stone  so  massive,  with  such  varied  rough- 
 nesses and  weather-stains,  as  almost  to  give  the  effect  of 
 architecture  by  itself.  It  is  a  good  deal  the  worse  for 
 Churchwardenizing ;  but  that  is  nothing  to  the  dirty  dis- 
 respectful condition  in  which  the  whole  of  it  is  left, — from 
 the  tottering  three-legged  Communion-Table,  which  stands 
 so  near  the  rails,  that  a  man  leaned  his  hands  on  it  to  say 
 his  prayers,  when  he  first  came  into  Church,  to  the  tumbled 
 frill  of  the  Minister's  Surplice,  every  thing  shewed  a  con- 
 sistent dislike  of  soap,  and  of  ecclesiastical  decency.  One 
 thing  only  was  satisfactory,  the  seats  of  the  people  were  as 
 dirty  and  uncomfortable  as  anything  else.     And  all  this  in 
 
Visits  to  Irelci7id  and  Scotland.  363 
 
 the  midst  of  the  most  glorious  sights  and  sounds  in  nature. 
 Well,  good-bye.  God  mend  us  all.   Your  ever  affectionate, 
 
 J.  K." 
 
 From  Wales  they  crossed  to  Ireland,  "Went  on 
 board  at  7,  and  woke  up  in  Kingston  Harbour  in 
 a  most  exquisite  calm  moonlight  at  if."  Their 
 direct  object  was  a  short  visit  to  Mr.  Trench,  near 
 Athy,  and  they  seem  to  have  well  employed  their 
 time  for  a  few  days  in  seeing  much  that  was  in- 
 teresting. He  writes  again  from  Tan-y-bwld  on  the 
 30th  of  August,  in  his  way  to  Bisley  and  home. 
 They  reached  the  latter  safely,  and  much  refreshed, 
 and  I  think  Mrs.  Keble's  health  occasioned  no  move- 
 ment from  home  for  any  length  of  time  during  the 
 remainder  of  that  or  all  the  following  year. 
 
 In  the  summer  of  1842,  he  went  to  Scotland,  and 
 it  is  worth  while  to  insert  here  parts  of  a  letter  to 
 Mr.  Wilson,  dated  from  Edinburgh  on  the  29th  of 
 July ;  a  great  deal  of  it  is  taken  up  in  minute  direc- 
 tions about  persons  and  things  in  Hursley,  but  much 
 relates  to  his  tour.  If  he  had  been  scandalized  at 
 the  outward  appearance  of  things  relating  to  the 
 Church  in  Wales,  it  was  to  be  expected  he  would 
 be  not  less  so  at  what  he  saw  in  Scotland  ;  even 
 the  contrast  of  the  past,  which  beautiful  ruins  pre- 
 sented to  his  eye,  made  the  present  more  distressing 
 to  him.  His  language  is  strong,  but  it  must  be  re- 
 membered that  he  is  writing  in  the  freedom  of  in- 
 timate correspondence.  He  calls  it  at  the  close  of 
 his  letter,  "  a  spit  of  toad-like  venom." 
 
364  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 "  We  came  here,"  he  says,  "  yesterday,  from  Melrose,  by 
 way  of  Abbotsford  and  Peebles,  to  which  latter  we  turned, 
 expecting  to  meet  a  coach,  but  were  too  late  for  it.  I  have 
 been  more  struck  with  this  place  even  than  I  expected,  and 
 only  wish  I  could  kick  down  their  heathen  Parthenon,  and 
 put  a  true  Church  in  its  place,  a  York  or  Lincoln  of  the 
 best  proportions.  As  yet  I  have  scarce  seen  any  thing  but 
 from  this  window,  for  we  found  so  many  letters  and  proof- 
 sheets  waiting  here,  that  we  have  not  yet  done  our  neces- 
 sary morning's  work  in  answering  them.  But  I  think  of 
 calling  on  Mr.  Ramsay,  not  only  as  you  seemed  to  wish 
 it,  but  also  because  I  want  to  get  into  some  Library  to 
 get  some  of  the  sheets  corrected.  The  Kirks,  and  the 
 manner  in  which  they  defile  and  insult  the  sacred  places, 
 e.g.  Jedburgh  Abbey,  are  even  more  horrid  than  I  had  ex- 
 pected. I  would  not  be  in  one  of  them  at  service  time  on 
 any  consideration.  They  proclaim  aloud,  every  inch  of 
 them,  'down  with  the  altar.'  The  true  churches,  except 
 the  ruins,  seem  few  and  far  between  ;  they  told  me  at  Mel- 
 rose, there  was  none  nearer  than  Kelso,  or  Peebles,  but  I 
 suspect  I  saw  a  new  one  at  Galashiels. 
 
 "Last  Sunday  we  were  at  Carlisle,  which  bids  fair  be- 
 fore long  to  be  a  Kirk  instead  of  a  Church,  according  to 
 appearances ;  a  beautiful  Choir,  most  slovenly  served  and 
 attended ;  no  one  but  ourselves,  and  one  lady  with  2  or  3 
 more  strangers  on  St.  James'  Day.  I  was  greatly  disap- 
 pointed there  altogether.  Temporally,  I  do  not  know  when 
 I  have  seen  so  thriving  a  country  as  these  Lowlands ;  the 
 little  manufacturing  towns  on  our  road,  though  rather  com- 
 plaining, seemed  still  to  have  work ;  and  the  tillage  seemed 
 to  surpass  any  thing  I  ever  saw.  Between  Kelso  and  Jed- 
 burgh they  were  reaping  barley,  and  the  corn  crops  are 
 spoken  of  as  excellent.  But  the  great  delight  is  to  see  the 
 places  one  has  read  so  much  of  in  W.  Scott.     We  went  by 
 
Visit  to  Scotland.  365 
 
 Kelso,  that  we  might  see  Sandyknow,  where,  you  know,  he 
 was  at  nurse,  and  I  am  very  glad  we  did  so ;  we  called 
 also  at  Dryburgh  in  our  way  to  Melrose,  and  Abbotsford, 
 and  passed  by  Ashestiel  in  our  way  to  Peebles ;  in  short, 
 we  seem  to  meet  him  everywhere  as  we  did  Wordsworth  in 
 the  Lake  Country.  We  have  missed  Yarrow,  which  I  was 
 sorry  for,  but  the  weather  was  unpromising  yesterday  morn- 
 ing. As  to  Melrose,  I  like  it  altogether  the  best  of  any 
 ruin  I  ever  saw ;  but  surely  something  bad  must  happen 
 to  the  Scots  for  resisting  so  many  years  the  witness  which 
 such  places  bear  against  them.  The  scrolls,  and  the  few 
 images  which  remain,  are  most  beautiful  circumstances  in 
 it.  I  suspect  the  Presbyterian  Teacher  there  is  afraid  of 
 the  effect  of  the  Abbey  on  people's  minds,  as  he  has  built 
 up  a  high  wall  in  his  garden  to  obstruct  the  view  where  he 
 could.  It  was  comfortable  in  the  Lake  Country  to  see  so 
 many  good  new  churches,  and  to  hear  the  people  every- 
 where talk  so  kindly  of  the  Squires  and  Parsons ;  also  to 
 hear  old  Wordsworth,  how  he  kept  falling  back  on  Church 
 Matters,  whatever  other  subject  was  started.  .  .  I  conclude, 
 sending  you  all  good  wishes,  and  among  the  rest,  that  we 
 may  soon  meet  again ;  although  I  must  own  the  Grampian 
 Peaks  looked  very  tempting  to-day  from  Mons  Meg.  Ever 
 affectionately  yours.     J.  K." 
 
 Wordsworth  and  Walter  Scott  were  objects  of  his 
 most  affectionate  admiration ;  how  he  testified  this, 
 as  to  the  former,  I  have  already  mentioned  ;  and  as 
 to  the  latter,  I  ought  to  refer  my  readers  to  a  well- 
 known  article  by  him  in  the  "  British   Critic a,"  on 
 
 a  I  take  the  opportunity,  which  this  mention  of  the  "British  Critic" 
 gives  me,  to  express  a  strong  desire,  felt  not  by  myself  alone,  but  by 
 many  others,  whose  opinions  are  of  more  authority,  to  see  published 
 
366  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 Lockhart's  Life  of  him,  remarkable  not  only  for  its 
 ability,  but  for  the  loving  and  ardent  spirit  in  which 
 it  is  written.  In  spite  of  the  strong  language  in  his 
 letter,  he  retained  a  very  kindly  recollection  of  his 
 tour,  and  of  Scotland.  Writing  to  Mr.  Wilson  in 
 1846,  who  was  then  in  that  country,  he  says : — 
 
 "  You  will  get  this  at  Monteviot  I  hope.  How  pleasant 
 it  is  to  have  such  a  home  feeling  about  so  many  of  the 
 places  you  go  to.  Remember  us  most  kindly  to  your 
 hostess,  and  to  your  travelling  Tutor.  I  wonder  if  you 
 will  like  Jedburgh  Abbey,  and  Ferniehurst,  (if  you  see  it,) 
 as  well  as  we  did." 
 
 I  ought  to  have  mentioned  before  this,  that  Keble 
 had  lent  his  aid  to  some  friends  who  were  associated 
 together  for  the  purpose  of  editing  a  Library  of 
 Anglo- Catholic  Theology.  This  seemed  to  him  a 
 cognate  scheme  to  that  of  the  Library  of  the  Fathers, 
 and  he  joined  in  it  heartily,  served  effectively  on  the 
 
 a  collection  of,  or  judicious  selection  from,  Keble's  contributions  to 
 Periodicals.  Of  these  the  most  important  will  be  found  in  the  "  British 
 Critic,"  when  it  was  issued  quarterly  :  but  I  believe  his  earliest  pub- 
 lished writings  were  in  the  "  British  Critic"  when  it  was  a  monthly 
 review,  and  under  the  direction  of  my  friend,  the  Rev.  Thomas 
 Rennell,  Vicar  of  Kensington ;  one  of  these,  on  Bishop  Horsley,  lives 
 in  my  recollection,  as  specially  characteristic  of  himself,  such  as  he 
 was  to  his  latest  day  ;  but  I  do  not  possess  it,  nor  can  I  refer  to  it.  He 
 contributed  also,  in  1825,  a  paper  on  Sacred  Poetry  at  my  request  to 
 the  "Quarterly  Review,"  which  will  be  found  in  vol.  xxxii.  p.  21 1. 
 This  of  course  has  a  special  value  ;  but  I  may  say  generally,  that  when 
 he  wrote  only  occasionally  and  anonymously,  he  wrote  as  carefully  and 
 conscientiously  as  when  he  was  more  directly  responsible  ;  and  I  cannot 
 but  think  the  publication  I  desire  would  be  very  valuable,  and  very 
 acceptable  to  the  public. 
 
Visit  to  the  Isle  of  Man.  367 
 
 Committee,  and  personally  undertook  to  superintend 
 the  publication  of  a  complete  edition  of  Bishop  Wil- 
 son's works,  to  be  preceded  by  a  Life  of  the  Author, 
 which  he  promised  to  write.  The  Bishop  was  a  spe- 
 cial favourite  of  his,  and  he  entered  on  the  work 
 heartily  ;  but  many  interruptions  retarded  the  exe- 
 cution of  his  promise,  and  the  Life  was  not  finished 
 until  1863.  What  there  may  be  to  say  about  it,  I 
 will  reserve  for  the  present ;  and  I  mention  it  now 
 mainly,  because,  in  1849,  he  was  induced  by  it  to 
 make  his  summer  sea  excursion  for  Mrs.  Keble's 
 benefit  a  trip  to  the  Isle  of  Man,  that  he  might 
 procure  information  on  the  spot,  and  see  the  places 
 in  which  the  Bishop  lived  and  acted  for  so  many 
 years  of  his  life.  The  scheme  answered  very  well 
 both  for  her,  and  his  own  object.  He  was  much 
 amused,  and  returned  refreshed  in  body  and  mind. 
 Writing  to  me  on  various  matters  on  September  26, 
 after  he  had  reached  Hursley,  he  says  : — 
 
 "I  have  lots  to  say  about  Mona,  and  Bishop  Wilson, 
 but  cannot  now  go  on  with  it ;  the  tour  was  a  very  pleasant, 
 and  on  the  whole  not  an  unsuccessful  one.  The  Bishop 
 very  kind  and  hospitable,  and  as  off-hand  as  Lloyd  used 
 to  be.     The  clergy  a  nice  set,  but  rather  WesleyanizecL" 
 
 I  believe  Lord  Auckland  will  not  be  offended  at 
 this  free  comparison  of  him  with  Bishop  Lloyd  ;  in 
 Keble's  mouth  it  meant  a  great  compliment,  for  the 
 Bishop  of  Oxford  was  one  in  whom  he  delighted ; 
 
368  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 nor  I  trust  will  the  clergy  of  the  Island,  should  any 
 of  them  chance  to  see  it,  be  scandalized  at  his  re- 
 mark on  them. 
 
 It  was  while  he  was  in  Man  that  he  received  in- 
 telligence of  the  death  of  George  Cornish's  eldest 
 daughter,  and  I  shall  be  forgiven  for  inserting  the 
 letter  which  he  wrote  to  the  afflicted  parents ;  it  has 
 to  me  a  special  and  mournful  interest  from  the  re- 
 collection that  within  a  month  from  the  date  of  it, 
 the  father  to  whom  it  was  addressed,  himself  sunk 
 under  his  many  trials  : — 
 
 "  Douglas,  I.  of  Man. 
 August  22,  1849. 
 "  My  dearest  George, 
 
 "  We  got  your  letter  here  only  last  night,  and  it  was  a  sort 
 of  stunning  blow  to  me,  for  somehow  I  had  grown  to  be 
 sanguine  about  dear  Essy's  recovery;  and  in  many  ways 
 it  comes  very  near  one.  God  grant  that  when  one's  own 
 turn  comes,  (who  knows  how  soon  ?)  one  may  leave  as 
 little  cause  of  anxiety  to  those  who  shall  survive,  as  she 
 has  now  left ;  and  if  pain,  like  her's,  be  needful  to  prepare 
 us,  may  He  in  His  mercy  send  it,  and  give  us  grace  to  bear 
 it.  You  know,  dear  friends,  that  our  thoughts  are  very 
 much  with  you,  and  those  of  one  of  us  at  least,  to  good 
 purpose.  We  shall  be  anxious  for  the  next  account  of 
 you  all,  but  don't  trouble  yourselves  to  write ;  let  it  come 
 through  Bisley,  where  we  hope  to  be,  one  or  both  of  us,  in 
 the  course  of  the  next  week.  It  is  comfortable  to  think 
 of  your  being  so  many,  so  loving  and  dutiful,  and  of  the 
 help  you  will  be  of  to  one  another  j  and  I  need  not  say  to 
 you,  because  you  must  know  it  full  well,  how  desirable  it 
 
Visit  to  Lyme  Regis  and  Sidmouth.  369 
 
 is  to  lose  no  time  in  using  yourselves  to  speak  freely  and 
 calmly  to  one  another  of  those  who  are  out  of  sight,  as 
 though  they  were,  as  they  are,  only  out  of  sight.  I  am 
 more  and  more  thankful  that  dear  Robert  is  with  you.  Do 
 take  all  care  of  yourselves,  and  let  him  take  care  of  you. 
 What  a  treasure  to  their  Father,  and  to  you,  must  be  those 
 little  children.     May  they  prove  so  more  and  more. 
 
 "We  hope  to  get  back  to  England  to-morrow,  and  to 
 Bisley,  or  Hursley,  by  the  end  of  next  week.  Here  we 
 have  been  living,  as  it  were,  under  the  shadow  of  Bishop 
 Wilson's  wing ;  and  surely  it  is  a  thing  for  which  we  ought 
 to  be  the  better. 
 
 "  C.  sends  her  loving  remembrances  to  you  all,  especially 
 to  dear  Kenie.  May  we  all  love  one  another  the  better  for 
 each  one  of  us  who  is  taken  to  the  Home  of  Love. 
 
 "  Ever  your  most  affte, 
 "  J.  K." 
 
 I  have  spoken  already,  in  my  notice  of  George 
 Cornish,  of  his  death  in  September  of  this  year, 
 and  how  Keble  mourned  for  his  loss  ;  his  feelings 
 towards  all  that  generation  of  the  Cornish  family 
 were  those  of  a  very  fond  elder  brother ;  and  the 
 affection  towards  his  widow,  and  all  that  remained 
 of  another  generation,  continued  unabated.  Indeed, 
 it  was  strengthened  by  the  engagement  of  his  bro- 
 ther's only  son,  whom  he  regarded  as  his  own,  to 
 her  to  whom  special  remembrances  are  sent  by  the 
 name  of  Kenie  ;  and  in  185 1  he  married  them  at  Sal- 
 combe.  He  went  to  Sidmouth  for  the  purpose,  and 
 as  he  had  so  often  done  before,  he  coupled  with  this 
 
 Bb 
 
3/o  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 the  benefit  of  a  sea-side  visit,  and  change  of  air  for 
 Mrs.  Keble.  They  re- visited  Lyme  Regis  for  a  while 
 before  going  on  to  Sidmouth,  from  which  last  place 
 they  came  to  us  at  Ottery  for  a  few  days.  He  and 
 I  were  much  together  alone,  and  a  great  delight  it 
 was  to  have  again  that  sort  of  intercourse  with  him. 
 He  was  in  good  spirits,  and  no  one,  when  he  was  in 
 spirits,  could  be  a  more  delightful  companion.  They 
 returned  home  towards  the  end  of  September.  Writ- 
 ing to  me,  when  the  wedding  party  broke  up,  to  fix 
 the  day  of  his  coming,  he  says  : — 
 
 "  It  was  a  very  happy  wedding,  as  far  as  we  can  judge, 
 and  I  am  in  good  hope  that  it  has  done  much  good  to  poor 
 dear  Harriet ;  it  was  very  touching  to  see  her  in  her  mourn- 
 ing, and  to  look  round  the  room,  and  remember  things  and 
 people.  I  will  do  as  I  am  bidden  about  Sunday,  and  shall 
 be  really  glad,  if  I  can  save  Henry  a  little,  for  I  dare  say 
 he  over- works  himself.  But  somehow  or  other,  my  sermons 
 seem  more  and  more  disagreeable  on  a  second  preaching." 
 
 I  like  to  dwell,  and  perhaps  I  dwell  too  much,  on 
 these  passing  expressions ;  they  disclose  so  naturally 
 the  tenderness  and  simplicity  of  his  character ;  and 
 I  note  here  what  was  observed  of  him  repeatedly  in 
 later  life,  how  he  liked  to  preach  when  from  home 
 and  he  had  the  choice,  in  a  small  country  church 
 to  the  simplest  congregation,  rather  than  to  a  large 
 number  in  a  church  of  more  display. 
 
 It  was  in  this  year,  1849,  that  the  measure  of 
 legalizing  the  marriage  of  widowers  with  the  sisters 
 
Marriage  with  Deceased  Wifes  Sister.        371 
 
 of  their  deceased  wives  was  vigorously  pressed  in 
 Parliament,  and  out  of  it.  Keble  felt  very  strongly 
 upon  this  matter,  and  he  opposed  it  earnestly,  per- 
 severingly,  and  effectually  ;  by  his  personal  influence, 
 wherever  he  had  opportunity  to  exert  it,  by  framing 
 and  circulating  petitions  against  the  Bill,  and  by  the 
 publication  of  a  vigorous  pamphlet.  He  relied  on 
 the  authority  of  the  Church  uniform  and  consistent, 
 on  Scripture,  on  the  tendency  of  such  unions  to  impair 
 the  holiness  of  marriage,  to  disturb  the  peace,  and 
 corrupt  the  purity  of  social  life.  Some  Hebraists 
 and  theologians  have  questioned  the  interpretation 
 of  Scripture  which  he  adopted.  It  rests,  I  under- 
 stand, on  great  authorities,  and  seems  very  consonant 
 with  common  sense  ;  and  he  believing  in  it,  of  course 
 could  not  pass  it  by.  I  confess  it  always  seemed 
 to  me  that  the  last  grounds  were  abundantly  clear, 
 and  in  themselves  quite  sufficient  for  his  argument ; 
 and  because  they  were  more  easily  understood  and 
 appreciated,  the  best  on  the  whole  for  the  generality 
 to  rely  on.  Keble  also  pointed  out  the  indirect  and 
 personal  motives  to  which  the  movement  was  owing ; 
 its  onesidedness  as  to  the  sexes  ;  and  also  how  un- 
 truly it  was  urged  that  the  alteration  of  the  law  was 
 at  all  generally  desired  by  English  women.  The  at- 
 tempts to  pass  the  Bill  failed,  and  I  believe  other 
 attempts  have  been  equally  unsuccessful.  Measures 
 of  this  kind,  however,  once  put  forward,  are  seldom 
 given   over  finally,  and   it   is   to  be   feared  that  the 
 
372  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 efforts  to  carry  this  will  be  renewed.  Should  they 
 be,  I  commend  the  pamphlet  to  the  notice  of  my 
 readers. 
 
 It  was  somewhat  earlier  in  this  year  of  185 1,  that 
 I  consulted  him  on  a  difficulty  which  occurred  to 
 me,  in  regard  to  a  clergyman  who  had  been  my 
 own  pastor,  and  who  had  seceded  to  Rome.  He 
 was  a  pious  and  amiable  man,  and  we  had  lived  in 
 a  good  deal  of  social  intimacy.  Keble  answered  me 
 thus : — 
 
 "Now  to  the  question  you  asked  about.  I  suppose  it 
 has  been  practically  answered  by  this  time ;  it  is  a  diffi- 
 cult one  to  answer  for  another  person ;  but  if  it  were  my 
 own  case,  I  should  keep  up  as  much  intercourse  as  I  could 
 in  the  way  of  morning  visits  with  the  rest  of  the  family ; 
 but  I  could  not  have  him  to  dine.  I  should  consider  it 
 scandalous  in  respect  of  the  servants,  to  say  no  other; 
 they  know  that  he  is  a  clergyman  who  has  renounced  his 
 Orders ;  and  it  cannot  be  but  certain  thoughts  must  enter 
 into  their  minds,  if  they  think  of  such  things  at  all. 
 
 "  In  one  respect  this  Lent  is  much  pleasanter  than 
 last,  that  one  does  not  live  in  a  perpetual  fever  of  Church 
 Union  Meetings,  &c.  :  how  far  it  is  the  calm  of  despair 
 may  admit  of  a  question,  as  far  I  mean  as  our  cause  is 
 a  public  cause;  for  as  to  private  feelings,  one  seems,  thank 
 God,  to  be  more  and  more  sure  that  one  was  and  is  right 
 in  staying.  Now,  good  night,  dearest  friend.  From  your 
 ever  loving,  J.  K." 
 
 It  was  about  this  time  that  he  was  consulted  by 
 a  gentleman  who  was  meditating  a  very  unusual  step. 
 
A  Layman's  Testimony  to  the  English  Church.    373 
 
 I  am  at  liberty  to  mention  the  circumstance,  and  I 
 do  so  chiefly  for  the  sake  of  the  letter  in  which  he 
 gave  his  answer.  The  gentleman  was  at  the  time 
 a  layman,  not  a  young  man,  and  engaged  actively 
 in  a  liberal  profession  ;  circumstances  had  occurred 
 in  his  family,  which  made  it  seem  to  him  a  sort 
 of  special  duty  to  give  as  strong  a  testimony  as 
 he  could  personally  to  the  Church  of  England  ;  he 
 thought  therefore  of  applying  for  Ordination,  and 
 to  be  allowed  to  fill  a  vacancy  that  had  been  made 
 in  a  small  country  cure  in  his  neighbourhood.  It 
 was  obviously  a  matter  that  demanded  much  con- 
 sideration, and,  as  so  many  others  did  in  their  diffi- 
 culties, he  turned  to  Keble  for  advice.  His  letter 
 I  have  not  the  means  of  referring  to,  but  I  have 
 the  answer  before  me,  and  I  am  at  liberty  to  use  it. 
 He  says : — 
 
 "  Concerning  your  scheme,  one  can  feel  nothing  but  joy 
 and  thankfulness  that  such  a  thought  should  have  come 
 into  your  heart.  It  startled  me,  I  own,  at  first,  but  on 
 coming  to  ask  myself  why,  I  really  believe  that  this  was 
 only  from  its  being  so  new  and  unusual  a  thing,  though  in 
 a  certain  sense  it  may  seem  very  old ;  for  who  knows  but  it 
 may  have  been  put  into  your  mind  for  the  same  kind  of 
 purpose,  which  made  so  many  of  our  forefathers  of  all  ages 
 and  stations  enter  the  religious  life.  I  do  not  of  course 
 compare  the  two,  but  may  it  not  be  in  our  day  the  same 
 kind  of  thing  in  some  measure  ?  This  I  say  to  myself  to 
 meet  the  scruple  you  hint  at,  and  which  a  great  many  would 
 feel,  about  being  less  useful  so,  than  as  a  Layman  trying 
 
374  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 his  best.  It  seems  to  me  that  this  would  be  more  to  the 
 purpose,  if  you  cut  short  your  active  professional  life  for 
 the  sake  of  doing  this ;  but  it  would  not  be  so ;  it  would 
 be  something  substituted  for  miscellaneous  and  not  strictly 
 professional  work,  and  in  that  respect  would  perhaps  in- 
 volve a  good  deal  of  self-denial ;  of  course  you  will  con- 
 sider well  beforehand,  whether,  applying  yourself  as  you 
 would  wish  to  do  to  your  new  profession,  you  will  have 
 leisure  for  the  many  calls  for  time  and  thought  which  are 
 sure  to  be  made  on  you  in  your  retirement.  You  will  not 
 like  to  put  them  by,  and  I  can  fancy  them  going  on  on 
 such  a  large  scale  as  to  interfere  seriously  with  your  pas- 
 toral work. 
 
 "  I  only  mention  this  for  consideration ;  there  may  be 
 nothing  in  it,  your  habits  being  so  active. 
 
 "The  testimony  both  as  regards  religion  generally,  and 
 faith  in  our  own  Church  particularly,  would,  as  it  seems  to 
 me,  be  the  stronger  in  such  a  change,  than  in  a  person's 
 continuing  a  dutiful  Layman. 
 
 "  On  the  whole,  (I  have  been  just  reading  over  your  letter 
 again,)  I  am  much  inclined  to  say,  go  on  and  prosper,  and 
 may  a  great  blessing  attend  you." 
 
 Keble,  from  his  own  experience  perhaps,  seems 
 to  have  had  his  attention  principally  drawn  to  the 
 calls,  which  might  probably  be  made  on  the  gentle- 
 man, for  advice  in  matters  relating  to  his  abandoned 
 profession,  and  be  an  hindrance  to  him  in  his  new 
 one  ;  he  seems  to  have  overlooked  that  it  was  in- 
 tended evidently  to  cut  short  the  professional  life  ; 
 but  in  itself  he  had  no  difficulty  in  assenting  to 
 the  sacrifice.  This  might  have  been  expected  from 
 him. 
 
A  Layman's  Testimony  to  the  English  Church.    375 
 
 There  was  a  second  letter  from  him,  from  which 
 it  appears  that  another  friend  had  also  been  con- 
 sulted, whose  opinion  was  opposed  to  the  change. 
 It  did  not  alter  Keble's  view,  for  which  he  gives  his 
 reasons.  However,  whether  from  the  occurrence  of 
 new  circumstances,  or  some  change  in  the  gentle- 
 man's mind,  I  know  not,  his  purpose  was  never  car- 
 ried into  effect.  But  I  have  thought  it  fitting  to 
 mention  the  incident,  and  publish  the  letter;  they 
 recall  the  recollection  of  that  anxious  time,  when 
 the  hearts  of  serious  men  were  greatly  searched  by 
 a  flood  of  doubts  and  questionings  on  the  contro- 
 versy between  the  Two  Churches.  The  secessions 
 to  Rome,  though  not  numerous,  and  with  a  very 
 few  exceptions  little  note-worthy  or  influential  as 
 examples,  yet  produced  in  the  families  in  which 
 they  occurred  the  deepest  and  most  lasting  dis- 
 tress. They,  indeed,  who  then  left  father  and  mother, 
 brother  and  sister,  and  made  great  temporal  sacri- 
 fices, were  not  in  truth  generally  those  who  suffered 
 the  most,  or  the  longest.  It  pleased  God  to  guard 
 our  Church  from  any  permanent  depression,  or  in- 
 jury ;  and  it  may  be  hoped  that  we  have  learned  to 
 regard  such  events  with  sorrow  indeed,  and  it  may 
 often  be  self-reproach,  but  with  a  more  comprehen- 
 sive, and  I  will  add  reasonable  charity,  than  we  could 
 easily  exercise  at  first.  I  will  not  undertake  to  say 
 whether,  as  regards  the  individual  case  which  has 
 occasioned  these  remarks,  Keble  or  the  dissentient 
 
6/' 
 
 Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 friend  was  on  the  whole  right.  The  wisdom  of  the  re- 
 solution may  be  questionable,  but  there  is  no  reason 
 to  doubt  of  the  gentleman's  sincerity,  and  I  cannot 
 but  agree  in  the  opinion  that  as  a  testimony  the 
 step  would  have  probably  been  impressive  on  many 
 minds.  However,  events  have  shewn,  and  we  may 
 acknowledge  it  thankfully,  that  it  was  not  a  neces- 
 sary one. 
 
 Later  in  the  year  185 1,  I  was  threatened  with 
 a  very  heavy  sorrow  by  the  seemingly  desperate 
 illness  of  a  married  daughter,  which  I  mention  only 
 to  introduce  a  letter  I  received  from  him  when  mat- 
 ters appeared  to  be  at  the  worst.  It  would  seem 
 to  me  ingratitude  to  withhold  such  a  testimony  at 
 once  to  the  tenderness  of  his  heart,  and  to  the  re- 
 ligious  aspect   in   which  he   contemplated  all   such 
 
 trials : — 
 
 "H.  V.,  4Mvr,  185 1. 
 "  My  dearest  Coleridge, 
 "  I  cannot  be  easy  without  writing  one  line  to  you  at 
 such  a  time  as  this,  though  I  well  know  how  impossible 
 it  is  for  me  really  to  sympathise  with  your  distress.  Only 
 I  cannot  help  imagining  that  your  dear  child's  sufferings 
 are  in  kind  rather  like  my  Mary  Anne's  in  1826,  con- 
 cerning which  I  have  always  felt  that  it  seemed  a  case 
 which  the  Great  Physician  had  taken  most  entirely  into 
 His  own  hands,  so  utterly  powerless  did  all  human  means 
 appear  from  the  very  beginning ;  and  the  distress  in  kind 
 so  utterly  unlike  what  one  could  have  expected  for  one  so 
 sweet  and  loving.  So  that  ever  since,  one  has  thought  of 
 her,  I  trust  not  presumptuously,  as  of  one  much  nearer 
 
Excursions.  2>77 
 
 a  martyr's  estate  than  most  even  of  those  whom  one  re- 
 members most  thankfully.  My  dearest  friend,  your  fatherly 
 heart,  as  it  will  feel  the  rending  and  tearing  of  such  a  visi- 
 tation in  a  way  which  such  as  I  cannot  imagine,  so  it  will 
 be  by  His  mercy,  I  trust,  opened  to  receive  this  treasure 
 of  comfort  far  beyond  my  comprehension.  He  who  has 
 granted  you  to  take  care  of  this  precious  jewel  for  Him- 
 self, will  enable  you  to  bear  your  temporary  loss  of  it,  I  am 
 sure  of  that;  and  who  knows  how  available  her  presence 
 there,  (if  He  should  now  take  her,)  may  be  to  avert  some 
 of  the  evils  which  we  have  been  most  dreading  of  late  ?    I 
 
 must  write  one  line  to  dear  M ,  God  grant  it  may  be 
 
 of  some  small  comfort  to  her.     We  have  mentioned  dear 
 
 A ,  though  not  by  name,  in  our  prayers  and  communion, 
 
 since  we  heard  of  her  illness.  Our  affectionate  love  is  with 
 you  all.     Your  most  loving,  J.  K." 
 
 Again,  in  1852,  Keble  made  his  summer  sea-side 
 trip  for  Mrs.  Keble's  sake  serve  the  purpose  also 
 of  his  own  preparation  for  the  Life  of  Bishop  Wil- 
 son, on  which  he  was  now  engaged.  They  went  in 
 August  to  the  Isle  of  Man,  "  got  a  lodging  in  a  very 
 pretty  place,"  enjoyed  their  stay  much,  and  returned 
 "the  haler  and  the  heartier  for  it."  He  wrote  to  me 
 from  Leeds,  whither  he  had  gone  in  his  return  by 
 desire  of  Dr.  Pusey,  to  compose  some  little  differ- 
 ences ;  he  spoke  with  great  gratitude  of  the  kind- 
 ness they  had  received  from  the  Bishop  and  his 
 whole  family.  He  drops,  too,  a  hint  of  that  which 
 had  for  years  been  much  on  his  mind,  and  on  which 
 
378  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 perhaps  he  thought  a  little  too  much  in  the  com- 
 position of  his  Memoir : — 
 
 "  If  one  had  skill,  the  information  gathered  might  be 
 made  very  profitable,  partly  as  to  the  good  Bishop's  per- 
 sonal character  and  opinions,  but  still  more  as  to  the  dis- 
 cipline of  the  Island,  as  a  fragment  of  former  days,  and 
 perhaps  as  furnishing  hints  for  the  future." 
 
 I  have  mentioned  one  of  Keble's  trips  to  Scotland. 
 In  1853  he  made  another,  which  he  speaks  of  shortly 
 in  the  following  letter : — 
 
 "H.V.,  6  Oct%  1853. 
 "  My  very  dear  Coleridge, 
 "  I  am  tired  of  not  writing  to  you,  though  I  have  very 
 little  to  say.  But  I  do  wish  to  know  whether  you  have 
 any  objection  to  appropriating  the  proceeds  of  the  next 
 Edition  of  the  Lyra  to  Fredericton,  for  I  very  much  wish  to 
 do  some  little  for  dear  Medley,  and  hardly  know  how  to  do 
 it  any  other  way.  We  had  a  most  successful  flight  to  Skye 
 and  back,  staying  out  two  Sundays.  We  escaped  all  the 
 violent  weather,  and  had  the  perfection  of  steam  travelling 
 in  every  respect,  but  the  crowds  that  were  with  us;  Sea, 
 Mountain,  and  Sky,  all  along  performing  the  most  exquisite 
 Trios  for  our  amusement.  I  suppose,  putting  the  hours  to- 
 gether, that  I  was  not  less  than  seven  days  on  board,  and 
 I  was  not  at  all  sick  the  whole  time,  a  great  triumph  for 
 me ;  and  C.  I  think  entirely  enjoyed  it ;  and  though  she 
 came  back  with  a  cold,  she  is  certainly  able  to  walk  far- 
 ther than  she  could.  Skye  scenery  beats  what  I  expected, 
 and  so  does  the  whole  of  the  Inverness  and  Rosshire  Coast 
 
Another  Visit  to  Scotland.  379 
 
 as  we  saw  it  from  the  steamer ;  the  Coolea  Hills  are  not  so 
 high  as  some  others,  but  their  forms  are,  I  think,  the  finest 
 I  have  seen.  Among  other  people  we  met  the  Bp.  of 
 London,  and  his  family,  who  were  staying  at  Ballachulish, 
 and  they  were  very  good-natured.  On  our  way  home  we 
 stayed  a  night  at  Bisley,  which  was  very  refreshing,  and 
 now  we  have  been  at  home  near  a  month,  and  have  had 
 several  visitors ;  R.  Wilberforce  especially,  about  whom  there 
 is  still  more  anxiety  than  one  could  wish ;  though  his  book 
 is  meeting  with  such  success  as  I  for  one  could  never  have 
 dreamed  of.  But  I  really  cannot  imagine  a  person  of  his 
 truthfulness,  learning,  a?id  good  temper,  putting  up  with  the 
 Roman  system  as  a  Convert  [Keble  is  speaking  of  Arch- 
 deacon Wilberforce's  able  and  learned  treatise  on  the 
 Doctrine  of  the  Holy  Eucharist]  I  should  be  glad  to 
 hear  anything  you  can  tell  me  of  the  Lay  Crusade  against 
 the  parti  pr&re.     My  expectation  is,  (God  avert  it,)  that 
 
 &c,  will  have  their  own  way,  and  that  if  the  world 
 
 lasts,  there  will  be  something  as  bad  as  Popery,  only  in 
 another  direction,  marring  the  Gospel  as  Popery  did,  for 
 want  of  simple  faith  in  the  first  Gospel  as  the  Apostles 
 
 left  it I  wish  I  could  find  the  double  of  Wilson  for 
 
 Ampfield,  for  I  grieve  to  say  he  is  obliged  to  go  for  reasons 
 of  health.  It  is  the  greatest  loss.  Our  very  kind  love  to 
 all.     Your  ever  loving  J.  K." 
 
 I  am  unable  to  say  what  answer  I  returned  as  to 
 the  Lyra,  nor  is  it  material ;  but  I  would  not  omit 
 the  question,  because  it  is  a  testimony  to  a  dear 
 friend,  one  of  the  most  sound,  and  zealous,  and  able 
 of  our  Colonial  Bishops,  which  it  will  give  him  a  plea- 
 sure, he  well  deserves,  to  see  recorded. 
 
3  So  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 My  next  letter  from  him,  on  the  1 6th  of  Novem- 
 ber, 1853,  was  but  a  note,  written  under  his  dicta- 
 tion by  Mrs.  Keble,  and  only  signed  by  himself.  It 
 was  merely  an  invitation  to  come  down  to  Hursley, 
 in  respect  of  a  charitable  object  which  he  thought 
 I  might  further,  and  he  ends  it  thus  : — 
 
 "  My  worthy  friend  the  Iodine  is  only  just  beginning  to 
 tickle  me,  but  I  dare  say  it  will  do  its  work  in  time.  Many 
 thanks  for  my  pleasant  visit  to  you.     Affectionately  yours, 
 
 "  J.  K." 
 
 This  attack  was  probably  a  precursor,  or  fore- 
 warning of  that  with  which  he  was  visited  so  much 
 more  seriously  not  many  years  after ;  it  was  more 
 serious,  however,  than  he  seems  to  have  regarded 
 it  as  being  ;  for  three  months  after,  writing  to  me,  he 
 speaks  of  his  "  nearly  recovered  hand."  I  was  about 
 to  say  it  would  have  been  well  if  he  had  learned 
 from  it  to  be  more  prudent,  and  to  remit  in  some 
 measure  the  constant  strain  to  which  he  submitted 
 both  body  and  mind  in  the  discharge  of  the  duties, 
 regular  and  irregular,  which  fell  on  him.  But  I  will 
 not  say  this  ;  it  was  well  for  him  to  labour  as  he  did, 
 though  his  frame  sunk  under  it  at  last ;  it  was  hap- 
 pier for  him  so  to  do  in  this  life,  and  who  can  doubt 
 that  it  is  far  happier  for  him  in  another. 
 
CHAPTER  XVI. 
 
 DEATH  OF  W.  C.  YONGE,  1 854. — OXFORD 
 UNIVERSITY  REFORM. 
 
 EARLY  in  the  year  1854,  Keble  was  visited  with 
 a  great  affliction  in  the  sudden  death  of  Wil- 
 liam Yonge,  whom  I  have  had  occasion  to  mention 
 before.  In  any  way  it  would  have  affected  him  much, 
 but  in  the  particular  circumstances  it  was  specially 
 afflicting.  His  only  son,  a  young  soldier,  was  to 
 sail  with  his  regiment  on  what  turned  out  to  be 
 the  Crimean  expedition,  and  the  old  soldier  busied 
 himself  with  his  usual  activity  in  equipping  him  for 
 the  service  ;  perhaps,  it  may  be  feared,  beyond  his 
 strength.  On  his  return  home  from  this  exertion  he 
 had  an  apoplectic  seizure,  and  although,  during  what 
 seemed  a  respite,  his  son  was  able  to  hurry  home  to 
 see  him,  it  was  but  for  three  hours,  during  the  whole 
 of  which  he  was  asleep.  No  more  could  be  allowed. 
 He  died  without  seeing  him  just  after  the  sailing  of 
 the  regiment,  and  too  late  for  the  news  to  reach  the 
 son  before  the  vessel  touched  at  Malta.  This  was 
 a  severe  visitation  on  the  mother  and  sister,  the  only 
 surviving  members  of  the  family  ;  the  Kebles  were 
 on  the  most  intimate  terms  with  them,  and  no  one 
 
382  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 would  be  more  likely  to  sympathize  with  them  in 
 their  sorrow  than  they ;  but  Keble  felt  the  loss  ten- 
 derly in  many  ways  for  himself;  William  C.  Yonge, 
 beside  his  goodness  and  tenderness  of  heart,  often 
 concealed  from  the  many,  and  in  matters  of  indif- 
 ference, by  a  somewhat  stern  manner,  had  a  fond- 
 ness for  business  and  knowledge  of  it,  a  readiness  of 
 apprehension,  and  decision  of  character,  which  Keble 
 was  glad  to  lean  on.  "  What  we  shall  do  here  with- 
 out W.  C.  Y.,"  he  says,  in  communicating  the  event 
 to  Mr.  Wilson,  who  was  abroad,  "  I  cannot  think." 
 He  writes  to  me  : — 
 
 "  I  am  grieved  to  the  heart  to  think  that  the  first  letter  I 
 write  to  you  with  my  nearly-recovered  hand  should  have  to 
 announce  such  sad  news." 
 
 And  after  describing  the  particulars,  and  the  state 
 of  the  widow  and  daughter,  he  says  : — 
 
 "What  they  will  do  without  him,  what  we  and  all  the 
 neighbours  will  do,  especially  what  Otterbourn  will  do,  I 
 am  sure  I  cannot  say.  There  is  really  no  one  that  I  know 
 of  in  this  Parish  at  all  to  take  his  place.  But  our  loss,  (we 
 may  speak  it,  D.  V.,  with  more  absolute  confidence  than 
 usual,)  is  his  exceeding  gain." 
 
 And,  again,  on  the  31st  of  March  he  says  to  me  : — 
 
 "  But  you  would  be  surprised  to  see  how  we  miss  him  at 
 every  turn,  and  find  that  it  is  indeed  a  gap  which  will  never 
 be  filled  up.     But  of  course  this  is  a  feeling  of  which  one 
 
Oxford  University  Reform  Bill  383 
 
 must  expect  more  and  more.  ...  Do  you  not  mean  to  come 
 this  Circuit  again  some  time,  and  let  me  have  one  of  my 
 pleasant  drives,  or  walks  with  you  1  I  have  no  Wilson,  nor 
 Yonge  now,  and  only  half-a-Heathcote.  [Sir  William  was 
 now  attending  in  Parliament  as  Member  for  the  University.] 
 But  thank  God  my  wife  is  well  for  her,  and  walked  the  day 
 before  yesterday  2J  miles.  With  love  to  you  all,  I  am  af- 
 fect^ yours,  J.  K." 
 
 It  will  be  seen  that  Keble  in  the  earliest  of  these 
 letters  to  me,  from  which  I  have  made  extracts, 
 dated  on  the  26th  of  February,  1854,  speaks  of  his 
 u  nearly  recovered  hand."  It  appears  from  the  same 
 letter,  that  it  had  been  thought  desirable  for  him  to 
 come  to  London  for  advice  in  regard  to  it,  and  that 
 I  had  urged  him  to  do  so  again  ;  he  refused,  saying, 
 "  It  is  so  nearly  well,  that  I  do  not  think  it  need  go 
 a  consulting  any  more.  I  only  wish  I  was  as  likely 
 to  make  a  good  use  of  it,  as  to  have  the  use  of  it." 
 Whatever  the  affection  was,  it  seemed  to  pass  away; 
 he  wrote  as  much  as  ever,  and  I  see  no  marked 
 change  in  the  character  of  his  handwriting  for  several 
 years  after  this. 
 
 A  subject  now  arose  which  interested  him  most 
 deeply,  I  may  say  painfully ;  the  Oxford  University 
 Reform  Bill,  consequent  on  the  report  of  a  Royal 
 Commission  of  Inquiry.  It  is  well  known  that  the 
 provisions  of  this  Bill,  which  occasioned  much  debate 
 in  Parliament,  were  framed  so  as  to  make  great 
 changes  in  the  Constitution  of  the  University,  and 
 
384  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 to  permit  some  also  in  the  several  Colleges.  In  re- 
 spect to  the  former,  the  measures  were  for  the  most 
 part  defined  at  once  by  Parliament ;  to  carry  out  the 
 latter,  an  Executive  Commission  was  appointed,  and 
 the  members  were  named  in  the  Bill,  among  these 
 were  Sir  John  W.  Awdry,  and  myself.  If  what  was 
 then  done  had  been  final,  it  might  have  sufficed  to 
 mention  generally  that  Keble  was  very  much  op- 
 posed to  the  whole  measure ;  but  much  of  what  he 
 wrote  applies  itself  to  questions  now  pending,  and 
 therefore  I  make  some  extracts  from  his  letters. 
 
 He  wrote  to  me  on  seeing  the  first  draft  of  the 
 Bill,  on  February  26,  1854:— 
 
 "  I  suppose  it  will  be  no  breach  of  confidence  now  to 
 speak  to  you  of  the  University  Reform  Bill,  the  draft  of 
 which  was  shewn  to  me  by  permission.  I  was  regularly 
 scared  at  it,  and  much  fear  that  it  will  make  a  sadder  dis- 
 ruption of  parties  than  ever.  The-  Constitution  it  enforces 
 will  leave  us  (unless  we  are  continually  running  up  from  the 
 Country)  entirely  at  the  mercy  of  the  Tutors  and  Professors, 
 (the  latter  a  completely  new  sort  of  folk  to  be  as  such  an 
 organic  part  of  the  Body,)  and  there  is  no  reason  to  believe 
 that  either  is  not  fairly  represented  by  the  present  persons, 
 who  seem  to  me,  I  must  confess,  rather  different  from  the 
 Copelands  and  Rogers's  and  Aclands  of  former  days,  in 
 respect  both  of  temper  and  of  reverential  feelings.  Then 
 the  plan  is  expressly  Anti-Collegiate :  it  goes  on  the  prin- 
 ciple that  it  is  actually  good  {cateris  paribus)  to  have  a  lot 
 of  Students  who  are  not  alumni  of  some  old  Founder,  but 
 disciples  of  Arnold,  or  Marriott,  or  Newman,  or  whoever  he 
 
Oxford  University  Reform  Bill.  385 
 
 may  be,  as  if  this  was  not  the  immediate  way  to  encourage 
 Party  of  all  sorts,  and  as  if  there  were  not  elements  of  good 
 and  happiness  in  the  Collegiate  Life,  which  we  ought  to 
 provide  as  far  as  we  can  for  all  our  Students,  and  as  if  it 
 would  be  possible,  one  might  say  fair,  that  system  once  ad- 
 mitted, to  avoid  admitting  Dissenters.  With  the  Colleges 
 it  deals  rather  less  radically,  but  all  through  with  a  notion 
 that  examinations  and  talent  are  everything,  and  with  another 
 notion  which  I  deprecate  from  my  very  heart,  that  natural 
 preferences  for  homes,  kindred,  &c,  are  not  to  be  allowed 
 in  eleemosynary  endowments.  I  think  it  an  indication  of 
 a  certain  hard  priggishness,  which  I  fear  is  getting  to  be 
 characteristic  of  this  generation.  Well,  here  is  grumbling 
 enough  for  one  time,  but  you  must  not  suppose  that  in 
 what  I  say  of  this  Bill,  I  mean  to  be  condemning  the  per- 
 son, whom  I  suppose  we  must  consider  its  author.  I  have 
 no  doubt  he  is  designing  himself  to  do  the  best  he  can  for 
 us.  He  is  still  to  my  mind  '  Pusey  in  a  blue  coat.'  But 
 the  die  seems  to  me  virtually  to  be  cast ;  I  believe  the  An- 
 glican portion  of  Christendom,  for  the  sake  of  doing  good, 
 to  be  on  the  point  of  commencing  a  process  not  unlike 
 that  by  which  the  Papacy  rose  and  throve,  in  its  disregard 
 of  Primitive  Models,  and  I  hope  a  great  deal  of  good  may 
 be  the  immediate  result ;  but  one  cannot  but  fear  the  event 
 on  a  large  scale,  looking  to  what  has  come  of  the  Papacy. 
 Of  this  great  movement,  the  University  Reform  is  a  part, 
 as  I  take  it.  But  ohe  ja?n  satis,  especially  as  I  know  that 
 on  this  subject,  if  I  were  to  write  for  a  year,  I  should  only 
 make  my  heart  and  wrists  ache  for  nothing.  And  so  I  rest, 
 dearest  friend,  ever  your  most  affte,  J.  K." 
 
 On  the  31st  of  March,  1854,  he  again  wrote  to  me 
 in  part  on  the  same  subject.     After  expressing  his 
 
 C  c 
 
386  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 pleasure  that  Sir  J.  Awdry  and  myself  were  among 
 the  Commissioners,  he  says  : — 
 
 "  I  trust  that,  if  it  please  God,  you  will  be  enabled  to  do 
 a  good  deal  towards  drawing  the  sting  of  it, — that  a  sting  it 
 has,  and  a  many-forked  sting,  I  wish  I  could  doubt  j  and  I 
 certainly  could  not  myself  have  been  a  party  to  it,  were  it 
 only  for  the  needless,  and,  (as  it  seems  to  me,)  therefore 
 irreverent  degree  of  interference  with  Founders'  Wills  ;  but 
 in  this,  I  believe,  not  even  Pusey  agrees  with  me.  I  thought 
 I  had  got  over  it ;  but  as  it  was  my  first  thought,  so  it  has 
 come  over  me  stronger  than  ever.  But  I  am  not  going  now 
 to  trouble  you  with  my  feelings  and  fancies ;  if  you  think  it 
 worth  while  you  may  see  a  specimen  of  them  which  I  sent 
 yesterday  to  Heathcote  ;  but,  indeed,  I  poured  myself  out 
 to  you  more  than  enough  the  last  time  I  wrote.  I  wish  I 
 may  be  very  much  mistaken,  but  the  aspect  of  things  op- 
 presses me  more  almost  than  ever.  This  war  is  to  me  so 
 horrible ;  surely  we  ought  to  be  most  thankful  for  our 
 Lord's  saying  about  Peace  and  a  Sword ;  else  such  things 
 would  be  almost  too  much  for  us." 
 
 Again,  on  the  24th  of  April,  he  wrote  to  me  on 
 the  subject  of  the  Private  Halls,  which  then  seemed 
 likely  to  be  of  much  importance,  but  from  which  so 
 little  as  yet  has  resulted  ;  though  it  may  be  that  more 
 may  now  arise  : — 
 
 "  But  what  I  wanted  now  to  set  before  you  was  two  or 
 three  thoughts  obvious  enough,  yet,  (as  I  fancied,)  worth 
 writing  down,  which  have  occurred  partly  to  E.  B.  P.,  and 
 partly  to  myself,  in  considering  this  plan  of  Private  Halls. 
 
 "  First  of  all,  he  thought  whether  it  might  be  well  to 
 
Private  Halls.  ^7 
 
 make  a  list  beforehand  of  persons  who  are  eligible  to  them, 
 (as  the  V.  Chancellor  is  to  make  a  list  for  the  first  gathering 
 of  the  new  Congregation,)  rather  than  give  a  vested  interest 
 to  every  M.A.  to  the  Licence.  I  cannot  but  look  on  this 
 with  very  great  dismay  ■  except  (which  I  do  not  think  un- 
 likely, Woodard  says  it  will  certainly  be  so,)  it  fall  dead 
 to  the  ground  for  economical  reasons,  and  I  shall  be  most 
 anxious  to  see  what  rules  you  the  Commissioners  will  pre- 
 scribe, or  accept,  to  guard  it.  Might  not  one  be,  that  no 
 one  shall  have  a  licence  except  he  have  gained  such  and 
 such  distinction,  unless  he  will  consent  to  undergo  an  ex- 
 amination for  it.  Might  not  the  V.  Ch.  have  a  Council 
 assigned  him,  a  Committee,  say,  of  the  new  Hebdomadal 
 Board,  who  shall  certify  in  some  solemn  form,  whenever 
 they  grant  a  licence,  the  same  kind  of  points  as  are  re- 
 quired to  be  certified  by  this  Act,  when  a  man  is  elected 
 to  a  Fellowship  ?  Might  there  be  a  kind  of  Si  qais  put 
 forth  for  a  certain  time  at  the  meetings  of  the  Hebdomadal 
 Council,  for  the  chance  of  excluding  persons  positively  dis- 
 creditable ?  Might  it  be  ruled  that  the  Licensed  M.A.  must 
 be  either  a  Priest,  or  provide  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  Licen- 
 sers a  sufficient  Chaplain  to  look  after  his  pupils  ?  Might 
 not  the  licences,  for  a  certain  time,  at  least,  be  restricted 
 to  persons  associating  with  them  a  certain  number  of  co- 
 adjutors, such  as  to  give  security  to  the  University,  that 
 between  them  they  would  give  their  pupils  a  fair  chance  of 
 completing  the  University  Course,  thus  forming  a  sort  of 
 
 voluntary  Colleges,  (but  S says  this  would  not  do,  they 
 
 would  quarrel  so.)  Might  not  some  kind  of  pecuniary 
 guarantee  be  insisted  on  ?  I  mean  that  a  M.A.  should 
 shew  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  Licensers  that  he  has  a  fair 
 chance  of  success,  by  producing  promises  in  writing  from 
 respectable  persons  guaranteeing  him  in  all  so  many  pupils 
 
388  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 to  begin  with ;  or  in  any  other  way.  Rules  like  these,  it 
 seems  to  me,  will  be  requisite  to  guard  against  direct 
 swindling,  and  charlataneries ;  but  what  I  most  apprehend, 
 if  the  plan  succeed,  is  a  succession  of  A's,  or  V's,  or  W's, 
 or  A's,  or  B.  N's,  or  F.  N's,  each  with  his  school  or  per- 
 sonal following,  unsoftened  by  the  Collegiate  feeling.  What 
 will  become  of  Peace  and  Reverence  ?  and  where  will  you 
 find  any  safeguard  against  this?  I  must  see  whether  I 
 can  think  of  anything  against  to-morrow  morning,  for  it 
 is  midnight. 
 
 "  Well,  now  it  is  to-morrow  morning,  and  I  have  been 
 thinking  chiefly  of  my  dreams,  but  a  little  of  my  being 
 to-day  62  years  old,  and  how  little  I  have  to  shew  for  it, 
 except  in  one  way,  which  is  not  pleasant  to  think  of. 
 
 "  I  hope  to  see  May  here  presently,  and  that  will  be 
 a  comfort. 
 
 "  As  to  the  evil  last  mentioned,  I  suppose  it  must  be 
 taken  as  a  necessary  result  of  '  our  unhappy  divisions  ;' 
 however,  I  dread  it  exceedingly.  I  should  think  also  it 
 would  be  harder  to  keep  up  discipline  ;  offences  will  much 
 more  readily  be  slurred  over  when  a  man's  bread  depends 
 on  the  number  of  his  pupils ;  and  Proctors  will  be  thought 
 ill  of,  if  they  do  not  a  little  spare  the  father  of '  six  small 
 children,'  or  '  of  eight  marriageable  engaged  daughters.' 
 On  the  whole,  I  fear  litttle  Bernard  has  small  chance  of 
 learning  the  old  Oxford  tfOos,  any  more  than  he  has  of 
 loitering  with  a  book  under  a  real  hedge-row  of  the  old 
 English  Fashion. 
 
 "  I  have  just  got  your  letter ;  many  thanks.  In  your 
 notion  of  the  small  effect  of  this  Bill  in  itself,  I  very  much 
 agree ;  the  loss  of  ffOos  I  fear  has  taken  place  already. 
 
 "  Ever  your  very  loving,  J.  K." 
 
 "  Surely  the  Private  Halls  do  make  a  great  opening  for 
 
Private  Halls.  389 
 
 Dissenters,  at  least,  with  those  who  think  that  the  Colleges 
 are  in  some  sense  bound  by  the  Churchmanship  of  their 
 Founders." 
 
 On  the  1st  of  May  he  writes  : — 
 
 "  I  wish  I  could  be  reassured  by  anything  in  your  letter, 
 or  in  what  W.  E.  G.  said  the  other  evening,  that  the  direct 
 and  necessary  tendency  of  this  Bill  is  not  to  separate  Oxford 
 from  the  Church.  As  I  understand  him,  one  of  the  first 
 things  after  the  Bill  shall  have  passed,  will  be  that  the 
 University  will  be  called  on  to  consider  how  far  '  the  natural 
 and  reasonable  desires'  of  Dissenters  to  get  into  it  may  be 
 gratified ;'  and  one  of  the  faults  of  the  Hebdomadal  Board 
 is  their  not  having  allowed  that  question  to  be  mooted. 
 
 "  I  have  very  little  doubt  that  we  shall  have  to  deal  with 
 it  every  year  till  it  is  done,  and  how  long  then  will  it  be 
 before  the  Colleges  are  thrown  open  also  ;  considering  that 
 J.  D.  himself  told  me  the  other  day,  '  he  did  not  care  tor 
 Founders  and  Benefactors ;'  they  were  his  very  words. 
 
 "  I  can  only  see  one  way  in  which  this  measure  can 
 amount  even  to  a  forlorn  hope,  that  is,  if  there  were  such 
 a  lot  of  people  like  Woodard  and  Wordsworth,  &c,  to  oc- 
 cupy the  Private  Halls,  that  they  should  even  take  the  place 
 by  storm,  and  do  their  work  so  as  to  defy  competition ;  but 
 what  chance  is  there  of  that  ?" 
 
 On  the  19th  of  June  he  wrote  again  to  me.  I  was 
 coming  on  the  Western  Circuit,  and  had  promised  to 
 go  to  Hursley  in  my  way  : — 
 
 "  My  dearest  Friend, 
 
 "  Indeed  it  is  too  true  that  you  have  not  heard  from  me 
 
 for  very  long,  and  I  wish  I  did  not  know  too  well  whose 
 
 fault  it  is.     Pray  let  us  see  as  much  as  ever  we  can  of  you 
 
 when  you  come  here.     I  was  intending  to  write  to  ask  you 
 
390  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 this  before  your's  came.  If  you  could  but  give  us  a  quiet 
 Sunday  !  Such  things  are  more  and  more  precious  every 
 year  as  we  feel  how  little  we  can  reckon  on  them.  I  am 
 sure  you  will  do  what  you  can  for  us.  We  are  more  of 
 a  family  than  usual,  having  three  of  Peter  Young's  children, 
 while  he  is  being  watered  at  Malvern ;  I  hope  successfully, 
 but  I  am  far  from  being  easy  about  him.  But  the  youngsters 
 would  not  be  at  all  in  your  way.    Heathcote  you  know  may 
 
 now  see  his  fill  of  you  in  London 
 
 "  I  very  much  like,  as  far  as  I  can  judge,  the  changes 
 which  have  been  made  in  the  Oxford  Bill,  only  I  am  afraid 
 they  will  greatly  increase  your  trouble.  It  is  not  so  much 
 the  proposed  amount  of  change  that  I  deprecated,  as  the 
 cool  way  in  which  Parliament  was  decreeing,  without  asking 
 those  most  concerned,  that  Founders'  natural  preferences 
 should  go  for  nothing,  thereby  laying  down  the  principle 
 which  Woodgate  seems  to  me  to  have  unanswerably  ex- 
 posed, that  endowments  may  be  seized  not  only  for  doing 
 harm,  but  for  not  doing  all  the  good  they  might.  I  con- 
 sider that  principle  to  be  now  withdrawn,  and  that  is  to  me 
 a  great  gain,  be  the  practical  result  what  it  may.  Still  my 
 quarrel  with  the  first  half  of  the  Bill  remains.  I  consider 
 myself  and  some  4,000  others  to  be  unconstitutionally  and 
 wrongfully  treated  in  not  being  even  consulted  on  so  great 
 a  thing  as  the  whole  scheme  of  our  Corporate  Government ; 
 and  that  while  it  is  expressly  enacted  that  Convocation  is 
 to  retain  its  privileges.  If  we  had  been  guilty  of  ever  so 
 great  malversation,  we  could  not  have  been  used  worse." 
 
 Again,  on  July  13,  he  wrote  : — 
 
 "  My  very  dear  Friend, 
 "  One  word  for  fear  I  should  miss  you  by-and-by,  to  say 
 that  I  was  not  quite  so  simple  as  to  dream  of  shutting  Dis- 
 senters out  of  Oxford.     I  think  you  had  not  time  to  read 
 
Private  Halls.  391 
 
 the  printed  stuff  I  put  into  your  hands,  p.  10,  else  you  would 
 not  have  misunderstood  me.  What  I  ask  for  is  simply  that 
 the  restriction  of  a  mile  and  a  half  from  Carfax  be  taken 
 away,  so  that  people  may  study  any  where,  and  only 
 come  up  to  be  examined,  &c,  at  Oxford,  and  this  for 
 all  denominations  alike,  even  as  all  alike  will  be  free  of 
 Oxford  itself. 
 
 "  I  dare  say  this  is  unpractical  enough,  but  it  is  not,  I 
 think,  quite  so  unreal  as  what  you  understood  me  to  mean." 
 
 From  time  to  time  during  the  sittings  of  the  Exe- 
 cutive Commission  he  wrote  to  me  on  the  subject  of 
 Affiliated  Halls,  (which  he  recommended  to  be  allowed 
 without  limitation  as  to  distance  or  denomination), 
 and  the  Private  Halls  to  be  established  under  the 
 Bill.  I  will  extract  from  one  of  these,  written  from 
 Oxford  on  the  14th  of  June,  1855,  very  soon  after 
 the  Statute  as  to  Private  Halls,  which  I  believe  is 
 still  in  force,  had  been  passed.  This  adhered  to 
 the  originally  proposed  limitation  as  to  the  distance 
 from  Carfax,  within  which  alone  the  Hall  could  be 
 opened ;  and  modified,  but  not  in  Keble's  opinion 
 sufficiently,  that  which  prescribed  within  what  period 
 before  the  grant  of  a  Licence,  the  Head  must  have 
 been  resident  within  the  University.  These  limita- 
 tions he  would  have  wholly  done  away  with. 
 
 The  letter  is  interesting  on  several  accounts  : — 
 
 "  Dearest  Coleridge, 
 "  I  have  been  looking  at  the  Statute  for  Private  Halls, 
 which  I  understood  is  now  before  you  the  Commissioners, 
 
392  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 and  I  have  been  a  little  dismayed  at  finding  that  nobody 
 may  open  a  Hall  unless  he  has  been  lately  resident  at  Ox- 
 ford. This  entirely  spoils  a  favourite  dream  of  mine,  that 
 such  as  Wilson,  (e.g.)  might  make  a  lodgment  in  Oxford 
 under  cover  of  the  new  system,  and  do  something  to  coun- 
 teract the  terrible  secular  spirit  which  has  come  over  the 
 place,  naturally  enough  by  the  re-action  consequent  on 
 Newman's  secession,  and  other  such  things.  You  see  the 
 present  Tutorial  Body  in  Oxford,  (I  don't  mean  to  dispar- 
 age them,  it  was  but  to  be  expected  in  their  position,)  are 
 just  of  that  Academical  Generation  which  was  most  likely 
 to  be  influenced  in  that  way.  The  old  Country  Stagers 
 were  too  well  settled  beforehand,  and  I  hope  their  children 
 after  them  will  prove  to  be  the  same ;  but  there  is  no  doubt, 
 from  all  I  can  hear,  that  the  religious  tone  of  the  Common 
 Rooms  just  now  is  very  much  gone  down  from  the  level  of 
 Copeland,  Rogers,  Tom  Morris,  &c,  and  I  cannot  but  think 
 that  an  opening  for  such  as  I  am  thinking  of  is  very  desir- 
 able. The  obvious  way  would  be  to  strike  out  the  limitation 
 about  time,  and  leave  those  who  recommend  to  state  what 
 quantity  of  experience  their  proteges  have,  as  well  as  how 
 they  stand  in  other  respects.  And  the  Candidates  might 
 be  invited  to  bring  the  best  testimonials  they  could  from 
 any  quarter,  as  when  Rugby  or  Winchester  School  is 
 vacant;  and  the  Hebdomadal  Council  might  judge  of 
 them,  or  appoint  a  Committee  to  judge,  provided  always 
 the  Committee  were  impartially  constituted,  in  which  last 
 clause  I  apprehend  the  difficulty  would  lie,  but  we  must 
 trust  somebody. 
 
 "  Perhaps  I  have  no  business  to  write  to  you  on  this 
 matter,  if  so,  just  put  me  in  the  fire. 
 
 "  I  am  here  for  two  days  for  Bp.  Wilson,  but  go  home 
 to-morrow." 
 
Oxford  University  Reform.  393 
 
 I  have  brought  these  letters  together  for  the  gene- 
 ral, and  as  to  some  of  them  the  present,  importance 
 of  the  subjects  on  which  they  are  written.  The 
 strong  inclination  of  Keble's  mind  was  obviously  to 
 preserve  Oxford  so  far,  at  least,  as  regarded  Resident 
 Students,  to  members  of  the  Established  Church  ; 
 though  he  would  have  conceded  the  Oxford  Exami- 
 nations at  Oxford,  and  of  course  the  honours,  with  I 
 presume  the  Bachelor's  degree,  to  Nonconformists  of 
 every  denomination ;  he  would  have  had  much  more 
 regard  paid  to  the  intentions  of  founders  than  would 
 be  satisfactory  to  the  Reformers  ;  and  he  clung  with 
 the  greatest  earnestness  to  the  revival  and  preserva- 
 tion in  full  force  of  what  he  called  the  Oxford  ??#o?, 
 which  he  considered  to  be  of  infinite  value,  and  to  be 
 dying  out  in  the  new  state  of  feeling  there. 
 
 These  three  points  are  of  present  and  abiding  im- 
 portance ;  on  all  of  them  Keble's  opinions  would  be 
 considered  perhaps  by  many  persons  as  now  out  of 
 date  ;  but  in  order  to  judge  of  them  fairly,  we  must 
 transport  ourselves  to  the  time  when  they  were 
 given,  and  remember  the  general  object  which  he 
 set  before  his  own  mind.  The  doctrine  of  the  Na- 
 tionality of  the  Universities,  because  their  property 
 was  the  gift  of  the  nation,  and  their  establishment 
 the  act  of  the  State,  was  at  that  time  little  heard 
 of ;  and  when  stated,  rather  assumed  than  proved. 
 I  do  not  mean  now  to  controvert  it;  and  it  is  per- 
 haps hardly  a  practical  question  how  far  as  a  whole 
 
394  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 it  could  be  historically  proved  ;  but  conceding  this,  if 
 one  thought  that  the  State  was  about  so  to  exercise 
 its  right  of  interference  as  to  impair  the  gift  which  it 
 had  already  made,  it  would  be  neither  inconsistent, 
 nor  narrow-minded,  to  oppose  such  exercise.  Look- 
 ing at  the  interests  of  the  classes  which  were  actually 
 in  an  ancient  and  undisturbed  possession,  it  seems  to 
 me  even  now  very  questionable,  whether  their  place 
 of  education,  and  their  education,  may  not  suffer 
 unnecessarily  and  seriously  by  the  measures  which 
 have  been  adopted  since  the  Oxford  Reform  com- 
 menced. The  engrafting  of  the  Collegiate  system 
 on  the  University  teaching  used  to  be  considered 
 a  circumstance  advantageously  distinguishing  Ox- 
 ford and  Cambridge  from  all  other  Universities.  I 
 am  not  prepared  to  abandon  that  notion,  and  if  this 
 distinction  could  have  been  preserved,  with  a  due 
 regard  to  the  claims  of  Nonconformists,  no  Oxford 
 man  could  be  blamed,  I  think,  or  considered  illi- 
 beral, for  endeavouring  to  accomplish  it.  The  scheme 
 of  Private  Halls  may  be  said  to  have  failed ;  it  was 
 a  concession,  perhaps  a  necessary  one,  to  the  feeling 
 of  the  day,  but  it  had  the  seeds  of  its  failure  inherent 
 in  it ;  all  the  Colleges  and  Public  Halls  were  not,  and 
 I  believe  are  not  even  now  full,  and  the  Private  Halls 
 presented  no  advantage  which  might  not  have  been 
 had  in  greater  degree  in  one  of  them.  At  the  end  of 
 thirteen  years  but  two  appear  to  exist,  which  contain 
 together  eighteen  Students  in  all,  a  number  which 
 
Oxford  University  Reform.  395 
 
 might  certainly  have  been  conveniently  provided  for 
 without  their  establishment.  The  scheme  now  started 
 of  simple  teaching  apart  from  the  Collegiate  life,  I 
 fear  may  result  in  a  similar  failure,  although  it  pre- 
 sents the  temptation  of  economy  ;  unless  it  be  sup- 
 plemented by  something,  which  it  does  not  and  could 
 not  promise,  and  the  happening  of  which,  however 
 probable,  is  still  precarious  and  uncertain.  I  mean 
 some  such  event  as  that  which  Keble  desired,  the 
 devotion  of  themselves  by  some  marked  and  gifted 
 men  to  the  tuition  of  the  Non-ascripti.  It  does  not 
 seem  safe  in  regard  to  this  to  rely  on  the  ordinary 
 rule  of  demand  creating  supply ;  here  the  supply 
 should  in  some  sort  precede  the  demand  ;  and  it 
 must  be  remembered  that  the  Colleges  must  be  ex- 
 pected to  present  commonly  much  greater  tempta- 
 tions to  eminent  men  to  become  Tutors,  than  the 
 class  of  pupils  we  are  now  speaking  of. 
 
 But  waiving  these  difficulties,  it  seems  to  me  that 
 this  plan,  (and  Keble's  no  less,)  has  been  framed  in 
 forgetfulness  of  that  which  is  essential  to  satisfy  the 
 claims  both  of  Churchmen  who  require  more  eco- 
 nomy, and  of  Nonconformists  who  seek  admission  to 
 University  education ;  it  may,  and  I  hope  it  will, 
 conduce  to  the  teaching  a  greater  number  of  per- 
 sons the  languages  and  science,  and  may  give  to 
 more  of  our  youth  some  of  the  benefits  resulting 
 from  University  Honours  and  Degrees.  And  I  do 
 not  desire  to  undervalue  this  advantage.    But  we  de- 
 
396  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 ceive  ourselves,  if  we  suppose  that  these  gains  will 
 satisfy  the  reasonable  desires  of  parents.  Quite  apart 
 from  these,  however  valuable,  there  is  and  there 
 ought  to  be,  even  in  the  minds  of  those  who  neither 
 expect  nor  desire  for  their  sons  Scholarships,  or  Fel- 
 lowships, a  strong  desire  to  give  them  the  benefit  of 
 a  Collegiate  education  ;  it  is  the  College  Hall  and 
 Common  Room,  the  College  Tutor's  classes,  not  too 
 large  to  become  the  seed  plots  of  friendships,  the 
 College  society  and  associations,  which  they  know 
 tend  to  introduce  their  sons,  free  from  all  invidious 
 distinctions,  into  full  membership  in  the  best  Eng- 
 lish society.  Their  feeling  is  our  own  ;  what  is  it  now 
 which  we  look  back  upon  with  the  most  affectionate 
 feeling  and  innocent  pride  ?  not  so  much  the  Univer- 
 sity as  our  College  ;  not  merely  to  our  having  been 
 First  Class  men,  or  having  won  this  or  that  Univer- 
 sity prize,  but  to  having  been  fellow-pupils  with  such 
 and  such  men  of  this  or  that  Tutor  at  Balliol,  or 
 Corpus,  or  New  College,  or  elsewhere ;  or  perhaps, 
 with  some  of  us,  even  fellow-oarsmen  in  this  or  that 
 College  boat ;  it  is  the  College  which  creates  habits, 
 which  forms  or  cements  friendships,  which  stamps 
 indelible  memories  and  associations.  It  may  be  a 
 melancholy  conclusion,  and  involve  some  serious  con- 
 sequences, (I  hope  none  so  serious  as  excellent  men, 
 and  Dr.  Pusey  among  them,  foretel,)  but  I  am  con- 
 vinced, that  if  changes  are  to  be  made  with  a  view  of 
 satisfying  those  who  are  now  without,  nothing  short 
 
Oxford  University  Reform.  397 
 
 of  a  full  and  free  admission  to  the  College  will  have 
 that  effect  with  the  most  influential  of  the  claimants. 
 If  they  know  what  they  seek,  and  I  doubt  not  they 
 do,  they  will  accept  nothing  short  of  this. 
 
