^rhedf/ea ./-fj^- . //le

^..^y^/y//^/? ^/////^^y^wVjjY/W^^

/,i'9,x

f

LETTERS
LITERARY AND THEOLOGICAL

CONNOP THIRLWALL
LATE LORD BTSHOP OF ST. DAVID'S

EDITED BY
The Very Rev. J. J. STEWART PEROWNE, D.D.
DBAN OF PETERBOROUGH AND
The Rev. LOUIS STOKES, B.A.
CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE

WITH
ANNOTATIONS AND PRELIMINARY MEMOIRS BY THE
REV. LOUIS STOKES

LONDON
RICHARD BENTLEY & SON
PUBLISHERS IN ORDINARY TO HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN
1881

LONDON :
PRINTED BY J. S- VIHTUB AND CO.,
CITY BO AD.

PREFACE.

Bishop Thirlwall's Letters contained in this volume
were collected for the most part by his nephew and
executor, Mr. John Thirlwall, before he went to America,
and were by him intrusted to me for publication. I had
selected and arranged those I thought most likely to be of
general interest, and had intended to connect them by
such biographical notices as I might be able to glean from
the recollections of friends or from other sources, but was
prevented by a variety of circumstances, into which I need
not enter, from completing my task. Meanwhile a second
volume, consisting entirely of the Bishop's correspondence
with one friend during the latter years of his life, had been
edited by Dean Stanley, and was already printed and ready
for publication. It was desirable that the two volumes
should appear together ; and to avoid further delay I con
sented, at the Dean's suggestion, to place my portion of the
work in the hands of the Rev. Louis Stokes, who undertook
to complete it. The whole of the Memoir is written by
him ; and he desires through me to express his thanks
to the numerous correspondents who have replied to his
inquiries for information in his work. Unfortunately the
materials for a biography are of necessity scanty and
imperfect.* The Bishop had but few intimate friends ; and
* "With regard to the Memoir," Mr. Stokes writes, "I have been led to
compile it from the remarks of Professor Plumptre (to whom I am much
indebted) in his able and exhaustive article iti the Edinburgh Review for April,
b

VI PREFACE.
of those who were his contemporaries at Cambridge, most
had passed away before him. To the world at large he
was known as the scholar, the historian, the theologian,
foremost in the first rank of these ; but of the man they
knew little or nothing. Even the letters which have been
collected do not cover the whole of his life. His corre
spondence with Lord Houghton, one of his oldest friends,
perished with other treasures in the disastrous fire at
Fryston some years ago. A few letters have been sent me
in answer to inquiries which the Editor of the Athenceum
kindly allowed me to make in that journal ; but there are
still lamentable gaps in the series.
It must be added that the Bishop's life was not an
eventful life. It was essentially the life of the student
and the man of letters ; it presented few of those incidents
which make the ordinary biograplay. With the exception
of the remarkable episode at Cambridge, there was little
in it that attracted notice. Men far less distinguished
made more noise in the world. He rarely spoke in the
House of Lords ; he never threw himself into the strife
of parties. No man governed a diocese better, and the
difficulties of his diocese were peculiar ; but he did not
belong to the modern type of bishop, whose efficiency is
measured in common estimation by his power of speech
and motion. It was chiefly as a writer that he commanded
attention ; yet, even as a writer, he was not prolific. His
literary labours ceased with the publication of the second
edition of his History of Greece. With the exception of
1876. He there says that ' it would be a real loss to the intellectual life of
England if the memory of such a man were to fade away without a record —
more or less adeq^uate — of what he was and how he spoke and wrote.' I am
quite conscious of the extreme inadequacy of the accompanying record, but it
seems improbable now that any other will be forthcoming, and I have there
fore tried to put together such an account of ' the outward events of his life ' as
the paucity of material permitted me. I owe much in this part of my work
to the constant kindness of the Eev. W. H. Thompson, D.D., Master of
Trinity College, Cambridge."

PREFACE. Vll
those masterly Charges in which, every third year of his
Episcopate, he reviewed, as no other hand could do it,
the history of the Church, he published nothing after he
became a Bishop but a few Sermons and Essays. He
mentions in one of his letters written from Abergwili his
extreme aversion to the use of his pen. I am not aware
that he has left any record of his feelings with regard to
public speaking ; but it is surprising that a speaker of
such acknowledged excellence should have taken so little
part in the debates in the House of Lords. When
he did speak he commanded the ear of the House. I have
been told by those who heard his celebrated speech on the
Disestablishment of the Irish Church, that no single speech
had so much influence on the fate of the measure in the
Upper House as his. Even while at Cambridge he had
established his '^ reputation for eloquence. John Stuart
Mill has left on record in his Autobiography the extra
ordinary impression produced upon him by the first speech
he heard Thirlwall make in a debating society of which
they were both members, and on an occasion when they
took opposite sides of the question. " Although," he says,
" I dissented from nearly every word he said .... before
he had uttered ten sentences I set him down as the best
speaker I had ever heard, and I have never since heard
any one whom I placed above him." This is the testi
mony of no mean judge. His eloquence, it is true, was
not of that kind which appeals to the passions, or stirs the
enthusiasm of the multitude ; it was of that far higher
order, which disdaining the artifices of rhetoric and never
condescending to inflame popular prejudices, yet glows
with the fire of an earnest conviction, lays bare the
sophistry of the special pleader, and crushes with splendid
irony the pretender to knowledge or the hasty, hot-headed
partisan, who can see only one side of a question.
But though, owing to causes such as I have enumerated,
b2

Vlll PREFACE.
there are comparatively few materials for a biography, the
letters speak for themselves. They begin at a very early
period, and range over a vast variety of topics. The earliest
which has been found was written when Thirlwall was a
boy of thirteen to a boyish friend of whom nothing more
is known than his name. The correspondence between
them was continued for several years, and must have been
voluminous if his friend's letters were as numerous and as
lengthy as Thirlwall's. These are essays rather than letters;
and, considering the early age at which they were written,
are remarkable for the variety, extent, and acuteness of
their criticisms. The bulk of these are necessarily omitted ;
a few specimens only are given, as indicating the early
ripeness of his powers. They must have been written
whilst he was still at Charterhouse, but it is singular
that they contain scarcely an allusion to the school or to
his schoolfellows ; they are wholly taken up with the books
he is reading, the politics of the day, or his own future
plans in life. It is said that at school he did not care to
enter into the games and amusements of the other boys,
but was to be seen at play-hour withdrawing himself into
some corner with a pile of books under his arm. This
passion for reading went with him through life. In one
of his later letters from Abergwili he says, "I can read
literally from morning till night without any inter
ruption but that of professional business. Eating,
walking, or driving, I have always a book in my hand."
The boy was father to the man. Fortunately the pre
cocity of his genius did not prevent its attaining to its full
maturity. He was not one of those who "have an over-
early ripeness in their years which fadeth betimes." Arch
bishop Whately' s remark, that " there is nothing less
promising than in early youth a certain full-formed, settled,
and, as it may be called, adult character," may be true
as a rule, but certainly Connop Thirlwall was a striking

PREFACE. IX
exception to it. He was no exception, however, to another
rule, that the tree which bears the finest fruit is not that
which bears the most.
What will be gathered from these volumes is a record all
too brief of one of the giant minds of our age. " Bishop
Thirlwall," it has been truly remarked, " was not only
foremost in the intellectual ranks of the clergy ; he was,
by almost universal consent, foremost in the intelligence
of Great Britain." But that which was not known, or
known only to a few intimate friends, was the inner
greatness of the man. If he abstained from taking that
part in public life which his uncommon powers justly
entitled him to take, this was a sign of a character that
concealed its strength. But it concealed also its gentler
and tenderer side. There was a solitary majesty about
him, owing to this reserve, which prevented the world at
large from understanding him. Men thought him stern
and severe because they did not penetrate beneath the
mask of reserve. He was in truth the warmest and the
most sympathising of friends. I am indebted to one who
Imew him intimately for the accompanying reminiscences
of the Bishop's life at Abergwili, which set his character in
its true light, and supply much that is wanting in the
letters. "Although the intellectual side of the Bishop's character
was generally admitted, and, in the main, justice has been
done to the memory of his great acquirements and the
singular strength and fairness of his judicial mind, there
was another side, as precious, which few recognised, that
which represented the qualities of his heart, his affection,
his sympathy, his tenderness. This failure of recognition,
it must be allowed, was partly du'e to his own belief that
he was, owing to what he thought defects of manner,
unattractive, and without power to interest others in him
self ; thus he had often an appearance of reserve, through

X PREFACE.
which acquaintance who knew him slightly found it difficult
to break, and he therefore passed through life for the most
part misunderstood, and was credited with a coldness and
indifference entirely opposed to his true nature. In reality
no one valued affection more deeply than he, or returned it
when given with greater truth and intensity of feeling.
All that concerned a friend was to him as personal as
if it related to himself individually, so completely did he
identify himself with the lives and thoughts of those dear
to him." The memory of the simple, studious, earnest life at
Abergwili is in itself a sermon full of impressive and noble
teaching, of strong and gentle influences. The day began
with the early service in the quiet chapel. The voice,
now silent, which made it solemn, and the ' grave earnest
ness with Avhich he read the Gospel of the day, were abso
lutely an exposition of its meaning,' * while the calm
thoughtful face and dignified bearing made part of the
holy peace which seemed always to rest upon that time
and place.
" When alone he spent his day chiefly in 'Chaos,' as he
playfully called the library in which he used to sit ; and
except when he entertained guests, or had business beyond
Abergwili, he rarely went without its precincts.
"If he had friends with him he made a point of driving
to places of interest in the neighbourhood, and when there
was time to spare in the morning he would take them
along the walks near the house, and show them his golden
pheasants, peacocks, canaries, and other pets.
" In a small pond in the grounds, which had neither inlet
nor outlet, three pike were kept. One morning when the
Bishop went to see them he found but two ; not long after,
on his next visit, one alone remained. He observed to a
friend, it was impossible to take any interest in a creature
* A remark referring to the reading of F. W. Robertson.

PREFACE. Xl
who could devour his own family, and added, 'I never
looked at him again.'
" After breakfast the Bishop usually fed his geese, having
abstracted whatever available pieces of bread lay within
his reach for their benefit. In the depth of winter,
when ice covered the ponds, and frost and snow were
heavy on the ground, he never omitted his visits to
them, for it was then, he said, they needed him most ; and
if remonstrated with for running these risks of catching
cold, he would protest that it was to his geese he partly
owed his health, because there were many days on which
but for them he would not have ventured out of doors, and
would have thus lost the air and exercise which contributed
to it. They treated him, he used to say, very familiarly,
flocking round him, and even seizing hold of his coat in
their beaks to show their welcome !
" He would, on returning to the house, come to the
drawing-room laden with books of all kinds and nations,
which he had gathered from the recesses of ' Chaos ' for
the amusement of his guests, pleased to make known to
them what had been of raterest to himself.
"The afternoons were generally occupied by picturesque
drives, and the evenings made pleasant by conversation,
music, and sometimes chess or draughts. His cat, a great
tabby, usually joined the company. She was a privi
leged creature, and would assert her privileges, jumping
upon the Bishop's shoulder when he was reading, and
even playing tricks audaciously with the paper knife
with which he cut open the book that was lying upon
his knee.
" He was very fond of music, especially of the songs of
Wales and Italy, and he also had much feeling for art. He
was sensitive to all forms of beauty. A lovely scene, early
dawn, sunset, effects of light, and pictures in the clouds
were all observed by him with rare appreciation. He had

xn PREFACE.
never made botany his study, yet flowers were to him as
living friends, and he could not bear to see them gathered.
He would hurry out of London, when that was possible, in
order not to miss the glory of the thorns at Abergwili ;
and while in town he perpetually lamented his loss of the
sights and sounds of the country.
"For all conditions of life, from the tiniest insect upwards,
he had sympathy, and the suffering of all creatures touched
his heart : consequently his interests were never those of
the sportsman. One evening a friend related to him the
experiences of Count Z  , who had bought land in Algeria,
and, on first going there, amused himself by stalking lions.
For forty nights he had watched for them in vain ; on the
forty-first night, having small hope of better success, he
took but one charge in his gun, and stationed himself
under a great fragment of rock. Soon, to his surprise, he
heard the roar of a lion, which presently came out of the
jungle and went close by him; he fired, and wounded, but
did not kill it, and it retreated with cries of pain. The
lioness, who was at hand, hearing them, rushed out after the
lion, leapt the rock beside which Count Z  lay con
cealed, and in leaping touched his shoulder with one
of her paws. At this point of the story the Bishop was
heard to say with emphasis, and under his breath, ' The
dear lamb,' but happily the Count, who received no sym
pathy, did not need it, for he escaped unhurt.
" In winter time he delighted in the floods which swept
over his own valley, in the pattering of the rain, and in
the howling of the wind ; but they lost their charm for
him when he thought of storms at sea, and the sharp
struggle for life in which they might result. Keenly
susceptible to variation of climate, he felt the cold of frost
and snow all the more because they reminded him of the
poor who had not his comforts, and whose sufferings,
therefore, must be greater than his own. He considered

PREFACE. Xlll
his ' icy ' winter ' plunging bath ' to be his best safe
guard against the bitterness of the weather.
"He took an exceeding interest in Wales, his country on
his mother's side, her people, her language, her traditions.
His knowledge of Welsh was profound, and his Welsh
writing remarkable for its strength and purity ; it was, in
short, scholarly and classical. Tegid, a well-known Welsh
poet and scholar, dedicated a MS. to him (which, unfortu
nately, has not been published) on account of his ' deep '
Welsh learning, as Tegid expressed it.
"Of his own acquirements he had but a poor opinion.
His History of Greece he rated much below that of
Grote, and thought he had 'little reason to be proud
of it.' " His deafness — which varied — often interfered with his
enjoyment of conversation, and there is a story related of
his too evident candour, when, on hearing a remark about
the weather, which had to be several times repeated by a
friend before he could catch its meaning, he said musingly,
thinking aloud, ' Strange, how little one loses by being
deaf "His concentration was remarkable, and was applied
with the same steadfast purpose to small things as to great
— to a simple game as to a subject of grave import.
One night at the house of a friend he proposed joining
in a game of whist, and played for many hours (contrary
to his usual custom, because he had early habits) with
unabated energy and eager interest in every turn of the
game. To him nothing was small, trifles were no trifle to
him but parts of a great whole, and the light of that
bright intellect and that understanding heart illumined
all he touched.
" Business and letter-writing, and the perpetual inter
ruption incident to his occupied life, were irksome to
him, but he never set them aside on that account. He

xiv PREFACE.
often complained of his memory, but no one else would
have found in it ground for complaint, except, perhaps, in
the direction of names, which did not recur so readily to
his recollection as events or subjects.
" In summer time he was glad to quit ' Chaos,' and to
sit and read under the trees, and to listen to the soft rustle
of the wind passing through their leaves and branches.
" Who that has seen it will not remember ' Chaos' ? Its
quiet light, its dim recesses, the cat purring on the hearth,
tho chairs all unavailable until cleared of the books and
pamphlets with which, like the tables, they were crowded ;
the drawers full of unarranged letters, papers, MSS., into
which the Bishop, opening them, looked with pitiful and
perplexed eyes, yet when offered help would invariably
answer, ' I can seldom find anything in them now, but if
they were set to rights for me I should certainly find
nothing then.' And, over all, the presence that made peace
and pleasantness, the life in its outward seeming eventless,
within how eventful !
" His large heart, his wide spirit of tolerance, and his
faculty for seeing all sides of questions, together with the
allowance he made for variance of opinion and for errors
inseparable from humanity, naturally inclined him to
optimism ; and he observes in one of his published letters,
' I should myself hesitate to say, " whatever is, is best ; "
but I have strong faith that it is for the best, and that the
general stream of tendency is toward good.'
" He prized the gift of life. ' Life,' he writes, ' is a
good thing, be it long or short.' One summer after
noon, during a drive, allusion was made to the remark
Colonel S.'s wife addressed to him when first she saw
the Taj Mahal — words to this effect : ' I would die
to-morrow if you could raise such a monument as that
to my memory.' The Bishop turned to the friend sitting
by him and said, 'Would you?' adding, very earnestly,

PREFACE. XV
' I would not give up one day of life for all the monuments
in the world.'
" The gift of life he so valued has been taken from
him to be replaced by a better in the ' White World ' •
beyond his narrow grave. Those who visit that quiet
spot in Westminster Abbey may see in the cahn face and
thoughtful eyes, carved in white marble, some faint memory
of the days, serene and beautiful, at Abergwili ; and, thus
remembering, may humbly believe that he is working still
with others, dearly loved, at the noble work begun in dark
ness here, continued there in light among the ' spirits of
just men made perfect.' "
J. J. STEWART PEROWNE.
Deaneky, Petekborouqh,
October Zrd, 1881.
* The three words'in Welsh, " GWYN ¦ EI ¦ FYD," on the Bishop's tomb
engraved on a riband scroU of brass are, literally, " White is his world,"
meamng "Blessed is his state."

CONTENTS.

CHAPTEE I.— BOYHOOD. 1797—1813.
Birth and Parentage —Early Signs of Genius — Publication of the "Pri-
mitisB " — Sent to Charterhouse — Letters of his Boyhood — Early Ideas of
a CoUege Career — Politics — Reform — Versification — Drydeu's and Pitt's
Virgil— "Gil Bias"— The Letters of Eminent Men— Solitude— Oxford
a.TiHihe Edinburgh Review — "The Lady of the Lake" — Pascal's "Pen-
s^es" — Public and Private Schools — "Paradise Lost" — Cowper's
" Task "—The Education of the Poor— Southey— " The Curse of Keha-
ma" — The Peninsular War — Proposed Acquirement of Hebrew — Pre
paration for the University  Pages 1 — 21
CHAPTEE n.— CAMBEIDGE AND TEAVELS ABEOAD.
1814—1820.
Goes to Trinity College, Cambridge — Scholarships — Degree — Classical Medal
list—Elected to a Fellowship — Tour Abroad — Acquaintance with Bunsen
— Letters from Cambridge and Abroad — Correspondence in Foreign
Languages— Study of Ancient History — Biographies — TweddeU's " Re
mains" — Byron — Desire for Foreign Travel — Improvement of Morals
and Maimers at Cambridge — Dislike of Mathematics — Acquirement of
Italian— Choice of a Profession — Resolution to devote himself to the
Bar — Aversion to Legal Pursuits — Desire for Literary Retirement —
Acquirement of German — Comparison between Protestant and Roman
CatholicWorship — Bunsen — Religious Tendency of his Studies — Remarks
on his Brother's Ordination  Pages 22 — 51
CHAPTEE in.— LINCOLN'S INN. 1820—1827.
Enters Lincoln's Inn — His View of a Lawyer's Career — Life in London —
Connection with John Stuart Mill — Publication of Schleiermacher'a
"Essay on St. Luke" and Tieok*s Poems — Abandonment of the Legal
for a Clerical Career — Letters on : — His Choice of Profession — The Grande
Chartreuse — Edward Irving — His Views of his own Prospects — The
Greek Professorship at Cambridge. Correspondence with Julius Hare in
connection with Schleiermacher and Tieck — " A Layman's Letter, &c."
— The Selection of a French Library  Pages 62 — 89

XVlll CONTENTS.

CHAPTEE IV.— CAMBEIDGE. 1827—1833.
Goes into Residence at Trinity — Ordination — Translation of Niebuhr's " His
tory of Rome" — "A Vindication of Niebuhr" — The Philological Mu
seum— College and Clerical Work — Letters on : — His Change of Profession
— Visit of Schleiermacher— Keiglitley's " Mythology" — Attacks of the
Quarterly and Edinburgh Reviews — Projected Revision of the Liturgy —
Church Reform- The Indifference to Philology in England— Claims of
the Dissenters. . .  Pages 90—112

CHAPTEE v.— CAMBEIDGE. 1834.
Movement in favour of the Admission of Dissenters to Academical Degrees-
Petitions for and against it from the Universities — BiU passed in the
House of Commons and rejected by the Lords — Pamphlets by Dr. Turton,
ThirlwaU, and Whewell — ThirlwaU's Attack on the Chapel Services, and
consequent Dismissal from Office — Opinions on the Subject — Professor
Selwyn's Pamphlet — Correspondence with Whewell — Presentation to
the Living of Kirby Underdale — Keightley's " History of Greece."
Pages 113—131
CHAPTEE VI.— KIEBY UNDEEDALE. 1835—1840.
Lord Brougham and ThirlwaU — Commencement of the " History of Greece''
— Lardner's CyclopEedia — Life and Work at Kirby Underdale— Subse
quent Visit — Letters on : — Kirby Underdale — HisArrival and Settlement
there — Progress of the " History of Greece" — The Education of his
Nephews — The German Translation of his History — Professor Welcker's
Preface — German Reviews of the " History " — A Tour in Germany —
Visit to the Poet Tieck — His Fondness for Domestic Pets. Pages 132—158

CHAPTEE VII.— ST. DAVID'S. 1840—1860.
Influence of Schleiermacher's " St. Luke'' on Thirlwall's Promotion — Extract
from Torrens's " Life of Lord Melbourne " — Learns Welsh — Completion
of the "History of Greece" — ThirlwaU at AbergwUi — Holy Communion
and Theatre-going — Proposed Monument to Bishop Farrer — Episcopal
Work — Creeds — Proposed Union of the North Welsh Bishoprics — Epis
copal Tour — Rebecca Riots — .aesthetics — ThirlwaU and Grote — Hegel's
Philosophy — Revision of the Bible — Attack on the Bishop — " Bleak
House" — " The Genealogies of Our Lord" — ItaUan Letter — Tonr in
Holland — Learns Dutch. . . ... Pages 159 — 226
CHAPTEE VIII.— ST. DAVID'S. 1860—1869.
Aspect of PubUc Affairs— The "Manse of Mastland "—Dutch Sounds —
" Essays and Reviews " — " Essays and Reviews Anticipated " — Action of
the Bishops — Tour in France — Letter of Condolence — Thirlwall and
Thackeray — Death of Thackeray — Visit of Prince Arthur to Wales —

CONTENTS. XIX
ThirlwaU and the Queen — Dr. Pusey's " Lectures on Daniel " — Proposed
Increase- of the Episcopate — " Guesses at Truth " — The Bible and Science
— Converts to the Church of Rome — Honorary Fellowship of Trinity
CoUege — Dean Perowne's "Psalms" — ThirlwaU and Bishop Ewing — The
Relation of Knowledge to Salvation — The Pan- Anglican Conference —
The Talmud — The Ritual Commission — Bishop Macrorie — The Irish
Church— Dean Perowne's "Immortality." . . . Pages 227— 302
CHAPTEE IX.— ST. DAVID'S. 1869—1874.
.^schylus — Reminiscences of Rome — Rev. C. Voysey — Bishop Ewing's "Pre-
sent-Day Papers" — Revelation— Atonement — TheRule of Faith — Bishop
ThirlwaU and " Favourite Texts " — The Elementary Education Act —
St. David's Cathedral — Abraham's Sacrifice — The Franco-German War
— ThirlwaU and the Old Testament Revision Company — Bishop Thirl
wall and Bishop Wilberforce on the Athanasian Creed — Lampeter — The
Welsh Church — Day of Intercession for Missions — Adult Baptism —
Bishop TTiirlwaU and the Rev. Malcolm MacCoU — Early Liturgies — The
Laying on of Hands — Revision Work — Death of Bishop WUberforce —
Feast of Epiphany — Confession and Absolution — Thirlwall's Generosity.
Pages 303—373
CHAPTEE X.— BATH. 1874—1875.
Increase of Physical Infirmities — Resignation of the Bishop — Retirement to
Bath — The Public Worship Regulation Bill — " Supernatural ReUgion "
— Ritualism and Ritual — Broad Church — Work on the Revision Com
pany — A "VaUd Sacrament" — Bbndness and Paralysis — Unimpaired
InteUectual Vigour— Sudden Death — Burial in Westminster Abbey.
Pages 374—395

CHAPTER I.
Boyhood. 1797 — 1813.
Birth and Parentage — Early Signs of Genius— PubUcation of the " Pri-
mitise " — Sent to Charterhouse — Letters of his Boyhood — Early Ideas
of a CoUege Career— PoUtics— Reform — Versification — Dryden and
Pitt's " VirgU "— " GU Bias "—The Letters of Eminent Men-SoUtudc
— Oxford and the Edinburgh Review — " The Lady of the Lake ' ' — Pascal's
"Pensees"- — Public and Private Schools — "Paradiso Lost" — Cowper's
"Task" — The Education of the Poor — Southey — " The Curse of
Kehama" — The Peninsular War — Proposed Acquirement of Hebrew —
Preparation for the University.
CoNNOP Thirlwall, the third son of the Rev. T. Thirl
wall, came, as his name implies, from an old border
family. The branch to which he belonged was an off
shoot of the old Barons de Thirlwall, who held Thirlwcall
Castle, in Northumberland. His " name speaks of a
time when some of his forefathers were thirling their
way with might and main through the old wall " (of
Severus) " which was the scene of so many hard-fought
battles."* His Christian name was derived from his
mother's family, with which he shared " whatever Welsh
blood flows in Radnorshire,"* a fact interesting from the
close connection of his name with that part of the
kingdom in after times. His father was the Reverend
Thomas Thirlwall, who was successively minister of Tavis
tock Chapel, Long Acre, lecturer of St. Dunstan's,
Stepney, and rector of Bowers Gifford, Essex. He was
the author of various pamphlets and sermons, and was for
some time chaplain to Thomas Percy, Bishop of Dromore,
* BishopVrhirlwaU's " Letters to a Friend," p. 26. Ed. Dean Stanley.

2 " PRIMITI.S:."
the editor of the well-known " Reliques of Ancient Eng
lish Poetry."
Connop was born on the 11th of February, 1797, in
Stepney. He soon gave signs of the precocity of his
genius ; "at a very early period he read English so well
that he was taught Latin at three years of age, and at four
read Greek Avitli an ease and fluency which astonished all
who heard him. From that time he continued to improve
himself in the knowledge of the Greek, Latin, French, and
English languages. His talent for composition appeared
at the age of seven," and in 1809 a volume of his pro
ductions was published under the title of " Primi tite ; or,
Essays and Poems on various subjects, Religious, Moral,
and Entertaining, by Connop Thirlwall, eleven years of
age." It contained an Introduction by his father, from
which the above remarks have been quoted, and has for
frontispiece a portrait of "Connop Thirlwall, setat 11
ann." "in which," says a friend, "there is a striking like
ness to Bishop Thirlwall as I remember him letat 70 ann."
The publication of this book was a measure of doubtful
wisdom ; it was a source of intense annoyance to the
Bishop in after years, and he took every opportunity of
buying up and destroying as many copies as he could
find.* A few months after his appearance as an author
he was sent as a day scholar to Charterhouse, then under
the presiding care of Dr. Raine, and he " there fell in with
one of those golden times, which at successive intervals
crown the harvest to schools and colleges as well as to the
natural world.'' Contemporary with him were Grote,
Julius Hare, the two Waddingtons, Henry Havelock,
Cresswell Cresswell, Turner (Lord Justice), and others who
have siace made their mark. During" this period of his
life he was in the habit of writing elaborate letters to
favourite schoolfellows on all sorts of subjects in Latin,
* Bishop ThirlwaU's " Letters to a Friend," p. 155.

EARLY LETTERS. 3
French, and English. These early letters show the extra
ordinary extent of his reading, the manner in which he
already began to weigh everything in the balance of his
singularly judicial mind, the gradual ripening or modifi
cation of his ideas, and also afford interesting glimpses of
his own career and of contemporary events. The first of
these letters which has been preserved was written when
he was a boy of thirteen. It was addressed, as were all
at this period, to a friend named John Candler, of whom
nothing further is known than can be gathered from the
letters.

To Mr. John Candler, Ipswich. January ith, 1810.
"Dear Friend,
" .... If you have visited Oxford, you have seen, in
spite of what I said of my father's prepossessions, by far the
finest of the tAvo Universities. You should, as I have done,
have seen Cambridge first. Its inferiority would not then
have appeared so strildng. I shall belong to the former.
Your conjecture respecting Kirke White is, I think, a very
probable one. He would have been a second Cowper,
although he might not have enjoyed so long the use of
his transcendent powers. From such studies and such
honours may I be always free. I prefer a long life a
thousand times to such immortality. Your compliment,
however elegant and polite, will, I am afraid, be unde
served. Whatever honours I may reflect on Alma Matei
wiU not, I believe, be acquired during my continuance
under her maternal wing. In fact — the old lady must
excuse me if I differ with her on some points — I do not
really think the classics, alias the dead languages, objects
of such infinite importance that the most valuable portion
B 2

4 EARLY ASPIRATIONS.
of man's life, the time which he passes at school and at
college, should be devoted to them. And, furthermore, I
am absolutely of opinion that there are other studies and
pursuits which may render a man a more useful member
of society than these. And even that a man who is not
acquainted with a syllable of Latin and Greek may be
more useful to the world than the profoundest scholar.
" I shall be content if my knowledge of the classics ex
tends but a very little farther than my knowledge of
French ; so far, in short, as to be capable of enjoying the
beauties of their poets, historians, and philosophers. For
when I enter upon the great stage of the world I may
meet with several opportunities of rendering these attain
ments useful and agreeable to myself, but very few, if anj'',
of making them serviceable to the interests of society at
large. I must therefore be excused if I do not devote the
whole of the time which I shall spend under the walls of
the University to these pursuits, which are held in such
high estimation, and if I employ myself in collecting infor
mation which may be of use to me in the profession I shall
hereafter embrace. You will say that by this I shall for
feit all pretensions to academic honours. Be it so. I
really think that these honours, if they are to be purchased
(and it is the only price) by nights and days of anxious
toil, afford a very inadequate compensation. When I
commence my classical studies I do not imagine that any
great advantage will result from them to the world. And
if I do not think that my own happiness will be increased
by them, surely I am justified in rejecting them. I am
aware that was I addressing a professed scholar I should
draw down upon myself an indignant reply. But I am
inclined to think that you will be of the same opinion as
myself Nothing, I think, can be more favourable than
such a seclusion from the bustle of the world as a college
presents. During your residence there you are enabled to

TRANSLATIONS OF THE "iENEID. 5
collect materials for the benefit both of yourself and the
world. And this I consider to be its principal if not sole
advantage. I therefore look forward with hope and pleas
ing anticipation to the time when I shall there immure
myself But those honours which are bestowed upon the
proficient in the dead languages do not form the object of
my ambition." " I remain, "Your sincere friend,
" Connop Thirlwall."

To Mr. John Candler.
April Uth, 1810.
" .... I will confess to you that French poetry in
general has hitherto appeared to me tedious and insipid ; on
your recommendation, however, I shall certainly look into
the 'Henriade.' There is at the London Institution a most
beautiful and complete edition of Voltaire's works. Having
read the greatest part of the 'iEneid ' in the original, I have
not felt any strong curiosity to peruse Dryden's translation.
Pitt's I have never seen. You are by no means singular
in giving the preference to the latter. If I may be per
mitted to guess at that of Avhich I can have no certain
knowledge, Pitt has attended more to the beauties of ver
sification than Dryden, who, hurried along by the force of
his genius, neglected the gratification of the ear. It will
be remembered, however, that the former had laid before
him all the beauties and errors of the other to imitate and
avoid. Between the two poets no sort of comparison can
be instituted — a twinlding star to the full moon. The
last visit I- paid to the London Institution I was much
pleased to find there Crabbe's new poem, and was gratified
with the perusal of the first letter. His description of the
ocean strikes me more as natural than poetical. It is

6 sir FRANCIS BURDETT.
indeed a beautiful picture. I shall take the first oppor
tunity of reading the remainder, which promise at least
still better amusement. I hear from good authority that
the ' Lady of the Lake ' will make its appearance in three
weeks or a month. I shall be sorry to find either tiiat the
author's powers are diminished, or that the possession of
public favour has made him negligent of its preservation.
That politics are a baneful region is exactly my opinion ;
the necessity of entering it I do not comprehend. Respect
ing Sir Francis Burdett, I know not whether the late events
which have taken place in consequence of his refusal to sur
render himself have made any alteration in your opinion of
him, which, I believe, was a favourable one, but I can assure
you they have made none in mine. No unpatriotic speech
or action can excite the least surprise from the mouth of
one who has chosen Home Tooke for his tutor and O'Con
nor for his friend, and who has associated with men whose
principles and views have admitted not the least hesitation.
But that he should suppose that his resistance could answer
any reasonable end seems rather discreditable to the good
sense which has been generallj'' ascribed to him. He,
however, trusted in a mob. And what have they done for
him ? After having broken the ministerial windows, accom
panied him to the Tower, and pelted the soldiers with
brickbats on their way back, they have gone quietly home
and left him to his meditations on Tower Hill 
I have had another opportunity of looking into Crabbe.
There are two sorts of passages in which he is particularly
happy ; in those little stories which he inserts here and
there, in the manner of Pope's Sir Balaam, such as those of
Swallow, the attorney, and James Thomson, with many
others, and in the idle gossip, instances of which are to be
found in abundance in his letter on Clubs. As the ante
chamber does not please you, I shall not venture to intro
duce you -into the gallery itself If you have read through

POLITICS. 7
' Gil Bias ' you must undoubtedly remember his entering
into the service of a literary Marchioness, and the company
she held. I cannot resist the temptation of transcribing a
few lines : ' On n'y disait guere que de lectures sdrieuses :
les pieces comiques y dtaient m^pris^es. On ne regardait
la meilleure comddie, ou le roman le plus ing^nieux, ou le
plus ^gayd, que comme une faible production qui ne meri-
tait aucun louange : au lieu que le moindre ouvrage
sdrieux, un ode, une eclogue, un sonnet, y passait pour le
plus grand effort de 1' esprit humain.' With a critic of
this cast, Avho requires less light and more shade, my pic
tures can have little chance of success."

To Mr. John Candler. May, 1810.
" .... I said, I think, in my last, that the region of
politics is a baneful one, but I did not see the necessity of
entering it. Permit me to explain myself more at large
upon this subject. Between friends, I still think that
political discussion, especially in an epistolary intercourse,
ought as a notorious breeder of discussion to be avoided,
and the more so since, when once indulged in, it gains so
much ground as to leave room for no other topic. I
nevertheless think it highly proper if not necessary that
every man should obtain such a knowledge of the subject
as to enable him in every ease to judge for himself For
my own part, I am at present neither capable nor
desirous of gaining sufficient information to form a decisive
opinion. I am at present, therefore, neutralist. The
representations of either party I am always inclined to
believe in some degree exaggerated, and therefore abstain
from, or rather take alternately, both sides of the question.
I shall never be a bigot in politics. For whither my
reason does ndt guide me, I will suffer myself to be led by

8 PARLIAMENTARY REFORM.
the nose by no man ; and in every contest reason will
point out some Aveak and some sound arguments of both
contending parties.
" I have just been reading the debates on Parliamentary
Reform. And I cannot let slip the opportunity of making
a few remarks on the subject. This word reform had so
often assailed my ears in all its variations of radical and
temperate that I had begun to think it a vague sound, of
which its most zealous advocates scarcely understood the
import. Nor do I remember that the question was ever
before reduced to a tangible shape. What I have read of
Mr. Brand's speech I highly approve of Party prejudice
must own. it rather contradictory to reason and common-
sense that a population of one hundred persons should
have two representatives, while four hundred thousand are
without one. These are abuses which require speedy
correction. It will, however, I fear, be long ere a reform
so necessary takes place. I by no means confide in the
immaculate purity of the motives of men in power. It is
extremely convenient for a minister when attacked by a
strong opposition, to be able to purchase votes at any easy
rate, and for a profligate debauchee who has exhausted the
whole of his patrimony to bid defiance for some years at least
to the fangs of the bailiffs, and to defraud honest industry
of its dues. Venality, however, may also have its advan
tages on the opposite side. And, I believe, had it not
been for its magic influence that illustrious patriot, that
firm, disinterested, and virtuous asserter of the people's
rights, that mortal enemy to corruption, whatever form it
may assume and however high it may hold its head — you
will immediately guess the name of Wardle follows — would
never have graced the Senate and blessed the people by
his presence either at St. Stephen's or the London Tavern.
No ! the energies of his noble soul would have been
damped and cramped in the walls of a spot very dissimilar

VERSIFICATION. 9
to either of these places. But to be serious, that there
are many more flagrant errors in the State is undeniable ;
that they should be immediately put a stop to is just.
The only (and well-grounded) fear is this, lest in lopping
off from the tree of the constitution those branches
which impede its growth we infix a deadly wound in its
trunk 
" Johnson has, it must be confessed, laid his paws
rather too heavily upon ' Lycidas,' although I assent to
several passages of his criticism. There is nothing in it
pathetic, and pathos ought, I conceive, to be the principal
charm in such a production. To your question I reply
that I have wandered long from home, and have not yet
returned. My house, therefore, is not yet prepared for
your reception. Thoughts crowd upon thoughts, and when
paper and ink are at hand the temptation of fixing their
volatility is too strong to be resisted. I strike the iron
while it is hot, but the misfortune is it grows cool before
I have finished. An assertion so very contradictory to all
my sentiments on the subject as that poetry may be
arrived at mechanically I cannot pass over in silence. It
is possible, I will allow, to obtain by dint of study the
highest perfection in the art of versification, but that the
midnight lamp can inspire those ideas and present those
images which form the body of the line I shall always
continue to think out of reason and nature. Never until
genius may be purchased by industry will poetry become
mechanical. It was in the power of Prometheus to mould
the dull and unimpassioned clay into the human shape,
but to impart animation to its features and motion to its
limbs, he was compelled to steal a spark of celestial
fire 
"You have undoubtedly read the ' Odyssey,' if not the
original at least a translation. If therefore, you must
view these things with a classical eye, while you are rear-

10 LETTERS OP EMINENT MEN.
ing your curious plants, you cannot fail to remember the
description in the twenty-fourth book, and Laertes may
probably do for your grandfather as well as the ' fortunate
senex.' By-the-bye, Dr. Raine tells us this book is a
spurious performance. This I have no doubt is the case,
but the writer will nevertheless rank high in the list of
poets. If you approve of Ponsonby's speech, I think you
must retract some sentiments in your last letter Your
approbation of the conduct and sentiments of Sir Francis
must be very qualified indeed  "

To Mr. John Candler. September, 1810.
" . . . . Epistolary correspondence is little more than a
species of more methodical conversation. And this agreed
on, I will tell you why the letters of James Howel have
afforded me little entertainment, although confessedly
excellent in their way. I may be easily supposed to be
interested in a conversation in which I am myself a party,
but when listening to the dialogues of others there must
be something extraordinary in the speaker or what he
speaks to arrest my attention. In like manner, when I
am reading the letters of a man whose letters are all I
know of him, if the matter be original, the manner being
easy and familiar, and of course not at all times perfectly
elegant and correct, deprives it of the effect it would have
if arranged in a form adapted to the eye of criticism.
When, on the other hand, I peruse the epistles of men
celebrated for their piety, genius, or learning, I seek with
curiosity and read with avidity all those passages where
the author is lost in the man. Of James Howel I never
read even the name but as connected with his volume of
letters, and the famiharities which in the great men I

SOLITUDE. 11
have mentioned are the principal charm of the corre
spondence, are in him uninteresting and impertinent. A
collection of the letters of Young, Addison, Swift, Johnson,
and other great geniuses, whose works have afforded me
so much satisfaction, would be one of the richest banquets
the whole range of literature can furnish.
"As to Adam and Eve's question, there is a solitude of
the mind as well as of the body, and both perfectly dis
tinguished one from another. A hermit distant a hundred
miles from any human beings may be mentally transported
to the bosom of society, and a philosopher treading the
streets of our crowded metropolis may be fixed in the
country, in the sea, or the stars. I have frequently con
sidered the subject of Cowper's beautiful lines, ' The Plea
sure of Retreat,' and the result of my contemplations is
this. The pleasure the poet mentions depends entirely
upon the mind and dispositions of the reader. Upon no
subject have men been more frequently and grossly dis
appointed and deceived than on this, nor is there a more
pitiable object in Nature than a man who has expected
happiness in retiring from the busy scenes which once
occupied his sole attention, and who, in view of the repose
he had anticipated, finds himself the slave of the hideous
monster, for which, because perhaps it is a stranger to us,
we have invented no title, but have been compelled to
borrow the foreign one — ennui 
" Oxford has, indeed, received a most violent attack in
the person of their champion. As an impartial spectator,
I think the Reviewers have besmeared the disputant with
their own mire, and have been themselves sprinkled by
the shower they intended altogether for him.* ....
"A peasant, whose literary knowledge extended, per
haps, no farther than the mark he made use of for his
* Referring to a controversy in the Edinburgh Revieio (AprU, 1810) respect
ing the studies pursued at Oxford.

12 "the lady of the lake."
name, was observed to listen with great attention and
apparent interest to a classical debate carried on in a
classical language. ' Do you know,' asked a spectator,
'what these men are talking of?' 'Not I,' said the
clown, ' but I can tell which has the best of it as well as
you.' ' How ? ' ' Why when one falls into a passion it's
easy to see that the other's a match for him.' And the
clown was no fool. Of the grounds of this dispute I know,
perhaps, as little as the peasant of the one he was witness
to. This I can see, that the Reviewers have lost their
temper. But his sovereignty refused its homage, what
critic was ever known to preserve it ? In good truth they
are a set of porcupines, a genus irritabile. And the epithet,
to a certainty, is infinitely more applicable to them than
to the objects of their critical anatomy. Nothing would
give me greater pleasure than to see some Don Quixote
start up among them, Avhose motto might be Debellare
superbos. With what ample employment would their
pride, insolence, and injustice furnish him !
" Walter Scott has lost none of his fire. His ' Lady
of the Lake ' is as animated as any of her predecessors,
but not quite so interesting. I cannot, however, give a
decided opinion, for I have not finished the perusal. Yet,
on reflection, that is the strongest proof I could give.
What I have read has not afforded me so much gratifi
cation as 'Marmion,' which I still think his finest
work." ....

To Mr. John Candler. Wood Street, Octoier 2ith, 1810.
" .... On the receipt of your letter I reperused the
admirable essay you mention. And this perusal, with
another circumstance or two, gave rise to some ideas which

pascal's "pensees." 13
may perhaps afford you amusement, and of Avhich this
letter will be a very proper vehicle. I read lately in a
preface to a book containing the meditations of Mr. Pascal,
a truly pious, learned, and ingenious character, that after
having made a great progress in the sciences, he, at the
age of thirty, laid aside every pursuit in Avhicli he before
excelled, and devoted the remainder of his life to the study
and elucidation of the Holy Scriptures. How greatly
would the imitation of so excellent an example redound to
the honour and advantage of every scholar ! . . . .
" For my own part, I intend, if I should live long
enough to carry my designs into execution, to follow the
example of the great man I have mentioned, and at
an early period to abandon every literary and scientific
pursuit for more noble and profitable studies. And if, in
spite of the multitude of accidents Avhich may intervene
to put an end to our intercourse, Ave should continue this
correspondence until that time shall arrive, you Avill serve
me by bringing back my present resolution to my re
membrance 
" I read lately in Cowper's ' Tirocinium ' a passage
Avhich at the time very much startled me, and Avhich I
cannot reconcile to any ideas of mine upon the subject.
He is endeavouring to strike a deadly bloAv at the root of
public education by demonstrating the pernicious effects
of a spirit of emulation. I say he endeavours, because I
do not think that he has succeeded. He considers Emula
tion as but another name for Envy ; betAveen Avhich I
esteem the difference as great as between Piety and Fana
ticism, Liberality and Ostentation, or Perseverance and
Obstinacy. I have ahvays supposed Envy to be both
active and indolent. Emulation only active. I have be
lieved Envy to desire not so much its own exaltation as
the envied object's doAvnfaU ; Avhile Emulation seeks to
promote its own superiority without detracting from the

14 "paradise lost."
possessions of others. What laAv of justice, honour, or
religion discountenances such a principle I have yet to
learn. With regard to the great question of public or
private education, I decidedly prefer public to particular
instruction. But the intercourse of a number of boys,
apart from their literary studies, I think fraught of neces
sity with all the evils the poet mentions. I should,
therefore, wish for a school Avhich should be only the place
of assemblage for the students, Avho on their departure
thence should immediately separate. Such a plan Avould
embrace all the adA'^antages attendant upon a spirit of
emulation, Avhile it avoided the pernicious effects of the
boarding-houses, the common appendages of a public
school. From a variety of causes such an arrangement
Avill, I fear, never take place. I at present enjoy as a day
scholar all these advantages.
" Milton's ' Paradise Lost ' may with great propriety be
called a divine poem. Not merely on account of the
subject, although that alone Avould entitle it to the appella
tion, but in it Materiem superabat opus. It bears marks
of a genius so far elevated above every other, that it seems
almost an indignity to call it human. Nothing in this
admirable Avork fills me Avith so much admiration as the
perfect propriety and correctness AAdth Avhich he treats the
most lofty subjects, and adapts them to every (Christian)
sect and denomination. Nevertheless, in such a poem it
would be strange if some parts of the performance did not
meet the disapprobation of some readers. I myself, little
as I like cavillers and Zoiluses, did not think some few
passages entirely consistent and correct. Milton in several
places describes gems and gold, that ' precious bane ' out
of which the fallen angels erected their Pandemonium, as
the pavement of heaven. The passages brought to my
recollection two similar ones — one in a romance of the
infamous Voltaire, Avhere the as infamous hero travels by

"paradise lost." 15
supernatural means into a hitherto unheard of region,
where the road dust is gold and the stones precious, and
where he saw a multitude of children playing, Avhose gar
ments were formed of the glittering metal. He imagined
these to be princes of the blood royal, but he Avas informed
that they were only the poor children of the villagers.
Such a spot was the Valley of Riches mentioned in the
' Tales of the Genii,' Avhere precious gems of exquisite
beauty dropped like buds or blossoms from the trees. Such
scenes were more consistent than those which the poet
depicts. For it is to me at least somewhat difficult to
conceive palaces of gold, such as Ave see it, the habitations
of spiritual beings. But he most likely conceived this to
be the image most capable of conveying an idea of beauty
and excellence to the generality of readers 
" These opinions may, perhaps, be contested and refuted.
But should they be admitted in all their force, they would
not diminish the unrivalled excellencies of ' Paradise Lost.'
Whether we consider its design or its execution, it stands
pre-eminent above every Avork Avhich human genius has
hitherto accomplished. But for a full explanation and
elucidation of its beauties the inquisitive need only apply
to the admirable critique in the Spectator, Avhere its supe
riority over the tAvo great Avorks Avith Avhich it has been
compared is demonstrated, fully at least to my satisfaction.
I must yet hazard another observation on a passage Avhich
on my perusal of it bore the appearance of an incon
sistency. The bard, in his admirable description of the
battle of the angels, makes ' the girding SAVord with dis
continuous Avound' pierce the fallen Archangel, and a
sanguine stream issue from the gash. In a few lines
farther he says that spirits cannot receive ' mortal Avound
in their liquid texture.' If this be the case, I cannot
imagine hoAV the uptorn hills Avhich Avere hurled on them
and their engines could bruise and pain although they

16 cowper's "task."
might confine them. Let us, hoAvever, dismiss these per-
haj^s hypercritical and presumptuous remarks. Hoav far
different is the style of CoAvper and the pleasure Ave re
ceive from it ! His ' Task ' is, as far as I can judge, a
23oem Avithout previous parallel. Nor do I knoAV under
Avhat class of poetry to place it. It seems to have been
begun Avithout design like a morning's ramble, and to
have been continued and completed Avithout labour.
Nevertheless, in this Avalk Iioav many beautiful and even
sublime objects rise upon the view. Cowjoer appears to
bear in his style a very great resemblance to the Roman
Ovid. There is in both the same elegance of diction and
unstudied easiness of expression. But the Christian poet
must be alloAved to bear the palm from the Pagan in sen
timent if he is equalled by him (Avliich I do not think) in
other respects. The pious fervour Avhich goes through
the page of Cowper Avill preserve it from oblivion, Avliile
the blasphemous scoffings of a Avitty infidel, should they
pass doAvn to another generation, Avill be viewed only Avith
mingled indignation and contempt. I have read lately in
the Edinburgh Revieiv a critique upon Walter Scott's new
poem, and it very justly complains of a Avant of novelty.
In truth, as soon as a new Avork of this poet is announced
Ave instantly knoAV the characters and the scene of action,
and should he make a fourth attempt he will, I think,
discover that the public are satiated with courteous lords,
and gallant knights, and ladies fair, Avith the Scottish
borders and the ages of chivalry  "

To Mr. John Candler. Jamiary, 1811.
" .... On the subject of the education of the poor I
most cordially coincide Avith them (the Edinburgh Re
viewers). Their satirical observations upon Mandeville

THE EDUCATION OF THE POOR. 17
and other men of better intentions, who would limit the
information of the poor, are not more cutting than just ;
and your remark that ' where there is nothing but bigotry
on the one hand and an enlightened scheme of liberality
on the other, truth must force its Avay,' which, I thought,
as I applied it to the question of religion, wore the appear
ance of illiberality, I can adopt on this head. The dis
tinction which wealth and poverty, power and subjection,
make between man and man is sufiicient, without adding
that of learning and ilHteracy. The knowledge of reading,
writing, and arithmetic must benefit and cannot injure the
most obscure peasant. Could (what from obvious reasons
cannot take place) an acquaintance with the Avhole range
of literature be added to these, the advancement of the
general good would, in my opinion, be the result. For, as
the Reviewers very justly observe, until learning shall fill
the purse or the stomach its universal diffusion AviU not
deprive our plains of husbandmen and our shops of
mechanics. And I Avould ask the advocates for confining
learning to the breasts of the Avealthy and the noble, in
whose breasts are the seeds of sedition and discontent most
easily sown ? In that of the unenlightened or Avell-in-
formed peasant ? In that of a man incapable of judging
either of the disadvantages of his station or the means of
ameliorating it ? Or of one Avho possesses opportunities
of knowing the necessity of subordination and distinction ?
In Scotland I believe the peasantry are far better educated
than in this country. And the effects are visible. In
genius and intelligence Scotchmen of the loAvest rank in
their own country are scattered over every part of Europe,
and receive wherever they go the respect Avhich constantly
accompanies merit ; while in England a genius whose
lustre might have enlightened nations, unable to penetrate
the mists of ignorance Avhich surround it, may make its
entrance and departure without once emerging from the

18 SOUTHEY.
shades of obscurity. These Avere long since my senti
ments. Nor, indeed, have the major part of the argu
ments of the RevicAvers made any alteration in my ideas.
The only doubt I ever entertained of the excellence of
Lancaster's plan Avas founded on religious considerations.
I questioned the propriety of a system on so broad a basis.
These doubts the Edinburgh Review has removed. It
appears that Lancaster, although he makes his pupils read
the Scriptures, leaves it to the parents to apply what they
have read according to the religion which they design
them to embrace 
" Southey's genius is, I think, obscured by affectation.
He is a sort of literary fop Avho Avill either lead the fashion
or own none. Irregularity seems to be a rule Avith him ;
and, if I may be alloAved the expression, perpetual devia
tion is his constant line. To such an extent does he
carry his eccentricity that he would not call his ' Madoc '
an epic poem because, forsooth, the title has been fre
quently abused and degraded. With equal reason might
a man refuse to go by the name of John and Thomas
because they have been borne by a tyrant and an infidel,
or to read Homer because he has been travestied. He never
indulges his readers Avith rhyme, Avhich, indeed, I could
very well dispense with, if he gave me always harmony
instead. Nay, I could even console myself under the
Avant of this if he supplied the deficiency with sublime
thoughts and poetical expressions. But it frequently
happens that his least harmonious lines are his tamest.
He, perhaps, calls it simplicity."

To Mr. John Candler. April, 1811.
" .... I read lately in the Edinburgh and Quarterly
Reviews two critiques upon Southey's new poem, 'The Curse

"the curse of KEHAMA." 19
of Kehama. ' The two reviewers are considerably at variance.
The latter speaks of it in terms of nearly unqualified
approbation. The former, as he always does, mingles his
praise Avith censure. For my own part I approve of the
view which the latter takes of it. I detest that malignant
spirit of criticism which constantly directs itself to the faults
of a performance while it overlooks its beauties. The
' Curse of Kehama ' is in my opinion a poem which will
last — I mean wiU be read — as long as the mythology on
Avhich it is founded : I believe I may say longer. For the
AVork contains an explanation of itself, and the reader, who
never before heard of the religion of the Hindoos, may rise
from the perusal of this Avork Avith a tolerable insight into
it. This Avas precisely my case. Before it fell in my
way I Avas perhaps as little acquainted Avith the mythology
of the Hindoos as Avith their language. Southey has
throAvn into my mind a sudden ray of light. In every
other respect I have rarely met Avith a poem Avhich has
more elevated, surprised, interested, and amused me.
The story, resting as it does upon the most Avild and
extravagant fictions that ever entered the head of man, can
never be reproached for Avandering beyond tho bounds of
probability. It is of necessity full of impossibilities, and
those of the most gloomy nature. Yet Avith so much Avit
has the poet contrived his tale that the Avhole appears but a
pleasing fiction. The incidents are ever ncAV and varying,
and in general happily contrived. The characters being
for the most part superhuman do not admit of much variety.
But the passions, Avhen by accidental circumstances they
are not excluded, are admirably depicted. The descriptions
are perhaps in some places too minute, but they are for
the most part inimitably beautiful. Never did the poet
furnish better materials for the painter than are to be met
with in the lines which precede the utterance of the
dreadful ' Curse.' The collected scorn, hatred, and thirst
c2

20 THE PENINSULAR WAR.
of vengeance, which Ave may suppose to mask the features
of the Almighty man, and the silent despair of the
defenceless object of his resentment, would have afforded
an admirable subject for the best painters of the Italian
school. Nothing can be more exquisite than this descrip
tion, as also the passage in Avliich Kailyal after the loss of
her charms expresses her confidence in the unabated
affection of the Glendoveer. As for the metre, if the poem
can be said to have any, it is perfectly adapted to the story.
The one is as irregular and unconfined as the other is Avild
and extravagant 
" Our affairs have of late assumed a more favourable
aspect. I congratulate you, as a friend to 'liberty and an
enemy to oppression, upon the forced retreat of the French
Invaders. As a philanthropist I condole with you upon
the miseries attendant upon Avar, and I commiserate the.
ill-fated inhabitants of its theatre, the Spanish Peninsula.
At the same time I despise while I deplore the folly and
Aveakness of the Avretched slaves of a tyrant Avhom ambition
has steeled against every sentiment of humanity, and who,
' in no hesitative mood of justice or of mercy,' can calcu
late with as much composure upon the destruction of
thousands as a manufacturer upon the consumption of his
tools  "

To Mr. John Candler. St. John's Street, London, October ith, 1812.
" . . . . It is my design before I enter into the ministry
to acquire a competent familiarity with the Hebrew, and to
be enabled to compare the original dictates of inspiration
with the translation which forms the groundwork of our
faith. Such a comparison cannot but be attended with
equal pleasure and improvement. If this venerable and
ancient language should ansAver the expectations I form of

PREPARATION FOE THE UNIVERSITY. 21
it, I shall perhaps be tempted to make farther efforts, and
to extend my progress in the literature of the East. But
my motto must be, Labor omnia vvncit improbus  "

To Mr. John Candlbe. December, 1813.
" .... I am at present preparing myself in the
most compendious method for the University, although
without those expectations which you seem to have
formed for me, and without imagining that my future
happiness depends upon their being realised. There are
many pursuits Avhich are held in great request at the
University, to some of which I attach little importance,
and to others of which I do not find my taste, or, perhaps,
to speak the truth, my abilities adapted. In those pursuits
to which my inclination leads me, my disappointments
(which I apprehend will be very few) Avill not be owing
to my negligence or indolence. There is one particular
in which I hope to differ from many of those envied
persons who have attained to the most distinguished
academical honours. Several of these seem to have con
sidered the years which they have spent at the Uni
versity, not as the time of preparation for studies of a
more severe and extended nature, but as the term of
their labours, the completion of which is the signal for
a life of indolence dishonourable to themselves and un
profitable to mankind. Literature and science are thus
degraded from their proper rank, as the most dignified
occupations of a rational being, and are converted into
instruments for procuring the gratification of our sen
sual appetites. This will not I trust be the conduct of
your friend. Sorry indeed should I be to accept the
highest honours of the University were I from that time
destined to sink into an obscure and useless inactivity."

CHAPTER II.
Cambridge and Travels Abroad. 1814 — 1820.
Goes to Trinity College, Cambridge — Scholarships — Degree — Classical
Medallist — Elected to a Fellowship — ^Tour Abroad — Acquaintance with
Bunsen — Letters from Cambridge and Abroad — Correspondence in
Foreign Languages— Study of Ancient History — Biographies — Twed
deU's Remains — Byron — Desire for Foreign Travel — Improvement of
Morals and Slanners at Cambridge — Dislike of Mathematics — Acquire
ment of ItaUan — Cicero, &c. — Choice of a Profession — Resolution to de
vote himself to the Bar — Aversion to Legal Pursuits — Desire for Literary
Retirement — Acquirement of German — Comparison between Protestant
aud Roman Catholic Worship — Bunsen — ReUgious Tendency of his
Studies — Remarks on his Brother's Ordination.
Thirlwall left Charterhouse in December, 1813. In
February, 1814, he Avas admitted at Trinity College, Cam
bridge, and went into residence in the folloAving October.
At Trinity ho happened on another "golden time ; " in the
same generation of undergraduates Avith him were Whe
well, SedgAvick, Hugh James Rose, Kenelm Digby, Hamil
ton, E. B. Elliott, and his old schoolfelloAvs, Julius Hare,
and George and Horace Waddington. In February, 1815,
he Avas elected Craven University Scholar, he and Pro
fessor Kennedy, being, Avith Person, the only instances of
this honour having been gained by Freshmen. The Bell
Scholarship was gained the same year. He took his degree
in 1818 as 22nd Senior Optime, the Seniors of the tripos
being Shaw-Lefevre and Hind. This comparatively low
place Avas more than atoned for by his position as First
Chancellor's Classical Medallist, the Classical Tripos not
being instituted till 1824. In October, 1818, he was.

travels abroad, 23
elected a Minor (i.e. B.A.) Fellow of his college.* Among
those elected with him Avere the late Dean Hamilton and
his inseparable friend, Julius Hare. By gaining his Fellow
ship he was enabled to fulfil the " most enchanting of his
day dreams," and to carry out the long-cherished idea of a
tour abroad. He left England at the close of 1818 and
journeyed on the continent for more than a year, visiting
France, Switzerland, and Italy. During his residence in
Rome he formed that close friendship Avith Bunsen which
lasted for half a century. In the " Life of Baron Bunsen "
allusion is made to Bunsen's influence on Thirlwall's choice
of a career ; and in the " Memoirs of Baroness Bunsen "
(pp. 138 — 141) an interesting letter is quoted shoAvinghow
prepossessed the Bunsens were in Thirl Avail's favour ; hoAV
assiduous he Avas in cultivating their acquaintance ; and
the Avidened sphere of culture and information that it
opened to him.

To Mr. John Candler. July, 1815.
" . . . . My motive, as I have before said, for making a
foreign language the vehicle of a familiar correspondence Avas
to acquire a facility in the use of it, which I foresaw Avould
be of the highest importance and utility in my academical
career, and might be a source of benefit and amusement
in the course of my future life. That end is now in some
degree answered. A letter in the one language costs me
no greater effort than one in the other, and I flatter myself
with the hope, that in proportion to the number of the
Latin letters you receive from me (for I do not intend
wholly to dr6p the exercise) you Avill find the stiffness
* The Major FeUowship foUowed in due course in 1821. This distinction
was done away in 1860. A difference of stipend stUl remains, which wUl be
aboUshed when the new statutes are confirmed.

24 uses of BIOGRAPHY.
of my first attempts relax, and their roughness insensibly
Avear away 
" I have for some time back been much more conversant
with Greek than Roman history. The former we have
the peculiar satisfaction of receiving from the pens of
Avriters of the most acknowledged information, talents, and
industry, and Avho for the most part took a. share in the
events they commemorate. I shall Avatch both these
historical streams to their confluence, and then direct my
undivided attention to the mighty flood of Roman grandeur
Avhich, growing in its progress at once broader and more
dull, loses itself at length in Avhat, to pursue the metaphor,
I may call the stagnant pool of the dark ages. I shall
not, you may be sure, stop there, but Avith reneAved plea
sure accompany it when it emerges from that deep and
motionless expanse, divided into a number of rivulets
vying in strength and rapidity, though not in extent and
magnificence, Avith the parent stream. I therefore per
fectly coincide with you in considering history and bio
graphy as the basis of polite literature. They are the
inexhaustible sources from which poetry derives her cha
racters, eloquence her examples, and to which writers of
almost every class have been indebted for ornament and
illustration in their several subjects. T'o the greater por
tion of mankind, however, the uses of biography are more
obvious and unquestionable than those of history. To
the vast majority Avhom fortune has fixed in a station too
humble to interfere Avith the general interests, whose
virtues or vices, Avisdom or folly, can influence the happi
ness only of a narrow circle, narratives of battles and
sieges, of conspiracies and revolutions, of the rise and fall
of nations, contain little to edify and instruct, little which
they can apply to the regulation of their conduct and
the direction of their affairs. But as there is no man who
lives isolated from the world, whose activity or indolence

ANCIENT HISTORY. 25
does not produce some effect upon a part of society, there
are none whom the example of persevering virtue may not
stimulate to exertion, and whom the contemplation of its
rewards may not encourage in their career. It was in
consequence of this reflection that the ingenious though
fanciful Rousseau, Avhose speculations, among several extra
vagancies, contain many just and useful observations, was
induced to regret that the gravity of history so seldom
descended to record traits of private character in illustrious
men, and that he gives the preference in point of utility
to Plutarch's lives over the more dignified and elaborate
compositions of Thucydides, Xenophon, and Polybius.
Yet there are cases in which the perusal of history affords
a pleasure not to be derived from any other class of Avrit-
ings. The source of this pleasure is to be found in one
of those circumstances Avhich distinguish the great king
doms of modern Europe from the little republics of ancient
Greece, and from Rome before the period of its degeneracy
and decline. The circumstance to which I allude is the
vastly great number which at present exists of speculative
geniuses, of men Avhose talents are either entirely buried
in obscurity or known to the Avorld only through the
medium of the press. I shall not, I believe, be too bold
if I affirm that the greater part of the most eminent writers
of antiquity were men who spent their lives in active em
ployment, and who were as Avell known by their actions in
their own day as they are by their writings in ours. We
have, it is true, remaining the feeble though laborious pro
ductions of some rhetoricians who turned their periods
in the closet for others to deliver in the forum, but the
number of such writers is far overbalanced by that of the
historians and orators who led armies, who presided in
councils, and who served the State by their exertions
either in the field of battle or in the rostrum. Such
characters were, among the Greeks, Herodotus, Pericles

26 tweddell's "remains."
(whose orations, though no longer extant, attracted the
admiration of Cicero), Thucydides, Xenophon, Demosthenes,
Polybius. Among the Romans the instances are more
rare because literature began to flourish but a short time
before the overthroAV of liberty. But Cicero and Csesar
afford striking examples of men Avho made literary pursuits
the amusement, not the business of their lives. Nor do
historians and orators afford the only instances. We
know that Socrates was not content Avith instructing the
youth of Athens under the shelter of the groves of
Academus, but that his arm resisted the enemies of his
countrj' in the field, and that his voice opposed the inso
lent injustice of an overbearing faction at home. Of the
three great dramatic poets, .iEschylus is recorded to have
borne an active part in those combats which one of his
dramas has commemorated, Sophocles was the colleague
of Pericles in one of the high offices of the State, and
Euripides was admitted to a familiar intercourse with
Archelaus. . . .
" The quarto you speak of has not yet met my eye, but
I am not unacquainted Avith the subject of it.* He was
one of the brightest ornaments in the college to Avhich I
belong, and I have seen some monuments of the elegance
of his genius and the variety of his attainments, and have
felt a sympathy in a fate in its period so premature, and
in its circumstances so romantic. I should express my
joy at the conversioi; of Lord Byron if I could bring
myself to believe that his doubts had been ever sincere.
The French Revolution may have produced wretches so
* The quarto aUuded to in the above letter was a volume of the " Remains '
of John TweddeU, pubUshed in 1815. He was a distinguished young scholar
of Trinity, had been Chancellor's Classical Medallist in 1790, and had carried
off a multitude of University and CoUege prizes. The exercises for these
had been pubUshed in 1793 under the title of "Prolusiones JuvenUes," and
were afterwards incorporated in the " Remains," and much studied by clas
sical men. TweddeU travelled a great deal. He died from fever caught
during a stay in Athens in 1799, and was buried in the Temple of Theseus.

lord BYRON. 27
hardened by crime as to render it necessary to persuade
themselves into the idea of a disbelief of a future state of
existence ; but that since that mania has passed, and in
this country, where the contagion never spread to any
considerable extent, such scepticism should have become
the settled conviction of a highly cultivated mind, is a
phenomenon which it would be more diflicult to account
for than the supposition that the vanity of a youthful poet
might have induced him to throw over his works the
melancholy tinge of so gloomy an idea 
" I am well aware that no extensive and lasting reputation
was ever acquired by compositions in a dead language, and I
should perhaps be tempted to wake again the strings of my
long-sleeping lyre, but that the horrible and appalling de
nunciation of our master Horace rings in my ears : Me-
d.iocrihus esse poetis. You knoAv the rest. Seriously, I
believe my powers, if I have any, to be more adapted to
prose composition. I have no doubt of my ability to
construct verses which should fill the ear with their
cadence, but whether I could produce a poem which
should elevate the fancy and satisfy the judgment, is a
question of a very different and much more doubtful
nature. For whatever efforts I may hereafter make for
reputation, I am now, and shall for some years be,
employed in paving the way. One of the great advan
tages, as Rousseau observes, which the geniuses of old
times had over those of the present day is, that whereas
the ancients spent the whole of their time in thinking,
the moderns spend half of theirs in collecting material for
thought.

To HIS Uncle, John Thirlwall, Esq., Alnwick. December, 1816.
" .... I set off for Cambridge without writing a
single line to the oldest and most valued of my corre-

28 desire POE TRAVEL.
spondents. I write not in the ease and leisure of a long
vacation, in which I have nothing to do but to pursue
the fancies of my oAvn brain, but under the distraction of
two powers, of which one impels me in one direction and
the other draws me back in another, under the disquieting
apprehension of tAvo not very distant examinations, one
of which will require a little share of mathematics, and
the other scarcely anything else.
" Moreover, if I abandoned for you a difficult problem
or a complicated demonstration, you would not be under
any great obligation to me for my preference ; but I now
quit, to take up my pen, something infinitely more
adapted to my comprehension and agreeable to my taste,
a volume of ancient history 
" As I am not destined, I believe, nor perhaps qualified,
for any active occupation, and yet feel in myself a certain
restlessness of disposition Avhich will not suffer me to remain
idle, the substitute for such employment the most congenial
to my inclinations would be travelling, a means of enjoy
ment and improvement which will perhaps be never in
my power, but of which, nevertheless, if I were cut oft'
from the hope altogether, I should lose a considerable
share of the pleasures of my existence. When I say
travelling, I mean of course travel beyond the limits of
our own island ; which although it contains much that
is curious and interesting, is not to be compared in point
of attraction to those parts of the continent to which I
should wish to direct my course. You suggested, I think,
some time back a mode of accomplishing this much-
desired object, but your scheme, as I observed at the
time, although I might accept it if I despaired of bring
ing any other to bear, would be very inadequate to the
complete fulfilment of my wishes. My notions on this
head are perhaps somewhat peculiar. I should be by no
means content with an opportunity of crossing the

. CAMBRIDGE. 29
Channel or the German Ocean, and traversing the first
country on Avhose shores I might chance to land 
" There are, in fact, but three legitimate ends of travel
ling. One, the contemplation of the great and the beau
tiful in the scenes of nature ; another, the inspection of
works of art, the surviving test of departed genius, or of
places Avhich derive an interest from some memorable
transactions of Avhich they Avere the theatres, and are
now the monuments ; and a third, the most useful and
important, though not calculated to excite such strong
and vivid sensations of delight, observation upon the
manners, government, and general condition of arts,
sciences, religion, and morals among the subjects of foreign
States 
"This reverie of mine, however, upon travelling,
leads me to make an observation or two, one founded
upon the account you give of your travels through this
town, in which I am now writing, and another which has
been long in my thoughts. First, the little specimen
you met with of Cambridge manners may have induced
you to suppose that you are better acquainted Avith the
habits of our academic youth than you really are, and it
may happen that you have split upon the rock of Avhich
so very few travellers have had the dexterity to steer
clear, that I mean of mistaking a particular incident
which has befallen themselves for the general custom of
the country they are visiting. And again, you may have
fallen into the error of which a traveller would be guilty,
who, having in his youth visited foreign parts and noted
the customs and manners of the inhabitants, should in
his old age publish an account of them to the world as a
faithful representation of the state of things among the
generation living at the time of the publication. As a
o-eneral maxim I need not remind you that to the end of
the Avorld there will be in every large society a great

30 CAMBRIDGE.
diversity of habits and inclinations, and that it will be
as impossible for some to form a relish for refined and
intellectual pleasures, as for others to accommodate their
palate to those Avhich are gross and brutal. There will
even be some Avho enjoy the one, and yet sometimes
descend to the other. But at the same time it is
equally certain that in proportion to the progress of
refinement and decorum in the great mass of the com
munity, Avill be the advancement in those respects in the
places of polite education. I can further inform you
that such improvement I have heard remarked in con
versation, and I have seen noticed in a very admirable
modern publication, as having taken place in Cambridge
within the space of a comparatively small number of
years, and that this very circumstance has from its
notoriety been insisted on as a proof of the gradual
prog}ess in decorum, if not in morality, through the
country at large. Here I might say many fine things
according to my old and highly commendable custom,
for you cannot but remember that it used to be my
practice to make my letters to you the vehicles of sundry
moral apophthegms highly valuable (if not for their
originality) for their truth, and to enliven them by the
best similes and metaphors I could bring to bear on the
subject, and Avithout some of these I never used to think
a letter complete. That I could have tacked some of
these to the subject I have just quitted you ought not to
doubt from the fertility of invention displayed by me on
former occasions. But somehow or other my turn for
this species of communication has considerably dimi
nished of late, and Avhether it is that I read and think
more, or that I grow more lazy and indolent, certain it is
that I write much less than I used.

ACQUIREMENT OP ITALIAN. 31

To John Thirlwall, Esq. October \Wi, 1816.
"The period of my return to Cambridge has revolved, and
with it the annual tribute of a letter, which I have been
long accustomed to pay you. I am returning to Cam
bridge in a somewhat melancholy frame of mind in conse
quence of the anticipation of above a year of trouble and
labour which I have to encounter. I must first shorten
and finally abandon the Avorship of the Muses for that of
the Sciences 
" I console myself partly by the prospect of the respite I
shall enjoy as soon as the term of labour has expired, and
partly by the occasional relaxation I obtain in the interval.
I have added to my stock of acquirements the Italian
language, in which I make as much progress as the extreme
scantiness of time I have to devote to it Avill allow. I am
almost in doubt Avhether it be not in general more valu
able than the French, to which in poetry at least it
possesses a decided superiority. My principal object in
acquiring this as well as others I may hereafter learn, is to
provide myself with greater variety of entertainment. But
although I look to my library for the chief fruits to be
derived from it, yet I have still another object in view,
and I do not despair of being enabled to derive at some
time or other an additional advantage from the acquisition.
I certainly Avas not made to sit at home in contented
ignorance of the Avonders of art and nature, nor can I
believe that the restlessness of curiosity I feel Avas im
planted in my disposition to be a source of uneasiness
rather than of enjoyment. Under this conviction I
peruse the authors of France and Italy, Avith the idea that
the language I am now reading I may one day be com
pelled to speak, and that Avhat is noAV a source of elegant
and refined entertainment may be one day the medium

32 COLLEGE HONOURS.
through which I shall disclose my wants and obtain a
supply of the necessaries of daily life. This is the most
enchanting of my day dreams ; it has been for some years
past my inseparable companion. And apt as are my in
clinations to fluctuate, I cannot recollect this to have ever
undergone the slightest abatement. In fact, Avhatever plans
of life I propose for myself this ahvays constitutes a part
of the outline, and I do not know that any prospect of
advantage would induce me to part Avith the hope of its
gratification. As soon as I shall have gone through the
trial Avhich is to close the approaching period of labour
and anxiety, my spirits Avill be lightened of a considerable
load, and my inclinations Avill meet Avith little farther con
straint. I shall be at greater liberty to embrace any
opportunity of present enjoyment, and to look abroad for
the most eligible scheme of future happiness. In fact the
only object to the pursuit of Avhich I shall be attached will
be a felloAvship Avhich I shall content myself with en
deavouring to earn, Avithout suffering my tranquillity to be
very much disturbed either by eagerness for the possession
or regret for the loss of it.
" P.S. [by his father] The Trinitarian has left me room
to inform you he has gained a prize Latin essay in his
college as well as is enrolled in the second class, a much
higher rank than he expected from his deficiency in
mathematics. He is, hoAvever, pursuing that science
with great ardour, and expects he will gain a respect
able honour, even in that region Avhich he least delights
in. I am glad Connop has taken up his pen to
you.— T. T."

To Mr. John Candler. January nth, 1817.
" Your last letter did not merely afford me the pleasure
of a transient emotion, but supplied me Avith an occasional

CICERO'S LETTERS. 33
subject for thought, during the remainder of the term. I
have determined to make provision against my oAvn dila-
toriness by beginning an answer thus early in the vacation,
a precaution Avhich receives an additional justification from
the length of the sheet I have chosen, in Avhich at least I
think you will find it difficult to surpass me. I shall as
usual save myseK the trouble of inventing a subject by
foUoAving your observations in their own order. The
favourable opinion I entertained of the moral character of
the great Roman orator was formed in consequence of the
perusal of his epistolary correspondence, the only source I
apprehend from which any conclusion on the subject could
Avithout temerity be drawn. That opinion is not shaken
by any argument contained in your letter. You lay par
ticular stress on the encomium upon Csesar delivered in
the oration of thanks for the restoration of Marcellus. If
I felt my opinion hard pressed by this panegyric I might
be eager to acquaint you that a German critic, probably
the most profound and acute scholar of the present day,
has pronounced an opinion that this oration is not the
production of Cicero. I might add that my last perusal
of it inclined me verj^ much to concur in that judgment,
partly from an air of sophistical and elaborate declamation
which pervades the speech, and partly from the recollec
tion of a passage in one of Cicero's letters (I cannot now
remember which) in which he acquaints us that he had not
intended to speak on the occasion, and Avas only induced
to rise from what took place after he had entered the
Senate. Now as on the one hand I cannot imagine Cicero
to have misrepresented the fact on so trifling an occasion,
so I cannot easily conceive it possible that an oration of
the cast of that noAV extant should have been unpreme
ditated and delivered under the influence of transporting
and irresistible emotions. I do not insist upon the
elegance of the style, Avhich either constant exercise might
D

34 CHARACTER OF CICERO.
have placed at his command or a subsequent revisal have
polished ; but the consummate art and caution visible
throughout the Avhole performance, the skill and judgment
Avith Avliich his praise of Marcellus, Cassar's enemy, and his
panegyric on Csesar, so lately his oAvn, the review of the
past, and the prospect of the future, are balanced and
adjusted, tend in my judgment very much to support the
conjecture (of the grounds of which I have never been
informed) that the Avhole is the fabrication of some learned
and elegant sophist. But as far as the character of Cicero
is concerned I might have spared this little piece of criti
cism, nor have I the least occasion to resort to any such
conjecture for an argument in h^s defence. In fact, sup
posing the oration to have been delivered, I could discover
upon a very late perusal nothing which could be reasonably
construed into a desertion of his previous political senti
ments. That part Avhich you probably consider as the
most objectionable appears to me nothing more than an
exemplification of one of the most common, obvious, and
innocent of rhetorical artifices, and that too used for the
best of purposes : that, namely, of conveying a tacit and
forcible admonition to a man whose intentions Avere not
avowed, under the veil of a strong presumption in favour
of their integrity and honour. When, therefore, the orator,
in praising and thanking the victorious general for an act
of clemency, takes occasion to inform him that his work
was not yet accomplished, his conquest not yet complete,
that the Republic Avas fixing her eyes in anxious expecta
tion upon his conduct; that, exhausted by along and cruel
series of contests, she expected from him refreshment and
repose, the re-establishment of those judicial proceedings
which had been suspended by the violence of party, the
assurance of respect to the laws, whose voice had been
droAvned by the din of arms, that she expected, in short,
the restoration of all which she had lost ; that, consequently.