 But  suppose  my  conviction  to  be  ill-founded,  and 
 also  that  the  new  measure  should  be  well  accepted, 
 and  lead  to  a  large  influx  of  young  men  of  all  deno- 
 minations, it  is  surely  matter  of  grave  consideration 
 how  far  the  order,  and  discipline,  and  internal  har- 
 mony of  the  University  can  be  securely  maintained 
 with  so  large  a  body,  consisting  of  young  men  of  pre- 
 vious habits  so  different,  and  so  prone  in  themselves 
 to  give  and  take  offence.  It  is  mere  folly  to  suppose 
 that  a  machinery  by  which,  or  an  area  in  which,  a 
 thousand  or  twelve  hundred  Students  may  work  well 
 together,  will  have  strength  or  space  for  the  number 
 indefinitely  increased  ;  and  it  is  much  to  be  feared 
 that  irreparable  injury  may  be  done  to  those  who 
 now  occupy  the  ground,  without  conferring  the  de- 
 sired benefits  on  the  new  comers.  The  change,  it 
 must  also  be  remembered,  is  not  a  mere  change  of 
 numbers ;  besides  many  differences  in  themselves, 
 the  new  comers  will  not  be  under  the  same  favour- 
 able circumstances  for  discipline  as  those  under  which 
 the  Undergraduates  are  now  placed. 
 
 One  evil  which  Keble,  it  has  been  seen,  estimated 
 as  very  grave,  the  loss  of  the  old  Oxford  rjdos,  it 
 would  be  scarcely  fair  to  attribute  to  anything  done 
 under  the  Oxford  Reform  Statute ;  for  he  speaks  of 
 
398  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 it  as  having  already  happened  when  he  wrote,  and 
 attributes  it  to  another  cause.  Some  of  my  readers 
 may  ask  what  Keble  meant  by  the  quality  which  he 
 so  much  valued,  and  called  by  a  Greek  name.  The 
 familiarity  of  Students  of  our  Oxford  days  with 
 some,  at  least,  of  the  treatises  of  Aristotle,  and  es- 
 pecially with  the  Ethics,  and  the  remarkable  ex- 
 pressiveness of  his  diction,  occasioned  the  frequent 
 use  among  ourselves  of  his  terms  ;  they  were  ever 
 in  the  mouths  of  Keble  and  Arnold  in  conversa- 
 tion or  correspondence.  I  dare  say  the  same  re- 
 mark might  be  true  now.  This  was  one  of  those 
 terms.  It  is  a  somewhat  remarkable  one.  The 
 same  it  is  which  denotes  custom,  or  usage  gene- 
 rally, differing  only  in  this,  that  the  first  letter  is 
 then  pronounced  short,  and  is  either  doubled  or 
 pronounced  long  when  it  denotes,  at  least  in  Aris- 
 totle's mouth,  not  a  custom,  or  usage  generally,  but 
 one  that  is  moral a.  With  Keble  it  imported  certainly 
 no  intellectual  quality,  scarcely  even  any  distinct 
 moral  one,  but  an  habitual  toning,  or  general  colour- 
 ing diffused  over  all  a  man's  moral  qualities,  giving 
 the  exercise  of  them  a  peculiar  gentleness  and  grace  ; 
 it  was  not  that  the  Oxford  lad  was  more  dutiful, 
 more  brave,  more  truthful,  more  punctual  in  his  re- 
 ligious duties  than  any  other,  but  that  these  quali- 
 ties were  habitually  exercised  by  him  with  more  of 
 
 a  udev  Kal  rovvofxa  ea^ne  (xiKpbt/  irapeKKXtvov  dirb  rod  eGovs*    Eth. 
 B.  ii.  cap.  1. 
 
Oxford  University  Reform.  399 
 
 deference,  and  reverence  towards  his  elders,  more 
 gentleness  and  loving-kindness  to  alL 
 
 Few  will  dispute  that  this  rjdos,  especially  in  youth, 
 may  be  of  great  value.  Keble  certainly  would  have 
 sacrificed  a  great  deal  of  that  which  was  more  showy, 
 and  more  likely  to  advance  a  young  man  in  the  world, 
 to  preserve  it.  I  hope  his  notions  about  it  are  not 
 entirely  out  of  fashion  in  the  present  day,  and  I 
 think  it  would  be,  and  would  denote,  a  great  evil,  if 
 any  constitutional  or  administrative  reform  should  be 
 found  to  throw  a  blight  on  this  grace  at  Oxford. 
 
 With  regard  to  the  respect  due  to  the  wills  and  in- 
 tentions of  Founders,  a  question  of  great  importance, 
 and  very  general  application  for  the  future,  as  well 
 as  the  present,  I  do  not  think  the  Commissioners  dif- 
 fered so  much  from  Keble  in  the  principle,  as  in  the 
 application  of  it  to  particular  cases  ;  they  no  more 
 than  he,  would  have  assented  to  the  doctrine  that 
 no  respect  was  due  to  them.  This  may  be  a  tenable 
 doctrine  in  a  jurist's  mouth,  founded  on  the  nature  of 
 property  generally,  and,  in  England  specially,  on  the 
 statutable  and  judicial  restraints  on  the  disposition 
 of  it ;  but  when  all  that  is  said  and  allowed,  it  is  still 
 a  doctrine  which  is  shocking  not  merely  to  ignorance 
 and  prejudice,  but  to  the  most  generous  and  reve- 
 rential feelings  of  our  nature.  I  say  nothing  of  the 
 impolicy  of  it.  On  the  other  hand,  to  maintain  that 
 the  intentions  of  Founders  should  for  all  time  be  con- 
 sidered in  all  respects  sacred  and  inviolable,  is  neither 
 
400  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 reasonable,  nor  in  a  true  sense  deferential  to  them. 
 It  was  the  duty,  I  conceive,  of  the  Commissioners,  so 
 far  as  they  could,  to  place  themselves  in  the  position 
 of  the  Founders,  to  give  them  credit  for  wisdom,  en- 
 lightenment, and  justice ;  and,  so  far  as  they  could, 
 to  ordain,  as  it  might  be  believed  they  would  have 
 ordained  under  the  altered  circumstances  ;  doing 
 away  absolutely  what  had  become  useless  or  mis- 
 chievous, or  impracticable,  and  advancing  the  ori- 
 ginal design  in  what  was  good  in  spirit,  but  nar- 
 row, or  impeded  in  execution  ;  changing  nothing 
 wantonly,  but  not  staggering  at  the  mere  great- 
 ness of  any  change,  if  it  fell  within  this  principle. 
 I  think  they  acted  according  to  this  ;  they  may 
 have  erred,  they  probably  did  err  sometimes ;  but 
 I  do  not  think  they  were  actuated  by  a  spirit  which 
 Keble  would  on  consideration  have  disapproved  of. 
 
 It  would  be  disingenuous,  as  well  as  foolish,  to 
 deny  that  a  difficulty  will  probably  be  experienced 
 in  conducting  the  teaching  of  classes  composed  of 
 pupils  of  different  denominations  ;  or  that  a  danger 
 may  exist  when  the  tutors  of  a  college,  either  simul- 
 taneously, or  in  succession,  should  be  themselves  of 
 different  persuasions.  Wholly  to  overcome  this  seems 
 to  me  impossible.  I  remember  Arnold  telling  me  that 
 he  should  fear  no  difficulty,  if  he  were  Regius  Pro- 
 fessor of  Divinity,  in  lecturing,  Greek  Testament  in 
 hand,  a  class  of  pupils  of  all  denominations.  I  will  only 
 say  he  was  no  common  man ;  but  yet  he  never  had 
 
Oxford  University  Reform.  401 
 
 to  make  the  experiment ;  moreover  a  Divinity  class  at 
 the  University  naturally  implies  one  of  which  the  far 
 greater  part  consists  of  those  who  are  being  prepared 
 for  Holy  Orders,  and  therefore  presumably  members 
 of  the  Church.  If,  however,  it  be  part  of  the  duty  of 
 such  a  Professor  to  expose  heresies,  and  shew  how 
 they  are  to  be  guarded  against ;  or  to  explain  and 
 confirm  our  Ecclesiastical  Polity,  ordinary  men  would 
 find  it  difficult,  I  think,  if  not  impossible,  to  conduct 
 their  lectures  so  peaceably  and  so  effectively  as  my 
 dear  friend  anticipated. 
 
 But  what  cannot  be  denied  to  exist  may  yet  be 
 much  diminished  in  extent ;  ability  and  good  sense, 
 a  conciliatory  temper,  with  a  spirit  at  once  liberal 
 and  firm,  that  manifestly  pursues  the  truth  yet  with 
 consideration,  and  a  large  charity,  will  do  much. 
 The  Church  of  England  would  begin  with  great  ad- 
 vantages, and  it  is  fair  to  presume  that  Heads  of 
 Houses  would  appoint  College  Tutors  with  a  due 
 regard  to  the  circumstances.  And  after  all  it  has 
 with  justice  been  asked,  Have  you  security  now 
 against  the  evils  you  foretel  ?  unless  some  Colleges 
 are  much  belied,  you  have  not.  Many  a  thoughtful 
 and  conscientious  parent,  I  believe,  now  exposes  his 
 son  to  the  lectures  and  influence  of  tutors  whose 
 religious  opinions  he  condemns,  on  account  of  their 
 ability,  their  industry,  or  their  moral  influence  for 
 good.  And  so,  I  apprehend,  would  it  be  found  with 
 not  a  few  Nonconformist  parents  ;  as  in  the  National 
 
 Dd 
 
402  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 Schools,  the  good  master  in  a  Church  school  at- 
 tracts the  Dissenters'  children  of  every  denomina- 
 tion ;  so  at  Oxford,  I  apprehend,  the  Tutor,  de- 
 servedly popular  on  general  grounds,  will  draw  to 
 his  College,  and  influence,  it  may  be,  with  his  special 
 teaching,  young  men  who  have  been  brought  up  in 
 opinions  very  much  differing  from  his  own ;  giving 
 them,  for  a  time,  at  least,  his  own  bias,  but  not  al- 
 ways settling  them  into  a  faith  different  from  that  in 
 which  they  were  nursed,  nor  yet  leading  them  "  to 
 care  for  none  of  these  things ;"  but  making  them 
 more  truly  liberal ;  by  shewing  them  how  much  of 
 goodness  and  truth  there  exists  among  those  who 
 hold  that  which  they  with  some  exaggeration  as  to 
 the  fact  have  been  accustomed  to  regard  as  mere 
 freethinking  on  the  one  hand,  or  as  superstition  or 
 priestcraft  on  the  other.  If  it  be  said  that  these 
 are  but  vague  and  hypothetical  answers  to  distinct 
 denunciations  of  evil,  it  must  be  remembered  that 
 they  are  not  the  whole  answer ;  they  are  addressed 
 rather  to  deprecate  exaggeration  and  heat ;  to  sug- 
 gest that  in  matters  such  as  these  the  strictly  logical 
 deduction  from  the  premises  is  not  always  found  in 
 practice  the  true  one  ;  other  unregarded  considera- 
 tions often  intervening  to  qualify  the  conclusion  ; 
 and  let  me  add,  to  warn  excellent  and  earnest  men 
 against  the  embitterment  which  flows  from  unavail- 
 ing opposition  to  the  inevitable. 
 
 I  hope  I   may  be    forgiven,  considering  my  per- 
 
Oxford  University  Reform.  403 
 
 sonal  interest,  not  only  for  these  last  remarks,  but 
 for  having  dwelt  at  so  much  length  on  the  Oxford 
 Reform  past,  and  that  now  impending,  or  on  its  trial. 
 If  I  have  expressed  my  fears  and  doubts  as  to  the 
 great  measure  recently  determined  on,  I  must  not 
 be  supposed  to  condemn  the  authors,  or  to  speak 
 with  unbecoming  confidence.  It  would  be  unnatural 
 in  me  not  to  feel  the  most  intense  interest  in  the 
 future  welfare  of  Oxford.  All  should  agree  that  we 
 must  consider  the  Oxford  that  is,  as  wrell  as  the  Ox- 
 ford that  is  to  be ;  for  myself,  I  would  have  sought 
 to  give  an  access  to  those  who  have  hitherto  not  had 
 it,  free,  as  nearly  as  possible  in  the  spirit  of  the  old 
 University,  Collegiate,  and  capable  of  gradually  open- 
 ing more  widely  to  meet  what  may  be  expected  to 
 be  a  gradually  increasing  demand.  I  should  have 
 thought  this  might  be  done  by  Colleges  founding 
 Halls,  in  subordination  to  themselves,  supplied  with 
 Principals  and  Tutors  of  their  appointment  from 
 among  their  own  Fellows,  and  conducted  on  a  strictly 
 domestic  and  economical  principle.  Keble  College, 
 I  may  say  in  a  parenthesis,  though  necessarily  in 
 some  degree  exceptional,  yet  seems  to  me,  speaking 
 reverently,  to  have  been  providentially  founded  at 
 this  very  time.  What  is  demanded  for  Noncon- 
 formists is,  at  least,  an  equally  just  matter  of  claim 
 for  Churchmen,  who  may  desire  to  secure  for  their 
 children  not  merely  an  economical  education,  but 
 one  framed  strictly  on  Church  principles.     It  is  well 
 
404  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 at  such  a  time  that  a  College  should  exist,  to  which 
 whoever  resorts,  (and  I  hope  that  access  will  be  re- 
 fused to  none  on  account  of  difference  in  religious 
 principles,)  will  enter  with  notice  that  there,  at  least, 
 the  teaching  he  will  receive  will  be  that  of  the 
 Church  of  England,  as  Keble  understood  and  sub- 
 scribed to  it. 
 
 Upon  much  consideration  I  would  have  everything 
 in  the  Colleges,  of  profit  as  well  as  honour,  that  is 
 now  to  be  gained  after  competitive  examination, 
 open  to  all  the  Students  in  these  Halls  ;  to  this  as 
 a  conclusion  necessary,  and  under  the  over-ruling 
 providence  of  God  not  a  hurtful  one,  I  have  come 
 by  slow  steps,  not  very  willingly  taken.  I  fear  in 
 this  Keble  and  I  should  have  differed  ;  but  I  would 
 have  said  to  him,  what  I  say  now  to  some  of  his 
 dearest  friends,  (one  especially  of  whom  it  would 
 be  difficult  to  say  whether  Keble  more  loved,  or  ho- 
 noured him,  and  whom  he  used  to  characterize  as  the 
 most  hopeful  of  men,)  recognize  an  inevitable  neces- 
 sity, not  the  less  inevitable  because  you  may  strug- 
 gle against  it  with  partial  success  once  and  again ; 
 make  a  virtue  of  the  necessity ;  seek  to  guard  your 
 concession  with  all  such  conditions  as  may  in  your 
 opinion  make  it  most  salutary  for  the  future;  but 
 remember  that  England  is  no  longer  what  she  was 
 when  our  colleges  were  founded,  that  her  population 
 is  not  more  increased  in  numbers  than  in  wealth,  and 
 in,  at  least,  a  certain  and  improveable  kind  of  educa- 
 
Oxford  University  Reform.  405 
 
 tion  and  refinement ;  in  upward  aspirations,  to  be 
 guided  rather  than  checked  ;  and  that  the  desire  for 
 academical  training  it  is  almost  unnatural  for  the 
 Universities  to  oppose  ;  that,  consequently,  they  who 
 now  besiege  your  citadel  have  at  the  very  least  a 
 plausible  ground  of  right  ;  that  their  claim,  if  it  be 
 indeed  rightful,  should  and  can  only  be  satisfied  by 
 full  and  frank  concession,  concession  worthy  of  your- 
 selves ;  that  it  is  a  case  in  which  you  give  nothing, 
 if  you  give  less  than  all  ;  that  it  is  far  better  that 
 those  who  press  on  you  should  enter  by  the  gates, 
 than  through  a  breach,  and  that  it  is  far  more 
 Christian-like,  and  therefore  far  more  politic,  to  ad- 
 mit them  as  brothers,  than  as  conquerors. 
 
 kclI  vvv  eacrov,  /irjSe  aot  fieXTjadro). 
 irdvrws  yap  ov  irelaets  viv'   ou  yap  evTTiOrjS' 
 nrdiTTaive  8'  avros,  jjltj  tl  irrjfjLavOys  6$<2. 
 
 Fro?n.  Vinct.  332. 
 
CHAPTER   XVII. 
 
 1854,  BISHOP  OF  NEW  ZEALAND  AT  HURSLEY. — 
 FRANCIS  GEORGE  COLERIDGE'S  DEATH. — VISIT  TO 
 THE  WEST.  —  THE  VINEYARD  AND  DARTINGTON 
 RECTORY.  —  ARCHDEACON  WILBERFORCE.  —  SER- 
 VICE FOR  EMIGRANTS. — NORTH  OF  DEVON. — PRO- 
 FESSOR REED. — DECISION  OF  THE  DENISON  CASE. 
 — TOUR  IN  NORTH  WALES. — ARGUMENT  ON  THE 
 DIVORCE  BILL. — DEPARTURE  OF  MR.  YOUNG  AND 
 FAMILY. — 1857,  TOUR  IN  SWITZERLAND. — EUCHA- 
 R1STICAL  ADORATION. 
 
 IT  is  high  time  that  I  should  return  to  my  narra- 
 tive, which  I  have  interrupted  too  long  by  re- 
 marks of  my  own  ;  although  on  a  subject  which 
 seems  to  be  but  a  part  of  that  which,  it  has  been 
 seen,  awakened  the  liveliest  interest  in  Keble's  mind. 
 As  regarded  his  own  little  circle,  and  his  parish,  the 
 year  1854  was  gliding  peaceably  away.  The  Wil- 
 sons were  seeking  health  principally  on  Mrs.  Wilson's 
 account  on  the  Continent,  and  I  have  lying  before 
 me  a  long  letter  from  Keble  to  them,  the  greater 
 part  of  which  is  full  of  parish  details.  He  had  used 
 to  receive  such  letters  from  Mr.  Wilson  when  he  was 
 himself  away,  and    now   he    communicated   to   him 
 
Letter  to  Mr.  Wilson.  407 
 
 abroad  the  same  kind  of  details.  He  could  tell  him 
 everything  material  as  to  Ampfield,  and  he  knew 
 that  Mr.  Wilson  continued  to  feel  a  strong  interest  in 
 all  that  related  to  Hursley. 
 
 I  will  transcribe  parts  of  this  letter,  which  give 
 a  lively  picture  of  Keble  in  his  parochial  ministra- 
 tions : — 
 
 "H.  K,  begun  2nd  June,  1854." 
 "  My  most  dear  friends, 
 "  You  will  not  have  wondered,  but  you  may  well  be  *  put 
 out,'  at  not  having  heard  from  me  so  long  after  so  very  wel- 
 come a  letter  as  you  sent  me.  But  you  will  bear  it  as  you 
 have  so  many  things.  The  chief  matter  that  we  have  been 
 thinking  of  lately  has  been  poor  Holmes.  You  will  have 
 heard  all  particulars  from  Lady  H.  Very  little  passed  be- 
 tween her  and  me  that  could  be  specified ;  indeed,  from 
 the  first  time  I  saw  her,  she  was  too  ill  to  say  much ;  but 
 all  was  resigned,  and  peaceful,  and  warm-hearted.  She 
 asked  to  have  the  H.  C.  every  Monday,  and  received  it 
 3  times  ;  the  first  time  Charlotte  was  there ;  the  last,  the 
 whole  body  of  the  Nurses,  her  Sister,  Mrs.  C,  Mrs.  S.,  and 
 the  other  servant  who  was  so  much  with  her;  she  could 
 not  then  speak  at  all,  but  was  entirely  conscious,  and  par- 
 ticularly soothed  by  the  Commendatory  Service,  which  I 
 read  to  her  from  the  Visitatio  Infirmorum.  There  was 
 something  she  tried  to  say,  but  we  could  none  of  us  make 
 it  out ;  I  begged  her  not  to  distress  herself  on  that  ac- 
 count, and  from  her  countenance  I  don't  think  she  did. 
 She  was  buried  at  Ampfield  this  morning,  rather  near  to 
 the  Grave  we  all  think  of,  though  not  so  near  as  Lady  H. 
 wished ;  however,  I  hope  it  will  have  been  all  right.    I  love 
 
408  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 to  think  of  her,  and  of  Lady  H.,  and  the  group e  of  Park 
 Servants  waiting  on  her. 
 
 "  Peter  Young  wrote  very  cheerfully  of  himself  the  other 
 day,  and  talked  of  being  home  in  three  weeks,  I  am  thank- 
 ful to  say.  I  believe  he  is  much  better,  but  I  don't  expect 
 him  to  be  well  enough  for  work  for  a  good  while,  and  I  am 
 much  afraid  of  his  worrying  himself  ill  again.  We  have  the 
 two  girls  and  little  Edward  with  us,  and  a  great  splotch  of 
 sunshine  they  make  in  the  house,  especially  the  boy ;  and 
 you  would  be  amused  by  Jemmy's  funny  consequential 
 ways,  when  he  comes  here  on  leave-out  days.  I  hope  and 
 trust  he  is  doing  well  in  material  points.  I  wish  you  could 
 be  at  home  at  one  or  two  things  that  are  coming  on,  as  the 
 Christening  of  this  15  th  Moberly,  who,  some  say,  may  per- 
 haps be  called  Cyril ;  the  Bp.  of  New  Zealand  in  our 
 School-Room  on  Friday  next,  with  Mrs.  Selwyn,  and,  I 
 hope,  Johnny. 
 
 "  This  place,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  distresses  me  almost 
 more  than  ever ;  there  is  something  very  very  bad  going 
 on  among  the  young  people,  and  I  cannot  fathom  it,  any 
 more  than  Bessy  can  why  people  are  ever  naughty ;  a  ques- 
 tion she  asked  to-day  at  breakfast. 
 
 "  As  to  public  matters,  I  will  not  say  anything,  they  are 
 got  beyond  me.  I  am  sure  people  mean  what  is  right,  but 
 somehow  it  has  got  strangely  blended  with  what  one  has 
 been  used  to  think  very  wrong.  One  thing  I  fancy  I  dis- 
 cern, that  the  Puritan  Party  is  getting  on  amazingly.  I 
 fully  expect  that  before  long  Oxford  will  be  thrown  open 
 to  all  but  R.  C's. 
 
 "  And  so  with  dear  love  to  you,  Maria,  Mary,  or  Miriam, 
 and  to  both  the  youngsters,  I  am  always  yours,  J.  K." 
 
 The  person  whose  illness,  death,  and   burial,  he 
 
Bishop  of  New  Zealand  at  Hursley.  409 
 
 speaks  of  in  this  letter,  had  been  a  faithful  and  fa- 
 vourite servant  in  the  Trench  family,  and,  among 
 other  services,  had  tenderly  nursed  a  sister  of  Mrs. 
 Wilson  through  her  last  illness.  It  is  the  grave  of 
 this  lady  in  Ampfield  Churchyard,  of  which  Keble 
 speaks,  near  to  which  it  had  been  desired  that 
 the  servant  should  be  laid.  In  her  illness,  when  it 
 became  serious,  Lady  Heathcote  had  brought  her  to 
 Hursley  Park,  where  she  died  ;  which  explains  the 
 incidents  he  describes  so  simply  and  feelingly. 
 
 It  was  on  the  whole  a  tranquil  time  for  Keble,  or 
 rather,  I  should  say,  no  external  anxieties  prevented 
 him  from  cheerful  family  meetings  or  parochial  cele- 
 brations. The  visit  which  he  speaks  of  as  antici- 
 pating from  the  Bishop  of  New  Zealand  to  his 
 school-room,  took  place,  and  Johnny,  who  was  a 
 great  favourite  of  his,  was  of  the  party. 
 
 My  extracts  take  me  sometimes  far  back  into  the 
 lives  of  those  who  are  now,  it  may  be,  filling  their 
 own  responsible  places  in  their  professions ;  but  I 
 do  not  like  to  cut  out  these  little  notices,  and  I 
 trust  not  to  give  offence  to  the  Jemmy  and  Johnny 
 who  find  themselves  here  introduced  as  children. 
 
 It  was  a  common  practice  with  Keble,  whenever 
 he  could,  to  procure  for  his  school  children,  and 
 any  of  the  parishioners  who  might  like  to  assemble, 
 the  entertainment  and  instruction  which  a  Colonial 
 Bishop,  a  missionary,  or  a  traveller,  might  be  willing 
 to   afford   them  by    some  account  of  what   he  had 
 
410  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 seen,  or  done,  or  suffered  in  foreign  lands,  and  by 
 a  description  of  the  people  or  the  country.  Those 
 who  have  the  honour  of  being  acquainted  with  the 
 Bishop  of  New  Zealand,  especially  those  who  may 
 have  seen  him  with  children  in  a  school-room,  and 
 witnessed  his  wonderful  gifts,  I  may  call  them,  of 
 adaptation  and  illustration,  of  rendering  things  un- 
 known before  easy  of  comprehension  and  interesting 
 to  his  audience,  will  understand  what  instruction  and 
 amusement  Keble  probably  procured  on  this  occa- 
 sion for  the  young  and  uneducated  of  his  flock. 
 Nor  for  them  only.  He  himself  was  among  those 
 who,  perhaps,  were  as  much  delighted  as  the  chil- 
 dren and  villagers ;  and  perhaps  also  in  some  mat- 
 ters not  less  instructed.  He  had  talk  of  course  with 
 him  besides  on  higher  subjects,  and,  it  v/ill  be  seen 
 by  a  letter  which  I  will  not  withhold  from  my  readers, 
 he  did  not  in  all  points  agree  with  him.  Before  they 
 read  it,  however,  I  desire  that  they  should  consider 
 that,  in  1854,  the  Bishop's  large  plans  for  the  con- 
 stituting the  Church  in  New  Zealand  were  scarcely 
 matured,  and  only  partially  tried  in  practice,  and  that 
 in  some  respects  they  departed  from  the  primitive 
 models,  to  which  Keble  had  always  looked  up  duti- 
 fully and  reverently  ;  he  might,  therefore,  be  well 
 allowed  to  doubt  of  their  wisdom  without  diminu- 
 tion of  his  high  esteem  for  the  man.  I  do  not  think 
 that  it  is  to  be  inferred  at  all  from  anything  he  writes, 
 that  were  he  now  alive,  and  had  seen  the  working  of 
 
Bishop  of  New  Zealand  at  Hursley.  4 1 1 
 
 the  constitution  in  New  Zealand,  or  could  now  see 
 the  partial  adaptation  of  it,  which  the  same  great 
 man  is  attempting  in  his  present  diocese  in  Eng- 
 land, he  would  have  found  any  ground  for  differing 
 with  him.  One  or  two  matters  there  are  in  which  I 
 fear,  unless  he  misunderstood  the  Bishop,  he  would 
 have  still  differed,  and  many  will  think,  not  without 
 justification.  It  is  no  disparagement  of  Bishop  Sel- 
 wyn  to  say  that  Keble  knew  more  of  the  character 
 and  dangers,  in  England  at  least,  of  Romanism  on 
 the  one  hand,  and  Rationalism  on  the  other,  espe- 
 cially that  he  knew  more  of  the  working  of  either 
 spirit  in  the  Universities,  at  least  in  Oxford.  It 
 was  not  that  he  thought  too  lightly  of  the  former ; 
 nor  did  he  doubt  that  there  was  ground  for  appre- 
 hension ;  but  he  believed  with  the  strongest  convic- 
 tion that  the  issue  of  the  latter  in  Oxford  might  be 
 infidelity ;  and  he  thought,  (and  what  unprejudiced 
 believer  can  doubt  that  he  was  right  ?)  that  honest 
 secessions  to  Rome  were  but  slight  evils,  however 
 great  in  themselves,  in  comparison  with  fallings  off 
 to  infidelity.  I  say  nothing  here  of  what  is  called 
 Ritualism  ;  at  the  time  I  am  now  writing  about,  it 
 was  so  entirely  in  its  infancy  as  to  attract  little 
 attention.  I  say  the  less  on  the  subject  of  what 
 Keble  calls  the  Bishop's  Protestantisms ;  my  read- 
 ers will  know  what  Keble's  convictions  early  and 
 late  were  in  regard  to  this  matter,  how  uncatholic 
 he   thought   Dissent,   direct  or  indirect,  and  we  do 
 
412  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 not  know  to  what  expressions  of  the  Bishop  he  is 
 alluding. 
 
 The  following  letter  to  Dyson,  on  the  7th  of  July, 
 1854,  I  desire  to  be  read  with  reference  to  these  re- 
 marks ;  it  may  be  thought  they  have  been  too  long, 
 but  I  have  not  the  gift  of  expressing  myself  shortly, 
 and  I  should  be  very  much  distressed,  if  for  want 
 of  some  such  introduction,  I  gave  pain  by  publish- 
 ing it  :— 
 
 "When  is  the  great  Bishop  coming  to  you?  for  I  am 
 very  desirous  of  having  a  finger  in  that  pie ;  so  you  must 
 not  wonder  if  I  should  happen  to  drop  in  at  the  time,  and 
 I  shall  make  sure  of  getting  a  bed  somewhere  within  reach. 
 I  have  an  extreme  desire  to  hear  you  questioning,  and  him 
 answering.  I  am  afraid  though  I  must  confess,  (will  your 
 sister  forgive  me  ?)  that  my  courage  has  a  little  cooled  as 
 to  going  along  with  him,  since  he  was  here.  Impossible  as 
 it  is  not  to  admire  and  love  him,  he  makes  me  shiver  now 
 and  then  with  his  Protestantisms,  crying  up  the  Ch.  Miss. 
 Society,  abusing  Becket  at  St.  Augustine's  as  '  a  haughty 
 Prelate,'  and  encouraging  in  his  tendencies  the  same  way. 
 I  am  told  his  Ordination  Sermon  at  Cuddesdon  was  alto- 
 gether Anti-Roman,  as  if  there  were  no  other  evil  spirit 
 than  Popery  now  possessing  Oxford.  It  is  very  horrid  to 
 find  any  fault,  but  I  tell  you  all  this,  that  you  may  order 
 your  logic  as  you  think  best  with  him.  Well,  this  is  cross- 
 ness enough  for  one  time." 
 
 I  have  little  doubt  that  much  passed  at  the  meet- 
 ing which  would  have  been  well  worth  listening  to, 
 and  nothing  which  disturbed  the  kindly  feeling  be- 
 
Francis  George  Coleridge's  Death.  413 
 
 tween  the  two.     In  the  following  month  he  had  the 
 great  pleasure  of  family  visitors  at  home. 
 
 "  We  have  had  a  gathering,"  says  he,  writing  to  me  on 
 the  25th  of  August,  "for  which  we  ought  to  be  very  thank- 
 ful ;  both  Bisley  and  Vineyard  have  been  here,  and  it  was 
 a  thorough  family  fortnight,  only  too  pleasant.  Peter  Young 
 is  home  again,  much  mended,  but  still  in  a  delicate  state. 
 However,  we  live  in  hopes  of  returning  our  family  visits 
 before  winter ;  and  if  we  can,  won't  we  come  to  Heath's 
 Court  for  a  short  visit,  at  least  ?  we  shall  not  need  pressing 
 if  we  can  manage  it." 
 
 In  this  letter  he  expresses  a  hope  that  a  dear  bro- 
 ther of  mine,  of  whom  he  was  very  fond,  might  be 
 recovering  from  an  illness  under  which  he  was  then 
 lying  ;  but  it  pleased  God  to  release  him  on  the  very 
 day  after  his  letter  was  written,  and  on  the  29th  he 
 wrote  to  me  again  : — 
 
 "  My  dearest  Coleridge, 
 "  I  did  not  somehow  expect  the  account  you  sent  me, 
 and  it  is  a  sad  thing  to  me  to  think  of,  that  I  lingered  so 
 long  in  writing.  And  so  he  is  gone  without  a  kind  word 
 from  me,  so  kind  and  loving  as  he  always  was  to  me.  May 
 it  please  God  to  soften  the  blow  to  you  and  all  the  rest,  and 
 to  make  it  rather  medicinal  than  otherwise.  ...  It  is  com- 
 forting, and  yet  alarming,  to  see  so  many  of  one's  own 
 standing  go,  and  all  seeming  so  much  more  ready  than  one 
 feels  oneself  to  be.  Only  think,  it  is  41  years  since  I  first 
 knew  your  kind  brother,  and  I  wish  I  may  not  have  been 
 going  down  hill  rather  than  up.     God  help  us  to  pray  for 
 
414  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 ourselves,  and  for  one  another.     With  affectionate  love  to 
 you  all,  I  am  always,  dearest  friend,  most  truly  yours,  J.  K." 
 
 I  do  not  mention  my  brother's  death,  and  cite 
 these  passages  merely  because  they  relate  to  my- 
 self, but  Keble's  love  for  him  was  characteristic  of 
 himself.  My  brother  was  a  man  leading  a  perfectly 
 retired  and  quiet  life,  free  from  ambition  for  him- 
 self, but  rejoicing  in  the  success  of  those  he  loved  ; 
 pursuing  steadily  an  humble  vocation,  that  of  an 
 attorney ;  and  finding  his  graver  pleasures  in  doing 
 acts  of  kindness,  his  lighter  in  his  garden,  his  books, 
 and  the  antiquarian  researches  which  our  interesting 
 old  Church  favoured  ;  this  was  the  sort  of  man  in 
 whom  Keble  delighted  ;  he  sought  out  not  the  man  of 
 talents  or  learning,  so  much  as  the  good,  and  gentle, 
 and  loveable. 
 
 He  began  to  make  his  summer  excursion  in  Sep- 
 tember, 1854,  and  I  heard  from  him  dating  from  the 
 Vineyard,  where  the  Champernownes  resided,  between 
 Totness  and  Dartington,  proposing  to  come  to  us  in 
 his  way  home  ;  but  he  was  then  anticipating  an  event 
 as  near,  which  he  had  been  dreading  for  some  time, 
 the  secession  of  Archdeacon  Wilberforce  to  the  Church 
 of  Rome.  From  extracts  which  I  have  made  in  for- 
 mer letters,  it  will  have  been  seen  how  much  he  loved 
 and  respected  his  old  pupil,  and  what  a  specially  bit- 
 ter sorrow  the  loss  of  him  was  to  him  : — 
 
 "  God  grant,"  says  he,  "  that  those  who  are  near  and  dear 
 
Letter  from  the  Vineyard.  415 
 
 to  one  another  may  keep  more  together  than  they  have 
 done  of  late. 
 
 "  This  Archdeacon,  (he  is  speaking  of  the  late  Arch- 
 deacon Froude,  who  was  still  flourishing  in  a  green  old  age 
 at  the  Rectory  at  Dartington,)  is  very  refreshing  to  see." 
 
 He  wrote  also  to  Mr.  Wilson  from  the  Vineyard  on 
 the  1 8th  of  September  : — 
 
 "It  is  very  pleasant  being  here,  and  seeing  a  newspaper 
 only  once  or  twice  a-week,  and  walking  among  real  live 
 hedges,  with  no  thought  of  grubbing,  and  paring,  and  burn- 
 ing, and  wattle-hurdles  along  each  side  of  the  road.  And 
 this  Archdeacon  is  quite  as  he  used  to  be,  except  old  age, 
 wonderfully  strong  in  voice ;  and  the  memory  of  R.  H.  F. 
 is  very  fragrant.  We  go  to  Ottery  for  a  few  days  on  Friday, 
 and  mean  to  make  our  way  to  Bisley,  perhaps  by  the  North 
 of  Devon,  so  that  on  the  whole  I  expect  to  be  3  Sundays 
 away  from  home ;  but  we  have  the  comfort  of  hearing  that 
 Peter  is  improving  in  our  absence.  I  hope  to  go  to  Ox- 
 ford, among  other  things,  to  put  the  Sacra  Privata  to  the 
 press.  Poor  dear  R.  W.,  I  own  I  was  surprised  at  last ;  for 
 the  last  report  I  had  heard  was  an  improved  one,  and 
 I  had  heard  nothing  for  a  long  time.  ...  I  dare  say  your 
 account  of  it  is  the  right  one ;  but  it  disappoints  and  mor- 
 tifies one  to  see  one,  who  used  to  be  so  truthful  and  candid, 
 lending  himself  at  once  to  the  violent  contradictions  of  fact, 
 and  petitiones  pri?icipii,  which  are  quite  necessary  to  every 
 part  almost  of  the  Roman  Theory.  I  wish  I  could  com- 
 pose, and  write  on  it,  it  would  be  a  sort  of  relief.  In 
 theory,  I  think,  his  position  of  Lay  Communion  is  tenable, 
 at  least,  I  wish  to  think  so ;  for  at  the  rate  men  are  getting 
 on,  no  one  can  say  how  soon  he  may  himself  be  reduced 
 
41 6  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 to  it.    But  I  do  not  in  the  least  expect  that  R.  W.  will  have 
 patience  for  it.     I  hear  he  is  very  miserable ;  from  himself 
 
 I  have  only  had  one  short  and  kind  note 
 
 "  I  am  in  correspondence  with  Rogers  about  a  service  for 
 Emigrants  on  their  voyage  ;  a  very  pleasant  work,  if  one  had 
 nothing  else  to  do.  And  the  other  day  I  saw  Bp.  Words- 
 worth and  his  really  beautiful  family  of  children.  I  can- 
 not tell  you  how  kind  he  was,  and  how  I  admired  his  quiet 
 cheerful  way  of  alluding  to  his  own  difficulties.  Well,  now 
 I  must  say  good  bye,  with  our  dear  love  to  you  all ;  and  in 
 hope  of  knowing  more  than  I  do  about  the  Simplon  be- 
 fore long.     I  am  always  yours  most  lovingly,  J.  K." 
 
 They  came  to  us  on  the  24th,  and  left  us  on  the 
 26th  ;  too  short  a  visit,  but  a  very  pleasant  one  ; 
 saddened  only  by  our  talk  about  the  secession  I  have 
 just  mentioned,  and  by  his  apprehension  for  the  con- 
 sequences. We  went  together  to  see  Mrs.  George 
 Cornish  ;  it  was  a  great  pleasure  to  him  to  see  her, 
 as  she  was,  residing  in  the  house  where  he  had  once 
 been  so  familiar,  with  her  large  family ;  and  bravely, 
 yet  not  ostentatiously,  bearing  up  against  the  sor- 
 rows that  had  befallen  her. 
 
 They  left  us  for  the  North  of  Devon,  and  intending 
 by  that  route  to  go  into  Gloucestershire  to  Bisley. 
 It  must  have  been  a  great  pleasure  to  him  once  more 
 after  the  long  interval  to  re-visit  again  the  romantic 
 country,  which  had  so  delighted  him  when  young. 
 But  I  did  not  hear  from  him  until  November,  on  the 
 6th  of  which  month  he  wrote  to  me  from  Hursley  : — 
 
Letter  from  Hursley.  417 
 
 "  Dearest  Friend, 
 "  It  really  seems  quite  unnatural  when  I  think  of  it,  to 
 have  been  so  long  without  thanking  you  for  all  your  affec- 
 tionate love  and  care  of  us.  God  reward  you  for  it,  and 
 yours  also,  both  of  Heath's  Court,  of  the  Manor  House, 
 and  of  Feniton.  I  would  not  but  have  paid  that  visit  to 
 Ottery  for  a  very  great  deal.  And  our  Circuit  was  alto- 
 gether prosperous.  We  met  the  girls  at  Exeter,  shot  across 
 to  Barnstaple,  staid  two  days  at  Linton,  and  one  at  Stinch- 
 combe,  and  over  two  Sundays  at  Bisley,  paying  a  visit  from 
 thence  to  Fairford,  and  Coin,  and  Cirencester ;  and  we  also 
 saw  something  of  Bussage.  So  that  on  the  whole  it  was 
 a  complete  Family  Tour,  and  very  comfortable  it  was 
 in  every  way;  the  'cumulus'  being  'imposed'  upon  it  by 
 young  Tom,  his  wife,  and  Babe,  coming  here  for  three 
 weeks  ;  they  only  left  us  on  Friday  last ;  and  I  am  only 
 afraid  we  are  too  proud  of  them.  But  it  is  a  wholesome 
 check  that  my  nephew  makes  one  ashamed  of  oneself; 
 however,  I  will  not  talk  about  that.  I  hope  your  visit  from 
 Worcestershire  was  a  great  joy,  and  that  dear  Frank's  family 
 are  going  on  as  comfortably  as  circumstances  allow.  John 
 told  me,  what  I  was  most  deeply  grieved  at,  the  loss  of  our 
 kind  friends  in  the  '  Arctic,'  and  how  much  you  felt  it.  In- 
 deed, I  suppose  it  must  be  looked  upon  as  a  public  ca- 
 lamity ;  for  probably  there  are  few  such  as  Professor  Reed 
 left  in  the  United  States.  But  the  comfort  in  thinking  of 
 such  as  he  (no  doubt)  was,  is  solid  and  growing, — not  so 
 the  thought  of  poor  dear  R.  W.,  whose  departure  touches 
 me  almost  more  nearly  than  any  one's  ;  except,  perhaps,  that 
 of  Newman  himself.  I  did  not  until  very  lately  think  that 
 he  would  leally  go  there.  I  thought  he  was  too  good- 
 tempered,  besides  his  learning  and  truthfulness.  But  he 
 had  got  into  an  Utopian  dream,  and  rather  than  give   it 
 
 E  e 
 
41 3  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 up,  he  shut  his  eyes  and  made  a  jump,  and  now  he  must, 
 and  I  suppose  will,  keep  his  eyes  shut  all  his  life  long." 
 
 A  word  or  two  it  seems  fitting  to  add  by  way  of 
 comment  on  these  extracts.  I  think  it  is  not  the 
 first  time  that  Keble  had  given  utterance  to  his  feel- 
 ings about  the  grubbing,  and  paring,  which  he  con- 
 nected with  high-farming  ;  it  was  really  a  passion 
 with  him,  his  love  for  coppices,  hedge-rows,  and  wild- 
 flowers  ;  a  few  years  before  he  had  expressed  it  in 
 the  beautiful  "  Round  Robin,"  which  he  drew  up  for 
 Anemone  Nemorosa,  Primula  Vulgaris \  and  others 
 of  the  same  family,  which  will  be  found  in  his  poems, 
 addressed  to  the  Lord  of  the  Manor  of  Merdon.  It 
 is  dated  from  Ladwell  Hill,  where  he  often  lingered 
 in  his  parish  visitings,  and  soothed  his  mind  under 
 parish  troubles,  and  other  causes  of  distress,  gazing 
 on  the  poor  petitioners,  who  were,  as  he  feared,  now 
 doomed  to  give  way  to  the  plough  : — 
 
 "  To  himself  we've  heard  him  say, 
 '  Thanks  that  I  may  hither  stray ; 
 Worn  with  age,  and  sin,  and  care, 
 Here  to  breathe  the  pure  glad  air, 
 Here  Faith's  lesson  learn  anew, 
 Of  this  happy  vernal  crew ; 
 Here  the  fragrant  shrubs  around, 
 And  the  graceful  shadowy  ground, 
 And  the  village  tones  afar, 
 And  the  steeple  with  its  star, 
 And  the  clouds  that  gently  move, 
 Tune  the  heart  to  trust  and  love.' " 
 
Service  for  Em  (grants,  4 1 9 
 
 Ladwell  Hill,  I  hope,  will  for  many  generations  be 
 sacred  to  the  memory  of  John  Keble ;  I  am  sure  it 
 will  be  so,  as  long  as  the  present  Lord  of  the  Manor 
 lives.  It  is  a  pity  perhaps  to  disturb  the  feeling 
 which  the  poem  cannot  fail  to  create ;  but  in  justice 
 to  the  "  Giant  High  Farming,"  (as  I  am  told  on  the 
 best  authority,)  it  must  be  said  that  he  had  nothing 
 to  do  with  what  was  contemplated,  or  done  in  regard 
 to  the  hedge-rows.  Dear  as  they  were  to  the  Peti- 
 tioners and  to  the  Poet,  they  were  obnoxious  to  an- 
 other Rural  Deity  scarcely  less  powerful  than  the 
 Giant,  with  whom  also  the  Poet  was  on  very  good 
 terms,  by  name  Landscape  Gardening.  She  desired 
 to  let  into  view  from  the  Park,  the  meadows,  across 
 which  the  hedge-rows  ran,  and  which  they  concealed. 
 The  irregular  forms  of  these  meadows  also,  when  laid 
 open  to  view,  made  picturesque  breaks  in  what  had 
 before  seemed  a  continuous  line  of  wood ;  this  sur- 
 mounted the  whole  scene,  and  the  breaks  in  it  pro- 
 duced a  much  more  graceful  effect.  So  much,  not 
 too  much  I  hope  for  the  sake  of  accuracy,  even  in 
 a  little  matter. 
 
 Keble  speaks  of  Sir  Frederic  Rogers's  application 
 to  him  respecting  a  Service  for  Emigrants  during 
 their  voyage.  Sir  Frederic  was  at  that  time  one  of 
 the  Emigration  Commissioners ;  he  appealed  on  be- 
 half of  a  very  interesting  portion  of  our  fellow- 
 subjects,  and  in  respect  of  one  of  their  pressing 
 wants.     This  was  just  a  matter  which  Keble  would 
 
420  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 delight  to  be  employed  in,  and  the  result,  without 
 waiting  until  he  had  nothing  else  to  do,  was  a  very 
 nicely  arranged  service  with  three  really  beautiful 
 hymns.  I  am  afraid  that  although  the  service  is 
 still  printed  and  distributed  to  the  emigrants,  the 
 hymns,  for  what  reason  I  know  not,  are  omitted  ; 
 they  will  be  found,  however,  in  the  forthcoming 
 volume  of  his  poems. 
 
 He  speaks  also  with  true  feeling,  and  renders  no 
 more  than  a  just  tribute  to  the  memory  of  Henry 
 Reed,  Professor  of  Rhetoric  and  English  Literature 
 in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania.  It  has  been  my 
 good  fortune  to  know  and  to  have  received  as  my 
 guests  several  citizens  of  the  United  States,  espe- 
 cially from  Pennsylvania  ;  and  I  have  the  great  honour 
 to  count  among  my  friends,  only  through  the  medium 
 of  a  long  and  intimate  correspondence,  (for  we  have 
 never  met,)  that  wise  and  loving-hearted  old  man, 
 Horace  Binney,  the  great  citizen  of  Philadelphia. 
 Taken  as  samples,  these  shew  me  what  rare  and 
 gifted  men  are  to  be  found  in  the  great  Republic. 
 Henry  Reed  it  was  impossible  to  know  without 
 loving  him ;  he  came  with  his  sister-in-law,  Miss 
 Brownson,  from  a  great  distance  to  bid  us  farewell 
 immediately  before  their  return  to  America ;  and 
 they  came  just  at  the  time  of  my  brother's  death. 
 They  heard  of  this  event  only  when  within  a  few 
 miles  of  my  house,  and  though  they  still  came  on, 
 it  was  only  to  shake  hands  with  us  ;  we   could  not 
 
Professor  Reed  of  Pennsylvania.  42 1 
 
 induce  them  to  stay.  I  remember  that  we  walked 
 on  my  little  terrace  until  the  light  failed.  Miss 
 Brownson,  who  was  as  a  mother  to  his  children, 
 visited  my  grandchildren  in  their  beds  ;  for  both 
 were  full  of  his  own  treasures  at  home,  and  she 
 wished  to  describe  an  English  nursery  to  them  ;  and 
 so  we  parted,  he  promising  to  bring  his  wife  to  visit 
 us  the  next  summer.  He  then  went  to  Rydal  to 
 bid  farewell  to  Mrs.  Wordsworth,  and  in  a  few  days 
 wrote  to  me  shortly  from  Liverpool.  The  next  thing 
 I  heard  of  him  was  his  death  in  the  miserable  col- 
 lision of  the  "  Arctic"  steamer  with  a  French  vessel. 
 He  and  his  sister,  it  is  said,  were  seen  sitting  to- 
 gether hand  locked  in  hand,  silent  and  tranquil, 
 calmly  awaiting  their  fate,  but  a  few  minutes  be- 
 fore the  ship  went  down  with  nearly  all  the  pas- 
 sengers, who  had  been  left  on  board,  and,  as  it  is 
 said,  left  shamefully  on  board,  by  a  cowardly  com- 
 mander and  crew,  escaping  themselves  in  safety a. 
 
 a  My  friend,  Mr.  Binney,  writing  to  me  in  respect  of  this  narrative, 
 makes  this  comment,  which  I  gladly  insert,  and  must  express  my 
 sincere  regret  for  any  injustice  of  which  I  may  have  been  guilty  : — 
 "There  is  a  single  word  in  your  reference  to  Capt.  Luce,  and  the 
 *  Arctic, '  which  does  not  precisely  exhibit  our  version  of  his  part  in 
 that  most  deplorable  case.  The  account,  you  must  have  had  in  Eng- 
 land, is  not  ours ;  which  my  son  informs  me  is  in  that  part  more 
 accurate.  Capt.  Luce  behaved  ill  in  the  first  stage  of  the  collision. 
 He  did  not  maintain  his  command  of  the  crew,  and  resist,  as  he  ought 
 to  have  done  to  death  if  necessary,  the  cowardly  seizure  of  the  principal 
 boat  by  the  crew,  and  their  desertion  of  the  ship.  Luce,  however, 
 said  that  he  would  not  leave  the  ship,  and  would  not  permit  his  young 
 son  to  get  to  the  boat,  though  the  crew  offered  to  take  him.     He  and 
 
422  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 I  trust  to  be  forgiven  this  passing  mention  of  my 
 friend,  but  the  way  in  which  Keble  speaks  of  him 
 reminds  me  of  the  American  feeling  towards  him- 
 self. The  circulation  of  the  "  Christian  Year"  in  the 
 United  States  has  fallen  little  short  of  that  which 
 it  has  had  here.  Again  and  again  my  American 
 friends,  and  sometimes  even  strangers,  have  sought 
 for  an  introduction  from  me  to  him.  I  remember 
 well  a  gentleman,  one  of  the  former,  the  son  indeed 
 to  whom  Mr.  Binney  alludes  in  the  note  below,  with 
 whom  I  visited  Hursley  Park.  In  the  morning  we 
 wralked  down  to  the  Service,  and  when  it  was  over, 
 we  had  a  long  talk  with  Keble.  At  the  close,  and  as 
 we  were  taking  leave  at  the  Vicarage  porch,  which 
 is  covered  with  ivy,  my  friend  drew  me  apart,  and 
 asked  me  if  I  thought  Mr.  Keble  would  take  it 
 amiss,  if  he  begged  of  him  a  branch  of  the  ivy,  cut 
 with  his  own  hand.  Keble  was  much  amused,  and 
 cut  it  for  him,  as  of  course,  and  unsparingly.  As  we 
 two  walked  away,  he  said,  "You  may  smile  at  my 
 request,  but  I  assure  you  I  know  and  could  name 
 the  persons  at  home  who  would  give  me,  (I  am 
 afraid  to  mention  the  sum  he  mentioned,)  for  every 
 leaf  I  have  in  my  hand." 
 
 The  winter  of  1854  passed  away,  and  I  see  by  our 
 
 his  boy  Loth  went  clown  with  the  ship,  and  when  he  rose  to  the 
 surface  of  the  sea,  he  saw  one  of  the  ship's  round  tops,  or  a  part  of 
 a  wheel-guard,  or  cover,  and  got  upon  it,  and  so  I  think  did  the  son." 
 
 His  bad  or  weak  conduct  at  first,  excluded  him  afterwards  from 
 maritime  service  ;  he  left  it  certainly,  and  is  no  longer  spoken  01. 
 
Proceedings  against  Archdeacon  Denison.       423 
 
 correspondence  that  he  was  busying  himself  a  good 
 deal  with,  and  very  anxious  about,  the  proceedings 
 against  Archdeacon  Denison,  and  I  received  many 
 letters  from  him  about  them  ;  but  I  shall  pass  this 
 matter  over  very  shortly,  not  because  I  think  the 
 doctrine  involved  in  it  of  any  but  the  gravest  im- 
 portance, or  that  I  differed  from  my  friend  in  his 
 belief  in  regard  to  it ;  but  that  I  thought  as  I  still 
 think,  it  was  in  that  case  needlessly  and  unsatis- 
 factorily made  the  subject  of  litigation. 
 
 I  must  confess,  therefore,  that  I  was  not  sorry  when 
 the  case  went  off  on  a  bye-point,  and  the  issue  raised 
 received  no  decision  from  the  Court  of  Appeal.  In- 
 deed, I  have  never  been  able  to  see  what  the  Church 
 has  gained  in  certainty  of  teaching,  though  I  fear  it 
 has  lost  not  a  little,  at  least  for  a  time,  in  charity  of 
 judgment,  by  the  several  cases  carried  of  late  years 
 before  ecclesiastical  and  lay  tribunals  in  respect  of 
 assumed  heresy  or  schism.  What  has  Ritualism 
 gained  or  lost  by  YVesterton  v.  Liddell,  or  the  be- 
 lief in  Baptismal  Regeneration  by  Mr.  Gorham's  Ap- 
 peal ;  the  Catholic  doctrine  in  regard  to  the  Holy 
 Eucharist  by  the  suit  I  have  just  mentioned  above, 
 or  the  hold  of  the  fundamental  verities  of  the  Chris- 
 tian faith  on  the  minds  of  Christians  by  the  proceed- 
 ings against  the  "  Essays  and  Reviews  ?"  I  believe 
 little  or  nothing  ;  certainly  nothing  fit  to  be  com- 
 pared with  the  distress  of  mind  to  thousands  of  tender 
 souls,  and  the  fatal  offence  which  some  of  these  cases 
 
4-4 
 
 Memoir  of  tlie  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 gave  to  over-scrupulous,  and  as  I  think  mistaken  per- 
 sons ;  who,  although  they  thought  the  Anglican  be- 
 lief, our  creeds,  formularies,  and  articles,  orthodox,  and 
 the  decisions  erroneous,  yet  abandoned  the  former 
 on  account  of  the  latter.  Of  course  I  am  not  sug- 
 gesting that  no  such  litigation  should  ever  be  in- 
 stituted, and  I  do  not  forget  the  solemn  undertaking 
 of  the  Bishop  on  his  Consecration.  It  would  seem 
 presumptuous  in  me  to  say  a  word  in  limitation,  or 
 explanation,  of  the  words  then  used  ;  our  Fathers  in 
 the  Church  will  act,  it  must  be  presumed,  each  ac- 
 cording to  his  own  understanding  of  their  obligation  ; 
 yet  it  seems,  at  least,  hard  to  conceive  that  any  one 
 is  bound  by  them  to  appeal  to  a  tribunal,  the  con- 
 stitution of  which  he  thinks  to  be  uncanonical,  or  the 
 decisions  of  which  he  holds  to  proceed  on  unsound 
 principles  ;  especially  when  so  much  may  be  done  in 
 the  spirit  of  the  undertaking  by  other  means. 
 
 Keble's  motive,  indeed,  was  a  different  one.  He 
 was  very  sensitive  to  the  imputation,  which  he  feared 
 he  might  labour  under,  of  adhering  to  the  Church 
 from  interested  motives ;  and  therefore  he  desired 
 in  his  own  case  on  some  occasions,  that  his  be- 
 lief, or  his  practice,  if  impugned,  should  be  brought 
 under  some  authoritative  judicial  cognizance.  It 
 was,  however,  always  I  think  more  wisely  con- 
 sidered that  such  a  reference  was  neither  necessary 
 nor  expedient. 
 
 Mr.  Wilson  remained  abroad  and   in  Italy  in  the 
 
Letter  to  Mr,  Wilson.  425 
 
 spring  of  1855,  and  appears  to  have  interested  Keble 
 very  much  by  his  letters  therefrom.  On  the  6th  of 
 May  he  wrote  a  long  answer,  from  which  I  will  make 
 some  extracts;  a  great  deal  of  it  is  devoted  to  parish 
 matters  : — 
 
 "  My  very  dear  Friends, 
 
 i(  Here  is  a  letter  from  you,  Robert,  which  came  in  this 
 morning,  lying  as  yet  unopened ;  because  I  feel  as  if  the 
 beginning  of  it  would  be  less  heart-breaking,  or,  however, 
 I  hope  to  feel  less  unworthy  of  it,  if  I  make  a  decent  be- 
 ginning of  this  before  I  unseal  it.  I  am  really  very  peni- 
 tent, but  you  would  partly  forgive  me,  if  you  knew  how 
 tired  my  hand  gets  by  the  time  I  have  written  a  letter  or  § 
 a  Sermon.  Else  full  gladly  would  I  have  accepted  the  ex- 
 ercise of  writing  to  you  in  exchange  for  the  2  last  things 
 which  have  hindered  me  from  it ;  a  long  Anti-Roman  letter 
 
 to  a  Lady,  and  a  sketch  for ,  of  part  of  an  argument 
 
 against  this  bill  for  letting  people  marry  their  wives'  sisters, 
 which  is  now  in  full  career  again.  Well,  however,  now  I 
 have  really  begun,  and  I  will  go  on  I  am  'termed'  .  . 
 
 "  I  think  it  might  not  be  a  bad  time  to  suggest  to  our 
 worthy  friend  the  Public  the  notion  of  having  a  brotherhood 
 for  Education,  like  the  Freres  Chretiens  ;  who,  as  an  Eccle- 
 siastical Body,  would  be  under  control,  and  from  their  slight 
 touch  of  Asceticism  would  work  as  cheaply  as  they  could. 
 I  have  long  had  it  in  my  mind  to  suggest  this  to  you  ;  it 
 would  be  quite  in  your  line  to  undertake  it,  (among  other 
 things,)  from  your  knowing  so  much  of  the  Christian  Bro- 
 thers ;  pray  think  of  it  while,  (as  you  may  guess  by  the 
 above,)  [here  a  line  is  drawn  up  to  some  blunders  in  the 
 writing,]  I  indulge  myself  in  a  small  nap. 
 
 "  Well,  I  have  read  your  kind,  long  letter,  and  cannot 
 
426  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 tell  you  bow  much  I  am  obliged  to  you  for  it ;  it  does  but 
 confirm  the  impression  which  one  is  daily  receiving  from 
 all  one  can  read  or  hear  of  the  matter,  that  Rome,  so  far  as 
 she  is  distinctive,  builds  not  only  upon  falsehood,  but  upon 
 falsehood  of  which  she  has  a  certain  consciousness ;  only 
 she  has  made  up  her  mind  that  it  is  her  duty  to  back  up 
 her  system,  (being,  she  says,  substantially  true,)  with  any 
 amount  of  needful,  or  very  profitable  deception.  The  Le- 
 gendary services  in  the  Breviary,  with  that  for  the  15th  Au- 
 gust at  the  head,  are  a  standing  instance  of  this  ;  and  so 
 will  this  new  doctrine  be,  in  whatever  degree  they  allege 
 antiquity  for  it.  They  cannot  but  know  in  their  hearts, 
 that  it  has  not  the  shadow  of  a  Tradition ;  and  yet  see 
 
 what  their  Abp.  of  Armagh,  poor  dear 's  select  patrcn 
 
 says  of  it.  Most  fearful  it  is  to  me,  that  neither  among  the 
 more  moderate  Romanists,  nor  among  our  Romanizers, 
 (with  one  exception  that  E.  B.  P.  told  me  of,)  does  it  seem 
 to  have  produced  any  sort  of  scruple  or  re-action.  From 
 the  highest  to  the  lowest  they  satisfy  themselves,  I  imagine, 
 with  your  friend's  argument,  *  How  can  we  be  certain  that 
 it  is  not  so?' 
 
 "  Your  account  of  Rome  really  makes  one  shudder,  when 
 one  connects  with  it  this  idea  of  unreality,  and  comes  nearer 
 than  anything  for  years  past  to  bring  back  the  old  Ultra- 
 Protestant  notions  that  one  learned  as  a  boy  out  of  Newton 
 on  the  Prophecies.  With  it  (i.e.  with  your  account)  on  my 
 mind,  I  feel  as  if  I  would  go  miles  out  of  my  way  to  avoid 
 seeing  Rome ;  it  seems  so  very  shocking ;  and  if  this  be 
 a  man's  feeling,  I  suppose  there  would  be  no  special  danger 
 in  going  there,  and  he  would  be  free  to  choose  as  health 
 and  convenience  and  other  duties  dictated.  But  I  should 
 be  very  thankful  on  a  great  many  accounts,  if  you  are  able 
 to  get  work  and  stay  here.     We  really  have  need  of  all  the 
 
Letter  to  Mr.  Wilson,  427 
 
 help  we  can  get.  Outwardly  our  friends  from  Exeter  Hall 
 are  having  it  all  their  own  way ;  all  appointments,  public 
 meetings,  &c.  But  underneath  is,  I  much  fear,  a  deep  and 
 gradually  swelling  tide  of  Rationalism,  in  unison  with  the 
 revolutionary  spirit,  which  has  disclosed  itself  upon  occa- 
 sion of  these  mismanagements  in  the  War.  But  enough 
 and  too  much  of  this  croaking.  I  saw  a  letter  the  other 
 day  from  Moorsom  to  Upton  Richards,  dated,  I  think, 
 Easter  Monday,  in  very  good  spirits,  and  altogether  com- 
 fortable. Also  I  know  you  will  be  glad  to  hear  that  I  think 
 your  successor  is  making  his  way  very  nicely  in  the  place 
 and  neighbourhood ;  he  puts  me  often  in  mind  of  George 
 Herbert's  lines : — 
 
 '  Be  useful  where  thou  livest,  that  they  may 
 Both  want  and  wish  thy  pleasing  presence  still.* 
 
 I  find  myself  continually  resorting  to  him,  as  in  old  time  to 
 dear  W.  C.  Y.  At  this  present  he  is  superintending  a  nego- 
 tiation for  a  new  Clock  in  our  Church 
 
 "Dear  Mrs.  Heathcote,  you  know  better  than  I,  was  a 
 great  loss  ;  it  was  very  touching  to  be  with  her  son  just 
 afterwards.  Thirty-five  years  ago  I  think  it  was  that  I  saw 
 them  first  together,  and  I  thought  then  I  never  saw  a  Mo- 
 ther and  Son  on  such  lover-like  terms  ;  and  they  have  never 
 
 been  apart  for  six  months  together With  dear  love  to 
 
 your  wife  and  bairns,  ever  yours  affect17,  J.  K." 
 
 It  will  be  seen  how  Keble  speaks  of  the  new  dogma 
 of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  and  he  felt  the  same 
 as  long  as  he  lived.  The  promulgation  of  it  pained 
 him  much  ;  it  constituted  in  his  opinion,  so  long  as 
 it  remained  unrevoked,  an  absolute  bar  to  the  unity 
 of  Christendom.     In  this  letter  he  specifies  one  ob- 
 
428  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 jection  to  it  on  which  in  all  such  cases  he  relied 
 much,  that  not  only  was  there  no  authority  for  it 
 in  Holy  Writ,  but,  as  he  expresses  it,  not  a  shadow 
 of  tradition.  It  will  be  obvious,  that  his  reliance  on 
 this  involves  his  denial  of  others  of  the  foundations 
 on  which  Romanism  rests ;  as  for  example,  the  infal- 
 libility of  the  Pope,  and  his  supreme  power  in  mat- 
 ters of  faith. 
 
 I  make  no  apology  to  Sir  W.  Heathcote  for  print- 
 ing the  short  extract  relating  to  his  mother.  It  will 
 give  many  pleasure  to  look  at  the  picture  which 
 Keble  paints  like  a  poet  in  a  single  word,  and  I 
 am  sure  it  will  give  him  no  pain  to  have  such  recol- 
 lections revived.  Fifteen  years  before,  I  think,  she 
 had  been  visited  with  a  serious  illness,  a  paralytic 
 seizure,  the  effects  of  which  on  her  bodily  frame 
 were  never  removed  ;  but  her  mind  was  spared  to 
 the  last,  and  she  passed  away  in  1855  in  her  son's 
 house,  in  which  she  had  lived  during  the  interval, 
 painlessly  and  peacefully,  from  gradual  and  gentle 
 decay,  rather  than  from  illness,  in  the  presence  of 
 the  son,  who  was  thankful  to  God  that  he  was  al- 
 lowed "  to  watch  her  last  breath." 
 
 I  think  the  case  of  Westerton  and  Liddell  was  de- 
 cided in  this  year,  1855.  Keble's  opinions  in  regard 
 to  Ritualism  will  have  to  be  noticed  more  fully  here- 
 after, but  I  may  say  in  passing  that  this  decision 
 vexed  him  a  good  deal,  though  he  did  not  exaggerate 
 its  importance.     I  had  allowed  him  to  read  a  very 
 
Letter  from  New  Zealand.  429 
 
 beautiful  letter  to  myself  from  my  nephew,  now 
 Bishop  Patteson,  who  had  attached  himself  to  the 
 Bishop  of  New  Zealand,  and  gone  out  with  him  in 
 the  spring  of  1855  to  that  island.  Keble  wrote  on  the 
 two  subjects  to  me  on  the  nth  of  December,  1855  : — 
 
 "Thank  you  over  and  over  again  for  the  sight  of  that 
 noble,  tender  letter;  surely  it  is  one  of  the  most  perfect 
 things  altogether  that  one  ever  met  with  in  this  worky-day 
 world.  One  cannot,  as  the  people  say,  think  enough  of  it. 
 Surely  there  must  be  in  store  some  very  good  thing  for  the 
 Church  in  those  parts,  that  such  men  should  be  attracted 
 
 towards  it.     It  is  enough  to  make  up  for pretending 
 
 to  determine  how  Christian  People  should  think  of  and 
 behave  to  the  Holy  Sacrament.  I  have  something  to  write 
 to  you  on  that  matter,  which  I  shall  try  and  put  on  another 
 piece  of  paper,  for  my  own  mind's  relief,  for  I  don't  suppose 
 it  can  be  of  any  use.  No  doubt,  as  you  say,  there  is  a  ten- 
 dency in  all  this  to  drive  unstable  minds  to  Rome.  The 
 souls,  however,  must  be  very  unstable,  indeed,  less  settled 
 than  the'  loosest  possible  tooth,  if  such  a  matter  can  cough 
 them  out  from  among  us.  For  what  is  it  to  the  proof  or 
 disproof  of  the  Pope's  Supremacy,  or  the  ruling  powers  of 
 the  B.  V.  M.,  whether  I  may  have  a  Cross  on  the  Altar 
 Table,  or  no  ?  Though  I  must  own,  I  do  expect  that  when 
 these  outward  signs  of  the  Truth  are  suppressed,  the  Truth 
 itself  which  they  symbolize  will  be  openly  persecuted,  and 
 probably  forbidden  to  be  taught  in  the  Established  Church  ; 
 but  not  a  bit  the  nearer  should  one  be  to  Rome  for  that,  as 
 I  understand  the  matter." 
 
 The  state  of  Mrs.  Keble's  health  during  this  year 
 fluctuated  much,  but  generally  speaking  it  was  such 
 
43°  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 as  to  cause  him  anxiety  ;  and  though,  as  he  said 
 affectionately  in  one  of  his  letters  to  me,  refer- 
 ring to  another  cause  of  discomfort,  "  As  for  Char- 
 lotte, I  know  nothing  can  really  hurt  her ;"  yet  there 
 was  so  much  doubt  as  to  the  real  cause  of  her  ail- 
 ments, and  they  were  so  variously  accounted  for  at 
 different  times,  as  much  to  increase  his  uneasiness. 
 However,  he  tried  again  the  remedy,  which  was 
 never  without  some  effect,  and  I  find  several  letters 
 to  Mr.  Wilson  dated  from  North  Wales  ;  they  were 
 at  Llandudno,  and  Capel  Curig,  and,  I  believe, 
 Barmouth  in  August  ;  and  before  they  returned 
 to  Hursley,  they  visited  the  Bishop  of  Oxford  at 
 Lavington.  The  trip  answered  in  some  measure  for 
 her ;  but  his  letters  shew  that  wherever  he  went,  he 
 carried  his  Church  anxieties  with  him,  and  beyond 
 these,  his  Church  work  also.  After  "  tossing  about 
 the  South  Downs  for  a  few  days,"  he  was  busy  now 
 with  the  present  Archdeacon  Freeman,  in  comparing 
 their  notes  about  two  proposed  Hymnals,  Sarum  and 
 Scottish. 
 
 Indeed,  he  never  rested  ;  and  if  he  was  anxious 
 for  his  wife's  health,  her  anxiety  for  him  was  very 
 great  ;  and  earlier  in  the  year  it  had  led  her,  with- 
 out his  knowledge,  to  communicate  with  me  respect- 
 ing him.  Her  account  of  his  ailments,  and  his  deter- 
 mined exposure  of  himself  in  parochial  ministrations, 
 even  at  night  when  suffering  under  erysipelas,  infected 
 me  with  her  fears.     The  necessity  for  imprudent  ex- 
 
Separation  from  Mr.  Young.  431 
 
 posure  often  arose  from  his  excellent  Curate  being 
 only  a  Deacon,  and  unable  to  obtain  Priest's  Orders. 
 This  was  a  matter  of  conscience  between  the  Bishop 
 and  him,  in  which  of  course  I  could  not  without 
 difficulty  interfere.  At  last,  however,  from  anxiety 
 for  one  friend,  and  confidence  in  the  personal  kind- 
 ness of  the  other,  I  made  an  attempt,  which  was 
 unsuccessful ;  and  the  consequence  was  the  separa- 
 tion of  Keble  and  Mr.  Young ;  a  separation  pecu- 
 liarly bitter,  as  there  was  the  greatest  intimacy  and 
 a  connection  between  the  families  ;  and  the  services 
 of  the  Curate  were  so  dutiful,  and  earnest,  and  so 
 acceptable  to  the  parishioners,  that  without  any  re- 
 flection on  his  successors  I  may  in  justice  say,  they 
 never  were,  and  scarcely  could  be  entirely  replaced. 
 As  I  had  no  right  to  interfere,  so  I  desire  to  be 
 understood  as  making  no  reflection  on  the  decision ; 
 there  was,  I  am  certain,  nothing  personal  in  it ;  the 
 motive  was  a  conscientious  one,  and  however  I  might 
 regret  the  judgment  at  the  time,  it  is  not  for  me  to 
 reflect  upon  it. 
 
 I  went  on  the  Winter  Circuit  into  the  West  this 
 year,  and  saw  Keble  for  a  very  pleasant  Sunday 
 evening  at  Hursley  Park  on  the  30th  of  November. 
 I  had  come  out  from  Winchester  after  the  morning 
 service  to  the  afternoon  service  at  Hursley ;  there 
 was  no  party,  and  we  had  some  quiet  talk  together  ; 
 but  my  work  was  very  heavy,  and  distressing,  and  I 
 had  no  time  to  see  him  again.     His  mind,  however, 
 
43 2  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 was  now  at  work  on  the  Divorce  Bill,  which  was 
 about  to  be  brought  into  Parliament.  I  need  not 
 say  how  strongly  he  felt  against  the  measure,  which 
 in  one  of  his  notes  he  calls  "a  Bill  for  legalizing 
 Adultery."  Early  in  the  spring  of  1857  he  published 
 "  An  Argument  for  not  proceeding  immediately  to 
 Repeal  the  Laws,  which  treat  the  Nuptial  Bond  as 
 Indissoluble." 
 