CHARACTER OF CICERO. 35
brilliant as had been his past achievements, she hoped their
glory would be lost in the lustre of those Avhich were to
come, and that Avithout this happy consummation the
character of those prior exploits would remain to all
posterity as it was in his own day ambiguous and con
tested ; when, I say, the orator addresses the victorious
general in this strain, I do not perceive that he is guilty of
any inconsistency with his past conduct, or that he in the
slightest degree binds himself for the future. His panegyric
is obviously, and, indeed, expressly, conditional ; nor do I
think if, instead of Brutus, he had himself held up the
dagger reeking with the blood of Ca3sar, there is a passage
in this oration (that is, any sentence sufficiently illustrated
by the context) Avhich he might not have heard repeated
Avithout a blush. Here my defence of Cicero may close ;
for your argument, if I mistake not, Avas entirely founded
upon this single speech.
" But, unable as I am to agree with you in your attack
on the character of Cicero, I can still less admit the
excuse Avhich you are willing to alloAV him, Avhen you
impute his inconsistency to ignorance of the Ethics of
the Christian Philosophy, ' which Avould have taught him
never to surrender his integrity for the attainment of
any object, however desirable.' The observation Avhich
foUoAVS, ' that the Machiavellian policy, which sanctions
unlaAvful means for the attainment of a laAvful end' (by
the Avay, where does the Florentine politician sanction
this ?), ' was not then scorned and dreaded by statesmen as
it is, or ought to be, now,' this observation raised a smile
from more causes than one. I was amused by your
original contrast of the principles of ancient and modern
statesmen, and still more by the interlinear clause, by
which you destroy all the meaning of the observation.
The fact is, that the proportion of the corrupt to the
honest statesmen appears to have been nearly the same
d2

36 JESUITICAL POLICY.
. formerly that it is now, after all due alloAvance has been
made for the difference of ancient aud modern forms of
government, aud for the progress of a certain sense of
decency, which is of recent diffusion, and Avhich must be
distinguished both in time and character from the effects
of the propagation of Christianity. We have our Chatham,
and Athens had her Aristides and her Phocion (of course,
I am instancing and not enumerating). But Avhat I
Avished particularly to animadvert upon Avas the notion you
seem to entertain of the ignorance prevailing among the
heathen (I mean their men of education and reflection)
respecting the nature and sanctity of moral obligations. I
can scarcely express how Avidely I differ from you on these
points. I am firmly of opinion that the detestable maxim
of the end sanctifying the means was never adopted in
theory or practice by any class of any people in any age
or climate (as in the case of the Fathers of the Church,
Avho have, I believe, the honour of being its authors, and
of the Church of Rome, and particularly its champions the
Jesuits), except, I say, Avhere, as in the instances I have
mentioned, superstition blinded the judgment, or interest
deadened the heart. I believe it impossible that men
could ever have given their assent, secret or avowed, to
such a maxim before they had either recognised a guide
superior to reason, even when in opposition to it, or had
become rebels to its authority even while they acknow
ledged its legitimacy. As to the heathen philosophers, so
totally erroneous is your opinion of their ignorance (for
when you speak of Cicero it ought to be remembered that
you are speaking of a man who Avas perfectly acquainted
Avith the dogmas and the arguments of every sect which
had existed to his day), that there was but one sect of
philosophers which professed the principle of parting or
dispensing with any moral obligation on the ground of
expediency, and that even the most celebrated doctors of

CHRISTIANITY AND MORALITY. 37
this sect contended that to make this dispensation was
never expedient, and that finally after this proviso the sect
Avas branded Avith peculiar opprobrium by the rest on this
very account. But as to Cicero himself, in whom the Avhole
question originated, there are a multitude of passages in
his own book, 'De Officiis' (in the third book, I think, in
particular), which set in a very clear point of view his sen
timents on the Jesuitical (for so I would rather call it than
Machiavellian) policy I have been speaking of, and shoAv
that if he had actually been guilty of an adherence to it
in practice, his philosophy might more reasonably and
more forcibly have been quoted against him than his
eloquence. " You may possibly recollect that in my last letter I
expressed an opinion diametrically the reverse of that
which your judgment on Cicero called from you, namely,
that the Christian religion had introduced with it no
innovations at all in ethics, that it had laid doAvn no
principle of morality which had not been acknoAvledged
and inculcated by either all or the best of the heathen
writers long before. I still retain this opinion, Avhich Avas
originally founded upon the unbiassed vieAV I had taken
of the ancient philosophy as I met with an exposition of
it in the Avorks of Cicero. I am persuaded that this opinion
is perfectly compatible with a belief in the divine origin of
our religion ; and, to go a step farther, although I am very
willing to admit that Christianity did effect (whether directly
or indirectly is of no consequence) a material and sensible
improvement in the practice of morality, yet I should be
not only surprised and perplexed, but to a considerable
degree shocked and pained, to discover by any convincing
proof that any of its essential doctrines were unknown
before that revelation. The improvement I mean consisted
in bringing forward to more general notice, and more
warmly recommending to practice, some of the less brilliant

38 HEATHEN PHILOSOPHY.
and conspicuous but more useful and amiable virtues. But
I repeat, that I still remain to be informed of any one moral
precept of Christianity Avhich is not to be found either
positivel}'- delivered by some heathen moralist or deducible
from some part of his system by easy and natural inference.
In AA'hat the peculiarity, excellence, and necessity of the
Christian revelation really consisted is a question of some
doubt and difficulty, on Avhich, as it has no intimate con
nection Avith our present subject, I shall avoid entering
into any disquisition. But as you folloAV up your par
ticular attack on Cicero by some language of general con
tempt tOAvards the heathen philosophy, I shall simply
remark that your observations on it appear to be founded
on a very indistinct, and consequently erroneous, concep
tion of its merits. I am aAvare that it was formerly the
fashion to depreciate it among superstitious Christians,
and that it has been lately the fashion among men who
call themselves philosophers. But I entertain as loAV an
opinion of the Christianity of the former as of the philo
sophy of the latter. The fact is, much of this abuse
originates in the indolence of our earthly nature, Avhich
finds it an easy and gratifying substitute to underrate that
to Avhich it cannot attain Avithout exertion. If I may
venture to speak from my own experience, I may truly
declare that I recollect no book which ever produced a
more deep impression on my mind and furnished me Avith
more abundant food for interesting speculation than that
volume of Cicero which comprises his philosophical
treatises ; nor was the preference I gave to the Epistles
founded on their superior intrinsic value, but on their
superior peculiarity and originality. And so widely do I
differ Avith you in my estimation of this branch of ancient
literature, that if access to it had been the only fruit
resulting from all the labour I have spent on the study of
the languages I should have esteemed it amply repaid, and

LOCKE'S ESSAY. 39
if my views of future life had not been changed this would
have been the pursuit I should probably have cultivated
with the greatest interest and assiduity. I am not
quite sure Avhether I understand the bent of Avhat you
say as to danger to be apprehended from ' the elegance,
the ingenuity, and the seeming Avisdom of some part
of the heathen mythology.' I have never heard
but of one instance in confirmation of your suggestion.
There is, I am told, a man now living who is an exceed
ing admirer of Plato, and who sacrifices to Jupiter. But
if this be true he is certainly unique. Gibbon Avas a
notorious sensualist, and consequently incapable of under
standing feelingly any religion whatever. I feel little
respect for his taste or his philosophy. As to the three
other celebrated men you mention, Salmasius Avas a
pedant who was likely to derive as much edification from
Achilles Tatius as from David's Psalms and Paul's
Epistles. The consciences of Grotius and Erasmus
could best decide whether the fascinations of profine
literature had seduced them from any particular of their
duty to God or man. But I may remark that theirs Avas
a religious age, and I conceive no great compliment is paid
to religion by those who insinuate that there exists a
natural connection between learning, philosophy, and infi
delity. But I am sensible of the inutility of these
general remarks. The subject which I am noAV quitting
naturally leads to questions of greater interest and import
ance, but for which I have not enough either of leisure
or, perhaps, information and ability.
" My aversion and contempt for the artifice of concealing
ignorance of a subject under vague and general observa
tions upon it Avill prevent me from saying much upon
Locke. I have not yet read his essay, not so much
because I could not find leisure for it, as because I Avas
unwilling to enter at all upon metaphysical reading with-

40 locke's essay.
out being able to pursue it beyond one or two popular
works. I cannot, therefore, presume to decide upon the
grounds of Locke's reputation. I hope, hoAvever, before I
quit the university to have it in my power to form a
tolerably fair estimate of his merits, although I may per
haps never enjoy sufficient leisure to extend my researches
into the study itself so far as I could wish and its im
portance deserves. Still, having thus candidly made you
acquainted with my ignorance of the subject, I cannot
refrain from observing, that the merits of Locke as a
philosopher have been of late called into question by
men for Avhose talents and acquirements I entertain very
high esteem and respect. The originality of his system
has been denied by one and its truth by another. It
has been charged with a tendency most pernicious to the
interests of morality and religion, of which the author Avas
himself not aAvare. On the justice of this charge I must
repeat I am yet incompetent to decide ; but it Avill cer
tainly prevent me from taking up the work with that
superstitious veneration Avith which the generality of
readers apply themselves to it ; and I may add, that the
only specimen of its philosophy which ever happened to
fall under my notice has by no means tended to counter
act the impression produced by the preceding attacks
upon it. Locke's reasoning on the subject of free will, in
which he is followed by Jonathan Edwards, and I believe
some other Avriters, appears to me unphilosophical, the
doctrine in general to debase our nature, and to shake
the very foundation of our hope and our faith in suggest
ing to us the fallacy of our most powerful convictions.
I am hence led to suspect that your warm admiration of
Locke may have arisen in a great measure from his work
having been the first on the subject on which your
thoughts have been exercised.
" I do not dislike your definition of metaphysics which.

METAPHYSICS. 41
if my memory does not deceive me, does not differ very
Avidely from one given by Coleridge in a note in the
' Friend.' It is certainly a curious fact that the term itself
by which the extensive branch of literature or rather philo
sophy is known should have no other actual import than
the place which a treatise on the subject held in the col
lection of Aristotle's works. But when you proceed to
distinguish between investigations of the properties and of
the nature of thinking beings, I apprehend you to have
fallen into two mistakes. In the first place I cannot
agree with you in your opinion that the consideration
' of the manner in which we acquire, compound, and
associate our ideas is the noblest of merely human studies
that can occupy the attention of man,' although I con
fess that our difference may possibly arise from my want
of knowing the bounds by which you conceive studies
•merely human' to be circumscribed. But, at all
events, I consider these as topics belonging to an in
ferior branch of metaphysics. And here I may observe
that on these topics I believe the merit of Locke to be
acknoAvledged even by his opponents ; but this Avill not
entitle him to the rank of a great philosopher. The
subject, for instance, of free will, which I mentioned a
little before, appears to me to belong to a very different
class and to be of incomparably greater interest and im
portance. In the second place, Avhen you speak of the
nature or essence of the soul of man, of angelic spirits,
and the Divine Being, you appear to me to summon up a
defunct absurdity, or rather, perhaps, one Avhich never
existed, for the purpose of expressing your contempt and
neglect of it. For although the heathen philosophers
had many disputes on the nature of the soul of man for
instance, yet I apprehend these not to come exactly
within your meaning. For the main point in these dis
cussions was whether the soul was or was not immaterial.

42 THE CONVERSION OP CONSTANTINE.
Avhich I apprehend to be no improper subject of inves
tigation. But that any man ever Avas guilty of such an
excess of ignorant presumption as to enter into a con
sideration even in thought of the essence or substratum
of the soul, admitting it to be a spiritual or immaterial
substance, I cannot bring myself to believe, and I am really
at a loss to conjecture Avhat can be the mark against
Avhich you levelled these observations. No modern
Avriter surely can have been guilty of the folly you point
at. The mention of Locke calls forth the most puzzling
queries, and the more so as I cannot perceive their relation
in whatever manner answered to the tAvo axioms Avhose
universality you seem to question.
" The tradition of Ossian's poem has I suppose continued
uninterrupted to the present day, but Macpherson's forgery
may have given it a freshness which it has not possessed
for many centuries since its origin. Your second query as
to the conversion of Constantine is, if possible, still more
perplexing. I have not read the life of Constantine in
Avhich the account of the miracle is contained, but I do
not believe that any information on the subject is to be
found in the original, which might enable me to form a
more correct opinion upon it than may be deduced from
Gibbon. The evidence of Eusebius, a man whose general
character does not certainly exempt him from all sus
picion of sacrificing truth to adulation, carries with it
little Aveight. But were the external evidence for the
miracle tenfold stronger than it is, I should upon mature
reflection decidedly reject it. There are two things neces
sary for my belief of a miracle, that the fact should be
well attested and that an adequate reason should be as
signed for the interruption of the laws of nature. In the
present case there is every reason to believe — 1st, that
the miracle did not produce the immediate and particu
lar effect Avhich was to render it a cause of general bene-

THE CONVERSION OF CONSTANTINE. 43
fit ; 2ndly, that general benefit did not actually result
from it ; and 3rdly, that, admitting the consequences to
have been really beneficial, the same would have taken
place in the common order of events. To explain my
meaning, I think, first, that history sufficiently proves
that Constantine never Avas converted to Christianity —
that from first to last he professed it without ever feel
ing in his heart or exemplifying in his practice its genuine
excellence. The arms of his soldiers adorned Avith the figure
of the Cross Avere no bad illustrations of the character of
their Emperor. The instruments of rapine and violence bore
the visible sign of a religion of peace and love ; exactly
as the hard, cruel, and ambitious heart of Constantine was
disguised under the profession of the same mild and
benignant creed. Is it to be imagined that the great
Searcher of hearts should have stretched forth the arm
of His omnipotence to form a nominal proselyte to His
worship, or that in providing for the salvation of multi
tudes He should have neglected to rescue from perdition
the man himself who was His elected organ. His chosen
vessel ? But without searching for an argument into the
unfathomable depths of the eternal Avisdom, it is more
than doubtful whether the Church of Christ did not
receive from the event itself of the profession of Con
stantine more injury than benefit. The injury is obvious,
the advantage a matter of uncertain speculation. The
patronage of Constantine, as far as it extended to the
Church then existing, Avas unquestionably detrimental.
The trappings of wealth and power accorded ill with the
simplicity of a religion whose professors were taught to
expect that they should be here militant and hereafter
only triumphant. It is from the conversion of Constan
tine that I should date the Adsible and rapid decline of
Christianity, as, if your friends shall ever begin to erect
schools or colleges for the instruction of their youth in

44 THE CONVERSION OF CONSTANTINE.
liberal studies, I should fix upon this period as the point
at which the society will begin to fall to utter and abso
lute decay. On the other hand, I Avould not positively
deny that if the poAver or influence of Constantine, even
by means the most repugnant to the spirit and precepts
of the Gospel, accomplished the introduction of some bar
barous nations into the pale of Christianity, although his
contemporaries had no reason to congratulate themselves
on his conversion, it may still have been the means of
promoting the greatest interests of generations then un
born. The early inhabitants of our OAvn island were
threatened or allured into a Christianity scarcely less
contemptible and unprofitable than the superstition they
abandoned for it. Yet perhaps as much of genuine and
vital religion noAv prevails here as in any other country
of Europe. The question, therefore, Avhether Constan
tine did the greater service or injury to the general
interests of the Gospel will depend in a great measure
upon another, whether in a civilised nation the intro
duction of a new or the reformation of an old religion be
a Avork of greater difficulty. But in whatever Avay this
question be decided, it is tolerably obvious that in the
time of the supposed miracle Christianity was becoming
the predominant religion, that it Avould consequently in
the common course of things soon have found its way
into the palace, and that the Divine Avisdom would
scarcely have anticipated by a miracle a conversion which
ere long would have been accomplished by the ordinary
workings of the human passions.
" I almost regret that I have spent so much of my
paper upon such a subject ; and as I am unwilling both
for your sake and my own to begin a fresh sheet, I
shall omit entering upon a topic on Avhich I had pro
posed to make a few remarks relating to the study of
languages, that I may have room to answer the con-

ON THE CHOICE OF A PROFESSION. 45
eluding part of your letter, in which you give me your
advice on the choice of a profession. It is a subject
Avhich has long occupied my thoughts and distracted my
Avill, and on Avhich I scarcely knoAV whether I have yet
decided, for I have learnt from experience to distrust my
own resolutions and intentions. The present state of my
mind, hoAvever, strongly inclines me to follow your advice
and devote myself to the bar. My disinclination to the
Church has grown from a motive into a reason. But be
assured that if I do give myself up to the laAV it Avill
not be with the elation of hope and ambition. Not even
the brilliant objects with AA'hich your friendly partiality
gilds the prospect in the distance, if I were as fully
persuaded of their reality as I am convinced of their
emptiness, would console me for the sacrifice I must
make in the pursuit of them. I must surrender all
tastes, views, and wishes which have possessed me during
the greater part of my past life since I became capable
of refiection and imagination. I had hoped to be
able to pass my life quietly though not indolently, and
obscurely though not uselessly ; to have gratified eye
and ear and mind and soul with the sights and sounds
of nature, and the finest productions of the human intel
lect. I hoped to have been able to add to my acquire
ments all the most valuable of the modern languages, and
by that means to have gained access to the stores of
modern as Avell as ancient literature. I had intended
to have made myself master of all that was important in
the universal history of mankind, and to have followed
the researches of ancient and modern philosophy, and
fr'om all these sources to have collected certain principles
and maxims both of taste and philosophy which might
supply the place of books, if ever their perusal should
become more toilsome than agreeable. Nor had I purposed
to confine my pleasures to those of either sense, or reason.

46 PROPOSED ADOPTION OF THE LAW.
or understanding, Avhose barrenness I Avell knew when unac
companied by the exercise of the social and benevolent
affections. In the indulgence of these I had anticipated
that the desire of communicating happiness might in many
instances make amends for the deficiencies of fortune.
But it is useless to dAvell on a vision Avhicli has past. The
painful reality is that some profession is necessary, and the
law seems that Avhich circumstances have marked out for
my adoption. I must exchange the retirement with the
prospect of AA^hich I have hitherto amused my fancy for the
noise and bustle I have ahvays detested, and mix inthe
croAvd of men pursuing like myself one sordid object. I
must feel my most valuable acquisitions dropping away for
want of leisure to bestow on their cultivation, and a meta
morphosis gradually taking place in my whole frame with
out the possibility and scarcely with the wish of resisting
it. You may easily suppose then that I shall not enter
upon the study of the law with large views and swelling
hopes and glittering projects. No ! I shall rush into the
pursuit Avith a desperate activity, propelled by the single
forlorn chance of amassing a competent fortune in time
sufficient to free myself from the trammels of business,
before my views and tastes and sentiments have under
gone a total change. If this can be accomplished, I may
perhaps console myself for having Avasted the elasticity of
youth and the gloAV of fancy on the routine of a barren and
unanimating occupation (barren, I mean, in all that can
rouse the imagination and interest the heart), and in find
ing 'the glory and the freshness' of my early dream
succeeded by a gloomy and monotonous reality. But
ere thirty or forty years have elapsed Avho can tell what I
may have become ? The seeds of avarice and ambition
noAV dormant in my breast Avill perhaps very soon be
awakened into life. I shall mistake the fever of restless
and unnatural desires for the ordinary and healthy Avarmth

DEFERRED HOPES. 47
of my moral constitution ; and I doubt not if this letter
should again reach my eye, that I should read it with a
false and hoUoAV mirth, mingled, hoAvever, Avith glimpses
and shadowy recollections of the past, ten thousand times
more bitter than the melancholy with which I am now
AViiting. Horrible anticipation ! I do not dislike your
Indian scheme : certainly the prospect of the great ocean
which Avould be to divide me from my country and my
friends for a moderate term of years would be infinitely
less desolating than the view of the great city, contemplated
with the possibility of being a sojourner in it for life. You
may imagine that I do not quit such a subject for want of
words."

To Mr. John Candler. June Uth, 1818.
"... At the time when I received your last letter
containing an account of your Scottish excursion my Avhole
attention was engrossed by the approach of an examina
tion on Avhich my future prospects in a considerable degree
depended. I determined, therefore, to defer my answers
till I should be in a humour better suited to the purpose
of repaying you for your very entertaining narrative. That
time, it is true, has not yet arrived ; I am as I Avas then
absorbed in the future, Avith no present enjoyment to
satisfy my wishes  I once hoped that I should this
summer have realised the Avishes I have so long indulged
of visiting those parts of the continent whose scenery has
in all ages ravished the eye and Avarmed the heart of every
spectator capable of enjoying the beauty and sublimity of
nature. In this hope I have been disappointed, and shall
perhaps for a year or two more be confined to the same
routine of study in Avhich I have been for many years past
engasfed  I am sick I confess of the confinement of

48 PROTESTANT AND ROMAN CATHOLIC WORSHIP.
the closet. The uniformity of this Avay of life wearies and
oppresses me  I have begun to learn German, but
as my home vieAvs forbid me to relax my attention to
the classics and mathematics, and my project of a con
tinental tour induces me to Avish for a familiar acquaint-
ence Avith French and Italian, I have not much time to
devote to this ncAv pursuit, Avhich certainly does not require
the least share of it. Of this, hoAvever, I am certain, that
no modern language Avill so amply repay me for my time
and labour"

To his Father. Rome, March 2nd, 1819.
" . . . . In as far as regards its exterior the Catholic
worship presents at the present day an appearance Avhich
is probably precisely the same Avhich it has borne for five
or six centuries back. The same ceremonies are performed
Avith the same circumstances on the same occasions. If
you Avish to knoAV my opinion of these ceremonies in
general, I must OAvn that I am not disposed to condemn
them with that severity Avhich most Protestants appear to
think necessary to support their character, either as mem
bers of a Reformed Church or followers of an enlightened
philosophy. Some of these rites depend, it is true, upon
articles of faith peculiar to Catholicism ; others seem to be
nothing more than customs derived from notions once
popular and noAV no longer prevalent even among the
Catholics themselves. But, putting these out of the
question, I am not at all convinced that the use of forms
and ceremonies necessarily destroys the spirituality of devo
tion, and am rather inclined to conclude that wherever
a stated return of public worship is instituted, some appeal
to the eye and ear ought to be made to excite religious

BARON BUNSEN. 49
feeling in those who do not happen to bring it with them.
The form of prayer used by the Church of England, as it
is the only public manifestation of a religious sentiment,
is, wherever the sentiment is not felt, an empty ceremony,
but a ceremony which, from its extreme simplicity, is
perfectly adapted to the expression of devotion where it
exists, but which can scarcely excite it in the mind where
it lies dormant. The Catholic worship combines the
advantages of forms which affect Protestant spectators in
a variety of ways, but which are certainly found imposing
by the Catholics themselves, with the most perfect liberty
of private devotion. For those Avho do not feel disposed
to join in the public service of the Church no place and no
time is prohibited for the expression of the particular
feelings or desires 
" I have been fortunate in the acquaintance of a Prussian
who has married a cousin of Monk, and resides here to
transact the affairs of the Prussian Catholics with Rome.
He is a man of very various acquirements and considerable
abilities, and his wife a most amiable and accomplished
Avoman. He has introduced me to several learned Ger
mans, whom I meet occasionally at his house, and lends
me from time to time some good German books, which are
still more scarce at Rome than Greek books.

To Mr. John Candler. Florence, August 12th, 1819.
" . . . . I read with a smile the extract you give
me from one of my early letters. I recalled with pleasure
the ardour of resolution, the sensibility of the great and
beautiful in morality which was one of the best features
of my boyhood, and which I hope, in spite of my more
extensive intercourse Avith the world, I have not wholly
lost. I was at the same time much amused by the
E

50 RELIGIOUS TENDENCY OF HIS STUDIES.
recollection of the sort of voav of which you remind me,
and Avhich, as I Avell remember, I made after reading not
the Works of Pascal, but only a notice of his Life prefixed
to an English translation of I believe, his ' Thoughts.' I
was the more amused, as it happened that a short time
before, during my stay in Rome, I had read the entire
Works of Pascal, and not only A^'ith deep attention, but
when I was in a frame of mind perfectly fitted to receive
the same impression which his memoirs made upon me
before his religious opinions, or in fact religion in general,
had ever been presented to me as a subject for examina
tion. " . . . . In the meanwhile I think I may say that
I have already begun to fulfil my boyish vow, not in the
letter but in spirit, not by devoting my time and atten
tion to one particular book or class of books, the sure
Avay to cramp the intellect and prevent the attainment
of truth ; but by fixing my thoughts frequently and
earnestly on the great principles of religion and morality,
and referring to them in Avays more or less direct every
thing I read and observe. I hope to do so on my return
to England in a still greater degree, and although, if I am
forced to enter into the commerce of the world, a great
portion of my time must be devoted to a different pur
suit, I feel convinced that these meditations must be
henceforth the great employment of my leisure, my
refreshment from the wearisome routine of affairs, and, I
hope, will be a guide and assistance in the conduct of
them  "

To HIS Brother Thomas. Genoa, August SOth, 1819.
" . . . . The news of your ordination came upon me
unexpectedly enough, but it occasioned more of pleasure

HIS brother's ORDINATION, 51
than surprise. Your reflection, that to decline associating
with the present clergy because their ancestors probably
differed from them on points on Avhich you agree Avas to
exercise a delicacy carried to excess, appears to me very
natural and just. I only wonder that it did not strike you
sooner. The prospect of filling a station in society Avhich
affords means of great utdity ought not certainly to be
sacrificed to a punctilio. Paley is certainly right in giving
the founders of the English Church credit for perceiving
that on articles which are subject to opinion there never
can be an universal uniformity. The only misfortune is
that any article which is subject to opinion should have
been admitted into any creed. The English Reformers, in
selecting from different confessions the tenets they con
sidered necessary, opened a door into the Church toAvards
opposite quarters of the theological horizon. In so doing
they exposed it to as many attacks from without as any of
the others, and gave occasion to more internal dissensions
than the rest appear to suffer."

E 2

CHAPTER III
Lincoln's Inn. 1820 — 1827.
Enters Lincoln's Inn — His View of a Lawyer's Career — Life in London —
Connection with John Stuart Mill — Publication of Schleiermacher's
"Essay on St. Luke" and Tieck's Poems — Abandonment of the Legal
for a, Clerical Career — Letters on : — His Choice of Profession — The
Grande Chartreuse — Edward Irving — His Views of his own Prospects
— The Greek Professorship at Cambridge. Correspondence with Juhus
Hare in connection with Schleiermacher and Tieck — "A Layman's
Letter, &c." — The Selection of a French Library.
Thirlwall returned from the Continent to settle doAvn to
Avork. What this work should be had been Avith him a
subject of long and anxious consideration. The idea of
embracing a clerical career, apparently the fixed intention
of his boyhood, had gradually grown distasteful, and was
noAv put aside from ' distrust of his own resolutions and
couAdctions.' He seems to have been guided in a great
measure by the solicitations of his friends (pp. 45-60), and
" the long-balanced deliberation on the choice of a profession
came to a conclusion " by his being entered as a law student
at Lincoln's Inn in February, 1820. But his aversion
to the law was never concealed, nor his total absence of
ambition in that profession; and he evidently looked
eagerly forward to the time when he might throAV off his
Avig and gown and devote himself entirely to his favourite
literary pursuits. An anecdote is preserved telling of a
humorous picture that Thirlwall once gave a college friend
of a successful lawyer's life and death. " After setting
forth the drudgery and thankless efforts of a rising Junior,

mill's AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 53
and the utter want of leisure of his successful seniors, he
said, ' I think it Avas Sir Matthew Hale who observed that
a successful laAvyer commonly died in his bed surrounded
by his family ; which, I suppose, is intended as some
compensation for the little happiness he has enjoyed in
this life, and his very doubtful chance of happiness in that
which is to come.' "
The drudgery of his work was lightened by the
lengthened tours he took every autumn ; by the
leisure hours he devoted to German literature ; and by the
brilliant and intellectual society into which he was thrown.
In Mdl's Autobiography there is an interesting passage
which gives a glimpse of this period of ThirlwaU's life. In
the society founded by the Owenites called the Co-operative
Society (the occasion was a debate on Population), " the
speaker with whom I was most struck," says John Stuart
Mill, " though I dissented from nearly every word he said,
was Thirlwall the historian, since Bishop of St. David's, then
a Chancery barrister, unknoAvn except by a high reputation
for eloquence acquired at the Cambridge Union before the
era of Austin and Macaulay. His speech Avas in answer to
one of mine. Before he had uttered ten sentences I set
him doAvn as the best speaker I had ever heard, and I have
never since heard any one whom I placed above him."
The interest aroused by this debate led to the formation
of a debating society, Avhich included, besides Mill and
Thirlwall, Macaulay, Charles Austin, the present Earl Grey,
the late Lord Clarendon, Romilly, the tAvo Bulwers, Samuel
Wilberforce, Albany Fonblanque, and, later on, Frederick
Maurice and John Sterling. In April, 1823, Thirlwall
became the pupil of Mr. Basevi, the brother of the well-
known and unfortunate architect, and uncle of the Earl
of Beaconsfield, and studied conveyancing under him.
In the summer of 1825 he was called to the Bar,
his surety on call being his old school and college

54 schleiermacher's " ST. LUKE."
friend, George Waddington. He afterwards joined the
Home Circuit. The year 1825 Avas also marked by the
publication of the translation of Schleiermacher's ' Essay on
St. Luke,' Avith a remarkable introduction by the translator,
shoAving that his mind still retained its theological bent.
The publication of this book was an epoch in the history
of English Theology, and in Thirlwall's own life, owing to
the part it played in his future prospects (p. 159). Julius
Hare and Thirlwall at this time " were probably the only
Englishmen thoroughly Avell-versed in the literature of
Germany," and the letters to Hare show the Avide range of
German reading Avhich the preparation of the AVork entailed,
and the earnestness with Avhich he devoted himself to it.
The dryness of his investigations (p. 73) was relieved by
the translation and publication in the same year of two
of Tieck's Tales— -The Pictures (" die Gemalde'"), and The
Betrothing (" die Verlobung"), accompanied by an elaborate
preface. The Quarterly Review (No. LXXVII.) referred to
the translator as " a man of great talents," and to the
Introduction and Preface as " sufficient to place him in an
eminent rank."
In 1827 came the great change in his life, and he
abandoned the legal for the clerical profession. His
Cambridge friends have attributed this change to his deep
interest in religion, but there is not the slightest evidence
to show that it was anything more than the exchange of a
legal for a literary career. Strange as this may seem in
these days, it was quite in accordance with the spirit and
practice of the times. In the letter to his uncle, at the
beginning of the next chapter, Thirlwall explains and
defends his motives. Bearing in mind his aversion to
the practice of the law, and his utter repudiation of all
desire for forensic honours, it is difficult to say what might
have been his future position. It is certain, however,
" that Equity lost in him an incomparable judge. It is

VIEWS ON THE LEGAL PROFESSION. 55
not difficult to imagine the serene ratiocination with which
he would have rivalled even the greatest masters of the
modern Equity Bench. But he carried the temper, and
perhaps the habit of Equity, into all his subsequent Avork."

To John Thirlwall, Esq. February \Uh, 1820.
" I feel much obliged to you for your early congratu
lations on my arrival in England, and for the interest you
continue to take in my proceedings and prospects 
As to my future plans, the most precise intelligence I have
to give you is, that last Aveek I was entered a member of
the Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, and kept my first
term. So that you Avill next congratulate me on the long-
balanced deliberation on the choice of a profession having
come to a conclusion. I would not, however, have you
infer too much from the outward act, nor suppose that all
or any of my objections to the profession have been
removed or lost their weight. The theory of the law is a
useful branch of knowledge, as necessary to that profound
and minute acquaintance which every man who has leisure
for it ought perhaps to acquire of the history of his own
country. But to the practice I shall look forward Avith
the same aversion as ever. The studies belonging to it
tend I think to cramp the intellect and kill the imagination,
and thereby to stop the sources of the purest and noblest
pleasures of life ; and the qualities most instrumental to
insure success are precisely such as I Avould wish to assume
with the wig and gown, and with them to lay aside, when
I was about to enter into any good company, to transact
any fair business, and to prosecute any liberal study.
Nevertheless, two considerations prevent me from regretting
the step I have taken, though not the necessity Avhich

56 TOUR ABROAD.
caused it. One is my firm determination not to suffer the
study of the laAV to engross my time so a.s to prevent me
from pursuing the other branches of knowledge of which I
have been so long acquiring the rudiments, and which,
though in the common sense of the Avord less lucrative, are
much more essential to my Avell- being. If by economy of
time or intensity of application I can render the two objects
compatible, I shall consent to suffer my progress to be
slower than I could wish. If not, I know which to prefer.
And by the same means I shall probably escape the
misfortune into which several members of the profession,
who, perhaps, entered into it with feelings similar to mine,
have fallen, that, namely, of being unable to retire from it,
long after all rational inducements of interest had ceased to
exist, because they could not fill up the void which would
ensue in their occupations by any pursuit of interest
sufiicient to counterbalance the love of gain. The second
consideration is, that I have entered into no engagement
which binds me any longer than suits my pleasure or
convenience ; that I do not make myself answerable for
the maxims or doctrines of any set of men whatever, but
continue to enjoy a full independence in thought, word,
and action, which is not only formal, but, real as it is, not
even violated by an additional interested motive  "

[In reference to a tour abroad with his brother.]
To John Thirlwall, Esq. October, 1820.
". . . . We made a most interesting and delightful
excursion to the Grande Chartreuse, situated in the
mountains at a short distance from the frontier of Savoy.
This was the birthplace of the Carthusian order which
distinguished itself among the monastic orders by the

THE GRANDE CHARTREUSE. 57
severity of its rule and the princely magnificence of its
establishments ; to one of which, you know, I owe the
rudiments of my education. About nine hundred years
ago S. Bruno led a little colony into this wilderness, as it
was then justly called, to the greater glory of God and
edification of mankind. The retirement of these pious
settlers was frequently broken in upon by admiring and
consulting visitors, who were eager to testify their venera
tion or gratitude by donations, which, after the first
resistance had been overcome, were shoA^'ered profusely on
the growing settlement. Roads were opened through the
pathless wood into the hallowed retreat ; the simple oratory
rose into a church ; the rude huts of S. Bruno and his
companions into a spacious convent, which has, of course,
received in the lapse of ages numerous alterations ; the
adjoining forest was in part cleared, cultiA'ated, and peopled
for the benefit of the fathers, who became proprietors of
all the adjacencies of their retreat. Nevertheless, although
much has been done to facilitate the approach to it, and
the surrounding region has assumed a difierent aspect, it
is difficult to imagine a spot better adapted to monastic
seclusion. It is a valley of irregular shape, whose sides
present a woody wilderness only broken by the convent
itself and a little pasture ground immediately surrounding
it ; they are croAvned by a wall of steep bare rocks, which
contrast surprisingly with the mass of foliage below, and
at the bottom a little stream feels its way over fallen trees
between huge fragments of rock. At each extremity of
the valley the sides close suddenly in, and two lofty over
hanging precipices only allow a passage to the stream and
the only road which gives entrance into this majestic soli
tude. Some of the monks who had been driven from their
cells at the beginning of the revolution have returned and
partially repaired the plundered and disfigured buildings,
and continue to exhibit the rule of the Order in all its

58 THE GRANDE CHARTREUSE.
austerity. No female is allowed to enter their walls ; all
fiesh, even for the use of strangers, is excluded from their
kitchens ; they invert the natural order of rest, and labour
for the mortification of the flesh and the Aveal of the soul,
and at the hour Avhen the generality of men retire to sleep
rise to spend the greater part of the night in the repetition
of long offices or silent meditation ; they are allowed one
another's society only at rare and measured intervals, and
even the majestic spectacle Avhich surrounds them is opened
no oftener to their view. To soften the rigour of these
painful restrictions and injunctions they are permitted to
follow the bent of their genius in the disposal of the small
number of their solitary hours which are not assigned to
stated acts of devotion, and to refresh the mind — after
exercises Avhich, whether they are the overflowings of pious
fervour or merely prescribed and mechanical repetitions,
must equally exhaust it — ^with a gentle, regular, and
voluntary exertion. It was principally this spot — Avhich
has acquired additional celebrity since Gray wrote in ' The
Traveller's Album ' a few Latin stanzas,* Avhich have been
as often quoted as any of his works — that attracted us into
Dauphiny  "

[In reference to a tour in Scotland.]
To John Thirlwall, Esq. Edinburgh, August ISth, 1821.
" .... I spent last Sunday at Glasgow, and I believe
saAV everything very remarkable  Unluckily Dr.
Chalmers was out of town, a circumstance which I did not
learn till the afternoon, and attended his church both
services in hopes of hearing him. In the morning I heard
a very heavy piece of Presbyterian divinity, which I had
* Commencing " Oh tu, severi reUgio loci."

GERMAN LETTER TO BUNSEN. 59
hardly time to digest in the interval. I was, however,
highly gratified in the afternoon by Dr. Chalmers's coadjutor
(a Mr. Irving, I think),* who is one of the very small
number of powerful and original thinkers I have heard
from the pulpit, and whom I should be willing constantly
to attend  "

To Monsieur Bunsen, Rome. November X^th, 1821.
" . . . . Seit meiner Riickkehr von Itahen habe ich
mich, den Wiinschen der Meinigen zu folge, auf das
Studium unsrer Gesetzen gelegt. Das ist mir freylich fiir
sich genommen nicht zuwider, aber ich hatte gewiinscht
mich anderen Studien ganz zu widmen ; die mit den Juristi-
schen mir wenig in Beriihrung kommen. Leider ist jetzt
in England mehr vielleicht als anderswo die Ansiicht herr-
schend die Dinge von der Seite der Brauchbarkeit oder
vielmehr des Gewinnes betrachtet. Diesem Handelsgeiste
gelten sogar Kunst und Wissenschaft mehr als Waaren die
man erst zu Markte bringen soil, um sie recht zu
benutzen ; nicht das Mittheilen soil Zweck seyn der
erworbnen Kenntnissen und Fertigkeiten, sondern das
Vertauschen. Ja ! den Meisten kommt eine verschiedene
Denkungsart unbegreiflich oder gar verwerflich vor.
" Diesen Ansichten kann ich mir unmbglich beystimmen :
ob es aber mir gelingen wird den Schein der Weltklugheit
zu erhalten ohne auf alles was mir wirklich werth ist
versicht zu thun, oder ich werde endlich die Maske
abziehen miisseu und mich von dem Schauplatze entfer-
nen — dariiber wird die Zeit entschieden 
" Seitdem habe ich mich auch mit immer steigenden
* Edward Irving's pubUc career began with his acceptance, in 1819, of
Dr. Chalmers's invitation to become his assistant at St. John's Church
-Glasgow.

60 GERMAN LETTER TO BUNSEN.
Lust und grosserem Niitzen auf die Deutsche Literatur
gelegt. Besonders haben mich Tieck's Schriften einge-
nommen, und ich muss gestehen dass seine Genovefa
scheint mir das vollkommenste Gedicht das in den neueren
Zeiten irgendein Deutscher Schriftsteller hervorgebracht
hat. " Ich habe Waddington seit seiner Riickkehr noch nicht
gesehn; durch seinen Bruder aber habe ich dieunangenehme
Nachricht erhalten dass Ihre Gesundheit in einen miss-
lichen Zustande gewesen ist. Es wiirde mich sehr freuen,
Avenn Sie Gelegenheit bekamen mir einen Brief zu senden,
aus Ihren eigenem Munde von Ihrer volligen Genesung zu
vernehmen. " Ich bitte Sie Frau Bunsen in meinen Namen zu
griissen." [Translation.]
" . . . . Since my return from Italy I have, in accord
ance Avith the Avishes of my family, applied myself to the
study of our laws. I certainly have not an intrinsic aver
sion to this, but I had Avished to devote myself to other
studies Avhich have very little to do Avith the laAV. Unfor
tunately, the predominant inclination just now, in England
more than elseAvhere, is to regard, things from the side of
utility, or rather of gain. This commercial spirit values
even art and knowledge simply as Avares which shall only
be brought to market in order to make the best use of
them ; not imparting but exchanging shall be the aim of
the acquired knowledge and skill. Ay ! to the most part a
different Avay of thinking appears inconceivable and alto
gether to be rejected.
" It is impossible for me to assent to these views :
whether I shall succeed in keeping up the appearance of
worldly wisdom without betraying all that I really value,
or whether I shall at last be obliged to tear off' the mask
and withdraw from the stage, time alone will decide. . . .

election at CAMBRIDGE. 61
" Since then [his return from a tour abroad] I have
been engaged in German literature with ever-increasing
pleasure and greater proflt. I have specially taken up
Tieck's works, and I must confess that his ' Genovefa '
seems to me the most perfect poem that any German
author has ever produced in modern times.
" I have not seen Waddington yet since his return, but
I have received from his elder brother the unwelcome in
telligence that your health has been in a critical state. I
should greatly rejoice, if an opportunity should arise for
you to send me a letter, to ascertain from your own lips
your complete recovery.
" Pray greet Madame Bunsen in my name."

To J. C. Hare, Esq., Trinity CoUege, Cambridge. London, November 8th, 1822.
" I have at last determined to continue my experiment
upon the law for some time longer, and am for that pur
pose just come to tOAvn, when Stair put into my hands a
composite letter from you and Robert Grant. All things
considered, I find it Avould not be worth my while to go
into your rooms for the remainder of your half-year, and I
should not wish — if it were practicable — to take them for
any considerable time longer upon my own hands. I have,
therefore, taken a set of lodgings at 19, Southampton
Row, where I shall probably remain during the winter.
" I feel hardly interest enough for Robert Grant to
bring me to Cambridge, and yet I should rather like to
give a vote against Lawyer Scarlett, and should certainly
most bitterly regret my absence if it Avere to prevent his
defeat or the triumph of the good cause.* But, in fact,
* At the election of M.P. for Cambridge University, iu November, 1822^
Mr. Scarlett (afterwards Lord Abinger) was defeated by Mr. Banks and
Lord Hervey.

62 JULIUS hare's change of profession.
if I were to go doAvn noAV, the election Avould be little more
than a pretext ; for the strongest attraction would be the
prospect of spending a day or two with you, and satisfying
my senses of your new state of existence. I was, however,
not much surprised, and, upon the whole, very glad to
hear of your translation.*
" I could, perhaps, have Avished you a somewhat wider
channel for your activity, but it is certainly good, and as
the course of the world runs fortunate to have one at all,
especially one which it is possible to enlarge, and any
thing is better than the torment of being distracted by
two opposite objects, or rather by the complete contradic
tion of the reality and the ideal.
" From Avhat I have been able to observe I rather doubt
the success of the Trappist in his vigorous attempt to take
the kingdom of heaven by storm.
" That he possesses the zeal of St. Bernard I am ready
to believe, but it is a different generation that he has to
deal Avith, one from Avhich he is more likely to receive the
crown of martyrdom than the honours of a saint. We
must talk more about him when we meet, which will, I
hope, be either here or at Cambridge before long."

To Monsieur Bunsen. 19, Southampton Row, London, January 20th, 1823.
" I found your very acceptable letter on my return from
a tour which I made last summer in Portugal and Spain.
I came to toAA'n too late to take advantage of H. Wadding-
ton's journey to Italy, and I have been since waiting in
vain for an opportunity of committing these lines to the
care of a friend. I can no longer defer .my thanks for
* Julius Hare quitted the study of the law to become assistant tutor at
Trinity.

STUDY OF THE LAW. 63
the interest you express in all that concerns me, and
for the instructive hints Avhich some of the subjects of my
letter have occasioned. These hints would in their turn
afford me abundant matter for observation, but in propor
tion to the extent of the inquiries to Avhich they lead I
feel the imperfection and insufficiency of this mode of
communication. At the distance which separates us I
should be loth to enter into a long discussion Avhich might
possibly turn on a misconception of your meaning. In
an hour's conversation Ave should understand one another
much better than after two dissertations upon paper, hoAV-
ever long and elaborate. In the hope of renewing before
long that closer intercourse to which I look back Avith so
much pleasure, I shall here only describe my present
opinions and feelings on some of the points in question.
" It would be impossible for me to feel the full force of
your remarks on the dignity and importance of the
study of the law, without a more distinct notion of the
sense in which you wish them to be understood, or of the
historical views on Avhich they are founded. I suppose,
indeed, that the study to which they refer is of the most
general, comprehensive, and philosophical kind, consistent
with the pecuharity of national circumstances. But it
appears to me that statesmen possessing minds gifted for
and cultivated by this study, who have certainly been rare
in all countries, have not been more common in England
than elsewhere. Now, too, among our legislators we have
some able lawyers, but as at other times they who dis
tinguish themselves most in the one quality perform the
least in the other. A really great lawyer, who should
combine a deep and accurate knoAvledge with a large and
statesmanlike view of his subject, is, in the present state
of our law, a phenomenon not to be hoped for, scarcely to
be imagined, any more than an accomplished mathema
tician Avho should be at the same time a great philosopher.

64 DISLIKE OF THE LAW.
Indeed, much less, for of all studies I can conceive none
which has a more direct tendency to cramp the intellect
and unfit it for all high and generous speculation than that
of our law in its details. It is difficult enough even for
the strongest heads to emerge, even at intervals, from the
artificial sphere within which they are circumscribed by
precedent and analogy into a higher and clearer region,
more nearly approaching the pure ether of absolute reason ;
but constantly to keep in mind, while threading the mazes
of this immense labyrinth, the plan, design, and relations
of the Avhole, seems to me almost to surpass the ability of
man. And hence it is, to revert to my own particular
case, that I can perceive here no link of connection with
my other pursuits and inquiries, far less any central point
to Avhich to refer them all. Thus is the unity of my
intellectual life utterly broken, and I find myself in the
painful and unnatural necessity of devoting the greater
part of my time and attention to that AA'hich appears to
me petty and uninteresting, and making the great business
of my thoughts an accidental and precarious appendage to
it. Some kind of employment at the University to which
I belong Avould, as you rightly suppose, be infinitely more
congenial to my inclinations, but, in order to fill any sta
tion there Avhich would be more than temporary, it would
be necessary to enter into the Church, a condition which
would deprive such a situation of that Avhich constitutes
its chief attraction for me. But who is there that has not
often experienced similar obstacles to the attainment of
objects Avhich appear to him most conducive not only to
his happiness but his usefulness ? My chief consolation in
this state of divided activity is, that I am perhaps more
likely to make the best use of these less frequent opportu
nities, and in less danger of being misled by prejudices or
diverted by minor objects from the investigation of greater
and better things than if I were able to devote all my time

PERVERSION OF GENIUS. 65
to the pursuits I love. Perhaps, too, AA'hat I lose in dura
tion I gain in intensity of enjoyment. I consider these
short intervals which break the return of my ordinary life
as a kind of sanctuary reserved for higher and more solemn
thoughts, and into Avhich I therefore admit only some
select companions. Upon the whole, too, I find myself
better so than if what I have followed hitherto for its own
sake Avere to become connected with any prospects of out
ward advantage and success in the world. I have always
felt a peculiar horror of simony — and surely the name is
as properly applied to the sale of the ordinary as of the
extraordinary gifts of the Spirit. And as we love men
more for Avhat Ave do for them than Avhat we receive from
them, so my studies are more endeared to me by every
hour I give to them subtracted from more gainful occupa
tions. And then, compared with the field of human
intellect, hoAV trifling is the difference between the longest
and the shortest life, the most extensive and contracted
opportunities ! The things most essential are a steady Avill
and a well-directed tendency of pursuit. The Avant of a
right direction of intellectual energies is perhaps the greatest
that England now suffers. For the age appears to me to
be scarcely less fruitful in men of extraordinary poAvers than
any in our history. But the very productions which bear
the strongest stamp of their genius prove most decidedly
the want of a steady aim and distinct perception of the
extent, the limits, and objects of art. We do not, indeed, noAV
groan under the tyranny of absurd and borroAved rules, but
Ave are exposed to all the perversities and extravagancies
of powerful minds Avhich have broken loose from the old
arbitrary restraint, and are governed by no self-acknoAV-
ledged well-grounded principles. And such must continue
to be the case till the spirit of true and vital philosophy
shall descend upon this chaos, pregnant hitherto with
scarcely anything but abortions and foul and ominous
F

66 STUDIES CONVEYANCING.
shapes, and shall order and organize the Avhole and every
part. Some of the better spirits of the age have expected
this regeneration from Germany, and have in consequence
attempted to naturalise among us some of the speculations
of your philosophers. But although these • attempts, as
they Avere excellently meant, have been far from useless, I
am inclined to doubt, first, that it Avould be possible through
any medium to familiarise even our best cultivated intellects
Avith your philosophical theories ; and, secondly? still more,
that by so doing the object would be accomplished. Such
systems Avould, I think be ahvays something foreign and
uncongenial to our peculiar intellectual character, and
Avould therefore have either no general infiuence, or a
wrong and mischievous one on literature, art, and science.
It is as you say, from England, from some original and
independent English thinker, that we must expect this
restoration of philosophy, Avhich appears unhappily to be
still very distant  "

To John Thirlwall, Esq. May 2nd, 1823.
". . . . I took my post some days ago in the office of a
conveyancer, Avho is introducing me into not the least
intricate or lengthy Avindings of the interminable labyrinth,
the law. The effect of this engagement Avill be to detain
me a close prisoner in London tUl the beginning of autumn.
Whether it is that in the fine season people are more given
to marry or make their wills, or to buy estates, than at
other times, the fact is that the spring and summer are
the conveyancer's harvest-time. So I shall spend the next
four months very differently from the same period in the
last three or four years. Instead of ranging at discretion
over hill and dale, through field and city, forest and flood,

ABSENCE OF LEGAL AMBITION. 67
I shall be obliged to confine my discoveries to a dark room
of a few feet square, in Avhich, as in a camera obscura, I
shall be amused with an unsubstantial and floating image
of what is passing in the world Avithout, shall thread the
mazes of voluminous family settlements, and trace to their
source the sinuosities of ancient titles, Avhich sometimes after
many a Avearying turn suddenly lose themselves under
ground and elude the research of the disappointed inquirer.
There are some men to whom the prospect of a summer, and
in fact a life, so spent has nothing gloomy or forbidding in
it ; Avho, indemnifying themselves by the evening's amuse
ments for the severe application of the morning, are content
to divide their Avhole existence between the two opposite
hemispheres of business and pleasure. To me, if I even took
a greater share in the amusements of London, my time
would appear nearly equally Avasted in both. There are
but two worlds which have any interest for me — the Avorld
of nature and the world of books. I once hoped that Avhat
constitutes the highest enjoyment of my life might also be
the great business of it. At present it scarcely ansAvers
any nobler purpose than that of refr-eshing and invigorating
the mind after an occupation which exhausts the attention
without awakening a single feeling of interest — subjects on
which the highest faculties of the greatest men of all ages
have been unremittingly employed must for the present
fill up my scanty and precious leisure. I suspect you Avill
shake your head at this confession, which would certainly
excite a stare of astonishment or a smile of contempt on
most of the plump and ruddy as well as the long and
care-furrowed faces which meet me in my morning's Avalk
across Lincoln's Inn. You will draw from it no very pro
mising augury of my professional elevation. To say the
truth, the ermine and the mace do not terminate the vista
of my Avaking dreams. When I escape into the regions of
fancy, my airy castles are not framed of any materials
F 2

68 THE FRANCO-SPANISH WAR.
borrowed from the realities Avhich surround me. Perhaps,
however, the object of my hopes and wishes, though less
obvious, is more attainable than that of the crowd in Avhich
I am noAV not so much pressing as pressed forward, an
involuntary and unambitious competitor. Certainly in
ony road to happiness, whenever I am able to diverge into
it from the beaten track, I shall not be in much danger
of being jostled 
" By the by, I suppose your quidnuncs at AluAvick
are almost as busy in conjecture on the event of the
Spanish Avar as they were some eleven or tAvelve years
ago on the French invasion of Russia. It seems as
if the causes of Avar in Europe Avere never to end. For
certainly if any circumstances ever appeared to ensure
a long period of tranquillity, it Avas those Avhich succeeded
the battle of Waterloo. It seemed as if the exhaustion
alone attending so long and violent a struggle Avould have
kept the nations for one generation in repose. And the
peace of the Avorld is broken by our friends the Bourbons ;
scarcely settled on his throne, Louis XVIII., Avhom some
of his friends have supposed to regret his retreat at Hart-
well, begins to form schemes of conquest, and to revive
the plans of Louis XIV. ! I confess that I feel more than
usual interest in the event of this Avar, not only for the
sake of the principles and interests it involves, but on
account of the recollections which its different stages Avill
recall to my mind. Of one circumstance I am firmly con
vinced, that Avhatever success may attend the French arms,
they Avill never be able to restore the dominion of Fer
dinand in any part of the Peninsula which they do not
hold in military occupation ; and that his throne, should
they raise it once more on the ruins of the national
liberty, will rest on the crater of a volcano which sooner or
later will bring it and its supporters into irrevocable ruin.
I am obliged to close the sheet in haste, and indeed I have

THE GREEK PROFESSORSHIP AT CAMBRIDGE, 69
not much more room or matter, if indeed what I have
already written deserves the name."

To Julius Hare, Esq. 19, Southampton Row, May 29th, 1823.
" I have just Avritten to Peacock, who sent me, ex officio,
the information contained in your letter. It is useless to
regret the combination of circumstances which has trans
ferred me from a congenial element into one Avhich can
never be anything but loathsome to me. But I took the
leap, though not motu proprio, yet ex, plena scientia.
" My aversion to the laAv has not increased, as it scarcely
could, from the first day of my initiation in its mysteries.
Moreover, it has me faster in its toils than ever. It is not
a month since I began to drive a quill at a conveyancer's.
" To compare the life I am noAV leading to that which
I should have chosen for myself would be only tormenting.
The loss of the Greek Professorship, however, if I am to
reckon that among the things I have sacrificed by Avith-
drawing from Cambridge, will not greatly embitter my
regret. I hope Monk Avill have a Avorthier successor.*
" I should like to know how long you mean to stay at
Cambridge, and whether you shall be there at the triennial
when our great Apostle will honour us Avith his presence.
I have been expecting the appearance of Lander's Dia
logues, t I suppose they are buried by this time under
three or four more recent strata.
" Let me know when or where I may have a chance of
seeing you."
* Mr. Dobree succeeded Professor Monk in the Regius Professorship of
Greek at Cambridge in 1823.
t Julius Hare edited and brought out W. S. Lander's "Imaginary Con
versations," the author being resident in Italy. Some of them came out in
the Philological Museum.

70 A LAY FELLOWSHIP.
To Julius Hare, Esq. „„,,„„„
Brighton, October 2%th, 1823.
" I met Barnes here the other day, and learnt from him
that applications have been making to the Master for a
long time back for the next Lay felloAvship. I have not
heard of Chambers's felloAvship having been actually
vacated, though I have been expecting to hear of it every
day. " As I do not Avant to lose my chance for Avant of a
timely application, I should be obliged to you to send me
AVord how the case stands, for otherwise the fellowship
may be disposed of before I hear of its being vacant.
Unless it is certain that everybody who wishes for the
felloAVship has applied upon the mere prospect of a vacancy,
I should think it better to Avait till it has taken place. I
only Avant to do Avhat is necessary and usual on these
occasions, as the applying sooner or later will, I should
suppose, have very little effect on the Master's intentions.
I shall be in toAvn in the course of a fortnight, but what
ever information you possess at present on the subject,
direct to me at 50, King's Road, Brighton.
" Hoav are the ' Dialogues ' and Niebuhr going on ? I
have been reading tAvo books lately Avhich have given me
a great deal of jaleasure, and Avhich I think I would re
commend for a place in your next order from Germany.
One is ' Theodor, Eine Bildungs — Geschichte Eines Evan-
gelischen Geistlichen.' It is by Schleiermacher's colleague,
De Wette, but without his name in the title-page (two
little volumes from which I have learnt more than from
anything else I have read for a long time past). The
other is ' Biisching's Vorlesungen iiber die Ritter Zeit.'
Bohte had just received two copies one day as I looked
in, one of which he designed for Sir Walter Scott.
" My cargo arrived, I believe, some three weeks ago,
and I am rather impatient to open it."

marcion' S GOSPEL. 71
To Julius Hare, Esq. 52, Lincoln's-Inn-Fields, May oth, 1824.
" Your valuable packet has reached me. As my design
is to draw up in my leisure hour a sketch of an introduc
tion which I may afterwards fill up as I meet Avith the
books which I shall have occasion to refer to, it Avill not
be of much consequence in what order they come into
my hands. I have inquired for Veysey's book Avithout
success. " The dispute about Marcion seems to me to be of
considerable consequence certainly to Eichhorn's theory,
though Hahn's objections to it, if well founded, Avould be
equally applicable though Marcion and his gospel had
never existed. But I do not at present see how the
decision of this question affects Gieseler's hypothesis, Avhich,
it appears to me, Avill stand equally as well in either case.
Indeed, as his hypothesis is in every respect the very
reverse of Eichhorn's, it would be strange if it derived
confirmation from the same fact Avhich Eichhorn labours to
establish in favour of his. The presumption, howeA'er, is, I
think, strongly in favour of Hahn's opinion. My great
doubt and difficulty at present is as to the possibility and
the manner of reconciling Gieseler with Schleiermacher.*
' ' There is so much appearance of truth in both their
arguments that I should be uiiAvilling to think them in
compatible. And yet I do not clearly see a medium.
" I foresee that I shall have my hands well employed
for the greater part of the summer, especially as I am just
* Eichhorn's theory was, that there existed an "original Gospel" from
which the three synoptic Evangelists drew aU that they have in common,
and that Marcion' s Gospel was derived directly from this. Hahn showed
almost conclusively that Marcion's Gospel was that of St. Luke, altered to
suit his own particular views. Gieseler's hypothesis is, that whatever is
common to the three Gospels is due, not to the existence of an original
Gospel, nor to mutual copying, but to the fact that by the time the Gospels
were written " the apostolic preaching had already clothed itself in a settled
or usual form of words."

72 schleiermacher's " ST. LUKE."
entering into office and Avith a yoke-fellow of most inde
fatigable perseverance. My great consolation is that it is
a Avork of supererogation, and that I am not confined to
time. " The reading of Gieseler's book has redoubled my
interest in the question.
" I Avill see in the course of a fcAV days Avhat materials
I can extract from Plato."

To Julius Hare, Esq. 52, Lincoln' s-Inn-Fields, JiUy 28<A, 1824.
" I believe there Avill be nothing to prevent me from
breaking out of toAvn next Monday, August 2nd, in which
case I shall go down to you by the ' Times.' I leave it to
you to find me a suitable set of rooms to sojourn in.
If you bethink yourself of anything I can do for you before
I leave town send me word.
" I am afraid you will think I have not made so much use
of your books as I ought, for I have as yet done nothing
more than trace in my mind the general plan of my
introduction, and have committed nothing to paper. I
hope, hoAvever, that my stay at Cambridge will produce
some visible fruit. It will, at all events, pretty nearly
determine the amount of the service I shall be able to
render to Schleiermacher's book."

To Julius Hare, Esq. Bowers, near Rayleigh, Essex, October lOM, 1824.
"It is time, I am sorry to say, to inquire about your
motions, as mine will a good deal depend upon them.
" I am particularly anxious to see you when you pass

tieck's poems. 73
through town, and if you will be there any day after the
1 8th I Avill make a point to meet you. But as I should
not otherwise leave the country quite so soon, I shall be
glad if you can send me a line to let me knoAV as nearly as
you can the latest day that you expect to be in town.
" ' Schleiermacher ' Avill by that time be ready for the
press, unless I should find it necessary to copy a fcAV sheets.
You will not probably be much surprised to hear that my
Introduction or Preface, or whatever it is to be called, is
not quite finished. I still want some of the materials.
' Veysey,' I had the mortification to learn, had been sold
about two months when I inquired for it. But I still hope
I may find a copy on my return to town. As I confine
my notice to the works which have appeared since Marsh,
which, in fact, comprehend the wdiole controversy, I
should not like to omit mentioning any book of im
portance, and have therefore sent for one or two which I
daresay will arrive as soon as I want them. I hope,
however, that I shall have dispatched the books I have
borrowed from you, so as to enable you to take them back
with you to Cambridge.
" I should like you to see what I have done, which will
give you a tolerable notion of the whole, and indeed
comprehends some of the most important points. In
the meauAvhile, partly to relieve the dryness of some
of these investigations, and partly to counteract the effect
of too strong a dose of theology, I have filled up some of
my leisure hours with translating those two exquisite
pieces of Tieck's 'die Gemalde,' and 'die Verlobung.' I have
bestowed pains upon them, and though I do not flatter
myself wdth having done full justice to the original, or
overcome all its difficulties, I think, with a few more
touches, they wiU form, even in English, a pretty book.
Direct to me as above by return of post, as I am to send
notice to town of my coming. Pray remember me to Lady

74 schleiermacher's "st. LUKE."
Jones and Augustus, if he is with you. I long to see the
result of your united labours in the good cause."

To Julius Hare, Esq. Bowers, near Rayleigh, Essex, October \^th, 1824.
" . . . . Perhaps you will return to town in the
Christmas vacation in time to see my additions to
' Schleiermacher ' before they go to the press, which is
the thing I most desire, and you Avould then see them in
their finished shape, though probably a great deal the
Avorse for not having met your eye before. See them you
must, at all events. I shall take an early opportunity of
reconveying your books after my return to town, and as
a great deal of what I have to say Avill depend upon what
I find and do there, I shall put it all off till then. I only
Avrite now in hopes of saving you a part of the day which
you have been kind enough to reserve for me, and which
I am unlucky enough to lose.
" Could you ascertain before you leave tOAvn Avhether
Taylor Avould like to publish Tieck's ' Novellen ' ? I
believe I cannot very well avoid offering the other bar
gain to Whittaker, as there is a sort of family acquaint
ance betAveen us, and he has often expressed a wish to
publish something of mine. If you have an opportunity
of seeing Taylor on the subject, you can send a line to
Lin coin' s-Inn-Fields. ' '

To Julius Habe, Esq. 52, Lincoln's-Inn-Fields, October Slst, 1824.
"... Of the ' Schleiermacher ' nobody certainly has so
good a right to dispose as yourself, to whom I am indebted
both for the knowledge of the book itself and for almost

tieck's poems. 75
all the materials of my Introduction. I found Taylor at
home, and as he was going into the country in a day or
two I sent him my manuscript of the ' Novellen,' though
a part of it was not in the state in which I should other
wise have wished to produce it. He Avas obliged, however,
to leave town for a few days last Monday, and when I
called upon him after his return on Thursday I found that
he had only read about a quarter of the first novel (I sup
pose I must not call them novelles ?). I -wa,s not much sur
prised to observe that the impression he received was not
the most favourable.
" The dialogue predominated more than he seemed to
expect, and he remarked that discussions on the arts did
not excite so much interest here as they seemed to do in
Germany ; and as in this precise part my translation bore
a great many more traces of the original than I meant it
to retain, he very naturally began to augur ill of the
whole. I am not sure, indeed, that his objection will be
quite removed even when he has finished them both,
though he will perhaps then begin to suspect at least, if
he does not clearly see, that there is not in either a single
speech or sentence which is superfiuous even to the narra
tive, and which is not indispensable either to the develop
ment of character or to the progress of the tale. Still, as
the subject of the first is not certainly one of universal
interest, and many of the touches which constitute the
greatest beauty of both are so fine that they may fre
quently escape observation, even should they be happily
rendered, I am not very sanguine of success. And in
deed 7" should be quite content Avith a limited circle of
readers 
" I have got Paulus's ' Commentar,' with an additional
volume containing the first part of his St. John. I should
have been much better pleased to have seen Liicke. His
' Essays in the Conservatorium ' I have found very useful.

76 the introduction to " SCHLEIERMACHER."
and as I shall still have occasion to consult it I have kept
it till my copy arrives. If however, you have any need
of it I wiU take a note or two, and send it down to you
immediately. Of all the rest I have, I think, extracted
the essence. It may, perhaps, appear rather too con
densed, but as I have still a good many points to discuss,
and what I have written will, I think, fill upA^^ards of fifty
pages, I shall not be able to give it a greater expansion
without swelling the Introduction to an unreasonable size.
Its present contents are an examination of the question of
inspiration — a critique of Marsh, of Eichhorn (in Avhich I
have discussed at some length the question of Marcion's
Gospel), of Gratz, and of Gieseler. The latter I have
studied A^ery attentively, and have at last satisfied myself
upon the most material points. As to the question of
inspiration, I have thought it better to take it up at the
point AA'here it was left by Marsh and his critics. I do
not know whether there are still people capable of reading
the book Avho have not yet reached that point. If there
are, I do not wish to disturb their prejudices. You see by
this that I have still a good deal to do. Taylor said that
the printing of ' Schleiermacher ' would take betAveen two
and three months, and as I wish to state nothing upon
the authority of others Avithout examining for myself that
time will, Avith the little leisure I have, not be at all more
than I shall probably require. I am much obliged to you
for leaving me Weber's pamphlet ; it contains useful mate
rials ; the argument is well stated, and one or two points I
had not seen elsewhere. I am regretting that in my last
order I did not send for Schmidt's 'Einleitung.' I believe
you have not it. Schleiermacher speaks of Schmidt in his
letter to Gass on the first Epistle to Timothy in the
highest terms of praise. By the way, whenever you are
disposed to enjoy a very rich critical treat and to see a
spurious work completely detected, read that letter  "

PUBLICATION OF "SCHLEIERMACHER." 77
To Julius Hare, Esq. 52, Linooln's-Inn-Fields, November 1st, 1824.
" I had just come in for the purpose of Avriting to you
when I received your parcel. The enclosed one shall be
forwarded to-night to the coach-office. I had intended (as
you will, I suppose, have observed) the letter enclosed with
your books Avhich I sent off this morning for the post,
having forgotten that the Post Office in London is never
guilty of a breach of the Sabbath. I have been spending
almost all the morning with Taylor. He had not yet
finished the second Novelle, but Avhat he had read had
produced the natural impression of delight and admiration
which I thought it could not fail to make. He also liked
the ' Schleiermacher ' very much, and Avill send it imme
diately to the press. He gives me a hundred guineas for it,
which I think a sufficiently liberal offer on his part, and as
I shall have spent nearly half the money in collecting
materials, not an extravagant compensation for me. The
plan of the Athenceum is very tempting, though I am
afraid I shall not be able to make much use of it. Still I
think I can hardly decline so fiattering an ofier.
" When I was at Cambridge, and looldng into Eich
horn's ' Bibliothek,' I neglected to compare his article on
the Urevangelium, in the fifth volume, with his Einleitung.
I should like to know Avhether the former contains any
account of the early Gospels, or, in fact, anything besides
the analysis and the statement of his first hypothesis. I
want to knoAv nothing more than the general heads. I
shall be excessiA'ely glad of Veysey, though I am not
advising anybody to commit felony for my sake. My
books seem to be dropping in by driblets. I have just
received an ascetical treatise of Tauler, which at some
future time will probably prove very edifying."

78 tieck's POEMS.

To Julius Hare, Esq. 62, Lincoln's-Inn-Fields, November 12th, 1824.
" I must tell you an amusing fact, though I have nothing
else to communicate. When I Avrote to you last I had left
Taylor apparently very much delighted Avith the half of the
' Verlobung ' which he had read — an impression Avhich I
thought would not be weakened at least by the remainder.
He told me he had some friends coming to him the next
day, and among them a religious lady, to Avhose case he
thought some things in the novel Avere very applicable. If
I had no objection he Avould entertain the company by
reading it to them. I A^'as, of course, perfectly willing.
About a Aveek after I received from him a parcel containing
the MS. and a note, in Avhich he expressed his regret at
being obliged to inform me ' that for particular reasons,
which would have no weight with me, he Avould rather not
publish the German stories. He nevertheless considered
them as very ingenious compositions, and of a class which
would succeed admirably if attempted by an English
writer.' As he made this communication Avith a reluctance
which showed that he was apprehensive he might be
hurting my feelings by it, I called on him the next day
to relieve him from all uneasiness on my account, and "at
the same time to ascertain one point which his language
still left ambiguous. After assuring him that I was not
even surprised by the intelligence conveyed in his note
(which, although I certainly did not expect it, was really
the case), I begged to know Avhether his motive for
declining the publication Avas that he thought the work
unsaleable, or whether he had any other. He assured me
that it was solely a conscientious one. He had received
and imparted a great deal of pleasure at the public reading
of the novel, but the result of his OAvn reflections and the
suggestions of his friends was that he should be doing an

tieck's poems. 79
injury to the cause of godliness by publishing it. I Avas
too much delighted Avith this practical illustration of Tieck
to make the slightest attempt to shake Taylor's determina
tion. We had a good deal of conversation about that and
other subjects, apparently agreeing most cordially upon
them all, and parted the best friends in the Avorld, as
indeed he is a very amiable man, whom nobody can fail to
like and esteem. This incident certainly has not induced
me to abandon all thoughts of publishing my translation,
though I shall let it lie by for the present..
" ' Schleiermacher ' is to be printed on the same scale
with 'Lander.' It will make, I suppose, about 500 pages.
I have not yet been able to meet Avith Conybeare. If I
find it necessary to take notice of him he will come in
quite at the end. I have been attempting to read Theile,
but it is the longest book I have yet opened on the
subject, and I despair of getting to the end of it.
" You hinted some time ago at coming to town some
day this month. If you do, let me know if you can before
hand, that I may keep myself at liberty."

To Julius Hare, Esq. November 26th, 1824.
" I have been waiting some days in the expectation
of being able to let you know whether my translation
of Tieck is destined to see the light. I think it most
probably will, though I am not yet absolutely certain 
" I have been correcting the first sheet of Schleier
macher, which Avill now, I hope, proceed Avithout inter
ruption. I believe Ave shall put thirty lines in the page,
though in the sheet they sent me, owing to some mistake,
there are only twenty-eight. I mention this that you may
not be surprised if it is sent to you, for I told Taylor I

80should be glad if he could let you see it. If you do, let
me have the benefit of your opinion, and also of any
alterations that may occur to you. In the page you saw
three of the places you marked Avere, as you probably
supposed, typographical blunders. In the other tAvo I
have not thought it advisable to make any alteration, for
the foUoAving reasons. I had originally translated ' der
Zusammenhang im Ganzen ' as you suggest, but it after-
Avards appeared to me, as it does now, that the original
Avords themselves Avould be ambiguous and vague if they
Avere not defined and explained by the context, and to
that the expression ' in general ' seems to me to refer more
distinctly by its contrast to that Avhich follows ' in the
details ' than the mere epithet ¦ general.' I Avas much
annoyed at not being able to render ' Zusammenhang ' here
by a single equivalent Avord. Your other remark about
softening the doubt expressed by Schleiermacher as to the
authenticity of Matthew's Gospel is of more consequence.
But I think you will find that in his comparisons of Luke
and the other tw^o he betrays very evidently his doubt as
to that fact, and indeed that some of his conclusions are
hardly admissible if it be considered as unquestionable,
and therefore this seems necessary to prepare the reader
for an impartial examination. Besides, the suppression of
it is a liberty Avhich I feel a scruple in taking.
" I noAV want your opinion on one point. Some of the
allusions to Paulus Avill be obscure, I am afraid, unless
they are explained. If this is necessary, where is it to be
done ? In the introduction there will be no fit place for
such remarks. If they are added in the shape of notes at
the end, will it not seem strange to add to such a work
only five or six short notes ? Yet any further commen
tary is quite out of the question  "

"a layman's leter." 81
[In reference to a pamphlet entitled "A Layman's Letter
to the Author of the 'Trial of the Witnesses.'" It consisted
of four letters, written by Augustus and Julius Hare in
defence of the Gospel narrative of the Resurrection. See
Professor Plumptre's Introductory Memoir in " Guesses at
Truth," p. xviii.]
To Julius Hare, Esq. 62, Lincoln's-inn-Fields, November 29tJi, 1824.
" I have to thank you for two or three hours spent very
much to my satisfaction over the 'Layman's.' I received,
perhaps by mistake, four copies instead of two. One I
have deUvered to Starr, and the remainder, if you have no
directions to give about them, I will endeavour to dis
pose of to the best advantage.
" Well, the united force of the two Universities has
produced a very interesting, instructive, and convincing
pamphlet as far as argument on these subjects can con
vince and somewhat further. The Oxford Layman's letters
seem to me written in the vein of Tertullian. At least
they have reminded me more than anything else of the
leading features of the controversial style of that poArorful
polemic, but with considerable advantages on the side of
the modern. His arguments are as fine, and they are of
firmer temper ; his sarcasm is as strong, and it is softened
by a great deal more of the spirit of charity than com
monly breathes through the disputations of the old Hsere-
simach. Never, certainly, Avas unhappy abortion more
completely despatched, demoHshed, strangled, or smothered.
Augustus may Avell exclaim, as Epiphanius is wont to do
at the conclusion of a heresy, ' Noav, by the grace of God I
have crushed this amphisbsena, let us now with the divine
assistance proceed to attack another scolopendra, &c.'
" I think at the same time that some of the orthodox
persons who will most highly approve of the design of the

82 schleiermacher's "st. LUKE."
Avork Avill stare a good deal at some passages, and shake
their Avigs and be rather at a loss Avhat to make of their
unknoAvn ally. Nobody, certainly, will Avish the fourth
letter shorter or in a different place. It has the effect of
allaying whatever excitement of a passionate kind might
be produced by the foregoing three, while it gives them a
firm foundation, and at the same time forms an appro
priate transition and preparation for that delightful con
clusion. There is a point or two in it on which I have
some doubts ; I am not satisfied as to the force of the
argument, which seems to imply that there were apocryphal
Gospels in existence anterior to our four.
" Now, all the inquiry I have been able to make on
the subject has impressed me with the conviction that
we know of no Gospel earlier than our own, and that all
of which the names have been preserved to us are later
than the end of the first century. The only objection I
am aware of to this opinion is the IIoAXoi of Luke, which
has always perplexed me very much.
" I know of only two ways of explaining it : either by
supposing that some complete Gospels existed when Luke
Avrote of Avhich the very names have been since entirely
lost, or that Luke referred to the compilations which
Schleiermacher supposes. But I must not get on these
topics now. What reason have you for supposing the
ancient manuscripts to have been commonly so gigantic as
you represent them ? Were they not sometimes in the
form of a modern book only rolled round their axis ?
" Schleiermacher's doubt about Matthew is now irrevo
cable, and if it is likely to do mischief I hardly know how
to remedy it. I had not intended in the Introduction to
notice any of the details of the book except as far as they
may enter into my discussions. But even if I should find
an opportune place for touching upon this subject, or, not
finding, should make one, I am afraid I should be in

schleiermacher's "st lukd." 83
danger of making matters worse. The doubt is evident,
and cannot be explained away. I am not disposed to
undertake the vindication of MatthcAv's Gospel, nor Avoukl
that be the way to save Schleiermacher's credit. On the
other hand, much as I respect him, I do not think myself
bound to make any attempt to justify his suspicion, though
I share it with him at the expense of our delightful
Gospel. " Thank you for suggesting a word for Verlobung,
though I am afraid I must not venture to utter a new one
when the dictionaries have supplied me with one already.
And yet God knows with what reluctance I have put at
the head of that lovely tale such an awkward, heavy,
drawling combination of sounds as ' Betrothment.' If any
thing better and not too bold occurs to you before it is
too late let me have it, for a title is of some importance."

To Julius Hare, Esq. 62, Lincoln's-Inn-Fields, November ZOth, 1824.
" . . . . Whittaker says German tales are now the rage,
and he wishes to take the benefit of the mania while it
lasts. And so I have sent off my MS. to the printers this
morning. I feel there ought to be a Preface, and probably
shall prefix something, though you know that fully to
explain the two novels Avould require a book larger than
themselves. On looking over Schleiermacher I have the
satisfaction to find that he fully justifies his doubt as to
Matthew, and that no one who reads him through Avill
charge him with having thrown out a random paradox.
This, perhaps, I may have an opportunity of noticing in the
Introduction  "

G 2

84 PUBLICATION OF THE TWO TRANSLATIONS.
To W. J. Bayne, Esq., Edinburgh. 52, Lincoln's-Inn-Fields, Easter Sunday, 1825.
" I am conscious that my long silence must seem to you
inexcusable  And I must therefore let you into a
little secret, which, otherwise, I should not have communi
cated quite so soon. I have been engaged in addition to my
ordinary occupations (which as I shall now be called to the
Bar in about tAvo months I could not wholly suspend) in
sending two little works to the press. They are both
translations, but one of them will receive some additions
of my own Avhich have cost me more time than I had
imagined when I undertook the task they could possibly
do, and hence I have been obliged to defraud the law of a
part of the time I used to allot to it, for which I must
make up by redoubled application when I am once more at
liberty. Neither of the two publications has yet appeared,
and therefore I Avill not say anything more about them now,
and as they will be anonymous you need not mention
Avhat I have been saying to any one. My labours are not
yet at an end, but Easter has brought with it an involuntary
pause. Notwithstanding this extraordinary occupation, I
still take some shame for not having answered you sooner ;
but really time flies so fast when the attention is distracted
by a great variety of calls upon it, that till I looked again
at the date of your letter I did not think my delay had
been so long as it has 
" Unless you find the bad qualities of the atmosphere
counterbalance all the advantages of Edinburgh, I confess I
envy you your residence there. To a single man, who is
not quite satisfied with animal enjoyments, nothing can
compensate for the total absence of beautiful forms, either
natural or artificial, in the neighbourhood where he lives.
Books cannot continually divert a man's mind from the
realities around him, and if he happens to be endoAved Avith

LEISURE EARNED BY TOIL. 85
a tolerable perception of beauty in nature or art, to be
confined to a place where this sense can scarcely ever be
gratified is really a melancholy thing. With respect to
domestic happiness certainly all places are alike ; for those
who seek only gain or what is called pleasure, or even
perhaps literary intercourse, there cannot be a better
than London, but for one constituted and situated as I am,
it certainly is the dullest capital in the civilised world.
You Avere very right and wise in resolving to cling to your
profession as long as you can, and I do not see Avhy
anything should force you from it. Health, of course, is
the object of first importance to which every other must
be postponed ; but this is only a motive for regulating your
medical studies by your internal feelings, and sacrificing to
the latter the seeming advantage of close application, but
not for abandoning the profession altogether. This, I should
think, as long as your health permits you to pursue any
studies at all, can never be absolutely necessary, and cer
tainly a very obvious necessity ought to appear before you
deprive yourself of what will infallibly become a means of ex
tensive and constantly increasing usefulness and happiness,
for so very precarious a source of enjoyment as college leisure
earned by no previous exertion and filled by no one great
and useful pursuit. I certainly say this without prejudice,
being at this moment heartily sick of London, and having
fresh in my recollection a most delightful fortnight which
I spent last long vacation at Cambridge, and looking
forward with eager longing to next summer, when I hope
to spend a month in the same way. But to expect to
enjoy leisure without toil (that is Avithout a fixed and forced
occupation) is as great a delusion as to think of enjoying a
feast without hunger  "

86 THE GREEK PROFESSORSHIP AT CAMBRIDGE.
To W. J. Bayne, Esq. BoAVERS, near Rayleigh, October 2nd, 1825.
" I am extremely obliged to you for conveying to me
the information which I probably should not have received
by any other channel for a long time to come. At the
same time I think it highly improbable that the event you
mention can at all affect my future prospects  The
only motive that could justify me to myself in changing
my present pursuit for another A^^ould be the hope of find
ing in the ncAV sphere opportunities of more useful exertion.
Otherwise I should not feel easy amidst all the enjoyments
of a college life. My great objection to the law in this
respect is that all the labour and all the ability I bring to
it are utterly Avasted and useless to society. I learn only
AA^hat others know, and I do only what if I were not in
being there would be hundreds to do just as well. The
number of candidates for employment in the profession is
so great that their competition has ceased to produce any
advantage to society. As to any improvement, theoretical
or practical, that law as a science or an art is capable of
receiving, I know too well the turn of my own mind and
the measure of my powers to believe that I am destined to
produce any. This conviction would render me veryopen
to temptation from any opportunity of exerting myself in
some way more peculiarly suited to myself and therefore
more useful to others. But as to the precise station which
poor Dobree has left vacant, I should feel very great doubt
in occupying it whether I were not doing more harm than
good. At least I should be quite sure that it might have
been much better filled by another man.* .... I am
now getting up some law for the Chelmsford Quarter
Session, Avhich opens the 18 th of this month, till when I
shall be very sufficiently employed  "
* Mr. Scholefield succeeded Professor Dobree in the Regius Professorship
at Cambridge in 1825.

SELECTION OF A FRENCH LIBRARY. 87

To W. J. Bayne, Esq 62, LiNOOLN's-lNir-FiELDs, April Uth, 1826.
" Nothing but engagements to which I am now forced
to make all others give way would have prevented me from
answering your letter as soon as I received it. I had been
anxious for one from you for a long time, and it gave me
very great entertainment ; but it reached me just as I was
on the point of starting on one of my professional excur
sions, and I have been campaigning either at Assizes or
Sessions till within these few days, and this is the first
evening I have since had to myself I wish it was in my
power to repay you in anything but thanks for the amuse
ment you have afforded me. But you know that in Lon
don there is never anything new but Avhat you see in the
papers. The last thing that enlivened us was the "panic; "
that is now grown stale, though the blackness which then
gathered on all faces on 'Change is not yet removed. One
of its bad effects has been to give political economy a
greater preponderance than ever in our literature, for a
person is ashamed, and indeed is hardly fit, to appear in
society without a theory respecting the cause of our mer
cantile convulsions.
" You could hardly have applied to one less competent
than myself to direct you in the selection of a French
library. You know, I believe, that I have always attached
little, possibly too little, value to the French literature,
Avhich is generally either overrated or depreciated in this
country. All I can do is to give you a few very general
hints on the subject. If I were forming the collection you
propose to make, I should endeavour, in the first place, to
acquire the works of the principal chroniclers, biographers,
and poets who have given a picture of the nation during
the ages of chivalry and the continuance of the feudal
system — neither of which long survived the reign of

88 SELECTION OF A FRENCH LIBRAEY.
Louis XI. Of these I cannot pretend to give you a list.
But the works of Joinville, Brantome, and the biographers
of Bayard and Duguesclin will immediately occur to you.
The notes of Sainte-Palage to his Memoires sur la Cheva-
lerie Avill supply the names of many others, and Avill pro
bably suggest to you the great utility which may be
derived for this purpose from the Fabliaux and old
romances, both in prose and verse. The next interesting
point is to observe the transition from the feudal system
and chivalrous habits to the absolute despotism of Louis
XIV. and the unbridled licentiousness of the Regency.
For this end you must collect as many as you can of the
historians and biographers who flourished in the interval
between Louis XI. and XV., always directing your especial
attention to the contemporary writers, Philippe de Comines,
Sully, Retz, &c. These Mimoires grow more numerous
every century — you must choose the best, not neglecting
the great historians Du Thou, M^zeray, &c. Now occurs
that singular phenomenon, the literature of the French
Augustan age. Here nobody wants directions. I would
only remind you particularly not to omit Bossuet whatever
he may cost. The next epoch is the Revolution, compris
ing the events out of which it grew. For the outline of
this it may be worth while to procure some general his
tory (I do not believe there is any good one). The most
valuable details you will find in the Memoires of the prin
cipal actors, from which also you will get the best account
of Napoleon's reign and fall. But there is still left a very
important part of French literature A^'hich is absolutely
necessary for every one Avho wishes to understand the
present state and the future prospects of the nation. This
is composed of the works of a class of writers who have
been called up by the reaction which followed the Revolu
tion, and who are accused of wishing to restore the old
regime. There are among them several men of very great

SELECTION OF A FRENCH LIBRARY. 89
genius and reasoning powers. I should particularly recom
mend Fievee Bonald and Le Maistre. Chateaubriand and
La Mennais I can only mention.
" These will bring you down to the age in which Ave
live. The first part of this collection Avill cost you the
most trouble and money, but it will, I think, well repay
both. The later writers you Avill find at very moderate
prices in the new editions of the French classics. By the
by ! Shade of Voltaire ! I had nearly forgotten the
revolutionary literature. This, of course, you will not
neglect, and I need only observe that Diderot is as essen
tial in this as Bossuet in that of Louis XIV.
" I suppose you know that the next Cambridge election
is expected to produce a warm contest. Lord Palmerston
is the only candidate favourable to the Catholics. Hare
has just taken orders  I only mention these facts
because you spoke of the dearth of news you experience at
Paris. Let me hear from you soon. Adieu ! "

CHAPTER IV.
CAMBRIDGE. 1827  1833.
Goes into Residence at Trinity— Ordination — Translation of Niebuhr's " His
tory of Kome" — "A Vindication of Niebuhr" — The Philological
Museum — College and Clerical Work — Letters on : — His Change of
Profession — Visit of Schleiermacher — Keightley's "Mythology" —
Attacks of the Quarterly and Edinburgh if^fiiJM's— Projected Revision of
the Liturgy — Church Eeform — The Indifference to Philology in Eng
land — Claims of the Dissenters.
In 1827 Thirlwall quitted for ever the "brawling courts
and dusty purlieus of the law," and went into residence at
Trinity. He was ordained Deacon in the same year, on
his fellowship, by Bishop Sparke, of Ely ; and Priest in
the next year by Bishop Gray, of Bristol. His return to
Cambridge Avas also marked by the commencement, in
conjunction with his friend Hare, of the translation of
Niebuhr's " History of Rome." This translation played
an important part in opening a new method of historical
study to English scholars. The first volume appeared early
in 1828, and a second edition of it was called for and
published in 1830. It was bitterly attacked in the
reviews, notably in the Quarterly — so much so that in 1829
an answer was published by J. C. Hare, in a pamphlet
called "A Vindication of Niebuhr," &c. A postscript was
annexed to it signed "C. T.," in which Thirlwall took his full
share of the implied blame. He declared that there was
" nothing inconsistent with their profession in giving pub
licity to a historical work containing two or three specula
tions not sanctioned by the most approved commentators

COLLEGE WORK. 91
on the first ten chapters of Genesis." It would have been
pitiful ostentation to have placed on record their rigid
orthodoxy by entering a protest against questionable
passages. The reviewer had said, " Pity that such talents
should be wasted on the drudgery of translation." Thirl
wall took exception to the term. " Intellectual labour
voluntarily undergone for the purpose of communicating
to others what has excited feelings of the warmest dehght
and admiration in ourselves appears to me no fit subject
either for shame or regret." The second volume was pub
lished in 1832.
In 1831 Hare and Thirlwall started the publication of
the Philologiccd Museum with the object of forwarding
" the knowledge and the love of ancient literature." It
" shared the usual transitory fate of such learned periodi
cals, but during the period of its existence it furnished
ihore solid additions to English literature and scholarship
than any other of the kind that has appeared." * Thirl
wall contributed several essays to it, the one " On the
Irony of Sophocles " being a " masterpiece of philosophical
criticism." The journal ran through six numbers and
lived till 1833.
All this literary labour was carried on amid a full share
of college and clerical work. From 1827 till 1832 Thirl
wall filled the various college offices of Junior Bursar, Head
Lecturer, and Junior Dean. In 1828, 1829, 1832, and
1834 his name appears as one of the Examiners in the
newly instituted Classical Tripos. In 1832, Avhen Hare
left Cambridge for Hurstmonceaux, Thirlwall succeeded him
as Assistant Tutor. In this capacity ho gave classical
lectures to the undergraduates on Whewell's " side."
Like Hare he took Aristotle, and delivered tAvo courses on
the Ethics and the Politics. They were of the most
* See Dean Stanley's Memoir of Julius Hare prefixed to the "Victory of
Faith." Ed. Prof. Plumptre.

92 CLERICAL WORK.
exhaustive and elaborate kind, and notes of them are still
extant. His lecture room was always crowded, among his
audience being Lushington, Thompson, and all the rising
young classics of the time.
There is an entry in the Conclusion Book at Trinity dated
April 19, 1829: "That Mr. Thirlwall be recommended
to the Bishop of Ely for the sequestration of Over." This
place, which is a village about eight miles from Cambridge,
was then without a vicarage house, and Thirlwall under
took the charge of it for some time and diligently performed
its duties. Some of his friends used occasionally to ride out
from Cambridge to hear him preach. He had resigned
this charge before his appointment to the assistant tutor
ship. In 1834 came the great controversy about the admission
of the Dissenters to degrees, which is described at length a
little farther on.

To John Thirlwall, Esq. October 6th, 1827.
" .... I remember that some time back, in noticing
my retirement from what is called active life to a quieter
scene, you expressed your regret that the change, if made
at all, was not made sooner. In so thinking you no doubt
share a very general opinion, and one which, so far as it is
general, is also my own. For I am perfectly willing to
admit that a long fiuctuation in the choice of a profession
always implies something wrong or unfortunate in the
individual or the society, or both. Which is the case in
the present instance it is not for me to determine. But I
see no impropriety in making two or three remarks which
may perhaps tend to diminish your regret, whether it
relate to what has happened or to the time of its happening.

CHANGE OF PROFESSION. 93
The first is that the change which has taken place in my
pursuits is much more nominal than real. It is great,
perhaps, in the eyes of the world ; from my own point of
view it is one, not of substance, but merely of circumstances
and accidents. My own inclinations and convictions as to
the kind of occupations for which I am formed, and in which
alone I take interest, have never undergone any alteration.
I cannot remember the time when I felt a different wish
or ambition from that which now possesses me. But the
mode in which I might best gratify my inclinations, and
might lay out myself and my faculties to the greatest
advantages, is a point on which I have certainly been long
doubtful, and have more than once changed my mind.
Nor is this, I think, all the circumstances considered, a
thing very much to be wondered at, or to be violently
censured. Society possesses tAvo or three strong, stiff
frames, in which all persons of liberal education Avho need
or desire a fixed place and specific designation must con
sent to be set. Which of these frames is the best adapted
to the nature of the individual, and allows him the largest
and most commodious room for exerting his powers for his
own and the public good, is a question not in every
instance very easy to determine. Fortunate, indeed, are
they to A^'hom it presents no difficulty, Avhen the prompti
tude of decision arises from clearness of conviction and not
from the absence of thought. But, on the other hand, it
is not always just to attribute even a long fluctuation to
levity or caprice. I must further observe that the parti
cular change which has led to these remarks is of no very
uncommon occurrence, but one of which I could produce a
great number of examples ancient and modern. I may
mention the late Dr. Parr as one in which nothing but the
peculiar character of the individual prevented it from being
of considerable advantage to the public. This, however, is
accidental. What is more to the purpose is, that I see no

94 TRANSLATION .OF NIEBUHr's " HISTORY."
reason for Avishing that the change had taken place sooner.
I am not sure that I could have employed my past time
more profitably (by Avhich I do not mean either more
pleasantly or more lucratively) than I have done. And I
am very sure that there is much less harm and danger in
deferring than in precipitating all irrevocable steps. I do
not perceive that in consequence of the delay I am belated
or disqualified for any useful purpose ; and I think I have
gained by it a clearer insight into the nature of the ground
I have to tread than I could have done by any other
means. " One of the things which inclines me to look with com
placency at the particular epoch of this change of profes
sion is, that if it had occurred at any other time, earlier
or later, I should in all probability never have been
engaged in what will perhaps be the most useful labour of
my life, the work about which you express your curiosity
in your last letter. In anticipating its usefulness I do not
mean to express an expectation that it will ever be a
popular AVork, that is, that the number of readers who will
understand and enjoy it will at least for a long time be
very great ; for in this respect, notAvithstanding the atten
tion that has been drawn to it, it may very possibly share
the fate of my other literary attempts ; but I do trust that
the effect it produces will, hoA^'ever confined in extent, be
deep and salutary. As to its condition and progress,
when I left Cambridge about one quarter of the volume
had been printed. Unless some unforeseen obstacle inter
vene, I believe it will be published soon after Christmas.
The concert with the author Avhich you have seen an
nounced in the advertisements Avill, I hope, afford us some
peculiar advantages in the course of the work, but I do
not expect that it will produce any effect on the first
volume. This is owing to accidents Avhich prevented us
from opening any direct communication with the author

VISIT OF SCHLEIERMACHER. 95
in time to turn it to account. But this is not the point
on which the superiority of our translation over that of
the first edition will depend. It is the difference between
the two originals, between a first outline and a finished
work, that will principally distinguish the two translations.
So far as the translators themselves are concerned there
will be the difference between one pair of eyes and two, a
difference greater than any one who has never been himself
conversant Avith these tasks can imagine. Some utterly
groundless rumours have been industriously propagated
about the book, for the chance of the effect they may
produce before its appearance, which will instantly expose
their falsehood  "

To John Thirlwall, Esq. Enfield Highway, July 23rd, 1829.
" .... It would undoubtedly have been most natural
and proper that on my return to Cambridge from the North
I should have written to you immediately to inform you
of my arrival ; and probably I should have done so but for
the following circumstances. I found at Cambridge among
several letters which required answers one by which I learnt
that a very distinguished foreigner. Dr. Schleiermacher, of
Berlin, a person whom of all others in the Avorld I had
ahvays been most desirous of seeing and knoAving, Avas then
in London, and meant during his stay in England to visit
Cambridge, and that he had expressed a wish to become
acquainted with me. I lost no time in proceeding to toA\'n,
Avhere I found him, and accompanied him to Cambridge,
Avhich I left again for London in order to hear him preach
there. All this took up some time, and for a good j
Avhile drove everything else completely out of my
head 

96 keightley's "mythology."
" .... I beheve this [a tour in Ireland] will be the
last excursion I shall be able to make for tAVO or three
years ; for at least so long I expect to be confined to
Cambridge by some literary engagements which Avill allow
me no interruption. I have also taken the charge of a
church in the neighbourhood, so that I am almost afraid I
shall have too much on my hands  "

[In reference to Mr. Keightley's " Mythology of Ancient
Greece and Italy."]
To Thomas Keightlby, Esq. Trinity College, May 16th, 1831.
"I congratulate j^ou on having opened to English students
an entirely new field of knowdedge and thought, and I hope
that you will be rewarded by seeing your work very soon
supersede and banish from our shelves all the miserable com
pilations on the same subject by which our literature has been
so long disgraced, and one of the most captivating and fruitful
of studies has been rendered generally disgusting to young
minds and contempjtible to the more mature. Your book
is one of those Avhich encourage me to hope that the next
generation will be much wiser than our oAvn. As it will,
it is to be hoped, pass through several editions, I cannot
better show my gratitude for the honour you have done me
than by directing your attention to some points where I
think it may still be improved. I do not mean to enter
into a discussion of questions on Avhich I differ from you
in your general vicAvs, because that could not be done
without explaining my OAvn, for Avhich I have no room here
and shall probably find opportunities elsewhere. I must,
however, just observe that I cannot help feehng some
compassion for the fallen fortunes of the Egyptians and
Phcenicians. Once the greatest powers in the realm of

keightley's "mythology." 97
Greek mythology, and allowed to give away the principal
places, they are now banished and outlawed ; the
Egyptians confined within their own valley, the PhQ3nicians
closely watched and prevented from landing on the shores
of Greece. An attempt has even been made lately in our
cyclopoedias to deprive them of a large part of their foreign
commerce. For these reverses in their affairs they have
certainly to blame the injudicious zeal of old Creuzer more
than any one person besides. They are now suffering from
the violent reaction which was the natural consequence of
the temporary success they obtained through his impostures.
But while I admit that Voss and Lobeck Avere very
justifiable in the severity with which they have treated that
arch^mystifier whose book is one of the most provoking
that ever was written, I cannot forget that they are
polemical writers, and have done much more in the Avay of
exploding errors than in the way of establishing truth.
And I think when party heats have subsided, it Avill be
generally admitted that the early intercourse between
Greece and Asia produced more considerable efiect on the
mythology of the former than they and their school are
willing to admit 
" The theory you have unfolded has been long so
familiar to me that I Avas startled to hear it called a
hypothesis, only I do not see any reason for- supposing that
man gradually became a polytheist by losing his original
loiowledge of one God. This, indeed, is a hypothesis, and
one which seems to me irrelevant in a survey of a national
mythology, unless there are any facts which cannot be
explained without it. But this is so far from being the
case here, that one rather misses a proof that the facts are
reconcilable with such a hypothesis, and that the process
which you so happily describe would still be the same in a
society where a monotheistic creed was co-existing but
gradually losing ground. In developing the history of
H

98 keightley's " mythology."
mythology you collect instances Avhich illustrate the
composition of heroic genealogies, but some further steps
are wanting to bring us to a myth. As to Coeur de Lion,
it must be ifpmembered that Samson and David sIcav their
lions and bears though they took no titles from them. I
do not understand how you conceive the origin of Hyacinthia
to be immediately connected with the fiower ; if this were
so we should expect to hear of more than this single
festival called by similar names. On the other hand,
Hyacinthus appears to me to belong to a large class of
mythical persons, and his connection with the flower to
have been merely accidental. At all events, a more
appropriate example of the proposition would be desirable
to learners 
" If the legend of Psyche became popular, this
was owing to the poets and artists who took the hint
from the philosophers. But the true philosophical myths
were scarcely known out of the school. I see no great
objection to speaking of personifications of the sea and the
sun, &c. I understand by it that act of the mind by which
the attention is withdrawn from the real sensible object,
and is fixed upon an invisible imaginary person to whom
attributes and operations are ascribed, resembling those
which belong properly to the object 
" The remark of Herodotus shows no partiahty for the
system of representing the gods as deified mortals. Wolfs
argument is stated fairly enough, but I cannot consider it
so conclusive as you seem to do, and, indeed, several ofthe
grounds you lay stress on are clearly untenable. He admits,
on the evidence of Herodotus, that the lonians used skins
for writing before they imported the papyrus, so that it
could not have been the want of materials that prevented
them from making volumes. Their preference ofthe more
convenient material when they became acquainted with it
cannot prove that the less commodious had been but a short

keightley's "mythology." 99
time in use ; in fact, the contrarj' is implied in their
retaining the old name. It seems probable that as soon as
they had estabhshed a friendly intercourse with the inland
barbarians they found them in possession of such manu
scripts, and I have sometimes been inclined to suspect that
it was in this way they acquired their alphabet. But, at
least, the time Avhen parchment was manufactured cannot
affect the question ; it was, no doubt, a more elegant
instrument than the old skins — though the Persians Avere
content with these for centuries — but was not cheaper or
more abundant. As little can I assent to your argument
drawn from the difficulty of keeping the plan of the
poem (which, according to your view, is not one of any
wonderful art) in the mind's eye. At the utmost this
would only be an objection if the work were held to be a
mere creation of the poet's fancy, Avhich I do not believe
anybody now supposes. As to the plurality of Homers,
the burden of proof clearly hes on the negative side, and if
eighteen books of the Iliad are allowed to belong to the
same age it Avill be very difficult to show cause why they
should not have been the work of one person. Even your
illustrations carry us no further than a possibility  "

To Monsieur Bunsen. Trinity College, Cambridge, November 21st, 1831.
" I seize an opportunity which very rarely offers itself
of sending you a few lines to keep alive the remembrance
of a time to which I shall always look back with pleasure
and gratitude — that in which I enjoyed your society at
Rome. In my mind the recollection of that interesting
period of my life was revived with redoubled freshness by
the perusal of your work on Rome, which recalled to me,
not merely as it might to many others, a vast variety of
H 2

100 "the philological museum."
memorable scenes and objects, but the person of the author.
I felt at the same time a desire to communicate a part of
the pleasure and instruction I had received; and this
desire I was enabled in some degree to gratify by a new
journal to which I had been requested to contribute. The
article,* which you will find in the volume which Dr.
Haul thai has been good enough to take charge of for you,
is, I am very conscious, in a literary point of view, quite
undeserving of your' notice, and if you should take the
trouble to read it, I hope you will remember that in
writing it I had no other object than to make the work
known in England by a general account and a slight speci
men of its contents. If I have succeeded in raising the
curiosity of that part of our public to which your literature
is accessible, and so to contribute something towards the
circulation of the book itself, my highest aim will have
been fully reached. But as a token of personal regard I
send it with greater confidence that it will not prove
wholly unacceptable to you.
" I have enclosed in the same number the first numbers
of a new Philological Journal which we are trying to set
up here. The articles signed 'J. C. H.,' which you will
probably think the best as well as the largest part of the
volume, are from the pen of my friend Hare. I was called
on for a contribution rather suddenly, and at a time when
many things were pressing on me, and the result has
been an effusion which I am afraid you will think would
have been better reserved for more mature reflection. In
reading this trifle (it is headed Ancseust), if you should be
struck by the appearance of an odd mixture of extravagant
conjectures with commonplace learning, I must beg you to
remember that many things are new in England that are
famihar and even stale in Germany, and that I was there-
* In the Journal of Education, vol. ii. p. 260 (July, 1831).
t Reprinted in "Bishop Thirlwall's Remains," vol. iii. p. 106.

ATTACK OF THE "QUARTERLY REVIEW." 101
fore compelled to say something to justify the thought that
I had bestowed on a seemingly trivial subject. The two
chronology essays are by Fynes Clinton.
" Our translation of the second volume of ' Roman
History ' will, I hope, appear soon after Christmas ; and I
trust that the pains we have taken to do justice to the
wonderful masterpiece of genius will not have been thrown
away. I was agreeably surprised to hear that the first
edition of the first volume of our translation was very soon
disposed of notwithstanding the ruggedness which I hope
will be found very much softened in the second edition.
The second volume will probably be more generally interest
ing to the English public than the first. I have not yet
heard any account of the condition in which the third
volume, or rather the materials for it, have been left, but I
trust that they are in such a state as will permit them to
be published, and that we shall be able to perform one
duty more to the memory of the great departed.
"I do not know whether you remember that on the
evening when I took my last leave of you, you predicted
that I should live to be attacked in the Quarterly Review.
I little imagined that your prophecy would be literally
fulfilled,* and you can yourself scarcely have anticipated
the occasion. In Germany I hear most persons were at a
loss to conceive on what grounds Niebuhr could have been
assailed in England as irreligious. But our irreligious
atmosphere is a very peculiar one, as may be supposed
when it is known that we are beginning to be very fluent
in unknown tongues, which are now attracting crowds to
one of our meeting-houses. The millenarian persuasion is
become so universal that any man who doubts the certainty
of the Messiah's appearance on earth being now near at
hand is denounced by, I am afraid I may say, a majority
of the persons who claim the epithet religious by way of
* See Quarterly Review, No. Ixiii. (June, 1825), and No. Ixxvii. (Jan. 1829).

102 ATTACK OF THE "EDINBURGH REVIEW." *
eminence as a downright infidel. That persons of this
description would be scandahzed by Niebuhr's divergency
from the book of Genesis I knew to be an unavoidable
misfortune, and I only hoped that his speculations might
not fall into their hands. But I had scarcely imagined
that the Quarterly would have degraded itself by such a
stupid and bestial attack as that with Avhich it evaded the
more difficult task of reviewing the book. The Edinburgh,*
which has no great reputation for sanctimony, could not
extricate itself in the same Avay, and has, perhaps, managed
matters still worse ; for it has committed the manufacture
of an article on the subject to a young Scotch lawyer,
silpremely ignorant of all matters connected with it, and
who has not even taken the trouble to read the translation
(the original was beyond his reach) with common attention.
You will find a little specimen of his qualifications at the
end of the Philological Museum.
" May I beg to be remembered to Mrs. Bunsen. I hope
you will be preserved from the arrows which are now flying
about Europe, and are, I am sorry to say, beginning to
strike us.
" A year ago I received a letter from Mr. Brandis, in
which he held out some hope that we might see you this
year in England. I am afraid that prospect is now at a
greater distance than when he wrote."

To Monsieur Bunsen. Trinity College, December 16th, 1832.
" .... I felt sure that you would sympathize with
us in the attempt we have been making to revive the
taste of the English public for philology in the highest
sense of the word — in that sense from which, as I re-
* Edinburgh Review, No. cii. (July, 1830) and No. cxii. (Jan. 1833).

PHILOLOGY. 103
member you remarked in a letter I received from you
some years back, it has been degraded in this country to a
spiritless, pedantic, mechanical craft. I fully enter into
your views as to the important functions which philology
might and would discharge in England if it had been cul
tivated among us as it has been in Germany. But, alas !
the obstacles both to its cultivation and to the application
of its resources are at present greater than a foreigner can
easily conceive, and its friends have to fight a battle
almost without hope. Still the experiment is well Avorth
the trial, and God forbid I should despair of the final
result. Let our journal only live, and I am sure that it
would improve and would work good. But I have at
present great difficulty in keeping it alive ; our most able
and active contributors have been all taken away from us
at once, and I find the burden devolved mainly upon my
own very incompetent shoulders.
" With regard to the application of philology to the
various branches of theology, I see still less prospect of the
hopes of real well-wishers of our Church being speedily
realised. It, contains many disinterested and enlightened
friends, A^'ho perceive its defects and Avould wish to remedy
them. But the present anxiety about its temporal rela
tions to the State so completely engrosses all other subjects
connected with it that it would be absurd in any one to
propose any scheme of internal reformation. The Church
remains poAverless for any new good, and at the utmost
only able to preserve itself from ruin.
" Nevertheless, as this crisis must certainly pass, I am
not without hope that when a period of tranquillity returns
it will be accompanied with a spirit of reflection and of
earnestness which will lead to some important changes in
the discipline and forms of the Church. That a . reform
in both these respects is wanted I clearly see ; I believe it
to be also inevitable. I only hope that it may be effected

104 EEVISION OF THE LITURGY.
by our friends, and not be a consequence of the assaults
of our adversaries.
" Among the things most indispensably requisite to the
stability of the Church of England I hold to be a revision
of her liturgy. I fully appreciate the beauty of many
parts of this composition, and decidedly prefer an estab
lished form to an unlimited license in the management of
public worship. But yet it is painful to have to choose
between two extremes, to see an opportunity of calling
forth the noblest feelings and faculties of our nature wasted
by lifeless formality or unmeaning extravagance. The
service of the Church ought, according to my view, to be
regarded as the highest work of art. If it does not purify
and elevate the soul, as inferior productions of art some
times do, the question is whether this is to be ascribed to
the incurable apathy of the persons who take part in it or
to the indolence and unskilfulness of those who conduct
it. I am one of those who enter fully into the feelings of
the Dissenters, while at the same time I am sure that they
are opposed chiefly, if not entirely, to what is reaUy faulty
in the construction of our liturgy. You are probably
aware that there are many dissenting congregations Avho
adopt the liturgy of the Church, a proof that it contains
much that commends it to all unprejudiced feelings. But
it is also true that many persons are driven out of the
communion of the Church by their repugnance to its
liturgical form, a repugnance springing from the purest
and most enlightened conviction. A remedy for this mis
chief can only be found in a reformation of our Church
government. This will undoubtedly take place. I only
pray that it may be brought about A^'ithout schism or con
vulsion. I have no fear about any danger that may
appear to threaten our religious convictions from pohtical
difterences. I shall be extremely anxious to see your
work on this interesting subject. As you mention that

"the PHILOLOGICAL MUSEUM." 105
you directed M. Perthes to send a copy to Oxford, I hope
that there has been no mistake in the address that may
prevent me from receiving it. Among the many things
for which I have to thank you is the indulgence you have
shown to my young friend Milnes, whose character I think
you have justly appreciated. Before this letter reaches
you, you will, I suppose, have become acquainted with my
friend Hare, a person like whom we have very few to
produce. Would that I could be present at your conver
sations ! When I left Rome I thought it was impossible
I should never see it again. Now I hardly venture to
cherish the hope."

To Monsieur. Bunsen. Trinity College, May 5th, 1833.
" .... I shall request Mr. Ramsay to convey with
this letter the last number of our Philological Museum,
which I have been keeping alive as well as I could in the
absence of Hare and some others of our best contributors.
In the course of another fortnight I hope to be able to
bring out the sixth number, which will complete the
second volume. I should have been glad to have sent it to
you at the same time, as it will, I hope, prove rather more
interesting than the one you now receive, in Avhich I was
induced by the publisher to insert several papers bearing
on the subject of our Cambridge reading, but containing
nothing worth your notice. In the sixth number I have
more freely followed the bent of my own taste.
" Beside your two letters, I have to thank you for pro
curing me the pleasure of perusing that to Dr. Nott, to
which I am indebted for many new conceptions, and for a
clearer view of the whole subject than I had ever attained
before. It has made me very eager to see your liturgy
and the Gesangbuch, which I have not yet received.

106 REVISION OF THE LITURGY.
"It is singular enough that your last letter should have
brought me the first intelhgence of the projected revision
of the liturgy which you mention. I believe that the want
of such a change has long been felt by some of the most
enlightened members of our Church ; but, nevertheless, I
did not anticipate that it Avas to take place soon, and I
have still great doubts about it. There are two impedi
ments in its Avay, one of which, indeed, is perhaps gradu
ally losing part of its force, but the other is, I am afraid,
rather strengthened by the actual circumstances of the
Church. The one is an indiscriminate and passionate
admiration and love for the liturgy as it is, a feeling which
in some cases is merely the result of education and habit,
in others is also intimately connected with political
opinions or prejudices, and in both shrinks from every
alteration of a Avork in which it can perceive no fault or
defect, and which it reveres as sacred. This, hoAvever, is
an honest and good feeling which needs not to be
weakened but only to be enlightened. But there is
another obstacle to all plans of alteration in the liturgy
Avhich I am afraid is much more powerful, and which is
]3roduced by motives much less respectable. Among
many of those who are not only sensible of the imperfec
tions of our liturgy, but perhaps scarcely do justice to its
merits, there is a dread of admitting the existence of the
former, though it be for the purpose of correcting them
and heightening the latter, partly because such an admis
sion might tend to weaken the attachment of those whose
affection for the liturgy is grounded merely on prejudice
and habit, and who are supposed to form the largest part
of its admirers, and partly because all change is appre
hended to be contagious and progressive, and therefore,
hoAvever minute at the beginning, and however desirable
in itself to threaten the safety of Church and State. The
present aspect of public affairs seems, as I have observed.

CHURCH EEFOEM. 107
to confirm the fear of these cautious politicians, and to
justify them in resisting every innovation till it has been
forced upon them. On the other hand, as projects with
out number are noAv afloat for amendments in other
branches of our ecclesiastical constitution, so it is very
natural that to many this should appear the most con
venient season for reforming the order of public Avorship.
When, however, I consider who the persons are from whom
such a reformation among us must proceed, I do not think
it likely that it Avill be rashly undertaken or intemperately
conducted. The real danger I apprehend to be, that
whatever is done may prove a half measure, producing all
the evil of change Avith but little of the benefit of reforma
tion, and shutting the door, as you justly observe, for a
long time against any wiser and more salutary plan.
" That some considerable change Avill before long take
place in the constitution of the English Church as a tem
poral establishment seems to be much more certain. That
there is great room and need for it everybody feels. You
have probably seen Dr. Arnold's and Dr. Pusey's pam
phlets on the subject.* The latter contains a proposal with
regard to diocesan seminaries which, I imagine, you would
approve of The former impresses every one who reads it
with a great respect for the author, but seems to me more
deficient in a practical point of view than I could have
expected, and if I am not mistaken betrays great want of
information as to the views and feelings of the Dissenters,
Avhom it aims at conciliating. But on all these points the
first and great question is not what is to be done, but who
is to do it. Is the reform of the Church to be consigned
entirely to politicians and economists, Avho only look at
the goodly stones and gifts of the temple, some Avith an
anxious, others with a greedy eye, and care nothing about
* Dr. Arnold's "Principles of Church Eeform" (three editions); Dr.
Pusey's " Eemarks, &o., on Cathedral Institutions."

108 "the PHILOLOGICAL MUSEUM."
the service of the sanctuary nor the edification of the
Avorshippers ? Or Avill any part of the Avork be put into
the hands of sincere and zealous and enlightened lovers of
the Church ? In the latter case we may securely hope
for the best. In the other it is to be feared that if
beneficial changes ever take place, they will have been
purchased by great losses and a disastrous experience. . . .
" I look forAvard Avith the greatest eagerness to the
continuation of your AVork, the beginning of which
afforded me a pleasure only second to that which I
scarcely hope to enjoy, of revisiting Rome itself It is
still the capital of the Avorld, for it is the only one Avhich
makes those who have seen it long after it as a home.
Pray present my respects to Mrs. Bunsen."

To Monsieur Bunsen. Trinity College, October 10th, 1833.
" . . . . Since the last letter I sent to you, which was,
I think, by Mr. Ramsay, I have had a great many marks
of your kindness to acknowledge, first of all your beautiful
hymn-book, and then the first volume of your 'Rome,' and
the first part of the second. I wish, beside my thanks, it
was in my power to send in return anything similar in
kind, or approaching in value to either. You will not, I
trust, suppose that I imagine myself to be so doing Avhen
I accompany this letter with the sixth number of the
Philological Museum. I could have wished, for several
reasons, that so large a part of the contents had not come
from my hand. For though they may be accepted as proofs
of my good will toward the undertaking, they at the same
time betray the melancholy fact that I am unable to fill
up the volume by any other means. Nothing but the
pressure of scarcity would have induced me to insert the

"the PHILOLOGICAL MUSEUM." 109
smaller articles towards the end, which I Avrote after having
been disappointed of contributions on which I had relied
when I undertook to bring out a new number. I am sorry
to say that it is not only the latest number, but that
according to present appearances it is likely to be the last
of the series. The publishers find the sale so slow that
they fear a considerable loss on the two volumes noAV com
pleted, and will not venture to go on at their own risk.
The prospect of a continuation seems to depend on the
disposition there may be in the directors of our University
press to bear a part of the expenses. It still remains to
be seen whether they can be prevailed on to do so ; but it
is a thing rather to be wished than hoped for.
" This apparent want of a market for the only work of
this kind at present existing in England is particularly
mortifying to those who have set it on foot, because though
during the last tAvelve months peculiar accidents occasioned
an extraordinary scarcity of contributions, those causes
have now ceased, and there is every reason to think that
the work, if it was allowed to proceed, would become more
valuable and be better conducted than it has been. From
another point of view there will be still stronger motives for
regretting its cessation. For it was an effort made, not
without urgent need, to rouse the interest of educated
persons for ancient literature and the various subjects con
nected with it. The excitement produced in the public
mind by the events of the day may undoubtedly have had
a share in deadening this interest, and so far there may be
hope of seeing it revive. But I cannot help thinking that
we are in great danger of sinking into that state of general
confirmed indifference to this branch of knowledge which
the revolution and the system of Napoleon have produced
in France, where, I believe, a taste for it is generaUy con
sidered as a kind of fancy not much more respectable than
that of a bibliomaniac, and as an indication of a somewhat

110 THE STUDY OF PHILOLOGY.
weak head. It is true that we can never come to this point
so long as the study of the ancient languages continues to
form a part of what commonly passes for liberal education.
But it is by no means certain that this will always be the
case, and I am afraid that symptoms may be discerned of
a growing tendency towards the opinion that such studies
are frivolous, or at least of very slight importance. I do
not know whether in Germany it would be possible to meet
Avith an educated man capable of thinking and saying that
the value attached to the classical languages was a mere
fraud practised on the credulous by those who found it
their interest to keep up the price of a worthless commo
dity which they happened to possess. We sometimes hear
such opinions in England from persons far above the rank
of Jack Cade. When we see an evil or a danger we natu
rally, inquire after a remedy or a preservative. In the
present case it seems clear that the source of the mischief
must lie in the system of education hitherto pursued in
England, and I think it must be admitted that this has
hitherto been, and still is, very imperfect, both as to the
matter and the form. With regard to the former, the
main cause which has tended to bring ancient philology
into disrepute has undoubtedly been that both in our
schools and colleges an infinitely minute branch of the
subject has been severed from the rest and treated as the
whole. The good sense of the age has revolted against
this absurdity, but generally without perceiving its real
nature or proper correction. The exertions of a few indi
viduals can produce little effect as long as they are opposed
to a vicious system in schools or universities, or both, and
the schools and universities depend intimately on each
other. It is, however, in the latter that most remains to
be done, and it is in them that the introduction of a better
general system Avould seem most practicable. But here
the great difficulty arises from the peculiar form Avhich has

UNIVERSITY EEFORM. Ill
been given to their institutions by the accidental circum
stances which determined their origin and growth. To
these purely casual and irrational claims we owe the
remarkable feature of a system which partakes of the
nature , of the school and the university, the individual
colleges being, in fact, no more than private schools, Avhich,
together with their particular means of instruction, offer an
opportunity of enjoying those which the university presents
to all its members. There can, I think, be no doubt that
this subdivision not only stands in the way of the intro
duction of any better general system, but that it would
probably tend to weaken the efficacy of any that might be
introduced. There is one very obvious mode of meet
ing this difficulty — the radical one : sweep away the
particular societies (with or without respect to existing
individual interests), and then remodel the general one on
a better plan. I should, however, lament such a change,
even if it were made with the best dispositions towards
literature and science, because I am convinced that the
peculiarity of our system might in able hands be directed
to very useful purposes. But how to accomplish this, and
particularly without disturbing the property of the several
corporations concerned, is certainly a very arduous problem.
Then there is another question arising, which to many
appears of much greater importance. The Dissenters loudly
demand admission to all the benefits of education afforded
by the two Universities. The demand seems very reason
able ; but those who look not only to the thing in itself
but to its consequences, believe that such a measure would
subvert the Universities as ecclesiastical establishments,
and this is probably the reason why the claim of the Dis
senters Avill be supported by many who would otherAvise be
indifferent to it. To impartial and disinterested men the
only question can be, how far it is necessary or expedient
that the Universities should continue to be in their pre-

112 JULIUS HAEE AT HURSTMONCEAUX.
sent state ecclesiastical establishments, and this question
again depends on the whole of our Church system, which
I have here no room and no inclination to discuss. I have
not yet seen Hare in his parsonage, but I hear that, as
might be expected, he is the delight of his parish  "

CHAPTER V.
Cambridge. 1834.
Movement iu favour of the admission of Dissenters to Academical Degrees —
Petitions for and against it from tho Universities — BUI passed in the
House of Commons and rejected by the Lords — Pamphlets by Dr. Turton,
Thirlwall, and Whewell — Thirlwall's Attack on the Chapel Services, and
consequent Dismissal from OfiSce — Opinions on the Subject — Professor
Selwyn's Pamphlet — Correspondence with Whewell — Presentation to the
Living of Kirby Underdale — Keightley's " History of Greece."
The question of the admission of Dissenters to the
privileges of the Universities began to force itself upon
public attention after, and partly in consequence of the
passing of the Reform Bill. In 1834 it came to a prac
tical issue as far as the Universities Avere concerned. On
the 21st of March in that year a petition from Cambridge'"
was presented by Earl Grey to the House of Lords
in favour of the admission of Dissenters to academical
degrees. It was signed by sixty-three resident members of
the Senate, among the number being two heads of houses,
nine professors, and eleven tutors, and among the names
those of Sedgwick, Airy, Lee, Thirhvall, MusgraA^e, &c.
Three days later the same petition was presented to the
House of Commons by Mr. Spring Rice. Counter-petitions
more numerously signed were presented in the Upper
House by the Duke of Gloucester, Chancellor of the
University, and in the Lower by Mr. Goulburn, the senior
member for the University. Considerable debate followed
* Petitions were also presented from Oxford, and pamphlets written on
the subject, by Moberly, Sewell, Dalby, &c., &c.
I

114 DR. TUETOn's pamphlet.
the presentation of these petitions. A Bill on the subject
Avas introduced in the Commons by Mr. Wood, and eventu
ally passed by a majority of 89, but Avas lost in the Lords
by a majority of 102.
At Cambridge one result of the struggle Avas the publi
cation of a mass of remarkable controversial literature.
Dr. Turton, Regius Professor of Divinity, started it with
a pamphlet entitled " Thoughts on the Admission of Per
sons, Avithout Regard to their Religious Opinions, to certain
Degrees in the Universities of England." Its main argu
ment was the alleged evils that Avould ensue upon the
intercourse of young men differing Avidely from each
other in theolosyical sentiments. This Dr. Turton endea-
voured to prove by reference to the progress of the
Theological Seminary for Nonconformists at Northampton
and (afterAvards at) Daventry. On April the 12th Mr.
Wordsworth (noAV Bishop of Lincoln), FelloAV of Trinity,
published a letter to Lord Althorp strongly denuncia
tory of the proposed changes. Next, on May the 25 th,
came the memorable pamphlet of Thirlwall, entitled
" A Letter to the Rev. Thomas Turton, D.D., on the
Admission of Dissenters, &c."* In the outset he pro
claimed that his reasons for writing Avere to justify his
signature m the face of misrepresentation, and to show the
fallacy of the comparison made by Dr. Turton. He
asserted as an incontrovertible fact " that our colleges are
so far from being theological seminaries, that among all
the branches of learning cultivated in them there is none
Avhich occupies a smaller share of our time and attention
than theology." " We have no theological colleges, no
theological tutors, no theological students." Dr Turton
had claimed for the members of the Church of Eng
land the same privilege exercised by Nonconformists, of
academies Avhere " those principles of religion alone are
* An answer to Dr. Turton was also published by Professor Lee.

thirlwall's pamphlet. 115
taught which are in agreement with their own pecuhar
vieAvs." Thirhvall took this as the basis of his argument,
and proceeded to shoAV what the religious instruction of
the colleges was, and what effect the proposed admission
of Dissenters would produce.
Among the aids to religion put completely on one side
— and it Avas this that gave so much offence — were the
chapel services, the college lectures, and the intercourse
between tutor and pupils. In their place, he said —
" The means by wliich, in my opinion — I would not say religion
is communicated to our students, because, as I have already
observed, they are not supposed to come to us destitute of it —
but by wliich their religious impressions are strengthened, their
reHgioue views enlightened and enlarged, are, in the first place,
their private studies, for which our libraries, peculiarly rich in
theological literature, supply them with aU the aids they can
desire ; next, the social worship, not of our chapels, but of our
churches ; next, the intercourse, not with the governing part of
the societies to which they belong, but Avith companions of
congenial sentiments and pursuits ; and I trust I shaU. not be
thought romantic or sentimental if I add, that the place itself,
with its groves and cloisters, notwithstanding changes in our
habits, wliich may tend to disturb or weaken its operations, has
not yet lost all that influence, which was felt and acknowledged
by the great spirits of other times, among whose monuments we
Avalk, to be highly favourable to the growth of religious
feelings."The subject of the chapel services was treated in a " serious,
dehberate, and decided manner," * with the view of show
ing that compulsory attendance at them had a detrimental
effect. It appeared to him —
" That with an immense majority of our congregation it is not
a religious service at aU, and that to the remaining few it is
the least impressive and edifying that can well be conceived."
" As to any other purposes, foreign to those of reUgion, which
may be answered by those services, I have here no concern with
them. I know it is sometimes said that the attendance at chapel
* Whewell's " Eemarks," p. i.
I 2

116 thielwall's pamphlet.
is essential to discipline ; but I have never been able to under
stand what kind of discipline is meant, whether it is a discipline
of the body, or of the mind, or of the heart and affections."
" I confess that the word discipline applied to this subject con
veys to my mind no notions which I would not wish to banish ;
it reminds me either of a nulitary parade, or of the age when we
were taught to be good at church."
Then taking the college lectures in divinity, he pro
ceeded to show that in most instances they had no claim
to the title of theological lectures. The subjects chosen
showed —
' ' That they are not selected for the sake of the opportunities
they may afford of teaching any peculiar principles of reUgion,
but for the sake of communicating certain kinds of knowledge,
which are not at all necessary to a Christian, but of which,
nevertheless, as a gentleman and a scholar, he ought not to be
destitute." Three pages were devoted to the compulsory knowdedge
of the Thirty-nine Articles at Oxford, with a piece of subtle
irony on the Bishop of Exeter's speech in the House of
Lords. Two gentlemen of his acquaintance had been
turned back for not knoAving their Articles, " and both of
them," the Bishop proceeds, — •
"'Showed the blessed effect of that regulation; for they
returned to their colleges, and having made due proficiency in
the most important part of knowledge — the knowledge of true
religion — again presented themselves to be examined for their
degree, and Avere then admitted to the. highest honours for litera
ture and science which the University could bestow.' That
the effect produced on these individuals was indeed a blessed
one no one can presume to doubt, since it is the Bishop of
Exeter who affirms it on his own personal knowledge. But
with ordinary men circumstances more unfavourable to the in
vestigation of reUgious truth, circumstances laying a more dan
gerous snare for the conscience, can hardly be conceived than
those which the Bishop has described, and on which he reflects
with pride and ' high gratification.' "
He lastly disposed of tA\'o of the apprehended evils — the

whewell's pamphlet. 117
disturbance of the tranquillity of the young men, and the
unsettlement of their religious principles by theological
disputes, as " utterly chimerical ;" and ended with the hope
that the time might not be distant when his opposers
Avould rejoice to find themselves deceived.
On the 25th of May Mr. Whewell, the tutor under
whom Thirlwall worked, issued a pamphlet called " Re
marks on some parts of Mr. ThirlwaU's Letter, &c." He
began by deprecating the introduction of domestic topics
as extraneous to the matter of the controversy. He then
passed to the defence of the daily chapel services on the
ground —
"That the aim of aU such ordinances and institutions is not
to reject but to use external influences ; not to exclude religion
from every domain except its spontaneous range in our own
thoughts, but to provide occasions which may bring it to our
thoughts ; not to draw a harsh line of distinction between reli
gious impressions and all that can be by possibility discovered to
have a mixture of earthly cares and notions, but to throw a reU
gious character, as far as it can be done, over aU the business
of Ufe."
He acknowledged the imperfection of the methods em
ployed to bring about regular attendance, and referred
pathetically to the probable increase of difficulty from the
now notorious differences of opinion on the subject of
those in authority. The charges brought against college
lectures and the intercourse between tutor and pupils he
either allowed or weakly opposed. The great subject of
the admission of Dissenters he dismissed with the avowal
of his partial agreement with both sides, and that his
fears were for the Church at large rather than for the
Universities. The letters that follow show the sequence of events.
On the 26 th the Master wrote to Thirlwall inviting his
resio'nation of the assistant tutorship. He complied almost

118 DR. Wordsworth's letter.
immediately, though under protest, and on the 28th
addressed the circular letter to the resident FelloAvs. The
letter of June the 2nd to Professor Prymo explains the
attendant circumstances. The Master's authority to dis
miss a tutor Avithout the sanction of the seniority was
much questioned ; and Thirhvall, too, Avas blamed for his
precipitancy in resigning without consulting his friends.

To the Resident Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge.
Trinity College, May 28th, 1834.
" I beg leave to draAV your attention to the following
copy of a letter Avhich I have recently received from the
Master of our college : — ' Tkinity College, May 26th, 1834.
'Dear Sir,
' I thank you for your attention in sending me a copy of
your letter to Dr. Turton.
' With respect to the letter itself I have read it with some
attention ; and, I am sorry to say, with extreme pain and
regret. It appears to me of a character so out of harmony
Avith the Avhole constitution and system of the college, that
I find some difficulty in understanding hoAV a person, with
such sentiments, can reconcile it to himself to continue a
member of a society founded and conducted on principles
from which he differs so Avidely.
' But however this may be, I consider it certain that
entertaining, and having publicly avoAved the opinions, and
made the assertions, Avhich you there have done in
connection with several very important parts of our system
(for instance, the religious offices, the lectures, and the
moral discipline) — opinions and assertions very erroneous,
as I think, in themselves — and very unjust to the officers

thirlwall's peotest. 119
of the college and to the other tutors (an injustice also
Avhich extends much farther than to our own college merely),
you become, I must say, in my judgment, i23so facto dis
qualified from being in any degree actively concerned in
the administration of our affairs ; and I trust, therefore,
you Avill feel no difficulty in resigning the appointment of
assistant tutor, which I confided to you somcAvhat more
than two years ago. Your continuing to retain it Avould,
I am convinced, be very injurious to the good government,
the reputation, and the prosperity of the college in general,
to the interests of Mr. Whewell in particular, and to the
Avelfare of the young men, and of many others.
' I regret exceedingly the painful step Avhich I am
obliged to take, but the sense of duty renders it indispen
sable.' ' I remain, my dear Sir,
' Your very faithful Friend and Servant,
' Chr. Wordsworth.'
" There is one passage, gentlemen, and one only, in the
ansAver Avhich I have sent to this letter which I think it
necessary to communicate to you. It runs as folloA\'S : —
' The right which you assume of taking from me the office
Avhich I have held during the last two years in the college
is, I know, considered a very disputable one by persons
better versed in such matters than myself I beg leave to
state most distinctly that, in submitting to your authority,
I do not mean in any manner to recognise it, and that I
reserve to myself the full right of disputing it if it should
be exercised in any other case.'
" I have laid thus much of this correspondence before
vou, gentlemen, for tAVO reasons, one principally affecting
you, the other more immediately concerning myself The
first is, that I thought it proper that you should be apprised

120 APPEAL TO THE COLLEGE.
of the power claimed by the Master over the persons en
gaged in the public instruction of the college, and of the
manner in AA^hich it has been exercised. My second motive
is, that I wish to learn from you hoAV far you agree with
the Master as to the propriety of my continuing a member
of your society. Highly as I value the intercourse which
I have now for many years enjoyed with you, indeed
because I value it highly, I cannot consent to prolong it
any further than I retain your esteem. If I find that you
are generally of opinion that, after avowing the sentiments
Avhich I have published in my letter to Dr. Turton, I
cannot with consistency and honour continue a member
of your society, I shall be ready and desirous to quit it.
I therefore most earnestly request that you Avill severally
favour me Avith a private, explicit, and unreserved decla
ration of your opinions on a point of so much interest to
myself and which is also of some importance to the welfare
of the college."

To George Pkyme, Esq., M.P.* Trinity, June 2nd, 1834.
" I think it very desirable that you should be correctly
informed of the circumstances under which I have been
deprived of the tutorship, and I therefore enclose a copy
of a printed circular, in Avhich you Avill find the Master's
letter to me, and a part of my ansAver. It appeared to
me at the time, and the impression has been confirmed by
every subsequent perusal of his letter, that it could bear
but one meaning, and that, after having declared that I
was in his judgment ipso facto disquahfied for my office,
and that my continuing to retain it would be very injurious
* Formerly Professor of Political Economy, and M.P. for Cambridge
Borough. He was a strong advocate of the proposed changes.

ANSWEES TO THE APPEAL. 121
to the various things and persons Avhich he specifies — he
Avas as much pledged to use his utmost authority to remove
me, as if he had said directly, I command you to quit
your office. That this Avas his meaning seems to me suf
ficiently clear from the last sentence — what else could he
mean by ' the painful step which he is obliged to take ? '
I may also add that I shoAved his letter to Whewell before
I answered it, and that, though he expressed great regret,
he did not intimate that there could be any doubt as to
our connection being at an end. In my answer I treated
his language as conveying an absolute command, to Avhich
I professed to submit, not because I Avas satisfied as to his
right, or because I deferred to his judgment, but simply
because I could not resist his assumed authority Avithout
involving other persons, namely, Whewell and Perry, in
the struggle ; I think this Avas the only course I could
properly take. Even if I had stood alone it Avould scarcely
have been possible to retain such an office in spite of the
Master ; but connected as I was with Whewell and Perry,
I felt that I had no choice left. The answers which I
have received to my circular have been uniformly satisfac
tory on the immediate point in question, and many of
them extremely gratifying to my feelings. But perhaps
my greatest consolation is to find, from the wretched
feebleness of the attempts which have been made to
answer the statements of my pamphlet, how deeply their
truth must have been felt by the persons most interested
in disputing them. I shall annex a postscript to the
second edition, which is noAV called for, in which I hope
finally to dispatch my various opponents, and then to
retire for ever from the field of controversy.
" As the circular was not designed for publication, I
should be obliged to you to keep it private."

122 HUGH JAMES ROSE.
The Master's action, as above mentioned, was bitterly
attacked, and Macaulay, writing some thousands of miles
away from the scene of the contest, Avent so far as to
charge him with "unutterable baseness and dirtiness;"*
but in justice to Dr.- WordsAvorth, it should be said that
his action was avoAvedly taken, not on account of the advo
cacy of liberal princijjles in the pamphlet, for in that Thirhvall
had been joined by half the resident FelloM^s, but because of
the almost contemptuous manner in Avhich the compulsory
attendance at chapel had been spoken of Hugh James Rose,
who had contributed a pamphlet to the subject, entitled
" An Apology for the Study of Divinity," Avas commonly sup
posed to have been the Master's chief counsellor in the
matter. He was in Cambridge at the time, probably as
a guest of Dr. WordsAvorth, and on Sunday, May 18th,
preached a sermon before the University (afterwards pub
lished) on " The Duty of Maintaining the Truth." His
text was St. Matthew x. 27, " What ye hear in the ear,
that preach ye upon the housetops." That Thirlwall sus
pected this to have ministered courage to the Master is
confirmed by the foUoAving story. While crossing the
great court of Trinity, immediately after hearing from Dr-
WordsAvorth, he met one of the Junior FelloAVS, and put
into his hands the fatal letter. His exclamations of sur
prise Avere met by Thirlwall with the remark, " Ah ! let
this be a warning to you to preach truth, if need be, upon
the housetops, but never under any circumstances to preach
error." On May 29th Mr. (afterw^ards Professor) Selwyn followed
Avith a pamphlet, called " Extracts from the College Exami
nations in Divinity, Avith a Letter to the Lecturers, &c."
The object of the extracts Avas to shoAv that Thirhvall' s
estimate of the religious instruction was incorrect, and the
letter contained a violent attack on him. On the 13th of
* Maoaulay's Life, vol. i. p. 429.

selwyn's PAMPHLET. 123
June Thirlwall issued the second edition of his pamphlet,
which had been called for, and took the opportunity of
annexing to it a second " Letter." This Avas intended as
" a vindication of some passages in the first letter," and in
answer to Whewell's and Selwyn's pamphlets ; to a circular
issued by Mr. Evans, Tutor of Trinity ; and to one issued
by fifteen tutors of colleges defending their theological
instruction. In it he reiterated his charges against the
chapel services. He argued that the comparison draAvn
between them and family worship failed, except that they
Avere alike in daily repetition, " and that the natural effect
of the daily repetition on ordinary minds is to diminish
their reverence both for the place and the service." He
held the circulars to be in the main proofs of the correct
ness of his arguments, and Mr. Sehvyn's pamphlet was
severely dealt Avith. The letter closed with the statement
that " he retired from this controversy with the firm reso
lution that nothing should tempt or provoke him to
descend into it again."
This letter called forth a reply from Mr. WhcAvell (A^'hose
first pamphlet also ran through two editions) entitled
" Additional Remarks, &c." He re-assertcd his opinion
of the necessity of daily Avorship as a religious duty.
Thirlwall had appealed to the impressive infiuence of the
" groves and cloisters," and Whewell
' ' Could not understand why the monuments of the same feel
ing in our habits and institutions should be supposed incapable
of contributing to the same effect ; why the peaUng organ, the
weU-known liturgy, the long-established orderly distribution of
times and offices, the coUegiate congregation ever entering and
issuing from the consecrated doors with the returning hour,
should not also be favourable to the growth of reUgious thoughts ;
or why we should be utterly caUous to those impressions, arising
from such circumstances, by which strangers are often forcibly
affected." He argued that compulsion was inevitable

124 LETTEE TO WHEWELL.
"if the whole scheme and character of our college administra
tion is not to be subverted." "When men speak of our com
pulsory services, they are apt to forget that this compulsion acts
in a penal form only upon a few persons, the most unlucky of
our students in the management of their time, and a stUl smaUer
number of very indolent characters or perverse dispositions.
With respect to by far the greater number, this compulsion is
felt only in the shape of a steady habit and of a regular distri
bution of their day."
He acknowledged that they were likely to gain little prac
tical good from the discussion,""' and retired from the
controversy with the hope that he might never have to
resume it. Thirlwall Avent on the Continent in the sum
mer, and on his return in September addressed a long
letter privately to Whewell complaining rather strongly of
his " Additional Remarks," and justifying his own lan
guage. Whewell replied, and the following letter marked
the close of the whole matter : —

To Mr. Whewell. Trinity, September 2Zrd, 1834.
" I cannot suffer a moment to pass without thanking
you for your kind letter. I see by it that the greater part
of my own was written under an erroneous impression that
your language, in the opening of your second pamphlet,
referred to the nature of my opinions on the chapel service,
Avhereas I noAV see that it related only to the propriety of
publishing them. I have only to regret that this point
was not so distinctly stated as to prevent a similar confu
sion in the mind of your readers. But as you intimated
that the difficulty which you felt was one which might be
* Some of the improvements advocated for the first time by Thirlwall in
his pamphlets have now been long in operation. Among them are the
abohtion of school-boy impositions for non-attendance at chapel, the intro
duction of a shortened service, and a special Sunday sermon.

LETTER TO WHEAVELL. 125
lessened by mutual explanation, I could hardly help sup
posing that it depended solely on the opinions themselves,
which I thought you had misconceived. I am, however,
very willing to hope that I am the only person who labours
under this mistake, or, at all events, that I have attached
undue importance to it.
" With regard to the propriety of my conduct in pub
lishing my opinions, I am well aware that you are not
singular in the view you take of it, for Hare has informed
me that he sees it in the same light ; and you may there
fore easily believe that I am more inclined to doubt the
correctness of my OAvn judgment than to wonder that any
one should differ from me on this point. But after the
maturest reflection I have been able to give to the subject,
I find myself still unable to assent to the general principle
from which he drcAv his conclusion, or to perceive that I
violated any other restraints than those Avhich prudence
would have imposed on me.
"In the first place, the view I took of my own station
Avas not that Avhich you take of yours ; and, in fact, I think
there is a very material distinction between them. I did
not consider myself as having anything to do with the
administration of the chapel discipline, and was not con
scious of having neglected my duty, though I never spoke
on the subject to any of our pupils during all the time I
Avas in office, nor do I remember that anyone even hinted
at an expectation that I should do so. I conceived that
my official duties were confined to giving literary instruc
tion, and that whatever other good I might do, by conver
sation and advice to those Avith whom I stood in that
relation, Avas left to my own discretion. As to the stipula
tion that I should myself attend chapel, I never understood
that such an attendance implied any opinion as to the
beneficial effect of the institution ; and I think I Avas
justified in this view of it by the consciousness that my

126 LETTER TO WHEWELL.
opinion on the subject Avas previously knoAvn to the person
Avith Avhom I made the stipulation. Nor could I conceive
that the notoriety of such an opinion Avas inconsistent Avith
holding the office, because I think I remember that I was
informed, and at all events it Avas the case, that some of
my predecessors had marked their opinion as the same
Avith my own, by their general absence from the service.
The only question, then, seems to be Avhether my attend
ance itself implied anything inconsistent with the publica
tion of my sentiments, because it could have no meaning
or purpose if those sentiments were knoAvn. I saw no
inconsistency in this respect ; for though it was true that
I might be supposed to go to chapel for the purpose of
setting an example, yet the example I Avished to set Avas
simply that of conformity to the established institutions of
the college, and I do not knoAV hoAv I could set any other,
except by decent and reverent behaviour in the place,
Avliich Avas of course included in the others. But I may
go still further, and add that I do not see anything in the
opinions I published which should have prevented those to
M'hom they were known from believing that, though my
attendance Avas a consequence of the office I held, it Avas
not Avith me merely mechanical ; and, indeed, as the stipu
lation Avas not publicly known, if there was any contrast
between my behaviour and that of any of my predecessors
in this respect, the natural inference would seem to be that,
though I thought like them of the effect it produced on
others, I felt no personal reluctance to attending myself.
And — though this is nothing to the purpose — I may add
that this was really 'the case : that I found the habit by
no means disagreeable, and that as, on the one hand, if no
stipulation had been made with me I believe I should have
been no less regular, so, I am sure, if I had been formally
released from it I should have made no other use of that
liberty. I might add that even if I had been called upon to

LETTEE TO WHEWELL. 127
recommend regularity of attendance and becoming deport
ment in others, I should have felt myself, able to do so
notwithstanding the notoriety of my opinions, and by argu
ments which to my own judgment Avould not have been
less efficacious on account of them. But I should be
content to rest the question on the grounds before men
tioned. I have nothing further to say in my defence,
except that it ought to be remembered that, as I had not
concealed my private opinion, and had communicated it on
one occasion in a manner to Avhich no one can object, so I
Avas at last induced to publish it by an occasion Avhich
seemed to me — perhaps mistakenly — to call for the pub
lication, and that the nature of this occasion might be
admitted as an excuse for using here and there a tone
Avliich Avould have been improper if the publication had
been purely spoutaneous. And I do not think that in this
I am claiming any indulgence Avhich ^v;is not as much
needed by others Avho have not been so severely dealt
Avith. "As to another point, in which your last pamphlet
appeared to me to draAv an inference from my Avords Avhich
they did not Avarrant, and of which I Avas myself quite
unconscious, I am perfectly satisfied Avith your acku'oAV-
ledgment ; and here, again, I will hope that I have attached
too great importance to the effect Avhich your language
may haA'^e on the reader's mind. I do not see any mode
of remedying the mischief Avhatever it may be, and I
Avould much rather acquiesce in it than that the subject
should be again in any Avay brought before the public.
Beside the explanations Avhich I desired, your letter has
afforded me a still higher satisfaction in showing me that
I am indebted to you for an obligation on Avhich I shall
always reflect Avith pleasure and gratitude, in the attempt
which you made to avert the evil which my imprudence
has drawn upon me. And as this is the strongest proof

128 ACCEPTANCE OF KIRBY UNDERDALE.
you could have given of the desire you felt to continue the
relation in Avhich Ave stood to one another, so it encourages
me to hope that I may still find opportunities before I
leave this place of co-operating Avith you, though in a
different form, for the like ends."

The " tone and spirit of friendship " betAveen the two
had been preserved throughout, and shoAVS itself strikingly
in the " Letters." Thirlwall speaks of WhcAvell having
" rather heightened than diminished the regard Avhich he
had long entertained for him." Whewell expresses his
" strong admiration and esteem for Thirlwall's great endow
ments and elevated character." It is satisfactory to know
from their after intercourse and letters that this friendship
remained unbroken to the end.
Thirlwall Avent abroad shortly after, but returned to
Cambridge for the October term, in the course of which
came the offer from Lord Brougham of the living of Kirby
Underdale. He accepted it, and his connection with
Cambridge came to a close simultaneously with the year.

2o John Thirlwall, Esq. Trinity College, December Sth, 1834.
" I have just received a letter from Thomas, apprising
me of your kind congratulations on my recent prefer
ment 
" I shall post]3one the ceremony of institution and
induction till February next, as in the meanwhile my fel-
loAvship is running on to another quarter, and it is only
from the day of institution that it becomes A'acant, though
after that time I have still what is called a year of grace,
for which I receive the usual dividends, and then my con-

THE LIVING OF KIRBY UNDERDALE. 129
nection with the college, for such purposes, ends. I look
forward with a little trepidation to the process of establish
ing myself in a residence at such a distance from my
present habitation. The part of the country, however, is
that which I have always preferred, though I have not
been able to ascertain the precise nature of the situation,
except that it must be a very sequestered and thinly
inhabited spot. Yet I am informed that there are a
number of good famihes in the neighbourhood. Sir
Francis Wood, the chief proprietor, bears a very high
character, and I Avas introduced in town to his son, Mr.
Wood of the Treasury.'" His connection Avith Lord Grey
Avill be all in my favour, as I have always been on intimate
terms with Lord Grey's two sons here, and may therefore
calculate on a friendly reception. I am also, for sundry
reasons, much better pleased that the living is in the pro
vince of York than that of Canterbury. Its value Avas
described to me in Mr. Wood's presence as between £900
and £1,000 per annum. But the Chancellor, in the letter
in Avhich he offered it to me, put it betAveen £800 and
£900. I hope I shall not find, Avhat very often happens,
that the lowest value assigned to it has been a good
deal exaggerated. However, my lot is noAv cast, and
indeed I had no time for any minute inquiries on the
subject, for before I had signified my acceptance of the
living the .London papers had announced the presenta
tion. I have at least the satisfaction of knoAving that it
came perfectly unsought, and the terms in Avhich the late
Chancellor conveyed his offer Avere only too flattering. On
the Avhole, I am very glad of such an opportunity of Avith-
drawing from college, Avhere, though I have many excellent
friends, I cannot help feeling my position rather aAvkward,
and could, perhaps, never get rid of some unpleasant recol
lections. I have thought it prudent to repress my curiosity
* The present Viscount Halifax.
K

130 keightley's "history op GREECE."
and to defer my first visit to Kirby, until I go to take
possession, Avhich I calculate on doing the first or second
Aveek in February. The parsonage has, I find, been long
inhabited by a curate of the late incumbent, from, whom I
received a letter this morning, requesting to be informed
Avhether it is my intention to reside. He speaks in a way
implying a strong attachment to the place, Avhich is at
least a sign that it is possible to live there with tolerable
comfort, and at the same time makes me polite offers of
attention whenever I feel disposed to visit it."

To T. Keightley, Esq. Trinity, December 9th, 1834.
" I have just received the specimen sheet of your
' History of Greece,' and am therefore writing from a first
but very recent impression about it. What I see appears
to me to deserve almost unqualified praise. The plan
seems judicious, and the style is, as it ought to be, at once
easy and grave. In saying that the praise due to this
specimen is alm,ost unqualified, I had one or tAVO passages
in my mind, wliich it strikes rae may be thought liable to
objection, though one which but very slightly affects the
value and merit of the Avork. In a book of this nature it
appears to me better to avoid peremptory and dogmatical
assertions on disputed points ; but perhaps even this is
preferable to supporting a questionable opinion by a slight
and inconclusive argument. An instance in which you
appear to me to have been drawn by the narrowness of
your limits into either one or the other of these cases
occurs in the sentence about human sacrifices. The
proposition is, perhaps, not even worded so distinctly
as might be Avished : for it is not clear whether you deny
that human sacrifices Avere known to the Pelasgians, or
only that they Avere common among them. I suppose the

keightley's "histoey of geeece." 131
former to be your meaning, and in that case, though I
have no doubt that you could maintain it by strong argu
ments, I cannot think that those which may be urged for
the antiquity of human sacrifices in Greece, reaching to an
age earlier than Homer's, deserve to be treated as utterly
empty and worthless. To me, I confess, the indications
of such a practice existing in the Pelasgian period afforded
by the rites and traditions of later times, appear greatly to
outweigh all the objections Avhich I have hitherto seen
raised on the opposite side. Still, if you only said to your
young reader, ' Take my word for it, there were no human
sacrifices among the Pelasgians,' no great harm would be
done. But you add something which appears to be
meant for a reason, and which cannot be allowed the
slightest weight in deciding the question. The epithet
hioi can no more prove anything in this respect with
regard to the Pelasgians than that of kXvto^, Avhich is
given to the caimibal Antiphates, or that of ayavoi,
which is given to the Phoenicians 
" The only school I know of about here is the Cam
bridge Grammar School, the Master of Avhich, Bailey, you
have probably heard of He was a man of considerable
scholarship, but obhged to Avork for the booksellers till he
obtained his present situation. I do not know him per
sonally, but I wdll endeavour to find a channel for for
warding your specimen to him, which may be likely to
procure it a good reception.
" I shall certainly leave Cambridge, for when I have
taken possession of my Yorkshire living, AA-here, as far as I
can learn, I shall find myself in a very profound seclusion,
my fellowship expires. I believe that in any case I should
not have resided here long. I feel myself here a little in
the condition of Ajax — -"E^^ei /jie Tpoia Tcaaa koI Treha
T-age — and I therefore welcome the opportunity of a decent
retreat."
K 2

CHAPTER VI.
KiRBY Underdale, 1835 — 1840.
Lord Brougham and Thirlwall — Coramencement of the " History of Greece "
— " Lardner's CyclopEcdia " — Life and Work at Kirby Underdale — Sub
sequent Visit — Letters on ; — Kirby Underdale — His Arrival and Set
tlement there — Progress of the " History of Greece" — The Education
of his Nephews — The German Translation of his History — Professor
Welcker's Preface — German Reviews of the " History" — A Tour in
Germany— Visit to the Poet Tieck — His Fondness for Domestic Pets.
" When Lord Melbourne's first ministry broke up, Lord
Brougham said he thought he had provided fairly for all
who had deserved Avell of the Whig party in the Church,
Avith the exception of Sedgwick and Thirlwall. The next
morning came the vacancy, by death, of a stall at Nor-
Avich, which the great geologist took and died in, and of
the living of Kirby Underdale in Yorkshire."* This
Thirlwall accepted, and the preferment came most oppor
tunely, for as the letters show, his residence at Cambridge,
after the resignation of the tutorship, was attended with
a certain amount of unpleasantness.
The change was as great as could be imagined, from
the intellectual bustle of university life, to the quietness
of the country parish hidden amongst the Yorkshire
Avoids. The change, however, was marked and turned to
account, as the former had been, by the commencement of
new hterary labours. With Kirby Underdale is associated
the production of the "History of Greece," the work
upon which Thirhvall's reputation as an author rests. It
* Lord Houghton iu the Fortnightly Review, Febraary, 1878.

THIELWALLS " HISTOEY." 133
came about in this manner. " Among the early enter
prises for the diffusion of the results of scientific and
historical labours beyond the circle of professed scholars
and men of science was a certain series known from the
name of its editor (an active, pushing, able man of science)
as ' Lardner's Cyclopasdia.' To this series Mr. Thirlwall
was invited to contribute a history of Greece. Taking
the standard recognised for other subjects, what Avas
probably expected Avas a popular narrative brought within
the compass of tAvo or three duodecimo volumes. To
Avork on this scale, however, Avas soon found to be diffi
cult, if not impossible, for one who in his treatment even
of subordinate questions connected with his subject ever
aimed at a singularly elaborate completeness."* This led
to a gradual enlargement, but there " still remained the
uneasy sense that he was Avriting for tAvo different sets of
readers."* The first volume Avas published in 1835, and
others appeared at short and regular intervals.
The surrounding circumstances were favourable to
the AVork. The perfect seclusion of the village, and the
smallness of the population (under 300), gave oppor
tunities of unbounded literary leisure. Personal remi
niscences tell of ThirlwaU's prodigious powers of work and
passion for knowledge. Often sixteen hours out of the
twenty-four were spent in the study and among the
books which overflowed into every room of the house.
Eating, Avalking, or riding he was never to be seen Avith
out a book. And all this went on with close parochial
work. The recollection still survives of the regular ser
vices with the full and attentive congregations, including
incomers from neighbouring villages ; of the frequent
visits to the village school ; of the extempore prayers
with his flock, of Avhich the larger number w^ere Dissenters ;
and of the assiduous attention paid to the sick and poor.
* Edinburgh Review, April, 1876.

134 LIFE AT KIEBY UNDERDALE.
An instance of Thirlwall's kindness of heart is preserved
in a story, Avhich tells hoAV he once sent a mother with her
little daughter in his own gig to the seaside — about
tAventy miles from Kirby — to try whether the change of
air Avould save the poor child from consumption. His
remarkable dignity and purity of character w^ere fully
recognised by his flock ; and the impartial manner in Avhich
he kept himself aloof from the petty quarrels and scandals
of the place was Avell expressed by an old parishioner, who
reported that the rector's invariable answer to complainants
Avas, " I never 'ears no tales."
Beside his other charges Thirhvall undertook the
care and preliminary education of two little nephews, one
of whom Avas afterwards the registrar of his diocese, and
his devoted companion in the closing years of his life.
Old friends and literary acquaintances, too, found their way
at times to the secluded rectory. The annual summer
tours were not given up ; his place in the parish being
supplied by the present Master of Trinity and other old
Cambridge friends. It Avas during one of these excursions
that the offer of the See of St. David's came, as is described
later on.
Twenty-four years after he had left Kirby, the Bishop
of St. David's spent a few days there ; returning Avith
the present rector on the conclusion of a visit to Lord
Houghton at Fryston. He Avas much interested in seeing
the few old people left who remembered him. One of the
first objects of his visit Avas to go to an old tree, near
Avhieh he had once buried a favourite dog, and look for
some Greek letters that he had cut in the bark.

To John Thirlwall, Esq. York, February 11 th, 1835.
"Having taken canonical and legal possession of the

SIR FRANCIS WOOD. 135
Rectory of Kirby Hundersdale, alias Underdale, in the
county of York, and being on my return to Cambridge, I
think it will be best before proceeding southward to give
you an account of the substance of what I have seen and
observed at the place of my future residence. I must
premise that on my arrival at Doncaster I found a ser
vant whom Sir Francis Wood had sent over with a gig
to take me to his seat, Hickleton Hall, which is five or
six miles off. I found the baronet in his hunting- dress,
for he had left the fox-hounds for the purpose of receiv
ing me. Sir Francis is a very important person to every
one connected with Kirby Underdale, as you may easily
suppose when I mention that out of about 5,000 acres
of which the parish consists 4,600 belong to him. He
also possesses about 2,000 or 3,000 in adjacent parishes.
Of course nothing is done in Kirby without his leave, and
the light in Avhich he is viewed there was illustrated to
me by an expression used by an old AVoman, who speak
ing of her son, said that he would no more say anything
wrong when left to himself than he would in the pre
sence of Sir Francis Wood — or of God Almighty. It is,
therefore, a piece of peculiar good fortune to find that a
person of such extensive influence in my sphere possesses
every quality Avhich is likely to render our personal in
tercourse agreeable. He is a man of great natural intel
ligence and acuteness, and besides being thoroughly
master of every kind of information connected with rural
pursuits, possesses a great deal of a more ornamental
nature, both scientific and literary. He appears, as far
as I can judge from a short acquaintance, to be a person
of a very benevolent disposition, and at all events received
and entertained me Avith the greatest kindness. He
showed me plans of the parish, gave me an account of
the principal inhabitants, and communicated a variety of
information very important for enabling me to under-

136 AEEIVAL AT KIEBY UNDEEDALE.
stand the state both of persons and things in the place.
He Avould have taken me with him to Kirby, but I Avas
obliged to stop at York to receive institution, and I there
fore left him on the second morning and arrived at York
on Thursday the 12th. I Avas obliged to Avait there for
the arrival of the Canon Residentiary Avho Avas commis
sioned by the Archbishop to give me institution. This
ceremony took place the next day, and immediately after
I met Avith my curate, Mr. Whitelocke, Avho had come
over on some business Avith his lady, and offered to take
me back with him that evening. He is a son of the
celebrated General Whitelocke, and has a living in Lin
colnshire which he is noAV on the point of exchanging
for one about ten miles from Kirby, and has also, I believe,
a considerable private fortune. Accordingly he had come
in a very handsome four-AA'heeled carriage, a kind of
phaeton, I believe, draAvn by a pair of good horses. In
this I took a seat and Avas conveyed to the parsonage,
Avhich I found in a very different state from that which
I had been led to expect. For it is still inhabited by
Mr. Whitelocke, Avith all the furniture in statu quo, Mrs.
Ridley having been induced to let it stay there till I came
to look at it. My entry took place in the dark, yet it
Avas soon bruited about the village, and for an hour after
the parish clerk Avas employed in ringing all the changes
he could think of on a couple of bells, one of Avhich is a
little cracked, and the whole effect so little answered to
his good will that though the steeple from Avhich the
sounds issued is within a hundred yards of the house,
they did not reach my ears, and I Avas only apprised of
the honour that had been done me next mornino- O*

AEEIVAL AT KIEBY UNDEEDALE. 137
To John Thirlwall, Esq.
Kirby Underdale, near Pocklington, July 10th, 1835.
" I should have written some days sooner to announce
to you my arrival at my ncAV abode, if I had not been
occupied ever since, not only by a series of journeys which
I Avas forced to take for the purpose of effecting the trans
port of my effects from a place about nine miles distant, to
Avhich they were carried by water, and by other pressing
business incident on my entrance upon housekeeping,
but likewise by a piece of duty which fell upon me most
unseasonably, viz. the task of preaching a sermon at the
visitation at Scarborough, which I was called upon to do
just as I was on the point of leaving Cambridge. And
though the time allowed for the preparation of my dis
course Avould under any other circumstances have been
amply sufficient, I found so much difficulty in obtaining
the necessary intervals of leisure that I had not finished it
many hours before it was to be delivered. I only mention
this that you may not think that I have postponed what I
an now doing to any but really unavoidable engagements.
" I left London by a Hull steam packet, which brought
me and a part of my baggage, most urgently wanted after
a very cold and w^et voyage, without any material damage
to Hull, where I found the heavy cases and hampers
containing my books, wine, &c., Avhich had been sent on
from Cambridge by Lynn. After making arrangements for
the conveyance of these things by a small A'^essel which
comes up to within the above-mentioned distance of my
house, I proceeded to York, and on the morning of
Saturday, June 27, reached this place, which I found
perfectly ready for my reception, and all my household in
attendance. . . .
" On my way from York hither I met Sir Francis Wood,
who I believe had come over to meet me and had stayed

138 SETTLEMENT AT KIRBY UNDEEDALE.
till the last moment, expecting my arrival. He has shown
me a number of civilities, besides affording me much
substantial accommodation in allowing me the use of land,
and the loan of two horses, one of which I drove over to
Scarborough in a gig which I purchased at York second
hand, but very nearly as good as new. I have thus
leisure to look out for a horse of my own, which is indis
pensably necessary. I also expect soon to become owner
of a cow. After several journeys to Pocklington, near to
Avhich my things were brought by Avater, I succeeded in
carrying them safely away in sundry waggons Avhich I
borroAved here. I brought my shelves from Cambridge
along with my books : and though they suffered some
slight fractures on the way, the village joiner has put them
together again very fairly, and has adapted them to the
form of the house, so that they are now ready to receive
books, and we are beginning to clear the encumbered
fioors. I hope in a few days to have put everything in
order for the present, though, as I have a considerable
number of books still to come from Cambridge, I foresee I
shall be extremely straitened for room. . . .
" The Archdeacon (Wrangham) was not at Scarborough :
his son officiated for him. I dined with the clergy, and
Avas very well received, and requested to print my sermon,
which I suppose I must do, though I shall have more than
enough to do Avith the press for other purposes. I should
have been glad if I had been able to send you a copy of
the first volume of my history, Avhich, however, I dare say
you have already seen. I am now formally bound to produce
four more at intervals of six months, or within three years :
and the rate at which I am paid will depend on the
regularity of their appearance. Until this AVork is finished
every moment of leisure left by my parochial duties will
be fully absorbed by it ; and I am afraid I shall be obhged
to lead a very unsocial life. . . ."

THE HISTORY OP GEEECE. 139
To John Thirlwall, Esq.
Kirby Underdale, Pocklington, December llth, 1835.
" I believe Thomas told you some time ago that I meant
to write to you as soon as I should have returned from my
journey to the south, and perhaps you may think that my
absence from home has been somewhat of the lono-est. It
was indeed a week longer than I had hoped Avould have
sufficed for my business Avhen I set out ; but I came back
last Saturday. Yet I could not set to letter- writing sooner,
having been ever since most fully employed, and being only
just delivered of the last sheets of the second volume of
my history. When I got to town I found that Dr. Lard-
ner Avas at the other end of the kingdom, AA'here it seems
he has been making observations and experiments upon
railroads, and flying about at prodigious velocities in steam
carriages — for he is a factotum, if ever there was one — and
the consequence was that the operations of the press did
not proceed with quite the same rapidity as in the publi
cation of the first volume, and were not quite over Avhen I
was obliged to turn my face nortliAvard. This obliged me
to make two journeys to York — very unpleasant expedi
tions, by the by, at this time of the year — to fetch and
carry parcels from and to the printer. As the volume is
to come out the first of next month there Avas no time to
be lost, and I Avas forced to put the last hand to the proof
sheets and make the table of contents in a great hurry,
the effects of Avhich, I am afraid, I shall discover in a long
list of errata. This is one disagreeable consequence of my
distance from London and secluded situation. Another
which I feel much more sensibly is the want of books of
reference. Though my own library is tolerably Avell
furnished for ordinary purposes of instruction and amuse-
mpnt, and is probably better filled than the average of
country clergymen's libraries, still it is very far from

140 PUBLIC OPINION OF THE "HISTORY."
satisfying the Avants occasioned by my present occupations,
and I have continual cause to miss the advantages I enjoyed
at Cambridge, Avhere the public libraries Avere almost as
easy of access as my OAvn. The Avorst of all is that A^'hen I
go to tOAvn to superintend the printing of my manuscripts,
as I am then forced to leave m}^ own books behind me, I
find myself most destitute, though it is then that the use
of a good library Avould be most important to me.
" I hope that you may find my next volume, at least, for
the greater part, more readable than the last. It Avill not
be quite so large, nor in other respects so full of matter.
But as it will contain more of narration than of disquisi
tion, if the subject is not too beaten, it Avill, perhaps, better
suit the taste of most readers. The favourable manner in
Avhich the first volume has been received, at least so far as
any opinions have been expressed about it, Avill, I hope,
stimulate me to greater activity, that the succeeding parts
may, at least, not fall off from the quality of the beginning.
I should have been better pleased with the review in the
Edinburgh if though less complimentary, it had borne
marks of being written by somebody more at home in the
subject. Unfortunately, there is a great dearth at present
among us in this department. I Avas more flattered by a
letter AA'hich I found here on my return from a German
professor, to whom I had sent a copy of the book, and who
tells me, among many other obliging things, that if his
occupations had permitted he should have gladly under
taken to translate it into German. Not, he observes, that
there Avill be any lack of German translations, but he is
afraid that they may not do justice to the original.
Perhaps you Avill be alarmed lest so much praise should
turn me giddy. But I believe that I can assure you from
personal experience that it is scarcely possible for anyone
to be very much elated with the success of a work which
has cost him a good many years of labour and thought.

CONTINUATION OF THE "HISTORY." 141
In such a case the author is too well acquainted with the
real merits and defects of his own performance to depend
upon the opinion of others. No praise or blame can either
tickle or sting him, unless he is conscious that it is in
some degree deserved, though no one can, or ought to be,
insensible to the mortification of seeing his labour thrown
away upon his contemporaries, even if he should hope that
it may yield more fruit hereafter, nor to the satisfaction of
finding his own judgment confirmed by the approbation of
intelligent critics. Thus then, under favourable auspices,
and with higher aim than I had conceived when I first
embarked in this undertaking, I am on the point of
setting about my third volume.
" To leave the ' History of Greece ' in some respects in
better condition than I found it, is, I think, a sufficiently
rational object of ambition to justify me in dedicating to
it every moment I can spare from the duties of my
parish, which, though in point of obligation they will
always take the precedency, from the portion of time
Avhich they occupy, may be considered as the chief recrea
tion of my leisure. With respect to every other kind of
recreation I am obliged to observe a strict economy. . . ."