 It  was  a  plea  for  delay  at  all  events ;  and  the 
 argument  on  the  general  question  was  professedly 
 left  incomplete,  because  it  was  necessary  he  thought 
 to  enquire  how  far  the  practice  of  the  Church  from 
 early  times  agreed  with  the  construction  which  he 
 gave  to  the  passages  of  Scripture  on  which  he 
 grounded  his  opinion.  Nor  does  he  appear  to  have 
 objected  to  separation  under  certain  circumstances, 
 as  distinguished  from  divorce.  With  these  qualify- 
 ing remarks  the  argument  seems  to  me,  if  I  may 
 presume  to  say  so,  sound  and  ingenious,  and  to  dis- 
 play that  intimate  acquaintance  with  Scripture  which 
 he  certainly  possessed.  The  Bill,  however,  as  we 
 know,  passed  into  a  Law;  in  vain  stoutly  resisted 
 by  Mr.  Gladstone  clause  by  clause.  Whether  society 
 in  its  morality  has  received  the  benefits  which  it 
 promised  may  well  be  doubted  ;  the  old  practice  of 
 divorce  by  special  statutes  was  certainly  very  objec- 
 tionable ;  and  the  new  law  has  to  the  present  time  had 
 the  advantage  of  being  administered  by  two  judges 
 in  succession  of  rare  excellency,  men  who  may  be 
 
•  The  Divorce  Bill.  433 
 
 equalled,  but  will  scarcely  ever  be  surpassed  in  their 
 own  province ;  and  yet  when  I  consider  the  effect 
 on  the  purity  of  the  public  mind,  of  the  proceedings 
 in  the  Court,  daily  circulated  among  all  ages  and 
 classes  ;  the  collusion  between  parties,  sometimes  de- 
 feated, but  too  often  no  doubt  successfully  practised  ; 
 and  above  all,  the  fatally  strong  temptation  which 
 its  open  doors  must  offer  to  conjugal  infidelity ; 
 I  cannot  think  that  Keble  had  cause  to  regret 
 anything  but  the  ill-success  of  his  very  moderate 
 argument.  I  do  not  believe  that  the  eminent  judges 
 to  whom  I  have  referred,  could  we  have  the  bene- 
 fit now  of  their  advice,  would  be  disposed  to  com- 
 mend the  law  which  they  have  been  called  on  to 
 administer.  But  it  is  one  of  the  instances  of  legis- 
 lation in  which 
 
 "  Vestigia  nulla  retrorsum." 
 
 The  ill-success  of  my  interference  in  respect  of 
 Mr.  Young,  and  a  just  consideration  for  him,  could 
 lead  only  to  his  giving  up  the  Hursley  curacy.  How 
 best  to  arrange  this  for  him  had  been  for  some  time 
 a  subject  of  sad  consideration  for  Keble ;  it  was  of 
 course  no  easy  matter ;  but  on.  the  30th  of  March, 
 1857,  he  wrote  to  me  from  Hursley  as  follows  : — 
 
 "  We  are  here  just  now  in  the  agonies  of  parting  with 
 dear  Peter  Young,  arid  Caroline,  and  the  8  minor  dears. 
 It  is  a  great  deal  of  sunshine  to  be  shut  out  from  us,  from 
 my  poor  wife  especially.  But  if  they  were  to  go,  and  to 
 a  place  as  poor  as  they  leave,  they  could  not  well  have 
 
 Ff 
 
434  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 more  comfort  in  going.  What  do  you  think  of  our  farmers 
 here,  quite  and  clean  of  their  own  accord,  getting  up  a  sub- 
 scription, which  by  liberal  addition  from  the  Park,  amounted 
 to  ^142,  collected  entirely  in  the  Parish,  and  with  such 
 love  and  good-will  from  all  sorts.  It  took  my  breath  away 
 when  I  heard  of  it ;  and  it  was  done  in  such  a  delicate  and 
 feeling  manner  too  ;  £16  applied  to  find  him  a  set  of  ves- 
 sels for  Private  Communion,  the  rest  for  expenses  of  migra- 
 tion. Also  3  voluntary  and  unpaid  teams  start  to-night  at 
 12  o'clock  to  carry  his  goods  as  far  as  the  Fisherton  Station 
 at  Salisbury.  It  makes  me  love  the  place  better  than  ever. 
 You  should  have  heard  the  little  speech  which  Heathcote 
 made  to  him  this  morning  before  a  select  audience,  con- 
 sisting of  the  Collectors,  i.e.  the  principal  tenants,  and  a 
 very  few  wives  and  daughters.  We  are  going  to  irpoir^'K 
 (escort)  them  as  far  as  Salisbury.  Two  of  the  children  are 
 left  with  us  at  present." 
 
 It  was  no  doubt  a  cause  of  great  present  distress 
 to  Keble,  and  of  lasting  sorrow,  the  departure  of  the 
 Youngs  ;  it  was  more  than  the  mere  loss  of  an  affec- 
 tionate and  diligent  Curate  on  whom  he  could  en- 
 tirely depend  ;  he  felt  the  loss  of  his  companion,  of 
 the  whole  family,  not  least,  perhaps,  of  the  little 
 children ;  and  he  felt  also  for  the  great  privation 
 which  he  knew  it  brought  with  it  to  Mrs.  Keble. 
 However  it  was  inevitable.  He  had  the  great  con- 
 solation after  a  while  of  seeing  Mr.  Young  preferred 
 to  the  living  which  he  now  holds.  I  need  not  say  that 
 I  am  speaking  of  the  author  of  the  "  Daily  Read- 
 ings," which  those  who  know  them  will  not  think  I 
 
Tour  on  the  Continent.  435 
 
 overrate,  when  I  say  they  are  an  invaluable  addition 
 to  our  family  libraries,  and  help  to  our  family  prayers. 
 His  place  as  curate  was  well  supplied  for  a  time  by 
 Mr.  Le  Geyt,  but  circumstances  thenceforward  occa- 
 sioned many  changes  in  Keble's  curates,  and  as  he 
 was  before  long  compelled,  sometimes  by  his  own, 
 and  sometimes  Mrs.  Keble's  ill-health,  to  be  absent 
 from  home  for  long  periods,  he  increased  the  number, 
 and  had  two. 
 
 In  the  summer  of  this  year,  1857,  Mrs.  Keble  and 
 he  made  a  tour  on  the  Continent,  of  which  he  gave 
 me  a  short  account  in  the  following  letter,  written 
 from  Hursley  the  23rd  of  October  : — 
 
 "  Dearest  Coleridge, 
 
 "  This  is,  indeed,  worse  than  ever,  that  I  should  never 
 yet  have  thanked  you  for  your  most  kind  letter  received, 
 I  think,  at  Thun,  and  so  welcome  every  way.  But  you 
 are  too  much  used  to  my  idle  ways,  and  I  to  your  for- 
 giving ways.  Somehow,  when  I  was  out,  I  had  even  less 
 inclination  to  write  than  usual.  I  cannot  say  that  I  had 
 not  time,  but  I  accepted  all  manner  of  excuses.  Our 
 journey  was  very  full  of  interest,  and  I  hope  has  done  my 
 wife's  health  good  on  the  whole,  notwithstanding  one  very 
 serious  drawback,  of  which  I  dare  say  you  have  heard. 
 Our  course  was  to  leave  the  main  Railway  at  Dijon,  and 
 scramble  over  the  Jura,  chiefly  for  the  sake  of  the  grand 
 view,  (which,  however,  we  missed,  owing  to  a  certain  M.  de 
 Brouillard,  who  had  a  trick  of  waiting  upon  us  just  when 
 his  presence  was  least  acceptable,)  and  to  come  down  upon 
 the  Lake  at  Nyon,  (for  we  agreed  to  cut  Geneva,)  and  after 
 
43  6  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 two  nights  at  Vevay,  to  go  a  little  way  up  the  Valley  of  the 
 Rhone,  and  turn  to  the  left  according  to  a  route  which 
 Wilson  had  given  us,  avoiding  the  Mont  Blanc  side  as  too 
 much  for  Madame.  We  went  up  the  Val  d'Ormont,  staid 
 three  nights,  including  a  Sunday,  at  Sepcy,  a  curious  speci- 
 men of  a  Swiss  Village  ;  then  by  Chateau  d'Oex  to  Thun, 
 Interlacken,  Lauter-brunnen,  and  Grindelwald  for  our  third 
 Sunday.  The  next  week  took  us  from  Grindelwald  to  Mey- 
 rinzen,  then  up  the  vale  of  the  Aar  to  the  passes  of  the 
 Grimsel  and  Furca,  and  down  the  Reuss  to  Andermatt, 
 and  these  two  days  were  the  noblest  part  of  our  doings  to 
 my  mind ;  then  down  the  Lake  and  up  the  Rigi ;  then  to 
 Lucerne  for  the  next  Sunday,  (the  pleasantest  town  I  think 
 that  we  made  acquaintance  with).  We  lingered  a  little 
 there  to  nurse  a  cold,  which  she  had  caught,  and  then  went 
 on  to  Basle,  intending  to  make  our  way  home  down  the 
 Rhine ;  but  at  Basle  she  was  suddenly  seized  with  a  vio- 
 lent attack  of  pleurisy,  with  some  inflammation  of  the  lungs. 
 It  was  in  the  middle  of  the  night,  but  by  God's  good  Pro- 
 vidence a  friend,  (Laura  Richards,)  was  with  us,  who  proved 
 a  most  admirable  nurse ;  and  we  got  some  leeches  then, 
 and  some  good  advice  the  next  day ;  so  that  we  were  able 
 to  get  to  Strasburgh  by  the  end  of  that  week,  and  came 
 home  by  Paris,  Dover,  and  London,  giving  up  the  Rhine 
 of  course,  and  also  giving  up,  which  I  more  regret,  our 
 Devonshire  visits,  amongst  which  we  had  quite  reckoned 
 on  one  to  you.  Since  then  she  has  been  rather  mending, 
 and  could  do  in  the  way  of  moving  about  rather  more  than 
 before  we  went  abroad.  Just  now  she  is  suffering  from 
 a  cold,  but  I  trust  it  will  not  come  to  much. 
 
 "  I  have  been  too  much  taken  up  since  we  came  home 
 with  a  little  book  I  have  been  trying  to  write  on  Eucha- 
 ristical  Adoration.    I  hope  it  will  be  out  next  week.     The 
 
Keble  s  " ' Eucharistical  Adoration?  437 
 
 subject  I  fear  will  be  very  disturbing  to  us  again ;  and  I 
 want,  if  I  could,  to  quiet  people,  or,  at  least,  shew  those 
 who  wish  to  be  quiet,  that  they  are  not  wrong  in  being  so. 
 Alas,  that  dear  Pusey  should  still  be  unable  to  write  for  us ; 
 I  fear  for  a  long  time  yet." 
 
 The  book  of  which  Keble  speaks  in  this  letter 
 appeared  soon  after  its  date,  a  second  edition  in 
 1859,  and  a  third  has  been  published  since  his  death. 
 Its  fuller  title  is,  "  The  Worship  of  our  Lord  and 
 Saviour  in  the  Sacrament  of  Holy  Communion." 
 Its  object  and  its  plan  are  so  shortly  and  so  fully 
 stated  in  the  opening  paragraph,  that  it  may  be 
 well  to  transcribe  it ;  as  I  could  not  pass  over  in 
 entire  silence  a  work  by  Keble  on  a  subject  on 
 which  he  felt  so  deeply,  and  had  thought  so  in- 
 tently and  laboriously  for  so  many  years  of  his  life. 
 The  subject,  indeed,  is  so  important,  and  the  trea- 
 tise so  able,  that  I  regret  it  has  not  obtained  a  wider 
 circulation,  and  I  should  be  glad  to  draw  to  it  more 
 attention  from  serious  people,  whether  for  praise  or 
 condemnation  : — 
 
 "  The  object  of  this  Essay  is  to  allay,  and,  if  possible,  to 
 quiet  the  troublesome  thoughts  which  may  at  times,  and 
 now  especially,  occur  to  men's  minds  on  this  awful  subject, 
 so  as  even  to  disturb  them  in  the  highest  act  of  devotion. 
 For  this  purpose  it  may  be  well  to  consider  calmly,  not 
 without  deep  reverence  of  heart,  First,  what  Natural  Piety 
 would  suggest;  Secondly,  what  Holy  Scripture  may  ap- 
 pear to  sanction  \   Thirdly,  what  the  Fathers  and  Litur- 
 
43  8  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 gies  indicate  to  have  been  the  practice  of  the  Primitive 
 Church ;  Fourthly,  what  the  Church  of  England  enjoins  or 
 recommends." 
 
 The  words,  "  now  especially,"  refer  to  the  decision 
 of  Archbishop  Sumner  in  the  Denison  Case,  which 
 was  the  cause  for  writing  the  book  ;  and  after  an 
 orderly  and  careful  discussion  of  the  four  points 
 above  stated,  a  fifth  and  concluding  chapter  is  added 
 on  the  duties  of  Churchmen  in  respect  of  that  de- 
 cision. This  is  a  very  interesting  chapter,  and  has 
 an  importance  as  applicable  to  other  possible  cases. 
 It  is  of  course  addressed  to  those  who  might  think 
 the  decision  erroneous  ;  and  it  first  establishes,  that 
 however  gravely  erroneous  it  might  seem  to  a  man, 
 even  if  he  conscientiously  believed  it  to  be  heretical, 
 it  would  have  been,  even  if  final,  no  cause  for  leaving 
 the  Church,  or  declining  communion  with  its  author ; 
 because  it  would  not  bind  the  conscience  ;  the  refusal 
 to  act  in  obedience  to  it  might  expose  one  to  tem- 
 poral penalty,  but  it  could  do  no  more ;  the  penalty 
 must  be  submitted  to  meekly,  and  if  it  fall  not  on 
 an  individual  personally,  he  must  help  with  his 
 prayers  and  out  of  his  means  those  on  whom  it 
 should.  Further,  there  might  remain  protest  and 
 appeal,  the  former  is  "  the  course  of  those  who  feel 
 themselves  aggrieved,  but  know  of  no  legal  remedy," 
 it  supposes  "  the  final  authority  to  have  spoken  ;"  the 
 latter  supposes  some  higher  authority,  which  may  be 
 applied  to  and  has  power  to  reverse  the  decision. 
 
Keble's  "  Eticharistical  Adoration?  439 
 
 For  the  satisfaction  of  conscience  Keble  would,  and, 
 indeed,  I  believe,  did  protest,  but  he  relied  on  ap- 
 peal ;  not  to  any  other  English  tribunal,  but  to  an 
 GEcumenical  Council  when  it  should  be  assembled. 
 Here  it  was  that  many  have  considered  his  course 
 an  unreal  and  chimerical  one.  He  was  aware  of 
 this,  but  his  opinion  was  not  hastily  taken  up,  nor, 
 as  he  thought,  without  the  sanction  of  great  autho- 
 rities. He  had  had  occasion  more  than  once  in 
 his  life  to  consider  the  matter  deeply,  and  it  had 
 quieted  his  conscience,  and  made  him  easy  in  a  loyal 
 adherence  to  his  Church.  Those  who  deride  or 
 condemn  his  view,  should  in  justice  read,  at  least, 
 this  part  of  his  work,  for  it  is  not  easy  to  give  the 
 full  force  of  his  argument  in  a  short  analysis.  He 
 considered  it — 
 
 "  Of  the  very  last  importance  that  we  should  keep  in  our 
 own  minds,  and  before  all  Christendom,  the  fact  that  we 
 stand  as  Orthodox  Catholics  upon  a  constant  virtual  appeal 
 to  the  oecumenical  voice  of  the  Church,  expressed  by  the 
 Four  Great  Councils,  and  by  general  consent  in  all  the 
 ages  during  which  she  continued  undivided." 
 
 And  he  asked, — 
 
 "  If  that  voice  be  disputed,  is  there  any  conceivable  way 
 of  bringing  the  dispute  to  an  issue,  except  only  by  another 
 true  CEcumenical  Council  when  such  by  God's  grace  may 
 be  had." 
 
 Further  on  he  says  : — 
 
 "The  question  may  well  be  asked, — much  more  easily 
 
440  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 asked  than  answered, — whether  in  the  present  divided  state 
 of  Christendom,  all  who  believe  in  the  Holy  Catholic 
 Church  must  not  in  reality,  however  unconsciously,  be 
 going  on  under  this  very  appeal,  at  least,  as  against  other 
 claimants.  The  Greek  will  say,  'I  go  by  the  voice  of  the 
 present  Church  diffusive ;'  the  Latin,  'I  go  by  the  infal- 
 lible voice  of  the  See  of  St.  Peter ;'  the  English,  '  I  go  by 
 what  has  been  held  fundamental  everywhere,  always,  and 
 by  all ;'  but  who  is  to  decide  between  them,  which  of  these 
 measures  is  right.  Yet  all,  one  may  hope,  would  agree  to 
 defer  to  the  decision  of  such  a  Council  as  has  been  specified, 
 were  it  attainable.  It  is  our  common  position ;  and  we  in 
 England  have  so  much  the  more  reason  to  acquiesce  in  it, 
 as  it  does  not  force  us  to  "unchurch,"  (as  it  is  termed,) 
 either  of  the  other  great  sections  of  Christendom  \  as  they  do 
 mutually  one  another  and  us." 
 
 It  may  be  said  there  is  no  true  analogy  between 
 the  case  of  one  branch  of  the  Church  at  issue  with 
 others,  and  that  of  an  individual  or  individuals  who 
 cannot  in  conscience  accept  an  authoritative  decision 
 in  their  own  branch,  as  for  example,  that  of  the  Ju- 
 dicial Committee  of  the  Privy  Council ;  but  certainly 
 there  is  no  difference  in  principle  between  the  two 
 cases  in  respect  of  that  on  which  mainly  the  charge 
 of  unreality  must  rest,  namely,  the  present  apparent 
 hopelessness  of  a  really  CEcumenical  Council  being 
 assembled.  It  will  not  be  doubted,  that  if  so  un- 
 likely an  event  should  occur,  the  Council  would  be 
 the  proper  place  in  which  should  be  considered  the 
 grievance  of  those  individuals  who,  like  Keble,  had 
 
Kcblcs  " Eucharistical A doralion"  44 r 
 
 invincible  objections  to  the  Latin  and  Greek  branches, 
 who  loved  and  adhered  to  their  own  branch,  and  who 
 complained  only  of  a  judicial  decision  which  seemed 
 to  them  to  taint  its  orthodoxy. 
 
 I  do  not  know  that  any  allowance  need  be  made, 
 or,  indeed,  ought  to  be  made,  in  considering  Keble's 
 reasoning,  for  the  extreme  anxiety  he  felt  for  those 
 who  were  troubled  by  the  judgments  to  which  he 
 alludes.  He  was  familiar  with  all  their  sorrows,  and 
 I  think  he  felt  it  in  some  sort  his  mission,  (though 
 in  his  modesty  he  would  have  shrunk  from  acknow- 
 ledging this,)  to  soothe  them,  and  reconcile  them  to 
 follow  in  the  path  in  which  he  himself  had  found 
 peace.  Time  has  in  God's  good  will  had  a  healing 
 force ;  many  have  forgotten,  many  never  knew  the 
 anxieties  of  that  day ;  but  it  is  good  to  remember 
 them,  that  we  may  learn  tenderness  for  others,  and 
 be  grateful,  too,  for  ourselves. 
 
 I  see  about  this  very  time  I  wrote  to  him  express- 
 ing my  anxiety  about  the  pending  judgment : — 
 
 "  I  have  seen,"  I  said,  "  how  mischievously  these  judg- 
 ments do  disturb  and  overthrow  men's  minds.  We  have 
 lost  an  excellent  man  here,  a  pious,  good-hearted  clergy- 
 man, a  perfect  blessing  to  his  little  flock,  simply  on  the 
 Gorham  proceeding :  against  the  scruples  which  it  inspired 
 he  has  been  fighting  for  five  years,  and  at  last  given  in. 
 He  told  me  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  that  he  was  worn  in 
 body  almost  to  a  skeleton,  and  would  rather  die  than  go 
 through  again  all  he  had  suffered." 
 
442  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 However  mistaken  such  persons  were,  their  agonies 
 were  real ;  to  such  persons  Keble  in  the  conclusion 
 of  his  treatise  addressed  himself  affectionately,  and 
 it  seems  to  me  conclusively  : — 
 
 "  Many  a  devout  and  loving  heart,  I  well  know,  will  rise 
 up  against  this  view  of  our  case.  To  be  on  this  conditional 
 temporary  footing  will  strike  them  as  something  so  unsatis- 
 factory, so  miserably  poor  and  meagre,  so  unlike  the  glori- 
 ous vision  which  they  have  been  used  to  gaze  on,  of  the 
 one  Catholic  Apostolic  Church.  And  poor,  indeed,  and 
 disappointing  it  undoubtedly  is,  but  not  otherwise  than  as 
 the  aspect  of  Christianity  itself  in  the  world  is  poor  and 
 disappointing  compared  with  what  we  read  of  it  in  the 
 Gospel. 
 
 "  Men  will  not  escape  from  this  state  of  decay  by  going 
 elsewhere,  though  they  may  shut  their  eyes  to  the  reality  of 
 it.  Rather,  whatever  be  our  position  in  the  Church,  since 
 God  Almighty  has  assigned  it  to  us  for  our  trial,  shall  we 
 not  accept  it,  and  make  the  best  of  it,  in  humble  con- 
 fidence that  according  to  our  faith  it  will  be  to  us  ? 
 
 "  This,  please  God,  is  the  way  of  truth  and  peace,  and 
 therefore  in  it  we  may  hope  for  a  blessing,  the  rather  if  it 
 should  prove  to  be  the  way  of  the  Cross  also.  But  to  en- 
 gage oneself,  by  a  strong  act  of  the  will,  to  the  whole  sys- 
 tem of  a  body  new  to  us,  not  upon  the  proper  evidence  of 
 that  system,  but  because  some  in  temporary  authority  among 
 ourselves  have  denied  our  holy  doctrine ;  this  has  something 
 in  it  so  very  unreal,  that  it  can  hardly  agree  with  truth  ;  and 
 so  like  ill-temper,  that  it  gives  but  a  bad  omen  for  peace." 
 
CHAPTER    XVIII. 
 
 1S57,  DEATH  OF  THE  REV.  J.  D.  COLERIDGE. — BUILD- 
 ING OF  SCHOOL  CHAPEL  AT  PITT,  1 85 8.— DEATH 
 OF  MRS.  T.  KEBLE,  JUNIOR,  1 85 8. — TROUBLES  IN 
 THE  SCOTTISH  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH.  —  STAY  AT 
 OXFORD,  1859. —  TOUR  TO  THE  NORTH. — VISIT 
 TO  EDINBURGH,  i860.  —  DEATH  OF  ELIZABETH 
 KEBLE,  AUGUST,  i860. — DEATH  OF  C.  DYSON. — 
 VISIT  TO  DEVONSHIRE.  —  DEATH  OF  J.  PATTE- 
 SON,   1 86 1. 
 
 IT  may  seem  that  I  take  advantage  of  my  pre- 
 sent task  to  obtrude  impertinently  my  own  trials 
 or  sorrows  on  my  readers.  I  hope,  however,  that 
 my  motive  has  been  seen  by  them,  and  the  sort  of 
 necessity  that  was  laid  on  me,  not  to  omit  some  of 
 the  choicest  out-pourings  of  Keble's  tender  heart 
 and  religious  spirit.  I  must  crave  their  indulgence 
 when  I  commence  this  chapter  in  the  same  way. 
 On  Christmas  Eve,  in  the  year  1857,  my  eldest 
 brother,  with  whom  I  had  walked,  for  sixty  years 
 and  more,  from  the  earliest  childhood  in  love  that 
 had  never  had  one  remembered  breach,  nor  even 
 the  slightest  diminution,  was  almost  suddenly  taken 
 from  me.     I  communicated  this  of  course  to  Kebie, 
 
444  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 and  on  the  29th  of  December  he  wrote  to  me  as 
 follows  : — 
 
 "  Dearest  Coleridge, 
 
 "  I  am,  indeed,  grieved  that  your  Christmas  should  have 
 been  saddened  by  such  a  loss,  a  loss  I  too,  deeply  feel, 
 irreparable  in  this  world  \  and  you  have  had  so  much  to  go 
 through  in  that  way ;  but  '  the  time  is  short,'  and  Christmas 
 is  happier  there  than  even  here ;  and  surely  his  being  taken 
 just  at  that  time,  and  with  so  little  comparative  suffering, 
 seem  special  marks  of  favour  and  blessing.  He  will  be 
 sadly  missed.  .  .  .  Dear  Heathcote  feels  as  you  know  he 
 would ;  he  did  not  say  he  would  write  to  you,  but  I  dare 
 say  he  will.  What  a  gathering,  dear  friend,  we  are  per- 
 mitted to  think  of  as  time  goes  on,  one  after  another  taken 
 out  of  sight  to  pray  for  us,  and  wait  for  us  in  peace.  The 
 last  I  had  much  to  think  of,  was  the  little  babe  on  whose 
 account  this  is  edged  with  a  little  black  ;  Charlie  Young, 
 the  least  of  our  little  cousins,  13  months  old.  He  came 
 with  his  mother  to  pay  us  a  little  visit  in  November,  and 
 you  would  not  believe,  yes,  you  would  know  better  than  I, 
 how  he  wound  himself  round  all  our  hearts,  and  how  much 
 my  dear  wife  thinks  of  his  little  grave,  close  to  the  Church 
 door  at  Brooking;  which  has  made  the  place  seem  like 
 a  home  to  them,  more  I  dare  say  than  any  other  kind  of 
 thing  could  have  done.  To  all  appearance,  our  next  part- 
 ing in  the  family  is  likely  to  be  still  more  trying,  very  much 
 more,  but  who  knows  ?  and  who  dare  choose  ?  I  wish  in 
 one  respect  that  your  kind  thought  for  Tom  could  have 
 been  realized,  one  fancies  that  work  would  be  a  help  and 
 relief;  but  I  dare  say  it  is  best  as  it  is.  The  rest  of  our 
 lot,  thank  God,  are  in  tolerable  Christmas  order.  .  .  . 
 
 "  I  thank  you  with  all  my  heart  for  your  encouraging 
 
Death  of  Rev.  J.  D.  Coleridge.  445 
 
 words  about  my  little  Book.  I  shall  be  very  thankful,  if 
 it  does  some  little  good,  and  no  harm.  Something  of  the 
 kind,  I  am  sure,  was  very  much  wanted,  especially  just 
 now  in  Scotland.  Have  you  heard  of  Bp.  Forbes's  troubles  ? 
 but  I  have  not  time  to  write  more  now. 
 
 God  bless  you,  dearest  friend,  and  dear  Mary,  and  your 
 wife,  and  all,  and  give  you  a  full  share  in  all  the  good 
 prayers  that  are  offered  up  at  this  time  by  all  His  people 
 everywhere.  With  kindest  love  from  me  and  my  two  bet- 
 ters, ever  yours,  J.  K." 
 
 It  may  be  remembered  that  in  an  early  part  of  my 
 memoir,  I  stated  that  after  all  the  church  arrange- 
 ments made  for  the  benefit  of  the  two  parishes  which 
 formed  Keble's  incumbency,  there  was  still  a  hamlet 
 in  Hursley  parish  not  provided  for  as  he  desired. 
 This  was  Pitt,  which  lies  between  Winchester  and 
 Hursley,  in  a  little  green  valley  as  you  descend 
 from  the  upland  downs  which  separate  the  one  from 
 the  other;  it  is  as  much  as  three  miles  from  Hursley 
 Church.  For  a  long  time  a  service  was  performed 
 in  it  weekly  in  a  cottage,  to  which  Keble  walked 
 often  and  often,  as  long  as  his  strength  was  equal  to 
 it;  but  in  this  year,  1858,  a  school-chapel  was  built 
 there,  which  was  licensed  on  the  31st  of  March,  and 
 not  long  after  a  residence  was  supplied  for  a  school- 
 master. This  last  was  due  to  the  liberality  of  several 
 contributors  ;  for  the  former,  Keble  and  this  portion 
 of   his   flock   were    indebted    to    my   dear   relative, 
 
446  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 Charlotte  Yonge,  the  daughter  of  him  whom  I  have 
 more  than  once  before-mentioned,  whose  name  is 
 deservedly  well-known  in  the  literature  of  England. 
 I  may  not  particularize,  indeed  I  cannot,  and  I  be- 
 lieve no  one  but  herself  could  particularize  all  her  mu- 
 nificent acts  done  in  the  same  spirit,  which  render  her 
 literary  works  the  greater  blessing  to  herself,  and  yet 
 the  very  least  of  her  claims  to  the  love  and  respect 
 of  others.  She  could  scarcely  have  gratified  Keble 
 more  than  by  this  offering,  though  he  could  scarcely 
 love  her  the  more  for  it,  than  he  had-  done  before. 
 He  seems,  from  the  manner  in  which  he  always 
 writes  of  her,  to  have  regarded  her  almost  as  a 
 daughter  bequeathed  to  him  by  her  departed  father. 
 
 Pitt  flourished.  Writing  in  the  following  year  to 
 the  Wilsons,  he  says  : — 
 
 "  The  Pitt  district  seems  at  present  to  thrive  under  the 
 care  of  Mr.  Baker,  (a  nephew  by  marriage  of  Moberly,) 
 who  is  very  kindly  curatizing  there  for  me  in  the  intervals 
 of  his  work  as  Chaplain  of  the  College.  He  brought  8  can- 
 didates to  Confirmation  at  Otterbourne  the  other  day,  and 
 had  17  Communicants  in  the  little  School-Chapel  on  Easter 
 Day,  and  a  congregation  of  72  on  Good  Friday,  the  popula- 
 tion of  Pitt  being  under  100.  I  advise  you  to  get  a  Moberly- 
 bred  Curate." 
 
 Keble  alludes  in  his  letter  of  the  29th  of  Decem- 
 ber, 1857,  to  tne  illness  of  the  young  lady,  the 
 daughter  of  George  Cornish,  whose  marriage  I  have 
 
Illness  of  Sir  William  Heathcote.  447 
 
 mentioned  above,  and  he  wrote  no  letter  for  some 
 time  without  speaking  of  it.  She,  however,  lingered 
 until  the  end  of  the  year  ;  meantime  he  had  been 
 made  very  anxious  by  an  alarming  illness  of  Sir 
 William  Heathcote ;  and  writing,  as  I  now  do,  when 
 that  same  dear  friend  is  recovering,  as  I  trust,  from 
 an  illness  at  one  time  equally  alarming,  I  cannot 
 help  inserting  a  word  from  one  of  Keble's  letters  at 
 the  time.  My  readers  may  remember  my  mention 
 of  the  baptism  and  death  of  one  of  his  children  ;  it 
 was  in  this  year  that  he  was  taken,  and  the  loss 
 was  a  very  trying  one. 
 
 Keble,  speaking  of  Sir  William,  says  : — 
 
 "  Indeed,  I  trust  by  God's  blessing,  that  he  is  now  really 
 getting  better.  I  saw  him  on  Wednesday  for  \  of  an  hour, 
 very  sweet  and  cheerful,  but  much  pulled  down.  It  was  much 
 owing  to  his  anguish  about  that  dear  little  Godfrey." 
 
 It  is  for  the  sake  of  both,  the  living  and  the  dead, 
 that  I  set  down  any  notice  of  this  interview;  it  im- 
 pressed Keble  very  much.  I  find  it  mentioned  in 
 three  letters  ;  in  one  to  Mr.  Wilson  he  says  : — 
 
 "  I  saw  him  on  Tuesday  for  \  of  an  hour,  and  I  cannot 
 tell  you  how  it  impressed  me.  Would  that  I  were  worthy 
 but  to  remember  it  all  exactly,  much  more  to  enter  into  it. 
 lie  was  so  sweet,  and  noble,  and  humble,  and  loving." 
 
 In  this  year  Keble  and  I  lost  our  dear  old  Corpus 
 friend,  Noel  Ellison,  and  at  the  close  of  it,  the  niece 
 
448  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 of  whom  I  have  just  spoken  died  also.  He  expresses 
 his  feelings  on  this  and  other  similar  visitations  in 
 the  letter  which  I  now  insert : — 
 
 "&.  K,  Innocents'  Day,  1858. 
 
 "  Dearest  Coleridge, 
 "  You  will  have  heard,  I  dare  say,  that  the  long-expected 
 blow  has  at  last  fallen  on  us.  Our  dear  Niece  at  Sidmouth 
 was  on  Thursday  gathered  to  her  Father,  and  Sisters,  and 
 Brother,  and  her  little  first-born  Child.  She  had  been  very 
 much  worse  for  several  days ;  and  a  very  little  before  had 
 given  a  sort  of  signal  of  what  was  going  to  happen  by  say- 
 ing with  one  of  her  bright  looks,  when  she  was  asked  tc 
 take  something,  '  Nothing  but  Holy  Communion  will  do 
 me  good  now.'  So  we  were  quite  spared  what  I  had  much 
 dreaded,  that  her  mind  might  give  way  before  her  body,  as 
 I  believe  often  happens  in  such  extreme  weakness.  Poor 
 dear  Tom,  he  will  be  all  the  more  desolate,  from  having 
 been  able  all  along  to  devote  himself  exclusively  to  her ; 
 but  of  course  it  is  a  pain,  which  so  far  he  would  not  part 
 with  for  all  the  world.  His  Father  and  Mother,  I  trust, 
 are  with  him  now.  He  and  Harriet,  (Kenie's  Mother,) 
 were  the  only  persons  with  her  at  the  moment,  2  p.m.  At 
 7  that  same  morning  dear  Moberly  saw  the  departure  of 
 his  second  son  Arthur,  a  most  promising  youth  every  way. 
 He  is  by  this  time  buried  in  the  cloisters  of  the  College, 
 where  also  Kenie's  brother  George  is  laid.  And  a  few 
 days  before,  a  Coxwell,  nephew  of  Caroline  Young,  '  the 
 only  son  of  his  father,  and  he  a  widower,'  died,  and  was 
 buried  at  Hurst  Pier  Point.  Dear  Kenie  is  to  be  buried 
 at  Salcombe  on  Thursday  next.  It  is,  indeed,  a  trying, 
 though  a  very  soothing  Christmas.     This  one  day  seems 
 
Death  of  Mrs.  T.  Keble,  jnn.  449 
 
 to  diffuse  itself,  as  it  were,  over  all  the  twelve.  You  will 
 think  of  us  all,  though  I  sadly  feel  that  I  never  thought 
 enough  of  you  in  your  many  troubles.  My  own  dear  Sister 
 alarmed  us  also  a  good  deal  this  day  week,  but  I  thank 
 God  that  she  is  now  apparently  getting  better  and  better. 
 
 "  But,  O  my  dear  friend,  what  is  it  all  in  comparison, 
 whether  we  and  those  dear  to  us  are  here  a  few  days  longer, 
 or  no.  If  we  may  but  be  with  Him,  and  with  one  another 
 by  and  by  !  This  has  been  a  trying  year  all  along, — Miller, 
 Ellison,  Marriott,  W.  Barter, — each  as  he  went  seemed  to 
 say,  '  Your  Time  must  soon  come.'  Yet  the  comforts  left 
 are  unspeakable. 
 
 "  Dec1"  29.  I  could  not  manage  to  finish  this  yesterday, 
 and  now,  lest  I  should  be  prevented  again,  I  must  go  at 
 once  to  business.  The  sum  you  speak  of,  (which  in  spite 
 of  your  asseverations  I  can  scarcely  believe  to  be  all  mine,) 
 may  be  paid  to  my  account  with  D.  L.  and  Co.,  Winchester, 
 whenever  it  is  convenient.  Of  course  I  am  glad  of  it;  but 
 I  wish  people  would  consider  my  prose,  as  well  as  like  my 
 verses.  Or  rather,  I  wish  that  some  one  of  real  learning 
 and  ability  might  be  raised  up  to  force  good  people  to  put 
 their  minds  to  the  truths  which  I  believe  they  are  instinctively 
 acting  on,  though  they  are  afraid  to  enunciate  them  in  words. 
 That  is  my  account  of  this  Scottish  Controversy,  as  well  as 
 of  a  good  deal  that  is  going  on  in  England.  And  having 
 that  view  I  cannot  but  hope  that  matters  will  be  overruled, 
 so  as  to  spare  us  a  Schism,  though  at  present  matters  look 
 very  like  it.  I  have  not  read  Mr.  Mansel's  book,  and  do 
 not  at  all  expect  I  should  understand  it  if  I  did.  I  hear 
 people  speaking  very  highly  of  it,  and  sadly  of  the  need  of 
 it.  .  .  . 
 
 "  I  like  to  hear  of  your  visits  to  John,  how  happy  they 
 must  make  all  parties.     My  love  to  all  three  generations, 
 
450  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 and  especially  to  poor  Mary,  when  you  see  her.  May  all 
 go  well,  and  may  the  New  Year  be  every  way  happy  to 
 you,  prays  your  loving  friend,  J.  K." 
 
 In  more  than  one  previous  letter  he  had  spoken 
 of  the  Scottish  Controversy,  which  was  much  on  his 
 mind,  both  on  account  of  the  subject — the  Holy  Eu- 
 charist— and  because,  according  to  his  usual  mode 
 of  judging  himself  with  severity,  he  fancied  he  had 
 done  harm  by  mingling  in  it  unnecessarily  and  pre- 
 sumptuously : — 
 
 "  I  am  paying,"  says  he,  in  writing  to  me,  "  for  my  con- 
 ceited interference,  (for  so  I  fear  it  must  have  been  indeed 
 before  the  All-Seeing,)  with  this  Eucharistical  question,  by 
 being  made  the  instrument  of  rending  (too  likely)  the  Scot- 
 tish Church.  I  know  that  in  all  your  own  cares  you  will 
 find  room  to  pray  that  I  may  be  spared  this." 
 
 At  this  time  among  the  persons  prominently 
 engaged  were  two  men,  both  of  whom  he  had 
 long  known  intimately,  and  both  of  whom  he  es- 
 teemed and  loved  very  greatly  —  Bishop  Words- 
 worth, and  Bishop  Forbes  ;  and  he  had  always  re- 
 garded the  Scottish  Episcopalian  Church  with  deep 
 reverence  ;  he  had  accepted  with  pleasure  a  titular 
 canonry  in  the  College  at  Cumbrae.  It  so  hap- 
 pened that  Dr.  Pusey's  ill-health  had  prevented 
 Bishop  Forbes  from  having  free  recourse  to  him, 
 whom  he  ordinarily  consulted  in  his  difficulties,  and 
 so  he  had  applied  to  Keble,  who  of  course  could  not 
 
The  Scottish  Controversy.  45  1 
 
 shrink  from  answering  the  call  made  on  him.  He 
 had  not  obtruded  himself  in  the  matter,  and  I  sup- 
 pose no  one  but  himself  could  have  seen  any  im- 
 propriety, or  anything  like  conceit  or  presumptuous- 
 ness,  in  his  giving  advice  or  support  to  one  whom 
 he  believed  to  be  in  the  right,  and  who  seemed  in 
 danger  of  being  overpowered. 
 
 In  the  May  of  this  year,  1858,  six  of  the  bishops 
 of  the  Scottish  Church  had  met  in  a  special  Synod, 
 and  issued  a  Pastoral  Letter  condemnatory  of  a 
 Charge  which  had  been  delivered  to  his  own  clergy, 
 and  published,  by  the  seventh  of  their  body,  Bishop 
 Forbes.  And  this  occasioned  the  publication  by 
 Keble  of  "  Considerations,  suggested  by  a  late  Pas- 
 toral Letter  on  the  Doctrine  of  the  most  Holy  Eu- 
 charist." "  Interference"  by  me  now  in  a  controversy 
 on  this  mysterious  subject  would  be,  indeed,  to  use 
 Keble's  word,  "  conceited,"  and  I  shall  pass  it  over, 
 except  that,  to  prevent  my  leaving  a  wrong  impres- 
 sion as  to  the  spirit  in  which  Keble  interfered,  I 
 think  I  ought  to  add  an  extract  from  one  other  of 
 his  letters  : — 
 
 "  I  have  been  harping  on  a  string,  which  I  fancy  might 
 be  pacific,  if  people  would  be  so  minded,  between  the  two 
 Champions,  Brechin  and  St.  Andrews.  My  firm  belief  is 
 that  they  both  agree  in  this,  that  there  is  in  the  Holy  Eu- 
 charist a  Presence  Real  in  the  utmost  possible  degree  of 
 Reality :  and  that  they  only  differ  about  the  question,  what 
 degree  is  possible,  i.e.  of  course  possible  to  God.     And 
 
45  2  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 about  this,  since  no  paramount  Church  Authority  has  ex- 
 pressly decided  it,  the  right  course  is  to  allow  each  side  to 
 hold  and  teach  their  own  opinion  with  express  toleration 
 of  the  other." 
 
 And  this  in  truth  was  the  spirit  in  which  he  was 
 a  controversialist.  He  certainly  had  strong  opinions 
 as  to  what  he  deemed  the  true  faith,  and  they  were 
 to  him  matters  of  the  holiest  obligation  ;  he  had 
 been  brought  up  in  them,  he  had  read  deeply  and 
 largely  upon  them,  and  he  thought  he  saw  moral 
 failures  traceable  to  a  departure  from  them  in  the 
 belief  of  men.  But  with  all  this  he  ever  made  the 
 largest  allowances,  and  his  most  inward  desire  was 
 for  peace. 
 
 Nevertheless,  I  call  to  mind  that  I  was  uneasy  at 
 what  I  feared  in  him,  the  growth  of  a  controversial 
 spirit,  and  we  had  a  little  correspondence  about  it. 
 I  urged  him  to  give  the  world  some  of  his  parochial 
 sermons.     I  said  : — 
 
 "  I  am  sure  you  undervalue  them,  and  the  good  which 
 by  God's  blessing  they  might  do.  Of  this  I  think  you 
 should  let  others  judge.  But  in  addition  to  this  other  and 
 direct  motive,  I  am  also,  I  must  confess,  somewhat  in- 
 fluenced by  the  effect  it  would  have  on  your  reputation  as 
 a  Divine  and  Parochial  Clergyman.  I  should  be  sorry  that 
 you  should  only  be  known  by  strangers  as  a  controversialist. 
 I  wish  they  should  see  that  the  occasional  short  publications, 
 which  the  more  part  never  look  at  for  fear  of  being  '  per- 
 verted,' are  as  nothing  to  the  amount  of  your  work  and 
 teaching  as  Vicar  of  Hursley." 
 
Kcbles  Parochial  Sermons.  453 
 
 He  answered,  referring  me  to  the  neglected  ser- 
 mons he  had  published,  and  I  replied,  insisting  on 
 a  volume  of  parochial  sermons,  with  his  name  : — 
 
 "  You  have  not  tried  this,  and  there  are  in  my  opinion 
 two  good  reasons  why  you  should,  one  for  the  good  I  be- 
 lieve they  would  do,  the  other  personal,  (partly  so  only,) 
 that  the  world  may  be  undeceived,  or  better  informed 
 about  you,  and  not  suppose  you  are  merely  a  Controversial 
 Divine,  engaged  in  propping  up  unpopular  opinions  in  the 
 Church." 
 
 I  went  on  also  to  urge  him  on  to  his  Life  of 
 Wilson,  which  seemed  in  danger  of  being  never 
 finished  : — 
 
 "  Still  another  last  word ;  w  ^A^rcov  neWrjTiKcaTaTe,  where 
 is  thy  Wilson  ?  You  are  not  so  old  as  I  am,  and  you  have 
 learned  to  linger  by  the  way  as  much  as  I  do.  Why  is  it 
 that  the  shorter  our  time,  the  more  we  loiter  over  our  work  ? 
 Procrastination  should  be  the  thief  of  younger  days,  but  she 
 delights  to  gather  up  the  lengthening  shadows." 
 
 I  stumbled  on  these  letters  among  those  returned 
 to  me,  and  I  cannot  expect  others  to  read  them  with 
 the  feelings  which  they  roused  up  in  myself.  Alas, 
 though  younger,  he  was  not  allowed  so  many  days 
 to  loiter  in  and  on  his  work,  (if,  indeed,  I  had  justly 
 accused  him  of  loitering,)  as  have  been  allowed  to 
 me.  But  he  did  not  loiter,  he  was  continually,  too 
 continually,  at  work.  I  failed  to  persuade  him  as 
 to  the  sermons,  unfortunately,  as  I  still  think  ;  but 
 
454  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 he  undervalued  his  compositions  ;  it  was  unpleasant 
 to  him  to  undertake  a  selection,  and  a  reviewal  of 
 them  for  publication.  This  would  of  course  have 
 been  necessary,  but  he  might  have  bequeathed  to 
 the  Church  something  like  the  gift  which  Dr.  New- 
 man has  left  behind  him,  differing  indeed  in  cha- 
 racter in  some  respects,  and  perhaps  inferior  in  gene- 
 ral merit,  but  still  a  great  and  good  gift.  In  de- 
 livery he  did  not  give  his  sermons  the  advantages 
 of  an  ordinarily  eloquent  preacher,  but  he  was  emi- 
 nently winning  ;  he  let  himself  down,  I  do  not  mean 
 in  language  or  argument,  but  in  simplicity  and  child- 
 like humility,  to  the  most  uneducated  of  his  audi- 
 ence ;  he  seemed  always  to  count  himself  one  of 
 the  sinners,  one  of  the  penitents,  one  even  of  the 
 impenitents  and  careless,  whom  he  was  address- 
 ing, and  the  very  quietness,  the  almost  tearful  mo- 
 notony of  his  delivery  became  extremely  moving, 
 when  you  recollected  how  learned,  how  able,  how 
 moved  in  his  own  heart,  and  how  earnest  was  the 
 preacher. 
 
 His  brother,  I  am  happy  to  say,  is  now  seeking  to 
 repair  our  loss  in  this  respect  by  a  serial  issue  of  his 
 sermons,  and  for  this  we  shall  thank  him  much  ;  but 
 of  course  he  will  not  venture  to  correct  them  ;  and 
 it  must  have  been  desirable  that  Keble  himself  should 
 have  had  the  opportunity  of  finally  perfecting  them 
 before  publication. 
 
 I  was  more  fortunate  as  to  the  Wilson ;  at  least, 
 
Kcbles  Visit  to  Oxford.  455 
 
 not    long  after   I   wrote,  in  the  spring  of  1859,  he 
 writes  to  me  : — 
 
 "  We  go  to  Oxford  a  bit  if  we  can  after  Whit  Sunday  to 
 kill  off  Bp.  Wilson,  if  possible.  It  would  be  very  pleasant 
 work  if  one  had  nothing  else  to  do,  and  plenty  of  time  to 
 do  it  in.  As  it  is,  I  expect  it  will  be  a  good  deal  of  a 
 failure." 
 
 He  made  out  this  visit  to  Oxford,  and  I  think 
 Dr.  Barrow,  then  the  Principal  of  St.  Edmund  Hall, 
 lent  him  his  house.  On  his  return,  he  wrote  to  me 
 from  Hursley  on  the  1st  of  August : — 
 
 "  You  may  be  quite  sure  that  it  would  be  a  great  delight 
 to  us  both,  if  we  could  answer  your  most  kind  invitation 
 in  the  way  we  desire ;  as  one  grows  older,  such  meetings 
 are  more  precious,  but  somehow  harder  to  be  managed  ; 
 nevertheless,  I  live  in  hope  of  managing  it  before  the  end 
 of  the  available  weather.  We  had  a  dear  little  two  days 
 of  Dogmersfield  lately.  I  had  fancied  falling  in  with  you 
 at  this  Election,  but  you  were  gone  before  I  emerged. 
 Somehow  I  am  become  quite  a  gownsman  again.  I  like 
 my  new  place  as  Head  of  a  Hall  very  much ;  how  it  would 
 be  if  there  were  anything  to  do  is  another  question  ;  and 
 also  whether  it  be  'tanti'  as  regards  Bishop  Wilson;  but  I 
 believe  it  could  not  be  helped  ;  there  were  so  many  little 
 odd  points  to  be  verified  and  explained.  About  the  15th 
 we  are  to  join  the  Wilsons  at  Whitby,  which  I  hope  will 
 give  Charlotte  a  little  strength  for  the  winter.  I  may  have 
 to  go  to  the  I.  of  Man  again ;  but  if  I  can  do  without  that, 
 my  dream  is  of  the  '  Sweet  Shire ;'  only  I  cannot  engage." 
 
 He  did  not  go  to  the  Isle  of  Man,  but  he  accom- 
 
456  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 plished  his  scheme  of  a  tour  northward,  and  on  the 
 4th  of  October  he  wrote  again  very  cheerfully  about 
 it,  and  himself  : — 
 
 "  One  is  almost  ashamed  to  be  so  well  and  thriving  one- 
 self, when  one's  dear  friends  and  betters  are  suffering ;  but 
 so  it  is,  that  we  have  had  a  most  enjoyable  wandering; 
 and  my  wife  is  thought  to  be  looking  much  the  better  for 
 it.  Certainly  it  was  a  very  pretty  little  programme  of  an 
 English  Tour.  A  month  or  6  weeks  at  Oxford,  revelling 
 in  Gardens  and  Libraries,  which  we  had  all  to  ourselves ; 
 a  fortnight's  sea- whiff  at  Whitby,  2  days  at  York,  and  1  at 
 Rivaulx  Abbey ;  4  or  5  at  the  Wilsons  at  Baldersby,  near 
 Ripon ;  1  at  old  Collins's  at  Knaresborough ;  3  at  Hubert 
 Cornish's,  near  Chatsworth  and  the  Peak  ;  1  at  G.  Mackar- 
 ness's,  near  Isaac  Walton ;  and  a  week  at  Bisley,  including 
 the  Elijah,  at  Gloster  Music  ;  where  the  two  old  Codger 
 Kebles  were  seen  sitting  side  by  side." 
 
 I  have  not  thought  it  right  to  go  into  the  details 
 which  Keble's  letters  furnish  me  with  as  to  the  part 
 he  took  in  what  he  called  the  Scottish  troubles ;  it 
 would  not  have  accorded  with  the  rule  which  it 
 seemed  proper  to  lay  down  for  myself  in  this  Me- 
 moir ;  and  as  I  trust  they  are  now  happily  composed 
 on  charitable  principles,  it  would  be  clearly  wrong 
 on  all  accounts  to  incur  the  least  risk  of  reviving  the 
 feelings  of  the  past ;  and  this  I  might  have  done,  in- 
 tending nothing  less,  even  by  the  most  accurate  and 
 careful  use  of  my  materials ;  which,  however,  it  must 
 be  remembered,  are  all  from  one  side.     But  one  of 
 
Tour  in  the  North.  45  7 
 
 Keble's  letters  of  February  21,  i860,  from  which  I 
 must  make  an  extract,  reminds  me  of  an  incident 
 which  ought  not  to  be  passed  over,  as  shewing  his 
 heartiness  and  activity  in  rendering  help  to  a  dear 
 friend  in  distress  : — 
 
 "  I  was  most  glad  of  your  letter,  for  I  was  longing  for 
 some  account  of  you ;  but  I  wish  you  could  have  reported 
 more  cheerily  of  your  belongings.  Why  did  you  not  say 
 a  word  about  your  own  self?  We  are  scrambling  through 
 the  cold  as  well  as  we  can,  but  C.  feels  it  a  good  deal,  E. 
 less,  I  think,  in  proportion.  I  am  rather  frightened  at  the 
 returns  of  the  C.  Y.,  what  shall  I  do  with  it  all  ?  Of  late 
 all  one's  spare  time  has  been  taken  up  with  turning  over 
 Indices  of  Anglo-Catholic  Divines,  Benedictine  Fathers,  &c, 
 on  behalf  of  our  dear  Lord  of  Brechin  ;  moreover,  I  actually 
 ran  down  to  Dun-Edin,  and  was  there  the  week  before  last, 
 from  Tuesday  morning  till  Friday  afternoon,  i.e.  during  the 
 whole  of  the  pleadings  ;  but  I  was  in  Court  only  on  the 
 Thursday  to  hear  Mr.  Henderson ;  for  I  lay  perdu  until  I 
 had  ascertained  that  my  presence  would  not  provoke  the 
 Bishops.  I  fraternized  with  Moray,  Argyll,  and  St.  A. ;  and 
 whatever  they  mean  to  do  as  Judges,  they  were  personally 
 very  kind." 
 
 I  have  been  favoured  with  some  anecdotes  of  his 
 visit  from  members  of  the  family  with  which  he  was  a 
 guest  at  the  time,  from  which  I  will  make  extracts  : — 
 
 "  His  first  visit  to  Edinburgh  was  in  the  inclement  month 
 of  February,  i860.  It  was  cold  snowy  weather,  and  he 
 arrived  at  8  in  the  morning  after  travelling  all  night.  It 
 was  the  first  day  of  the  trial.     He  did  not  go  to  Court,  but 
 
45  8  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 confined  himself  to  calling  upon  his  old  friend  the  Bishop 
 of  St.  Andrews,  who  returned  his  visit.  He  spent  most  of 
 that  day  with  my  sisters,  and  was  much  amused  by  being 
 told  of  an  aged  Aunt  of  ours,  who  had  worn  out  many 
 copies  of  the  '  Christian  Year,'  and  had  it  by  heart.  He 
 talked  of  its  success  with  great  enjoyment  and  playfulness. 
 He  spoke  of  his  Life  of  Wilson,  and  when  found  looking 
 over  the  book-cases,  said,  '  I  always  look  at  books  to  see  if 
 
 I  can  find  anything  about  Bp.  Wilson.'  He  noticed  the 
 Portrait  of  our  Uncle,  Mr.  Cumming  Bruce,  whom  he  had 
 not  seen  since  he  was  an  Undergraduate  at  Corpus,  adding 
 
 I I  remember  him  quite  well,  a  nice  pleasant  fellow  he  was.' 
 "  Our  friends  crowded  to  see  him.     There  was  a  very 
 
 atmosphere  of  peace  and  restfulness  in  which  he  moved. 
 He  gave  comfort  to  every  one,  though  matters  then  seemed 
 critical.     That  day  he  dined  with  my  sisters. 
 
 "  On  the  8th,  the  second  day  of  the  trial,  he  was  in  Court, 
 and  his  presence  there  was  an  object  of  interest  to  all.  All 
 in  the  crowd  tried  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  his  snowy  head. 
 The  remembrance  of  those  calm  features,  contrasting  so 
 markedly  with  the  excited  faces  in  the  midst  of  all  the  tur- 
 moil, will  never  be  forgotten  by  me.  There  was,  however, 
 an  expression  of  profound  distress  upon  his  countenance. 
 He  dined  that  day  with  Mr.  Forbes  of  Medwyn,  where  he 
 was  delighted  with  the  children.  One  of  these,  at  that  time 
 aged  sixteen,  thus  recorded  her  impressions  of  him.  '  He 
 is  old  and  short,  with  white  hair,  and  rather  plain  features ; 
 but  he  has  such  a  sweet  heavenly  expression.  His  voice  is 
 rather  low ;  we  cannot  hear  him,  unless  he  is  close  to  us. 
 He  is  so  kind,  and  takes  such  interest  in  the  little  ones. 
 Aunt  A.  calls  him  her  good  old  angel,  and  really  he  has 
 such  a  sweet  winning  sort  of  manner,  that  it  must  make 
 every  one  like  and  look  up  to  him,  giving  one  the  idea  that 
 
Visit  to  Edinburgh.  459 
 
 he  must  be  one  of  those,  who,  our  Saviour  has  said,  are  con- 
 verted, and  become  as  little  children.' 
 
 "  One  day  he  did  not  go  to  Court,  saying  that  he  would 
 rest,  and  would  best  do  so  by  playing  with  the  children,  two 
 boys  of  six  and  nine  years  of  age  respectively.  He  crept 
 about  on  the  floor,  shewing  them  how  to  put  up  a  new  toy 
 locomotive,  which  had  been  given  them." 
 
 Keble  again  went  to  Edinburgh  in  March,  i860, 
 although  suffering  much  from  rheumatism,  when  the 
 Synod  pronounced  its  judgment  ;  it  was  unfavour- 
 able to  the  Bishop,  but  very  much  milder  in  tone 
 than  had  been  expected,  and  a  great  relief  upon  the 
 whole  to  his  friends.  It  had  been  thought  worth 
 while  through  the  whole  proceeding  to  consult  Pat- 
 teson  and  myself,  and  we  all  three  had  considered 
 carefully,  (what  Keble  called  the  hevrepos  tt\ovs) 
 the  course  to  be  pursued  by  the  Bishop  in  case  a 
 suspension  should  be  awarded.  Keble's  opinion  was 
 that  the  Bishop  should  not  stand  out  on  what  he 
 might  consider  his  strict  right,  but  act  charitably 
 and  submit : — 
 
 "  His  course,"  he  said,  "  I  apprehend  should  be  to  sub- 
 mit to  his  suspension,  and  remain  in  Dundee,  visiting  and 
 school  keeping,  and  doing  works  of  mercy,  but  refraining 
 from  any  Episcopal  Act.  Then  his  Clergy,  whom  he  thinks 
 very  much  of,  might  keep  their  places,  and  his  witness 
 would  be  borne  to  the  truth." 
 
 I  need  scarcely  say  that  in  advice  such  as  this 
 Patteson   and   I  heartily  concurred,  and   it  is   cause 
 
460  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 of  much  thankfulness  to  me  that  our  excellent  friend 
 has  been  for  many  years,  and  still  is  engaged  in  the 
 discharge  of  his  duties  pastoral  and  episcopal  in 
 Dundee  and  Brechin,  to  the  great  comfort  and  profit 
 of  those  over  whom  he  is  set.  And  I  can  scarcely 
 doubt  that  even  those  who  differed  from  him  most 
 widely  and  most  warmly,  must  be  thankful  now  that 
 no  such  victory  was  obtained  by  them  as  might  have 
 led  to  a  schism  in  their  small  body. 
 
 For  a  long  time  the  name  of  Elizabeth  Keble  had 
 appeared  but  little,  and  seldom  in  his  letters  ;  her 
 life  flowed  on  in  an  even  course,  and  much  as  he 
 consulted  her,  and  was  probably  influenced  by  her, 
 yet  all  she  said  or  did  was  in  so  quiet  a  way  as  to 
 be  little  noticeable  ;  and  her  health,  never  strong,  was 
 yet  not  interrupted  by  violent  illnesses,  as  was  the 
 case  with  Mrs.  Keble's. 
 
 But  from  this  time  a  change  began  ;  in  truth  her 
 heavenly  Father  was  preparing  her  and  him  too  by 
 more  direct  notices  for  the  summons,  which  she  was 
 about  to  receive.  I  have  no  doubt  both  interpreted 
 the  indications  correctly.  I  am  sure  he  did,  though 
 he  clung  to  every  little  apparent  amendment  with 
 natural  fondness.  It  was  not  very  long,  however, 
 before  her  course  was  ended,  and  I  shall  extract 
 what  he  wrote  about  her  during  the  interval. 
 
 On  the  4th  of  April,  1 860,  he  says  : — 
 
 "  My  two  Companions,  especially  my  Sister,  seem  to  me 
 almost  always  this  winter  more  or  less  on  the  edge  of  illness, 
 
Illness  and  Death  of  ElizabetJi  Kcble.         46 1 
 
 but  have  hitherto  been  kept  from  being  quite  ill,  except 
 Elizabeth's  weakness,  which  is  sometimes  extreme,  may  be 
 counted  for  an  illness." 
 
 She  had  somewhat  mended  as  the  weather  grew 
 more  genial,  but  it  was  the  flickering  lighting-up  of 
 a  sinking  patient  : — 
 
 "  She  gets  out,"  he  says,  on  June  28,  "in  a  sort  of  Bath 
 Chair  almost  every  day,  but  is  very  weak,  and  has  a  regular 
 nurse,  besides  her  servant.  Tom  staid,  I  think,  3  Sundays 
 here,  and  it  was  such  a  comfort.  My  wife  is  about  as  she 
 has  been.  I  fear  as  things  are,  it  will  be  hardly  right  for  us 
 to  go  a  visiting  this  summer ;  if  we  do,  I  trust  we  shall  get 
 to  you,  at  least  for  a  short  time.  How  strangely  things 
 seem  to  be  twisting  themselves  both  in  Church  and  State. 
 Ever  your  loving  and  hurried,  J.  K." 
 
 On  July  16,  he  begins  a  very  short  note  thus,  (my 
 dear  sister's  70th  birthday).  "  Dearest  Coleridge  .... 
 Elizabeth  continues  much  as  yesterday,  not  quite  so 
 comfortable." 
 
 She  died  on  the  7th  of  August,  and  on  the  same 
 day  he  wrote  to  me  thus  : — 
 
 "  Dearest  dear  Friend, 
 "  Our  sweet  sister  left  us  this  morning,  having  been  ap- 
 parently on  the  verge  of  departure  for  ten  days  or  more, 
 during  which  time,  and  to  some  extent  before  it,  she  could 
 
 be  hardly  said  to  have  full  consciousness  at  any  time 
 
 The  last  18  hours  were  nearly  all  spent  in  sleep,  like  that  of 
 a  little  child,  till  at  9.20  this  morning,  with  the  very  slightest 
 start,  but  with  no  expression,  that  I  could  see,  of  pain  or 
 
462  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 distress,  she  was  gone.  I,  indeed,  did  not  see  it,  though  I 
 was  very  near  her,  reading  now  and  then  a  verse  from  some 
 Psalm,  (which  had  all  along  been  what  she  was  feeling  after). 
 I  fancied  she  still  breathed,  and  went  on  for  a  while  ;  at  last 
 I  doubted  it,  and  asked  the  Nurse,  who  said  '  she  has  been 
 gone  this  quarter  of  an  hour,'  so  you  may  judge  how  quiet 
 it  was,  and  from  the  nature  of  the  illness  we  had  greatly 
 feared  it  might  have  been  otherwise.  . .  .  She  will  be  buried 
 here,  D.  V.,  next  Saturday,  not  far  from  dear  little  Godfrey 
 Heathcote,  so  that  it  will  yet  seem  for  the  short  time  that 
 remains  very  like  going  to  Church  with  her  daily ;  and  one 
 ought  to  be  very  thankful  that  it  is  so,  for  it  would  be  a 
 strange  world  to  one,  dear  friend,  to  be  altogether  without 
 her ;  for  20  years  of  health,  and  50  of  sickness,  always  at 
 hand,  or  always  within  reach  ;  and  never  a  look,  nor  a  word, 
 that  I  know  of,  but  was  wise  and  kind,  with  the  true  kind- 
 ness and  wisdom.  Only  it  makes  an  old  man's  heart  sink 
 to  reflect  what  one  might  have  been,  with  such  helps,  and 
 many  many  more,  and  what  one  really  is.  One  comfort  is, 
 that  those  helps,  and  you  among  the  rest,  will  remember 
 one  all  the  more  earnestly.  I  have  never  thanked  you  for 
 your  last  loving  letter,  which  will  now  be  worth  two  to  me, 
 so  entirely  had  you  realized  what  has  happened.  Mrs. 
 Bliss,  as  you  know,  has  been  most  kind  and  helpful ;  I  wish 
 she  were  not  going.  The  Heathcotes  come  here  the  18th; 
 with  all's  love  to  all,  ever  yours,  J.  K." 
 
 There  is  surely  something  very  solemn  and  affect- 
 ing in  the  picture  which  Keble  has  here  drawn  of 
 himself  kneeling  by  the  side  of  this  dear  and  saintly 
 sister's  deathbed,  from  time  to  time  slowly  reading 
 a  verse  of  a  psalm,  which  her  parting  spirit  was,  as 
 he  expresses  it,  "  feeling  after."     And  if  she  ceased 
 
Illness  of  Mrs.  Keble.  463 
 
 to  breathe  while  he  continued  to  read,  is  it  pre- 
 sumptuous, or  irreverent,  or  unreasonable,  to  believe 
 that  she  might  still  hear  the  familiar  words,  it  may 
 be  with  a  new  and  enlarged  apprehension,  and  more 
 unmixed  delight  ;  and,  it  may  be,  still  see  the  loved 
 brother  ;  not  hearing,  nor  seeing,  as  we  hear  and 
 see,  but  perceiving  by  a  clearer  and  purer  intuition 
 all  the  meaning  of  the  words  of  inspiration  which 
 he  uttered. 
 
 The  nursing,  and  the  parting  with  Elizabeth,  had 
 pressed  heavily  on  Mrs.  Keble's  feeble  frame,  and 
 very  soon  after  the  funeral  Keble  was  constrained 
 to  take  her  to  Dawlish,  and  there  they  remained  for 
 some  weeks,  close  to  the  sea  ;  but  she  was  more  help- 
 less than  usual  in  her  illnesses,  both  as  to  breathing 
 and  walking,  and  recovered  but  very  slowly.  He 
 was  himself  a  good  deal  depressed  when  he  wrote 
 to  me  on  the  29th  of  August,  from  No.  12,  Marine 
 Parade,  there  : — 
 
 "  I  have,"  says  he,  "  a  sort  of  awful,  yet  soothing  impres- 
 sion of  it  all ;  will  you  pray  that  it  may  never  leave  me  ; 
 but  you  cannot  imagine  how  quickly  I  forget.  We  think  of 
 staying  here  a  week  longer,  in  hope  that  by  that  time  C. 
 will  be  a  little  recruited;  and  then  going  on  to  Vineyard 
 and  Brooking." 
 
 The  proposed  stay  at  Dawlish  was  prolonged, 
 owing  to  renewed  illnesses  of  Mrs.  Keble,  nearly  all 
 through  September,  and  it  was  not  until  early  in 
 October  that  he  dated  his  letters  from  Brooking. 
 
464  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 The  loss  of  his  sister  was  a  heavy  blow  to  him, 
 but  I  need  not  enlarge  on  it ;  he  has  himself  in  his 
 letter  stated  in  few  words  all  the  circumstances  that 
 made  it  so  great  a  trial.  Nor  was  it  the  only  be- 
 reavement which  he  had  within  a  short  time  sus- 
 tained. Just  when  his  sister's  illness  was  becoming 
 a  source  of  anxiety,  Charles  Dyson's  declining  state 
 of  health  had  terminated  in  his  death  ;  and  this  was 
 in  many  ways  a  great  affliction  to  Keble.  Nothing 
 could  be  heartier  than  the  love  he  had  for  this  friend 
 of  his  youth,  or  more  entire  than  the  confidence  he 
 reposed  in  this  counsellor  of  his  maturer  years.  He 
 could  ill  afford  to  lose  such  an  elder  brother  now, 
 when  he  had  been  bereaved  in  succession  of  so  many 
 whom  he  loved  and  leaned  on  ;  it  seemed  to  leave 
 him  so  nearly  alone.  In  an  early  part  of  my  memoir 
 I  have  spoken  of  Dyson,  his  death,  and  funeral.  At 
 the  gathering  which  then  took  place,  the  setting  up 
 a  memorial  had  been  agreed  on,  and  Keble  be- 
 stirred himself  with  pious  assiduity  in  collecting  the 
 necessary  contributions,  and  helping  to  determine 
 on  the  manner  in  which  it  should  be  carried  out. 
 Finally  this  was  effected  by  placing  two  stained-glass 
 windows  in  the  parish  church  of  Dogmersfield,  and 
 in  settling  the  designs  for  these  he  took  a  principal 
 part.  I  may  add  before  I  leave  this  mention  of 
 Dyson,  that  it  was  a  concurrent  thought  of  Mrs. 
 Keble  and  Mrs.  Dyson,  joyfully  accepted  by  Keble 
 that    Mrs.    and    Miss    Dyson    should    take    shelter 
 
Death  of  Dyson.  465 
 
 under  his  wing  in  the  old  parsonage  at  Hursley  for 
 the  winter,  while  the  arrangements  for  a  new  habi- 
 tation for  them  at  Church  Crookham  in  the  neigh- 
 bourhood of  Dogmersfield  should  be  completed.  This 
 plan  was  carried  into  effect,  to  the  great  delight  of 
 the  Kebles,  and  the  comfort  of  the  bereaved  widow 
 and  sister. 
 
 In  their  way  from  Brooking  to  Bisley  and  their 
 home,  the  Kebles  came  to  us  on  the  5  th  of  Octo- 
 ber, which  was  on  a  Friday,  and  left  us  on  the  fol- 
 lowing Monday.  These  short  visits  it  is  now  very 
 pleasant  and  touching  to  remember ;  and  I  refresh 
 my  recollection  of  the  particulars  by  my  memoranda 
 made  at  the  time.  I  see  I  noticed  his  peculiarly 
 kind  and  loving  manner  ;  as  we  parted  on  the  Mon- 
 day, he  turned  his  cheek  to  me  to  kiss  it.  My 
 entry  concludes  with  a  hope  "  that  I  might  be  spared 
 for  another  such  meeting,  and  that  I  might  have 
 wisdom  to  seek  the  opportunity  more  frequently 
 than  I  had  done."  Wisdom  alas,  which  indolence 
 and  procrastination,  and  engagements  more  fancied 
 than  real,  prevented  me  from  acting  upon  as  I  might 
 have  done.  He  preached  in  our  church  on  the  7th 
 of  October  ;  my  comment  at  the  time  was  this : — 
 
 "  One  of  those  truly  Christian  sermons,  opening  out  the 
 Scripture,  full  of  citations  from  it,  going  directly  to  the 
 heart  that  would  open  to  receive  it ;  affectionate,  earnest, 
 true,  and  high  ;  but  very  simple,  very  unadorned,  just  as 
 I    suppose   St.  John   might    have   preached   when   an  old 
 
 Hh 
 
466  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 man,  and  one  which  perhaps  the  mere  itching  ear  would 
 receive  with  indifference,  and  the  mere  literary  intellectu- 
 alist  despise." 
 
 T  have  ventured  to  transcribe  this,  because  I  really 
 think  now  that  it  is  not  an  inaccurate  account  of  his 
 parochial  sermons  generally. 
 
 Thus  characteristically  he  wrote  of  his  little  stay 
 with  us  on  his  arrival  at  Bisley : — 
 
 "  It  is  no  use  for  me  to  pretend  to  thank  you  properly  for 
 all  your  love  and  kindness  to  my  dear  wife  and  myself,  so  I 
 must  be  content  with  loving  you  more  and  more,  and  you 
 in  this  passage  means,  '  te  cum  tuis.'  It  was  quite  spoiling, 
 and  high  time  to  come  away." 
 
 This  has  been  a  melancholy  chapter  in  respect  of 
 the  bereavements  and  trials  with  which  it  pleased 
 God  to  visit  Keble  at  this  time,  and  it  must  end  in 
 the  same  strain.  The  winter  of  i860- 1,  was  passed 
 at  Hursley ;  in  the  early  part  of  the  summer  Mrs. 
 Keble's  cough  drove  them  to  Sea  View  in  the  Isle  of 
 Wight.  He  knew  that  I  was  anxiously  watching  the 
 close  of  my  dear  brother  Patteson's  long  and  hope- 
 less illness  ;  and  he  entirely  sympathized  with  me. 
 Comparatively  speaking,  there  had  been  personal  in- 
 tercourse between  the  two  only  at  long  intervals, 
 and  then  only  for  short  periods  ;  nor  did  they  cor- 
 respond ;  but  Keble  had  a  very  great  regard  for  him, 
 and  the  very  highest  opinion  of  him. 
 
 On  the  2nd  of  June  he  wrote  to  me  from  Hursley  : — 
 
 "  Being  here  for  a  Sunday  while  my  wife  and  nephew, 
 
Death  of  Pattcson.  ^Oj 
 
 and  three  children,  are  at  Sea  View,  I  am  going  to  try  and 
 write  you  a  regular  letter,  for  indeed  I  long  to  talk  with 
 you,  and  wish  I  could  see  you.  Yet  it  seems  almost  pro- 
 fane to  interrupt  you  with  any  kind  of  talk  in  your  present 
 employment,  which  must  keep  you  so  consciously  on  that 
 edge  where  we  all  are.  It  does  seem  most  soothing  to 
 think  of  dear  Patteson  from  time  to  time,  and  of  his  child- 
 like unconsciousness  that  he  was  anything  out  of  the  com- 
 mon, which  must  now  seem  more  than  ever  like  a  gift 
 from  above." 
 