To John Thirlwall, Esq. Kirby Underdale, May 12th, 1836.
" I have just concluded the third volume of my history,
half of which has been some weeks printed, and have only
to look over the manuscript and to add a few notes and
appendices. In the beginning of the week after next, the
23rd, I propose to go up to town to deposit it with the
printer,- that it may come out in its due time on the 1st
July 
" I Avas much pleased to hear that you had been

142 CONTINUATION OF THE " HISTOEY."
entertained by the second volume of my history. This,
I can assure you, has afforded me more gratification
than the most flattering eulogies. I have some hopes
that you will find the next at least equally interesting.
I think it Avill be generally considered the best of the
three. I have at least succeeded in most parts of it more
to my OAvn satisfaction than in the preceding one, and a
comparison of what had been done by my predecessor in
the same field leads me to believe that my labour will not
have been thrown away. I had scarcely imagined myself
that so much remained to be set right in this portion of
the subject. Now, therefore, I may consider myself as
having got through one-half of my undertaking, for the
rest Avill require three volumes more. The remaining part
Avill be the most difficult and laborious, as the sources are
more scattered and require A^ery careful investigation. I
ought to have a year instead of six months for each
volume. But Lardner's work keeps moving like one of
his steam engines, and will not alloAV me to slacken my
pace. Still, unless I should be hindered by some extra
ordinary interruptions, I hope to proceed Avithout falling
off, and I shall then be released from a task which, though
pleasant, has often been somewhat fatiguing. Lardner
intimated to me that he intended at some future time to
republish it with some others in a larger form, which
would give me an opportunity of correcting and improving
it, Avhich I shall gladly embrace. This, however, is not a
thing to be talked of at present  "

To John Thirlwall, Esq. Kirby Underdale, May 25th, 1836.
" You perceive by the date of this letter that I have been
prevented from leaving home for the south at the time I

CONTINUATION OF THE "hISTOEY." 143
had intended, and I believe my journey will now be post
poned for a long while. I had relied on the assistance of
a friend for taking my duty in my absence ; but he was
engaged, and I did not receive his answer till the latter end
of this week when it was too late to look out for a substitute,
which is here very difficult to procure. This led me to
think that it would be better to send up my manuscript to
town, where I have in fact no business that absolutely
requires my presence, and to stay here, and lay the founda
tions of a fourth volume, while the third is passing through
the press. Accordingly I yesterday carried my manuscript
to York, and saw it deposited in one of the London
coaches, and expect in a couple of days more to hear of
its arrival. I should have written to you sooner, but that
after I received your letter I Avas occupied partly by the
visit of a friend, who stayed Avith me during the two or
three last days of the week, and partly by the final correc
tions of my MS.
" Having finished it the Aveek before, I took it Avith me in
the beginning of last week on a little excursion which I
made in my gig, along the edge of our wolds to the
Hamilton district, being thus enabled to devote the even
ings and some portions of the day to it at the places AA'here
I stopped, and at the same time to enjoy some of the most
beautiful scenery in England  "

To his little Nephew, Master Thomas Thirlwall,
St. Vincent's, West Indies. KiBBY Underdale, June Sth, 1836.
"I do not loiow how it is that you have not got an
answer to the letters which you tell me you have written
to Uncle Thomas and grandmamma. If they Avere such
pretty letters as the one you wrote to me, I think you
ought to have had an answer by this time. I have only

144 LETTEE TO A CHILD.
just received yours, and I am beginning to answer it
directly, that you may knoAv how much I Avas pleased
with it ; so that instead of Avriting to you only because I
Avant to Avrite to papa, I shall this time Avrite to papa only
because I want to write to you, and papa will only get
as much of this sheet as Avill be left Avhen I have said all
that I have to say to Thomas. I am very much obliged
to mamma for telling you how fond I Avas of you when
you Avere in England. I have no doubt that I shall like
you still better Avhen I see you again. Everybody loved
you then, because you Avere such a quiet, good-tempered,
merry little child ; but then you could not say anything
to us, nor understand Avhat Avas said to you, nor know
anything about us. When you come again I daresay you
will be as good-tempered and merry as you used to be,
and I shall be able not only to look at you, but, which is
still better, to talk Avith you, and to find out what a num
ber of things you have learnt since }'0U were here last, and
perhaps to tell you of a good many that you have still to
learn, and then I hope you may be as fond of me as I
shall be of you. I am glad to hear that you like Quebec
better than St. Vincent's, though I think it is very
likely that I should be more pleased with St. Vincent's
than with Quebec. To be sure it is not pleasant to be
almost ahvays in a great heat, though it makes you enjoy
yourself the more Avhenever you can get cool. But then I
like to see the fine trees and fruits and fiowers that Avill
only grow Avhere the sun has great poAver ; and you can
not have them and the frost and snoAV too. Perhaps you
will want to knoAV Avhy I am glad to hear that you like
Quebec better than St. Vincent's. Now that is because I
think it is a proper taste for you to like a place where you
can be stirring about and doing something, if it is only
shoveling about the snow. Very hot weather is apt to
make one fond of lounging instead of either working or

LETTER TO A CHILD, 145
playing, and so to bring on idle habits ; and I suppose
among the many wise sayings that you must have copied
before you learnt to write as well as you do now, one has
been, ' Idleness is the root of all evil,' or something like it.
So you see I judge from what you say that you are an
active boy, and I shall be very glad indeed to find that I
have guessed right. Then all that wid be wanting Avill be
that your friends should put you in the way of being
active to some good purpose. That is industry. I am
sure you have spent a great many hours in writing the
praises of industry in your copybooks ; but you may de
pend upon it that you have never yet seen it praised half
as much as it deserves to be, and that the longer you
practice it, the more you Avill know its value. Another
reason why I am glad you like Quebec better than St. Vin
cent's is, that it makes me think England Avill suit you
very well. Though England is very different from Quebec,
still it is more like that than St. Vincent's. Here, indeed,
we cannot promise you so much snow as you have been
used to, for our Avinters are often so mild that the snow in
many places is not an inch deep in any part of the year.
But if you do not dislike the sight of green fields you Avill
be able to find other exercise perhaps as pleasant as shovel
ing about the snow ; and though you Avill have no need to
muffle yourself up to prevent yourself from being frost
bitten you Avill almost always find a fresh bracing air, and
sometimes you may enjoy the diversion of skating. Then
in the summer you may ramble about the fields at any
hour of the day without being scorched or melted by the
sun. I wish you could see how pretty my garden is look
ing just now, with its flowers and blossoms, some of them
almost as fragrant as the orange fiower, and as bright as
the pomegranate. When you come to see me I hope that
you and Johnny will help the gardener to raise some nice
fruits and flowers. Then you shall take some drives in
L

146 EDUCATION OF HIS NEPHEWS.
the country and see some of the beauties of Yorkshire,
though not in a cariole, or Avith such a big dog as Watch
must be, or have been, if it was he that drew you and
Johnny. But I have a pretty little dog named Fop, who,
though he cannot draw you, Avill be glad to go out with
J'OU, and to shoAV you Avhat a number of hares and rabbits
we have about us. I think you Avill say that England is
the best place after all to live in all the year round, though
Ave may be equally happy everyAvhere if we have only good
friends about us, and make ourselves beloved by them.
That is what I have no doubt you will do here when you
come, and therefore I long to see you quite as much as you
can long to see me. You must tell Johnny that I long to
see him too, and that I hope in time to have many letters
from him, as long and as well written as yours. Also,
Avhen you see Sukey next, you must give her a kiss, and
tell her that Uncle Connop sent it to her folded up in a
letter all the way from Yorkshire.
" NoAV I must have done, or else I shall have no room
left for saying anything to papa  "

To his Brother, John Thirlwall, Esq., St. Vincent's. June &th, 1836.
" My little correspondent has not left me much paper,
but as the time when we hope to see both you and him is
now so near, there is the less need of a long letter. I
shall be very glad to have your two little fellows near me,
so that I may be able to have an eye constantly upon
them, to know hoAv they are going on and to give them all
the assistance in my power. I trust that Ave shall find a
situation which will combine this advantage with every
other requisite. They cannot be in a healthier part of
England, nor in many much pleasanter. The thing which

HIS LINGUISTIC ATl'AINMENTS. 147
I look forward to with the greatest pleasure is that as
they grow more capable of benefiting by Avhat I may be
able to teach them, I shall have more leisure to dedicate
to them. At present I am pretty well occupied with the
task of producing a volume of history every half-year. My
second was published on the 1st of January, and the
third will I expect appear on the 1st of July. But I am
almost afraid that I have not yet got half through my
work. It is now too late to send you the second volume,
and indeed in this place I should not know how to do it.
But when you come you may carry the second and third
away Avith you. When this business is finished I hope to
enjoy a little leisure. At least, I do not mean ever again
to bind myself in the same manner. Your plan of send
ing the boys to a German University is perhaps a very
good one in itself though I do not know that they Avould
find any greater facilities for acquiring foreign languages
except the German itself there than here. The five which
they would probably find most useful — German, French,
Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese — I have had opportuni
ties of speaking and hearing where they are spoken ; and
I think I could put your boys in the way of mastering
them as far as is possible Avithout travelling in those
countries. But I believe quite as much importance is
attached to the knowledge of Latin and Greek at every
German University as at our own ; and I do not think
that the most perfect knowledge of every language now
spoken under the sun could compensate for the ivant of
them  "

To L. Schmitz, Esq. Kirby Underdale, March 12th, 1838.
" I am obliged to trespass still a little logger on your
indulgence for the use of your MS. of ' Niebuhr.' I find
L 2

148 CONTINUATION OF THE " HISTORY."
that I can read it so as scarcely ever to be in doubt about
a word ; but the time it requires has been hitherto more
than I have had to spare, as I have been lately fully
occupied Avith the fifth volume of my history, which I
expect to send to the press in about ten days. But before
I do so I Avish, if I possibly can, to read through all that
part of the MS. Avhich relates to the same period. I pre
ferred taking it up after my own view of the subject
should have been completely unfolded not only in thought
but in words. I wish, however, to read ' Niebuhr ' not
merely to satisfy my own curiosity, but, where it can be
done in the compass of a short note, to communicate his
opinions on doubtful or interesting points, particularly
where they differ from my own, to my readers. In the
part which I have already looked into I found several
passages of this nature, and have ventured to quote tA\'o or
three lines here and there in a note.
" But before I send any such quotations to the press I
wish to know whether I have your permission to make
this use of your MS. That you may knoAV precisely what
it is you consent to, I will add that I have no intention of
quoting anywhere more than three lines.
" This question suggests another. Have you heard
whether Niebuhr's friends have any intention of printing
his lectures ? And if this is not the case, should you feel
yourself at liberty to publish your ' Notes ' ? I ask this
not from an interest on behalf of German readers, but with
a vicAV to the English public and to yourself I am con
vinced that a translation of the volume you have lent me
would be both a very useful and a saleable work."

To John Thirlwall, Esq.
, EliRBT Underdale, May 23rd, 1838.
" .... As I was present at the meeting of the [British]

GERMAN LETTER TO DR. SCHMITZ. 149
Association at Cambridge, '"' I know pretty weU what I might
expect from it. It is no doubt a very interesting thing
for scientific persons. But for me the proceedings have
very little interest, and as an opportunity of seeing one's
friends it is the worst in the world, everybody having
business of some kind or other to occupy him. I should,
therefore, not have chosen this time to visit Newcastle ;
but if I found myself at liberty it would suit me as well
as anj"- other to take a journey to Alnwick. I must, how
ever, for the reasons I have assigned leave the whole
matter in suspense. As soon as I am able to make any
arrangement including a visit to you, I will of course send
you the earliest advice. I have mentioned the fetters that
confine me in the use of my leisure, I must add that my
leisure itself is still very scanty. The fifth volume of my
history is printed, and I believe will appear next month.
But my work is not yet ended by several volumes ; and
the time I have to devote to it is a good deal curtailed by
the demands of John's boys  "

To L. Schmitz, Esq. Kirby Underdale, Pocklington, den 26ten Mai, 1838.
" Wahrscheinlich wird es Sie, mein geschatzter Freund
nicht befremden, noch auch Ihnen missfallen, dass ich um
einer Ideiner Uebungs wiUen sowohl in der Sprache als
auch in den mir noch immer sehr fremden Schriftziigen,
unternommen habe Ihren Brief Deutsch zu erwiedern.
Gewiss darf ich mich dabei mit voller Sicherheit auf Ihre
gutige Nachsicht verlassen, wenn dieser Versuch desglei-
chen ich zwar schon friiher, aber doch sehr selten gemacht
habe, noch so verfehlt auffaUen soUte. Uebrigens was
mir besonders dabei Muth macht ist dass ich mir keine
* In 1833 under the presidency of Professor Sedgwick.

150 GERMAN LETTER TO DR. SCHMITZ.
sehr schAvierige Aufgabe aufgestellt habe. ScliAverlich wird
es mir begegnen mich in diesen wenigen Zeilen so ganz
unrichtig oder schief auszudriicken dass ich nicht Avas die
Haupt-Sache ist meine Meinung Ihnen deutlich genug
machen soUte. Ihre freundliche Anerbietung ist mir
nicht nur an sich sehr erfreulich gewesen, sondern auch
ganz zur rechten Zeit eingetroffen hat. Ich habe mich so
eben das 5ten Bandchen meiner Griechischen Geschichte
erledigt, und mir damit fiir einige Zeit Miisse erworben.
" Ich habe neulich einige litterarische Neuigkeiten aus
Deutschland erhalten ; unter denen die Lebensnachrichten
Niebuhrs nebst einer Sammlung seiner Briefer, Sie vielleicht
am meisten interessiren wird. Auch denke ich nun
ernstlich daran die Uebersetzung des dritten Bands der
Rbmischen Geschichte zur Hand zu nehmen, und werde
gern iiber einige Stellen Ihre Meinung vernehmen. So
darf ich hoffen dass die Zeit Ihres Aufenthalts Ihnen nicht
allzulange vorkommen Avird."

[Translation.]
" Perhaps, my valued friend, it Avill not appear strange
to you, or indeed displease you, that I have undertaken to
answer your letter in German for the sake of a little prac
tice as well in the language as also in the Avritten characters,
Avhich are still very strange to me. Of course I can rely
with perfect certainty on your kind indulgence should this
attempt, too, happen to turn out a failure. But what
particularly gives me courage in it is, that I have set
myself no very difficult task. It will scarcely happen
to me in these few lines to express myself so extremely
incorrectly or aAvkwardly as not to make my meaning
plain enough to you, Avhich is the chief thing. Your
friendly offer has not only been very delightful to me in
itself but has also come exactly at the right time. I

niebuhr's "lettees." 151
have just got rid of the fifth volume of my Greek history,
and have thereby earned leisure for some time.
"I have lately received some literas-y novelties from
Germany ; amongst them ' Niebuhr's Memoirs,' along with
a cohection of his letters, will perhaps interest you the
most. I am also thinking seriously of taking in hand the
third volume of the Roman history, and would gladly take
your opinion on some points. So I venture to hope that
the time of your stay will not seem to you too long."

To L. SoHMiTz, Esq. Kirby Underdale, August 1, 1838.
" Your packet seems to have arrived here only a few
hours after I had set out on a little excursion from Avhich
I have but just returned. I am much obliged to you for
the loan of Matthias, and will send you the second volume
of 'Niebuhr's Letters' as soon as I shall have received and
read it. I have not yet heard that it is published.
" As to the lectures I am inclined to take Dr. Arnold's
view. I cannot pretend to say what impression might be
made on the German public by the original if it Avere pub
lished just as it is in the manuscript, with only verbal
corrections ; but I am strongly of opinion that in England
a strictly faithful translation would be generally much
more acceptable than any attempt to give the work an
appearance of finish. I think people here would like best
to have it rough as it came from the master's hand, and
that they would be attracted by the very thing which you
fear might repel most readers. The only freedom which
I should venture to take would be to supply or correct
Avhatever was grammatically defective or inaccurate so as
to obscure the meaning. But I think the safest way, if
you conclude your bargain with Messrs. Taylor and

152 GERMAN TRANSLATION OF THE "HISTORY,"
Watson, Avould be to send a specimen of the translation to
Mr. Taylor, Avhose judgment you might rely on more safely
than mine. I agsee Avith you as to the propriety of the
plan you propose to adopt for the publication of the
lectures on Roman History."

[The next four letters refer to the German translation of
Thirhvall's History. Two volumes were published at Bonn,
the first translated by L. Haymann, with a preface by
Professor Welcker, and the second by Dr. Schmitz.]
To L. Schmitz, Esq. Kirby Underdale, December 27th, 1838.
" It gives the most lively pleasure to hear that you have
undertaken the translation of my work. Whatever assist
ance I can give to you, you may depend on receiving. I
hope you will let me knoAV, whenever you meet with any
passage about which you either feel any doubt as to the
meaning, or see any objection to its accuracy. It is pro
bable enough that when I look through the second and
following volumes, which I will do for the purpose, I may
find occasion for some corrections or additions. I now
remember one or two passages in the second volume which
will require some.
" I have written to London to order the first volume of
the translation. When I get it I will detain it no longer
than just to read the preface, and some specimens of the
execution, and Avith them immediately forward it to you.
" I have hardly words to express my sense of Professor
Welcker's generosity. Much as I had heard of the noble
ness of his character, this instance of it has surprised me,
at least as much I can assure you as it has gratified me.
For though I am fully sensible of the advantage I person
ally derive from it, I feel that I have unwittingly done a

GERMAN TRANSLATION OF THE " HISTORY." 153
great deal of mischief by giving occasion to the sacrifice of
so much valuable time.
" If you should be writing to him again, pray tell him
from me that I shall hope to have an opportunity of thank
ing him in person for this and his other favours,"

To Leonard Schmitz, Esq. York, April 13th, 1839.
" It has happened very unluckily that I have been
detained in York ever since last Tuesday, in constant
expectation of receiving a parcel from London containing
the last sheets of the sixth volume of my ' History,' Avhich
I was told is to be published on the first of next month. I
am at present quite unable to conjecture the cause of the
delay which has cost me so much time. ....
" If Friday the 26th will suit you I will Avait for you at
the ' George ' ; and I will bring with me a few notes to my
second volume. I have been so fully occupied during the
last three months with that Avhich is now in the press
that I have not had time to look through the second ; but
purpose doing so in the course of next week. If I do not
hear from you next week I shall take it for granted that
you accept my proposal.
" The first volume of the Translation seems not to have
been yet published."

To Leonard Schmitz, Esq. KiRBT Underdale, May 10th, 1839.
". . . . I shall inclose some additional notes and correc
tions for the second volume. You will see that my first
volume fills a decent octavo. The publisher of course would
not be able to sell one much thicker at the same price ; and

154 GERMAN REVIEW OF THE "HISTORY,"
perhaps it AA'ould be expedient for the sake of uniformity,
and also Avith a vieAV to the sale, that the average bulk
should not much exceed five hundred pages. If you
make your second volume include Chapter 1 8 it Avill be of
about that size, and this aa'UI be a natural and proper
termination. I Avill send you at another time any correc
tions that may occur to me in Chapters 17 and 18. The
delicate kindness Avhich breathes through Welcker's Preface
shoAvs that his character is as noble and amiable as his
genius and learning are admirable. If the first volume
finds a tolerable sale, notwithstanding such a formidable
host of errata, I shall have good hopes for the success of
the whole.
"I go up to London about the 27th of this month, and
shall be kept there until the end of June. And I shall be
obliged to be there again before August 5 th to take part
in another examination. In the interval I shall probably
go over to the Continent, and perhaps to Bonn. If it was
in my power during that time to be of any use to you by
correcting the proofs of the Translation, this would deter
mine my plans. Pray let me know, as soon as you have
received the parcel, whether I can be of any service to you
in this way."

To Leonard Schmitz, Esq. Kirby Underdale, January 2Sih, 1840.
" .... I have read the article in Gersdorf It certainly
does not impress me with a favourable opinion ofthe writer's
judgment or learning. I should not quarrel with him for
thinking that my work Avas not indispensable for any German
scholar. I never imagined that it was. It was designed
simply for the use of the English public ; and I have
reason to be abundantlj' satisfied with the testimonies of

GERMAN REVIEW OF THE "HISTORY." 155
approbation Avhich it has received both in public and
private from very competent judges here.
"But yet it is remarkable that everything which the
Reviewer has said to depreciate its value might be
perfectly true, and, notwithstanding, the book might be
extremely useful even to a German student.
" Whoever is acquainted Avith the immense mass of
German literature on the subjects contained in the first
volume, and with the confiicting views it exhibits, might
think it something highly desirable to see the restdts of
those voluminous inquiries presented to him in a small
compass. But the Reviewer has committed the ludicrous
mistake of supposing that these results, which after all can
only be the judgment which I have formed on the disputed
questions, are something apparent in the books themselves,
and that I had nothing to do but to copy them into mine.
I wonder how many persons would come to the same
conclusion as to results gained by Hermann and Creuzer
in their correspondence on the Greek mythology. The
charge of prolixity rather surprised me. One Avould
think that in a volume embracing so many important
subjects the only fault of this kind could be the neglect of
due proportion in the distribution of the space ; and this,
if it existed, might have been proved in a few lines by a
reference to the Table of Contents. It is certainly sus
picious when a Reviewer makes his readers take his bare
assertion, when the proof might be so easily given. So
as to my alleged incapacity for distinguishing fable and
history — an example or two would have filled very little
room, and might have satisfied the reader as to the critic's
superior judgment.
" There is one little circumstance which inclines me to
believe that you are not much mistaken in your conjecture
as to the manner in which the article has been composed.
Who would not think that Fatalism — which happens

156 GERMAN REVIEW OF THE "HISTORY."
indeed to be mentioned in the Table of Contents, though
it is dismissed in four or five sentences — Avas one of the
subjects on Avhich I had chiefiy dilated in the section on
religion, and that Naturcultus and Zeus included all the
rest? " Still I regret the effect which this notice may have on
the sale of the Translation. The only person who has
reason to be pleased is Haymann ; for it is clear that in
the Reviewer's judgment the Translation, though not
quite perfect, is in its kind better than the original. The
next volume Avill, I hope, appear in the course of the
Spring. Its progress has been retarded by a number of
unexpected interruptions, but I am noAV hard at work. I
rejoice to hear that you are so far on your Avay with
' Niebuhr.' "

To John Thirlwall, Esq.
12, Suffolk Street, Pall Mall East, June 2ith, 1839.
" . . . . I have been noAv some weeks in London
engaged in an examination of candidates for degrees ia
the new University of London 
" It will be necessary for me to be in London again by the
5th of August for another examination, which will terminate
my official duties. This being the case, I intend to take
advantage of the opportunity for an excursion on the Conti
nent, and if all be well shall embark to-morrow night in a
steamboat for Hamburg, and after a short stay at Berlin,
and Dresden, shall return by the Rhine. Though the
chief object of my excursion is of course to see Germany,
and some of its celebrated men : it happens that it will
also enable me to transact some business relating to the
German translation of my ' History ' which is of some
importance, and could not be so well settled without my
presence at Bonn where the publisher lives  "

TOUR IN GERMANY. 157
[With reference to a tour in Germany.]
To John Thirlwall, Esq. Kirby Underdale, August 22nd, 1839.
" .... At Berlin I had a great number of letters to the
most eminent among the learned men of the University,
and was very hospitably received, and besides gratifying my
curiosity with their conversation and lectures, formed some
very pleasing and valuable acquaintances. Niebuhr's son,
who had just gone through his examination as a student
of civil law, and is about to become a professor at another
University, paid me several visits, and showed me great
attention. I saw the German translation of the first
volume of my History in a bookseller's window 
" My pleasantest recollections of Dresden are of the three
evenings which I spent at the house of the poet Tieck,
who received me with great kindness, and spoke much
better than it deserved of the translation which I made
many years back of two of his little tales. . . .
" I went down the Rhine by steam to Bonn, where I
stayed two or three days, which passed most pleasantly in
the society of the Professors, by whom I was received with
even greater hospitality and more marked attention than
at Berhn  "

[The foUoAving letter contains an indication of the extra
ordinary fondness which Thirlwall, like Southey, had for
cats, and which was also extended to dogs and poultry.]
To Rev. W. H. Thompson, Trinity College, Cambridge.
Kirby Underdale, May, 1840.
"Many thanks for your good offices. You may tell
Mr. Cooper* that my present intention is to leave home
* Formerly Fellow of Trinity, now Vicar of Kendal and Archdeacon of
Westmoreland.

158 DOMESTIC PETS.
in the last week of July, and to return in the first of
September, so that his labours will include five Sundays.
Beg him to invite a friend as often as he can get one to
stay with him. It Avill be quite a relief to my servants,
Avho so seldom see a strange face in the house. Consider
ing the uncertainty of all things here beloAV, I think it
will be desirable that he should let me have his address,
if he is to be aAvay from Cambridge during June and July,
that we may fix the day of his coming 
" I hope his hostility to dogs is merely official,* or if in
any degree personal, that it is compensated by a partiality
for cats. Since you Avere here I have added another dog —
it is a little one — to my establishment, and receive much
pleasure from his gambols with my youngest cat, a present
from the Admiral. The old one has had a paralytic
stroke, and is only kept alive by the most delicate atten
tions. I think she Avill hardly last out till Cooper's arrival,
and if she goes before I will keep her place vacant till I
return." * As Dean of his College.

CHAPTER VII.
St. David's, 1840—1860.
Influence of Schleiermacher's " St. Luke," on Thirlwall's Promotion— Extract
from Torrens's " Life of Lord Melbourne " — Learns Welsh— Completion
of the " History of Greece" — ThirlwaU at Abergwili — Holy Communion
and Theatre-going— Proposed Monument to Bishop Farrer — Episcopal
Work — Creeds — Proposed Union ofthe North Welsh Bishoprics — Epis
copal Tour — Rebecca Riots — .SUsthetics — Thirlwall and Grote — Hegel's
PhUosophy — Revision of the Bible — Attack on the Bishop — "Bleak
House" — "The Genealogies of Our Lord" — Italian Letter — Tour in
Holland — Learns Dutch.
" Lord Melbourne seems to have taken a considerable
interest in Thirlwall, from an early period of his career, of
Avhich the object was entirely unconscious. In 1837, at
the time of the nomination of Dr. Stanley to Norwich, he
had carefully read the translation of Schleiermacher's Essay
on St. Luke, with the introduction Avhich opened out what
was then a ncAv view of the composition of the Gospels,
and had referred it to the Bishops of Ely (Dr. Allen) and
Chichester (Dr. Otter), Avho expressed a want of confidence
in its orthodoxy."* Thirlwall's promotion Avas conse
quently delayed (according to another account) from the
twofold desire of not causing a rupture upon a Church
question, and of not forcing the King's conscience by an
unwelcome nomination. In July,1840,"the death of Bishop
Jenkinson drew upon Melbourne once more the convergent
fire of clerical importunities ; but to none was the offer of
St. David's crozier sent, of the many who relied on parlia-
* Lord Houghton in the Fortnightly Review, February, 1878.

160 INTERYIEW WITH LORD MELBOURNE.
mentary influence or family claims- — and to none did it
occasion more surprise than to the unambitious object of the
premier's choice." Thirlwall Avas aAvay at the time on a five
weeks' ramble, and his place at Kirby Avas supplied by
Mr. (noAv Archdeacon) Cooper.
" It thus fell out that Avhen a letter franked by the
First Minister reached the rectory, the oAvner Avas absent,
and his servants knew not where he Avas to be found. One
of his intimates, Mr. T. A. Barnes, undertook to find him,
but for some days searched in vain. At length as he
passed after nightfall a village inn, his eyes rested on a
shadoAV on the Avindow-blind, cast by a strong light Avithin.
He could not be mistaken. ' My man at last,' he said ;
and entering, presented the letter which made his unex-
pectant friend a spiritual peer. ThirlwaU's first impulse
A\'as to refuse. He was anxious to complete his History
of Greece, and was meditating a visit to the land of art and
song during the autumn. It is said to have taken all the
poAver of suasion by his friends to make him agree to be a
bishop. His hesitation somehow became known, and it
tended to confirm the conviction that he who was least
anxious for promotion was most deserving of it. He
called at South Street as he had been asked to do ; and on
finding that the minister had not yet risen, was about to
leave his card, when he was told that directions had been
given that he was to be shown in whenever he happened
to come. Melbourne Avas in bed surrounded with letters
and newspapers.
" ' Very glad to see you ; sit down, sit doAvn ; hope you
are come to say you accept. I only wish you to under
stand that I don't intend if I know it to make a heterodox
bishop. I don't like heterodox bishops. As men they
may be very good anywhere else, but I don't think they
have any business on the bench. I take great interest, he
continued, in theological questions, pointing to a pile of

ARCHBISHOP HOWLEY. 161
folio editions of the Fathers. They are excellent reading,
and very amusing ; some time or other we must have a
talk about them. I sent your edition of Schleiermacher
to Lambeth, and asked the Primate to tell me candidly
what he thought of it ; and look, here are his notes in the
margin ; pretty copious, you see. He does not concur in
all your opinions, but he says there is nothing heterodox
in your book.'
" This was peculiarly gratifying to the visitor, for Arch
bishop Howley was a great scholar and a great Churchman ;
and hated with all his heart the multiplication of Whig
suffragans in his province ; but he was a just man, and
bore his testimony according to the faith that was in him.
Briefly and without blandishment, Thirlwall responded to
the appeal thus made to his sense of religious honour. He
valued highly the confidence implied in being unexpectedly
sought out to fill the vacant See, and nothing could be
more alien to his feelings than any reservation of con
science or thought of insincerity in accepting it. Melbourne
Avas satisfied that he had chosen the right sort of man ;
and after an episcopate of four and thirty years the public
judgment has notably ratified his judgment."*
The news of the Rector's elevation caused great com
motion at Kirby Underdale. The servants Avere much
attached to their master, and a good deal excited at the
prospect of receiving him back as a Bishop. Mr. Cooper,
his locum tenens, was consulted as to the proper mode of
showing him respect on his arrival. When, however, the
event occurred, the programme, whatever it Avas, Avas
entirely disconcerted by the riotous welcome of two or
three dogs, who covered the Bishop with their caresses
and effectually prevented him from holding any communi
cation with his human friends until he had with some
* The above graphic account is taken from Torrens's " Memoirs of
Viscount Melbourne," vol. ii. pp. 330—332. M

162 LEARNS WELSH.
difficulty extricated himself from their embraces. He
thoroughly enjoyed the humour of the situation.* It is
almost needless to add that servants and domestic pets
alike accompanied their master and his vast library to the
distant home in Wales. The Bishop Avas soon settled in
his new sphere of labour. Whatever may have been the
motives Avhich originally led Thirlwall to seek orders in
the Church, there cannot be the slightest question as
to the marked piety and activity of his episcopal
career. " His sense of duty at once constrained him to
throw his vast linguistic power into the homely and
perhaps ungrateful task of learning, as no English Bishop
since the conquest had ever learnt, the language of his
Cambrian diocese." t Within six months of his appoint
ment he Avas preaching and performing service in Welsh,
Avith a correctness and purity of accent that made the
people insist on claiming him as one of their own race.
The vigour and thoroughness with which he threw
himself into his Avork extorted praise even from those
who Avere most opposed to him. The History of Greece
still remained to be finished, and the eighth and last
volume was brought out in 1847. Before that, however,
¦he had embraced an offered opportunity, long-wished for,
and between the years 1845 and 1852 published an im
proved edition of the " History."
This is the last great literary achievement of Bishop
Thirlwall that remains to be chronicled. A natural feeling
of wonder and regret arises that this should be the case ;
that the vast stores of classical and theological learning
accumulated in his mind should never have been applied
to the production of some work that would have made his
name a household Avord to English students for all ages.
It may almost be said that some of his ecclesiastical con-
* Letter from Archdeacon Cooper.
t Dean Stanley's Introduction to Bishop Thirlwall's " Letters to a Friend."

LIFE AT ABERGWILI. 163
temporaries, confessedly inferior to him in the extent of
their acquirements, have achicA'ed that reputation. The
reason for this barrenness of production can never exactly
be knoAvn. It was not, at any rate, from any disinclination
to print, for publications on various subjects — in the shape
of sermons, pamphlets, and letters — often issued from his
pen. The choicer part of them, including the invaluable
Charges, " which stand out among the episcopal utterances
of the century like Turnus among the Rutuli — toto
vertice supra,"* are to be found collected in the three
volumes of " Remains," edited by Dean Perowne.
The life at Abergwili Avas marked by the same charac
teristics as that at Kirby Underdale, except that it Avas so
frequently broken in upon by the exigencies of diocesan
Avork, or by the ' necessary attendance in Parliament or
Convocation. Letters and friends alike tell of the Bishop's
devotion to his books, the greater part of the day being
spent in " Chaos," as he familiarly and aptly termed his
study. Every table and chair in it, Avith the single excep
tion of the one in which he sat, were hidden beneath piles
of books and papers ; and, as at Kirby, nearly every room
of the house Avas brought into requisition for the storage
of his library. When away from home on confirmation
tours he generally used a commodiously-built carriage,
with one seat for himself and another opposite him for a
vast assortment of books which he carried about, and
which consisted largely of the most recently issued Avorks of
Germany and France. His fondness for domestic pets has
been already alluded to, and he might be seen after a meal
going round the table and sweeping the broken fragments
of bread into his napkin to carry off to his favourites.
Later on, when his nephew's family formed part of the
home circle, his affection for children showed itself in a
marked manner. He entered heartily into their enjoj'--
* Letter from the Dean of Lincoln.
M 2

164 ATTENDANCE AT THEATRES
ments, and his Avhole being changed and lighted up when
he was with them. A story is told of the keenness Avith
Avhich the Bishop sliared in a school entertainment given in
the neighbouring village, and of the charming address that
he gave to the school children. Boys, he told them, were
like tops. There Avere some tops that gave no trouble, but
only needed to be set spinning and they Avould go ; these
Avere like good boys. But there were other tops which
could only be kept going by constant Avhipping ; these
Avere the naughty boys, Avhom nothing but the rod would
keejJ to their work. To those Avho did not know him, his
demeanour might seem stern and his S23eech sometimes
severe, but this severity and sternness Avere only brought
to bear upon duplicity and pretence of knowledge Avhere
there was ignorance, Avhich were heinous faults in his eyes.
On the other hand there must be many who can bear
Avitness to the consideration, gentleness, and sympathy
shown to those who needed encouragement and help ; and
in times of difficulty or trouble Eishop Thirlwall proved a
friend Avhose counsel, wisdom, and affection could always
be relied upon.

[The foUoAving letter, Avhich was the first Avritten by the
Bishop in his official capacity, was addressed to a clergy
man in his diocese, who had refused the Holy Communion
to some persons on the ground of their attendance at a
theatre. It is thoroughly characteristic of the wise free
dom and liberality with Avhich the Bishop uniformly dealt
with controversial matters.] 40, St. James's Place, August 10th, 1840.
" Rev. Sie,
" I have received some papers from his Grace the
Archbishop of Canterbury, from Avhich it appears that you

AND EXCLUSION FROM HOLY COMMUNION. 165
have refused to administer the Sacrament of the Holy
Communion to some of your parishioners on the ground
that they had attended the theatre. They conceived that
you had overstepped the limits of your ministerial authority,
and applied first to their late Diocesan, and during his
illness to the Archbishop for his interposition. The See
having become vacant, his Grace thought proper to reserve
the business for the decision of the next Bishop of St.
David's, and it therefore now becomes my duty to deliver
my opinion on the subject. I cannot but regret that the
first occasion on which I am called upon to exercise my
pastoral authority in the diocese committed to my care
should be one Avhich compels me to differ very widely in
my judgment from one of my clergy. I am, however,
much consoled by the reflection that the case is one in
Avhich a difference of opinion is consistent with the highest
respect for the motives of those from whom we differ.
" I have no doubt that, in the course you have taken,
you have been guided by the purest intentions and the
most earnest desire of discharging your duty ; but I am
no less decidedly of opinion that you have been trans
ported by your praiseworthy zeal beyond the bounds of
Christian prudence, and that you have assumed a kind of
jurisdiction which does not belong to you. I must own
that in this point of view expressions which I perceive in
the letters of the complaining parties, alluding to the
arbitrary power exercised in former times by the Romish
clergy, appear to me not wholly without foundation. I
conceive that you have not the right which you have
practically claimed, of affixing your own private interpre
tation to the language in which the Church describes the
class of persons who are to be excluded from participation
in her means of grace.
" You must, I conceive, be aware that your proceeding
in this case is an innovation on the practice which has

166 EXCLUSION FROM HOLY COMMUNION.
been commonly received in our Church : that it has not
been customary to exclude persons Avho attend the theatre
from the Holy Communion ; and, consequently, that you
are setting up your own judgment in opposition to that of
the great majority, at least, of your brethren in the
ministry. " I beseech you to consider Avhether such an innovation
is consistent Avith Christian humility in one of the inferior
ministers of the Church ; Avhether its principle is in har
mony Avith the spirit of charity in Avhich the Church loves
to deal with her children ; Avhether its tendency can be to
promote unity, peace, and concord, or to excite heart
burnings, schism, contempt of legitimate ecclesiastical
authority, and, in a Avord, to diminish your ministerial
influence. " I would hope, that on maturer reflection, you will see
that you have gone too far, and that you will have the
good sense and generosity, or, more properly speaking.
Christian discretion and humility enough to change your
line of proceeding, and to confine yourself for the purpose
you have in view, to the legitimate course of argument and
exhortation. Though I have myself no doubt on this
question, I am happy to know that my vieAV of the case
coincides with that of his Grace the Archbishop of Canter
bury. I have no doubt that you Avill readily defer to the
judgment of your ecclesiastical superiors on a point of this
kind, especially as it appears that you are officiating for
another person, by whom it is not even clear that you are
authorized to proceed as you have done ; and I shall be
glad to hear that you have admitted the persons whom
you rejected, on the ground of their attendance at the
theatre, to the Holy Communion.
" I am. Reverend Sir,
" Yours very faithfully,
"C. St. David's."

MONUMENT TO BISHOP FAEEEE. 167
[In reference to a proposed memorial to Bishop Farrer, a
former Bishop of St. David's.]
To T. f ARRAR, Esq. Abergwili, September Uth, 1840.
" . . . . With regard to the subject of your application
I regret that, highly as I respect the motives, both per
sonal and public, by which you appear to be animated, I
do not feel myself at liberty to accede to your request. I
entertain strong doubts as to the wisdom of erecting new
monuments at this day to revive the remembrance of scenes
of bigotry and cruelty which were the curse and the dis
grace of former generations. We know that the intoler
ance which gave rise to the persecution in which so many
excellent men, the ornaments of our Church, perished,
was not peculiar to any religious party, either abroad or in
this country. I consider it, in fact, as belonging to the
imperfection of our nature ; as a tendency which may be
restrained by good social institutions, and may be entirely
overcome in individuals by an enlightened spirit of Chris
tian charity, but which exists and shoAvs itself in various
forms in our OAvn day, quite as much as at any former
time. It may, therefore, in my opinion, be very useful to
preserve faithful records of the excesses into which men
have been carried by this malignant principle, provided it
be not done so as to throw the reproach of them upon any
particular sect or party. Still, I do not mean that this
ought to prevent us from paying a tribute of respect to
persons of eminent piety and virtue, because they hap
pened to be sufferers in a religious persecution. But on
the other hand, I do not think a croAvn of martyrdom in
itself a sufficient title to public honours. My belief is that
many have received that crown, as well as others, who did
not deserve it.
" With regard to Bishop Farrer, I must own that my

168 EECEIVES THE DEGEEE OF D.D.
knowledge of his character is confined to some very slight
biographical notices which I have seen of him ; but they
lead me to question the expediency of bringing him forward
into public view as a martyr in Avhom the Church of Eng
land glories. It seems to me sufficient that his sufferings
should induce us to throAV a veil over his errors and frail
ties. If however, his life and character have been misre
presented by the authors Avho have described them, I
should think that the best monument that could be raised
to his memory by the piety of his descendants would be a
more correct account of him, AA'hich might do justice to his
merit. But until that be more clearly established, I feel
persuaded that such a monument as you propose would
neither promote the diffusion of Christian charity nor reflect
honour on the Church of England."

To W. J. Bayne, Esq. Abergwili, Octoier 21th, 1840.
" For your kind invitation accept my sincere thanks.
But as the hypothesis on which it Avas founded is
erroneous, and I have no immediate intention of going
to Cambridge for a degree, having already received one
through the special favour of his Grace of Canterbury, it
must remain uncertain whether I see you next in Cam
bridge or in London, but Avith a preponderance of proba
bility in favour of the last-mentioned place of meeting,
there being it seems little hope that you wid this year
be tempted to visit the banks of the Towey which, how
ever, I can assure you are well worth seeing, as I trust
you Avill convince not only yourself but Mrs. Bayne and
my little godson before another summer is over
" Do you knoAv that if I were to go to Cambridge I
should not be able to accept your proffered hospitalitj-,

PEEFOEMS SEEVICE IN WELSH. 169
the Master of Trinity having bespoken me as a guest at
the Lodge ?
" I am at present occupied in all my spare intervals
with the arrangement of my books, which, I am happy to
say, have all arrived safe, and rejoice at the sight of the
accommodation provided for them after the very rough
lodging they have been put to for many a year past."

To his Brother, the Eev. T. Thirlwall. St. David's, January 2nd, 1841.
" . . . . Few occurrences worth recording took place
in my history since I wrote last until I left Abergwili. In
the number I may reckon that on Sunday, the 6 th of last
month, I read the Morning Service, including the Thanks
giving for the Queen, in Welsh and administered the Sacra
ment in the same tongue to above 100 communicants.
Another event of some importance, though one in which I
was merely passive, was the discovery that the dry rot had
made its way into the house, and an architect whom I
sent for from Haverfordwest spent two days in tracking
its progress, opening fioors, panels, &c. I have preserved
some enormous specimens of the fungus. I have reason
to believe that the evil has been thoroughly investigated,
and that it will be effectually removed, and its return
prevented. I think I mentioned the honour which the
Sociiti d'Afrique had proposed to confer on me. I
received an early answer to my letter from Paris, com
plimenting me, with the assurance that I am there re
garded as one of ' les illustrations de la Grande Bretagne,'
and accompanied with a diploma, by which I am elevated
to the rank of (not a Vice-President, but) a president of
the society, in Avhich dignity my name is united with
those of a prince, a duke, two grandees of Spain, a marshal

170 VISIT TO ST. David's.
of France, and other great personages. Nearly about
the same time I received a Welsh letter from the secre
tary of the London Cymrygyddion Society, informing me
that the society, hearing of my progress in Welsh, pro
posed to elect me one of its honorary members. The
letter alluded to my speech at Abergavenny, laying rather
too much stress on one passage. I accepted the compli
ment in a guarded reply, AA'hich corrected the mistake.
I just have seen in a neAvspaper that the two letters were
read at their annual meeting in London, and that my
health was drunk with great applause 
" On the 24th I received an address of congratulation
and apology from the Committee of the St. David's and
DcAvisland Auxiliary Bible Society, expressing their satis
faction at my arrival and their regret that (being it seems
Dissenters, not keeping Christmas Day), they had, accord
ing to custom, fixed a meeting on the 25th of December,
a custom which, if they had known sooner of my inten
tion to be here on that day, they Avould have departed
from out of respect for me ; but had now made arrange
ments which they could not alter.
"The Deanery, of which I am enjoying the use, is a
tolerably comfortable, roomy house, on the south side of
the valley. The view from the back rooms presents a
little garden, the ruined ivy-grown walls of the Close, the
continuation of the valley with its little brook, some
pastures above, Avith black cattle, some white cottages,
and in the distance rocky cliffs, and the Isle of Ramsey.
The sea is not visible, though only a mile off, and at times
perfectly audible 
" On Christmas Day I preached in the afternoon to a
crowded choir. In the morning the Welsh and English
services with a Welsh sermon lasted four hours. The
next Sunday one of the Welsh Prebendaries being absent
on account of a domestic affliction, I undertook the Welsh

THE LEGEND OF THE APOSTLES' CREED. 171
service in the nave. It happened to be the morning
when an English sermon Avas expected, and I preached
also. I was told next day that the people insist on
it that I must be a Welshman by birth, " for I read better
than the clergy." I believe it possible that my pronun
ciation may be more correct than that of many who officiate
here  "

[In reference to a pamphlet on the Athanasian Creed.]
To Rev. F. Martin.* Abergwili, November Sth, 1841.
" I have received the pamphlet you were good enough
to send me, and only waited to read it before I thanked
you for it. It has afforded me much pleasure. Several
nice points appear to be very happily stated. With regard
to Avhat you call the 'contemptible legend,' t which I think
hardly deserves so harsh a term, and might be considered
as a natural and popular mode of conveying the general
and well-founded belief as to the apostolic character of the
creed ; — but Avith regard to this legend you seem to be in
several respects under an erroneous impression. I infer
from your note that you have not an edition of St. Austin
at hand. You would have seen that the sermon which
contains the legend is not one of the discourses (Libri)
' De Symbolo ad Catechumenos,' but one of the ' Sermons
De Tempore,' viz., cxv. ' De Traditione Symboli.' Bing
ham (Book X. c. iii. p. 72), treats it as spurious. I do not
know whether with sufficient reason. I should think it
difficult to detect in it any marks of a later age. In fact
the only ground that I can find in it for doubting whether
* Formerly Rector of South Somerootes, and Examining Chaplain to
Bishop ThirlwaU.
t I.e. that the Apostles each contributed one of the Articles of the Creed.

172 ST. augustin' S SEEMONS AND
it might have been St. Austin's, is that the explanation of
the article ' Sedet ad dexteram Dei patris ' is a little
different from that Avhich is given in the treatise ' De
Fidei Symbolo,' and in another sermon (c. xix), ' De
Symbolo.' In these the article is explained to signify a
share in the divine blessedness. In sermon cxv. ' Sedere
ad dexteram Dei patris dicitur, non ut dicatur major, sed
ut ostendatur cequcdis.' But these explanations are, if
not fundamentally identical, at least not inconsistent.
Nevertheless I do not believe that the legend contained in
the sermon was delivered by St. Austin. But there
appear to me very strong reasons for considering it as an
interpolation. Not only might it be omitted Avithout
leaving the slightest appearance of a void, but it is positiA'ely
at variance AA'ith the statement which immediately precedes
it, and Avhich, therefore, might have been expected to
introduce it. The name symbolum is explained as equi
valent to the Latin coiiatio. Then follows ' Coiiatio ideo
quia collata in unum totius CatholiciB legis fides symboli
colligitur brevitate, cujus textum vobis modo deo annuente
dicemus ;' that is, it is a brief compendium of Catholic
doctrine. And then comes immediately, ' Petrus dixit,'
and so on to ' Matthias complevit vitam seternam, Amen.'
Noav, whoever was the author of the sermon, if he meant
to have detailed the legend he would surely have referred
his interpretation of coiiatio to it. But this is not all.
The author proceeds, apparently quite unconscious of what
he has been telling his hearers, and after a solemn appeal
to them, goes on : ' Ideo, carissimi, hujus mysterii sacra
mentum, sicut fide concepimus et corde credimus, perfectis
vocibus declaremus. Credo in deum patrem omnipotentem
et reliqua sicut supra.' This ' et sicut supra ' of course I
take to be also an interpolation, consequent upon the first.
When we consider that the sermons were taken down by
the hearers, it seems easy enough to conceive how such an

THE LEGEND OF THE APOSTLEs' CEEED. 173
interpolation might be introduced. But that the preacher
should have recited the creed tAvice seems utterly incredible.
But with regard to the legend itself you seem not to be
aAvare that Austin — supposing him the author of the
sermon as it is — would not be the earhest authority for
the legend. It is related by Rufinus in his ' Expositio in
Symbolum Apostolorum,' with the introductory assertion
' Tradunt majores nostri : ' Avhich seems to prove at least
that the tradition had become current early in the fourth
century. It would spring up naturally Avhen the title
symbolum apostolorum had come into general use, even
without that confusion betAA'een av/jijioXou and avji^oXi)
which you conjecture, and Avhich Austin and Rufinus
(' Symbolum Greece et indicium dici potest et coiiatio hoc
est quod plures in unum conferunt ') attest ; indeed, it
seems very doubtful whether the name o-d^jSoXi) coidd have
been applied to the creed Avith reference to such a legend :
it would then rather have been called avfi^oXai, according
to the analogy of Itnrvea' utto av/jifioXwu.
" I do not think the illustration you give from BosAvell's
Johnson goes far to solve the difficulty [caused by the
supposed inequality of reward.] It would only do so on
the supposition that the subjects of each rank Avere unable
to conceive a state of happiness superior to their oAvn. Yet
the schoolmen do not seem to have gone farther, though
they take a somewhat different view. At least Aquinas,
after observing ' non est nisi unum summum bonum scilicet
Deus cujus fruitione homines sunt beati,' reconciles the
equality of reward signified in Matthew xx. 10, Avith the
gradation expressed in John xiv. 2 by the remark, ' Unitas
denarii significat unitatem beatitudinis ex parte objecti,
sed diversitas mansionum significat diversitatem beatitu
dinis secundum diversum gnidum fruitionis.' This, as
I said, leaves the main difficulty untouched. But it is
solved by Dante in a beautiful passage, to Avhich you might

174 DANTE ON HEAVENLY EEWAEDS.
have referred in your note. The question is there raised
('Paradiso' III.) ' Voi, che siete qui felici, desiderate voi
piii alto loco ? ' and the ansAver states,
' Frate, la nostra volonta quieta
VirtCi de caritu, che fa volerne
Sol quel ch'avemo, e d'altro non ci asseta.
Se disiassimo esser pit> superne
Foran discordi gli nostri disiri
Dal voler di colui che qui ne cerne ;
¦*¦*»**
E formalc ad esto beato esse
Tencrsi dcntro alia divina voglia.
*****
Si che, come noi sem di soglia in sogUa
Per questo regno, a tutto il regno piace
Com' aUo Re che'n suo voler ne invoglia
In la sua volontade e nostra pace.'
The poet concludes : —
' Chiaro mi fu aUor, com' ogni dove
In cielo e Paradiso, e si la grazia
Del sommo ben d'un modo non vi piove.'
" Your quotation from Bp. Copleston does not seem to
me to show any material difference betAveen the Romanists
and the Reformers on the head of predestination. With
both it has respect to a foreseen quality. The difference
described seems to belong to the head of Justification by
Faith. Another minute remark and I have done. In a
note you seem to have confounded two verbs of totally
distinct origin.* The Anglo-Saxon helan is still represented
by the modern German hehlen, to conceal. But the verb
hylle in the ' Morte d' Arthur ' seems to correspond exactly
to huellen, to Avrap.
" ' Brown- Willis ' I have already, and unless I saw
Thorpe's catalogue could not judge whether the MS.
additions are AVorth the money.
"I received your 'Illustrations' some time ago, and am
sorry to find that I have not before thanked you for it. It
* Referring to the derivation of the word Sell.

ISAAC WILLIAMS. 175
is a book which I shall have great pleasure in recommend
ing to students. . . ."

To Eev. P. Martin. Abergwili, December ith, 1841.
" .... I cannot help regretting that Lachmann's beau
tiful and valuable Paper should never yet have been trans
lated into English. May I not add, that there is no
English theological journal connected with the Church
which does not studiously keep its readers in the dark as
to everything that is said and done in German theology.
For English readers that Paper ought to have a peculiar
interest, besides the new light Avhich it throws on Biblical
criticism, on account of the view taken in it of Bentley's
character as a Biblical critic. We often talk of the Papal
Indices Expurgatorii with a mixture of contempt and
indignation. They are, indeed, poor things compared
Avith our methods of compassing the same object, Avhile
we are able to talk big about light and freedom  "

[In reference to the Rev. Isaac Williams.]
To Eev. J. Hughes. Abergwili, December Uth, 1841.
" I received a letter last night from Mr. Williams,
enclosing a correspondence which has lately taken place
between you and him on the subject of the sermons to be
preached at the approaching consecration of Llangorwen
Church, and I take the earliest opportunity of correcting
a mistake into which you appear to have been led by the
ambiguous expression used by Mr. Williams in his note to
you, AA'here he states that it is at my particular desire
that his brother is to preach at the consecration, and

176 ISAAC WILLIAMS.
equally an arrangement of mine that you should preach in
the afternoon. I observe that in your ansAver you sup
pose, very naturally, that I had appointed Mr. Isaac
Williams to preach on this occasion. The fact, hoAvever,
is that the Avhole arrangement Avas, in the first instance,
proposed by Mr. Williams, and that I simply assented to
it. Mr. Williams afterAvards consulted me on the expe
diency of having both the services in Welsh ; and when I
expressed my readiness to perform the consecration in that
language, he inquired Avhether I Avould also preach in it.
This I declined to undertake, and at the same time men
tioned that even if I had thought myself qualified to do
so I should have been very unAvilling to forego the pleasure
of hearing his brother, and that I also considered it very
desirable that the other sermon should be preached by
you. " I think it also proper to state that my acquaintance
Avith Oxford is so very slight that I have never known
anything of Mr. Isaac Williams but by reputation, and
that of the most general kind. It has been very recently,
since I Avas at Aberystwith, that I have learnt that he is a
distinguished member of the party to Avhich Dr. Pusey's
name has been attached ; and it Avas only last night,
through your letter, that I found he was a writer in the
Oxford Tracts. In a word, I have never, to this moment,
read a line or sentence which I knew to be his. You
may, perhaps, be the more surprised at this, as his name
has lately acquired great notoriety through the contest for
the vacant professorship of poetry. But the fact is I am
not a great reader of noAvspapers, and having been very
much by myself for the last six Aveeks, and a good deal
occupied, I have hardly looked into one during that time.
" It is now too late to consider whether any other
arrangement as to the services might have been more desir
able, as I certainly should have done if I had been sooner

'visit to CAMBRIDGE. 177
aware of the possibility that they might become an occa
sion of controversy. I hope, however, that no startling or
ambiguous peculiarity of doctrine will be brought forward
in the morning sermon. But in any case I think you AA'ill
fully have discharged your duty if in yours, you confine
yourself to the statement of what appears to you important
and seasonable truth, without any controA'ersial reference
or allusion to the morning sermon, which I should parti
cularly deprecate on such an occasion ; and, indeed, as in
all probability very few of your hearers Avill have been
able to understand the English sermon, such a proceeding
could hardly ansAver any useful purpose."

To John Thirlwall, Esq. London, July Sth, 1842.
" I enclose a sermon Avhich I preached some time ago
in London, and which has been published, or at least
printed, at the expense as well as at the request of the
governors of the hospital 
" I came up from Wales about ten days ago for sundry pur
poses which I could accomplish within a short time. One —
indeed the main one — was that I might see my mother, who,
Avhen I saw her in April, seemed to be rather losing strengfA.
I Avent down to Ickleford the day after my arrival in London,
and had the pleasure of finding her quite as Avell in every
respect as I had left her. From Ickleford I proceeded to
Cambridge, Avhere the Master of Trinity had invited me
to become his guest during the installation [of the Duke of
Northumberland as Chancellor of the University], I Avas
not able to stay there long enough to partake of the festi
vities, but enjoyed much pleasure in the revival of old
associations connected Avith the place. I remained there
until Monday morning, attended the Duke of Northum-
N

178 EPISCOPAL WORK.
berlanJ's levee, and Avitnessed the arrival of the Duke of
Wellington, to Avhom I resigned the room I had occupied
in the lodge. I then set off' for Ickleford, Avhere I re
mained till the next day, when I returned to London. . . .
" You Avill probably hear of some of my proceedings in
the course of the summer through the Welsh newspapers."

To JoH.N- Thirlwall, Esq. St. David's, November 9th, 1842.
" I send you Avith this a sermon Avhich has been pub
lished at the request and expense of the society in behalf
of Avhich it Avas preached.* I Avish it had been in my
poAver to add a copy of my Charge, which has now been
some Aveeks in the press but seems to proceed very sloAvly.
As I had only one copy of it I did not like to trust it to
the chances of the road to London, and also thought that
time would be saved in the correction of the press if it
Avere printed in my neighbourhood. I should not have
done so if I had been aAvare of the immense difference
between the rate of movement in town and country print
ing offices. I have this year paid my annual visit to the
cathedral earlier than usual, on account of some circum
stances Avhich Avould have rendered it inconvenient to be
away from Abergwili at Christmas. I have some thoughts
of taking this opportunity to make some excursions into
distant parts of Pembrokeshire to inspect the condition of
the churches, about which it is not easy to obtain satisfac
tory information without personal inspection. There are,
however, considerable difficulties at this time of year op
posed to such visitations, in the shortness of the days, the
state of the roads, and the extreme scarcity of places
affording any kind of accommodation. Gentlemen's seats
• For the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel at Haverfordwest,
October 12th, 1842.

THE WELSH PEASANTRY. 179
are either scattered at great distances from one another,
or lie in groups in a few of the more favoured spots. Even
in summer, the country, though often very fertile, presents
few attractions, being almost Avholly bare of wood, and
Avith little variety of features, except in the vicinity of the
Precelly Mountain (as it is rather flatteringly termed),
Avhich stretches for some distance towards the borders of
Cardiganshire. Elsewhere the only natural objects that
relieve the general monotony of the landscape are the pro
jections of naked rock, which rise every here and there
out of the plain sometimes in rather picturesque forms.
Though the cottages of the peasantry look very wretched,
I find that the owners are in general by no means badly
off. They have the advantage of the peculiar kind of fuel
called culm, a preparation of coal-dust and earth in balls
or bars, which, when once heated, last a very long while,
and diffuse a uniform warmth, to which, by the way, it is
said the Pembrokeshire hot-houses owe their celebrity.
The preparation is very cheap, and is used by some gentle
men in their houses. The poor people live hardly, but
contrive to save a little, and very often become owners of
a few fields ; and as this improvement in their station
produces no change in their habits, they are as small
farmers in less jeopardy from the vicissitudes of seasons
and fluctuation of prices than others who make a better
show. But even in the cabins of the labourers you seldom
look in without seeing a pig or some fowls, which, though
not cleanly, are profitable inmates  "

To Dr. Whewell, Master of Trinity.
[In reference to the proposed union of the two North
Wales bishoprics on the creation of the See of Manchester.]
N 2

180 PROPOSED UNION OF THE
St. David's, November ISth, 1S12.
" The subject on Avhich you desire to knoAV my opinion
is one on Avhich I have for some time past made up my
mind as decidedly as it is possible for me to do Avith the
information I at present possess on it : and I have no
reason to think that my view of it would be changed by
any facts Avhich have yet come to my knowledge. I need
not, therefore, take time to deliberate on my answer to
your inquiry, and do not hesitate to say at once that in
my judgment the proposed union of tbe two North Wales
Bishoprics is a measure utterly unnecessary, impolitic,
unjust, and pernicious. The case seems to me so clear
that one is almost ashamed to assign reasons : it is
usurping the proA'ince of the opposite party, with whom
the onus undoubtedly lies. A glance at a map must, one
Avould think, satisfy every one, that if a Bishop is any
thing more than a purely ornamental part of the hierarchy,
each of the dioceses Avhich it is proposed to unite is amply
sufficient to afford occupation for one, and, consequently,
that either the pastor or the flock, or, more probably, both,
must suffer if his duties are doubled. A very slight
acquaintance with the state of the Church in Wales seems
likcAvise sufficient to convince any one that no dioceses in
the kingdom can so ill afford to lose any part of their
ecclesiastical revenues. That there are no peculiar cir
cumstances to weaken the force of these observations when
applied to Bangor and St. Asaph, seems sufficiently proved
by the unanimous opposition Avhich the Bishops of those
Sees have made to the projected union. All this is so
plain and trite that it is almost a waste of paper to mention
it, and yet, until these objections are met and disposed of
it seems superfluous to touch on any other topics, which
the case furnishes in abundance : as the application of the
alienated funds ; the unpopularity of the measure ; its

NORTH WALES BISHOPRICS. 181
permanent effect on the feelings of a very sensitive people,
Avho already are extremely dissatisfied with the treatment
they have suffered in Church matters. The more obvious
question is, Avhat argument, what plea, what ground, either
of justice or pohcy, is alleged on the other side to counter
balance any one, and that the slightest, of these which are
apparently decisive against the measure. I can only say
that I have never yet heard more than one, Avhich is com
pounded of the supposed necessity for giving the noAv
Bishop a seat in the House of Lords, and the supposed
impossibility of increasing the number of the episcopal
seats. If there is any other reason assigned or assignable,
I am open to conviction, and Avilling to weigh it when
presented to me. But my judgment on this single one
Avhich I am acquainted Avith is, that it merely aggravates
the wrong, the mischief and the folly, Avhich it is put for-
Avard to shield, by its transparent and therefore irritating
futility. For it seems to me equivalent to a declaration
that in the opinion of those Avho allege it, the interests of
the Church, and the feelings of the people, in North Wales,
are of so little importance that they may properly be
sacrificed, not to the Avelfare of an English diocese, not to
any object of political expediency, hoAvever paltry, but
to a point of politico-ecclesiastical etiquette, or to a notion
of symmetry, or to some episcopal arcanum of danger to be
apprehended from the example of an English Bishop Avho
should not be a Lord of Parliament. Even Avith regard to
this point, I think the plea, miserable as it is, raises an
argument of at least equal weight on the other side. For
I think the Welsh might contend Avith quite as much
reason that, if there is any advantage to be derived from
the representation of the Church in Parliament, they have
not now more than their fair share of episcopal represen
tatives. The expedient for meeting the difficulty appears
to me really preposterous : a sacrifice of the greater to the

182 THE CHAEGE OF 1842.
infinitely less — something as if supposing the number of
Bishop's wigs to be limited, it had been thought better to
reduce the number of heads than to let one of them
appear in its own hair. But I am growing unepiscopal,
and giving you more than you Avanted, which Avas I believe
rather my opinion than my arguments.
"To slide into other subjects — my ill-fated Charge,
about Avhich I have heard many inquiries, has fallen into
the hands of a Welsh printer, Avhom I employed partly
from a desire to encourage native art, and partly to secure
my single MS. from the chances of a journey to London.
He received it very nearly five Aveeks ago, Avith assurances
that he Avould proceed with it at the most rapid rate, and
this morning I received the fifth half-sheet, being, I believe,
less than half : so that, even if he continues to move with
the same super-Celtic velocity, it will hardly see the light
before Christmas — some time after it has been forgotten
that I ever delivered one.
" The beauty of the summer made me the more regret
that I did not see you at Abergwih ; but I hope it is the
beginning of a fair cycle, and that you Avill pay me a visit
in the course of the next. I wish you, or Thorp,* were
here now. We are on the point of converting the south
transept of the Cathedral — which is noAV a heap of rub
bish — into a parish church, which is sadly needed. We
Avant to combine utdity and beauty as much as possible ;
but I am afraid shall commit a great many blunders, as it
seems as if there were few people here who understand
more about the matter than myself
"I had a letter yesterday from Mdnes, dated Athens,
Oct. 1 9. He had been making a pilgrimage to Delphi— on
his way, I believe, to Jerusalem and Mecca— for he con
cludes with the words, ' I hope to be at Constantinople
next week, at Jerusalem in December, and at Cairo in
* Formerly tutor of Trinity, and afterwards Archdeacon of Bristol.

COMPLETION OF THE "HISTORY." 183
January' I hope he Avih return safe to receive the
honours of a Hadji, with a load of cockleshehs, relics,
and sonnets."

To Dr. Schmitz. Abergwili, December Vllh, 1812.
" I have received a copy of your translation of ' Nie
buhr ' as Avell as the volume Avhich you committed to my
nephew. I congratulate you on the completion of your
laborious undertaking, and hope you Avdl be abundantly
rewarded by its success.
" I am sorry to have been obliged to inform Mr. Lewis
that I can promise nothing at present for your Journal, as
it is absolutely necessary that I should devote whatever
leisure I can find to the completion of my ' History,' which
is urgently called for by the publishers  "

To Dr. Schmitz. Ickleford, Hitchin, February 20th, 1843.
" I return the proof-sheet. I received it at the time
Avhen I Avas called away from London by a domestic afflic
tion,* and have perhaps been prevented by the same cause
from giving it all the attention which I might otherwise
have paid to it. But I wish you to observe that, as I had
not the original to compare with the translation, the altera
tions I have made must only be considered as suggestions
for your consideration, indicating that I found something
Avhich struck me as obscure or harsh, and Avhich I thought
might perhaps be advantageously corrected in the AA'ay I
have proposed. In some passages Avhich I have marked
* The death of his mother, on February IZih, 18 J3, in her eighty-eighth
year.

184 AN EPISCOPAL TOUR.
Avith a note of interrogation in the margin, I could not
go so far, not being able to guess what the precise mean
ing is. I am only sure that something is AA'anting to make
it intelligible to common readers. On the Avhole, your
translation appears to me surprisingly good. I had not
seen or heard of Poppo's remarks on my ' History.' I did
not even know that he had completed his edition of
Thucydides, of Avhich I have only so much as included
the first book of his Commentary.

[The following are extracts from the journal of an epis
copal tour made in 1 84.3. Reference is made to the Rebecca
Riots, which came to a head in that year, and still, at times,
break out in minor forms. Outrages were committed by
bodies of men in disguise, known as Rebecca's men, the
leader usually being in female attire. The toll-gates were
the main object of their attacks, and their name was taken
from a curious application of Genesis xxiv. 60 : — ]
To John Thirlwall, Fsq. Abergwili, September 1st, 1843.
j' .... As you used to be amused by my accounts of
my travels, perhaps you may derive some entertainment
from a narrative of a little excursion — partly of business
and partly of recreation — from which I returned a fcAv days
ago. The main object of my journey Avas to minister con
firmation in the parish of Kerry, in Montgomeryshire, the
remotest of all from my residence, and which, from peculiar
causes which need not be explained, I had been compelled
to omit on my confirmation circuit. I set out with my
friend Mr. MelviUe on Tuesday, the 15th ult., a httle after
noon. . .
"All the great features of the country, the direc-

AN EPISCOPAL TOUR. 185
tion of the hills, and the course of the rivers, to a con
siderable extent, were exhibited to us as Ave crossed the
common of Llandrindod Wells, a place of great resort on
account of its mineral springs and pure air. The living
is worth a little less than £50 per annum, on which, with
the addition of a curacy worth perhaps £30 more, the in
cumbent has contrived to bring up a numerous family. He
is past eighty, indeed, I believe, very near ninety but regu
larly performs his duty, walking on Sundays ten or tAvelve
miles to one of his churches. The living of which he had
been curate is in my patronage, and became vacant a feAV
months ago, when I gave it to him ; perhaps unnecessaril}',
as I have been told that he had saA'ed a good deal of money
out of his previous income. It Avas, however, the great
object of his ambition ; and lo ! scarcely has he attained
it, Avhen, for the first time, he is taken seriously ill, and
not expected to recover ! W^ith him, whenever he goes,
Avill disappear one of the few remaining specimens of the
old school of Welsh clergymen 
" We drove to Kerry, where I was entertained at the
parsonage, which is a very good house, having been enlarged
and put into good repair by Dr. Ollivant just before he
was appointed to the Divinity Professorship at Cambridge.
Its situation, commanding a rich valley, bounded by high
hills, is uncommonly beautiful, and I should have been
very loth to exchange it, as he has done, for a parish in
Huntingdonshire. His place is filled for the present by
two curates, one of Avhom was my host, both very zealous
and active men, yet hardly equal to the labour arising
from the great extent of the parish. The next day I con
firmed at the church, an old and not very sightlj' building,
even if it had not been disfigured as it is by some hideous
galleries. As I returned through the churchyard I Avas
greeted very respectfully by a person A^'hose dress seemed
to indicate that he Avas a functionary of the Church. I

186 AN EPISCOPAL TOUR.
learnt that he was the sexton, but that he also discharges
another very useful office, Avhich, as far as I knoAV, is pecu
liar to Kerry. It appears that it is by ancient custom a
part of his duty to perambulate the church during service
time, Avith a bell in his hand, to look carefully into every
peAV, and whenever he finds any one dozing to ring the bell.
He discharges this duty, it is said, AA'ith great vigilance,
intrepidity, and impartiality, and consequently with the
happiest effect on the congregation, for, as everybody is
certain that if he or she gives way to droAA'siness the fact
Avill be forthwith made knoAvn through the whole church
by a peal Avhich will direct all eyes to the sleeper, the fear
of such a visitation is almost ahvays sufficient to keep
every one on the alert.

To John Thirlwall, Esq. Abergwili, September \6th, 1843.
" . . . . Soon after this we descended to a little
hamlet, called Pont-Rhyd-fendigaid, Avhich, being inter
preted, is, Bridge of the blessed Ford. Here I halted,
having both business to transact and curiosity to satisfy.
I wanted to inspect the grammar school of Ystrad Meurig,
of Avhich, as bishop of the diocese, I am visitor, which lies
about three miles from Pont-Rhyd-fendigaid 
"I set out, accompanied by a lad whom we engaged to
guide us 
" To beguile the time I amused myself with a pretty
long conversation Avith our guide, from whom, as I
found he had been educated at Ystrad Meurisr Free
School, I hoped to get some useful information. He
had left school, he told me, upwards of a year, and since
Avorked on his father's farm ; but retained a little smatter
ing of Latin and Greek. Unluckily his knowledge of

AN EPISCOPAL TOUR. 187
English was also very imperfect, and it was sometimes
necessary to resort to his mother-tongue in order to make
sure of his meaning, On our way Ave met the master of
the school, the Rev. Mr. Morris, who, having heard of my
arriA'al at Pont-Rhyd-fendigaid, had come over from Ystrad
Meurig with a couple of horses, one of which he offered
for my use. But I was so wet that I preferred continuing
on my legs. Mr. Morris then guided us to the remains
of the Abbey, Avhich are confined to the arch of the west
entrance and a part of the contiguous wall. The arch is
circular, with some remarkable ornaments, and of good
masonry. I then Avalked to Ystrad Meurig 
" I inspected the school buildings, which had been
represented to me as neglected. The scholars I could not
see, as it was vacation time. The schoolroom stands in
the churchyard, and is a much larger and better-looking
edifice than the church, being built of very good stone.
At one end is a smaller room, containing a, library in
excellent oak book-cases. I did not find, in the aspect
either of the books or the building, much ground for com
plaint ; but all that I saAv and heard rendered it clear
that the school, though well endowed, can never again
become what it was previous to the establishment of the
College at Lampeter, Avhen a great number of the Welsh
clergy received their whole education at Ystrad Meurig.
After having rested a few minutes at l\lr. Morris's house,
we returned to Pont-Rhyd-fendigaid. I gained one piece
of experience by this excursion. It turned out, on inquiry
from Mr. Morris, that either through ignorance, stupidity,
or wantonness, our Welsh guide had deceived me in
every particular that he had stated Avith regard to the
school 
" The well-known road to Abergwili presented only one
object to attract any particular attention, and that a very
melancholy one : a turnpike and toll-house close to Aber-

188 THE EEBECCA EIOTS.
gwili, recently demolished by Rebecca. One or two articles
of furniture Avere still remaining in a corner of the ruins.
Such is the spirit of the times, that after the destruction
of the house, the collector, who also carried on the business
of a bookbinder at Carmarthen, could not prevail on any
of his neighbours to help him to remove his furniture.
At last a stranger consented to let him have the use of his
cart for that purpose. But when they arrived at Car
marthen a mob assembled round the cart, cut the traces,
thrcAV the furniture into the street, and Avere with difficulty
Avithheld from maltreating the OAvncr of the cart. Not
content Avith this, they broke open the collector's house,
and scattered the books which they found there about the
street. No advice of the disturbance reached either the
police or the military until the mischief was done and the
mob had dispersed. This Avas bad ; but since that the
appearance of things has been groAving worse and worse.
You may judge of it by one specimen. A few days ago
Rebecca's emissaries set fire to the cottage of a poor old
Avoman Avho received the toll at a gate. None of her neigh
bours Avould help her to put out the fire, though she assured
them ' it Avas not much.' But hearing her say this, the in
cendiaries returned to complete their work. It seems that
she then gaA'e them to understand that she kneAA' them,
upon which they instantly lodged the contents of several
guns in her head, and she expired almost immediately. A
coroner's inquest sat on her body, which presented a
shocking spectacle, the head being dreadfully shattered.
The verdict they returned Avas to the effect that she died
a natural death, through a suffusion of blood in the chest.
It Avas previously believed that no Welsh jury would
venture to give a verdict unfavourable to Rebecca, and
now the fact is placed beyond a doubt. There is on the
one side perfect impunity from the law, on the other no
protection from outrage. In fact, nobody who has any-

CAUSES OF THE EIOTS. 189
thing to lose considers either his property or his life as
secure. A gentleman of large property, and till lately (as
well on account of his Liberal politics as of the great number
of people he employs, whose welfare and comfort have been
the objects of his unremitting attention) possessing, per
haps, greater infiuence than any other in the county, has
found it necessary to send away his wife and family,
remaining himself for the protection of his property, which
has been repeatedly attacked by incendiary fires. Another
less gallantly leaves his mansion, which stands in a retired
situation about five or six miles from Carmarthen, to sleep
every night in the town, fearing personal violence in con
sequence of the threats which, he has received. There has
been much speculation about the causes of this deplorable
state of things, and a general disposition to refer it to cer
tain alleged abuses. But I believe I. may venture to say,
on the concurrent authority of all the persons I have met
with, who possess the best means of information, that the
real cause is very different. Abuses there certainly have
been in the management of the turnpike trusts, and per
haps in other matters, as the administration of the new
Poor Law. But it is clear that they have been nothing
more than the occasion or often the pretext of the out
break, and in a different state of things would hardly haA^e
excited anything but a slight feeling of discontent, which
Avould probably in the end have found some lawful and
peaceable way of venting itself The real cause of tho
present evil is to be sought in the Aveather of the years
1839 — 1840, in the first of which the crops in this part of
Wales were utterly destroyed, and in the second very
nearly so, by the rain and fioods. The farmers, originally
poor, have never recovered from this blow ; their distress
has rendered them almost reckless and desperate. Be
lieving themselves aggrieved in some points, they resort to
illegal combinations at first with a specific object, but now.

190 iESTHETICS.
it Avould seem, Avith a general indefinite vieAV of mending
their condition by means of a system of intimidation,
Avhich up to this moment they have pursued, notwith
standing the presence of a large military force, Avith com
plete success. . .

[In reference to the term commented on in the next
letter, it may be noticed that Carlyle, Avriting in the Edin
burgh Revieiv in 1827 (No. XCL), on Richter's '' Life," and
alluding to his " Introduction to dSsthetics," added a foot
note explaining the doubtful phrase. " dllsthetics," the
note says, " Avas a Avord invented by Baumgarten (some
eighty years ago) to express generally the Science of the
Fine Arts, and now in universal use among the Germans.
Perhaps we also might as well adopt it, at least if any
such science should ever arise among us." He lived to see
the science arise and the word adopted.]
To Eev. T. Belcombe. Tenby, April ISth, 1844.
" . . . . The term cesthetic in the sense in which it is
used in the Quarterly Review was imported from Ger
many. The Germans — like ourselves — -were in want of a
general term to express what relates to the sense of beauty.
We took the name of one of the senses — taste — and gave
it an enlarged signification comprehending the perception
of beauty, by whatever means introduced into the mind.
One inconvenience of this term is that we have only the
substantive taste, but no adjective expressing that which
relates to it, for tasteful has, of course, quite a different
meaning. The Germans, on the other hand, took an
adjective from the Greek, properly signifying what relates
to perception in general, but they hmited it in use to that

ST. d.avid's cathedeal. 191
perception of the beautiful which is grounded upon, or at
least capable of scientific investigation. From this adjec
tive (aesthetic) they form the noun cesthetik, the science of
the sesthetical, ansAvering pretty nearly to what we mean
by a theory of taste or of the beautiful. I think it has
been proposed to substitute the term calesthetic, which
would certainly describe the thing more distinctly. Hence
you will see that the writer in the Quarterly meant to say,
in the passage which you quote, that Hume was almost the
first of our historians whose work did not merely convey
historical information, but might gratify the aesthetical
faculty — ' the sense of the beautiful ' — as a Avork of art.
But I think he has expressed himself aAvkwardly and
improperly when he talks of an aesthetic sense of the term
historical literature. He might have said, in an assthetical
point of view."

To John Thirlwall, Esq. St. David's, October 2nd, 1844.
" With this I send a sermon of mine,'''' which has just
been published, Avith some other matters of little interest
except to Church people in this diocese, but which may on
that account have somewhat more for you. I arrived here
but a few days ago, and intend to stay the best part of
this month — thus gaining the advantage of longer days
and fairer weather than can be expected at the seasons
which I have on former occasions chosen for my temporary
residence. I was here about a month ago for a few hours
to open a part of the cathedral Avhich has been fitted up
for the parochial service Avith a Welsh sermon ; and since
then I have been making another little tour in North
Wales, partly over ground which I travelled over last year,
* Preached for the S.P.C.K. on their anniversary.

192 AN EPISCOPAL TOUE.
but taking a somewhat wider compass. I proceeded from
HaverfordAvest — where, in conjunction with Bishop Cole
ridge, I assisted with a sermon at the reopening of the
principal church — to Cardigan, Avhere I Avas able to relieve
the vicar by preaching for him, tAvice in English and
once in Welsh, and administering the sacrament in each
language 
" I arrived at Aberystwyth, Avhere I found the Bishops
of London and Winchester at the same hotel. The
former had come from Chester through Bangor, and
Avas going to return to Chester by another road. On
Sunday I preached in Welsh and English. Monday was
chiefly occupied Avith receiving visits, and in the evening I
dined Avith the Bishop of Winchester and Mrs. Sumner at
Nanteos, the seat of Colonel PoAvell, the Lord-Lieutenant.
The next night I slept at Lampeter, in the house of Mr.
Browne,''^ one of the tutors of the college, and on Wednes
day I arrived at Abergwili. The following Saturday I
again, started for Nevern, in Cardiganshire, where I had
engaged to preach the next Sunday 
" On Monday the people at Nevern Avere so much pleased
Avith my tAvo Welsh sermons that a strong wish was ex
pressed to see one of them in print 
" Before I leave Pembrokeshire for Abergwili I meditate
an excursion into that corner of the country Avhich forms
the south side of St. Bride's Bay. I shall then in the
course of this year have traversed the diocese at almost
every considerable part."

^0 Dr. Schmitz. Abergwili, December 2ith, 1845.
" I most heartily wish you joy on your success. The
announcement in your letter Avas a most agreeable surprise
* The present Bishop of Winchester.

THIELWALL AND GROTE. 193
to me, as I had not even heard of the vacancy. It cer
tainly is a rather remarkable circumstance that in the
modern Athens one great school should have been com
mitted to the government of a Welshman,'" and the other
to that of a German. But I think on the whole this
Xenodokia does credit to the people of Edinburgh, and I
have no doubt that it will redound to their advantage
even more in the last instance than in the former. "You
will probably soon become acquainted Avith your rival
of the Academy  I have always hoped to be
able to pay another visit to Edinburgh, and it will
certainly be an additional inducement to do so that I shall
nOAV find you there in so honourable and important a
station. That you may long fill it with ever-increasing
satisfaction to yourself and to the public is my sincere
AA'ish."

[The folloAving letter refers to the publication of the im
proved edition of his "History," and also to the appearance
of Grote's " History of Greece." In connection Avith the
latter, the generous language used here is in accordance
with all Thirlwall's utterances on the same subject. In
the "Life of Grote" (p. 173) a beautiful letter is pub
lished from the Bishop, congratulating Grote on his Avork
and acknowledging its superiority. Grote answered in a
corresponding spirit, and explained his reasons for taking
up the work. Thirlwall expressed himself even more
warmly and generously on another occasion in a speech at
Charterhouse.] * The late Ven. T. Williams, M.A., Archdeacon of Cardigan, and Principal
of the Academy at Edinburgh. 0

194 geote's "histoey of Greece."
To Da. Schmitz.
Christie's Hotel, April Sth, 1846.
" Since your migration to Edinburgh the second volume
of my ' History ' has appeared, and you ought to have
received a copy some time ago, but I scrupled about send
ing one by an ordinary conveyance to so great a distance.
Having just come to London, I should be glad to loioAV
whether you can point out any less expensive means of
forwarding parcels to you. I shall hope at the same time
to hear how you like your new situation and prospects,
and in what condition you have found the High School.
The Rector of the Academy complains that the religious
discords with which he is surrounded render his position
so disagreeable that he is anxious to retire from it. I
hope you have not experienced any annoyance from the
like cause.
" You have, no doubt, been enjoying, as I have, Grote's
' History.' High as my expectations were of it, it has
very much surpassed them all, and affords an earnest of
something which has never been done for the subject either
in our OAvn or any other literature. It has afforded me
some gratification to find that in the flood of new light
Avhich he has poured upon it his views do not appear
greatly to diverge from mine on more than a few important
points, and those of a special nature not involving any
general principles. For though I am not yet satisfied
Avith the limits he prescribes in his first volume to the
investigations which occupy a part of mine, I think it
would be found on a further analysis that the difference
between us is not very material."

[In reference to Hegel's Philosophy.]
To Dr. Whewell, Master of Trinity.
Abergwili, Carmarthen, October 31sl, 1849.
" Pray accept my best thanks for your Memoir on

hegel's philosophy. 195
' Hegel's Criticism of Newton's Principia,' which I found
here a day or two ago on my return after a short absence.
I have read it with some pleasure, but without the smallest
surprise, as it only tends to confirm an opinion which I have
long entertained. My own examination of certain portions
of Hegel's works, which I had occasion to study attentively,
has impressed me Avith the deepest conviction that he is, to
say the least, one of the most impudent of all literary
quacks, and I feel sure that there is no part of his so-called
philosophy which, if carefully examined by a competent
and impartial judge, would not lead him to a like conclu
sion. It may be said that one is not entitled to speak of
Hegel in this way without having made one's self master
— if that be possible — of all his writings. But I do not
believe that any genuine philosopher ever wrote a volume,
or even a page, of what a well-informed contemporary
could consider as arrant nonsense. Whether Hegel's
A'olumes, after the subtraction of their common-place, con
tain anything else, is more than I am, or probably ever
shall be, able to say. I have so much faith in the force
of truth as to believe that sooner or later Hegel's name
will only be redeemed from universal contempt by the
recollection of the immense mischief he has done. It is
certainly a very remarkable phenomenon, and one Avhich
will well deserve to occupy a large place in a future history
of European phdosophy and literature in the nineteenth
century, that such a man should have exercised so great
an influence over the mind of Germany, and should
have been an object of at least professed veneration to so
many of its most eminent men in various departments of
literature. But I should be curious to know whether this
high opinion of his merits is shared by a single German,
whom you would recognise as a competent judge of a
scientific subject, such as those stated in your Memoir. This
of course, as involving a negative, it might be difficult to

o2

196 hegel's philosophy.
ascertain. But you probably know AA'liat your scientific Ger
man acquaintance think, and hoAV they feel on this subject,
aud Avhether any of them is a professor of Hegel- worship.
If you have any doubt on the point, it would certainly be
worth while to circulate your Memoir for the sake of
draAving out their opinions. On the metaphysicians and
literators I do not suppose that it would produce the
slightest impression. They Avill no doubt continue to
believe that each of the passages you quote contains a
treasure of wisdom, only lying too deep to be explored by
a Stock- Englander."