 On  the  28th  of  June  this  great  lawyer  and  judge, 
 and  good  man,  was  summoned  to  his  rest.  Keble, 
 to  whom  I  communicated  the  intelligence,  wrote  to 
 me  thus  on  the  3rd  of  July  : — 
 
 "  I  am  shocked  to  think  that  so  many  posts  have  gone, 
 and  I  have  not  told  you  any  part  of  my  thoughts  about  you 
 and  dear  Patteson  ;  about  yourself  I  think  most,  for  it  will 
 be  such  a  sad  gap  to  you;  one  feels  that  nothing  in  this 
 world  can  make  it  up.  As  for  him,  he  seems  too  high  and 
 noble  for  one  even  to  try  and  follow  in  imagination.  I 
 should  like  always  to  connect  him  in  memory  with  '  the 
 righteous  hath  hope  in  his  death,'  hope  in  this  world  as 
 well  as  there.  Does  it  not  seem  like  a  sign  from  Heaven, 
 that  just  before  his  going  he  did,  as  it  were,  receive  the 
 message  that  God  had  accepted  his  son,  whom  he  '  had 
 lent  unto  the  Lord'  for  as  long  as  he  should  live?  One 
 comfort  in  thinking  of  him,  at  least  to  a  man  with  a  bad 
 memory  like  mine,  is  that  there  was  something  so  very  dis- 
 tinctive in  him,  traits  and  tones  to  make  an  impression  to 
 be  remembered  all  one's  life  even  by  one  who  now  regrets 
 more  than  ever  that  he  had  not  seen  more  of  him." 
 
468  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 Kcble  here  alludes  to  the  manner  in  which  Pat- 
 tcson  had  devoted  his  eldest  son  to  God's  service. 
 With  the  fullest  sense  of  his  own  loss,  yet  with  the 
 most  unhesitating  heartiness  he  had  given  up  one 
 who  was  dearer  to  him  than  life.  He  gave  him  up 
 at  a  time  when  his  presence  was  most  cheering,  and 
 his  help  much  needed  and  readily  afforded,  he  being 
 in  charge  of  a  small  Chapelry  within  short  walking 
 distance  from  Feniton  Court.  No  father  and  son 
 could  be  more  tenderly  united,  none  could  feel  sepa- 
 ration more  sensibly,  but  neither  wavered  for  an  in- 
 stant in  their  resolution.  The  son  parted  from  his 
 aged  father  in  1855,  never  to  see  him  again  on  this 
 side  the  grave  ;  and  he  has  never  re-visited  England 
 since.  It  was  a  great  pleasure  and  gratification  to 
 his  father  very  shortly  before  his  own  death  to  hear 
 of  his  son's  consecration  as  Missionary  Bishop  to  the 
 South  Sea  Islands  ;  in  which  office  he  has  ever  since 
 laboured  unceasingly,  under  what  trials,  and  through 
 what  dangers,  and  with  what  success,  I  must  not  in 
 this  place  attempt  to  describe. 
 
CHAPTER   XIX, 
 
 KEBLE  S  SELF-DISSATISFACTION,  AND  THOUGHTS  OF 
 RESIGNATION.  —  OXFORD  LOCAL  EXAMINATIONS. 
 — MRS.  KEBLE'S  ALARMING  ILLNESS.  —  MOVE  TO 
 SEA  VIEW. — FIRST  VISIT  TO  PENZANCE. — BISHOP 
 WILSON'S  LIFE  COMPLETED. — CHURCH  DISCIPLINE. 
 — COURT  OF  FINAL  APPEAL  IN  CASES  OF  DOC- 
 TRINE. —  BISHOP  OF  WINCHESTER'S  CHARGE. — 
 COMMENTARY  ON  THE  BIBLE. — FIRST  STAY  AT 
 PENZANCE. — RETURN  TO  HURSLEY.  —  JUDGMENT 
 IN  LONG  V.  BISHOP  OF  CAPETOWN. — FIRST  VISIT 
 TO  TORQUAY  IN  JANUARY,  1 864. — SECOND  STAY 
 AT  PENZANCE,  APRIL,  1 864. 
 
 KEBLE  began  the  year  1862  in  good  health,  and 
 quiet  spirits,  yet  somewhat  anxious  on  one  or 
 two  subjects,  and  a  little  dispirited  at  heart.  There 
 seems  to  have  been  a  visible  change  for  the  worse 
 in  Mrs.  Keble's  health ;  the  state  of  his  parish  did 
 not  satisfy  him  ;  and  the  accounts  he  received  from 
 Oxford,  especially  in  regard  to  the  "  Essays  and 
 Reviews,"  at  one  time  so  much  talked  of,  troubled 
 him.  Mrs.  Keble's  decline,  indeed,  was  not  so  marked 
 at  the  very  beginning  of  the  year,  though  even  then 
 he  notices  that  she  was  "  a  poor  hand  at  locomotion 
 
47°  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 of  any  kind,"  and  was  indebted  for  what  she  had  "  to 
 Jack  the  Donkey,"  whom  she  drove.  But  I  will  ex- 
 tract parts  of  his  first  letter  for  the  year,  dated  on 
 the  First  Sunday  after  the  Epiphany  : — 
 
 "  I  had  rather,"  says  he,  "wish  you  joy  of  the  Peace,  and 
 of  the  good  feeling  towards  the  Queen,  and  ask  you  when 
 you  are  going  to  take  us  and  Heathcote,  as  your  duty  is,  in 
 the  way  to  or  from  London.  Time  steals  on,  and  I  am 
 now  '  in  the  seventy  of  mine  age,'  and  I  suppose  it  would 
 be  a  wholesome  thing,  if  one  could  always  feel  as  if  every 
 visit,  and  every  letter  might  be  the  last.  But  really  my 
 health  is  wonderful,  as  it  has  been  all  my  life.  What  a 
 talent  to  account  for,  alas  !  .  .  . 
 
 "  I  cannot  give  a  good  account  of  my  parish,  people  are 
 sadly  disappointing,  and  neither  'true  religion,  nor  useful 
 learning,'  appear  to  me  to  flourish  and  abound.  I  often 
 think  that  '  tempus  abire  tibi  est,' — do  think  of  it  for  me 
 a  little  calmly, — and  yet  I  creep  on  from  day  to  day,  fancy- 
 ing that  perhaps  I  may  do  better,  and  quite  ashamed  to 
 think  of  the  condition  in  which  my  successor  would  find 
 things,  if  I  were  to  make  a  vacancy  at  present.  '  Too  late, 
 too  late,'  are  the  words  that  haunt  me  from  morning  to 
 night ;  and  sometimes  I  wish  I  had  been  at  a  public  school, 
 that  I  might  be  a  man  of  business,  and  get  on  with  things 
 as  I  ought.  You  must  not  imagine  though  that  I  am  low- 
 spirited,  I  am  only  too  jolly;  but  this  is  the  point  of  view 
 in  which  I  see  things  when  I  consider  them  calmly.  O 
 wretched  Self,  how  durst  thou  take  up  all  this  paper.  Well, 
 God  bless  you  and  yours  in  both  hemispheres,  dearest 
 friend,  prays  J.  K." 
 
 These  despondent  remarks  about  himself,  partly 
 
Self -dissatisfaction.  471 
 
 perhaps  attributable  to  transient  depression  of  spirits, 
 were  however  characteristic  of  him,  and  his  abiding 
 humility ;  but  I  reminded  him  in  answer,  of  what  he 
 had  said  on  other  occasions,  that  it  was  not  for  us  to 
 measure  ourselves  by  what  we  seem  to  effect  in  the 
 path  before  us ;  that  results  are  not  in  our  hands, 
 and  that  in  his  line  this  is  especially  true  ;  we 
 do  not  always  know  for  certain  what  they  are,  we 
 can  neither  measure  the  failures  nor  the  successes  ; 
 that  much  good  may  have  been  effected  which  no 
 human  eye  will  ever  see,  much  which  will  appear 
 only  after  a  long  interval.  I  wrote  very  strongly 
 against  his  notion  of  retirement,  and  I  heard  no 
 more  of  it  ;  until  some  time  after,  when  the  necessity 
 for  long  absences  from  Hursley  was  more  pressing, 
 and  threatening  to  recur  more  often,  and  when  there- 
 fore there  was  more  ground  for  consideration  of  the 
 question. 
 
 His  letter  had  touched  on  some  other  points,  one 
 in  particular,  the  Oxford  Local  Examinations,  the 
 results  of  which  he  appeared  to  contemplate  un- 
 easily. Not  that  he  was  unfavourable  to  advance- 
 ment in  the  education  of  the  middle  classes,  but 
 that  he  thought  the  religious  element  was  either 
 neglected  in  this  scheme,  or  even  excluded.  He  did 
 not  speak  from  personal  knowledge,  and  I  thought 
 his  information  not  correct.  I  went,  therefore,  fully 
 into  the  subject  with  him  according  to  the  know- 
 ledge which   I   then  had.      In  the  years   that  have 
 
47 2  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 since  passed  my  interest  in  the  movement  has  never 
 flagged  ;  it  has  seemed  to  me  that  the  original  prin- 
 ciple was  both  wise  and  benevolent,  and  that  in  some 
 particulars,  which  were  perhaps  objectionable,  and 
 which  have  been  now  much  modified,  the  motives  of 
 the  originators,  and  the  University,  were  misunder- 
 stood by  their  opponents.  The  fears  which  these  last 
 entertained  have,  so  far  as  I  know,  turned  out  to  have 
 been  groundless,  or  exaggerated,  and  the  general  re- 
 sults have  been  good.  I  can  hardly  doubt  that  in 
 one  respect  they  have  been  so ;  the  improvement 
 namely  of  schools  and  schoolmasters  in  the  class 
 which  certainly  needed  it.  Still  I  think  the  time 
 has  come  for  an  enquiry  as  to  the  moral  and  intel- 
 lectual effects  of  the  experiment  on  young  persons 
 of  the  middle  class  ;  are  they  really  more  or  less 
 informed,  more  or  less  advanced  in  morals  and  reli- 
 gious habits  ?  The  enquiry  might  be  difficult,  but 
 there  are  materials  now  for  conducting  it  effectually ; 
 and  it  is  surely  very  desirable  to  ascertain  whether  or 
 no  this  part  of  society  has  or  has  not  been  leavened 
 as  one  could  wish  by  the  system  ;  for  it  cannot  be 
 but  that  some  considerable  results  for  good  or  evil 
 have  flowed  from  it.  The  whole  matter  is  so  im- 
 portant that  I  shall  be  excused,  I  trust,  for  these 
 observations. 
 
 My  answer  to  Keble's  letter,  (to  return,)  was  long, 
 and  he  knew  I  was  unwell,  and  forbidden  to  write 
 much.     I  mention  this  only  to  account  in  some  mea- 
 
 __ 
 
Illness  of  Mrs.  Kcble.  473 
 
 sure  for  the  more  than  usual  affectionateness  of  his 
 reply,  which  I  do  not  like  to  suppress,  and  cannot 
 of  course  alter  : — 
 
 "  Dearest  dear  Coleridge, 
 
 "  I  am  full  of  thoughts  about  you,  very  sorry  to  hear  of 
 your  trial,  (only  that  by  His  blessing  one  feels  sure  how  all 
 trials  will  turn  out  for  you,)  and  very  much  wishing  that  I 
 could  see  you  for  at  least  an  hour  every  day.  But  you 
 must  not  write  me  long  letters.  It  will  spoil  the  pleasure 
 of  them  to  think  of  the  result  to  yourself.  I  thank  you  for 
 this  one  all  the  same,  it  will  do  me  I  hope  much  good. 
 
 "  C.  was,  indeed,  very  ill  for  a  while  last  Monday  Night. 
 The  spasms  on  her  chest  so  violent  that  I  was  quite  fright- 
 ened. Ether  and  hot  steam  in  the  room  relieved  her,  and 
 she  is  now  well  enough  to  be  downstairs  great  part  of  the 
 day,  but  very  weak,  and  never  sure  but  the  gasping  may 
 return.  D.  G.  we  have  I  think  a  very  nice  doctor  in  the 
 village,  else  I  hardly  know  how  we  should  have  fared." 
 
 It  seems  to  have  been,  indeed,  a  frightful  attack. 
 From  a  later  letter  it  appears  it  had  been  described 
 to  him  by  his  medical  attendant  as  "  spasmodic 
 asthma  literally  stopping  the  action  of  the  arteries  ;" 
 and  well  might  he  say  that  it  was  a  providential 
 mercy  that  skilful  relief  was  at  hand  in  the  village. 
 If  he  had  been  obliged  to  send  to  Romsey,  and 
 wait  for  a  medical  man  coming  thence,  the  attack 
 must  have  ended  fatally,  as  life  could  not  have  been 
 sustained  for  half  an  hour  in  the  state  in  which  at 
 one  period  she  appears  to  have  been. 
 
 The  attack  left  her  in  great  weakness,  from  which 
 
474  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 she  recovered  slowly,  and  it  was  not  until  May  that 
 she  was  strong  enough  to  move  for  change  of  air, 
 even  so  far  as  the  Isle  of  Wight.  He  wrote  to  me 
 on  the  7th  of  that  month  from  Sea  View;  he  was 
 then  still  in  continual  apprehension  of  a  return  of 
 "  those  dreadful  spasms,"  and  he  was  perhaps  the 
 more  sensitive  in  his  feelings  from  having  just  met 
 Mrs.  Cornish,  and  seeing  her  greatly  shaken  and 
 altered  : — 
 
 "  It  really,"  says  he,  "  makes  one  afraid  and  ashamed  to 
 think  of  one's  own  (now  70)  years  of  uninterrupted  health, 
 along  with  the  sufferings  of  so  many  persons  so  unlike  one- 
 self. It  would  be  a  charity  if  people  would  sometimes  in 
 their  Litanies  pray  for  the  very  healthy,  very  prosperous, 
 very  lighthearted,  very  much  bepraised,  &c 
 
 "  Now  give  our  love  to  your  wife  and  daughter,  and  such 
 other  belongings  as  are  near  you,  and  to  dear  Devonshire 
 with  its  primroses,  which  it  must  be  hard  work  for  the 
 Pixies  to  count  this  year;  and  believe  me  ever  (I  hope) 
 yours,  J.  K." 
 
 They  returned  to  Hursley  in  June,  Mrs.  Keble  in 
 a  very  precarious  and  uncertain  state  : — 
 
 "  She  came  home,"  he  says,  writing  on  the  13th  of  June, 
 "  on  Wednesday  week,  certainly  the  better  for  the  sea,  &c, 
 but  far  from  well ;  that,  indeed,  we  dare  not  look  for  in  this 
 world.  Since  then  she  has  not  fallen  off,  except  for  the  last 
 few  days ;  her  breath  was  the  worse  for  something  in  the 
 weather  on  Tuesday,  and  she  has  hardly  got  back  to  the 
 same  point  again.  But  she  coughs  very  little,  and  writes, 
 and  reads,  and  plays,  and  keeps   accounts ;   she  cannot 
 
Visit  to  Penzance.  475 
 
 teach,  or  visit  cottages,  but  drives  out,  wind  and  weather 
 permitting  j  her  going  to  Church  is  exceptional." 
 
 In  this  state  of  her  health  he  was  wisely  advised 
 to  consult  high  medical  authority  in  London,  and  he 
 did  so,  Dr.  Williams.  The  result  he  communicated 
 to  Mr.  Wilson,  and  to  me,  which  it  is  unnecessary  to 
 state  in  detail.  But  one  particular  was  the  posi- 
 tive forbiddance  to  remain  at  Hursley  during  the 
 winter ;  it  was  recommended  to  winter  abroad,  but 
 Devon  and  Cornwall  were  acquiesced  in  ;  and  after 
 some  hesitation  Keble  determined  in  the  first  in- 
 stance to  try  Penzance. 
 
 He  wrote  to  me  on  the  8th  of  October  from  that 
 place.  They  had  rested  in  their  way  at  Plymouth, 
 refusing  all  solicitations  to  stop  anywhere  else ;  and 
 the  first  effects  of  the  change  to  Penzance  were  so 
 promising,  that  he  sent  home  for  his  heavy  luggage, 
 and  resolved  to  pass  the  winter  there.  He  announces 
 his  resolution  to  me  characteristically  enough : — 
 
 "  Her  breath  is  relieved,  and  her  walking  powers  im- 
 proved ;  she  walked  along  this  Esplanade,  and  looked  over 
 the  lodgings  upstairs  and  down  without  being  fatigued,  and 
 then  enjoyed  a  three  hours'  drive,  and  it  was  altogether 
 summerish  and  delightful.  On  Sunday  she  went  to  the 
 full  morning  Service  ;  and  it  was  what  my  Sister  would 
 have  called  '  a  very  pleasant  Church.'  For  these  and  other 
 reasons,  including  the  goodness  of  certain  mackerel  and 
 apples,  &c,  that  we  have  made  acquaintance  with,  we 
 have  made  up  our  minds  to  try  a  winter  here,  and  have 
 
476  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 sent  for  our  heavy  luggage,  which  we  had  left  on  the 
 road.  .  .  . 
 
 "  What  a  beautiful  and  comfortable  circumstance  it  is  of 
 this  great  development  of  our  Missions,  that  quiet  people 
 are  come  naturally  without  thinking  of  it,  or  writing  in 
 a  tone,  to  pour  out  their  hearts  mutually  to  those  whom 
 they  suppose  to  be  like-minded,  from  the  other  side  of  the 
 world  ;  just  as  the  old  folks  did  in  the  very  old  centuries. 
 S.  Cyprian,  (e.g.)  not  to  mention  S.  Paul.  I  say  this  apropos 
 to  the  South  Pacific,  and  South  African  Letters,  which  have 
 been  so  much  of  our  reading  of  late.  It  really  does  seem 
 to  help  one  in  a  very  special  way  to  realize  the  Communion 
 of  Saints,  and  to  feel  (D.V.)  one  not  only  with  the  distant 
 living,  but  with  the  holy  dead.  What  a  comforting  thought 
 (among  many  more)  for  those  who  were  mainly  instrumental 
 in  the  Colonial  Episcopate  at  first 
 
 "  Your  calling a  '  middle   rate'  biographer,  makes 
 
 a  certain  friend  of  yours  wince ;  you  can  easily  guess  why. 
 I  do  hope  at  any  rate  that  will  be  soon  off  my  hands 
 
 "  I  wish  you  could  see  the  Mount  as  I  do  now  every  time 
 I  look  up  from  my  writing,  with  the  tenderest  of  hazy  light 
 and  shade  upon  it.  We  have  got  a  kind  cousin,  Fanny 
 Coxwell,  to  help  take  care  of  C,  and  a  very  great  little 
 comfort  she  is.  And  so  with  dear  love  to  you  all,  I  am  as 
 ever  your  lazy  and  affectionate,  J.  K." 
 
 Their  first  house  was  chosen  with  special  reference 
 to  Mrs.  Keble,  "  in  the  very  best  position,"  says  he, 
 "for  seeing  the  whole  of  Mount's  Bay,  and  feeling 
 and  hearing  all  that  the  wild  waves  had  to  tell  us." 
 Indeed,  they  soon  found  that  the  wild  waves  had 
 somewhat  too    much  to  tell   them,  and    they  were 
 
Visit  to  Penzance.  477 
 
 obliged  to  move  to  a  house  higher  up,  and  more 
 distant  from  them.  But  he  took  intense  and  never- 
 failing  delight  in  that  most  beautiful  Bay,  sweeping 
 round  on  his  right,  with  a  shore  gently  rising  from 
 the  sea ;  and  guarded  as  it  were  by  St.  Michael's 
 Mount  nearly  in  his  front,  crowned  with  the  stately 
 and  picturesque  castle  and  church  on  its  summit. 
 I  have  no  doubt  that  the  view  was  a  never-failing 
 delight  to  him  ;  and  to  him,  a  mere  Saxon,  there 
 was  interest  in  the  novelty,  almost  the  strangeness, 
 of  the  Cornish  race,  their  language,  and  customs. 
 But  more  than  this ;  as  they  prolonged  their  stay, 
 they  were  touched  with  the  hearty  kindness  with 
 which  they  were  received,  especially  by  the  clergy  ; 
 the  impression  which  his  first  Sunday  had  made  on 
 him  was  deepened  by  more  familiar  intercourse,  and 
 so  far  as  he  could  be,  he  got  reconciled  to  the  en- 
 forced absence  from  Hursley. 
 
 The  allusion  to  his  Wilson  gave  me  great  plea- 
 sure, much  increased  when,  on  the  22nd  of  Novem- 
 ber, he  wrote : — 
 
 "  What  you  will  be  glad  to  hear  of,  the  last  sheet  of  Bp. 
 Wilson's  Life  is  gone  to  the  press,  and  only  a  little  correc- 
 tion and  some  notes,  with  a  small  part  of  the  Preface,  re- 
 main to  be  done.  I  only  wish  any  body  may  have  the 
 same  pleasure  in  reading,  that  I  have  had  in  writing  it ;  but 
 that  of  course  is  a  romantic  idea.  Suppose  it,  however,  to 
 do  some  of  the  kind  of  good  one  would  wish,  what  will  that 
 be  to  having  been  a  beginner  and  prime  agent  in  the  Co- 
 
Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 lonial  Episcopate  Fund ;  the  fruit  of  which,  by  God's  great 
 blessing,  we  are  allowed  to  see  more  and  more." 
 
 This  was  his  too  kind  way  of  alluding  to  my  ex- 
 ceedingly small  services  as  one  of  the  Treasurers  of 
 the  Fund  he  speaks  of ;  but  I  do  not  pass  it  by  in 
 silence,  because  in  the  beginning  he  had  for  some 
 reason  looked  rather  coldly  on  the  movement ;  and 
 it  was  and  is  a  great  pleasure  to  me  now  to  recall 
 with  what  a  different  feeling  he  grew  to  regard  it. 
 
 Early  in  1863  the  Life  of  Bishop  Wilson  was  pub- 
 lished, and  it  formed  in  two  parts  the  first  of  seven 
 volumes,  which  contain,  I  believe,  a  complete  collec- 
 tion of  the  Bishop's  works.  They  are  part  of  the 
 series  of  the  Anglo-Catholic  Library,  and  certainly 
 no  English  Churchman's  library  ought  to  be  without 
 them.  It  is  now  well  known  how  shamefully  the 
 Sacra  Privata  were  treated  by  those  who  first  pro- 
 fessed to  give  them  to  the  public  ;  treated  so,  I  fear, 
 for  party  purposes.  Keble  was  very  earnest  in  re- 
 storing that  work  to  its  integrity.  Much  had  been 
 already  done  in  that  way,  and  in  presenting  it  in  an 
 attractive  and  convenient  form  before  his  volume  ap- 
 peared ;  but  he  still  looked  on  what  he  had  done  for 
 it  with  more  satisfaction  than  was  usual  with  him  as 
 to  anything  on  which  he  had  been  employed.  He 
 was  not  given  to  praise  his  own  performances ;  but  I 
 remember  he  said  to  me  once  that  his  volume  might 
 be  less  attractive  in  appearance,  and  less  portable, 
 and  so  less    convenient  for  a  manual,   but   that   it 
 
L  ife  of  Bishop  Wilson  published.  479 
 
 would  be  found,  he  believed,  the  most  correct  and 
 full  edition  which  had  yet  seen  the  light.  As  the 
 Bishop's  character  was  one  which  he  most  admired 
 and  loved,  so  this  work  was  a  special  delight  to  him, 
 and  justly  so.  Many  persons,  I  fear,  are  deterred 
 from  becoming  familiar  with  it,  because  at  first  sight 
 it  seems  to  have  so  much  to  do  with  the  writer 
 exclusively  in  his  character  of  Bishop,  and  they 
 suppose,  therefore,  it  can  have  little  application  to 
 themselves ;  but  let  them  persevere,  and  if  I  mis- 
 take not,  they  will  not  only  be  moved  with  the 
 unconsciously-drawn  picture  of  so  much  goodness, 
 greatness,  and  holiness,  but  find  also  abundance  of 
 that  which  is  practical  for  themselves.  Indeed,  there 
 is  a  homely  affectionate  simplicity  in  everything 
 which  Wilson  writes  of  this  sort,  that  makes  it  spe- 
 cially fitting  for  the  purposes  of  a  Christian  Manual. 
 
 It  will  have  been  seen  how  Keble  speaks  of  the 
 pleasure  he  had  had  in  writing  the  Life ;  it  was  with 
 him  truly  a  labour  of  love  ;  he  wrote  it  carefully, 
 and  it  is,  I  believe,  perfectly  trustworthy,  telling 
 us  all  that  can  be  known  of  Wilson,  and  considerably 
 more  than  was  known  before.  Still  it  is  thought  to 
 labour  under  the  fault  of  being  long-some  ;  its  very 
 fulness  may  have  contributed  to  this  ;  in  truth,  it 
 tells  more  than  ordinary  readers  may  care  to  know 
 of  its  subject. 
 
 My  readers  will  have  long  ago  seen  what  were 
 Keble's    opinions    respecting    Church    discipline ;   it 
 
480  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 was  unfortunate,  I  think,  for  the  work,  that  Bishop 
 Wilson  not  only  felt  about  this  as  strongly,  and  in 
 the  same  way,  but  laboured  during  nearly  the  whole 
 of  his  episcopate  to  enforce  its  practice.  On  these 
 sustained  efforts  Keble  naturally  dwells  with  in- 
 terest, and  in  much  detail.  It  seems  to  me  with 
 great  deference,  that  the  conclusion  in  his  mind 
 might  have  been,  (and  I  am  not  sure  that  it  was 
 not,)  that  however  desirable,  indeed  however  a  duty 
 of  strict  obligation  in  itself,  it  was  hopeless  to  at- 
 tempt a  revival  of  it  in  our  days,  and  in  our  country. 
 If  a  bishop  such  as  Wilson,  so  able,  so  venerated, 
 and  so  loved,  could  not  succeed  in  a  diocese  so  small 
 as  that  of  Man,  with  a  population  so  much  more 
 simple  than  our  own,  what  could  be  hoped  for  in 
 England  at  this  time  ?  But  beyond  this,  I  cannot 
 say  that  even  in  the  instances  in  which  what  is 
 called  success  is  recorded,  I  see  very  satisfactory 
 evidence  of  real  success.  The  power  of  the  Church, 
 indeed,  was  maintained  in  the  particular  instances  ; 
 she  did  punish  the  evil-doers,  and  they  submitted  ; 
 but  the  impression  left  on  the  reader's  mind  is  that 
 the  submission  was  too  often  made  in  order  to  es- 
 cape the  continuing  temporal  inconvenience  rather 
 than  that  the  penance  ended  in  real  penitence. 
 
 "  Non  hoc  tempus  Censurae"  was  the  saying  of 
 Tiberius,  when  it  was  proposed  to  revive  that  office 
 in  vigour ;  certainly  an  adviser  whom  one  would  not 
 listen  to  without    distrust ;    yet  to  attempt  the  re- 
 
L  ife  of  Bishop  Wilson.  48 1 
 
 form  of  manners  in  Imperial  Rome  by  the  Censor- 
 ship, and  in  the  Christian  Church  by  Ecclesiastical 
 Discipline,  have  this  in  common,  that  the  one  and 
 the  other  were  equally  but  means  to  an  end,  and 
 that  end  in  many  respects  the  same.  Now  the 
 fitness  of  means  must  depend  very  much  on  the 
 circumstances  under  which  they  are  to  be  used  ; 
 what  might  be  available  and  good  in  the  early  days 
 of  Rome,  and  of  the  Church  respectively,  might  be 
 far  otherwise  in  the  days  of  Tiberius,  or  those  on 
 which  we  are  fallen.  I  speak  it  with  diffidence  and 
 unfeigned  respect  for  my  dear  friend,  with  whom 
 these  subjects  were  a  life-long  study ;  but  it  even 
 seems  to  me  a  fallacy  to  refer  everything  as  he  did 
 to  the  standard  of  the  Primitive  Church ;  and  to  be 
 unwise,  because  unpractical.  If  I  am  asked  what 
 I  would  substitute  for  the  ancient  Discipline,  I  feel 
 how  utterly  unfit  I  am  to  answer  the  question  ;  and 
 with  that  feeling  on  my  mind  I  yet  venture  to  say 
 that  the  pastoral  care,  and  the  influence  under  God's 
 blessing  on  it,  of  a  really  laborious,  learned,  self- 
 denying,  prayerful,  and  exemplary  clergy,  may  be  at 
 least  more  practical,  and  at  all  events  it  is  that  with- 
 out which  all  other  means  must  fail. 
 
 I  have  been  led  astray  from  my  proper  subject, 
 Keble's  Life  of  Bishop  Wilson.  I  shall  have  done 
 it  injustice,  if  I  leave  my  readers  with  an  unfavour- 
 able impression  of  it  on  the  whole.  He  might,  in- 
 deed,   no    one    more    successfully,    have    caught    his 
 
 inspiration  from  Isaac  Walton,  and  left  us  a  tale  to 
 
 I  i 
 
482  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 be  bound  up  with  his  immortal  narratives.  I  wish 
 he  had ;  but  I  cannot  wish  he  had  not  written  this 
 Life,  for  it  is  the  storehouse  of  facts,  faithfully  re- 
 corded, in  which  is  contained  all  that  can  be  known 
 of  an  Apostolic  Bishop  ;  to  which,  indeed,  whoever 
 desires  to  write  something  more  popular  must,  and 
 may  safely,  have  recourse  for  his  materials. 
 
 Yet  there  was  a  branch  of  this  subject  on  which  I 
 could  not  and  cannot  but  think  there  was  much  real 
 ground  for  Keble's  uneasiness.  I  mean  that  a  modern 
 Statute  should  have  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Judi- 
 cial Committee  of  the  Privy  Council,  assisted  by  two 
 or  three  of  the  bishops,  not  selected  for  personal  fit- 
 ness as  judges,  but  in  virtue  of  their  sees,  the  final 
 decision  of  questions  touching  the  doctrine  and  disci- 
 pline of  the  Church.  Even  if  the  Committee  were 
 necessarily  composed  of  Churchmen,  there  would  be 
 the  question,  whether  such  matters  are  properly  to 
 be  adjudicated  on  by  laymen  ;  but  it  is  well  known, 
 that  among  its  members  may  be  those  who  are  con- 
 scientiously, or  otherwise,  not  only  alien  from  the 
 Church,  but  opposed  to  it.  And  the  evil  has  this 
 peculiarity  in  it,  to  which  attention  should  be  drawn. 
 Where  any  court  has  jurisdiction  to  determine  the 
 point  directly  in  issue  before  it,  it  has  necessarily 
 for  the  pier  pose  of  arriving  at  its  determination,  juris- 
 diction to  decide  on  any  point  collaterally  arising,  the 
 decision  of  which  is  necessary  to  the  determination 
 of  the  point  at  issue.  Thus  a  single  judge  and  jury 
 at  the  Assizes  have  jurisdiction  to  try  an  action  for 
 
Judicial  Committee  of  Privy  Council.         483 
 
 libel ;  suppose  a  beneficed  clergyman  should  sue  in 
 such  an  action  for  the  publication  of  a  writing  which 
 imputed  to  him  that  he  had  taught  something  in 
 derogation  of  one  of  the  Articles ;  it  might  become 
 necessary  on  the  trial  not  only  to  decide  on  the  fact 
 of  publication,  and  the  meaning  of  the  language  used, 
 but  also  the  meaning  of  the  Article  alleged  to  have 
 been  derogated  from.  Rightly  or  wrongly  the  judge 
 would  have  in  that  case  to  lay  down  the  law  of  the 
 Church  ;  and  if  he  interpreted  the  Article  wrongly,  he 
 would  for  the  time,  and  for  the  purpose  of  the  cause, 
 impose  a  new  doctrine ;  but  neither  his  ruling,  nor 
 the  judgment  consequent  on  it,  would  bind  judge  or 
 court,  bishop  or  clerk,  in  any  other  case.  The  Judicial 
 Committee,  on  the  other  hand,  often  takes  cognisance 
 of  the  doctrine  directly  and  as  the  point  in  issue ; 
 and  it  does  so  in  the  last  resort ;  its  decision  binds 
 every  court,  and  even  itself ;  so  that  if  it  should  hap- 
 pen to  determine  certain  propositions  not  to  be  con- 
 trary to  the  Articles,  or  vice  versa,  however  mani- 
 festly wrong  or  dangerous  the  decision,  those  pro- 
 positions might  be  maintained  and  preached  by  any 
 incumbent  to  his  flock  with  impunity  ;  and  to  preach 
 propositions  logically  contradictory  of  them  might 
 subject  an  incumbent  to  prosecution  and  its  conse- 
 quences. It  cannot  be  doubted  that  this  would  prac- 
 tically be  very  much  the  same  thing  as  making  a 
 new  doctrine  for  the  Church.  There  are  some,  it  is 
 said   an  increasing  number,  to  whom  this  gives   no 
 
484  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 pain,  because  they  hold  doctrine  to  be  of  little  im- 
 portance ;  but  even  these,  if  candid,  would  admit  that 
 it  must  be  very  grievous  to  those  who  hold,  as  Chris- 
 tians in  general  do,  and  have  done  from  the  begin- 
 ning, that  defmiteness  and  truth  in  doctrine  are  essen- 
 tial to  the  Church  in  the  discharge  of  her  function, 
 as  keeper  of  the  Faith,  and  teacher  of  the  people. 
 
 Keble  was  one  of  these,  and  the  matter  touched 
 his  conscience.  The  judgment  in  what  is  known  as 
 the  "  Essays  and  Reviews"  Case  gave  him,  in  all  its 
 circumstances,  as  well  as  the  decision  itself,  great 
 pain,  and  he  wrote  several  letters  to  me  ;  for  he 
 rightly  enough  had  no  scruples  in  doing  so  merely 
 because  I  was  a  member  of  the  committee.  He 
 was  not  always  accurate  in  his  knowledge,  and  I 
 think  he  did  not  see  at  first  all  the  difficulties  of 
 forming  an  unexceptionable  tribunal  ;  nor  did  I 
 always  agree  with  his  inferences  or  propositions. 
 I  do  not  think  I  should  do  any  good  by  printing 
 the  whole  correspondence  ;  but  I  may  perhaps  re- 
 vive the  attention  of  those  who  might  do  good,  by 
 quoting  some  extracts  from  his  letters  to  shew  what 
 a  real  grievance  to  men  like  him  still  exists  : — 
 
 "  Penzance, 
 "Jari?  7,  1863. 
 "  Dearest  Coleridge, 
 "Thank  you  for  your  kind  letter,  and  patience  in  ex- 
 plaining to  me  all  the  difficulties  of  the  case.     I  have  no 
 doubt  it  is  full  of  difficulty,  but  then  I  consider  that  Law- 
 
Essays  and  Reviews"  Case.  j  ° 
 
 yers  and  Statesmen  are  the  very  people  to  whom  one  is  to 
 complain  of  one's  difficulties,  as  one  tells  a  Doctor  when  one 
 is  ill.  I  do  hope  that  our  friends  in  those  professions  will 
 believe  that  we  are  really  ill,  (so  to  speak,)  and  not  mere 
 valetudinarians.  I  hope  they  will  give  themselves  no  rest 
 till  they  have  thoroughly  looked  into  the  matter,  and  either 
 devised  something  which  will  not  positively  hinder  the 
 Church  from  executing  its  commission,  as  the  present  Law 
 does,  or  ascertained  and  reported  that  no  such  course  can 
 be  adopted  consistently  with  the  present  relations  of  the 
 Church  to  the  State.  Until  one  of  these  two  things  is 
 done,  there  must  be  perpetual  '  fears  and  jealousies,'  until 
 we  waked  up  some  morning  and  found  ourselves  without 
 Creed  or  Discipline, — without  Discipline  we  are  indeed  at 
 present. 
 
 "  Don't  suppose  that  I  am  setting  up  my  judgment  on 
 the  legal  and  political  view ;  I  am  really  thinking,  or  trying 
 to  think,  of  the  souls  which,  I  believe,  are  daily  and  hourly 
 perishing  through  disregard  of  our  Lord's  Ordinance.  I 
 would  thankfully  make  use  of  qualified  Laymen  to  any  ex- 
 tent, consistently  with  the  '  Discipline  of  Christ,'  to  which 
 we  are  all  sworn,  and  the  grace  for  which  is  given  us,  if  we 
 are  worthy,  at  our  ordination,  in  our  several  degrees.  These 
 miserable  Essay  and  Review  Cases,  more  I  think  than  any- 
 thing which  has  happened,  have  brought  out  the  fact,  that  the 
 Resent  Law  of  England  absolutely  quashes  that  Discipline, 
 and  also  that  other  fact,  that  acquiescence  in  such  a  state 
 of  things  is  fast  tending,  as  I  said,  to  nullify  our  Creed.  I 
 should  think  something  might  be  done ;  your  reference  to 
 the  Bishops,  for  instance,  or  what  was  it  that  Bp.  Blom- 
 field  proposed  ?  But  do  you  really  think  that  a  Clergyman 
 aware  of  all  this  should  not  complain  of  it,  unless  he  can 
 suggest  the  forms  of  a  Parliamentary  Remedy  ?    Among 
 
485  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 other  effects  of  things  as  they  are,  Dr.  Wiseman,  &c,  are 
 making  a  good  deal  of  gain,  as  you  doubtless  know  better 
 than  I." 
 
 What  Keble  calls  my  "  reference  to  the  Bishops," 
 was  a  suggestion  I  had  thrown  out,  and  of  which  I 
 still  think  something  might  be  made,  that  in  order  to 
 separate  the  fact,  including  the  mere  construction  of 
 the  language  charged  to  be  heretical,  from  the  doc- 
 trine itself,  the  Committee  might  ascertain  the  two 
 former,  and  then  refer  to  a  Court  of  bishops  to  state 
 the  doctrine,  and  applying  that  to  the  finding  of  the 
 Committee,  certify  the  conclusion  on  the  issue  to 
 the  Committee,  which  should  be  binding  on  it.  This 
 seemed  to  me  a  way  to  give  to  each  branch  of  the 
 tribunal  what  it  was  most  competent  to  perform  satis- 
 factorily, relieve  the  minds  of  Churchmen,  and,  as 
 far  as  could  be,  keep  the  doctrine  of  the  Church  from 
 change.  Lawyers  will  know  that  my  hint  was  bor- 
 rowed from  the  practice,  now  obsolete,  of  trial  by 
 the  Bishop's  Certificate,  of  which  some  account  will 
 be  found  in  Blackstone's  "Commentaries,"  vol.  iii. 
 p.  335,  and  also  from  the  practice  of  the  House  of 
 Lords  to  put  questions  to  the  Judges  on  a  state- 
 ment of  facts  which  the  House  deems  to  be  cardines 
 causce ;  and  usually  though  not  necessarily,  to  de- 
 cide the  case  according  to  the  answers  given. 
 
 But  I  was  of  opinion,  (and  this  I  ought  not  to 
 withhold  now,)  that  nothing  could  be  hopefully  de- 
 vised to  forward  Keble's  views,  until  the  clergy  were 
 
"  Essays  and  Reviews"  Case.  4S7 
 
 to  some  extent  educated  in  law,  and  accustomed  by 
 some  training,  as  hearers  at  least,  to  the  practice  of 
 courts  ;  it  seemed  to  me  that  the  most  learned  divine 
 could  not  be  fit  to  act  as  judge,  without  that  training 
 or  experience  which  is  so  essential  to  constitute  the 
 judicial  habit  of  mind. 
 
 Keble  wrote  to  me  subsequently  on  this  subject 
 thus : — 
 
 "  Penzance, 
 Jan.  8,  '63. 
 "  My  dearest  Coleridge, 
 
 "  Suppose  I  was  to  dream  such  a  dream  as  what  follows, 
 would  it  have  any  meaning  or  no  ? 
 
 "  That  six  or  8  men,  good  and  true,  were  sitting  cosily 
 together  some  time  before  Parliament  meets,  and  that  their 
 initials  were  such  as  J.  T.  C,  W.  H.,  W.  E.  G.,  R.  P.,  R.  Ph., 
 E.  B.  P.,  S.  O.,  &c,  &c. 
 
 "  That  it  were  represented  to  them  somehow  what  an  un- 
 constitutional position  the  Church  of  England  is  in.  It  is  as 
 a  corporation  having  its  own  bye-laws,  which  to  it  are  funda- 
 mental, and  which  the  State  professes  to  respect.  Among 
 those  laws  are, — 
 
 "  ist.  All  must  hold  a  certain  prescribed  Faith,  or  be  ex- 
 cluded from  the  Society. 
 "  2.  The  measure  of  that  Faith  is,  '  Quod  semper,  quod 
 
 ubique,'  &c,  being  also  scriptural. 
 "  3.  The  Judicial  Power  in  regard  of  alleged  offences 
 against  this  Faith  has  been  entrusted  by  the  Founder 
 of  the  Society  to  persons  nominated  by  Him  for  the 
 purpose. 
 "  But  our  present  Statute  Law, — 
 "  1.  Virtually  annuls  the  penalty,  viz.  Excommunication. 
 
4  8  8  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 "  2.  Substitutes,  in  the  case  of  Clerks,  (the  only  case  in 
 which  it  allows  the  Church  to  take  cognizance  of 
 any  such  offence,)  another  rule,  a  certain  Statute 
 of  Q.  Elizabeth. 
 
 "  3.  Takes  the  judgment  and  decree  out  of  the  hands  of 
 those  ordained  by  the  Founder,  and  sworn  by  the 
 order  of  the  State  itself,  to  administer  in  such  causes. 
 
 "  Then  I  might  perhaps  go  on  and  dream  that  the  said 
 revered  and  highly-valued  initials  were  set  to  a  sentence 
 allowing  that  there  is  more  or  less  of  truth  and  reason  in  the 
 said  complaints,  and  that  the  grievances  are  real  grievances. 
 
 "  And  of  course  I  could  not  then  doubt  that  they  would 
 lay  their  heads  together  to  consider  what  should  be  done. 
 
 "  Would  it  be  beyond  the  absurdity  allowable  even  in 
 one's  sleep,  if  I  dreamed  again  and  fancied  them  consider- 
 ing about  an  experiment  in  mitigation  of  the  mischief  ? 
 
 "  1.  Whether  it  is  impossible  to  obtain  a  law  taking  away 
 all  temporal  penalties,  annexed  to  excommunication,  and 
 leaving  the  Church  really  free  to  enforce  its  own  rubric 
 and  canons  in  case  of  notorious  sin  or  unbelief.  Might  not 
 something  analogous  to  a  trial  by  jury  be  invented  in  aid  of 
 the  Bishops  ? 
 
 "  2.  Might  there  not  be  a  declaratory  Act  to  the  effect 
 that  the  Formularies  must  always  be  interpreted  agreeably 
 to  Holy  Scripture  and  general  consent,  (as  in  the  Act  of 
 the  ist  of  Elizabeth  the  decrees  of  (Ecumenical  councils 
 were  made  part  of  the  measure  of  Henry  ?)  To  which  Act 
 the  assent  of  Convocation  should  be  obtained,  and  recited 
 as  in  the  Act  of  Uniformity. 
 
 "  3.  After  providing  in  the  completest  way  for  perfect  in- 
 vestigation and  exact  legality,  still  might  not  the  Bishops  in 
 Provincial  Council,  with  full  publicity  to  all  their  proceed- 
 ings, be  made  judges  in  the  last  resort? 
 
"  Essays  and  Reviews'  Case.  489 
 
 "  I  am  much  mistaken  if  the  errors  of  such  a  system 
 would  not  be,  (as  they  had  better  be,)  entirely  on  the  side 
 of  leniency;  especially  considering  how  the  Bishops  are 
 appointed. 
 
 "  But  it  would  save  the  point  of  principle,  and  take  off 
 the  strain  on  our  consciences. 
 
 "  My  dream,  if  it  went  on.  and  found  that  nothing  could 
 be  done,  would  be  a  very  frightful  one ;  for  it  would  exhibit 
 our  Church  in  no  long  time  reduced  to  the  alternative  of 
 voluntaryism,  or  unbelief. 
 
 "  Luckily  it  is  but  a  dream,  and  as  such  I  hope  harmless. 
 "  Pardon  it  from  your  loving  friend,  J.  K." 
 
 Keble  agreed  in  what  I  wrote  respecting  the  pre- 
 sent insufficient  training  of  the  clergy  for  this  pur- 
 pose, and  the  greater  fitness  at  present  of  laymen 
 in  this  respect,  whose  interference  he  would  by  no 
 means  have  rejected  : — 
 
 "  But  what,"  said  he,  "  if  those  who  appoint  Bishops  in- 
 sisted on  this  quality  of  a  judicial  mind,  and  an  education 
 to  prepare  them  in  some  tolerable  way  for  that  kind  of 
 work  ?  Would  not  such  a  demand  in  no  long  time  produce 
 a  supply,  as  you  seem  to  say  it  did  in  old  times  ?" 
 
 One  point,  however,  it  would  have  been  out  of  his 
 nature  to  give  up  : — 
 
 "  I  want,"  said  he,  dating  from  Penzance  on  January  15, 
 1863,  "to  explain  one  or  two  things  in  which  I  fear  I  seem 
 to  you  and  other  legal  friends  more  absurd  than  I  need. 
 One  is,  that  it  is  not  only  nor  chiefly  for  want  of  theological 
 learning  that  one  objects  to  Laymen  as  final  judges  in  ques- 
 
49°  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 tions  of  doctrine  and  spiritual  discipline,  but  because  one 
 believes  that  such  judgments  are  divinely  entrusted  to  the 
 Apostles  and  their  successors,  even  as  the  Powers  of  order ; 
 and  that  they  are  specially  endowed  for  the  work ;  not  so, 
 of  course,  as  to  exclude  the  duty  of  availing  themselves  of 
 all  providential  helps,  of  which  one  of  the  greatest  will  be 
 the  advice  and  instruction  which  I  quite  believe  nothing 
 but  a  legal  education  can  supply.  Just  as  in  interpreting 
 the  language  of  Scripture,  they  are  bound  to  avail  them- 
 selves of  the  opinions  of  the  best  Scholars  \  but  they  can- 
 not transfer  to  them  the  right  of  authoritative  interpreta- 
 tion, because  they  cannot  transfer  the  responsibility.  It  is 
 a  burthen  laid  upon  them,  and  they  must  bear  it." 
 
 He  closes  a  long  reply  to  me  in  this  somewhat 
 sad  way : — 
 
 "  Don't  trouble  yourself,  dear  friend,  to  answer  this  long 
 prose.  I  foresee  that  very  few  would  interest  themselves  in 
 my  scruples,  so  I  shall  keep  them  with  my  forebodings,  as  well 
 as  I  can,  to  myself.  If  I  was  20  years  younger,  I  might  in 
 time  be  fit  to  talk  and  write  on  such  things.  As  it  is,  I  feel 
 I  ought  to  be  otherwise  employed.  Yet  I  hope  my  fear  is 
 not  mistrust  of  His  goodness,  but  I  say  to  myself,  what  if 
 we  are  being  punished  for  not  keeping  our  deposit  % 
 
 "  Ever  yours,  with  love  to  all,  J.  K." 
 
 So  for  the  time  ended  our  correspondence  on  this 
 subject,  but  not  his  thought  or  anxiety  about  it. 
 It  is  one  of  so  much  importance,  as  yet  unsettled, 
 and  one  on  which  we  may  confidently  say  some  set- 
 tlement must  be  made,  that  I  have  been  the  fuller  on 
 it.     It  seems  important,  that  whenever  it  is  seriously 
 
Commentary  on  the  Bible.  491 
 
 considered,  this  side  of  it,  to  which  mere  lawyers  may 
 be  disposed  to  attach  little  importance,  should  at  all 
 events  be  brought  into  view. 
 
 I  part  with  this  subject,  though  it  must  be  con- 
 sidered as  one  never  long  out  of  Keble's  mind  so 
 long  as  he  lived,  and  revived  by  him  from  time  to 
 time  in  his  letters. 
 
 It  was  shortly  before  he  wrote  the  last  letter,  that 
 I  received  one  from  him,  from  which  I  extract  the 
 following  passage  : — 
 
 "  I  have  only  just  got  our  Bishop's  Charge,  and  it  is 
 really  admirable  to  my  mind,  better  even  than  the  News- 
 papers led  me  to  expect ;  better,  I  think,  as  a  composition. 
 There  was  often  a  sort  of  strain  in  what  he  wrote  and 
 preached,  which  in  this  he  seems  to  have  quite  got  rid  of; 
 and  then  as  to  the  matter,  it  is  very  instructive ;  and  the 
 tone  is  so  firm  yet  so  candid.  I  am  very  thankful,  and 
 hope  to  be  the  better  for  it,  though  it  is  rather  late  to 
 mend  ;  but  no  more  of  that." 
 
 Almost  before  he  was  relieved  from  the  Wilson 
 burthen,  it  seems  that  the  living  Wilson  had  ven- 
 tured to  remind  him  of  the  Commentary  on  the 
 Bible.  I  am  not  sure  to  what  extent  Keble  had 
 engaged  himself  at  all  in  this  work,  nor  for  what 
 part  of  the  book.  He  shrunk  from  engaging  at 
 once  in  a  new  labour,  and  wisely  now ;  though  he 
 did  not  disclaim  the  obligation,  nor  ever  entirely  re- 
 nounce all  hope  of  fulfilling  it  to  some  extent.  At 
 an  earlier  period  there  was  no  task  I  think  in  which 
 
492  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Kcble. 
 
 he  would  have  worked  with  more  pleasure  to  him- 
 self, none  for  which  he  was  more  fitted  : — 
 
 "  Pray  don't  begin,"  writes  he  to  Mr.  Wilson,  "  talking 
 and  speculating  about  Commentary.  I  have  not  yet  written 
 a  word,  and  at  my  age,  and  according  to  the  scale  of  other 
 people's  work,  it  really  seems  quite  idle  to  think  of  such 
 a  thing.  But  for  honour's  sake,  I  suppose  I  must  try,  and 
 it  will  be  too  good  for  me  if  I  am  helped  to  do  anything. 
 But  you  know  I  never  could  bear  being  looked  at  while  I  write. 
 I  do  so  hate  for  any  one  to  see  how  I  hold  my  pen." 
 
 He  begins  this  letter  with  a  sentence  which  I  can- 
 not withhold  from  my  readers  : — 
 
 "  Dearest  Friends, 
 "  It  is,  indeed,  high  time  I  should  write  to  you,  and  yet 
 I  am  not  at  all  sure  that  I  should  have  been  dutiful  enough 
 to  do  so,  if  she,  who  is  my  Conscience,  and  my  memory, 
 and  my  common  sense,  had  been  up  to  the  work,  but  I  am 
 sorry  to  say  she  is  not." 
 
 Care  for  Mrs.  Keble  indeed,  nursing  her  when 
 ill,  interesting  her  when  better,  taking  her  out  for 
 a  drive,  or  a  downhill  walk,  when  alleviation  of  her 
 symptoms,  or  abatement  of  the  cold  permitted,  oc- 
 cupied much  of  his  time,  and  more  of  his  thoughts. 
 Her  health  fluctuated  a  good  deal,  and  although 
 he  still  maintained  that  Penzance  was  warmer  per- 
 haps than  any  other  place  in  England,  she  suffered 
 occasionally  very  much  from  a  change  of  wind,  or 
 such  like  winter  casualty.     And  with  the  knowledge 
 
Ministrations  at  Penzance.  493 
 
 he  now  had  of  her  case,  his  best  hope  was  that  he 
 might  be  allowed  to  take  her  from  Penzance  not 
 worse  than  when  he  brought  her  there.  I  do  not 
 suppose  she  was  a  hopeful  patient,  in  the  sense  of 
 expecting  a  recovery  ;  but  she  was  more  than  re- 
 signed ;  she  was  a  cheerful  one,  bearing  her  part  so 
 far  as  she  could  in  their  little  circle,  interested  in  all 
 that  was  done  to  interest  her,  and  seeing,  when  she 
 could,  some  of  the  many  kind  people  who  were  de- 
 lighted to  visit  her  and  him,  when  allowed  to  do  so. 
 And  people  were  very  kind  to  them,  full  of  neigh- 
 bourly attentions,  sending  such  delicacies  as  grapes, 
 or  wild  fowl,  or  anything  thought  good  for  Mrs.Keble. 
 He  found  there  a  sister  of  his  and  my  friend  Mr. 
 Copeland,  Mrs.  Borlase,  whom  he  specially  mentions 
 for  her  kindness  ;  one  who  was  a  prisoner  to  her 
 house,  or  able  only  to  take  carriage  drives,  yet 
 "making,"  he  says,  "a  bright  sunshine  all  round  her." 
 But  what  of  course  charmed  him  most,  was  his  cor- 
 dial and  congenial  reception  from  the  Clergy  ;  in  Mr. 
 Hedgeland  and  Mr.  Tyacke  he  found  two  in  whose 
 ministrations  he  could  heartily  join,  and  whose  hearts 
 warmed  towards  him  with  a  loving  respect,  and  re- 
 spectful love,  which  could  not  but  delight  his  hum- 
 ble and  affectionate  nature.  This  was  a  matter  of 
 consequence  to  him,  for  he  reluctantly  bore  to  be 
 doing  nothing  in  his  vocation,  while  in  forced  exile 
 from  his  own  Cure.  He  preached  many  times,  as 
 often,  indeed,  as  either  of  these  had  occasion  for  his 
 
494  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 help.  Mr.  Hedgeland  records  of  him,  in  a  letter  to 
 the  "Guardian,"  that  at  his  first  visit  he  asked  to 
 have  some  pastoral  visiting  assigned  to  him,  and 
 characteristically  wished  it  to  be  entirely  among 
 the  poor,  and  shrank  from  going  among  any  who 
 would  see  in  him  the  author  of  "  The  Christian 
 Year."  On  one  or  two  occasions  of  public  rejoicing 
 he  supplied  them  with  lines  suitable  for  use  as  a 
 Hymn ;  and  attending  a  meeting  of  the  Society  for 
 Propagating  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,  he  spoke 
 shortly  and  touchingly  at  its  close,  addressing  him- 
 self specially  to  some  young  children  who  had  been 
 singing  near  him. 
 
 After  his  return  home,  Mr.  Hedgeland  had  written 
 to  him,  sending  him  what  Keble  called  "his  fresh 
 kind  present,"  and  I  will  insert  here,  a  little  out  of 
 its  place  in  point  of  time,  an  extract  from  his  ac- 
 knowledgment." 
 
 "June  T3,  1863. 
 
 "  My  dear  Mr.  Hedgeland, 
 "  The  sight  of  your  handwriting,  and  fresh  kind  present, 
 was  very  welcome  indeed,  and  made  me  feel  how  wanting 
 I  had  been  in  not  doing  sooner  what  I  had  been  all  the 
 while  intending,  to  write  to  you  a  word  of  hearty  thanks 
 for  your  and  your  parishioners'  very  great  kindness  to  us. 
 Such  it  was  as  must  always  make  the  very  bends  and  turn- 
 ings of  the  streets,  let  alone  the  Mount  and  the  Bay,  and 
 the  lanes  and  flowers,  and  moors,  and  cairns,  and  crosses, 
 most  pleasant  to  think  of." 
 
 Mr.  Hedgeland,  in  the  same  letter  to  the  "  Guar- 
 
Rambles  at  Penzance.  495 
 
 dian,"  mentions  an  incident  which  I  also  insert  here, 
 though  out  of  its  place.  He  visited  him  after  his 
 return  to  Hursley,  and  in  the  course  of  a  walk, 
 directed  his  attention  to  a  broken  piece  of  ground, 
 a  chalk-pit,  as  it  turned  out  :•— 
 
 "Ah,"  said  he,  "that  is  a  sad  place,  that  is  connected 
 with  the  most  painful  event  of  my  life.  It  was  there  that 
 I  first  knew  for  certain  that  J.  H.  N.  had  left  us.  We  had 
 just  made  up  our  minds  that  such  an  event  was  all  but  in- 
 evitable, and  one  day  I  received  a  letter  in  his  handwriting. 
 I  felt  sure  of  what  it  contained,  and  I  carried  it  about  with 
 me  all  through  the  day,  afraid  to  open  it.  At  last  I  got 
 away  to  that  chalk-pit,  and  then  forcing  myself  to  read  the 
 letter,  I  found  that  my  forebodings  had  been  too  true ;  it 
 was  the  announcement  that  he  was  gone." 
 
 I  do  not  know  whether  it  was  a  habit  of  his  to 
 select  retired  spots  like  this  for  such  purposes ;  but 
 I  remember  well  on  some  occasion,  when  he  and  I 
 had  to  talk  over  some  serious  matter,  his  taking  me  to 
 an  abandoned  chalk-pit,  one,  at  least,  in  which  the 
 growth  of  brambles  and  coppice  wood  indicated  that 
 it  had  not  been  worked  for  some  time ;  and  there  we 
 discussed  our  question.  Few  spots,  by  the  way,  are 
 more  picturesque  than  these  old  chalk-pits  some- 
 times are  ;  and  this  may  have  been  to  him,  like  Lad- 
 well  Hill,  with  its  wild  flowers,  a  familiar  spot,  in 
 which  he  chewed  the  cud  of  sweet  and  bitter  fancies. 
 
 Keble  had  hoped  to  return  to  Hursley  for  Easter, 
 but   he  was   obliged    to   give    it   up,   and  on    Palm- 
 
496  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 Sunday,  March  29,  he  wrote  to  me  from  Penzance, 
 commemorating  a  visit  to  them  from  his  brother  and 
 sister-in-law,  with  his  usual  sense  of  great  enjoyment. 
 Mrs.  Keble  continued  better,  but — 
 
 "  Everybody  advised  us  to  give  up  our  dream  of  being  at 
 home  at  Easter ;  and  there  has  been  a  slight  flavour  of 
 March  lately,  even  in  the  West  Winds,  which  proves  them 
 right ;  and  I  am  rather  ashamed  to  own  myself  too  lazy  to 
 feel  as  uncomfortable  as  I  ought  about  it." 
 
 On  the  19th  of  May,  1863,  he  wrote  to  me  from 
 Hursley,  after  having  been  at  home  for  some  little 
 time  ;  he  was  full  of  the  kindness  he  had  received 
 at  Penzance,  the  beauties  of  the  place  and  neigh- 
 bourhood, and  perhaps,  above  all,  "  what  one  might 
 call  three  distinct  immigrations  from  home."  Among 
 these  he  reckoned  one  from  Mr.  James  Young,  the 
 son  of  his  old  Curate,  whom  he  loved,  and  treated 
 as  one  of  his  own  family,  who  looked  up  to  and  re- 
 garded him  and  Mrs.  Keble  as  Uncle  and  Aunt,  and 
 who  was  destined  in  some  sort  to  repay  their  love 
 by  being  allowed  to  watch  over,  and  attend  on,  and 
 nurse  both  to  the  close  of  their  last  illness. 
 
 It  was  evident  that  Mrs.  Keble  had  returned  not 
 substantially  better  than  she  went,  and  he  intimates 
 to  me  the  thoughts  which  arose  in  his  mind,  and 
 which  not  long  after  he  propounded  to  me  more  dis- 
 tinctly.    He  writes  : — 
 
 "  It  would  be  very  wrong  to  complain,  wrong  also  to 
 look  forward,  though  I  cannot  conceal  it  from  myself  that 
 
Keble's  Thoughts  of  Resignation.  497 
 
 in  all  probability  it  will  be  wrong,  (supposing  we  have  the 
 chance,)  to  spend  another  winter  here,  and  therewith  come 
 practical  questions  which  I  need  not  now  specify,  but  I 
 suppose  one  ought  to  look  on  to  them  so  far  as  to  pray  for 
 guidance." 
 
 In  accordance  with  these  thoughts  he  wrote  to  me 
 on  the  3rd  of  July  : — 
 
 "  Although  Charlotte  has  not  been  absolutely  ill  since  we 
 came  home,  and  many  think  her  improved  in  looks,  I  can- 
 not flatter  myself  that  she  is  radically  reformed,  and  a  very 
 little  makes  her  exceeding  weak.  We  are  rather  deferring 
 to  take  any  medical  opinion  about  our  staying  here  next 
 winter.  I  do  not  myself  doubt  what  the  Doctors  will  say ; 
 but  how  to  manage  afterwards  ?  (This  is  private).  Ought 
 I  not,  at  least,  to  lay  the  matter  before  the  Patron  and  the 
 Bishop,  and  place  the  Nomination  to  the  Cure  in  their 
 hands.  In  plain  English,  should  I  not  offer  to  resign  ? 
 Do  tell  me  your  first  impression,  i.e.  what  you  feel  would 
 be  your  first  impression  in  my  case.  I  have  not  whispered 
 it  to  her,  but  it  must,  I  should  think,  have  come  into  her 
 mind.  Well,  now  I  must  leave  off  for  the  present;  with 
 all  love  to  all,  ever  yours  more  and  more,  J.  K." 
 
 I  told  him  that  my  first  impression  was  that  he 
 should  do  as  he  proposed,  because  I  felt  sure  that 
 both  Bishop  and  Patron  would  say,  it  was  better  for 
 the  living  and  Church  that  he  should  retain  the  in- 
 cumbency now,  even  if  he  were  sure  to  be  absent 
 another  long  winter.  But  I  thought  the  question 
 must  be  looked  at  from  a  different  point  of  view ; 
 that  it  was  a  question  for  himself,  not  one  for  the 
 
 Kk 
 
49 3  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 Bishop  and  Patron  to  decide  for  him.  And  then  with 
 the  view  I  had  of  Mrs.  Keble's  health,  as  gently  as  I 
 could,  I  distinguished  between  the  case  of  one  who 
 had  no  prospect  of  renewing  his  winter  residence 
 for  the  whole  of  his  lifetime,  and  his  own  case.  I 
 tried  to  induce  him  therefore  to  narrow  his  considera- 
 tion only  to  the  absence  for  the  coming  winter ;  and 
 in  that  point  of  view  there  seemed  to  be  no  doubt, 
 that  he  ought  for  the  sake  of  his  people  to  retain  the 
 incumbency  for  the  present.  I  believe  he  was  satis- 
 fied. However,  as  late  as  the  8th  of  October,  the 
 necessity  for  a  determination  had  not  arisen  : — 
 
 "We  live  on,"  says  he,  at  that  date,  "from  day  to  day, 
 in  hopes  to  be  allowed  to  spend  the  winter  here,  my  wife 
 continuing  on  the  whole,  I  think,  nearly  as  well  as  when 
 we  left  the  West.  But  I  consider  myself  as  under  orders 
 to  be  ready  to  move  at  a  very  short  warning." 
 
 It  was  about  the  time  of  his  July  letter  that  the 
 Judicial  Committee  had  decided  an  appeal  by  a 
 clergyman  of  the  name  of  Long  against  the  Colo- 
 nial decision  of  an  action  he  had  brought  in  the  Su- 
 preme Court  there  against  the  Bishop  of  Capetown. 
 The  judgment  of  the  Committee  was  adverse  to  the 
 Bishop.  The  case  was  not  one  under  the  Church 
 Discipline  Act,  but  simply  a  Common  Law  appeal 
 from  the  court  in  the  colony.  I  cite  the  following 
 extract  from  Keble's  letter  for  several  reasons,  which 
 it  will  itself  suggest : — 
 
 "  As  to  Cape  Town,  I  said  that  about  legal  and  theo- 
 
Visit  to  Torquay.  499 
 
 logical  half  in  jest  to  Butterfield,  but  when  I  read  the  sen- 
 tence, I  saw  that  the  abstract  I  had  seen  of  it  was  erro- 
 neous, viz.  '  that  Synods  were  pronounced  altogether  ille- 
 gal j'  but  its  real  tenor  seems  to  me  a  gain  to  us,  in  dis- 
 countenancing voluntary  '  synods,'  framed,  for  the  nonce,  of 
 Laity  as  well  as  of  Clergy,  and  throwing  us  back  on  the 
 Common  Law  of  the  Church.  And  a  wiser  pen  than  mine, 
 writing  from  Bisley,  says  unasked,  '  To  me  it  seems  a  wise 
 decision,  and  what  in  the  end  will  produce  good.'  Indeed, 
 there  seems  but  one  opinion  about  it." 
 
 "  The  orders  to  move,"  which  he  spoke  of,  arrived 
 in  December.  On  the  4th  Sunday  in  Advent  he 
 wrote  to  me  : — 
 
 "  We  have  had  too  plain  warning  that  we  must  move. 
 She  has  not  had  a  regular  attack,  only  her  breath  is  very 
 weak,  and  not  near  so  fit  for  travelling  I  fear  as  last  year. 
 I  have  no  time  to  write  on  other  things  now ;  so  can  only 
 say,  our  dear  love,  and  1,000  thanks  for  your  kind  letter. 
 I  had  such  a  kind  one  from  our  Bishop  yesterday." 
 
 Mrs.  Keble  feared  the  long  journey  to  Penzance, 
 and  the  substance  of  the  letter  was  to  ask  me  help 
 in  finding  good  lodgings  for  them  at  Torquay.  I 
 had  advised  him  to  try  that  place.  His  letter  found 
 me  just  breaking  up  from  some  weeks'  stay  there  ; 
 but  his  god-daughter,  with  a  niece  of  mine  resident 
 there,  soon  found  him  a  comfortable  abode  in  a  house 
 called  Enderlie,  in  Croft-road,  and  on  the  3rd  of 
 January,  1864,  I  had  the  pleasure  of  receiving  from 
 him  a  cheerful  account  of  his  patient,  and  an  as- 
 surance that  they  were  comfortable. 
 
f  00  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 They  remained  at  Torquay  for  about  three  months, 
 and  I  need  scarcely  say  that  Keble  was  received  by 
 the  clergy  generally  with  kindness  and  respect,  and 
 by  some  of  them  with  more  than  even  those  words 
 import.  Enderlie  is  in  the  Tor  district  of  that 
 large  parish,  and  in  close  neighbourhood  to  St. 
 Luke's  Church  ;  he  delighted  in  attending  the  ser- 
 vices there,  and  was  very  much  drawn  to  the  in- 
 cumbent, Mr.  Harris,  and  his  father,  the  Incumbent 
 of  the  Mother  church  at  Tor,  which  is  at  no  great 
 distance.  He  was  not  slow  to  render  help  where  it 
 was  needed,  and,  as  at  Penzance,  he  always  pre- 
 ferred the  smallest  churches,  and  the  simplest  con- 
 gregations for  his  own  ministrations.  It  was  not, 
 however,  from  the  clergy  only,  that  he  and  Mrs. 
 Keble  received  the  kindest  attentions  ;  people  were 
 not  merely  delighted  to  do  him  honour,  their  hearts 
 seemed  to  flow  out  towards  him  with  love  and  grati- 
 tude, as  well  as  admiration.  But  he  shall  speak  for 
 himself  on  this  matter.  His  first  letter  from  Pen- 
 zance, (for  to  Penzance  they  went  from  Torquay,) 
 was  dated  April  1 8,  1 864  : — 
 
 "  My  dearest  Coleridge, 
 "  It  is,  indeed,  too  high  time  for  me  to  write  to  you  on 
 100  things,  and  first  of  all,  to  thank  you  over  and  over  for 
 your  good  and  timely  advice  about  Torquay.  You  heard 
 of  us  from  time  to  time  through  dear  Mrs.  Martyn,  and  the 
 rest  of  your  kind  allies  and  clanspeople  there,  who  seemed 
 as  if  they  could  not  do  enough  to  befriend  us.  On  the 
 whole,  considering  to  what  a  ripe  age  I  have  attained,  I 
 
Second  Visit  to  Penzance.  501 
 
 have  a  marvellously  fragrant  remembrance  of  Torquay  on 
 my  mind,  which  will  last  me,  I  dare  say,  to  the  end  of  my 
 brief  remaining  time.  The  Churches  and  the  Sundays  were 
 so  pleasant,  and  so  much  real  sympathy,  and  all  that  is  best 
 within  a  few  yards  of  us.  Charlotte  was  not  very  much  in 
 visiting,  or  in  visitable  order,  during  a  great  part  of  the 
 time,  so  that  we  did  not  make  so  much  as  we  should  have 
 wished  of  our  privileges ;  but  she  did  mend,  or,  at  least, 
 was  kept  from  suffering  as  she  would  have  done  at  home ; 
 so  as  to  make  us  very  thankful  that  we  took  your  good 
 advice,  and  went  there  when  we  did.  She  was  not  then 
 in  a  condition  to  go  much  further,  had  we  wished  it  ever 
 so  much.  And  so  when  the  Spring  weather  came,  and  we 
 got  on  here,  she  was  in  a  condition  to  enjoy  thoroughly  her 
 dear  old  friend,  the  open  sea,  to  the  very  edge  of  which  we 
 have  crept  as  close  as  ever  we  could,  our  house  being  within 
 about  1 2  feet  of  high-water  at  moderate  Spring  Tides.  And 
 we  see,  both  from  bed-rooms  and  sitting-room,  all  round  the 
 Bay  from  Mousehole  to  the  Lizard.  She  has  mended  upon 
 it,  as  in  old  days  ;  for  a  great  part  of  her  time  she  neither 
 coughs,  nor  suffers  neuralgia;  and  the  E.  wind  which  has 
 prevailed,  has  come  to  her  very  much  mitigated  by  the  sea. 
 She  goes  often  to  Church,  and  sometimes  can  take  a  toler- 
 able walk  downhill.  Altogether,  I  very  much  wish  that  I 
 could  invest  in  a  decent  sea-side  house  and  garden  some- 
 where in  this  climate,  with  a  good  aspect,  and  within  reach 
 of  a  good  Doctor ;  but  such  a  thing  is  more  easily  wished 
 for  than  found.  Sometimes  I  dream  of  combining  such 
 a  plan  with  being  Curate  of  Hursley,  (if  I  might,)  in  the 
 summer  time.  But  I  have  not  yet  said  anything  of  this  to 
 the  Patron ;  she  keeps  on  saying,  '  Let  us  try  another 
 winter.'  One  ought  not  to  listen  to  this  (?),  for  what  a  thing 
 it  would  be  if  one  made  the  trial  once  too  often." 
 
502  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 It  was  not  a  long  visit  which  they  paid  to  Pen- 
 zance at  this  time,  and  I  need  not  repeat  the  ac- 
 count which  I  have  given  as  to  Keble's  course 
 here,  or  the  reception  he  met  with  ;  but  I  think  I 
 must  not  withhold  part  of  a  communication  which 
 I  received  from  Mr.  Tyacke  long  after,  dated  from 
 St.  Levan,  to  which  he  had  been  removed  : — 
 
 "  One  trait  in  Mr.  Keble's  character,  and  one  essentially 
 Christian,  was  his  sympathy ;  this  I  had  the  opportunity  of 
 personally  experiencing  when  I  have  seen  him  in  Penzance, 
 since  I  came  here  to  live.  He  took  such  real  interest  in 
 the  character  and  progress  of  the  work  I  am  seeking  to  do 
 here ;  he  also  expressed  himself  with  such  kindliness  re- 
 specting the  position  of  Dissenters,  in  this  too  long  neg- 
 lected place,  as  shewed  the  loving  nature  of  his  heart. 
 
 "  His  humbling  humility,  too,  shewed  itself  here  as  else- 
 where, when  he  would  thank  one  for  coming  to  see  him, 
 and  put  himself  into  the  position  of  a  learner,  when  in  con- 
 versation he  asked  an  opinion  for  information. 
 
 "  I  seem  to  feel '.  The  Christian  Year'  a  different  book,  or 
 rather  a  book  of  greater  power  now  than  I  did  before,  and 
 I  am  thankful  to  be  able  to  do  so,  it  makes  me  reverence 
 his  memory  more." 
 
 I  cannot  help  attaching  importance  to  the  infer- 
 ences to  be  drawn  from  such  a  letter  as  this  ;  the 
 particular  circumstances  are  in  themselves  perhaps 
 not  very  remarkable  ;  but  as  naturally  drawn  traits, 
 which  an  intelligent  stranger,  (for  such  was  Mr. 
 Tyacke  to  Keble,)  observed  so  strongly,  they  give 
 us  accurately  the  character  to  which  they  belonged. 
 
Return  to  Hursley,  503 
 
 Keble's  next  letter  was  dated  on  the  29th  of  April 
 at  Dartington  Parsonage,  where  Mrs.  Keble  and  he 
 were  resting  in  their  way  home  ;  they  reached  Hurs- 
 ley  a  few  days  after,  and  remained  there  for  many 
 months. 
 
CHAPTER   XX. 
 
 SUBSCRIPTION  AND  OATHS  OF  THE  CLERGY. — RE- 
 TURN FROM  PENZANCE. — PRACTICE  AS  TO  CON- 
 FIRMATIONS.—  PARALYTIC  SEIZURE,  NOVEMBER, 
 1864.  —  SECOND  VISIT  TO  TORQUAY.  —  REMOVAL 
 TO  PENZANCE. — THE  COLENSO  APPEAL. — PASTO- 
 RAL LETTER  TO  THE  CONFIRMED  AT  HURSLEY. 
 — VISIT  AT  HEATH'S  COURT,  MAY  10. — RETURN  TO 
 HURSLEY. — ABOLITION  OF  TESTS  AT  OXFORD. — 
 MRS.  KEBLE'S  SEVERE  ILLNESS. — VISIT  OF  DR. 
 PUSEY  AND   DR.  NEWMAN. 
 
 IT  was  at  the  close  of  1 863,  or  very  early  in  1 864, 
 that  a  Royal  Commission  issued  to  consider  the 
 existing  laws  as  to  oaths  taken  and  subscriptions 
 made  by  the  Clergy.  The  late  excellent  Primate 
 was  placed  at  the  head  of  it,  the  Archbishops  of 
 York  and  Armagh,  and  several  other  Bishops,  were 
 members  ;  and  it  was  certain  that  it  was  not  issued 
 in  any  spirit  hostile  to  the  Church.  I  hardly  know, 
 however,  whether  at  first  it  was  an  unmixed  plea- 
 sure to  Keble,  that  Sir  William  Heathcote  and 
 myself  were  also  members.  Although  he  did  not 
 fear  the  spirit  in  which  the  Commission  issued,  and 
 by  which  its  functions  were  carefully  guarded,  he  saw 
 
Subscription  and  Oaths  of  the  Clergy.  505 
 
 clearly,  or  thought  he  saw,  that  the  real  motive  for 
 issuing  it  was  to  satisfy  men  who  did  not  in  truth  be- 
 lieve in  all  that  the  clergy  swore  to  and  subscribed  ; 
 and  he  was  apprehensive  that  in  the  desire  to  do  this 
 some  portion  of  vital  truth  might  be  conceded.  He 
 doubted,  too,  where  this  small  beginning  would  end. 
 Before  he  is  condemned  as  narrow  and  unreasonable 
 in  this,  some  of  the  publications  of  the  day,  and  their 
 acceptance,  as  well  as  the  state  of  religious  opinion 
 and  teaching  at  Oxford  and  elsewhere,  must  be 
 borne  in  mind.  The  strange  language  also  must 
 be  remembered,  which,  it  was  commonly  said,  had 
 proceeded  from  a  high  legal  authority  even  in  judg- 
 ment, as  to  the  meaning  of  such  a  word  for  example 
 as  "everlasting,"  in  reference  to  the  punishments  of 
 the  other  world.  Years  before  he  had  said  no  less 
 beautifully  than  forcibly  : — 
 
 "  Then  is  there  hope  for  such  as  die  unblest, 
 
 That  angel  wings  may  waft  them  to  the  shore, 
 Nor  need  th'  unready  virgin  strike  her  breast, 
 
 Nor  wait  desponding  round  the  bridegroom's  door. 
 
 "  But  where  is  then  the  stay  of  contrite  hearts  ? 
 Of  old  they  lean'd  on  Thy  eternal  word, 
 But  with  the  sinner's  fear  their  hope  departs, 
 
 Fast  link'd  as  Thy  great  Name  to  Thee,  O  Lord  \" 
 
 And  now  he  wrote  : — 
 
 "  There  is  never  a  boy  or  girl  going  up  and  down  the 
 
 ■  "Christian  Year,"  Second  Sunday  in  Lent. 
 
506  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 street  but  can  catch  in  a  moment  the  idea  of  there  being 
 no  Hell,  and  can  apply  it  when  tempted  to  deadly  sin; 
 and,  in  fact,  who  can  tell  how  many  souls  may  have  been 
 already  lost  by  the  mere  broaching  of  the  idea." 
 
 He  was  from  this  and  other  circumstances  in  a 
 state  of  mind  more  than  commonly  sensitive ;  and 
 he  was  at  all  times  especially  alive  to  anything  that 
 touched  the  Common  Prayer-book.  When  we  of 
 the  Commission  were  considering  the  declaration  of 
 "  unfeigned  assent  and  consent  to  all  and  everything 
 contained  and  prescribed  in  and  by  it,"  which  the 
 Act  of  Uniformity  required  to  be  made  upon  pre- 
 sentation or  collation  to  any  benefice,  and  I  con- 
 sulted him  on  some  proposed  changes  of  these  words, 
 he  answered  me  thus  : — 
 
 "  I  have  nothing  to  say  but  what  appears  to  me  the 
 plainest  common  sense,  as  much  within  the  reach  of  the 
 simplest  labourer  believing,  as  within  my  reach.  It  is  all 
 comprised  in  two  points,  i.  That  the  Teacher  should  be 
 pledged  to  the  Faith  and  Practice  of  the  Church,  and  2, 
 that  the  Taught  should  know  them  to  be  so  pledged.  With 
 a  view  to  the  former,  supposing  men  to  be  honest,  (a  thing 
 implied  in  the  very  notion  of  subscription  ex  animoy)  I 
 don't  see  that  there  is  any  fundamental  difference  between 
 one  of  the  suggested  forms  and  another.  But  in  regard  of 
 the  latter,  the  right  of  believing  Laity  to  be  satisfied  that 
 they  and  their  children  shall  be  taught  according  to  their 
 belief,  these  two  things  occur  to  me,  ist.  that  the  mere 
 cry  for  alteration  is  to  such  a  ground  of  suspicion ;  for  it 
 naturally  occurs  to  them,  why  do  people  want  this  altered, 
 
Subscription  and  Oaths  of  the  Clergy.         507 
 
 except  because  they  do  not  quite  believe  it  themselves  ? 
 And  what  is  more  alarming,  it  is  not  denied,  it  is  dwelt  on 
 in  Parliament  as  a  great  reason  for  the  change  that  good 
 and  clever  men  are  kept  out,  or,  being  within,  are  made 
 uncomfortable,  through  lack  of  some  such  alteration.  And 
 what  other  interpretation  can  one  put  on  the  proposal  to 
 leave  out  the  'assensus  and  consensus,'  than  to  license  in 
 holy  ministrations  language  which  the  heart  inwardly  dis- 
 avows ?  This  being  so,  one  (2)  must  prefer  that  among  the 
 proposed  forms  which  least  disturbs  the  existing  practice. 
 
 And  that  if  I  understand  it  rightly,  is '  amendment  with 
 
 Mr. '  further  resolution.     I  wish  we  could  retain  the 
 
 '  assensus  and  consensus'  somehow ;  one  could  have  done 
 without  it,  perhaps,  but  being  there,  its  omission  will  be 
 a  positive  act,  and  is  sure  to  have  the  positive  consequence 
 above-mentioned." 
 
 If  my  dear  friend  could  have  been  present  at  the 
 meetings  of  the  Commissioners,  and  witnessed  the 
 spirit  which  was  manifested  in  all  their  discussions, 
 I  think  his  mind  would  have  been  made  more  easy, 
 and,  I  may  venture  to  say,  disabused  of  some  pre- 
 judices. Unless  I  am  mistaken,  both  Houses  of 
 Convocation  adopted  the  conclusions  to  which  we 
 came.  It  is  too  early  undoubtedly  to  speak  of  any 
 fruit  which  they  have  borne  ;  they  have  been  ac- 
 cepted, and  I  believe  acted  on  gratefully  and  heart- 
 ily, and  not  less  by  one  party  in  the  Church  than 
 the  other. 
 
 Keble  went  on  in  the  same  letter  to  say : — 
 
 "  Since  the  assent  of  Convocation  is  recited  in  the  pre- 
 
508  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 amble  of  the  Act  establishing  the  Prayer-book,  ought  not 
 this  change  in  the  Act  to  be  first  laid  before  Convocation, 
 seeing  that  it  (the  change)  will  relax  the  binding  force  not 
 of  this  or  that  part,  but  of  the  whole  ?" 
 
 Keble  was  anticipating  changes  in  kind  and  de- 
 gree very  far  exceeding  what  were  in  the  end  re- 
 commended and  became  law ;  but  I  confess  in  the 
 principle  of  this  last  recommendation  he  seems  to 
 me  quite  right,  and  that  it  was  a  jealousy  of  the 
 Spiritual  power,  quite  unworthy  of  the  undoubted 
 greatness  of  Parliament,  which  refused  to  admit  in 
 the  Preamble  of  the  Act  passed,  any  recital  ex- 
 pressing in  any  way  that  Convocation  had  con- 
 curred in  the  provisions.  The  statute  would  surely 
 have  been  just  as  entirely  the  act  of  the  legisla- 
 ture only. 
 
 They  returned  from  Penzance  in  April,  (1864,) 
 and  continued  at  Hursley  till  towards  the  end  of 
 November : — 
 
 "  My  wife's  behaviour,"  (as  he  called  it,  writing  in  Sep- 
 tember,) "  has  been  tolerably  good,  yet  not  without  neu- 
 ralgia, and  shortness  of  breath,  coming  exceptionally,  and 
 generally  to  be  accounted  for,  so  that  we  are  not  in  a  way 
 to  flatter  ourselves  that  we  shall  make  out  the  winter  here  ; 
 but  we  do  hope,  at  least  she  does,  to  weather  it  until 
 Christmas." 
 
 Many  friends  visited  them,  and  they  made  one 
 visit   to    Church    Crookham,   where   Mrs.  and    Miss 
 
Return  to  Hursley.  509 
 
 M.  A.  Dyson  were   now  living  ;    he   speaks  of  this 
 thus  characteristically  : — 
 
 "  By-the-bye,  what  a  charming  arrangement  that  is  of  the 
 Dysons  at  Crookham.  We  were  never  there  until  this 
 summer,  and  then  for  2  days  in  the  very  hot  weather.  All 
 the  time  I  had  almost  a  sense  of  his  presence  ;  everything 
 seemed  so  exactly  as  if  he  had  settled  it  for  them,  and  then 
 gone  out  on  a  journey." 
 
 In  the  meantime  he  was  as  active  as  ever  in  the 
 discharge  of  his  pastoral  duties  ;  what  that  activity 
 was,  I  shall  have  occasion  to  shew  before  I  con- 
 clude. A  confirmation  was  to  take  place  in  Hursley 
 early  in  1865.  There  was  no  one  of  those  duties  in 
 regard  to  which  his  practice  was  more  careful  and 
 laborious  than  in  the  preparation  of  the  candidates 
 for  this. 
 
 Mr.  Young,  to  whom  I  am  under  many  and  great 
 obligations,  has  furnished  me  with  so  detailed  an 
 account  of  his  course  in  regard  to  this  most  im- 
 portant pastoral  duty,  that  I  cannot  do  better  than 
 introduce  it  here  : — 
 
 "  He  took,"  he  says,  "great  pains  in  preparing  the  young 
 people  for  Confirmation ;  sometimes,  as  soon  as  one  Con- 
 firmation was  over,  making  a  list  of  those  whose  turn  would 
 come  next,  and  at  all  times  beginning  the  preparation 
 several  months  beforehand.  His  usual  course  was  to  go 
 through  in  order,  first  the  Baptismal  Service,  then  the  Cate- 
 chism, then  the  Confirmation  Service,  and,  lastly,  the  Office 
 for  Holy  Communion.      He  took  a  certain  portion  each 
 
5 1 0  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 time,  making  perhaps  20  or  30  lessons  in  the  whole.  He 
 usually  wrote  down  on  paper  3  or  4  passages  of  Scripture, 
 bearing  on  the  subject  of  the  next  lesson,  which  he  re- 
 quired to  be  learnt  by  heart,  or  carefully  studied ;  and 
 he  was  always  very  particular  in  ascertaining  whether  the 
 Lesson,  as  he  called  it,  had  been  attended  to.  Wherever 
 it  was  practicable,  he  led  his  pupils  up  to  their  first  Com- 
 munion immediately  after  Confirmation  ;  but  in  many  cases 
 he  was  satisfied,  if  they  promised  to  continue  under  instruc- 
 tion. One  class  of  boys  came  to  him  for  more  than  a  twelve- 
 month, and  read  through  with  him  different  parts  of  the 
 Bible,  according  to  their  own  choice,  before  he  could  per- 
 suade them  to  turn  their  minds  distinctly  to  preparation 
 for  Holy  Communion.  I  believe  his  rule  as  to  refusing  to. 
 recommend  for  Confirmation  those  who  would  not  pledge 
 themselves  to  communicate,  became  stricter  as  years  passed 
 on ;  but  I  should  say  generally  that  he  was  always  very 
 much  guided  by  circumstances  in  regard  to  his  adherence 
 to  particular  rules." 
 
 I  will  add  one  or  two  particulars  supplied  to  me 
 by  a  lady,  who  had  scarcely  less  personal  knowledge 
 than  Mr.  Young  : — 
 
 "  One  year,  at  the  beginning  of  Lent,  he  gave  notice  that 
 there  would  be  a  Confirmation  at  the  end  of  Lent  in  the 
 next  year,  and  therefore  desired  to  receive  at  once  the 
 names  of  those  who  would  then  be  of  ripe  age  for  Con- 
 firmation. The  Children,  whom  he  prepared,  came  to  him 
 either  in  classes,  or  singly,  every  week  for  about  a  year  be- 
 fore the  administration  of  the  Rite.  He  took  those  of  dif- 
 ferent ranks  and  ages  separately,  as  needing  a  difference 
 in  the  kind  of  teaching  to  be  given  •  and  as  there  were  few 
 of  the  Upper  Class  at  the  same  time  under  preparation, 
 
Confirmation  at  Hursley.  5 1 1 
 
 these  usually  came  to  him  each  alone  every  week.  The 
 knowledge  of  the  Bible  possessed  by  the  Children  long 
 before  their  preparation  for  Confirmation  began,  and  the 
 way  in  which  it  was  interwoven  in  their  minds  with  the 
 Creeds  and  the  Catechism,  was  something  uncommon,  in- 
 deed. If  farm  lads  could  not  come  to  him  for  press  of 
 work,  he  went  to  them,  one  by  one,  however  far  oft"." 
 
 "  Latterly,"  writes  to  me  another  Lady,  "  he  used  to 
 bring  the  first  class  of  boys  to  the  Vicarage  on  Sunday 
 Mornings,  and  teach  them  in  his  Study,  the  door,  as  usual, 
 standing  wide  open  all  the  time.  He  said  he  did  it  in 
 hopes  it  might  make  the  big  boys  like  coming,  who  might 
 think  it  beneath  them  to  go  to  the  School.  He  used  to 
 say,  '  I  like  them  very  much,  if  they  would  only  like  me  ; 
 but  they  always  do  much  better  as  long  as  they  are  under 
 my  wife.' 
 
 "  If  a  servant  came  to  him  who  was  ignorant,  or  who  had 
 not  become  a  Communicant,  he  always  taught  her  himself. 
 I  have  known  him  take  the  most  ignorant  girl  day  after  day 
 alone,  carefully  instructing  her ;  and  although  she  had  been 
 confirmed,  deferring  her  first  Communion  from  week  to  week, 
 until  he  had  reason  to  hope  she  was  prepared  for  it" 
 
 I  could  multiply  statements  of  this  kind,  as  to  this 
 part  of  his  pastoral  duty,  but  I  will  only  add  now 
 the  impression  which  I  myself  received,  when  in  his 
 house.  It  seemed  to  me  that  he  and  Mrs.  Keble 
 were  substantially  the  servants  of  the  parishioners. 
 To  attend  to  their  wants,  to  help  them  in  sickness, 
 trouble,  or  difficulty,  at  their  convenience,  not  his 
 or  her's,  or  that  of  the  guests  in  the  house,  was 
 evidently  the  understood  rule  and  practice. 
 
5 1 2  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 What  wonder,  then,  if  under  such  a  course  of 
 labour  for  years,  such  constant  anxiety  on  her  ac- 
 count, and  such  frequent  distress  in  regard  to  Church 
 matters,  his  constitution  at  last  broke  down.  My 
 narrative  left  him  half  hoping  that  Mrs.  Keble's 
 health  would  enable  them  to  stay  over  Christmas  at 
 Hursley ;  and  he  expressed  no  uneasiness  whatever 
 about  his  own.  But  on  the  night  of  St.  Andrew's 
 Day,  the  30th  of  November,  while  he  was  sitting 
 alone  after  Mrs.  Keble  had  retired,  writing  a  letter  for 
 publication  on  a  matter  deeply  interesting  to  him, 
 he  was  struck  with  palsy  on  the  left  side  and  right 
 arm  ;  the  latter  part  of  his  writing  was  afterwards 
 found  to  be  illegible  ;  but  he  did  not  lose  his  con- 
 sciousness, or  his  presence  of  mind.  He  went  up  to 
 her  room,  and  they  knelt  down  as  usual,  and  said  their 
 prayers  together  ;  his  voice  was  observably  indistinct ; 
 and  at  the  end,  asking  her  if  she  had  remarked  any- 
 thing, he  held  out  his  hand,  which  was  losing  its 
 power.  Medical  aid  was  sent  for  at  once,  but  during 
 the  night  the  symptoms  became  worse  ;  from  the 
 morning,  however,  they  were  alleviated. 
 
 His  medical  attendants  who  knew  his  constitution 
 well,  the  anxieties  he  had  long  been  under,  and  his 
 habits  of  labour,  advised  his  removal  westward  with- 
 out any  delay  as  soon  as  his  strength  should  be  equal 
 to  the  journey  to  Torquay ;  above  all  things  they 
 were  urgent  for  his  taking  rest.  They  attributed 
 the  attack  to  over-exercise  of  the  thinking  powers. 
 
A  ttack  of  Paralysis.  5  1 3 
 
 If  he  would  rest,  there  was  every  reason  to  hope  for 
 nearly,  if  not  a  complete,  restoration  of  his  health ; 
 and  none  without  it.  Before  this  illness,  they  had 
 settled  to  go  to  Penzance  immediately  after  Christ- 
 mas, and  their  lodgings  had  been  secured  there  from 
 the  28th  of  December.  So  long  a  delay  would  not 
 have  been  proper,  and  the  distance  to  Torquay  was 
 more  convenient  to  the  strength  of  both,  and  ac- 
 cordingly to  Torquay  they  came.  The  medical 
 opinions  there  entirely  concurred  with  that  given 
 at  Hursley.  Keble  said  he  was  not  aware  of  having 
 over-worked  himself  recently  ;  and  the  reply  was  ob- 
 vious, he  had  not  been  aware  of  it,  because  he  had 
 for  so  many  years  been  in  the  habit. 
 
 He  promised  obedience,  and  as  far  as  he  could 
 he  kept  his  promise,  that  is,  he  read  less  and  lightly, 
 and  wrote  little  ;  indeed,  writing  was  now  more  than 
 ever  a  wearisome  process ;  its  character  was  much 
 altered  for  the  worse  ;  but  how  could  he  prevent 
 thoughts  ?  Medical  advice  of  this  kind  is  often 
 given  ;  but  it  seems  to  me,  the  weaker  the  body, 
 and  the  organs  of  the  brain,  the  less  control  does 
 the  will  exercise  over  them.  Habitual  trains  of 
 thought  can  in  such  a  state  be  almost  as  little  put 
 aside  as  distressing  dreams  in  illness.  And  as  such 
 dreams  in  such  a  state  of  the  frame  are  sometimes 
 more  than  ordinarily  distinct  and  vivid,  so  it  seems 
 probable  that  our  waking  meditations  may  be  per- 
 fectly clear  and  correct  in  the  state  in  which  Keble 
 
 Ll 
 
5 14  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 was,  only  that  we  cannot  exercise  the  control  of  the 
 will  over  them,  nor  bid  the  mind  be  still.  "  Indeed," 
 wrote  Mrs.  Keble  to  me,  "he  does  quite  mean  to  be 
 prudent,  but  he  can  scarcely  help  thinking"  And  it 
 seems  as  natural  that  he  should  be  thinking  on  the 
 subjects  which  painfully  and  habitually  occupied  his 
 mind  when  in  health,  as  that  our  dreams  by  night 
 should  borrow  much  of  their  train  and  colouring 
 from  what  may  have  much  occupied  or  disturbed 
 our  thoughts  by  day. 
 
 It  was  speedily  found  that  they  could  not  move  on 
 to  Penzance  so  soon  as  they  had  intended.  They 
 were,  however,  well  placed  at  Torquay.  All  that 
 could  be  done  to  cheer  them  they  received  ;  he 
 was  not  allowed  to  see  many  persons,  but  they  had 
 the  great  comfort  of  Miss  Coxwell's  and  Mr.  James 
 Young's  attendance ;  these  two  formed  part  of  their 
 family,  as  it  were,  and  could  never  be  in  the  way ; 
 they  lightened  the  nursing  and  attendance,  which 
 would  have  been  too  much  for  Mrs.  Keble  unas- 
 sisted, though  providentially  she  as  yet  bore  up 
 well.  I  was  forbidden  by  my  own  medical  friend 
 to  leave  home,  and  I  could  render  no  help,  ex- 
 cept by  answering  for  him  some  questions  as  to 
 Church  matters,  which  he  had  not  been  able  to 
 attend  to. 
 
 Early  in  the  year  he  took  up  his  pen  again 
 to  write  to  me,  and  he  dated  from  Penzance ; 
 he  wrote  shortly,  and  in  a  sadly  altered  character, 
 
Illness  of  Mrs.  Keble.  5 1 5 
 
 but  with  his  usual  overflowing  affection.      I  give  it 
 
 entire  : — 
 
 "F.tSi/an.,  1865. 
 "  Dearest  Friend, 
 
 "  You  will  be  sorry  to  hear  that  my  dear  wife  had  one  of 
 her  very  bad  attacks  on  Saturday  Morning.  It  soon  sub- 
 sided, D.  G.,  but  left  her  of  course  very  weak;  however, 
 she  was  down  stairs  yesterday  evening,  and  is  again  this 
 morning.  But  the  attack  coming  here  was  a  disappoint- 
 ment. At  home,  indeed,  it  might  have  been  much  worse. 
 The  weather  has  been  very  sharp  here. 
 
 "  I  am  very  comfortable,  and  were  it  not  for  my  wrist 
 and  voice,  should  hardly  know  that  there  was  anything  the 
 matter  with  me.  Thinking,  so  far  as  it  has  come  to  me,  has 
 not  seemed  to  hurt  me.     I  do  not  seek  it. 
 
 "  God  reward  and  bless  you  for  all  your  great  love,  and 
 all  yours  with  you.     Your  most  affecte,  J.  K." 
 
 "  C.  is  most  thankful  for  your  letter,  and  very  sorry  she 
 could  not  answer  it." 
 
 However  loyally  he  might  endeavour  to  obey  the 
 injunctions  of  his  medical  advisers,  there  was  one 
 cause  of  anxiety  over  which  he  had  no  control,  and 
 which  almost  continually  pressed  on  him  for  the  re- 
 mainder of  his  life,  I  mean  Mrs.  Keble's  illnesses, 
 which  henceforward  were  scarcely  intermittent.  And 
 now  as  she  was  recovering  from  her  severe  attack, 
 she  had  the  misfortune  of  a  very  severe  scald  in  one 
 foot,  which  in  her  then  state,  and  with  her  delicate 
 constitution,  produced  so  much  injury,  and  became 
 so  serious,  as  to  compel  recourse  to  a  second  medical 
 adviser.    The  danger  apprehended  was  from  a  failure 
 
5 1 6  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 of  strength,  and  the  difficulty  how  to  keep  it  up  with- 
 out irritating  the  chest.  "  But,"  wrote  he,  as  he  sum- 
 med it  up,  "  they  are  good  fellows,  and  seem  to  know 
 what  they  are  about.     The  rest  is  in  His  hands." 
 
 This  is  an  extract  from  a  note  dated  on  the  6th  of 
 February.  He  wrote  short  notes  to  me  about  her 
 progress  from  time  to  time  all  through  that  month. 
 On  the  ioth  of  March  he  writes  still  from  Penzance, 
 and  gives  this  account  of  himself  and  her  : — 
 
 "  All  thanks  for  your  much  love.  I  wish  I  could  answer 
 it  as  I  ought ;  but  my  writing  powers  do  not  sensibly  im- 
 prove, and  I  am  told  not  to  try  them  much.  Ditto  with 
 speaking;  but  I  can  read  and  think  (D.  G.)  without  finding 
 any  inconvenience.  In  other  respects  I  seem  to  myself  well, 
 only  not  up  to  my  ordinary  amount  of  walking.  Charlotte 
 is  regularly  down  in  our  drawing-room  from  after  breakfast 
 till  after  tea,  and  the  wound  on  her  foot,  (now  after  5  weeks 
 reduced  to  about  the  size  of  a  shilling,)  is  not  I  hope  much 
 of  a  trouble  to  her.  She  is  in  other  respects  pretty  well  for 
 her,  and  always  cheerful.  The  weather  has  mostly  been 
 very  pleasant ;  your  snow,  if  it  came  at  all  to  us,  came  in 
 the  shape  of  coldish  rain.  I  wish  Torquay  had  not  proved 
 such  a  failure  to  you." 
 
 The  Oxford  contest  of  this  year  was  already  in 
 preparation,  and  he  was  sensitive  about  Sir  William 
 Heathcote,  whose  seat  no  one  wished  to  disturb,  but 
 as  to  whose  course  in  regard  of  what  could  be  no 
 more  than  a  mere  understanding  between  the  other 
 two  candidates  there  was  some  little  delicacy  : — 
 
 "  Can  there,"  wrote  Keble,  "  be  possibly  any  doubt 
 about  H.'s  position  on  the  Oxford  Poll.    I  should  think  that 
 
The  Stay  at  Penzance.  5 1 7 
 
 all  the  Harclys  and  the  majority  of  the  others  would  surely 
 support  him." 
 
 It  is  well  known  that  this  expectation  was  fully 
 justified. 
 
 After  some  words  about  his  brother  and  neph 
 he  ends  thus  cheerily  : — 
 
 "  My  wife  has  the  most  charming  weekly  letters  from  Ch. 
 Yonge,  and  she  keeps  her  supplied  with  the  most  char:. 
 French  Books.    Moreover,  we  solace  ourselves  with  a  nightly 
 7'ubber  or  two,  a  great  step  in  old  folks'  education.    With  all 
 love  from  us  both,  I  am  most  anect;r  yours,  J.  K." 
 
 I  believe  this  nightly  rubber  was,  indeed,  as  he 
 calls  it,  "  a  step  in  old  folks'  education,"  with  him ; 
 at  least,  I  never  remember  seeing  him  have  recourse 
 to  the  innocent  pastime  in  earlier  life. 
 
 I  do  not  remember  what  book  I  had  sent  him, 
 which  he  so  kindly  acknowledges  on  the  24th  of 
 March  :— 
 
 "  Dearest  Friend, 
 '*  First  thank  you  again  and  again  for  that  beautiful  book, 
 beautiful  in  every  sense.     It  is  so  refreshing  to  open  a  col- 
 lection e?itireiy  of  old  and  tried  gems ;  tho'  far  the  greater 
 .  A  them,  I  must  confess,  are  new  to  me.     We  are  both 
 of  us,  D.  G.,  reasonably  well,  though  I  cannot  boast  much 
 :  on,  as  you  see.    Nor  is  Ch.  able  to  get  out  at  all ; 
 nor  has  her  foot  even  as  yet  quite  healed.     I  think  the  E. 
 Wind,  which  is  here  as  everywhere  else,  though  mitigated, 
 is  against  both  of  us." 
 
 The  handwriting  of  this  letter  was,  indeed,  very 
 feeble,   but    it   was   much   longer  than    any  he   had 
 
5 1 8  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 written  before  since  his  illness  ;  for  this  was  the  time, 
 I  think,  when  the  issue  between  the  Bishop  of  Cape 
 Town  and  Bishop  Colenso  was  submitted  to  the 
 Judicial  Committee  ;  and  he  looked  on  that  submis- 
 sion, in  the  first  instance,  on  the  part  of  the  Govern- 
 ment, and  the  question  being  entertained  by  the 
 Committee  at  all,  as  grievances.  It  is  well  known 
 that  the  appeal  was  finally  entertained,  and  decided 
 in  favour  of  the  appellant  ;  the  lamentable  and  per- 
 haps unavoidable  consequences  are  also  well  known  ; 
 but  this  is  not  the  place  to  enlarge  on  them.  I  men- 
 tion the  matter,  because  in  some  sort  it  is  part  of 
 Keble's  biography,  and  because  there  is  no  doubt 
 that  the  general  subject  formed  to  the  end  of  his 
 life  one  of  the  sources  of  distress,  which  helped  to 
 break  down  his  strength,  and  accelerated  its  close. 
 
 The  decision  of  the  Appeal,  it  is  right  to  add, 
 satisfied  him,  as  he  understood  it.  In  a  letter  writ- 
 ten by  Mrs.  Keble  under  his  dictation,  on  the  31st  of 
 March,  he  says  : — 
 
 "  I  see  most  thankfully  that  the  decision  annuls  Colenso's 
 Episcopate,  (meaning  of  course  his  territorial  jurisdiction,) 
 and  if  I  understand  it  rightly,  almost  all  the  Colonial  Sees 
 as  much  as  it  does  the  Metropolitan's  claim,  and  therefore 
 virtually  leaves  the  matter  to  be  settled  by  the  Churchmen 
 of  the  two  dioceses.  And  what  I  pray  and  hope  may  be 
 done  is, — 
 
 "  1.  That  this  may  be  thoroughly  and  openly  recognised 
 by  the  authorities  in  England. 
 
The  Coleuso  Judgment  519 
 
 "  2.  That  the  will  of  Natal  may  be  fairly  and  fully  ascer- 
 tained, (that  of  Capetown  is  ascertained  without 
 a  doubt). 
 
 "3.  That  so  much  of  Natal  as  may  wish  to  continue, 
 (what  it  has  supposed  itself  hitherto,)  a  See  in  the 
 province  of  Capetown,  may  be  allowed  to  elect  its 
 own  Bishop,  and  Capetown  to  consecrate  him. 
 
 "  4.  That  the  Metropolitan  with  his  Suffragans  may  freely 
 exercise  the  prerogative  inherent  in  them,  of  cen- 
 suring, and  if  need  be,  excommunicating  any  heretic, 
 Bishop  or  other,  who  may  be  molesting  the  faithful 
 within  the  Province. 
 
 "  5.  All,  of  course,  subject  to  the  correction  of  the 
 Courts  temporal,  in  respect  of  any  temporal  wrong 
 sustained." 
 
 Such  were  Keble's  not  unreasonable  wishes  ;  we 
 know  how  far  they  seem  even  now  from  being  accom- 
 plished ;  nay,  how  disturbing  even  to  the  Church 
 at  home  have  been  the  miserable  distractions  of  the 
 English  Church  in  Southern  Africa.  It  is  a  very 
 painful  subject  to  think  on.  Lawyers,  who  con- 
 sidered the  matter,  had  long  suspected  that  the 
 Colonial  Episcopate  in  many  of  the  colonies  stood 
 upon  a  very  sandy  foundation  as  to  jurisdiction  and 
 discipline.  There  was  a  hope,  which  people  were 
 but  too  glad  to  indulge  in,  that  by  God's  bless- 
 ing on  Christian  holiness,  discretion,  and  temper, 
 years  might  elapse  before  the  solidity  of  the  foun- 
 dation in  these  respects  might  be  tried.  If  this  had 
 been  granted  time  might  have  consolidated  it ;  acts 
 
5  20  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 would  in  all  probability  have  been  done,  and  ac- 
 quiesced in,  and  the  result  have  amounted  to  ac- 
 ceptance and  consent;  so  presumptions  would  have 
 arisen,  to  which  Courts  of  Law  would  have  pro- 
 perly allowed  great  weight.  Unfortunately  such 
 events  occurred  as  made  it  necessary  to  examine 
 the  foundation  too  soon,  and  the  original  defect 
 was  laid  open.  It  is  very  convenient  to  lay  the 
 blame  now,  in  the  particular  instance,  on  the  Metro- 
 politan Bishop,  but  it  may  surely  be  said,  without 
 vindicating  his  conduct  in  every  step,  that  this  is 
 most  unjust.  The  Law  Officers  at  home,  whoever 
 they  were,  on  whose  authority  the  Patent  issued, 
 ought  to  be  answerable  for  its  worthlessness.  The 
 Bishop  may  have  committed  errors  of  conduct  in  the 
 course  of  the  long  warfare  in  which  he  has  been 
 engaged  ;  naturally  enough  in  the  commencement 
 he  assumed  the  authority  of  the  Crown,  and  the 
 validity  of  the  Patents  which  it  had  issued.  But 
 the  inherent  defect  depended  on  circumstances  on 
 the  one  hand,  and  on  legal  principles  on  the  other, 
 which  ought  to  have  been  well  known  and  appre- 
 ciated by  the  legal  advisers  of  the  Queen.  To  state 
 this  may  give  offence,  but  at  the  hazard  of  that, 
 what  it  is  just  to  state  ought  to  be  stated. 
 
 I  turn  with  pleasure  from  these  remarks  to  a  sub- 
 ject far  more  agreeable  to  think  on.  On  the  28th  of 
 March,  1865,  the  Confirmation  took  place  at  Hursley, 
 in  the  preparation  for  which  Keble  had  been  inter- 
 
Confirmation  at  Hnrslcy.  5  2 1 
 
 rupted  by  his  illness.  It  should  seem  to  have  been 
 the  first  time  that  he  had  been  absent  on  such  an 
 occasion,  and  now,  when  the  day  arrived,  his  heart 
 was  with  the  young  ones  of  his  flock.  He  sent  to 
 them  from  Penzance  in  proof  of  this  an  address, 
 which  seems  to  me  so  valuable  in  itself,  and  so  cha- 
 racteristic of  him,  so  worthy  to  be  preserved,  and  yet 
 so  likely  to  be  lost,  that  I  feel  it  right  to  insert  it 
 here  at  length,  and  in  its  place  in  point  of  time  : — 
 
 "  To  the  Newly-Confirmed  at  Hursley. 
 "March  28,  1865. 
 
 "  It  is  a  real  grief  to  me  that  I  am  not  able  to  be  with 
 you  on  this,  as  on  former  Confirmation  Days.  But  1  may 
 be  able,  by  God's  help,  to  say  a  word  to  you  now  which  shall 
 remain  with  you  and  do  you  good  in  time  of  temptation. 
 
 •'  What  shall  the  word  be,  my  Children? 
 
 "  Our  Lord  Himself  seems  to  have  given  it  to  us  in  the 
 second  Lesson  for  this  morning, — St.  John  xv.,  '  abide ;' — 
 over  and  over  He  says  it, — 'Abide  in  Me,  and  I  in  you.' 
 
 "  You  are  now  His,  and  He  is  yours.  Doubt  it  not,  but 
 earnestly  believe  it. 
 
 "  If  you  have  come  here  to-day  with  a  good  and  true 
 mind  towards  Him,  the  Holy  Spirit  has  come  to  you  in  the 
 laying  on  of  hands,  and  has  sealed  you  afresh,  as  He  had 
 before  sealed  you  in  Baptism. 
 
 "  All  henceforth  will  depend  on  your  keeping  this  Seal  un- 
 broken ;  and  that  can  be  only  in  one  way,  by  watching. 
 
 "  Watch  yourselves,  then,  dear  Children,  in  all  your 
 ways.  Whenever  Christ's  Spirit  in  your  heart  says  to  you, 
 1  Do  not  this  thing, — draw  back  your  hand,  look  another 
 way,  think  of  something  else, — for  this  thing  I  hate,' — take 
 
522  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 care  to  attend  to  Him,  and  obey  the  gracious  warning  at 
 once.  And  when  the  good  Spirit  whispers,  '  Do  this,'  do  it 
 at  once  for  His  sake.  For  instance,  I  know  that  He  is 
 now  putting  you  in  mind  of  Holy  Communion. 
 
 "  Let  nothing  tempt  you  to  lose  time  about  It,  but  go 
 directly  to  your  Minister,  and  tell  him  you  wish  to  be  pre- 
 pared for  It,  if  you  have  not  done  so  already ;  for  depend 
 upon  it,  that  Bread  is  as  necessary  for  your  Soul's  Life,  as 
 your  daily  bread  is  for  the  life  of  your  body. 
 
 "  Thus  you  will  be  watching  your  ways  ;  and  that  you 
 may  have  Grace  and  Power  to  do  this,  you  must  watch 
 your  Prayers  too.  You  must  try  always  to  mean  what  you 
 say,  when  you  ask  God  to  keep  you  from  sin,  and  give  you 
 more  Grace. 
 
 "  So  doing  you  will  Abide  in  Christ,  and  be  sure  He  will 
 abide  in  you.  There  may  be  sorrow  on  the  road,  but  all 
 will  go  right  in  the  end,  for  you  will  see  His  Face  with  joy. 
 And,  oh  !  how  gladly  will  you  then  remember  this  day,  if 
 for  your  dear  Lord's  sake  you  shall  have  made  it  a  day  of 
 such  good  beginnings. 
 
 "  Do  not  then  delay,  but  be  found  watching,  the  very 
 first  time  you  are  tried. 
 
 "  God  grant  that  it  may  be  so  with  each  one  of  you. 
 This  is  the  earnest  prayer  of 
 
 "  Your  loving  Father  and  Servant  in  Christ, 
 "  John  Keble." 
 
 On  the  1 8th  of  April  he  wrote  a  cheering  ac- 
 count of  Mrs.  Keble  ;  they  were  planning  their  re- 
 turn home,  and  promised  us  a  visit  on  their  way. 
 Of  himself,  he  says  : — 
 
 "  I  have  not  for  a  good  time  found  much  change  in 
 
Last  Visit  to  Penzance.  523 
 
 myself,  but  I  think  I  can  walk  farther,  and  perhaps  read  and 
 write  better ;  still  I  don't  feel  as  if  I  could  do  my  duty  at 
 home,  or  a  fair  share  of  it,  but  nous  verrons." 
 
 On  the  19th  he  wrote  again,  having  made  some 
 mistake  as  to  the  dates  of  their  intended  movements, 
 and  says  of  himself,  "  I  fear  that  it  will  be  a  very 
 small  fraction  of  my  duty  that  I  shall  be  able  to  do 
 myself." 
 
 They  left  Penzance  after  all  not  until  the  first 
 week  of  May,  and  he  wrote  on  the  9th  as  to  some 
 particulars  in  regard  to  his  visit  to  us,  and  thus  he 
 sums  up  as  to  this  his  last  visit  to  Penzance : — 
 
 "  I  am  very  thankful  to  have  so  good  a  chance  of  a  few 
 hours  with  you  ;  the  news  from  Stinchcombe  makes  every 
 hour  seem  more  precious,  and  every  surviving  friend,  and 
 indeed  every  departed  one,  dearer.  My  wife  is  less  of  a 
 walker  than  I  had  hoped  she  might  have  been  by  this  time. 
 Penzance,  though  it  was  indeed  a  shelter  from  the  extreme 
 cold,  was  very  trying  from  the  spasmodic  attack  and  scalded 
 foot,  which  came  together,  and  from  the  Bronchitis  which 
 followed,  and  she  has  not  got  herself  up  quite  properly. 
 But  we  cannot  think  enough  of  His  goodness  in  sparing  us 
 as  He  has  done.  Heathcote  is  waiting  to  see  us  before 
 starting  for  Malvern,  so  I  fear  we  must  not  think  of  another 
 night  with  you,  even  if  it  could  be  otherwise." 
 
 They  came  to  us  on  the  10th  of  May,  and  left  us 
 on  the  following  afternoon  for  home  ;  a  short  visit, 
 and  the  last ;  but  one  for  which  I  never  can  be  too 
 
5  24  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 thankful.  He  seemed  to  me  much  recovered,  looking 
 better ;  and  he  was  stronger,  and  far  more  helpful  than 
 I  had  ventured  to  hope  for ;  and  his  "  mind,"  I  say 
 in  my  memorandum  at  the  time,  "  seems  perfect." 
 We  were  much  alone,  and  conversed  much,  some- 
 times on  subjects  which  might  have  taxed  his  powers 
 and  his  memory  a  good  deal.  I  remember  among 
 other  things  in  speaking  of  one  of  Dr.  Colenso's  ob- 
 jections, as  to  the  descent  into  Egypt  of  Jacob,  with 
 his  sons,  and  descendants,  and  the  return  from  it, 
 his  stating  an  explanation  of  his  own,  which  involved 
 the  repetition  of  many  names,  and  some  calculations  ; 
 his  memory  was  matter  of  surprise  to  me,  though  he 
 had  a  difficulty  sometimes  of  utterance ;  which  im- 
 peded only,  but  did  not  prevent  the  statement  of  all 
 particulars.  He  had  less  command  of  himself  when 
 his  tender  affections  were  stirred.  We  talked  of  old 
 and  departed  friends  ;  in  speaking  of  Cornish,  he 
 suddenly  turned  away,  covered  his  face  with  both 
 hands,  and  shed  a  torrent  of  tears ;  but  he  soon  re- 
 covered his  calmness.  It  is  impossible  adequately 
 to  describe  his  sweetness  and  affectionate  manner ; 
 it  seemed  to  me  then  as  now,  that  the  thought  of 
 his  departed  friends,  and  the  consideration  of  his  own 
 state,  about  which  I  am  sure  he  never  deceived  him- 
 self, made  him  cling  only  the  more  closely  to  the 
 very  few  who  remained.  And  so,  I  trust,  that  as 
 we  advance  in  age,  and  strive  as  in  reason  we  ought 
 to  do  to  make  our  attachments  less  and  less  strong 
 
Last  Visit  to  Heath's  Court.  525 
 
 to  the  things  which  are  merely  of  this  earth  and  for 
 this  life,  we  may  yet  blamelessly,  even  commendably, 
 cling  with  warmer  and  closer  love  to  the  persons,  the 
 friends,  whom  loving  through  life  we  humbly  hope 
 to  love  through  all  eternity.  Keble  and  I  parted  at 
 this  time  not  to  meet  again  in  this  world  ;  but  I  was 
 spared,  and  I  believe  he  was  spared  from  anticipating 
 this  at  the  time. 
 
 It  was  not  until  the  5th  of  June,  Whitsun-Monday, 
 that  he  wrote  to  me  from  the  old  date,  H.  V.,  and  I 
 make  some  extracts  from  his  letter  : — 
 
 "  My  dearest  Coleridge, 
 
 w  I  am  a  thankless  wretch  for  not  having  long  ago  told 
 you  how  much  I  like  to  think  of  the  day  we  spent  with  you, 
 our  pleasant  talk,  and  everybody's  kindness. 
 
 11  We  are,  I  think,  D.  G.,  as  well,  at  least,  as  when  we 
 parted ;  I,  if  any  difference,  rather  better.  I  read  a  lesson 
 or  two  in  Church  most  days,  now  and  then  visit  in  one  or 
 two  of  the  nearest  houses,  drive  out  very  often  ;  but  for  the 
 most  part  I  lead  a  sort  of  semi-vegetable  life,  and  have  no 
 very  definite  prospect  of  promotion  in  that  respect.  But, 
 indeed,  dear  friend,  I  ought  to  be  very  thankful  that  it  is  no 
 worse ;  and  I  am  really  ashamed  of  the  love  and  kindness 
 that  is  shewn  me.  Dear  H.  is,  I  really  hope,  materially 
 better,  and  more  cheerful  about  himself. 
 
 "  Now  I  have  one  or  two  little  questions  to  ask."  [I  pass 
 over  what  immediately  follows  as  immaterial ;  he  then  goes 
 on,]  "  3.  I  can't  get  it  out  of  my  head,  that  it  would  be  both 
 justice  and  good  statesmanship  to  state  in  the  Preamble  of 
 the  new  Church  Subscription  Act,  that  the  change  had  been 
 
526  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 approved  by  the  Convocations  of  both  Provinces,  as  in  the 
 present  Act  of  Uniformity.  This  might  be  very  valuable  to 
 us,  if  the  Parliament  should  take  to  altering  the  P.  B.  If 
 you  think  this  notion  worth  anything,  you  will  know  whom 
 to  apply  to  about  it  better  than  I. . . . 
 
 "I  am  reading  up  some  of  dear  Isaac  Williams's  works, 
 which  to  my  shame  I  had  neglected ;  and  I  find  them  so 
 beautiful.     Ever  your  most  affectionate,  J.  K." 
 
 Through  the  remainder  of  this  month,  and  to  the 
 middle  of  July,  he  was  at  Hursley,  with  no  decline 
 apparently,  nor  any  material  improvement  of  his 
 bodily  health.  He  took  much  interest  in  the  Ox- 
 ford Election,  for  which  we  were  now  preparing ; 
 and  whatever  exertion  he  thought  it  useful  to  make 
 on  behalf  of  Mr.  Gladstone,  for  whom  he  felt  as 
 warmly  and  as  unreservedly  as  ever,  he  made  as 
 heartily  as  of  old.  This  does  not  mean  that  he 
 agreed  with  him  in  every  opinion,  or  measure,  which 
 he  was  understood  to  favour  ;  as  to  some  he  would 
 say,  that  though  as  he  understood  them,  he  did  not 
 wholly  approve  them,  yet  he  thought  it  became  per- 
 sons not  conversant  with  State  affairs  to  have  con- 
 fidence in  one,  whose  knowledge  and  ability  were 
 superior  to  their  own,  and  whose  integrity  of  principle 
 they  did  not  doubt.  The  Irish  Church  question,  how- 
 ever, was  not  one  of  these ;  as  to  this,  I  believe  he 
 agreed  with  Mr.  Gladstone  in  the  principle,  and  I 
 shall  have  occasion  to  shew  hereafter,  there  is  good 
 ground  for  so  believing.     Beyond  the  principle  I  am 
 
Oxford  Election  of  1865.  527 
 
 not  aware  of  any  direct  evidence  ;  conclusions  can  only 
 be  drawn  from  the  general  character  of  his  sayings 
 and  writings  ;  and  considerate  persons  will,  I  think, 
 pause  before  they  pronounce  confidently  either  way. 
 
 At  the  Poll,  as  is  well  known,  we  were  defeated, 
 to  his  great  regret  ;  he  thought  the  decision  of  the 
 University  a  misfortune.  And  I  fear  he  would  with 
 many  others  have  thought  her  humiliated  by  her  re- 
 jection of  Sir  Roundell  Palmer  in  1868. 
 
 The  issue  of  the  election,  however,  did  not  abate 
 his  interest  in  the  University.  Writing  to  me  on  the 
 25th  of  July,  very  shortly  after  my  son's  election  by 
 the  city  of  Exeter,  he  says  : — 
 
 "  I  should  very  much  like  to  know  whether  John  includes 
 in  his  Abolition  of  Tests  the  Collegiate  Foundations,  as  well 
 as  the  Universities.  If  he  does,  I  am  totally  at  issue  with 
 him,  on  what  seem  to  me  legal  and  constitutional,  as  well  as 
 moral  and  religious  grounds.  Of  course  he  does  not  mean 
 it ;  but  might  not  what  he  says  about  the  Irish  Church  have 
 somewhat  of  the  effect  of  a  fire  brand,  addressed  to  such 
 a  very  popular  audience.  I  should  have  thought  it  fitter 
 for  a  Cabinet  Council  or  a  grave  book.  I  should  also  have 
 thought  it  discreet  not  to  put  the  matter  forward  so  pro- 
 minently, unless  a  man  saw  his  way  to  the  mending  of  it ; 
 which  perhaps  John  does. 
 
 "  But  I  cannot  say  how  much  I  am  obliged  to  the  said 
 John  for  what  he  has  done  for  us  in  the  matter  of  Con- 
 fession." 
 
 This  last  remark  refers,  I  believe,  to  a  legal  opinion 
 given  in  a  matter  which  arose  out  of  the  extraordinary 
 
523  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 case  of  Constance  Kent,  and  to  services  in  it  as  her 
 legal  adviser.  On  the  former  part  of  the  extract  I 
 have  already  said  all  that  it  is  needful  for  me  to 
 say.  Although  the  measure  to  which  Keble  refers 
 was  in  the  commencement  carefully  confined  to  the 
 University,  (and  in  some  material  circumstances  the 
 cases  of  the  two  are  clearly  distinguishable  in  argu- 
 ment,) it  always  seemed  to  me  that  in  the  progress 
 of  the  measure  it  would  be  found  impossible  to 
 preserve  the  distinction  entire  ;  though  it  might  be 
 possible,  and  would  certainly  be  just,  to  make  modi- 
 fications as  to  the  Colleges. 
 
 On  the  next  day,  (July  26,)  he  wrote  again  a  short 
 note  with  some  information  respecting  a  matter  we 
 were  then  both  interested  in,  an  Oxford  testimonial 
 to  Mr.  Gladstone  on  the  close  of  our  Parliamentary 
 relations  with  him.  I  extract  a  sentence  or  two  in 
 a  more  cheerful  tone  : — 
 
 "  H.  is  just  returned  from  spending  two  very  pleasant 
 days  with  Lord  Derby  at  Highclere.  Lord  D.  was  full  of 
 fun,  but  H.  is  regretting  that  he  omitted  to  ask  him  why 
 he  renders  points  '  stag-eyed.'  However,  you  see  we  have 
 two  strings  to  our  bow.  Homer  and  good  wit  are  in  fashion, 
 whether  we  are  Whigs  or  Tories." 
 
 He  adds  at  the  end  : — 
 
 "  My  wife  is  very  feeble,  and  her  breath  troublesome. 
 The  weather  is  sultry,  and  I  fear  we  have  too  many  visitors. 
 Your  most  loving,  J.  K." 
 
Illness  of  Mrs.  Kcble.  5  29 
 
 He  very  gently,  as  it  was  in  his  nature,  alludes  to 
 what  had  become  a  great  and  I  fear  a  hurtful  bur- 
 then to  both  himself  and  his  wife  in  their  feeble  state, 
 the  number  of  visitors  who  came  to  them  ;  especially 
 as  a  considerable  portion  of  them  were  strangers, 
 whose  object  was  to  see  and  converse  with  the 
 Author  of  "  The  Christian  Year,"  a  thing  he  par- 
 ticularly disliked.  Some  would  have  little  in  them- 
 selves to  lighten  the  burthen  of  entertaining  them ; 
 and  though  some  interested  him  much,  yet  even  for 
 that  very  reason  they  fatigued  him  too ;  and  he  was 
 always  anxious  for  Mrs.  Keble.  Yet  he  could  not 
 refuse  these  visits,  nor  decline  to  exert  himself  to 
 please  those  whose  motive  he  felt  to  be  kind  and 
 reverential. 
 
 A  visit  from  Bisley,  or  from  an  old  friend,  was 
 a  different  thing,  and  with  different  results.  August 
 19,  he  says  : — 
 
 "  We  keep  about  the  same,  I  not  much  better,  nor  yet, 
 D.G.,  any  worse ;  she  too  often  with  her  breath  out  of 
 order,  and  the  other  symptoms  of  (I  suppose)  a  disordered 
 spine,  but  rallying  again,  and  taking  her  drives.  Just  now 
 we  have  Tom  Senr,  and  his  wife  staying  with  us,  a  great 
 delight ;  too  great  to  last  long."  [And  noticing  all  my  scat- 
 tered family,  he  concludes,]  "  Kind  love  to  all,  Swiss  and 
 English,  on  the  Moor  or  by  the  River." 
 
 It  was  clear,  as  the  year  advanced,  that  Mrs.  Keble 
 
 must  move  from  Hursley  ;  the  attacks  on  her  breath 
 
 now  recurred  two  or  three  times  a-week;  and  their 
 
 M  m 
 
5  30  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 good  Doctor  Sainsbury,  of  Romsey,  pressed  them  to 
 try  the  effect  of  change  of  air.  Keble,  who  never 
 deceived  himself  as  to  the  seriousness  of  her  ail- 
 ments, felt  how  important  it  would  be  to  diminish 
 as  much  as  he  could  the  distance  between  her  and 
 her  sister.  They  went,  therefore,  with  his  brother 
 and  sister  to  Bournemouth  on  trial,  and  the  result 
 was  so  promising,  that  they  made  a  sort  of  con- 
 ditional engagement  to  return  in  October  for  the 
 winter.  They  had  hoped  for  a  month  of  fine  wea- 
 ther at  home  ;  but  only  three  days  after  their  re- 
 turn, she  had  one  of  her  worst  attacks ;  indeed,  the 
 account  he  gave  me  of  it  was  frightful ;  feeling  its 
 approach,  she  began  to  go  up-stairs  to  her  room,  but 
 "  about  half-way  up  she  was  obliged  to  sink  down 
 on  the  staircase,  and  it  was  full  2\  hours  before  we 
 could  move  her  up  to  her  bed.  By  God's  mercy  she 
 was  relieved  after  a  time."  And  up  to  October  9, 
 when  he  wrote  to  me,  she  had  had  no  return,  though 
 left  in  such  a  state  that  "  to  talk  earnestly,  even 
 to  listen  with  great  interest,"  put  her  in  danger  of 
 one.  Yet  strange  to  say  she  was  afterwards  able 
 to  take  her  drives  as  usual,  and  even  to  go  to 
 London  to  consult  Dr.  Gull,  and  return  on  the  fol- 
 lowing day. 
 
 I  mention  these  incidents  of  her  attack  with  this 
 particularity  on  account  of  the  remarkable  visit  to 
 Hursley,  which  he  himself  thus  shortly  mentions  at 
 the  end  of  a  rather  long  letter,  written  to  me  on  the 
 9th  of  October  from  Hursley  : — 
 
L  etter  of  Dr.  Newman .  531 
 
 "  Ought  we  not  to  thank  God  more  than  ever  for  E.  B.  P.  ? 
 how  he  has  come  out  in  print  and  in  Congress.  He 
 and  J.  H.  N.  met  here  the  very  day  after  my  wife's  attack. 
 P.,  indeed,  was  present  when  the  attack  began.  Trying  as 
 it  all  was,  I  was  very  glad  to  have  them  here,  and  to  sit  by 
 them  and  listen ;  but  I  cannot  write  more  of  it  now." 
 
 I  was  very  anxious  to  have  an  account  of  a  visit 
 so  remarkable  in  itself,  and  about  which  so  much 
 interest  was  felt,  more  detailed  than  Keble  had 
 given  me  in  the  extract  I  have  made  above  ;  and 
 yet  as  calm,  and  as  free  from  exaggeration  as  he 
 would  have  furnished  himself,  or  desired  to  have 
 preserved.  And  I  therefore  took  the  liberty  of  ap- 
 plying to  one  of  the  survivors.  Dr.  Newman  was 
 good  enough  to  furnish  me  with  all  that  I  desired  ; 
 and,  further,  in  answer  to  a  second  request,  to  allow 
 me  to  publish  his  letter,  for  which  I  thank  him  sin- 
 cerely, and  I  am  sure  my  readers  will  thank  him  as 
 heartily  and  sincerely  : — 
 
 "  Rednall, 
 «SeJ>r  17,  1868. 
 
 "  Dear  Sir  John  Coleridge, 
 "  I  must  begin  by  apologizing  for  my  delay  in  acknow- 
 ledging your  letter  of  the  10th.  Owing  to  accidental  cir- 
 cumstances, my  time  has  not  been  my  own ;  and  now, 
 when  at  length  I  write,  I  fear  I  shall  disappoint  you  in  the 
 answer  which  alone  I  can  give  to  your  question.  It  almost 
 seems  to  me  as  if  you  were  so  kind  as  to  wish  me  to  write 
 such  an  account  of  my  visit  to  Mr.  Keble  as  might  appear 
 
532  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  JoJin  Keble. 
 
 in  your  Memoir,  but,  as  I  think  you  will  see,  my  memory  is 
 too  weak  to  allow  of  my  putting  on  paper  any  particulars  of 
 it  which  are  worth  preserving.  It  was  remarkable,  certainly, 
 that  three  friends,  he,  Dr.  Pusey,  and  myself,  who  had  been 
 so  intimately  united  for  so  many  years,  and  then  for  so  many 
 years  had  been  separated,  at  least  one  of  them  from  the 
 other  two,  should  meet  together  just  once  again  ;  and  for 
 the  first  and  last  time  dine  together  simply  by  themselves. 
 And  the  more  remarkable,  because  not  only  by  chance 
 they  met  all  three  together,  but  there  were  positive  chances 
 against  their  meeting. 
 
 "  Keble  had  wished  me  to  come  to  him,  but  the  illness 
 of  his  wife,  which  took  them  to  Bournemouth,  obliged  him 
 to  put  me  off.  On  their  return  to  Hursley,  I  wrote  to  him 
 on  the  subject  of  my  visit,  and  fixed  a  day  for  it.  After- 
 wards, hearing  from  Pusey  that  he  too  was  going  to  Hursley 
 on  the  very  day  I  had  named,  I  wrote  to  Keble  to  put  off 
 my  visit.  I  told  him,  as  I  think,  my  reason.  I  had  not 
 seen  either  of  them  for  twenty  years,  and  to  see  both  of 
 them  at  once,  would  be  more,  I  feared,  than  I  could  bear. 
 Accordingly,  I  told  him  I  should  go  from  Birmingham  to 
 friends  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  in  the  first  place,  and  thence 
 some  day  go  over  to  Hursley.  This  was  in  September,  1865. 
 But  when,  on  the  12th,  I  had  got  into  the  Birmingham  train 
 for  Reading,  I  felt  it  was  like  cowardice  to  shrink  from  the 
 meeting,  and  I  changed  my  mind  again.  In  spite  of  my 
 having  put  off  my  visit  to  him,  I  slept  at  Southampton,  and 
 made  my  appearance  at  Hursley  next  morning  without  being 
 expected.  Keble  was  at  his  door  speaking  to  a  friend.  He 
 •did  not  know  me,  and  asked  my  name.  What  was  more 
 wonderful,  since  I  had  purposely  come  to  his  house,  I  did 
 not  know  him,  and  I  feared  to  ask  who  it  was.  I  gave 
 him  my  card  without  speaking.     When  at  length  we  found 
 
L  etter  of  Dr.  Newman.  533 
 
 out  each  other,  he  said,  with  that  tender  flurry  of  manner 
 which  I  recollected  so  well,  that  his  wife  had  been  seized 
 with  an  attack  of  her  complaint  that  morning,  and  that  he 
 could  not  receive  me  as  he  should  have  wished  to  do  ;  nor, 
 indeed,  had  he  expected  me ;  for  '  Pusey,'  he  whispered,  '  is 
 in  the  house,  as  you  are  aware.' 
 
 "  Then  he  brought  me  into  his  study,  and  embraced  me 
 most  affectionately,  and  said  he  would  go  and  prepare  Pusey, 
 and  send  him  to  me. 
 
 "  I  think  I  got  there  in  the  forenoon,  and  remained  with 
 him  four  or  five  hours,  dining  at  one  or  two.  He  was  in 
 and  out  of  the  room  all  the  time  I  was  with  him,  attending 
 on  his  wife,  and  I  was  left  with  Pusey.  I  recollect  very 
 little  of  the  conversation  that  passed  at  dinner.  Pusey  was 
 full  of  the  question  of  the  inspiration  of  Holy  Scripture, 
 and  Keble  expressed  his  joy  that  it  was  a  common  cause, 
 in  which  I  could  not  substantially  differ  from  them;  and 
 he  caught  at  such  words  of  mine  as  seemed  to  shew  agree- 
 ment. Mr.  Gladstone's  rejection  at  Oxford  was  talked  of, 
 and  I  said  that  I  really  thought  that  had  I  been  still  a  mem- 
 ber of  the  University,  I  must  have  voted  against  him,  be- 
 cause he  was  giving  up  the  Irish  Establishment.  On  this 
 Keble  gave  me  one  of  his  remarkable  looks,  so  earnest 
 and  so  sweet,  came  close  to  me,  and  whispered  in  my  ear, 
 (I  cannot  recollect  the  exact  words,  but  I  took  them  to  be,) 
 '  And  is  not  that  just  ?'  It  left  the  impression  on  my  mind 
 that  he  had  no  great  sympathy  with  the  Establishment  in 
 Ireland  as  an  Establishment,  and  was  favourable  to  the 
 Church  of  the  Irish. 
 
 "  Just  before  my  time  for  going,  Pusey  went  to  read  the 
 Evening  Service  in  Church,  and  I  was  left  in  the  open  air 
 with  Keble  by  himself.  He  said  he  would  write  to  me  in 
 the  Isle  of  Wight,  as  soon  as  his  wife  got  better,  and  then 
 
5  34  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 I  should  come  over  and  have  a  day  with  him.  We  walked 
 a  little  way,  and  stood  looking  in  silence  at  the  Church 
 and  Churchyard,  so  beautiful  and  calm.  Then  he  began 
 to  converse  with  me  in  more  than  his  old  tone  of  inti- 
 macy, as  if  we  had  never  been  parted,  and  soon  I  was 
 obliged  to  go. 
 
 "  I  remained  in  the  Island  till  I  had  his  promised  letter. 
 It  was  to  the  effect  that  his  wife's  illness  had  increased,  and 
 he  must  give  up  the  hopes  of  my  coming  to  him.  Thus, 
 unless  I  had  gone  on  that  day,  when  I  was  so  very  near  not 
 going,  I  should  not  have  seen  him  at  all. 
 
 "  He  wrote  me  many  notes  about  this  time ;  in  one  of 
 them  he  made  a  reference  to  the  lines  in  Macbeth  : — 
 
 "  '  When  shall  we  three  meet  again  ? 
 When  the  hurley-hurley's  done, 
 When  the  battle's  lost  and  won.' 
 
 "  This  is  all  I  can  recollect  of  a  visit,  of  which  almost 
 the  sole  vivid  memory  which  remains  with  me  is  the  image 
 of  Keble  himself. 
 
 "  I  am,  dear  Sir  John  Coleridge, 
 "  Yours  faithfully, 
 
 "  John  H.  Newman." 
 "Sir  John  Coleridge,  &*c,  &c." 
 
 I  must  not  venture  to  add  a  word  of  comment  on 
 this  letter ;  and  I  must  be  careful  not  to  suffer  my 
 feelings  to  exaggerate  the  interest  of  this  meeting, 
 so  remarkable  in  every  way.  It  is  difficult,  indeed, 
 to  restrain  one's  emotion  in  thinking  of  what  must 
 have  been  in  the  hearts  of  these  three  friends,  once 
 so  bound  together  in  the  prosecution  of  the  highest 
 
L  etter  of  Dr.  Newman.  535 
 
 objects  ;  separated  in  the  body,  but  not  in  heart,  for  so 
 many  years  ;  and  now  meeting  under  such  trying  cir- 
 cumstances, for  a  brief  while,  and  for  the  last  time  in 
 this  world  ;  what  must  one  of  them,  at  least,  have  felt 
 as  he  stood  with  Keble,  "  looking  in  silence  on  that 
 Church  and  Churchyard,  so  beautiful  and  calm." 
 
 They  parted,  and  Keble  wrote  the  well-known  lines 
 from  Macbeth.  I  hope  we  may  not  irreverently  look 
 forward  for  them  to  another  more  blessed  meeting, — 
 
 "  When  before  the  Judgment-seat, 
 Though  changed,  and  glorified  each  face, 
 
 Not  unremembered  ye  may  meet 
 For  endless  ages  to  embrace." 
 
CHAPTER   XXI. 
 
 OCTOBER  II,  1865,  LEAVE  HURSLEY  AND  GO  TO 
 BOURNEMOUTH. — LETTER  ON  THE  RITUAL  QUES- 
 TION.— HIS  LIFE  AT  BOURNEMOUTH. — ILLNESS. — 
 DEATH,  MARCH  29,  1 866. — BURIAL  AT  HURSLEY. 
 — REMARKS  ON  PERSON  AND  CHARACTER. — MRS. 
 KEBLE'S  DEATH,  BURIAL,  CHARACTER. 
 
 T)UT  little  remains  to  be  told.  The  illness  of 
 -■-*  Mrs.  Keble,  of  which  there  had  been  so  alarm- 
 ing an  attack  at  the  very  time  of  the  meeting  of  the 
 three  friends,  continued  to  manifest  itself  in  gradually- 
 increasing  weakness  and  suffering,  from  which  there 
 was  no  effectual  rallying,  and  never  any  complete 
 relief.  She  was,  indeed,  sometimes  more  easy,  and 
 must  have  had  considerable  strength  of  constitution. 
 She  was  supported,  too,  by  a  cheerful  heart,  and  en- 
 tire resignation  to  God's  dispensations.  To  these 
 last  Keble  bears  most  affecting  testimony  in  the  let- 
 ters I  am  about  to  transcribe. 
 
 They  were  advised  to  lose  no  time  in  settling 
 themselves  for  the  winter  at  Bournemouth,  but  they 
 were  naturally  desirous  to  keep  the  anniversary  of 
 
Visit  to  Bournemouth.  537 
 
 their  wedding-day,  the  thirtieth,  at  home.  This  was 
 on  the  10th  of  October,  and  on  the  eleventh  they  left 
 it,  never  to  return  alive.  Domestic  as  he  was  by 
 nature,  and  always  prone  to  attach  himself  to  places 
 as  well  as  persons  ;  and  loving  his  parishioners,  his 
 church,  his  parish,  and  his  parsonage,  as  he  did,  we 
 may  well  imagine  with  what  feelings  he  commenced 
 his  journey  to  Bournemouth.  I  am  not  sure  that 
 he  had  at  all  realized  to  himself  that  he  should 
 never  return.  This,  indeed,  was  of  less  consequence 
 to  him  who  always  carried  his  life  in  his  hand,  and 
 whose  heart  was  stayed  elsewhere  ;  but  I  feel  sure 
 that  he  had  realized  this  to  himself,  that  if  he  did 
 return,  it  would  be  to  follow  his  wife  to  her  grave, 
 and  linger  at  God's  pleasure  a  widower  on  earth. 
 
 Mr.  Moor  tells  us  that  on  the  Sunday  before  he 
 went,  the  8th  of  October,  Keble  took  some  part  in 
 the  Services,  reading  the  Lessons,  and  celebrating  the 
 Holy  Communion  ;  and  not  only  this,  but  zealous 
 to  the  last  in  the  work  he  loved  most,  walked  with 
 him  to  visit  some  of  his  poor  people  at  a  distance ; 
 and  also  entertained  at  dinner  some  friends  who  had 
 come  unexpectedly  to  see  him. 
 
 The  journey  was  well  accomplished  on  the  nth  of 
 October.  I  am  drawing  near  to  the  end  of  my  store 
 of  letters,  and  it  will  be  seen  that  for  what  remains 
 to  be  told,  I  make  use  of  his  own  pen  wherever  I 
 can  ;  I  believe  my  readers  will  with  reason  thank 
 me  for  this. 
 
53§  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 On  the  13th  of  October  he  wrote  thus  : — 
 
 "  South  Cliff  Villa,  Bournemouth, 
 "  Oct  13,  1865. 
 "  Dearest  Coleridge, 
 "  We  accomplished  our  journey  here  the  day  before  yes- 
 terday, with  as  much  comfort  as  we  could  expect,  and  are 
 well  satisfied  with  our  lodgings,  which  are  as  thoroughly 
 within  breath  of  the  sea  as  any  in  this  place,  and  seem  so 
 far  very  comfortable.    My  niece  Charlotte,  and  Fanny  Cox- 
 well,  are  with  us.    But  as  yet  I  see  no  rallying,  even  to  such 
 
 strength  as  before  that  last  attack I  do  not  mean  that 
 
 I  am  without  hope  that,  by  God's  blessing  on  constant  care 
 and  prayer,  we  may  hope  to  have  her  with  us  for  an  inde- 
 finite time,  but  she  has  had  more  frequent  attacks,  with  less 
 of  rallying  in  the  intervals. 
 
 "  I  am  ever,  my  dearest  Friend, 
 "  Most  affecly  yours,  J.  K." 
 
 Of  course  I  was  writing  to  him  frequently,  and  I 
 did  not  scruple  to  consult  him  on  any  difficulties 
 which  I  might  have  in  my  reading  as  at  other  times. 
 Among  my  own  letters  returned  to  me,  I  find  in 
 one,  written  on  the  1 8th  of  October,  a  passage 
 which  I  transcribe  for  the  sake  of  the  answer  : — 
 
 "Now  I  want  an  answer  from  you,  if  you  can  give  it 
 without  book,  and  without  trouble.  Reading  S.  Bernard's 
 Sermons  on  the  Advent,  I  am  puzzled  with  this  phrase 
 twice  occurring.  He  is  speaking  of  our  Lord's  two  advents; 
 he  urges  his  Monks  to  ponder  how  much  He  has  performed 
 in  the  one,  how  much  He  has  promised  in  the  other,  and 
 then  says,  '  Utinam  certe  dormiatis  inter  medios  cleros.    Haec 
 
Letter  from  Keble.  539 
 
 sunt  enim  duo  brachia  Sponsi,  inter  quae  Sponsa  dormiens 
 aiebat.  Lseva  ejus  sub  capite  meo,  et  dextera  ejus  am- 
 plexabitur  me/  and  goes  on  quoting  Cantic.  ii.  6.  And, 
 again,  '  Sint  ergo,  si  dormire  volumus  inter  medios  eleros,  id 
 est  duos  adventus,  pennae  nostrae  deargentatse.'  The  words, 
 *  medios  eleros/  are  in  my  edition  printed  in  italics  as  a  quo- 
 tation. Don't  trouble  yourself  about  this,  if  it  does  not 
 come  into  your  head  at  once." 
 
 I  thought  the  question  might  interest  him,  and 
 from  his  great  familiarity  with  the  Fathers,  I  did 
 not  anticipate  that  I  should  put  him  to  much  trou- 
 ble. I  was  right  in  the  first  supposition,  but  it  will 
 be  seen  what  a  diligent  enquiry  he  made  for  me. 
 