[On the same subject.]
To Dr. Whewell, Master of Trinity.
Abergwili, Carmarthen, November 9th, 1849.
" Many thanks for your most Avelcome present of your
Avork on Induction and the Second Memoir, both of which
I have read Avith great interest. ' The former brought back
to my mind several passages by which I had been much
perplexed and dissatisfied in the midst of the pleasure and
admiration with Avhich I had gone through Mill's book
some three years ago. It is not for me to jDronounce
between two such thinkers, at least till I have seen a
rejoinder to the reply ; but I certainly have a very strong
impression that your main position cannot be shaken.
" The additional Note to the tAVO Memoirs marks, I
think very justly, Hegel's place in the history of German
philosophy, and shows that he has no claim to the merit
either of original speculation or of a healthy development
and judicious modification of previous systems. The
master thought of his philosophy belongs to Schelling ; all
that is his OAvn is the rashness and violence Avith which he
has carried it out into detail, by a perpetual perversion of

hegel's philosophy. 197
facts and juggle of Avords. When we are inquiring hoAv it
has happened that he has nevertheless established such a
powerful sway over German literature, it must not be for
gotten that his ascendency has been and is, to a consider
able extent, maintained by a kind of influence quite
independent of the innate attractiveness of his philosophy.
There can, I think, be no question that he owes it in a
great measure to the authority of the Berhn Jahrbiicher,
the principal organ of his school. A profession, if not of
Hegelianism, at least of reverence for the name of Hegel,
seems to form the common bond which unites the contri
butors together. Many, probably, add tne weight of their
reputation to it who have little faith in his doctrines.
And it is a serious matter for a writer whose prospects,
perhaps, mainly depend on the success of his book, to
brave the risk of being either ignored or crushed by the
leading Review. This, however, only goes some way
towards accounting for the continuance of the prestige
Avhich surrounds the name of Hegel. It certainly does
not explain that state of the German mind which enables
a portion of the reading public to enjoy Avorks professedly
treating on scientific subjects, in which the authors haA'e
given the reins to their fancy in such conjectures • and
analogies as those of Avhich I find specimens adduced in
Cotta's 'Letters on Humboldt's Kosmos'' — particularly
from Carus. It is really, after all, an inestimable blessing
to live in an intellectual atmosphere, in Avhich such
monstrosities either could never come to light or must
instantly die, even though it may not be quite so genial
as that in which they flourish. I hope that the changes
which are noAV going on in our academical system will
yield more and more of the good without any admixture
of the evil. But Avhen we consider Avhat we have escaped
we can hardly regard our national vis inertias as a subject
of unmixed regret  "

198 DR. schmitz' histories.

To Dr. L. Schmitz. Abergwili, Carmarthen, November 6th, 1850.
" . . . . I shall look forward with interest to your
' Abridgment,' * though I cannot but deeply regret that
its appearance should have preceded the completion of the
second edition of my ' History,' and particularly of the
volume on Avhich I am now engaged. But my life is a
constant struggle against time."

To Dr. Schmitz. Abergwili, Carmarthen, December ith, 1850.
" I have been so much occupied since I received your
last letter, particularly with the new Appendix to the
' Historj' of Modern Rome,' that I have been obliged to
defer answering it. And I have been all the while in a
puzzle, trying in vain to recollect whether I had previously
received a letter from you in the course of the last two
years. But not only can I find no trace of any such letters
iu my memory, but, what is more material, I have not
been able to discover either }'our little ' History of Rome '
or the second edition of Niebuhr's Lectures among my
books, nor do I recollect having ever seen either of them.
As I have the first edition of the latter work it might have
been possible that I should have put the second into some
secluded nook of my library, where it still eludes my search.
But as to the ' History of Rome,' I think it is quite impos
sible that I should not at least have looked into it enough
to remember having seen it. It seems clear, therefore, that
somehoAV or other both letters and books must have mis
carried. But I can assure you that, though I was uncon
scious of having received your intended presents, nothing
* Dr. Schmitz published a smaU History of Greece, " mainly based upon
that of Connop Thirlwall."

BIBLICAL revision. 199
that I may have written in my last letter was meant to
convey an intimation that I felt myself to have been neg
lected by you, as I have never had any such impression
on my mind. It Avould only have concerned me very
much if having received such presents, I had omitted to
acknowledge the receipt. And the fact that you have
received no such acknowledgment very strongly confirms
my belief that I never knew it to have been due. I am
very glad the circumstances have led to this explanation,
in which I am the party most interested  "

[In reference to the proposed revision of the Bible.]
To George Broom, Esq., LlaneUy. December 28th, 1850.
" I have attentively considered the important subject of
your letter. But I find, on mature refiection, that I can
not altogether assent to the view of the subject on which
your proposal for a new version of the Scriptures appears
to rest. I am quite aware that the present authorised
version is susceptible of great improvement ; and I should
be glad to see a new version which should embody all the
surest corrections which have been hitherto proposed, as
Avell as any others which competent judges might deem
requisite. Whether it would be proper immediately to
substitute such a version for the one now in use
would be quite another question. But I more than
doubt whether a new version, constructed on the prin
ciple of modernising or popularising the style, Avould be
desirable for any purpose. I cannot conceive that such
an alteration would make the Scriptures more generally
intelligible. The obscurity of the received version arises,
I apprehend, either from that of the original text, or from

200 attack on THE bishop.
mistranslation. The latter cause may be removed, so far
as it has been ascertained, by simple correction. But I do
not believe that any obscurity arises from the slight tinge
of antiquity Avhich pervades the Avhole ; and I should fear
that to efface this, by clothing the same thoughts in modern
and popular language, would be likely to deprive the
Bible of a great part of its charm and influence with ordi
nary readers. Whatever farther elucidation of its contents
they may require would, I apprehend, be better sought
from paraphrases, commentaries, sermons, and other helps;
and, indeed, I do not think it possible that any mere
version, whatever may be its style, should ever supply the
place of such assistance. I think the Dissenters have
acted in a spirit of Christian Avisdom, as Avell as charity,
in abstaining from the introduction of any new version for
public use, as I am persuaded that they could have done
nothing which the Church of Rome would have witnessed
with greater pleasure or turned to better account for its
oAvn ends."

[The folloAving letter refers to a jAoint in the memorable
attack of Sir B. Hall on the Bishop in the House of Com
mons. The occasion was a debate on July 1st, 1851, on
a motion for Church Extension. The Bishop was warmly
defended by his friend and pupil Mr. Monckton Milnes
(Lord Houghton), and by Mr. Morris, M.P. for Carmarthen.
The latter spoke of " the manner in which his lordship
performed the duties of his high office, his unbounded
charities, his attention to everything that could contribute
to the advantage of his diocese," as forming a " striking
contrast to his predecessors." The Bishop himself answered
the attack and exposed its inaccuracies in his Charge

THE bishop's defence. 201
in 1851. See the " Remains," vol. i. pp. 141 — 151, a.nd
194—196.] To Rev. J. Evans. Abergwili, August ith, 1851.
" I am much obliged to you for the information contained
in your letter, and particularly for the part relating to the
Archdeacons. I do not know Avhether you AA'ill be sur
prised to hear that the sole foundation for the assertion
that my ' Archdeacons had been prevented or forbidden to
act,' was a letter written by me to the Archdeacon of Car
digan in 1843, when he was Principal of the Academy at
Edinburgh, in which, while I expressed the great ' plea
sure that it would give me to see him entering on the
discharge of his archidiaconal functions,' I stated — as I
had then recently heard from Mr. Burder — that there was
reason to doubt whether, although he had the power, he
would be at liberty legally to exercise it until the mode of
holding his court should have been regulated by provisions
which had not then been yet enacted, and ' Avhether he
had any of the machinery indispensable for the purpose.'
This is the only communication I ever made to the Arch
deacon of Cardigan on the subject either by Avord or
writing ; and at the time that Sir B. Hall made his state
ment in the House he had in his possession a letter from
the Archdeacon in Avhich this fact Avas stated. "What may
have previously passed between them in conversation I
cannot say, as while the Archdeacon declares — in a private
letter to me — that he spoke only of himself Sir B. Hall
not only said but has now printed that the assertion
related to all the Archdeacons. That in either case the
House of Commons was grossly imposed upon is very clear,
and will, I hope, in time be more generally known.
" I do not know Avhether I am to infer from your letter
that your church has been reopened for Divine service."

202

To HIS Nephew, John Thirlwall, Esq.
Warren's Hotel, Regent Street, November ith, 1852.
"All's right. I crossed the Bridge in safety, and of
course arrived here without any disaster. My journey
was not marked by any very memorable passages. At
Swansea another traveller entered the carriage, but was
called back by a friend at the door, where the folloAving
dialogue took place : —
' Q. Do you know who you have got with you in the
carriage ?
' A. A loAV negative groAvl.
' Q. The Bishop of St. David's !!!!!!'
The announcement was made in a voice Avhich would
have been perfectly audible from one end of our long
draAving-room to the other. My companion evidently
appreciated the revelation, though rather with the air of a
man who thought it need not have been quite so loud.
But he had hardly time enough to satiate himself with
the contemplation of my features, as he was obliged to get
out at Neath. Then at last the time came for the inevi
table friend. He appeared in the person of Inspector
Jellinger Symons, with whom I had a discussion on the
character and origin of the word off in the phrase ' I am
badly offi' He had been puzzling the Avorkhouse school
children Avith the question, but candidly admitted that he
could not ansAver it himself This lasted us to Cardiff,
where he got out, and I had then my book to myself
until dark.
"Only one thing beside occurred worth mentioning, as
it illustrates Dickens's poAver of attraction. At Didcot we
stopped a few minutes, and received offers of literary sup-
phes. A neighbour called for a ' Bleak House,' Avhich was
produced, but at first refused because uncut, the bidder
having no paper knife. The vendor, however, ran to a

"bleak house." 203
stall and returned Avith the number in a state for imme
diate consumption. The purchaser immediately set to,
but I suppose in a critical chapter found the envious light
faihng him. I, who sat close to the windows, had long
given up my book, though of much larger print. He con
tinued to catch at every gleam of light that permitted
him to read another line. I would have offered him my
place, but thought that the sooner he closed the book the
better it would be for his poor eyes. While I Avas waiting
Avith painful curiosity to see when he Avould acknoAvledge
that his visual powers Avere unequal to their task, he sud
denly raised his eyes to the faint glimmer of the lamps on
the opposite side, and instantly sprang up on the seat
which was unoccupied, and holding his book close to
the glass, remained perched there until Ave reached Pad-
dington. The most remarkable thing was that when we
stopped he observed to me that Ave had come uncom
monly fast — ' had never gone a better pace.' I civilly
assented, though I had not been struck with any sensation
indicating the fact. He was totally unconscious that it
was the ' Bleak House ' that had made the time pass so
quick ! . . . .
" Foreign News. — I heard from J. Symons that Thacke
ray, whom I fully expected to see in town, has set sail for
America, leaving his novel * behind him, which I shall
probably take back Avith me 
" Do not mope while I am aAvay. If you feel your
selves growing melancholy there is an excellent work
Avhich you will find in my library, and may read of an
evening — it was translated by King Alfred for the purpose
— it is called ' Boethius on the Consolation of Philosophy.'
Give my love to the partner of your solitude, and tell her
to keep up her spirits.
" I am going to hear the Queen's Speech. She has one
* "Esmond" was published in 1852.

204 "the GENEALOGIES OF OUR LORD."
of her fine days, and I must start early to be in advance of
the crowd, and shall have to kill an hour or so in the library
of the House of Lords."

[The next letter is one addressed to Lord Arthur Hervey
in reference to his work on " The Genealogies of our
Lord &c."] Abergwili, Carmarthen, January ith, 1854.
" It is high time that I should thank you for the plea
sure and benefit Avhich I have derived from the perusal of
your work on the Genealogies. I think there can be but
one opinion as to its usefulness and the excellent spirit of
judicious and candid criticism Avhich runs through it,
though there will no doubt be a good deal of variance as
to some of the principles which you have laid down, and
still more as to the application of them to jD^rticular con
troverted points. For my OAvn part I can say that I met
Avith nothing material to disturb my acquiescence in your
general conclusions before the chapter on the chronology
of the Book of Judges, to me the most interesting in the
work. If everything there was not equally satisfactory to
my mind, this may have been a perhaps inevitable conse
quence of the peculiar difficulties which beset that part of
your subject, so as to render a completely convincing
solution apparently hopeless. I assent to your general
principle that the genealogies are a surer guide than the
corresponding Numbers, and I have no doubt that the
period indicated by those which we find in the present
text for the time of the Judges is much too long. I
Avould say farther that the numbers which seem most open
to suspicion are the large round numbers, 40, 40, 40, and
2 X 40, which are suspicious as aa'cU on account of their
roundness and their identity as on account of the cha-

CHRONOLOGY OF THE BOOK OF JUDGES. 205
racter of the number itself more frequently adopted than
any other where the exactly real one was unknown. That
several of the events which are recorded in the Book of
Judges as having happened successively were really con
temporaneous is certainly a tempting hypothesis ; but I
think it is clear that the author of the book was quite
unconscious of such a synchronism ; and as he appears
from i. 21 to have compiled it early in the reign of
David, your own hypothesis as to the comparative short
ness of the interval by which he was removed from the
time of the transactions related considerably increases the
difficulty of the synchronistic vicAV. In a short notice of
your work which I find in the ' Journal of Sacred Litera
ture ' for this month, which I have received this morning,
the critic dissents from your opinion that ' there are cases
where conjectural emendation carries as full conviction of
its truth as the authority of the most accurate MS. can
do,' and thinks that ' in the absence of authorities derived
from ancient versions and MSS., or certain deductions
from the grammatical structure of the text itself conjec-
jectural emendations are unwarrantable and inadmissible.'
I so far agree with this view that I would never admit a
conjectural emendation Avithout some such external sup
port into the text of Scripture. But, on the other hand,
I would not deny that cases such as you describe are to be
found. Only I would observe that the remark, hoAvever
true in the abstract, can hardly apply to a number form
ing part of an intricate and questionable chronological
system. And I cannot agree Avith you that there is any
sufficient reason for suspecting corruption in the text of
1 Kings vi. 1. I do not think it at all evident that the
variation in the Septuagint gives evidence of various read
ings, but that it may very well have been grounded, like
the statement of St. Paul in the Acts, on a different cal
culation. And it appears to me that these three state-

206 CONJECTURAL EMENDATION
ments mutually confirm one another as to the integrity of
the text, though they may not establish the certainty of
the number, even so far as they agree. Still less can I
admit the change which you propose in Judges xi. 26, as
an example of a certain conjectural emendation. On the
contrary, I feel no doubt of the correctness of the present
reading. I Avould speak Avith great diffidence as to the
grammatical argument grounded on the absence of the
demonstrative nT. But I cannot help thinking that you
have considerably overstated its force. I cannot say
Avhether another instance of its omission is to be found
where it might have been properly inserted. But I
observe that Gesenius in his Thesaurus s. v. only says,
'Scepe numeralibus prsemittitur, max. tempus indicantibus.'
And in his small lexicon, ' Aeusserst hctiifig vor Zahlen und
Zeitangaben um ihnen Nachdruck zu geben.' I conceive
that, however unusual the omission may be, it could never
amount to a grammatical solecism, and therefore cannot of
itself Avarrant your emendation. Putting this, then, out of
the question, I conceive that the context requires the read
ing 'years' and not ' cities.' It is clear that the number
of cities included in the conquered territory was quite
superfluous to the argument, while that of the years dur
ing Avhich it had been occupied Avas most material. No
doubt this does not appear when verses 25, 26 are read
together as you cite them ; but, on the contrary, the
mention of the three hundred years is absurd Avhen it
is supposed that in both those verses 'the appeal is
simply and only to the precedent of Balak.' I appre
hend that this is the case only Avith regard to verse 25,
and that verse 26 contains a fresh and different argument
— an argumentum ad hominem. First, the King of the
Ammonites cannot pretend to be a better man than Balak,
who forbore from all attempting to dislodge the Israelites
from the land conquered from him by the Amorites. But

OF JUDGKS XI. 26. 207
again, though the Israelites had occupied it for three hun
dred years, the children of Ammon had not heretofore
tried to wrest it from them, and so had tacitly let in a
prescription against themselves. If the time mentioned
at the end of verse 26 was not the period of three hun
dred years, but the time of Balak as you suppose, I do not
understand how Jephthah could put such a question, which
would be in substance this : ' Why did not you. King of
the Ammonites, who surely will not pretend to be a better
man than Balak, wrest this country from us at the time
Avhen Balak let us alone ? ' It seems to me that the appeal
to the precedent of Balak in verse 25, and the personal
comparison there drawn between him and the Ammonite
king, exclude the possibility of a reference to him and his
time in verse 26. I might also add that for the time
of Balak the infinitive nntr, signifying a continued
abode, seems strangely chosen, and that Ave should have
expected nw~\ ' when Israel took possession,' whereas,
with reference to the period of three hundred years, the
former word is perfectly appropriate. It has, I suppose,
been often observed that the three hundred years need
not be considered as complete. I am not sure whether
this may help to account for the omission of nT , which,
perhaps, might seem too emphatic if the number stated
greatly exceeded the period which had really elapsed to
the time of the speaker."

[On the same.]
To Lord Arthur Hervey. Abergwili, Carmarthen, January 19th, 1854.
" I have been prevented by absence from home and by
other engagements from immediately turning my attention
to the subject of your letter ; but it is certainly interesting

208 CONJECTURAL EMENDATION
and important enough amply to repay the trouble of inquuy,
and I am much obliged to you for the additional help with
which you have furnished me by your ansAver to my remarks.
The result of the farther consideration Avhich I have given
to it has been to modify my opinion in some respects, par
ticularly with regard to the importance to be attached to
certain points on which I Avas led to lay what now appears
to me undue stress ; but, on the Avhole, it has left me
more clearly convinced than before that your emendation
of Judges xi. 2 6 is perfectly needless, except in the interest
of your chronological system ; and I feel no doubt that
the present text contains the original reading.
" I believe it Avill be most convenient to take your
arguments in the order in Avhich they stand in your letter.
1. I agree Avith you that the force of n.t before periods of
time exactly ansAvers to our use of ' these,' and therefore it
could hardly be omitted in such a sentence as this : ' We
have been dwelling in the land three hundred years.' But
it appears to me that the case is very different in an oratio
obliqua, such as that of the text : ' While Israel dwelt ....
three hundred years.' Here I do not think there is any
thing startling in the omission, much less that it can be
considered as ungrammatical.
" 2. I see no more difficulty in giving to 3 the force of
' within ' when it is coupled with the Avords wnn nv than
Avhen the length of the time is specified. Gesenius (Thes.)
gives as its third meaning intra : ' ssepe de tempore (Jes.
xvi. 14) intra tres annos' (where, by the way, it is fohowed
by a nT, as in our text), &c. It seems clear that as nv
may signify either a moment or a period of time, its sense
can only be determined by the context.
" 3. The punctuation or division ofthe sentences between
verses 25, 26 is a question of very considerable moment ;
but I do not think it is in the slightest degree affected by
the presence of the i, Avhich you seem to regard as an

OF JUDGES XI. 26. 209
insurmountable obstacle to placing a note of interrogation
at the end of verse 25. Nothing, I believe, is more
common than for i to appear in the Hebrew, where in
English it might seem ' redundant,' and look as if it
'would not construe.' I have already noticed an instance
in Isaiah xvi. 14. Another occurs in Isaiah vi. 1, where
our translation gives an unmeaning ' also.' A third you
will find at verse 17 of this very chapter of Judges, and
after a n, Avhich is rendered ' when.' I need not tell you
that though i has not the thousand and one meanings
devised for it by the indefatigable Noldius, it is not ali^'ays
a copulative ; and I believe that though there are many
places where it may seem 'redundant,' there are few in
Avhich it ' will not construe.' In our verse, supposing the
sentence to begin Avith the verse, I think v^'^iz^ may be
properly rendered, ' Why, pray.' As to the division of
verses 25, 26 there is a great variance among the A'ersions.
The LXX. and the Vulgate make 25 run into 26, as the
English. But among seven continental versions Avhich I
have examined I find only one Avhich does so — Luther's.
All the rest place a note of interrogation at the end of
verse 25, except the Swedish, which converts the interroga
tion into the negative implied in it, and puts a full stop.
Oddly enough it afterwards puts a note of interrogation in
verse 26 in both the places in which it occurs in the
English version. Again, of the four Celtic versions the
Manx is the only one which foUoAVs the English punctua
tion. The Irish, Gaelic, and Welsh begin a fresh question
with verse 26. From them down to the latest German
commentator, Bertheau, I do not find that anybody has felt
that the more ordinary distribution of the Avords involves
any grammatical difficulty. It offers two not inconsiderable
advantages : one, that of gaining two arguments in the
room of one ; the other, that of accounting in the most
satisfactory manner for the change of number from the
p

210 CONJECTURAL EMENDATION
singular to the plural, for AA'hich, according to your reading,
no reason appears. But although your proposed emenda
tion is quite irreconcilable with the separation of 25 with
26, I now see what I had before overlooked — that your
emendation is not required even when the two verses are
thrown into one. It is only necessary, and not difficult,
to suppose that the speaker, though he began with the
mention of Balak, yet as he went on took the Moabites
into his view, and so AA'as induced to advert to the length
of possession Avhich had been undisturbed on the part of
Moab. This appears to have been Luther's conception, as
indicated by his rendering, ' Meinest du dass du besser Recht
habest, denn Balak, der Sohn Zipors, der Moabiter Konig ?
Hat derselbe auch je gerechtet oder gestritten wider Israel,
obwohl Israel nun drei hundert Jab re gewohnt hat in
Hesbon,' &c. But I will now follow the course of your
remarks on the context. You meet my objection, that
' the number of- the conquered cities was superfluous ' (I
should rather have said irrelevant) to the argument, with
the answer that it was mentioned from the same motive
that led the speaker to 'heap up the mention of Heshbon
and her towns, and Aroer and her towns, and all the cities
which belong to the coast of Arnon.' But this 'heaping
up ' is simply a description of the conquered territory, ' all
the coasts of the Amorites from Arnon even unto Jabbok,'
and was not at all likely to suggest the summing up of
their number. On the other hand, it would be surprising
if the whole number of these cities Avas stated here but
nowhere else in the Bible, though Deuteronomy iii. 8 — 10
would have been a fitter place for it. The absence of any
other allusion to the aggregate number at least raises a
strong presumption that it was not so familiar to men's
minds as to follow naturally after a detailed description of
the several groups of cities. But I think you encumber
your own argument Avith a very grave and yet needless

OF JUDGES XI. 26. 211
difficulty when you suppose these three hundred cities to
have included those of Og. In that case the statement
would be glaringly incorrect and a gratuitous misrepre
sentation. The question, as distinctly stated by the King
of the Ammonites, was not about the right to the dominions
of Og, but to the country between the Arnon and the
Jabbok ; and if the Israelites meant to speak of all their
conquests east of Jordan they would have added the cities
of Argob or Bashan to the list before they gave the sum
total. But here all the difficulty arises out of your own
unnecessary supposition. We know nothing whatever of
the real aggregate, for ' the rule of multiplication ' certainly
does not bring it out without some most arbitrary postu
lates ; but it is quite credible that betAveen the Arnon and
the Jabbok there may have been somewhere about three
hundred TroAei? and TroXiyyia. It is not, therefore, to the
supposed number, but to any statement of the AA'hole
number in such a context, that I object. Your next
remark, that ' the historical sense of verse 2 5 is quite
incomplete without the additions of verse 26,' seems to
me to miss the point ; for if the sense is incomplete Avithout
those additions, it is not completed by them. They do
not make the question, ' Did Balak strive,' &c., more
intelligible to any one AA'ho Avas not acquainted with the
history which we gather from Numbers xxi., that Sihon
had conquered the country from the Moabites ; but the
knowledge of that history being assumed, the meaning of
the question in verse 25 is perfectly clear without the
additions of verse 26. The tinne when Balak might and
should have fought against Israel could not need to be
more exactly determined, in answer to the King of the
Ammonites, after what had been said in verses 13 — 15.
But I really do not see how Numbers xxi. 25 bears upon
this point, nor can I admit any of your other inferences
from it. In the first place, I am not satisfied that the
p 2

212 CONJECTURAL EMENDATION
verb DU}'' has a different sense in that verse from that which
- T
I suppose it to have in the infinitive in our verse. I
believe that in the former it describes not merely the
definite act of settling, but the subsequent state of con
tinued habitation. This would be quite conformable to
the use of the Avord in the literal sense in Psalm cx. 1 :
' Sit thou upon my right hand until,' &c. But still less
can I assent to your remark about the whole Israelitish
nation dvjelling in the newly conquered territory of Sihon
and Og in any other sense than as it might be said to
dwell in the land inhabited by any one of its tribes. Even
if it should appear (and until I have leisure to go through
all the columns under the word in Fuerst I Avould not
speak positively on this point) that 3t»; is ever applied in
the metaphorical sense to the simple act of settling or
taking possession, it would not follow that when it describes
a state, as you suppose it to do in Judges xi. 26, it could
not be apphed to the temporary sojourn of the whole
nation in a particular part of its territory, as distinct from
the permanent occupation of the tribes to Avhich that part
was ahotted. I conceive that this last is the idea which
it AA'ould inevitably convey. According, therefore, to either
punctuation, I should stiU interpret n?t»3 as referring to
the whole period of possession, and take it to be properly
rendered not when, but while Israel dwelt. These are the
main grounds on which I plead for the present reading ;
but I- do not pretend that they are more than sufficient
for the purpose of defence— that if your conjecture had
been the reading of all the MSS. they would have war
ranted the substitution of that which we now have there,
or that if the authorities had been divided they would
remove aU doubt as to the true reading. Your remark as
to the ' diffuseness of Jephthah's message ' and the ' obscure
conciseness of the mode in Avhich the argument from long
quiet position is expressed, seems to me too subjective to

OF JUDGES XI. 26. 213
require or admit of any reply, except that I have not
received such an impression from the words, and that I
do not find any trace of it elsewhere. With regard to
1 Kings vi. 1, I do not see how the variation of the LXX.
from the HebreAV text, whatever may have been its origin,
is ' favourable to your view ' that the number as to which
the texts agree, both Avith one another and with the state
ment adopted by St. Paul, is corrupt. I find no reason
for supposing that in this passage ' numbers Avere inserted
where none were originally found ; ' for even if that hypo
thesis was adopted to account for the variation it would
not affect the number, as to which there is a perfect agree
ment, and therefore does not, I think, 'leave us free to
discard' that number along with the others. On the
contrary, these variations seem to me to corroborate the
authority of the text in the point of agreement ; but it is
quite another question whether all the numbers are merely
the result of a fallible calculation, and therefore leave us
free to discard them from our systems of chronology.
FinaUy, with regard to conjectural emendations of the
text of Scripture, it seems to me that we are perfectly
agreed. And I am not sure that the critic in the
' J. S. L.' differs from either of us in principle. But as
to myself I readily admit that a conjectural emendation
of the sacred text may possess the utmost degree of pro
bability short of absolute objective certainty ; but that,
nevertheless, without ' external support,' i.e. authority of
MSS., or at least of ancient versions, all alike are inad
missible into the text, and this for the simple reason that
no human judgment can be allowed to measure the degree
of probability required for such a purpose, and that to
break through that rule would be to open a door for endless
innovations. " P.S. On looking through Avhat I had written I perceive

214 CONJECTURAL EMENDATION
that I have expressed myself too strongly on the paren
thetical remark that ' your emendation is quite irrecon
cilable with the separation of 25 from 26.' With your
interpretation of mw'z, though all the description of the
locality in verse 26 would be completely superfluous — as
the time referred to is distinctly marked in the preceding
verses — and therefore would weaken the force of the ques
tion, still there would be nothing illogical in it, only a fault
in rhetoric,"

[On the same.]
To Lord Arthur Hervey. Abergwili, Carmarthen, January 2Sth, 1854.
" I am inclined to believe that your last proposal for
the solution of our difficulty will prove the most
satisfactory. Perhaps I have said more on the grammatical
points than my scanty knowledge of Hebrew warrants.
And my only excuse is, that it seemed in some measure
sanctioned by the silence of the best scholars, who do not
appear to have stumbled at the disputed reading or its
consequences. " With regard to the ' historical completeness' of verse 25
I seem not to have expressed myself clearly. I only meant
to say that the question would have been complete and
intelligible if it ended with the verse. But I did not deny
that it joined on most naturally with the following words,
all but the contested ' three hundred years,' and I admit
that the awkwardness of beginning a fresh question with
verse 26 is almost intolerable — in other words, the separa
tion of the two verses from one another is hardly tenable.
Again, if this is abandoned, the reading ' years ' can, perhaps,
only be defended on the supposition that the speaker had
a past period in his mind, except for the instant that he

OF JUDGES XI. 26. 215
was led to advert to its length. But it may be fairly
questioned whether it is not easier to suppose an inter
polation. On all this, however, it Avill best become me to
wait until the question has been discussed by persons more
competent to deal with it.
" With regard, however, to the force of i??T, I must for
the present retain my opinion, which seems to need a
httle further explanation. I do not deny that the word is
used of a temporary sojourn — as in Deuteronomy i. 6
' of the encampment in Horeb,' and iii. 29, 'in the valley
over against Beth Peer." But I conceive that in this
sense the host of Israel might indeed be said to dwell
(n^u?) east of Jordan, but not in the cities enumerated in
our text. These, I apprehend, Avere only occupied by the
tribes to which they were assigned by Moses, whose wives
and children contrived to dwell there (=l3tp.;) Deu
teronomy iii. 19) when the warriors went over Jordan with
their brethren. But the rest of Israel would not, I should
think, have been dispersed among these cities, but have
remained as before in one encampment, to which alone I
take Numbers xxii. 1 to refer.
" I shall be very glad to hear of any fresh light that may
be thrown on this perplexing question."

To Mrs. Bayne. [On her going to Italy. ]
Abergwili, Carmarthen, July 18th, 1857.
" . . . . The faUs that you have to see are those of Terni,
by far the most beautiful in Italy, and I believe in the
world : for Niagara only surpasses them in grandeur.
Whatever else you omit be sure that you see them, and, if
possible, both from the top and the foot. There is a
goatherd's hut at the top, where I passed a night, and

216 ITALIAN LETTER
where you might lodge dehciously, carrying your provisions
and furniture with you. If you can only see one view let
it be that from above. From below you see nothing but
the Fall : from above you have the most magnificent of
prospects into the bargain. No danger.
" I am quite grieved that the only persons I know at
Rome, even by name, are the Pope and Cardinal Antonelli,
to AA'hom you will of course be introduced by Mrs. Jameson.
You Avill naturally expect to see the Pope all scarlet.
Instead of that, you will find him white as a lamb from
head to foot.
" I need not say how glad I shall be to receive a letter
from Lucerne, and how heartily I hope that all may
prosper. " My time, before and after my Visitation, will be
broken up into little excursions for the opening of churches.
I expect that the twelfth opening will take place on St.
Martin's day, he being the patron Saint of Langharne,
which celebrates his feast with great solemnity. Is not
that charming ?
" Give my love to Bella and Willy. Mi farebbe molto
piacere ricevere da lei o da lui un piccolo biglietto scritto
nella bella lingua Toscana."

[The following letter was written to a young lady, aged
fifteen, who had, during a visit to Rome, sent him a letter
in Italian : — ]
Alla Signorina Isabella Bayne. Abergwili, 17 Aprile, 1858.
" Con vivissimo piacere ho ricevuto la sua pregiatissima
lettera, non solamente come saggio del progresso che ha
fatto neha bella lingua Italiana, ma anche, e molto piil, come
segno della sua amorevole ricordanza di un vecchio e

TO A YOUNG LADY. 217
lontano amico. Non so se troppo mi lusingo, ma non vorrei
esser disingannato di una illusione cosi piacevole, credendo
che sia questa la prima lettera Italiana che ha inviata in
Inghilterra : e, come tale, ne fo grandissima stima, e la
guardero sempre al par di una reliquia. E veracemente e
cosa da lodare la rapidita colla quale le e riuscito
impadronirsi a tal segno di una lingua straniera, special-
mente quando ci rammentiamo quanto h state ristretto
il tempo che ha potuto consagrare a cosi fatti studii, per
cagione della sua lunga e noiosissima infermita. Ora
finalmente e giunto il buon tempo. E, se e vero, lo che
dice il gran poeta, " Nessun maggior dolore che ricordarsi
del tempo felice nella miseria," sar^ altretanto vero
" nessun maggior piacere che ricordarsi del tempo cattivo
nella felicity."
" Oh ! quante belle cose ha vedute, e sta vedendo, e per
vedere ! Ma che gran galantuomo e Pio Nono, che ha
voluto creare tanti Cardinali, come a bella posta per
divertimento delle donne Inglesi ! Adesso non le manca che
una sola cosa : cioe, che potesse vedere questi Cardinali
mettersi a creare un nuovo Papa. Ma sicuramente Ella non
vorebbe godere questo trastullo alla spese di Pio Nono, che
ha fatto tanto per trattenerla, e poi le ha gettato la sua
Benedizione. " Io pero non mi lascio abbagliare da quel lusso di seta,
di ricamo, di gioelli — e che so io ? Ma il vedere
svillupparsi la primavera Italiana 'la bella stagione' al
dir del Tasso, ' tra'l fin d' Aprile e'l cominciar di Maggio.'
Oh questo si, che ^ una delizia, da destare qualche invidia
in chi la conosce, e non ispera di goderla mai piil. E pure
anche qui vi sono erba e fieri, e'l verdeggiar dei prati, e'l
germogliar degli alberi, e'l canto degli uccelli, che al di la.
de'i Monti di rado si senta.
" Dice un proverbio Italiano, ' Vedi Napoli, e poi mori.'
Io no. ' Ma, Vedi Napoli, e poi rivedi 1' Inghilterra.' Io

218 PIUS THE NINTH.
SO bene che, in paragoae di una Benedizione Papale, poco
pesa quella di un semplice vescovo. Nientedimeno le
mando la mia, con una preghiera, che esce dal fondo del
cuore, che piaccia a Dio restituirla, e tutta la brigata, salva
e Sana, lieta e allegra, alla patria e al suo amico fidele."

[TRANSLATION.]
" I have received your much-prized letter with keenest
pleasure, not only as a specimen of the progress you
have made in the beautiful Italian language, but also
and much more as a sign of your affectionate remem
brance of an old and distant friend. I do not know
whether I fiatter myself too much — but I should not wish
to be disabused of such an agreeable illusion — in believing
that this is the first Italian letter you have sent to Eng
land, and as such I hold it in great esteem, and I shall
always keep it as a relic. And really the rapidity with
which you have succeeded in mastering a foreign language
to such a point is worthy of praise, especially when one
remembers how restricted the time has been which you
could devote to such studies by reason of your long and
very troublesome sickness. Now at last the good time
has come, and if that is true which the great poet says,
' In misery there is no greater grief than to remember
one's happy time,' it must be equally true, ' in our happi
ness there is no greater pleasure than to remember our
hard times.'
" Oh ! what beautiful things you have seen, and are
seeing, and have yet to see ! But what a fine gentleman is
Pius the Ninth, who has been good enough to create so many
Cardinals as if for the sole purpose of entertaining some
English ladies ! There is only one thing lacking, which
is, that you might see those Cardinals set to work to
create a new Pope. But surely you would not wish to

A TOUR IN HOLLAND. 219
enjoy this treat at the expense of Pius IX., who has done
so much to entertain you and has thrown you his blessing.
I do not, however, allow myself to be dazzled by this
pomp, silk, embroidery, and jewels — and what not ? But
to see the Italian spring develop, ' the beautiful time,' as
Tasso calls it, ' through the end of April and the beginning
of May' — oh, this is indeed a delight, the enjoyment of
which I envy in those who have it, and I never expect to
enjoy it again. And yet here also are grass, and flowers,
and the verdure of the meadows, and the budding of the
trees, and the singing of the birds, which there, among the
mountains, is rarely heard.
" An Italian proverb says, ' See Naples, and then die ; '
but I, on the contrary, say, ' See Naples, and then see
England again.' I know well that in comparison with
the Papal benediction that of a mere Bishop weighs little.
Nevertheless I send you mine, with a prayer that proceeds
from the bottom of my heart, that God may be pleased to
restore you and all your party, safe and sound, happy and
bright, to your fatherland and to your faithful friend."

[An account of a tour in Holland with the acquisition
of the knowledge of Dutch.]
To Mrs. Bayne. Te's Gravenhage, 22 Julij, 1859.
" Ik neem de pen op, myne waarde vriendin, om aan
uwen wenschen te voldoen. You desired, I think, that I
should write to you in Dutch, but you did not expressly
require that the whole letter should be in that language,
and I shall find it on the whole more convenient to finish
it in English. We had a very prosperous and, on the
whole, pleasant voyage to Rotterdam, shortened by a
favouring breeze, so that, when I came on deck between

220 A TOUE IN HOLLAND.
tAVO and three in the morning of the 20 th, I found we
were already on the bar, with a Dutch pilot on board, only
waiting for more water to tide us over the low line of the
coast in sight, summer lightning playing beyond a mass of
dark cloud in the Avest, while eastward the most glorious
preparations were making for the sunrise. The passage
up the river was enlivened by a succession of Dutch pic
tures ; villages, farmhouses, creeks lined with shipping,
and long lines of trees so cut as to put one very much in
mind of the Roman aqueducts. In short, having loosened
our moorings at St. Katherine's Dock at eleven the day
before, we stepped ashore at Rotterdam at five a.m.
(Alhier moest ik ophouden, om onze reis voort te
zetten — nu zijn wij te Leiden, 23 Julij.)
" My journey to Holland has, hitherto, been very plea
sant to myself I had the good luck to meet with a Dutch
Jew on board, and milked him to a very considerable
extent on the pronunciation of the language, and find that
I can now both make myself understood and understand
pretty well what is said to me. Yesterday we made a
delightful excursion to Delft in the Trehschuit — the Dutch
gondola ghding softly through the midst of rich pastures
and woods, studded with pleasant villas. But what would
you have said to being conducted over a fine old church,
Calvinized with tiers of naked deal pews, by a clerk who
not only kept on his cap, but was all the time smoking his
cigar ! Nu moest ik ophouden voor deeze maal, en blijve
altoos de uaa'c C. St. D."

[On the same.]
To Mrs. Bayne. Abergwili, Carmarthen, August Sth, 1859.
" We returned to London about noon on Friday,
when I found the accumulated letters of the preceding

A TOUE IN HOLLAND. 221
three Aveeks, with which I am still struggling, though they
served to keep me aAvake after a night spent between
reading and dozing in the crowded cabin of the Rotterdam
steamer, where I sat at the table as in my study, amidst
sights and sounds of unspeakable anguish, strongly con
trasting with the peace and stillness of the outward
voyage. " I am now in a condition to communicate the grand
total of my impressions. They are altogether pleasant. I
do not think I ever made a more satisfactory and success
ful trip with reference to the objects I had in view. Our
movements were entirely confined to Holland. We de
scribed a little circle, all by rail, including Hague, Leyden,
Haarlem, and Amsterdam, and devoted the last two days
before the return to Rotterdam, to Arnheim and its
environs, stopping for an hour each at Utrecht and
Gouda. I believe that I have carried away a pretty
lively and complete idea of Dutch town and country and
of the sounds of the language, and am looking for a nice
little assortment of Dutch classics selected at Amsterdam.
Though, as I said, Avith the help of my Jew, I could have
made my Avay by myself — especially after I had taken four
lessons at Amsterdam — our progress was much facilitated
by a Dutch courier, whom Ave engaged for the journey at
Rotterdam, Avho spoke English fiuently, and made himself
very useful as a cicerone, and in all manner of ways. All
experience, however, has its shady side. I found myself
as you did in Italy, to some degree what the Dutch call
te leur gesteld (try to pronounce that) 
" I did not go to Holland — as I might have gone to
Belgium — to see churches : rather to see congregations
and hear sermons. It was an agreeable surprise to find
one church — at Gouda — so little disfigured by the internal
boarding that one could easily fancy what it was at the
time that it received its splendid painted windoAvs — each

222 A TOUE IN HOLLAND.
the gift of some king or grandee — which have been per
mitted to remain. Walls and pillars are everyAvhere
beautifully whitewashed ; of late years a good many curious
frescoes have been discovered under this coating ; but the
utmost that has been done in any case has been to take a
copy in time to prevent the next congregation from being
shocked by the profane lines and colours, Avhich were
forthwith reinvested Avith their simple covering. I think
I noticed the conduct of the verger at Delft. You must
not suppose that there Avas anything singular in it. On
the other hand, there is no smoking during divine service
— a piece of self-denial in a Dutch congregation hardly to
be overrated. The men, hoAvever, mostly keep on their
hats — and of course remain sitting — throughout, except
during a prayer. They then rise and uncover ; but the
women continue seated Avithout any intermission. We
were, hoAvever, very much struck with the congregational
singing — generally to a fine organ — in Avhich everybody
seemed to join. I also thought it a good practice that,
when the preacher has concluded the first part of his dis
course, a verse or two of an appropriate hymn is sung
before he enters on the second. After all, not the least
considerable part of my gain has been the heightening of
my enjoyment of everything English by the contrast with
that which I left behind. A fortnight is well spent in
Holland, even if it was for the sake of that alone.
" We are at present in a spell of rain, very much needed
for the refreshing of the ground and the replenishing of
our almost exsiccated pools, which, when I left, were
nearly in the condition of the Thames. But the change
is less propitious for the interest of the harvest, and espe
cially for the excursions of the Cambrian archaeologists,
over whom I am to preside next week at Cardigan."

A TOUE IN HOLLAND. 223
[On the same.]
To bis Sister-in-law, Mrs. Thirlwall. Abergwili Palace, August Oth, 1869.
" .... I think you have done wisely in devoting the
larger part of your time to Bangor rather than to Aberyst
with, where there is nothing to be seen that will bear a
comparison with the manifold beautiful scenes in the
neighbourhood of Bangor. It is the place where I first
enjoyed the sense of sublimity in nature (having, as I
suppose you know, spent there the long vacation before I
took my degree). And, though I have since enjoyed the
same sense in a far higher degree among similar objects on
an immensely greater scale, I am sure that no difference
of degree can impart a pleasure equal to that which arises
from the freshness of the peculiar sensation when it is
new. I am only sorry that you do not know what Bangor
was then — alas ! nearly half a century ago. It is true,
there Avas then neither Tubular nor Menai Bridge, only a
ferry boat, sometimes affording a very rough and rather
hazardous passage ; nor were there any artificial walks
along the shore of the Menai. But Bangor itself was so
much more enjoyable then than it is now 
" How odd, that while you have been leaving your Ioav
ground in Hertfordshire to refresh yourself with the sight
of mountains and precipices, and torrents and waterfalls,
I should have been quitting my hilly region to enjoy the
sight of a country in great part below the level of the sea,
land nowhere rising much above the height of a sand-down,
and intersected by lazy streams and almost stagnant
canals. The pleasure of contrast, however, is at least as
great in the one case as in the other ; and I certainly do
not enjoy my hills the less on my return to them. My
chief object, however, was not so much the sight of Dutch
nature — if it can be said that there is such a thing — but

224 DESCRIPTION OF A
of Dutch men and their works. And very glad I am to
have seen those famous and curious old places — Rotterdam
and Delft, and the Hague, and Leyden, and Amsterdam,
and Utrecht, and Gouda, and Brock village, and Peter the
Great's house at Zaandam. Not that everything came
quite up to my expectations. I had formed a somewhat
exaggerated idea of Dutch neatness and cleanliness. Leyden
on the Avhole answered it best. But still everywhere there
Avas something peculiar which you can see nowhere else.
The ordinary street in a Dutch town is a picture — often,
indeed, represented in the paintings of the Dutch school
— but not otherwise to be seen in any other part of,
Europe 
" The churches are curious in themselves, and so far as
they have not been disfigured by the boarding and white-
Avash mostly very handsome : and certainly not regarded
Avith any superstitious respect. We Avere rather scan
dalised Avhen Ave were shown over one at Delft, by a verger
who not only kept on his cap, but Avas smoking his cigar
all the time. And we found that we were singular and
attracted some attention when Ave took off our hats.
There is a good deal that is peculiar in the form of the
Dutch service, in that which may be called the National
Churcll. It is begun Avith singing. Then the precentor,
or clerk, at a low desk below the pulpit, reads a chapter
in the Bible, to which little attention seems to be paid.
Before he has finished, the minister, in the old Geneva or
Puritan costume, mounts the pulpit, always overshadowed
by an enormous sounding-board, hangs his bonnet on the
nail, and offers (in goodly contrast to the. Scotch practice)
private prayer. And then he begins the proper service with
a short formulary, gives out a Psalm, then makes a short
prayer, and, having moistened his lips Avith a glass of
Avater, AAhich is always placed by his side, begins the
sermon. At the end of the first part he generally gives

DUTCH RELIGIOUS SERVICE. 225
out a verse or two of an appropriate hymn, and sits down.
After the hymn he resumes his discourse, which is folloAved
by more singing, a short prayer, and the blessing (' The
grace of our Lord,' &c.). After that, perhaps, he baptizes
several children, addressing questions and exhortations to
the parents from above, and then descending to perform
the rite, unless another minister is there for that purpose.
During all these operations, from beginning to end, the
female part of the congregation remains seated. The men
also sit with their hats on, during both singing and
sermon. But for the prayer they rise and uncover their
heads. The service altogether is agreeably varied, no part
lasting over long. And the singing, Avhich is generally
accompanied by a fine organ, is shared by the whole con
gregation : the music to each psalm and hymn being
printed with it in everybody's book. This Avas the part
which we most admired, not without regret there is so
little like it in our churches  "

To Miss Bayne. Abergwili, Carmarthen, December 6th, 1859.
" I am happy to be able to enrich your collection with
some more Sibylline leaves 
" You are very likely still haunted with the belief that
Cobden has been giving alarming evidence before the
Defence Committee. The fact is directly the reverse. He
has been laid up at Paris with indisposition, which pre
vented him from attending a meeting of the Finance
Reform Association at Liverpool. But he wrote a letter,
which AA'as read at the meeting, and which must relieve us
from aU our uneasiness. He says that he has been living
at Paris quite unmolested, and that, so long as he does
not himself assault any one, he has no fear of any dl-
Q

226 DOMESTIC PETS.
treatment, and therefore he cannot conceive how people
on this side the Channel can imagine there is any danger.
Pray communicate this to any of your friends who may
take a gloomy view of public affairs, and rejoice to think
that, if you only visit Paris Avithout being mobbed, you
have the authority of that great statesman to assure you
that the country is safe 
" I wish there was a cat-post. I could send you a lovely
tabby. He was brought to me by Tom from Nantmel,
having received his education from the daughter of a
neighbouring squire, who taught him among other things
to scramble up your back and perch upon your shoulder.
This enables him, if you are writing, to check any rash
movement of your pen, and, if you are at dinner, to inter
cept any morsel which seems to him likely to go the wrong
way. Though his name is Lion, he is the most good-
natured and friendly creature in the world. But his
young hfe has been embittered by the implacable animosity
of an elder Tabitha, who had been long in possession of
my part of the house, and declares herself resolved to main
tain her exclusive right. L. consequently divides his time
between the kitchen, where I believe he is a favourite,
and the open air, where he pursues the sports of the field
with great ardour, and I seldom see him except on my
visits to the water-side. Perhaps with these tastes and
habits he might hardly take to a London life."

CHAPTER VIII.
ST. DAVID'S. 1860 — 1869.
Aspect of Public Affairs— The "Manse of Mastland "—Dutch Sounds—
"Essays and Reviews"- — "Essays and Reviews Anticipated" — Action
of the Bishops — Tour in France — Letter of Condolence — Thirlwall
and Thackeray — Death of Thackeray — Visit of Prince Arthur to
Wales — Thirlwall and the Queen — Dr. Pusey's "Lectures on Daniel"
— Proposed Increase of the Episcopate— " Guesses at Truth" — The
Bible and Science —Converts to the Church of Rome — Honorary
Fellowship of Trinity College — Dean Perowne's " Psalms " — Thirlwall
and Bisbop Ewing — The Eeiation of Knowledge to Salvation— The Pan-
Anglican' Conference — The Talmud — The Ritual Commission — Bishop
Macrorie — The Irish Church — Dean Perowne's "Immortality."
[The reference in the following letter is to a paper on
the " Submersion of Ancient Cities," since reprinted in the
"Remains," a'oL iii. p. 189.]
To Thomas Keightley, Esq. Abergwili Palace, March 22nd, 1860.
" I am much obliged to you for your remarks on my
paper. My reason for assuming that the legend of Cantrif
and Gwaelod is generally known was that it is the subject
of Peacock's humorous tale, called, I think, ' The Fortunes
of Elphin.' The Breton legend had not come in my way.
Those which I have given might, I have no doubt, be
greatly multiplied. The Dead Sea, though in one respect
the most striking of all examples, is so distinguished from
all the cases I have cited by the character of its waters,
that it would not have served my main purpose. I have
not yet seen Masson's ' Life of Milton.' I was less attracted
by its promise of fulness than deterred by its bulk. He
is the editor of Macmillan's Magazine, Avhich I take in
q2

228 ASPECT OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS.
and have mostly read with pleasure. But the only con
tribution of his Avhich I have seen was not written in a
very captivating stjde.
" The aspect of public affairs is certainly very far from
satisfactory either abroad or at home. Yet in some re-
respects it is to my eye less threatening than it appeared
six months ago. I am on the whole thankful for the
annexation of Savoy, Avhich seems to me to lessen the
danger which would otherwise have been likely to arise
from the commercial treaty, and which was probably one
of the objects of that treaty on the French side, viz. false
security. I think it will at least keep Europe and England
awake, and counteract the efforts which Bright and Cobden
will be making to disarm us. How far the purely com
mercial results of the treaty will be beneficial remains to
be seen. The evil and mistake of it is that it is not a
treaty Avith France but with Louis Napoleon, which as long
as he is in power will probably neutralise all the good
effect that might otherwise ensue from the extension of
commercial intercourse. As to domestic affairs, though I
fully expect a great deficit next year, and think it hkely
that Gladstone will be disappointed in many of his calcu
lations both as to incoming and outgoing (especially as to
the expense of the war if it is to go on Avith China), still I
should not venture from that to draAv any inference as to
the probable effect of the financial scheme."

[In reference to a Dutch work called " De Pastorij te
Mastland," by C. E. von Koetsveld, translated and pub
lished by Mr. Keightley, on the recommendation of the
Bishop. The preface contamed a letter from him highly
commending the story. Further aUusion is made to it
in "Bishop ThirlwaU's Letters to a Friend," p. 288. J

"the manse of MASTLAND." 229
To Thomas Keightley, Esq. Abergwili Palace, October 29th, 1860.
" I have received your ' Manse of Mastland,' and am
much obliged to you for so pretty a book. I shall very
likely be tempted to refresh my memory of the original by
reading it through. In the meanwhile I have read,
beside the preface, the first chapter, to form an opinion on
the quality of the translation. As designed for readers who
know nothing else of the original, I find it perfectly
flowing and easy, so that any one not otherwise informed
might read it without suspecting that it Avas a translation.
I heartily hope that it Avill be duly appreciated, especially
in religious circles, Avhere, if it once gains admission, it
can hardly fail to obtain a large circulation.
" With all my prepossessions in favour of Dutch litera
ture, I cannot help fearing that if any of your readers
should be tempted to study it, by the account you give of
the euphony of the language, some of them might be
a little disappointed and surprised. I own that the sound
of their g in general, but especially that of gl and gr, did
strike me, and would, I think, most English ears, as rather
' rugged,' independently of the difficulty they occasion to
English organs of pronunciation. Have you any authority
for your derivation of Mastland ? I do not understand, if
it comes from Maas, either how one of the a's could be
lost or the t come to be inserted."

[On Dutch sounds.]
To Thomas Keightley, Esq. Abergwili Palace, November 13th, 1860.
' ' I cannot help thinking that while the statement you
quote from your grammar itself needs limitation, your
assertion goes considerably beyond it. If your authors

230 DUTCH SOUNDS.
had said that there is no Dutch guttural Avhich is not
agreeable to ears which are used to it, and coupled with
organs of speech to Avhich it is natural and easy, I should
not have questioned that proposition. All I say is, that
every guttural is more or less hard to ordinary Enghsh
ears. And this would be not the less true if there were
many Avho, like yourself liked a rough sound, as more
vigorous and masculine. But I do not find that your
grammar itself Avarrants the preference you give to the
Dutch over the other Teutonic dialects. To that I think it
could only be entitled if the strongest guttural is the
softest and sweetest. You quite misunderstand me in
supposing that I had any doubt of y^ being a guttural.
My question is as you say only as to its degree of intensity.
I always pronounce it, whether before a vowel or a con
sonant, as we all used to do at the Charterhouse, exactly
as if it was h. This very fact seems to me to confirm my
opinion as to the effect of a guttural on unsophisticated
English ears.
" A Welsh boy reads his Greek, no doubt, much more
like what was spoken, always rendering the -^ by his
native ch. The substitution of the k in its room would to
him, I have no doubt, be intensely disagreeable ; but just
because the h is the softer sound. That our language in
its development has shed some of its graces, which would
have rendered it better adapted to poetry than it is, I have
no doubt. But perhaps it would be worse than useless, it
would be ungratefrd, to regret this loss. For it was the
price — which could not have been paid if it had not
been necessary — at which the language has acquired the
perfection of those qualities by which it earned the highest
eulogy it ever received, that which was solemnly pro
nounced by Jacob Grimm.*
* "Ueber den Ursprung der Sprache," Berlin, 1823, p. 50; quoted in
Trench's "English, Past and Present."

ABOLITION OF SLAVERY. 231
" I think the most determined hater of slavery might
admit that it would have been desirable for all parties if
the emancipation of the West India negroes had been more
gradual : if for instance, all had been raised to a state
of serfdom, and only permitted to rise out of it separately
into a still qualified freedom, to be earned by individual
exertions. But I am not sure that, if the consequences of
the more rapid process could have been clearly foreseen, it
could have been delayed, or that the danger was sufficient
to justify the continuance of an institution so unjust and
demoralising. The slaves of the Southern States are to be
pitied ; but they are hardly so much degraded and
brutalised as the masters who roast them alive, while
Methodist preachers protest against the inadequacy of so
lenient a chastisement, and call out for red-hot pincers
and slow dismemberment."

[On the same.]
To Thomas Keightley, Esq. Abergwili Palace, November ZOth, 1860.
"I believe that in the majority of cases the cause of
doctors disagreeing is that they do not understand one
another ; and that as soon as they did it would appear
that there was no real disagreement between them. There is
none whatever between Atrou and me as far as I know. I
do not find from your report that he has affirmed that
every sound in the Dutch language is agreeable to me ; and
I am sure that I never asserted that any sound in it was
disagreeable to him. Even between yourself and me I am
not sure that there is any real difference, only you have
rather perplexed the question by substituting the terms
agreeable and disagreeable for those which you used in
your preface with regard to Dutch sounds. If the question

232 DUTCH SOUNDS.
had been simply about what was agreeable or disagreeable
perhaps I should have thought of another instance as
coming under the second head more decidedly than the
gutturals, viz. uu — but I should not have called this or
any vowel harsh. I have, however, pointed to the fact
that there is a division of sounds into harsh and soft, and
that by universal consent gutturals are referred to the
former class.
" The authority of an educated native is supreme as to
the matter of fact, what a certain sound in his own lan
guage is ; but as to its quality, of agreeable or disagreeable,
he is the least trustworthy of all witnesses — except as to
his own sensations.
" Your remarks on the Welsh, Spanish, and English
ejaculations appear to me to miss the point. I should
myself be as much offended as you can be by the sub
stitution of k for the guttural in Welsh, German, Spanish,
or any other language. That has nothing to do with
the quality of the sound. Ojala is to my ear also more
musical than Oh me ! but not on account of the gut
tural, rather in spite of it, for exactly the same reason that
oi me is so. I do not consider the Welsh ll as harsh,
and to me it AA'as never disagreeable. But I am persuaded
that the difficulty of pronouncing the sound is no test of
either quality. You misunderstood what I said as to
here, and I suppose I misunderstood you. I was not
speaking of the voaa'bI, but of the consonant, supposing
that you gave a vibration to the r, Avhich is foreign to
English pronunciation. I cannot admit the authority of
Mdton in such a case as of the smallest weight. No
genius can warrant any man in the insufferable presump
tion of pretending to pronounce better than the whole
people. Moreover I must say that I think his ear must
have been capricious as well as fastidious. His aversion to
the sound of sh was a mere idiosyncrasy. No doubt it

"essays and REVIEWS." 233
might be repeated too often in one line or sentence. That,
however, would be the fault of the writer rather than of
the language. It is, as you have observed, a conspicuous
element in the Portuguese, which Cervantes somewhere
praises enthusiastically as the sweetest of all languages,
conscious, as I think, that this was not the prominent quality
of the Castilian, and probably just onaccount of the guttural.
I have no doubt that the sibilants, and particularly that
which answers to sh, temper the harsher sounds of the
Sanskrit. I had the curiosity to count how many times
the sh occurs in the extract which Bopp gives in his
grammar from the Nalus, which, as it contains thirty
slokas, is just about the length of Tennyson's ' Ulysses.'
I found there were thirty-three ; but I did not count the
other sibilant which seems to be distinguishable from it,
though nearly approaching to it. Wilson says it is pro
nounced softly, as sh in shun. But I am vexed to find
that I could not distinguish this sound from sh in any
other combination. Your ear is no doubt much finer than
mine. " I quite agree with you as to the ' privilege ' of reading
Shakespeare and Milton, but I should value it as much if
I was dumb.

The celebrated volume of " Essays and Reviews " Avas
published in the spring of 1860. Early in 1861 appeared
the famous " Encychcal Letter," signed by every member of
the then bench of bishops, addressed to a Buckinghamshire
clergyman (the present Dean Fremantle), and containing
a vague censure of the volume. The authorship of the
" Encyclical " was unknown, and the absolute unanimity of
the Episcopal bench was believed only to have been brought
about by the personal efforts and infiuence of a prominent

234 "essays and reviews anticipated."
member of the Episcopate, since dead. The action of one
or two of the bishops, notably Bishop Thirlwall, was much
questioned.* One curious feature of the controversy was the publi
cation of a pamphlet entitled " Essays and Reviews Antici
pated," the authorship of which has been attributed to
George Eliot. It consisted of copious extracts from a
AVork published in the year 1825, and attributed to the
Bishop of St. David's (Schleiermacher's "St. Luke"). The
preface to it contained an attack ending with the words,
" His lordship has been so fortunate as to discover a royal
road to orthodox faith, a solution of every difficulty, a
confutation of every heresy, but, unhappily, this royal
road opens its magnificent portals only to twenty-six indi
viduals out of twenty millions." This little work was
reviewed by the Spectator, and called forth an answer from
the Bishop in that paper (April 20th, 1861). After boldly
maintaining his own early teaching he added, " I am not
aware of having refused to others the license which I ever
claimed for myself And, if it please God, I shall never
consent to the narroAA'ing by a hair's breadth that latitude
of opinion which the Church has hitherto conceded to her
ministers." The Bishop's charge of 1863 was also partly
devoted to a defence of his action, f

To Thomas Keightley, Esq. 1, Regent Street, February 27th, 1861.
"If it is vanity to be gratified by what the Germans
caU ' Anerkennung,' I am not the person who has a right
* See Dean Stanley's article in the Edinburgh Review for April, 1861,
since republished, with modifications, in his "Essays ou Church and State."
t See " ThirlwaU's Eemains," vol. ii.

THE ENCYCLICAL LETTER. 235
to exclaim against it ; for it is a feeling of which I am
fully conscious.
" I do not appear to myself to read much. The time I
can give to general reading is very scanty. If I read more
than most others who are in a similar position, it is only
because I do not stand in the same need of intervals of
exercise and relaxation. I can read literally from morning
till night, without any interruption but that of professional
business. Eating, Avalking, or driving, I have always a
book in my hand. As to writing, the case with me is
quite the reverse. In general I find it extremely disagree
able, and it is only in the morning, that is before dinner,
that I can bring myself to do it without a violent and
painful effort. Scraps of broken time, which I can employ
in reading, are to me entirely lost for the purpose of
writing anything but a letter. I see that the letter which
you wish I had not signed has been censured in several
quarters. It is, hoAvever, a comfort to me to observe that
the censure has either been accompanied by no reason at
all, or by such as to me seem utterly devoid of common
sense. The Spectator calls it an ' extraordinary document,'
and so it undoubtedly is, inasmuch as it partakes of the
nature of the book which occasioned it. The Times calls
it libellous ; the Qlobe considers it as a violation of the
Protestant principle of ' private judgment,' as it certainly
is if that principle gives a clergyman the right of preaching
Deism or Atheism, while he continues to minister in the
Church of England. The latest objection is grounded on
the Bishop of Carlisle's nepotism.
" What yours is I can only conjecture from your
remarks on the book. If they really contain it, I think it
must be grounded on a misconception. I am not aware
that the Bishops, when they were addressed on the subject,
had more than three courses open to them : 1. They
•might have declined to express any opinion. 2. They

236 THE ENCYCLICAL LETTER.
might have expressed an opinion favourable to the book.
¦S. They might haA'e done as they have done — declared it
in their judgment irreconcilable with the doctrines of their
Church. I can hardly suppose that you would have
thought it better that they should have adopted either
course one or two. If your only objection is to the terms
employed, that seems to me so unimportant as not to be
Avorth discussing. You rather seem to intimate that, if
parts of the book are open to ' little exception,' it aught
not to be condemned because other parts are open to
much. " But surely that is neither the usual nor the right way
of dealing with any work. The character of every work
must be estimated, not by that Avhich it does not say, but
by that which it does. It would be a strange plea for any
author charged with pernicious doctrine to set up that
there are some chapters in it perfectly harmless.
" If the Avork, though the production of several writers, is
treated as one whole, Avhose fault is that but theirs, who
have sent it into the world as one volume, and have
allowed it to pass through several editions without a word
from any of them to signify that there is anything in it
which any one of them does not think consistent with the
profession of a clergyman, while atheistical lecturers are
using it as a text book ? You yourself call their conduct
' impudent,' but if it is that, it must also be something
worse. I was reading the other day old Chubb' s ' True
Gospel of Jesus Christ.' The whole substance of it might
have been inserted in the volume without additional
scandal, and would not have been thought the most hetero
dox portion of it. He seems to me to come nearest to
R. WiUiams. The chief difference between them is, that
Chubb speaks plainly and bluntly, and does not affect to
use the technical terms of a theology AA'hich he regrets, and
that he was not a clergyman."

THIELWALL AND THE ENCYCLICAL LETTER. 237
[The following letter, referring to the same subject, is
inserted here, though nine years later in date, because of
the obvious and striking reference to the Bishop him
self :— ]
To the Dean or Westminster. Beaumaris, July Uth, 1870.
" This morning has brought me another most welcome
and valuable present in your ' Volume of Essays,'* all full
of interest to every one A\'ho takes any in the recent
phases of Church history, and some peculiarly to myself
In looking back on that of ' Essays and Reviews,' I can
not help lamenting that the secret history of the Epis
copal Letter will never be known beyond a very small
circle of persons, among whom I know only of one who
would wish it to have been divulged.
" I have also received a bundle of protests on the
report, though not including my paper on the Athana
sian Creed.
" I could have joined with great Avillingness in the
Bishop of Gloucester's expression of regret at the retention
of the Ornaments Rubric."

[In reference to a tour in France.]
To Mrs. Bayne. Clermont, September 27th, 1862.
" Though I am only at the second stage of my journey
(from Paris) I am going to send you a few lines, thinking
that you would rather have a short circumstantial story
than a longer but less detailed sketch of my movements.
It seems wonderful that having last Sunday held my ordi
nation at Abergwili, I should noAV be writing from the
* " Essays on Church and State."

238 BOUEGES.
capital of Auvergne under the shadow of the Puy de
Dome. I broke the journey from Paris to Clermont for
the sake of seeing Bourges, where I arrived a little before
four p.m., and immediately sallied out to visit the glorious
cathedral. The architecture quite justifies its celebrity,
though the exterior is not equal to Rheims, nor the in
terior to Amiens. I was rather sorry to find it entirely
silent, and almost empty — only two or three people set
ting some of the furniture in order — and having com
pleted my inspection, strolled round the adjacent public
Avalk at the back of the archevechd. By-the-bye the
Archbishop is also a Cardinal, and the entrance of the
palace is adorned with a sculptured hat, as well as
guarded by a Zouave. This walk abuts on the ancient
wall, and there is some Roman Avork visible at one point
of it. After I had surveyed all this to my heart's con
tent, I set my face toward mine inn, having only one
other lion to kill, the Hotel de Ville, which was likely
just to fill up the interval before dinner. Returning to
take a parting look at the front of the cathedral, I found
a croAvd, chiefly of women, standing on the toj) of the
perron, and evidently waiting for something or somebody.
The great bell of the cathedral was also sounding a very
deep note, and I joined the expectant throng. Pre
sently, out of the lane through which I had passed, which
joins the archevechd to the cathedral, sounds of ecclesi
astical melody began to issue, proceeding from a proces
sion Avhich was advancing towards us. It was headed by
tAVO Suisses, followed by two mace-bearers, and an army
of priests in two columns. Then, conspicuous above the
rest, appeared the golden mitre of the Cardinal Arch
bishop, preceded by four persons bearing — 1st, his silver
cross ; 2nd, his mitra preciosa ; 3rdly, his crozier ; 4th,
a book (it is to be hoped the Gospels). On each side of
him Avas an ecclesiastic, opening his cope so as to leave

A FRENCH SERMON. 239
him at liberty to hold out his hand for the benediction.
As he approached the foot of the perron he stopped for
that purpose, and afforded me an opportunity of examin
ing his features. His complexion was singularly dark,
face not unhandsome, and the expression, whether natural
or assumed, one of intense devotion.* I have seen such
in many pictures of saints. You know my weakness for
ecclesiastical ceremonies, and how sure I was to follow in
his wake. At about half-way down the nave he stopped
in front of a pulpit, which was presently mounted by a
dignitary who, after receiving his benediction, proceeded
to edify us with a sermon on the dignity of the priest
hood. I took a chair within little more than one inter-
columnar space, and though at the side, heard tolerably
well. One of the most expressive passages was that in
which he expressed his fear lest he should fail to do
justice to so great a theme, and his Avish that, rather
than prejudice it in the minds of his hearers, he might
draw his last breath at their feet ! Yet it did not seem
as if the sacerdotal dignity could have been much lowered
through the inadequacy of his conception of it. For he
not only exalted it above that of angels and of the blessed
Virgin herself pointing out that the priest " engendra le
Fils de Dieu " — not in his state of humihation, but in
one as free from all mortal soil as that in which he
existed before his incarnation — but, with regard to the
rest of mankind, above Le Pfere Eternel himseh. Hoav,
will you ask, was that ? Well, it was so. In the case of
" imperfect contrition " (one of pretty frequent occurrence)
God says to the sinner, " Thou art impure, an abomination
in my sight, I cannot admit thee into my presence,"
&c. " Le pr^tre lui dit, ne t'inquifete pas : je le forcerai
de te presser sur son sein." This I suppose was nearly
the climax, and the preacher came down, not struck by
* Mgr. de la 'Tour d' Auvergne.

240 A LETTER OF CONDOLENCE.
a thunderbolt. The procession then proceeded to the
high altar, which by this time was blazing with lights,
and the archbishop took a seat immediately in front of
it, and CA'ery one of the many hundred of priests Avent
up, prostrated himself before him, and received a kiss.
I also had advanced ; one of the Suisses passed close by
me and relaxed into a smile, as who should say, ' You
ought not by rights to be there ; but I suppose you never
saw such a sight before.' This encouraged me to ask
him what it was all about, and he informed me that it
was preparatory to a ' re traite pastorale.' It occurred
to me that a ' retraite ' might be a very wholesome thing
for the clergy of my own diocese, but I congratulated
myself that it was no part of my duty to kiss them all.
The whole ended Avith the sacramental benediction, and
the procession returned in the same order to the palace.
It had lasted two hours, and I did not get back to my
inn much before eight p.m. I observed that the streets were
lined with gazers, as if hoping to catch some air of sanc
tity from us who had beheld the ceremony. I Avas
curious to knoAV the name of the preacher, and found that
it Avas an Abbe Corsini who had come from Boulogne."

To L. Schmitz, Esq. [On the death of his son.] March 3rd, 1863.
" I have hardly courage to address you while the
terrible blow you have suffered is so recent, and yet it is
the time when a word of condolence is most seasonable,
little as it can do to soothe so keen a pang. You wiU at
least be sure that it comes from one Avho really in a
measure shares your grief as retaining a lively recoUection
of him Avhom you have lost as he appeared in his amiable

THIRLWALL AND THACKERAY. 241
and hopeful boyhood. How gladly would I add a word
of consolation. But I feel that there is something pre
sumptuous in the attempt. I can only point to that which
springs out of the depth of the sorrow itself, that there
would have been less cause for it if its object had not, as
far as Providence permitted, fulfilled all the hopes which
your affection had ever formed for him ; if his career, within
its appointed limits, had been less successful, less com
plete. That is indeed a thought Avhich at first may rather
aggravate the bitterness of the bereavement, but yet it
contains the germ of the most solid and abiding comfort.
It may or may not be a blessing to die full of days. It
can be so only so far as all have been well spent, and leave
none but happy and honourable memories behind. But
where that is the case, how little does the highest value of
life depend upon its length ? He was all you could wish ;
that is the best thing, which can never be taken from you ;
he might have been so longer, but he could not have been
so more."

[The two following letters are placed together, as they
both refer to Thackeray. They show the friendship that
existed between the Bishop and the great novehst. Bishop
Thirlwall presided at the anniversary of the Royal Literary
Fund in 1860, and referred to Thackeray in the following
terms : —
" Think of our admirable friend Mr. Thackeray. I am
sorry I cannot ask you to look at him. We must all
deplore his absence on this occasion; but see, what an
immense amount of ecclesiastical patronage he has at his
disposal ! What a number of sees in partibus are in his
exclusive nomination. I have never been ambitious of
R

242 DEATH OF THACKERAY.
being translated to any of them, but I believe there are
few clergymen to whom it can be a matter of indifference
Avhat position they occupy in Mr. Thackeray's books."]
To W. M. Thackeray, Esq. 1, Eegent Street, May 19th, 1860.
" I am almost ashamed of receiving so gratifying a letter
from you on so slight an occasion. It must be difficult to
attend a dinner of the Literary Fund without thinking of
you, whether present or absent, still more to say anything
about the infiuence of literature without alluding to you.
I was glad of the opportunity of giving even a partial
utterance to that which must have been in everyone's
mind. It is an unexpected pleasure to me to find that it
has directly or indirectly yielded any to you."

[On the Death of Thackeray.]
To Mrs. Bayne. Abergwili Palace, December 26th, 1863.
" Your letter, which I read before I had opened the
Times, caused me the most painful surprise I have felt for
a long time. As you spoke of Thackeray's ' serious illness '
I hoped that he was now out of danger, and I could
hardly believe my eyes when I found that it had ended
fatally. It is a very great public and private loss. I hope
you will get the Times of yesterday, which has a very
good article on the subject, doing justice both to his mind
and character. I, as you know, always thought his cha
racter was most noble, and his heart full of kindness. I
see it is stated that he was much annoyed by what always
seemed to me the dulness of the people who, unable to
appreciate his humour, talked of him as ' cynical.' I

VISIT OF PEINCE AETHUR TO WALES. 243
believe that nobody loved more everything and everybody
that was worth loving. But what would have been the
value or merit of such love if he had not keenly perceived
and felt the difference between that which was to be loved
and that which was to be hated, or had shut his eyes to
the dark side of the world ? Since the death of the Prince
Consort no event has thrown a greater gloom over the
season."

[The two next letters refer to the visit of Prince Arthur
to Tenby in August, 1865, on the occasion of the inaugu
ration of the Welsh memorial to the Prince Consort.
Prince Arthur unveiled the colossal statue of his father,
erected on an elevated position overlooking the sea.]
To Mrs. Bayne. Abergwili, August Sth, 1865.
" I must entertain you with a few personalities inac
cessible to the newspapers. I Avas of the dinner-party,
and sat on the Prince's right. I found him a very pleasant,
frank, and intelligent boy, in that respect a year or two
in advance of his age (fifteen). He told me he had been
at Jerusalem. It seems that his time was very narrowly
limited, but he gave me some account of AA'hat he saw on
his way home. During dinner we were regaled Avith the
music of a Welsh harper, and when we had returned to
the drawing-room he was brought in with a young Welsh
girl in the perfection of Welsh costume, and looking as if
she had been just taken out of a bandbox. She sang two
Welsh songs, and the performance concluded with the
' Men of Harlech.' In the proceedings of the next day
there were three things to be done, most indispensable for
the occasion : an address to be read, a prayer to be offered,
R 2

244 LETTEE FROM THE QUEEN.
and a speech to be made on proposing the memory of the
Prince Consort. I had reason to be more than satisfied
M'ith the manner in which my speech was received. The
Prince told me I had made ' a beautiful speech.' But
what was most to the purpose Sir C. Phipps, who sat by
me on the other side, observed, ' You understood him,'
adding, as to himself rather than to me, ' which very few
do ; ' and half-an-hour afterwards, as we Avere returning
from the room, he said he was sure that the Queen would
be gratified by my speech. This was my motive for re
vising the report ; and I sent a copy yesterday to Osborne
directed to Sir C. Phipps. But I am not sure whether it
will arrive before she sets out for Germany.
" More Welsh was visible on banners and triumphal
arches than has been heard in Tenby probably for centuries.
It Avas no doubt intended to represent rather what ought
to be than what is. The Prince asked me to explain two
which were conspicuous at the other end of the room. I
forget what was that on our right. But as I proceeded to
translate the other, ' Long life to  ' he broke in with his
very natural guess, ' the Prince of Wales,' which I was
obliged to correct, as that which really followed was ' the
Welsh language.' . . . ."

To Mrs. Bayne. Abergwili Palace, August 23rd, 1865.
" The honours of my fortunate Tenby speech have noAV
culminated in a letter from the Queen, forwarded to me by
Sir C. Phipps, thanking me for the copy I sent, and asking
for some more. It is not only fuU of the most obhging
expressions that it was possible to use, among which is that
of her ' satisfaction that one for whom her dear husband
entertained so great a respect should have so well under
stood that perfect character ; ' but is written throughout

DR. pusey's " LECTURES ON DANIEL." 245
as if to a friend to whom she could freely communicate
her thoughts and feelings. Etiquette obliges her, I believe,
in writing to any but royal personages to use the third
person. But otherwise the whole tone is one of the most
amiable warmth and open-heartedness, of which I could
hardly give an idea Avithout transcribing more than I should
like to do : as the expression of her maternal hopes for the
son for whom she thinks it a happy circumstance that he
should make his first appearance in public life on such an
occasion. The conclusion was to me very touching : in
forming me that she ' writes from the lovely spot (the
Rosenau) where her dear husband was born, and Avhich he
dearly loved.' I shall keep it in my writing-desk, that,
whenever we meet, I may be able to let you have a sight
of it."

To the Rev. J. J. Stewart Perowne.
[On his review of Dr. Pusey's " Lectures on Daniel," in the
first number of the Contemporary.]
Abergwili Palace, December 12th, 1865.
" I am very much obliged to you for the sight of your
revicAV, which I have read with much pleasure. Your
judgment of the general character of Dr. Pusey's book
appears to me very just, and at least very mild. Between
ourselves, I find it very difficult to resist the impression
that such resolute and passionate one-sidedness in a man
of such extensive learning must be a reaction against
inward misgivings kept under, as suggestions of the Evd
one, by a violent effort of the wiU. His notice of Schleier
macher, however, is creditable to him, and leads one to
hope that he would not now recaU anything he had said
of S. in former times.
" I must confine myself to a very few remarks which

246 ON THE AUTHORSHIP
occurred to me on the topics Avhich you have selected. I
entirely agree with you in rejecting the opinion that the
Canon was closed by Nehemiah. The latest discussion of
the question by Kuenen in the third vol. of his Introduc
tion must, I think, satisfy every candid reader that this
opinion is untenable, and bring him to K.'s conclusion,
that no precise date can be assigned to the event. If the
book was a production of the Maccabean age I should
consider its ultimate reception into the Canon as not merely
easy but inevitable. Whatever difficulty there is in the
matter seems to me to lie in that which must have pre
ceded the reception, viz. its general acceptance as a work
of the old prophet. It seems strange that it should have
occurred to no one to ask how it happened that it had
never been heard of before. And I am not aware that its
genuineness was ever disputed among the Jews. But I
also think that in speaking of the closing of the Canon we
should bear in mind a distinction which I have not seen
noticed, but which appears to me of some importance. It
is, that the Canon might be said to be closed in one respect,
Avhile it was still open in another ; closed so far as to exclude
any new insertion, but yet so far open as not to preclude
doubt and controversy about some of its contents. The
Canon of the New Testament has been long closed in the
first sense, but is still open in the second. I do not mean
that the universal unquestioning belief in the genuineness
of the book, if it made its appearance four centuries after its
fictitious date, is absolutely inexplicable, but I think it is
nearly the whole of the real difficulty on this head.
" With regard to the Greek words, I quite agree with
you that there is not the slightest improbability in the
supposition that Greek musical instruments were imported
into Babylon and there called by their Greek names ; and
your remarks seem to take off the edge of the objection
that the same names are not found in the contemporary

OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 247
Hebrew literature. Only about the word sumphonya there
remains a difficulty. I cannot beheve it to be anything
but (jvp.(f)o>v[a. And then I do not know how to account
for it, unless some Greek maestro had enriched Nebuchad
nezzar's band with a new instrument which combined
several in one.
" I also agree with you that the Aryan words tell most
strongly against the later authorship. But I am not quite
satisfied with your explanation of the manner in Avhich
they were introduced at Babylon. You will see that I
have pencilled a note of interrogation in the margin.
And I mean it to ask Avhether it is indeed certain that
Babylon was taken by the Medes* before Nebuchadnezzar
came to the throne, or, indeed, before Cyrus. The history
of this period has been very carefully investigated by
Marcus v. Niebuhr ' Geschichte Assur's und Babel's,' and
his reading of it is, that Nabopalassar (whose name remains
to be inserted) revolted from Nineveh and contracted
an alliance (cemented by the marriage) with Cyaxares —
possibly even consented to become his vassal, in a sense
like that in which the Pasha of Egypt acknowledges the
sovereignty of the Sultan, and 'joined the Medes in their
attack on the city,'- — not of Babylon, but of Nineveh.
According to Niebuhr, if Iranian terms were naturalized
at Babylon by the joresence of an Iranian court it could
only have been that of Cyrus. How far it is conceivable
that the mere political connection between the tAvo States
might be attended with the same result I do not venture
to say. But it certainly seems less difficult to imagine
than how such terms could have entered into the voca
bulary of a Palestinian Jcav under Ant. Epiphanes.
" It is remarkable that M. Niebuhr maintains the
perfect accuracy of the statements as to the succession to
* [This was merely a slip, and was afterwards corrected. I had written
Babylon inadvertently instead of Nineveh. — J. J. S. P.]

248 ON THE AUTHORSHIP
the throne of Babylon — Belshazzar and Darius the Mode
— Avhich have been thought to betray the hand of an ill-
informed or careless romance Avriter. If it should turn out
— as he believes himself to have shown — that they are in
accordance with facts ascertained by independent evidence,
they will certainly constitute another strong argument in
favour of the antiquity of the book. They imply an
accuracy of information which would be incredible in an
author touching only incidentally on the subject in the
Maccabean times. On the other hand, no part of Dr.
Pusey's argument appears to me less satisfactory than that
in which he attempts to meet the objections grounded on
the minuteness of the details in the eleventh chapter It
ought not to be denied that such a forestalling of history
by prophecy is absolutely unique in the Old Testament,
and I believe that the fact will always be felt by intelligent
readers as a very serious difficulty ; that which weighs
most of all against the genuineness of the book. And it is
one that can be but partially lightened by speculations on
the design of Providence in such a singular departure
from its ordinary Avays. Your suggestion does not
appear to me quite adequate to the end. Admitting that
the Jews needed a warning such as you describe, I do not
see that the purpose of the warning required a develop
ment of the vision in c. 8 (which would seem of itself a
sufficient admonition) into such minute particulars. But
this is a part of the question in which large room must be
allowed for differences of subjective views, to which no
fixed standard can be applied. Your refiections on the
expansiveness of the prophetical word appear to me very
just and valuable. Prideaux was not far from the same
view when he observed, ' as much of these prophecies as
related to the profanation and persecution which Antiochus
Epiphanes brought upon the Jewish Church was all
typically fulfiUed in them (the wars of Syria and Egypt),

OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 249
but they were to have their ultimate and thorough com
pletion only in those profanations and persecutions Avhich
Antichrist was to bring upon the Church of Christ in after-
times.' " The hypothesis, which is by some proclaimed as a fact
admitting of no reasonable doubt, and imposed upon our
assent under penalties of moral excommunication, appears
to me to fail, not only as raising difficulties on particular
points for which it provides no solution, but inasmuch as
it does not cover the problem which it attempts to solve.
It supposes the book to have been written for the purpose
of cheering the Jews through their struggle with the
heathen tyrant. And no doubt there is much in it that
is well suited to that purpose — as it Avould equally have
been if the whole is genuine — but there is also much in
which I can perceive no reference to that object : as c. 2,
c. 4, and if there is any in c. 9 it is very remote and
obscure, while it is very difficult to imagine that chapter
the fabrication of one who had nothing in view but a
moral lesson. Yet I should not expect every one who
rejects this hypothesis to feel himself obliged to return to
the traditional belief I cannot help thinking it possible
that the book may have had a history not exactly agreeing
Aviththat which is affirmed on either side of the controversy,
and which, if we did but knoAA' it, would clear up the whole
mystery."