 On  the  26th  of  October  he  answered  me  ;  and, 
 first,  he  gave  an  account  of  his  wife's  state,  and 
 said  that  they  were  about  to  change  their  lodgings, 
 "  not  being  able  to  get  a  bedroom  here  on  the 
 same  floor  as  this,  which  is  quite  necessary,  for 
 though  we  do  get  her  carried  upstairs,  the  walking 
 down,  and  the  colder  air  of  the  passages,  is  apt  to 
 affect  her  breath  /'  he  then  proceeds  thus  : — 
 
 " ....  I  have  borrowed  a  S.  Bernard  from  the  Vicar  here, 
 and  have  thought  over  your  question  as  well  as  I  could, 
 with  the  help  of  the  Bible,  the  Septuagint,  and  Gesenius. 
 I  dare  say  you  have  long  ago  found  out  that  the  clause  is 
 from  the  Vulgate  Version  of  Ps.  68,  (67,)  v.  13,  (14,)  and 
 that  inter  medios  eleros,  is  what  our  Bible  version  renders, 
 'among  the  pots,'  the  Vulgate  apparently  adopting  the  word 
 KXrjpovs  from  the  LXX.  dva^eaou  raw  k\t)p<6v.  So  the  question 
 is  how  the  LXX.  came  to  translate  the  Hebrew  word  which 
 
540  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 we  render  'pots'  by  Mots,'  or  'portions;'  and  the  phrase 
 '  between  the  portions'  somehow  led  my  mind  back  to  the 
 rite  of  dividing  victims  offered  to  sanction  a  covenant,  as  in 
 Gen.  xv.,  and  Jerem.  xxxiv.,  and  a  passing  between  the  por- 
 tions of  the  victims.  Also  the  Hebrew  of  '  pots'  is  nearly  the 
 same  as  that  rendered  '  hooks'  in  Ezek.  xl.  43,  where  plainly 
 something  is  meant  on  which,  or  by  means  of  which,  the 
 flesh  of  the  offerings  for  sacrifice  was  deposited  on  each  side 
 of  certain  entrances  to  the  Temple,  so  that  the  offerer  or 
 votary  going  in  would  pass  'between  the  hooks,'  i.e.  'be- 
 tween the  portions'  of  the  sacrifice,  (our  Translation  in  the 
 margin  there  says,  '  or  endirons,  or  the  two  hearth-stones.') 
 The  mystical  meaning,  then,  of  being  betweeti  these  portions 
 would  be  'being  under  a  covenant  by  Sacrifice,  (see  Ps.  1. 
 5,)  and  sleeping  between  them  as  Abram  seems  to  have 
 done,  would  be,  being  at  rest  in  that  Covenant,'  for  which 
 purpose  we  must  be  sanctified  as  Christians,  there  must  be 
 the  '  wings  of  the  dove,'  &c I  wish  this  may  be  intel- 
 ligible, and  have  something  in  it ;  at  any  rate,  it  interested 
 
 me  greatly. 
 
 «  #  x  #  #  * 
 
 "  I  am  disgusted  much  at  finding  the  Colenso  (public) 
 fund  is  more  than  ^2,000,  the  Cape-Town  hardly  ^"200. 
 Hard  lines  for  what  is  at  worst  a  fault  of  temper.  I  cannot 
 write  more  just  now.     Ever  yours,  J.  K." 
 
 I  could  not  help  observing  to  Keble,  when  I 
 thanked  him  for  his  answer,  how  much  the  Fathers 
 took  for  granted  as  to  Biblical  knowledge  in  those 
 whom  they  addressed.  If  they  could  do  so  pro- 
 perly, it  would  seem  to  indicate  a  much  greater 
 general   diffusion    of  that   knowledge   than  prevails 
 
Letter  from  Keble.  541 
 
 now.  Certainly,  considering  where  the  Fathers  them- 
 selves studied,  a  kind  of  learning  seems  necessary 
 which  is  now,  I  fear,  not  common  even  among  the 
 Clergy  ;  it  may  be  that  a  different  kind  is  substi- 
 tuted ;  whether  more  or  less  valuable  I  will  not  ven- 
 ture to  say.  But  those  among  them,  at  least,  who 
 yield  to  the  sceptical  spirit  of  the  age,  and  delight 
 rather  to  find  difficulties  and  suggest  doubts,  than 
 to  accept  old  beliefs,  are  surely  bound  in  con- 
 science to  acquire  a  deep  and  thorough  knowledge 
 not  merely  of  Hebrew,  but  of  the  best  and  earliest 
 commentators,  of  the  history,  usages,  and  ritual  of 
 the  Hebrews,  before  they  communicate  their  doubts 
 or  their  theories  to  the  public  ;  considering  how  often 
 they  are  found  to  trouble  men's  minds  needlessly 
 by  doubts,  which  more  of  this  knowledge  shews  to 
 be  groundless,  or  by  theories  which  rest  mainly  on 
 unwarranted  assumptions. 
 
 I  am  not  competent  to  pronounce  any  opinion 
 whether  Keble,  whose  answer  is,  at  least,  ingenious 
 and  learned,  had  correctly  solved  my  difficulty  ;  and 
 I  print  the  extract  in  great  part  to  shew  how  en- 
 tirely he  still  preserved  his  activity  and  clearness  of 
 intellect.  But  he  gave  a  more  remarkable  proof  of 
 this  in  a  letter  which  he  wrote  and  published  in  this 
 same  month  in  the  ''Literary  Churchman,"  on  the 
 "  Ritual  of  the  Church  of  England."  I  hope  this  is 
 more  known  and  considered,  especially  at  this  time, 
 than  I  fear  it  is.     It  is  written  in  such  an  admirable 
 
542  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 spirit,  and  with  so  much  clearness  and  cogency,  that 
 one  might  hope  it  might  furnish  a  useful  guide  to 
 the  clergy,  and  allay  somewhat  of  the  bitterness 
 which  is  so  much  to  be  lamented  in  the  manner  of 
 waging  the  present  controversy.  It  is  too  long  to 
 be  inserted  here  entire,  but  I  cannot  forbear  en- 
 riching my  pages  with  the  concluding  paragraph. 
 The  occasion  recalls  to  my  mind  a  wish  which  has 
 been  expressed  by  one  of  Keble's  dearest  and  wisest 
 friends,  that  all  the  occasional  contributions  which  he 
 made  to  the  public  journals,  as  well  as  all  his  fugitive 
 pieces,  should  be  collected,  arranged,  and  published* 
 I  entirely  concur  in  this  ;  if  it  be  not  soon  done,  they 
 will  surely  be  lost ;  and  as  he  never  wrote  anything 
 for  publication  without  care  and  thought,  the  loss  of 
 them  would  be  much  to  be  regretted  : — 
 
 "  It  would  seem  to  follow  upon  these  statements — and  I 
 understand  that  there  is  high  legal  authority  for  the  opinion 
 — that  the  onus  probafidi  lies  in  this  matter  upon  the  many 
 who  practically  ignore  or  slight  the  usages  (of  which  num- 
 ber I  must  confess  myself  to  be  one)  rather  than  upon  the 
 few  who  have  regularly  maintained  or  recently  adopted 
 them.  I  do  indeed  regret  the  disregard  of  that  rubric  as 
 a  real  blemish  in  our  ecclesiastical  practice — a  contradic- 
 tion to  our  theory,  less  momentous,  but  quite  as  real  as  our 
 almost  entire  disuse  of  the  discipline  of  Jesus  Christ,  our 
 obligation  to  which,  nevertheless,  we  formally  acknowledge. 
 But  as  in  the  latter  case,  so  in  this,  the  time  and  manner  of 
 regaining  the  old  paths  must,  under  our  circumstances,  be 
 a  question  of  equity  and  charity,  not  of  strict  law  alone.    I, 
 
Kcble  on  Ritual.  543 
 
 for  one,  rejoice  whenever  and  wherever  I  see  that  kind  of 
 revival  successfully  and  tranquilly  accomplished.  But  the 
 success  will  be  more  complete,  and  the  satisfaction  more 
 perfect,  when  those  who  have  the  work  at  heart  shall  have 
 ceased  to  indulge  themselves  in  invidious  comparisons  and 
 scornful  criticisms  on  such  among  their  brethren  as  do  not 
 yet  see  their  way  to  it ;  and  when,  on  certain  kindred  sub- 
 jects, they  have  learned  to  make  candid  allowance  for  the 
 difference  between  our  circumstances  and  those  with  a  view 
 to  which  the  primitive  canons  were  framed.  I  allude  par- 
 ticularly to  the  disparaging  tone  sometimes  used  in  speak- 
 ing of  mid-day  Communions,  with  small  consideration,  as  it 
 seems  to  me,  for  the  aged  and  infirm,  and  others  who  can- 
 not come  early.  Again,  I  cannot  but  doubt  the  wisdom  of 
 urging  all  men  indiscriminately  to  be  present  at  the  Holy 
 Mysteries — a  matter  left  open,  as  far  as  I  can  see,  by  the 
 Prayer-book,  and  in  ordering  of  which  it  may  seem  most 
 natural  to  abide  by  the  spirit  of  the  ancient  Constitutions, 
 which  did  not  willingly  permit  even  the  presence  of  any  but 
 communicants,  or  those  of  whom  the  clergy  had  reason  to 
 believe  that  they  were  in  a  way  to  become  such  :  the  rather, 
 in  that  there  appears  to  be  some  danger  of  the  idea  gaining 
 ground,  which  meets  one  so  often  in  Roman  Catholic  books 
 of  devotion,  of  some  special,  quasi-sacramental  grace  con- 
 nected with  simply  assisting  devoutly  at  Mass,  over  and 
 above  that  promised  to  all  earnest  and  faithful  prayer. 
 
 "  On  these  and  all  like  matters  we  may  do  well,  perhaps, 
 to  accept  the  counsel  of  our  Church,  in  her  first  Reformed 
 Liturgy,  concerning  another  main  point  of  Christian  disci- 
 pline a — such  as  are  satisfied  with  the  more  modern  and 
 plainer  ritual  not  to  be  offended  with  them  that  adopt  the 
 
 *  See  the  first  Liturgy  of  King  Edward  the  Vlth.  on  Auricular 
 Confession. 
 
544  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 more  ornate  and  symbolical  requirements  of  the  rubric ; 
 those,  on  the  other  hand,  who  find  comfort  and  edification 
 in  the  ceremonies  to  bear  with  their  brethren  who,  for  vari- 
 ous reasons,  think  best  to  dispense  with  them  for  the  pre- 
 sent. And  so,  too,  in  regard  of  Communion  after  a  meal, 
 and  of  encouraging  the  presence  of  non-communicants,  and 
 the  like,  '  to  follow  and  keep  the  rule  of  charity,  and  every 
 man  to  be  satisfied  with  his  own  conscience,  not  judging 
 other  men's  minds  or  consciences,  whereas  he  hath  no  war- 
 rant of  God's  Word  to  the  same.' 
 
 *'  Believe  me,  dear ,  with  great  respect, 
 
 "  Very  sincerely  yours, 
 
 "  John  Keble." 
 
 Thus  wisely  and  thus  gently  did  he  express  him- 
 self in  print  on  this  subject ;  but  he  yet  felt  very 
 warmly,  and  expressed  himself  warmly  in  conver- 
 sation, and  by  way  of  advice  to  a  young  friend,  on 
 the  suicidal  folly  of  our  hot  contentions  respecting 
 ritual,  when  we  had  to  contend  against  such  deadly 
 enemies  as  looseness  of  morals,  and  growing  infi- 
 delity, sapping  the  very  foundations  of  religion.  He 
 sadly  sighed  for  unity ;  he  did  not  agree  with  those 
 who  thought  that  our  only,  or  even  our  most  power- 
 ful enemy,  was  Papal  Rome.  But  he  feared  that 
 our  acrimonious  disputes  on  matters  which  do  not 
 touch  the  foundations  of  our  Faith,  might  give  her 
 a  power  not  her  own ;  as  the  devices  and  engines  of 
 Imperial  Rome  were  helped  in  breaching  the  walls 
 of  the  Holy  City,  by  the  internecine  contentions  of 
 the  garrison  within. 
 
Kcble  on  Ritual.  545 
 
 The  passage  to  which  Keble  makes  reference  in 
 this  extract,  it  may  be  convenient  to  print  here,  as 
 the  first  Liturgy  of  Edward  VI.  is  not  in  the  hands 
 of  all  people.  It  stands  at  the  end  of  what  in  our 
 present  Liturgy  is  the  first  exhortation  in  the  Com- 
 munion Service  ;  and  it  is  conceived  in  a  spirit  so 
 charitable  in  itself,  and  so  applicable  to  all  parts  of 
 the  present  controversy,  that  it  is  much  to  be  re- 
 gretted that  it  was  ever  struck  out : — 
 
 "  Requiring  such  as  shall  be  satisfied  with  a  general  con- 
 fession, not  to  be  offended  with  them  that  do  use  to  their 
 further  satisfying  the  auricular  and  secret  confession  to  the 
 Priest ;  nor  those  also  which  think  needful  or  convenient, 
 for  the  quietness  of  their  own  consciences,  particularly  to 
 open  their  sins  to  the  Priest,  to  be  offended  with  them  that 
 are  satisfied  with  their  humble  confession  to  God,  and  the 
 general  confession  of  the  Church  ;  but  in  all  things  to  follow 
 and  keep  the  rule  of  Charity ;  a?id  every  man  to  be  satisfied 
 with  his  ow?i  C07iscience,  not  judging  other  men's  minds  or  con- 
 sciences; whereas  he  hath  no  warra?it  of  God's  word  to 
 the  same." 
 
 He  wrote  to  me  again  on  the  30th  and  31st  of  De- 
 cember, and  I  give  the  whole  letter  : — ■ 
 
 "  Bournemouth, 
 "Dec.  30,  1865. 
 "  Dearest  dear  Friend, 
 
 "  It  is  sad  work,  my  trick  of  putting  off  my  replies  to 
 your  loving  letters.  I  can  only  say,  as  in  so  many  former 
 years,  Forgive  me.  I  dare  say  I  was  a  little  the  more  tardy 
 from  having  no  very  good  news  to  tell ;  good  news,  I  mean, 
 
 N  n 
 
54-6  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 according  to  our  natural  way  of  thinking  about  our  dearest 
 Charlotte's  health.  I  cannot  hide  it  from  myself,  that  she  is 
 gradually  growing  weaker,  and  that  one  thing  after  another 
 has  to  be  given  up ;  walking  more  than  a  step  or  two,  writing, 
 chess,  animated  conversation,  &c,  &c,  make  her  dear  heart 
 beat  too  freely,  and  she  suffers  sadly  from  night  perspiration 
 and  faintness.  The  climate  has  not,  as  far  as  I  can  see, 
 been  against  her ;  it  has  been  exceptionally  mild,  and  for 
 this  place,  I  hear,  exceptionally  moist,  and  if  she  had  been 
 a  little  stronger,  she  might  have  gone  out  a  little  some  days 
 in  almost  every  week ;  indeed,  she  has  done  rather  more 
 than  I  expected  in  that  way  \  but  I  do  not  find  that  it  re- 
 vives her  as  it  used  to  do  ;  and  all  the  brandy  and  turtle 
 soup  they  give  her  by  day  and  by  night  only  just  serves  to 
 enable  her  to  go  on  from  day  to  day.  The  doctors  said 
 some  time  since  that  we  must  not  expect  a  cure,  but  might 
 hope  for  improvement ;  now  they  hardly  say  that,  but  ex- 
 press surprise  that  we  are  yet  spared  other  symptoms  which 
 I  fear  we  must  look  for.  But  it  all  brings  out  moment  by 
 moment  the  goodness  and  sweetness  with  which  He  is  con- 
 tinually endowing  her  ;  at  least,  so  it  seems  to  a  poor  crea- 
 ture looking  on  it  from  below. 
 
 "31st.  I  cannot  report  any  improvement;  she  has  not 
 got  up  at  all  to-day ;  and  by  the  doctor's  direction  we  have 
 telegraphed  to  Bisley.  We  had  deferred  doing  so  perhaps 
 too  long  on  account  of  old  Tom,  who  is  rather  in  a  critical 
 state  of  health ;  nevertheless,  I  do  hope  we  may  see  them 
 to-morrow.  Pray  for  us,  dearest  Friend,  that  she  may  be 
 gently  visited,  and  that  I  may  be  not  found  unfit  to  be  with 
 her,  at  whatever  distance,  hereafter.  I  cannot  write  more 
 about  myself;  of  her,  if  I  had  time,  and  my  hand  was 
 strong,  I  could  go  on  for  hours.  With  dear  love  for  the 
 Christmas  and  New  Year,  I  am  ever  yours,  J.  K." 
 
Alleviation  of  Mrs.  Kcble's  symptoms.         547 
 
 He  wrote  again  on  the  7th  of  January  a  short  note 
 respecting  an  offer  he  had  received  of  translating  the 
 Prcelectiones  for  publication.  Mrs.  Keble's  symptoms 
 had  been  somewhat  alleviated,  and  the  presence  of 
 the  brother  and  sister,  with  the  tender  attentions  of 
 the  latter  as  nurse,  had  cheered  them  all.  Before 
 he  could  have  any  answer  from  me  to  this  letter,  he 
 wrote  again  on  the  9th  as  follows  : — 
 
 "  Bournemouth, 
 "Jan.  9,  1866. 
 "  My  dearest  Coleridge, 
 "  Thank  you,  and  thank  you  again,  though  too  tardily  for 
 your  too  loving  letter.  It  is  a  great  comfort,  as  your  letters 
 always  are.  I  have  not  read  it  exactly  to  her,  but  you  may 
 be  sure  she  loves  you  with  a  true  sisterly  love,  and  has  done 
 so  all  along.  She  has  mended  a  little,  our  Doctor  says, 
 during  the  last  week.  The  long  nightly  faintings  have  sub- 
 sided, and  if  she  had  not  caught  a  cold,  which  disorders  her 
 breath,  I  fancy  we  should  have  had  her  in  our  sitting-room 
 to-day  or  to-morrow.  I  think  the  Doctor  expects  her  depar- 
 ture to  be  very  gradual  \  I  fear,  with  dropsical  symptoms. 
 But  we  try  to  look  on  as  little  as  may  be  ;  having  been 
 already  brought  farther  on  our  way  together  than  we  could 
 reasonably  have  expected.  We  do  not  at  all  repent  of 
 having  come  here,  the  climate  has  been  unusually  moist 
 and  mild,  and  we  have  comforts  we  could  not  have  had  at 
 Penzance.  God  reward  you,  dearest  Coleridge,  and  your 
 dear  wife  and  children,  for  all  your  love  to  her  and  me. 
 "  Ever  your  most  affecte,  J.  K." 
 
 He  wrote   to  me  again   on  the   31st   of  January, 
 
548  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 and  early  in  March  ;  his  friends,  and  I  amongst 
 them,  had  been  misinformed  as  to  Mrs.  Keble,  or 
 the  partial  amendment  of  which  he  speaks  in  the 
 preceding  letter  had  been  represented  too  favour- 
 ably, and  it  is  touching  to  see  what  he  says  on  it. 
 But  it  is  remarkable  also  how  amid  his  distress  at 
 the  prospect  of  his  approaching  loss,  he  retained  his 
 interest  in  what  regarded  Oxford,  and  Christian 
 Education.  In  order  fully  to  understand  some  parts 
 of  what  he  writes,  it  may  be  well  for  me  to  state 
 that  I  had  written  to  him  among  other  things  on 
 the  prospects  of  the  new  Parliament  just  about  to 
 open.  It  seemed  to  me  that  every  move,  in  what 
 is  called  the  path  of  Liberal  Progress,  would  in  the 
 end  be  made  good,  and  I  thought  that  those  who, 
 without  reference  to  party,  wished  to  preserve  foun- 
 dations, and  all  of  good  built  on  them,  should  shape 
 their  course  with  this  conviction  on  their  minds. 
 And  I  deprecated  the  old  spirit  which  not  seldom  de- 
 fended that  which  was  really  objectionable  in  itself, 
 merely  because  it  might  be  considered  an  out-work, 
 and  because  the  surrender  of  it  would  probably  not 
 appease  the  spirit  of  the  invaders.  I  also  wrote  in  re- 
 gard to  the  probable  course  of  one  in  whom  I  was  spe- 
 cially interested,  how  he  desired  to  pass  the  coming 
 Session,  his  first  in  Parliament,  and  of  the  difficulty 
 cast  on  him  by  the  expectations  and  instances  of 
 his  friends.  I  also  gave  my  opinion  of  the  remark- 
 able, and  I   may  add,  somewhat  enigmatical  book, 
 
Contemplated  CJicmges  at  Oxford.  549 
 
 which  he  speaks  of.  In  his  mind  all  other  Oxford 
 interests  were  as  nothing  in  comparison  with  the 
 preservation  of  the  faith  there,  to  which  he  justly 
 thought  sound  teaching  an  indispensable  mean.  He 
 had  an  honest  conviction  that  there  was  a  great  deal 
 of  unsound  teaching  at  present,  and  that  it  was  bear- 
 ing a  plentiful  harvest.  I  wish  I  could  believe  that 
 there  was  no  foundation  for  his  fears.  Most  reluc- 
 tantly I  yield  to  evidence  which  forces  them  upon 
 me.  It  seems  to  me  as  if  considerable  cleverness, 
 great  respectability  of  conduct,  popular  even  amiable 
 manners,  and  an  apparent  candour,  extending  to 
 every  subject  and  system  but  one,  are  waging  such 
 a  fight  against  Christianity  as  ought  to  make  the 
 parents  of  Oxford  students  anxious  ;  while,  I  must 
 add,  the  insane  -and  excessive  passion  for  athletics, 
 as  they  are  called,  (indulged  in  our  great  schools  as 
 well,)  damps  industry,  and  diverts  from  that  severe 
 mental  labour  which  is  among  the  guards  to  pre- 
 serve the  mind  from  yielding  to  sophistry. 
 
 Fears,  however,  I  have  none  as  to  the  ultimate 
 result ;  a  battle  is  being  fought,  which  has  been 
 fought  more  than  once  before,  and  victory  has  al- 
 ways been  on  one  side  ;  victory  not  always  turned 
 to  the  best  account  ;  but,  alas,  it  must  be  expected 
 that  there  will  be  many,  and  those  not  seldom  the 
 flower  of  the  host,  wounded  sorely,  a  few,  it  is  to  be 
 feared,  slain  in  the  combat. 
 
550  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 I  now  give  the  letters  which  have  occasioned  these 
 
 remarks  : — 
 
 "  Bournemouth, 
 "Jan.  31,  1866. 
 "  Dearest  Coleridge, 
 
 "  I  wish  you  could  have  from  me  as  long  and  hearty 
 a  letter  as  your  too  great  kindness  deserves.  As  it  is,  I 
 can  but  thank  you,  1,  for  your  advice  and  information  about 
 
 Mr. ,  to  whom  I  will  soon  write  accordingly ;  2.  for  the 
 
 very  interesting  report  of  dear  John  and  his  proceedings ; 
 which  seem  so  amiable  and  dutiful  that  I  cannot  but  think 
 he  will  have  a  blessing  on  his  work,  and  perhaps  with  others 
 like-minded,  on  his  cause  also ;  such  as  may  in  good  mea- 
 sure neutralize  the  harm  you  and  I  might  expect  from  it. 
 For  myself,  I  am  a  little  sanguine  about  the  Reform ;  if  it 
 leaves  the  Colleges  alone,  and  if  the  present  leaven  of  N°.  90, 
 so  marvellously  reviving,  go  011  and  prosper.  If  the  latter  be 
 not  so,  it  matters  little  about  other  things. 
 
 "  But  my  dearest  wife, — your  kind  words  go  to  my  heart, 
 so  certain  am  I  that  it  is  far  other  than  you  say.  Where 
 Heathcote  got  his  information  I  cannot  guess,  but  I  have 
 heard  more  or  less  from  friends  far  and  near  in  the  same 
 tone.  She,  dear  soul,  though  there  may  be  sometimes  a 
 slight  rally  for  half  a  day,  grows  on  the  whole  gradually 
 weaker ;  and  now  I  fear  her  power  of  taking  nourishment 
 is  lessening.  Her  long  faintings  are  very  distressing.  You 
 must  not  flatter  me  about  that,  or  anything  else. 
 
 "  I  suppose  it  is  the  same  with  many  more,  but  I  for 
 one  am  certain  that  whatever  bows  me  down  most,  is 
 best  for  me. 
 
 "  Best  love  to  you  all, 
 
 "  Your  most  affecte  J.  K." 
 
 "  Dear  Bessie,  our  head  nurse,  is  of  the  same  opinion  as 
 
Letters  from  Kcblc.  551 
 
 I  am,  so  must  every  one  be  that  watches  her;  and  the 
 Doctor's  encouragement  amounts  to  this,  that  the  worst 
 symptoms  do  not  come  on  so  fast  as  he  expected." 
 
 "  Bournemouth, 
 
 a  yd  Sunday  in  Lent, 
 
 "(March  4,)  1866. 
 "  Dearest  Coleridge, 
 
 "  I  cannot  write  worthily  in  any  sense  to  answer  your 
 kind  letters,  but  they  always  interest  me,  and  so  they  would 
 my  dear  wife,  if  she  were  always  able  to  attend  to  them, 
 which  for  a  great  part  of  her  time,  I  grieve  to  say,  she  is 
 not.  We  ought  to  be  very  thankful  that  she  is  so  bweetly 
 and  gently  let  down,  at  least,  to  all  appearances,  though  of 
 course  we  cannot  tell  how  much  she  suffers ;  and  she  is,  I 
 fancy,  very  dextrous  in  concealing  such  things.  However, 
 she  has  certainly  better  nights  of  late ;  and  the  dropsy, 
 though  it  does  not  diminish,  does  not  increase  so  fast  as  it 
 did  ;  moreover,  though  she  likes  nothing,  she  submits  to 
 a  good  deal  of  nourishment;  so  I  do  not  know,  (for  I 
 never  ask  that  question,)  but  I  hardly  feel  as  if  she  were 
 going  quite  immediately.  Thank  you  for  suggesting  books, 
 though  it  is  little  she  can  bear  now,  she  gets  sleepy  so  soon. 
 We  read  Mackenzie's  Life  long  ago  ;  Robertson's  I  have  not 
 met  with,  and  I  doubt  whether  I  should,  (or  she  would,) 
 like  it ;  '  honest  doubts,'  as  one  calls  them,  are  not  very 
 pleasant  on  a  sick  bed.  For  the  same  reason  I  don't  care 
 to  read  Ecce  Homo,  but  it  will  be  a  very  agreeable  disap- 
 pointment if  the  writer  turns  out  a  Christian  at  last ;  and  I 
 will  pull  off  my  hat  to  him,  and  beg  his  pardon.  I  hope 
 you  will  read  Miss  Mackenzie's  Life  of  Mrs.  Robertson  in 
 Zululand.     She  and  her  husband  appear  to  me  the  Queen 
 
552  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 and  King  of  Missionaries,  at  least,  among  the  second  order, 
 
 for  I  don't  talk  of  Bishops 
 
 "  J.  H.  N.  sent  me  his  book ;  it  seems  to  me,  logically, 
 a  complete  failure,  though  of  course  in  parts  extremely  good 
 and  beautiful.  (I  mean  a  failure  as  to  the  Doctrine  of  the 
 B.  Virgin's  '  supremacy ;')  the  only  thing  that  cants  me  is 
 the  fact  about  the  Eastern  Church,  which  one  knew  other- 
 wise. I  am  very  well,  thank  you ;  ashamed  to  be  so  well. 
 I  have  no  nursing,  my  sister  takes  it  off  my  hands  ;  I  wish 
 she  may  stand  it.  With  kind  love  to  all,  your  most  affec- 
 tionate J.  K." 
 
 I  have  but  one  more  letter  to  add,  the  last  of  the 
 long  series  : — 
 
 "  Bournemouth, 
 "March  19,  1866. 
 "  My  dearest  Coleridge, 
 
 "  I  am  too  long  as  usual,  but  you  will  understand  and 
 excuse  it. 
 
 "Since  I  wrote  she  has  been  gradually  getting  weaker, 
 suffering  more  and  more  from  sickness,  palpitation,  and 
 sometimes  acute  pain  in  the  heart ;  and  now  for  several 
 days  her  pulse,  and  power  to  take  nourishment,  have  given 
 way.  The  doctor  was  here  four  times  yesterday,  and  we 
 watch  her  now  not  from  day  to  day,  but  from  hour  to  hour. 
 D.  G.  her  sister  keeps  up  pretty  well,  and  as  for  myself,  I 
 eat,  drink,  and  sleep  heartily ;  so  you  need  be  in  no  care 
 about  me,  so  far.  I  do  not  know  well  just  now  how  to  go 
 on  writing  about  anything  else,  so  I  will  just  give  you  all  our 
 dear  love,  and  sign  myself  your  most  affectionate,  J.  K." 
 
 It  may  be  supposed  that  I  do  not  close  without 
 some  emotion  my  extracts  from  a  correspondence, 
 
Letters  from  Keble.  553 
 
 beginning  in  181 1,  and  continued  without  interrup- 
 tion to  the  19th  of  March,  1866.  Few  things  I  am 
 more  grateful  for,  (perhaps  I  may  own  I  am  a  little 
 proud  of  it,)  than  my  having  preserved  from  the  be- 
 ginning Keble's  letters,  and  those  of  another  dear 
 friend,  Arnold.  The  letters,  like  their  writers,  differ 
 in  many  respects  ;  and  I  will  not  pronounce  on  their 
 interest  as  compositions  ;  neither  of  the  two  when 
 writing  to  me  ever  thought  of  composing  what  should 
 be  read  by  others  than  myself;  but  the  letters  of 
 both  are,  as  they  themselves  were,  one  in  goodness 
 and  honesty  of  heart,  one  in  overflowing  affectionate- 
 ness  of  feeling  and  expression. 
 
 During  these  last  weeks  Keble  was,  of  course,  in 
 correspondence  with  many  persons,  intimate  friends 
 and  anxious  inquirers ;  sometimes  from  Mrs.  Keble's 
 inability  to  write,  he  answered  letters  addressed  to 
 her.  I  have  copies  before  me  of  three  which  he 
 wrote  to  Miss  Mackenzie,  the  sister  of  the  Bishop. 
 He  was  deeply  interested  in  the  Missionary  work  in 
 which  her  sister  with  her  husband  had  been  engaged  ; 
 we  have  seen  that  he  calls  them  the  King  and  Queen 
 of  Missionaries.  One  of  these  letters  I  will  venture 
 to  insert  here,  although  I  know  I  may  be  thought  to 
 have  printed  too  many  of  the  same  character ;  for 
 beside  the  circumstances  under  which  it  was  written, 
 this  seems  to  me  to  have  a  special  beauty  and  force, 
 which  make  it  wrong  to  omit  it : — 
 
554  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 "  Bournemouth, 
 JarP  23,  1866. 
 "  My  dear  kind  Friend, 
 
 "  Just  one  line  to  say  how  both  our  hearts,  my  dearest 
 wife's  and  my  own,  were  smitten  down  this  morning  by  the 
 sad  news  from  C.  Yonge,  of  your  sad  and,  to  us,  unexpected 
 loss.  I  dread  to  think  of  the  wound  it  must  be  to  you: 
 only  He  who  put  into  your  heart  such  deep  affections  and 
 sustains  them  there,  has  the  power  and  the  love  also  to 
 mitigate  the  wounds,  which  His  wise  and  good  Providence 
 sees  fit  to  make. 
 
 "  You  must  think,  dear  Friend,  of  the  mysterious  moment 
 when  He,  who  is  Love,  condescended  to  endure  the  bitter- 
 ness of  His  Mother's  grief  as  an  addition  (so  to  speak)  to 
 His  Own ;  and  thereby  sanctified  the  agonies  we  have 
 to  bear  in  watching  the  sufferings  of  our  beloved  ones. 
 Like  other  pains  they  will  be  sweet,  if  we  can  be  helped 
 so  to  join  them  to  His  Cross. 
 
 "  But  how  vain  of  me  to  say  all  this  to  one  who  has  had 
 your  experience !  God  grant  that  I  may  be  saying  it  not 
 in  vain  to  myself!  For  indeed  I  have  much  need,  and  am 
 likely  to  have  more.  Dearest  Charlotte  continues  in  most 
 respects,  much  as  when  I  wrote  to  you  last;  the  doctor 
 comes  every  day  and  pronounces  the  pulse  much  as  it  was, 
 and  allows  her  to  be  brought  for  an  hour  or  two  into  our 
 sitting-room.  But  I  am  sure  there  is  a  gradual  decay  of 
 strength ;  one  by  one  things  become  too  hard  for  her,  and 
 it  is  a  greater  effort  for  her  to  keep  up ;  yet  she  does  keep 
 up  in  spirit  most  comfortably.  Your  kind  heart  would 
 rejoice  if  you  could  see  what  refreshment  she  finds  in 
 your  most  seasonable  present  of  the  sheets  of  Mrs.  Robert- 
 son's '  Life ;'   she  took   to   it   the   moment   it  came,  and 
 
Letter  from  Keble.  555 
 
 from  hour  to  hour,  day  after  day,  she  enjoys  it  being  read 
 to  her.  I  never  saw  any  book  more  successful  apparent  !v 
 in  beguiling  hour  after  hour  of  weariness  and  breathlessnes?. 
 I  now  really  hope,  that  both  it  and  the  '  Net'  will  be  a  great 
 success. 
 
 "God  comfort  and  reward  you  for  all  your  trials  and 
 all  your  love. 
 
 "  Ever  yours  very  affectionately, 
 "J.  KEBLE." 
 
 It  will  be  seen  how  down  to  the  very  last  of  these 
 letters  from  Bournemouth  all  Keble's  thoughts  were 
 for  his  dear  wife,  and  how  unconscious  he  seems  to 
 have  been  of  any  falling  off  in  his  own  health.  Mr. 
 Moor  informs  us,  that  when  he  came  there,  he  had, 
 as  was  his  custom,  proffered  to  Mr.  Bennett  assist- 
 ance, if  needed  ;•  which  he  with  a  wise  consideration 
 declined  to  accept  from  him.  But  he  was  regular, 
 until  his  very  last  illness,  in  his  attendance  on  the 
 daily  services  in  the  church.  His  favourite  help  in 
 his  private  prayer  was  the  Paradisus  Anim<z,  and 
 he  had  so  familiarized  himself  to  it,  that  he  not 
 uncommonly  prayed  in  Latin.  On  Sundays  and 
 Thursdays,  when  he  regularly  attended  the  mid-day 
 Communion,  it  was  in  his  hand  all  the  morning  be- 
 fore he  went  to  church.  On  those  mornings  it  was 
 with  difficulty  he  could  be  persuaded  to  take  any 
 breakfast ;  for  many  years  it  had  been  his  custom, 
 whenever  he  was  to  celebrate  in  the  course  of  the 
 day,  to  eat  nothing  before.      At  church  he  usually 
 
556  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 sat  in  one  place,  and  the  window  over  that  place 
 has  now  been  filled  with  stained  glass  out  of  respect 
 for  his  memory.  He  was,  I  may  mention  here,  a 
 strong  advocate  for  the  system  of  free  and  unap- 
 propriated seats,  which  he  urged  strongly  on  Mr. 
 Bennett.  It  may  be  that  circumstances  prevented 
 its  adoption  at  Bournemouth.  He  therefore  took 
 a  seat,  but  never  used  it,  and  told  the  clerk  to  use 
 it  as  free.  It  is  right  to  add  that  the  seats  in  Hurs- 
 ley  Church  were  still  in  his  time  appropriated,  which 
 he  desired  much  to  change.  It  seems  to  me  that 
 a  wide  distinction  in  principle  exists  between  pay- 
 ment and  simple  appropriation,  and  that  if  this  last 
 be  fairly  extended  to  the  poor  as  well  as  the  rich, 
 with  a  limitation  to  secure  punctuality  in  attendance, 
 there  is  much  to  be  said  for  it.  Payment  has  been, 
 is,  and  ever  will  be,  simply  mischievous.  He  read  a 
 good  deal  ;  for  himself  especially  St.  Chrysostom  on 
 St.  John,  (for  he  had  not  even  now  abandoned  the 
 thought  of  his  promised  Commentary).  He  read 
 to  Mrs.  Keble  the  Services  daily  ;  and  from  time  to 
 time,  frequently  it  would  seem,  he  administered  to 
 her  the  Holy  Communion.  In  the  evenings  the  little 
 party  would  meet  in  her  bedroom,  (which,  indeed, 
 was  his  also  for  a  large  part  of  the  illness,)  and  the 
 lessons  were  read  usually  by  Mr.  James  Young,  of 
 whom  I  have  spoken  before.  Sometimes  he  would 
 read  to  himself  the  first  Lessons  in  the  original. 
 No  one  can  doubt  that  he  prayed  much  for  her ; 
 
Beginning  of  L  ast  Illness.  557 
 
 more  than  was  commonly  observed  ;  he  had  a  life- 
 long faith  in  the  efficacy  of  intercessory  prayer,  but 
 he  shrunk  from  observation  when  he  prayed  alone  ; 
 more  than  once,  on  occasions  of  special  distress,  or  in- 
 terest, he  was  observed  kneeling  in  the  act  of  prayer 
 behind  a  door,  where  it  was  not  likely  he  should 
 be  seen. 
 
 With  all  his  sorrow,  and  his  own  weakness,  which 
 no  doubt  was  great,  he  still  bore  up  ;  and  down  to 
 little  more  than  a  week  before  his  death  he  took 
 his  walks,  seemed  refreshed  by  them,  and  retained 
 his  old  interest  in  the  objects  of  nature  around  him ; 
 especially,  it  was  noted  by  his  young  and  loving 
 companion,  the  ever-varying  sea,  the  ships,  the  cliffs, 
 the  clouds,  the  sky. 
 
 Down  to  this  time,  so  far  as  I  can  perceive,  no 
 new  or  special  anxiety  was  felt  for  his  own  health. 
 Even  the  sufferer,  about  whom  all  were  anxious, 
 seemed  to  have  but  one  real  trouble,  how  he  would 
 bear  her  departure,  how  he  would  be  taken  care  of 
 after  she  was  gone.  She  told  her  maid  one  day, 
 that  she  should  not  mind  dying,  if  it  were  not  for 
 him  ;  that  she  was  much  afraid  for  him,  he  seemed 
 to  bear  up  too  well.  She  was  told  in  answer,  that 
 his  heart  had  seemed  as  if  it  would  burst  but  a  night 
 or  two  before.  He  had  had  through  life  one  re- 
 markable blessing,  that  no  trouble  by  day  affected 
 his  sleep  ;  he  mentioned  this  once  to  a  friend,  and 
 in  his  usual  way  of  self-disparagement,  attributed  it 
 
55&  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 to  want  of  feeling.  She  put  the  truer  and  better 
 construction  on  it ;  she  would  often  say,  "  He  lays 
 aside  his  anxieties  with  his  prayers  ;  he  does  what 
 he  can,  the  issue  is  with  God,  with  Whom  he  is  con- 
 tent to  leave  it ;  therefore  he  is  still,  and  sleeps  like 
 a  child." 
 
 But  he  was  "  drawing  daily  nearer  home,"  and  his 
 Master  now  saw  fit  to  call  His  servant  to  Himself. 
 The  illness,  under  which  he  sunk,  lasted  just  a  week, 
 and  seemed  to  be  occasioned  at  first  by  his  rising  on 
 the  22nd  of  March  as  early  as  six  o'clock  by  mis- 
 take, by  his  then  using  a  cold  instead  of  warm  bath, 
 by  his  praying  for  some  time  by  his  wife's  bed-side, 
 and  then  standing  to  read  the  Lessons  to  her,  all 
 without  any  food  ;  in  the  act  of  reading  he  is  said 
 to  have  fainted  ;  whether  that  was  paralytic,  I  do 
 not  know,  but  he  was  never  able  to  use  his  lower 
 limbs  again.  Once  when  he  had  been  helped  into 
 Mrs.  Keble's  room,  he  managed  to  stand  by  himself, 
 to  cheer  her  ;  and  drew  himself  up,  a  gesture  his 
 friends  will  well  remember  as  familiar  with  him,  and 
 playfully  said,  "  Richard's  himself  again." 
 
 The  severity  of  the  symptoms,  however,  increased. 
 In  about  two  days  after,  he  was  unwillingly  wheeled 
 out  of  her  room  ;  and  they  who  for  so  many  years 
 had  had  but  one  heart,  and  one  mind,  parted  for 
 life,  with  one  silent  look  at  each  other.  I  do  not 
 pursue  the  details  of  the  remaining  two  or  three 
 days  ;  he  was  sometimes  wandering,  sometimes  con- 
 
His  Death.  559 
 
 scious,  sometimes  clear-minded  ;  whether  wandering, 
 or  clear-minded,  he  was  constantly  intent  on  holy 
 things,  or  in  actual  prayer ;  he  uttered  fragments, 
 or  ejaculations  in  the  former  case,  which  shewed  the 
 habitual  prayerfulness  of  his  heart ;  he  repeated, 
 or  he  composed,  as  it  seemed,  prayers  ;  the  Lord's 
 Prayer  he  uttered  most  commonly. 
 
 He  fell  asleep  on  the  29th  of  March,  about  one  in 
 the  morning. 
 
 I  have  been  treated  with  so  much  kindness  and 
 confidence  by  those  who  were  on  the  spot,  or  had 
 full  means  of  knowing  with  certainty  everything  that 
 passed,  that  I  could  have  multiplied  these  notices  of 
 my  dear  friend's  last  illness,  and  dying  hours  ;  but 
 the  sick  room,  and  the  chamber  of  death,  are  sacred ; 
 and  my  only  fear  is,  that  I  may  have  trespassed 
 already  on  their  sanctity.  This  I  felt,  that  I  was  in 
 no  danger  of  revealing  anything  that  was  unworthy 
 of  him.  One  anecdote  I  must  add,  for  it  is  the 
 highest  testimonial  direct  and  indirect  from  the  best 
 of  witnesses,  his  dying  wife. 
 
 The  mournful  family  repaired  from  his  death-bed 
 to  her  room,  and  knelt  round  her  bed,  and  prayed  ; 
 she  besought  them  to  return  thanks  for  her  to  God, 
 that  he  had  been  taken  first,  that  she,  not  he,  had  to 
 bear  the  trial  of  surviving  ;  but  she  expressed  a 
 hope  that  she  might  be  released  so  soon  as  to  ad- 
 mit of  both  being  buried  at  the  same  time  in  one 
 grave. 
 
S6o  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 Then  she  requested  her  maid  to  fetch  her  "  Chris- 
 tian Year,"  and  turning  to  the  two  last  stanzas  of  the 
 verses  on  Good  Friday,  "I  know,"  said  she,  "these 
 were  in  his  dying  thoughts  :" — 
 
 "  Lord  of  my  heart,  by  Thy  last  cry, 
 
 Let  not  Thy  blood  on  earth  be  spent — 
 Lo,  at  Thy  feet  I  fainting  lie, 
 
 Mine  eyes  upon  Thy  wounds  are  bent, 
 Upon  Thy  streaming  wounds  my  weary  eyes 
 Wait  like  the  parched  earth  on  April  skies. 
 
 "  Wash  me,  and  dry  these  bitter  tears, 
 
 O  let  my  heart  no  further  roam, 
 'Tis  Thine  by  vows,  and  hopes,  and  fears, 
 
 Long  since — O  call  Thy  wanderer  home  ; 
 To  that  dear  home,  safe  in  Thy  wounded  side, 
 Where  only  broken  hearts  their  sin  and  shame 
 
 may  hide." 
 
 There  is  no  exaggeration  in  saying  that  the  heart 
 of  England  was  deeply  stirred  by  the  news  of  his 
 death.  There  was  a  grief  as  real  and  as  widely 
 spread  through  different  classes  of  society,  and  I 
 may  say  with  confidence,  through  all  denominations 
 of  Christians,  as  any  death  has  occasioned  in  my 
 recollection.  We  felt  that  we  had  lost  a  true  Saint, 
 a  true  Poet ;  a  Saint  whose  holiness  and  purity  no 
 verse  he  ever  composed  could  blemish  ;  a  Poet,  whose 
 genius  was  elevated  and  sanctified  by  the  perpetual 
 heavenward  inspiration  under  which  he  wrote.     We 
 
Memorial  to  Keble.  561 
 
 had  lost  a  guide,  a  counsellor,  a  friend,  so  humble, 
 so  loving,  so  tender,  that  no  one,  not  the  very  school- 
 boy in  his  little  difficulties,  nor  even  the  young 
 woman  in  the  troubles  of  her  heart,  (I  speak  from 
 knowledge,)  shrunk  from  addressing  him  for  help, 
 or  advice. 
 
 He  was  buried  on  the  6th  of  April,  1866,  in  his 
 own  churchyard,  close  to  the  grave  of  Elizabeth 
 Keble,  as  that  was  near  to  the  grave  where  the  re- 
 mains of  my  little  God-child,  Godfrey  Heathcote, 
 whom  he  had  baptized,  and  was  so  tenderly  in- 
 terested in,  are  laid.  As  might  be  expected,  the 
 high  and  low,  the  rich  and  poor,  the  old  and  young, 
 crowded  to  the  funeral ;  it  was  no  common  cere- 
 monial ;  Mr.  Moor  speaks  of  the  day  truly  as  never 
 to  be  forgotten  by  those  who  were  present. 
 
 As  yet  no  cross  or  monument  has  been  erected  at 
 his  grave  ;  (he  himself  had  placed  a  stone  cross,  mo- 
 delled from  a  beautiful  Irish  one,  at  the  grave  of 
 his  sister).  But  in  the  floor  of  the  chancel,  on  the 
 spot  where  his  body  rested  during  the  service,  the 
 parishioners  have  placed  a  very  beautiful  brass  cross 
 designed  by  Mr.  Butterfield,  which  records  his  name, 
 the  period  of  his  incumbency,  the  day  when  he  fell 
 asleep  in  the  Lord,  and  his  age,  seventy-four  years. 
 This  cross  is  let  into  a  stone,  round  the  edge  of 
 which  on  a  strip  of  brass  is  inscribed  a  memo- 
 rable   portion    of  our  Litany,  which    he    so   loved  : 
 
 O  o 
 
562  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 "  BY  THINE  AGONY  AND  BLOODY  SWEAT  ;  BY  THY 
 CROSS  AND  PASSION  ;  BY  THY  PRECIOUS  DEATH 
 AND  BURIAL  ;  BY  THY  GLORIOUS  RESURRECTION 
 AND  ASCENSION  ;  AND  BY  THE  COMING  OF  THE 
 HOLY  GHOST,  GOOD  LORD,  DELIVER  US." 
 
 It  will  be  to  be  regretted,  if  the  graves  of  Keble 
 and  his  loving  wife  should  be  longer  left,  I  will  not 
 say  neglected,  (at  present  there  is  no  reason  to  fear 
 that,)  but  without  some  permanent  mark  and  pro- 
 tection. There  may  be  differences  of  opinion  how 
 that  may  best  be  effected ;  but  it  is  dangerous  to 
 rely  too  much  on  a  continuance  of  the  same  warmth 
 of  pious  feeling  with  which  these  graves  are  now  re- 
 garded ;  and  the  green-sod  grave,  which  is  so  pleasing 
 to  the  eye  and  to  the  imagination,  with  its  flowers  re- 
 newed from  time  to  time  by  pious  hands,  is  yet  from 
 its  very  nature  mouldering  and  perishable.  Accord- 
 ing to  the  proverb,  what  is  everybody's  business  is 
 no  one's ;  and  after  the  lapse  of  a  few  years,  the 
 pilgrim  who  comes  to  bend  over  the  grave,  may  find 
 it  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  distinguish  it  from  its 
 neighbours.  On  the  other  hand,  I  agree  that  there  is 
 something  almost  repulsive  to  the  feelings  with  which 
 we  regard  the  resting-place  of  such  remains  as  these, 
 in  pressing  them  down  with  a  heavy  mass  of  stone. 
 Is  it  impossible  to  devise  something  which  may 
 permanently  mark  the  spot,  and  fence  it  from  viola- 
 tion, and  yet  leave  the  grave  to  be  seen  by  those 
 
Memorial  to  Keble.  563 
 
 who  visit  it,  and  open  to  be  piously  decked  from 
 time  to  time  with  the  flowers,  and  specially  the  wild 
 flowers,  of  the  season. 
 
 I  am  not  competent  to  suggest  how  this  may 
 best  be  done,  but  let  us  not  lay  ourselves  open  to 
 the  imputation  of  negligent  delay  now,  nor  trust 
 too  much  to  the  continuing  piety  of  our  posterity. 
 Who,  (says  the  Lover  at  the  Grave  of  his  Mistress, 
 in  terms  not  inappropriate  to  Keble's)  : — 
 
 "  Who,  when  I  am  turn'd  to  clay, 
 Shall  duly  to  her  grave  repair, 
 And  pluck  the  ragged  moss  away 
 
 And  weeds  that  have  *  no  business  there  ?' 
 
 "  And  who  with  pious  hands  shall  bring 
 
 The  flowers  she  cherish'd,  snowdrops  cold, 
 And  violets  that  unheeded  spring, 
 To  scatter  o'er  her  hallow'd  mould?" 
 
 It  will  not  be  necessary,  I  think,  for  me  to  enlarge 
 in  any  detail  .on  Keble's  character  ;  however  imper- 
 fectly I  have  constructed  this  narrative,  a  tolerably 
 accurate  notion  of  that  will  have  been  collected  from 
 the  numerous  letters  I  have  printed.  These  letters 
 do  not  give,  indeed,  a  full  measure  of  his  ability,  or 
 of  his  acquirements  ;  he  wrote  them  rapidly,  often 
 when  over-fatigued,  on  the  spur  of  the  moment,  as 
 the  occasion  called  for  them,  with  no  care  for  the 
 writing,   no   notion   of  their   being   preserved ;   and 
 
564  Memoir  of  tJie  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 yet  I  must  not  shrink  from  saying  that  I  think  they 
 are  of  high  value  merely  as  epistolary  compositions ; 
 but  at  all  events,  they  paint  him  truly  as  he  was. 
 
 A  biographer  is  usually  expected  to  try  to  convey 
 some  impression  of  the  person  and  countenance  of 
 his  subject  ;  and  this  is  often  a  most  difficult  part 
 of  his  office.  It  will  have  been  seen  that  a  young  lady, 
 to  whom  I  am  very  much  obliged,  writes  of  him  in 
 Scotland  as  "  a  plain  man  ;"  if  she  intended  that  he 
 was  ugly,  or  even  commonplace,  I  should  venture 
 to  differ  from  her  entirely  ;  if  she  intended  that  his 
 face  was  one  easily  understood,  I  should  also  dis- 
 agree. I  look  on  the  opinion  of  the  practised  portrait 
 painter  as  of  the  highest  authority  on  such  a  sub- 
 ject ;  it  is  his  business  to  study  the  countenance, 
 and  it  is  part  of  his  art  to  render  its  true  character. 
 When  Mr.  Richmond  drew  the  portrait  of  him  in 
 the  prime  of  his  manhood,  which  was  afterwards  en- 
 graved by  Mr.  S.  Cousins,  he  told  me  that  out  of  so 
 many  as  he  had  drawn,  he  never  found  one  so  diffi- 
 cult to  comprehend.  Curiously  enough,  when  Mr. 
 Cousins  had  studied  the  successful  picture,  and  had 
 brought  his  engraving  to  an  unsuccessful  first  proof, 
 he  told  me  he  had  never  met  with  a  more  unintel- 
 ligible portrait,  and  begged  to  see  the  original.  Ke- 
 ble and  he  accordingly  breakfasted  with  me,  and 
 afterwards  he  also  gave  him  a  sitting ;  "  Now,"  said 
 he,  "  I  understand  the  picture,"  and  he  certainly  suc- 
 ceeded admirably  in  his  rendering  of  it.     Mr.  Rich- 
 
Keble's  Portrait.  565 
 
 mond,  it  is  well  known,  drew  Keble's  head  again  in 
 old  age,  and  he  pronounced  it  then  most  beautiful, 
 and  beautiful  is  the  drawing,  and,  though  I  venture 
 to  think  a  little  wanting  in  strength,  also  true  on  the 
 whole.  For  that  is  not  the  true  portrait  which  gives 
 the  face  as  it  strikes  careless  and  commonplace  be- 
 holders, but  that  which  gives  to  congenial  observers 
 in  the  most  agreeable  way,  I  do  not  say  an  excep- 
 tional gleam  of  light  or  beauty,  but  the  look  that 
 tells  most  vividly  the  characteristic  workings  of  the 
 mind  and  heart  in  their  best  moments. 
 
 To  me  both  the  portraits  are  full  of  deep  interest, 
 the  earlier  and  the  later  both — each  brings  him  back 
 to  me  as  he  was  ;  in  the  earlier,  he  has  some  of  the 
 merry  defiance  he  could  assume  in  argument  ;  in 
 the  latter,  I  see  the  sad  tenderness  of  his  advanced 
 years.  Keble  had  not  regular  features  ;  he  could 
 not  be  called  a  handsome  man,  but  he  was  one  to 
 be  noticed  anywhere,  and  remembered  long ;  his 
 forehead  and  hair  beautiful  in  all  ages  ;  his  eyes, 
 full  of  play,  intelligence,  and  emotion,  followed  you 
 while  you  spoke  ;  and  they  lighted  up,  especially 
 with  pleasure,  or  indignation,  as  it  might  be,  when 
 he  answered  you.  The  most  pleasing  photograph  is 
 one  in  which  he  is  standing  by  Mrs.  Keble's  side  ; 
 she  is  sitting  with  a  book  in  her  hand.  The  later 
 photographs  are  to  me  very  unpleasant.  I  will  at- 
 tempt no  more  particular  description,  for  I  feel  how 
 little  definite  I  can  convey  in  writing. 
 
566  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 But  there  is  a  much  more  important  and  effectual 
 portrait  painting  than  such  as  I  can  give  of  the 
 countenance,  and  before  I  lay  down  my  pen,  I  must 
 yet  crave  the  indulgence  of  my  readers  to  an  ac- 
 count, as  short  as  I  can  make  it,  of  him  in  his  minis- 
 trations as  a  Parish  Priest.  I  speak  thus  guardedly, 
 for  I  have  been  helped  in  this  matter  so  copiously, 
 and  authentically,  that  it  is  difficult  to  be  very 
 short. 
 
 The  characteristic  of  his  ministrations  in  church, 
 or  elsewhere,  was,  as  might  have  been  expected, 
 that  which  was  the  animating  and  pervading  spirit 
 of  all  his  life,  a  perfectly  simple  and  sincere  sense  of 
 his  own  unworthiness,  combined  with  a  hearty  con- 
 viction that  every  talent  he  had  received,  all  his 
 strength,  all  his  time,  all  his  energies,  were  con- 
 secrated to  God's  service  ;  and  that  service  so  high 
 and  holy,  that  it  was  never  to  be  thought  of  even 
 but  with  the  most  reverential  feeling  of  which  he 
 was  capable.  This  last  was  never  more  marked 
 than  when  he  was  engaged  in  the  administration 
 of  the  Sacraments.  He  was  not  what  is  commonly 
 called  an  eloquent  reader  or  preacher ;  his  voice  was 
 not  powerful,  nor  his  ear  perfect  for  harmony  of 
 sound  ;  nor  had  he  in  the  popular  sense  great  gifts 
 of  delivery;  but  in  spite  of  all  this,  you  could  not 
 but  be  impressed  deeply  both  by  his  reading  and 
 his  preaching.  When  he  read,  you  saw  that  he  felt, 
 and  he  made  you   feel,  that   he  was  the  ordained 
 
Character  and  Habits  as  Parish  Priest.        567 
 
 servant  of  God ;  delivering  His  words,  or  leading 
 you,  but  as  one  of  like  infirmities  and  sins  with 
 your  own,  in  your  prayers.  When  he  preached,  it 
 was  with  an  affectionate  almost  plaintive  earnest- 
 ness, which  was  very  moving.  His  sermons  were 
 at  all  times  full  of  that  scriptural  knowledge  which 
 was  a  remarkable  quality  in  him  as  a  divine.  Like 
 one  of  the  old  Fathers,  he  seemed  to  have  caught, 
 by  continual  and  devout  study,  somewhat  of  the 
 idiom  and  manner  of  Scripture.  In  passing,  let  me 
 press  on  my  readers  to  profit  by  the  sermons  now 
 in  course  of  publication  by  his  brother.  Several  of 
 them  were  preached  almost  immediately  after  his 
 Ordination,  when  he  was  not  much  over  twenty- 
 three.  I  think  they  will  be  found  remarkable,  among 
 other  things,  for  their  soundness  and  moderation,  as 
 well  as  for  more  popular  qualities. 
 
 His  reverential  feelings  manifested  themselves  not 
 merely  in  church,  but  in  many  almost  involuntary 
 habits  of  voice  or  gesture,  in  his  family  prayers,  or 
 in  conversation,  or  reading.  His  hand  would  in 
 prayer  be  raised  so  as  to  overshadow  his  eyes,  or 
 his  voice  would  sink.  Once  a  friend  was  about  to 
 read  to  him  the  daily  prayers  used  by  a  poor  Italian 
 woman  ;  he  raised  his  hand  to  his  forehead  in  the 
 way  I  speak  of,  caught  a  low  chair,  and  knelt  on  it, 
 as  if  that  were  the  only  proper  position  for  him  while 
 the  prayers  were  read. 
 
 It  was  but  a  part  of  this  disposition  which  ap- 
 
568  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 peared  on  many  occasions  in  regard  to  his  deceased 
 father  ;  he  clung  to  his  old  ways ;  among  other  things, 
 he  always  used  Bishop  Wilson's  daily  prayers  ;  in 
 the  first  instance,  I  believe,  because  he  had  used 
 them  ;  and  when  he  meant  to  accord  strongly  with 
 some  statement  of  doctrine,  he  would  say,  "  That 
 seems  to  me  just  what  my  father  taught  me."  Any 
 one  who  had  known  his  father,  or  mother,  or  his 
 sister  Sarah,  who  had  died  young,  was  always  a  wel- 
 come visitor  at  the  vicarage. 
 
 He  spent  a  considerable  portion  of  his  time  in 
 the  school.  I  will  now  give  Mr.  Young's  account 
 in  his  own  words,  for  I  cannot  mend  them  : — 
 
 "  He  was  most  scrupulous  in  going  to  the  Sunday  School 
 from  9.15  to  10.30,  in  the  morning,  and  from  2  to  3  in  the 
 afternoon.  I  think  it  might  be  truly  said,  that  unless  he 
 was  hindered  by  illness,  (which  happily  occurred  very  rarely,) 
 or  by  some  special  call  of  parochial  duty,  he  never  missed 
 during  the  30  years  he  was  at  Hursley.  Besides  this,  it 
 was  his  habit  for  several  years  to  go  to  the  Boys'  School 
 every  morning  soon  after  9,  and  teach  the  first  class  until 
 service  time  at  10,  taking  them  through  one  part  of  the 
 Bible  after  another.  On  Friday  there  was  an  examination 
 in  writing  in  the  work  which  had  been  done  during  the 
 week.  This  he  did,  whoever  might  be  staying  with  him, 
 and  whatever  letters,  interesting  or  perplexing,  he  might 
 have  received.  School  time  often  came  on  him  before  he 
 was  ready,  but  as  soon  as  he  became  aware  that  the  clock 
 had  struck,  away  he  went.  Many  of  his  friends  must  re- 
 member to  have  seen  him  hurrying  across  the  Lawn,  and 
 
Character  and  Habits  as  Parish  Priest.        569 
 
 down  the  Long  Walk  which  led  to  the  School,  when  he 
 fancied  that  he  was  late.  But  he  was  never  in  a  hurry  in 
 his  teaching;  he  was  always  patient,  both  with  his  Scholars, 
 and  with  his  subject;  dealing  with  it  very  simply  and  mi- 
 nutely, yet  very  deeply  and  practically.  He  invariably 
 stood  when  he  was  teaching,  and  that  not  so  much  be- 
 cause he  thought  it  gave  him  more  command  over  the 
 boys'  attention,  but  as  it  would  seem  because  he  fancied  it 
 helped  to  keep  him  up  to  the  mark,  and  hindered  him  from 
 becoming  listless.  Indeed,  in  everything  he  took  in  hand, 
 if  I  may  venture  to  say  it,  he  always  did  his  best.  He 
 never  spared  himself  any  labour  of  body  or  mind ;  but 
 whatever  he  undertook,  a  small  matter  or  a  great,  he  did 
 it  with  all  his  might,  often  with  much  misgiving  and  com- 
 plaint, but  always  with  an  honest  patient  endeavour  to  give 
 his  whole  mind  to  it." 
 
 In  connection  with  this  subject  I  will  insert  here 
 an  extract  from  a  letter,  in  which  Archdeacon  Allen 
 gives  me  some  account  of  an  examination  by  him- 
 self of  Keble's  school.  It  occurred  a  good  many 
 years  ago,  when  he  was  an  Inspector  of  Schools, 
 and  it  was  made  at  the  request  of  the  Bishop  : — 
 
 "  Sir  W.  Heathcote  was  present.  Mr.  Keble  watched  the 
 examination  closely,  but  did  not,  so  far  as  I  recollect,  make 
 a  single  observation.  The  children,  as  I  thought,  passed 
 an  excellent  examination,  but  I  did  not  quite  feel  at  home 
 with  them.  Perhaps  I  felt  awed  by  Mr.  Keble's  silent 
 presence.  The  examination  lasted  from  two  till  after  five. 
 It  was  a  beautiful  summer  evening,  and  Mr.  Keble  then 
 proposed  to  walk  to  a  part  of  the  parish,  where,  if  I  re- 
 
57°  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 collect  right,  he  said,  the  green  sand  joined  the  chalk. 
 We  mounted  a  hill  without  a  word.  At  last  Mr.  Keble 
 broke  silence  and  said,  '  I  find  that  you  teach  children  on 
 a  different  principle  from  what  I  do.'  *  Oh,'  I  said,  '  I  hope 
 not,  please  explain ;  I  am  sure  I  must  be  wrong,  and  I  wish 
 to  mend.'  'No,  I  am  not  sure  that  you  are  wrong;  but 
 you  teach  them  analytically,  and  I  teach  them  syntheti- 
 cally.' I  said,  'Your  words  were  perplexing  to  me,  and 
 now  I  am  in  still  greater  perplexity ;  what  can  you  mean  ?' 
 '  For  example,  you  asked  them  what  parable  teaches  us  to 
 persevere  in  prayer  under  every  seeming  discouragement; 
 I  should  have  read  with  them  St.  Luke  xviii.  i — 7,  and 
 then  asked  them  what  lesson  do  you  learn  from  this?" 
 
 I  think  we  must  all  agree  that  Keble's  mode  was 
 the  most  helpful  to  children  ;  and  this  was  the  spirit 
 of  his  ordinary  dealing  with  them. 
 
 He  was  always  anxious  to  win  their  love  ;  and  his 
 simplicity  and  playfulness,  as  well  as  his  special  fond- 
 ness for  the  young,  made  this  easy  for  him  ;  but  he 
 was  not  afraid  of  sharp  rebuke,  or  discipline,  where 
 he  thought  the  circumstances  made  them  proper. 
 The  principle  which  directed  his  general  ministra- 
 tions, prevailed  also  in  this  particular  : — 
 
 "  He  never  forgot,"  I  am  using  Mr.  Young's  words,  "  that 
 he  was  a  Steward  intrusted  with  the  souls  of  men  whom  he 
 had  to  deal  with  for  their  good,  tenderly,  or  severely,  as 
 there  might  be  occasion,  and  with  the  holy  things  of  God, 
 which  he  was  to  guard  from  dishonour." 
 
 Lying  before  me  is  a  letter  dated  September  9, 
 
Kcbles  CatecJiizing  in  CJmrch.  571 
 
 1839,  to  Mr.  Wilson,  in  which,  after  much  about 
 a  new  and  higher  school  in  contemplation,  he  writes 
 thus  characteristically  about  the  parish  school  : — 
 
 "  I  am  more  in  doubt  on  that  score  about  the  other 
 School,  the  people  here  are  so  utterly  averse  to  discipline. 
 Just  think  of  me  last  Sunday  in  humble  imitation  of  you, 
 inflicting  a  little  wholesome  Stick  Liquorice  on  Ja.  B.  and 
 Dick  H. ;  and  then  on  my  desiring  old  R.  to  repeat  the 
 dose  on  some  small  culprits  yesterday,  fancy  his  flatly  re- 
 fusing, in  presence  of  the  whole  school,  and  saying  he 
 might  be  turned  off,  but  he  would  not  do  any  such  thing  ; 
 although  those  before  punished  had  shewn  themselves,  as 
 I  told  him  they  would,  specially  attached  to  me  in  conse- 
 quence. Of  course  I  had  nothing  to  do  but  to  send  away 
 the  boys  and  expostulate  a  little  quietly  with  him  ;  but  he 
 was  resolved,  after  his  manner,  having  no  doubt  been  in- 
 structed behind  the  curtain  by  Mrs.  R.  So  I  must  get  him 
 to  resign,  and  make  an  amicable  retreat,  for  I  shall  not  at 
 all  like  to  part  with  him  otherwise  than  friends." 
 
 I  do  not  know  what  became  of  Dick  H.,  but 
 Ja.  B.  a  sometime  after  was  recommended  by  Keble 
 to  a  situation,  as  the  best  boy  in  his  parish  ;  and  he 
 has  remained  ever  since  in  the  same  employ,  main- 
 
 a  I  am  told  that  I  have  mistaken  between  two  brothers,  and  that  the 
 recommendation  and  character  which  I  have  here  given  to  Ja.  B.  in 
 truth  belong  to  Edwin  B.  One  ought  to  do  justice  even  in  what  may 
 seem  a  slight  matter  ;  and  I  may  add  from  excellent  authority  that 
 both  Edwin  and  James  have  continued  to  do  credit  to  their  teaching, 
 and  still  manifest  on  all  occasions  their  love  and  reverence  for  their 
 teacher. 
 
572  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 taining  the  highest  character,  and  bearing  the  best 
 testimony  to  this  wholesome  castigation. 
 
 Keble's  mode  of  catechizing  was,  I  believe,  not  a 
 usual  one.  He  did  not  confine  himself  to  the  Church 
 Catechism.  He  thought  any  opportunity  of  display 
 by  the  children  was  much  to  be  avoided  ;  he  therefore 
 prepared  them  carefully  beforehand  in  the  questions 
 he  meant  to  ask  ;  if  one  could  not  answer  a  ques- 
 tion, he  did  not  put  it  to  another,  but  helped  the 
 one  who  failed  ;  he  always  repeated  the  answers 
 aloud,  that  the  parents  might  follow  the  subject  in- 
 telligently. He  usually  took  a  short  portion,  whether 
 of  the  Catechism  or  Scripture  ;  and  when  the  cate- 
 chizing ended,  lectured  from  the  pulpit  on  what  had 
 been  the  subject  of  his  questioning.  He  generally 
 took  boys  and  girls  on  alternate  Sundays. 
 
 Mr.  Young  has  been  so  kind  as  to  furnish  me  with 
 the  heads  of  one  or  two  specimens  ;  it  is  worth  while 
 to  give  one.  He  was  catechizing  girls  on  Easter 
 Monday,  and  his  object  was  to  shew  how  little  girls 
 might  take  pattern  from  St.  Mary  Magdalene  : — 
 
 "  He  first  drew  from  them  with  some  minuteness  the 
 several  particulars  of  her  history  in  connection  with  the 
 Resurrection,  and  then  dwelt  on  the  lessons  they  should 
 derive  from  it,  e.g.  that  they  should  prepare  over-night  for 
 the  work  of  the  next  day ;  that  they  should  rise  early ;  that 
 in  their  difficulties  they  should  go  to  those  who  were  set 
 over  them ;  that  they  should  stay  by  their  Lord  at  all  times, 
 or  as  near  Him  as  possible ;  if  they  were  unhappy,  they 
 
Dealing  with  the  Sick  and  distressed.         573 
 
 should  still  look  after  Him,  then  they  would  find  that  He 
 would  shew  Himself  to  them  in  ways  they  least  thought  of; 
 as  He  was  with  St.  Mary  Magdalene  as  a  gardener  \  only 
 they  would  not  be  allowed  to  touch  Him  all  at  once.  He 
 would  train  them  gradually,  and  draw  them  up  to  Himself ; 
 and  they  must  not  think  it  hard,  for  it  was  His  way  with 
 His  own  Apostles." 
 
 This  was  followed  the  next  day  by  catechizing 
 the  boys  on  the  visit  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  John  to 
 the  Sepulchre,  dealt  with  in  the  same  way.  It  may 
 well  be  understood  how  practically  and  how  gene- 
 rally useful  such  a  system  might  be  in  hands  like 
 Keble's.  He  made  a  point  at  all  times  of  the  chil- 
 dren having  their  Bibles  in  church,  and  following  the 
 Lessons  ;  and  for  some  years  it  was  his  daily  custom 
 to  call  up  some  of  them  after  the  service,  and  ques- 
 tion them  for  a  few  minutes  in  the  two  chapters 
 which  had  been  read.  No  wonder  the  Hursley  chil- 
 dren had  more  than  the  usual  knowledge  of  the 
 Scriptures. 
 
 I  have  already  in  a  former  chapter  spoken  of  him 
 in  regard  to  Confirmation  ;  after  it,  he  was  always 
 anxious  that  the  young  people  should  not  lose  sight 
 of  him,  as  he  never  did  of  them.  His  letters  when 
 from  home  are  full  of  enquiries  about  doubtful  young 
 men,  or  women ;  and  of  messages,  anxious,  yet  very 
 considerate  : — 
 
 "  Why  was  he  perfidious  with  me  in  not  coming  to  H.  C, 
 or,  at  least,  not  coming  to  me  to  say  why  he  kept  away  1    If 
 
5  74  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  JoJin  Keble. 
 
 you  think  it  more  likely  to  answer,  you  need  only  say  that 
 I  depend  on  having  a  call  from  him  as  soon  as  ever  I  get 
 home." 
 
 With  regard  to  the  visitation  of  the  sick  and  poor, 
 and  those  who  were  in  any  trouble,  his  principle  and 
 the  spirit  of  his  practice  may  be  summed  up  with 
 exact  truth  in  the  words  of  St.  Paul,  "  Ourselves 
 your  servants  for  Jesus'  sake."  He  used  habitually 
 to  speak  of  it  as  waiting  on  them,  and,  as  I  have 
 said  before,  you  could  not  be  any  time  in  the  Vicar- 
 age as  a  guest  without  becoming  aware  how,  without 
 the  least  ostentation,  this  principle  was  acted  on  as 
 a  matter  of  course ;  equally,  I  must  add,  by  husband 
 and  wife.  In  his  practice  as  regarded  the  distribution 
 of  relief,  and  all  perhaps  that  may  be  separated  from 
 teaching  and  direct  ministering  to  spiritual  wants, 
 he  was  very  glad  to  commit  much  to  his  wife  and 
 other  assistants ;  in  them  he  placed  the  most  gene- 
 rous confidence,  and  gave  them  a  wide  discretion. 
 This  arose  in  part  from  his  self-distrust ;  when  con- 
 sulted by  them,  he  would  say,  "  You  will  do  it  better 
 than  I  can  direct ;"  or,  "  I  am  sure  to  say  the  wrong 
 thing;"  but  then  they  made  the  fullest  communica- 
 tions to  him ;  and  his  knowledge  of  persons  and  cir- 
 cumstances was  remarkable.  One  lady,  (and  at  the 
 expense  of  giving  her  perhaps  a  moment's  pain,  I  am 
 bound  in  justice  to  mention  her  name,  Miss  Baker,) 
 with  many  other  important  calls  on  her  time,  yet 
 
Dealing  with  the  Sick  and  Distressed.  575 
 
 worked  under  him  in  this  way  for  seventeen  years ; 
 he  would  suggest  to  her  cases,  but  he  left  her  to 
 work  under  the  most  general  instructions  ;  sugges- 
 tions they  might  rather  be  called  ;  she  reported  to 
 him  what  she  did,  and  he  listened  with  the  deepest 
 interest,  sometimes  with  tears  in  his  eyes.  When  he 
 was  absent,  she  wrote  to  him  ;  and  if  she  were  ab- 
 sent, he  communicated  with  her  on  the  subject  of 
 the  poor : — 
 
 "  Many  thanks,"  writes  he  on  one  occasion  from  Pen- 
 zance, "  for  your  account  of  the  people.  Poor  dear  W.  H. 
 I  was  sorry  to  lose  him  out  of  the  place,  and  I  feel  this  more 
 of  a  loss  :  he  is  one  of  those  who  have  twined  themselves 
 round  one's  Hursley's  memories.  I  am  glad  his  wife  did 
 a  good  part  by  him  at  last.  I  am  glad  also  about  J.  S.,  in 
 whom  I  have  always  thought  there  was  much  good.  My 
 heart  aches  a  little  about  the  poor  S — 's,  especially  since  I 
 feel  that  I  have  neglected  them.  It  is  also  but  one  instance 
 out  of  many.  Our  kind  Christmas  love  to  you,  all  and  each, 
 from  top  to  toe." 
 
 Writing  to  her  when  he  was  at  home,  and  she  ab- 
 sent, he  says  : — 
 
 "We  have  had  two  deaths  since  I  saw  you.  T.  G.,  Mrs. 
 F.'s  servant,  about  the  most  exemplary  young  man  in  the 
 place,  was  cut  off  last  Sunday  by  something  like  diptheria, 
 after  two  days'  illness ;  and  poor  dear  W.  B.  died  the  day 
 before  yesterday,  and  is  to  be  buried  on  Sunday.  It  is  very 
 pleasant  to  see  his  family,  wife  and  all  the  sons  and  daugh- 
 ters, in  what  a  Christian  way  they  have  waited  on  and  spoken 
 of  him  all  along,  and  I  am  much  comforted  about  him." 
 
576  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 These  extracts,  taken  by  themselves,  may  be  said 
 to  shew  nothing  remarkable,  but  it  is  to  be  remem- 
 bered they  are  but  specimens  of  what  was  his  or- 
 dinary course.  And  it  continued  to  the  end  ; 
 in  the  last  month  of  his  life,  when  he  might  have 
 seemed  borne  down  by  incessant  care  for  his  suf- 
 fering wife,  and  his  own  unheeded  increase  of  dis- 
 orderment,  Miss  Baker  visited  Bournemouth  ;  he  saw 
 her  every  day  during  her  stay,  talked  over  individual 
 cases  with  her,  and  grudged  no  time  so  spent. 
 
 Working  by  others,  however,  did  not  prevent  him 
 from  occupying  himself  much  in  personal  visitation  \ 
 in  this  he  was  unwearied,  in  all  weathers,  at  all  hours  ; 
 and  sometimes  to  the  injury  of  his  own  health.  His 
 was  truly  a  ministry  of  consolation,  and  of  cheer- 
 ing ;  he  had  consideration  for  all  the  special  cir- 
 cumstances of  each  person  under  his  charge.  There 
 was,  for  example,  a  poor  cripple,  deaf  and  dumb, 
 whom  he  constantly  found  time  to  visit,  because  the 
 man  thought  he  could  understand  the  motion  of  his 
 lips  ;  and  he  would  hold  conversations  with  him  be- 
 sides, by  writing  on  a  slate ;  then  to  amuse  him  in 
 his  solitary  life,  he  would  set  him  sums  on  the  slate 
 when  he  went  away,  and  look  them  over  at  his  next 
 visit,  and  correct  them. 
 
 He  "  made  friends,"  as  one  may  say,  with  the  in- 
 mates of  the  Workhouse,  especially  the  old  men,  and 
 was  frequent  in  his  visits  there.  He  got  them  to  the 
 Daily  Services,  and,  seating  them  on  the  front  benches, 
 
Deali?ig  with  the  Sick  and  Distressed.        577 
 
 addressed  himself  specially  to  them,  as  he  read  the 
 second  Lesson,  reading  slowly,  and  with  pauses,  al- 
 most as  if  he  were  alone  with  them,  and  were  speak- 
 ing to  them.  He  was  rewarded  not  seldom  by 
 finding  how  much  they  learned  of  the  Gospels  in 
 this  way. 
 
 Indeed  his  manner  of  reading  the  Scriptures  was 
 remarkable :  so  simple,  that  your  first  impression  of 
 it  was  that  it  was  the  reading  of  a  very  intelligent 
 and  reverent  child,  yet  so  good,  that  he  made  you 
 understand  them  more,  I  think,  than  any  one  else. 
 At  the  same  time  he  conveyed  to  you  in  some  mea- 
 sure his  own  feeling  of  reverence.  He  always  paused 
 before  he  began,  and  would  often  raise  his  hand  to 
 his  forehead  in  the  manner  I  have  described  before ; 
 and  so  again  at  the  close,  he  paused  before  he  said, 
 "  Here  endeth,"  &c. 
 
 He  had  made  a  little  service  by  way  of  help 
 and  suggestion  to  himself,  for  the  visitation  of  the 
 sick  : — 
 
 "  He  commonly  began,"  here  again  I  use  Mr.  Young's 
 own  words,  "  with  the  first  Prayer  for  Good  Friday,  '  this 
 Thy  servant' being  substituted  for  'this  Thy  family;'  then 
 there  would  be  always  some  kind  of  Confession,  very 
 frequently  the  51st  Psalm,  (indeed  I  believe  he  very  seldom, 
 if  ever,  said  prayers  with  any  sick  person  without  intro- 
 ducing some  verses  at  least  of  that  Psalm) ;  then  came  the 
 prayers  in  the  Visitation  Service,  and  often  Collects,  special 
 petitions  being  introduced  here  and  there  to  suit  the  par- 
 
 Pp 
 
578  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 ticular  case,  sometimes  in  his  own  words,  sometimes  in  the 
 words  of  the  Psalms,  or  of  the  Prayer-book.  When  death 
 was  imminent,  over  and  above  the  Commendatory  Prayer, 
 I  have  known  him  repeat  at  intervals  verses  or  passages  of 
 Scripture,  interspersed  with  short  suffrages  and  ejaculations, 
 extending  over  a  considerable  space  of  time. 
 
 "  In  cases  of  prolonged  sickness  he  tried  to  pay  his  visit 
 on  particular  days,  that  it  might  be  expected  and  prepared 
 for;  and  if  the  sick  person  were  near  at  hand,  he  would 
 visit  as  nearly  as  possible  at  the  same  hour  every  day,  his 
 wish  being  in  this  as  in  every  thing  else,  to  adapt  himself  to 
 what  he  thought  would  be  most  acceptable  to  those  for 
 whom  he  ministered.  One  case  I  specially  remember  of  an 
 old  woman,  whom  he  went  to  visit  in  this  way  every  evening 
 regularly,  just  before  she  settled  for  the  night." 
 
 The  Daily  Services  he  prized  much  for  others  ;  for 
 himself  they  were  refreshment  and  delight,  never 
 palling ;  he  never  failed  to  attend  when  at  home  un- 
 less absolutely  prevented,  and  if  he  could  only  be 
 at  part  of  the  service  he  went  to  that. 
 
 His  population  was  scattered  over  a  considerable 
 area,  and  after  Morning  Service  he  would  commonly 
 arrange  with  his  curates  what  cases  each  were  to 
 visit  in  the  course  of  the  day ;  not  that  he  entirely 
 gave  up  any  districts  to  them  ;  for  he  made  a  point, 
 so  long  as  he  was  able,  of  visiting  each  himself  in 
 the  course  of  every  week,  walking  while  he  was 
 strong  enough,  and  latterly  driving. 
 
 In  all  these  ministrations  great  simplicity  and 
 paternal    loving- kindness   were    the   characteristics, 
 
Character  and  Habits  as  Parish  Priest.        579 
 
 especially  in  the  administration  of  the  Holy  Eucha- 
 rist to  the  sick ;  he  would  shake  hands  with  all 
 present,  and  if  any  neighbours  attended,  he  always 
 thanked  them  for  so  doing  : — 
 
 "  The  lack  of  a  regular  system  of  discipline  he  tried  to 
 supply  in  such  ways  as  he  could,  making  a  point  of  finding 
 some  opportunity  of  reproving  notorious  offenders,  and 
 setting  some  mark  upon  them  in  the  hope  (to  use  his  own 
 frequent  quotation)  'that  by  making  their  faces  ashamed, 
 they  might  be  led  to  seek  the  Lord.'  On  some  occasions, 
 in  the  case  of  disgraceful  marriages,  he  has  substituted  for 
 the  exhortation  or  sermon  in  the  Marriage  Service  a  short 
 address,  in  which  he  remonstrated  earnestly  and  plainly 
 with  the  young  people.  Little  were  they  whom  he  then, 
 or  at  other  times  reproved,  aware  of  the  intense  anxiety 
 with  which  he  watched  their  look  and  bearing  under  re- 
 proof." 
 
 I  am  afraid  I  have  been  long  on  this  part  of  my 
 subject,  but  if  my  readers  could  see  the  interesting 
 store  which  lies  before  me,  and  from  which  perhaps 
 I  have  not  made  the  best  selection  after  all,  they 
 would,  I  believe,  forgive  me.  But  I  must  not  any 
 longer  abuse  their  indulgence,  and  enough  has  been 
 done  I  trust  upon  the  whole,  to  satisfy  them  that  if 
 Keble  was  a  scholar,  a  divine,  a  remarkably  gifted 
 poet,  if  he  were  exemplary  as  a  friend,  a  brother,  son, 
 and  husband,  so  he  was  admirable  in  the  discharge 
 of  his  duties  as  a  parish  priest.  These  last,  without 
 unwisely  weighing   one  obligation   against  another, 
 
580  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 he  did  esteem  most  pressing  ;  he  thought  his  calling 
 beyond  all  others  holy,  his  mission  in  our  Church 
 from  supreme  authority,  his  task  such  as  he  never 
 could  believe  he  performed,  or  could  perform,  ex- 
 cept imperfectly  and  unworthily.  But  as  he  adored 
 the  greatness  and  majesty,  so  he  lovingly  trusted 
 in  the  mercy  of  his  Master,  Redeemer,  and  Com- 
 forter. 
 
 WHAT  I  could  do  in  writing  the  story  of  this  dear 
 friend  I  have  now  done,  and  I  can  truly  say  that 
 the  severest  judgment  which  can  be  passed  on  my 
 workmanship  will  hardly  be  more  severe  than  I  am 
 conscious  of  its  deserving.  But  I  will  say  no  more  of 
 this.  I  must  not  finally  lay  down  my  pen  before 
 I  have  reverted  to  the  sick  room  at  Bournemouth. 
 There,  for  about  six  weeks,  to  the  surprise  of  all, 
 Mrs.  Keble  still  lingered,  waiting  in  suffering  and 
 great  weakness,  yet  without  impatience,  the  sum- 
 mons which  she  earnestly  desired.  It  was  vouch- 
 safed to  her  on  the  nth  of  May,  and  on  the  18th 
 she  was  laid  by  her  husband's  side ;  a  double  grave 
 had  been  prepared  in  the  first  instance.  The  order 
 of  her  funeral  was  arranged  according  to  that  of  his, 
 except  that  her  own  female  friends  bore  her  pall. 
 
 At  the  time  of  her  death  I  inserted  a  short  notice 
 of  her  in  the  "  Guardian  ;"  no  one  I  believe  questioned 
 that  what  I  said  of  her  was  true ;  but  more  than  one 
 
Character  of  Mrs.  Keble.  581 
 
 well-qualified  judge  pronounced  it  insufficient,  and 
 as  doing  her  scant  justice  on  the  whole.  Two  of 
 them  were  ladies,  who  spoke  upon  a  knowledge  of 
 her  much  more  intimate  than  my  own  ;  they  had 
 known  her  in  the  parish,  in  society,  in  her  own  house, 
 in  health,  such  as  she  was  ever  granted,  and  in  sick- 
 ness they  were  certainly  right.  I  unavoidably  wrote 
 in  haste,  and  did  not  recall  to  my  mind  all  that  even 
 I  myself  had  been  witness  to. 
 
 She  was  indeed,  as  I  then  said,  a  genuinely  kind, 
 humble-hearted,  affectionate,  and  pious  woman  ;  and 
 she  adapted  herself  with  zeal  to  the  special  calls 
 made  on  her  as  Keble's  wife :  with  him  she  identified 
 herself  as  much  as  she  could  ;  his  friends  were  her 
 friends  ;  in  his  duties  she  took  her  proper  part,  cheer- 
 fully making  exertions  that  were  almost  beyond  her 
 strength  ;  his  principles  she  took  for  her  own  ;  and 
 with  the  truest  sense  of  what  an  interval  existed  be- 
 tween him  and  herself,  she  yet  laboured  in  all  things 
 to  be  his  helpmate. 
 
 The  schools,  the  poor,  the  sick  of  Hursley,  must 
 long  remember  her  with  affectionate  gratitude ;  the 
 neighbours,  the  friends,  the  surviving  relatives  of 
 both  must  long  cherish  the  memory  of  her,  who  con- 
 tributed with  such  grace  and  lively  cheerfulness  to 
 adorn  and  render  completely  delightful  the  Vicarage 
 of  Hursley ;  and  so  filled  up  the  measure  of  the  hap- 
 piness of  John  Keble's  life. 
 
 All  this  is  true  ;  but  it  fails  to  convey  an  adequate 
 
582  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 notion  with  how  sound  an  intellect  and  firm  pur- 
 pose she  contributed  not  seldom  to  support  her  hus- 
 band in  doubts  and  difficulties  ;  and  how  she  cheered 
 and  gave  him  confidence  when  he  too  much  dis- 
 trusted himself,  or  looked  despondingly  on  efforts  he 
 might  be  making  to  accomplish  great  objects. 
 
 Nor  does  it  by  any  means  do  justice  to  the  won- 
 derful piety  and  cheerful  resignation  with  which  she 
 bore  for  so  many  years  the  trial  laid  on  her  by 
 disease,  always  wearing  and  weakening  her,  often 
 acute  to  the  last  degree.  Truly  might  be  said  of 
 her  what  I  once  ventured  to  say  of  another  dear 
 sufferer : — 
 
 "  —  Her  smiles  at  daily  greeting  cheer 
 
 The  hearts  whence  hope  hath  well-nigh  flown  3 
 Her  smiles ;  and  yet  she  had  a  tear 
 For  every  sorrow  but  her  own." 
 
 &equtescant  in  pace. 
 
Postscript.  583 
 
 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 I  HAD  requested  my  son,  the  present  Solicitor- 
 General,  to  furnish  me  with  his  recollections  of  his 
 last  interview  with  J.  Keble.  Too  late,  however,  to 
 enable  him  to  comply  with  my  wish  in  time  to  in- 
 sert the  answer  in  its  proper  place  in  the  text :  I  add 
 it  therefore  as  a  Postscript : — 
 
 "  1,  Sussex  Square, 
 St.  Stephen,  1868. 
 
 "  You  ask  me,  my  dear  father,  to  do  the  most  difficult 
 thing  in  the  world,  to  put  down  simply  upon  paper  what  I 
 recollect  of  my  last  sight  of  Mr.  Keble.  The  impression  of 
 it  is  indelible,  but  I  have  not  the  power  of  conveying  to 
 others  that  which  made  it  so.  So  much  depends  in  such 
 a  matter  on  looks,  on  silence,  on  manner,  on  the  reve- 
 rence which  education  had  implanted,  and  which  know- 
 ledge ripened  and  strengthened ;  on  a  thousand  things 
 which  words  cannot  convey,  and  can  hardly  even  suggest ; 
 that  I  am  afraid  I  can  be  of  little  service  to  you.  But 
 this  is  what  I  can  remember. 
 
 "  Being  on  the  Circuit  at  Winchester,  and  my  work  being 
 over,  I  went  on  the  17th  or  18th  July,  1865,  to  Hursley,  to 
 see  Mr.  Keble.  The  Oxford  University  contest  was  just 
 over,  and  Mr.  Hardy  had  been  elected ;  a  result  which  Mr. 
 Keble  had  done  his  best  to  prevent,  and  which,  with  all 
 his  respect  for  (and  every  one  must  respect)  Mr.  Hardy's 
 character  and  ability,  he  regarded  as  disastrous  to  the  Uni- 
 versity and  to  the  Church. 
 
 "  I  found  Mr.  Keble,  in  spite  of  his  late  illness,  as  bright 
 in  manner,  and  as  clear  in  judgment,  as  ever  I  had  seen 
 him.     His  faculties  were  quite  unclouded,  and  all  his  con- 
 
584  Memoir  of  the  Rev,  John  Keble. 
 
 versation,  though  full  of  grief  at  the  result  of  the  Oxford 
 contest,  yet  full  also  of  hope  for  the  future,  and  with  much 
 of  his  old  playful  humour  in  it.  He  was  weak  in  body,  as 
 I  could  see,  and  after  a  little  while  spent  with  him,  I  was 
 afraid  of  tiring  him,  and  said  that  I  should  go  to  call  on 
 Sir  William  Heathcote  at  the  Park,  and  that  I  would  come 
 back  and  bid  him  Good-bye.  In  spite  of  all  I  could  say,  he 
 would  go  with  me,  and  we  walked  through  his  own  little 
 wicket  into  the  Park,  and  thence  across  the  grass  under 
 the  walnut-trees  to  the  House,  he  enjoying  the  sunshine 
 and  the  air,  and  I  the  kindness,  perhaps  I  may  presume  to 
 say  the  affection,  which  he  shewed  me  then  as  always,  and 
 which  I  recall  always  with  gratitude,  yet  with  a  sense  of 
 self-reproach.  He  talked  on  various,  but  chiefly  on  do- 
 mestic subjects  ;  of  my  wife  and  children  ;  of  my  own 
 prospects  ;  of  you ;  of  the  Dysons  ;  of  Sir  William  Heath- 
 cote ;  and,  lastly,  with  great  warmth  of  regard  and  admi- 
 ration, of  Mr.  Gladstone.  I  have  no  note  of  what  he 
 said,  and  though  the  whole  impression  is  distinct,  I  do  not 
 pretend  to  be  able  to  recall  the  details.  We  stood  for  some 
 time  talking  at  the  door  of  Sir  William's  house,  and  then  he 
 walked  back  alone.  I  called  at  the  Vicarage  on  my  way 
 from  the  Park  to  the  village,  and  saw  him  for  the  last  time. 
 The  short  walk  had  tired  him,  and  he  was  lying  down  to 
 rest  on  the  sofa,  (a  thing  most  unusual  with  him,)  but  he  got 
 up,  walked  with  me  down  to  the  village  ;  and  so  we  parted. 
 There  was,  I  am  sure,  no  trace  of  failing  then  to  be  discerned 
 in  his  apprehension,  or  judgment,  or  discourse.  He  was  an 
 old  man  who  had  been  very  ill,  who  was  still  physically 
 weak,  and  who  needed  care ;  but  he  was  the  same  Mr. 
 Keble  I  had  always  known,  and  whom,  for  aught  that  ap- 
 peared, I  might  hope  still  to  know  for  many  years  to  come. 
 Little  bits  of  his  tenderness,  flashes  of  his  fun,  glimpses  of 
 his  austerer  side,  I  seem  to  recall,  but  I  cannot  put  them 
 
Postscript.  585 
 
 upon  paper  j  any  words  at  my  command  would  coarsen  the 
 impression,  and  blur  the  image.  Of  this  last  meeting,  little 
 as  this  is,  I  can  say  no  more. 
 
 "  Perhaps,  however,  it  may  be  worth  while  putting  down 
 two  little  bits  of  his  character,  which  I  do  remember 
 freshly,  though  they  belong  to  earlier  dates.  Once  I  re- 
 member walking  with  him  just  the  same  short  walk  from 
 his  house  to  Sir  William's,  and  our  conversation  fell  upon 
 Charles  I.,  with  regard  to  whose  truth  and  honour  I  had 
 used  some  expressions  in  a  review  which  had,  as  I  heard, 
 displeased  him.  I  referred  to  this,  and  he  said  it  was 
 true.  I  replied  that  I  was  very  sorry  to  displease  him 
 by  anything  I  said  or  thought ;  but  that  if  the  Naseby 
 Letters  were  genuine,  (to  go  no  further  into  argument,)  I 
 could  not  think  that  what  I  said  was  at  all  too  strong,  and 
 that  a  man  could  but  do  his  best  to  form  an  honest  opinion 
 upon  historical  evidence,  and  if  he  had  to  speak,  to  express 
 that  opinion.  On  this  he  said,  I  remember  with  a  tender- 
 ness and  humility  not  only  most  touching,  but  to  me  most 
 embarrassing,  that  '  It  might  be  so ;  what  was  he  to  judge 
 of  other  men;  he  was  old,  and  things  were  now  looked 
 at  very  differently ;  that  he  knew  he  had  many  things  to 
 unlearn,  and  to  learn  afresh  j  and  that  I  must  not  mind  what 
 he  had  said,  for  that  in  truth  belief  in  the  heroes  of  his 
 youth  had  become  part  of  him.'  I  am  afraid  these  are  my 
 words,  and  not  his,  and  I  cannot  give  his  way  of  speaking, 
 which  to  any  one  with  a  heart,  I  think,  would  have  been  as 
 overcoming  as  it  was  to  me. 
 
 "  The  other  matter  was  this,  and  I  mention  it  not  only 
 because  it  struck  me  very  much  at  the  time,  but  because 
 it  is  an  instance  of  that  severer  part  of  Mr.  Keble's  cha- 
 racter, which  appeared  indeed  but  rarely,  but  which  was 
 there,   and   which   all   who  knew   him   well,  knew  to  be 
 
586  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Keble. 
 
 there.  We  were  walking  together  in  London  in  the  year 
 185 1,  and  I  was  telling  him  how  much  I  had  been  im- 
 pressed with  the  difficulties  as  to  the  inspiration  of  Holy 
 Scripture,  which  were  growing  stronger,  and  spreading  more 
 widely  day  by  day ;  and  that  it  seemed  to  me  this  would 
 shortly  become  the  great  religious  question  of  the  time. 
 I  added  that  there  was  not,  as  far  as  I  knew,  any  theory  or 
 statement  on  the  subject  which  even  attempted  to  be  philo- 
 sophical, except  Coleridge's,  in  his  '  Confessions  of  an  In- 
 quiring Spirit ;'  and  that  I  wished  Mr.  Keble,  or  some  one 
 as  competent  as  he,  would  take  up  the  subject  and  deal 
 with  it  intellectually  and  thoroughly.  He  shewed  great  dis- 
 like to  the  discussion,  and  put  it  aside  several  times,  and 
 on  my  pressing  it  upon  him,  he  answered  shortly,  that  most 
 of  the  men  who  had  difficulties  on  this  subject  were  too 
 wicked  to  be  reasoned  with.  Most  likely  he  thought  that 
 a  young  man's  forwardness  and  conceit  needed  rebuke,  and 
 he  administered  it  accordingly ;  but  besides  this,  it  was  an 
 instance  of  that  in  him  which  would  be  called  severity  or 
 intolerance.  I  do  not  pretend  to  say  that  it  would  be 
 wrongly  called  so,  but  it  is  certain  that  there  are  distinct 
 indications  of  this  spirit  in  the  writings  of  St.  Paul  and  St. 
 John ;  and  I  suppose  that  the  more  absolute  and  the  more 
 certain  the  faith  a  man  has  in  religious  doctrine,  the  more 
 probable  it  is  that  he  will  be  intolerant  of  doubt  in  others. 
 
 "  Such,  (without  breaking  the  sacred  seal  of  personal  and 
 tender  memories,)  is  all  1  can  find  to  send  you  of  my  re- 
 collections of  Mr.  Keble.  It  is  not  worth  sending,  but  I 
 send  it  in  the  hope  of  contributing  in  the  very  smallest  de- 
 gree to  a  memoir  by  my  father  of  one,  whom  his  son  was 
 taught  as  a  child  to  revere,  and  whom  he  revered  when  he 
 grew  up,  both  because  he  was  taught  and  because  he  saw 
 the  wisdom  of  the  teaching.  J.  D.  C." 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 "  North  Witham, 
 July  1 8,  1867. 
 u  My  dear  Sir, 
 
 " I  have  endeavoured  to  make  some  memoranda  on 
 
 the  several  points  you  mentioned  to  me.  But  when  I  come 
 to  look  at  them,  I  am  grieved  and  ashamed  at  their  meagre- 
 ness,  and  I  fear  they  will  be  useless.  Perhaps,  however, 
 if  you  could  send  them  to  Wilson,  they  might  suggest  some- 
 thing to  him,  and  he  would  confirm,  or  correct,  or  supple- 
 ment what  I  have  said.  I  know  he  has  several  letters  on 
 parochial  matters.  He  has  been  abroad,  as  perhaps  you 
 know,  all  the  winter ;  but  he  is  now  in  London,  and  hopes 
 to  be  at  home  next  week. 
 
 "I  do  not  know  enough  of  our  dearest  friend's  actual 
 ministrations  to  the  sick  to  enable  me  to  say  what  his  uni- 
 form practice  was.  But,  putting  together  directions  which 
 he  has  given  to  me  from  time  to  time,  and  allusions  he  has 
 made  to  what  he  has  himself  said  or  done  on  particular 
 occasions,  I  may  say  that,  besides  the  passages  of  Scrip- 
 ture which  he  used  to  read  or  repeat,  and  which  he  made 
 the  foundation  of  whatever  remark,  in  the  way  of  encourage- 
 ment, instruction,  or  warning,  he  wished  to  make,  his  prayers 
 by  the  bedside  were  in  each  case  a  little  office,  made  for 
 the  occasion  out  of  the  prayers  and  collects  and  Psalms  of 
 the  Prayer-book.  His  father,  he  once  told  me,  never  used 
 any  other  prayers  than  those  of  the  Visitation  Service,  but 
 it  was  his  own  habit  to  range  freely  over  the  whole  Prayer- 
 book.  His  service,  so  to  call  it,  commonly  began  with  the 
 first  prayer  for  Good  Friday,  '  this  Thy  servant'  being  sub- 
 
588  Appendix. 
 
 stituted  for  '  this  Thy  family  :'  then  there  would  be  always 
 some  kind  of  confession,  very  frequently  the  fifty-first  Psalm, 
 (indeed,  I  believe  he  very  seldom,  if  ever,  said  prayers  with 
 any  sick  person  without  introducing  some  verses  at  least  of 
 that  Psalm) ;  then  came  the  prayers  in  the  Visitation  Ser- 
 vice and  other  collects,  special  petitions  being  introduced 
 here  and  there  to  suit  the  particular  case,  sometimes  in  his 
 own  words,  sometimes  in  the  words  of  the  Psalms  or  of  the 
 Prayer-book.  When  death  was  imminent,  over  and  above 
 the  Commendatory  Prayer  prescribed  in  the  Visitation  Ser- 
 vice, I  have  known  him  repeat  at  intervals  verses  or  pas- 
 sages of  Scripture,  interspersed  with  short  suffrages  and 
 ejaculations,  extending  over  a  considerable  space  of  time. 
 In  later  years  I  believe  he  has  made  more  use  of  books 
 of  devotion,  and  not  uncommonly  he  has  read  passages 
 from  Bishop  Wilson,  Jeremy  Taylor  (Holy  Living  and 
 Dying),  and  Challoner.  This  last  was  always  a  great 
 favourite  with  him. 
 
 "  In  his  pastoral  work  generally,  while  he  had,  as  every 
 one  knows,  a  strong  sense  of  the  dignity  of  the  Priesthood, 
 his  chief  personal  feeling,  if  I  may  venture  to  say  so,  was 
 that  which  S.  Paul  expresses,  when  he  says,  '  Ourselves  your 
 servants  for  Jesus'  sake.'  A  very  common  form  of  expres- 
 sion with  him,  with  regard  to  sick  persons,  was  that  of 
 waiting  on  them.  He  held  himself  at  the  service  of  any 
 of  his  parishioners,  at  any  time,  and  almost  for  any  purpose. 
 He  accounted  himself  their  '  minister,'  whose  duty  (and 
 delight)  it  was  to  help  them  in  any  way.  In  cases  of  pro- 
 longed sickness  he  tried  to  pay  his  visit  on  particular  days, 
 that  it  might  be  expected  and  prepared  for  :  and  if  the  sick 
 person  were  near  at  hand,  he  would  visit  him  as  nearly  as 
 possible  at  the  same  hour  every  day,  his  wish  being,  in  this 
 as  in  everything  else,  to  adapt  himself  to  what  he  thought 
 would  be  most  acceptable  to  those  for  whom  he  ministered. 
 
Appendix.  589 
 
 One  case  I  specially  remember  of  an  old  woman,  whom  he 
 used  to  visit  in  this  way  every  evening  regularly  for  some 
 time,  just  before  she  settled  for  the  night. 
 
 "  At  the  same  time  he  never  forgot  that  he  was  a  steward, 
 entrusted  both  with  the  souls  of  men,  whom  he  had  to  deal 
 with  for  their  good,  tenderly  or  severely,  as  there  might  be 
 occasion,  and  with  the  holy  things  of  God,  which  he  was 
 to  guard  from  dishonour.  Hence  he  was  very  plain-spoken, 
 sometimes  stern,  in  his  treatment  of  sinners,  where  there 
 were  no  signs  of  humility ;  though,  as  you  may  suppose,  no 
 one  could  be  more  tender  to  those  whose  consciences  were 
 seriously  alarmed.  The  lack  of  a  regular  system  of  disci- 
 pline he  tried  to  supply  in  such  ways  as  he  could,  making 
 a  point  of  finding  some  opportunity  of  reproving  noto- 
 rious offenders  and  setting  some  mark  upon  them,  in  the 
 hope  (to  use  his  own  frequent  quotation)  that  "  by  making 
 their  faces  ashamed,  they  might  be  led  to  seek  the  Lord." 
 On  some  occasions,  in  the  case  of  disgraceful  marriages, 
 he  has  substituted  for  the  exhortation  or  sermon  in  the 
 Marriage  Service  a  short  address,  in  which  he  remonstrated 
 earnestly  and  plainly  with  the  young  people.  Little  were 
 they  whom  he  then,  or  at  other  times,  reproved  aware  of 
 the  intense  anxiety  with  which  he  watched  their  look  and 
 bearing  under  reproof. 
 
 "  Every  member  of  his  flock  was  a  charge  to  him ;  but 
 his  main  anxiety,  it  may  perhaps  be  said,  was  for  the  young 
 men  and  women,  and  the  very  old.  It  is  remarkable  what 
 a  large  number  of  aged  persons  could  be  reckoned  up  whom 
 he  visited  regularly  for  periods  of  varying  length,  but  in 
 several  cases  for  many  years,  and  for  whom  he  entertained 
 the  deepest  respect  and  affection.  Their  death  was  to  him 
 the  loss  of  personal  friends,  and  he  loved  to  recall  their 
 sayings  or  anything  characteristic  in  their  dress  or  manner. 
 The  thought  of  the  simple  goodness  of  many  of  them  was 
 
590  Appendix. 
 
 one  of  his  chief  joys.  I  shall  never  forget  the  delight  and 
 thankful  reverence  with  which  he  told  me  of  one  of  them, 
 an  old  man  of  a  singularly  thoughtful  and  religious  tone  of 
 mind,  who  said  to  him  on  one  occasion,  when  he  went  to 
 see  him,  '  I  have  just  been  at  the  foot  of  the  Cross,  looking 
 up  and  praying  for  pardon.'  A  short  extract  from  one  of 
 his  letters  will  illustrate  his  thoughts  and  feelings  about  the 
 old  people  :  *  The  chief  Hursley  news  is  the  death  of  dear 
 old  Dame  H.,  with  whom  at  the  last,  and  for  a  good  time 
 before,  all  seemed  more  peaceful  than  I  expected.  You 
 know  how  low  and  disturbed  she  used  to  be  at  times  about 
 her  spiritual  condition.  I  always  dreaded  this  getting  worse  : 
 but  it  pleased  God  to  remove  it  entirely  for  a  long  while, 
 months,  before  she  died,  and  nothing  could  be  more  peace- 
 ful, and  as  it  seemed  more  full  of  humble  quiet  devotion, 
 till  she  sank  away,  by  F.  A.'s  account,  "like  a  baby  from 
 the  breast."'  'It  is  startling  about  Mrs.  C. ;  but  somehow 
 I  can  fancy  that  (please  God)  it  was  not  so  startling  to  her. 
 Would  that  it  may  not  pass  away  as  in  a  dream  from  the 
 rest  of  them.' 
 
 "  The  following  refer  to  young  persons  :  '  Give  my  love 
 to  J.  C.,  poor  fellow :  I  trust  I  shall  see  him  again ;  but 
 I  should  not  wonder  if  his  decay  were  now  very  rapid/ 
 'I  am  very  sorry  indeed  about  L.,  seeing  I  had  utterly 
 neglected  her,  or  nearly  so.  Please  to  tell  me  anything 
 you  can  hear  about  her,  and  say  something  kind  to  her 
 mother  for  me.  I  have  always  been  looking  forward  to 
 instructing  her  for  Confirmation,  and  this  has  come  quite 
 suddenly  upon  me.'  'I  hope  you  will  manage  to  see 
 M.  A.  B.  now  and  then,  and  give  her  a  few  verses  of 
 a  Psalm  to  learn,  and  talk  to  her.  This  nursing  work  may 
 do  her  the  greatest  good.'  '  J.  D.  is  getting  very  ill  indeed 
 with  a  complaint  of  the  lungs,  and  will  soon,  I  expect,  take 
 to  his  bed.     I  hope  he  is  "  answering  to  the  scourge." ' 
 
Appendix.  591 
 
 "  Here  is  another  extract  which  will  shew  his  interest 
 in  everything  that  concerned  his  people :  '  At  present  I 
 have  scarce  time  for  more  than  a  message  to  Mrs.  B.  Pray 
 tell  her,  with  my  very  kind  regards,  that  I  very  much  advise 
 her  to  be  content  with  C.'s  remaining  in  the  army.  It 
 seems  as  if  Providence  had  led  him  there  for  his  good, 
 since  he  has  improved  so  much ;  and  if  he  got  his  discharge 
 and  came  back  among  his  old  companions,  I  should  very 
 much  fear  he  might  fall  again  into  his  old  bad  ways,  and 
 then  Mrs.  B.  would  be  blaming  herself  for  it.  It  is  far 
 better  to  let  well  alone,  and  instead  of  being  unhappy,  to 
 thank  God  for  the  chance  of  his  being  "  a  devout  soldier," 
 instead  of  a  dissolute  young  tradesman.  I  do  hope  that 
 she  will  be  led  to  view  the  matter  in  this  light,  for  I  am 
 sure  it  would  be  far  better.  Perhaps  it  would  be  a  good 
 plan  to  point  out  to  her  how  much  there  is  in  the  Bible 
 about  soldiers  serving  God, — Cornelius,  the  good  Centu- 
 rion, and  others,  David,  Joshua,  Jonathan,  &c.' 
 
 "  The  two  following  extracts  also  may  be  interesting  : — 
 " '  I  am  very  much  concerned  about  poor  W.,  and  sorry 
 to  be  away ;  yet  perhaps  it  may  be  the  better  chance  for 
 him,  as  one  temptation  to  be  irritable  is  removed  by  my 
 absence.  And  it  is  a  great  comfort  that  he  listens  patiently, 
 and  is  subdued  in  his  temper,  more  or  less.  I  do  not  see 
 that  you  can  do  better  with  him  than  read  the  command- 
 ments as  Wilson  suggests,  and  I  think  it  likely  that  you  will 
 be  able  to  draw  from  him  the  sort  of  confession  one  has 
 heard  from  M.  and  others,  that  he  has  broken  them  all  but 
 the  sixth,  and  perhaps  the  eighth.  He  ought  to  be  pressed 
 about  the  sixth,  for  I  am  afraid  his  unkindness  to  his  wife 
 broke  her  spirits,  and  led  her  to  that  course  which  ruined  her 
 health,  and  ended  in  her  death.  The  matter  of  her  funeral 
 was,  that  I  doubted  whether  to  read  the  service,  she  being 
 so  notorious  for  drinking  and  neglect  of  the  church ;  only  as 
 
592  Appendix. 
 
 she  permitted  me  to  be  sent  for,  and  expressed  some  sort 
 of  penitence,  I  did  not  think  myself  justified  in  treating  her 
 as  an  excommunicated  person.  But  I  wrote  a  note  to 
 her  brother,  explaining  exactly  how  I  felt,  and  hoping  they 
 would  consider  the  event  as  a  warning.  I  left  it  to  their 
 discretion,  whether  they  would  read  it  to  W.  or  no ;  they 
 did,  and  he  was  very  angry,  and  threatened  to  write  to  the 
 bishop.  However  we  got  to  be  on  speaking  terms  again. 
 I  have  since  seen  him  once  (if  not  oftener)  very  drunk,  and 
 swearing  wretchedly.  I  would  read  to  him,  I  think,  such 
 places  as  Rev.  xx.  it — 15,  our  Lord's  parables  and  prophe- 
 cies about  the  day  of  judgment,  and  St.  Paul's  catalogue  of 
 deadly  sins  ;  and  then,  if  he  is  clearly  alarmed  and  softened, 
 you  might  refer  to  the  Prodigal  Son,  the  penitent  woman, 
 &c.  I  am  afraid  you  will  hardly  bring  him  to  much  of 
 a  special  confession,  but  you  will  be  quite  able  to  judge 
 from  time  to  time ;  and  if  he  wishes  for  the  H.  C,  perhaps 
 Wilson  had  better  see  him  too,  at  least  if  you  are  doubtful.' 
 '  I  got  your  letter  to-day,  and  was  very  glad  of  it ;  the  re- 
 port of  poor  W.  was  on  the  whole  better  than  I  expected. 
 I  think  it  very  likely  that  my  absence  may  be  a  good  thing. 
 If  you  have  an  opportunity,  will  you  give  him  a  kind  mes- 
 sage from  me,  and  say  how  thankful  I  shall  be  if  he  prove 
 truly  penitent.  I  suppose  the  great  point  will  be  to  con- 
 vince him  that  it  must  be  very  doubtful  whether  his  peni- 
 tence would  prove  true,  if  he  recovered,  and  therefore  he 
 must  go  on  in  fear  and  trembling  to  the  end.  He  should 
 clearly  understand,  I  suppose,  that  any  wish  for  the  Com- 
 munion must  come  entirely  from  him ;  that  we  cannot, 
 under  the  circumstances,  take  on  us  to  press  it.'  (July  8 
 and  14,  1842.) 
 
 "  When  he  first  heard  that  one  of  his  parishioners  had 
 become  a  Mormonite,  he  wrote,  '  I  am  vexed  about  those 
 unhappy  Mormonites,  more  especially  as  I  never  yet  did 
 
Appendix.  593 
 
 anything  of  a  shepherd's  part  by  the family.     Do  tell 
 
 me  anything  that  passes  with  regard  to  them.  From  what 
 you  say  I  am  afraid  it  is  likely  to  be  a  very  troublesome  set, 
 almost  as  diabolically  suited  to  our  Anglo-Saxon  cravings 
 now,  as  the  Koran  in  its  time  to  those  of  the  Eastern 
 Christians.'  (July,  1851.) 
 
 "  He  took  great  pains  in  preparing  the  young  people  for 
 confirmation ;  sometimes,  as  soon  as  one  confirmation  was 
 over,  making  a  list  of  those  whose  turn  would  come  next, 
 and  at  all  times  beginning  the  preparation  several  months 
 beforehand.  His  usual  course  was  to  go  through  in  order, 
 first,  the  Baptismal  Service,  then  the  Catechism,  then  the 
 Confirmation  Service,  and  lastly,  the  office  for  Holy  Com- 
 munion j  he  took  a  certain  portion  each  time,  making  per- 
 haps twenty  or  thirty  lessons  on  the  whole.  He  usually 
 wrote  down  on  a  paper  three  or  four  passages  of  Scripture 
 bearing  on  the  subject  of  the  next  lesson,  which  he  required 
 to  be  learnt  by  heart,  or  carefully  studied,  and  he  was  always 
 very  particular  in  ascertaining  whether  the  lesson,  as  he 
 called  it,  had  been  attended  to.  Wherever  it  was  prac- 
 ticable, he  led  his  pupils  up  to  their  first  communion  imme- 
 diately after  confirmation,  but  in  many  cases  he  was  satisfied 
 if  they  promised  to  continue  under  instruction.  One  class 
 of  boys  came  to  him  tor  more  than  a  twelvemonth,  and  read 
 through  with  him  different  parts  of  the  Bible,  according  to 
 their  own  choice,  before  he  could  persuade  them  to  turn 
 their  minds  distinctly  to  preparation  for  Holy  Communion. 
 I  believe  his  rule  as  to  refusing  to  recommend  for  confirma- 
 tion those  who  would  not  pledge  themselves  to  communicate 
 became  stricter  as  years  passed  on ;  but  I  should  say  gene- 
 rally, that  he  was  always  very  much  guided  by  circumstances 
 in  regard  to  his  adherence  to  particular  rules.  At  one  con- 
 firmation (October,  1853)  he  required  the  candidates  to  put 
 their  names  to  the  following  paper :  '  In  the  presence  ot 
 
594  Appendix. 
 
 Almighty  God,  I,  A.  B.,  seriously  declare,  that  I  am  turning 
 my  mind  towards  Holy  Communion ;  that  I  hope,  before 
 very  long,  by  God's  mercy,  to  be  fit  for  it ;  that  I  will  pray 
 to  God  to  make  me  fit ;  and  that  I  will  come  to  Mr.  Keble 
 or  Mr.  Young  from  time  to  time,  if  they  wish  me  to  do  so, 
 to  have  their  advice  about  coming  or  staying  away.'  He 
 was  most  anxious  to  retain  his  hold  on  the  young  persons 
 who  had  been  under  his  instruction,  and  never  lost  an 
 opportunity  of  intercourse  with  them.  I  find  two  short 
 references  to  one  young  fellow,  whom  he  would  fain  keep 
 
 with  him  :  '  If  you  see  anything  of  the ,  will  you  enquire 
 
 after  T.,  and  say  I  was  much  disappointed  at  not  seeing  or 
 hearing  from  him  before  we  came  away.'  'There  are  two 
 things  I  have  been  forgetting  to  mention  to  you;  one  is 
 T.  S.,  whom  I  neglected  to  see  before  we  came  out.  If 
 you  have  a  good  opportunity,  will  you  find  out  how  he  is 
 going  on,  and  why  he  was  perfidious  with  me  in  not  coming 
 to  H.  C.,  or  at  least  not  coming  to  me  to  say  why  he  has 
 kept  away.  If  you  think  it  more  likely  to  answer,  you  need 
 only  say  that  I  depend  on  having  a  call  from  him  as  soon 
 as  ever  I  get  home.'  (July,  1856.) 
 
 "  I  enclose  the  address  which  he  sent  from  Penzance  to 
 the  newly-confirmed  at  the  last  confirmation  in  1865  ;  it  was 
 delivered  to  them  on  the  day  of  confirmation.  I  send  also 
 a  copy  of  a  short  form  of  prayer,  which  he  drew  up  for  the 
 use  of  persons  preparing  for  their  first  communion,  and 
 which  at  one  time  he  used  regularly  with  his  pupils.  He 
 was  particularly  happy,  as  you  know,  in  his  catechizing, 
 the  chief  characteristics  of  which,  as  it  seems  to  me,  were 
 the  reverent  honesty  with  which  he  kept  close  to  the  passage 
 of  Scripture  with  which  he  was  dealing,  and  the  simple 
 manner  in  which  he  drew  out  its  meaning.  I  remember 
 one  Easter  Monday  catechizing,  in  which  his  object  was 
 to   shew  how  little   girls   might  take   pattern  by  St.  Mary 
 
Appendix.  595 
 
 Magdalene.  He  first  drew  from  them  with  some  minute- 
 ness the  several  particulars  of  her  history  in  connexion  with 
 the  resurrection,  and  then  dwelt  on  the  lessons  to  be  de- 
 rived from  it ;  e.g.  that  they  should  prepare  over-night  for 
 the  work  of  the  next  day,  that  they  should  rise  early,  that 
 in  their  difficulties  they  should  go  to  those  who  were  set 
 over  them,  that  they  should  stay  by  our  Lord  at  all  times, 
 or  as  near  Him  as  possible  :  if  they  were  unhappy,  they 
 should  still  look  after  Him  ;  then  they  would  find  that  He 
 would  shew  Himself  to  them  in  ways  they  least  thought  of, 
 as  He  was  with  St.  Mary  Magdalene  as  a  gardener,  and 
 with  the  Nazarenes  as  a  carpenter;  only  they  would  not 
 be  allowed  to  touch  Him  all  at  once.  He  would  train 
 them  gradually,  and  draw  them  up  to  Himself.  And  they 
 must  not  think  it  hard,  for  it  was  His  way  with  His  own 
 Apostles.  The  next  day  he  catechized  the  boys,  and  the 
 subject  was  the  visit  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  John  to  the  se- 
 pulchre. Boys  usually  (he  said)  hear  of  the  Resurrection 
 and  other  great  Christian  truths  first  from  women ;  if  they 
 are  good  boys,  they  make  haste  to  mind  what  they  are  told. 
 The  innocent  come  first  to  the  apprehension  of  those 
 truths  ;  but  the  penitent,  feeling  their  need,  seek  to  enter 
 more  deeply  into  it.  Then,  because  they  seek  relief  for 
 themselves,  they  are  disappointed  at  finding  Christ's  clothes, 
 and  not  Himself ;  and  they  wonder,  and  sometimes  doubt. 
 The  others  believe  and  are  satisfied,  being  made  up  of 
 simple  love.  Both  go  home,  that  is,  to  their  own  duties, 
 to  wait  and  see  what  He  will  do  next  with  them.  The 
 women  on  the  contrary  stay  near  the  grave,  to  satisfy  their 
 feelings.  Both  are  right,  and  both  blessed,  because  both 
 are  in  Him  and  for  Him.  He  generally  took  boys  and 
 girls  alternately,  preparing  them,  for  the  most  part,  before- 
 hand for  the  questions  he  was  about  to  ask  in  church. 
 He  rather  made  a  point  of  this  previous  preparation,  as 
 
59^  Appendix. 
 
 tending  to  check  any  disposition  to  self-conceit  or  forward- 
 ness. I  may  mention  that  he  was  very  particular  about 
 the  children  having  their  Bibles  in  church  and  following 
 the  Lessons,  and  for  some  years  it  was  his  daily  custom  to 
 call  up  a  few  of  them  after  the  service  was  over,  and  ques- 
 tion them  for  a  few  minutes  in  the  two  chapters  which  had 
 been  read. 
 
 "  A  considerable  portion  of  his  time  was  spent  in  the 
 School.  He  was  most  scrupulous  in  going  to  the  Sunday 
 School  from  9.15  to  10.30  in  the  morning,  and  from  2  to  3 
 in  the  afternoon.  I  think  it  might  be  truly  said,  that  unless 
 he  was  hindered  by  illness  (which  happily  occurred  very 
 rarely),  or  by  some  special  call  of  parochial  duty,  he  never 
 missed,  during  the  thirty  years  he  was  at  Hursley.  Besides 
 this,  it  was  his  habit  for  several  years  to  go  to  the  boys' 
 school  every  morning  soon  after  9  and  teach  the  first  class 
 until  service-time  at  10,  taking  them  through  one  part  of 
 the  Bible  after  another.  On  Friday  there  was  an  examina- 
 tion in  writing  in  the  work  which  had  been  done  during  the 
 week.  This  he  did,  whoever  might  be  staying  with  him, 
 and  whatever  letters,  interesting  or  perplexing,  he  might 
 have  received.  School-time  often  came  on  him  before  he 
 was  ready,  but  as  soon  as  he  became  aware  that  the  clock 
 had  struck,  away  he  went.  Many  of  his  friends  must  re- 
 member to  have  seen  him  hurrying  across  the  lawn  and 
 down  the  Long  Walk  which  led  to  the  school,  when  he 
 fancied  that  he  was  late.  But  he  was  never  in  a  hurry  in 
 his  teaching ;  he  was  always  patient,  both  with  his  scholars 
 and  with  his  subject,  dealing  with  it  very  simply  and  mi- 
 nutely, yet  very  deeply  and  practically.  He  invariably 
 stood  when  he  was  teaching,  and  that,  not  so  much  because 
 he  thought  it  gave  him  more  command  over  the  boys' 
 attention,  but,  as  it  would  seem,  because  he  fancied  it 
 helped  to  keep  him  up  to  the  mark,  and  hindered  him  from 
 
Appendix.  597 
 
 becoming  listless.  Indeed,  in  everything  he  took  in  hand, 
 if  I  may  venture  to  say  it,  he  always  did  his  best.  He 
 never  spared  himself  any  labour  of  body  or  of  mind,  but 
 whatever  he  undertook,  a  small  matter  or  a  great,  he  did  it 
 with  his  might,  often  with  much  misgiving  and  complaint, 
 but  always  with  an  honest,  patient  endeavour  to  give  his 
 whole  mind  to  it.  Thus  his  dread  of  any  kind  of  self- 
 indulgence  was  a  balance  to  that  profound  humility,  which 
 was  perhaps  his  chief  characteristic.  He  was  always  busy, 
 though  without  the  pretence,  or  even  the  appearance  of 
 business.  Indeed,  so  various  were  his  occupations  and  so 
 willing  was  he  to  be  interrupted,  that  a  stranger  might 
 almost  think  him  desultory  in  his  habits  ;  but  every  one 
 acquainted  with  him  knows  how  very  scrupulous  he  was 
 never  to  lose  any  time.  He  was  always  engaged,  he  always 
 had  something  to  do,  and  he  set  to  it  at  once  without  delay. 
 Continuous  application  to  one  thing  was  scarcely  possible 
 under  his  circumstances,  and  he  never  looked  for  it ;  but 
 whenever  he  had  anything  special  in  hand,  either  in  the 
 way  of  reading  or  writing,  he  stuck  to  it  closely  till  it  was 
 done.  If  he  were  reading  a  book  that  interested  him,  he 
 would  carry  it  about  with  him  and  read  it  at  odds  and  ends 
 of  time,  so  that  it  was  astonishing  how  quickly  he  got 
 through  it,  though  perhaps  he  had  not  been  able  to  attend 
 to  it  at  any  one  time  for  an  hour  together.  In  this  way 
 he  read  almost  everything  that  came  into  the  house.  If 
 he  were  engaged  in  writing,  his  mind  became  thoroughly 
 engrossed  with  his  subject ;  it  was  always  in  his  thoughts  ; 
 and  though  he  seldom,  if  ever,  suspended  his  ordinary 
 work,  but  paid  his  pastoral  visits  and  taught  his  classes 
 at  home  as  at  other  times,  these  things  did  not  seem  to 
 distract  him  ;  he  returned  at  once  to  his  work,  just  as  if 
 it  had  not  been  discontinued,  and  he  would  sit  down  to 
 write,  when  he  had  only  a  few  minutes  to  spare,  as  readily 
 
598  Appendix. 
 
 as  he  would  take  up  a  book.  He  usually  wrote  on  the 
 backs  of  letters  or  stray  pieces  of  paper,  numbering  each 
 slip,  and  securing  the  loose  papers  in  a  clasp  ;  and  then  he, 
 or  more  frequently  perhaps  Mrs.  Keble,  made  a  fair  copy 
 for  the  printer.  He  very  rarely  made  use  of  his  study,  ex- 
 cept for  private  interviews ;  he  greatly  preferred  to  bring 
 his  books  and  papers  into  the  drawing-room,  and  there 
 he  used  to  write,  seemingly  undisturbed  by  any  reading  or 
 conversation  that  was  going  on.  Nothing,  however,  escaped 
 him;  he  knew  all  that  was  said,  and  was  as  much  inter- 
 ested or  provoked  by  the  book  that  was  being  read,  as  it 
 he  had  had  nothing  else  to  attend  to;  at  the  same  time 
 that  his  own  special  work  went  on  as  effectually  and  as 
 rapidly  as  if  there  had  been  nothing  to  distract  him.  Once, 
 and  once  only,  I  remember  his  shutting  himself  up  in  his 
 study,  to  avoid  interruption.  It  was  the  day  before  the 
 consecration  of  the  church  (in  1848),  his  sermon  for  the 
 evening  of  the  next  day  was  scarcely  begun,  and  there  were 
 so  many  things  to  be  attended  to,  that  he  was  in  despair, 
 and  felt  that  the  only  chance  of  the  sermon  being  ready 
 was  to  lock  himself  up  for  two  or  three  hours,  and  give 
 strict  orders  that  no  one  was  to  go  to  him  on  any  pretence 
 whatever.  In  this  way  he  was  able  (to  use  a  common 
 expression  of  his)  to  '  break  the  back'  of  his  sermon,  and 
 to  give  his  mind  without  discomfort  to  other  matters. 
 
 "  There  was  a  small  Workhouse  at  Hursley,  which  was 
 a  special  object  of  care  and  interest  to  him.  The  inmates 
 were  chiefly  old  and  infirm.  At  one  time  they  were  allowed 
 to  go  to  the  Daily  Service,  and  he  often  remarked  with 
 pleasure  on  the  large  acquaintance  which  some  of  them 
 shewed  with  the  Gospel  history  from  hearing  it  continually 
 in  church.  It  was  a  great  grief  to  him,  when,  in  conse- 
 quence of  some  misbehaviour,  the  permission  was  with- 
 drawn.    I  send  you  a  form  of  Morning  Prayer,  which  he 
 
Appendix.  599 
 
 drew  up  for  use  in  the  House,  and  which  is  still  used. 
 The  Evening  Prayer  was  prepared,  but  I  doubt  whether  it 
 was  ever  printed  ;  certainly  it  is  not  used. 
 
 "  I  can  scarcely  venture  to  hope  that  these  recollections 
 will  be  of  much  service  to  you.  For  your  and  others'  sake, 
 I  could  almost  wish  that  some  one  else  had  had  the  oppor- 
 tunities which  I  had.  But  I  suppose  it  would  be  impos- 
 sible for  any  one,  by  a  mere  statement  of  general  facts  or 
 of  single  incidents,  to  give  any  true  notion  of  that  wonder- 
 ful humility,  which  however  was  ever  bold, — at  times  even 
 forward, — in  defence  of  truth  and  duty,  of  that  considera- 
 tion and  reverence  for  others  which  never  became  softness 
 or  blind  partiality,  and  that  exquisite  keenness  of  feeling, 
 whether  of  love  or  indignation,  which  was  always  tempered 
 by  wisdom  and  good  sense.  Still  it  is  a  real  sorrow  to  me 
 to  find  that  I  am  of  so  much  less  use  to  you  than  I  ought 
 to  be  in  drawing  a  picture  which,  if  drawn  to  the  life,  might 
 have  so  much  influence  for  good 
 
 "  Believe  me,  with  very  sincere  respect  and  gratitude, 
 "Yours  faithfully, 
 
 "Peter  Young. " 
 
6oo 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 "  Mr.  Keble  had  so  little  method  in  directing  any  lay- 
 helpers  who  worked  under  him  in  his  parish,  that  it  is 
 difficult  to  give  an  idea  of  his  way  of  employing  them.  He 
 gave  no  accurate  directions  ;  partly  from  his  great  humility ; 
 he  used  to  say,  '  I  am  always  sure  to  say  the  wrong  thing.' 
 He  would  not  even  divide  the  work  regularly  amongst  two 
 or  three  who  wished  to  engage  in  it,  or  assign  certain 
 portions  of  it  to  each ;  and  in  the  end  it  fell  almost  en- 
 tirely to  one  person,  who  worked  under  him  for  seventeen 
 years.  But  he  did  not  give  her  any  rules  or  directions, 
 except  by  occasionally  recommending  to  her  particular 
 cases,  if  he  thought  it  likely  that  she  would  be  of  use  to 
 them ;  and  even  then  anything  he  said  was  in  the  way 
 of  a  hint,  which  she  might  take  or  leave.  To  all  her 
 reports  of  the  poor  under  her  care,  and  to  every  minute 
 particular  concerning  them,  he  used  to  listen  with  the 
 deepest  interest,  often  with  tears  in  his  eyes;  and  when 
 absent,  it  was  his  habit  to  write  carefully  about  each  case 
 brought  before  him." 
 
 Here  I  omit  the  extracts  from  two  letters  which 
 I  have  already  printed  in  my  text. 
 
 "  During  the  last  months  of  Mr.  Keble's  life,  the  friend 
 to  whom  they  were  written  visited  Bournemouth ;  he  sent 
 for  her  every  day,  and  talked  to  her  for  a  long  time,  en- 
 quiring carefully  for  individual  cases.  Especially  (indeed 
 this  might  be  said  of  him  always)  you  could  never  weary 
 him,  when  talking  of  what  concerned  the  sick ;  he  never 
 seemed   to  grudge  time  spent   in   any  way  which   might 
 
Appendix.  60 1 
 
 comfort  or  even  amuse  them.  To  one  deaf  cripple  in  his 
 parish  he  was  a  constant  visitor,  because  the  man  thought 
 he  could  understand  the  motion  of  his  lips ;  he  used  also 
 to  hold  conversations  with  him  by  writing  on  a  slate,  and 
 to  set  him  sums  to  amuse  him,  looking  over  and  correcting 
 them  himself  at  his  next  visit. 
 
 "  Although  he  did  not  apportion  work  for  his  lay-helpers, 
 he  was  careful  to  do  so  for  himself  and  his  Curates ;  gene- 
 rally arranging  with  them  after  Morning  Service  where  each 
 should  go  to  in  the  course  of  the  day ;  not  that  he  gave  up 
 any  districts  to  them,  for  all  were  visited  in  turn  by  himself. 
 There  are  seven  hamlets  in  the  parish  (besides  outlying 
 cottages),  the  nearest  one  mile,  the  farthest  three  miles 
 distant ;  these  were  generally  all  gone  through  in  the  course 
 of  each  week,  so  that  everything  was  brought  under  his  eye. 
 If  anything  escaped  him  which  he  thought  he  ought  to  have 
 known,  he  was  much  distressed,  and  blamed  himself  for  it. 
 He  often  read  when  he  walked  alone  about  the  parish; 
 when  accompanied  in  these  walks  by  any  young  person 
 his  talk  was  almost  always  of  the  sights  and  sounds  around 
 them ;  of  the  clouds  and  the  pictures  in  them,  the  birds 
 and  their  notes,  the  sweet  odours  in  the  air ;  or  if  the  bells 
 were  ringing  he  used  to  make  up  sentences  which  he 
 fancied  they  were  saying.  In  a  letter  from  Penzance, 
 Mrs.  Keble  writes,  '  the  cloudland  here  is  a  great  pleasure 
 to  my  husband.'  The  '  low  sweet  tones  of  nature's  lyre,' 
 always  soothed  and  comforted  him ;  and  the  rest  and  re- 
 freshment which  he  found  in  the  visible  creation  greatly 
 contributed  to  preserve  his  health  amidst  the  deep  anxieties 
 of  his  later  years,  caused  by  those  sorrows  of  the  Church, 
 which  were  always  his  sorrows.  Sometimes  indeed  his 
 friends,  when  eager  to  discuss  some  Church  matter  with 
 him,  have  been  disappointed  to  find  that  his  mind  was  too 
 -full  just  then  of  some  hannony  of  nature,  or  else  that  he 
 
602 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 was  too  much  engrossed  by  some  child  who  happened  to 
 be  in  the  room,  to  give  them  full  attention.  Once  when 
 this  was  apparent,  and  he  had  not  seemed  interested  in  an 
 important  subject  about  which  a  friend  was  very  eager,  he 
 answered,  '  I  am  afraid  I  have  been  thinking  of  nothing, 
 but  how  very-  beautiful  the  situation  of  that  monastery 
 which  you  described  must  be  !' 
 
 "  He  generally  made  his  parochial  visits  on  foot  until 
 the  last  two  years ;  after  his  illness,  Mrs.  Keble  did  not 
 like  him  to  be  alone,  and  she  drove  him  about  in  a  little 
 donkey  carriage.  He  seemed  to  realize  so  vividly  that 
 each  of  his  parishioners  was  his  own  special  charge,  that 
 no  duties  elsewhere,  or  public  affairs,  were  allowed  to  in- 
 terfere with  a  watchful  and  anxious  care  for  them,  only  to 
 be  compared  to  that  which  a  father  feels  for  his  children. 
 To  them  first,  as  to  all  in  order  who  ever  in  earnest  sought 
 his  counsel,  his  thought  seemed  always  to  be  '  ourselves 
 your  servants  for  Jesus'  sake.'  Those  to  whom  such  service 
 was  at  any  time  rendered,  will  remember  all  their  lives  the 
 loving  gentleness  with  which  it  was  done,  especially  his 
 kindness  and  tenderness  to  those  in  trouble,  and  his  peni- 
 tence if  he  thought  he  had  neglected  or  wounded  any  one, 
 asking  pardon  for  it,  with  tears  in  his  eyes ;  so  that  his 
 friends  learned  more  from  the  example  of  his  humility  and 
 love  than  even  from  his  direct  teaching.  He  thought  much 
 of  helping  others  by  praying  for  them,  and  a  few — very 
 few — may  have  some  idea  how  much  time  he  spent  thus 
 for  any  in  sickness  or  trouble;  he  made  some  rule  about 
 dividing  those  for  whom  he  made  intercession,  praying  for 
 them  at  different  times  in  the  day.  He  said  of  one  who 
 was  ill  in  his  parish,  but  of  whom  he  could  not  for  various 
 reasons  see  much,  '  I  am  afraid  he  thinks  I  neglect  him, 
 but  indeed  I  don't ;  every  day  I  think  of  him  and  pray  for 
 him,  and  for  a  good  while'     Especially  he  set  much  store 
 
Appendix.  603 
 
 on  the  common  intercession  of  the  people  in  church,  asking 
 it  for  many  things,  as,  once,  when  a  guest  was  leaving  him, 
 '  For  one  about  to  leave  this  place ;'  and  always,  before 
 every  Litany,  '  For  the  Church  of  England  in  her  very  great 
 and  continued  distress,  by  reason  of  unhappy  divisions 
 among  us ;  for  those  in  any  doubt,  trouble,  or  perplexity 
 of  mind ;  for  the  Churches  of  South  Africa  and  New  Zea- 
 land j  and  among  sick  people,  especially  for .'      He 
 
 always  carefully  considered  the  people  in  his  parish,  es- 
 pecially the  old  and  poor,  before  making  any  change  in 
 the  arrangement  of  the  service.  In  1864  a  Bishop  had 
 talked  to  him  of  the  advisableness  of  omitting  the  reading 
 of  the  Commandments,  &c,  at  the  Morning  Service,  when 
 there  had  already  been  an  early  Communion  :  in  talking 
 the  subject  over  afterwards,  though  much  wishing  never 
 to  use  the  beginning  of  that  office  without  celebrating,  he 
 said,  '  I  am  afraid  if  I  were  to  adopt  the  Bishop's  plan  here, 
 
 that  old  Mrs.  ,  who  cannot  come  to  early  Communion, 
 
 would  miss  the  Commandments  and  Epistle  and  Gospel  on 
 the  Sundays  when  there  is  not  a  late  celebration.'  He  was 
 very  cautious  and  gentle  in  his  dealings  with  any  in  his 
 parish  who  were  quarrelsome  or  hard  to  manage,  waiting 
 until  he  found  some  opportunity  of  doing  them  good. 
 There  were  some  in  the  village  who  were  rude  and  rough 
 to  him,  but  he  went  patiently  away,  and  came  again  after 
 a  time. 
 
 "  Some  speeches,  however,  not  of  rudeness  to  himself 
 but  such  as  he  thought  shewed  a  hard  and  unloving  mind, 
 especially  towards  relations,  occasionally  grated  upon  and 
 aggravated  him  more  than  he  could  bear :  he  never  seemed 
 able  to  forget  them,  and  might  almost  be  said  to  be  a  little 
 hard  on  two  or  three  of  whom  he  once  formed  a  bad 
 opinion. 
 
 "  He  was  a  very  frequent  visitor  to  the  inmates  of  the 
 
6o4  Appendix. 
 
 workhouse,  who  were  chiefly  old  men.  One  of  those  to 
 whom  he  had  been  kind  was  asked  after  he  had  left 
 Hursley  whether  he  had  been  happy  there  ;  his  answer 
 was,  '  Happy  ?  that's  no  word  for  it ;  I  seemed  to  myself 
 to  be  saying  all  day  long,  "  Holy,  Holy,  Holy,  Lord  God 
 of  Sabaoth." '  Mr.  Keble  was  pleased  to  find  that  these  old 
 men  learned  much  of  the  Gospels  by  coming  to  church  on 
 week-days ;  they  sat  on  the  front  benches,  and  in  reading 
 the  Second  Lesson  he  addressed  himself,  as  it  were,  espe- 
 cially to  them,  turning  towards  them  and  reading  slowly 
 and  with  pauses,  almost  as  if  he  were  alone  with  them  and 
 were  speaking  to  them.  His  manner  of  reading  Holy  Scrip- 
 ture was  very  remarkable  :  in  its  extreme  simplicity  it  was 
 like  that  of  a  reverent  child,  and  yet  probably  all  who 
 were  in  the  habit  of  hearing  him  have  felt  the  wonderful 
 chann  of  it,  and  that  he  made  them  understand  the  Lessons 
 better  than  any  one  else ;  conveying  to  them  also,  in  some 
 small  measure,  his  own  intense  feeling  of  the  sacredness 
 of  every  inspired  word.  He  always  paused  before  reading 
 the  Bible,  often  putting  his  hand  to  his  forehead  for  a 
 moment  (as  was  often  his  way),  and  after  the  Lesson  was 
 ended  he  made  the  same  pause  before  saying  '  Here  end- 
 eth,'  &c.  In  some  sermon  of  his  he  takes  it  for  granted 
 that  the  custom  of  pious  people  would  be  to  pray  inwardly 
 before  and  after  reading  any  portion  of  Holy  Scripture. 
 He  never  could  bear  to  hear  Scripture  language  used  in 
 general  conversation,  and  even  a  half-playful  allusion  to 
 any  expression  in  the  Bible,  such  as  'You  have  come  at 
 the  eleventh  hour,'  seemed  to  make  him  shudder;  he 
 always  reproved  it  if  he  could. 
 
 "He  thought  that  much  knowledge  of  the  Bible  was 
 acquired  by  attendance  at  Daily  Service,  and  once  when 
 it  was  proposed  to  keep  the  school-children  from  church 
 on  week-days  in  order  that  they  might  have  more  time  for 
 
Appendix.  605 
 
 preparation  before  an  examination,  he  said  that  their  time 
 in  church  might  be  made  a  great  mean  of  preparing  them 
 for  examination  in  Holy  Scripture.  For  a  long  time  he 
 used  each  morning,  after  the  congregation  had  left  the 
 church,  to  question  the  first  class  on  the  Lessons  they 
 had  just  heard,  standing  at  the  entrance  to  the  chancel, 
 the  children  round  him,  and  generally  ending  by  giving 
 them  the  Blessing.  For  many  years  he  hardly  ever  missed 
 catechising  in  church  on  Sunday  afternoons,  taking  the  first 
 class  of  boys  and  of  girls  alternately.  He  prepared  them 
 for  it  in  school,  just  before  the  service,  asking  the  same 
 questions  as  afterwards  in  church,  and  was  always  most 
 careful  that  the  shy  or  backward  ones  should  have  full 
 time  for  consideration,  reproving  almost  sharply  if  one 
 answered  when  not  specially  asked.  In  church  he  always 
 repeated  the  children's  answers,  so  that  all  might  hear. 
 
 "  For  himself  the  Daily  Services  were  among  his  greatest 
 delights  and  refreshments ;  if  by  some  rare  chance  he  was 
 not  in  his  place,  he  still  came  in,  if  possible,  for  some  part 
 of  the  Service  j  if  he  were  to  dine  out  and  the  hour  inter- 
 fered with  church,  he  used  to  dress  early,  come  in  and 
 kneel  down  near  the  door,  and  stay  till  the  last  moment, 
 often  till  reminded  by  Mrs.  Keble  that  he  must  go. 
 
 "  He  tried  having  an  early  Litany  on  Wednesdays  and 
 Fridays,  in  the  hope  that  labourers  would  attend  j  also, 
 as  many  believe,  from  the  longing  to  be  himself  more  in- 
 stant in  penitential  prayer  the  more  the  gathering  troubles 
 of  the  Church,  and  the  doubts  and  perplexities  of  main- 
 souls,  weighed  upon  his  spirit.  It  was  begun  in  1850,  at 
 5  o'clock  in  summer  and  $i  m  winter,  and  continued  for 
 three  years.  When  he  came  into  his  stall  on  week-days 
 he  used  to  turn  round  for  a  few  moments,  and  look  to  see 
 who  was  there,  and  as  he  passed  up  the  aisle  to  the  vestry, 
 he  had  a  way  of  noticing  without  looking,  and  giving  a 
 
6o6  Appendix. 
 
 slight,  half  smile  of  welcome  and  blessing  to  any  child  or 
 young  person  whom  he  passed. 
 
 "  His  evening  lectures  during  Advent  and  Lent  and  on 
 Saints'  Days  were  different  in  their  kind  from  his  ordinary 
 sermons  ;  they  seemed  more  especially  spoken  to  those  who 
 he  thought  would  best  understand  him,  and  in  the  dimness 
 of  the  church  on  summer  evenings  his  words  used  to  sound 
 like  an  evening  meditation.  He  liked  Mrs.  Keble  to  play 
 to  him  while  he  was  writing  his  sermons,  he  said  it  helped 
 him ;  he  was  very  fond  of  bits  from  '  Acis  and  Galatea,' 
 and  other  works  of  Handel ;  also  of  the  Irish  melodies.  He 
 hardly  ever  used  his  study  for  writing  of  any  sort,  but 
 carried  his  papers  and  books  into  the  drawing-room,  set- 
 tling himself  between  the  window  and  the  door,  which  in 
 summer  were  usually  both  open ;  there  he  seemed  to  hear 
 everything  that  went  on  without  being  disturbed  by  it ; 
 even  reading  aloud  he  liked  while  he  was  writing,  occa- 
 sionally taking  the  book  from  the  reader  and  going  on 
 himself  for  a  little  while,  making  quaint  remarks  as  he  read, 
 and  then  returning  to  his  work.  The  last  piece  which  he 
 read  in  this  way  with  us  was  ■  Honor  Neale,'  in  which,  as 
 in  the  other  poems  of  its  author,  he  took  much  delight. 
 
 "  His  book  on  '  Eucharistical  Adoration'  was  entirely 
 written  on  scraps  of  paper  and  backs  of  envelopes,  and  was 
 afterwards  fairly  copied  out  from  these  by  Mrs.  Keble ;  he 
 seemed  unable  to  write  about  what  he  felt  most  deeply  ex- 
 cept in  this  way,  and  at  odd  times ;  he  could  not  always  on 
 being  referred  to  decipher  these  scraps  himself,  they  had 
 been  so  frequently  altered  and  written  over.  His  notes  for 
 sermons  or  week-day  lectures,  which  were  all  but  extempore, 
 were  generally  written  in  this  way,  on  any  scrap  of  paper 
 which  came  to  hand ;  these  notes,  though  carefully  pre- 
 pared beforehand,  were  hardly  ever  referred  to  when  he  was 
 actually  preaching.    He  was  continually  gathering  up  matter 
 
Appendix.  607 
 
 for  his  sermons  and  food  for  instruction  from  the  common 
 circumstances  of  every-day  life ;  no  one  could  be  much 
 with  him  without  perceiving  from  his  sermons  how  he  had 
 marked  and  pondered  over  little  sayings  or  incidents  which 
 scarcely  struck  others,  bringing  out  of  them  precious  mean- 
 ings and  valuable  teaching,  and  so  '  hallowing  all  he  found.' 
 He  writes,  in  i860,  to  a  young  person  as  to  ways  of  medi- 
 tating on  Holy  Scripture :  '  You  might  settle  the  evening 
 before,  one  of  the  last  things,  what  text  of  Scripture,  or 
 what  sacred  subject,  should  be  your  theme  for  the  next 
 day,  and  during  the  day  you  would  be  gleaning  up  more 
 or  less  in  reference  to  it,  which  it  would  be  interesting  to 
 set  down,  or  recapitulate  in  memory,  at  night ;  something  in 
 the  way  in  which  we  construct  our  sermons  from  day  to  day. 
 You  should  take  hints  as  well  as  you  can  from  passing 
 circumstances,  sayings  wch  you  hear  casually,  or  meet  with 
 in  reading,  and  wch  you  can  connect  with  the  subject  of 
 the  day  :  e.g.  I  observed  one  of  our  little  singers  to-day, 
 both  morning  and  evening,  with  his  eyes  so  simply  fixed  on 
 his  Prayer-book,  that  I  was  quite  ashamed  of  my  own  in- 
 attention ;  he  did  not  know  I  was  looking  at  him,  but  after- 
 wards I  told  him  to  go  on  doing  so  :  my  own  share  in  this 
 might,  or  ought  to  be,  a  lesson  in  the  way  of  contrition  • 
 and  his,  in  the  way  of  hope  of  the  heavenly  Watcher's  ap- 
 probation V 
 
 a  As  early  as  1813  or  14,  a  friend  had  given  me  Boyle's  "Occasional 
 Reflections,"  which  Mr.  Weyland  had  republished  in  part.  I  lent  the 
 book  to  Keble,  who  was  much  delighted  with  it ;  and  I  think  he 
 adopted  the  practice  of  the  pious  philosopher.  The  book  is  so  in- 
 teresting, and  the  practice  so  useful,  that  I  regret  that  it  is  not 
 more  read.  The  practice  may  be  summed  up  thus, — make  every  ap- 
 pearance, or  circumstance,  which  you  observe,  or  which  happens  to 
 you,  however  seemingly  common  or  trifling,  a  ground  of  moral  or 
 religious  reflection.  The  book  shews  how  the  smallest  incidents  may 
 teach  the  most  important  lessons. — J.  T.  C. 
 