To the Eev. W. H. Thompson, D.D.
[On his being made Master of Trinity College, Cambridge.]
Abergwili Palace, March Uth, 1866.
" Pray accept my most hearty congratulations on your
elevation to one of the noblest positions in which it is
possible for a man to be placed. I had wished it so much
that I felt the sort of hopelessness with which one always

250 INCREASE OF THE EPISCOPATE.
looks for a piece of personal good fortune, though in this
case it was the common Aveal that was at stake."

[On the proposed increase of the Episcopate.]
To Lord Arthur Hervey. Abergwili Pal4ce, June 13th, 1866,
"Many thanks for your letter on the increase of the
Episcopate, which I have read with much interest. But I
cannot help lamenting that a Bishop should not be able to
delegate his authority for specific purposes without an
episcopal consecration of his delegate. I knoAV that some
Avill be shocked at the thought ; but I do not beheve that
it is at variance Avith any sound principle, and I think it
would be found convenient in practice."
[On the same.]
To Lord Arthur Hervey. Abergwili Palace, June 18th, 1866.
" I was SO fully aAvare of the difficulty which any one
Avould find in reconciling a large section of the Church to a
delegation of episcopal authority to presbyters, that I did
not mean my remark to be taken for anything more than
the expression of an opinion and a wish. I may, hoAvever,
observe that your own plan seems to me no less open to
objections of a technical kind, as well as to others, on
ground of policy, which would not affect my suggestion.
Surely the cumulation or amalgamation of the archidia
conal and episcopal office, by which the Archdeacon would
be merged in the Bishop, Avould be a very startling inno
vation in our hierarchy.
" Your plan, however, has an entirely different object
from mine. You propose to make a permanent provision
for the execution of every part of the Bishop's functions in

"guesses AT TRUTH." 251
every possible contingency. This is so far an advantage.
But on the other side is the inconvenience that there may
be a number of Bishops in every diocese, who in that capa
city have nothing to do, and may never be called upon to
perform a single episcopal act. What I suggested was,
that the assistance should be not provided before the
emergency arose, but called forth to meet it, and that not
only the vicarious function, but the vicarious character,
should cease with the need. There are, I think, some
analogies which show that there is nothing very monstrous
in such a delegation of episcopal authority. I might
point to the practice by which a barrister often takes the
place of the judge in circuit. But there is another example
which would, perhaps, have more weight Avith sticklers for
episcopal privileges. They cannot consider the distance
between Bishop and Presbyter as wider than that which
the Pope asserts to separate him from CA'ery inferior
member of his own hierarchy. Yet his Cardinal Legate a
latere was invested with the plenitude of Papal authority,
and this, you know, was the cause through which the
appointment of such a representative fell into disuse, as
the exercise of such powers Avas found to clash with the
civd government. The Archdeacon is already the Bishop's
alter ego, visits in the Bishop's stead, is not merely his
eyeglass, but his eye. How strange that he should be
incompetent to execute the Bishop's commission to confirm
and ordain ! "

[In reference to " Guesses at Truth," a new edition with
a Prefatory Memoir by Professor Plumptre.]
To the Rev. E. H. Plumptre. Abergwili Palace, December Uth, 1866.
" I have deferred thanking you for your kind present
until I had read the Memoir, which has of course for me a

252 JULIUS HARE.
peculiarly deep though melancholy interest. As a record
it contains every fact that can now concern the general
reader, and reflects a true and lively image of the man.
The volume on the whole is that by means of which, above
every other, it Avill be known what Hare was. You have
attributed to me a happiness which I never enjoyed. I
Avas never at Hyde Hall, and I believe never saw Sir John
Malcolm, though I remember the time when he seemed to
occupy more of Hare's thoughts than any other of his
friends. " The statement that the undergraduates Avho heard
the sermon ' The Children of Light,' proved that the
' FelloAvs and Tutors ' had not given them sufficient
credit for patience, requires some modification. I was
present, and I remember that, as the expectation of the
close Avas deferred, the impatience of the undergraduates
manifested itself unmistakably by a loud scraping, never
probably heard before or since at a University sermon. But
I should not be at all surprised if several of the scrapers
joined in the request for the printing of the sermon.
" The incident you relate reminds me of some
thing which I always thought beautifully characteristic of
Hare. I suppose there never was a man who less shrank
from speaking out on every occasion which seemed to him
to call for the proclamation of the truth, whatever offence
it might give ; and I remember one on which he provoked
very bitter resentment by remarks which he made to one
of two intimate friends (who he said was the person to
Avhom it was right to make the communication), about
some evil habit which he had heard imputed to the other.
" Yet I used to hear him lament as one of his chief
failings, the timidity which so often kept him silent when
it was his duty to speak. Perhaps it may be inferred
that his parrhesia cost him at least as great an effort as
it would have done others who condemned it as indiscreet."

THE CONSCIENCE CLAUSE. 253
[The following letter refers to the " conscience clause '
in the educational code, which the Bishop had fully dis
cussed and defended in his charge of 1866. (See Thirl-
v/all's "Remains," vol. ii. 104 — 120): — ]
To Lord Arthur Hervey. Abergwili Palace, January 15th, 1867.
" I have read your kind letter with the attention due
to everything that comes from you, but I cannot help
thinking that you have misconceived the nature of the
question. My answer is simply in the nature of a de
murrer. It appears to me that everything you say might
be admitted, without in the least shaking the truth of the
proposition to which you object. I have asserted that a
certain ' principle ' ' lies at the root of the conscience
clause,' in other words, is implied in it. How do you meet
this assertion ? Not, as far as I can see, by attempting to
show that the conscience clause is not rooted or grounded
in that principle, but that the principle is wrong and mis
chievous, and not within the intention of the legislature.
That may be so or not, but it does not affect the truth of
my assertion. It would not do so even if the legislature
should decide according to your view of the subject, and
declare the conscience clause illegal. Such a decision would
not even alter my opinion with regard to the quality of
the principle and the clause, which, in the present cir
cumstances of education, and considering the ground on
which the clause has been opposed by Archdeacon Denison,
without any disavowal of his views on the part of those
who reject the clause, I consider as just and necessary.
" I need hardly therefore say that I can perceive no
' flaw ' in my arguvient — if a single proposition may be
properly called by that name. But in fact my argument
consists in an examination of the reasons alleged against
the adoption of the clause ; and I am not aware of having

254 THE CONSCIENCE CLAUSE.
omitted to notice any that were or could be known to me.
But the sphere of possibility is so vast and so obscure that
no- cautious man would venture exactly to define what does
or does not lie Avithin it. I could not presume to say with
regard to the dangers Avhich you apprehend from the ad
mission of the clause that they are impossible. I only
hold that they are exceedingly improbable. I consider
the anticipated action of the Liberation Society in so very
small a matter a mere bugbear, and I cannot help suspect
ing that you have unconsciously jDroceeded on a supposi
tion that the operation of the clause extends to a greater
number of cases than actually come within it. The dis
senting minister is a spectre raised, I believe for the first
time, by you. But even if he were to appear in flesh and
blood he would not bear witness against the conscience
clause, from which he has certainly received no mission,
but would prove the unsettled state of the question. I
believe it to be a sad mistake to suppose that the abolition
of the conscience clause would effect a settlement, and not
on the contrary accompany or introduce a radical change,
which the opponents of the clause will think the greater
evil of the two, and Avhich will be in a great measure the
result of their opposition to it."

[In reference to a sermon * on " Holy Scripture — The
witness to the revelation of God in aU facts ; " and to
No. 12 of " Tracts for Priests and People," bearing on the
same subject.]
To the Hon. and Rev. W. H. Lyttelton. Abergwili Palace, January 22nd, 1867.
" I received your packet the day after your kind letter,
and heartUy thank you for both. I have been long in
* This sermon was published at the request of the present Lord Derby.

RELIGION AND SCIENCE. 255
possession of the tract, as I took in the whole series, and
read each as it appeared. I can assure you that no other
name than that of the author was needed to induce me to
read it with keen attention. I have found it not only
attractive and interesting but highly suggestive, which is,
perhaps, the greatest merit of any discourse on such a sub
ject. I would not say that it is too bold to call the Bible
' The Biography of God,' with such limitations as you add
to the phrase. But I prefer the description in a later
page — ' a record of the divine education of mankind.' But
I think even this description needs a further limitation,
and that the education of which the Bible is a record is
only the moral and religious education. But to this in
later times, and in some sense it may be said in our own
day, there has been added a new branch of education — the
scientific — which in itself is perfectly distinct from the other,
and not only no part of the religious and moral develop
ment, but apparently rather at variance with it ; for it has
introduced man to the knowledge of a vast system of
secondary causes, previously unknown and unsuspected,
which seem to separate him from God, and to exclude the
idea of the immediate divine presence and agency, which
was the condition of his early piety. Whether it really
does this, or only seems to do it, is the question of deepest
interest to all religious minds. If that system of secondary
causes is, as men of science are apt to regard it, an ada
mantine clockwork, without any provision for continual
adaptation to varying circumstances, it is to my thinking
of the smallest possible importance whether we admit or
deny the being of God. For at the best He is now functus
officio, and enjoying an everlasting holiday, only differing
from the epicurean inasmuch as it has been earned by
work now done. The great problem of our day seems to
me to show that the childlike belief of man's early days is
consistent with the fullest acceptance of all scientific truth,

256 RELIGION AND SCIENCE.
and that there is no reason Avhy this should quench faith
or stifie prayer. I think that an important step is gained
when it is shown that science at least does not and cannot
disprove this, and that it is consistent with all our expe
rience of human action. It is only as a slight contribu
tion towards this object that my Address* could have any
value ; but it has been a great satisfaction to me to knoAV
that it has relieved the minds of some intelligent persons
from distressing perplexity. The Duke of Argyll's ' Reign
of Law ' is a most valuable aid to thought on this subject.
The fact is that people have been stunned by the rapid
rush with which science has been advancing within our
generation, and are only noAV beginning to collect them
selves and to take a stand from which they can survey
the phenomena soberly and calmly. But if I am not mis
taken they are beginning. AUoav me to say how much I
have been delighted by the truly liberal and generous
spirit that pervades your sermon, and by its sound, though
unhappily not generally recognised, teaching on the right
use of the Bible, which, even when it is admitted, as a
general principle is so rarely carried out into its legitimate
and most important consequences."

[The next letter contains amongst other matter the first
intimation of those physical infirmities, the gradual increase
of which led to the Bishop's resignation of his see.]
To the Hon. and Rev. W. H. Lyttelton. 1, Regent Street, February 2Zrd, 1867.
"You are. quite right in supposing that I have no ob
jection to Church Congresses in the abstract ; and I am
willing to believe that much good may have resulted from
* " On the Relations between Science and Literature," " Remains,"
vol. iii .p. 284.

CHURCH CONGRESSES. 257
those which have been already held ; and if the proposed
place of meeting had happened to be in my diocese, I
should certainly have thought it my duty to preside ; but
there is one objection which of itself would prevent me
from attending at Wolverhampton, viz. that I have already
declined an iuAdtation which I received from a lady Avho
lives in the neighbourhood to stay at her house during
the Congress. It is true that I did so because at the
time I received the invitation I had been long so deaf
that I could hardly have taken part in any discussions.
Since I came up to London I have been relieved as to one
ear, though I am afraid that the other will never again
transmit any sound. But I must fi-ankly say that if there
had been no such objection I should not have liked to
attend for the purpose of volunteering an address on a
question brulante such as that of the Bible and science,
and I do not think I should have been quite justified in
so doing. I do not consider a Bishop as the most suit
able person to provoke a discussion of a subject on which
opinions are so widely divided, and I, perhaps, the Bishop
who is least fitted for the task, and this on two accounts :
first, because I have reason to fear that the ' authority,'
which you seem to ascribe to me, would be confined to a
very small part of the assembly, and with the rest would
be beloAv zero ; and next, that I could not trust myself I
am conscious of being almost irresistibly disposed to put
things too plainly and strongly. I find that my last Charge,
though written with more than my ordinary caution, has
given great offence to a number of persons AA'hom I highly
respect, and, considering what appears to be the prevailing
character of the attendants at Church Congresses, I feel
that my opinions could hardly be advocated by any one
who was less able to recommend them by personal infiu
ence and popularity. I should hke to see the subject
treated by some one who had no claim to the questionable
s

258 THE EUCHARISTIC QUESTION.
advantage of official authority, and I know of no one whom
I should think more competent than yourself"

To the Dean oe Westminster. February 27th, 1867.
" I am much obliged to you for your Christmas sermon,
which I have read with unmixed pleasure, as I could
entirely agree with you in your broad view of the con
troversies about the Real Presence.
" My only doubt in the eucharistic question is, whether
it is possible either logically — which I think it is not — or
practically, for a permanence, that the same Church should
celebrate the Anglican communion and the Tridentine
mass, as equally legitimate and conformable to her doc
trine. This of course does not affect the question as to
the policy of a temporary or exceptional connivance."

[The foUowing series of letters to Mr. Dundas have
reference to some contemporary conversions to the Church
of Rome : — ]
To W. Dundas, Esq. Abergwili Palace, April 2Zrd, 1867.
" I had not heard the report which you have communi
cated. If it should prove true, I shall lament it the
more, because I am afraid that every such perversion is
contagious among persons of the same rank, but in itself
hardly any could be more deplorable than the one you
mention. " I am much obliged to you for the expression of your
good opinion of me. But as I am utterly a stranger to
him, and without either a personal or official plea for

EOMISH CONVEETS. 259
interfering with his religious convictions, whatever way I
might take of approaching him would be subject to great
disadvantage, and much risk of doing harm rather than
good, and for such a cause as you suggest his own
Diocesan is both eminently qualified and the person
whose station might most naturally and fitly suggest
such an attempt.
" But I must own that I should not think any one quali
fied for it who was not acquainted with the convert's
character and turn of mind, and with the methods which
have been employed to make a proselyte of him. I should
be very much surprised to hear that they have been such
as would be in the least affected by any discussion of the
peculiar doctrines of the Church of Rome. I doubt very
much whether a proselyte was ever gained to the Church by
such discussion. An expert Romish controversialist would
never wilhngly permit the question to be brought to
that issue ; he would anticipate such a result as that which
you mention as related by Macaulay. It was not through
any change of opinion as to particular dogmas that any
of the Oxford Tractarians, Newman, or Manning, or
Oakeley, or Ward, were won. Newman never believed in
Transubstantiation before he became a Romanist. It was
by wholly independent considerations of a general kind
that they were led to adopt implicitly all Roman doctrine :
such as the unity of the Church, our Lord's promise, the
necessity of a visible infallible authority (the argument by
which Le Maistre maintained the monarchy of the Pope).
Such abstract considerations may have had a like effect in
this case. Nothing appears to me less probable than that
he has given way to any arguments Avhich might be refuted
by appeals to the evidence either of dogmatic theology or
of ecclesiastical history. It is far more likely that he has
been partly overawed by the dogmatic tone of his teachers,
commanding him to submit to an infallible Church, and to
s 2

260 CAEDINAL NEWMAN.
seek safety and repose of conscience within her pale, and
partly attracted, as most young persons and women, through
the imagination and the sentiments, which are not merely
incapable of being moved by the logical arguments, but
absolutely deaf to them. If this is the case I see no
remedy for the mischief"

[On the same.] April 30th, 1867.
" It has been a very great relief to me to learn that the
report of the perversion is unfounded. I should have
answered your letter sooner, but Avas prevented by a very
pressing special engagement. It is necessary to be
cautious in speculating on the character of another man's
mind, especially for those who know nothing of him from
personal acquaintance, which is my case as to Newman.
But although it may be true that there was a want of
balance and harmony in his nature, I doubt very much
Avhether his secession was owing to the predominance of
the imaginative element or to his proneness to the
sensuous in religion. I see no reason for thinking that
this was the attraction by which he was carried to Rome.
My view of his character and internal history is, that his
mind was essentially sceptical and sophistical, endowed
with various talents in an eminent degree, but not with
the power of taking firm hold on either speculative- or
historical truth. Yet his craving for truth was strong in
proportion to the purity of his life and conscience. He
felt that he Avas entirely unable to satisfy this craving by
any mental operations of his own, and that ¦ if he was to
depend on his own ability to arrive at any settled
conclusion he should be for ever floating in a sea of doubt ;

DE. PUSEY. 261
therefore he Avas irresistibly impelled to take refuge under
the wings of an infallible authority. No doubt this was
an act of pure self-will. He bowed to an image which he
had first himself set up. There was at once his strength
and his weakness. He could deceive himself and could
not help letting himself be deceived.
" That is the impression which all I know of him has
made on my mind. But it may very well be that your
theory is better grounded than mine, and the real question
is which is most in accordance with the facts of the
case."

[On the same.] May 6th, 1867.
" I am much obhged to you for the Manchester paper.
I own I should be very loth to believe Newman capable of
any conscious untruthfulness, or of any that is not implied
in the sceptical and sophistical character which I ascribe
to his mind. But I believe him to be at bottom far more
sceptical than his brother Francis ; and the extravagant
credulity with which he accepts the wildest Popish legends
is, as it appears to me, only another side of his bottomless
unbelief "Dr. Pusey is to me not, indeed an object of horror,
but a painful enigma. I cannot help thinking him less
ingenuous than Newman. And when I consider the
changes through which his views have passed, and his
present dogmatical intolerance on the one side and his
leaning to Rome on the other, I recoil from the thought
of the mental process — I fear a moral self-maiming — which
alone I can conceive capable of leading to such a result."

262 ROMISH CONVERTS.
[On the same.] January Sth, 1869.
" I believe that some time ago when you did me the
honour of Avriting to me on the same subject I expressed
the opinion that inquiry, discussion, and rational convic
tion seldom had anything to do with conversions to the
Church of Rome. That opinion has been confirmed by sub
sequent observation. I do not believe that the case you
mention is one of the rare exceptions to its truth, or that
it affords a parallel in a single point to that of Chilling-
worth. But I have not the slightest personal acquaintance
Avith him, and am therefore totally unable to say whether
any, and what, ' social and religious influences could be
brought to bear upon his mind.' But, judging from general
principles of human nature, I should say that no time
could be chosen for an attempt to reconvert him more
unpromising than just after he has taken such a step. I
do not know whether you mean to suggest a public con
troversy as an expedient for this purpose. I confess that
I should very much deprecate such an attempt, as both
useless and undignified. I was not aware that 'public
discussions and challenges' had ever produced the effects
you ascribe to them. Indeed I cannot say that I ever yet
heard of their having changed the opinions of any who
took part in them, as either speakers or listeners.
" I am very sorry that Rome should have made a con
vert, who, if he chose, could raise an army for the Pope,
stud the whole island with cathedrals and convents, and
carry on a vast system of propagandism among the lower
classes. But it stUl remains to be seen whether he will do
any of these things ; and if he should, I am not sure that
he might not have done more harm to the Church of
England if he had remained within her pale, and had
thrown aU the weight of his wealth and influence into the

EOMISH CONVERTS. 263
scale of the Ritualists. I return the Daily News. The
article on the subject in the Tivies appeared to me more
sensible."

[On the same.] January 15th, 1869.
" I am much obliged to you for the extracts you have
sent. I had not supposed that you meant to credit the
convert with the character of Chillingworth. But I
meant to intimate my belief that it is only for men gifted
Avith such a mind and character that there is any chance
of escape when they have once been taken in the toils of
Romanism. Since I Avrote, I have received Mr. Ffoulkes'
most instructive and valuable letter to Archbishop Man
ning, ' The Church's Creed or the Crown's Creed ? ' He
observes : ' You, and very many more probably, seemed to
have joined the Roman communion, not only pledged never
to find fault with it, but to see with its eyes, hear with its
ears, understand with its understanding, stand or fall by
its judgment.' Mr. Ffoulkes himself was not required, and,
as he says, would not have consented to give this pledge.
And so probably it was with Chillingworth and Arnold.
But I am afraid that their last convert was more than wil
ling so to pledge himself ; as his very object was to let his
mind and conscience go to sleep, without fear of Avaking,
in the lap of an infallible Church. How vain must it be
to invite persons in such a state of mind to enter into or
to listen to a controversial discussion ! Nor do I believe
that theological duels, such as that which was fought some
years ago between Messrs. Pope and Hennessy, ever pro
duce any appreciable effect on the audience. It would
be, I should think, about the last means to which an
intelligent convert to Romanism, who remained open to

264 THIRLWALL AND TRINITY COLLEGE.
conviction, would resort for enlightening his judgment.
In general the result, as I believe, depends entirely on
the state of the mind on which the argument falls. Other
wise, it is the Protestant cause that has- most to hope from
free discussion, in which I believe Romanists never engage
wiUingly, as they find that in nine hundred and ninety-
nine cases out of a thousand their sophism of an infallible
Church, claiming passive obedience and implicit faith,
answers much better. They work most successfuUy under
ground, and dread such a convert as Mr. Ffoulkes."

[In 1867 Bishop Thirlwall was elected an Honorary
FeUow of his old College. He acknowledged this much-
coveted distinction in the following letter to Dr. Thomp
son]: —
To THE Master op Trinity College, Cambridge.
1, Regent Street, 12th June, 1867.
" I accept with very great pleasure and thankfulness
the privUege of an ' Honorary Fellow ' of Trinity College.
A Fellowship of my CoUege was the highest object of my
early ambition, and has been the groundwork- of whatever
success I subsequently obtained.
" But the renewal of my connection Avith the CoUege,
which I owe to the spontaneous judgment of its govern
ing body, is an honour which I prize still more highly, as
indeed the crown of a career which is now drawing near
its close.
" I feel its value to be enhanced by the kind terms in
which you have announced it, for which I beg you to
accept my special thanks."

Galileo's doctrine. 265
[This and the next three letters are on points connected
Avith the interpretation of the Psalms.]
To THE Eev. J. J. Stewart Perowne. Abergwili Palace, May 20th, 1867.
" The latest account I have met with of the proceedings
against Galileo is in an article in the Revue des Deux
Mondes (Nov. 1, 1864), by J. Bertrand, entitled ' Gahlde,
sa vie et sa mission scientifique d'apr^s des recherches
nou velles,' and it probably contains every material fact of
Galileo's history. There is also a ' Life of Galileo,' by
Drinkwater-Bethune, published by the Useful Knowledge
Society, which, however, if I possess it I am not able to find.
But I doubt very much that you would be able anywhere
to verify the statement of Father Sanchez.* It is, indeed,
in itself highly probable, except that there is no reason for
attributing to the argument drawn from Psalm civ. 5 any
pre-eminence over the many others of the like kind which
were opposed to Galileo's doctrine. But we must dis
tinguish between three stages in the history of this
opposition. " First, after the appearance of the ' Dialoghi,' Galileo
was assailed with a shoAver of objections derived from
Scripture. Bertrand gives some samples of these, among
which the two miracles of Joshua and the dial of Ahaz
are the most conspicuous. Next came the proceedings of
a congregation appointed by Urban VIII. to examine the
' Dialoghi,' by which they were condemned. And, finally,
the interrogations to which he was subjected, according to
some with the infliction, but most probably only with the
formal threat, of torture, which extorted his recantation. Ber
trand observes that no minute (covipte rendu) was allowed
to be taken of the examination, so that the truth as to
this can never be ascertained ; but he thinks it most pro-
* [Quoted in my work on the " Psalms," in a note on Psalm civ. 5. — J. J.S.P.]

266 DEAN PEEOWNE's " PSALMS."
bable that the motive of this secrecy was more to conceal
the indulgence (which it might be imprudent to reveal)
than the excessive severity of the holy office. As little, I
believe, have the proceedings of the Congregation — though
they may be preserved in the archives of the Inquisition —
ever been published. It was most likely in some of the
controversial writings called forth by the ' Dialoghi ' that
Sanchez found the argument from the 104th Psalm. But
I need not say that even in Italy these pieces must now be
very rare. There might, however, be an allusion to the
argument in the works of Galileo ; only Bertrand observes
that he made no reply to any of the arguments drawn
from Scripture, only to the (so-caUed) philosophical, which
he treated very roughly. In Ponsard's new play, Galilee,
he defends himself against one objection only —
' Mais a la Bible enfin je ne suis pas contraire ;
Josue se ployait au langage vulgaire."

To THE Eev. J. J. Stewart Perowne. Abergwili Palace, May ith, 1868.
" T have now received your kind present of the second
volume of the Psalms ; and while I thank you for it, must
also congratulate you most heartily on the completion of
so important a work — the first, I believe, that has ever
enabled the Enghsh student to read the Psalms inteUi-
gently as well as devoutly. I hope that it will operate
powerfully in promoting both the cultivation of HebreAV
and a critical study of the Old Testament. It is also a
great satisfaction to refiect that the termination of a task,
Avhich must have occupied so much of your time, leaves
you in possession of leisure which wUl, no doubt, be not
less usefully employed."

PSALM CIV. 4. 267
[On Psalm civ. 4.]
To THE Eev. J. J. Stewart Perowne. Abergwili Palace, August 10th, 1868.
" I always find it profitable to myself to give fresh con
sideration to any difficult question lying within my sphere.
" As to Psalm civ. 4, I do not feel the same difficulty
which you have found in the plural ' ministers.' It seems
to me an example of a common Hebrew taste, which pre
ferred variety to symmetry. I think we have a nearly
parallel case in Micah iv. 13: 'I will make thine horn
iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass." But there is
another difficulty which I have always felt in the way of
that which otherwise I should without hesitation believe to
be the true rendering ; that is, what strikes me as the
harshness of the construction, if the verb is supposed to be
followed immediately not by the object but by the predicate.
It is possible that this difficulty arises only from my igno
rance or forgetfulness, as none of the commentators notice
it. Perhaps you know of parallel passages. I have never
read the Old Testament for the purpose of looking for
such ; but I think, if I had seen any, they would have
struck me. A priori I should have thought it almost
incredible that the language should have been left in such
a state as to make it immaterial as to the sense whether
you wrote, ' Who maketh the clouds his chariot,' or, ' Who
maketh the chariot his clouds,' and that the reader should
have to infer the author's meaning, not from the order of
his words, but from extrinsic considerations such as those
which you have discussed. I cannot help thinking that
more attention should have been paid to this question, and
that it should have taken precedence of every other ; be
cause if in this respect the rule of Hebrew syntax was the
same as our own, the only remaining doubt would be in
what sense we are to understand the words, ' He maketh

268 THE MINISTEY OF ANGELS.
His messengers Avinds, His ministers a flaming fire,' which
would then be the only possible rendering. And in itself
it would give a very good sense as meaning, ' He endows
His messengers with the might of the wind. His ministers
with the all-pervading subtUty of fire ' — or as any one
might paraphrase it better. But it would be only the irre
sistible compulsion of a grammatical necessity that would
induce me to adopt this rendering; because, however
satisfactory in itself it appears to me quite foreign to the
context. The Psalmist is evidently speaking of God's
doings in the visible creation, not of the secret agency by
Avhich He accomphshes his ends. It was therefore very
much to the purpose to say that wind and fire are his
servants and do his pleasure ; but not at all to say that
He has unseen servants who act as wind and fire.
" It would also, I think, have been more important to
inquire whether such an idea of the ministry of angels was
familiar to the Hebrew mind, than to show that it had been
accepted by a modern writer, and by such a writer ! You
Avould not, I imagine, consider Psalm xviii. 10 as
indicating such a view, as you have not there thought it
necessary to notice the relation in Avhich the ' cherub '
stands to the 'Avings of the wind.' As to the modern
authority, I cannot share your admiration of the passage
you cite from NeAvman any farther than as regards the
expression. In the thought it appears to me only to
illustrate his great inteUectual deficiency, the utter want of
historical tact and judgment, which alone enables one to
believe the sincerity of his professed all-absorbing credulity.
He was in this respect a born Papist, and finds his natural
element in the Golden Legend. The conception that all
the work of the universe, all mechanical, physical, chemical,
and physiological movements, from planetary and sidereal
rotations to the dislocations of the molecules of an atom,
are carried on by the agency of an order of personal beings,

THE AUTHORSHIP OF PSALM CX. 269
is one which my mind utterly rejects, and I believe that no
mind could attempt to realise it without feeling itself in
danger of losing its senses. Surely it is one thing to
believe that all is regulated by a Supreme Will, and quite
another thing to believe that this Will employs a machinery
like that of the " Rape of the Lock." But to sum up, I
am sorry that I have not sufficient materials for a definite
conclusion. But you wUl have seen that I consider the
first and main question to be one of syntax, and until that
is settled by competent judges I can pronounce no
decided opinion on the sense. Until I am satisfied that a
Hebrew writer could have placed his words in an order
which an English translator is forced to invert, if they are
to be understood in a certain sense, I cannot believe that
sense — however otherwise commending itself to my
judgment, as alone consistent with the context — to be
the true one."*

[On the authorship of the 110th Psalm.]
To the Rev. J. J. Stewart Perowne. Abergwili Palace, August Uth, 1868.
" I now proceed to the consideration of your second
question, which is. beset with difficulties, not only more and
greater, but of a far higher order than those raised by the
first. ¦ I feel them so strongly that I shall not venture to
pronounce any dogmatical opinion on the subject. But I
will draw your attention to some aspects of it which you
seem either to have overlooked, or not to view in the same
light as I do.
"I think it will be convenient first to consider the
Psalm by itself just as if no reference had been made to
• [In the last edition of my work on the Psalms, I have shown, by reference
to other passages, that this inversion of order in the Hebrew, which to the
Bishop seemed so unlikely, is actually employed. — J. J. S. P.]

270 THE AUTHORSHIP OF PSALM CX.
it in the New Testament, and then to see how our con
clusions about it must be modified by our Lords' language.
" 1. I think there can be no doubt that whoever was
the author, it must be considered as a Messianic Psalm —
a picture of a state of things which had not been fully
realised, either in the literal or the spiritual sense, before
the coming of Christ. This character of the Psalm, as
manifested by its contents, would not be more strongly
marked if it is considered as the work of David, and the
only question is whether, without some special revelation
beyond what would have been required for any other
author, he could have spoken of the person described in it
as his ' Lord.' I will only say that it does not appear to
me inconceivable, but quite natural, that he should so
style one who ansAvered to the description given of the
future victorious king. Only I am not sure that there is
anything in that description that might not be accounted
for, wdthout any peculiarly distinct consciousness — some
consciousness the writer must have had, whoever he was —
in David's mind, partly by the promises which he had
received (2 Samuel vii.), and partly by traditional expec
tations of the coming Great One.
" 2. Hoav, then, is the case altered by our Lord's reference
to the Psalm ? Here we find ourselves in the presence of
two opposite theories as to our Lord's intellectual state.
According to that which invests Him with the fulness of
divine as well as human knowledge, there is of course no
room for doubt about the authorship of the Psalm. You,
however, seem wiUing to admit that of Neander, Meyer, and
others (amongthe rest Pressens^ "Viede Jesus"), that our
Lord was not habitually conscious of facts such as ' matters
of hterary criticism,' which did not fall Avithin the range
of His human knowledge. But then arises the question
whether even on this theory we are not compelled to sup
pose that He would not have argued as He does with the

THE AUTHORSHIP OF PSALM CX. 271
Pharisees on the Psalm if a certain knowledge of its real
authorship had not been supernaturally infused into Him
for the special occasion. This leads us to inquire what the
argument was. And here it is to be observed that, strictly
speaking, it was no argument at all. Still less was it
an argument proving that the Christ was foreseen by David
to be the Son of God. As far as our Lord's words go, they
are simply questions which might have been put by one
who wished to suggest to the Pharisees that they were
mistaken in believing that David was the author of the
Psalm. Nothing of course could be further than that from
our Lord's intention, though I see from Alford that De
Wette actually thought so. But if He did not take, but
stand on, the same inteUectual level in this respect with
the Pharisees, can it be said that His questions, if David
was not really the author of the Psalm, tended to mislead
them, and, therefore, that this was a case in which, if He
had needed a supernatural revelation of the truth. He must
have received one ? I must own that is not at all clear to
me. But that which most perplexes me is the difficulty I
find in understanding the precise drift of our Lord's ques
tions, or why they should have had the effect of putting
the Pharisees to silence. One would think that they could
have been at no loss for an answer, according to the
current Messianic notions of the day. They knew that
Messiah was to be of the lineage of David. They also
believed that He was to be a greater than David, though
the precise degree of His superiority might be open to
doubt. But this might suffice to remove the appearance
of inconsistency between David's language and his relation
to the expected Messiah. Nor does it appear elsewhere
that the question between our Lord and His opponents
was who and what the Messiah was to be, but whether He
was the Messiah. If the Pharisees had not believed that
the Psalm related to the Messiah, the question would have

272 THE AUTHORSHIP OF PSALM CX.
been futile. The argument, whatever it may have been,
turns upon that quite as much as it does upon David's
authorship ; and though the title of Lord imphed a dignity
higher than David's, it can hardly be said to carry so
much as the sitting on Jehovah's right hand, or even as
the everlasting priesthood. But if so, the aUeged occasion
for a supernatural infusion of superhuman knowledge seems
to lose almost all its importance, as the only result would
be the addition of a title, which could have no such mean
ing except in the mouth of David, but which is thrown
into the shade by other attributes which do not depend on
the supposition of his authorship.
" On the Avhole, the conclusion to which I am led, as far
as the great obscurity and imperfection of the data permits
me to draw any, is that we are left very much in the same
position with regard to the Psalm as if our Lord had not
asked the questions about it, and that though we may be
at liberty we are not ' compelled ' to attach any greater
weight to it than it would have if it was not written by
David. All that ' falls to the ground ' in our Lord's argu
ment, is a particular which does not seem to have any bear
ing upon doctrine, and to be indeed immaterial.
" It may be that I haA'e overlooked some essential point.
If so I hope you will have the goodness to set me right."

[The next three letters form part of a correspondence
which arose out of a Charge delivered by Bishop Ewing in
1866 on "Materialism in Christianity." The Charge and
the correspondence, which included letters from Mr. Erskine
of Linlathen, and Dr. J. MacLeod Campbell, are printed at
length under the title of " The Relation of Knowledge to
Salvation" in "Present-Day Papers," Third Series.]

THE RELATION OF KNOWLEDGE TO SALVATION. 273
To THE Bishop of Argyle and the Isles.
Abergwili Palace, July 15th, 1867.
" I found your letter to the Primus on my return 
" As I am not acquainted with your Primus, I cannot form
any opinion as to the impression your letter is likely to
make on him ; but am rather inclined to doubt whether it
will improve your position in his view. But at least it
seems to me to contain nothing which you have not a
perfect right to say. So, however, I thought as to your
Charge, and it may be that he will be as little satisfied with
your vindication or explanation as with that which was to
be vindicated or explained. But I think I am bound to
say a word or two on the P.S. which is intended in part to
meet an objection raised by myself I feel sure that on
the subject of the knowledge of God in its bearing on
Salvation we are at bottom quite agreed. But I cannot
help wishing that you had e.'cpressed yourself a little more
clearly and precisely. To say that ' Salvation consists in
the knowledge of God ' is evidently an unsatisfactory
way of speaking, as it requires an explanation, but it is
not more obscure than the phrase 'to be in the Spirit
of God.' Your statement that 'Salvation' is the 'pro
duct of knowledge,' or that knowledge is the means of
Salvation, does not seem to me to be at all supported
by the words of our Lord. Those Avords do not seem
to me to say anything about the means of Salvation, but
about Salvation itself or ' life eternal,' which is described
as a ' knowing.' But it is no more possible that this
'knowing' should be a merely intellectual process, than
that the ' life eternal ' should be a mere endless being.
For if so, both would be something common to angels and
devils. It must be something more than knowledge, viz.
a loving adoring knowledge, of which only good spirits are
capable, not one which creates fear and torment. Unfor-
T

274 JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH.
tunately our word to ' knoAV ' does not suggest the idea as
do both the HebreAV ' yada' and the Greek yiyvwcrKw
(which makes the jvwtoI re yvuirai re of Homer * equivalent
to ' nearest and dearest '). It is in this sense that God
says of Israel (Amos iii. 2), ' You only have I known of all
the families of the earth,' not meaning to limit his
omniscience, but to express his tender care. And in a like
sense, Nahum i. 7, ' The Lord knoweth them that
trust in him.' This knowledge is the iTrLjvuxnf of St.
Paul (Ephesians iv. 13, and 1 Corinthians xiii. 19).
Not I apprehend a ineans or a stage, but the consummation,
the beatific vision itself I would therefore rather say
that salvation or eternal life consists in the love of God,
because this implies some degree of knowledge, whereas
knowledge does not imply any degree of love (1 Corinth
ians xiii. 12).
" I do not think you are warranted in so contrasting
the ' holding justification by Faith alone ' with the tenet
' that we are saved by instrumentality acting apart from
the intelligence.' I should myself be equally loth to adopt
either tenet in its naked literality, because both are equally
Antlnomian. Properly explained, the first may be a very
sound and wholesome doctrine. But is it certain that
either any church or any school would admit your
statement of the second to be a fair description of its
views ? If the sacraments are means of grace, it cannot be
denied that they are in their measure and degree means of
salvation, and this would be perfectly consistent with the
doctrine of justification by faith rightly understood. The
measure and degree may be exaggerated by one party ;
unduly lowered by another ; but this is not sufficient to
establish a contrast between the things themselves.
" Another pouit on which I am quite unable to agree
with you is your view of Scripture as realising the
' lUad, XV. 350.

THE RELATION OF KNOWLEDGE TO SALVATION. 275
promise of the Holy Spirit. That in this promise our
Lord had writings of any kind in his view appears to me
utterly uncredible in itself as Avell as destitute of all
evidence, if not absolutely inconsistent Avith the language of
St. Paul (1 Corinthians xii. 4 foil, and Ephesians iv. 4 ff.)
The peculiar value of the Ncav Testament, as the only
trustworthy record of the original revelation, does not
appear to me either to need or to be enhanced by such a
hypothesis. Indeed I hardly understand how you recon
cile it with the gift of the Spirit at a time Avhen not a
line of the New Testament was written.
" I am forced to break off, and wiU only beg you to
excuse the haste with Avhich I have been forced to Avrite,
and to inform me hoAV to direct the proof"

To THE Bishop op Argyle and the Isles. July 29th, 1867.
" I am much obliged to you for the sight of the enclosed
paper. I am not sure in what Avay it was meant to bear
on my remarks in my letter to you. But it contains some
propositions which, if I understand them, I could not
adopt. I have not noAV leisure to discuss them, but will
A'ery briefly notice one or two. It is very true, as a
matter of fact, that gratitude enters very largely as an
ingredient in our love tOAvards God : as it does in that of
children to their parents. But this I consider as a mark
of imperfection, of moral and intellectual childishness and
selfishness. Mr. Erskine seems on the contrary to treat it
as not merely the natural but the normal state of things :
to identify love with gratitude, and to make the benefits,
which we either have received or expect from God, the
measure of His ' love Avorthiness,' as if His rightful claim to
our love depended upon them ; which Avould appear to
T 2

276 THE RELATION OF KNOWLEDGE TO SALVATION.
degrade Him into a property or an instrument to be valued
in proportion to its usefulness. I am loth to attribute such
an opinion to any one, but if the meaning is not this, I
think it should have been differently expressed ; and, after
a repeated perusal, I can find no other which seems to me
in accordance with the general drift of the paper. The
interpretation of our Lord's words in Matthew xi. 28
seems to me quite inadmissible, even in the application
proposed by Olshausen to the Cross, much more in the
sense that our Lord spoke of His own filial obedience as a
yoke and a burden. He was speaking to those who were
' heavy laden,' and inviting them into a state in which, if
they would ' learn of Him,' and in proportion as they did
so, they would ' find rest to their souls.' It is, as I
apprehend, not the exchange of one yoke or burden for
another that is meant, but a training which leads to
perfect rest and liberty — that which Christ himself already
enjoyed. " You seem to have added at the end some words of
your OAvn for the purpose of connecting the concluding
proposition with your OAvn statements as to the necessity of
knoAvledge. And undoubtedly in eveiy act of faith, in
every religious act, there must always be two elements,
a thought and a feeling. Without the one it would not
be properly an act ; without the other it would not be
religious. It seemed to me that, while insisting on one of
these factors, you had neglected the other."

To the Bishop of Argyle and the Isles. September ith, 1867.
" Even without the privilege of a personal acquaintance
with Mr. Erskine, I feel, in reading his remarks, that I
cannot differ from him on such a subject without distrust-

THE RELATION OF KNOWLEDGE TO SALVATION. 277
ing my own judgment, and must hope that there may be
only the seeming of a difference, arising from a misunder
standing. I think I observed in my last letter that I did
not clearly see the bearing of Mr. Erskine's first Paper on
the subject of my criticism of your Charge, and I am now
under the disadvantage of writing without the means of
referring either to my own remarks or to his. It may be
OAving to this that I do not see why he lays so much stress
on ' the necessity of having something to awaken an emo
tion.' Am I supposed to have denied that ? What I might
have said, though I am not aAvare that I did so, is, that
there may be emotion (certainly not without a cause, but)
either absolutely without or with a minimum of conscious
ness. Such, I would say, is the state of the infant on its
mother's breast. Again, I had certainly not suspected that
fear would have served Mr. Erskine's purpose of illustra
tion as well as gratitude. No doubt, if you fear, it must
be somebody or something ; and if. you are grateful, it
must be to somebody for something. But have I directly
or indirectly denied that ? Otherwise the difference be
tween fear, the most purely selfish, painful, and loveless of
instincts, and gratitude, is so great, that the little they
have in common would seem immaterial. But when Mr. E.
adds, ' I conceive that gratitude must remain a permanent
element in our normal spiritual condition,' Ave come to a
point at which our views certainly diverge. All that I can
do is to endeavour briefiy to explain my OAvn. The love
of the infant for its mother is at first purely instinctive.
That of the child may be continually strengthened by the
experience of kindness before the aAvakening of refiection,
still more before the actual forming of any judgment on
the character of its object. But it may happen, and I
suppose often happens, that, as the intelligence expands
and knowledge is enlarged, the child makes the painful
discovery that the person whom it most tenderly loves is

278 THE RELATION OF KNOWLEDGE TO SALVATION.
not loveworthy. The gratitude which it does not cease to
feel is not accompanied by approbation or respect. It
remains only as a selfish, irrational instinct. With regard
to God, the case is exactly the reverse. The more we
discover of His nature, the more we must find Him
Avorthy of our love ; and the perception of His loveworthi-
ness must tend to swallow up our sense of benefits received
from him. The contemplation of this glorious object must,
in its supreme degree, absorb all reflection on self and
just on this account it is ecstasy, rapture, the perfection of
bliss. It is a state of admiring love. And I do not see
hoAV the sense of gratitude, which implies reflection on self
could add anything to its felicity. It Avould, I think, be a
descent to a loAver stage of spiritual hfe. And yet such a
state of ecstasy does not imply any illusion. The relation
of the creature to the Creator, of course, must always
remain the same, and may be implicitly acknowledged
though it is not distinctly present to the mind. So far as
there is consciousness, there must be a consciousness of
dependence and a sense of gratitude. But I conceive that
the supreme happiness is so far from depending on the
distinctness of that consciousness, that ultimately — as
mathematicians would say, at the limit — it excludes such
distinctness. This may seem to be at direct variance Avith
the proposition that our normal (if by that is meant our
highest spiritual) condition must be imperfect without grati
tude. But it may be that the nature of a creature is incapable
of such contemplation beyond certain limits of time, and
that its highest permanent condition is one which fluctuates
between ecstasy and reflection. Only I Avould still say
that ecstasy is the crest of the wave. Also, I am aware
that this is a mystical speculation, relating solely to a
heavenly state, and that as long as we continue upon earth
the sense of creaturely dependence avUI be indispensable
for our safety, and relatively to our earthly condition an

THE PAN-ANGLICAN CONFERENCE. 279
essential element in our happiness. I cannot assent to
Mr. Erskine's interpretations of Scripture in the passages
he cites, but I am persuaded that his doctrine does not at
all depend upon their correctness. On looking again at
the Paper, I cannot help thinking that there has been
some confusion in Mr E.'s mind betAveen the objective and
the subjective, which is betrayed by his iUustration of the
branch. The creaturely relation is necessary and eternal :
but the consciousness of it may be suspended or even
cease altogether."

[The next four letters refer to the Pan- Anglican Con
ference of 1867, in which Bishop Thirhvall played an
important part. He addressed a strong remonstrance to
the Archbishop against the Assembly,'" and his " weighty
appeal " during the meeting Avent far to ward off mischievous
action. The Conference was summoned by Archbishop
Longley at the suggestion of the Canadian Church. Its
" objects were undefined," but there Avas an understood
feeling, Avhich found vent before the proceedings were
over, that the real business Avas to procure the formal con
demnation of the Bishop of Natal. The practical outcome
of the Conference was a Pastoral, signed by all the
assembled prelates, and a series of thirteen resolutions.
Two of these had reference to the vexed question of the
Bishopric of Natal. An informal condemnation of Bishop
Colenso was signed by fifty-six Bishops after the close of
the Conference. A good account of the Avhole proceedings
is to be found in Bishop Ewing's " Life," chap, xxviu.]
* Reprinted in the "Eemains," vol. iii. p. 415.

280 THE PAN-ANGLICAN CONFEEENCE.
To THE Bishop of Argyle and the Isles.
Abergwili Palace, September 18th, 1867.
" I expect to have the pleasure of meeting you at Fulham
next Aveek. I do not know how it is that it was so generally
supposed that I had declined attending the meeting, whereas
I had expressly declared my intention to attend it unless
prevented by a contingency which has not occurred, and
Avhich is avowedly excluded by the programme of the
proceedings ; Avhich is so far from embodying Archdeacon
Denison's views and wishes that, as you will have seen, he
is getting up a protest against it. But though I think
myself bound to comply Avith the Archbishop's summons,
I go with the melancholy conviction that I shall be, in the
French sense, assisting at a proceeding which can hardly
fail to be either, from its nullity, ignominious or posi
tively disastrous to the Anglican Church — as it would be
if it should be found to be beyond the Archbishop's power
to exclude that which Denison and manj' others consider
as the proper business of the meeting. I read with pain
the refiections of the Times, the Spectator, and the Pall
Mall Gazette on the programme, because, as far as regards
the policy of convoking such a meeting for such a purpose,
they seem to me unansAverable. And one thing that
strikes me as very remarkable is that, with regard to the
calling of the meeting, the Archbishop appears to have
relied entirely on the ' guidance of the Holy Ghost,' but
referred the agenda to a committee, in which I see with
surprise the names of the Bishops of London, Llandaff,
Lincoln, Ely, and Chester. The responsibility incurred by
those who recommended such a programme is, to my
mind, awfril and dreadful. My only consolation is that no
one can charge me with any share of responsibility, either
Avith regard to the holding of the meeting or the business
to be transacted in it. As the time draws nearer it seems

THE LAMBETH PASTORAL. 281
more and more clear that it must go to wreck on one of
the alternatives which I pointed out in my letter to the
Archbishop — futility, or mischievous activity ; and I hardly
see a remark in the papers which appears to me a great
objection which I had not in substance forestalled. How
truly should I rejoice if my forebodings should, in some
way to me utterly inconceivable, be belied by the result ?
Possibly some new light may break in upon me at Fulham
before the meeting. It is very unfortunate that just now I
find myself suffering under one of my frequent attacks of
deafness, which, if it should last through next week, would
render the meeting to me little better than a dumb show."

To THE Bishop or Argyle and the Isles.
Abergwili Palace, November 6th, 1867.
" I enclose Mr. Erskine's letter. The question is one
on which we must wait content with our several portions
of truth for the fuller light of a future state.
" Considering the nature of the document, I think wo
were justified in signing the Lambeth Pastoral, though it
contained several expressions which were perversely ill-
chosen. 'The wrath of God' can only be understood
(consistently with our definition of his nature) as a figura
tive expression signifying a state of relations, in which
consists all the misery of man, with Avhom alone the fault
rests. " My letter to the Bishop of Cape ToAvn was a reply to
one from him on the remarks which I made in my Charge
on his 'trial' of Bishop Colenso.* As I find I have a
duplicate I send it by this post, though as it has nothing
* " Remains,'' vol. ii. p. 143.

282 THE LAMBETH PASTORAL.
to do with the Conference there is little to interest you
m it.

To THE Bishop of Argyle and the Isles. April 20th, 1868.
" I not only thank you but am very thankful for your
paper on the Encyclical — that is, not only for the pre
sent or loan, but for the contents. You have not said a
word too much in praise of the Bishop of London (Tait),
or at all exaggerated the importance of the part which he
took in the discussions at Lambeth. His position gave a
weight to his opinions which could not belong to those of
any other bishop present, and he availed himself of it
Avith a moral courage combined with good temper which
Avas truly admirable. When I consider the unspeakable
value of his services to the Church, especially at this
juncture, Avhich is likely to become more and more
critical, I feel deep anxiety that so gracious a life may not
be endangered by excess of labour and self-sacrifice.
" Now a Avord on your paper. I agree with you entirely
as to the dogmatical grounds of your objection to the
phrase that ' Christ died for us to reconcile his Father to
us.' But I think you do the Encylical too much honour
Avhen you treat it as if it was an exposition of doctrine
and not simply a pastoral exhortation, which allows and
even requires a much greater latitude of expression. The
form of the document Avas adapted to the purpose for
which it appears to have been framed, i.e. to seem to say
as much Avhile saying as little as possible — maximum of
sound and show, Avith minimum of tangible substance. In
the obnoxious phrase which, no doubt, inverts the true
idea of reconciliation, I believe that the author merelj'
adopted the common AA'ay of speaking Avithout refiection.

THE LAMBETH PASTORAL. 283
I recollect that some years ago, having in a Christmas
sermon preached at Carmarthen dwelt on the love of the
Father, manifested in the sending of the Son, I soon after
received an anonymous letter expostulating Avith me on
the new and shocking doctrine that I had broached. But
I think it would be hard to convict the Encyclical of
heresy on this ground. And that not only because the
identical expression occurs in our second article, but
because it seems to be fully borne out by the language
of Scripture. If you do not scruple to say with St. Paul
(and the Catechism) that all are by nature ' children of
Avrath,' that ' wrath of God ' whicli ' cometh on the chil
dren of disobedience,' why should you hesitate to say that
the work of Christ whereby we become ' children of grace '
may with equal propriety be described as reconciling us to
God, or to be reconciling God to us ? Such language may
seem to be open to the objection that it implies ' a change
upon the nature of God ' wrought by the work of Christ.
But this is an unavoidable effect of human infirmity. We
cannot conceive a transition from a state of ' wrath ' to a
state of ' grace ' in ourselves, without a corresponding
change — not, indeed, ' upon the nature,' but upon the
mind of God. We are, or ought to be, aware Avhen we
use such phrases that we are speaking of God's humanity,
and not, in logical accordance with the description of the
first article, as of a Being Avithout ' passions.' Tried by
that test the Bible Avould be full of heresy from one end
to the other. The Encyclical attributes no changeableness
to God which is not implied in the words of the Baptist
(John iii. 36.) It is true that St. Paul, in the same con
text in which he speaks of men as ' children of wrath '
(Ephesians ii. 3), speaks of God as ' rich in mercy,' and as
' loving us even when we were dead in sins.' To show
that not only there is no inconsistency between those
seemingly contradictory statements, but that the one

284 THE IRISH CHURCH.
involves the other — love of good being inconceivable to
us without hatred of evil — belongs to a sermon or a
treatise not to a Pastoral, which may assume the concilia
tion, and use either of the scriptural phrases at pleasure.
I am particularly thankful for your concluding pages on
the authority of the Conference and the relative positions
of the two African Bishops. I am very sorry that this
Avas not made public.
" Nothing, I believe, can save the Irish Church as an
establishment. The question whether it is to be ' dis
established ' may be considered irrevocably decided. But
the question hoiu it is to be disestablished remains, and
Blakesley (the Hertfordshire incumbent), in a letter to the
Times of Wednesday, the 15th inst., has shown, I think
conclusively, that it is one of enormous difficulty, unless
the Irish Anglican communion is to be left in a state of
hopeless anarchy, which Gladstone at least does not
intend. But the knot is one which it will task his states
manship to the utmost to untie. The excitement which
prevailed in London Avhen I left was such as I had
never seen since the first Reform Act. I hope when you
go to London, if not sooner, you will fall in with the
' Memoirs of Baron Bunsen,' which have just come out. I
do not knoAV Avhether you were at all acquainted with that
admirable man. If not you cannot imagine the interest
Avhich the book has for those whose privilege it was to
know him intimately, as I did, for half a century. But
in much of his correspondence, especially his letters to
Arnold, there is a great deal that hears on the present
state of the Church and on questions of the day. We
Avant some one like him, standing aloof from all party
strife, yet with the deepest interest in the subject, and
taking a comprehensive survey of the whole field and of
all the movements that are taking place in it, to give us a
word of timely warning and guidance."

BISHOP EWING AND THE PASTOEAL. 285
To the Bishop op Argyle and the Isles. April 27th, 1868.
" I am much obliged to you for the sight of Mr. Camp
bell's letter,* which I return. You have certainly nothing
to reproach yourself with as to the signing of the Encyclical,
as you were, I believe, the only Bishop who made any
objection to it. On the other hand, I was one who con
tributed to silence your scruples, which I remember you
communicated to me. I thought the phrase which offended
allowable, though ill-chosen, and I am glad to find that
Mr. Campbell's letter appears to confirm my opinion.
" I believe with you that the ' stream of tendency ' is
against the Established Churches, and will, sooner or later,
sweep them all away. Whether the Church of England
Avill gain or lose by that event must depend mainly on the
constitution of the disestablished Church. But the more
immediately pressing question seems to me to be Avhether,
before it is touched from without, the Church must not
fall to pieces, rent by internal divisions. This Avould be
the worst catastrophe of all, and our ' unions ' and ' asso
ciations ' seem to be doing all they can to bring it about."

[On the Talmud, &c.]
To the Rev. H. D. M. Spence. 1, Regent Street, November 25th, 1867.
" When I received your letter I was on the point of
writing to you, and on the very same topics 
" On Wednesday, the 11th of December, I have to set
out for the opening of a church between Brecon and Crick-
howell the foUoAving day 
* " Present-day Papers," Third Series, " Eeconciliation."

286 THE TALMUD.
" I was going to speak about that article on the Talmud
in the Quarterly. I brought up the fourth edition Avith
me, and also that of Albert Rd ville, and yesterday read
both. Do you knoAV I AA'as a little disappointed Avith the
. Quarterly Talmud ? It seemed to me to be disagreeably
pretentious in tone and deficient in lucidity of exposition.
But the great question is, whether it does or does not con
vey an untrue or highly exaggerated notion of the value
and character of the Talmud. I must own that I strongly
suspect it does, and that, so far as it contradicts the com
monly prevailing opinion of Rabbinical lore, it misleads. I
suspect that the really good things in the Talmud are
scattered over a mass of worthless trifling, curious, it may
be, but serving no better purpose than amusement. One
can easily imagine that, if this is the case, the gems would
sparkle the more brightly for the rubbish in which they
are embedded. It is true that in so vast a compilation
you cannot safely draw any conclusion from particular
examples as to the spirit and character of the whole. But
it is at least an evil sign that it should be possible for any
of the writers to represent the Lord as devoting a portion
of each day to the study of the LaAV, and as refreshing
himself by playing Avith Leviathan. This impression of
mine Avas confirmed by the article of Albert Reville, and
also by a letter of ' H. J. R. ' (Rose) in the last Guardian.
Rose has, I knoAV, been a student of Rabbinical literature
for forty or fifty years, and I believe his estimate to be
the more correct. I should think it very likely that a
, whole encyclopedia of science might be called into play to
iUustrate the aUusions to various branches of knowledge
contained in the Talmud. But it would not foUow — as
the writer in the Quarterly seems to suppose — that those
aUusions add a single particle to our stock of real know
ledge, oftener perhaps they may only iUustrate the weak
ness or obliquity of the author's intellect.

THE TALMUD. 287
" The New Testament shows how far those Avho in our
Lord's day sat in Moses' seat had corrupted the interpreta
tions of the Old Testament, much as the Popish doctors
have that of the Ncav. And the course of historical events
after the fall of Jerusalem tended constantly to intensify
all the causes of that corruption.
" Still I quite understand how desirable it must be for
every Hebraist to make himself master of the key which
Avill open the Talmud to his researches. But I do not
think that any one would do wisely or rightly to devote a
large portion of his time — and I suppose a whole life would
hardly suffice for more than a partial acquaintance with it
— to the study of the Talmud Avithout some clearly defined
practical object. I apprehend that if the Talmud is ever
to be thrown open to readers who cannot consult the
original text, it must be by the conjoint labours of an
association formed for the purpose. But a private, desul
tory, rambling through the immense labyrinth, without
mark or limit, Avould seem to me an unjustifiable waste of
time and strength.
" I am not surprised that you should chafe under the
necessity which confines you to what most men would
consider as very ample occupation. But, my dear Spence,
ought you not rather to be thankful if your power of con
tinuous application has not been permanently impaired
by immoderate exertion, and to begin to reckon and see
whether the whole amount of your work is the greater or
the less for your having done so much at once, instead of
distributing it over a longer period ? I take in no French
Review but the Deux Mondes, and can hardly accommodate
that, consequently I have no chance of seeing any other
except at the Athenaeum. Last night I looked there for
the Revue Nationale, but in vain. I think you must have
meant Revue Moderne. If not, it is curious that this
seems exactly to ansAver to your description. There is

288 very free speaking in the last number, particularly in an
article on the ' Politique du Grand Livre.' I also observed
that it seems to be an organ of Orleanist opinions. For
the author of the first article is Auguste Laugel, who is
somehow strangely identified with the Due d'Aumale. The
Due (you perhaps remember) published an article on the
' Constitution of the French Army ' (first in the Revue des
Deux Mondes, then separately), under the signature of
Auguste Laugel. And yet Auguste Laugel has an inde
pendent and very conspicuous existence as a scientific
writer ; and, moreover, was enumerated among the guests
of the Due d'Aumale who met the Prince of Wales the
other day at the Due's country seat. I have only reached
the end of Vol. I. of 'Auf der Hohe,' and consequently
am not yet able to judge of its merit as a whole, which
will mainly depend on the third volume, in which so
many German (and Danish) novelists fail after the most
promising beginnings. I liked almost all very much, only
toward the end of the volume I found a few chapters
rather too German or subjective for my taste. But the
delicate haze suffused over the whole forms a most amus
ing contrast to the hard, realistic Dutch painting of my
other novel, in which I am still only at the third volume.
" I do not wish you to give up the study of the Law ;
but pray take care to have at the same time a good game
of play with Leviathan."

[On the Ritual Commission.]
To the Rev. H. D. M. Spence. 1, Regent Street, February Sth, 1868.
" . . . . My Horse Subsecivee here are very few and
short. You do not know what a mass of reading is imposed
on me as a member of the Ritual Commission. As such I

THE RITUAL COMMISSION. 289
receive a shorthand writer's report of -every syUable that
has been said in the Mackonochie case. At present,
indeed, it extends to only twelve days, but perhaps you
can conceive that the stream of Avords which may flow in
that time from a set of voluble lawyers must cover a con
siderable volume of paper. And the privilege of receiving
of course involves the duty of reading, as the subject is
intimately connected with the business of the commission.
The verbiage is of course oceanic, as the nonsense of the
Talmud, but must be waded through, which the other
happily need not. I do not, however, say that I am not
a good deal amused by the forensic digladiation, and shall
certainly read the judgment, which is to disentangle the
truth (if there be any on either side) from the mass of
sophistry, with some interest. But this, coming among so
many other things, will prevent me from forming an
acquaintance with Spielhagen for some time to come ; and
I imagine from what you said that even if ever I had an
afternoon to spare — AA'hich I never have — that would not
carry me a great way through him. In the short intervals
which I can catch I am now reading a book which I can
recommend to every lover of history, ' Lanfrey's Histoire
de Napoleon I.' It is, I believe, the first trustworthy
history of the man that has yet been written ; and, indeed,
it has only been since the pubhcation of materials which
have been brought to light within a few years that such a
history could have been written, even by one whose aim
was truth, and not, like Thiers, falsehood. His romance
will henceforth be properly appreciated. There are at
present only two 12mo vols, of Lanfrey's, going down to
the Peace of Amiens. As it shivers the idol of the Inva-
lides to pieces, it will not be without its effect on the for
tunes of the dynasty. I have no doubt that the nephew
would gladly have bought it up for many times as much as
Thiers got for his apocryphal legend."u

290 EISHOP MACEORIE.

To Mrs. Thirlwall. 1, Regent Street, February Uth, 1868.
" I was very glad to receive your kind letter, which was
forAvarded to me from Abergwili. I left the country on
the 21st of January, for the purpose of attending the
meetings of the Royal Commission on Ritual, of which I
am a member. It has been sitting only twice a week, on
two successive days, but I could not afford to spend two
of the remaining days on the road for the sake of three at
home, and have therefore remained here without interrup
tion 
" I think I did see that letter of Mr. Macrorie you speak
of He must be a man of great resolution to undertake
such a charge, which I should imagine nothing but a strong
sense of duty could render tolerable. Still I cannot help
sharing the doubt which is felt by many as to the expe
diency of sending him out in such a character. The Church
of Natal is certainly in a very unhappy state, but the pro
posed remedy may be worse than the disease. The object
assigned is the removal of scandal. But I must own I see
much more clearly how the scandal is likely to be increased
by the spectacle of two rival Bishops, professing to belong
to the same communion, than how it can be lessened by
such means. That this measure Avill tend to heal the
present breach and restore peace I have never seen pre
tended by any even of its warmest advocates. My fear is
that it will not only inflame but perpetuate discord, and
that the members, of our Church in the colony may never
again be united under one Bishop. This is, indeed, as you
say, a very stirring time — in fact, a crisis big with change,
the nature and extent of which no human mind can fore
see, and in which there is certainly ground for much
uneasiness. The radical measure brought in by the Con
servative party, in a way which has shaken the confidence

ASPECT OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS. 291
of the country in the principles of its leading public men,
cannot but excite very grave apprehensions when it is
considered as virtually placing the Government in the
hands of the class to which the Trade Unionists belong,
though it may be hoped that their detestable principles do
not pervade the whole. The prospect is further clouded
by Fenian conspiracy, the American grudge, the Abyssinian
adventure in which we are setting elephants to hunt down
a wild cat, and, closer at hand, what the wicked but often
truth-telling Times calls, only too appropriately, the ' Out
rage Epidemic,' in which, when Mr. Speke mysteriously
disappears,* not only numbers of similar stories come to
light, but it seems as if you could hardly walk about any
of the less frequented parts of London without like danger.
But though we cannot and ought not to shut our eyes to
our real position, we must leave the event to the counsels
of Providence 
" Within the last few months some of my oldest friends
and schoolfellows,! but younger and seemingly stronger
men than myself have been taken away. I only Avish to
remain as long as I am of any use to any, and do not at
all know hoAV long that may be  "

To Mrs. Bayne. Abergwili Palace, June 17th, 1868.
"... . You, being a thoroughbred city mouse, will smile
when I talk of the gaieties ofthe season in the country ; but
I must tell you that this week I have had, and am having,
a succession of large parties of haymakers. There is only
one gentleman among them, and he is a horse, who, when
* The Rev. B. Speke's disappearance, just recently brought to mind again
in consequence of his distressing death, turned out to be the result of mental
aberration. f Lord Justice Turner, &c.
u 2

292 HAYMAKING.
they have laid all flat, goes about with a system of hay
rakes behind him to toss it about and accelerate its
maturity. This is the most critical and anxious time of
the year for owners of meadows, but to me, when the
weather is propitious, the most delightful. The present
haymaking is in both respects very remarkable. We began
to cut last Monday under a very gloomy sky ; and as we
had had some three weeks of uninterrupted fine weather,
I resigned myself to what seemed the certainty that a
change was at hand which AA'ould ruin my crop. Yet not
a drop of rain has yet fallen, and yesterday afternoon the
douds broke again, and the evening was one of perfect
beauty. The scene was one which I am sure was never
surpassed at any opera : in the foreground the roses,
rhododendrons, and the like, over which you look to the
field spread with little haycocks (how you will laugh !), and
behind the masses of foliage a verdure which I never saw
richer, softer, lovelier, than this year. And this near sun
set was lighted up by a parting gleam of quite magical
radiance. I am serious when I assure you that I do not
believe it was ever surpassed by the Bengal lights of the
most splendid transformation scene, or by the stage effects
in the Huguenots or Faust, or wherever else it is that
Londoners see the beauties of nature in the highest per
fection. " You will no doubt have the advantage over me in
hearing the Spanish Gipsy read by Mrs. Stirling. I have
the book, and should have been in it now, if I had not
postponed it to Morris's 'Earthly Paradise.' He is the
author of the ' Life and Death of Jason.' That was ex
quisite poetry, and yet I think this is even more delicious.
It comes out quite as a godsend when I can take it out on
the grass and read it, while the haymakers are at work,
and the dear horse pacing up and down, quite unconscious
of the help he is giving. The ' Season ' is not complete

THE IRISH CHURCH. 293
Avithout such a reading in harmony with it. I leave off
Avhile all is fair and promising. If the hay should really
be got in without rain it wdl deserve to be kept in bottles,
labelled 'Hay of 1868.'"

[On the Irish Church.]
To Lord Arthur Hervey. Abergwili Palace, June 18th, 1868.
" I have to thank you for your kind present of your
Charge, and I know you will not take it amiss if I make
one remark on it which may not be quite in harmony with
your view of the subject. I do not think you have ex
aggerated, or indeed easily could exaggerate, the gloomy
and threatening aspect of Church matters. And I quite
admit that the Church of England cannot, in her own
interest, be indifferent to any danger that threatens her
Irish sister. Nor can any one desire more heartily than I
do to see the Irish branch of the Church able to cope suc
cessfully with the Roman adversary, and to assume an
attitude of peaceful spiritual aggression. But that her
present position is the most favourable to this object seems
hardly to be maintained by her warmest advocates. This
leads me to the remark I wish to make on the view you
take of the present controversy. Whether the fact
that the Irish Church has become ' the rallying cry of
a party,' is due exclusively to the cause to which you
ascribe it, and not in any degree to the march of events,
raising all Irish questions into extraordinar}^ prominence
in the public mind on the one hand, and on the other to
the incapacity of the Government to deal with them ;
this is a point on which, of course, people will hold different
opinions, generally according to their political bias. But
it seems to me that, if the case is as you represent it, it

294 THE IRISH CHURCH.
suggests the question, how it has happened that the Irish
Church could be used as a party rallying cry when no
other institution or interest in Church or State was found
available for such a purpose ? Does any one beheve that
if the Irish Church had not existed the anomalies of the
Church of England in Wales — considerable, and in one
respect similar to the Irish, as they are — would have
served the same purpose ? Bright's speech at Liverpool
shows, I think, that they neither would nor could. But if
so, can it be rightly considered as merely an unlucky acci
dent, arising out of party strife, that the Church of Ireland
is now threatened ? Does it not rather appear that this
was the inevitable result of a precarious, because radically
false, position, and that the only effect of the extraordinary
conjunction of foreign and domestic politics, to which on
a superficial view it might seem to be owing, has been to
hasten the events by a few years ? If so, is it not best to
look the past in the face ? "

[On the same.]
To Lord Arthur Hervey. Abergwili Palace, June 26th, 1868.
" Your argument would appear to me irresistible if I
could admit your premisses ; but the proof that these are
in the last degree precarious and questionable, hes in the
fact that they have been actually debated over and over
again both in and out of Parhament. No doubt the oppo
sition to the Irish Church includes all those who are
adverse to the principle of establishment, but it does not
in the least follow from that that the principle of estab
Ushment is involved in that opposition. To assert this
would be to assume, in the teeth of patent facts and of
your own more or less express admissions, that there is

THE IRISH CHURCH. 295
nothing peculiar in the character of the Irish Church to
distinguish it from other establishments. In the presence
of those admissions, the statement that ' no wrong or in
justice is done to any one by the continuance of the Irish
Establishment,' implies the proposition that a ' sentimental
grievance ' is not a real grievance, still less the worst of all
grievances, but one which may be rightly and safely
ignored. " When you take the ground that ' Avisdom ' requires
that the Irish Church should be maintained, notwithstand
ing its anomalous position, for the security of the English
Church, you tacitly assume two things — 1st. That the
Irish Church is actually a bulwark and a source of strength,
not a burden and a weakness, to the Church of England,
and more particularly that its continuance places the
Liberation Society under a disadvantage in their appeals
to public feelings, a proposition which seems to me
paradoxical ; and 2nd. That Ireland may be ' wisely '
treated, like the Papal territory, as existing only for the
sake of .England, and its ecclesiastical Establishment for
the sake of a kindred English institution. What is this but
to say that Ireland shall to the end of time be governed
by the bayonet ? I do not say it is impossible that such
may be the case whatever we do ; but no statesman
capable of grasping the importance of the subject as an
Imperial question would feel himself at liberty to act on
such a supposition. Among all the topics which have
been urged on the Conservative side none surprise me
more than that of the alleged ' suddenness of conviction ' as
to the disestablishment of the Irish Church in the leader of
the Opposition and his followers. It is so directly opposed
to all my recollections, and to what I had imagined to be
the most patent and notorious facts in recent history. I
cannot recollect the time Avhen there were two opinions
among Liberal politicians as to the Irish Church. I do

296 THE IRISH CHUECH.
not know of any conviction that more generally pervaded
the public mind, before the opening of the present session,
than that the state of Ireland would and must occupy the
attention of Parliament above, if not to the exclusion of
every other question. The disclosure of the policy which
the Government meant to adopt was looked for with the
most anxious expectation. It turned out — as no doubt
might have been foreseen — to be that of the man of
phrases, utterly null. The Opposition took the place
Avhich the Government had abandoned, in the conscious
ness of its incapacity, intellectual as well as political, to
deal with the Irish difficulty. That it should be taunted
with the ' suddenness of its convictions ' appears to me
astonishing. But if the taunt was as just as it appears to
me unfounded, it would be totally irrelevant — an argumen
tum ad hominem, not ad rem. That party feehng should
have had no influence in this case would indeed be a mar
vellous exception to universal experience ; but the fact
cannot in the least affect the merits of this question, any
more than of the others in which this element entered as
largely, without being ever supposed to exclude the opera
tion of great principles. This is an argumentum ad
hoinineon with two edges. No doubt the fate of the
Established Church of England depends on the prevailing
disposition of Parliament, and they again on the prevailing
disposition of the public mind. But whenever it faUs, its
fall will not be owing to a mere party combination in Parlia
ment, but to the prevalence of hostile views out of doors.
That the hostUity wUl be stronger and more dangerous if
the Irish Church should be (in some sense or other, for in
what I do not pretend to know) disestablished, seems to
me, as I have said, a simple paradox. But if the fact
were so, it would be beside the question."

THE lEISH CHURCH. 297
[On the same.]
To Mrs. Thirlwall. Abergwili V h.i.k.c's., February 15th, 1869.
" I am much obliged to you for your kind remembrances
of my birthday, not at all the less because the completion
of another long step down the vale of years does not
appear to me exactly a subject of congratulation, though I
feel how much reason I have to be deeply thankful for
having been preserved in tolerable health and strength to
such an age. The affairs of the Irish Church and of our
own occupy much of my thoughts, but have not yet begun
to break my rest or injure my health. You are un
doubtedly right in your opinion that the greatest danger
of our Church lies in her internal divisions. The case of
Ireland is so entirely different from that of England that
the disestablishment of the Irish Church would not of
itself any way alter our position. It has never been to us
a source of strength, but much rather a burden and a
weakness, and I think it quite possible that both may
thrive the better for the political severance. Neverthe
less, it is not without reason that so many of our bishops
and clergy anticipate alarming consequences to the Eng
lish Establishment from the fall of the Irish. When the
disestablishment is advocated on the broad ground of
' religious equality,' those who take that ground can
hardly refuse to apply it to both Churches alike, and
whatever is done in Ireland may serve as guidance in
dealing with the same question in England. But yet if
the Church was only compact and firmly united in itself
I believe that it would be long able to resist any assault
from without. As it is, we have the hitherto unheard-of
fact, that a considerable party among our own clergy are
more or less openly desirous of a separation between
Church and State  "

298 ANCIENT IDEAS
[The foUowing six letters deal with questions of criti
cism connected with the view of a Future Life in the Old
Testament* : — ]
To the Rev. J. J. Stewart Perowne. Abergwili Palace, September 2ith, 1868.
" The consensus of critics ancient and modern against
the genuineness of Od. A 567 — 626 (for which see Per
son's note on the Orestes, ver. 5), seems to me (who am
decidedly on the same side) irresistible. Otherwise I
should attach little Aveight to the arguments you cite
from B. Thiersch — I suppose from his work, 'Die
Urgestalt der Odysee,' which I am afraid I do not pos
sess, as I can only find one entitled, ' Ueber das Zeitalter
und Vaterland des Homer,' in which he refers to his
earlier work. But even if the question AA'as quite open to
doubt, it seems clear that no otherwise disputable conclu
sion could be safely draAvn from the passage. It is not
surprising that you should not have gained a clear view of
the Homeric NsKvla if the poet himself had none, and
this is the opinion of many endnent critics. Nagelsbach
(' Die Homerische Theologie ') believes that Volcker
has made it certain that the poet places Hades noAV
above ground, now under ground. I think you would
find this Avork of Nagelsbach interesting, especially the
last section, ' Das Leben und der Tod.'
" But I do not see that the question of retribution after
death depends on the passage of the Odyssey. In the
Iliad there are two passages incidentally referred to by
Nagelsbach which seem to contain a most unequivocal
statement of the doctrine. In the one (T 7, 8) there is an
invocation of some unnamed Powers who —
VKevepGe Kafiovra^
avOpuiTTOv^ TLvvaOov, oTi? Kl-nimpKov Ofxaaai]
* [These letters have reference to my Holsean Lectures on "Immor
tality," which I was at this time preparing for the press, and which were
afterwards pubhshed with a dedication to the Bishop. — J. J. S. P.]

OF THE FUTURE STATE. 299
and at T 259 this office is specially assigned to the
tipivvei, aiv VTTO ryaiav
av6pw7rovi rivvvTai (and 0 204)
With regard to the passage in Job, I have long been con
vinced that it does not relate to a resurrection or a future
state, and that every expression may be satisfactorily ex
plained from the close of the story."

To THE Rev. J. J. Stewart Perowne. Abergwili Palace, October 26th, 1868.
"It is so long since I have read any of Nitzsch's ser
mons that I cannot say with any confidence whether they
do or do not contain anything on the subject of a future
state. I recollect nothing whatever relating to it. But
the last portion of his ' System der Christlichen Lehre,'
' Von der VoUendung des Heils,' treats of it ex professo.
From your inquiry about the sermons, I gather that you
have not this work. If you would like to see it I could
send it you  You recollect, no doubt, how remark
ably J. H. Fichte's theory about the ' Naturvolker ' is
confirmed by Sir S. Baker's report of his conversation with
that African king, whose name I cannot remember.
" I quite agree with you that dedain is a completely ill-
chosen term for the feeling with which Socrates appears to
have regarded the mythical envelopes of truths which he
heartily embraced in their substance."

To THE Rev. J. J. Stewart Perowne. 1, Regent Street, February 9th, 1869.
" I return the proofs of your Lectures by book-post,
with many thanks for the pleasure Avhich I have enjoyed

300 BISHOP magee's seemon
in the perusal. The interest is not only sustained, but
grows as they proceed. I was particularly struck by the
ncAv ground which you lay for the belief in a resurrection
among the Jews which seems to me beautifully worked
out. But does it apply to the mass, or only to the dite
of the nation ?
" There still remains in my mind a difficulty as to the
reticence of the revelation given to Moses. Your two
remarks on the possible purpose of such a Divine reti
cence are very just and true But in what sense can it
be said that there tvas such a reticence, if, as you show to
have been the fact, the doctrine was known to Moses ?
Had he not the strongest motives for communicating it to
the people, whom he found it so difficult to restrain by the
fear of temporal judgments ? And can we conceive that
Avhile he was permitted and enjoined to hold out this
motive, he Avas commanded to abstain from enforcing it
by the great truth of future retribution ? "

To the Eev. J. J. Stewart Perowne. 1, Regent Street, March 15th, 1869.
" Having heard that some of your Cambridge hearers
took offence at your treatment of the passage in Job
(xix. 25), I think you wiU be glad to hear Avhat I am
going to say. Yesterday afternoon I had the pleasure of
hearing the Bishop of Peterborough preach a magnificent
sermon to an immense congregation at Whitehall Chapel
on Job xix. 25, foU. He began with a lucid exposition of
the opposite principles of interpretation of prophecy adopted
by what I wUl call the narrow and the broad school, and
then proceeded to show how these principles are applied
by each to his text. He then dwelt for some time and

ON JOB AND THE RESURRECTION. 301
with much pathos on the apparent sanction given to the
literal interpretation by the use which the Church makes
of the passage in the Burial Service. But he laid it doAvn,
not as a doubtful opinion, but as something quite clear
and certain, that the letter of the words could not refer to
Job's resurrection, but only to his recovery. He then
entered on an analysis of the drama, for the purpose of
showing that, as a whole, it contained the germ of the
doctrine which was erroneously supposed to lie in the
letter, that the righteous sufferer of the Old Testament
was a type of the stiU holier and more deeply afflicted
Son of Man in the New ; and that all truly Christian
sorroAV might take to itself the like consolation in the assur-
rance — ' I know that my Redeemer liveth.' All this was
brought out in a strain of the highest eloquence. Un
happily the Bishop never writes his sermons, so that unless
there was a shorthand writer in the crowd this splendid
discourse will have been lost like so many scores of
others."

To THE Eev. j. j. Stewart Perowne. 1, Regent Street, March ISth, 1869.
" I found the Bishop of Peterborough in the House of
Lords on Monday, and pressed him so strongly to publish
his sermon that I have great hope of seeing it in print.*
He would have to write it out from memory, but some
times does so. He expressed surprise at hearing that the
view he took could give offence to any one, and seemed
to think that it was the common one, at least among
educated men." • The sermon was never printed.

302 DEAN perowne's " IMMORTALITY."

To THE Rev. Canon Perowne. Abergwili Palace, August 1st, 1870.
" I can but count it an honour, of which I am scarcely
worthy, that my name should appear in your pages.*
" I had thought of asking you a question connected
with the same subject, and though it may be too late for
any practical purpose, I will avail myself of this occasion
to do so. I have been a little surprised that so many
critics, whose opinion you have adopted, should have found
no difficulty in making ixi's = soul, in Psalm Ivii. 7, and
elsewhere ; and should not have thought it worth while
to enter into any explanation of what seems to me so
singular an expression. To me this interpretation seems
open to two objections : 1. That the Psalmist is made to
claim as his peculiar glory that which he has in common
with all mankind ; and 2. That the name of glory is applied,
not, as I believe in all other cases, to an outward mani
festation, but to that which is innermost in man. I should
myself prefer the interpretation tongue, provided this is
taken in the largest sense, as including the gift of music
and poetry, which was indeed the glory of the sweet singer
of Israel. But it may be that I have overlooked some
simple solution of the apparent difficulty, t
" I am really glad that the Company adopted ' Avaste
and void.' It gives me some hope about a similar change
Avhich I shall venture to propose in [Genesis] iv. 12 — 14."
* In reference to the Dedication.
[t In reply to this, I pointed out that in other passages, e.g. Gen. xUx. 6,
Ps. vii. 5, " glory" (e.v. "honour") was used in parallelism with "soul" or
"life;" and the Bishop expressed himself as satisfied with the explanation.
—J. J. S. P.]

CHAPTER IX.
ST. DAVID'S, 1869—1874.
.iEschylus — Reminiscences of Rome — Rev. C. Voysey — Bishop Ewing's
" Present-Day Papers " — Revelation — Atonement — The Rule of Faith —
Bishop Thirlwall and " Favourite Texts " — The Elementary Educa
tion Act — St. David's Cathedral — Abraham's Sacrifice — The Franco-
German War — Bishop Thirlwall and the Old Testament Revision Com
pany — Bishop Thirlwall and Bishop Wilberforce on the Athanasian
Creed — Lampeter — The Welsh Church — Day of Intercession for Mis
sions — Adult Baptism — Bishop Thirlwall and the Eev. Malcolm MacCoU
— Early Liturgies — The Laying on of Hands — Revision Work — Death
of Bishop Wilberforce— Feast of Epiphany — Confession and Absolution
— ThirlwaU's Generosity.
To THE Eev. E. H. Plumptre.
[On his translation of ^Eschylus. j
Abergwili Palace, January 6th, 18G9.
" Your kind present reached me two or three days ago,
but I deferred thanking you for it till I had looked into it
a little. I have now done so sufficientlj' to appreciate in
some degree the skill and success with Avhich you have
encountered the enormous difficulties of the undertaking,
conceived as you have conceived it, and the ease and free
dom with which your translation moves under the con
ditions which you have imposed upon it. I may con
gratulate you on having rendered a great service both to
English and to Greek literature. I do not indeed
imagine that the number of Enghsh readers to whom the
original is a sealed book, but who are capable of enjoying
the translation, is or ever will be very great — what pro
portion of- the ' reading public ' reads Shakespere, or any

304 STUDY OF THE GEEEK CLASSICS.
of our old dramatists ? — but they are the minds which best
deserve to be cultivated and enlarged by the highest kind
of inteUectual enjoyment.
" I also believe that your translation will do much to
foster and refine a taste for Greek literature in students
Avho have access to the original texts. And this is now a
thing of very great importance. While I agree with Mr.
Farrar as to the desirableness of saving that vast amount
of time which is now wasted in so many schools on a
rudimental study of Greek Avhich is never turned to any
profitable account, I am the more anxious that the taste
for the great masterpieces of Greek literature, which has
hitherto distinguished our educated classes, should not be
suffered to die, but be more and more carefully matured,
and I am persuaded that one who is already familiar with
jiEschylus will find his enjoyment of the original very
much heightened by a comparison with your translation.
The best, indeed, can be no more than an approximation ;
but the distance which separates it from the original is
just that Avhich makes it most instructive."

To Archdeacon Clark.* 1, Regent Street, February \Oth, 1869.
"If it had so happened that, instead of being a vener
able Archdeacon, you had been a Thessalian witch, you
might have been suspected of some magical incantation
by which you had charmed away our English winter
climate, and sent us that of Rome in its place. While
you have been shivering under aU your wrappings, indoors
and out of doors, I have been sitting for hours Avith window
open, and letting the fire go out without missing it. If I
Avas a botanist I would fill a page with a list of the spring
* Late Archdeacon of St. David's, and Examining Chaplain to the Bishop.

REMINISCENCES OF EOME. 305
flowers that have been seen in fields and gardens during
the last two months. But I will content myself with one
solid fact of my own experience. I was staying lately at
the Deanery, Canterbury, on the occasion of the Arch
bishop's enthronement. As I came down-stairs in the
morning, I observed a fig-tree growing on the wall in a
pretty advanced state of fruitage. When I made the
remark to Mrs. Alford, she told* me that they had aheady
(in January) eaten of the fruit of their fig-tree. Can Sor
rento beat that? But then you must knoAv that in the
first week of this month the thermometer stood at 71
out of doors — a thing, it is believed, absolutely Avithout
any recorded parallel. And this has continued ever since
you went away. On the other hand, we have had extra
ordinary torrents of rain and fioods, and the frequency
and violence of the gales (once, I think, generaUy attri
buted to witchcraft) has been such as no one remembers.
" Yet I would wilhngly have braved the rigour of a
Roman winter, if I could have exchanged the sight as well
as the climate of London for that of Rome. What would
I not give for even a three days' ramble over my old
haunts ! I am very much obliged to you for your kind
offer, especiaUy of photographs. I have seen those fine
views of the Forum. But they Avould be more of a luxury
than I can afford, because, though foremost in beauty, they
are more deeply impressed on my memory than any scenes
in Rome. But there are others which, if they are to be
had at a not extravagant cost, I should be very glad to
possess — vicAVS of spots which have begun to fade in my
recollection, and of which I should hke to recover the
detaUs. Such are the Termini, the Aventine, Monte
CavaUo, the Baths of Caracalla, the crypt of S. Clemente,
the road at the western foot of the Palatine, between the
Baths and the Forum Boarium. If there are photographs
on a small scale of these or any other scenes of like interest
X

306 CHUECH AFFAIES.
— Avhich I would leave to your judgment — I do not know
anything that I should value more as a memento of Rome.
I believe the Piazza del Popolo has been entirely altered
since I saw it, by a scala leading up to the Pincio — that
would interest me much, also the ViUa Borghese. I am
more curious about the business of the expected Council
than about the prospects of the temporal power, as its fall
seems to me more likely to strengthen than to weaken the
Papacy, and to deteriorate than to improve its spirit. I
cannot make out whether its objects are yet definitively
fixed. If so, one would have thought they must have
transpired. We hear talk in several quarters about the
Council effecting the reunion of Christendom. Could any
one have ventured to talk about that if he was aware that
the subjects of deliberation were to be such as the Assump
tion of the Virgin !
" Our own ecclesiastical affairs are in a very perplexed
state. StiU, I believe that the decision of the Privy
Council in the Mackonochie case has given very general
satisfaction to all but the Ritualists. They are endeavour
ing to console themselves, partly by abuse of the court,
and especially of Lord Cairns, and partly bj' putting con
structions on the judgment, as to points which were not
in question, by which they hope to embitter it to their
opponents. On the other hand, the prosecuting Associa
tion is going, as it is said, to beg the question of vestments,
and a passage in the judgment leads me to believe that
they will be successful. The doctrinal question itself is to
be tried with Mr. Bennett, who has been, I think, the most
audacious in his utterances, which would nearly satisfy
Manning. Mackonochie has lost himself even with many
of his own party, by the extreme siUiness and intemperance
of his language. He has become an uncompromising
Liberati onist, and urges his injured and oppressed brethren
to agitate for separation between Church and State. But

EEV. C. VOYSEY. 307
none seem prepared to respond to his appeal. Denison
himself counsels moderation and obedience ; and nobody
seems to understand why Mackonochie does not set the
example of liberating himself from State bondage  "

To THE Eev. C. Voysey. Abergwili Palace, M'areh 22nd, 1869.
" Your letter was brought to me from the House of
Lords just as I was on the point of leaving town. I
have always been decidedly opposed to any attempt to
narrow the freedom which the law allows to every clergy
man of the Church of England in the expression of his
opinion on theological subjects.* And it may be that, if I
permitted my name to be placed on your Defence Com
mittee, I should in fact and in the way of logical inference
be only making a practical avowal of that opposition. But
the inevitable effect would be to ' compromise ' me most
deeply, and to impress ninety-nine out of every hundred
of my clergy with the conviction that I shared your
opinions. What they are at present I do not know, and
am unable to form a judgment whether, in the writings
which have given occasion to proceedings being instituted
against you, you have confined yourself to a ' reverent dis
cussion of religious topics.' The clergy who urged the
Archbishop of York to institute those proceedings do not
seem to have been of that opinion.
" My position is entirely different from that of Bishop
Hinds, much more from that of the laymen you mention ;
and it seems to me to render it my duty to avoid giving a
needless and violent shock to the feelings of those who are
placed under me." * See p. 234.
X 2

308 "present-day papers."
[The next three letters are on the subject of the "Present-
Day Papers." They Avere a series of essays " on Prominent
Questions in Theology" by various Avriters, edited by Bishop
EAving.]

To THE Bishop op Argyle and the Isles.
Abergwili Palace, December Zrd, 1869.
" Until I received your letter I had neither seen nor
heard anything of your ' Present-Day Papers,' Avhich I
have read with much interest. I cannot sa_y that the
prospectus enables me to form a very clear idea of their
prime object, and I am afraid you will think me captious ;
but I am not quite satisfied with your remarks on Revela
tion.* They appear to me to be only partiaUy just, and
that not exactly in the sense required by your argument.
It seems to me an arbitrary assumption to describe reve
lation as a 'giving of light,' for the purpose of showing
that it is erroneously regarded as ' a mystery,' and equally
so to say, as you do farther on, that it is ' the making
manifest by the admission of light.' I cannot help thinking
that the proper sense of the word suggests the possibility
of the thing being quite consistent with mystery — of a
revelation Avhich is the revelation without being the eluci
dation of a mystery. Fancy a theatre in which a curtain
intercepts the view of the stage. When the curtain rises
the spectators may see something which they could not see
before ; but whether they will see it clearly or dimly must
depend on the design of the dramatist, which may require
that the background be kept dark or seen as through a
haze. The revealing only amounts to the withdrawing of
one obstacle to sight, it does not imply the opening of a
¦* See the Preface to the First Series of " Presont-Day Papers."

REVELATION. 309
perfect vision. It seems to me that this is not an inapt
iUustration of the actual state of the case. If there had
been no revelation we should have seen nothing of that
Avhich is behind the veU. As it is, we see but ' through a
glass darkly.'
" It is true that by a process of abstraction we may
confine our view to a fcAv objects in the foreground Avhich
we see most clearly, and may say that as to them, and
Avhen they are taken as the whole, the revelation is com
plete. But I am not at all sure that this is your meaning,
nor that I understand in what sense the Christian revela
tion is, or was ever meant to be, ' a key to the difficulties
of Nature.' I gather from some allusions in your ' Paper '
that the periodical is directed mainly against Romanism,
or, more generaUy, the sacramental system on the one hand
and against Calvinism on the other, and I am confirmed in
the supposition by your letter of last week to the Guardian.
But I doubt whether this will be clear to all readers. Is
not this letter itself an illustration of my position, that
there may be a revelation which does not manifest the
thing revealed ? Before the revelation brought by your
letter I was entirely ignorant of your undertaking. But
how far is it from being manifest to me now ! No doubt,
when I see the numbers which have been published, I
shall understand it better ; but I do not venture to pledge
myself to take any part in such undertaking. There seem
to be now hopes that the excellent Archbishop's life may
be spared for some years to come;* but Avhether he Avill
ever be able safely to resume episcopal Avork seems to be
much more doubtful. It is grievous to think of such a
man being laid aside as ' a broken vessel ' in the prime of
his intellectual vigour."
* Alluding to the serious illness of Archbishop Tait in 1869.

310 THE ATONEMENT.

To THE Bishop of Argyle and the Isles. January 27th, 1870.
"I have to thank you for another number of the
' Present-Day Papers,' which I have read with great interest,
as well as that on the Atonement. The second on the
Eucharist, Avhich I understood you also intended for me,
has not yet reached me. All that you write has a stamp
of freshness and spontaneity, which makes it interesting
and profitable to me, even when I am not quite sure that
I clearly understand your meaning, or am unable to adopt
your conclusions ; and this is the case with both of these
papers. The subject of each is, as Mr. Campbell observes,
' high and difficult,' one on which none of us probably sees
more than a part of the truth, at least, at the same time.
I think that Law saw a part, and a fundamental part, of
the truth. But I find in his essay things very hard of
digestion, and Avhich I cannot reconcile either with the
language of our Church or with that of Scripture in its
plainest sense. It seems to me that he attaches an
arbitrary meaning to the words atone and atonement, and
reasons upon that which is arbitrary in that meaning.
His statement as to 'the very nature of atonement'
as ' implying the alteration or removal of something that
is not as it ought to be,' does not appear to me to be
justified either by etymology or usage. I believe the
derivation from at one — which delighted Coleridge — to be
quite erroneous. It is the German silhnen, to appease or
propitiate. But at all events it is our translation of the
Hebrew caphar, cophar, hide, hiding, and so when applied
to sin, forgive, forgiveness, as when God ' casts sins behind
his back,' or ' into the depths of the sea.' This, however,
may be no more than a verbal objection. Every one has
a right to use words as he will, so longs as he explains

THE RULE OF FAITH. 311
the sense he adopts. But the pecuharity AA'hich seems to
me to pervade Law's essay is, that his scheme effaces aU
distinction between justification and sanctification. It
represents Christ's sufferings as merely exemplary. It
virtually denies that He was ' given to be unto us both a
sacrifice for sin and also an ensample of godly life,'
inasmuch as it was only by the ensample of godly hfe that
He could properly be said to be a sacrifice for sin. If all
that was meant was, that our sanctification is the supreme
object of the whole process of redemption, and thus
pre-eminently ' the will of God,' I believe that this is a
point as to which aU theological systems, hoAvever Avidely
diverging from one another as to the means, will be found
in substance to agree.
" I am very thankful for the extract from Mr. Erskine's
work, which seems to me beautifully clear and perfectly
true. Only one can hardly help asking how many
Christians have so much as an idea of this truth, and of
those who have it, how many are thereby brought the
nearer to realising it in their iuAvard experience. But the
general impression left on my mind by your remarks on the
Rule of Faith is, that they do not discriminate between the
case of churches and that of individuals. In a mystical
sense, which each Christian must find for himself it may
bo said that Christ is the Rule of Faith. But I do not see
how He can be said to be such a rule in the sense of a
common intellectual basis for a society or church, unless
something be predicated of Him which would be a
Confession of Faith. Confessions of Faith may often be
evils, but they are necessary evils, wherever two or three
come together as a church and have to answer the question,
' What are you ? What do you hold in common ? ' It
could hardly be sufficient in answer to say, ' We hold
Christ as our Rule of Faith,' when all those from whom

312 CHURCH AFFAIRS.
they are separated say the same, though for each of the
two or three, individually, and in their closets, that might
be quite enough.
" Many wiU be startled by your remarks on the hopeful
ness of our present prospects. I was glad to see them,
having long been of opinion that there is a much greater
amount of what may be called ' latent Christianity ' among
persons who pass for irreligious than the dogmatical
theologians can conceive.
'' I am not aware that the object for which the Roman
Council was assembled has ever yet been authoritatively
declared. Dupanloup, before he went to Rome, believed
that it was to be a cure for Atheism. A friend of mine
who was there wrote to me that he did not think the Pope
had any special purpose, but expected that it would be the
occasion of some miraculous intervention. It seems to me
simply an attempt to galvanize the Papacy into a ghastly
semblance of life. And yet I see Dr. Pusey is bringing
out a new book on healthy union with Rome 1 A
Mezentian operation I think."

To the Bishop op Argyle and the Isles.
1, Eegent Street, February 18th, 1870.
" I have again to thank you for a Present-Day Paper on
a very present and interesting subject.
" I believe that there is a very respectable amount of
Biblical scholarship m the Church, but it is not equally
diffused, and the Bishops have not always the lion's share.
By this time you will have seen that your grief or alarm
about the Bishop of Exeter's ' defection ' was premature,
and that he stands in his original position toward Dr.
Pusey and Bishop Trower, which AviU probably reconcile
you to him. If he made any concession in fact, he
certainly neutralised its concUiatory effect by his speech in

"favoueite texts." 313
Convocation. AU that is not quite satisfactory is, that it
seems as if the speech would never have been made if the
fact had not been prematurely announced. But after all
this is not absolutely certain. And it may be that he
always intended to make some declaration to the same
effect."

[The next series of nine letters refer to the discussion
raised by the reference of the Bishop to Haggai ii. 7 and
Jeremiah xxiii. 6 in his Convocation Speech on the Revision
of the Bible. His speech and letters to the Rock are
reprinted in the " Remains," vol. ni. Appendix.]
To THE Rev. E. H. Plumptre. Abergwili Palace, March Sth, 1870.
" On my return home a few days ago I found your
' Biblical Studies,' which I am very glad indeed to possess,
and for which I beg you to accept my best thanks.
" They remind me that there is a little thing which you
could do for me, probably both better and Avith less trouble
to yourself than anybody else. You have no doubt observed
the outcry I have raised by the words I dropped in Convo
cation about ' favourite texts,' and still more by the two
examples I gave in illustration of my meaning. While I
was in London I received a letter on the subject from a
Yorkshhe clergyman, named Fausset, who it appears is,
in conjunction Avith two Scotch divines, the author of a
' Critical and Experimental Commentary on the Bible,' in
defence of the received version of Haggai ii. 7 and Jere
miah xxui. 6. I intended to answer it on return to my
books, but shortly after my return received a copy of a
newspaper called the Rock, of Tuesday, March 1, in which I
found his letter published. It then seemed to me necessary

314 HAGGAI II. 7,
that I should reply to it in the same paper, though one of
the last I should otherwise have chosen for such a discus
sion. I have, however, written on the subject of Haggai,
and expect that my letter will appear on Friday next (the
Rock is only published on Tuesdays and Fridays). I shall
follow it up when I can find time — this being my ordina
tion week — -with one on the passage of Jeremiah. But I
should be glad to have an audience outside the circle of
the Rock, and it occurred to me that you might find room
in some corner of the Contemporary for drawing attention
to the subject  "

To Eev. A. R. Fausset. March 5th, 1870.
" .... I hope you will not think me uncourteous if I
say that in my opinion your argument on the passage of
Haggai sufficiently answers itself. I do not understand
you to attempt anything more than to show that the inter
pretation for which you contend is grammaticaUy possible.
That would not be much, even if you had been successful,
because, though grammatically possible, it might be utterly
untenable. But I believe that you have failed in that
attempt, and that if the grounds on which you maintain
the grammatical paradox were submitted to a jury of com
petent Biblical scholars, though they are probably the best
that can be produced, they would be pronounced quite
inadequate to the purpose. And I more than suspect that
such an interpretation would never have commended itself
to your judgment if you had not believed that what seems
to you revealed truth is at stake, and that the interpreta
tion which you reject is 'anti-messianic' The point as to
which I should have felt most sanguine would have been
differently interpreted by eminent scholars, and this I think

DR. PUSEY. 315
Avould with judicious men be a reason for preferring some
other for the pulpit."

To Rev. A. E. Fausset. March 25th, 1870.
" I am much obliged to you for the information you
have kindly given me, and shall be very glad to see what
you and Dr. Pusey have written on the subject of my letter
to the Rock. But as I do not take in either that or the
Record, I should esteem it a favour if you would let me
know the date of the impression of each at which your
letter has appeared. Of course, if my letter has only had
the effect of strengthening your conviction of the correct
ness of the opposite view, though I should still be curious
to see how it produced this effect, there can be little
prospect of any benefit resulting from any further discus
sion between us. But your reference to ' grammar,' ' the
general analogy of Scripture,' and ' the voice of the Hebrew
Church,' leads me to suspect that I may find the discussion
transferred to a different ground — one of subjective feeling
and self-constituted authority, on which every opinion is
impregnable. When I consider of Avhat absurdity the
Rabbis have shown themselves capable, I am surprised at
the weight attributed to their authority. That of Dr. Pusey
I quite admit, but with a distinction. I have a high opinion
of his learning as a Hebrew scholar, and am fully conscious
of my own inferiority in that respect ; but I do not believe
him to be open to conviction on any point in the remotest
degree connected with dogma on which he has once made
up his mind.
" When I wrote my letter I was not aware that Professor
Plumptre had expressed the same opinion in a Paper which
first appeared in a Scotch magazine, and which he has

316 DR. PUSEY.
now republished in his ' Biblical Studies.' I consider his
authority on this point as far higher than Dr. Pusey's,
because he abandons the Authorised Version with a reluc
tance which would incline him to do the fuUest justice to
every argument that can be urged in its favour."

To Rev. A. R. Fausset. March Zlst, 1870.
" I have written to the Rock in answer to your letter
containing Dr. Pusey's opinion, and I expect that my
letter Avill appear there to-morrow. I am sorry that I did
not before understand that Dr. Pusey's ' full letter ' in
cluded other passages. I hope I may noAV infer that your
extracts contain all that related to that of Haggai. With
regard to that. Dr. Pusey's remarks have a little lowered
my estimate of his Hebrew scholarship, which was high,
and has not raised my estimate of his judgment, which
Avas low.
" I can only give a qualified assent to your general
remarks. It seems to me that the first duty of a pious
searcher of the Scriptures is to seek the truth. He will
no doubt be glad to find as much as he can. That con
dition would prevent him from ado^Ating an interpretation
Avhich Avould violate the laAvs of grammar, as Bellarmine,
for the sake of the dogma, would have translated ' a
smitten God,' instead of ' smitten of God,' in Isaiah liii. v. 4.
But grammatical possibility, though an absolute sine qua
non, is not the only condition of a sound interpretation.
In a question between two renderings there are various
other considerations which ought to decide, if the object
in view is truth, and not merely the gratification of a pious
wish, hoAvever natural and praiseworthy in itself"

HAGGAI II. 7. 317

To Rev. A. R. Fausset. April IZth, 1870.
" . . . . The ' note ' which you have transcribed ap
pears to me a very striking example of that mode of deal
ing with Scripture on which I animadverted in my last
letter, a mode unsound in principle, most dangerous in its
consequences, one which opens the door to every kind of
fanatical delusion, and tends to justify the language of
Romish controversialists when they liken Scripture, in Pro
testant hands, to a nose of wax.
" ' The objects of desire of all nations cannot mean their
gold and silver.'
" Why so ? Not because the prophet's words suggest
any other meaning, but simply because Henderson cannot
make this fit into his scheme of expounding the fulfilment
of the prophecy.
" And when I come to inquire into the nature of the
difficulty Avhich has led him to take this most unwarrant
able liberty with the language of the Bible, I find that it
depends on two assumptions, one clearly false, the other, to
say the least, merely arbitrary. His objection to taking
the silver and gold for silver and gold rests upon the tacit
assumption that a spiritual glory and a material glory are
things which exclude one another and can only exist apart.
For otherAvise his remark (which I am afraid I saw repro
duced in one of your letters) about ' parturient mountains '
would be both silly and profane, as if the conversion of the
nations, manifested by their willingness to dedicate their
treasures to the service of God, was, instead of being the
great end of the whole dispensation, a ' ridiculously ' paltry
object !
" How it is that you can ' heartUy agree ' with this
view, after having described the ultimate fulfilment of the
prophecy to be, ' Then shall the nations bring those

318 HAGGAI II. 9.
precious offerings which now ye so much miss,' I do not
understand. " The other assumption is, that the received version of
Haggai ii. 9 is unquestionably correct. It would be
nearer the truth to say that it is demonstrably incorrect,
and that the LXX. gives the true sense. There is no
question about a first and second house, but about a former
and a latter glory. If the prophet is alloAved to be his OAvn
interpreter, which seems not more than reasonable, he has
decided the question at verse 3, ' Who is left among you
that saw this house in her first glory ?'....
" I had always considered the current explanation of
' the desire of all nations ' — in the sense of the undesired
need, or the object of an inarticidate, unconscious craving
— as, irrespectively of grammatical considerations, so im
probable, that it could be hardly allowable to propose or
accept it without a specific Divine revelation ; but your
notion of manifold, rational cravings of the soul carries the
license of fancy many degrees farther into a region of
subjective feeling and speculation, beyond the sphere of
rational discussion, into Avhich I shall not attempt to folloAV
you."

To Rev. A. R. Fausset. April I9th, 1870.
" I certainly am responsible for the opinion that the
willingness of the nations to dedicate their treasures to
God must be the result of their conversion ; but hoAV that
opinion pledges me to any system I am at a loss to under
stand, and you have not attempted to point out. I had
supposed that it was a self-evident truth, universally ad
mitted, perfectly independent of any question about the
fulfilment of prophecy, and one that can only be disputed on

HAGGAI II. 7, 9. 319
the assumption that men may act without motives, and
that a great change in their conduct, one involving
the sacrifice of their most valued possessions, may take
place without any previous change in their views and
feelings. I did not believe that Mr. Henderson, and still
less that you, meant to maintain such a paradox ; but I
thought he must have overlooked that necessary implica
tion, as I could discover no other explanation of the con
tempt with which he spoke of the Gentile offerings, the
result and manifestation of that conversion. But I did not
mean to charge him, and still less you, with intentional
profaneness or designed depreciation of the blessing. I
cannot, however, honestly give you the credit which you
seem to claim for the comprehensiveness of your views.
It seems to me, on the contrary, as I remarked in my
answer to your first letter, that you have throughout limited
your view to one side of the question. You have contented
yourself with an attempt — as it appears to me an unsuc
cessful one — to extenuate the difficulty of the interpretation
you adopt, but you have ignored the fact that in that
which you reject there is no difficulty at\.all. You have
hitherto been unable to lay your finger on .^any weak place.
It seems, indeed, that you think that it ' is inconsistent
with your interpretation of a passage in the New Testa
ment. But it will be time enough to consider that argu
ment when your interpretation is universally admitted. I
am sorry that you have not thought it worth while to
explain it. I have read Hebrews xii. 24 — 28 several
times over, and am obliged to own that I cannot guess in
what way it is that you suppose it to bear on the question
between us. The attempts which you make in your last
letter to strengthen your position seem to me singularly
unfortunate 
" In what sense you consider ' chochmah ' as a ' col
lective embodiment of wisdom ' you leave me to guess.

320 HAGGAI II. 7.
The alleged analogy would seem to require that the
heavenly wisdom should be conceived as made up of
Avise sayings. But that is an idea which I would not
attribute to you on any authority but your own. I ob
served some time back that you appeared to me enormously
to underrate the grammatical difficulty which others had
felt to be insuperable 
" These laborious endeavours to get rid of the
difficulty do but attest its continued presence ; and
the preference of an interpretation which labours under
so many objections — obscurity, ambiguity, incoherency
with the plain drift of the context, and grammatical
(let us only say) anomaly, to one which is perfectly
clear, simple, and consistent, as well as free from all gram
matical objection — appears to me at variance with the
principles of sober criticism. But it is a great comfort to
me to find that after all there is no practical difference
between us. I .only plead for the interpretation, ' the
desirable things of all nations,' which I am glad to see you
adopt. I do not Avish to prevent any one who feels him
self edified by the thought, from considering this as a
description of the Messiah, though I cannot do so myself
Least of all could I permit myself to doubt the sincerity
of your conviction, and that you ' think it rests on solid
objective ' ground. That of course does not make it the
less a mere private subjective opinion."

To Rev. A. R. Fausset. April 28th, 1870.
" I have received the three additional copies of your
excellent work on the Prayer Book.
" As you may not see the Rock regularly, I take the
liberty of mentioning that the number of Tuesday, the 1 9 th,

HAGGAI II. 9. 321
contains an interesting letter from Mr Wilkinson, of Derby,
on the text of Haggai, on which I made some remarks
which appeared the Friday following, the 22nd inst.
" I cannot help thinking that you have not made good
your right to assume that ' the question in Haggai was as
to the glory of the second Temple.' That assumption
rests not on the Hebrew text, but on what appears to me
an evident mistranslation.
"You have, as far as I know, nowhere explained your
view of the fulfilment of the prophecy in the ' shaking of
the nations ' during the period of the Second Temple. I
am not aware that history records any ' shaking ' so great
and general as that which preceded and caused the fall of
the Roman Empire, and which was attended by conse
quences so beneficial to the Church.
" It seems to me that there is a confusion of ideas at the
bottom of the opinion which regards the prediction as to
the future glory of Zerubbabel's Temple as fulfilled by our
Lord's coming. No doubt, as a glorious person, He may
be said to have diffused a glory around Him wherever He
was, and therefore while He taught in the Temple, no less
than in the cottage at Nazareth. But Avhen I consider
that the object of His coming was so far from being that of
adding anything to the glory of the Temple, that it was
rather to abolish its spiritual privileges, and to proclaim
and (indirectly) to effect its destruction, I cannot conceive
any interpretation of the prophecy more at variance with
the facts of history."

To Rev. A. R. Fausset. May 7th, 1870.
" I only hope that you wiU not forget that there is a
sense in which I have not denied that the Temple was
Y

322 HAGGAI II. 9.
glorified by our Lord's presence as that of a supremely
glorious person, who, Avherever He was, spread a glory
around Him of poAver, Avisdom, or love, of a different
kind from those Avhich He wrought in many synagogues
and other places. What Avas peculiar in his dealings with
the Temple Avas that He declared it to have been made ' a
den of thieves,' and announced (John iv. 21) the abolition
of its privileges and its impending destruction."

To THE Rev. Canon Perowne. Abergwili Palace, April 6th, 1870.
" I have to return my best thanks for your kind and
most welcome present of the first volume of the new edi
tion of your Psalms. Let me congratulate you on the
great improvement which has taken place in the general
appearance of the book, but especially in the Hebrew type,
which to me adds immensely to its value.
" It has been a great pleasure and comfort to me to read
your Preface to the new edition. After what has been
said lately on the proposed Revision, particularly by per
sons who ought to have knoAvn better, a little good sense
is really refreshing.
" Though you have noticed my remarks on ' favourite
texts,' I do not know whether you are aware of the conse
quences it entailed upon me  I therefore enclose
some slips fi'om a paper called the Rock, containing the
correspondence, which will speak for itself As it is the
only set I have, I should be obhged to you if you will let
me have it again.
" I had meant to ask you whether you had seen a
commentary on the Psalter (first half), by Dr. Moll, in
Lange's ' Bibehverk.' It seems very careful and elaborate."

REVISION WORK. 323
[In reference to an article on " The Irony of Christ " in
Good Words, October, 1870. The article is to be found
reproduced in substance in Professor Plumptre's notes on
the first three Gospels in Professor EUicott's " New Testa
ment Commentary for English Readers."]

To Rev. E. H. Plumptre. October Sth, 1870.
" I am very much obliged to you for the sight of your
article, which I have read with great pleasure, and I have
no doubt that to most readers it will open an entirely ncAv
and highly interesting and instructive view of our Lord's
method of teaching, besides guarding against sundry
erroneous conclusions ; and I hope that the unquestion
able truth of the concluding reflection will overcome any
prejudice to which it might be exposed by its novelty. I
think that all the cases are legitimate applications of the
idea, though in some the application may be less obvious
than in others, as the shade of irony is more or less
delicate. " Your calculation of the time which will be needed at
our present rate of progress to bring us to the end of the
0. T. must, I think, make most of us uneasy, and espe
cially those who, like myself Avould be most likely to
have their labours cut short about the middle of Leviticus
after an expenditure of time which might have brought
them individually much nearer to the close of the whole.
On the other hand, last July I received a letter from Dr.
Jebb, in which he pathetically deprecated the wild preci
pitation with which the Company was setting to work, and
reminded me that at the last revision an interval of two years
was allowed for preliminary preparation, which he thought
would not be too much now. Perhaps if he had been pre-
y2

324 THE ELEMENTAEY EDUCATION ACT.
sent at our meetings he would have been a little reassured.
You suggest a subdivision of labour, which would no
doubt save time in more ways than one, as I suppose in
all deliberative bodies the rate of progress is inversely as
the number of counsellors. But would it not be necessary
that the Avork of each section should be subject to the
revision of the whole company ? And might not this con
sume all the time that had been saved ? Should we not
still be obliged to Usten to a demonstration of such facts
as that the termination in th has become obsolete, and
superseded by s in our best writers ?
" I hope that when we meet again you may be able to
suggest some plan for economising our time."

[On the Elementary Education Act.]
To W. De G. Warren, Esq. November 28th, 1870.
" I am very much obliged to you for your statement of
the reasons which induced you to decline my invitation to
attend the Conference which I propose to hold on Friday
next. But I think it right to inform you that it was just
because I knew you take a different view of the working
of the Elementary Education Act from that which is com
monly taken by friends of the Church, and because it is
believed that you fell into some mistakes in a recent
speech Avhich you made on the subject at Carmarthen,
that I was particularly anxious to have the benefit of
your presence on the occasion, that you might have an
opportunity of discussing any statements on the inter
pretation of the Act which might appear to you erroneous.
I made the proposal simply in the interests of truth.
" No one can be more fully convinced than myself that

ST. DAVID''S CATHEDEAL. 325
the Act was ' an honest effort on the part of the Govern
ment to meet the difficulty,' and 'I can add that I believe
it will prove a great blessing to the country ; but it seems
that persons who are so far agreed may yet differ widely
from one another in very important practical conclusions."

[The restoration of St. David's Cathedral, to which
allusion is made in the following letter, was an under
taking Avhich the Bishop had greatly at heart. (See his
Charges of 1866 and 1869 in vol ii. of the "Remains.")
The largest and most essential portion was restored during
his episcopate,* and after his death the " Thirlwall Memo
rial Fund " was devoted to the continuation of the work. J
To William Thirlwall Bayne, Esq.
Abergwili Palace, St. John E., 1870.
" .... I continue to hear the best accounts of what
has been done at the cathedral ; the work is making steady,
though not rapid progress. I am afraid that hostihty
to the Church has quenched the interest which Celtic
patriotism would otherwise have felt in the noblest monu
ment of its architecture. I am not at all enjoying this
cold weather ; but when I see what a source of healthy
pleasure it is to the skaters on my pond, I bear my own
misery more patiently, though I can hardly bear to think
of those who are passing their nights wounded and un-
tended in the open air. This house contains such a
volume of cold air as no fire or stove can heat, and every
thing one touches pricks hke a needle. I think on the
Avhole the moment in the day in which I suffer least from
cold is that in which I emerge from my bath, which
happily has not yet been frozen over  "
* Letter from the present Bishop of St. David's.

326 abeaham's saceifice.
[On an Essay published first m Good Words, and after
Avards in a volume of Sermons.]
To THE Rev. Canon Perowne. Abergwili Palace, January 6th, 1871-
" I have given my best attention to your very interest
ing Paper on Abraham's Sacrifice, and probably should not
be able to arrive at any more satisfactory conclusion if I
were to keep it longer and read it oftener.
" I quite agree Avith you in your opinion of the inter
pretations which you reject. But that which you adopt
seems to turn upon the question whether the killing of
Isaac was an ahiacjiopoi', Avhich might be converted into a
virtuous act by a Divine command ; so that, as you put it,
' the only question is as to the authority,' and ' when this
is made known unquestioning obedience is a duty' Are
we not thus led to the conclusion that the merit of
Abraham's conduct consisted in this, that his conviction
of the physical fact, of a Divine communication, was
stronger than his conviction of the truth, that in slaying
his son he would be breaking the law of God ? If this is
so, I do not see hoAV the character of Abraham's act is to
be distinguished from that of any assassination which has
ever been committed under the impulse of religious fana
ticism, in which the conviction might be quite as strong,
though it was not wrought in the same way. I have never
been able to reconcile myself to the principle that an act
is right because God wills it, and that God does not will it
because it is right. I could admit any explanation of the
history of Abraham's sacrifice, sooner than that it was
supposed to inculcate this principle.
" But I also find great difficulty in your Thdodic^e.
The state of Abraham's heart was well known to God,
without any ' trial ;' and it might have been made known

abeaham's saceifice. 327
to Abraham in divers other Avays. It was no more neces
sary for him to kill Isaac, in order to devote him to the
Lord, to whom he belonged alike, whether dead or living,
than it was for Hannah to kill Samuel. You assume with
Ewald that Abraham had indulged an excessive fondness
for Isaac, and ' had almost forgotten the promise in the
child of promise.' But where does this appear in the
history ? Is it not rather disproved by his readiness to
obey the Divine command ? But I know how much easier
it is to raise doubts than to solve them. I wish I could
propose any vicAv of the narrative which would bring it
more into harmony with the genuine principles of Christian
ethics."

[On the same.]
To THE Eev. Canon Perowne. Abergwili Palace, January 10th, 1871.
" It appeared to me that in your treatment of Abraham's
sacrifice you had confined yourself to one aspect of the
case, which is indeed the only one presented by the Scrip
ture history, and had overlooked another not less real or
less important for a right estimate of Abraham's con
duct. You considered Isaac as his dearly beloved son,
and the sole heir of the promise. So by the Divine com
mand Abraham was caUed upon to sacrifice at once his
tenderest affections and his most cherished hopes, in obe
dience to the wiU of God. So considered, his conduct was
not only meritorious, but sublimely exemplary. And this
is the great lesson which the story conveys. But there
is another aspect in which it may and must be viewed.
Isaac did not belong to Abraham in the same Avay as one
of the lambs of his flock. Isaac was not a thing or chattel,
but a person invested with rights which were not subject

328
to Abraham's will, and secured to him, as one made in the
image of God, by a divine ordinance. It may be that
these rights — foremost among which was the right to life
— ^were not indefeasible. All man-kUling, though inten
tional, may not be murder. And the killing of a murderer
Avas expressly enjoined. But Isaac had done nothing to
forfeit any of his rights. The killing of him was a plain
breach of a universal law, grounded on an unalterable fact.
I do not see that God's secret purpose of preventing the
consummation of the material sacrifice makes any differ
ence in this view. The event showed that in this case God
did not require a human sacrifice. But the impression
left on Abraham's mind — at least on the reader's — is that
it would not have been inconsistent with the Divine cha
racter to require it, and that, if required, it would be man's
duty to make it. This is to me the perplexing and painful
side of the transaction, from which I am glad to abstract,
in order to dwell on that which is clearly noble and edify
ing. And I do not forget that we have no means of
knowing whether this episode in Abraham's fragmentary
history has come down to us in its original shape. We
have no record of that which passed in Abraham's mind,
which might possibly have thrown light on that which is
questionable in his conduct. The sad misfortune is that,
for one who has followed the example of his faith, there
may have been thousands who have imitated 'him in that
which seemed to sanction their OAvn wilfuLness.

[In answer to a request that he would preach at the
re-opening of Kirby Underdale Church.]
To THE Eev. T. J. Monson. Abergwili Palace, January Uth, 1871.
"I am sorry to say that it is quite impossible. My

THIELWALL AND THE EEVISION COMPANY. 329
locomotive energies are not Avhat they were ; and I have
not enough courage to face such a journey. Also, ever
since I have been a member of the 0. T. Revision Company,
I find myself more and more distressed for the time
required for my proper and ordinary work, and less and
less able to spare any for that which is of supererogation.
I can only be with you in spirit."

[The next three letters refer to the proceedings in Con
vocation in February, 1871, on the subject of the Revision
Company. A clear account of the incident is to be found
in "Bishop ThirlAA'all's Letters to a Friend," p. 240, and
the Bishop's speeches are reprinted in the " Remains,"
vol. iii. Appendix.]
To THE Dean of Westminster. 1, Eegent Street, S.W., February 19th, 1871.
" It seems to be generally thought that the final reso
lution of the Upper House practically cancelled and
rescinded that which they had previouslj' adopted on the
subject, and has thus as far as possible replaced things and
persons in the statu quo, and I have in consequence been
strongly pressed to retain my seat at the Board of the
Old Testament Revision Company. My own opinion is
that, as far as regards myself I could not desire more com
plete satisfaction than I have received. But I should not
feel myself at hberty to act on that opinion, and comply
with the wish which has been expressed, until I hear from
you that this is your view of the matter. When I an
nounced my intention of withdrawing from the Company
by way of protest against the resolution which had been
carried, I did so expressly on the ground that such a step

330 THIELWALL AND THE EEVISION COMPANY.
seemed to me to be due, not only to myself but to ' others,'
(meaning yoiC) ' who felt themselves aggrieved by the pre
vious resolution.' I am therefore anxious to hear in what
light the case now appears to you, and whether you are
perfectly satisfied that I am quite free in point of honour,
and so in duty bound to continue to render whatever ser
vice may be in my power to the work of revision. I must
add that I have not the slightest personal feeling, inclining
the one way or another, and only desire to do that which
is strictly right. As the Company is to meet on Tuesday
I should be thankful for a few lines at your earhest con
venience. " Let me take this opportunity of thanking you for the
letter of Pere Hyacinthe.
" I do not even know whether you still allow the com
panies the use of tbe Jerusalem Chamber. If you with
hold it, that would be decisive."

To THE Eev. Canon Perowne. Regent Street, February 20th, 1871.
"I find that all parties concerned agree in thinking that
after what passed in Convocation, Avhich is universally
considered as Adrtually and practically cancelling the ob
noxious resolution which called forth my protest, I have
no longer any ground which Avould justify me in absenting
myself from the meetings of our Company, and I shall
therefore have the pleasure of seeing you to-morrow.
Though, so far as I am concerned, I can look back to that
which has occurred with unmixed satisfaction, I quite
understand that it may seem to call for some farther secu
rity against mischievous interference. This has also been
suggested to me by our secretary. I am only anxious to
avoid a split, which would probably have the effect of

THIRLWALL AND THE EEVISION COMPANY. 331
breaking up the whole scheme, and giving a triumph to
the adversaries of revision.
" We meet in the Jerusalem Chamber."

To THE Eev. Edward Z. Lyttel. 1, Eegent Street, February 2ith, 1871.
" I am much obliged to you for your kind letter. But
I think it ought not to be forgotten that, although the
bishops adopted a resolution AA'hich is very much to be
lamented, it was when they were taken by surprise, and
did not clearly understand the point of the question before
them, and they appear to me entitled, to great credit for
the very rare candour with which, on mature deliberation,
they unanimously adopted the opposite view of the subject
when it was fairly and clearly put before them. They
shoAA'ed that after all they meant what was right, and that
it was only their discernment that was at fault."

[On the Franco-German War.]
To THE Bishop op Argyle and the Isles.
Abergwili Palace, March, 1871.
"I received your two letters of 19th January and
1st February, and those which you sent of my own
through Mr. EAving. The latter are perhaps the more
likely to interest a reader, for having been written so
entirely without a thought of publication, but it is not
without some reluctance that I yield to your judgment
about them. All that was clear to me was, that, if they
were to appear in print, it should be exactly as you
received them.* We are thanking God that an end
* See page 272.

332 THE FEANCO-GEEMAN WAE.
has come of the bitter winter and the cruel war. The
severity of the season was depressing in itself but
immensely aggravated by the thought of the horrible
suffering which it superadded to the ordinary miseries of
war. " One cannot therefore but be thankful for the present
relief But otherwise a less satisfactory peace, one more
heavily laden with all the elements of interminable
Avarfare, envenomed by implacable hatred, was never
concluded. The French may have deserved their humilia
tion. But there seems to be such strong reason for
suspecting that the war was concerted by Bismarck, while
he contrived to throw the appearance of aggression on the
other side, that any sympathy, which one otherwise feels in
the triumph of a righteous cause, is sadly alloyed by the
reflection that it is at the same time the success of an
unscrupulous diplomatist in a wicked manoeuvre. The
result, as far as we are concerned, is a state of things which
ought to make our Government very uneasy. Europe
at the mercy of two despotic Powers in the closest
alliance Avith each other, and both hostile to us ; while we
have been left as scantily provided with the means of self-
defence as if every neighbour was a bosom friend.
" I have just received a parcel containing eleven
numbers of the Revue des Deux Mondes from
15th September, 1870, to 1st March, which has been kept
in Paris during the siege. The Chronique de la
Quinzaine, Avhich exhibits the impression made on the
most cultivated Parisian minds by the successive phases
of the siege, forms an interesting historical document,
independently of the great number of articles devolved to
the subject of the war. That all should witness to the
thirst for vengeance, which rages in every French bosom,
Avas to be expected. But I am struck by the unabated
intensity of the national egotism which finds in everything

THE FEANCO-GEEMAN WAE. 333
that takes place an occasion of self-glorification. France,
the chosen' people, Paris, the Holy City. The invader
guilty, not only of brutal violence, but of sacrilege.
Utter forgetfulness of the notorious fact that the Germans
are doing what the French, when they declared war, hoped
and meant to do. Or, perhaps, rather the great assump
tion that what would have been quite right in a Frenchman
is an atrocious wrong when done by a German. And then
there is Thiers, of all living men the most guilty in the
matter of this war, wiping his lips and rubbing his brow and
calling down general indignation on the Bonapartists as the
authors of the calamity ! As if he had not received 20,000
francs for the wicked romance in which he did his utmost
to influence that passion for military glory, and had not
made it the business of his life to inculcate the necessity of
recovering the Rhenish provinces.
" I do not know how you are off for Church news, I do
not think you would be less happy if you never saw any.
But if you do, you will have noticed some proceedings of
our Convocation, which are rather Avonderful than ad
mirable. Some people believe that the Church of
England is on the eve of a ruinous disruption. The
special cause of alarm is that, by the recent judgment in
which the Ritualists have been defeated along the whole
line, clergymen who have hitherto been used to turn their
backs to the congregation while they say the Prayer of
Consecration will be compelled to let their profile be visible
during that act. There is a rock of offence for a Church to
go to pieces upon."

[The following short letter is important from the fact
that it is the only recorded instance of the expression of

334 ETEENAL PUNISHMENT.
the Bishop's views on Eternal Punishment. It is in
reference to the sermon of Professor Plumptre on the
"larger hope" entitled the " Spirits in Prison." In the
Edinburgh Review for April, 1876, Dr. Plumptre justly
claims from the Bishop's words a full and unreserved
acceptance of his views : — ]
To Rev. E. H. Plumptre. Abergwili Palace, June 6th, 1871.
" I do not know how to thank you sufficiently for your
admirable and memorable sermon, one I think of the most
valuable gifts the Church has received in this generation."

[The two foUoAving letters refer to an incident in
Convocation. On February 9th, 1872, the Bishop
delivered an important speech on the Athanasian Creed,
since republished in the " Remains," vol. iii. On May
3rd Bishop Wilberforce unexpectedly attacked it. On
July 2nd the Bishop rejoined with a vindication of his
former speech. See also " Bishop ThirlwaU's Letters to a
Friend," p. 279 :— ]
To THE Lord Archbishop of Canterbury. Abergwili Palace, May 17th, 1872.
" Will you have the goodness to inform me whether
there is to be a meeting of Convocation in July, and if so,
at what time, and for the transaction of what business. Is
the question of the Athanasian Creed to come in any way
under discussion? When I saw you for a moment at the
Royal Academy, I knew nothing of what had passed the
day before in Convocation, and afterAvards read the Bishop

BISHOP THIRLWALL AND BISHOP WILBERFORCE. 335
of Winchester's speech with great surprise. I had
remained in the country, not being aware of anything that
should take me to town sooner than I Avent up for the
Royal Academy* dinner, and particularly not intending to
say anything more on the Athanasian Creed. But I found
that the Bishop of Winchester had stated (on Friday) that
he had given me notice of his intention to answer parts of
my speech ' a week ago,' the fact being that I had only
received a note from him to that effect on Wednesday,
the 1st, and could not go up the next day. I have had
some correspondence Avith him on one portion of my speech,
which he appeared to me to have quite misapprehended ;
and I wished to have published my correspondence, but as
he deprecates its appearance in the Guardian, I have not
felt at liberty to do so, and must, for the present, remain
silent, though feeling that I have been hardly treated. I
am not at all sure that the next meeting of Convocation
will afford me such an opportunity as I should desire iov
defending myself But I have some other more special
reasons for wishing to be informed when and for what
purpose Convocation is to meet next."

To the Lord Archbishop op Canterbury. Abergwili Palace, May 22nd, 1872.
" My only object in going up for the meeting of
Convocation, which on many accounts will be extremely
inconvenient and disagreeable, would be to take advantage
of the opportunity of replying to the Bishop of Winchester.
I believe that I am able to vindicate all that I have said on
every point on which I have been assaUed, but have been
* Bishop ThirlwaU was an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy as
Professor of Ancient History. He was succeeded in this post by Mr.
Gladstone.

336 LAMPETER.
in doubt whether it would be better to do so in a speech,
or to reserve what I have to say for my visitation Charge.
I am now inclined to take the earlier opportunity, though
I suppose there Avill be but a very scanty attendance of
Bishops. I wish, however, to be quite sure that, if I do
go up, I shall have the opportunity, and shall be glad if
you will kindly inform me whether on the ground of having
to make a personal explanation I shall be entitled to
precedence, so that — the Bishop of Winchester being
present — I may speak as soon as the reporters are
admitted,"

To the Eev. Canon Perowne.
[On his vacating the Vice-Principalship of Lampeter.]
Abergwili Palace, February 2Sth, 1872.
" It required no slight effort of abnegation for me to
receive the intelligence brought by your letter in a proper
spirit. Considering it only as concerns yourself I should
simply have congratulated you most heartily on the
transfer from a field of work in which you have no doubt
been most usefuUy employed, but have been exposed to
most constant annoyance and obstruction, to one in which
your merits and services will be duly appreciated.
" But as to the college and myself the loss caused by.
your departure is one which I can hardly hope ever to see
suppUed. Even if we should have the good fortune to
find a worthy successor for your office, it would be too
much to expect that he should be a person with whom I
could stand on those terms of confidential intimacy, to
which I have been indebted not only for so much pleasant
intercourse, but such invaluable assistance as visitor of the
coUege ; and I cannot help fearing that the difficulties of

LAMPETEE. 337
my position are likely to be greatly increased by the
change. " I must not, however, allow any selfish considerations
to interfere with that which must be the feeling upper
most in the mind of all your friends, delight at the
prospect of increased usefulness and comfort now opened
to you. In that feeling I most fully share."

[On the same.]
To the Rev. Canon Perowne. Abergwili Palace, May 10th, 1872.
" Will you be so good as to inform the Dean that I
should be very glad to see the office of Vice-Principal filled
as proposed, but that I am not prepared to take upon
myself the responsibility of an innovation, by Avhich the
college for the first time in its history Avould be left Avith
out either Principal or Vice-Principal capable of teaching
Hebrew, and might, as you have pointed out, find itself
Avithout a single professor Avho could do so. Still less
should I be willing to expose myself to the charge of
inconsistency by consenting in this case to that Avhich I
have resisted as a breach of faith in other cases. If any
plan can be devised for avoiding the tAvofold inconve
nience, it is for the Dean to suggest it, and the Board
must be responsible for it — not I.
" I have been considering your suggestion about the
puzzle in II Samuel v. 8.* I suppose there is no doubt
it is unobjectionable in the grammatical point of vieAV ;
* [The suggestion was to render the last clause of the verse thus : " AAHicre-
fore they say (the proverb runs) ' The blind and the lame are there ; he (any
one) cannot come into the house (or fortress) ; ' " the general sense being that
the fortress is so strong that even the blind and lame can defend it. — J. J. S. P.]
Z

338 THE DIFFICULTIES OP
but, on the other hand, I do not think it is required by
the distinctive accent. If I am not mistaken, we have had
many cases at the revision Avhere that accent would be
sufficiently represented by a comma, if indeed, it requires
so great a pause.
"If it is certain that the supposed prohibition never
existed, the Avords cannot have the sense given them in
the A. v., Avhether they belong to the original text, or, as
Thenius believes, are interpolated. He produces no evi
dence of the prohibition, but the tAvo cases, in
Acts iii. 2 and John ix. 1 (compared with viii. 59),
Avhich strictly prove nothing but the custom of laying
blind and lame beggars by the gate of the Temple, as
might be done by the door of a cathedral where they
Avere at full liberty to go in. If this be so I see nothing
better than your interpretation, and only feel a little diffi
culty in the extreme conciseness of the allusion to the
proverb, AA'hich, Avithout the narrative, Avould be utterly
unintelligible."

[On the difficulties of the Welsh Church.]
To Archdeacon Clark. Abergwili Palace, October 2Sth, 1872.
" I had intended before now to return the papers you
kindly sent me, but have been so much occupied with
matters relating to my approaching visitation that I must
beg you to allow me to keep them a little longer, perhaps
until I see you at HaverfordAvest. And I have now only
time for a very few brief remarks. Mr. R.'s Paper is,
I think, of all I have read on the subject the most un
profitable, and if any steps were to be taken for carrying

THE WELSH CHURCH. 339
his suggestions into effect, likely to be the most positively
mischievous 
" You have certainly laid your finger on one chief
cause of our low estate in that part of your most valuable
summary in Avhich you speak of our poverty. I am, and
have been, almost since T came into Wales, fully sensible
of the supreme importance of the subject, but have never
yet seen the Avay to a remedy. I should be glad to believe
that I have overrated the difficulty, or underrated the
ability and the Avillingness Avhich Avould be forthcoming
to supply the need. But I should like to knoAV Avhether
you have calculated the amount that Avould be required
for an additional endoAvment, sufficient — I Avill not say to
raise us to the average of an English diocese — but to tell
upon the general condition of the clergy. My OAvn belief
is that the greater part of the landoAvners — who are Avith
fcAv exceptions our only rich men — live up to their in
comes, and cannot be expected to make any sacrifice for
other than local objects. As to the other hardly less im
portant question — the habits and Avants of Welsh congre
gations — I doubt AA'hether you can safely draAV an in
ference from your experience at Tenby and in the
English-speaking parts of Pembrokeshire. It may be
quite true that the Welsh everywhere would be grateful
for kindness and pastoral care, and Avould feel respect
and affection for a clergyman from whom they receive it.
But it is not less true that they have a peculiarly strong
craving for preaching, and greatly prefer that AA'hich is
most exciting and sensational, Avhile they have little
relish for the services of the Church in themselves, and
in the best worked parish, AA'hile they thankfully accepted
the clergyman's good offices, Avould, if left to follow their
own inclination, attend the meeting-house  "

z 2

340 THE DIFFICULTIES OF

[On the same.]
To Archdeacon Clark. Abergwili Palace, November 1st, 1872.
" . . . . My own sense of the difficulty which will be
found in providing for the physical Avants of the Church in
this diocese has been quickened by my OAvn experience.
My Augmentation Fund, Avith the grants it has elicited
from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, and Queen Anne's
Bounty, has yielded between £30,000 and £40,000. Yet,
compared Avith the need of further endoAvment, the effect
is scarcely perceptible, and I am afraid it will be long
before even this is doubled by any of the means you sug
gest. With regard to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, I
doubt Avhether you are fully aAvare hoAV necessary it is for
such a body to proceed by fixed rules, and hoAV exceedingly
difficult to exercise any discretion in relaxing those rules
to meet the circumstances of each particular case, as for
instance that of a mixed population, Avhere the English-
sjjeaking congregation form a small minority. In all such
cases a question arises as to how many of the Welsh
understand English, and how many of the English under
stand Welsh. But these are points into Avhich it is abso
lutely impossible for the Commissioners to inquire Avitli
any hope of ascertaining the truth. No doubt, Avhere the
English congregation consists of a fcAV Avealthy families, as
is very frequently the case, they ought to provide the
service they require for themselves. But I beheve it is
very rarely indeed that they do so. A few Aveeks back an
Englishman, residing at St. Dogmael's, complained that he
could not get the clergyman to jDerform a service for his
benefit and that of a fcAv coastguards and other English
residents, the place being, as you probably know, Avithin
a short and pleasant Avalk of Cardigan, Avhere there is an

THE WELSH CHURCH. 3il
English service. The effect of doing Avhat he desired A\-ould
have been to disperse the Welsh congregation ; but about
this the Avealthy English seem never to feel the
smaUest scruple. I agree with you as to that Avhich the
Welsh under proper superintendence might become. But
I am afraid the reformation of their spiritual tastes and
habits is a work not less difficult than the provision of a
sufficient endowment. You are no doubt aware that Avhen
the foundation of a Welsh college for the education of
divinity students Avas first proposed, many thought that
the funds collected for that purpose Avould have been far
better employed in the founding of scholarships for Welsh
students at Oxford or Cambridge. But no one could have
foreseen the disastrous effect that AA'Ould be produced on
the character of the college by the government to which
it has been ever since subject, an effect Avhich its singular
good fortune in the series of able and earnest men Avho
have filled the office of Vice-Principal has been insufficient
to counteract. During Canon PeroAvne's term of office, a
party, Avhich has often been a majority in the College Board,
has been constantly bent on two objects : one the secularis
ing of the instruction with. a vicAV to attract students who
had no vicAv to enter into holy orders ; the other, to fill
every seat at the Board Avith a Welshman. I have been
engaged in a continual struggle in opposition to these two
movements ; and I inclose for your perusal a paper AA'hich
I addressed a fcAV years ago to the College Board with
regard to the curriculum. It seems in general to coincide
Avith your vicAvs. But I am not sure Avhether you are
aware that the CoUege has no poAver to transfer the emolu
ments of the profession of physical science to any other
branch of learning. When you have done Avith it I shall
be glad to have it again."

342 THE DAY OF INTERCESSION
[On the Day of Intercession for Missions.]
To Archdeacon Clark. Abergwili Palace, November 16th, 1872.
"The subject of the Intercession Day Avas brought
before me tAVo days ago by a letter from Mr. Bullock,
Secretary of the S. P. G., inclosing the form of service
authorised by the Archbishop for his diocese. I Avas
obliged to tell Mr. BuUock that I felt a strong doubt
as to the propriety of the measure. It seemed to me
that there Avas something inconsistent in the clergy pray
ing and exhorting their congregations to pray for a
blessing Avhich is already placed within their reach, but
Avhich they shoAV no desire to obtain. Among those AA'ho
Avill use the Intercession Service there are probably hun
dreds Avho might go out into the missionary field, Avith the
certainty that there Avould be no difficulty in supplying
their places at home. This is a thought AA'hich avUI pro
bably occur to some in every congregation, and must, I
think, tend very much to damp the fervour of prayer.
But I do not wish on this account to place myself in
opposition to the Archbishop. I only desire to leave the
entire responsibility of the proceeding Avith him. I am
ready, as I have informed Mr. Bullock, to authorise the
form of service sanctioned by the Archbishop for his
diocese, though there is hardly a sentence in it that appears
to me really appropriate to the occasion, or that can be
adapted to it Avithout more or less of violence. (The com
mand ' Pray ye the Lord of the harvest,' &c., Avas addressed
to those AA'ho were themselves going forth.) But I do not
beheve that anything more to the purpose is to be found
in the Prayer Book. My only Avish is that the clergy
.should exercise their OAvn discretion as to the use of the
form, and I hope that they Avill abstain from making a
collection on the occasion, as this would be likelv to sug-

FOE MISSIONS. 343
gest the suspicion that the whole Avas merely a new device
for raising money. But if any think fit to do so, I cannot
prevent it, and should not like to seem indifferent to the
success of the missionary AVork."

[On the same.]
To Archdeacon Clark. Abergwili Palace, November 25th, 1872.
" As your attention Avill for some time be a good deal
occupied with' the subject of missions, I thought you might
hke to see a pamphlet in the form of a letter to the Arch
bishop of Canterbury from the Bishop of Bombay, Avhich I
received tAvo or three days ago ; and I should like to
knoAV your opinion of it. To me it appears the most
disheartening vicAv of the subject I have yet met Avith.
When translated out of Avhat seems to me sadly misplaced
rhetoric, the upshot, as I understand it, is that the only
possibility of success for our Indian missions lies in the
adoption of the sacerdotal and sacramental system, in
Avhich Ave take up the attitude of those AA'hich say to every
other Protestant missionary bodj-, ' Stand by thyself come
not near to me, for I am holier than thou,' Avhile we make
ourselves pioneers of Romanism. I shall he curious to see
Avhether the S. P. G. lends its sanction to this proposal,
and also how it is relished by the Church Missionary
Societj'. I am in no hurry for tbe return of the pamphlet."

[On the same.]
To Archdeacon Clark. Abergwili Palace, December 26th, 1872.
" I send you a copy of a sermon Avhich I have printed,*
* On " Missionary Duties, Difficulties, and Prospects.''

344 ADULT BAPTISM.
not for its literary merits, but because I Avished to draw
attention to a side of the subject Avhich appeared to me to
have been too much overlooked. I quite agree Avith you
on your remarks on the Bishop of Bombay's letter. I feel
very strongly with regard to it, and I think that the Com
mittee of the S. P. G. ought to take some notice of it, at
least to the extent of distinctly disclaiming any intention
of acting upon its recommendation. If I believed that any
part of their funds Avas to be so appropriated, I should feel
myself bound to AvithdraAV from the Society."

[On Adult Baptism.]
To Archdeacon Clark. Abergwili Palace, December 12th, 1872.
" I receive a good many inquiries from time to time on
the subject of adult baptism. It is unfortunate that the
Rubric should be so obscurely Avorded — perhaps a conse
quence of its having been drawn up by a Welshman, Bishop
Griffith, of St. Asaph — there being nothing to show AA'hat
is the purpose to which it refers ; and it is the more to be
regretted that it was left untouched by the Ritual Com
mission. The cause of the direction that notice should be
given to the Bishop may perhaps be found in the fact —
observed by Procter on Common Prayer — ^that it AA'as origi
nally designed for converts from heathenism or Judaism,
and not contemplated as to be used in a Christian country,
and therefore, as he says, Avhenever it is caUed for it is an
occasion of peculiar solemnity. But I quite agree with
you that this part of the Rubric has noAV become obsolete
and useless. In the American Prayer Book it is altered to
' timely notice shaU be given to the minister that so due
care may be taken,' &c. This is aU that can now be
reasonably required. That the Bishop— an utter stranger

THIELWALL AND NEWMAN. 345
to all the parties and circumstances of the case — should
undertake to give directions as to the examination or
instruction of the candidate appears to me one of the
wildest of absurdities. But though I wish that the Rubric
Avas altered to suit the real state of the case, I am not at
liberty to dispense with the observance of it so far as it is
clearly intelligible. The minister must be considered as a
' discreet person,' competent to give the required notice to
the Bishop. I am therefore obhged to submit to the
annoyance, though I should be certainly disposed to deal
very leniently with a clergyman who spared it me."

[The next four letters are part of a correspondence Avhich
arose out of an attack made upon the Bishop by the Rev.
Malcolm MacCoU. In his "Damnatory Clauses" he
expressed his regret " that the Bishop of St. David's
should have been a party to the hounding of Dr. NeAA'man
out of the Church of England a quarter of a century ago."
A correspondence ensued upon this in the Guardian, in
Avhich the Bishop shoAved in the clearest and most con
vincing manner hoAV absolutely without foundation Mr.
MacCoU's charge was. A letter also appeared in the
same paper from Dr. Newman himself procured through
the intervention of Professor Plumptre, in Avhich he
exonerated the Bishop in a "perfectly satisfactory"
manner from the accusation. Dr. NeAvman had, indeed, in
one of his AVorks, referred to the "courtesy" of Bishop
Thirlwall as a marked exception to his general treatment
at the hands of the English Episcopate. See also the
"Remains," vol. ii. p. 353 : — ]

o46 ASPECT OF PUBLIC AFFAIES.
To the Bishop op Argyle and the Isles.
Abergwili Palace, January 10th, 1873.
" I am thankful that I do not perceive any failure in
my mental poAvers. In the last conversation I ever had
Avith Grote, he observed that his most earnest hope Avas
that he might not sui'A'iA'C the decay of his intellectual
faculties, and I most heartily sympathised Avith that
feeling. But that has nothing to do Avith the abatement
of physical strength AA'hich I experience in A'arious Avaj^s,
and Avhich tells upon the amount though not on the
quality of the intellectual Avork I am able to go through ;
and I find increasing difficulty in meeting the demands
upon my time. I am sorry that I ha-A'C nothing in my
2)ortfolio Avhich I could put into yours. But even in my
best days I aars never addicted to Avriting, and, in fact,
never Avrote anything Avithout some special object, and
Avithout a A'icAV to immediate publication ; and that is noA\'
the case Avith me more than ever.
" I do not knoAV Avhether it is an unavoidable incident
of the time of life Avhen the shadows are lenotheninof to
take a gloomy A'icAV of things, but I must confess that I am
A'ery much disheartened by that Avhich I see as to our
prospects in Church and State. I think I perceive the
approach of a tremendous struggle through Avhich the next
generation will have to pass, and to which I can foresee no
limit or end. It is only the young who can look forAvard
Avith pleasure to taking a part in it. Those Avho can be
no more than passive spectators must A\'ish to be spared the
spectacle. "I think you underrate Mr. MacCoU's abihty. That is
not the side on AA'hich he appears to me most deficient.
But wlratever I might have thought of it, it Avas impos
sible to acquiesce in his assertion that I had been a
party to hounding NeAA'man out of the Church of England.

THIRLWALL AND NEAVMAN. 347
I have, hoAvever, taken my leave of him in the last
Guardian. " I hope you received a copy, Avhich I directed to be
sent to you, of my sermon on Missions."

To the Dean of Westminster. Jamiary ISth, 1873.
" I am extremely obliged to you for your kind sugges
tion ; but I do not intend to take any further direct notice
of Mr. MacCoU, and I meant to signify that intention at
the end of my last letter to the Guardian. It is very
difficult to say Avhat suggested to him the idea that I had
been a party to the ' hounding.' It may have been the
passage of the ' Apologia ' to AA'hich you refer, or that at
p. 349, Avhen he speaks of the ' unanimous expression of
opinion from the bishops,' or it may haA'e been the
pamphlet from which he quotes. But it Avould be a mere
conjecture, and Avould not much affect the state of the case.
The material points Avhich I should wish to be generally
knoAvn are : — ¦
"1. That all the ' hounding ' must have been ex
clusively the AVork of my Charge of 1842. I find from
records in my registry, that the Charge of 1845 Avas
delivered for the last time in Cardigan, on the 25th of
September. It could not have been published Avithin a
fortnight after that date, or before he had announced his
intention of seceding in his letter of the Sth »f October.
" 2. The nature of the contents of the Charge of
1845 thus ceases to be of the slightest importance. But
in it I said, ' I am not going to discuss the character of
that movement afresh, but it is fit to state that I see no
reason for recalling or changing any opinion I expressed
with regard to it on the former occasion.'
" 8. The context of the passages quoted by MacCoU

348 BISHOP THIRLWALL AND
clearly shoAvs that they did not relate to NcAvinan. If
this Avas understood, it Avould be seen that there is abso
lutely nothing left for MacCoU to stand on. But I do not
believe that either facts or reason go for anything Avith him,
or Avith those Avho are pledged to his party. I think,
hoAvever, of sending the date of the Charge to the Guardian,
for the benefit of those Avho are not Avillingly deceiA'ed but
desire to know the truth. I have also to thank you for
the sermon AA'hich I Avanted very much to see."

To Rev. E. H. Plumptre. Abergwili Palace, January 18th, 1873.
" Whatever may be the result of the step you have
taken I shall be equally thankful for the kindness Avhich
prompted it. It certainly ought not to be doubtful what
kind of answer you Avill receive, and I knoAv one reason,
unknoAvn to any one else, for hoping that it may be a plain
statement of the truth. And this is, that I am under a
strong though vague impression that somcAvhere or other
NeAvman referred to my Charge Avith some acknowledg
ment of obligation for the manner in Avhich I spoke
of his ' Lectures on Justification.' On the other hand it
is, I am afraid, quite possible that he may decline saying
anything to the purjAose, partly through disinclination
toAvard me, and partly through unAvillingness to bear Avit-
ness against MacCoU, Avhom he may regard as a useful if
not hopeful protegi. If he should Avrite anything Avhich
you think proper to send to the Guardian, even if it
should not be perfectly satisfactory in itself it might afibrd
me an opportunity of correcting some of MacCoU's mis
statements, Avhich otherwise I should be forced to pass
over in silence 

CAEDINAL NEWMAN. 349
" One fact, indeed, I mean to have placed on record,
Avhich will effectuaUy dispose of three-fourths of MacCoU's
last letter, by showing that it Avas impossible for NcAvman
to have seen my Charge of 1845 before he Avrote that
letter ofthe 8th of October ('Apologia,' p. 366) in AA'hich
he announced his secession. My Charge Avas delivered for
the last time on the 25 th September at Cardigan, and
could not have been published until about three Aveeks
later ; so that if I was a party to the ' hounding ' it
could have been only through the Charge of 1842, in
which I took so much pains to defend his position in the
Church of England against all assailants. Stanley informs
me that he could not succeed in an attempt which he made
to disabuse Newman of the illusion that 'he Avas driven
from Oxford by the Liberals,' as he asserts (' Apologia,'
p. 329). Stanley thinks that it Avas this passage Avhich
misled MacCoU. I should rather suspect that it Avas
another (p. 349), Avhere he says, 'I could not stand
against such an unanimous expression of opinion from the
bishops.' That Avas in 1843."

To Rev. E. H. Plumptre. Abergwili Palace, January 21st, 1873.
" I am most deeply obliged to you for that AA'hich you
have brought about. Newman's letter is perfectly satis
factory with regard to the Charge of 1842, and as much so
as I could have expected under the circumstances in regard
to that of 1845.
" I do not consider myself as placed in a position of
antagonism to him, but I am thankful for the opportunity
he has afforded me of showing — as I hope to do to the
satisfaction of all impartial persons, himself included — that
he is quite under a mistake as to that part of my second

350 THE ATHANASIAN CREED.
Charge Avhich he evidently understands as directed against
himself I could not have brought myself to do this by
Avay of replying to MacCoU's misrepresentations, but I may
noAV Avrite A^•ithout taking any direct notice of his last letter,
and mean to do so as soon as I see the correspondence in
the Guardian.
" I return Newman's letter."

[On the Athanasian Creed.]
To THE Rev. Caxon Perowne. Abergwili Palace, August 22nd, 1872.
" I have read your sermon Avith great interest and satis
faction. It appears to me A-ery seasonable and much
Avanted. I had observed ivith concern hoAV greatly the
occasional literature of the other side — all more or less
tending to obscure and confuse the question — prepon
derated in bulk. I have never yet met Avith anything that
appeared to me so Avell calculated to recall attention to the
real issues, and to dispel the haze of sophistry and decla
mation in AA'hich they have been Avrapped. It is quite
lamentable to see a man of MacCoU's abilities reasoning, so
Avildly. I cannot still make out Avhat it could have been
that so aftected the nerves of the young lady, or drove tAvo
of the congregation out of church. But the fact shoAvs
hoAv much the sermon Avas needed, and I hope it will do
much good."

[On the same.]
To Archdeacon Clark. Abergwili Palace, February ith, 1873.
" I am so completely in the dark as to the nature of the
intended synodical declaration that I hardly venture to

EARLY LITURGIES. 351
express any opinion upon it, as any remark I make may
turn out to be inapphcable to it. I can only say that,
subject to this proviso, I do not see hoAV any declaration of
the Convocation of Canterbury on the subject can he bind
ing on any but those Avho choose to adopt it, and as little
do I understand hoAv it can meet the objections which
have been made to the present use of the Creed. At all
events, the tAvo main points to be considered in the discus
sion would seem to be : 1 . What is the Avarrant ? 2. Where
Avill be the gain ? To the first question I should say Nil ;
to the second, Nusquam. But there seems to be hardly
any room left for reasoning when the strongest argument
of the majority is the assumption that any change in the
use of the Athanasian will involve a rejection of the Nicene."

[On Early Liturgies.]
To Archdeacon Clark. Abergwili Palace, March 20th, 1873.
"No one Avho knoAvs you Avill ever suppose that you
make any statement without some good authority. My
Buxtorf with the sight of which I was once familiar, not
having received a visit from me for a long time past, has
now hid itself in some corner Avhere I do not expect to
find it until I have no further occasion to look at it. But
a translation of the eighteen Prayers or Eulogies, Avith the
addition of that Avhich is said to have been added by
Gamaliel as an imprecation against the Christians, is given,
not only by Prideaux, but by a Mr. Bernard, in a Avork
called ' The Synagogue and the Church,' AA'hich is con
densed from Vitringa. Both are willing to believe that
they are in the main the work of Ezra. But both observe
that there are some which seem to have been composed

352 EARLY LITURGIES
after the destruction of Jerusalem, and Bernard-Vitringa
refers the final arrangement to a Rabbi Simeon Gos-
sypiarius. Considering the constant tendency of the
Rabbis to carry the present as far back as possible into the
past, and still more the character of the prayers them
selves, I cannot believe that Ezra had anything to do Avith
them, or that they became fixed before the fall of Jeru
salem. At the same time I should think it highly
probable that there Avas a nucleus, or nuclei, contained in
the blessings of a much earlier date.
"The Avriter ofthe article Synagogue, in 'Smith's Dic
tionary of the Bible,' thinks that ' the ritual of the Syna
gogue was to a large extent the reproduction of the statelier
liturgy of the Temple.' But Avhat was that liturgy ? I
cannot find a trace of an}' form of prayer prescribed to the
officiating priest. There Avas a musical accompaniment
conducted by the Levites, and the people prostrated them
selves, either in mute adoration or secret prayer, as while
Zacharias Avas burning incense in the Temple. But it is
quite possible that the acts of the ritual were also accom
panied by short traditional ejaculations, ansAvering to the
Eulogies — Avhich are much more in the nature of Psalms,
even to the Selah, than of prayers— -and that, after the
destruction of the Temple, these Avere retained, expanded,
and at last fixed in the worship of the Synagogue.
" But I think our original question Avas, whether, assum
ing the fact of a fixed form of prayer in the Synagogue,
Ave should be Avarranted in the inference that there was
also one in the earliest assemblies of the Church. And as
to this it appears to me clear that a Christian congregation
could not have borroAved forms of prayer Avhich either
ignored, or, at least by implication, denied the coming of
Christ as an event of the past. I cannot conceive that
the Apostles ever entered a Synagogue simply to join in
its devotions, or for any other purpose than to preach

OF THE CHEISTIAN CHUECH. 353
Christ in their exposition of the portion of Scripture Avhich
happened to be read. The writer of the article in the
' Dictionary of the Bible ' observes : ' From the Synagogue
came the use of fixed forms of prayer.' But he admits
(for his tendency is the other way) that ' the gifts of utter
ance which characterized the first period of the Apostolic
Age led for a time to greater freedom, to unpremeditated
prayer.' That the form was still in a state of fiux, and
the principal prayer unpremeditated, or not prescribed,
seems to me incontrovertibly proved by Justin's l-ni ttoXv,
and offiy hvvafju? avTw, though I could not agree Avith those
Avho Avould draw the same conclusion from TertuUian's
' monitore quia de pectore oramus,' Avhich would be quite
consistent with the use of a Form of Intercession, though I
do not believe that one was fixed in his time. And St.
Paul's description of the state of things at Corinth (1 Cor.
xiv. 26) seems to require the supposition of along interval
before it gave way to liturgical regularity."

[On the same.]
To Archdeacon Clark. Abergwili Palace, March 26th, 1873.
" I do not think there can be the shadow of a doubt as
to the o-encral proposition that the earliest Christian Avor
ship was founded upon that of the Synagogue, adopting
its order and framework. But Avhen we come to examine
its detads, it is just in the matter of the prayers that a
difficulty arises. Surely it was impossible that Christian
worshippers should ever be satisfied with forms of prayer
which at the best were non-Christian, and ignored the
coming of Christ. In their own assembhes, however
closely in every other respect they might have adhered
A A

354 EAELY LITUE6IES
to the order of the Synagogue, they could not have bor
rowed those forms, at least without supplements of Chris
tian devotion which Avould entirely alter their character.
And the question is Avhether it is credible that their
Christian prayers Avere offered in prescribed forms. Be
fore I could beUeve this, I should require the most precise
and authentic evidence of the fact, Avhich is entirely want
ing, while such as we have points the opposite way. I am
rather surprised at the way in Avhich you speak of the
passage of Justin to Avhich I referred, and I think your
memory must have misled you in your impression as to
the nature of the services to Avhich it refers. It is the
most luminous description extant in Christian literature
of the celebration of the Eucharist in the first half of the
second century. The service it describes is the ordinary
Sunday Service. {apros TrpoutpepeTai teal oTvos Kat vhwp,
Kai 6 7rpoearu)i eu^a? o/jloiws Kai evyapiaria^, oar] huvapti^
avTW, avaireiiTtei, Kai 6 Aao? l7rev(p}]/JLei Xeycov to a/ji,r]v.)
A little before, speaking of the same thing, he uses the
expression, ev-^apiarlav em ttoXv jroieirai. Taken together
the tAVO expressions seem irreconcilable Avith the supposi
tion of a fixed formulary of thanksgiving.
" But while I fully recognise the intimate connection
betAveen the Jewish and the Christian Synagogue in that
part of the Service AA'hich ansAvers to our Morning and Even
ing Prayer, AA'hen you speak of ' claiming the Synagogue
worship as the original and pattern of Christian Avorship,' do
you not overlook the fact that the Synagogue could offer no
pattern whatever for the principal and most characteristic
part of Christian worship, viz. the celebration of the
Eucharist ? And I need hardly say that the most difficult
as well as the most interesting question connected Avith
this subject is the development of the liturgy out of its»
original form. Bingham gives httle help in this inquiry.
Palmer shows that ours will bear comparison in point of

OF THE CHEISTIAN CHURCH. 355
antiquity Avith any other, but stops far short of the
beginning. " Nevertheless, that liturgical elements existed from
the very first is manifest from Scripture. For what else
Avere the words of Institution, the ev^apiaTia, offered by our
Lord Himself and the closing hymn in which He joined ?
But the process by which these elements Avere expanded,
until they Avere crystallised in the extant liturgies, is pro
bably beyond the reach of human research. That frag
ments are to be found in the Epistles and the Revelation
I have no doubt, though it is incapable of strict demon
stration. I am tormented by a vague recollection of
having read somewhere a most ingenious and interesting
Paper by Professor Plumptre, in Avhich he made it highly
probable that fragments of the most ancient Christian
hymns are to be found embedded in the Epistles, but I
do not knoAV where to look for it.*
" Bunsen believed that he had collected everything
relating to these questions in his ' Hippolytus and his
Age.' Other Germans are still Avorking at them.
" Pray do not trouble yourself about Buxtorf I be
lieve I have everything he gives in some form or other.''

[On the Laying on of Hands.]
To Archdeacon Clark. Arergwili Palace, July Zrd, 1873.
"Is it necessary to suppose that our Lord laid His
hand on the children while He Avas embracing them ?
Is it not quite consistent with St. Mark's narrative as
well as perfectly natural, that He should first have taken
them into His arms, as a sign of affection (peculiarly
* See the close of Professor Plumptre's article on the " Lord's Supper," in
" Smith's Bible Dictionary." A A 2

356 THE LAYING-ON
called forth by the conduct of the disciples), and then
have set them down on the ground and blessed them
Avith the imposition of His hands. They Avere Traihla, not
Ppe(p7], and capable of coming to Him.
" In my oAvn practice of confirmation I may have been
unconsciously SAvayed by the preference Avhich, by the
common consent of mankind, is given to the right hand
in all symbolical acts, so that I felt the laying on of that
hand to be equally due to every candidate. But I quite
admit that, for purposes as to which there is no difference
in the physical power of the two hands, the one may
serve as Avell as the other ; and, in the absence of any
express prescription. Bishop Hampden's practice is per
fectly alloAvable, and has much to recommend it. Pos
sibly I am quite singular in mine, having only been
guided by the light of nature.
" With regard to ordination, I apprehend that it would
be quite in accordance Avith liturgical principles that a
distinction should be observed between the acts of the
ordaining bishop and those of the assisting presbyters ;
so that, if it Avas necessary for the bishop to lay on both
hands, it might well be sufficient for each of the assistants
to lay on only one. The act appears to have been con
sidered as the act of the bishop, Avhile the assistants only
testified their consent. Hence Jerome asked : ' Quid enim
facit, excepta ordinatione, episcopus quod presbyter non
faciat ? ' And there is a memorable iUustration of the
feeling Avhich prevailed in early times on this subject, in
the decision of a Spanish CouncU held in 618. A bishop
had ordained a presbyter and two deacons Avith laying on
of his hands ; but a presbyter had given the blessing, the
bishop being unable, through Aveakness of his eyes, to
read the prayer. The Council ruled that the ordination
was invalid, and those who had received it were deposed.
" Suicer observes that x^ipoOeaia is used in tA\'o senses :

OF HANDS. 357
1. evXoyia?, benedictionis, non ordinationis, seu conser-
vationis ; and, 2. '^eiporovia^, seu, KaOiepwaeu)^, conserva-
tionis. He gives a quotation from Chrysostom which
favours the notion that one hand only Avas used by the
ordaining bishop : t) ydp cKiKenai tod avipo^, to Be itav 6
0eos epya^ETai Kai rj avrov yelp kaTiv rj cnfTOfievi] tj}?
K€(j)aXij^ TOV yeipoTOVovjxevov, lav w? Sei yeipoTOvrjTat.
" On the other hand, he cites from Optatus the charge
brought against Donatus in the Avords ' quod confessus
sit se rebaptizasse et Episcopis lapsis manus imposuisse,'
which looks the other Avay. But I should think it most
likely that the early practice was not uniform in this
particular. " Suicer does not discuss the question as to the laying
on of one or both hands."

[On the same.]
To Archdeacon Clark. Abergwili Palace, July 5th, 1873.
" When Ave were talking about the ' laying on of hands,'
I think we omitted to refer to the supreme authority, the
example of our Lord Himself Can TtOeU tcls yeTpa^ eir
avTa (Mark x. 1 6) be understood in any other sense than
that He laid both hands on each ? And even if He only
laid one, could it have been any but the right? And
must not Acts viii. 17, e-neTiBovv Tas X^pas eir avTOVs,
be interpreted in the same Avay ? Whether the evXoyia
ought to be repeated at each imposition of hands may
admit of a doubt. But if it is aUowable to use the words
less frequently, it seems merely arbitrary to hmit the
number of those over Avhom they may be pronounced
during the imposition to tAVO."