608  Appendix. 
 
 "  Mr.  Keble  was  never  tired  of  waiting  on  the  sick  in 
 Holy  Communion ;  he  generally  went  to  them  on  foot, 
 carrying  his  own  little  black  bag ;  and  if  they  were  poor  he 
 used  to  take  some  dainty  morsel  in  a  basket  besides.  He 
 never  proposed  to  give  the  H.  C.  privately,  he  said  the  re- 
 quest ought  to  come  from  the  sick  person ;  but  he  was 
 always  ready  to  take  the  slightest  hint,  and  if  he  thought 
 that  shyness  prevented  the  desire  for  it  being  expressed,  he 
 used  to  get  some  one  else  to  speak  to  the  sick  person,  and 
 find  out  his  wishes.  One  poor  woman  asked  him  to  come 
 to  her  every  week,  he  thought  she  meant  for  Holy  Com- 
 munion, and  during  her  illness  celebrated  every  Monday 
 morning  by  her  bedside.  At  such  times  he  never  talked  at 
 all  to  the  sick  person  by  way  of  instruction  or  preparation  ; 
 there  was  nothing  but  the  service.  He  did  not  say  anything 
 aloud  on  coming  into  the  house,  but  first  greeted  the  sick 
 person,  asking  about  his  health,  and  then  immediately  began 
 to  prepare  the  simple  altar,  which  he  was  careful  to  place  so 
 that  the  sick  person  could  easily  see  everything.  He  said  the 
 service  very  slowly  and  quietly,  making  pauses  that  he  might 
 the  more  easily  be  followed.  After  giving  the  Bread,  he  used 
 to  become  so  absorbed  in  prayer  for  the  sick  person,  that 
 more  than  once,  when  no  one  was  present  who  would  re- 
 mind him,  he  entirely  forgot  to  give  the  Chalice,  and  after 
 long  prayer  went  on  with  the  rest  of  the  service.  When  it 
 was  over,  he  used  to  fold  up  his  little  black  stole  carefully, 
 and  to  lay  it,  with  a  few  words  of  private  prayer,  on  the 
 foot  of  the  sick  person's  bed ;  then,  when  he  had  put  all  by, 
 he  shook  hands  with  those  who  had  assisted,  thanking  them 
 for  doing  so.  He  said  once,  after  a  private  Communion, 
 that  he  should  like  the  old  custom  of  the  kiss  of  peace  to  be 
 restored  at  such  times  ;  and  when  he  came  to  young  persons 
 he  used  to  kiss  them  on  the  forehead  or  hand.  Except  in 
 extreme  cases  he  never  would  celebrate  more  than  once  in 
 
Appendix.  609 
 
 the  day,  and  before  12  o'clock,  and  he  always  wished  to 
 have  at  least  two  to  communicate  besides  the  sick  person. 
 
 "  The  preparation  of  his  candidates  for  Confirmation  was 
 extended  over  a  long  time  :  one  year,  at  the  beginning  of 
 Lent,  he  gave  notice  that  there  would  be  a  Confirmation 
 at  the  end  of  Lent  in  the  next  year,  and  therefore  desired  to 
 receive  at  once  the  names  of  those  who  would  then  be  con- 
 firmed. The  children,  whom  he  prepared,  came  to  him 
 either  in  classes  or  singly  every  week  for  about  a  year  be- 
 fore their  Confirmation  j  he  took  those  of  different  ranks  of 
 life  separately,  as  needing  a  difference  in  the  kind  of  teach- 
 ing given,  and  as  there  were  few  of  the  upper  class  in  his 
 parish,  these  mostly  came  to  him  each  alone  every  week. 
 He  usually  went  through  the  Baptismal,  Confirmation,  and 
 Communion  Services,  taking  a  little  bit  each  time,  and  illus- 
 trating it  largely,  especially  from  Holy  Scripture.  The 
 knowledge  of  the  Bible  possessed  by  his  village  children 
 long  before  their  preparation  for  Confirmation  began,  and 
 the  way  in  which  it  was  interwoven  in  their  minds  with  the 
 Creeds  and  the  Catechism,  was  something  very  uncommon 
 indeed. 
 
 "To  some,  before  Confirmation,  he  gave  only  oral  teach- 
 ing, to  others  questions  in  writing,  directing  them  as  to  the 
 books  they  were  to  consult ;  and  he  caused  those  who  were 
 capable  of  profiting  by  it  to  study  the  Ancient  Latin  and 
 Greek  Liturgies,  helping  them  with  the  language  if  neces- 
 sary, and  pointing  out  where  our  service  joined  on  to  older 
 and  more  perfect  offices.  If  fann  lads  could  not  come  to 
 him  for  press  of  work,  he  went  to  them,  one  by  one,  how- 
 ever far  off.  As  to  still  more  close  and  personal  teaching 
 and  guidance  of  conscience,  whether  with  his  parishioners 
 or  others  who  sought  his  counsel,  he  was  always  ready, 
 though  not  using  any  kind  of  method,  to  see  any  one  at 
 
 R  r 
 
6  io  Appendix. 
 
 whatever  inconvenience  to  himself;  often  in  his  later  years, 
 when  he  had  fallen  asleep  after  the  Sunday  services,  rousing 
 himself  to  receive  such  visits.  Perhaps  he  might  be  said 
 sometimes  to  seem,  at  least,  to  discourage  strangers,  partly 
 from  wishing  them,  where  possible,  to  apply  to  those  set 
 over  them  in  the  order  of  God's  Providence,  and  a  shrink- 
 ing from  being  thought  of  more  than  any  other  earnest 
 country  clergyman,  especially  if  he  perceived  any  unreality 
 in  those  who  came  to  him — partly  from  his  excessive  humi- 
 lity. He  used  to  say  he  was  a  very  bad  adviser,  incapable 
 of  guiding  any  one  well,  and  bade  those  whom  he  did  advise 
 to  pray  that  he  might  be  able  to  help  them.  In  all  such 
 matters  he  was  more  than  ever  careful  to  observe  the  closest 
 obedience  to  the  directions  in  the  Prayer-book  :  sometimes 
 when  applied  to  he  would  for  answer  read  that  part  of  the 
 Exhortation  at  the  time  of  giving  notice  of  Holy  Com- 
 munion which  refers  to  such  cases  :  and  he  did  not  use  the 
 special  Absolution  without  asking  '  if  it  were  humbly  and 
 heartily  desired;'  continually  exhorting  those  whom  he 
 taught  to  take  all  from  our  Lord  as  Personally  present. 
 1  Christ  is  all  and  in  all,'  would  best  sum  up  his  teaching 
 both  in  public  and  in  private.  He  often  paused  if  asked 
 a  question  about  any  spiritual  matter,  looked  down  and 
 seemed  to  apply  to  God  before  answering.  One  who  knew 
 him  well  said,  '  I  believe  he  was  always  praying,  continually 
 making  ejaculatory  supplications ;'  and  so  being  himself 
 watered  with  the  continual  dew  of  God's  blessing,  his  very 
 presence  brought  refreshment  and  help  to  others.  Though 
 shy  of  teaching  directly,  he  was  always  letting  drop  little 
 sayings  by  the  way,  full  of  suggestion  and  instruction.  Of 
 those  who  differed  from  him,  if  he  thought  them  child-like 
 and  devout,  he  always  spoke  in  the  gentlest  way,  giving 
 them  credit  for  being  better  Churchmen  than  they  thought 
 themselves.     Of  one  old  parishioner,  long  since  dead,  he 
 
Appendix.  611 
 
 said  to  a  friend,  '  I  am  afraid  he  did  not  like  me  nearly  so 
 well  as  I  liked  him ;  he  thought  himself  a  very  Low  Church- 
 man, but  you  know  he  really  was  an  excellent  Churchman, 
 he  came  to  church  almost  every  day.'  And  Mr.  Keble  used 
 to  tell  with  great  glee  of  this  old  friend's  delight  with  a  ser- 
 mon preached  by  a  strange  clergyman,  not  knowing  that  the 
 preacher  was  Dr.  Pusey. 
 
 "He  writes  in  1863  :  'Trouble  yourself  as  little  as  you 
 can  about  the  unbelief  of  others,  except  to  pray  for  them : 
 the  rather  as  you  know,  at  least  of  many,  that  in  their  un- 
 conscious hearts  they  really  believe  a  great  deal  more  than 
 they  seem  to  do,  or  are  distinctly  aware  of  themselves. 
 Where  should  we  be,  if  we  let  our  devotions  be  interrupted 
 here  because  people  are  imperfect  in  the  doctrine  of  the 
 Sacraments,  and  there,  because  they  pray,  as  they  do,  to 
 the  B.V.M.  ?'  Very  seldom,  indeed,  are  such  strong  convic- 
 tions as  he  possessed,  such  zeal  and  earnestness  in  contend- 
 ing for  the  Faith,  tempered  by  humility  and  love  like  his. 
 His  own  words,  '  Self-distrust  is  a  temper  so  suitable  to  us 
 and  our  condition,  that  whatever  course  implies  most  of  it, 
 has  so  far  a  presumption  in  its  favour,'  express  well  the  tone 
 of  his  mind,  the  feeling  which  shewed  itself  in  every  daily 
 action,  and  which  was  undisturbed  by  any  heat  of  contro- 
 versy. Yet  the  idea  of  the  meek  hermit  poet  which  seems 
 generally  to  prevail,  is  not  altogether  a  true  one.  It  is  hard 
 to  describe  the  eager  youthful  energy,  the  strong  indigna- 
 tion and  resentment  at  wrong,  especially  at  anything  which 
 threatened  to  touch  the  sacred  deposit  of  truth,  that  mingled 
 with  his  gentleness  and  humility.  If  anything  of  the  sort 
 was  said  before  him,  his  whole  countenance  changed,  and 
 he  looked  for  a  moment  as  if  he  would  annihilate  the 
 speaker.  Once  when  speaking  eagerly  of  something  of  the 
 sort  which  had  angered  him,  his  eyes  sparkling  and  flashing 
 as  they  used  at  such  times,  he  suddenly  turned  to  a  young 
 
612  Appendix, 
 
 girl  who  stood  near  him,  his  whole  manner  changing  to 
 a  tender  playfulness,  as  he  just  said,  '  I  hope  I  shan't  bite 
 you,1  then  returned  to  the  subject  which  occupied  him.  It 
 was  remarkable  that  badness  always  seemed  to  him  stupidity, 
 he  never  seemed  to  be  able  to  perceive  the  cleverness  of 
 wickedness ;  of  even  able  things  written  in  a  bad  spirit  he 
 constantly  remarked,  *  I  cannot  think  how  people  can  be 
 so  stupid.' 
 
 "  Mr.  Keble's  power  of  fasting  was  very  great,  and  for 
 many  years  his  own  habit  was  to  take  no  food  on  Fridays 
 until  evening ;  even  after  he  was  past  seventy  he  scarcely 
 took  more  on  fast-days  than  a  slight  meal  in  the  evening. 
 But  to  others,  especially  in  cases  of  delicate  health,  he 
 was  very  lenient  in  this  matter.  He  writes  to  one  (in 
 i860),  'If  those  whom  His  Providence  has  made  judges 
 over  you  in  such  matters  say,  This  is  more  than  you  are 
 able  to  bear ;  I  conceive  you  are  to  conclude  that  He  has 
 not  laid  this  upon  you.  I  remember  the  place  in  Mr.  Bon- 
 nell b,  but  you  will  observe  he  does  not  there  (unless  I  mis- 
 take) disregard  the  direction  of  the  Doctor,  but  his  own 
 feelings  :  "  God  says,  '  Fast,'  and  I  will  fast,  though  it  seems 
 to  interfere  with  my  prayers  :  but  O  !  that  it  may  not  so 
 interfere."  Is  not  this  his  meaning  ?  But  this  is  not  your 
 case,  I  believe.  No  doubt  we  often  read  in  books  of  holy 
 men  purposely  spending  themselves  contrary  to  medical 
 directions  :  but  I  imagine  that  in  most  cases  either  it  was 
 for  some  definite  work,  as  when  a  man  devotes  himself  in 
 battle  ;  or  the  wisdom  of  it  might  be  questionable.' 
 
 "  He  always  received  the  Holy  Communion  fasting, 
 although  teaching  every  Sunday  morning  at  the  school, 
 and  generally  preaching;  but  this  also  he  was  careful  not 
 to  advise  others  to  do  unless  in  strong  health.     In  a  letter 
 
 b  "  Meditations  of  James  Bonnell,  Esq.,"  on  the  List  of  the  Christian 
 Knowledge  Society. 
 
Appendix.  6 1 3 
 
 in  1863  he  writes,  'I  will  not  say  positively,  but  I  almost 
 think  that  it  may  be  better  to  make  up  your  mind  to  even- 
 ing communion  occasionally  than  to  remain  so  very  long 
 absent.  You  may  perhaps  be  able  to  order  matters  so  as 
 not  to  break  the  Church's  rule  about  abstinence  further 
 than  so  many  are  obliged  to  do  for  health,  e.g.  you  may 
 
 eat  some  breakfast  and  shirk  the  dinner.     Mr. told 
 
 me  once  that  he  was  obliged  to  do  something  of  the  kind 
 in  regard  of  mid-day  (which  were  really  afternoon)  com- 
 munions.' 
 
 "For  himself,  until  his  illness  in  1864,  there  were  weeks 
 now  and  then  when  between  fast-days  and  public  and  pri- 
 vate celebrations  there  was  not  more  than  one  day  on  which 
 he  took  any  food  until  the  middle  of  the  day. 
 
 "  Old  age  brought  no  relaxation  of  work  to  him.  Mrs. 
 Keble's  letters,  after  he  was  past  seventy,  continually  men- 
 tion his  engrossing  occupations,  generally  with  thankfulness 
 that  he  was  still  able  for  work.  She  writes  in  March,  1863, 
 of  his  having  been  '  particularly  well  this  winter,  scarcely 
 having  had  his  usual  amount  of  hoarseness,  so  that  he  has 
 been  able  to  work  on  at  home  and  out,  through  rain  and 
 sunshine,  without  let  or  hindrance,  and  people  have  been 
 fain  to  remark  upon  his  good  looks.  If  it  should  please 
 God  that  I  should  weather  this  attack,  I  shall  rejoice  that 
 I  have  not  been  the  cause  of  his  leaving  his  work  here 
 this  winter.  It  has  been  a  busy  time  preparing  for  a  Con- 
 firmation, which  is  to  be  on  Sunday  next ;  and  besides  this 
 the  Wilson  work  has  kept  him  fully  occupied  in  his  leisure 
 hours,  so  that  a  sentence  of  exile  would  have  been  a  ter- 
 rible one  in  that  aspect,  however  beneficial  in  the  lower 
 one.  I  don't  believe  the  dear  husband  would  ever  enjoy 
 being  abroad  thoroughly  :  he  could  never  be  content  with- 
 out plenty  of  work.'  In  December,  1863,  Mrs.  Keble 
 writes,  '  I  gave  Lady a  little   specimen   of  his  day's 
 
6 14  Appendix. 
 
 work  yesterday,  and  I  am  not  sure  that  it  did  not  make 
 her  almost  wish  I  were  ailing  enough  to  oblige  him  to 
 go  away,  but  (D.G.)  he  is  well  and  up  to  his  work,  and 
 most  evenings,  from  9  to  10  (now  we  are  alone)  we  get 
 a  little  quiet  reading,  which  is  a  great  treat,  only  sometimes 
 he  is  so  honestly  sleepy  that  it  is  cruel  to  let  him  go  on. 
 Again  in  that  year :  '  Our  commemoration  was  kept  on 
 St.  Simon  and  St.  Jude  :  fifteen  years  now  we  have  had 
 the  blessing  of  this  dear  church  in  its  present  aspect.  I 
 have  been  amusing  myself  lately  with  doing  little  pen  and 
 ink  sketches  of  it  from  the  drawing-room  window,  which 
 puts  me  in  mind  to  tell  you  that  my  husband  was  so  good 
 as  to  victimise  himself  in  the  summer  for  me,  and  give 
 Richmond  three  sittings,  the  result  of  which  was  a  crayon 
 head,  of  which  Miss  Richmond  told  me  afterwards  that  her 
 father  considered  it  one  of  his  best.  He  certainly  did  seem 
 charmed  to  have  that  head  once  more  before  him.' 
 
 "  This  was  his  last  year  of  health.  In  February,  1864, 
 his  wife  writes  of  '  how  much  he  has  on  his  hands,  and  far, 
 far  more  on  his  mind;'  but  the  grief  and  anxiety  caused 
 by  the  decision  of  the  Privy  Council  in  that  spring  only 
 seemed  to  make  him  work  harder  than  ever.  During  that 
 summer  he  used  often  to  fall  asleep  for  a  few  moments  in 
 the  middle  of  the  day  with  his  pen  in  his  hand ;  the  over- 
 strain ended  in  the  stroke  (on  St.  Andrew's  Day,  1864) 
 which  was  the  beginning  of  the  end.  Still,  all  through  that 
 summer,  the  happy  home-life  went  on,  though  overclouded 
 by  Mrs.  Keble's  increasing  weakness.  A  friend  who  was 
 staying  there  in  August  wrote,  '  I  wish  I  could  give  you 
 an  idea  of  the  loveliness  of  everything  when  we  came  out 
 of  church  at  8  o'clock  this  morning,  the  sun  lighting  up  the 
 flower-beds,  which  are  each  a  jewel  in  that  garden,  the  birds 
 feeding  amongst  them,  the  clematis  hanging  over  the  ter- 
 race-wall, all  the  natural  beauty  of  that  most  lovely  and 
 
Appendix,  6 1 5 
 
 poetical  spot  glowing  besides  in  the  light  which  associa- 
 tions always  throw  around  it.  We  went  in  through  the 
 garden  window  to  Mrs.  Keble,  who  had  not  been  well 
 enough  to  go  to  church,  and  just  then  the  Vicar  and  the 
 Bishop  passed,  the  former  looking  like  what  one  can  ima- 
 gine of  George  Herbert,  in  his  cassock,  trencher-cap,  and 
 white  hair.  Ah  !  even  as  I  write  comes  the  thought,  Will 
 the  days  ever  be  when  we  shall  look  back  on  such  times  as 
 these,  and  long  for  all  which  can  never  come  again  ?  when 
 the  place,  the  flowers,  the  sunshine  shall  be  the  same,  and 
 we  shall  hardly  bear  to  look  upon  them  ?'  Those  who 
 were  much  at  Hursley  during  that  summer  will  remember 
 Mr.  Keble's  interest  in  the  Apologia,  and  also  his  exceeding 
 distress  and  even  anger  when  the  last  number  (I  think) 
 reached  him.  He  writes,  June  15,  1864,  'We  shall  see 
 you  soon,  I  dare  say;  and  in  the  meantime  I  will  just 
 thank  you  for  the  little  mention  of  my  dear  friend's  book, 
 wch  (mention)  was  a  comfort  to  me  in  some  respects  :  for 
 I  thought  the  book  so  very  engaging,  I  did  not  know  what 
 might  come  of  it.  In  argument  it  seems  to  me  to  leave 
 things  on  the  whole  where  they  were,  or  rather  (of  the  two) 
 to  damage  the  cause  of  Modern  Rome, — I  mean  especially 
 as  concerns  the  dogma  of  1854.  The  very  title  (putting 
 a  date  to  an  Article  of  the  Faith)  seems  to  me  to  dis- 
 allow it.'  Mrs.  Keble  writes  in  October  of  their  having 
 had  '  a  large  and  engrossing  party  the  last  few  weeks,  now 
 we  are  reduced  to  ourselves  and  servants,  and,  alas  !  this 
 evening  I  shall  be  reduced  to  less  than  half,  for  in  spite  of 
 its  being  our  wedding-day,  he  has  to  go  to  Bristol  to  be 
 ready  for  the  discussion  about  Synods  to-morrow  at  the 
 Congress.'  And  in  her  last  note  a  few  days  before  his 
 attack  she  says,  '  My  husband  talked  of  writing  to  thank 
 ,  but  when  will  he  have  time  ?     I  fear  he  will  have 
 
616  Appendix. 
 
 to  go  to  London'  again  next  week, — I  ought  not  to  say 
 fear,  for  he  must  work  while  he  can,  and  people  don't  seem 
 too  eager  to  contend  for  the  Faith.'  Even  after  his  ill- 
 ness, restoration  in  order  that  he  might  work  seemed  always 
 to  be  in  the  minds  of  both  husband  and  wife.  She  writes 
 from  Penzance  in  January,  1865  :  'We  have  had  much 
 stormy  weather,  but  it  has  no  otherwise  interfered  with 
 my  husband's  progress  than  hindering  his  walks  by  the 
 sea.  He  has  improved  greatly  in  his  looks  since  we  have 
 been  here;  indeed,  I  think  you  would  not  observe  much 
 difference,  except  that  seven  weeks  of  such  quiescent  life 
 have  made  his  movements  less  active  ;  he  still  lives  by  rule 
 as  to  diet,  and  not  using  his  head,  though  he  dips  into 
 books  rather  more.  The  Doctors  cannot  relax  their  rule 
 yet ;  if  they  did,  I  believe  he  would  be  obliged  to  enforce 
 it  on  himself,  as  he  would  do  too  much  in  the  first  day , 
 still  we  have  the  hope  that  if  there  is  work  for  him  to  do, 
 he  may  be  restored  to  do  it.'  At  Easter  she  writes  :  '  We 
 were  both  at  the  whole  morning  service.  One  could  not 
 but  think  that  there  must  have  been  a  sharp  trial  in  taking 
 no  part  in  the  ministering,  for  the  first  time  on  that  day 
 since  he  has  been  in  Orders.' 
 
 "Then  came  the  last  return,  in  that  spring  of  1865,  to 
 Hursley,  and  the  summer  months,  so  mournful,  yet  so  pre- 
 cious, to  his  parishioners  and  friends.  He  had  almost  en- 
 tirely recovered  his  looks,  so  that  those  who  saw  him  during 
 that  summer  for  the  first  time  since  his  illness,  scarcely  per- 
 ceived any  change  in  his  face,  and  tried  to  hope  against 
 hope  that  years  might  yet  be  added  to  his  precious  life. 
 Yet  watching  him  they  knew  that  he  could  not  long  bear 
 the  strain  of  anxiety  and  grief  on  Mrs.  Keble's  account ; 
 and  that  each  of  the  terrible  attacks  from  which  she  suf- 
 fered, told  on  him  almost  as  much  as  on  her.     He  never 
 
Appendix.  6 1 7 
 
 preached  again,  but  often  took  some  small  part  in  the  ser- 
 vices, and  occasionally  celebrated  and  catechised.  His  last 
 public  pastoral  teaching  was  on  the  seventeenth  Sunday 
 after  Trinity  (October  8),  1865,  when  he  catechised  his 
 school  children  at  the  Afternoon  Service  on  the  Lord's 
 Prayer,  and  '  thou  art  not  able  to  do  these  things  of  thy- 
 self;' he  taught  them  by  the  simile  of  a  little  child  carried 
 in  its  mother's  arms,  and  continued,  '  even  after  it  is  set 
 down  to  walk,  can  it  do  so  by  itself?'  'must  it  not  be  held 
 by  the  hand  and  helped?'  '  Is  there  anything  in  to-day's 
 Collect  that  teaches  the  same  doctrine  ?'  '  Then  if  His  grace 
 must  go  before  us,  could  we  have  put  ourselves  in  a  state 
 of  salvation,  or  can  we  save  ourselves  ?'  '  But  what  is  there 
 that  we  can  do  to  ourselves  which  is  very  fearfui  to  think 
 of?'  'Yes,  destroy  ourselves  ;  and  therefore  St.  Paul,  writing 
 to  those  whom  he  seems  to  have  specially  loved,  bid  them 
 work  out  their  own  salvation,  not  only  with  hope  and 
 cheerfulness,  but  also  with  fear  and  trembling ;  for  the  very 
 reason  that  it  is  God  who  worketh  in  us,  and  that,  where 
 He  is,  there  should  be  a  trembling  awe  and  fear  lest  we 
 should  use  the  power  of  free-will  which  He  has  given  us  to 
 destroy  His  work,  and  ourselves  V 
 
 "  He  had  celebrated,  for  the  last  time  in  church,  at 
 7  o'clock  that  morning.  A  friend  dined  and  spent  the 
 evening  there ;  he  always  liked,  if  he  could,  to  have  some 
 one  to  dine  with  him  on  Sundays.  Pie  left  Hursley  on  the 
 following  Wednesday  before  the  hour  for  morning  service, 
 but  he  had  been  in  his  accustomed  place  in  church  for  the 
 last  time  on  the  previous  day,  October  10  (his  wedding-day;, 
 and  read  the  Second  Lesson  in  the  morning,  the  last  words 
 of  which  were  these:  'For  the  Son  of  Man  is  as  a  man 
 
 Written  at  the  time. 
 
6i8 
 
 taking  a  far  journey,  who  left  his  house,  and  gave  authority 
 to  his  servants,  and  to  every  man  his  work,  and  commanded 
 the  porter  to  watch.  Watch  ye  therefore  :  for  ye  know  not 
 when  the  master  of  the  house  cometh,  at  even,  or  at  mid- 
 night, or  at  the  cock-crowing,  or  in  the  morning.  Lest 
 coming  suddenly  he  find  you  sleeping.  And  what  I  say 
 unto  you  I  say  unto  all,  Watch.' " 
 
 M.  T. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Absolution,  when  to  use  the  special 
 form,  610. 
 
 Acland,  Arthur,  128. 
 
 iEschylus,  Prom.  Vinct.  cited,  405. 
 
 Agrarian  Riots,  a  fruit  of  43rd  Eliz.,  191. 
 
 Allen,  Archd.,  letter  on  J.  Keble,  569. 
 
 Ampfield  Church,  and  Well,  283-5. 
 
 Andrewes,  Bp.,  his  Devotions  referred 
 to,  296. 
 
 Arnold,  Matthew,  Poetry  Professor  at 
 Oxford,  211,  267. 
 
 Arnold,  Thomas,  Scholar  of  Corpus 
 Christi,  18  ;  letter  to  Sir  J.  T.  Cole- 
 ridge,42,  266 ;  visits  Keble  from  Lale- 
 ham,  132  ;  Head-master  at  Rugby, 
 edits  Thucydides,  183 ;  and  J.  Keble, 
 265 — 269. 
 
 Ashburton,  Lord,  see  Baring. 
 
 Augustine,  St.,  the  "Confessions"  re- 
 ferred to,  330. 
 
 Awdry,  Sir  John,  at  Hursley,  133. 
 
 Bagot,  Bp.,  Keble  dedicates  his  version 
 
 of  the  Psalter  to  him,  257. 
 Baker,  Mr.,  Curate  of  Pitt,  446. 
 Baring,  Mr.,  a  pupil  of  J.  Keble,  75,  79. 
 Barrington,  Bp.,  14. 
 Barrow,  Dr.,  Principal  of  St.  Edm.  Hall, 
 
 Oxford,  455. 
 Barter,   Rev.   R.  S.,   Warden  of  Win- 
 chester College,  125. 
 Bartholomew,  John,  of  Corpus  Christi, 
 
 19. 
 Basil,  St.,  on  Tradition,  247. 
 Benson,  Mr.,  author  of  the  term  "Trac- 
 
 tarian,"  276 ;    Sermon  at  the  Temple 
 
 Church,  ib. 
 Bernard,  St.,  reference  to  his  Sermons 
 
 on  the  Advent,  538. 
 Bernard,  Sir  Thomas,  "  Comforts  of  Old 
 
 Age,"  99. 
 
 Bible,  Commentary  on  part  of,  under- 
 taken by  J.  Keble,  491,  556. 
 
 Binney,  Horace,  420. 
 
 Bliss,  Rev.  W.,  letter  to,  on  Sidmouth, 
 50;  on  authorship  of  the  Christian 
 Year,  166. 
 
 Bonnell,  Mr.,  reference  to  the  Life  of, 
 141. 
 
 Bournemouth,  Keble's  visit  to,  530 ;  re- 
 turn to,  536. 
 
 Boyes,  Rev.  B.,  Rector  of  East  Leach, 
 64. 
 
 Bridges,  Sir  Brook  W.,  letter  to,  346. 
 
 Brotherhood,  religious,  rules  submitted 
 to  J.  Keble,  332. 
 
 Brydges,  T.,  mathematical  tutor  to 
 Keble,  47. 
 
 Burthorpe,  Keble  curate  of,  61. 
 
 Butterfield,  Win.,  gives  design  for  a 
 Keble  memorial  window  at  Ampfield, 
 285  ;  designs  a  memorial  to  Mr.  Keble, 
 561. 
 
 Capetown,  Bp.  of,  case  of  Long  versus, 
 
 498. 
 Cardwell,   E.,    examining  master,   1814, 
 
 55- 
 Carey,  Bp.,  30. 
 
 Carter,  Mr.,  architect  at  Winchester,  283. 
 Catechizing,    a  specimen  of  J.  Keble's 
 
 method,  572,  594. 
 Child,   a,   letters  on  the  death  of,   82, 
 
 324- 
 
 Children,  how  to  examine  them,  570. 
 
 Christian  Year,  progress  and  publica- 
 tion of,  61,  102,  117,  122,  151,  152. 
 
 second  edition  of,  175  ;   summary 
 
 of  the  publisher's  account,  155;  re- 
 marks on  its  success,  159  sqq. ;  the 
 dedication,  122,  165;  verses  for  Good 
 Friday  cited,  560. 
 
620 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Church  and  State,  the  limits  of  their  al- 
 liance examined  by  Keble,  151. 
 
 authority,  where  to  be  found,  439. 
 
 of  England,  a  layman's  testimony 
 
 to  it,  373. 
 
 discipline  and  doctrine,  485. 
 
 in  Wales,  Scotland,  and  Carlisle, 
 
 361,  363,  364- 
 
 of  Rome,  J.  Keble's  views  on,  372, 
 
 426. 
 
 the,   supposed  by  the  Christian 
 
 Year  to  be  in  a  state  of  decay,  167. 
 
 Churcher,  J.,  a  servant  of  J.  Keble,  243. 
 
 Churton,  Mr.,  his  illness,  1828,  183. 
 
 Clarke,  Charlotte,  184  ;  J.  Keble's  future 
 wife,  236. 
 
 Clarke,  Mrs.,  at  Lyme,  184. 
 
 Colenso,  J.  W.,  Bp.  of  Natal,  J.  Keble's 
 letter  on  the  "Colenso  Judgment," 
 518,  540. 
 
 Coleridge,  Rev.  J.  D.,  his  death,  444. 
 
 Coleridge,  Sir  J.  D.,  and  the  Abolition 
 of  Tests  Bill,  527 ;  letter  on  J.  Keble, 
 583. 
 
 Coleridge,  Sir  J.  T.,  letter  to  Keble,  46. 
 
 W.  Hart,  Bp.  of  Barbados,  113. 
 
 Coin,  St.  Aldwin's,  the  benefice  of  J. 
 Keble's  father,  7,  108. 
 
 Confession  in  the  Church  of  England, 
 302,  312,  545. 
 
 Confirmation  at  Hursley,  J.  Keble's  pre- 
 paration of  Candidates,  510,  521,  593, 
 609. 
 
 Cooke,  George  Leigh,  tutor  of  Corpus 
 Christi  College,  Oxford,  16 ;  tutor  to 
 Keble,  47. 
 
 Copleston,  Edw.,  Provost  of  Oriel,  10,  54, 
 77,  176. 
 
 Cornish,  G.  J.,  Scholar  of  C.C.C.,  18; 
 sketch  of  his  life,  29,  30 ;  author  of 
 poem  to  the  Redbreast  in  the  Chris- 
 tian Year,  31 ;  extracts  from  poems 
 of,  32,  33  ;  his  marriage,  88 ;  his  death, 
 369  ;  death  of  his  married  daughter, 
 448. 
 
 Cornish,  Mrs.  George,  visited  by  Keble, 
 416. 
 
 Corpus  Christi  College,  Oxford,  9,  10. 
 
 Creweian  Oration,  by  J.  Keble,  1839, 
 translation  of  the  peroration,  260, 
 
 Darnell,  Mr.,  tutor  of  C.  C.  C,  after- 
 wards Rector  of  Stanhope,  14. 
 
 Davison,  John,  54  ;  leaves  Oriel,  74  ;  at 
 Washington,  98 ;  revises  the  Chris- 
 tian Year,  120,  153 ;  publication  of 
 his  "  Remains,"  267. 
 
 Denison,  Archdeacon,  proceedings  a- 
 gainst  him,  423,  438. 
 
 Divorce,  J.  Keble  on  the  Divorce  Bill  of 
 1857,  432. 
 
 Dogmersfield,  C  Dyson  Rector  of,  46. 
 
 Dyce,  Mr.,  R.A.,  gives  a  design  for 
 stained  glass  windows  at  Hursley,  349. 
 
 Dyson,  C,  friend  of  Keble  at  C.  C.  C, 
 19,  74 ;  sketch  of  his  life,  35 — 46 ;  at 
 Nunburnholme,  99  ;  letters  to  Sir  J. 
 T.  Coleridge,  146,  245  ;  his  death,  464. 
 
 Dyson,  Jeremiah,  satirized  by  H.  Wal- 
 pole,  36. 
 
 Dyson,  Mrs.,  509. 
 
 Ecce  Homo,  J.  Keble's  remarks  on  that 
 book,  551. 
 
 Ellison,  Nathaniel,  41. 
 
 Ellison,  Noel  T.,  friend  of  Keble  at 
 C.  C.  C,  19,  41 ;  at  Whalton,  98  ;  his 
 death,  447. 
 
 Emigrants,  J.  Keble  emyloyed  on  a  ser- 
 vice for  their  voyage,  416,  419. 
 
 "  Essays  and  Reviews"  case,  485. 
 
 Eucharistical  Adoration,  publication  of 
 pamphlet  on,  437. 
 
 Euripides,  translation  of  Alcestis,  231. 
 
 Eveleigh,  Dr.,  Provost  of  Oriel,  1806,  13. 
 
 Faber,  F.  A.,  introduces  J.  Keble  to 
 W.  Wordsworth,  259. 
 
 Fairford,  Keble's  birthplace,  5 ;  he  re- 
 turns to  it  from  Hursley,  145. 
 
 Fasting,  letter  on,  by  J.  Keble,  149; 
 some  rules  for,  612. 
 
 Fathers,  Library  of  the,  262. 
 
 Fielding,  Mr.,  gives  a  design  for  stained- 
 glass  windows  at  Hursley,  349. 
 
 FitzWalter,  Lord,  see  Bridges. 
 
 Forbes,  Bishop,  and  the  Scottish  Con- 
 troversy, 450,  457. 
 
 Forbes,  Mr.,  of  Medwyn,  Mr.  Keble 
 visits,  458. 
 
 Freeman,  Archdeacon,  430. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 621 
 
 Fremantle,  Mr.,  pupil  of  J.  Keble,  75,  79.  I 
 Froude,  Hurrell,  residence  with  Keble 
 at  Southrop,  no;  sketch  of  his  cha- 
 racter, in  ;  his  "Remains," 248 ;  sketch 
 of  his  life,  252  ;  Keble's  share  in  editing 
 the  "Remains,"  253. 
 
 Gaussen,  Mr.,  a  pupil  of  J.  Keble,  54. 
 
 Grenville,  Lord,  Chancellor  of  the  Uni- 
 versity of  Oxford,  founder  of  the  Latin 
 Essay  prize,  his  presentation  of  books 
 to  Keble,  49. 
 
 Hallam,  Henry,  on  the  three  disputed 
 books  of  Hooker,  196,  198. 
 
 Hampden,  Dr.,  letter  on  his  appoint- 
 ment at  Oxford,  242  ;  Bishop  of  Here- 
 ford, 352. 
 
 Harrison,  Mr.,  Architect  of  Hursley 
 Church,  288. 
 
 Hatsell,  Mr.,  36. 
 
 Hawkins,  Dr.,  Provost  of  Oriel,  178 — 180. 
 
 Heathcote,  Archdeacon,  Incumbent  of 
 Otterbourne  and  Hursley,  123 ;  his 
 death,  187. 
 
 Heathcote,  Gilbert  Wall,  Vicar  of  Hurs- 
 ley, 188. 
 
 Heathcote,  SirW.,  introduced  to  J.  Keble, 
 79 ;  recommends  Keble  to  the  curacy 
 of  Hursley,  123  ;  at  Hursley,  1825, 
 131 ;  gives  vicarage-house  at  Hursley, 
 123  ;  at  Ampfield,  285  ;  completes  tower 
 and  spire  of  Hursley  Church,  351. 
 
 Heber,  Bishop,  Keble  introduced  to  him 
 at  Oxford,  94. 
 
 Hedgeland,  Mr.,  of  Penzance,  493 ;  his 
 letter  to  the  "Guardian,"  495. 
 
 Herbert,  George,  the  "  Temple  "  referred 
 to,  173- 
 
 Hooker,  Richard,  Keble  edits  his  works, 
 192 — 204. 
 
 Howley,  Abp.,  criticism  on  the  Oxford 
 Psalter,  257. 
 
 Hursley,  Keble  curate  of,  123,  130;  the 
 Vicarage  offered  to  and  declined  by 
 Keble,  187 ;  G.  W.  Heathcote,  Vicar, 
 188  ;  Keble,  Vicar  of,  239  ;  Church  at, 
 287  ;  stained-glass  windows  at,  347. 
 
 India  House  Examinations,  Keble  ap- 
 pointed examiner,  188. 
 
 Irenaeus,  St.,  translated  by  J.  Keble,  265. 
 Isle  of  Man,  visited  by  Keble,  367. 
 
 Jackson,  Bishop,  ordains  Keble,  59. 
 Jersey,    Mr.  and  Mrs.  Keble  visit  St. 
 
 Brelade,  337. 
 Jews,   their  example  as  a  nation,  151, 
 
 219,  225. 
 
 Keble,  John,  birth  of,  5;  verses  on 
 leaving  C.CC,  20 ;  passed  his  Final 
 Examination,  1810,  47  ;  elected  Proba- 
 tionary Fellow  of  Oriel,  181 1,  48  ;  prizes 
 won  by,  49 ;  verses  on  Sidmouth,  52, 
 S3  ;  Examining  Master,  1814,  55  ;  1835, 
 230;  Deacon,  1815,  59;  Priest,  1816, 
 ib.  ;  Examiner  in  Final  Schools,  70, 
 102  ;  Examiner  in  Responsions,  1817, 
 70;  appointed  tutor  at  Oriel,  1817,  72; 
 verses  on  a  monument  in  Lichfield  Ca- 
 thedral, 98  ;  resigns  tutorshin  at  Oriel, 
 1823,  103  ;  verses  on  a  deceased  sister, 
 105, 143  ;  a  present  of  plate  given  to  him, 
 109;  offered  Archdeaconry  of  Barbados, 
 114 ;  study  of  the  Fathers,  150;  conside- 
 ration of  questions  of  Church  and  State, 
 151 ;  finishes  the  Christian  Year,  152  ; 
 Examiner  at  the  India  House,  188  ;  re- 
 fuses living  of  Paignton,  205  ;  Poetry 
 Professor,  206 — 217  ;  Sermon  on  Na- 
 tional Apostasy,  218  ;  contributes  to  the 
 "  Tracts  for  the  Times,"  220,  224  ;  esti- 
 mate of  the  Fathers,  222,  227  ;  pub- 
 lishes the  Oxford  Psalter,  255  ;  de- 
 livers Creweian  Oration,  258 ;  the  "  Li- 
 brary of  the  Fathers,"  262  ;  part  taken 
 with  regard  to  "Tract  90,"  271  ;  reli- 
 gious difficulties,  296  sqq.;  verses  on  the 
 Annunciation,  316  ;  publishes  the  Lyra 
 Innocentium,  1846,  321 ;  verses  on  guar- 
 dian angels,  325,  326  ;  publishes  Aca- 
 demical and  Occasional  Sermons,  340 ; 
 Letter  on  Representation  of  tlie  U?ii- 
 versity,  346 ;  visit  to  North  Wales, 
 360;  Tour  in  Scotland,  315,  363; 
 the  "  Library  of  Anglo-Catholic  Theo- 
 logy," 366  ;  visits  Sidmouth,  Lyme  Re- 
 gis, and  Heath's  Court,  370  ;  verses  on 
 hedge-flowers,  418  ;  Argument  on  Di- 
 vorce Bill,  432 ;   Work  on  Ettc/iaris- 
 
622 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 tical  Adoration,  437;  Considerations 
 suggested  by  a  late  Pastoral  Letter, 
 451  ;  thinks  of  resigning  Hursley,  470, 
 497 ;  Commentary  on  the  Bible,  491  ; 
 On  the  Subscription  and  Oaths  of  the 
 Clergy,  505 ;  illness,  512,  557 ;  the 
 Oxford  Election,  516 ;  the  Colenso 
 Judgment,  518  ;  Address  to  the  Newly- 
 confirmed  at  Hursley,  521  ;  Letter  on 
 Ritual,  541  ;  death,  559 ;  burial,  561  ; 
 memorial  to  him,  ib. ;  character  of  as 
 a  Parish  Priest,  567. 
 
 Keble,  John,  letter  to  Miss  Baker,  324. 
 
 Letter  to  Mrs.  Billamore,  91. 
 
 Letter  to  W.  Bliss,  50. 
 
 Letters  to  Sir  J.  T.  Coleridge, 
 
 26,  56 — 59,  62,  65,  70 — 72,  80,  82,  85, 
 88,  89,  93,  103,  114,  117,  131,  134,  137, 
 153,  164,  176,  180,  199,  220,  235,  237, 
 246,  247,  250,  272,  290,  292,  299,  307, 
 334,  376,  413,  417,  435,  448,  473,  5*5, 
 525,  538,  545,  547-52. 
 
 Letters  to  G.  Cornish,  6,  24, 
 
 60,  101,  119,  149,  237,  247,  265,  368. 
 
 Letters  to  C.  Dyson,  28,  31, 
 
 39,  85,  94,  99,  io4,  "5,  II8,  147,  164, 
 J77,  x93,  2°°,  219,  238,  308,  412. 
 
 Letters  to   H.  Froude,   121, 
 
 139,  178,  187,  201. 
 
 Letters  to  Sir  W.  Heathcote, 
 
 229. 
 
 •  Letter  to  Mr.  Hedgeland,  494. 
 
 ■  Letter  to  Elis.  Keble,  14. 
 
 ■  Letter  to  T.  Keble,  234. 
 Letter  to  Miss  Mackenzie,  554. 
 
 •  Letter  to  Mr.  Pruen,  122. 
 
 •  Letters  to  Mr.  Richards,  220, 
 
 ■  Letter  to  S.  Walker,  172. 
 
 ■  Letters  to  R.  F.  Wilson,  407, 
 
 Letters    on  his  approaching 
 
 marriage  and  settlement  at  Hursley, 
 237,  241. 
 
 Keble,  John,  sen.,  Vicar  of  Coin  St.  Aid- 
 win,  7  ;  death  of,  229. 
 
 Keble,  Joseph  and  Richard,  ancestors  of 
 J.  Keble,  4. 
 
 Keble,  Mary  Anne,  John  Keble's  sister, 
 103,  104 ;  her  death,  137. 
 
 42i 
 
 Keble,  Sarah,  mother  of  John  Keble,  her 
 
 death,  103. 
 Keble,  Sarah,  John  Keble's  sister,  her 
 
 death,  56. 
 Keble,  Charlotte,  letter  to  Elis.  Keble, 
 
 242 ;  wife  of  John  Keble,  her  illness, 
 
 473,    529,  546  sqq.;    her  death,  580; 
 
 her  character,  581. 
 Keble,    Elisabeth,  eldest  sister  of  John 
 
 Keble,  14 ;    her  illness,   55,   62,   136 ; 
 
 letter  on  her  father's  last  illness,  229 ; 
 
 her  death,  457. 
 Keble,  Thomas,  his  illness,  85 ;   curate 
 
 of  Burthorp  and  Southrop,  130. 
 Keble,  Thomas,  jun.,  189  ;  his  marriage, 
 
 369- 
 Keble  College,  Oxford,  xv. ;  see  Oxford. 
 Knox,  Alex.,  letter  on  his  "Remains," 
 
 250. 
 
 Leach,  East,  Keble  curate  of,  61,  109. 
 
 Le  Geyt,  Mr.,  assistant  curate  of  Hurs- 
 ley, 435- 
 
 Lichfield,  Keble's  visit  to,  and  verses  on 
 a  monument  in  the  Cathedral,  98. 
 
 Lincoln,  Keble  visits  it,  100. 
 
 Lloyd,  Bp.,  Keble's  respect  for  him,  152. 
 
 "Long  v.  Capetown,"  Keble's  opinion 
 of  the  decision,  498. 
 
 Lymington  and  Lyndhurst,  Keble  visits 
 them,  6. 
 
 Lyra  Innocentium,  its  publication,  290 
 — 321. 
 
 Mackenzie,  Bishop,  551,  554. 
 Magdalen  College,  Oxford,  gives  a  site 
 
 for  Otterbourne  new  church,  282. 
 Malthus,  Keble's  opinion  of  him,  191. 
 Malvern,  visited  by  Keble,  101. 
 Markland,  J.  H.,  265. 
 Marriage    with   deceased    wife's    sister, 
 
 37i,  425- 
 Marriott,  C,  Fellow  of  Oriel  College,  his 
 
 share  in  editing  the  "  Library  of  the 
 
 Fathers,"  264 ;  his  scheme  for  a  Poor 
 
 Men's  College,  333. 
 Matrimony,  Holy,  tract  on,  226. 
 Maule,  Sarah,  mother  of  John  Keble,  7. 
 Meditation,  a  method  of,  607. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 623 
 
 Medley,  John,  Bishop  of  Fredericton, 
 378. 
 
 Miller,  John,  friend  of  J.  Keble,  23  ; 
 his  death,  25  ;  works,  25,  26  ;  at  Brock- 
 leton,  101 ;  volume  of  sermons,  190 ; 
 suggests  the  Tract  on  the  Sunday  Les- 
 sons, 225  ;  his  "  Christian  Guide "  re- 
 ferred to,  321. 
 
 Milman,  H.  H.,  Dean  of  St.  Paul's,  Uni- 
 versity prizes  won  by,  49. 
 
 Milton,  John,  Keble's  judgment  of,  67-9. 
 
 Moberly,  Dr.,  Head  Master  of  St.  Mary 
 Winton  College,  125. 
 
 Mormonites,  the,  592. 
 
 Nazing,  C.  Dyson's  benefice,  38. 
 
 Newman,  Dr.,  visits  Keble  at  Hursley, 
 248  :  edition  of  the  ' '  Library  of  the 
 Fathers,"  262  ;  and  "Tract  90,"  271 — 
 280 ;  letter  on  his  meeting  Dr.  Pusey 
 at  Hursley  Vicarage,  1865,  531  ;  the 
 Apologia,  615. 
 
 Norris,  Mr.,  of  Hackney,  244. 
 
 Nun  Burnholme,  C  Dyson's  benefice, 
 38  ;  visited  by  J.  Keble,  99. 
 
 Ordination,  thoughts  on,  57,  60. 
 
 Oriel  College  in  1818,  77  ;  letters  from 
 Keble  on  the  Provostship,  1827,  8, 
 176 — 181 ;  Statutes  examined  by  New- 
 man, 248;  testimonial  presented  to  J. 
 Keble,  109  ;  Provostship  election,  176. 
 
 Otterbourne  Rectory,  building  of  new 
 church  and  parsonage,  281  sqq. 
 
 Oxford  University  rjOos,  397. 
 
 . Poetry  Professorship,  206  ;  Assize 
 
 Sermon  preached  by  Keble,  1833,  218  ; 
 University  Reform  Bill,  383  ;  Local  ex- 
 aminations, 467. 
 
 Reform  Bill,  383  sqq. 
 
 . Private  Halls,  386. 
 
 Keble  College  at,  403. 
 
 < Local  examinations,  471. 
 
 University,  contemplated  changes 
 
 at,  549. 
 
 -  election  contest,  1865,  517, 
 
 527- 
 
 Oxford  Psalter,  the,  2 $6  sqq. 
 
 Paignton,  presentation  to  the  living  de- 
 clined by  J.  Keble,  205. 
 
 Patteson,    Sir  John,    82 ;    death   of  his 
 
 wife,  84  ;  his  death,  467. 
 John  Coleridge,  Bishop  of  Mela- 
 nesia, 467. 
 Peel,    Sir  Robert,   resigns  his  seat  for 
 
 Oxford,  185. 
 Pennington,  Mr.,  75. 
 Penrose,  T.,  19,  103. 
 Penzance,  J.  Keble  winters  at,  475  ;  his 
 
 ministrations  at,  493,  500. 
 Pitt,  a  hamlet  of  Hursley,  286 ;  school 
 
 chapel  built  there,  445. 
 Plumer,  Charles,  at  Hursley,  133. 
 Poetry,  J.  Keble's  theory  of,  121. 
 Prcelectioncs  Academicce,   206 — 217;  an 
 
 offer  of  translating  them  received  by 
 
 J.  Keble,  547- 
 Privy   Council,  Judicial  Committee  of, 
 
 483- 
 Pruen,  Mr.,  Curate  of  Fladbury,  89. 
 Puritanism,  its  growth  in  England,  1828, 
 
 185. 
 Pusey,  Dr.,  one  of  the  editors   of  the 
 
 "  Library  of  the  Fathers,"  262. 
 
 Quakers,  note  on  the  literary  Remains 
 of  a  deceased  convert,  149. 
 
 Reed,  Professor,  417,  420. 
 Richmond,  George,   R.A.,  gives  design 
 for  stained-glass  windows  at  Hursley, 
 
 349- 
 
 Ritual,  J.  Keble's  letter  on,  542. 
 
 Robertson,  F.  W.,  remarks  on  his  bio- 
 graphy, 551. 
 
 Robertson,  Mrs.,  551,  554. 
 
 Rogers,  Sir  F.,  requests  J.  Keble  to 
 compose  Services  for  Emigrants,  419. 
 
 Rolleston,  Mr.,  English  Verse  Prize 
 gained  by,  1808,  15. 
 
 Sainsbury,  Dr.,  of  Romsey,  530. 
 Scotland,  Keble's  tour  in,  363. 
 Scriptures,  J.  Keble's  manner  of  reading 
 
 the,  577,  604. 
 Selwyn,  Bishop,  at  Hursley,  409. 
 Sermons,   parochial,    by  J.  Keble,   453. 
 
 465. 
 Shairp,  Professor,  note  on  his  Essay  >-n 
 
 Mr.  Keble,  156. 
 
624 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Sidmouth,  Keble  receives  pupils  there, 
 49  ;  description  of  the  scenery,  50,  51. 
 
 Smith,  Stafford,  Rector  of  Fladbury, 
 Keble's  godfather,  8,  90. 
 
 Southey,  Robert,  his  opinion  of  J.  Mil- 
 ler's Sermon,  26  ;  Keble  introduced  to 
 him,  93 ;  letter  to  Neville  White,  97 ; 
 "  Colloquies"  suggest  a  form  for  a  new 
 edition  of  Keble's  Preelections,  215. 
 
 Southey,  Dr.,  306. 
 
 Southrop,  Keble  curate  at,  108. 
 
 Stanley,  A.  P.,  Dean  of  Westminster, 
 extract  from  his  Life  of  Thos.  Arnold, 
 10. 
 
 Subscription  and  Oaths  of  the  Clergy, 
 507- 
 
 Sumner,  Charles,  Bishop  of  Winchester, 
 applied  to  to  license  the  Oxford  Psal- 
 ter in  his  diocese,  256. 
 
 Sunday  Lessons,  on  the  Principle  of 
 Selection,  225. 
 
 Switzerland,  visited  by  Keble,  435. 
 
 Taylor,  Jeremy,  Keble's  judgment  of, 
 67-9. 
 
 Torquay,  Keble's  stay  at,  499. 
 
 "Tracts  for  the  Times,"  their  publication 
 and  effect,  220,  228  ;  "  Tract  90,"  270 
 — 2S0. 
 
 "Tractarians,"  when  first  so  named,  276. 
 
 Tradition,  Sermon  on,  246. 
 
 Troyte,  A.,  at  Hursley,  129;  see  Ac- 
 land,  A. 
 
 Tucker,  J.,  a  friend  of  J.  Keble  at 
 C.C.C.,  19  ;  at  Lenham,  121 ;  at  Hurs- 
 ley, 133. 
 
 Turner,  W.  H.,  a  friend  of  J.  Keble  at 
 C.C.C.,  19. 
 
 Tyacke,  Mr.,  of  Penzance,  502. 
 
 Tyler,  Mr.,  of  Oriel,  88. 
 
 Vows,  letter  on,  by  J.  Keble,  15a 
 
 Wailes,  Mr.,  memoria  window  to  J. 
 Keble  designed  by  Wm.  Butter- 
 field,  Esq.,  285  ;  executes  the  Hursley 
 windows,  349. 
 
 Wales,  J.  Keble's  tour  in,  361. 
 
 Walker,  Rev.  Samuel,  letter  to,  from 
 J.  Keble,  172. 
 
 Washington,  J.  Davison,  incumbent  of, 
 98. 
 
 Westerton  and  Liddell  case  decided,  428. 
 
 Whalton,  Keble's  visit  to  Ellison  at,  98. 
 
 Whitby,  visited  by  Keble,  456. 
 
 White,  Mr.,  of  Ampfield,  285. 
 
 Wilberforce,  R.  W.,  residence  with  Keble 
 at  Southrop,  no;  his  treatise  on  the 
 Holy  Eucharist,  379 ;  his  secession  to 
 the  Church  of  Rome,  414. 
 
 Williams,  Isaac,  residence  with  J.  Keble 
 at  Southrop,  no;  the  Poetry  Profes- 
 sorship, 274. 
 
 Wilson,  R.  F.,  J.  Keble's  first  assistant 
 curate,  285 ;  first  incumbent  of  Amp- 
 field,  359,  363. 
 
 Wilson,  Thomas,  Bishop  of  Sodor  and 
 Man,  his  Life  by  Keble,  367,  463,  482. 
 
 Winchester,  Sermon  at  the  Archdeacon's 
 visitation  preached  by  J .  Keble,  246. 
 
 Wordsworth,  W.,  J.  Keble's  acquaint- 
 ance with  his  poems,  18 ;  his  admira- 
 tion of  the  Christian  Year,  reception 
 in  the  Theatre  at  Oxford,  18,  259 ; 
 Keble  dedicates  his  Preelections  to 
 him,  18,  261 ;  interview  with  J.  Keble, 
 365- 
 
 Yonge,  Wm.  C.,  gives  the  design  for  the 
 Otterbourne  and  Ampfield  churches, 
 282  ;  his  death,  381. 
 
 York,  city  of,  visited  by  J.  Keble,  456. 
 
 Young,  Peter,  assistant  curate  at  Hurs- 
 ley, 314 ;  leaves  Hursley,  431  sqq.  ; 
 his  account  of  Mr.  Keble's  pastoral 
 work,  509,  587. 
 
 Drinfeb  kg  |»mes  parhcr  mtb  <fo.,  Crxrfon  2Jarb,  (iMorb. 
 
WORKS 
 
 BY   THE    LATE 
 
 REV.  JOHN  KEBLE,  M.A, 
 
WORKS  by  the  late  REV.  JOHN  KEBLE,  M.A. 
 
 PUBLISHED  BY 
 
 JAMES  PARKER  AND  CO.,  OXFORD  AND  LONDON. 
 
 OCCASIONAL  PAPERS  AND  REVIEWS  on  Sir  Walter 
 Scott,  Poetry,  and  Sacred  Poetry,  Bishop  Warburton,  Rev. 
 John  Miller,  Exeter  Synod,  Judicial  Committee  of  Privy  Coun- 
 cil, Parochial  Work,  the  Lord's  Supper,  Solomon,  the  Jewish 
 Nation.  By  the  late  Rev.  John  Keble,  Author  of  "The 
 Christian  Year."  Demy  8vo.,  pp.  xx.,  506,  with  Two  Facsimiles 
 from  Common-place  Book,  cloth  extra,  12s. 
 
 "  More  than  one-third  of  the  volume  is  taken  up  with  original,  and  hitherto  unpublished, 
 papers  of  Mr.  Keble,  the  remainder  with  reviews  printed  in  the  *  British  Critic'  and  '  Chris- 
 tian Remembrancer,'  and  one  of  them  on  '  sacred  poetry '  in  the  '  Quarterly  Review,'  -u  hilst 
 edited  by  Mr.  Keble's  friend  and  biographer,  the  late  Sir  John  Coleridge;  to  these  are  added 
 three  tracts  called  out  by  passing  events,  but  events  which  are  ever  repeating  themselves, 
 a  fact  which  invests  these  tracts  with  a  permanent  value.  . .  .  The  volume  of  'Occasional 
 Papers  and  Reviews'  is  not  a  mere  collection  of  papers  published,  and  hitherto  uncollected, 
 but  of  thoughts  and  judgments  on  past  topics,  which  will  possess  an  enduring  value  in  the 
 eyes  of  all  who  cherish  the  memory  of  John  Keble,  and  will  give  to  those  who  may  not 
 have  known  the  author  of  'The  Christian  Year,'  the  best  means  of  estimating  a  character 
 of  singular  simplicity  and  utter  un-selfconsciousness.  .  «  .  No  man  surely  ever  lived  who 
 thought  less  of  himself  than  the  author  of  this  volume. .  .  .  This  side  of  Mr.  Keble's  charac- 
 ter, his  humility,  brought  out  in  a  letter  contributed  to  this  volume,  is  sketched  with  the 
 rare  felicity  which  marks  almost  all  the  writings  of  John  Henry  Newman,  and  bv  recollec- 
 tions of  his  own  intercourse  with  Mr.  Keble.  To  this  letter  is  added  a  postscript  by  Dr. 
 Pusey,  so  that  in  this  posthumous  volume  we  are  again  reminded  of  what  the  English 
 Church  and  the  world  owes  to  the  three  Fellows  of  Oriel,  who,  more  than  thirty  years  ago, 
 aroused  the  half-torpid,  if  not  stagnant,  religious  life,  not  of  England  only,  but  of  Christendom. 
 By  this  publication,  and  by  their  own  contributions  to  this  volume,  Dr.  Pusey  and  Dr.  New- 
 man have  not  only  added  another  column  to  the  monument  erected  to  Mr.  Keble's  memory, 
 but  have  added  to"  the  depth  of  our  obligation  to  themselves.  Generations  will  pass  away 
 before  the  names,  again  blended  in  this  volume,  of  Keble,  Pusey,  and  Newman  will  be  for- 
 gotten by  the  Christian  Church."— John  Bull. 
 
 "  The  volume  before  us  appears  at  a  singularly  opportune  time.  ...  A  reprint  of  Mr. 
 Keble's  Tracts  will  be  read  with  even  more  eagerness  and  interest  now  than  on  the  occasion 
 of  their  first  appearance.  It  must  not  be  supposed  this  volume  of  remains  contains  nothing 
 else  than  Mr.  Keble's  papers  on  the  crisis  of  1850.  There  io  much  else  both  of  high  interest 
 and  enduring  value."—  Church  Quarterly  Review. 
 
 "All  the  papers  have  this  surpassing  value,  that,  over  and  above  their  literary  merits, 
 they  reveal  a  noble,  devout,  tender  spirit,  of  a  modest  and  chaste  reserve  almost  astonishing. 
 The  paper  on  Warburton  especially  is  an  instance  of  how  a  saintly  mind  can  apologise  for 
 and  make  the  best  of  another  mind  which,  though  its  masculine  power  and  vigour  are 
 universally  admitted,  has  been  usually  regarded  as  rough,  coarse,  and  even  worldly.  We 
 assure  our  readers  that  they  have  a  great  treat  before  them  in  the  Loving  and  reverent  pe- 
 rusal of  this  collection  of  Keble's  writings,  many  of  them  in  a  vein  with  which  they  had 
 not  perhaps  connected  their  memory  of  Keble." — Church  Review. 
 
 11  They  are  prefaced  by  two  letters  of  deep  interest  from  Dr.  Newman  and  Dr.  Pusey. 
 There  is  something  extremely  touching  in  the  reunion,  as  it  were,  of  the  three  old  friends 
 and  fellow-labourerB."— Guardian. 
 
4 
 WOKKS  by  the  late  EEV.  JOHN  KEBLE,  M.A.  (continued). 
 
 STUDIA  SACRA.  COMMENTARIES  ON  THE  IN- 
 TRODUCTORY  VERSES  OF  ST.  JOHN'S  GOSPEL, 
 AND  ON  A  PORTION  OF  ST.  PAUL'S  EPISTLE 
 TO  THE  ROMANS;  with  other  Theological  Papers  by 
 the  Rev.  John  Keble,  M.A.     8vo.,  cloth,  ios.  6d. 
 
 "We  learn  that  the  publication  of  this  deeply  interesting  book  is  mainly  due  to  the 
 anonymous  editor  of  Mr.  Keble's  Occasional  Papers,  whose  loving  devotion  to  his 
 memory  has  already  proved  so  usetul  to  the  Cnurch.  Of  the  present  volume,  two 
 most  important  sections— the  Commentaries  on  St.  John  and  on  the  Epistle  to  the 
 ltomans— have  been  carried  through  the  press  by  the  same  hand,  -with  the  assistance, 
 however,  of  Canon  Norris,  who  is  solely  responsible  for  the  rest  of  the  vomme,  and 
 lor  the  Preface.  Our  readers  will  feel  ibat  the  name  of  this  reverent  and  accomplished 
 scholar  is  of  itself  a  sufficient  guarantee  that  ihe  work  intrusted  to  him  has  been 
 well  done. 
 
 "  The  book  is  a  book  of  fragments ;  and  they  differ  considerably  in  intrinsic  value. 
 Two  of  them— tbat  on  the  Procession  of  the  Holy  (Spirit  and  the  Commentary  on  the 
 Prologue  of  St.  John's  Gospel — belong  to  the  latest  and  ripest  period  of  Mr.  Keble's 
 mind,  when  the  great  theological  movement,  to  which  he  contributed,  and  from  which 
 he  learnt  so  mucb,  had  done  its  full  work  in  him.  The  otner  three  papers  in  the 
 volume  illustrate  his  growth  as  a  theologian;  and  it  may  be  questioned  whether  he 
 would  himself  have  consented  to  their  publication.  But  for  us,  as  Canon  Norris  re- 
 marks, taey  have  a  hifjh  instructive  value.  If  they  cannot  be  held  to  contain  his 
 mature  and  deliberate  judgments,  they  may  at  least  help  other  men  to  understand 
 how  be  became  what  he  was  in  his  later  years 
 
 "  The  Commentary  on  the  first  fifteen  verses  of  St.  John's  Gospel  is,  indeed,  the  gem 
 of  the  collection  :  Mr.  Keble  was  engaged  on  it  when  his  last  illness  came  upon  him, 
 and  it  is  the  finished  product  of  his  ripest  thought.  As  our  readers  know,  the  tiret 
 fourteen  verses  of  the  Fourth  Gospel  form  a  whole;  they  are  the  prologue,  which 
 exhibits,  in  a  condensed  form,  tbe  central  thought  of  the  beloved  disciple,  respecting 
 the  Everlasting  Being  of  Him  Who  was  manifested  in  the  world  of  sense  and  time. 
 The  Gospel  for  Christmas  Day  has  for  centuries  marked  their  place  in  the  heart  of 
 tbe  Church ;  and  Mr.  Keble's  exposition  of  them  will,  we  anticipate,  be  read,  year  by 
 year,  by  not  a  few  Christians  who  desire  to  enter  into  the  depths  cf  this  crowning 
 revelation  of  God's  love  and  mercy  to  fallen  man 
 
 "The  interest  of  this  volume  is  not  easily  exhausted;  and  our  readers,  we  hope, 
 will  explore  the  book  for  themselves.  Not  often  is  the  twofold  ground  of  interest, 
 which  we  have  attempted  to  point  out,  so  happily  blended  as  in  these  pages,which 
 enable  us  to  trace  from  one  stage  of  spiritual  and  mental  life  to  another  tne  gradual 
 development  of  a  beautiful  and  absolutely  sincere  soul,  and  which  further  present  us 
 with  at  least  one  brief  but  exquisite  specimen  of  the  devotional  exposition  of  Holy 
 Scripture,  to  wnich  it  would  be  difficult  to  name  a  rival  in  the  entire  range  of  English 
 divinity."—  Ouardian,  Frb.  13,  1878. 
 
 "...  The  interest  of  this  volume  is  very  great,  nor  is  it  without  value  as  a  contri- 
 bution to  theological  study  ;  unquestionably,  however,  its  chief  interest  and  value  is 
 the  personal  character  stamped  upon  it,  and  that  it  records  the  labours  of  Keble  as 
 a  student  of  the  New  Testament,  and  is  so  far  another  chapter  in  his  biography. 
 Eminently  characteristic  it  is,  for  instance,  that  the  first  verses  of  Sc.  John's  Gospei 
 are  taken  for  comment  with  no  one  word  as  to  the  controversy  with  which  they  are 
 surrounded.  The  comment  is  devout  everywhere,  and  though  the  difficulties  which 
 to  the  sceptic  environ  these  first  verses  are  not  even  glanced  at,  there  are  yet  sug- 
 gestions which  might  be  expanded  into  treatises. 
 
 "...  But  it  is  perhaps  in  virtue  of  its  being  in  effect  the  imprint  of  Keble's  own 
 notes,  interleaved  and  annotated  in  his  own  Greek  Testament,  begun  about  the  time 
 he  received  orders,  and  continued  for  a  period  of  fifteen  years,  that  this  volume,  which 
 in  more  senses  than  one  may  be  fitly  termed  '  Studia  Sacra,'  excites  the  highest  in- 
 terest. The  first  impression,  possibly,  on  glancing  at  the  earlier  pages  of  running 
 comment  is  that  it  is  immature-,  perhaps  crude,  and  on  looking  at  the  first  critical 
 notes  that  they  are  insufficient;  but  even  so  it  is  only  the  more  interest,  shewing  how 
 both  grew  and  expanded,  how  the  briefest  possible  expressions  contained  most  perti- 
 nent suggestions.  It  is  emphatically  a  student's  book,  and  that  of  a  student  un- 
 happily only  now  too  rare "—Church  Review,  Feb.  1878. 
 
5 
 WORKS  by  the  late  REV.  JOHN  KEBLE,  M.A.  (continued). 
 
 LETTERS  of  SPIRITUAL  COUNSEL  and  GUIDANCE. 
 
 Third   Edition,  much   enlarged,  with  a   New  Preface   by 
 R.  F.  Wilson,  M.A.     Post  8vo.,  cloth,  6s. 
 
 SERMONS,  OCCASIONAL  AND  PAROCHIAL.  8vo. 
 cloth,  12^.;  also  in  12  Parts  (containing  Three  Sermons), 
 is.  each. 
 
 VILLAGE  SERMONS  ON  THE  BAPTISMAL  SER- 
 VICE.    8vo.,  cloth,  5.r. 
 
 ON  EUCHARISTICAL  ADORATION.  Fifth  Edition. 
 WITH  CONSIDERATIONS  suggested  by  a  Pastoral 
 Letter  on  the  Doctrine  of  the  most  Holy  Eucha- 
 rist.      2zimO.,  2S. 
 
 AN  ARGUMENT  AGAINST  REPEALING  the  LAWS 
 WHICH  TREAT  THE  NUPTIAL  BOND  AS  INDIS- 
 SOLUBLE.    Second  Edition,  8vo.,  is. 
 
 SEQUEL  OF  THE  ARGUMENT  AGAINST  IMMEDI- 
 ATELY REPEALING  THE  LAWS  WHICH  TREAT 
 THE  NUPTIAL  BOND  AS  INDISSOLUBLE.  1857. 
 8vo.,  4s. 
 
 SUNDAY  LESSONS.  THE  PRINCIPLE  OF  SELEC- 
 TION. Being  No.  XIII.  of  "Tracts  for  the  Times." 
 8vo.,  6d. 
 
 A  LITANY  OF  OUR  LORD'S  WARNINGS.  With  Sug- 
 gestions for  the  use  of  it.     1864.     161110.,  6d. 
 
 DIFFICULTIES  IN  THE  RELATIONS  BETWEEN 
 CHURCH  AND  STATE.  With  a  Preface  by  H.  P. 
 Liddon,  D.D.,  Canon  of  St.  Paul's.  Pp.  70,  Demy  8vo., 
 sewed,  is. 
 
 THE  STATE  IN  ITS  RELATIONS  WITH  THE 
 CHURCH.  Reprinted  from  the  "  British  Critic,"  October, 
 1839.  With  a  Preface  by  H.  P.  Liddon,  D.D.  Syo., 
 pp.  72,  sewed,  is. 
 
6 
 
 WOBKS  by  the  late  REV.  JOHN  KEBLE,  M.A.  (continued). 
 
 LETTER  TO  A  MEMBER  OF  CONVOCATION,  de- 
 precating a  Royal  Commission  for  dealing  with  the  Prayer- 
 Book.     8vo.,  2d. 
 
 ON  THE  REPRESENTATION  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 
 OF  OXFORD.  A  LETTER  to  Sir  Brook  W.  Bridges, 
 Bart.     1852.     8vo.,  6d. 
 
 A  VERY  FEW  PLAIN  THOUGHTS  ON  THE  AD- 
 MISSION OF  DISSENTERS  to  the  UNIVERSITY. 
 1854.     8vo.,  6d. 
 
 WOMEN  LABOURING  IN  THE  LORD.  A  SERMON 
 preached  at  Wantage,  1863.     Fcap.  8vo.,  6d. 
 
 PENTECOSTAL  FEAR.  A  SERMON  preached  at  Cud- 
 desdon  on  the  Anniversary  of  the  Theological  College. 
 1864.     8vo.,  is. 
 
 ON  THE  MYSTICISM  ATTRIBUTED  TO  the  EARLY 
 FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH.  Being  No.  LXXXIX. 
 of  "Tracts  for  the  Times."     8vo.,  sewed,  3s.  6d. 
 
 CATHOLIC  SUBSCRIPTION  TO  THE  XXXIX.  ARTI- 
 CLES, considered  in  reference  to  Tract  90,  1841.  (Re- 
 printed with  Tract  90,  with  Dr.  Pusey's  Historical  Preface.) 
 8vo.,  sewed,  is.  6d. 
 
 SERMONS  FOR  THE  CHRISTIAN  YEAR.     By  the  Rev. 
 
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7 
 WOEKS  by  the  late  REV.  JOHN  KEBLE,  M.A.  (continued). 
 
 THE  CHRISTIAN  YEAR. 
 
 With  the  Author's  latest  Corrections  and  Additions*, 
 
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 OXFORD    AND    LONDON:     JAMES    PARKER    AND    CO. 
 
I