358 THE LAYING -OX OF HANDS.
[On the same.]
To Archdeacon Clark. Abergwili Palace, July 12th, 1873.
" Though the subject we have been discussing is cer
tainly not of first-rate importance, it is interesting enough
to make one wish to understand it as avcU as the state of
the evidence permits, and I am glad to have my vicAvs
modified and expanded by yours.
" I take the distinction betAA'een ^piipos and iraiUov to
be simply that every Ppe(f)os Avas a iraiclov, but every
¦naibLov was not a ^pecj^os. I am not aAvare that there is
any definition of the age at Avhich the ^pe<pos becomes a
¦nailiov, and if there Avas, it Avould be quite arbitrary and
conventional. We should say that a child ceases to be a
baby Avhen it no longer needs to be carried in the arms.
But before that time it is able to run alone. I have an
illustration of that fact constantly before my eyes in John's
youngest child, Avho is the reigning baby of the house, and
known only by that title, but runs up every morning to
receive the caresses of the family. The children brought
to Christ to be touched Avere no doubt not all of the same
age ; the taking them up in his arms implies that all
Avere very young, but not that all were too young to stand
and Avalk alone. It seems doubtful Avhether our Lord was
expected to touch in any particular Avay, or intended to
follow any traditional usage, or in fact treated all in
exactly the same manner. In the case AA'hich you Avit
nessed in the synagogue, the imposition of the right hand
on each boy as he passed by would be the most natural
form, AA'hether prescribed or not. But in the case of a
person kneeling before me, my natural impulse Avould be
to use both hands. But this may be something peculiar
to myself"

EEVISION WORK. 359
[The next six letters are part of a continuous corre
spondence arising out of mutual Avork in the Old
Testament Revision Company] [On Genesis i. 2.]
To the Rev. Canon Perowne.
BuLKELEY Arms Hotel, Beaumaris, July 6th, 1870.
" I am much obliged to you for your report of the pro
ceedings of our Company. ... I should have liked to
knoAV Avho were present. I approve of Avhat Avas done as
to the italics and marginal notes. But I shall be grieved
to see ' hover ' even in the margin [of Gen. i. 2].
It seems to me a sad blunder. It can only suggest the
idea of a hawk ready to SAvoop upon his prey, instead of
one beautifully suggestive and more conformable to the
original text. It is no doubt good that Ave should pro
ceed very deliberately, but if the first day's Avork Avas to
be a sample of our future rate of progress, I should hardl}-
expect to Avitness the completion of Genesis.
" We shall, probably, in time come to a tacit under
standing as to the construction to be put on our instruc
tions Avith regard to faithfulness. I once thought it might
be desirable to begin Avith some resolutions on the subject.
But I am not sure that any could be framed that would
not raise the same question, wdiich Avill be better solved
aonbulando."

[In reference to Exodus iii. 14.]
To THE Rev. Canon Perowne. Abergwili Palace, September 2nd, 1871.
" .... I could not reconcile myself to the proposed
change even independently of the latter part of the verse.

360 EEVISION WORK.
where it Avould seem necessary to make ' because I am,'
the answer to Moses' question. The rendering of the
Vulgate is strangely marred by the variation, QUI EST,
instead of QUI SUM. But that of the LXX. 'E7J. et'/xt 6
uiv, and afterAvards 'O wv, seems perfectly satisfactory. If
the first four Avords stood alone, the best English for them
would be, I think, I AM HE WHO AM (the French is,
Je suis celui qui suis), but then the Name would be not,
I AM (subject and copula), but the predicate HE WHO
AM. It seems a confusion of the subject Avith the pre
dicate to translate as the French, ' Celui qui s'appelle JE
SUIS m'a envoye vers vous.' What I proposed [I WHO
AM] StiU appears to me the nearest approach to the right
expression of the meaning. I Avas not able to foUoAV the
argument of Dr. Kay in favour of the future, in AA'hich
the Dutch version foUoAvs Luther. It seems to me liable
to the double objection of suggesting the same truism as
I AM THAT I AM ; and also the idea of a future, as dis
tinguished from a present, being of God."

To the Rev. Canon Perowne. Abergwili Palace, March ith, 1873.
" It is very unlucky that, not having heard of the Com
pany's intention to take the Psalms immediately after the
Pentateuch, I devoted the time which I should have given
to them to Joshua and Judges. I expect, however, that
they will prove a piece de resistance.
" There is a httle question Avhich has often occurred to
me, on Avhich I should like to knoAV your opinion. Our
Version is often disfigured by the insertion of an and
betAveen two verbs in the same tense, Avhere there is no
conjunction in the Hebrew, e.g. Psalm v. 7. You, I
think, generaUy avoid this by the repetition either of the

EEVISION WOEK. 163
pronoun or of the auxUiary verb. Compare Psalm Ixii. 3.
It seems to me that in most of these cases the nearest
approach Ave can make to the force of the HebreAv, Avhich
depends on the abruptness, and is quite ruined by the
interpolation of a conjunction, would be to turn the second
verb into a participle. I only commend this to your con
sideration. " I have not met with Conant, or ever heard of him
before. Could you give me the title ? "

To THE Rev. Canon Perowne. Abergwili Palace, March 10th, 1873.
" I am very much obliged to you for your interesting
and luminous 'Dissertation on the Prophecy of Isaiah.'*
I was the more glad to possess it, because I have often
regretted that I did not keep the numbers of the Guardian
in which I think you discussed the same subject some time
ago. I do not knoAV whether your engagements at Cam
bridge will permit you to attend the meeting of our Com
pany, which is to begin to-morrow. But if you have means
of knowing what they are doing, I should be glad if you
Avould inform me whether they begin the revision of the
Psalms this session."

To the Rev. Canon Pbroavnb. Abergwili Palace, May 31st, 1873.
" . . . . It is certainly to be lamented that the readings
of the Company should not represent the opinion of the
majority ; though it is a little consoling to think that when
they do not they are wrong. In my future contributions
I shall confine myself to a few suggestions by Avhich I fancy
* Chapters viii. and ix. ; printed first as a Praelection for the degree of
D.D., and afterwards in a volume of Sermons.

362 REVISION WOEK.
that the Version may be improved, and Avhich I have not
seen elseAvhere. It is not to save myself trouble — for I
shall continue as long as I am able to go carefully through
the AA'hole — but to save the time of the Company. In fact,
there are very fcAV passages indeed in AA'hich I should desire
any change in the A. V. that I do not find in either your text
or your notes, though there are several in Avhich it might
be made to run more smoothly. I should Avish the Revised
Psalter to combine the greater accuracy of the one version
Avith the easier floAv of the other. But such things can
only be discussed orally.
" I found very little indeed of any use in Conant. You
have probably observed that his ' Fair, Fair ' Avas merely a
translation of EAA'ald's 'Schon, Schon.' But he has not
even judgment to pick and choose.

To the Rev. Canon Perowne. Abergwili Palace, July 22nd, 1873.
" I am much obliged to you for keeping me au courant
of the Company's progress. I am the better satisfied Avith
the decision on Dr. Schaff's question, as I do not expect a
great deal from the American Company, and am afraid that
Conant's ' Translation of the Psalms ' may be considered as
a fair specimen of their taste and judgment. I have never
seen Leeser's Avork, but I have the LTnitarian Translation,
AA'hich I have often consulted with profit, and consider as
a very creditable performance, though insufficient. Is
Leeser readable ? I find the style of all JoAvish Enghsh
books I possess extremely disagreeable.
"I was deeply grieved at the sad news of the Bishop of
Winchester. To all appearance he had in him, and before
him, at least ten years of unabated mental vigour, and

DEATH OF BISHOP WILBEEFOECE. 363
perhaps increasing usefulness. Though for some time
past his views on several important questions had been
diverging from mine, I have no doubt that he Avas quite
sincere in the memorable last words Avhich he uttered in
the House of Lords, But that Avhich is noAv uppermost in
my mind is the remembrance of his habitual kindness, and
of the many instances in Avhich it was shoAvn to myself
and of the singular charm of his society."

To the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury. Abergwili Palace, August 7th, 1873.
" Thank you very much for your kind letter. I had
some special reasons for lamenting the loss of the Bishop
of Winchester, beside the closeness of our long intimacy
and the remembrance of much kindness Avhich I had
received from him. I must always regret that the last
occasion of our meeting Avas the only one in Avhich Ave
came into a disagreeable personal collision.* There is
something, indeed, of comfort in the thought that it Avas
the only one, but it is painful to me to refiect that I
saAV him under such circumstances for the last time,
though I have the satisfaction of believing that he kncAv
that Avhat had passed had made no breach betAveen us.
" I am very sorry for the change Avhich has been made
in the Final Court of Appeal by the Judicature Bill. I
regard it as mischievous and ominous, and believe that the
persons Avho introduced it were among those AA'ho least
desired its inevitable consequences.
" With regard to your kind inquiry, I am much as I
have been for the last year : pretty Avell equal to any work
Avhich I have to do here, not requiring a prolonged absence
from home, but not fit for London life. I have not,
» See page 334.

364 THE WELSH NAME
hoAvever, made any resolutions as to my future proceedings,
as they Avill depend on contingencies Avhich I cannot
foresee. Only in the ordinary course of things it seems
too late for me to expect any considerable rencAval of health
and strength. What I most anxiously desire is, that I
may not survive myself or live any longer than I am capable
of some kind of Avork."

[The next three letters are on the subject of the Welsh
name for the Feast of the Epiphany : — ]
To the Eev. Canon Perowne. Abergwili Palace, November 1st, 1873.
" You pay me too high a compliment when you suppose
that I can supply that Avhich is not to be found in any of
the Welsh lexicographers. Your friend's notion that ystwyll
is simply stella in disguise is a very tempting solution of
the difficulty, but I am afraid utterly irreconcilable with
the laAVS under Avhich Welsh AVords are formed from the
Latin. There is no analogy to account for the wy as
representing e. We are, therefore, ajDparently driven to
suppose that the Avord is a compound, and that the second
part is gwyll, gloom or darkness, the initial g being absorbed
by the preceding yst. But the only Avay that I find
hitherto proposed for bringing a star, or other light, to
illuminate this darkness is Dr. Pughe's fancy, that yst
means ' that Avhich exists.' Join this on to gwyll, and you
get ' that which exists in the darkness,' and then all that
remains is to believe that this Avas ' an epithet of a star '
(for Avhich no example or authority is cited). .But I must
say that I had rather remain in the dark than foUoAV such
guidance."

POR EPIPHANY. 365
To THE Rev. Canon Perowne. Abergwili Palace, November Uth, 1873.
" I was quite aware that most, if not all, of the Welsh
ecclesiastical terms are borrowed from the Latin, and also
of the great number of AVords in which the prefix y Avas
required by the Welsh organ for the pronunciation of words
beginning with the sibilant, followed by a consonant. It
is hardly so great as that of the words which you find
under E in & Spanish dictionary, in Avhich e is prefixed
for the same purpose : escribir, escuela, espacio, espuma,
escuda, estupido, espera, &c., &c. Among them, not in the
least remarkable, is the Spanish representative of stella,
which is not, as might have been expected, cstella, but
estrella. " But as to the adoption of Latin ecclesiastical terms, if
it is asked why they were adopted, I suppose the answer
must be that there was no Welsh word exactly, if at all,
corresponding to them. This, however, was not the case
Avith stella, which is not an ecclesiastical term at all, and
is simply synonymous with seren. There is no apparent
reason why it should have been substituted for the word
with which every one was familiar in his OAvn tongue.
The difficulty appears to me rather increased than lessened
by the other description of the Feast to which you refer.
I do not see how seren-wyl can be properly called ' another
form' of seren, or (if ystwyll = seren) of ystwyll. Nor
does y seren-wyl exactly express gwyl ystwyll. The one
I should render ' the Star Feast,' the other ' Feast of a
Star.' In other words, I should have thought that the
article was required before ystwyll, as all the Sundays
after Epiphany are described as gwedir ystwyll.
" The Breton form steren is merely a slight variation of
the Welsh, and does not seem to have much bearing on our
question.

366 THE WELSH NAME FOR EPIPHANY.
" The geographical examples appear to me every Avay
doubtful. What reason is there for supposing that in any
one of them the Welsh Avas formed from the English ? The
contrary Avould appear to result from the fact that they
are all significant. Certainly Tccfwys (Taf-Avater) could not
have been derived from the Thames. The instance of
Eglivys for Ecclesia, seems more to the point. But a link
is missing from the chain of the argument."

To THE Eev. Canon Perowne. Abergwili Palace, December 12th, 1873.
" I return Mr. Sinker's letter, Avhich I have not been
able everyAvhere to read Avith certainty, and have thus,
perhaps, lost a little of the force of his arguments. There
is a proposition as to the labials being ' easily inter
changed,' which seems to require some explanation or
limitation, as it might be understood to mean that the use
of them is not governed by any fixed laAV, which can
hardly be Mr. Sinker's meaning. On the Avhole, I could
not deny that his derivation is possible, and, as far as the
letters go, I may say as much of the conjecture that the
Avord is a corruption of TAvelfth. The difficulty about this
is, that it is not an ecclesiastical term. But certainly
TAvelfth Day is not a proA'incial description, nor Avas the
TAvelfth Cake a provincial institution. The name of
Shakespere's play Avould, I suppose, be sufficient to prove
the general use,' and I have no doubt that the confec
tioners' shops in London continue to vie Avith one another,
as they did Avhen I Avas a boy, in the exhibition of Twelfth
Cakes. It Avas then also usual to entertain the children
Avith the ' draAA'ing of King and Queen,' and other cards
which were sold with the cakes.

CHURCH AFFAIRS. 367
" I am not surprised to hear Avhat you have said
about  . The incumbent could not have been directly
presented by Lord Bute, as he came to the living in 1866
before Lord B. Avas of age. But if he was appointed
through Lord Bute's influence, one may easily understand
his Romanising propensities. Hoav far this Avas the case
I do not know. I hope, hoAvever, that the fact does not
indicate that this party is gaining ground in the diocese
of Llandaff. I am not sorry to see that some of the most
advanced are at loggerheads among themselves. My old
friend MacCoU has been battling with Orby Shipley in the
Church Revieiu. Orby Shipley cannot make up his mind
Avhether he avUI accept the Decree of Infallibility or not.
MacCoU and the Ta,blet say that it is a question on Avhich
every clergyman ought by this time to have formed a
decided opinion. There I think he is right. But that
there should be any Avho are still hesitating is a curious
sign of the times. Do I rightly gather from Mr. Sinker's
letter that you have taken your D.D. degree ? "

To THE Rev. Canon Perowne. Abergwili Palace, December, 1873.
" . . . . Passing to lighter and pleasanter topics, I
believe there is a great mass of materials illustrating the
spoken provincial dialects, though, no doubt, not exhausting
the subject. I have several little books compiled for that
purpose, in the form of dialogue ; and I suppose the
Philological or Early Enghsh Society has a complete col
lection. But after the article in the last Quarterly, one
doubts whether any one noAV living Avill see the great
Dictionary begun. I am afraid it will prove a ToAver of
Babel.

368 TRANSUBSTANTIATION.
" You Avill find Dr. Vogan's letter to Denison very well
worth reading. As he is evidently a candid as well as
earnest man, I AA'as surprised to find him reviving the out
cry against my famous ' paradox ' about Transubstantiation
without noticing my OAvn explanation of it.''" At the
same time he appeared to me to show that what I had
said might be more properly described as a truism than as
either a paradox or, as he prefers calling it, a ' contradic
tion.' However barren the tomes of Eucharistic contro
versy, Avhich fill so many libraries, may be of any other
result, I should have thought that they might have been
allowed to prove the fact, that the same Avords (of the
Institution) have been alleged Avith equal confidence of
subjective ' certainty,' by confiicting parties in support of
their opposite views.
" Are you trying to read the Archdeacon's ' Episcopatus
Bilinguis ? ' I find it hard Avork, and should prefer a page
of Tertullian. What can have possessed him to take to
Latin — and Convocation Latin — in his old age ? Is it a
sacramental mystery, or simply a development of the
Romanising tendency ? The Pope would probably enjoy
it, and possibly understand it."

To THE Lord Archbishop op Canterbury.
Abergwili Palace, November 5th, 1873.
" I think it not unlikely that I may have some occasion
of stating my vieAvs on the subject of Confession, but I
am less inclined than ever to bring out a pamphlet on any
topic of the day, and have uo reason to suppose that any
opinion of mine would carry much Aveight with those Avho
take a different view. It might be Avith a part of your
Charge reproduced, as Mr. Baker suggests, by yourself
* See the Charge of 1867 in the " Remains,'' vol. ii.

CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION. 369
"I do not know whether you have seen Mr. Orby
Shipley's article on the subject in the last number of the
Contemporary Review. It seemed to me to invite a reply,
which might be very useful, and which, after being inserted
in the Review, might appear in the form of a pamphlet.
I do not know whether to be glad or sorry to see that you
are going to St. Petersburg in January. But the voyage or
journey may prove bracing and invigorating, and I heartily
hope that you may have reason to reflect with pleasure on
having been there."

[In reference to a sermon on " Absolution."]
To Rev. E. H. Plumptre. A. P., C, November. ^20th,, 1873.
" I have read — I may say studied — your sermon with
great interest. It is certairdy a word in season, very much
needed and likely to do much good. Indeed, I am not
aware that anything has yet appeared in the Avay of medi
ation between the contending parties, or even aiming at
the bringing of those who may be open to conviction to a
better understanding with one another. Neither, I think,
can find any pretence for complaining that you have not
done justice either to itself or to the other. I do not
know why the most strenuous opponent of Confession
should feel himself concerned to deny that there may be
cases in which it is practised with beneficial effects in the
Church of England, as is undoubtedly the case in the
Church of Rome, though he may believe that in both the
evil preponderates immensely over the good. I could
more easily conceive that advocates of Confession, like
Mr. Orby Shipley, may be very loath to admit that it is
ever opposed from right motives or on reasonable grounds.
Your review of the history of the doctrine will, I am
B B

370 CONFESSION AND
persuaded, be very useful to all candid readers who are
not yet acquainted with it. A short summary of it is
given by Gieseler (Lehrbuch der Dogmen-Geschichte) in
which he notices two points of some interest : one, that
the new theory of the twelfth century derived its main
support from a forgery of a work ascribed to St. Augus
tine, ' De Vera et Falsa Poenitentia ; ' the other, that
Richard de S. Victor, while rejecting the doctrine of Lom
bardus, still confined the absolving power of the priest to
the penalty of sin, and reserved the divine prerogative of
absolving its guilt, leaving it for Aquinas to get rid of this
last distinction between priestly and divine absolution. I
am still more thankful for the frankness with which you
admit the deplorable blots in the Prayer Book, Avhich you
notice in your notes. It Avill be a great gain that
their origin should be understood and acknowledged,
even by those who regard them as a providential mercy,
precious relics of ' Catholic ' truth, and use them as a lever
for upturning the Church of England,
" There is only one point in which I cannot go along
with you, or at least adopt your language in what seems
its most obvious sense. I have never been able to recon
cile myself to the hypothesis — which I remember seeing
maintained by Archbishop Sumner — that the Apostles
received any ' special inspiration ' by which they
Avere enabled ' to read the hearts of men and thus
authorised to remit or retain sins.' I understand you
to distinguish this gift of ' more than natural insight '
from the general operation of the Holy Spirit in its
enlightening and sanctifying infiuence. And this is the
distinction for which I see no sufficient grounds. In our
Lord Himself this insight must be presumed to have been
infallible (though this opens several difficult questions).
But in what sense did He Himself forgive sins ? Not, I
apprehend, as by an act of power, but by a declaration

ABSOLUTION. 371
concerning the state of the sinner, that it Avas one of for
giveness. And nothing short of an infaUible insight could
Avarrant such a declaration. Even if it be supposed that
this insight Avas communicated to the Apostles to its fuUest
extent, so that they were able to read the heart without
any aid from the utterance of the lips, or other outward
sign of that which was passing Avithin, I do not under
stand hoAv such insight could be properly described
as a ' poAver to absolve.' And you yourself seem to
represent it as admitting of gradations of ' strength and
clearness,' therefore I should infer as not infallible. But
then it does not seem to differ in kind from that which
Avise and holy men have possessed ever since Avithout any
special inspiration. On the other hand, the words [John
XX. 23] do not appear to purport the conveyance of a power
without any reference to a gift Avhich Avas to qualify the
Apostles for the exercise of the poAver. The hypothesis of
tho special supernatural gift may be convenient to guard
against the idea that the Apostles Avere invested with an
arbitrary power — which our Lord Himself never claimed —
of forgiving sins. But it seems to me that the same pur
pose is better answered by the supposition that the com
mission, though in terms absolute, was meant to be con
ditional, and to be confined according to the general tenor
of the Gospel. I am, however, not sure Avhether there is
any material difference between us ; and I am glad to think
that there is none which affects any fundamental principles.
" My health for the last year has undergone no change
but that which the lapse of time brings with it, and I have
no prospect of any other."
[The next letter refers to a correspondence in the Times
between Earl Russell and Sir G. Bowyer on the subject
of the Falck laws and Bismarck's Church policy]
B B 2

372 BISMARCK'S CHURCH POLICY.

To Rev. E. H. Plumptre. A. P., C, December nth, 1873.
" I Avas very glad to hear of the AVork you have under
taken, and accept with great pleasure the honour whicli
you propose to confer upon me.*
I cannot help fearing that Lord Russell is going to lend
himself to something very foolish and mischievous, which
is likely to strengthen the Pope's cause among us. The
ground Avhich he takes against Bowyer is utterly untenable,
as the ' ascendancy' claim by the Pope over every baptized
person, whatever may be its meaning and extent, is at all
events nothing neAV. Eut for any English statesman to
commit himself to the approval of Bismarck's ecclesiastical
legislation seems to me a portentous blunder. Lord Russell,
Avith his usual nonchalance, alloAvs BoAvyer to have the last,
and, as I think, decidedly the best of the argument, and
Avhile he makes a perfectly irrelevant reference to ' the
part taken by the Whigs in remedying Roman Catholic
grievances,' he does not even notice the slap on the face
Avhich BoAvyer administers to the Pope when he boasts of
principles of toleration and religious equality, which the
Infallible has so condemned and denounced, in Syllabus
and Encyclical, that they cannot now be maintained —
unless by virtue of a dispensation per economiam — without
heresv."

To William Thirlwall Bayne, Esq.
Abergwili Palace, New Tear s Day, 1874.
" . . . . When I stayed three weeks at Hastings, in the
vain hope of recovering health and appetite, I visited most
of the notable places in the neighbourhood. At Battle, as
* The dedication to him of a new edition of Hare's " Victory of Faith.''

thirlwall's generosity. 373
I had expected little or nothing, I Avas not disappointed. I
know from experience that it is one of the most difficult
things in the world to identify ancient battle-fields. I have
been on many where, even with the aid of the most lucid
description, I could not recognise a single point. I think
you would be likely to find more to interest you in the
remains of the Cinque Ports 
" I take an almost painful interest in the Tichbome
trial, and long for the time when Kenealy will, if that be
possible, have said his last. I have heard of the anagram,
and it exactly expresses my sentiments toward the mis
creant. " I am glad to hear of your choice of books. BosweU's
' Johnson ' is one of the most entertaining in the language.
Our writers of the eighteenth century are too much
neglected. . I believe you would find Shaftesbury and
Bolingbroke Avell worth reading ; but I knoAV of none so
full of amusement and instruction, conveyed in the purest
and raciest English, as Swift."

[The following letter, Avritten in answer to an application
for help, speaks for itself : — ]
To the Rev. William Williams. Abergwili Palace, Ap-il 29th, 1874.
" I believe that you are aware that I have already
devoted between £20,000 and £30,000 to the purpose of
the Incumbents' Sustentation Fund, and that you wiU not
be surprised if I consider that as much as can reasonably
be expected from me."

CHAPTER X.
bath, 1874 — 75.
Increase of Physical Infirmities — Resignation of the Bishop — Retirement to
Bath — The Public Worship Eegulation Bill — " Supernatural Eehgion " —
Ritualism and Eitual — Broad Church — ^Work on the Revision Company
— A " Valid Sacrament" — Blindness and Paralysis — Unimpaired Intel
lectual Vigour — Sudden Death — Burial in Westminster Abbey.
Intimations of the Bishop's approaching resignation
had been for some time apparent in his writings and utter
ances. The Charge for 1872 had opened with valedictory
Avords of deep solemnity. A combination of bodily
ailments, such as attend old age, had caused a " continual
contraction " of his physical poAvers, and this was " pain^
fully sensible " to one who felt so deeply his episcopal
duties and responsibilities. In May, 1874, he carried into
effect the gradually formed resolution, and resigned the
see over Avhich he had presided so ably for thirty-four
years. He retired to Bath, and there spent the short
remainder of his days, tended by the united care and
devotion of the family which was bound to him by such
strong ties of gratitude and affection.
Even noAV it was not the mind but the body only that
craved rest ; the intellect remained as keen and vigorous
as ever. The remaining letters shoAV " hoAV he continued
Avith indomitable energy the task of acquiring new know
ledge ;" how assiduously, tiU eyesight failed, he attended

EESIGNATION OF THE BISHOPRIC. 375
to his work on the Revision Company ; and how, to the
very end, the old judicial powers of mind were brought to
bear on every prominent question of Church and State.

To the Lord Archbishop op Canterbury. Abergwili Palace, May Uth, 1874.
" I enclose a formal application in accordance Avith the
terms of the Bishops' Resignation Act, 1869. This is
oidy the fulfilment of a purpose which I formed some tAvo
years ago, and which I intimated in my last Charge. I now
feel that I must defer it no longer. The greatest kindness
you can do me is to expedite the affair to the utmost of
your power. There are circumstances which make it
extremely important for the interest of the diocese that
the vacancy should be declared and filled up as soon as
possible, and on private and personal grounds I have the
strongest reasons for Avishing it."

To the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury. Abergwili Palace, Moy IZth, 1874.
" I am deeply obliged to you for your prompt compliance
Avith my request, and for the kind terms in Avhich it is
conveyed, and I most heartily pray that you may be very
long spared to Avatch over and defend the Church, in this
critical period of her history, from her foes, and, Avhen
needed, from her friends."

' To Archdeacon Clark. 17, Great Pultenev St&eet, Bath, May 27th, 1874.
" It belongs to your character to depreciate your own
merits and services ; but I am too deeply conscious of the

376 RESIGNATION OF THE BISHOPRIC.
extent to Avhich my OAvn labours have been lightened by
your co-operation not to set a very different estimate upon
them. They have been to me quite invaluable, and far
more than I had any right to expect.
" I feel sure that no act of my episcopate will have
proved more useful to the diocese than my resignation.
If ever there was a diocese which needed the full vigour of
two active bishops it is St. David's. It has had of late
only the half if so much, of one, and he an invalid,
verging upon eighty.
"But hoAvever it may be with others, the continual
contraction of my poAver of Avork, of Avhich I have been for
some time past painfull}' sensible, arising not only from
advancing age, but from various ailments which must be
growing with lapse of years, made the burden too heaA'y
for me to bear.
" I can most truly say that among all the good and
pleasant things which I leave behind me, there is not one
which I shaU miss more keenly than the opportunity of
intercourse with you and yours, which has been the
source of an enjoyment I can never forget, or remember
without the most earnest and affectionate AA'ishes for the
happiness of you all."

To THE Rev. Canon Perowne. 59, PuLTENEY Street, Bath, August 5th, 1874.
"My dear Sir, — As I receive the Athenceum only
m monthly parcels, and do not ahvays open it immedi
ately, it has happened that I have only just read what
you have written of me. I value it very highly as an
expression of your judgment, but even more as a proof

THE PUBLIC WOESHIP EEGULATION BILL. 377
of your kindness, for which I am deeply grateful, and
remain, " Yours ever faithfully,
" Connop Thirlwall (Bishop.)"

[The next five letters refer to the passage of the
Public Worship Regulation BUI through Parliament.
The Bill was introduced by the Archbishop of Canter
bury on AprU 20th, 1874, and passed with Lord
Shaftesbury's modifications (Ecclesiastical Judge instead
of Bishop and Assessors) in the House of Lords on
June 25. Mr. Russell Gurney took charge of the Bill in
the House of Commons. It was opposed by Mr. Glad
stone with his famous 'Six Resolutions.' It was then
taken up and supported by Mr. Disraeli. There was an
unanimous vote on the second reading, showing, spite of
Mr. Gladstone's eloquence and earnestness, how wide
spread was the repugnance to extremes of Ritualism. Mr.
Gladstone surrendered on July 14 th, and the Bill was
finaUy passed on August 3rd. Lord Penzance was ap
pointed the Ecclesiastical Judge.]
To the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury. Abergwili Palace, May 7th, 1874.
" I am sorry that I shall not be able to be with you on
Monday. It is the great ecclesiastical event of the ses
sion. But I shall be surprised if the principle of your
Bill does not obtain very general assent in the House of
Lords. Its chief danger will, I think, be from a coalition
of tAVO opposite extremes, which may also obstruct its suc
cessful working."

378 THE PUBLIC WORSHIP EEGULATION BILL.

To Rev. E. H. Plumptre. 59, Pulteney Street, Bath, July 16th, 1874.
" I Avas very glad to receive your kind letter. As to
the Public Worship Bill, I am Avaiting to see in what form
it will finally pass through the House of Commons before
I form a judgment on its merits and value. I have
ahvays felt a doubt, which perhaps only experience can
solve, as to its operation. I am afraid that, even as a
check to farther innovations, its effect will be but partial
and precarious, Avhile, if apphed to the past, it will pro
voke attempts at retaliation, which, whether successful or
not, will disturb and Aveaken the Church. The best
thing about it seems to me to be that it must sooner or
later lead to a revision of the canons, and to some relaxa
tion or enlargement of the terms of communion. I have
unluckily missed your letters to the Times and Guardian,
Avhich I should very much wish to read, and I shall be
A'cry much obliged to you if you will let me knoAv the
date of each, as I have both by me.
" It may seem strange that a man who has retired from
business should be in want of leisure, yet such is the case
.AA'ith me. The cause is not that I have so much to do,
but that my Avorking hours are so miserably shortened
through weakness that I can sometimes do little more
than my daily Avork of revision, and have only time for a
cursory inspection of the newspapers. I shall also, I
expect for some months to come, be occupied with put
ting my books and papers in order. At present they are
partly in cases, partly in confusion on the floor, though I
Avas obhged to dispose of a large portion of the books from
Avant of room to stOAV them. To return to the BiU. I
read Gladstone's speech with great pain and "surprise.
Nothing ever so shook my confidence in him. It is
astonishing that he should bring down a set of resolu-

"supernatural RELIGION." 379
tions cut and dried without having (as it Avould appear)
asked himself what they mean or what they could effect.
And what a bidding for the popularis aura from a certain
point of the compass, in the statement that it Avas the
duty of the House of Commons to pronounce a eulogy
upon the clergy !
"Hoc Tthacus velit, and to-day will no doubt take
advantage of the opportunity.
"As to the treatise (' Supernatural Religion') you speak
of, I am so utterly a stranger to its contents that I never
before heard of its existence.* I do not intend ever again
to Avrite to the Guardian (from Avhom I received the
grossest insult the editor could offer), but I should be
glad if there or elsewhere you would contradict the
rumour in my name. Perhaps for all but the authors
and propagators of the report, the Avords I have under
lined would be sufficient  "

To the Lord Archbishop op Canterbury.
69, Pulteney Street, Bath, July ISth, 1874.
" I thank you most heartily for the great kindness with
Avhich you spoke of me the other day in Convocation.
I may now, perhaps, venture to congratulate you on
the substantial success of your BiU. Beside the imme
diate good effect which may be expected from it in
checking the license of innovation, it has brought to light
something which, antecedently to experience, could hardly
have been believed, and Avhich I regard as in the highest
degree cheerful and hopeful. I believe Ave should have to
look back some centuries before we find so animated a
debate in the House of Commons on an ecclesiastical
* In reference to a rumour which ascribed the authorship of " Super-
n.atural Religion " to Bishop Thirlwall.

380 THE PUBLIC WORSHIP
question. But that the BiU should have been read a
second time without a division, and this notAvithstanding
Gladstone's opposition, which only served greatly to
damage his reputation as a statesman, seems to me to have
proved several things which could have been ascertained in
no other Avay : 1st. The practically universal sense of the
need of such a measure ; the unanimity of the country in
its favour ; and, what is most important of all, the con
tinued attachment of the great mass of the inteUigent laity
to the Church, as a Reformed Church, and the deep
interest they feel in its Avelfare. So much, I think, may
be fairly said whether the Bill be improved or not, as it
passes through committee. More will depend on the Avay
in which it is Avorked. I am afraid that it is almost
hopeless that the bishops should come to a general
understanding and agreement as to the exercise of their
discretion. Of course it Avill not and cannot stand by
itself but I hope and trust will be so supplemented as to
render your primacy an ever memorable and happy epoch
in the history of the Church of England."

To Rev. E. H. Plumptre. 59, Pulteney Street, Bath, July 20th, 1874.
" I found that I had seen your letter to the Guardian
though not that to the Times. I believe that I can enter
into your views and substantially agree with them. But
this does not prevent me from rejoicing at the passing of
the BiU, after such a debate, without a division, and at
the collapse of Gladstone's resolutions.
" Whatever may be the final issue, I consider this fact
as a decisive and most valuable proof of the interest felt by
the great majority of the House of Commons in the con
cerns of the Church, and of their attachment to it, on the
condition of its remaining a Protestant Church. I cannot

EEGULATION BILL. 381
yet forgive Gladstone for overlooking or ignoring the radi
cal and all important distinction between the High and
Low party with regard to the observance of the Rubrics.
It is I think notorious that the Low Church party drifted
into a departure from the Rubrics from manifold causes,
without the slightest consciousness of any doctrinal bearing
in their practice. The Tractarian-Ritualistic party, on the
other hand, have introduced innovations, avowedly for the
sake of their doctrinal significance, and with a most distinct
and deliberate design, which is no other than that of trans
forming the character of our Church until it becomes ripe
for union with Rome. Those Avho do not at present con
template this step would do something still Avorse. They
would inflict on us all the evils of a thorough adhesion to
¦ all Roman doctrine ' — except perhaps the Papal Infalli
bility, as to which Orby Shipley seems to be still hesitating —
without any of the social advantages which might result
from the union. The person who, next to Gladstone, has
most lost ground in my esteem is the editor of the Spec
tator. It amuses me to observe that after all he would
be reconciled to the Bill with Cowper-Temple's amend
ment, if he could only rely on the discretion of bishops —
which of course he cannot. What a pity it is that he
should never have explained his theory about bishops.
Can it be that there is some mystical influence in the con
secration of a bishop Avhich impairs his mental faculties ?
or that, by a secret dispensation of Providence, bishops
are invariably chosen from persons destitute of judgment ? "

To the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury.
59, Pulteney Street, Bath, August 20th, 1874.
" Many thanks for your kind remembrance of me. I
have no doubt that my successor will justify the Arch-

382 ME. Gladstone's ^' ritualism
bishop of York's favourable opinion of him. It gives me
pleasure to reflect that some time ago I offered him a
canonry of St. David's, Avhich he was unable to accept, not
having been the requisite time in holy orders.
" I believe, as I think I have already said, that the
success of your Bill will be found to depend on the Avay
in Avhich it is Avorked, and therefore in a very great degree
on the discretion of the bishops. I Avish I could place
unlimited reliance on the- discretion of every one of them ;
but recent occurrences have violently shaken my faith.
The Spectator predicts that Parliament will repent of
having preferred a system of restraint to one of compre
hension, to Avhich it seems a sufficient answer to sa.y
that not only the Church but the country has declared
that it Avill not endure the system of comprehension or
laissez faire, even when recommended by the authority
and eloquence of Gladstone."

[In reference to Mr. Gladstone's article in the Contem
porary Review on Ritualism and Ritual.]
To THE Eev. E. H. Plumptre. 69, Pulteney Street, Bath, October 6th, 1874.
" I am and have been for the last month confined to
my couch, AA'here I have some difficulty in Avriting ; and
my nephcAv, AA'ho mostly does it for me, is laid up Avith a
sharp touch of gout. I am extremely Aveak, but, though
very slowly, regaining strength. I have not yet received
your sermon, but want to say a Avord on Gladstone's article
in the Contemporary.
" I read it Avith much surprise and concern. There is
no doubt a great deal in it which, though not quite ncAv,

AND EITUAL." 383
is very true and deserving of attention on the sesthetical
aspect of Ritualism, much also that is highly edifying on
its religious or spiritual aspect, but I think better suited
to the pulpit than to the pages of the Contemporary
Review. It strikes me that I have pretty often, though
much less ably, preached it myself But admitting all
this to the fuUest extent, I conceive that a statesman, Avho
is also a political leader, is hardly at liberty to publish his
thoughts on such a subject and at such a season, just as
if they were simply those of a private person. If he
handles it at all, it should be from the statesman's point
of view. And from this the article appears to me utterly
unsatisfactory and worthless. For it AvhoUy overlooks and
ignores the great, and in my view by far most important,
practical question of the day, Avhich is this : Shall any
section of the Church, or any clergyman, be permitted to
conduct the public services of the Church in such a Avay
as to make it appear that the Church gives its sanction to
a doctrine — I mean that of the sacrifice in the Romish and
Tractarian sense — -which the greater part of her members
reject as false and mischievous ? So long as the Church
is secured from this flagrant wrong, I (for one) am ready
to allow the widest possible latitude that any heart can
desire, both as to the quantity and the quality of ritual."

[The next letter refers to Professor Plumptre's edition of
" The Victory of Faith," by Archdeacon Hare, with Intro
ductions by Professor Maurice and Dean Stanley. It was
dedicated to Bishop ThirlwaU (see p. 372) as " one in Avhom
the three writers here brought together recognised a friend
and teacher whom they all alike honoured."]

384 JULIUS HAEE AND BROAD CHUECHMANSHIP.
To Eev. E. H. Plumptre. 59, Pulteney Street, Bath, October 17th, 1874.
" I have been forgetting myself very delightfully for the
last hour or two, carried back into the past, in reading
your Preface and the two Introductions to ' The Victory
of Faith.' I find the question to what school or party
Hare belonged, and Avhether or not to the ' Broad Church,'
brought so prominently f or Avar d, that I cannot forbear
inclosing for your most private perusal a few pages which
I wrote a few months ago in self-defence from the like
imputation. I wrote without any object beyond my own
immediate satisfaction, nor do I now know what avUI
become of the MS., but I thought you might hke to see
it. I wish it, however, to be preserved, and Avill therefore
beg you, when you have read it, to let me have it again.*
" I believe I may now consider myself as having entered
on a period of convalescence, though I have a long way to
make up before I am what I was before my illness."

[In reference to a sermon on the " Law of Progress in
Theology."] To Eev. E. H. Plumptre. 69, Pulteney Street, Bath, October 2Zrd, 1874.
" I received your sermon yesterday, and have read it
both with the interest which the subject naturally inspires
and with special attention to the point on which you
desired to knoAV my opinion. I am afraid that many
people Avould think that I am hardly a fit person to
consult on such a question, as the whole tendency of my
* This paper is printed in the " Eemains," vol. iii. p. 481.

'' THE LAW OF PEOGRESS IN THEOLOGY." 385
theological opinions may well be supposed to have pre
possessed and pledged me in favour of the views opened
in your sermon. I cannot but hail them with pleasure,
for I never was less satisfied with the present condition of
Anglican theology ; never, as it appeared to me, had our
divines more need of a larger measure of modesty and
reverence to prevent them, from believing that they had
mastered the AA'hole counsel of God, or as much of it as is
still accessible to human investigation, Avhile they aimed
at nothing more than vamping up an orthodox phraseology,
so as to give it an air of novelty. But it also seems to me
that the present state of parties among us is peculiarly
unfavourable to any attempt in this direction, not only
because public attention is absorbed by the ' infinitely
little,' without even sufficiently studying that, but because
all parties alike are afraid of incurring the reproach of
doctrinal innovation, and, above all, of scepticism and
rationalism, which they would gladly cast on one another.
I am one of the last persons who could venture to guarantee
the reception of your sermon among men of other minds
and different habits of thought ; but I may say that I have
found in it nothing at which any well-informed and intel
ligent reader could take just offence — nothing laid doAvn
for which the way had not been prepared by reference to
authorities which none can dispute. I therefore think it is
— however it may be received — a word in season, which
can bear none but wholesome fruit."

To Rev. E. H. Plumptre. 59, Pulteney Street, Bath, October 2ith, 1874.
"I am afraid that yours of the 19th has been in my
possession two or three days unopened through some over
sight. I am quite willing that you should keep a copy of
c c

386 REVISION WORK.
my Paper on ' Broad Church ' as, for the present, a strictly
private document. If it eyer sees the light, I should wish
it to be after my death, and with the consent of my repre
sentatives. I am the more wiUing, because it is more than a
platitude to say that my continuance here is very uncertain.
After I saAV you I had a very severe attack of illness, Avhich
completely prostrated me, and confined me to my couch for
a month. I am noAv sloAvly recoA'ering strength, but do not
expect to be ever again as well as I Avas at the end of my
first five or six weeks at Bath. A very slight matter throws
me back, and I have noAv the Avinter before me. I AA'anted
to say a fcAV more last AVords on an important practical
subject, in Avhich popular theology seems to me to have
gone sadly astray, but I do not know AA'hether I shall be
able. The pro.spects of my eyesight are also uncertain, but
certainly gloomy.
" You are quite at liberty to show the MS. to Mr.
Maurice."

[The next eight letters are a continuation of the corre
spondence on the work of the Old Testament Revision
Company] To THE Rev. Canon Perowne.
17; Great Pulteney Street, Bath, June 2nd, 1874.
" I am very much obliged to you for your kind letter.
" I had indulged in a hope that I might be able to
continue making some little contributions to the work of
revision. But I find that it is very doubtful how long I
may do so with safety. Some unpleasant symptoms
induced me lately to consult an oculist, who holds out
but a gloomy prospect, as the most cheerful part of it is

REVISION WORK, 387
that the operation for cataract, Avhich Avill sooner or later
— if I live — become necessary, is not painful. But I fear
that long before I come to this extremity I may be obliged
to give up reading HebrcAV — Avhich, from the contrast
between the thick and the fine strokes and the accents, is,
I think, more trying to the eyes than any other language —
and also such prints as Lange's ' Commentary.'
" Still I should be glad to knoAV how the work of
revision is going on, and should be much obliged to you
if you would inform me from time to time Avhat books are
to be taken in hand."

To the Rev. Canon Perowne. 69, Pulteney Street, Bath, July Zrd, 1874.
" Yesterday I dispatched a first instalment of my notes
on 1st Samuel to the end of chapter xiii., and intend to
send something more next week. You may easily con
ceive the interruptions arising out of a removal from
Abergwili to Bath. Not one-half of the books Avhich I
kept have arrived, and I do not expect that they avUI be
in their places for months to come. But I hope that in
future I may be able to keep ahead of the Company's
work. I am thankful to say that I have experienced a
very great improvement in my general health and relief
from suffering since I came to Bath. But I find that my
right eye is worse than useless. With it alone I can dis
tinguish nothing but the most hazy outlines, and see best
when it is shut. The chief inconvenience I suffer from it
is that I am forced to bring what I read immediately under
the good eye, and cannot read all parts of a folio page from
one position. It is a little ' thorn in the flesh ;' but I
should be only too happy if I was sure that nothing worse
is to come.
cc 2

388 EEVISION WORK.
" I shall be glad to have from time to time des nouvelles
of the Company's proceedings, and particularly to hear
what progress they make this session."

To the Rev. Canon Perowne. 69, Pulteney Street, Bath, October 7-th, 1874.
" I send my notes to the end of 2nd Samuel. I do not
expect ever to send any more. I have been very ill, and
am in a state of extreme debility and prostration, AA'hich
looks very like the beginning of the end. God bless you."

To the Rev. Canon Perowne. 69, Pulteney Street, Bath, September 9th, 1874.
" I am still confined to my couch, and, though mending,
am gaining strength very slowly indeed. Any work
requiring continual reference Avill, I fear, for a very long
time be wholly beyond my power. Many thanks for your
account of the Company's proceedings .... I am glad
that Isaiah is to be taken next, as I may hope, though
unable to take part in the revision, to enjoy the pleasure
of reading him again. I should be a little curious to knoiv
whether a like rigour prevails in the American Company."

To THE Rev. Canon Peeowne.
59, Pulteney Street, Bath, November 27th, 1874.
" I am very much obliged to you for your account of
the Company's proceedings. I was rather puzzled by the
notices I received. I am glad that the Company find they
can utilise the Mondays, but do not know whether I am to

REVISION WORK. 389
gather that they mean to meet every fortnight or three
weeks. " .... I consider myself now as convalescent, though
I am not, and do not expect to become, what I was before
my illness. My eyes give me a great deal of trouble, and
very much retard the progress of my revision. I hope,
however, to send you the first instalment of notes on Isaiah
before the Company's next meeting, and having such a
start, to keep ahead of them, unless they change their
step for one of unexampled rapidity, which, in Isaiah at
least, I do not expect or wish."

To THE Rev. Canon Perowne. 59, Pulteney Street, Bath, December Uth, 1874.
" I send the promised instalment of my Notes on Isaiah
to the end of chap. x. I could have sent as much more,
but it seems very unlikely that the Company will go any
farther in this Session, and I keep the rest by me for the
chance of something better occurring to me here and there.
" I should rather like to knoAv Avhether any of the Com
pany — particularly yourself — approves of the change Avhich
I have proposed at x. 16.'* I have not found it mentioned
by any commentator. But for that, I should have thought
it quite certain. But it may be open to some objection
which I have overlooked."

To THE Rev. Canon Perowne. 69, Pulteney Street, Bath, January 15th, 1876.
" I send a continuation of Isaiah to the end of chap, xxii.,
though not expecting that the Company will advance so
[* The substitution of " instead of his glory '' for " under his glory."—
J. J. S. P.]

390 REVISION WOEK.
far this Session. I suppose the question as to the manner
of printing the verses has been decided, though I do not
know hoAV, or whether it has been reserved."

To THE Eev. Canon Perowne. 59, Pulteney Street, Bath, February 7th, 1875.
" The numbness Avhich has for the present deprived me
of the use of my right hand did not come on me quite
suddenly, but began Avith a strike of the httle finger,
Avhich refused to take its proper part in the Avork of the
hand, and then gained the other fingers over to its side.
It is no doubt a severe privation, but I have much more
reason to be thankful for that which I am allowed to
retain than to grumble about that which I have lost. I
never before fuUy knew the value of the left hand ; and I
think it is a capital defect of our physical education that
children are not trained, as they might easily be, to use
their left hands as fully as their right.
" But I Avant to say a single word about the question
raised in your letter, which, though it relates immediately
only to a matter of form, I consider as one of the very
highest practical importance. It appears to me that the
consideration which should govern the Company's decision
is, Avhich mode of printing will render the reading of the
Bible most edifying and attractive, not to the learned and
cultivated fcAV, but to the great mass of readers. And
from this point of view I should much deprecate the inno
vation in the mode of printing adopted by Bunsen and
in the Unitarian translation, in Avhich the prose form
is a rare exception to the general rule. I think that
the right course is the reverse of this, and that Ave can
hardly be too chary of the poetical form. And this.

"st. PAUL AS A MAN OF BUSINESS." 391
I collect from what you say, is your own vicAV of the
subject."

[In reference to a Paper on "St. Paul as a Man of
Business," in the Expositor for AprU, 1875.]
To Rev. E. H. Plumptre. 59, Pulteney Street, Bath, February 16th, 1876.
" I am obliged to avail myself of an amanuensis, having
for the last fortnight lost the use of my right hand. I am
so completely disabled that I cannot even draAV a rude
cross without assistance to support and guide my hand.
Happily I am still able to read, though the state of my
eyes limits the use of them for this purpose also. I shall,
hoAvever, be very glad to receive anything that you may
have to send me. I have read your Paper Avith much
interest. Your vicAV of the relation between St. Paul and
Philemon is not, as far as I can see, affected by the ques
tion whether St. Paul wrote from Rome or from Csesarea ;
otherwise Meyer's argument in favour of Ctesarea seems to
me very difficult to meet. It is also not quite clear to me
what could have been the motive of Onesimus, when he
had made his escape, in seeking a friend of his master's.
I must also OAvn that I find some difficulty in reconciling
St. Paul's position as a capitalist with the straitened cir
cumstances Avhich compelled him to accept pecuniary
assistance, as he says, from the Philippians (chap. iv.
verse 1 6) at Thessalonica. I see from Meyer that several
commentators have adopted the idea of a temporal partner
ship. Your view of the object of the last journey to
Jerusalem appears to me free from objection, and to throw
very valuable light on St. Paul's character and conduct.

392 A VALID SACRAMENT.
I believe that copies of my photograph may be had at
EUiot and Fry's, but of this you shaU hear again as soon
as my nephew, Avho is at present laid up Avith a fit of gout,
shall be able to write."

[In reference to Mr. Gladstone's article in the Contem
porary Review, entitled, " Is the Church of England Avorth
preserving ?"]
To Rev. E. H. Plumptre. 69, Pulteney Street, Bath, July 15th, 1876.
" I have been hearing Gladstone's article in the Contem
porary more than once, together Avith a part, perhaps only
infinitesimal, of the literature Avhich has already grown
out of it, and Avhich is no doubt destined to assume much
larger proportions, none with greater interest than your
letter to the Times ; but I find the ear so very imperfect
a substitute for the eye, especially in controversial writing,
that I am by no means sure I yet fully understand the
merits of the question. You, I think, propose to let the
whole dispute turn on the ansAver which would be given
by Mr. Mackonochie and Canon Ryle to the question,
whether the Holy Communion administered in the Avay
they respectively dishke and disapprove of would not
nevertheless be a valid sacrament. You have not thought
it necessary to explain Avhat you mean by a ' valid sacra
ment,' but I suppose it may be safely assumed that it is
nothing more than a real sacrament, a sacrament entitled
to that name ; and in this sense I quite agree with you
that Mr. Mackonochie and Canon Ryle could only answer
your questions in the affirmative. Canon Ryle could not
undertake to say how far an imitation of the Mass might
be carried without ' overthroAving the nature of the sacra-

A VALID SACRAMENT. 393
ment ;' nor, on the other hand, would Mr. Mackonochie
deny that a real sacrament might be celebrated even in
plain clothes, as Dr. Littledale in his last article in the
Contemporary stated to have been repeatedly done by
himself But if I am not greatly mistaken, neither of
these gentlemen would consent to let the question turn on
this issue. Might they not say that though the reality of
the sacrament was not affected by the mode of its celebra
tion, its efficiency and value depended in a very great
measure upon it, and might be greatly impaired, if not
utterly lost, if it were made to convey inadequate and,
above all, erroneous notions of its nature ? They might,
perhaps, observe that, after all, a sacrament is nothing
more than means to an end, namely, the communication
of grace, and that when this end is in any way defeated it
can matter little that the rite is notAvithstanding a real
sacrament ; it might be still neither acceptable to God nor
edifying to man, as our Church does not admit the notion
of an ' opus operatum,' but makes the efficiency of a
sacrament, though not its reality, to depend on the iuAvard
condition of the communicant. Might not this opinion
be Ulustrated and confirmed by the analogy of the Church ?
The Church, though not only disendowed and disestab
Ushed, but though spUt into numberless independent
sections, and reduced to the lowest state of poverty and
weakness, might still be a valid Church, i.e. a congre
gation of faithful men, in the Avhich the pure Word of
God is preached and the sacraments are ministered accord
ing to Church ordinance in all those things that are of
necessity requisite to the same ; but Avould any one con
sider that as a sufficient consolation under so great a
calamity? I shaU be thankful for any light that wUl
satisfy my curiosity on this subject."

394 DEATH OF THE BISHOP.
The last few letters are very touching in the indications
they convey of the accession of bodily weakness and the
tenaciousness of the mental poAA'ers. In April, 1875, the
Bishop became almost totaUy blind, and lost the use of his
right hand. His solitude Avas relieved as far as possible
by those around him. He was kept acquainted with every
thing that happened, and his unabated interest in all
religious and political matters was shown by the letters he
dictated. His mind Avas kept in continual exercise ; a
letter from his nephew, AA'ritten a short time before the
Bishop's death, speaks of him as translating Sanscrit as it
was read to him by one member of the family, Italian and
Portuguese Avith another, and German and French with
another. Even the little ones Avere employed in reading
history and chemistry to him. His patience and gentle
ness touched the hearts of all about him. The loss of
eyesight and the loss of the power of using his pen must
have tried him severely, yet no complaint ever escaped
him. The end came suddenly and peacefully at last on the
27th of July, 1875. "With one caU for him who had
been as his oaa'u son on earth — Avith one cry to his Lord
in Heaven, Who to his upAvard gaze seemed yet more
visible and yet more near — he passed, as Ave humbly
trust, from the death of sleep, and from the sleep of
death, to the presence of that Light in which he shall see
Light." *
His body found a fitting resting-place in Westminster
Abbey, in the same grave with his old schoolfeUow, friend,
• Dean Stanley's Introduction to Bishop ThirlwaU's "Letters to a
Friend."

BURIAL IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 395
and fellow-labourer in the fields of Grecian history The
stone which marks the spot is inscribed to —

CONNOP THIKLWALL
SOHOIiAE, HISTOUIAN, THEOLOGIAN,
FOE. THIRTT-FOTJE YEAES
BISHOP OF ST. DAVED's.
BOEN FEBEUAEY 11, 1797.
DIED JULY 27, 1875.
GOE SAPIENS ET INTELLIGEN3
AD DISCEENENDITM JUDICIUM.
GWYN . EI . FYD.

INDEX.

Abraham's Sacrifice, Dean Perowne's
Sermon on, 326
Thirlwall on, 326, 327
Addison, 11
Adult baptism, 344
.3Sneid, Dryden's translation of the, 5
Pitt's translation of the, 5
.S)schylus as a soldier, 26
Professor Plumptre's translation
of, 303
Esthetics, 109
Airy, 113
Allen, Dr. Bishop of Ely, 159
American Prayer, Book, Eubrio on
adult baptism in the, 344
American Revision Company, The, 362,
388
"AncEeus," Thirlwall's Essay on, 100
Aquinas, 173, 370
Aristotle, The ethics and politics of,
91
Arnold, Dr., 107, 151, 284
Arthur, Prince, visit to Wales, 243
Athanasian Oreed, The, 171
Speech by Thirlwall on, 334
Bishop Wilberforce' s attack on the
speech, 334
Sermon by Dean Perowne on, 360
AthentBum, The, 77, 376
Atonement, The, 310
Atrou, 231
" Auf der Hohe," 288
Austin, Charles, 53
Autobiography, J. S. MiU's, Extract
from, 53 B.
Baker, Sir Samuel, 299
Bangor, 223
Basevi, Mr., 53
Battle, 372, 373
Baumgarten, 190
Bayard, 88

Beaconsfield, Lord, 63, 377
Bennett, Mr., of Frome, 306
Bertheau, 209
Bingham, on the " Common Prayer,'
354
Biographies, 24
Bishops' Resignation Act, The, 375
Bismarck, 332, 371, 37'2
Blakesley, Dr., Dean of Lincoln, 163,
284
Boethius, 203
Bolingbroke, 373
Bombay, Bishop of, "Letter on
Missions" by, 343
Bonald, Fievee, 89
Bossuet, 89
Bourges, 238
Archbishop of, 239
Bowyer, Sir G., 371, 372
Brantome. 88
Bright, Mr. John, 228, 294
British Association, The, 149
"Broad Church," ThirlwaU's Paper
on, 384, 386
Brougham, Lord, 128, 129, 132
Browne, Bishop Harold, 192
Bulwer (Lord Lytton), 53
Bulwer (Lord DaUing), 63
Bunsen, 23, 49, 284, 355, 390
"Bunsen, Life of," 23, 284 .
" Bunsen, Baroness, Memoir's of," 23
Burdett, Sir Francis, 6, 10
Bute, Marquis of, 367
Buxtorf, 351, 355
Byron, Lord, 26 C.
Csesar, Julius, 26
Cairns, Lord, 306
Cambridge, 3, 22, 113
Campbell, Dr. J. MacLeod, 272, 285,
310
Candler, John, 3
Carlyle, 190

398

INDEX.

Cervantes on the Portuguese language,
233
Chalmers, 58
Chapel services, coUege, Remarks on,
116, 117
Chartreuse, Grande, 56
Chateaubriand, 89
ChUlingworth,263 Chubb' s " True Gospel of Jesus
Christ," 236
"Church and State," Dean Stanley's
Essays on, 237
Church Congresses, 526
Church Review, The, 367
Cicero, 26, 33, &c.
Clarendon, Lord, 63
Clark, Archdeacon, 304
Cobden, 225, 228
Colenso, Bishop, 279, 281
Coleridge's " Friend," 41
Derivation of "Atonement," 310
Coleridge, Bishop, 192
Comines, PhUip de, 88
Conant on the " Psalms," 361, 362
Confession, 368, 369
"Conscience Clause," The, 263
Constantine, The Conversion of, 42, 43
Contemporary Review, The, 245, 314,
369, 382, 392, 393
Convocation, 329, 330, 333, 334, 351,
379
Cooper, Archdeacon, 157, 160, 162
Copleston, Bishop, 174
Corsini, Abbe, Sermon by the, 237, 240
Cotta, 197
Cowper, 5, 11, 13, 16
Cowper-Temple, Mr. (Lord Mount
Temple), 381
Crabbe's "Poems," 5, 6
Cresswell, Sir CressweU, 2
Creuzer, 97
" Curse of Kehama," 19
Cymrygyddion Society, The, 170
D.
" Damnatory Clauses," MacCoU's, 345
Dante, Quotation from, 173
DeUt, The Verger at, 222
De La Tour D'Auvergne, Mgr., 239
Denison, Archdeacon, 253, 280, 307,
368
"De OfSciis," Cicero's, 37
De Thou, 88
De Wette, 70
" Dialogues," Lander's, 69, 70
Dickens's "Bleak House," 202, 203
Diderot, 89
Digby, Kenelm, 22
Dissenters, Claims of the. 111, 113
Dobree, Professor, 69

Donatus, 357
Dryden's Virgil, 5
Due D'Aumale, The, 288
DuguescUn, 88
Dupanloup, Bishop, 312
B.
Early EngUsh Society, The, 367
" Earthly Paradise," Morris's, 292
Edinburgh Review, The, 11, 16, 18, 102,
140, 190,334
Education of the poor, 16, 17
Edwards, Jonathan, 40
Eichhorn, 71, 76, 77
Elementary Education Act, The, 324
EUot, George, 234
ElUott, E. B., 22
Epiphanius, 81
Epiphany, The Welsh name for, 364-
366
Episcopate, Proposed increase of the,
250
Erasmus, 37
Erskine, Mr. (of Linlathen), 272, 276,
276, 277, 279, 281, 311
"Esmond," 203
"Essays andEeviews," PubUcation of,
233 EncycUcal Letter against, 234
ThirlwaU's defence of the Ency
cUcal, 235
" Essays and Eeviews Anticipated,"
234
Eternal punishment, ThirlwaU and
Professor Plumptre on, 334
Euripides, 25
Eusebius, 42
Ewald, 326, 362
Ewing, Bishop, his Charge on " Mate
rialism in Christianity," 272
"Life of," 279
and the Encyclical, 285
Editor of " Present-Day Papers,"
308
Exeter, Bishop of (Dr. PhiUpotts), 116
(Dr. Temple), 313
Expositor, The, 391

F.

Falck Laws, The, 371
Farrar, Canon, on the study of Greek,
304
Farrer, Bishop, 167
Fausset, Eev. A. R., 313
Ffoulkes, Mr.,- letter to Archbishop
Manning, 263
Fichte, 299
Fonblanque, Albany, 53
Fremantle, Dean, 233

INDEX.

399

Franco-German War, The, 331
Fynes-CHnton, 101 G.
"Galilee," Quotation from Ponsard's,
266
GalUeo, Life of. Trial of. Doctrines of,
265
" Genealogies of Our Lord," Lord
Arthur Hervey's, 204, &c. •
"Gesangbuch," Bunsen's, 105
Gesenius, 205, 208
Gibbon, 39, 42
Gieseler, 71, 370
" Gil Bias," Quotations from, 7
Gladstone, Mr.; 228, 335, 377, 378, 381,
382, 392
Globe, The, 236
Gloucester, Duke of, 113
Good Words, 323, 326
Gouda, Description of a Church at, 222
Goulburn, Mr., 113
Grant, Robert, 61
Gratz, 76
Gray, Stanzas on the Grande Char
treuse, 68
Gray, Bishop (of Bristol), 90
(of Cape Town), 281
Grey, Earl, 53, 113, 129
Griffith, Bishop, author of the Rubric
on adult baptism, 344
Grimm, eulogy on the EngUsh Lan
guage, 230
Grote, 3,193, 346
Grotius, 37
Guardian, The, 347, 361,379
" Guesses at Truth," Professor Plump
tre's edition, 81, 261
Gurney, Mr. RusseU, 377
H.
Haggai ii. 7, 9, Letters in reference to,
313—322
Hahn, 71
Hale, Sir Matthew, Anecdote of, 63
HaU, Sir B., Attack on the Bishop by,
200,201 "
Hamilton, Dean, 22, 23
Hampden, Bishop, 356
Hare, JuUus, contemporary with
ThirlwaU at Charterhouse, 2 ; and at
Cambridge, 22 ; elected to a FeUow
ship with him, 23 ; his knowledge
of German Uterature, 54 ; quits
the law, 62 ; "A Layman's Letter,' '
81 ; takes orders, 89 ; co-transla
tor ¦with Thirlwall of Niebuhr's
"History of Rome," 90; co-editor
with Thirlwall of the Philological
Museum 9.1, 100, 105 ; Rector of

Hurstmonceaux, 112; " Guesses at
Truth," 251; at Hyde Hall, 262;
university sermons at Cambridge,
252, 372, 383 ; his moral courage,
252
Hare, Augustus, 81
Havelock, Sir Henry, 2
Haymann, L. von, 152, 156
Hegel's PhUosophy, 195, 196, 197
" Henriade," The, 5
Herodotus, 98
Hinds, Bishop, 307
"Hippolytus and his Age," Bunsen's,
335
" History of Greece," ThirlwaU's, 132,
139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 153, 162
Grote's, 193, 194
Keightley's, 130
Holy Communion, The, 165.
Homer on the future state, 298
Houghton, Xji^y-A. (Moui.L.iuii Milnes), -
105, 132, 133, 182, 200
Howel, James, " Letters of," 10
Howley, Archbishop, 161, 164, 166, 168
Hurstmonceaux, 91 I.
"Immortality," Dean Perowne's, 298,
302
Imposition of hands. The, 356 — 358
" Indices Expurgatorii," 175
Institution, The London, 5
Intercession for Missions, The day of,
342
Irish Church, Disestablishment of the,
284, 293—297
" Irony of Sophocles," .ThirlwaU's
Essay on the, 91
Irving, Edward, 69
" Is the Church of England worth pre
serving?" Mr. Glad.stone's article
on, 392

Jameson, Mrs., 216
Jahrbiicher, Die, 197
Jebb, Rev. Dr., 323
Jenkinson, Bishop, 159
Jeremiah xxiu. 6, Letter in reference
to, 313
Jerome, Quotation from, 366
Job xix. 25, in connection with the
resurrection, 300
Johnson, Dr., 9, 11 ; BosweU's "Life
of," 173, 373
JoinvUle, 88
Journal of Education, The, 100
Judges xi. 26, Conjectural emendation
of, 205, &c.
Judicature BUI, The, 363
Justin, Quotation from, 353, 354

400

INDEX

K.'
Kay, Dr., on the Psahns, 360, 362
Keightley's "Mythology," 96, &c.
Translation of " De Pastorij te
Mastland," 288
Kirby Underdale, 128, 133, 135, 328
Koetsveld, C. E. von. Author of " De
Pastorij te Mastland," 228
L.
Lachmann, 175
" Lady of the Lake,'' PubUcation of
the, 6, 12
Lamennais, 89
Lampeter, 187, 336, 367
Lancaster, Dr., 18
Lanfrey's "Histoire de Napoleon I.,"
289
Lange's "Bibelwerk," 322, 387
Lardner, Dr., 139, i42 j ' Oyclopasdia,"
133
Laugel, Auguste, 288
" Layman's Letter," A, 81, 82
Lee, Professor, 113
Leeser, 362
Le Maistre, 89, 259
Letters to —
Bayne, W. J., Esq., 84, 86, 87, 168
Bayne, Mrs., 215, 219, 220, 237,
242, 243, 244, 291
Bayne, W. ThirlwaU, Esq., 325,
372
Bayne, Miss, 216, 225
Belcombe, Eev. T., 190
Broom, G., Esq., 199
Bunsen, Baron, 59, 62, 99, 102,
105, 108
Candler, Mr. John, 3, 5, 7, 10, 12,
16, 18, 20, 21, 23, 32, 47, 49
Canterbury, Archbishop of, 334,
335, 363, 368, 376, 377, 379, 381
Clark, Archdeacon, 304, 338, 340,
342, 343, 344, 350, 361, 353, 355,
357, 358, 375
Dundas, W., Esq., 258, 260, 261,
262, 263
Evans, Eev. J., 201
Ewing, Bishop, 273, 275, 276, 280,
281, 282, 285, 308, 310, 312, 331,
346
Farrar, T., Esq., 167
Fausset, Eev. A. E., 314, 316, 316,
317, 318, 320, 321
FeUows of Trinity CoUege, Cam
bridge, The resident, 118
Hare, JuUus, 61, 69, 70, 71 72, 74,
77, 78, 79, 81, 83
Hervey, Lord Arthur, 204, 207,
214, 250, 263, 293, 294
Hughes, Eev. J., 175

Keightley, T., Esq., 96, 130, 227,
229, 231, 234
Lyttel, Eev. E. Z., 331, 334
Lyttelton, Hon. and Eev. Canon,
"254, 266
Martin, Eev. F., 171, 175
Monson, Eev. T. J., 328
Perowne, Dean, 245, 265, 266, 267,
269, 298, 299, 300, 301, 302, 322,
326, 327, 330, 336, 337, 360, 359,
360, 361, 362, 364, 366, 366, 367,
376, 386, 387, 388, 389, 390
Plumptre, Professor, 251, 303, 313,
323, 334, 348, 349, 369, 372, 378,
380, 382, 384, 386, 391, 392
Pryme, G., Esq., M.P., 120
Schmitz, Dr., 147, 149, ]61, 162,
163, 154, 183, 192, 194, 198
Spence, Rev. Canon, 285, 288
Stanley, Dean, 237, 268, 329,. 347
Thackeray, W. M., Esq., 242
ThirlwaU, Rev. T. [his father], 48
Rev. T. [his brother], 60, 169
J., Esq. [his brother], 146
J., Esq. [his uncle], 27, 31,56,
66, 58, 66, 92, 95, 128, 134,
137, 139, 141, 142,148,156,
157, 177, 178, 184, 186, 191
Mrs. T. [his sister-in-law],
223, 290, 297
Master T. [his nephew], 143
J., Esq. [his nephew], 202
Thompson, Eev. W. H., 157, 249,
264
Voysey, Eev. C, 307
'Warren, W. de G., Esq., 324
Welsh clergyman, A, 164
'WheweU, Rev. W., D.D., 124,
179, 194, 196
WUUams, Rev. W., 373
" Letters to a Friend," Bishop Thirl
waU's, Eeferences to, 1, 2, 329, 334,
394
Liberation Society, The, 254, 296
" Life and Death of Jason," Morris's,
292
Littledale, Eev. Dr., 393
Liturgies, Early Christian, 351 — 356
Liturgy, Ee vision of the, 104, 106
Lobeck, 97
Locke's Essay, 39, 40
Longley, Archbishop, 279, 280
Liicke, 75
Lushington, Professor, 92
Luther, 210
Lycidas, 9 M.
Macaulay, Lord, 63, 122
MacCoU, Eev. Malcolm, attack on
ThirlwaU by, 345—350

INDEX.

401

Machiavelli, 35
Mackonochie case, The, 289, 306, 392
Macmillan's Magazine, 227
Macrorie, Bishop, 290
" Madoc," 18
Magee, Dr., Bishop of Peterborough,
300, 301
MandeviUe, 16
" Manse of Mastland," The, 229
Marcion, 71
" Marmion," 12
Marsh, Dr., 76
Masson's " Life of Milton, 227
Maurice, Frederick, 53, 383, 386
Melbourne, Lord, 131, 132, 159, 160
Meyer, 391
Mezeray, 113
MiU, J. S., 53
Moll's " Commentary on the Psalter,"
322
Monk, Professor, 69
Morris, Mr., M.P., 200
Musgrave, 113 N.
Nagelsbach, 298
Napoleon IIL, 228
Newman, Cardinal, 260, 268, 345, 350
His "Lectures on Justification,"
348
The " Apologia," 347, 349
Niebuhr's "History of Eome," 90, 94,
101, 148
"Lectures," 148, 151, 183, 198
"Memoirs," 151
Niebuhr, Marcus v."GeschichteA3sur's
und Babers," 247
Nitzsch, 299
Noldius, 209
Northumberland, Duke of, 177
O.
O'ConneU, 6
" Odyssey," The, 9
OUivant, Dr., 185
Olshausen, 276
Optatus, 367
Ossian, 42
Otter, Bishop, 169
Over, VUlage of, 92
Ovid, 16
Oxford, 3, 11

Pall Mall Gazette, The, 280
Palmer on the " Common Prayer," 364
Palmerston, Lord, 89
Pan- Anglican Conference of 1867, The,
279
" Paradise Lost," 14

Pascal's "Pensees," 13, 50
Pastoral, The Lambeth, 281, 282
Paulus's " Commentar," 75, 80
Peninsular War, The, 20
Penzance, Lord, 377
Percy, Thomas, Bishop of Dromore, 1
Perowne, Dean, 163, 302, 341, 361
Perry, Mr. (Bishop), 122
Philological Museum, The, 91, 100, 102,
105, 108
PhUological Society, The, 367
Phipps, Sir C, 244
Pitt's " Translation of Virgil," 6
Pius IX., 219
" Pleasure of Eetreat," The, 11
Plumptre, Professor, 91, 315, 323, 345,
355, 383
Pont-Rhyd-fendigaid, 186, 187
Poppo, 184
" Present-Day Papers," 272, 285, 308,
310, 312
Prideaux on Prophecy, 248
Prince Consort, The. His death, 243 ;
Welsh memorial to, 243
Pryme, Professor, M.P., 118
" Psalms," the, Dean Perowne's Work
on, 265, 266, 269, 322
Psalm civ. 4, Thirlwall on, 267
Psalm xc, ThirlwaU on the author
ship of, 269
PubUc Worship Regulation BUI, The,
377, 382
Pusey, Dr., 107, 176, 245, 261, 312,
315, 316 Q.
Quarterly Review, The, 18, 54, 101, 102,
190, 286, 367
Quebec, 144
Queen, the. Letter from, 244
R.
Raine, Dr., head master of Charter
house, 2, 10
Rebecca Riots, The, 184, 188, 189
Reform, Church, 107
Reform, Parliamentary, 8 ; BUI of
1832, 113, 284 '
" Eeigu of Law," The Duke of Argyll's,
256
" Eelations between science and litera
ture," ThirlwaU's Address on, 286
" Eeiation of Knowledge to Salva
tion," The, 272
" Eemains," ThirlwaU's, References to,
100, 2.53, 266, 279, 281, 313, 325, 329,
334, 345, 368, 384
Retz, 88
Re-vUle, Albert, 286
Revision, BibUcal, 199

D D

402

INDEX.

Revision Company, the [Old Testa
ment], Work iu connection with, 302,
329, 330, 359—362, 386—390
Revtie de Deux Mondes, 265, 287, 332
Richter's " Life," 190
Eitual Commission, The, 288, 290
" Eitualism and Eitual," Mr. Glad
stone's Article on, 382
Rock, The, 313
EomiUy, 53
Eose, Hugh James, 22, 122, 286
Rousseau, 25, 27
Eoyal Academy, ThirlwaU's connec
tion with the, 335
Royal Literary Fund, The, 241, 242
Rufinus, 173
" Rule of Faith," The, 311
EusseU, Earl, 371, 372
Ryle, Dr. (Bishop of Liverpool), 392

St. Augustine, 171, 172, 370
St. Bruno, 57
St. David's, 170; Cathedral, 325;
Bishop of (Dr. Basil Jones), 325
" St. Luke," Schleiermacher's Essay
on, 54, 72, 73, 74, 76, 77, 79, 80, 82,
83, 159, 234
" St. Paul as a Man of Business,"
Paper on, by Professor Plumptre, 391
St. Victor, Richard de, 370
St. Vincent's, 144
Sainte Palage, 88
Salmasius, 37
Samuel u. v. 8., Suggested emendation
of, 327
Sanchez, Father, 265
Scarlett, Mr. (Lord Abinger), 61
Schleiermacher, Visit of, 95.
Schmitz, Dr., 152, 198
Scholefield, Professor, 86
Scott, Sir Walter, 12, 16, 70
Sedgwick, Professor, 22, 113, 132, 149
Selwyn, Professor, 122
Seminary for Dissenters, Theological,
114
Severus, The wall of, 1
Shaftesbury, Lord, 377
Shaw-Lefevre, Mr. (Sir G.), 22
Shipley, Mr. Orby, 367, 369, 381
Sinker, Mr., on " Epiphany," 366
Societe d'Afrique, 169
Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel, 342, 343
Socrates, 299
Sophocles, 26
Southey, 18, 19, 157
Spanish CouncU of a.d. 618, 356
" Spanish Gipsy," The, 292
¦ Spanish War of 1823, 68
Sparke, Bishop, 90

Spectator, The, 16
Spectator, the, ThirlwaU's letter to,
234, 235, 280, 381, 382
Speke, Rev. B., 291
Spielhagen, 289
Spring-Eice, Mr., 113
Stanley, Dean, 1, 91, 162, 234, 349, 383,
394
Stanley, Dr., Bishop of Norwich, 159
Sterling, John, 53
StirUng, Mrs., 291
" Submersion of Ancient Cities,"
Paper by ThirlwaU on the, 227
Suicer, 356, 357
SuUy, 88
Sumner, Archbishop, 370
" Supernatural Religion," 379
Swift, Dean, 11, 373
Symons, Mr. JeUinger, 202
" Svnagogue," Article in Smith's
Bible Diet, on the, 352, 353
" Synagogue and the Church," The,
351 T.
Tablet, The, 367
Tait, Archbishop, 282, 309, 377
" Tales of the Gemi," The, 15
" Talmud," The, 285
Tasso, 319
"Task," The, 16
Terni, The FaUs of, 215
Tertullian, 81, 363.
Thackeray, 203, 241 ; Death of, 242.
Thiers, 289, 333.
Thiersch, 298.
ThirlwaU, Connop. Origin of the
name, 1 ; parentage, 1 ; birth, 2 ;
early signs of genius, 2 ; pubhca
tion of the "PrimitiaB," 2; sent to
Charterhouse, 2 ; letters to school
fellows, 2 ; proposed acquirement of
Hebrew, 20 ; preparation for the
University, 21 ; enters at Trinity
College, Cambridge, 22 ; gains scho
larships, 22 ; takes his degree, 22 ;
ChanceUor's classical medallist, 22 ;
elected to a FeUowship, 23 ; tour
abroad, 23 ; forms acquaintance
with Bunsen, 23; dislike of mathe
matics, 28 ; desire for travel, 28 ;
acquirement of ItaUan, 31 ; choice of
profession, 45, 46 ; acquirement of
German, 48; enters Lincoln's Inn,
52, 56 ; joins J. S. Mill's debating
society, 53 ; caUed to the bar, o3 ;
joins the home circuit, 64; tran
slates Schleiermacher's "St. Luke,"
54; aud Tieck's "Tales," 64; re
marks on his change of profession,
54; return to Cambridge, 90; takes
orders, 90 ; translates Niebuhr's

INDEX.

403

" History of Rome," 90 ; starts the
Philological Museum, 91 ; college and
clerical life, 91 ; signs petition to
ParUament in favour of Dissenters,
113; publishes a pamphlet on the
Dissenters' claims, 114; dismissed
from the assistant tutorship, 117 ;
appeals to the CoUege, 118; second
pamphlet, 123 ; accepts the living
of Kirby Underdale, 128, 132; com
mences the "History of Greece,"
132; work at Kirby Underdale,
133; German translation and re
view of the "History," 152, 165;
tour in Germany, 157 ; fondness
for cats, 167 ; intended nomination
to the Bishopric of Norwich, 159 ;
appointment to the See of St.
David's, 160; interview with Lord
Melbourne, 160 ; settlement in Wales,
162; learns Welsh, 162; comple
tion of the "History," 162; life at
Abergwili, 163 ; receives his D.D. de
gree, 168 ; honours conferred by
French and Welsh learned societies,
169, 170; episcopal work, 184; Sir
B. HaU's attack, 200 ; tour in Hol
land, 219; learns Dutch, 220;
" Essays and Reviews," and "Essays
and Reviews anticipated," 233, 234 ;
ThirlwaU's letter to the Spectator,
234 ; tour in France, 237 ; Thirl
waU and Thackeray, 241 ; ThirlwaU
and Prince Arthur, 243 ; letter from
the Queen, 244 ; beginning of his
physical infirmities, 256 ; elected to
an Honorary FeUowship of Trinity,
264 ; at the Pan- Anglican Confer
ence of 1867, 279; member of the
Ritual Commission, 288 ; restora
tion of St. David's Cathedral, 325 :
chairman of the Old Testament
Revision Company, 329 ; speeches
on the Athanasian Creed, 335 ; Pro
fessor of Ancient History of the
Eoyal Academy, 335 ; connection
with St. David's CoUege, Lampeter,
336, 341 ; attacked by the Eev.
Malcolm MacUoU, 345 ; his gene
rosity, 373 ; decline of his physical
powers, 374 ; resignation of the
See, 376 ; serious illness, 386 ; at
tack of paralysis, 390 ; tenacity of
his mental powers, 394 ; his sudden
death, 394 ; burial in Westminster
Abbey, 395
ThirlwaU, Eev. T. [father of Bishop
ThirlwaU], 1
Postscript by, 32
ThirlwaU, Rev. T. [brother of Bishop
ThirlwaU], 128

ThirlwaU, The Barons de, 1
ThirlwaU Castle, 1
" ThirlwaU Memorial Fund," The, 325
Thompson, Rev. W. H., 92
Thorp, Archdeacon, 182
Tichbome Trial, The, 373
Tieck, Visit to, 157
Tieck's "Tales," 64, 73, '74, 78, 79, 83
Times, The, 235, 280, 291, 371
"Tirocinium," The, 13
Tooke, Home, 6
Torrens's " Life of Lord Melbourne,''
Extract from, 160, 161
" Tracts," The Oxford, 176
"Tracts for Priests and People," 254
Tractarians, The Oxford, 259
Transubstantiation, 368
Trinity CoUege, Cambridge, 22
Tripos, Institution of the Classical, 22
'I'urner, Lord Justice, 2, 291
Turton, Dr., 1 14
TweddeU's " Remains," 26
U.
Unitarian translation. The, 362, 390
University of London, The, 166
V.
Vesey, 71, 77
" Vie de Jesus," Pressense's, 270
" Vindication of Niebuhr," A, 90
Vegan, Dr., 368
Voltaire, 6, 14, 89
Voss, 97 W.
Waddington, George, 2, 22, 54, 60
Horace, 2, 22, 60, 62
Welcker, Professor, 152, 154
Wellington, The Duke of, 178
Welsh Church, The difficulties of the
338, 340
Whewell, Dr., 22, 91, 117, 121, 123, 177
White, Kirke, 3
Wilberforce, Bishop, 53, 334, 335, 362,
363
WUUams, Isaac, 175, 176
WiUiams, Archdeacon, 193, 201
WUUams, Dr. Rowland, 236
Wolf, 98
Wood, Sir Francis, 129, 135
Wood, Mr. (Viscount Halifax), 114,
129
Wordsworth, Dr. (Master of Trinity),
117, 118, 119, 120, 121
Wordsworth, Mr. (Bishop of Lincoln),
114 Y.
Young, 11
Ystrad Meurig, 187 Z.
Zaandam, Peter the Great's house at
224

LONDON : PftlNTKU BY J. 9. VIRTUK AND CO., LIWITKD, CIT'Y KOAD.

YfiLE UNIVERSITY LIBRfiRY

fi39002013406773B